South Africa: Transnet, unions resume talks

Transnet and labour unions are expected to resume conciliation talks at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) this morning following protracted wage negotiations which culminated in an impasse and industrial action.

The state rail and ports company, together with the unions, convened for CCMA mediated talks on Monday which, according to Transnet, ended with the parties agreeing and signing the picketing rules and picketing sites for the current strike action that workers are embarking on.

Transnet is hopeful that the unions will formally table their position, to enable the company to assess its feasibility, taking into account affordability and sustainability imperatives for the business, balanced with the needs of employees.

Transnet remains committed to a speedy resolution to the current impasse, to enable the business to focus its attention on the sustainable turnaround and improvement of operations, the state owned company said.

The company has also called on striking workers not to damage or interfere with infrastructure during their protest.

Transnet acknowledges the right of employees to partake in the strike and reiterates that this must be done in a peaceful manner and within the confines of the picketing areas and rules that have been agreed on with labour unions.

The organisation appeals to communities and employees to assist in guarding and protecting critical infrastructure and to exercise the highest levels of patriotism in this regard, it said.

The company warned that any attacks or damage to infrastructure could result in criminal prosecution.

Transnet has deployed additional security personnel and engaged law enforcement services to protect its assets and employees who are not partaking in the strike, it said.

Meanwhile, Transnet says it has met with the leadership of the deciduous fruit industry for discussions on contingency plans for fruit exports in light of the industrial action.

According to the company, the deciduous fruit season is expected to fully commence at the end of this month.

Transnet is working closely with industry to ensure that the perishable products, along with other cargo with a limited shelf-life, are prioritised at the ports. A joint integrated planning team with industry will also be established to mitigate any further delays, the state owned company said.

On a broader scale, Transnet said it remains committed to moving cargo despite the current challenges.

Transnet continues to work closely with the shipping lines and industry broadly to manage the current situation and remains fully committed to moving customers cargo as efficiently as possible, Transnet said.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2022-10-12. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Hong Kong: Connectivity key to HK's success

Chief Executive John Lee

Hong Kong has maintained close trade ties with the UK. Last year, our bilateral merchandise trade amounted to US$17.7 billion, representing a growth of over 25% from the previous year. Hong Kong is an important entrepot for merchandise trade between the UK and Mainland China, with trade amounting to US$9.9 billion between the two economies routing through Hong Kong last year. A total of 667 business operations with parent companies from the UK are in Hong Kong, making the UK the fourth in the world and the first in Europe in the number of businesses present here.

More than UK companies, BritCham (British Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong) represents Hong Kong businesses, Mainland enterprises and companies from all over the world. You are here because you believe in Hong Kong, and the bright future here for us. For all of us.

The theme of this years summit - The Next 25 Years & Beyond - is as ambitious as it is welcome. It marks the 25th anniversary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, while politely asking what you can expect of the next 25 years and beyond.

One way of weighing such a long-term outlook is to look back 25 years ago. To see what opportunities were not there, were not available back then, to take advantage of.

Consider this: in 1997, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area development plan was not in place yet. While ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) was a close trading partner of Hong Kong, there was no ASEAN-Hong Kong, China Free Trade Agreement to run with. Neither was Hong Kong actively pursuing innovation and technology (I&T) as the main policy area. At that time, there was not much to talk about on climate change initiatives and environmental opportunities in financial services.

In short, any number of compelling and still entirely unknown opportunities - and challenges, too - will surely shape the next 25 years for Hong Kong ahead of us.

What I can tell you is that we are building the road to a bountiful future, to the economy and the community we want for Hong Kong - for ourselves, our businesses and our families. That road is planned as a multi-lane, multi-layered, superhighway. While there may be bends along the way, the road and the prospects it will bring are designed to deliver, to take us where we want to go.

Central to that future, whether five or 25 years down the road, is the one country, two systems principle that distinguishes Hong Kong from any other economy in the world.

Thanks to this innovative guiding principle, Hong Kong has thrived as the gateway connecting our country to the rest of the world. That has created countless opportunities for companies looking to tap into the Mainland economy, or connect with the rest of Asia and the world beyond.

That, certainly, is not going to change. There is no reason for us to change the good policy of one country, two systems, and we must adhere to it in the long run.

Speaking here in Hong Kong at the 25th anniversary celebration on July 1, President Xi Jinping said, and I quote: The central government fully supports Hong Kong in its effort to maintain its distinctive status and edges, to improve its presence as an international financial, shipping and trading centre, to keep its business environment free, open and regulated, and to maintain the common law, so as to expand and facilitate its exchanges with the world.

Those rewarding exchanges are rooted in Hong Kongs enviable connectivity, and it is this connectivity that has helped us overcome challenges before, connectivity that will ensure our prosperity over the next 25 years and beyond.

Consider, first, our international connectivity. Hong Kong is among the worlds most externally oriented and open economies. We attach great importance to global and regional economic co-operation.

We have been a separate and full member of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) since 1991, and under the name Hong Kong, China since 1997. We work closely with our APEC members in accelerating regional economic integration, in building a more resilient regional economy amid the challenges of COVID-19.

No less important to Hong Kong, and our future, is ASEAN. ASEAN today is an economic powerhouse. Taken as a single entity, it is now the worlds fifth-largest economy.

Hong Kong, I am pleased to say, has been ASEANs second-largest trading partner since 2010. Last year, merchandise trade between Hong Kong and ASEAN grew 21% year-on-year despite the pandemic, with bilateral trade hitting an all-time high of some US$160 billion. And in the first six months of this year, our bilateral trade in goods rose more than 12%, year-on-year, to US$84 billion.

The ASEAN-Hong Kong, China Free Trade Agreement and related investment agreement entered into force, in full, this year, and will boost our bilateral trade down the long road. The agreements encompass a wide range of liberalisation measures. They include trading and protection for investment, mechanisms for economic and technical co-operation and much more. They have been designed to expand business opportunities, to ensure legal certainty for Hong Kong traders and service providers in ASEAN markets.

Then there is the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or RCEP. The worlds largest free trade agreement, RCEP came into force at the beginning of the year. It is built on an open, inclusive and rules-based trade and investment framework.

RCEP economies are Hong Kongs major trading partners, accounting for more than 70% of our total merchandise trade last year. Hong Kong is actively seeking early accession to RCEP, a point emphasised by Algernon Yau, Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development, in Cambodia last month.

On behalf of the Hong Kong SAR Government, Mr Yau attended the ASEAN Economic Ministers - Hong Kong, China Consultation, and met the ASEAN Deputy Secretary-General and other senior officials to discuss Hong Kongs preparatory work towards early accession to RCEP. ASEAN member states, I am pleased to note, welcomed our readiness to launch RCEP accession discussions.

Also that month, Christopher Hui, the Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury, was in the Philippines, another ASEAN member, to build on our strong ties with economies throughout the region.

I have, on various occasions, said that it is time we began to tell the world, loud and clear, the compelling stories of Hong Kong. Next month, I will be doing that when I travel to Bangkok, Thailand, on my first overseas visit since taking up my office. I will be there for this years APEC Economic Leaders Meeting and to reaffirm our commitment to promoting international connectivity and co-operation.

Hand in hand with our growing connectivity with the region, and the world, is our deepening connectivity and indeed, integration, with the Mainland.

Nothing speaks more directly, and more powerfully, of those welling ties than our inclusion in the bay area, a far-reaching cluster city development boasting a combined population of 86 million and a GDP of over US$1.9 trillion.

Hong Kong plays a pivotal role in enhancing the interconnectivity of the bay areas capital markets, thanks to our internationally aligned regulatory regime. Our status as the business and financial bridge between the Mainland and the world can be seen in the widely welcomed Cross-boundary Wealth Management Connect Scheme launched last year.

It is also evident in the 18 measures, recently approved, to support Hong Kong venture capital investment in Shenzhens Qianhai development.

While the pandemic has created temporary limitations to travel between the Mainland and Hong Kong, I can assure you that new cross-boundary railway and new boundary control point improvement projects are on the drawing board.

Creating and building on our connectivity with the Mainland and the world will, I am confident, ensure that we stay connected in the future, as well.

That future will demand sustainability.

Which brings me to climate change, a central focus of the summit tomorrow afternoon. For good reason. Like the rest of the world, Hong Kong faces rising temperatures and extreme weather, including super typhoons.

We have been among the earliest cities in Asia to combat climate change. Our decarbonisation efforts, I am pleased to say, have yielded notable results. In 2020, Hong Kongs carbon emissions were about one-fifth lower than our levels in 2005, with a per capita emission of about 4.5 tonnes a year. That is a decrease of almost 30% from the peak level of 6.2 tonnes per capita in 2014.

In 2020, President Xi said that China would work to achieve peak carbon emissions in 2030, and carbon neutrality before 2060. To align with the countrys commitment, Hong Kong will strive to achieve carbon neutrality before 2050, reducing carbon emissions from the 2005 level by half before 2035.

Our quest for carbon neutrality does more than promoting green recovery. It also generates fresh opportunities for Hong Kong. In the next 15 to 20 years, the Government will devote about HK$240 billion to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Hong Kongs decarbonisation efforts could create tens of thousands of job opportunities in energy supply, green finance, green technologies and ancillary industries.

Our green and sustainable finance market is blooming. The volume of green and sustainable debt issued in Hong Kong last year reached a record high of US$57 billion. That is fully four times more than the year before. Of this, the volume of green and sustainable bonds exceeded US$31 billion in 2021. That accounted for one-third of those issued in the Asian market, making Hong Kong number one in the region.

We are also the first Asian government to issue 30-year and 20-year green bonds denominated in US dollar and euro, respectively. Last year, the Shenzhen Municipal Government became the first local government from the Mainland to issue offshore renminbi green bonds in Hong Kong.

We count on the support of the business community in promoting low-carbon transformation and working towards a sustainable future for Hong Kong.

I&T is no less central to our inspired culture and future. Among others, the National 14th Five-Year Plan supports Hong Kongs development as an international I&T hub.

Our number of startups rose from about 1,000 in 2014 to nearly 4,000 last year, giving rise to 18 unicorns at last count. Hong Kong is the worlds leading fundraising centre for biotechnology companies. At the end of June, 50 pre-revenue, pre-profit biotechnology companies had listed in Hong Kong, raising some HK$114 billion through IPOs (initial public offerings).

There is more on the way. Much more. We are setting up a HK$5 billion Strategic Tech Fund. It will focus on technology enterprises with strategic value, considerable scale and high development potential. We will also roll out a strategic plan for Hong Kongs long-term I&T progress. It will include the San Tin Technopole I&T development, integrating the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation & Technology Park with the neighbouring Lok Ma Chau/San Tin area.

Plans, of course, are one thing. Having the talent to execute and build on these plans is something else entirely. This summit puts that point in emphatic perspective with its closing session about talent.

World-class education will certainly help get us there. We have got that covered. Hong Kong is the only city in Asia with as many as five universities in the worlds top 100, according to the 2023 QS World University Rankings.

We are also looking to attract, and retain, talent from abroad. You will hear more about that in my first Policy Address next week.

As I mentioned earlier on, connectivity is key to Hong Kongs continued success. To that end, I am acutely aware of the communitys concern - of your concern - with our pace in opening up. And I can assure you that maintaining Hong Kongs international connectivity is close to my heart.

That is why we have removed entirely the requirement of hotel quarantine, less than three months since my taking office and rolled out the 0+3 plan on September 26. We are already seeing a steady growth in arrival and departure figures at the airport. I believe the new arrangement will have a ripple effect on our economic activities and help to rejuvenate our businesses, industries and in turn, our city.

While I understand your aspiration for continuing to open up ourselves to the world, I must stress that it is also important to remain prudent in our way forward. Let me tell you why.

The hotel quarantine policy was first put in place in Hong Kong in July 2020. After two years and two months, we shelved this policy, and introduced the 0+3 plan a few weeks ago. This was a big change in our policy to fight the virus. Unavoidably, the change comes with uncertainties. As evidenced in our daily caseload, the number of imported cases in the past two weeks has been on a rise. With the ever-evolving variants and differences in anti-epidemic strategies across different economies and countries, the risks of spreading the virus to our community continue to be imminent, to say the least.

Why do we have to be careful in managing risks? Two reasons. First, we have to protect our high-risk population, especially the elderly and the very young. We are talking about human lives here. We cannot afford to do nothing. We want to reduce the number of critical cases and fatalities as much as we can. Second, we must do our utmost to ensure that our public health system would not be overwhelmed. Our hospitals must continue to provide adequate and efficient healthcare services to the people of Hong Kong.

Currently, the Government is monitoring the trend in caseload, in particular, whether there would be a rebound in our epidemic situation. We have to ensure that the arriving travellers who are subject to medical surveillance and testing strictly adhere to the rules and regulations. Above all, we have to strike a careful balance between protecting public health and ensuring economic activities.

Having said so much about the fight against COVID-19, let us look forward. There are a lot of exciting moments waiting for us, and for all of Hong Kong, in the months to come.

In three weeks, Hong Kong will host the Global Financial Leaders Investment Summit, bringing together high-profile businesspeople from more than 100 major financial institutions.

The Hong Kong Rugby Sevens returns next month as well, with a series of much anticipated international matches - and rucks, mauls, tackles and more in the South Stand at Hong Kong Stadium.

Thats just the beginning. Hong Kong FinTech Week, the Asia Summit on Global Health, Hong Kong Maritime Week, and the Asia Cultural Co-operation Forum, among many other regional and global gatherings, are on the way.

More than welcoming the world, the Hong Kong SAR Government is committed to creating a flourishing global economy and a vital and inclusive community. I am confident that what we accomplish over the next five years will set Hong Kong on a rewarding course for the next 25 years and beyond.

Chief Executive John Lee gave these remarks at the BritCham Hong Kong Summit 2022 on October 12.

This story has been published on: 2022-10-12. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
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The location where a group of Armenian prisoners of war (POWs) were tortured by Azerbaijani soldiers has been determined. lawyer Siranush Sahakyan, the representative of the Armenian detainees interests at the European Court of Human Rights, told Armenian News-NEWS.am about this on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the Azerbaijani side had shared another video on Telegram about the torturing of Armenian POWs.

"The location has been studied and confirmed. The incident took place in the bunker of the Verin Shorzha [village combat] position [in Gegharkunik Province of Armenia]. This is a video of the September events. All three [Armenian] servicemen have been identified. They are not among the confirmed detainees, they were shot to death, their bodies were transferred to the Armenian side as the bodies of those who died on the battlefield," said Sahakyan.

She noted that the faces of the Azerbaijani soldiers are covered in that video,.

"In the video, their faces were covered with a special black color. They are detachments with special training, and they have a certain apprehension regarding criminal prosecutions in the future; that's why they have covered [the faces]," the lawyer added.

According to the latest data, the number of Armenian dead and missing in the Azerbaijani military attack in September has reached 207. On September 17, the Azerbaijani side handed over the bodies of 32 fallen Armenian soldiers to the Armenian side, on September 2095, and on September 23another 6 bodies. In addition, 20 Armenian soldiers were captured. On October 4, the Azerbaijani side returned, with the mediation of the US, 17 Armenian POWs to the Armenian side.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan received Egyptian Ambassador Bahaa El Din Bahgat Dessouki, who is completing his diplomatic mission in Armenia.

The PM assessed the diplomatic activity of Dessouki in Armenia and the work done toward the development of Armenian-Egyptian relations as effective, which contributed to the positive dynamics in bilateral relations. Pashinyan noted that Armenia values continuous dialogue with Egypt and is interested in deepening it.

The Ambassador of Egypt, in turn, said that during his tenure, he invested maximum efforts for the development of relations between the two countries. He noted the high level of cooperation in the political and cultural spheres, and emphasized the readiness of the Egyptian side to bring economic ties to that milestone as wellgiven that Armenia has good investment opportunities.

The sides exchanged thoughts on the prospects for cooperation in tourism, construction, and technology.

The Prime Minister wished success to the Egyptian Ambassador in his future activities, and expressed hope that with his experience and knowledge, Dessouki will continue to contribute to the strengthening of Armenian-Egyptian relations.
Nouriel Roubini: In some sense, World War III has already started

EU considers paying Elon Musk to provide Starlink Internet to Ukraine

U.S. will continue to take practical, aggressive steps to make it difficult for Iran to sell drones to Russia

German Prosecutor's Office searches Deutsche Bank headquarters

Head of Germany's national cybersecurity agency fired amid reports of ties to Russia

Uruguayan Chamber of Deputies condemns Azerbaijan's invasion of Armenian territory

Spanish minister: EU is far from solution to energy crisis

Fake Azerbaijani names of Syunik province communities removed from Google Maps and Google Earth apps

Artsakh President presents details of meetings held in Yerevan to MPs

Lavrov: Russia sees no point in maintaining its previous presence in Western countries

UAE: OPEC+ decision has no political motive

Opposition to David Price: Right to self-determination is the right of people of Artsakh to survive

Iran is ready to negotiate with Ukraine to resolve ambiguities

Deputy Speaker of Armenian National Assembly: 47 PACE deputies made written statement condemning Baku's aggression

Lapid will discuss Kiev request for Israeli systems with Kuleba

Morawiecki: Poland is not afraid of losing EU funds

Armenian President meets with Sofia Mayor

Speaker of Armenian National Assembly to Norway FM: Withdrawal of Azerbaijani Armed Forces from Armenia is a priority

Nikol Pashinyan receives delegation headed by Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt

Iran responds to Borrell's garden and jungle statement: EU needs to accept realities or it will continue to wither

Pashinyan: No one can accuse Armenia of evading its obligations

Congressman: U.S. was not active in terms of security in Armenia, but now situation is changing

Indian defense company Solar group says it has received orders from Armenia for 'Pinaka' missiles

Price: U.S. military aid to Azerbaijan will not be used for offensive purposes against Armenia

Military expert assesses possibility of new hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan

Russian Embassy: Armenians' attitude towards Russians who moved to Armenia remains very friendly

Clarification by Price: What Could Armenian-American military cooperation look like?

Armenian Defense Minister visits DEFEXPO exhibition in India

President of Artsakh talks about results of discussions held in Armenia

Borrell angers UAE with his comparison of world outside Europe to 'jungle'

Public Council formed in Artsakh

China Daily: Party's anti-graft efforts generate fruitful outcomes

Price: We demand that Azerbaijan return to its initial positions

Aghajanyan: This visit should be seen as another stage in dynamic development of Armenian-American relations

Ukraine will officially ask Israel for transfer of air defense systems

Head of National Assembly Commission: 2023 state budget turned out to be biggest in Armenia's history

Turkey conducts test launch of its own ballistic missile over Black Sea

Students of Brusov State University hold protest outside building of Ministry of Education and Science of Armenia

Armenia MFA: Yerevan has always openly and publicly stated its position on dialogue with Turkey

Military exercises of IRGC Ground Forces on border with Azerbaijan continue for second day in Iran

Blinken accuses China of violating status quo on Taiwan

Armenian Foreign Minister: We see Azerbaijan's unconstructive behavior

Izvestia: European banks stop accepting SWIFT-transfers from Russia

Mirzoyan calls on Cavusoglu to speak for himself

Norwegian FM visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex and pays tribute to victims of Genocide

Mirzoyan: We need to understand to what extent CSTO recognizes this aggression against Armenia

MFA: Armenian authorities apply to OSCE to send observers to border with Azerbaijan

NYT: Conflict between Turkey and Greece may cause split of NATO

Ararat Mirzoyan Details of peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan were presented to Norwegian FM

Price of gas in Europe drops to almost $1,200 per 1,000 cubic meters for first time since June

Armenian Defense Minister meets with his Indian counterpart

First images of damage to Nord Stream are published

Erdogan's spokesman: Meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy is impossible now

Peskov redirects question of drone purchases from Iran to Russian Ministry of Defense

Secretary of Armenian Security Council presents consequences of recent Azerbaijani aggression to Brazilian ambassador

Trial of Robert Kocharyan and Armen Gevorgyan is held in Yerevan

IAEA chief says he wants to meet with Putin again

Pashinyan: Azerbaijan creates fake news on ceasefire violations by Armenia

US House of Representatives members visit Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan

Taliban, Iran border guards fire at each other

Another high treason exposed in Armenia

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan armed forces violate ceasefire in Sotk-Kutakan sector

World oil prices on the rise

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
There are just two ways to solve popping teeth issues in the borderland Chinari: one either opt for non-traditional means or goes to a private clinic. The clinic operating in the village has no dental services to offer to the locals. The small room of the clinic has a technically useless dentists chair installed 40 years ago. It was last used about two years ago, during the July war, and later when a group of young professional volunteers arrived in the village. Only a few people can afford to go to a privately practicing dentist; getting to Berd some 35 km away and back is not feasible, either.

I have been a nurse in Chinari for over 40 years now. And to the best of my recollection, the dental equipment has been unchanged. Probably, there has been no means to get a new one. People living in borderland settlements live in permanent fear and under lasting stress. There is no dental clinic here. People are forced to get to the regional center. And yet, a dental cabinet is very much needed here, says Laris Tserunyan, the nurse of the village.

With the support of Viva-MTS, a pilot program of dental services is set up in Chinari. The representatives of the charity foundation Athenas have been in the village on a visit to evaluate the local needs. The purpose the partners are driven by is to stand by those who live in borderland communities. After the installation of new equipment and a dental chair, Chinari will have a dental service, which will be free for its residents.

Stress may cause all sorts of issues. One of them is the problem with teeth: people may even lose their teeth. The levels of risk are high among people living in borderland areas. That is why we have picked a borderland village to implement the program. People who live here need to know that they are not alone and they have their backs covered. No one is going to help us if we are not prepared to help ourselves, Hrachya Grigoryan, the founding director of the foundation says.

The partner organizations, Viva-MTS and the charity foundation Athenas, are much trusted in the village. People here know Viva-MTS both as an information and telecom company and also one that is always guided by the principles of social responsibility. They are also familiar with the philanthropic activities of the charity foundation, which did a program here about two years ago.

This is not the end point of Armenia; here is the place where Armenia begins. Chinari is situated quite far from the regional center. Its not an easy endeavor to overcome 35 km to get to a doctor and get back to the village. Some people just dont have the means to get treatment. This program will definitely help ease their burden, Samvel Saghoyan, the head of village administration, says.

The foundations next visit to Chinari will be more tangible. The partner organizations plan to set free dental services in two villages of Tavush by end of this year. The second recipient village will be chosen based on the results of another planned visit, as well. Viva-MTS has invested AMD 5 million for the pilot program.
The wording Armenian ethnic community of Nagorno-Karabakh is not acceptable for Artsakh. Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Foreign Minister David Babayan told Armenian News-NEWS.am about this, referring to the document publicized by the "Siloviki" Telegram channel, which, according to the publication, became a key topic of conversation between Pashinyan, Aliyev and Erdogan in Prague, and one of the points of that document is that the government of Azerbaijan will propose a representative who will work with a representative appointed by the Armenian ethnic community of Nagorno-Karabakh to discuss the rights and security of the people of Karabakh.

"We [i.e., Artsakh] have had statehood for centuries. Moreover, since 1923, we have also had internationally recognized statehood as the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast [(region)], which evolved into the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, or of Artsakh. It is clear that Azerbaijanis would like to do everything to prevent our statehood and present us as an aboriginal people who have some rights. But this is not the case," said Babayan.

The FM stressed that Artsakh cannot be against the improvement of Armenia-Azerbaijan relations, but as a result of the improvement of these relations, Artsakh cannot be recognized as a part of Azerbaijan.

"Any status of Artsakh within Azerbaijan is unacceptable. Artsakh does not see itself as part of Azerbaijan; this is our red line. We need to be principled, especially in this difficult situation. Principle is the most important component of the immune system for us. As for the Artsakh-Azerbaijan negotiations, Stepanakert has said for years that it is ready to negotiate with Baku, but the question is in what format. And that format is accepted internationally. We are talking about the OSCE Minsk Group, within its framework, Artsakh was recognized as both a negotiating party and a party to the conflict. Therefore, we have never been against negotiations with Baku, but it should be carried out in an internationally accepted format," David Babayan emphasized.

According to the Artsakh official, the international community should respond accordingly to Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev's statements that the residents of Nagorno-Karabakh are citizens of Azerbaijan.

"What is this? A call or a foreshadowing for deportation? I repeat, we are ready to negotiate with Azerbaijan as equals. Of course, we realize that the situation is difficult now, Azerbaijan is trying to take advantage of the opportunity; but that does not mean that we should allow it. We have to defend our rights, dignity with our teeth because if there is no Artsakh, there will be no Armenia either, and we will not be morally either," said the FM of Artsakh, adding that the salvation of Artsakh lies in the unity of Armenia-Artsakh-Armenian diaspora.

And reflecting on the recent anti-Russian sentiments in Armenia, David Babayan said: "He who hits Russia first hits Artsakh and Armenia."

"If there will be no Russian peacekeeping mission, then there will be no Artsakh. Now do we want for Artsakh not to exist? Yes, Russia is a brotherly country for us, but that does not mean that we are against the US, France, Iran, or any other country. We have a diaspora, and we are obligated to have good relations with all those countries where there is an Armenian diaspora. Now should we get worse with Russia and cut our ties with the 3 million Armenians [there]? I ask this question to those who have anti-Russian sentiments. The same applies to the US and other countries. Is Russophobia the only precondition for being good with the US, or vice versa? Armenian statehood will be destroyed with such approaches," added the Artsakh foreign minister.
The data on gas reserves in the EU underground gas storages should be assessed in the context of changed logistics, the load on them will increase, by March the level of reserves in the European underground gas storages could fall to 5%, Gazprom head Alexey Miller said at a session of the Russian Energy Week, Interfax reported.

"Today there are other logistics and other sources of gas supply to the European market. The burden on Europe's natural gas storage facilities will probably be much higher than in previous years," he said.

According to Miller, Germany has the largest volume of gas pumped. "Germany will apparently pump about 20 billion cubic meters. In previous fall and winter periods, Germany consumed 60 or more than 60 billion, which means that there is enough gas in the UGSF for a maximum of 2-2.5 months. There are different forecasts, depending on the temperature, there are optimistic and pessimistic forecasts that about 5% will remain in the European UGSF at the time of withdrawal in March 2023. Yes, Europe will survive, but what will happen to pumping 2023-2024? Then it becomes clear that the energy crisis is not a short-term one, but a systemic one," said Miller.

He stressed that there is a more acute part of the issue, which is the passing of the winter peak. "Entire cities and lands can be frozen in a short period of time. "Gazprom used to supply between 600 million and 1.7 billion cubic meters per day during winter peaks when the cold anticyclone 'The Beast from the East' arrived. European experts today call 800 million cubic meters of gas, which may be lacking in Europe during abnormally severe cold weather, and this is one third of all European consumption," Miller added.
The U.S., Ukraine, and Poland are the main beneficiaries of sabotage on Nord Stream, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, Interfax reported.

"The beneficiary, the beneficiary - it is clear enough, there is no need to go into detail here. After all, the geopolitical importance of the remaining gas systems increases - they run through the territory of Poland, Yamal-Europe - through the territory of Ukraine (two streams), all built in due time by Russia at its own expense, as well as the United States, of course, which can now supply energy resources at high prices," Putin said, speaking at the energy forum "Russian Energy Week" in Moscow.

Under these conditions, the head of state said, it is now possible to impose on European countries in large quantities liquefied natural gas from the United States, which is clearly inferior in competitiveness to Russian pipeline gas. "And the price of American LNG is much higher, and everyone was well aware of this before, well, even more so now," Putin added.

According to him, "there are additional risks, in addition to price indicators."

The president of Russia also called the emergency at Nord Stream an act of international terrorism and a very dangerous precedent. He said the organizers of these attacks "are destroying the infrastructure of competitors, depriving consumers of cheap energy resources and forcing them to buy all this at much higher prices." "Obviously, this is someone who seeks to permanently sever ties between Russia and the European Union, to destroy the political subjectivity of Europe," the president said.
President Vahagn Khachaturyan received Egyptian Ambassador Bahaa El Dessouki on the occasion of completing his diplomatic mission in Armenia, the President's Office informs Armenian News-NEWS.am.

The President thanked the Ambassador for his efforts to develop and strengthen Armenian-Egyptian relations during the four years of his tenure, and wished him success in his future work.

Khachaturyan highlighted the importance of relations with Egypt for Armenia, which are conditioned by historical and cultural relations, common economic interests, and shared approaches to various regional problems.

The Armenian President and the Egyptian Ambassador both attached importance and value to the cooperation between Armenia and Egypt, which continuously deepens and includes various fields within the framework of the rich agenda. At the same time, they emphasized the necessity of frequent high-level visits and periodic consultations between the two countries.

The interlocutor touched also upon the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27).

Ambassador El Dessouki expressed his gratitude for the support he received in Armenia and for the eagerness to cooperate, highlighting that wherever he continues his diplomatic work in the future, he will be as useful as feasible to friendly Armenia and the Armenian people, whom he treats with special warm-heartedness.
Russia is ready to contribute to the implementation of the trilateral statements of the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan and to discuss what needs to be done for their speedy implementation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, RIA Novosti reported.

"We certainly want to discuss today how things are going in your negotiations with Azerbaijan. I know that there have been contacts in Europe quite recently, the media is full of various rumors and speculations. Of course, it would be important to consider today what else we could do to make the three trilateral statements of the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan implement them faster," Lavrov said, opening talks with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan in Astana.

He noted that much has already been done for normalization, including the unblocking of transport links, there are "plans" on the delimitation of borders. "Full normalization of relations between our close neighbors and friends fully meets our interests, we are ready to contribute to this process," the Russian minister added.

Mirzoyan noted that there are many issues regarding which Armenia wants to hear Russia's position. "We are fully committed to the three trilateral statements of the leaders of our states, we appreciate the personal contribution of President (Vladimir) Putin and Russia in establishing peace and normalizing relations with Azerbaijan. In parallel, we see that Azerbaijan's appetite only grows, we are talking not only about Nagorno Karabakh, although the problems there are not solved, but also about the sovereign territories of the Republic of Armenia," the Armenian Foreign Minister said. "Here we - Armenia, as you said, Russia's accomplice and strategic partner - expect a clear position of the Russian Federation," he said.

Mirzoyan noted that the issue was discussed at the UN Security Council session, "and there some countries, with which there is no long history of friendship and strategic partnership, made statements that more objectively and clearly reflect the situation that has developed on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border." "Events are going on intensively, negotiations are going on intensively. There are so many parties that offer their mediation efforts, approaches, platforms. It is very important for us to know Russia's position on these issues, we want to feel Russia's back and move forward on the normalization of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations in the spirit of trilateral agreements, we are ready for it," the Armenian minister stressed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who will arrive in Astana to participate in the summits of CIS heads of state and a meeting on cooperation and confidence-building measures in Asia, will hold talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on October 13, the presidential aide for international affairs Yuri Ushakov said.

"A meeting with Azerbaijani President Aliyev is planned," he told reporters, RIA Novosti reported.

Ushakov noted that the leaders last met on October 7 in St. Petersburg during an informal CIS summit, but agreed to hold a more detailed meeting in Astana. According to him, the relations between the countries are developing in a constructive way. Not only bilateral cooperation, but also Armenian-Azerbaijani relations will be discussed during the talks, the Kremlin representative added. He stressed that Russia "actively and fully promotes the normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Ushakov also said that Russia is one of the main foreign economic partners of Azerbaijan. In 2021 the trade turnover between the two countries increased by 16.1% up to $3.4 billion, in January-August this year the volume of trade amounted to $2.2 billion, which is 11.5% more than in 2021. More than 900 joint ventures operate in Azerbaijan, the volume of Russian investments in the country's economy is about $4.5 billion.
The Russian Federation intends to offer Armenia and Azerbaijan to hold another trilateral summit, and there are plans to coordinate the dates in the near future, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said, RIA Novosti reported.

Putin will visit Kazakhstan on October 13-14 to participate in the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia and in the CIS summit. The president is expected to hold several meetings on the margins. According to Ushakov, Putin will hold talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on the margins.

"We will propose holding another summit in a trilateral format with the participation of the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, and we hope that in the very near future we will be able to agree on the terms of its holding," Ushakov told reporters.

He noted that Russia actively promotes the normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and Moscow believes that "the key to achieving sustainable peace and solving all problems in the region is the realization of trilateral agreements reached with the active participation of the Russian president."
Iran may not recognize the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty, complications may arise. Iran is even ready to introduce its troops into the area, Russian political scientist and expert on the Middle East and Caucasus Stanislav Tarasov told NEWS.am. He reminded that the topic of "Zangezur corridor" was introduced by Azerbaijan; it is not mentioned as a term in the statement of November 9. The condition under which the road will be under the control of the Russian Federal Security Service, according to Tarasov's assessment, irritates Iran, because it fears that they (Turkey and Azerbaijan - ed.) may kick out the Russians, take it under their control and create a Turkic bridge.

"I think it's all far-fetched. Maybe behind the scenes, Aliyev and Pashinyan have these personal conversations, but at the public level, so far, they sound insignificant statements," the expert believes. He pointed to Pashinyan's desire to normalize the relations with Turkey, whose president sets a condition for the opening of the corridor between Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan.

"Iran is not satisfied with this whole situation. The statement of November 9 was signed between Yerevan, Moscow and Baku with indirect participation of Turkey, which actively rushed there. Putin did not allow this. Turkey has nothing to do with Karabakh. Historically, it is a zone of influence of Iran, which was not invited to the talks. Tehran thinks that it can determine the status of Karabakh, it can talk about communications and so on, but the agreement must be signed with its participation. Iran may not recognize the peace agreement, complications may arise. IRI is even ready to introduce its troops into the area. Yerevan and Baku will have to solve this problem with Tehran," the political analyst added.
Turkey is ready to develop the Middle Transport Corridor across the Caspian Sea together with Kazakhstan, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, speaking at the 4th meeting of the Kazakhstan-Turkey Strategic Cooperation Council on Wednesday in Astana, Anadolu news agency reported.

Erdogan noted that Turkey takes an active part in the diversification of Kazakhstan's economy. "According to the results of last year, the trade turnover between our countries exceeded $5 billion. In the medium term, we plan to bring this figure to $10 billion. Everything goes according to plan," the Turkish leader said.

According to him, cooperation in the transport and logistics sector allows the two countries to achieve the target for the medium term. "We have brought investments in Kazakhstan to $4.13 billion. Turkey, unlike other countries, pays attention not only to the energy sector, but also helps to diversify the economy of Kazakhstan and increase employment. I'm sure you will support our companies that want to contribute more to job creation," the Turkish president said.

Erdogan drew attention to the growing economic importance of the Caspian route. "We are ready to develop the Mid-Caspian Transport Corridor [across the Caspian] together with Kazakhstan. We also aim to develop cooperation in the energy sector," the Turkish leader said.

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, in turn, called Turkey one of the closest and most reliable partners of Kazakhstan.

The Kazakh president noted the dynamically developing trade, economic and investment cooperation between the two countries. "Our goal is to bring the mutual trade turnover up to $10 billion. Over the past 15 years, Ankara has invested $4.35 billion in Kazakhstan. And our country has invested $1.13 billion in Turkey," the Kazakh leader said.

He noted that Turkey is among the top 10 largest investors of Kazakhstan. "In general, transit-transport ties play an important role in building the potential of bilateral trade. We call for the development of the Trans-Caspian corridor to reduce transportation costs and delivery time," Tokayev continued.

Tokayev recalled that in June of this year the president held a meeting in Baku in a trilateral format. "We intend to continue this tradition. We suggest holding the next meeting in Aktau," the politician said.

At the end of the talks, a joint statement was adopted in the presence of the heads of state and six documents were signed. Tokayev awarded Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with the Order of Friendship, First Degree.
European arms manufacturers have called on the European Union to help coordinate arms purchases as they struggle to increase production to meet rising demand because of the war in Ukraine, Reuters reported.

Before a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels, defense executives said their industry was determined that EU states should spend less, not more, on defense after decades of peace in Europe.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance has begun a dialogue with industry and allies on how to increase production and replenish weapons stocks. He told a news conference that defense ministers would decide to increase stocks. Stockpile reductions were the right move to support Ukraine, but production now needed to increase to ensure the allies' own capabilities and to continue supporting Ukraine in the long term.

Nicolas Chamussy, executive director of the French defense company Nexter, said the industry had to respond to a surge in EU demand for military equipment, while production capacity was designed for peacetime. He added that there is a serious demand for artillery capabilities in Europe.

Nexter develops and produces military vehicles for the French and international armed forces. It is currently part of the French-German company KNDS, which is 50 percent owned by the French state and 50 percent by the Wegmann-Gruppe family group.

The direct consequence for the war in Ukraine is to be asked to do more, to work faster, which is being asked now, said Eric Beranger, head of pan-European missile manufacturer MBDA.

Nexter's Chamussy urged EU leaders to avoid what he called national-level refragmentation in a turbulent war-driven environment with each member state pursuing its own goals. On the contrary, this challenge must be addressed at the European level, he added, calling for military capacity building through better and more effective cooperation.

The leaders said they urgently need additional personnel. Chamussy called on the EU to help create a reservoir of people and suggested calling back those who have retired early and bringing in experts from other companies and dual-career companies.
President Joe Biden has pledged to "to continue providing Ukraine with the support needed to defend itself," although it is still unclear what that support will look like militarily, Newsweek reported.

Biden told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that the aid package would include air defense systems. In the past, the U.S. has supplied highly mobile artillery missile systems (HIMARS) and Stingers, and plans to send nationally advanced surface-to-air missile systems (NASAMS).

Gabriela Iveliz Rosa Hernandez, a researcher with the Arms Control Association, told Newsweek that the U.S. government has a policy based on providing Ukraine with weapons that "are relevant for the current fight." "In theory, Ukraine could use much more advanced systems, such as the Patriot system or the Iron Dome to intercept rockets.The NATO allies could also try to provide more S-300 anti-aircraft systems as they did in the original phases of the conflict because the Ukrainians already know how to use and maintain these systems."

A senior White House official told CNN that the U.S. would continue to help Ukraine with short- and long-range air defense systems, again without going into detail.

In August, Biden announced eight new NASAMS as part of a security assistance package. They have yet to be shipped - two of the eight should be delivered by November.

Hernandez said there are different variables affecting which systems the U.S. decides to provide to Ukraine, adding that providing NASAMS falls under a new phase of U.S. security assistance to Ukraine.

Jordan Cohen, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute, said NASAMS and other systems must be "contracted out" and built before being provided to Ukraine.

"In the arms sales process, most sales usually take years to be delivered, sometimes five or more," Cohen said. "The reason things have been provided so quickly in Ukraine is that much of it has been taken out of existing defense stocks. The two that are expected to be delivered are only two out of the eight. The other six are going to take years to develop, procure and deliver."

Twelve countries currently have NASAMS: the United States, Norway, Finland, Spain, the Netherlands, Oman, Lithuania, Indonesia, Australia, Qatar, Hungary and one unnamed country.

Cohen said the U.S. and NATO are "are in a bind" in deciding what can and should be sent to Ukraine. "The old adage that it is easier to take land than to hold it rings very true right now, especially because of Ukraine's dependence on Western military aid," Cohen said.
The suspension of U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia could benefit both Russia and China, member of the House of Representatives Adam Smith, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

He said that while the U.S. has a strained relationship with Saudi Arabia, freezing the arms deal would create uncertainty between the two countries.

"You will see Saudi Arabia turn more and more to Russia and China. And how does that play out in terms of meeting our interests?" Smith said in an interview with CNN. "So its a lot more complicated than just saying, you know, we dont like Saudi Arabia, and therefore were cutting it off."

Smith also said the U.S. should put more pressure on Saudi Arabia on issues such as human rights abuses, adding that suspending arms sales would allow Saudi Arabia to establish closer relations with Russia and China.

"I think Putin would potentially have a closer ally in the fight against Ukraine. China would have greater entree to the Middle East. And there would be significant challenges there. And after all of that, would Saudi Arabia be a better global actor?"

Earlier in the day, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal and House Member Ro Khanna (Calif.) introduced a bill Tuesday that would suspend all U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia for one year.

The lawmakers' proposed bill was a response to OPEC+'s decision to cut oil production by 2 million bpd.

Recently, Senator Bob Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also called on the U.S. to freeze cooperation with Saudi Arabia, saying that the country's decision to cut oil production greatly benefited Russia.
Nouriel Roubini: In some sense, World War III has already started

EU considers paying Elon Musk to provide Starlink Internet to Ukraine

U.S. will continue to take practical, aggressive steps to make it difficult for Iran to sell drones to Russia

German Prosecutor's Office searches Deutsche Bank headquarters

Head of Germany's national cybersecurity agency fired amid reports of ties to Russia

Uruguayan Chamber of Deputies condemns Azerbaijan's invasion of Armenian territory

Spanish minister: EU is far from solution to energy crisis

Fake Azerbaijani names of Syunik province communities removed from Google Maps and Google Earth apps

Artsakh President presents details of meetings held in Yerevan to MPs

Lavrov: Russia sees no point in maintaining its previous presence in Western countries

UAE: OPEC+ decision has no political motive

Opposition to David Price: Right to self-determination is the right of people of Artsakh to survive

Iran is ready to negotiate with Ukraine to resolve ambiguities

Deputy Speaker of Armenian National Assembly: 47 PACE deputies made written statement condemning Baku's aggression

Lapid will discuss Kiev request for Israeli systems with Kuleba

Morawiecki: Poland is not afraid of losing EU funds

Armenian President meets with Sofia Mayor

Speaker of Armenian National Assembly to Norway FM: Withdrawal of Azerbaijani Armed Forces from Armenia is a priority

Nikol Pashinyan receives delegation headed by Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt

Iran responds to Borrell's garden and jungle statement: EU needs to accept realities or it will continue to wither

Pashinyan: No one can accuse Armenia of evading its obligations

Congressman: U.S. was not active in terms of security in Armenia, but now situation is changing

Indian defense company Solar group says it has received orders from Armenia for 'Pinaka' missiles

Price: U.S. military aid to Azerbaijan will not be used for offensive purposes against Armenia

Military expert assesses possibility of new hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan

Russian Embassy: Armenians' attitude towards Russians who moved to Armenia remains very friendly

Clarification by Price: What Could Armenian-American military cooperation look like?

Armenian Defense Minister visits DEFEXPO exhibition in India

President of Artsakh talks about results of discussions held in Armenia

Borrell angers UAE with his comparison of world outside Europe to 'jungle'

Public Council formed in Artsakh

China Daily: Party's anti-graft efforts generate fruitful outcomes

Price: We demand that Azerbaijan return to its initial positions

Aghajanyan: This visit should be seen as another stage in dynamic development of Armenian-American relations

Ukraine will officially ask Israel for transfer of air defense systems

Head of National Assembly Commission: 2023 state budget turned out to be biggest in Armenia's history

Turkey conducts test launch of its own ballistic missile over Black Sea

Students of Brusov State University hold protest outside building of Ministry of Education and Science of Armenia

Armenia MFA: Yerevan has always openly and publicly stated its position on dialogue with Turkey

Military exercises of IRGC Ground Forces on border with Azerbaijan continue for second day in Iran

Blinken accuses China of violating status quo on Taiwan

Armenian Foreign Minister: We see Azerbaijan's unconstructive behavior

Izvestia: European banks stop accepting SWIFT-transfers from Russia

Mirzoyan calls on Cavusoglu to speak for himself

Norwegian FM visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex and pays tribute to victims of Genocide

Mirzoyan: We need to understand to what extent CSTO recognizes this aggression against Armenia

MFA: Armenian authorities apply to OSCE to send observers to border with Azerbaijan

NYT: Conflict between Turkey and Greece may cause split of NATO

Ararat Mirzoyan Details of peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan were presented to Norwegian FM

Price of gas in Europe drops to almost $1,200 per 1,000 cubic meters for first time since June

Armenian Defense Minister meets with his Indian counterpart

First images of damage to Nord Stream are published

Erdogan's spokesman: Meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy is impossible now

Peskov redirects question of drone purchases from Iran to Russian Ministry of Defense

Secretary of Armenian Security Council presents consequences of recent Azerbaijani aggression to Brazilian ambassador

Trial of Robert Kocharyan and Armen Gevorgyan is held in Yerevan

IAEA chief says he wants to meet with Putin again

Pashinyan: Azerbaijan creates fake news on ceasefire violations by Armenia

US House of Representatives members visit Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan

Taliban, Iran border guards fire at each other

Another high treason exposed in Armenia

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan armed forces violate ceasefire in Sotk-Kutakan sector

World oil prices on the rise

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

Daily Beast: Biden must stop next Armenian Genocide before it's too late

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
Regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh problem, the main agenda was how Armenia can create an international mechanism for Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan to discuss the security and rights of Karabakh Armenians, Armenian Security Council Secretary Armen Grigoryan said today, on the air of Public Television.

"From the very first minutes of the escalation, the United States showed active engagement, and one of the first phone conversations the Prime Minister had was with Secretary Blinken, and the United States remained involved throughout. The first meeting between the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan was organized by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, and then Jake Sullivan, the U.S. presidential security advisor, organized a meeting between me and the assistant to the president of Azerbaijan, where we basically discussed a number of issues between Armenia and Azerbaijan and also the Nagorno-Karabakh problem.

Regarding the Nagorno Karabakh issue, the main agenda was how we can create an international mechanism for Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan to discuss security and the rights of Karabakh Armenians. We hope that in the process we will be able to form this international mechanism so that there is an opportunity for discussions between Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan on the issues of rights and security," he said.

Grigoryan said they also discussed the terms of the peace agreement, the timetable for which is set by the end of the year, as well as the issue of delimitation. "That is, we should have a peace agreement by the end of the year, and there was also an agreement that delimitation would happen by the end of the year, meaning the peace agreement and delimitation are interrelated. Armenia is concerned that after the peace agreement is signed, Azerbaijan may use the so-called non-demilitarized border as a pretext to attack Armenia, so this issue was discussed. Also on the agenda is the withdrawal of Azerbaijani troops from the sovereign territory of Armenia, we also discussed the lifting of the blockade, the important issue here is that the lifting of the blockade in Armenia and the region, as well as in Azerbaijan, will be based on the principle of reciprocity. You know that Armenia's position remains that we will not discuss any issue that has a corridor logic, and we continue to insist that the lifting of the blockade be based on the principles of sovereignty and reciprocity," he said.

Grigoryan noted that the return of 17 prisoners during the last aggression was discussed, as well as the confirmed return of 33 Armenian prisoners.
Farmers invest in New Frontiers with commodity donations

Media Contact: Mandy Gross | Senior Manager of Strategic Communications and Special Projects | 405-744-4063 | mandy.gross@okstate.edu

The Oklahoma State University New Frontiers campaign, which will help build a state-of-the-art teaching, research and Extension facility for OSU Agriculture, is creating unique opportunities for supporters to give back to the university.

With the option to donate commodities, farmers can invest in the future of agriculture.

Richard and Melodee Wuerflein of Kremlin, Oklahoma, and Keith and Marlene Kisling of Burlington, Oklahoma, became New Frontiers major gift donors when they donated commodity crops.

Richard Wuerflein returned to Kremlin to take over his family farming operation after graduating from OSU in 1977 with a degree in agricultural economics. Successful in his operation, Wuerflein said he has been blessed to support different scholarship and campaign funds, but this was his first time to give grain.

We had a couple of good years and had extra bushels of soybeans, he said. Once I found out I could roll my grain to the OSU Foundation through the local co-op store, the process was simple.

Gifting bushels of soybeans through Farmers Grain Co., Wuerflein later made an additional donation in support of Alpha Gamma Rho to name a space in the new building.

After transferring ownership of the grain, which was immediately sold to support the New Frontiers campaign, I found out AGR was trying to name a room, so I decided I could donate two years in a row and help finish out that project, he said.

With Wuerfleins support, AGR named a group study room on the second floor of the New Frontiers Agricultural Hall. Wuerflein said he hopes the room will be a useful resource for students to study and interact with one another.

In addition, Keith and Marlene Kisling gifted wheat from their operation to the New Frontiers campaign and named the Keith & Marlene Kisling Family faculty office on the second floor of the new facility.

A 1970 OSU agricultural education graduate, Keith Kisling was teaching in Burlington when a local farmer asked him to take over a farming operation. Kisling and his wife established the Kisling Family Farm in 1975 and produced a variety of crops before retiring.

Farmers are cash poor and asset rich; thats why it can be so difficult to get farmers to donate, Kisling said. It makes sense to donate a commodity. It doesnt have to be wheat or soybeans; it can be any crop.

Kisling said the New Frontiers Agricultural Hall will not only improve the quality of teaching, research and Extension in agriculture, but it will also be a useful tool for recruiting students, faculty and staff.

New facilities tend to draw in new people, he said. If you look at the current Ag Hall when you drive by, you can tell its dated. New Frontiers is going to be a fantastic facility, and the new labs and classrooms are going to make a huge difference.

With the support of commodity gifts and other donations, the New Frontiers campaign reached its $50 million fundraising goal in record time. It is recognized as one of the fastest capital campaigns at OSU and the first academic capital campaign of this magnitude to reach its fundraising goal prior to the building opening.

The variety of support we have received shows just how generous our alumni and friends are and that they believe in investing in the future of not only our OSU Agriculture family but also the state of Oklahoma, said Thomas G. Coon, vice president and dean for OSU Agriculture. Although we have surpassed our fundraising goal, we will continue to raise support for the project to enhance our teaching, research and Extension efforts.

Donna Koeppe, vice president of administration and treasurer for the OSU Foundation, said it could be advantageous for farmers to donate commodities versus writing a check or giving cash.

If a farmer sells grain and gifts the proceeds to the OSU Foundation, the income recognized from the sale is ordinary income to the farmer, subject to self-employment tax, she said. Donating the commodity instead of the sales proceeds may mean that the farmer will not recognize any income for the commodity itself, which means the producer may pay no self-employment tax on the value of the gift. The producer may still be able to deduct the expenses associated with the donated commodity.

To learn more or donate agricultural commodities to the New Frontiers campaign, farmers can contact the OSU Foundation at 800-622-4678 and consult their tax advisors to understand potential benefits.

The New Frontiers campaign was launched in January 2020 to build a new state-of-the-art facility for OSU Agriculture. The New Frontiers Agricultural Hall, expected to open in fall 2024, further advances teaching, research and Extension efforts that are critical to the states economy, citizens safety and quality of life. By advancing OSU Agriculture and its programs, New Frontiers is fostering innovation to help feed the world.

Story By: Alyssa Hardaway | alyssa.hardaway@okstate.edu
With lakhs of home buyers, who have invested crores of rupees, still awaiting delivery of their flats, Uttar Pradesh's Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) has brought hope to thousands of people through several significant decisions. Uttar Pradesh RERA President Rajive Kumar told IANS that after the introduction of RERA in Uttar Pradesh, the builders cannot get away and are seeking to deliver flats to home buyers as soon as possible. He also spoke on a diverse issues regarding the real estate sector in Uttar Pradesh. Q: What is the total number of registered projects and agents registered under RERA till now? A: So far more than 3,300 real estate projects and over 5,500 real estate agents have been registered under Uttar Pradesh RERA. Uttar Pradesh RERA has 2,057 ongoing and 1,249 new projects registered under it. Ongoing projects registered means those housing projects registered as on May 1, 2017. Of these, 1,070 projects (52 per cent) are in eight districts of NCR, mainly Noida, Ghaziabad, Meerut and Hapur while 987 housing projects (48.01 per cent) are registered in other 67 districts of the state. Of these 399 projects (19.40 per cent) are in Lucknow district. New housing projects means those housing projects which are registered after May 1, 2017. Of the 1,247 new projects, 464 projects (37 per cent) are in NCR and 783 projects (63 per cent) are in non-NCR districts. In the last one year, 74 new housing projects in NCR and 139 new housing projects have been registered in non-NCR areas. At the same time it can be seen that the real estate sector is growing at a relatively faster rate in the districts outside the NCR, especially Lucknow, Varanasi and Gorakhpur. The sector has regained momentum in the recent past. In recent months, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic, it is seen that the number of registration of new housing projects in the NCR is more than expected. In 2017, the ratio of registered housing projects between NCR and non-NCR was 50:50 which has now reduced. Of the total 783 new housing projects registered in the state in non-NCR region, 679 (86 per cent) housing projects are in 11 districts - Lucknow (280), Agra (59), Varanasi (52), Bareilly (52), Prayagraj (50), Kanpur Nagar (47), Jhansi (38), Mathura-Vrindavan (31), Barabanki (29), Gorakhpur (23) and Moradabad (18). As many as 2,057 ongoing housing projects are registered with the RERA, of which 1,300 (nearly 65 per cent) housing projects have been completed. Q: The situation is quite alarming regarding many housing projects as their completion is in jeopardy. What will RERA do in such a situation? A: There are some housing projects which are no longer viable and they can be solved only through the NCLAT. There are some housing projects which have become viable with time and now the promoters and home buyers are also gathering together in favour of construction because they understand that there is a benefit in this. Q: What is the status of redressal of complaints? A: As many as 45,700 complaints have been filed by allottees under Uttar Pradesh RERA, which is 38 per cent of all complaints filed in the country. Nearly one-third of all complaints of the real estate sector have been successfully handled by RERA alone. Nearly 40,500 complaints have been resolved by RERA, which is 40 per cent of all complaints resolved in the country. Q: Homebuyers are left empty handed even after successfully getting the order. What is RERA doing in such orders? A: There are two channels of execution of orders in RERA. After the expiry of the stipulated date for compliance by the promoter of the refund or other payment-related orders, Online Request for Execution of Order can be filed on the website of RERA. On receipt of such a request, the recovery certificate is sent to the District Magistrate for the recovery of the amount due to the complainant and after the recovery of the amount, the money will be deposited in the account of the complainant through RTGS. Q: What is the most powerful method of recovery in the administration? A: Recovery certificate is used by RERA. If we talk about recovery, then in the year 2018, it was Rs 48 crore. In the subsequent years, the recovery due to Covid-19 decreased to Rs 32 crore. But now the recovery has increased to Rs 121 crore in 2021 and now in 2022 the recovery of Rs 176 crore has been done. So far requests have been received for implementation of orders in 12,400 cases, in respect of which orders have been complied with in about 8,700 cases from the benches of RERA and at the level of Secretary, which is based on the requests received nearly 70 per cent. During the hearing of complaints, the benches of RERA and the conciliation forum established under RERA in NCR and Lucknow, nearly 5,400 cases have been settled amicably on the basis of mutual agreement, in which the value of the underlying assets is nearly Rs 2,020 crore. Q: What action is being taken against the defaulter promoters? A: Registration of 73 projects of 31 promoters was cancelled under section-7 for default under the RERA Act. Action for promotion without registration of the project and marketing/promotion under section 3/59 has been taken against 19 promoters/agents and they have been fined Rs 40 crore. Not filing QPR of housing projects on time have been penalised under section-61, a penalty of Rs 18.20 crore levied. As much as Rs 24 crore fine has been imposed against 81 promoters under section 63 for violation of orders of RERA. SIT probe has been initiated against Unnati Fortune Company of Gautam Budh Nagar and K.R.Sons Company of Lucknow. Using Section 8 of the Act, RERA has provided a new means for stranded home buyers to complete the housing project. Of 14 such projects, the first project 'J.P. The Greens Calypso Court' (Phase-2), which has 148 units, has been established by the Noida Authority. On completion of these 14 projects, about 7,000 allottees will be able to get their years awaited houses. Q: What is happening to the buyers associated with the biggest defaulters? A: The biggest defaulters in the real estate sector are those who were considered to be the biggest housing groups. Like Amrapali Group whose projects are now being completed under the supervision of the Supreme Court, Jaiprakash Infrastructure Limited (JIL) which is still pending in NCLT and Supertech which is currently running in the NCLT. Q: When it comes to banks and financial institutions, should the priority of banks be placed over the priority of homebuyers? A: In this case, there has been a decision of the Supreme Court related to Rajasthan RERA, which I would like to share with you. If a home buyer's loan on a unit is from a bank, then the home buyer's title on that unit or property will be given priority. Home buyers have benefited from several Supreme Court judgments in such cases, which have helped in protecting their interests. --IANS pkt/khz/ ( 1198 Words) 2022-10-11-22:36:01 (IANS)
The Noida and Greater Noida authorities on Tuesday strongly opposed the plea to sell unused and additional floor area ratio (FAR) in Amrapali housing projects to raise funds for the completion of unfinished projects. Senior advocate Ravindra Kumar, representing the Noida and Greater Noida authorities, vociferously contested the proposal for sale of FAR. As a bench, headed by Chief Justice U.U. Lalit said the authorities should think out-of-box solution to resolve the issue with the unfinished housing projects, as thousands of homebuyers are yet to get possession of their flats, counsel for the authorities said the unused FAR in the existing projects should be used for construction purposes. As the bench also asked the authorities to spell out what action was taken against officers who had connived with Amrapali promoters in cheating the home buyers, they said that they should not be punished for the wrong committed by their officials. The top court also asked the authorities to apprise it whether the land allotment policy, which existed during allotment of Amrapali housing projects continues to exist, or some changes have been introduced to it. It will continue to hear the matter on Wednesday. On August 8, the Noida and Greater Noida authorities had strongly opposed the court-appointed receiver's suggestion to sell unused floor area ratio (FAR) to raise funds to complete the unfinished Amrapali housing projects. They had opposed the plea to sell unused and additional FAR and also sub-dividing the plots in Amrapali housing projects to raise funds. Kumar had then contended before a bench headed by Justice Lalit that the court-receiver proposal has to be examined in light of provision of the lease deed, the building regulations, FAR utilised/sanctioned and actual construction at site, to find out whether any vacant land or FAR or both is available. Flat buyers, who were part of the court proceedings, also opposed the receiver's suggestion. In July, the court receiver had told the apex court that there are many instances where a portion or part of land is lying unused and without any construction. "In such cases, the available capacity of such portion of open land can be utilised in open market to generate sufficient resources for flat buyers' benefit." "In his submission, the element of unused and unutilised FAR may as well be worth Rs 700 crore and if permission is granted by this court, the interested buyers may come forward for purchasing that component which is presently lying unutilised. This component in reality belongs to the home buyers and if sold, will help in carrying out construction of unfinished towers/flats," said the top court's order on July 25. The receiver had submitted that the fact that the authorities were requesting for separation of such component is indicative that it is quite possible and permissible. --IANS ss/vd ( 482 Words) 2022-10-11-23:16:02 (IANS)
The communication about his resignation was made by the company in a stock exchange filing on Tuesday evening.

"The Board of Directors placed on record their deep sense of appreciation for the services rendered by Ravi Kumar S. for his contributions to the Company," the stock filing said.

The filing, however, did not point out any reasons for his resignation.

Ravi Kumar S reportedly joined Infosys in 2002 and was appointed as its president in 2016.

In this role, he led the Infosys global delivery organization across all global industry segments, driving digital transformation services, application development and maintenance, among others.

Ravi Kumar S started his career as a nuclear scientist at the Bhabha Atomic Research Center. (ANI)
New Delhi [India], October 12 (ANI/SRV): Parul University's Department of Mass Communication and Journalism, one of the leading institutions in the field of media in India, organized its inter-university media event 'Maadhyam' in the first week of September. Held within the vibrant campus of the University, Maadhyam, a three-day festival, witnessed 5000+ viewers and a variety of competitions and events in which students from different institutions with diverse interests participated. The event has been designed to test the creativity, intellectual prowess and conceptualization of students and provide them with a platform to be aware of modern world reality. Dr Devanshu Patel, President of Parul University, said, "The university has always been ahead in encouraging all the fields of activity and disciplines of endeavour. Through Maadhyam, we encourage the creativity and enthusiasm of our young learners. I congratulate the student body for organising the media event and the students for their enthusiastic participation." Maadhyam witnessed spectacular events such as the RJ Hunt called 'Kem Cho PU', featuring RJs like RJ Puja from Radio Mirchi 98.3; RJ Kabir from Red FM 93.5; RJ Mayank from My FM 94.3 enthralling the students with their wit and quick response. Another highlight of the event was Samvaad, a panel discussion featuring 12 prominent personalities from the mass communication industry. The overall guest list included Shoab Khan, Principle Correspondent of The Times of India (Jaipur) and East-West Centre Fellow, USA; Nirnay Kapoor, Senior Associate Editor of India TV (Ahmedabad); Preeti Das, Co-Founder, Mahila Manch and Former Journalist; Amit Dave, Chief Photographer of Reuters (Gujarat); Vaishal Shah, Film Producer; Jay Bodas, Film Director; Vivek Keluskar, Renowned Cartoonist, Adman and Creative Director; Vashishth Shukla, Editor in Chief of Nation Plus. Apart from these, events such as Live reporting called 'PU wants to know', the Quiz show and Live makeup also grabbed the attention of the attendees. Paresh Vyas, Founder of Sujal Advertisers said, "Maadhyam has provided a platform for students to display their talent. Students displayed vibrancy, enthusiasm and above all creativity, which was easily the highlight of the media fest. It was wonderfully coordinated by students, and so I am expecting more participation and more vibrant in future." With over 15 events, more than 10 guest lectures and above 10 workshops, the three-day fest focussed on several segments and elements of mass communication and journalism, with a hands-on experience for participating students and viewers. Sharing nuggets of wisdom and field experiences, Preeti Das, Veteran Journalist and stand-up Comedian said, "Apart from the five things that come to your mind post thinking about an object, just choose the sixth one that comes to your mind. That is a true story idea". Day 1 of the event witnessed guests from various Media fields who inspired and instructed students vocally. This was followed by a variety of competitions relating to photography, quizzes, videography, elections, and many more that continued throughout the day. Day 2 commenced with a prestigious RJ show, the 'RJ Hunt', and ended with a shadow art competition 'Chhaya Kritya'. Day 3 featured a variety of performances including plays, comedy, impersonation, and more. Ranked one among the top 50 universities for Leading Innovation Achievement in 2020 and awarded as one of the best universities in placements, Parul University proved that Mass Communication and Journalism as a field of study is a wide concept; not restricted to only theory, books and copies, unlike other fields of studies. Situated in the heart of Vadodara, the cultural capital of Gujarat, Parul University is the prime example of a seamless blend of culture, history, and education. The university offers a wide range of diploma, undergraduate, and postgraduate courses in a variety of disciplines. From its inception in 1993 to earning recognition as a university in 2015, Parul University has reached new heights and emerged as one of the most prestigious institutions across the country. More than 250 specially designed courses are available at Parul University to accommodate each student's needs and career preferences. The university aims to develop students with a breadth of vision, knowledge and skill needed to shoulder the globally responsible and ethical leadership burdens of the 21st century and beyond. To know more, please visit: www.paruluniversity.ac.in This story has been provided by SRV. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content in this article. (ANI/SRV)
Jodhpur (Rajasthan) [India], October 12 (ANI/NewsVoir): Jaipur Watch Company, a luxury custom-built watch brand, has raised their first strategic fund round with participation from investors Ankur Mishra (Director - Central Academy Jodhpur Education Society), Tushar Kapoor (Director - Kapsons), Dexter Angels and Marwari Catalysts. The Founder of Jaipur Watch Company, Gaurav Mehta was very fond of watches and collected coins as a hobby, since his childhood. Combining both these interests, Gaurav started the Jaipur Watch Company, headquartered in Jaipur. With a strong belief in the 'Make in India' initiative, Jaipur Watch Company is India's first bespoke Watch Company and offers elegant handcrafted limited-edition watches using craftsmanship from coins collected from the British era. Accelerated by Marwari Catalysts, Jaipur Watch Company was selected out of 300 startups in the accelerator's last D2C cohort. Sharing his rationale, Sushil Sharma, Founder & CEO, Marwari Catalysts says, " Jaipur Watch Company was founded out of a genuine passion for coins and watches. And it is poised to advance its global ambitions after this new round of fundraising. It's been such an exciting journey so far, and we're really proud of the amazing community of collectors that have become part of Jaipur Watch Company . The brand will definitely set new benchmarks in the luxury watch industry across the globe." Gaurav Mehta, Founder, Jaipur Watch Company says, "The Indian watch industry is an evolving industry and has a market size of Rs 10,000 crore. Watch lovers today, in fact, are moving beyond the Omegas and the Rolexes, choosing instead to spend their money on customised timepieces sporting monograms, emblems, flags, coins, etc. And it's this niche clientele that the Jaipur Watch Company is targeting with its unique offerings." As a first-generation entrepreneur, Gaurav had to face several challenges. The first was to fulfill working capital needs since this industry is highly capital-intensive. The second challenge was to create a strong network within the industry by getting the right people for the right job. The third was to enter the luxury watch segment which was not a very big idea in India. But today, he is proud of his decision and the numbers speak for themselves. On his investment into Jaipur Watch Company, Ankur Mishra, Director - Central Academy Jodhpur Education Society says, "Gaurav Mehta has blended luxury and handcrafted limited edition coin watches beautifully into the company called Jaipur Watch Company. I am excited to lead the fund round for them, and be partnering with him on this journey. I look forward to this platform being a progressive and highly relevant leader in the Indian and global luxury landscape soon." Commenting on the fund raise, Devendra Agarwal (Dexter Angels) says, "Jaipur Watch Company has carved its own path in one of the most traditional industries by bringing forward such an unique concept of a coin watch which has completely redefined Luxury watches. Also Gaurav Mehta brings the leadership calibre and experience to unlock this significant market opportunity." As a matter of fact, clearly we have long moved past the time when the watch's only function was to tell the time. Today, it reflects the wearer's style and personality. And Jaipur Watch Company truly reflects the same. In terms of future plans, there are plans of opening flagship stores in Jaipur and Delhi soon. This story has been provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content in this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], October 12 (ANI/BusinessWire India): The Indian Institute of Management Lucknow (IIM Lucknow), one of the premier national-level institutes of management in India and ranked at #6 among the top B-Schools in India as per NIRF, 2022, has announced the launch of the second batch of the first-of-its-kind Chief Operations Officer Programme on December 30, 2022, with Emeritus, the global leader committed to making high-quality education accessible and affordable to all. Rated as 4.4/5 by the past learners of the first batch of this high-impact 11-month Chief Operations Officer (COO) programme, business leaders, aspiring and new COOs will acquire the proficiency and skills to improve their organisation's operational efficiency, resilience to disruption, and scale sustainable business growth. 81 per cent of COOs rely heavily on data to improve their organisation's operational efficiency (IBM Insight, 2021). Customer demand, technology, and data are undergoing seismic shifts. Increasingly, COOs are at the forefront of their organisation's sprint towards transformation. But to position a business for growth, a trailblazing COO must embrace new ways, recalibrate their priorities, and focus on cost control and efficiency. As traditional boundaries fade, a COO must not only be a company's strategic partner but also assess business gaps across cost, efficiency, and customer experience and develop a detailed action plan to close these gaps. To position a business for greater profitability, a trailblazing COO must recalibrate strategic priorities, embrace new ways, and focus on cost control and efficiency with the vision to transform business operations into an engine for growth. In this context, the Chief Operations Officer Programme from IIM Lucknow is ideal for mid and senior-level operational leaders and business heads who want to augment their existing knowledge and transition to COO roles. It allows professionals to enhance their practical, industry-aligned skills with a robust knowledge of both digital and engineering operations management. Delivered through a blend of engaging live online sessions and a five-day in-campus immersion at the IIM Lucknow campus, this programme, taught by distinguished IIM Lucknow faculty, will be most beneficial for senior professionals and business leaders with over ten years of work experience. The programme curriculum includes nine contemporary modules, a capstone project, and real-world case studies, which will equip participants to drive greater business efficiency and impact with a best-in-class experiential understanding of operations and supply chain management. On successful completion of the programme, participants will receive a certificate of completion from IIM Lucknow and eligibility for the prestigious IIM Lucknow Executive Alumni Status. Commenting on the launch of the programme, Programme Directors, Dr Suresh K. Jakhar, Associate Professor, Operations Management & Dr Himanshu Rathore, Assistant Professor, Operations Management, IIM Lucknow, said, "As traditional boundaries fade, a COO must go beyond operational excellence and become a company's "strategic steward". In a modern world of complexity and rapid changes, there are two kinds of organisations. "Thrivers" and "Survivors". As a Chief Operations Officer, how do you ensure your organisation is a "thriver"? How do you abolish silos, increase responsiveness, create new sources of value, and develop sustainable growth? We have designed the programme curriculum to provide the right balance between functional excellence and visionary growth." Mohan Kannegal, CEO, India and APAC, Emeritus added, "As per PWC's 25th CEO survey, Indian leaders are including new metrics in their companies' long-term corporate strategy. 81 per cent include customer satisfaction metrics, while 75 per cent focus on employee engagement metrics and 78 per cent include automation and digitisation goals. This calls for nothing less than reimagining the way companies are run. After the resounding popularity and demand for the first batch of this programme, we are pleased to collaborate with IIM Lucknow in offering batch 2 of this executive certificate programme, designed to enable participants to become effective COOs in the 21st-century workplace." The past learners have felt empowered with the industry-leading insights from leading IIM Lucknow faculty and the skills to digitise functions, meet customer expectations, and improve operations and supply chains for a competitive advantage. The second batch commences on December 30th and has a programme fee of Rs 4,30,000 + GST, with an early bird discount of Rs 30,000 + GST for participants who apply by Monday, October 31, 2022. This CXO leadership course is delivered by Emeritus through a digital-first, seamless learning, and high engagement experience. More than 2,000 participants from all over India have benefitted professionally from several IIM Lucknow executive certificate programmes offered by Emeritus and these have observed an overall 379 per cent increase in enrolments last year. Visit the programme page for more details and apply soon to reserve the seat. This story is provided by BusinessWire India. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/BusinessWire India)
New Delhi [India], October 12 (ANI/PNN): For any brand, flawless customer care service to its customers is its backbone, especially when building trust. Voltas limited, one of the renowned home appliances brands, also strives to achieve smooth customer care services. When a brand renders flawless customer care service, it bags an effortless long-term relationship and loyalty with its customers. OneDios is a distinctive aggregator app that Voltas now trusts with its customer care requests. The OneDios- #RequestKaroRelaxKaro sincerely goes by its hashtag. The foremost aim of OneDios is to make the customer care experience flawless. Registering any complaint or raising a request is made easy through this application. It's not just it. OneDios smartly takes the burden off Voltas customer care number by diverting a reasonable sum of customer calls through their platform. From enhancing their customer care service experience to other internal functions, Voltas got on board with the OneDios app for effective all-around technology advancement. Soon after this collaboration, the customer retention chart of Voltas witnessed significant gains. Having its inception in 2019 by savant business people, Mr Nitin Chawla and Mr Amit Sharma, the app began its journey of providing aggregator services to just one brand. Since then, there has been no turning back for OneDios. Today, the app works for an array of renowned and popular brands. The underlying purpose of creating this app was to function as a catalyst for the customer care services of grand brands. With the passing of time and strategic development in OneDios partnerships, today, OneDios accounts for about 10 Lakh happy and satisfied customers. Although the foremost aim of any customer care service is to provide relentless assistance to end users, reaching them is a daunting task. The standard method of registering a complaint begins by searching for the Voltas customer care service number, then trying to reach them by calling on their various customer care portals, not forgetting the long waiting on IVR to finally talk to a customer care executive. Even after enduring this long process, there is no assurance of getting the customer's issue resolved. Not fair, right? That's when devising OneDios into the market came as a blessing. The platform has cut short the long, daunting process of reaching out to a customer care executive just to register a complaint to an easy-peasy online complaint registration. Sounds great, right? Yes, using OneDios to register your complaints in less than a minute to get seamless customer care services is a dream come true for many, especially for the working class. This application has been a great asset for the working class who scarcely get time for themselves and their families by registering their request to get their home appliances fixed in no flat time. The portal pledges to provide hassle-free customer care services to the user end and to the customer care department of such brands. The best part is that you can register any complaint to Voltas customer care department through your Android/IOS mobile phones. The Godsend app, with its proven user-friendly interface, comes with handy features like tracking the status of the raised complaint. Yes, this thought-provoking feature helps customers to track the status of the request they have submitted through the platform. Another advantage of registering a complaint through this app is that you also receive a confirmation mail for the desired appointment you made. Talking about the exclusive features of this app, the app also lets you keep your invoice, warranty cards, insurance paper, and more safe by uploading them on the app. No more fearing losing your documents since they are safe with your OneDios vault. Wait, there's more! The newly launched AMC (Annual Maintenance Contracts) feature allows you to extend the warranty on every Voltas appliance. For Voltas window AC, the AMC plan includes Gas Charges, 2 standard AC services, and encloses the spare parts as well. Since keeping the existing customers happy and satisfied with their products and customer care services is a challenging job, OneDios has made it a cakewalk for many brands. No need to chase the customer care service numbers anymore when this advanced app is in the picture. Grand brands like Voltas are furiously collaborating with this app to get a seamless customer service aggregator platform for themselves. This story has been provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content in this article. (ANI/PNN)
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], October 12 (ANI/SRV): 'The White Tusk' dental studio, a luxury cosmetic dental clinic has opened its doors in Bandra, Mumbai to meet the growing demand for cosmetic dental procedures, especially during the wedding season. For individuals of all ages, The White Tusk offers a multi-speciality treatment. It has the latest imported dental chairs, internationally acclaimed dental implants, top-of-the-line instruments, and tailored quality treatment. In addition, it provides a comfortable, hygienic, and calming environment. Following all the COVID-19 norms, the dental studio is equipped with two private dental operatories, a four-step sterilization protocol, and International standard equipment. Furthermore, The White Tusk studio is majorly known for its Bridal dentistry services. As the name suggests it mainly focuses on the smile enhancement of the bride-to-be for the special occasion. In addition to the accessories that make the bride look beautiful, a good smile is an equally essential component. There are many procedures which dentists have been performing to improve one's smile, however, bridal dentistry is one such concept where all these procedures are integrated to give a comprehensive solution to get a beautiful smile. The procedures are the same, but the concept of integrated treatment is new. "It's not a smile makeover, it's a confidence makeover", says Chief Dentist Dr Vinita. She adds, "Instant dental cosmetic procedures, not only enhance your smile but also elevate the overall aesthetic of the face, which is always a bonus. A brilliant smile radiates joy, excitement, confidence, health and vitality, and we can help you attain a perfect smile with our signature handcrafted smile makeovers, as every smile is unique and powerful." There is a wide range of procedures which can be performed in the specially curated package ranging from simple cleaning of the teeth, reshaping of teeth and gums, and teeth whitening to much more complex treatments like orthodontic correction (braces) provided time permits. Most of the time people turn up when the wedding is just a few days ahead. In such scenarios, the studio offers services such as: Teeth Cleaning and polishing- A quick oral hygiene visit, lasting about 30 minutes, that removes tartar, and stains and eliminates bad breath. Zoom Advanced Teeth Whitening- A single sitting 45-minute procedure that will brighten and whiten the colour of the teeth up to 8 shades with effects that last for over a year. Customized Smile Makeovers- Handcrafted procedures including cosmetic fillings, veneers, etc to treat gaps, chipped, discoloured, overlapped, or protruded teeth It even offers a wide range of treatments like Smile Designing or day smile makeovers, Teeth Whitening and Cosmetic fillings, Oral Surgery, Implants, Dentures and Bridges, Braces, Invisalign, Painless Root canal, and Full mouth reconstruction. Commenting on the same, Dr Vinita Tekchandani, the chief dentist said, "Over the course of my career, I have treated more than 5000+ patients with various needs and requirements. I promise to provide my patients with top-notch care at reasonable costs because dentistry is a creative industry." She continued, "We strive to make our facility as comfortable as possible so that people won't fear going to the dentist. Additionally, we have a mobile digital X-ray machine that is most suited for patients who are unable to travel to the clinic because of underlying medical issues. Senior citizens can also consult with us for free." Graduated from Dr D.Y. Patil Dental College in Pune, one of India's top universities, and with a Master's degree in oral and maxillofacial pathology, Dr Vinita has mastered the most recent dental technologies over her ten years of considerable experience serving as the chief dentist for prominent corporate dental clinics. High-profile persons, Bollywood stars, and prosperous businesspeople are among her customers. Dr Vinita has taken various courses from prestigious colleges on topics including cosmetic dentistry, smile design, and implants in order to develop her knowledge and abilities. Dr Vinita Tekchandani is certified by the Academy of General Dentistry, San Francisco, USA, and has also mastered the art of contemporary Digital Dental Photography from the Dental School of Photography, Mumbai. Having over 10 national and international publications to her name in renowned dental journals, Dr Vinita has been an active member of the ever-evolving dental fraternity. For more details, please visit: https://thewhitetusk.com/ This story has been provided by SRV. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content in this article. (ANI/SRV)
Pune (Maharashtra) [India], October 12 (ANI/NewsVoir): On the occasion of Diwali, Bajaj Mall has announced the return of its EMI Hai Na campaign, packed with exclusive Festive Season Sale from 11th to 26th October on televisions from top brands. You can shop for your favourite television without worrying about the price tag as you can convert your purchase into No Cost EMIs. Additionally, you can avail of the exclusive festive sale cashback of up to Rs. 5,000 by shopping on Bajaj Mall. If you have been waiting for a TV upgrade, grab the opportunity this Diwali. Furthermore, you have the option to choose a convenient repayment tenure of up to 36 months with EMIs as low as Rs. 740. On Bajaj Mall, there is a host of options available, from LED TVs to Full HD TVs, 4k Ultra HD TV, OLED TV, QLED TV, 3D TV and Curved TVs; you can get a TV that suits your requirement and style. If you are into Smart TVs, then Bajaj Mall is the one-stop shop for you to buy a Smart TV as well. Our strong partner network of about 1.2 lakh+ partner stores spread across 3,000+ cities make it more convenient for you to buy a TV on Bajaj Mall using your Insta EMI Card. Some of our partner stores include Reliance Digital, Croma, Vijay Sales, and more. So, visit our website today and buy your most awaited television today. Shop for the TVs from top brands in 5 easy steps: Log in to the Bajaj Mall using the registered mobile number Choose the TV you want to buy, add it to the cart, select the repayment tenure and proceed to checkout Enter your Bajaj Finserv Insta EMI Card details, registered mobile number, name and delivery address Click on the 'Generate OTP' option and enter the OTP sent to the registered mobile number in the field to complete the purchase A confirmation SMS will be sent to the registered mobile number with the date and time of delivery *Terms and Conditions Apply To know more, visit www.bajajmall.in. Bajaj Finserv Limited is the holding company for the various financial services businesses under the Bajaj group. Its vision is to provide financial solutions for retail and SME customers through their life cycle. These involve: (i) asset acquisition and lifestyle enhancement through financing, (ii) asset protection through general insurance, (iii) family protection through life and health insurance, (iv) providing healthcare needs for the family, (v) offering savings products, (vi) wealth management, and (vii) retirement planning and annuities. Through these businesses that offer various attractive solutions, BFS serves millions of customers. BFS participates in the financing business through its 52.49 per cent holding in Bajaj Finance Limited (BFL) and in the life, general and health insurance businesses through its 74 per cent holding in two unlisted subsidiaries, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company Limited (BAGIC) and Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Company Limited (BALIC). BFS has an 80.13 per cent stake in Bajaj Finserv Direct Limited (BFSD), which is a digital marketplace for financial services products from loans to insurance, mutual funds, investments, lifestyle products, payments and e-commerce is a subsidiary of BFS. The balance 19.87 per cent is held by BFL. Bajaj Finserv Health Limited (BFHL), which is a health tech venture seeking to create a digital preventive, personalised and pre-paid health solution is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BFS. Bajaj Finserv Ventures Limited, Bajaj Finserv Asset Management Limited and Bajaj Finserv Mutual Fund Trustee Limited are wholly-owned subsidiaries of BFS. Bajaj Finserv Asset Management Limited is awaiting final approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India for commencement of the mutual fund business. Bajaj Housing Finance Limited (BHFL), which is a profitable and fast growing enterprise engaged in various aspects of housing finance and development and Bajaj Financial Securities Limited (BFinsec), which is a stockbroker that provides its clients a full suite of investment products and services in an all-in-one digital platform, are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Bajaj Finance Limited. Both BFS and BFL are included in the benchmark BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 index of large cap stocks. The results of these subsidiaries are reflected in the consolidated results of the Company. As required by regulation, BFS has adopted Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS). The insurance companies are not covered under Ind AS. They have prepared Ind AS financials only for the purpose of consolidation. Accordingly, standalone numbers relating to BAGIC and BALIC reported above are based on non-Ind AS accounting standards (Indian GAAP) as applicable to insurance companies. This story has been provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content in this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)
India's largest carrier by passenger volumes -- IndiGo -- has decided to operate wide-body aircraft in the next few months to meet the demand of international operations in the aviation business, an IndiGo statement confirmed. "As an interim measure, we have decided to take on wet/damp lease certain aircraft to cover the shortfall for our scheduled international operations," the budget carrier said. "International air travel is going through a strong period of recovery, and demand continues to rise in the upcoming festive and winter season. This is a positive sign for the industry and IndiGo remains very bullish on strong growth for international travel to and from India in the future," IndiGo added. This induction of the low-budget carrier into the wide-body aircraft league will give a tough competition to other airlines such as Vistara and Air India. The government had recently discussed with Indian airlines to operate wide-body aircraft to make India a global aviation hub. The civil aviation ministry had asked low-fare airlines like IndiGo and SpiceJet to explore the possibility of inducting wide-body aircraft in their fleet and also explore strengthening as full-service airlines such as Vistara and Air India. "IndiGo currently has over 275 narrow-body Airbus aircraft in its fleet and 26 international routes including 74 domestic routes," a company official said. IndiGo has received approval from aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for the induction of wide-body aircraft under wet lease. "We have received an in-principle approval from the regulators for the same and the induction of these aircraft remains subject to further requisite regulatory approvals. We are committed to exploring every opportunity possible to overcome these capacity challenges and provide our customers with efficient and affordable air travel," an IndiGo statement read. According to aviation sources, the budget airline will finalise a deal to wet lease with Boeing 777 aircraft to increase international routes for western countries. In an earlier statement by the outgoing CEO of Interglobe Aviation, Ronojoy "Rono" Dutta, expressed his confidence multiple times that IndiGo would operate direct flight to London in the coming days and also mentioned that, "buying wide-body aircraft is just a matter of time." He added that the time has come for India's low-cost airline IndiGo to get into the wide-body aircraft business. Interglobe Aviation operates the carrier IndiGo. "However, as the aviation industry globally continues to face significant supply chain disruptions, we have been exploring a multitude of solutions to enable us to continue our operations smoothly and to provide our customers with efficient and affordable travel," an IndiGo statement said. (ANI)
REC Power Development and Consultancy (RECPDCL) handed over the project-specific special purpose vehicle -- ER NER Transmission Limited -- to Power Grid Corporation of India. REC is a Maharatna CPSE under the ministry of power.

The statement said the Power Grid Corporation of India had been the successful bidder of the inter-state transmission project of the ministry of power, and RECPDCL was the bid process Coordinator.

The selection of Power Grid Corporation, the official statement said, was carried out through tariff-based competitive bidding (TBCB) for the selection of transmission developers in line with the standard bidding documents and guidelines thereof as notified by the ministry of power.

The work involves the establishment of 2 X 500 megavolt amperes integrating current transformer air-insulated substation (MVA ICT) (AIS) at Banka along with associated works, the upgradation of Namsai, and related works, including around 77 km of 220 kV double circuit transmission lines. The project for implementation is targeted in 36 months.

With the handing over of the SPV, the statement said RECPDCL successfully handed over 41 transmission projects now costing Rs54,642 crore under the TBCB route. (ANI)
Parineeti Chopra and Harrdy Sandhu-starrer 'Code Name Tiranga' was shot during the COVID pandemic. Recalling working on the film, Parineeti said, "We shot Code Name Tiranga during one of the most unpredictable times mankind has ever seen, we left for Turkey 3 days before India went into lockdown during the 2nd wave of COVID-19. As blessed as I was to get to do what I love doing most which is acting, every single day was very difficult as we had many challenges to deal with." She also talked about the hardships that the team faced in Turkey. "There were days when we didn't know whether we will be able to shoot the next day or not, and one day of shoot getting cancelled meant restructuring the entire schedule. The feeling was that the entire crew was isolated on an island. What happened because of this is that all of us became like one big family away from home, who were dealing with so many obstacles day in and day out. The director and the producer of the film stood rock solid and they decided to take up every challenge that came their way. I wouldn't have chosen anyone else other than the team of Code Name Tiranga to go through those difficult times together, and we are stronger for it," she said. Sharad Kelkar, Rajit Kapur, Dibyendu Bhattacharya, Shishir Sharma, Sabyasachi Chakraborty and Deesh Mariwala are also a part of 'Code Name Tiranga', which will hit the theatres on October 14. (ANI)
After facing backlash over his film 'Laal Singh Chaddha', superstar Aamir Khan has once again found himself at the receiving end of social media trolls. This time he is receiving flak online for allegedly hurting religious sentiments through his latest commercial with actress Kiara Advani. The commercial is for AU Small Finance Bank. It shows Aamir and Kiara as newlyweds trying to change traditions as the groom, Aamir, movies to the bride, Kiara's house after their wedding to take care of her ailing father. Based on the theme of changing traditions, Aamir and Kiara question banking traditions with their advertisement. However, the particular advertisement did not go down well with a section of social media users. Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri, too, slammed the ad. Taking to Twitter, he wrote, "I just fail to understand since when Banks have become responsible for changing social & religious traditions? I think@aubankindia should do activism by changing corrupt banking system. Aisi bakwaas karte hain fir kehte hain Hindus are trolling. Idiots(they do nonsense like these and then say Hindus are trolling)." Many even claimed on Twitter that they were closing their accounts at the bank in protest. During the release of Aamir's 'Laal Singh Chaddha' in August, some Twitter users went through the archives and dug up his controversial "India's growing intolerance" statement and circulated it on the micro-blogging site. Talking about the controversial statement in question, in 2015, Aamir said in an interview, "Our country is very tolerant, but there are people who spread ill-will". His wife Kiran Rao also made headlines for saying that she considered leaving the country for the safety of their children. Reacting to the particular interview, Twitter users put up posts using hashtags such as #BoycottLaalSinghChaddha and #Boycottaamirkhan. The Trolls also dug up when Aamir met Turkey's First Lady Emine Erdogan while he was shooting for Laal Singh Chaddha there. Netizens were unhappy with the meeting as happened in the backdrop of Turkey's increasing anti-India and pro-Pakistan stand. Aamir literally requested people to watch his film after he received flak. "That Boycott Bollywood... Boycott Aamir Khan... Boycott Laal Singh Chaddha... I feel sad also because a lot of people who are saying this in their hearts believe I am someone who doesn't like India... In their hearts, they believe that... And that's quite untrue. I really love the country... That's how I am. It is rather unfortunate that some people feel that way. I want to assure everyone that it's not the case so please don't boycott my films, please watch my films," Aamir had said. (ANI)
Taking cognisance of the rise in vector-borne disease (VBD) cases, especially dengue, in the capital, the Delhi government has asked all the hospitals to reserve 10-15 per cent of their beds for such patients. As per reports, Delhi witnessed a sharp rise in dengue cases in the last week. In the last month, the city reported highest number of 693 new dengue cases, and so far, has reported 937 cases of vector-borne disease this year. However, no death due to dengue has been reported so far. The government has asked the hospitals or nursing homes to ensure that no patient suffering from dengue fever or any other VBD is denied admission on account of lack of beds. The order issued by the Health Department also states that all the government and private hospitals that have beds reserved for admitting Covid-19 patients, should use those beds for dengue or VBD patients, if they are lying vacant. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who also holds the Health portfolio currently, said: "Present weather conditions are the peak transmission period for VBDs like dengue. Cases have seen a sharp rise in the last two weeks but there is no need to panic as all the arrangements have been set in place to provide treatment to patients at hospitals. "The government has put all the hospitals across the national capital on alert and is keeping an eye on the whole situation. Hospitals have been directed to reserve 10-15 per cent of their beds for VBD patients and ensure that no patient is denied admission due to lack of beds." Sisodia said that currently approximately 8,800 hospital beds have been reserved in all hospitals including Central government, Delhi government and private for Covid-19 cases, of which the occupancy is less than 1 per cent since the last 3-4 weeks. The government has also advised hospitals to use these beds for accommodating VBD patients. "Last year, Delhi faced a tough time due to a rise in dengue cases during the months of August to November but the hospitals tackled the cases diligently. Following the situation faced last year, all the hospitals and local bodies have been sent the communication to take necessary actions for preparedness to deal with vector-borne disease cases," he said. --IANS avr/vd ( 393 Words) 2022-10-11-22:16:05 (IANS)
Describing a temple as an encroachment, the Railways has sent a notice to Lord Hanuman in Dhanbad city of Jharkhand. In the notice, Lord Hanuman has been asked to remove the temple within 10 days and hand over the vacated land to the Railways section engineer. This notice has been pasted on the wall of the temple located near the waste dam of the city. Directly addressed to Hanuman ji, the notice says that "you have illegally occupied the railway land. This is a legal offence. If this place is not vacated within 10 days, legal action will be taken against you." The last line of the notice says that "consider it very necessary". The local people have opposed the Railways notice. The Railways has sent notices against encroachments to about five dozen people living in Khatik Basti located near the temple. During this time, the Hanuman temple has also been described as an encroachment. The people who got the notice to remove the encroachments say that they have been living here since 1921. They earn their living by doing small businesses like selling fruits, fish, vegetables. The railway team has pasted a notice to vacate all the houses in the locality as illegal occupation. On Monday and Tuesday, a large number of people gathered near the temple and protested against the railways notice. --IANS snc/uk/bg ( 245 Words) 2022-10-11-20:12:04 (IANS)
The team of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and the fire services team of Dhemaji district were engaged in the search and rescue operation.

The incident took place near the Kangkan Chapori area under Jonai Sub-Division on Monday when a country-made boat carrying 7 persons including two children capsized on the Lali river.

Following the incident, locals rescued six persons, but a one-year-old child is still missing.

A staff of SDRF of Dhemaji district said that SDFR and fire services team have engaged in the search operation.

"Following the boat capsized incident other persons were rescued, but a one-year-old child is still missing. The incident occurred yesterday," the SDRF staff said.

According to locals, the country-made boat was going from Kangkan Chapori towards the Lomba Chapori area. (ANI)
Karnataka BJP MLA Arvind Bellad on Tuesday reiterated his demand to the BJP government to cancel the reservation given to Muslims and Christians in the state. He demanded that the reservation quota should be given to the Panchamasali Lingayats. Welcoming the move by the state government to enhance the reservation for the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Communities, he slammed the Congress for bringing religion based reservations. Because of the Congress government's decision, Muslims are getting reservation facilities under both 2 A and 2 B categories. This should be cancelled and the same should be given to Panchamasali Lingayats who have been agitating for a long time demanding reservation, he said. "I congratulate the BJP government for fulfilling demands pending for decades by oppressed classes. At the same time, many other backward communities are demanding reservation in the state. The Maratha community is asking for reservation under 2A category. "Gowda Lingayats, Malle Gowdru, Deeksharu come under Panchamasali Lingayat sub sect across the state, they are demanding reservation. The Koodu Vokkaliga community is also demanding reservation under 2A category. "The Ganga community, Kuruba community are also asking for reservation under different categories. This is the time to address these demands," Bellad stated. There is no need to enhance the percentage of reservation like it was done for SCs and STs. In the Other Backward Community (OBC) category, the reservation is given for those who are not OBCs, he explained. "According to our constitution there is no reservation on the basis of religion. There is only a caste based reservation system. Then the Congress government has provided four per cent reservation for Muslims under 2 B category. Similarly, a few Muslims are also availing reservation under 2 A category," Bellad said. "They also get reservation in category 1. Likewise injustice has been done to OBCs over a period of time. The time has come to set right this injustice. The reservation given to Muslims should be withdrawn. The same should be provided to backward communities such as Panchamasali Lingayats," he said. The Maratha community has to be given reservation under 2A category. "I have confidence in the CM that he would take suitable decisions at an appropriate time," he said. Karnataka Congress president D K Shivakumar has stated that he would react if Chief Minister Bommai made any statement in this regard. --IANS mka/bg ( 408 Words) 2022-10-11-20:52:04 (IANS)
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will visit Ayodhya on Wednesday, the third time in 20 days, to unveil the statue of Hindu philosopher and social reformer Ramanujacharya at Radha Soami Temple Golaghat at 12 noon. Yogi will also hold a meeting regarding the preparation of Deepotsav. The Chief Minister will reach Ram Katha Park Helipad from where he will unveil the statue. He will thereafter attend the Silver Jubilee Festival at Shri Ram Mantrath Mandapam, from where he will reach the Ram Katha Museum. Yogi will hold a meeting at the museum which will be attended by the senior officers of the district. Notably, Yogi had reached Ayodhya for the preparation of aerial survey and Deepotsav on September 23. He had again visited the city on September 28 for the inauguration program of Chowk and Veena made in memory of Lata Mangeshkar. He will visit the city again on October 12. On September 28, the Chief Minister had announced to instal a statue of Ramanujacharya. On the 1000th birth anniversary of Ramanujacharya, his idol is being installed in Ram Nagari. "For the first time, the statue of Jagadguru Ramanujacharya will be installed in Ramnagari. This statue will be about four feet long, which will be installed in the Radha Krishna temple built on the style of South India, located just 2 km from Ram Janmabhoomi. The saints had demanded Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to name the main square of Ayodhya after Ramanujacharya. On this, the Chief Minister had assured them that in the coming years, crossroads would be built in Ayodhya in the name of senior sages," said an official statement. (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday paid tribute to Vijaya Raje Scindia on her birth anniversary and hailed her for being synonymous with courage and foresight. "On her birth anniversary, tributes to Rajmata Vijaya Raje Scindia Ji. She was synonymous with courage and foresight. She devoted her life to serving others," PM Modi tweeted. PM Modi also shared one of the videos of previous programmes of 'Mann Ki Baat' and highlighted the days from the 'Unity' march. Recalling an emotional moment with Rajmata during the Unity march from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, led by Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, PM Modi talked about an incident when Rajmata offered him hot milk in cold weather during the month of December-January. "She was from a royal family and had all resources and power, but still she dedicated her whole life to the service of the people like a mother. I can never forget that incident about her motherly love and care," Modi said, adding that the country's people are fortunate that such great personalities have served our country. Vijaya Raje Scindia, popularly known as Rajmata of Gwalior was born on October 11, 1919, at Sagar in Madhya Pradesh. After completing her education, she was inspired by the freedom movement and joined the struggle for independence. She believed in educating the girl child and women empowerment. In post-independence India, education for girls entered a new phase. It was to meet this need for a comprehensive Indian education stressing Indian values, religions, and culture that she worked to educate girls and women. Scindia remained a Member of Parliament for many years between 1957 and 1998. She was actively engaged in different social activities, especially in the field of women empowerment and worked closely with various organizations dedicated to the cause of upliftment of women through education. She was a writer and wrote two books. Vijaya Raje Scindia died on January 25, 2001. (ANI)
The pilot has been recovered and is stable.

"The twin-engine MiG-29K crashed over the sea after it developed a technical malfunction while returning to base. The pilot ejected safely and has been recovered in a swift search & rescue operation. He is reported to be in stable condition," Indian Navy said.

The Navy said it has ordered a Board of Inquiry (BoI) to investigate the cause of the incident.The Indian Navy is the world''s only operator of the MiG-29K fighter aircraft acquired from Russia along with Admiral Gorshkov renamed INS Vikramaditya in India.

The safety record of the MiG-29Ks has not been very good. The force is now looking at the procurement of 25-26 foreign fighter aircraft for operations from the aircraft carrier INS Vikrant commissioned recently by the Prime Minister in Kochi.

The MiG-29s are deployed in Goa at the naval base INS Hansa. (ANI)
After Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) Rajya Sabha MP and Member of Committee of Parliament on Official Language Harnath Singh Yadav on Wednesday criticized Vijayan saying those who are opposing Hindi have political motives behind it. Speaking to ANI, Yadav said, "Chief Minister of Kerala and other people who are opposing Hindi have political motives behind it. As far as the languages are concerned, I am a member of the Official Language Committee. Whatever report we have submitted to the President of India, under the leadership of Home Minister Amit Shah, it has been urged to make a provision that Hindi should be developed as a communication language." "The second thing is that Prime Minister and Home Minister have always said on many occasions that we want to enrich Hindi and all the regional mother tongues of the country equally. All the regional languages should progress equally," he said. Yadav further said that in the country, more than 70 per cent of the people know, understand, read, write and speak the Hindi language. He said there is only less than 2 per cent of the people know the English language, as per the census of 2011. He said Kerala CM opposed Hindi but wants to maintain English, which is the language of the British. "Kerala CM is misleading the country by making such rhetoric. He wants that the English language should be known, it is the language of slavery. Whether it is Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam whatever regional languages are there if all those languages are prosperous, then the unity of the country will remain and we are taking that forward," added the BJP MP. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan wrote to PM Modi informing the state's stand of not accepting the parliamentary panel recommendation to make the Hindi language the medium of exams for central services and make it a compulsory study language in educational institutions incl IITs and IIMs. "The essence of India is defined by the concept of 'unity in diversity' which acknowledges cultural and linguistic diversity. Promoting any one language above others would destroy integrity, said Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan in a letter to PM Modi, demanding the withdrawal of such efforts," said Kerala CM. (ANI)
Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivkumar was seen wearing a t-shirt highlighting the 'unemployment' problems during the Karnataka leg of the Bharat Jodo Yatra on Wednesday. The Congress leader wore a bright red coloured t-shirt with yellow text- symbolically signifying Kannada colours- highlighting the problem of unemployment while walking alongside Congress MP Rahul Gandhi during the 35th day of the Yatra. "Youth need jobs, not empty promises", a message, written on DK Shivkumar's t-shirt in the Kannada language. The State Congress chief accused the BJP government of failing to tame the rising unemployment in Karnataka. While taking a dig out at the Centre, DK Shivkumar said, "It is our responsibility to stand accountable with the promises we make to our youth who repose their faith in us believing that we would take care of their future and utilize their potential". "Youth need jobs, not empty promises", he added. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi resumed the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' from the Challakere town, Chitradurga in Karnataka on Wednesday. The Congress leader also held a meeting with around 2000 unemployed youth from the southern state. Karnataka Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah and State Congress chief DK Shivkumar were also present with Rahul during the Karnataka leg of the Bharat Jodo Yatra today. A large number of people were seen gathering here with Rahul Gandhi raising the tricolour and following the Congress MP to show their support for the Bharat Jodo Yatra. The Bharat Jodo Yatra began on September 7 from Kanniyakumari and has covered a distance of 905 km so far. It will pass through a total of 12 states, to culminate in Jammu and Kashmir. Congress leader Shivkumar asserted that the Congress party is making more efforts aimed at creating more opportunities and more solutions when sworn to power. "Youth can share their current employment status, name, age, and other qualifications while filling the form on the website which would help us in getting them better jobs", he added. Shivkumar said, pressing that he can develop a sustainable job-creating eco-system only if he knows the factual status of the qualifications and aspirations of the youth and the job applicants. He appealed to the Youth to join the initiative in large numbers so that more and more jobs can be created in Karnataka. (ANI)
The Jammu administration on Tuesday issued an order authorising all tehsildars (revenue officials) to issue a certificate of residence to people residing in the district for more than one year. The purpose of the certificate of residence is to ensure that no eligible voter is left for registration in the ongoing special summary revision of electoral rolls. "Whereas, Special Summary Revision, 2022 has been started in Union territory of the Jammu and Kashmir with effect from September 15,2022, for registration of new voters, deletion, correction, transposition of voters who have migrated, died since last Summary Revision," read the order of the Deputy Commissioner, Jammu. Whereas, as per guidelines issued by the Election Commission of India, the order said any of the following documents can be accepted as proof of residence: water/electricity/ gas connection for one year; Aadhar card, current passbook of nationalized/scheduled bank/ post Office; Indian Passport; Revenue Department's land owning record including Kisan Bahi; registered rent/lease deed (in case of Tenant); registered sale deed in case of own house. The order further said these guidelines further provides that in case none of the mentioned documents is available, field verification is a must. As for example, category like homeless Indian citizens who are otherwise eligible to become electors but do not possess any documentary proof of ordinary residence, the Electoral Registration Officer shall designate an officer for field verification. "It has been noticed that some eligible voters are facing hardships in registration as Voters for non-availability of documents mentioned hereinabove; Now, therefore, keeping In view the urgency involved in the matter and to ensure that no eligible voter is left for registration during the Special Summary Revision, 2022. In District Jammu, all Tehslldars are authorized to issue certificates of residence after conducting necessary field verifications, to the person(s) residing In District Jammu for more than one year, for the purpose," added the order. However, the move received backlash from former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti. Taking to Twitter, Mufti said, "ECI's latest order for registration of new voters makes it clear that GOIs colonial settler project has been initiated in Jammu. They will bear the first blow to Dogra culture, identity, employment and business." The former CM of the erstwhile state further said, "BJP's attempts to create religious and regional divisions between Jammu and Kashmir must be thwarted because whether its a Kashmiri or a Dogra, safeguarding our identity and rights will be possible only if we put up a collective fight." Notably, in August, Election Commission announced the schedule of the Special Summary Revision in Jammu and Kashmir, and announced that the people who were not voters in the Assembly after the abrogation of Article 370 from the region can now be named on the voter's list. According to an official, the person needs not to be a "permanent resident" of the Union Territory for the same. The final electoral roll after due disposal of all claims and objections filed within the stipulated time period would be published on November 25, 2022. (ANI)
The Congress Party on Wednesday welcomed today's decision of Punjab and Haryana High Court to quash two different FIRs registered against BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga and former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Kumar Vishwas. The Rupnagar Police had booked Vishwas in Punjab over his alleged inflammatory statements against AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal and Bagga was booked on charges of making provocative statements, promoting enmity and criminal intimidation at Mohali in April. Hearing a petition filed by Kumar Vishwas, the Punjab-Haryana High Court has ordered the High Court to quash the case registered against him in Punjab's Rupnagar. In his petition, Vishwas had submitted that the case registered against him was sheer abuse of the process of law and apparently politically motivated. "The manner in which the investigating agency is proceeding, it is apparent that it is trying to curtail the liberty of the petitioner by adopting a procedure unknown to law," he had submitted. Punjab Congress President ASR Warring said that the party welcomes the cancellation of the FIR against Kumar Vishwas and Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. "AAP government has registered similar vendetta FIRs against Punjab Congress leaders also. Those cases will also fall flat in the court of law," Warring further said. In a tweet, BJP leader Bagga said, "Satyamev Jayate Big slap on @ArvindKejriwal Face. Punjab High court Quashed FIR against Me & Me & @DrKumarVishwas." A case was registered against Kumar Vishwas under sections 153, 153A, 505, 505 (2), 116 along with sections 143, 147, 323 (assault), 341, 120-B (criminal conspiracy). Apart from Vishwas, a case was also registered against Congress leader Alka Lamba. Lamba has been accused of supporting the remarks made by Vishwas. In the run-up to the February 20 Punjab state assembly elections, Kumar Vishwas had alleged that AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal had connections with separatists in Punjab, and those having sympathy with separatists used to come to his house for meetings. Punjab Police on April 12 filed an FIR against Vishwas in Rupnagar town for his 'inflammatory statements' against Kejriwal. Soon after the Punjab police registered a case against Kumar and Congress leader Alka Lamba, the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) had demanded immediate cancellation of the FIR registered against Congress leader Alka Lamba and Kumar Vishwas, stating that it had only been registered to settle the personal agenda as they were critical of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Earlier in May, Punjab and Haryana High Court had stayed Kumar's arrest in the case. (ANI)
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Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and other BJP leaders were also present at the occasion.

Addressing a public rally on the occasion, Nadda said, "BJP is a pro-active, pro-responsible government and pro-responsive government. He said BJP government understands the plight of the people. What did Congress do for years? Pitted brothers against each other, areas against each other and did not supply water where it was needed. Jo vikas ki yatra chalani thi usko atkaya, bhatkaya, latkaya. Now they themselves are stuck..."

"Gaurav yatra is not just for Gujarat alone, it is a yatra to establish pride of entire India. It's a matter of fortune that Gujarat is the 'gangotri' of 'Gaurav Yatra' to re-establish the nation on the global map, to make it self-reliant, developed."

BJP has geared up for the upcoming Assembly elections in Gujarat.

Earlier on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a public meeting at Jamkandorna in Rajkot district. He also held a roadshow after the rally.

"Being in Jamkandorana is always special," tweeted PM Modi.

PM Modi on Monday laid the foundation stone and dedicated to the nation multiple projects worth over Rs 8,000 crore at Amod, Bharuch.

He laid the foundation stone of the Bulk Drug Park at Jambusar, Deep Sea Pipeline Project at Dahej, Phase 1 of Ankleshwar Airport and the development of Multilevel Industrial Sheds at Ankleshwar and Panoli.

The Prime Minister also dedicated several projects which will give a boost to the chemicals sector in Gujarat including GACL Plant, Bharuch Underground Drainage and IOCL Dahej Koyali Pipeline. (ANI)
Gemini Edibles and Fats India Ltd, a joint venture of Golden Agri International (GAR) Singapore and maker of edible oils under Freedom Brand will be setting up an edible oil refinery near Hyderabad with an investment of Rs 400 crore. Managing Director of Gemini Edibles Pradeep Chowdhry met Telangana Industries Minister KT Rama Rao in Hyderabad today and conveyed the investment decision. Gemini MD highlights that the proposed unit is the beginning of the Yellow Revolution in Telangana, which will see many such units coming up in the near future. The unit will not only provide employment to more than 1,000 locals but will also support the many oilseed farmers in the state, Chowdhry added. Welcoming the company's decision to invest in Telangana, KTR said that the Telangana state government will extend all possible cooperation to the organization and this new "Telangana State has already set in motion four revolutions under the leadership of CM KCR (2nd Green Revolution, Blue Revolution, Pink Revolution, White Revolution), Telangana has set itself ambitious goal of cultivating Oil Palm in 20 lakh acres thereby embarking on a Yellow Revolution," he said. KTR opined that the new investment of Gemini Edibles will play an important role in increasing edible oil output from Telangana and will also help the local farmers. The Hyderabad-based Gemini Edibles and Fats India Ltd (GEF India) company deals in edible oil manufacturing and selling since 2010. GEF's brand, FREEDOM sunflower oil is the largest-selling brand in India in the sunflower oil category. FREEDOM brand is also into several variants like Ricebran, Groundnut and Mustard. GEF has a total three manufacturing plants in Andhra Pradesh with a combined edible oils processing capacity of 2600 MTS per day. GEF's revenue for the last financial year was Rs 10,481 crore. (ANI)
At around 10:30 am, the Home Minister will visit Sant Shree Savaiyanath Samadhi Sthaan to pay obeisance in Zanzarka, Ahmedabad.

Thereafter, he will inaugurate the "Gujarat Gaurav Yatra" in Zanzarka.

Later at around 1 pm, Shah will visit Unai Mata Temple to offer prayers in Unai, Navsari district and will launch the "Gujarat Gaurav Yatra" and "Adivasi Vikas Yatra" there.

Earlier in the day, JP Nadda flagged off the 'Gujarat Gaurav Yatra' in Mehsana. Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and other BJP leaders were also present at the occasion.

Addressing a public rally on the occasion, Nadda said, "BJP is a pro-active, pro-responsible government and pro-responsive government. He said the BJP government understands the plight of the people. What did Congress do for years? Pitted brothers against each other, areas against each other and did not supply water where it was needed. Jo vikas ki yatra chalani thi usko atkaya, bhatkaya, latkaya. Now they themselves are stuck..."

"Gaurav yatra is not just for Gujarat alone, it is a yatra to establish pride of entire India. It's a matter of fortune that Gujarat is the 'gangotri' of 'Gaurav Yatra' to re-establish the nation on the global map, to make it self-reliant, developed."

BJP has geared up for the upcoming Assembly elections in Gujarat.

Earlier on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a public meeting at Jamkandorna in Rajkot district. He also held a roadshow after the rally.

"Being in Jamkandorana is always special," tweeted PM Modi.

multiple projects worth over Rs 8,000 crore at Amod, Bharuch.

He laid the foundation stone of the Bulk Drug Park at Jambusar, Deep Sea Pipeline Project at Dahej, Phase 1 of Ankleshwar Airport and the development of Multilevel Industrial Sheds at Ankleshwar and Panoli.

The Prime Minister also dedicated several projects which will give a boost to the chemicals sector in Gujarat including GACL Plant, Bharuch Underground Drainage and IOCL Dahej Koyali Pipeline. (ANI)
The Delhi High court on Wednesday granted time to Amit Kumar Raut alias Amish Raval to file a response on the plea moved by ED challenging the bail granted to him in a money laundering case. Justice Poonam A Bamba granted four weeks time to the counsel for Amit Raut to file a response. The matter has been listed on February 16, 2023. The court has directed that the interim order of September 5 is to be continued. The bench had directed, "If the respondent has not been released from the Dehradun Jail, he shall not be released till further directions of this court. A copy of this directed to transmit the copy of the order through electronic mode to the Jail Authorities at Dehradun for compliance." Earlier the High Court on September 5, 2022, had sought response on a plea challenging the bail granted to Amit Kumar Raut alias Amish Raval in a money laundering case connected with an alleged illegal organ transplant racket. Enforcement Directorate (ED) has challenged the bail granted by Tees Hazari Court, Delhi. The special counsel for ED had contended that the Sessions Court while granting bail has overlooked the provisions of Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) which is still applicable. An order for his release from Dehradun Jail was passed on August 22, 2022. It was submitted by special counsel Anupam S. Sharma, Amit Raut has 10 cases registered against him for illegal human organ transplant and was convicted in one of them in Gurgaon. Moreover, he absconded after getting bail in a money laundering case registered at Gurgaon. By the time he was apprehended again, it became clear that he, under an assumed name, was indulging in the very same activity at Dehradun, Sharma submitted. He also submitted that a case has been registered at Dehradun along with an ECIR which is the present ECIR. Hence, it was submitted that the bail be cancelled and the accused/respondent be taken into custody. Advocate Sneha Arya for Amit Raut submitted that there was no error in the order granting bail inasmuch as, the proviso to section 45 (1) of the PMLA, after the amendment, vests the trial court with the discretion to release on bail an accused in a money laundering case involving a sum less than a crore of rupees. In the present case a sum of about Rs 89 lakhs alone was allegedly involved. The counsel for ED contended that the proviso is not mandatory in nature entitling every accused in a money laundering case involving less than a crore of rupees. (ANI)
Election Department on Wednesday, organised a thorough training programme in Shimla, for the representatives of political parties, especially the IT, Media and legal wings, on the issues of legal processes and provisions related to nominations, Model Code of Conduct (MCC) Apart from MCC, the training programme was also conducted regarding the Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC), implications and usage of Information and Communication Technology in the electoral process. Presiding over the training programme, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Maneesh Garg said that the foremost priority of the Election Commission of India (ECI) and Election Department was to make aware and educate every stakeholder in the election process so that smooth conduct of elections could be ensured. CEO said, "All the political parties and candidates should avoid activities which may amount to offences under the election laws." "The main purpose of this training programme was to provide clarification on the various aspects of the election process to the political parties and to aware the stakeholders of various mechanisms, web applications and web portals developed by the ECI," he added. The CEO also handed over the pen drives containing soft copies of updated electoral rolls 2022 to the representatives of political parties. The representatives of the Indian National Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party, and the Bahujan Samaj Party attended the training. Earlier, Additional CEO Dalip Negi welcomed the participants and briefed them about the various aspects of the training programme. Detailed presentations were given on the use of various applications like Suvidha, Know Your Candidate (KYC) App, and C-Vigil App. Additional CEO Neelam Dulta and other senior officers of the Election Department were also present on the occasion among others. (ANI)
Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Wednesday inspected the construction of his Telangana Rashtra Samithi's (TRS) office in New Delhi. A week after the TRS decided to go national by changing its name to the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), party President KCR, as he is popularly known, inspected the construction of the party office at Vasant Vihar. Accompanied by Roads and Buildings Minister V. Prashanth Reddy and other TRS leaders, KCR went around the construction site and enquired about the progress of the work. KCR, who had attended Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav's last rites on Tuesday, is currently campaigning in the national capital. He is likely to meet leaders of various parties and people from various walks of life to seek their support for the BRS ahead of the formal launch of the party. It was on September 2 last year KCR had laid the foundation stone for TRS office in the presence of his cabinet colleagues, MPs, state legislators and several party leaders. The TRS claimed to be the first political party from south India to open its office in Delhi. The TRS is building a three-storeyed building which will have a conference hall, library, and audio-visual theatre. The Centre had allotted land for the TRS office in 2020 but the foundation stone laying was delayed due to Covid-19 pandemic. The land allotment was made as per the rules, which prescribe that all political parties with a minimum of seven members in Parliament are eligible for allotment of land for their party office in Delhi. The TRS, which has 16 members in Parliament, was allotted two plots measuring 550 square metres by the land and development office of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. It was announced then that the TRS office coming up on 1,100 square meters of land will be called Telangana Bhavan, like its state headquarters in Hyderabad. It is not immediately known if there will be change in the name of the office consequent to TRS adopting a new name. A general body meeting of the TRS presided over by KCR on October 5 unanimously passed a resolution changing the name of the party to BRS to expand its activities nation-wide. The meeting also amended the party Constitution in this regard. The next day, the TRS informed the Election Commission of its decision to change its name to the BRS and sought its nod for the same. The party is reported to have taken a building on rent in Delhi to commence its activities pending completion of the permanent building. This building is near Sardar Patel Marg. --IANS ms/vd ( 451 Words) 2022-10-12-19:12:01 (IANS)
A Delhi court on Wednesday dismissed the bail plea of Athar Khan, an accused in the larger conspiracy case related to the Northeast Delhi riots of February 2020. Athar Khan is an accused in a case registered by Delhi Police under the stringent anti-terror law UAPA for alleged conspiracy. Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat of Karkardooma Court dismissed the bail plea after hearing the submissions of counsel for the accused and special public prosecutor for Delhi Police. "On the perusal of the chargesheet and accompanying documents, for the limited purpose of the bail, I am of the opinion that allegations against the accused Athar Khan are prima facie true," the judge said. The court observed, "since there are reasonable grounds for believing that the accusation against the accused Athar Khan is prima facie true, hence, the embargo created by Section 43D of UAPA applies for a grant of bail to the accused and also, the embargo contained in Section 437 Cr.P.C. The court took the note of statement given by protected witness Pluto. Protected witness Pluto in his statement stated that he cooks Biryani. Before the riots on February 20 and 21, 2020, five persons, namely Athar, Shahdab, Salim Munna, Saleem Khan and Rizwan Siddiqui came and gave him Rs. 10,000 for a biryani order and told him that biryani has to be sent to Ayyaz's office at the basement at Chand Bagh. He gave some money in advance and rest was to be paid by Ayyaz. The court took note of the statement which read that Athar was telling others that the time has come to burn Delhi. Rahul Roy had called him and all preparations have been done. Arms, petrol, etc, have been filled. There is no shortage of money and Delhi will be destroyed. Their issues will not be settled till 100-200 people are killed and 100-200 places are targeted. He asked them to be ready and they all said that they were with him. In the meantime, Ayyaz came and gave him money and he left. The court also took note of the submissions made by the counsel for the accused. It was submitted that Athar Khan was initially made as a witness, but during the course of the investigation, his role as an accused in this case emerged. It would not be a ground to contend that the case itself is false or that accused is falsely implicated. It was also submitted that right to protest is a fundamental right, but the chargesheet, as filed, presents the case of conspiracy under the guise of protest. The prosecution alleges a conspiracy leading to riots. The Counsel for the accused also submitted that the prosecution's argument that the accused used to provoke people to give speeches and handle social media is also vague. The prosecution has not produced any video or CCTV footage where the accused can be seen attacking or carrying any weapon or doing any act which raises any suspicion towards any terrorist activity. No video showing the accused delivering provocative speeches has been filed. On the other hand, the bail plea was opposed by SPP Amit Prasad. He submitted that accused Athar was one of the organizer of the Chand Bagh protest site where inflammatory speeches were given. This is supported by the statements of various witnesses like Venu, Gold, HC Sunil, and Ct. Sunil and Ct. Gyan. It was also argued that at the time of riots, accused Athar was present in Northeast Delhi. The accused was connected with accused persons namely Devangana, Meeran, Gulfisha, Khalid, Ishrat, Shadab, Natasha and Safoora, Saleem Khan, Saleem Malik, Shadab and Suleman (Proclaimed Offender). As per the chargesheet, the accused Athar took part in the conspiracy. It is not necessary that in a case of a conspiracy, every accused should play part in every aspect of the conspiracy, SPP had argued. (ANI)
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushil Modi on Wednesday called the remarks by Aam Aadmi Party Gujarat chief Gopal Italia on women in a purported video a "reflection of the mindset" of the party, and said that the AAP is "anti-women and anti-Hindu". A video of Italia went viral in which he is purportedly heard asking the women not to visit the temples and 'kathas' (sermons by Hindu priests) as they are "hubs of exploitation". This comes days after he allegedly made a casteist remark against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in yet another viral video. "The remarks of Gopal Italia show are the reflection of the Aam Aadmi Party's mindset. They are anti-Hindu and they chant the name of Lord Ram only for the sake of it. They bluff when they say that they would facilitate the Ayodhya visit of the people of Gujarat," Sushil Modi said. "They only chant slogans to garner votes. Italia's remarks show their anti-woman mindset. One of their ministers (Rajendra Pal Gautam) had to tender his resignation after taking part in an event in which religious conversions were taking place," he added. Stating that the AAP is not a strong force in Gujarat, Modi said that the BJP has a direct contest with the Congress in the upcoming Assembly polls slated to be held in the state later this year. "AAP is not strong in Gujarat. They are getting three seats in all the surveys. We have a contest against the Congress in the state. AAP is not in the race. But AAP would lose even those seats on which they could probably win because the women are very active in Gujarat," he said. Modi said that anybody who "abuses" the Hindus will not get votes in Gujarat. "Gujarat is such a state where women's participation and empowerment have taken place at a large scale. They will never tolerate an insult like this. Anybody who abuses a Hindu will not get any vote in the state," he said. Earlier this week, BJP leader Sambit Patra slammed Italia for making casteist remarks about PM Modi and said that disparaging the Prime Minister implies insulting the country. Patra's reaction came on Italia's remark on the Prime Minister. A video of Aam Aadmi Party's Gujarat state unit president Gopal Italia became viral on social media. In the video, Italia can be seen berating PM Modi and making casteist remarks about the Prime Minister. "Calling the Prime Minister a lowly person is against the democratic rules of the country; it is an insult to the country. Be it any caste, or any religion, no person can be lowly," Patra said at a press conference. "An OBC Prime Minister who comes from a backward class, who comes from a poor and ordinary family, repeatedly calling him lowly, what is this abuse? Does the Aam Aadmi Party want to call the backward class people lowly? Anyone who rises from an ordinary poor family and becomes the Prime Minister is not lowly in the democratic process. No, it is against democratic values," he added. "The Aam Aadmi Party and Arvind Kejriwal are the people who said that they have come to change the character of India. If the democratically elected influential and hardworking Prime Minister is called lowly, and he is calling the PM lowly in that video, not once, but somewhere it shows the mentality of the Aam Aadmi Party," he stated. (ANI)
The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked Attorney General R. Venkataramani to ensure personal safety of a journalist, who was threatened while covering money laundering involving Amtek Auto Ltd, and his family. Advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai, representing the petitioner, submitted a sealed cover document to a bench headed by Chief Justice U.U. Lalit. Dehadrai said the document was in connection with the journalist who was covering a case, which allegedly involved thousands of crores of money laundering by Amtek Auto Ltd. He added that the journalist was being stalked, and has also received threats in connection with the matter. On September 5 this year, the Supreme Court issued notice on a plea claiming glaring inaction by central agencies - the CBI, the ED, and the SFIO -- into the alleged criminal theft and money laundering of the Rs 12,800 crore from over 27 public, government and listed banks by Amtek Auto Ltd (AAL) and its promoters, directors, beneficiaries, and key managerial personnel through an elaborate system of over 127 related parties and several benaamidars. The bench, also comprising Justices Ajay Rastogi and S Ravindra Bhat, asked the AG, who was also present in the courtroom to look into the matter. It said that a journalist has filed a document saying that he is being stalked, while covering a particular corporate fraud. Chief Justice Lalit told the AG there is a perception that a security breach might happen and the court can't disclose the name because it might result in something. The bench said it is providing the AG with a copy of the sealed cover document. The top court noted that the AG has assured it that personal safety of the person and family would be taken care of. Dehadrai urged the bench to appoint an amicus curiae in the matter. A counsel, representing the Centre, submitted before the court that the reply in the matter is being prepared. The top court appointed senior advocate Kavin Gulati as an amicus curiae and listed the matter for further hearing on November 3. Speaking to IANS, Dehadrai said: "The Attorney General has assured protection for the journalist and his family, who have been investigating the Amtek bank fraud case. The bench has taken the journalist's affidavit on record in sealed cover. The affidavit contains specifics about dummy directors and shell companies' set up by the Amtek promoters to launder thousands of crores worth of bank loans which had been siphoned by them. Now it is for the agencies to explain what steps they are taking to trace this public money which has been looted so brazenly." On September 5, Dehadrai had submitted that Section 7, IBC petition against Amtek was admitted on July 24, 2017, and an IRP (interim resolution professional) Dinkar Venkatsubramanian (former E.Y. partner) was appointed. "IRP confirmed as RP on August 22, 2017 and engaged EY to carry out a forensic audit report. On March 13, 2018, detailed forensic audit report submitted to RP which discloses overwhelming evidence confirming fraudulent transactions intended to defraud creditors. Nature of fraudulent transactions, namely, (1) undervalued transactions, (2) preferential transactions, (3) transactions defrauding creditors, and (4) extortionate credit transactions," he had contended before the apex court. He further added that forensic auditors failed to detect common benaami directors in 127 related parties which obtained fraudulent loans worth Rs. 1,358 crore. Dehadrai said RP was responsible for: (a) deliberate concealment of AAL and related parties' documents to auditors, (b) deliberate failure to pursue recovery of transactions defrauding creditors. Petitioner Jaskaran Singh Chawla has made the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), CBI, ED, and SFIO, as respondents in the petition. --IANS ss/vd ( 623 Words) 2022-10-12-20:24:03 (IANS)
According to an official release, the delegation demanded action against BJP MP Parvesh Varma and MLA Nandkishore Gurjar and others for their alleged "hate speech" against the Muslim community on October 9.

They also submitted a memorandum to the police official in this regard and sought strict action against those involved in the organization of the meeting.

"A Delegation of @JamiatUlama_in met Spl CP L&O @Dependra_Pathak & submitted a memorandum signed by JUH President @mahmoodAmadani about the recent incident of hate speeches against the Muslim community made by BJP MP Parvesh Varma & other religious leaders in NE Delhi on Oct 9," tweeted Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind.

The release stated that Pathak conveyed that he is already aware of the incident and has taken note of it.

"He has also mentioned, the probe is already initiated in this regard and we are collecting pieces of evidence, particularly video clips and looking into the matter," said the release.

The delegation included Maulana Hakeemudding Qasmi, Advocate Noorullah, Maulana Gayyur Qasmi, Maulana Azeemullah, Mashhood Alam, Maulana Muazzam Arifi. (ANI)
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The committee will decide on who should join the party as many former leaders are now keen to return to the party fold ahead of the 2023 state Assembly polls.

Bhati had left the saffron party against the decision of the BJP high command for giving a ticket to Union Minister Arjun Meghwal right before the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

Now before the 2023 Assembly elections, Bhati was reportedly planning to return to the BJP with the help of former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje.

Before Raje's visit and meeting in Bikaner on October 9-10, Bhati himself had made an announcement to join the BJP on October 8 but could not join the party.

On Tuesday, state party in-charge Arun Singh announced the floating of a party which would look into the matter of former leaders' homecoming to the party.

He also said that any leader wanting to join the BJP again must seek the consent of the state party President.

Apart from Meghwal, MLA Vasudev Devnani has been included in the BJP joining committee, which will decide whether any leader will join the BJP or not.

--IANS arc/khz/

( 243 Words)

2022-10-12-21:28:05 (IANS)
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has denied reports that he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin before doling out a peace proposal on Twitter to end the ongoing war in Ukraine. "No, it is not. I have spoken to Putin only once and that was about 18 months ago. The subject matter was space," Musk tweeted. A VICE News report earlier said the world's richest man directly spoke with Putin before tweeting his Ukraine peace proposal on the microblogging website. Musk last week drew backlash from Ukrainian officials, including Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for his tweets advising how to bring about "peace" amid the war between Moscow and Kyiv. Musk through his official Twitter handle tried out a Twitter poll to end the Russian actions in Ukraine. Tesla CEO floated a number of ideas to solve the conflict, asking his followers to vote "yes" or "no" on his proposals, which included formally allowing Russia to annex Crimea. "In a mailout sent to Eurasia Group subscribers, Ian Bremmer wrote that Tesla CEO Musk told him that Putin was 'prepared to negotiate,' but only if Crimea remained Russian if Ukraine accepted a form of permanent neutrality, and Ukraine recognised Russia's annexation of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia," the Vice report said. As per Bremmer, Musk said Putin told him these goals would be accomplished at any cost and even at the potential risk of a nuclear strike if Ukraine invaded Crimea. He wrote that Tesla CEO told him that "everything needed to be done to avoid that outcome." Earlier, irked over the billionaire's comments, Ukraine's former Ambassador to Germany Andrij Melnyk had lashed out at Musk. "F*** off is my very diplomatic reply to you," Melnyk said in a Tweet. "The only outcome that now no Ukrainian will EVER buy your f***ing tesla crap. So good luck to you," he said in another tweet. Putin last week formally announced the annexation of four regions - Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia and claimed that "this is 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. (ANI)
The Pakistan government on Tuesday gave a nod to the country's health ministry to procure 6.2 million mosquito nets from India, in a bid to protect the public from vector-borne diseases after the last month's devastating floods that killed more the 1,600 people. "Malaria is spreading at a rapid pace in 32 flood-affected districts of the country where thousands of children are infected with the mosquito-borne diseases," Pakistan health officials were quoted as saying by The News International. The Pakistani officials said the emergence of malaria in flood-ravaged areas compelled the country's health ministry to seek permission to procure mosquito nets from India last month. "The Global Fund will provide financial resources to the World Health Organization (WHO) to procure mosquito nets from India for the flood affectees in Pakistan," they added. The Pakistani officials said they are planning to obtain the nets as early as possible and are hopeful that these would be obtained by the mid of November via the Wagah route. Last month, the World Health Organization (WHO) expressed deep concerns about the potential for a "second disaster" in Pakistan due to a wave of diseases. WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus said that health centres had been flooded, their supplies damaged and people had moved away from their homes. "Government and partners are providing safe drinking water and access to toilets to lower the risks of disease from dirty water. WHO has provided water purification kits and oral rehydration salts to manage diarrhoeal diseases. Partners are also helping ensure safer housing and bed nets to protect against mosquitoes and the diseases they carry," the WHO chief said in a statement. Earlier this month, the United Nations launched the revised flash appeal of USD 816 million to respond to the needs of people affected by climate-induced floods in Pakistan. The revised '2022 Pakistan Floods Response Plan' (FRP) was shared with UN member states and humanitarian organizations today in Geneva, according to United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). "The revised appeal urgently seeks USD 816 million to respond to the growing lifesaving needs of the people - a jump of USD 656 million from the initial appeal of USD 160 million," the OCHA said in a press statement. This increase reflects the rising needs and the unprecedented scale of destruction caused by the current climate-induced disaster which has affected a population of 33 million, cost 1,600 lives and threatens hundreds of thousands more as a second disaster looms within the first one. (ANI)
Family members of a van driver, who was killed in the recent attack on a school bus in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, ended their day-long sit-in on Tuesday after talks with the government. Armed men opened fire on a school van in Khyber on Monday that killed a driver while injuring two children. The protesters had been demanding the arrest of the culprits behind the attack and warned of marching to Islamabad if the authorities failed to meet their demands within 24 hours, the Dawn newspaper reported. The firing took place in Swat's Char Bagh area, a day after the 10th anniversary of the shooting of Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai by the outlawed group TTP, according to Dawn. The police said the incident occurred on Monday outside the Knowledge City School in the Guli Bagh locality, the report said. One of the protestors who gathered in Swat, on Tuesday, said that the protest was called off after the government promised to arrest the culprits soon. "The deputy commissioner has promised a shuhada package for the heirs of the driver. He also said that the security of Swat will be beefed up and arrangements will be made to avoid such terror activities in the future," the protestor said. This incident comes amid concerns over the growing presence of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in the northwest part of the country, following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August. Earlier on Monday, District Police Officer (DPO) Zahid Marwat told Dawn that there were 15 students inside the vehicle at the time of the attack. Marwat said that the body and injured student have been moved to the Khwazakhela Hospital. After the news broke, scores of students and teachers of private schools in the Swat district demonstrated against terrorist activities in the region. Hundreds of protesters, who chanted slogans demanding peace in the region, said the law and order situation in Swat had been deteriorating for the past three months. A Pakistan-based rights group condemned the "terrorist attack" on a school bus in Swat and said, "Swat's residents are right to hold the security forces responsible for failing to enforce the writ of the state." "HRCP strongly condemns the terrorist attack on a school bus in Swat, in which the driver was killed and a young girl injured," the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said in a statement posted on Twitter. In its statement, the HRCP accused the government of downplaying the threat from militants. (ANI)
The rating agency has also downgraded the five banks' long-term foreign currency Counterparty Risk Ratings (CRRs) to Caa1 from B3.

The banks, which have been downgraded include Allied Bank Limited (ABL), Habib Bank Ltd. (HBL), MCB Bank Limited (MCB), National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) and United Bank Ltd. (UBL).

"As part of the same rating action, Moody's lowered the Baseline Credit Assessments (BCAs) of ABL, MCB and UBL to caa1 from b3, and as a result also downgraded their local-currency long-term CRRs to B3 from B2 and their long-term Counterparty Risk Assessments to B3(cr) from B2(cr). The BCAs of NBP and HBL were affirmed at caa1," Moody's said in a statement.

"The outlook on all banks' deposit ratings remains negative," it added.

The downgrading of Pakistan banks reflects the government's reduced capacity to support the banks, which has affected the banks whose ratings benefit from government support.

The reduced ratings also show the high credit linkages between the banks' balance sheets and sovereign credit risk, which constrains the banks' Baseline Credit Assessments at the level of the Caa1-rated government; and the lowering of Pakistan's foreign currency ceiling to Caa1, which has affected the foreign currency CRRs of all rated banks.

Pakistan rejected Moody's decision to downgrade its banks. The Shehbaz Sharif government said it was taken unilaterally and did not depict the true picture due to information gaps and contradictions.

Pakistan Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said he would give a "befitting" reply in a meeting with its officials if the agency did not reverse the downgrade.

"They (Moody's officials) have to meet me. I told them if you don't [reverse] this, I will give you a befitting response in our meeting next week," he was quoted as saying by Dawn. (ANI)
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday (local time) said that Singapore and UAE have shown interest to accept the RuPay payment system acceptable in their countries. Sitharaman also said that India is holding consultations with different countries to make RuPay acceptable in their nations. "We are talking to different countries. Singapore and UAE have all come forward now to make Rupay acceptable in their countries," Sitharaman said at the Brookings Institute think-tank during a fireside conversation with eminent economist Eshwar Prasad. "Not just that, the UPI (Unified Payments Interface), the BHIM app, and NCPI (the National Payments Corporation of India) are all now being worked in such a way that their systems in their respective country, however, robust or otherwise can talk to our system and the inter-operability itself will give strength for Indians expertise in those countries," she said. Meanwhile, amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, Sitharaman asked developed nations to take responsibility for the global spillover caused by policy decisions taken by them. The minister said in her written remarks hit out at the developed countries for imposing sanctions on nations who are merely fulfilling their moral and democratic obligations to their people. "International cooperation is needed more than ever is to state the obvious. In the near-term, advanced nations must take responsibility for the global spillover of their political and economic policy decisions and put in place safety nets rather than impose sanctions on nations who are merely fulfilling their moral and democratic obligations for their people," These comments come as India continues to be the fastest-growing major economy in the world. In its July 2022 report, the IMF had pegged India's GDP growth for 2022 at 7.4 per cent. The IMF's latest projection on India's GDP growth is lower than the 7 per cent growth pegged by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for the financial year 2022-23. However, despite the slowdown, India would remain the fastest-growing major economy. As India prepares to accept the Presidency of the G-20 grouping of nations, Sitharaman said "India is ready to do whatever it can to facilitate dialogue, discussions and decisions on these critical issues." During her address, she pointed out several factors that underpin India's growth story, including digitisation and financial inclusion, strengthening the MSME and improvement in the quality of government spending with an emphasis on capital expenditure and targeted social security support for the needy. Explaining India's growth story, the finance minister said, "India as a developing nation has always stood ahead for the growth of the global commons." "India's commitment to multilateralism is evident by the initiatives we have taken to supply vaccines to over 100 nations, provide disaster relief to those in distress, and partner with other countries, with a focus on green growth, better connectivity, digital delivery and accessible health," she added. Sitharaman is on an official visit to the US. During her visit, she will be attending the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governor (FMCBG) Meetings. The Finance Minister will take part in bilateral meetings with several countries, including Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Bhutan, New Zealand, Egypt, Germany, Mauritius, UAE, Iran and Netherlands. The Finance Minister will also hold one-on-one meetings with leaders & heads of OECD, the European Commission and UNDP. The Finance Minister will meet US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and David Malpass, President, World Bank separately to discuss issues of mutual interest. During the later part of the visit, the Union Finance Minister will attend roundtable meetings with USIBC and USISPF on themes to 'Strengthen Investment and Innovation in India-US Corridor' and "Investing in India's Digital Revolution". These meetings with leading business leaders and investors are aimed at highlighting India's policy priorities and deliberate on measures to facilitate foreign investment by showcasing India's attractiveness as an investment destination. (ANI)
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday said that the India-America relationship is critical to address the world's global economic challenges. After her bilateral meeting with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday evening, Secretary Janet Yellen announced that she would travel to India next month to attend the ninth edition of the US-India Economic and Financial Partnership. "Finance Minister Sitharaman, I am pleased to welcome you back to the Treasury Department today. The US-India relationship is critical to addressing the world's most important global economic challenges. I am glad to announce today that in November ahead of the G20 meetings, I will take my first trip to India as Treasury Secretary, to attend the US-India Economic and Financial Partnership, our ninth Partnership meeting," Yellen said as quoted by the statement released by US Department of the Treasury. Underlining the importance of the economic ties between the two countries, the US Treasury Secretary said "This partnership is not only vital to our core economic interests, but it also demonstrates to our citizens and the world that democracies deliver." "It illustrates the close bonds between our two countries, from the Quad partnership to our strong bilateral economic relationship, and the cultural ties from the Indian diaspora in the US," Yellen said. The US Secretary said, "The United States and India are both extremely important to the world economy, and we must continue to work together on the economic development and cooperation that has made our partnership so strong." Yellen said that both India and the US faced headwinds from COVID-19 and Russia's "unjust" war against Ukraine. "Those global shocks have raised energy and food prices in both of our countries, and they've underscored the importance of the efforts both of our countries are undertaking to make our economies more resilient," Secretary Yellen said. The US Secretary said that she looked forward to discussing how both countries would strengthen supply chains and invest in clean energy in addition to steps that America is taking to keep global oil markets well-supplied in the near term. "That is particularly important given how high energy costs have affected consumers in both of our countries - and in emerging markets globally," she said. "India's assumption of the G20 presidency in December is also an opportunity for more concerted global cooperation. I look forward to discussing India's priorities for their host year and how the United States can best support you as you take on this important role," the US Secretary said according to the statement. The US Treasury Secretary further added that the US is pleased that India is joining the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. Through the Framework, the United States and its partners will deepen our economic bonds, strengthen our supply chains to avoid costly disruptions, and help develop the guiding standards and rules for technological innovation in the years and decades to come, she said as per the statement. Sitharaman is on an official visit to the United States. During her visit, she will be attending the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governor (FMCBG) Meetings. Besides her meeting with Yellen, the finance minister will also participate in bilateral meetings with several countries, including Japan, South Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Australia, New Zealand and Germany. Before meeting Yellen, Sitharaman interacted with leading scholars of a Washington-based think tank on various issues relating to the global economy and development. She spoke on "India's Economic Prospects and Role in the World Economy." This high-level visit to the US and a series of meeting with ministers of top economies of the world come ahead of India's G20 presidency next year.During her interaction with the Washington-based think tank, Sitharaman noted the unique role that the G20 grouping plays on the world stage. "G20 has a great potential to work towards global good and global when I say public good, will also have to be made far more strengthened," the minister said. She said there are some of the areas in which India wants the G20 to work together. "We love to work together with them and get some good outcomes," she added. (ANI)
The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) rejected the bid by the US and European countries to debate rights abuses against Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in China. Last week, the UN's top human rights body voted down a proposal from western countries including the US and Britain to hold a debate on alleged rights abuses against Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in China's western Xinjiang region, Wall Street Journal reported. The motion to debate was based on a report released this August by the UN High Commission, which said that the violations have taken place in the context of the Chinese Government's assertion that it is targeting terrorists among the Uyghur minority with a counter-extremism strategy that involves the use of a so-called Vocational Educational and Training Centres (VETCs), or re-education camps. Pakistan, Nepal, Indonesia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates Cuba and Venezuela were among a total of 19 countries that voted against the motion to discuss the report. Apparently, these countries don't want to offend China or are on the hook as part of Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative, the WSJ said. WSJ editorial board pointed out that four countries in the list that ignored the documented persecution of a Chinese Muslim minority group, are majority Muslim nations. Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim country, and Pakistan's state religion is Islam. Earlier, in August, the UN High Commission released a report which said that the violations have taken place in the context of the Chinese Government's assertion that it is targeting terrorists among the Uyghur minority with a counter-extremism strategy that involves the use of a so-called Vocational Educational and Training Centres (VETCs), or re-education camps. In a strongly-worded assessment at the end of the report, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said that the extent of arbitrary detentions against Uyghur and others, in the context of "restrictions and deprivation more generally of fundamental rights, enjoyed individually and collectively, may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity." The assessment was initiated following serious allegations of human rights violations against Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim communities brought to the attention of the UN Human Rights Office and UN human rights mechanisms in late 2017, particularly in the context of the Chinese Government's policies and measures to combat terrorism and "extremism". The OHCHR said that the government policy in recent years in Xinjiang has "led to interlocking patterns of severe and undue restrictions on a wide range of human rights." Even if the VETC system has as China says, "been reduced in scope or wound up", said OHCHR, "the laws and policies that underpin it remain in place", leading to increased use of imprisonment. Notably, the UN's assessment comes at a time when Chinese President Xi Jinping is poised to break with tradition by taking on a third term. According to WSJ. pragmatists might be pleased that the motion failed by only two votes, after a fierce lobbying campaign by Beijing to defeat it. But what a disgrace. Everyone knows the UNHRC is a sinkhole of moral equivalence. But if it can't pass a motion merely to open discussion on China's abuses in Xinjiang, there is no reason for it to exist, or for the United States to continue to be a member. (ANI)
Amid reports of massive corruption and looting of US relief aid in Pakistan, Washington on Tuesday said this is something it takes very seriously, not only in Pakistan but anywhere around the world where American taxpayer dollars are implicated. "This is something we take very seriously, not only in Pakistan but anywhere around the world where American taxpayer dollars are implicated and when there is an urgent humanitarian interest at stake, which is clearly the case, in terms of the response to the flooding in Pakistan," US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said while responding to a question over reports of corruption in Pakistan in US relief aid items. Price noted that USAID partners work with local organizations that have extensive knowledge about the affected areas and their populations. "We also are required to provide regular program updates on the progress of activities and any security concerns, and we require them - our partners - to immediately report any potential diversions, seizures, or losses immediately. So this is something we take very seriously." Speaking over steps taken to monitor and to ensure that adequate tracking mechanisms in this context, Price said, "First, USAID staff - they make regular trips to monitor our programs in the field. We have what's called a DART - a Disaster Assistance Response Team - and their members travel to more than 10 flood-affected districts in Balochistan, in Sindh province." "They did so between - around mid last month, so between September 14th and September 27th - to assess not only the humanitarian conditions but also the response activities and to make sure that those response activities were meeting the humanitarian need." As per State Department, US provided nearly USD 56.5 million in flood relief and humanitarian assistance to Pakistan this year as well as an additional USD 10 million in food security assistance. Pakistan has seen massive floods which have wreaked havoc in the country leading to a great loss of lives and infrastructure. As of September 30, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has recorded nearly 1,700 deaths and more than 12,800 injuries since mid-June. The highest death rates were recorded in Sindh (747), Balochistan (325) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (307). More than 2 million houses have been damaged or destroyed and around 7.9 million people are reportedly displaced, including some 598,000 people living in relief camps, according to reports by the Provincial Disaster Management Authorities (PDMA) of the affected provinces. Estimates indicate that more than 7,000 schools are currently being used to host displaced populations, while an estimated 25,100 schools have been damaged. (ANI)
United States President Joe Biden's decision to sell USD 450 million worth of F-16 fleet to Pakistan remains a foolish idea, says a media report. Michael Rubin, writing in Washington Examiner, a US-based website said that although Secretary of State Antony Blinken, two weeks ago, insisted that the sale would help Pakistan fight against terrorist groups but there are problems with his justification. Earlier, in September, US State Department approved a Foreign Military Sale (FMS) to the Government of Pakistan for the sustainability of the Pakistan Air Force F-16 fleet and equipment at the cost of USD 450 million. According to the author, Pakistan is more likely to use its air force against its own population in Balochistan, where the government's mismanagement has resulted in a low-grade insurgency. Biden's decision of providing the weaponry which Pakistan would use it to target its own citizens is morally obtuse and risks blowback. The second problem with Blinken's justification was that while Pakistan's military has suffered thousands of casualties in its own war on terror, Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency continues to finance, equip, and encourage terrorist groups, Washington Examiner reported. The author writes that until Islamabad takes the decision to stop the ISI leaders for treason for the damage they have done by fanning extremist flames domestically, the US should ignore Pakistan's victim narrative. Moreover, the US ignored a bigger problem and that is Pakistan may exercise with China's air force with the F-16, which would allow a new generation of Chinese pilots to practice against US aircraft and adjust their tactics for the new upgrades. This practice will affect US national security, according to Washington Examiner. Notably, Pakistan and China have repeatedly held joint air force war games. Some of these include the JF-17 Thunder, a warplane jointly manufactured by China and Pakistan, and Chinese-made Chengdu F-7 interceptors. In the December 2020 war games, Pakistan did not fly any of its approximately 75 F-16s so as not to antagonize the Trump administration. Not only do Pakistani leaders not fear Biden's wrath but also, even at the best of times, Pakistani promises are fleeting. No one in Washington should ever forget Islamabad's pledge not to shelter al Qaeda or arm and fund the Taliban, reported Washington Examiner. Earlier, also, it was seen that Pakistan had repeatedly allowed China to access US technology so that Chinese firms can reverse-engineer it. This was the case, for example, with equipment scuttled after the operation to kill al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden. Biden and Blinken repeatedly pursue policies that arguably undermine national security for the sake of diplomatic wishful thinking. According to the author, Congress should slam the door on arms sales to Pakistan. (ANI)
Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri met Octavio Simoes, President and Chief Executive Officer of Tellurian, a natural gas company, and exchanged notes on the opportunities for Indian Oil Marketing Companies to invest in Tellurian's projects. Taking to Twitter, Puri said, "Met Octavio Simoes, President & CEO @TellurianLNGagain after #Gastech. We exchanged notes on the evolving gas markets & opportunities for Indian OMCs to invest in Tellurian's projects in the US." Puri, who is in the US since October 6, had met with another natural gas company, Exxon Mobil Corporation's, Vice President John Ardill, and discussed different ways for Exxon's participation in 's Exploration and production sector. Union Minister also said that Exxon has devoted 25 per cent of its supercomputing power to analyze Indian geological data & is poised to use its expertise to discover oil and gas in India. During his visit, Puri held a few closed-door meetings for the day and even met the Indian community from different walks of life including energy, medicine, finance, manufacturing & other sectors at India House. Earlier, Puri witnessed the signing of 4 MoUs between India's oil and gas entities and Global OFS providers and sector leaders as part of the US-India strategic clean energy partnership. "Significant strides for the Indian Energy sector: Witnessed the signing of four MoUs between India's oil and gas entities and Global OFS providers and sector leaders as part of the US-India strategic clean energy partnership," he said in a tweet. Giving details about the MoU, Puri said Engineers India Limited (EIL), a construction engineering company, and UOP, a leading global technology licensor, signed the agreement. Both parties are keen on collaboration across technology offerings, taking EIL-developed technologies to a global platform, enhancing petrochemical intensity, and reducing the energy footprint in Indian refineries. "Statement of Intent signed between @IndianOilcl & @LanzaJet, a subsidiary of @LanzaTech, a leading biotech company & global leader in gas fermentation, for partnership in sustainable aviation fuels through Lanzajet's patented technology," Union Minister said in a tweet. Puri kicked off his visit with a meeting with US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. "Very pleased to welcome @HardeepSPuri to @ENERGY. His visit kicked off our Strategic Clean Energy Partnership Ministerial Meeting as India and the U.S. keep up our hard work on ensuring energy security, advancing innovation, and diversifying clean energy supplies," Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a tweet. In Washington DC, the Minister co-chaired the USISCEP on October 7 with Jennifer Granholm, Secretary of Energy, USA. The revamped USISCEP was launched in accordance with US-India Climate and Clean Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden at the Leaders' Summit on Climate held in April 2021. The partnership continues to advance energy security and innovation; scaling up emerging clean energy technologies; and deploying technical solutions through five pillars-- Responsible Oil and Gas Pillar, Power and Energy Efficiency Pillar, Renewable Energy Pillar, Sustainable Growth Pillar, and Emerging Fuels and technologies. (ANI)
Myanmar's ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday was sentenced to three years in jail for corruption, bringing her total prison time to 26 years. The Mandalay Region High Court handed down the sentence at a junta-controlled closed court in the Naypyitaw Detention Centre, News Agency, Myanmar Now reported. The allegations were made by the businessman Maung Weik, who in video testimony recorded by the junta in March 2021 accused the State Counsellor of accepting more than USD 550,000 in bribes on the four occasions they met between 2018 and 2020. Businessman Weik said in a statement that was no one when he gave the money to Suu Kyi. However, at a hearing on May 31, he testified that he gave the funds in question to an official from the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation, a charity run by Suu Kyi and named after her late mother, according to Myanmar Now citing a source in Naypyitaw who is familiar with the court proceedings. Notably, prior to Wednesday's ruling, the court had sentenced a total of 23 years in imprisonment for 12 other convictions, and after the recent verdict, the total prison time went to 26 years. According to Myanmar Now, businessman Weik is known to have formed close relationships with members of the military's inner circle and to have operated a range of business enterprises through his connections to Myanmar's generals. It is pertinent to mention that Maung Weik's wife is also the niece of Myint Swe, the former military-appointed Vice President who the junta named as acting President following the February 2021 coup that ousted Suu Kyi's elected National League for Democracy (NLD) government, reported Myanmar Now. Earlier, on September 29, a special Myanmar military court sentenced the country's deposed leader and members of her economic team to three years in jail. San Suu Kyi's team included Australian economist Sean Turnell who was imprisoned for violating the Official Secrets Act, The Irrawaddy news website reported. Turnell, a former key economic adviser to Suu Kyi, was detained by the Mynamar military shortly after last year's coup, which ousted the National League for Democracy (NLD) government. Back in August, she was handed a six-year sentence for four corruption charges after the military accused her of abusing her position as party leader to benefit a private foundation named after her mother, Daw Khin Kyi, as well as an affiliated project. Notably, the military detained Suu Kyi in February 2021 as it seized power in Myanmar. Myanmar's military leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing is the one who led a coup against an elected civilian government in 2021 and detained Aung San Suu Kyi over alleged election irregularities. In August last year, Min Aung Hlaing declared himself Prime Minister of a newly formed caretaker government. During an address to the nation on August 1, he repeated a pledge to hold elections by 2023. (ANI)
Twenty-five per cent of global energy demand growth in the next two decades is going to emanate out of India, Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Puri said and noted that India's energy strategy is mindful of commitments to the global commons. Minister Puri made these remarks while attending a roundtable on "Opportunities in the India-US Strategic Partnership" in Houston, Texas. "India's energy strategy is mindful of commitments to the global commons, to green transition and to ensure energy availability, affordability and security to all," Puri said while addressing the event. The Minister also mentioned that India had taken many steps towards low carbon development, including through emerging fuels like hydrogen and biofuels. He emphasised that despite the current challenging energy environment, India's commitment to energy transitions and its climate mitigation goals is not going to diminish. Puri chaired a roundtable on "Opportunities in the India-US Strategic Partnership" organized by US-India Strategic Partnership Forum. The roundtable brought together over 60 participants from 35 companies, including Senior leadership of energy majors like ExxonMobil, Chevron, Cheniere, Lanzatech, Honeywell, BakerHughes, Emerson, Tellurian to name a few. Indian Energy PSUs also attended the event. The Minister further stated that India was undertaking major reforms to rationalize and incentivise Exploration and Production by reducing the no-go areas by 99 per cent opening up approximately 1 million sq km, and making good quality geological data available through the National Depository Registry. As a gesture of commitment of the Government of India to the E&P (energy and petroleum) sector, the special Coal-bed Methane (CBM) round and offshore bid rounds in the oil and gas capital of the world (Houston) offering over 2.3 Sq lakh km, after opening up over 1 million sq km of No Go areas recently, was launched by the Minister. In a series of tweets, Puri stated that the immense potential between the two countries in areas of biofuels, gas-based economy, green hydrogen, petrochemicals and upstream sectors is evident and is being furthered by collaboration by our private sector companies. He further stated, "Due to reform measures by Modi Govt, there is unprecedented interest in Indian E&P by global oil companies." The discussion was concluded with broad-based support from the participants to push forth with potential partnerships which will bring the best-in-class technologies in both traditional energies and new energies to India. (ANI)
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi in a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin raised concerns over the safety and security of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. The meeting on Tuesday between IAEA Director-General with Putin in St Petersburg, Russia comes days after military attacks occurred in Zaporizhzhia and its vicinity. Noting that the issues of the day are very important and indispensable, Grossi said, "we do have issues that have to do with nuclear safety and nuclear security, particularly the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. And as you know, I have been displaying efforts to try to avoid a nuclear accident that could be very detrimental in general terms and in particular in the region." "As you say, the issues related to the peaceful uses of nuclear energy go down in history, and, of course, Russia has always been the main actor in all these efforts, technologically speaking and otherwise, and for the IAEA, of course, one of the main interlocutors in the many areas of work that the Agency has," a Kremlin press release read quoting Grossi. IAEA chief highlighted that in the current times, with the energy issues, global warming, so many things are linked to nuclear energy and what the role of nuclear energy can be in the present and in the future as well. Meanwhile, Putin during the conversation assured that Russia has always supported the Agency's activities all the way. "We attach great importance to the Agency's mission to which you, as its head, devote your life, years of your life. We have always favoured equal access of all states to the blessings of peaceful nuclear energy," said Kremlin quoting Putin. However, he said there is a presence of "elements of excessive and dangerous politicisation of anything related to nuclear activity," and hoped that IAEA will be able to "reduce the rhetoric on this matter and return to normal conditions in this area of our activity and cooperation, regardless of the turbulent and complex processes on the world stage." In recent days, there has been frequent shelling in an industrial area around ZNPP. There have also been missile strikes further away, including the tragic one on Sunday in the city of Zaporizhzhia. At least 17 people were killed and 40 others injured after a rocket struck Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia area. Acting Mayor of Zaporizhzhia Anatoly Kurtev said that in the attack, five houses were destroyed and apartment buildings were damaged, CNN reported. "These military attacks in Zaporizhzhia and its vicinity increase the risk of a nuclear accident, if they hit the plant's external power lines or make it more difficult to deliver vital supplies of fuel and equipment," Director General Grossi had said. Earlier, Grossi had proposed the establishment of a nuclear safety and security protection zone around the ZNPP, engaging in high-level talks with Ukraine and the Russian Federation aimed at agreeing and implementing such a zone as soon as possible. (ANI)
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday announced that Moscow would not sell oil at a lower price cap after the Group of Seven (G7) pledged to put a cap on the price of Russian oil sold across the world. Speaking at the Russian Energy Week 2022 event at the Russia state-affiliated media - RT, Putin said, "I have to say that Russia will not act against our own benefit, we will not act to decrease our standing by providing oil or gas at lower prices. No, we will not succumb to this. We will not play by the rules others set and will not act to our detriment." Western countries are stepping up efforts to strip Russia of its largest source of income 'oil'. As the war in Ukraine nears its eighth month with no resolution in sight, the West suspects the Kremlin is bankrolling the invasion with its profits from the continued sale of fossil fuels, which make up over 40 per cent of its budget, reported Euronews. The cap by G7 would prevent Russian cargoes from selling oil that exceeds the still-undefined G7 limit. As a result, Russia would be deprived of a significant portion of the oil revenues that it would otherwise earn without the cap. According to Russia's central bank, crude oil exports accounted for Euro113 billion in 2021, on top of the Euro70 billion earned from refined products, such as gasoline and diesel, reported Euronews. Recently, Saudi Arabia and Russia, acting as leaders of the OPEC Plus energy cartel, agreed to their first large production cut in more than two years in a bid to raise prices, countering efforts by the United States and Europe to choke off the enormous revenue that Moscow reaps from the sale of crude. President Biden and European leaders have urged more oil production to ease gasoline prices and punish Moscow for its aggression in Ukraine. Putin has been accused of using energy as a weapon against countries opposing its invasion of Ukraine, and the optics of the decision could not be missed, reported The New York Times. The White House was not happy. "The president is disappointed by the shortsighted decision by OPEC Plus to cut production quotas while the global economy is dealing with the continued negative impact of Putin's invasion of Ukraine," Brian Deese, the director of the National Economic Council, and Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, said in a statement. The cut of two million barrels a day represents about 2 percent of global oil production. By reducing output, OPEC Plus was also seeking to make a statement to energy markets about the group's cohesion during the Ukraine war and its willingness to act quickly to defend prices, analysts say. Out of all sanctions imposed by the bloc, this gradual ban on Russian oil is arguably the most radical decision owing to its potentially disruptive impact on the economies of both Russia and Europe. It was also subject to fraught negotiations between EU countries, reported euronews. The West now plans to go beyond national embargoes. An international price cap "will help deliver a major blow for Russian finances and will both hinder Russia's ability to fight its unprovoked war in Ukraine and hasten the deterioration of the Russian economy," said US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. But analysts warn the G7 initiative is untested and ridden with risks and unknowns, many of which escape Western control. A botched implementation, they say, could reverberate on a global scale. (ANI)
The naval helicopter was launched from INS Shikra, Mumbai at around 0830 h today after the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy for MEDEVAC (medical evacuation) made a request, according to the Defence PRO.

"An #IndianNavy #ALH was launched from INS Shikra, #Mumbai at about 0830 h today, in response to a request from the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy for #MEDEVAC of an #IranianNavy personnel who suffered a cardiac arrest on board IRI Ship Makaran, off Mumbai coast. @DefenceMinIndia," the official Twitter handle of Western Naval Command tweeted.

The patient was eventually airlifted along with two attendants from the ship and was sent to the Navy hospital, INHS Asvini directly by 0950 hours.

India's relations with Iran are unique and historic. Iran is an important partner and a close neighbour. During 2021-22, there was an intensification in bilateral engagement.

Apart from Defence, India-Iran commercial ties were traditionally dominated by the Indian import of Iranian crude oil. In 2018-19 India imported USD 12.11 billion worth of crude oil from Iran. (ANI)
The province of Sindh has been meted out with discriminatory treatment in water issues, this has become the fate of the province since Pakistan's independence. The injustice to Sindh continues till day against the province. If Sindh authorities remain silent on this matter it only adds to the discrimination and suffering of Sindh people, reported Sindh daily newspaper, Pahenji Akhbar. Earlier, when other parties used to be in power in Islamabad, the Sindh government's excuses were that they are not getting any support and there is none to listen to them in Islamabad which saved them from the Sindh people's ire. "But how can the Pakistan Peoples Party/Sindh government make an excuse now when it is a key partner of the federal government?" questioned the Pak vernacular media. It advised the Sindh government to play an effective role in helping Sindh get its share of water and to stop all thefts on its share of water. Punjab continues taking away Sindh's share and Punjab does not care for Indus River System Authority (IRSA) directives; on top of all this, Sindh's irrigation department is sitting quietly, added the publication. Moreover, it remains to be seen how much gas Sindh gets from its gas deposits in Sindh and how much is given/distributed to other provinces. Sindh is already grappling with several issues. If gas is made unavailable in Sindh, it will only add to Sindh's woes, especially during winter just as power cuts become a big outcry during summer, reported Daily Kawish, a Sindhi newspaper from Hyderabad. The statements being made by Sindh Chief Minister that Thar coal projects will bring prosperity, locals will get jobs and locals' future will be brighter now, all these and more of such statements are being heard from time to time in Sindh and at Thar, but yet hundreds of children keep dying of mal-nutrition at Thar year after year. Who will own up to responsibility for such a situation here Thar? Sindh and federal governments must go beyond empty statements and must take effective and result-oriented measures for ease of life in Sindh, said Daily Kawish. Meanwhile, in Mehar (Sindh), the flood victims took out a protest procession and staged a dharna on the Indus Highway against the cutting and cracking of the Mahesar Wah and Sam branches. The protestors said that due to the carelessness of the officers, Mehar and Radhan road has been submerged up to 2 km away from the flood water, and there is also a danger of drowning the colonies. The irrigation department is not closing the cuts and cracks, reported Daily Jang. (ANI)
At least 35 people have lost their lives while dozen are still missing as monsoon rainfall-induced floods and landslides in various parts of Nepal. One of the worst-hit areas in the Himalayan Nation, Karnali province has recorded 35 deaths within a week whereas a total of 20 people have gone missing in various incidents in 8 districts of the province. "Except for the Surkhet and Rukum West, all the 8 districts in the province are experiencing troubles due to flooding and landslides," Madhav Prasad Shrestha, Senior Superintendent of Police at the Province Police office told ANI over the phone. Incessant and heavy rainfall in parts of the nation has resulted in the inundation of residential areas putting the daily lives of people out of gear. Thousands have been forced to leave their homes as the natural calamity left them stranded and hungry. "There is nothing to eat, no place to sleep or stay. The status of my wife, son and daughter-in-law is unknown, I am completely lost. I am completely helpless," Tika Ram Joshi, a flood victim from Bardiya District told ANI. Downpour with the activation of monsoon climatic effect in the Himalayan Nation has inundated houses in the Southern plains of Nepal whereas it has swept houses in the Hilly region claiming lives. Every year in monsoons, Nepal witnesses the loss of hundreds of lives as well as of properties worth millions. "Flood last year also swept through our residential area and there was no aid from the government. The government has failed to act to save our lives and help us. We are completely helpless and in extreme hardship, as we don't have a place to take shelter," another flood victim Lokraj Dhungana complained. The government has deployed Nepal Army and Armed Police Force to carry out the search and rescue operation in various parts of the nation. Due to the inclement weather situation, the rescuers have not been able to reach on the ground. The meteorological forecasting division of the Himalayan Nation has announced that the active monsoon climatic situation would remain activated till the end of October. (ANI)
"His Excellency Mr Emmanuel Lenain, Ambassador of France, on his maiden visit to Visakhapatnam, interacted with Vice Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command today," tweeted the Indian Navy.

Both of them held discussions over various issues, including maritime challenges in the Indian Ocean Region and issues of common interest and cooperation between the two navies.

They also expressed satisfaction towards the current state of bilateral relations, increasing complexity of " VARUNA " naval exercises and progress in several other fields of cooperation, said the Indian Navy.

The 20th edition of the Indian and French Navy bilateral exercise 'VARUNA-2022' was conducted in the Arabian Sea in March this year.

It has become a vital part of the India-France strategic bilateral relationship.

The Indian and French Navies have been conducting bilateral maritime exercises since 1993. Since 2001, these exercises have been called 'VARUNA'. This is an annual event.

These interactions further underscore the shared values as partner navies, ensuring freedom of seas and commitment to an open, inclusive Indo-Pacific and a rules-based international order.

Various units including ships, submarines, maritime patrol aircraft, fighter aircraft and helicopters of the two navies are participating in the exercise. These units will endeavour to enhance and hone their operational skills in maritime theatre, augment inter-operability to undertake maritime security operations and demonstrate their commitment to promote peace, security and stability in the region as an integrated force.

Having grown in scope and complexity over the years, the VARUNA series of exercises continue to provide both the navies opportunities to learn from each other's best practices. The exercise has been a principal driver for operational-level interactions between the two navies and has underscored the shared commitment of both nations to security, safety and freedom of the global maritime commons.

Other Indo-French Joint Exercises are - Desert Knight-21 and Garuda (Air exercise) and Shakti (Army exercise).(ANI)
Sources said unidentified attackers hurled a hand grenade at the security watch tower in Pahlawanano Pul on Warsak Road side in the limits of Tehkal Police Station which went off with a loud explosion. However, the attack did not cause any casualties, reported The News International.

The watch tower was constructed to secure the funnel area of the Bacha Khan International Airport.

Capital City Police Officer Muhammad Ijaz Khan confirmed the grenade attack on the tower, reported The News International.

He said the building housed the offices of the Narcotics Eradication Team and Anti-Car Lifting Cell.

Heavy contingents of police were rushed to the site after the explosion. The area was cordoned off and a search operation was launched, reported The News International.

A number of watch towers were constructed a few years back to improve the security of the funnel area of the Bacha Khan International Airport from Tehkal to Sheikh Muhammadi village.

A number of police stations, posts and offices of police have come under attack with grenades and automatic weapons in Peshawar and other KP districts in the last few months. (ANI)
A total of 143 members voted in favour of the resolution while five voted against it. As many as 35 abstained from the resolution, including India.

The resolution comes days after Russia vetoed a similar proposal in Security Council, in which India had abstained.

The latest resolution, adopted by the members where no one wields a veto, condemns Russia's "attempted illegal annexations" of the four Ukrainian regions following "so-called referendums".

This vote comes two days after Ukraine and Russia clashed in the UNGA on Monday.

On Monday, India voted to reject Russia's call to hold a secret ballot at UNGA on a draft resolution to condemn Moscow's "attempted illegal annexation" of Ukrainian territories.

Albania requested an open vote after Russia proposed a secret ballot on the resolution on Ukraine. India voted in favour of a procedural vote called by Albania.

The Albanian proposal received 107 votes in favour, with 13 countries opposed to the vote and 39 abstentions. Twenty-four countries including China, Iran and Russia did not vote.

Russian President Vladimir Putin in the last week of September signed the documents to formally announced the annexation of four regions - Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

This week saw heightened tension between Russia and Ukraine after the Crimea bridge blast, which prompted missile strikes on major Ukraine cities from Moscow.

Condemning the Russian actions, UN chief Antonio Guterres said he was deeply shocked and represented "another unacceptable escalation" of the war.

The strikes which have reportedly caused widespread damage to civilian areas and led to dozens of deaths and injuries showed that "as always", civilians were paying the highest price for Russia's invasion of February 24.

Putin this week warned of "harsh" reprisals after the Crimea bridge attack on Saturday. In a television appearance, Putin said Russia had struck military and infrastructure targets across Ukraine following the Crimea bridge blast. (ANI)
After abstaining on the UNGA resolution condemning Russia, India on Wednesday expressed deep concern at the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine, including the targeting of civilian infrastructure and deaths of civilians. The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a resolution condemning the Russian annexation of the four Ukrainian regions. 143 members voted in favour of the resolution while five voted against it. A total of 35 countries abstained from the resolution, including India. The latest resolution, which comes after Russia vetoed a similar proposal in Security Council, condemns Russia's "attempted illegal annexations" of the four Ukrainian regions following "so-called referendums". Delivering her explanation of the vote before the member states, Permanent Representative to the UN, Ruchira Kamboj said India has consistently advocated that no solution can be reached at human cost and escalation of hostilities is in no one's interest. "We have urged that all efforts be made for an immediate cessation of hostilities and an urgent return to the path of dialogue and diplomacy," she said. Ambassador Kamboj said that the global order that India subscribes to is based on international law, UN Charter and respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty of all states. "These principles must be upheld, without exception," she added. Advocating the path of dialogue to settle differences and disputes, the Indian diplomat said "sincerely hope for an early resumption of peace talks to bring about an immediate ceasefire and resolution of the conflict." "India stands ready to support all such efforts aimed at de-escalation," she said. In her speech, Kamboj highlighted the substantial collateral damage that the global south has suffered due to "the trajectory of the Ukrainian conflict" "As developing countries face the brunt of the conflict's consequences on fuel, food and fertilizer supplies, it is critical that the voice of the global south be heard and their legitimate concerns duly addressed," the permanent representative said. During her explanation of the vote, she also quoted External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, where the minister had said, "India is on the side of peace, and will remain firmly there. We are on the side that respects the UN Charter and its founding principles." She even brought up recent remarks made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that "this cannot be an era of war." (ANI)
In this article, we discuss 10 best junior mining gold stocks to buy in 2022. If you want to see more stocks in this selection, check out 5 Best Junior Mining Gold Stocks to Buy in 2022.

A junior mining company refers to a firm exploring for new deposits of gold, silver, copper, uranium, or other precious metals. A junior mining gold company is usually in the development and exploration phase, and is actively searching for new mineral properties with bigger natural deposits. Junior mining gold companies catch the interest of growth investors, since these stocks tend to explode when the firm finds huge deposits and start production. Many junior mining firms are trading as penny stocks, and they usually do not pay dividends, so the excess capital can be reinvested to expand operational capacity.

In the beginning of October, the US dollar finally lost some steam and the U.S. Treasury yields declined, and investors turned towards safe haven assets like gold once again. Currently, gold is trading near record-high levels. As per a World Gold Council report, demand for gold climbed 12% year-over-year in the first half of 2022. Demand for gold in Q1 2022 jumped 34%, which is the greatest quarterly increase in demand in the gold market since 2018.

Given the global demand for gold and limited supply, Goldman Sachs raised its forecast for the price of gold to hit $2,500 an ounce by the end of 2022. The World Gold Council expects gold price per ounce to exceed $3,000 over the next few years. Currently, the price of gold is declining as interest rates go up, because currently higher-yielding assets are more attractive for investors. However, there is minimal historical evidence which suggests that gold is permanently weakened by federal rate hikes in the long-term. A study of the gold market during the 1970s indicated that gold price reached its record-time high price when interest rates were high and swiftly increasing.

Some of the elite players in the gold market include Newmont Corporation (NYSE:NEM), Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE:GOLD), and Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM). Investors who would like exposure to gold, and seek exponential growth potential, can look out for junior mining gold stocks.

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10 Best Junior Mining Gold Stocks to Buy in 2022

Copyright: tomas1111 / 123RF Stock Photo

Our Methodology

We selected the best junior mining gold stocks based on their current or future gold projects, positive analyst coverage, and potential for higher scalability in the future. These firms are currently trading as penny stocks and their market cap remains under $1 billion, which offers sufficient room for expansion and growth.

We have arranged the list of the best junior mining gold stocks according to the number of hedge fund holders in each firm. The hedge fund sentiment was assessed from Insider Monkey's database of elite hedge funds, tracked as of the second quarter of 2022.

Best Junior Mining Gold Stocks to Buy in 2022

10. Caledonia Mining Corporation Plc (NYSE:CMCL)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 4

Caledonia Mining Corporation Plc (NYSE:CMCL) was incorporated in 1992 and is headquartered in Saint Helier, Jersey. The company primarily engages in the operation of a gold mine and mineral properties for precious metals in Zimbabwe. On October 7, Caledonia Mining Corporation Plc (NYSE:CMCL) disclosed a purchase of 2,235 shares by CFO Chester Goodburn, priced at $9.95 per share. Following this transaction, Goodburn owns 6,335 shares in the company, representing approximately 0.05% of the total issued share capital.

On October 3, Caledonia Mining Corporation Plc (NYSE:CMCL) declared a quarterly dividend of $0.14 per share, in line with previous. The dividend is distributable on October 28, to shareholders of record on October 14. The company delivered a dividend yield of 5.49% as of October 12.

Caledonia Mining Corporation Plc (NYSE:CMCL) on July 21 announced that it has signed an agreement to purchase Bilboes Gold project in Zimbabwe for a total consideration of 5,123,044 Caledonia Mining Corporation Plc (NYSE:CMCL) shares, representing nearly 28.5% of Caledonia's fully diluted equity, and a 1% net smelter royalty on the project's revenues. On July 7, Liberum initiated coverage of Caledonia Mining Corporation Plc (NYSE:CMCL) with a Buy rating and a 1,380 GBp price target.

According to Insider Monkeys data, 4 hedge funds were bullish on Caledonia Mining Corporation Plc (NYSE:CMCL) at the end of Q2 2022, compared to 3 funds in the last quarter. Israel Englanders Millennium Management is the leading position holder in the company, with 71,314 shares worth $781,000.

Caledonia Mining Corporation Plc (NYSE:CMCL) is one of the best junior mining gold stocks for exposure to the precious metals market, in addition to firms like Newmont Corporation (NYSE:NEM), Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE:GOLD), and Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM).

9. Dakota Gold Corp. (NYSE:DC)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 4

Dakota Gold Corp. (NYSE:DC) is based in Lead, South Dakota, and the company focuses on the acquisition and exploration of mineral properties. It primarily explores for gold deposits, holding controlling interests in the Blind Gold, City Creek, Homestake Paleoplacer, Tinton, West Corridor, Ragged Top, Poorman Anticline, Maitland, and South Lead/Whistler Gulch projects in South Dakota. Dakota Gold Corp. (NYSE:DC) remains one of the best junior mining gold stocks of 2022.

On September 12, Canaccord analyst Michael Fairbairn initiated coverage of Dakota Gold Corp. (NYSE:DC) with a Speculative Buy rating and a $5.25 price target. The company operates out of the "prolific" Homestake District in the Black Hills of South Dakota and listed on the NYSE in April after more than 10 years of property consolidation efforts and multiple deals with Barrick, the analyst told investors. He appreciates Dakota Gold Corp. (NYSE:DC) for its "strong leadership and exploration teams, quality jurisdiction with low geopolitical risk, clear focus on ESG, and major exploration potential," stating that he sees the likelihood of a multi-million ounce, highgrade discovery.

According to Insider Monkeys database, 4 hedge funds reported owning stakes in Dakota Gold Corp. (NYSE:DC) at the end of June 2022, collectively worth $4.86 million.

8. Galiano Gold Inc. (NYSE:GAU)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 4

Next on our list of the best junior mining gold stocks is Galiano Gold Inc. (NYSE:GAU), a Canadian company that specializes in the exploration, development, and production of gold properties. Its core asset is the Asanko Gold Mine, based in Ghana, West Africa. In Q2 2022, Galiano Gold Inc. (NYSE:GAU) reported gold revenue of $84.7 million, generated from 46,236 gold ounces sold at an average price of $1,832 per ounce. The total gold production was 50,010 ounces during the second quarter, and the full-year gold production guidance was revised from 100,000-120,000 ounces to 140,000-160,000 ounces.

On August 15, Berenberg analyst Jonathan Guy upgraded Galiano Gold Inc. (NYSE:GAU) to Buy from Hold with a price target of C$0.80, up from C$0.70. Galiano Gold Inc. (NYSE:GAU) has elevated its production guidance for FY22 and the analyst has now raised his estimate to 148,000 ounces for the year. He argued that the results of ongoing metallurgical testwork at Asanko should be "a key driver for the shares."

According to Insider Monkeys data, Peter Franklin Palmedos Sun Valley Gold held the biggest stake in Galiano Gold Inc. (NYSE:GAU), comprising 23.7 million shares worth $9.4 million. Overall, 4 hedge funds were long Galiano Gold Inc. (NYSE:GAU) at the end of Q2 2022, compared to 2 funds in the preceding quarter.

7. Paramount Gold Nevada Corp. (NYSE:PZG)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 4

Paramount Gold Nevada Corp. (NYSE:PZG) is a Nevada-based company engaged in the acquisition, exploration, and development of precious metal properties in the United States. It features as one of the best junior mining gold stocks to buy in 2022. The company mainly explores for gold and silver ores. On October 6, Paramount Gold Nevada Corp. (NYSE:PZG) filed its S-K 1300 Technical Report Summary on the Feasibility Study for its 100% owned, high-grade gold mine, to be located at Grassy Mountain in Malheur County, Oregon. The project is in the final stages of the review process with both State and Federal regulators. The initial 8-year mine life will produce 362,000 ounces of gold and 425,000 ounces silver.

According to Insider Monkeys data, 4 hedge funds reported owning stakes worth $96,000 in Paramount Gold Nevada Corp. (NYSE:PZG) at the end of the second quarter of 2022, compared to 3 funds in the prior quarter worth $152,000. Ken Griffins Citadel Investment Group is the leading position holder in the company, with 89,481 shares valued at $40,000.

6. Vista Gold Corp. (NYSE:VGZ)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 4

Vista Gold Corp. (NYSE:VGZ) is headquartered in Littleton, Colorado, focused on the evaluation, acquisition, exploration, and advancement of gold exploration and development projects in Australia. On July 21, H.C. Wainwright analyst Heiko Ihle maintained a Buy rating on Vista Gold Corp. (NYSE:VGZ) but lowered the price target on the stock to $2.25 from $3.25.

On September 12, Vista Gold Corp. (NYSE:VGZ) announced an update regarding the company's process to find a partner to maximize shareholder value from its 100% owned Mt Todd gold project. This process has generated interest from several prospective parties, including high-quality gold producers of varying scale. These groups carried out extensive due diligence on Mt Todd and the technical merits of the Project have stood up to the rigorous scrutiny of potential investors.

According to Insider Monkeys data, 4 hedge funds were long Vista Gold Corp. (NYSE:VGZ) at the end of Q2 2022, compared to 5 funds in the earlier quarter. David Ibens Kopernik Global Investors is a notable position holder in the company, with 1.5 million shares worth $994,000.

Like Newmont Corporation (NYSE:NEM), Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE:GOLD), and Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM), Vista Gold Corp. (NYSE:VGZ) is one of the notable players in the gold market.

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Disclosure: None. 10 Best Junior Mining Gold Stocks to Buy in 2022 is originally published on Insider Monkey.
I might be biased, but Salem, Massachusetts is the best city to be in during October. I should knowI live there! And because theres an endless list of sights to see, here are 15 of the best things to do in Salem, especially if you happen to be a witch.

At the beginning of the spookiest month of the year, each store is marked with an orange pumpkin to ring in the Halloween season. Cobblestone streets will become garnished with ghostly decorations, welcoming sightseers from all over the world. Brimming with psychics, mediums and more, Salem is the perfect place to experience the full extent of the taboo and occult world. Its nearly impossible to keep your inner witch at bay when youre in Salem!

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This is a city to wear fabulous black capes, gorgeous witchs hats and all sorts of creative costumes, because Salem has a way of getting you into the spirit of Halloween. No matter where you turn, there will be scary monsters lurking in plain sight as the ghouls of Salem stir up a fright. As you walk down Essex Street or enjoy the scenic sights at Derby Wharf, you will be drawn to every attraction that Salem has to offer. Between the graveyards and psychic readings, it can get a little overwhelming to figure out what you should do first. Luckily, this guide can help you plan your perfect trip to Salem. Welcome to the City of Witches!

15 Things to Do in Salem, MA During October

Courtesy of ASCEND Get Lifted.

1. Get a Fortune Telling

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Did you even go to Salem if you didnt get a reading? The witches, psychics, mediums, tarot readers, and more of Salem await you! Home to various divinations and practices, there is no shortage of possibilities for readings. Almost every store in Salem will offer some type of reading, but my favorite recommendations are Magika-Chapel of Archangel Michael, Pentagram, and ASCEND Get Lifted.

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Courtesy of HausWitch.

2. Shop Like a Witch

You cannot leave Salem without a souvenir! If you are looking for occult tools and witchy accessories, stop by Nocturne, The Black Veil Shoppe of Drear & Wonder, HausWitch and Coons Card & Gift Shop. Check out Bewitched in Salem to find the perfect statue to add to your altar. But if you are looking for a wide selection of witchy books, then Pyramid Books is the store to be! And dont forget to stop by Artemisia Botanicals for all of your herbal needs.

Courtesy of the Peabody Essex Museum.

3. Visit the Peabody Essex Museum

Salems hidden gem is the Peabody Essex Museum, which is dedicated to providing immersive spooky experiences. All month long, there will be multiple events that include going to the Ropes Mansion which is decorated in the Hocus Pocus style, The Salem Witch Trials: The Town Sisters, film screenings, and more. If historical events arent up your alley, then you should attend the museums after-hours dance party and art installation!

Photo: ASCEND: Get Lifted.

4. Have Your Aura Photo Taken

What colors are your aura and what does it mean? Located on Essex St, ASCEND Get Lifted is the only store in Salem that offers year-round aura photography and reports. You can choose between a few different options, then an aura reader will walk you through the meaning behind your aura colors, chakra alignment, and more after snapping your picture. Plus, ASCEND Get Lifted is now offering polaroid aura pictures!

Photo: The Witchery.

5. Build Your Own Broom

Every witch needs their broomstick! The Witchery is the perfect place to go to make your broomstick from scratch. You get to choose everything that goes into your broom, from the handle to the fun pops of color. If you want to spruce up your broomstick, additional embellishments are available to purchase to enhance your magic.

Photo: Getty Images.

6. Embark On a Ghost Hunt

Led by paranormal investigator Kimberly Bizjak, the After Hours Ghost Hunt is the perfect haunt for any ghostbuster! Hosted by Gallows Hill, the After Hours Ghost Hunt is an exceptional experience that provides paranormal equipment, protection against the ghouls, and paranormal history. Grab your EMF detector and meet the spirits of Salem!

Photo: History Alive Salem.

7. Guilty or Innocent? You Decide at Cry Innocent

Get into the spirit of the Salem witch trials by partaking in the interactive play and experience, Cry Innocent at History Alive  Salem. Renowned as an acclaimed must-see, the audience is immersed in the cross-examination of Bridget Bishop. Historically accurate testimonies will be presented, allowing the audience to vote on Bridget Bishops fate.

8. Meet Monsters at the International Monster Museum

Enter if you dare! You will never know what is lurking behind every corner at the International Monster Museum. All the monsters are kept on Essex St since the International Monster Museum is the perfect place to hear more about the folklore while meeting the creatures of the night. Prepare for jump scares, creepy crawlies, and more!

Photo: Getty Images.

9. Discover Pirate Booty at the New England Pirate Museum

Aargh, matey! The buried treasure of Salem is the New England Pirate Museum. Home to carefully curated authentic pirate treasure, the New England Pirate Museum offers a semi-immersive experience as guests will hear about real pirate stories while learning more about the archaeological process of retrieving the treasure. Although the pirate booty is tempting, you may want to take home a pirate photo instead from the museums gift shop!

10. Check Out the Haunted Attractions at the Witch Mansion

Voted as the #1 haunted house in Salem for 10 years in a row, the Witch Mansion needs to be on your scary bucket list! Only the bravest should enter since the ghosts and ghouls of the Witch Mansion are not for the faint of heart. The thrills are evident in the reviews, but you may need to meet the monsters for yourself to see if you can make it through Salems scariest haunted house.

Photo: Salem.org.

11. Experience the Witch Dungeon Museum

The Witch Dungeon Museum is a Salem staple! Once you enter the Witch Dungeon Museum, you are guaranteed some educational thrills. A live reenactment adapted from the historical texts will first draw you in before you head down to the dungeons to see how the witches of Salem spent their last days.

Photo: Getty Images.

12. Give The Satanic Temple a Try!

Hail Satan Just kidding! No matter what your religious or spiritual beliefs are, you should definitely check out The Satanic Temple. Surprisingly, the Satanic Temples beliefs are more about the separation of church and state, so you dont need to worry about any demons. Adorned with gothic art and complete with a gift shop, the Satanic Temple is a must.

Photo: Witch Pix.

13. Do a Photoshoot at Witch Pix

Commemorate your visit to Salem with a witchy photoshoot at Witch Pix. With plenty of costumes, capes, brooms, and witch hats to choose from, you can create your perfectly witchy look. There are a few exceptional sets and backdrops to add some va-va-voom to your pictures. Groups and private sessions are also welcome!

Photo: Vamp Fangs.

14. Attend the Endless Night Salem Vampire Ball

Every year, Vampfangs hosts the one and only vampire ball in Salem at the Hawthorne Hotel. Endless Night Salem Vampire Ball is an extravagantly gothic soiree with incredible music. But the private absinthe bar will surely be everyones favorite part of the ball. Dont forget to pick up a pair of fangs at Vampfangs before you go to the hottest event of the year!

Photo: Mahi Cruises.

15. The Haunted Happenings Cruise with Mahi Cruises

Cruise around Salem on Halloween! The Haunted Happenings Cruise will take you around the shorelines of Salem and the surrounding cities. While passing by some landmarks, there will also be complementary tarot readings, face painting, and more to enjoy on the cruise!

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Best of StyleCaster
A 19-year-old Desert Hot Springs resident has been arrested and booked into the John J. Benoit Detention Center in Indio on charges related to the possession and dissemination of child sex abuse material.

Pedro Elizalde was taken into custody Tuesday in Banning without incident after a nearly monthlong investigation by Desert Hot Springs police detectives who are affiliate members of the San Diego Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the Riverside County District Attorney's Office Child Exploitation Team.

Detectives executed a search warrant of Elizalde's Desert Hot Springs residence, and found over 600 images of child sex abuse material, Desert Hot Springs Detective Sergeant Chris Saucier said in a press release.

Elizalde remains in custody in lieu of $300,000 bail.

Jonathan Horwitz covers education for The Desert Sun. Reach him at jonathan.horwitz@desertsun.com or @Writes_Jonathan.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Desert Hot Springs 19-year-old arrested for internet child exploitation
Two former Georgia day care employees have been charged with child abuse, including spraying cleaning fluid in kids faces, according to a release from the Department of Justice.

Zhanay Kiana Flynn, 27, of Centerville, Georgia, and Antanesha Mone Fritz, 29, of Tanner, Alabama, are accused of repeatedly harming children in their care at a day care facility located on the Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robins.

The alleged abused occurred in January and February of 2021.

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

According to the release, Fritz and Flynn are accused of making children fight each other, spraying children in the face with cleaning liquid, hitting a child in the head with a book, kicking a child into a wall, and stepping a childs leg, among other forms of abuse.

Prosecutors said Flynn and Fritz also lifted a cot with a child sleeping on it, causing the child to fall on the ground.

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Flynn and Fritz have each been indicted on 18 charges of cruelty to children in the first degree, six counts of child abuse in the second degree, three counts of simple battery and one count of failure to report suspected child abuse.

The day cares former director, 51-year-old Latona Lambert, was also arrested and charged with one count of failure to report suspected child abuse.

If convicted, Flynn and Fritz could face five to 20 years on each count of first degree child cruelty, between one and 10 years on each count of second degree child cruelty and a maximum of one year for each count of simple battery. All three women face a maximum of one year for failure to report suspected child abuse.

The investigation is ongoing.

The case is being investigated by the United States Air Force Office of Special Investigations and Air Force Security Forces, with support from the FBI.

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IN OTHER NEWS
Michelle Serna courtesy of Michelle Serna Michelle Serna

Michelle Serna said she was fired after human resources at her job discovered one of her TikTok videos.

In the since-deleted video, a company meeting could be heard in the background, HR said.

Serna started her own company immediately after she was fired. "I kind of was like, 'Okay, what's next?'" she said.

A California tech worker who started her own company says she was fired from her job in telemedicine after posting a TikTok video with their meeting on in the background.

"I didn't realize that my meeting was in the background until I got fired," Michelle Serna, 24, told Insider.

Serna, who posted about her experience in a viral TikTok video, said she was fired from her job as a product lead at Visionable Global, a UK tech company focused on healthcare, after she posted a video on TikTok in which a meeting in the background.

Serna said she posted a since-deleted video on TikTok at 5 am on August 1, showing her coffee maker pouring coffee all over the counter after she forgot to place a mug underneath it.

Her laptop was in the other room, but in the video, she said viewers could hear her 4:30 am meeting in the background.

The next day, Serna said she got called into a meeting at 3 pm with human resources and her chief product officer. Someone from the company had reported her video, Serna said.

She told Insider she did not expect to be fired when she was called into the meeting by the HR representative.

"She was the person who originally hired me and we had a very, very close relationship and a very personal relationship," Serna said. "So, it was not unusual for her to just be like, 'Hey, do you have a second to chat?' So, I didn't freak out or anything."

Human resources told Serna that she was immediately being dismissed from the company for making a personal social media video during work, not getting consent from her coworkers or the company for recording a confidential conversation, and breaching the company's trust in her as an employee.

Story continues

Serna said what really hurt was seeing her former executive angry as he told her the company "lost complete trust" in her from the mistake.

"My chief product officer, I loved him. So, when he was so angry with me, I was so hurt because I really loved him. I loved working for him. I felt like I was learning a lot from him," Serna said.

Serna said she was instructed by HR to delete the video, which she said only had 2,500 views before it was removed.

"I cried for maybe five minutes, I think. But I mean, ultimately, I was just so shocked that something so minuscule would lead to them firing somebody who just got a raise a couple weeks prior," Serna said, adding that her performance at the company was never brought up as an issue.

"Nothing, never. Not even a single sentence," she said.

Visionable Global did not respond when reached for comment.

Serna, who had been at the company for eight months, said she was not upset for very long, owned up to her mistake, and wanted to move forward.

"I don't necessarily agree that they thought it was grounds for dismissal, but I'll own it. I made a mistake, and I should have been more careful," Serna said. "I was upset, but within a few minutes even, I kind of was like, 'Okay, what's next?'"

Serna said she launched her own company on the same day as her dismissal.

"It just feels perfect timing, and I always knew that I wanted to start this company," Serna said. "This company is something that I've talked about a lot, that even in COVID, was something that I previously worked on and tried to do and just wasn't able to accomplish it because I had a full-time position."

Serna said she's keeping a positive attitude after the experience.

"All I can say is that rejection is redirection, and when shitty things happen to you, maybe it's not getting fired from a job, but shit things happen, and things get derailed," Serna said. "If you consistently keep a mindset with, 'No matter what, I'm going to keep trudging forward,' I don't think that there's any option but success for you. It just might not be linear."

Read the original article on Insider
NextShark

Multiple Asian women have reportedly come forward to accuse a Chinese American cosplayer and her boyfriend of luring them into sexual relations through supposed opportunities for collaborative work. Cosplayer and influencer Kat Wong, who describes herself as just an Asian girl making silly content, came under fire on Twitter last week after actor, director and host Gina Darling revealed that multiple women have reached out to her with such allegations. Multiple women in the Asian community have reached out to me about @katkwo4tweets and her BF allegedly trying to trick them into having sexual relations with them under the guise of collaborating on cosplays, OF (OnlyFans) and modeling, Darling tweeted.
A 42-year-old wakeboarder died when he was struck by the boat that was pulling him on a Washington lake, police said.

The man, who was from Seattle, was wakeboarding behind a 22-foot ski boat at Lake Washington in Hunts Point on Tuesday, Oct. 11, the Mercer Island Police Department said in a news release.

A 24-year-old Seattle man was operating the ski boat, police said.

Authorities responded to the 4300 block of Hunts Point Road around 4:35 p.m. for reports of an injured person in the water, about 100 yards from the shoreline, police said.

The wakeboarder had been struck by the boat that was pulling him, and he died from his injuries, police said. His name has not been released.

Police said they didnt find signs of impairment involving the boats driver.

The incident is being investigated, and the medical examiner will determine the cause and manner of his death.

Hunts Point is about 10 miles northeast of Seattle.

47-year-old swimmers body found after he didnt resurface in Arizona lake, cops say

Missing mans body found hours after discovery of empty kayak, Massachusetts cops say

Worker drowns after falling off of offshore platform near Texas coast, officials say
One person was killed Wednesday night after a crash in Marietta, police said.

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

The incident happened in front of 800 South Marietta Pkwy. just after 11:30 p.m.

Investigators say 58-year-old Benancio Lasarte of Marietta was crossing the street in the crosswalk when he was hit by a 2007 Nissan Murano driven by Leopoldo Castillo, 64, of Smyrna.

TRENDING STORIES:

Lasarte was taken to WellStar Kennestone Hospital where he later died.

Officials did not say if Castillo is facing charges.

[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]

The investigation of the crash is ongoing.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Officer Bedford at 770-794-5364.

IN OTHER NEWS:




OLENA BARSUKOVA,





In the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, a 6-year-old girl received a traumatic amputation of both legs in the wake of the shelling of Nikopol by Russian occupying forces.



The girl was injured during artillery shelling by Russian troops on the night of October 11-12.





This was announced by an anesthesiologist, Serhii, during the briefing, Suspilne reports.



The girl's 33-year-old mother was also injured as a result of the shelling.



They are both in the hospital, reports Valentyn Reznichenko, the Head of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast State Administration.

One of the Russian shells hit a private house. Photo: Valentyn Reznichenko



"The enemy shelled the area seven times with a Grad MLRS and heavy artillery. They fired more than 100 shells at peaceful Nikopol!

One of the shells flew directly into a private house. It injured a 6-year-old girl and her mother. They and another woman injured in the attack are now in the hospital. [In] severe [condition]," Reznichenko wrote.



Currently, the 6-year-old girls condition is stable.

However, in the future, she will need surgery, rehabilitation and prosthetics, the doctor added.

A mother and daughter who received amputations as a result of a missile attack on the railway station in Kramatorsk are already receiving prosthetics in the USA.

A unique prosthesis was also fitted on 9-year-old Sasha from Hostomel, who lost her arm due to Russian shelling during the evacuation.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.  For the last two years, a lone two-story building in the heart of downtown San Bernardino, California, offered to many what long had been out of reach  a place to call their own.

A monthly rent of $600 and no credit or background check provided a lifeline to those who had been homeless. That was the point, according to property manager Jeffrey Young.

Hundreds of low-income tenants of an illegally converted dormitory building in San Bernardino, Calif., on October 5, 2022, need to find a new place to live.

The owners ask me and say Hey man, what can we do, Young said. Im thinking ... 'Why dont we open it to the public? See what we can do. Within two weeks it was full.

Hundreds of low-income tenants of an illegally converted dormitory building in San Bernardino, Calif., on October 5, 2022, need to find a new place to live.

But if 340 W. 4th Street was ever the oasis Young intended it to be  providing tenants with affordable housing in a state known for sky-high rent prices  that oasis has now dried. Its hundreds of residents, many of which are families, must leave.

The city of San Bernardino told residents on Sept. 22 they must find somewhere else to live, sending tenants into a frenzy. And the clock is ticking  residents have until at least Oct. 28 to move out.

The building, a former dormitory for a now-shuttered university, was never permitted for use as an apartment complex. And its neglected condition makes it unsafe to live in, said Jeff Kraus, a spokesperson for the city. Code infraction fines have mounted to $100,000, according to Kraus.

What if doctors could prescribe housing? More than anything else, it might improve a person's overall health.

Property manager Jeffrey Young sits behind the front desk of the former dormitory building in San Bernardino, Calif., on October 5, 2022. The unpermitted housing complex is shutting down, displacing hundreds.

Young told USA TODAY he was hired to manage the building in August 2019 when a handful of foreign students attending a local school were living there.

Then the pandemic hit in March 2020, and the students went home. He pitched the owner, Ji Li of Fox Property Holdings LLC, on converting the former university dorms into affordable housing. Three months later, a Facebook Marketplace listing went live.

At the time it was perfect, it felt like I was living in a mansion with a million bedrooms. It was quiet and peaceful and clean, said tenant Angel Villanueva, who spoke to USA TODAY inside a unit shared with his wife. The couple moved into a few units on the property with their six children in June 2020.

Story continues

Sonya Gray-Hunn, left, listens as tenant Angel Villanueva talks about the difficulty of finding affordable housing as he and his seven family members will have to move from the unpermitted housing complex in San Bernardino, Calif., on October 5, 2022.

But just outside his door Wednesday, the scene was a bleak departure from the tidiness that welcomed him two years ago.

The pungent smell of cigarette smoke and mold wafted through the damp, dark hallways. Rotten wood flooring and exposed concrete stretched the long hall floors, scattered with scraps of old trash. Cockroaches scurried across the soiled walls. Orange extension cords snaked out of units plugged into the few hallway outlets with electricity.

The building received code violations from the city, but many repairs went undone, Young said.

Oceans rise, houses fall: The California beach dream home is turning into a nightmare

Tenant Angel Villanueva walks in the hallway of the unpermitted housing complex in San Bernardino, Calif., on October 5, 2022.

An unpermitted housing complex will shut down, displacing hundreds in San Bernardino, Calif., on October 5, 2022.

Young said Li had a cash flow problem and that he couldnt afford repairs because many tenants stopped paying rent, which was increased to $700 a month last year.

Officials in cities across the country have shut down residential complexes deemed unsafe in the past year, many of which involved concerns of imminent collapse.

Kraus said the main safety concern at the San Bernardino building was that it was a fire hazard, citing electrical issues and a broken sprinkler system. The city hired a 24-hour security service for fires, Kraus said.

Brenda Flanagan pauses for a moment while talking about her friend and neighbor who died of a drug overdose inside the unpermitted housing complex in San Bernardino, Calif., on October 5, 2022.

The building was also home to drug use, vandalism and violence, multiple tenants told USA TODAY. A crime mapping database linked on the city's website showed reports of multiple assaults and robbery incidents near the property in the last several months.

Another tenant, Brenda Flanagan, said her neighbor passed away from an overdose after unknowingly ingesting fentanyl in March. She was 23.

Little to choose from

Despite the increasing turbulence, Villanueva and his family remained. A year-and-a-half-long search for a new place  long before the city began nudging tenants out  has yielded little results.

They have few options. A place that can accommodate a family of eight is simply beyond their means, Villanueva said. And applying for new housing is itself an expense.

Its a small fortune, trying to put in all these applications just to know that Im going to be denied again, Villanueva said.

Its a story playing out throughout the roughly 200-unit building. Young families, women holding infants milled about the premises as Villanueva, a former Honda salesman who was put of work with an injury, showed USA TODAY around the property Wednesday. "I will miss this building" was scribbled in crayon on one wall.

Behind the building, some people lived in tents.

The handwritten words, "I will miss this building," can be seen on the wall inside an unpermitted housing complex that will shut down, displacing hundreds in San Bernardino, Calif., on October 5, 2022.

An affordable option in a state with few of them

San Bernardino, a city of 222,000 located 60 miles east of Los Angeles, encapsulates a national housing crisis, of which California is considered an epicenter.

Housing stock in the state is low, especially for its poorest. The state is short 1 million affordable rental homes for extremely low-income residents, who make up 22% of renter households, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

More than a quarter of these households spend over half of their income on housing, according to NLIHC.

A fair market monthly rent for a studio apartment in California is $1,416, according to NLIHC.

And rent prices have risen nationwide in the past year. The median asking rent price for an apartment was $2,039 in August, up 11% from the year before, according to real estate listings site Redfin.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness estimated that 580,446 people across the country were homeless in January 2020, the last time reliable data was available, uninterrupted by the pandemic.

A new report suggests the pandemic worsened homelessness in California. The homeless population grew by at least 22,500 people over the last three years, according to CalMatters, bringing the total to 173,800.

San Bernardino enlisted the support of local homeless shelters and other providers from around the region to offer residents a temporary place to stay.

Kraus, the San Bernardino spokesperson, admitted the city doesnt have the capacity to take on an additional 200 to 250 people in its shelters, so it tapped temporary housing providers from around the region. They set up "outreach" tables outside the building.

Homeless outreach workers help tenants connect to resources outside an unpermitted housing complex that will shut down, displacing hundreds in San Bernardino, Calif., on October 5, 2022.

Sonya Gray-Hunn, the lead housing organizer at local policy nonprofit Congregations Organized for Prophetic Engagement, has been in touch with the tenants, trying to connect them with resources.

A headcount done by COPE found that roughly 192 units out of 200 were occupied, with families living in many of them.

Sonya Gray-Hunn, the lead housing organizer at Congregations Organized for Prophetic Engagement, passes out information to tenants of an unpermitted housing complex in San Bernardino, Calif., on October 5, 2022.

Gray-Hunn knows many wont find the help they need. Her organization is petitioning the city to build rapid housing like the Tiny Homes initiative in neighboring Los Angeles County.

'Its going to take a miracle'

Villanueva fears his family will slip through the cracks.

Theres a lot of superficial help that says Hey, we got programs for this, programs for that, but youve got to qualify for them, Villanueva said. And unfortunately we dont qualify for a three bedroom, four bedroom.

Those who can line up alternative housing might see their rents double. Flanagan, 55, said a provider on-site connected her with a senior living facility. But the rent is $1,100 a month  half her income.

The city was granted a 21-day restraining order against Li, the property owner. He is not allowed to enter the property during that time. Kraus said the idea was to ensure Li wouldnt lock people out of their rooms, buying them time to figure out their next move.

San Bernardino will also explore criminal charges against Fox Property Holdings LLC for renting out units illegally, according to Kraus.

Li told USA TODAY in a brief phone call Thursday morning that he tried to help the homeless people, before hanging up soon after. He did not address financial issues mentioned by Young.

Walk on: Jaywalking will no longer be a crime in California under new law

Water collects on the ground inside an unpermitted housing complex that will shut down, displacing hundreds in San Bernardino, Calif., on October 5, 2022.

Some have accused Li of being another slumlord, but if he is to be taken at his word, then the situation is best summed up as a good deed gone wrong, Villanueva said.

Whether the city will vacate the building on the 28th is unclear. Kraus said the city is intent on not simply shoving people to the street, but also said theres a point in time that that building needs to be closed down.

As Villanuevas wife, Dalia Barragan, readied to pick up their children from school, he pondered his familys next move.

After a long-spell of remote learning, their kids had just begun to settle into their new schools. They finally figured out a bus route, and started to make friends. Now that semblance of stability stands to be upended.

Its going to take a miracle, Villanueva said. And I dont think San Bernardino has one.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Affordable housing in San Bernardino, California, to be shut down
A 677-pound grizzly came charging out of thick brush and attacked a bird hunter in Montana, wildlife officials said.

The 51-year-old man from Washington and his wife were hunting for upland game birds in a creek bottom in Teton County near Choteau on Tuesday, Oct. 11, the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks said in a news release.

Then a bear charged out of the brush and attacked the hunter. To stop the attack, the hunter fired his shotgun at the bear, wounding it, officials said.

The couple and their dogs left the area and reported the attack to authorities.

The man suffered non-life-threatening injuries from the bear, officials said.

Bear specialists, game wardens and Teton County deputies began searching the area for the bear and euthanized it, the release says.

The male bear had not been handled by bear managers before, and it didnt have a known history of causing human conflict, officials said.

Choteau is about 100 miles north of Helena, Montana.

Bear Encounter Tips

What to do in a surprise bear encounter, according to wildlife officials:

Carry bear spray and be ready to use it.

Watch for bear signs and have caution around creeks and spots with limited visibility.

Hunt in a group, and make noise to alert bears you are around.

Be mindful when making distinct noises and smells, as bears can be attracted to elk calls and cover scents.

Remove meat from kill site as soon as possible.

Hang meat at least 10 feet from the ground and 150 yards from a gut pile if you need to leave it in the field.

Use binoculars to see if the left meat has been touched or disturbed. If a bear is in the area, leave and call wildlife officials.

Startled bear pins man to ground after he hears noise in yard, Colorado officials say

Hunter cuts himself while skinning a bear in Colorado. An SOS device saves him

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A 70-year-old woman is accused of starting a fire that prompted the evacuation of an assisted living facility in Virginia, fire officials said.

The woman was arrested and charged with arson after authorities said she admitted to setting fire to a couch and curtains inside the facilitys recreation room on Monday, Oct. 10, according to the City of Suffolk Department of Fire & Rescue.

She also faces charges including:

Destruction of property

Disorderly conduct

Resisting arrest

Crews were called to the facility just after 1:30 p.m. for a report of a commercial fire, officials wrote in a news release. They arrived to find the facility empty with moderate smoke inside the business.

The fire was extinguished and smoke was removed from the recreational area, the dining room, and two residential halls, the fire department wrote.

An investigation determined the blaze was started in the rec room and the woman was later arrested, according to officials. Authorities did not say if she is a resident at the facility and no motive was given.

McClatchy News reached out to the fire department on Wednesday, Oct. 12, and was awaiting a response.

No one was injured in the incident.

The woman was booked into the Western Tidewater Regional Jail, where she remained as of Wednesday, online records show.

Suffolk is about 20 miles southwest of Norfolk.

Man burns his camper in fake anti-Trump hate crime to collect donations, feds say

Mom threatens to blow up school and beat up principal over child pickup, Florida cops say

Man set spa on fire with employee trapped inside, NY officials say. Now hes charged
Cavan Images/Getty Images

My son called me in tears after receiving a text with a graphic photo.

He had replied to a text from a stranger who was using a common phishing tactic.

We contacted the police, who told us they couldn't do anything but that this happened all the time.

When I saw an incoming call on my son's Apple Watch during school hours, I knew something was up. In tears, he shared he'd been texted a graphic photo. The explicit image had left him distressed, rightfully so. After a little prodding, I found out he'd responded to a message sent by someone from an unknown number. The text, which seemed harmless  "Hey, why haven't I heard from you lately?"  turned out to be anything but.

My son told his teacher, who immediately took the watch and alerted the principal. The local police were called, and I went to the school to meet them. But because the scammer hadn't addressed my son by name, there wasn't anything they could do, nor any way to prove that they knew they were scamming a child. Beyond blocking the number on his device and deleting the message, we had no recourse. Most troubling, one of the officers said it happened all the time.

What to do if your child is harassed by a scammer

According to Erin Wilkey Oh, the content director of family and community engagement at Common Sense Media, what happened to my son was a form of phishing, when a sender baits someone into interacting with them.

"Typically, phishing is an attempt to get someone to reveal private information, and then the thief will sell that information or use it to steal the victim's identity," Wilkey Oh said.

In my son's case, the phishing was followed by harassment.

Because my son's father and I share parenting time, the watch was a good way for him to stay in touch with each of us. Though we'd implored him  on more than one occasion  never to respond to messages unless they're from the few close friends and relatives on his contact list, the scammer still got to him.

If a scammer strikes, make sure your child knows they're not to blame  the bad actor is, said Devorah Heitner, who holds a doctorate in media studies and is the author of "Screenwise: Helping Kids Thrive (and Survive) in Their Digital World." She recommends that parents teach their kids to ask themselves, "Why is this unknown person contacting me out of the blue?"

Story continues

If someone claims to know you but you can't verify the person's identity, block them, or simply don't respond to the message, Heitner said.

How to avoid and respond to harassment

As soon as kids start using devices, parents and caregivers should begin a dialogue about online harassment, Wilkey Oh said. Regularly discuss online safety, responsible behavior, and how to respond to offensive comments. Help your kids set boundaries by encouraging them never to do anything that's outside their comfort zones, such as sharing passwords or talking to strangers.

Beyond that, we can help our kids learn to identify common tricks that scammers use to phish for information, Wilkey Oh added. For example, a text is suspicious if the sender has an unknown number, the message sounds urgent, it doesn't address your child by their name, sounds too good to be true, or conveys a sense of urgency.

And make sure your child feels safe confiding in a trusted adult  someone who has the authority to help them, Wilkey Oh said. Luckily, my son reached out to me right away and his teacher was able to intercept several explicit text messages that were sent in quick succession after the jarring photo. I can't imagine if he'd read them. More than that, it terrifies me to think an incident like this can  and does  happen so easily.

Read the original article on Insider
A 97-year-old Letcher County woman who received national attention in July for a photo of her surrounded by water in her home when flooding devastated Eastern Kentucky has died.

Missy Amburgey Crovetti said her grandmother Mae Amburgey died Saturday, not fully aware that a photo of her sitting on a bed surrounded by 4-feet of water in her Letcher County home, had gone viral and brought her national attention.

I believe she died of a broken heart, said Crovetti, noting her grandmother missed her home. Amburgey had been staying in Alabama with her son for about a week, unable to return to her flood-ravaged home.

I think if it hadnt been for the flood, if she hadnt suffered that trauma, I think she would have still been with us, said Crovetti.

Amburgey and her son were rescued from the house located on Highway 119 across from Letcher County Central High School. Crovetti said she had learned more details about what happened since she initially spoke to the media this summer.

Crovetti said her grandmothers home was essentially destroyed.

Letcher Funeral Home in Whitesburg is in charge of the arrangements and a funeral is planned for Saturday.

Updated: What we know so far about the victims in historic Eastern Kentucky flooding
Katie Hobbs and Kris Mayes host a press conference outside Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich's office in Phoenix on Sept. 24, 2022. They addressed the Sept. 23 ruling from Pima County Superior Court in the case of Planned Parenthood of Arizona v. Mark Brnovich.

There was an odd disconnect in the mood of Arizona Democrats when a Pima County judge ruled on Friday that the state can enforce a 158-year-old territorial-era anti-abortion law.

The Democratic Party and its candidates were painting a bleak picture of death and repression.

The Republican Party that has delivered this blow to millions of Arizonans knows exactly the kind of hell they were crafting, said Senate Democratic Leadership in a statement. This will kill women, break apart families, and trap so many into generational cycles of abuse and poverty. It is hateful and disgusting.

But on social media Democrats were chirping. I wouldnt call it gloating, but perhaps its second cousin  happy taunting.

Where are the Republicans?

Why the silence?

Where are you, Kari Lake?

This is the interlude between Roe and what's next

Its what one side does when it knows it has won the news cycle and its opponents have been pressed into silence.

The Democrats know, as do many political observers in this state, that were in a strange interregnum on abortion rights, between the end of Roe v. Wade and the beginning of whatever new state laws will regulate abortion in the future.

'Lost bodily autonomy': Arizona abortion providers enraged by ruling

In liberal states, this is an easy fix. Blue state legislatures have moved to codify rights once expressed in Roe.

But in more conservative states such as Arizona, the interval will be messy for a time, because Republican political leaders who have opposed abortion rights now risk losing many of their own voters if they move in the direction of compromise  the default position on abortion in America.

We already have consensus on abortion rights

The American people by wide majorities believe abortion should be legal, but with restrictions.

The (U.K.) Economist magazine and YouGov have done tracking polls on American attitudes on abortion and have found the pie divides pretty neatly into three slices:

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30% support legal abortion in all cases. No restrictions.

30% support some restrictions such as for minors or late-term abortions.

30% favor restrictions on all abortions, but for rape, incest or when the mothers life is endangered.

Throw in the roughly 10% who say abortion should be banned in all cases and you still have a significant majority of Americans, 60-40, who say abortion should be legal.

Democrats blame an activist Supreme Court for dynamiting 50 years of precedence in Roe v. Wade. Most are unwilling to concede that the real activist court was the one that 50 years ago invented an imaginary right to legalized abortion in the Constitution.

Over the years, legal scholars left and right have written about the wobbly foundation that sustained Roe.

With its foolish ruling in 1973, the Blackmun Court had removed the issue from state legislatures where Americans would have debated the issue. Roe prematurely cemented legal abortion into law and eventually American attitudes. It was a huge advantage for Democrats, and they enjoy its fruits today with a majority of Americans supporting a Roe framework.

Arizona Democrats know this helps them

Now Arizona Democratic politicians are pressing this advantage in the 2022 state elections, knowing that legalized abortion appeals to many moderate Republicans, especially women in the suburbs, and independents.

The Pima County court did not rule that the territorial-era law supersedes all others in the state. In fact, the court is agnostic on whether the law that traces back to 1864 and the time of the Civil War is overarching.

Arizona essentially has two laws on abortion, as reported by Howard Fischer of Capitol Media Services:

The territorial-era law that makes it a crime punishable by up to 2-5 years in prison for anyone who performs or provides the means for an abortion, with no exceptions for rape or incest, only the life of the mother.

A law signed by Gov. Doug Ducey earlier this year that allows abortion through the 15th week of gestation.

There is much for the Arizona Legislature and the courts to sort out. In the meantime, the confusion presents a significant advantage to Democratic candidates for office and explains why the Republicans have gone silent.

The backstop to Roe isn't the courts. It's voters

However, even as Democratic politicians paint a bleak picture on abortion, I dont sense their panic. I dont smell the fear.

I dont hear the kind of dread expressed, for instance, by Canadian truckers when they saw their government use the instruments of Big Tech and high finance to shut off access to the Canadian economy to leaders of their movement  freezing their bank accounts and chilling their speech.

That fear was palpable. Truckers angry about unending COVID-19 restrictions found themselves afraid to continue speaking after learning their government had taken a certain turn toward authoritarianism and thought control.

The Arizona Democrats chirping on social media on Friday were not afraid. They know the new ruling will help them elect Democrats in the fall. And all states will continue to elect pro-abortion rights candidates until the entire country reflects American attitudes on abortion  legal with restrictions.

Democrats know, as many Republicans do, that the ultimate backstop to Roe v. Wade is not the court.

Its the people.

Phil Boas is an editorial columnist with The Arizona Republic. Email him at phil.boas@arizonarepublic.com.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona abortion ban is a gift for Democrats, and they know it
A jury in Connecticut on Wednesday ordered Infowars founder Alex Jones to pay $965 million in damages to the families of eight Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims and to an FBI agent for falsely claiming that the Dec. 14, 2012, massacre in Newtown was staged.

The six-member panel took three days to return its unanimous verdict at Connecticut Superior Court in Waterbury, which is about 20 miles from the school.

Compensatory damages for defamation/slander and emotional distress (past and future) per plaintiff:

 Robbie Parker, father of 6-year-old Emilie Parker: $120 million

 David Wheeler, father of 6-year-old Benjamin Wheeler: $55 million

 Francine Wheeler, mother of Benjamin Wheeler: $54 million

 Jacqueline Barden, mother of 7-year-old Daniel Barden: $28.8 million

 Mark Barden, father of Daniel Barden : $57.6 million

 Nicole Hockley, mother of 6-year-old Dylan Hockley: $73.6 million

 Ian Hockley, father of Dylan Hockley: $81.6 million

 Jennifer Hensel, mother of 6-year-old Avielle Richman: $52 million

 Donna Soto, mother of 27-year-old teacher Victoria Soto: $48 million

 Carlee Soto-Parisi, sister of Victoria Soto: $66 million

 Carlos Soto, father of Victoria Soto: $56.6 million

 Jillian Soto, sister of Victoria Soto: $68.8 million

 William Aldenberg, FBI agent and first responder at Sandy Hook: $90 million

 Erica Lafferty, daughter of 47-year-old Sandy Hook principal Dawn Hochsprung: $76 million

 William Sherlach, husband of 56-year-old school psychologist Mary Sherlach: $36 million

Attorneys fees for the plaintiffs will be awarded at a later date.

Alex Jones appears on the witness stand while testifying at his defamation trial at Connecticut Superior Court in Waterbury, Sept. 22. (Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media/Pool via Reuters)

Jones, who testified in person at the trial late last month, was not present in court Thursday. He was hosting his Infowars show live as the verdict was being read.

Aint gonna be happening, aint no money, Jones said. I killed the kids, folks, thats what they think.

He also vowed to appeal, while asking asking viewers for donations.

Now remember, Im in bankruptcy, Jones added. The money you donate does not go to these people. It goes to fight this fraud.

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Free Speech Systems filed for bankruptcy protection in August, and Jones has claimed he cannot afford any judgment over $2 million. But an economist who testified at an earlier trial in estimated Jones and his company are worth as much as $270 million.

Jones speaks to the media after appearing at his Sandy Hook defamation trial. (Mike Segar/Reuters)

The monthlong trial featured often emotional and tearful testimony from victims relatives who said they have been tormented and threatened by people who believed the lies spread by Jones and his media company, Free Speech Systems, which operates the Infowars website.

Mark and Jackie Barden, whose 7-year-old son, Daniel, was killed at Sandy Hook, testified that people had urinated on their sons grave and threatened to dig it up to prove he was still alive.

Robbie Parker, whose 6-year-old daughter, Emilie, was killed at the school, testified about the repeated harassment he received after Infowars showed a video of him smiling just before a news conference the day after the shooting  proof, Jones claimed, that Parker and others were crisis actors.

It would come in these waves, Parker said of the harassment. It was almost like I knew when Alex Jones said something, because we would get a huge wave of stuff.

Jones appeared on the witness stand just once when he was called to testify by the plaintiffs attorneys. In his testimony, Jones said he was done saying Im sorry for his role in spreading lies about the massacre.

He declined to present a defense, and his lawyers rested without putting on evidence or witnesses.

Jones on the witness stand. (Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media/Pool via Reuters)

Outside of the courthouse, however, Jones called the legal proceedings a show trial and kangaroo court aimed at putting him out of business.

Jones lost four defamation lawsuits filed by Sandy Hook families late last year. The trial in Connecticut was the second of three trials for juries to decide on how much money Jones must pay in damages.

The latest verdict comes two months after a jury in Austin, Texas  where Infowars is based  ordered Jones to pay nearly $50 million in punitive and compensatory damages to Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, whose 6-year-old son, Jesse, was one of 20 children killed in the attack. Six educators were also slain.

In that trial, Jones sought to portray himself as a victim who had been typecast for claiming the shooting was staged  and said that he now believes the massacre actually happened.

Its 100% real, Jones said on the witness stand.

Later in his testimony, however, Jones added a baseless caveat to his concession.

I think Sandy Hook happened. I think it was a terrible event, he said, adding: I think it was a cover-up. The FBI knew it was going to happen.

A third such trial, also in Texas, is expected to begin later this year.
Alex Jones Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images

Infowars founder Alex Jones and parent company Free Speech Systems have been ordered by a Connecticut jury to pay $965 million in damages to the families of eight victims of the Sandy Hook shooting. This is the largest amount to date that Jones has had to pay for spreading falsehoods about the 2012 shooting, The Washington Post reports.

Jones has been found liable for defamation for calling the shooting a hoax and alleging that the victims' families were actors, resulting in their harassment, reports The New York Times. The case presented a particularly bad financial "risk" for Jones, considering he was found to have violated Connecticut's Unfair Trade Practices Act (under which there is no cap on punitive damages), the Times continues.

The damages were divided in varying amounts among 15 plaintiffs, with the largest portion going to Robbie Parker, whose 6-year-old daughter Emilie was killed in the shooting. For years, Jones mocked Parker and claimed he was an actor, the Post adds. A portion of the compensation also went to William Aldenberg, an FBI agent targeted by conspiracy theorists.

The Connecticut trial was one of three stemming from Jones' comments on the Sandy Hook shooting. A jury in Texas previously ordered him to pay almost $50 million in damages to the parents of a victim. His third trial is currently pending.

Jones has put Free Speech Systems into bankruptcy, a move the families say he made to avoid paying damages, the Times notes.

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The best October Prime Day deals, according to experts

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6 best laptops to buy during the Amazon Prime Early Access Sale, according to ratings and reviewers (Photo via Getty)

From college students to early holiday shoppers, there are tons of shoppers looking to score deals on laptops during Canada's first-ever Amazon Prime Early Access Sale.

Whether you're an engineering student or like to unwind with an all-night Netflix binge, dozens of brand-name laptops are up for grabs during the limited-time sale.

With Christmas and holiday shopping shopping looming, we gathered the six best laptop deals included in the sale, according to ratings and the number of reviews. To save up to 48 per cent on top-rated laptops, scroll below. But remember: the sale ends tonight (Oct. 12) at 11:59 p.m. PST  so there's only a few more hours left to take advantage of these deals.

1. Save $300: Acer Nitro 5 Gaming Laptop

Acer Nitro 5 Gaming Laptop (Photo via Amazon)

$850 $1,150 at Amazon

Reviews: 2,900

Average rating: 4.5 stars

Promising review: It's an "excellent value gaming laptop," according to one reviewer. It "gives great value without breaking the bank."

Amazons Prime Early Access Sale is on  click here for all the latest news about the shopping event, and check out all the Prime member deals and sales you can already shop in Canada here. Dont have a Prime membership? Sign up for a free trial here.

ASUS Chromebook C403 Rugged & Spill Resistant Laptop (Photo via Amazon)

$180 $349 at Amazon

Reviews: 2,200

Average rating: 4.3 stars

Promising review: It's a "great" laptop, according to one shopper. "I have since bought a second one" because the "value for money simply cannot be beat."

Microsoft Surface Pro 8: 13" Touchscreen (Photo via Amazon)

$1,330 $1,780 at Amazon

Reviews: 1,500

Average rating: 4.3 stars

Promising review: It's a "beautiful" and "versatile little device," writes one shopper. "Typing on it is a joy" and the "trackpad is good."

Acer Predator Helios 300 15-inch Laptop (Photo via Amazon)

$1,349 $1,779 at Amazon

Reviews: 1,450

Average rating: 4.6 stars

Promising review: "[I] got this for photo editing" and it's been "flawless," lauds one shopper. It has cut the time it takes to save large files from "several minutes to 30 seconds."

Samsung Galaxy Book Go 14-inch Laptop (Photo via Amazon)

$310 $369 at Amazon

Reviews: 330

Average rating: 3.9 stars

Promising review: "This is a great option for someone travelling and on the move," writes one shopper.

ASUS Chromebook Flip 2-in-1 Laptop (Photo via Amazon)

$350 $547 at Amazon

Reviews: 300

Average rating: 4.3 stars

Promising review: It's a "great laptop," writes one shopper. It "feels solid and high-end."

The reviews quoted above reflect the most recent versions at the time of publication.

Let us know what you think by commenting below and tweeting @YahooStyleCA! Follow us on Twitter and Instagram.
Angela Lansbury, who has died aged 96, once had to step in after her daughter fell in with Charles Manson.

The Murder, She Wrote actor revealed in an interview that, while based in LA, her daughter Dierdre fell in with a crowd that was led by the cult leader.

In 1969, Manson orchestrated a string of killings that were carried out by his family of young followers.

Manson ordered his followers to kill nine people, including actress Sharon Tate, who was pregnant at the time.

Speaking to MailOnline in 2014, Beauty and the Beast voice star Lansbury said that her daughter, who is now 69, was fascinated by Manson.

There were factions up in the hills above Malibu that were dedicated to deadly pursuit, Lansbury said, adding: It pains me to say it but, at one stage, Deidre was in with a crowd led by Charles Manson.

The actor continued: She was one of many youngsters who knew him  and they were fascinated. He was an extraordinary character, charismatic in many ways, no question about it.

After seeing the spell her daughter was falling under, Lansbury told her husband Peter Shaw that they had to leave, with the family moving from LA to County Cork, Ireland.

Angela Lansbury (Getty Images)

Lansbury explained: I was drawn to Ireland because it was the birthplace of my mother and it was also somewhere my children wouldnt be exposed to any more bad influences.

The actor, who described the move as a wonderful time in my life, said that it took Dierde a while to drop her bad habits, but a meeting with her future husband changed everything.

Dierdre is married to Enzo Battarra, with whom she moved back to Los Angeles and opened an Italian restaurant, which has since closed.

Lansbury died peacefully in her sleep on Tuesday (11 October). A private family ceremony for the star will be held at a later date.

Throughout her career, the London-born actor won five Tony Awards. She was most recently handed the trophy in 2009 for her performance as Madame Arcati in Noel Cowards Blithe Spirit.

Tributes for the actor poured in from notable Hollywood figures following the announcement of her death.
Fake German heiress Anna Delvey Sorokin has given her first interview since her release from prison on house arrest. Speaking to The New York Times, the convicted scammer insisted that shes not a shallow person who only cares about obscene wealth and revealed whether she will glam up her ankle bracelet during house arrest.

Sorokin  who ran her scams under the fake surname Delvey  was released from the Orange County Detention Center over the weekend, where she had spent 18 months fighting her deportation after US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested her for overstaying her visa. Now, the Russian-born scammer has returned to New York City where she remains on house arrest with a monitor attached to her ankle.

When asked by New York Times reporter Emily Palmer whether she will glam up her ankle bracelet, Sorokin replied: Im not a glam-it-up type of person, but the possibilities are endless.

The 31-year-old, who is the subject of the hit Netflix drama series Inventing Anna, also explained to the Times that she fought her immigration case while in ICE custody because she didnt want people to think that she only cared about obscene wealth and couldnt handle time behind bars.

I just did not want it to go down the way ICE wanted it to, she said. Letting them deport me would have been like a sign of capitulation  confirmation of this perception of me as this shallow person who only cares about obscene wealth, and thats just not the reality.

I could have left, but I chose not to because Im trying to fix what Ive done wrong. I have so much history in New York and I felt like if I were in Europe, Id be running from something, Sorokin added. But if jail does not prove people wrong, then what will?

In 2019, the Russian-born scammer was convicted of fraud and grand larceny after she posed as a rich German heiress and successfully conned friends and big banks out of hundreds of thousands of dollars under the name Anna Delvey.

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Between 2013 and 2017, the con artist also used social media to further document her life of luxury by posting photographs of expensive meals, shopping sprees, and holiday trips to her Instagram. Despite being in jail, Sorokin appeared to have access to her Instagram account, @theannadelvey, and continued to post since Inventing Anna premiered on Netflix last February.

However, one of the stipulations of Sorokins house arrest is that she must remain off social media. During her first interview since her release from ICE custody, Sorokin admitted that staying off social media is perhaps for the best, although she hopes its not forever.

Maybe thats for the best? Its really hard to tune out distractions. Hopefully, its not forever, she told the Times.

At her trial in 2019, Sorokin was found guilty of stealing an estimated $275,000 from hotels, banks, and other institutions. She was released from prison in February 2021, before being taken back into ICE custody for violating the terms of her visa.
Anne Hathaway has spoken out about dressing like her character in The Devil Wears Prada at New York Fashion Week last month, revealing that she wore the outfit by accident.

During an appearance on Today on Wednesday, the 39-year-old discussed how her outfit at the Michael Kors show went viral after fans noticed how much it resembles what her character, Andy Sachs, wore in The Devil Wears Prada. Her look consisted of a black turtleneck with a brown crocodile skirt and a matching jacket.

At the fashion show, Hathaway was also captured sitting next to Anna Wintour, prompting exciting reactions from fans. The 2006 film is notably inspired by Wintours career as Vogues Editor-in-Chief.

In the interview withToday, host Savannah Guthrie asked Hathaway if she had planned on wearing that outfit.

Everyone was so excited because here you are next to Anna Wintour who famously was the inspiration for The Devil Wears Prada. Youre looking like your character Andy, Guthrie said. Was this on purpose? Was this by just design? How did this happen?

The Princess Diaries star agreed with the TV hosts comments, before calling the look an accident.

It was kind of nuts wasnt it, she explained. It was by accident. I was supposed to wear something else. The shoes didnt fit, this was the other outfit that came.

Hathway went on to explain that when her stylist put her hair up in a high ponytail, with her bangs in front of her face, she ultimately realised how much she resembled Andy.

And then my hairstylist, who was so lovely and I had never worked with him before, just said, Oh I know what to do, Hathaway recalled. And he threw my hair up in a ponytail. And I looked in the mirror and I thought, Oh thats funny, I wonder if anybody will notice.

Anne Hathaway talks about her iconic Fashion Week moment next to Anna Wintour: I looked in the mirror and I thought Oh thats funny, I wonder if anybody will notice. pic.twitter.com/EdRkVioqMW  TODAY (@TODAYshow) October 12, 2022

Both Guthrie and Hathaway said, in unison, that people clearly noticed how much the actor looked like her iconic character.

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This wasnt Hathaways first time discussing the outfits in the film, which follows Andy as she becomes an assistant to major New York fashion magazine editor, Miranda Priestly (played by Meryl Streep). While appearing on the cover of Interview Magazine in July, Hathaway described one of the outfits in the film that she loved the most.

I love what I wore to the James Hoult party, that velvet Chanel coat that went to the knees, and then the miniskirt and the stockings and the slouched boots. I think it was a sample because I kept finding straight pins in it, Hathaway said.

In June, she celebrated The Devil Wears Pradas 16 anniversary in an Instagram post, mentioning the joyful costumes worn in it and magic behind it.
NEW YORK  Kevin Spaceys alleged teen sex abuse victim was so sickened by the actors Oscar-winning performance in American Beauty that he never watched his movies again, a Manhattan jury heard Tuesday.

Anthony Rapp said the 1999 film about a middle-aged man infatuated with his teen daughters best friend was the last time he could stomach watching Spacey on the big screen.

He was playing a character where he was sexually involved with a teenager, Rapp said during his testimony at Manhattan Federal Court. It felt unpleasantly familiar.

Rapp is suing Spacey for $40 million for allegedly preying on him in 1986 when he was 14 years old, and Spacey was 26. He claims Spacey pounced on him after a party at the older actors Upper West Side apartment, forcing the teen to wriggle out from under him and flee.

Rapp, an actor best known for performing in Rent on Broadway, said he tried to bury his trauma after the incident, which included watching Spaceys films as his star rose.

I thought that I had to do my best to just get over it and push it aside, Rapp testified. As time had gone on, it got harder to do.

Rapp told jurors that he was similarly triggered to see Spacey face to face at the civil trial. He compared first spotting him in the security line to being jolted with a cattle prod.

Rapp, now 50, claims that he was the youngest guest invited to Spaceys party by several years and spent most of the night watching TV in a bedroom.

The incident occurred, he said, when a drunken Spacey walked into the room at the nights conclusion and picked him up the way a groom would carry a bride.

Spacey laid him down on the bed, climbed on top of him, and pressed the weight of his body on his chest, Rapp claims.

He said Spacey lay on top of him for 15 to 30 seconds before he wriggled out from under him and ran to the bathroom.

Spaceys lawyer Jennifer Keller needled Rapp on cross-examination. She sought to poke holes in his timeline, appearing to mock him when inquiring about the minutes between Rapp leaving the bathroom and the apartment.

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I know that youre an actor on Star Trek, but I know youre not alleging he used a transporter to transport himself to the door? asked Keller sarcastically.

Keller grilled Rapp about discrepancies between his account and that told by his high school friend John Barrowman in a deposition.

Barrowman was with Rapp when he first met Spacey backstage at a play in 1986, and the actor invited both teens to a nightclub.

Rapp previously testified that he and Barrowman went home after the nightclub, conflicting with Barrowmans memory of them briefly going back to Spaceys place.

You knew you had a problem with your story, correct? Spaceys lawyer asked Rapp.

I dont dispute his story, Rapp replied. I just dont remember it.

The House of Cards actors defense team has argued that Rapp fabricated the allegations because he was jealous of Spaceys success and resentful he didnt come out as gay early in his career.

Spacey, 63, claims he has no recollection of the incident. Since late 2017, more than 20 men have accused him of sexual misconduct. The allegations range from rape and sexual assault to groping. He faces criminal charges in the U.K.


Voters enter the polling station at the Jesse Owens Clinic Mountain Park Health Center in Phoenix to cast their ballot for the primary election on Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022.

Trying the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result describes Arizona lawmakers' decadeslong effort to create a the position of lieutenant governor.

State legislators have introduced versions of the idea in at least 17 bills since 1982, with three of those bills putting the question on the ballot. Voters rejected two of the ballot measures in 1994 and 2010, but in November they'll get the chance to decide the fate of the third, Proposition 131.

Forty-five other states have the elected post, which typically serves as a first-in-line replacement should a governor vacate their position through resignation, death or other calamity.

In Arizona today, that next-in-line role falls to the secretary of state, and the Grand Canyon State has a history of secretaries of state ascending to the Governor's Office.

If Proposition 131 is approved, candidates for governor would pick a lieutenant no later than 60 days before the 2026 general election, and a single vote would elect both, similar to the national race for president and vice president.

To avoid complaints of bureaucratic bloat that helped sink the 1994 measure, the 2022 proposal requires the second-in-command to hold an existing job. The governor could appoint the person as chief of staff, the director of the state Department of Administration, or "any position" to which the governor can appoint someone by law.

The latter option would give the governor more than 100 positions on boards and commissions to choose from.

The intended goal is to guarantee the Governor's Office remains in the hands of the same political party, as the secretary of state and governor are not always politicians from the same party, currently.

Residents in Anchorage, Alaska, take part in early voting in a mall in Alaska's largest city on Friday, Oct. 30, 2020. Alaska residents living in Juneau, Anchorage, Wasilla, Fairbanks and Nome can cast their votes early as designated locations. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

The measure voters sunk in 2010 was another take on the same theme: It would have changed the title of secretary of the state to lieutenant governor, keeping that office's duties  including overseeing state elections  intact. Critics pointed out that a crucial drawback was the requirement for the governor and second-in-command to run on a joint ticket following the primary election, meaning independents  who don't have a primary or a party  would get excluded from the process.

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Drafters of the latest measure got around that problem by ditching the party requirement, assuming that the gubernatorial candidate would pick someone from the same party.

Cross-party successions have happened twice in Arizona's history: After Republican Gov. Evan Mecham was impeached, Democrat Rose Mofford took office. And after Democrat Janet Napolitano left office in 2009 to join the Obama Administration, Republican Jan Brewer became governor.

Supporters make their case to voters

"It's a good reform idea," said Sen. Sean Bowie, D-Phoenix, who co-sponsored two bills for the plan along with sponsor J.D. Mesnard, R-Chandler. "It makes more sense for continuity."

The two bills both passed the House and Senate with bipartisan votes. One bill is the ballot measure that would amend the state constitution to create the position, and the other bill dictates how the job would work.

Bowie and Mesnard said they believe it's an idea whose time has finally come, and that the new version is superior to all past iterations.

"It seems very unhealthy to have the person waiting in the wings (for the governor's seat) be an arch-rival or something," Mesnard said.

'We're going to hang you': Man charged in threat against Arizona election officials

Besides making for smoother transitions, creating the lieutenant governor position would relieve voters of the question of whether the person they select for secretary of state would also make a decent choice for governor, since it could come down to that.

Voters may believe that 2022 secretary of state competitors Democrat Adrian Fontes or Republican Mark Finchem would do fine at that job, but when contemplating that one or the other could become governor, Arizonans might decide "they gotta rethink this," Mesnard said.

An elected lawmaker since 2011, Mesnard said he's brought up the plan for the last several years but previously halted it when the process grew too partisan.

"Since then, a lot more Democrats are starting to buy into the idea," he said.

While that's true, Republicans were more likely to support the idea over the years, especially when a Democrat served as secretary of state. Bowie's support puts him on the same side as Kelli Ward, the divisive chair of the Arizona Republican Party who wrote a supporting argument for Proposition 131 in the Secretary of State's Office ballot measure guide.

"Certainly we didn't expect that," Bowie said of Ward's blurb.

Besides Ward and Mesnard, the League of Women Voters of Arizona also wrote a supporting argument.

Election guide: November 2022

Opponents criticize 'cronyism'

No one penned an "against" argument for the measure before the July 6 entry deadline. But 439 people registered in opposition to the bill on the Legislature's website, compared to only 24 who logged their support.

Melinda Iyer, co-founder and policy advisor for Civic Engagement Beyond Voting, said the nonprofit voting-rights group steered many of the naysayers to the Legislature. The group encourages a "no" vote on the ballot measure, criticizing it in an online guide as enabling "cronyism and corruption."

"Thats truly alarming. A chief of staff is an unelected appointee, not a politician. That person wields an immense amount of power behind the scenes and is ultimately accountable to no one but the governor. This setup could permit an appalling amount of cronyism and shady dealing," it states.

If a governor gets replaced by someone of a different party, that's not such a bad thing, Iyer said.

"It ensures a fresh perspective," she said, adding that "if the governor is Republican and the secretary of state is a Democrat, it's because Arizonans wanted it this way."

Running the possible successor in a joint ticket with the governor is "like bundled cable," she said. "Do you want all that other stuff?"

Both candidates for Arizona secretary of state, Democrat Adrian Fontes and Republican Mark Finchem, oppose the ballot measure in an unusual show of agreement. Both men say creating a lieutenant governor position would waste taxpayer dollars.

Reach the reporter at rstern@arizonarepublic.com or 480-276-3237. Follow him on Twitter @raystern.

Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Prop. 131: Should state have new lieutenant governor position?
For the first time since the beginning of the Iraq War, the threat of chemical, biological and nuclear attacks to military forces at home and abroad has triggered new thinking, new funding and a renewed focus on preparing troops from the Army.

In July, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Defense Deborah Rosenblum told experts at a Baltimore defense industry conference that the entire enterprise needed a serious change.

We are not going to figure it out as we go, Rosenblum said. We need a radical transformation.

She noted that advances in laboratory technology and widely spread information on how to create and deploy chemical and biological weapons specifically made countering those threats vastly more difficult in a rapidly changing environment.

A 2022 State Department report on adherence and compliance for arms control noted that China, Russia, North Korea and Iran have demonstrated, or are known to be pursuing, such weapons.

Big changes ahead for how troops battle future chemical, biological threats

At the center of the Armys effort to train soldiers in the chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear field is Col. Sean Crockett, commandant of the CBRN School and advocate for the Armys Chemical Corps, its units, officers and soldiers that train, equip and guide units in protecting themselves from CBRN threats.

We lead tactical formations in support of every formation in the Army, Crocket wrote in emails to Army Times. We are an operations branch with officers in nearly every formation in the Army.

Crockett said that with the Armys pivot to Great Power Competition and near pear threats, such as China and Russia, state-sponsored weapons of mass destruction programs in such nations have increased the services prioritization of CBRN training, from former perfunctory briefings on potential threats to CBRN officers present at the beginning stages of exercise and operational planning.

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And he has gotten backing in writing. To reflect these changes, the Army recently updated one of its CBRN manuals with the April 2021 release of the Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Platoons techniques publication.

Finnish soldiers assigned to the Satakunta Jaeger Battalion, decontaminate a U.S. soldier assigned to 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, during training at Sakyla, Finland, July 13, 2022. (Sgt. Andrew Greenwood/Army)

The foreword to that publication, written by Brig. Gen. Daryl Hood, former CBRN School commandant, spells out the problem in its first sentence.

As the Chemical Corps enters its second century of service in the United States Army, it must adapt to new threats and overcome 15 years of atrophy of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear skills within the Army that were attributed to operations in counterinsurgency, Hood wrote.

The colonel said the overall objective now is to transition from legacy instruction  think classrooms and blackboards  to a more integrated and immersive training environment.

He specifically referenced work with simulations, such as those that the Armys Program Executive Office-Simulation, Training and Instrumentation and the Cross Function Team-Synthetic Training Environment are developing.

Having those simulations in place will give students and CBRN soldiers at units more chances to practice their craft.

In addition, more funding is headed to some CBRN initiatives, at least at the Pentagon level.

The Defense Department increased CBRN spending by $300 million in the most recent budget, with plans to add $1.2 billion more funding over the next five years, Rosenblum said. Much of that will go to updating sensors for better detection across all platforms and units.

New technology and approaches are in the force already, but more is to come.

Advances in robotics, wireless guidance and machine learning are beginning to enable us to do far more with less resources and people, Crockett wrote.

Today, the M12 is a truck-mounted sprayer platform that allows soldiers to hose down areas, equipment or personnel with decontamination solution. New versions of this type of equipment is probably necessary.

Adding aerial drones and unmanned ground vehicles, for instance, gives CBRN soldiers reconnaissance and surveillance capabilities, paired with advanced sensors to help detect threats.

We are now at the cutting edge of replacing the dinosaur of (decontamination), the M12, with a nearly fully autonomous capability that can mitigate CBRN hazards with precision, Crockett wrote.

Paratroopers assigned to 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment transport a casualty during a chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) attack at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany, Sept. 12, 2022. (Sgt. Luke Michalski/Army)

A newly developed platform would remove rubber-suit-sealed soldiers from duty standing in the back of the truck, a position that currently puts them at the risk of exposure to dangerous contaminants.

More upgrades are helping the CBRN force, such as the Uniform Integrated Protective Ensemble, a full body undergarment that adds another layer of CBRN protection beneath the standard chemical suit, while also using cooling materials to reduce overheating common in legacy gear.

Another, larger item is the Nuclear, Biological, Chemical Reconnaissance Vehicle sensor suite upgrade, which gives selected Stryker vehicles advanced sensors to detect a wider range of chemical threats and more sensitivity to lower levels of contaminants.

Those improvements aside, the effort is still not enough to cover the CBRN defense that experts say should be baked into every part of a mission, from planning to after-action reviews.

The number one challenge the CBRN Regiment faces today is resourcesand we are not alone, Crockett wrote.

The colonel acknowledged that the Armys budget is finite and competing with other priorities  readiness, force structure and modernization.

But Crockett argues that a rise in combat capabilities among adversaries gives potential wartime opponents the means to use CBRN weapons more broadly and effectively.

While I would offer the CBRN threat in Large Scale Combat Operations against our near-peer competitors has increased, so too has the conventional threat posed by the rapid military modernization efforts of our adversaries, Crockett wrote.

A big part of that work goes beyond much-needed equipment. The Army may need to develop a mindset across the force that ensures soldiers both in the field and in garrison are constantly thinking about how they could counter CBRN attacks. Thats because the CBRN threat doesnt recognize MOS. And the disruptive effect to logistics and support units may be even greater if an enemy using one of these weapons against formations far from the front line.

We can have the best material in the world, but if culture and mindset are not integratedits going to sit on the side, Rosenblum said at the July event.

Commanders must prepare and plan for CBRN aspects in what they do, otherwise units headed into the fight might not get far.

The key, and my focus, is to ensure our maneuver leaders have the ability to execute their respective mission essential tasks in a CBRN environment, Crockett wrote. In some ways, this will avoid CBRN training as an afterthought.
Oct. 11The Athens City Council met Monday night, and Mayor Ronnie Marks invited the council and public to attend a special upcoming Planning Commission meeting, Monday, Nov. 7 at 5:30 p.m. in the council chamber. "The Planning Commission is considering the adoption of the new master plan for the city of Athens. Then, if that plan is adopted by the Planning Commission will come to the council," Marks said.

Councilman Wayne Harper questioned the timing of last week's railroad crossing closures. "The railroad had all those crossings blocked with the Fiddlers Convention going on. Needless to say, It was a mess down here," Harper said. He asked Mayor Marks if the city had ever been notified by CSX prior to the work.

"No, sir. We have no control over CSX, and we had been hammering them for months about coming in and correcting some of the crosses and other things. They decided that was the weekend they wanted to work," Marks said. "We've got some serious issues, and the only thing I know to say is that I am sorry it happened that way."

The council met in an executive session following the regular agenda business to discuss the purchase/sale of real property.

Public hearingsA proposed ordinance to rezone +/- 1.095 acres from R-1-1 (Low Density Residential Zoning District) to B-2 (General Business Zoning District) located on the northeast corner of US Hwy 72 East and Sweetland Road.

Ordinance to rezone +/- 1.095 acres from R-1-1 (Low Density Residential Zoning District) to B-2 (General Business Zoning District) located on the northeast corner of US Hwy 72 East and Sweetland Road.

Hearing to hear comments concerning the zoning approval for the sale of alcohol in the city of Athens by Limestone Legends Billiards.

Consent calendarResolution to approve a Retail Beer & Wine Off Premises alcohol license for Bucee's Alabama II, LLC, dba Buc-ee's, 2328 Lindsay Lane S, Athens.

Resolution to set a public hearing for the regular meeting at 4:30 p.m. on October 24, 2022 to review the request to de-annex +/- 3.26 acres of property located at 2010 Moyers Road, on the south side of Moyers Road, approximately 1,550' west of US Hwy 31.

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Resolution to approve travel expenses for Electric Department personnel.

Resolution to approve travel/education expenses for the Information Technology Department.

Resolution to approve travel/education expenses for Water Services personnel.

Resolution to approve the purchase of windscreens for the Swan Creek tennis courts from BSN Sports not to exceed $4,268.

Resolution to approve the purchase of one (1) Vermeer Mixing System for the Gas Department in the amount of $350,000.

Resolution to designate additional three dates for FY2023:

Day after Thanksgiving, Friday, Nov. 25, 2022

President's Day, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023

Floating personal day, to be determined per department head/employee

Resolution to adopt a revised organizational chart for the Fire Department.

Resolution to adopt a revised organizational chart for the Police Department.

Regular meeting

Resolution to authorize the Mayor and/or Fire Chief to enter into a purchase agreement for an E-ONE custom pumper fire truck from SunBelt Fire at a cost of $700,000. The financing terms will be determined at a later date. The truck will replace a 1999 E-ONE engine.

Resolution concerning additional premium pay for certain city of Athens employees, previously tabled at the Sept. 26, 2022, meeting. This is for current employees who were employed by the city of Athens in December 2021 and did not receive any premium pay pursuant to the 2021 premium pay resolutions but would have received the premium pay if they had not been absent from work during that particular pay period.

Resolution regarding a groundwater exploration option agreement concerning property on Waterview Lane.
MONTGOMERY, Ala (AP)  An Alabama inmate said prison staff poked him with needles for over an hour as they tried to find a vein during an aborted lethal injection last month. At one point, they left him hanging vertically on a gurney before state officials made the decision to call off the execution.

Attorneys for 57-year-old Alan Eugene Miller wrote about his experience during Alabama's Sept. 22 execution attempt in a court filing made last week. Millers attorneys are trying to block the state from attempting a second lethal injection.

Two men in scrubs used needles to repeatedly probe Miller's arms, legs, feet and hands, at one point using a cell phone flashlight to help their search for a vein, according to the Oct. 6 court filing. The attorneys called Miller the "only living execution survivor in the United States and said Alabama subjected Miller to precisely the unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain that the Eighth Amendment was intended to prohibit.

Alabama has asked the state Supreme Court to set a new execution date for Miller, saying the execution was canceled only because of a time issue as the state faced a midnight deadline to get the lethal injection underway.

Despite this failed execution, the physical and mental torture it inflicted upon Mr. Miller, and the fact that Defendants have now botched three lethal injection executions in just four years, Defendants relentlessly seek to execute Mr. Miller againpresumably by lethal injection," attorneys for Miller wrote, referencing an execution that was canceled and another that took three hours to get underway.

What then, in Defendants view, is a constitutional amount of time to spend stabbing someone with needles in an attempt to kill them? his attorneys wrote.

The 351-pound (159-kilogram) inmate testified in an earlier court hearing that medical workers always have difficulty accessing his veins, and that is why he wanted to be executed by nitrogen hypoxia, a newly approved execution method that the state has yet to try.

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Miller said he was led into the execution chamber at 10 p.m., about an hour after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted an injunction that had been blocking the lethal injunction, and was strapped to the gurney at about 10:15 p.m.

After the two men used needles to probe various parts of his body for a vein, also using a phone flashlight to help, Miller told the men, he could feel that they were not accessing his veins, but rather stabbing around his veins. Later, a third man then began slapping his neck in an apparent attempt to look for a vein.

The three men in scrubs stopped their probing and left the chamber after there was a loud knock on a death chamber window from the state's observation room, according to the court filing. A prison officer then raised the gurney to a vertical position. Miller said the wall clock read 11:40 p.m. and he estimated that he hung there for about 20 minutes before he was let down and told that his execution was cancelled for the evening.

Mr. Miller felt nauseous, disoriented, confused, and fearful about whether he was about to be killed, and was deeply disturbed by his view of state employees silently staring at him from the observation room while he was hanging vertically from the gurney. Blood was leaking from some of Mr. Millers wounds, the motion stated.

Miller was sentenced to death after being convicted of a 1999 workplace rampage in which he killed Terry Jarvis, Lee Holdbrooks and Scott Yancy.

Due to the lateness of the hour, the Alabama Department of Corrections was limited in the number of attempts to gain intravenous access it could make. ADOC made the decision to halt its efforts to obtain IV access at approximately 11:30 p.m., resulting in the expiration of the courts execution warrant, the state attorney generals office wrote in the request for a new date.

This is at least the third time Alabama has acknowledged problems with vein access during a lethal injection. The states July execution of Joe Nathan James took more than three hours to get underway. Alabama called off the 2018 execution of Doyle Hamm after being unable to establish an intravenous line.
STORY: Eighty-eight white doves were released into the Sydney sky on Wednesday (October 12), in a memorial marking 20 years since 88 Australians died in the Bali bombings in Indonesia  one of the worlds deadliest militant attacks.

Jan Roberts, whose son Ben died that night, spoke on behalf of families who lost their loved ones.

202 people died in total.

"Everyone deals with grief in different ways. It left me weak at the knees and needing silence. I existed but was not present for two years."

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the country would hold onto the victims names and faces, and never let them fade.

Twenty years on, the ache does not dim.

Commemorations were held in Australias Parliament House in Canberra.

Australian officials placed flowers on a wreath in memory of the victims.

Indonesian diplomat to Australia Siswo Pramono, said the two nations will prevail over challenges, especially terrorism.

As we commemorate the 20th year of the Bali bombing in Australia and in Indonesia, we call for a strengthened partnership between the two great nations so that the heinous crime will not be repeated again in the future.

Memorial activities were also held in Bali.

Tourists and locals on the Indonesian island visited a memorial at the site of the blasts, where names of the victims were inscribed.

The two, almost simultaneous blasts hit Bali's Kuta strip late at night on October 12, 2002.

An Islamic militant group was blamed for the bombings.

After the attacks, Indonesia set up an elite anti-terrorism unit that resulted in scores of suspected militants being arrested or killed.
The supply chain across the nation's heartland is facing significant constraints that could have far-reaching consequences into the winter, starting with farmers in the Plains and expanding all the way to the overall economy of the United States.

Exacerbating the problem are the low water levels of the Mississippi River, a crucial waterway for commerce that has seen a steady decline in its flow in recent months due to a lack of rain. A river gauge at Osceola, Arkansas, 35 miles north of Memphis, Tennessee, reported a water level of 8.8 feet below what is considered low stage' on Wednesday, Oct. 12, the fourth-lowest water level at the location since record-keeping began in 1927.

At least eight barges ran aground earlier in the month due to the low water levels, according to The Associated Press. The risk of barges getting stuck continues to rise with each passing day as the water level continues to fall, putting additional stress on the shipping and barge traffic that rely on the largest U.S. river for transportation.

"It's a really integral part of our overall economy, and it's particularly so for agriculture," Michael Steenhoek, executive director of the Soy Transportation Coalition, told AccuWeather in an interview.

The commerce on the Mississippi River accounts for 92% of the country's agricultural exports, 60% of all grain exports and 78% of feed grains, soybeans and livestock exports.

The timing of the drought and falling water levels could not have come at a worse time for farmers.

"We are in the middle of the harvest season and this is the most active time," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Paul Pastelok said. "Barge trafficking is the heaviest means to transport agricultural products."

"If this cannot be controlled, grains cannot get to the ports to transport to other countries," Pastelok said, adding that it could hurt farmers and the overall U.S. economy.

Between Sept. 12 and Oct. 12, the Mississippi River watershed received just a fraction of the average rainfall.

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Steenhoek told AccuWeather that concerns over the current situation started to arise nearly a year ago during the winter of 2021-2022 when there was a scarcity of snowfall across the Mississippi River basin.

"A lot of the water that you see on the lower Mississippi River, it originally starts as a snowflake in Montana," he said. "It just continued to compound and of course summer we didn't get much rainfall, so now we're in the situation we're in today."

Steenhoek explained that the demand for crops, such as soybean and corn, is well exceeding the supply due to the reduced shipping on the Mississippi River.

Barges can still navigate down the river, but they may be loaded with fewer goods in order to keep afloat in shallow water. However, this means that the shipping method is less efficient, ultimately leading to higher costs.

"We're seeing well in excess of over 100% increase in the cost of barge freight now versus the same period last year," he explained. "What often happens within the agricultural industry and what's certainly happening right now is those costs are being largely passed on to the farmer. How is that passed on to the farmer? Well, in the form of a lower price that those farmers are offered at that point of sale."

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Shipping has not ground to a halt, but it has been significantly reduced.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers normally moves between 30 and 40 barges at a time, but that number has been cut to 25 barges due to the extremely low water level, the AP reported. Barge traffic has been reduced by 39% compared to the previous five years.

"Plain and simple, the solution for this is rain, we gotta have rain and we're gonna need and you're gonna need a lot of it," Tyler Oxner, with the Arkansas Farm Bureau, told KATV, a news station based out of Little Rock, Arkansas.

The fallout from the reduced flow of the Mississippi is also impacting the travel industry.

A Viking cruise ship on the Mississippi River recently set sail on its maiden voyage, starting in Louisiana with the goal of taking passengers up the river to St. Paul, Minnesota, but as passenger R. Thomas Berner told AccuWeather, the cruise fell well short of its destination.

Berner said that after departing from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, it was evident that the low water level was going to derail the voyage.

"We were stopping frequently, and at some point we had to pull over to the shore and anchor along with many barges because the Coast Guard had said that a couple of barges had run into shallow water," Berner told AccuWeather.

"At one point, there were 50 vessels backed up coming downriver and another 50 going upriver," he added.

The cruise ship did not even make it to Memphis, Tennessee, before the entire trip was canceled due to the low water level.

"It was boring," Berner said. "I got tired of taking photographs of the shoreline that showed how low the river was." However, he added that he was refunded for the trip and he and his wife plan on going on more Viking cruises.

Barges lined up along the banks of the Mississippi River waiting clearance to continue sailing up the river. (R. Thomas Berner)

Conditions on the Mississippi River could get worse before they improve with Pastelok saying that the long-range forecast does not look very wet for the region.

"This could go on through the winter and into the start of spring," Pastelok explained. "The only hope is some relief from the Ohio and Tennessee tributaries which drain into the Mississippi River. There is a chance by mid to late winter, east of the Mississippi River can be wetter as a winter storm track evolves. But farther west, the precipitation forecast is drier at this time."

AccuWeather long-range forecasters are predicting a wet weather pattern to eventually set up across most of the Mississippi River Valley this winter with snow across the northern Plains. These factors should help ease drought concerns and raise the water level on the Mississippi River, but it will take time for this forecast to come to fruition.

"We're seeing the conditions deteriorate with each passing day," Steenhoek said. "There's not a lot of reason for optimism on the horizon. There's not a lot you can do now."

Want next-level safety, ad-free? Unlock advanced, hyperlocal severe weather alerts when you subscribe to Premium+ on the AccuWeather app. AccuWeather Alerts are prompted by our expert meteorologists who monitor and analyze dangerous weather risks 24/7 to keep you and your family safer.
Bella Hadid has seemingly addressed Kanye Wests recent anti-Semitic posts, noting on Instagram that it would be a disservice to herself and her loved ones if she did not speak up.

On Tuesday, the 26-year-old shared a statement to condemn antisemitism and the things that have been shared about it recently on public platforms.

While she didnt mention West by name, her post comes after the rapper went to Twitter to claim that he could go death con three on JEWISH PEOPLE. He also alleged in the tweets, which have now been removed for violating Twitter rules, that he wasnt Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew.

In her Instagram Story, Hadid said its been hard for her to celebrate her birthday over the past two days seemingly due to Wests slew of social media posts and that she wont let any form of antisemitism slide, for the sake of herself and her community.

To allow any form of antisemitism to slip by, as desensitized as the world has become, it would be a disservice to my friends, the families I have grown up with, the people I love and work with, myself, and even the Palestinian cause as a whole, she wrote.

She then emphasised that her Palestinian community does not stand for hatred or violence, adding that anti-Semitic social media posts will never be okay.

I will continue to be a voice for the innocently targeted no matter who you are or where you come from, Hadid continued. With that being said, this is NOT okay. Antisemitism, or targeting any innocent Jewish person, anywhere, will never be okay. I cant stress how important it is for my following to hear this loud and clear.

Hadid then acknowledged how scary it is to live in a place where discrimination or death wishes are part of everyday life and how concerning it is when people ignore something horrendous on social media.

(bellahadid/Instagram)

It is scary that most people would swipe past something so horrendous and unknowingly go on with their life, completely unaware of how it could affect another human being, she wrote. But there is a point where we all have to speak up. No matter what. If you feel something is wrong in your heart. Speak up.

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She then defended her loved ones, specifically people who are Jewish, who currently feel targeted, uneasy, and confused.

Generational trauma of their ancestors being tortured and taken, Hadid continued. There is self-doubt. These are triggers. And I am here to say that if you see something, say something.

(bellahadid/Instagram)

The model directed a message to members of the Jewish community, writing: To my Jewish loved ones, the Jewish communities worldwide, I am here to say that you belong, you are worthy and your right as a human being is to be ALIVE. Just the same as any other race, religio, shape or size. No one can choose where they come from, what is in their blood, or who they are, she added. And no one should be judged for the things they cannot control.

She concluded her Instagram Story by once again telling her followers that if they see ANYONE say something anti-semitic, call that person out on it and make it known that there is no room for that kind of behaviour.

(bellahadid/Instagram)

Hadid also emphasised the importance of bringing people together to stand up against hate: We need to stand together always. The same way I expect hatred against my people, your people, or their people to be denounced, I will time and time again denounce ALL anti-semitism worldwide.

The supermodel wasnt the first celebrity to address the recent slew of anti-Semitic social media posts. On Monday, Jamie Lee Curtis, who is of Hungarian Jewish descent on her fathers side, called West out on Twitter and slammed him for his tweets, noting that he shared them only a week after the holiest day in Judaism, Yom Kippur.

Words matter, the Everything Everywhere All at Once star continued. A threat to Jewish people ended once in a genocide. Your words hurt and incite violence. You are a father. Please stop.

That same day, Curtis also appeared on Today and further explained her response to Wests posts.

I burst into tears, she explained. What are you doing? I mean, its bad enough that fascism is on the rise around the world, but on Twitter, on a portal, to pour that in as if Jewish people havent had it hard enough?
A 39-year-old man was shot and killed in East St. Louis Tuesday night.

East St. Louis Police were dispatched to the 8100 block of State Street after getting a call reporting a subject down, Assistant Chief Ranodore Foggs said.

When officers arrived, Fogg said, a man was found on the ground and unresponsive.

St. Clair County Coroner Calvin Dye Sr. identified the victim as Leon Davis, whose last known address was in the 700 block of Mascoutah Avenue in Belleville.

Davis was pronounced dead at the scene at 1 a.m. Wednesday, Dye said.

Medstar Ambulance and St. Clair County Sheriffs deputies also were at the scene, Foggs said.

Illinois State Police are working jointly with East St. Louis Police on the investigation.

Police are looking for a person of interest, Foggs said. A motive has not been established, he said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the East St. Louis Police Department at 618-482-6600.
Oct. 12BEMIDJI  The

Bemidji State

Student Senate is hosting a "Meet the Candidates" event from 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 27, in the Beaux Arts Ballroom on campus.

All Beltrami County political candidates are invited to table at the event and voter registration information will also be available.

A list of candidates attending can be found after Friday, Oct. 14, on the event website at

bemidjistate.campuslabs.com/engage.

Students, faculty, staff and community members are welcome to attend. Parking is available in the Bangsberg Hall parking lot at the corner of Birchmont Drive NE and 14th Street.
Amazon's October Prime Day offers a great opportunity to pick up a new monitor for your work-from-home or gaming setup. They're often some of the most expensive peripherals to get, so it always helps when you can wait and pick up a new model on sale. A number of monitors from brands like LG, Samsung, Dell and others have been discounted for the Prime Early Access Sale, so chances are you'll find one that's been discounted that's the appropriate size and resolution for your needs. Here are the best monitor deals we could find for October Prime Day.

LG monitor deals

27-inch LG Ultragear QHD monitor

LG discounted a mixture of standard and gaming monitors for Prime Day this time around. The cheapest of the bunch is this 32-inch FHD IPS display for $180, or 28 percent off its normal rate. But if you're a gamer, you should consider this 27-inch LG Ultragear QHD monitor  it has a 144Hz refresh rate, 1ms response time and support for NVIDIA G-Sync.

Shop LG monitor deals at Amazon

Samsung monitor deals

Samsung 32-inch Odyssey G5 monitor

Samsung's monitor deals include the Smart Monitor M8 for only $500. That's the best price we've seen on the display that doubles as a smart TV. When you're not using it for productivity, you can access streaming services like Netlfix and Prime Video directly from the device, and it has a built-in smart home hub, too. If you don't need all those extra bells and whistles, displays like the $160, 24-inch SR35 monitor and the $280, 32-inch Odyssey G5 are also good options.

Shop Samsung monitor deals at Amazon

Dell monitor deals

24-inch Dell IPS gaming monitor

There's a big sale on Dell and Sceptre monitors that knocks up to 43 percent off select models. This 24-inch Dell IPS gaming monitor with a 240Hz refresh rate is cheaper than ever at $200, and you can get this all-purpose, 27-inch Dell FHD USB-C monitor for only $224.

Shop Dell monitor deals at Amazon

Acer monitor deals

Acer 23.8-inch FHD IPS monitor

If you're looking for a true budget monitor, Acer's got a handful of deals worth considering. You can pick up this 23.8-inch FHD IPS monitor with a 178 degree wide viewing angle for only $95, or this 27-inch Nitro WQHD gaming monitor, with AMD FreeSync Premium and overlocking to 170Hz refresh rates, for only $210  $90 off its usual rate.

Shop Acer monitor deals at Amazon

Get the latest Amazon Prime Day offers by following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribing to the Engadget Deals newsletter.
Vinyard in Valparaiso, Chile

Getty Images

While Chile is considered by many as part of the New World, wine has technically been produced in the South American country since the 1500s, when Spanish missionaries started cultivating the Pais variety to make wine for Mass. Today, around 800 vinas (wineries) and 11,697 growers cultivate 336,000 acres.

What the curiously narrow Andean nation lacks in breadth  a mere 221 miles at its widest point  it makes up for in length, boasting an impressive 2,653 miles of Pacific coastline, of which 800 miles are cultivated with vineyards. Positioned as the world's sixth-largest producer according to the International Organisation of Vine and Wine, 17 main winemaking regions that incorporate more than 110 denominations of origin (DOs) are cocooned between the omnipresent mountain range and the ocean. There are three climatic designations known as Andes, Entre Cordilleras and Costa at latitudes extending between 17 and 46, from the Atacama desert in the north, to the Osorno Valley in the southern Los Lagos lake district. Cool-climate influence comes from the Pacific and the Humboldt Current that create cool morning fog as well as Andean breezes, while hot, dry summers contribute Mediterranean characteristics to wines.

While French varieties and winemaking techniques kickstarted Chile's wine industry in the 1850s (as in neighboring Argentina), phylloxera almost destroyed France's industry. Chile's fledgling wine industry, however, benefited from an influx of suddenly out-of-work French winemakers, and still continues to cultivate many pre-phylloxera clones; today, wines from 150-year-old vines are the norm. As for more contemporary history, both World War II and the 17-year Pinochet dictatorship dampened wine production, but following the general's demise in 1990, the industry was rebooted; in 2022, Chile produced 1.24 billion liters.

While 80 percent of Chilean wine is produced in the Central Region, which is home to the renowned Maipo Valley, Chile's fascinating topography allows a diverse range of varieties to thrive. Bold reds lead the charge, notably full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon, smooth and fruity Merlot as well as Carmenere. Wine lovers should also look out for Syrah and Pinot Noir, as well as light-skinned Pais, Carignan, and Cinsault. Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay are the most sought-after whites, though Riesling, Viognier, Moscatel and Semillon are also cultivated; a whopping 96 varieties are grown in total.

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Cabernet Sauvignon

The Bordeaux native grape migrated to Chile in the mid-19th century, and has been proving its worth ever since. Today, it's the country's most widely cultivated red  a true star that basks in Chile's sunlight and thrives on the wide temperature range, which contributes to its complexity.n Its finest expressions come from the Maipo Valley.

"Cabernet Sauvignon is clearly Chile's favorite grape, whether alone or playing a major part in a Bordeaux-style blend," says Kylie Sherriff, sommelier and owner of Chile Wine Trails. "The Maipo Valley alone spans from Maipo Andes  known for its rich, premium Cabs  across the Central Maipo plains and on to Coastal Maipo, leading to fresher expressions as the Pacific Ocean starts to have a cooler influence."

Silky tannins and herbal notes create highly quaffable and cellar-worthy vintages.Buoyed by its success, winemakers are building on this big red."Cabs are coming from further south and higher up the mountains in the Cachapoal and Colchagua valleys  great examples are Calyptra's Zahir and San Pedro's Cabo de Horno  and as far north as the desert-like Elqui valley," Sherriff adds. "This warm-climate grape is nothing if not versatile: there are several saignee roses on the market while some winemakers are experimenting with a sparkling version."

Carmenere

A Medoc transplant that was almost wiped out by the phylloxera blight, history recounts that some fortuitous winemakers brought Carmenere cuttings to Chile, mistakenly believing them to be Merlot; its true identity was discovered a full century later. This intense purple-hued wine boasts black fruit, bayleaf, floral, meaty and red bell pepper notes, depending on its origin. It has truly made itself at home to become an emblematic Chilean red.

The late-ripening, spicy red loves the drawn-out summer in Colchagua, and Cachapoal in particular, a region whose fertile soils impart fruity character to the wines, says Cristian Aliaga of 3 Monos winery. "Good temperatures, diverse soils and little rain means Carmenere is much more at home here than in France," he says. "It's adapted really well and in the past 20 years, we enologists have grasped its potential. With lower acidity than Cabernet Sauvignon and silky tannins, it's attractive and intense, and a great example of versatility."

Pinot Noir

Cultivated on Limari's calcareous soils in the north, while also straddling Casablanca, San Antonio and sub-region Leyda as well as newer valleys such as Bio-Bio and Malleco (Chile's most southern wine region) in the south, red Burgundy has made itself perfectly at home in Chile's cool climes. Good thermal amplitude and close proximity to the sea are contributing factors when it comes to producing notable Pinot Noir, says Jean-Charles Villard, winemaker at Villard Fine Wines in Casablanca Valley.

"My father Thierry pioneered planting Pinot Noir here in the 1990s and our vineyards, which have granite and quartz soils, are a little warmer than the rest of the valley. We pick early, at the end of February, to retain freshness," he explains. The family-run winery makes two Pinot Noir as well as excellent Chardonnay and an iconic Syrah. The complex Le Pinot Noir Grand Vin is aged in third- and fourth-use French oak barrels and foudres, the Pinot varietal expression bursting with red fruit, mushrooms and forest floor flavors.

Pais

Chile's heritage grape was introduced by Spanish missionaries in the 16th century, and incredibly, many grape growers work with 150-year-old Pais vines, also known as the Mission grape. Underappreciated for many years, a new wave of winemakers have initiated renewed interest in this easy-drinking, light-skinned red that thrives in the difficult, southern terroir of Maule, Yumbel and Bio-Bio.

According to Maximiliano Avendano, sommelier and owner of Tintoleos wine shop, micro producers have passed down their knowledge through the generations, which has helped to restore the prominence of these ancient Pais vines. "This grape's history, combined with the juicy, refreshing wines produced from it, makes it an attractive alternative for consumers who enjoy drinking Gamay and Cinsault," he says. Raising the style's profile even further are sparkling Pais and Cinsualt-Pais blends fermented in clay amphorae.

Sauvignon Blanc

Aromatic, bursting with fresh stone, citrus fruits, herbal notes, and acidity, Sauvignon Blanc accounts for 20 percent of all wine exports from Chile, according to Julio Alonso Ducci, executive director of Wines of Chile.

"Given that it is cultivated from Huasco and Limari in the north to Chile Chico, in Patagonia, at 46 in the south, there are lots of different expressions," he says. "Coastal Sauvignon Blanc benefits from the Humboldt Current, which keeps Chile cold in general, contributing to its renowned expression."

Chilean cuisine has a delicious array of seafood dishes worth savoring with this diverse white. Try abalone or choritos al vapor (mussels steamed in white wine) with Cono Sur's organic variety cultivated just 11 miles from the Pacific Ocean in San Antonio Valley, while the utter Chilean classic of creamy machas a la parmesana (clams a la parmesana) makes quite a match with Vina Ventisquero's unusual mineral-led Tara Sauvignon Blanc cultivated in Atacama.

Chardonnay

The world's favorite white is also Chile's go-to premium white. Thanks to winemakers who are looking to express the country's diverse topography, Chardonnay reflects diversity in both style and terroir. "Restrained use of oak and malolactic fermentation gives a fresher edge to the light creaminess of some Chardonnays, particularly out of the Casablanca region," says Sherriff. "Along with other coastal areas such as Aconcagua, we are seeing crisp, fresh vintages with some mineral notes with little to no oak at all," she adds.

The Central Region is also home to noteworthy sparkling wine; Sherriff recommends Casablanca Valley's Villard Le Chardonnay, Errazuriz Aconcagua Costa, and William Fevre Gran Cuvee, from the Maipo Andes foothills.
President Biden's administration plans to "reassess" America's relationship with Saudi Arabia, a move that could spark historic and global ramifications after the Saudis joined Russia in limiting oil exports last week.

However, the administration remarked that it would not "reassess" its relationship with China, which has bought more oil from Russia than any other nation.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre accused the Saudis of siding with Russia on Tuesday. She announced Biden's plans to take a step back from the long U.S. alliance with the Saudi government, though both the president and the administration have refused to offer details on potential actions.

The Saudi government-led oil cartel OPEC+ announced it would cut oil production earlier this week, despite an aggressive push from the U.S. and other Western allies to at least delay the move. Many European countries are facing strained energy supplies this year as Russia has limited exports in retaliation to Western economic sanctions over President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, when asked by FOX Business' Edward Lawrence on Wednesday, denied a "reassessment" of China would take place. He cited what he called America's "complex" relationship with China, and noted how Chinese President Xi Jinping was said to have raised "questions and concerns" to Putin over the Ukraine war during an in-person meeting last month. Kirby called it a "public rebuke" of Putin's actions, the first of its kind.

SEN. BOB MENENDEZ CALLS FOR END ALL COOPERATION WITH SAUDI ARABIA OVER OPEC+ OIL CUT

President Biden (L) being welcomed by Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (R) at Alsalam Royal Palace in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on July 15, 2022.

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"We believe by the decision that OPEC+ made last week, (Saudi Arabia is) certainly aligning themselves with Russia," Jean-Pierre said during a Tuesday briefing at the White House. "And right now, this is not the time to be aligning with Russia, especially with this brutal, unprecedented war that they started in Ukraine."

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AFTER OPEC OIL CUT, WASHINGTON POST CLAIMS BIDEN'S FOREIGN POLICY WITH SAUDI ARABIA HAS FAILED BADLY

Biden's allies in Congress are also pushing for him to make a move against the Saudis. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., called on the White House to "immediately freeze all aspects of our cooperation with Saudi Arabia" on Monday. He added that the U.S. should consider cutting off arms sales to the country.

"There simply is no room to play both sides of this conflict  either you support the rest of the free world in trying to stop a war criminal from violently wiping off an entire country off of the map, or you support him," Menendez wrote. "The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia chose the latter in a terrible decision driven by economic self-interest."

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-CT, also called for Biden to "act immediately." The senator held a joint press conference on Wednesday with Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., proposing an end to arms sales to the Saudis.

"I would do more than re-evaluate. I would act immediately," he said in an interview. "He has been misled and double-crossed, and I dont think he should or will take lightly to it."

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Biden himself confirmed that he is exploring "consequences" for Saudi Arabia in an interview on Tuesday.

"Theres going to be some consequences for what theyve done with Russia," Biden told CNNs Jake Tapper in an interview released Tuesday. "Im not going to get into what Id consider and what I have in mind. But there will be consequences."

FOX Business Network's Edward Lawrence contributed to this report.
President Joe Biden spoke with CNN's Jake Tapper on Tuesday about Russian President Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine. Julio Cortez and Gavriil Grigorov/AP

President Joe Biden told CNN that Russian President Vladimir Putin is a "rational actor."

The president added that Putin made a poor decision in assuming Ukraine would immediately fold.

On Monday, Russia unleashed one of its largest attacks on Ukraine since the beginning of the war.

President Joe Biden believes Vladimir Putin made a grave mistake by invading Ukraine, but he warned not to underestimate the Russian leader.

"I think he is a rational actor who has miscalculated significantly," Biden said in an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper on Tuesday.

His comment came a day after Russia unleashed a barrage of missiles across 14 regions in Ukraine  one of the largest assaults against the country since the invasion began in February. The strike was believed to have killed at least 19 people, according to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine.

Biden and leaders of the Group of 7 nations virtually convened on Tuesday with President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss how countries could strengthen Ukraine's air defenses.

"We will continue to provide financial, humanitarian, military, diplomatic, and legal support and will stand firmly with Ukraine for as long as it takes," the G7 leaders said in a joint statement.

Biden's characterization of Putin as a rationally thinking leader also comes after the Russian president's veiled threat of nuclear war.

Putin said after he announced a partial military mobilization on September 21 that "those who try to blackmail us with nuclear weapons should know that the prevailing winds can turn in their direction."

Experts and world leaders have discussed at length what to make of Putin's warning.

Putin is "not joking when he talks about potential use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons because his military is underperforming," Biden said last week, calling it the highest level of threat since the Cuban missile crisis.

On the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called Putin's remarks "dangerous and reckless nuclear rhetoric."

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Analysts have told Insider that Putin's threat should raise concerns, but the overall chance of breaking out into nuclear warfare still remains low.

Hans Kristensen, a director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, told Insider last month that the threats reflect a change in Putin's rhetoric around nuclear warfare, but that it's still yet to be determined if it means a change in "actual planning."

People should still be "extraordinarily concerned," he said, and that "very deliberate efforts" should be taken to convince Russia of the consequences of taking the conflict to the next level.

In discussing Putin's goals in Ukraine with CNN, Biden questioned the Russian leader's decision and said that Putin misjudged Ukraine if he thought the country would immediately fold.

"His objectives were not rational," he said. "I think he thought he was going to be welcomed with open arms, that this was the home of Mother Russia in Kyiv, and that where he was going to be welcomed, and I think he just totally miscalculated."

Tensions between Biden and Putin were on display during Tapper's interview after the anchor asked the president if he would be willing to meet with Putin at the G20 Summit in mid-November.

"I have no intention of meeting with him," Biden said, "But, for example, if he came to me at the G20 and said, 'I want to talk about the release of (Brittney) Griner.' It would depend."

Griner, the WNBA basketball star, remains in Russian prison after she was detained in February for possessing vape cartridges with hashish oil.

The CNN anchor also asked Biden if he had any plans to announce a 2024 candidacy.

Biden said that any thoughts around a potential second term would have to wait until after the November midterm. If he were to run again, Biden said he believed he could beat Donald Trump, who will also most likely run in 2024.

"I believe I can beat Donald Trump, again," he said.

Read the original article on Business Insider
President Joe Biden on Tuesday said he does not believe the US economy will enter a recession, but if there is one it will be very slight.

Speaking during an interview on CNN, Mr Biden was asked by host Jake Tapper about predictions of an imminent economic downturn made by US bank executives and analysts, including a recent statement by the CEO of JP Morgan Chase predicting the US will enter a recession in the next nine months.

Pressed on whether the American people should prepare for an economic downturn, Mr Biden said no and pointed out that analysts have been predicting a recession with regularity but those predictions havent been borne out by reality.

Every six months, they look down the next six months and say whats going to happen. It hadnt happened yet, he said. I dont think there will be a recession. If it is, itll be a very slight recession. That is, well move down slightly.

Mr Biden added that the US is currently in a better position than any other major country in the world economically and politically, though he acknowledged that the country still has real problems to deal with.

When asked about his remark that a slight recession was possible, the president told Mr Tapper he does not anticipate one happening.
(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden downplayed a report that federal investigators believe they have enough evidence to charge his son Hunter with tax and gun crimes, saying he has confidence in him.

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Im confident, Biden said Tuesday in an interview with CNN, that what he says and does are consistent with what happens.

The Washington Post reported, citing anonymous sources, that Hunter Biden purchased a handgun and allegedly filled out a federal form in October 2018 stating that he was not a user of or addicted to drugs.

By his own account in a memoir, the younger Biden was using drugs heavily that year. The tax investigation has focused on whether he did not declare income related to his business ventures, including overseas endeavors that dogged his fathers 2020 presidential campaign, according to the Post.

A lawyer for Hunter Biden, asked by the Post about the case, accused federal agents of leaking information about the inquiry. A decision whether to charge Biden ultimately rests with a US attorney in Delaware who was nominated by former President Donald Trump.

President Biden told CNN he didnt know anything about the situation involving Hunters gun purchase but acknowledged his son wrote about saying no on the gun form.

I love him and hes on the straight and narrow, and he has been for a couple of years now. Im just so proud of him, President Biden said.

Any charges against Hunter Biden could ultimately shadow his fathers decision whether to seek a second term. Asked if he will run again in 2024, Biden said he would be in the process of deciding after the November midterm elections.

Its a matter of, can you do the job? And I believe I can do the job. Ive been able to do the job, said Biden, who will turn 80 next month.

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Biden and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Royal Court of Saudi Arabia/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

President Biden is planning to reevaluate the U.S.' relationship with Saudi Arabia after OPEC+ announced it would cut oil production targets. The Saudi-led coalition, which also includes Russia, announced last week that it would cut its oil output by two million barrels a day, thus driving up prices in the U.S., The Washington Post reports.

Biden has spent extensive time pressing Saudi Arabia to increase oil output given the strain on resources caused by Russia's war on Ukraine. He personally met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for a two-hour meeting back in July. OPEC+ made the announcement despite U.S. officials lobbying against the decision. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said the decision was considered from a purely economic standpoint and was made unanimously by the coalition's member states, Reuters reports.

But the move was viewed as a direct shot at the president, thus pushing Congress to suggest a reconsideration of the Saudi Arabia-U.S. relationship, the Post continues. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called for the U.S. to freeze any and all cooperation with Saudi Arabia, reports Reuters.

A reevaluation has yet to occur, said National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby; however, Biden is "willing to discuss this relationship with members of Congress."

"There's going to be some consequences for what they've done, with Russia," Biden told CNN Tuesday. "I'm not going to get into what I'd consider and what I have in mind. But there will be ... consequences."

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President Biden on Tuesday said he has confidence in his son, Hunter Biden, amid reports that federal agents believe there is enough evidence to charge Hunter with tax crimes and a false statement on a gun purchase.

Well, first of all, Im proud of my son. This is a kid who got, not a kid  hes a grown man. He got hooked on  like many families have had happen, hooked on drugs. Hes overcome that. Hes established a new life, Biden told CNNs Jake Tapper in an interview.

Biden noted his son acknowledged in his book that he wrote on a gun application that he was not using drugs at a time when he was battling addiction. But the president said said he didnt know anything about it at the time.

So I have great confidence in my son, Biden said. I love him and hes on the straight and narrow, and he has been for a couple years now. And Im just so proud of him.

The Washington Post first reported that federal agents believe there is enough evidence to charge Hunter Biden over the false answer on his application for a gun in 2018, as well as whether he failed to properly report all of his income.

The decision of whether to charge Hunter Biden ultimately lies with U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who is a holdover from the Trump administration.

The president has repeatedly said he is proud of his son for overcoming his addiction issues, and he has been adamant that he would not interfere in any Justice Department investigation.

That investigation into Hunter Biden has been ongoing for years, and Republicans have tried to use questions around Bidens son against him. Former President Trump during the 2020 campaign repeatedly highlighted Hunter Bidens foreign business interests to paint the Biden family as corrupt.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden said there would be consequences for Saudi Arabia over the decision by OPEC+ to slash production, a move the administration says will benefit Russia by propping up oil prices.

When the House and Senate gets back, theyre going to have to -- theres going to be some consequences for what theyve done, with Russia, Biden said Tuesday in a interview with CNN.

OPEC+ last week announced plans to slash output by 2 million barrels a day. The move angered the White House and Congress and highlighted a widening split between the Kingdom and the US. Lawmakers from both parties called for measures to punish Saudi Arabia.

Asked if it was time for the US to rethink its relationship with the Saudis, Biden said, Yes.

But he declined to detail what measures were on the table. Im not going to get into what Id consider and what I have in mind. But there will be -- there will be consequences, he said.

Senate Foreign Relations Chair Robert Menendez, a Democrat, on Monday urged freezing all cooperation with Saudi Arabia, including arms sales.

Lawmakers have also revived legislation that would allow the US government to sue members of OPEC for manipulating the energy market. But administration officials have conceded any legislative plan is unlikely to move until after the November midterms.

The Saudi decision was also a personal blow to Biden, who visited the country in July to urge higher production that could lower gas prices for Americans. But administration officials have since downplayed the connection.

Lets get straight why I went, Biden said Tuesday, adding that the trip wasnt about oil but rather about making clear that the US wasnt going to walk away from the Middle East.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

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The White House released its long-awaited National Security Strategy on Wednesday, outlining plans for strengthening alliances worldwide while maintaining a strong American military by promoting diversity and inclusion.

The strategy also includes a commitment to strengthening the U.S. nuclear arsenal at a time when Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to use nukes in Ukraine and as the Pentagon warns of Chinas growing arsenal of the destructive bombs.

The document was originally expected to be publicly released last spring but was delayed in part because of the fighting in Ukraine. National security adviser Jake Sullivan said Russias aggression in the region did not fundamentally change the administrations plans, but did result in some parts of the document receiving revisions and updates.

Republicans lay battle lines over Bidens plan to retire B83 megaton bomb

[The Ukraine war] presents in living color the key elements of our approach: the emphasis on allies, the importance of strengthening the hand of the democratic world and standing up for our fellow democracies, and for democratic values, he told reporters in a call unveiling the strategy.

To watch how Ukraine unfolded, how the terms of geopolitical competition have sharpened up over the course of the past few months, and also being able to put on display how our strategy works in practice, I think all of those serve a purpose in terms of giving life to the document that were releasing.

The strategy names Russia and China as major powers that threaten U.S. security, but it also notes an evolving terrorist threat from foreign militants and domestic extremists. Combating that will require both military intervention and addressing the root causes of radicalization with help from foreign partners.

That will also mean ensuring a well-trained, well-equipped American military force, the strategy argues.

We will maintain our foundational principle of civilian control of the military, recognizing that healthy civil-military relations rooted in mutual respect are essential to military effectiveness, the plan states. We will strengthen the effectiveness of the force by promoting diversity and inclusion; intensifying our suicide prevention efforts; eliminating the scourges of sexual assault, harassment, and other forms of violence, abuse, and discrimination; and rooting out violent extremism.

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US building information-sharing alliances to counter China, push JADC2

Strengthening alliances

In an effort to amplify our capacity to respond to shared challenges, the White House strategy calls for deepening and modernizing defense and intelligence alliances like NATO, Five Eyes (with Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the U.K.), and the Quad (with Australia, India and Japan).

For the Indo-Pacific, the strategy calls for building the collective capacity of U.S. partners in the region and stronger ties between likeminded countries. AUKUS, the year-old alliance based on sharing U.S. and U.K. nuclear submarine technology and other defense-related know-how with Australia, will be critical to addressing regional challenges.

Ukrainian gunmen ready to fire an American-made M777 howitzer on the front line in the Kharkiv region on Aug. 1, 2022, amid Russia's military invasion. (Sergey Bobok/AFP via Getty Images)

It also seeks to build on the Pentagons recent, massive effort to lead Western military aid for Ukraine and strengthen defense industry ties between allies. A strong partnership means allies need to be incorporated at every stage of defense planning, the strategy states.

The war in Ukraine highlights the criticality of a vibrant Defense Industrial Base for the United States and its allies and partners, the document says. It must not only be capable of rapidly manufacturing proven capabilities needed to defend against adversary aggression, but also empowered to innovate and creatively design solutions as battlefield conditions evolve.

Amid concerns from industry that efforts to work with allies are mired in red tape, President Joe Biden is seeking to remove barriers to deeper collaboration, the strategy says, to include issues related to joint capability development and production to safeguard our shared military-technological edge.

How to ensure the US and its allies have the weapons they need

Nuclear plans

The strategy also pledges the U.S. will rely less on the threat of nuclear weapons as a strategic centerpiece, but also emphasizes the need to invest in modernizing the nuclear triad and the countrys commitments to protect allies.

Nuclear deterrence remains a top priority for the nation and foundational to integrated deterrence, it states.

It alludes to Chinas growing nuclear arsenal as a motivator for U.S. investment in its own weapons.

By the 2030s, the United States for the first time will need to deter two major nuclear powers, each of whom will field modern and diverse global and regional nuclear forces, the strategy says.

Sullivan, speaking with reporters, said the forthcoming Pentagon nuclear posture and missile defense strategies would depart from some of the Trump-era formulas and [take a] step forward towards reduction.

Congress is poised to block the Biden administrations plan to cancel the submarine-launched cruise missile, known as the SLCM-N, and it has yet to decide on how it will approach the administrations plan to retire the B83 gravity bomb. The administration stopped short of setting a no first use policy that arms control advocates have sought.

Next steps

The document devotes a page to the Pentagons signature policy under Biden: integrated deterrence, which means coordinating military, diplomatic and economic levers from across the U.S. government to deter an adversary from taking aggressive action.

Integrated deterrence requires us to more effectively coordinate, network, and innovate so that any competitor thinking about pressing for advantage in one domain understands that we can respond in many others as well, the strategy reads.

The document devotes a page to the Pentagons signature policy under Biden: integrated deterrence. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

This augments the traditional backstop of combat-credible conventional and strategic capabilities, allowing us to better shape adversary perceptions of risks and costs of action against core U.S. interests, at any time and across any domain, it adds.

It also highlights investments in emerging technologies and their ability to transform warfare and pose novel threats.

Speaking with reporters, Sullivan said the administrations budget and forthcoming defense strategy documents have all emphasized modernizing the fighting force and the systems, platforms and technologies that they rely upon in every domain.

With the National Security Strategy finally publicly released, focus now shifts to the overdue National Defense Strategy. Lawmakers have been pressing for its release after Biden released only a two-page summary in March.

Mandated by Congress, the National Defense Strategy helps lawmakers weigh the presidents national security priorities for budgeting, shows allies and adversaries those priorities, and helps government officials speak with a single voice on national security matters.

But neither the Pentagon nor the White House on Wednesday made a public announcement on a timeline for that second document.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty

President Joe Biden doesnt believe that Russia will resort to using nuclear weapons in Ukraine, he said in an interview on Tuesday, but the possibility of a horrible outcome in the war has prompted the Pentagon to game out the U.S. response to their use.

I dont think he will, but I think that its irresponsible for him to talk about it, the idea that a world leader of one of the largest nuclear powers in the world says he may use a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine, Biden said of Russian president Vladimir Putin in an interview with CNNs Jake Tapper. Once you use a nuclear weapon, the mistakes that can be made, the miscalculations, who knows what would happen?

In the interview, conducted in the Map Room of the White House shortly after Biden met with the Group of Seven leaders to discuss the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, the president accused Putin of having committed war crimes in the eight months since Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine, and said that he doesnt see any rationale to meet with him.

Im talking to Putin. He, in fact, cannot continue with impunity to talk about the use of a tactical nuclear weapon, as if thats a rational thing to do, Biden said. No one can be sure of what would happen. And it could end in Armageddon.

Putin, Biden said, has backed himself into a corner, but still has a way out without resorting to using atomic weapons, as Putin has openly threatened to do.

He could just flat leave and still probably hold his position together in Russia, Biden suggested.

In the interview, which focused primarily on foreign policy issues, Biden was scant on the details of how to address aggressive moves by both adversaries and allies. Biden wasnt just evasive when asked about the U.S. response to a nuclear attack in Ukrainehe also refused to say what consequences the Saudi Arabian government would face for leading massive cuts in oil production in partnership with the Kremlin.

Putin Just Seized One-Fifth of Ukraine But Bidens Still Betting Sanctions Can Stop Him

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Im not going to get into what Id consider and what I have in mind, Biden said of Saudi Arabia after Tapper asked if Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had played him during a recent trip to the kingdom in which Biden was conspicuously chummy with the autocrat. But there will be consequences.

Biden was more confident when discussing domestic rivals, telling Tapper that he was sure that the Democratic Party has a solid record ahead of the midterm elections.

Whats the Republican platform to run on? What are they running on? What are they for? Biden asked, pointing to a plan by some Republican senators to put Social Security up for a vote every half-decade. I mean, I dont know what theyre for.

As for his own next potential electionand his potential opponentBiden was plainspoken.

I believe I can beat Donald Trump again, Biden told Tapper, adding that his decision on whether to run for re-election would be made following the midterm elections.

Im not going to make this about my decision. Im going to make this about this off-year election, Biden said. After thats done in November, then Im going to be in the process of deciding.

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By Jeff Mason

LEADVILLE, Colo. (Reuters) - President Joe Biden on Wednesday declared a rugged, mountainous section of Colorado that American soldiers used to train for combat in World War Two a national monument during his first stop on a tour of the U.S. West.

Biden signed a proclamation establishing the Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument to protect the 53,804-acre (21,770-hectare) area during a ceremony at the site. It was the first national monument declaration of his presidency.

The area has been home to Native Americans and was a training ground for soldiers of the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division going into battle in the Italian Alps.

"When you think about the natural beauty of Colorado and the history of our nation, you find it here, more than 50,000 acres, including the 10-mile range, soaring peaks and steep canyons, black bears, bald eagles, moose, mountain lions, waterfalls, pristine rivers, alpine lakes," Biden said.

Among those introducing Biden was Democratic U.S. Senator Michael Bennet, who helped lead the charge for the designation and is in a tight reelection race against Republican Joe O'Dea.

"Your designation means more Americans will come to appreciate the extraordinary history of this place, a place that goes back to before when Colorado was a state, Bennet said.

Biden also announced that he is blocking new mining claims and mineral leases on approximately 225,000 acres (91,050 hectares) in the Thompson Divide area of western Colorado for at least two years and possibly for two decades.

Later this week, Biden will visit California and Oregon with a central aim of raising money for Democratic candidates trying to prevent Republicans from taking control of Congress in the Nov. 8 midterm elections.

After Colorado, Biden will travel to Santa Monica, California, for events Thursday and Friday in the Los Angeles area. On Friday, he will go to Portland, Oregon.

There, he will take part in a grassroots volunteer event with Oregon Democrats. On Saturday he will headline a reception for the Democratic candidate for governor, Tina Kotek.

(Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by Richard Pullin and Jonathan Oatis)
A new oral history of The Big Bang Theory has disclosed how Jim Parsons apparently blindsided his co-stars with his decision to exit.

Jessica Radloffs forthcoming book The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit casts a light on the dramatic conclusion to the hit series, which came to an end in 2019 after 12 seasons.

As per Yahoo! Entertainment, Parsons  who played the character of Sheldon  told Radloff: I dont think there was a part of me that actually thought I would do more seasons [of Big Bang] after the twelfth.

I was ready to get out of the security of the show to fully find out what was next for me.

Parsons co-star Simon Helberg, who played Howard Wolowitz in the series, likewise felt ready to leave but insisted that both he and Parsons did not believe their departures would bring an end to the show as a whole.

That didnt mean that we, in any way, expected that the show would certainly end or that there wouldnt be any kind of attempt from the producers or the studio or the network to keep the show running, whether or not we were involved, Helberg said in the book.

The producers, however, did not want to continue without Parsons, who told them of his decision after the table read for the season 12 premiere.

There was never a question about continuing on without him, executive producer Steve Malaro said. The show was this ensemble, and the thought of doing some strange version without him didnt seem right.

(CBS Television Distribution)

Radloff noted that the producers waited almost a week before telling the rest of the cast, after which Kaley Cuoco  who played Penny  went to series creator Chuck Lorre in tears.

We cried for hours, she said in the book. We thought we were going to do another year, so all of a sudden your life kind of flashes before your eyes. I looked at Chuck and said, What are we going to do? I couldnt breathe. It just felt like a death.

Cuoco and Jonathan Galecki, who played her love interest Leonard, were apparently so upset about the news that filming became uncomfortable.

Story continues

None of them were talking between scenes, Molaro said. Kaley could barely make eye contact with Jim during the run through, but they got through it.

Speaking about the awkward situation, Galecki told Radcliffe that the cast did not object Parsons choice to leave but that they were unhappy that their co-star did not approach them first before telling the producers.

Some of the sitcom's stars are reportedly seeking up to $1m an episode

I just disagreed with how it was handled, the actor said about the meeting during which they were informed of the news. "We thought we were going into Chucks office to talk about renegotiating, and then Chuck tossed the baton to Jim. And Jim was shocked and obviously caught off guard.

Showrunner Steve Holland added that the cast did not want to end the series on an ugly note.

If this was going to be the last season, they were going to put aside their anger and frustration and differences and enjoy every minute of it.

The final episode of The Big Bang Theory aired on 16 May 2019.
Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty

It seems like there isnt an industry left for the Big Tech giants (Google, Amazon, Apple, and Facebook) to swallow up.

In their drive to entrench their monopoly power (century-old antitrust law be damned!), Big Tech has encroached on almost every sector of the global economy. In great part thanks to their capitalizing off of users data, the four major companies have emerged as among the most powerful the world has ever seen.

But even as the giants have moved into everything from Hollywood to healthcare, theres one big piece of the puzzle that remains up-for-grabs: The automobile industry. Unfortunately, its clear that Big Tech sees the auto industry, particularly the autonomous vehicle (AV) market, as a new, golden opportunity for consumer data collection.

Break Up the Big Tech Giantsthe People Want It!

In a time when modern, computerized cars increasingly extract more and more data from drivers, Big Techs disastrous record on privacy rights makes its presence in the sector an alarming one. And in a post-Roe era where Big Techs data collection practices are a treasure trove for states working to punish abortion patients, the tech giants expansion into the auto sector will only heighten the dangers to individual rights.

The federal government can and must prevent the tech giants from leveraging drivers personal data to further entrench their monopoly power. Failure to take action could mean a further erosion of privacy rights in a nation where access to reproductive healthcare and other liberties are being actively stripped away.

From car software to digital key agreements with existing car companies, Big Tech companies are already making their mark in the field. But anyone familiar with headlines about the Apple Car or Googles autonomous vehicle project Waymo project knowsthe tech giants ambitions in the auto space goes well beyond dashboard features.

Though it may sound far-fetched, the notion that modern cars are becoming smartphones on wheels reflects the grim truth that automobiles are increasingly adept at recording driver data without their knowledge. A 2021 report in The Intercept found that the infotainment systems built into newer car models can store data as sensitive as favorite locations, call logs, contact lists, SMS messages, emails, pictures, videos, social media feeds, and the navigation history of everywhere the vehicle has been.

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Indeed, modern cars are becoming increasingly adept at collecting both visual and audio data via external cameras and built-in sensors. Even though its public presence remains minimal years after launch, footage recorded by vehicles in Googles Waymo service is already being utilized by law enforcement.

Equipped with as many as 29 external cameras, the prospect of Waymo becoming commonplace throughout the United States would mark a massive expansion of mass surveillance. Zoox, the robotaxi company acquired by Amazon in 2020, reportedly has built-in sensors that can detect and track roughly a hundred people and vehicles over 400 feet away.

A robot car from Googles sister company Waymo on the road in Mountain View. Andrej Sokolow/picture alliance via Getty

While some may find little problem with footage taken by AVs becoming standard in the fight against violent crime, the prospect of it being used to criminalize abortion should serve as a wake-up call to policymakers.

Even before the Supreme Court took a sledgehammer to reproductive rights this year, advocates have sounded the alarm on the use of digital surveillance to persecute abortion patients. Far from tin-foil hattery, messages and search histories have already been leveraged to punish women for seeking abortion care.

Want to Fix Big Tech? Stop Ignoring Sex Workers.

So-called geofence warrants, which allow the police find out which phones were used at a specific location in a set time period, already pose a significant risk to abortion patients. Activists have also raised concern about the potential use of automated license plate readers (ALPRs), which can either be stationary or attached to a moving police car, to surveil abortion patients.

In August, digital rights organization Fight For The Future (FFTF) raised these exact concerns with the Federal Trade Commission, and noted that [w]hen combined with Googles ability to location-track Android users, the threat to privacy this poses is mind-boggling.

And make no mistake: Big Techs intrusion into the auto space poses a threat to privacy rights well beyond the scope of reproductive healthcare access. Big Tech companies have proven time and time again that they are unwilling to take proper precautions when handling sensitive user data.

In 2018, Google willfully failed to report a data breach that affected as many as half a million users until some seven months later. Over the past decades, data breaches affecting Amazon subsidiaries have compromised the data of millions of users. Experts have sounded the alarm that Apples CarPlay technology could be compromised by hackers, potentially putting the welfare of drivers in jeopardy.

Dont Buy Big Techs BS That Regulating Them Is a Threat to National Security

If Big Techs efforts to dominate the auto industry were truly a good faith effort to innovate in the sector, one would expect the companies to be transparent about the potential risks their technologies pose. Unfortunately, this is not the case. True to Googles general lack of transparency, the company has fought tirelessly to keep Waymo safety statistics out of the public eye.

Following a legal battle with the California DMV, Waymo was able to keep crucial data related to vehicle crashes safety under the guise of protecting trade secrets. The so-called Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets, an industry group that counts both Waymo and Zoox as members, has worked tirelessly to water down basic safety regulations at the federal level.

A Waymo autonomous vehicle drives along California Street on April 11, 2022, in San Francisco, California. Justin Sullivan/Getty

From putting privacy rights of abortion patients at risk to undermining vehicle safety standards, Big Techs auto obsession is an all-around bad deal for consumers.

Federal regulators should heed the advice of Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin and crack down on Big Techs active effort to dominate the auto industry before it's too late.

Additionally, Congress needs to curb Big Techs monopoly power and safeguard the privacy rights of Americansparticularly vulnerable people seeking abortions in a country thats increasingly hostile to reproductive rights.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Farmers in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex are being asked to keep flocks indoors as wild bird infections rise

The government's chief veterinary officer said she has not ruled out another UK-wide lockdown due to "unprecedented levels" of bird flu.

The country has seen it's biggest ever outbreak in the past year with more than 170 cases confirmed.

From Wednesday, birdkeepers in Norfolk, Suffolk and parts of Essex must keep their birds indoors and follow stringent biosecurity measures.

Christine Middlemiss described the rise in infections as a "global phenomenon".

Cases have been reported in at least 17 premises locally since last month.

The mandatory housing measures apply to all poultry and captive birds, regardless of type or size, following a decision by Dr Middlemiss on Saturday.

The affected areas were placed in an Avian Influenza Prevention Zone last month after a series of outbreaks.

Alaistaire Brice, who owns Havensfield Eggs in Eye, Suffolk, told the BBC he believed the current Defra strategy was "not working".

"We really have little or no control over the wild birds that are visiting your site - the flu is now ahead of the curve," he said.

"Defra are scrambling, trying to catch up.

"I fear the weather will get worse and the virus will get stronger."

Alaistaire Brice said he is "incredibly worried" for the future of his business and the poultry industry

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said the housing order legally required birdkeepers to keep their flocks indoors and to follow stringent biosecurity measures.

In the UK in the past year, 161 cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) were detected in poultry and captive birds, leading to the culling of 3.2m birds.

This will be the second lockdown, or 'flockdown' - as it has been termed by some birdkeepers - this year.

A UK-wide housing measures lockdown was introduced by Defra on 29 November and was not lifted until 2 May this year.

Mr Brice said the biggest problem was a failure by Defra to remove dead infected wild birds from local waterways.

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"We're seeing dead birds floating in rivers and on ponds and on lakes throughout the whole of East Anglia and they stay there and they rot," he said.

"No-one is picking up those infected carcasses and disposing of them properly."

Bird owners have been told to keep flocks indoors as a Housing Order comes into force on Wednesday

Dr Middlemiss told BBC Radio 4's Today programme it was "a most unusual year", with an "unprecedented level of infection in wild birds over the winter that came in migratory birds".

"That has lasted in our own wild bird population over the summer for the first time ever," she said.

"Another lockdown across GB is quite possible.

"With the level in wild birds there is little we can directly do to manage it. That's a global phenomenon."

She said bird owners should consult their local authority or landowner about the removal of dead birds in the first instance.

Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk
A body believed to be that of a California woman reported missing two months ago was found at a wrecked car that apparently went off a cliff, officials said Tuesday.

Jolissa Fuentes, 22, was reported missing Aug. 8 after she didnt return home and couldnt be reached, police said.

We wish that we had better news, Selma, California, Police Chief Rudy Alcaraz said at a news conference, adding, I wish that we could have brought Ms. Fuentes home.

Jolissa Fuentes. (Fresno County Sheriff's Office via Facebook)

On Monday, searchers found the wreckage of Fuentes car and a body, along with the womans belongings, in a ravine near Pine Flat Lake, officials said.

Tire tracks went through vegetation and off a cliff, and search and rescue team members had to rappel down to reach it, the Fresno County Sheriffs Office said.

It was a single-car accident, Alcaraz said. Officials said no foul play is suspected.

The coroners office must confirm the identity of the remains.

Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims said, "There's little doubt that we have found her."

Jolissa Fuentes' car near near Pine Flat Lake, Calif. (Fresno County Sheriff's Office via Facebook)

That area of Pine Flat Lake had been searched, but Alcaraz said the area is a vast amount of geography with heavy foliage and cliffs. Search crews rappelled more than 200 feet down one cliff and then had to descend another, he said.

It was Alcaraz who on Monday found vehicle debris and tire tracks near Trimmer Springs Road that led investigators and search teams to the crashed car below, the sheriffs office said.

Related video: Fifth suspect arrested after body found in Arizona desert

"He promised me he was going to find my daughter, Fuentes father, Joe Fuentes, said at Tuesdays news conference.

Hes my hero, he added.

Alcaraz said he went to the area because he had a fresh set of eyes, and "I just got lucky." The location is at a bend in the road.

Fuentes was known to enjoy the area of Pine Flat Lake, and she may have just gone for a drive when the accident occurred, Alcaraz said.

The California Highway Patrol is investigating.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Boston Police are asking for public assistance locating a 61-year-man that they say suffers from dementia.

Missing from 1580 VFW Parkway, WR is a Jerome Beauvior, 61-year-old black male, 5'4", with short salt and pepper hair. He was last seen wearing a grey suit with a green button-down shirt and black shoes. Jerome Beauvior suffers from dementia. If located, please call 911 pic.twitter.com/aDOXBxZLDQ  Boston Police Dept. (@bostonpolice) October 11, 2022

According to BPD, Jerome Beauvior was last seen wearing a grey suit, with a green button down shirt and black shoes.

He was reported missing from Veterans of Foreign Wars Parkway.

He is a 54 black male with short salt and pepper hair according to BPD.

If located, police ask that they call 911.

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A 91-year-old civil rights and education activist was stabbed multiple times while walking her dog in Bostons Franklin Park on Tuesday night.

Emergency crews responding to Playstead Road within the park around 8:30 p.m. found the elderly woman suffering from apparent stab wounds, according to the Boston Police Department.

The victim, whose sister and former Boston City Councilor Tito Jackson identified as Dr. Jean McGuire, was taken to an area hospital. She is said to be in stable condition.

What did he want? Dog walkers dont carry money. We carry poop bags and ID. Thats all hes going to get. Unless he has the urge to beat up somebody whos defenseless, McGuires sister told Boston 25.

Suffolk County DA Kevin Hayden visited McGuire at Beth Israel Hospital Wednesday afternoon. Haydens father, Robert Hayden, was a former president of METCO who worked with Jean McGuire.

Ms McGuire is as spunky as vibrant as ever and is going to be just fine. Praise the Lord! Hayden said. I always find hope and refuge in the strength of leaders like her who came before me. And Im glad to know she is doing well.

In a tweet, Jackson said, I am so pissed off to hear this Boston! In the same week that we lost a 14-year-old to senseless gun violence, Jean McGuire, 91, for education and METCO was stabbed at Franklin Park! She fought for our civil rights for years in the face of danger to have a coward stab her.

When asked about the incident, Mayor Michelle Wu said, Im disgusted and angry to know that an elder in our community had to fear for her safety, going about her daily routine, walking her dog. And so, I want to thank our emergency responders for their very quick action to ensure that the healthcare and treatment was so quickly accessed and Boston police, who are pursuing a very active investigation.

So far, no arrests have been made and police are still trying to track down the suspect. Police noted that a preliminary investigation revealed that the suspect may have been injured during this attack.

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McGuires sister told Boston 25 that her dog may have bitten the suspect during the encounter.

The reported stabbing happened right next to the Franklin Park Zoo, where the lantern light experience has been going on every night from 6p.m. to 10:30 pm.

McGuire was a leader in the fight for equal rights in education for Black communities in the 1960s. She was also the first Black woman to gain a seat on the Boston School Committee.

Additionally, McGuire served as the executive director of METCO for more than four decades. She is also known for advocating for Black educators, calling for the need for racial and community representation at all levels.

It was just shocking to know that someone who was part of this community for so many decades, fighting for this community, was stabbed and hurt in the community where she works and lives and walks on a regular basis, said METCO president Millie Arbaje-Thomas.

In 2020, McGuire was honored during a Boston Celtics game as part of the teams Heroes Among Us program, which recognizes heroic achievements and outstanding citizens in the community.

McGuire grew up attending public schools in Brookline as one of the only Black students in all of her classes.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Boston police detectives at 617-343-4275.

The incident is still under investigation.

What did he want? Dog walkers dont carry money. We carry poop bags and ID. Thats all hes going to get. Unless he has the urge to beat up somebody who's defenseless-" the sister of Jean McGuire. Police say McGuire was stabbed multiple times and the suspect was also injured. https://t.co/iIzl5TOxE8  Kelly Sullivan (@ksullivannews) October 12, 2022

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is in a runoff reelection campaign, and the results of the contest on Oct. 30 will have a major impact on the fate of the Amazon rainforest and on climate change worldwide.

Its the most important election remaining this year in the world, Nick Zimmerman, a former National Security Council director for Brazil who is now senior adviser for the consulting firm WestExec Advisors, told Yahoo News. Bolsonaro has a terrible track record [on climate change]. Deforestation has again skyrocketed under his presidency.

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, former president of Brazil and presidential candidate of the Workers' Party, at a campaign rally Oct. 11, ahead of the presidential runoff. (Wagner Meier/Getty Images)

Bolsonaro and former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, commonly referred to as Lula, emerged as the top two vote getters in the first round of voting, in a contest that has unusually high stakes. On the environment and on many other issues, the two candidates diverge significantly, but the Amazon rainforest is not a purely domestic issue, and carries an outsize impact on climate change worldwide.

Bolsonaro is a pugnacious right-winger sometimes called the Trump of the tropics. Prioritizing economic development in the relatively poor Amazon region, he has allowed deforestation to increase rapidly since taking office on New Years Day 2019, and he has planned new hydropower dams in the region that could further damage the rainforest ecosystem. He has also extended the life of coal plants and subsidies for the coal industry and is planning new infrastructure for drilling and exporting oil and natural gas.

Like that of former President Donald Trump  a supporter of Bolsonaro who has dismissed climate change as a hoax  the Brazilian presidents administration has downplayed concern about climate change. There is no climate change catastrophe, Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo said in September 2019 at the conservative American think tank the Heritage Foundation.

In the Oct. 2 general election, out of a field of 11 candidates, Lula won 48.4% of the vote to Bolsonaros 43.2%. While Lula is slightly favored in the runoff, experts say Bolsonaro has a real chance of winning reelection. (Much like Trump, Bolsonaro has made unsupported claims that his opponents will commit electoral fraud and has threatened not to accept the outcome if he loses.)

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President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil at a press conference Oct. 5 in Brasilia. (Andressa Anholete/Getty Images)

As of 2019, Brazil was the worlds sixth-largest emitter of greenhouse gas, and it has more than 200 million people. While the overwhelming majority of emissions among most large emitters comes from burning fossil fuels for energy, one-third of Brazils emissions come from agriculture and land use, partly due to all the carbon that is released when trees are logged (and often burned) to make way for farms and ranches.

Rainforests absorb about 10% of the worlds current carbon emissions, so their destruction is devastating not just because of the carbon released by deforestation, but because the planet  perhaps permanently  loses critical carbon sinks. Meanwhile, the farming and ranching that replace them can be significant carbon emitters.

Almost 400,000 square miles of the Amazonian rainforest, the worlds largest, have been destroyed since 1978. Brazil already ranks fourth in cumulative historical greenhouse gas emissions when deforestation is factored in, behind the United States, China and Russia.

In March, a study published in the journal Nature Climate Change found that the Amazon may be near a tipping point: Since the early 2000s, as warmer temperatures dry out the rainforest, areas that endure droughts or wildfires are taking longer to recover, and signs of loss have been found in more than three-quarters of the Amazon. The studys authors warned that if climate change continues, parts of the Amazon may fail to grow back as rainforest, after suffering from damage from events like droughts and wildfires. That phenomenon, called dieback, would dramatically accelerate climate change.

A deforested area of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil's Amazonas state in September 2021. (Mauro Pimentel/AFP via Getty Images)

Bolsonaro accused Brazils National Institute for Space Research, without evidence, of fabricating data. He also dramatically reduced the frequency with which fines for illegal logging and mining were imposed, triggering an explosion in deforestation, according to reporting by the journal Nature. As a result, the institutes data shows deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has surged since 2019. In 2021 it reached its highest level since 2008.

[Deforestation] is a problem that goes just beyond [Bolsonaros] presidency, but he has systematically gone about trying to neuter the monitoring and enforcement by environmental protection authorities in the federal bureaucracy, said Zimmerman, who is also a global fellow at the Wilson Center Brazil Institute.

The increase in deforestation is not just a problem for climate change: The Amazon has a number of Indigenous communities and an array of unique plant and animal species, accounting for 25% of the worlds biodiversity.

The impact of deforestation keeps encroaching on Indigenous lands, Beto Borges, director of the Communities and Territorial Governance Initiative at Forest Trends, a nonprofit that combats deforestation, told Yahoo News at the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, last year.

Illegal mining has also increased significantly in recent years. Bolsonaro has further slashed funding for scientific research and shut down the government's Amazon Fund, which had collected donations from rich countries such as Norway and Denmark to help prevent deforestation. Thanks to widespread hydropower usage, Brazil has a relatively low rate of fossil fuel consumption for energy, but earlier this year the national government contracted for a massive purchase of new gas power.

The Belo Monte hydroelectric power plant in Altamira, Brazil, in 2019. (Mauro Pimentel/AFP via Getty Images)

In Glasgow last November, Brazil reiterated a commitment to reduce emissions in general, and it made a new promise to cut methane emissions by 30% by 2030. But Bolsonaro was among the minority of heads of state who did not attend the climate negotiations in person, and climate activists were skeptical that he would actually adopt policies to achieve those emissions reductions.

Lula and his left-wing party, the Workers Party, also known as the PT, have displayed more interest in controlling deforestation and combating climate change.

Traditionally, Lula and Lulas party, the Workers Party, the PT, had not been particularly green, Zimmerman said. Like many across the countrys ideological spectrum, they see the management of the Amazon very much in sovereignty terms, and therefore bristle at criticism from wealthier countries that have much higher emissions per capita.

Nonetheless, during Lula's two terms as president, from 2003 to 2010, Brazil reduced the rate of deforestation in its portion of the Amazon by more than 70%.

In the run-up to the 2015 U.N. Climate Change Conference in Paris, also known as COP21, Lulas successor and fellow PT member President Dilma Rousseff made a joint announcement with President Barack Obama pledging coordinated climate action. Both countries committed to increase the share of wind and solar power in their countries by 20% by 2030, and to collaborate on clean energy research and development. The promise of action to reduce emissions by a large developing country was seen at the time as a major victory in global climate diplomacy.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and President Barack Obama in the Oval Office in June 2015. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Bolsonaros intransigence on climate change has given Lula more political incentive to draw a contrast on the issue, and he has adopted a tone in this campaign more favorable toward the environment, according to Zimmerman. Lula has said that he understands that sustainable development, getting deforestation down, that these things are critical, Zimmerman said.

In June, Lula unveiled a platform to combat illegal logging and meet Brazils emissions-reduction targets as set out in the Paris Agreement. Last month he added a host of new environmental policies, including a fee for carbon emissions and subsidies for sustainable farming. Lula does support expanded oil and gas drilling, however, arguing that they are needed for energy security.

There is an opportunity to really correct the signals sent by the current president, Natalie Unterstell, the president of the Institute Talanoa, a climate policy think tank, told Yahoo News.

A spokesperson for Lula has said that, as president, he would update the countrys insufficient climate plan at COP27 next month in Sharm-el Sheikh, Egypt. Lula has proposed that the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Indonesia, which include the second- and third-largest rainforests in the world, respectively, form an alliance with Brazil at COP27 to pressure developed countries to provide funding to divert rainforest residents into less harmful means of economic development.

If Lula were to win  and thats still a big if, given Bolsonaros stronger-than-expected performance in the first round  his government would have a colossal amount to do, Guy Edwards, an expert on climate change and Latin America who is currently a PhD candidate at the U.K.'s University of Sussex, told Yahoo News. Rescuing and beefing up environmental enforcement agencies gutted by Bolsonaro is urgently required, as well the demarcation and protection of Indigenous lands, many of which have been violently invaded.

Trees in a partially deforested section of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil's Rondonia state in 2017. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Theres a general expectation that, were Lula to become president, youll see the return of a serious, proactive Brazilian COP negotiating partner, and youll see the restoration of the federal governments ability to monitor and enforce laws against illegal logging and mining, Zimmerman said.

International climate policy experts say that such a shift in Brazils posture would improve the chances that stronger global climate action can be agreed upon at COP27. A renewed willingness for Brazil to try to take a constructive position and to try to really engage around this issue could be a really tremendous development, Peter Ogden, vice president for energy, climate and the environment at the United Nations Foundation, told Yahoo News. That could be a real boost for global deforestation action.

But Lula would have to win first. If he doesnt, the country will go in a very different direction.

A second Bolsonaro term could push this awesome rainforest past an irreversible tipping point, which could prove catastrophic for global efforts to arrest the deepening climate and ecological crises, Edwards said.

_____

Global temperatures are on the rise and have been for decades. Step inside the data and see the magnitude of climate change.
Brendan Fraser received yet another standing ovation for his performance in "The Whale."

Fraser, 53, was moved to tears during his second standing ovation  this time at the London Film Festival. The film was shown to an audience Tuesday night and the actor reportedly received a five-minute standing ovation.

The reaction to the film at the London Film Festival follows his first standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival in early September. The audience bestowed a six-minute standing ovation to the "Crash" star.

Fraser is returning to the silver screen again for what many believe could be an Oscar contending role as Charlie, a 600-pound gay man who feels as though his life is coming to an end.

Brendan Fraser received another standing ovation  this time for a reported five minutes  at the London Film Festival.

BRENDAN FRASER BREAKS DOWN IN TEARS, THE WHALE RECEIVES SIX-MINUTE STANDING OVATION AT VENICE FILM FESTIVAL

The role represents a major comeback for Fraser's career as it is his first leading role in almost a decade. "The Mummy" star has roles this year in Martin Scorsese's latest western film "Killers of the Flower Moon," and with Dawn Olivieri and Marcia Cross in "Behind the Curtain of Night."

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Fraser has largely stayed out of the spotlight after addressing physical ailments due to performing many of his own stunts on screen. The actor has also been outspoken about his struggle with depression after an alleged sexual assault incident that happened in 2003.

In 2018, Fraser claimed that he was sexually assaulted by the former Hollywood Foreign Press Association President Philip Berk in 2003  almost 10 years ago. The actor also alleged that the incident contributed to the downfall of his career.

[I] became depressed," he told GQ at the time. "I was blaming myself and I was miserable  because I was saying, This is nothing; this guy reached around and he copped a feel.' [Work] withered on the vine for me. In my mind, at least, something had been taken away from me."

Berk denied the allegations, although he wrote about the incident in his 2014 memoir claiming he pinched Fraser's backside "in jest."

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Jeanne Moore and Brendan Fraser attend "The Whale" UK Premiere during the 66th BFI London Film Festival.

DWAYNE JOHNSON PRAISES BRENDAN FRASER'S THE WHALE,' THANKS MUMMY RETURNS STAR FOR FIRST HOLLYWOOD ROLE

Fraser showed gratitude for "the warm reception" he has received since discussing his latest work, in a previous interview with The New York Times.

"Im looking forward to how this film makes a deep impression on everyone as much as it has on me," he told the outlet.

Fraser recalled having to wear an extensive amount of prosthetics that sometimes weighed up to 300 pounds to play Charlie, a reclusive character based on the 2012 off-Broadway play by Samuel D. Hunter.

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"I needed to learn to move in a new way," Fraser said. "I developed muscles that I did not know that I had. I even felt a sense of vertigo at the end of the day when all the appliances were removed, just as you would feel stepping off the boat onto the dock here in Venice."

When asked if he was excited about the prospects of his career once again, Fraser remained humble.

"My crystal ball is broken," Fraser said. "I dont know if yours works, but meet me after the show, and well take a peek together."

Brendan Fraser's role in "The Whale" marks the actor's return from an acting hiatus.

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Fox News Digital's Tracy Wright contributed to this report.
Pete Buttigieg Paul Morigi / Stringer/ Getty Images

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg asserted his confidence in finalizing a deal between railroad unions and freight rail companies on Tuesday in a town hall at Georgetown University, per the newsletter Wake Up To Politics. This statement followed news that one of the largest unions in the negotiations rejected the deal on Monday, reigniting fears of a railroad strike.

Buttigieg called the rejection part of "a very natural process of back-and-forth" and predicted that the agreement would be finalized after "a little more revision," reports Wake Up To Politics.

The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division (BMWED) announced they were rejecting the offer that the Biden Administration helped broker in September. The rejection came weeks after the Biden administration celebrated averting a railroad strike that could have devastated the U.S. supply chain and disrupted passenger service by brokering the tentative deal between the 12 unions and the companies, The Washington Post reports.

In a statement, BMWED president Tony Cardwell said, "Railroaders do not feel valued. They resent the fact that management holds no regard for their quality of life, illustrated by their stubborn reluctance to provide a higher quantity of paid time off, especially for sickness."

The 12 unions involved in the negotiations represent around 115,000 workers. Four unions have ratified the agreement, and seven more are set to cast their votes over the next few weeks, reports Axios.

Negotiations will continue until at least Nov. 19, and railroads are expected to continue operating until then, per the Post.

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Katilyn Brost-Minney, 33, holds a piece of beef inside Brost Farms LLC in Monroe on Monday, Oct. 3, 2022. Brost Farms is a naturally raised Angus cattle farm.

Buying beef in bulk  a whole, half- or quarter-cow  from a local farmer is a big undertaking. It's also a big investment. There's a lot to consider before you leap into buying beef this way.

Before you get started  and this is crucial  ask yourself if you have room to store anywhere from 100 to 400 pounds of individually frozen cuts of beef.

It's best, beef farmers and people who have done this before agree, to invest in a separate chest freezer. If you buy a half-side of beef, you're looking to have enough freezer space to store about 200-300 pounds of meat. For a quarter-cow, expect about 100 pounds.

And so, you'll need to consider a separate freezer, which starts at around $200, as part of the initial investment. Also important is liking and being able to utilize all the different cuts of meat you will get.

Here are a few things to know when buying beef in bulk.

What are you buying?

Farmers who raise cattle for beef often use the term "freezer beef" for the meat that they sell. The term is used interchangeably with bulk or wholesale beef. It means that you've bought beef in whole, half-, or quarter-portions from the cattle raised. You are buying beef that is less than 24 months of age. These are heifers and steers. The generic term most people are familiar with is cow.

More:Eggs, cereal, milk prices soar: How much costs have gone up in past year

More:It's Michigan cider mill season: 22 to check out in 2022

How do you order?

You need to order the beef  whole, half, or quarter  in advance. Most places will require a deposit. While every beef farmer is different, it's usually a three- to five-month wait depending on the time of year. Keep in mind the animals that the farmers are selling take 18 to 20 months to raise, getting them to the right weight for processing.

What's the ordering process?

Once what you ordered is ready for processing, the beef farmer will reach out to let you know. Most of the beef farmers the Free Press spoke to give you a cutting sheet where you mark off the cuts of beef you want and how you want them cut. For example, you can have ground beef in one-pound packages, and you can specify how thick you want the steaks cut. Some processors will allow you to request ground beef made into individual patties.

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What is 'hanging weight'?

Once the beef has reached the processor it's slaughtered and will hang to age anywhere from 10-21 days. After aging, the beef will be custom-cut per instructions, vacuum-sealed and frozen. The hanging weight is the weight of the carcass before it's processed into individual cuts. This weight is what the cost of the beef will be based on. Expect to yield about 68-75% meat from the hanging weight. For example, if the hanging weight for a quarter of beef is 200 pounds, you could end up with about 150 pounds of physical meat.

What will the beef cost?

Beef farmers have different costs per pound for whole, half-, and quarter-beef. Some beef farmers factor in a separate fee per pound for processing or it's already included in their pricing. Others may have a set processing fee. Either way, it's a fee that is paid to the processor.

Per pound prices at Brost Farms in Monroe are: $4.55 for whole beef, $4.65 for a half and $4.75 for a quarter beef. The cost is based on the total hanging weight. The actual physical amount of beef that you take home will be about 30% less of the hanging weight and will up that base price.

Here's how to figure out the total cost of the physical beef when buying half a side of beef.

The hanging weight of half beef (average weight is 400 pounds) is $4.65 per pound. Multiply 400 pounds of hanging weight by $4.65 per pound = $1,860. Multiply the 400 pounds of hanging weight by 70% (the percentage could be higher or lower), which comes out to 280 pounds. Divide $1,860 by 280 pounds (actual physical, take-home beef) and the actual price is $6.64 per pound.

The $6.64 is the price per pound for all the cuts of meat, from ground beef to roasts and steaks that you are taking home. This is where some of the savings come in because you're paying the same price for ground beef as you are for T-bone steaks, whole roasts, and tenderloin.

What beef cuts do you get?

The beef farmers or processors will supply you with a cut sheet of the available cuts. And it depends on how you want the beef cut. For example, at Russell Farms, one possible beef quarter breakdown will yield: T-bone, Porterhouse, cube, rib, sirloin, and sirloin tip steaks wrapped in two steaks per package. Roasts will include English (1), chuck (2), round bone in (3), and rolled rump (1) which are 3 pounds each. You will also get 61 packages, 1 pound each, of hamburger.

How does it compare to beef sold at grocery stores?

It depends. When making a comparison, beef farmers suggest comparing it to the retail cost of grass-fed, aged, or organic beef. This is because the beef you are getting is typically grass-fed and aged anywhere from 10 to 21 days. And so, it's best not to compare the ground beef you get from the farm to basic ground beef at grocery stores.

Contact Detroit Free Press food writer Susan Selasky and send food and restaurant news to: sselasky@freepress.com. Follow @SusanMariecooks on Twitter.

Support local journalism and become a digital subscriber to the Free Press.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Buying beef from Michigan farmers can be big investment: What to know
(Reuters) - China's ByteDance Ltd is in talks with music labels for expanding its music-streaming service globally to compete with industry leaders such as Spotify Technology SA, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

The TikTok parent plans to eventually integrate music streaming within its short-video service and scale it to serve as a major platform for distributing music globally, according to the report that cited people with knowledge of the discussions.

Shares of Spotify pared gains to trade flat in after-market trading on Wednesday, while Warner Music Group Corp gained 4%.

ByteDance did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The company had discussed in recent months launching its Resso music-streaming service, currently available in India, Indonesia and Brazil, in more than a dozen additional markets, but expansion to the United States isn't immediately on the cards, according to the report.

(Reporting by Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)
California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Wednesday he would investigate Los Angeles redistricting process in light of recordings in which City Council members discuss using the process to consolidate power.

Its clear an investigation is sorely needed to help restore confidence in the redistricting process for the people of Los Angeles, Bonta said at a news conference.

Los Angeles has been rocked by secret recordings in which then-City Council President Nury Martinez, City Council members Kevin de Leon and Gil Cedillo, and then-labor leader Ron Herrera use racist language while discussing how to carve up council districts during the citys once-in-a-decade process of redrawing lines. Martinez has taken a leave of absence and Herrera has stepped down.

While their racist statements have drawn fierce condemnations, the conversation also illuminated the zero-sum politics of redistricting. The council members and Herrera talk about undercutting another member by putting her district in a blender and diluting the power of renters. They also discuss distributing assets like an airport to Latino districts, and emphasize how they can massage to create districts that benefit themselves.

Unlike in the process for drawing Californias congressional and state Legislature seats, which is overseen by an independent panel, maps of Los Angeles City Council districts are shaped and approved by sitting members, enabling manipulation and abuses of power.

Those supporting Bonta's investigation include acting Los Angeles City Council President Mitch O'Farrell, who was elevated to the post after Martinez forfeited the presidency amid outrage over the recording.

Redistricting is always controversial. Theres always politics involved, but never have I heard of an instance where there was a closed-door meeting with a few council members deciding amongst themselves on how redistricting should go," O'Farrell said in a news conference.

Story continues

The expanding fallout from the recordings has included calls for Los Angeles to adopt an independent redistricting panel. State Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica) said earlier this week he might run legislation to do so.

We should have a non-partisan process in cities like LA to create fair districts independent of self-serving politicians, and I am exploring legislative options along those lines, Allen said in a Tuesday tweet.

Democratic elected officials continued to press Martinez, de Leon and Cedillo to resign on Wednesday. Sen. Dianne Feinstein urged them to step aside, joining Sen. Alex Padilla  a longtime ally of Martinez  President Joe Biden, and a long list of California officials.
A Southern California teen died of what her family suspects was a fentanyl overdose, according to local reports.

Fullerton police responded to the 1500 block of East Central in Fullerton, California, regarding an unresponsive female on Sept. 30. The female was transported to a hospital where she was pronounced deceased by medical staff the next day.

A batch of fentanyl pills seized by authorities.

The female has been identified in local reports as Trinity Cornejo, a 17-year-old who attended Troy High School in Fullerton, about 30 miles southeast of Los Angeles.

Police said Cornejo's death is under investigation pending toxicology results and the Orange County Coroner's report.

AMERICA'S FENTANYL CRISIS: ITS AN INVASION,' SAYS WILLIAM BENNETT, FORMER DRUG CZAR

Cornejo's family told FOX 11 they believe she died of fentanyl poisoning after taking drugs with friends. Her godmother has set up a GoFundMe page to help the family cover funeral expenses.

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Her mother, Chrisa Cornejo, told KABC-TV she doesnt want her daughters death to be in vain and hopes others can learn from this tragedy.

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"I would send her  articles about these issues, and these deaths, and I thought she understood, and I thought she would never take that risk, but teenagers are curious and dealing with a lot of pressure," she said.
By Kanishka Singh

(Reuters) - Canada said on Wednesday it will provide over C$47 million ($34.06 million) in new military aid to assist Ukraine in dealing with Russia's invasion, with the package including artillery rounds, satellite communications, winter clothing and drone cameras, among other assistance.

Canadian Defence Minister Anita Anand announced the package, which builds on about C$600 million in military equipment that Canada has donated or committed since Russia began its invasion on Feb. 24.

More than 50 Western countries met on Wednesday to promise more weapons for Ukraine, especially air defences after Russia launched its most intense missile strikes since the war began.

Russian attacks using more than 100 missiles have killed at least 26 people across Ukraine since Monday, when President Vladimir Putin ordered what he called retaliatory strikes against Ukraine for an explosion on a bridge.

Canada's latest package includes C$15.2 million in equipment from the Canadian Armed Forces' inventory, including 155mm NATO-standard artillery rounds, fuses, and charge bags compatible with M777 howitzer artillery guns, Anand said in a statement.

It also includes 400,000 pieces of winter clothing for a total of C$15 million and additional specialized drone cameras with a value of C$15.3 million.

Canada said on Tuesday it will send 40 more combat engineers to help support Polish efforts to train Ukrainian forces.

Russian President Vladimir Putin calls Moscow's actions a "special military operation" to ensure Russian security and protect Russian-speakers in Ukraine.

Ukraine and its allies accuse Moscow of waging war to grab territory or even occupy a pro-Western neighbor.

($1 = 1.3801 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by David Gregorio)
(Reuters) - Canada's Competition Bureau has launched an investigation into Royal Bank of Canada over allegations that the country's largest lender had misled customers on its commitments regarding climate action.

The federal law enforcement body said it has commenced an inquiry on the bank's "alleged deceptive marketing practices after receiving an application requesting an inquiry under section 9 on behalf of six Canadian residents."

Regulators in the Americas and Europe have increasingly been worried about greenwashing, whereby companies exaggerate their environmental credentials, and also about those who downplay the impact of global warming.

This comes amid fast-rising climate awareness and investor interest in sustainable business practices that has seen companies across sectors and industries factor in environmental social governance (ESG) policies.

Several Canadian banks have committed to net-zero financed emissions by 2050 in recent times but have drawn doubts from many investors, given the lack of a defined goal, details and their continued support for oil and gas companies, even if partially aimed at helping them transition to alternatives.

RBC in an emailed statement to Reuters said it strongly disagreed with the allegations adding it "believes the complaint to be unfounded and not in line with Canada's climate plan."

The country's largest banks have drawn greenwashing criticism from some environmental groups and investors claiming banks are using sustainability-linked financing (SLF) merely to pretend to lower their carbon footprint rather than take meaningful steps in that direction.

The central bank and financial regulator have also already warned that a lack of preparedness by the banks could expose them and investors to "sudden and large losses."

In 2021, RBC had said it aims to achieve net-zero emissions across its lending operations by 2050 and that it has committed C$500 billion towards its sustainable finance target.

(Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru amd Divya Rajagopal in Toronto; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
The man accused of violently attacking a 19-year-old Asian woman in downtown Vancouver late last month is now out of jail after being granted bail.

Mohammed Majidpour, 35, allegedly struck the victims head with a pole while she was walking near Dunsmuir and Cambie Streets at around 9:50 a.m. on Sept. 27. He also allegedly yelled anti-Asian slurs before fleeing the scene.

A Canada-wide manhunt commenced after Majidpour was identified. He was reportedly arrested the following day.

Majidpour has been charged with assault with a weapon in connection with the incident. Records show he has had over 30 convictions dating back to August 2015, which include cases of assault, assault with a weapon and making threats, as per Global News.

More from NextShark: Chinese auto company releases electric car with 'Warm Man Mode' feature targeted at 'oriental women'

Just last year, Majidpour was charged with criminal harassment after allegedly stalking a woman named Jamie Coutts in the citys Chinatown area. However, after pleading guilty to unrelated counts, his charge was stayed and he was only given a year of probation.

Still, Majidpour reportedly violated his probation multiple times before the Sept. 27 attack. Aside from his assault charge, he appeared in Downtown Community Court for failure to report.

More from NextShark: Jay Park Donates $30,000 to Help Rehabilitation Efforts in Australia

Majidpour, however, walks free once again after the judge granted him bail and released him on several conditions this week. Those conditions include avoiding contact with the victim, avoiding possession of any weapon and reporting to a bail supervisor and certain support workers.

Kash Heed, former Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General of British Columbia, voiced his disappointment at the decision. He believes Majidpour will re-offend.

If you want to look at a frustrating failure of our justice system in British Columbia and how its administered, this is a prime case, Heed told CTV News. The unfortunate part is someone else will become a victim of his violent nature, and thats a sad part of this.

Story continues

More from NextShark: London Chinatown Bakery Vandalized With Black Paint, $2,800 Reward Offered for Arrest

Majidpour is set to return to court on Nov. 15.

Featured Image via Vancouver Police Department

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Japanese carmaker Nissan is the latest international company to exit Russia. Olga Maltseva/AFP/Getty Images

Carmaker Nissan said it is exiting Russia and selling its operations to state-owned NAMI for under $1.

The deal gives Nissan the option to buy back the entity and its operations within the next six years.

The deal allows for the Russian operations to continue and preserves 2,000 jobs in the company.

Carmaker Nissan has sold its Russian business to a state-owned company for just 1 euro, or $0.97, the Japanese company said on Tuesday, joining a long list of international firms exiting the country.

The carmaker separately confirmed the sale price to Insider.

The Japanese automaker will transfer all its Russian operations to NAMI, the state-owned Central Research and Development Automobile and Engine Institute, it said in a press release. This includes its manufacturing and R&D facilities in St. Petersburg, as well as a sales and marketing center in Moscow.

Nissan expects to book a one-time loss of 100 billion Japanese yen  that's nearly $700 million  from the sale and exit from Russia, but it is maintaining its full-year guidance. The company said in June it expects a 18.7% on-year rise in net revenue in 2022, while operating profit is expected to stay flat in the same period.

However, the deal gives Nissan the option to buy back the entity and its operations within the next six years, the carmaker added.

Denis Manturov, the minister of Russian Industry and Trade, said in a statement the deal is a "significant" one for the industry, as it preserves 2,000 jobs and operational capabilities. Nissan said in its announcement that the jobs of all its employees will be protected for 12 months.

"While we cannot continue operating in the market, we have found the best possible solution to support our people," said Makoto Uchida, the president and CEO of Nissan.

Nissan suspended its Russian operations in March after the country invaded Ukraine on February 24, triggering sweeping sanctions against Moscow.

The Japanese carmaker's sale of its Russian business mirrors that of its top shareholder Renault, which also sold its stake in Russia's largest carmaker for a symbolic sum of just 1 ruble in May. Renault's deal also came with a six-year buyback option.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Two juveniles face charges for firing a single round of a gun in a Cary High School bathroom Wednesday, prompting the school to be locked down a little over an hour, police said.

Cary Police said Wednesday night, hours after the lockdown had been lifted, that investigators had filed a juvenile petition against the unnamed juveniles for their role in the incident.

Police did not say what charges the teens will face and directed questions to the Wake County District Attorneys Office, who will take the case moving forward.

Police also did not say whether the juveniles were in custody or were students at the school.

Earlier Wednesday, police said the school on Walnut Street was put on a Code Red lockdown at 11:50 a.m. after someone reported the sound of a gunshot inside the school. Code Red is the highest security alert at a school.

The lockdown was lifted at 1:08 p.m., according to a message shared with Cary High School parents from the principal.

No one was injured and all students were safe, the school told Cary High parents following the lockdown.

A 14-year-old student was being questioned in the case, reported ABC 11, The News & Observers news partner.

Students were dismissed at the regular time, according to Cary High School officials.
A missing and endangered woman has reportedly been seen in Pittsburghs North Side, but Castle Shannon police are still searching for her.

Emily Stalter was last seen Oct. 10 at 12:30 p.m. in Collier, police said.

Stalter, 32, is described as a white woman, 5 feet, 5 inches tall and weighing 120 pounds. She has hazel eyes and brown hair that was recently shaved.

Police said Stalter lives on Hoodridge Drive in Castle Shannon and works at the Trader Joes in Upper St. Clair.

Police also said that on the day Stalter was last seen, she was known to be in Washington County and then in Mercer County.

Stalters vehicle was located in Crawford County

According to officials, surveillance photos from the day Stalter went missing show her leaving her home wearing a blue t-shirt with some sort of floral pattern.

Stalters vehicle was located in Crawford County on a private road in West Mead Township.

Police said Stalter has health issues and her family is concerned for her well-being.

The family owns property in Venango County and the state police in that area have been advised to look out for her, according to police.

Anyone with information about Stalters whereabouts should call 911 and ask to be directed to Castle Shannon police.

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Map of Cayman Islands

One of the world's largest financial centres and a well-known tax haven, this British overseas territory in the Caribbean has more registered businesses than it has people.

Tourism, banking and property are big money earners, making the islands financially self-sufficient. Discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1503, Grand Cayman and its sister islands, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, boast beaches, coral reefs and abundant marine life. However, Hurricane Ivan pounded the main island in 2004.

Once a dependency of Jamaica, the Cayman Islands came under direct British rule after Jamaica declared independence in 1962. Granted greater autonomy in 1972, the islands gained a high degree of self-government under the 2009 constitution but its first premier, McKeeva Bush, was ousted in a corruption scandal in 2012.

Sometimes criticised as a haven for tax evaders, the Cayman Islands feature in the 2017 leak dubbed the Paradise Papers, which reveal the financial dealings of politicians, celebrities, corporate giants and business leaders.

Read more country profiles - Profiles by BBC Monitoring

FACTS

The authorities have had to enforce stricter banking regulations on the territory known as a tax haven

LEADERS

Head of state: King Charles III, represented by a governor

Premier: Wayne Panton

Mr Panton took over in April 2021 after the outgoing coalition government failed to keep its majority at elections.

A lawyer by professions, Wayne Panton sits in parliament as an independent, as do most MPs.

MEDIA

Four TV stations are on the air in the Caymans, two of them run by religious organisations. Cable and satellite offer a variety of US and international stations.

TIMELINE

Some key dates in the history of the Cayman Islands:

1503 - Navigator Christopher Columbus sights the islands.

1670 - Spain cedes the islands, along with Jamaica, to the English under the terms of the Treaty of Madrid.

1962 - Jamaica declares independence. Caymans stay under British rule

1972 - New constitution provides for a greater autonomy.

1994 - Constitution modified.

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2002 - British Overseas Territories Act grants British citizenship to all Caymanians.

2004 - Hurricane Ivan, one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record, causes widespread destruction on Grand Cayman.

Grand Cayman is home the Blue Iguana, an endangered reptile which was once common on the island

2009 May - US President Barack Obama singles out Cayman Islands in an attack on tax havens.

2009 August - Territory joins OECD's global "white list" of countries using internationally recognised tax standards.

2010 - British police brought in to help tackle gang-related crime

2013 - Cayman Islands sign agreements on sharing tax information with Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain as part of an international drive against tax evasion.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  An unusually high number of California lawmakers will be gone after the November election due to a collision between redistricting in 2020 and changes to term limits that voters approved a decade ago.

The turnover has groups cheering the opportunity to increase lawmakers' gender and ethnic diversity. Advocacy group Close the Gap celebrated what executive director Susannah Delano called  the Motherlode of open seats" and a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reshape the Legislature over the next six years.

A quarter of the 40-member Senate is being replaced this fall, with seven members termed out of office and three others not seeking reelection. No members of the 80-member Assembly are termed out, but 22 members who will reach their 12-year term limit to serve over the next six years opted not to seek reelection this year.

Half of the Senate is up for election every two years, while all Assembly members run every two years. But this year even the incumbents are running in legislative districts that were redrawn after the census.

Gone due to term limits, for instance, is Sen. Bob Hertzberg, a former Assembly speaker and Senate majority leader perhaps best known recently for unsuccessfully pursuing bail reform. Assemblyman Brian Maeinschein, a fellow Democrat, is among those endangered by redistricting after just authoring a law prompted by Britney Spears' bad experience with California's conservatorships law.

Still, Democrats overwhelming majorities in both chambers seem safe.

Senate Republicans gave away one seat (see below). And six Assembly members  five of them Republicans  were drawn into three districts, guaranteeing losses for three incumbents, including at least two from the GOP.

Here's a look at some of the top races:

SENATE DISTRICT 4

Republicans hold just nine Senate seats. But they helped Democrats when six GOP candidates split the primary vote to replace retiring Sen. Andreas Borgeas in this rural Central Valley and Eastern Sierra district. Two Democrats prevailed under California's primary system, which advances the top two vote-getters no matter their party affiliation. The Democratic Party is backing labor leader Tim Robertson over charter school administrator Marie Alvarado-Gil.

Story continues

SENATE DISTRICT 16

Sen. Melissa Hurtado moved into this southern San Joaquin Valley district to avoid a primary contest with fellow Democratic incumbent Anna Caballero. Hurtado defeated two Democratic rivals, but now faces Republican David Shepard. Democrats hold a 13 percentage point voter registration advantage, but the California Target Book, which tracks legislative contests, puts that within Republicans reach because Central Valley voters tend to be more conservative.

SENATE DISTRICT 20

Hertzberg is termed out, but is trying to pass the torch to son Daniel Hertzberg. The San Fernando Valley district is safely Democratic, but Hertzberg finished neck-and-neck with fellow Democrat Caroline Menjivar in the June primary. The elder Hertzberg is meanwhile running for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 7

Democratic Assemblyman Ken Cooley is a top target for Republicans in his suburban Sacramento district where the Democratic voter advantage narrowed to 5 percentage points after redistricting. Cooley's primary campaign focused television ads on an obscure member of the extremist Proud Boys in what Republicans called an effort at misdirection. The GOP's endorsed candidate still advanced: Josh Hoover, an Assembly aide to congressional candidate Kevin Kiley.

ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 40

Redistricting was not kind to Republican Assemblywoman Suzette Martinez Valladares. She flipped what had been a Democratic seat two years ago, but 42% of voters in the redrawn Los Angeles County district are registered Democrats to Republicans' 29%. She received less than half the vote in a three-way primary race, a subpar flashing warning sign for November, says the California Target Book that tracks legislative contests. She faces labor organizer Pilar Schiavo.

ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 76

Maeinschein was a Republican before he switched parties in 2019, criticizing then-President Donald Trump. Now he's seeking reelection in a San Diego County district that's slightly less friendly after redistricting, though Democrats still hold a 6 percentage point voter registration edge. His anemic showing with just under half the primary vote could set off alarms," says the Target Book, but he faces Republican Kristie Bruce-Lane, whose strident, red-meat campaign may be too conservative for the moderate district.
Chadian leader Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno's plans to stay in power beyond his initially-promised deadline have stirred anger at home and embarrassment for his backers abroad.

The 38-year-old five-star general took the helm in April 2021 after his father, Idriss Deby Itno, Chad's iron-fisted ruler for three decades, was killed during an operation against rebels.

The junta had originally declared it would restore civilian rule after 18 months in power, and Deby had at first promised he would not take part in the future elections.

It was partly on the strength of these commitments -- but also on Chad's status as an ally fighting jihadism -- that Deby was endorsed by the African Union (AU), European Union (EU) and former colonial power France.

But as the 18-month deadline neared, a nationwide forum staged by Deby chose to reset the clock.

Last weekend it approved a new 24-month timeframe for holding elections, named Deby "transitional president" for the interim and declared he could be a candidate in the poll.

The forum was "tailor-made... to legitimise the monarchical handover of power from father to son," an umbrella group of political figures and groups, including the opposition coalition Wakit Tamma, said in a statement.

It called for "civil disobedience" and "peaceful demonstrations" on October 20.

Among the armed rebels who are a persistent thorn in the government's side, a statement signed by 18 groups warned the regime would be held responsible "for all the consequences arising from its deception."

One of the signatories is the powerful Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT), which triggered the offensive in the northeast last year that ended in the elder Deby's death.

- Vexation abroad -

A semi-desert country located in the heart of central western Africa, Chad has been chronically unstable since it gained independence from France in 1960.

Foreign displeasure at Deby's push for power was visible at the ceremonies on Monday when he was sworn in as interim president.

Story continues

The AU snubbed the event, while France and the EU were notably represented only by their ambassadors.

Just three weeks earlier, the AU had appealed to the junta not to extend its stay in power beyond 18 months and "unequivocally" warned against any of its members taking part in the future elections.

With the exception of Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, no other African countries sent their heads of state. A handful of important neighbours -- Niger, the Central African Republic and Democratic Republic of Congo -- were represented by their ministers.

The AU and the West African bloc ECOWAS have been fierce critics of the string of coups that have swept the region in the past two years, with takeovers in Guinea, Burkina Faso and Mali as well as Chad.

- 'Pragmatism' -

Enrica Picco of the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank said the junta had been formally dissolved as a result of the forum, which meant Deby's powers would be "widened and extended" as transitional president.

He is expected to name a new prime minister and "government of national union" in the next few days. His old premier, political veteran Albert Pahimi Padacke, who had served for 18 months, formally resigned on Tuesday along with his government.

Picco said the choice of the incoming government presented an opportunity for Deby, giving him the chance of building bridges in his divided country.

On the other hand, if the government is "totally closed off to the parties, armed groups and civil society who did not take part in the dialogue, everything is possible -- protests, or armed groups taking up their weapons again resuming attacks," she said.

Roland Marchal, an Africa specialist at the Sciences Po school in Paris, said the international community had been embarrassed by Deby, but -- in contrast with other coups in the region -- would probably not support sanctions against him.

"Pragmatism will prevail and we'll see a return to support for the regime along the lines that have existed since 1990," when the elder Deby took the reins, he predicted.

tg-lad-gir/ri/bp
Graham Potter. Getty/Andrew Kearns

Questions were raised when Chelsea FC appointed Graham Potter as its new manager.

But the Englishman is already proving his doubters wrong.

He's used the whole of Chelsea's squad to full effect to record four wins on the bounce.

Questions were raised when Chelsea FC appointed Graham Potter as its new manager after the shock sacking of Thomas Tuchel last month, barely a year after he had guided the club to only its second ever UEFA Champions League title.

The former Chelsea defender Robert Huth said Potter, who left Brighton & Hove Albion to take over at Stamford Bridge, was too inexperienced for the club.

Williams Gallas, another ex-Blues defender, and the onetime Liverpool star Jamie Carragher both claimed Chelsea should have appointed the former Paris Saint-Germain manager Mauricio Pochettino instead.

Just five matches into his Chelsea career, Potter is already proving his doubters wrong.

Undefeated under the Englishman, Chelsea has won its last four matches  two of which were against the reigning Italian champions, AC Milan, in the Champions League.

Potter's side produced an emphatic display to beat Milan 3-0 at Stamford Bridge last week, before on Tuesday, it turned the Italians over on their own turf for the first time ever.

In between the wins over Milan, the Blues dismantled Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-0.

"You can see the boys have got quality. They are a responsible group, are honest and open, and I really enjoy working with them," Potter said after Tuesday's 2-0 win over Milan at the San Siro.

"It's been a nice start for us, and we need to carry on."

Chelsea is on fire under Potter. Getty/Harriet Lander

Much of the criticism of Potter's appointment at Chelsea centered on the fact that he has no experience managing a top European club.

Before his three-year spell at Brighton, the 47-year-old had only managed English second-tier team Swansea City, Swedish outfit Ostersunds FK, and English semi-professional team Leeds Carnegie.

But what Potter lacks in experience, he makes up for in tactical acumen and the ability to utilize his whole squad to full effect.

Story continues

In his second match in charge, against Crystal Palace, Potter produced a stroke of magic. With the scores level late, he introduced midfielder Conor Gallagher, who went on to score an injury-time winner against the side he spent last season on-loan with.

Against Wolves, Potter made seven changes to the team that had just beaten Milan at Stamford Bridge, handing Gallagher, Christian Pulisic, and Kai Havertz starts. Both Pulisic and Havertz scored, while young striker Armando Broja came off the bench to complete the scoring with his first ever goal for the club.

It's not just his attacking players Potter has chopped and changed, however. Under the Englishman, Chelsea has now kept three consecutive clean sheets with three different defenses. Predicting how Potter's Chelsea will set up is impossible for opponents.

Each of the players look more confident and are delivering in a way they couldn't under Tuchel, who, for all his success, was never able to fully utilize the strength-in-depth Chelsea possess.

Pulisic is among those fringe players thriving under Potter. After scoring his first Chelsea goal since April in the win over Wolves, the USMNT star hailed the impact of his new manager.

"I like the way the team is working at the moment, and it's just about finding some consistency and keeping going," he said.

"We have a very strong team with amazing depth, guys that can come in and do a great job. We have players that work hard and push each other in training every day. That can only help the team."

Read the original article on Insider
NASCAR.com

NASCAR announced Tuesday that it suspended Bubba Wallace after his actions in Sundays NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Wallace was suspended for one race after he crashed Kyle Larson at Lap 94 of the South Point 400 and proceeded to shove Larson, both violations of Sections 4.3.A and 4.4.C & E []
Vandals desecrated a famous statue of President Abraham Lincoln in Chicago's Lincoln Park on Monday, claiming they want "to tear down the myth of Lincoln as great liberator."

The vandalism, which Chicago police said took place around 12:30 p.m., consisted of red paint dumped on "Abraham Lincoln: The Man," a famous 12-foot bronze statue completed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens in 1887.

Vandals also spray-painted graffiti on the base of the statue that said, "Dethrone the Colonizers," "Land Back!" and "Avenge the Dakota 38." They also posted sheets of paper listing the names of 38 Dakota men whose execution Lincoln approved in 1862.

An anonymous group that refers to themselves as "resistors [sic] of colonial violence" took credit for the vandalism, claiming in a press release that they aimed to commemorate Indigenous Peoples Day by drawing attention to Lincoln signing off on the public hanging of the 38 men during the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, or "Sioux Uprising."

CHARLOTTESVILLE ROBERT E. LEE STATUE TO BE MELTED DOWN FOR PUBLIC ART PROJECT

The armed conflict between the U.S. and several bands of eastern Dakota raged for six weeks in southwestern Minnesota during the height of the Civil War after four young Dakota men attacked and killed five settlers.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

The war left 358 settlers, 77 U.S. soldiers and 29 volunteer militia members dead. The number of Dakota casualties is unknown.

"The Sioux uprising was in response to the U.S. government's refusal to make payments promised to Dakota tribes in exchange for land they were forced to cede in treaties signed in the mid-1850s," the group claimed. "The Sioux were facing starving and great hardship due to a harsh winter, crop failure, having been forced onto two small reservations, and the government's failure to compensate."

The group claimed the 38 Dakota men were executed following a "sham" military trial, adding that "Lincoln chose to execute the Dakota 38 to cater to White settler communities demands for racist violence."

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OPINION: WHAT ABRAHAM LINCOLN WOULD TELL AMERICA'S KIDS TODAY

The group also said they "seek to expose colonizer monuments across Chicago & Turtle Island: Columbus, Balbo, Sheridan, Lincoln, McKinley, Grant, and beyond." They also "seek to tear down the myth of Lincoln as great liberator and expose his complicity in the genocide of Indigenous peoples and theft of their lands."

As of Tuesday, Chicago police had not yet taken anyone into custody for the vandalism.

Despite his role as the Great Emancipator, statues of Lincoln have faced some of the same threats as those depicting Confederate figures and other slave owners. The Lincoln Park statue in Chicago had been one of several the city had listed for review amid calls for a racial reckoning, though it was ultimately determined that Lincoln should remain.

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In 2020, another Lincoln statue was similarly vandalized in Portland, Oregon. During the same year, police in Washington, D.C., barricaded a statue of the former president near Capitol Hill amid reports that protesters were planning to rip down the monument, which had been erected with fundraising by freed slaves.
By Ryan Woo and Engen Tham

BEIJING (Reuters) -China will persist with its COVID-19 policies to guard against new coronavirus strains and the risks they bring, the official newspaper of the Communist Party warned in a commentary for the third straight day, crushing hopes of any near-term easing.

"Lying flat is not advisable, and to win (the COVID battle) while lying flat is not possible," People's Daily wrote on Wednesday, referring to a phrase in China that denotes doing nothing.

China has been grappling with a COVID resurgence after the National Day "Golden Week" holiday this month and the emergence of new Omicron subvariants, including the highly transmissible BF.7, days before a key Party congress where Xi Jinping is expected to extend his leadership.

Some big cities, including Shanghai, have tightened preventive measures such as requiring residents to be tested for the virus more frequently. One city in southwest China has even offered cash rewards to residents who report on individuals attempting to conceal their travel histories.

China's health authority reported on Wednesday 1,760 new local cases for Oct. 11, down from 2,089 a day earlier. Megacities like Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Xian all found new cases, though numbers were just in the double digits.

Despite China's small case load compared with the rest of the world, and the toll its COVID lockdowns and restrictions have exacted on the economy and population, China has urged its people to accept the measures, quashing any speculation that it would relax its policies.

"Only by insisting on dynamically clearing (cases as they arise) could huge losses arising from losing control of the epidemic be avoided by the full extent," People's Daily wrote.

"Once epidemic prevention and control is relaxed, a large number of people will be infected within a short period of time, a large number of severe cases and deaths will occur, resulting in a run on medical resources."

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The impact of China's COVID policies has been felt across the world.

The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday cut its 2022 and 2023 economic growth forecasts for China to 3.2% and 4.4%, respectively, saying the frequent lockdowns under the country's zero-COVID policy have taken a toll on its economy.

Due to the size of the Chinese economy and its importance for international supply chains, the COVID disruptions will also weigh on global trade and activity, the IMF said in its latest World Economic Outlook.

NO POLICY EASING

"I can't believe folks still think it will ease," said a foreigner working as a teacher in Shanghai, speaking on condition of anonymity. "My partner and I officially gave notice to our employers this week. We will permanently leave China at the end of our current contracts in June 2023."

The two have been trapped in Xishuangbanna, a popular tourist destination in the subtropical south of Yunnan province, since early October.

At first confined to the district where their hotel was situated, they were later forbidden from even stepping out of their hotel room.

This week, they have been allowed to leave Xishuangbanna if they test negative for at least three days and if they can find a flight back to Shanghai.

But quarantine looms on their return.

"We cannot go to our apartment because it is sealed off," he said. "Our neighbours remain in central quarantine for most of this week. Those flying to Shanghai from Xishuangbanna seem to be quarantined in hotels."

Elsewhere in Yunnan, a city of 5.7 million, Qujing, said on Monday that residents who report on individuals trying to conceal travel to COVID-risky areas such as Tibet and Xinjiang will get a 500 yuan ($70) reward.

Residents who single out close contacts of such travellers will receive 2,000 yuan.

If the PCR test result of the reported individual is positive, a "big" reward will be given.

($1 = 7.1655 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Ryan Woo and Engen Tham; Editing by Gerry Doyle)
Xi Jinping

China's ruling Communist Party is expected to hand a third five-year term to Xi Jinping, arguably the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong in the 1970s.

The decision would further tighten his grip on China.

It is possible that Mr Xi, 69, will remain in power for the rest of his life.

The historic move is due at a Communist Party Congress under way in Beijing - one of the most important meetings in the party's history.

Xi Jinping currently holds three top positions

As General Secretary he is the chief of China's Communist Party.

As president he is China's head of state.

As Chairman of China's Central Military Commission he commands the country's armed forces.

He is also referred to as Paramount or Supreme leader.

Graphic showing China's leadership. Updated 12 Oct.

Mr Xi is likely to retain the first two titles, party General Secretary and Central Military Commission chairman at the party congress - which takes place every five years - and the presidency at the annual National People's Congress in Spring 2023.

What happens at the Congress?

Some 2,300 delegates have gathered in Tiananmen Square's Great Hall of the People for a week.

About 200 of them will be selected to join the party's central committee, plus around 170 alternate members.

The central committee will elect 25 people to the party's Politburo.

And the Politburo will appoint the members of the Politburo standing committee.

These are the elite of the elite.

There are currently seven members, including the party's General Secretary Xi Jinping.

They are all men.

China's top leadership. Updated 12 Oct.

Not all of the action takes place at the congress itself.

The central committee is expected to meet the day after the main congress ends.

Why is it important?

Mr Xi leads the world's second-largest economy and one of its biggest military forces.

Some analysts say he is likely to push China towards a more authoritarian political stance in a third five-year term.

"China under Xi is moving in a totalitarian direction," says Professor Steve Tsang of London University's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).

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"China under Mao was a totalitarian system. We're not there yet, but we're moving in that direction."

Professor Tsang says the Congress could see changes to the party's constitution, with "Xi Jinping thought" being further enshrined as the party's guiding philosophy.

"Xi Jinping thought" is Mr Xi's brand of Chinese socialism, an assertively nationalist philosophy which is highly sceptical of private business.

Under his leadership the Chinese authorities have cracked down on powerful companies in several sectors of the economy.

"If that happens, they'll effectively make him a dictator," Prof Tsang says.

Henry Huiyao Wang, former Counsellor to the State Council of China, insists that Mr Xi should be credited with building his country into a prosperous, modernised society.

"China has its unique way", he says. Beijing is "trying to have a consultative democracy, not an American meritocracy".

China's top leadership team, to be unveiled at the congress, will set a huge range of policies.

Any hint of China's future direction will be followed closely around the world, particularly on the key challenges: economic, political, diplomatic and environmental.

China's economic challenge

China's economy has boomed in recent decades.

But it now faces serious economic disruption from Covid lockdowns, rising prices and a major property crisis.

Growing fears of a global recession triggered by the war in Ukraine have also damaged confidence.

Economic growth under Mr Xi's leadership is lower than under previous presidents Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao.

Chart showing GDP growth since 2000

Some analysts say the legitimacy of the communist government rests heavily on its ability to deliver higher incomes and good jobs for Chinese workers.

So bad economic performance in the next five years could spell serious political trouble for Mr Xi.

The congress will set the stage for a shake up of key economic roles including central bank governor and premier.

Zero Covid

China's zero Covid approach to the pandemic is one of Xi's landmark policies.

While much of the world has been returning to normal, China's authorities have intensified their efforts to contain outbreaks, with strict lockdowns, mass testing and lengthy quarantines.

Reports say that more than 70 cities including Shenzen and Chengdu have been under full or partial lockdown measures in recent weeks, with tens of millions of residents affected, huge numbers of businesses disrupted and reports of public discontent.

Medical staff testing residents in Guiyang, Guizhou Province

On Sunday, the opening day of the congress, Mr Xi signalled there would be no immediate loosening of the zero-Covid strategy.

He insisted zero-Covid was a "people's war to stop the spread of the virus", and that China's government had "protected people's safety and health to the highest degree".

Taiwan and the West

Mr Xi has also favoured a hardline approach to relations with the West, particularly over Taiwan.

A visit to Taiwan by the Speaker of the US House of Representatives in August prompted China to launch military exercises, including live missile firing, around the island.

China sees Taiwan as a breakaway province that will eventually be under Beijing's control. Taiwan sees itself as distinct from the mainland.

Mr Xi has said "reunification" with Taiwan "must be fulfilled" by 2049, the centenary of the People's Republic - and has not ruled out the possible use of force to achieve this.

Security experts say that a Chinese takeover of Taiwan would shatter US power in the western Pacific Ocean and beyond.

Taiwan is of huge strategic importance to the West, part of the so-called "first island chain", which includes a list of territories which have been allied to the US for decades.

Map of China and Taiwan with neighbouring states...

In his speech, Mr Xi said that the Taiwan issue "must be resolved by Chinese people alone".

He added: "We will work faster to modernise military theory, personnel and weapons."

Additional reporting by Wanyuan Song
(Bloomberg) -- Chip design firm Socionext Inc. jumped 15% in its Tokyo debut after completing Japans largest initial public offering this year, defying recent investor pessimism about global semiconductor shares.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Shares of the Yokohama-based company, which had Panasonic Holdings Corp., Fujitsu Ltd. and the Development Bank of Japan Inc. as holders prior to the listing, ended the first session at 4,200 yen. They were sold at 3,650 yen each, the top of the marketed range in an IPO that was upsized to 66.8 billion yen ($456 million) due to high investor interest.

Semiconductor listings in Tokyo tend to perform well in their first session, Bloomberg data show. Socionext managed to attract buyers even in a weak market for IPOs in Japan, where proceeds slumped 80% this year on an annual comparison. The jump contrasts to a chip-related stocks rout thats wiped out more than $240 billion from the sectors global market value this week after the US imposed curbs on Chinas access to technology.

Socionext develops customized systems-on-chips for clients across the consumer, automotive and industrial fields. Apple Inc.s Silicon processors and Qualcomm Inc.s Snapdragon line are mass-market examples of such logic processors, often referred to as the brains of electronic devices. Enterprise customers increasingly seek bespoke, application-specific chips and Socionext competes with Taiwans Faraday Technology Corp., Alchip Technologies Ltd. and Global Unichip Corp. to fill that demand.

The company was founded in 2015 from the combination of the SoC divisions of Fujitsu Semiconductor Ltd. and Panasonic.

Its the fourth semiconductor company to go public in Japan during the past two years, and the biggest among the countrys nine semiconductor listings in the past decade, the data show. Just one of them, RS Technologies Co., didnt end the first session above the IPO price.

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Looking at the broader market, companies that debuted in Tokyo over the past two years after raising more than $100 million rose by a 28% average on the first day, Bloomberg data show.

Demand for Socionexts IPO seems to have been strong with long-only funds taking up the deal, said Clarence Chu, an analyst at Aequitas Research who publishes on Smartkarma. The company is among global chip players attempting to expand in the fast-growing automotive tech industry, with sales to the segment continually rising, and had its shares priced at a more attractive valuation than peers listed in Japan, the US and Taiwan, he said.

SMBC Nikko Securities Inc., Nomura Securities Co. Ltd., Daiwa Securities Co. Ltd., Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd., Rakuten Securities and Monex were principal underwriting participants in the offering.

(Updates with closing price)

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2022 Bloomberg L.P.
The man accused of killing his co-worker along Interstate 5 near Newman in August claims he acted in self-defense when hours of arguing turned physical.

The men were drivers for a Southern California trucking company and were heading south on I-5 on their last day of a six-day haul together, according to testimony during a preliminary hearing in Stanislaus Superior Court on Monday.

San Bernardino resident Erin Michael Anderson, 39, was found stabbed to death along the southbound I-5 on-ramp to Stuhr Road just before 9 a.m. Aug. 26. His co-driver, 66-year-old Keith Alexander Forrest, was arrested about 16 miles away at Loves Travel Stop in Santa Nella around 10 a.m.

Forrest was charged with murder and an enhancement for using a knife.

According to testimony at the hearing, Forrest walked out of the truck stop and up to law enforcement officers whod located the big rig the co-workers had been driving. He said, Yeah, its me youre looking for.

Law enforcement knew to look for the big rig because California Highway Patrol Officer Marco Rivera had been in contact with Forrest and Anderson during a traffic stop just before the stabbing.

According to testimony, Anderson and Forrest had been arguing for over an hour about the way Forrest had parked at a gas station earlier that morning.

They still were arguing when Rivera pulled Anderson over for speeding at Fink Road around 8:25 a.m.

Rivera testified that he offered to help them separate by giving one of them a ride to the nearest truck stop, but they both declined because they said they wouldnt get paid if they didnt finish the trip together.

Before leaving the scene, Rivera saw Forrest outside of the truck and his items being thrown out, presumably by Anderson. Rivera again offered Forrest a ride but he declined, River testified. Both men eventually got back in the truck and headed south.

Rivera left not long after. He drove five miles south to the next exit, Stuhr Road, where he saw several bystanders gathered along the on-ramp. He went to the scene and found Anderson on the ground bleeding from his chest, according to testimony.

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He recognized Anderson from the traffic stop and alerted other officers to be on the lookout for the big rig, which officers found in Santa Nella.

Anderson died of his injuries at the scene. A forensic pathologist testified that Anderson died from blood loss as a result of two stab wounds to his chest. He also had superficial stab wounds to his left leg and hand.

Following his arrest, Forrest told CHP Detective Octavio Martinez that Anderson had become very angry after he got the speeding ticket and tried to force him out of the big rig at the Stuhr Road on-ramp.

Anderson reached over Forrest and opened the passenger door, so Forrest reached over him and pulled the keys out of the ignition, according to testimony from Martinez.

Martinez testified that Forrest told him Anderson then tried to push him out of the vehicle but he maintained his position, so Anderson started punching him in the side of the head.

Forrest told Martinez that is when he pulled out a pocket knife and stabbed Anderson on the left side of his body.

Eventually, they came out of the truck fighting and they ended up on the ground, Martinez testified. He said Forrest told him he landed on his back and Anderson landed on top of him, so he stabbed him again a few more times.

Forrest got back in the truck and drove away, last seeing Anderson crawling toward the back of the big rig, Martinez testified.

Martinez testified that during the interview, Forrest seemed relaxed and very matter-of-fact. After Martinez informed him that Anderson had not survived, He looked up and said something and just sounded upset, according to testimony.

Asked if he was afraid of Anderson, Forrest talked about their 27-year age difference and said he wouldnt be able to take him on, Martinez testified.

Detectives recovered two knives associated with Forrest, as well as clothing with blood on it. He also had an injury to his thumb with fresh blood on it.

No weapons associated with Anderson were located and Forrest never said Anderson had one, according to testimony.

Martinez also interviewed co-workers of Andersons and Forrests.

One employee told Martinez she spoke to management about Anderson and she refused to work with him due to his immature behavior.

Another told Martinez that Anderson tormented him and tried to throw him out of the big rig on one of their hauls together. He said Anderson made people uncomfortable, according to testimony.

At the conclusion of the testimony, Forrests attorney, Chief Deputy Public Defender Reed Wagner, said, I think the only logical conclusion of what happened here is self-defense.

Judge Linda McFadden said there was enough evidence to hold Forrest to answer to the murder charge, citing inconsistencies between the physical evidence and statements made by Forrest.

The burden of proof for the prosecution at a preliminary hearing is much lower than at trial, when prosecutors must prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt.

Forrest is scheduled to return to court for an arraignment Oct. 24.
In just over a year, Christopher Meloni has gone from questioning the meaning of "zaddy" to fully embracing the label.

Meloni said in an interview with People he's just trying to enjoy the ride of his "second act to a certain degree."

"Its great. Are you kidding me? Im 61-years-old and a zaddy. The lucky streak continues," he said.

Meloni has captured the internet's heart-eyes since returning to the role of Detective Elliot Stabler on the "Law & Order" spinoff "Law & Order: Organized Crime" last year. (The nude Peloton ad and numerous magazine covers displaying his ripped abs also probably had something to do with it.)

"Its a gas. Its fun. I dont know, has anyone else been crowned Zaddy? Once its bestowed upon you, you have to just ride that horse as long as you can," Meloni jokingly told People.

For the record, Merriam-Webster defines a "zaddy" as someone who "seems to have that certain je ne sais quoi combining looks, confidence, and charm." The dictionary also notes "there is no indication that zaddy must refer exclusively to a parent."

Meloni also shared how his wife of 27 years, Sherman Williams, and their two children, Sophia, 21, and Dante, 18, have reacted to his new title.

"My wife, shes lovely, she gets it. Meaning shes like, 'Eh, whatever,'" he said. "My kids, on the other hand, invariably once a month, its 'Really? Really?' Their friends will send them a meme thats come out or whatever."

"But I think secretly in their hearts, they get it," he continued. "Its cool, because we all have a good goof with it. My childrens friends bust my chops, but its all fun. Its an honor."

Chris Meloni (NBC / Scott Gries/NBC via Getty Images)

For a Men's Health cover story last year, Meloni needed clarification on the meaning of "zaddy." "Daddy plus? Daddy platinum?" he asked. "I just thought it was a cutie thing."

"Its reserved for an older gentleman," he says later. "How much am I allowed to taste of this fruit? How much am I allowed to enjoy this?"

Seems like he's still taking it all in.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
Preliminary School and District Performance Framework reports for Pueblo D60 and Pueblo D70 were released by the Colorado Department of Education for the first time since 2019.

The Colorado Department of Education has released preliminary 2022 School and District Performance Framework reports for public schools and districts across the state, including those in Pueblo.

The results showed several Pueblo schools improved their performance from the last time the state evaluated scores in 2019  the annual assessments were not conducted in 2020 or 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic  but two south-side middle schools also received "turnaround" designations this year.

From highest to lowest scoring, schools were given "performance," "improvement," "priority improvement" or "turnaround" ratings through a scoring rubric that incorporates data on academic performance, academic growth, post-secondary readiness and workforce readiness. That data includes test scores, matriculation rates, dropout rates, median growth percentile scores and graduation rates, among other metrics, according to the CDE.

Framework scores are calculated using similar metrics to determine accreditation status of a school district. Designations for districts, from highest to lowest scoring, include "accredited with distinction," "accredited with performance plan," "accredited with improvement plan," "accredited with priority improvement plan" and "accredited with turnaround plan."

With a point score of 59.6%, Pueblo County School District 70 has been designated an "accredited with performance plan" district, according to preliminary frameworks, as has Pueblo School District 60, with a score of 48.1%.

Test Scores in Pueblo:CMAS test scores reveal strengths, improvement areas in Pueblo public schools

18 Pueblo D70 and 12 Pueblo D60 schools receive top rating

Eighteen Pueblo D70 schools received 2022 "performance" ratings according to preliminary data.

The schools that received that designation were: The Connect Charter School, Avondale Elementary School, Cedar Ridge Elementary School, Rye Elementary School, Sky View Middle School, Vineland Elementary School, Sierra Vista Elementary School, Swallows Charter Academy, Rye High School, Liberty Point Elementary School, Vineland Middle School, Swallows Charter Academy High School, Pleasant View Middle School, Villa Bella Expeditionary School, North Mesa Elementary School, Desert Sage Elementary School, Pueblo West High School and Pueblo County High School.

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The Connect Charter School, a Pueblo D70 charter middle school in Downtown Pueblo, was the highest scoring school in Pueblo County with a School Performance Framework score of 92.5%, according to preliminary data.

Anthony Martinez, Pueblo D70 director of curriculum, instruction and assessment, said the school's success can be attributed to parental involvement, stable leadership and participation in extracurricular activities like National History Day and Science Olympiad.

"History Day is is a major focus for a portion of their year where that's taught every day, it's worked on every day," Martinez said. "It's taught in their courses, and they build in to schedule around it. It's those kinds of things that I think helped them to continue to be successful."

Martinez highlighted Vineland Elementary as a school demonstrating significant growth in recent years. During the 2019-20 school year, the school was targeted for additional support due to underperforming scores in the students-with-disabilities category. From 2019 to 2022, Vineland worked to provide significant support for students with disabilities, Martinez said.

Twelve Pueblo D60 schools also received "performance" ratings, they were: Corwin International Magnet School, Franklin School of Innovation, Minnequa Elementary School, Heritage Elementary School, Goodnight Elementary School, South Park Elementary School, Sunset Park Elementary School, Irving Elementary School, Haaf Elementary School, Pueblo School for Arts and Sciences at Fulton Heights, Heaton Middle School and Park View Elementary School.

With a score of 72%, Corwin International Magnet was the highest scoring school in Pueblo D60. The choice magnet school serving fourth- through eighth-graders has consistently been among the top performing schools in the district. Other Pueblo D60 schools, like Irving and Minnequa elementary schools, are newcomers to the district's "performance" schools.

Irving Elementary, a North Side school with a 59.1% School Performance Framework score, has improved by three designations since 2019, when the school was a "turnaround" school with a 28.5% score. The school's improvement in mathematics test scores played a significant role in it becoming a "performance" school in 2022, said Tiffany Dehn, assessment data specialist for D60.

Minnequa Elementary was an "improvement" school in 2019 and is now the third-highest-ranked Pueblo D60 school behind Corwin International Magnet and Franklin School of Innovation, according to preliminary data. Minnequa Elementary received a score of 67.5% in 2022.

"At all of our schools, we have established strong cultures and leadership and Minnequa is a shining example of how a great leader and a very strong team can work together to accomplish goals," said Dalton Sprouse, director of communications and community relations for Pueblo D60.

Beulah Middle, Fountain International Magnet, Beulah Elementary, Columbian Elementary and Eva R. Baca Elementary did not have enough students to receive a designation from CDE this year but did receive "performance" designations in 2019, according to the CDE.

While not in either Pueblo school district, GOAL High School also was designated a "performance" school by CDE in its 2022 preliminary reports. The online public high school with four locations in Pueblo County received a score of 62.2%.

Two South Side middle schools receive turnaround ratings

Roncalli STEM Academy and the Pueblo Academy of Arts received "turnaround" designations, according to the CDE's reports.

The two Pueblo D60 middle schools were designated "improvement" schools when ratings were last given in 2019 but have recently dropped to "turnaround" status. Roncalli STEM Academy and the Pueblo Academy of Arts will have five years to improve their designation before state intervention, Dehn said.

"We are working on some strategic steps to help them," Dehn said. "We've got some external partners working with them in both literacy and in math for this year."

Pueblo schools receiving "improvement" ratings include 70 Online, Paragon Learning Center, South High School, Craver Middle School, Belmont Elementary School, Highland Park Elementary School, South Mesa Elementary School, Central High School, Centennial High School, East High School, Chavez/Huerta K-12 Preparatory Academy, Bradford Elementary School, Liberty Point International School and Morton Elementary School.

Schools receiving "priority improvement" ratings included Prairie Winds Elementary School, Risley International Academy of Innovation, Beulah Heights Elementary School and the Pueblo Charter School for Arts and Sciences. Bessemer Elementary School did not receive a designation this year due to not having enough students but did receive a "priority improvement" designation in 2019.

Pueblo D60 School Board:'Fresh eyes': Attorney Anthony Perko chosen for Pueblo D60 Board of Education

Because they were founded after 2019, Pueblo Classical Academy, Pueblo D60 Online School and Villa Bella Expeditionary Middle School also did not receive a designation this year.

Preliminary School and District Performance Frameworks will advise schools and districts in designing improvement plans, which will be submitted to CDE on Oct. 25. Final ratings will be released in December. More information, including preliminary percentage ratings for each school, can be found on the CDE website.

Pueblo Chieftain reporter James Bartolo can be reached by email at JBartolo@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo's school performance scores show strengths, challenges
A Columbia County man was sentenced to federal prison after admitting he possessed images of children being sexually exploited.

Mark Christopher Greene, 46, of Appling, was sentenced to 102 months in prison after pleading guilty to possession of child pornography. U.S. District Court Chief Judge J. Randal Hall also ordered Greene to pay $18,000 in restitution, serve 15 years of supervised release and register as a sex offender after completion of his prison term.

There is no parole in the federal system.

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Protecting our most vulnerable citizens is an essential element of public safety, said David H. Estes, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. We commend our vigilant law enforcement partners for identifying and shutting down digital predators.

The investigation into Greene began in December 2019, when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a cyber tip that identified images of child pornography, according to a news release from the Department of Justice.

Agents from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation seized electronic devices from Greenes Appling residence and discovered dozens of images and videos of child exploitation on those devices.

Greene was on probation for a prior conviction for drug possession at the time of his arrest on the child pornography charge.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Appling man sentenced to prison for sex crime
A Columbus man charged in connection with the death of his mother and niece pleaded not guilty to murder charges Wednesday in Recorders Court.

Kevin Dietz is charged with two counts of murder after his mother Ursula Dietz, 64, and niece Elenor Dietz, 19 months old, were found dead in a Hilton Avenue home Monday afternoon.

Columbus police found Ursula dead from multiple gunshot wounds on the main floor of the house. Elenor was found dead upstairs, according to testimony from Columbus Police Detective Kevin Baldwin, who added that Kevin lived in the homes basement.

A gun found on the kitchen table is currently being analyzed, Baldwin said. Shell casings were also found.

Kevin will undergo a medical and mental health evaluation. The case was bound over to superior court, where bond will be set.
Photograph: Kate Brumback/AP

The comedians Eric Andre and Clayton English have sued Clayton county police, alleging racial profiling at Atlantas main airport in a program supposedly aimed at finding illegal drugs but in which officers regularly confiscate passengers cash.

Andre, creator and host of The Eric Andre Show, and English, a standup comedian and actor, say that in separate incidents, Clayton county police officers at Hartsfield-Jackson international airport racially profiled and illegally stopped them to question if they had illegal drugs.

Related: Next January 6 hearing to focus on warnings of violence leading up to Capitol attack  live

A federal lawsuit filed on Tuesday alleges that the police searches, which the Clayton county police describe as consensual, rely on coercion and are administered based on race. More than half  56%  of passengers searched were Black, and 68% were people of color, the lawsuit said.

Lawyers for the two comedians also argue that the search program rarely uncovers drugs, but does regularly seize cash: more than $1m worth, with the money rarely returned even if the passenger is not charged, according to the suit.

Of the 402 stops conducted, drugs have been found a total of three times, totalling 0.08lb. Six pills were taken from one passenger who did not have a prescription for them, the suit said.

Andre says that in April 2021 he arrived at Hartsfield-Jackson from Los Angeles. While waiting on the jet bridge, he says police officers stopped him in the narrow space and questioned him regarding drugs.

Theres all these people having to squeeze past us on this narrow, awkward jet bridge as I look like this suspicious perpetrator, Andre told the Post. And Ive done absolutely nothing wrong. Im literally coming home from a work trip.

He said he was later let off the plane, but described the police encounter as demoralizing, dehumanizing, racist and traumatic.

In October 2020, English says he faced a similar encounter with police while traveling through Atlanta on a work trip to Los Angeles. Police officers blocked him as he entered the jet bridge, asking if he had illegal drugs and examining his boarding pass and ID.

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He said they asked to search his bag, a decision he consented to as he didnt realize he had the option to refuse.

I felt completely powerless. I felt violated. I felt cornered, he said at a news conference to discuss the lawsuit. I felt like I had to comply if I wanted everything to go smoothly.

The two are requesting a jury trial and hoping that a judge will declare the search program unconstitutional, reported AP.

I have the resources to bring national attention and international attention to this incident. Its not an isolated incident, said Andre. If Black people dont speak up for each other, who will?
Comedian Eric Andre, right, speaks about his lawsuit against the Clayton County Police Department at the Atlanta federal courthouse on Tuesday. (Kate Brumback / Associated Press)

Eric Andre is taking legal action against the Clayton County Police Department, a year after he said he was searched and stopped at an Atlanta airport with "no probable cause except for racism" in 2021.

On Tuesday, the "Eric Andre Show" star and fellow comedian Clayton English filed a lawsuit on Tuesday in federal court in Atlanta claiming that they were racially profiled and illegally stopped by Clayton County police at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

"Mr. Andre and Mr. English are both Black men who, months apart, were unconstitutionally singled out because of their race and detained by CCPD and [Clayton County District Attorney's Office] officers, while attempting to board their flights from Atlanta to Los Angeles," said the legal document. "Neither man committed any crime nor engaged in suspicious activity."

At the center of the suit are two incidents, one involving English in October 2020 and another concerning Andre in April 2021. The suit says each comedian was stopped and searched while on the jet bridge waiting to board, and each was asked about drugs.

"I want to use my resources and my platform to bring national attention to this incident so that it stops," Andre said during a press hearing outside of the federal courthouse in Atlanta on Tuesday.

Clayton County police representative Julia Isaac told The Times that the department does not comment during pending litigations.

According to the suit, English was stopped on Oct. 30, 2020, while traveling from his hometown of Atlanta to Los Angeles for work. After clearing the TSA security screening, English was interrogated by two officers who asked whether he was carrying illegal drugs. The suit alleges that the officers also went through English's luggage and did not answer why they were doing so.

"Mr. English spent the entire flight ruminating over the encounter, convinced that something else was going to happen," the suit said. "The entire experience was degrading and disturbing."

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Six months later, Andre was on his way back to Los Angeles from filming HBO's "The Righteous Gemstones" in Charleston, S.C. He was stopped during his layover in Atlanta. The suit alleges that two officers blocked Andre's path to the cabin and initiated their interrogation.

"The experience was traumatizing, degrading, and humiliating," the suit said.

Shortly after the incident, Andre spoke out publicly on Twitter and during his guest spot on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" in April 2021.

"I'm down the little narrow awkward jet bridge, two cops appear  these two white cops on that little awkward narrow jet bridge and they whip out their badge like 'Hawaii 5-0' style and they're like, 'Come with me,'" he recalled on the late-night show. "I'm business class so I'm the only brown person there. Clearly, they're singling me out."

After recounting how an officer interrogated him about drugs and whether he was "transporting crystal meth to Los Angeles," Andre shared the response he received from Clayton County police and then-Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.

On Twitter, Bottoms apologized to the "Lion King" actor for his experience at the Atlanta airport, adding that it "was not Atlanta Police Department, but another one of the many agencies working at the airport" who stopped him.

Clayton County police then issued a statement saying that the actor "voluntarily consented to a search of his luggage but the investigators chose not to do so."

I did NOT volunteer to a search and I did not volunteer to talk. You guys flashed your badge and detained me with no probable cause except for racism. This is JIM CROW RACISM @ClaytonCountyPD I DID NOT VOLUNTEER TO A SEARCH. YOU ARE HARASSING ME. THIS IS RACISM! @KeishaBottoms  Eric Andre (@ericandre) April 22, 2021

"No, that's a lie," he told Kimmel of the response. "That's a bold-faced lie."

While taking legal action, Andre encouraged those with similar experiences to speak out about their experience.

"Any black or brown people that have traveled the Atlanta airport that feel they've been racially harassed by the Clayton county police, please let us now," he said in an Instagram post on Tuesday.

Hollywood peers rallied behind Andre and English in the comments section.

"holy s. Get em Eric!," replied Questlove.

"yoooooooo," said "Saturday Night Live" cast member Sarah Sherman.

"Thank you," said "The Daily Show" correspondent Dulce Sloan.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Two comedians, Eric Andre and Clayton English are taking Atlantas Hartsfield- Jackson Airport to task for its drug search program. They believe that the program is unconstitutional, unnecessary and racist.

NBC News reports, police records show that from Aug. 30, 2020, to April 30, 2021, there were 402 jet bridge stops and that passengers races were listed for 378 of those stops. Of those 378 passengers, 211, or 56%, were Black, and people of color accounted for 258 total stops, or 68%, the lawsuit says.

See the specifics of the story below.

When Were The Comedians Stopped?

According to the lawsuit filed by their attorneys, English was stopped while flying from Atlanta, where he lives, to Los Angeles for work on Oct. 30, 2020.

After working on an HBO special, Andre was on his way to Los Angeles from Charleston, South Carolina. He was stopped for a drug search in April 2020 during his layover in Atlanta.

The Drug Searches Are Allegedly Racist

According to AP News, the comedians allege that a police program at the airport violates the constitutional rights of airline passengers, particularly Black passengers, through racial profiling and coercive searches just as they are about to board their flights.

What Do The Comedians Allege?

As AP News explains, officers singled them out during separate stops roughly six months apart because they are Black and grilled them about drugs as other passengers watched.

When the comedians reached the jet bridge, officers inquired whether they had illegal drugs on them.

AP News reports that both were asked to hand over their boarding passes and identification. An officer said he wanted to search Englishs bag, and English agreed, not believing he had a choice.

English said later, I felt completely powerless. I felt violated. I felt cornered. I felt like I had to comply if I wanted everything to go smoothly.

Police Call The Stops "Consensual"

The police select passengers at random and refer to the stops as consensual encounters.

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Attorneys for the comedians argue the police rely on coercion, and targets are selected disproportionately based on their race.

Why Did The Comedians File The Lawsuit?

Andre, who reported his experience right after it happened, said that filing the lawsuit was the moral thing to do.

He also said he wants to use the platform and resources he has to sound the alarm on this form of racial profiling.

He hopes these practices can stop and these cops can be held accountable because its unethical. Its not an isolated incident. If Black people dont speak up for each other, who will?

What Do The Comedians Hope The Lawsuit Will Achieve?

AP News reports they seek a jury trial and ask that the Clayton County police jet bridge interdiction program be declared unconstitutional. They also seek compensatory and punitive damages, as well as legal costs.
The leaders of a bipartisan congressional caucus dedicated to supporting relations between Black and Jewish Americans and addressing issues that impact both groups released a statement Wednesday denouncing rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, for the antisemitic comments he has made recently.

The heads of the Congressional Caucus on Black-Jewish Relations, Reps. Brenda Lawrence (D-Mich.), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) and Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.), said in a statement that they strongly condemn the remarks.

This kind of inflammatory rhetoric and perpetuation of stereotypes fuels violence amid a rise in antisemitism and racism throughout the country, they said. Words have consequences, which is why the Black and Jewish communities must stand together to make clear there is no room for this kind of hurtful and hateful rhetoric.

Ye made multiple antisemitic posts on social media over the weekend, leading to his Twitter and Instagram accounts being suspended.

Controversy arose after Instagram took down a post from the rapper in which he suggested that rapper and record producer Sean Diddy Combs is controlled by Jewish people.

He later tweeted that he was going death con 3 on Jewish people. He said in the tweet that he could not be antisemitic because black people are actually Jew.

Ye seemed to be referring to the ideology of the Black Hebrew Israelites, who claim that Black people are the true descendants of the Israelites in the Bible.

Some, but not all, Black Hebrew Israelites hold antisemitic views and believe other races are inferior to Blacks, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

Ye faced further criticism after unaired portions of his interview with Fox Newss Tucker Carlson surfaced, revealing he advanced multiple antisemitic conspiracy theories.

He appeared to refer to the false conspiracy theory that Jewish people control financial institutions, saying, I prefer my kids knew Hanukkah than Kwanzaa. At least it would come with some financial engineering.

He also told Carlson that he trusts Latinos more than certain other businessmen.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP)  For months, Bob Stefanowski, the Republican candidate for governor in Connecticut, declined to reveal the clients of his lucrative business consulting firm, saying he had a duty to customers to keep certain things confidential.

Democrats wielded the lack of transparency like a cudgel, saying Stefanowski must be hiding something.

Now, at least one aspect of his work has been revealed. Stefanowski, who has a background in mergers and acquisitions, has acknowledged for the first time that he has done consulting work related to a proposed futuristic, green-energy city in Saudi Arabia, proposed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Stefanowski told reporters during a Zoom call on Wednesday that he has been and remains a consultant to NEOM, the company that is behind the massive NEOM project. He said he's involved with a three-way venture to build a hydrogen plant. Stefanowski initially confirmed his involvement to Hearst Connecticut Media, in a story published Wednesday, saying he has been involved with the NEOM project since 2019.

Stefanowski's acknowledgement came after being presented with documents showing he met with top executives of the planned city, including an email sent in 2018 that referred to a meeting he had in London with someone involved with the Saudi state-run investment fund. Stefanowski confirmed Wednesday that he started his consulting work with NEOM about six months later.

Part of being a consultant is you fly all over the world and try to get business. So I meet with a lot of people all over the world. I don't anymore, said Stefanowski, who said he has scaled back his work with NEOM to a couple of phone calls a week while he runs for governor. He said he found the Saudi project particularly interesting, calling it a noble project that's going to help global warming." The proposed city, to be run entirely on alternative sources of energy, redefines the concept of urban development and what cities of the future should look like, according to a company statement.

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Stefanowski told Hearst he did not work directly with the Saudi government or the investment fund. During the Zoom news conference, Stefanowski said he could not say whether he has met the crown prince, listed as chairman of NEOM's board of directors, due to a non-disclosure agreement. However, the candidate said he was given permission by NEOM to discuss limited things related to his consulting work.

Despite human rights issues in Saudi Arabia, Stefanowski said he's comfortable with the project and feels he is helping to control global warming.

Just because you meet with a country doesnt mean you agree with all their policies and procedures, he told Hearst. This is a green energy project that could help the world. Thats what it was limited to.

Saudi Arabia has a complicated relationship with the U.S.

Human rights advocates have condemned the Persian Gulf nation for oppressing dissent and the 2018 killing of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

President Joe Biden said on Tuesday there would be consequences for Saudi Arabia for backing recent oil production moves that were seen as likely to help Russia in its war with Ukraine.

Yet the kingdom has also been a military and diplomatic partner and is seen as a counterbalance to Iran's influence in the region.

Connecticut Democrats, including Gov. Ned Lamont's campaign, have criticized Stefanowski for not revealing his consulting clients. There's no telling whose interests he truly represents, Lamont's campaign said in one written statement. Lamont told reporters Wednesday that he would comment Thursday on the news of Stefanowski's Saudi client, saying he had only read headlines about the revelation.

It poses an awful lot of questions, but I don't want to jump to any conclusions, Lamont said.

Stefanowski, 60, is an accountant and financial analyst who has written two books on mergers and acquisitions. He once worked as the CEO of a payday loan company and has also worked for General Electric and investment bank UBS, among other entities.

Stefanowski previously said he would release what he could ethically and legally provide to the public about his consulting clients.

In a consulting firm, theres always confidential information, he told reporters earlier this year.

Three years of tax documents released in September show Stefanowski and his wife Amy earned a total of $36.8 million and have three limited liability companies, including one called Lolo Consulting.

His campaign said in a statement that Lolo Consulting provides services including merger & acquisition and due diligence support, corporate strategy and other general consulting services. Also, Lolo has advised on acquisitions and joint ventures in the financial services, health care and energy sectors, according to the statement.

___

This story was corrected to show the company behind the project is spelled NEOM, not NOEM.
Alex Jones. Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media via AP, Pool

A Connecticut jury ordered Alex Jones on Wednesday to pay $965 million to relatives of the Sandy Hook shooting victims.

For years, Jones spread a lie that the shooting was a government-orchestrated hoax.

In August, a Texas jury ordered Jones to pay nearly $50 million in damages to one Sandy Hook family.

Conspiracy theorist radio host Alex Jones must pay $965 million in compensatory damages to families who lost loved ones in the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, a jury ordered on Wednesday.

For years, Jones pushed a false theory that the shooting  where 20 first-graders and six adults were killed  was staged by the government to provide a pretext for restricting gun ownership.

The Connecticut lawsuit is the second of three similar cases that Jones lost by default last year when he ignored court orders to turn over financial records about his company, Free Speech Systems.

In August, the first of those cases wrapped in Texas, with a jury ordering Jones to pay nearly $50 million in compensatory and punitive damages to the parents of one Sandy Hook victim, Jesse Lewis.

However, that total will likely be severely slashed thanks to a cap on punitive damages in the state.

The case in Connecticut was much bigger, with 15 plaintiffs involved  mostly parents who lost children in the shooting. A third case back in Texas, where Jones is based, has yet to be scheduled.

Here's how much each of the plaintiffs were awarded in the Connecticut case:

Robbie Parker $120 million

Jacqueline Barden $28.8 million

Mark Barden $57.6 million

Nicole Hockley $73.6 million

Ian Hockley $81.6 million

Francine Wheeler $54 million

David Wheeler $55 million

Jennifer Hensel $52 million

Erica Lafferty $76 million

Donna Soto $48 million

Carlee Soto-Parisi $66 million

Carlos M. Soto $57.6 million

Jillian Soto Marino $68.8 million

William Aldenberg $90 million

William Sherlach $36 million

Many of the plaintiffs broke down in tears as the award amount was read out Wednesday afternoon.

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Sandy Hook dad Robbie Parker, who Jones directly accused of being a crisis actor, was the first name to be read out by the jury, and was awarded the most of any of the plaintiffs  a total of $120 million. During his time on the stand, Parker spoke about being harassed in the street by a man who accused him of lying about his daughter Emilie's murder at Sandy Hook.

William Aldenberg, an FBI agent who responded to the shooting, was awarded the second-highest amount of $90 million. Aldenberg spoke to the jury about becoming the center of wild Sandy Hook conspiracies just because he looked slightly like one of the fathers who lost a child during the shooting, David Wheeler.

The jury came to their decision after four days of deliberations. They also decided to allow the judge to award an amount to cover the plaintiffs' legal fees and costs at a later date.

They sat through nearly four weeks of grueling testimony from the plaintiffs, who explained how Jones' lies caused them to be harassed by his legions of fans who trolled them online, confronted them on the street, and even showed up at their homes.

Some of the parents said they needed to move out of Newtown, and took out massive life insurance policies to benefit their children in case they themselves were ever murdered by conspiracy theorists.

Since Jones' company is private, his personal finances remain somewhat opaque. A forensic economist who was called to testify on behalf of the plaintiffs in the Texas trial estimated that Jones and Free Speech Systems have a combined wealth somewhere between $135 million and $270 million.

But just as the Texas trial was starting this summer, Free Speech Systems filed for bankruptcy, and Jones has repeatedly claimed that he doesn't have the money to pay the families.

The plaintiffs have argued that Jones has hidden his wealth in shell companies.

Read the original article on Insider
San Antonio Police Department via AP)

A former rookie cop in San Antonio was arrested and charged on Tuesday after he shot and gravely wounded a 17-year-old who had been eating a hamburger in his car in a McDonald's parking lot earlier this month.

James Brennand, 25, who was fired from the police department on Oct. 4 for violating training and procedures, was charged with two felony counts of aggravated assault by a public servant after turning himself in to police on Tuesday night. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison. A lawyer for him could not immediately be located.

The Oct. 2 shooting of Erik Cantu was caught on Brennand's body camera, which showed how the officer approached the teen's car believing it to be a vehicle that had evaded him the previous day.

After the officer suddenly opened the driver's door and ordered him out, Cantu put the car into reverse and tried to leave. When Brennand was briefly hit by the open door, he withdrew his weapon and shot five times. As the teen drove away, the officer then fired five more times.

Cantu's 17-year-old female passenger was not injured, but he was taken to a local hospital where he remains in critical condition. (The second charge against Brennand relates to the passenger.)

His attorney Brian Powers told BuzzFeed News on Sunday that Cantu was on life support and "fighting for his life every minute of the day as his body has endured a tremendous amount of trauma."

There had been no significant improvement in his condition on Tuesday evening, Powers told the Associated Press.

Cantu had initially been charged with evading detention in a vehicle and assault on a peace officer, but the local district attorney withdrew those charges after reviewing footage of the incident.

Brennand had only been a police officer for seven months and was still on probation at the time of the shooting.

More on this
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) was endorsed on Wednesday by 14 family members of her Republican challenger, former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt, according to a new report.

Catherine is a model of the Nevada grit that we so often use to describe our Nevada forefathers. Her entire career is not a simple sound-bite that merely speaks of supporting Nevada, the family members wrote in the letter, shared by The Nevada Independent.

The three-page letter chronicles Cortez Mastos public service, lauds her Senate decisions and highlights her support for womens rights, Nevada industries and land preservation  but does not mention Laxalt as her opponent.

Its not surprising that once again a handful of family members and spouses, half of whom do not live in Nevada, and most of whom are Democrats, are supporting a Democrat. They think that Nevada & our country are heading in the right direction, Laxalt said on Twitter after the endorsement.

I believe Nevadans dont agree with the Biden/Masto agenda of high gas prices, soaring inflation, rising crime, and an open border, the Republican candidate added.

This isnt the first time that members of Laxalts family have turned away from his campaign ambitions. A dozen members of Laxalts family previously penned an op-ed in the Reno Gazette Journal urging voters against the then-attorney general when he ran for governor in 2018.

A spokesperson for Cortez Mastos campaign told The Hill that the Democrat appreciates the Laxalt familys addition to a growing list of bipartisan supporters.

The tight race between the two candidates has some wary of a potential red wave in the midterms.

A poll released Wednesday showed Cortez Masto up 2 points over Laxalt, 46 percent to 44 percent, just four weeks ahead of the November elections.

Updated: 8:57 p.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
EVANSVILLE  Every year, there are new apples in the stores alongside the old classics. But how is a Rave apple different from a Red Delicious?

Whats best for pie, reliable Golden Delicious or the fancy, new Cosmic Crisp? Which ones are tart, and which are sweet?

We selected 12 apples for a blind tasting  mostly new varieties that may be unfamiliar, plus a few old standards for comparison. We could have added more, but we didnt think our tasters  or readers  would hang in there for more than a dozen.

Here are the apples we sampled, some facts about them, and some of our tasters remarks.

A hybrid of Royal Gala and Braeburn, developed in New Zealand and patented in 2003. It can be used in cooking and baking and stores well. An all-purpose apples apple. Rumor has it that the redder the apple, the fruitier and more unique the taste.

Our tasters said: Nice apple, medium in all ways. Juicy and soft. Not sweet or sour. Tastes like apple.

Evansville-area food news: Evansville-area food news: Chili, burgoo, Halloween cookies and more

Also a New Zealand hybrid of Royal Gala and Braeburn, Envy apples are a relatively new cultivar that have been available since 2009. They follow the modern trend for a crisper texture but still are a basic apple with no highly singular qualities. They have broad appeal for any audience.

Our tasters said: Quite sweet and somewhat crunchy. Deep flavor, almost cinnamon-like. Great crunch, but not a lot of flavor. Crispy but not very flavorful.

Yet another New Zealand apple, Koru joins Jazz and Envy as universally-appealing, middle-of-the-road apples. They are useful for eating out of hand, are slow-browning and good for slicing to serve with cheese or caramel, and can be used in cooking or baking. This apple has a fun story, as the first tree sprouted as a volunteer in a New Zealand rose garden and was left to grow and, amazingly, produced lovely apples. The tree was reproduced, tested commercially, and the fruit introduced in 2010.

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Our tasters said: Softer flesh, nice balance of sweet and acid. Soft, sweet and mild.

Fall is apple season, but which make the best salad, or the best pie?

Cripps Pink, sold under the brand name Pink Lady, was developed in Australia by crossing Golden Delicious and Lady Williams apples. They brown slowly so are great for slicing fresh for salads, cheese or dessert boards. The pretty rose-pink color is attractive. The taste is mild and works well in many applications, although they are slightly on the tart side.

Our tasters said: Balanced sweet and acid. Pleasantly sour. Soft and somewhat tart.

More food news:Henderson High School cooking team wins 'junior chef' competition

Gala apple

An older variety discovered in New Zealand in 1934, Gala didnt arrive in the United States until the 70s and has become one of the most ubiquitous grocery store apples after the Deliciouses. Pink, sweet and juicy, they have a place in our hearts but are slowly becoming eclipsed by newer, crispier, tangier and more unique varieties. Still, Gala is a solid choice for an apple that is reasonably-priced, tasty, widely useable, and easily available all year long.

Our tasters said: Good fruity flavor. A tad bland. Blander flavor. Weak in flavor.

Honeycrisp was developed by the University of Minnesota and patented in 1988. In 2006, it became the state fruit of Minnesota. This tends to be the most expensive apple at the store, and people buy the heck out of it anyway. The extremely sweet, crisp and juicy texture are very appealing. This apple is satisfying eaten right out of hand and makes a good pie too.

Our tasters said: Very sweet, crisp and juicy. The Champ  flavorful and crisp. Amazing juice. Best of the bunch.

The SweeTango apple was also bred at the University of Minnesota and is a descendent of Honeycrisp and Zestar apples. If you want an apple with a unique and singular flavor, this is the one, but note they are not always easy to find. Supplies are limited as farmers must be licensed to grow them. The flesh is softer than the ultra-crisp varieties. Its best eaten raw or cooked into applesauce or apple butter, as it breaks down and darkens rapidly with cooking.

Our tasters said: Softer texture, unique perfumy flavor. Mystery flavor. Good taste, a bit mealy. Soft with an additional taste I could not identify.

Others are reading:What are the odds you'll hit a deer this fall? Here's what the experts say

Another modern super-crisp apple, Cosmic Crisp was developed by Washington State University and has been marketed only since 2019. Its a child of Honeycrisp and Enterprise, and has the large size, attractive texture and sweet flavor of Honeycrisp yet is more suited to storage and shipping. It has become quite common in grocery stores and often is slightly less expensive than Honeycrisp. Its good for baking and browns slowly, making it an ideal choice for cheese and dessert boards.

Our tasters said: Sweet and crisp with a hint of acid. Very crisp, excellent texture. Great crunch and slightly sour. Citrus flavor with juice and crunch.

Rave  Snappy seems to be the word for Rave apples. Our tasters used the word, and it appears on the official Rave page at Washingtons Stemilt Fruit, where it was developed from Honeycrisp and an early-ripening red variety. Rave is a crisp apple with a quite acidic flavor. If you like Granny Smith, youll like this red, tart apple. They are not recommended for cooking and should be consumed raw.

Our tasters said: Crisp and quite acidic. A little too sour for me. Juicy and crunchy but too tart." "Crisp, oddly tart/sour. Snappy and sour.

More:New Henderson restaurant serving conch, Caribbean specialties

Red Delicious apple

The apple that people think about when you say apple. Its been around since the late 19th century when it was first noticed growing in Iowa. Dark red with soft white flesh, firm skin and a mild, lightly sweet flavor, its good for eating fresh but dont leave it sitting around long. Like many older cultivars, it bruises easily and browns quickly. Much of the appeal of this apple, honestly, is the color. The flesh is mealy and the flavor mild. Still, its been the classic American apple for years for some reason.

Our tasters said: Medium crisp and sweet. Had bruises. Would make an incredible caramel apple. Sweet standard apple.

Jonagold apple

A classic American apple developed in the mid-20th century, Jonagold apples  a cross between Jonathon and Golden Delicious--have enduring appeal. It has the softer texture of an older variety, but a fine, sweetly balanced flavor that many enjoy.

Our tasters said: Burst of flavor. Soft but good flavor. Soft and mellow. Soft and sweet.

More:Daylight saving time's end 'gives' you back an hour, but at what cost?

McIntosh apple

McIntosh apples are grown abundantly in Canada and in the Northeast United States. Its a very old variety that was discovered in 1811. The flesh becomes softer as the apples age. Its a very pretty apple, dark red and shiny with areas of lighter green. McIntosh breaks down quickly in cooking and is best for eating raw or making applesauce.

Our tasters said: Softer textured flesh with sturdy skin and some tang. Acidic aftertaste. Crisp with nice tart flavor. Tart and tasty, this is my favorite.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Which types of apples are sweetest? Our guide to 12 varieties
In Le Proces, or "The Trial", a bar in Ouagadougou, artist and co-founder Patrick Kabre works the crowd, raising belly laughs with his observations about Burkina Faso today.

"We're debating the state of the nation. We need a judge to issue the ruling -- and we have one right here!", he says.

Microphone in hand, Kabre has no shortage of absurd or dark material in a country where the frontier of chaos seems to come ever closer.

In less than nine months, the impoverished landlocked Sahel state has been through two military coups, each prompted by the failure of the ousted regime to tackle deadly jihadist attacks.

In front of the master of ceremonies, a colossal character wearing black-and-red judge's robes sways gently to music, surrounded by a score of smiling onlookers.

This is bartender Dao Moumine, who has abandoned his counter for a few moments.

"You are at 'The Trial', I am The Judge," the gown-wearing giant tells AFP.

"I serve up justice," he said, referring to beer, "and the International Criminal Court," the house's rum special.

This unusual venue for free debate, music and slam poetry first opened in 2019.

After a rainy-season break, it reopened on Saturday just a week after the country's latest coup.

The clinking of bottles and shots of rum give the setting an air of normality during one of the first music nights since the military takeover. Everyone shares the latest gossip and military rumours.

- Unity through culture -

For some Europeans present, it is their first night out. There has been an upsurge of slogans against former colonial power France, and a number of companies have urged their expatriate staff to stay at home.

The idea for the bar, open every weekend in the Goughin district, began among friends who wanted to "discuss the issues that have caused chaos in this country: justice, impunity," Kabre said.

The scene of a popular insurrection to end the long reign of Blaise Compaore in 2014, Burkina Faso was hit hard the following year by attacks from jihadist groups which spread from neighbouring Mali.

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Violence and political instability gave rise to the two coups of 2022. The latest placed a 34-year-old captain, Ibrahim Traore, in power.

"The solution to all this is neither military nor political," said Ali Kiswinsida Ouedraogo, alias Doueslik, a 36-year-old slam poet, told AFP. "The solution is social... and it comes via culture."

Service is bar-counter only, enabling Judge Moumine, a specialist in po-faced comedy, to deliver edicts before serving the order.

There is a serious side to the clowning, he says: The Trial is both a safety valve and a forum, hopefully making people aware of the wider picture in Burkina Faso and its problems.

"Artists have to perform. Venues like this are important," said Ouedraogo.

Kabre wants The Trial to be a "rainbow" venue where all nationalities can gather and "talk to each other, listen to each other."

Everyone is welcome, says Kabre, who plays that evening with a German DJ.

He lists prestigious clients who have come to his establishment: army officers, ambassadors, even government ministers -- and, of course, judges.

ah/blb/stb/nb/lcm/ri/jmm
Vulnerable people have been urged to get flu and COVID jabs. (Getty)

The World Health Organization has warned that COVID infections are increasing in Europe while flu cases are also expected to rise.

The WHO and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) have said another wave of coronavirus may have begun to tick up across the region.

They stressed the pandemic is still not over and advised vulnerable groups, including people over 60 years old, pregnant women and those with co-morbidities, to get vaccinated against both influenza and COVID-19.

WHO's region-wise data showed that only Europe recorded a rise in COVID-19 cases in the week ended 2 October, clocking an increase of 8% from the prior week.

Read more: COVID hospital admissions double in two weeks in England

COVID cases are increasing across Europe. (Getty)

"Although we are not where we were one year ago, it is clear that the COVID-19 pandemic is still not over," WHO's Europe director, Hans Kluge, and ECDC's director, Andrea Ammon, said in a joint statement.

"We are unfortunately seeing indicators rising again in Europe, suggesting that another wave of infections has begun."

The latest figures show COVID-19 infections in the UK jumped 25% to their highest level since mid-August.

Some 1.3 million people in private households across the UK are likely to have tested positive for coronavirus in the week to 26 September, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

This is up from 1.1 million in the previous week.

Read more: Blood test when people are infected can predict who will develop long COVID

It is the highest UK-wide total since the week to 16 August but is still some way below the 3.8 million weekly infections in early July, at the peak of the wave caused by the Omicron BA.4/BA.5 subvariants of the virus.

There is a lag in the reporting of the ONS data due to the time it takes for the survey to be compiled.

More recent figures show the number of people in hospital who have tested positive for COVID is now on a clear upwards trend in much of the country, suggesting a fresh wave of coronavirus is underway.

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In Scotland, the number of people in hospital with COVID-19 increased by 12.6% last week, according to the latest figures.

In the week ending 9 October, there were on average 838 patients in hospital with COVID, up from 744 the previous week, Public Health Scotland (PHS) data showed.

Flu cases are expected to rise in autumn and winter. (Getty)

The UK could suffer a devastating COVID wave this autumn fuelled by poor surveillance of potentially immune-evasive subvariants and a reduction in testing.

Virologist professor Lawrence Young, from the University of Warwick, said there was concern over Omicron subvariants  BA.2.75.2 (from BA.2) and BQ1.1 (from BA.5).

He told The Independent: Whats interesting about these variants is that although theyre slightly different in how theyve come about theyve come up with the same changes to get around the bodys immune system.

Public health experts have warned that vaccine fatigue and confusion over available vaccines will likely limit booster uptake in Europe.

Millions of people across the region remain unvaccinated against COVID-19, the WHO and ECDC said.
SheKnows

Its been almost one year since former engaged couple Jason Sudeikis and Olivia Wilde broke up. Since then, their names have dominated the headlines. From Wildes budding relationship with Dont Worry Darling star Harry Styles, to their ongoing custody battle, the couples split was complex and multi-faceted to say the least. On Monday, the couples []
Special counsel John Durhams probe into the origins of the FBIs handling of the 2016 Trump campaigns ties to Russia is reaching a critical peak: the launch of whats expected to be the final trial in his long-running investigation.

Durham is seeking the conviction of Igor Danchenko, a Russian analyst who is charged with five counts of lying to the FBI in interviews as agents investigated potential Trump-Russia collusion in the probe that became known as Crossfire Hurricane. Danchenko was a leading contributor to the so-called Steele dossier, a compilation of salacious and unverified allegations about Donald Trumps relationship with the Russian government. Danchenko pleaded not guilty to the five counts against him.

The government aired the allegations during opening statements on Tuesday, accusing Danchenko of lying about his main sources for his contributions to the dossier, as well as communications he had with Sergei Millian, a Belarusian-American businessman who once did real estate work with the Trump Organization and stayed in touch with Trump associates during the 2016 campaign. Prosecutors specifically accuse Danchenko of fabricating Millian as a source, claiming he lied about speaking to the businessman over the phone.

We are going to prove to you beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant never received a call from Sergei Millian, prosecutor Michael Kielty said.

Prosecutors also allege that Danchenko lied about his main source for the dossier by telling the FBI he hadnt talked to Democratic operative Charles Dolan, who had ties to the Hillary Clinton campaign. The government said it would provide evidence that the two had exchanged emails.

The defense, however, argued in opening statements that Danchenko did not lie or mislead the FBI, since he hadnt had an oral conversation with Dolan. Danchenkos attorney, Danny Onorato, said the jury would hear evidence during the trial that would eviscerate any claim that his client was untruthful.

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They want you to disregard the common-sense notion of what talking means  and that is an oral communication, Onorato said.

He also argued that the governments attempt to use phone records to show that a call between Danchenko and Millian never happened would not be sufficient because the call could have happened using a mobile app. Onorato added that Danchenko told the FBI he only believed the caller to be Millian, but never said he was sure.

His objective, commonsense belief cannot be false, Onorato said.

The government then called its first witness: FBI supervisory intelligence analyst Brian Auten  one of the two FBI agents to interview Danchenko in January 2017 when he allegedly lied. Durham led the questioning of Auten, who confirmed there were inconsistencies in what Danchenko told the FBI agents across different interviews regarding his communications with Millian.

Auten said Danchenko told the agents in the first interview that he had emailed Millian twice in the summer of 2016 with no response before he received an anonymous phone call from an individual he believed to be Millian  where the two talked for a bit and agreed to meet in New York City. Danchenko then told the agents the following day during an interview that the phone call from the anonymous individual came after he sent the first email to Millian.

Durham during questioning also tried to establish that information Danchenko provided in the Steele dossier was used to support a surveillance warrant against Carter Page, a Trump campaign official. Auten testified that during the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, the FBI hadnt had enough information to submit the application for the warrant for Carter until they obtained the Steele dossier.

Auten said he and other agents worked to corroborate the details of the dossier but were unable to, even after checking with other government agencies. He also revealed that he had gone with other agents to Britain in October 2016 to meet with Christopher Steele, the retired British spy who authored the dossier, to try to better corroborate the material. The agents offered Steele as much as $1 million in exchange for information that could prove the allegations in the dossier, but Steele didnt provide any corroboration.

Autens testimony will continue Wednesday morning.

Danchenko is the third person to be prosecuted in Durhams probe, which has largely fallen short of expectations from Trump and his allies who long maintained that the investigation would reveal a conspiracy against the former president. The other targets of his probe include the former Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann, who was acquitted on a charge of making a false statement to the FBI, and Kevin Clinesmith, an FBI lawyer who pleaded guilty to doctoring an email in 2017 in relation to a wiretap renewal application. Clinesmith received no jail time.
WASHINGTON  A data collection and dissemination program the Army has used over the past five years in Africa could be a model for how military intelligence analysts make better sense of the firehose of information they face each day.

The Africa Data Science Center started as a pilot project in 2018 using data science tools to cull thousands of incident or intelligence reports to find the relevant information an intel soldier needs to analyze for their command.

Col. Mark Denton, commander of the 207th Military Intelligence Brigade, told an audience Tuesday at the annual Association of the U.S. Army gathering that the days of analysts sifting through stacks of paper reports or creating their own spreadsheets to track data are gone.

The current system can easily consolidate 3,000 reports in a matter of seconds, Denton said.

What this does is transform chaos into clarity, said Maj. Gen. Todd Wasmund, commander of Southern European Task Force-Africa.

Denton put up a map of the African continent for the audience. Large swaths of it were saturated in overlapping purple bubbles. Each bubble was a report of a conflict event, such as a bombing, riots or other significant developments in a city, state, nation or region.

The purple stuff is the chaos coming in that the analyst needs to make sense of, Denton said.

The system the data center uses takes machine learning tools and natural language programming to both find the data an analyst will need and combine it into a readable report that doesnt require a computer programmer to decipher.

Most data analysis done by hand is complicated, takes too long and makes it difficult to spot trends quickly, Denton said.

Using natural language processing, which makes computers deliver information in language a human can understand rather than computer programming language, analysts can categorize text reports and use machine learning tools to automate the process.

During the data science centers pilot, users saw a 70-90% reduction in irrelevant reports returned from searches. The tools also allow analysts to create visualized reports, with charts, graphics and maps that can give commanders better context and a quicker understanding of the intelligence picture.

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Programmers and data scientists sit hip-to-virtual-hip with analysts to determine what kinds of questions the analyst can ask of the available data, and how the answer will be delivered. The analyst tells the data scientists what they need to know and the scientist uses programming and algorithms to query the data for the answer.

After the system delivers those data summaries, users can provide feedback to make the machine-learning model more accurate. A user gets to tell the system what was useful and what wasnt. That step should help improve the models over time, making them more efficient and accurate, Denton said.

Currently, the data science center runs only for U.S. Africa Command initiatives. But, Denton added, intelligence branch commanders and other combatant commands are working to develop their own data collecting and analysis tools.

The idea is to create a kind of hub and spoke system so that all Army intelligence would be linked across regions, Denton said. This will allow analysts to find patterns or pull data to inform their own areas operations, he added.
Curran took three wickets for 25 runs (AFP via Getty Images)

Dawid Malan underlined his value with an innings of 82 off 49 balls to help England claim a T20 series victory against Australia on a chilly evening at Canberra.

Malan was shuffled down to number seven in the batting order in Sundays series opener at Perth but returned to his usual position at first drop at the Manuka Oval, perhaps with a point to prove.

He did so after anchoring Englands recovery from 54 for four to 178 for seven before Sam Curran collected three for 25 as the tourists claimed an eight-run win to go 2-0 ahead with one to play.

This second T20 was delicately poised with Australia needing 34 off the last three overs and Tim David on 40 off 21 deliveries, but he departed two balls later after being bowled round his legs by Curran.

The boundaries were cut off in the 18th and 19th overs by Curran and Reece Topley as the equation came down to 22 off the last six balls, with the former ensuring there would be no dramatic finish.

Australia were back to full strength after resting a host of star names at the Optus Stadium but they suffered defeat by the same margin as at the weekend and may rue a substandard fielding display as Malan and Moeen Ali, who contributed 44 off 27 balls, were both given lives.

Malan and Moeen put on 92 from 52 balls after Englands top order stumbled, with Ben Stokes dismissed for a second successive single-figure score although he underlined his all-round pedigree with the key wicket of Mitch Marsh, having earlier produced a sensational bit of fielding on the boundary rope.

Englands openers put on 132 in 11.2 overs in Perth but here Pat Cummins drew a false shot from Jos Buttler, who had raced to 17 before toe-ending in the air with Adam Zampa taking a swirling chance.

The perception of Malan starting slowly might have led to his demotion last time out as England sought quick runs but, back in his normal habitat, he laced his third ball expertly through the covers.

Malans fifth delivery was dispatched high over deep square-leg for six although Alex Hales and Harry Brook perished when they drove loosely at Marcus Stoinis, either side of Stokes being castled after missing a big heave on one knee off Zampa, who zipped one through a bit quicker.

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Moeen was given a reprieve on one when Glenn Maxwell spilled a chest-high chance, and the all-rounder capitalised. Having taken just seven off his first nine balls, he freed his arms off Cummins and Stoinis for four then lofted the latter into the stands for a meaty six.

Malan was effortlessly piercing the field but showed his range with a towering six off Zampa en route to a 31-ball fifty.

Both England batters took sixes off Mitchell Starc having been given let-offs - with Moeens sliced drive bursting through the fingertips of David Warner, who went off for a concussion test after landing awkwardly, while David parried Malan, on 54, over the rope, perhaps unsighted by the floodlights.

Malan helped England recover to a competitive total (Getty Images)

Zampa put down a tough return catch off Moeen, whose luck ran out later in the over as David atoned for his earlier drop.

Malan had his fourth six after bludgeoning Starc but perished in the deep in the final over off Stoinis before Chris Jordan helped Englands innings end with a flourish with a six off the last ball.

Warner was able to bat but made just four off 11 deliveries before skewing Topley, three balls after Aaron Finch, back opening following a middle-order stint, drove to mid-off off David Willey.

While Marsh settled quickly, Curran took out the inauspicious Maxwell and the dangerous Stoinis with the leg-side sweeper holding on on both occasions.

This came either side of a fantastic boundary save from Stokes, who pouched Marsh but, sensing he was about to go over the rope, threw the ball back into the outfield before he did so.

Stokes, who had earlier opened the bowling for the first time in his T20 career, returned for the 15th and struck with his first ball as Marsh whipped to deep square-leg to depart for 45 off 29 balls.

Jordan was rusty on his return from a fractured finger and took some punishment from David to give Australia firm belief with three overs to go.

Curran then snared David and kept things tight before Topley did likewise. While Cummins smashed a full toss for six from the first ball of the last over, Curran held his nerve at the death.
WAUKESHA - On the eighth day of Darrell Brooks Jr.'s homicide and reckless endangerment trial, jurors heard from several witnesses who saw parade participants struck and either killed or injured.

That key testimony took place. However, tornado warnings in Waukesha County prompted an early end to the day. Proceedings stopped about 1:15 p.m. and will resume Thursday.

Jurors had been expected to get the first glimpse of how Brooks might argue his own defense as one of his witnesses was expected to be called out of order to testify, even as the prosecution continued its case.

Brooks, 40, plans to call a dozen witnesses. He is charged with six counts of first-degree intentional homicide, 61 counts of recklessly endangering safety, six counts of hit-and-run causing death, two counts of bail jumping, all felonies, and one count of misdemeanor battery.

Here's what happened on Day 8.

Darrell Brooks looks over documents Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022, during his trial at the Waukesha County Circuit Court in Waukesha, Wis. He is charged with driving into the Waukesha Christmas Parade last year, killing six people and injuring many. He is also representing himself.

Tornado warning prompts court to break for the day

As the lunch break neared, Waukesha County Circuit Judge Jennifer Dorow alerted the court that she had received weather alerts of tornado warnings in western Waukesha County. The warnings came just before Dorow called for the break and were expected to delay the proceedings at least slightly.

However, when the court reconvened at 12:45 p.m., Dorow said she preferred to break for the day following the completion of Brook's cross examination of the last witness an hour earlier.

Dorow said she might extend the proceedings a bit on Thursday to make up for the time lost.

Witnesses testified about seeing an SUV run into a woman who later died

The day's first witnesses, Stefanie and Adam Bonesteel, a married couple who were a part of the Citizen's Bank group in the parade, told jurors about how another member of their group, Jane Kulich, was struck and killed by the SUV.

"I remember seeing the vehicle moving at a high rate of speed toward the person (later identified as Kulich) who was running," Stefanie Bonesteel said. "I think before I remember seeing anything, I heard a loud thud."

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"I heard and saw the impact," Adam Bonesteel said, estimating that the SUV was going 30 mph. "I watched the body fly on the hood."

During cross examination, Adam Bonesteel said he noticed the SUV's brake lights activate as it drove past him but added that the driver never stopped to help any of the injured people.

More: Day 7: 'I still to this day don't know what happened to my daughter,' victim testifies

More: Day 6: Darrell Brooks offers apology in return to court

More: Day 5: Witnesses describe the chaotic scene of the attack

Brooks tried to subpoena the state of Wisconsin to testify

The day started with Brooks attempting to file a 13th witness subpoena to the state of Wisconsin, the plaintiff in the 76-count criminal case.

"I have the right to face my accuser under the Sixth Amendment," Brooks argued.

Dorow rejected his assertion, specifically citing the state as an entity, not a person, making the subpoena invalid.

Brooks' assertions are part of his attempt to represent himself as a "sovereign" citizen. He also listed the same motions and questions, including to dismiss the trial and delay it pending an appeal, that he had previously argued during the first week of the trial.

Witnesses near The Steaming Cup testify about injured family members

Prosecutors called three consecutive witnesses  all from families that had been standing by The Steaming Cup coffee shop  when the red SUV tore through the area of Main and Clinton streets.

Three children  Brinley Harris, 7, Kelsey Knapp, 3, and Owen Ricciotti, 5  were hurt in an area just east of where four participants from the Dancing Grannies group were killed.

Matthew Harris, Brinley's father and a spectator with a large group including family members there, testified that he was alerted by a commotion "and an audible gasp" after the red SUV approached his position. He described the noise as "an eerie sound, not parade sounds." Harris saw the vehicle "clip" the corner where children were standing.

Adam Bonesteel, a witness who was driving the Citizens Bank float on Nov. 21, 2021, testifies in court Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022, during the trial of Darrell Brooks at the Waukesha County Circuit Court in Waukesha, Wis., Brooks is charged with driving into the Waukesha Christmas Parade last year, killing six people and injuring many more.

"I remember screaming 'Get back,'" Harris said, noting that the SUV ran over one of his daughter's feet.

Heather Ricciotti, Owen's mother, and Daniel Knapp, also testified over the shock of what occurred in front of their eyes.

Ricciotti testified that the two oldest children, ages 5 and 7, were standing on the street when there was an apparent break in the action.

Her son was struck by the SUV, later requiring six stitches for a gash over his right eyebrow.

Knapp, with his three children, heard the screaming from coming further east on Main Street, then saw the red SUV approaching as it drove past another vehicle hauling a float. It struck his youngest daughter, who was standing near the curb.

"My daughter flew approximately 15 feet" after being hit, Knapp said.

His daughters face was covered in blood, with a look of complete fear and misunderstanding, as he picked her up and ran toward his car. He drove her to ProHealth Waukesha Memorial Hospital. Her injuries required facial surgery, he testified.

Knapp said that he locked eyes with the red SUVs driver. Knapp identified Brooks as that driver.

Contact Jim Riccioli at (262) 446-6635 or james.riccioli@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @jariccioli.

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: Takeaways from Day 8 of Darrell Brooks Waukesha Christmas Parade trial
Two former day care workers forced children to fight each other on several occasions at a center at an Air Force base in Georgia, and the facilitys former director kept quiet about the abuse, federal prosecutors say.

While under the care of the three women, at least 14 children endured physical cruelty at the day care at Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robins, according to court documents.

Prosecutors say the events took place in January and February of 2021 and that this is an ongoing investigation.

Zhanay Flynn, 27, of Centerville, and Antanesha Fritz, 29, of Alabama are accused of hitting and kicking children, making them hit each other, spraying children in the face with cleaning solution and more while working at the day care, according to an Oct. 11 news release from the Justice Department.

The former workers and day care center director were charged in a 30-count indictment. Flynn and Fritz face 18 counts of first-degree child cruelty, six counts of second-degree child cruelty, three counts of simple battery, and one count of failing to report suspected child abuse.

The former director, Latona Lambert, 51, of Florida faces one count of failing to report suspected child abuse, according to the Justice Department.

Information about the womens legal representation was not immediately available.

While the indictment does not specify the ages of the children subjected to abuse, Robins Air Force Base provides child care services to children up to 12 years old, according to its website.

The Air Force base said in a statement to McClatchy News that properly caring for our Airmen and their families is of utmost importance.

Our Airmen should have confidence in the care provided at our Child Development Center, the statement added. We are fully supporting the ongoing investigation and reviewing processes to ensure the appropriate measures are in place to safeguard our children.

The fights

During at least a dozen separate occasions, Flynn and Fritz caused pairs and groups of children to fight, hit and hurt each other in early 2021, the indictment states.

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The two women were ultimately removed from the day care classroom and ended up resigning, the base told McClatchy News. Additionally, Lambert was removed from her position as director.

In some cases during the fights, Flynn and Fritz are accused of grabbing the hands of children involved, and physically forcing them to strike each other in the face, according to the indictment.

One child, specified as Minor Victim 5, was involved in several of the forced fights, investigators say. This childs legs and wrists were seized by Flynn and Fritz, who had them kick and strike other children, according to the indictment.

Other allegations

On one occasion, Flynn and Fritz pushed a child to the ground, resulting in them hitting their face on a hard item, investigators say.

When the child cried as a result, they were forced into a small enclosure as punishment, the indictment says.

During a separate instance, this same child, specified as Minor Victim 3, was forced to fight another child before the women sprayed a cleaning liquid in their face, according to investigators.

Flynn and Fritz also sprayed other children in the head and face with a cleaning solution, the indictment says.

Other allegations of abuse include how Flynn and Fritz lifted a cot with a sleeping child on it, resulting in the child falling to the ground, the release states. Theyre also accused of shaking a child while threatening to hit them, kicking a child, stepping on a childs leg, hitting a child in the head with a book and more, prosecutors say.

Parents and guardians of children who were under the care of the defendants and have concerns about their child are encouraged to contact the Robins Air Force Base Family Advocacy Program at 478-327-8398 during regular business hours, the release states.

If convicted, Flynn and Fritz face years in prison for the varying counts against them, according to the release. Lambert faces a maximum of one year in prison if convicted on the count of failing to report suspected child abuse, prosecutors say.

The U.S. Attorneys Office for the Middle District of Georgia is involved in the cases prosecution. The allegations of abuse are being investigated by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations and Air Force Security Forces alongside the FBI, the release says.

Robins Air Force Base is about 20 miles south of Macon.

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Rachael Gasparini was shot at her Daytona Beach apartment complex on Sept. 18, 2020. She was taken to the hospital, where she later died.

A defense attorney for a man accused in the killing of an 18-year-old woman questioned why the victim's boyfriend, who was dealing drugs at the time, was not arrested, arguing that he put her in the perilous situation.

Jaquez D. Head, 23, is on trial charged with first-degree felony murder and robbery with a firearm in the death of Rachael Gasparini, 18.

Along with Head, Armonta Waters, 22, and Jordan Graham, 20, have been indicted on charges of first-degree murder and robbery with a firearm in her death. The three men face life in prison if convicted.

Girlfriend killed: Man on trial in killing of 18-year-old Daytona Beach woman during alleged drug rip-off

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Another arrest: 3rd man arrested in woman's fatal shooting at Daytona Beach apartment complex, 1 at large

A fourth man, Kimba Kimble, 23, was charged with third-degree felony murder with a firearm. Kimble did not enter the apartment; he remained in the car, according to prosecutors.

All four are all being held at the Volusia County Branch Jail. Head is on trial before Circuit Judge Leah Case at the S. James Foxman Justice Center. Head declined to testify in his trial.

The men drove down from Georgia in a borrowed Toyota Scion on Sept. 18, 2020, to rob Kevin Berry, prosecutors said.

Berry, 21, was dealing drugs out of a ground-floor apartment he shared with Gasparini at the Eagle Point Apartments, 468 Brentwood Drive in Daytona Beach.

Head was supposed to be the muscle in the robbery, Assistant State Attorney Andrew Urbanak, who is prosecuting the case along with Assistant State Attorney Boone Forkner.

Head seemed well-suited to be the muscle; he stood 6 feet, 2 inches tall and at the time weighed 170 pounds. Berry was much smaller at 5 feet, 6 inches tall and at the time weighed about 120 pounds. But he turned out to be a challenge for Head to subdue. Head put Berry in a choke hold only for Berry to break free and continue to struggle, according to testimony.

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Berry testified that he yelled at Gasparini, who was in their bedroom, to get his gun.

She stepped out of the bedroom without the gun and Graham shot her, prosecutors said.

Jaquez Head was found guilty in the killing of an 18-year-old Daytona Beach woman during an attempted drug rip-off.

The three men then fled, jumping in the waiting Scion and speeding away. Berry checked on Gasparini and then got his AR-15. He fired at the fleeing car, striking it multiple times, but no one was hit. Police investigators found about 22 bullet casings fired from the AR-15.

Gasparini was taken to Halifax Health Medical Center where she died later that day.

Volusia County Medical Examiner James Fulcher testified on Wednesday that Gasparini was grazed by one bullet that did not penetrate her body. But a second bullet entered her lower left back above the beltline and traveled upward exiting at her right chest and then going through her right arm, Fulcher said.

The bullet damaged her intestines, her pancreas, liver, stomach and tore her abdominal aorta, a large vessel which carries a lot of blood.

Fulcher said Gasparini bled internally, losing about a quarter of her blood volume.

Defense attorney asks detective why he didn't arrest Jaquez Head: 'You gave a pass'

Under questioning by Urbanak, Daytona Beach Police Detective Sgt. Dave Dinardi testified that Berry had been cooperative and forthcoming with police in the investigation and had agreed to a forensic download of his cellphone.

Dinardi said police made no promise to Berry that if he cooperated, he would not be charged. Dinardi said Berry helped to identify two of the people arrested in the case.

Berry testified on Tuesday that he was no longer dealing drugs.

Heads defense attorney, Philip Massa, questioned Dinardi about the decision not to charge Berry with a crime.

Dinardi testified that police found about 64 ounces of marijuana and about $7,500 in Berrys apartment.

Kevin Berry was the boyfriend of Rachael Gasparini. Gasparini was fatally shot by a man who was part of a group robbing Berry of drugs, prosecutors said.

So you are aware that Mr. Berry was selling marijuana at his apartment and is that a crime in the state of Florida, Massa asked.

Yes sir, Dinardi said.

Massa also asked whether it was a crime to fire a gun in public as Berry did at the Toyota. Dinardi said it was a crime.

Massa asked Dinardi why Berry was not arrested.

Dinardi responded that the police department along with the State Attorneys Office decided not to charge Berry and instead to focus on Gasparinis murder.

You gave him a pass because his girlfriend was killed, Massa said.

Like I said, we chose not to arrest, Dinardi said.

You gave a pass. You knew he committed those crimes, correct? Massa said.

"Yes, sir, Dinardi said.

And you gave a pass because his girlfriend was killed in the apartment, Massa said.

The decision was made not to arrest him, Dinardi said.

OK, well, thats a pass. Alright, moving on, Massa said.

Massa then asked how Gasparini came into the room where she was shot.

Mr. Head had attacked Mr. Berry, and I believe Mr. Berry called out to Miss Gasparini, Dinardi said.

Right, bring the gun, bae, did he tell you that? Massa said.

Dinardi said there was no indication that Gasparini ever possessed a firearm.

So now Berry's getting a pass or not getting arrested, because he brings his girlfriend into a dangerous situation and gets her shot, correct? Massa asked.

Hes not, I mean he didnt get her shot. She was shot unfortunately, Dinardi said.

He put her in a situation where she got shot, correct, Massa said.

Yes, they were, she was in a situation where she got shot, Dinardi said.

Later, Urbanak referred to Massas question about Berry putting Gasparini in a situation where she got shot.

Let me ask you this detective, Urbanak said. If these four men hadnt come down from Valdosta, Georgia, intending to rob Mr. Berry, would Rachael Gasparini still be alive.

Yes, she would, Dinardi said.

The trial continues Thursday.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona Beach murder trial continues for man charged in teen's death
D.C. Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice Chris Geldart has resigned after he was charged with assault and battery earlier this month.

Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) made the announcement in an unscheduled press conference on Wednesday, where she applauded Geldarts years-long tenure in D.C.s government in multiple roles.

Im saddened to say that I have accepted the resignation of Deputy Mayor Chris Geldart, but I am proud of the work that we have done together over the last eight years, and I am immensely grateful to Chris for his service to the city, Bowser said. Chris has been a very capable and effective public servant.

Geldart earlier this month was accused of assaulting a man outside of a Golds Gym in Arlington, Va., according to police.

Geldart allegedly grabbed the man by the throat during an argument after striking the mans car, and the deputy mayor was subsequently placed on leave.

His departure was first reported by NBC Washington.

Geldart also came under criticism after a police summary of the incident indicated he lived in Falls Church, Va., located in Washingtons suburbs.

D.C. law requires high-level officials to become city residents. The citys records show Geldart is registered to vote at a 12th-floor apartment in Southeast D.C.

We certainly wish Chris well  that said, we both agree that the focus should be on the big issues affecting D.C., Bowser said on Wednesday, touting his involvement in the citys response to the pandemic and a blizzard in 2016.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Dearborn Public Schools announced Wednesday it will ban all posters and signs from a reconvened board meeting planned for Thursday night. The move comes after hundreds of protesters, some of whom had signs expressing anti-LGBTQ views, shut down a schools board meeting Monday night.

"Please note no posters or signs will be allowed," the schools district said in a statement released Wednesday. The district also announced a new location for the 7 p.m. Thursday meeting, Stout Middle School, not Fordson High as previously announced.

Community members hold signs protesting against some LGBT-oriencted educational material inside the Dearborn Schools Administrative Service Center during a Dearborn Board of Education meeting on Monday, Oct. 10, 2022.

The district also sought to explain what transpired Monday, when angry groups of protesters chanted "Vote them out" and forced board members to walk out. Police urged them to cancel the meeting because of the unruly protesters, the district said. Not until Dearborn Police Chief Issa Shahin arrived and spoke did the crowd settle down.

"Trustees eventually opted to recess until order was restored," the district said in its statement Wednesday. "However, the crowd refused to settle or disperse, so at the urging of the Dearborn Police Department, trustees decided to suspend the meeting for that night."

Some of the posters and signs included homophobic and derogatory remarks toward gay people in English and Arabic, using Christian and Islamic references. Before the start of the 7 p.m. meeting Monday, there was a line of people holding anti-gay signs attached to sticks and poles. After the start of the meeting, some held high their signs as the crowd surged forward and took over the meeting.

The district said the crowd ignored requests for people to leave the meeting unless they were approved speakers because of fire codes. The room was tightly packed with an overflow room also filled with people.

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"Despite the large crowd on Monday, the regular board meeting initially proceeded in an orderly fashion," the district said Wednesday. "Some of those who came for the meeting used overflow rooms set up to accommodate the large crowd. However, after about 80 minutes, when the time came to begin public comments, many of the hundreds of people in attendance began yelling about the three-minute time restriction and the request that many of those not planning to submit public comments leave the packed room to bring it back within the fire code limits."

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Most in attendance were there to talk about LGBTQ-oriented books and educational materials, but the board had other business to discuss. The protesters were angry with books they said clash with their religious beliefs. Muslim leaders urged people to voice their disapproval.

Some of the protesters insist they're not homophobic, but are opposed to materials they said are too explicit for children. Others are openly homophobic, saying LGBTQ culture doesn't belong in the classroom.

Some protesters wondered why the board didn't ask people to clear out the room before the start of the meeting instead of waiting until right before the public comment section.

"They disrespected us," said Hassan Aoun, who led the crowd in chants of "Vote them out."

Hassan Aoun, a Dearborn resident and community activist, talks with community members during the Dearborn Board of Education meeting Oct. 10, 2022.

The intense meeting drew national attention, with several conservative websites featuring it as a positive example of Muslims fighting back against liberal culture. Some Republican political candidates attended the protests Monday to show their support. Steven Elliott, the Republican congressional nominee for the 12th district, which includes Dearborn, attended the protest, posting a selfie on Twitter, writing: "I am proud to have stood with parents in Dearborn against their woke School Board."

The district said that after discussions with Dearborn Police, it changed the site from Fordson High to Stout Middle School because it has more parking space, and because of scheduling conflicts and safety concerns.

"Attendance in the auditorium will be limited to 600 people," the district said. "Some overflow seating will also be available in the school gymnasium and cafeteria near the auditorium."

Contact Niraj Warikoo: nwarikoo@freepress.com or Twitter @nwarikoo.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Dearborn Schools bans posters and signs at next board meeting
Liz Mathis, a Democrat who is seeking to represent the Iowa's 2nd Congressional District, said this week that defining a woman is a "tough question" and suggested that the only way to change controversial policies in a particular school district in the state is to vote for different board members.

The remarks from Mathis came Monday during a meet and greet at the Waterloo, Iowa, Rotary Club, where she took questions from those in attendance on a number of subjects, including gender and education.

Asked about the instance when then Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson was asked to define a woman and could not because she is "not a biologist," Mathis said: "The Supreme Court confirmation process is very thorough, so they had to ask questions like that to a Supreme Court justice."

"I'm glad that she answered that question," she added. "That's a tough question."

IOWA DEM LIZ MATHIS USED OFFICIAL POSITION TO HELP CLIENTS OF HUSBAND'S MARKETING FIRM

Mathis also provided her thoughts on the current education system in America and insisted that policies at the Linn-Mar Community School District in Iowa  which allow the school to assist students as young as seventh grade with a "gender support plan" and aid with the students gender transition  can only be changed by electing new board members to represent parental voices in the district.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

"Parents can always go to teachers and ask questions. They can always go to the principal and the superintendent of schools to ask questions," Mathis claimed, proceeding to defend the current policies in the district. "We know the policy of Linn-Mar schools that the school board passed is aligned with the code in Iowa law. It's about reducing discrimination, or eliminating discrimination and harassment for children."

Refusing to denounce the school district's policies, Mathis, who currently serves as a state senator in Iowa, told the crowd, "You have an opportunity in all of your schools to vote for a school board member and that's what we should be concentrating on voting the people in that you feel will do the best for our children."

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LIZ MATHIS CLAIMED FOR A DECADE TO CO-OWN A FAMILY BUSINESS,' BUT THE BIZ SAYS OTHERWISE

"We've lost sight of children being at the center of all of this," she added. "They need to be learning."

"We've lost sight of children being at the center of all of this," congressional candidate Liz Mathis said of school policies.

The Linn-Mar Community School District's policy related to gender has drawn scrutiny from several parents whose children attend school in the area.

As previously reported, parents in the Linn-Mar Community School District do not have to be informed of the existence of the "gender support plan," and in some cases, it may be hidden from them. Through the plan, the school can direct all staff and students to address the student by a new name and pronoun and allow the student to participate in physical education classes, sports and other activities that correspond with the students preferred gender.

The school district, which includes a northern portion of Marion, Iowa, an area in Cedar Rapids, was faced with a lawsuit from the parents' rights organization Parents Defending Education in August.

The policy also states that the "district shall not disclose information that may reveal a students transgender status to others including but not limited to other students, parents, and school staff," and directs school staff to check with students about which pronoun the staff should use when communicating with a students parents.

Liz Mathis, right, announced in July 2021 that she was challenging freshman Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, for her congressional seat.

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In addition, the policy notes that written records pertaining to a students gender identity or gender transition will be kept in a "temporary file," accessible only to those given access by the student. Under the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), parents are entitled to receive their childrens permanent files.

Mathis will face off in the state's Nov. 8 election against incumbent GOP Rep. Ashley Hinson.

Fox News' Kelsey Koberg contributed to this report.
Workers at more than three dozen Volusia County stores are facing legal troubles after they allegedly sold alcohol and tobacco to people under 21.

Over the course of a month, investigators said they sent underage people into 64 gas stations and stores throughout the county.

READ: Disaster recovery center to open in Volusia County

More than half the time, that undercover buyer walked out with either alcohol, vapes or cigarettes, the Volusia County Sheriffs Office said.

In all, 39 clerks, managers and store owners were given notices to appear in court.

READ: Biketoberfest to rev up this week despite damage to many Daytona Beach hotels

According to VCSO, workers at these businesses sold to an undercover, underage buyer:

1. RaceTrac Gas Station (1521 U.S. Highway 1, Ormond Beach) - Sold (1) 24 oz Twisted Tea

2. Exxon Gas Station (1622 U.S. Highway 1, Ormond Beach) - Sold (1) 24 oz Twisted Tea

3. Sunoco Gas Station (1546 W. Granada Boulevard, Ormond Beach) - Sold (1) 16 oz Mikes Hard Lemonade

4. Js Discount Beverage (595 Beville Road, South Daytona) - Sold (1) 24 oz Twisted Tea

5. Stream Smoke and Vape (933 Beville Road, Unit A101, South Daytona) - Sold (1) pack of Strawberry flavored Swisher Sweets

6. Just Relax Smoke and Vape Shop (1780 S. Nova Road, Unit 2, South Daytona) - Sold (1) pack of classic flavored Swisher Sweets

7. Circle K Gas Station (4622 S. Clyde Morris Boulevard, Port Orange) - Sold (1) 50ml bottle of Fireball

8. Circle K Gas Station (3664 S. Nova Road, Port Orange) - Sold (1) 16 oz Screwdriver Cocktail

9. Oak Hill Food Mart (100 E. Ariel Road, Oak Hill) - Sold (1) 24oz Corona Extra

10. Shell Gas Station (3300 S. Ridgewood Avenue, Edgewater) - Sold a 4-pack of lemon flavored High Noon Seltzers

11. Edgewater Sunoco (2340 S. Ridgewood Avenue, Edgewater) - Sold a 6-pack of White Claw Seltzers and (1) bubble gum flavored Fume Vape

12. Macs Smoke n Vape Shop (2120 S. Ridgewood Avenue, Edgewater) - Sold (1) Kang Vape orange soda flavor Onee Stick

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13. Shell Gas Station (603 W. Indian River Boulevard, Edgewater) - Sold a 4-pack of Natty Daddys 8% Alcoholic Beverages

14. Circle K / Mobil Gas Station (807 W. Indian River Boulevard, Edgewater) - Sold (1) 24 oz Twisted Tea Blackberry

15. Magic Mart Gas Station (410 S. Ridgewood Avenue, Edgewater) - Sold (1) 25 oz Bud Light Black Cherry Seltzer

16. Citgo Outpost Majestic (1950 West Park Avenue, Edgewater) - Sold (1) 24 oz Twisted Tea Peach and (1) pack Black and Mild

17. Canal Street Food Mart (600 Canal Street, New Smyrna Beach) - Sold (1) 11.2 oz Smirnoff Ice

18. AK Food Store (727 Canal Street, New Smyrna Beach) - Sold (1) 16 oz Busch Beer and (2) packs Banana Smash Swisher Sweets

19. Circle K / Exxon Gas Station (2600 N. Dixie Freeway, New Smyrna Beach) - Sold (1) 16 oz Busch Light

20. Shell (885 S. Volusia Avenue, Orange City) - Sold (1) 24 oz Twisted Tea Peach and (2) packs White Owl peach cigarillos

21. Chevron (150 N. Volusia Avenue, Orange City) - Sold (1) 24 oz Twisted Tea Peach and (1) pack of White Owl peach cigarillos

READ: Deputies: Grandfather charged with child neglect after toddler left in rental car

22. R and A Mart (1040 S. Woodland Boulevard, DeLand) - Sold (1) 24 oz Twisted Tea Peach and (2) packs of White Owl cigarillos

23. Friendly Way (901 S. Florida Avenue, DeLand) - Sold (1) 24 oz Twisted Tea half and half and (2) packs of White Owl peach cigarillos

24. Family Food Mart (701 W. New York Avenue, DeLand) - Sold (1) Fume extra mint vape pen

25. Shell (2201 N. Woodland Boulevard, DeLand) - Sold (2) packs of White Owl grape cigarillos

26. JJs Grocery (103 S. Volusia Avenue, Pierson) - Sold (1) 24 oz Twisted Tea and (1) pack of White Owl grape cigarillos

27. Mobil (239 N. Center Street, Pierson) - Sold (1) 24 oz Twisted Tea peach

28. Deltona Discount Market (785 Deltona Boulevard, Deltona) - Sold (2) packs White Owl peach cigarillos

29. Dizzy Ds Bar & Liquor Store (1200 Deltona Boulevard, Deltona) - Sold (1) Twisted Tea

30. Circle K (815 Deltona Boulevard, Deltona) - Sold (1) Twisted Tea

31. Deltona Express Mart (1199 E. Normandy Boulevard, Deltona) - Sold (1) pack White Owl peach cigarillos

32. Discount Liquor (2748 Elkcam Boulevard, Deltona) - Sold (1) pack White Owl cigarillos

33. Sams Discount Market (767 Fort Smith Boulevard, Deltona) - Sold (1) Twisted Tea and (1) pack White Owl peach cigarillos

34. Familia Mini Market (271 Fort Smith Boulevard, Deltona) - Sold (1) Twisted Tea and (1) pack White Owl pineapple cigarillos

35. Circle K (320 State Road 415, Osteen) - Sold (1) Twisted Tea and (1) pack White Owl peach cigarillos

36. Lil Sammys Food Mart (600 S. Charles R. Beall Boulevard, DeBary) - Sold (1) Twisted Tea and (1) pack White Owl peach cigarillos

37. Vape Shop/Smokeless America (98 S. Charles R. Beall Boulevard, DeBary) - Sold (1) tobacco vape

38. DeBary Food Mart (1 S. Charles R. Beall Boulevard, DeBary) - Sold (1) Twisted Tea and (1) pack White Owl peach cigarillos

39. DeBary Express (14 S. Charles R. Beall Boulevard, DeBary) - Sold (1) Twisted Tea peach

Last October, Florida implemented a new law that raised the minimum age to purchase tobacco and nicotine products to 21.

VCSO said the undercover operation was a joint effort between the East and West Volusia Narcotics Task Forces and Deltona Narcotics Enforcement Team.

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.
Vladimir Putin called-up reservists to fight the war in Ukraine last month (AP)

In a desperate bid to avoid being called up to fight in Ukraine, more than 20 Russians sailed in yachts from North Pacific ports to South Korea, but most have been refused entry, according to reports.

Hundreds of thousands of Russians are reported to have fled their homeland since Vladimir Putin ordered a military mobilisation last month in the face of losses on the frontline of his invasion.

Russians trying to avoid the draft have mostly crossed over to neighbouring countries such as Finland, Georgia and Kazakhstan.

This might be the most imaginative way anyone has tried to flee though.

South Korean broadcaster KBS has reported that at least 21 Russians arrived on yachts to ports in the south of the country on Tuesday.

Only two were granted entry, while others were refused as authorities deemed their purpose ambiguous.

KBS reported that three yachts had docked in the southeastern port city of Pohang over the past several days, mostly carrying Russian men in their 20s or 30s.

One of the yachts had nine Russian men and one woman aboard, while a smaller vessel had four men aboard, it said. An official at Pohangs coast guard declined to comment.

A coastguard official told Reuters that a yacht carrying five Russian men departed on Tuesday from the South Korean island of Ulleung, having arrived there on 30 September after sailing from the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok.

The official said the yacht was taking cover from bad weather and the people aboard had received food and other aid, but he declined to specify why they were not allowed into the country.

A justice ministry official said he did not have details about the yacht cases, but Russians are in general allowed to enter the country without a visa as long as they obtain prior approval via South Koreas electronic travel authorisation system.

Russian media have estimated that 700,000 people have fled since mobilisation was announced on 21 September.

The Kremlin denies this but has not provided its own figure.

Russias defence ministry said 200,000 reservists had been conscripted by last week.
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STORY: A sight now all too familiar in Haiti:Anti-government protests, descending into the looting of stores rocks thrown at police who respond by firing tear gas.Port-au-Prince was engulfed in another day of protests on Monday.This time against the US and Canada sending military gear  such as armoured vehicles - to Haitian law enforcement last week, to help it combat local gangs.Some demonstrators waved Russian flags, in an apparent act of rejecting western foreign powers.No to the Canadians, no to the Americans. You are monsters, you don't have solutions. You are chaos.You are behind the gangsterization of crime. You are giving arms to our brothers and those who are in underprivileged neighbourhoods.On Monday, the US and Mexico proposed deploying a security mission to restore order in Haiti amid a worsening humanitarian crisis.Also put forward was a sanctions regime that would target anyone who threatened the peace in Haiti.These moves are aimed at breaking the chokehold local gangs have over Haitis fuel supply.Gangs have blockaded Haitis main fuel port for nearly a month, halting transport and leaving many Haitians without food or clean water amid an outbreak of cholera.The UN says more than 4 million Haitians now face acute food insecurity, as looting and gang shootouts becoming increasingly common.At a UN Security Council meeting, Chinese and Russian representatives rejected the idea of a security mission, saying Haitian leaders have openly opposed foreign intervention.A UN peacekeeping mission known as MINUSTAH, which operated in Haiti between 2004 and 2017, faced harsh criticism from its role handling a cholera outbreak in 2010, to allegations of sexual abuse.
Detroit Police Chief James White had a choice to make.

He could shield his department from scrutiny and keep from public view body camera footage of five officers firing 38 rounds at 20-year-old Porter Burks in three seconds, killing him Oct. 2. He was hit as many as 15 times. That would align with his department's practice of not releasing footage early in an investigation, White said two days after the killing.

Or, White could release the video, in the interest of transparency. And that's what he decided to do  albeit only portions of the footage from the vantage point of a crisis intervention officer.

More:Detroit police release footage of officers fatally shooting Porter Burks

Community members were already in an uproar over the killing of Burks, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia and was experiencing a mental health crisis while holding a knife when he was shot to death. That anger didn't subside after the footage was released.

The footage has raised more questions about what Detroit's crisis intervention team is, how police are trained to respond to a mental health crisis and why Porter was killed even with de-escalation protocols in place.

Michelle Wilson, aunt of Porter Burks, left, hugs Burks' distraught mother Quieauna Wilson Oct. 4, 2022 at Detroit Public Safety Headquarters before a Detroit Police Department press conference on the fatal Oct. 2 shooting of Burks, who was experiencing a mental health crisis.

'He wasn't no monster'

"I thought it was a wild, wild, west shootout, like Clint Eastwood movies," said protester Moe X, 61, who attended a small demonstration outside the Detroit Public Safety Headquarters on Monday.

The demonstration was organized by the National Action Network's Detroit chapter, which demanded White release the names of the officers involved in the killing, and fire them.

"I know they have de-escalation training, for sure. But how are you trying to de-escalate, and then you turn around and shoot 38 times? (Burks) didn't put the knife down, and then 'pow, pow!' All five of them opened up to shoot that many bullets," X said.

"He wasn't Jason, he wasn't Freddy Krueger, he wasn't no monster. How you shoot a human being like that?"

White said fatal force is never the desired outcome, but his officers had minimal time to "stop the threat" after they perceived Burks to be lunging toward them with a knife.

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Malik Shabazz, an activist who organizes to fight gun violence in the city and often supports police initiatives, was shocked by the video.

"I give the officers credit for initially trying to de-escalate the situation. They were trying to communicate. Then all of the sudden it went helter-skelter. It's ridiculous. It's outrageous. I don't understand," Shabazz said.

And Burks' family and their lawyer, Geoffrey Fieger, have also questioned the department's crisis intervention training. Fieger repeatedly called the killing an "execution" by a "firing squad" and said "if thats crisis intervention, God help us all."

Geoffrey Fieger speaks in front of media members as Porter Burks' mother, Quieauna Wilson sits next to Fieger during a press conference inside Fieger Law in Southfield on Oct. 6, 2022.

Detroit's Crisis Intervention Team was implemented in October 2020 and is modeled after the international Crisis Intervention Team program. It's a partnership between local law enforcement, the Detroit-Wayne Integrated Health Network, mental health and addiction professionals, those who experience mental illness or addiction and their advocates.

The Detroit Free Press requested training materials to help explain to the public how Detroit officers are trained to respond to someone experiencing a mental health crisis who may be wielding a weapon, such as a knife. The Detroit-Wayne Integrated Health Network, which provides the training, has not provided those training materials. Detroit police provided a syllabus of trainings.

Here is what we do know:

What does the Crisis Intervention Team do?

The Detroit-Wayne Crisis Intervention Team, according to its website:

Is police-based crisis intervention consisting of officers who are trained to help those experiencing mental illness or addiction and help provide them resources, "rather than place them in the criminal justice system."

Promotes safety for officers and those the officers encounter.

Capt. Tonya Leonard-Gilbert, who heads CIT training for Detroit police, said CIT officers receive 40 hours of CIT training, in addition to the eight hours of mental health first aid training all officers are required to receive in the department.

In certain precincts  the 4th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 12th and Downtown Services  a co-response vehicle consisting of two CIT-trained officers and a behavioral health specialist respond to nonviolent, mental health calls, Leonard-Gilbert said.

Burks' incident was in the 2nd Precinct. Leonard-Gilbert said the co-response team would not have been the primary unit to respond because Burks had a knife, but would have been a secondary unit.

Chris Graveline, Detroit Police director of professional standards and constitutional policies, left, joins Detroit Police Chief James White during a press conference Oct. 4, 2022, at Detroit Public Safety Headquarters regarding the fatal Oct. shooting of Porter Burks.

Leonard-Gilbert said the CIT program was in the works prior to 2020, and that the large volume of calls for mental health services arising at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic hastened the program's launch.

Detroit police hope to expand the co-response portion of the program to all 12 precincts by the end of 2022.

"There's a mental health crisis nationwide," Leonard-Gilbert. "This is just one more thing, one more way that we engage the community to help provide the services and resources. We're trying to make sure that everyone is OK."

According to the syllabus provided by Detroit police, CIT officers are trained in:

Basic crisis intervention.

Verbal de-escalation.

Trauma-informed policing.

Mental health awareness.

Cultural considerations.

Implicit bias.

Officers also play out intermediate and advanced crisis scenarios. When asked if police might play out a scenario similar to what Burks had been going through, Leonard-Gilbert deferred the question to the Detroit-Wayne Integrated Health System. The health system has not responded.

Does crisis intervention work?

The Detroit Police Department says yes. Officers have produced numerous safe outcomes with mentally ill and armed individuals using crisis intervention training that don't make the news, the department wrote in a statement last week.

Community activists who remember the Detroit police killings of Nakita Williams in 2021 and Darrien Walker in 2020, both of whom were believed to have been struggling with mental illness, are unsatisfied. Williams was holding an airsoft gun, Walker was holding a sword and dagger.

"The selective video released by James White does not show DPD use non-lethal means before shooting Porter," the racial justice organization Detroit Will Breathe wrote in a statement. "What it does show is DPD's willingness to use lethal force when responding to a routine mental health call. When police are tasked with providing mental health services, tragedy is the outcome."

Violence during police calls involving mental illness is a problem nationwide.

According to a Washington Post database, as of Oct. 11, at least 7,802 people had been shot and killed by police since 2015  and among those, 1,651 were believed to have been struggling with mental illness.

In the Burks case, the video footage released is from the vantage point of a crisis intervention officer. It shows Burks, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, wandering a northwest Detroit street about 5 a.m. on Oct. 2. He had gotten his hands on a knife with a 3.5-inch blade. His brother called police for help.

The crisis intervention officer pleaded for Burks to put the knife down. He had his hand out toward Burks, per crisis intervention training, White said. And the officer said he was there to help, that Burks was not in trouble.

Burks would not put the knife down. He said he wanted to rest. And then, in a matter of seconds, five officers shot and killed Burks "to stop the threat" after Burks allegedly lunged toward the officers, White said. The video is not exactly clear. It's dark, and Burks appears to be several feet away from officers. It looks like he began to make rapid movements toward the officers. Then there were the shots, Porter's arms can be seen flailing in the air, and the video was cut short.

The Free Press showed the video to Keith Taylor, an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York and a public safety professional for 26 years.

In general, he said these types of situations take place in police departments every day, all over the country.

"It's a constant problem in our country," Taylor said. "It's really important that successful strategies be developed to save lives."

Taylor said he was not aware of the CIT training Detroit police undergo, but said the goal of that kind of training is to slow down interactions, to appeal to the individual who is in crisis and to resolve the issue without the use of force.

"I think the officers were most likely responding like they were trained to do. A supervisor on scene helping to direct the actions of the officers," he said.

"The question then becomes if the officers are doing everything they are trained to do to resolve the situation without the use of force, are there any opportunities or options to allow the officers to better handle the situation where the individual decides to attack the officers?"

But without watching all the video footage, Taylor said, that question can't be answered.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Mentally ill man killed by police: Does crisis intervention work?
Documents obtained by the Heritage Foundation following a Freedom of Information Act request are casting fresh doubts on last years whipping controversy concerning U.S. Border Patrol agents.

According to the newly released emails, Department of Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was aware the popular narrative that Border Patrol agents whipped a group of Haitian migrants was false hours before he declared the incident horrific during a White House press conference. One of Mayorkass staffers sent him an email less than three hours before the press conference relaying the account of photographer Paul Ratje, who took the viral photos and said the salacious account of what happened was false.

Ive never seen them whip anyone, Ratje said in a quote provided to Mayorkas. He [Border Patrol agent] was swinging it [reins] but it can be misconstrued when youre looking at the picture.

Rather than using the information he was provided to correct the narrative, Mayorkas perpetuated the medias misleading account of the incident by suggesting that something requiring investigation had occurred.

I want to assure you that we are addressing this with tremendous speed and tremendous force, Mayorkas said at the time. The facts will drive the action we take.

The investigation will be all-encompassing; we will not cut a single corner, he vowed.

Prominent Democrats, including President Biden himself, uncritically regurgitated the medias account of the incident.

It was horrible to see what you saw, to see people treated like they didhorses barely running them over and people being strapped, Biden said at the time. Its outrageous. I promise you those people will pay. There will be consequences. Its an embarrassment. But beyond an embarrassment its dangerous, its wrong. Similar rhetoric was echoed by Vice President Kamala Harris noting it reminded her of the times of slavery.

Speaking with National Review last year, George Syer, a retired horse patrol coordinator, noted that the conduct of the Border Patrol agents was actually standard procedure. Its a training tool, and its a training aid if a horse does not want to cooperate with its rider, Syer explained.

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Nevertheless, the agents involved were subsequently placed on administrative leave and then investigated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Although the investigation ultimately cleared them of whipping, disciplinary charges were brought against four agents for endangering migrants.

Reports suggest that Mayorkas conduct has undermined the faith of Border Patrol agents. The unraveling of the controversy and Mayorkas complicity has caused many to feel unprotected and vulnerable to shifting political winds.

Border Patrol agents are very hesitant to do their jobs knowing that they could be accused by the most powerful man in the world of a crime, Brandon Judd told Fox News late last month.

Secretary Mayorkas has yet to respond to the latest revelation.

More from National Review
Standing together: the heads of the Wildlife Trusts, National Trust and RSPB

Three UK conservation groups say all options are on the table as they challenge what they describe as a government U-turn on protecting nature.

The National Trust, RSPB and Wildlife Trusts said they could urge millions of members to take to the streets in demonstrations.

The groups' leaders said new government policy was an "attack on nature".

The government said it was improving regulations and wildlife laws "in line with our ambitious vision".

"A strong environment and a strong economy go hand-in-hand," a government spokesperson said.

Hilary McGrady, who runs the National Trust; the chief executive of the Wildlife Trusts, Craig Bennett; and Beccy Speight from the RSPB made their comments in a joint interview with the BBC.

They all heavily criticised the government over what they call its "U-turn" on Conservative manifesto promises on the environment.

Plans to scrap EU protections for nature, a relaxation of planning laws in new "investment zones", and the review of environmental farm subsidies were all cited.

It is the first time the leaders of the three groups have formed such a high-profile and outspoken coalition on an issue in this way.

The combined membership of the three organisations is eight million.

According to the RSPB, its members have sent 106,000 emails to MPs in two weeks.

The National Trust has described "the biggest attack on nature" in decades

Mrs McGrady of the National Trust said: "This is the biggest attack on nature certainly in my lifetime and let alone my career. This is unprecedented - that's why we are stepping forward with the RSPB and Wildlife Trusts.

"We choose our battles very carefully - and we don't do it very often."

Mr Bennett said: "At the Wildlife Trusts we are hearing from tens of thousands of our supporters, also from huge numbers of farmers and businesses who are also concerned. This goes right across society."

While climate action groups like Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil embrace tactics like gluing themselves to roads, members of the National Trust, RSPB and Wildlife Trusts are more often associated with hiking, bird-watching or visiting stately homes than taking direct action.

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But Mrs Speight of the RSPB and Mr Bennett said they would be prepared to organise a march in London if the government didn't provide the guarantees they were seeking.

"All options are on the table in terms of what comes next," said the RSPB head. "This is something we just can't allow to go forward. Any campaign has lots of tools in the toolbox. We have to prepare to use as many of those tools as will be effective."

Mrs McGrady stopped short of saying she would call out her members, but did not rule it out. She said: "We will do what the most effective thing is to do."

She also added a warning: "At some point we will run out of patience."

Mrs McGrady said that neither she nor Mr Bennett had been invited to meet the new Environment Secretary Ranil Jayawardena, which she said was "not normal".

Other major organisations also voicing their anger include the Angling Trust, the Rivers Trust, the Woodland Trust, Wildlife and Countryside Link, along with numerous regional charities.

The National Trust has 5.9 million members around the UK

A bill passed in September means all post-Brexit laws - some 2,400 - must be reviewed or abandoned by the end of 2023. Around 570 cover aspects of the environment, from sewage pollution and pesticide use to protection for wildflower meadows and wetlands.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) officials have privately expressed concern about whether such a mountain of legislation can be examined in such a short timeframe.

Wildlife groups also fear that protected landscapes and fragile ecosystems could be at risk from government plans to set up new investment zones with lower taxes and "liberalised" planning laws.

As many as 38 local authorities are thought to be in talks with the government over setting up the zones, with the goal of releasing more land for commercial and housing developments.

The National Trust has said the plans could create "grey zones" which are "devoid of nature or historic character in which people have no say in the development that impacts them".

"All options are on the table in terms of what comes next," the head of the RSPB says

The "rapid review" of the new post-Brexit Environment Land Management Scheme (ELMS) is also provoking confusion and anger among farmers.

ELMS is designed to replace the criticised EU system, where farmers were paid based simply on how much land they had.

Instead ELMS would pay farmers for providing environmental benefits to the public, such as restoring woodland, preventing pollution from entering rivers, and working towards net zero targets.

Rural groups and farmers had contributed to its design, and many contracts for some of the larger schemes have already been drawn up.

However this has been put on hold until the results of the government review, due to be published at the end of October.

The Scottish government has described the government actions as "anti nature". Northern Ireland wildlife groups have also issued a warning over the planned changes.

Follow Claire on Twitter
Disney has pushed back the release dates for numerous films, including four huge projects.

The studio has overhauled its film schedule, with some highly anticipated films being caught up in the shuffle.

Blade fans will have to wait an additional year for the reboot starring Mahershala Ali. The film, which was scheduled for release on 3 November 2023, has been delayed to 6 September 2024.

The movement of Blade had a knock-on effect on the rest of the MCU, as reported by Variety.

Thankfully for fans, the much-anticipated third entry in the Deadpool franchise has been pushed only a few months back. Ryan Reynolds is due to reprise his red superhero suit on 8 November 2024, marginally later than its 6 September 2024 original date.

Fantastic Four has been shifted from 8 November 2024 to 14 February 2025, with a mystery untitled Marvel film delayed a few months from 14 February 2024 to 7 November 2025.

For those uninterested in comic-book adaptations, the historical drama Chevalier, which stars Kelvin Harrison Jr as the titular musician, is now slated for a theatrical release on 7 April 2023.

The movement of the Blade (left) reboot had a knock-on effect for other movies (Rex / Disney / Marvel)

Meanwhile, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is set for release on 24 May 2024.

The fantasy action film, which is a new chapter in the Planet of the Apes saga, began filming in Sydney, New South Wales.

The movie  which will be directed by The Maze Runners Wes Ball  will pick up the story many years after the events of 2017s War for the Planet of the Apes.

Previously set for 7 November 2025, Avengers: Secret Wars will now arrive at theatres on 5 May 2026.

A sequel to 2022s Death on the Nile has been scheduled for 15 September 2023. The Haunting of Venice stars Michelle Yeoh and Tina Fey in Kenneth Branaghs adaptation of Agatha Christies 1969 Hercule Poirot novel Halloween Party.

The news of Blades postponement is not surprising given the recent news that director Bassam Tariq exited the project, which has led Marvel to pause production.
Advice columnist E. Jean Carroll is pictured in New York in 2020. Seth Wenig/AP

Donald Trump must be deposed in the E. Jean Carroll rape defamation case, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Carroll has alleged that Trump raped her in Manhattan in the mid-90s.

Trump denies the rape and had asked that the deposition be delayed pending an appeal.

In a stinging decision, a federal judge in Manhattan has ordered Donald Trump to sit for a deposition next week in the 2019 defamation case brought by E. Jean Carroll, the magazine writer who has accused the former president of raping her nearly three decades ago in Manhattan.

Trump is scheduled to be deposed on October 19. He had moved to stay the deposition and Carroll's lawsuit while the DC Court of Appeals weighs if the case should be thrown out in its entirety.

In denying Trump's request for a stay, US District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan wrote that "Mr. Trump has litigated this case since it began in 2019 with the effect and probably the purpose of delaying it," including through a failed, so-called SLAPP counterclaim.

Trump, 76, and Carroll, 78, and other witnesses as well "already are of advanced age," Kaplan wrote. Trump "should not be permitted to run the clock out on [Carroll's] attempt to gain a remedy for what allegedly was a serious wrong."

The appellate efforts may well also fail, Kaplan said, writing, "Mr. Trump has not shown the requisite strong likelihood of success" that would justify a stay.

Carroll applauded the decision  and her lawyer, Roberta "Robbie" Kaplan.

"Robbie Kaplan stands 5'1 in her socks," Carroll wrote in her "Ask E. Jean" substack shortly after the decision.

"And today this giant of a woman  the best civil rights attorney in the country  struck another blow for women who dare to speak up!"

Kaplan responded by reasserting that Carroll will be suing Trump next month under a new New York law that opens up the statute of limitations on old abuse cases.

"We are pleased that Judge Kaplan agreed with our position not to stay discovery in this case," the lawyer wrote. "We look forward to filing our case under the Adult Survivors Act and moving forward to trial with all dispatch."

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Wednesday's ruling means the defamation case will move forward while the Court of Appeals continues to weigh whether Trump was acting in his official capacity as president when he publicly denied Carroll's rape accusation in 2019.

If the court find that he was acting in his official capacity  and that he is therefore immune from defamation  Carroll's case would fail.

Carroll's lawyers want to ask Trump, under oath, about the alleged mid-'90s attack in the fitting room of a Bergdorf-Goodman department store in Manhattan, they have said in court filings.

They also want to ask Trump about the public denials he made after Carroll accused him of the attack in her 2019 memoir, denials at the center of her defamation lawsuit.

The then-president issued a statement saying, "I've never met this person in my life," and that the memoir "should be sold in the fiction section."

When reporters later asked him on the White House lawn about a photo of him with Carroll, he told them, "Number one, she's not my type. Number two, it never happened."

Carroll has alleged that the two statements defamed her by branding her a liar and implying she was not attractive.

Carroll is scheduled to be deposed in the case on Friday. She has said while she did not immediately report the incident to police, she told two close friends about it at the time.

She has also kept a DNA-stained dress that she wore during the incident; her lawyers have also sought to have Trump's DNA tested for comparison.

"We look forward to establishing on the record that this case is, and always has been, entirely without merit," Trump attorney Alina Habba wrote in a statement issued in response to Kaplan's decision.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Pennsylvania voters: Don't expect to see unofficial election results on Nov. 8.

State legislators approved Act 88 earlier this year, which provided $45 million to counties for election administration and requires that they start precanvassing ballots at 7 a.m. on election day and continuously count mail ballots beginning at the close of the polls.

However, the legislation "didn't implement the one reform that would have had the biggest impact on allowing Pennsylvania to have results sooner, providing for pre-canvassing of mail-in ballots before election day," Acting Secretary of State Leigh Chapman said Tuesday.

"We anticipate this means that once again Pennsylvania will not have unofficial results on election night," she said.

Chapman's remarks came as she discussed the election administration process and what has changed since the primary. She expects that unofficial results will be available a few days after the election.

"This delay does not mean anything that nefarious is happening," she said. "It's simply means that the process is working as it's designed to work in Pennsylvania. And that election officials are doing their job to count every vote."

Elections:Four Republican PA lawmakers used mail-in ballots after signing a pledge against them

U.S. Supreme Court rules on undated ballots

On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court tossed a lower court ruling that allowed mail ballots without a date to be counted, according to Reuters.

The Pennsylvania Department of State has issued guidance to counties to count mail ballots that are missing a date or have the wrong date, Chapman said. The department will review the latest court ruling, she said Tuesday morning. and "we will evaluate and update guidance as necessary."

By the afternoon, the department issued a news release that all counties are expected to include undated ballots in their official returns. It cited that the Commonwealth Court held that both state and federal law "prohibit excluding legal votes because voters omitted an irrelevant date on the ballot return envelope."

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Todays order from the U.S. Supreme Court vacating the Third Circuits decision on mootness grounds was not based on the merits of the issue and does not affect the prior decision of Commonwealth Court in any way," Chapman said in the news release. "It provides no justification for counties to exclude ballots based on a minor omission, and we expect that counties will continue to comply with their obligation to count all legal votes.

The Department of State issues newer guidance to counties based on legislative changes, relevant court decisions and requests from counties for process or procedural clarification.

'A heartbeat away': 3 reasons the Pa. lieutenant governor race matters

All counties to participate in 'gold standard' audit this fall

All 67 counties in the state will participate in a post-election, pre-certification risk-limiting audit for the Nov. 8 election, Chapman said. She described them as the "gold standard" of audits.

It is in addition to a 2% statistical audit that counties are required by perform.

The risk-limiting audit "is a scientifically-designed procedure that uses statistical methods to confirm the outcome of the election," Chapman said.

Get the latest on the mail ballots

Wondering how many voters have applied for a no excuse mail ballot or absentee ballot? Curious how many have been returned so far?

That information is available on the Department of State's website, www.vote.pa.gov, and it will be updated daily around noon.

It provides a total for the state as well as a breakdown by county and by party.

As of Tuesday, a total of 1,136,685 mail-in and absentee ballots have been requested, Chapman said. Of that total, 821,181 are Democratic and 213,204 are Republican.

A total of 52,522 mail ballots have been returned so far.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Election 2022: Why unofficial results are not expected on Nov. 8
Sen. Dick Durbin said Wednesday he would advise President Biden that Saudi Arabia cannot be trusted and told reporters the president's previous efforts to reach out to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman "didn't work."

In July, Biden received widespread and bipartisan criticism for stopping to fist bump the leader who has been associated with human rights abuses.

"I mean, it's kind of natural, you don't just meet with your friends who occasionally meet with those that are not your friends," the Illinois Democrat said on Capitol Hill. "He tried his best to reach out to him, and it didn't work. And I think he's having second thoughts about our relationship, and I certainly am too."

Earlier this month, Biden said an announcement by the oil-rich country and its fellow OPEC+ members, including Russia, to cut oil production was a "disappointment" and that it says "there are problems" in the United States' relationship with Saudi Arabia.

DEM LAWMAKERS PUSH FOR PAUSE ON SAUDI ARMS SALES AFTER OPEC+ OIL CUT, SAY RIYADH MADE 'HUMONGOUS BLUNDER'

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill Sept. 15, 2022, after a closed-door briefing about increasing threats to law enforcement following the FBI's search at Mar-a-Lago.

The Saudi- and Russian-led cuts help prop up high oil prices that are allowing President Vladimir Putin to keep paying for his eight-month invasion of Ukraine.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

In addition, the cuts hurt U.S.-led efforts to make the war financially unsustainable for Russia, threatens a global economy already destabilized by the Ukraine conflict and risks saddling Biden and Democrats with rising gas prices ahead of the midterm elections.

Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud told Saudi-owed Al Arabiya Tuesday that his governments justification of the production cuts was "purely economic."

In an interview Tuesday with CNN, the president said he would look to consult with Congress on what path to take going forward but stopped short of endorsing the Democratic lawmakers call to halt weapons sales.

WHITE HOUSE SAYS BIDEN BELIEVES SAUDI ARABIA HAS SIDED WITH RUSSIA AFTER OPEC+ CUT

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"Theres going to be some consequences for what theyve done with Russia," Biden said. "Im not going to get into what Id consider and what I have in mind. But there will be  there will be consequences."

Legislation has been introduced that would immediately pause all U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia for one year, and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez pledged to use his position to block any future arms sales to the Saudis.

John Kirby, a White House National Security Council spokesman, said the New Jersey Democrat did not warn the White House before announcing his intention to block future sales.

Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., speaks during a press conference following a Senate Democratic luncheon at the U.S. Capitol Sept. 28, 2022, in Washington, D.C.

According to The Associated Press, the White House noted that its weapon sales to Riyadh serve, in part, as an important counterweight in the region to Iran.

Durbin said Wednesday he would counsel Biden that "we've all learned a lesson from Saudi Arabia in the last week or so, so they cannot be trusted themselves." Durbin pointed out he feels leaders there have "decided their future's with Vladimir Putin."

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Echoing previous tweets, he called that strategy "malevolent" and "purely driven by greed," adding that Saudi Arabia's leadership has "basically said they're against people fighting for their lives in Ukraine."

"They're for Vladimir Putin. We can't have a world that is driven by Vladimir Putin's agenda. And, the Saudis are prepared to accept that if it means more profits for the royals," Durbin said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A red fox is captured looking straight at the camera

Scientists are appealing for help to collect camera trap images of mammals in a bid to build a better picture of their habits and behaviours.

Durham University founded the MammalWeb network nine years ago, setting up hidden cameras across the North East.

The project gathers data across the UK but wants to expand with help from people with camera traps.

It is hoped it could enhance understanding of how wildlife is coping with challenges such as climate change.

Concealed cameras capture images without disturbing wildlife

Footage captured by the university's "citizen scientists" from 2,500 sites across the country will be used to assist conservation work.

Prof Phil Stephens, co-founder of MammalWeb, from the university's department of biosciences, said: "We need to build a greater understanding of how climate change and events such as the droughts we experienced in the UK this summer will impact upon mammal distribution and behaviour."

A bevy of otters look startled to have been caught on camera

Using camera traps, which take pictures of passing animals, volunteers have captured 440,000 images and videos.

Non-native UK species such as muntjac deer, fallow deer, grey squirrels, brown hares and rabbits have been caught on camera - as well as native UK species including red squirrels, badgers, otters, foxes, stoats, wild boar and pine martens.

Both North and South American members of the raccoon family which have the "potential to cause trouble for native wildlife" have also been snapped.

Dr Pen-Yuan Hsing, also a co-founder of the project, said there were "thousands of people and organisations" capturing data on mammals via camera traps.

Dr Hsing added: "By getting involved, people can really make a difference to understanding and protecting the future of these amazing animals, which are integral to the biodiversity that we all intimately depend on."

Follow BBC North East & Cumbria on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to northeastandcumbria@bbc.co.uk.
New food capital of the world? (Getty/iStock)

Its Saturday and the sun is high in the sky and its lunchtime. Youre in Berlin and youve spent the morning cycling parts of the Berlin Wall, visiting the rather underwhelming Fuhrerbunker and the far more impressive Topographie des Terrors. You have nowhere you need to be, nothing you need to do.

You spot a small currywurst place and order Menu 1  currywurst with chips and a beer  and you sit at a wooden table outside with two Germans who are quite happy for you to join them. You eat the rich sausage slathered in tomato ketchup and dribbled with Worcester sauce with a sprinkling of spicy curry powder tossed on top. As you lift your beer the lady at the table says Prost and you say it back and take a nice cold sip.

Despite every sad thing thats happening in the world  and after your depressing but moving morning of sightseeing  everything feels right in your world. Everything is as it should be in that moment. Peace has been achieved. Full enlightenment. Life is some unpretentious, greasy food and a beer at an outside table in the sun.

OK, so Berlin probably isnt the first place that springs to mind when you think of a foodie city. Nor Germany in general. You know about wurst, and sauerkraut and you also know that Berlin is home to the doner kebab. So what? Is that haute cuisine? Is it a delicately slow-cooked ragu? Well, no it isnt. But eating in Berlin is wonderful and its cheap  it is not some aspirational, arty fare but an everyday thing. A beer will set you back around 5 on average but in some not so off the beaten track places as little as 3.20. Currywurst, as eaten above, costs about 7 with chips and a beer and thats at an expensive place. Trust me when I say theres a lot more to Berlin than wurst, schnitzel and white sausages.

I arrived in Berlin with two lists. One was of historic places I wanted to see, another of foods I had to eat. I stuck rigorously to the former, wandering the length of what remains of the Berlin Wall while listening to The Rest is History podcast episode about it, but I somewhat abandoned my food list once my friend, a native Berliner, steered us off-piste.

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A currywurst and beer meal sets you back 7, and thats at the expensive end of the spectrum (Sean Russell)

Sure, I could go to the traditional-but-declining eckkneipe, small corner pubs where old men gather at the counter to drink good beer and chat sports and read newspapers or I could go with Milo to Kreuzberg to where young Berliners actually drink.

After a cycle on a rickety, part-broken bike through a dark park we arrived in the so-called student area, full of little bars and places to eat. We found a dingy looking bar and ordered a couple of bottles of beer (3.20) and took them to the worn-out old sofas at the back. The place was packed with young Berliners, and I say Berliners because it seems anyone from anywhere can be a Berliner, not just Germans. People smoked inside and drank cheap beers and the whole place was far more relaxed than anywhere Id ever had a drink with people my age in London. It made me realise what a dearth of cheap, dive-like bars we have in the UK and what a shame that is. Dive bars are democratising places young people can have a long night of drinking without spending a fortune, where they can chat and smoke and not worry about whether theyll be able to afford food that week.

This place in Kreuzberg represents the new  the Berlin that is now famous for its all-welcome nightlife and clubs. But I was still desirous of the traditional. And so the next evening we went to Max und Moritz, an old Berlin ballroom of a restaurant founded in 1902 and serving proper old-style German food. It was wonderful.

Berliner eisbein: too heavy in summer, perfect in winter (Sean Russell)

I knew exactly what I was going to order: Berliner eisbein. Eisbein is pork knuckle, usually simmered to utter tenderness  soft, tasty meat served on the bone with boiled potatoes, sauerkraut and perhaps some of the nicest mustard known to man. I have just one complaint, that it was the tail-end of summer and this very much felt like a winter dish. In the depths of December, perhaps after the Christmas market and a few paper cups of gluhwein, this meal would basically have sent me into euphoria, especially eaten alongside a stein of Berliner Kindl, a delicious golden lager. I am sure I would never have wanted to leave the restaurant.

Alas, in the still-warm end of summer, it was all a bit too heavy. My fault, and teaches me about stubbornly sticking to a list regardless of environment.

Out with the old, back in with the new. Milo tells me one thing Berlin does that few people talk about it Vietnamese food  and it does it well. They tell me that a lot of Vietnamese people came over in the 1950s under the controversial Gastarbeiter programme due to East German labour shortages. Many of these communities still exist in Berlin today and thats why the pho, particularly in the small ma and pa cafes, is fantastic and should not be missed.

Braised beef with hand-stretched noodles at Wen Cheng in Schonhauser Allee (Sean Russell)

We also went to a Chinese restaurant called Wen Cheng in Schonhauser Allee for fried chicken bao buns, and braised beef with hand-stretched noodles. Was it as good as Milo said it would be? It was up there with some of the best London can offer, without the extortionate price tag. We had to queue for about 30 minutes to get in but theres a reason people are queueing and thats because its worth it.

Yes, I had a doner kebab, which was lovely enough and lacked the grease of its London cousins. Yes, I had frankfurters. Yes, I drank copious amounts of wonderful lager (better than Munichs if you ask me). No, I didnt pay much for any of it, and yes I was extremely happy there. I was at peace drifting from historic place to historic place, stopping for food and beers whenever I felt like it, sitting outside and watching the city go by. I loved how completely unpretentious it all was. It was all simply delicious, like everything was right in the world for just a moment.

Maybe Berlin isnt what you think of when it comes to foodie getaways, but it should be. The only bad thing was I had to leave.
City Councilmembers Curren Price, standing left, and Mitch O'Farrell talk to fellow Councilmembers Gil Cedillo, seated left, and Kevin de Leon at Tuesday's council meeting. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

For the record:

5:57 p.m. Oct. 12, 2022: A previous version of this editorial said L.A. County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera resigned Tuesday. He resigned Monday.



If the Los Angeles City Council members caught on a recording making racist and vicious comments about their colleagues and constituents were hoping that the uproar would blow over and they could return to their positions of power, they need to face these hard truths:

Public indignation is not dissipating; it's growing. Nury Martinez, Kevin de Leon and Gil Cedillo have lost the trust of the public, as well as the support of virtually every Democrat everywhere. Their political careers are effectively over  even President Biden said, through his press secretary, that they should step down. They are not victims. They are public servants who have gravely harmed the city and the people they are supposed to represent.

On Wednesday afternoon, Martinez, the ringleader of that conversation, finally did the right thing and stepped down. L.A. County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera, who joined the elected officials in the taped conversation at the private meeting in October 2021, resigned Monday night.

Now it's time for De Leon and Cedillo to do the same. It's clear they are no long able to do the job for which they were elected. On Tuesday, both showed up for a public meeting, but were hounded out of the council chambers by an angry crowd.

They did not show up for Wednesday's council meeting. Still, protesters forced acting council President Mitch O'Farrell to cancel the meeting with shouts of "Shut it down!" Activists have pledged to keep at it until all three council members are gone, which would grind city business to a halt.

Cedillo may think he can hide from the public for the two months left in his final term  his constituents voted in the June primary to replace him with community activist Eunisses Hernandez. De Leon has two more years in his term. Two years, even two months, is too long for any of them to avoid taking responsibility.

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It's time for them to stop stalling. There is no path forward. The huge number and diversity of people calling for their resignations is proof that they cannot effectively govern. Among them are two former L.A. City Council presidents  Mayor Eric Garcetti and U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla  and both mayoral candidates, Karen Bass and Rick Caruso. Leaders of the state Legislature's Black, LGBTQ, Jewish, AAPI, Latino and womens caucuses have also announced solidarity in seeking resignations. And groups that rarely agree on anything, including business associations, labor unions and grassroots activists groups, are now unified in calling for the resignations.

Every day that they delay is another mark against their character, as well as a sign of deep denial. They need to make the only right choice and leave now so that the city can start healing.

Updates:

2:49 p.m. Oct. 12, 2022: This editorial has been updated to reflect that Councilmember Nury Martinez resigned Wednesday afternoon.



This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
The Daily Beast

Anna MoneymakerIn her first weekend on the campaign trail in a new alliance with New Hampshire GOP Senate candidate and on-again-off-again election denier Don Bolduc, Tulsi Gabbard compared President Joe Biden to Adolf Hitler.Speaking at a Bolduc town hall event in a town outside of Manchester on Sunday, the former Hawaii congresswoman and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate stipulated that shes pretty sure both Biden and Hitler share a mindset of good intentions to justify authoritarian
Elon Musk has claimed that Twitter officials ordered the companys former executive and whistleblower Peiter Mudge Zatko to destroy evidence of the companys security flaws.

The Tesla chiefs legal team accused Twitter of making Mr Zatko destroy evidence as part of a condition of the $7.8m severance package he received, a court filing made public on Monday revealed.

Twitter negotiated a unique severance package with Mr Zatko in June 2022 that was plainly intended to procure Mr Zatkos silence and prevent him from coming forward with his whistleblower disclosures, one of Mr Musks lawyers noted in the court filing.

In addition to making a severance payment far greater than typical for other former executives, Twitter required Mr Zatko to agree, as a condition to payment, to return or destroy all documents in his possession containing Twitter information, he added.

The attorney claimed this instruction to return or destroy the documents differed from Twitters ordinary course severance agreements, adding that it has deprived the defendants of critical evidence that could support Mr Zatkos account of key meetings and conversations.

The Tesla chiefs lawyers claim the alleged destroying of evidence relevant to this case was illegal, based on the 2011 Federal Trade Commission Consent Order against Twitter, and have sought a sanction on the social media companys attorneys.

Mr Zatkos claims of security issues at Twitter have been at the centre of the Tesla titans legal battle to back out of his deal to buy the social media company for $44bn  a decision he reversed last week, offering to buy the platform for the originally agreed-on price.

But Twitter has said it fired Mr Zatko for his poor performance, adding that his claims created a false narrative about Twitter and its privacy and data security practices.

The social media giant said its former security heads allegations are riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies and lacks important context.

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Twitter did not immediately respond to The Independents request for comment.

Last week, Mr Musk offered to go through with the deal at the originally agreed price of $44bn if Twitter would agree to cease all legal proceedings against him, but the social media company did not accept the offer.

A Delaware Chancery judge has set a deadline of 5pm ET on 28 October for Mr Musk and Twitter to close the $44bn deal.
Elon Musk

Billionaire electric car magnate Elon Musk is blaming communism in elite colleges and universities for his estrangement from his transgender daughter, Vivian Jenna Wilson.

Its full-on communism ... and a general sentiment that if youre rich, youre evil, Musk told the Financial Times in an interview published Friday. It [the relationship] may change, but I have very good relationships with all the others [children]. Cant win them all. Musk did not go into further detail.

Wilson is one of six children (five living) Musk had with his first wife, model Justine Wilson. Vivian Wilson, who turned 18 in April, filed a petition in Los Angeles County Superior Court in June to adopt that name and be legally recognized as female. In the filing, she said, I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form, TMZ reported at the time. The name and gender change were granted.

Musk, CEO of Tesla, has claimed to support trans people, although he once tweeted, All these pronouns are an esthetic nightmare. He also has said he may support Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. DeSantis is known for many anti-LGBTQ+ actions, most famously signing the states dont say gay law, which restricts classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Musk once voted largely Democratic, now leans Republican, and has said he doesnt hate Donald Trump, who wants the 2024 GOP nod as well. Musk made large donations to Republican candidates in 2018. He has made news lately with his efforts to buy Twitter, and some observers fearing he would weaken the platforms rules against hate speech.

Workers at Tesla have accused the company of racial and antigay harassment. This year a jury ruled that a worker who alleged racial discrimination was entitled to $137 million in damages, but a judge reduced that to $15 million, which the worker then rejected. A new trial in the case is scheduled for next year.
Captain Compassion is back! Committee for Childrens bullying prevention superhero has returned in support of National Bullying Prevention Month

New York, NY --News Direct-- YourUpdateTV

All kids connected with bullyingthose who experience it, engage in it, and even witness itcan suffer long-term mental health consequences. Recently, VP of Education, Research, and Impact at Committee for Children & Mom of 2, Dr. Tia Kim, participated in a satellite media tour campaign to talk about racially motivated bullying and ways to empower kids to activate their upstander power.

A video accompanying this announcement is available at: https://youtu.be/WKlo9vIaKdk

Captain Compassion is back! Committee for Childrens bullying prevention superhero has returned in support of National Bullying Prevention Month

It's back-to-school season and it's never too early to start talking to kids about racially motivated bullying and empower them to recognize, report, and refuse it so they are set up to make responsible decisions and thrive.

Committee for Children is launching its fifth annual Captain Compassion campaign during National Bullying Prevention Month to teach kids how to prevent bullying in all forms, with a special emphasis on behavior motivated by racial bias. Developed by Committee for Children in 2018, Captain Compassion is an anti-bullying superhero who teaches upstanders how to recognize, report, and refuse bullying through a series of engaging, age-appropriate comic strips.

One out of five students report being bullied during the school year. In 2019, of the students who reported being bullied, race was the most frequently reported characteristic referred to by hate-related words. To help address this issue, this years Captain Compassion comics focus on a school community thats struggling with the social-emotional effects of racially motivated bullying. With the help of Captain Compassion and her trusty sidekick Kid Kinder, the entire school community learns how to stand up against bullying to create safe, welcoming, and inclusive environments where children of all backgrounds can thrive.

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Drawn from Committee for Childrens decades of work in the field of bullying prevention, the Captain Compassion campaign presents free, award-winning comics that provide families, teachers, and caregivers with powerful, research-backed tips to empower their children and communities to stand up to bullying. The Captain Compassion site also includes resources like a Secret Decoder Wheel puzzle for kids, informative videos, downloadable posters, and more.

To learn more about Captain Compassion and bullying prevention, visit CaptainCompassion.org each week this October to read brand-new comics and solve the Secret Decoder Wheel puzzle with the children in your life.

To learn more about social-emotional learning and Committee for Children, visit cfchildren.org

Tia Kim, PhD Bio:

Vice President of Education, Research, and Impact

Dr. Tia Kim is a developmental psychologist, a parent-child relationship expert, and a mom of two. She believes in a strong family foundation, open lines of communication, and the critical role that parent-child relationships play in childrens safety and well-being. With her experience as a parent, education research scientist, and psychologist, Dr. Kim aims to provide families with simple, research-based tips and insights to help them start conversations about bullying prevention. Dr. Kim began her career in academia but later decided she wanted to see her research in action helping children and youth. Today, she leads Committee for Childrens team of research scientists to develop and evaluate the quality, effectiveness, and impact of the organizations social-emotional learning programs and family engagement work, including this years bullying prevention campaign, Captain Compassion. Dr. Kim received her doctorate in developmental psychology at the University of California, Riverside, and completed three years of post-doctoral training at the National Academic Centers of Excellence in Youth Violence Prevention. Before joining Committee for Children, she served as an assistant professor in human development and family studies at Penn State Brandywine.

About Committee for Children:

Committee for Children is a global nonprofit that has championed the safety and well-being of children through bullying prevention, child protection, and social-emotional learning (SEL) for more than 40 years. With a history of action and influence, were known as a leader in social-emotional education and a force in advocacy, research, and innovation in the field. We take a comprehensive approach to SEL, promoting social-emotional well-being from birth to early adulthoodsupporting not just classrooms, but entire communities. As our programs transform the lives of more than 24.4 million children per year, we rise to meet societal challenges to ensure children everywhere can thrive. Learn more at cfchildren.org.

Contact Details

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View source version on newsdirect.com: https://newsdirect.com/news/empower-kids-to-prevent-racially-motivated-bullying-994325892
The end of Illinois cash bail system on Jan. 1 means St. Clair County will lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual revenue, may need to hire more employees to implement the new system, and could see savings at the county jail.

St. Clair County board members are gearing up for discussions about just how much bail reform might affect spending as they try to plan for next years budget, which is typically approved in December.

County department heads are preparing their budget requests. Meanwhile, the law abolishing cash bail is the subject of a growing number of lawsuits from prosecutors across the state seeking to alter or repeal it. And legislators have suggested they will make changes to it as they prepare to return to Springfield for Novembers veto session.

Certainly we know there will be an impact, said County Administrator and Budget Officer Debra Moore. The level of impact, we dont know at this time.

Heres a look at some of the ways the law will affect the county budget as it is written today:

About bail reform in Illinois

Bail reform is part of state legislation known as the Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today Act, or SAFE-T Act.

It changes the rules for detaining people charged with a crime in a county jail before their trials. Under the current system in Illinois, people can be released from jail if they can pay an amount of money set by a judge known as a bail bond.

The intent of the SAFE-T Act is to detain people accused of crimes only if they are considered a danger to others or a flight risk. Opponents of the law say they fear the new system could make communities less safe. Supporters say that, with a cash bail system, people can be unnecessarily jailed because they cant afford to pay bond.

Under the SAFE-T Act, the cash bail system will be replaced with pretrial detention hearings before a judge where prosecutors will present evidence for why they allege a person charged with a crime should be detained in a county jail. These hearings are required to be in person. If the person doesnt hire a private attorney, the public defender will automatically be appointed to the case and be required to meet with the person before the hearing.

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If the person is released from custody to await trial from home and he or she violates a condition of release by getting charged with a new crime or failing to show up for court, the SAFE-T Act will require a St. Clair County sheriffs deputy to serve a summons to appear for another hearing with at least 48 hours notice. Serve typically means delivering the document in person.

Were going to have to request more people to get this done

Some county department heads say they would need to hire more employees to be able to implement the changes the SAFE-T Act calls for.

St. Clair County Sheriff Rick Watson said he will need 8-10 more employees to keep up with the anticipated workload of transporting people from the jail to the courthouse for pretrial detention hearings and serving summonses in the community. He said the department would likely split the new hires between those two jobs, with the corrections and patrol staff each getting four or five new officers.





Even when were at full staff here, were just maintaining, but with all the rest of the mandates, were going to have to request more people to get this done, Watson said.

Elsewhere in the county, Public Defender Cathy MacElroy said she needs at least one additional lawyer, but probably more, to defend people accused of crimes in new, pretrial detention hearings as well as trials.

MacElroy expects the number of trials to increase when cash bail ends because she said people often pleaded guilty to end their criminal case and get out of jail custody under that system. Next year, those cases would continue to trial instead.

We absolutely love these changes  Theyre extremely beneficial to the system. They bring integrity to the system  but we need funding for them, MacElroy said. We could do all of these things without a law mandating them if we were properly funded. She pointed to the emphasis the law places on defense attorneys meeting their clients in person and early as one example of a practice public defenders would like to do regardless because it helps their cases.

Both the public defenders office and sheriffs department are funded by the county board. The boards largest source of revenue is property taxes. It also generates revenue from fines and fees, a sales tax and more sources.

The law could have financial implications for other departments within the St. Clair County court system as well.

States Attorney Jim Gomric didnt respond to a request for comment about whether he anticipates his office will need to hire more attorneys. Interim Circuit Clerk Marie Zaiz said she had no comment; a new circuit clerk will be elected in the Nov. 8 election.

What staffing shortages mean to the county budget

Chief Circuit Court Judge Andrew Gleeson, who oversees the public defenders office, reiterated that it needs more lawyers, saying theyre already maxed out. MacElroy said her full-time attorneys yearly caseload of about 300 felony cases each is double the amount the American Bar Association recommends for lawyers.

MacElroy said her position is part-time, and she has six full-time lawyers, with one vacancy. The office also has a couple part-time lawyers who handle felony matters, as well as some private attorneys who volunteer their time when requested, according to MacElroy. The starting salary for lawyers in the public defenders office is $48,500.

Without additional staff, the public defenders office could eventually reach a point where they cant take on more cases for people who cant afford other representation, according to MacElroy. She said judges would then have to appoint private lawyers who can charge the county hourly for their time, up to $5,000 a case.

Funding the public defenders office is cheaper than the alternative, MacElroy said.

In the sheriffs department, there are 70 corrections officers, with three vacancies, and 61 deputies, with seven vacancies, according to Watson. He said the department actually has more openings to fill because 14 people retired this year, but it cant start hiring for some of those positions until it pays out retirees unused vacation and sick time.

Corrections officers start at a salary of $48,426, which increases to $60,800 after a one-year probationary period. Deputies start at a salary of $55,265, which increases to $69,432 after a year. But Watson said he typically hires deputies with experience, who start working at $69,432 without the probationary salary.

Watson said staffing shortages in the sheriffs department can mean officers work overtime, at a cost to the county. The work doesnt go away, but the numbers of people do, he said.

Where taxpayers could save money in bail reform

The SAFE-T Act could offer a savings to taxpayers if it results in fewer people in custody at the St. Clair County Jail.

The Illinois Sentencing Policy Advisory Council estimated it costs $40,567 a year on average to hold a person in a county jail based on a sample of sheriffs jail expenditures.

In late September, the St. Clair County Jail was holding 456 people, and more than 50 of them had been in custody for a year or longer.

Sgt. James Hendricks, of the St. Clair County Sheriffs Department, said the jail population includes people in custody pending charges, people accused of a crime who are awaiting trial, as well as federal prisoners who are serving their sentences in St. Clair County.

Cash bail represents hundreds of thousands in revenue

When the cash bail system ends, counties will no longer be able to collect a bond processing fee, which represents hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to St. Clair County.

Circuit court clerks can retain 10% of bond payment amounts after all other court-ordered obligations are met as part of the processing fee. And its considered general revenue that can be spent on county expenditures other than the circuit clerks office, according to the Illinois Supreme Court Pretrial Implementation Task Force.

The task force analyzed the financial impact of ending cash bail in a report published in September 2021.

It found that between 2016 and 2020, St. Clair County collected as much as $318,321 in a single year from bond processing fees. The task force recommends that counties look at what government functions were financially supported by bond processing fees and consider other sources of revenue that could be used instead.

Counties also used to be able to apply money from bonds toward county-specific fees at the end of a criminal case. But the end of cash bail doesnt change a courts ability to impose fees on people convicted of crimes in Illinois, according to the task force.

The SAFE-T Acts critics have expressed concern that the law will require counties to raise property taxes.

In response, the Illinois Coalition to End Money Bond advocacy group released a statement contending revenue from a cash bail system is not a financially responsible, sustainable or ethical way to fund government operations.

Our justice system should focus on public safety needs and not on generating revenue, the coalition stated.

Moore, the St. Clair County administrator and budget officer, said officials are trying to predict the SAFE-T Acts impact on revenue now and will soon have conversations with department heads about whats appropriate and, most importantly, whats affordable.
The two comedians claim that Clayton County Police use racial profiling and forceful stops in Hartfield-Jackson International Airport jet bridges.

Comedians Eric Andre and Clayton English are suing a county in Georgia for discrimination. They claim that police in Clayton County, which is part of Atlantas metropolitan area, use racial profiling and forceful stops in the jet bridges at Hartfield-Jackson International Airport.

According to a press release, the federal lawsuit, filed Tuesday, claims the Clayton County Police Department (CCPD) allegedly violated the Black mens Fourth and 14th Amendments rights by subjecting them to profiling and illegal stops in nearly identical circumstances about six months apart.

Andres incident occurred as he left Atlanta for Los Angeles on April 21, 2021. Two Clayton County police officers stopped him as he entered the jet bridge to board the aircraft and immediately asked whether he was carrying any illegal narcotics. He was permitted to board his flight after five minutes of inquiry and examination of his ticket and identification.

Comic actors Eric Andre and Clayton English are suing Clayton County for discrimination after being randomly selected for stops in the jet bridges at Hartfield-Jackson International Airport. (Photo: The Policing Project at NYU School of Law)

I was blocked in a jet bridge by two police officers who interrogated me about drugs, Andre said in a statement. I didnt see any other Black people boarding at the time. Its hard to believe I was selected at random for questioning. It was a humiliating and degrading experience.

The journey from Atlanta to Los Angeles on Oct. 30, 2020, was quite similar for English, although the press release failed to provide additional details.

The CCPD has defended its officers actions and claims the stops are consensual encounters. They allegedly inform the individuals that they select them at random.

By ambushing passengers in this manner, the Units officers compound the enormous, preexisting compulsion to cooperate with airport law enforcement by exploiting the passengers fear they will create an untoward scene or will appear guilty, subversive, or dangerous to their fellow passengers, the lawsuit alleges, according to the press release.

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Andre and English want the federal court to declare the CCPDs jet bridge stop program at the Atlanta airport unconstitutional. Pro bono attorneys from the law firms Jones Day and Lawrence & Bundy, along with the Policing Project at NYU School of Law, are representing them.

The Policing Project discovered through the Open Records Act that 56 percent of passengers stopped by CCPD in Atlanta airport jet bridges in the eight months before Andre whose races were recorded were Black. Eight percent of American airline passengers are Black overall, so there is a less than one in 100 trillion chance that it randomly selected Black passengers.

By design, all of these factors exert tremendous coercive pressure on an individual passenger on the jet bridge to acquiesce to the officers wishes, the lawsuit notes. Those pressures are even greater for persons of color, given the history of racial profiling by airport security officers.

According to the open records request, the airport jet bridge stops are ineffectual at seizing drugs or apprehending drug smugglers, but are a successful civil asset forfeiture operation that takes cash from travelers on the off chance it has any connection to criminal activity.

The CCPD conducted 402 stops in the eight months before they searched Andre; only two led to charges. One passenger was traveling with 10 grams of marijuana and mushrooms, the other with six prescription pills for which no valid prescription allegedly existed.

During that same time, authorities detained people never charged with anything and confiscated about $1 million in cash and money orders.

These are cases of flying while Black, plain and simple, Barry Friedman, co-founder of the Policing Project, said in a statement. Every day in America, people of color are unjustly stopped on the pretense that these encounters are consensual. It is humiliating, it is deeply inappropriate, it is unconstitutional, and it must stop.

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Eritrea has been criticised for its decades-long compulsory military service (file photo)

Eritrean authorities have intensified military mobilisation and are hunting down draft dodgers across the country, as the war in neighbouring Ethiopia escalates, multiple Eritrean sources have told the BBC.

The latest round-ups are the worst so far as women have not been spared, with many elderly mothers and fathers detained in a bid to force their children, who have gone into hiding, to surrender, they say.

They spoke on condition of anonymity as Eritrea is a highly restrictive state that controls almost all aspects of people's lives.

Eritrea has sent troops to help the Ethiopian government against forces from its northern Tigray region, which borders Eritrea.

"As many ignored the call-up, the round-up has been intensified," a source said, adding that wives have also been detained after their husbands tried to avoid conscription.

Checkpoints have been set up along major roads, and widespread searches are taking pace in cities and villages.

In the capital, Asmara, round-ups are being carried out on the streets while in many rural areas, the authorities have sealed homes, confiscated cattle and harassed relatives if a wanted person is not found, the BBC has been told.

The BBC has contacted the Eritrean government for comment.

Last month, Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel said that a "tiny number" of reservists had been called up, denying that the entire population had been mobilised.

The almost two-year-long war in Tigray and neighbouring regions has been described by some analysts as bloodier than the conflict in Ukraine. But there has been less media coverage of it as the Ethiopian and Eritrean governments have heavily restricted travel, and communication lines to Tigray have mostly been down.

The Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which controls the region and is leading the fight against Ethiopia's government, has also embarked on a mass mobilisation campaign to bolster its forces. This follows the collapse of a five-month-long truce in August and the failure of the African Union to get peace talks off the ground.

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A source in Eritrea said the authorities were trying to "stir emotions" at public meetings, linking their military intervention to "the existence and sovereignty of the nation", and saying that the TPLF "must be buried".

The conflict has caused a massive humanitarian crisis in Tgray

Last month, Eritrea recalled reservists under the age of 55 and some were sent to the frontlines.

In the last few days, fighting has been reported in many border areas, including Adigrat, Rama, Shiraro and Zalambesa.

But many Eritreans have resisted the latest call-up, saying they do not want to die in what they see as a needless war.

Elderly men have also "been forced to be on a war footing in many areas and in most cases, the operation of the conscription is being carried out arbitrarily", one source said.

An Eritrean in the diaspora expressed concern about his brother and sister-in-law in Asmara.

He said his sister-in-law had fled with the couple's children to her parent's village, and he feared that his brother had been detained.

Authorities are also refusing to issue shopping coupons - used to buy basic commodities like sugar and oil at discounted prices - until families heed the call-up, sources added.

'Hiding someone is treason'

"What they had been doing in the countryside, they have started in the capital, abusing families with the local administration coupons, licences and so on," a source told the BBC.

Residents have been brought to the offices of local administrations, and warned that "hiding one's children or husband, or cooperating in desertion is considered as treason".

"They are putting a lot of stress on the people," the source added.

One woman in Eritrea said that many people were frustrated and bitter as war has consumed the lives of generation after generation.

"People are expressing their opposition in various ways, but the security system is so merciless that it can commit any kind of atrocity against its people," the woman added.

Eritrea's President Isaias Afwerki (R) and Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, seen here in 2018, are staunch allies

An Eritrean living in Europe said he feared for the safety of his family back home.

His 67-year-old father was a reservist who had been deployed in his area, though he has not yet been ordered to fight on the frontlines.

He was more worried about his 23-year-old sister, who, he said, had been detained at a military camp near the western city of Akurdet after being caught attempting to cross the border.

"It has been a while since the family heard from her. She is now missing," the man said.

Sources said the authorities have been threatening to take detainees far away to areas with harsh conditions. The regime runs a network of secret detentions centres where people are held for many years without due process of law, human rights groups say.

The war in Tigray broke out in November 2020 following a massive fall-out between Ethiopia's Prime Minister and Nobel Peace laureate Abiy Ahmed and the TPLF over a wide range of issues, including whether Ethiopia should retain an ethnically based federal system.

The conflict comes against the backdrop of long-standing hostility between the Eritrean regime and the TPLF, which dominated a coalition government in Ethiopia until Mr Abiy's rise to power in 2018.

Under the TPLF, Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a border war which claimed the lives of about 80,000 people. An international tribunal later ruled that Ethiopia should hand over territory to Eritrea, but the TPLF-controlled government failed to do so.

Eritrea regained the territory soon after the current war started in November 2020.

In the 28 years since it gained independence from Ethiopia, Eritrea has fought wars with all of its neighbours - Yemen in 1995, Sudan in 1996, Ethiopia from 1998 to 2000 and Djibouti in 2008.

Mandatory military service was supposed to last for 18 months, but has become indefinite.

In the last two decades, tens of thousands of young Eritreans have left the country to escape the conscription, which includes forced labour.

"This situation has affected the children of my martyred brother whom I considered as my hope. They have joined the army. What can I say except to beg for God to protect all the young," said an Eritrean woman exiled in Italy.

Map

More on the Tigray crisis:
DAKAR, Senegal (AP)  A new liquefied natural gas project off Africa's western coast may only be 80% complete, but already the prospect of a new energy supplier has drawn visits from the leaders of Poland and Germany.

The initial field near Senegal and Mauritanias coastlines is expected to contain about 15 trillion cubic feet (425 billion cubic meters) of gas, five times more than what gas-dependent Germany used in all of 2019. But production isn't expected to start until the end of next year.

That won't help solve Europe's energy crisis triggered by Russia's war in Ukraine. Still, Gordon Birrell, an executive for project co-developer BP, says the development could not be more timely" as Europe seeks to reduce its reliance on Russian natural gas to power factories, generate electricity and heat homes.

Current world events are demonstrating the vital role that (liquid gas) can play in underpinning the energy security of nations and regions, he told an energy industry meeting in West Africa last month.

While Africas natural gas reserves are vast and North African countries like Algeria have pipelines already linked to Europe, a lack of infrastructure and security challenges have long stymied producers in other parts of the continent from scaling up exports. Established African producers are cutting deals or reducing energy use so they have more to sell to boost their finances, but some leaders warn that hundreds of millions of Africans lack electricity and supplies are needed at home.

Nigeria has Africas largest natural gas reserves, said Horatius Egua, a spokesman for the petroleum minister, though it accounts for only 14% of the European Unions imports of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, that comes by ship. Projects face the risk of energy thefts and high costs. Other promising countries like Mozambique have discovered large gas reserves only to see projects delayed by violence from Islamic militants.

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Europe has been scrambling to secure alternative sources as Moscow has reduced natural gas flows to EU countries, triggering soaring energy prices and growing expectations of a recession. The 27-nation EU, whose energy ministers are meeting this week to discuss a gas price cap, is bracing for the possibility of a complete Russian cutoff but has still managed to fill gas reserves to 90%.

European leaders have flocked to countries like Norway, Qatar, Azerbaijan and especially those in North Africa, where Algeria has a pipeline running to Italy and another to Spain.

Italy signed a $4 billion gas deal with Algeria in July, a month after Egypt reached an agreement with the European Union and Israel to boost sales of LNG. Angola also has signed a gas deal with Italy.

While an earlier agreement allowed Italy's biggest energy company to start production at two Algerian gas fields this week, it wasn't clear when flows would start from the July deal because it lacked specifics, analysts said.

African leaders like Senegalese President Macky Sall want their countries to cash in on these projects even as theyre dissuaded from pursuing fossil fuels. They dont want to export it all either  an estimated 600 million Africans lack access to electricity.

It is legitimate, fair and equitable that Africa, the continent that pollutes the least and lags furthest behind in the industrialization process should exploit its available resources to provide basic energy, improve the competitiveness of its economy and achieve universal access to electricity, Sall told the U.N. General Assembly last month.

Algeria is a major supplier  it and Egypt accounted for 60% of the natural gas production in Africa in 2020  but it can't offset Russian gas to Europe at this stage, said Mahfoud Kaoubi, professor of economics and specialist in energy issues at the University of Algiers.

Russia has an annual production of 270 billion cubic meters  its huge," Kaoubi said. Algeria is 120 billion cubic meters, of which 70.50% is intended for consumption on the internal market."

This year, Algeria is forecast to have piped exports of 31.8 billion cubic meters, according to Tom Purdie, a Europe, Middle East and Africa gas analyst with S&P Global Commodity Insights.

The key concern here surrounds the level of production step-up that can be achieved, and the impact domestic demand could have" given how much gas Algeria uses at home, Purdie said.

Cash-strapped Egypt also is looking to export more natural gas to Europe, even regulating air conditioning in shopping malls and lights on streets to save energy and sell it instead.

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly says Egypt hopes to bring in an additional $450 million a month in foreign currency by rerouting 15% of its domestic gas usage for export, state media reported.

More than 60% of Egypts natural gas consumption still is used by power stations to keep the country running. Most of its LNG goes to Asian markets.

A new, three-party deal will see Israel send more gas to Europe via Egypt, which has facilities to liquefy it for export by sea. The EU says it will help the two countries increase gas production and exploration.

In Nigeria, ambitious plans have yet to yield results despite years of planning. The country exported less than 1% of its vast natural gas reserves last year.

A proposed 4,400-kilometer-long (2,734-mile-long) pipeline that would take Nigerian gas to Algeria through Niger has been stalled since 2009, mainly because of its estimated cost of $13 billion.

Many fear that even if completed, the Trans-Sahara Gas Pipeline would face security risks like Nigeria's oil pipelines, which have come under frequent attacks from militants and vandals.

The same challenges would hinder increased gas exports to Europe, said Olufola Wusu, a Lagos-based oil and gas expert.

If you look at the realities on ground  issues that have to do with crude oil theft  and others begin to question our ability to supply gas to Europe, he said.

Wusu urged pursuing LNG, calling it the most profitable" gas strategy so far.

Even that isn't without issues: In July, the head of Nigeria LNG Limited, the countrys largest natural gas firm, said its plant was producing at just 68% of capacity, mainly because its operations and earnings have been stifled by oil theft.

In the south, Mozambique is slated to become a major exporter of LNG after significant deposits were found along its Indian Ocean coast in 2010. France's TotalEnergies invested $20 billion and started work to extract gas that would be liquefied in a plant it was building in Palma, in the northern Cabo Delgado province.

But Islamic extremist violence forced TotalEnergies to indefinitely scupper the project last year. Mozambican officials have pledged to secure the Palma area to allow work to resume.

Italian firm Eni, meanwhile, pressed ahead with plans to pump and liquefy some of its gas deposits discovered in Mozambique in 2011 and 2014. Eni established a platform in the Indian Ocean 50 miles (80 kilometers) offshore, away from the violence in Cabo Delgado.

It's the first floating LNG facility in the deep waters off Africa, Eni says, with gas liquefaction capacity of 3.4 million tons per year.

The platform liquefied its first gas on Oct. 2, according to Africa Energy, and the first shipment is expected to depart for Europe in mid-October.

___

AP reporters Chinedu Asadu in Abuja, Nigeria; Aya Batrawy in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Samy Magdy in Cairo; Andrew Meldrum in Johannesburg; and Colleen Barry in Milan contributed.
By Amanda Ferguson

BELFAST (Reuters) -Britain and the European Union made some progress last week on their long running post-Brexit trade row over Northern Ireland after talks resumed for the first time in over seven months, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said on Wednesday.

The two sides are deadlocked over the Northern Ireland protocol, the part of the Brexit deal that mandated checks on goods moving to Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom due to its open land border with EU member Ireland.

Britain wants to scrap checks on goods staying in Northern Ireland, while the European Union is prepared to ease them.

"Yes they have made some progress," Coveney told reporters, describing the past two weeks that included talks between senior Irish and British ministers as "the best two weeks of negotiation" this year.

"I think there is now in place the start of a process that I hope can deliver through negotiation, but it is just too early to tell whether that is going to be possible or not."

Coveney declined to say what major issues of disagreement remained but singled out the sharing of data around goods travelling into Northern Ireland and staying there as being one area where progress could be made.

Asked if it would be after Christmas before that happens, Coveney said no, that the EU was looking for a breakthrough on some of the issues over the next few weeks and to make "a step forward" on the contentious ones by the end of October

"The next number of months are not going to be talking around in circles, like we have seen in the last number of years," Coveney said.

British Prime Minister Liz Truss said on Wednesday that her government would proceed with a planned law to override some parts of the protocol if a negotiated settlement cannot be reached.

(Reporting by Amanda Ferguson, writing by Padraic Halpin in Dublin; Editing by Toby Chopra and Nick Macfie)
(Bloomberg) -- The European Union is weighing handing new powers to its fledgling public prosecutors office amid concerns the blocs current system is failing to rein in rich Russians trying to evade sanctions.

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New powers for the Luxembourg-based European Public Prosecutors Office would be conditional on separate plans to make sanctions evasion a crime under EU law, according to people familiar with the discussions, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are confidential.

The idea comes after the EU set up a freeze and seize task force in March to improve coordination among member states, which are in charge of the enforcement of EU sanctions. Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy and Luxembourg account for almost all of the 17.4 billion euros ($16.9 billion) in Russian assets that have been frozen in the bloc so far, according to EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders.

The possible new EPPO powers would supplement a draft proposal that seeks to boost EU nations powers to seize criminal assets, including those of sanctioned Russian individuals and entities, by extending the list of crimes such as money-laundering and corruption to include the violation of EU sanctions.

Current rules have been hampering more far-reaching efforts across the bloc to go beyond freezing assets. To be able to seize assets the EU needs justification of a criminal nature. Separately, the EU last week adopted new sanctions powers that will allow it to target people and entities that are helping to circumvent the blocs restrictive measures.

EU Eyes New Sanction Power to Target Third-Country Firms, People

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The Luxembourg-based public prosecutors office, which became operational in June, has 22 EU member nations and is headed by Laura Codruta Kovesi, a Romanian who ignited an unprecedented anti-corruption drive in her home country that landed the countrys most powerful politician behind bars.

The plan to beef up the role of the EU institution is still at a very early stage and would require the backing of the blocs 27 nations, the people said. The EUs justice chief Reynders is likely to float the idea at a ministerial meeting in Luxembourg this week to weigh initial reactions, one of the people said.

The EPPO declined to comment and the European Commission didnt immediately respond to a request for comment on the possible measures.

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2022 Bloomberg L.P.
(Reuters) - Another wave of COVID-19 infections may have begun in Europe as cases begin to tick up across the region, the World Health Organization and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said on Wednesday.

"Although we are not where we were one year ago, it is clear that the COVID-19 pandemic is still not over," WHO's Europe director, Hans Kluge, and ECDC's director, Andrea Ammon, said in a joint statement.

"We are unfortunately seeing indicators rising again in Europe, suggesting that another wave of infections has begun."

WHO's region-wise data showed that only Europe recorded a rise in COVID-19 cases in the week ended Oct. 2, clocking an increase of 8% from the prior week.

Public health experts have warned that vaccine fatigue and confusion over available vaccines will likely limit booster uptake in the region.

Millions of people across Europe remain unvaccinated against COVID-19, the WHO and ECDC noted.

They urged European countries to administer both flu and COVID-19 vaccines ahead of an expected surge in cases of seasonal influenza.

"There was no time to lose," the WHO and ECDC said, adding that vulnerable groups, including people over 60 years old, pregnant women and those with co-morbidities, should get vaccinated against both influenza and COVID-19.

(Reporting by Manas Mishra and Raghav Mahobe in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)
By Mathieu Rosemain

PARIS (Reuters) -Eutelsat Communications, the world's third-biggest satellite operator by revenue, said on Wednesday it expected its planned tie-up with Britain's OneWeb to lift annual sales to 2 billion euros ($1.95 billion) by 2027.

The merger, announced in July and closely monitored by the French and British governments, aims to combine Eutelsat's geostationary satellite fleet with OneWeb's low-earth orbit constellation to offer fast internet services by satellite.

The leading companies currently fighting for a slice of the satellite internet market are Elon Musk-owned SpaceX's Starlink and Amazon.com's Project Kuiper.

The French group expects annual sales of the merged entity to amount to about 1.2 billion euros in 2023, following the finalisation of the deal. It said it expected core operating profit to rise at an even faster pace than revenue.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the newly formed company should grow by more than 10% each year to reach approximately 1.4 billion euros in 2027, up from 700 million euros in 2023, it said.

Eutelsat also prolonged its no-dividend policy by a year to three fiscal years to funnel cash flow to investments. Shares had dropped by more than 2% in early trading.

"Overall we continue to struggle with the concept of using 'cheap' Eutelsat equity to fund such a high risk acquisition like OneWeb," JPMorgan said in a note.

Eutelsat - which would own 100% of OneWeb as a result of the deal, which values its British peer at about $3.4 billion - aims to tap into the growth of real-time video gaming and rising demand for fast internet connections from companies, which increasingly rely on cloud computing services for their daily operations.

Eutelsat, whose market value has fallen by almost two thirds in five years, also plans to offset the gradual decline of its business distributing TV channels worldwide with the new revenue stream.

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The group's first-quarter sales fell by 4.5% on a like-for-like basis to 287 million euros, it said on Wednesday.

It said the decline in sales matched its own targets and it confirmed its full-year targets, including an annual adjusted discretionary free cash flow of 420 million euros.

($1 = 1.0283 euros)

(Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain; Additional reporting by Elena Vardon;Edited by Benoit Van Overstraeten, Andrew Heavens and Louise Heavens)
Democratic candidate and nurse practitioner Eva Burch is running for Arizona Senate in Legislative District 9.

Voters have until Nov. 8 to choose who will fill the 30 open seats in the Arizona Senate, where election winners will help shape the future of the state for at least the next two years.

A battle between a nurse and retired police officer in Mesas slightly left-leaning Legislative District 9 is expected to rank among the most competitive races in the state and could end up as the closest of all contests.

Democratic candidate Eva Burch began her career as an emergency room nurse in 2012, and her Republican opponent Robert Scantlebury served 25 years in the Mesa Police Department before retiring about four years ago.

The two Senate hopefuls have polar opposite views on just about every major policy issue from abortion to education funding to the states election system, making this years election a political litmus test for the tossup legislative district.

Residents must register to vote by Oct. 11 and can check their registration status on the Arizona Secretary of States website. Those who vote by mail should send in their ballot by Nov. 1 or drop it off at a voting location by 7 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 8.

Republican Robert Santlebury did not provide answers for this article. He is running for Arizona Senate in Legislative District 9.

The Arizona Republic asked the candidates to share their views on key state issues to help voters decide whom to elect. Scantlebury did not provide answers after repeated requests.

Top Priority

If you are elected, what will be your top priority while in office, and what would you do about it?

Burch (D): Arizona has a higher-than-average uninsured rate and is not adequately meeting the needs of aging adults, children, or those with chronic illnesses. I am committed to building a healthcare system in Arizona that meets the needs of the community. There is so much that we can do to expand access to healthcare, streamline the insurance coverage process, and lower the cost of prescription drugs.

As a medical provider, I have seen firsthand for many years the failures and successes of our current system. I will bring my own experience, as well as the voices and expertise of other individuals and organizations to try and come up with collaborative and innovative solutions to making high-quality healthcare accessible to every Arizonan.

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Education

Public schools received a $1 billion budget increase this year that's expected to raise Arizonas ranking from 48th to 45th in per-pupil spending. How do you see the level of current public school funding in Arizona: Too little, too much or about right? Should the Aggregate Expenditure Limit be raised, allowing schools to spend the extra money?

Burch (D): Arizonans overwhelmingly support greater investment in education, and I am on their side. Raising the Aggregate Expenditure Limit is absolutely necessary to allow schools to access funds that have been allocated to them. Teachers, students and staff are struggling everywhere and we must work towards an Arizona where high-quality education is the standard regardless of the wealth of the community.

Arizona students deserve qualified, well-paid teachers and schools must have access to books, technology, support staff, nutrition, and equipment that best supports students and teachers.

Do you support the school voucher expansion that passed this year and would you seek to modify it?

Burch (D): The voucher expansion will hurt our public schools by taking funds away from a system that is already chronically underfunded and struggling. Parents who want to pay for a specialized education should, of course, be able to do so, but public funds should not be going to private and religious schools.

Arizonans have weighed in on this before and will likely have to do so once again. We should be electing leaders who do not consistently defy the will of the voters to satisfy personal interests.

Stay informed: What to know before you vote: Arizona voter rights

Eva Burch, nurse practitioner and candidate for Arizona Senate, speaks during a news conference at the Arizona state Capitol in Phoenix on Aug. 24, 2022.

Elections and voting rules

Do you think there are significant problems with the states election system and, if so, what are they and how would you try to fix them?

Burch (D): Its important that we continue to push back against voter suppression legislation while also working hard to maintain the integrity and security of our elections. We must expand access to the ballot box and ensure that every voter has a voice in the election process.

We can make voting easy and accessible by providing early voting opportunities, same-day registration, and mail-in ballots to make sure that our democracy works for everyone. We must also have transparency and accountability in our elections so that Arizonans have faith in the system.

Do you support mail-in voting?

Burch (D): Yes, I believe mail ballots are the most effective way to include as many voices as possible in the civic process. Most Arizonans vote by mail. We must continue to do everything we can to protect this option just as we have done for the past 30 years.

Do you believe that the Legislature has plenary power, or should obtain the power, to overturn elections?

Burch (D): It is my responsibility to be an advocate for the people of my district and this state. I am certain that this type of legislation would not have popular support. The Legislature cannot decide the will of the people. Elections are decided by voters, not lawmakers.

For subscribers: How Lake, Hobbs would address Arizona water issues

Water resource management

What should the state Legislature do to best manage future cuts to the CAP water supply and the possibility that the drought may not end or get worse?

Burch (D): Arizona is headed towards a water crisis, and legislators need to produce effective, long-term solutions. This will require collaboration between public officials, tribes, farms, and cities as well as investment in new technologies.

Our current groundwater pumping practices are not sustainable and we must strengthen the Groundwater Management Act. The newly passed budget has allocated over $1 billion in spending for water infrastructure and conservation over the next three years, and we must make sure these funds are used to their greatest advantage for the health and safety of our water future.

Election guide: November 2022

Social issues and immigration

Are there particular cultural issues you would feel compelled to take a stand on  i.e., abortion, LGBTQ, critical race theory, or corporate environmental, social and governance measures  and what would be your position on them? How would you balance personal freedoms with your stance on these issues?

Burch (D): As a nurse practitioner who works in womens health, I am extremely concerned about the irresponsible and dangerous legislation that is being discussed in Arizona surrounding abortion bans. Not only is this an egregious violation of privacy and the patient/provider relationship, but it puts Arizonans at unimaginable risk.

Abortion is often an appropriate treatment option for multiple pregnancy complications, and can also commonly be the safest option available. Abortion is a difficult decision that is not made any better by the interference of the state.

What, if anything, should the Legislature do to address immigration and border issues?

Burch (D): I have knocked on thousands of doors in my community, and I hear some common themes. Arizonans want safe and secure borders as well as humane border policy and a streamlined pathway to citizenship.

There is much we can do to address border security. We should renovate and expand our ports of entry, and address attrition rates within our Border Patrol. Agents should have the training they need as well as competitive pay and benefits so we can maintain appropriate personnel. I also support investments in aerial systems, radars, sensors, and other border technologies.

We should also be a country of compassion and humanity, and when we have a humanitarian crisis at the border, our response should reflect those values. I support expanding access to work visas, a simplified process to obtain citizenship, and increased support for DREAMERS. We are a country of immigrants and can continue to maintain that cherished tradition without compromising public safety.

Economy, state spending

Do you think the Legislature should try to help ease inflation in Arizona, (metro Phoenixs inflation rate is No. 1 in the country), and how should lawmakers do that?

Burch (D): Arizonans are struggling with the rising costs of living, and wages are not keeping up. Working families are becoming increasingly burdened by the rising costs of essential items including gas, clothing, childcare and food. The Legislature must implement a plan to address this issue with a focus on preventing price gouging and supporting fair wages.

State revenues produced an estimated $5 billion surplus this year. If the trend toward budget surpluses continues, what would you do with the surplus funds?

Burch: The surplus funding would best be utilized within our failing education system. We should have well-qualified, well-paid teachers in well-maintained buildings. We should have appropriate supplies and support staff, and current books and technology. Our students deserve a fair shot and we must deliver opportunity and equity. The surplus would also be put to good use in addressing the affordable housing crisis facing our state.

Reach Sam at sam.kmack@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on Twitter @KmackSam.

Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Legislature District 9 Senate candidate Eva Burch shares views
North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un is known for his offbeat sartorial choices.

As the dictator continues adding to tensions in the region, having conducted at least seven missile tests in the past few weeks and more than 40 this year, one expert weighing in on CNN went as far as to suggest Kims newest attire is indicative of his overall military strategy.

Wearing a flowy white button-down shirt and black slacks on one occasion, and a white shirt and safari hat on another, Kim is dressed to aggress, according to Bruce Klingner, a Heritage Foundation senior research fellow for northeast Asia.

Kim Jong Un is the patron saint of hilarious photos

Hes bold, and hes proud, and hes involved in this, Klingner told CNNs Brian Todd. The tactical nuclear weapons program is his.

And while Kim looks more like an out of place cater waiter hired to serve shrimp cocktail at an annoying cousins second wedding, a change up in fashion, like getting bangs after being dumped, could be interpreted as a sign that something is amiss. After all, the fact that Kims saber-rattling has increased is worth noting.

What it could be is to try to drive the U.S. back to the negotiating table in a more supplicant way, Klingner added. Maybe now, even if they say they dont want any kind of dialogue, theyd be willing to accept offers from the United States.
Finance experts have branded Deliveroos addition of buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) service Klarna to its payment options as irresponsible.

The popular takeaway delivery service launched its partnership with Klarna, which allows customers to pay in full upfront or to delay their payment for a period of time, on Tuesday (11 October).

But some Deliveroo users began noticing the additional payment method last week and have criticised it as a dreadful idea.

Personal finance expert Tara Flynn of Choosewisely.co.uk said: If youre considering buying your takeaway now and paying for it later dont.

Getting yourself into debt over a meal thats gone in 15 minutes isnt worth it.

Having fast food delivered should be considered a treat for now and again, and if you cant afford to do it, you shouldnt.

She added: I think its irresponsible of Deliveroo to offer this as an option and need to seriously reconsider this move ASAP.

Michelle Highman, chief executive of The Money Charity, added: Put simply, the BNPL model is an alternative method of accessing credit and in theory gives consumers greater freedom and choice in their purchasing power, which is broadly a good thing for increasing peoples financial wellbeing.

But as with any credit-based option, we would always recommend people only ever use them as payment options if thats their preferred method of managing their finances, with a clear and sustainable plan to pay off their balance in full.

If you find yourself needing to turn to BNPL to get through the month then this should raise a concern; while racking up debts on takeaways, an expenditure which would almost certainly always go into the wants rather than needs list, is clearly to be avoided.

The three payment options offered by Klarna on Deliveroo (Klarna/Deliveroo)

The move has also been condemned by Rosie Parry, Labour councillor for Deptford in southeast London, who called both brands gross predators for encouraging customers to use BNPL services amid the cost of living crisis.

Klarna and Deliveroo are really showing their colours with BNPL options for FOOD, she tweeted. If people cant afford to eat without going into debt, society is failing. If people are being encouraged to buy extra takeaways they cant really afford, the brands involved are gross predators.

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Deliveroo offers three options to pay via Klarna. Customers can choose to pay the full amount immediately by clicking Pay Now, or choose between two other options to delay their payment.

They can either choose to Pay in 30, which means they must pay the full amount within 30 days of the purchase, or Pay in 3, where customers can split the payment into three equal instalments, spread over a 60-day period.

A spokesperson for Klarna told The Independent: People have been paying for food deliveries with credit cards and overdrafts for decades but theyve been stung by rip-off fees and extortionate interest, so its time consumers had the choice of a healthier alternative where they only ever pay the original cost of the purchase.

Deliveroo also insisted it is providing customers with more choice and more flexibility with a safe, secure way to pay online.

But experts are still concerned that people may be tempted to land themselves in debt to keep up with spiraling costs, which have impacted the prices of food, goods, rent and mortgages, fuel, and energy.

BNPL services such as Klarna and Clearpay have been criticised in the past for sidestepping regulation. A study released in October 2021 found that British consumers amassed for than 4 billion worth of debt using such services.

There have been calls from consumer watchdogs and groups to introduce tougher regulations on the BNPL industry to stop people from falling further into debt, but reports indicate that no action will be taken until 2024.

Sue Anderson, head of media at debt charity StepChange, told The Independent: Its a worrying development to see mainstream food delivery providers offering BNPL, especially at a time of such financial uncertainty for households.

they. have. added. klarna. to. deliveroo.



this is a terrible idea  pic.twitter.com/HIkNap51BT  Melora  (@MelMx__) October 7, 2022

Our research shows those using BNPL are often in financial difficulty, with a quarter of BNPL users having to turn to borrowing to keep up with their essential costs.

Because BNPL is not yet regulated, providers may not carry out effective affordability checks or prevent users from taking out multiple BNPL loans from different retailers they are unable to repay. The convenience and ease of BNPL can also causes those with less financial experience to make impulse purchases and access credit without realising there can be serious financial consequences if they fall behind on repayments.

Unregulated BNPL is putting consumers at risk of financial difficulty and problem debt and we urge the government to act as soon as possible.

If youre struggling with your financial situation or debt, you can get in touch with StepChange or any of the charities and groups mentioned above. StepChange offers debt advice onine, or you can call them at 0800 1381111 from Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm, and Saturday, 8am to 4pm.
BERLIN (AP)  A Ukrainian nuclear power plant that has been surrounded by Russian forces lost power Wednesday morning when a Russian missile damaged a distant electrical substation, increasing the risk of radiation disaster, according to the plant's operator.

The power to Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was restored about eight hours later, the International Atomic Energy Agency said. But experts say the outage  the second one in five days  shows just how precarious the situation at Europe's largest nuclear plant is. They say repeated power outages over short periods of time are only making the problem worse.

Here's a look at the risks:

DISASTER DANGER

Fears of a nuclear catastrophe have been at the forefront since Russian troops occupied the plant during the early days of the war. Continued fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces  as well as the tense supply situation at the plant  have raised the specter of a disaster.

Ukrainian authorities decided several weeks ago to power down the last reactor to reduce the risk of a catastrophe like the one at Chernobyl in 1986, where a reactor exploded and blew deadly radiation across a large vast area.

But the reactor core and used nuclear fuel must still be cooled for lengthy periods to prevent them overheating and triggering dangerous meltdowns like the ones that occurred in 2011 when a tsunami hit the Fukushima plant in Japan.

IODINE SUPPLIES

Some European countries are trying to prepare for the worst and started stockpiling iodine tablets to help protect their populations from possible radioactive fallout.

In others, like Germany, authorities have calculated there is a low risk that radiation levels harmful to human health would reach their territory.

In the event of a disaster, the biggest risk outside Ukraine could be to Russia, depending on which way the wind blows, said Paul Dorfman, a nuclear expert at the University of Sussex in England.

The main deposit is likely to be in Ukraine and or Russia, but there could be significant radiation pollution in Central Europe, which is why countries around Ukraine are now thinking very seriously about issuing stable potassium iodide tablets, he said.

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LIMITED POWER SUPPLY

The Zaporizhzhia plant has been receiving external power to ensure the important task of cooling the reactor and spent nuclear fuel can continue, but the connections are at constant risk of disruption due to the conflict.

As power lines and substations have been damaged in fighting, Ukraines nuclear operator Energoatom has been forced to repeatedly rely on diesel generators. These generators, which have enough fuel for at least 10 days, have kicked into action when external power has failed  but experts say their repeated use over a short period of time increases the risk of a disaster.

There are several redundancies and the facilities are now repeatedly on the last one, said Mareike Rueffer, head of the nuclear safety department at Germanys Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management.

Having to repeatedly fall back on diesel generators also limits the room for maneuver, she added. In that moment theres no further backup and this is a high-risk technology.

The diesel generators kicked in immediately Wednesday when electricity from the missile-damaged substation was cut. External power from the transmission line was restored hours later.

ONGOING RISK

Shutting down the plants last reactor several weeks ago significantly reduced the risk of a radiation disaster by gradually increasing the time it would take for a meltdown to occur. But if cooling fails due to a complete loss of power, meltdowns would still happen eventually, said Rueffer.

Dorfman said that in the worst case, Ukraine could see a situation similar to what happened in Fukushima.

Youd see a heating of the high level spent fuel ponds. Youd see a hydrogen explosion, as we saw in Fukushima, he told The Associated Press. "And then youd see a significant radiation release.

___

Associated Press writer David Keyton contributed from Stockholm.
ATLANTA (AP)  Before the 2020 presidential election, certifying election results in the states was routine and generated little public attention. That has changed.

Attempts to delay presidential certification in Michigan in 2020 and primary results in New Mexico earlier this year have brought new scrutiny to a process that typically takes place quietly in the weeks after Election Day.

Members of certification boards have raised unsubstantiated claims of fraud or other wrongdoing, focusing new attention on a process that could be manipulated if either side didnt like an election outcome.

Whether partisan actors might try to block or delay certification at the local or state level is a growing concern among election officials, both for the upcoming November midterm voting and then the 2024 presidential election. Here is how election officials prepare for certification, who is involved and what might happen if a county refuses to certify its results.

HOW ELECTION OFFICIALS PREPARE FOR CERTIFICATION

Voting is over when polls close on Election Day, but the work to count and verify the results is just beginning. Through the canvass and certification process, local election officials check to ensure all votes were cast and counted correctly before results become official.

The canvass includes checking lists of voters in pollbooks against the number of ballots cast and researching any discrepancies. Those often are due to clerical errors or mistakes such as someone failing to sign the pollbook.

There are all these little human errors that can happen that could lead to mismatch or discrepancies in the accounting, said Jennifer Morrell, a former local election official who now advises election offices. Best practice is to show them and do your best to account for them and explain them.

Its this reconciliation that election officials also use to detect potential voter fraud, flagging for authorities any issues such as a voter attempting to cast more than one ballot. During this time, many election offices also test equipment and audit the results to make sure the votes were tallied correctly. Others might take those steps after certification.

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Most states have deadlines for when the canvass and certification must be completed.

WHO CERTIFIES RESULTS?

Partisan officials are involved in certifying elections, something experts worry about after nearly two years of conspiracy theories falsely claiming the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Republican former President Donald Trump. There is no evidence of widespread fraud or manipulated voting machines, and reviews in battleground states confirmed Democrat Joe Bidens win.

In 45 states, the local boards that handle election certification are either party-controlled or commissions where the members are elected on a partisan basis, according to research by the advocacy group Election Reformers Network.

Once certified at the local level, results are sent to the state for further certification. In virtually every state, officials with ties to political parties play some role, according to the group. This typically involves a board comprised of statewide officials such as the secretary of state and governor, although in some states its the secretary of state who has sole authority to certify an election. Hawaii is the only state where certification is overseen by a nonpartisan chief election official appointed by a bipartisan commission.

THE PROCESS OF CERTIFICATION

Certification involves a public meeting during which election officials report to the local board charged with certifying the results. Those reports detail the number of voters who cast ballots, how many ballots were cast and counted, and any discrepancies that surfaced during the canvass.

Its a ministerial task, meaning those handling certification do not have authority to investigate allegations of fraud or other wrongdoing. Thats up to prosecutors and the courts, which handle challenges filed by candidates or parties. Judges can delay or halt certification if there are questions surrounding an election.

That did not happen in 2020, as numerous judges including some appointed by Trump dismissed his claims.

DISPUTES ARISE AMID PARTISAN INFLUENCES

Local certification is typically handled by a county commission or board of elections. In some places, a separate board of canvassers is formed to handle certification. In Michigan, the county canvassing board is comprised of two Republicans and two Democrats. In Wayne County, which includes Detroit, Republican board members initially voted against certifying the 2020 election but later reversed course.

The Republican members then sought to rescind their vote to certify after receiving calls from Trump. State officials said there was no way to do that, and ultimately the election was certified at the state level.

The law is very clear that the board must certify, said Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. It doesnt say they may or can consider, they must. And so we have the law on our side.

If such a dispute arises again, the state Board of Canvassers has the authority to review and certify a countys election, Benson said. If the state board, which is likewise comprised of two Republicans and two Democrats, similarly deadlocks, Benson said she would seek a court order to compel certification.

That happened recently when the state board deadlocked along partisan lines on whether an abortion measure should appear on the November ballot, and the state supreme court subsequently allowed it.

HAS THIS HAPPENED ELSEWHERE?

Commissioners in a rural New Mexico county initially refused to certify the results of their June primary. They cited distrust of the voting systems used to tally the vote even though the countys election official said there were no problems.

A tiny county in Nevada didn't certified its primary results until it completed a hand count of all ballots.

In the New Mexico case, Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver petitioned the state Supreme Court, which issued an order directing the local commissioners in Otero County to certify. They ultimately did so in a 2-1 vote. The dissenting vote was by commissioner Couy Griffin, who had dialed into the meeting from Washington, D.C. Hours earlier he had been sentenced for entering restricted grounds during the attack on the Capitol, where Congress was meeting to certify Biden's victory.

During the meeting, Griffin acknowledged he had no evidence to support his vote against certification, saying, Its only based on my gut feeling and my own intuition. He has since been removed from office.

If the commission would have refused to abide by the court order, the state was prepared to seek another order to allow the state board to certify the countys results, said Alex Curtas with the secretary of states office.

We werent just going to let some 8,000 people who had voted in Otero County be disenfranchised because their county commission refused to certify their votes, Curtas said.

GUARDRAILS TO PREVENT PARTISAN INTERFERENCE

Election officials in various states say they are prepared to intervene and have the legal means to compel certification if needed.

No county official can just say that she or he just feels or believes or has a vibe or a hunch that something went wrong and feel free to just not certify an election, said Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon.

In Colorado, a new law requires the secretary of state to review any results not certified by a local board by the deadline and certify them if there is no reason not to. But most states have to rely on the courts.

Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections with Common Cause, said voter advocacy groups are prepared to intervene should partisan actors interfere with certification without justification or if a secretary of state refuses to seek a court order compelling a local board to act.

That is why we are here, and there will be lot of advocates and lawyers willing and able to step in and file if the secretary is not interested in using their authority or their position to ensure that the votes of their constituents are counted, Albert said.

___

Follow AP for full coverage of the midterms at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections and on Twitter, https://twitter.com/ap_politics
By Sabrina Valle

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp's fledging low carbon energy business on Wednesday struck its first commercial carbon storage deal under an effort to target a projected multi-trillion market by 2050.

The agreement with the world's top manufacturer of ammonia CF Industries Holdings to bury carbon dioxide (CO2) at an Exxon site in Louisiana kicks off an unusual business for the oil giant: making money from burying gases for companies looking to reduce their own atmospheric emissions.

Exxon says it will transport and store underground 2 million metric tons of CO2 per year produced starting in 2025, when CF Industries opens a $200 million CO2 compression facility in Louisiana to process emissions from its ammonia production.

The deal is "a milestone" for Exxon's division started in February 2021, said Dan Ammann, the former General Motors president who runs Exxon's Low Carbon Solutions unit. He declined to comment on financial terms of the deal with CF Industries.

"We see a tremendous opportunity to build a new business," Ammann told Reuters.

The volumes of carbon dioxide that CF and Exxon could prevent from going to the atmosphere annually will be the equivalent of switching 700,000 gasoline-powered cars to electric vehicles (EV), Ammann said.

Exxon signed a parallel agreement to use Enlink Midstream's network to transport the CO2 to the storage site.

While critics view carbon sequestration as greenwashing by polluters, Exxon says the business can achieve double-digit percentage returns while limiting planet-warming gases.

Exxon's energy transition strategy is focused on curbing CO2 while increasing its oil and gas production - unlike European firms charting paths away from fossil fuels and toward renewable solar and wind power.

The hydrocarbon-focused strategy and this year's surge in oil and gas prices have helped Exxon shares rise about 60% year to date, far ahead of Shell Plc and BP's.

The Louisiana initiative is part of the company's planned $15 billion investment by 2027 in low carbon operations. About $9 billion of that will go toward reducing emissions at its own sites, with the remainder to carbon capture, hydrogen and biofuels.

(Reporting by Sabrina Valle; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
JERUSALEM (AP)  The family of a Palestinian-American man who died earlier this year after he was detained by Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank said Wednesday they would reject Israels settlement offer.

Israels Defense Ministry said earlier this week that it had agreed to pay out the family of 78-year-old Omar Assad, who died handcuffed and blindfolded while detained by Israeli soldiers  a rare move to close a case that has sparked sharp condemnation from Washington.

Assad was born in the Palestinian town of Jiljilya but spent about 40 years in the United States. He became a U.S. citizen before he returned to his hometown in 2009 to retire with his wife.

Under the deal, Assads family would receive 500,000 shekels, or about $141,000 to drop its court case against the state, the ministry said.

Nawaf Assad, Omars brother who splits his time between Virginia and Illinois, said he had instructed their family lawyer to rebuff Israels proposal.

We are not interested in dropping the case for any reason, Assad told The Associated Press. No money can replace my brother for his children, for his grandchildren who still call out for him ... for his wife who thinks hes home every time her doorbell rings.

Questions remain about what happened to Assad after he was detained by Israeli forces at a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli army said troops later unbound his hands and left him face-down in an abandoned building.

Assad was pronounced dead at a hospital after other Palestinians who had been detained found him unconscious. A Palestinian autopsy showed that he died from a heart attack brought on by injuries sustained while he was detained.

The Israeli military reprimanded a senior officer and removed two others from leadership roles after its own investigation concluded that Assad's death resulted from a moral failure and poor decision-making on the part of the soldiers. It was a rare acknowledgement of error from a military that has long come under criticism for rarely holding soldiers accountable.

Assad's family said they would reject Israels settlement so they could continue to push the U.S. to conduct its own independent investigation. Several members of Congress have also called for an American probe.

If we close the deal, the U.S. government will close the (case), Assad, his brother, said. We want justice.
The family of a man who died in the custody of the Spartanburg County Detention Center held a protest Wednesday in front of the detention center demanding answers about his death.

Lavell Lane died on Monday, Oct. 3, at the detention center. His family made a promise last week at a press conference to return to the SCDC on Wednesday, Oct. 12, to protest the lack of answers.

The family was joined by a few residents and representatives from several civil rights groups, including the Charleston chapter of Black Lives Matter (BLM) and the National Racial Justice Network (RJN).

Lane's father, Andy Reese, and Lane's mother, Beverly Lane, with a picture of their son.

"Accountability," "transparency," and "responsibility" were demanded of law enforcement agencies investigating Lane's death. These same terms were used a week ago when the family addressed the media, two days after Lane was pronounced dead by Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger's Office at 5:04 a.m. Monday, Oct. 3.

My son cant speak, but Im gonna speak for him, believe that, said Beverly Lane-Reese, Lavell's mother.

Andy Reese, Lavell's father, led the group gathered in prayer before the demonstration began, asking for closure, guidance, and justice in Lane's death.

"Transparency is key here, guys, and the release of this video footage will give this family the closure that they need," said Rasheda Robinson, the family attorney.

"I wanna see everything. Show him walking in there, and show him coming out  even if you have to show him out in a body bag," Reese said. "I wanna know what officer it was that tased my son butt-naked."

Marcus McDonald, lead organizer of the Charleston chapter of Black Lives Matter, said Lanes case has been on his radar since it occurred last week.

It is something weve been seeing since the beginning of history: people ignoring people with mental health [issues], people ignoring the issues of families, the issues of the Black community, and we have to make a stop to that, McDonald said.

Along with answers regarding Lane's death, which occurred within hours of being booked into SCDC, the family raised issues with the fact that nobody from the Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office or State Law Enforcement Division has reached out to offer their condolences.

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SLED investigates all matters concerning inmate deaths as a matter of practice, and the Herald-Journal has filed a South Carolina Freedom of Information Act request with SLED for all written documentation and digital footage concerning Lane's death.

"The sheriff didn't even step out and say 'Mr. Reese, I'm sorry for what happened to your son; here are my condolences.' I didn't hear nothing," Reese said. "And I'm weeping over my child. Please show the footage."

From the 2nd of October to today, [the Sheriff's Office] still has not reached out to me about Lavells death, about his incarceration, Lane-Reese said.

Sheriff Chuck Wright and local activist Chance Lebron engaged in a conversation on social media earlier this week, where Wright said nobody had reached out to him about footage regarding Lanes death.

"There's nothing to say the poor fella went to sleep and didn't wake up," Wright said in the social media post.

The family has been trying to contact this department since Lavell died here. Racial Justice Network has been trying to contact this office," said Dr. Candace Brewer, National President of RJN. "Finally, after a week, we received an email yesterday afternoon at 5:52 p.m. from the sheriffs secretary, and it basically said that SLED is investigating it, and SLED handles any type of death thats involved with an inmate.

The family and friends of Lavell N. Lane, 29, came back to the Spartanburg County Detention Center looking for answers around the events of the death of Lavell Lane at the Spartanburg County Detention Center. Lane was incarcerated at the Spartanburg County Detention Center where he was later pronounced dead after being incarcerated for 5 hours. The family came back to the center looking for answers on Oct. 12, 2022.

The family held a "homegoing" funeral service Tuesday afternoon for Lane.

Lane-Reese says she was not able to see Lanes body until the day before the funeral. The family also said the autopsy had already been done before the Coroners Office representative notified them of Lanes death.

Lavell Lane's relatives present at Wednesday's protest included his sisters Andrea Thomas, Roxann Thomas, and Anquinette Reese, who traveled from Long Beach, California for the funeral and protest. Lavell's brother, Elijah Lane, traveled from Brooklyn, New York to speak, as did his cousin Yashua Lane, who lives in Maryland.

"It ain't about officers  we understand that there's good people and bad people in this world, OK?" Yashua Lane said. "We understand that. We understand it's not the whole Spartanburg, it's not the whole Spartanburg correction facility, but it's just one individual that makes it bad for everyone else. They need to [make] that person accountable. They had training."

The family did not set a specific time when they will return, but Beverly Lane-Reese promised to return as many times as necessary until the family finds the answers they are looking for.

I dont want no other family to have to go through this because this is antagonizing. This is hurtful. I mean, if I knew, I might could deal with it, I dont know. So, its just like a puzzle with pieces missing, and I want them to fill those pieces in, Lane-Reese said.

This article originally appeared on Herald-Journal: The family of a man who died at detention center want answers.
The family of a man fatally shot by police last year has dropped a wrongful death lawsuit against two Villa Hills officers and their department, federal court records show.

Randall Lockaby, 57, of Manchester, Kentucky, was shot by Villa Hills police during a February 2021 traffic stop on Interstate 75 after officers said he pulled out a gun. He later died at a hospital in Florence.

The wrongful death suit, filed early this year in federal court in Covington, alleged Villa Hills police officers Sean Dooley and Jacob Bolton violated Lockaby's constitutional rights, overstepped their authority and used excessive force during the traffic stop.

Frieda Lockaby, Randall Lockaby's wife, moved to dismiss the suit late last month, court records show. In response, Danny Reeves, chief judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, ordered the case dismissed with prejudice.

Jeffrey Mando, the attorney representing the officers and Villa Hills, said there was no settlement reached between Lockaby's family and the city. He went on to describe the lawsuit as "frivolous."

"I've never seen a more justifiable use of force," Mando said. "The officers did what they were trained to do."

A month after the shooting, Kenton County Commonwealth's Attorney Rob Sanders said the two officers were justified in their use of deadly force. He made his decision based on a review of a Kentucky State Police investigation.

According to a letter Sanders sent to Villa Hills and KSP officials, dashboard camera video from Bolton's cruiser and body camera video from both officers captured the entire incident, in which Lockaby refused to follow Dooley's commands to step to the rear of the vehicle.

Sanders said Bolton fired after he saw Lockaby point a gun at Dooley. Bolton reasonably perceived the need to use deadly force to prevent Dooley from being shot, according to the letter.

Lockaby was not legally allowed to carry a gun due to a prior felony conviction, investigators found.

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Court records show Lockaby pleaded guilty in 2014 in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania to a felony offense: possessing a firearm not to be carried without a license.

In court documents, Lockaby's family didn't dispute that he pulled a gun during the traffic stop.

However, the complaint stated, it wasn't needed for the officers to detain Lockaby as long as they did or demand that he exit his vehicle so they could search it.

"There was no probable cause developed at any point, aside from the speeding, by either officer that Lockaby had committed any crimes prior to demanding Lockaby to exit the vehicle," the lawsuit reads.

The lawsuit also alleged the city of Villa Hills and the Villa Hills Police Department failed to provide appropriate training to officers regarding traffic stops and use of force.

David Brewer, the attorney representing Lockaby's family, has yet to respond to an email and phone call seeking comment on the suit's dismissal.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Wrongful death suit against Villa Hills police officers dismissed
Children ages 5 to 11 are now eligible to receive a COVID-19 booster aimed at both the original virus that causes COVID-19 and the omicron BA.4 and BA.5 variants.

The Food and Drug Administration authorized the boosters Wednesday morning from both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, and the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave a thumbs up on the shots several hours later.

The vaccines should soon become available at area pharmacies and pediatricians' offices.

Children are less likely than adults to become severely ill and die of COVID-19 infections or to suffer from long COVID-19.

But that risk isn't zero. Because COVID-19 vaccines have been found to be extremely safe, pediatricians strongly recommend that nearly all children receive the two-dose primary series as well as a booster.

Since children have gone back to school in person and people are resuming pre-pandemic behaviors and activities, there is the potential for increased risk of exposure to the virus that causes COVID-19," said Dr. Peter Marks, who heads the FDA's vaccine division, in a statement. We encourage parents to consider primary vaccination for children and follow up with an updated booster dose when eligible.

BIVALENT BOOSTERS: Which COVID booster should I get, and when?

FLU, RSV AND MORE: Winter viruses are filling up hospitals with sick kids

One vial of Pfizer-BioNTech Omicron BA.4/BA.5 bivalent COVID-19 vaccine vials for children ages 5 to 11 years old.

White House COVID-19 coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha has urged everyone to get a bivalent booster shot by Oct. 31, ahead of the holidays and an expected winter surge in cases.

It takes about two weeks for vaccines to become fully effective after a shot.

"Don't wait," Jha said in a White House briefing Tuesday. "Get your new flu shot and get your new COVID shot today. If Americans did that, we could save hundreds of lives each day this winter."

Adults are told to wait three months after an infection before getting a booster. Children are to wait at least two months after a previous infection or COVID-19 vaccine to get the booster, the FDA said.

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While the first two vaccine doses were protective early in the pandemic, studies showed a third shot was needed to provide strong protection against severe disease from the omicron variant, which first appeared around last Thanksgiving.

Officials have said it's OK to get a COVID-19 booster at the same time as an annual flu shot.

Although a previous infection with COVID-19 is believed to be protective against re-infection, as with vaccines, that protection isn't perfect and fades over time, particularly in the face of new variants.

The new shot is considered a "bivalent" vaccine, because it targets both the original virus and the variants that have been most common since early summer.

Shots of Pfizer-BioNTechs new COVID-19 booster, which updates the original vaccine to also target the BA.4 and BA.5 variants.

BA.4 and BA.5 now account for about 80% of the variants seen in the United States, a figure that has fallen in recent weeks. BA.4.6 is now the second-most common variant (BA.5 is first), and BA.7 is gaining ground as well. It's not clear whether vaccines and treatments will respond differently to those newer variants.

Pfizer and its partner, BioNTech, said they are prepared to immediately ship the boosters, following final quality control checks.

"Pfizer has the capacity to ship up to 6 million pediatric doses in the first seven calendar days," company spokesperson Steve Danehy said in a statement, "without any impact to distribution output of the doses for individuals 12 years and older."

BACKGROUND: FDA authorizes reformulated COVID-19 booster shot for the fall

The new Pfizer-BioNTech booster is the same as the one available for older children and adults, just at a lower dose: 10 micrograms instead of the adult 30 microgram dose. The Moderna booster dose for children ages 6 to 11 is 25 micrograms.

The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna boosters are considered equivalent, with no proven difference in terms of effectiveness or side effects for either one or for mixing vaccines. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is available for children as young as 5, while Moderna's is only available for kids as young as 6.

The companies have not yet completed clinical trials of the booster in younger children. The FDA decided the change to a bivalent vaccine is not likely to have a different effect or risk profile than the earlier shots. Flu vaccines are similarly altered annually to adjust to circulating variants without being tested in people.

Inspection line of Pfizer-BioNTech Omicron BA.4/BA.5 bivalent COVID-19 vaccine vials for children ages 5 to 11 years old at Pfizer's plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Both the FDA and CDC decided the new boosters were not different enough from earlier vaccines to require input from their expert advisory panels.

They are the only two COVID-19 vaccines available for children ages 5 to 12 in the United States, although Novavax, whose vaccine is based on a different technology, has asked for permission to provide its vaccine as a primary series in that age group.

Pediatric experts reacted positively to the authorization.

As a pediatrician, this is welcome news. It is essential that children remain up-to-date with their COVID-19 vaccinations for their own health and potentially to protect more vulnerable adults around them, especially as we head towards a potential surge of cases this winter, said Dr. Julie Morita, executive vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, via email. The next steps are to ensure that all families  in particular, those with low incomes or without health insurance  have access to these updated vaccines and can get their questions answered from trusted sources.

It's not clear when or whether the booster will become available for even younger children. With Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine, they are already recommended to get three doses as their primary course, although Moderna's vaccine is authorized for just two shots for children as young as 6 months.

Moderna said it expects to submit an application for a booster dose for the youngest children before the end of the year.

The organization Protect Their Future, which lobbies on behalf of young children's health, is concerned about the lack of bivalent boosters for under-5s.

"Omicron continues to ravage our communities NOW, and just as adults and children over 5 are deemed worthy of receiving access to a safe vaccine that could help them through another winter surge, our youngest childrens health should be treated with the same care and value," the organization wrote in an email.

Contributing: Adrianna Rodriguez

Contact Karen Weintraub at kweintraub@usatoday.com.

Health and patient safety coverage at USA TODAY is made possible in part by a grant from the Masimo Foundation for Ethics, Innovation and Competition in Healthcare. The Masimo Foundation does not provide editorial input.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: COVID bivalent booster for kids under 12 authorized by FDA
ST. LOUIS (AP)  A federal judge in St. Louis is weighing the fate of the Biden administration's plan to forgive student loan debt for tens of millions of Americans following a court hearing on Wednesday.

It's unclear when U.S. District Judge Henry Autrey will rule on the lawsuit filed by six Republican-led states that seeks an injunction to halt the student loan forgiveness plan. Whatever he decides, an appeal is likely.

Democratic President Joe Biden announced in August that his administration would cancel up to $20,000 in education debt for huge numbers of borrowers. The announcement immediately became a major political issue ahead of the November midterms.

The proposal prompted a lawsuit filed in September by Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and South Carolina. Other lawsuits followed, including one filed Monday by the Job Creators Network Foundation alleging that the administration violated federal procedures by failing to seek public input on the program.

In the lawsuit brought by the states, a court filing on behalf of the administration said the Department of Education has broad authority to manage the federal student financial aid programs. It stated that the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003, or HEROES Act, allows the secretary of education to waive or modify terms of federal student loans in times of war or national emergency.

COVID-19 is such an emergency, the filing stated.

The Congressional Budget Office has said the program will cost about $400 billion over the next three decades. James Campbell, an attorney for the Nebraska attorney general's office, told Autrey that the administration is acting outside its authorities in a way that will costs states millions of dollars.

What they're trying to do is go around Congress, and this they cannot do, Campbell said.

The plan would 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.

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The administration faced threats of legal challenges to its plans almost immediately. Conservative attorneys, Republican lawmakers and business-oriented groups asserted that Biden was overstepping his authority in taking such sweeping action without the assent of Congress. They called it an unfair government giveaway for relatively affluent people at the expense of taxpayers who didn't pursue higher education.

Meanwhile, many Democratic lawmakers facing tough reelection contests distanced themselves from the student loan plan.

The HEROES Act is a post-Sept. 11, 2001, law meant to help members of the military. The Justice Department says the law allows Biden to reduce or erase student loan debt during a national emergency. Republicans argue the administration is misinterpreting the law because, in part, the pandemic no longer qualifies as a national emergency.

But attorney Brian Netter of the U.S. Department of Justice said the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic is still rippling. He said student loan defaults have skyrocketed over the past two-and-a-half years.

This (the HEROES Act) is a statute about emergencies  about national emergencies, Netter said.

The cancellation applies to federal student loans used to attend undergraduate and graduate school, along with Parent Plus loans. Current college students qualify if their loans were disbursed before July 1. Administration officials said applications for debt relief will be available in October.

The plan makes 43 million borrowers eligible for some debt forgiveness, with 20 million who could get their debt erased entirely, according to the administration.

Autrey did not give an indication when he will rule on the injunction request.

___

Binkley reported from Washington, D.C.
Several members of the federal appeals courts are boycotting the hiring of law clerks from Yale Law School.

On Friday, Elizabeth Branch, a member of the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, said she would join James Ho, a fellow federal judge, in distancing herself from the Ivy League school plagued by "cancel culture."

Ho, who sits on the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit, said in a speech delivered at a Federalist Society conference in Kentucky on Sept. 29 that Yale "not only tolerates the cancelation of views  it actively practices it." Ho urged other judges to likewise boycott the school.

"I don't want to cancel Yale," explained Ho. "I want Yale to stop canceling people like me."

"Like Judge Ho, I am gravely concerned that the stifling of debate not only is antithetical to this countrys founding principles, but also stunts intellectual growth," explained Branch in a statement to National Review. "Accordingly, I accept Judge Hos invitation to join him in declining to consider students from Yale Law School for clerkships with me, with an exception for past and current students."

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA STUDENTS PROTEST, SAY REPUBLICAN SEN. BEN SASSES POSES THREAT AS PRESIDENT

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

According to the Washington Free Beacon, 12 other judges said in anonymous statements that they would join the boycott.

Ho cited incidents in which students had disrupted conservative speakers at the New Haven, Connecticut-based Yale, where "cancelations and disruptions seem to occur with special frequency."

Last March, a bipartisan panel hosted by Yales Federalist Society on civil liberties and free speech was disrupted by more than 100 students who tried to intimidate the speakers. The panel included Monica Miller, of the progressive American Humanist Association, and Kristen Waggoner, of the conservative Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). It was the latter who drew the audiences ire.

Following the incident, Yales Dean of Law Heather Gerken defended free speech and emphasized the schools desire to create an inclusive environment for students at the university.

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"The vigorous exchange of ideas is the lifeblood of this Law School," Gerken wrote in an email to students following the incident. "Protecting free speech is a core value of any academic institution; so too is cultivating an environment of respect and inclusion. These two values are mutually reinforcing and sit at the heart of an intellectual community like ours."

FLORIDA UNIVERSITY STUDENT GROUPS REJECT SASSE APPOINTMENT AS PRESIDENT, FORCE FORUM WITH STAFF TO GO ONLINE

Waggoner told Fox News Steve Doocy in March that the "students were not only physically intimidating the other students and the speakers, they were pounding on the walls, blocking the exits and disrupting the event throughout."

Ho said that event was just one example.

U.S. Circuit Judge William Pryor of the 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 U.S. Supreme Court gay rights' case Lawrence v. Texas.

Last week on "Fox & Friends," Waggoner agreed with the judges decision to boycott hiring of law clerks from Yale.

"You cant have a justice system that works without the free exchange of ideas," Waggoner explained. "We know that good lawyers and good law clerks need to be able to understand and engage with ideas and people that they dislike. So I dont think its any surprise that federal judges are taking notice when Yale seems to have abandoned these principles in favor of coercing uniformity of thought."

Yale University

Also on "Fox & Friends," Yale Law graduate and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy explained that this culture is not limited to Yale.

"I would say Harvard and Stanford are equally bad in their own respects," said Ramaswamy. "Imagine the tables were turned, suppose that it was conservative students objecting to a left-of-center speaker using similar tactics  there is little doubt that there would have been outcry at Yale and across elite institutions that these students were inciting violence."

Waggoner disagreed, harking back to Hos earlier comments and saying that "Yale is particularly an issue."

One of Ho's 5th Circuit colleagues, Judge Jerry Smith, has called the boycott "regrettable" and said he hoped to receive more applications from Yale graduates.

Smith, a Yale graduate, was appointed by late Republican President Ronald Reagan.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Yale did not respond to Fox News Digitals request for comment.

Reuters contributed to this report.
An illegal conversion device for a Glock hand pistol. The small piece can convert a semi-automatic pistol into a fully automatic one, which will continue firing as long as the trigger is pulled. The effect is much like firing an Uzi.

Two packages mailed from China, destined for an address in Milwaukee, were intercepted in February by federal agents in Alaska and Tennessee, according to court records.

Inside, investigators found parts that turn a Glock semi-automatic handgun into an illegal machine gun, meaning it will fire continuously with a single trigger pull.

Last week, prosecutors charged a 23-year-old Milwaukee man, Curtis Fisher Jr., with illegal possession of a machine gun, conspiracy and having a firearm as an unlawful user of a controlled substance.

RELATED: A car chase, homicide scene and high school: Where ghost guns are found in Milwaukee

A complaint in the case offers an insight into how authorities try to stem, or even slow, the flow of parts that turn deadly handguns into even deadlier machine guns.

Export of such parts from China is illegal. Both intercepted packages were addressed to Luckyy Rich, at an address on North 25th Street in Milwaukee. Investigators traced the address and a phone number associated with the orders to Fisher.

They also learned three prior packages were delivered in January and were not intercepted. During a search of Fisher's home in March, agents found two guns and numerous rounds of ammunition and a subject willing to talk.

More: Gun violence has taken a toll on Milwaukee's children. Here's how one camp tries to help them heal.

Demand in streets for automatic weapons

According to the complaint, Fisher told agents "everybody who is in the streets of Milwaukee is looking to purchase Glock auto-sears to install on their firearms." Auto-sear refers to the device that converts a semi-automatic to a fully-automatic gun.

Fisher further told agents in December, his half-brother explained he had found a way they could purchase the parts, via Alibaba, a Chinese e-commerce site. Once Fisher started an account, he said someone selling the auto-sears, "Doris," had him communicate via WhatsApp.

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Fisher said his first order was for two auto-sears, and a second was for five of the devices. He said he turned over each delivery to his half-brother.

More: Wauwatosa is considering an incentive program to get people to turn in their guns

He said he used tax refund money to make the third order, for $275. When the packages didn't arrive, Fisher told agents his half-brother suspected him of keeping the auto-sears to sell on his own.

Fisher told the agents he's never fired a gun fitted with an auto-sear but was able to describe how they work.

Fisher said he thought the search warrant was related to a recent shooting he had been involved in. He explained his friend was coming out of a corner store at North 26th and Nash streets and said he'd had a run-in with another man.

When that man exited and raised a gun at their car, Fisher said he fired about a half dozen rounds at the other man, using the Glock handgun agents recovered in his apartment. He did not report the incident to police, Fisher said.

Fisher was arrested Oct. 7, made an initial court appearance and was released on conditions, including that he not possess any guns or gun parts.

Contact Bruce Vielmetti at (414) 224-2187 or bvielmetti@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ProofHearsay.

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: Milwaukee man got machine gun parts for Glock from China, Feds say
A pilot is suing Southwest Airlines, a former co-pilot, and her pilots union over an incident involving an alleged sexual assault, according to USA Today.

In 2020, Christine Janning co-piloted a flight from Philadelphia to Orlando with Michael Haak. During the flight, he disrobed and watched pornography in front of her.

What happened:

Once the flight reached cruising altitude, Haak, who was about to retire, said there was something he wanted to do before retiring. He then proceeded to lock the cockpit door, take his clothes off, and masturbate while watching pornography.

Janning says Haak took photos and videos of himself engaging in the act. At Haaks encouragement, Janning also took photos of him, which she says was to create a record.

Haak pled guilty to intentionally committing a lewd, indecent, or obscene act. He was sentenced to probation and made to pay a $5,000 fine.

Now, Janning has filed a lawsuit in Orange County, FL. She is suing Haak for sexual assault and is also suing Southwest Airlines and the airlines Pilots Association.

FBI Involvement:

Haak had already retired by the time she reported the incident, so Southwest decided to close its investigation. She contacted the FBI, which ended up charging him.

Janning says that after she reported the incident with Haak to Southwest and the FBI, the airline retaliated against her by keeping her grounded for three months, costing her wages, and forcing her to take unnecessary training before returning back to the skies.

She also claims the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association failed to advocate for her and conspired with the airline. In fact, she said the union worked against her, writing a letter to the judge about Haaks spotless record.

Claims of a prank:

Haak claims the incident was a consensual prank. His attorney, Michael Salnick, told USA Today that Haak disrobed after Janning asked him if there was something he wanted to do before retiring.

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In a statement to USA Today, Southwest Airlines said, Southwest Airlines takes all matters related to workplace conduct very seriously, with a well-defined policy and process for harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination, and retaliation claims.

Our corporate Culture is built upon treating others with mutual respect and dignity, and we plan to vigorously defend against allegations made in this recent complaint.

Related: NFL Player Sues United Airlines, Claims He Was Sexually Assaulted By Female Passenger
Samantha Lee/Insider

A woman (not pictured) discovered her fiance was cheating after she saw a NSFW photo on his phone. Crystal Cox/Insider

You don't have to trust your fiance right now, since he betrayed you and your trust.

Instead, see if you both want to redefine your relationship and sex life through honesty.

Work with a therapist, and practice understanding the difference between fear and intuition.

Have a question for Julia? Fill out this anonymous form. All questions will be published anonymously. You can read more Doing It Right here.

Dear Julia,

I recently learned my fiance is bisexual when I caught him cheating.

I picked up his cell phone to take to him in the bedroom, when a NSFW picture of him with a man he's been friends with for 30 years popped up on the screen. When I brought it up, he seemed reluctant to talk about it. When I pushed more, he finally told me he is bisexual.

He said he realized he liked men when another male friend approached him about oral sex. He also told me he likes to be dominant, while his friend is the submissive.

After listening, I told him I would accept their friendship, as long as he was honest with me about when they'd be meeting up. A few months later, I found out that they met up again, but my fiance never told me.

My struggle to trust him worsened a month later, when I saw several emails with erotic pictures and messages with men. There was also a woman who he was exchanging pictures and sexts with.

He told me the messages were fake, and a set up from his nephew's girlfriend to upset me. My fiance also said he can't have sex anymore because the doctor diagnosed him with erectile dysfunction, so I shouldn't worry about his affairs continuing.

He's tried Viagra and says he loves me, but still has no sex drive, besides asking for the occasional blow job.

What should I believe?

- Kansas

Dear Kansas,

It sounds like you've been betrayed by your fiance on more than one occasion. I'm sorry, and I want you to know it's normal to struggle with trust like you are right now.

It also seems to me that you care about your fiance and want things to work between you, as evidenced by your interest in understanding his bisexuality.

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Unfortunately, your will to build back trust isn't enough to change the situation, sex therapist and infidelity expert Tammy Nelson told me. She said you and your fiance must both show a commitment to redefining your relationship if you want it to be healthy.

"Part of healing from infidelity is being able to live in integrity, meaning you integrate all of the parts of you that have been hidden or split off," Nelson, author of "The New Monogamy: Redefining Your Relationship After Infidelity," told Insider.

For your relationship, that would include your fiance sharing more openly about his sexuality so you can rebuild an erotic life together, Nelson said. It also means trusting your intuition about the situation, and not confusing intuition with fear, she said.

Ask yourself if you can, and want to, create a new sex life with your fiance

Before you can move forward, there's a few questions you and your fiance should ask yourselves, according to Nelson.

She told me these questions can help a couple struggling with infidelity "integrate the meaning of what happened" into their future relationship so the same mistakes aren't repeated and trust can slowly be rebuilt:

How did this happen to us?

What does it mean about our relationship and about our sex life?

What does it mean about each of us individually and about us as a couple?

Can we have a vision of what marriage 2.0 would look like, and could we make that work for both of us?

Though your fiance's bisexuality isn't a betrayal in itself, his inability to be forthright with you about his desires led to the betrayal you experienced.

Talking about why he outsourced his sexual needs, and why he was unwilling to come to you first, could help you figure out what your sex life could look like moving forward, Nelson told me.

She gave the example of experimenting with threesomes or including other men in your sex life. You should also discuss everything from porn habits to flirting to emotional connections with other people so you're on the same page moving forward, according to Nelson.

Of course, reevaluating your sex life in such a drastic way takes time, communication, and lots of trust. That's why Nelson recommends working with a therapist to navigate this new stage of your life, if that's what you both choose.

Practice understanding the difference between intuition and fear

Instead of asking yourself if you can believe your fiance's story, you should figure out if you're being honest with yourself, Nelson said. And if your fiance wants this to work, he should do the same.

She said that people may lie to themselves  and as a result, the people they care about  to avoid difficult emotions.

But difficult emotions can be hints into what we really want or need, and they shouldn't be ignored to "save" someone else. That's why you should ask yourself, "Is this fear, or my intuition?" when you're in situations where you find yourself questioning your fiance.

"Fear is always looking for affirmation from the other person. Intuition is something you know in your gut. Intuition is the work that you do through meditation, therapy, and self-exploration because it's that little quiet voice inside that will always be truthful with you," Nelson said.

Trusting your intuition can be scary because it means accepting the reality of any given situation for what it is, and not what you want it to be. But it's also freeing to see things as they are, and know you have the power to decide if it's what you want, need, and deserve.

As Insider's resident sex and relationships reporter, Julia Naftulin is here to answer all of your questions about dating, love, and doing it  no question is too weird or taboo. Julia regularly consults a panel of health experts including relationship therapists, gynecologists, and urologists to get science-backed answers to your burning questions, with a personal twist.

Read the original article on Insider
Photo Illustration by Erin OFlynn/The Daily Beast/Getty

In the movies, first contact between humans and aliens usually ends in warbetween the humans and aliens. But in the real world, first contact is way more likely to end in war between humans and humans.

That was the conclusion of a groundbreaking study published two years ago, which helped launch an intensifying debate between two scientific camps. The first camp is pessimistic, and worries that first contact could have dire political consequences on Earth. The other, more optimistic group insists humanity could meet aliens for the first time and not go crazy over it.

Its not a purely theoretical debate. Theres a practicaland potentially very seriouspurpose behind the academic back-and-forth: to begin preparing politicians for the possibility of first contact, and try to get them to handle it like grown-ups.

We need to really make sure those of us in the field are prepared for success, and that policymakers and government officials understand how [the search for extraterrestrial intelligence] works and what has really been found, Jason Wright, a Penn State astronomer, told The Daily Beast.

Is Earth Being Pummeled by Derelict Alien Spacecraft?

Part of the urgency is fueled by the fact that theres a growing consensus in the scientific community that aliens are out there, somewhere, and first contact will happen, eventually.

Its basic math. There are a hundred thousand million stars in just our galaxy. And potentially hundreds of thousands of millions of planets. In our solar system alone there are several planets and moons besides Earth that have water and could, in theory, support life. Weve already discovered thousands of exoplanets in the Milky Way, many of which show early signs that they could potentially support life. With better instruments, were poised to find thousands upon thousands of more new worlds in our galaxythe odds that at least one is home to intelligent life is no longer so far-fetched.

These days, its not controversial for a scientist to believe in aliens. But believing first contact is imminent is still a fringe position. The universe is unfathomably vast. Our probes can reach only so far. Our radio receivers can only listen to a few nearby star systems.

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Even if we directly observed evidence of alien lifeextant or extinct, microbial or sentientwe might not recognize the evidence for what it is. Indeed, there are several scientists who credibly believe weve already observed aliens, but most are highly skeptical of such claims.

All that is to say, more and more scientists think its time to think through the political implications of first contact. In the event of contact, things will likely move very quickly, and we may not have the time to carefully vet our reasoning, Chelsea Haramia, a philosopher at Spring Hill College in Alabama, told The Daily Beast. It's better to do what we can nowand to recognize what we can't dowith the knowledge that we have.

When Kenneth Wisian and John Traphagan, respectively geophysicist and religious-studies experts at the University of Texas, studied the issue back in 2020, they came away more than a little worried.

Their main concern was that whichever country first makes contact with intelligent aliensby way of a probe or radio broadcast or some other meansmight suddenly become the most powerful country ever. Even if it wasnt very powerful before first contact.

Knowledge of alien technology, if wielded solely by one nation here on Earth, might enable it to dominate the world, Wisian and Traphagan wrote in their peer-reviewed study, published in the journal Space Policy. Controlling communication with an [extraterrestrial intelligence] could be the biggest prize ever in international competition.

And that prize could spark war, as the countries that didnt contact aliens scramble to find out where E.T. is and how they might start up their own interplanetary conservations. If the country that made contact doesnt voluntarily share the information, its rivals might try to force it out of them. To think anything else is to be rather naive, Traphagan told The Daily Beast.

It was an alarming assertion. But not every scientist on the E.T. beat agreed with it. A team led by Wright rebutted Wisian and Taphagan in a peer-reviewed study that appeared online on Sept. 29 and is also set for publication in Space Policy. Their main point is that the most likely method of contacting aliens is also the easiest and cheapest: radio.

Almost any country with satellite T.V. could use the same basic tech to listen to, and talk back to, aliens. There are an enormous number of radio dishes designed to communicate with Earth satellites that could easily be repurposed for such an effort, wrote Wright and his coauthors, including Haramia and NASA policy advisor Gabriel Swiney.

In a first-contact scenario involving an alien radio signal, theres no easy way for any one country to monopolize contact with E.T., Wrights team argued. And even if it were possible, theres not that much the country that made first contact could learn from the aliens that would disrupt the world order, Wright and company added.

So You Think You Found Aliens. Now What?

After all, weve already got nuclear weapons. And nukes trump everything. Strategic nuclear weapons already present destructive force far beyond what is practical for war, Wright and his coauthors wrote. Even more advanced weapons would be unlikely to destabilize the international system; a country possessing some alien weapons system would still be subject to nuclear deterrence.

Wisian and Traphagan took issue with some of Wrights teams assertions. If an alien radio signal is weak, it might take a very big and very expensive radio receiver to pick it up. The facility needed would be on the order of a major radio telescope, Wisian told The Daily Beast. These are limited in number, are not quick to build and are fixed locations.

In the case of a faint alien signal, a richer country perhaps could monopolize first contactat least temporarily. Again, that could mean war.

But Wright for one cautioned against assuming first contact would play out in predictable ways. If and when it happens, itll be unprecedented. The politics might defy expectations. One concern is that well reach for historical analogies or highly dramatized science fiction tropes that are actually totally inappropriate, he told The Daily Beast.

Our Efforts to Find Alien Life Have Gone Nowhere. This New Strategy Could Change That.

And in any event, both campsWisians and Wrightssaid they agree on the best solution to even the most dire first-contact scenario. Looking ahead to the possible day when aliens talk to us, we should start talking to each other.

Perhaps the most effective way to forestall our scenario is the formal and informal scientist information-sharing, Wright said. Protocols for instant sharing and storage of incoming data would ensure that at least detection, but not the ongoing messaging, would be widely known.

After all, if every country has access to all the potential alien signals, no one can go to war over them.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now.
Tribal nations representing hundreds of thousands of Oklahomas almost 4 million residents took the unprecedented step of endorsing the Democratic opponent of the states governor, a sign of how frayed the relationship between the Native population and the state has become.

The heads of the Cherokee, Muscogee (Creek), Choctaw, Chickasaw and Great Seminole Nations unveiled their endorsement of state Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister, the Democrat challenging Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt, at a news conference Tuesday in Oklahoma City. Though Native tribes in the state have been politically active to varying degrees before, this is the first time all of the so-called Five Tribes have jointly endorsed a gubernatorial candidate.

When it comes to working with the tribal nations in Oklahoma, she understands our sovereignty is not a partisan issue or a threat, but instead is a chance to forge new partnerships while strengthening those that already exist because Oklahomans thrive together when we all work together, the tribal leaders said in a joint statement.

The five nations that endorsed Hofmeister are the biggest in the state and among the largest in the nation, representing almost 800,000 people across the country. The Cherokees by themselves have more than 400,000 enrolled citizens. And according to the Census Bureau, of Oklahomas 3.9 million residents, about 9.7% claim Native ethnicity, and the figure is undoubtedly higher for mixed-race Natives.

She understands our sovereignty is not a partisan issue or a threat, but instead is a chance to forge new partnerships while strengthening those that already exist because Oklahomans thrive together when we all work together.Heads of the Cherokee, Muscogee (Creek), Choctaw, Chickasaw and Great Seminole Nations

Hofmeister, who switched parties to run for governor, has been surprisingly competitive in a state that has turned redder in recent years. Running on a campaign emphasizing her qualities as a unifier, Hofmeister has come out against charter schools and privatizing Oklahomas Medicaid program, and supports eliminating the sales tax on groceries.

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I will respect the inherent sovereignty of the tribes and not waste precious tax dollars fighting unwinnable court battles. Lets stop fighting in court and instead fight for each other, Hofmeister said at the endorsement news conference.

Hofmeisters longshot bid has been boosted as a series of scandals have hobbled Stitt.

The governor has been linked to the alleged misuse of state funds to install and operate a chain of restaurants in state parks, a charter school whose founders were later arrested, and a COVID-19 testing center that was slow to test for the omicron variant.

The attention drawn by the scandals have led many Oklahomans to believe corruption is rampant in the state, according to a recent poll.

Stitt, a member of the Cherokee Nation, has long had a contentious relationship with the states 39 Native tribes. He sought to renegotiate the states agreement with tribes regarding gambling revenue, which led to the tribes taking Oklahoma to federal court, where they won.

But the biggest bone of contention has been over a federal case, McGirt v. Oklahoma. In 2020, the Supreme Court found Congress neglected to formally dissolve the reservations of the major tribes, even though Oklahoma became a state incorporating their land in 1907.

Though the ruling was seen across Indian Country as a rare legal victory for Native sovereignty, it prohibited state prosecution of certain crimes involving Native residents, which Stitt objected to. Filing more cases to get another hearing at the U.S. Supreme Court, this time with a friendlier lineup of justices, Stitt won a reversal of the most significant part of the 2020 ruling.

I will respect the inherent sovereignty of the tribes and not waste precious tax dollars fighting unwinnable court battles. Let's stop fighting in court and instead fight for each other.Joy Hofmeister, Democratic candidate for governor in Oklahoma

Polls show the governors race narrowing after Stitt started with a large lead. One poll showed Stitt leading by only 3 percentage points in mid-September and another this month gave Hofmeister a 4-point lead. Oklahoma hasnt had a Democratic governor since Brad Henry held office from 2003 to 2011.

Stitts campaign, in a statement, said Stitt is proud to have the endorsement of a state police group as well as the support of thousands of tribal members across the state, because Gov. Stitt has delivered on his promises to turn deficits into surpluses, to deliver safe communities, to fund teachers and education at historic highs, all while cutting taxes for every Oklahoman.

Hofmeister has actively courted the tribes in her run. In a Twitter shoutout to National Indigenous Peoples Day on Monday, she said she honored the sovereignty, resilience and immense contributions of Native Americans.

Neither Stitts official governors Twitter account nor his campaign account noted the day.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
 Read the full article on Motorious

A contentious lawsuit could help shape the future

A $300 million dollar lawsuit filed by The Collection, a Miami-area dealership, against Porsche is raising some eyebrows. Its also exposing what some allege is serious abuse at the hands of certain automakers as they try to exercise more control over dealerships.

Learn about the $1.7 billion lawsuit Ford recently lost here.

Its alleged by The Collection that Porsche has tried forcing it into building a standalone dealership just for Porsche models. Currently, The Collection sells several premium brands under one roof in 350,000 square feet of retail space, not an unusual arrangement since quite a few six-digit vehicles are quite the niche offerings.

At the center of the legal argument is Florida franchise law which apparently prevent any automaker from requiring a dealership to accommodate demands for an exclusive facility. In other words, what The Collection alleges Porsche was pushing it to do violated state statute.

According to a report from Automotive News, the locations where Porsche wanted The Collection to establish a stand-alone Porsche dealership was far south of the dealers facility. In the court filing, the dealer says the areas are remote, suburban locations which would present relatively zero market for Porsches due to the local demographics. For those reasons, The Collection decided to not comply with the requests.

In response to the pushback, The Collection claims Porsche withheld its pool-car allocations from the dealership. However, Porsche claims pool cars constitute no more than 20 percent of inventory at a dealership and are 100 percent discretionary, so its decisions there werent discriminatory but instead reflect how it rewards dealers.

From there, its the dealership and automaker hurling accusations at each other about whos being fair and who wants the other party to do what. Porsche ultimately seems to think its no fair for The Collection to have a different arrangement than other dealers and The Collection believes its being illegally punished, as laid out in Florida state law.

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Ultimately, this is an interesting case which could have huge implications for how dealerships operate for some time. It might not be solved for some time, as these types of lawsuits can drag on for years, but well definitely be keeping tabs on the ultimate outcome.

Source: Automotive News

Photos via Facebook

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A Florida mother waiting to pick up her child from school was arrested after she threatened to beat up the principal and warned police she would blow up the school in response to receiving a traffic ticket.

Tiffanimarie Pirozzi, 29, was issued the citation outside a school in south Brevard County by a school resource officer on October 5. She was then given a trespass warning for causing a disruption, the Brevard County Sheriff's Office said.

The woman was told she would need to make arrangements to have someone else pick up her child from school, but she "didnt take too kindly to that," Sheriff Wayne Ivey wrote on Facebook.

She tossed the trespass warning out of her car window, called the school principal and threatened to "punch and beat her butt" if she was not given permission to pick up her child from school.

FLORIDA K-9 CAPTURES ALLEGED KIDNAPPER HIDING UNDER PILE OF LAUNDRY, GARBAGE

When Pirozzi realized her threat to the principal was unsuccessful, she decided to call 911 to see if the police would respond to her threat.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

"I need someone to meet me at the school and if someone dont help me get my child, I will blow this bitch up!" she told the dispatcher.

Following Pirozzi's threats, the school was forced into a lockdown until it was determined that she did not pose a risk to students or staff.

FLORIDA SHOOTING LEAVES 7 SHOT, 1 DEAD AT BAR AFTER FIGHT

"While I cant be sure about how the voting will go, I can tell you that I think there is like zero chance that Tiffanimarie Pirozzi is going to be voted Mother of the Year at her childs school, after she threatened to beat up the principal and then blow up the school itself!!" Ivey wrote.

Pirozzi was then taken into custody on a $22,500 bond and booked at the Brevard County Jail. She faces charges of fleeing and eluding police, operating a vehicle without a valid license, disturbing a school function and falsely reporting a bomb.

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She was released on Oct. 7 and is scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 8.

"Folks its real simple, our teachers and school staff have a hard enough job these days without having someone threaten to harm them or our schools!!" Ivey said. "There are mature ways to deal with something that you may not like, but threatening to harm a school administrator or the school itself is not going to be tolerated in Brevard County!!"
The choice of Republican Senator Ben Sasse as the new president of the University of Florida has sparked opposition from some student organizations at the sprawling central Florida campus.

Left-leaning organizations across the 50,000 student body began organizing protests against Sasse's hiring immediately following the announcement that Sasse was the sole finalist to become the university's president.

"We wholly reject UF's decision to proceed with Republican Senator Ben Sasse as the only finalist in UF's presidential search," The UF Young Democratic Socialist organization wrote in an Instagram post.

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA STUDENTS PROTEST, SAY REPUBLICAN SEN. BEN SASSES POSES THREAT AS PRESIDENT

"This selection does not reflect the diversity of our Gainesville and University of Florida community and blatantly harms of communities." The College Democrats wrote in a statement. "This only further illustrates how UF serves as a puppet for Tallahassee politics and Ron DeSantis."

Organizations like the College Democrats, Planned Parenthood Generation Action and the Alachua County Labor Coalition organized the protests during Sasse's open forums on Monday afternoon. Sasse scheduled three back-to-back open forumsone with faculty, one with students and a third with administration and staff.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

Sasse left the second student forum about 15 minutes early after approximately 300 protesters entered the ballroom where the event was taking place.

Protesters called Sasse homophobic and racist, calling out his conservative views on marriage.

Students held signs reading, "Get your Sasse out of our swamp" and chanted, "Ben Sasse has got to go."

SASSE EXPECTED TO RESIGN SENATE SEAT, LIKELY TO BE NEXT UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA PRESIDENT

The protests forced Sasses next forum, with staff and employees, to go online.

The University of Florida has not commented on Sasse's visit to the school or the student protests.
Audrey DuBose, center, marches with Bishop Jerome McCarry during the Ohio Families Unite Against Police Brutality march through Downtown on Friday. DuBoses son, Sam DuBose, was unarmed when he was shot and killed by white former University of Cincinnati Police Officer Ray Tensing during a 2015 traffic stop.

They wanted a seat at the table.

They walked in the streets.

They demanded change.

They waited.

Those words could describe the people who protested following the death of Breonna Taylor, an unarmed Black woman Louisville police officers shot to death while serving a no-knock search warrant at her apartment in 2020.

More:Breonna Taylor shooting: A minute-by-minute timeline of the events that led to her death

Not this time.

This time they describe shootings and subsequent protests that happened before Taylor was born, and again when she was 3 and when she was 5  all in a city where she didnt live: Cincinnati.

Between 1995 and 2001, Cincinnati police shot and killed 15 Black men.

Like Louisville, Cincinnati faced a Department of Justice investigation into its policing practices. But in response, Cincinnati created a first-of-its-kind police reform model that could help Louisville as it awaits the DOJ's report on its policing practices, including use of force and concerns about discriminatory policing.

The DOJ announced its investigation of Louisville Metro Police in April 2021, after Taylor's death and monthslong racial justice protests. Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said last month the DOJ report is expected in the "coming weeks."

The Cincinnati Police Department went through its investigation 21 years ago. The Department of Justice came in, reviewed policies and was about to hand down changes when a civil rights lawyer and a civil rights activist offered an invitation to the city and the Fraternal Order of Police to collaborate.

Instead of people from outside the community issuing a consent decree, the stakeholders of Cincinnati  the city, the FOP and the ACLU  hashed out their goals for police reform, creating the Cincinnati Collaborative Agreement. A federal judge oversaw the agreement, which initially focused on use of force and discriminatory policing but later became a proactive and transparent way for all sides to discuss needed changes and adjust local policies and procedures based on issues in other cities.

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The collaborative agreement, which ended in 2007 with the Cincinnati police department meeting 93% of the terms and conditions, is held up today as a gold standard for use of force and police accountability reform and is the only time the DOJ combined its agreement with a private one.

Louisville FOP President Dave Mutchler said he's interested in seeing if such a collaboration would be accepted today.

The FOP is "always interested in having a seat at the table that would be trying to solve a problem that affects everybody in the community," Mutchler said.

More:Are Department of Justice investigations a path to police reform or 'a war on cops'?

Raymond Burse, chair of legal redress for the NAACP Louisville Branch, said while on its face the agreement sounds good, the NAACP has questions about it.

"Our question is given that the police bill of rights is statutory in Kentucky  how agreeing to anything would in fact work when we have those kinds of prohibitions?" Burse said.

Jessica Wethington, director of communications for the Louisville mayor's office, said Fischer and his team "have worked with protest leaders, the FOP and community organizations on more than 150 ongoing changes" related to policing.

Usually when the DOJ finds systemic police misconduct, it negotiates a settlement with the city or county that lists specific remedies, which are included in a consent decree that a federal judge oversees.

In Cincinnati, it took a civil rights duo and another death of an unarmed Black man to pull off a different type of agreement.

More deaths and no progress

Essie Owensby, grandmother of Roger Owensby, Jr. (foreground photograph), reacts to the indictment of two Cincinnati police officers in her grandson's death while in police custody.

Two in 24.

Thats what the community calls the incident in Cincinnati when twounarmed Black men were killed in 24 hours.

The first death came on Nov. 7, 2000.

Roger Owensby Jr. served for eight years in the U.S. Army and died allegedly of asphyxiation from a chokehold of a Cincinnati Police officer.

The next day, Jeffrey Irons died in a scuffle with police.

Neither officer was charged.

Civil rights lawyer Al Gerhardstein was hired to represent several victims' families.

Al Gerhardstein

The Black community was just boiling, Gerhardstein recalled. They were tired of it. They couldnt understand why we made no progress with police violence against citizens, and yet there just wasnt any end in sight to feeling safe in our own community.

"When the Black community got really upset, there would be protests and then there would be violence, targeting the police. Then that would wake people up wearing the suits.

More:10 years and $100M later, DOJ-mandated police reforms still ongoing in this city

"They would call for a blue-ribbon panel, the blue-ribbon panel would have a couple business people on it, a couple ministers on it, maybe one or two Black business people as well. They would hold meetings that seemed designed to wait out the angst of the community.

And once people lost their fervor and their interest in the problem, the blue ribbon panel would come out with a set of recommendations.

Those recommendations were rarely implemented.

The Black community and police: 33 years of history

Iris Roley, a member of the Cincinnati Black United Front, holds the phone while Terry Thomas, Timothy Thomas's uncle, is on the line. Concerned Citizens for Justice and the Cincinnati Black United Front join to observe the 20th anniversary of the death of Timothy Thomas, Wednesday, April 7, 2021, at Washington Park and near the intersection of 13th and Republic streets in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood of Cincinnati. Thomas was 19 years old when he was shot on April 7, 2001 by a Cincinnati Police officer. The killing sparked several days protesting and civil unrest.

Shortly after the deaths of Owensby Jr. and Irons, Gerhardstein showed up at New Prospect Baptist Church in the Roselawn neighborhood, just north of downtown Cincinnati. He brought three white binders with him.

Iris Roley, then the program director for the Cincinnati Black United Front, a social justice collective, was floored by what Gerhardstein had inside those three-ring binders: 33 years of history between the Black community and the police and every blue-ribbon panel report.

Thirty-three years of trauma, of fights, Roley said. Thirteen different blue ribbon panels. Thirteen separate sets of promises that were broken. And not to give us what we needed to move forward, but just to appease.

Concerned Citizens for Justice and the Cincinnati Black United Front join to observe the 20th anniversary of the death of Timothy Thomas, Wednesday, April 7, 2021, at Washington Park and near the intersection of 13th and Republic streets in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood of Cincinnati. Thomas was 19 years old when he was shot on April 7, 2001 by a Cincinnati Police officer. The killing sparked several days protesting and civil unrest.

Families of those who had been killed had begged the DOJ to investigate Cincinnati police. Even the Sentinels, Cincinnati's Black officers' group, had requested a federal investigation nearly a year before the Two in 24. But they didn't come.

Instead, Gerhardstein worked with local attorneys Ken Lawson and Scott Greenwood who used those reports to draft a class-action lawsuit on behalf of the Cincinnati Black United Front and the ACLU.

It also cited ongoing evidence of racial profiling after a statistician reviewed all the traffic tickets issued in previous years for the number of Black people stopped and the locations, proving the disparity of traffic enforcement in Cincinnati.

When they filed the lawsuit, Gerhardstein extended an invitation to the city.

We invited the city and the FOP to join us in a community-wide collaboration," Gerhardstein said. "The only condition we put on this offer was whatever happens, its got to end with a court order. We don't want another blue ribbon panel. We don't want another handshake.

Then came the 15th death of an unarmed Black man: Timothy Thomas.

Cincinnati Police Officer David Hunter demonstrates how he saw fellow police officer Patrick Caton straddle a handcuffed Roger Owensby Jr. and repeatedly punch him while he was on the ground, during the 2001 trial of Officer Robert Jorg.

The city erupted. The mayor invited the Department of Justice to Cincinnati to investigate for civil rights violations.

This is where Cincinnati diverged from other cities whose police departments had a pattern or practice investigation by the Department of Justice. U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott merged Gerhardstein's racial profiling lawsuit with the DOJ investigation's findings.

Dlott presided over the negotiations as all sides came to four central terms:

Bias-free policing

Use of force reform, including less-lethal response

Accountability - including rapid response

Community problem-oriented policing

It was something that was forward thinking, Roley said of the agreement. That we can get out of this conundrum of being victimized and then the oppressor.

More:When the Department of Justice investigates police, here's how it works

The agreement changed the way Cincinnati police approach a scene. Every officer learns the SARA model: Scan, Analyze, Respond, Assess. It is meant to eliminate knee-jerk reactions.

"The essence of public safety is the public word," Gerhardstein said. "The metric for public safety is not arrest. ... In Cincy, we moved away from that as a goal or metric. We say, 'That is not our measure of your performance, but rather it's how well you solve problems.'"

The agreement also established a Citizens Complaint Authority, a unit independent of the police department. The unit's director is appointed by the city manager. The staff investigates the police department through local complaints. They have subpoena power. They make recommendations and findings within 90 days, which is before the police chief or the mayor decide on discipline.

The process isn't without challenges. The Citizens Complaint Authority have a case backlog that Roley and Gerhardstein are keeping a close eye on.

Changes came after Breonna Taylor's death

Even after the Cincinnati agreement ended, the groups continued to make changes.

Following Taylor's death, Cincinnati revised its policy on no-knock warrants, making it harder to enter a property without prior notification to confiscate drugs.

Drugs can be seized at any time," Roley said. "So we wanted to add additional provisions before that happened. We wanted to make sure that if you are doing a no-knock warrant, that it is in service to someone in need of help.

A mural of Breonna Taylor rests in Jefferson Square Park as protesters rally over the not guilty verdict of former Louisville Metro Police detective Brett Hankison.

That is the beauty of the agreement is being able to build a relationship enough to say, 'Hey, we need to look at this. Nothing happened in Cincinnati, but what happened in Louisville  that could happen in Cincinnati.'

In the last 21 years, Roley estimates the Cincinnati Collaborative Agreement has led to around 1,000 revisions of police policies.

If we could have done this work without the loss of life ... without all the chaos and the trauma," Roley said, "I would take it."

Stephanie Kuzydym is an enterprise reporter at The Courier Journal. Reach her at skuzydym@courier-journal, 513-445-2625 or on Twitter @stephkuzy.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: LMPD could follow this model to achieve police reform
NextShark

A 47-year-old Thai man is in critical condition after two Frenchmen assaulted him in an unprovoked attack caught on camera. According to Lakhana, Somkuan had said, That car is so beautiful, when will we get a car like this? They reportedly followed the Porsche to appreciate it for a bit longer before passing. The Porsche then allegedly began tailgating the couples motorbike and honked at them until they pulled to the side of the road in front of a grilled pork stall.
A former Los Angeles Angels baseball executive was sentenced to 22 years in prison Tuesday after he was convicted of providing fentanyl-laced pills that contributed to the death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs.

Eric Kay, 48, was convicted in February of distributing drugs leading to death and possession of drugs with intent to distribute in connection with the overdose of Skaggs, who was found dead in a Southlake, Texas, hotel room on July 1, 2019.

Kay, the former communications director of the Anaheim, California-based team, was eligible for a 20-year sentence, but life was also a possibility, according to federal prosecutors who took their case to U.S. District Court in Fort Worth.

He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Terry R. Means.

"We are very grateful to everyone who worked so hard to investigate and prosecute Eric Kay," Skaggs' family said in a statement. "Today's sentencing isn't about the number of years the defendant received. The real issue in this case is holding accountable the people who are distributing the deadly drug fentanyl."

Image: Tyler Skaggs (Mark J. Terrill / AP file)

In a written statement Tuesday the team said, "On behalf of the entire Angels Organization, our compassion goes out to the Skaggs family on this difficult day."

Cody L. Cofer, Kay's attorney, said Kay will appeal.

"Mr. Kay will immediately file his notice of appeal and continue to fight the allegations," he said by email. "This was a tragic circumstance. Our hearts break for Tyler Skaggs's family."

During sentencing proceedings, prosecutors presented jailhouse calls and emails in which Kay showed little remorse, mocked the deceased and his family and even criticized jurors appearance.

"I hope people realize what a piece of sh-- he is," prosecutors said Kay told his mother about Skaggs in a recorded call. "Well, hes dead, so f--- 'em."

Prosecutors alleged that he also called Skaggs' family "white trash" and that he said they were interested in the possibility that his death could create moneymaking publicity.

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"They may get more money with him dead than he was playing because he sucked," prosecutors quoted Kay as saying.

They also accused him of describing jurors as overweight and "sloppy, toothless, and unemployed.

Authorities said Kay's phone revealed that Skaggs had texted him the night before he died with a request that he drop by his room with pills.

The team was in the Dallas-Fort Worth region for a four-game series against the Texas Rangers, based in nearby Arlington.

Prosecutors said Kay told a witness he visited Skaggs that night. They said Kay dealt pills, including the "blue boys" that contributed to Skaggs' death, to multiple players at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.

Among the former Angels players who testified Kay sold pills were Matt Harvey, C.J. Cron, Mike Morin and Cameron Bedrosian.

In the hotel room where Skaggs was found dead, investigators found a blue pill determined to have been laced with the potent and often deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl, the office of the U.S. attorney for Northern Texas has said.

The pill included the stamping of the "blue boys" known to other players: "M/30."

The Tarrant County medical examiner's office determined that Skaggs had a mixture of ethanol, fentanyl and oxycodone in his system when he died. It said he choked to death on his vomit after an overdose.

The conclusion included a determination that "but for the fentanyl, Mr. Skaggs would not have died," the U.S. attorney's office said in 2020.

"One fentanyl pill can kill," U.S. Attorney Chad E. Meacham said in a statement. "Thats why our office is committed to holding to account anyone who deals in illicit opioids, whether they operate in back alleyways or world class stadiums.

He added, "Mr. Skaggs did not deserve to die this way. No one does."

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
The Daily Beast

Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov declared Tuesday that there is no need to maintain a diplomatic presence in western countries, in the latest sign that Russia may be toying with the idea of completely severing diplomatic ties with western countries as its war in Ukraine nears the nine month mark.There is neither point nor desire to maintain the previous presence in Western states. Our people work there in conditions that can hardly be called human, Lavrov said, acco
WEDNESDAY, 12 OCTOBER 2022, 12:24

Senior officers of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) in the occupied Oblasts of Ukraine have been provided with evacuation routes for them and their families to the territory of Russia.

Source: press service of National Resistance Center (NRC)

Details: Evacuation plans have been received by servicemen of the FSB in all temporarily occupied territories, particularly in Crimea, where a large number of officers are stationed. The families of puppet governors, so-called leaders of the districts, as well as top military leadership have already begun to leave the temporarily occupied territories.

The NRC has also urged the [Ukrainian] underground to take advantage of the panic among the occupation leadership and report on the movement of Russian equipment and military facilities.

Background: In September, Ukrainian Intelligence reported that the Russian occupiers were urgently evacuating their families from Crimea and southern Ukraine. Members of the FSB (Federal Security Service of Russia) were secretly trying to sell their residences in Crimea.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!




PR technology and business operations leader to accelerate Fullintels SaaS products, including Fullintel Hub and PredictiveAI

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. --News Direct-- Fullintel, LLC

Fullintel, a leading media monitoring and analysis services company specializing in human curation combined with powerful predictive intelligence, is pleased to announce it has appointed James Rubec its new Head of Product.

James Rubec joins Fullintel as Head of Product

A former senior director of product management and director of content and licensing management at Cision and Cision Canada, Rubec is an industry leader with a history of thought leadership and innovative data storytelling around how media influences the world around us.

Rubec has used data to predict elections, uncover societal trends, and improve internal business processes. His work has appeared in outlets such as The Financial Post, Yahoo Finance, Variety Magazine, and the CBC.

Helping communicators understand the media landscape and capitalize on opportunities

Rubec has now joined Fullintel to collaborate with clients to identify opportunities and use cases for PredictiveAI, Fullintels human-in-the-loop machine learning solution designed to predict the virality of media stories and social posts.

My goal is to help PR professionals tell more effective stories and help organizations take advantage of the predictive tooling that Fullintel has developed, says Rubec. By better understanding the landscape through PredictiveAI, communicators can identify an issue before it becomes a crisis or better identify stories that should be amplified to make them powerful promotional tools. Were taking PR past gut instinct and into data science.

Hell be focused on expanding the product roadmap for PredictiveAI, to make it an even more agile and flexible tool as part of the Fullintel Hub, Fullintels real-time media monitoring platform.

A history of using data to improve products and processes

Rubec got his start as a reporter in Ottawa, Ontario and Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, working as a PR professional in Toronto before transitioning to the media intelligence space nearly a decade ago. Since then hes primarily focused on building tools and processes to help organizations move faster, engage the media more efficiently, and better understand their industries.

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James has shown hes a leader who can motivate action through data, said Fullintel President Andrew Koeck. Hell work closely with our clients to evolve our software offerings and build a product roadmap to leverage our real-time monitoring and analysis tools, to provide insights and data never before available from any vendor.

Rubecs addition builds on Fullintels growing momentum in the PR measurement industry, culminating in the company winning Gold, Silver, and Bronze awards at the 2021 AMEC Awards for media measurement. His hiring follows Fullintels hiring of Angela Dwyer as Head of Insights, and the companys shortlisting for five 2022 AMEC Awards for outstanding media measurement.

Fullintel combines best-in-class technology with expert content curation to deliver the most relevant, cost optimized media monitoring, daily news briefs, and media analysis possible. Our analysts curate print, online, social media, broadcast, and influencer opinions in real time  compiled by technology, supplemented and verified by humans. Where technology alone fails, your dedicated analyst has you covered. Fullintel has offices in Cambridge, Mass., Ottawa, Ont., and Nagercoil, India.

Contact Details

Samuel Chen

+1 339-970-8005

schen@fullintel.com

Company Website

https://fullintel.com/

View source version on newsdirect.com: https://newsdirect.com/news/fullintel-appoints-james-rubec-as-head-of-product-326822857
Lifehacker

While I remain inconsolable in the wake of the recent passing of Dame Angela Lansbury, theres some solace to be taken in news that the actor, who never formally retired, will appear onscreen one final time in Rain Johnsons forthcoming Benoit Blanc caper Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, which is getting a limited theatrical release ahead of its debut on Netflix in December. Joining her, appropriately enough, will be the late Stephen Sondheim, who also filmed a cameo (Sondheim, of course, gave
Republican divisions on foreign policy and aid could become more consequential if Republicans win control of the House in the midterm elections, creating a rockier road for future humanitarian or military assistance to Ukraine.

The GOP is widely projected to win control of the lower chamber in this years elections, which would give the America First wing of the party that is resistant to foreign intervention a larger voice and potentially more power.

Uncertainty remains about the course of the war and how much more aid Ukraine will request from the U.S., but many expect the issue to come up again at some point. Republicans have been broadly supportive of Ukraine, but questions over everything from how the aid is being used to whether nonmilitary aid is warranted have spanned from the partys fringes to the conservative mainstream.

Unless Russia decides to pack up and head home, I suspect that there are going to be continued requests, Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, said.

We all want to help. At the same time, you know, weve got problems in our own country that remain unresolved, and we have no idea what the administrations plan is. Like, whats the end state? Where are we headed? Perry said. Are our tax dollars being used wisely?

In May, 11 Republican senators and 57 House Republicans  a quarter of the House Republican Conference  opposed a $40 billion security supplemental for Ukraine.

The loudest criticism to Ukrainian funding has come from the outspoken right flank of the conference. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) tweeted last month that President Biden needs to understand that we are the USA not the US-ATM, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has been against every ounce of spending to Ukraine.

In a break from some past hawkish tendencies, Heritage Action, the advocacy arm of the conservative Heritage Foundation, came out against the $40 billion May package.

Ukraine Aid Package Puts America Last, the Heritage Action statements title read, arguing that the spending was reckless, without any accountability and diverted funds away from other priorities like the U.S.-Mexico border and crime.

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Garrett Bess, vice president of Heritage Action, said that the groups position is not necessarily that the U.S. should not send any aid.

I mean, when does this end? Bess said. If Ukraine and Russia keep up a conflict for two, three, four years, are we going to be expected to send $50 billion a quarter to keep the conflict going?

Asked about Heritage Actions opposition to the aid package in a press conference last month, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) noted a sense among Republicans of wanting more accountability.

I think what youre seeing is there are a lot of members that want to see more accountability in the Department of Defense and more of a focus on the threats that are out there, Scalise said.

He did not commit to keeping the same level of financial support for Ukraine in the future.

Concerned Veterans of America, which is part of the network funded by billionaire conservative donor Charles Koch, has also been wary of U.S. aid to Ukraine. A September poll sponsored by the group found that 54 percent of Americans said the U.S. should only provide aid to Ukraine if Europeans match that support.

John Byrnes, deputy director of Concerned Veterans for America, criticized the quality of care from the Department of Veterans Affairs and said his group would welcome a new Congress with a majority that would focus on Americas veterans, rather than on supporting a war abroad.

Polls find majorities of Americans supportive of the U.S. providing weapons to Ukraine, with an Oct. 4-5 poll from Ipsos finding 66 percent support for providing weapons and 59 percent support for providing financial aid.

But a Pew Research survey last month found that support among Republicans for providing U.S. support to Ukraine has diminished. In March, 9 percent of Republican and Republican-leaning adults said the U.S. was providing too much support to Ukraine. That shot up to 32 percent in September.

Varying critiques of aid have come across the House GOP spectrum.

Another $12.3 billion in aid was tacked on to a stopgap government funding bill that passed in September, and all but 10 House Republicans opposed it mostly due to being locked out of negotiations and because the funding only lasted until December.

The Republican Study Committee, the largest conservative caucus in the House, critiqued the Ukraine funding supplemental portion by saying that most of the $12.2 billion to Ukraine was for humanitarian aid rather than military aid.

Heritage Actions position surprised Luke Coffey, a senior fellow analyzing national security at the conservative Hudson Institute who had then been at the Heritage Foundation for a decade and was arguing in favor of funding to Ukraine.

I think that theres a very small but vocal segment of the Republican Party who take these more isolationist, restraint views on U.S. engagement in the world, Coffey said. We have to be a little more sophisticated in our approach to foreign policy.

One of the ironies here is that Trump was the first president to finally give Javelin weapons to Ukraine. And in the case of Georgia, another country that Russia partially occupies, he gave Stingers and Javelin missiles, Coffey said He did something in eight months that Obama wouldnt do in eight years.

A Georgian friend, Coffey said, remarked at the time that Trumps willingness to give weapons to partners rather than aiming to engage with adversaries like Iran and Russia was an expression of America First foreign policy.

Those who are calling for us to just narrowly give military support failed to see the bigger picture of the crisis in Ukraine, Coffey said. We have to want Ukraine to win more than we hope Russia will lose.

House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) has also called on the Biden administration to finally provide longer-range artillery to Ukraine and for allies to transfer additional systems to Ukraine.

Asked if he expected House GOP leadership in a majority to adequately address concerns about keeping any aid accountable, Perry said: They better.  Thats why its called leadership.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said in a statement that there is strategic value for the U.S. to stand with allies, but that it should do so responsibly and have a robust debate on U.S. strategy in the country.

Its indefensible for the Biden administration to ask for never-ending billion-dollar blank checks to Ukraine, while the American people struggle with sky-high inflation, and the national debt surpasses $31 trillion. Too many of my colleagues  even on my side of the aisle  are willing to green-light more unpaid-for spending without rigorous oversight or accountability so they can sport a blue and yellow lapel pin, Roy said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The G7 and IMF pledged their steadfast financial support to Ukraine on Wednesday as the country reels from Russian missile strikes and needs billions of dollars in monthly aid.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared by video link to urge more aid at a finance ministers gathering in Washington for the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, just days after Russia's missile salvo on Kyiv and other cities.

"We can see that Russian terror attacks can be intensified," Zelensky said through an interpreter to the meeting dedicated to supporting Ukraine.

"So we need to intensify our collaboration for assistance in a symmetric way to rebuild what was destroyed and to guarantee the financial stability of our state," he said, adding that Kyiv faces a $38 billion budget hole next year.

IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said Ukraine's financing needs in 2023 will range between $3 billion and $4 billion a month.

She said that at the request of Zelensky, the IMF would create the Ukraine Economic Forum to share information and clarify the country's financing needs.

"We are moving with you in the direction of a strong Ukraine," she said.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said meeting Ukraine's needs "will require a unified and coordinated effort."

"But together, the G7, the international financial institutions, and all of Ukraine's partners can help Ukraine win this war and rebuild to become the prosperous and secure democracy that the Ukrainian people have fought so hard for," she said.

The United States has provided $65 billion in aid, including military equipment to Kyiv since February.

- 'Stand with Ukraine' -

Earlier, Yellen and other finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven wealthy democracies held their own talks about Russia's war in Ukraine.

"We urge Russia to immediately end its unjust and brutal war," they said in a statement.

"The G7 will continue to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes and remain strongly committed to supporting Ukraine's urgent short-term financing needs," the statement added.

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The G7 also discussed its efforts to impose a price cap on Russia oil in a bid to deny the country a key source of funding for its war and contain soaring energy prices.

The group -- which includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States -- said it had made "significant progress on all key aspects" of the proposal, but they did not give any details.

The G7 welcomed Australia's addition to the coalition. One of the challenges the G7 faces is rallying countries around the world behind the idea of a price cap.

- Putin warning -

Hours earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin lashed out at the proposal, which the United States has pushed and the EU supports pending details from the G7.

"With their cavalier decisions, some Western politicians are destroying the global market economy and are in fact posing a threat to the well-being of billions of people," Putin told an energy forum in Moscow.

Moscow has warned that it would cut off oil supplies to countries that impose such a cap.

Officials have yet to say at what level the cap would be set, but they have said that it would remain above the cost of production so that Russia would still have an incentive to supply importing countries.

lth/bys/bfm
Germany flatly rejected an offer from Russian President Vladimir Putin to renew exports of natural gas through the Nord Stream 2 pipeline Wednesday.

Putin's offer comes as Russia is limiting exports of oil and gas to Europe in response to weighty sanctions from NATO countries over the invasion of Ukraine. Germany pointed to Russia's limiting of natural gas supplies through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline in its response, saying Russia is not a "reliable" supplier.

"Nice try," government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann told reporters of Putin's offer. "Independently of the possible sabotage of the two pipelines, we have seen that Russia is no longer a reliable energy supplier, and that even before the damage to Nord Stream 1 there was no longer any gas flowing."

"So for us, there is no reason to believe that that would change," she added.

TO COUNTER RUSSIA, AUSTIN PLEDGES INDEFINITE US SUPPORT FOR UKRAINE THROUGH 'ALL SEASONS'

Danish Defense shows the gas leaking at Nord Stream 2 seen from the Danish F-16 interceptor on Bornholm, Denmark on September 27, 2022. (Photo by Danish Defence/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Putin maintains that the September sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines was an "an act of international terrorism" aimed at driving a rift between Russia and the EU.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

NORD STREAM PIPELINE BLASTS WERE LIKELY FROM EXPLOSIONS, NOT EARTHQUAKES, SEISMOLOGIST SAYS

"The act of sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 is an act of international terrorism aimed at undermining energy security of the entire continent by blocking supplies of cheap energy," Putin said Wednesday. "Those who want to rupture ties between Russia and the EU are behind the acts of sabotage on the Nord Stream."

Neither of the Nord Stream pipelines were operating when the sabotage occurred last month. Four explosions rocked the pipes snaking across the bottom of the Baltic Sea. Two explosions were in Swedish waters and two others in Danish waters. Each pipeline was struck twice.

The Nord Stream 2 pipeline has never entered operation, thanks to Germany refusing to certify its completion. Russia had cut off transport of natural gas through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline in the months prior. Russia now only transports gas to Europe through land pipelines that lie across Ukraine.

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CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Germany, Sweden, NATO and others have opened investigations into the sabotage, but they have yet to conclude.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Oct. 11DICKSON CITY  A longtime family-owned car dealership is changing hands. Now a new family plans to continue the mission.

Gibbons Ford, a staple in the borough for more than 70 years, will soon be operating under new ownership, dealer principal John Grow said Tuesday.

After a nationwide search, conducted by a broker, Grow agreed to sell the business to Rhode Island-based Tasca Automotive Group.

Grow, 66, has been associated with the family-owned business for 33 years, including about 20 as owner, and felt it was time to "walk off into the sunset" after finding the right buyer.

"I had very specific criteria," he said. "I wanted a family-owned dealership with the same values we have and is financially sound enough to continue to make progressive investments in this place. They are exactly what we are  customer and employee friendly. I've known the family for 40 years."

Grow expects the sale to be finalized around Thanksgiving. He did not disclose the price, citing a confidentially agreement with Tasca.

Tasca is expected to keep the Gibbons name associated with the dealership in some form after the sale, Grow said.

"They understand the reputation we have and the name recognition within Pennsylvania," he said.

Grow's father-in-law, Martin Gibbons, started the business out of an old gas station at 704 Boulevard Ave. in Dickson City in 1949. The business also operated at 950 Main St., Dickson City, before relocating to its current location on Martin F. Gibbons Boulevard six years ago.

"We're one of the largest new image Ford dealerships in the state and that's like the cherry on top of the sundae," Grow said.

Grow credits the camaraderie among all employees for fostering a positive working experience over the years.

"Every employee in this place have become friends," he said. "It's so much easier to work under that umbrella."

Grow noted his two daughters, Casey Medeiros and Kate Brindza, and son-in-law, Kurtis Medeiros, work for the dealership, which made it harder to step away.

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"They all came up in the business  washing cars, answering phones, mopping floors," he said.

Bob Tasca, part-owner of Tasca Automotive Group, said his family is looking forward to establishing their first dealership in Pennsylvania.

"When we visited John's location, we were blown away with the attention to detail and the caliber of his team," he said. "It's exciting for us to be able to carry on the legacy that John and the Gibbons family started many years ago."

Tasca added each current employee will be given the opportunity to retain their job following the sale.

The current general manager of Gibbons Ford, Darryl Jayne, will be appointed dealer principal following completion of the sale, Grow said.

Dickson City Borough Manager Cesare Forconi was sad to learn of the sale of the longtime business.

"They've pretty much been the face of the borough because they were here a lot longer than the Viewmont Mall and all the other businesses," he said. "I'm disappointed they're selling because they were such a great fixture in the community. They've always been a good partner  we've purchased vehicles from them for the borough."

Contact the writer: rtomkavage@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9131; @rtomkavage on Twitter.
A sign outside a currency-exchange shop in London on Sept. 23. The pound has gained since then but still hovers at about $1.10. (Kirsty Wigglesworth / Associated Press)

When Julian Asher moved from New York to London 16 years ago to work as a management consultant, his six-figure salary stopped going so far. The British pound, worth twice as much as the dollar, was at a historic high.

It was close to $25 for a quick lunch at his local sandwich shop, Asher said. I was mentally doubling every cost in my head.

So as the pound came tumbling down in recent weeks, Asher kept a close eye on exchange rates  and eventually transferred $20,000 from his U.S. savings account to his U.K. bank at a near-equal exchange rate to fund an extensive kitchen renovation he had long put off.

The pound, long one of the worlds strongest currencies, a source of pride for Brits and one of distress for tourists and newly arrived immigrants, is today a shell of its former self. Since hitting an all-time low last month of 1 pound to $1.03, its made little recovery and hovers around $1.10, one of its lowest values in decades.

As the Guardian newspaper recently put it, the British jewel has lost its shine.

The tarnishing started in earnest six years ago when Britain voted to leave the European Union. Its currency has steadily declined as markets question the economic wisdom of the decision, which has made once-near-seamless trade with neighboring countries costly and complicated. The pound was worth $1.44 before the Brexit referendum in June 2016. Its lost about a quarter of its value since.

Then came the pandemic  Britain is the only nation among the Group of 7 industrialized democracies whose economy has not recovered to pre-pandemic levels  and now there are the policies of the new British government.

After replacing Boris Johnson as leader last month, Conservative Prime Minister Liz Truss vowed to cut tens of billions of dollars in taxes  including for the richest earners  but failed to spell out how Britain would recoup the lost revenue. That sent investors fleeing the pound in droves and the currency plummeting to its historic low before an extraordinary intervention by the Bank of England helped stabilize it.

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A strong dollar across the board  spurred by a U.S. Federal Reserve hike of interest rates to combat inflation  has only made things worse. The greenback has also hit highs against the euro, the Japanese yen and the Chinese renminbi as investors seek a safe haven amid the global political and economic turmoil resulting from Russias war in Ukraine.

In the U.K., which is struggling with a cost-of-living crisis and staring at a dark winter of record fuel costs, the multiple blows have led to predictions of a recession. Some economists say the country has already entered one; new figures Wednesday showed that the British economy contracted by 0.3% in August.

But for many of the 166,000 Americans who call the U.K. home, along with the 4 million who visit each year, the switch in currency fortunes has changed the calculus of life and travel abroad in a positive direction.

Its a rare chance to actually be on the better side of the money equation as an American in London, said Asher, 48, who grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and today runs a luxury travel company. He considers himself lucky: Many of his clients pay in dollars, and he owns an investment property in the San Francisco Bay Area that he rents out in dollars.

For Emily Ashleigh, an American visiting the British capital, the incredibly shrinking pound has also been a boon.

I had budgeted $2,000 for a few days between the hotel, eating out and shopping, said Ashleigh, 27, who traveled from Arizona with friends and strolled last week along Oxford Street, a major shopping destination lined with souvenir shops, department stores and global outlets like Uniqlo, the Disney Store and Adidas. But that was a few months ago when I was planning, and the pound was worth more. Now, instead of one drink out at a restaurant, I can get two.

Shoppers pass a souvenir shop on London's Oxford Street in April. (Kirsty Wigglesworth / Associated Press)

The situation is reversed for her British friend Beatriz Gonzalez, who will be touring New York and the West Coast in January and is already dreading the costs.

I booked a boutique hotel in Tribeca, which is something I can afford for a few days when the pound is doing better, said Gonzalez, who works in finance.

I do not anticipate the pound going anywhere positive. So I changed my booking to the Holiday Inn.

Justin Yoo, an American who has lived off and on in London since first arriving as a student in 1994  when the pound was around $1.50  said its drop in value made him feel almost a little ripped off.

Ive been in multiple graduate programs in London, and its always felt like it costs so much to pay your student loans as an American because the tuition would sometimes be twice the amount when you converted it to dollars, said Yoo, a doctoral candidate in Egyptology at University College London. Students coming in today, meanwhile, are getting a deal, and Im happy for them.

I feel bad for British people, who are the ones really struggling, Yoo added. At least I have an academic editing job that pays me in dollars, so I can get by.

The plunging pound is a blow to the U.K.s prestige as well as its pocketbook. The pound is inextricably bound up in British identity; when the country belonged to the EU, it demanded  and received  an exemption from having to adopt the euro. But the currencys poor performance of late has dented the sense of British superiority.

The pound has been part of a wider understanding of Britains power and sense of self, said David Cobham, an economics professor at Heriot-Watt University in Scotland who studies monetary policy. But what is happening is that the chickens are coming home to roost because of economic decisions over the years.

Ahead of the busy travel season including Thanksgiving and Christmas, the pinched pound is already on the mind of Suki Fuller, an American whose job in London as an intelligence advisor pays her in pounds.

Going back to the U.S. used to always be about two things for me: seeing family and shopping, said Fuller, 50, who has lived abroad for much of her adult life. Id go to T.J. Maxx, Marshalls and Macys because the selection was better than in London, and it would seem like a steal with the conversion rate since Id get paid in pounds. Not anymore.

Afeef Ahmed, an Amazon worker who moved from the Bay Area to London last year and who also earns in pounds, is now rethinking travel back to the U.S. in favor of shorter-haul trips on a tighter budget.

Ahmed, 34, said he and his wife sometimes joke that we came to the U.K. during its downfall.

Its not just the economic downfall and Boris Johnson getting kicked out, but the queen dying, it hitting 104 degrees over the past summer. I think we are probably well past peak U.K., said Ahmed. Maybe by the end of my lifetime the U.K. will be more like a Second World country.





This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
It appears that not only are non-Black people the culprits of freely using the N-word but so are technology devices.







What Happened?

Out of curiosity, TikToker @ohgustie tested her Google Home Mini speaker to confirm whether or not the word would be bleeped. To her appall, the device said it explicitly back to her following her requesting it to play Jay-Z and Kanye Wests N-ggas in Paris.

Listen in to the Google Home:

Further exploring her theory of what is considered a bad word to Googles tech, she also asked the device to play Doja Cats Aint Sh-t and A$AP Rockys F-ckin Problems in which the voice censored the curse words.







The TikTokers reaction:

Someone come get this woman. Someone come get this white woman in my house saying n-gga, she exclaimed in the TikTok.







Following the video going viral, Google made changes so that its Google Home device would no longer say the N-word aloud.

We are deeply sorry for the pain caused by Assistants use of this word, a Google spokesperson shared in an exclusive statement with AfroTech. Every day were working to build an Assistant for everyone  one that is representative of all our users. Weve implemented an immediate update and remain committed to providing users with an experience that is inclusive and safe.

Confirmation of the update:

Although an apology  along with action  was given, Google didnt disclose what went into the decision-making of what is considered explicit language and what is not.

Whats more, considering that the device has been out since around 2016 and Google has over 100,000 employees, one has to raise their eyebrows. Is it truly possible that no one on the team caught that in order to take action?

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The fact that they changed it, thats great, the TikToker  whose name is Shay  told Gizmodo. But its still surprising it was an issue at all.

TikToks Debate:

After calling Google out, Shay was met by users in the comment section who had opposing views of the matter.

So many people find it funny, and its pretty hilarious, but a lot of other people were pretty bothered, she said.

She continued: A lot of people were pretty upset with me for making it a big deal, which I wasnt.

Additionally, Shay made a note to the outlet that a group of users in the comments said that the N-word didnt need to be censored.

A lot of white people came out and exposed themselves, she added, according to reports.
CLARENCE, N.Y. (AP)  After back-to-back mass shootings last spring, including one that killed 10 people at a supermarket not far from his suburban Buffalo home, Republican U.S. Rep. Chris Jacobs made a decision.

If an assault weapons ban came to the House floor, he would support it, he told voters in his conservative congressional district.

I could have said nothing, said Jacobs. Silence would have allowed him to cruise through the Republican primary. But after 31 deaths in 10 days, including the slaying of 19 children at a school in Uvalde, Texas, he felt he had an obligation to take a public stance.

Having two young children, it just really  you have a different perspective when, you know, thinking about going home to your kids when those 19 children perished, Jacobs said.

A week later came another decision. With Republicans withdrawing their support for him in droves, Jacobs announced he would not seek reelection.

The expiration of his career is another sign of the polarization that is ever-growing in a Congress where, as Jacobs said, If you stray from a party position, you are annihilated.

Theres a lot of single-issue voters in the Republican Party on this issue, and on the other side, abortion, he said in an interview with The Associated Press.

The idea of big tents for parties, I think, is very important. And right now its very strident both ways, and I just dont think thats good," he said. "The polarized nature is why you see a lot of frustrated members of Congress and not enough is getting done."

But if there is regret for the decision that abruptly halted his political career, it doesnt show. On his way out of Congress, the Republican serving his first full term has doubled down on his support for the regulation of certain high-powered firearms, proposing a licensing regimen for people who want to buy them.

Ninety-nine percent of people are very responsible gun owners. Unfortunately, saying its only 1% (who are not) gives no solace to someone who lost somebody senselessly in Buffalo or in one of these mass shootings, Jacobs said.

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His Federal Assault Weapons Licensing Act would require people to take a safety course, pass an FBI background check and submit fingerprints before buying a "semi-automatic assault weapon." There are exemptions, including for current owners, active duty military and law enforcement officers.

The steps would be similar to those required for the thousands of pistol permits Jacobs issued during five years as Erie County clerk, a process he considers a reasonable balance between Second Amendment protections and responsible ownership.

Many of Jacobs former supporters see his position as a betrayal.

Its just not really tolerable, said the states Conservative Party chair, Gerard Kassar.

"In terms of single issues, the Second Amendment in parts of upstate New York ... is a very, very significant single issue and represents more than just the issue of guns, Kassar said. It represents the issue of freedom, represents an issue of constitutionalists. It represents the position of libertarians.

Donald Trump Jr. tweeted that Jacobs had caved to the gun-grabbers.

Jacobs' reputation as a moderate has, until now, worked to his advantage. He was the first Republican to be elected Erie County Clerk in 40 years and gained acceptance on the school board in the heavily Democratic county seat of Buffalo.

He was serving in the state Senate when, with the endorsement of President Donald Trump, he won a special election to Congress in June 2020.

In Congress, Jacobs was endorsed by the National Rifle Association, voted against impeaching Trump and has strongly advocated for completion of the wall begun by the former president along the southern border.

But his break with the party on guns began when an 18-year-old shooter killed 10 Black people and wounded three victims at a Tops Friendly Market near where his real estate development business is based.

It was profound to all of us, said Jacobs, a member of a prominent Buffalo family. His uncle is Jeremy Jacobs, the billionaire owner of the Boston Bruins and chair of concessions giant Delaware North.

Two weeks later, another 18-year-old with a similar weapon opened fire at the elementary school in Uvalde, killing 19 students and two teachers. This time, Jacobs' thoughts turned to his own children, one 3 and the other less than a year old.

When the House in July voted to ban certain semi-automatic guns for the first time since 2004, he was one of two Republicans to support the proposal, which had little chance in the U.S. Senate.

If Jacobs had decided to run for reelection, he would have been campaigning in a newly drawn district that was even more conservative than the one he now represents in the suburbs and rural areas around Buffalo.

The new territory would have included six new mostly rural counties along the Pennsylvania border in which he is largely unknown.

Clearly if I ran  and I thought I could have pulled it off  but I thought the NRA, it would have been outside money galore and I just didnt think that was good for the district or the party," Jacobs said, and I just decided it was not right to do.

The states Republican committee chair, Nick Langworthy, ultimately won the primary in the new district and will be the prohibitive favorite against Democrat Max Della Pia in November. Langworthy stepped in after saying he was caught by surprise by Jacobs support for a ban on semi-automatic firearms.

I think everybody was caught very flat-footed by his adopting the Democrat position on gun control, he said at the time.

If elected, Langworthy would not support an assault weapons ban or any other legislation that limits the constitutional rights of law-abiding Americans and has been proven ineffective, his campaign spokesperson, Chris Grant, said in a statement Tuesday to the AP.

Andrea Nikischer, who co-founded a progressive group in Jacobs current district, has long criticized the Republican over his politics and pro-Trump votes. Nevertheless, she was disappointed by his decision to leave office after shifting his stance on guns.

Im sorry he didnt run, she said. I think it would have been a very meaningful discourse, and he could have pushed his party in a more positive direction. The power of incumbency is strong, and I wish he had used that power to push this discussion in his own party further.

Jacobs has not yet found support for his assault weapons licensing proposal and doesn't expect to see it emerge with the election just weeks away.

But he said he's hopeful more support might emerge after November.

Im going to put this forward," he said, and I hope somebody grabs it.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)  As unions see new hope from organizing U.S. businesses ranging from Starbucks storefronts to an Amazon warehouse, Republican-led Tennessee will officially take its voters' temperature on an organized labor issue in November.

Lawmakers there have offered up a ballot amendment that asks voters whether to change the state constitution to add Tennessee's existing law that bans a company and a union from contracts that require workers to pay dues to the union representing them. Proponents, including business interests and Republican politicians, call the prohibitions right-to-work law. Unions oppose the change and the right-to-work label.

Tennessee has had such a law on the books since 1947, and the ballot amendment's outcome wouldn't change how the existing law works. It would simply become harder to eliminate it going forward.

The amendment's wording won't be as straightforward as some other ballot initiatives, including an anti-abortion proposal that failed in Kansas earlier this year. That gives proponents and opponents more power over characterizing Tennessee's proposed change.

The long road to insert it into the Tennessee Constitution began in 2020, largely predating the recent national groundswell of interest in unions. Backers of the amendment have cited concerns about attempts by congressional Democrats to pass a labor bill that would bar such laws nationwide. It has passed the House but not the Senate. They also have raised concerns that Democratic-run states could try to unwind so-called right-to-work laws.

The amendment will offer a rare snapshot this November of voter sentiment on a flashpoint in the debate between union and business interests, even if the election's outcome won't change much. Democratic-led Illinois has proposed a labor-favored amendment, asking voters to etch collective bargaining rights into the state constitution.

Business groups have described Tennessee's current requirements as a crucial economic development tool to entice business to move or expand, and the state's Republican political leadership supports the amendment. Unions believe these laws are aimed at crippling their efforts to organize and fight for better compensation and conditions by siphoning off funding from workers. Under federal law, unions must represent all eligible workers in a union-represented workplace unit even if they aren't dues-paying members.

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I think if it were not successful, or even if it was a close vote, it would be actually pretty stunning," said John Logan, director of labor and employment studies at San Francisco State University. "It would suggest that, yeah, there is this sort of national, more pro-union, pro-labor sentiment than is reflected in terms of political establishment in a lot of states in the South.

Currently, 27 states have laws like Tennessee's; nine have them in their constitutions.

But recent results have been mixed when voters weigh in. Virginia voters rejected a similar constitutional change in 2016, while Missouri voters effectively vetoed a right-to-work law in 2018. Alabama voters approved its constitutional change in 2016.

Interest in organized labor has been galvanized for several reasons, Logan said: high favorability among younger workers; workers who faced difficult conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic; and workforce shortfalls that have empowered workers.

Even so, Tennessee poses a formidable challenge.

Some Tennessee GOP politicians, including Lee, have even previously waded in against individual union campaigns at employers, including the failed 2019 vote at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga.

What were doing right now in Tennessee is working. Right-to-work is common sense. And with federal efforts to repeal it nationwide, its time for Tennesseans to speak up," Lee said in a TV ad.

Predictably, unions see things differently.

Corporate CEOs see workers at places like Amazon and Starbucks rising up around the country and so they want to put these anti-worker laws in the constitution to make them almost impossible to change in the future, Wes Trotterchaud, a Teamster from East Tennessee, said in a news release from the No on 1 Committee.

They also see reasons for hope in Tennessee.

For one, a massive Ford plant and corresponding electric vehicle battery plant by SK Innovation are heading to West Tennessee. Politicians, Ford officials and union leaders say it'll be up to the workers whether to organize, but Michigan-based Ford has deep roots with organized labor.

Even though some Republicans pushed to bar a simpler route to a successful union vote at the new complex  or at least at companies similarly receiving state incentives  those efforts failed. Ford has avoided taking sides on Tennessee's proposed amendment.

The smaller-scale union pushes seen nationally also have drawn attention in Tennessee. Among them  about a half-dozen Starbucks coffee shops have organized, including in Memphis and Knoxville.

Union membership has lagged behind in Tennessee, at only about half the national average of 10.3% of the workforce in 2021. But while the national percentage decreased from 2020 to 2021, Tennessee's share grew from 4.4% to 5.2%.
Gov. Roy Cooper is speaking up after a bus carrying students from a historically Black university in Raleigh was reportedly stopped by law enforcement officers in South Carolina.

On Monday, Shaw University President Paulette Dillard released a statement describing an unfair and unjust encounter several Shaw students had while traveling to a conference in Atlanta.

Dillard said the bus, which was carrying 18 students and two advisers, was stopped in Spartanburg County for a minor traffic violation.

Officers then boarded the bus and began using drug-sniffing dogs to search the students and advisers belongings. No illegal items were found, Dillard said.

I firmly believe had the bus been occupied by white students, they would not have been detained, she said.

On Tuesday, Gov. Cooper referred to the encounter through a spokesperson, in comments first reported by WRAL.

The Governor shares the deep concern of Shaw University leaders about the treatment and safety of their students and has asked North Carolina Public Safety officials to discuss this matter with South Carolina law enforcement officials and express that concern, Press Secretary Sam Chan said.

In her statement, Dillard likened the event to racist police violence in the 1950s and 60s.

Armed police, interrogating innocent Black students, conducting searches without probable cause and blood-thirsty dogs. Its hard to imagine. Yet, it happened to the Shaw University community, and it is happening throughout this nation in alarming fashion. It must be stopped, Dillard said.

Operation Rolling Thunder

Scottie Kay Blackwell, a spokesperson for Spartanburg County, said nearly 1,000 stops were made last week as part of the departments annual Operation Rolling Thunder, a blitz of traffic stops along the interstate aimed at seizing illicit drugs.

Spartanburg County worked with nearly a dozen other law enforcement agencies to carry out these stops.

According to a Facebook post by the Spartanburg County Sheriffs Office, officers took on 900 traffic cases, 38 criminal cases and enacted 65 canine searches during the operation.

The Spartanburg County Sheriffs Office has not responded to The News & Observers requests for comment. The South Carolina Highway Patrol was not involved in the incident, according to a spokesperson.
PROVIDENCE  Gov. Dan McKee took his campaign to South Providence's Nonviolence Institute on Tuesday in a bid to bring attention to issues of gun violence and gun control.

As governor, McKee has signed three gun control bills into law and said he will seek to outlaw assault rifles next year.

Seeing an opening less than a month from the election, McKee has asked voters to think about issues of gun control and gun violence when they compare him with his Republican opponent, Ashley Kalus.

Election 2022 Updates: Follow along with the latest in Rhode Island political news

Gov. Dan McKee, who has said that if elected to a full term in November he will seek to outlaw assault rifles in Rhode Island next year, speaks at the news conference by Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence and Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense in America.

In a meeting room at the institute, McKee received an endorsement from the Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence and drew praise from the chairwoman of the coalition's board, Sydney Montstream-Quas.

She cited new laws that have raised the minimum age for buying a gun from 18 to 21, prohibited the carrying of loaded rifles or shotguns in public and banned magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds.

"My opponent would never have signed the bills that I have signed," McKee said, "and she could never advocate for the bills that are going to be on my desk in the spring."

A spokesman for Kalus, Matthew Hanrahan, said he wasn't prepared to comment on the proposed assault-rifle ban.

How much per vote?: Helena Foulkes ran one of the most expensive primary campaigns in RI history

Ashley Kalus' stance on gun laws

But he said Kalus supports the new law prohibiting the carrying of long guns in public.

Hanrahan said Kalus would support the new law raising the age for gun buyers if it had included an exemption for younger people who serve in the U.S. military.

But Kalus believes the Rhode Island law that has banned magazines with capacity greater than 10 rounds is unconstitutional, he said.

"It will turn 60,000 law-abiding citizens into felons overnight," said Hanrahan.

The authors of the limit were aware that a large number of guns sold in Rhode Island in the past had magazines exceeding 10 rounds.

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The legal language that McKee signed into law in June provided a grace period. At that point, owners of the magazines had 180 days to modify the components, surrender them to police or transfer them to people in other states where they aren't illegal.

Some critics of the law, including some supporters of limiting magazine capacity, say the limit of 10 rounds is too low  that the state is inundated with magazines at the lower end of the scale and it would have been easier to ban higher capacity magazines.

Attorney General Peter Neronha speaks at the Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence news conference on Tuesday.

"Candidly, the real question has always been, where do you set the limit," said Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha, who also received the coalition's endorsement. He faces Charles Calenda in the Nov. 8 general election.

Political Scene: 3 independent candidates for RI governor reach for the brass ring

Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos speaks at the Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence news conference Tuesday.

Coalition Against Gun Violence endorsements

Also receiving the coalition's endorsement were Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos; former Central Falls Mayor James Diossa, running for general treasurer; and Gregg Amore, who is running for secretary of state

They also drew support from Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

One of that group's volunteers, Christine Bandoni, lauded Rhode Island as a state that has made progress.

"In states where elected officials have taken action to pass gun-safety laws, fewer people have died from gun violence," she said. "It's fact."

But gun violence continues to injure and kill, she said.

"We don't have to live like this and our children don't have to die like this," she said.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Gov. Dan McKee has nod of Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence
Oct. 11SANTA FE  Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Monday used her authority to rescind four proclamations issued by territorial governors in the 1850s and 1860s, citing a history of "shameful" government cruelty toward Native Americans that continues to reverberate.

The proclamations rescinded via executive order on Indigenous Peoples Day, among other things, described certain Native American tribes as "outlaws" and barred tribal members from being included in official census counts.

They were issued by three different former New Mexico territorial governors  James Calhoun, Robert Mitchell and William Pile.

The 1869 proclamation issued by Mitchell, for instance, authorized citizens of New Mexico Territory to use "sufficient force" to protect the general population against any members of the Navajo Nation and Gila Apache tribe found outside their reservation boundaries.

While the rescinded proclamations no longer carried any practical heft, Lujan Grisham said it was important to officially rescind their messages.

"We can never rewrite history or undo the injustices of the past," the governor said in a statement. "But we can work together to heal old wounds and build stronger bonds between us."

The proclamations were brought to the attention of the Governor's Office by Santa Fe city historian Valerie Rangel, who said she began researching the existence of any such proclamations in New Mexico after Colorado Gov. Jared Polis last year rescinded proclamations that led to the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre.

She said Monday that she eventually tracked down the proclamations in a book housed in a California library.

"I feel as though not enough history is really understood after the Long Walk," said Rangel, referring to the 1864 relocation of Navajo families by the U.S. military from their ancestral land. "Just bringing this up will bring to light more discussion and more stories."

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Rangel, who is part Apache and part Navajo, said some of her own ancestors were killed and others forced into exile by military actions.

In 2019, New Mexico officially scrapped Columbus Day from the list of official state holidays in favor of Indigenous Peoples Day after Lujan Grisham signed legislation sponsored by Rep. Derrick Lente, D-Sandia Pueblo.

Other states have also made the switch, though the federal holiday honoring Italian explorer Christopher Columbus remains in place. Both holidays are celebrated on the second Monday of October.

New Mexico has one of the nation's highest percentages of Native American residents, making up about 12.4% of the state's population, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

However, the state's complex multicultural history has been the source of tension amid a recent anti-colonialism movement. Two years ago, Native American activists and their supporters used cargo straps and chains to topple a controversial obelisk in the Santa Fe Plaza, known as the "Soldier's Monument," that had stood for more than 150 years.

And, on Monday, at least 100 protesters marched through downtown Santa Fe, shouted at tourists and called for the removal of a monument to Kit Carson, who led the U.S. Army displacement operation that forced more than 10,000 Navajo to the Bosque Redondo Reservation outside Fort Sumner.

The two-hour demonstration ended with some protesters splashing red and yellow paint on a monument to Carson that sits outside a federal courthouse just north of the Plaza.

Journal Capitol Bureau reporter Dan McKay contributed to this report.
JBL headphones on sale at amazon

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The comfortable JBL in-ear headphones can be fast-paired via Google to get your music flowing in no time, and with them having up to 36 hours of battery life, you'll be good to go from the office to the gym without skipping a beat.

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Headphones aren't the only thing you can get a great deal on this Prime DayJBL has tons of other high-quality offerings to get the party started. The JBL Bar 5.1 soundbar is also available for 52% off its normal $599.95 price tagthat's more than $300 in savings.

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The product experts at Reviewed have all your shopping needs covered. Follow Reviewed on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok or Flipboard for the latest deals, product reviews and more.

Prices were accurate at the time this article was published but may change over time.

This article originally appeared on Reviewed: Save 60% on JBL in-ear headphones during Amazon's Early Access sale
Oct. 11TRAVERSE CITY  Local residents and citizens of Anishinaabek nations celebrated Indigenous Peoples Day throughout the region.

Under the pines at Northwestern Michigan College, Shocko Hall pounded a traditional deer hide drum as dancers in regalia moved to the heartbeat rhythm of songs.

With every beat of the drum, Anishinaabek traditions were front and center, honoring the past, and celebrating the present and future of Native Americans.

"It's a great day to be Indigenous," Hall said.

Hall, a citizen of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians said despite everything Native Americans have endured and sacrificed through systemic oppression at the hands of various levels of governments, agencies and programs, "we are still here, and that resilience is amazing."

Alongside Hall, Desmond Madera, a citizen of the Blackfeet and Spokane nations, and Ryan Memberto, a citizen of GTB, are a traditional drum group called Young Enemy. They offered their service to the community in celebration of a day for reflection.

"I think about everything we as people have gone through and look at the freedoms we have now," Madera said.

His reflection on freedoms are some of the rights his ancestors fought for, so that he and his 1-year son, Makwa, could "openly be Indigenous," without persecution.

Such rights to practice religion and culture were not passed in the United States until the 1970s and again, in the 1990s on school and college campuses.

Madera said he is proud to have his son next to him on the drum, learning their traditions.

The movement to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples' Day has been decades in the making. Before the national proclamation last year, many U.S. cities and states  including Traverse City  observed Indigenous Peoples' Day.

For all of the emphasis on commemorating Native history and culture, Indigenous Peoples' Day is also a time to remember to "honor the treaties," said Mark Wilson, a citizen of GTB.

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Wilson is a Traverse City commissioner and previously served as the vice chairman of council for GTB.

He spoke in front of a crowd gathered in front of the Osterlin building regarding the 1836 Treaty of Washington, which made territories into the state of Michigan. Those negotiations retained rights to the Anishinaabek, but were not always upheld.

The pages of American history are filled with broken treaties. Some rights, such as fishing, are still being contested today in the state.

"We continue to have to teach our community how to treat us, how to love us," said Theresa Marshall, citizen of GTB.

She said she was proud to stand among her family, friends, and community, to celebrate all of their accomplishments in life.

"We are learning everyday, evolving as Indigenous Peoples," she said, adding that the day gives power "to the original peoples of these lands."

Linda Woods, elder of GTB and Air Force veteran, attended the celebration held by NMC's Native American Student Organization to carry the Eagle Staff, Mashkawiz Ode Ogitchidaa Kwe, or Strong Heart Warrior Woman, or Migizi for short.

She became the first female veteran in the U.S. to create, care for and carry an Eagle Staff, and since 2012, she has been invited to bring this Eagle Staff to many places across the U.S and Michigan, under the support and guidance of a prominent head veteran.

She said it was a proud day to see so many young Native Americans carry on their duties and traditions for the community.

"It's a good day today," said Linda Woods. "It's our day."

Report for America corps member and Indigenous affairs' reporter Sierra Clark's work is made possible by a partnership between the Record-Eagle and Report for America, a journalism service project founded by the nonprofit Ground Truth Project. Generous community support helps fund a local share of the Record-Eagle/RFA partnership. To support RFA reporters in Traverse City, go to www.record-eagle.com/rfa.
Texas Pete

You might assume that Texas Pete hot sauce is surely made in the Lone Star State. Well, my friend, it's actually produced hundreds of miles east of Texas, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. While many of us might be slightly surprised by this spicy factoid, one Los Angeles man was so disappointment that he filed a class-action lawsuit against Texas Pete.

Today reports that shortly after Phillip White purchased a $3 bottle of Texas Pete from his local Ralphs store, he made the discovery that the hot sauce is made in North Carolina. White understood that the hot sauce was made in Texas based on the words and images on the product's label. The lawsuit adds that he would not have purchased the Product, or would have paid significantly less for it" had he known its true origins.

By representing that its Texas Pete brand hot sauce products (Products) are Texas products, when they are not, Defendant has cheated its way to a market-leading position in the $3 billion-dollar hot-sauce industry at the expense of law-abiding competitors and consumers nationwide who desire authentic Texas hot sauce, the suit reads, according to Today. "By way of its false marketing and labeling, Defendant knowingly and intentionally capitalizes on consumers desire to partake in the culture and authentic cuisine of one of the most prideful states in America."

The Texas Pete website does offer an explanation for how a hot sauce from North Carolina came to be called Texas Pete. After a failed attempt at naming the hot sauce "Mexican Joe," the site reads, "Sam [Texas Pete creator] suggested they move across the border to Texas, which also had a reputation for spicy cuisine. Then he glanced at son Harold, whose nickname was 'Pete' and the Texas Pete cowboy was born."

In response to the lawsuit, a rep for Texas Pete manufacturer Garner Foods had this to say: "We are aware of the current lawsuit that has been filed against our company regarding the Texas Pete brand name. We are currently investigating these assertions with our legal counsel to find the clearest and most effective way to respond."

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Tom Felton shared his support for author J.K. Rowling as the "Harry Potter" writer continues to receive criticism over her beliefs on biological sex and gender.

The actor opened up about his admiration for Rowling in a new interview with The Times of London.

"I can't speak for what other individuals have said," he told the outlet. "I am constantly reminded that the Potter-verse, certainly when we were finishing the films, there was an expectation that the fandom would be dwindling slowly over the years, whereas most fans that say hello to me, shout Potter or Draco at me weren't even born when the books were being made."

"I am quick to remind myself and others that Potter for some reason has brought more people together across the world and more generations than probably anything else has in the past 20 years, and I'm quick to celebrate that," he added. "It came from one person, and that's her, so I'm very grateful."

Tom Felton shared his admiration for J.K. Rowling in a new interview.

HARRY POTTER AUTHOR DENIES NEW BOOK IS BASED ON OWN EXPERIENCE AFTER GENDER COMMENT BACKLASH

In 2020, Rowling made headlines after she defended the concept of biological sex on Twitter. The author reposted an article titled: "Creating a more equal post COVID-19 world for people who menstruate."

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

She wrote in response, "People who menstruate. Im sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?"

Rowling continued to defend her position, writing: "If sex isnt real, theres no same-sex attraction. If sex isnt real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isnt hate to speak the truth."

The author has been outspoken about regularly receiving threats online since she shared her views.

The cast of "Harry Potter" poses for a photo. Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe previously released statements after J.K. Rowling was criticized over her beliefs on biological gender.

TOM FELTON GIVES UPDATE AFTER COLLAPSING DURING GOLF TOURNAMENT: IM ON THE MEND'

Despite the controversy, some people enjoyed seeing Felton's praise for Rowling.

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"This should not be such a controversial statement Good on Tom Felton for refusing to pile on more hate towards JK Rowling," one Twitter user wrote.

"What a breath of fresh air he is and we are all entitled to our opinion why do people think that only those against her have an opinion and can voice it," another user added. "Well we who are against it can voice our opinion too, so get used to it here we come."

Others criticized Felton's response, even though the actor didn't share his own beliefs on transgender issues.

"Oh so JK Rowling is the one being attacked, and her attacking the trans community on a daily basis is conveniently ignored?" one social media user wrote. "F--- off. Tom Felton can f--- off as well, crawling little snake. Thankfully Watson and Radcliffe have publicly totally distanced themselves."

J.K. ROWLING SLAMMED FOR DEFENDING CONCEPT OF BIOLOGICAL SEX: IT ISNT HATE TO SPEAK THE TRUTH'

The user was referencing Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson's statements regarding Rowling's original comments. The two reacted to the author's comments about gender and transgender people in 2020.

Radcliffe shared his thoughts in an essay posted to The Trevor Project's website at the time.

"Transgender women are women," Radcliffe wrote. "Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo or I."

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"While Jo is unquestionably responsible for the course my life has taken, as someone who has been honored to work with and continues to contribute to The Trevor Project for the last decade, and just as a human being, I feel compelled to say something at this moment," he added.

Watson wrote on Twitter: "Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they arent who they say they are."

"I want my trans followers to know that I and so many other people around the world see you, respect you and love you for who you are," she added.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Rowling has received threats online as well as criticism. Most recently, police began investigating when a Twitter user allegedly tweeted, "Dont worry you are next" to Rowling after she called Salman Rushdies stabbing attack on a stage in New York "horrifying news" on Twitter.

Fox News Digital's Tracy Wright contributed to this report.
Annarah Cymone as Sandra on episode six of "The Midnight Club." Eike Schroter/Netflix

"The Midnight Club," which premiered Friday on Netflix, is creator Mike Flanagan's first explicitly YA series.

During a recent interview, Flanagan spoke about the show's Easter eggs, casting, and more.

"This is the first show that I've been able to show one of my children," the "Midnight Mass" creator said.

Mike Flanagan is beloved by many for his adult-oriented horror projects "The Haunting of Hill House," "The Haunting of Bly Manor," "Doctor Sleep," and more. But in his latest show, the writer and director set out to create something more young adult-friendly.

"The Midnight Club," which premiered Friday on Netflix, is based on the works of Christopher Pike, a horror and mystery author for young adults. Featuring a cast of mostly newcomers (some Flanagan standbys appear in one-off storylines), the show's narrative alternates between a group of teens with terminal illnesses living at a mysterious rural hospice in 1994, and the worlds of the spooky stories they tell each other late at night.

Here's what to know about "The Midnight Club," and how Flanagan synthesized Pike's numerous works into a show that's both profoundly emotional and appropriately terrifying.

Mike Flanagan (center, in mask) with cast members on the set of "The Midnight Club." Eike Schroter/Netflix

Creating the world of 'The Midnight Club' was no simple task

Pike is a prolific author, and as Flanagan told journalists during a recent roundtable interview, some creativity was required when the writers combed through Pike's books ahead of the script-writing process.

"There's so many Pike books, we divided them up among the writers. Everybody had to read their chunk of books, and we spent the first two weeks of the writers' room giving book reports to each other, like we were in school," Flanagan said. "We needed to be familiar with everything, and no one had time to read everything, or we never would've finished the scripts when they got started."

Per Flanagan, the writers took some creative liberties when working with the stories that the Midnight Club members tell each other. Since each club member also portrays a character in their story-within-the-story, Flanagan and the writers adjusted some of Pike's narratives to better fit the primary characters telling the stories. (For instance, the story that Midnight Club member Spence tells his cohorts was changed to focus on two college men, instead of a high-school girl as Pike had originally written.)

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The '90s setting was also something Flanagan and the show's writers thought carefully about.

"This show was designed for today's kids. And so we never wanted the nostalgia to overshadow the rest of it," Flanagan said.

"We wanted it as something in the background that the older viewers  us old viewers  could appreciate," he continued. "But it wasn't about the nostalgia because the kids today likely don't (and shouldn't) care about that."

Aya Furukawa on "The Midnight Club." Eike Schroter/Netflix

Above all else, Flanagan said, he wanted to make sure the show was appropriate for slightly younger audiences, although he noted that "The Haunting of Bly Manor" in particular "really hits with teens."

This meant that the director frequently touched base with his 11-year-old son, Rigby.

"I would check in with him and bounce ideas and see what he thought, and if I thought something was gonna be too uncomfortable for him to watch, it felt like we were tipping [in the wrong direction]," Flanagan said.

The director was quick to note, however, that Pike's material dealt with very mature themes, even though it was marketed to younger readers.

"He didn't pull his punches with violence, with heavy things that kids are really thinking about. Intense bullying, suicide, sex, drugs  all of that was fair game in Pike's world," Flanagan said. "One of the things that my contemporaries and I loved about the books was that he wasn't sugarcoating things."

"So while there was always a sense of like, bearing that younger audience in mind, we were also very careful not to condescend to them, or try to police the places the show would go," he added.

Ruth Codd as Anya on Netflix's "The Midnight Club." Eike Schroter/Netflix

Flanagan assembled a top-tier cast for 'The Midnight Club' that features mostly newcomers

As Flanagan and producer Trevor Macy told reporters during the interview, casting the ensemble of young adults who carry most of the action in "The Midnight Club" was no easy task. It was especially difficult finding an actor to play Anya (Ruth Codd), a rebellious and outwardly bitter amputee with a kind heart who, along with fellow Midnight Club members Ilonka (Iman Benson) and Kevin (Igby Rigney), uncovers the hospice's sordid past.

"Anya was a really hard part to cast. She's written to be an amputee in the book, and we really wanted an actor who was. We cast a huge net, looking [for her]," Flanagan said.

But according to Macy, casting directors found Codd because of her "hilarious" presence on TikTok. Codd then sent in an audition tape that Flanagan said "eclipsed everybody else," and then nonchalantly agreed to take on the part.

Heather Langenkamp as Dr. Stanton on "The Midnight Club." Eike Schroter/Netflix

Also featured on the show is Heather Langenkamp, who horror fans might recognize from her role as Nancy in the 1984 classic "A Nightmare on Elm Street." The actor had mostly kept a low profile in recent years, working behind the camera as a specialty makeup artist (along with her husband, David Leroy Anderson) on projects like "Dawn of the Dead" and "American Horror Story: Freak Show."

"It's one of the fastest casting processes I've ever had," Flanagan said of their decision to cast Langenkamp as the hospice's resident physician, Dr. Stanton. "We zoomed from the production office and I was like, 'Oh my God, oh my God.'"

Heather Langenkamp and Ruth Codd on "The Midnight Club." Eike Schroter/Netflix

Heartbreaking storylines were treated with sensitivity, but Flanagan said there was still some room for humor

The stories of the young, terminally ill patients on the show are taken "incredibly seriously," per Flanagan, especially considering that many of the people who worked on the show (including Langenkamp) had lost young loved ones to disease themselves.

"I don't think any of us were really prepared for just how many people in our cast and crew were gonna raise their hand and say, 'I lost someone too young to leukemia. I lost someone too young to cancer,'" Flanagan told journalists. The show ultimately paid tribute to these deceased loved ones of the cast and crew through plaques (each named for someone who died) placed on benches and outside of doors on the hospice set.

While these crew members were grateful for the approach Flanagan took, the director said, they also encouraged filmmakers to find the "levity" in the situation, since that would have been something terminally ill teens themselves would have "held on to."

Chris Sumpter during the infamous jump scare scene on episode one of "The Midnight Club." Eike Schroter/Netflix

Indeed, there are several silly moments throughout the series  especially in the pilot episode, which Flanagan said now holds the Guinness world record for most jump scares in a single episode of television. The jump scares (which number approximately 20 and take place in once specific scene) quickly change from terrifying to gratuitous, and are ultimately rendered meaningless, which is why Flanagan hates them so much.

"I hate them, because I feel like it's very easy to walk up behind someone and smash things," Flanagan joked.

The creator also revealed that there are several Easter eggs throughout the series  including nods to his upcoming Netflix series "The Fall of the House of Usher."

"There are a couple little nods to 'Usher' in there. We hit a little Poe," Flanagan said. He encouraged eagle-eyed fans to keep an eye (or rather, an ear) out for small cameos from Hamish Linklater, Carla Gugino, and Kate Siegel.

The cast of "The Midnight Club," from left to right: Iman Benson as Ilonka, Igby Rigney as Kevin, Annarah Cymone as Sandra, Ruth Codd as Anya, Adia as Cheri Ian, Chris Sumpter as Spencer, Aya Furukawa as Natsuki, Sauriyan Sapkota as Amesh. Eike Schroter/Netflix

Fans of 'The Midnight Club' are in luck, because it's the first of Flanagan's television projects that could potentially include a second season

The ending of the teen drama purposefully left some questions unanswered, Flanagan said during the interview.

"This was designed to be ongoing. I don't know if it will, we'll see how it goes. And we probably won't know for another month or so what Netflix wants to do. But this was very much designed to continue," Flanagan revealed. "Pike has 80 books, so we have a lot of incredible material to pull from."

And in the event there's not a second season to address the "bigger" unresolved questions of the first season, Flanagan has already come up with a solution to share the answers with fans.

"I'll put 'em up on Twitter, and then at least we'll be able to talk about it," he joked.

All 10 episodes of "The Midnight Club" are currently streaming on Netflix. You can watch the trailer below.

Read the original article on Insider
The president of a historically Black university accused South Carolina law enforcement officers of racially profiling a busload of students from her school by stopping the vehicle for a minor traffic violation and using drug-sniffing dogs to search their luggage.

Noting that nothing illegal was found in the search, Shaw University President Paulette Dillard said she was outraged by the treatment, which also included questioning that she likened to an interrogation.

The traffic stop was done by deputies and law enforcement officers in Spartanburg County on Oct. 5 as 18 students from her Raleigh, North Carolina, school were traveling to a conference in Atlanta, she said. Dillard wrote in a statement Monday that she has asked the schools general counsel to consider options for legal recourse.

ALSO READ: Meck County deputies no longer stopping drivers for minor traffic violations

In a word, I am outraged, Dillard wrote. This behavior of targeting Black students is unacceptable and will not be ignored nor tolerated. Had the students been White, I doubt this detention and search would have occurred.

She called the situation reminiscent of the 1950s and 1960s  armed police, interrogating innocent Black students, conducting searches without probable cause, and blood-thirsty dogs and the deputies actions unfair and unjust.

The officers told the people aboard the bus that they stopped it because the vehicle was swerving and issued the driver a warning ticket for improper lane use, according to Dillards statement. It was not clear if the bus, which Dillard referred to as a contract bus, had university insignia on the outside.

The statement referred to deputies and officers conducting the search in Spartanburg County but does not specify which agencies were involved. The university communications office didnt immediately respond to emails seeking further comment.

The stop occurred during the local sheriffs annual weeklong anti-drug campaign known as Operation Rolling Thunder, in which deputies and officers from agencies from around the state patrol the highways in Spartanburg County.

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Spartanburg County Sheriffs Lt. Kevin Bobo, an agency spokesperson, said deputies need more information from the school, such as where the stop took place or the tag number of the bus, to fully investigate the schools complaint.

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About 900 traffic stops were made during the operation in Spartanburg County, he said. Statistics from the sheriffs office show 39% of the drivers pulled over were white, while 38% were Black. Deputies said 233 of the stops were for improper lane change.

The traffic stop follows a situation this year in which the president of Delaware State University, another historically Black college, accused sheriffs deputies in Georgia of intimidating and humiliating the school womens lacrosse team when they pulled over the athletes bus and searched it for drugs.

President Tony Allen said he was incensed by the April 20 traffic stop along Interstate 95 south of Savannah as the team returned from a game in Florida. In a letter to students and faculty, Allen said nothing illegal was found.

Liberty County Sheriff William Bowman, who is Black, said in May that his office was conducting a formal review of the traffic stop. Deputies had stopped other commercial vehicles the same morning along I-95 and found drugs on a different bus, he said. The teams chartered bus was stopped because it was traveling in the left lane, a violation of Georgia law, he said. The sheriff said deputies decided to search the teams bus when a drug-sniffing dog alerted alongside it.

No one was arrested or charged. The sheriff said the bus driver was given a warning.

(WATCH BELOW: Report: 6 juveniles are persons of interest in HBCU threat investigation)
The president of Shaw University, a historically Black university in North Carolina, said she is outraged by a recent traffic stop that she alleges targeted a bus full of the schools students.

The stop occurred on Oct. 5, when 18 of the universitys students and two staff advisers were traveling from Raleigh, N.C., to Atlanta, Ga., for the Center for Financial Advancement Conference.

South Carolina officers stopped the bus on a highway because it was swerving and issued the driver a warning ticket for improper lane use, according to a statement from Paulette Dillard, president of Shaw University.

During the incident, Dillard said, multiple officers boarded the bus to ask the driver where they were headed. Meanwhile, multiple sheriff deputies and drug-sniffing dogs searched the suitcases of the students and staff.

This scene is reminiscent of the 1950s and 1960s  armed police, interrogating innocent Black students, conducting searches without probable cause, and blood-thirsty dogs, Dillard said in her statement.

No illegal substances were recovered during the search. Dillard added that she firmly believes that if the bus had been occupied by white students, the students would not have been detained.

The students did eventually make it safely to the conference in Atlanta and back to the North Carolina campus later.

Our students stood tall amid an unnerving and humiliating experience and because of their dignified and professional response, the situation did not escalate into something far more sinister, Dillard said.

Dillard said she has asked the Shaw University General Counsel to investigate the situation and to explore legal options available to both students and the university.

The university did not specify which of the South Carolina law enforcement agencies are involved in the claims.

However, CBS 17 reported state agencies were conducting an enforcement effort called Operation Rolling Thunder in Spartanburg County that week.

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The station added that the Spartanburg County Sheriffs Office said 67 improper lane change citations were issued that day, including 11 for commercial vehicles, but it does not know if any of them were the bus with Shaw students.

The incident followed a similar encounter in May, when a womens lacrosse team from Delaware State, a historically Black university, was traveling through Georgia and Liberty County Sheriffs Office deputies stopped their bus driver, who was also Black, for a traffic violation.

The deputies then announced they would search the teams luggage for drugs, an encounter that drew a civil rights complaint from the university and outrage from Delaware officials.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Sen. Mike Lee implored his fellow Utah Republican senator Mitt Romney for an endorsement on Wednesday amid a tighter-than-expected challenge from independent candidate Evan McMullin.

Please get on board, help me win reelection. Help us do that. You can get your entire family to donate to me, Lee said of his colleague on Tucker Carlson Tonight, which Romney probably doesnt watch.

I dont think Mitt Romney wants Chuck Schumer to continue to be the Majority Leader. If Im right on that, then get on board. Because thats exactly what this will lead to, the senator warned.

Romney is the only GOP senator who hasnt endorsed Lees bid for another term. Earlier this year, the junior senator from Utah said he intended to remain neutral in the race because he considers both Lee and McMullin friends.

I dont think endorsements make any difference in a race to speak of. People in the race are my friends. I usually try and avoid situations where theyve been friends. I may endorse and I may not, but I really havent given it any thought at this point, he said in March, according to The Deseret News.

The two Utah Republicans have taken different paths during their time in the Senate. Although they both hold conservative views on issues, Romney became an outspoken critic of Donald Trump and his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Lee, a Tea Party darling who was once a critic of Trump, took the opposite tack. He strongly embraced the former president, a position that may now be costing him some voters in Utah.

The Utah Senate race isnt considered competitive but a recent Deseret News-Hinckley Institute of Politics poll found McMullin within striking distance, lagging behind Lee by 4 percentage points. A significant 12% of voters said they were undecided.

In his interview on Carlsons program on Wednesday, Lee called his opponent a closeted Democrat who has raised millions of dollars from Democratic donors and who has been endorsed by the Utah Democratic Party. The senator didnt mention that he once voted for McMullin in the 2016 GOP presidential primary in protest of Trump.

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McMullin, a former CIA officer and House GOP staffer, recently picked up the endorsement of retiring Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), who is helping lead the Jan. 6 inquiry. The independent Senate candidate has made Lees support for Trump a big focus of his campaign, calling the senator a sycophant for the former president.

After all your efforts to undermine our nation, you still have the nerve to claim to be a constitutional conservative? Mike Lee, you are no constitutional conservative, McMullin said last month after texts emerged showing Lees involvement in a scheme to overturn the 2020 election.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
A new report revealed that Yu-Gi-Oh! creator Kazuki Takahashi died while trying to help a U.S. Army officer in saving three riptide victims in Okinawa, Japan.

The body of Takahashi, 60, was discovered floating off the coast of Nago on July 6.

The award-winning manga artist was found lying face down and equipped with snorkeling gear. An autopsy report by the Japan Coast Guard confirmed that Takahashi died by drowning.

Official U.S. military newspaper Stars and Stripes published an article on Tuesday reporting that the artist died a hero while trying to save people who were caught in a riptide at a popular diving spot in Okinawa.

More from NextShark: Thailand to impose total ban on plastic scrap imports by 2025

On July 4, U.S. Army Major Robert Bourgeau, a diving instructor, was at Mermaids Grotto in Onna with his students. Bourgeau reportedly spotted a Japanese mother calling for help for her 11-year-old daughter and a 39-year-old U.S. soldier who were caught in a whirlpool about 100 yards from shore.

I grabbed mom and I grabbed [the girl] and I just kicked for all life, Bourgeau recalled.

The soldier also managed to make it back to shore with the direction of Bourgeau and his students.

More from NextShark: Emperor Naruhito conveys 'deep remorse' for Japan's actions in 76th anniversary of WWII surrender, still no apology

At some point, Takahashi also jumped into the water and reportedly attempted to aid in the rescue. Although Bourgeau never saw Takahashi get into the water, his students said that they saw glimpses of him trying to help before he disappeared in the waves.

Takahashis body was recovered two days after the incident. His rental car was also found at Mermaids Grotto, according to a Japan Coast Guard spokesman.

Hes a hero, Bourgeau told Stars and Stripes. He died trying to save someone else.

More from NextShark: Chinese Fashion Designer Sparks Outrage After 'Appropriating' Sacred Tibetan Art

Bourgeau was recognized by the U.S Army for saving the three people. He was nominated in September for the Soldiers Medal by his command. The medal recognizes acts of heroism not involving actual conflict with an enemy.

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Takahashi is known for his manga series Yu-Gi-Oh!, which ran in the comic magazine Weekly Shonen Jump from 1996 to 2004. The manga spawned a renowned media franchise that continues to this day, with TV and movie adaptations, video games and a popular trading card game.

More from NextShark: NYC repeat offender who hit Asian man with a hammer indicted on hate crime charges

Featured Image via @AniNewsAndFacts / Official Yu-Gi-Oh!
Oct. 12Terre Haute's higher-learning educators shared their visions for the Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative (READI) funding they have received from the state of Indiana.

In a presentation Tuesday moderated by Wabash River Regional Development Authority President Greg Goode at the Vigo County History Center, officials from Indiana State University, Ivy Tech Terre Haute, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College  which Indiana Secretary of Commerce Brad Chambers deemed "an intimidating lot"  discussed how they are investing their funding.

ISU President Deborah Curtis explained that the school will use its $1 million grant to renovate the campus' Chestnut Building for increased capacity and opportunities at ISU's Early Learning Center, which would eventually relocate there. She said ISU aligns its curriculum to meet Indiana's needs, and that the Early Learning Center represents "a huge impact and great return on the investment."

Ivy Tech Community College Terre Haute Chancellor Leanne Crooks said her school's $1 million grant would go to diversity initiatives as well as renovating and expanding health science facilities. She noted that Ivy Tech offered courses in nine different healthcare disciplines outside of nursing, and that 20% of local hospitals' workforce come from Ivy Tech.

Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology President Rob Coons touted moving Rose's engineering consulting firm Rose-Hulman Ventures from 6 miles south of the main campus to a building at the intersection of Indiana 46 and 42 on property acquired by the institute from the Hulman family. Rose-Hulman received $1.5 million in READI funding.

Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College Provost Janet Clark said the school will use its $1.5 million to expand equestrian facilities and surrounding parking. This will enable SMWC to "improve equine event amenities," she said, and increase the number of collegiate equine competitions in Terre Haute, which will increase the amount of the area's tourism money.

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Secretary of Commerce Chambers said he and Governor Eric Holcomb trusted local governments to allot the READI funding.

"Community and community leaders understand what's most important for them, so there's nothing more important than the governor and I getting with community leaders and understanding the priorities that are going to help grow your communities," Chambers said.

Overall, the ultimate goal behind the funding is to encourage people to move to Indiana.

"There's nothing more to our state's future and the state's economy than growing our population  you grow your population, you grow your workforce," Chambers noted. "Industry needs workforce. The new natural resource is people and talent, which comes from population growth. Investing in quality of life that will attract people and keep people is super-important to our state's future."

Chambers said, "We're pleased with how the money was allocated  it just takes time for those projects to come to fruition."

David Kronke can be reached at 812-231-4232 or at david.kronke@tribstar.com.
Story at a glance

New research from Gallup and Amazon Web Services showed employees with more advanced digital skill sets earn more and report higher job satisfaction and feelings of security.

However, the majority of those with advanced or intermediate digital skills did not learn them in a traditional school setting.

According to researchers, employers may want to consider investing in worker upskilling.

Those looking to enter the workforce or advance in their current position may want to brush up on their digital skills.

A new Gallup/Amazon Web Services study on more than 30,000 workers and 3,000 hiring managers across 19 countries found the more digital skills an employee has, the more money they earn.

Respondents who use either intermediate or advanced digital skills on the job earn 40 and 65 percent higher salaries, respectively, compared with workers who dont use a computer at work. This finding was consistent regardless of factors like gender and educational attainment.

Global demand for digital skills across industries and job categories is increasing amid an unusually employee-friendly job market, providing workers with increasing power to seek more favorable working conditions, authors wrote.

America is changing faster than ever! Add Changing America to your Facebook or Twitter feed to stay on top of the news.

The findings come on the heels of data showing tech-savvy Millennial and Gen Z workers are poised to reap the highest wage increases from job switching seen in 20 years.

In the Gallup survey, advanced digital skills were classified as knowledge of a programming language or included skills like cloud architecture or machine learning, authors wrote. Intermediate skills included drag-and-drop website design and data analysis.

Employees who use basic digital skills, or those who use platforms like email and word processing, earn 14 percent more than their non-digital counterparts.

Digitally skilled employees are also more likely to report higher satisfaction with their current employment situation and greater job security. Seventy-two percent of workers who use advanced skills each day reported favorable job satisfaction. As digital skill levels decreased, so too did job satisfaction ratings.

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Similar trends were seen with regard to the number of digital skills employees used each day, with the majority of employees using five or more skills having favorable opinions of their job. Individuals who used advanced skills were more likely to report higher job security.

Self-directed learning, informal training and employer-provided training were commonly reported methods of learning digital skills. Formal schooling was less common, as just 27 percent of responded said they learned their digital skills in a traditional school setting.

The vast majority of workers who completed digital skills training in the past year said it resulted in at least one positive career benefit such as increased work efficiency and more opportunities for promotion.

Despite the benefits that come along with being digitally skilled, 84 percent of hiring managers said hiring these workers was somewhat of a challenge or a significant challenge. Many reported losing applicants to other companies, and around a quarter said theyre unable to pay the market wage for digitally skilled workers.

In the U.S., hiring difficulty has been a growing concern as unemployment fell leading up to the pandemic and job vacancies increased, especially in roles requiring digital skills, authors wrote.

Employers also need to contend with the quiet quitting trend, whereby employees meet the minimum job requirements and dont go above and beyond in their role, in order to achieve a work-life balance.

Previous research from Gallup found how employees rate the quality of their job and workplace engagement are closely linked, suggesting that digitally skilled workers are less likely than other employees to participate in actual or quiet quitting, researchers added.

Amid concerns about a possible recession, digitally skilled workers are more confident than others that their job is secure. Yet, with intense competition for digital skills around the world, employers may benefit from investing in worker upskilling, creating a win-win dynamic that powers the business while also empowering the workforce, they concluded.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Issue One launched a new council to address the impacts of social media, bringing together experts from the public and private sectors.

Well also discuss NASAs rescheduled launch date for the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision blocking a controversial Texas social media law from going into effect.

This is Hillicon Valley, detailing all you need to know about tech and cyber news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Send tips to The Hills Rebecca Klar and Ines Kagubare. Someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.

Private, public sector join on new social media group

Experts spanning the public and private sectors are coming together to lead a new initiative launched by Issue One to address the impacts of social media, the advocacy organization announced Wednesday.

Issue Ones new Council for Responsible Social Medias members include Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), former

Rep. Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.), former Federal Communications Commission Chair Tom Wheeler and others with experience at tech companies, government agencies and civil society organizations.

The council aims to elevate nonpartisan voices including parents, pediatricians, child psychologists and national security experts to help drive the conversation about social media reform at a time when theres mounting scrutiny about tech companies from both sides of the aisle.

The group is designed to address the harms of social media on three areas: children, communities and national security.

Read more here.

NASA sets new Artemis launch

NASA will try for the third time to launch the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on Nov. 14 after facing setbacks with two previous attempts and a postponement caused by Hurricane Ian.

The launch will take place on a Monday next month at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, with a 69-minute launch window opening at 12:07 a.m., NASA said in a news release.

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Backup days will be available on Nov. 16 at 1:04 a.m. and Nov. 19 at 1:45 a.m., both with a two-hour launch window.

NASAs Artemis I mission is the first major test for the space agencys program, which aims to send astronauts back to the moon for the first time in about 50 years.

In Artemis I, the SLS will rocket off into space and send the unmanned exploration spacecraft Orion more than 40,000 miles past the moon before it circles back to Earth.

Read more here.

TEXAS SOCIAL MEDIA LAW BLOCKED (AGAIN)

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked a controversial Texas social media law from going into place Wednesday as industry groups seek to bring the case to the Supreme Court.

The court granted a request from the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) and NetChoice to keep the law from taking effect ahead of a potential Supreme Court hearing on the case, the tech associations said Wednesday.

This ruling means Texass unconstitutional law will not be in force as the issue of government-compelled dissemination of speech makes its way to the Supreme Court. We are confident these laws will not stand, CCIA President Matt Schruers said in a statement.

The decision blocks a Texas law the groups are challenging that would restrict companies ability to remove users or violative content. The tech industry groups, as well as civil society groups that have backed their case, argue the law could lead to more dangerous content and hate speech online.

Read more here.

WHITE HOUSE UNVEILS NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY

The White House on Wednesday released its national security strategy, outlining President Bidens priorities at the start of what officials are calling a decisive decade for global challenges like climate change and competition among major powers.

The strategy focuses broadly on investing domestically so the U.S. has a modern military and is not dependent on foreign supply chains. It also puts an emphasis on building alliances abroad to counter the influence of adversaries like China.

The world is at an inflection point, and the choices we make today will set the terms on how we are set up to deal with the significant challenges and the significant opportunities faced in the years ahead, national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters.

Read more here.

BITS & PIECES

An op-ed to chew on: Three potential China problems if Elon Musk buys Twitter

Notable links from around the web:

Misinformation Swirls in Non-English Languages Ahead of Midterms (The New York Times / Tiffany Hsu)

Musk appeasement of Putin and China stokes fears of new Twitter policies (The Washington Post / Joseph Menn and Cat Zakrzweski)

Hacktivists Force Companies to Respond to Low-Level Cyberattacks (The Wall Street Journal / Catherine Stupp)

 Lighter click: Ouch

One more thing: Musks new musk

Elon Musk said he sold 10,000 bottles of Burnt Hair perfume through his business The Boring Company, earning more than $1 million in sales from the product.

The billionaire announced the news in a series of tweets. He called his Burnt Hair perfume, which costs $100 per bottle, the finest fragrance on Earth!

Doesnt get more lit than this! the worlds richest man tweeted.

Read more here.

Thats it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hills Technology and Cybersecurity pages for the latest news and coverage. Well see you tomorrow.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A Hillsboro man joined a misogynistic online hate group, acquired an AR-15-style rifle and conducted surveillance of an Ohio university campus. Then he Googled: When does preparing for a crime become an attempt? The answer, which arrived in the form of Highland County sheriffs deputies and federal prosecutors: Before he Googled it. Tres Genco, 22, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to federal charges of plotting to commit a hate crime as part of his planning to kill 3,000 women on an Ohio college campus. He could spend the rest of his life in prison. Federal court documents indicate Genco identified as an incel or "involuntary celibates." According to a Domestic Terrorism Threat Assessment done by the state of Texas, "involuntary celibates" (incels) are described as an emerging domestic terrorism threat  citing acts or threats of violence in furtherance of their social grievance against women. MORE: https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/highland-county/hillsboro-man-pleads-guilty-to-hate-crime-after-planning-mass-shooting-of-3-000-women-at-ohio-college-campus
HCSB To Offer Bilingual Programming and Resources to Latinx-Owned Businesses

SAN BERNARDINO, CA --News Direct-- Hispanic Coalition of Small Businesses

The Hispanic Coalition of Small Businesses, an alliance of diverse organizations based in Southern California, and committed to advancing small business communities in the Inland Empire, Los Angeles, and across the Country is hosting its inaugural procurement summit and celebration to coincide with the close of Hispanic Heritage Month.

The HCSB event reached full capacity, closing registration with close to 300 confirmed participants, including HCSB and its 15 affiliate-member organizations, corporate sponsors, small business owners, and community and legislative leaders. The HCSB Summit is happening October 14, 2022, from 10:00 am-8:30 pm at the San Bernardino International Airport, Private Terminal, 275 N. Leland Norton Way, San Bernardino, CA 92408.

Latinx and other minority-owned businesses have been disproportionally affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, according to an SBA report, 41 percent of Black-owned businesses, 32 percent of Latino-owned businesses, and 20 percent of Asian-owned businesses were forced to close their doors as a result of the pandemic. Despite the odds, our communities of color also possess resilience, creativity, and perseverance at overcoming obstacles.

Resources and technical support are crucial for these micro and small businesses to scale and thrive, said HCSB Chairman, Frank Montes. The HCSB is laser-focused on ensuring we provide our diverse communities with bilingual education, financial resources, and contracting opportunities.

The San Bernardino International Airport was selected for the organizations event because it shines the spotlight on the revitalization occurring in the Inland Empire, and the significance of pivoting and adapting to the business environment post-pandemic.

Our corporate partners are essential to the success of our programs. Southern California Edison, one of the HCSB event sponsors, has demonstrated its ongoing commitment to providing access to contracting opportunities for diverse vendors, through partnerships, supplier outreach, and mentorship.

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Our team members value the role our vendors play in ensuring that as an organization we meet our strategic objectives, primarily the safe delivery of reliable, affordable, and clean energy, including wildfire mitigation efforts, shares SCE, Principal Manager of Supplier Diversity and Development, Maia Siprashvili. In 2021, Southern California Edisons spend with diverse businesses was $2.44B, representing 38% of our total spend. In 2022, we will continue to work to discover, support, and develop small and diverse businesses, while remaining a leader in the electric power industry. We commend the HCSB for their efforts and vision of providing a vehicle to empower small and micro businesses to become contract-ready to partner with companies such as SCE, other utilities, and government entities.

During this years HCSB event, attendees will be introduced to the first of its signature Education, Training & Technical Assistance Programs, the HCSB Procurement Education Summit, Getting Small & Micro Businesses Ready to Access Public/ Private Contracts. Three panel discussions led by industry leaders will shed light on trends and upcoming business opportunities focused on a sustainable future: water, energy, workforce, transportation, infrastructure, and a look inside the commercial development projects in the Inland Empire led by the City of Colton, commercial revitalization efforts around the San Bernardino International Airport, and The San Manuel Landing, a community investment project by the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians.

About the Hispanic Coalition of Small Businesses:

A new nonprofit organization - (HCSB) was formed in 2022 in the Greater Inland Empire region of Southern California and is committed to becoming a national organization serving local Hispanic and diverse small business communities throughout the United States. The alliance of diverse organizations based in Southern California, founded with a clear goal: helping small business advance and thrive in our communities. Among the organizations key initiatives, to prepare small and micro businesses for contracts, procurement, and funding opportunities while forming sustained relationships with public/private contract providers for contract awards.

Contact Details

Angelica Urquijo

+1 626-765-3553

angelica@theimagengroup.com

Company Website

https://www.hcsb-us.org/

View source version on newsdirect.com: https://newsdirect.com/news/hispanic-coalition-of-small-businesses-opens-doors-to-government-contracting-opportunities-for-small-and-minority-owned-businesses-736713789
As Hispanic Heritage Month continues through Saturday, a top Department of Defense Official said more can be done to increase Hispanic representation in the military.

Hispanic Heritage Month was signed into law in 1988 by former President Ronald Reagan and recognizes the culture and contributions of American citizens of Hispanic origins coming from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America.

It is observed annually from Sept. 15-Oct. 15.

Gilbert Cisneros, the DODs undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, spoke during the 19th National LATINA Symposium's Distinguished Military Service Awards on Sept. 30.

"We still need more improvement in Hispanic representation in our officer corps and especially in our general and flag officers," Cisneros said.

More:Latinos are fastest growing population in US military, but higher ranks remain out of reach

According to Army demographic data released in June, out of 465,239 soldiers, 80,244, or 17.2%, are Hispanic.

Of the 80,244, 71,106, or 19%, make up the regular Armys enlisted ranks; 6,799, or 9%, are officers; and 1,780, or 12%, are warrant officers.

According to the demographics, 12,427 of the enlisted soldiers are Hispanic women; 1,666 are Hispanic women officers; and there are 246 Hispanic women warrant officers.

None of the Army's Hispanic women officers are higher than the rank of colonel, while there are 70 command sergeants major on the enlisted side.

There are no Army Hispanic men at a brigadier general or four-star general rank, while there are three Hispanic men major generals and one Hispanic man lieutenant general.

With Fort Bragg being the Armys most populated installation, heres a look at its Hispanic service members who have served locally and made contributions in the military.

More:Fayetteville Explained: Puerto Rican contributions to America's largest military installation

Medal of Honor recipients

Master Sgt. Roy Benavidez was a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient for his May 2, 1968, actions in Vietnam.

 Staff Sgt. Roy Benavidez, who was assigned to the 5th Special Forces Group, 1st Special Forces Command, was at the forward operating base in Loc Ninh on May 2, 1968, when helicopters attempting an extrication of a 12-man Special Forces reconnaissance team returned after being attacked by enemy fire.

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Benavidez, having voluntarily boarded a returning aircraft to assist in another extraction attempt, jumped from the chopper and ran toward wounded members of the team while under enemy fire, becoming wounded in the leg, face and head.

Disregarding his injuries, he threw smoke canisters to direct the extrication aircraft and moved wounded team members toward the aircraft, providing protective fire.

Under enemy fire, he recovered a body and classified documents of a dead team member, again being wounded, this time in the abdomen and back.

After the helicopter crashed, killing the pilot, Benavidez aided the wounded who were aboard it and created a defense perimeter.

He called in tactical air strikes to suppress the enemys fire, and, when administering aid to a wounded team member, was struck in his thigh.

Still, Benavidez helped move soldiers toward another extrication aircraft that arrived, killing two enemy soldiers in the process.

Benevidez's final act was to collect or destroy classified material and ensure the remaining wounded were brought to the aircraft, before being extricated himself.

He is credited with saving the lives of at least eight men.

Staff Sgt. Felix Conde-Falcon is a Medal of Honor recipient who was killed in Vietnam.

 Staff Sgt. Felix Conde-Falcon was part of the D Co., 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division when he was killed April 4, 1969, in Vietnam.

After artillery and airstrikes, Conde-Falcon led his platoon in a charge to clear an enemy bunker while under fire. Conde-Falcon destroyed two other bunkers and came under fire when rejoining his platoon.

Moving toward the enemy with three other men, Conde-Falcon killed those inside the nearest fortification, when he ran out of ammunition.

During an attempt to secure another bunker, Conde-Falcon was shot and killed.

He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor by then-President Barak Obama in 2014.

Pvt. Joe Gandara of Santa Monica, Calif., enlisted between 1942 and 1943 and served in World War II with Company D, 2nd Battalion, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division.

 Pvt. Joe Gandara was a paratrooper with the D Company, 2nd Battalion, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 17th Airborne Division, when he was killed June 9, 1944, in France.

Gandaras detachment came under enemy fire from a Nazi force that pinned the men to the ground for four hours.

Gandara voluntarily advanced alone toward the enemy position. Firing his machine gun from his hip as he moved forward, he destroyed three hostile machine guns before being fatally wounded.

He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in 2014.

Sgt. 1st Class Jose Rodela is awarded the Medal of Honor by President Barack Obama.

 Sgt. 1st Class Jose Rodela was serving as company commander of Detachment B-36, A Co., 5th Special Forces Group, 1st Special Forces Command, in the Phuoc Long Province, Republic of Vietnam, when his battalion came under mortar, rocket and machine gun fire Sept. 1, 1969.

Rodela placed his men into defensive positions to prevent the enemy from overrunning the battalion and repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire for 18 hours.

While providing suppressing fire and assisting the wounded, he was hit in the back and head by a B-40 rocket while recovering a wounded comrade.

Rodela retired from the Army in 1975 and was awarded the Medal of Honor in 2014.

 Capt. Humbert Roque Rocky Versace was an intelligence officer for special operations when he was captured by Viet Cong guerillas in Vietnam, on Oct. 29, 1963  two weeks before he was due to return home.

Versace was accompanying a civilian irregular defense group on patrol when the group came under fire from the enemy force.

According to his Medal of Honor citation, Versace provided cover fire to friendly forces and resisted capture despite being wounded.

Once captured, he assumed command of fellow American prisoners while locked in irons in an isolation box.

Versace attempted to escape four times and protested improper treatment of other American prisoners, before being placed in leg irons and gagged.

The last time fellow prisoners heard from him, he was singing God Bless America.

Versace was executed Sept. 26, 1965.

His remains have never been recovered.

Versace was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor on July 8, 2002, and is the first Army soldier to receive the award for his actions as a POW, according to the Army.

Bragg buildings that honor fallen Hispanic soldiers

 Maj. Federico Jose Fernandez was a 307th Engineer Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division soldier who was killed in a training accident March 30, 1982. Fernandez Child Development Center is named after him.

 Staff Sgt. Edwardo Loredo was a paratrooper assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment who was killed June 24, 2010, by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan. Loredo Child Development Center was dedicated in 2016 and is named after him.

 Staff Sgt. Joe S. Rodriguez, was a 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry paratrooper killed in action Feb. 29, 1968, in Vietnam while serving with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division. Rodriguez Child Development Center is named after him.

Other notable Special Forces soldiers

Maj. Ivan Castro became the first blind graduate of the Maneuver Captain's Career Course at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Castro, who grew up in Puerto Rico, enlisted in the Army in 1988 and later served with the 82nd Airborne Division, 7th Special Forces Group and other units.

He was serving with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division on Sept. 2, 2006, in Iraq as a scout platoon leader when he was in the process of moving his men to a new location.

A mortar struck a nearby building and a second blast that was five feet away from Castro caused injuries to his shoulder, arm, nose, cheekbone, finger and lungs.

He lost his right eye, as shrapnel lodged into his left eye.

After 17 months of recovery, Castro returned to the 7th Special Forces Group and was later chosen to command the special operations recruiting company.

He retired from the Army in January 2017 and has since founded the Special Operators Challenge.

More:Major saluted in bittersweet ending to a career spent overcoming obstacles

 Retired Master Sgt. Isaac Camacho was serving with the Detachment A-21, 5th Special Forces Group when Viet Cong forces attacked his camp Nov. 24, 1963, in Vietnam.

According to Camachos Distinguished Service Cross citation, the then-sergeant first class maneuvered through fire to man a mortar and engaged the enemy until ordered by his commanding officer to withdraw from the camp.

Camacho was captured after separating from his commanding officer in the darkness.

After losing weight for 18 months, guards removed his shackles to use for new prisoners.

During heavy rain, Camacho removed a bar from his cage to slip through on July 9, 1965.

He was the first American soldier to escape Viet Cong captivity.

Camacho later retired from the Army in 1975.

Top leaders

Retired Gen. David Rodriguez previously served with the 82nd Airborne Division and commanded the U.S. Armed Forces Command.

 Retired Gen. David Rodriguez was commander of the 82nd Airborne Division from April 2006 to August 2008 and is the division's longest-serving commander who served in combat, with a total of 15 months.

Earlier in his career, he commanded the 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment and deployed with the 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment during Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

Rodriguez was commander of the division during the 2007 enemy surge in Afghanistan and later become a four-star general of the U.S. Army Forces Command.

 Retired Brig. Gen. Hector Pagan grew up in Puerto Rico and served with the 7th Special Forces Group in Panama during Operation Just Cause from 1988 to 1990. In 2003, he commanded the 5th Special Forces Group during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Pagan become deputy commander of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command in 2006 followed by being deputy commander of the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School in 2007. Pagans last military assignment was as commander of the Special Operations Command South before he retired in 2010.

 Command Sgt. Maj. Julie Guerra is the sergeant major for the Armys deputy chief of staff for intelligence at the Pentagon. Guerra previously served at Fort Bragg as a first sergeant for the B Company, 519th Military Intelligence Battalion, 525th Military Expeditionary Brigade. She has also spoken out against sexual assault and harassment in the Army.

 Command Sgt. Maj. Delia Quintero is the senior enlisted advisor for the Army Cyber Center of Excellence and Fort Gordon, Georgia. She has previously served in various ranks at Fort Bragg including section sergeant and first sergeant within units under the 35th Signal Brigade; first sergeant for the 18th Airborne Corps Noncommissioned Academy; brigade commander of the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division and supervisory operations sergeant major for the 82nd Airborne Division.

More:Cyber Center of Excellence introduces new senior enlisted advisor

Air Force

Ramon "CZ" Colon-Lopez is the senior enlisted adviser to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and was inducted into Puerto Ricos Distinguished Veteran's Hall of Fame in 2017, according to his biography.

From 1999 to 2005, Colon-Lopez was a special tactics element leader for the 24th Special Tactics Squadron at Pope Air Force Base.

While serving in Afghanistan from 2002 to 2004, Colon-Lopez earned his first Bronze Star for providing presidential security detail for Hamid Karzai.

He earned a second Bronze Star for his actions during a March 11, 2004, mission to capture a target who was funding terrorism. During the mission, a helicopter Colon-Lopez was in was shot at and damaged as it landed. Colon-Lopez suppressed enemy fire from another three helicopters. He and his team were able to kill two enemy fighters, capture 10 and destroy rocket-propelled grenade rounds and small-caliber weapons resulting in no American deaths because of their actions.

In 2007, he was the first Hispanic to be awarded the Air Forces new Combat Action Medal created to recognize airmens actions while under fire or firing at the enemy in an unsecured combat zone area.

Colon-Lopez has also previously served as the senior enlisted advisor for the 24th Tactics Squadron from 2009 to 2011 at Pope Air Force and was group superintendent of the 724th Special Tactics Group at Pope.

Staff writer Rachael Riley can be reached at rriley@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3528.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Notable Hispanics and Latinos who have ties to Fort Bragg
stomach

New research led by the University of California, Los Angeles suggests that certain gut bacteria  including an essential one for a healthy gut microbiome  differs between people who go on to acquire HIV as compared to those who do not.

Originally published in the peer-reviewed eBioMedicine journal, the findings suggest that the gut microbiome could contribute to ones risk for HIV infection.

This is an important area that needs further research to better understand if and how these bacteria could affect HIV transmission. Microbiome-based therapies are becoming a hot area of research with great potential. With further research this could be a novel way to help in HIV prevention, Dr. Jennifer Fulcher, study lead and assistant professor of medicine, division of infectious diseases at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, said in a statement.

While there is already a known link between chronic HIV and changes in gut bacteria, the new study aims to gain a better understanding of the changes that take place after HIV infection.

The researchers took gut microbiome samples from 27 men who have sex with men both before and after HIV infection. These samples were compared with 28 other men at similar behavioral risk, but who did not have HIV.

Although the research showed little change in the infected mens gut bacteria, they also found that the men who had acquired HIV had pre-existing differences in gut bacteria prior to infection. They also discovered that the men who contracted HIV had elevated inflammatory cytokines and bioactive lipids. This indicated that their bodies were constantly on the defense against infection or injury.

The studys limitations were influenced by the relatively small sample size, as well as the focus being on men who have sex with men. As most of those men were also drug users, it may reduce the studys generalizability to other populations.
Luxury megayacht Nord is in Hong Kong. Isaac Lawrence/AFP/Getty Images

A $500 million superyacht believed to be owned by a sanctioned Russian oligarch is in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong leader John Lee said there's "no legal basis" to seize the vessel.

The US has warned Hong Kong against being a "safe haven" for sanctioned oligarchs.

Hong Kong leader John Lee said there's "no legal basis" for the city to seize a Russian billionaire's superyacht that's currently docked in its harbor.

The $500 million vessel Nord  believed to be owned by Russia's third-richest person, Alexei Mordashov  moored in Hong Kong last Wednesday, according to data from Marine Traffic, a vessel-tracking site. The steel tycoon has been sanctioned by the US, the EU, and the UK for his links to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The US has even warned the Chinese special administrative region that its "reputation as a financial center depends on adherence to international laws and standards," the Financial Times reported Saturday, citing the State Department.

But Hong Kong has not taken any action against the yacht.

Hong Kong's Lee said Tuesday the city will only comply with United Nations sanctions. The UN hasn't sanctioned Mordashov.

"That is our system. That is our rule of law. We cannot do and we will not do anything that has no legal basis," Lee said at a scheduled news conference on Tuesday, according to an official Hong Kong government transcript. He made specific reference to the superyacht when responding in Cantonese at the same event.

Lee, a pro-Beijing loyalist, was elected to the city's top leadership position in May by a committee of elite Hong Kongers. The top Hong Kong leader, alongside other officials from the city, was sanctioned by the US in 2020 for having a key role in implementing a draconian national security law.

In response to a reporter's question, Lee hit back at the 2020 sanctions against the Hong Kong officials, which he said were "without justifications" and "barbaric."

"I'm not going to comment on the effects of such barbaric act because officials in Hong Kong do what is right to protect the interests of the country and the interests of Hong Kong. So we will just laugh off the so-called sanctions," he said on Tuesday at the same press conference.

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Hong Kong's stance on Mordashov's superyacht stands in contrast to the spate of luxury-vessel seizures in Europe earlier this year, following sweeping Western sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine. To avoid getting impounded, some yachts belonging to Russian oligarchs have been sailing to jurisdictions where they can't be seized, such as Turkey and the Maldives.

China has not condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine, nor implemented any sanctions against Moscow.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Hunter Rescued After Being Impaled by 'Lost' Arrow While Hiking in Remote Colorado Wilderness

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A hunter was airlifted out of a remote area in Colorado after being impaled by a "lost arrow" while hiking off-trail, according to Routt County Search and Rescue (RCSAR).

The incident occurred last week near the South Fork of Mad Creek when the hunter walked into the arrow, which reportedly pierced his leg above the knee, making him unable to move from his spot, CBS News reported.

Fortunately, he was able to request help using his rescue beacon to send an SOS before shutting off the device due to low battery power, per the outlet.

RELATED: 3 People Fending Off Sharks Rescued 'Just in the Nick of Time' in Gulf of Mexico After Boat Sinks

"The arrow was presumably released earlier in the archery hunting season," the statement from RCSAR's official Facebook page read. "This is RCSARs second rescue involving a hunter walking into and being impaled by a lost arrow in the past two years."

The RCSAR team was able to locate the hunter after venturing deep into the remote area where he was last heard from, including riding four miles to the Elk Park Trailhead north of Steamboat Springs and hiking 2.5 miles before going through woods and swamps to reach him.

Hunter Rescued After Being Impaled by 'Lost' Arrow While Hiking in Remote Colorado Wilderness

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Due to the difficulty of the landscape, the team called a helicopter to help carry the hunter out of the area. He was later airlifted and transported to UCHealth's Yampa Valley Medical Center for treatment, according to RCSAR Vice President Harry Sandler via CBS News.

Per the outlet, Sandler recommended, "Hunters should also always carry the 10 Essentials and be prepared for rapidly changing weather as is common this time of year in the rockies."

RELATED VIDEO: Mystery Man Risks His Life Dangerously Jumping Across Rooftop of New York High-Rise

As a precaution, Sandler added, "While we know that it is not always feasible, bowhunters should make every effort possible to find a lost arrow."

A representative from RCSAR said they did not have "any updates" when contacted by PEOPLE.
Oct. 12GRANGEVILLE  Although the Idaho County commissioners still hope to break ground on a new jail and sheriff's office complex next spring, a new windfall of money from the federal government is opening up possibilities for an expanded vision.

The commissioners met Tuesday with other Idaho County officials to discuss whether to go ahead with the original idea or to consider adding a new courthouse along with the jail and sheriff's office.

The county received word Sept. 29 that it will receive $5.1 million each year for the next two years from the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Local Assistance and Tribal Consistency Fund payment to counties. The money can be used to expand public services and infrastructure. (See related story on Page 1A).

The county has been planning to build a jail and sheriff's office complex using $3.4 million in American Rescue Plan Act and economic recovery-related funding. The proposed jail would cost about $7.5 million and is intended to replace the current jail, which was built in the mid-1950s and houses only 11 inmates. A new 50-bed jail would have space for both women and men, as well as close-custody inmates.

The original plan also involves relocating the sheriff's offices  including the motor vehicle licensing and detective departments that are currently housed in the second floor and the basement of the courthouse  to the new jail facility.

County officials discussed several possibilities Tuesday, including building a whole new complex on property near the Idaho County Airport already owned by the county. Other ideas involved trying to buy the U.S. Forest Service building next to the airport and adding a jail or building a jail annex onto the current courthouse.

Several county department heads expressed the desire to keep all the county offices in one location. One important consideration is to keep the sheriff's office in proximity to other offices that have occasionally had security threats related to their business.

Commissioner Denis Duman said whatever the county finally decides to do, the project has to be built with future expansion in mind. County officials plan to discuss the matter further at the commissioners' meeting Oct. 25.

Hedberg may be contacted at khedberg@lmtribune.com.
The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Ukraine needs between $3 billion and $4 billion a month in external aid to make sure its government doesnt collapse as it fights an increasingly brutal war against Russia.

Our preliminary estimate is that somewhere between three and four billion dollars are necessary on a monthly basis, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said at an annual meeting of the IMF and World Bank in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.

The external aid would go toward the most basic economic needs of Ukraine, including social services, infrastructure and energy costs, Georgieva said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made an appeal to the international development banks by video teleconference Wednesday, asking for $55 billion to cover Ukraines 2023 budget deficit as well as to help the country rebuild from the war.

Ukraine has been the recipient of a steady flow of foreign cash and weapons, and the country applied to join the NATO military alliance in September.

The IMF and World Bank have already provided Ukraine with $35 billion in economic funding, Georgieva said Wednesday. Thats on top of the tens of billions of dollars in economic assistance provided directly to Ukraine by the United States.

Addressing the IMF meeting Wednesday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urged donors need to keep stepping up.

The United States recently reaffirmed our commitment to Ukraine through congressional approval of another $4.5 billion in grant assistance, which we will begin to disburse in the coming weeks. This is in addition to the $8.5 billion in grants already disbursed, making the United States the largest provider of economic assistance to Ukraine, Yellen said.

U.S. military aid provided to Ukraine since Russias February invasion of the country also numbers in the tens of billions.

In total, the United States has committed more than $13.5 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden Administration, which includes around $12.9 billion since late February, an August fact sheet from the Defense Department states.

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The conflict has taken a vicious turn in recent weeks following a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive that retook territory in the northeast of the country. The destruction on Saturday of a vital resupply line for the Russian army over a bridge in Crimea prompted renewed strikes on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv as well as accusations of terrorism from Russian officials.

Rhetoric on the prospect of nuclear war has ramped up from both Russia and the West, with President Biden warning of Armageddon at a Democratic fundraiser last week.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked the day following Bidens remarks if there was any new assessment that ratcheted up the administrations level of concern about the threat of nuclear weapons. Jean-Pierre responded, no.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Stock pickers are generally looking for stocks that will outperform the broader market. And while active stock picking involves risks (and requires diversification) it can also provide excess returns. To wit, the White Mountains Insurance Group share price has climbed 52% in five years, easily topping the market return of 35% (ignoring dividends). However, more recent returns haven't been as impressive as that, with the stock returning just 22% in the last year , including dividends .

So let's assess the underlying fundamentals over the last 5 years and see if they've moved in lock-step with shareholder returns.

View our latest analysis for White Mountains Insurance Group

White Mountains Insurance Group wasn't profitable in the last twelve months, it is unlikely we'll see a strong correlation between its share price and its earnings per share (EPS). Arguably revenue is our next best option. Generally speaking, companies without profits are expected to grow revenue every year, and at a good clip. Some companies are willing to postpone profitability to grow revenue faster, but in that case one does expect good top-line growth.

In the last 5 years White Mountains Insurance Group saw its revenue grow at 26% per year. Even measured against other revenue-focussed companies, that's a good result. It's good to see that the stock has 9%, but not entirely surprising given revenue shows strong growth. If you think there could be more growth to come, now might be the time to take a close look at White Mountains Insurance Group. Of course, you'll have to research the business more fully to figure out if this is an attractive opportunity.

You can see below how earnings and revenue have changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image).

If you are thinking of buying or selling White Mountains Insurance Group stock, you should check out this FREE detailed report on its balance sheet.

A Different Perspective

It's nice to see that White Mountains Insurance Group shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 22% over the last year. And that does include the dividend. That's better than the annualised return of 9% over half a decade, implying that the company is doing better recently. Someone with an optimistic perspective could view the recent improvement in TSR as indicating that the business itself is getting better with time. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand White Mountains Insurance Group better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for White Mountains Insurance Group you should know about.

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If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of companies that have proven they can grow earnings.

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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The Sioux City-based Bomgaars farm store chain will become the nation's second-largest farm and ranch retailer after acquiring 73 Orscheln Farm and Home stores, the company announced in a news release.

Bomgaars said in the Wednesday release that the acquisition will give it 180 total stores in 15 states and add 1,400 employees. It said it also will acquire a 330,000-square-foot distribution center in Moberly, Missouri, the headquarters of the Orscheln chain.

Only Tractor Supply Co., which also is acquiring some of the Orscheln stores, has more locations.

Bomgaars spokesperson Heather Korbe said the Orscheln stores eventually will be rebranded as Bomgaars.

"Obviously, it's not going to happen overnight, but ultimately they will be rolled under the Bomgaars umbrella," Korbe said.

PreviouslyWhat can you get at Fleet Farm? Waukee is about to find out (and get free hats, too)

With acquisition, Bomgaars expanding to seven more states

Bomgaars currently has stores across the western half of Iowa and in Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming. With the newly acquired stores, it will expand to states including Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma and Texas, as well as to Fairfield and Ottumwa in eastern Iowa, according to a Tractor Supply Co. news release.

The release said Tractor Supply, based in Brentwood, Tennessee, had previously announced it would be buying the 166-store Orscheln chain. But to preserve competition and receive clearance from the Federal Trade Commission for the $320 million deal, the 2,000-plus-store Tractor Supply chain had to divest of the stores Bomgaars is acquiring and another 12 being purchased by the Missouri-based Bucheit Corp. farm stores.

Purchase price of Orscheln stores undisclosed

Bomgaars, which is family owned, did not disclose how much it is paying for the stores. In Bomgaars' news release, CEO Torrey Wingert called the transaction "very complex" and said it had been negotiated for a year and a half.

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"While the federal approval process was at times equally exhausting and frustrating, our team and the Bomgaars family remained steadfast in their determination to complete this acquisition, and this collective commitment to do so was a big part in ensuring this deal was successfully concluded, the release quoted Wingert as saying.

More:Northeast Iowa grain, feed operation shut down as bankruptcy receiver takes control

"I am grateful to our executive team for their persistence in seeing this deal through to its ultimate and successful conclusion," company owner Roger Bomgaars said in the release. "Our family is proud of our organization, each of our approximately 3,300 current employees, and the difference we make for our farm and ranch clients and customers every single day.

Bomgaars and wife Jane travel to visit their stores each spring and are "excited to include their 73 new locations" in plans for their annual "road trip," the release said.

91-year-old business has seen most of its expansion since 2001

Nearly 80-year-old business has seen most of its expansion since 2001

According to its website, the 3,000-employee Bomgaars chain grew out of a traveling sales business founded by William H. Bomgaars in Middleburg, a tiny, unincorporated community in northwest Iowa's Sioux County. Shifting its headquarters to Sioux City in 1944, the company in 1956 opened its first branch store in Yankton, South Dakota.

More:Iowans declare their love for corn after TikTok's 'Corn Kid' goes viral

Most of Bomgaars' growth, however, has occurred since 2001, when it had just 15 stores. It has locations in Des Moines and Grimes in the metro as well as in Winterset. It also has a location in Boone.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa's Bomgaars to be No. 2 farm supply chain after adding 73 stores
DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's Supreme Leader called anti-government protests "scattered riots" designed by the enemy, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Wednesday.

"These scattered riots are the passive and clumsy design of the enemy against the great and innovative developments and movements of the Iranian nation," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said.

Protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman who died in the custody of the morality police, have spread across Iran for the last four weeks.

(Reporting by Dubai Newsroom)
The U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol resumes on Sept. 28, 2022. Win McNamee/Getty Images

The U.S. congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol attacks is resuming its hearings on Oct. 13, 2022, and is expected to produce a report before the November midterm elections about rioters attempted coup and efforts to prevent President Joe Biden from assuming office.

The bipartisan committee is not authorized to indict or arrest anyone. Still, the committee hearings have prompted speculation about whether former President Donald Trump or his top advisers might face charges. The group does have the power to recommend legal actions for the Justice Department to take action against Trump and others.

But even without legal teeth, the committee can serve other purposes, like influencing public opinion, for example, or recommending policy reforms. Theres a long precedent of other countries setting up truth commissions, like the Jan. 6 committee, which work to unveil the truth about alleged crimes or major controversies.

As a political science scholar and expert on truth commissions, I think that looking at other kinds of truth commissions in different countries provides insight into what the Jan. 6 committees legacy might be  chiefly, it can help develop a narrative of what American democracy means.

How truth commissions work

Truth commissions are independent or government groups that investigate political crimes and human rights violations. They have provided a common way of transitioning out of political crises around the world, by hearing testimony of people involved in political violence and producing a comprehensive report with recommendations to the government.

Truth commissions are typically formed in the first year or two after the end of an authoritarian period, when a newly democratic government is faced with responding to human rights abuses and acts of political violence by the previous government. Some countries have also established truth commissions as a part of peace processes, like the 2016-2022 Colombian commission that released its final report in June 2022 following six decades of civil war. That report, based on testimony of over 24,000 Colombians affected by the conflict, emphasized the right of the victims to know the truth.

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The Truth and Reconciliation Commission that formed in South Africa in 1995, following the end of the racial segregation policy known as apartheid, is probably the best known example of a truth commission.

But at least 40 other countries have used truth commissions around the world. Governments, the United Nations, human rights organizations and religious organizations have all carried out truth commissions. Like the Jan. 6 commission, other truth commission hearings can be emotional. Some have been broadcast and most have produced public reports.

Truth commissions have multiple goals. Most want to establish a historical record.

In many countries, testimony during truth commission hearings has helped locate mass graves or otherwise helped families learn what happened to murdered or missing loved ones.

Truth commissions sometimes recommend criminal prosecution  though many commissions offer amnesty to anyone who testifies, as happened in South Africa in 1995.

Desmond Tutu, right, served as the chairperson for South Africas Truth and Reconciliation Commission, as shown in 1996. Anna Zieminski/AFP via Getty Images

Limits to truth commissions

The U.S. House voted to set up the Jan. 6 committee in June 2021 to investigate and report upon the facts, circumstances, and causes of the Capitol attack.

Alongside the hearings, 919 individuals have been charged in connection with the insurrection.

But the Capitol attacks also left many unanswered questions  like the timeline of events, Trumps exact association with the rioters, what role individual members of Congress may have played and why the National Guard was not directed to the Capitol for several hours.

Fully answering those questions may have positive benefits. For one, it may help Americans better understand political polarization and extremism in the country.

But that doesnt mean it will resolve those issues.

Truth commissions are often part of a larger project of transitional justice, meaning a collection of strategies to strengthen a new democracy or a fragile peace.

Other examples of transitional justice may include putting accused leaders on trial and reforming state agencies like the police.

Countries adopt different transitional justice approaches based on what is needed in their circumstances. Because truth commissions and trials may be politically risky, some scholars instead highlight the value of amnesty for promoting human rights and democracy.

It hasnt always worked in Latin America

For two decades, I have researched human rights and the rule of law in Central America. Different truth commissions pitfalls are evident there.

Guatemala, for example, had two truth commissions after its 36-year-long civil war ended in 1996. One commission was officially part of the peace process and the other was carried out by a national human rights organization.

These two commissions largely agreed on the basic facts  at least 200,000 Guatemalans were killed or disappeared during the civil war, and the government was responsible for more than 90% of human rights violations committed against civilians.

But establishing and publicizing that historical record did not lead to political stability in Guatemala.

It has also been difficult to prosecute former leaders. Guatemalan military dictator Gen. Efrain Rios Montt, for example, was convicted of genocide in 2013 to great international fanfare. Rios Montt was the first former head of state ever convicted of genocide in his own countrys courts. Still, another court annulled the verdict 10 days later, in a move seen by many as politically motivated.

Guatemalans came to observe the peace-signing between the government and rebels in 1996, ending 36 years of civil war. Rodrigo Arangua/AFP via Getty Images

Making a historical record

The Jan. 6 committee is not investigating a military dictatorship, as has happened in Latin America. But it is creating a historical record that will shape how Americans think about their own democracy for years to come.

August 2022 polling suggests that the hearings have not shifted public opinion on Trump or his involvement in the attack on the Capitol, with Democrats and Republicans remaining polarized.

Meanwhile, public trust in the U.S. government remains below 30%, linked to perceptions of government unresponsiveness and corruption.

Its not year clear what the Jan. 6 committees legacy in American politics will be. The flashy production values and more than 20 million viewers, at one point, still may not be able to create a shared national narrative.

With only 7% percent of those polled in June 2022 reporting high confidence in Congress, it seems unlikely that the committees report will reduce political friction.

This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Rachel E. Bowen, The Ohio State University. Like this article? subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

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Rachel E. Bowen receives funding from the National Science Foundation and the Gerda Henkel Foundation.
The House committee investigating last years attack on the Capitol will assemble Thursday for what could be its final public hearing ahead of the midterms, promising to delve into former President Trumps state of mind in a presentation designed to tie up a host of loose ends before the panel dissolves at the end of the year.

Through eight hearings in June and July, the committee had aired damning evidence revealing the extent to which Trump and members of his inner circle had sought to leverage the powers of the presidency to keep him in office despite his election defeat  a campaign that crescendoed in the violent rampage at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

But 16 months into the probe, investigators face the daunting task of crunching evidence gleaned from tens of thousands of documents and more than 1,000 witness interviews, packaging it into a concise closing argument and delivering it in the form of a compelling narrative capable of convincing voters that Trump and his supporters pose an ongoing threat to Americas democratic institutions.

For more than two hours on Thursday, they will begin that process.

Were going to bring a particular focus on the former presidents state of mind and his involvement in these events as they unfolded, a committee aide told reporters Wednesday.

So what youre going to see is a synthesis of some evidence weve already presented with that new, never-before-seen information to illustrate Donald Trumps centrality from the time prior to the election, the aide said.

Such information could be key for Trumps legal culpability, as many potential charges relating to the insurrection rely on demonstrating intent. As a separate matter, the committee still has to decide whether it will make criminal referrals based on its findings to the Justice Department, which is conducting its own wide-ranging investigation.

We have not reached a conclusion on that at this point, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), a member of the committee, told CNN on Friday.

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In a departure from prior hearings where one or two members were primarily responsible for walking through evidence and witness questions, in Thursdays hearing, each participant on the nine-member panel will have a role. The panel is also not planning to have any live witness testimony for the hearing.

In June and July, we zeroed in for the most part on a particular topic as we laid out a multistep plan to overturn the 2020 presidential election and block transfer of power, the aide said.

Tomorrow what were going to be doing is taking a step back.

The hearing comes after the panel rescheduled what was originally slated to be a late September event due to Hurricane Ian, delaying by two weeks their presentation and pushing it closer to the midterm elections.

The panel has pledged to offer up details on the evidence they collected throughout the summer, with Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) saying the committee was struggling with how to present an avalanche of new information.

Among the details the committee is expected to share Thursday are new information gleaned from documents turned over by the Secret Service as well as clips from a documentary crew that followed Trump confidant Roger Stone.

The Secret Service turned over more than a million digital communications to the committee, far exceeding the information the panel requested.

Emails obtained by The Washington Post that were given to the committee by the Secret Service show that the agency was concerned about the armed supporters who were resistant to going through security to enter the Ellipse for Trumps speech, a detail first revealed during the committees hearing with witness Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide.

The emails also reportedly show the extent the White House was warned of the deteriorating situation at the Capitol, including resistance to Trumps desired plan to make the journey to Capitol Hill alongside his supporters.

Other emails discuss Trumps anger at being blocked from making the trip, though it is not clear whether the panel will be able to corroborate Hutchinsons account  recounted to her in the presence of Trumps lead security officer that day  that he lunged at his security detail on a drive from the Ellipse to the White House.

Additional evidence collected over the summer includes footage obtained following an international journey by investigative staff, who traveled to Denmark in August to meet with a documentary film crew that spent three years following Stone.

The crew was with Stone in Washington on Jan. 5 and Jan. 6, capturing some of his phone conversations as he stayed at the Willard Hotel, which the Trump team used as its war room ahead of Congresss vote to certify the election results.

A March report from The Washington Post details how Stone was arranging pardons, and expressed resentment toward lily-livered, weak-kneed lawyers in the special counsels office for blocking some of them, including preemptive pardons.

Additional footage from the documentary obtained by CNN shows Stone condoning violence and stressing the need to claim victory in the election.

F the voting, lets get right to the violence, he says in a clip shot the day before the election.

Days earlier, in another clip, Stone had laid out his strategy. I really do suspect itll still be up in the air. When that happens, the key thing to do is to claim victory, he said. Possession is nine-tenths of the law. No, we won.

That strategy was not limited to the fringes of the GOP, but adopted by Republicans up and down the ranks, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who went on Fox News two days after the election to claim that Trump won this election.

According to CNN, the committee secured an agreement with the filmmakers, Christoffer Guldbrandsen and Frederik Marbell, to show some eight minutes of footage at the hearing.

For his part Stone has disputed the accuracy and the authenticity of these videos and believe they have been manipulated and selectively edited. He also said the clips do not prove I had anything to do with the events of Jan. 6.

That being said, he added, it clearly shows I advocated for lawful congressional and judicial options.

The Stone footage could bring the panel one step closer to addressing loose ends. The Trump ally used Oath Keepers as security guards, suggesting at least a tangential connection between the former president and the far-right militia group.

Different members have been focused on different loose ends that might need to be wrapped up and out so, again, speaking just for myself, I would hope that the hearing would allow us to make some overall synthetic judgments about what took place and why and the culpability of different key actors, Raskin told reporters in September.

And I hope that we would be able to speak to the question of the ongoing threats that are still out there.  I think that that is something that we need to address before its all over.

The panel is not, however, expected to release any information from its sit-down interview with Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Lofgren said this week.

Expectations are high for the panel that went on hiatus during August recess after generating significant momentum with their slate of eight hearings earlier this year.

We need to meet or exceed hearings that weve had in the past.  It wont be a repeat of any earlier hearings, and were trying to be as strategic as we can in not repeating ourselves, Chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) told reporters in September.

Whatever we do will be new information. Some of it we continue to collect on almost a daily basis, he said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
TOKYO (Reuters) -A Myanmar court sentenced Japanese documentary filmmaker Toru Kubota to an additional three years in prison on Wednesday on charges of violating an immigration law, the Japanese government said, bringing the total term of his incarceration to 10 years.

Kubota, 26, was arrested in July at a protest in Myanmar's main city of Yangon. Last week, he was sentenced to three years in prison for sedition and seven years for violating a law on telecommunications.

His prison term from those two sentences handed down last week comes to seven years as they are to be served concurrently, a Japanese foreign ministry official said.

"The Japanese government will keep on asking the Myanmar side for an early release of Mr Kubota," the official said.

A junta spokesperson did not respond to calls seeking comment. The junta says Myanmar's courts are independent and those arrested are receiving due process.

Myanmar has been trapped in a spiral of violence since the military overthrew an elected government last year. The junta has arrested thousands including politicians, bureaucrats, students, journalists, and foreigners as it attempts to smother dissent.

A Japanese freelance journalist was arrested last year and charged with spreading false news in his coverage of anti-coup protests. He was later freed with the junta saying his release was in recognition of the two countries' close ties.

Japanese firms and multinationals have faced pressure to pull out of investments in Myanmar that are perceived to benefit the military but some delayed projects are resuming.

Toyota Motor Corp said on Wednesday it had begun assembling cars at a new plant that had been put on hold for more than 19 months after the military coup and during the coronavirus pandemic.

(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka, Kaori Kaneko and Daniel Leussink; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Jacqueline Wong)
Over the summer, CBS aired an edition of The Challenge featuring familiar faces from other CBS reality shows Survivor, Big Brother, Love Island, and The Amazing Race. Titled The Challenge: USA, the season not only had network reality stars facing off against each other, but also acted as a feeder competition in that the winners of the USA edition would then compete against international versions of the show on something called The Challenge: Global Championship. Those winners turned out to be Survivor alums Danny McCray and Sarah Lacina, the latter of which was also the champion of Survivor: Game Changers.

With The Challenge going global and pitting players from an American edition against international ones, one can't help wonder if CBS/Paramount would ever stage a similar battle for its most high-profile reality competition series  Survivor.

Not only is Survivor still going strong in its 43rd season, but it has spawned several successful international editions along the way. The most popular edition has been Australian Survivor, which aired two seasons in the early 2000s before rebooting in 2016 with host Jonathan LaPaglia. The series has gained recognition for magnetic casting (including Luke Toki, Shonee Fairfax, and David Genet, just to name a few) and brutally physical challenges. It's 10th season, titled Heroes V Villains, is scheduled to air in 2023.

Survivor: Australia Shonee Fairfax; Survivor South Africa Episode 13 Werner Joubert; Survivor: New Zealand Lisa Holmes

Nigel Wright; Lisa Skinner; TVNZ 2 Shonee Fairfax ('Australian Survivor'); Episode 13 Werner Joubert ('Survivor South Africa'); Lisa Holmes (Survivor NZ)

But another international entry has also been coming on strong of late. Survivor South Africa has been on a tear ever since it returned in 2018 with its sixth season, Survivor South Africa: Philippines, featuring fan favorites like Palesa Tau, Toni Tebbutt, and Werner Joubert. The most recent installment, this summer's Return of the Outcasts (which brought back popular players such as Chappies, Marian de Vos, and Dino Paulo), was another creative high point, even with the show risking (and somehow avoiding) overkill by airing four times a week.

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While South Africa and Australia have the most celebrated of the current international editions, there have also been plenty of other noteworthy installments over the years, including New Zealand's Survivor NZ, which aired two seasons in 2017 and 2018. The point is, with so many other Survivor players out there outside of North America, why not stage a U.S. vs. The World season? And that's exactly what we asked host Jeff Probst.

"First off, I watched the premiere of The Challenge and really liked it," says Probst when we asked whether Survivor could follow suit with an international battle royal. "They do a great job producing that show, and it was fun to see so many familiar faces! And I could definitely take a note or two when it comes to how produce a host entrance. T.J. comes on like a rock star! Now that's how you do it!"

Survivor

Robert Voets/CBS Jeff Probst on 'Survivor 43'

Alright, Jeff  enough stalling! "Okay back to your question," says the host and executive producer. "We have definitely considered some kind of international Survivor showdown, but we've never figured out a way to do it that we thought would be fun for our audience and still loyal to the format."

The fact that Probst and producers have even considered staging such a season should be music to the ears of fans who either enjoy the foreign editions or wish they had access to such installments. (A few seasons of Australian Survivor and Survivor South Africa were briefly available on Paramount+ before apparently having their proverbial torches snuffed by the streaming service.)

And while Probst says they have not quite figured out how to make the clash for global domination work, there are clear advantages to casting a season half-filled with international players. For one thing, you already have a deep pool of personalities that have proven to pop on screen and yet have not already been overexposed on these shores. It would also complete the foreign exchange program started when U.S. franchise stars Russell Hantz and Sandra Diaz-Twine went and competed over on Australian Survivor.

"Survivor is so much about the nuance of relationships, and with the language barriers that come with an international format, we're not yet convinced we know how to do it," Probst tells EW. But with so many quality contestants from English-language editions ready and waiting, here's hoping he finds a way.

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During a Sunday appearance on NBC News , former Biden administration press secretary Jen Psaki appeared to brush off a question about the federal investigation into the presidents son Hunter Biden.

Meet the Press host Kristen Welker discussed news earlier this month that federal agents believe they have enough evidence to potentially bring charges for tax issues and a false statement related to a gun purchase against Hunter Biden, asking Ms Psaki, now an MSNBC analyst , How large is this looming over the president and Democrats broadly?

The former Biden administration official barely acknowledged the potential charges in her response.

It was a big week here in Washington. So much news, she said. I dont even know how you decided what to talk about Kristen.

Ms Psaki went on to imply that the coming midterm elections were a bigger story that matter to voters.

The truth is, I looked at a bunch of local front pages this morning and if you look at the front page in Nevada, theyre talking about Trumps rally there and what it means for candidates and turning out the vote. If you look at the front pages in Pennsylvania, theyre talking about [Doug] Mastriano, does he have a grassroots campaign or movement going on? Obviously Georgia is quite focused on every latest development in Herschel Walker.

The truth is, she concluded, as much as there was so much news happening in Washington this week, it doesnt always translate, and often doesnt translate, to what voters are talking about in states.

Federal investigators began probing Hunter Biden in 2018, exploring his overseas business work in Ukraine while his father was vice-president, as well as ties to China and questions about his income records.

Last week, citing anonymous sources, the Washington Post reported that federal agents believe they have enough evidence to charge Hunter Biden with tax crimes and making a false statement related to a gun purchase.

Its unclear whether such charges will be brought, a decision that rests in the hands of the federal US Attorney for Delaware.

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In April, Attorney General Merrick Garland told Congress that US Attorney David C Weiss, a Trump nominee, will make the decision independently without any interference.

There will not be interference of any political or improper kind, Mr Garland said. We put the investigation in the hands of a Trump appointee from the previous administration.

Hunter Biden has denied any wrongdoing.

I take this matter very seriously but I am confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisors, he said in 2020 in a statement.

Responding to the Post story about the potential charges, Chris Clark, an attorney for Mr Biden, said so far his client had no contact whatsoever with any federal investigative agent. Therefore, a rendition of the case from such an agent is inherently biased, one-sided, and inaccurate. It is regrettable that law enforcement agents appear to be violating the law to prejudice a case against a person who is a target simply because of his family name.

As is proper and legally required, we believe the prosecutors in this case are diligently and thoroughly weighing not just evidence provided by agents, but also all the other witnesses in this case, including witnesses for the defense. That is the job of the prosecutors, he added.

They should not be pressured, rushed, or criticized for doing their job.

Earlier this year, White House chief of staff Ron Klain described the president as confident that his son didnt break the law.

Criticisms and conspiracies about Hunter Biden have been a key part of Donald Trumps attacks on Joe Biden and the Democrats.

During his infamous 2018 phone call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, Donald Trump urged the leader to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden.

The exchange came during the conversation which led to Mr Trumps first impeachment.
Becky Houze is as close as Jersey farming gets to a household name. The dairy farmer recently starred in a reality TV show, has nearly 90,000 followers on Instagram and more than 100,000 on TikTok. Despite the fame she finds her farming credentials questioned.

"I was once having a conversation with an ex-farmer," Becky recalled. "And he asked me if I had a boyfriend.

"At the time I didn't, and he said 'I think you should find yourself a nice farmer and he can help you on the farm' and I thought 'how come I need a man to show me what to do!'"

Ms Houze has a degree in agriculture and has managed Lodge Farm, St Saviour, for more than five years.

Becky is a fourth generation dairy farmer

The 2021 census published by Statistics Jersey shows women make up 30% of the island's agricultural and fishing workforce.

This is almost double the proportion of women in the UK's agricultural workforce, and yet, Jersey women don't always feel their contributions are appreciated, or even seen.

Catherine Conway, director of Homefields fruit and vegetable wholesaler, said: "I can't tell you the amount of times that I've spoken to people on the phone, and they've said: 'Can I speak to the boss, please?'

"You're speaking to the boss 'but you're a girl'. I've had those exact words: 'But you are a girl'. Yes, I am a girl, how can I help you!"

Christine Hellio has worked as a vegetable farmer for more than 40 years. She said that when she returned to work after having children, other farmers used to come into the fields and greet her husband without even acknowledging her presence.

Christine works with her husband, Didier, on their farm

Ms Houze also explained that her grandmother, who worked consistently on the family farm, had not considered herself a farmer.

She said: "I've asked my nan... what does she think her job was and she said: 'Well, I was the housewife'. But she worked during the day on the farm and left earlier than my papa would have done because she had to cook the dinner and do the laundry."

Gabby Mason, co-founder of Jade-S fisheries, believes "there's a fundamental systemic problem in our ideas of what women work as in certain industries".

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Speaking about the fishing industry, she said: "I think it's a British culture kind of thing. You look at America, Australia, New Zealand, women are all over the industries - whether it's boats or in the background jobs, it is known. Typically, in Jersey and England it seems to be that it's not commonly thought of.

"When we talk about the fishing industry we often think 'man on a boat', but, actually, it could be woman on a boat, or it could be all the extra people who are doing the footwork in the background."

Gabby is one of the only women in Jersey's commercial fishing industry

UK Women in Fisheries (UKWIF) is a national organisation set up to try to correct this cultural blind spot.

Beshlie Pool is one of the founding members of UKWIF: "I feel that quite often women have to work twice as hard as men to be accepted and we don't get recognised for that additional effort because we have to prove that we're as good as they are."

She is also an executive of South Devon & Channel Shellfishermen and said there was a need to question women's presence in the data.

"I think data will always underrepresent women in general. A lot of women we come across don't yet recognise themselves as part of the workforce. They often say: 'I just do the books, I just make his packed lunches, I just keep the home functioning', but without those functional roles, the guys couldn't go to sea, couldn't catch the fish, couldn't take the fish to the market."

Jane Rueb, secretary of the Jersey Farmer's Union (JFU), also warned that what might appear as an increase in the number of women farmers locally may be more indicative of an overall decline in the industry.

She said: "The proportion of women is probably greater than it's ever been, but only because the actual number of farmers has declined more rapidly."

Mrs Rueb said this decline was worrying and regardless of gender "encouraging any farmers into farming in Jersey is a priority island-wide".

Ms Mason fears it will be a "long slog" before public perception of women in farming and fishing begins to really shift, but recent events do suggest the national tide has begun to turn.

Ashley Mullenger and Isla Gale were the first women to be recognised at the Fishing News Awards, with Ashley scooping up a Fisherman of the Year accolade.

And an academic and photographic project aimed to make women farmers in Northumberland and the Scottish borders more visible.

Catherine Conway's grandmother comes into the Homefields office every day and helps to keep the books

Mrs Conway believes "in the last couple of years, especially, there definitely has been a big shift".

"People have started to realise, actually, you don't need to be a 60-year-old man to be a farmer. You can be any age, any nationality, any shape or size, any gender just get on with it."

Follow BBC Jersey on Twitter and Facebook. Send your story ideas to channel.islands@bbc.co.uk
Jimmy Kimmel said klan mom Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) is still spewing her racist conspiracy theories in an effort to scare voters into thinking they are being replaced by immigrants.

But that also gave him an idea.

Kimmel played a clip of Greene warning that immigrants were replacing you, replacing your jobs and replacing your kids in school.

And coming from all over the world, theyre also replacing your culture, she said. And thats not great for America.

It isnt? Kimmel fired back. Because I kinda think it is.

Then he went even further:

You mean to tell me we could swap the Lets Go Brandon flags and the alcoholic boat parades, we can replace the anti-vax Facebook groups and the Proud Boy circle jerks with empanadas and crazy soap operas? Im OK with that  please! I think the message is: Bring your big hats and your complicated mustaches and your jigs in lederhosen, your fish eyeballs, your soup dumplings, from all over the world and replace away.

We need a good replacing right now, Kimmel said as the audience cheered.

See more in his Tuesday night monologue:

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
President Joe Biden on Tuesday publicly addressed for the first time the possible charges against his son Hunter Biden for alleged tax crimes and making a false statement on a gun purchase application.

Im proud of my son, Biden told CNNs Jake Tapper when asked for his reaction to the potential charges. He got hooked on  like many families have had happen  hooked on drugs. Hes overcome that. Hes established a new life.

Hunter Biden has been under investigation since 2018. Federal prosecutors are confident they have enough evidence to bring criminal charges against him, The Washington Post reported last week.

President Biden on Tuesday for the first time addressed his sons exposure to possible criminal charges for allegedly lying on a gun-purchase application, but he said he was proud of Hunter Biden for confronting his struggles with drug addiction https://t.co/NscXr1yMlfpic.twitter.com/nnkefrnIVg  CNN (@CNN) October 12, 2022

The probe initially focused on Bidens overseas business dealings but later expanded to look into whether he engaged in tax evasion and lied on a form to buy a gun in 2018. He reportedly answered no to a question asking if he used controlled substances but has since admitted in his book that he was struggling with addiction and using drugs that year.

Joe Biden told CNN he knew nothing about the gun purchase.

He wrote a book about his problems and was straightforward about it. Im proud of him, he said. This thing about a gun  I didnt know anything about it. But turns out that when he made an application to purchase a gun, what happened was he ... you get asked a question, are you on drugs? or do use drugs? He said no. And he wrote about saying no in his book.

So I have great confidence in my son, he added. I love him and hes on the straight and narrow, and he has been for a couple years now. And Im just so proud of him.

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The White House has previously declined to comment on the investigation. Republicans and right-wing media have fixated on the issue and have signaled it could become the subject of a congressional probe next year should Republicans take control of Congress in the November midterms.

Biden declined to answer a question about when hell announce whether hes running for reelection in 2024. He said his focus is on the upcoming midterm elections.

After thats done in November, then Im going to be in the process of deciding, he said.

Is one of the calculations that you think youre the only one who can beat Donald Trump? Tapper asked.

I believe I can beat Donald Trump again, Biden answered.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images

Bolton said the US needs to make it clear that Putin will be eliminated if he uses nuclear weapons.

Putin is "signing a suicide note" if he orders the use of nukes, Bolton said.

He mentioned Iranian general Qassem Soleimani as an example of what happens to "a threat to the US."

Former national security adviser John Bolton says the US should make it clear that it would eliminate Russian President Vladimir Putin if he were to order the use of nuclear weapons.

On Tuesday, Bolton called into British radio station LBC's "Tonight with Andrew Marr." When Marr asked Bolton to weigh in on what the US, NATO, and the West should do if Putin were to use nuclear weapons, Bolton said the focus should be on deterring Putin from using nuclear weapons, rather than on what to do in retaliation.

However, Bolton also said he did not rule out the possibility of Putin using nuclear weapons if Russian forces collapsed in Ukraine, or if Putin found himself "in really dire straits, politically, inside Russia." He added that the US should be clear that it would "levy responsibility" on the person who ordered a nuclear strike.

"We need to make clear if Putin were to order the use of a tactical nuclear weapon, he would be signing a suicide note," Bolton said. "And I think that's what it may take to deter him if he gets into extreme circumstances."

"But without being silly about this, we can't reach him. We can't get him," Marr said, responding to Bolton's suggestion that Putin be "held accountable" for ordering a nuclear strike.

"I don't agree that we can't get him. And I think he knows that," Bolton said.

"You can ask Qassem Soleimani in Iran what happens when we decide somebody is a threat to the United States," Bolton added. Soleimani was an Iranian general who fought the US for years and was killed in a US air strike in 2020.

Fighting in Ukraine has escalated again after missile strikes from Russia hit multiple Ukrainian cities, including the country's capital, Kyiv, on Monday morning. This attacks came after the Kerch Strait Bridge, a key supply line between Russia and Crimea, was bombed on Saturday. Ukraine has hinted it was responsible for the blast, which Putin labeled a Ukrainian terrorist attack.

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In late September, Putin announced Russia would be annexing four regions of Ukraine following sham referendums organized by pro-Russian separatists in the four occupied regions. Military experts speculate that Putin may use nuclear weapons, interpreting these annexations as a sign that Putin is committing to an eventual escalation.

In a CBS interview aired on October 2, CIA Director William Burns said it was difficult to tell whether Putin was bluffing about his willingness to use nuclear weapons. In a podcast aired on Wednesday, former CIA Moscow station chief Rolf Mowatt-Larssen said it would be irresponsible for Western leaders to think of Putin's threats as "bluster" and saber-rattling, because the Russian leader may come to a point where he sees nuclear weapons as his "only good option."

Read the original article on Business Insider
James Tupper and Anne Heche in 2012. Tupper has disputed her oldest son's claim to her estate. Tupper has also asked to be appointed legal guardian of his 13-year-old son with Heche. (Evan Agostini / Invision / Associated Press)

Anne Heche's oldest son will retain control over the late actor's estate while a legal battle with her ex-boyfriend continues, according to a judge's ruling Tuesday.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Lee Bogdanoff issued the ruling in favor of 20-year-old Homer Laffoon, Heche's oldest son. Heche's ex-boyfriend, James Tupper, had also filed to be appointed legal guardian of 13-year-old Atlas Heche Tupper, his son with the actor, who died in August.

In previous court filings, Tupper argued that Laffoon was not suitable for appointment as personal representative of this estate and that the person in charge of the estate should be someone with more experience and sophistication.

He is only 20 years of age and is unemployed, and was estranged from [Heche] at the time of her death due to his dropping out of university studies and not working to support himself, the filing read.

Bogdanoff rejected that argument Tuesday.

"As earnest as Mr. Tuppers testimony was on the importance of preserving the relationship between the siblings and how the appointment of Mr. [Laffoon] as administrator might affect that relationship, the court is not aware of any authority to support the proposition that appointment of the present petitioner should be denied in favor of someone else having a lower priority based on that consideration," the judge said, according to a minute order documenting the hearing.

Tupper's lawyer, Chris Johnson, argued that a 20-year-old is unfit to manage an estate, but that brought a rebuke from Bogdanoff.

"He's not qualified on what basis? In California, you can be illiterate and be an administrator," the judge said.

Bogdanoff also criticized Tupper for shaking his head after his petition for ad litem guardianship was denied.

Laffoon filed a petition in August to be named administrator of Heches estate, saying his mother died without leaving a will.

Tupper followed with a filing in September in which he claimed that he is the rightful executor of the estate and asked to be appointed Atlas' legal guardian.

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Tupper, who is also an actor, claimed in a filing obtained by The Times that Heche in 2011 emailed him a will in which she named him as executor.

Heche died of injuries she sustained when she crashed her car into a home in Mar Vista and was trapped inside for nearly an hour while the home burned.

Laffoon's court papers state that Heche had about $400,000 in assets and that he expects about the same amount in residuals and royalties annually.

Bogdanoff set a follow-up hearing for Nov. 30 and extended Laffoon's temporary control over administration of the estate to Dec. 14, according to the minute order.

City News Service contributed to this report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
A federal judge dismissed a Justice Department effort to force Las Vegas casino magnate Steve Wynn to acknowledge a stint as an agent of the Chinese government, contending that the government has no power to require such a disclosure after the purported foreign relationship had ended.

U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg expressed reservations about his own ruling issued Wednesday but suggested that long-standing appeals court precedent bars DOJ from requiring foreign agents to retroactively register once they are no longer performing that work.

If the ruling stands, it could deal a serious blow to the Justice Department's effort to crack down on undisclosed foreign influence campaigns in the U.S. and could undercut DOJ's ability to use the threat of a civil enforcement action to cajole lobbyists and others into registering under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

The Justice Department had filed suit against Wynn earlier this year, demanding that he register as a foreign agent for his 2017 efforts to help secure the return of a Chinese national, Guo Wengui, who had fled to the United States and sought asylum. The Foreign Agents Registration Act, DOJ argued, required that Wynn acknowledge his work even though it had already concluded. But Boasberg disagreed.

While the goals of FARA are laudable, this Court is bound to apply the statute as interpreted by the D.C. Circuit. And that requires dismissal, he wrote.

Boasberg summed up the governments suit against Wynn by noting that the Chinese governments effort to enlist his help began in May 2017 at a meeting featuring an unusual cast of characters: a former RNC finance chair (Elliott Broidy), a businessperson (Nickie Lum Davis), and a member of the hit 1990s hip-hop group The Fugees (Prakazrel Michel). The meeting was organized, Boasberg noted, by a foreign national and featured a request from Sun Lijun, the former Chinese vice minister for Public Security, to lobby Donald Trump on Chinas behalf.

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Perhaps embracing The Fugees famous line  ready or not, here I come, you cant hide,  the PRC sought to have the Trump Administration cancel the visa of and remove from the United States an unnamed Chinese businessperson whom the PRC had charged with corruption, Boasberg wrote, dotting his opinion with characteristic pop culture references. The Chinese businessperson, perhaps understanding that jail bars aint golden gates,  had fled China in 2014, seeking political asylum in the United States.

In issuing his 20-page opinion, Boasberg said he made no determination whether Wynn had actually met the criteria of acting as an agent for a foreign government. He also expressed discomfort with the ruling.

The departments suit against Wynn was the first of its kind in three decades, and came only after DOJ said it had ordered the casino magnate to register as a foreign agent three separate times.

In a court filing last month, Wynns attorneys and lawyers for the Justice Department were asked to address whether there is a realistic possibility of settling this case, a development both sides said they agreed was unlikely.

The Justice Department could appeal to the D.C. Circuit but because of the existing precedent, might need unusual en banc review from that court to reverse Boasberg's ruling. A DOJ spokesperson said officials are mulling further action, but declined to get into further detail.

"The district court acknowledged in its opinion that the result it reached frustrates FARAs purpose of getting information to the public that it needs to evaluate the extent of foreign influence over US policy and public opinion," the Justice Department statement said. "While the court considered itself bound to apply an earlier precedent of the DC Circuit notwithstanding these concerns, the government respectfully disagrees with todays ruling and is considering options in the litigation and more generally. The Department remains committed to enforcing the Foreign Agents Registration Act."

Lawyers for Wynn praised the judge's decision.

"We are delighted that the District Court today dismissed the governments ill-conceived lawsuit against Steve Wynn," attorneys Reid Weingarten and Robert Luskin said in a statement. "Mr. Wynn never acted as an agent of the Chinese government and never lobbied on its behalf. This is a claim that should never have been filed, and the Court agreed."

The cast of characters the judge described have seen legal fallout of differing severity from their roles in the advocacy Wynn allegedly joined in on on behalf of China.

Broidy, a close ally of Trump, pleaded guilty in October 2020 to a felony charge of conspiring to violate FARA in connection with the effort to deport Guo. Just before leaving office, Trump granted Broidy a pardon and he was never sentenced.

Lum Davis also pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate FARA and sought a pardon from Trump, but none was forthcoming. She is scheduled to be sentenced later this month.

Michel, better known by his stage name Pras, has pleaded not guilty to FARA-related charges as well as campaign finance and money laundering charges. He was supposed to go to trial next month in Washington, but a judge recently postponed the trial until March.

Caitlin Oprysko contributed to this report.
A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed a Justice Department lawsuit against casino developer Steve Wynn that sought to force him to register as a foreign agent due to lobbying work the agency says he did for China during the Trump administration.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said the Justice Department could not compel Wynn to register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) because any relationship Wynn had with Beijing ended in 2017.

"We are delighted that the District Court today dismissed the governments ill-conceived lawsuit against Steve Wynn," Wynn attorneys Reid Weingarten and Robert Luskin said in a statement. "Mr. Wynn never acted as an agent of the Chinese government and never lobbied on its behalf."

STEVE WYNN SUED BY JUSTICE DEPARTMENT

FARA requires anyone who lobbies on behalf of a foreign government or entity to register their work with the U.S. government.

The judge's decision comes after Wynn's attorneys moved to dismiss the case.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

FLASHBACK: STEVE WYNN FACES BAN FROM CASINO INDUSTRY AFTER NEVADA GAMBLING REGULATORS FILE COMPLAINT

Attorney General Merrick Garland delivers a statement at the Department of Justice on Aug. 11, 2022, in Washington. The Justice Department filed a suit against casino mogul Steve Wynn that was dropped this week.

The Justice Departments lawsuit against Wynn alleged that he lobbied then-President Donald Trump and members of his administration in 2017 to expel a Chinese citizen from the United States who had been charged with corruption in China and was seeking political asylum in America. Those efforts were unsuccessful.

The complaint said Wynn's effort was conducted on behalf of senior Chinese government officials and alleged that Wynn was motivated to protect his own business interests in China.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Wynn, a GOP donor and the former finance chair of the Republican National Committee, resigned in 2018 as chairman and CEO of his casino and resorts after multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Jurgen Klopp speaks to the media before Liverpools match with Rangers (Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp snapped at a reporter at a Champions League press conference after he asked about Didi Hamanns criticism of him.

Former Liverpool player Hamann has said Klopp could lose his position with the Reds if their season doesnt improve. Liverpool are 10th in the Premier League and have lost a Champions League match this season, with a tricky test at Rangers to come on Wednesday night.

When asked about Hamanns comments that Liverpool lacked spark, Klopp retorted sarcastically: Oh great, hes a fantastic source, well respected everywhere. That [being a former Liverpool player] doesnt give you the right to say what you want, especially when you have no idea.

I actually think Didi Hamann doesnt deserve that you use his phrase to ask me a question. Do me a favour and ask your own question. Try to ask a question without the word spark, thats the challenge now.

Hamann had questioned how the players are feeling under Klopp, including captain Jordan Henderson.

At some stage, I think we will have that discussion about the manager and Im not sure how far we are off that, Hamann told talkSPORT. He said that he still feels that hes the right man to do it, but I see little things like Jordan Henderson midweek seeing his number going up and reluctantly taking his armband off and coming off, shaking his head.

This is something that we havent seen at Liverpool for five years. Maybe these are little signs that people have little problems with the team or even the manager.

The dynamics at Liverpool are no different to anywhere else and if the results arent there then the manager will come under pressure.

Liverpool are currently sitting second in their Champions League group behind Napoli, with Rangers bottom and searching for their first points when the Reds visit Ibrox.
By Jack Queen and Jacqueline Thomsen

(Reuters) -Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones must pay at least $965 million in damages to numerous families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook mass shooting for falsely claiming they were actors who faked the tragedy, a Connecticut jury said on Wednesday.

The verdict, which came after three weeks of testimony in a state court in Waterbury, Connecticut, far outstripped the $49 million Jones was ordered to pay in August by a Texas jury in a similar case brought by two other Sandy Hook parents.

The Connecticut verdict applies to both Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems LLC, the owner of Jones' Infowars website. FSS filed for bankruptcy in July.

The plaintiffs in the Connecticut case included more than a dozen relatives of 20 children and six staff members who were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012. Jones claimed for years that the massacre was staged as part of a government plot to take away Americans' guns.

Jurors said the plaintiffs should also be awarded attorney's fees, which are set to be determined in November.

During a live broadcast as the verdict was read, Jones vowed to appeal and said his company's ongoing bankruptcy will protect Infowars in the meantime.

"We're fighting Goliath," he said.

Jones' lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Christopher Mattei, a lawyer for the families, said outside the courthouse that the verdict was "against Alex Jones, his lies and their poisonous spread, and a verdict for truth and for our common humanity."

Outside the courthouse, Robbie Parker, one of the plaintiffs in the case, thanked the jury for its verdict. "Everybody who took the stand told the truth," Parker said. "Except for one. The one who proclaims that that's what he does. But while the truth was being said in the courtroom, he was standing right here, lying."

Jones was found liable in a default judgment last year after he failed to comply with court orders.

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During closing arguments last week, Mattei said Jones cashed in for years on lies about the shooting, which drove traffic to his Infowars website and boosted sales of its various products.

Infowars' finances are not public, but according to trial testimony the site brought in revenue of $165 million between 2016 and 2018. An economist in the Texas case estimated that Jones is personally worth between $135 million and $270 million.

FSS's bankruptcy will limit the total money available to Sandy Hook families, but they could seek other assets from Jones if a judge rules his company deliberately harmed them, according to Brian Kabateck, a plaintiffs' attorney who was not involved in the case.

The underlying conduct was egregious, and thats the kind of thing that could get you beyond the limits of the bankruptcy, Kabateck told Reuters.

Jones has not personally filed for bankruptcy but the same principle would apply if he does, Kabateck said.

ANGUISHED TESTIMONY

The families suffered a decade-long campaign of harassment and death threats by Jones followers, Mattei said.

Every single one of these families (was) drowning in grief, and Alex Jones put his foot right on top of them, Mattei told jurors.

Jones lawyer countered during closing arguments that the plaintiffs had shown scant evidence of quantifiable losses. The attorney, Norman Pattis, urged jurors to ignore the political undercurrents in the case.

This is not a case about politics," Pattis said. Its about how much to compensate the plaintiffs.

Douglas E. Mirell, a lawyer and defamation expert who was not involved in the case, said the sizable verdict sent a clear message of "revulsion" from the jury.

"His refusal to own up to the mendacity and lies that he promulgated time and time again over many years has now caught up with him," Mirell said of Jones.

The trial was marked by weeks of anguished testimony from the families, who filled the gallery each day and took turns recounting how Jones lies about Sandy Hook compounded their grief. An FBI agent who responded to the shooting was also a plaintiff in the case.

Jones, who has since acknowledged that the shooting occurred, also testified and briefly threw the trial into chaos as he railed against his liberal critics and refused to apologize to the families.

In August, another jury found that Jones and his company must pay $49.3 million to Sandy Hook parents in a similar case in Austin, Texas, where the headquarters of Jones' Infowars conspiracy theory website is located.

Jones' lawyers have said they hope to void most of the payout in the Texas case before it is approved by a judge, calling it excessive under state law.

Connecticut does not place caps on damages, though Jones could appeal the verdict on other legal grounds.

Mattei said the families would go to any court necessary to enforce the verdict "for as long as it takes, because that's what justice requires."

(Reporting by Jack Queen in New York, Tom Hals in Wilmington, Del., and Jacqueline Thomsen in WashingtonEditing by Noeleen Walder, Mark Porter and Matthew Lewis)
PROVIDENCE  Republican candidate for governor Ashley Kalus says she will not release her tax returns  as she had earlier promised  until Gov. Dan McKee makes subpoenas and school test scores public.

"Ashley will gladly release her tax returns on the same day Dan McKee releases the subpoenas his administration has received and the RICAS scores," Kalus spokesman Matt Hanrahan said Wednesday.

"While the governor's call for Ashley to release her tax returns is purely political, she is willing to take any action to ensure parents have the necessary information about their children's education before heading to the polls," he said.

Translated: Kalus is challenging McKee to release the results of the state's annual standardized tests for public school students before the Nov. 8 election.

She is also upping her demand that he make public any subpoenas stemming from investigations into the education consulting contract his administration gave the ILO Group. He has thus far refused.

Previously: Gov. McKee releases state and federal tax returns. Will opponent Kalus do the same?

RI candidates for governor Ashley Kalus, Gov. Dan McKee

The response from McKee campaign manager Brexton Isaacs to Kalus' chess move: It should raise serious alarm for voters that Ashley Kalus is going back on her word and refusing to release her tax returns.

"Voters have come to expect transparency from those running for Governor and this move by Ashley Kalus is reminiscent of Donald Trump's playbook."

"The people of Rhode Island know very little about Ashley Kalus and have legitimate questions about her background and her financial interests....and there are serious questions about what state she calls home," Isaacs said. "Voters should ask themselves, if Ashley Kalus can't even release her tax returns  a standard of those running for governor  what else is Ashley Kalus hiding?"

With few exceptions, every other candidate for governor in Rhode Island this year voluntarily made their state and federal tax returns public, including McKee, the Democratic incumbent, and former CVS executive Helena Foulkes, who placed second behind him in the Sept. 13 Democratic primary.

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A newcomer to state politics, Foulkes made public five years worth of her tax history, the most recent revealing her eye-popping $9.6-million income in 2020.

The exceptions were Kalus, her low-profile GOP challenger Jonathan Riccitelli and Democratic primary candidate Luis Daniel Munoz.

Kalus said she would release her tax returns earlier this year

Back on April 19, however, in response to a Journal inquiry, Kalus' campaign sent this statement: "Ashley had to file for an extension, but will release her returns upon completion."

The McKees' returns  made public earlier this week after they too requested an extension  reveal little new about their Rhode Island-centric life, beyond his salary as governor, her pension as a retired public school reading teacher, and their Social Security benefits.

But Kalus is a relatively new arrival to Rhode Island. And she has not yet answered this question: Which state did she and her husband, Jeffrey Weinzweig, file resident tax returns for 2021?

On her financial disclosure filings with the state Ethics Commission earlier this year, she indicated that Doctors Test Centers  the entity created by her plastic surgeon husband that had state testing and vaccination contracts  paid her between $500,001 and $1 million in 2021.

The filing did not provide a full picture. It is unclear, for example, to which state Kalus and her husband  Jeffrey Weinzweig  paid their resident taxes in 2021, whether it was Florida  where Kalus was registered to vote until the day after she declared her run for governor  or Illinois, where she had a "homestead exemption" on a home.

On a bank filing, she and her husband declared the house they bought in Newport in May 2021 as a second home.

On Wednesday, the Democratic Governors Association blasted out an email saying:

"Rhode Islanders dont even know what state Kalus paid taxes to last year.

"Was it Florida, where she was registered to vote until she declared she was running for governor of Rhode Island? Or was it Illinois, where she had a tax exemption on her property taxes meant for permanent residents?" DGA Senior Communications Advisor Christina Amestoy asked.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Kalus: No tax returns until McKee releases subpoenas, RICAS scores
Kamala Harris has confirmed that, as the vice president of the United States, she is not allowed to send or receive emojis.

The 57-year-old politician opened up about her texting habits while appearing on Late Night with Seth Meyers on Monday.

During the conversation, host Seth Meyers addressed some of the many sacrifices that Harris has to make throughout her career, before asking her if it was true that [she] can no longer send emojis.

In response, the 49th vice president laughed and confessed that she has not used emojis in over a year.

Okay, high-class problems, she joked. I have not received, directly, an emoji in a year and a half.

Meyers then questioned if there was another way for her to receive the emojis: Wow. And you cant have your staff, like, print them off?

In response, she said: I mean, I suppose they could, but they are not coming to me directly.

Harris further explained how her texting routines have changed, noting that while her family is very competitive about online games, their group chat doesnt exist anymore.

For example, our family is very competitive, be it Wordle or other things, she said. And, you know, the family group chat is no longer a thing.

She went on to recall that because she couldnt send a text to her family on a special occasion, they had to do a phone tree.

It was my father-in-laws birthday, and we were talking to the kids, Harris explained. And I thought, OK, the kids can do a video for his birthday. And normally, Id send a family text, but this time we had to do a phone tree.

Meyers then noted how uncommon phone calls are nowadays, in comparison to the act of sending a text message.

Its very out-dated to actually do an old-school phone tree, he said.

This wasnt Harris first time discussing her daily social media and texting routines as vice president. During an interview with The Ringer in April, she noted that due to restrictions on her phone, she cant share her Wordle games with her family.

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My phone does not let me do that, she said, when asked if she could post her Wordle scores on Twitter or send them to her sister. My phone doesnt let me text anybody, which is sad.

She also noted that while she doesnt get to compete with her family in Wordle, she still gets to talk to her husband about it.

Elsewhere in her interview with Meyers, Harris discussed some other changes in her life since becoming vice president, including security protocols that she has to follow. More specifically, she described how she and her husband take walks.

We love to take walks, and these days the walks are quite different, she added, comparinf her walks to a scene in The Godfather where Michael, is out with a woman that hes interested in. The shot is just the two of them taking this lovely walk, and then it pans out and the whole village is with them. Thats what our walks are like.
Kanye West (Edward Berthelot / GC Images)

Less than a week after Kanye West sat down with Tucker Carlson for a two-part, two-hour conversation that aired on Fox News, clips have surfaced that add more troubling layers to the already-controversial interview.

West, now known as Ye, makes an assortment of antisemitic remarks in the unreleased footage obtained by Vice's Motherboard. He said he'd rather his kids learn about Hanukkah instead of Kwanzaa because the former holiday would come with some "financial engineering," and compared Black people judging one another on their "whiteness" to "a Jewish person judging another Jewish person on how good they danced." He then attempts to clean it up by saying the metaphor was a bad example, before adding, "I probably want to edit that out."

West also pushed the notion that reproductive healthcare organization Planned Parenthood was created by Margaret Sanger and the KKK to control the "Jew population." Although Planned Parenthood has distanced itself from Sanger's views on eugenics  which the group called "an inherently racist" ideology that rules "inferior" groups of people should not have children  the group's origin has been used by Ben Carson and others to spread the conspiracy that Planned Parenthood currently exists to prevent the birth of Black children.

West also claimed that Black people are the true Jewish race, a long-standing antisemitic trope that implies Jews have stolen the identity and "birthright" of Black people.

"When I say Jew, I mean the 12 lost tribes of Judah, the blood of Christ, who the people known as the race Black really are, West said. This is who our people are. The blood of Christ. This, as a Christian, is my belief.

Elsewhere, Ye states he had been vaccinated against the coronavirus, which was edited out of the final broadcast. Carlson frequently spreads COVID-19 misinformation on his show and lashes out against vaccine mandates.

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The previously unreleased clips add to the flood of outlandish and insulting statements by Ye that already aired on Fox News. During the original conversation, West said he thought the idea of him wearing the "White Lives Matter" shirt during Paris Fashion Week was "funny," while claiming the media's celebration of Lizzo and her "clinically unhealthy" weight is "demonic."

He also stated he "will eventually be" president, and that he wants Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk to be an influential voice in his ear when that time comes.

But if I was in office right now, Id be calling Elon everyday, he said. Id have him sleeping in the White House. Id say, How do we use our platform as the most influential company  thats a Freudian slip  the most influential country in the world to show the rest of the world how to live a simplified life?

West was recently barred from Instagram and Twitter after posting antisemitic statements on both platforms.

"I'm a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I'm going death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE," he wrote on Twitter. "The funny thing is I actually can't be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also... You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone who opposes your agenda."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
A resurfaced interview featuring Hocus Pocus 2 star Kathy Najimy has gone viral for its relevant message nearly 30 years later.

In the interview clip thats been making the rounds on TikTok, Najimy appeared on the Today show back in 1993 to promote the films original instalment, Hocus Pocus. While speaking with co-anchor Katie Couric, Najimy addressed her initial hesitation about taking on the role of Mary Sanderson because she didnt want to offend or stereotype real witches.

At the risk of having America roll their eyes, I just feel supportive of all groups, whether theyre womens groups or gay groups or racial groups, and I know that there are groups of witches out there, she told Couric at the time.

I mean, Im not a witch. I dont know any personally, the Sister Act star added. But when I read the script, I thought this is really perpetuating a stereotype about an evil ugly witch and I know that there are groups of really strong women who sort of bind together, within are very spiritual and powerful. I didnt want to be part of perpetuating that myth.

To ease her uncertainty about the script, she spoke to director Kenny Ortega about her hesitations. Najimy even said she sought advice from goddess of the world who knows everything  Gloria Steinem.

She said that the interesting thing was that originally some of the women who were said to be witches were healthcare workers and midwives, Najimy explained. So thats where the notion of baby eating came because they would perform abortions sometimes. So the women would go in pregnant and come out not. So, thats the gossip about baby eating, which is of course untrue. These were just health care workers.

Thora Birch, Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker in Hocus Pocus (Snap/Rex)

Earlier this week, a clip of the 1993 interview was shared on TikTok by user @wob25, where it received more than 130k views. Kathy Najimy was way ahead of her time! they captioned the post.

In 1993. She said this in 1993! What a legend. Ive always loved her, but this just cements it, one person commented.

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Thats amazingly progressive for 1993!!! another user wrote.

Wow this is honestly incredible that she said that back in the early 90s, someone else agreed.

Still, some parents have urged their children not to watch Hocus Pocus 2, claiming that the film can unleash hell in ones home.

During a recent interview with KWTX, Texas mother Jamie Gooch issued a warning about the plot of the Disney+ film. A worst case scenario is: you unleash hell on your kids and in your home, she said. The whole movie is based on witches harvesting children for blood sacrifices.

Do not watch this film, she added. Everybody thinks its fake and innocent, but they could be casting any type of spell that they want to, anything could be coming through that TV screen into your home.

Kathy Najimy, Bette Midler, and Sarah Jessica Parker in Hocus Pocus 2 (Matt Kennedy)

Kathy Najimy reprises her role as one-third of the evil Sanderson Sisters in Hocus Pocus 2, alongside co-stars Bette Midler and Sarah Jessica Parker. Similar to the first film, Hocus Pocus 2 follows a group of young girls trying to stop the three witches from kidnapping and harming the children of Salem, Massachusetts, after accidentally being brought back to life.

Hocus Pocus 2, which was released on 30 September, is available to stream on Disney+ in the US and the UK.

Read Amanda Whitings two-star review of the film here.
Kevin Bacon recently revealed his reaction to finding out he and wife Kyra Sedgwick lost money in one of history's largest Ponzi schemes.

In an episode of the "Smartless" podcast, hosted by Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett, released Oct. 10, Bacon said that he and his wife lost "most of" their money when Bernie Madoff notoriously cheated thousands of investors out of billions of dollars.

"There's obvious life lessons there," Bacon said. "If something is too good to be true, it's too good to be true. And when something like that happens, you look at each other and you go, 'Well, that sucks,' and 'let's roll up our sleeves and get to work.'"

"'We made it this far. Our kids are healthy. We're healthy. Let's look at what we have that's good. We can still both work,'" Bacon continued of his mindset while speaking to Sedgwick.

Acknowledging that a natural reaction to the event is anger, the 64-year-old stressed that there were a lot of people who were "much worse off" than they were, like those who lost entire retirement funds.

When asked if they got the money back, Bacon said yes, but noted that "it's a complicated thing to explain." He said they got a portion of the money back and more from the lawsuit, adding that they had to change the way they viewed their investments.

"The thing about it is that it looks like a certain amount of money, right? There's the money that you put into something and there's the money that you, in theory, have gotten, accrued with interest over the years. But that's not real. That's just a number that was on a piece of paper," he said. "It was not a real thing."

Bacon and Sedgwick weren't the only two impacted by the Ponzi scheme. Madoff's other victims included names like Steven Spielberg, New York Mets owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz and LOreal heiress Liliane Bettencour, as well as some small-time investors who invested their life savings.

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There were so many people who effectively treated him like a bank and kept their entire life savings with him, so when it was all revealed to be a sham, people were not able to live their lives anymore, said Matthew Schwartz, the former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York who led the investigation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities.

In April 2021, Madoff died in prison at the age of 82. At the time, he was 12 years into serving a 150-year prison sentence relating to fraud charges.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
King Charles III will appear in an episode of BBC Ones The Repair Shop programme to celebrate 100 years of the broadcasting service.

The show provides a heartwarming antidote to throwaway culture by encouraging members of the public to bring family heirlooms in need of repairs.

In this special episode set in Ayrshire in Scotland, the King meets the shows host Jay Blades  who was recently given an MBE by the King  for a tour of Dumfries House. The episode was filmed in the autumn of last year, when the King was then the Prince of Wales.

Dumfries is owned by the Kings foundation, which runs a programme teaching traditional skills such as wood carving.

During the episode, the King will give Blades a tour of the grounds before meeting some students taking part in the programme. The Repair Shop team also attempts to fix a clock and some royal pottery made for Queen Victorias Diamond Jubilee in 1897.

"Youve got someone from a council estate and someone from a royal estate that have the same interests about apprenticeships and heritage crafts and it is unbelievable to see that two people from so far apart, from different ends of the spectrum, actually have the same interests, said Blades.

"People will see the former Prince of Wales as you rarely see him - and he is as captivated by the skills of the team who work on his items as any of our Repair Shop visitors, said BBC commissioning editor Julie Shaw.

"The episode is a real treat and we hope that people enjoy it as much as we do."

This isnt the first time a special guest has appeared on the show. Earlier this year, Dame Judi Dench starred in the programme and admitted it was more than she could possibly hope for when her late husbands pocketwatch was fixed.

You can watch the celebratory episode of The Repair Shop on BBC One on 26 October at 8pm.

It was recently announced that King Charless coronation will take place on 6 May.
King Charles will appear on a special episode of BBC One's The Repair Shop

King Charles is set to star in an episode of The Repair Shop as part of celebrations for the BBC's centenary.

The monarch will choose a piece of pottery made for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee and an 18th Century clock to be restored by the programme's team of experts.

The episode is designed to explore his and the show's shared passion for preserving heritage craft skills.

The show involves the public bringing heirlooms in need of repair.

During the episode, the show's host Jay Blades and his team meet the then Prince of Wales at Dumfries House - owned by the King's charitable foundation - in Ayrshire, Scotland.

The King will be seen giving Blades a tour of the estate, as well as meeting some of the students on a Prince's Foundation programme teaching traditional skills like blacksmithing, stonemasonry and wood carving.

The programme will explore the King's and show's shared passion for preserving heritage skills

The Repair Shop team also pledge to restore the 18th Century bracket clock from the collection at Dumfries House and pottery by renowned ceramics company Wemyss Ware made for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897.

Blades, who received his MBE from the King in May, said: "You've got someone from a council estate and someone from a royal estate that have the same interests about apprenticeships and heritage crafts and it is unbelievable to see that two people from so far apart, from different ends of the spectrum, actually have the same interests."

BBC commissioning editor Julie Shaw said: "This is an incredibly special programme which has the magic that Repair Shop viewers have come to know and love.

"People will see the former Prince of Wales as you rarely see him - and he is as captivated by the skills of the team who work on his items as any of our Repair Shop visitors.

"The episode is a real treat and we hope that people enjoy it as much as we do."

Satinder Kaur, collections manager for Dumfries House, said: "At The Prince's Foundation, we are very proud to have partnered with The Repair Shop for this very special episode."

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The programme was filmed between autumn 2021 and March 2022, before the King acceded to the throne.

The BBC is celebrating 100 years of its history.

The special episode of The Repair Shop will air on 26 October at 20:00 BST on BBC One.

The King chose two items for the Repair Shop experts to restore

Around the BBC - Sounds
Kings coronation date sparks calls for a change to the May bank holiday (Leon Neal/PA) (PA Wire)

The announcement of the date for the Kings coronation has sparked calls for a change to the May bank holiday in order to mark the event.

The deeply religious affair will be held on Saturday May 6 next year, with the Queen Consort being crowned alongside Charles, Buckingham Palace announced.

It will take place in Westminster Abbey, eight months after the monarchs accession and the death of the Queen.

Following the announcement, the Daily Mail reports a number of MPs have called for the May 1 bank holiday to be pushed back until Monday May 8 to give the country a long weekend.

Tory former Cabinet minister David Jones told the paper: To combine the two events would be welcomed by the entire nation.

It would make a very special memory for all of us.

His comments were echoed by former Labour frontbencher Khalid Mahmood, who said: We can move the holiday back to the coronation weekend.

We have a unique system with the monarchy and an independent parliament  I would back Britons having a three-day weekend to mark the occasion.

The Palace said the ceremony will be rooted in longstanding traditions and pageantry but also reflect the monarchs role today and look towards the future.

Charles III will be anointed with holy oil, receive the orb, coronation ring and sceptre, be crowned with the majestic St Edwards Crown and blessed during the historic ceremony.

Camilla will also be anointed with holy oil and crowned, just like the Queen Mother was when she was crowned Queen in 1937.

May 6 is also the birthday of the Duke and Duchess of Sussexs son Archie  Charless grandson  who will be turning four on the day.

Guest lists have yet to be confirmed for the spectacle, including whether or not Harry and Meghan will be invited or be able to travel from California to attend.

The coronation will reflect the monarchs role today and look towards the future, while being rooted in longstanding traditions and pageantry

Buckingham Palace

The date was also the wedding anniversary of the late Queens sister Princess Margaret, while the Kings grandfather George VI held his coronation in the month of May.

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The Palace said the date was chosen in consultation with the Government, the Church of England and the Royal Household, but no further details have been given on why it was picked.

Buckingham Palace is pleased to announce that the coronation of His Majesty The King will take place on Saturday 6th May 2023, the Palace said.

The coronation ceremony will take place at Westminster Abbey, London, and will be conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The ceremony will see His Majesty King Charles III crowned alongside the Queen Consort.

The coronation will reflect the monarchs role today and look towards the future, while being rooted in longstanding traditions and pageantry.

It is understood that the ceremony will include the same core elements of the traditional service, which has retained a similar structure for more than 1,000 years, while also recognising the spirit of our times.

Charless coronation is expected to be on a smaller scale and shorter, with suggestions that it could last just one hour rather than over three.

It is expected to be more inclusive of multi-faith Britain than past coronations but will be an Anglican service.

Guest numbers will be reduced from 8,000 to around 2,000, with peers expected to wear suits and dresses instead of ceremonial robes, and a number of rituals, such as the presentation of gold ingots, axed.

Coronations have not traditionally been held on a weekend, with the late Queens taking place on a Tuesday.

Further details are due to be released in due course, but the Government and the royal household will be conscious of the scale of the event in light of the cost-of-living crisis facing the country.

The late Queens coronation took place on June 2 1953  16 months after she became monarch, and there had been speculation Charles would opt for a June date close to or even on the 70th anniversary of his mothers ceremony.

Special seating structures were built inside the church at the time to increase the usual congregation from 2,000 to 8,000.

Security will be heightened given the high-profile nature of the day.

The King will be anointed, blessed and consecrated by the Archbishop.

Charles is expected to sign a proclamation formally declaring the date of the coronation at a meeting of the Privy Council later this year.

The King acceded to the throne on September 8, immediately on the death of his mother, Elizabeth II  the nations longest reigning monarch.

Plans for the major event are known by the codename Operation Golden Orb, which sets out the blueprint for the service and the pageantry surrounding it.

Charles will be anointed by the Archbishop and take his oath to maintain and preserve inviolably the settlement of the Church of England, and the doctrine worship, discipline, and government thereof, as the law established in England.

The Queen Consort will be crowned and take her place on a throne.

Elizabeth II delivered a masterstroke on the eve of her Platinum Jubilee in February 2022 when she endorsed the then-Duchess of Cornwall to be known as Queen Consort when the time came.

Royal aides insisted, when she married Charles, that Camilla did not want to be queen and said originally that she intended to be known instead as Princess Consort  the first in British history  when Charles acceded to the throne.

The wife of a king automatically becomes a Queen and only a change in legislation would prevent her from doing so, but there had been much controversy over whether Camilla would use the title, being Charless former mistress who became his spouse.

The royal website used to declare: A Queen Consort is crowned with the King, in a similar but simpler ceremony.

But, following Charless marriage to Camilla, it added the get-out clause unless decided otherwise.

The late Queens coronation was a carnival of celebration and a morale boost for a nation starved of pageantry in the wake of the Second World War.

People began to bed down in the streets of London as early as 48 hours before Tuesday June 2 1953, just to make sure they had a standing place to watch the Queen pass by in the gold state coach in a grand procession.

By the Monday evening, in pouring rain and driving wind, half a million people were already lining the procession route.

Charles, who was only four at the time, attended the service.

He has recalled his mother going to say goodnight to him the night before while wearing the crown so she could get used to its weight on her head.

Charles described the thousands of people gathered in The Mall outside Buckingham Palace chanting We want the Queen and keeping me awake at night.

The 1953 coronation was shared with a wider audience through the relatively new medium of television, which came of age with the screening of the ceremony for the first time.

An estimated 27 million people in Britain alone watched the ceremony live on their black and white TVs and the images were also beamed around the world.

The Duke of Norfolk, who organised the Queens funeral, also has the role of staging the coronation.

He was recently banned from driving for six months after pleading guilty to using his mobile phone behind the wheel  despite claiming he needed his licence to arrange the forthcoming ceremony.
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese steelmaker Kobe Steel Ltd said on Wednesday its U.S. unit, Midrex Technologies, has signed a contract with Swedish steel venture H2 Green Steel to supply its technology for a direct reduced iron (DRI) plant running on 100% hydrogen.

H2 Green Steel plans to build a fossil fuel-free steel plant in Sweden, including a hydrogen facility, to make green steel that could reduce 95% of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions compared with traditional steelmaking using a blast furnace.

Cutting carbon emissions from steelmaking, which accounts for about 7% to 9% of global CO2 emissions, is a key effort to fight climate change.

The new plant, to be provided by a consortium of Midrex and Luxembourg-based engineering company Paul Wurth, will be the world's first commercial DRI plant using 100% hydrogen, Kobe Steel said, adding that production will start in 2025.

The Midrex's plant will have an annual production capacity of 2.1 million tonnes of hot DRI and hot briquetted iron (HBI) that will feed the production of initially 2.5 million tonnes of green steel in Boden in northern Sweden, H2 Green Steel said.

The bulk of the emission reductions will happen with Midrex's technology when iron ore is reduced to sponge iron, it added.

Kobe Steel, Japan's third-biggest steelmaker, also said it has decided to invest in H2 Green Steel and is in talks with the Swedish company for the possible purchase of green HBI.

Details of the investment have not been decided, a spokesperson at Kobe Steel said.

Another Swedish green steel venture HYBRIT started test operations at its pilot plant for fossil-free steel in Lulea, Sweden, in 2020, with an aim to achieve full commercial production in 2026.

(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Paul Simao)
TAVARES  The man who was so enraged when two men stole his pressure washer that he kidnapped them, had them shot, and had their car set ablaze with them still in the vehicle should not be sentenced to death, a jury decided Tuesday.

Choose life, Assistant Public Defender Morris Carranza begged jurors. Death sentence recommendations must be unanimous. It is not clear what the vote tally was.

Ivan Enrique Figueroa Serrano, 39, had already been found guilty in the slaying of John Hotchkiss and the attempted murder of Ishmile Ramirez. After the jury decided against recommending the death penalty Tuesday, Circuit Judge G. Richard Singeltary imposed the mandatory life sentence for principal to first-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping, attempted felony murder and arson of an occupied structure.

Earlier coverage: Lake County judge sentences man to life in prison after guilty verdict in murder trial

Big case: Man stole 8,000 gallons of diesel worth $40,000 from Circle K store in Lake County

White collar crime alleged in Leesburg: Did hazmat company executive embezzle $400,000?

Here is how the crime unfolded

Hotchkiss and Ramirez had gone to an Orlando apartment in 2017 to buy drugs from Serrano, according to prosecutors. Ramirez waited outside in his aunts Ford Mustang. When Hotchkiss didnt return after 20 minutes, he knocked on the door.

Serrano opened the door with a gun in his hand and ordered him to hit the floor. Across the room, Hotchkiss was battling to survive a chokehold.

This is what happens when you hang out with him, Serrano told Ramirez, according to prosecutors.

The two had been spotted on apartment surveillance video taking the pressure washer. They took it to a pawn shop, where they hocked it for $60, according to court testimony.

Serrano ordered Ramirez to bind Hotchkiss wrists with duct tape. When Hotchkiss began arguing, Serrano hit Ramirez in the head with the pistol.

Serrano ordered Ramirez and Serrano to get into the trunk of the Mustang. He then ordered two men to drive to Clermont. He followed in a luxury car with a can of gasoline sitting on the front seat.

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After Serrano picked up a friend at a convenience store near Clermont, both cars proceeded to remote Schofield Road

It was there that a man named Alex Nelson Arroyo, 45, began pouring gasoline on the car and setting it on fire, prosecutors said.

Ramirez and Hotchkiss discovered that the trunk was partially open. Ramirez climbed out only to find a man named Natalio Luego Villegas, 46, firing a .40-caliber pistol into the trunk. Ramirez climbed back into the car. Moments later, Ramirez climbed out again, and this time, Serrano and the other men were gone.

Ramirez ran to U.S. 27, where he began trying to flag down drivers for help.

By the time Lake County Sheriffs deputies arrived, the car was fully engulfed. Ramirez said he tried to get Hotchkiss out, but realized he was dead.

The jury had to decide: Recommend the death penalty or life in prison?

Assistant State Attorney Nick Camuccio argued that Serrano met three statutory aggravators for the death penalty: the crime was cold, calculated and premeditated; it was heinous, atrocious and cruel; and the murder occurred during the commission of a felony (kidnapping).

Circuit Judge G. Richard Singeltary.

Defense mental health experts testified about brain scans, childhood trauma, drug use and other information trying to sway jurors.

Are they (the mitigating factors)" enough to excuse his behavior, Camuccio asked in his closing argument.

A state expert argued that the depression was not serious enough to warrant mitigation.

Jurors are instructed to weigh aggravators against mitigators. The aggravators clearly outweighed the extenuating circumstances, the prosecutor argued.

Carranza pointed to testimony claiming that Serrano had a birth defect known as the FOXP2 gene.

Assistant Public Defender Morris Carranza is shown during a different trial.

It attaches itself to a persons DNA and controls other genes. It can affect the growth of brain cells and their ability to transmit materials between them.

He also reminded them of testimony about childhood brain injuries and domestic abuse to his mother by his stepfather. It was so horrific that it actually changed his brain makeup.

Because of these factors, he had poor impulse control, making premeditation impossible, Carranza argued.

He was also taking several drugs, which caused him to be in a severe mental disturbance. He suffered severe depression, especially after his sister died.

And yet, Carranza asked, is he beyond redemption? Is he so worthless he should die?

He kept repeating a quote from Mother Teresa: If you want to change the world, go home and love your family.

Serrano has six children and has always supported his friends and family, Carranza said.

One thing that might have caught the jurors attention was the fact that Villegas, the man who did the shooting, was sentenced to a 25-year prison term.

The man who detectives said drove the Mustang, Jose Luis Santiago DeJesus, was sentenced to life in prison last month.

Camuccio quoted DeJesus as saying, No one should steal from us. If they do, they should die.

Arroyo died in jail before he could face trial.

This article originally appeared on Daily Commercial: Lake County, Florida jury recommends life sentence in Clermont killing
Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams was charged with misdemeanor assault Wednesday after he shoved a man to the ground on the sidelines, moments following his team's loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

The assault allegation, filed in Kansas City Municipal Court, accuses Adams of pushing photographer Ryan Zebley, thereby "causing whiplash and headache" and a "possible minor concussion," according to a police report.

The incident occurred just after the final gun of Kansas City's 30-29 victory over Las Vegas at Arrowhead Stadium.

Zebley fell back onto the turf holding a bulky camera mount and other gear. He was quickly helped back to his feet by someone standing nearby.

Violation of the city ordinance could bring a fine of $250 to $1,000, up to 180 days in jail or both. But if Adams has no previous criminal record, time behind bars would be highly unlikely, a spokesman for the city prosecutor's office said.

Adams apologized but also appeared to cast some responsibility on the man he pushed. He said the man had "ran or jumped in front of me" and "I bumped into him and kind of pushed him, and he ended up on the ground."

He is scheduled to make a virtual court appearance Nov. 14, one day after the Raiders host the Indianapolis Colts.

"As he indicated, he immediately apologized, but I can't get into any further comment at this time," Adams' defense lawyer James Hobbs said Wednesday.

Monday's AFC West contest was carried by ESPN, which identified the victim as a freelancer working on its "Monday Night Football" crew.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Lawyer Jennifer Walters, who prosecutors allege had a four-year sexual relationship with a minor, was acquitted Wednesday by a Fresno County jury of 15 counts of sex crimes.

The 42-year-old Walters, a divorced mother of two, began to sob as the court clerk read the jurys verdict. The defendant would have faced up to 24 years in prison if she was found guilty.

Justice was served, said one of Walterss supporters.

Family members of the teenager became emotionally upset after the clerk finished reading the last not guilty verdict. How did you not see it? shouted the teenagers mother, as she was led out of the courtroom.

Several of the jurors looked stunned as they could hear her cries from the hallway.

During the two week trial, Walters and her lawyer Mark Broughton were able to convince the five-women, seven-man, jury that the teenager concocted the whole story of having a relationship with Walters, a woman 22 years older than him.

Jennifer Walters

Broughton suggested the teenager made up the illicit relationship after he allegedly forcibly raped and sodomized Walters in July 2019.

The jury did not appear to be swayed by the teenagers testimony and the thousands of instant messages between Walters and the teenager, who was a friend of her sons.

The instant messages, some that were sexually explicit, included emojis of hearts, hugs and even a bitmoji that Walters created of herself and the teenager.

Prosecutor Kaitlin Drake made a point of bringing up the instant messages several times as proof that this was not a normal relationship, but a boyfriend, girlfriend type of relationship that turned sexual. Investigators also found biological fluids from the teenager and Walters discovered on a futon in her office.

The teenager testified that one of his first sexual experiences happened with Walters when he was just 13 years old and continued until he was 17.
Heavy rains across western Nepal have caused fatal landslides and stranded locals

At least 33 people have died in floods and landslides across western Nepal in the past week, local media reported.

The worst of the monsoon rains hit Karnali province in the north-west, where thousands of residents were evacuated, officials said.

Hundreds of homes have been damaged in the avalanches and flooding.

At least 22 people are still missing across the province and scores more have injuries.

Rescuers have described difficulties in getting to the mountainous region amid continuing rain.

'We have mobilised police officers on the ground. We have arranged a helicopter for air rescue from Surkhet," said one police spokesman, quoted by the Annapurna Post.

"However, unfortunately, due to the weather not improving, progress is not being made as expected."

Most reports of missing people came from the low-lying Kalikot district. Thousands were evacuated from their homes there in the past week amid warnings of intense rain.

In some areas of the province, the Karnali river had risen to over 12m (39ft), Nepal's emergency authorities said. Several suspension bridges over the river had also been washed away, local media reported.

The UN said its aid agencies were distributing food in the Banke district, western Nepal

Government officials have dispatched aid to the region on helicopters.

Meanwhile the UN's humanitarian agencies said they were distributing food and medicine to the worst affected communities in western Nepal.

Nepal is nearing the end of its monsoon season, which typically begins in June and ends in October.

At least 110 people have died this year in rain-related disasters, according to the National Emergency Operation Centre.
Unicef says it is on the ground with lifesaving supplies to help children and their families impacted by recent rainfall in western Nepal (UNICEF Nepal / Twitter)

At least 33 people have died in Nepal from floods and landslides triggered by incessant rainfall over the last week, reported local media.

Thousands have been evacuated from several provinces in the countrys northwest, where the monsoon has hit the hardest.

At least 18 people are also reportedly missing across the Karnali province while hundreds of homes have been damaged by floodwaters.

The Kathmandu Post newspaper reported that 13 people who were attending a funeral went missing after a massive landslide struck at Rachuli in Tilagupha Municipality-4, Kalikot on Sunday. It said that two individuals sustained critical injuries in the incident.

One police spokesperson was quoted as saying by the Annapurna Post that they have mobilised police officers on the ground. We have arranged a helicopter for air rescue from Surkhet. However, unfortunately, due to the weather not improving, progress is not being made as expected.

Meanwhile, on Monday, in Tilagupha, three members of a family went missing when a landslide buried a house. Rescuers retrieved two bodies while three are still missing, local media reported.

In the neighbouring districts of Mugu and Humla, at least 12 people died and one person went missing in separate incidents of landslides on Sunday.

UNICEF is on the ground with lifesaving supplies to help children and their families impacted by recent rainfall in western Nepal.



Around 6,500 people, including over 2,600 children, have received essential items in flood-and landslide-affected areas in seven districts.  pic.twitter.com/P4QfqUsVsp  UNICEF Nepal (@unicef_nepal) October 11, 2022

In Mugu, eight people died when a landslide lashed Salim village in Chhayannath Rara Municipality on Sunday. A villager is still missing in the disaster, police said.

The government has dispatched aid in helicopters to several regions. Unicef also said that they were distributing food and medicine to people in western Nepal.

It said that around 6,500 people, including over 2,600 children, have received essential items in flood- and landslide-affected areas in seven districts.

At least 110 people have died so far this year in rain-related disasters.
Lela Coffey is Procter & Gambles Beautys Vice President for North America Hair Care, which includes brands like Pantene, Head & Shoulders, Aussie, and Herbal Essences, as well as multicultural brands Gold Series and Royal Oils.

She also serves as the Brand Principal at Walker and Co., the line of ethnic hair care and beauty productsincluding Bevel and Formlaunched by the young African American innovator Tristan Walker and acquired by the consumer products giant in 2018.

Coffey is a game-changing veteran in the field, with a career marked by brand-building experience spanning more than 20 years. She broadened the appeal of P&G brands among multicultural consumers, with equity and inclusion as the central focus.

In her role, Coffey created the industry-leading branding approach known as the 4R-Framework comprised of Reach, Representation, Relevance, and Resonance. Its a tool to enable brand managers, internal and external to the company, to re-evaluate product positioning on their inclusivity journey to resonate with people of color and engage in the next steps.

Coffey explains that Reach, the first R, emphasizes that the message connects with the consumer the way you intended. For example, she asks marketers whether they use Black-owned and -operated media to get the word out.

The second R, Representation, involves providing inspirational messages and images to consumers. Much of the media portrays diverse consumers negatively or stereotypically. Coffey says that to represent those consumers, you must ensure that you are working with agencies with diverse staff and team members that understand what inclusiveness and diversity look like to that segment.

The third R, Relevance, communicates how the benefits of your product appeal to the consumer. You must research to gain valuable consumer insights and fully understand their needs. You have people in your R&D department who represent the diverse consumers you want to serve. The process includes the creation of pertinent messaging as well as the development of relevant products.

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And finally, the fourth R, Resonance, is the most essential aspect and hardest to achieve. Coffey shares how resonance means doing things that support the community and taking action to improve livesnot just describing issues.

Asserts Coffey: Its not really about saying, Hey, you are not doing enough, or Hey, you are not where you need to be. Its giving companies a very simple, but very comprehensive way to look at Hey, am I doing what I need to be doing for diverse consumers?

Coffey believes that self-awareness will motivate companies to intentionally change their messaging and portray Black consumers in ways that create stronger, positive, and authentic connections with the Black community.

For instance, Coffey cites the My Black is Beautiful brand as a textbook example of how P&G applied self-awareness to produce a successful product line. P&G partnered with Sally Beauty Supply, one of the largest retailers of salon-quality beauty products, to launch the brand. The two companies collaborated in the lab, reviewing ingredient stories and other elements to ensure their products would be superior to everything else in the market. They also engaged the My Black is Beautiful community to learn what consumers wanted in Black haircare products.

Coffey told BLACK ENTERPRISE: It was a community effort of all of the Black women we have in the My Black is Beautiful community. They could get these resolute customers to communicate what was missing and needed in Black haircare and used that information as we formulated the products.

P&G and Sally Beauty learned that Black women were concerned about dry, brittle hair. This important discovery led to the origination of the Golden Milk collection of haircare products specifically designed to add extra moisture and hydration to Black hair, along with other enhancements.

Coffey views every aspect of corporate operations through an economic empowerment lens as an enthusiastic advocate for equity and inclusion. By doing so, she ensures the company is doing right by consumers in the communities it serves. One example of this approach is how the P&G supplier diversity program closely monitors sourcing decisions at every level to expand its diverse pool of vendors and economically empower Black communities.

The recent article, Doing the Right Thing with Our Supply Chain, reveals that P&G has spent nearly $3 billion on women-owned and women-led suppliers in the fiscal year 2020 to 2021 alone. P&G strives to provide equitable access, using its story as an inclusive model for other brands.

And then there is the newly launched Gold Series line, New Lengths, which highlights another cooperative effort between P&G and Black women to introduce top-quality products for an underserved market.

The line was initiated by genuinely understanding that Black womens Holy Grail has always been growing longer hair. By hiring a multicultural team of scientists, product testers, and brand agents, P&G learned there are two ways to help Black women with this challenge. First, help them develop healthier scalps and ensure long hair will not break off prematurely.

Thanks to gaining such insights from this critical market segment, the Gold Series team developed a collection of Black hair products that enhances Black hair.

Another P&G initiative near and dear to Coffey is the Widen The Screen campaign, a program designed to expand content creation by talented Black creators and enable them to share the full richness of the Black experience. By using print, video, broadcast television, radio, and social media platforms, the content unveils the talk, the look, and the choice designed to open the minds, hearts, and eyes of the public to the vast lived experiences of Black people  and not the negative portrayals of the past.

Coffey is no stranger to the demeaning effects of Black stereotypes in mainstream media. Adopted as a child by two white parents, she grew up on a farm in the northwest corner of Iowa, where Iowa, Minnesota, and South Dakota intersect. It was a part of the country where diversity was not in plentiful supply. Consequently, she grew up watching a range of harmful television content about people of color, and she seeks to have the Widen the Screen campaign change that imagery.

Nevertheless, the married mother of two daughters residing in Cincinnati is thankful for her upbringing, which fueled her determination to develop a positive self-image. Coffey has excelled in life, breaking every barrier, and committing herself to improving the lives of young Black women through her mentorship and example.
Leon County Schools will join more than a thousand other school districts in the fight against one of the most popular e-cigarette makers.

The school board on Tuesday evening voted to join a class action lawsuit with approximately 1,400 other school districts against Juul, alleging the e-cigarette manufacturer used unfair marketing practices to make youth addicted to vaping products.

"This is important for us to make a stand to our community that we are against this, and that we don't appreciate these companies seducing our children with banana-flavored nicotine," said school board member Rosanne Wood. "If this lawsuit prevails, and we get an award, we'll be able to educate our students."

Juul settlement: Juul to pay nearly $440M to settle states' probe into marketing of vaping products for teens

As of early September, 14 other school districts in Florida had joined the lawsuit.

Leon County Schools will be represented by Kirton McConkie PC, a law firm based out of Salt Lake City, Utah.

According to the contract, the district will owe 25% of the settlement and 25% of any non-monetary settlement to attorneys if the case closes by June 1, 2023. If the case closes after, that payment increases to 30% each.

Youth vaping: 36% of Santa Rosa high schoolers have tried vaping. The school district may sue over it

Superintendent Rocky Hanna supported joining the lawsuit and said he's spoken to students about vaping during his sit-down lunches at middle and high schools.

"After visiting with our kids, there's there's no doubt we're doing the right thing," Hanna said.

Juul recently agreed to pay nearly $440 million to 34 states and territories to settle an investigation into the company's vaping products.

The investigation found that Juul marketed its e-cigarettes to underage teens with launch parties, giveaways and ads and social media posts using youthful models, according to a statement from the Connecticut's Attorney General William Tong.

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Connecticut will receive a minimum of $16.2 million through the settlement.

Contact Ana Goni-Lessan at AGoniLessan@tallahassee.com and follow her on Twitter @goni_lessan.

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Leon County Schools joins class action suit against vape company Juul
On October 8, after the explosion of the Crimean Bridge, the Kremlin's propagandists, including skabeeva and solovyov, "exploded" as well. In addition to the calls to "respond" to the authorities of Ukraine, in their telegram channels, they posted a photo zone in the form of a stamp in Kyiv, depicting the Crimean Bridge in flames, stating that the authorities of the capital had been preparing for this event in advance and had created such an interactive photographic zone.

The reaction of the Rashist propagandists is obvious. After all, those who live in the country where dictatorship and propaganda reign cannot assume anything else. They create a new reality for their master, create lies, continuously roll in lies, and eventually begin to believe in them like they believe in the fact that Ukraine was preparing for a blow-up of an object, sacred for Putin, and in the fact that every peaceful resident has to be held responsible for such an "abuse."

For Russian propaganda, even the most elementary verification of facts is a manifestation of weakness, and a bloody response to civilians is a usual and mandatory call that relays the same bloody wishes of that regime. But we are undoubtedly in favor of fact-checking, and especially when it is the way to show the stupidity of the Kremlin lapdogs.

In fact, the photo zone in the form of a stamp, which on October 8, after a fire on the Putin's sacred bridge, got into the international media, is an initiative of activists, and it was created long before the bridge was blown up. Actually, this stamp is part of the exhibition "Informresistance," created jointly by the CHESNO Movement and the Museum of the Revolution of Dignity.

The exhibition itself has been traveling through the cities of Ukraine for the two or three months, telling about the most diverse ways in which Ukrainians have opposed the enemy since February 24, and encouraging citizens to continue to join the information resistance.

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And the giant stamp itself was created on the occasion of the launch of the exposition  as one of the most striking exhibits included in this exhibition.

The CHESNO Movement launched the exhibition "Informresistance" in Kyiv back in summer  on the eve of Independence Day. The difference in seasons can be noticed at least by the fact that in one of the photos, which Kremlin propagandists included in their posts, NGO representatives are wearing T-shirts. Not really appropriate for the beginning of October, isn't it?

Moreover, you can see different locations behind the stamp in different photos. Thus, in the photo with T-shirts, you can see that it stands not against the background of the building of the Kyiv authorities, but on the Kontraktova Square in Podil. And if you search a little bit more, for example, posts on Facebook, Telegram, and Twitter of the CHESNO Movement in August (I think Yandex, banned in Ukraine, will be of help), it immediately becomes clear that the "terrible bloody photo zone" was in Podil in summer.

A person could not help but notice different locations and different seasons in the photos, attached to the post. Even the propagandists couldn't help but notice. But does it even matter when you are telling a new lie?

Though, as Goebbels ordered the Rashists, quality propaganda always requires a little bit of truth. There is some of it in these posts of Kremlin mouthpieces. The photo zone with the burning Crimean Bridge indeed for one and a half months was very popular among the residents and guests of Kyiv, and after October 8, there have been lines of those willing to take pictures against the background of the "stamp" near the KCSA.

However, this was far from the end of the lies of Rashist propaganda. Already on October 10, skabeeva lied, spreading photos from the site of the shelling of Kyiv, signing that the Russian missile hit the Verkhovna Rada.

And these words of the Russian propagandist are all the more disgusting because as a result of this shelling of a civilian object  a crossroads in the center of the Ukrainian capital  civilian Ukrainians died, who were driving to work on Monday morning. Skabeeva showed that in her thirst for blood neither she nor the Rashist authorities will stop at anything.

It is no secret that the Crimean Bridge is critical for the enemy's army. It is in this way that the Russians supply weapons, fuel, ammunition, and military equipment to the occupied Kherson region. Therefore, both for the Armed Forces and for our international partners, such a target for an attack is quite acceptable.

However, the Crimean Bridge for the Rashists is more than just a bridge. It is a symbol of the annexation of Crimea, a symbol of a successful theft that gave rise to an absolute dictatorship and a terrible war that has been going on in our country for eight years. That is why the demand of the Ukrainians for the destruction of this bridge was formed long time ago. And after the Russian invasion, such an attack turned into a real dream.

Did this dream become smaller after the horrific shelling on October 10? By no means. True indignation of the public and cold-blooded readiness to resist in any form have only intensified, as has confidence in our victory.

In general, the story about the reaction of the Ukrainians to the image with the burning Crimean Bridge is a vivid confirmation that, since the invasion and until now, not only the authorities or the army are fighting the enemy. And no amount of shelling or blatant Kremlin terror can overcome that. All the people joined the national resistance to the enemy, using a variety of means  postage stamps, memes, socks, songs in the subway during the bombing, and even a usual selfie against the background of the burning symbol of Putin's power.

But Russian propagandists cannot understand this because there is no resistance in their world. They do not know and do not understand what national unity is, if the center does not give relevant orders. They cannot comprehend that even after 84 missiles in one morning, such unity will remain intact.

It is easier for skabeeva and solovyov to think that everything that can happen on the streets of Ukrainian cities is the work of the authorities, that any activity here and around the world is impossible without permission from above. This is the lie they have been building around them for years, which they have carried into their disfigured world, and which will eventually burn down like an "unbreakable" Crimean Bridge.

Vita Dumanska, leader of the NGO CHESNO Movement
The Biotechnology Innovation Organization named Rachel King as its interim president and CEO. King previously was CEO of GlycoMimetics. The hire comes after Michelle McMurry-Heath stepped down from her position as president and CEO of the biotech industry group, which said it will search for a full-time successor.

The Beer Institute appointed Brian Crawford as its next president and CEO. Crawford comes from the American Hotel & Lodging Association, where he led government affairs. He previously served as chief of staff to former Rep. Tom Rooney (R-Fla.).

Salt Point Strategies hired Jerry Leverich as a counsel. Leverich comes from the House Energy and Commerce committees communications and technology subcommittee, where he served as chief Democratic counsel.

The Plastics Industry Association hired Mark OConnell as vice president of government affairs. OConnell most recently led government affairs at Cognizant Technology Solutions and previously served as deputy associate administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency.

Jared Eichhorn joined Japanese automotive parts supplier DENSO as senior manager for government affairs. Eichhorn most recently was director of federal affairs at the Alliance for Automotive Innovation and previously served as cloakroom director for former Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).

Susan Evans and Bentley Nettles joined GrayRobinson as beverage consultants in the firms alcohol beverage practice. Evans previously served as director of the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureaus office of industry and state outreach. Nettles served as executive director of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.

The Specialty Equipment Market Association hired Karen Bailey-Chapman as senior vice president of public and government affairs. Bailey-Chapman most recently was senior vice president of external affairs at the American Beverage Association.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022. Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

LA City Council member Nury Martinez has resigned after she was caught making racist comments.

Calls for her resignation grew locally and nationally after a leaked recording surfaced on Sunday.

Earlier this week, fellow city council members and US president Joe Biden called on her to resign.

Los Angeles City Council member Nury Martinez resigned on Wednesday after mounting pressure, including from the White House, due to racist comments she was recorded making in a closed-door meeting in 2021.

The comments were leaked over the weekend on Reddit and first reported on by The Los Angeles Times. Martinez and council members Kevin De Leon and Gil Cedillo could be heard making crude remarks in the conversation, where they discuss redistricting to preserve Latino political power in areas of Los Angeles.

In a long statement issued by her office announcing her resignation after nearly a week of outcry, Martinez said she needed "space and privacy." In the statement, Martinez did not offer an apology to the groups she referred to with racist comments, which included Black, Jewish, Oaxacan, and Armenian residents in Los Angeles.

in lemon color  (@Seth_Lemon) October 12, 2022

In the conversation, Martinez called the Black child of white colleague Mike Bonin a "changuito," or little monkey. In a separate section, Martinez chided Oaxacan immigrants in the Koreatown neighborhood, calling them "tan feos," or so ugly.

District 6, which Martinez represented, is at least 70% Latino, 15% White, 9% Asian, and 3% Black, according to LA County data.

Both Los Angeles mayoral candidates, Rick Caruso and Karen Bass, as well as additional city council members, had called on Martinez  along with Cedillo and Leon, the other council members heard making racist comments in the taped conversation to resign. President Joe Biden also joined the chorus of those asking for her resignation.

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"The president is glad to see that one of the participants in that conversation has resigned, but they all should," said Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, adding that the language in the recording was "unacceptable" and "appalling."

On Monday, Martinez resigned from her position as City Council president, but not the council itself, and taken a leave of absence as calls for her full resignation grew. Advocate groups from across Los Angeles spoke out at City Council meetings earlier this week, calling for all of the involved council members to resign.

Earlier this week, Martinez offered a short apology for her words, according to KTLA.

"I take responsibility for what I said and there are no excuses for those comments. I'm so sorry," Nury Martinez said KTLA on Monday. "I sincerely apologize to the people I hurt with my words."

Read the original article on Business Insider
The Democratic president of the Los Angeles city council has resigned in response to intense backlash over racist remarks she and fellow members were caught uttering on leaked audio.

Nury Martinez stepped down from her seat Wednesday, the Associated Press confirmed. She, former labor leader Ron Herrera, and now former city council members Kevin de Leon and Gil Cedillo were heard in a recording released recently using racist language to ridicule a black child, disparage colleagues, and exploit the citys redistricting process to gain an electoral advantage.

Speaking about L.A. district attorney George Gascon, Martinez said, F*** that guy, hes with the blacks. She also insulted the black son of Mike Bonin, a white council member. And then theres this white guy, with his little black kid, whos misbehaved, Martinez said. She also called him a little monkey in Spanish.

Herrera already resigned as head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, the Los Angeles Times reported. On Monday, Martinez announced she would be taking a leave of absence following the outbreak of the scandal but did not promise to relinquish her post. She updated Tuesday that she would take some time to have an honest and heartfelt conversation with my family, my constituents, and community leaders.

Bonin took to Twitter to condemn the comments, pleading to constituents to refuse to vote for any local elected official who didnt call for resignations. And if they refuse to resign, anyone elected with those 3 votes is associating themselves with this disgrace, he said.

On Wednesday, Bonin posted a picture of an angry crowd gathered in the city council gallery. Protesters reportedly yelled no resignation, no meeting, demanding that the ten present L.A. city council members leave, since a ten-member quorum  out of a total of 15  is required to commence a meeting.

Nury Martinez, Kevin de Leon, Gil Cedillo. Governance of this beautiful city is untenable as long as you are on the council. Healing is impossible as long as you remain in office. Resign. Now, Bonin said.

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In addition to other California Democrats at the federal, state, and local levels, President Biden also signaled his disdain for the members behavior and urged them to forfeit their positions.

He believes that they all should resign, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at a briefing. They should all step down.

More from National Review
Racist backroom plotting. Federal corruption cases. A mayor accused of a coverup.

Americas second-largest city was already mired in scandal and chaos. Now, it is reeling from a surreptitiously released recording of City Council members making racist remarks as they schemed to consolidate power  a revelation that prompted Democratic leaders from President Joe Biden on down to call on them to resign.

One former council member was sentenced to prison and two others are facing trial. The head of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power pleaded guilty to bribery. Mayor Eric Garcettis nomination to be the Biden administrations ambassador to India is on hold because of allegations he failed to adequately handle accusations of sexual misconduct by a top aide.

The crush of scandals has tarnished Los Angeles government and eroded public trust as the city begins balloting in one of the most expensive mayors races in its history, prompting angry protesters to pack a council meeting Tuesday and clamor for resignations.

I dont think theres been anything like this in city government since the 30s and 40s, the corruption heyday of Los Angeles, said former County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, director of the Los Angeles Initiative at UCLA. I think the city governance system is profoundly broken, and I think this latest revelation just shatters what was already broken.

The latest crisis exploded Sunday, when the Los Angeles Times detailed a recording of then-City Council President Nury Martinez, City Council members Kevin de Leon and Gil Cedillo, and then-labor leader Ron Herrera using racist language to mock a Black child, denigrating colleagues, and discussing how to use the citys redistricting process to punish rivals and bolster their authority. So far, Herrera has stepped down and Martinez has taken a leave of absence, infuriating Democrats who believe the members can no longer serve.

The tape landed as the city has endured a grinding drumbeat of accusations that public officials have misused their power, deepening public pessimism about local government.

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It just feels like the citys falling apart, former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said in an interview after huddling with other civic leaders.

Theres always been a level of skepticism and even cynicism with respect to government and the like and political leaders, Villaraigosa added, but I think with everything going on people are really feeling like City Hall isnt working on their behalf.

Former Council Member Mitch Englander was sentenced to federal prison last year for obstructing a corruption probe. Former Council Member Jose Huizar was indicted in 2020 on bribery and other federal charges for allegedly favoring developers. Former Council Member Mark Ridley-Thomas stepped aside after being charged with facilitating public contracts to the University of Southern California in exchange for favors. (Both Ridley-Thomas and Huizar have pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing).

And Garcettis nomination to be ambassador to India has stalled out in the Senate as critics allege Garcetti knew of a former top aides alleged sexual misconduct. Garcetti has denied the allegations but the issue has frozen a confirmation process that once looked certain.

It just looks like a dumpster fire on top of a hurricane, said Jessica Levinson, a Loyola Law School professor and former president of the Los Angeles Ethics Commission. We have three of the most powerful Latinos in the city who are part of a conversation that is openly racist, you have one of the most powerful African-American leaders whos on trial for corruption issues (in Ridley-Thomas), you had Jose Huizars problems, you had Mitch Englanders problems  this is not a one-off situation.

A cloud of malaise has also shadowed a fierce mayoral contest as residents express profound frustration about homelessness and crime. I dont think Ive seen things so bad," Villaraigosa said.



Businessman Rick Caruso has cast his mayoral campaign as an effort to get a directionless city back on track, framing himself as an outsider capable of rooting out corruption, as frustration with homelessness and crime has spiked. On Sunday, Rep. Karen Bass  who is leading Caruso in mayoral polls  spoke to the broader fallout in a statement saying she had huddled with Black and Latino leaders to ensure this doesnt divide our city. Caruso and then Bass have called for the council members to resign.

Los Angeles is not a city known for vigorous civic engagement. While it contains a rich history of activism, it also tends to feature lower voter turnout than Californias other urban hubs. The parade of public chicanery has fed a sense that the government is disconnected from the people it represents.

Angelenos have become accustomed to the lurid details of corruption allegations. The federal government described finding $129,000 in cash in Huizars closet. Ridley-Thomas allegedly sought to secure a faculty post and a scholarship for his politically embattled son.

But the latest scandal hit a higher register for many because the tapes are available for anyone to hear. The officials speaking have no space for denial.

People already believed the redistricting process was manipulated to preserve and expand power. The tapes offered proof of the manipulation we know is present in the redistricting process and our political system, said Mindy Romero, founder of the Center for Inclusive Democracy at USCs Sol Price School of Public Policy.

So much of what people believed to be true is on that tape, Romero said. Now theres evidence of it, and its done in such a hateful and horrific way.

Democrats who demanded the council members resignations have also urged unity and healing in a fractured city. But that process will take time.

Until we decide how to grow a pie that is big enough for all of us rather than fighting for the crumbs, this is going to be a cyclical journey of trauma, said state Sen. Sydney Kamlager, a Los Angeles Democrat. Rebuilding trust, Kamlager said, is going to be a long process, and there are going to be hurdles and starts and stops."

"Its like any relationship," Kamlager said. "If you cheat on someone and ask for forgiveness, then theyre sleeping with one eye open.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP)  Brazil's two presidential candidates sought to firm up support in their traditional bases Wednesday, with Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva campaigning among the poor in Rio de Janeiro'(s Alemao slum and incumbent Jair Bolsonaro appearing among the faithful at the vast Aparecida basilica in Sao Paulo state.

Earlier this month, da Silva, Brazil's former president who governed he country from 2003 to 2010, topped the first round of voting with over 48% support. Bolsonaro got 43% support. Since neither received enough votes to win outright they are now headed to a Oct. 30 runoff.

Both men seem to have chosen to celebrate the nations patron saint, Our Lady of Aparecida, in their comfort zone.

In Alemao, surrounded by Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes and local community leaders, da Silva attacked his opponent's public security and education policies.

The State only shows up in the community through the police; we have to end this! said the man universally known as Lula. Before the police comes, health, culture, education must come.

In favelas and outskirts of large Brazilian cities, da Silva has regained much of the ground his party had lost in recent years, and especially in the 2018 presidential elections.

This is the big turning point from 2018 to 2022, said Pedro Abramovay, Open Society Foundations executive director for Latin America. The Workers' Party had a significant increase in votes, mainly because it grew a lot in the outskirts.

Many Brazilians were disappointed by Bolsonaro's handling of the pandemic, in which nearly 700,000 people died  one of the world's largest tallies.

Still, the Workers Party candidate trails more than 10 percentage points behind Bolsonaro in the state of Rio, and 7 points in Sao Paulo  two important states.

Bolsonaro has also gained in popularity in mid-sized cities, Abramovay said. And him and other political analysts are still waiting to see what impact the current governments spending spree ahead of this years elections will have in poorer areas.

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Bolsonaro backed Congress when it sharply raised subsidies in July  the equivalent of about $7.6 billion  to increase welfare benefits, a subsidy for cooking gas and create new cash-transfer programs for truck drivers and taxis.

This month, the president has brought forward payments of the welfare program, so that it would land in the bank accounts of millions of families a few days before the second round of the election  and not after. He also included some 500,000 more families into the program and promised a thirteenth instalment to single mothers.

I think it is safe to say that if it werent for the help of the Auxilio Brasil (welfare program), Lula would have won in the first round, Abramovay said.

At the Aparecida basilica, tens of thousands of worshippers were making their annual pilgrimage, some traveling on foot for days to attend one of the several services held Wednesday.

The cathedral can welcome up to 35,000 people and after downsizing its services during the COVID-19 pandemic, the basilica has now entirely reopened.

Bolsonaro is faring particularly well among evangelicals, who represent about a third of the population and have embraced his conservative agenda. Many evangelical pastors have used their pulpits to back the president's re-election bid.

Silvana Alves, a 38 year-old teacher from Sao Paulo, was not thrilled by the presidents visit. For her, mixing politics and religion isnt very healthy.

If they are here today it is not necessarily to celebrate Our Ladys Day, but because we are in a period of elections. They want to win votes, right? Alves said.



AP video reporter Tatiana Pollastri contributed to this report from Aparecida.
Photo credit: Issued by police

A german man named as a leading suspect in the disappearance of British toddler, Madeleine McCann, has been charged with multiple unrelated sex offences, with some incidents involving underage victims. Known in the press as 'Christian B', the man has been accused of carrying out at least five offences over a seventeen-year period.

The suspect, who has not been charged in relation to the McCann case, will stand trial after accusations of three counts of rape and two counts of child sexual abuse, taking place between 2000 and 2017, have been made. The alleged offences are reported to have occurred in Portugal, close to the area that McCann vanished from back in 2007.

Christian B has denied any involvement and wrongdoing in relation to the McCann case. Despite this, police have openly said they believe the 45-year-old is responsible for murdering McCann, after abducting her from a holiday apartment as her parents were out for dinner close by.



Photo credit: Getty Images

The 45-year-old has also been charged with the alleged rape of a woman in her seventies, who claims Christian attacked her in a holiday apartment, along with the alleged rape of a then 20-year-old irishwoman in Praia da Rocha in 2004 and an attack on a teenage girl in her home (in Praia da Luz). The authorities have said there is reason to believe that he may have filmed some of these awful assaults.

Currently, the known sex offender is already serving a seven year sentence for rape in Portugal in 2005.

Furthering the list of his charges, the suspect is also accused of indecently exposing himself to a 10-year-old German girl in Faro in 2007, and ten years on, to an 11-year old Portuguese girl in Bartolomeu de Messines in 2017.

In a statement, the prosecutor in Braunschweig, Germany, said: "The investigation concerning the case of Madeleine McCann is ongoing separately from these charges. Due to the ongoing investigation the prosecution cannot at the current time give any information on the status of that investigation."

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Berlin  A German public prosecutor has announced new charges against Christian Brueckner, the man suspected of kidnapping and killing British toddler Madeleine McCann in 2007. The public prosecutor's office in Braunschweig, central Germany, said Tuesday that Brueckner would be put on trial on three counts of rape and two counts of child sexual abuse, all unrelated to the still-unsolved McCann case.

"The Braunschweig public prosecutor's office today brought charges against a 45-year-old German man before the Braunschweig Regional Court for several sexual offenses he is alleged to have committed in Portugal between Dec. 28, 2000, and June 11, 2017," public prosecutor Hans-Christian Wolters announced. "The accused is the same person who is being investigated on suspicion of murder in connection with the disappearance of the then 3-year-old British girl Madeleine Beth McCann from an apartment complex in Praia da Luz in Portugal on May 3, 2007."

The prosecution has accused Brueckner of raping three women, including an Irish national identified as Hazel B. who was 20 in when she was attacked in her apartment in Portugal's Praia da Rocha in 2004.

According to investigators, the perpetrator in that attack acted very similarly to the man who attacked and raped a 72-year-old woman known as Diana M. in her home in nearby Praia da Luz in 2005. Brueckner was sentenced in 2019 to seven years in prison for that crime and is currently serving the sentence at a prison in Oldenburg.

Hazel B. became aware of Brueckner when new reports surfaced about evidence linking him to McCann's disappearance.

"My mind was blown when I read how he had attacked a woman in 2005, both the tactics and the methods he used, the tools he had with him, how well he had planned it out," she told The Guardian newspaper in 2020. "I puked, to be honest with you, as reading about it took me right back to my experience."

The identities of the other two rape victims behind the new charges have not been revealed.

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The prosecution has relied heavily on the testimony of witnesses Manfred S. and Helge B., who stole a video camera and tapes from Brueckner's house in southern Portugal in 2006. The tapes included images of Brueckner molesting two other women, according to prosecutors.

"At an unspecified time between Dec. 28, 2000, and April 8, 2006," Brueckner "surprised (...) and raped an unknown approximately 70-80-year-old woman in her bedroom at her vacation home in Portugal," the prosecution said.

The third victim was an "unknown German-speaking girl aged at least 14 years" whom the suspect "tied naked to a wooden pole in the living room" in the house where he lived in Praia da Luz, Portugal, beat her with a whip and forced her to perform oral sex.

Christian Brueckner / Credit: Shutterstock

The videotapes depicting these acts have since disappeared, according to the prosecutors.

Brueckner is also facing two new counts of child sexual abuse. On April 7, 2007, he allegedly accosted a 10-year-old girl from Germany as she played on a Portuguese beach. The prosecution said the German man, wearing only shoes, grabbed the child "by the wrist and began to perform masturbation movements" before releasing her.

Ten years later, on June 11, 2017, Brueckner is accused of exposing himself to a girl, 11, and masturbating at a playground in Portugal. The girl ran to her father, and Brueckner was arrested.

The clues that led to the new charges against Brueckner came largely from the investigation into the McCann case.

The prosecution remains convinced that Brueckner abducted and killed the British girl, but her body has never been found, and there's no indication that a murder charge is imminent.

"The investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann continues regardless of the indictment," Wolters, the prosecutor, said Tuesday, declining to offer any further information on the case.

Brueckner's trial on the new charges could begin as soon as the spring.

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By Forrest Crellin

PARIS (Reuters) -France's FNME trade union said on Wednesday that some workers at EDF's nuclear plants resumed their strike over salaries, delaying maintenance work on eight reactors as the union sent a message of support to striking refinery workers.

Three of the Cruas nuclear plant's reactors are affected by the strike, while two reactors at the Cattenom and Tricastin plants and one Bugey reactor have had their maintenance delayed by the strike, FNME said.

The strike is not reducing power supply at active reactors, FNME added.

EDF did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

French nuclear availability is currently at 51% of total capacity with 26 reactors offline for maintenance. [POWER/FR]

The strikes by workers at nuclear power plants have been ongoing for several weeks, though action has sometimes been suspended.

EDF has been facing organisational challenges over maintenance plans for a few years now and any days of strikes will add to its problems, Emeric de Vigan, vice president of power at data and analytics firm Kpler, said.

"If there is a delay on a site, it's likely to create a delay on another. This does not help the market to trust EDF's super-optimistic future availability forecasts," he added.

FNME representative Viginie Neumayer told Reuters the union sent a message of support to striking workers at refineries and petrol depots owned by oil giants TotalEnergies and Exxon Mobil.

"The threat of requisition, which is above all a sign of government feverishness, has never demonstrated its effectiveness in getting out of this conflict," Neumayer said.

The French government started ordering staff at the Exxon Mobil fuel depot back to work following weeks of refinery strikes over pay and cost of living.

(Reporting by Forrest Crellin; Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Elaine Hardcastle)
MELBOURNE, Australia, and MERSIN, Turkey  Malaysia has selected Turkish Aerospace Industries to provide three unmanned aircraft, according to the Southeast Asian nations defense minister.

[F]or the procurement of three (3) MALE-UAS units, the Government has decided to contract with Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), Hishammuddin Hussein said in a statement Sunday.

The purchase will be funded under the countrys five-year spending plan, rather than its defense budget, the minister added.

TAI had pitched its Anka, a medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft system. According to a TAI news release from 2019 ahead of the defense and aerospace LIMA expo, the company was set to hold high-level talks on exporting the Anka.

On Aug. 18, 2022, Malaysian King Al-Sultan Abdullah visited TAIs facilities in Ankara, Turkey. Then on Oct. 7, TAI announced a memorandum of understanding for collaboration with MIMOS, Malaysias research and development center.

TAI has not issued a statement on the agreement, and company officials declined to comment for this story.

The Anka family of drones can perform reconnaissance, target acquisition and identification, and intelligence gathering missions. It features electro-optical/infrared and synthetic-aperture radar technologies. The manufacturer says the aircraft have autonomous flight capabilities and can take off and land on their own.

The UAV family has a wingspan of 17.5 meters and a length of 8.6 meters, and has a service ceiling of 30,000 feet. They can remain airborne at the operational altitude of 18,000-23,000 feet for more than 30 hours.

Its possible Malaysia will choose the Anka-S version, which is in use with the militaries of Turkey and Tunisia. That variant boasts a data link range of 250 kilometers (31 miles) and an endurance of 30 hours. It can be armed with a variety of precision-guided bombs and missiles developed in Turkey, including the MAM series of laser-guided bombs that have seen combat in Libya, Syria, Nagorno-Karabakh and Ukraine.

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TAI also manufactures the Aksungur drone, which has a higher payload and endurance, and is in service with the Turkish military.

Malaysias armed forces and Coast Guard are focused on piracy along its coasts as well as militancy and terrorism in the Sulu Sea, which lies between eastern Malaysia and the southern Philippines.

Malaysia is made up of two separate landmasses with coastlines along the strategic Strait of Malacca and the South China Sea. It is also one of six claimants of ownership over the disputed Spratly group of islands.
MELBOURNE, Australia  Malaysia has selected Italys Leonardo as its preferred vendor for a maritime patrol aircraft program.

Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein made the announcement over the weekend following the receipt of a second transport aircraft that was converted for maritime surveillance missions with U.S. funding.

Leonardo has offered its ATR 72MP, which is based on the ATR 72 turboprop regional airliner and can perform maritime patrol, search and rescue, and electronic intelligence gathering missions using its suite of onboard systems, including radar, electro-optical sensors and satellite communication technology. The ATR 72Mp can also carry lightweight torpedoes for anti-submarine operations.

For the procurement of two (2) MPAs, the Government has agreed to an offer by the Leornado company, Hishammuddin said in a statement Sunday.

The purchase is funded under the Southeast Asian countrys five-year spending plan, rather than its defense budget, he added.

The minister also said the sustainment of Malaysias F/A-18D Hornet fleet is one of the countrys main priorities. The eight aircraft were due for delivery to Australia for overhaul work by Boeing beginning in 2020, but that plan fell through as a result of border closures during the COVID-19 pandemic and Australias retirement of its Hornets.

The aircraft are instead receiving overhaul work locally, with the first Hornet apparently already receiving upgrades, though its unclear what that entails.

The Royal Malaysian Air Force is also converting three Indonesian-built CN-235 transport aircraft to perform maritime surveillance roles, thanks to funding by the U.S. Maritime Security Initiative. Indonesian company PTDI announced Oct. 7 it had delivered the second aircraft to Malaysia.

Maritime domain awareness has proved challenging for Malaysia, with its military and Coast Guard preoccupied by piracy along its coasts as well as militancy and terrorism in the Sulu Sea, which lies between eastern Malaysia and the southern Philippines.

Malaysia is made up of two separate landmasses with coastlines along the strategic Strait of Malacca and the South China Sea. It is also one of six claimants of ownership over the disputed Spratly group of islands.
VIOLET TOWNSHIP  Fairfield County Sheriff Alex Lape said a 14-year-old male was arrested following a threat of violence towards Lakeview Junior High School at 12445 Ault Road through social media Tuesday.

He did not say specifically what the threat was. The threat came in around 1 p.m. and the juvenile was arrested while hiding in a hot tub in the Preston Trails subdivision around 6 p.m. The residence he was hiding at was not his own and Lape said he did not have any weapons on him.

Lape did not release the juvenile's name.

"He said he was just coming to the school and was going to do what a lot of the same threats that people make towards schools," he said. "Just threats of violence. Supposedly, he was angry with a particular student. But the threat that he made was kind of not specific and more general."

The juvenile is now in custody in Franklin County for robbery- and theft-related charges not connected to the school incident. Lape said the Fairfield County Prosecutor's office will decided what to charge him with for the school threat and that inducing panic could be one of the charges.

Lape said the juvenile went to the school at one time but is no longer enrolled there.

He said all students were released from the school safely be deputies and Pickerington Local School District employees. The junior high school and Pickerington High School North were in lockdown until about 3:30 p.m.

The Columbus and Pickerington police departments and the Violet Township Fire Department assisted in the incident, in which sheriff's office detectives are investigating.

In light of the most recent threat towards a school, Lape issued a warning to others who may want to threaten a school.

"Anybody that thinks making these type of threats to schools is a good idea, they need to reconsider it and think again," he said. "Because we'll go to no ends to identify them, take them into custody and have them face a judge. I think it's important for some of the young folks in the county that might think this is a joke, this is no joke. We take it seriously."

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jbarron@gannett.com

740-681-4340

Twitter: @JeffDBarron

This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: Teen arrested in threats against Pickerington's Lakeview Junior High
The sheriffs office said three dogs were stolen from the Rowan County Animal Shelter. Now, they believe the same suspects stole dogs in another county.

Three pit bulls, including one named Wessie, were stolen out of their kennels early Monday morning.

Its definitely a big concern. Staff was very attached to one in particular who had been here a little bit longer and so it was just a very shaken kind of moment for everybody, said Maria Pannell, assistant director at the Rowan County Animal Shelter. What happened to them when they left? Are they safe, are they in a good situation? Are we going to get them back?

Pannell said Wessie and another dog were found safe in Davidson County and are now both back at the shelter.

ALSO READ: CMPD pleas to community as shelter reaches 40 kennels over capacity

Investigators told Channel 9s Gina Esposito that they arrested 19-year-old Joe Lee Jeanis on Thursday morning. He was officially charged for breaking into the Davidson County Animal Shelter and stealing two dogs that same morning, Esposito learned Saturday.

Rowan County Sheriffs Office Detectives had warrants issued on Jeanis for the crimes that occurred in Rowan County. They were sent to Davidson County for service. Jeanis received a $5,000 bond for the charges in Rowan County.

A 17-year-old female was involved and the Rowan County Sheriffs Office will submit juvenile referrals to the to the Juvenile Intake Counselor in regards to the juvenile charges for the teenager.

The sheriffs office believes he then drove to Salisbury, stole three dogs out of the Rowan County shelter and also tried to break in to the Faithful Friends Animal Sanctuary just 6 miles away. Investigators said Jeanis could face charges in Rowan County.

They found the front gate had been forced opened and damaged, said John Sifford, with the sheriffs office.

Deputies in Davidson County said Jeanis was found in a motel in Lexington with some of the dogs. They said a 17-year-old girl is also in custody.

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ALSO READ: Operation Bunny Hop: Many rabbits find homes after owner drops off 30 at CMPD animal shelter

Parnell said they still cant say for sure why anyone would do this.

Motive is one of those things weve been all racking our brain around trying to figure out. But right now we just dont know, she said. Its good to know theyll be back in care. Theyll be fed. Theyll be sheltered. Were hopeful they will get adopted pretty quickly.

Investigators are still working to find one dog and bring it back to the shelter.

Channel 9 looked in our archives and found that in 2015, another dog had been stolen from the Rowan County Animal Shelter. After that, were told the facility added more padlocks to the outside kennels.

(WATCH BELOW: Owner of lost dog says animal shelter would not give the pet back after it was found)




Memphis Police is asking the publics help for information on a lottery ticket thief.

On Oct. 7 at approximately 8:40 AM, MPD responded to a shoplifting call at a Mapco Express on Kirby Parkway.

A man walked into the business and jumped across the counter, police said.

Police also said that the man grabbed a box of lottery tickets, jumped over the counter, and ran out of the store.

The number of tickets taken is unknown at this time.

The suspect is a man, 24-30 years of age, dark complexion, short hair, and wearing a white t-shirt and jeans.

Contact Sgt. M. Chapman with any tips or information on the incident at Appling Farms G.I.B. 901-636-4464

Download the FOX13 Memphis app to receive alerts from breaking news in your neighborhood.

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The rescue of a 28-year-old Montana man who became pinned under a large boulder turned out to be a challenging operation requiring special equipment and help from several local and out-of-area agencies.

On Monday, Ben Delahuntys hiking partner called 911 at about 9:30 a.m. and said his friend was trapped under a large boulder near Lake Viviane, south of Leavenworth.

A Chelan County Sheriffs Office search and rescue coordinator spoke with the man, who said his friends wrist and legs were pinned under the rock and they were unable to move it because it was roughly the size of a refrigerator.

Getting rescuers and equipment capable of moving the boulder to the scene was challenging, as the location where the man was trapped was a several-hour hike from the trailhead.

The Snohomish County Sheriffs Office Helicopter Rescue Team responded on SnoHawk10, and the first paramedics were dropped at the location at about 12:20 p.m.

Meanwhile, the Wenatchee Valley Fire Department helicopter, 1MR, was used to shuttle rescuers and equipment to the scene.

Rescuers from Cascade Ambulance, Chelan County Mountain Rescue, Wenatchee Valley Fire Department, and Snohomish County Helicopter Rescue Team were all inserted at the rescue scene. Additional equipment was provided by Chelan County Fire District 3.

As rescuers arrived, they found the operation had additional challenges, according to the sheriffs office. The area where the man was trapped required ropes to access it and there was a risk of rescuers falling while they worked on the boulder.

Using air bladders from WVFD, crews were able to free Delahunty from the boulder at about 2:50 p.m.

By the time Delahunty was freed from the boulder, winds had picked up. The first attempt to hoist him to a helicopter was unsuccessful.

At 4:45 p.m., there was enough of a break in the weather to hoist the victim to the helicopter. He was taken to Central Washington Hospital with significant leg injuries but is expected to recover.

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Over the next several hours, rescuers hiked out of the location and made it to the trailhead at about 11 p.m.

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A man is accused of stabbing his wife to death with scissors as their 10-year-old child was asleep in the home, prosecutors in Washington said.

Hong Tien Pham, 52, has been charged with second-degree murder in the killing of Thuyen Hoang on Oct. 6 in Kent, according to charging documents.

Pham called his brother and told him he was going to kill his wife, police said in a probable cause statement.

His brother called authorities and asked them to conduct a welfare check on Phams home around 12:30 a.m., police said, but no one answered.

About 30 minutes later, police responded to the home again for a second welfare check reported by Phams brother-in-law, authorities said.

Pham left the home after police called him out, and he wasarrested.

Their 10-year-old daughter was also walked out of the home, uninjured, police said.

Phams wife, Hoang, was found dead inside the home, police said, with puncture marks on her neck. Scissors covered in blood were found near her body, police said.

An autopsy ruled her death a homicide, police said.

His son told authorities Pham suspected his wife was cheating, though he didnt have any proof, police said.

Pham told police I know what I did was wrong, according to the probable cause statement.

Phams bail was set at $2 million. His next court hearing is Oct. 20.

Kent is about 20 miles south of Seattle.

If you are experiencing domestic violence and need someone to talk to, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline for support at 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788.

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A man was grazed by a bullet early Wednesday morning in Pittsburgh.

A 21-round ShotSpotter alert came through around 2 a.m. in the area of 2500 Chauncey Drive, according to Pittsburgh Public Safety.

The man was treated by paramedics on scene. A transport to the hospital was not required, according to police.

No other injuries were reported. The Mobile Crime Unit processed the scene and the incident is under investigation.

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Thomas Jefferson High School football player recognized for saving teammates life Mon Fayette Expressway to integrate new technology into construction project US justices throw out Pennsylvania mail-in voting law decision VIDEO: Dozens of cats rescued from hoarding situation at Jeannette home DOWNLOAD the Channel 11 News app for breaking news alerts
A Massachusetts man suffered life-threatening injuries after he was shot in the face at a hotel in Vermont, officials said.

Officers responding to a report of a shooting at a Comfort Inn in White River Junction on the morning of Oct. 6 found Michael Lamont, of Lowell, suffering from an apparent gunshot wound, according to the Hartford, Vermont, Police Department.

Lamont was rushed to Dartmouth Health Center for the treatment of serious injuries. There was no immediate word on his condition.

He was staying at the hotel for a business trip when he was shot outside of his room in a random attack, the Lowell Sun reported.

Nathan Fuller was arrested in connection with the shooting and arraigned Monday in Windsor Superior Court on charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault, and reckless endangerment.

Fuller is currently being held without bail at the Southern State Correctional Facility.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Hartford police at 802-295-9425.

An investigation remains ongoing.

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Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty/Focus Features

As Nina Hoss sinks into a plush hotel seat, porcelain teacup and saucer balanced in her hands as she speaks, it feels like were in a scene of Tar together. Here she is: Sharon Goodknow, the concertmaster of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, participating in a press junket to chat about her wife, renowned conductor Lydia Tar (Cate Blanchett). Even the cloudy New York skyline participates, sprinkling the city with rain once every hour.

It reminds me of Berlin, Hoss chirps.

Somewhere in the city, the New Yorkers Adam Gopnik is probably launching into some intellectual conversation as a part of this years New Yorker Festival, which is currently underway. Its just like the opening scene of Todd Fields TarGopnik, playing himself, interviews Lydia about her upcoming recording of Mahlers No. 5. The scene feels so true to life, one might feel the urge to Google search Lydia Tar real story? after seeing the film.

This is all to say: When Tar is at its most masterful (which, one could argue, is nearly every minute), the film transcends the theater and falls into the palms of our hands. Hoss feels this. She has been feeling this ever since she started working with Blanchett and Field. Now, the actress finally gets to gush about the films complexities with the rest of the world. To feel like were in Berlin together makes the whole experience even more immersive. Tar is a mere inch away from being real.

In Tar, Cate Blanchett Is at the Peak of Her Powers as a Formidable Maestro

You cant stop talking about it! Hoss tells me, unpacking several layers of Lydias character in our first two minutes together. I ramble around, but thats the amazing script that Todd already wrote, and this incredible interpretation from Cate, and from everyone, really.

There is quite a bit to talk about, when it comes to Tar. Blanchett stars as a power-hungry (luckily, when we meet her, shes satisfied with her enormous amounts of control, wielding the baton for one of the worlds best orchestras, boasting an EGOT, and about to drop an autobiography) orchestra conductor, with Hoss as her faithful wife and first violin, Sharon. Sharon is not, though, an innocent particle in the system of Lydia Tar, Hoss says.

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Nina Hoss attends the red carpet of the movie Tar during the 79th Venice International Film Festival at the Palazzo del Casino in Lido of Venice, Italy, on Sept. 1, 2022. Karen Di Paola/Anadolu Agency via Getty

Who are we all around people that are geniuses, or special in a certain way? she continues. You lead an institution that has a certain system in itself, where people fall into that system and make their way through, thats what they know. They want you to be a certain way, otherwise they wont respect you. Do you actually have a chance to do things differently, even though everyone else demands it from you? Sharon is part of that.

Lydia and Sharon do care for one another, but with their high ranks in the orchestra, their relationship hinges on being transactional. Just as much as they communicate through conversations, through dancing to Count Basie and raising their sweet daughter Petra, they must communicate through the batons swing. Plus, were meeting the couple right after the pandemic. Forced away from large groups of music-making individuals and secluded together with their daughter, this grand return to the stage may be too much for them to handle.

To be able to get back and work on a Mahler symphony is so overpowering. Its a lot, Hoss says. Its maybe too much for this relationship. There are little cracks appearing because Lydia is in a place in her life where shes not sure whats next. Shes working on her legacy, but does that stop you being creative? Mahler the Fifth is the last piece of this box set. You have that there, out in the world, and then what? Youre on top of your craft, on top of the industrythere isnt anywhere else to go.

But Lydia can feel safe with Sharon. On top of the comfort of domestic life together, she seeks solace in the fact that her first violin is also her life partner and, hopefully, would follow her to the ends of the Earth. Still: Its not exactly what [Lydia] needs right now, Hoss says. She doesnt need safe and calm.

Cate Blanchett and Nina Hoss star in director Todd Fields Tar. Focus Features

The faults start appearing at the beginning of the film, but the earthquake hits towards the middle: Lydia is accused of grooming her fellowship students, particularly one, Krista Taylor, who recently took her own life. Anti-Tar protesters around New York City claim that this was possibly the result of Lydias behavior toward Krista. As their life begins to crumble, one might expect Sharon to bid a quick farewell to her wife. But she doesnt. She stands by Lydia, pleading for more information. Instead of casting herself out of Lydias life, Sharon begs to be let back into it.

Because, just maybe, Sharon can be the first violin she was meant to besomeone who can make an entire orchestra believe in one sound, one conductor. She will be the perfect counterpart. If she can forecast the storm heading their way, she can contribute enough umbrellas to the orchestra, salvaging the work both she and Lydia have put into the music together. Still, Lydia pushes Sharon away even further, losing her orchestra in the process.

[Cate and I] have a similarwithout putting me on [her] levelway of approaching this job, Hoss says. The intensity shes working with, and relentless search for every little detail in the character youre portraying, really to the moment of pure exhaustion. On top of it, shes the most lovely person. It made it very easy to dance together.

Hoss actually played the violin in Tar, taking lessons from the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestras real first violinistnot just on how to play, but also on how to behave around the orchestra. Almost serving as an assistant to the conductor, the first violinist gives members of the team permission to leave earlier or grab some water, navigating their needs in a cool and friendly way so that the conductor doesnt have to.

That informed a lot of Sharon, Hoss explains. I thought, Thats exactly what Sharon needs to be in a position to Lydia. This genius might be a bit harsh to these musiciansits a slap to the face. Its Sharons job to calm them down.

In real life, one might never see an orchestra led by a woman first violinist and conductor, but thats part of the appeal of Tar. Theyre just there. No questions asked. Its not a big feminist statement, and yet, the fact that its not a big feminist statement is a statement in and of itself: This film presents it as a normal thing, she says. Thats just the way it is. Two women have the two most powerful positions in the orchestra.

Cate Blanchett as Lydia Tar. Focus Features

The Tar team rehearsed and shot with the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, playing alongside real musicians and real music, which only added to Hoss ability to get into character.

What you get to experience in this body of an orchestra is that all these individuals, they come together, they take their instruments out of their cases, they put it on their chair, and then, all of a sudden, concentration, she says. You hear a sound, and you think, What just happened? Its like the sky opens. This is what you get to do every day? Thats so beautiful. I knew this is what Sharon is in for, this is what Lydia is working to do.

Adding onto that brilliance, Hoss says, is the fact that Blanchett is nearly prepared to lead an orchestra in the real world: Oh, she gasps, wide-eyed, after I ask her if its a possibility that Blanchett could embrace her inner Lydia off-screen. If she puts the time and effort behind it, I would think so.

In Tar, Blanchett does all her stunts too. Kind of. She learned to conduct, play the piano, and speak German for the film, all in order to fully embody Lydia. In one scene, Lydia and Sharon argue in the car over an assistant quitting, Lydia swerving all over the place in a roundabout until another driver nearly hits them. Sharon demands Lydia to slow down, or to be let out of the car. Lydia obligesshe halts the car and opens the door for her wife to walk home.

Normally, stunt actors or VFX teams would have handled this scene. But Blanchett worked with other stunt drivers, choreographing the scene and practicing the hell out of it so that she, herself, could be at the wheel, Mission: Impossible-style.

TAR Earns Every Last Second of its 168-Minute Runtime

Shes a hell of a driver, on top of all the talent that she has, so I felt super safe, Hoss says. It was choreographed so the moment that you saw the car right in front of Sharonshe wasnt just driving around like a crazy woman. But she went for it, so I didnt have to act much!

There is, however, a more violent scene towards the end, one that likely required stunt work. (In the credits, only two actors have stunt doubles: Blanchett and Mark Strong, who plays Elliot.) After Lydia has been booted from the Berlin podium, her hungry investor Elliot takes over, readying her Mahler scripts to conduct on his own terms. Raging, Lydia stampedes onto stage and pummels Elliott off the podium in front of a live audience.

Cate Blanchett as Lydia Tar. Focus Features

Sharon could gasp at her wife. She could look at her disapprovingly. But that would be too obvious. Instead, she appears to be unscathed, interested in Lydias actions more than she is shocked.

I hope you can see that I find her very fascinating, Hoss says, of her final look at the broken-down Lydia. This is the attraction of being around people that are so passionate and so gifted that they go further than you, yourself, would, or Sharon would allow herself to go.

Reviews for Tar have been overwhelmingly positivethis publications includedwith early awards speculation for both Blanchett and Hoss. While Hoss has allowed herself to celebrate a bit (especially with Cate, as the two sport identical outfits and screw around on red carpets together), shes still hesitant to label the masterful film as a triumph just yet. Tar opened in New York and Los Angeles on Oct. 7 and expands to a wider audience this coming weekend. Hoss hopes the exhilaration wont fizzle out as the rest of the country tunes in.

That happened with Nomadland. It had such a buzz. People were disappointed. You wonder what it is, but then its not what you expect, Hoss saysthough Nomadland still went on to win Best Picture at the Oscars. Also, theres not a plot [to Tar], or a pivotal moment where then on, everything happens. Its this zen thing, the path, the goal.

Coming in at nearly three hours, Tar certainly isnt a short film. But similar to finishing a long book, watching Fields film all the way through feels like completing a journey, or taking part in an experience. Tar is an event to discuss with friends, to argue about, to gossip over, to quote lines, to root for in awards season, to pick apart like a science experiment.

I hope, also, that they go to the cinema, Hoss says of the ideal way to see the film. You just sink into her life for two-and-a-half hours, and think about all these questions that are being raised that surround us in a big way. Its thought-provoking.

As I exit the hotel, Im half-expecting to run into Lydia Tar herself in the streets of New York, hiding under a giant umbrella with her Mahler score in hand. I dont. But a few days later, I find myself seeing Tar a second time, sinking into Lydias life through Sharons eyes, delving into the films complexities from a new perspective. Its something you canand shoulddo over and over again: find a new lens from which to watch Tar, and unpack its brilliance on repeat until you, yourself, can conduct Mahlers Fifth Symphony.

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Photo: . Vancouver police have charged the suspect in an alleged knife attack at the Crab Park homeless encampment that happened on Oct. 8, 2022.

Vancouver police have charged the suspect in an alleged knife attack at Crab Park over the weekend.

Officers received multiple reports of a man stabbing random people at the Crab Park homeless encampment around 3 a.m. on Oct. 8.

Upon arriving at the scene, officers found three badly-injured victims and arrested the 42-year-old suspect.

Denis Sleightholme was charged today (Oct. 11) with two counts of aggravated assault and one count of possession of a weapon.
TV and radio presenter Maya Jama will present two series of Love Island next year

Maya Jama has been announced as the new host of ITV2's dating show Love Island.

The Bafta-winning show will return to South Africa for a ninth season in 2023, with the English TV personality and "Love Island fan" at the helm.

Jama recently co-presented BBC One's Peter Crouch: Save Our Summer, as well as the BBC Three show Glow Up: Britain's Next Make-Up Star.

She will replace Laura Whitmore, who in turn succeeded the late Caroline Flack - the original Love Island anchor.

Whitmore fronted the show and its spin-off series Aftersun from 2020 to 2022, following the death of Flack, but announced in August she was to step down.

Paul Mortimer, ITV's director of reality programming said on Wednesday that finding someone to follow the "wonderful" Whitmore "was never going to be easy".

"In Maya Jama though, we have another high profile fan of the show who'll be a great addition to the Love Island family," he stated.

"Cool, charming and charismatic, I speak for us all when I say Maya will also bring a unique presenting style to the show, as did Laura and, of course, the very much missed Caroline Flack. We're very pleased to have her on board."

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

Former Radio 1 DJ Jama began her broadcasting career co-hosting Trending Live on 4Music and Cannonball on ITV, before going on to co-present the Mobo Awards.

The 28-year-old, who has also appeared as a guest on the aforementioned Aftersun as well as RuPaul's Drag Race UK and The Big Fat Quiz of the Year, shared the news herself in a video posted to her 2.4 million Instagram followers.

"I've always been such a massive Love Island fan and I'm so excited to be hosting one of the nation's favourite shows!" she said in a separate statement given to the press.

"I can't wait to get into the villa to meet all of the islanders."

The Love Island series eight title was taken by winning couple Ekin-Su Culculoglu and Davide Sanclimenti in Mallorca in August.
Dan McKee and Ashley Kalus agreed on one thing in the first televised debate of the Rhode Island general election campaign for governor: the other doesn't know what they are doing.

But on almost everything else -- education, energy, tolls, gun control and abortion -- Democratic incumbent McKee and Republican challenger Kalus saw things differently in a contentious debate on WPRI-TV.

The war of words began with the candidates' response to big rate hikes for electricity and natural gas this winter.

Kalus has called on McKee to invoke emergency powers to roll back rate hikes for electricity and natural gas this winter and then suspend taxes on electricity.

Utility costs

"You don't understand how the rates are structured, Ms. Kalus, and that's one of the problems you have," McKee said. "You don't understand the process and the way it works."

"With all due respect, governor, I don't think you understand your powers that were given to you by the General Assembly 40 years ago," Kalus fired back. "As governor you have an obligation to help people who are choosing between eating and heating and do it right now.

"I am taking it as you are not aware of your ability to do so.... Do you understand that you have this ability and just did nothing?"

Republican Ashley Kalus and incumbent Democratic Gov. Dan McKee squared off in their first post-primary debate Tuesday night, hosted by WPRI.

McKee said he has put $5.3 million into rate relief and plans to do more once the General Assembly returns for business in January.

"Do you understand we are providing millions of dollars in relief for ratepayers right now?" he said.

Kalus, who trailed McKee by double digits in the most recent poll, was in attack mode all night.

She painted McKee as an "incompetent" and "out of touch" governor, who sought double-digit raises for his cabinet while electricity prices were soaring.

He accused her of running out of spite for losing a state contract.

COVID Contract

"What do we know about Ashley Kalus? Not much," McKee said. "Let me give you a little run-down ... She flew in here about a year ago, maybe from Illinois where she has a house, or from Florida where she votes.

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"She flew in for a major, multimillion dollar contract. She lost the contract. She registered to vote and she declared for governor.

"It's retaliation," McKee alleged. "She could not take the fact that she was told that she was not doing a good job and that we needed to remove her from the service."

"That's not true," Kalus responded. "He's not tethered to the truth."

Election 2022 Updates: Follow along with the latest in Rhode Island political news

Republican Ashley Kalus and incumbent Democratic Gov. Dan McKee squared off in their first post-primary debate Tuesday night, hosted by WPRI.

She said she only found out about complaints about her company's performance - "which quite frankly are insulting to the healthcare workers that I employed" - when she read about them in the newspaper "after I was running for governor."

She asserted that one of the two contracts that Doctors Test Centers had with the state - the vaccination contract - was "renewed three times," not cut short.

"I am new in politics and I thought that together we helped make Rhode Island... the most vaccinated state in the country. That is something we could have joint agreement on, but you turned... something that should have been a success into a hit."

Abortion

At another point, they jousted over McKee's renewed promise to seek state-funding - for abortion coverage for state workers and Medicaid recipients, and Kalus' vow to veto a state budget that includes state dollars for abortions.

"What's next?" he said of national Republican efforts to ban abortion. "I am pro-choice. She is no-choice. She doesn't have confidence in the women [who] live in the state of Rhode Island ... to determine how they want to deal with their lives and their bodies."

In response, Kalus said: "I am personally pro-life ...The idea the I can't have a personal opinion as a woman and do my job as governor, which is to uphold the law of the state is quite frankly, not okay ... Quite frankly that smacks of sexism."

Truck tolls

They sparred over the state's truck tolls system, which a federal judge ruled unconstitutional last month.

McKee, for the first time, said he intends to appeal the ruling, a move Kalus attacked.

"I would not appeal that decision. We know that the law was unconstitutional. So instead of not doing it [we] spent $8 million on a politically connected law firm to fight that appeal which we lost. He is delaying the inevitability that he wants to toll all trucks and cars."

More: Judge orders halt to Rhode Island truck tolls, rules system is unconstitutional

Biden vs. Trump, assault weapons, and early voting

Asked who should run for president in 2024, McKee said he fully supports Joe Biden, should the incumbent choose to run again.

Kalus refused to say whether she would vote for Donald Trump if he runs for president in 2024.

"The questions about Trump are a distraction. I am focused on this election and this president," Kalus said. "I am not going to answer a hypotheticals about a race that may or may not happen."

In the lightning round of questions, McKee said he supports an ban on assault weapons. Kalus opposes a ban.

On early voting, Kalus said the current early voting period is too long. McKee thinks it is about the right length.

They did agree on a few areas, including that recreational marijuana sales should be legal and that moving the state's September primary to June is a good idea.

Kalus correctly pegged the size of the state budget at $13.6 billion.

McKee knew the minimum wage is $12.25 per hour, while Kalus was off by 50 cents, saying $12.75 an hour.

More: Gov. Dan McKee wins endorsements from gun-control advocates, touts recent legislation

Housing

Both Kalus and Mckee said they want to build more homes in the state.

Kalus promised to build 10,000 units a year, which McKee said was "impossible."

But both candidates rejected passing any law, like recent legislation in California, that would force reluctant municipalities to allow more homes to be built in their borders.

FBI investigation

The two also exchanged jabs over the education consulting contract worth up to $5.2 million that the McKee administration awarded to the newly formed ILO Group, soon after he catapulted to the governor's office mid-term.

Kalus mentioned the investigation by state and federal authorities multiple times, while McKee said he has no regrets about turning to people he felt he could trust "on making sure we got kids back to school safely."

He said the now cancelled contract is a non-issue on the campaign trail, as he meets people who "know, that as governor, I came into a difficult, unmanageable situation. A health emergency where we were the lowest vaccinated in the country."

And "no one has contacted me about this issue that is reviewing the situation."

Kalus response: "If he is so convinced that he is innocent then I would ask that you release the subpoena into your administration." As an aside, she added; "The subject of an investigation is often the last to know."

"I think that's unfortunate," Atty. Gen. Peter Neronha told The Journal last week, when asked what TV viewers should assume from the spate of ads labeling McKee "corrupt" because state and federal authorities are looking into the educational consulting contract the McKee administration gave the ILO Group.

Neronha announced in October 2021 that his office intended to look into the contract, in light of news reports raising questions about why it went to a newly formed company with ties to a McKee political ally that was the higher of two bidders.

"Sometimes that takes some time," Neronha said last week. "I've said it before. No one should draw conclusions about anything. In fact, just the opposite. They should presume that nothing was done wrong until there's evidence that there was."

"We've done a lot of investigations over the years that have not resulted in any charges. We've done others that have. Until that moment in time arrives, I don't think anyone should draw any conclusions."

Modeling Massachusetts: GOP governor candidate Ashley Kalus rolls out education plan

Education

In his turn during the WPRI debate, McKee asked Kalus several times why she is sending her own children to a private school in Newport.

Her answer: "What I understand is you are trapping children in failing schools...and the reality is, the quality of your education is right now, in Rhode Island, determined by your ZIP code."

Without explaining why she chose not to send her own sons to a public school in Newport, she said parents of children in failing schools should be given a "school choice."

Political Scene: 3 independent candidates for RI governor reach for the brass ring

panderson@providencejournal.com

(401) 277-7384

On Twitter: @PatrickAnderso_

Primary spending: Helena Foulkes ran one of the priciest primary campaigns in RI history in her bid for governor

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI first general election debate: Gov. Dan McKee and Ashley Kalus spar
In the business world, a unicorn is a private startup that achieves a valuation of more than $1 billion. North Carolina now has five such businesses according to a report on Southeastern startups released Wednesday by the Atlanta-based venture capital firm Panoramic Ventures.

Carys Epic Games far and away leads the pack with a valuation of $31.5 billion. The creator of Fortnite raised $2 billion last spring from Sony and the Lego Groups parent company Kirkbi, which Epic said it will put towards building up its kid-friendly metaverse.

The second largest unicorn in the Triangle, and the state as a whole, is Pendo, which helps clients collect data on how customers use their products. The Raleigh-based business is valued at $2.6 billion and has discussed future plans to go public (though those plans are on hold).

North Carolina doesnt have the most unicorns in the American South: Florida is home to 13 and Georgia has eight. And overall, the region has seen a tremendous rise in startup investments in the past decade, Panoramic Ventures found, with funding jumping from $3.1 billion in 2012 to more than $19 billion last year.

That strong momentum has continued into 2022, the report reads. Barring unforeseen events, 2022 looks to at least match, if not exceed, 2021 numbers.

Jupiter(One) rising

The Triangles newest unicorn is JupiterOne, a Morrisville company that helps businesses secure their cloud-based systems from cyberattacks. Last spring, JupiterOne topped the $1 billion threshold after securing an additional $70 million in funding.

JupiterOne was formed in 2018 by Erkang Zheng, a North Carolina State University graduate who spoke with The News & Observer in June about his companys meteoric growth.

It was just less than two years ago, actually, when we had our first round of fundraising, and we were tiny  we were nothing and our valuation was nothing, Zheng said.

The two other North Carolina unicorns are Tresata and Printful, both Charlotte-based companies valued at $1 billion according to Panoramic Ventures.

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In recent years, two Triangle companies have lost their status as unicorns due to acquisitions: In 2019, Raleighs open-source software firm Red Hat was acquired by IBM for $34 billion. A year later, the Chapel Hill gene-therapy company AskBio was bought by the pharmaceutical giant Bayer for $4 billion.

This story was produced with financial support from a coalition of partners led by Innovate Raleigh as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work.

Open Source

Do you enjoy Triangle tech news? Subscribe to Open Source, The News & Observer's weekly technology newsletter and look for it in your inbox every Friday morning. Sign up here.
RENO, Nev. (AP)  Less than a month before Election Day, 14 members of Nevada Republican Senate candidate Adam Laxalts family sent a letter endorsing his opponent, Democratic U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto.

We staunchly believe that Catherine is well equipped with her own Nevada grit  a quality that she will take forward in representation of our home state for six more years across the halls of Congress, the letter states.

The letter, first obtained by The Nevada Independent, does not mention Laxalt by name.

Instead, it talks of Cortez Mastos understanding of the daily realities of dogged hard work and mentions her experience in public education as well as her commitment to law enforcement.

The family members also wrote that Cortez Mastos career demonstrates she is "an authentic advocate of Nevada.

It marks the second time that some of Laxalts family has endorsed his opponent. During his unsuccessful gubernatorial run in 2018, a dozen family members endorsed Democrat Steve Sisolak in an op-ed to the Reno Gazette-Journal. That letter more explicitly criticized Laxalt, saying he leveraged and exploited the family name throughout his campaign.

That letter prompted 22 of his family members to send another op-ed, defending Laxalt and calling the other letter vicious and entirely baseless.

The grandson of former U.S. Sen. and Nevada Gov. Paul Laxalt and the son of former Sen. Pete Domenici, R-New Mexico, Laxalt is seen by many as the best opportunity for Republicans to pick up a seat that could give them the majority in the Senate.

In a tweet on Wednesday afternoon, Laxalt said it is not surprising that family members, most of whom he said are Democrats, are supporting Cortez Masto.

They think that Nevada & our country are heading in the right direction. I believe Nevadans dont agree, he said.

The Laxalt family joins a growing list of endorsers from across the aisle, Cortez Masto spokesperson Sigalle Reshef said in a statement, citing law enforcement organizations and rural lawmakers who have endorsed the Democratic candidate.

__

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.
Memphis police have evidence of two of the reasons why car break-ins and gun violence have been rising in the city, but politics are blocking their ability to arrest the trends.

The suspects are two gun laws that Tennessees Republican lawmakers and governors embraced. One law, since 2014, allows loaded guns to be carried in cars without a permit. The other, since 2021, allows most people 21 and older to carry loaded handguns, concealed or not, without a permit.

The disconnect between police and policymakers was clear last week at a Memphis Shelby Crime Commission forum.

Memphis police Asst. Chief of Police Services Shawn Jones clearly pointed to the two laws as triggers for rising crime, especially among juveniles committing car break-ins and gun violence as the supply of stolen guns rises.

When they changed the law in 2014, the number of guns that were stolen from cars began to grow each year, Jones said. Commensurate to that, the number of shooting incidents began to grow equally with the number of guns that were being stolen from cars.

Every single year, it was a new record. he said. This year, were on pace to eclipse last year, the 2021 year. Because of more and more people leaving guns in their cars, more and more guns are being stolen. Consequently, more and more guns are used in crimes.

A federal prosecutor in Memphis, Joe Murphy, who for a time was acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, spoke at the forum about Project Safe Neighborhoods, a collaboration between state and federal prosecutors to seek maximum prison time for gun crime. The federal project has been around since 2001.

But isnt the elephant in the room loosened state gun laws, not only in Tennessee, but in other states?

Im a federal prosecutor, so we dont get involved in the state politics and things, Murphy said.

Gun deregulation supported by the National Rifle Association is a popular goal in Republican politics.

Vanderbilt University psychiatry professor Jonathan Metzl makes a case for other tragic, unintended consequences of gun deregulation in his 2019 book, Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment is Killing Americas Heartland.

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When I began to sift through the statistics for gun injury and death in Missouri, I quickly realized that the primary victims of gun mortality were not criminals or inner-city gang members, as the NRA and some politicians implied, Metzl wrote. Rather, as gun laws liberalized, gun deaths spikedamong white people.

This was because white Missourians dominated injuries and deaths via gun-related suicides, partner violence, and accidental shootings  and in ways that outpaced African American deaths from homicides.

Memphis police are not alone in connecting the dots between the changes in state gun laws, car break-ins and gun crime.

Last week, the shooting death of 24-year-old Nashville musician Kyle Yorlets brought the city's alarming trend into sharp focus, an article in The Tennessean reported in February 2019.

Five juveniles between the ages of 12 and 16 are charged with criminal homicide in the case. Police said the youths are linked to at least five vehicle thefts. Two guns police said they recovered from the suspects came from stolen cars, The Tennessean reported.

While Michael Rallings was Memphis police director in 2020, Rallings practically begged Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to shoot down permitless gun-carry legislation. With Lees signature, it became law the following year.

So this proliferation of guns puts guns in the hands of children, who are attempting to commit carjackings, who are committing carjackings, armed robberies, aggravated assaults, murders, Rallings said in a February 2020 media conference available on YouTube. And we as a community, as a state, as a nation, should want to do something about it.

Rallings, who retired in 2021, correctly predicted that the cycle of break-ins and gun crime would continue to grow. He tried to make clear that he was following the evidence, and tried to disarm the politics.

I am not against guns, he said. I am against illegal guns. Im against our children being killed. Im against our citizens being placed in jeopardy because of laws, legislation and positions that we take on guns.

Police, politicians and policymakers have proposed various remedies, ranging from mor criminal penalties to common sense steps such as keeping guns in vehicles out of sight, and not displaying gun-related NRA or hunting decals on cars to avoid becoming a target.

None reaches to the root causes, the state gun laws that triggered the trends.

At the crime commission forum, Mary Powers, a Memphis speaker for Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, urged focusing on the laws.

One thing that everybody in this room can do, and really if youre serious about reducing violent crime and gun crime, those laws are made at the state level, Powers said.

Weve got an election coming up Nov. 8. The state changed the law about guns in cars in 2014. The state can change the law back in 2023, she said.

Rallinigs said something similar two years ago.

No penalty, no jail time, no reform will bring these children back, he said. And it is our responsibility as citizens of this city and this state to do something about it, to let our voice be heard.

And we vote, and we send people to represent us so that they can make sure they are looking out for our safety and our future. That should be governments No. 1 obligation, No. 1 priority, should be to keep citizens safe.

Asst. Chief Jones delivered the evidence again last week. The suspects are still at large.

Kevin McKenzie is a former Commercial Appeal reporter who now is a freelance journalist.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Reconnecting Memphis police and policymakers is vital for citizens
The Daily Beast

Fox BusinessIf Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) thought Fox News would warmly welcome her suggestion to impeach President Joe Biden if Republicans take the House, she may be in for a rude awakening.I think that's a rotten idea, Fox Business Network anchor Stuart Varney flatly stated on Tuesday morning.Its bad for the country, Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade agreed.Stefanik, the third-ranking House Republican, recently told the New York Post that GOP lawmakers could take up impeachment procee
Mexicos president has condemned Republican governors in the US who have relied on the issue of immigration for political, electoral purposes and bused hundreds of migrants to Democrat-led cities for political stunts.

In a briefing on 12 October, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Mexicos government is keeping an eye on the issue to ensure that no tragedy happens as thousands of people seeking asylum in the US flee South and Central America before crossing through Mexico to the US border.

Ahead of the elections in the United States theres  temptation to use the issue of immigration under political, electoral pretenses, he said.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott is transporting immigrants to New York and near the houses where Democratic politicians live, an indignant and offensive scheme to advance his political agenda, according to Mr Lopez Obrador.

We dont want to be involved in these issues, he said. We dont want the issue of immigration, and the topic of Mexico, to be in the US debate agenda.

Mr Lopez Obrador has previously rebuked Governor Abbotts anti-immigrant rhetoric and maneuvers  including plans to use the Texas National Guard and other agencies to send migrants to ports of entry  as immoral.

His latest remarks come as New York City officials prepare to open a temporary shelter facility to house up to 500 migrants, as the citys already-strained shelter system works to house thousands of asylum seekers who have arrived in the city this year, including people sent north by Governor Abbott.

More than 17,000 people seeking asylum have been bused to the city since the spring, according to Mayor Eric Adams. The city anticipates the citys shelter census to surpass 100,000 within the coming year, if the pace of arrivals continues.

The citys Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers will allow people to spend up to 96 hours at the sites, which will connect people to food, legal aid, medical care and other shelter assistance.

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Mayor Adams declared a state of emergency on 7 October and issued an executive order directing all city agencies to help support the centres. He also has urged state and federal agencies to provide immediate additional support.

If our city had had coordination or even just cooperation from any of the states sending buses, or more support from our partners, then maybe we could have budgeted, staffed, and allocated resources for these asylum seekers, he said in an announcement on Friday.

But we didnt get the support and information we asked for, and now, New York City is being forced to bear far more than its share of this national crisis caused by political motivation, he added. We are at the edge of the precipice.

Governor Abbotts administration also has arranged buses with hundreds of migrants to Vice President Kamala Harriss residence in Washington DC, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is facing a lawsuit and potential criminal probes for chartering flights from Texas to Marthas Vineyard.
At its Ignite conference today, Microsoft announced Defender Cloud Security Posture Management and Defender for DevOps, two new offerings within the company's Defender for Cloud service (previously Azure Defender) aimed at managing software development and runtime security across multicloud, multiple-pipeline environments. Currently available in public preview, they work with GitHub and Azure DevOps to start, with additional product integrations to come down the line.

In a conversation with TechCrunch, Microsoft CVP of cloud security Shawn Bice said that Defender for DevOps and Defender Cloud Security Posture Management (or Defender CSPM, to refer to it by its more wieldy acronym) arose from the challenges companies are increasingly facing as they use cloud-native services to deploy and manage applications. These customers often have incomplete visibility and a lack of prioritized mitigations, he said, making their security reactive as opposed to proactive.

There's truth to that. According to a 2020 report from Orca Security, 59% of cybersecurity teams report receiving more than 500 alerts about cloud security per day -- a large portion of which are false positives. Tool sprawl is often cited as a challenge in maintaining code security. Responding to a GitLab survey from August, 41% of DevOps teams said that they used between six to 10 tools in their development toolchains, leading them to miss security issues.

"The accelerated cloud transformation journey for our customers has created an urgent need for a unified solution to manage security from development to runtime in multicloud and multiple pipeline environments," Bice said via email.

Microsoft DevSecOps

Image Credits: Microsoft

To this end, Defender CSPM leverages AI algorithms to perform contextual risk analyses of software dev environments. Resulting recommendations and insights are piped into source code management platforms like GitHub and Azure DevOps to drive remediation efforts; alternatively, users can create workflows connected to security recommendations to trigger automated remediation.

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Defender CSPM also provides "attack queries" that security teams can use to explore risk and threat data, as well as a dashboard showing all the rules implemented across dev environments and tools that allow security admins to define new rules.

As for Defender for DevOps, it shows the security posture of pre-production app code and resource configurations. Security teams can use the service to enable templates and container images designed to minimize the chance that cloud misconfigurations reach production environments.

"Leveraging [insights] within Defender for Cloud, security admins can help developers prioritize critical code fixes with actionable remediation and assign developer ownership by triggering custom workflows," Bice explained.

With the rollout of Defender CSPM and Defender for Cloud, it's clear Microsoft is angling for a larger slice of the enormous and growing DevSecOps segment. Grand View Research estimates that the market for DevSecOps -- which spans tools that automate security practices at every step of software development -- was worth $2.79 billion in 2020.

Startups including Spectral, which aims to detect potential security issues in codebases and logs, and Cycode, which offers tools to secure DevOps pipelines, might be perceived as competitors. But Microsoft's scale -- and the fact that both Defender CSPM and Defender for Cloud are free for Defender for Cloud customers during the preview period -- give it an advantage.

"Microsoft is committed to enabling security for all," Bice added, "[with] a comprehensive cloud security benchmark across multiple clouds."
Photo: The Canadian Press

RCMP say Alberta's police watchdog is investigating after officers shot and killed a man southeast of Edmonton.

Mounties say in a news release that they received a report Monday of a white BMW being driven erratically on Highway 21 near New Sarepta.

Officers found the vehicle in a ditch and a man was being helped by two other people.

The release says that when officers approached the man, there was an "altercation," officers fired their guns and the man was shot.

The 30-year-old died and a firearm not belonging to police was located at the scene.

RCMP say officers had been looking for a white BMW earlier in the day, after police spotted a stolen plate on the vehicle and a person inside shot what appeared to be a gun at an officer.

Police returned fire and the vehicle sped away.

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team is investigating both shootings and whether the two are related.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinels editorial board on Wednesday published a scathing reproach of Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), outlining to readers eight reasons why the group believes they should oppose Johnsons reelection.

In fact, Ron Johnson is the worst Wisconsin political representative since the infamous Sen. Joseph McCarthy, the editorial board concluded, a reference to the states late Republican senator who gained prominence for stoking anti-communist hysteria in 1950s-era Senate hearings.

Johnson in the past promised to serve no more than two terms, the piece continued. Voters should hold him to that pledge in November.

Johnson will face voters next month in his race against Democrat Mandela Barnes in what is expected to be a close contest. Polls have shown the two nominees neck and neck with less than four weeks to go until the midterm elections.

The editorial board railed against Johnson on an array of issues, including his suggestion that Medicare and Social Security be classified as discretionary spending and support of the 2017 tax cut law.

Three of the boards reasons related to unfounded objections to the results of the 2020 election and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, with the group accusing Johnson of downplaying the seriousness of the riot.

We cannot elect people to office who do not honor the results of elections and still expect to hold onto our democratic republic. Its that simple, the board wrote.

Even citizens who dont like his opponent should withhold their vote for Johnson on this point alone  to ensure our government derives its power from the consent of the governed, they wrote.

The editorial board also attacked Johnson for comments on climate change he reportedly made last summer at a Republican luncheon.

I dont know about you guys, but I think climate change is  as Lord Monckton said  bullshit, Johnson reportedly said, according to CNN, although he mouthed the expletive rather than uttering it.

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By the way, it is, Johnson then reportedly added.

The editorial board cited the remark as one of multiple examples it said show Johnson is at odds with the consensus of climate scientists, also pointing to donations he has received from the fossil fuel industry.

From his first run for office in 2010, Johnson has thought that he knew better than the vast majority of scientists who study climate change, the editorial board wrote.

The Hill has reached out to Johnsons campaign for comment.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
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.
Chatham County Sheriff

Georgia toddler Quinton Simon has been missing for a weekand tensions are flaring.

The 20-month-olds grandmother, Billie Jo Howell, who had custody of him and his siblings, reportedly barged into the home of his babysitter, Diana McCarta, sparking a blazing argument.

Howell was reportedly incensed that McCarta spoke about creating a memorial for Quinton.

My babys not dead, the grandmother could be heard yelling on video recorded by McCartas daughter and obtained by WSAV.

The confrontation got so heated that at one point McCarta dared Howell, Hit me, hit me, prompting the other woman to say, Do you think I would do that?

The two women were screaming that the other one was a liar and at one point Howell shouted at McCarta, Do you have Quinton? Youre the only one who can go in my house and take him.

McCarta was supposed to watch Quinton on Oct. 5 when his mother, Leilani Simon, texted her to say he would not be coming. Hours later, Simon reported Quinton missing and allegedly told cops that his biological father had taken himbut police have said thats not true.

The sitter has been outspoken about the situation and told reporters that she had filed complaints about Quinton and his siblings with child-welfare authoritiesthough that has not been confirmed.

On Monday, police said the search for the little boy was also now a criminal investigation. And on Tuesday, they said they believe evidence collected would lead to a break in the case.

With the help of 40 FBI personnel, investigators this week searched the Savannah home where Quinton lived with Howell, and where Simon and her boyfriend were also living despite an eviction petition from Howell.

In an interview with WJCL last week, Howell did not defend her daughter.

Sometimes she does really great, sometimes she doesnt, she said at the time. I dont know what to think right now. I dont know what to believe, because I dont think anybody ever believes this is going to happen to them.

Story continues

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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A Houma woman and her boyfriend will face the death penalty if convicted of killing her 2-year-old boy, whose body was found in a garbage can July 12, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Terrebonne Parish Assistant District Attorney Bud Barnes said he filed court papers notifying defense attorneys that his office will pursue it as a capital case.

Maya Gwenlyn Jones, 28, and Jermaine Michael Robinson, 37, were indicted Aug. 12 on first-degree murder and obstruction of justice charges in the death of Ezekiel Harry. Both have pleaded not guilty.

Ezekiel died from severe, blunt-force trauma to the head, autopsy results show. Police allege Jones and Robinson had carried the childs body for hours on Houma streets in a black duffel bag, then dumped the bag in a trash bin on Daspit Street, a block from Houma Police headquarters.

The two are being held in the Terrebonne Parish jail, each on $5.1 million bail.

Ezekiel Harry.

Attorneys for both sides appeared before state District Judge Jason Dagate for a pre-trial hearing Wednesday afternoon.

Jones is represented by Christine Lehmann, a senior capital attorney at the Louisiana Capital Assistance Center. Robinson is represented by Kerry Cuccia, director of the Capital Defense Project of Southeast Louisiana.

Both defendants appeared at the hearing in the Houma Courthouse, and several of their family members attended. The pair's next court hearing is scheduled for Jan. 5.

Terrebonne District Attorney Joe Waitz Jr. said during a July 13 news conference that his office would meet with the boy's family to come to a decision about how to pursue the case.

'That house is going to be haunted': Neighbors shocked over the loss of Ezekiel Harry

Community concerns: Police criticized on Facebook, other social media after arrest in Ezekiel Harrys death

"I anticipate first-degree murder indictments on both," Waitz said at the time. "This is absolutely a potential death penalty case."

Ezekiel's death sent shockwaves through the community and beyond.

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Officials respond:State Sen. Mike Fesi seeks to create 'Ezekiels Law' after Houma 2-year-old's brutal death

About 400 motorcycles, some from as far as Texas, joined in a procession through Thibodaux to give Ezekiel a final send-off July 23. Several hundred people packed Moses Baptist Church on Canal Boulevard for Ezekiel's funeral to show their support and offer condolences to his family. A vigil held in Houma's Courthouse Square three days after the boy's death attracted hundreds as elected officials, police and religious leaders tried to console the wider public.

This article originally appeared on The Courier: Prosecutors seek death penalty in murder of 2-year-old Ezekiel Harry
Multiple rocket launcher MARS-II

Read also: First German IRIS-T air defense system arrives to Ukraine

A picture of a meeting hosted by Brussels in the Ramstein format on Wednesday was posted. The press office stressed that the Ramstein-format meeting is being held "at a special time: Russias missile attacks and partial mobilisation, sham referenda (on the temporary occupied areas), Ukraines counter-offensive.

It was also reported on Wednesday that amid Russian mass missile strikes, the Netherlands is to deliver 15 million euros worth of anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine. NRC news reported it, referring to a letter that Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren and Foreign Affairs Minister Wopke Hoekstra of that country sent to parliament.

Read also: Ukrainian forces change dynamics of war unleashed by Russia  Austin

Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov confirmed Ukraine had received the first German IRIS-T anti-air defense battery on Oct. 12. He also said that item #1 on the agenda (of the Oct. 12 meeting in the Ramstein format) will be strengthening Ukraine's air defence.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
The woman who says Herschel Walker paid for her abortion in 2009 has detailed the experience in an interview with The Washington Post in which she accuses the Republican of resisting or slow-walking her efforts to get him to pay for the procedure.

Her story was published on Tuesday in The Washington Post; the unnamed woman described how Mr Walker told her that it was an inconvenient time for him to father a child when the pregnancy occurred in 2009.

She then went on to say that he promised to send a check but that the money did not materialise quickly  according to both the woman herself and a friend who says that she told them about the situation as it was happening, a days-long effort to secure Mr Walkers payment had to be undertaken.

She was like, Ill do it as soon as you send the check, the anonymous friend told the Post of the account of Ms Walkers ex-girlfriend. And he was like I sent the check. And she was like, Its been seven days. I didnt get it.

According to the Post, Mr Walker would go on years later to press the same woman to have a second abortion after he impregnated her again; this time, however, she refused and bore one of his four children into the world.

The new revelation, while minor, adds another layer to the increasingly messy situation developing around Donald Trumps pick to unseat one of Georgias two Democratic senators who took office after a special election that played out in January of 2021.

Republicans had seen the state as their easiest shot to chip away at the Democrats 50-50 Senate majority, but the unprecedented issues that have hounded Mr Walkers campaign in recent weeks have thrown that effort into jeopardy.

The Georgia Republican is now facing his own charges of absentee parenting and blatant hypocrisy over claims that he refused to publicly acknowledge the existence of several of his children as well as the claim that he funded an abortion in 2009.

But the GOP are insisting that they will stick with Mr Walker to the end, denouncing the stories as media smears.

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I think were going to stick with Walker and all the effort we put in through [Senate Leadership Fund], were going take it all the way to the end, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told CNN

I think theyre going to hang in there and scrap to the finish, he added.

Mr Walker publicly continues to insist that the story is false and that he opposes abortions in all cases.
MountainView Regional Medical Center is pictured in Las Cruces on Tuesday, May 5, 2020.

This story has been updated to add comment from MountainView Regional Medical Center.

LAS CRUCES  When Alex Rougeux checked in to MountainView Regional Medical Center for surgery in September, she was surprised, but not shocked, to learn she owed money from a previous visit.

Rougeux, 23, a full-time student at New Mexico State University who earns a meager income from her job at a dog grooming business, has suffered overlapping chronic medical conditions for most of her life. In May, she visited MountainView's emergency room with abdominal pain. Since that visit, her insurance had changed: She had been enrolled in a previous employer's insurance plan but is currently covered by Medicaid.

Rougeux agreed to pay $100 against her outstanding balance that September morning and asked to set up a payment plan for the rest.

"They said they would send me something in the mail or someone would call me so that we could figure out like a payment plan and get that debt taken care of," she recalled.

The next communication she received from the hospital, she said, was a notice she was being taken to court for her unpaid bills.

"It really made me stress out about my finances," she said. Because Rougeux does not qualify for federal student loans, she is paying tuition on top of living expenses and the cost of prescription medications.

"I'm always worried about when something is going to come up, when I have to pay for something out of pocket," she said. "If I don't have the medication that I need to help me function, I can't focus on school. I can't even work. Sometimes I can't even get up out of bed."

As an indigent patient, Rougeux is eligible for protection under a 2021 New Mexico law shielding people with incomes less than two times the federal poverty level from debt collection action including lawsuits.

MountainView Regional Medical Center is pictured in Las Cruces on Tuesday, May 5, 2020.

Yet the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty says MountainView has sued more than 200 low-income patients since the law took effect, without checking to see if they protected under the law as required.

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The organization is leading a class action claim against the hospital and Faber and Brand, the Missouri-based legal firm that pursues debt collections for the hospital. Rougeux is among more than 200 unnamed plaintiffs in the class action.

"I understand that people are going to the hospital and they're getting care, and it needs to be paid for," she said, "but these people are humans. ... I didn't ask to be born with all these conditions. I don't deserve to be treated less because I make less money."

Plaintiffs claim hospital is ignoring law

In an unusual move, attorneys for Las Cruces patient Ruby Ramirez filed the class action as a counterclaim in a lawsuit the hospital filed against her in July, in the first class action seeking affirmative enforcement of New Mexico's Patients' Debt Collection Protection Act.

MountainView Regional Medical Center provided the following statement late Wednesday afternoon:

MountainView Regional Medical Center is aware of the the requirements of the state law regarding medical debt collection and previously implemented policies and procedures to ensure compliance with the law. We are not aware of any departure from those policies and procedures. We will review the allegations in the lawsuit and work with the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty if the review identifies mistakes or departures from the hospital's policies and procedures.

The hospitals corporate owner, Tennessee-based Community Health Systems, did not immediately respond to queries for this story; and neither did attorneys for Faber and Brand.

What is the law?Low-income New Mexicans may not know about law protecting them from medical bill collections

Ramirez explained in a statement that MountainView sued her for more than $6,000 after she was rushed to the hospital last year while she was pregnant. She says the hospital did not check her income before taking her to court and that she qualifies for protection under the act.

"My family is on a very tight budget," she said. "We can't afford this lawsuit."

MountainView Regional Medical Center is pictured in Las Cruces on Tuesday, May 5, 2020.

Nicolas Cordova, a staff attorney with the New Mexico Center on Poverty and Law, said that since December, MountainView has pursued 260 new cases against patients, obtaining 40 default judgments and garnishing wages of 31 people.

"The hospital didn't do their homework before filing those motions," Cordova said. "They didn't do those attempts to contact a patient to verify whether or not they had a low income."

The countersuit also alleges the actions by the hospital and Faber and Brand are deceptive trade practices that violate New Mexico's Unfair Practices Act.

"When you go to the hospital, you shouldn't have to worry about being forced to go to court right after, but we know that hospitals, including and especially MountainView, are suing hundreds of patients every year," Cordova continued.

The class action asks Third District Judge Casey Fitch to declare the actions a violation of New Mexico statutes, and to halt collections activity until it confirms patients' income status. It seeks dismissal of all lawsuits and garnishment proceedings against patients who qualify under the law, restored wages for anyone whose pay was improperly garnished and deletion of negative credit reports about patients who should not have been sued. It also seeks damages for the plaintiffs, legal fees and court costs.

Community Health Systems operates a chain of hospitals across the United States including some in New Mexico.

One of its properties, Carlsbad Medical Center, was the subject of a New York Times investigation in 2019 that found the hospital had filed nearly 3,000 lawsuits over medical debt over four years. Lea Regional Medical Center in Hobbs and MountainView each had filed approximately 2,000 in the same time frame.

Others are reading:

Algernon D'Ammassa can be reached at 575-541-5451, adammassa@lcsun-news.com or @AlgernonWrites on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: MountainView Regional Medical Center sued over debt collections
(Reuters) -A court in military-ruled Myanmar on Wednesday sentenced deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi to three years in prison on charges of accepting a bribe, a source with knowledge of the matter said.

The 77-year-old Nobel laureate, a figurehead of opposition to military rule, faces charges for at least 18 offences ranging from graft to election violations, carrying combined maximum terms of nearly 190 years.

Suu Kyi has called the accusations against her absurd and denied any wrongdoing. She is being held in solitary confinement in the capital, Naypyitaw, and her trials have been conducted in closed courts.

The latest charges were related to allegations Suu Kyi accepted bribes from a businessman, said the source, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue.

Suu Kyi received three-year jail sentences on two charges, to be served concurrently.

Opponents of the military say the charges against Suu Kyi are aimed at blocking her from ever getting involved in politics again or trying to challenge the military's grip on power since last year's coup.

A junta spokesperson did not answer calls seeking comment on Wednesday. The junta insists Myanmar's courts are independent and those arrested are receiving due process.

(Reporting by Reuters Staff;Writing by Ed Davies;Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Robert Birsel)
Photo: The Canadian Press Russian artillery shells, one of them with the words reading "letter to Zelenskyy" at an undisclosed location in Donetsk region.

Russian missile attacks caused a crippled nuclear plant in Ukraine to lose all external power for the second time in five days, increasing the risk of a radiation disaster because critical safety systems need electricity to operate, Ukraines state nuclear operator said Wednesday.

On-site monitors from the U.N.'s atomic energy watchdog reported the last remaining outside line to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was restored about eight hours later. The war-related interruption nonetheless highlighted how precarious the situation is at Europe's largest nuclear plant, International Atomic Energy Agency Director Rafael Grossi said.

The nuclear scare came amid a flurry of developments in Russias 7 1/2-month invasion of Ukraine. Russias main domestic security agency said eight people were arrested over an explosion on a bridge that links Russia to the Crimean Peninsula.

The Ukrainian presidents office said strikes Moscow ordered in retaliation for the bridge attack killed at least 14 people and wounded 34 in the last day. Western officials meeting in Brussels discussed their plans to maintain winter weapon and aid deliveries to Ukraine.

Ukrainian nuclear power operator Energoatom said the Zaporizhzhia plant suffered a blackout Wednesday morning when a missile damaged an electrical substation, leading to the emergency shutdown of the plant's last external power source.

All six of the reactors were stopped earlier due to the war. But they still require electricity to prevent them from overheating to the point of a meltdown that could cause radiation to pour from Europe's largest nuclear plant. Energoatom said diesel generators were supplying the plant but Russian troops blocked a convoy carrying additional fuel for the back-up equipment.

Basically what weve got here is the weaponization of civil nuclear, perhaps for the first time," Paul Dorfman, a nuclear expert at England's University of Sussex said. "And in an increasingly unstable world, its important to understand this and what this implies for nuclear worldwide.

Ukrainian workers later found a way to repair the line and connected the plant to the Ukrainian power grid, the company said. The chief of Energoatom, Petro Kotin, told The Associated Press last month the plant typically had enough diesel on hand to run the generators - the stations last defense before a radiation accident for 10 days.

Western governments, in the wake of the punishing missile and drone strikes Russia carried out across Ukraine this week, were shipping new weapons systems to Ukraine or gearing up to provide more help: The U.S.-led Ukraine Defense Contact Group and NATO defense ministers held meetings in Brussels on Wednesday.

Russia's Federal Security Service, known by the Russian acronym FSB, said it arrested five Russians and three citizens of Ukraine and Armenia in the attack on the Kerch Bridge. A truck loaded with explosives blew up while driving across the bridge Saturday, killing four people and causing sections of road to collapse.

The span opened four years after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, serving as a symbol of Moscow's regional dominance as well as a crucial route for getting military supplies to Ukraine and Russian travelers to a popular vacation destination.

The FSB alleged the detained suspects acted on orders of Ukraines military intelligence to secretly move the explosives by a convoluted route into Russia and forge accompanying documents.

The Russian security services have pointed the finger at Ukraines intelligence directorate and its head, Kyrylo Budanov. Ukraine's Defense Ministry on Wednesday dismissed accusations of Ukrainian involvement.

The entire activity of the FSB and the Investigative Committee is nonsense, Defense Ministry spokesman Andriy Yusov told reporters.

Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to the blast by ordering missile strikes across Ukraine, where his forces over the last month lost ground in the east and south as Ukraine's military waged a counteroffensive. Ukrainian authorities said Russian missiles killed 19 people on Monday, including five in Kyiv, the capital.

The bombardment targeted power plants and also hit civilian buildings. Over the past two days, Russian strikes damaged about 1/3 of the countrys energy infrastructure, Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko said Wednesday.

Ukraines presidential office said in a morning update that eight Ukrainian regions in southeast were affected by Russian shelling and attacks involving drones, heavy artillery and missiles in the previous 24 hours, while strikes on central and western parts of Ukraine had ceased.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office, said Russian shelling left at least 14 people dead in the Zaporizhzhia region and the Donetsk region to the east. At least 34 people were wounded in five regions, he wrote on Telegram.

More than a dozen missiles were fired at the city of Zaporizhzhia and its suburbs, damaging residential buildings. While part of a larger eponymous region that Moscow has claimed as its own in violation of international law, the city remains in Ukrainian hands. Russian forces control the area about 53 kilometers (33 miles) away by air where the nuclear plant is located.

In Nikopol, a city across the Dnieper River, three people were wounded, including a 6-year-old girl; medical workers say they were in grave condition. Over 30 multi-story residential buildings were damaged in the city of 104,000, as well as private houses, kindergartens, a school, two plants and several shops, authorities said.

In the Donetsk region, Russian forces used tanks to shell the city of Avdiivka, damaging residential buildings and a market. Seven people were killed and eight wounded, Tymoshenko posted on Telegram along with photos showing bodies on the ground by a kiosk with potatoes and bread on the counter.

Near the southern city of Mykolaiv, Ukrainian forces shot down nine Iranian Shahed-136 drones and destroyed eight Kalibr cruise missiles, the presidential office said.

Russian shelling intensifies and subsides, but doesnt stop, not for a day -- the city lives in tension, and the Russians main goal appears to be keeping us in fear, Mykolaiv regional governor Vitali Kim said.

Earlier Wednesday, Ukraines southern command said its forces recaptured five settlements in the southern Kherson region, on the western fringe of an arc of Russian-controlled territory in eastern and southern Ukraine.

Kherson, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Luhansk are four regions recently annexed by Russia, a move condemned as illegal under international law by many countries and the U.N. secretary-general.

Despite the advance, Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said Ukrainian forces counteroffensive in the south was losing pace, while regrouping in the east to deliver a powerful blow on the front line between the cities of Svatove and Kreminna in Luhansk region.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Legacy Sports USA on October 09, 2022 in Mesa, Arizona. Mario Tama/Getty Images

The National Archives rejected Trump's claim that other former presidents mishandled government docs.

NARA described Trump's accusations as "false and misleading."

Trump is being investigated by the Justice Department for how he handled government records.

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) rejected a claim by former President Donald Trump that other former presidents mishandled government records after they left the White House.

Trump is currently under investigation by the Justice Department for taking thousands of government documents with him after leaving office, including highly classified information, and keeping them in his poorly secured Mar-a-Lago country club in Florida.

In recent statements and at a rally on Sunday, Trump has accused other former presidents of mishandling government records after leaving office, but said they faced no legal penalties.

He said Barack Obama kept them in a building in Chicago and George HW Bush in a Chinese restaurant and a bowling alley "with no security and a broken front door."

He was apparently referring to reports about temporary facilities that NARA stored Bush's and Obama's records in before their transfer to their respective presidential libraries.

In a statement on Monday, NARA said that the temporary facilities records were kept at "met strict archival and security standards, and have been managed and staffed exclusively by NARA employees."

"Reports that indicate or imply that those Presidential records were in the possession of the former Presidents or their representatives, after they left office, or that the records were housed in substandard conditions, are false and misleading."

Under the Presidential Records Act, presidents must hand over all government records to the NARA on leaving office.

They can then apply for permission to borrow them from the government for display in their presidential libraries.

"NARA securely moved these records to temporary facilities that NARA leased from the General Services Administration (GSA), near the locations of the future Presidential Libraries that former Presidents built for NARA," the statement said.

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In contrast, Trump is accused of taking documents with him after leaving office without handing them over, including top secret information that can only be viewed by a small number of authorized officials in highly secure facilities.

According to DOJ court filings, the documents were haphazardly stored alongside Trump's personal belongings in a storage room and offices at Mar-a-Lago, prompting a counterintelligence investigation.

Trump is currently battling to prevent the DOJ from accessing all of the documents that the FBI retrieved in the raid, claiming that he had a right to keep them, and also saying without evidence that the FBI planted documents as part of a plot against him.

His lawyers have focussed on the narrower claim that some of the records were protected by privilege rules, but the DOJ found that only a small number fell into that category.

Read the original article on Business Insider
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the organizations top priority is sending air defense systems to Ukraine, as its defense ministers met with the head of Ukraines defense ministry on Wednesday.

I think we all have seen why this is so important, Stoltenberg said. The horrific indiscriminate attacks against Ukrainian cities, civilians killed, civilian critical infrastructure destroyed and not least the attacks on the energy system, the energy infrastructure, is serious as we approach winter. So, all of this demonstrates the urgent need for more air defense for Ukraine.

While NATO has previously provided air defense systems to Ukraine, Stoltenberg called for more, including short-range and long-range air defense systems that can take on ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones.

Ukraine is a big country, many cities, so we need to scale up to be able to help Ukraine defend even more cities and more territory against the horrific Russian attacks against their civilian populations, the secretary general added.

Stoltenbergs focus on air defense comes after two days of intense Russian shelling in Ukraine. Russia launched a barrage of missile strikes on Ukraine on Monday, killing at least 19 people and injuring more than 100 more. The shelling continued on Tuesday.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Jens Stoltenberg

Asked what NATO thinks of the role of the Lukashenko regime in this war, Stoltenberg said:

Read also: NATO to prioritize bolstering Ukraines air defenses, Stoltenberg says

"Well, I expect that the Lukashenko regime stops being complicit to this war. We have seen how Belarus has been used as a staging area for missile launches, air attacks against Ukraine.

The secretary general added that "Lukashenko should stop helping and supporting the Russian war efforts.

Read also: New offensive from Belarus unlikely, ISW report says

Lukashenko announced on Oct. 10 that Russia and Belarus had agreed to deploy a joint regional grouping of troops. Its formation has allegedly already begun.

Earlier on Oct. 4, dictator Lukashenko finally admitted that Belarus is involved in the war against Ukraine.

Read also: NATO must do more to protect itself against Russia, says German defense minister

Also, the dictator said that after the harvest season is over, it is necessary to "clarify" the registries of Belarus military registration and enlistment offices and "to call up people in the area, to see their availability.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Steven Romo and Stephen Morgan

NBC News correspondent Steven Romo and Fox Weather meteorologist Stephen Morgan have tied the knot, and the celebration has left them exhausted and excited.

A fabulous wedding ceremony took place Saturday at the Filter Building on White Rock Lake in Dallas between Romo, 37, and Morgan, 33.

When The Advocate spoke with Romo and Morgan on Wednesday, the couple said they were back in New York and were "trying to come back down to earth."

The two, who already share a first name, albeit spelled differently, kept their last names so as not to add to further confusion, Romo said. "People were asking us 'What do you guys want to be called?' at the wedding," Morgan says. "So we just said, 'I guess the Steph/vens,'" he joked.

Steven Romo and Stephen Morgan

Above: Husbands Steven Romo (left) and Stephen Morgan.

The couple says they look forward to figuring out who's who over the years they will have together. Fortunately, the weekend's events went according to plan.

Romo says the ceremony went flawlessly, which to him was a pleasant surprise because "many big events like this can easily go off the rails. But everybody showed up and helped out, and it all went off so smoothly. I was really impressed with everything."

After the ceremony, guests told the couple they were moved by the ceremony.

"I think because we tried to be honest about our journey to get to the altar and how a lot of people grow up thinking about their wedding one day, and Stephen and I didn't really do that," Romo said. "So it was a longer, harder fight to get there, and we let people in on that, and I think they were pretty moved by it. I'm very happy with how it all turned out."

Morgan interjected, "Same with me. I mean, I did grow up thinking that I might get married but that it would be to a woman until I came to my senses and realized that that's not how I was designed."

Romo chimed in, "Surprise!" and the two chuckled.

Morgan shared, "To have that opportunity to get married in front of my family and Steven's family, and especially with my family coming around and being able actually to celebrate it, that was a feeling that I will never forget."

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Morgan and Romo said that, although they were overwhelmed with joy on their wedding day, much of the joy came from the little things that led up to it.

On Instagram, the two broadcasters shared clips of progress as the date approached, taking their followers along on photo shoots and fittings.

"Our little nieces and nephews  little six-year-olds  dancing and growing up will never know a time when we weren't out," Romo said. "It'll just be normal for them as it should be. And the older family members genuinely clapping and being happy for us brought up a lot of emotions."

Morgan said that while the wedding was Saturday, the rehearsal on Friday, "which one would think is just a logistical act that we do," brought him to tears.

"When my sister did her practice walk just down the aisle to stand up there to be my best lady, and Steven's sister was his best lady, I just started crying," Morgan said. "And I lost it too when we were practicing the ring exchange words."

"They weren't a surprise," Romo interjected. "We chose those ring exchange words from like a spreadsheet [the officiant] had sent us."

Stonefaced Romo added, "They weren't particularly moving or romantic, but we could not get through them," which made the pair laugh.

Steven Romo and Stephen Morgan

Morgan highlights that with straight couples, the expectation is that they will marry and that although marriage equality has been the law of the land for seven years now, most gay people didn't grow up with the idea of marriage as an option.

"So for gay people, when you do find that person, it means so much more," Morgan said.

Romo added, "Even just getting our marriage license in the state of Texas where I grew up, going into the courthouse meant a lot to me."

Since the Dallas courthouse requires appointments, and all slots were reserved, the two had planned to get their marriage license from a smaller courthouse south of Dallas.

"It was not lost on me how impossible, how unthinkable that would have been just a few years ago," Romo added. "To soak it all in and share a great deal of it [with the public] was important to me," he says. It's been a long journey, a long road, and I wanted to relish it, even the things that aren't out of this world. So I wanted to embrace it all."

Morgan said that for him, that included the realization as they were deciding which photos to use in wedding invitations that whatever image was chosen would represent the reality that he and Romo would become one unit.

As for the future, the newlyweds plan to go on a honeymoon trip to Hawaii, the Caribbean, or "somewhere warm."

Once "the weather in New York gets crummy, we're going to take off," Morgan said. In his expert opinion, he says, that's likely in January.

Next up for the two will be the adoption of "as many [rescue] dogs as possible" to live comfortably in a New York City apartment, said Romo, pleasantly surprised to learn that Morgan wants at least two.

Romo and Morgan were working in Houston at rival television stations when they met for coffee at the beginning of the global COVID-19 pandemic. After getting to know each other quickly, Morgan and Romo came out publicly as gay and engaged on Instagram in 2021. Since then, they've sought to share their love story with others in an effort to fight homophobia.

Since then, the two moved to New York City, where Morgan had been offered a position as a national meteorologist for Fox Weather. Romo began working freelance for NBC Universal and recently took on a full-time role as a news correspondent with the network.

As far as human children, they say that for now, while that is not off the table, they want to focus on being guncles to their nine nieces and nephews, who range from 2 years old to almost 18.

"Our hands are full with them," Morgan said.

Steven Romo and Stephen Morgan

"We want to be invested in their lives because I didn't have a support system when I was growing up, but that said, I know Stephen would be an amazing father because I see what a great uncle he is. So the answer is maybe, we don't know, but right now we are focused on being uncles and, soon, dog dads," Romo said, prompting Morgan to laugh.
Netflix ranks shows on its platform to give you an idea of what people have been watching recently  and sometimes, it releases hours viewed data for its most popular titles  but it's been keeping its viewership numbers close to the vest. Starting in November, though, it will finally reveal how many people stream its shows, at least in the UK. The streaming giant has teamed up with BARB, a non-profit organization that measures TV ratings in the region, to give us a look at concrete streaming numbers. "BARB is the first industry-owned audience currency in the world that Netflix has joined," the organization said in its announcement.

While Netflix shows regularly make an appearance in Nielsen's streaming rankings, the two entities aren't officially working together. In fact, Nielsen's list doesn't seem to match Netflix's own Top 10 rankings at times. Reed Hastings, Netflix co-CEO said: "Back in 2019, at the RTS conference in Cambridge, I welcomed the idea of Netflix audiences being measured independently. Weve kept in touch with BARB since then and are pleased to make a commitment to its trusted measurement of how people watch television in the UK."

BARB will publish viewing figures for Netflix that can be compared to traditional broadcasters starting in the second week of November. The organization will report the service's monthly reach and its share of total identified viewing. In addition to showing how the service is doing compared to traditional TV, BARB will also include shows across all the traditional channels and the streaming service providers that it works with in its weekly report of top 50 shows starting in November.

As The Guardian notes, this move suggests that Netflix believes being more forthcoming with its viewer numbers will show the company in a good light. People have long criticized the service for not publishing any viewership metric for flops. The secrecy surrounding its viewership numbers also means program creators (and fans) aren't always sure if their shows are being watched or are in danger of being canceled.

Based on BARB's preliminary figures from September, Netflix isn't doing poorly in the UK at all. It's the most accessed streaming service in the region. And while it's nowhere near as watched as the BBC, it accounts for 8 percent of all TV viewing in UK, which is higher than some linear channels', including Channel 4 and Sky.
Netflix will now measure its ratings externally. (SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Netflix is set to provide its full viewing figures measured by an external organisation for the first time, in a move that will see its ratings compared to broadcasters including the BBC, ITV and Sky.

The streaming giant has agreed to sign up to TV ratings agency Barb the Broadcasters Audience Research Board (Barb), a significant change from its policy to date of releasing its own viewing figures.

Read more: Everything new streaming on Netflix this October

Streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video have historically released only snapshots of their viewing data, often highlighting the successes of their bigger shows.

But from 2 November, Netflix viewing data will be available to all Barb subscribers, making UK audience measurement and TV ratings organisation Barb the first industry-owned audience currency in the world that Netflix has joined.

Viewing figures for hits such as Bridgerton will be measured independently. (Netflix)

It already reports viewing for more than 300 other subscribing broadcast channels, from mainstream services such as the BBC and ITV to smaller channels such as Dave  giving the opportunity to compare how linear channels are measuring up against the streaming service.

Netflix co-chief executive Reed Hastings said: Back in 2019, at the RTS conference in Cambridge, I welcomed the idea of Netflix audiences being measured independently.

Read more: What is Netflix's The Midnight Club?

Weve kept in touch with Barb since then and are pleased to make a commitment to its trusted measurement of how people watch television in the UK.

Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth II in the fifth series of The Crown. (Netflix)

Justin Sampson, chief executive of Barb, said: Our audience measurement continuously adapts to accommodate the new platforms and devices that are being used by people to watch their favourite television shows.

We took a big step forward last year when we started reporting audiences to streaming services.

Netflixs commitment to Barb sends a clear signal that what were doing is valuable to new and established players in the market.

Launching on Netflix in November is season five of hit drama The Crown, often cited by the platform as one of its biggest successes, which should provide some interesting data in its first month at Barb.

Watch: The Crown bosses slammed over Prince Philip affair plot
Historically, Netflix have only occasionally released viewing data to highlight the success of certain shows

Netflix has signed up to the TV ratings agency Barb, which means its audiences will be measured by an external, independent body for the first time.

The move makes Barb the first industry-owned ratings service in the world that Netflix has joined.

Previously, the streaming giant has only released snapshots of its viewing data, highlighting the success of its most popular shows.

Barb will begin reporting Netflix's viewing figures from November.

It is a significant move for the streamer, and will see the data being used by advertisers, competitors and journalists to ascertain the success or failure of Netflix properties.

Netflix is not the only streamer being included - any service which accounts for more than 0.5% of total identified viewing will be listed too. This means content from services such as Disney and Amazon is also likely to be included.

While BARB has been reporting streaming viewing at both a service and programme level since November 2021, only its underwriting organisations and those with a special license previously had access to Netflix's data.

Barb, which stands for Broadcasters' Audience Research Board, compiles audience measurement and TV ratings in the UK.

The agency will report Netflix's ratings in the same way it reports viewing for more than 300 other subscribing broadcast channels.

The networks currently covered by Barb include mainstream services such as the BBC and ITV to smaller channels such as Dave and E4.

Hit Netflix shows such as Sex Education (pictured) and The Crown could be included in the ratings

The news comes as Netflix reportedly prepares to launch an ad-supported tier for its streaming platform.

Its co-chief executive Reed Hastings said: "Back in 2019, at the RTS conference in Cambridge, I welcomed the idea of Netflix audiences being measured independently.

"We've kept in touch with Barb since then and are pleased to make a commitment to its trusted measurement of how people watch television in the UK."

Justin Sampson, chief executive of Barb, said: "Our audience measurement continuously adapts to accommodate the new platforms and devices that are being used by people to watch their favourite television shows.

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"We took a big step forward last year when we started reporting audiences to streaming services.

"Netflix's commitment to Barb sends a clear signal that what we're doing is valuable to new and established players in the market."

Netflix viewing data will be available to all Barb subscribers from the morning of 2 November through its existing analysis software and other systems.

The timing coincides with the launch of season five of royal drama The Crown, which could make a significant impact in Barb's ratings during the streamer's first weeks of inclusion.
After years of being tight-lipped on viewership numbers, Netflix teamed up with British TV ratings agency Broadcasters Audience Research Board or BARB, an organization in the U.K. that reports broadcast and streaming numbers. Starting in November, the organization will measure Netflixs daily streaming numbers as well as report on its monthly reach and share of total identified viewing.

Last year, BARB introduced streaming numbers to its reporting in the U.K. Disney+ is already signed up. According to the announcement, BARB is the first industry-owned audience currency in the world that Netflix has joined.

Netflix going public with viewing data is significant and points to how much confidence the streamer has regarding the quality of its content. While Netflix has its Top 10 rankings, the company has been criticized for not publicly publishing viewership metrics for all its shows, especially ones that may not be doing well.

BARB will finally reveal to the public just how many shows are actually being watched and which titles are total flops -- at least in the U.K.

Reed Hastings, co-CEO of Netflix, said in a statement, Back in 2019, at the RTS conference in Cambridge, I welcomed the idea of Netflix audiences being measured independently. Weve kept in touch with BARB since then and are pleased to make a commitment to its trusted measurement of how people watch television in the UK.

In other news, viewers will finally get to watch a Netflix movie in AMC, Regal and Cinemark theaters  another historic announcement for the streaming giant.
Netflix is set to unveil its viewing figures for the first time ever in the UK.

In the past, the streaming service has kept the majority of its ratings a secret, and has carefully selected which titles it released its stats for with a view to highlighting successes.

Even then, users have been sceptical about the figures considering the fact that they did not have to necessarily watch the entirety of a title for a full view to count. It has been reported that, somewhat controversially, a few minutes of viewing a specific title could be constituted as one figure.

However, the streaming service is officially set to sign up as a member of Barb, which is a British ratings agency designed to monitor viewing figures for shows on channels including BBC One, ITV and Channel 4.

For the first time, audiences will be able to see how Netflixs shows, including The Crown and Stranger Things, measure up alongside BBC dramas and sporting events.

This means that Barbs overight findings will include Netflix.

Its expected that, considering it will just be monitoring the UK strand of the subscription service, many titles will fall behind shows broadcast on BBC One and ITV. This is due to the fact that Netflix, which makes up eight per cent of all TV viewing, still falls behind those channels.

Speaking about the decision to publish the figures, Netflix co-chief executive Reed Hastings said he has kept in touch with Barb since discussing the matter at an event in 2019. We are pleased to make a commitment to its trusted measurement of how people watch television in the UK, he said.

Netflix has aimed to be more transparent about what its users are watching in recent years. In 2021, a top 10 feature was added, meaning users can now see what the most-watched titles are globally on any day.

Imelda Staunton in The Crown season five (Netflix)

The streaming services move will also help make decisions surrounding which shows it renews and cancels make more sense. For example, the recent cancellation of First Kill blindsided viewers considering it amassed a viewership of more than 100 million hours in its first week of release.

Viewing figures are assessed via tracking devices that are installed in thousands of homes across the country.
Photo: Google Street View

A coroners inquest into the deaths of two Indigenous men in Thunder Bay police custody viewed videos today of one man alone in a cell, struggling to move and asking for a drink shortly before he died.

The video from 2014 shows Donald Mamakwa, 44, at one point reaching his arm out between the bars for several minutes, holding a juice box.

Inquest counsel says the timing of the clip corresponds with testimony from another man in custody who told investigators that Mamakwa had asked him for a drink.

The inquest is looking at the deaths of Mamakwa and his 50-year-old uncle Roland McKay, who died in 2017, after they both died of medical conditions while in police custody at Thunder Bay Police Service headquarters without being assessed by doctors.

Other cellblock footage from the hours before Mamakwa died show him lying on a bed, using his foot to slide a juice box towards himself after a constable drops it off, rocking back and forth and clutching his chest and struggling to stand shortly before his death.

The inquest heard on Tuesday that testimony is expected saying Mamakwa had a 97 per cent chance of surviving on Aug. 3, 2014 if he had been taken to a hospital.
This is an excerpt from Incoming, BuzzFeed News morning newsletter dedicated to making sense of this chaotic world we live in. Join the club here.

Prosecutors dropped all charges against Adnan Syed; Hae Min Lee's family still wants answers

Adnan Syed leaves the courthouse after being released from prison on Sept. 19, 2022, in Baltimore. Baltimore Sun / TNS

Prosecutors in Maryland dropped charges against Adnan Syed on Tuesday, over 20 years after he was first convicted for the murder of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee.

Syed's murder conviction was vacated by a judge in September after prosecutors unusually asked for his release, citing evidence that had not been previously disclosed to his defense team, including two other potential suspects and unreliable cellphone data that they heavily leaned on during the trial. Nearly a month after the murder conviction was vacated, Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby said that new DNA testing excluded Syed as a suspect.

Steve Kelly, the Lee family's lawyer, said they learned about Syed's case being dismissed through the media on Tuesday. "By rushing to dismiss the criminal charges, the State's Attorney's office sought ... to prevent the family and the public from understanding why the State so abruptly changed its position of more than 20 years," Kelly said.

Syeds attorney Erica Suter said the dismissal of the case, which was chronicled in the popular podcast Serial, is "an important step."

"He still needs some time to process everything that has happened," Suter said.

Crimea and Zaporizhzhia

Russian intelligence has arrested eight people allegedly connected to the Kerch Bridge explosion, according to NBC News. No one has formally taken responsibility for the blast, but high-level Ukrainian officials have cheered on news of its destruction.

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant has lost power for the second time in five days, the Washington Post reports. Nuclear experts from around the world have raised concerns about the threat of nearby shelling on the power plant's safety.

SNAPSHOTS

Dame Angela Lansbury, star of stage and screen, has died at 96. During her career, Lansbury won five Tony Awards and was beloved around the world for her roles in Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Beauty and the Beast, and Murder, She Wrote.

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Noted Republican Tulsi Gabbard has left the Democratic Party. Gabbard, who represented Hawaiis 2nd Congressional District from 2013 to 2021, has announced she plans to start a self-titled YouTube show.

Activists are supergluing their hands to famous paintings to demand attention on the climate crisis. According to Margaret Klein Salamon, the executive director of Climate Emergency Fund, it's an increasingly popular stunt designed to shatter "a mass delusion of normalcy."

King Charles III's coronation will be held in May 2023, Buckingham Palace announced. It is tradition for there to be a period of mourning observed between the accession of the new sovereign and their coronation.

The recent Uvalde school board meeting was divided: "I am disgusted by this community"

Kimberly Mata-Rubio, whose 10-year-old daughter, Lexi, died during the mass shooting, spoke during Monday night's school board meeting. Screenshot of YouTube video / Via youtube.com

Monday night's school board meeting in Uvalde saw a divide among residents. Some were outside supporting and cheering on Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Superintendent Hal Harrell  while the families of the victims of the mass shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers were inside demanding accountability from him.

On Friday, Harrell announced he would retire, but only after the victims' families called for him to be fired after he hired Crimson Elizondo as a UCISD police officer. Elizondos hiring made headlines when CNN uncovered that she was under investigation over her role during the May 24 shooting; body camera footage recorded her saying to another officer, If my son had been in there, I would not have been outside. I promise you that.

People outside the school board meeting held signs in support of Harrell. One read, "Thank you Dr. Harrell. We stand with you and we are sick of the blame game." That same night, Kimberly Mata-Rubio, whose 10-year-old daughter, Lexi, was killed in the shooting, tearfully spoke out against Harrell.

"I am disgusted by this community," she said. "How dare you decide now when a job is at stake to come together, but you stay home as we, the families, have been demanding transparency and accountability. How dare you attack those of us who lost our children in the worst way possible."

This absolute unit has been crowned the winner of Fat Bear Week

Bear 747, June and September 2022 National Park Service / Via Via exploreorg.app.box.com

After a week of voting, Bear 747 was declared the winner of Fat Bear Week, the annual knockout-style competition in which the public votes on which bear in Katmai National Park, Alaska, has gained the most weight from summer to fall.

Bear 747, who previously won in 2020, has a "blocky muzzle and a floppy right ear," per his bio, and his fur is reddish brown. Described as a nearly one-ton veteran, he's a large adult male who has gone on to become one of the largest brown bears on Earth, weighing as much as 1,400 pounds, according to Fat Bear Week.

Mike Fitz, the founder of Fat Bear Week and a former Katmai park ranger, told BuzzFeed News, "The bears dont get anything from Fat Bear Week at all. They dont know whats going on. This is an imaginary and virtual competition.

However, Fitz sees this as an opportunity to get people thinking and learning about bears and their ecosystems. Katmai is home to more than 2,200 brown bears, one of the largest brown bear populations in the world. Its important to think about how bears survive, why they survive, what they need to survive, and also to celebrate the ecosystem at Katmai that supports them, Fitz said.

Still reading, eh? Seems like you might want to get this in your inbox. No pressure though. Just some food for thought.

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The death of Queen Elizabeth II could be the breaking point for the royal familys feud with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. As they grieve the loss of their loved one, there might be some thawing of the friction that has plagued both side since the couple left the UK for the US.

Royal reporter Neil Sean is claiming that Meghan requested a meeting with King Charles III via a formal letter. Shed now like, before they return back to California, to have a one-to-one audience with King Charles III, Neil Sean told Sky News. And to make sure everyone heard him loudly and clearly, he emphasized, Thats right, Meghan one-to-one with King Charles III. You heard correct. Sean praised the Duchess of Sussex for understanding the new formalities with Charles new position, adding, this is how you write to the King.

More from SheKnows

Queen Elizabeth's funeral marked a somber day in the Royal family history. See more photos of their transformation over the years. https://t.co/9haHH5VHWK  SheKnows (@SheKnows) September 19, 2022

He believes that if the meeting happens, its an opportunity to clear the air, put the rights from wrongs and explain some of the rationale behind what theyve been doing over the last two years. As wonderful as this sounds, Sean noted that he has no idea if this is going to go forward. He also thinks that after everything that has happened over the last few years, its a very brave move from Meghan herself. This might be a wise way for Harry and Meghan to move forward with the royal family so that there is peace between them.

Perhaps something good will come out of the loss of Queen Elizabeth II because she was beloved by the entire family  that is something they can all agree upon. She would love for all of the royals to be united, so maybe Charles will take up Meghan on her offer and this next chapter will be less about the feud, and more about the family.

Click here to read the full article.

Before you go, click here to see more of Meghan Markle & Prince Harrys milestones since leaving the royal family.

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HILLSDALE  A Toledo, Ohio, man accused of holding a local woman against her will and raping her is tentatively scheduled for a jury trial in March.

Aaron Matthew Emch, 46, appeared in Hillsdale County Circuit Court on Monday afternoon for a criminal pretrial conference via video teleconference from the Ingham County Jail where he is being held on similar allegations against the same victim, who is reportedly an ex-girlfriend.

Emchs defense council notified Circuit Judge Sara Lisznyai on Monday that Emch would likely be posting a $250,000 cash/surety bond for his release from the Ingham County Jail soon and the judge there has set numerous bond conditions including a GPS monitoring device and a stipulation that Emch must stay with his parents in Steuben County, Indiana.

Lisznyai put similar bond restrictions in place for Emchs Hillsdale County case at the request of Chief Assistant Prosecutor Jamie Wiesniewski. Emch will also be subjected to a curfew and not be allowed to leave his parents' home between the hours of 7 p.m. and 7 a.m.

Wiesniewski also asked that Emch not be allowed to enter Michigan at all, given that the alleged victim resides in that state, with the exception of court appearances and visiting his attorneys office in Ann Arbor.

Wiesniewski said Emch is scheduled for trial in Ingham County in February.

Subcribe Now:For all the latest local developments, breaking news and high school sports content.

In Hillsdale County, Emch is charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct, unlawful imprisonment, assault by strangulation and domestic violence for an incident in April.

At the time of the incident, Emch was already on a GPS monitoring device out of Ingham County.

Emch faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted as charged.

 Corey Murray is a staff writer for The Hillsdale Daily News and can be reached by email at cmurray@hillsdale.net. Follow him on Twitter: @cmurrayHDN.

This article originally appeared on Hillsdale Daily News: A Toledo, Ohio man is scheduled for trial for raping an ex-girlfriend
Oct. 12A New Hampshire National Guard helicopter was called in to help rescue a 77-year-old Massachusetts man injured while hiking Mt. Garfield in Franconia on Tuesday.

Around 3:54 p.m. Tuesday, conservation officers were notified of an injured hiker on the Garfield Ridge Trail in Franconia.

The hiker was located about one-quarter mile from the summit of Mt. Garfield when he "tripped and fell into a tree," New Hampshire Fish and Game Sgt. Heidi Murphy said in a statement.

The hiker, identified as Raymond Pike, 77, of Salisbury, Mass., sustained significant injuries in the fall, rendering him unable to move, officials said.

Pike was hiking with his niece, who called 911 and stabilized her uncle while awaiting rescue.

A conservation officer responded to the Garfield Trail to hike to Pike's location.

"Due to the severity of his injuries and distance from the trailhead, the N.H. Army National Guard was called to request their assistance in the rescue efforts," Murphy said in a statement.

A National Guard flight crew was sent to the Garfield Ridge Trail around 5:40 pm. Pike was assessed by an Army medic, placed in a litter, and hoisted into a helicopter.

Pike and the crew arrived at Dartmouth Health in Lebanon at approximately 6:50 p.m. for evaluation and treatment.

A conservation officer arrived on scene just before Pike was hoisted, and he hiked with Pike's niece out via the Garfield Trail. They arrived safely at the trailhead around 9:30 p.m.
There is just something about nonstick cookware that, well, sticks. (Photo: GMVozd via Getty Images)

There is just something about nonstick cookware that, well, sticks. (Photo: GMVozd via Getty Images)

Back in 1938, American scientist Roy J. Plunkett incidentally discovered a new substance that was later trademarked as Teflon.

Since then, the material has been used in a variety of capacities  windshield wipers, hair products, graft material in surgeries, carpets and more, according to the American Physical Societys APS News.

Perhaps most notably, Teflon is widely used for nonstick cookware. In 1954, French engineer Marc Grigoire invented the first PTFE-coated nonstick cooking pans (brand name: Tefal) at the suggestion of his wife, APS News wrote. The pans first appeared in the United States in 1961.

Fast-forward over six decades and Teflon is one of many different types of nonstick cookware on the market. Although certainly popular, the tools have been the subject of intense scrutiny and criticism, with detractors claiming they cause a variety of health issues, including cancer, reduced fertility rates, and thyroid and kidney disorders.

But do all varieties boast the same pros and cons? Are nonstick products considered safe or are there better options we should be considering?

Not all nonstick cookware is created equal.

Nonstick cookware is made with a metal base that is usually aluminum or stainless steel that has been sandblasted to give it a gritty surface for the nonstick coating to adhere to, explains exposure scientist Samantha Radford. Afterwards, the nonstick surface is sprayed onto the pan, often in multiple layers.

To put it simply, the base layer of all nonstick pans and pots is the same, but the additional coating changes depending on what sort of product youre dealing with. For example, Teflon cookware boasts a second layer that is made of polytetrafluoroethylene, or PTFE.

Throughout the years, the use of Teflon at high temperatures has been associated with a variety of health risks, including changes in liver enzymes, decreased vaccine response in children, high cholesterol levels, cancer and more. However, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it is not Teflon itself that causes harm, but a chemical that was formerly used to make the product: perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA. The use of PFOA was officially banned in the United States in 2014.

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Food scientist Bryan Quoc Le explained that seasoned cast iron would be made up of a class of iron-carbon alloys that is then layered with polymerized oils used as a seasoning barrier.

Other nonstick options include ceramic and enamel.

The nonstick coatings form a barrier that prevents food, especially protein molecules, from binding to the surface of the metal, Le said. Normally, there are a number of sulfur-containing amino acids in foods, especially meat. These react to the metal in cookware and stick to it. Nonstick coatings dont react to these compounds and therefore are able to block the reaction from occurring with the base metal layer below.

Some nonstick barriers can break down when used at high temperatures or when scratched, whether while cooking or washing the product.

Essentially, the heat from cooking weakens the chemical bond between the coating and the metal, allowing oxygen to enter and oxidize the materials, Le said.

Take Teflon, for example, which decomposes to tetrafluoroethylene, difluorocarbene, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide when heated well past its decomposition temperature of 660 degrees Fahrenheit, Le said. Those toxic chemicals can cause long-term health effects that mostly target the endocrine system and the reproductive system, Radford explained.

The Environmental Working Group found in a 2003 report that in cases of Teflon toxicosis, ... the lungs of exposed birds hemorrhage and fill with fluid, leading to suffocation, adding that chemical company Dupont acknowledges that the fumes can also sicken people, a condition called polymer fume fever.

The Tefal brand of nonstick cookware was created in 1954 at the suggestion of a French engineer's wife. (Photo: Newscast via Getty Images)

The Tefal brand of nonstick cookware was created in 1954 at the suggestion of a French engineer's wife. (Photo: Newscast via Getty Images)

Enamel and ceramic pots and pans, on the other hand, start chipping away when heated above 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Stainless steel and other metals actually dont suffer from the same problem with heat as there is no barrier in which the material is bonded, Le said.

There are pros to nonstick cookware.

Clearly, given its popularity, there is just something about nonstick cookware that, well, sticks. There are, indeed, benefits related to the products.

First of all, cooking using nonstick pots and pans will require less oil to keep the various foods from attaching to the surface. As a result, cleaning the various tools will also be easier.

The perfluorinated chains in nonstick coatings are both hydrophobic and lipophobic, meaning they dont stick to either water of fats/oils, Radford said. Because [of that], its easier to clean them after use.

Convenience should also be kept in mind. Preparing scrambled eggs, for example, or lightly cooking some vegetables end up becoming easier tasks when not having to worry about them sticking and burning on the surface of the pots and pans theyre being made in.

There are also drawbacks.

The convenience of nonstick cookware comes at a price, Radford noted, specifically citing Teflon as the least healthy option when choosing nonstick products.

As noted above, the chemicals released by broken-down Teflon are so harmful that the benefits associated with the form might not be worth the risks. (Teflon itself does not pose a health risk, so long as it does not decompose, Le clarified.)

Although not to the extent of Teflon, pots and pans coated with ceramic can also lead to exposure to toxic compounds such as lead or titanium dioxide nanoparticles if the cookware decomposes, Radford explained.

As for other nonstick options, given the fact that they cannot be used at temperatures above 500 degrees Fahrenheit, cons include the inability to use them for grilling or searing, for example.

There is a proper way to use nonstick cookware.

Overall, the consensus seems to be that out of all nonstick cookware varieties, Teflon is the least safe to use. That being said, the risks associated with any nonstick pot or pan has loads to do with how the product is used, including the temperature at which the food is being cooked.

Other tips to keep in mind, according to experts: Dont use the products in a home with birds as pets (as they are extra sensitive to fumes, Radford said), avoid open flames and replace your nonstick cookware as soon as it is scratched.

So which nonstick cookware should we feel safe using?

Clearly, Teflon is your riskiest option, especially if not used properly. Ceramic, enamel, seasoned cast iron and hard anodized aluminum are better options as they do not produce the same decomposition products as Teflon, Le advised.

Radford specifically sang the praises of high-quality ceramic cookware (note: not just ceramic-coated options) and cast iron. With proper seasoning, cast iron can also be nonstick, Radford said. Plus, it lasts forever and doesnt release toxic chemicals. In fact, it can increase the nutrient content of your food because tiny amounts of iron will be released each time you cook with it  especially if its something as acidic as vinegar, citrus or tomatoes. With so many of us deficient in iron, this is great news.

Alas, this may all change in the span of a few years or decades. As Radford noted, once a chemical is OKd for use, it takes a generation or two to see the health effects they cause. Teflon, for example, was considered totally safe because it was analyzed in non-reactive conditions.

Companies are by then making huge money off their products and they spend millions to lobby so that they are still allowed on the market, Radford continued. With that said, we will probably always have some form of nonstick cookware available.

Heres hoping that health will always be at the forefront of kitchen-related inventions.

If youre ready to make the switch to cast iron, here are a few highly-rated pans that come pre-seasoned:

Staub enameled cast iron skillet

Williams Sonoma

Staub enameled cast iron skillet

Available in red, burgundy, black and deep blue, this cast iron skillet measures 11 inches and has high sides to minimize splatters. It features a heavy-duty enameled black interior to get perfect browning on dishes like chicken, sausage, onions, tortillas and more. It has rust-resistance and requires no additional seasoning so you can try out new recipes faster. And it's dishwasher-safe.



Promising review: "This is my first Staub cookware purchase and it exceeded my expectations in every way! I am accustomed to having to "season" cast iron cookware before you can cook in it without foods sticking. Not so with this pan. Performed beautifully from the very first time I used it. Excellent value."  Bluzhound

$179.95 at Williams Sonoma

Lodge seasoned cast iron skillet

Amazon

Lodge seasoned cast iron skillet

Whether youre cooking for one or 20, this cast iron skillet comes in multiple sizes to accommodate your needs, from 3.5 inches to 15 inches. It comes pre-seasoned with soy-based vegetable oil and has an ergonomic design for campfire and stovetop cooking.



Promising review: "I bring it with me when I go hiking. The whole pan heats up super well and stays hot longer than a normal pan. I also enjoy all the different flavors coming off of it and it is super easy to clean."  Matt

$6.90+ at Amazon

Victoria cast iron skillet

Amazon

Victoria cast iron skillet

This ready-to-use cast iron skillet comes pre-seasoned with a flaxseed oil coating. It even has a large, curved handle for a better grip while you're cooking. It comes in multiple sizes from 4.8 inches all the way to 13 inches.



Promising review: "I own just about every make of cast iron out there and this is the BEST piece I have ever used. Pretty well seasoned from the factory, nice smooth cooking surface. I love the longer curved handle and oversized pour spouts ( they actually pour the liquid not spill it out of the pan). This has quickly become my favorite piece of cast iron and will be buying more."  Will

$14.99+ at Amazon

Le Creuset enameled cast iron skillet

Amazon

Le Creuset enameled cast iron skillet

Known for its Dutch ovens, Le Creuset also makes a cast iron skillet that's one to have in your kitchen. The interior is made of black satin enameled cast iron for top-tier heat distribution and easy cleaning. Because of its enameled interior, you don't need to season it like you would a regular cast iron skillet. It comes in 6.33 inches, 9 inches, 10.25 inches and 11.75 inches. Color choices include red, orange, light blue, deep blue, green, white and black.



Promising review: "I love this pan. While you dont have to season it like old fashioned cast iron, I did anyway and its a gem. Food doesnt stick if heated slowly and properly before adding meat and fish to skillet."  Maryanne

$129.95+ at Amazon

Cuisinel cast iron skillet with a lid

Amazon

Cuisinel cast iron skillet with a lid

Having a lid for your cooking pans sure does come in handy for making sauces or juicy chicken, and this pre-seasoned skillet comes with one made of tempered glass. And since cooking with any pan  but especially cast iron  is hot territory, you'll be thankful for the included silicone handle holders. It comes in 8-inch, 10-inch, 12-inch and 25-inch sizes.



Promising review: "I used it to make New York steaks searing them at high heat and the pan did a marvelous job of searing. I covered it and placed it in the oven at 400 degrees and took it out about 20 minutes later. Perfection! Clean up was no problem with a scouring brush and a small amount of soap and a full rinse and dry."  Amazon customer

$24.99+ at Amazon

Our Place cast iron Always Pan

Our Place

Our Place cast iron Always Pan

I've had Our Place's cast iron Always Pan for a couple weeks now and it's one of the easiest pans to clean that I own. I've cooked chicken, eggs, salmon patties and sausage in it and it still looks brand new. It has a black matte enameled cast iron interior to get the perfect browning you want on all your favorite foods  without having to season it at all. The pan is designed to replace eight traditional pieces of cookware, including a fry pan, saute pan, steamer and skillet. Its available in six colors, including a dusty pink, cream, dark gray, green, lavender and blue.

$155 at Our Place

HuffPost may receive a share from purchases made via links on this page. Every item is independently selected by the HuffPost Shopping team. Prices and availability are subject to change.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

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A nurse at a U.K. hospital tried to kill a baby girl four times before she was successful, then sent a sympathy card to her victim's parents, a court was told on Wednesday. Lucy Letby is accused of murdering the girl and six other babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital in northwest England between June 2015 and June 2016.

She is also alleged to have attempted to murder 10 other infants at the same neo-natal unit in the same period.

Nurse Lucy Letby tried to kill newborn baby twice, trial told https://t.co/AHPYEWbTE9  BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) October 12, 2022

Prosecutor Nick Johnson said the death of the girl  referred to in court as "Child I"  was "extreme even by the standards of this overall case."

"This is a case where we allege Lucy Letby tried four times to kill her," Johnson told a jury at Manchester Crown Court.

"(Child I) was resilient, but ultimately at the fourth attempt, Lucy Letby succeeded and killed her," he said.

Letby, 32, from Hereford in western England, is alleged to have deliberately administered air into the girl's stomach through a nasogastric tube.

The first attempt on the girl's life is alleged to have happened on Sept. 30, 2015, when she struggled to breathe after Letby fed her.

The second was two weeks later, on a night shift on Oct. 13, 2015, when Letby remarked to a colleague that "Child I" looked pale in her cot in a darkened room. The colleague checked on the infant and saw that she "appeared to be at the point of death and was not breathing," Johnson said.

"Child I" recovered, and Letby was made her designated nurse. But the next night shift she was again "brought back from the brink of death," Johnson said.

The infant collapsed again on Oct. 23, 2015, and was successfully resuscitated. But hours after showing signs of recovery, her monitor alarm sounded. A colleague who went to help found Letby by the incubator and was told that she "would be able to sort it." The child then collapsed and died.

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A pediatrician concluded the collapses were likely caused by large amounts of air being deliberately administered into her stomach via a nasogastric tube.

On the fourth occasion, air was likely to have been injected directly into her bloodstream, jurors were told.

Johnson said Letby was interviewed by police and admitted sending a sympathy card to the girl's parents, but said it was because she had got to know them.

She also kept an image of the card on her phone, and searched for the girl's parents on Facebook, as she had done with three other babies in the case.

"(Child I) was born very early and very small. But she survived the first two months of her life and was doing well by the time Lucy Letby got her hands on her," Johnson said.

"What happened to (Child I) followed the pattern of what happened to others before and what was yet to happen to others.

"It was persistent, it was calculated and it was cold-blooded."

This court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook shows Lucy Letby appearing in the dock at Manchester Crown Court, in Manchester, England, Monday Oct. 10, 2022. / Credit: Elizabeth Cook / AP

Letby has pleaded not guilty to seven counts of murder for the seven infants who died, and 15 counts of attempted murder for the 10 other infants who survived. The 17 children have not been identified because of a court order.

The court has been told that she attempted to murder some of the babies more than once.

The court also heard that a doctor walked in on Letby as she allegedly attempted to kill another baby, the BBC reported. Dr. Ravi Jayaram had helped deliver Child K, who was born at 25 weeks, and later became aware the nurse was alone with the baby.

"Feeling uncomfortable with this because he had started to notice the coincidence between the unexplained deaths, serious collapses and the presence of Lucy Letby, Dr Jayaram decided to check on where [Ms Letby] was and how Child K was," Johnson told the jury. "As he walked in he saw Ms. Letby standing over Child K's incubator. Dr. Jayaram could see from the monitor on the wall that Child K's oxygen saturation level was falling dangerously low, to somewhere in the 80s."

Johnson said an alarm should have been sounding as Child K's oxygen levels were falling.

Johnson told the jury: "We allege she was trying to kill Child K when Dr Jayaram walked in."

The jury has been told the trial may last up to six months, the BBC reported.

Police activity at a house in Chester, believed to be the home of nurse Lucy Letby, after Cheshire Police announced a female healthcare professional had been arrested in a probe into the deaths of infants at the Countess of Chester Hospital. / Credit: Peter Byrne/PA Images via Getty Images

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Nury Martinez, the former president of the Los Angeles City Council, who stepped down this week from that role after the publication of a 2021 recording that captured her making racist remarks, resigned from the council Wednesday.

"It is with a broken heart that I resign my seat for Council District 6, the community I grew up in and my home," Martinez wrote in a statement released Wednesday afternoon.

Council member Nury Martinez addresses the Los Angeles City Council in September 2014. (Reuters/Mario Anzuoni)

On a leaked recording published Sunday by the Los Angeles Times, Martinez, a Latina, is heard referring to the Black son of white councilman Mike Bonin as a changuito, a Spanish term meaning little monkey, and telling council members Gil Cedillo and Kevin de Leon, and Ron Herrera, president of the L.A. County Federation of Labor, all of whom are Latino, that he needs a beatdown.

Just hours after the recording was published by the Times, Martinez swiftly issued an apology and resigned as president, but she resisted calls to step down from the council altogether, even as pressure swiftly mounted from all corners of the political world to force her out.

Cedillo and de Leon, who were present during the conversation, have not indicated that they plan to give up their seats on the council.

Los Angeles mayoral candidate Kevin de Leon is introduced at a debate for the candidates at the University of Southern California on March 22 in Los Angeles. (Myung J. Chun/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

City Councilman Gil Cedillo urges action on President Biden's immigration reform plan outside Los Angeles' City Hall on April 29, 2021. (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

On Tuesday, President Biden let it be known that he hoped the council members would step down.

He believes they should all resign, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said. The language that was used and tolerated in that conversation was unacceptable, and it was appalling.

Council meetings held Tuesday and Wednesday were disrupted by protesters who flooded the gallery and vented their anger about the revelations.

What do we want? Investigations. When do we want it? Now, the crowd was heard chanting during a live feed of Wednesdays meeting.

The raucous protest continued, despite assurances by President Pro Tempore Mitch O'Farrell that Martinez, Cedillo and de Leon would not be present at the meeting and were not in the chambers.

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Amid boos and jeers, the meeting was eventually adjourned, with O'Farrell announcing that all items on the agenda would be postponed until Friday.

A screenshot of Instagram live footage from Union de Vecinos Eastside Local of the Los Angeles Tenants Union at the Los Angeles City Council meeting on Wednesday. (Union De Vecinos)

On the leaked recording, Martinez also made disparaging comments about immigrants in Koreatown from Oaxaca in Mexico, calling them "little short dark people," according to the audio, which was first reported by the Times.

Martinez, who was elected to the council in 2013 and became president in January 2020, also described Bonin on the recording as a little bitch, and disparaged L.A. County District Attorney George Gascon.

F*** that guy, Martinez said of Gascon, Hes with the Blacks.

On Tuesday, Bonin spoke about the recording during the council meeting.

I am reeling from the revelations from what these people said. Trusted servants who voiced hate and bile, he said. Public officials are supposed to call us to our highest selves, and these people stabbed us and shot us and cut the spirit of Los Angeles.

The secretly recorded 2021 meeting centered around the city redistricting efforts. The conversation remained private for a year until the Times published it Sunday, setting off a political earthquake.

I do not believe we can have the healing that is necessary or govern as we need to, while council members Martinez, de Leon and Cedillo remain as members of this council, OFarrell said Tuesday. I say those words with a heavy heart, but this is a heavy and a deeply tragic moment for this city.

The controversy has engulfed the entire political world in Los Angeles.

There needs to be an investigation, and those officials must resign, but that's not enough, Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., a candidate for mayor in Los Angeles, said during Tuesday nights final debate, hosted by NBC Los Angeles. We need a new direction in L.A. and new leadership.

Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., speaks with the moderator and KNBC political reporter Conan Nolan after the final mayoral debate with businessman Rick Caruso at the Brokaw News Center in Universal City, Calif., on Oct. 11. (Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Council members need to be free of corruption, I mean that is like the basic minimum standard. You wouldnt accept it in any other industry than maybe in politics, businessman Rick Caruso, Basss only mayoral opponent, said at Tuesdays debate.

Before the scandal, Martinez had endorsed Bass, who, should she be elected, would become the citys first Black woman mayor.

For his part, de Leon on Sunday characterized his comments as wholly inappropriate and said he regretted appearing to condone and even contribute to certain insensitive comments made about a colleague and his family in private.

The Times reached out to Cedillo on Saturday night for comment before publishing audio of the conversation.

I dont have a recollection of this conversation, he told the newspaper.

Ron Herrera, director of the Ports Division for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, speaks alongside Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg (seated at his right), at a press conference at the Port of Long Beach, Calif., on Jan. 11. (Patrick T. Fallon/ AFP via Getty Images)

Herrera resigned Monday night as head of the Labor Federation. He also apologized, saying there was no justification and no excuse for the vile remarks made in that room.

And I didnt step up to stop them, and I will have to bear the burden of that cross moving forward, he added.

The three Black members of the council, Curren Price, Heather Hutt and Marqueece Harris-Dawson, released a joint statement responding to the tape, calling it a very dark day in LA politics for African-Americans, the LGBTQ + community, Indigenous people and Angelenos who have put their faith and trust in their local government.
Nury Martinez is resigning from the Los Angeles City Council

Nury Martinez is resigning from the Los Angeles City Council "with a broken heart," she said Wednesday. (Photo: Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Nury Martinez announced her resignation from the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday after leaked audio exposed her and several colleagues for making racist and crass remarks during a taped conversation last year.

It is with a broken heart that I resign my seat for Council District 6, the community I grew up in and my home, Martinez said in a written statement.

While I leave with a heavy heart, know that I wish you all the best and I have faith in your strength to unite this city, she continued.

Demands for the elected leaders to step down began piling up Monday after the Los Angeles Times published portions of the conversation, which included Martinez, who was then the council president, saying that her colleague Mike Bonin paraded his Black son around like an accessory and saying the child parece changuito, or is like a monkey  playing into a racist stereotype.

Protesters gather at the Los Angeles City Council meeting on Tuesday demanding the leaders' resignations. (Photo: Gary Coronado via Getty Images)

Protesters gather at the Los Angeles City Council meeting on Tuesday demanding the leaders' resignations. (Photo: Gary Coronado via Getty Images)

In another portion of the leaked audio, Martinez can be heard calling Bonin a little bitch who thinks hes fucking Black and claimed hes raising his son like a little white kid. She also said the child needed a beat-down for misbehaving on a parade float.

She resigned from her presidency post shortly after the audio came out and apologized to Bonin and his family. She then announced Tuesday that she was taking a leave of absence, saying she needed to take some time to have an honest and heartfelt conversation with my family, my constituents, and community leaders.

Others embroiled in the scandal include City Council members Gil Cedillo and Kevin de Leon and Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera, who were all recorded agreeing with Martinez or not pushing back against her remarks. Herrera has since resigned his post, but de Leon and Cedillo have not backed down.

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Among those who are demanding their resignations are Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, the leaders of the California Democratic Party and members of Congress from California.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

Related...
A prosecution witness who traveled to Washington, D.C., with fellow members of the Oath Keepers far-right militia in the days before the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol testified Wednesday in the sedition trial of Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and four other group members that he never heard any fellow Oath Keepers discussing plans for violence.

During a cross-examination from the defense team, Terry Cummings, who was called to the stand by prosecutors, told the jury that he brought a rifle with him to the Washington area, attended a rally addressed by then-President Donald Trump and walked toward the Capitol as the riot unfolded but never brought his weapon into D.C. and didnt hear discussions among Oath Keepers about attacking the Capitol.

Cummings, a 66-year-old Florida resident and National Guard veteran who worked for many years for the public transit system in Portland, Ore., said he became involved with the Oath Keepers after violent left-wing demonstrators associated with the antifa movement caused significant damage during 2020 protests there.

Oath Keepers militia founder Stewart Rhodes, pictured here in 2016. (Jim Urquhart/Reuters)

After initially participating in online Oath Keepers meetings and chats on Signal, an encrypted internet messaging app, Cummings said that in late December 2020 he learned that fellow members of the group in Florida were talking about traveling to Washington for a Jan. 6, 2021, rally at which he would have an "opportunity to express my First Amendment rights.

At the time, Cummings told the jury, he was hearing a lot of talk about how Democrats allegedly stole the November 2020 election from Trump. He said he traveled to Washington with Kelly Meggs, a co-defendant with Rhodes in their federal trial, and brought an AR-15 rifle and a red plastic box containing ammunition.

Upon arrival in the Washington area, Cummings said, he and his comrades left their weapons and ammunition at a hotel in Arlington, Va., and stayed overnight at a different hotel in Washington, where gun laws are tighter than in Virginia. Cummings said he believed he could be helpful in D.C., potentially providing assistance.

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Trump supporters clashing with police and security forces on Jan. 6, 2021. (Brent Stirton/Getty Images)

On the morning of Jan. 6, Cummings testified, he traveled with fellow Oath Keepers to the Ellipse, located near the White House, where he and fellow Oath Keepers had badges enabling them to sit in a VIP enclosure with members of the group from other states for an anticipated speech by Trump.

Before Trumps speech ended, however, a member of his group told him it was time to leave because the group had been asked to escort a VIP from the rally to the Capitol. As his group headed to the Capitol with the VIP, an African American woman whose identity Cummings said he never learned, he said he received a text message from a fellow Oath Keepers member that the Capitol building had been "breached."

When they arrived at the Capitol, Cummings said, he and his group saw a large American flag draped on the building and people milling around the grounds and others climbing outside walls.

While members of his group, including Meggs, wondered about going inside the Capitol, according to Cummings, he said he didnt think that was a good idea because Vice President Mike Pence was inside the building. After leaving the group to take a bathroom break, Cummings said that after meeting again with fellow Oath Keepers he ran across Rhodes, who investigators say also never entered the building but directed the activities of others during the riot.

In response to complaints about police using tear gas, Rhodes said, Suck it up. A little tear gas isnt any big deal, according to Cummings.

Cummings said his understanding was that if there was a need for weapons determined by leadership, that people at the Virginia hotel would load the firearms and transport them into D.C. But in the event no such transport of weapons happened, and he and other Oath Keepers from Florida would return there.

Members of the Oath Keepers militia group, left, march down Capitol steps among supporters of Donald Trump, Jan. 6, 2021. (Jim Bourg/Reuters)

Under cross-examination from defense lawyers, Cummings initially said he may have seen several dozen Oath Keepers at that days events but then said there were only 25 or fewer group members going with him to the Capitol, or maybe as few as 10. During the course of the days events, Cummings insisted, he never heard any discussions among Oath Keepers about any plans to attack the Capitol or to riot, and never heard anyone ordering anyone else to enter the Capitol.

In response to questions from the defense, Cummings acknowledged it was his understanding that people would come into the city with weapons if things got violent. If the weapons were brought and there was a need, I would use my own weapon, he said.

But during the course of Jan. 5 and 6, he said, he was never told to retrieve his weapon, never advised that a Quick Reaction Force  the groups equivalent to a SWAT team  that the Oath Keepers supposedly had on standby had been activated, and understood that weapons were never meant to be used offensively.

Rhodes and his co-defendants face multiple federal criminal charges stemming from their participation in the Capitol riot, including seditious conspiracy, a rare and politically controversial charge carrying a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.

Although Cummings told the court he was neither involved in any Jan. 6 violence nor heard of plans for such violence apart from possible self-defense, FBI agents who worked on Jan. 6-related investigations continued to cite in earlier trial testimony message traffic in the months and weeks before Jan. 6, much of it originally encrypted, in which Oath Keepers members and leaders continued to regularly evoke the specter of possible pro-Trump violence.

Rhodes after a Trump rally in Minneapolis, October 2019. (Jim Urquhart/Reuters)

FBI agent Justin Eller said that at one point Meggs said Oath Keepers needed to "get to" people and "let them know who runs the country." FBI Agent Joanna Abrams, whos based in the bureau's Washington Field office, was questioned about messages circulated among Oath Keepers. These included a message in which a Georgia Oath Keeper said, "I seriously wonder what it would take just to get every patriot marching around the capital [sic] armed!"

Trial testimony included messages linked to Rhodes in which he allegedly declared on Dec. 14, 2020: He must do it. HE must act now so we can fight this war while he is [commander] in chief.

Millions stand ready, one local group leader replied.
Prepare to obsess over these editor-loved deals. (Photo: Amazon)

We've made it to day two of the Amazon Prime Early Access sale and the deals are still going strong! For the past 24 hours, Amazon has been discounting thousands of home products, from KitchenAid mixers to robot vacuums and everything in between. With so many deals happening at once, it can be hard to know where to start, but luckily I'm here to help. As a home shopping writer, I spent the entire day yesterday searching through the Prime Early Access sale to find the best home deals around, and these 7 markdowns are so good, I'm definitely adding to my cart before the major sale ends tonight.

I'm using Amazon's huge sale event as an opportunity to save big on a variety of home products, including everyday essentials, big-ticket items, and a few stylish pieces to take my apartment to the next level. I plan to score investment pieces like a Sony Frame Smart TV and Le Creuset kitchenware while they are on super sale. I'm also stocking up on already affordable finds that are even cheaper now, like this trendy set of glassware and this cute utensil holder. Just remember, discounts expire tonight, so move fast to score them before they jump back up in price.

Fall is definitely soup season in my house. The second the weather starts to get cooler, I start making everything from stews and soups to chillis and pasta sauces. Ive been in the market for a new stock pot to cook them all in, so when I saw that this beloved Le Creuset option is on sale, I knew it was just what I was looking for. It holds 8-quarts, comes with a tight-fitting matching lid and has a stainless steel rim that prevents chipping.

Plus, shoppers say its heat distribution is unmatched. And the fact that its easy to clean and the interior wont stain makes it well worth it. Best soup pot, raved one. Easiest soup pot to clean. Heat is distributed evenly and everything is cooked together. Time is cut in half.

I love nothing more than snuggling up in a soft and cozy blanket while relaxing at home, which is why I always have a few options strewn throughout my apartment. I plan on grabbing this faux cashmere blanket while it's marked down because I love the stylish diamond design and the fun fringe accents. Even better, it's machine-washable and customers say it's ultra-comfortable

One wrote: The blanket is soft and lovely with an elegant drape! Looks like a far more expensive coverlet than it is. The weave is really handsome - much nicer and more distinct than the photo. I am delighted I bought it.

Ive been wanting this set of drinking glasses and matching glass straws after seeing it all over social media and now that theyre finally 44% off, Im finally adding them to my cart. Each set comes with four 16-ounce drinking glasses, four glass straws and two straw cleaning brushes. The cups are made from a heavy-duty clear glass thats lead- and BPA-free and it can withstand temperatures ranging from -68 to 212 degrees Fahrenheit, so I can drink both cold and hot beverages from them.

I might even snag two sets while they are priced so low since so many owners love them so much they say they want more. I love my glasses with glass straws, said one five-star review. Super cute and trendy looking. I get compliments on how cute they are. I definitely need to get another set because I cant get enough.

SAMSUNG Samsung 55" Class The Frame QLED Smart 4K UHD TV $1,268 $2,000 Save $732 I've been wanting to make this investment for a while now, and with the price this low, I think now is finally the time to take the plunge. $1,268 at Amazon

Since the Sony Frame Smart TV has been on my wishlist for a while now, if I'm ever going to take the plunge and buy it, it will definitely be while it's on super sale. Along with the smart TV, each purchase comes with a black bezel frame, a stand, a connection box, a wall mount and a remote with batteries. When the TV is not on, it transforms into beautiful work of art that will blend perfectly in with the gallery wall in my living room. Owners say the TVs aesthetics are unmatched.

Ive had this TV for two years and have not once had an issue with it so far. Its my favorite home purchase aside automatic dog door. Ive created my own art work and put it on the screen. Ive also bought artwork from other artists and put it on the screen, said one. If youre someone who loves pretty home esthetics then this is the TV for you. Its expensive but honestly worth every penny. I absolutely love it and dont want any other TV. As a lover of art this TV is amazing.

Zulay Kitchen Zulay Kitchen Silicone Utensil Rest with Drip Pad $6 $15 Save $9 There are 35 colors to choose from and most of them have double discounts right now when you click the on-page coupon box. $6 at Amazon

Finding a place to place my utensils while cooking is always a struggle, which is why I was so excited to find this adorable (and affordable) solution to my problem. This silicone utensil rest has slots to hold four utensils at a time and it has a built-in drip pad, so Ill never have to worry about getting my countertops dirty again. The food-grade silicone material prevents the handy gadget from slipping and sliding as you use it and its dishwasher-safe.

I think this was the five-star review that sold me. I am forever wasting paper towels as spoon rests, wrote one customer. This was a really good price and works exactly how it should. It's also super easy to clean... you can toss it in the dishwasher, but all it really needs is a light wash by hand. I have yet to find any food that sticks to it, so no need to scrub. My last plastic rest died in a melty mess because it got too close to the oven vent....this one stands up great to heat!

As much as Ive tried over the years, Ive never been able to keep a plant alive for more than a few months at a time. But since I love the look of live plants in a home, Im always on the lookout for artificial options that look like the real deal. Thousands of Amazon shoppers say this pretty olive tree does just the trick, so I plan on scooping it up while its majorly discounted.

Highly recommended! I'm already thinking of buying another, said one reviewer. I'm a stickler about fake plants and don't usually like them because they tend to look fake. That's not the case here. The fact that this tree is kind of sparse actually makes it look very real. Branches and leaves are easily bendable to rearrange the shape. It literally took me only about two minutes to make it look fantastic after opening the box. I love it.

I already use slim velvet hangers to keep all my tops and dresses in pristine condition in my closet, but Ive never seen pant options before. The ultra-thin design will help me fit more skirts and bottoms into my closet, and I like that the clips are adjustable to easily fit different pieces in my wardrobe. Sold in a pack of 30, the classic black will perfectly match the rest of my closet.

One happy shopper wrote: These hangers are slim profile and easy to use. The clips are very strong and can hold items ranging in weight from skirts to jeans. Consider me sold.

The reviews quoted above reflect the most recent versions at the time of publication.

See all of our Prime Early Access Sale coverage, here. Shop the top early Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life, get the best Prime Day tech advice on Engadget, learn about Prime Day trends on In the Know, and check out Prime Day car deals on Autoblog.
Photo: The Canadian Press B.C. Premier John Horgan makes an address, in Whistler, B.C., on Friday, Sept. 16, 2022. Horgan says it's laughable for the new premier of Alberta to suggest unvaccinated people are the most discriminated-against group in her lifetime.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

British Columbia Premier John Horgan says it's "laughable" for the new premier of Alberta to suggest unvaccinated people are the most discriminated-against group in her lifetime.

Horgan, who will step down as B.C. premier later this year, made the comments in an interview with C-FAX Radio in Victoria.

Smith was sworn in yesterday as Alberta's new premier after the United Conservative Party elected her in a leadership race to replace Jason Kenney as leader and premier.

Smith, who is 51, says she will shake up the top tier of the health system within three months and amend provincial human rights law to protect those who choose not to get vaccinated.

Duane Bratt, a political scientist at Mount Royal University in Calgary, says Smith's comments would be laughable if she weren't the premier of Alberta.

He says Smith's comments are offensive because there was still forced sterilization and residential schools in her lifetime.

Bratt notes that gay marriage also wasn't legal across the country until 2005.
A self-described incel admitted in federal court to wanting to carry out a mass murder at Ohio State University with his writings intimating that he hoped to kill 3,000 people.

Tres Genco, 22, from Hillsboro, Ohio, pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to commit a hate crime, which, because his stated plot involved attempts to kill, carries a possible life sentence, the US Attorneys Office for the Southern District of Ohio said in a news release.

Shortened from involuntary celibate, the term incel has come to describe a loose movement of mostly men online who harbour anger and resentment towards women because they believe theyre unable carry out a romantic or sexual relationships with the opposite gender.

The movement, though not explicitly violent, has been incited by several mass killers in the US and Canada in recent years, including the Toronto van attack driver, Alek Minassian, who rammed down and killed 11 people in 2018.

The US Attorneys Office said in a news release announcing the plea that the 22-year-old self-identified with the online subculture, while noting that the group is known to advocate violence in support of their belief that women unjustly deny them sexual or romantic attention.

Genco was first brought on the radar of local authorities in March 2020. Police from the Highland County Sheriffs Department were called to the 22-year-olds home after theyd received a report that hed barricaded himself in his room with a firearm and, the unidentified person calling added, was believed to be either a threat to himself or others.

When police arrived at the Hillsboro home, located about 57 miles east of Cincinnati, and convinced the young man to surrender, they found he was in possession of an AR-15-style rifle with a bump-stock and Glock pistol, which had been altered so that it could fire fully automatically.

That firearm had no serial number. Prosecutors said that as part of the plea that theyd arranged with Genco, he admitted that the firearms uncovered that day had been the ones he planned to use to carry out his murderous plot, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.

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When Genco was arrested in July 2021, he was also charged with unlawful possession of a machine-gun, the prosecutors office said.

In a so-called manifesto penned by the self-described incel, among other writings uncovered by authorities that dated back years, he wrote how the training he planned to carry out with the US Army would help prepare him to carry out his plot to kill women. He called it a reality that he would cherish and fantasize at the opportunity of having.

The 22-year-old also went on to describe death as the great equalizer and noted that he intended to kill women out of hatred, jealousy, and revenge.

Agents also uncovered internet searches and documents that detailed Gencos intent to carry out a mass killing, such as searches for topics including planning a shooting crime and when does preparing for a crime become an attempt?. Within the court documents, it was also described how his planned site of the mass shooting, Ohio State University, was a place that he often carried out recon missions at, surveilling the premises and that he also frequently researched sororities in the area.

Genco did begin basic Army training in Georgia, which he attended from August through December 2019, but he was later discharged for entry-level performance and conduct, officials reported.

In addition to all the aforementioned details laid out by Genco and collected by agents after they confronted him in March 2020  just two months before he planned to carry out his deadly assault at the university  officials also said that hed made direct comparisons to incel hero Elliot Rodger.

Rodger, who was also invoked by Minassian in a Facebook post ahead of his violent rampage in Toronto, killed six people and injured 14 near the University of California, Santa Barbara campus.

Before the 22-year-old turned the gun on himself, he posted a video on YouTube and distributed a 141-page document via email where he described his murderous plot as a Day of Retribution. He defended the plot by saying hed been left with no choice but to exact revenge on the society that had denied him sex and love.

In their filing, prosecutors acknowledged the pile of evidence against Genco and his incendiary comments about women, alleging that it stood as proof that hed formulated a plot to kill women and intended to carry it out.

Hate has no place in our country  including gender-based hate  and we will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to vigorously prosecute any such conduct, US Attorney Kenneth Parker said in a statement, according to The Columbus Dispatch.

The prosecutors office has been contacted by The Independent for comment. The lawyer representing Genco couldnt be reached for comment.
Kayley Shoup of Carlsbad said the worst of fossil fuels air pollution befell her community alongside one of the worlds busiest oilfields in the world in New Mexicos southeast Permian Basin region.

Shoup said she worried high cancer rates and other health impacts in the area were related to emissions of methane  a greenhouse gas believed to have 84 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide in the 20 years after being released into the atmosphere.

Her comments came during an Oct. 6 meeting hosted by the Sierra Club and joined by Carlsbad environmental group Citizens Caring for the Future of which Shoup serves as spokesperson.

More:$110 million oil and gas deal announced in Permian Basin as oil prices climb, region grows

The meeting came as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was expected to release new rules governing methane emissions from oil and gas operations throughout the U.S.

New Mexico activists hoped the new policy, aiming to increase air monitoring and leak detection requirements would follow their states recently updated guidelines and create a national standard to reduce pollution from Texas, which shares the Permian with New Mexico, that crosses state lines.

To Shoup, its a matter of protecting both the environment and the people who populate cities like her native Carlsbad, deep within the Permian oil and gas fields.

More:New Mexico, Texas team up to regulate Permian Basin oil and gas wells crossing state line

Although Carlsbad and southeast New Mexico benefits economically from fossil fuel production, Shoup said the industry should be held accountable for the damage the financial growth can leave in its wake.

She said Eddy County, of which Carlsbad is the county seat, recently saw an up to 40 percent increase in people living within a half mile of oil and gas operations, a problem that could worsen as the citys population grows and residential areas expand closer to well sites and other infrastructure.

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The constant oil and gas production has an impact on a lot of people, Shoup said. And with the influx in the Permian of so many new people coming to town, more and more people are getting affected by these oil and gas sites.

As weve had this oil boom, weve had to build out our community. All of these folks are living in places where they have oil and gas right in their backyard.

More:3,200 acres of New Mexico's public land could be sold for oil and gas drilling next year

EPA looks to crack down on nationwide pollution from oil and gas

The EPAs rulemaking to address this issue on a federal level follows an April report from the Government Accountability Office calling for federal actions to curb the emissions.

The GAO report recommended the EPA give operators more flexibility to use available technology in detecting and fixing emission events like leaks.

Representatives from some industry entities and stakeholders said they experienced challenges in meeting EPA's requirements, including that site-specific applications are time- and resource-intensive, read the GAO report.

Without greater flexibility in the process for approving alternative technologies, EPA may hinder the adoption of innovative approaches for detecting and reducing methane emissions. 

More:Eddy County collects $10 million in oil and gas taxes

The report also suggested the Bureau of Land Management consider requiring gas capture plans for operations on federal lands similar to those required at the state level like New Mexicos.

Selected states have regulations to reduce methane emissions from oil and gas development that exceed BLM's requirements, the report read. Without taking steps to require gas capture during production, BLM is potentially forgoing revenue from wasted gas, which contributes to pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

Joan Brown with New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light, a faith-based environmental group said the group conducted frequent field studies over the past decade in the Permian, finding continual growth in operations and thus, Brown said, associated air pollution.

More:Mike Pence lauds Permian Basin oil and gas growth at Artesia visit amid pollution concerns

We do this because its the ethical, moral thing to do, she said. Weve heard about people dying of cancer. We have smelled the impacts. We pray for healing and wisdom. This hurts all of our hearts. Its about love  loving Gods creation.

Director of the Sierra Clubs Rio Grande Chapter Camilla Feibelman said while states like New Mexico have taken some action, the federal government must do so also to truly address the problem on a national scale.

EPA rules should require regulation leak detection and repair for even low-producing or stripper wells, Feibelman said, while also providing better reporting opportunities for local community members and increasing requirements for oil and gas facilities near residential areas.

As we think about oil and gas operations and what those ought to look like, theres a lot that methane rules from the EPA could be doing, and a lot our local state rules can be doing, she said. Weve all been working to make sure those are the strongest, most powerful rules possible to protect members of our New Mexico community.

Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: Oil and gas communities in New Mexico call for more pollution controls
Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Exxon Mobil fired two workers it suspected of leaking information to the WSJ, the DoL said.

The company has been ordered to reinstate them and pay them $800,000 in back wages and damages.

Employees had told the WSJ in 2020 they thought Exxon's growth plans in Texas were unrealistic.

Oil and gas giant Exxon Mobil illegally fired two workers that it suspected of leaking information to The Wall Street Journal, the US Department of Labor said.

The company has been ordered to reinstate the employees and pay them $800,000 in back wages and damages, the DoL said.

The Journal reported in September 2020 that some current and former employees thought that Exxon's huge growth plans related to its investments in the Texas Permian Basin  which were included in SEC filings made by the company  were unrealistic.

The sources also told the publication that there had been disagreements over the present value of the oil and gas in a part of the basin known as the Delaware based on differing beliefs on how fast Exxon could drill.

"The claims made about drilling rates are demonstrably false," an Exxon spokesperson told Insider on Wednesday.

"The speed the employees claimed was impossible, was not only possible, but we achieved that speed three years ahead of the plan they questioned," they continued. "It turns out, the employees were not qualified enough to offer an opinion, let alone a make a credible complaint."

A federal whistleblower investigation by the department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration found that the company had fired two computational scientists who raised concerns in late 2020 about the company's use of the assumptions.

Exxon said that it terminated one of the scientists for mishandling proprietary company information and the second for having a "negative attitude," job hunting, and losing the confidence of company management.

But one of the scientists who had been fired was a relative of a source quoted by The Journal article and had access to the leaked information, OSHA said. The agency said its investigation determined that the scientists' communications with The Journal were protected by whistleblower laws.

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OSHA said that neither of the fired scientists were revealed as sources for the article.

"The Company rejects all claims made by the former employees and will defend itself accordingly," the Exxon spokesperson said. They added that the terminations were unrelated to the concerns the employees had raised and that the company would appeal the DoL's findings.

Read the original article on Business Insider
An Oklahoma man is facing charges in connection to a shooting at a burial service in Jefferson Twp. last month.

Jaquade Lewis, 30, of Del City, Oklahoma, was indicted by a Montgomery County grand jury Tuesday on four counts of felonious assault, one count of having weapons while under disability and one count of improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle, according to court documents.

Lewis, Jaquade Dewayne (11/14/1991) - Held in custody of Montgomery County Jail with booking number 22-013903 on 09/30/2022 at 6:46 PM. Not Formally Charged - Felonious Assault (Pending); Not Formally Charged - Felonious Assault (Pending); Not Formally Charged - Felonious Assault (Pending); Not Formally Charged - Felonious Assault (Pending);

>> PREVIOUS COVERAGE: 1 in custody after argument leads to shooting at family members burial service in Jefferson Twp.

The charges stem from a shooting that happened at cemetery on S. Union Road on Sept. 30.

Deputies previously told us that an argument broke out between family members who were attending a burial of a relative. Thats when Lewis allegedly pulled out a gun.

Lewis first shot at a vehicle that had his female cousin and one-year-old niece in it. After that, an adult male cousin attempted to take the gun away from Lewis and that was when shot him in the hand and upper thigh, according to an affidavit and statement of facts.

The victim was taken from the scene by family members, but was later found on the grounds of the Dayton VA Medical Center. They were then transported to Miami Valley Hospital. Were working to learn their an update on his condition.

>> Arcanum man killed in Darke County motorcycle crash late Tuesday night

Deputies said Lewis was later located at a hotel off of Dryden Road.

Lewis later admitted to the shooting and to being a convicted felon and Crip gang member, according to court documents. Lewis was previously convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison for a 2009 robbery in Oklahoma.

Lewis remains booked in the Montgomery County Jail. He is set to appear in court on Thursday for his arraignment.
An Asian restaurant in Oklahoma City has received overwhelming support on TikTok after a passerby took to the platform to share its temporary closure because the owners son was in the emergency room.

The TikTok video, which was posted by @thisisoklahoma405, shows Tokyo Moon in North Rockwell Avenue and West Hefner Road departing from its usual 11 a.m.-8:30 p.m. schedule to deal with the situation. A sign attached to its front door apologized for the closure and announced that Our son is in the E.R.

As it turned out, 3-year-old Grayson Pham has been in and out of the E.R. for the past two weeks due to a rare infection. Because his parents are the restaurants lone employees, they have had no choice but to close temporarily.

Graysons parents have since been stressed about the mounting medical bills  until their story made it to TikTok.

More from NextShark: US, China pledge to work together to tackle escalating climate change catastrophe

I had a regular customer message us asking how Grayson was and they sent us a link to TikTok, Graysons father, Daniel Pham, told KOCO 5 News. I clicked on it, and it had like four million views. It all came from a person named Jacob.

He added, I dont know this person, Jacob. It was just a random act of kindness. He was passing by our restaurant going to the donut shop and saw the sign and he wanted to do something about it.

More from NextShark: Former Big Bang member Seungri will serve entire 18-month jail sentence after appeal rejection

As of this writing, the TikTok post has amassed 7.6 million views, more than 800,000 likes and over 1,800 comments. Many sent prayers and expressed support for Tokyo Moon, but some also left rude and inhuman comments.

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Some people seem to think [that] a business is more important than family, and in this case, a 3-YEAR-OLD son, the @thisisoklahoma405 team wrote on the fundraisers GoFundMe page, which they created for the Pham family. The family is DEVASTATED and HURT over the rude and inhuman comments. The good news is there seems to be way more positive than good  which is why the THISISOKLAHOMA405 team created this GoFundMe.

More from NextShark: NASCAR Driver Fired Over Racial Slur 6 Months Ago Applies to Get Back In

The team said 100 percent of the funds will go to the Pham family. So far, the campaign has raised $3,345 for Graysons E.R. bills.

Grayson has since returned home to continue treatment. In an update, the @thisisoklahoma405 team also announced that Tokyo Moon will re-open later this week.

I feel very blessed and thankful for all the thoughts and prayers from everyone just trying to help us through this tough time, Daniel told KOCO 5 News.

More from NextShark: Singaporean man goes full 'Super Saiyan 3' for free McDonald's ice cream in viral video

Featured Image via @thisisoklahoma405 (left) and KOCO 5 News (right)
The driver of this Electric Vehicle used an extension cord to secure the box spring to his vehicle?! #HWY427 NB & Burnhamthorpe.

Charged: Insecure Load. #MississaugaOPP #OperationImpact2022^td pic.twitter.com/WW7MoqvZcK  OPP Highway Safety Division (@OPP_HSD) October 9, 2022

Weekends are a notorious time for a spike in car accidents and reckless driving, and this years Thanksgiving weekend was no different.

In a video shared by the Ontario Provincial Police on social media, one Tesla driver got roped into some questionable driving choices.

The video shows the electric vehicle cruising down the highway with a box spring mattress hastily tied to the hood with an extension cord.

The incident was clocked on Highway 427 in Mississauga. The driver was charged with having an insecure load, which comes with a $130 fine.

The OPP are just one of several police forces who took part in Operation Impact over the long weekend. The cross-country campaign involves officers paying extra close attention to highway drivers who might be speeding, distracted or not wearing a seatbelt.

Officers posted a few other tweets to highlight some of the extreme driving behaviour they encountered on the roads over the long weekend, such as stunt driving, due to excessive speed, including one driver who was clocked as going 178km/hr.

"My wife keeps telling to slow down". #MississaugaOPP officer stopped this driver for stunt driving 178 km/hr. #HWY403 Erinmills Pkwy.

Charged: Stunt driving #14DayVehicleImpound #30DayLicenceSuspension #OperationImpact2022 ^td pic.twitter.com/RLoWBly4HI  OPP Highway Safety Division (@OPP_HSD) October 9, 2022
A climate action group has been awarded more than 2 million to help tackle climate change.

The National Lottery Community Fund awarded the sum to Ouse Valley Climate Action (OVCA) - an area in which 77,000 people live.

The project's aims include capturing more carbon through tree planting and creating water habitats to reduce flood risk and increase drought resilience.

OVCA successfully bid for the funding among more than 600 applicants.

The group said the river valley is a "fragile landscape" that has felt the effects of climate change, including flooding, storm damage, coastal erosion and biodiversity loss.

It says the funding will focus on nature recovery and climate resilience, boosting people's knowledge and skills and providing greener energy and travel.

'National leaders'

OVESCO chief executive Chris Rowland said the funding will enable the group to offer local energy services across Lewes district, "supporting us to scale up the benefits of community energy across the Ouse Valley over the next three years and beyond".

The project area follows the River Ouse downstream from Barcombe - which is aiming to be the UK's first net-zero village - through to Lewes and further south to Seaford, Peacehaven and Newhaven.

Vanessa Rowlands, chair of the South Downs National Park Authority, said: "This summer has shown that climate change is a real issue that all communities are having to deal with, rather than some pie in the sky only affecting future generations."

She said the funding will make Ouse Valley "one of the national leaders in community climate action".

OVCA said a team will be formed to deliver the project locally, working with schools, businesses and community groups.

Follow BBC South East on Facebook, on Twitter, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk.
A pair of antique Levi's from the 1880s sold for $76,000 at an auction. Davide Bonaldo/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

A pair of Levi's jeans from the 1880s sold for $76,000 at an October 1 auction in New Mexico.

The buyer was a 23-year-old vintage clothing dealer named Kyle Haupert.

The vintage jeans were found in an old mine years ago and are still marked by candle wax.

A pair of vintage Levi's jeans from the 1880s sold for $76,000 at an auction in New Mexico, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

Kyle Haupert, a 23-year-old vintage clothing dealer from San Diego, bought the pants at an auction on October 1.

"I'm still kind of bewildered, just surprised in myself for even purchasing them," Haupert told the Journal.

He bought the jeans with Zip Stevenson, the owner of vintage clothing company Denim Doctors, per the Journal. Haupert paid for 90% of the winning bid and is hoping the more experienced Stevenson will be able to help find the next buyer for the jeans. The total price for the pants was $87,400 with a buyers premium factored in.

Haupert documented the auction and the pair of prized denims on the Instagram account of his shop, Golden State Vintage.

"These speak for themselves," Haupert wrote on the Instagram post featuring the jeans.

The antique jeans were found in an old mine years ago, according to Long John, a denim magazine that first broke the news about the winning bid. They were used by a miner and feature suspender buttons on the waistbands and a single back pocket. The pants are marked by candle wax.

According to their auction listing, the jeans are one of the oldest known Levis from the gold rush era and "the holy grail of vintage denim collecting." The pants are in "good/wearable" condition, per the listing.

"You could wear them to a Starbucks," Stevenson told the Journal.

Haupert did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment sent outside regular business hours.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Photo: The Canadian Press Sandy Hook family attornies Matt Blumenthal, left, Chris Mattei, Josh Koskoff and Alinor Sterling, confer with each other on how to answer a question posed by the jury in the deliberation phase of the Alex Jones Sandy Hook defamation damages trial at Connecticut Superior Court in Waterbury, Conn., Friday, Oct. 7, 2022. (Christian Abraham/Hearst Connecticut Media via AP, Pool)

The conspiracy theorist Alex Jones should pay $965 million to people who suffered from his false claim that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax, a jury in Connecticut decided Wednesday.

The verdict is the second big judgment against the Infowars host over his relentless promotion of the lie that the 2012 massacre never happened, and that the grieving families seen in news coverage were actors hired as part of a plot to take away peoples guns.

It came in a lawsuit filed by the relatives of five children and three educators killed in the mass shooting, plus an FBI agent who was among the first responders to the scene. A Texas jury in August awarded nearly $50 million to the parents of another slain child.

Some plaintiffs hugged in the courtroom after the verdict was read. Jones wasn't there, but live video from the court played on a split screen on his Infowars show.

Hey, folks, dont go buying big homes, he said.

The trial featured tearful testimony from parents and siblings of the victims, who told about how they were threatened and harassed for years by people who believed the lies told on Jones show.

Strangers showed up at their homes to record them. People hurled abusive comments on social media. Erica Lafferty, the daughter of slain Sandy Hook principal Dawn Hochsprung, testified that people mailed rape threats to her house. Mark Barden told of how conspiracy theorists had urinated on the grave of his 7-year-old son, Daniel, and threatened to dig up the coffin.

Testifying during the trial, Jones acknowledged he had been wrong about Sandy Hook. The shooting was real, he said. But both in the courtroom and on his show, he was defiant.

He called the proceedings a kangaroo court, mocked the judge, called the plaintiffs lawyer an ambulance chaser and labeled the case an affront to free speech rights. He claimed it was a conspiracy by Democrats and the media to silence him and put him out of business.

Ive already said Im sorry hundreds of times and Im done saying Im sorry, he said during his testimony.

Twenty children and six adults died in the shooting on Dec. 14, 2012. The defamation trial was held at a courthouse in Waterbury, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from Newtown, where the attack took place.

The lawsuit accused Jones and Infowars parent company, Free Speech Systems, of using the mass killing to build his audience and make millions of dollars. Experts testified that Jones audience swelled when he made Sandy Hook a topic on the show, as did his revenue from product sales.

In both the Texas lawsuit and the one in Connecticut, judges found the company liable for damages by default after Jones failed to cooperate with court rules on sharing evidence, including failing to turn over records that might have showed whether Infowars had profited from knowingly spreading misinformation about mass killings.

Because he was already found liable, Jones was barred from mentioning free speech rights and other topics during his testimony.

Jones now faces a third trial, in Texas around the end of the year, in a lawsuit filed by the parents of another child killed in the shooting.

It is unclear how much of the verdicts Jones can afford to pay. During the trial in Texas, he testified he couldnt afford any judgment over $2 million. Free Speech Systems has filed for bankruptcy protection. But an economist testified in the Texas proceeding that Jones and his company were worth as much as $270 million.
The owner of fast fashion brand Shein has been ordered to pay $1.9m to New York state over a data breach that affected millions of customers.

Zoetop Business Company, Ltd  which owns e-commerce brands Shein and Romwe  failed to properly handle a 2018 data breach in which the personal information of 39 million Shein accounts and seven million Romwe accounts were compromised, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced on Wednesday.

An investigation by the Office of the Attorney General found that hackers successfully stole credit card information and personal information, including names, email addresses, and account passwords of Shein customers.

After Zoetop learned of the hack, the company failed to take adequate steps to protect many of the affected accounts and downplayed the extent of the cyberattack to shoppers, according to the OAG. For the 39 million Shein accounts impacted by the data breach, Zoetop failed to alert customers whose login credentials had been stolen. The company has also been accused of misrepresenting the size and scope of the breach in several public statements to its customers.

Two years later, reportedly Zoetop discovered Romwe customer login credentials available on the dark web believed to be from the 2018 cyber attack.

Shein and Romwes weak digital security measures made it easy for hackers to shoplift consumers personal data, said James. While New Yorkers were shopping for the latest trends on Shein and Romwe, their personal data was stolen and Zoetop tried to cover it up. Failing to protect consumers personal data and lying about it is not trendy.

Shein and Romwe must button up their cybersecurity measures to protect consumers from fraud and identity theft, she continued. This agreement should send a clear warning to companies that they must strengthen their digital security measures and be transparent with consumers, anything less will not be tolerated.

As a result of the investigation, Zoetop has been ordered to pay $1.9m in penalties to New York state and must strengthen its cybersecurity measures to protect consumers information.

Chinese fast fashion brand Shein has become known for its inexpensive and abundant clothing options, and is now valued at $100bn. The e-commerce brand has been at the centre of much controversy since its founding in 2008, and faces accusations of worker exploitation, stealing ideas from independent designers, and contributing to the environmental damage caused by the fast fashion industry.

The Independent has contacted Zoetop Business Company, Ltd for comment.
A Boston hospital is expressing profound thanks after New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft surprised the healthcare facility with a historic donation.

Massachusetts General Hospital on Wednesday announced that Kraft and the Kraft Family Foundation gifted them $50 million to address healthcare disparities caused by race, ethnicity, geography, and economic status.

The gift is the largest in support of community health and health equity in the history of the hospital, according to MGH President David F. M. Brown.

I would like to express our profound gratitude to the Kraft family for this transformative and inspirational act of philanthropy, which is not only the largest of its kind in our history, but also the latest highlight of their already lengthy history of support for MGH, Brown said in a statement.

Brown noted that the Kraft familys gift will support a permanent Robert K. Kraft Endowed Chair in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion addressing health disparities in clinical care at MGH. The chair will be held by the medical director of the Comprehensive Sickle Cell Disease Treatment Center at MGH.

Research into sickle cell disease is historically underfunded, leading to inequitable access, Brown added. The serious genetic blood disorder primarily impacts African Americans.

The gift will also fund expansion efforts at the Mass General Blood Donor Center, which will be renamed to honor the Kraft family.

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Paul Mescal has reflected on filming his first-ever movie scene, which happened to feature him kissing Dakota Johnson.

The Normal People actors first film role came in Maggie Gyllenhaals 2021 directorial debut The Lost Daughter, starring Mescal, Johnson and Olivia Coleman as the lead.

Reuniting with Johnson for an Interview magazine feature, Mescal recalled being terrified before the moment came for him to kiss her.

For anyone who was interested, I was s***ting myself. It was in The Lost Daughter, and for some reason, the first scene that we had to do was me kissing you. I was like, What the f*** is going on? he said.

I think Id be okay with it if that happened to me now, Mescal continued. But I think kissing anybody on your first days work, let alone your first f***ing job, let alone it being Dakota Johnson, youre like, Okay, great.

But you could tell that I was nervous and you were exceptionally disarming and kind. Actually, I think as a result of that, it made us close. I wouldve hated you otherwise, to be honest.

Dakota Johnson and Paul Mescal (Monica Schipper/Getty Images for Netflix)

In the Netflix film, Mescal plays Will, a beach bar worker who is having an affair with Johnsons Nina  the wife of an implied gangster.

Riding high off the success of his turn as Connell Waldron in the smash hit Normal People TV adaptation, Mescal has since starred in a number of indie films, earning praise for his performances along the way.

He next stars in Charlotte Wells Aftersun as a young father coping with loneliness and his mental health while taking his daughter on holiday.

Aftersun is released in the United States on 21 October by A24 and in the United Kingdom on 18 November by Mubi.
Proud Boys leader Gavin McInnes at a conservative rally in Berkeley, California on April 27, 2017. Penn State will host McInnes at a

Proud Boys leader Gavin McInnes at a conservative rally in Berkeley, California on April 27, 2017. Penn State will host McInnes at a "comedy" event on Oct. 24, despite students' concerns for their safety. (Photo: JOSH EDELSON via Getty Images)

Students at Pennsylvania State University are in an uproar after thousands of dollars in student fees were allocated for a campus event later this month featuring Gavin McInnes, founder of the Proud Boys street gang.

The Oct. 24 event, titled Stand Back & Stand By, will feature McInnes and far-right media figure Alex Stein for a comedy hour in which the pair will riff on right-wing grievances such as political correctness, gender roles, and immigration, according to a pitch to sponsor the event from campus conservative organization Uncensored America.

Students are protesting the plan over not just McInness history of violent and bigoted rhetoric but also the potential physical threat posed by the Proud Boys. Not only does McInnes maintain a leadership role with the group  which includes members accused of leading the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, among many other violent crimes  but his previous appearances at college campuses and similar conservative events have descended into violence.

Free Speech does not mean enabling Gavin McInnes to develop and reinforce right-wing extremist networks while padding his wallet and prestige, reads a public petition to university administrators penned by the Student Committee for Defense and Solidarity at Penn State. We demand that the Penn State administration deny Uncensored America permission to sponsor and platform Gavin McInnes with a speaking engagement.

On Tuesday, the university decried McInness vitriolic and hateful language in a statement. Still, it announced that the event would be allowed to continue because Penn State fully supports the fundamental right of free speech.

Student Affairs Vice President Damon Sims told HuffPost that administrators were weighing student safety against constitutionally protected speech. He said the school would respond appropriately as circumstances require.

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We take every reasonable precaution to protect the safety of those associated with activities on our campuses, Sims said. Our commitment to both freedom of expression and the welfare of our community are equally strong, despite the obvious challenges that brings.

Penn State has hosted far-right personalities before despite student protests. In 2021, Uncensored America hosted Milo Yiannopoulos  a right-wing personality with a history of bigoted remarks who had recently defended pedophilia  for a Pray the Gay Away event on campus.

But McInnes appearance carries a threat of physical violence on top of the hateful rhetoric. At his previous speaking arrangements on college campuses and GOP events, McInnes has brought along members of the Proud Boys, who advocate for political violence. (The highest rank in the Proud Boys organization is earned by getting arrested or in a significant violent fight for the cause, McInnes has said.)

In 2017, McInnes brought Proud Boys to his speaking event at New York University, where the gang spent the evening clashing with protesters outside, leading to multiple arrests. Afterward, McInnes was quoted as saying: My guys are left to fight. And heres the crucial part: We do. And we beat the crap out of them.

In 2018, McInnes was invited to speak at the Metropolitan Republican Club in Manhattan. His routine included a reenactment of the 1960 assassination of Inejiro Asanuma, a Japanese Socialist Party leader who was killed on live TV by a far-right ultranationalist wielding a samurai sword.

McInnes showed up flanked by a group of Proud Boys and members of a local skinhead gang, who attacked protesters gathering outside. Ten Proud Boys were charged over their role in the assault, and two members were sentenced to four years in prison.

Theres every reason to believe the Proud Boys will be in attendance at the Penn State event. Over the last week, McInnes has been promoting the event  and poking fun at protesting students  on Telegram, his primary platform for communicating with members outside his online talk show.

Even the Stand Back & Stand By event title is a reference to the gang: Its a Donald Trump quote from a 2020 presidential debate after the former president was asked to decry the Proud Boys. The gang took Trumps quote as marching orders, and some began preparations for the insurrection. Dozens of Proud Boys stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and five of their leaders face seditious conspiracy charges by the Justice Department. One of those leaders pleaded guilty last week.

In its press release for the event, Uncensored America described McInnes not as a far-right gang leader but as a comedian, political commentator, entrepreneur, and fashion pioneer.

Despite the risk, students vowed to protest the event in person on Oct. 24.

Stand up, fight back! reads a flier posted to Instagram by the Student Committee for Defense and Solidarity. Actively challenge PSU admins support of McInnes  other, passive university events, which dont shut down McInnes, are smokescreens that enable neo-fascism.

Andy Campbell is the author of We Are Proud Boys: How a Right-Wing Street Gang Ushered in a New Era of American Extremism, available where books are sold.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

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Parks officials in Pennsylvania say they dont know whos posting signs warning of Bigfoot activity in the area, but its not them. They also threw cold water on the notion that Sasquatch might be making a home in the Keystone State  or anywhere else for that matter.

Bigfoot is not real, Wesley Robinson, press secretary for the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, told PennLive.

The signs state that there have been encounters in the area and call on visitors to observe elevated park etiquette, be cautious of your surroundings and to keep the location of any small children/pets within a tighter scope of awareness.

They also warn: Do not approach the creature.

Robinson added that the signs, which have been turning up for months in many parks, are removed whenever spotted.

Visitors have been posting images of the signs on social media, including one that drew a response from the conservation department, which runs the states parks:

The agency replied:

Nope. Rangers are aware and are removing them and investigating the situation. These were not posted by DCNR and is an unauthorized use of our logo.  PA Department of Conservation & Natural Resources (@DCNRnews) August 19, 2022

The agencys claim that Bigfoot isnt real is unlikely to end the debate about the cryptid anytime soon as searching for Sasquatch remains a popular pastime in parks around the nation.

Oklahoma lawmakers even proposed a Bigfoot hunting season  complete with a cash prize  not to kill the creature, just to find evidence of it.

While the majority of Bigfoot sightings seem to take place in the Pacific Northwest and California, Pennsylvania has had its share of Sasquatch activity over the years. The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization has 124 credible sightings in Pennsylvania listed in its database, including someone who claims to have seen two  and heard more of them whistling  near his cabin in Harrison Valley.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
Reuters

Vladimir Putin's grip on power in Russia remains firm despite military setbacks in Ukraine, a botched mobilisation, and political infighting, eight well-informed sources said, but some said that could change fast if total defeat beckoned. Most of them said the Russian president was in one of the tightest spots in his more than two decades in power over Ukraine, where his invading forces have been pushed back in places by a Western-armed Kyiv. "For the moment, Putin is hanging in there," said Anthony Brenton, a former British ambassador to Russia.
Days after a deadly attack at an Afghan educational centre, multiple social media posts shared a photo of a woman protester marching against the violence alongside another photo they claimed shows a man disguised in women's clothes who joined the demonstration. However, the photo of the man in a burqa -- a form of Islamic clothing worn by some women -- has been shared in a misleading context; it shows a man who was arrested in connection with a kidnapping case in Pakistan in 2021.

"Not a single protester has died due to the grief of the Hazaras, there are intelligent hands behind these demonstrations," reads a Pashto-language tweet published on October 3, 2022.

"This is an example in Herat where a man uses women's clothes to carry out the conspiracies of the enemies of Islam and the country. They have no shame!"

The tweet contains one image of what appears to be a man dressed in a burqa (left) and a second image of a woman being pulled by her hijab (right):

Screenshot of the misleading post. Takeon on October 11, 2022.

On October 2, 2022, authorities dispersed scores of women in Afghanistan's western city of Herat who were protesting against a suicide attack two days earlier that had killed dozens in the capital Kabul.

The attack targeted the womens section of a gender-segregated study hall in a neighbourhood that is home to the historically oppressed Shiite Muslim Hazara community, AFP reported.

Other posts claiming the image of the burqa-clad man shows a protester in Herat were published on Twitter here, here, here and here, with nearly 100 shares between them.

However, the image has been shared in a misleading context.

Pakistan arrest

A reverse image search on Google found the photo was previously published in this report by Pakistan's Geo News on June 2, 2021.

"Lahore police arrest burqa-clad man from court," the report's title reads.

According to the report, police caught the man despite his attempts to evade arrest after his in-laws accused him of kidnapping their daughter.

Story continues

Below is a screenshot comparison of the photo in the misleading posts (left) with the original from Geo News (right):

Screenshot comparison.

The incident was also reported by Pakistan's ARY News and G News Network (GNN), with additional photos showing the accused standing alongside police officers in Lahore.

"According to a Lahore police spokesman, a young man named Faraz had got married in Misri Shah, and the girl's parents had registered a kidnapping case against the accused," reads GNN's report.

"The accused said that he used the burqa to avoid arrest and opponents and seek interim bail in the case," the report continues.

Afghanistan protester

Scenes showing the woman in the image on the right-hand side of the posts, who is being pulled by her hijab, can be viewed in a video report on the protests by the BBC's Dari language service on Twitter here.

It was included alongside several other clips.

The tweet reads: "Dozens of female students demonstrated in Herat and Bamyan to protest the targeted killing of Hazaras and the deprivation of girls.

"This is perhaps the biggest women's march in the last year. "Silence is treason" "Education is our right" "Stop the genocide" were slogans of the protesters."

Below is a screenshot comparing the photo of the protester in the misleading posts (left) with the footage in the BBC's tweet (right):

Screenshot comparison

AFP has previously debunked other posts related to the September 30, 2022, attack on the Kabul educational centre that claimed to show a survivor from the attack. Those posts incorrectly used the photo of a survivor from a previous attack in Kabul.
Photographers across Devon have been keeping their cameras close as a huge moon lights up the night sky.

The Hunter's Moon rose on Sunday, when it was at its brightest, but the orb was also larger than usual on Monday.

Citing the Farmers' Almanac, Nasa said the first full moon of October traditionally marked the time of year people would hunt animals for food.

Exeter-based photographer Tyler Cooper said the lack of light pollution in parts of Devon created ideal conditions for the event.

On Monday, he captured detailed shots of the Moon's surface by overlaying multiple images taken at different exposures. They were taken in the St Thomas area of the city.

"It was a really clear night and very little light pollution, which really helps," he said.

"The reaction has been great, people have been loving it."

Here is a selection of a variety of moon pictures taken across the county.

Follow BBC News South West on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to spotlight@bbc.co.uk
DECATUR, Ill. (AP)  Two police officers conducting a traffic stop in a central Illinois city were shot and wounded early Wednesday by a motorist who died after officers returned fire, police said.

The officers stopped a vehicle about 12:30 a.m. in Decatur and based on information known to the officers prior to the stop they ordered its driver to show his hands, but he failed to comply, Decatur Police Chief Shane Brandel said in a statement.

One of officers spotted what they believed to be a handgun in the vehicle and the officers tried to remove the driver, who fired multiple rounds at them from close range using a handgun, Brandel said.

Officers returned fire and the driver was struck multiple times. He was pronounced dead at a Decatur hospital, the chief said.

The Macon County Coroner identified the motorist as Jamontey O. Neal, 32, of Decatur.

Brandel said one Decatur officer was hit multiple times and a second Decatur officer was hit once in the exchange of gunfire. One officer was hospitalized in stable condition and the other was in serious but stable condition and has undergone surgery for his wounds, Brandel said.

Decatur Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe said the officers' injuries are serious, but both are expected to recover, the (Decatur) Herald & Review reported.

Three Decatur officers and one deputy from the Macon County Sheriffs Office discharged their weapons during the exchange of gunfire, Brandel said.

He said Illinois State Police will conduct an investigation into the shooting, which is standard procedure in Illinois following such shootings. Decatur is about 120 miles (190 kilometers) southwest of Chicago.
Photo: PiggyBank/Unsplash. Earlier this year, an RBC spokesperson said the bank "strongly disagrees with the allegations."

Canadas Competition Bureau has launched an inquiry into the marketing practices of the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) more than five months after allegations emerged that the company made false and misleading representations about action on climate change.

In an April application to Canadas Competition Bureau, Kukpi7 Judy Wilson  secretary-treasurer at the Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) and chief of the Skat'sin te Secwepemc-Neskonlith Indian Band  joined five other individuals calling for RBC to end its financing of fossil fuels and stop deceiving the public.

Until RBC stops financing fossil fuels, advertising itself as Paris Agreement-aligned is greenwashing  and it shouldn't be tolerated, said Wilson in a written statement at the time.

RBC is among the top five banking financiers of fossil fuel projects in the world, and the biggest in Canada, according to a report produced earlier this year. The report found RBC had increased its investments in fossil fuel projects to nearly $38 billion from over $19 billion in 2020.

According to a Sept. 29 letter to the applicants' lawyers, the Competition Bureau has commenced an inquiry into RBCs marketing practices in accordance with Canada's Competition Act.

The inquiry seeks to determine the facts relating to allegations that RBC has contravened the act by making false or misleading environmental representations, wrote Adam Zimmerman, senior competition officer for the bureaus cartels and deceptive marketing practices branch.

In April, RBC spokesperson Rafael Ruffolo told Glacier Media the bank "strongly disagrees with the allegations" and believes the complaint to be unfounded.

A rise in 'greenwashing' allegations

Canadas Competition Bureau is set up to protect and promote competitive business practices across the country. In recent years, it has increasingly taken on cases related to greenwashing  false or misleading environmental claims often advertised to make a company or product appear more sustainable than it really is.

In January 2022, a global report found 40 per cent of companies make misleading environmental claims; the bureau responded, warning Canadians to be on the lookout for the practice.

If a company claims a product or service is green, take a moment to reflect on that claim, said the bureau in a statement at the time.

The bureau has had success in the past. In one victory against greenwashing earlier this year, the consumer watchdog reached an agreement with Keurig Canada to pay a $3-million penalty after it made false and misleading environmental claims around its coffee pods.

In addition to the $3-million penalty, Keurig Canada was forced to pay for the cost of the bureaus $85,000 investigation and donate $800,000 to a Canadian environmental charity.

The company is no longer permitted to make bogus claims on its packaging, online or in news media.

Regulating fossil fuel advertising, however, would be a sea change for the bureau. It could also send a message to an industry that has long been accused of deceiving the public over the known effects that burning fossil fuels would continue to have on the world's climate system.

Last month, a group of doctors and nurses filed a Competition Bureau complaint against the Canadian Gas Association (CGA) alleging it ran a false and misleading advertising campaign that touted gas as an "eco-friendly" fuel.

In that case, the six applicants are asking the independent law enforcement agency to impose a $10-million fine and force the CGA to retract the claims made in its ads.
A Port Royal man pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 years in prison Monday for a February 2018 shooting that injured a man, according to a 14th Circuit Solicitors Office press release.

Michael Shane Kearney, 37, was charged with attempted murder and possession of a weapon in the commission of a violent crime in February 2018.

At around 2:30 p.m. on Feb. 27, 2018, police were called out to Milledge Village Road and Lexxus Lane in Burton for a shots fired call. When police got there, they found a man, identified as Torian Singleton, lying on the ground. A witness told police he heard the gun go off before seeing a woman back her car up into a tree and leave the area, according to previous reporting from the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette. The man ran toward Singleton who had been standing 30 feet from the front door of a home in the neighborhood. Neighbors reported hearing only one shot go off.

Security cameras from neighbors recorded a man, identified as Kearney, walk up to Singleton and shoot him in the face, officials said in the press release.

Kearney was arrested on March 5, 2018.

Kearneys defense attorney, Freddy Woods, a senior partner at The Woods Law Firm, said in a written statement that his client took accountability for his actions and accepted responsibility.

The assistant solicitor and I worked diligently for 4 years to resolve this case by a negotiated plea while considering mitigating factors, Woods said. The court accepted the plea and delivered what we believe to be a fair and equitable representation of justice for all parties involved in this case.

The 15-year prison sentence was handed down by Judge Bentley Price.

As of Wednesday, Kearney was in custody at the detention center in Beaufort.
The Portuguese government has proposed a new cryptocurrency tax policy that would take effect as part of its 2023 national budget, according to a government-issued report published Monday.

Within the nearly 450-page macroeconomic strategy and fiscal policy report, a small section states that the Portuguese government will impose a 28% capital gains tax on cryptocurrency gains made within one year. However, gains realized after one year of holding the crypto assets will be exempt from such a tax.

The Portuguese government also intends to impose a 4% tax on any free crypto transfers and will also apply stamp duties where applicable.

The proposal intends to treat crypto as equal to other industries and to establish a clear framework for crypto taxation. 28% is the standard capital gains tax rate in the country.

Portugals Status as a Crypto Tax Haven Appears to Be Ending

While the draft budget numbers have not yet been approved by the Portuguese parliament, the proposal aligns with what the nations Minister of Finance Fernando Medina declared back in May: that crypto would soon be subject to the countrys capital gains tax laws.

Over the past decade, Portugal has become an appealing destination for international residents, who have flocked to the country due to its more flexible visa and immigration options and overall affordability. Portugal saw a massive 40% increase in immigration from 2011 to 2021, according to data from the European Commission. As of 2021, 5.4% of its total population of roughly 10 million are non-citizens.

Cryptocurrency is at least one of the reasons for Portugals shifting demographics. The country is home to what some call Bitcoin Beach in Meia Praia, an unofficial gathering place for crypto fanatics who relocated to avoid cryptocurrency taxes in Italy and France.

Germany Won't Tax Bitcoin, Ethereum Sold After One Year of Possession

The country also granted its first crypto banking license in April.

While the Portuguese Parliament rejected a Bitcoin tax bill earlier this year, the administration does not appear to have given up on taxing crypto.

If Mondays draft budget is approved, it remains to be seen how the new policies will affect Portugals crypto economyand if it will face an exodus, like India, as companies and investors flee to lower-tax nations.
LISBON, Portugal (AP)  Portugals president is scrambling to quell an outcry over his comments appearing to make light of revelations that more than 400 people were victims of child sex abuse by members of the Portuguese Catholic Church.

A lay committee looking into historic child sex abuse in the church said Tuesday it has so far compiled a list of 424 alleged victims dating back to 1950. Hundreds of priests, some deceased, are under suspicion.

President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa commented on the revelation: Having 400 cases doesnt seem to me to be a lot because in other countries investigating shorter time periods there were thousands of cases.

Portugal has 10.3 million people.

The head of state's remark drew wide criticism, with accusations he lacked compassion, and several hours later a statement on the presidential website sought to clarify his thinking.

The president, it said, regrets that not more people have come forward, because the total so far doesnt seem particularly high considering the probable sad truth, both in Portugal and in the rest of the world.

The head of state also wants investigations to continue and any evidence sent to the attorney generals office, the statement added.

But the uproar didnt die down, prompting Rebelo de Sousa to give separate live interviews late at night to two national broadcasters, where he said the cases are very serious.

Prime Minister Antonio Costa came to the presidents aid Wednesday, telling reporters he was sure the head of states initial comments had been misinterpreted.

The investigating committee, which started work last January, is still urging victims to come forward.

Before the panel had started its work, senior church officials had claimed that only a handful of abuse cases had occurred in Portugal.
Joe Biden, Britney Griner, Vladimir Putin

Chip Somodevilla/Getty; KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty; SERGEI GUNEYEV/Sputnik/AFP via Getty

U.S. President Joe Biden said he would be open to meeting with Vladimir Putin if the Russian president was willing to discuss the release of imprisoned WNBA star Brittney Griner.

Speaking with CNN's Jake Tapper Tuesday night, Biden said that would be the only reason he would talk with Putin at the G20 summit in Indonesia next month.

"Look, I have no intention of meeting with him, but look, if he came to me at the G20 and said, 'I want to talk about the release of Griner,' I would meet with him, but that would depend," Biden said.

He again spoke about the possibility while addressing reporters outside of the White House on Wednesday, according to Reuters. Biden also said that there has been no movement from Putin on the possibility of a prisoner exchange with Griner and another American imprisoned in Russia, Paul Whelan.

Biden told Tapper that he doesn't believe there is a need to speak with Putin outside of specific issues, while alluding to the war Russia has waged against Ukraine since February.

RELATED: Brittney Griner's Wife Cherelle Speaks Out on WNBA Star's 9-Year Sentence: 'It Terrifies Me'

"He's acted brutally, I think he's committed war crimes, and so I don't see any rationale to meet with him now," he said on CNN.

US' Women's National Basketball Association (NBA) basketball player Brittney Griner (C), who was detained at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport and later charged with illegal possession of cannabis, shakes hands with her lawyer Alexander Boykov (R) next to Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Moscow Elizabeth Rood (L) before a court hearing in Khimki outside Moscow, on August 4, 2022. - Lawyers for US basketball star Brittney Griner, who is standing trial in Russia on drug charges, said on July 26, 2022 they hoped she would receive a "lenient" sentence.

EVGENIA NOVOZHENINA/POOL/AFP via Getty Brittney Griner shakes hands with her lawyer Alexander Boykov

In August, Griner was sentenced to nine years in prison. The sentence came after she was arrested at a Russian airport in February when officials allegedly found vape cartridges containing hash oil in her luggage.

Since then, the Biden Administration's attempts to negotiate with Russia for Griner's release have been unsuccessful, including a "substantial offer" made by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Meanwhile, Griner's lawyers in Russia have filed for an appeal, and a Russian court set Griner's first appeal hearing date for Oct. 25.

Story continues

RELATED: A Timeline of Brittney Griner's Detainment in Russia

Earlier this month, Griner's wife, Cherelle, spoke about the situation with CBS' Gayle King.

"I'm like, in no world did I ever thought, you know, our president and a foreign nation's president would be sitting down having to discuss the freedom of my wife," she explained. "And so to me, as much as everybody's telling me a different definition of what BG is, it feels to me as if she's a hostage."

"It terrifies me, because when you watch movies, sometimes those situations don't end well," Cherelle added. "Sometimes they never get their person back."

RELATED VIDEO: Brittney Griner Is 'Stressed' in Russian Prison as She Awaits the Start of Her Appeal Hearings

Biden and Cherelle met in person in September to discuss the White House's continued work to secure Griner's release. Cherelle later expressed her gratitude with a post on social media.

"I want to thank President Biden for yesterday's meeting as well as the Administration for its efforts to secure my wife's release," she wrote in the post. "It was an honor to speak with him directly about the Brittney we know and love. I've felt every minute of the grueling seven months without her. I look forward to the day my wife is back home."

Cherelle added: "As my family and I continue on this journey, I'd like to thank the broad coalition of friends, leaders and supporters who continue to stand with us and advocate for Brittney's swift and safe return."
Offering in-state college tuition to undocumented immigrants only encourages a broken immigration system.

There is no doubt the immigration system in this country is broken. Now, a measure on the ballot this November could further incentivize unlawful entry into Arizona.

Proposition 308 allows a student who is not a legal citizen to qualify for in-state tuition at any state university or community college. The only criteria for eligibility is graduating from high school, or obtaining a high school equivalency diploma while maintaining a physical presence in Arizona for at least two years.

While proponents want to focus on lowering the cost of tuition, the real genesis of the problem is a broken immigration system. The recipients of this benefit, should it pass, are neither Arizonans nor U.S. citizens, which is the current requirement to receive in-state tuition.

As an Arizona state senator, the priority is to facilitate Arizonans getting into higher education and entering the workforce. Proposition 308 has a misplaced focus. The place to resolve the status of whether a nonlegal citizen can receive in-state tuition is in Washington, D.C., not on the Arizona ballot.

Democrats have control of the presidency and both chambers of Congress. If this really was a pressing issue among voters, the business community and for our economy, it would be fixed.

Few GOP lawmakers supported this measure

Arizona voters have already weighed in on this very issue.

In 2006, the Legislature referred Proposition 300 to the ballot, which required recipients of certain state-funded services to be legal citizens in the United States. The measure specifically prohibited nonlegal citizens from receiving in-state tuition. Arizona voters overwhelmingly approved the proposition by a vote of 71% in favor and 29% against.

Another view: Proposition 308 can right many wrongs

One of the most misleading claims by proponents is that Proposition 308 was passed by the Legislature with broad bipartisan support. In 2021, Senate Concurrent Resolution 1044 (which became Proposition 308) passed the Senate with the support of all Democrats, but only three of 16 Republicans voted in favor.

Story continues

In order to get the legislation passed in the House of Representatives, a procedural motion was made to bypass the Speaker and bring the legislation up for a vote. As a result, the entire legislative process was skipped in the House. The resolution passed the House with all Democratic votes; however, only four of 31 Republicans voted in favor.

'Dreamers' can still access scholarships

Let me be clear, this proposition is not about so-called Dreamers, contrary to what the supporters want you to believe. Remember, anyone from anywhere who has been here only a minimum of two years will be eligible for in-state tuition.

If this was intended to address Dreamers, the language of the proposition would have specifically referenced the qualifications to be considered one. It does not do that in any way.

Further negating this justification by the proponents is that a three-judge panel of a federal appeals court on Oct. 5 ruled that President Obama did not have the authority to institute the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program. In fact, new applicants are now prohibited from even enrolling in the program to seek DACA benefits.

According to a recent Arizona Republic article, there are financial resources available at all three state universities, Grand Canyon University and several private organizations to assist nonlegal citizens who want to attend college.

In another Republic article, it was stated that more than 130 business, community, faith and elected leaders support this effort. There is nothing preventing them from providing financial aid, as well as other supportive resources to assist the students.

Prop. 308 sends a mixed message. Vote no

The bottom line is theres very little support for this proposition.

Voters have already overwhelmingly spoken. The federal government has utterly failed to address the real issue, and these students have other avenues available to them in their pursuit of a college education.

This proposition sends a mixed message. The current environment in our state and country is that nonlegal citizens are being flown and bused to sanctuary cities that claim to welcome these nonlegal citizens, while shipping containers are being used to seal the border.

To enact an incentive like this only encourages illegal immigration  it is nonsensical.

Thats why Im encouraging you to join me in voting no on Proposition 308.

Michelle Ugenti-Rita represents Legislative District 23 in the Arizona Senate. Reach her at mugenti-rita@azleg.gov.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Prop. 308 doesn't address real issue: Illegal immigration
Fresh anti-government protests erupted across Iran on Wednesday, with images of many protests appearing on social media despite severe internet restrictions. The demonstrators appeared to be defiantly heeding a call for a day of nationwide rallies in response to a lethal crackdown by Iran's security forces in the cities of Sanandaj and Zahedan. Also Wednesday, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights group updated its estimate of the number of protesters who have been killed by Iranian authorities during more than three weeks of almost unprecedented unrest to 201. The group said 23 of the victims were children. The government had previously acknowledged only about 40 deaths, and claimed members of the security forces were among those killed. The crowds who came out to demonstrate on Wednesday appeared to include a wide range of ages. Some marched and chanted "Freedom!" while some women flung their mandatory headscarves in the air.

The Center for Human Rights in Iran said that lawyers in Tehran who rallied in front of the Iran Central Bar Association were later attacked by security forces using tear gas to disperse them. At least three lawyers were arrested, the group said, adding that an eyewitness said two white vans arrested about two dozen people.

Sanandaj is the capital of the western province of Kurdistan, where residents and human rights groups have accused security forces of throwing tear gas and indiscriminately firing live ammunition into homes and at protesters at close range. Medical professionals inside and outside of Iran have also told CBS News that since the demonstrations began on September 16, many injured protesters have either been turned away by state-run hospitals or detained when they tried to seek treatment. Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, condemned the "shocking violence" and called for sanctions on "those responsible for this repression."

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Anger toward the regime has been particularly intense in Iran's Kurdish regions. Mahsa Amini, whose death in the custody of Iran's "morality police" sparked the protests last month, was from Saqqez, a city in Kurdistan province.

A woman holds a placard with a picture of Iranian woman Mahsa Amini during a protest against her death, in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022. / Credit: Markus Schreiber / AP

On Tuesday, the Kurdish rights group Hengaw reported that at least 5 civilians were killed and more than 400 were injured in violence inflicted by government forces over the previous three days.

In Zahedan, in the southeast Iranian province of Sistan-Baluchestan, security forces killed at least 90 people during recent demonstrations, according to Iran Human Rights. The Islamic regime's heavy Internet restrictions makes it difficult to get a clear understanding of what's happening on the ground in Sanandaj and elsewhere in Iran. The advocacy group Netblocks reported what it calls a "major disruption" to internet traffic in Iran from Wednesday morning, dropping to around 25% compared to its peak.

Both Kurdistan and Sistan-Baluchestan provinces are home to ethnic and religious minorities, which have long been marginalized and have a history of pushing for more rights and recognition.

They are also located far from the capital of Tehran  one reason that the authorities are more willing to use force there, especially in recent days, residents told CBS News. Across the country, human rights' groups say hundreds of children have been detained, mostly in prisons for adults. The Tehran-based Children's Rights Protection Society reported that families are being kept in the dark about their children's whereabouts and that they are not getting access to lawyers. Iran's Education Minister Yousof Nouri acknowledged that schoolchildren have been arrested during the protests, according to Iran's Shargh daily on Tuesday. He declined to offer the number of those arrested, the newspaper reported, and said the detained students are being held in "psychological centers"  not prisons. Once they have been "reformed," they will be allowed back to school, he added. On Wednesday, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei repeated his claim that his country's enemies are to blame for fomenting the rallies  though he dismissed them as "scattered riots" and an amateurish plot, according to the semi-official Tasnim News Agency.

Omid Memarian, an Iranian-American journalist and activist, pushed back against the claim that the riots were fueled by an external power.

"The nationwide support of the protests in Sanandaj and Sistan and Baluchestan is the best indication that people in Iran, whether from minority groups or the capital, all see themselves as united against the Islamic Republic," Memarian said. "The Iranian government usually labels any organic protests as separatist or supported by the U.S. or Israel, but this trick does not intimidate people anymore."

"The fact is that Iranians suffer from the abusive and authoritarian rule of the regime, whether they live in Tehran or the provinces," he added.

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A Providence man was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Tuesday for kidnapping and killing a young mother in Boston in February 2019, federal and local law-enforcement officials announced.

Louis D. Coleman III, 36, was sentenced in U.S. District Court, Boston, following his June 1 conviction on the federal charge of kidnapping resulting in death, the officials, including Providence Police Chief Hugh T. Clements Jr., said in a news release.

On Feb. 24, 2019, Coleman sexually assaulted and strangled Jassy Correia, the mother of a 2-year-old girl, who'd gone to a downtown Boston nightclub with friends to celebrate her upcoming 23rd birthday, officials said.

More: Louis Coleman convicted of fatal kidnapping of woman from Boston nightclub

Jassy Correia

Jassy Correia was a vibrant and beautiful 22-year-old woman and mother of a toddler daughter. Louis Coleman, a total stranger to her, abducted her, raped her and strangled her to death," First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy said in the release.

Coleman's LinkedIn profile had identified him as a systems engineer at Raytheon in Waltham, Massachusetts. Coleman's website said he'd earned a master's degree in experimental physics from California State University Long Beach.

Correia, of Lynn, Massachusetts, had gotten separated from her friends and tried hailing a ride from an Uber driver outside the Venu nightclub shortly after 2 a.m., but the driver was waiting for a larger group and refused. Within seconds, video surveillance showed, Coleman approached Correia.

Coleman killed Correia after tricking her into believing he would give her a ride to her friend's apartment, officials said, citing trial evidence.

More: Prosecutors: Providence man charged in abduction, death texted another woman before disposing victims body

After killing Correia in his car in Boston, Coleman drove to his apartment on Chestnut Street in Providence. Surveillance footage from Colemans apartment building showed Coleman parking and getting out his his car at about 4:15 that morning.

Story continues

He returned a short time later carrying a blanket, then walked from the car to the front of the apartment building with Correia's body over his shoulder. Surveillance video inside the building then showed Coleman dragging her toward the elevator and then towards his apartment.

Four days later, at 1:15 a.m., Coleman wheeled a suitcase containing Correia's body out of his apartment and into the lot where his car was parked. He struggled to lift the suitcase into the trunk and then drove away at 4 a.m.

More: Providence man held; body found in car

That afternoon, Colemans car was stopped by police on Interstate 95 South near Wilmington, Deleware. When police officers asked Coleman if anyone else was in the car, he replied, "She's in the trunk."

Correia's body was found in a suitcase in the trunk.

Levy said, To this day, Louis Coleman has shown no remorse. After he lured 22-year-old Ms. Correia into his car, sexually assaulted her and violently killed her, Louis Coleman did not once consider turning himself in  rather he concocted a gruesome plan to conceal the assault and murder he just committed."

"By his depravity and his horrific disregard for Ms. Correias life, Louis Coleman forfeited his right to live free in society, Levy said.

jperry@providencejournal.com

(401) 277-7614

On Twitter: @jgregoryperry

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This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Louis Coleman sentenced to life without parole for murder of Jassy Correia
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan for talks in Kazakhstan on Thursday, a meeting at which the Turks are likely to raise ideas for peace in Ukraine, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters.

"Now many say that the Turks are ready to come up with other initiatives in the context of the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict," Ushakov said.

"There are reports in the press that the Turkish side is putting forward specific considerations in this regard, I do not exclude that Erdogan will actively touch on this topic during the Astana contact. So a very interesting and, I hope, useful discussion awaits us."

(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov, editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani in Kazakhstan, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters.

"This will be the first face-to-face meeting after the outbreak of the pandemic, so it is very important," Ushakov said. "The last time we met with the Emir was in Dushanbe in 2019."

Discussions would focus on politics and trade, he said, adding: "I would single out cooperation in the energy market, cooperation between Russia and Qatar within the framework of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum."

Thursday's scheduled meeting is an attempt to diffuse tensions between Russia and Qatar, which have grown since the Ukraine crisis broke out earlier this year, according to a source familiar with the talks.

Major gas-exporter Qatar has sought a largely neutral stance on the conflict but several moves by the Gulf Arab state have recently irked Moscow, the source said.

Sheikh Tamim called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday hours after explosions rocked several Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kyiv. Qatar has criticised Russia's annexation of Ukrainian territory and was one of eight non-NATO countries to join a NATO meeting earlier this year, the source said.

Russia had shown its displeasure by interfering in key Qatar dossiers, the source said, citing as examples its delivery of humanitarian aid in Syria and its role in facilitating talks between world powers on Tehran's nuclear programme.

Qatar "needs cordial relations with Russia and others in the region," in order to continue to play a role as a conflict mediator, the source said.

(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov in Moscow and Andrew Mills in Doha; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Jon Boyle)
By Vladimir Soldatkin and Oksana Kobzeva

MOSCOW (Reuters) -President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia could redirect supplies intended for the damaged Nord Stream pipelines to the Black Sea to create a European gas hub in Turkey, or even use the one intact part of Nord Stream 2 to supply the EU.

An investigation is under way into explosions last month that ruptured the Russian-built Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines on the bed of the Baltic Sea.

Putin said it was possible to repair the pipelines and that Russia and Europe should decide their fate.

"We could move the lost volumes from the Nord Streams along the bottom of the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea region and thus make the main routes for the supply of our fuel, our natural gas to Europe through Turkey, creating the largest gas hub for Europe in Turkey," he told an energy conference in Moscow.

"That is, of course, if our partners are interested in this. And economic feasibility, of course."

The problem is that European Union countries are trying to end their reliance on Russian oil and gas after Putin sent troops into Ukraine as part of what he calls a special military operation.

Turkish Energy Minister Fatih Donmez, speaking at the same conference in Moscow, said the idea was new to him but should be discussed.

"It is the first time we've heard this. Thus it is early to make an assessment," Donmez said. "These are things that need to be discussed."

Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller praised the Turkstream pipeline across Black Sea, noting it was much deeper than Nord Stream.

"As for the hub, there is no doubt that we can consider the issue of a trading platform on the border of the European Union and Turkey," Miller said.

'BALL IN EU COURT'

Putin also said Russian gas could still be supplied to Europe through the one part of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that is intact, but that would depend on the EU.

"It is possible to repair gas pipelines running along the bottom of the Baltic Sea, but this will only make sense if they are further economically justified," he said, adding that the security of the pipeline would have to be ensured.

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"And there is one branch of the Nord Stream 2, apparently that survived," Putin said. "Russia is ready to start such deliveries. The ball, as they say, is in the court of the European Union."

Miller said the pipelines could be repaired but that the EU had to say whether it wanted them repaired - and ensure their security.

Three of the Nord Stream pipelines are damaged. That leaves only one line of Nord Stream 2, which has an annual capacity of 27.5 billion cubic metres, functional.

"We are ready to supply additional volumes in the autumn-winter period," Putin said.

The pipelines, which have become a flashpoint in the Ukraine crisis, have been leaking gas into the Baltic Sea off the coast of Denmark and Sweden.

Europe suspects an act of sabotage that Moscow quickly sought to pin on the West, suggesting the United States stood to gain.

Apart from being the world's biggest natural gas exporter, Russia is the second largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia and a member of the OPEC+ producer group that last week decided to cut output.

Putin said Russia planned to hold oil production and exports at current levels until 2025 and that Moscow would not cede its leading position in the global energy market despite Western sanctions.

"We hope that these decisions will suit both oil producers and consumers," Putin said. "The coordination of the actions of OPEC+ partners will definitely continue to ensure the stability and predictability of the market."

(Editing by Guy Faulconbridge, Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Barbara Lewis)
Kryviy Rhi, Ukraine  Ukraine has been subjected to days of Russian aerial bombardment on a scale not seen since the start of the war, spreading not just death and destruction, but terror across the country. The assault prompted Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to implore G-7 leaders on Tuesday, including President Biden, for more help.

Zelenskyy told his fellow leaders that with enough modern, effective air defense systems, Ukraine could render useless the most damaging instruments of Russia's terror  its missiles, rockets and explosives-laden kamikaze drones.

President Vladimir Putin has defined the dramatic escalation in Russia's attacks as retaliation for a huge explosion that damaged the 12-mile Kerch Bridge, the only ground link between Ukraine's Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula and mainland Russia.

What are tactical nukes and how might Putin use them?

Two days of retaliatory strikes on Monday and Tuesday saw Russia fire dozens of missiles and drones at Ukraine  many of which were intercepted by air defense systems the country already has, but not enough of them. At least 19 people were killed and more than 100 injured as the bombs rained down on cities across Ukraine. A hospital in the capital city of Kyiv said Wednesday that a veteran cancer doctor was among those killed on Monday as she rushed to work after dropping her child off at daycare.

The blistering assault on Ukraine's infrastructure and civilians began just two days after Putin  whose most senior generals have come under mounting pressure over Russia's territorial losses  put a new commander in charge of the war in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin applauds Col. Gen. Sergei Surovikin during an awards ceremony for troops who fought in Syria, at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, December 28, 2017. / Credit: Alexei Druzhinin/Sputnik/Kremlin Pool Photo via AP

General Sergei Surovikin, lionized by Russia's pro-Kremlin press as "General Armageddon," was previously the commander of Russia's Air Force. He earned his reputation by a stint leading Russia's ruthless bombing campaign in Syria, flattening entire cities and killing thousands of civilians in support of dictator Bashar Assad's regime.

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Now Surovikin has been tasked with turning the tide for Russia's troops in Ukraine as they face daily crushing defeats on the front lines in the country's south and east.

On Wednesday morning, Ukraine's Defense Ministry announced the recapture of five more villages in the southern Kherson Oblast, one of four Ukrainian regions that Putin unilaterally declared Russian territory with an illegal annexation about two weeks ago.

CBS News has seen first-hand how Ukrainian tactics and firepower have overwhelmed Russian troops in Kherson. In the towns and villages where Ukrainian forces have ousted the invaders and raised their national flag again over recent weeks, soldiers have dug in deep, and there are armored personnel carriers, tanks, heavy artillery, and rocket launchers everywhere.

It's clear their lightning counteroffensive hasn't been about just taking ground back from Russia, but holding onto it.

The city of Kherson, the regional capital with a pre-war population of around 300,000, was the first major city to fall to Russia after Putin ordered his invasion on February 24. His forces still hold it, but Ukrainian troops are inching closer every day.

If Ukraine's military manages to force the Russian occupiers out of the strategic stronghold in the south, it would be Putin's most humiliating defeat since he launched his war, so it's not something Russia is likely to give up without a fight - or further retaliation.

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Pile of Vote Badges - US Elections Concept Image

The 2022 election is underway in Ohio.

Early voting has begun at boards of election in each of Ohio's 88 counties. You can also request an absentee ballot and vote by mail.

Your voice and your vote matter.

Members of the editorial boards representing The Columbus Dispatch, Akron Beacon Journal, Cincinnati Enquirer, The Canton Repository, The Mansfield News Journal, The Newark Advocate, and more than a dozen other USA TODAY Ohio newspapers will sit down with the candidates running for Ohio governor and U.S. Senate.

Submit here: What questions do you have for the 2022 Ohio governor and U.S. Senate candidates?

We want your questions

If given a chance, what questions would you ask Gov. Mike DeWine his challenger Nan Whaley, a Democrat, and the candidates running to replace Rob Portman in the U.S. Senate, J.D. Vance, a Republican, and Tim Ryan, a Democrat?

We invite you to add your questions to our online form below or at https://bit.ly/YourQuestionsOhio.

Whaley and Ryan have agreed to participate. We are still awaiting confirmation from DeWine and Vance.

Our view: Mike DeWine shirking duty by cheating Ohio voters out of debate with Nan Whaley

More:US voting rights: Searchable state-by-state voters' rights; check your voter registration

Our meetings will be held even if only one candidate shows up.

Videos of our meetings will be available on our newspaper websites, Facebook pages and YouTube channels to help voters make informed decisions.

More:Poll shows races, issues to watch ahead of Election Day

Debates have been politicized

Whaley has accepted invitations to debate incumbent DeWine. DeWine has not yet accepted any invitations to debate Whaley. This is only the second election in 50 years where the candidates for governor have not debated.

Oct 5, 2022; Columbus, Ohio, USA; J.D. Vance campaigns with Donald Trump Jr. at the Fraternal Order of Police lodge in Westerville. Mandatory Credit: Adam Cairns-The Columbus Dispatch

More: Mike DeWine, Nan Whaley should give Ohioans what they want, a debate | Opinion

Senate candidates Vance and Ryan had their first debate Oct. 10. A second is planned for Oct. 17.

Ohioans are concerned. They are worried about the economy, reproductive rights, education, and other issues. They want to know what candidates are going to do about these issues if they are elected.

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YOUR VOICE MATTERS: What questions do you have for the 2022 Ohio governor and U.S. Senate candidates?

Check your registration to vote in Ohio on the Ohio Secretary of State's online voter registration search at www.ohiosos.gov.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: How to submit question to Mike DeWine, Nan Whaley, J.D. Vance and Tim Ryan?
The grandmother of missing Georgia toddler Quinton Simon has shared an unusual message on her Facebook page amid new video showing her arguing with his babysitter, according to reports.

Billie Jo Howell, who reportedly has legal custody over the 20-month-old and his three-year-old brother, shared an old Facebook post from years ago, Fox News reported on Tuesday.

In the post, Ms Howell thanked those who stood by her side throughout her life and that calm was coming following a storm. The meaning behind the message remained unclear, however.

Seems theres always a storm before the calm in my life, the post reportedly read. Boy let me tell you it felt like a tornado was spinning everything at once. Finally I feel the calming peaceful sunshine hitting my face.

She added: Those of you who stood with me and helped me through man yall are amazing. I love yall. You all know the parts youve played in my life. No matter what we been through I love you.

The post came on the same day that Chatham County police said they had obtained evidence that could lead to possible movement forward in the investigation, which has been underway since Quinton went missing from his home in Savannah, Georgia, last Wednesday.

Police said Quintons mother called to report him missing at about 9.40am that morning and that he was last seen at the property at 6am.

Court records obtained by WJCL show that Ms Howell had custody of Quinton and his three-year-old brother, who lived at the home with their mother and her boyfriend, who she also tried to evict over alleged damage and a lack of peace, the news station reported.

We've seized evidence that we believe will help move this case forward & we're now working to analyze the evidence to see where it leads us. We continue to pursue all avenues to bring Quinton home, following all leads and evidence. There will be no further public statements today pic.twitter.com/7JaqlGCxqW  Chatham County Police Department (@ChathamCountyPD) October 11, 2022

Sometimes she does really great, sometimes she doesnt, Ms Howell told ABC30 of her 22-year-old daughter and Quintons mother. I dont know what to think right now. I dont know what to believe, because I dont think anybody ever believes this is going to happen to them.

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I dont know if I can trust her or I dont, the grandmother added. I just know Im hurting and I want this baby home. Hes my baby.

According to WSAV, Ms Howell said in another Facebook post on Monday that she needed help fixing her backyard pool after federal investigators drained the pool in the search for Quinton.

A picture of Quinton Simon shared by police in Chatham County. Georgia (Chatham County Police Department / Facebook)

While that post was reportedly later deleted, the pool was one of multiple locations near the family home in Savannah searched by Chatham County police and the FBI.

It comes as Quintons babysitter, Diana McCarta, said in an interview with WSAV that she was due to look after the two boys the morning Quinton went missing, but she was informed at 5.30am she was not needed.

At 9am, Ms MsCarta said she received a message from Quintons mother asking if she knew where the child was, and immediately went to the familys home to help search for Quinton before his mother eventually phoned police.

She added: They didnt want that (her help). So, Ive been just waiting around like everyone else.

EXCLUSIVE: New video shows emotional moments in the search for Quinton Simon. The toddler's babysitter and grandmother in a heated argument. That babysitter telling me today, Georgia's DFCS has an open case involving Quinton. @WSAV @NewsNation pic.twitter.com/lzO7D46avd  Brett Buffington (@BrettWSAV) October 11, 2022

Ms McCarta and Ms Howell were seen in a video obtained by WSAV engaging in a verbal dispute over the disappearance of Quinton, which was published on Tuesday.

The grandmother accused the babysitter of organising a memorial for Quinton in the video and exclaimed: Youre awful to say youre going to put up a memorial...My babys not dead.

Ms McCarta responded by denying the memorial idea and calling Ms Howell a liar. Most of the comments made in the video are inaudible however.

She added in comments to the news station that she had previously alerted Georgias Division of Family & Children Services (DFCS) about Quinton, and that the department had an open case. This remains unconfirmed, however.

The Independent could not reach Ms Howell for comment.
Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams has been charged with misdemeanor assault on Wednesday for pushing a photographer after the teams loss to the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium on Monday night.

The charges, filed in the Municipal Court of Kansas City, accuse Adams of committing an intentional, overt act, inflicting bodily injury in pushing the photographer, Ryan Zebley, who sustained whiplash, a headache and a possible minor concussion, according to the court filing obtained by USA Today Sports.

The Raiders (1-4) do not have a game in Week 6, but Adams could face discipline, including a suspension, from the NFL for the incident. The matter is under review and theres no timeline for a decision on discipline for Adams, an NFL spokesman told USA TODAY Sports.

Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams

Adams was seen pushing Zebley as he was walking toward the tunnel to leave the field after the Chiefs beat the Raiders 30-29 on "Monday Night Football."

Adams scored two touchdowns during the game, but ran into fellow receiver Hunter Renfrow on the Raiders final offensive play of the game, contributing to the loss.

Adams apologized for his role in the incident, citing his frustrations, after the game to reporters in the locker room and on social media.

I want to apologize to the guy. Some guy running off the field, he ran and jumped in front of me coming off the field, and I bumped into him and kind of pushed him, and I didnt think he ended up on the ground, Adams said in the locker room.

So, I want to say sorry to him for that cause that was just frustration mixed with him literally just running in front of me. I shouldn't have responded that way, but that's how I initially responded, so I want to apologize to him for that.

Adams has a court date scheduled for Nov. 10 at 1:30 p.m.

Raiders coach Josh McDaniels said Tuesday he supports Adams, and the team will comply with any league investigation into the incident.

"I know that was an unfortunate situation, McDaniels said. We obviously dont want any of our guys to be doing anything like that. (Adams) knows that. Hes very well aware of that. But I know the person. I dont think there was any intent behind it on his part. But whatever they ask of us, whatever they need from us, obviously well comply.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Raiders WR Davante Adams charged with assault for pushing photographer
Trends in recreational or illicit drug use often make the jump to Halloween warnings. Malte Mueller/fstop via Getty Images

Every year around the middle of October, reporters start contacting me wanting to talk about rumors of contaminated Halloween treats.

Thats because I track media coverage of reported incidents of trick-or-treaters receiving razor blades in apples or pins and poison in candy bars. My data goes back to 1958, and my principal finding is simple: I cant find any evidence that any child has ever been killed or seriously injured by a contaminated treat picked up in the course of trick-or-treating.

This often surprises people who assume that Halloween sadism is both very real and very common.

Stories about contaminated treats are best understood as contemporary legends. Theyre tales weve all heard, that weve been assured are true. They warn that we live in a dangerous world filled with villainous strangers who could harm us if we arent careful.

This year, reporters began reaching out earlier than usual, in late September, and they wanted to talk about a new alleged threat: rainbow fentanyl.

Kids are next

Fentanyl is a very powerful synthetic opioid that has caused thousands of overdoses and deaths over the past two decades. In August 2022, drug enforcement authorities noted that pills containing fentanyl were being manufactured in various colors. DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said, Rainbow fentanyl  fentanyl pills and powder that come in a variety of bright colors, shapes and sizes  is a deliberate effort by drug traffickers to drive addiction amongst kids and young adults.

Many news outlets covered this story, including the notion that the colors might be some sort of marketing ploy to attract younger drug users. But then some people started connecting rainbow fentanyl to Halloween.

Interviewed on Fox News on Sept. 20, 2022, Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel declared, Every mom in the country is worried, what if this gets into my kids Halloween basket? Other Fox commentators suggested that parents might want to protect their children by not letting them go trick-or-treating this year. And, to prove the bipartisan appeal of protecting children, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, repeated the warnings.

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September crime lays the groundwork

Its worth considering whats familiar and whats new about these warnings.

One fairly standard element is commentators readiness to link September crime news to the possibility that it might presage what could happen on Halloween.

In 1982 there was a spate of Tylenol poisonings  seven people died after purchasing and consuming tampered packages of pills. Many commentators then warned that parents needed to be extra vigilant when examining Halloween treats. Those deaths also led to a dramatic increase in protective packaging for all sorts of products to discourage tampering.

David Clare, president of Johnson & Johnson, testifies before a Senate subcommittee after a spate of Tylenol poisonings. Bettmann/Getty Images

Similarly, the 9/11 terrorist attacks led to rumors about Halloween 2001 threats  that there were plans to attack a mall where some parents let their children go trick-or-treating, or that terrorists had purchased massive amounts of candy, presumably so they could poison the treats before distributing them.

Trends in recreational or illicit drug use often make the jump to Halloween warnings. In 2014, the year that Colorado first allowed state-licensed retail sales of recreational marijuana, the Denver Police posted online warnings that parents ought to keep an eye out for THC-laced edible candies in Halloween treats. Yet after Halloween had passed, a department spokesperson admitted, We are not aware of any cases of children ingesting marijuana candy during Halloween season.

Similarly, in 2019, September reports of deaths caused by vaping black-market THC-infused cartridges were coupled with news that Pennsylvania authorities had confiscated commercial THC candies  supposedly smuggled from a state where they could be purchased legally  to generate another round of Halloween warnings.

The irrationality of it all

One obvious hole in these concerns is that drugs tend to cost more than candy  marijuana edibles, for example, run somewhere in the neighborhood of a dollar or two per dose or more.

Fentanyl is considerably more expensive. It is not unreasonable to wonder just what a fentanyl dealers overarching goal might be if in passing the drug off as candy. The suggestion that a school-age kid would go from accidental user of fentanyl to a paying addict is far-fetched.

Of course, the villains in contemporary legends arent expected to behave rationally. Ask why gang members would attempt to kill motorists who blink their headlights at them  an urban legend from the 1980s  and the response is likely to be, Thats just the sort of thing those sadistic people do. It might not make any sense for someone to give a brightly colored opioid pill or THC-infused candy to a small child, but it isnt impossible, is it? Such reasoning is thought to justify ringing the alarm bells.

Often there is a kernel of truth to these fears. Certainly fentanyl is a dangerous drug. But American history can be read as a long line of fears about witches, immigrants, drugs, conspirators and so on. These fears emerge as reflections of current social changes. Yes, things are always changing, and this can always frighten some people. But it is also true that, in retrospect, these fears are usually exaggerated.

What seems new about describing rainbow fentanyl as a Halloween danger is the willingness of important political figures and news media outlets to spread the warnings. Most past claims about Halloween sadism lack such prominent spokespeople.

But in a time when many news outlets seem intent on maintaining their audiences by frightening them, and increased political polarization seems to stall efforts to devise workable social policies, calls for protecting our children from the threats of boogeyman drug dealers return us to the spirit of Halloween: offering up fresh ways to keep people scared.

This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Joel Best, University of Delaware. If you found it interesting, you could subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

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Joel Best 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.
Randolph County authorities believe the deaths of Archdale brothers Scotty and Jackie Pierce were the result of a murder-suicide.

Randolph County authorities responded to an emergency call on Huff Road in Archdale early Tuesday morning. The call, according to authorities, was of a man threatening to shoot himself.

"The caller reported hearing a gunshot and the conversation ended," according to the Randolph County Sheriff's Office.

Hours after the initial call, the Randolph County Sheriff's Office confirmed that their investigators believed the incident was a murder suicide.

"During the investigation, Detectives determined that this incident was a murder/suicide based on evidence at the scene," reads information from the Sheriff's Office.

First responders reported hearing no response after knocking on the door of the residence.

Upon entering the residence, deputies located the bodies of the brothers and a firearm. Randolph County EMS pronounced the victims dead on the scene.

Currently, investigators have not released information on which of the two fired the weapon. The investigation is still ongoing.

This article originally appeared on The Courier-Tribune: The death of a pair of Archdale brothers believed to be murder suicide
A Venezuelan man holds his daughter at the U.S. southern border. Paul Ratje/AFP via Getty Images

In an attempt to deter Venezuelans from illegally crossing the southern border, the Biden administration is looking into creating a humanitarian parole program similar to one now in place for Ukrainians, two officials familiar with the matter told The New York Times on Tuesday.

Over the last decade, an estimated 6.8 million Venezuelans have fled the country due to economic and political instability, poverty, and a lack of essentials like food and medicine. While many are settling in South American countries, other Venezuelans are making the long and dangerous trek to the U.S.; from October 2021 through August, more than 150,000 Venezuelans have been apprehended at the southern border.

After Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, the Biden administration launched Uniting for Ukraine, a program that allows a sponsor in the U.S. to vouch for a Ukrainian refugee and agree to provide them with financial support while they are in the country. Participating Ukrainians are allowed to stay in the U.S. temporarily, for up to two years.

Under the proposed plan for Venezuelans, which is not yet finalized, migrants who have a sponsor inside the U.S. and arrive at an official port of entry will not be turned away, the Times reports, while those who cross the southern border illegally will be expelled to Mexico as part of the Title 42 public health authority. As it is now, because Washington does not have formal diplomatic relations with Caracas, most Venezuelan migrants are receiving permission to stay in the U.S. on a temporary basis before going through deportation proceedings, which can take years. These migrants are monitored via GPS ankle monitors, telephones, and apps.

Immigration advocates have been asking the Biden administration to come up with a streamlined process that makes it easier for vulnerable Venezuelans to enter the U.S. "We do find that a lack of coordination leads to more migrants being exploited," a senior administration official told CNN. "There's consensus that there's value in us working more closely and trying to synchronize our policies."

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Extreme tiredness, losing smell, shortness of breath, as well as muscle aches are some of the most widely reported symptoms of long Covid (PA)

Women account for almost two-thirds of long Covid cases, according to a new study of the illness in multiple countries.

Extreme tiredness, loss of smell, shortness of breath, and muscle aches are some of the most widely-reported symptoms of long Covid, which affects about six percent of Covid-19 patients.

The NHS says most long people with long Covid fully recover after 12 weeks but that some experience symptoms for longer.

The latest report, carried out by the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found women constituted 63 per cent of those with long Covid.

Researchers modelled findings on 1.2 million people aged between four and 66 from 22 countries who had symptomatic Covid in 2020 and 2021 and survived the virus's worst point.

It is not clear why women are more prone to long Covid, though recent research published in the American Journal of Managed Caresuggested different immune responses might explain the gender discrepancy.

The University of Washington study calculated the average duration of long Covid symptoms was nine months among people who were admitted to hospital, while it was four months among individuals who did not stay in hospital.

Calculating the amount of people with long Covid can help policymakers ensure adequate access to services to guide people toward recovery, return to the workplace or school, and restore their mental health and social life, researchers said.

The report analysed existing data from research into coronavirus carried out in the US, Austria, Germany, Iran, Italy, the Netherlands, the Faroe Islands, Sweden, Switzerland and Russia, plus data from 44 studies and statistics from two medical record databases.

Earlier research, published in Nature Medicine, found hair loss and erectile dysfunction have joined the list of long Covid symptoms. Women, younger people, and individuals from Black, mixed-race or other ethnic groups are at higher risk of getting long Covid, studies have found.
United plans to add two new flights from Chicago to Europe as part of an expansion of its international routes, after what the carrier described as strong demand for trans-Atlantic travel this summer.

The Chicago-based airline will add daily seasonal flights from Chicago to Shannon, Ireland, and Barcelona, Spain, beginning May 25. The routes are part of a broader expansion of Uniteds international flights next summer, including adding service out of Newark, New Jersey, to three new cities: Malaga, Spain; Stockholm, Sweden; and Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

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The additional trans-Atlantic flights come after a major expansion by United in 2022 as it eyed the return of international travel, which was particularly hard hit during the pandemic. The airline said it saw historic demand for travel to Europe this summer, which was up 20% over 2019 levels.

We expect another busy summer for international travel, said Patrick Quayle, senior vice president of global network planning and alliances, in a statement.

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United will continue to fly nine of the routes added in 2022, including routes from Chicago to Zurich and Milan. One of the new routes, between Newark and Bergen, Norway, will be discontinued.

United currently flies to Dublin out of Chicago, but flies to Shannon only out of Newark. A Boeing 757-200 will make the new Chicago-Shannon route.

The flight from Chicago to Barcelona will be in addition to service to the Spanish city from Newark and Washington Dulles. United will fly a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner on the route. Dreamliners have been plagued in recent years by production issues and deliveries of new planes to carriers had been halted, but Boeing was recently cleared by the Federal Aviation Administration to resume deliveries.

The Associated Press contributed.

sfreishtat@chicagotribune.com
Sailors watch a near-miss by a Japanese bomb on a US Navy carrier during the Battle of Formosa in October 1944. US Navy/Interim Archives/Getty Images

On October 12, 1944, US carrier planes kicked off days of raids against Japanese forces on Formosa.

The island, now called Taiwan, was a hub in a network of Japanese bases around the northwest Pacific.

Waves of US attacks left Japan unable to bring all its forces to bear in major battles that followed.

At 5:44 a.m. on October 12, 1944, hundreds of US Navy fighter aircraft took off from their carriers roughly 50 miles to 90 miles east of Formosa, the island now known as Taiwan.

Their sortie, part of a plan to degrade and destroy Japanese airpower on the island, would be the first of thousands over the next three days.

It was the culmination of a massive diversionary effort that saw the carriers and their escorts, assigned to the Navy's Task Force 38, sail from their anchorage in Ulithi Atoll to southern Japan, then to Formosa, and then to the Philippines.

Their goal was to destroy as much of Japan's air and naval strength before US troops landed on the Philippine island of Leyte.

TF 38 would inflict massive losses on the Japanese, which in turn would help ensure a US victory off the coast of Leyte in what was history's largest naval battle.

A diversion

A Japanese heavy cruiser after being bombed by US Navy aircraft during the Battle of Midway in June 1942. AP Photo

The strategic situation in the Pacific had turned decisively in the Allies' favor by fall 1944.

Devastating losses in the battles of Midway and the Philippine Sea hindered Japan's ability to conduct carrier operations, and the US's island-hopping campaign had moved within striking distance of the Philippines.

But Japan's air and naval power were still major threats, and to ensure the Philippines could be liberated, they had to be degraded, if not eliminated.

By 1944, Japanese military leaders recognized their situation and devised a plan to prepare for US invasions of Japanese-held territory.

Called "Sho-Go," or Operation Victory, the plan involved drawing the main US fleet into a kill zone and then destroying it with combined air and naval attacks. "Sho-1" referred to the defense of the Philippines, while "Sho-2" referred to Formosa.

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A US Navy PB4Y-2 Privateer patrol aircraft attacks a boat on Formosa in 1945. US Navy

The latter island was central to the Japanese plan.

Colonized by the Japanese in 1895, Formosa was one of Japan's most important air and naval outposts, and a key hub in a network of bases stretching from Iwo Jima, through the Japanese home islands and Korea, and then down through eastern China to Taiwan and Luzon in the Philippines.

The American plan was grand but simple. TF 38, made up of four carrier task groups, would sail toward Okinawa, launch diversionary strikes, then turn and focus on destroying Taiwan's airfields while drawing out Japanese aircraft from Japan's home islands.

Under the command of Adm. William Halsey, TF 38's four carrier task groups comprised 17 aircraft carriers, six battleships, 14 cruisers, and 58 destroyers. TF-38's more than 1,000 carrier aircraft would face an even larger number of Japanese planes.

'Knock-down, drag-out fight'

A US Navy Grumman F6F Hellcat on the aircraft carrier USS Lexington before a raid on Formosa on October 12, 1944. US Navy

After its diversionary strikes on Okinawa on October 10, TF 38 sailed south and struck Luzon to further obscure its true intentions. The Japanese, understanding that the core of the US Navy's strength in the Pacific was now nearby, initiated the aerial component of Sho-1 and Sho-2.

The crux of the operation began on October 12. On the first day alone, US planes flew 1,378 sorties

. US carrier aircraft swarmed over airfields on Formosa, destroying runways, hangars, and barracks. US planes battled Japanese aircraft from Formosa and their reinforcements from other Japanese-held islands.

The combat was intense and extensive. By the end of the first strike, one-third of the fighters from Japan's Sixth Base Air Force were destroyed while 48 US planes were lost. Japanese attempts to attack the carriers were fruitless, with 42 more Japanese planes shot down trying to conduct attack runs.

"Our fighters were nothing but so many eggs thrown at the stone wall of the indomitable enemy formation," Vice Adm. Shigeru Fukudome, commander of the Sixth Base Air Force, said later.

US Navy heavy cruiser USS Canberra, right foreground, and light cruiser Houston, right background, are towed toward Ulithi after being torpedoed, on October 18, 1944. US Navy

October 13 saw 974 sorties in which US planes attacked previously unknown airfields. This time, however, the Japanese managed to strike back, hitting the cruiser USS Canberra with a torpedo, killing 23 and causing major damage.

On October 14, after the last carrier strikes on Taiwan, the cruiser USS Houston was also hit by a torpedo and similarly damaged.

With no sign of the Japanese Navy and their inland targets destroyed, TF 38 headed south toward the Philippines. With the damaged Canberra and Houston in tow, the task force fended off repeated Japanese air attacks along the way and conducted strikes on Luzon on the October 15 and 16.

The "knock-down, drag-out fight between carrier-based air and shore-based air," as Halsey later described it, was a decisive American victory.

Air attacks by TF 38 and raids by B-29 bombers launched from US-held islands destroyed about 500 Japanese aircraft, sunk several supply freighters, and thoroughly wrecked many ammo dumps, hangars, airfields, barracks, and workshops on Formosa.

The US lost just 89 planes, with 64 pilots and crew members killed. Both damaged cruisers were towed to Ulithi, a major repair hub for the US Navy.

A bomb from a US Navy aircraft hits Japanese battleship Yamato near its forward gun turret during the Battle of Leyte Gulf on October 24, 1944. US Navy

Japan's losses were so severe that they were unable to provide air cover for Japanese ships during the Battle of Leyte Gulf from October 23 to October 26.

In that clash, Japan lost four carriers, three battleships, 10 cruisers, and nearly a dozen destroyers. The battle also saw Japan's first major use of kamikaze pilots, reflecting its dwindling options and growing desperation.

The thrashing Japan suffered at Formosa was embarrassing, especially since there was still a belief

at the time that ground-based aircraft would have an advantage over attacking carrier-based aircraft.

Publicly, Japanese leaders lied about the battle around Formosa, claiming their forces sank multiple US warships. Those claims were put to rest when Halsey and all the ships of Task Force 38 arrived in the Philippines on October 17.

In a dispatch to Adm. Chester Nimitz, who was commander of the US Pacific Fleet, Halsey said "the Third Fleet's sunken and damaged ships have been salvaged and are retiring at high speed toward the enemy"  a message that so pleased Nimitz that he had it broadcast to the public on October 19.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Updated, Oct. 12

Working in a region of rural Arkansas long plagued by teacher shortages, Eveon Rivers seems like the perfect candidate to lead a classroom. With 18 years of pre-K teaching experience, she knows how to work with young people. And a self-described Greek mythology person, she has a passion for high school history  the subject she wants to teach.

Shes missing just one qualification: a bachelors degree.

Eveon Rivers

Now, a program that aims to combat rural teacher shortages by upskilling qualified school staff is helping her actualize her dreams  at a bargain price. Rivers pays $75 per month and has only three more semesters left before she graduates and can get her teaching certification.

No paywall. No pop-up ads. Keep The 74 free for everyone with a generous donation.

Who can beat a BA for $1,800? said the veteran educator. Thats a no-brainer.

Across large swaths of Arkansas, the problem of persistent teacher shortages predated the pandemic, but has become more apparent over the last few years, said Karli Saracini, the states assistant commissioner of educator effectiveness. In many districts, especially in the southeast Delta region, over 10% of teaching roles are now held by unlicensed educators, according to state data.

Districts in Arkansass Delta region are facing the most acute teacher shortages, with over 10% of roles filled by unlicensed educators. (Arkansas Department of Education)

Joe Ross, president of California-based Reach University, believes the solution lies close at hand. Nationwide, over a million paraprofessionals work side-by-side with lead teachers, he points out, and many have the know-how to step into greater responsibility. His schools model, he said, helps eliminate financial and geographic barriers for those educators so they can gain the credentials necessary to lead a classroom.

The degree is fully job-embedded from the very first day to the very last day, Ross explained, meaning candidates continue earning a salary in their existing jobs all the way through the program. Thanks to Pell grants and funding the school receives as an apprenticeship provider, no student pays more than $900 per year, he said, and the program is free for participating districts.

Story continues

To be eligible, candidates must be employed in a partner school system. They complete half of their degree through on-the-job work, including workplace-based assignments, such as observing and reflecting on the techniques of a veteran teacher, and practicum-style courses that award credit directly for their efforts in the classroom. The other half of the degree comes through online seminars held after work hours and on weekends designed to help the future teachers apply theory to what theyre learning on the ground.

Related: A National Teacher Shortage? New Research Reveals Vastly Different Realities Between States & Regions

Reach University already serves over 250 learners in Arkansas and roughly 1,000 nationwide. Now, the program is poised to grow even further. In September, the U.S. Department of Education granted Reach University more than $8 million to place some 650 fully certified teachers into high-needs Arkansas classrooms over the next five years. And in late September, Reach received another $6.9 million from the education department to grow its teacher training efforts in Louisiana and is a partner in a separate $10.7 million grant in that state received by Tulane University. Outside Arkansas and Louisiana, Reach also serves educators in Alabama and California.

In Arkansas, at least half of the educators trained by Reach will be teachers of color. In 2020-21, more than two-thirds of districts in the state did not employ a single Black, Indigenous, Hispanic or Asian teacher of record, despite some 40% of students holding those racial identities.

It can change the teacher force by truly opening doors that are currently shut for way too many people, said David Donaldson, managing partner for the National Center for Grow Your Own educator pipeline programs. Theres recently been a massive increase in school officials interest in such programs nationwide, he said. But Reach, founded in 2006, is one of the organizations with the most effective and accessible models, he believes.

To see them spread across the country, theyre really doing good work.

Related: Untapped Talent: TA to BA Teacher Prep Program Scales Six-Fold Amid Shortages

Some 90% of Reach graduates in Arkansas will be re-hired in the same district after they complete the program, according to the federal grant award. Its a boon in the eyes of Carolyn Theard-Griggs, dean of the National College of Education at Chicago-based National Louis University.

People have a tendency to stay in schools longer if theyre near their home base, she observed.

The expansion is much needed, said Saracini, of the Arkansas state education department. Too many otherwise-qualified staff get boxed into lower-paying positions like classroom aids because they cant afford to go back and study for a degree.

The people who would make some of our best teachers are some of those paraprofessionals, but they just cant break that employment and lose those benefits, she explained. When they do land full-time teaching gigs, however, their pay can more than double.

Related: New Tennessee Teacher Apprenticeship Program Hailed as Game Changer in Effort to Reduce Classroom Shortages

Furthermore, the training model, Ross argues, mints educators with stronger teaching skills than traditional programs that often graduate and certify candidates after just a semester of student teaching. Reach educators have at least two years working in the classroom under their belts by the time they complete their degrees.

That will create better teachers, said the university president. It will create a rank of graduates who are respected for having this degree.

Joe Ross sits in as Reach BA candidate Elizabeth Alonzo works in the classroom in Russellville, Alabama. In addition to Arkansas, Reach also trains educators in California, Louisiana and Alabama. (Reach University)

Rivers, who will graduate at the end of 2023, agrees.

I have all this experience. I feel like Ill be a seasoned teacher, she said. Her district outside Little Rock, she added, has a job awaiting her when she becomes licensed.

I want to be a cool history teacher. I want to make it fun for the kids.  I want to dress up, do the props.

For now, on her paraprofessional salary, Rivers has to deliver UberEats and Grubhub in the evenings to make ends meet. On nights her delivery work and course schedule overlap, she sometimes uses a phone stand in her car to join class.

I like the leeway where I can tune in on my phone, she said. Its so accessible.

Many of the Arkansas school systems facing the most dire need for licensed teachers, Saracini explained, are also areas where higher education is the least accessible, with no nearby options for four-year degrees. Reach fills in the gap, expanding in some of our most-needed areas, she said, by offering a model where candidates can build on their community college credits without needing to commute.

Years ago, Rivers was able to complete her associates degree while working pre-K, but lacks her bachelors. She had previously worked toward a BA, but was forced to stop when her financial aid dried up.

When she found out about Reach, it was her saving grace, she said. Its affordable, its flexible and the professors are good.

Now, she talks about the program to anyone who will listen.

I tell a lot of people about it, she said. A lot of people have been in the school system a long time and a lot of people are just starting. So, if youre going to be there, why not further your education?

Disclosure: Walton Family Foundation and the Stand Together Trust provide financial support to Reach University and The 74.
Russia's brutal retaliation for the bombing of its bridge to Crimea appears to have bolstered the West's determination and urgency to help Ukraine.

The U.S. and other NATO members pledged their immediate and long-lasting support Wednesday for Ukraine, which over the previous two days was showered with Russian missiles and drone attacks that killed dozens of civilians, destroyed residential buildings and damaged about one-third of the country's energy infrastructure.

"The international community remains united and focused and committed to doing everything that we can to help Ukraine protect its interests and defend its sovereign territory, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said after a meeting with allies at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday asked for air defense systems to help protect civilians, and he did not have to wait.

Ukraine just received its first IRIS-T air defense system from Germany and four more High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) from the U.S., Ukraine Foreign Minister Oleksii Reznikov said Wednesday.

The deliveries were expedited after this week's barrage, a retaliatory attack for a truck bomb that damaged a crucial, Russian-built bridge in Crimea on Saturday. Ukraine has not taken responsibility for the blast.

The U.S. also announced plans to send Ukraine eight National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS); two are expected to be delivered soon. In addition, the Netherlands said it would deliver $14.5 million worth of air defense missiles, and France said it would also contribute to Ukraine's air defense.

The more audacious and cruel Russian terror becomes, the more obvious it is to the world that helping Ukraine to protect the sky is one of the most important humanitarian tasks for Europe of our time, Zelenskyy said.

This handout satellite image taken and released by Maxar Technologies on October 8, 2022, shows smoke billowing from a fire on the Crimea Bridge that links Crimea to Russia, after a truck exploded, near Kerch.

Other developments:

The U.N. General Assembly voted 143-5 with 35 abstentions Wednesday to condemn Russias attempted illegal annexation of four Ukrainian provinces and demand that the Kremlin reverse its actions right away. The vote is symbolic, not legally binding.

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Ukraines prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, said Russia intends to use cold as its weapon in the upcoming winter and urged citizens to prepare by stocking on warm clothes, candles, flashlights and batteries.

A Russian attack on a market in the Donetsk city of Avdiivka killed seven people and wounded eight Wednesday, Ukrainian authorities said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met Wednesday with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Kazakhstan on the sidelines of a regional summit, Kremlin spokesman Dmitriy Peskov said. Erdogan has offered to host talks between Russia and the West.

Ukraine's counteroffensive slows down

Ukraine has retaken five more villages in the southern Kherson province, the Southern Operational Command said Wednesday. However, officials and military analysts pointed out the counteroffensive that reclaimed more than a thousand square miles of occupied territory in the east and south has lost steam.

After the battlefield losses, Russian forces regrouped and bolstered their front lines, halting the Ukrainians' progress. Serhiy Haidai, regional administrator of Luhansk in the east, said the Russians have also been setting mines in the first section of the front line.

Eight arrested -- five of them Russian -- in Crimean bridge bombing

Five Russians are among eight suspects detained in connection with the explosion that has gnarled rail and vehicle traffic on the $3.6 billion Crimea bridge, Russia's domestic intelligence service said Wednesday.

Ukraines military intelligence agency was behind the attack Saturday on the 12-mile bridge, Europe's longest, the FSB said in a statement. Ukraine authorities have lauded the incident but have not formally accepted responsibility for the blast, which Russia says killed three people.

"At the moment, five citizens of Russia, three citizens of Ukraine and Armenia, who participated in the preparation of the crime, have been detained as part of a criminal case," the FSB said, adding that several other suspects were involved in the plan.

The FSB said the explosives were shipped out of the Ukrainian city of Odesa in August, and three Ukrainians, two Georgians and an Armenian national were behind the plan to arrange the delivery from Bulgaria through Georgia into Russia.

A Ukrainian citizen and the five detained Russians had prepared documents for a nonexistent Crimean firm to receive the explosives, the agency said. The investigation was continuing.

No indication Putin is preparing to use nuclear weapons, Pentagon says

The Pentagon has not seen indications that Russian President Vladimir Putin is preparing to use nuclear weapons as his forces falter in Ukraine, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday. Austin made his remarks in a briefing to reporters in Brussels, where NATO allies met to discuss supplying military aid to Ukraine.

Nuclear saber rattling is reckless and irresponsible, Austin said. We dont expect to see and hear that kind of behavior from a major nuclear power. And so thats very dangerous.

Army Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that Ukraines top needs for the war include air defense systems, cannon artillery, rocket artillery, tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. Milley blasted the recent Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian cities, calling the indiscriminate and deliberate attacks a war crime.

-- Tom Vanden Brook

Ukraine receives artillery, air defense systems from US, Germany

The U.S. and its allies are taking quick steps to respond to Ukraine's request for air defense systems that may prevent major damage from missile strikes such as the ones Russia launched Monday and Tuesday.

Ukraine received its first IRIS-T air defense system from Germany and four more High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) from the U.S., Ukraine Foreign Minister Oleksii Reznikov said Wednesday. The deliveries were expedited after this week's Russian barrage across much of Ukraine, a retaliatory attack for a truck bomb that damaged a crucial, Russian-built bridge in Crimea on Saturday.

The more audacious and cruel Russian terror becomes, the more obvious it is to the world that helping Ukraine to protect the sky is one of the most important humanitarian tasks for Europe of our time, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

The U.S. also announced plans to send Ukraine eight National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS); two are expected to be delivered soon. In addition, the Netherlands said it would deliver $14.5 million worth of air defense missiles, and France said it would also contribute to Ukraine's air defense.

"A new era of air defense has begun," Reznikov tweeted. "There is a moral imperative to protect the sky over in order to save our people."

Shelling again causes dangerous blackout at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

For the second time in five days, Europe's second-largest nuclear power plant was knocked off the grid by shelling, once again risking a radiation emergency.

The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant lost its electric supply Wednesday when a Russian missile damaged a substation north of it, the facility's operator said. Even though the plant's six reactors are inactive, they need to be cooled for long stretches to prevent overheating.

Energoatom said the external power source was repaired after about eight hours and that the plants emergency diesel generators -- which rely on uncertain fuel deliveries in the war zone -- provided backup power in the meantime, but pointed out a similarly hazardous interruption could happen at any time.

Experts have raised alarm about the danger of continued fighting near the plant, which has been occupied by Russian forces since early in the war but is operated by Ukrainian employees. Repeated power outages over brief stretches only increase the risks, analysts say.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly called for the establishment of a protection zone around the facility -- IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi made his case to Putin directly Tuesday -- but so far hostilities in the plant's periphery have not ceased.

Biden: No progress in effort to free Brittney Griner from Russian prison

U.S. officials have made no progress toward freeing WNBA basketball star Brittney Griner from a Moscow prison, President Joe Biden said Wednesday. Asked by reporters if there was any movement in the Griner case, Biden replied, "Not with Putin."

In an interview Tuesday with CNN, Biden said he had "no intention" of meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit next month in Indonesia  but that he would consider a conversation if Putin said he wanted to talk about Griner.

Griner, who plays basketball in Russia during the WNBA offseason, was arrested at Sheremetyevo Airport outside Moscow in February on drug charges. Griner admitted having vape canisters containing cannabis oil in her luggage, but testified she had inadvertently packed them and had no criminal intent. She was sentenced to nine years in prison; her appeal hearing is set for Oct. 25.

 Francesca Chambers, USA TODAY

Putin blames US for pipeline blasts, says Russia ready to resume gas flow

Putin said Wednesday that Russia is ready to restart the flow of gas to Europe over the single remaining link of the Nord Stream gas pipelines  and again blamed the U.S. for blasts that crippled the system. German government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann rejected the proposal, saying Russia has been an unreliable gas supplier since the war began.

European authorities are investigating the explosions that ripped through both links of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline and one of the two links of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. U.S. officials have dismissed Putin's claim that the U.S. wanted to disrupt the flow to encourage Europe to import more expensive liquefied natural gas.

Experts discuss Putin's threat to use nukes in Ukraine

What does Putins threat to use nuclear weapons mean for the security of millions of people in Ukraine and around the world, including the United States, which Russian nuclear-tipped missiles can certainly reach?

USA TODAY spoke with former top intelligence officer Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, a former CIA official and a host of other nuclear security experts and analysts for answers. All of them agreed with President Joe Bidens assessment that the current situation is fraught with potential danger, including the possibility an increasingly cornered Putin decides to deploy one of the smaller nuclear weapons in his massive arsenal. Here is what else the experts had to say.

 Josh Meyer, USA TODAY

Kremlin blasts plan to rebuild Ukraine with frozen Russian assets

A proposal by leading industrial nations to use frozen Russian assets to finance the rebuilding of Ukraine has drawn sharp criticism from Moscow.

"Its just pure international racketeering," Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday.

The G-7 statement released after Tuesday's virtual meeting called for "ensuring Ukraines recovery and reconstruction, including exploring avenues to do so with funds from Russia." After the invasion began in February, the West imposed sanctions against the Bank of Russia. In addition to freezing Russias gold and foreign exchange reserves, all transactions related to the management of reserves and assets of the Bank of Russia, as well as transactions with any legal entity, fell under the ban.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ukraine live updates: 5 Russians among 8 arrested in Crimea blast
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Russia has depleted a significant proportion of its precision-guided ammunition in its invasion of Ukraine and its industry cannot produce all kinds of ammunition and weapon systems due to Western sanctions, a senior NATO official said on Wednesday.

The official said he did not know how long it would take for Russia to mobilise the 300,000 troops Moscow is aiming for, and suggested it could take a few months.

(Reporting by Sabine Siebold; writing by Philip Blenkinsop)
Russias domestic intelligence service said Wednesday it had arrested eight people in connection with a blast that damaged a key bridge to the annexed Crimean Peninsula, blaming Ukraine for the incident that dealt a high-profile blow to President Vladimir Putin.

The weekend explosion, which Russian investigators said killed three people and was caused by a truck bomb, temporarily halted train and car traffic over the Kerch Bridge  a structure with huge strategic and symbolic value to the Kremlin.

In a press release Wednesday, the FSB said Ukraines military intelligence and its chief, Kyrylo Budanov, were behind the attack. It also said five Russian citizens, as well as three citizens of Ukraine and Armenia, who were involved in the operation had been detained.

NBC News could not verify the claims, which Kyiv immediately dismissed.

According to the Russian intelligence service, the explosive device that was used to blow up the bridge was concealed in rolls of construction film, and was shipped from Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odesa to Bulgaria in early August before being moved through Georgia and Armenia and into Russia earlier this month. The explosive was detonated as it was being carried in a truck toward Crimea on Saturday, the FSB said. All the while, Ukrainian agents were in control of the operation, it added.

A press officer for Ukraine's military intelligence service, Andrii Yusov, declined to comment, telling NBC News: "We are not commenting on the statements made by terrorists."

Ukrainian Chief of Defence Intelligence, Major-General Kyrylo Budanov (Gian Marco Benedetto / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Kyiv has not taken responsibility for the blast, but some high-ranking Ukrainian officials cheered the damage to the bridge, which has served as a key supply route for Russian forces, as well as a marker of Putin's claims to the region he illegally annexed in 2014.

Ukraine and most countries dont recognize that annexation and consider Crimea part of Ukrainian territory. Kyiv has vowed to reclaim the peninsula, along with all the territory occupied by Russian forces since the start of the full-scale invasion nearly eight months ago.

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Putin swiftly labeled the bridge blast terrorism and boasted that the deadly aerial barrage his military unleashed on Ukrainian cities this week was an act of revenge.

Image: (AP)

The 12-mile Kerch Bridge, which links the annexed Crimean Peninsula to mainland Russia, was personally inaugurated by Putin in 2018.

While Ukraine has stepped up its efforts to strike behind Russian lines, hitting the bridge has been widely considered a red line for the Kremlin. Saturday's explosion escalated calls from hard-liners for a tough response, putting more pressure on Putin after weeks of unprecedented criticism of his military leadership.

Meanwhile, Crimean authorities have been dealing with the fallout from the incident.

The Moscow-installed governor of Crimea, Sergei Aksenov, said Tuesday that the movement of trucks on the bridge is expected to resume by the end of the week, while the work to repair the damage will likely take at least 1 1/2 months.

He said local authorities had also heightened the security alert level in the region.

The FSB is the main successor to the powerful Soviet-era KGB, of which Putin was a member during the Cold War.

The agency was just as swift at claiming it had solved an attack that killed the daughter of a prominent Russian ultranationalist in August. The security agency also blamed Ukraines secret services for killing Daria Dugina  an allegation that Kyiv denied  and singled out the alleged perpetrators in a public announcement days after that incident.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
UKRAINSKA PRAVDA  WEDNESDAY, 12 OCTOBER 2022, 14:38

Russian invaders hardly let people out of the occupied Zaporizhzhia Oblast after the so-called "accession" of the oblast to Russia; at least 529 residents were kidnapped.

Source: Oleksandr Starukh, the Head of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast Military Administration, during a briefing at the Ukraine-Ukrinform media centre on 12 October.



Details: According to Starukh, invaders almost completely blocked the exit for Ukrainians from the occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast after Russia signed the "document" on the annexation of this Oblast. In addition, at least 529 people in the oblast were kidnapped by the Russians.



Quote: "Yesterday, about 60 people left, although earlier, last month, 1,500 people left those territories [per day  ed.], because it is very difficult to live there: there is no gas, electricity is in question, [and] medical help is limited".





Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
WEDNESDAY, 12 OCTOBER 2022, 08:13

Russian forces launched around seven S-300 missiles on the city of Zaporizhzhia and its outskirts on the night of 1112 October. Three people were rescued from under the rubble of buildings damaged in the attack.

Source: Oleksandr Starukh, Head of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast Military Administration, on Telegram; State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SES) on Telegram

Quote from Starukh: "Two missiles hit a neighbourhood in the [administrative] centre of [Zaporizhzhia] Oblast but did not cause significant damage.

Another five missiles struck the [citys] outskirts. Three of them caused damage in a village near Zaporizhzhia, partially destroying a residential building; our rescue workers rescued three people from under the rubble. The final two missiles landed in a field near another village.``

Details: Starukh said that there are no casualties. The SES reported that a family hiding in a cellar of their house was trapped as a result of the buildings collapse. The rescuers freed a woman, a man and a child [who were trapped]. Neither of them required medical assistance.

Previously: Russian missiles struck the city of Zaporizhzhia on the night of 1112 October.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!




The troops of the Russian Federation struck Zaporizhzhia again at night

Read also: Zelenskyy says Russia will answer for massive missile attack on city of Zaporizhzhiya

According to Starukh, five missiles hit Zaporizhzhias suburbs, damaging a private home. There were no casualties in the attack, after first responders rescued three people from beneath the rubble. The other two missiles landed in the city proper, without causing any significant damage.

Read also: Russian missiles strike energy infrastructure in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast

Anatoly Kurtev  the mayor of Zaporizhzhia  earlier said in another message that windows and doors across several buildings were damaged as a result of the missile strike.

In recent days, Russian troops have been shelling residential infrastructure of Zaporizhzhia.

Russia attacked Zaporizhzhia with 13 aircraft and S-300 missiles on the night of Oct. 9, hitting the infrastructure and residential areas. 13 people, including one child, were reported dead, another 89, including 11 children, were injured.

Russian troops also fired 12 S-300 missiles at Zaporizhzhia on the morning of Oct. 11. Two of them hit a car dealership, leaving one person dead. Other missiles damaged a school and a clinic. Three residential buildings were also damaged.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
LONDON (Reuters) - Russia said it had protested to the Japanese embassy on Wednesday over joint Japan-U.S. military exercises this week in which it said HIMARS rocket systems were fired close to Russia's borders.

"We consider the military exercises that took place as a challenge to ensuring the security of the Far Eastern region of our country and insist on the immediate cessation of such actions," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

"The Japanese side was also warned about the inevitability of adequate response measures in order to block military threats to Russia," it added, without elaborating.

HIMARS are the same rocket systems that the United States has supplied to Ukraine, which Kyiv has put to effective use in attacking Russian command nodes and supply lines.

Japan has joined Western countries in imposing sanctions on Russia in response to its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine. Relations have further worsened in recent weeks, with Russia expelling a Japanese consul for alleged espionage and Tokyo responding in kind.

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, attends the Givenchy Spring-Summer 2023 fashion show during the Paris Womenswear Fashion Week in France on Oct. 2, 2022. (Julien De Rosa/Getty-AFP)

Is Ye, the Chicago-born artist formerly known as Kanye West, the future of Twitter?

Over the weekend the always-publicity-hungry rapper tweeted a now-deleted antisemitic comment that has triggered yet another new debate over who gets to decide what goes on the internet.

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Yes Instagram post Friday suggested fellow artist-producer Sean Diddy Combs was controlled by Jewish people, a tired old antisemitic trope that never seems to go away.

Within hours, Instagram had removed the post and locked his account, which sent Ye to Twitter, where he was welcomed back by no less than Elon Musk, who may soon take ownership of the company.

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Yet, within hours Ye had posted an even more hostile antisemitic tweet that he would go death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE. (The caps are his, along with his apparent misspelling of DEFCON, a Pentagon acronym for Defense Ready Condition, an indicator of levels of threats facing the country.)

Twitter, like Instagram, was quick to block the post and lock his account as a predictable chorus of self-appointed guardians of free speech howled in online complaints that poor little Ye was being censored unfairly.

Let em gripe, I say. If anything else, Ye is being censored quite fairly, based on traditional readings of the First Amendment.

As the late, great journalist A.J. Liebling put it most famously and succinctly in The New Yorker in 1960, Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.

Indeed, freedom of the press cuts both ways too. Owners of media, big and small, reserve the right to decide whats acceptable on their pages or websites. Otherwise, one is advised to own their own medium, as the former tweeter-in-chief and Ye hero, Donald Trump, did in launching Truth Social.

Is he having trouble building an audience as big as his formerly beloved Twitter? Hey, the First Amendment guarantees you a right to publish. You have to build an audience on your own  and not everyone rushes to find a social network that has turned into a garbage pile of grievance.

But, of course, the question is never quite settled, especially in todays Twitterverse.

While todays polarized Congress has tackled the topic with lots of words but not much real action, new battles are boiling up in the states over laws seeking to restrict the moderation of content,

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And theres the feisty Musk, whose release of Ye from what critics call Twitter jail demonstrates his intent to loosen the Silicon Valley giants policies that still block Trump.

For example, a law passed by Texas last year prohibits large online platforms from censoring users or limiting their posts based on the political views they express.

Legal experts say such laws could make moderation of even blatantly antisemitic posts such as Yes or other forms of hate speech a riskier proposition for social media companies or even impossible.

Thats the problem with trying to draw the line on acceptable speech or writings before anyone has said or written it, two rights which the First Amendment was enacted to protect.

As of yet, Musk, who was born and raised in apartheid South Africa where I reported in the mid-1970s, still seems to have difficulty understanding the nuances of how this free speech and free press thing works.

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If the citizens want something banned, then pass a law to do so, he tweeted in May, otherwise it should be allowed.

Nope, its not quite that easy. Actually, it is not the law that has driven major social media to moderate content. Its the market. Social media developed constraints for their content because of money and the market.

A bigger mystery is why Kanye  forgive me, Ye  has taken such a turn into the dark abyss of antisemitism. He seems to enjoy stirring unnecessary passions, such as his recent decision to wear a White Lives Matter T-shirt at Paris Fashion Week.

Hes hardly the first artist to go to extremes, merely to shake up public sensibilities. But theres a difference between self-promotion and self-destruction. Speculation is rampant, based on his own disclosures of past bouts with bipolar disorder.

But as psychologists point out, mental illness and bigotry are separate problems that call for distinctly different responses. They call for cures, not encouragement.

Sign up here to receive Clarence Pages columns by email as soon as they are published.

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cpage@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @cptime
Russias Federal Security Service (FSB) claimed on Wednesday that Ukraines chief of intelligence was behind the attack on the Crimean bridge over the weekend which Moscow has dubbed a "terrorist attack."

Five Russians and three citizens of Ukraine and Armenia were detained Wednesday in connection with the bombing, the successor agency to the infamous KGB said, according to Russian stated owned media TASS.

Ukraine has not said whether it was involved in the attack that damaged the 12-mile long bridged prized by Russian President Vladimir Putin and opened in 2018.

A screen grab from a surveillance footage shows flames and smoke rising up after an explosion at the Kerch bridge, also known as the Crimean Bridge, in the Kerch Strait, Crimea, Oct. 8, 2022.

PUTIN ACCUSES UKRAINE OF 'TERRORISM' IN CRIMEA BRIDGE EXPLOSION

However, the FSB claimed the crushing blow was organized by the head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, who could now be under the immense threat of Russian reprisal, argued one Russia expert.

"The Russian federal law, On Countering Extreme Activity, which Putin approved in 2002, two and a half years after he assumed the presidency, and updated in 2006, authorizes targeted assassinations for extremist activity and terrorism," former intelligence officer for the Defense Intelligence Agency, Rebekah Koffler, explained to Fox News Digital.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

"Theres no available information that Budanovs life is in immediate danger," she said, pointing out that Ukrainian security services has successfully protected top official like President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"But based on the Russian Doctrine of the so called wet affairs  spilling of the blood  the risk to Budanovs life has just increased," Koffler added.

EXPLOSION ROCKS KERCH BRIDGE CONNECTING RUSSIA AND CRIMEA, 3 DEAD: OFFICIALS

The FSB said the explosive used Saturday was camouflaged in rolls of construction polyethylene film on 22 pallets, weighing 22.7 tonnes, and was transported from Ukraine to Russia via Bulgaria, Georgia and Armenia.

"Control over the movement of cargo along the entire route and contacts with participants in the criminal transportation scheme was carried out by an employee of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense," the FSB reportedly said in a statement.

Story continues

The bridge connecting occupied Crimea to mainland Russia has been vital in supplying Putins troops in Ukraine by funneling logistical needs into southern Ukraine.

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Workers restore the railway tracks on the Kerch bridge that links Crimea to Russia, near Kerch, on Oct. 9, 2022, a day after it was damaged by a blast.

The explosion damaged one section of the road bridge and temporarily stopped traffic which has reportedly been partially restored, according to Moscow.

Several fuel tankers on a train heading towards Crimea were also destroyed in the blast that killed three.

Russia responded to the explosion by firing a barrage of missile and drone strikes across Ukraine Monday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin seen during the Russian-Uzbek signing ceremony at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit, September 15, 2022 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Photo by Contributor/Getty Images

Russia launched a series of missiles throughout Ukraine on Monday and Tuesday.

The notable escalation ultimately indicates that Putin is running out of options, an expert said.

"This reeks of desperation," Simon Miles, a professor at Duke University, told Insider.

Russia's spate of deadly missile strikes across Ukraine this week is indicative of President Vladimir Putin's rapidly decreasing options amid his country's struggling war effort, according to a Russia expert.

"It was basically an extraordinary tantrum," Simon Miles, an assistant professor at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy and a historian of the Soviet Union and US-Soviet relations, told Insider.

The bombardments, which killed at least 21 people on Monday and Tuesday, were another marked escalation by Russia and the biggest air strike yet in the nearly eight-month war. The attack also knocked out power, water, and heat in parts of the country.

Putin said in a televised speech on Monday that the strike was retaliation over a blast that damaged a key bridge connecting Russia and Crimea over the weekend. But Ukrainian officials later suggested that Russia had plans to launch missiles before the bridge was ever hit.

Putin also claimed that the strikes were directed solely at Ukrainian military, energy, and communications targets, but photos and videos show the aftermath of Russian munitions in civilian areas.

Still, the assault was far from an outright success for Russia. Ukrainian officials said the country's forces had shot down more than half of the missiles fired by Russia on Monday evening.

Launching multimillion dollar equipment to damage pedestrian bridges and kill civilians is militarily "nonsensical," Miles said.

"The Russian military can only hope to achieve effects through terror bombings like this," he added.

The Russian army has suffered a series of significant setbacks in recent months amid mounting military losses, depleted manpower and morale, and a fierce Ukrainian resistance. Their ground forces are unequipped to change the course of the war from the battlefield, Miles said, thus prompting Putin's ineffectual air strike.

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"This reeks of desperation," Miles told Insider.

While Russia's recent strikes won't be a one-time occurrence  the country unleashed a second bombardment throughout Ukraine on Tuesday  it is a tactic that is likely to be short-lived.

"I don't think they can keep doing it because they're running out of these tools, so that's another reason why this makes little sense," Miles said. "It's expanding precious, scarce resources on nothing of any military value."

He added that the "morally reprehensible" attacks could be a stalling technique as Russia hastily tries to put its recent mobilization order to effect, training hundreds of thousands of reservists that the country hopes can generate some land victories in the coming weeks.

But several military and intelligence experts previously told Insider that the partial call-up is unlikely to turn the tides of war given Russia's depleted military infrastructure and Ukraine's 'sky-high' morale.

Putin's recent escalations  the mobilization order, his nuclear threats, and the missile strikes  are all half-baked solutions to a problem of his own making.

The Russian president launched the war under the guise of ridding Ukraine of "neo-nazis" and predicated violence on a lie that Ukraine was not a sovereign nation. Now, months into a war that should have been a quick and easy defeat for Russia, Putin's domestic power is increasingly at risk, which leaves the once sacrosanct leader in a tenuous position with few options.

"I think what he's trying to accomplish is he's trying to break the Ukrainian population's will to fight," Miles said. "If he thinks that's on the table, he's woefully misinformed."

In the aftermath of this week's attacks, Ukraine issued a clear message: the country will mourn its dead, fill the holes, and continue to fight, Miles said.

"Putin's sort of fantasy of Ukraine as this national house of cards has been proven wrong time and time again," he added.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Russian President Vladimir Putin. GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images

A Russian nuclear attack would "almost certainly" trigger a military response from Kyiv's friends, a senior NATO official said.

There would be "unprecedented consequences" should Putin turn to nuclear weapons, they said, per Reuters.

The official said NATO itself might even be led to respond.

Any nuclear weapons attack by Russia in its war with Ukraine would "almost certainly" trigger a military response from the eastern European country's friends, a senior official from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization reportedly said on Wednesday, possibly referencing countries like the US, among others.

There would be "unprecedented consequences" should Russian President Vladimir Putin turn to nuclear weapons, the unnamed NATO official said, according to Reuters.

A Russian nuclear attack would "almost certainly be drawing a physical response from many allies, and potentially from NATO itself," the official warned.

Putin has repeatedly threatened that all elements of Russia's military power, even nuclear weapons, are on the table as he escalates his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

When Putin announced plans to partially mobilize hundreds of thousands of reservists to beef up Moscow's forces in the Russian president's fight with Ukraine, which has not at all been going according to plan, he again threatened the use of nuclear weapons.

"If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will certainly use all the means at our disposal to protect Russia and our people," the Russian leader said. "This is not a bluff."

The NATO official said that Putin was using the threats of nuclear weapons as a way to discourage NATO countries, which have been providing billions of dollars in weaponry and other aid to Ukraine through its fight with Russia, from directly engaging in the conflict.

Earlier this month, Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, a former CIA Moscow station chief, said it would be "terribly irresponsible" of Western leaders not to take Putin's threats of nuclear warfare seriously.

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CIA Director William Burns recently said it was "hard" to tell whether Putin was bluffing about his willingness to use nuclear weapons, but the Biden administration is, nonetheless, watching the situation carefully.

The Biden administration has privately warned Russia there would be "catastrophic consequences" if a nuclear weapon is employed in Ukraine, but the US has not offered specifics on precisely how it would respond to such a scenario.

During an interview on Tuesday, CNN's Jake Tapper asked President Joe Biden what the "red line" is for the US and NATO. Tapper also questioned the president as to whether he's "directed the Pentagon and other agencies to game out what a response would be if [Putin] did use a tactical nuclear weapon or if he bombed the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine or anything along those lines."

"There's been discussions of that, but I'm not going to get into that," Biden said in response. "It would be irresponsible of me to talk about what we would or wouldn't do."

Rose Gottemoeller, a former senior State Department official for arms control and nonproliferation issues, and former deputy secretary general of NATO, said during a webinar on Tuesday hosted by the the Arms Control Association that if Russia uses a nuke in Ukraine, the US and its allies should not respond with a nuclear attack.

"I do not believe that a nuclear response is something that the United States and its allies should be placing on the table. We need to stay on the side of perhaps a firm military response, but one that would stay conventional in nature," Gottemoeller said, going on to suggest that the US could respond by targeting the area where Russia's nuclear attack originated from.

"Any such attack would be carefully designed to be proportionate and to be responsive to what would be an egregious attack on a Ukrainian target using a nuclear weapon," Gottemoeller added. "And second, I want to stress and really underscore that none of these options for military action are desirable to NATO or to the United States of America."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Indonesia, which is a net importer of petroleum, is one country that would likely be affected by the price cap and has avoided pledging its support. Nick Oxford/Reuters

A price cap on Russian oil could backfire on the global economy, Indonesia's finance minister warned.

If a price cap is met with retaliation from Russia, it could result in oil prices being pushed higher.

The move could also set a precedent for other commodities, which would hurt some of Indonesia's exports.

A price cap on Russian oil will backfire on the global economy, and the move likely influenced OPEC's recent decision to slash its production of oil, according to Indonesian finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati.

The cap on Russian oil prices has been in the works by G7 nations and is set to roll out by the end of the year, with expected support from the European Union. The measure is intended to lower skyrocketing energy prices  but Russia has threatened to retaliate against a price cap, potentially slashing more supplies off the market and drive prices even higher.

That could have serious consequences for the global economy, Indrawati warned, noting that the fallout from Russia's war in Ukraine was no longer limited to the battlefield.

"The war is no longer just a military war  I think that's really changed the landscape of geopolitics, diplomacy and economic relations  What does it mean for the global economy?" she said in an interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday.

Indonesia, which is a net importer of petroleum, is one country that would likely be affected by the price cap and has avoided pledging its support. China and India, who have become major customers of Russian oil, have also avoided getting on board, although a US Treasury official reported that talks with the two countries on the price cap have been "positive."

Additionally, a price cap on Russian oil could inspire market intervention for other commodities, Indrawati noted. That could harm Indonesia as a major exporter of natural gas, coal, nickel, and palm oil  and its economy has been reliant on those exports as the strong US dollar hammers rival currencies and spurs volatility worldwide.

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She added that price cap plans likely influenced OPEC's recent decision to cut oil production by 2 million barrels a day, as officials she's spoken to in Saudi Arabia have expressed concern about the price cap setting a precedent.

"When the United States is imposing sanctions using economic instruments, that creates a precedent for everything  and that's going to create uncertainty  not only for Indonesia, for all other countries," Indrawati said. "The Saudi and OPEC response to this is because of exactly that."

Read the original article on Business Insider
K-51 hand-held tear gas grenades are carried by enemy drones

"Using unmanned aerial vehicles, the enemy has attempted to hit our staff with hand CS gas grenades K-51," the General Staff said.

According to the source, Ukrainian troops in Zaporizhzhia region managed to jam a drone that was carrying a K-51 grenade with a strong chemical agent.

Read also: Russia launches fresh attack on city of Zaporizhzhya overnight

This is a violation of the rules of warfare, it said.

Ukrainian authorities reported another Russian attack with the use of weapons containing chemicals  in the early hours of Oct. 12, Russian troops shelled Nikopol with incendiary ammunition, the head of Dnipropetrovsk Oblasts Nikopol district administration, Yevhen Yevtushenko, said.

Read also: Ukraine has every right to liberate its territories, using any kind of weapon, Ukrainian official says

As a result, three people, including a child, were heavily injured.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
STORY: Tennis authorities banned Russian and Belarusian players from international team competitions earlier this year but allowed them to compete at regular tour events.

The French Open and U.S. Open Grand Slams allowed them to compete as neutrals, though Wimbledon imposed an outright ban.

Tiley said nine-times Australian Open champion Djokovic would also be eligible if he is able to overturn a visa ban as part of his deportation in January.

The Serbian is barred from re-entering until 2025 due to his vaccination status, though the Australian government can waive the ban at its discretion.

Tiley said he had not had any contact with the government about Djokovic and that Australian Open organizers could not lobby on the Serb's behalf.

"It's not a matter we can lobby on. It's a matter that definitely stays between the two of them and then depending on the outcome of that we would welcome him to the Australian Open," he said.
By Hyonhee Shin

SEOUL (Reuters) -Desperate to avoid military call-up to fight in Ukraine, more than 20 Russians have sailed in yachts down the North Pacific coast to South Korea, but most were refused entry, a South Korean lawmaker said on Wednesday.

There has been an exodus of conscription-age men from Russia since President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial mobilisation on Sept. 21, but most fled by road, rail and air to Europe and neighbouring former Soviet Union countries, like Georgia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.

Arriving aboard four yachts, 23 Russians have reached South Korea since late September, but authorities have granted entry to only two, lawmaker An Ho-young said, citing coast guard data.

The others "were rejected because their purposes were unclear and they did not have sufficient documents," the lawmaker said in a statement.

Two yachts left from the South Korean island of Ulleung and southeastern port of Pohang on Tuesday with 15 Russians aboard, An said.

Two other yachts remained in Pohang, and one of them - left with just two Russians aboard after two gained entry - intended making the long voyage to Thailand, the lawmaker added.

A justice ministry official said he did not have details about the yacht cases, but Russians are in general allowed to enter the country without a visa as long as they obtain prior approval via South Korea's electronic travel authorisation system.

(Reporting by Hyonhee Shin; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia's Federal Security Service said on Wednesday that it had detained five Russians and three citizens of Ukraine and Armenia in connection with the bombing of a vital bridge to Crimea, an attack it said was masterminded by Ukraine.

The FSB said the attack was organised by Ukrainian military intelligence and its director, Kyrylo Budanov - echoing accusations by President Vladimir Putin over what he has called a "terrorist attack" against critical civilian infrastructure.

"The organizer of the terrorist attack on the Crimean Bridge was the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, its head Kyrylo Budanov, its employees and agents," said the FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB.

Ukraine has not officially confirmed its involvement in the bridge blast on Saturday, but some Ukrainian officials have celebrated the damage and an unidentified Ukrainian official told the New York Times that Kyiv was behind the attack.

The FSB said the explosive device was camouflaged in rolls of construction polyethylene film on 22 pallets with a total weight of 22.7 tonnes, and moved from Ukraine to Russia via Bulgaria, Georgia and Armenia.

"Control over the movement of the cargo along the entire route and contacts with participants in the criminal transportation scheme were carried out by an employee of HUR MO," the FSB said in a statement, using the acronym for Ukrainian military intelligence.

The 12-mile (19 km) road and rail bridge, a prestige project personally opened by Putin in 2018, had become logistically vital to his military campaign, with supplies to Russian troops fighting in south Ukraine channelled through it.

The explosion wrecked one section of the road bridge, temporarily halting traffic. It also destroyed several fuel tankers on a train heading towards the annexed Crimean peninsula from neighbouring southern Russia.

On Monday Russian forces launched mass missile strikes against Ukrainian cities, including power supplies, in what Putin said was retaliation for the bridge bombing.

The FSB, headed by Putin ally Alexander Bortnikov, also said that it had prevented Ukrainian attacks in both Moscow and the western Russian city of Bryansk.

(Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
Prepare to get a look into the life of the late comedian John Candy.

On Monday, Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds announced that he and director Colin Hanks are set to release a documentary about the legacy of the fellow Canadian star through Reynolds Maximum Effort production company.

With John Candy trending, Ill just say I love him, Reynolds wrote on Twitter. So much so, @maximumeffort is working on a documentary on his life with @colinhanks. Expect tears.

With John Candy trending, Ill just say I love him. So much so, @maximumeffort is working on a documentary on his life with @colinhanks. Expect tears.  Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) October 10, 2022

The Deadpool star shared the news about the upcoming film after Candy began trending on Twitter ahead of the 4K re-release of 1987s Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

The pairs project is a full-circle moment for Colin as his father, Tom Hanks, previously worked with Candy on Splash (1983) and Volunteers (1985).

Reynolds previously tapped into the world of documentaries after producing and narrating 2011s The Whale, a film about a killer whale living in Nootka Sound, Canada, who was separated from his pod at a young age.

Throughout the 80s and 90s, Candy was a household name, earning his stripes as a comedic legend. In May 1994, he died at the age of 43 from a heart attack in his sleep while filming Wagons East in Durango, Mexico.

During his Hollywood career, he starred in popular comedy films such as Uncle Buck (1989), National Lampoons Vacation (1983), Spaceballs (1987) and Stripes (1981).

Candys children, Jennifer and Chris, also tweeted their support for the project.

Johns son Christopher confirmed the news of the documentary on Twitter, writing: This is all true, alongside a heart emoji.

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Boom! So looking forward to working on this with them and our family. This project is in great hands, his daughter Jennifer declared in a tweet.

In 2019, Reynolds posted a tribute calling the beloved entertainer a Canadian hero alongside a montage he made in Candys honor on the 25th anniversary of his death.

Its the 25th anniversary of John Candys passing. We cooked up a small tribute to a comedic genius and Canadian hero. If you havent seen much of his work, take a look at his films. He was a treasure. Thanks to @chriscandy4u and @therealjencandy, Reynolds tweeted at the time.

A release date for the documentary has yet to be announced.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

Related...
In 1981, the MacArthur Foundation began awarding annual fellowships. These have consisted of monetary awards of $800,000 (an increase this year, bumped up from a decade ago and paid out in annual installments of $160,000 over five years) to do with whatever the awardees want.

Most people, in the press and elsewhere, have dubbed these genius grants, a suitably catchy name. Many, perhaps those gripped by jealousy, have referred to the awardees as having won the lottery, a wildly incorrect comparison.

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These people, which this year number 25, are not merely lucky. They have worked very hard. They cannot apply for the fellowships, and no one knows if they are being considered. As the foundations website explains, nominees are suggested by a constantly changing pool of invited external nominators chosen from as broad a range of fields and areas of interest as possible.

The foundation further informs that the fellowship is not a reward for past accomplishment, but rather an investment in a persons originality, insight and potential. Of course, the foundation hopes that the money will be used by recipients for the financial freedom that might allow them to pursue their most innovative ideas and, in so doing, enrich the planet.

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The latest list of MacArthur Fellows was announced Wednesday morning. They range in ages from 35 to 69 and come from such familiar fields as music and writing, but also such endeavors as synthetic inorganic chemistry and astrodynamics.

There are a few of this years crowd that have ties to Chicago. One that we can claim is Tomeka Reid, a 44-year-old jazz cellist, composer and improviser who the MacArthur folks describe as forging a unique jazz sound that draws from a range of musical traditions.

We caught up with her earlier this week. She has been in Moers, Germany, since January as the artist in residence for the Moers Jazz Festival, an annual international music festival founded in 1971.

I have enjoyed my time here, she said by telephone. Ive gotten a nice break from U.S. politics and have met so many wonderful musicians. I live in a house near a park where I am able to take lovely, relaxing walks.

Born and raised by a single mom near Washington, D.C., she remembers first seeing Chicago as a child, driving through with her family. Even then I could sense the citys power, she says. I came back to visit when my sister was in school here and I spent a summer working here in the Fine Arts Building. That convinced me to choose to do my graduate work here at DePaul and here I met so many influential musicians that I just had to stay.

Here, she made a mark, and an indelible impression on former Tribune jazz critic Howard Reich, who wrote of her often. In 2018 he wrote, Anyone who has heard Reid at work knows shes a font of ideas, novel techniques and unexpected musical choices in solo and ensemble settings.

She got the MacArthur news, as most recipients do, over the phone.

I missed the first few calls from them, she says. Finally, I got home and was so tired I lay down, and a good thing too. The phone rang and I answered and was like Wait? ... What? I was so excited but I also know so many amazing people who deserve this. But it will help so much. It will buy me time to do so many things, to launch projects I have been thinking about, to have creative freedom.

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She will be back in Chicago soon enough, where she lives with her husband David Brown, an architecture professor at the University of Illinois Chicago.

Also from Chicago:

Reuben Jonathan Miller, 46

Reuben Jonathan Miller from Chicago, affiliated with the University of Chicago. (John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation)

Sociologist, criminologist and social worker affiliated with the University of Chicago examining the long-term consequences of incarceration on the lives of individuals and their families, with a focus on communities of color and those living in poverty. ... Millers next project will investigate the moral worlds of people who society deems violent.

Amanda Williams, 48

Artist Amanda Williams in her studio Aug. 5, 2020 in Chicago. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

Artist and architect who uses ideas around color and architecture to explore the intersection of race and the built environment. Her series Color(ed) Theory (2014-2016) covertly painted empty houses slated for demolition in Chicagos Englewood neighborhood. According to art critic Lori Waxman, writing for the Tribune in 2020, the projects monochromatic structures strikingly acknowledged the racially tinted architectonic blight of Englewood and other Black communities, one home at a time. Both Reid and Williams have been named Tribune Chicagoans of the Year in the arts.

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The rest of the current class of the MacArthur Fellows Program also includes, in alphabetical order:

Jennifer Carlson, Tucson, Arizona, 40: Sociologist reconfiguring our understanding of gun culture in the United States through ethnographic research with gun owners, educators, and sellers; law enforcement and state licensing bodies.

Paul Chan, New York, 49: Artist striving to express humanitys complexities and contradictions through an artistic practice that moves across media with drawings, sculptures, and digital projections.

Yejin Choi, Seattle, 45: Computer scientist leveraging her expertise in natural language processing to develop artificial intelligence-based systems that can perform common-sense reasoning.

P. Gabrielle Foreman, University Park, Pennsylvania, 58: Literary historian and digital humanist at Pennsylvania State University recovering early traditions of African American activism.

Danna Freedman, Cambridge, Massachusetts 41: Synthetic inorganic chemist creating novel molecular materials with unique properties directly relevant to quantum information science.

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Martha Gonzalez, Claremont, California, 50: Musician, cultural theorist and activist developing collaborative methods of artistic expression that build community and advance social justice principles.

[ Meet the MacArthur Foundation genius grant winners with Illinois ties ]

Sky Hopinka, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, 38: A filmmaker, video artist and photographer developing new forms of cinema that center the perspectives of Indigenous people.

June Huh, Princeton, New Jersey, 39: Mathematician proving long-standing mathematical conjectures through novel connections between different branches of math

Moriba Jah, Austin, Texas, 51: Astrodynamicist laying the foundation for a safe, prosperous and sustainable near-Earth space environment.

Jenna Jambeck, Athens, Georgia, 48: Environmental engineer developing new methods for understanding and addressing global plastic pollution.

Monica Kim, Madison, 44: Historian at the University of Wisconsin uncovering new insights into U.S. foreign policy in the context of global decolonization after World War II.

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Robin Wall Kimmerer, Syracuse, New York, 69: Plant ecologist, educator and writer articulating a vision of environmental stewardship grounded in scientific and Indigenous knowledge.

Priti Krishtel, Oakland, California, 44: Health justice lawyer exposing the inequities in the patent system to increase access to affordable, lifesaving medications on a global scale.

Joseph Drew Lanham, Clemson, South Carolina, 57: Ornithologist, naturalist, writer and poet combining conservation science with personal, historical and cultural narratives of nature.

Kiese Laymon, Houston, 48: Writer bearing witness to the myriad forms of violence that mark the Black experience ... across genres and grounded in radical honesty.

Ikue Mori, New York, 68: Drummer, electronic musician, composer and graphic designer. She creates rhythmic and ambient soundscapes ... (and) has transformed the use of percussion in improvised music and inspired generations of electronic musicians.

Steven Prohira, Lawrence, Kansas, 35: Physicist advancing the study of cosmic rays and ultrahigh energy neutrinos through a rare combination of expertise in three distinct areas: theory, engineering, and experimental design.

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Loretta J. Ross, Northampton, Massachusetts, 69: Reproductive justice and human rights activist reframing reproductive rights within a broader context of human rights.

Steven Ruggles, Minneapolis, 67: Historical demographer building the most extensive database of population statistics in the world.

Tavares Strachan, New York and Nassau, Bahamas, 42: Artist merging scientific, historical, and aesthetic investigations in projects that exemplify the power of human ingenuity.

Emily Wang, New Haven, Connecticut, 47: Physician investigating the health-harming effects of incarceration and improving health outcomes for people exiting prison.

Melanie Matchett Wood, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 41: Mathematician investigating foundational questions in pure mathematics  specializing in number theory.

rkogan@chicagotribune.com
Associated Press

A jury on Tuesday acquitted a think tank analyst accused of lying to the FBI about his role in the creation of a discredited dossier about former President Donald Trump. The case against Igor Danchenko was the third and possibly final case brought by Special Counsel John Durham as part of his probe into how the FBI conducted its own investigation into allegations of collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and the Kremlin.
Sacramento police officers shot a man who was armed with a gun while trying to take him into custody in Elk Grove on Tuesday, police said. The shooting happened after 12 p.m. on the 6800 block of Di Lusso Drive at the Bella Vista Apartment complex, police said. Sgt. Zach Eaton with the Sacramento Police Department said that detectives were in the area looking for someone who had a felony warrant for a financial crime and who was also a suspect in an assault case in Sacramento.
Photo by Gary Miller/FilmMagic

A new Billboard cover story with Brad Pitt and French producer Damien Quintard has revealed details about Sades forthcoming album.

According to Billboard, the pairs renovated Miraval Studios at Chateau Miraval, which has already been host to recording sessions for Pink Floyds The Wall, The Cures Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, and AC/DCs Blow Up Your Video, has hosted Sade, whom Pitt calls royalty.

You could feel the love that she and the band had for this place, Quintard told the outlet. And when we talked to musicians who came here previously, they all have this special connection with Miraval that cant really be explained  Its a dream come true to see this place activate again.

Sade released its last full-length offering, Soldier of Love, in 2010. Its sixth studio album, the LP followed 2000s Lovers Rock, 1992s Love Deluxe, 1988s Stronger Than Pride, 1985s Promise, and 1984s Diamond Life.

Pitt and ex-wife Angelina Jolie purchased Chateau Miraval in 2012. The former has since operated it with Quintard, though Pitt has been in a legal battle with Jolie over the estate following the couples divorce.

In fact, count document previously revealed that Jolie accused Pitt of abuse while on a flight a 2016 flight from Chateau Miraval to California. According to the complaint, Jolie filed for divorce a short time later.

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It has been a decade since water levels in the Mississippi River have reached levels as low as they are now. In fact, theyre so low that saltwater from the Gulf of Mexico is rushing upstream to fill the gap.

According to the Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center, water levels are at or below the low-water threshold along a nearly 400-mile stretch of the river from near where the Ohio River meets the Mississippi River south to near Vicksburg, Mississippi.

Between Osceola and Helena in Arkansas, water levels are actually below the gauges. Memphis, Tennessee, is among the places experiencing the lowest levels  minus 8.3 feet as of Wednesday afternoon.

WATCH: TORNADO PASSES SHIPS ON MISSISSIPPI RIVER IN NEW ORLEANS

According to Jeff Graschel, service coordination hydrologist at LMRFC, the last time water levels in the Mississippi River were this low was in 2012.

Graschel said the phenomenon happens about once a decade when a lack of rainfall and drought conditions combine to create a parched landscape across the 41% of the U.S. that drains into the river.

Even after rain falls in areas that feed the river, it takes a while for that water to reach the most impacted parts of the Mississippi, according to Graschel. He said rain in northern stretches of the basin, such as western Pennsylvania and Minnesota, can take nearly a month to reach New Orleans on the southern end of the river.

DROUGHT-PARCHED WEST LOOKS TO MIGHTY MISSISSIPPI FOR SOLUTIONS TO WATER CRISIS

In addition to being the main drainage path for water across a large part of the country, the Mississippi River is also the primary water source for towns and cities along it.

According to the Army Corps of Engineers, the bottom of the river is deeper than the surface water of the Gulf of Mexico into which it feeds. This means that when the rivers flow is reduced, saltwater from the gulf can flow up the river.

"If you get too much salt in the water, then that doesnt allow you to be able to use it for consumption," Graschel said.

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Graschel said this happened in 2012 and is happening again this time around.

Matt Roe, spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers New Orleans office, said this years so-called saltwater wedge had made it about 57 miles upstream as of Wednesday afternoon.

NEBRASKA MAN BREAKS WORLD RECORD BY FLOATING 38 MILES DOWN MISSOURI RIVER IN 800-POUND PUMPKIN

"Currently, the greatest risk associated with the saltwater intrusion is the appearance of unsafe salinity levels at the intakes of municipal drinking water and industrial intakes along the river in Plaquemines Parish," Roe said in a written statement to FOX Weather.

According to Roe, the Corps started construction Tuesday on an underwater mound, or sill, near Myrtle Grove, Louisiana. The goal is to stop the progression of the denser saltwater, which hugs the bottom of the river.

"In about two weeks, construction of the underwater sill will begin to have impacts on the wedge," Roe said.

The Mississippi River is also a major trade route to the heartland of America, and low water levels can make navigating the river difficult or even impossible.

"You have less depth in the river system and stuff, because the channel is not as deep, and then you also have less width of the channel, too, because theres not much water," Graschel said.

Last week, the U.S. Coast Guard closed parts of the river to traffic near Memphis and Stack Island. Those areas have since reopened to some traffic after dredging allowed for safe travel.

Viking Cruises said last week that it had to call off its planned cruise to St. Paul, Minnesota, which was scheduled to depart Oct. 15.

"This is also the time of year they are moving a lot of grain from the Midwest area, moving southward, but then, conversely, theres a lot of fertilizers and stuff that are being moved northward up into the Midwest," Graschel said.

The Army Corps of Engineers told FOX Weather on Wednesday that more dredging of the river is underway south of Memphis and near Cairo, Illinois, where the Ohio and Mississippi rivers meet.

LOOK WHAT THE DROUGHT TURNED UP: LOST CITIES, ANCIENT TREASURES AND FOREBODING SIGNS EXPOSED WORLDWIDE

Graschel said a cold front traversing the country this week is producing rain across parts of the basin, but its just a drop in the bucket.

"Right now, were not seeing indications that would actually alleviate the low-water conditions we have at this time," Graschel said.
A Family Dollar employee in San Joaquin County is in critical condition after they were shot multiple times Monday evening during an armed robbery at the store, officials said. The shooting happened around 6:35 p.m. at the Family Dollar in the 2000 block of Jackson Avenue in the city of Escalon, the police department said. That employee was identified only as an adult teen by the Escalon police chief and is in critical but stable condition. Police said they believe the robber is a man who was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, black pants, and black shoes. He is about 5 foot, 8 inches tall. The man fled the store on foot northbound on Mitchell Avenue. Investigators searched the area but didn't find him.
Robbie Parker, the parent of a deceased Sandy Hook student, breaks down in tears in court as a judge reads the verdict in the Alex Jones defamation case. Law and Crime

Parents of Sandy Hook victims break down in tears as a judge reads the verdict in the Alex Jones defamation case.

The judge ordered Jones to pay nearly $1 billion in damages for spreading lies about the mass shooting.

Robbie Parker, who lost his daughter, sobbed after the jury awarded his family $120 million.

The parents of Sandy Hook victims broke down in tears in a Connecticut courtroom after a judge ordered Alex Jones to pay them nearly $1 billion for spreading lies about the Sandy Hook mass shooting.

Parents gathered to watch the last day of Jones' defamation trial in which the jury determined how much money he would have to pay in damages.

Jones was found guilty of defamation by default last year when he failed to turn over company records during the discovery stage of the case. As a result, the trial was focused squarely on not whether Jones defamed the plaintiffs but how much he owed them for doing so. For years, Jones spread a lie that the shooting was staged by the government as a pretext to restrict gun rights.

When the judge read the verdict, Robbie Parker, who lost his daughter in the massacre, bent over, putting his face in his hands before breaking down into sobs. William Sherlach, who lost his wife in the shooting, put a hand on Parker's leg as a former of comfort while Francine Wheeler, another Sandy Hook parent, rubbed his back. Wheeler's husband Bill was seen wiping away tears and sniffling as the judge continued to read the verdict.

"Our lawyers helped give me the strength to finally find my voice and stand up to what had been happening to me for so long," Parker said through tears after the verdict.

Parker, who was awarded the most money of the families, $120 million, added that the families of Sandy Hook were rewarded for telling the truth.

"It shouldn't be this hard, and it shouldn't be this scary," he said. "Everyone who took the stand told the truth, except for one," he said, referring to Jones.

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Erica Lafferty, the daughter of then-Sandy Hook principal Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung that died during the massacre, said she knows the verdict doesn't mean that Jones' impact on her life is over.

"I know that this is not the end of Alex Jones in my life. I know that his hate, lies, and conspiracy theories will follow both me and my family through the rest of our days. But I'm also hopeful for what happened here today  that it may save other families from high-profile tragedies from the cycle of abuse and retraumatization that we have all been put through as we simply try to survive the hardest days, weeks, and years of our lives," Lafferty said.

When discussing her mother after the verdict, she added: "I wish I could tell my mom about all of this. I wish I could tell her about so many things that have happened since she was murdered. Mostly that I'll never stop missing her."

As the verdict was read, Jones went live on Infowars, claiming he would not actually pay the families any of the money in damages.

The Connecticut trial was the second of three similar cases Jones is facing. In August, a Texas jury ordered Jones to pay nearly $50 million to the parents of Sandy Hook victim Jesse Lewis. However, that award is likely to be slashed significantly due to a cap on punitive damages in Texas. Jones faces a third Sandy Hook trial back in Texas which has yet to be scheduled.

Outside of the courthouse on Wednesday, Bill Sherlach, husband to the school psychologist, Mary, that died in the shooting, said that the verdict "shows that the internet is not the wild, wild west and that your actions have consequences."

"And for someone to stand in front of a camera, probably right now as we're speaking to spew the lies to enrich themselves, well now there's a cost-benefit analysis that'll have to be done," Sherlach added. "People like Alex Jones will have to rethink what they say, how they say it, how long they say it."

Read the original article on Insider
Vehicles are once again rolling across the Sanibel Causeway.

On Tuesday afternoon, more than 350 trucks and trailers bringing help to the Hurricane Ian-battered barrier island climbed the first span of the freshly patched three-mile connection to the mainland. Gov. Ron DeSantis promised everyone else will be able to do the same in 10 days.

This will be open for civilian use Oct. 21, the governor said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.

Governor DeSantis Delivers an Update on Hurricane Ian in Fort Myers https://t.co/m3kppPF2CS  Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) October 11, 2022

Return to Sanibel Island: Smashed homes, slick ooze, and wondering how to rebuild

Return to Pine Island: Hurricane Ian evacuees take stock of what's left

In Fort Myers: Curfew lifted, boil water order could end soon

Where are the tolls?: FDOT to reinstate tolls on several roads this weekend. Which roads will you have to pay to drive on?

The storm broke the causeway in three places, washing out chunks of the spoil islands that held up the roadbed.

For the first week, workers, evacuated islanders, equipment and supplies had to arrive via air or water, since the land route had been destroyed. That will continue, DeSantis said, but the addition of over-the-road transport will help a lot.

You can only helicopter or barge so many people or so much equipment, he said, so the question became: How can we get more trucks on the island of Sanibel as soon as possible?

The convoy included crews from the Lee County Electric Cooperative, Florida Power and Light, Duke Energy and other Florida electricity providers.

The trucks were part of a massive logistical operation that included hauling over food, water, portable restrooms, laundry, portable showers, sleeping and drone teams to survey flooded areas, said Kevin Guthrie, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.

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Jared Perdue, secretary of the Florida Department of Transportation, said staffers from around the state have swarmed Southwest Florida, inspecting bridges, restoring traffic lights and signs. Most of the causeway work, he said, has been to fix the roadway and islands leading up to the bridge.

"The actual bridge structures, thankfully, are in good shape and have been inspected and are safe for passage," he said, "so now its really a matter of getting the causeway rebuilt and linking everything back together.

Next comes paving and road striping, Perdue said.

Pine Island should have 25% power restored by Thursday

DeSantis also spoke about work to restore Pine Island, which got a temporary bridge last week.

Electric crews are now clearing debris, replacing poles and stringing new lines. By Thursday, DeSantis said, power should be restored to one quarter of Pine Island, including at grocery stores Publix and Winn-Dixie and some water treatment plant substations. By next week, a third of the island and the Matlacha area should be online, the governor said.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Sanibel Island: Causeway open to trucks now, residents on October 21
(Independent)

A space object so strange that some suggested it must be alien has finally been explained.

Earlier this year, the James Webb Space Telescope took a picture of a a distant star surrounded by neat, circular ripples. The image was immediately hailed as bonkers by experts, and led to speculation that it could show a structure created by aliens, stretching many light years across.

JWST image vs model of WR140 (Left image: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/JPL-Caltech. Right image: Yinuo Han/Peter Tuthill/Ryan Lau)

Now scientists believe they have found an explanation for the strange structures around the star known as WR140. And while it is not quite as unusual as aliens, it is still very odd.

The 17 concentric rings apparently circling the star are in fact a series of dust shells, scientists write in papers published today in Nature and Nature Astronomy. They are made out of the interactions of two stars  one of them dying  that are locked together in orbit.

The star is regularly throwing out a ring of smoke, which are then shunted around by interstellar wind.

Like clockwork, WR140 puffs out a sculpted smoke ring every eight years, which is then inflated in the stellar wind like a balloon, said Professor Peter Tuthill from the Sydney Institute for Astronomy at the University of Sydney, who is a co-author on both papers.

Eight years later, as the binary returns in its orbit, another ring appears, the same as the one before, streaming out into space inside the bubble of the previous one, like a set of giant nested Russian dolls.

The WR140 binary is actually made up of a huge, dying Wolf-Rayet star, and its companion  which is an even bigger supergiant. The two are stuck to each other in an eight-year orbit.

Together, the two create powerful, intense winds, pushing around the dust clouds that are then visible within the telescope. (The findings also allowed scientists to study the effect of light as it pushes dust around in space, which is also described in the same research.)

In one sense, we always knew this must be the reason for the outflow, but I never dreamed wed be able to see the physics at work like this, said Professor Tuthill. When I look at the data now, I see WR140s plume unfurling a like giant sail made of dust. When it catches the photon wind streaming from the star, like a yacht catching a gust, it makes a sudden leap forward.
An icy-hot paradox of a film, and one of the years peak achievements, writer-director Todd Fields Tar casts a gimlet eye on a fictional American orchestra conductor and composer, Lydia Tar, at the summit of her global fame. The view is glorious. Its also more treacherous than she realizes.

Cate Blanchett, for whom Lydia was written and the reason, Field acknowledges, the movie got made, goes to town and back again in this role. In the past, Blanchett often has added an extra 10% to a performance that takes it to 110%, as in her Oscar-winning turn in Woody Allens Blue Jasmine, simply because she can.

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In Tar its a different story. As written by Field and modulated, brilliantly, by Blanchett, Lydia becomes a rhapsody in contrasts, controlling, fastidious, witty, steely, imperious, hubristic. Its a huge, showy role, and the beautiful paradox  one among many here  is that Blanchett has never been subtler.

We meet Lydia in the wings of the latest stage shes about to conquer: A New Yorker Festival talk with Adam Gopnik, where they discuss her prized tutelage under the baton of Lenny Bernstein, her forthcoming memoir (Tar on Tar) and her newest conducting and recording project (spearheaded by Mahlers Fifth Symphony). As a maestro she truly has arrived, now at the helm of the Berlin Philharmonic.

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In Berlin, she makes her home in a sleek Brutalist concrete-walled flat with her watchful partner, Sharon (Nina Hoss), and their daughter, Petra (Mila Bogojevic). Sharon is the orchestras concertmaster, and we learn in passing about the demi-scandal their relationship caused at its outset.

Fields screenplay drops a string of pearly, tantalizing details and clues throughout. One is purely visual, in that first scene: At the New Yorker talk, we see a woman, photographed obliquely, from the rear, at the back of the auditorium. Later we learn she is a former student and aspiring conductor who has been sidelined, abruptly, by Lydia after an apparent sexual relationship. The movie is about more than one thing. But among those other things, its about how an artist learns if not humility, then at least the price of hubris.

Cate Blanchett in a scene from "Tar." (Courtesy of Focus Features/AP)

Not that he hasnt tried  several projects were developed, then shelved  but Field hasnt made a film in 15 years. Now, with TAR joining his previous two features, In the Bedroom (2001) and Little Children (2006), itd be a lousy deal for all of us if it took half that long for Fields next one.

Tar may be a showcase for Blanchett, but it also creates vivid supporting acolytes, colleagues, friends-at-a-distance and fresh combatants for Lydia. Theres Francesca (Noemie Merlant of Portrait of a Lady on Fire), an ambiguously loyal assistant with thwarted conducting ambitions, who keeps an eagle eye on Lydias fangirls. Theres Lydias mentor Andris (Julian Glover) who, over lunch, acknowledges the winds of change, and the free-and-easy sexual predation in orchestral circles in the years before #MeToo. (At one point he refers to Jimmy Levine being, in his view, bullied into retirement and scandal by the ravages of cancel culture.) At that point in the story, Lydia knows shes courting trouble herself.

The movie has an irresistible rubbernecking appeal, as Blanchetts character finds herself drawn to a dazzling young cellist (Sophie Kauer) whom, with conspicuous speed, Lydia hires and then elevates. For the first time in her life, perhaps, Lydia is not the one in control of whatever may come of her new theoretical thrill. This shift in power dynamics gives the two-and-a-half-hour Tar somewhere to go. And while Fields riding-for-a-fall narrative unfolds roughly how youd expect, for a good while, theres a nervy, imperfect but novelistically open-ended coda that defies a tidy finish. On the second viewing, I went with it. (Its not a difficult film to see twice.)

Field knows what works in the way of short-term suspense, even if his detailing can get a mite heavy-handed. A crucial early scene finds Lydia squaring off against a nervous Julliard conducting student (Zethphan D. Smith-Gneist), who uncontrollably bounces his leg up and down for the same reason, in a later sequence, Lydias timid, slightly musty Berlin assistant conductor (Allan Corduner) clicks his pen, impulsively, when talking to the maestro.

The biracial Julliard student, who identifies as pangender, makes the mistake of admitting hes no champion of Bach, or Beethoven, and isnt into white male Eurocentric composers of the old school. Lydia, who made her entire life and career on everything the student derides, cuts him down to size, brutally. Dont be so eager to be offended, she seethes. You must sublimate your ego and, yes, your identity to the music at hand. As written and played, the lengthy classroom scene is, in itself, a master class.

The gray Berlin skies and a rich variety of interiors, as captured by cinematographer Florian Hoffmeister, keep a visual/emotional lid on what is, in some respects, a juicy melodrama treated with unusual restraint. One of the few overripe lines in Fields script has Lydia, in close physical consultation with her new cellist, noting that in rehearsal the violin section has a way of getting caught up in the power of your glissando.

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Field pays close attention to detail, in what we hear as well as see. Lydia is hounded by unexplained sounds, from the apartment below the apartment she uses for work, to distant screams in a park, to a metronome with an apparent mind of its own.

Blanchett does it all here: Speaks three languages, plays piano, conducts with what looks to my untrained eye to be pretty fair stick technique, and changes the temperature in any given room Lydia enters with a glance. She keeps our sympathies and expectations in delicious flux. Not since Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood, with its similarly daunting, dangling coda, has a portrait of a titanic, charismatic narcissist been guided so confidently by a skilled and intuitive technician going for broke, in careful increments. Another paradox!

The film reaches its visual zenith early (too early, maybe) in a sudden cut, shot from a striking low frontal angle, to Lydia marshaling her orchestral forces as she takes Mahler by the, ahem, podium and shows what she can do. How much can we overlook in an artists private life when they can make music like that? Well be asking that question indefinitely. Some audiences, I suppose, might find Lydia Tar forbidding  more of a rise-and-fall narrative trajectory than a fully dimensional protagonist-antagonist.

I am not that audience.

Cate Blanchett and Nina Hoss, right, in a tense rehearsal scene from "Tar." (Courtesy of Focus Features/AP)

Tar  4 stars (out of 4)

MPAA rating: R (for some language and brief nudity)

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Running time: 2:38

How to watch: Premieres in theaters Oct. 14; additional theaters starting Oct. 21.

Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic.

mjphillips@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @phillipstribune

Big screen or home stream, takeout or dine-in, Tribune writers are here to steer you toward your next great experience. Sign up for your free weekly Eat. Watch. Do. newsletter here.
A group of seven Democratic lawmakers in Washington, D.C., led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, are looking into the energy usage and carbon emissions of the bitcoin mining industry in Texas as well as the impact on the grid and local consumers.

In a letter Wednesday addressed to Pablo Vegas, the CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the group expressed concerns that bitcoin mining's enormous demand for energy in Texas is straining the state's grid, adversely impacting consumers and U.S. climate goals. ERCOT manages the Texas electricity grid, which operates independently from the rest of the country.

"Crypto mining is adding significant demand to an already unreliable grid [and] contributing to the global climate crisis," claim the lawmakers, who further assert miners are benefitting at the expense of consumers from "huge ERCOT subsidies in the form of demand response agreements."

So-called demand response programs mean that when demand for energy across the grid is high, miners power down their operations in exchange for energy credits that they can use in the future, thus releasing power back to the struggling grid. About 1 GW of mining powered down this summer as heatwaves swept across the state.

The Democratic lawmakers see things differently: "In simple terms, the bitcoin miners make money from mining that produces major strains on the electric grid' and during peak demand when the profitability of continuing to mine decreases, they then collect subsidies in the form of demand response payments when they shut off their mining operations and do nothing."

Bitcoin miners flocked to Texas following a ban on the industry in China last year, then the largest hub for crypto mining in the world, due to its seemingly abundant energy and friendly regulation.

There are now about 1.5 gigawatts (GW) of crypto mining in Texas, with another 5 GW set to connect to the grid by the end of 2023, according to the local industry association and lobbying group, Texas Blockchain Council (TBC). ERCOT has said that it has 33 GW worth of applications from miners on its desk, but the TBC said that includes some double counting. At any rate, ERCOT has slowed down application approvals as it tries to figure out in detail how miners can be integrated in the grid.

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Besides Warren, the letter was signed by Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), as well as Representatives Al Green (D-Texas), Katie Porter (D-Calif.), Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich).

It's but the latest salvo from Warren against bitcoin and the miners over environmental and other concerns. Last year, she spoke out against Greenidge Generation, a natural gas-powered bitcoin miner in New York state, which eventually saw its air permits denied in July.

Read more: The End of the Texas Bitcoin Mining Gold Rush




Severe weather rumbled across Wisconsin on Wednesday, spawning at least four tornadoes and causing thousands of power outages across the state.

On Thursday evening, the NWS in Milwaukee confirmed on Twitter that they had found four EF0 tornado damage paths near Milwaukee. The strongest twister began in West Allis and tracked 3 miles southeast with 75 mph winds over a 10-minute period, ending about 5 miles shy of downtown Milwaukee. Another tornado was east of Lake Geneva, and one was near Hartland. One tornado traveled 4 miles near the town of Burlington.

Milwaukee Tornadoes 10/12 Locations of tornado reports and confirmed tornadoes (with EF ratings) near Milwaukee, Wisconsin on October 12, 2022. The Milwaukee metro area (Milwaukee, Waukesha, Washington and Ozaukee Counties) is shown in yellow.

Reports of damage from the Hartland tornado were sent quickly after the event, with a note that debris fell on cars near local Highway 16 and Highway 83. One Twitter user shared a video of the tornado that spun near Burlington.

If that wasn't a Tornado in Oconomowoc I don't know what was! #wiwx pic.twitter.com/OlQOdnhA8t  BrewCrewCritic (@BrewCrewCritic) October 12, 2022

FOX6 News crews, a local news station in Milwaukee, took shelter in the basement as the station's meteorologists gave life-saving information on the air.

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Students, staff, facility and visitors were evacuated from Marquette University as the tornado threat neared. People found shelter in the parking garage as the storm passed.

Staff and customers at the Hartland Pick N' Save supermarket found shelter in the basement. After the storm had passed the area, the power had gone out and employees used flashlights to search the store for anyone who might have stayed.

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"Well, that escalated quickly," the NWS office stated after the tornado reports.

In New Berlin, another southwestern Milwaukee suburb, a warning siren blared across an eerie storm atmosphere:

New Berlin about 15 minutes ago. Angry skies. #wiwx pic.twitter.com/dw2Mcd6wrg  Steve Paluch (@BrewCityChaser) October 12, 2022

Tornadoes are rare but not unheard of. The immediate Milwaukee area has not seen a tornado since the year 2000, when an EF1 tornado moved through the Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport.

Want next-level safety, ad-free? Unlock advanced, hyperlocal severe weather alerts when you subscribe to Premium+ on the AccuWeather app.AccuWeather Alerts are prompted by our expert meteorologists who monitor and analyze dangerous weather risks 24/7 to keep you and your family safer.
Sharon Mawdsley allegedly molested numerous men at Kirkham Jail in Lancashire. (SWNS)

A female prison librarian is facing trial after she was accused of sexually assaulting male inmates over a period of eight months.

Sharon Mawdsley, 45, allegedly molested numerous men at Kirkham Jail in Lancashire where she worked until July 2018.

Before Mawdsley left her position in 2018, she was employed by Lancashire County Council's library service while working in the Category D prison.

During a brief hearing at Preston Crown Court, Mawdesley, of Blackpool, Lancashire, denied nine charges in total, three for misconduct in a public office and six for sexual assaulting men.

Sharon Mawdsley allegedly molested numerous men at Kirkham Jail in Lancashire. (Martinevans123/Creative Commons)

All the alleged assaults are said to have happened between 1 December, 2017 and 5 July, 2018.

Mawdsley previously appeared at Preston Magistrates' Court last month, where she was asked not to enter a plea.

Judge Heather Lloyd granted unconditional bail on her latest court appearance and set a date for Mawdesley to stand trial next September.

She will appear before the court again in January.
Titus Low, whose homoerotic profile on OnlyFans challenged Singapore's sexual taboos, was sentenced Tuesday to three weeks in jail. (Amrita Chandradas / For The Times)

Titus Low, a Singaporean OnlyFans creator who garnered fame for his homoerotic profile and for challenging the city state's sexual taboos, was sentenced Tuesday to three weeks in jail and ordered to pay a roughly $2,000 fine for transmitting obscene materials and breaching police orders to stay off the subscription video site.

Low pleaded guilty to both charges and said he would begin serving his jail time Oct. 26.

The 22-year-old first received national attention last year for publicizing his following on OnlyFans, a site best known for providing paying subscribers private pornographic content. Singapore maintains strict obscenity laws, and when some of Low's content was leaked online, police launched an investigation that resulted in his arrest Dec. 29.

In an interview with The Times earlier this year, Low said he had done nothing wrong and believed he was being singled out among dozens of Singaporean OnlyFans creators for flaunting his success with expensive cars, a luxury apartment and his closest companion, a $6,500 labradoodle named Charlie.

Moreover, Low's unabashed bisexual image seemed to clash with Singapore's conservative mores. The Southeast Asian nation of 5.5 million repealed a colonial-era law banning sex between men only in August after years of debate and legal challenges.

In court Tuesday, a government prosecutor argued that Low should have recognized the risk of dissemination, even if content is shared privately with subscribers, the state broadcaster reported.

Low's leaked content was initially brought to police attention by a man who discovered it on his 12-year-old niece's phone.

The prosecutor also admonished Low for logging back onto OnlyFans after police ordered him to stay off the site. Low said he did so because he felt obligated to continue providing content to his paying subscribers.

Low has remained in the public eye since his arrest. In June, he revealed his marriage to Malaysian social media influencer Cheryl Chin. Three months later, the couple announced they were expecting a child. Low also opened an ice cream parlor in Singapore.

"Im glad this is finally over," Low wrote in a tweet Tuesday. "Ready to start ... a new chapter in life. Mistakes were made. Part of lifes learning process, I guess?"

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP)  A pregnant Black activist serving four years in prison over comments she made to police during racial justice protests in the summer of 2020 will not receive a lesser sentence, a judge in South Carolina has ruled.

A jury this spring found Brittany Martin, 34, of Sumter, South Carolina, guilty of breaching the peace in a high and aggravated manner. Martin's attorneys pushed for the sentence to be reconsidered and expressed concern about her pregnancy and health. Racial justice groups also got involved.

In an Oct. 5 order, Judge R. Kirk Griffin pointed to Martin's prior criminal convictions that he said contributed to her original sentence.

In November 2020, an Iowa judge sentenced Martin to probation for leaving the scene of an injury and willfully causing bodily harm after her teenage son accused her of purposely hitting him with her SUV and driving away. Griffin also noted previous convictions across multiple states for shoplifting, public disorderly conduct and possession of a short-barreled shotgun.

Sumter County Assistant Solicitor Bronwyn McElveen said in a September filing that Martin has been on probation at least six times.

Probation has not been a deterrent to further criminal activities for the Defendant, Griffin wrote in his order. An active prison sentence was appropriate in this instance.

Breach of the peace is a misdemeanor charge in South Carolina punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment when elevated to a "high and aggravated manner."

Police body camera recordings presented in court and shared with the Associated Press show Martin addressing police officers during multiple days of demonstrations.

Some of us gon be hurting. And some of yall gon be hurting, Martin told officers in one video. We ready to die for this. We tired of it. You better be ready to die for the blue. Im ready to die for the Black.

McElveen also said in the filing that Martin's actions prompted the city to impose a curfew and a local business lost profits because it had to close early.

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The jury in May acquitted Martin of inciting a riot and reached no verdict on pending charges that she threatened public officials lives.

Martin's lawyers argued that the sentence was inconsistent with similar cases in South Carolina and stiff compared to those doled out for Jan. 6 rioters. In a Wednesday statement, Bakari Sellers, her attorney and a former state lawmaker, said four years is excessive" and that he intends to appeal.

Griffin said it was difficult to compare federal convictions from the Jan. 6 riots and the specifics of the case.

The sentence in this case was based on the crime committed, the nature and classification of the offense, the Defendant's prior criminal history/recidivism, and the seriousness of the crime," Griffin wrote.

___

James Pollard 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.
Oct. 12MITCHELL  Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is an issue that's becoming more and more prevalent throughout South Dakota.

CWD is a disease that affects deer, elk, reindeer, sika deer and moose, according to the CDC. It often isn't noticeable in the animal until later stages, but it spreads easily through bodily fluids.

In recent years, the disease has spread east of the Missouri River, and in an attempt to stop the human spread of the disease, the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks implemented regulations two years ago with regards to carcass transportation and disposal.

While hunters can transport a deer or elk anywhere in the state, they are required to "dispose of all carcass remains with a waste management provider" if they transport it to another county than where it was harvested, according to the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks website. And while hunters are not required to dispose of carcasses in a landfill if they remain in the county of harvest, it is still illegal to dispose of the remains on public lands or on a road ditch.

Steve Griffin is a big game and wildlife biologist for GF&P and said despite the implementations of the regulations there's no way to track if they are effective.

"There's no way to measure it," Griffin said about the rate the disease spreads. "What you can assume is with the regulations that it will move slower, because the disease will not be transported around as readily."

Still, it's impossible to completely stop the spread since CWD will still naturally spread, he said. When there is a positive case, the GF&P will test the next year within a 25-mile radius.

Such is the case in Buffalo County, just east of the Missouri River. With a hunter reporting a case there last year, testing will be done within 25 miles of the area where the positive case was found to see if the disease has spread or not, looking in the Aurora and Jerauld County areas.

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"(In) Buffalo County, we basically know that it's probably there. So we're moving on and putting our effort to the counties to the east of that to see if it's in those counties," Griffin said. "We're trying to follow the front of the disease and the best way to do that with our manpower and cost and all of that is to move to wherever might be going and follow that front to determine where it is."

With no way of telling if the regulations are working or not, Griffin said there are no plans to implement any further regulations, citing the ones in place are already "pretty restrictive."

As the second full year that the regulations have been in effect rolls around, Griffin is urging hunters to submit samples when requested.

He expects South Dakota's CWD rules to remain as-is for years to come.

"They will be the same in effect this fall again and I would expect that this would be (that) they're set rules," Griffin said. "We have to follow them every year. ... We appreciate the support of our hunters when we ask for samples because that assists us in finding out what's going on with the disease in the state."
Almost five decades after the death of Francisco Franco, Spanish lawmakers passed a flagship law Wednesday seeking to honour the victims of the 1936-1939 civil war and the ensuing dictatorship.

Honouring those who died or suffered violence or repression during war and decades of dictatorship that followed has been a top priority for the left-wing government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez since he came to power in 2018.

The senate approved the law -- which aims to pay homage to those who died, were subjected to violence or persecution during the Franco years -- with 128 votes in favour, 113 against and 18 abstentions.

Known as the "law of democratic memory", the legislation seeks to advance the search for and exhumation of victims buried in mass graves and upending decades-old political convictions.

"Today we are taking another step towards justice, reparation and dignity for all victims," tweeted Sanchez after the vote.

But it threatens to fuel tensions in a nation where public opinion is still divided over the legacy of the dictatorship that ended with Franco's death in 1975.

The right-wing opposition Popular Party (PP) has vowed to overturn the law if elected in the next election, which is due by the end of 2023.

"History cannot be built on the basis of forgetting and silencing the vanquished" of the civil war, reads the preamble to the law.

Franco assumed power after the civil war in which his Nationalists defeated Republicans, leaving the country in ruins and mourning hundreds of thousands of dead.

While his regime honoured its own dead, it left its opponents buried in unmarked graves across the country.

- Finding mass graves -

The bill, which was approved by the lower house of parliament in July, will for the first time make unearthing mass graves a "state responsibility".

It also calls for a national DNA bank to be established to help identify remains and for the creation of a map of all mass graves in the country.

"The state must exhume the remains of the victims of the Franco dictatorship," Sanchez told parliament in July.

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"There are still 114,000 people who were forcibly disappeared in Spain, mostly Republicans," he said, referring to people whose fate was deliberately hidden.

Only Cambodia, he said, had more "disappeared" people than Spain, its population suffering atrocities under 1975-1979 Khmer Rouge regime.

Up until now, it has been associations who have led the search for those who went missing during the Franco era, as portrayed in Spanish director Pedro Almodovar's most recent film "Parallel Mothers".

The new legislation seeks to build on a 2007 "historical memory" law, which experts and activists say fell short of excavating the hundreds of still untouched mass graves scattered across Spain.

Sanchez's predecessor, Mariano Rajoy of the PP, famously bragged that he had not spent a euro of public money in furthering the provisions within the law.

- Annulling Franco-era convictions -

The new law will also annul the criminal convictions of opponents of the Franco regime and appoint a prosecutor to probe human rights abuses during the war and the ensuing dictatorship.

Previous attempts to bring Franco-era officials to justice in Spain have been blocked by an amnesty agreement signed by political leaders after his death.

The deal was seen as essential to avoid a spiral of score-settling as officials sought to unite the country and steer it towards democracy.

And the law will also mean that for the first time, "stolen babies" will be recognised as victims of Francoism.

Those babies were newborns who were taken away from "unsuitable" mothers -- Republican or left-wing opponents of the regime, then unwed mothers or poor families.

But not everyone was pleased with the outcome of the vote, with the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory (ARMH) saying the new legislation did not go far enough.

The law "perpetuates impunity for the Francoists" because it leaves the amnesty agreement in force, "it will not put anyone on trial" nor will it "compensate the families of the disappeared", it said in a statement.

The PP has accused the government of needlessly opening the wounds of the past with the law.

This is Sanchez's second major effort to tackle the Franco legacy.

In 2019, he had Franco's remains removed from a vast grandiose mausoleum near Madrid and transferred to a discreet family plot, despite opposition from the late dictator's relatives and right-wing parties.

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The Supreme Court decision overturning the constitutional right to abortion is revealing the growing influence of Catholic health systems and their restrictions on reproductive services including birth control and abortion - even in the diminishing number of states where the procedure remains legal.

Catholic systems now control about 1 in 7 U.S. hospital beds, requiring religious doctrine to guide treatment, often to the surprise of patients. Their ascendancy has broad implications for the evolving national battle over reproductive rights beyond abortion, as bans against it take hold in more than a dozen Republican-led states.

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The Catholic health-care facilities follow directives from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops that prohibit treatment it deems "immoral": sterilization including vasectomies, postpartum tubal ligations and contraception, as well as abortion. Those policies can limit treatment options for obstetric care during miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies, particularly in the presence of a fetal heartbeat.

"The directives are not just a collection of dos and don'ts," said John F. Brehany, executive vice president of the National Catholic Bioethics Center and a longtime consultant to the conference of bishops. "They are a distillation of the moral teachings of the Catholic church as they apply to modern health care." As such, he said, any facility that identifies as Catholic must abide by them.

The role of Catholic doctrine in U.S. health care has expanded during a years-long push to acquire smaller institutions - a reflection of consolidation in the hospital industry, as financially challenged community hospitals and independent physicians join bigger systems to gain access to electronic health records and other economies of scale. Acquisition by a Catholic health system has, at times, kept a town's only hospital from closing.

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Four of the nation's 10 largest health systems are now Catholic, according to a 2020 report by the liberal health advocacy organization Community Catalyst. The 10 largest Catholic health systems control 394 short-term, acute-care hospitals, a 50 percent increase over the past two decades. In Alaska, Iowa, South Dakota, Washington and Wisconsin, 40 percent or more of hospital beds are in Catholic facilities.

"It's all about market share," said Lois Uttley, a senior adviser to the hospital equity and accountability project at Community Catalyst. Uttley, who has been tracking hospital mergers and acquisitions since the 1990s, said that with fewer choices, patients today face more difficulty obtaining reproductive services.

In Schenectady, N.Y., Ellis Medicine is in talks with the multistate Catholic giant Trinity Health. Last month, in Quad Cities, Iowa, Genesis Health System signed a letter of intent to enter a partnership with MercyOne, also part of Trinity Health. And this semester, Oberlin College had to find a new provider to prescribe contraceptives after outsourcing student health services to a Catholic system that would not provide them.

In rural northeast Connecticut, residents are protesting the prospect of their 128-year-old hospital becoming part of a Catholic system and the potential impact on reproductive services.

"It would be very troubling to see cutbacks in a state like Connecticut," said Ian McDonald, a stonemason who opposes the proposed deal between Day Kimball Healthcare in Putnam and Massachusetts-based Covenant Health.

Kyle Kramer, chief executive of Day Kimball Healthcare, said the proposed affiliation with Covenant Health would rescue the financially challenged 104-bed hospital.

"Obviously it has connotations," Kramer said of the proposed move to faith-based ownership. The Catholic directives would "provide guidance," he said in an interview, while insisting that "the services that we have provided in the past are the same services that we will continue to provide in the future."

Kramer did not answer questions in a follow-up email about how contraception and elective sterilizations could continue to be provided under Catholic doctrine if their primary purpose is for birth control. Nor did he specify how emergency obstetric care that could result in terminating a pregnancy might be affected.

Covenant Health spokeswoman Karen Sullivan said in an email that as part of the regulatory process, the Catholic health system is drafting a public response to questions by the state's Oct. 23 deadline. The system, she said, is committed to "ensuring that the Ethical and Religious Directives are applied thoughtfully and with empathy, compassion and respect for every person we serve."

Catholic hospitals and providers are accredited and held to the same standards as their secular equivalents, according to the Catholic Health Association of the United States, which lobbies on behalf of Catholic hospitals.

But reproductive rights advocates say there has been a steady erosion of services in both Republican- and Democratic-led states because of the growing dominance of Catholic hospitals.

Many patients are unaware of the restrictions because hospital administrators typically don't outline the services they do not offer, said Sister Simone Campbell, a lawyer who until recently led the liberal-leaning NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice.

"Many hospitals have dealt with this by being pretty quiet. Dobbs has made it more of a question," Campbell said, referring to the case that led to the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Catholic facilities may not "promote or condone" contraception, according to the directives - a stance that is not widely shared by the public. Just 4 percent of U.S. adults think contraception is immoral, according to a 2016 Pew Research Center poll. Among Catholics who attend weekly Mass, only 13 percent say contraception is morally wrong, and 45 percent find it acceptable.

The directives, developed in the late 1940s by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, were updated in 2018, largely to ensure that Catholic doctrine prevails after mergers and acquisitions, according to Amy Chen, a lawyer with the National Health Law Program. They limit options for referring patients to secular facilities, saying employees must not "manage, carry out, assist in carrying out, make its facilities available for, make referrals for, or benefit from the revenue generated by immoral procedures."

Interpretation of the directives varies among hospital ethics committees. But decisions ultimately rest with the local bishop, who is to be kept informed, the directives say, if "a Catholic health care institution might be wrongly cooperating with immoral procedures."

"Bishops have a great deal of authority in their dioceses," Brehany said. "A bishop should ensure that a Catholic organization is abiding by the directives."

A 2018 survey published in the journal Contraception found that more than one-third of women who go to Catholic hospitals for reproductive care are not aware of the facilities' religious affiliation. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Chicago and the University of California at San Francisco, called for increased transparency among hospitals to raise awareness that patients' options may be limited at institutions with religious ties.

"Even people who had a very wanted pregnancy are at the mercy of policies not driven by their personal values or by the best interests of their health," said Debra Stulberg, the chair of family medicine at the University of Chicago and one of the researchers in the 2018 survey.

April King, 40, said she wanted to have her tubes tied immediately after giving birth to her second child in December 2020. The Los Angeles talent agent had suffered three miscarriages and knew her family was complete.

Then she learned she could not get a tubal ligation at Providence Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, where she planned to deliver.

"I was just surprised that [the hospital] could decide that for us," said King, who ultimately elected to go ahead with her delivery at Providence Saint John's because of the care she had received there in the past.

Doctors, too, face surprises - and can even be reported to hospital ethics committees for following standards of care.

In Washington state, where 41 percent of beds are Catholic-run, legislators passed a law last year to prevent hospitals from interfering with a doctor's ability to provide medically necessary care to a pregnant patient whose health or life is at risk.

Annie Iriye, a retired OB/GYN who used to work for a Catholic hospital in Olympia, Wash., testified in support of the bill. In a recent interview, Iriye described wanting to administer medication to hasten a woman's delivery to stave off infection after her water broke at 18 weeks, before fetal viability. Even though the woman was in active labor, Iriye said other staffers refused to follow her direction as the attending physician because a heartbeat had been detected.

By the time the woman delivered, she had a fever and needed antibiotics. Staffers reported Iriye to the hospital ethics committee.

"I was flabbergasted," Iriye said. "It's like, 'Oh, come on guys. Can't we just practice medicine and give good care?' "

Patients say there appears to be little consistency in how hospital staffers interpret religious directives, with doctors sometimes having to make decisions on the fly.

Whitney Marshall, 29, learned only after waking up from exploratory surgery for endometriosis in 2019 at Ascension Crittenton in Rochester Hills, Mich., that her IUD had not been replaced. Marshall, who uses the device to reduce the pain associated with the condition, had to undergo a second procedure in her gynecologist's office to have the IUD reinserted. The spokesman for Ascension Crittenton did not respond to requests for comment about the case.

"Some women cannot afford surgeries" to treat endometriosis, Marshall said. "So their only form of recourse is to try to regulate their hormones by using contraceptives."

Catholic hospitals' tradition of serving women and children in the neediest neighborhoods is "rooted in our reverence for life," said Brian Reardon, spokesman for the Catholic Health Association. But the lack of choice has been felt keenly in rural and low-income communities where patients cannot easily transfer to secular institutions, reproductive rights advocates say.

Hospitals operating under Catholic restrictions are "the sole community providers of short-term acute hospital care" in more than 52 communities across the country - up from 30 in 2013, according to Community Catalyst.

In Putnam, Conn., residents have relied on Day Kimball Healthcare, the town's only hospital, for more than a century.

Kramer, the chief executive, said the hospital has been exploring partnerships with larger systems over the past decade to ensure its long-term survival.

The proposed arrangement with Covenant Health requires the approval of Connecticut's Office of Health Strategy, which has been examining how services might be affected.

The need to preserve access to reproductive health services can bring an end to negotiations. In 2012, the investor in a proposed joint venture with two hospitals in Waterbury, Conn., one of which was Catholic, pulled out after reproductive health advocates and the local archbishop raised opposing concerns about creating a "hospital within a hospital" to provide reproductive services - a workaround that had been successful elsewhere.

Access to reproductive services has shrunk recently around Day Kimball after the 2020 closure of Planned Parenthood in nearby Danielson.

Like many hospitals, Day Kimball does not provide elective abortions, according to documents filed with the state. But it has provided other care prohibited by Catholic directives, including elective sterilizations.

Those services are key to preventing unwanted pregnancies, said Lee Wesler, an internist who has been affiliated with Day Kimball for a decade.

"Any unwanted pregnancy is a potential abortion," Wesler said.

Members of the group Save Day Kimball Healthcare said that in conversations, Kramer and other representatives of the hospital have sought to be reassuring. "They say, 'Everything will be fine,' " said Margaret Martin, a retired social worker and member of the group.

Kramer, who said he intends to stay on if the Covenant deal goes through, repeated those assurances to The Washington Post. "What we have been we will still be," he said, while declining to describe how contraceptives could be offered for the sole purpose of birth control.

In a Q&A posted in September on the Day Kimball website, Kramer suggests that other justifications could be found for using "tools" such as oral contraceptives, including "to maintain health and wellness, to address a medical condition, prevent disease, and mitigate cancer risk."

Bruce Shay, a member of the Save Day Kimball Healthcare steering committee, says he worries doctors may leave if they have to abide by the directives - or might evade them by making "a sketchy diagnosis."

Nandini Seshadri has seen that happen.

The 40-year-old Latham, N.Y. resident received a copper IUD after delivering her first child at a secular hospital that Trinity is in the process of acquiring. She was denied the device after giving birth to her second child at a Catholic hospital now affiliated with Trinity.

"I remember laughing and saying, 'What? Seriously?' " Seshadri recalled. "I didn't know that Catholic hospitals still did that."

She was even more surprised when her nurse-midwife offered her a hormonal IUD instead, on the grounds that she needed it to stabilize her menstrual cycle.

"I didn't have that problem," Seshadri said. To give her the contraception, she said, the nurse "was essentially falsifying my medical record."

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A study ranked St. Louis as the most dangerous city in the United States, while Columbia, Maryland, checks in as the country's safest amid an overall rise in crime across the country.

"Relations between local police forces and the people they are empowered to protect are not good," Steven G. Koven, a Department of Urban and Public Affairs professor at the University of Louisville, said of the results of a WalletHub study. "There is more than enough evidence to point to a breakdown in trust and resort to violence. For example, according to the Fraternal Order of Police (the largest police union in the United States), 2021 was the bloodiest year in history for American law enforcement officers."

The comments come amid a spike in crime across the U.S. since 2020, most notably in the country's largest cities. That problem has been felt worst in St. Louis, which ranked in as America's most dangerous city, according to the results of a WalletHub study released Monday.

WalletHub compared 182 American cities, taking the country's 150 largest cities as well as the two largest cities in all 50 states, ranking them in order of safest to least safe.

VIOLENT CRIMES ON THE RISE IN 2022, FOLLOWING PREVIOUS UNPRECEDENTED SPIKE IN MURDERS

Old Court House and Gateway Arch, as photographed from Citygarden in St. Louis, Missouri.

The study used 42 metrics to judge a city's safety, adding in metrics such as COVID-19 vaccination rates, terrorist attacks, mass shootings, firefighters per capita, auto accidents, natural disaster risk, and financial security in addition to crime.

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St. Louis ranked poorly in multiple categories, coming in at 179th in Home & Community Safety metrics and 156th in Financial Security metrics.

Fort Lauderdale, Florida, came in as the country's second most dangerous city, ranking 165th in Home & Community Safety metrics and 168th in Financial Security metrics.

Fort Lauderdale coastline

Rounding out the three most dangerous cities was San Bernardino, California, which ranked 180th for Home & Community Safety metrics, 160th in Natural Disaster Risk, and 142nd in Financial Security metrics.

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Other major cities to record bad scores were Detroit, checking in at 181st on Home & Community Safety, 181st on Financial security, and 179th overall. New York City and Chicago, which have both seen a spike in crime in recent years, checked in at 127th and 133rd overall, respectively.

Residential homes in San Bernardino, California

MASSIVE INCREASE IN BLACK AMERICANS MURDERED WAS RESULT OF DEFUND POLICE MOVEMENT: EXPERTS

On the flip side, some cities scored high marks. Columbia, Maryland, a suburb of Baltimore with a population of just over 100,000, checked in as the safest city overall. The study found Columbia ranked first in Home & Community Safety, 63rd in natural disasters, and 92nd in financial security.

A street sign with a literary connection in the Wilde Lake area of Columbia, Maryland, on Sunday, Feb. 21, 2021.

Nashua, New Hampshire, a city of just over 89,000 located 49 miles north of Boston, ranked second overall. The city scored its highest mark in Financial Safety, ranking second in the category. It also posted high marks in Home & Community Safety, ranking 11th, and Natural Disaster Risk, ranking 27th.

A plainclothes police officer talks to a man along a bike path in Nashua, New Hampshire.

Laredo, Texas, with a population over 260,000 situated 157 miles south of San Antonio near the Mexican border, ranked in at third overall. The city scored its highest mark in Home & Community safety, checking in at fourth place. The city fared worse on Financial Safety, coming in at 107th, while its Natural Disaster Risk ranking came in at 24th.

Downtown Laredo, Texas, with the Mexican city of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, on the left bank of the Rio Grande.

According to the experts surveyed by WalletHub, improving community relations with police was one of the top ways American cities could improve their safety.

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"Police departments are a crucial pillar of our communities, and the relationship of trust goes both ways," Doug Babcock an adjunct instructor at Saint Michael's College said. "We have seen examples where officers or departments have lost the trust of their community. We have also seen examples where the community reduced support for the department and the whole community has suffered. Departments need to be transparent and strive to represent the makeup of the community they serve."
The first memory I have of seeing Angela Lansbury perform was on Broadway as the dazzling and outsized title character in the 1983 revival of Mame. She was glorious.

A year later, there she was on CBS starring in Murder, She Wrote and playing a decidedly different character: The practical and always incisive Jessica Fletcher, who was the opposite of the grandiose Auntie Mame. Lansbury was nearly 60 when she started the series, playing the mystery writer and amateur sleuth from Cabot Cove, Maine, and it was a late-in-life infusion of stardom for a career that had long already made its mark.

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Lansbury died Tuesday at the age of 96  just five days shy of her 97th birthday.

Her talents were varied. For her work on Broadway, she won multiple Tony Awards, including one for the devilish pie-maker Nellie Lovett in Sweeney Todd in 1979. Her film career spanned everything from Gaslight in 1944 to The Manchurian Candidate in 1962 to Bedknobs and Broomsticks in 1971 to the singing teapot in the animated Beauty and the Beast in 1991.

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But it is Murder, She Wrote that I find myself returning to, again and again.

You can find it in endless reruns, or streaming on Peacock. Last year I spoke with showrunner Tom Sawyer about why the series, which ran from 1984 to 1996, worked  and still works  so well.

Certainly having Angela as the lead didnt hurt, Sawyer said. In my career up to that point, I was writing for a lot of mediocre actors. So when I got a chance to write for Angela I felt like ... what an honor.

From left: Linda Purl, Angela Lansbury and Wayne Rogers in an episode of "Murder, She Wrote." (CBS Photo Archive / CBS via Getty Images)

Smart and no-nonsense, Jessica is cosmopolitan despite that small town mailing address  so much so that she eventually acquired Manhattan pied-a-terre. Even 30-some years later, you realize that she was costumed with an eye toward timelessness. She never looks fussy. In Cabot Cove, its preppy sweaters and jeans. When shes jet-setting to parts unknown, she has a suitcase full of well-tailored skirt suits and evening wear. Her hairstyle is unchanging and yet that, too, never looks dated. I cant stress how unique this is from anything else filmed during this period.

Ive never been able to suss out how old shes supposed to be on the show, but Lansbury herself was in her 60s and early 70s when she shot Murder, She Wrote. Consider that in contrast to the equally lively but definitively retired framework given to the characters on The Golden Girls, which also aired in the 80s.

Jessica isnt easily shocked  by affairs or theft or anything else for that matter  and sees phonies for who they are. She never doubts her self-worth or her instincts and she doesnt let fame go to her head. She lives a full life! And she fits in just about anywhere, regardless of the company, which is why a crossover episode with Magnum P.I. from 1986 somehow actually works.

The frustrating part for me was, here we have one of the worlds greatest actresses and we were using such a tiny portion of her range, Sawyer told me. Finally, toward the end, I wrote an episode thats a callback to the pilot episode, when she had just become a published writer and the publisher, Preston Giles, is the murderer. So I wrote an episode called The Return of Preston Giles and he gets shot at the end, and I wanted him to die in her arms. Thats the way I wrote the script.

Anglea Lansbury, left, and Carol Channing appear at a party at Sardis in New York on March 16, 1967. (John Duricka/AP)

But the way they shot it, shes standing there looking down at his body (laughs). I wanted to give her something more emotional to play, but she just didnt want to do it. I never discussed it with her, she just chose to stay away from that and that wasnt the style of the show, anyway.

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Thats consistent throughout all 12 seasons. Jessica had no love interests or money problems or writers block. Every once in a while, though, Lansbury would depart from Jessica ever so briefly to play: Pretending to be a drunken barfly to get information, or playing the double role of her British cousin, a star of the London stage, and you think: The comedic range! She really is funny.

But for the most part, no matter the tragedy or shocking events transpiring around her, Jessica always keeps a stiff upper lip despite the murders that keep happening whenever shes around.

Thats the old joke about the show: That Jessica is actually the one guilty of all those crimes. But bingeing episodes, I tend to focus on something else: How did she not fall into a deep depression surrounded by so much death, year after year?

Angela Lansbury is shown in this 1989 file photo celebrating the 100th episode of "Murder, She Wrote." (DOUGLAS PIZAC/ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Theres something comforting if completely unrealistic about the fact that she doesnt  that she simply looks around, squints a bit and logics out what happened.

Thats not even close to how things work in real life.

But in a world that feels increasingly chaotic, you can cue up an episode of Murder, She Wrote and theres Jessica Fletcher, smartly dressed and ready to make sense of it all.

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Nina Metz is a Tribune critic

nmetz@chicagotribune.com

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A former Starbucks barista and union organiser has claimed he was fired by the American coffee chain for refusing to remove a suicide awareness pin which memorialised a former co-worker.

The barista, Will Westlake, was fired last week from one of the three Starbucks chains in Buffalo, New York  the site where unionisation efforts throughout the country began late last year. According to Bloomberg, Westlake was told by management that the pin violated Starbucks dress code.

Today I was fired from Starbucks for wearing a suicide awareness pin on my apron, Westlake said in a TikTok video shared by Starbucks Workers United, which has since received 2.3 million views since it was posted last week.

We had a partner die at our store, died by suicide, and we got these pins to kind of remember her, he explained. Very early on, the company said that they werent going to be allowed, that they werent becoming of the brand of Starbucks.

In a close-up, the pin shows two hands interlocking their fingers, along with the slogan You are not alone and a link to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. According to Bloomberg, Westlake said his fellow co-workers also wore the pins on their aprons, but most removed them to avoid getting in trouble.

I refused to take it off and today they fired me, he said in the video.

According to Starbucks, operations at Westlakes store were disrupted when he was repeatedly sent home for refusing to remove his pin. The company also said it fired Westlake for repeated attendance and dress code policy violations.

The termination notice, which was also obtained by the outlet, said Westlake was fired due to refusal to abide by the dress-code policy, as well as attendance issues.

Speaking to The Independent, Westlake said that company dress code was rarely enforced throughout his two and half years working as a Starbucks barista. That is, until he wore the anti-suicide pin.

Westlake explained that it was actually a co-worker of his who bought the pins, not only as a way to honour their friend but to raise awareness around mental health. I was wearing the pin and then very quickly the company said: No, thats not going to be allowed, he recalled. And that was really the first time that dress code had really been enforced at my store.

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When he was asked to remove the suicide awareness pin, which memorialised the death of his friend and former Starbucks employee, Westlake said he was initially in shock.

I was like, theres no way that this is a real decision that theyve made and that they want to follow through, he said. Its totally against the stated values of the company.

Last year, Starbucks workers in Buffalo became the coffee chains first location to form a union, with Westlake being one of the original letter signers. Since then, more than 300 Starbucks stores throughout the country have held union elections.

On 4 October, Starbucks Workers United filed a claim with the US National Labor Relations Board, alleging that the company was retaliating against Westlake for his union activism. According to Bloomberg, US labor board prosecutors have also accused Starbucks of allegedly firing more than 80 people for their involvement in union organising.

However, the company has maintained that no Starbucks employee has been or will be disciplined or separated for supporting, organising, or otherwise engaging in lawful union activity.

Despite his termination from Starbucks, Westlake said he will continue to help other Starbucks stores across the country in their efforts to unionise. Not only will he use his platform to bring awareness to mental health issues, but Westlake will work to make sure employees recognise their rights.

As much as this is a labour issue, as much as this is a union issue, this is a mental health issue  bringing awareness to suicide, which is very preventable in a lot of instances, Westlake said. Just as the pin that I got fired for says, you arent alone. There are resources, there are people that are willing to help you.

If you are experiencing feelings of distress and isolation, or are struggling to cope, the Samaritans offers support; you can speak to someone for free over the phone, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch.

If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call National Suicide Prevention Helpline on 1-800-273-TALK (8255). The Helpline is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you.
A 39-year-old man died after suffering serious injuries in a reported disturbance in Bolton on Tuesday night, according to the Connecticut State Police.

State troopers from Troop K were notified of an active disturbance on Boston Turnpike in Bolton just before 8 p.m. on Tuesday. Troopers and emergency services responded to the area.

A man, identified as Travis Terry of Bolton, was transported to Manchester Memorial Hospital with life-threatening injuries. Terry was later pronounced dead at the hospital, state police said.

Police are investigating the incident, which has been deemed a suspicious death.

State police said it appears to be an isolated incident, and there is no ongoing threat to the public.
(Bloomberg) -- Casino magnate Steve Wynn persuaded a US judge to dismiss a Justice Department civil lawsuit seeking to force him to register as a foreign agent acting for China when he lobbied the Trump administration several years ago.

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The Justice Department claimed Wynn should have registered after the fact for lobbying he did in telling President Donald Trump and others in his administration in 2017 that China wanted the US to extradite Guo Wengui, a wealthy exile who criticized Chinas government. US District Judge James Boasberg disagreed.

Wynns obligation to file a registration statement has years since passed, and the government cannot now compel him to register, Boasberg ruled Wednesday in federal court in Washington.

Boasberg agreed the government had a laudable goal in seeking to compel disclosure to allow government officials as well as the public to evaluate Wynns activities as an agent of a foreign principal, which is plainly consistent with the central goal of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

But the judge said he must follow an earlier appellate court ruling that said the government couldnt compel FARA registration long after the fact in a criminal case.

Wynns attorneys, Reid Weingarten and Robert Luskin, applauded the dismissal of a lawsuit they said was ill-conceived. Mr. Wynn never acted as an agent of the Chinese government and never lobbied on its behalf, they said in a statement. This is a claim that should never have been filed, and the Court agreed.

In May, the US sued Wynn, 80, the former Wynn Resorts Ltd. chief executive officer. It marked the first FARA lawsuit by the Justice Department in three decades. The US has criminally charged about a dozen people with FARA violations in recent years.

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The judge noted the unusual cast of characters involved in the lobbying effort, including former Republican National Committee finance chair Elliott Broidy; businessperson Nickie Lum Davis; and Pras Michel, a member of the 1990s hip-hop group The Fugees. Both Broidy and Davis pleaded guilty to FARA-related violations, although Trump pardoned Broidy. Michel awaits trial.

Perhaps embracing The Fugees famous line -- ready or not, here I come, you cant hide, China sought to have the Trump administration cancel the dissidents visa and have him removed, the judge wrote.

With Wynn acting as the RNC finance chair, Broidy believed that experience, combined with Wynns business dealings in China and friendship with Trump would help him push their argument case, wrote the judge, in laying out the US claims. Wynn had dinner with Trump in June 2017 and conveyed Chinas request to deny Guos visa-renewal request. The US had claimed Wynns lobbying campaign was motivated by a desire to protect his casinos in Macau.

The case is Attorney General of the US v. Stephen A. Wynn, 22-cv-013712, US District Court, District of Columbia.

(Updates with details from the ruling starting in third paragraph.)

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Reznikov at a meeting in the Rammstein format in Brussels

"Our work begins within the framework of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group Ramstein 6 and the NATO Defense Ministerial. Item #1 on todays agenda is strengthening Ukraine's air defence," he said.

Also important bilateral meetings will take place, added Reznikov.

Read also: Zelenskyy, Scholz agree on urgent G7 meeting

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on G7 leaders to give Ukraine sufficient air defense capabilities to defend itself against Russian aggression. Ukraine has repeatedly requested an air shield to stop Russia.

Amid Russia's mass missile and air attacks across Ukraine, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht announced the delivery of IRIS-T air defense systems to Ukraine within a few days.

Read also: First German IRIS-T air defense system arrives to Ukraine

U.S. President Joe Biden pledged to provide Ukraine with advanced air defense systems after Russian missiles rained down across the country.

NATO also called straightening Ukraine air defense its top priority.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
An overwhelming majority of countries castigated Russia on Wednesday over its claims to have annexed Ukrainian territory, with 143 voting in favor of a critical U.N. resolution after heavy lobbying by the U.S., Britain and the European Union.

Five countries voted against the resolution  Russia, and four other dictatorships: North Korea, Syria, Belarus and Nicaragua.

It was a stronger showing than many Western officials had predicted ahead of the vote. The ballot followed one of Russias biggest attacks on Ukraine since its invasion in February, with missile strikes in more than 20 Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, the capital.

Among the notable yes votes on Wednesday were Bangladesh, Iraq and Morocco, which either abstained or did not vote on an earlier U.N. resolution in March condemning Russias invasion of Ukraine.



A majority of countries in every region  the Americas, Asia, Africa and Europe  voted to condemn Russias actions, but more than three dozen countries abstained or did not vote.

The abstention bloc reflects that many nations are, for political and historical reasons, unwilling to take sides in a conflict that has nonetheless strained their energy and food supplies.

Overall, the vote vindicated Western officials, who launched an extensive lobbying effort in favor of the resolution arguing Moscow is undermining the U.N.s foundations by violating another countrys sovereignty.

Today, it's Russia invading Ukraine, but tomorrow it could be another nation whose territory is violated, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told other U.N. countries in remarks ahead of the vote Wednesday. It could be you. You could be next. What would you expect from this chamber?

Russia has failed on the battlefield and failed at the U.N., the U.K.s Ambassador Barbara Woodward said in a statement.

Russia will be held accountable. The EU will stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes, Josep Borrell, the European Unions chief diplomat, said after the vote.

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Russia recently vetoed a similar U.N. Security Council resolution, leading its opponents to move the matter to the larger General Assembly, where the Kremlin wields no veto.



Vassily Nebenzia, Russias representative at the world body, blasted Western hypocrisy, and defended Moscows annexation claims in his General Assembly speech.

By introducing this draft, Western states are pursuing their own geopolitical goals and are once again trying to use the members of the General Assembly as bit players, Nebenzia said.

On Monday, the body rejected Moscow's request for a secret ballot vote on the draft resolution. The vote was 107-13, with 39 abstentions. U.S. officials and their allies took that as a good omen.

U.S. officials and their allies have spent days using a variety of mediums to talk to counterparts from other countries, urging them to back the resolution.

Weve been working to appeal to countries on the merits of defending the U.N. Charter  no arm twisting on our side, a senior U.S. diplomat said, calling it good old fashioned diplomacy. The official was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive, behind-the-scenes activities.



In March, 141 countries voted to condemn Moscows full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Djibouti  which is home to a Chinese military base  was the only country to abandon its yes vote from March, by choosing not to vote Wednesday.

China, India and Pakistan all continued to abstain. South Africa and Ethiopia led a list of 19 African abstentions.

U.S. and EU diplomats had conducted an intense lobbying campaign towards India and South Africa, but failed to shift their votes.

Russias traditional allies Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan all abstained, while Turkmenistan did not vote.

Wednesdays resolution focused on Russias claim that it has annexed four Ukrainian territories. The claim follows sham referendums held by Russia in the areas that reportedly included people being forced to vote at gunpoint.
French production powerhouse Studiocanal is moving into the Italian production market by joining forces with Rome-based shingle Elsinore Film with plans to co-develop and coproduce a slate of scripted and unscripted content for the Italian and international market.

Elsinore Film is a boutique outfit headed by Annamaria Morelli (pictured, left), a former head of production at Italian streamer TimVision, who is known for her scouting activity. Morelli has had a hand in shepherding Skam Italia, the Italian adaptation of the Nordic drama series thats a hit in Italy. She was more recently among producers of Amanda, a quirky teen dramedy about female friendship by newcomer Carolina Cavalli, that launched positively in September from the Venice fests Horizons section.

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The partnership between Studiocanal and Elsinore is kicking off with an ambitious TV series based on the graphic novel Sadboi by the Argentinian manga artist and illustrator known as Berliac. The live action Sadboi adaptation, which is set in Venice, merges heists and the arts in a teen drama involving a refugee young man who after a model childhood spent in foster homes turns to a life of crime before breaking out in the contemporary art world.

Other joint projects between Studiocanal and Elsinore in earlier stages comprise a scripted comedy series and an episodic female-led period drama, as well as a number of high-end, unscripted docu-series, according to a statement.

Both fiction and non-fiction content created within the new partnership will be distributed internationally by Studiocanal.

Owned by Vivendi-backed Canal+ Group, Studiocanal already operates in all four major European markets  France, U.K., Germany and Spain  as well as in Australia and New Zealand. The banner also produces more than 200 hours of TV series each year at an international level, either in-house with Studiocanal Original, or through its network of European production labels, including Germanys Tandem Productions, the U.K.s RED Production Company, the U.K.s Urban Myth Films and SunnyMarch TV, Spains Bambu Producciones or Scandinavias SAM Productions.

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It is such an exciting time to be part of Studiocanal TV as the business continues to evolve and expand, said Francoise Guyonnet, executive managing director, TV series, at Studiocanal, in a statement. We could not be more focused when selecting the right production partner  as well as having a European DNA that works internationally, they need to share our ambition to create the most inclusive, diverse and entertaining content for global audiences. We are delighted to welcome an amazing talent such as Annamaria Morelli and her team to our growing roster of partners across Europe, she added.

Said Morelli: Our partnership relies on a common vision and on common goals: discovering the most talented, innovative and inclusive Italian storytelling and bringing it to national and international audiences. We cant wait to start collaborating with the brilliant team headed by Francoise Guyonnet, with the mix of bravery and competence that distinguishes both Studiocanal and Elsinore Film.

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Based on its initial specs, the Surface Studio 2+ wasn't the upgrade we've been waiting four years to see. Perhaps spending a bit of time with it will change my mind. Maybe I'd be fine with an 11th-gen Intel CPU, instead of this year's (far better) 12th-gen chips. During Microsoft's hands-on event at its NYC store (or "Experience Center," as the company prefers), I spent some time with the Surface Studio 2+. It's certainly a very fast computer  but the thing is, it should be much more.

Surface Studio 2+ Surface Studio 2+

Microsoft hasn't touched the Studio 2+'s design at all: It still has a 28-inch PixelSense screen that's easily converted into an easel-like view. The company was eager to throw in much faster hardware for this revision, according to Microsoft's Ishmael Adams, a senior designer on the Surface team. Unfortunately, he says, Intel's latest chips weren't ready when the company started revamping the Studio 2+. That's a shame, since we've found the 12th-gen chips to be faster and more power efficient. But hey, at least there's an RTX 3060 GPU now, and there's also potential to plug in an external GPU via a Thunderbolt 4 connection.

Surface Studio 2+

For the past several years, the Studio 2 has become an increasingly terrible computer to buy, due to its 2017-era hardware and sky-high price. So at the very least, it's nice to see a new model with better internals. The Studio 2+ is fast enough to last most creatives for several years. But if it had a 12th-gen Intel chip, it would be even more future proof. For a computer that starts at $4,300, I don't think that's too much to ask.

Beyond the internals, though, the Studio 2+ is still a striking all-in-one PC. We've seen some AiO competitors from Dell and HP, but nobody has pushed this hard to make a truly unique desktop experience. Perhaps one day Microsoft will be able to deliver a cheaper Studio device, much like it did with the Studio Laptop.

Follow along with the rest of our news from Microsoft's 2022 Surface event.
RASTAN, Syria (AP)  Syria uncovered a large intact mosaic that dates back to the Roman era, describing it Wednesday as the most important archaeological discovery since the country's conflict began 11 years ago.

Journalists were shown the mosaic in the central town of Rastan near Homs, Syrias third largest city.

The mosaic, at 120 square meters (around 1300 square feet), was found in an old building that Syria's General Directorate of Antiquities and Museums had been excavating. Lebanese and Syrian businessmen from the neighboring country's Nabu Museum bought the property that dates back to the 4th century and donated it to the Syrian state. Each panel was filled with square-shaped, small colorful stones measuring about half an inch on each side.

Dr. Humam Saad, the associate director of excavation and archaeological research at the directorate, said among the scenes the mosaic shows is a rare portrayal of Ancient Amazon warriors in Roman mythology.

What is in front of us is a discovery that is rare on a global scale, Saad told The Associated Press, adding that the images are rich in details," and includes scenes from the Trojan War between the Greeks and Trojans.

In Ancient Greek and Roman mythology, demigod hero Hercules slayed Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons, in one of his 12 labors.

The mosaic also portrays Neptune, Ancient Roman god of the sea, and 40 of his mistresses.

We cant identify the type of the building, whether it's a public bathhouse or something else, because we have not finished excavating yet, Saad told the AP.

Sulaf Fawakherji, a famous actress in Syria and a member of the Nabu Museums board of trustees said she hopes they could purchase other buildings in Rastan, which she says is filled with heritage sites and artifacts waiting to be discovered.

There are other buildings, and its clear that the mosaic extends far wider, Fawkherji told the AP. Rastan historically is an important city, and it could possibly be very important heritage city for tourism.

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Despite Rastan's historical significance in the country, Saad says there have not been significant excavation efforts in the town prior to the country's armed conflict.

Unfortunately, there were armed groups that tried to sell the mosaic at one point in 2017 and listed it on social media platforms, he said.

Syrian heritage sites have been looted and destroyed over the past decade of ongoing violent conflict.

Among the most notable incidents was the Islamic State group taking Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that boasts 2,000-year-old towering Roman-era colonnades and priceless artifacts, and partially destroying a Roman theater. Meanwhile, Syria's cash-strapped government has slowly been rebuilding Aleppo's centuries-old bazaar after reclaiming it from armed opposition forces in 2016.

Rastan was once a major opposition stronghold and was a point of intense clashes, before the Syrian government reclaimed the city in 2018.
T.J. Miller and Ryan Reynolds at a fan screening of "Deadpool" at The Soho Hotel on January 28, 2016 in London, England. Dave Benett/Getty Images

Last week, actor T.J. Miller talked about a "weird" incident with "Deadpool" costar Ryan Reynolds.

In a new interview, Miller said it was "very cool" that he got an email from Reynolds the next day.

Miller said it was a "misunderstanding" and that it was a "bummer" the story became "clickbait."

Actor T.J. Miller said Ryan Reynolds emailed him and the two "Deadpool" costars "hashed it out pretty quickly" after news outlets picked up a story Miller told last week about an incident on their shared movie set.

"I think it's weird that he hates me," Miller said on the October 5 episode of "The Adam Carolla Show" podcast.

On Wednesday, a SiriusXM interview with Miller was published with the title "TJ Miller Makes up With Ryan Reynolds." In a two-minute clip, Miller says that he heard from Reynolds via email the day after the podcast episode started circulating.

"It was really cool, he emailed me the next day and kind of said it was, and it was, a misunderstanding," Miller said. "So I emailed him back and now it's like, fine."

Miller then went on to explain that he hadn't expected a response because he "wasn't thinking" about how his story about a weird memory from set would have "repercussions." Miller reiterated that he thinks Reynolds is funny and amazing in the "Deadpool" movies, but that all of those compliments didn't show up in the media reports.

"Because that's the clickbait," Miller said. "That's really a bummer."

Miller said Reynolds was "really cool about it" and that he's "a good dude."

"It was very cool for him to say, 'Hey I just heard that you were upset about this,'" Miller said of Reynolds. "I said, 'I'm not' and we hashed it out pretty quickly."

SiriusXM cohost Jim Norton asked Miller if he felt bad about the headlines saying Reynolds was "horrifically" mean on set. Miller said he only felt bad that it was "picked up and it was misconstrued" and that he felt he hadn't said anything that negative.

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On last week's "The Adam Carolla Show" podcast episode, Miller had said he wouldn't work with Reynolds again.

"We had a really weird moment on 'Deadpool' where he said, 'Let's do one more take.' And then as the character, he was horrifically mean to me as if I'm Weasel," the comedian shared. "So he was like, 'You know what's great about you, Weasel? You're not the star, but you do just enough exposition so that it's funny, and then we can leave and get back to the real movie.'"

Deadpool. 20th Century Fox

As Insider's Pauline Villegas reported, "though Miller didn't confirm, the 'Silicon Valley' actor implied he was not asked to return for the next movie in the 'Deadpool' franchise."

This wouldn't be the first time Miller had been removed from a franchise. In 2019, "How to Train Your Dragon" director Dead DeBlois told Insider that Miller's role was recast mid-production following reports of a sexual assault allegation and an arrest on charges of calling in a fake bomb threat.

"I was reluctant to make the change but it was a decision that came [from] on high, you know, tied to his headlines last year," DeBlois said in a 2019 interview with Insider. "So I went along with it, but it's regretful because he's such a comedic genius and he had given us some really great stuff."

"Deadpool 3" is set to come out in 2024 and is the first installment set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Read the original article on Insider
(Bloomberg) -- Taiwans navy plans to update its aging fleet of warships, a move intended to counter ramped up military pressure from China.

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Taiwan intends to build a new anti-submarine frigate and a similar vessel with anti-aircraft capabilities, officials from the Defense Ministry told lawmakers in Taipei on Wednesday, adding the vessels were expected to be ready by 2025 and 2026.

China has doubled the number of ships that patrol every day in waters near Taiwan to four or five since August, when the Peoples Liberation Army carried out military drills in response to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visiting Taipei, the Defense Ministry said. It has also expanded its patrols in areas southwest and north of Taiwan, it added.

The plans for more naval vessels underscore Taiwans efforts to bolster its defenses to guard against any invasion by China, which claims the self-ruled island as its territory. Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said in a speech on Monday that would mean ramping up production and procurement of weapons, such as precision missiles and high-performance naval vessels. The islands navy currently has 26 large combat vessels, although many of them are old.

Taiwan has signaled it is taking the threat of war from Beijing more seriously since Pelosis visit prompted the unprecedented Chinese military exercises, which included firing missiles over the island. Beijing has deployed warplanes and military vessels near Taiwan on an almost daily basis since then.

Why Taiwans Status Risks Igniting a US-China Clash: QuickTake

Last week, Taiwan pledged to treat any PLA incursion into its airspace as a first strike, and said it would make an announcement on extending its four-month military conscription requirement by the end of the year.

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Taiwan is expected to be a major issue at the twice-a-decade congress of Chinas ruling Communist Party starting Sunday, where President Xi Jinping is set to secure a third term. Xi has previously pledged to use all necessary means to resolve the Taiwan matter.

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A Connecticut jury on Wednesday ordered broadcaster and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to pay nearly $1 billion in damages to the families of eight Sandy Hook shooting victims and a law enforcement first responder to compensate them for a decade of abuse from people who believe his lies that the 2012 elementary school massacre was a hoax.

The astonishing $965 million compensatory damages verdict, after 3  weeks of gripping accounts of harassment from Jones and his followers, could increase in the coming days with the addition of punitive damages, which are awarded for particularly outrageous and willful conduct.

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Fifteen people sued Jones  parents, spouses and siblings of the 20 first graders and six educators murdered when a gunman shot his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown with an assault rifle, and an FBI agent who rushed to the scene on Dec. 14, 2012. Within hours of the murders, as relatives came to grips with their losses, Jones began what would become years of bombastic broadcasts to an audience of millions claiming that the relatives were actors in a phony production staged to win support for gun control.

Parents of the murdered children testified that, as a result Jones broadcasts, threats began so quickly and grew so serious that, within days, authorities were taking security measures to protect mourners at their childrens funerals. Lawyers for the families presented the jury with evidence that the harassment continued through the trial.

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The relatives sat calmly for the most part in the courtroom gallery as the court clerk read, and reread the 17-page verdict form. Robert Parker, whose daughter Emilie was one of the victims and who was the target of particularly relentless and vitriolic attacks by Jones, bowed his head and wept. Some family members hugged afterwards.

Later, outside the courthouse, Parker said he was proud that we were able to accomplish this, just to simply tell the truth.

Jones was not present, but he streamed the reading of the verdicts during the broadcast of his Infowars program and again mocked the relatives.

Attorney Chris Mattie speaks to the media after jurors returned a $965 million dollar judgement in the defamation trial against Alex Jones, in Waterbury, Conn, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Bryan Woolston) (Bryan Woolston/AP)

Blah, blah, blah, Jones said. You get a million, you get $100 million in response to the jurys findings for each family member.

It was the second big verdict against Jones for spreading lies and harassing relatives of Sandy Hook victims. In August, a jury in Texas awarded nearly $50 million in compensatory and punitive damages to the parents of a murdered first grader who sued Jones there. A third suit is pending in Texas.

The verdicts follow an emotional and, at times, contentious trial. All the relatives testified, often in tears, about being threatened and tormented by people who subscribe to Jones bizarre theory that Sandy Hook parents and their murdered children were actors in a hoax staged to win support for outlawing gun ownership in the U.S.

Erica Lafferty, daughter of Sandy Hook Principal Dawn Hochsprung, speaks to the media after jurors returned a $965 million dollar judgement in the defamation trial against Alex Jones, in Waterbury, Conn, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Bryan Woolston) (Bryan Woolston/AP)

The relatives described being confronted by complete strangers, at their homes, at shopping malls and while walking along a city street 3,000 miles from Newtown. All said they were the targets of what one parent called a full-on assault on social media. The daughter of the murdered Sandy Hook Elementary School principal said she received rape threats in the mail. Another parent said a Sandy Hook denier threated to dig up his sons grave to prove he had not been killed.

Jones was as antagonistic when testifying inside the courthouse and outside at impromptu press conferences as he was while deriding the verdicts on his broadcast Wednesday. In court, called as a witness by the families, he said he had been mistaken about Sandy Hook, had apologized and was tired of doing so.

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The testimony ended in a shouting match when Christopher Mattei, a lawyer pressing the families suit, gestured toward the relatives sitting in a group in the courtroom gallery and accused Jones of putting a target on their backs. Jones fired back, Is this a struggle session? Are we in China? Ive already said Im sorry, and Im done saying Im sorry.

In both his opening and closing statements, Mattei told jurors they had the power to return a verdict that stops Jones.

Hes going on 10 years of defaming these families, and its not stopping, Mattei told the jury in his closing. This is their one chance, and your one chance  to render a verdict on just how much devastation Alex Jones has caused.

Mattei did not suggest a damage award, but presented the jury with a formula for reaching one: Determine fair compensation for a person harmed by a single lie, told once. Then multiply that sum by 550 million, a figure that an expert trial witness for the families said reflects Jones massive audience reach across his broadcast, internet and social media platforms.

You may say that is astronomical, Mattei said. It is. It is. It is exactly what Alex Jones did. He built a lie machine to push this stuff out. He built a lie machine.  But you know something, thats not enough.

Jones lawyer, Norm Pattis, conceded that his clients conspiracy theories  the school shooting was a hoax and the grieving parents were actors  are false and despicable, but they are what Jones or guests on his broadcast believed when they made them. Pattis accused lawyers for the families of appealing to jurors emotions by doing what they accuse Jones of  fomenting anger.

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Alex invented fear, Pattis said in his closing argument. Alex invented anger. Alex invented what is wrong with this world. Kill Alex and well all live happily ever after.  The angrier you get the more money they will get. You are sort of like a pinball machine: Put enough money in and pull the lever and maybe all that money will pop out.

Jones declined to testify in his defense and Pattis chose not to put on any defense at all. Outside on the courthouse sidewalk, Jones called the trial a kangaroo court and Judge Barbara Bellis a tyrant.

Because of a rare default ruling by Bellis a year ago, the defamation trial was actually a hearing on damages. The default punished Jones for failing to comply with court orders to disclose business records and found in favor of the families on the central point of their suit  that Jones hoax broadcasts were outrageous lies and responsible for a decade of harassment and anguish.

The default prevented Jones from presenting a defense and limited what he could argue to minimize damages. As a result, the only question before the jury was what Jones owes.

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones takes the witness stand to testify at the Sandy Hook defamation damages trial at Connecticut Superior Court in Waterbury, Conn. Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022. Jones was found liable last year by default for damages to plaintiffs without a trial, as punishment for what the judge called his repeated failures to turn over documents to their lawyers. The six-member jury is now deciding how much Jones and Free Speech Systems, Infowars parent company, should pay the families for defaming them and intentionally inflicting emotional distress. (Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media via AP, Pool) (Tyler Sizemore/AP)

Pattis said he expects Jones to appeal.

I think that it was an unprecedented sort of situation to be in with a default judgment and evidentiary rulings that frankly, in my view, are indefensible, Pattis said. So I think that Jones has excellent prospects on appeal and I urge him to take the appeal.

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He said the $965 million in compensatory damages could increase by one-half or more when punitive damages are calculated.

I think they went out to make a statement and they did, Pattis said. There just isnt that kind of money out there and they will learn that.

There are two kinds of punitive damages that apply under Connecticut law against Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems. Bellis is responsible for deciding in both cases after hearing arguments from the lawyers next month

The six-person jury found that the relatives are entitled to punitive damages in the form of attorney fees and the costs of preparing and pressing the suits. That figure could reach well into the millions of dollars in a case that has been litigated by multiple lawyers over four years in state, federal and U.S. bankruptcy courts in Connecticut and Texas. Bellis will decide on the amount.

The jury also found that Jones and Free Speech Systems violated Connecticuts unfair trade practices law because his broadcast, internet and retail sales businesses drove profit with broadcasts that intentionally  and falsely  vilified the families. The families presented evidence suggesting that Jones broadcast hoax lies because he knew his Sandy Hook hoax programming caused spikes in audience numbers and in sales at his retail sites where he sold nutritional supplements and survivalist gear.

State law sets no limit on damages awarded under the unfair trade practices act.

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Jones legal maneuvering in bankruptcy courts in Connecticut and Texas during the run-up to the trial suggests he may claim he is unable to pay a substantial verdict. His lawyers have said he could not afford anything over $10 million. His company, Free Speech Systems, has filed for bankruptcy protection. But lawyers for the Sandy Hook families have accused Jones of diverting millions of dollars a week since default rulings in Connecticut and Texas went against him. And an expert in the Texas case said Jones and Free Speech Systems are worth more than $200 million.

The jurys compensatory awards to the individual plaintiffs ranged from $28.8 million to $120 million.

This is a moment years in the making, said Erica Lafferty, daughter of Sandy Hook Elementary School Principal Dawn Hochsprung. And in this moment, like in every big moment since the shooting, I wish I could just call my mom and tell her about it.

The heart of the families case at the Connecticut trial was a succession of painfully emotional accounts of their suffering at the hands of mostly anonymous tormentors who confronted them on streets, left messages on their cars or showed up at their homes.

Among them was Parker and his wife Alissa. Jones seized on a video clip of Parker mourning his daughters murder, making it a regular prop on his hoax broadcasts. Jones claimed Parker had to have been acting the part of bereaved parent, because he smiled nervously and consulted notes as he approached the television cameras.

Parker did not know at the time he was the first of the parents to speak to reporters outside his church. And he thought he would be facing only a single television camera from Utah, where he and his wife grew up and their families lived. Instead he was stunned as he appeared before an army of television lights. He testified his smile was in response to a word of encouragement from his father.

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Alissa Parker said Jones twisted a small clip of the video and it led to a full-on assault by his audience.

They called Emilie a whore, Alissa Parker said. Just the most horrific things you could ever even imagine. Just calling Robbie a liar, and that were going to burn in hell for what weve done.

Parker testified that minutes before their daughters funeral he discovered his wife hiding, overcome in a coat closet.

She was curled up, just sobbing, he testified, and saying, I dont know if I can do this. 

A year after the school shooting, Parker said he quit his job as a physicians assistant at Danbury Hospital and moved 3,000 miles west to Washington in hopes that the harassment would decrease with distance from Newtown. He said he learned he was wrong within months of the move as he walked along a street in Seattle while attending a charity event.

Parker said he was confronted by a man who recognized him from the video and began screaming curses.

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The guy just kept following me and he was just in my ear the whole time: Emilies alive, isnt she? Shes alive, huh? Son of a (expletive), shes alive. And I just kept walking and walking. People are staring at us and he just wont shut up, he said.

The lawyers representing the families of the victims of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary speak to the media after jurors returned a $965 million dollar judgement in the defamation trial against Alex Jones, in Waterbury, Conn, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Bryan Woolston) (Bryan Woolston/AP)

Im just trying to hold it in. For years, Ive been dealing with this. And I never had the chance to tell anybody how I felt or what I thought, Parker testified. I retreated every single time something happened to us. I put another layer of camouflage on us. Nobody can know where we are. And I retreated and I retreated.

And now this guy was in my face and he wouldnt leave me alone. And he said Emilies name one more time. I turned around and I looked at him and, Im paraphrasing at this point, and I said, How dare you. Youre talking about my daughter. She was killed. Who do you think you are? How do you sleep at night? "

Reporter Taylor Hartz contributed to this story.
By Ben Blanchard

TAIPEI (Reuters) -China is looking at the experience of the war in Ukraine to develop "hybrid warfare" strategies against Taiwan including using drones and psychological pressure, a senior Taiwanese security official said on Wednesday.

Taiwan has been carefully studying the lessons of the Ukraine war to inform how it may react should China, which views the democratically ruled island as its own territory, ever makes good on threats to use force to enforce its sovereignty claim.

China mounted military exercises around Taiwan in August to express its anger at a visit to Taipei by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and it has maintained its military activities since then, though at a scaled-back pace.

Speaking in parliament, Taiwan's National Security Bureau Director-General Chen Ming-tong said China was also paying attention to what was happening in Ukraine.

"This year, the communist military has borrowed from the experience of the Russia-Ukraine war to develop 'hybrid warfare' against Taiwan and strengthen its combat training and preparation against strong enemies," he told lawmakers.

After China's August drills, it expanded its "grey zone" and hybrid activities against Taiwan, especially with the use of drones that have flown both near Taiwan-controlled islands off China's coast and into Taiwan's air defence identification zone, Chen said.

Taiwan says China's "grey-zone" warfare campaign involves irregular tactics to exhaust a foe without resorting to open combat, like frequently flying into Taiwan's air defence zone and forcing Taiwan's air force to scramble.

China has released images of Taiwan's military online to "slander" it and attack the government, he said, referring to video that circulated on Chinese social media in August of Taiwanese soldiers on offshore islands taken by drones.

These activities "highlight that the Chinese communists have increased their cognitive warfare, grey zone activities and other hybrid methods, which have constituted a new form of threat to national security", Chen added.

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China's Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. China has blamed Taiwan for the increase in tensions, saying it is "colluding" with foreign forces against Beijing to promote the island's formal independence.

Taiwan is bolstering its defences in the face of the stepped up China activity, and navy commander Chiang Cheng-kuo said that includes a new generation of destroyer given that its fleet of 26 main warships was on average 20 to 30 years old.

"We're planning for the capital ships, but the tonnage is yet to be decided," he told the same parliament session.

Chen said China's military threats had coalesced support from the United States and its allies for Taiwan to ensure what happened to Ukraine would not be repeated across the Taiwan Strait.

This will enhance Taiwan's ability to deal with China and deter "their plots to attack Taiwan", he said.

Russia calls its invasion of Ukraine a "special military operation".

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Roger Tung; Editing by Robert Birsel)
Team Secret became the 19th team to qualify for The International 11 after they swept Virtus.pro in the upper bracket finals of the tournament's Last Chance Qualifier. (Photos: Team Secret)

Western Europe's Team Secret have become the first team to qualify for The International 11 (TI11) from the tournament's Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) after they swept Virtus.pro (VP), 2-0, in the LCQ's upper bracket finals on Wednesday (12 October).

With Secret punching their ticket to Singapore, it also extends team captain Clement "Puppey" Ivanov's record of attending every single iteration of TI to its eleventh year  a legendary feat in Dota 2 that can never be replicated.

WHAT A RUN!!!!@Clementinator keeps his perfect TI attendance record as @TeamSecret secure their #TI11 slot after defeating Virtus Pro! pic.twitter.com/07FHmgLduJ  Yahoo Esports and Gaming SEA (@YahooEsportsSEA) October 12, 2022

Secret started the LCQ with a solid performance in the Group Stage, claiming the third seed of Group A with a 6-4 record and an upper bracket berth in the Playoffs.

Secret only got better in the Playoffs, where they defeated Xtreme Gaming, 2-1, before soundly sweeping T1, 2-0, to advance to the upper bracket finals.

Meanwhile, VP took the third seed of Group B with a 5-5 record to also make the upper bracket. They then defeated Vici Gaming and Team Liquid to face Secret for the LCQ's first spot in TI11.

VP opened the draft for game one by taking the Undying and Disruptor combo for Daniyal "yamich" Lazebnyy and Egor "Xakoda" Lipartiya. That gave them some flexibility on whether to put Undying as an offlaner or support, while Disruptor has become more popular in the final days of the LCQ due to the incredible power of his Aghanim's Scepter.

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Secret went for a strong safe lane combo with Witch Doctor for Clement "Puppey" Ivanov and Sniper for Remco "Crystallis" Arets, two ranged heroes with plenty of damage and control between them.

Beastmaster for Dmitry "DM" Dorokhin was the answer by VP, as his Boars can absorb the stun from Witch Doctor while Roman "RAMZES666" Kushnarev's Luna deals the damage.

It was an even laning stage as both teams had roughly the same networth at the 10-minute mark. However, most of VP's gold was on RAMZES' Luna, who wasn't interested in fighting early, while Beastmaster was significantly behind the other cores in networth. This led to VP having a weak mid-game and allowed Secret to control the map.

While Secret did well in the mid-game, RAMZES only kept growing bigger and bigger, and once he started showing up to teamfights, it became almost impossible for Secret to match his damage output.

At the 42-minute mark, Secret managed to trade their bottom barracks to take down DM and Yamich by making one of the boldest plays of the LCQ. Realizing that going late is too risky, Secret went all-in for the enemy barracks and pulled off the craziest comeback of the series.

Game two saw VP stick to the same approach they had in game one, which, to be fair, almost won them the game. Luna, Disruptor, and Undying were all picked in the opening phase of the draft, although this time the Undying was given to DM.

A roaming Clockwork for yamich gave VP more flexibility in the mid-game along with vision to scout out Secret. The Russian squad needed a mid who had no downtime and settled for a rather unorthodox mid Tusk for Danil "gpk" Skutin.

Secret also wanted a midlaner who could one-shot enemies and picked up Lina for Micha "Nisha" Jankowski.

Secret also picked Primal Beast for Roman "Resolut1on" Fomynok. Primal Beast has won all three times he was picked up by the Western European squad. For the second time in the series, Bakyt "Zayac" Emilzhanov played Nyx Assassin while Puppey took Chen, his most-played hero of all time.

It wasn't only the draft that was familiar for VP, as they had the same strategy towards the game, giving RAMZES all the farm while the other four heroes make space. Unlike the previous game however, Secret was better prepared to deal with it and their high mobility made it easy to take control of the map.

If there is one person who gets the MVP award in game two, it had to be Nisha. He built his Lina with a focus on magic damage and used that to great effect to remove enemy cores the moment a fight breaks out. His ability to kill a core Undying with one Laguna Blade was all VP needed to see before they fled from Secret 25 minutes into the match.

Nisha wasn't the only one who had an incredible performance in game two. Puppey reminded everyone why he is the only person in the world to attend every TI, as his Chen doubled the networth of the other supports and kept his team alive with a 10-minute Mekansm followed by a 20-minute Wraith Pact  an absurd amount of gold for a position 5 support to have but is par for the course for Puppey.

Unlike game one, which ended in an incredible fight between the two teams, the final seconds of game two saw Secret do what they had been doing since the game started: kill Luna with a Laguna Blade and prevent VP from fighting back.

After a 28-minute rout, VP finally called GG, conceding the 2-0 series victory as well as the coveted spot in TI11 over to Secret.

Secret is now the 19th team to qualify for TI11, with the previous 18 either being directly invited or earning their spot through the regional qualifiers.

VP still has a shot of being the 20th team in the tournament if they win the LCQ's lower bracket finals against the winner of the lower bracket semifinals between Team Liquid and Vici Gaming.

The TI11 LCQ will take place from 8 to 12 October and will feature the 12 runners-up from the regional qualifiers fighting for the last two spots in the Group Stage. The LCQ will begin with a single round-robin Group Stage from 8 to 9 October followed by a double-elimination Playoffs from 10 to 12 October.

TI11 will be hosted in Singapore from 8 to 30 October and features a revamped format with the new LCQ and a longer schedule. For everything you need to know about TI11, check here.

Team Secret roster:

Remco "Crystallis" Arets Micha "Nisha" Jankowski Roman "Resolut1on" Fomynok Bakyt "Zayac" Emilzhanov Clement "Puppey" Ivanov

Virtus.pro roster:

Roman "RAMZES666" Kushnarev Danil "gpk" Skutin Dmitry "DM" Dorokhin Daniyal "yamich" Lazebnyy Egor "Xakoda" Lipartiya

If you're a fan of Dota 2 both as a game and as an esports title, check out our Dota 2 page. From news to results, to the latest game meta or builds, as well as player interviews, there's something for everyone.

For more esports news updates, visit https://yhoo.it/YahooEsportsSEA and check out Yahoo Esports Southeast Asias Facebook page and Twitter, as well as our Gaming channel on YouTube.
For the last 20 years, people from all over the world have traveled to a small town in West Tennessee to learn how to fight for their lives.

The companys motto is We teach good people to kill bad people.

Their clientele is changing. In these troubled times, more people are looking for a way to defend themselves that goes beyond target practice.

Tactical Response started in 1996 and took a key role in training defense contractors, military, police and others in the use of high end firearms and tactical maneuvers.

It was founded by James Yeager. Today his daughters run the company.

Kayla Lewis says , We are teaching you how to fight with a gun instead of shoot.

Thats something that seems to resonate with a lot of people these days. Lewis says 95% " of their customers are everyday people.

These are your average everyday parents, school teachers, accountants.

FOX13s Valerie Calhoun talked to Rhonda Ezell, from Chicago, who said shes had gun training before. She says this is a little step higher than your normal class.

Lewis says the increase in active shooter situations is one reason more people want this kind of training-to protect themselves and their loved ones.

Its hitting home for a lot more people because they are becoming much more common.

Haley Hansen came from Wisconsin to take this Fighting Pistol class in Camden, Tennessee. She says, theres been shootings in Milwaukee at a salon and shes taking the class to feel more empowered and safe in her workplace.

This class is intense. Its more than target practice. Much more. Instructor Tim Morris says it teaches you more about the mindset than anything else.

The key word in the name of the class is fight. As in: fight back.

Rhonda says, When the bad guy shows up hes not going to tell you Im only going to do this or dont worry were not going to do that. This is a fighting pistol class which teaches you how to fight with your firearm.

We were impressed with what we saw at the end of the second full day of the two-day class. Instructors yell last minute warnings ending with the word, Fight. There are situations where youre told to respond if a loved one is being held hostage. They get one shot. Most succeed. They are trained to move around as if in a real active shooter situation.

Story continues

Morris says 54 students have been in an actual life or death situation involving a gun since Ive had this class. Our record is 53-1. The one guy that lost was not more than 5 miles from here and he didnt take a gun to a gun fight.

This summer an armed bystander shot and killed an active shooter at a mall in Greenwood, Indiana. The police chief called him a hero saying many more people would have died if Eli Dicken had not taken action. Neither Dicken nor the chief would talk to us for this story.

FOX13 spoke with Collierville Police Chief Dale Lane one year after a man shot 13 people and killed a shopper at the Kroger on New Byhalia Road.

Chief Lane says theres been a version of run, hide, fight thats been taught by law enforcement officers. In our situation in Collierville, theres no question it saved lives that day. People were running, hiding which gave us time to get there and intervene.

But sometimes police cant get there in time. Thats why Chief Lane says you need to have a plan.

In an active shooter situation, these incidents are driven by people who want to create fear and theyre looking for the highest number of victims they can so compliance does not make you safer. It actually makes you much more vulnerable so we hate to say that but if we are not there and we cant intervene.,..you must fight for your life. "

He also says carrying a firearm is not always the answer. If youre not trained and not mentally prepared to use it, its the worst idea ever.

Haley Hansen, headed back to her salon in Wisconsin. She says she feels more empowered after this training, Yep, I can do this.

Chief Lane said there are several places here in the Mid-South that provide similar training. The experts say the key is to get training and practice so you are comfortable handling a weapon and know how to use it, just in case.

Download the FOX13 Memphis app to receive alerts from breaking news in your neighborhood.

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(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Bidens student loan forgiveness plan is facing a legal challenge from two Texans who claim their educational debt was unfairly excluded from the program.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Myra Brown and Alexander Taylor sued the Biden administration Monday in federal court in Fort Worth, Texas. They claim the Department of Education made arbitrary decisions on loan forgiveness eligibility in violation of administrative procedure law.

The result of this arbitrariness is predictable, Brown and Taylor said in the suit. Some will benefit handsomely, some will be shortchanged, and others will be left out entirely.

Bidens plan, which applies to federally administered loans, calls for $10,000 in relief per borrower, subject to income caps of $125,000 per individual and $250,000 per household. Recipients of Pell Grants, federal aid targeted at low-income students, can be forgiven an additional $10,000.

Brown argues that its unfair that her $17,000 in debt from attending the University of Texas, El Paso, and Southern Methodist University is ineligible for forgiveness because it is commercially held. Taylor, who said he borrowed $35,000 to go to the University of Dallas, complained that he wasnt eligible for the additional $10,000 because he didnt receive a Pell Grant.

Taylor claims in his suit that his current income is less than $25,000 a year.

Yet others making more than five times as much as he does (up to $125,000 a year) will receive $20,000 in debt forgiveness if they got a Pell Grant in college, the suit alleges.

The lawsuit joins a growing list of legal challenges to the plan, including a multistate case scheduled for a preliminary injunction hearing in Missouri on Wednesday.

Story continues

The case is Brown v. US Department of Education, 22-cv-00908, US District Court, Northern District of Texas (Fort Worth).

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By Poppy McPherson, Kwang Jiraporn Kuhakan and Orathai Sriring

THA UTHAI, Thailand (Reuters) - In the days before he killed 36 people, including 22 children stabbed as they slept, the former police sergeant behind Thailand's worst massacre was firing guns in his back yard.

For several nights the sound of 34-year-old Panya Khamraps 9 mm pistol cracked the silence in the sleepy village of Tha Uthai, neighbours said.

It was the latest show of violence from the former police officer, once a village success story who became an angry, introverted man in a downward spiral, though still invested with some of the authority his old job bestowed.

"How were we going to report him to the police? He was the police," said Phuwan Polyeam, 29, who lives close by with her two children.

Panya killed the 36 people in a three-hour rampage through the district in which he was born, shooting and stabbing to death neighbours, including a childhood friend.

The 22 child victims at the nursery were boys and girls aged two to five. Seven are in hospital.

The violence  the deadliest massacre of children anywhere in recent years  has stunned the country.

Authorities initially blamed drugs. Panya was described by police as a user of methamphetamine pills known as yaba and was fired in January for drug possession.

But an autopsy found no trace of drugs in Panya's system on the day of the killings, on Thursday last week, police said.

Thailand's deputy police chief, General Surachate Hakparn, told Reuters the violence resulted from "exploded emotion", pointing to his dismissal from the police and legal, money, and family troubles.

Panya's movements that day are obscure. There were multiple killings in different locations and police have yet to release a comprehensive account.

Reuters established a timeline of events through interviews with neighbours, witnesses, and an investigating officer.

They recounted three hours of horror and a slow police response. Phone records confirmed many details.

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Surachate acknowledged the police response had been slow and officers arrived too late to stop the killing. He also pointed to the law, which forbids even licensed gun owners from firing at home or in public.

"If there had been an arrest then this might not have happened," he said.

TROUBLING SIGNS

Nong Bua Lam Phu is a poor northeastern province lush with rice and sugarcane fields.

Panya grew up in the remote village of Tha Uthai and attended high school before winning a place to study law at a top Bangkok university. He later got a job with the police, working in some of the capital's wealthiest neighbourhoods.

But in 2020 he arrived back home. Newly divorced, he moved in with a woman who worked at a karaoke bar and her son.

He worked at a police station but in January was fired for drugs. Colleagues said he was hot tempered and started fights.

There were other troubling signs. A neighbour said he locked his girlfriend and her son inside when he went out.

The deputy chief of a neighbouring village told media Panya had praised the 2020 massacre of 29 people in another province at the hands of a soldier, saying that he would have killed more. She declined to be interviewed.

Another neighbour said that days before his rampage the village chief warned Panya about his behaviour. They argued and the village chief was afraid, said the neighbour, Suwan Tonsomsen. The chief could not be reached for comment.

Early on the day of the massacre, Panya had a court appointment on a drugs charge. The verdict was due the next day. Before dawn, neighbours heard him arguing with his girlfriend at their small home at the edge of the village. Police said she told him she was leaving him.

'SO QUICKLY'

Reuters was unable to establish what happened at the court but media, citing neighbours, reported that Panya's lawyer had asked him to show evidence of good character. Another neighbour told Reuters he had seen Panya's mother with his degree certificate.

When he returned home, police said, Panya's girlfriend and her son were gone.

At around midday, he left in a white pick-up truck. Turning a corner, he crashed into a man on a motorcycle outside a small shop. He rolled down the window and shot him, according to witness Sombat Rattani, who ran the shop.

The mortally wounded man crawled towards the shop, pleading for help, Sombat said. He glimpsed Panya through the window, his gun pointed at him, and thought he was going to die. They knew each other. Panya had bought water from his shop.

Panya did not shoot. Instead, he drove to an intersection where he rammed into a group of people, left his truck, and stabbed them. Three died and several were wounded.

From there he drove to the administrative complex where the Uthai Sawan Child Development Centre, a pink, one-storey building, is located next to a government office.

Teachers in the nursery had put the children down for their nap by the time Panya arrived at around 12:30 p.m.

He attacked people in the courtyard, shooting some, slashing others with a long blade that farmers use for hacking crops.

Several people were killed there.

"Everything happened so quickly and there was blood everywhere," said office worker Kittisak Polprakap, 29.

"I saw the wounded and dead sitting together at a table as if nothing had happened."

People ran. Two female employees, Jidapha Boonsom, 48, and Saowaluk Keeta, 25, dashed into an office looking out onto the nursery.

Some staff called the police but were told they were busy elsewhere.

Panya shot twice at the nursery door and kicked it open, a witness told media. For about 20 minutes he went from room to room, shooting teachers and slashing the children with his machete.

Some teachers fled over a wall but not Supaporn Pramongmook, 26, who was eight-months pregnant. Another teacher, Maliwan Lasopha, tried to plead with Panya. They had played together as children.

He killed them both.

'WHAT ARE YOU DOING?'

The office workers said Panya emerged calmly holding the blade and drove off.

News of the violence spread with photos showing up on social media. Suwimon Sudfanpitak, the aunt of one of the children killed that day, rushed to the complex to see two bodies outside the nursery. "His teacher came to apologise, saying there was nothing that she could do to save the kids," she said.

The only child to emerge from the nursery unscathed, a three-year-old called Ammy, was carried out with a blanket covering her eyes.

After driving back to his neighbourhood, Panya was approached by a neighbour. "What are you doing?" the man asked. "I'm here to fucking kill you," Panya replied. He shot the neighbour dead before fatally attacking another, said witness Phuwan Polyeam.

Another villager, Suwan's daughter-in-law, was sheltering in her home with her two children, clamping her hand over the mouth of her toddler son to keep him quiet while sending Suwan frantic messages. "He is here," one read.

Suwan's phone records showed numerous calls to the police. "They said there were not enough police," she said, and they had to wait for a commando unit. "It took them a while," she said.

Suwan said that after Panya tried to set fire to their car he left. He walked back to his house where, at around 3 p.m., he burned his truck, shot his girlfriend, her son and then himself.

The community is reeling.

"Everyone gets depressed," shopkeeper Sombat said. "But the solution is not crime ... Why did he attack and hurt children? That is what we're asking."

(Additional reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat, Panu Wongcha-Um, Vorasit Satienlerk, Chayut Setboonsarng and Ardchawit Inha; Writing by Poppy McPherson; Editing by Robert Birsel)
Workers at a CVS store in Orange County, California, were trying to form a union last year when they got a surprise from their employer. The pharmacy chain had decided to give them substantial raises, boosting their pay as much as 37%.

CVS was doing market pay adjustments at many of its stores. But the company earmarked certain locations in California  an area where the United Food and Commercial Workers union was running an organizing campaign  for juicier pay bumps than the formula called for, according to hearing transcripts and CVS documents obtained through a public records request.

Workers at Store 9119 in Orange County were among them. They were in the midst of signing union cards to join UFCW Local 324. Unlike most other nonunion workers, they ended up with the higher pay rates that already-unionized stores in the area were receiving, only they got them without having to join the union and pay dues.

I thought it was a very weird coincidence that it was the exact same number, one CVS worker recently said of her raise matching the union pay rate. The worker was testifying in a hearing before the National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency that referees disputes between unions and employers.

Suddenly raising pay or benefits is a tried-and-true way for employers to tamp down union support, since it makes some workers believe a union is no longer necessary. With pandemic-weary U.S. workers requesting union elections at a rate not seen in years, some are watching their employers scramble to improve the workplace for fear theyll end up across from their employees at the bargaining table.

The message was unmistakable. Why go to the trouble of organizing when well just gift you the union rate for free?Ryan Spillers, attorney for the union

Employers need to be careful when changing pay or benefits where workers are considering unionizing, lest it come off as coercive and disrupt the laboratory conditions under which workers are supposed to vote in an election. They can hike workers pay as part of a standard review process, but its against the law to do so expressly to undermine a union campaign.

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At Store 9119, workers cast their ballots less than three weeks after learning of their new raises. Eight workers voted in favor of joining the UFCW. Nine voted against.

Ryan Spillers, a union-side attorney who represented the UFCW at the labor board, said the company tried to hide the higher-than-market raises for certain workers by rolling them into its nationwide raise announcement.

The message was unmistakable, Spillers said. Why go to the trouble of organizing when well just gift you the union rate for free?

The UFCW maintained that CVS pay raises at Store 9119 were designed to weaken union support. An administrative law judge recently agreed, ordering that the election results be thrown out. CVS has appealed the judges decision to the five-member board in Washington for review.

CVS declined to comment for this story. The company maintains in board filings that the pay hikes in Orange County were legal because they were part of a nationwide compensation plan. The company also claims it was unaware of the union campaign at Store 9119 when it developed the plan for the increases.

From a workers labor board testimony:

A CVS worker in Orange County said she was surprised to see her wage being raised exactly to the union rate, even though her store was not unionized. (Photo: NLRB testimony)

A CVS worker in Orange County said she was surprised to see her wage being raised exactly to the union rate, even though her store was not unionized. (Photo: NLRB testimony)

Starbucks has rolled out a host of new and improved perks at its coffee shops while battling a nationwide union effort since last year, applying them to the majority of stores that have not yet unionized. Trader Joes recently announced a new $10-per-hour pay premium for working on Sundays and holidays, just as workers were launching a soon-to-be-successful union campaign that has spread to other stores.

Companies typically deny that they made any improvements in direct response to labor organizing campaigns. What sets the CVS case apart is how internal emails and spreadsheets  brought to light by a subpoena from the NLRB  shed light on the companys decision-making process.

They were definitely masking what they were trying to do here, Joe Hernandez, the organizing director for UFCW Local 324, told HuffPost.

The UFCW already represents thousands of pharmacy chain workers around the country. Hernandez said the union organized many CVS stores in California following a 2013 agreement between the union and the company that made it easier for workers to hold elections. Store 9119 did not unionize while that agreement was in effect, so the unions organizers took another crack at it last year. They went into the store and passed out cards showing the top rates workers would earn if they were unionized like other pharmacies.

By the summer of 2021, the workers felt stretched thin due to lean staffing and the COVID-19 vaccination campaign that boosted foot traffic in pharmacies, Hernandez said.

Safety measures werent in place. People were getting COVID. They were rolling out the vaccines, he said. People were overworked and stressed. Staffing was a big issue. Some stores went automatically and said, Yeah, we want a union.

An administrative law judge recently ruled that CVS's raises at an Orange County store were illegal because they seemed designed to undermine the union campaign. (Photo: Mario Tama via Getty Images)

An administrative law judge recently ruled that CVS's raises at an Orange County store were illegal because they seemed designed to undermine the union campaign. (Photo: Mario Tama via Getty Images)

Three CVS stores in Southern California filed for union elections last July, while workers at Store 9119 were signing union cards in hopes of holding their own. Days after the three petitions were filed, CVS senior director of compensation emailed the companys vice president of labor relations, with the subject line Retail California Non-Union Pay Rates. He listed 49 job codes and wrote we will need to know how to handle EACH ONE of them.

The labor relations department sent back a breakdown of union pay rates in California. The compensation team responded: We will begin working on the analysis, applying the Union rates provided to Non-Union colleagues in certain job roles. Documents CVS provided under subpoena suggest that out of around 9,000 workers slated for raises, a subset of only 1,100 would end up getting the higher, union pay rates.

Two weeks later, CVS blasted out a press release celebrating a new investment in its workforce, saying it would raise its minimum wage in retail stores to $15 by July 2022.

Before workers at Store 9119 cast their ballots, they received visits at the store from CVS human-resources representatives, who discussed the new raises and asked how the company could be a better employer, according to labor board testimony.

One pharmacy technician testified how taken aback they were by the size of the pay bumps. Wow, I cant believe how much money this is, she recalled a co-worker saying.

I made the comment that I wonder if its probably because we just filed with the Union, you know, the prior day, the worker recounted. And she said to me, That doesnt make a difference.  Im still voting yes.

Another worker testified that just two weeks earlier she had requested a raise and been told she would need to apply for a higher position if she wanted one. With the new pay scale, her pay went from $19.69 to $23.40 per hour. She rescinded her application for the better-paying job.

The judge in the case, Dickie Montemayor, wrote that it was reasonable to conclude that the manner, timing, and size of the wage increases was to dissuade and diminish support for the union in the upcoming election. He also found that CVS broke the law on election day, when the companys election observer spoke to an intern who was headed into the voting booth.

Montemayor recommended that a new vote be scheduled. The board in Washington has not yet ruled on CVSs appeal.

Hernandez said he has no doubts that the pay increases swayed the election. People got [big] raises, he said. Good for them. But it played into why they voted no in the end.

He added that the unions supporters are eager to get their next ballots.

Now that they know what CVS did, theyre looking forward to the second election, he said.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

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A Lacey massage therapist has been suspended after being accused of sexually assaulting two patients.

State health officials suspended the license of Timothy J. Cosden, 68, on Oct. 5, according to suspension records from the state Department of Health. Cosden operates a massage clinic at 418 Carpenter Road Southeast near Martin Way East.

Cosden has been charged in Thurston County District Court with fourth-degree assault with sexual motivation, a gross misdemeanor, per a DOH news release. His license suspension, which occurred separately, bars him from practicing as a massage therapist in Washington.

Health Law Judge Matthew Wareham ordered the suspension after finding the allegations in this case represented an egregious pattern of sexual misconduct. He also found Cosden posed an immediate risk of harm to the public.

Patients of massage practitioners are especially vulnerable due to the nature of the practice, Wareham wrote in the order. Respondent committed a serious breach of the patients trust in this case by sexually violating the patients while they were being massaged.

A statement of charges from the DOH described allegations against him by two patients.

On July 10, 2021, Cosden allegedly massaged a patients breasts without her consent. This incident reportedly occurred in the presence of the patients grandmother who was also a patient that day.

After the appointment, the statement says Cosden allegedly hugged the patient and shook the grandmothers hand.

On Jan. 8, Cosden allegedly massaged a 47-year-old patients breasts without her consent. He also allegedly hugged the patient and kissed her on the mouth, according to the statement.

When she told Cosden to stop, the statement says he apologized and said, We were both getting so into it, I got carried away.

The patient reported the incident to the Thurston County Sheriffs Office on Jan. 8. The Thurston County Prosecuting Attorneys Office charged Cosden on March 9.

Story continues

Court Commissioner Paul Wohl allowed Cosden to be released without bail on April 11, per court records. However, Wohl prohibited him from contacting his accuser or possessing a dangerous weapon.

Cosden can contest his suspension and the charges against him with the state Department of Health by requesting a hearing within 20 days after the state order was issued.

He will remain suspended until further legal action, per the order.

Members of the public can call the state DOH at 360-236-4700 to report a health care provider who they believe has acted unprofessionally.

Victims of sexual assault in Thurston County can receive crisis support services by contacting SafePlaces 24-hour helpline at 360-754-6300.
Adolfo Mendoza beams as he's praised by classmates during a compassion circle in Michele Langfords second grade Spanish dual-language class at Brentwood Elementary School on Oct. 12, 20122, in Des Plaines. It's a Community Consolidated School District 59 school. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)

The soon to be unveiled 2022 Illinois Report Card shows student academic growth has rebounded and slightly outperformed pre-pandemic levels in reading and math  a positive trend that state education officials attribute to statewide investments of federal pandemic relief funds.

Although student academic growth slowed significantly during the pandemic, the 2022 baseline student growth percentile on this years state report card shows that academic growth appears to be heading in the right direction, Illinois State Board of Education spokeswoman Jackie Matthews said.

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But Matthews also said that despite the positive news in the area of student achievement, the impact of frequent disruptions to student learning is also evident on this years state report card.

Proficiency is not where it was before the pandemic, but this accelerated rate of growth shows us were on the right track, Matthews said in a statement this week.

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On the 2021 Illinois Report Card, students showed dramatic declines in academic achievement and higher rates of chronic absenteeism.

The new data from Illinois school districts that delivered the mandated Illinois Assessment of Readiness in spring 2022 to students in third through eighth grades and the SAT to high school juniors are expected to be released Oct. 27, officials said.

This years state report card features several new data elements, including an informational tool called the Equity Journey Continuum, which allows districts to track their progress toward closing gaps in student achievement, opportunities and supports, Matthews said.

The tool analyzes data points that districts already collect and report to ISBE through the lens of equity to make that data more useful for improving outcomes for all students, Matthews said.

For the first time since 2019, Illinois schools will be rated once again, as required by federal law, using four possible designations:

Exemplary, which recognizes the highest performing 10% of schools.

Comprehensive, which identifies the lowest performing 5% of schools.

Targeted, which identifies schools whose overall performance is above the lowest performing 5% of schools, but that have one or more student groups whose performance is on par with the lowest performing 5% of schools.

identifies schools whose overall performance is above the lowest performing 5% of schools, but that have one or more student groups whose performance is on par with the lowest performing 5% of schools. Commendable, the designation for all other schools.

The designations are determined by multiple measures of performance, Matthews said, and for the states elementary and middle schools, the primary indicator  which accounts for 50% of the designation  is student growth.

Among the data, student growth measures how much students progressed in one year compared to other students in their grade statewide who started at the same baseline, and proficiency reflects the percentage of students who met or exceeded grade level standards who scored in the top two out of five possible IAR performance level categories, including: Level 5, exceeded expectations; Level 4, met expectations; Level 3, approached expectations; Level 2, partially met expectations; and Level 1, did not yet meet expectations.

For Illinois high schools, the primary indicator, accounting for 50% of the designation, is the graduation rate.

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Matthews said Illinois did amend its accountability plan to account for the impact of the pandemic on most of the accountability indicators.

The state also created an opportunity for early exit from school improvement status for schools newly designated for targeted or comprehensive support if they meet certain criteria that indicates the designation is more likely a result of pandemic data anomalies rather than an accurate measure of school performance, Matthews said.

Although all states are federally required to designate schools that are targeted for comprehensive support, in Illinois these schools will participate in a four-year cycle of school improvement, including conducting a needs assessment, developing an improvement plan, and implementing the plan, Matthews said.

As funded by federal Title 1 school improvement grants, the states lowest performing schools are assigned an IL-EMPOWER coordinator, an ISBE employee hired to support schools through the improvement process.

A spokeswoman for Chicago Public Schools said the states largest school district supports assessments and accountability systems that inform school improvement work in order to help students succeed as they prepare for college, career, and civic life.

As a means of differentiating school performance, the states summative designations help target additional state funding to schools with the most need, which are then used to engage external partners in improvement efforts and those additional dollars are helpful, CPS spokeswoman Mary Fergus said in a statement.

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In our districts experience and under our former accountability system, we found that the emphasis on labeling schools for their performance solely on student outcomes was more punitive than informative to a school community, Fergus said.

CPS is in the process of working to build a new approach to accountability aiming to drive school improvement and promote equity and excellence, Fergus said.

We would emphasize that there are many factors such as school leadership, innovative teaching and parental engagement that make up a schools climate and culture and contribute to student success beyond just a narrow set of student outcomes, she said.

Alison Flores Garcia participates in a language arts exercise in her second grade Spanish dual-language class at Brentwood Elementary School, a Community Consolidated School District 59 school, on Oct. 12, 20122, in Des Plaines. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)

At Elk Grove Village-based Community Consolidated School District 59, Superintendent Terri Bresnahan said although the longitudinal growth data for students and the level of transparency around the data can be beneficial, school ratings themselves are not helpful.

Afternoon Briefing Daily Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox each afternoon. >

Rating students across schools, districts and the state with labels does not help improve the learning and growth of our students and their educational experience, Bresnahan said.

Yet Bresnahan said she appreciates the support some of the districts schools have received from the states IL-EMPOWER system, which she said has allowed schools to access additional funding to provide support and resources to individuals and groups of students in a targeted way.

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Access to these funds certainly supported our students and schools, and we are grateful for that, she said.

John Burkey, executive director of the Large Unit District Association, applauded the state boards efforts this year to provide targeted support for struggling schools.

The point is not to use a hammer, but to provide schools with the support they need to get better, Burkey said.

I think the state assessment data are important if we use it in a positive way  to help students and schools move forward, Burkey said. Our schools are absolutely overwhelmed right now, and if IL-EMPOWER can be a vehicle to support those who are most in need, it will be a very positive thing.

kcullotta@chicagotribune.com
Displaced families in Syrian camps are begging for donations on TikTok while the company takes up to 70% of the proceeds, a BBC investigation found.

Children are livestreaming on the social media app for hours, pleading for digital gifts with a cash value.

The BBC saw streams earning up to $1,000 (900) an hour, but found the people in the camps received only a tiny fraction of that.

TikTok said it would take prompt action against "exploitative begging".

The company said this type of content was not allowed on its platform, and it said its commission from digital gifts was significantly less than 70%. But it declined to confirm the exact amount.

Earlier this year, TikTok users saw their feeds fill with livestreams of families in Syrian camps, drawing support from some viewers and concerns about scams from others.

In the camps in north-west Syria, the BBC found that the trend was being facilitated by so-called "TikTok middlemen", who provided families with the phones and equipment to go live.

The middlemen said they worked with agencies affiliated to TikTok in China and the Middle East, who gave the families access to TikTok accounts. These agencies are part of TikTok's global strategy to recruit livestreamers and encourage users to spend more time on the app.

Children are livestreaming for hours at a time begging for gifts on TikTok

Since the TikTok algorithm suggests content based on the geographic origin of a user's phone number, the middlemen said they prefer to use British SIM cards. They say people from the UK are the most generous gifters.

Mona Ali Al-Karim and her six daughters are among the families who go live on TikTok every day, sitting on the floor of their tent for hours, repeating the few English phrases they know: "Please like, please share, please gift."

Mona's husband was killed in an airstrike and she is using the livestreams to raise money for an operation for her daughter Sharifa, who is blind.

The gifts they're asking for are virtual, but they cost the viewers real money and can be withdrawn from the app as cash. Livestream viewers send the gifts - ranging from digital roses, costing a few cents, to virtual lions costing around $500 - to reward or tip creators for content.

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For five months, the BBC followed 30 TikTok accounts broadcasting live from Syrian camps for displaced people and built a computer program to scrape information from them, showing that viewers were often donating digital gifts worth up to $1,000 an hour to each account.

Families in the camps said they were receiving only a tiny fraction of these sums, however.

With TikTok declining to say how much it takes from gifts, the BBC ran an experiment to track where the money goes.

A reporter in Syria contacted one of the TikTok-affiliated agencies saying he was living in the camps. He obtained an account and went live, while BBC staff in London sent TikTok gifts worth $106 from another account.

At the end of the livestream, the balance of the Syrian test account was $33. TikTok had taken 69% of the value of the gifts.

Keith says 50,000 people watched the TikTok live he did with a Syrian family

TikTok influencer and ex-professional rugby player Keith Mason donated 300 ($330) during one family's livestream and encouraged his nearly one million followers to do the same.

When told by the BBC that most of these funds were taken by the social media company, he said it was "ridiculous" and "unfair" to families in Syria.

"You've got to have some transparency. To me, that's very greedy. It's greed," he said.

The $33 remaining from the BBC's $106 gift was reduced by a further 10% when it was withdrawn from the local money transfer shop. TikTok middlemen would take 35% of the remainder, leaving a family with just $19.

Hamid, one of the TikTok middlemen in the camps, told the BBC he had sold his livestock to pay for a mobile phone, SIM card and wi-fi connection to work with families on TikTok.

He now broadcasts with 12 different families, for several hours a day.

Hamid said he uses TikTok to help families make a living. He pays them most of the profits, minus his running costs, he said.

Like the other middlemen, Hamid said he was supported by "live agencies" in China, who work directly with TikTok.

"They help us if we have any problems with the app. They unlock blocked accounts. We give them the name of the page, the profile picture, and they open the account," Hamid said.

Agencies like these, known as "livestreaming guilds" and based all around the world, are contracted by TikTok to help content creators produce more appealing livestreams.

TikTok pays them a commission according to the duration of livestreams and the value of gifts received, the agencies told the BBC.

The emphasis on duration means TikTokers, including children in the Syrian camps, go live for hours at a time.

Marwa Fatafta, from digital rights organisation Access Now, says these livestreams run contrary to TikTok's own policies to "prevent the harm, endangerment or exploitation" of minors on the platform.

BBC iPlayer

TikTok Begging in Syria

BBC News investigates a new trend on TikTok - hundreds of families in camps for displaced people in Syria, begging for gifts on TikTok livestreams.

Watch on BBC News Channel Sunday 02:30 or on BBC iPlayer (UK Only)

BBC iPlayer

"TikTok clearly states that users are not allowed to explicitly solicit gifts, so this is a clear violation of their own terms of services, as well as the rights of these people," she said.

She acknowledges that people have the right to share their stories online "to try to seek support and sympathy", but she says these livestreams "lack dignity, and are humiliating".

TikTok's rules say you must have 1,000 followers before you can go live, you must not directly solicit for gifts and must "prevent the harm, endangerment or exploitation" of minors on the platform.

But when the BBC used the in-app system to report 30 accounts featuring children begging, TikTok said there had been no violation of its policies in any of the cases.

After the BBC contacted TikTok directly for comment, the company banned all of the accounts.

It said in a statement: "We are deeply concerned by the information and allegations brought to us by the BBC, and have taken prompt and rigorous action.

"This type of content is not allowed on our platform, and we are further strengthening our global policies around exploitative begging."

TikTok, the world's fastest-growing social media app, has made more than $6.2bn in gross revenue from in-app spending since its launch in 2017, according to analytics company Sensor Tower.

The BBC approached several charities working in Syria to support families in the camps as an alternative to making money on TikTok Live.

A local charity Takaful Alsham said it would provide basic supplies to the families for the next three months, helping the children find schools and covering their educational expenses.

But for many in the camps, there are few options to make money other than begging online. Hundreds of families continue to go live every day, and most of the money donated is still going to TikTok.

Additional research and reporting: Mohammed Abdullah, Runako Celina, Cyrus Chan, Ned Davies and Katy Ling
Timothy M. Haslett, a 39-year-old Excelsior Springs man, was arrested Friday morning at his home in the 300 block of Old Orchard Avenue and charged with kidnapping and rape.

Authorities say a 22-year-old woman broke free from the basement of his home and sought help from neighbors.

The woman showed signs that she had been held against her will immediately, police have said, and reported that she had been in his basement since early September. Since then, authorities have launched a large-scale investigation.

Law enforcement, including crime scene investigators, spent three days gathering potential evidence at the house as they investigate the possibility he may have committed other crimes, though authorities have remained tight-lipped about the details.

The case as provoked widespread discussion and speculation throughout the community and beyond.

Here are some of the basic facts The Star has gathered about Haslett so far:

He lived in Kansas City metro since around 2010

Haslett has lived in the home in Excelsior Springs since at least 2017. He previously resided in Kansas City in 2010 and then Independence until around 2015, but originally hails from Marion County in southern Illinois.

He attended school in Patoka, Illinois and resided in nearby Vernon until around 2008. He appears to have no close family residing in the Kansas City area, aside from a young son, roughly 8 years old.

He is divorced

Public records show Haslett married in 2013 in Independence. He filed for divorce two years later, when his son was roughly 12 months old.

In a subsequent custody case, he maintained joint legal custody of the child, and became the primary custodial parent. After petitioning the court, the boy primarily resided with him at the house in the 300 block of Old Orchard Avenue, along with a dog.

That arrangement meant Haslett was not responsible for paying child support, but his ex-wife had to pay $400 in child support each month, since the boy only lived with her every other weekend and one evening each week.

Story continues

He was a railroad worker

Haslett spent years working as a union railroad employee. His public Facebook profile lists him most recently as an employee of M & H Contractors, a Kansas City-based subcontractor that does rail maintenance work.

It was unclear where his place of employment was at the time of his arrest on Friday. In a court ruling during his arraignment, Haslett was determined to be indigent and unable to provide the necessary funding for his own defense, and the Missouri Public Defenders Office was ordered to represent him.

He does not have a serious criminal record

Courts in Missouri, Kansas and Illinois show no history of Haslett having been charged with anything above a traffic infraction. Haslett does have at least 21 moving violations across Missouri and Illinois, court records show.

At the time of his arrest, Haslett was wanted on warrants in Clay and Ray counties for failure to appear in court. During his initial court appearance on rape, kidnapping and assault charges Tuesday, Haslett pleaded guilty to the Clay traffic violation.
Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley. AP Photo/Susan Walsh

Gen. Mark Milley said Russia's "deliberate" attacks on Ukraine's civilians are a "war crime."

The Russian military launched a barrage of deadly strikes on cities across Ukraine this week.

"Indiscriminate and deliberate attacks on civilian targets is a war crime in the international rules of war," said Milley.

US Army Gen. Mark Milley said Wednesday that Russia's latest deadly missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities were "deliberate" strikes on civilian targets, making them a "war crime."

Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces launched strikes on cities across Ukraine this week, including the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, in retaliation for damage done to a key bridge between Russia and Crimea, an important supply line in Russia's war against Ukraine.

"In the past few days, Russia has increased their strikes on civilian infrastructure, power generation and dams," Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the top US general, told reporters after a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels, Belgium.

Milley said that Russia "deliberately struck civilian infrastructure with the purpose of harming civilians."

"They have targeted the elderly, the women and the children of Ukraine," Milley said, adding that "indiscriminate and deliberate attacks on civilian targets is a war crime in the international rules of war."

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who spoke alongside Milley, said that Russia's latest "assaults on targets with no military purpose again reveal the malice of Putin's war of choice."

"Russia's atrocities have further united the nations of good will that stand with Ukraine," Austin said.

Milley and Austin's remarks follow an earlier statement by President Joe Biden.

"These attacks killed and injured civilians and destroyed targets with no military purpose," Biden said earlier this week. "They once again demonstrate the utter brutality of Mr. Putin's illegal war on the Ukrainian people."

Since Russia launched its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in early February, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other governments have repeatedly accused Putin's forces of committing heinous war crimes in the eastern European country.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Oct. 11FOYIL  A local park is inviting the community to come learn about a local attraction.

A discussion on the history and renovation of the Cement Tree structure will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday at Ed Galloway's Totem Pole Park, 21300 OK-28A. The discussion will include a demonstration from Tulsa artist Erin Turner and how she is renovating the tree.

Turner has been working on the 18-foot Cement Tree renovation for the past seven years. It was a visit to the park in 2015 that began her desire to create a sustained relationship with the local park and the community.

"I think that it's underserved by or underutilized by the like, greater community," she said.

Turner said her goals with the renovation project include replacing the decayed cement, rebuilding the faces and repainting the structure.

"The idea is to restore all of the structures out here and repaint all of them," she said. "The larger scale is to involve the community more to get people engaged more with the site. I'm really interested in some themes that this park brings up both kind of historically and in more of a contemporary lens."

Park Director David Anderson said this project has cost $70,000 over the years.

"I'm amazed that we've been able to raise that," he said.

Edward Galloway was born in Springfield, Mo, in 1880 and worked at Sand Springs Home, teaching manual arts and skills. He retired in 1935 and moved outside Foyil where he would begin building the 90-foot totem pole.

He began working on the Cement Tree in in the mid 1950s but died form cancer in 1962, before the tree was completed, Anderson said.

Turner said Galloway used materials that we had on hand, like sand from the creek or bailing wire.

After Galloway's death, the park fell in disarray until the Kansas Grassroots Art Association and Rogers County Historical Society worked on renovating the park.

"It was a community effort on the restoration part," Anderson said.

Over 10,000 people visited the park every year before the COVID pandemic hit, Anderson said.

Anderson said over 1,000 visitors were from outside the United States.
TOKYO (Reuters) -Toyota Motor Corp said on Wednesday it had begun assembling cars at a new plant in Myanmar that was put on hold for more than 19 months after a military coup and during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Japanese automaker said the plant, which is opening even as other companies have pulled out of the country, had begun to assemble one or two Hilux trucks per day, working from parts kits shipped to Myanmar in September.

Japanese companies and other multinationals have faced pressure to pull out of investments in Myanmar that are perceived to benefit the military.

"We believe this meets our initial intention to contribute to the industrial development of Myanmar ... and to support our employees and their families' lives," Toyota said in a statement.

"Under these circumstances, we are continuously making every effort to comply with all relevant laws and regulations."

The plant had originally been due to open in February 2021, the same month that the military seized power to stop former leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy forming a new government.

Human Rights Watch, a leading advocacy group, called for Toyota and any other companies seeking to invest or resume operation in Myanmar to conduct human rights due diligence.

"Toyota should certainly refrain from doing business with Myanmar military owned conglomerates ... as well as their subsidiaries," said Teppei Kasai, the organisation's Asia programme officer.

Toyota said in a separate statement that, according to internal research, its business in Myanmar was not directly related to state-owned and military-affiliated companies "in all processes of the car life cycle."

In June, Japanese drinks company Kirin Holdings said it would sell its stake in a Myanmar joint venture with a military-linked local partner.

The Toyota plant is in the Thilawa Special Economic Zone, a manufacturing and logistics hub outside the business hub of Yangon built with Japanese investment.

Toyota's decision to start production was first reported by the Nikkei business daily.

(Reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama; Editing by Richard Pullin and Mark Potter)
Automotive giant and car maker Toyota has warned that the personal information of roughly 300,000 customers may have been exposed for close to five years.

The possible exposure relates to T-Connect, an official Toyota app that allows customers to connect their smartphone to their vehicles dashboard infotainment system. In a statement, Toyota admitted that a subcontractor developing the T-Connect website inadvertently uploaded part of the site's source code to a public GitHub repository in December 2017, where it sat undiscovered until last month. This source code contained an access key to a server that stored customer email addresses and customer management numbers that it assigns to each customer.

Toyota said that a total of 296,019 email addresses could have been accessed by anyone who found the access key until the access to the GitHub repository was closed on September 15, 2022. Toyota, which confirmed it has since changed the server's access key on September 17, said that no other information, such as customer names, phone numbers and credit card information, was affected.

But the company was forced to admit that it could not rule out the possibility of someone having accessed and stolen the data during the five-year span.

"As a result of an investigation by security experts, although we cannot confirm access by a third party based on the access history of the data server where the customer's email address and customer management number are stored, at the same time, we cannot completely deny it," Toyota said in a statement.

Toyota advised customers whose details may have been leaked to be on alert for phishing attempts and to avoid opening email attachments from unknown senders that claim to be from Toyota.

A similar security lapse recently led to the leak of a huge amount of sensitive data from Shanghais police database, including the names, addresses, phone numbers, national identifications, birthplaces and criminal records of more than 70% of the country's population  approximately 1 billion Chinese residents.
SAN DIEGO  Weaving through throngs of TwitchCon attendees last weekend, Clara Sorrenti appeared to be on edge. Trailed by a security staffer provided by the livestreaming convention, Sorrenti glanced over her shoulder and scanned the crowd every few steps.

For months, Sorrenti, a Canadian trans woman and streamer known as Keffals, has been the target of a vicious harassment campaign amid a meteoric rise in online fame this year. The three-day event held at the San Diego Convention Center marked one of her first public appearances as a Twitch creator.

She had just tweeted a selfie announcing that she would be at the conventions main floor, and invited fans to say hello. After spending two months effectively in hiding, Sorrenti said it was time to return to living her life.

I am being escorted by security please do not worry. things are chill, she wrote in another tweet, responding to followers who were concerned about her safety.

I am being escorted by security please do not worry. things are chill  Keffals (@keffals) October 8, 2022

The harassment campaign against Sorrenti, 28, culminated in August, when police in London, Ontario, arrested her, repeatedly misgendered her and detained her for hours over a false threat. The incident prompted the streamer to spend the next few weeks on the move, living out of three different bags and bouncing from hotel to hotel in Canada to evade her harassers. She eventually fled to stay with her friend and channel moderator Ellen Murray in Northern Ireland. Murray, a creator known as EllenFromNowOn, was also in San Diego for the convention.

In Northern Ireland, Sorrenti spearheaded the campaign to take down the online forum Kiwi Farms, which has long organized attacks against her and other trans creators by doxxing them, or maliciously leaking personal information. Under pressure from Sorrenti and her supporters, the internet security vendor Cloudflare blocked Kiwi Farms on Sept. 3, citing imminent threats to human life that were posted to the site.

Story continues

Revealing her whereabouts remains a massive risk, and she still takes extreme precautions to maintain her safety  when she and Murray discussed dinner plans Saturday, they wouldnt say the restaurants name out loud out of concern that an eavesdropping attendee would leak it online. But Sorrenti said that attending TwitchCon to meet the community that had supported her was worth it, and the additional security detail provided by Twitch bolstered her confidence.

Theyre just posting male face swap photos of me and saying like, This is your true face, Sorrenti said while scrolling through her Twitter replies, which were overrun with transphobic comments. Its just crazy. I deal with this every day.

Sorrenti built a following for her political commentary streams before taking down Kiwi Farms. Over the past few months she has become an even greater inspiration to many online, especially within the smaller community of trans streamers and viewers. But shes still adapting to being in the public eye, while fending off the ongoing hate from countless anonymous accounts that populate her mentions more quickly than she can block them.

When Murray arrived at the convention center with a backpack full of equipment for a mobile livestream, Sorrenti visibly brightened. Interacting with her fans through her streams chat assuaged her anxiety, she said. Once they were live, the two meandered through the convention center booths, taking Sorrentis viewers along for the ride.

Sorrenti and her friend Ellen setting up a livestream at the TwitchCon Expo Hall. (NBC News)

Its hard to register it in my brain, that there are hundreds of people who are fans who really appreciate what Im doing, Sorrenti said after taking a selfie with another TwitchCon attendee. Because the hate is the loudest thing. Its what I see every day. So actually seeing people who appreciate me, it makes me feel really good. It reminds me why Im doing this in the first place.

A career switch, from politics to Twitch

Sorrenti credits her knack for engaging her followers to her short-lived career as a politician. Galvanized by the 2016 election of President Donald Trump, Sorrenti became an organizer for Canada's Young Communist League, running for provincial office in 2018 and for a federal position in 2019 as a member of the Communist Party. She lost both elections, and ended up cutting ties with the Communist Party in 2020 after disagreeing with its stances on international issues.

Im grateful for the experiences I had, she said. I feel like getting to go knock on hundreds of doors and talk to people I wouldnt ordinarily talk to helped me be more able to easily reach across the aisle when I need to.

Burned out by politics after falling out with the Communist Party of Canada, she avoided discussing current events online for nearly a year. Sorrenti began streaming on Twitch in 2021, mostly just playing video games and watching funny videos on YouTube. She said that she averaged 20 or fewer viewers each stream.

The onslaught of legislation targeting trans rights across the United States pulled Sorrenti back into the political space; she started discussing the issues on her channel in February. With each stream analyzing anti-LGBTQ measures, hundreds of new viewers listened.

Streamers of marginalized identities  especially trans streamers  continue to be targets of swatting and doxxing, despite Twitchs policy updates addressing off-platform behavior. Sorrenti weathered the bigoted comments, but said the harassment against her became noticeably more violent after a public feud with Steven Bonnell, a streamer known as Destiny, who had harassed other trans people.

That set off his followers, Sorrenti said.

I ended up getting posted to his Kiwi Farms thread, which led to Kiwi Farms figuring out who I was, Sorrenti continued. I havent forgotten the night that the threads started, because I knew they would start going through all my stuff looking for everything that they could. I stayed up literally all night locking accounts and deleting things. It wasnt that I had anything to hide, but that I wanted to restrict their access to information about me.

In an email statement on Wednesday, Bonnell said that online, he has fought with all sorts of people, not just trans people.

I do political content online so of course it brings me into disagreement with tons of people, he said.

The idea that Im responsible for her [Sorrentis] thread being posted on KF [Kiwi Farms] is unbelievable to me.

He said hes been harassed by Kiwi Farms for years, and described them as transphobic. Many of their attacks against her [Sorrenti] are transphobic, he said.

But there are plenty of trans people, and trans activists, on Twitch and YouTube who dont catch their attention. The only reason Sorrenti is noticed so much is because of her insanely aggressive behavior online.

Sorrenti said shortly after Kiwi Farms users turned their attention to her, her brother asked the London Police Service to place their family on a no-swat list. As her audience grew, the threats against Sorrenti and anyone close to her escalated.

Streaming, Sorrenti said, has provided her with a sense of normalcy throughout the past few months. Between packing up and moving to new locations, she continued to go live  though not as often as she used to before the swatting.

When I first started actually doing these kinds of streams, they were like, Woah, Keffals has legs. Like theyre not used to seeing me go out and about, Sorrenti laughed. I think its important  even if it doesnt do the best in terms of engagement, just being able to make streamers seem more human.

Sorrenti during her livestream at TwitchCon. (NBC News)

Trans streamers say Sorrenti's activism matters

As Sorrenti and Murray explored the convention center, they met up with other streamers who had supported Sorrenti throughout the Kiwi Farms campaign.

Gwen Schmoople Montgomery, a streamer who describes her platform as an LGBTQ+ safe space, befriended Sorrenti through Twitch and met her for the first time in person during the convention. She made an appearance on Sorrentis stream when they ran into each other at the conventions marketplace, known as Artist Alley.

It was really tough, Montgomery said of seeing what Sorrenti had gone through over the past few months. I couldnt imagine a stronger person to go through it ... And Im so proud of her for being able to do that.

Murray likens Sorrentis campaign against Kiwi Farms to her past experience working in international human rights law. Sorrentis team spent weeks collecting evidence, archiving everything as soon as it was posted and documenting the threats in a way that a court would accept it.

It was interesting seeing the front of my apartment building on 4chan, Murray added.

Other victories followed Cloudflare dropping Kiwi Farms. The internet archive site Wayback Machine removed Kiwi Farms from its records, and Google delisted it from search results. The security service hCaptcha also dropped the site. After Cloudflare stopped servicing it, Kiwi Farms moved to Russian servers, where it was quickly shuttered again when web-hosting provider DDos-Guard also terminated services.

Theres a chilling effect on these kinds of sites ... If they ever get too cocky, people will start speaking up about them, Sorrenti said. And we know now that service providers do not want to host these kinds of sites. Its terrible publicity for them to keep up.

Kiwi Farms has struggled to maintain relevance since, and on Sept. 18 sputtered to a halt again, when the site was hacked. In a message on the site, Kiwi Farms founder Joshua Moon told users to assume that their passwords, emails and any IP used on their Kiwi Farm accounts had been leaked. Moon said that his own admin account was compromised in the breach.

Though Sorrentis viewership is a fraction of other major streamers, the Kiwi Farms harassment and her propensity for confronting conservatives online has boosted her as one of the most well-known trans creators on Twitch.

I dont feel like Im that big of a streamer  I look at people like Hasan [Piker], or any of the bigger politics streamers. Like, Im tiny, Sorrenti said. But then in the sphere of trans streamers, Im one of the biggest ones, which is both cool but also, in a way, kind of sad because the bar is very low.

Sorrentis platform may be smaller than any mainstream Twitch partners, but her impact is felt within the realm of trans creators.

Early into her stream at TwitchCon, Sorrenti stopped by the Trans Lifeline booth, where the organizations charity stream coordinator Amanda Stevens told viewers about micro grant programs to provide trans feminine people with gender-affirming care.

Its really huge, Stevens said of Sorrentis appearance at the booth. I take the opinion that any streamer of any size is really important. Especially right now, where Keffals has a lot of eyes on her. Its so important to be able to collaborate with other trans streamers of that size.

Sorrenti poses at Hasan Piker's TwitchCon newsstand themed booth. (NBC News)

Annie Roberts, a Twitch ambassador, noted the increase of the trans streamers on the platform in recent years. Five years ago, she said, trans creators were harassed off the platform entirely. Though many trans creators still face disproportionate harassment now, the trans community has blossomed online.

When I first started streaming three years ago, trans representation was kind of dry, Roberts said after taking a photo with Sorrenti. And thats kind of the reason I got into streaming a little bit. So its really cool that you can be a mainstream streamer and still be trans and its like, not a big deal.

Navigating life after blowing up online

The weeks following the August swatting incident have been a whirlwind, Sorrenti said.

In the midst of the harassment, Sorrenti and her then-fiance ended their relationship. Their separation was unrelated to the doxxing and swatting attempts, but Sorrenti said the threats against the couple severely affected her exs mental health.

It was actually really relieving for me, because anyone who is closely associated with me has to do the same sort of things I do, Sorrenti said of the breakup. And its not fair. Its really painful, that just being associated with me means you have to take all these precautions, and you cant just live like a normal person.

The immense scrutiny she was under was isolating, Sorrenti said, and the fact that so few could relate to her only compounded the loneliness. She became even closer to the creators who moderate her channel and make up her executive staff, because they too were doxxed by Kiwi Farms users for working with her.

When her campaign to take down Kiwi Farms started gaining traction, Sorrenti came under fire for her social media posts, which some Twitter users criticized as ableist and microaggressive.

She was widely criticized for making a crass joke earlier this year, which some users said was offensive toward autistic people. The tweet was taken out of context, Sorrenti said, and fueled accusations of predatory behavior and being a groomer. The term implies that a person is a pedophile, and has been used in homophobic rhetoric in conservative spaces to associate LGBTQ people with being a danger to children.

Aaron Barnett, a streamer known as Enny who also works on Sorrentis executive team, described the criticism as disproportionate to Sorrentis actual viewership.

Sorrenti takes a photo with Annie Roberts, another streamer and Twitch ambassador, at TwitchCon. (NBC News)

Her rise has been in the last four months or so, they said. So to see the level of attention put on her be comparable to somebody who averages 30,000 viewers and is a mainstay in Twitch popular culture, the proportion just doesnt add up.

Sorrentis afternoon stream at the convention center ended with about 600 viewers, for example.

Sorrenti added she understands why Kiwi Farms users and people on the far right try to paint her as a pedophile to encourage dehumanization, she said, but is especially frustrated that some LGBTQ circles are conflating her careless tweets with abusive behavior. She said she has difficulty differentiating between constructive feedback and bad faith harassment.

She received backlash for centering herself in a recent tweet about Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man who died in 2019 after he was forcibly restrained and injected with ketamine during a confrontation with police officers. Hearing from other activists and political organizers, rather than faceless trolls, made her reconsider her approach.

I made a tweet trying to share my sympathies, especially coming out of the swatting incident and knowing how terrifying it is, being on the receiving end of the police when theyre actually allowed to show force, Sorrenti said. I think I realized ... I didnt need to do that to show that I cared. I realized I have to word things carefully.

Nearly all of her content in the last eight weeks, from the videos she posted on YouTube to her Twitch streams to her tweets, revolved around her crusade to take down Kiwi Farms. Shes planning on taking a break, since being a lightning rod for online bigots is incredibly exhausting. Sorrenti has had to significantly scale back on the frequency and length of her streams in recent months between moving and working on the Kiwi Farms campaign, so resuming the relationship she had with her viewers is a priority.

As soon as the convention wraps, Sorrenti said she plans to return to her new apartment in Canada, where police in Ontario have since drafted a new policy to ensure that officers will be sensitive to human rights, privacy issues and use stated gender identification preference of the individual being searched.

Sorrenti's

Though she wants to take a long enough break to settle into her new home after months abroad, Sorrenti plans to stream as much as possible ahead of the upcoming U.S. midterm elections.

Shes still deciding on the kind of content she wants to create for her channel. In recent weeks, she used the platform in a similar way as a political organizer, educating viewers and sharing resources for the Kiwi Farms campaign.

During a more lighthearted livestream, Sorrenti addressed the allegations of ableism and, at the urging of her Twitch chat, took an online questionnaire typically used as a screening tool for undiagnosed autism. (She scored pretty high.)

I feel like Im at this weird crossroad, because as a streamer Im also an entertainer. Im trying to entertain an audience, Sorrenti added. But Im also an activist, and I feel like Im juggling between having a platform that people follow because Im serious, and trying to make people laugh.

Sorrenti doubts that shell ever run for office again, but is sure that shes always going to be involved in politics one way or another.

In the meantime, shes figuring out how to relax after months of keeping her guard up. Sorrenti works almost all day between streaming, managing her team and organizing the Kiwi Farms campaign. She said shes learning how to disconnect from the internet.

While in Northern Ireland, she started taking walks without her phone, a luxury she wants to continue indulging in when she returns to Canada.

Honestly Im thinking of getting a bike and going on some cycling trips when I get back, Sorrenti mused. That sounds really nice.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
I like negronis (though I prefer them with mezcal over gin), but this one was a bit bitter when I followed the recipe strictly. It was better when I customized it. Insider/Mara Leighton

I tried the negroni that's taken over TikTok since Emma D'Arcy called it their favorite drink.

Users are enchanted by D'Arcy's "seductive" delivery of "negroni sbagliato... with prosecco in it."

The drink is a light, summery iteration of a negroni  a relative to the Aperol spritz.

A clip of actor Emma D'Arcy describing their favorite drink has blown up on TikTok.

"House of the Dragon" star Emma D'Arcy set TikTok ablaze with an October 1 video of an interview with co-star Olivia Cooke.

The clip shows D'Arcy answering the question, "what's your drink of choice?" read by Cooke, with "A negroni ... sbagliato ... with prosecco in it."

"Oh, stunning," Cooke replied.

The original TikTok has been viewed 11.7 million times, and the "negroni sbagliato" audio has been used as the soundtrack to over 17,000 videos.

TikTok is awash with stitched recipes and reviews, explainers of the drink's history, and corrections that "sbagliato with prosecco in it" was a clarification by D'Arcy for Cooke and technically redundant (so don't order it that way).

Viewers can't get enough of the moment D'Arcy describes a 'negroni, sbagliato... with Prosecco in it.'

TikTok/@HBOMax

Viewers have become enamored with D'Arcy's "deep" and "seductive" voice and the chemistry they think is palpable in Cooke-D'Arcy interviews.

On-screen, there may be some weight to this: Emily Carey (who plays the younger version of Cooke's character Alicent and identifies as queer) previously told Insider her initial reaction to the script was that Rhaenyra and Alicent are "in love a little bit," and that the actors played around with this on screen, as Insider's Kim Renfro previously reported.

"It's 100% something we were conscious of," Carey said in August. "And so if it reads on screen, it was purposeful."

What is the negroni sbagliato?

Mara Leighton/Insider

The negroni sbagliato is a negroni  Campari, sweet vermouth, and an orange garnish  but with prosecco in replacement of the typical gin. According to Bon Appetit, the cocktail's folklore story is that a bartender accidentally added prosecco to the glass instead of gin one day. In Italian, the word "sbagliato" literally translates to "wrong."

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Keen to find out what the internet's current favorite drink actually tastes like, I decided to try my hand at making it.

Altogether, I spent $75 buying the ingredients  prosecco, Campari, sweet vermouth, and a lone orange to be peeled for garnish.

Mara Leighton/Insider

Gin  herbaceous and pine-like  is my least favorite type of alcohol, though I don't typically mind it in a good (read: balanced) negroni. Typically, though, I order mine with mezcal.

I anticipated liking the negroni sbagliato. After all, we're replacing gin (my least favorite part of the drink) with something I love: a light prosecco.

The ingredients cost me around $75  but it's worth noting I was buying them from scratch, and a bottle of Campari or sweet vermouth will last me a long time.

If I'm making drinks for a group, this seems like a good option; it's light, requires less than 10 minutes to make, and you don't need to use large quantities of any ingredient aside from maybe, depending on your preferences, prosecco.

If you do plan on using a lot of prosecco, you can also buy an affordable option without much sacrifice in terms of taste, since most of that is coming from the other ingredients.

I made the drink at home following this Food52 recipe (the cocktail is meant to be equal-parts everything, so standard recipes tend not to deviate):

One ounce of Campari One ounce of sweet vermouth One ounce of prosecco (add more as you wish) One orange for garnish or dropped in as a slice

I filled the glass with ice.

Mara Leighton/Insider

I dropped in an ounce of campari, and an ounce of sweet vermouth.

Mara Leighton/Insider

Next, I splashed in an ounce of prosecco.

Mara Leighton/Insider

The standard recipes are all equal parts, though you can add more prosecco as you see fit.

Then I dropped a freshly cut orange peel into the mix.

Mara Leighton/Insider

It was a bit intensely bitter for my taste, so I added more prosecco and another orange peel.

Mara Leighton/Insider

The prosecco is light and sparkling, so it increases how refreshing the drink tastes  but it doesn't offset the bitter citrus negroni taste as effectively as a liquor might. If you love bitterness, this is fantastic news for you.

If you want something sweeter and lighter, you'll need to add more prosecco to dilute the sweet vermouth and Campari  which is what I did.

And then a whole wedge of orange.

Mara Leighton/Insider

Finally, I added the orange, which also helped offset some of the Campari's bitterness.

This was a better ratio for me personally  less starkly bitter and more light and summery.

I like negronis (though I prefer them with mezcal over gin), but this one was a bit bitter when I followed the recipe strictly. It was better when I customized it. Insider/Mara Leighton

Once I added the orange wedge and played with the ratios until there was probably two-thirds of the light and fizzy prosecco in the glass, drinking it felt like being transported into a mid-summer afternoon  sitting on a sidewalk cafe, leisurely people-watching.

As some taste-testers have noted, it also grows on you. At first, the bitterness is a punch to your taste buds. Like other negronis, as that initial shock dulled, it tasted more balanced.

All in all, once I played with the ratios, the negroni sbagliato was delicious and easy, and I'll probably make it en masse for guests in the summer.

Mara Leighton/Insider

This was an easy cocktail to make  and I'll likely make it in batches for summertime soirees. It's also especially good for fans of the similarly refreshing-meets-bitter Aperol spritz. I'd order it at a bar  though I'll probably stick to heavier, smokier mezcal negronis for the winter.

Given the 11 million views of the original TikTok, and the app's blushing fixation on D'Arcy's pronouncement of "sbagliato... with prosecco in it," the negroni sbagliato is an early contender for the drink of the season.

Read the original article on Insider
Autoblog

Thanks to a trio of concept sketches, we know Mopar's 15,345-square-foot booth will house a couple of Ram concepts and a fantastical Jeep to boot. The Jeep can be identified as an EV thanks to its Surge name, the circuit board motif on the sketch, and the EV badge behind the front wheel. Mopar's press release on the show started with claiming it is "Charged Up" for SEMA.
When U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., recently proposed a 15-week federal abortion ban, he suggested that it could provide a reasonable compromise in the national debate over abortion. While Graham may speak of his ban as some form of political compromise, the only thing it actually would compromise is the health care of millions of women.

Heres a real-life example:

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One of our pregnant patients opted for early genetic screening at about 12 weeks of gestation, which involved a blood test and ultrasound. The screening showed very abnormal results, and the patients ultrasound suggested the fetus had a condition incompatible with life. This, understandably, was terribly distressing to the mother. She felt she had to consider terminating the pregnancy.

Rather than terminate based on this information, she chose instead to pursue more definitive testing and get an amniocentesis and fetal MRI. She then conferred with multiple medical specialists who confirmed that her fetus had a rare genetic disease that would still allow for a normal life. Today, that fetus has become a beautiful, happy and healthy child.

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It was not until after 16 weeks of gestation that the test results confirmed that a normal life was possible. If a 15-week abortion ban had been in place, there is a good chance the fetus would have been aborted based on the facts the mother had in hand at that time.

The problem with sweeping abortion bans such as Grahams is that every pregnancy is different. A broad-brush, political solution does not accommodate the wide variety of real-life situations. A fetal anatomy ultrasound, which can show serious birth defects, doesnt take place until 20 weeks  five weeks after the proposed bans limit. Before this time frame, structures like the brain and heart are too small or underdeveloped to definitively analyze.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., waits to speak during a news conference on Sept. 13, 2022, to announce a new bill on abortion restrictions on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer / Getty Images)

Genetic testing, for those who choose it, usually occurs around 12 weeks. At this stage, the testing involves a blood test and possibly an ultrasound. The genetic test primarily looks for major chromosomal anomalies. However, there is no early test for the countless other rare birth defects that may be incompatible with life.

Even if a birth defect appears before the 20-week anatomy ultrasound, we cannot draw any definitive conclusion without further testing. Often, a second ultrasound is necessary to confirm the defect or to check on its progression. Or, in cases like that of the patient we described, further testing could require more advanced diagnostic testing such as an amniocentesis or fetal MRI. Each of these tests can take weeks to schedule, conduct, produce results and analyze.

Patients also require sufficient time to weigh their options. We know from experience that when someone learns of a possible fetal abnormality that may be incompatible with life, the decision about what path to follow is far from instantaneous or straightforward.

Additionally, our health care system unfortunately has only a limited number of facilities and health professionals able to conduct and interpret the required tests. Despite our best efforts to expedite care, it can take several weeks to schedule and deliver it.

Oftentimes, its not a single health care professional who does the analysis. Instead, an interdisciplinary team convenes to consider the results and possible outcomes. Many hospitals also have separate ethics boards that can delay treatment when terminating a pregnancy becomes necessary. Each of these steps takes time, and they collectively push well past a 15-week barrier. You simply cant legislate for every possibility or every pregnancy.

While abortion rules under Roe v. Wade may not have been perfect, in states such as Illinois, they provided enough flexibility to treat various patients with their individual needs and concerns in mind. An inflexible 15-week abortion ban does nothing of the kind. It will sentence many women to carry babies to term that will not survive birth. It will compel women to terminate pregnancies in which abnormalities are suggested but not verified. It will tie the hands of doctors who strive to provide the best advice and care for their patients. Patients will not have sufficient time to make some of the most painful and personal decisions of their lives.

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A 15-week abortion ban may solve a political problem, but it will further complicate the lives of millions of women  including those of us who have devoted our lives to caring for them and their babies.

Dr. Elizabeth Weldon practices obstetrics and gynecology in Downers Grove. Dr. Matangi Bala is an anesthesiologist in the Chicago area.

Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.
A federal judge ordered that former President Trump sit for a deposition in the defamation lawsuit filed by writer E. Jean Carroll, who claimed he raped her in the 1990s and damaged her reputation in 2019 when he denied the allegations.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan rejected a request by Trump's legal team that his testimony be delayed. His deposition is scheduled for October 19.

"The defendant should not be permitted to run the clock out on plaintiffs attempt to gain a remedy for what allegedly was a serious wrong," Kaplan wrote in a filing Wednesday.

TRUMP INVOKES FIFTH AMENDMENT RIGHTS IN DEPOSITION FOR NEW YORK AG JAMES' CIVIL INVESTIGATION

The decision comes in a lawsuit brought by Carroll, who is known for her "Ask E. Jean" column that ran in Elle Magazine. Carroll alleges that Trump raped her in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman, a department store in New York City.

Carroll claims that Trump damaged her reputation in 2019 when he denied raping her.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

LONGTIME ADVICE COLUMNIST E. JEAN CARROLL ACCUSES TRUMP OF SEXUAL ASSAULT IN 1990S

Trump has repeatedly denied the allegations.

"We look forward to establishing on the record that this case is, and always has been, entirely without merit," Trump lawyer Alina Habba told Fox News Wednesday.

Former President Trump has repeatedly denied the allegations by E. Jean Carroll.

Carroll is set to be deposed on Friday.

"We are pleased that Judge Kaplan agreed with our position not to stay discovery in this case," Carroll's attorney Robbie Kaplan said. "We look forward to filing our case under the Adult Survivors Act and moving forward to trial with all dispatch."

Separately, Trump appeared for a deposition in August as part of New York Attorney General Letitia James civil investigation. Trump invoked his Fifth Amendment rights, per the advice of his attorneys, during his deposition.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
As the work of the Jan. 6 committee winds down, with a ninth hearing Thursday and a final report expected soon, there are signs that its work may have moved public opinion in a few ways.

First, the number of Republicans who believe the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump has dropped below the two-thirds mark. That still leaves a lot of Republicans who believe something that is not true, but the group has shrunk by several percentage points.

Over the course of nine public opinion surveys by Yahoo News/YouGov between January 2021 and early June 2022, the average number of Republicans who believed incorrectly that the 2020 election was rigged was 66%.

Donald Trump in Minden, Nev., on Saturday. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

But in three Yahoo News/YouGov polls conducted since the Jan. 6 committee held its eight hearings from June 9 to July 21, the number of Republicans who believed Trumps big lie had fallen to 60%.

As for Trumps behavior around the event, survey data shows that attitudes about his role in the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, have not shifted a lot.

But there has been a decrease of several points in the number of Republicans who are worried about the future of democracy. That may correlate to the lower number of Republicans who believe that the 2020 election was rigged.

Meanwhile, Democrats have grown more concerned about the viability of democracy by a few points.

Another significant data point is that Trumps lead over his closest statistical rival for the Republican nomination for president, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, has narrowed over the last year.

Across eight Yahoo News/YouGov surveys in 2022, Trumps support has stayed in the mid-40s all year, but DeSantis has crept up about 10 points, from the mid-20s to the mid-30s.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. (Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images)

Its plausible that the hearings conducted by the Jan. 6 committee have had an impact. The closest margins between the two came in surveys conducted during and after the committees hearings.

In a Yahoo News/YouGov poll conducted a week after the last hearing in July, Trump led DeSantis 44% to 35% among likely voters.

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The only time Trumps support spiked up closer to 50% was after the FBI searched his Mar-a-Lago home for top-secret documents in early August. But the most recent poll found his support back down to 46% and DeSantis at 34%.

Opinions about Trumps responsibility for Jan. 6 have not moved much.

Three surveys by Yahoo News/YouGov in the summer of 2021 found that, on average, 42% of U.S. adults believed Trump was a great deal to blame for the attack. Another Yahoo News/YouGov survey in July 2022 found that number basically the same, at 43%.

Similarly, an Economist/YouGov survey in July 2022 found that 41% of adult U.S. citizens believed that Trump had a lot of responsibility for the Jan. 6 takeover of the Capitol. Thats the same number who held that opinion a week after the insurrection.

A hearing of the House select committee held on June 16. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

In the Yahoo News/YouGov surveys, Democrats went from 72% who blamed Trump a great deal to 75%, and Republicans went from 10% to 14%, a marginal increase. There was some notable movement among Republicans on the question of whether Trump was not at all to blame. That number decreased, from 51% to 43%.

Voters views on whether democracy is in trouble have also not moved that much. There are high levels of concern among all voters. But some polling shows that Democratic worries have increased slightly over the past nearly two years, while Republicans have grown slightly less anxious.

In January 2021, a CBS News poll found that 16% of 2020 Trump voters believed democracy and the rule of law were secure and 84% believed democracy was threatened. At that time, 32% of 2020 Joe Biden voters believed democracy was secure and 68% believed it was threatened.

Since then, Republican alarm has gone down only a few points, to 81% in a June 2022 CBS News survey, and Democratic concern has gone up a few points, to 73%.

In December 2021, a Yahoo News/YouGov poll found that 87% of Republicans were worried about the future of U.S. democracy and 84% of Democrats felt the same.

A protest in support of counting all votes, Nov. 5, 2020, in Philadelphia. (Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

In September 2022, another Yahoo News/YouGov survey found that 82% of Republicans still felt concerned about the future of democracy, while 83% of Democrats did. Democratic fears among Biden voters, specifically, had increased from 88% to 90% over that period, while Trump voter concerns had decreased from 89% to 83%.

This may represent some impact from the Jan. 6 committees work, since one of its emphases has been that the 2020 election was not rigged or stolen, and that Trump knew this from the very beginning. The committee has relied on testimony from Trumps own former advisers on the campaign and at the White House, as well as many other Republican officials.

If the Jan. 6 committee reduced the number of GOP voters who were deceived by Trumps false and unsubstantiated claims about the 2020 election, it might also have eased their concerns about the reliability of future elections.

There have been numerous articles in the media about the possible threat of Republicans overturning future elections to benefit their own party, so the higher levels of Democratic concern about the future of democracy may reflect a growing awareness of this.

Voters cast their ballots in the Florida primary, Aug. 23. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

But other polling data indicates that many Democrats are focused on the ability of voters to cast ballots, rather than the prospect of politicians meddling with results after ballots have been cast.

A Pew poll in August found that 83% of Democrats were confident that the fall elections will be conducted fairly and accurately but that only 66% think all citizens who want to vote ... will be able to. In that same survey, 55% of Republicans believed the election will not be fair, and only 45% thought it would be fair.

Still, the wording of that question does not speak to whether voters are worried about a fair election being overturned after the fact by politicians claiming fraud without evidence.
Fox News

Hours after Tulsi Gabbard said she is leaving the Democratic Party, Tucker Carlson raved that her list of complaints about Democrats should be the credo of every Republican candidate who appears on his Fox News show.

The former Hawaii congresswomans announcement was largely a formality given her track record of toeing the GOP line on Fox News (she even filled in as host of Carlsons show in August) and at CPAC in February, as well as her Putin-friendly commentary. In a video posted to Twitter on Tuesday, Gabbard asked for the support of those who can no longer stomach the direction that so-called woke Democratic Party ideologues are taking our country. She hit many of the same points in her comments that night.

Democrats actively find ways to undermine our God-given rights enshrined in the Constitution, like freedom of speech, the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate alleged.

They are against freedom of religion, she continued. They are hostile towards people of faith, people who have their own spiritual practice, especially Christiansfinding ways to be vindictive, to discriminate, to punish people who have been to exercise that freedom of religion. The list goes on and on, but the foundation of freedom is really what was at the heart of my making this decision.

A thoroughly supportive Carlson responded that Gabbards broadside was inspiring to hear yet also disappointing.

I feel like printing out your words and asking every Republican candidate who comes on this show to read them, and if you cant read them, Im not voting for you, said the Fox host, clearly indicating which side of the aisle Gabbards views align with. (Gabbard hasnt specified which party, if any, she will be affiliated with in the future.)

Why is it so hard to say out loudfirst of all the people who are always talking about racism are committing it, Carlson then claimed, setting up Gabbard for another chance to criticize the powers that be. Why is that so hard for people to acknowledge? Its so obvious.

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It speaks to the whole environment of fear that those in power, these elitists in power have fomented to where people are afraid to speak the truth, Gabbard replied.

They are afraid to exercise their right to free speech because, hey, you might lose your job. You might be canceled. You might be trashed. And God forbid in Washington, you might not be invited to the cool kids parties. You might not be as popular.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Tulsi Gabbard, former Representative from Hawaii, speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida, Friday, Feb. 25, 2022.

THEY DESPISE THE CONSTITUTION - Tulsi Gabbard tells Tucker Carlson why she left the Democratic Party. Continue reading 

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VOICE OF THE PEOPLE - Wisconsin voters share top priorities ahead of midterms. Continue reading 

PRETTY BORING - Expert explains why he says Kelly Ripa has every right' to detail Regis drama. Continue reading 

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Whats it looking like in your neighborhood? Continue reading

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President Joe Biden opened up about the death of his first wife and daughter during remarks at an event honouring firefighters on Tuesday.

Speaking at the Summit on Fire Prevention and Control in the South Court Auditorium of the White House, the president spoke movingly and appreciatively about how first responders saved his sons from the car wreck that killed their mother and sister.

He also recalled two personal experiences in which firefighters had saved his own life over the years.

Way back in 1972 before I got sworn in, my wife  was Christmas shopping with my three children and a tractor-trailer, they got in an accident  broadsided  it killed my wife, killed my daughter, the president recalled.

My two boys, who were then almost three and almost four, were on top of their dead sister and mother, and it took the jaws of life from my local fire department volunteers to get them out and get them to the hospital, and it saved their lives.

Mr Biden had three children with his first wife, Neilia Biden, whom he married in 1966.

In order of birth, they were Joseph Robinette III, known as Beau; Robert Hunter; and Naomi Christina, known as Amy.

Biden at Summit on Fire Prevention and Control:



My wife was Christmas shopping with my 3 children and a tractor trailer  broadsided them and killed my wife, killed my daughter, and my 2 boys  were on top of their dead sister and mother  [Firefighters] saved their lives. pic.twitter.com/BDBNwsKp1Z  The Recount (@therecount) October 11, 2022

On 18 December 1972, Neilia was driving with the three children to buy a Christmas tree when their car was hit by a tractor-trailer.

Both Neilia and Naomi Biden were pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. Naomi was just over a year old at the time.

The two boys survived, but with serious injuries. Mr Biden was sworn into the Senate on 3 January 1973 at the hospital where his sons were recovering.

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In his remarks on Tuesday, Mr Biden also recalled two other occasions when firefighters came to his aid.

Once while filming for Meet the Press, the president said that lightning struck a small pond behind his house and came up through the ground into the air conditioning system, generating thick black smoke that filled the house.

A fire that start between the joists of the kitchen floor almost led to it collapsing into the basement, endangering the firefighters who had responded to the incident.

On another occasion, Mr Biden said that he was rushed to the hospital by his local fire company in the midst of a snowstorm for a nine-hour operation to attend to a cranial aneurysm.

They got me down, they saved my life, the president said. And so I owe you, and so many other Americans owe you as well.

After the deaths of Nelia and Amy, Senator Biden was dedicated to the recovery of his two young sons.

He met future first lady Jill Tracy Jacobs on a blind date in 1975, and the pair were married in 1977. In 1981 they had a daughter, Ashley Blazer.

Beau Biden passed away from brain cancer at the age of 46 in 2015. Hunter Biden and Ashley Biden remain close with their father, introducing him at the 2020 Democratic National Convention before he accepted the presidential nomination.
The Gen. George Armstrong Custer statue, at the corner of W. Elm Ave. and N. Monroe St.

Two women from the Detroit area were arrested and a third person is being sought in connection with the attempted vandalism of the Custer Statue in downtown Monroe.

Around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday, officers from the Monroe Public Safety Department were dispatched to the area of W. Elm Avenue and N. Monroe Street in reference a report of three people vandalizing the Custer Equestrian Monument. Officer Smithers was first on scene and observed three subjects wearing dark colored clothing, with one subject holding what appeared to be a spray paint can.

A responding officer arrived in the area and activated his patrol vehicle emergency lights at which time all three subjects began fleeing on foot eastbound across N. Monroe. Other police units converged in the area and soon after, two of the three subjects were apprehended. The third subject is still at large and identity is unknown. Evidence at the scene of the monument and at the location of apprehension links the subjects to the vandalism.

The first suspect was identified as a 29-year-old female from the Detroit area. The second subject was identified as a 32-year-old female, also from the Detroit area. Both were lodged in the Monroe County Jail. Charges of malicious destruction of property and resisting and obstructing are being sought. Arraignment is expected to be later today.

The vandalism to the monument has been cleaned up and removed. Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Capt. Tyler Dickerson at (734) 243-7524.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Two women held for vandalizing Custer Statue
Public safety vehicles are lined up on the Texas side of the Rio Grande near an area used by migrants, many from Haiti, as an encampment along the Del Rio International Bridge on Sept. 24, 2021, in Del Rio. (Julio Cortez / Associated Press )

Some Venezuelan migrants will be allowed to enter the U.S. and stay legally for up to two years, the Biden administration announced Wednesday.

Venezuelans who cross the Mexican border without authorization, however, will be turned back.

The program, which will be capped at 24,000 migrants, is similar to one implemented for Ukrainians after the Russian invasion, officials said. Each migrant will need a sponsor in the U.S. who guarantees financial support for the person. After their applications are approved, they would fly here.

These actions make clear that there is a lawful and orderly way for Venezuelans to enter the United States, and lawful entry is the only way, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas said in a statement. Those who attempt to cross the southern border of the United States illegally will be returned to Mexico and will be ineligible for this process in the future. Those who follow the lawful process will have the opportunity to travel safely to the United States and become eligible to work here.

The program is seen within the administration as a way to slow the rising numbers of migrants crossing the border without authorization.

In the last fiscal year, which ended in September, U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded more than 2 million encounters with migrants at the border  a record high.

In recent months, an increasing number of border crossers have been asylum seekers from Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua. Many have been processed by border agents and released to pursue their asylum claims within the U.S.

The increasing number of migrants at the border has placed political pressure on the administration, as states such as Texas have sent buses full of migrants to cities including Washington and New York. U.S. officials framed Wednesdays announcement as an effort to work with Mexico to address the problem.

The actions the United States and Mexico are announcing today are intended to address the most acute irregular migration and help ease pressure on the cities and states receiving these individuals, the Department of Homeland Security said in a news release.

Story continues

Cubans and Venezuelans are more difficult to deport than people of other nationalities, due to strained U.S. relations with those countries. U.S. officials have been unable to send them back to their home countries in significant numbers.

A draft version of the new policy had included migrants from Haiti, Nicaragua and Cuba, according to documents obtained by The Times.

Its unclear why only Venezuela ended up in the final version. U.S. officials noted that the program could be expanded in the future.

Due to deteriorating economic conditions and an authoritarian government, a quarter of Venezuelas population has left the country. In the last year, U.S. border officials counted on average more than 15,000 Venezuelans crossing the border each month. The number rose to 33,000 in September.

Administration officials hope that creating an orderly process for Venezuelans to enter the U.S. will discourage migrants from crossing the border without authorization, lessening the load on overwhelmed Border Patrol agents.

For an administration that largely has been focused on rolling back Trump-era restrictions at the border, this measure appears to be a new approach.

The Venezuelan immigrant community in the U.S. is not large, and migrants could have a difficult time finding sponsors.

Once the program launches, Venezuelans who travel through Mexico or Panama without authorization will not be eligible. Those who have been deported from the U.S. within the last five years also will not be eligible.

Requiring migrants to arrive by plane or other safer routes could dissuade them from hiking through the Darien Gap, a jungle between Colombia and Panama that UNICEF describes as one of the most dangerous routes in the world.

Venezuelans who do not go through the new process and who cross the southern border without authorization could be expelled to Mexico under Title 42, a public health law invoked during the pandemic.

In recent months, U.S. officials have been negotiating with Mexican officials to accept Venezuelans under Title 42.

Biden administration officials have made a point to highlight the increase in migrants from Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba. In August, migrants from the three countries were apprehended 50,000 times by border agents.

Failing communist regimes in Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba are driving a new wave of migration across the Western Hemisphere, including the recent increase in encounters at the southwest U.S. border, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Chris Magnus said in a statement in September.

Under the new policy, a person wanting to sponsor a Venezuelan migrant would submit an application to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

If the application is approved, migrants will receive information about how to enter the country legally. U.S. officials will vet them for security risks.

They will be expected to arrange their own flights and can apply for work permits. If their asylum or other immigration claim is not approved, they will have to leave the country in most cases.





This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
(Reuters) -U.S. health regulators authorized the use of Omicron-tailored COVID-19 booster shots from Moderna Inc and Pfizer Inc in children as young as 5, a move that will expand the government's fall vaccination campaign.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday green-lighted Moderna's bivalent vaccine for those aged six and above, while Pfizer's updated shot was authorized in children aged five and above.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also backed the FDA's authorization, clearing the way for the shots to be administered in children.

The redesigned bivalent booster shots from both Moderna and Pfizer target the original version as well as the BA.4 and the currently dominant BA.5 subvariants of Omicron.

"Since children have gone back to school in person and people are resuming pre-pandemic behaviors and activities, there is the potential for increased risk of exposure to the virus," said Peter Marks, head of FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

Overall, COVID-19 vaccination rates in the United States have stayed low among kids, with nearly 40% of children aged 5-11 vaccinated with one dose of a vaccine so far.

Pfizer/BioNTech's vaccine will be shipped immediately after the CDC's recommendation, the companies said.

Pfizer said it has the capacity to ship up to 6 million pediatric doses in the first seven calendar days, without any impact to distribution output of the doses for individuals aged 12 years and older.

The BA.5 subvariant of Omicron currently remains the dominant strain, accounting for nearly 79% of the cases in the United States.

Around 11.5 million people received the updated shots over the first five weeks of the rollout last month, which represents just 5.4% of the people aged 12 or older who are eligible to receive them.

(Reporting by Jyoti Narayan, Manas Mishra and Mrinalika Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Shinjini Ganguli)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday said that reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal is "not our focus right now," saying Tehran had showed little interest in reviving the pact and that Washington was concentrating on how to support Iranian protesters.

Asked if the United States was interested in pursuing talks to revive the pact under which Iran curbed its nuclear program in return for economic sanctions relief, U.S .State Department spokesman Ned Price replied "that's not our focus right now.

"It is very clear and the Iranians have made very clear that this is not a deal that they have been prepared to make. The deal certainly does not appear imminent," Price told a briefing.

"Nothing we've heard in recent weeks suggests they have changed their position. And so right now our focus ... is on the remarkable bravery and courage that the Iranian people are exhibiting through their peaceful demonstrations," he said.

"Our focus right now is on shining a spotlight on what they're doing and supporting them in the ways we can," he said, referring to anti-government protests ignited by the Sept. 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of Iran's morality police.

Then-U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned the nuclear deal between Iran and six major powers in 2018 and unilaterally reimposed economic sanctions that have hobbled Iran's economy by curbing its oil exports.

A year later, Tehran reacted by gradually violating the deal's nuclear limits, reviving U.S., Israeli and Gulf Arab fears that Iran may be seeking to obtain an atomic weapon, an ambition Iran denies.

(Reporting By Simon Lewis; Writing by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by David Gregorio)
(Reuters) - The United States will speed up the provision of humanitarian aid to Haiti and bolster its security assistance, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday, as the Caribbean nation faces a crisis caused by a blockade on its main fuel port by gangs.

"We will accelerate the delivery of additional humanitarian relief to the people of Haiti," Blinken said in a statement. "We are also working to increase and deploy in the coming days security assistance to the Haitian National Police..."

(Reporting by Costas Pitas in Los Angeles; editing by Tim Ahmann)
Uber is scaling back its operations in Pakistan, the latest in a series of efforts from the ride-hailing firm as it looks to improve its financial performance.

The company says its marquee app is ceasing operations in five of the six cities where Uber had launched and expanded over the years. The eponymous service will now only be available in Lahore in Pakistan, Uber said.

Uber insists that it remains committed to Pakistan, and its subsidiary brand, Careem, will offer services in Karachi, Multan, Faisalabad, Peshawar and Islamabad. The move will nonetheless impact several jobs.

Uber says it will help some driver partners switch over to Careem. It did not specify the number of jobs that will get eliminated as part of the decision.

We know this is a difficult time for the teams who have worked incredibly hard to build this business over the past few years, the company said in blog post. We greatly appreciate everyones contributions and our priority is to minimize the impact to our employees, drivers, riders, and Hero partners who use the Uber app during this change in Karachi, Islamabad, Faisalabad, Multan and Peshawar.

Uber's abrupt decision came as a surprise to local residents. Uber entered Pakistan in early 2016 as part of a $250 million push to expand into the Middle East and North Africa. The company has faced tough competition from InDrive and Prosus Ventures-backed Bykea in the nation in recent quarters.

The company, which aggressively expanded to dozens of nations half a decade ago, has slowed its investments in many markets. In India, a key overseas market for the firm, Uber offloaded its Uber Eats delivery business to Zomato, a local rival, and sold its shares in the company recently at an assumed unrealized loss of $707 million.

Media reports in recent months have speculated that Uber might sell its India ride-hailing business to rival Ola, a claim both firms have denied.
Ukraines SBU security service has uncovered a Moscow-Patriarchate Orthodox priest in Vinnytsia Oblast who was spreading Russian narratives

Read also: SBU neutralizes Russian mercenary squads in Kharkiv Oblast

According to the SBU, bishop Anatole Yeletskykh was inciting religious strife via his personal website.

Read also: SBU prepares charges against nine more individuals thought to have organized sham referendums

"The search conducted by the SBU confirmed the illegal nature of the suspects actions," the SBU press service said in a report.

During the authorized searches at the suspects residence and place of work the following items were found and seized:

Read also: SBU head describes Russian troops attack on civilian convoy in Kharkiv Oblast

computer hardware and mobile devices;

printed pro-Russian leaflets and propaganda literature;

other material evidence that was sent for analysis.

The pre-trial investigation is still ongoing.

Help NV continue reporting on the Russian invasion

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
By John Irish

PARIS (Reuters) - Romantic gestures take many forms... well on Wednesday Ukraine's defence ministry posted a video on social media aimed at giving France a gentle nudge to show its love through weapons' supplies after repeated criticism that Paris has not been doing enough.

The 41-second clip on twitter comes hours after a French security cabinet meeting held by President Emmanuel Macron decided that France had taken new decisions to "support Ukraine militarily" after speaking to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

France has delivered Caesar howitzers, portable air defence systems and heavy armoured vehicles primarily.

However, a wave of attacks on Ukrainian cities has raised the stakes, with Kyiv demanding its partners provide more supplies, including air defence systems - something Paris has been unwilling to do so far.

Wednesday's clip made clear to France that it wanted more than just words and promises.

"Romantic gestures take many forms," images on the video read as the classic "Je t'aime moi non plus" (I love you ... me neither), the suggestive and once-censored song that Serge Gainsbourg recorded with then-lover Jane Birkin, played in the background.

The images intertwine lovers holding hands in Paris, chocolates, roses and Macron smiling with Zelenskiy. All with the French-made howitzer cannons in full action on the battlefield.

"But if you really want to win our hearts... nothing beats 155mm heavy self-propelled artillery ... Many thanks France. Please send us more!"

France's defence ministry announced on Tuesday that it was boosting its support on NATO's eastern flak by sending more tanks to Romania, Rafale fighter jets to Lithuania and infantry to Estonia. It said nothing about Ukraine.

Macron is due to be interviewed on national television Wednesday evening, during which diplomatic sources have said he may outline details of his proposed new support.

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France does have the SAMP/T (Mamba) surface-to-air defence system, although quite how many it could provide is unclear. It deployed one such system to Romania in May.

"We have not had any answers from France to our requests on this," Vadym Omelchenko, Ukraine's ambassador to France, told reporters on Monday.

(Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Alex Richardson)
A Ukrainian soldier aims at a target with a self-propelled gun in the background

Countries from the Western defence alliance, Nato, have pledged air defence systems to Ukraine to help it defend its cities and towns against Russian attacks.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that surface-to-air missiles are Ukraine's "number one priority".

What is Nato?

Nato - the North Atlantic Treaty Organization - is a defensive military alliance. It was formed in 1949 by 12 countries, including the US, UK, Canada and France.

Members agree to help one another if they come under armed attack.

Nato's original goal was to challenge Russian expansion in Europe after World War Two.

After the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991, many of the Eastern European countries which used to be Russia's allies in the Warsaw Pact were granted Nato membership.

Russia has long argued that Nato's acceptance of these countries threatens its security. It has vehemently opposed Ukraine's request to join the alliance, fearing this would encroach too closely on its territory.

How are Nato countries supporting Ukraine?

At its recent summit, Nato members pledged millions of dollars' worth of air defence systems to Ukraine to guard against Russian attacks on cities, towns and civilian installations such as power stations, using missiles and "kamikaze" drones..

Germany is sending units of its Iris-T air infrared-guided air defence system, which can shoot down aircraft, cruise missiles and drones, and says the first four of them have already arrived in Ukraine.

The US has pledged to send the NASAMS system, which can also shoot down aircraft, cruise missiles and drones.

The UK, Canada, France and Netherlands are also sending air defence systems.

This comes on top of a massive amount of arms which Nato countries have been sending Ukraine since Russia's invasion in February.

The US has given Ukraine weaponry worth $15bn (13.5bn), including the long-range Himars system, Javelin anti-tank missiles, howitzers, and Switchblade "kamikaze" drones.

With Himars missiles, Ukraine's forces can hit targets deep behind enemy lines

Poland is providing almost a quarter of Ukraine's weapons from abroad, including T-72 tanks and missiles for its fighter jets. Some of the Soviet-era equipment it has provided has been upgraded to perform better.

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Equipment sent by the UK includes NLAW anti-tank weapons and MLRS long-range missile systems.

Weapons from Germany include self-propelled anti-aircraft guns and portable surface-to-air missiles.

France has provided Caesar self-propelled guns.

Nato member countries are also providing extensive training to Ukrainian troops.

Why are Nato countries not sending troops?

Article 5 of Nato's charter obliges countries to come to the defence of a fellow Nato member if attacked, but since Ukraine is not part of Nato, its member countries have stopped short of sending troops on to its territory.

Leading Nato countries such as the US fear that doing so would put them in direct conflict with Russia, leading to a wider war.

For the same reason, they have also refused to operate a no-fly zone over the country.

However, there are about 40,000 Nato troops stationed in eastern Europe, on the territory of alliance members such Lithuania and Poland, and there another 300,000 troops on "high alert".

President Vladimir Putin has said there are military units in Ukraine "under the de-facto command of Western advisers" - a claim widely reported by Russian media outlets.

It is well known that foreign fighters have joined Ukrainian military units. However, there is no evidence that there are serving Nato personnel on the ground.

Will Ukraine join Nato?

In 2008, Nato countries told Ukraine it could join in future, but set no timetable for full enrolment.

After Russia annexed Crimea, Ukraine made joining Nato a priority. Recently, it asked Nato to "fast-track" the process to make it a member.

Nine Nato countries from central and eastern Europe have supported Ukraine's request to become a member in the near future.

However, both the US and Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg have said now is not the time to consider granting it full membership, and that it is more important to provide weapons.

Which other countries want to join Nato?

Sweden and Finland both applied to join Nato following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Finland has a 1,340km (833 mile) border with Russia.

All Nato member states have invited the two powers to join, and those invitations have been confirmed by 28 out of the 30 member countries' parliaments.

Only Turkey and Hungary have yet to ratify their governments' invitations.
(Corrects role of official quoted)

KYIV (Reuters) - A Ukrainian official dismissed as "nonsense" on Wednesday Russia's investigation into an explosion last weekend that badly damaged a bridge linking the Russian mainland to the Crimea peninsula that Moscow has annexed.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has blamed Ukraine's security forces for the explosion and earlier on Wednesday Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said it had detained five Russians and three citizens of Ukraine and Armenia over the blast.

"The whole activity of the FSB and Investigative Committee is nonsense," Ukraine's public broadcaster Suspilne cited Andriy Yusov, a press officer for Ukrainian military intelligence, as saying when asked about Moscow's allegations on the Crimea Bridge blast.

Yusov described the FSB and Investigative Committee as "fake structures that serve the Putin regime, so we will definitely not comment on their next statements".

(This story has been corrected to fix role of official quoted.)

(Reporting in Melbourne by Lidia Kelly and by Kyiv bureau; Editing by Gareth Jones)
UKRAINSKA PRAVDA  WEDNESDAY, 12 OCTOBER 2022, 08:26

Ukraines air defence shot down nine Shahed-136 kamikaze drones over Mykolaiv Oblast on the morning of 12 October.

Source: Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Telegram

Quote: "Air defence units from Air Force Command Pivden (South) have shot down nine enemy Shahed-136 kamikaze drones over Mykolaiv Oblast."

Previously: On 11 October, the Ukrainian Air Force shot down 20 Russian missiles and 13 Iranian-made kamikaze drones in different regions of Ukraine. Russia launched a total of 28 cruise missiles that day.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!




WEDNESDAY, 12 OCTOBER 2022, 13:30

On the morning of 12 October, units of the Ukrainian Air Force shot down at least four Russian attack helicopters in 18 minutes.

Source: press service of the Air Force

Quote: "From 8:40 to 8:58 on 12 October, in the south of Ukraine, anti-aircraft missile units of the Air Force destroyed at least four attack helicopters of the enemy (presumably Ka-52s) which provided fire support to occupying troops on the ground on the southern front."

Details: Preliminary information indicates that one helicopter crashed on territory recently liberated from Russians, the others were downed behind the zone of contact. The Air Force has added that two more helicopters were engaged, therefore there is a possibility that other targets were also hit.

Previously: Over the morning of 12 October, Ukrainian air defence units shot down 9 Shahed-136 kamikaze drones in Mykolaiv Oblast.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Ukrainian military destroys enemy aircraft

They were downed between 8:40 AM and 8:58 AM, the department said.

The Russians reportedly lost four Ka-52 helicopters, which were used for their ground troops fire support in the southern axis.

Read also: Almost 500 Russian troops, helicopter destroyed in one day, says General Staff

According to early reports, one helicopter fell in the area liberated from the Russian occupation forces, the rest plunged behind the front line.

There were two more helicopters being targeted, so there is a high probability that the number of the downed helicopters will increase soon," added the Air Force.

Since the beginning of Russias full-scale war against Ukraine, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have already shot down 235 helicopters and 268 aircraft in total.

Read also: Ukraine repels seven Russian assaults, General Staff says

Recently, the enemy's combat aircraft losses have grown significantly. The Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces explained that by the fact that the Russian occupiers had been increasing the involvement of aircraft near the front line, mainly in Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, and Kherson oblasts.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Lloyd Austin and Oleksiy Reznikov in Brussels on October 12, 2022

Before the Contact Group session convened, Austin together with the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, met with the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Oleksiy Reznikov.

Read also: 11 killed and 87 injured across the country in mass Russian missile attack, says DSNS

They've (Ukrainian forces) liberated hundreds of towns from Russian occupation. And they've retaken thousands of square kilometers of their land. These victories belong to the Ukrainian soldiers, but the Contact Group's security assistance, training, and sustainment efforts have been vital, Austin said in his opening remarks.

Read also: First German IRIS-T air defense system arrives to Ukraine

According to him, while Russian dictator Vladimir Putin sends untrained, unwitting Russian citizens to the front lines, Ukraine has shown the world the military and moral power of a free people fighting for their democracy and their sovereignty.

Austin affirmed that the Contact Group stands united and determined. We will continue to boost Ukraines defensive capabilities  for todays urgent needs and for the long haul.

The Sixth meeting in the Ramstein format is taking place in Brussels on October 12. According to the Ukrainian Minister of Defense Oleksiy Reznikov, the issue of strengthening Ukraines air defense will be a No. 1 issue on the agenda of the meeting.

Read also: NATO to prioritize bolstering Ukraines air defenses, Stoltenberg says

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Contrary to claims made by Russias FSB, Kyivs military intelligence is not responsible for the recent explosion at the Crimea Bridge

Read also: Russia planned missile strike barrage before Crimea Bridge attack, U.S. says

"These (the FSB) are fake institutions that serve Putins regime, so we will certainly not comment on their further statements, Ukrainian broadcaster Suspilne quoted Yusov.

Read also: Ukrainian Postal Service will issue a new stamp following attack on Crimea bridge

On Oct. 12, the FSB accused Ukraine's military intelligence service and its director Kyrylo Budanov of being behind the explosion on the Crimea Bridge, before charging Budanov for his alleged involvement.

Russian security services also announced they arrested eight alleged suspects in connection with the case, including five Russian citizens, and three citizens of Ukraine and Armenia.

Read also: Panic grips Ukraines Russian-occupied Crimea after explosion damages Kerch road and rail bridge

Crimea Bridge is the only link between mainland Russia and the occupied Ukrainian peninsula. It was apparently bombed on Oct. 8. It is used as a key supply route for Russian military forces in the South of Ukraine. The bridge was partly destroyed and was closed for private vehicles. Russia first reported a fuel train was set on fire on the Crimea bridge, later they said it was a car bomb.

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin later set up a government committee to deal with the "emergency situation" on the occupied peninsula.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain does not need an early national election, Prime Minister Liz Truss said on Wednesday, dismissing calls from opposition lawmakers for a new vote after her economic plans caused market chaos.

"The last thing we need is a general election," Truss, who took office last month, told parliament.

(Reporting by William James, writing by Muvija M, editing by Elizabeth Piper)
NEW YORK (AP)  The federal labor board has scheduled a November vote on a petition from Home Depot workers in Philadelphia to form what could be the first storewide union at the worlds largest home improvement retailer.

The National Labor Relations Board said Wednesday the vote will take place Nov. 2 at the Philadelphia store, and the count will take place three days later.

Vincent Quiles, the Home Depot employee leading the unionization effort, submitted a petition last month with 103 workers signatures to form a collective bargaining unit for employees working in the store's merchandizing, specialty and operations departments. The original petition said the union would represent 274 workers, but Quiles said the number is now 266 after a recount and some talks with Home Depot over which workers to include.

Quiles said he expects the vote will be a toss up. There's a generational divide between younger workers who are generally more enthusiastic about the idea of a union and more wary older employees, he said. Discontent with compensation, working conditions and understaffing are the main grievances behind the effort, he said.

If nothing else, the filing of this petition gave people a little big of hope ... that someone actually cares, he said. I'm hoping we can capitalize off that hope and get people to realize that if you want change you have to fight for it."

Home Depot does not believe unionization is the best solution for our associates," said Margaret Smith, a company spokesperson.

"Our open-door policy is designed to assure all associates that they can bring concerns directly to leadership, and we have a track record of working successfully with our associates to resolve those concerns," she said.

Quiles said that in practice managers are often dismissive of concerns brought up by employees who take advantage of the open-door policy.

The labor board's database indicates next month's vote will be the first attempt to form a storewide union at Home Depot. The Atlanta-based company employs about 500,000 people at its 2,316 stores in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -The United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday overwhelmingly condemned Russia's "attempted illegal annexation" of four partially occupied regions in Ukraine and called on all countries not to recognize the move, strengthening a diplomatic international isolation of Moscow since it invaded its neighbor.

Three-quarters of the 193-member General Assembly - 143 countries - voted in favor of a resolution that also reaffirmed the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders.

"It's amazing," Ukraine's U.N. Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya told reporters after the vote as he stood next to U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who said the result showed Russia could not intimidate the world.

Only four countries joined Russia in voting against the resolution - Syria, Nicaragua, North Korea and Belarus. Thirty-five countries abstained from the vote, including Russia's strategic partner China, while the rest did not vote.

"Today it is Russia invading Ukraine. But tomorrow it could be another nation whose territory is violated. It could be you. You could be next. What would you expect from this chamber?" Thomas-Greenfield told the General Assembly before the vote.

Moscow in September proclaimed its annexation of four partially occupied regions in Ukraine - Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia - after staging what it called referendums. Ukraine and allies have denounced the votes as illegal and coercive.

The General Assembly vote followed a veto by Russia last month of a similar resolution in the 15-member Security Council.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the General Assembly ahead of the vote that the resolution was "politicized and openly provocative," adding that it "could destroy any and all efforts in favor of a diplomatic solution to the crisis."

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'DOUBLE STANDARDS'

The moves at the United Nations mirror what happened in 2014 after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea. The General Assembly then adopted a resolution declaring the referendum invalid with 100 votes in favor, 11 against and 58 formal abstentions.

China abstained on Wednesday because it did not believe the resolution will be helpful, China's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Geng Shuang said.

"Any action taken by the General Assembly should be conducive to the de-escalation of the situation, to be conducive to the early resumption of dialogue and should be conducive to the promotion of a political solution to this crisis," he said.

The United States and other Western countries lobbied ahead of Wednesday's vote. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken convened a virtual meeting on Tuesday with diplomats from more than 100 countries.

They won dozens more votes than compared with the 2014 result, and improved on the 141 countries who voted to denounce Russia and demand it withdraw its troops from Ukraine within a week of its Feb. 24 invasion.

Moscow has then been trying to chip away at its international isolation. As Russia and the West have vied for diplomatic influence, some states - particularly in the global South - have grown concerned about paying the price for being squeezed in the middle of an intense geopolitical rivalry.

"We deplore the politics of the double standards of the powerful of this world when it comes to Africa," Democratic Republic of Congo U.N. Ambassador Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja told the General Assembly on Wednesday.

"We support Ukraine. We want to see the war ended," he said. "But we would like to see the international community take similar action against other situations in the world where countries are being invaded and occupied."

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; editing by Costas Pitas and Grant McCool)
Hundreds of University of Florida students held protests this week criticizing the anticipated appointment of Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., to lead the school.

A presidential search committee unanimously approved Sasse last week as its sole finalist for the top job. Prior to his election to the U.S. Senate in 2015, Sasse had led a small private Lutheran college in Nebraska for several years.

Much of the outrage Monday was colored by student opposition to his past stances on LGBTQ rights, such as his objection in 2015 to the Supreme Courts legalization of same-sex marriage in the landmark case Obergefell v. Hodges  he called it a disappointment  and his continued assertion that the sanctity of marriage is one of his top priorities in Congress.

A crowd the Gainesville Sun estimated at about 1,000 people, including students and staff, stormed a building Monday in which Sasse, who is expected to resign from the Senate before the end of the year, was holding a series of planned town halls.

The protest against his appointment is the latest development at the intersection of LGBTQ rights and an increasingly politicized public education landscape in Florida, a state that has long been seen as a sort of ground zero in the fight for LGBTQ equality in the United States.

Students protest as Sen. Ben Sasse (Dirk Shadd / Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire)

Sasse has said that as university president, he would do his best to represent the views of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer students. But for some, his candidacy has called to mind the universitys anti-LGBTQ history and the extent to which many of them feel it continues to sideline their needs and experiences, four LGBTQ students told NBC News.

To think that the leader of our school is going to be someone who doesnt reflect our values is devastating, RJ Della Salle, a freshman who is gay, said.

Della Salle was one of the students who attended the protests, which disrupted the question-and-answer sessions Sasse was holding as he struggled to make himself heard over shouts of Hey, hey, ho, ho, Ben Sasse has got to go! Sasse said at the forum that he intellectually and constitutionally welcomed the demonstrators.

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While Sasse was speaking, Della Salle was outside while his boyfriend, Evan Smith, was inside the room, where the protests grew so disruptive that people said they felt the walls shaking.

They were banging on the door and the railings and the walls, Smith said. We felt the whole thing shaking.

Sasse left without engaging the protesters. During the forums, however, he addressed a number of questions on his past political stances and attempted to suggest that he could still represent the views of the nearly 60,000 students and thousands more staff at the University of Florida, one of the largest schools in the state, even if they conflict with the positions he has held as a politician for the people of Nebraska.

Senate Intelligence Committee Hearing On SolarWinds Hack (Drew Angerer / Bloomberg via Getty Images file)

Do I support and affirm everybody in this community? Sasse said when asked about his support for the LGBTQ community. Absolutely.

In July, Sasse told NBC News he believed the Respect for Marriage Act, which would codify the right to same-sex marriage into federal law in the wake of the reversal of Roe v. Wade, was an attempt by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to divide America with culture wars.

On same-sex marriage, Sasse acknowledged Monday that he has in the past had disputes about which decisions should be made by courts versus state legislatures, but he called Obergefell the law of the land and said nothing about Obergefell is changing in the United States.

A university spokesperson declined to comment further. In the announcement last week of Sasses selection as the sole finalist, Rahul Patel, chair of the presidential search committee and a university trustee appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, called Sasse right for the University of Florida and right for the state of Florida.

Ben brings intellectual curiosity, a belief in the power and potential of American universities, and an unmatched track record of leadership spanning higher education, government and the private sector, Patel said in a public statement.

Smith, a 20-year-old political science and history major, called Sasses expected appointment really scary.

While the president of the university isnt going to decide things like gay marriage or other things like that, his main job is representing the university, Smith said. Its much more the symbolic representation, that he doesnt represent the student body and the diverse faculty.

A school president potentially motivated by political decision-making is a cause for concern, according to Lisa Scott, a psychology professor. On top of her day-to-day work for the university, Scott also has a third grader in an elementary school run by the university. Among other concerns, she said, she wonders whether Sasses interpretation of the states Parental Rights in Education Act, which critics have dubbed the Dont Say Gay law, could have an impact on both her childs school and the universitys school of education, which trains future educators.

He has a history of voting against lots of aspects of peoples right to exist, Scott said. I think thats very problematic to have all of that impacting how he makes university decisions.

The appointment seems to have inflamed a broader sense of exclusion felt by LGBTQ students at the university, according to Alex Noon, the president of OUTLaw, the unaffiliated LGBTQ organization for the law school.

In March, for example, a founder of Liberty Counsel, an evangelical Christian legal organization that has been designated an anti-LGBTQ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, was invited to speak at one of his courses, emails shared with NBC News show. After pushback, students were given the option to not attend class the day the guest speaker, Matt Staver, was invited to attend, though one of the courses instructors in an email defended the educational value of hearing a talk by Staver, who has argued in front of the Supreme Court.

We have to be super proactive for anything related to queer students, because they just dont think about it, Noon said.

That sentiment dates all the way back to the mid-1950s and 60s and the Johns Committee, a group formed by the state Legislature and supported by the universitys president with the express purpose of targeting and rooting out gay members of the university. Over a period of about a decade, the committee forced approximately 50 students and more than a dozen faculty members off campus, according to the campus newspaper, the Independent Florida Alligator.

The effort had a chilling effect that kept LGBTQ members of the University of Florida mostly silent about their identities until the 1980s, according to the universitys website. Since then, an LGBTQ advisory committee has made considerable ground in its fight for queer rights and representation on campus. In 2003, for example, the universitys nondiscrimination policy was updated to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and again amended in 2011 to include gender identity and expression. More recent wins from the committee have come in the form of more gender-neutral bathrooms and inclusion training for faculty and staff.

Damon Veras, a 21-year-old senior who is gay and a member of the committee, said theres still room for improvement. The universitys LGBTQ+ Affairs office, for example, has a high staff turnover rate, he said.

He said a silver lining of the protests was that many LGBTQ students made their concerns more widely known. But he said the politicization of the universitys leadership wont change anytime soon.

The next step is just continue to bring issues like this to the new presidents attention, he said, and make clear to him that queer and trans folks exist."

Follow NBC Out on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
(Bloomberg) -- Uranium miner Cameco Corp. is buying a stake in nuclear-power giant Westinghouse Electric Co., teaming up with Brookfield Renewable Partners in a deal valuing the business about $8 billion.

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based Cameco will own 49% of the company, and Toronto-based Brookfield Renewable will own a 51% stake, according to a statement Tuesday. Brookfield Business Partners had bought Westinghouse in 2018 as part of the nuclear companys bankruptcy reorganization.

The deal is the latest indication that big investors and governments see nuclear power as a key player in the fight against climate change. While some clean-energy advocates continue campaigning for the end of nuclear power, proponents say it will be challenging to wean power grids off fossil fuels without it.

This is our entry into the nuclear-power segment, which is we believe a critical technology for global grids to achieve net zero, Connor Teskey, chief executive officer of Brookfield Renewable, said in an interview Tuesday.

Read: Brookfields Carney Says Net-Zero Doesnt Work Without Nuclear

Cameco, North Americas largest uranium miner, struggled for years following the Fukushima disaster in Japan that led to the shuttering of most of the countrys nuclear reactors as well as prompting nations around the globe to reconsider nuclear power. While the companys shares have surged by about 190% since the beginning of 2020, Chief Executive Officer Tim Gitzel said earlier this year that he wouldnt soon crank up production to chase mythical market demand.

Buying Westinghouse will give the company more direct access to customers that will need its fuel. We like to think of ourselves as more than just mining and this is just an extension of that, Gitzel said in the interview Tuesday. We know what they do, and their business is very complementary to what we do.

He expects the deal to be accretive to cash flow and earnings, but he declined to provide numbers. Cameco fell about 12% in late trading Tuesday in New York.

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Cameco committed $2.2 billion in equity toward the acquisition. Brookfield Renewables $2.3 billion equity stake will be funded by the Brookfield Global Transition Fund, the company and the funds limited partners.

(Updates with quotes from CEOs in fourth and sixth paragraphs.)

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

2022 Bloomberg L.P.
WASHINGTON  The U.S. Army wants ideas from industry on how to protect against attacks from so-called kamikaze drones, a loitering weapon that is featuring heavily in the war in Ukraine.

Russia and Ukraine have used thousands of loitering munitions since the start of the war. The explosive-carrying drone is known as a kamikaze weapon because of its one-way mission. One of the more well-known examples is AeroVironments Switchblade, which the Pentagon has supplied to Ukraine.

Col. Mike Parent, division chief for acquisition and resources in the Armys Joint Counter-Unmanned Aircraft System Office, said the threat of loitering munitions is a high concern for his team.

The one-way attack is something that we have been told again and again by [combatant commands] and the services that this is something that is evolving, he said during an Oct. 12 briefing at the Association of the U.S. Armys annual conference in Washington. We must, therefore, evolve with it.

The service is poised to issue a formal request for ideas, or white papers, from industry in the next week or two, Parent said, noting that the aim is to move quickly to respond to proposals and demonstrate the technology. The work will focus on countering threats from Group 3 drones, a class of small UAS that weigh between 55 and 1,320 pounds.

We have an aggressive timeline, he said. Were going to put that request for white papers out and were going to expect industry to come back very quickly.

The Army is the U.S. Department of Defenses executive agent for counter-UAS work and the Joint Counter-Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office, created in 2019, works closely with the other military services to shape requirements.

Maj. Gen. Sean Gainey, JCO director, said during the same Oct. 12 briefing that defending against one-way attacks is just one piece of the Pentagons layered approach to countering threats from UAS. The war in Ukraine has validated the strength of that approach, he added.

I think what were learning is pretty much what we already knew . . . it takes a layered approach, he said. You leverage your air defense systems, you leverage your counter-UAS [electronic warfare systems] and you leverage whatever counter-UAS kinetic effectors you have to be able to get after the threat. Because the threat ranges.
A US citizen on temporary release from prison in Iran was taken back into custody Wednesday, his family said, in what Washington called a "tremendous setback" after hopes for his permanent freedom.

Siamak Namazi, 51, was returned to Tehran's Evin prison, a day before the seventh anniversary of his detention on espionage charges which he denies.

He was temporarily released a week ago when his father, 85-year-old Baquer Namazi, was permitted to leave the country for medical care.

The younger Namazi's furlough from prison had also been extended on Saturday for three more days.

"I was genuinely hopeful for the first time that my father's departure was the beginning of a new, less painful chapter in the struggle to make our family whole again. But Siamak's return to Evin has shattered that hope," his brother Babak Namazi said in a statement.

"Iran has proven the humanitarian gesture of letting my father go remains the exception and does not represent a changed reality."

State Department spokesman Ned Price said the end of Siamek's furlough "comes as a tremendous setback."

Also pointing to two other US citizens detained in Iran, Price told reporters: "We are working to do everything we can to advance the prospects for their release and for their safe return to their families just as soon as we can."

The Namazi family says that espionage accusations are absurd and that Siamak had been questioned over past associations with US think tanks. His father, a former UNICEF official, was detained in February 2016 after flying in to help his son.

Baquer Namazi was allowed to leave for Oman and then to the United Arab Emirates where has been examined at the Cleveland Clinic over an artery blockage.

All the US citizens known to be detained in Iran are of Iranian origin. Tehran does not recognize dual nationality and has had no diplomatic relations with the United States since the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic revolution.

President Joe Biden's administration has vowed the release of US citizens amid separate, slow-moving negotiations on reviving a 2015 nuclear accord with Iran.

sct/des
Gopher tortoises  burrowers whose extensive homes shelter many other animals  are generally doing well and need federal protection only in the small area where they were declared threatened 35 years ago, the government said Tuesday.

Thanks to extensive conservation work and recently discovered populations, Georgias state reptile is no longer a candidate for protection in the bulk of its range: Florida, south Georgia, most of coastal Alabama and a sliver of South Carolina, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said.

An environmental group which sued for protection across the entire range called the decision indefensible.

It ignores devastating urban sprawl thats decimated the tortoises habitat and will continue to drive the species ever closer to extinction, said Elise Bennett, Florida director and an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity.

The National Alliance of Forest Owners, on the other hand, called the agencys action a great decision that recognizes the success of voluntary conservation programs.

>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<

More than just this single listing, this story is also about the success of a new approach to conservation, spokesman Ethan Breitling said.

The Fish and Wildlife Service said small, disconnected populations remain threatened in southeastern Mississippi and bits of Louisiana and Alabama, which together make up about 12% of the tortoises range.

Efforts to improve conditions for the gopher tortoise have been effective, and it is important that scientists, experts and wildlife professionals continue to strategically use our best resources to help recover the gopher tortoise where its most vulnerable, Leopoldo Miranda-Castro, the services southeastern regional director, said in a news release.

Although gopher tortoises average 9 to 11 inches (23 to 28 centimeters) long, researchers have found burrows up to 40 feet (12 meters) long. More than 360 kinds of animals have been found in occupied or abandoned burrows; the 60 vertebrate species include dusky gopher frogs,eastern indigo snakes and burrowing owls.

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Logging and development are two of the gopher tortoises biggest threats. It lives in sandy upland forests with widely spaced trees, including longleaf pine savannas that once covered an area larger than Germany. Those once-extensive forests are now down to about 5% of that area.

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Longleaf pine restoration, however, is among many programs that have helped gopher tortoises, the Fish and Wildlife Service said.

Gopher tortoises were among more than 500 species listed in 2011 as possibly needing protection to settle lawsuits brought by two environmental nonprofits, Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity and New Mexico-based WildEarth Guardians.

Bennett said Tuesday that the decision was made even though the federal agency expects populations to decline range-wide over the next 80 years  with the largest drops in Florida and the western part of its range.

She said the group is studying the decision and considering all options including another lawsuit.

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State programs, particularly in Florida  the heart of their range  are just not working, she said Friday, as the federal deadline approached. Florida is largely just moving them out of areas under development and into smaller and smaller habitat. And fragmentation is a problem already.

The federal statement said Florida has 50 long-term relocation sites covering more than 120 square miles (310 square kilometers) of gopher tortoise habitat.

Many populations in the nearly 109,700-square-mile (284,100-square-kilometer) eastern area are in good condition despite threats that include climate change and sea-level rise as well as habitat loss and fragmentation, the federal agency said.

Future projections ... show that many healthy populations will remain across the range, it said.

In the 15,000-square-mile (39,000-square-kilometer) western section, though, populations are smaller and reproduction is lower, and they have a low ability to rebound from population or environmental changes, the agency said.

The Fish and Wildlife Service said gopher tortoises currently live on about 161 square miles (417 square kilometers) of the area and are threatened  not endangered.

Because gopher tortoises are long-lived, they will remain on the landscape for several decades despite current and ongoing threats, it said.

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'God knows Trump won' sign

As the midterm elections approach in the US, the wave of false claims surrounding the vote is a reminder of how hard it is to combat fake news. Does Finland have the answer?

A few hours after Vladimir Putin called up 300,000 military reservists in September, a video showing long queues of cars at the Finnish-Russian border started circulating on social media.

The Finnish Border Guard was quick to point out it was fake.

"Some of the videos were filmed earlier and now taken out of context," it said on Twitter. The tweet promptly made it to the top of the Ukraine live page on national broadcaster Yle's news website.

The Border Guard's and Yle's response highlights a crucial element of Finland's success against disinformation - public trust in the authorities and the media.

Finland is a high-trust society. According to an OECD report, 71% of the Finnish population trust the government, compared to the OECD average of 41%.

And it's not just the government - parliament, the civil service, the police and the media all enjoy high levels of trust.

In an annual study by the Open Society Institute, the country tops a global chart measuring resilience to disinformation.

Bar chart for media literacy in countries

That does not mean Finns believe everything they read in the papers and never look at social media for information. But when they do, most have the ability to critically evaluate information.

That shield against disinformation is being sorely tested in the US as the midterm elections approach.

More than ever, the spotlight is on the so-called fake news problem and the real-world consequences it can have.

Despite the increased focus on tackling false and misleading claims on social media, including from the tech giants themselves, disinformation is still seeping through the cracks.

Misinformation and the midterm elections

For the BBC's Americast podcast, we created social media accounts belonging to five fake characters, who reflect views from across the political spectrum in the US.

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One character in particular - Populist Right Britney - has been recommended pages on social media that continue to promote disinformation that Trump really won the 2020 election, as well as a range of conspiracies.

Progressive Left Emma, on the other hand, has been more likely to encounter more radical activism - some that includes violent rhetoric but that stops short of conspiracy.

What the US can learn from Finland

The Finnish school system is the cornerstone of the fight against fake news. Critical thinking and media literacy have been part of the curriculum for a very long time. The curriculum was revised in 2016 to teach children the skills they needed to spot the kind of fabricated information that spread on social media during the US election campaign.

"We teach critical thinking across several subjects. For example in maths classes we look at how statistics can be manipulated," explains Marika Kerola, a teacher in the northern city of Oulu.

"In art, a typical project would be for children to create their own versions of a shampoo advertisement. It may be a picture showing that hair is not as shiny or radiant as it's been promised on the bottle."

In language classes they will compare the same story written as fact-based text and as propaganda, she says. In history they will compare war-time posters in Nazi Germany and the United States, for example.

Another core line of defence against fake news is the government's National Emergency Supply Agency.

"To put it simply, Finland has a comprehensive publicly-funded security model," says Markus Kokko, head of communications for the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats.

"The government works with private businesses and the media to build society's resilience to threats and prepare people for all kinds of disruptions."

In addition to a central government agency, Finland has a number of NGOs and voluntary organisations combating fake news. Fact-checking service Faktabaari is probably the best-known of them.

Finland's approach is all about getting ahead of the tidal wave of disinformation - a wave that has already crashed down on US shores.

The experience in Finland suggests proactive moderation in real-time can make a difference.

What can social media platforms do?

Since the pandemic, where online disinformation surged online about Covid-19, the social media sites have all committed to doing more to battle falsehoods. On the whole, they have seen some success in removing harmful mistruths and labelling conspiracies with accurate information from third-party fact-checkers.

More on this series, Seeking A Solution

As Americans prepare to vote we are visiting countries around the world looking for answers to challenges facing the US political system

We are tackling subjects like an ageing Congress, gridlock in passing laws, a lack of female representation and low turnout

Reporters in Norway, Bolivia, Finland, Australia and Switzerland will explain how these issues are handled where they live

The country with the world's youngest politicians

And around the midterms, they've variously announced specific initiatives in place to deal with this issue. For example - Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, says it has more than 40 teams working on the election, as well as partnerships with 10 fact-checking organisations in the US.

But, across the social media platforms, there are still posts that rack up likes and views before they're removed - and many that get through the gaps in the first place, as the Undercover Voter Britney's social media feeds reveals. A proactive moderation approach that tackles these posts before they have the chance to spread like wildfire is one favoured by some experts.

Many think Finland's wide network of public libraries also contributes to high media literacy

Social media literacy lies at the heart of Finland's long-term plan. Charities and projects in the US have been pushing for more permanent legislation across the country to ensure children are taught this topic in schools.

There was a bill passed in Illinois last year, for example, which mandates every public high school to include media literacy somewhere in its curriculum. They'll be taught how to analyse everything they see online - and off.

Ultimately though, these measures are all just plasters on a wound that's much harder to heal. There's no quick fix for restoring and repairing faith in institutions - some of which has been eroded by disinformation campaigns looking to undermine the election result.

When social media feeds like those of my Undercover Voter Britney are still being punctuated by posts about how the election two years ago was fraudulent, there's still a problem.

And with a majority of Republican candidates running next month having questioned the 2020 election result, the prospect of progress can seem remote.
An anti-aircraft gunner of the task force unit of the National Guard of Ukraine uses anti-aircraft defense equipment against specific targets. Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy/ Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images

Russian forces have used missiles and drones to strike Ukrainian cities over the last two days.

The US and other NATO allies have in turn stepped up efforts to send Ukraine air defense systems.

Among these advanced systems are the IRIS-T SLM and NASAMS.

After back-to-back days of Russian missile and explosive suicide drone attacks on Ukrainian cities this week, the US and some other NATO allies are hurrying to deliver much-sought-after air defense systems to Ukraine.

The deadly Russian attacks  many of which took place far from the war's front lines in eastern and southern Ukraine and struck civilian areas  prompted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to say on Monday that air defense is "currently the number 1 priority" for his country.

Since then, NATO countries like the US, Germany, and the Netherlands have publicly expressed a desire to quickly get air defense systems into the hands of Ukrainian forces.

Germany's defense ministry said on Monday that it was delivering the first of four IRIS-T SLM air defense systems to Ukraine, adding that the recent attacks show "how important the air defense capability for Ukraine's self-defense is."

Ukraine's defense minister confirmed on Wednesday that it has already received "IRIS-Ts" from Germany and said US-made National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) are coming.

And the Dutch defense ministry said in a Wednesday statement that it is providing additional missiles for Ukraine's air and rocket defense.

"This is only the beginning. And we need more. No doubt that [Russia] is a terrorist state," Ukraine's Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov said. "There is a moral imperative to protect the sky over [Ukraine] in order to save our people."

The advanced IRIS-T SLM can defend against missiles as far as 25 miles away and hit targets flying at an altitude of around 12 miles. NASAMS provide short- to medium-range protection.

Visitors take a look at the IRIS-T SLM, a German air defence system by Diehl, displayed at the ILA Berlin Air Show 2022 in Berlin, Germany June 22, 2022. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

Ukraine has long requested additional air defense support to better protect its skies from Russian attacks, but recent developments have made them a more pressing need.

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DW News reported that the highly anticipated IRIS-T SLM systems were originally slated to be delivered to Ukraine later in the calendar year, but the fresh attacks sped up the timeline. Similarly, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters this week the US was working to accelerate the delivery of NASAMS to Ukraine, Reuters reported.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday that he welcomed the recent announcement from allies on sending additional air defense and praised the effectiveness of existing systems in Ukraine.

"There's an urgent need for air defence, but of course also many other capabilities: precision guided ammunition, HIMARS and other advanced modern NATO-standard systems," Stoltenberg said. "And we see that they are making a difference, and we see that Ukrainian soldiers are able to utilize these modern systems in a very effective way, making gains on the battlefield."

Ukrainian forces continue to make strides in their counteroffensives along the war's eastern and southern fronts, which have seen thousands of square miles of territory liberated from under Russian occupation.

Read the original article on Business Insider
WASHINGTON Ukraines allies need to chip in to create a complex mix of air defenses as Russia bombards Ukraines cities and the civilians in them, Americas top military officer said Wednesday.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin led a meeting of more than 50 countries in Brussels, where defense chiefs pledged to supply munitions for Ukraines air defenses. Even as Germany supplied its first IRIS-T air defense system to Ukraine, Pentagon officials highlighted the tough technical challenge ahead.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said air defense systems are the countrys top priority after Russia unleashed a spate of missile and drone attacks this week across the nation that reportedly targeted energy and civilian services, killing at least 19 people.

The horrific and indiscriminate attacks against Ukrainian cities left civilians killed and civilian critical infrastructure destroyed, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday, according to media reports. This demonstrates the urgent need for more air defense for Ukraine.

In a news conference at NATO headquarters on Wednesday, Austin said the Ukraine Defense Contact Group discussed ways to increase training of Ukrainian forces, accountability measures of arms sent to Ukraine and the allied push to galvanize our industrial bases to fire up production for the systems to defend Ukraine while meeting our own security needs. He pointed to German and Danish investments in Slovakias howitzer production.

The spotlight was on Ukraines request for an integrated air and missile defense system, which Milley said allies would strive to fulfill. That would be made up of short-range, low-altitude systems; medium-range, medium-altitude systems; and long-range, high-altitude systems that together would neutralize the threat of Russian aircraft and missiles.

What needs to be done here by all of the countries at the conference today is chip in and help them rebuild and sustain an integrated air and missile defense system, specifically old systems, Milley said.

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US to send Ukraine advanced NASAMS air defense weapons in $820 million package

Ukraine has been using its Russian-made SA-6 and SA-8 air defenses to deny Russian forces air superiority and the ability to conduct combined arms maneuver. Now Ukraine is asking for Cold War-era Hawk systems  a medium-range, medium-altitude system that Milley said is an older system but its quite effective.

Ukraine hopes to also receive donations of American-made Patriot systems, German systems and unnamed Israeli systems.

The undertaking would be complex. Disparate systems would have to be brought together, deployed, and made to communicate with radars and each other in order to acquire Russian targets  and Ukrainian forces would have to be trained on it all, Milley said.

So its quite complicated from a technical standpoint. It is achievable, and thats what were aiming at, he added.

The timing is an open question. When a Ukrainian reporter asked pointedly when the people of Ukraine will be able to sleep well and expressed concern about his family back home, Austin said the unpredictable nature of the conflict makes it hard to predict when it will be safe to travel in Ukraine.

Austin pointed to new pledges from the meeting for munitions for existing systems and Germanys delivery of the first of four IRIS-T systems. IRIS-T is capable of defending against approaching missiles at an altitude of up to 20 kilometers (12 miles) and a distance of up to 40 kilometers (25 miles).

I know that youre concerned about your family, Austin told the reporter, and certainly thats understandable. But were going to do everything we can, as fast as we can, to help the Ukrainian forces get the capability they need to protect the Ukrainian people. Thats very, very important to us.
Shane Adams with Mongo, who was just returned to him after running with mustangs for eight years. Courtesy of Shane Adams.

A Utah man who had "lost everything" is celebrating the return of his horse that escaped eight years ago.

Shane Adams said that Mongo ran away to join a herd of mustangs when the two were camping.

Adams never believed he would see Mongo again. Now, his family couldn't be happier about his return.

Shane Adams got his first pony at three years old and has been riding on trails as long as he can remember.

To him, ponies and horses were part of "just enjoying life," the 40-year-old from Fielding, Utah, told Insider. When his horse Mongo ran off during a camping trip eight years ago after seeing a herd of mustangs pass by, Adams was left devastated.

Adams said he got Mongo when he was in his late-20s living with a couple of roommates who also had horses that Mongo seemed to dwarf.

"He was big," Adams said. "He was just a horse that just made all my friends' ones look tiny. And yeah, he was just a big monster, you know. He had a really cool, calm personality."

Adams said he took Mongo camping in West Desert every year. He never thought Mongo would try to get loose, even if a herd of mustangs ran by  as they did eight years ago when Mongo ran off to join them.

"I never even thought about it. I heard about people having issues with it in the past and horses breaking loose or whatever, and then they were able to go back and get it," Adams said, adding that Mongo "would never even run around for" mustangs in the past.

Mongo with his family before he ran away. Courtesy of Shane Adams.

After Mongo ran off, Adams said he returned to West Desert regularly to look for the horse but eventually lost hope he would ever find him. He told KUTV that "never in my life" did he expect to be contacted by the Bureau of Land Management, who said they located Mongo during a roundup in Tooele County in September. An inspector said the brand on Mongo matched the description Adams had given eight years prior when he reported Mongo missing, Adams told Insider.

Adams said he drove over three hours from his home in Fielding to retrieve Mongo, who he said didn't seem to recognize him immediately but still remembered his training from years prior.

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"I hurried up, hooked up my trailer, and was ready to go," Adams told Insider. "He was really cool when we got him and loaded him in the trailer and stuff. He was really good. He remembered all of his trailer manners... backed out nice and slow, walked in nice and slow."

Mongo, who Adams previously referred to as a "big monster," is healthy aside from being a few hundred pounds underweight, Adams said.

"You can't see it now because he's skinny," he said. "I've been feeding him a lot. He eats a lot because he lost a lot of weight. He used to weigh 1,550 lbs."

Adams and his daughter greet Mongo, who was missing for eight years. Courtesy of Shane Adams.

Adams said the most "inspiring" part of his story was reuniting Mongo with his kids, now 8 and 11 years old, who knew Mongo growing up from pictures and songs they made up about him. On his way back to his home in Fielding where he lives with his mother, Adams stopped by his ex-wife's home, where his children live.

"My little girl came out, and she climbed up on the trailer. She had seen him and was like, 'That's Mongo.' And then my son, my ex-wife pulled up in the car, and my son got down, and he's like, 'There's no way. That's Mongo.'"

Since losing Mongo, Adams said he'd gotten divorced, lost his house, and became disabled after a car accident. Adams said he hopes Mongo's return is a sign that things are turning around for him.

"My life is like down in the dumps, like the car accident. I lost my house, I lost everything," Adams said. "I got my horse back though."

Read the original article on Insider
A formerly married couple accused of hurling racial slurs and coffee at a coffee shop manager in Vancouver last year have each pleaded guilty to a charge of mischief.

Michel Jean-Jacque Berthiaume and Astrid Maria Secreve, ex-spouses who have been representing themselves in the case, admitted to their roles in the incident at Rocanini Coffee Roasters in Steveston, which occurred on March 29, 2021, and was caught on video.

The incident began after the pair ignored the shops COVID-19 guidelines, according to reports. The Asian Canadian manager, identified only as Nikki, asked them to change seats.

However, the couple refused and retaliated against Nikki: Berthiaume, 74, poured his mocha on the floor, while Secreve, 76, threw a cup of coffee at the manager. They also said F*ck you, Chinese and accused Nikki of having COVID-19.

More from NextShark: AAPI coalition demands Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan pull his anti-China Senate campaign ad

After the pair entered their guilty plea on Tuesday, the crown counsel requested a suspended sentence with 18 months of probation, including 100 hours of community service, according to Richmond News. They allegedly showed no remorse and downplayed the attack.

Despite pleading guilty, Berthiaume reportedly called Nikki a liar and accused her of staging the whole incident. The reason Im pleading guilty this morning is we want this nightmare to be over, he told the court.

Berthiaume has long insisted that his actions were not racist, describing them as preferences. In July 2021, he was filmed yelling anti-Chinese sentiments at protesters, telling them, If we dont like Chinese, we can say it.

More from NextShark: 'You Chinese MFs!': Korean-Owned Convenience Store Suffers Second Racist Attack

Meanwhile, Secreve reportedly called Nikkis victim impact statement All B.S. She also described the Chinese community in Richmond as very challenging.

Secreve also made headlines in April after being filmed lashing out at a CTV News crew that included a camera operator of Asian descent. She used an anti-Chinese slur, flashed her clothed backside and yelled an expletive before entering the courthouse.

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Both Berthiaume and Secreve have objected to the community service, citing health reasons. They are scheduled to be sentenced at a later date.

More from NextShark: Australian man sentenced to over 5 years in Singapore prison for wine bottle killing of Malay father

Featured Image via Richmond News (left) and CTV News (right)

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San Francisco man pistol-whipped during daylight robbery on New Year's Eve
SYDNEY (Reuters) - The South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu will hold a snap election on Thursday with six former prime ministers contesting the poll, after parliament was dissolved in August to avoid a vote of no confidence in the government, said local media.

Opposition leader Ralph Regenvanu of the GJP Party has accused Prime Minister Bob Loughman of attempting to make "dangerous amendments" to the Vanuatu constitution in June by proposing a shift from a four-year to five-year election cycle and limiting the chief justice to a five-year term.

Loughman will contest the election and his Vannua'aku Party has campaigned by pointing to his government's track record of development since elected in 2020, compared to the previous eight years of government.

Vanuatu's parliament was dissolved in August and court documents show an application to have the dissolution overturned was supported by 27 out of 52 lawmakers, but was dismissed by the Supreme Court last month.

With the government in caretaker mode, Vanuatu was unable to send a leader to the White House for a meeting between Pacific Islands and Joe Biden, where the United States pledged more cooperation to stave off China's "economic coercion", and was instead represented by its U.S. ambassador.

Vanuatu is among the Pacific Islands with the closest links to China, which constructed its parliament house, sporting stadium and convention centre, and in June hosted a visit by China's foreign minister.

Forty-nine international election observers, including two politicians from Australia, and Chinese and Japanese embassy officials, travelled on Wednesday to polling stations across the archipelago, a Vanuatu Electoral Office spokesman told Reuters.

Counting of votes on Thursday will be broadcast on a radio livestream, continuing a transparency measure introduced at the previous election in 2020, when COVID-19 restricted the involvement of international observers, he said.

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Australia has provided finance, a military transport aircraft and two helicopters to assist the electoral office transport ballot boxes and staff to 18 constituencies across almost a dozen islands.

At the United Nations, Vanuatu has led a campaign by Pacific islands for the international court of justice to consider the human rights impact of climate change on populations.

(Reporting by Kirsty Needham; Editing by Michael Perry)
TheStreet.com

Built in 1999, the Venetian Las Vegas isn't one of Sin City's oldest resorts, by any means--though it certainly is one of the biggest, as it boasts 36 stories and is more than 475 feet. As part of the purchase, Adelson's Las Vegas Sands sold Vici Properties rights to the land under the facilities for $4 billion, and Apollo Global Management purchased the operations for $2.25 billion and changed the name of the Sands Expo convention center to the Venetian Expo. This is one of the largest investments in an existing property in Vegas' history.
Alex Joness lies have left him facing an insurmountable debt (Connecticut Post)

Nearly one billion dollars. If you google Alex Jones, here is what will not currently appear first in your search field: Internet provocateur; Infowars; right-wing. You may not even see the words Sandy Hook until you scroll down past the headline. What will appear first, when you enter the name Alex Jones, is a staggering figure: one billion dollars. It is the amount that, earlier today, a Connecticut jury determined would be the penalty for Jones years and years of reprehensible behavior.

The total settlement  it amounts, in fact, to $965m, to be split among 15 plaintiffs, 14 of whom are relatives of the Sandy Hook school massacre and one of whom was an FBI agent defamed by Jones and fellow conspiracy theorists  comes at the close of three weeks of testimony in Waterbury, Connecticut. In August, Jones received what now feels like a veritable slap on the wrist, when a Texas jury ordered him to pay $49m in damages in a nearly identical case.

That latter case had appeared to send one message: in the United States, the right-wing media is free to spin lies about whomever they please, just as Jones did about the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting, whom he framed as actors, politicizing the event and turning his listeners against the grieving parents of young children. What was $49m, after all, to a man who had confessed, over email, to earning more than $800,000 per day?

It took a jury in Connecticut to finally fell this beast. No amount of fundraising can save Alex Jones now. One billion dollars is an insurmountable debt  as insurmountable, some might argue, as having to relive the death of your child over and over again in the public eye for almost an entire decade, without apology. Alex Jones is finished. Infowars is dead. Its hard to believe that decency can always overcome evil, or, indeed, that it can ever even overcome evil, but today a small part of the world feels capable of healing.

Alex Jones, no doubt, will accept no real lesson from this settlement. The gravity of one billion dollars will not chip away at his hardened heart, and we shouldnt expect any grand gestures from him. In fact, that was never the point. The point was both to punish and to deter, to let Jones know that, no, he would not get away with this, but also to ring out a warning bell, loud and clear.

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For Mr Jones proteges, the ones who have not yet taken the stage, but who plan to develop careers predicated upon the same poor practices: bullying, invention, a lack of ethics, nonsense journalism, lies. To those dark and ill-intended provocateurs who have wished to emulate the husky smokers cough and thrilling angry gesticulations of Jones, who built a career based on scaring the weak-minded, the jury has made one message painfully clear: there is no sanctimony in choosing this path. This verdict is not only the end of Alex Jones. It is the end of his methodology. It is the end of those who wish to get away with lying for a living.

Tonight, Fox News and OANN likely wont be airing the Alex Jones verdict  or, if they do, they will be covering it in a narrow, soft way that doesnt betray their true feelings. The Jones verdict is a threat, of course, to every so-called journalist (and every so-called news network) that lies and defames, that uses victims as pawns. No doubt Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson will sleep a little worse tonight under the specter of a one-billion-dollar settlement. No doubt their networks will pay closer attention to the content.

As ever, its hard to know if one mans fall from grace will make any real and sustaining impact in the way that we absorb information. Will we tack toward decency? If that is the sole outcome of this massive settlement, it will all be worth it. In the meantime, Im ready to call it: the war against Infowars is over, and, yes, the good guys have finally won.
There is a long and inglorious history of big boss businessmen (and they do tend to be male) interfering in politics. Henry Ford, for example, was not only viciously anti-union, but pro-Hitler. Howard Hughes was less picky  he gave cash to Republicans and Democrats just the same, and for the same purpose, to gain power and influence.

Bankers, property developers and of course newspaper proprietors have all very often sought to give public voice to their views and to persuade politicians to understand their point of view. I may as well mention Donald J Trump, who at least tried to get elected.

Elon Musks poor taste intervention on Ukraine is no different, and no better than many a previous blundering plutocrat before him. Maybe hes well-meaning, but no matter. He has no more idea than the poorest citizen in the land as to what the best settlement might be between Ukraine and Russia. And now, it seems, it is even more complicated: a report has said that the Tesla CEO spoke to Vladimir Putin before tweeting his peace plan for the war in Ukraine.

Musk seemingly told Eurasias Ian Bremner that the Russian president was prepared to negotiate if the Crimean peninsula remained in Russian hands, Vice reported.

If true, what is not just stupid, but recklessly immoral, is for Musk to consult the aggressor himself before tweeting his rather skewed advice and without declaring any conversations that hes had with the autocrat.

Vast wealth, it ought to be apparent by now, does not bestow wisdom on any mere human being. A Twitter poll is probably the least sensible way to determine US foreign policy, whatever its merits may be (and not enough for Musk to follow through on his plan to buy the platform). And it is disgraceful to treat the tragedy of Ukraine as if it were some Twitter quiz. As the Russian chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov said: "This is moral idiocy, repetition of Kremlin propaganda, a betrayal of Ukrainian courage and sacrifice."

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Indeed so. Millions have already been killed, raped, maimed, tortured, forcibly exiled, kidnapped, made homeless and lost their nearest and dearest, and millions more follow. Instead of trivialising the war, which even now risks nuclear escalation, Musk might be better off using his billions to offer aid to refugees, and to help rebuild Ukraine when the nation finally wins the war and liberates itself from Russian occupation.

Why, Musk  being the great modern industrialist he is  could even manufacture some advanced weaponry to donate to the Ukrainian war effort. He does deserve credit for supporting Ukraine with the Starlink satellite system, to the tune of about $80m. If he did some of that, then the Russians could be repelled and the long-term peace of Europe as a whole would be assured.

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Like many a useful idiot whove helped Russian leaders in the past, Musk seems unduly naive about the cunning and ruthless nature of the present Kremlin leadership. In an ideal world  from his point of view  Putin wouldnt finish until he was back at his old KGB desk in East Berlin. Appeasement  which is all Musk offers  wont work.

What Musk doesnt seem to grasp is that peace with honour and justice will not arrive until the Russians are defeated and expelled. Musk could also create some hi-tech plan to make the new Ukraine the most advanced and prosperous, and safe, nation on earth. He could build Tesla vehicles there, and his new robots. Anything really; but rather more useful than a Twitter poll about a half-baked peace plan.

So no wonder the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany has told Musk to go away, in the most earthy of language, and President Zelensky has dismissed the Musk peace plan, such as it is. Zelensky suggests a different choice for Elon Musk: one who supports Ukraine or one who supports Russia. Thats the choice that Musk doesnt wish to face up to, but it is what Putins war is all about. Cmon, Elon  lets win the war!
Voting rights group Public Wise is rolling out a six-figure ad buy on Wednesday calling Republican Ohio House candidate J.R. Majewski a dangerous liar.

Majewski  a controversial candidate who has come under criticism for his presence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and questions regarding his military record  is challenging Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) in the Buckeye States 9th Congressional District.

Meet J.R. Majewski. Hes affiliated with an alt-right conspiracy group. He doesnt believe in the United States. He participated in a violent attempt to overturn our democratic election. He even spreads lies about his military service, the 30-second ad says.

This dangerous liar is running for Congress. Keep J.R. Majewski out of office. Vote for Marcy Kaptur on Nov. 8, it adds.

The ad, which was first reported by The Hill, is running in Ohios 9th District beginning Wednesday through Election Day. The buy cost nearly $200,000.

Majewski, an Air Force veteran, has been a controversial figure throughout the campaign, coming under the microscope for his ties to the QAnon conspiracy theory and appearance at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

The left-leaning outlet Media Matters for America reported in March of last year that Majewski was affiliated with QAnon, referencing social media posts with photos and hashtags that are associated with the conspiracy theory.

The candidate has since tried to distance himself from the movement, but he has recognized his association with its followers.

More recently, Majewski came under fire after The Associated Press obtained records that appeared to contradict previous comments about his service in the Air Force, which he has touted throughout the campaign.

The AP last month reported that, according to military records, Majewski was demoted after being caught driving drunk on an American air base in Japan in September 2001. The candidate had said he was punished after being involved in a brawl in 2001 at an Air Force dormitory.

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Majewski in a statement admitted that he was penalized after being stopped for drunk driving, but did not say why he initially mischaracterized the cause of his punishment, according to the AP.

Additionally, the AP reported Majewski did not deploy to Afghanistan, despite the candidate claiming that he served a tour amid tough conditions in the country. The Ohio Republican actually served six months in Qatar where he assisted with loading and unloading aircraft.

During a news conference, Majewski asserted that he did serve in Afghanistan, but refused to divulge details because he said they were classified.

In late September, the nonpartisan Cook Political Report shifted the race from a toss-up to lean Democrat in light of the APs report.

Prior to the story, Democrats had been casting Majewski as an unhinged QAnon enthusiast who took part in a mob that attacked police. But it was far from clear those attacks would disqualify him in a GOP-redrawn seat that voted for Donald Trump by three points in 2020, editor Dave Wasserman wrote.

Allegations of stolen valor, however, are another story  theyre likelier to turn off independent voters who have moved on from January 6, he added.

In September, after the first of two damning AP reports, the National Republican Congressional Committee pulled nearly $1 million in ad reservations in the district, according to multiple outlets.

Kaptur, who has served in the House since 1983, is favored to win the Ohio race over Majewski, according to FiveThirtyEight, 78 percent to 22 percent.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A man from Washington was attacked by a grizzly bear in Montana on Tuesday, according to Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks.

At about 1 p.m. on Oct. 11, the man and his wife encountered the bear while hunting for upland birds in a creek bottom east of Choteau.

According to the report, the bear charged the couple out of thick brush at close range.

The hunter shot the bear with a shotgun and a handgun, wounding the bear and stopping the attack.

The couple and their dogs left the area and notified authorities of the attack.

The 51-year-old hunter sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

After consultation with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, authorities located and euthanized the 677-pound bear later that afternoon.

The bear had no history of human conflict and had never been handled by bear managers. Authorities believe the attack was the result of a surprise encounter.
Control of the Senate could once again come down to a familiar scenario: a runoff election in Georgia.

Even after Republican nominee Herschel Walker ran up against allegations that he paid for his then-girlfriend to have an abortion more than a decade ago  which he has denied  polling still shows a tight race between him and Sen. Raphael Warnock (D). Neither candidate is breaking 50 percent support, leaving both parties to confront the possibility that the fight for the Senate could head into overtime.

Such a scenario could leave the Senate majority hanging in the balance for weeks after Election Day much like it did after the 2020 elections, when Democrats recaptured control of the upper chamber only after Warnock and Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) narrowly won a pair of January runoff elections against GOP incumbents.

Were hoping for the best, but its definitely something we are fully preparing for, said Stephen Lawson, a Republican strategist who is working with a Walker-aligned PAC, 34N22.

If it does end up going to a runoff, no matter who comes in first or second, I think its going to be a jump ball and I think theres a good chance that it ends up deciding the fate of the Senate again. A Georgia runoff redux, if you will.

To be sure, Election Day is still nearly a month away and both parties are holding out the possibility that a handful of undecided voters could break for a candidate and put that nominee over the 50 percent mark.

Warnock and Walker are set to meet on Friday for their only debate, offering them both a chance to make their case.

And whether control of the Senate comes down to another runoff in Georgia would depend on the outcomes of races in other battleground states, like Arizona, Nevada and Pennsylvania. Republicans need to net just one seat in the Senate to recapture the majority, but strong Democratic performances in several contests have complicated that goal.

But the potential for  and significance of  a runoff in the Peach State is difficult to ignore.

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Georgia  along with Louisiana  is one of only two states that requires candidates to receive a majority of the vote to win an election outright, and this year Warnock and Walker will be on the ballot with a third candidate, Libertarian Chase Oliver, whom some polls show scoring as much as 3 or 4 percent of the vote.

One survey from Emerson College and The Hill released on Tuesday found Warnock still falling short of the majority support hell need to win reelection. He led Walker in that survey 48 percent to 46 percent, while another 2.5 percent said they plan to vote for either Oliver or someone else in November.

Another poll from InsiderAdvantage and Fox 5 in Atlanta fielded last week found Warnock notching 47 percent support to Walkers 44 percent. Oliver pulled 3 percent support in that survey.

While that poll, which was conducted the day after The Daily Beast published a story detailing the allegations against Walker, showed the Republican candidate losing some ground in the race since September, Matt Towery, a Georgia-based pollster and the founder of InsiderAdvantage, said that its only the latest sign that a runoff may be imminent.

Walker has dropped since our September survey, which is not surprising, Towery said. However, the votes shift around but do not seem to push the incumbent near the plus-one-vote number needed to win.

Warnocks campaign acknowledged how tight the race has become.

Heres what we know: this race will be close, which is why we cant take anything for granted and are working hard every day to reelect Reverend Warnock, so he can continue fighting in the Senate to protect and save jobs, lower costs for hardworking families and stand up for Georgia servicemembers and veterans, campaign manager Quentin Fulks said.

It wouldnt be the first time, or even the second time, the presence of a third-party candidate helped push a Georgia Senate race into a runoff. In 2008, former Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R) was forced into a runoff against Democrat Jim Martin after Libertarian Allen Buckley received more than 3 percent of the vote.

A similar scenario played out in 2020, when former Sen. David Perdue (R) fell just about a quarter of a percentage point short of defeating Ossoff in the November general election. The Libertarian candidate in that race won more than 2 percent of the vote.

But theres a new catch this time. A sweeping elections law signed last year shortened the runoff period from nine weeks to four weeks, meaning that if the race between Warnock and Walker heads into overtime, itll set off a hectic campaign dash to a Dec. 6 runoff vote.

It would literally be an all-out 24-hour-a-day sprint. Not only is it a much shorter time frame, but its right over the holidays. Thanksgiving would be smack in the middle of early voting, Lawson, who worked on former Sen. Kelly Loefflers (R-Ga.) 2020 campaign  including during her runoff against Warnock  said.

Walkers campaign did not respond to The Hills requests for comment on this story.

Some strategists are skeptical that a runoff will actually materialize. Jay Williams, a Georgia-based Republican strategist, said that the race between Walker and Warnock has become so nationalized that he believes a runoff is unlikely.

For one, Walker could get a boost from Gov. Brian Kemp (R), who will also be on the ballot in November and is polling well ahead of his Democratic rival Stacey Abrams. At the same time, Williams said, the fact that Warnock isnt breaking 50 percent in most public polls should be a cause for concern.

My thought is that someones going to get a break late here and get some momentum going into the election, Williams said. [A runoff] is always a possibility, though I just dont know how realistic it is. I dont see a crazy ton of drop off from Kemp  whos going to win this thing  to Walker.

Ultimately, I think its still Walkers to lose, he added. The fact that you have the incumbent U.S. senator pulling below 50 isnt good for him.

Still, Williams said, a runoff would be an unpredictable affair, and the outcome could ultimately hinge more on which party comes out on top in November than anything else.

I think generically speaking itd be advantage Walker in a runoff, but I think itll be up to the makeup of the Senate, he said. If Republicans are going to have the majority no matter what, its going to have a different impact. If Democrats have it, that could also change things.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
On Fridays at the Supreme Court, justices gather behind closed doors to discuss the petitions for appeal filed from across the country. Roughly 98 percent of the time, the justices deny an appeal, a result which leaves intact the decision of a lower court and consigns the unsuccessful petition to the trash heap.

For the slim fraction of cases the court does hear each term, however, the dynamics surrounding the selection of these disputes represent a huge source of the 6-3 conservative majority Supreme Courts power as it remakes constitutional law.

Yet despite being highly consequential, the courts critical gatekeeping stage is perhaps one of the least well-understood aspects of how the Supreme Court goes about its business. Heres a snapshot of how the conservative supermajority is using the Supreme Courts docketing process to flex its muscle.

The courts 6-3 conservative majority wants to go big

The Supreme Court has near total discretion over the cases it hears. This power is subject to the so-called rule of four, an informal rule stipulating that four or more justices must agree to grant an appeal.

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This was not always the case. During its roughly first hundred years, the Supreme Court decided the merits of virtually all appeals within its jurisdiction, but over the course of its lifetime, justices have gained an increasing amount of control over the courts caseload.

The present-day docket is now shaped according to the preferences of the justices, though certain factors  like the existence of conflicting decisions among intermediate appeals courts  make the justices more likely to take up a case. Its worth noting that this procedure does not reflect the activity that occurs on an emergency basis under the courts so-called shadow docket.

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With a 6-3 conservative supermajority, the court has shown ample appetite to hand-pick bold slates of cases with the potential to move constitutional law very far and very fast to the right.

Last term showed six conservative justices who have a very conservative agenda for the law and are aggressively implementing it, said Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. I think well see that again this year.

Last term, the court chose to confront the constitutional right to abortion, which it scuttled; took on the Second Amendment, which it expanded; and chose to confront the federal governments power to regulate the environment, which it narrowed. This term, the court is weighing voting rights, affirmative action in higher education and LGBTQ discrimination.

Of course, agreeing to hear a case is not the same thing as deciding a case. And the court has declined to hear a number of hot-button issues already this term, turning away a challenge to the ban on gun bump stocks and a push for the legal recognition of fetal personhood, for instance. Its also worth noting that the court often issues unanimous opinions on below-the-radar legal disputes concerning civil procedure and other technical matters.

Still, court watchers have grown less tentative about predicting that the most politically divisive cases placed on the courts docket will ultimately shake out along ideological lines.

While previewing the courts new term, Irv Gornstein, executive director of Georgetown Laws Supreme Court Institute, said last month that theres no reason to think this coming term, or any term in the foreseeable future, will be any different from last terms outcome.

On things that matter most, he said, get ready for a lot of 6-3s.

The new dynamic has left the courts conservative supporters electrified.

The chief justices influence has waned

The conventional wisdom is that the conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, sensitive to the courts standing among the public, prefers incremental rightward movement in the law to radical change.

But the addition of former President Trumps three nominees to the court means Roberts is now outflanked by five justices to his right who can form a majority without him.

An example of Robertss diminished authority arose last term in the Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization, which struck down Roe v. Wade. Although Roberts agreed with the judgment in the case, his concurring opinion said he would have reached the judgment on much narrower grounds, using a rationale that would have preserved Roe while chipping away at the federal right to abortion.

But the courts five most conservative justices  Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh  had the numbers to disregard Robertss more measured approach. This five-member conservative majority opted instead to strike down Roe in a decision that was significantly more conservative than the views held by most Americans, according to public opinion polling.

Roberts does retain some procedural arrows in his quiver that he can use to rein in some of the courts conservative impulses. For instance, Roberts wields control over which petitions the justices will discuss at their Friday conferences.

Another source of leverage resides in Robertss status as the courts senior-most justice. This means when Roberts is in the majority in deciding a case, he chooses who will write the opinion.

But when the chief is not part of the majority  as in the Dobbs case  the duty of assigning the opinion-writing falls to the senior-most justice who is among the majority. In Dobbs, that justice was Clarence Thomas, who handed the pen to fellow hard-right conservative Justice Samuel Alito, whose opinion overruling Roe was criticized not only for its substance, but for its defiant tone and potentially sweeping implications for other constitutional rights.

A weakened Roberts appears to have emboldened the courts more conservative members to be more aggressive about the cases they select.

It puts the four most conservative justices in a position where they can actually choose the legal vehicles for achieving whatever agenda theyre seeking to achieve, said Steven Schwinn, a constitutional law professor at the University of Illinois Chicago.

Liberals have less power than in decades

With only three members, the courts liberal justices lack even enough votes to satisfy the rule of four needed to add cases to the courts docket without conservative support. The court does not typically disclose how the justices voted on a petition for appeal. But logic dictates that if a case was added to the courts docket, it was not done so by the liberals acting alone.

The Supreme Courts liberals, outnumbered 6-3 last term, repeatedly found themselves on the losing side of landmark rulings, which seems likely to continue going forward.

Increasingly, the liberal wing has used dissenting opinions as a platform for articulating the role of liberal judicial ideas in public life, to lay down a historical marker for a future court and to sound the alarm over the conservative-led legal upheaval. Dissenting from the courts abortion ruling in June, liberal Justices Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor accused their conservative counterparts of sowing legal chaos.

Its the culmination of a decades-long effort

The rise of the 6-3 majority marks the culmination of a decades-long effort by the conservative legal movement to take control of the bench.

Many conservatives are quick to blame Democrats for turning court battles into partisan warfare, pointing to the scuttling of Reagan-nominated judge Robert Borks nomination 35 years ago in a historical chapter that left deep wounds. Led by the Federalist Society and enabled by then-Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), this grievance helped fuel a retaliatory campaign that shifted the court dramatically to the right over a generation.

An abridged version of what transpired since then includes the GOPs norm-shattering constitutional hardball to block President Obama from filling the late Justice Antonin Scalias vacancy, as well as the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, which allowed Trump to seat his third justice over the course of just a single presidential term.

The end result has been the reshaping of American law in a conservative mold, a project that continues apace in the courts new term that began earlier this month.

Chemerinsky, of Berkeley Law, said he expects the court this term to eliminate affirmative action in both public and private colleges, further narrow the Voting Rights Act and allow violations of anti-discrimination law based on claims of free speech and free exercise of religion.

Again, well see dramatic changes in the law, he said, all in a very conservative direction.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Former American Idol contestant and Georgia native Willie Spence has died.

Spence was killed in a crash Monday afternoon near Chattanooga, Tennessee Highway Patrol confirmed to Channel 2 Action News.

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

Officials say the crash happened around 4 p.m. on Interstate 24. According to the crash report, Spences Jeep Cherokee crashed into a tractor-trailer that was stopped on the shoulder.

Spence, a 23-year-old from Coffee County, Ga., finished named the runner-up on in season 19. He dazzled audiences from the moment he performed Rihannas Diamonds during his audition.

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Spences cousin posted a tribute on Facebook.

To my lil cousin who was here a short while but made the biggest impact on people with his Beautiful smile, heart and your anointed voice. Yes M " Willie Spence we all know you were here because you impact us all. An angel on Earth returned home take you rest beloved you will be deeply missed and always remembered , your music will live forever. Please pray for our family. To my cousins Sharon and Willie my aunt Ella. The Diamond in the sky has gone Home to his eternal rest. Our memories live on.

To my lil cousin who was here a short while but made the biggest impact on people with his Beautiful smile, heart and... Posted by Charlayne Flint-Jackson on Wednesday, October 12, 2022




Dear President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people! I am addressing you on behalf of the Belarusian people.

Ukrainians are now deciding the history of not just their own, but the worlds fight for freedom, democracy, and human rights.

I feel proud that Belarusians have been fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with Ukrainian soldiers. I feel proud that Belarusians have launched their partisan movement, despite the threat of being shot. They have been collecting humanitarian aid, supporting refugees, and sharing information on the movements of Russian troops to help the Armed Forces and the people of Ukraine.

I am convinced that Russia will be defeated, and Ukraine will restore its territorial integrity and defend its independence. Belarusians will be standing with the people of Ukraine the whole time. But Belarusians are not equal to Lukashenka. Lukashenka is a national disgrace. He has allowed Russian missiles to be launched from Belarus territory against Ukrainian cities. He has announced the deployment of a joint task force with Putin and allowed for even more Russian troops in the Belarusian territory. It is him and Putin who are dragging our country into the war while lying that the threat comes from Ukraine.

No one knows what Lukashenka might announce tomorrow or the day after. He is not the decision-maker anymore. The Kremlin is. It is Lukashenka who is dragging Belarus into this noose, into further dependence on Russia. But no one can subdue the Belarusian people. No one can force people to do what the dictators want. For our common freedom from occupation and dictatorship, more than 40 thousand Belarusians over the last 2 years have gone through prisons on insane charges. 40 thousand. It is like a whole town. But we are continuing our fight.

We know that Belarusians and Ukrainians are not enemies. Ukrainians and Belarusians are fighting on the same side against the same evil. Lukashenka and Putin are war criminals and eventually, they must be held liable for the thousands of innocent victims. And Belarus must withdraw from military, political, and economic integration with Russia, which harms the national interests of our country.

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Mr. President Zelenskyy, in an address you said, "We are not asking the world to fight instead of us. We are asking you to provide assistance". Belarusians are not asking anyone to fight instead of us either. We are proposing to Ukraine and the Ukrainian people to build an alliance with democratic Belarus, fight together and support the Belarusian resistance.

The United Transitional Cabinet is ready for commencing cooperation with Ukraine and establishing diplomatic and political relations. We are ready for joint action with Ukraine. Because without a free Ukraine there can be no free Belarus and Europe. And without a free Belarus, there can be no free Ukraine.

For our freedom and yours. Glory to Ukraine! Long Live Belarus!

Svitlana Tykhanovska
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP)  The FBI agent who questioned a think tank analyst charged with lying to the bureau about his role in the creation of a flawed dossier about former President Donald Trump has twice testified that he believes the analyst was truthful with him, jurors heard Wednesday.

FBI analyst Brian Auten testified for a second straight day at U.S. District Court in Alexandria at the trial of Igor Danchenko. The Russian-born analyst, who now lives in Virginia, faces a five-count indictment alleging he made false statements to the FBI about his sources of information he provided about Trump to British spy Christopher Steele.

Prosecutors allege that Danchenko fabricated one of his sources and obscured another when he was interviewed by the FBI about his role in the Steele dossier. That dossier, commissioned by Democrats in 2016, raised allegations of connections between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.

During Wednesday's cross-examination, though, Auten acknowledged that he has had positive things to say about Danchenko in past testimony to a Senate committee and to the Office of the Inspector General, both of which conducted their own investigations about the FBI probe into links between Trump and Russia.

The jury heard a partial transcript of testimony Auten gave to a Senate committee in October 2020, in which Auten said Danchenko was being truthful about who his sub-sources were. I dont think he was fabricating sub-sources.

Auten told the jury he stands by the testimony he gave to the Senate.

The testimony was significant for the defense, which says special counsel John Durham has charged Danchenko with a crime when other government agencies found Danchenko to be credible. Special counsel Robert Mueller, who launched his own probe into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election, never saw fit to charge Danchenko.

And the FBI, after three days of voluntary interviews Danchenko gave in January 2017, decided he was trustworthy enough to make him a paid confidential human source who would provide information to the bureau.

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Durham was appointed by special counsel by then-Attorney General William Barr to investigate any misconduct in the FBI's investigation of the Trump campaign and its alleged ties to Russia. Danchenko is the third person to be prosecuted by Durham. It is the first of Durhams cases that delves deeply into the origins of the dossier, which Trump derided as fake news and a political witch hunt.

Durham's other two cases resulted in an acquittal and a guilty plea with a sentence of probation.

In the Danchenko trial, prosecutors say he lied when he told the FBI he obtained some of his information in an anonymous phone call from a man he believed to be Sergei Millian, a former head of the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce.

Prosecutors say that Danchenko never spoke with Millian and that phone records show he never received an anonymous phone call at the time Danchenko claimed it occurred.

Prosecutors also say Danchenko lied when he told the FBI he never talked with a man named Charles Dolan about the allegations contained in the dossier.

Defense lawyers say that Danchenko did receive a call, perhaps over an internet app, from someone he genuinely believed to be Millian, and that he was truthful when he said he never talked with Dolan about the information in the dossier because their relevant exchanges were over email.
Police arrested a woman on Monday for allegedly assaulting an officer during a protest outside of the Russian embassy in Washington, DC.

Demonstrators gathered outside of the embassy to protest Russias invasion of Ukraine, where Vladimir Putins forces have increased brutal shelling attacks on civilians and major metro areas as Russias suffered surprise military setbacks in its campaign. One banner at the Monday event called out Russia for the mass terror unleashed on innocent civilians.

During the protest, a woman was filmed having a heated encounter with uniformed Secret Service agents on hand, who protect foreign diplomatic missions in the capital.

Russian supporters in action 



At the russian embassy in Washington, DC during the rally in support of #Ukraine today.#RussiaIsATerroristState pic.twitter.com/YYu5cFCtmE  Viktoriia Savchuk (@viktoriiasvchk) October 10, 2022

According to a clip of the exchange on Twitter, an officer can be heard speaking with the woman about the limits of protest on a public sidewalk and she can be heard saying, The UN says were sovereign.

Then, she spits in the face of the officer and calls him a b**** and walks away, before a group of three agents put her in handcuffs. In the video, she continues to struggle with officers, spitting in their faces again before they tackle her into the pavement.

In the background, onlookers can be heard telling the officers, F*** you, and calling Russia a terrorist state.

The Secret Service confirmed to WUSA that an arrest was made during the protest. The Independent has contacted the agency for further information.

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Russias revamped attacks on Ukrainian civilians have attracted protests around the world.

Earlier this week, hundreds gathered outside of the Russian embassy in Warsaw , Poland, where demonstrators arged Russia should be labelled a terrorist state and have its diplomats expelled from foreign missions.

Russian missile strikes have killed at least 11 people in Ukrainian cities in recent days, with the US labeling the new offensive a series of horrific strikes on innocents.

Poland, which itself has a long and complicated history with Russian aggression, has been a major support of the Ukrainian government, and has taken in millions of refugees fleeing the war.
A woman was driving along a Missouri interstate when a piece of metal flew through her windshield, authorities said. She was killed in the subsequent crash.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department was called to the fatal crash shortly after 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 11.

Authorities said the woman appeared to have been driving westbound on Interstate 64 in St. Louis when the metal crashed through the drivers side of the windshield.

Her Mercedes Benz E350 then struck the north concrete wall several times, police said, before the car came to a stop along the right shoulder.

The female driver was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Police said it is unclear if the metal piece came from a vehicle or if it was other debris.

An investigation is ongoing. Police did not publicly identify the woman.

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A woman was arrested after police say she assaulted a family member at a church in Odessa, Texas.

The incident happened on Friday, Oct. 7, at the Odessa Christian Faith Center, where police officers were dispatched for a medical call involving 24-year-old Divina Destiney Bujanda. The victim in the alleged assault, according to the Odessa American and KMID, was Bujandas father.

The father took his daughter to church so they could pray over her, Odessa police told McClatchy News. But during those prayers, she jumped up and began attacking him, the Odessa American reported.

Officers arrived to find church members holding Bujanda down on the floor, KMID reported. She is accused of intentionally kicking a police officer investigating the case.

Police did not state if the officer suffered injuries. Bujandas father had deep scratches on his arms and was bleeding, local outlets reported.

Bujanda was charged with assault causing bodily injury to a family member and assault of a public servant, according to police.

Jail records show she was released from the Hector County jail on Tuesday, Oct. 11, on a $17,500 surety bond.

Man tracks daughters phone to church, shoots at teen shes arguing with, GA cops say

74-year-old father strangled by his daughter dies in hospital, California police say

Dad burned all over his body after daughter throws chemicals on him, Michigan cops say
A Fayetteville woman and her lawyers say she was unconstitutionally detained and handcuffed by two Fayetteville police officers on Sept. 6 while she was inspecting a vacant lot for her employer.

The woman is 22-year-old JaLana Dunlap-Banks. She and her lawyers said a lawsuit is coming soon against the Police Department. Lawyer Carnell Johnson said the officers violated Dunlap-Banks Fourth Amendment right that protects Americans from unreasonable seizure by the government.

After a video from the incident began spreading on social media on Monday, Fayetteville Police Chief Gina Hawkins said in a statement Tuesday said the matter has been under investigation by the departments Internal Affairs Unit. That investigation will be expedited, she said.

I understand why the cell phone video of a Fayetteville Police Department encounter with Ms. JaLana Dunlap causes concern and the desire of the public to know more, Hawkins said. Thats why I am making a request to the Superior Court Judge for the release of body-worn camera footage for this incident.

The officers had no legal justification to go on private property or hold Dunlap-Banks, Johnson said. The fact that she wasnt free to leave would have triggered a seizure and the 4th Amendment implications, he said.

Another of Dunlap-Banks lawyers, prominent civil rights attorney Harry Daniels, asserted there was racial bias in the incident. Dunlap-Banks is Black and the two officers in her video are white.

I cant think of a single good reason why these officers treated Ms. Dunlap like that, Daniels said in a news release. In fact, I can only think of a bad reason: because shes black. Its well past time law enforcement realized thats not a crime.

Dunlap-Banks was not charged with a crime. She said an officer removed the handcuffs and she was allowed to leave after a police sergeant arrived and reviewed the situation.

The two officers had encountered Dunlap-Banks while searching for a potentially violent suspect, the police chief said. Dunlap-Banks said the officers, based on what they told her, apparently thought she was waiting in the vacant lot for the wanted person in order to drive the person away from the area.

Story continues

It started with illegal dumping

Based on an interview with Dunlap-Banks on Tuesday afternoon plus the statement issued Tuesday evening by the police chief, here are the circumstances surrounding Dunlap-Banks detainment:

The incident happened on a half-acre lot on the corner of Country Club and Clearwater drives in the Hillendale neighborhood on the north side of Fayetteville. Dunlap-Banks said she was there around 1 p.m. on behalf of AVA Real Estate, which is the property owner and her employer.

I worked as a property manager, she said, so I was going to one of my bosss properties to take pictures of the lot, because people were dumping trash and stuff like that, like old furniture and stuff up in the back of the property.

AVA had hired someone to remove the illegally dumped trash, and Dunlap-Banks followed up to make sure the job had been done, she said. It hadnt.

She drove to the back side of the lot, away from the street, parked there and got out to take photos.

Meanwhile, Fayetteville police officers were in the area, the police chief said.

We know and can share that the responding officers encountered Ms. Dunlap in a vacant lot in a neighborhood approximately a half mile from a scene where a potentially violent suspect fled from police, Hawkins said.

The chief did not say where the incident with the other person happened or otherwise describe it.

The officers find her sitting in her car

Dunlap-Banks said she had just gotten back into her car, put on her seatbelt and put the key into the ignition  but had not started the engine  when she noticed police officers walking across the lot toward her.

Her video, which she began recording several moments later with her cell phone, shows a male and female officer wearing casual clothes with what appear to be bullet-resistant vests and tactical gear. The female officers vest had POLICE GANG UNIT written across the front.

Both officers appear to be wearing body cameras on their vests.

Dunlap-Banks said she rolled down the passenger window and spoke with the male officer who asked why she was there. At the same time, she said, the female officer stood behind the car and noted the license plate.

I tried to explain to him that I was just being there, taking pictures, Dunlap-Banks said.

The male officer told her they were looking for someone who had run from the police, she said, and his words exactly was: Its just kind of suspicious that youre just sitting here on an empty lot and, like with nobody around, pretty much.

Further, From how he was talking, his impression was that whoever ran away from them, I was there to pick them up, or something like that, she said.

Dunlap-Banks said she told the officers that she was pretty sure she did not know who they were looking for, and she could leave and come back later, and thats when he asked me for my name and my ID and all that.

She declined to give her ID, she said, but she gave her name.

When do you have to show an officer your ID?

North Carolina law does not require a person to provide identification to police officers, lawyer Johnson said.

However, state law has a requirement for drivers to produce identification. It says a person operating or in charge of a motor vehicle is required to produce a driver's license upon request of a police officer. Operating is defined as being in physical control of the vehicle (such as behind the wheel) while its engine is running or while it is in motion.

After Dunlap-Banks refused to provide her license, thats when his partner walked up to my drivers side and opened my driver door and proceeded to try to yank me out the car, which is where I started recording the video footage.

The video shows the female officer pulling on Dunlap-Banks arm and telling her, stop resisting. Dunlap-Banks still had her seatbelt on. She says Please stop and that she is not resisting.

At the same time, the male officer was trying to release her seatbelt, she said during her interview Tuesday.

The argument continues back and forth in the video, with Dunlap-Banks saying she will get out if the officer lets go of her arm. Then the female officer says she can see Dunlap-Banks ID in her fanny pack, which is clear.

It sure is, Dunlap-Banks tells her, and youre not getting it because I havent did anything wrong.

The video shows Dunlap-Banks get out, and then she suddenly turns around as the officers grab her and put handcuffs on her. Let go of me! she screams.

And then the video, which totaled 61 seconds, stops.

The officers took her phone and threw it on the ground, Dunlap-Banks said. They pushed her against her car and pulled her ID out of her fanny pack, she said.

A police sergeant arrives and lets her go

She said she was hyperventilating, then vomited while she waited by the car. She said her hand was scratched during the confrontation when an officer took her phone.

Dunlap-Banks has sickle-cell anemia and it flairs up in stressful situations, he said. The disease affects the lungs.

Other than going into her fanny pack, the officers did not search her, Dunlap-Banks said.

Several more officers, including a sergeant, came to the scene some minutes later, Dunlap-Banks said.

The sergeant asked if she needed medical attention, which she declined. She said he removed the handcuffs, but she couldnt leave because the police still had her car keys.

The sergeant conferred with the officers then returned her keys and took pictures of her hand and wrists, she said. He gave her the names of the two officers and his name, she said.

The two officers were detectives, she said. The Observer was unable on Tuesday evening to confirm the names of the officers and the sergeant with the Police Department.

After the sergeant returned her car keys, Dunlap-Banks said, she was free to go and she left.

She said she called and then met her mother after she left. She filed the complaint two days later.

The Department takes all complaints seriously and carefully investigates them consistently with our policy and process, Chief Hawkins said Tuesday in the statement. We are asking for our community's patience as we complete a thorough review of the situation ensuring accurate and complete information.

A month later, Dunlap-Banks said, she is feeling anxious.

I really havent lately been able to have an appetite or eat or sleep right, or anything like that, she said. Im really just trying to get back to my normal self.

Senior North Carolina reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at 910-261-4710 and pwoolverton@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Woman planning to sue Fayetteville police for cuffing her, taking ID
While working as a bookkeeper for an Indiana school district, Carla Burke embezzled nearly $1 million, according to federal authorities.

Now the 62-year-old woman, of Anderson, has been charged in federal court.

Burke worked as a bookkeeper for the food service department of Anderson Community School Corporation, according to an Oct. 11 news release from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of Indiana. In that role, she was in charge of maintaining financial records and issuing checks approved by her supervisor.

But between January 2014 and June 2019, authorities said Burke used that position to embezzle $976,773.29 from the school corporation.

The defense attorney representing Burke could not be reached for comment, but court records show she is pleading guilty to charges of wire fraud and false income tax returns.

Authorities said she stole the money by issuing about 312 checks to herself. Then, to hide what she did, she falsified records  making it look as though she paid a school corporation vendor, according to the release.

Once Burke cashed the checks in her name, authorities said she used the money to fund personal expenditures, including gambling at several casinos.

Anderson Community School Corporation did not immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News on Oct. 12.

Federal authorities said Burke also submitted false tax returns, omitting about $225,381 in income she stole from schools. She is accused of lying to agents when asked about the scheme.

If Burke is convicted, she faces up to 20 years in federal prison.

Anderson is about 40 miles northeast of Indianapolis.

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The man dubbed the worlds first space tourist after a flight to the International Space Station in 2001 is returning to space, and this time, hell have some company.

This time, Dennis Tito is planning to take a trip around the moon with his wife, Akiko Tito. Theyll be aboard the SpaceX Starships second commercial lunar flight.

Its not yet decided if that flight will blast off from Kennedy Space Center, but the Starship launchpad is coming along there.

READ: NASA sets new date for launch attempt in Artemis I mission

The trip could potentially launch from there, or SpaceXs launch site in Texas.

Tito, now 82, previously made headlines when he boarded a Russian Soyuz and became the first commercial astronaut to visit the ISS.

If I can show that a man over 80 yeas of age can accomplish this, hopefully that can inspire others of all ages to always pursue your dreams, Tito said.

READ: SpaceX launches Galaxy satellites from Cape Canaveral after multiple delays

When the Titos do launch, theyll be in space for about a week.

They, and anyone else who purchases any of the 10 remaining seats, will fly within 125 miles of the moons surface.

I want people to know that they can do whatever hey set their mind to, Akiko Tito said. Its never too late, no matter your age, race or gender. You can make your dreams come true with hard work and determination.

Read: WATCH: NASA, SpaceX launch Crew-5 mission to International Space Station

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.
The world should be worried: Saudi Aramco  the worlds largest oil producer  just issued a dire warning over 'extremely low' capacity. Here are 3 stocks for protection

The global oil market remains tight according to Saudi Aramco, the largest oil producer in the world. And that does not bode well for a world that still relies heavily on fossil fuels.

Today there is spare capacity that is extremely low, Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser says at a conference in London. If China opens up, [the] economy starts improving or the aviation industry starts asking for more jet fuel, you will erode this spare capacity.

Nasser warns that oil prices could quickly spike  again.

When you erode that spare capacity the world should be worried. There will be no space for any hiccup  any interruption, any unforeseen events anywhere around the world.

If you share Nassers view, here are three oil stocks to bet on. Wall Street also sees upside in this trio.

Dont miss

Shell (SHEL)

Headquartered in London, Shell is a multinational energy giant with operations in more than 70 countries. It produces around 3.2 barrels of oil equivalent per day, has an interest in 10 refineries, and sold 64.2 million tons of liquefied natural gas last year.

Its a staple for global investors, too. Shell is listed on the London Stock Exchange, Euronext Amsterdam, and the New York Stock Exchange.

The companys NYSE-listed shares are up 13.6% year to date.

Piper Sandler analyst Ryan Todd sees an opportunity in the oil and gas supermajor. Last month, the analyst reiterated an overweight rating on Shell while raising his price target from $75 to $80.

Considering that Shell trades at around $50.50 per share today, Todds new price target implies a potential upside of 58%.

Chevron (CVX)

Chevron is another oil and gas supermajor thats benefiting from the commodity boom.

For Q2, the company reported earnings of $11.6 billion, which more than tripled the $3.1 billion in the same period last year. Sales and other operating revenues totaled $65 billion for the quarter, up 81% year over year.

Story continues

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In January, Chevrons board approved a 6% increase to the quarterly dividend rate to $1.42 per share. That gives the company an annual dividend yield of 3.6%.

The stock has enjoyed a nice rally too, climbing 32% in 2022.

Morgan Stanley analyst Devin McDermott has an equal weight rating on Chevron (not the most bullish rating) but raised the price target from $187 to $193 last month. That implies a potential upside of 23% from the current levels.

Exxon Mobil (XOM)

Commanding a market cap of over $400 billion, Exxon Mobil is bigger than Shell and Chevron.

The company also boasts the strongest stock price performance among the three in 2022  Exxon shares are up 55% year to date.

Its not hard to see why investors like the stock: the oil-producing giant gushes profits and cash flow in this commodity price environment. In the first six months of 2022, Exxon earned $23.3 billion in profits, a huge increase from the $7.4 billion in the year-ago period. Free cash flow totaled $27.7 billion for the first half, compared to $13.8 billion in the same period last year.

Solid financials allow the company to return cash to investors. Exxon pays quarterly dividends of 88 cents per share, translating to an annual yield of 3.6%.

Wells Fargo analyst Roger Read has an overweight rating on Exxon and a price target of $109  around 10% above where the stock sits today.

What to read next

This truck cant do normal truck things: YouTube star says towing with Fords new electric pickup is a total disaster in viral video  but Wall Street still likes these 3 EV stocks

'Remarkable reversal': President Biden just (quietly) scaled back student loan forgiveness  and the change could impact up to 1.5M borrowers. Are you one of them?

House Democrats have officially drafted a bill that bans politicians, judges, their spouses and children from trading stocks  but here's what they're still allowed to own and do

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
A destroyed Russian T-90M Proryv main battle tank in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, May 9, 2022. Lenze and Giebel have not yet selected a wreck for display. REUTERS/Vitalii Hnidyi

A German group can put a wrecked Russian tank outside the Russian embassy in Berlin, a court said.

Local officials had objected to the plan, but were overruled by a higher court on Tuesday.

Project organizer Enno Lenze said he would pick up a tank himself from Ukraine for the display.

A German group won the right to place the wreck of a Russian tank in front of the country's embassy in Berlin to convey the "brutality" of the war in Ukraine.

Local authorities had initially resisted the proposal from Enno Lenze and Wieland Giebel, who both run a museum in Berlin, citing public safety and its appropriateness, according to a court press release.

But Mitte officials were ordered by Berlin's administrative court on Tuesday to allow the proposal, first made in June, to go ahead.

Putting the tank there temporarily "falls under the constitutionally protected freedom of expression," the court said.

The embassy is on the Unter Den Linden boulevard in Berlin's Mitte, a key tourism and administrative district.

Lenze, whose biography lists him as an "entrepreneur, consultant, museum director" said he has been in Ukraine since March working as a war reporter.

He said on Twitter that there he "saw all these shot down tanks and this destroyed stuff."

He added that he was inspired by similar displays in Prague, Warsaw, and Kyiv.

"But the city of Berlin said no, and they had hilarious reasons," he said, outlining what he said were the objections officials raised, including traffic concerns and the potential impact on a nearby kebab stall.

Mitte district was also initially concerned because "people probably died" in the wreck, making it inappropriate for display, the court release said.

The road just outside the embassy likely can't support the weight of a massive tank, the court release said, so officials suggested a nearby crossroads for the display.

Story continues

However, the paperwork involved in transporting and organizing the installation means the tank won't arrive soon, Lenze said in his video.

The Russian Embassy in Berlin on September 3, 2022. Christoph Soeder/picture alliance via Getty Images

The embassy did not respond to Insider's request for comment, and Lenze told Insider that no representative has said anything.

In an interview with German magazine Demos Mag, Lenze said the embassy isn't his main intended audience, but passersby, whose empathy he hopes to awaken.

"In general, I hope that it opens people's eyes and conveys the brutality and suffering of the victims without showing 'shock pictures' directly," he said.

Lenze told Insider that he doesn't have a tank yet, but plans to pick one up from Ukraine using a flatbed truck and paying associated costs out-of-pocket.

"Our government doesn't want to send tanks to Ukraine, but it also doesn't want me to import one as well, so it's a bit stupid," he said in his video message.

Germany's Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has come under internal criticism over his government's hesitance to send armed vehicles to Ukraine, as Defense News reported.

On Monday, following intense Russian bombardment of Ukrainian cities and energy infrastructure, Germany announced it would send air-defense systems, as Reuters reported.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Oct. 11CHEYENNE  The Wyoming Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal of a lawsuit filed by a former jail inmate.

Michael Paul Pings, who was formerly incarcerated in the Laramie County jail, had alleged negligence by jail staff leading up to and during a May 2020 assault by his cellmate. Pings suffered injuries to his neck, face, chest and head, and lost multiple teeth in the attack, according to his complaint.

Laramie County District Judge Peter Froelicher sided with the county in May of this year. He wrote in a summary judgment that Pings failed to provide evidence to prove the assault carried out by Noah Lee Stevens was "reasonably foreseeable" to the staff. Pings was represented in the lawsuit by Cheyenne-based attorney Cody Jerabek.

In an order filed on Oct. 7 by Chief Justice Kate M. Fox, the appeal was turned down. The order cited Pings' and Jerabek's failure to file a brief describing the appeal within 45 days after service of a notice that the case was docketed with the state's high court.

On Monday, Jerabek told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle by email that, "After filing our notice (of appeal), Mr. Pings determined that he did not wish to pursue an appeal based on a few different factors, and, for that reason, we did not file an appeal brief. As such, the appeal was dismissed."

Attorneys representing Laramie County had argued that, at the time of the attack, jail staff had no reason to think Stevens would be violent toward another inmate. Stevens did not have a history of violence, and did not threaten Pings or anyone else before the attack.

The county also contended that staff responded immediately when they noticed the assault taking place. Pings did not present the court with any "competing affidavits, deposition testimony or admissible evidence" to prove otherwise, Froelicher wrote.

The district judge said that Pings and his attorney "suggested the evidence needed to support a showing of foreseeability is reduced in this case because of the special relationship between a county sheriff and an inmate in the county jail" at a hearing on the motion for summary judgment.

Story continues

Summary judgments are appropriate "when there are no genuine issue of material fact, and the prevailing party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law," Froelicher wrote, quoting from a 2018 decision in the state Supreme Court. Pings did not include a "statement of disputed material facts" to the court, so the court accepted Laramie County's statements as undisputed.

The sheriff's office and Laramie County jail were dismissed from the lawsuit in March 2021, two months after it was filed.

Stevens later pleaded no contest to a charge of felony aggravated assault and battery with serious bodily injury, and he was sentenced to four years of supervised probation, with a suspended five to seven years in prison. Stevens was also required to complete the county's drug court program.

Stevens eventually went to prison for the assault. His probation in the case was revoked this April, leading Laramie County District Judge Steven Sharpe to invoke his underlying sentence of as many as seven years.

Hannah Black is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's criminal justice reporter. She can be reached at hblack@wyomingnews.com or 307-633-3128. Follow her on Twitter at @hannahcblack.
(REUTERS)

As officials prepare to open a tent facility to provide temporary shelter for hundreds of people seeking asylum in the US, New York City will support a second migrant shelter for up to 200 families in a Times Square hotel.

The citys Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers are intended to ease the burden on an already-strained shelter system, with more than 18,000 people seeking asylum  including hundreds of people bused north by Texas Governor Greg Abbott  seeking shelter in the city.

The Row Hotel in Times Square will initially serve 200 families, with the ability to scale to serve additional families in the coming weeks, according to an announcement from Mayor Eric Adams.

This is not an everyday homelessness crisis, but a humanitarian crisis that requires a different approach, and these humanitarian emergency response centers will take on a multitude of looks with the similarities that they will all help triage and provide immediate support to arriving asylum seekers, he said in a statement.

We will continue to respond with care and compassion as we deal with this humanitarian crisis made by human hands, the mayor added.

The relief centres serve as a first touch point for newly arrived asylum seekers, with legal and medical support, food and assistance finding more-permanent shelter.

A tent facility that can temporarily house up to 500 people will soon open in a parking lot on Randalls Island.

Last week, the mayor announced he was relocating an in-progress tent shelter from a parking lot in The Bronx to the island after concerns about flooding at the site.

READ IT NOW: @NYCMayor issues Emergency Executive Order 224 in response to the asylum seeker crisis. pic.twitter.com/j79uZsGaIP  City of New York (@nycgov) October 7, 2022

Mayor Adams declared a state of emergency to address the influx of newly arrived migrants and urged state and federal agencies to provide immediate support.

This is a developing story
ALBANY  New Yorks strict new gun rules, including limits on where legal firearms can be carried, will remain in effect as a legal battle over the law plays out.

A federal appeals court on Wednesday temporarily paused a lower court ruling that determined key parts of the states concealed-carry laws were unconstitutional.

That means permitted gun owners are still barred from carrying weapons in sensitive locations and gun-free zones such as Times Square.

Last week, a federal judge temporarily struck down parts of the states restrictive new law after a gun rights group filed a lawsuit challenging the legislation.

Gun Owners of America, a nonprofit grassroots lobbying organization, argues in the suit that the Concealed Carry Improvement Act, which went into effect Sept. 1, is patently unconstitutional, and restricts the rights of law-abiding New Yorkers.

The interim administrative stay of the district courts temporary restraining order is an important and appropriate step and affirms that the Concealed Carry Improvement Act will remain in effect during the appeals process, Gov. Hochul said in a statement. My top priority will always be to keep New Yorkers safe, and we will continue working with the office of the attorney general to defend our gun safety laws.

The governor called lawmakers back to Albany over the summer to enact the new law after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a 100-year-old Empire State law limiting who can carry a concealed handgun in public.

In his ruling last week, Chief Judge Glenn Suddaby of the U.S. District Court in Syracuse blocked provisions of the law that outlined new requirements for background checks for gun permits, including the disclosure of all of an applicants social media accounts.

He also blocked the bans on guns in some public and private properties.

The decision Wednesday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit is only temporary and will be further evaluated by a panel of three judges in the near future.

Attorney General Letitia James, who earlier this week filed a motion for a temporary pause on Suddabys decision, said she will continue to defend the state law.

I am pleased that the full Concealed Carry Improvement Act will stay in effect and continue to protect communities as the appeals process moves forward, she said in a statement Wednesday following the appeals court ruling. My office will continue our efforts to protect the safety of everyday New Yorkers and defend our common-sense gun laws.
A New York law restricting the carrying of firearms in certain public places can stay in effect while an appeal from the states attorney general progresses, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.

The Concealed Carry Improvement Act limits firearms in sensitive locations, making areas like New York Citys Times Square a gun-free zone.

New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) earlier this week asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in New York City to keep the gun law intact during an appeal of a lower courts decision that had blocked much of it due to a Second Amendment advocacy groups lawsuit.

The full law is now in effect at least until a three-judge panel from the 2nd Circuit makes a decision on the attorney generals motion to stay.

The interim administrative stay of the district courts temporary restraining order is an important and appropriate step and affirms that the Concealed Carry Improvement Act will remain in effect during the appeals process, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) told The Hill in a statement.

New York enacted the new law in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Courts June decision that struck down a separate New York gun safety law requiring a license for concealed carry in public places.

The governor noted that her office is working closely with the attorney general to defend the states gun safety legislation.

I am pleased that the full Concealed Carry Improvement Act will stay in effect and continue to protect communities as the appeals process moves forward. My office will continue our efforts to protect the safety of everyday New Yorkers and defend our common-sense gun laws, James said in a statement.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
People ride their bikes past a homeless encampment on Venice Beach in June. (Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)

A new program in Los Angeles County is offering universal basic income, with $1,000 monthly payments to a select group of young adults.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services introduced the pilot program, which will provide a three-year guaranteed income for about 300 people ages 18 to 24, the agency said.

Recipients will be randomly selected to receive the monthly payments, according to a news release from L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis.

Those eligible must currently be enrolled in the General Relief Opportunities for Work, or GROW, program, which provides employment and training services for young adults who face employment and educational barriers and often come from vulnerable backgrounds, including being unhoused or unsheltered.

"These young people had to develop personal strength and resilience to overcome so many challenges in their lives, Solis said. Much like all of us, they just need an opportunity to put their talents and abilities to work. Offering guaranteed income could very well be the key to unlocking their full potential.

The program launched Aug. 31, according to a spokesperson from Solis' office.

Earlier this year, L.A. County rolled out Breathe, another experimental program providing cash assistance of $1,000 per month to county residents 18 and older in poor or working-class neighborhoods who were hurt financially during the pandemic. Residents had to apply to Breathe, which is funded with federal COVID-19 relief money and conducted in partnership with the nonprofit Strength Based Community Change of Wilmington and the University of Pennsylvanias Center for Guaranteed Income Research.

Last year, L.A. became the biggest city in the nation to launch a $1,000-a-month cash assistance program. About 3,200 Los Angeles households were randomly selected for the initiative by the citys research partner, the Center for Guaranteed Income Research, city officials said.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Christine Lagarde - Ting Shen/Bloomberg

China faces its slowest growth since the 1970s this year as zero Covid policies take their toll on the world's second largest economy, the President of the European Central Bank has warned.

Christine Lagarde predicted Chinese GDP will grow by around 2pc this year, which would be the weakest out turn since 1976 at the end of the Mao Zedong era.

Ms Lagarde said repeated lockdowns were "hurting" one of the world's engines of growth and would drag down output in Europe as well as the global economy.

"China has been a critical engine for growth for many years, and is now clearly slowing down," she said at an event hosted by the Institute of International Finance (IIF).

"I wouldn't be surprised if [economic growth] was around 2pc when the expectation was at least 5.5pc."

Chinese policymakers have set an economic growth target of 5.5pc this year, which is already the lowest target set by Beijing in three decades.

Growth has been dragged down by Chinas continued adherence to a policy of zero Covid, which has led to continued disruptive local lockdowns throughout the year. A severe property market slowdown caused by stricter lending rules has also hobbled growth.

The International Monetary Fund believes the Chinese economy will grow by 3.2pc this year and does not believe growth will not climb back above 5pc before 2027. It has warned that the country's creaking property market could crash amid a wave of debt defaults in the sector.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to open the Communist Partys twice-a-decade leadership congress this week where he will set out priorities for economic growth and national security. He is expected to secure a third term as General Secretary of the party.

The IMF has also warned that the energy crisis facing Europe is likely to get worse next year but Ms Lagarde, a former managing director of the Fund, said there were reasons to be optimistic.

"It's always tempting to bash Europe," she said. "But we've never had such a positive employment situation."

Ms Lagarde added that unemployment had fallen to record lows, with jobs market participation now back to pre-Covid levels.
Think twice about nuclear energy

Nuclear energy is back on the radar, but everyone seems to forget why it dropped from it in the first place.

Mining uranium is a dirty business, and storing the radioactive waste is even worse. No doubt [Gov. Glenn] Youngkin wants to access that uranium deposit in Southwest Virginia, but there is still a mining moratorium, for a reason. I know Lynchburg stands to gain, but when will we learn all extractive methods cause harm.

If every property had partial solar, we could cut our fossil fuel use dramatically. We have done it here in Monroe, Va.

WENDY BRUBAKER

Monroe

Good not doing his job

[5th District U.S. Rep.] Bob Good is not good for the residents of either Amherst County or Lynchburg. Any person who believes their only role, as a representative of a district, is to oppose the ideas put forth by the other party is not doing their job. They are supposed to be working for the benefit of the people they represent.

In his first term in office, I have not seen any proposals put forth by Mr. Good to enhance the well-being of the people hes supposed to represent. I think he needs a lesson in political science. Hes supposed to work with all parties to support the views of those he represents. He shouldnt be taking a salary, out of taxpayer funds, for doing nothing but taking up space or voting no on everything proposed by others.

NANCY OWEN

Amherst

Change needed in the 5th District

Josh Throneburg would be a much better Congressman for the 5th District than Bob NO Good.

Throneburg is for lowering prescription drug costs for all. Good voted against lowering drug costs for seniors and capping insulin at $35.

Throneburg is for expanding health care for veterans. Good voted no on a bill to do just that.

Throneburg is in favor of increasing federal aid for public schools. Good wants to abolish the federal Department of Education and opposes aid to public schools.

Throneburg is in favor of protecting womens reproductive rights. Good is for mandatory pregnancy in all instances, including rape and incest. Good also opposes access to contraceptives.

Throneburg is for federal dollars to expand broadband, rebuild roads and bridges. Good opposed the infrastructure bill that will do those things. He has brought zero federal dollars to the 5th District.

In the past few weeks. Good has voted against a bill that would provide information to veterans enrolled in food assistance programs. The bill passed by 331-95 with plenty of Republican support.

Good opposed both Ukrainian aid packages. He voted against the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act of 2022. He voted against certifying the 2020 election and buys into the big lie the election was stolen in spite of no evidence that it was. He has voted against legislation to protect voting rights.

Good even voted against legislation to ease the baby formula shortage.

We need a much better Congressman than NO Good. Josh Throneburg is an ordained minister, a dad of two young girls and has been married for almost 20 years. He grew up in a farming family in a town of just 500 people. Hes running for Congress to serve the 5th District and fight for a better future for our children and for you.

WOODY GREENBERG

Arrington

Strong nation, no more

During the current administration (Biden/Harris) Russia is killing those in Ukraine, missiles from North Korea are flying over Japan, every thing the American people need is skyrocketing in price, the Stock Market is bouncing back and forth, not on the high end.

Lets also talk about a wide open border, crime rates higher than ever, drugs pouring into the country. So please enlighten me, what part of the Biden/Harris administration do you like? In my opinion, Americans need a strong leader that works for none other than the American people.

Whether you like Trump or not, he is a true all-American leader. Things were much better during his administration.

KARA JONES

Madison Heights

Selfless vs. Selfish

The Founding Principle of Equality is the parchment upon which the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are inscribed. The blood and sweat of selfless patriots and veterans are the ink which forms the words giving meaning and authority to the revolutionary ideals espoused in these historical documents.

American Colonists took up arms and rebelled against the British Monarchy to cast off the yoke of elitist oppression and were promised in return a nation where all men are created equal in the eyes of their government. We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal. In modern language, We hold these truths to be self-evident that all citizens are created equal. Privilege, elitism, prejudice, bigotry, racism, sexism, gender bias, religious persecution and slavery have no place in a nation founded upon the Principle of Equality.

We can choose to be Authentic Fiercely Independent Americans, who revere the Founding Principle of Equality or the sycophants of tyrants, who undermine it for their own aggrandizement.

As a patriot, military veteran and fiercely independent, authentic American, I implore you to cast your ballot and choose wisely the citizen, who shall represent our collective representative authority as a member of the U.S. Congress. Will his or her allegiance be to his or her constituents or political campaign contributors, who are determined to amplify their influence over politicians to oppress, exploit, subjugate and enslave we, the people?

Taxation absent faithful and obedient representation is tyranny, corruption and theft. Liberty, justice and equality are the most precious possessions we have as Americans. George Washington chose to be a president rather than a monarch. Vain and aspiring men and women lack the resolute virtue and reverence for equality to faithfully, humbly and dutifully represent and lead we the people.

WENDELL WYLAND

Madison Heights
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Morocco and Luxembourg have both expressed resolve to promote their partnership and develop further their economic cooperation.

This came during the meetings Prince Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg, held Tuesday in Rabat with several members of the Moroccan cabinet, including Head of the Government Aziz Akhannouch and Economy and Finance Minister Nadia Fettah.

During these meetings, Prince Guillaume, who is on a working visit to Morocco at the head of a delegation of businessmen operating in various economic sectors, and his Moroccan interlocutors welcomed the excellent political relations between Morocco and Luxembourg and highlighted the significant potential offered by the two countries in terms of investment opportunities and development of trade.

They expressed their shared desire to continue the partnership between the two countries and their aspiration to further develop economic and trade relations, in order to exploit the economic potential existing in both countries.

Talks also covered the need to encourage Luxembourg companies to explore new investment opportunities in the North African Kingdom, bilaterally or within the framework of the tripartite Morocco-Luxembourg-Africa cooperation.
Debt restructuring efforts for Chad and Zambia could be completed by the end of the year, which would pave the way for more countries to seek help, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said.

Speaking with civil society groups at the start of the annual IMF and World Bank meetings, Georgieva said a Group of 20 initiatives launched in late 2020 had been slow to become operational, but she was overall optimistic about the cases of Chad and Zambia, who together with Ethiopia were the first to request help. The Bulgarian-born economist said the IMF was pressing for more predictability and timely resolution of requests for help under the G20 Common Framework. It was also critical to expand the framework to include middle-income countries, she said. The IMF was also working on how to include collective action clauses in future debt contracts that would allow immediate suspension of debt service payments if a country experienced a climate shock, Georgieva said.

In a separate but related development, Chads creditors are close to reaching a debt relief agreement, which would be the first under a new G20 debt restructuring framework, a French finance ministry source has said. Progress has been glacial with some Western G20 members, as well as IMF and World Bank officials, saying that China, the biggest creditor to many African countries, is dragging its feet on reducing countries debt burdens.

As host to the Paris Club of mostly rich, Western government creditors, the French finance ministry is deeply involved in the debt-relief discussions under the G20 framework and is co-chair with Saudi Arabia of Chads creditor committee. Although Chad is currently benefitting from high oil prices, the source added that it was important that both government and private sector creditors be ready to act in case debt servicing conditions become more difficult for the country.
Ethiopias president Sahle-Work Zewde has reiterated calls for negotiations and other peaceful resolution means to end the countrys nearly two-year civil war.

The government has stated clearly that it will always keep the door open for peace, Zewde said that while addressing the Ethiopian parliament on October 10. We continue to urge for negotiations without any conditions, believing that any form of differences may be resolved through discussions. She, however, also stated that at the same time the Government of Ethiopia will not tolerate any provocation by the Tigrayan Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF). This year, we must put all of our efforts to bring the war that has tested our nation to end in peace, the Ethiopian leader added.

President Zewdes remarks come at a time the long-awaited African Union-brokered peace talks in South Africa were postponed without any new date set. The meeting between the warring sides in the two-year-old conflict in Tigray would have been the first since a ceasefire broke down in late August.

Ethiopias federal government announced on October 5 it had accepted an invitation from the chair of the AU Commission to attend the peace talks while also the Tigray authorities said they were ready to send negotiators but sought clarity on the structure of the talks, having previously insisted on the participation of international officials as observers.
Through its $1bn five-year investment plan, US tech giant Google wants to tap into the African concept of Ubuntu, which was originally meant to pivot pan Africanism.

Proponents of Ubuntu philosophy, such as South African fallen cleric Desmond Tutu, see it as a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity  in this case all Africans. But the Ubuntu philosophy, which in Zulu, means I am because we are, has struggled to become a reality  with certain African countries seeking a protectionist agenda even under the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA). Even when it comes to technology, though some startups have tried to ride on the philosophy, a sense of commonness is lacking and technological progress on the continent is still limited to a few hubs. And this is where Google comes into the whole picture, as the US tech giant now wants to change all that.

Through its $1 billion five-year investment plan, the company aims to use technology to unite all African countries. During its recent Google for Africa event (5 October), Google highlighted that by providing multiple opportunities in the internet, offering training, and adding more African languages to its products, Ubuntiusm can be resuscitated. Were donating $1 million in ad grants on a monthly basis and helping more than 40,000 people collaborate with Google Workspace for nonprofits, says Nitin Gajria, Google Africa Managing Director. Going through this journey, we want to embrace the spirit of Ubuntu. I am because we are. Gajria added that there will be ongoing Google Career Certificate scholarships to 5,000 more African youth through an additional $1.5 million funding.

Also, Googles Equiano subsea cable, meant to reduce the cost of internet and bring more Africans online, has connected Saint Helena, Togo, Nigeria, Namibia, and South Africa to Europe and is set to expand the continents internet bandwidth by up to 20 times. Moreover, Google is now building speech recognition algorithms to serve Africa, starting with the launch of voice typing support for nine more African languages on Gboard, the Google keyboard. The US tech giant has also updated its Street View feature in Kenya, South Africa, Senegal, and Nigeria with nearly 3,000 kms of imagery to help people virtually explore and navigate neighborhoods on Google Maps. Last but not the least, the company is moving to help Africas top content creators in music, food, fashion, art, and sports, including by digitizing Africas art for preservation.
Several hundred students demonstrated Tuesday (11 October) in a city in northern Burkina Faso to claim their right to education, while hundreds of displaced girls in Cameroon have protested against the conflicts that have disrupted or halted their education.

in Djibo, the main city in northern Burkina Faso, which has been under a jihadi blockade for several months, several hundred students staged a protest, demanding their right to education, including the sending of teachers. The young demonstrators walked the streets of the city carrying signs that read: We are also Burkinabe, we have the right to education, Education is a right for all, School is dotted in Djibo. They then gathered in front of the offices of the High Commission of the province of Soum where they were received by the prefect of Djibo, Marou Ilboudo. According to their spokesman Ali Dicko, the students asked to have teachers flown in, communication networks restored, and the city secured, among other requests. According to the National Union of Secondary and Higher Education Teachers, the current school year is marked by the closure of more than 4,258 schools throughout the country that has also been affected by a famine.

Meanwhile, in Cameroon, hundreds of displaced girls protested also on Tuesday the conflicts that have disrupted or halted their education, calling for better security so children, especially girls, can return to classrooms. Close to a million Cameroonian children have lost school time in recent years due to the separatist conflict in western regions and Boko Haram terrorism on the borders with Chad and Nigeria. Some of the demonstrators said that many girls were deprived of an education by Boko Haram militants. In some cases, the militants forcefully took the girls out of their schools, and there are also reports of the girls being raped by Boko Haram fighters, then abandoning them in camps on the border with Nigeria. The protests were scheduled to coincide with the UN International Day of the Girl Child. The day is meant to recognize girls rights and the challenges they face around the world.
Chads Prime Minister Albert Pahimi Padacke resigned on Tuesday (11 October) in order to pave the way for a new government after the Central African country announced the postponement of elections by two years to 2024.

His resignation was announced by the presidency on Tuesday. Padacke, a civilian politician, was named prime minister of a transitional military government last year after President Mahamat Idriss Deby seized power in the wake of his fathers death. The military council led by Deby was originally meant to rule for 18 months, but this month the country announced it would push back democratic elections until around October 2024. The 38-year-old five-star general, who was sworn in on Monday (10 October) as president, announced the creation of a government of national union to chart the path to new elections.

Padacke also served as prime minister from 2016 to 2018 and was seen as an ally of the former president Idriss Deby, who ruled Chad for 30 years until his death in April 2021. The elder Debys death paved the way for talks between rebel groups, some headed by relatives of the former president, and the military council. Hundreds of rebel groups met in Doha for talks this year at the request of the Qatari government. The conference wound up at the weekend after being boycotted by the main political opposition and two out of the three biggest armed rebel groups who accused the Deby government of insincerity, but they still paved the way for negotiations to be held in Chad next year.
Moldova is considering establishing an embassy in Egypt over the coming period as part of efforts to strengthen ties with the Arab country, the Deputy PM and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the European country has revealed.

Nico Popescu made the announcement Tuesday as he met with Egypts Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli.

The two officials discussed bilateral cooperation in a number of fields, including increasing agricultural exports to the North African, mainly wheat, Madboulis office said in a statement.

According to the Moldovan official, the Embassy would most likely be established in the diplomatic district in the New Administrative Capital (NAC).

He also expressed his countrys wish to sign a free trade agreement with Egypt.

The two officials oversaw the signing of several memoranda of understanding (MoUs) on the sideline of the Egyptian-Moldovan Business Forum that explored opportunities to encourage trade exchange and investments between the two countries.
Moroccos state-owned phosphate OCP group has pledged to dedicate 4 million tons of fertilizers for African farmers in 2023 in a solidarity move with African countries.

The announcement was made by OCP Chairman & CEO Mostafa Terrab at the ongoing 2022 IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings held in Washington-DC 10-16.

Over 44 million farmers across 35 countries will benefit from the new Moroccan fertilizers batch which is more than double OCPs supply to the continent in 2021 and represents over a quarter of OCPs expected total output.

Part of its commitment to enhance food security in Africa, the OCP also includes in the fertilizer supply program training and capacity building alongside local partners.

The current geopolitical situation reveals deeper systemic fragilities in global agricultural systems. We have to address the challenges facing African farmers, from infrastructure to knowledge to market access to financing, said Mr.Terrab.

We are glad to be able to do our part and we are thankful for the excellent dialogue and collaboration with the World Bank, IFC, USAID, as well as other multilateral and development agencies involved in this effort, given their demonstrated leadership and long-term commitment to African development, he added.

OCP has heavily invested in the development of eco-responsible fertilizer production capacity, reaching 15 MT of finished product by 2023, from a base of 3MT in 2008. This enables OCP to respond to Africas urgent needs while also supporting farmers around the world.

With revenues reaching $9.4 billion in 2021, OCP is a leader in plant nutrition and the worlds largest producer of phosphate-based fertilizers. It works in close partnership with more than 350 customers across the world. Closer to home, OCP is committed to accelerating Africas environmental and social development and implement sustainable and prosperous agriculture through continuous innovation.

Its subsidiary OCP Africa has developed a comprehensive farmer-centric approach, which has already reached more than 2 million farmers with fertilizer customization, soil mapping, training, field trials and market linkages.

Created in 2016, OCP Africa aims to contribute to the development of integrated agricultural ecosystems in Africa. It has offices in many African countries (Cote dIvoire, Senegal, Cameroon, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia, Benin, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, and Rwanda) and is present on the ground in many others.
The Spanish Council of Ministers approved, on Wednesday, an agreement to grant a loan of up to 20 million euros to the Fund for the financing of microfinance organizations in Morocco, Jaida.

The loan, granted through the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), aims to finance the expansion of the Jaida Fund portfolio.

The support to several microfinance institutions, through Jaida, and its important distribution network, with branches and outlets in priority areas of Spanish development cooperation, facilitates the alignment with the priorities of AECID in Morocco, which allows possible synergies for Spanish action in different areas of development, the Spanish government said in a statement.

Jaida is a fund for financing microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Morocco. It was established as a limited company under Moroccan law and approved by Moroccos central bank, Bank Al Maghrib as a financing company.
A Geneva-based non-governmental organization has denounced before the United Nations the acts of reprisals carried out by Algeria against the relatives of political dissidents settled abroad.

In this connection, the Alkarama Foundation submitted to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention the case of the arrest of Abderrahmane Zitout.

The crime of Abderrahmane Zitout is that his is the brother of Mohamed Larbi Zitout, a former Algerian diplomat, who went into exile in London in 1995, where he obtained the status of political refugee. The exile had revealed and denounced the serious human rights violations committed by the Algerian forces during the civil war (1993-2000), according to a press release from the NGO.

Alkarama called on the UN Working Group to recognize the arbitrary nature of the deprivation of liberty of Mr. Abderrahmane Zitout and to urge Algeria to release him immediately and to refrain in the future from any act of reprisal against him or against any relatives of political dissidents living abroad.

Abderrahmane Zitout was arrested on March 30, 2022 by a dozen armed officers, some of whom were wearing uniforms while others were in plain clothes and hooded. The arrest took place in his ready-to-wear store located on the ground floor of his family home. The police searched the premises and his home, then took him to an unknown destination.

According to the NGO, despite research carried out by his family, his place of detention has not been revealed and Abderrahmane Zitout remained incommunicado until April 4, 2022, when his family finally learned that he was in El Harrach prison, in the suburbs of Algiers.

During a first visit by members of his family to the prison, Abderrahmane Zitout told them that he had spent the five days following his arrest at the central police station in Algiers where he had been questioned at length by agents of the judicial police. He said he had been interrogated about his links with his brother residing in London, the type of relationship he has with him and whether he shares his political convictions. He had also been questioned about events related to the widespread protest movement in Algeria, known as Hirak.

Abderrahmane Zitout was then transferred to El Harrach prison. To denounce his arbitrary detention, he went on a hunger strike from August 14 to September 1, 2022. During this period, he was placed in solitary confinement in a small cell, and was deprived of daylight. After his health condition seriously deteriorated, he was rushed to hospital where he remained until September 11, 2022, AlKarama says.

Earlier this month, the NGO had decried the unlawful listing by Algeria of pro-democracy militants as terrorists, saying that several human rights militants and vocal critics have been unfairly included by the Algerian authorities in its bogus terrorism list in blatant violation of international conventions and laws.

The NGO denounced the use by the Algerian regime of counterterrorism laws against human rights defenders and journalists in a desperate move to muzzle them, violating their right to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.

The UN Human Rights Committee had already slammed the violation by the Algerian regime of the rights of political opponents, saying the authorities use broad and vague terms in defining the crime of terrorism, allowing the prosecution of militants.

Al-karama had submitted to several UN experts, including the Special Rapporteur on the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, a report on the decrees issued by the Algerian regime to criminalize the peaceful demands of the Hirak protesters.

AlKarama had also sounded the alarm on the serious attacks on the rights and fundamental freedoms of Algerian citizens exiled abroad, calling on UN experts and the international community to be cautious in their cooperation with the Algerian regime in the fight against terrorism. The illegal Algerian terror lists are made by security bodies outside of any judicial procedure and serve only to hunt down political opponents in exile, the NGO warned.

Consequently, Interpol has refused to follow up on requests by the Algerian authorities to issue Red Notices against the listed individuals. The judicial authorities of several countries around the world have also refused to extradite opponents due to unfounded charges, which is an embarrassing rebuke for the ruling Algerian junta.
An 11-year old Kenyan child has sent a moving letter of thanks to King Mohammed VI for his decision to help the East African country with fertilizers.

In a letter addressed to the Moroccan embassy in Nairobi, Jayden Dixon Kaburu, a young pupil in 5th grade, who is living in Karatina, a small village in central Kenya, expressed thanks to the Sovereign who promised the New Kenyan President William Ruto to assist his country with Fertilizers.

Jayden, in an ingenuous discourse, states that Kenyans and her own parents suffered from the lack of soil nutrients and that she used to work after school to contribute and lend a helping hand towards putting a meal on the table and pay for the school fees of her older siblings.

Expressing thanks to the Moroccan people and King and hailing the royal gesture as noble, Jayden Dixon Kaburu prayed the Sovereign to continue his move as long as we live, so that we, the children of the village, can complete our studies and be able to help our cheriched parents in time of need.

May God Allah bless your country and your Majesty the King for the noble work done. Once again, thank you in advance, stated the young child, who signed her letter your new found friend Jayden Dixon Kaburu.

King Mohammed VI had congratulated Mr. William Samoei Ruto on his election as the 5th President of Kenya and welcomed the successful unfolding of democratic elections in the country in August 2022, stressing that these deadlines consolidate the position of Kenya as a beacon country in terms of democracy at the continental level.

The Sovereign also welcomed the promise made by the Kenyan President to strengthen and deepen the current bilateral relations between his country and various states in Africa and elsewhere.

President Ruto, for his part, hailed the leadership of King Mohammed VI in promoting policies of tolerance at the level of the Maghreb region, as well as its contribution to world peace and security.

He also expressed his willingness and commitment to work with the Sovereign to strengthen relations between the two countries, which are both committed to raising their bilateral diplomatic relations to the level of strategic partnership in the coming six months, the statement said, adding that the Republic of Kenya is committed to opening its Embassy in Rabat.

Following this exchange of greetings, it was agreed to immediately accelerate economic, trade and social relations between the two countries, particularly in the areas of fishing, agriculture and food security through the trade of fertilizers.
CHICAGO -- Michael Kutza did not build any of the dozens of skyscrapers he can see from his apartment on the top floor of the downtown high rise in which he lives. But what he accomplished as the founder and energetic director of the Chicago International Film Festival has helped shape the cultural landscape of the city and given it a star-studded atmosphere.

Or, to hear him put it, I magically transformed Chicago into Hollywood for more than 50 years. Thats the immodest but accurate subtitle of a new book that charts his career. Its title is, simply, Starstruck.

The festival he hatched in 1964 brought hundreds of good movies to town, some bad ones too, but also enough stars and directors to wow the populace.

Hundreds of them pack the pages of this book, which is a memoir of sorts but also a fascinating take on the meaning of stardom and celebrity. He is sometimes brutally honest in his assessment of the galaxy he encountered, more than willing to share stories that are not always flattering but ring true. And its all a great deal of fun.

Sitting in his movie memorabilia-filled apartment, he says, The best part of the book is that most of the people in it are dead so I have some freedom. But I did get to know so many beyond their star surface. I tried to always be respectful. I was no crazy, fawning fanboy and so I got to know that many of these people away from the camera are real people, with real problems.

He credits former Sun-Times columnist Irv Kupcinet with helping him launch the festival by introducing him to former film star Colleen Moore Hargrave, who lived in Chicago and helped connect him with some of her Hollywood elite pals.

The book is organized in a cagey and effective fashion, with each short chapter reflecting a movie title. So in West Side Story, we learn that as a child growing up on our citys West Side, Kutza would nail a white bedsheet to the wall of the basement of his familys home and show movies. He put on puppet shows and he was wowed by the shows he frequently attended as a young teen with one of his mothers friends at the Chez Paree nightclub. He started making short films and, unable to find a theater here that would show them, started entering film festivals in other countries, and winning prizes.

This was not the career his parents had in mind for him. His mother, father, aunt, uncle and cousins were all doctors and, as he writes, I went through the motions of pretending I was destined for a career in medicine. He went to college  a few of them  for a short time, but movies would be his lifes work.

The first Chicago International Film Festival took place in 1965 at the bygone Carnegie Theater on Rush Street. Bette Davis would come to town for the awards ceremony but the first night was a disaster. As Kutza writes, We had one spotlight shooting up into the sky and a big black limousine waiting in front  it looked like a big deal  The only problem was no one showed up  I was staring out at 500 empty seats.

Things, needless to say, got better. Kutza recalls his first meeting with Mayor Richard J. Daley, who told one of his minions, Give this kid McCormick Place for his movies but then advised the young festival creator, Remember, dont put my name on anything. Those films you show will lose me votes.

Yes, as he writes, I was always on the lookout for sensitive sexual subjects, but he also brought to town such items as Martin Scorseses first film, a pair of John Lennon and Yoko Ono cinematic offerings, and introduced all manner of great foreign directors to the city as well as star after star after star.

He would spend six months each year traveling the globe to find his festivals films and he was always pleasantly surprised at stars and moviemakers desire to visit Chicago. I never really had trouble with that. Most of them wanted to see the city, most of them didnt know much more than Al Capone, Mayor Daley and architecture. And the people here were delighted. This is a star-starved city.

This book does contain a lot of photos but it is a shame that there are none by the late Victor Skrebneski, since his estate keeps a very tight handle on his archive. None of his spectacular festival poster shots are in this book. But Kutza writes, (Victor) made us instantly famous with a single photo  model Paulette Lindberg, soaking wet, holding our award statue in her arms. You may remember some others.

Kutza stepped down as artistic director of the festival in 2018, accepting the title of CEO emeritus. He is thinking about writing another book, about my personal friends, he says. Maybe I will title it The Crazies. He is in discussions with some documentary filmmakers about filming his life story. He consults, he travels, he dines with friends.

He appears to have few, if any, regrets. He talks enthusiastically about the podcast that he started in 2019. Called Nose to Nose, he and aspiring stand-up comic Geno Suarez, a smart and thoughtful guy, talk about and review movies and discuss anything else on their minds.

Kutza is ever eager to share stories, to gossip, to offer opinions. He is a generally upbeat guy but he will also tell you that he is worried about the future of the movie business. I asked myself, Will people go back into theaters to see movies? They did it for Top Gun and Elvis but streaming has become the way in which so many seem comfortable watching films, he says. And it makes me remember the glory of seeing movies at McClurg, at the Granada, the movie palaces.

The sun begins to set across the city. High-rise lights flicker. Kutza is talking again about the movie adventures of his youth and the early days of the festival when he is asked what sort of doctor he might have been had he followed in his familys footsteps.

He laughs and says, I think I might have been a good doctor, he says. I have been told I have a great bedside manner. Whatever that means.
In the acknowledgments of her thoughtful and moving memoir, "Departure Stories," Elisa Bernick thanks a mentor who counseled her not to turn her story into a novel. Readers, too, will want to thank this person, because the originality of the approach taken here is a big part of the book's charm. And considering the sad story it tells, "charming" itself is an accomplishment.

Bernick grew up the second of four siblings in a Jewish family in the almost completely Christian Minneapolis suburb of New Hope in the 1960s and '70s. The version of "Minnesota Nice" displayed by its residents did little to conceal their knee-jerk antisemitism. Bernick's mother, Arlene, was a bright, competitive, vivacious, intensely unhappy woman with what can only be described as a rather stunted maternal instinct. She was verbally and physically abusive, she disappeared for days at a time, and she eventually separated her children from their father by moving across the country and put them in harm's way with a terrifying stepfather. As the author puts it, toward the end of the book:

"Before I wrote this book, it was almost impossible for me to consider telling a story of my mother that was larger than her abuse and abandonment. It felt too much like letting her off the hook. You may be thinking, 'Wait a minute. Almost all of these stories are about abuse and abandonment!' I'll concede that  up to a point. But haven't I also presented my mother's actions in a larger context? Haven't I given possible reasons for her behavior?"

She certainly has. This earnest address to the reader is among the many narrative gambits Bernick employs. Her chapters vary in length and tone, most opening with well chosen epigraphs from a wide variety of sources. Some tell family stories, others present research and factual information on the zeitgeist of the 1970s vis-a-vis marriage, divorce, family and women's roles. Her mother's experience as a competitor in the Mrs. Minnesota competition of 1964 sheds a sparkling light on the latter.

The ethnographic makeup of Minnesota and the psychological toll of its wintry weather ("According to a 2018 report from Blue Cross Blue Shield of America, Minnesota has one of the highest rates of major depression in the country and Hawaii has the lowest") are discussed in detail. And, as is not uncommon in memoirs these days, there's a fair amount of ink devoted to how memory works, which is interesting, and to epigenetics, which I find less so, because (a) I don't really buy it, and (b) I am getting sick of hearing about it. Do we really need chromosomal mutation to explain intergenerational trauma?

There are newspaper articles and photographs from her mother's scrapbook, a couple of chapters devoted to Jewish jokes and Minnesota jokes, and a Waikiki Meatballs recipe that played a role in one of her parents' arguments.

Bernick has given this book everything she has, metaphorically and literally, and the result is lit up by its own necessity. "I often wonder," she writes, "why some people are able to 'bounce back' after adversity and some are not, and I think it has to do with storytelling. The stories that travel within us, that create our memories and identities, are malleable. The way we choose to tell these stories can determine the version of ourselves we take forward into the future."

Which is exactly why it was so important not to fictionalize  because this is the kind of truth that makes you free.

____

"Departure Stories: Betty Crocker Made Matzoh Balls (and Other Lies)"

By: Elisa Bernick.

Publisher: Indiana University Press, 246 pages, $22 paperback.

____
After escaping its cage in a Lancaster County home Monday night, a 3-foot lizard weighing close to 15 pounds repeatedly bit an 11-month-old Bennet girl, causing injuries that required stitches, according to authorities.

The animal  an Argentine tegu  left its cage in the home's basement and circumvented a gate intended to keep it contained before climbing the stairs and biting the girl, who had been laying on the floor Monday evening, said Ben Houchin, the chief deputy at the Lancaster County Sheriff's Office.

The girl's mother had been working nearby when she heard the girl cry out, turned and saw the lizard biting the infant's arm and legs, Houchin said.

The child's parents trapped the lizard in a bathroom before taking the girl to Bryan East Campus in Lincoln, where deputies responded Monday night to investigate the biting.

Houchin said the lizard's presence at the home did not violate any town ordinances and no criminal charges will be filed. Bennet is about 8 miles southeast of Lincoln.

The girl received two stitches in her right arm, Houchin said.

The family is working to permanently remove the animal.
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Oh, youre a whiskey drinker?

Its a question that women in the whiskey world (including me) get asked all the time  and were tired. Unfortunately, the microaggressions implying that whiskey is a man thing still remain as much of a challenge today as they did a decade ago.

Whiskey expert and writer Gabrielle Nicole Pharms (Photo: Gabrielle Nicole Pharms)

Whiskey expert and writer Gabrielle Nicole Pharms (Photo: Gabrielle Nicole Pharms)

Marianne Eaves, the owner of Eaves Blind and Kentuckys first female master distiller since Prohibition, attests to this despite the many whiskey-related milestones in her career.

My biggest personal challenge has been overcoming my introverted nature to become a spokesperson and stepping into my accomplishments as a female leader in a male-dominated industry, Eaves says. I have always been very shy. But passion and confidence in my knowledge and experience have really helped me to successfully navigate the spirits industrys old boys club and rise through the ranks.

According to a 2019 study by consumer market research companyMRI-Simmons, women account for approximately one-third of whiskey sales in the U.S., and that number is expected to increase. But despite womens significant purchasing power, female distillers, educators, owners, blenders, tasters, and brand ambassadors in the industry still face discrimination.

Amanda Victoria, the CEO and a co-founder of canned cocktail company Siponey Spritz Co., has nearly 20 years of industry experience and continues to experience resistance.

From being taken seriously as a Latina, to fighting for a decision-making seat at the table, to eventually building my own table, Ive had my fair share of challenges to overcome, Victoria says. These days, my biggest challenges still stem from a pursuit to be taken seriously enough to lead an organization worthy of financial support.

Overall, she spends her time speaking up, building her company as transparently as possible to gain recognition. The goal is to grow Siponey into a legacy brand, she says.

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I look forward to the day when women being the face of the brands  and leaders of the companies and production facilities behind those brands  is no longer an anomaly, says Elizabeth McCall, an assistant master distiller with Woodford Reserve. This will shift innovation and take the spirits culture to places we cant even envision today.

Progress starts with awareness. So, HuffPost has compiled a list of just some the many women pushing boundaries in the whiskey industry, one dram at a time.

Amanda Victoria, CEO and co-founder of Siponey Spritz Co.

Siponey co-founder Amanda Victoria (Photo: Cris Moor)

Siponey co-founder Amanda Victoria (Photo: Cris Moor)

For Victoria, community and camaraderie are the biggest perks of working in the industry.

Somewhat unusually as a woman, when I personally entered the world of whisky as a full-time professional, I found a wonderful and accepting community of nerds like me, from Scotland to the U.S., she says.

Her path was undoubtedly paved by female professionals she greatly admires, such Becky Paskin, Heather Greene, Kerrin Egalka and Rachel Barrie.

I had been a whiskey lover since the early aughts, drinking old-fashioned cocktails before they were back in fashion, and I had even named my dog Whiskey!

Victorias love of whiskey can be attributed to her work in esteemed New York City cocktail bars, as well as her formal studies in advertising and marketing communications. In her first full-time job, she was a national spokesperson for Lillet, an aperitif from Frances Bordeaux region. Next, she expanded her proficiency by studying in the Court of Master Sommeliers before eventually working at Bacardi as a national spokesperson after it acquired St-Germain.

In 2019, Victoria launched Siponey  a B Corp, or benefit corporation, that is certified for its focus on social and environmental impact  with a super-premium canned whiskey spritz. In addition, Siponey Royale was the first canned cocktail to use an aged spirit a distinct, 4-year-old rye whiskey  as the backbone of its flavor.

Tracie Franklin, whiskey educator and distillation apprentice

As one of the industrys most established figures, Tracie Franklins invaluable experience inspires the next generation of Black women seeking to get involved with whiskey. Franklin worked as a brand ambassador for Glenfiddich for nearly four years and lent her unique prowess to Angels Envy, Ardbeg, Johnnie Walker and Hudson Whiskey.

In October 2020, she kicked off a yearslong training journey to becoming a master distiller through the Nearest & Jack Advancement Initiative, a program aimed at promoting diversity in the whiskey industry.

Nicole Young, CEO and co-founder of Frisky Whiskey

Nicole Young, the CEO of Frisky Whiskey (Photo: Courtesy of Nicole Young)

Nicole Young, the CEO of Frisky Whiskey (Photo: Courtesy of Nicole Young)

Nicole Young is paving the way for the next wave of imbibers and C-suite professionals as the only Black female owner of a flavored whiskey brand. Her accessible yet authoritative voice has resonated in the lifestyle space for years, hosting and producing broadcast content for outlets such as E! News and ABCs World News Now.

An experienced and passionate recipe developer, Young has created recipes for leading food and beverage brands like Blue Diamond Almonds, Patron Tequila, Ciroc and Planet Oat. Frisky Whiskey, produced in Charleston, South Carolina, soft-launched in March and was initially created as an extension of William Wolf Whiskey. The award-winning Frisky is infused with pure caramel and raw vanilla, delivering a creamy mouthfeel with a subtly sweet finish.

Naomi Leslie, The Balvenie brand ambassador

Naomi Leslie, a brand ambassador for The Balvenie (Photo: Courtesy of The Balvenie)

Naomi Leslie, a brand ambassador for The Balvenie (Photo: Courtesy of The Balvenie)

After college, Naomi Leslie moved to New York City to foster her love of the chemistry of a good cocktail. After she rose through the ranks at some of the most renowned local bars, including Dear Irving and BlackTail, she went to Scotland to train at The Balvenie distillery, immersing herself in the craft of whisky-making directly from the ones who know it best. Leslie has a passion for not just whisky education, but encouraging diversity and advocacy for women in the spirits industry.

Ive been quite grateful in my journey through the whisky world to have received strong support and guidance from my mentors, women and men alike, she says. From the bars I worked at, to the Scotch industry Im in now, Ive found the greatest help anyone can give is to share their own experiences and lead by example.

Now, as a brand ambassador for The Balvenie, she hopes to dive even deeper into what makes sipping whisky a divine experience. In addition to her whisky expertise, shes also a certified cigar sommelier tobacconist.

Fawn Weaver, CEO of Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey

Fawn Weaver, the CEO of Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey (Photo: Ryan Anderson / Fawn Weaver)

Fawn Weaver, the CEO of Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey (Photo: Ryan Anderson / Fawn Weaver)

After the Civil War, a formerly enslaved person from Lynchburg, Tennessee, known as Nathan Nearest Green taught Jack Daniel  the man who became the brand  how to make whiskey. Though Greens history was largely unrecognized until recent years, his legacy is being upheld by Fawn Weaver and her team at Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey.

Greens story inspired Weaver to move from California to Tennessee to dive deeper into researching his background and create a product that would honor his legacy. She contacted his descendants to start the brand in 2017 and debuted the Nearest Green Distillery in 2019.

In less than two years, Uncle Nearest expanded to all 50 states, as well as a dozen countries, becoming the fastest-growing whiskey company in U.S. history. Weaver and her all-female leadership team have made Uncle Nearest a success with their award-winning melange of high-quality spirits and inspiring storytelling.

Marianne Eaves, owner of Eaves Blind

Marianne Eaves, the owner of Eaves Blind (Photo: Courtesy of Marianne Eaves)

Marianne Eaves, the owner of Eaves Blind (Photo: Courtesy of Marianne Eaves)

Eaves kicked off her career at Brown-Forman, the Louisville, Kentucky-based makers of Jack Daniels, Old Forester and Woodford Reserve. After learning the ropes, Eaves left in 2015 to join a startup distillery called Castle & Key. There, she operated as a partner and the master distiller, making her the first woman in Kentucky to hold that title since Prohibition.

Whiskey is a fusion of science and art, and the thing I love most is the opportunity to challenge the traditions of spirits and blaze new trails, Eaves says. I want to see a more diverse future in the spirits industry, which will help push the boundaries of innovation. I plan to be a part of paving the way to that future.

She has since departed Castle & Key to work on consulting projects, including for Sweetens Cove, a bourbon from athletes Peyton Manning and Andy Roddick. She also launched the concept for Eaves Blind, a palate development and bourbon education program. Since then, shes dabbled in other booze-related ventures where her leadership can serve as a springboard for other women.

Nicole Austin, master distiller at George Dickel

While earning a degree in chemical engineering from Manhattan College, Nicole Austin began volunteering at Kings County Distillery in Brooklyn, New York, eventually becoming its master blender in 2010. In 2013, she helped found the New York State Distillers Guild and later worked with the late whiskey legend Dave Pickerell, before moving on to the Tullamore Distillery in Ireland.

In 2018, she returned stateside to become the head distiller at Cascade Hollow in Tullahoma, Tennessee, the home of George Dickel Tennessee Whisky. Given the brands tumultuous path  the distillery had been shuttered twice  Austin had a particularly arduous journey ahead. Since joining the Cascade Hollow team, Austin has played an integral role in the arrival of award-winning George Dickel releases. Additionally, in March 2020, Austin was named Artisan Spirit Magazines inaugural Distiller of the Year.

Elizabeth McCall, assistant master distiller at Woodford Reserve

Elizabeth McCall of Woodford Reserve (Photo: Courtesy of Woodford Reserve)

Elizabeth McCall of Woodford Reserve (Photo: Courtesy of Woodford Reserve)

As one of the youngest female distillers in the nation, McCalls passion for whiskey and keen work ethic come naturally. She represents the second generation of her family to take part in the bourbon industry, following in her mothers footsteps, and started as a sensory expert. In 2018, she was named Woodford Reserves assistant master distiller, working directly with master distiller Chris Morris on developing new products.

McCall finds joy in interacting with consumers through personal barrel selections, teaching sensory methodology while staying invested in quality control.

There are always new processes and ways to improve what we are doing, she says. I find myself now learning about farming practices and how we can grow grains in Kentucky that dont grow well in our climate on a large scale. Innovation is another area always evolving and pushing me to think outside the box.

Emma Walker, master blender at Johnnie Walker

Dr. Emma Walker (Photo: Courtesy of Diageo)

Dr. Emma Walker (Photo: Courtesy of Diageo)

Emma Walker flourished in her career through her own talent and volition, not her last name. (Shes not related to the Johnnie Walker family.)

Walker was working as a pharmaceutical chemist when she interviewed with Diageo, one of the spirits industrys largest companies and Johnnie Walkers parent company. Upon accepting a project scientist role there, Walker spent four years on the whisky team learning about flavor, the distillation process and more while earning a diploma in distilling with Londons Institute of Brewing and Distilling.

After 14 years with Diageo, she took on her current role of master blender with Johnnie Walker in 2022.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
TORONTO, October 12, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Richmond Minerals Inc. (TSXV: RMD) ("Richmond" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the acquisition (through map staking) of 364 exploration licenses ("Freischurfe" type) in the Schellgaden and Kreuzeck-Goldeck areas located in Carinthia and Salzburg regions of Austria. These additional licenses are prospective for gold ("Au") and antimony ("Sb") mineralization. Richmond also acquired 192 base metal exploration licenses covering an area of approximately 92.3 km in the Tyrol, Leogang and Seekar areas of Austria. These licenses are prospective for cobalt ("Co") and nickel ("Ni") mineralization.

Gold Properties

Richmond acquired an additional 57 exploration licenses covering an area of 25.6 km in the Goldeck-Siflitz Property region, where mining dates back to the 14th century. Located in the East Alpine Nappe of the Drauzug-Gurktal Nappe System, historical mining here focussed initially on Sb, followed by Au mining in the early 20th century. Locally the Sb mineral stibnite was mined at the Wallner Stollen/Guginock mines and various scattered local adits from lens-shaped ore bodies, and auriferous arsenopyrite from quartz-rich veins. Structurally controlled disseminated Au-As mineralization is either hosted in phyllites to garnet-mica schists, or within quartz veins and strongly silicified fault-zones.

Located within these newly acquired licenses, the Guginock mine is located 2.1 km E of the town Lind im Drautal at an elevation of 1580 m ASL. A review of available historical data determined that the mine was in production from 1894 to the 1930s. The host rock is phyllite and the minerals mined were Sb, Au and As. Of particular note a 20 m zone of Au-As mineralization hosted in a fault/shear zone mined at the phyllite/marble contact yielded a grade of 20 g/t Au (reported by Hiessleitner, 1949). Also a five 12 m channel samples collected in 1922 averaged 5 g/t Au. A second local Sb mine located within the newly acquired licenses and is referred to as the Wallner Stollen historic Sb mine and was active from 14th to 18th century. The host rock here is also described as a phyllite/marble contact.

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The Vorder Siflitz Property is located within the north flank of the Siflitz valley, northeast of the town Lind im Drautal. Vorder Siflitz was an area of active mining between 16th - 19th centuries. Several historic mines such as the still accessible Danieli gallery and the Bauern gallery are also located within the Vorder Siflitz Property. Locally three parallel striking shear zones host the Au and Sb mineralization in mylonitized quartz carbonates contained within graphitic schists. In 1987, the Minerex Exploration Company conducted heavy mineral prospecting in this area and grab sampling from this work returned Au results between 100 ppb and 24.6 g/t from concentrates and fractions under <0.063 mm. Recent stream bed samples (8 samples) from the Siflitz River returned Au concentrations between 6 ppb and 126 ppb. Based on a review of historical data, Richmond management believe the mineralized fault zones likely extend farther to the east where the new exploration licenses have been acquired.

Between Siflitz and Goldeck another 62 exploration licenses have been added to cover the two major E-W striking fault systems in this area. This extends the Richmonds licensed area to 52.9 km. Additional stream sampling is planned together with a geophysical investigation to identify the major fault systems, which are the target of further exploration work.

The Kreuzeck area is subdivided into Kreuzeck West and Kreuzeck East properties. Kreuzeck West license area had been extended to the west by 26 additional licenses, expanding Richmonds license area at Kreuzeck West to 32.0 km. The geology is very similar to Kreuzeck East and Goldeck-Siflitz, with mica schist of pelitic-psammitic origin, and phyllitic and quartzitic mica schists with intercalated graphitic schists. Metabasitic bands within the Kreuzeck area are of great importance for mineralization. Geological maps produced by Meyer (1980), Jung (1987) and Streyer (1995) over the western portion of Kreuzeck West shows two bands of metabasites that extend over an area of eight km hosting distinct zones of polymetallic mineralization within Richmonds newly acquired license area.

The Gurskerkammer mine is found within the Kreuzeck West area. According to available historical data Sb has been mined at the Gurskerkammer with reported historical Au grades as high as 18 g/t and Sb production of approximately 60 tonnes in 1916. The Fundkofel gold mine is also located close to Gurskerkammer within the Kreuzeck West property. The Fundkofel mine reported historical production grades up to 14.7 g/t Au. Au-As-Ag mineralization can be observed in quartz veins within shear zones and meta-volcanics. Historical mining is recorded between 1400 and 1928. In 1986 a sample of tailings material from the Fundkofel mine returned 23.5 gm/t Au.

Two kilometers west of the Gurskerkammer mine are the Hermann and Johanni adits (inaccessible nowadays). These adits reportedly expose the Sb, As and Au mineralization for 600 m along strike. Sb mineralization is reported to occur as lenses of pure stibnite. Mining activity here was from 1700 to 1953 with reported grades of Au between 13 and 35 gm/t (1949).

The Schellgaden group of exploration properties consists of 68 newly acquired exploration licenses referred to as Schellgaden North and 151 new licenses referred to as Schellgaden South. Together both prospects cover an area of 100.3 km in which numerous historical gold mines are found, such as the Stublbau and Schulterbau mines.

Base Metal Properties

Richmond acquired 192 base metal exploration licenses covering an area of approximately 92.3 km in Austria. The Brixlegg Property is located in the Tyrol district of Austria and consists of 118 licenses covering 56.4 km2 in an area with a long history of Cu and Au mining dating back to the celtic times. The Leogang Properties are divided into Leogang West Property consisting of 30 licenses covering 14.7 km, and the Leogang East Property consisting of 33 licenses covering 5.5 km. The historic Nockelberg mine with reported Ni grades up to 9.95 % Ni, and Co grades up to 15.7 % is located within the Leogang West license area. Additonally 9 licenses were added to the Seekar Property covering 4.6 km, and 2 licenses covering 1.1 km were also added to the Zinkwand Property. These areas are prospective for Ni and Co.

The European Commission list of critical raw materials ("CRM") and the US department of the Interior include antimony as a CRM as it has become increasingly important and prevalent in electrical and energy related technologies, particularly in respect of battery technology.

Warren Hawkins, P.Eng, a "Qualified Person", within the meaning of Nation Instrument 43-101- Standards of Disclosure for Minerals Projects, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information contained in this news release. Mr. Hawkins is not considered to be "independent" of the Corporation (as defined in National Instrument 43-101), as he currently holds securities of the Corporation.

Richmond also announces that its annual and general meeting will be held at 11 am November 30, 2022 at its head office located at 120 Adelaide St. W, Suite 2500, Toronto.

Reference Literature: Mali, H. (2004): Die Spodumenpegmatite von Bretstein und Pusterwald (Wolzer Tauern, Steiermark). Joannea Mineralogie 2, 5-53.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT: This news release contains forward-looking information which is not comprised of historical facts. Forward-looking information involves risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Forward looking information in this news release includes, but is not limited to, Richmonds objectives, goals or future plans, including successful completion of the Transaction and Offering. There is no guarantee that the Transaction and Offering will be completed on the terms announced in this press release or at all. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, changes in general economic conditions and conditions in the financial markets; the ability of Richmond to raise funds pursuant to the Offering; changes in demand and prices for minerals; litigation, legislative, environmental and other judicial, regulatory, political and competitive developments, and those risks set out in Richmonds public documents filed on SEDAR. Although Richmond believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. Richmond disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law.

Neither the TSX-V nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX-V) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221012006098/en/

Contacts

Warren Hawkins, P. Eng.

Exploration Manager

E: warren@richmondminerals.com

Tel: 416-603-2114
After receiving a grant from the state, Creekline Trails of Opelika is planning to add a multi-use recreational trail along the banks of Pepperell Branch off Waverly Parkway and U.S. Highway 280.

The Opelika City Council approved a subaward agreement with the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, and Governor Kay Ivey awarded the city $210,000 to construct the trail. The city is responsible for paying $61,832.

Creekline Trails of Opelika is a citizen-led greenway vision with a goal to add outdoor recreation options and connect people in the community to nature in Opelika.

Its a big win for Opelika to be on the short list of communities selected for an ADECA award of this size, said Mike Akins, acting coordinator of Creekline Trails of Opelika.

The state funds, which come from the federal Recreational Trails Program, will be used to build, restore and improve trails in eight communities across the state and Opelika will be one of them, according to the release from the city.

Our beautiful community is about to become more beautiful, Akins said.

The idea to develop a network of multi-use trails following the banks of creeks across the city was led by Shealy and Rocky Langley, a couple from Opelika, in 2018.

They and some friends noticed that there are a lot of natural areas around Opelika that were potential for development, and in particular, the areas that were close to the many creeks that are part of the natural features of the landscape of Opelika, Akins said.

The idea quickly gained support from people in the community.

The Langleys and a group of citizens decided to create interest in building some walking trails and green spaces for the community to have access to these natural areas and help preserve it while the city continues to grow and develop.

Creekline Trails started working closing with the Opelika Engineering Department as well as the nonprofit organization Envision Opelika.

Since 2018, Creekline Trails has been fundraising, planning and creating natural trail pathways.

With this grant, Creekline Trails will be paving its first mile of physical trial, turning dreams and plans into a reality. Volunteers have already cleared out a pathway for the Pepperell Branch trail.

For the next step in the process, City of Opelika Engineer Scott Parker said the Opelika Engineering Department will conduct surveys of the trail and design the construction work that needs to be done before it can be paved.

Once the trail is designed, Parker said the city will look to hire a contractor by the spring with hopes to complete the project by the end of summer 2023.

Parker said the trail will be paved with either concrete or asphalt allowing people to walk or ride a bike on it. The trail will be about 4,000 feet long, just short of a mile.

Even though its certainly less than a mile, its a pretty substantial beginning of a great project that could be coming throughout the city, Parker said.

The entrance will be across the street from the Wood Duck Heritage Preserve and Siddique Nature Park on Waverly Parkway and will follow Pepperell Creek.

During the process of paving the first trail, Akins said smaller projects will be in progress to create more non-paved nature paths.

A parking lot will also be built near the intersection of Waverly Parkway and U.S. 280 within the next month or two, Parker said. This will create parking space for people who would like to use the trail, and it will be able to accommodate about a dozen vehicles.

Akins said there will be more discussion about the next phase of the trails, where they will be and how they will connect to the completion of this first phase.

I think theres gonna be a lot of adapting going on as we go forward, but I could easily see a system of trails for the city that might stretch all the way across the city maybe over to the Sportsplex, he said.

Parker said this project will benefit the infrastructure of the city creating a space for the public to exercise as well as benefit the local economy.

We anticipate people coming into the area just to see the trail and visit it and ride through it, he said.

We are excited to help improve and expand the Creekline Trail, Mayor Gary Fuller said in a release. The trails will bring additional outdoor recreation, alternate transportation and watershed protection to our community.
Zaslov is in the running for who's responsible for my supervillain origin story. I truly hate what has become (and what will continue to happen) of HBO Max 

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I don't every single detail but as someone who LOVES HBOMax, none of this seeems great

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Finally shut down my account. May these shareholders never see another green thing in their lives

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I am planning to do the same 



I love HBO Max.but this is just pure evil.

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Food $200

Data $150

Rent $800

Candles $3,600

Utility $150

someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. my family is dying  wint (@dril) September 29, 2013 Looking at that salary like

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HBO Max was so good and they just absolutely fucked it up. Like damn, you ruined it so quickly.

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They literally dropped the 20 pt lead it had on every other streaming platform out there!



Netflix must be LAUGHING!!

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HBO Max is not even top 3 and its overall subscriber numbers were inflated by the inclusion of the HBO subscribers.

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if i was a filmmaker or content creator and i saw that asshole's salary vs how he's firing/dropping things left and right, i would just walk over to another studio. the volatility at wb is actually insane for a company that was doing well once upon a time

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also i truly wonder if other studio heads are just sitting in their massive offices laughing at all the terrible decisions that asshole's making

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We can all dream, but they are all idiots and they all run in the same circles. Right now, they are probably jotting down ideas

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i've talked to a couple VPs within streamers and the gist of it is, he's saying the quiet part out loud.



some shows make next to nothing and these companies still have to pay out royalties for them. that isn't sustainable in the long term. streaming is already really unprofitable in comparison to traditional cable. so eventually all of these companies were going to end up doing some form of this. zaslav is just taking the most anti-creative, bottom line saving route possible.

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if I was any kind of creative I wouldn't go near WB until 10 years after he leaves

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$250 million dollars



For one inept, incompetent person.

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Right!?! Fucking capitalism.

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its fucking disgusting that someone can make that much while the rest barely surviving

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Right? Like I think about how much my life could change with just 250k. It's ridiculous for someone to make so much

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IA but depending on the mood here, be careful lol. I once said that about George Clooney being offered 32 million dollars (or something insane like that) for an ad and I got people leaving me novels about how I just dont understand marketing and that was what he was worth

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And he'll probably get a big bonus from the shareholders this year, too, for a "job well done".

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I had to have someone explain this to me because I don't understand how that's a yearly salary of a man running a company that's apparently in "crisis" and still I'm lost

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I feel like Jimquistion video would fit here about the salary of mediocrity.

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The wage disparity amongst the hierarchy of roles in any company in the US is disgusting. At my previous job I got paid caca and my supervisor had a cushy salary and that MAGA cunt didnt know anything . So glad I left that job.

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250M.?? Salary ? So like he could literally work for just a year and quit ? Or is this 250m dished out over the years ?

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it's a year's salary.

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That is wild to me that someone could just work for one year and be set for life ? . Like what ?!

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I'm assuming it's like mostly in stocks? Like, he doesn't get it upfront but could sell them off throughout the years. ???? idk

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HBOMax was honestly the best streaming service (and tbh, still is, but is obviously going downhill), it's fucking nuts how fast they killed it.



Please leave the TCM catalog alone, don't kill it like they did FilmStruck (RIP)

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Shit like this is why movies in the 90s were so much more better. More small independent studios means more competition to stand out. Capitalism and oligopolies are the death of creativity and originality.

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it's scary to think that there's only more consolidation coming down the pipeline. i can't imagine amc networks, lionsgate, roku, etc. remaining as smaller entities for very much longer. i foresee comcast selling off nbcu too, because there's no way peacock is going to be profitable for the foreseeable future.

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is peacock profitable at all? i use it sporadically cuz im always looking for the freebies my various accounts give, but peacock is free for most comcast users and most of my friends didnt evne know lmao

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I can't get over how they cut almost 40 shows and films on HBO MAX without warning and after the VFX post from last week I can't help but think about the mental health of the creators, I really hope they have a strong support system:(





And a few articles said he's making all these cuts to avoid paying only TENS of millions in residuals to creators that would've helped pay for employees health insurance.



Edited at 2022-10-12 02:21 am (UTC)

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That's absolute theft.

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i saw somewhere that allegedly, zaslov is planning on selling wb in a few years for more money than they bought it for, but to do that, wb has to be out of the red. but in his attempts to dump what he considers extra weight, he's probably damaging the things that actually made wb worth something in the first place.

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Execs make way too much money for how little they do.



I will never understand most industries but I know most need reformation. So many people could actually receive livable wages if the dicks at the top stopped padding their own pockets

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They're paying this guy 250M to essentially destroy the company and, which is far worse and longer lasting, destroy any and all goodwill with creatives.

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Disgusting >:(



Hope they tear them apart in court

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Get them Eric!!

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This seems like a lawsuit that has a real chance of benefiting a lot of people if they achieve their goal. Plus they deserve compensation.

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wishing them both the best and I hope that they get the compensation that they deserve and that their lawsuit helps create systematic change 

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GET THEM

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I hope they win. Im glad that they have the platform to speak out and hopefully prevent this from happening again.



When I watched Erics statement, his words described how I felt when TSA pulled me over while I was temporarily handicapped. I was on crutches and physically unable to walk without them. They put me through hell through the checkpoint and I was so completely embarrassed.

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I hate how the smallest taste of power can make people lose all decency. Im so sorry that happened to you. I kind of want to fight those agents now.

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Thank you, that means a lot. It makes me upset for people who go through it on a daily basis. I am lucky to be able to use my legs again but others wont have such luck. I contacted TSA and they did absolutely nothing. I cried profusely as agents patted me down in front of everyone in every nook and cranny of my body. Ive never felt so violated and humiliated. It took me a long time to process and ultimately I feel like it wasnt just my disability at the time but also my race. I watched at least 10 white women pass through TSA without getting checked at all. No TSA pre-check, no metal detectors, no screenings, etc. They literally just had them walk right pass me.

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Can I ask what airport this was at? I want to be prepared in case I end up there someday.



I dont doubt that this was racially motivated. Ive never seen my white partner get anything more than the standard check, but Ive had my bag searched so many times (metal detector only once, thankfully). My favorite time was when I was bringing home an Xbox (original flavor) and they grilled me because they thought it was a bomb. They had a dog come up and everything.



The only good TSA agent was the one that saw my burrito go through the conveyor belt in the key tray and laughed when I realized I didnt put the tiny salsa cups in a ziploc bag. I thought I was gonna have my bag searched but he just wanted to know more about my meal

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LAX.



Omg, I feel like an easy google search could have solved the Xbox.



The burrito tsa agent is sweet, like thats the kind of interaction Id rather remember.

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I'm sorry thath appened :( TSA especially at the Atlanta airport ain't shit. They are truly from some dimension of hell.

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I am so sorry that this happened to you. LAX is filled with a bunch of condescending, power-hungry assholes. And the audacity to do that to you when you are on crutches!



I hope Eric wins this lawsuit and I hope that it creates a whole conversation/movement about racial profiling at the airport.

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I hope this snowballs with more lawsuits and real change



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I never seen Eric Andre so serious ever before I feel so awful he had to go through this. Ughhh people on tiktok kept asking if his press conference was a bit 

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Wtf

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Police records show that from Aug. 30, 2020, to April 30, 2021, there were 402 jet bridge stops, and the passengers race was listed for 378 of those stops. Of those 378 passengers, 211, or 56%, were Black, and people of color accounted for 258 total stops, or 68%, the lawsuit says.



Those 402 stops resulted in three reported drug seizures: about 10 grams of drugs from one passenger, 26 grams of suspected THC gummies from another, and six prescription pills without a prescription from a third, the lawsuit says. Only the first and third person were charged.



Those 402 stops also yielded more than $1 million in cash and money orders from a total of 25 passengers. All but one were allowed to continue their travels, and only two  the ones who also had drugs  were charged, the lawsuit says. Eight of the 25 challenged the seizures, and Clayton County police settled each case, returning much of the seized money, the lawsuit says.









I cannot believe they are still allowed to just seize and pocket people's cash. that's been outlawed here (in the armpit of the US, Mississippi)

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Three whole drug seizures, woooooooow.

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I feel so much safer now that those gummies have been seized

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Wow, gummies and prescription meds, truly saving us all from the dangers of drugs. These fucking morons.

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Airport travel as a Black person can be so stressful. Depending on the airport you just know they are going to "randomly" stop you and violate you. It's extremely humiliating. I remember when I was pulled to the side and asked what my purpose of travel was and I said "vacation" and the officer or whoever they were said, "what could you have possibly done to deserve a vacation?" I was so shocked and hurt. Then of course they rifled through my bag with some scanner and were shocked when they didn't find drugs and even told me as much. The guy was like, "not even marijuana?" 

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That is so disgusting. Im so, so sorry.

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I absolutely would not have been able to stop myself from telling him off for that.

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Seriously though, I hope they rake these assholes over the coals.



Edited at 2022-10-12 01:06 pm (UTC)

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Good for them. I hope they completely destroy them and there are some actual meaningful penalties and policy changes involved.

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TSA in Atlanta is awful. As a white woman i can't tell you how many times I'm waved right on through yet they harass people of color and are, I swear, even gleeful as they do it.

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I saw so many comments on his instagram post saying "I thought it was just me." How disgusting. I hope this lawsuit goes far.

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Wow that's so sad and fucked up but really highlights how necessary this is.

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https://www.instagram.com/p/B11gSmLnPuU/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=



Also, ACAB. Clayton English is in one of my favorite bits of Shermans Showcase:Also, ACAB.

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Central Asia took its first steps toward regional integration soon after independence in the region in 1991. Yet, for several reasons, this integration failed. Even so, with the change in leadership in Uzbekistan in 2016, attempts to improve regional cooperation have been revived, this time through the mechanism of annual consultative meetings of Central Asian leaders. The fourth such meeting took place in Kyrgyzstan at the end of July 2022.

In 1993, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan created the Central Asian Union (CAU) to foster deeper economic ties and cooperation as well as to preserve and upgrade the mechanisms that had regulated economic relations, most importantly water usage, in the Soviet period. Tajikistan was not invited to join due to its ongoing civil war at the time. Turkmenistan showed no interest, having adopted neutrality as the guiding principle of its foreign policy, including relations with its Central Asian neighbors.

For several reasons, integration within the CAU framework failed. First, the Central Asian states, which had recently gained independence, were not ready to give it up any autonomy in favor of a supranational structure and mechanisms. Second, former Uzbekistani President Islam Karimov decided to continue with Soviet-era economic policies rather than introduce market-oriented economic reforms similar to those implemented in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Without the adoption of a common economic policy, prospects for integration became moot. Third, a rivalry between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan emerged over who would ultimately head the regional organization, which further cooled Karimovs attitude toward the idea.

Related: Russia Claims It Can Maintain Oil Production At 9.9 Million Bpd



Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who succeeded Karimov as president of Uzbekistan in 2016, has departed from some of his predecessors policies, moving to normalize Uzbekistans relations with its neighbors. That has opened the door to renewed efforts of bringing the Central Asian states closer together. This time, the countries have decided to take a more pragmatic approach. Instead of starting at the end of the integration process (i.e., creating regional institutions), they have now chosen the format of consultative meetings to find ways and mechanisms to promote closer cooperation between their countries and develop common approaches to regional security. The first such meeting was held in 2018. Renewed interest in developing regional economic ties has already, in the words of Kazakhstani President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, led to his countrys increase in trade with the other regional states by 42 percent from 2017 to 2022 (Caravan.kz, July 21, 22).

The 2022 meeting yielded two breakthrough documents: the Treaty on Friendship, Good Neighborliness and Cooperation to Promote Development in Central Asia in the 21st Century and the Roadmap for Regional Cooperation Until 2024. The Central Asian leaders agreed to develop a similar road map on regional security, create a regional center for environmental protection, establish a regional television station and develop a common media market, among other policies (Newscentralasia.net, July 22).

The road maps main focus is on the development of regional transportation and logistics. This particular policy was, surprisingly, initiated by Turkmenistani President Serdar Berdimuhamedov, whose country, until now, has stayed away from regional economic projects. This initiative reflects the urgent need for alternative transportation routes to Russia and Belarus following the start of the war against Ukraine and the imposing of Western sanctions on both countries. Central Asias predicament is exacerbated by all the countries being landlocked or, in the case of Uzbekistan, being a double-landlocked state.

Agreeing on common economic approaches and cooperation proved to be easier than committing to friendship and good neighborliness, as stipulated by the treaty signed at the summit. Turkmenistan, due its policy of neutrality, did not sign the treaty. Tajikistans refusal to sign may be explained by its long-playing territorial conflict with Kyrgyzstan, which recently flared up again. This conflict intensified in September 2022, leading to the deaths of over 100 people from both sides (Fergana.agency, September 19). Other territorial disputes, such as the delimitation of the Kyrgyzstani-Uzbekistani border, also have the potential to ignite in armed conflict (Nezavisimaya gazeta, July 18).

However, positive trends are growing in regional dynamics. The ability of countries to reach agreements on shared issues that affect the entire region is a positive sign of maturity and the increased ability of the Central Asian states to compartmentalize relations between one another without holding certain policies hostage to disagreements on other issues (Uzmetronom.agency, August 20).

Nevertheless, many roadblocks on the way to regional cooperation remain as evidenced by the fact that the five presidents signed only five documents during their meeting, though they were expected to sign many more (Kloop.kg, July 23). Nonetheless, following their meeting, we have seen concrete steps to implement the agreements reached and to deepen ties among the countries, which was unimaginable only years ago. Additionally, Russias re-invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 marks a renewed emphasis for improved regional cooperation. Thus, Bishkek and Tashkent signed an agreement on training Kyrgyzstans officer corps in Uzbekistans military academies (Uzmetronom.agency, July 23). Additionally, recently, the five ministers of health signed the Regional Roadmap on Healthcare and Well-Being. This plan is designed to develop mechanisms for regional responses to crises, including pandemics and climate change (Newscentralasia.net, September 14). Such agreements are a clear sign that the region is moving beyond declarative statements on the need for deepened regional cooperation and integration toward taking concrete steps to make that a reality.

By The Jamestown Foundation

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With Russia having lost much of its ability to function as a state sponsor of Iraq, Baghdad is looking again to the U.S. for support. Top of Washingtons concerns in this regard for many years has been Iraqs extremely close political, religious, economic, and military ties with neighbouring Iran, and the focus of this for the White House has been Baghdads dependence on gas and electricity supplies from Tehran. Last week saw Iraqs state-owned Dhi Qar Oil Company (DQOC) sign a contract with the U.S. oilfield services giant, Baker Hughes, to increase the production of associated (with oilfield development) gas at the potentially huge Gharraf and Nassiriya oilfields in Dhi Qar Province. According to a comment from DQOC director, Anwar Hadi Shiaa, the new venture aims to increase gas production from the sites from 20 million standard cubic feet (mmscf) to 200 mmscf in the first phase of development. For seasoned Iraq-watchers, though, we have all been here before many times. Every year since 2018, when the U.S. unilaterally withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA, or, colloquially, the nuclear deal) with Iran, and before 2015 when the JCPOA was agreed, the same pattern has played itself out between Washington and Baghdad. Specifically, every year Baghdad continues to import the same amount  around 30 percent to 40 percent  of its gas and electricity needs from Iran for months at a time, disregarding pleas from the U.S. to stop doing it. Every year, there is a cash crisis in Iraq caused by a failure to be able to meet the needs of its huge civil payments obligations, whereupon whoever is prime minister at the time goes cap in hand to Washington to beg for money. Every year, Washington agrees to bail out Baghdad on the proviso that Iraq cuts the amount of gas and electricity it imports from Iran, and Iraq solemnly agrees to do so. But every year, once the money from Washington has been dispersed, Iraq goes back to importing exactly the same amount of gas and electricity from Iran that it was doing before, which it is permitted to do through waivers granted for that purpose by Washington. And so it goes on.

Related: Oil Prices Under Pressure As Standard Chartered Lowers Global Demand Forecast



For a brief moment or two, it was thought by those with little or no knowledge of how Iraq actually works that Baghdad signing up to the United Nations and World Bank Zero Routine Flaring initiative - aimed at ending by 2030 the routine flaring of gas produced during the drilling of oil - might be an added incentive to Iraq taking real action on the issue. At the time, Iraq flared the second largest quantity of gas in the world (after Russia)  some 17.37 billion cubic metres (bcm)  but such hopes proved forlorn. So too were hopes that Iraq might realise the folly of simply burning off the huge amount of gas that resulted from its extensive oil drilling operations, which equates to setting fire to billions of dollars every year in lost export revenues, even when world gas prices were low. Equally, it did not matter to some of those at the top of the Iraqi oil and gas sector that even if not exported, the gas saved from being burned off could go towards power production in Iraq itself, not just avoiding frequent blackouts across the country every year but also to fuel growth in other sectors of its economy. The fact that Iraq suffers from any blackouts at all is indictment enough of failure, given that it has the fifth largest crude oil reserves on the world (at least 145 billion barrels) and the twelfth largest gas reserves in the world (nearly 131 trillion cubic feet).

Various announcements in 2020 provided some cause for vague optimism that this deleterious situation may change at some point, although to seasoned Iraq watchers the announcements all look very familiar. One notable example was the statement from the Japan Petroleum Exploration Company (Japex) that it, along with Malaysias Petronas and Iraqi national oil firm, North Oil, had reached an agreement on the further development of the Gharraf oil field that would see crude oil production increase from then-90,000 barrels per day (bpd) to its targeted plateau production of 230,000 bpd in the next phase. On the same day, two years ago, in 2020, Iraqs Oil Ministry announced that it had signed a natural gas capture deal with - Baker Hughes - to harness exactly the same amount of associated gas from the Gharraf and Nassiriya fields as it just announced again last week. Moreover, it is exactly the same deal with Baker Hughes that the Oil Ministry announced as well in 2018. Shortly after these identical deals had been announced at around the same time in both of those years, whoever was prime minister of Iraq at the time went to Washington to ask for money.

The fact remains that the potential for gas capture in Iraq, including on these two fields  Gharraf and Nassiriya  is huge and there are many companies who want to do the projects for Iraq, including Baker Hughes. The original 2018 and then 2020 deals were exactly the same and this latest deal announced is unlikely to be any different. The first stage of the Nassiriya plan, which would be similar to that for Gharraf, would likely involve an advanced modular gas processing solution being deployed at the Integrated Natural Gas Complex in Nassiriya to dehydrate and compress flare gas to generate over 100 mmscf/d of gas. The second stage would involve the Nassiriya plant being expanded to become a complete natural gas liquid (NGL) facility that will recover 200 mmscf/d of dry gas, liquefied gas and condensate. All this output would go to the domestic power generation sector, with Baker Hughes stating previously in 2018 and 2020 that addressing the flared gas from these two fields would allow for the provision of 400 megawatts of power to the Iraqi grid. The project, if Baker Hughes was allowed to just get on with it, would take around 30 months to be implemented. Similar development plans could then be rolled out for other major gas capture sites, which back in 2018 and 2020 included Halfaya (300 mmscf/d), and Ratawi (400 mmscf/d) in the first instance.

Synergies could then be developed with the only major gas project that has made significant progress in Iraq over the years, the Basra Gas Company (BGC) project, orchestrated by British oil and gas giant, Shell, which owns a 44 percent stake in venture. The BGC was designed specifically to enable Iraq to increase its energy independence and to achieve economic diversification by capturing currently flared gas from the fields of Rumaila, West Qurna 1, and Zubair, in the first phase. By 2019/2020, the BGC had reached a peak production rate of 1035 mmscf/d, the highest in Iraqs history and sufficient gas to generate approximately 3.5 gigawatts of electricity  enough to power three million homes. The BGC is also responsible for currently supplying around 70 percent of Iraqs liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and for enhancing Iraqs export capabilities, which helped the country to become a net exporter of LPG from 2017. Back in June this year, BGC exported its first semi-refrigerated liquefied petroleum gas shipment, from the BGC Umm Qasr jetty. as part of plans to boost the countrys LPG exports.

Shells efforts in the BGC were intended to be a foundation stone for the build-out of Iraqs value-added petrochemicals sector, specifically, to begin with, the Nebras petrochemicals plant project that began in earnest on 2013. The original design plans for Nebras  formulated between Shell and the Iraq Oil Ministry and Ministry of Industry and Minerals  were for a project that could produce at least 1.8 million metric tonnes per year (mtpy) of various petrochemicals. This would make it Iraqs first major petrochemicals project since the early 1990s and one of only four major petchems complexes across the entire country, with the others being Khor al-Zubair in the south, Musayeb near Baghdad and the Baiji refinery complex in the north. Shells titanic efforts to get BGC volumes up to over 1 billion scf/d means that the ethane can be extracted on a sustainable and reliable basis, and that allows for sufficient volume for a major petrochemicals plant to be viable. Ethane needs to be the initial feedstock for Iraqs first few plants in the same way that it was in the development of Saudi Arabias master gas system that captured associated gas, which was then fractionated and supplied as primary feedstock to the flagship Jubail Industrial City.

By Simon Watkins for Oilprice.com

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U.S. President Joe Biden has said that President Vladimir Putin had completely misjudged Russia's capacity to invade Ukraine, but said he did not believe Moscow would use a tactical nuclear weapon against its neighbor despite recent thinly veiled threats to employ his atomic arsenal.

Biden made the statements as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy pleaded for a rapid increase in Western air defense systems for Ukraine to defend against missile strikes on its cities following two days of deadly Russian bombardments that targeted the country's civilians and energy infrastructure.

On October 12, the attacks continued, with at least seven people being killed and eight wounded in a Russian strike on a crowded market in the town of Avdiyivka, the governor of the eastern Donetsk region said.

"The Russians struck the central market where many people were at that time," Pavlo Kyrylenko said in a statement, adding that there was "no military logic" for such an attack.

In reaction to Russia's wave of air strikes that killed at least 19 people and hit power stations in Ukraine, defense ministers from NATO and partner countries opened a two-day meeting in Brussels on October 12 to discuss ways to provide Kyiv with more air defenses.

Biden told CNN in an interview that while he believes Putin is acting rationally, his objectives in Ukraine "were not rational."

"If you listen to the speech he made after when that decision was being made [to invade Ukraine], he talked about the whole idea of -- he was needed to be the leader of Russia that united all of Russian speakers," Biden said in the October 11 interview. "I just think it's irrational."

In recent weeks, Russia moved to seize four partially occupied regions of Ukraine after referendums widely denounced as illegal, mobilized hundreds of thousands of Russians, and repeatedly alluded to the use of nuclear arms, stoking alarm in the West.

Russia launched its fresh wave of missile strikes on several regions of Ukraine a day after bombing multiple cities, including Kyiv, as a reprisal for a blast on October 8 that damaged the only bridge between Moscow-annexed Crimea and mainland Russia.

Biden last week warned that the world risks "Armageddon" in unusually direct remarks following Putin's threats to use atomic weapons amid a faltering military campaign in Ukraine.

Putin's intentions and his mental state have been the subject of much debate after the Russian military suffered a series of setbacks in Ukraine.

But Biden said that Putin was "rational" despite the mistakes he has made.

"I think [Putin] is a rational actor who has miscalculated significantly," Biden said.

In reaction, the Kremlin said on October 12 that rhetoric from Western leaders on the potential use of nuclear weapons was harmful and provocative.

"We express our daily regret that Western heads of state engage in nuclear rhetoric every day," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding that such a practice was "provocative."

Peskov also denied that more men were being drafted into the army, despite some regional officials reporting they were stepping up mobilization efforts this week.

"There is no new wave," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, telling reporters to check with individual governors to see what they meant.

Speaking ahead of the NATO defense ministers' meeting in Brussels, alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg said on October 12 that providing Ukraine with more air defenses is the "top priority" of the meeting that will also be attended by representatives from other countries.

"We will address how to ramp up support for Ukraine and the top priority will be more air defense for Ukraine," Stoltenberg said at the start of a two-day meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels.

On October 11, Zelenskiy addressed a summit of the Group of Seven (G7) leading industrialized nations, urging the leaders of the world's industrial powers to block Russia's energy sector with further sanctions to disrupt Russian revenues from oil and gas.

Speaking to the summit via video link on October 11, Zelenskiy asked the leaders for more air defense capabilities to neutralize aerial attacks, saying that, when Ukraine receives such systems, "the key element of Russias terror, rocket strikes, will cease to work."

He also said a "tough price cap" is needed for the exports of oil and gas from Russia, which he said had started a new stage of escalation with attacks on October 10 and 11.

"Russia must be completely isolated and punished. Punished both politically and in terms of sanctions," he said.

"Such steps can bring peace closer -- they will encourage the terrorist state to think about peace, about the unprofitability of war," Zelenskiy told the leaders of the United States, Canada, Germany, Britain, Japan, France, and Italy.

The G7 leaders in a statement condemned Russia's recent missile attacks and said they would hold [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and those responsible to account but did not say how.

The White House later pledged to speed up shipments of air defenses to Ukraine, while Germany promised delivery to Ukraine "in the coming days" of the first of four IRIS-T SLM air defense systems capable of protecting a city.

Zelenskiy thanked all the countries that have already helped Ukraine secure its air defense systems, particularly the United States and Germany, but said according to Ukrainian intelligence, Russia has ordered 2,400 drones from Iran.

In addition, Zelenskiy asked the G7 countries to back his initiative for an international observer mission on Ukraine's border with Belarus to monitor the security situation.

By RFE/RL

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There will be some consequences for Saudi Arabia for its decision together with Russia to steer OPEC+ into a large oil production cut, U.S. President Joe Biden told CNN in an exclusive interview on Tuesday.

It is time the U.S. rethinks its relationship with Saudi Arabia after the Kingdom, together with Russia, decided at last weeks OPEC+ meeting to slash oil production by the most since 2020, President Biden said.

I am in the process, when the House and Senate gets back, theyre going to have to  theres going to be some consequences for what theyve done with Russia, President Biden told CNN's Jake Tapper.

Last week, OPEC+ announced the biggest cut to its collective target since 2020. Despite insistence from Russia and all of OPEC+ that the production cut is based on technical market assessments and is aimed at stability, many analysts, as well as the White House, saw the move as a political one.

Late on Monday, U.S. Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, blasted Saudi Arabia for announcing the oil production cut and called for an immediate freezing of U.S. cooperation with the Kingdom, including arms sales.

Asked about whether he would consider freezing arms sales to Saudi Arabia, President Biden told CNN, Im not going get into what Id consider and what I have in mind but there will be consequences.

President Biden also reiterated his insistence that he didnt visit Saudi Arabia this summer to beg for more oil.

I didnt go about oil, I went about making sure that we made sure that we werent going to walk away from the Middle East, he said.

The Presidents comments come after several prominent Democrats, including Senator Menendez, called for a re-evaluation of the U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia. The White House has criticized the Kingdom for aligning with Russia and for the disappointing and short-sighted decision to cut oil production.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Polish pipeline operator PERN said on Wednesday that it had detected a leak on the Druzhba oil pipeline carrying crude from Russia to Europe and switched off the damaged line to Germany immediately in what Poland says was probably an accidental leak.

PERNs automation systems detected late on Tuesday a leak on one of the two lines of the Western section of the Druzhba pipeline which is used to deliver crude oil to Germany, the Polish operator said today.

At the moment, the causes of the incident are unknown  pumping on the damaged line was immediately switched off. Pumping through the other line remains undisturbed, PERN added.

The situation has no impact on Polands supply of crude, while PERN is in contact with the German clients, the company said later on Wednesday.

Supplies are continued, taking into account technical possibilities. Polish refineries continue to receive crude oil as nominated, PERN said.

Asked about whether the leak could be the result of sabotage, Polands most senior official in charge of energy infrastructure, Mateusz Berger, told Reuters, Here we can talk about accidental damage.

The leak on the Druzhba pipelinewhose crude oil supply to Europe is not subject to the upcoming EU embargo that includes only a ban on seaborne imports of Russian oilcomes just weeks after leaks were discovered on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 natural gas pipelines, in incidents investigators say point to sabotage.

Four leaks, two in each of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, were discovered at the end of September after gas started leaking from the infrastructure just outside Swedish and Danish territorial waters in the Baltic Sea. A Swedish investigation into the Nord Stream pipeline leaks seems to have confirmed that detonations caused the explosions that damaged the pipelines.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Russia is ready to supply gas to Europe on the one undamaged line on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline if the EU wants to start the route, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at an energy forum in Russia on Wednesday.

Russia is ready to deliver additional volumes of natural gas to Europe this winter, but the ball is in the EUs court to decide, Putin said, as carried by the Russian news agency Interfax.

Putin also said that repairing the Nord Stream 1 and 2 lines that were found to have been sabotaged would only make sense if they will be used later, Interfax quoted the Russian president as saying.

Nord Stream 2 was never put into operation after Germany axed the certification process following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia, for its part, shut down Nord Stream 1 indefinitely in early September, claiming an inability to repair gas turbines because of the Western sanctions.

Before the Nord Stream 1 and 2 leaks were detected at the end of September, Putin said that Russia had nothing to do with Europes energy crisis and that if Europe wanted more gas, it just had to push the button on Nord Stream 2 and everything will get going, that is, lift the sanctions on Nord Stream 2.

A few days later, Stephan Weil, Minister-President of the northwestern German state of Lower Saxony, said that Germany could never rely on Russia for energy supply again, and the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project would never go ahead.

Another few days later, the suspected sabotage on Nord Stream 1 and 2 lines in Swedish and Danish territorial waters in the Baltic Sea put Europe on heightened alert over the security of its energy infrastructure.

Norway posted soldiers from its Home Guard to protect energy infrastructure as Western Europes largest oil and gas producer, and its Scandinavian neighbors are increasing security following the suspected sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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President Vladimir Putin has suggested that Russia redirect natural gas supplies intended for the damaged Nord Stream pipelines to the Black Sea and the creation of a European gas hub in Turkey.

The newest development on the European gas sector comes shortly after three leaks--one in the Swedish zone and two in the Danish zone and--were discovered in Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines designed to ship natural gas to Germany. While initial Scandinavian investigations have determined sabotage, Russia has suggested that the U.S. stood to benefit from the damage. Moscow has previously said the leaks occurred in territory that is "fully under the control" of U.S. intelligence agencies.

Putin now says its possible to repair the pipelines, but that Russia and Europe should decide their fate.

"We could move the lost volumes from the Nord Streams along the bottom of the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea region and thus make the main routes for the supply of our fuel, our natural gas to Europe through Turkey, creating the largest gas hub for Europe in Turkey. That is, of course, if our partners are interested in this. And economic feasibility, of course" he said at an energy conference in Moscow, adding that the ball is now in the court of the European Union.

Three of the Nord Stream pipelines are currently damaged, leaving only one line of Nord Stream 2, which has an annual capacity of 27.5 billion cubic meters.

Not surprisingly, Turkey appears willing to play along with Putins proposed gas project. Whereas Turkish Energy Minister Fatih Donmez said on Wednesday that it was too early to comment on the proposal, he added that the issue should be discussed.

"It is the first time we heard of the issue of supplying Europe through alternate routes, mentioned by President Putin in his speech. Therefore it is too early to make an assessment. These kinds of international projects need feasibility assessments... commercial aspects need to be discussed. These are things that need to be discussed," Donmez has said.

Europe has vowed to cut dependence on Russian gas by at least two-thirds by year-end, and has managed to fill more than 90% of its gas stores ahead of winter with minimal help from Russia, though it has come at a huge cost.

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

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Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that all energy infrastructure throughout the whole world is under threat following the Nordstream 1 and 2 mystery explosions.

Putin referred to the explosions that took the Nordstream 1 pipelinewhich had its flows halted prior to the blastoffline as an act of terror that set a dangerous precedent. It shows that any critically important object of transport, energy or utilities infrastructure is under threat, no matter where it is or who it belongs to.

Also on Tuesday, the Polish pipeline operator PERN said it detected a leak on its Drzhba oil pipeline, which carries crude oil from Russia to Europe. PERN switched off the line to Germany immediately, and while the cause of the leak is unknown, Poland sees it for now as accidental.

Also in October, train service across Germany was halted when severed cables in two separate locations disrupted train travel. In that incident, Germany referred to the incident as sabotage. We have increased vigilance since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, because we know that infrastructures have become an increased target, German Transport Minister Volker Wissing told a German public broadcaster on Monday.

Pipeline infrastructure is critical to Europe and Russia as the only means of energy shipments that will not be subject to the upcoming EU embargo, which covers only seaborne shipments.

Putin has blamed the Nordstream 1 and 2 pipeline incident on the United States, Ukraine, and Poland, while the U.S. hasnt ruled out Russias involvement.

Russia has, however, offered to ship gas through the second Nordstream 2 line, which remains undamaged. That line has not received certification to ship gas into Europe due to Russias invasion of Ukraine.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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Energy executives in the UK are worried about the impact that a profit cap proposed by the government would have on their operations, especially with regard to investor attraction.

The UK government proposed a measure similar to the EUs windfall profit tax on energy utilities that do not use gas for power generation, only it has called it a cost-plus revenue limit. Again, it is aimed at electricity producers that do not use natural gas for their operations, namely, wind, solar, and nuclear power utilities.

An undesired side effect of this profit cap, however, could take the form of discouraging investors to invest in low-carbon energy, some have warned.

Energy UK, the energy industry association, welcomed the move but noted the government should make sure it has no adverse impacts on the industry.

The director of advocacy for Energy UK, Dhara Vyas, for instance, said that the profit cap was much-needed support, but added that However, we must be sure that the proposed mechanism does not risk the very investment the UK needs to ensure long-term, sustainable economic growth.

The chief executive of RenewableUK, for his part, warned that the profit cap on low-carbon energy generators risked shifting investments to the fossil fuels that have caused this energy crisis.

There is also the issue of competition with the EU when it comes to attracting low-carbon energy investments, with some advising the government to make sure it sets the profit cap at such a level as to make the UK a more attractive investment destination than the EU.

The EU and the UK both had to resort to profit and revenue caps in response to soaring electricity prices as the governments had few other tools for dealing with them. With millions of taxpayers facing energy poverty because of the energy crunch, governments had to act quickly and, more importantly, find money quickly to give to people as energy aid.

Profit caps for energy generators that have been benefiting financially from the price rally turned out to be the most obvious choice.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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HONOLULU (AP)  Hawaii Gov. David Ige signed an executive order Tuesday that aims to prevent other states from punishing their residents who get an abortion in the islands and stop other states from sanctioning local doctors and nurses who provide such care.

We will not cooperate with any other state that tries to prosecute women who receive abortions in Hawaii. And we will not cooperate with any other state that tries to sanction medical professionals who provide abortions in Hawaii, Ige, a Democrat, said at a news conference.

Ige is the latest Democratic governor to take such a step in response to conservative states that have adopted bans and tight restrictions on abortion. The push for more abortion restrictions accelerated after the U.S. Supreme Court in June overturned Roe v. Wade which had guaranteed a federal right to abortion for nearly 50 years.

Ige's order takes effect immediately.

Hawaii law allows abortion until a fetus would be viable outside the womb. After that, its legal if a patients life or health is in danger. The state legalized abortion in 1970, when it became the first in the nation to allow the procedure at a womans request.

Hawaii officials don't expect many people will travel to the islands solely to get abortions, given how far it is from the continental U.S. and how expensive it is to fly here.

Even so, Dr. Reni Soon said since the Supreme Court's ruling, she has already provided abortions to residents of Texas, Georgia and Louisiana.

She noted Hawaii gets a large number of tourists. The order could also protect college students and military personnel and their dependents who maintain residency in other states while they are in Hawaii temporarily.

State Rep. Linda Ichiyama expressed concern about moves by other states to sanction or discipline doctors and nurses who are licensed in multiple states. Hawaii medical professionals targeted in this way could lose their ability to practice in the islands.

Soon said this could have a chilling effect and deter medical professionals from providing abortion care to anyone in Hawaii.

This is actually about protecting our access here for both in-state and out-of-state patients, Soon said.

Ige's order directs the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs work with professional licensure boards to ensure no one loses a license for providing reproductive health care so long as the services provided were lawful and consistent with standards for good professional practice in Hawaii.

The order prohibits executive agencies and departments from sharing medical records, billing and other data to other states in relation to reproductive health services legally provided in Hawaii. Ige said Hawaii also wouldn't provide information about family members or friends who help people get abortions.

Democratic governors of Colorado and North Carolina in July issued executive orders to protect abortion providers and patients from extradition to states that have banned the practice.

California's governor last month signed more than a dozen new abortion laws, including a measure that empowers the state insurance commissioner to punish health insurance companies that divulge information about abortions to out-of-state entities.
Taiwan has lifted all its COVID-19 entry restrictions, allowing tourists unfettered access to the self-ruled island after over 2 1/2 years of closed borders. Dozens of visitors from Thailand were among the first tourists to arrive Thursday at Taiwans Taoyuan International Airport. Visitors to Taiwan are no longer required to quarantine upon entry or take any PCR tests. Instead, they will need to monitor their health for a week after arriving and obtain a negative result on a rapid antigen test the day they arrive. If people want to go out during the weeklong monitoring period, they need a negative test from either that day or the day before.
UNITED NATIONS  The U.N. General Assembly started debating Monday whether to demand that Russia reverse course on annexing four regions of Ukraine. The discussion came as Moscows most extensive missile strikes in months alarmed much of the international community anew.

The assemblys special session was planned before Mondays barrage. But countries took the occasion to speak out on the morning rush-hour attacks that hit at least 14 Ukrainian regions, including the capital of Kyiv, and killed at least 14 people. Russia said it targeted military and energy facilities. But some of the missiles smashed into civilian areas.

Ukrainian Ambassador Sergey Kyslytsya told the assembly that some of his own close relatives were imperiled and unable to take cover in a bomb shelter.

Russia has said it was retaliating for what it called a Ukrainian terrorist attack Saturday on an important bridge, and Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the assembly that Moscow had warned that there wouldnt be impunity for such an attack.

The assembly is debating a response to Russias purported absorption last month of Ukraines Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. The move followed Kremlin-orchestrated referendums that the Ukrainian government and the West have dismissed as illegitimate.

A vote is expected later in the week on a proposed assembly resolution that would condemn the referendums and claimed annexations as illegal. It would demand that Moscow immediately and unconditionally scrap the annexations.

KEY DEVELOPMENTS:

UN assembly to meet on Ukraine hours after Russian strikes

Analysts: Russian missiles seek to levy pain, could backfire Top EU diplomat laments slow start for Ukraine training plan Kyrgyzstan cancels Russian-led military drill on its land

Follow all AP stories on the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

WASHINGTON  President Joe Biden spoke Monday with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and expressed his condemnation of Russias missile strikes across Ukraine, including in Kyiv.

In a telephone call, the U.S. President conveyed his condolences to the loved ones of those killed and injured in the attacks. according to a White House statement. Biden pledged to continue providing Ukraine with the support it needs to defend itself, including advanced air defense systems.

He also underscored his engagement with allies and partners to continue imposing costs on Russia, holding Russia accountable for its war crimes and atrocities.

TALLINN, Estonia  Belarus Defense Minister Victor Khrenin has ruled out active participation in the war in Ukraine.

We dont want to fight Lithuanians, or Poles, or Ukrainians, Khrenin said in a video statement Monday.

The remarks followed an announcement by authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko that Belarus will host several thousand Russian troops. Lukashenko also warned Kyiv against attacking Belarus, despite the lack of any indication of an assault being planned.

Alexander Alesin, an independent Belarusian military analyst, says Belarus could host some 10,000-15,000 Russian troops, which together with its own military could form a joint force of up to 60,000. But, he argued, Minsk is not willing to deploy troops to Ukraine.

The Kremlin, according to some reports, wants its neighbor to host Russian nuclear weapons. Alesin said: Iskander-M (missiles) have already been deployed to Belarus. They could be equipped with nuclear warheads with a capacity of 50 kilotons and a range of 500 kilometers.

The analyst said some Belarusian Su-24M bombers had been modified at Russian factories to carry nuclear bombs. But he added: Minsk specifically stipulates that deployment of Russian nuclear weapons to Belarus would only be possible if (U.S.) nuclear weapons are deployed to neighboring Poland.

WASHINGTON  President Joe Biden says civilian deaths caused by missile attacks across Ukraine illustrate the utter brutality of the war led Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The United States strongly condemns Russias missile strikes today across Ukraine, including in Kyiv, a White House statement said. These attacks killed and injured civilians and destroyed targets with no military purpose. They once again demonstrate the utter brutality of Mr. Putins illegal war on the Ukrainian people.

Biden renewed a call on Russia to withdraw all of its forces from Ukraine.

These attacks only further reinforce our commitment to stand with the people of Ukraine for as long as it takes, he said. Alongside our allies and partners, we will continue to impose costs on Russia for its aggression, hold Putin and Russia accountable for its atrocities and war crimes, and provide the support necessary for Ukrainian forces to defend their country and their freedom.

PRAGUE  Hundreds of protesters have gathered in the Czech capital to condemn the Russian strikes against multiple cities across Ukraine and demand additional international support for Ukraines air defenses.

The demonstrators at central Wenceslas Square held up crosses with the names of places hit by the Russian missiles as well as umbrellas symbolizing air defenses.

Czech political leaders condemned the strikes that hit both civilian and infrastructure targets.

Prime Minister Petr Fiala said they were not meant to damage military targets. Its about murdering the civilian population and spreading fear.

More protests are planned Tuesday and Saturday.

WASHINGTON  U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has promised to continue unwavering support for Ukraine after Mondays missile strikes.

I just spoke with (Ukrainian Foreign Minister) Dmytro Kuleba to reiterate U.S. support for Ukraine following the Kremlins horrific strikes this morning, Blinken wrote in a tweet. We will continue to provide unwavering economic, humanitarian, and security assistance so Ukraine can defend itself and take care of its people.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also spoke to Kuleba Monday. In a tweet, Stoltenberg said the condemned Russias horrific and indiscriminate attacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.

He affirmed that NATO will continue supporting the brave Ukrainian people to fight back against the Kremlins aggression for as long as it takes.

KYIV, Ukraine  A second round of air raid sirens rang across Kyiv on Monday afternoon, sending many across the city back underground into shelters following missile strikes earlier in the day.

Missile strikes across Ukraine on Monday morning marked the biggest and most widespread Russian attacks in months.

Andriy Yermak, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said a Russian missile had hit a playground in downtown Kyiv and another struck a central building of a local university. He said there was no practical military sense in the strikes, maintaining that Russias goal was to cause a humanitarian catastrophe.

Explosions have been reported in Kryvyi Rih, a city in Ukraines central Dnipropetrovsk region, that came under attack for a second time Monday. City governor Oleksandr Vilkul said the city was attacked by Iranian-built Shahed-136 drones.

LONDON  British Prime Minister Liz Truss says Russias missile strikes across Ukraine are a sign of Ukrainian success and Russian President Vladimir Putins increasing desperation.

Truss spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Monday. The U.K. stands wholeheartedly behind President Zelenskyy and Ukraine. Putins destructive rhetoric and behavior will not diminish our resolve, the prime ministers office said.

Britain said Group of Seven leaders would re-emphasize the unity of opposition to Putins despicable campaign when they hold a virtual meeting with Zelenskyy on Tuesday. ___

GENEVA  The International Committee of the Red Cross, which has about 700 staffers in Ukraine, said it had momentarily paused movements in the country.

Given the security situation in Ukraine earlier today, ICRC teams momentarily paused movements and sheltered and continued to work in place, spokesman Jason Straziuso said. (The) ICRCs full schedule of humanitarian assistance will resume immediately as the security situation allows. We are monitoring humanitarian needs to provide assistance as necessary.

DNIPRO, Ukraine -- Several strikes on the central city of Dnipro on Monday killed four people and injured 19, local officials said. They also partially destroyed a telecommunications building and left a city bus charred and mangled beside a large smoldering crater in the street.

Bystanders said a rocket hit the telecommunications building in the western end of the city while another missed the target, landing just in front of a bus during morning rush hour.

Despite heavy damage to the bus, officials said no passengers had been killed.

The blasts broke windows out of residential buildings several hundred feet away and brought down power lines. The Dnipropetrovsk regional administration said 18 Russian rockets were fired at the region, five of which were taken down by air defense.

Mathematician Natalia Nesterenko saw a missile fly by her balcony as she was working in her kitchen before hearing two explosions.

How can it happen with impunity that rockets are flying over civilian cities and buildings ... and everyone is just watching? I dont understand why it cant be stopped, she said. Please close the sky over Ukraine.

In an industrial area in the south of the city, Associated Press journalists saw at least three bodies covered with blankets near where a strike hit what appeared to be a commercial building.

BRUSSELS  The European Union joined an international chorus of criticism and condemnation following the Russian missile attacks across Ukraine early Monday.

Russia once again has shown to the world what it stands for. It is terror and brutality, said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. I know Ukrainians will not be intimidated. And Ukrainians know that we will stand by your side, their side as long as it takes.

EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders had to be rushed to an underground shelter as he was visiting the Ukraine capital Kyiv to assess evidence of possible war crimes with local officials.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said such acts have no place in the 21st century.

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola called the attacks sickening. It shows the world, again, the regime we are faced with: One that targets indiscriminately. One that rains terror & death down on children.

MOSCOW  Russian war bloggers and political commentators lauded Mondays attacks but and argued that the strikes on energy infrastructure should incur lasting damage to Ukraine.

The hawkish Kremlin-backed leader of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, who has long pushed for ramping up strikes on Ukraine, said he is now 100 percent happy. He taunted Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, saying we warned you that Russia hasnt even started it in earnest.

Margarita Simonyan, the head of the state-funded RT television, cheered the strikes on her messaging app channel and said Ukraine had crossed a red line that by attacking the bridge to Crimea.

Andrei Kots, a war correspondent for Komsomolskaya Pravda, the top Russian tabloid, voiced hope that Mondays strikes were a new mode of action to the entire depth of the Ukrainian state until it loses its capacity to function.

It was just one massive attack on Ukraines infrastructure, noted Sergei Markov, a pro-Kremlin Moscow-based political analyst. The Russian public wants massive attacks and the full destruction of the infrastructure that could be used by the Ukrainian army.

TALLINN, Estonia -- Several thousand Russian troops will be stationed in Belarus, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko announced Monday.

Speaking at a meeting with defense and security officials, Lukashenko said Belarus will host the Russian soldiers. He did not give a specific number, but said they would not number a mere one thousand.

Be prepared to take in these people in the nearest future and place them where necessary, in accordance to our plan, Lukashenko told them.

Russia used the territory of Belarus as a staging ground to send troops into Ukraine. Moscow and Minsk have maintained close economic and military ties.

Ukrainian military analysts worry that the Belarusian military could invade Ukraine from the north in order to draw Kyivs forces from the east and south.

MOSCOW  A top Russian official said Monday that Moscow will try to oust Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyys government.

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russias Security Council chaired by President Vladimir Putin, said that Russia, along with protecting its people and borders, should aim for the complete dismantling of Ukraines political regime.

He alleged that the Ukrainian state in its current configuration with the Nazi political regime will continue to pose a permanent, direct and clear threat to Russia.

Russia has repeatedly sought to cast the government of the Ukrainian president, who is Jewish, of Nazi inclinations, claims which have been mocked by Ukraine and its allies.

MOSCOW  Russias Defense Ministry said that strikes waged against Ukraine on Monday hit all the designated targets.

The ministry spokesman, Lt. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said the Russian military launched massive strikes on military command and communication facilities and energy infrastructure of Ukraine.

The goals behind the strikes have been fulfilled, all the designated facilities have been struck, he said. Konashenkov didnt offer any details, and his statement couldnt be independently confirmed.

BERLIN  Germany has condemned a barrage of Russian strikes on Ukrainian cities and promised help in repairing damage to civilian infrastructure.

Chancellor Olaf Scholzs spokesman, Steffen Hebestreit, said the German leader assured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of the solidarity of the Group of Seven industrial powers in a phone call on Monday.

He said that Germany will do everything to mobilize additional help and, in particular, to help with the repair and rebuilding of damaged and destroyed civilian infrastructure, for example electricity and heating supplies.

Germany currently chairs the G-7. Hebestreit said the groups leaders will hold a video conference Tuesday on the situation, which Zelenskyy will join.

Germany said in June that it would provide IRIS-T air defense systems to Ukraine. Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said Monday that the first of four systems will be ready in the coming days.

She said Mondays attacks underlined the importance of the quick delivery of air-defense systems.

MOSCOW  Russian President Vladimir Putin said that a series of strikes Monday across Ukraine came in retaliation against the Ukrainian attack on a bridge to Crimea and other attacks in Russia that he described as terrorist actions.

Putin said the Russian military launched precision weapons from the air, sea and ground to target key energy and military command facilities.

He warned that if Ukraine continues to mount terrorist attacks on Russia, Moscows response will be tough and proportionate to the level of threats.

The intense, hours-long attack marked a sudden military escalation by Moscow. It came a day after Putin called the explosion Saturday on the huge bridge connecting Russia to its annexed territory of Crimea a terrorist act masterminded by Ukrainian special services.

The missile strikes across Ukraine marked the biggest and most widespread Russian attacks in months. Putin, whose partial mobilization order earlier this month triggered an exodus of hundreds of thousands of men of fighting age from Russia, stopped short of declaring martial law or a counter-terrorist operation as many expected.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to create a joint regional grouping of troops, but offered no details as to where or when such a grouping might be deployed.

Lukashenkos statement follows his repeated claims that Ukraine is plotting an attack on Belarus. At a meeting with military and security officials on Monday, the Belarusian leader reiterated that carrying out strikes on the territory of Belarus is not just being discussed, it is being planned in Ukraine.

Lukashenko added that the Belarusian government was warned through unofficial channels about the alleged plans to attack.

In more than seven months since Russias invasion of Ukraine, there has been no indication that Kyivs forces are planning an attack on Belarus.

Moldovas deputy prime minster says three cruise missiles launched Monday morning from Russian ships in the Black Sea on Ukraine crossed Moldovas airspace.

Nicu Popescu, who is also the minster of foreign affairs and European integration, said he had summoned the Russian ambassador for an explanation.

Moldovas defense ministry said the three missiles crossed over the northern part of the country, and that they posed a danger to the infrastructure (of Moldova) and, in particular, to civil aircraft flying over the countrys airspace.

Moldova, a former Soviet republic which shares a border with Ukraine to the south, has been a strong supporter of Ukraine during the war.

Russian troops have occupied its breakaway Transnistria region since 1991, when the region fought a brief war for independence from Moldova with Moscows support.

KYIV, Ukraine  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces launched dozens of missiles and Iranian-built drones against Ukraine.

They want panic and chaos. They want to destroy our energy system, Zelenskyy said in a video address on Telegram.

He also said that Russia is trying to destroy us and wipe us off the face of the earth.

The General Staff of the Ukraine Armed Forces said 75 missiles were fired against Ukrainian targets, with 41 of them neutralized by air defenses.

Zelenskyy said that the attacks Monday morning were clearly timed to inflict the most damage.

KYIV, Ukraine  At least eight people were killed and 24 were injured in one of the strikes in Kyiv, said Rostyslav Smirnov, an advisor to the Ukrainian ministry of internal affairs.

Explosions on Monday rocked multiple cities across Ukraine, including missile strikes on the capital Kyiv for the first time in months.

The attacks came hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin called a Saturday explosion on the huge bridge connecting Russia to its annexed territory of Crimea a terrorist act masterminded by Ukrainian special services.

DNIPRO, Ukraine  A telecommunications building was hit in the central city of Dnipro, one of several strikes that caused at least three deaths.

Bystanders said that two rockets hit the building in the western end of the city. A heavily damaged bus could be seen on the street in front of the building, which was strewn with rubble and broken glass.

Oleksandr Shuklin, a construction worker who was working on a site just adjacent to the strike, said hed seen one person who had died and another that was taken away by ambulance with injuries. He said he believed the strikes across Ukraine on Monday were Russian retaliation for the explosion on the Kerch bridge on Saturday.

KYIV, Ukraine  Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko says that there are casualties and damage to several objects of critical infrastructure as a result of strikes on the Ukrainian capital on Monday.

The strikes on Kyiv injured several residents who were seen on the streets with blood on their clothes and hands. A young man wearing a blue jacket was sitting on the ground as a medic wrapped a bandage around his head.

A woman with bandages wrapped around her head had blood all over the front of her blouse. Several cars were also damaged or completely destroyed.

KHARKIV, Ukraine  The eastern city of Kharkiv was struck multiple times Monday morning, knocking out power in parts of the city.

Mayor Ihor Terekhov said that the energy infrastructure building was hit. There is no electricity and water in some of the districts of the city.

The strikes come two days after a series of explosions rocked the city on Saturday, sending towering plumes of illuminated smoke into the sky and triggering a series of secondary explosions.

KYIV, Ukraine  Multiple explosions rocked Kyiv early Monday following months of relative calm in the Ukrainian capital as other cities across Ukraine also came under attack.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported explosions in the citys Shevchenko district, a large area in the center of Kyiv that includes the historic old town as well as several government offices.

Lesia Vasylenko, a member of Ukraines parliament, posted a photo on Twitter showing that at least one explosion occurred near the main building of the Kyiv National University in central Kyiv.

The spokesperson for Emergency Service in Kyiv told the AP that there are killed and wounded people. Rescuers are now working in different locations, said Svitlana Vodolaga.

Ukrainian media reported explosions in a number of other locations, including the western city of Lviv that has been a refuge for many people fleeing the fighting in the east, as well as Ternopil, Khmelnytskyi, Zhytomyr and Kropyvnytskyi.
Prosecutors have charged a California man in the kidnapping and killings of an 8-month-old baby, her parents and uncle. The Merced County District Attorney's Office on Monday filed four counts of first-degree murder with special circumstances against Jesus Salgado. He could spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole. Salgado is accused of kidnapping the family at gunpoint from their trucking business on Oct. 3. Authorities say Salgado, a former employee with a longstanding dispute, likely killed them within an hour. Salgado appeared in court Monday on video. He did not enter a plea and asked for more time to find an attorney. He is scheduled to return to court Thursday.
ATLANTA (AP)  Before the 2020 presidential election, certifying election results in the states was routine and generated little public attention. That has changed.

Attempts to delay presidential certification in Michigan in 2020 and primary results in New Mexico earlier this year have brought new scrutiny to a process that typically takes place quietly in the weeks after Election Day.

Members of certification boards have raised unsubstantiated claims of fraud or other wrongdoing, focusing new attention on a process that could be manipulated if either side didnt like an election outcome.

Whether partisan actors might try to block or delay certification at the local or state level is a growing concern among election officials, both for the upcoming November midterm voting and then the 2024 presidential election. Here is how election officials prepare for certification, who is involved and what might happen if a county refuses to certify its results.

HOW ELECTION OFFICIALS PREPARE FOR CERTIFICATION

Voting is over when polls close on Election Day, but the work to count and verify the results is just beginning. Through the canvass and certification process, local election officials check to ensure all votes were cast and counted correctly before results become official.

The canvass includes checking lists of voters in pollbooks against the number of ballots cast and researching any discrepancies. Those often are due to clerical errors or mistakes such as someone failing to sign the pollbook.

There are all these little human errors that can happen that could lead to mismatch or discrepancies in the accounting, said Jennifer Morrell, a former local election official who now advises election offices. Best practice is to show them and do your best to account for them and explain them.

Its this reconciliation that election officials also use to detect potential voter fraud, flagging for authorities any issues such as a voter attempting to cast more than one ballot. During this time, many election offices also test equipment and audit the results to make sure the votes were tallied correctly. Others might take those steps after certification.

Most states have deadlines for when the canvass and certification must be completed.

WHO CERTIFIES RESULTS?

Partisan officials are involved in certifying elections, something experts worry about after nearly two years of conspiracy theories falsely claiming the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Republican former President Donald Trump. There is no evidence of widespread fraud or manipulated voting machines, and reviews in battleground states confirmed Democrat Joe Bidens win.

In 45 states, the local boards that handle election certification are either party-controlled or commissions where the members are elected on a partisan basis, according to research by the advocacy group Election Reformers Network.

Once certified at the local level, results are sent to the state for further certification. In virtually every state, officials with ties to political parties play some role, according to the group. This typically involves a board comprised of statewide officials such as the secretary of state and governor, although in some states its the secretary of state who has sole authority to certify an election. Hawaii is the only state where certification is overseen by a nonpartisan chief election official appointed by a bipartisan commission.

THE PROCESS OF CERTIFICATION

Certification involves a public meeting during which election officials report to the local board charged with certifying the results. Those reports detail the number of voters who cast ballots, how many ballots were cast and counted, and any discrepancies that surfaced during the canvass.

Its a ministerial task, meaning those handling certification do not have authority to investigate allegations of fraud or other wrongdoing. Thats up to prosecutors and the courts, which handle challenges filed by candidates or parties. Judges can delay or halt certification if there are questions surrounding an election.

That did not happen in 2020, as numerous judges including some appointed by Trump dismissed his claims.

DISPUTES ARISE AMID PARTISAN INFLUENCES

Local certification is typically handled by a county commission or board of elections. In some places, a separate board of canvassers is formed to handle certification. In Michigan, the county canvassing board is comprised of two Republicans and two Democrats. In Wayne County, which includes Detroit, Republican board members initially voted against certifying the 2020 election but later reversed course.

The Republican members then sought to rescind their vote to certify after receiving calls from Trump. State officials said there was no way to do that, and ultimately the election was certified at the state level.

The law is very clear that the board must certify, said Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. It doesnt say they may or can consider, they must. And so we have the law on our side.

If such a dispute arises again, the state Board of Canvassers has the authority to review and certify a countys election, Benson said. If the state board, which is likewise comprised of two Republicans and two Democrats, similarly deadlocks, Benson said she would seek a court order to compel certification.

That happened recently when the state board deadlocked along partisan lines on whether an abortion measure should appear on the November ballot, and the state supreme court subsequently allowed it.

HAS THIS HAPPENED ELSEWHERE?

Commissioners in a rural New Mexico county initially refused to certify the results of their June primary. They cited distrust of the voting systems used to tally the vote even though the countys election official said there were no problems.

A tiny county in Nevada didn't certified its primary results until it completed a hand count of all ballots.

In the New Mexico case, Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver petitioned the state Supreme Court, which issued an order directing the local commissioners in Otero County to certify. They ultimately did so in a 2-1 vote. The dissenting vote was by commissioner Couy Griffin, who had dialed into the meeting from Washington, D.C. Hours earlier he had been sentenced for entering restricted grounds during the attack on the Capitol, where Congress was meeting to certify Biden's victory.

During the meeting, Griffin acknowledged he had no evidence to support his vote against certification, saying, Its only based on my gut feeling and my own intuition. He has since been removed from office.

If the commission would have refused to abide by the court order, the state was prepared to seek another order to allow the state board to certify the countys results, said Alex Curtas with the secretary of states office.

We werent just going to let some 8,000 people who had voted in Otero County be disenfranchised because their county commission refused to certify their votes, Curtas said.

GUARDRAILS TO PREVENT PARTISAN INTERFERENCE

Election officials in various states say they are prepared to intervene and have the legal means to compel certification if needed.

No county official can just say that she or he just feels or believes or has a vibe or a hunch that something went wrong and feel free to just not certify an election, said Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon.

In Colorado, a new law requires the secretary of state to review any results not certified by a local board by the deadline and certify them if there is no reason not to. But most states have to rely on the courts.

Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections with Common Cause, said voter advocacy groups are prepared to intervene should partisan actors interfere with certification without justification or if a secretary of state refuses to seek a court order compelling a local board to act.

That is why we are here, and there will be lot of advocates and lawyers willing and able to step in and file if the secretary is not interested in using their authority or their position to ensure that the votes of their constituents are counted, Albert said.

Follow AP for full coverage of the midterms at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections and on Twitter, https://twitter.com/ap_politics
An online sci-fi salon held on Monday invited top writers, editors and experts in the fields of sci-fi and popular science to explore how to boost scientific literacy among Chinese youth by promoting sci-fi works and culture.

"Teenagers are the most important target audience for sci-fi works, and are the most important force to support the future development of science fiction," said prominent Chinese sci-fi writer Liu Cixin, whose works include the world-famous "The Three-Body Problem." Liu pointed out that sci-fi can help improve young people's scientific literacy, inspire their curiosity and imagination, enhance their interest in science, boost their awareness and ability for innovation, and gradually establish and shape their scientific world view as well as outlook on life and values.



Wang Ting, director of the China Research Institute for Science Popularization (CRISP), agreed, and recognized sci-fi literature for its ability to stimulate teenagers' imagination and creativity as it is based on cutting-edge technologies. But besides the genre creating novelty and wonder, he believes that writers should also guide young people toward the light of science by integrating correct values and visions, and help them build a new universe of fantasy arts.

Wang Jinkang, another top sci-fi writer, noted that children's sci-fi literature is often treated less seriously. "But the facts prove that teen sci-fi literature lays a solid foundation for the development and spread of core sci-fi works," he said. "Only by helping more children fall in love with reading sci-fi from a young age can the industry grow bigger and stronger."

Wu Yan, a sci-fi scholar, writer and professor at the Southern University of Science and Technology, believes that scientific literacy is extremely important for young people, especially in the current era. He added that the improvement of China's international status is closely related to the development of its science and technology and improvements in scientific literacy.

"In the new era, scientific literacy also has a new definition," he said. "It has become knowledge that can be flexibly used and a method that can be used to analyze the effects on people, rather than just memorizing dogmas. In this sense, sci-fi is of great value to improving scientific literacy." Wu also pointed out that when people read science fiction stories and question the technologies in them, they can really improve their scientific literacy when carrying out extensive scientific inquiries and research. "Science fiction always contains imagination with doubts that need to be questioned. Real scientific literacy is alive and exploratory."

The salon, which was themed "Let the future shine into reality, give wings to imagination: Improving scientific literacy among young people through science fiction," was later joined by nearly 30 renowned sci-fi and popular science writers, editors and experts. Together, they discussed topics including how to guide teens to form correct values through children's sci-fi works, how to effectively integrate cutting-edge technologies into writings, how to help teens easily understand sci-fi and technology concepts in stories, and how to write works that consider children's mentality and spiritual demands.

The event was guided by the Department of Science and Technology Popularization of China Association for Science and Technology (CAST), sponsored by the China Science Writers Association (CSWA) and the development service center of CAST's brand of China Science Communication, and co-organized by Heilongjiang Science and Technology Publishing House and the China Children's Sci-fi Union.

Xue Fangwen, president of Heilongjiang Science and Technology Publishing House, revealed plans to publish numerous teen sci-fi and popular science works during the coming year and to gather the force of more Chinese writers to establish domestic full-industry-chain literature intellectual properties and franchises in the future to boost China's children's sci-fi industry.

According to Chao Xia and Lu Yang, well-known Chinese sci-fi writers and co-founders of the China Children's Sci-fi Union, the union will cooperate more extensively with the publishing house and organize an in-person forum in the future. The union, which was founded in 2021, will also work with various individuals, companies and institutions in the sci-fi industry as well as publishing, technology and film and TV fields to promote sci-fi among youngsters and help boost their scientific literacy.

Dong Renwei, a veteran sci-fi mogul, concluded that young people are the future of the country and that reality has become "more sci-fi" thanks to technological progress. "I hope that sci-fi works can plant seeds in their hearts," he said. "And in the future, they can become significant scientists, artists, writers, or entrepreneurs to turn sci-fi into reality and change our lives."
The most powerful Republican in the U.S. Senate thinks Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts would be a great choice to fill the vacancy left if U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse resigns to lead the University of Florida.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he talked with Ricketts and urged him to pursue the seat, according to reporting by CNN. The remarks came during a wide-ranging interview with the Republican senator from Kentucky.

Ive talked to Gov. Ricketts, McConnell told CNN. Were hoping that he will end up in the Senate. Exactly how that happens under Nebraska law is yet to be determined.

A spokesperson for Ricketts confirmed the governor spoke with McConnell.

Governor Ricketts appreciates Senator McConnells support, Alex Reuss, communications director for the governor, wrote in an email Wednesday.

The Senate seat has been the source of speculation since Sasses expected departure became public Thursday. Nebraskas junior senator is the sole finalist to serve as president at the University of Florida. He was met with protests Monday during a visit to the Gainesville campus.

Assuming Sasses hiring is approved in Florida, the duty of appointing his successor would fall to Nebraskas governor, who under state law would have 45 days to appoint someone.

That led some to wonder if Ricketts, the states two-term Republican governor who is in his final months in office, would appoint himself to the seat.

On Friday Ricketts dismissed the speculation, saying in a statement that if he pursued the Senate seat then he would leave the appointment decision to the next governor  which could position a strong Ricketts ally to make the appointment.

Republican Jim Pillen is favored over Democrat Carol Blood, a state senator from Bellevue, in the contest for governor. A Democrat hasnt served as governor in Nebraska in more than 20 years. Ricketts has been one of the most visible and vocal supporters of Pillen, a hog producer and University of Nebraska regent.

Many observers believe Ricketts, who unsuccessfully ran for the Senate in 2006, continues to hold political ambitions.

If Ricketts ultimately is appointed to the Senate seat, McConnell told CNN I think itd be a smooth transition.

Whoever is appointed to the seat will have to stand for election in 2024 to serve the remaining two years of Sasses six-year term.
LINCOLN  Nearly 10 years passed before prison health officials provided a Pap smear for inmate Niccole Wetherell.

When she finally got one, in August 2019, the gynecologist examining her could see the cancer growing in her cervix without the aid of a microscope. Eighteen months later, the cancer killed her at age 40.

An investigative report released Tuesday by the State Inspector General of Corrections faulted Nebraskas prison system for Wetherells death.

According to the report, the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services did not track when inmates were due for preventive care like Pap smears. Nor has the department set up an electronic health records system that could have provided tracking, despite a 2015 law requiring such a system.

The forensic pathologist who performed her autopsy speculated that a timely Pap smear could have detected her cancer sooner and possibly would have helped extend her life, the report said.

Wetherell was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma, the most common type of cervical cancer and one that is highly survivable if caught early. Federal health guidelines recommend that women age 30 through 65 get Pap smears every three years to check for cervical cancer. State prison policy requires the same.

But medical records show that Wetherell went from September 2010 until August 2019 without a Pap smear, the report said. She only got the 2019 screening after asking for one because she was having abnormal menstrual symptoms.

A nurse practitioner who is the primary caregiver at the Nebraska Correctional Center for Women in York, where Wetherell was incarcerated, explained the gap by saying the department had no way to track when inmates needed preventive care. She told the inspector general that Wetherells case prompted her to create a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to monitor patient visits.

The lack of tracking occurred despite a 2015 state law requiring the state prison system to ensure that complete and up-to-date electronic records are maintained for each person committed to the department.

Seven years later, however, virtually all inmate medical records are still kept in paper form. The report said various proposals and attempts to create or acquire an electronic health record system, along with the appropriation of more than $2 million, have produced little.

The current plan is to develop an in-house system, working with the State Office of the Chief Information Officer. Two limited pieces of the system, a behavioral health module and an intake appraisal form, went live last year. The report said it is not clear when the rest of the system will be finished or to what extent it will be able to share information with outside health providers.

Inspector General Doug Koebernick recommended that the department provide the Legislatures Appropriations, Judiciary and Health and Human Services Committees with a detailed update on the electronic health records system in November, a recommendation that the department rejected.

Koebernick also recommended that the department cease efforts to build an in-house system if one cannot be fully implemented by July 31, 2025, and seek state funds to purchase a system instead. The department accepted that recommendation.

State corrections officials did not respond to a request for comment on the report and its findings on Tuesday.

Wetherell was serving a life sentence for the 1998 murder of 19-year-old Scott Catenacci in a Bellevue park in 1998. She was 18 at the time and among six people ages 16 to 20 involved in the killing.

By the time of her death, she had become a leader among the other inmates, the report said. She got her associate degree through a program with York College, served as a peer mentor and volunteered with the service dog training program Domesti-PUPS. In a 2018 TEDx talk to fellow inmates and staff, she talked about trying to give hope in what feels like a hopeless situation.
An RC-135V Rivet Joint reconnaissance jet from Offutt Air Force Base landed safely at Lincoln Airport on Tuesday afternoon after declaring an emergency during a training flight.

The plane, flying with the call sign SHADW01, left Offutt at 11:55 a.m. The crew spent several hours flying a racetrack route over southeast Wyoming, southwest South Dakota and the extreme northwest corner of Nebraska.

The pilot declared an emergency at 3:15 p.m., reportedly after a caution light warned of a possible problem with the right outboard engine.

The plane circled over Omaha and Bellevue for a while but diverted to Lincoln Airport because of strong crosswinds at Offutt, said Ryan Hansen, a 55th Wing spokesman.

The jet landed at 4:21 p.m. without incident and taxied to the apron near the Air National Guard hangar. Hansen said a 55th Wing maintenance crew was en route to assess the problem.

The incident occurred less than two weeks after the 55th Wing reconnaissance fleet returned to Offutt after spending 18 months at Lincoln while the Offutt runway was rebuilt.

The aircraft involved in the emergency, tail number 64-14843, was one of the last C-135 models manufactured by Boeing in 1964.

It returned to the 55th Wing from an extended overhaul in May 2021 and was deployed to Kadena Air Base in Japan twice this year, from January through April and from June through August.
Railroad safety

Across America, a person or vehicle is struck by a train every three hours. Unfortunately, Nebraska ranks in the top half of the nation in grade crossing collisions.

Education makes a difference here. Led by groups like Operation Lifesaver, efforts have led to an 83% reduction in crossing collisions over the last several decades.

The best way to stay safe is by strictly obeying crossing warnings and gates. But the safest crossing is one that does not exist, and new federal grants provided by the recently passed Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provide record funding not only to upgrade crossings with improved gates and other technology, but also to fully separate crossings.

Railroads are vital to the Omaha area, home of Union Pacific, many rail supply manufacturers and some of the largest rail yards in the nation. Together, through both education and action, we can prevent avoidable tragedies on our local railroads.

Brett Sebastian, Omaha

Nebraska State Director, GoRail

Crossword return

Thank you so very much for putting my favorite crossword puzzle back in the paper!

Madeline Henning, Bellevue

Missing women

For years now, between 5,000 and 6,000 Native American women and girls have annually been officially declared either murdered or missing. That is a great national scandal.

Americans seem to be blissfully unaware of this scandal. When is the most recent time national or local media ran stories about the plight of Indigenous women? Has Omaha Police designated officers to investigate possible local missing Native Americans?

Have Winnebago and Macy and Omaha been hit by the problem of the missing? What are the leaders of those communities doing to increase awareness?

I call on all media and law enforcement to do much more to focus on the missing Native American women.

William S. Nelson, Omaha

Stevens support

Nebraska has always been a leader in public education, even during the pandemic. This was due to the leadership of our State Board of Education, the Nebraska Department of Education and the good practices of local school leaders and staffs. As of today, schools are now open to all of our students providing them a safe academic environment.

As school administrators, we were shocked and appalled when we read that certain candidates for the Nebraska Board of Education are supported by a group that maligns our incumbent board members by publicly claiming them as Marxists, pedophiles and groomers of children. Really? Where are the facts to back up these disgusting claims? These new candidates are obviously desperate to use malicious lies to pull down hardworking fellow Nebraskans who have dedicated their time and expertise to the education of all our children. We are hoping to stop this negative propaganda and false claims regarding members of the Nebraska State Board of Education.

Our children are too important to have candidates who feel it is fine to resort to these antics, lead our state educational system. We strongly support our current educational leaders to continue to work, discuss and lead in the Nebraska way enabling our students to continue to be on the forefront of learning. Robin Stevens understands educational issues. He is the incumbent for the Nebraska State Board of Education District No. 7. Vote for him on Nov. 8.

Jim Duval, Hastings

Property taxes

I am not surprised that many Nebraska property owners did not claim the property tax relief when filing their income taxes last year (Sept. 16). As a social psychologist, I know that as a general rule, if you want to increase compliance in anything, it needs to be made easy and be seen as a positive thing.

The current form/process is neither of these. It is confusing, time consuming to complete, and not fun to do. It is associated with a known negative: tax preparation. I know I dread doing it when tax time rolls around. Also, many property owners seem to be unaware of it.

It seems to me if property owners are entitled to get that money back, it should be made an easy and straightforward, positive process. It should not be a burden on them. If the state is concerned that taxpayers will not appreciate tax relief brought in an easy, automatic way, surely it can be highlighted in some way on property tax statements. I know I notice if my property tax goes up or down.

Rebecca S. Fahrlander, Ph.D., Bellevue

Old brick road

In 1960, needing lumber, my father drove us down the lumpy, axle-breaking brick washboard known as South 135th Street in Millard. Since then, the lumberyard moved and its site decayed, only to be born again as todays modern Lumberyard District of posh apartments complete with public artwork. And yet look down and there it still is today, the same lumpy ill-maintained old brick road.

We understand nostalgia. It looks nice. To heck with broken axles, twisted ankles and wheelchairs. But, dude, its 140-year-old tech!

Werent the good old days actually worse? Do we really want open gas flame lighting? Turpentine as medicine? Sod homes?

Its a lumpy brick street because in the 1890s our ancestors couldnt make it smooth. We can.

Mark D. Anich, Omaha

Check the facts

Please do not be swayed by mudslinging jingles or folksy commercials, check your candidates voting record on one of the many websites out there such as justfacts.votesmart.org. As I checked Mr. Don Bacons voting record, I decided my conscience will not let me support him.

Janet Koenig, Omaha

Core support

I am writing to recommend Matt Core for OPPD Subdivision 4 board member.

I have known and worked with Matt for the last 14 years as a member of the Sarpy County Sheriffs Office. Matt is one of our lieutenants on the department and is an integral part of the command staff at the sheriffs office. I have personally witnessed and observed Matt to be a very caring and conscientious person when dealing with co-workers and members of the community in which he serves. He has consistently demonstrated his strong work ethic, loyalty, honesty and unquestionable integrity.

Monty Daganaar, Louisville, Nebraska

Crossword puzzle

Thank you to all those who took the time to explain to the Omaha World-Herald the importance of the Commuter Crossword Puzzle. You give me hope. We can make a difference in this world, when we try. Thank you.

Beverly Braun, Norfolk

Wounded Knee

Im glad the Oglala and Cheyenne River tribes were able to purchase the Wounded Knee site. Its a shame that they have to pay for land that was theirs as part of the Treaty of Ft. Laramie, that was later taken away when gold was discovered in the Black Hills.

Peggy Tilgner, Daykin, Nebraska
Patty Garrett didnt hesitate to offer a recommendation when her sister, whose husband suddenly found his health compromised, needed to quickly sell their house.

Garrett suggested they turn to Ben Souchek, founder and owner of Home Downsizing Solutions, which buys houses as is and on the spot. The Lincoln-based company bought the couples house and took care of all the belongings they wanted to leave behind.

Ben and Home Downsizing Solutions were the natural choice for my sister. For our family, Home Downsizing Solutions was a godsend, she said.

Home Downsizing Solutions buys houses from owners who want to avoid listing them, need to move quickly or want to avoid the challenges that come with updating a house prior to sale.

The three-step process begins with filling out an online form (HomeDownsizingSolutions.com) or having a conversation with a Home Downsizing Solutions representative. A house inspection follows with Home Downsizing Solutions typically making an offer at the end of the conversation.

Using Home Downsizing Solutions means sellers avoid having to make repairs or improvement to their houses, have no commissions, fees, home warranty or closing costs to pay, never have to leave their house for showings, and have flexible possession and closing dates. Sellers receive full payment at closing.

Home Downsizing Solutions provides the opportunity to sell your house, fast and easy, without the stress or hassles, and have a smile on your face when youre in your new home or apartment, Souchek said.

Garrett had referred Souchek and Home Downsizing Solutions previously when her brother and his wife needed to sell their house quickly and didnt want to deal with the belongings they had accumulated during their 30 years in the house. Garretts brother, who suffered a brain injury and has difficulty dealing with details, took a liking to Souchek and was comfortable with the process he laid out for buying their house.

Ben literally took them in his arms and understood what they needed. He helped with every detail, Garrett said. My brother was comfortable with the process and his wife was relieved they were dealing with someone they could trust.

Garrett knows from experience that trust is key for people, especially seniors, who want to sell their houses. She serves as administrator for RNS Private Duty Care, a Leawood, Kansas, company that provides nurses and other caregivers for seniors who want to remain in their homes.

Families turn to us in crises. Thats what we do, Garrett said. If I can refer them to Ben and Home Downsizing Solutions and take one thing off their shoulders, I would absolutely do so.

Steve Kuker also didnt hesitate to recommend Home Downsizing Solutions. His company, Kansas City-based Senior Care Consulting, helps seniors find the right care community  independent, assisted living, memory, respite or skilled nursing  for their next stage in life. Sometimes, his clients also ask for assistance in selling their houses. Like Garrett, trust was an absolute for Kuker  and Souchek earned his.

A widow contacted Kuker and expressed her desire to sell her house and be rid of many of her belongings. His suggestion: Let me introduce you to Souchek and Home Downsizing Solutions, which bought her house and took care of her belongings.

The kicker, Kuker said, was Home Downsizing Solutions allowed his client to remain in her house after the sale was complete and until her place in an assisted living facility became available. I think that is phenomenal, Kuker said. I dont know anyone else who offers that opportunity.

For those thinking about selling their house  and want the process to be without stress or hassles  Souchek offered this suggestion: Read his book, Home Downsizing Secrets, or for more information, call the Home Downsizing Solutions office at 402-291-5005. The book is available for just the cost of shipping ($4.95) by visiting HomeDownsizingSecrets.com.
BLOOMINGTON  A cooking fire Tuesday at a Bloomington senior apartment complex has forced six people from their homes, fire officials say.

A press release from the Bloomington Fire Department said crews were called at 4:33 p.m. Tuesday to an activated fire alarm at Washington Senior Apartments, 510 E. Washington St.

Firefighters say they were met by considerable smoke conditions on the third floor, with fire sprinklers running. The press statement said crews called in five additional fire engines or trucks, plus ambulances and command vehicles, due to site conditions.

The fire was located in an apartment on the third floor, which sustained moderate damage from water, smoke and fire, the statement continued. Firefighters quickly put the fire out, with assistance from the sprinkler system.

No one was hurt, the release said, but six people were displaced by the blaze. The American Red Cross was called in to assist them.

Investigators said in the release that the fire was caused by unattended cooking.

Additional damage was inflicted on the first and second floors of the building, the release said. A damage estimate was not available.
BLOOMINGTON  For students in Stacy Hornbacker's kindergarten class at Oakland Elementary School, Wednesday was a day to learn and have fun.

The Bloomington Fire Department visited the class that morning, using Fire Prevention Week as an opportunity to teach lessons in fire safety and encourage children to involve their families at home.

"(The students) see (firefighters) as idols at this age, but it's important for them to understand what their role is," said Hornbacker, who has worked at the school for 17 years. "When we get into more detail, we talk about how they can use what they learned with their families and be safe at home and at school."

In Illinois, Fire Prevention Week runs from Oct. 9-15, but locally it has become a time for the Bloomington and Normal fire departments to meet with area schools all month long.

Bloomington Fire Department Public Information Officer Frank Friend said that in the past two years they have focused their efforts on kindergarten and preschool classes.

The Bloomington and Normal fire departments reach about 2,000 students each across Unit 5 and District 87 schools, focusing on the use of 911 in emergencies and what do in a fire.

"When I was a kid, the phone hung on a wall," Friend said in an interview with the Pantagraph. "Now everybody has a cellphone, and mom and dad's phones are sometimes locked. You can still call 911 without unlocking the phone; however, there are several steps involved that a child needs to know before they dial that number."

Another important lesson revolves around having a fire escape plan and ensuring the plan considers the needs of everyone in the home, such as their physical abilities.

Friend said it is important for families to choose a safe place to meet after escaping a fire, and for children not to be afraid of firefighters when they see them dressed in their equipment.

"We use the analogy of superheroes and how Captain America doesn't always look like Captain America or Batman doesn't always look like Batman," Friend said. "So we got to put on that uniform or the costume or the disguise, but it's still the same person underneath there. We're here to help you, and there's no reason to be scared."

During visits with the fire department, students get to see a firefighter put on the equipment, then listen how their voice sounds and touch them with the equipment on.

Normal Fire Department Public Information Officer Matt Swaney said they even conduct simulated house fires in their "Survive Alive" home, which teaches students how to react and put those fire safety lessons into practice.

In the simulation, as the home fills up with smoke, students must stay low while crawling out of a bedroom, then choose between two exits  either the bedroom door or the window. The door can heat up, letting students know that passage is blocked and directing them toward the other exit.

"Younger children are especially vulnerable in a fire," Swaney said. "They're either incapable of self-preservation, meaning they can't get themselves out on their own, or they just don't know what to do because they're young and haven't experienced anything like this, and they get scared."

He continued, "This is a very interactive tool that teaches children muscle memory, because they learn best when they're involved in actually doing the activity themselves."

Swaney said the department also reminds students to be mindful of kitchen appliances, and to not touch them when they are being used to cook.

According to the National Fire Protection Association, cooking fires contribute to 172,900 house fires per year in the U.S., causing 4,820 civilian injuries and more than $1 billion in direct property loss.

With the holidays just around the corner, Swaney said it is especially important to remind people not to leave anything unattended on the stove or in the oven.

"If you're cooking or heating something up or using your stove or your oven, at least stay where you can keep an eye on what you're cooking," Swaney said. "We have a lot of people that'll start cooking and get distracted or fall asleep, and then we end up with a kitchen fire."

Back in the schools, Friend said they provide teachers with fire safety packets that can be used to teach students throughout the year, which tips such as how to create a fire escape plan.

"It's important that we get all of these things accomplished. It's just a matter of timing," Friend said. "We try to be respectful of the school's time, and then we try to be ready to take care of emergencies on our end, so it's a very busy time of the year for us and fire prevention."

For more information on Fire Prevention Week and fire prevention in general, visit www.nfpa.org/fpw.

FIRE PREVENTION & SAFETY TIPS Fire prevention and safety tips from the Illinois State Fire Marshal: Make a fire escape plan and ensure your plan meets the needs of all your family members, including those with sensory or physical disabilities.

Smoke alarms should be installed inside every sleeping room, outside each separate sleeping area, and on every level of your home.

Smoke alarms should be interconnected so when one sounds, they all sound.

Know at least two ways out of every room, if possible. Make sure all doors and windows open easily.

When exiting a fire, stay low to the ground and crawl to make sure you don't inhale smoke.

Have an outside meeting place at a safe distance from your home where everyone should meet after escaping a fire.

Practice your home fire drill at least twice a year with everyone in the household, including guests. Practice at least once during the day and at night.

Teach young children how to call 911 on a locked smartphone in cases of an emergency.

Keep an eye on what you're cooking; do not leave anything on the stove or in the oven unattended. Source: Illinois State Fire Marshal
BLOOMINGTON  The McLean County states attorney and sheriff have filed a lawsuit against Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the states top Democrats, calling the criminal justice reform law known as the SAFE-T Act unconstitutional and "nearly impossible" to implement.

Supporters have praised it as a means to reduce the number of incarcerated people who are awaiting trial, with many saying the existing cash bail system disproportionately affects poor people and people of color.

In an announcement late Tuesday, McLean County States Attorney Erika Reynolds said her office and Sheriff Jon Sandage filed a complaint last week against Pritzker, Attorney General Kwame Raoul, House Speaker Chris Welch, D-Hillside, and Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park.

Reynolds and Sandage support the effort to bring about meaningful, responsible bail reform and remain committed to that endeavor, according to the announcement sent to Bloomington-Normal media Tuesday.

Reynolds said her office as well as the Administrative Office of Illinois Courts, the Office of Statewide Pretrial Services, the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Pretrial Practices Implementation Task Force and the Illinois Judicial College have worked to prepare for the aspects of the law coming into effect Jan. 1, 2023, including the elimination of cash bail.

What has become clear is that the SAFE-T Act is full of contradictions and ambiguities to the extent that implementation across the state is nearly impossible, Reynolds said.

Starting Jan. 1, local circuit judges will be able to consider several factors for pretrial detainment for those charged with a forcible felony that is not probation-eligible, including if the defendant is a danger to an individual or to the community or considered a flight risk.

However, individuals charged with probational offenses such as second-degree murder, drug trafficking, arson and robbery can only be denied pretrial release under the flight risk standard.

In the 32-page lawsuit filed Oct. 5 in McLean County, Reynolds and Sandage claim the SAFE-T Act violates the bail provision in the Illinois constitution, as well as rules regarding the process for passing the bill.

They claim legislators violated the provision mandating bills be confined to a single subject and did not give the bill three readings before it was passed. The McLean County officials also claim the law violates the states separation of powers as it pertains to regulating the administration of the courts.

The suit also calls the law void due to vagueness; in all of these claims, Reynolds and Sandage state the SAFE-T Act is therefore unconstitutional.

Reynolds said public safety concerns related to the release of those accused of violent offenses have been raised by states attorneys offices in nearly every county.

The states attorneys of Kankakee, McHenry, Will, Vermilion, Kendall and Moultrie counties are among those to have filed similar  in some cases nearly identical  lawsuits against the SAFE-T Act in recent weeks.

Law enforcement and prosecutors are not in a position to make legislative changes but are committed to ongoing negotiations with those that hold that power. A responsible compromise that is acceptable to all stakeholders is possible, Reynolds said.

Reynolds and Sandage are asking for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against the provisions of the law, pending the conclusion of this litigation and request any other relief the Court deems just and equitable under the circumstances.

The 764-page SAFE-T Act has been a point of contention leading into the gubernatorial election next month.

State Sen. Darren Bailey, the Republican challenger, has called for a full repeal of the law.

In a debate last week against Bailey, Pritzker defended the SAFE-T Act but acknowledged some changes to the legislation are needed. He did not provide specific examples, only that there are clarifications that can be made.

READ THE LAWSUIT:
China's resident income growth has basically kept pace with the country's economic growth in the past decade, and the income gap between urban and rural residents has narrowed, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Tuesday.



China's per capita disposable income stood at 35,128 yuan (about 4,940 U.S. dollars) in 2021, up 112.8 percent from 2012. It brought the average annual nominal growth rate to 8.8 percent in the past decade. After deducting price factors, the average annual real growth rate was 6.6 percent, basically in line with the expanding economy, the NBS said.

The income gap between urban and rural residents has narrowed in the past decade.

In 2021, the per capita disposable income of urban residents was 47,412 yuan, an increase of 96.5 percent over 2012. The per capita disposable income of rural residents was 18,931 yuan, an increase of 125.7 percent over 2012.

From 2013 to 2021, the average annual income growth rate of rural residents was 1.7 percentage points higher than that of urban residents.

Consumption capacity has expanded in the past decade.

In 2021, the per capita consumption expenditure of Chinese residents was about 24,100 yuan, up 99.9 percent from 2012 in nominal terms, or 8 percent on an average annual basis. After deducting price factors, the growth rate stood at 67.4 percent in real terms or 5.9 percent on an average annual basis.

The Engel's coefficient has dropped gradually. In 2021, China's per capita expenditure on food, tobacco, and alcohol was 7,178 yuan, an increase of 80.2 percent over 2012, or 6.8 percent on an average annual basis.

The proportion of food, tobacco, and alcohol expenditure in consumption expenditure (Engel's coefficient) dropped from 33 percent in 2012 to 29.8 percent in 2021, down 3.2 percentage points.
BLOOMINGTON  The Wesleyan Titans are in the green again with a new jazz director.

Reginald Lewis moved into his new role of jazz program director at Illinois Wesleyan University at the start of the fall semester. He teaches courses on jazz history and jazz improvisation, and instructs the department's jazz combo ensemble, as well as their big band.

He performed with his quintet last month at the Further Jazz Festival in Normal, organized by previous IWU jazz director Glenn Wilson. Lewis is also part of the jazz collective Simply This, led by Matthew Storie. They released their latest album one year ago, titled "Stepping Up." Track "The Wanderer" sublimely layers keyboards, bass and horns that will sonically tantalize your ears.

Lewis told me he's looking forward to expanding the department's staffing, and building notoriety for the program. He also has plans to pepper the community up with small jazz performances around town. Read more about his "never-ending learning adventure" into jazz in his five-question interview with The Pantagraph below:

Tell me your philosophy on music education. What are some of the best ways youve learned to help get things clicking in the minds of your students?

My philosophy on music education is that as an educator I believe that it is my duty and responsibility to create a welcoming environment for my students. I foster the way that I educate so that it is student-centered. I believe that for the students to learn, they need to be engaged. That is when education is at its best. The best ways that I have learned to get things to click in the mind of my students is to relate to them. From teaching music courses such as music appreciation and jazz history to non-music majors, I had to find a way to keep them interested. I always start off my classes by getting to know the names, majors and aspirations of all my students. This makes them feel important and engages them. I then ask them what they did over the weekend or the day before and make connections with them in conversation. Once I get a feel of what everyone is interested in, I then teach the lesson with those things in mind and relate every example back to something that one of my students mentioned, when possible. The students need to know that we care about them.

What are the biggest priorities for you in the jazz program, and how do you plan to address them?

My biggest priorities are to expand the minds of my students, grow the program, and bring notoriety to what is going on in the Illinois Wesleyan Jazz Department. To expand the minds of my students, I want to expose them to jazz festivals, doing performances, encourage them to bring in ideas for arrangements of songs that they would like to do. I have been giving them musicians that they are not familiar with to listen to in hopes that they will dig deeper and deeper and discover new sounds and styles of music. To grow the program, we will begin doing small performances around campus during lunchtime so that the campus can see whats going on, because there are many musicians who are not music majors that may be interested in joining the jazz band or combo. To gain some more notoriety, I will reach out to local restaurants and venues to see if they would be willing to host my students to perform some light background music. We will advertise that these fine musicians are from Illinois Wesleyan University's Jazz Department.

What do you love most about jazz music, and how do you keep that flame lit?

The thing I love most about jazz, which is referred to as B.A.M (Black American Music) is that it is a never-ending learning adventure. There is always something new to play, a new way to play and many different approaches. Its an exciting music; I like to think of improvisation as storytelling and a huge puzzle. I say storytelling because when we improvise, it is our voices that are being portrayed through our soloistic choices on compositions. The puzzle piece part comes into play because I feel that we pull all the pieces that we have gathered and make them into one huge collective piece. I keep this flame lit by following in the footsteps of my grandfather Robert Bootsie Barnes' legacy. My grandfather is a pillar in the Philadelphia jazz community and a well known and respected musician across the jazz world.

If you could give any advice to someone who is newly developing their passion for playing and writing music, or even perhaps returning to an instrument after years apart, what would you say?

The advice that I would give to anyone who is developing their passion for playing music is to never give up on it. Music will always be there for us, even if we decide to leave and choose another profession and come back. If you choose to do music, do it with all your heart. For those writing and playing music, I would say to not get discouraged, and to watch YouTube videos. In todays age we have the advantage to learn anything we want through YouTube. If you decide to return to an instrument after years, that is perfectly fine, whether you want a hobby or to become a performing musician. Overall, I would say follow your heart when it comes to music; if you want to do it then do it  the only person who can stop you is you.

What has you most excited for the future of the jazz program?

The thing that I am most excited for with the future of the jazz program is the expansion during this process. I would love to have more faculty in the jazz department teaching more jazz classes so that even more students would be interested in our university and our jazz program. I am looking forward to having the students perform regularly, so that they can indeed start to see what is like to be a performer, scheduling shows, rehearsals and maybe one day leading their own band. For those not interested in performing, I hope that I can leave an everlasting impact on them so that they may want to become educators someday.
NORMAL  An educational director with the Illinois Prison Project will speak Thursday morning at Heartland Community College.

Renaldo Hudson is an educator, minister and community organizer who developed various programs while serving 37 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, including 13 years on death row, according to an event flyer. His work includes helping to establish a prison newspaper, Stateville Speaks, and creating back-end mechanisms for the release of incarcerated people, which were showcased in the Emmy-nominated 2020 documentary Stateville Calling.

His talk is scheduled for 9:30-11 a.m. Thursday at the Astroth Community Education Center Auditorium on the Heartland campus. The event is free and open to the public.

Cristina Prestin-Beard, a sociology and psychology instructor at Heartland, said Hudson was invited as part of her "Sociology of Incarceration" class, a new course this semester. She said they received grant money to work with incarcerated persons.

Renaldo Hudson is a true testament of rehabilitation and reform, she told The Pantagraph on Wednesday.

Hudson's sentence was commuted in 2003 by former Gov. George Ryan when death row inmates were given life sentences without the possibility of parole. Gov. J.B. Pritzker granted Hudson's request for executive clemency in 2020.

Prestin-Beard added that Hudson, who was convicted of murder at age 19, also helped write a book titled Lockdown Prison Heart. The text is a collection of essays gathered from him and other incarcerated men, she said, who questioned themselves: Who am I, and what can I do to be better?

Prestin-Beard said her class previously heard from a guest speaker from Indiana who served 22 years of a 55-year murder sentence while completing their bachelors and masters degrees. The class also visited the McLean County jail and juvenile detention center, she said.

Prestin-Beard said part of the discussion Thursday will focus on the human ability to overcome one's mistakes.

We want people to see that youre not the result of one mistake  even if its an horrendous mistake, she said.
How Time Flies is a daily feature looking back at Pantagraph archives to revisit what was happening in our community and region.

100 years ago

Oct. 12, 1922: Cornelius Kane, a former Bloomington resident who is well-remembered here, died of cancer at his Chicago home. "Con," as he was called, was born Nov. 26, 1862, to Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Kane. He attended St. Mary's parochial schools before entering business. He was engaged in business on West Market Street for 22 years. For the past 10 years, he had been employed as timekeeper at the Fort Dearborn Hotel. Read the story.

75 years ago

Oct. 12, 1947: Special memorial services are being planned in LeRoy for Ralph Martin Gaultney, gunner's mate third class, U.S. navy, and Leonard Gaultney, machinist's mate first class, U.S. navy, two of three war dead sons of William Gaultney and the late Nellie Gaultney of LeRoy. Martin died in the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Leonard Gaultney went down with the USS Vincennes on Aug. 9, 1942, in the Solomon Islands. The body of David Gaultney, the third son, has not been returned from its original burial place on Iwo Jima. Read the story.

50 years ago

Oct. 12, 1972: Band members from English rock star Elton John's troupe left the varsity and visiting locker rooms at Illinois State University's Horton Field House a tattered, soggy mess after a performance Oct. 11. John and his troupe's agency were guaranteed $20,000 plus a percentage of gate receipts from the 9,000 rock fans who crowded into the field house. Band members stuffed a ball into a toilet in the varsity locker room; a notice was written on the blackboard to the effect that John's group didn't like Normal or the ISU students. Read the story.

25 years ago

Oct. 12, 1997: Led by higher tax rates and rising property values, Bloomington property tax bills have outpaced those in Normal over the last decade. At one time, Bloomington residents living in an average-priced house paid less than their neighbors to the north. But now they pay about $200 more each year than someone with a comparable house. That disparity could grow next month as both local governments decide how much money they need from property taxes for next year's budgets. Read the story.
NORMAL  The Gulf, Mobil and Ohio (GM&O) Railroad Historical Society will celebrate its 50th anniversary in Bloomington-Normal.

The organization will return to the Twin Cities Oct. 21-22 at the Holiday Inn, 8 Traders Circle, in north Normal.

On Friday, Oct. 21, an informal reminiscence program will take place at the hotel from 7-9 p.m. Registered GM&O Historical Society members and retired and working railroaders will receive free admission with their railroad identification. Admission is $5 for the general public.

On Saturday, Oct. 22, a railroad show will take place from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Railroad memorabilia, books, photographs and model trains will be available for sale. Admission is $5 per person.

The GM&O Railroad was first known as the Chicago & Alton Railroads. The passenger trains ran through Bloomington-Normal starting in the 1860s until 1972.

Bloomington's largest employer used to be the local railroad repair shop, and many of the train crews were locally stationed.

In 1972, the GM&O Railroad merged with the Illinois Central. The local repair shops were eventually demolished; that same year the local railroaders established the GM&O Historical Society.

For more information, contact 314-484-1592 or asisk@sbcglobal.net, or visit gmohs.org.
CHICAGO - It was a day Jason and Keely Roberts thought they would never see. Their 8-year-old son, Cooper returned to school for the first time since suffering life-threatening injuries from the Highland Park shooting on July 4.

Cooper, who now uses a wheelchair, started third grade on Monday, joining his twin brother, Luke. The news comes a few weeks after Cooper reunited with his family for the first time since the shooting.

We cried in the parking lot as he wheeled himself into the school, cried as we pulled out of the parking lot  we were just a mess! the family said in a statement. The life-threatening nature of his injuries and the significant rehabilitation he has needed (and continues to need for hours every day) made it seem as though returning to school would be something we could only hope for way in the distant future.

Coopers return to school was near perfect, the family said.

He loved every minute, and his exact words were, if I had not been shot, paralyzed, and had to be in a wheelchair, it would have been a perfect school day, but it was a really great day! I loved it! 

The third grader will need to remain in day therapy each week and will be reevaluated on a consistent basis, which will mean a slow and gradual transition back to school.

He will not be able to attend school all day or every day, according to the family.

Nevertheless, his return to school this week is an incredible milestone for a little boy who almost three months to the day of his first day of third grade had been desperately fighting for his life from critical gunshot wounds and is now wheelchair bound, the family said.

The Roberts family said Cooper has anxieties about how being paralyzed affects him in physical, social and academic environments.

The endless what if questions he thinks about  these run across his mind and out literally all day long, like an endless reel of worry, the family said. We have also learned, fast and hard, that we can only take one day at a time.

There is sadness and pain with Coopers return to school, the family said. He is sad to not be able to run around in the field with friends at recess; he cannot play in the jungle gym, hang on the monkey bars, slide down the slide, swing on swings or kick a ball.

Yet, Cooper continues to affirm for us that his spirit, his soul, his Cooperness remains, the family said. The hideous, evil act did not take that from him because he wont let it.

The family described Cooper as the sporty kid who is more concerned about others than he is about himself and who loves his family and friends fiercely.

The family said they attribute Coopers survival to the love and prayers received from around the world.

We continue to ask for your prayers for Cooper, the family said. We believe that Coopers story is just beginning and that he can, and will, show the world that there is no greater power in the world than the power of love.

A GoFundMe page to cover the medical and financial needs the Roberts family will face as their journey of healing continues has collected more than $2 million.
GALESBURG  A western Illinois woman has been arrested on a warrant for concealment of death after human remains were found in a storage unit.

Marcy Oglesby was arrested Tuesday after the remains were found in a storage unit in Maquon on Friday.

Oglesby was being held Wednesday. It was unclear whether she has an attorney who might comment on her behalf.

The identity of the body found in the storage unit has not yet been established. No identification was immediately possible due to the condition of the body. Knox County Sgt. Brad Davis said investigators are trying to match DNA from the remains with family members.

The remains were discovered after Knox County deputies responded to a complaint about an odor coming from the storage unit.

The case remains under investigation by the Knox County Sheriff's Department.

Maquon is about 150 miles southwest of Chicago.
SPRINGFIELD  With less than four weeks until Election Day, state Sen. Darren Bailey, R-Xenia, is airing broadcast television ads for the first time since securing the Republican gubernatorial nomination in late June.

The ad buy is for $534,000, Bailey campaign spokesman Joe DeBose confirmed to Lee Enterprises. It will air on broadcast television in the Chicago media market, where about two-thirds of the state's voters reside.

The 30-second hit begins with a warning that "some of the scenes you are about to see are graphic and not suitable for children" before flashing images of crimes being committed and a scroll below showing various crime numbers.

"Under J.B. Pritzker and Lori Lightfoot, crime is out of control," Bailey says in a voiceover. Next, now looking directly at the camera, Bailey promises to "end Pritzker's no cash bail policy that's putting violent criminals back on our streets" and to "increase police recruitment and retention to put more officers in our neighborhoods."

Republicans have sought to make crime, which spiked in several of the state's urban areas during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and has remained above pre-pandemic levels in many areas, a significant campaign issue in 2022.

They have also zeroed in on the SAFE-T Act, the landmark criminal justice reform law signed by Pritzker in 2021 that, among other things, will eliminate the state's cash bail system starting in January.

To this point, much of this anti-crime messaging has come from outside groups, most notably the People Who Play By The Rules political action committee, which is run by conservative radio host Dan Proft and bankrolled by billionaire megadonor Dick Uihlein.

Since the end of June, Uihlein has poured nearly $34 million into the PAC's coffers, including a $13.9 million donation reported last week.

In contrast, Bailey has only raised about $2.7 million since winning the Republican primary in June, including $1 million from Uihlein and, just last week, $700,000 from his mother, Jean Bailey.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker has poured more than $155 million into his campaign's coffers since March 2021, allowing him unfettered access to voters through television and digital advertisements among other mediums.

The anti-crime message has been before voters' eyes for months, but now it is also coming directly from Bailey.

But given that the message on crime is already being pushed by outside PACs and Bailey's limited resources  a half-million dollars is modest when talking political ad buys in Chicago television  it is fair to question whether that is the prudent strategy.

Late last month, a poll conducted by WGN-TV found that crime ranked fourth among the most important issues for voters. It fell behind the economy, threats to democracy and abortion. Only 10% ranked it as their top issue.

This matches the results of other polls, which have shown that crime as an issue but not the issue in this campaign.

J.B. Pritzker has increased taxes on working families and crime is skyrocketing on his watch," DeBose said, responding to an inquiry from Lee Enterprises about the ad's focus on crime. "Darren Bailey is committed to making life safer and more affordable for everyone. This ad about Pritzkers dangerous anti-police policies is just one of the many steps to get our message directly to voters.

Though Republicans have claimed that the SAFE-T Act contains several unfunded mandates that will inevitably lead to tax increases or a reduction in services, Pritzker's fiscal year 2023 budget includes funds to hire new Illinois state troopers and grants set aside to help retain police officers. Bailey voted against those proposals.

No amount of false advertising can paint a rosy picture of Darren Baileys disastrous voting record thwarting public safety, said Pritzker spokeswoman Eliza Glezer. Bailey had his chance to vote for police recruitment and retention efforts and, instead, voted no.

But for all the attention on crime in this campaign, polling shows that "it's the economy, stupid," may still be the winning argument for candidates.

Not that those issues can't coexist. But, with scant resources, the lack of focus on the top issue on the minds of voters is a bit surprising.

But perhaps those pushing the messaging on crime know something we don't.

Kinzinger endorses Democrats

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, one of former President Donald Trump's fiercest Republican critics, announced this week that he is endorsing several Democrats for statewide office.

Through his Country First political action committee, Kinzinger released a listed of endorsed candidates, which included Democratic gubernatorial candidates Josh Shapiro (Pennsylvania) and Katie Hobbs (Arizona) and Democratic Secretary of State candidates Adrian Fontes (Arizona), Cisco Aguilar (Nevada), Steve Simon (Minnesota) and Jocelyn Benson (Michigan).

Kinzinger also endorsed some Republicans who have caught Trump's ire, such as Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Ak., and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

"Now more than ever, its critical we elect leaders up and down the ballot who are loyal to the Constitution and willing to be a bulwark for democracy  regardless of their political party affiliation," Kinzinger said.

Kinzinger, a Bloomington native who is not seeking reelection, added that people must "set partisan politics and ideology aside in order to preserve our nations democracy and demand accountability in our leaders."

Each of the Democrats Kinzinger endorsed is running against a Republican who denies the results of the 2020 presidential election and has promulgated conspiracy theories.

The secretaries of state races are particularly important. Forty-seven of 50 states have a secretary of state and in 38 of those states, they serve as the chief elections officer.

Kinzinger did not make an endorsement in the Illinois secretary of state's race between Republican nominee Dan Brady and Democratic nominee Alexi Giannoulias.

This is not much of a surprise since the Illinois office, unlike many of its counterparts in other states, has little to do with running elections. That role instead is filled by the Illinois State Board of Elections.
The other day one of my social media acquaintances posted a news story about a hideous case of domestic violence. She asked, Whats wrong with men, anyway?

The question was rhetorical. She thought she knew exactly what is wrong with men. They are possessive, selfish, arrogant and violent. The story she posted merely illustrated the problem.

Men commit many more crimes, especially violent crimes, than women. Men commit seven times more murders. There have been 128 mass shooting in the United States since 1982, only three committed by women. Men make up 93% of the prison population.

For many (my social media acquaintance included), the explanation for all this is toxic masculinity. It is not that men are by nature violent; it is that we raise them that way. We need to bring up our children  and our boys especially  to be less aggressive.

Its the wrong answer, using the wrong metaphor.

A powerful metaphor can take hold of our collective imagination, shaping our responses to people and events without thinking about whether the response makes sense. In the case of toxic masculinity, it is a metaphor that has corrupted the ways we think about gender.

Today, whenever a man behaves badly, the incident is sure to be regarded by some as yet another instance of toxic masculinity. As everyone knows, you rid the environment of toxins by removing them or diluting them to the point that they are no longer dangerous. Thus, if the misbehaving man is a public figure, there will be an expectation that he be removed and the force of his example diluted.

After actor Will Smith strode onstage and slapped Chris Rock at this years Oscars, he was banned from the Academy for 10 years. The dilution part came a day after the incident, when Smith issued an apology: I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness.

The entire ritual is insincere. The members of the Academy who voted to banish Smith are the same ones who nominated him for an Academy Award for his portrayal of Muhammed Ali, the same ones who earn vast profits from the John Wick franchise. Smith is employed by Hollywood to tell stories about a world that is all too deficient in love and kindness, where violence is routinely used to bring some semblance of order. Nobody demanded that he stop making action pictures.

Notice the irony of issuing a public statement claiming there is no place for violence while the evening news celebrates the Ukrainians heroic resistance to the Russian invasion. Smiths critics accuse him of not really meaning it. They are right. Its a dumb thing for the star of the Bad Boys movies to say.

But heres the point: He shouldnt have to say it in the first place. Smith should have apologized for poor judgment and a lack of self-control. But that would not have been enough to save his public image. He was required to renounce aggressiveness, the willingness to use violence in any circumstances. He had to apologize for being the wrong kind of man.

We have a crisis of masculinity in this country, but its not because masculinity is toxic. Its because we dont know how to talk about being a man. In fact, we dont even think its important.

One of the most surprising things I learned from Richard Reeves enlightening new book, Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do About It, is that several states are not measuring how boys as a whole are doing in school. There is a long-standing assumption that of course boys are doing just fine.

But they are not doing just fine. Reeves, a senior fellow of economic studies at the Brookings Institution, has compiled convincing evidence that boys are falling behind at every level of education, from K-12 through college, in just about every subject area.

If the evidence showed merely that girls are catching up, or even that they are doing much better in some areas than boys, that would be a reason to celebrate. But thats not whats happening. Girls arent just catching up, boys are going backward. And thats a reason for concern.

Reeves proposes that we recruit and train more male teachers, put more resources into technical education and have boys enter kindergarten a year later. All of these are thoughtful, practical suggestions, worthy of serious consideration.

But the crisis of masculinity is not confined to our schools. It has deep and broad cultural roots. More than anything, it is a crisis of virtue.

As a society, we are telling our kids how not to be a man and thinking that is good enough. But you cannot teach someone how to reach a destination by pointing out the wrong path. Our boys need positive, practical examples in their lives.

If we want our boys to grow up into responsible adults who are dependable and trustworthy, who can be good fathers, and neighbors and citizens, we need to teach them not just what is wrong with men but what is right with men.

Our boys need more than behaviors to avoid; they need heroic examples to which they can aspire. Now more than ever, we need good men to step up and show the way.
I attended the governor's debate on Thursday. Of the numerous inaccurate, confusing or offensive things that Senator Bailey said, the one that stood out to me - and drew loudest boos from the crowd - was his declaration that "unions should stay in their place." The arc of history has not been kind to those who tell others to stay in their place.

On Labor Day, the McLean County GOP chose to join in our AFL-CIO Labor Day festivities even though the parade theme was Vote Yes for the Workers Rights Amendment. Weeks later they issued a statement against the it. The emperor has no clothes.

In 2022 unions are popular - 71% of working Americans desire to form or join one, an upsurge driven by workers who expect safer working conditions and a wage that can support their families. Unionized workplaces have higher on-the-job safety protections and higher wages. Unions are democracies of, by, and for the people doing the work, so when Bailey and the GOP talk ill of unions, they disparage working Illinoisans.

Working Illinoisans urge everyone to vote yes on the Workers Rights Amendment to secure the fundamental right to organize a union in your workplace. Bad-faith actors tell us this will raise our taxes but we know they're lying because most public sector workers are already unionized in our state. However less than 10% of private sector workers in Illinois have a union, many because theyre misclassified employees and employers spend millions retaining union-busting firms to convince workers to give their rights away.

Voters have the opportunity to empower thousands of current and countless future working Illinoisans to raise their wages and make workplaces safer. Vote yes on Question 1 and put any politicians Republican, Democrat, or Libertarian, who seeks to take away your rights in their place.

Adam Heenan, Bloomington
National Organizer of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Henry Nana Boakye, has slammed the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), claiming their officials are harassing some traders over tax evasion.



According to Nana Boakye, it has come to his notice that the officials action has led some traders in Kumasi, Ashanti Region, to close their shops.



The GRA is also said to have shut down China Mall in Accra and the Authority reports that the mall has failed to rectify their electronic tax system, thus making it difficult for them to monitor their taxes.



Nana Boakye, in his submissions on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" programme regarding the GRA action, blamed their communicators for the traders' misfortune.



He noted that the Communications Department of the Authority failed to effectively execute their duties.



He recounted that the GRA has sent their officials to sit in the shops of some traders in Kumasi but, to him, this decision is 'oppressive'.



"I understand that we have to maximize revenue but the Communications outfit of GRA, they have failed the nation...I haven't heard any response from GRA. Why are they doing this to the government?...I find it obnoxious. The world economy today is hard. Traders are complaining," he fumed.



He also recounted that, upon hearing about the GRA's action, he sought explanations from the management but to no avail.



To him, if he being the National Organizer of the ruling party wouldn't get a response, he couldn't imagine the frustrations of the traders as nobody from the Authority is explaining matters to them.



According to him, it took the Board Chairman of the GRA, Dr. Tony Oteng-Gyasi, to explain the cause for their action to him.



"Why should even call Board Chairman for Board Chairman to speak with me on phone for 30 minutes, explaining to me that it isn't like that? How?", he asked.





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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A massive waterway project between the Yangtze and the Huaihe rivers is set to test its water diversion and navigation capabilities by the year's end.

The project, with a length of over 1,000 kilometers, will be the second major north-south waterway after the existing Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, which zigzags some 1,794 km.

The trial will come after six years of construction, which started on Dec 29, 2016 at an estimated cost of 91.27 billion yuan ($12.6 billion), said Zhang Xiaowu, chairman of Anhui Provincial Group Ltd for Yangtze-to-Huaihe Water Diversion.

The project will benefit some 50 million people living in 14 cities, including 12 of Anhui province's 16 prefecture-level cities, and two of neighboring Henan province's 17 prefecture-level cities, he said.

The project aims to support the urban and rural water supply for the 14 cities, as well as to develop shipping between the Yangtze and Huaihe rivers. The Yangtze is China's longest river, and the Huaihe, originating in Henan province, flows eastward for 1,000 km through Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces before emptying into the Yangtze at Sanjiangying in Yangzhou, Jiangsu province.

Liu Bo, chairman of China Railway No 4 Engineering Group Co Ltd, or CREC4, which is building the project, said it is one of the country's 172 major water conservancy undertakings and has been dubbed the "No 1 Project" for Anhui's infrastructure.

The Yangtze traverses southern Anhui for some 400 km while the Huaihe runs through northern Anhui.

From south to north, the project is divided into three sections  water diversion from the Yangtze to Chaohu Lake in central Anhui, the canal link between the Yangtze and Huaihe rivers and northward water transmission.

The total length includes 723 km of the newly developed three sections, over 400 km of the existing Yangtze waterway in Anhui and the existing Huaihe navigable waterway.

The project also aims to improve the natural environment of Chaohu Lake and Huaihe River through irrigation and water replenishment, Liu said.

The estimated total investment in the Anhui section, jointly approved by the Ministry of Water Resources and the Ministry of Transport, is set at about 87.5 billion yuan.

Expenses for the Anhui section have reached 78.47 billion yuan, which is 89.6 percent of the total. That lays a solid foundation for testing of water diversion and navigation in Anhui this year, according to the Anhui Provincial Development and Reform Commission.

Liu of CREC4 said the projects his group has helped build are making good progress.

CREC4 builders finished assembling the steel cross strut for a main tower on Qinglong (Blue Dragon) River Bridge in Hefei, capital of Anhui, on July 22, marking another project milestone.

The total length of the bridge project is 1,250 meters, while the bridge itself is 814 m. The project includes the demolition of the old bridge as well as building a new bridge and connecting lines.

It is a double-tower cable-stayed bridge with a main tower that is 72 m high. A cable-stayed bridge is one in which the bridge deck's weight is supported by diagonal tension cables attached to one or more towers. On the main tower, the steel cross strut is designed with a steel structure shaped like the "hovering of a blue dragon", and its construction was a difficult task to complete, said Chen Zihua, a publicity staffer for CREC4.

The steel cross strut weighs 46 metric tons. A 460-ton crane was used to hoist it 55 m high into position with one lift, he said.

Another bridge, on Yulan Avenue in Hefei, built as part of the water diversion project, opened to traffic on July 28, making travel more convenient for residents living on both sides of the Paihe River.

In 2023, the whole project is set to be opened for water diversion and navigation, sending water from the Yangtze to northern Anhui and eastern Henan.
"It is our mandate as an institution to support you to achieve more exports as Ghana takes the needed steps to address its structural economic setup. Accelerating our export drive is imperative to becoming the Ghana we want. " -Amb. Mike Oquaye Jr.



With these words, the CEO of the GFZA kicked off a week-long engagement with licensed free zone companies in the Ashanti and Western Regions of Ghana.



With two enclaves in the western region and one in the Ashanti region, Ghanas lead agency for regulating the free zones scheme and Ghanas Special Economic Zones remains ready to do more.



Amb. Mike Oquaye Jnr. and his team kicked off the customer-facing engagement in the Ashanti Region.



His first stop was at Angel FM, where he answered questions from listeners and the presenter centered on the mandate of the institution and the plans Ghana has to accelerate the development of the Great Kumasi Industrial City Project.



The CEO stressed the need for Ashanti-based industrialists with export orientation to take advantage of available incentives



As part of the regional tour, the team visited Juaben Oil Mills Limited, an agro-processing company at the heart of adding value to oil palm, among others.



After touring the factory and engaging with its leadership, the GFZA team then paid a courtesy call to the Omanhene of the Juaben traditional area, Nana Otuo Siriboe II.



Amb. Mike Oquaye thanked Nana for his continuous support for industrialization and for guiding and shaping the growth of Juaben Oil Mills from inception to date.



Nana Otuo Siriboe II commended Amb. Mike Oquaye for his stellar performance at the GFZA and urged him to do more to achieve the mandate given to him by the President on behalf of the Good People of Ghana.



The GFZA then visited OLAM Ghana Limited, one of Ghanas largest licensed agro-food processing firms. OLAM Ghana is an adept buyer and exporter of processed cocoa, cashew, and rice in Ghana.



Amb. Oquaye encouraged OLAM to do more for the sector as he committed to working closely with the company to clear bottlenecks that might impede their growth



The next company visited by the team was Logs & Lumber Ghana Limited, one of the leading timber logging and processing companies in Ghana and the West African sub-region. Amb. Mike Oquaye noted the company's concerns and committed to working with other state actors to address them.



In the Western Region, Ambassador Oquaye and the team paid a working visit to the Regional Minister, Hon. Kwabena Okyere Darko Mensah, to discuss pertinent land-related issues before heading to the Lands Commission with the team.



Before meeting the Regional Minister, Amb. Mike Oquaye was interviewed extensively on Skyy FM during which he updated listeners on a wide range of issues about Free Zones and its activities in the Western Region.



The GFZA team then met with the CEO and management team of Wayoe Engineering & Construction Limited, one of the largest privately-owned Ghanaian engineering and construction companies in West Africa.



The group toured the new factory of the company to get a sense of the investment the company had made and its growth potential. Amb. Mike Oquaye committed to working closely with the company to find lasting solutions to some identified problems.



The team then visited Amalitech Limited, a social enterprise that harnesses the potential of remote work to build the future of work in sub-Saharan Africa.



Speaking at the end of the one-week working visit, Amb Mike Oquaye expressed satisfaction with the achievements of many of the institutions in the two regions.



He also charged the regional heads of the GFZA to continue delivering value to all GFZA-licensed businesses.



Mr. Ziblim Alhassan, Director of Administration and Human Resources; Mr. Jesse Agyepong, Director of Corporate Affairs; and Mr. Lawrence Osei-Boateng, Director of Business Development and Research, accompanied Ambassador Mike Oquaye on the working visit. He was also accompanied by Mr. Ricky Osei Owusu, Regional Head of the Ashanti Region; Hajia Hanatu Abubakar, Regional Director for the Western Region; Mr. Fred Agyei-Gyane, Manager in Charge of Compliance; and Mr. Harry Ansah, Personal Assistant to the CEO.









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German trade show specialists, agrofood & plastprintpack West Africa, will from November 29 - December 1, 2022, organise the 7th edition agrofood West Africa in Ghana.



The 2022 agrofood trade fair conference, the 7th edition of the fair, will come off at the Grand Arena of the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC).



It is expected to bring together exhibitors from thirteen (13) registered countries who will showcase their products at the fair.



The participating countries are Ghana, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Iran, Italy, Poland, Spain, Turkey, USA, South Africa, Egypt and Sri Lanka.



The agrofood & plastprintpack West Africa 2022 is a collaboration between fairtrade and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI), Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA), and Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC).



The rest are the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) and Food and Beverages Association of Ghana (FABAG).



Addressing a press conference in Accra Tuesday, October 11, 2022, in Accra, the Managing Director (MD) of fairtrade, organisers of the upcoming event, Paul Marz, announced that the trade fair will focus on agrofoods and plastic products, printing and packaging.



"From November 29 to December 1, 2022, at the Grand Arena of the Accra International Conference Centre, here in Accra, we are going to have exhibitors from 13 countries all over the world, displaying their latest technology, latest products from their respective countries in the entire food and agrofood value chain.



...From production processing to the final product on the table and everything you need," he noted.



He added that the products that will be showcased will include food packaging and labelling, plastic printing and packaging materials.



He disclosed that the objective of the fair is to create trade partnerships and value between international and Ghanaian companies within the agrofood and plastic packaging industry.



"...and the second very important objective is to bring production to Ghana to enhance production in Ghana so Ghana becomes less dependent on food imports, and produce more in the country," he further disclosed.



Elaborating on the plastics printing and packaging, Mr. Marz revealed that exhibitors in this space will display plastics raw materials, machinery for printing and labelling on plastic products.



"We will also have some of the exhibitors' exhibit packaging machinery and products," he mentioned.



According to the MD of fairtrade, the international exhibition will be supplemented by a three-day programme that will be laden with presentations and conferences.



Mr. Marz used the opportunity to invite all professionals in the agrofood and plastics packaging sector to endeavour to participate in the event.



In a brief statement, the Director of Plant, Protection and Regulatory Services at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Eric Quaye, commended fairtrade for putting together the exhibition.



He stressed that such events were very crucial to the policies of the ministry, adding that there was the need to produce good quantities of foods that needed to be processed further.



He entreated Ghanaian businesses that will be participating in the event to take full advantage and shore up their businesses.



He pledged MoFA's support to fairtrade to ensure that the event becomes successful.



The 6th agrofood West Africa held in 2019 featured 87 exhibitors from 17 countries.



The exhibition presented a platform for the exhibitors to offer solutions to hundreds of trade visitors and buyers from Ghana and neighbouring West African countries.



The exhibitors came from Belgium, China, France, Germany, Ghana, India and Italy.



The rest were Jordan, Morocco, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tunisia and Turkey.



About fairtrade

Founded in 1991, fairtrade has long been one of the leading organisers of professional international agrofood and plastprintpack trade fairs in Africa and the Middle East.



Over the decades, more than 36,000 exhibitors and 1.5 million trade visitors have expressed their confidence in fairtrade.



With its international trade shows, they employ innovative ways to connect emerging markets with solution providers from across the globe.



Facilitating valuable business contacts between their exhibitors and trade visitors -that is what fairtrade stands for.



fairtrade is managed by its founder, Martin Marz, and his son, Paul Marz, who joined the company in 2006 and builds on a highly motivated team of experienced and young professionals, many of them qualified in-house over three years in partnership with the German Cooperative State University to a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration - Exhibition, Convention & Event Management or Media & Communication Management.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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The Peoples National Convention (PNC) has welcomed the producer price for cocoa announced by the government.



The PNC in a statement signed by its General Secretary, Janet Asana Nabla, said it was of the firm conviction that an increment in cocoa producer prices by 21 per cent was commendable in the light of global economic crisis coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia/Ukraine war induced hardship all over the world.



Government pegged the producer price for cocoa at GH800 per bag of 64 kilogrammes. The new price took effect last Friday for the 2022-2023 crop season.



By this, a tonne of cocoa increased from GH10,560 per tonne to GH12,800 per tonne.



Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, announced the new cocoa producer price at a press briefing in Accra last Wednesday.



Global crisis



The PNC said as an economy that was negotiating with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to improve its debt management, governments resolve to ensure farmers earned a decent income and make cocoa farming lucrative should be commended.



The PNC is calling on all Ghanaians to kindly appreciate the economic difficulties we are in and to redirect our taste from the consumption of foreign goods to that of local ones to help in boosting the Ghanaian economy and to bear with the government in its policy implementation, The PNC said.



The statement said the PNC believed that this was not the time for anyone to wish the government bad, adding that should the economic situation get out of hand no successive governments would have it easy to manage the economy.



Meanwhile, the General Secretary of the PNC has dissociated the PNC from an earlier statement issued by the National Youth Organiser of the PNC, Mark Ewusi Arkoh, in which he has described the new farm gate prices for cocoa beans as an insult to farmers.



Reacting to that statement, dated Thursday, October 6, 2022, Ms Nabla appealed to the public to disregard the said statement, which she described as ill-written.



That statement is not from the PNC and the party is working with those who published it to unveil the faceless persons behind the statement, she said.



She appealed to media houses to kindly verify all statements coming from the party with the General Secretary of the PNC before publishing.









Source: graphiconline.com









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A Tarkwa Circuit Court judge, Hathia Ama Manu, has sentenced two Nigerians to 20-year prison terms for engaging in illegal mining, commonly known as galamsey.



The terms will run concurrently.



The convicts, Ayodele Jackson and Benjamin Obin were arrested at Bepoase, near Prestea in the Western Region.



The two men who were sentenced on October 7, pleaded guilty to the charges with the explanation that they were unemployed and hungry, and had only resorted to the galamsey work as a means of surviving.



They told the court that they had only been indulging in the act for about three weeks before their arrest. They were thus convicted on their own plea.



Laying out the fact of the case, the Prosecutor, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Juliana Dadzie told the court that a complaint was made against the accused by two officers of the Minerals Commission.



According to her, the two Minerals Commission staff, Emmanuel Morrison and Bismark Mansoh, on a routine patrol in the Prestea area, spotted the accused, with about fifteen others engaging in illegal mining activities with two excavators, a washing plant and a water pumping machine at Bepoase.



Upon seeing the two officers, the miners fled, but the officers managed to apprehend the two expatriates.



They were then handed over to the Police, with the pumping machine and one excavator control board.



The court presided over by judge Hathia Ama Manu described the circumstance under which they had entered into the illegal business as unfortunate, but stated that, the country is at a point where our water bodies, especially those of us in the Western Region, have been destroyed due to illegal mining.



The Court thus said that the accused had no excuses to justify destroying the environment.



They were sentenced due to the severity of their offence.



The Court ordered that after serving their sentences, the two men be deported to Nigeria.



The court also ordered that the excavator, with its control board and the water pumping machine be confiscated to the state. They will be handed over to the Minerals Commission.

Source: Isaac Kwame Owusu/Peacefmonline/[email protected]









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Saturday, 8th October 2022 was another great induction and inauguration of Global Peace Ambassadors of IPSPJ, Ghana. The occasion was blessed with attendance from government agencies, office of the President, office of the Minister of State, the Greater Accra Regional Police Commander, Ghana Tourist Authority, various consulates from different Embassies in Ghana, Traditional and Religious leaders International Delegates from IPSPJ Africa, and many other important dignitaries.



International Parliament for Safety, Peace and Justice, Ghana (IPSPJ Ghana) was established in the year March 2020 with the appointment of Amb. Ps. Alexander Obeng Boateng as the Ghana Global Regulatory Director and inaugurated in Nov 2020 during the COVID-19 season with an induction ceremony of National and Regional Executives by the International Africa President, Cardinal Prof. Esapa Sona Joseph Dominion who travelled to Ghana with other international IPSPJ delegates from other African countries.



The Saturday ceremony was spiced with the induction and inauguration ceremony of







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Source: IPSPJ Ghana News









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Nationally, 79,733 girls in Ghana aged 12 to 17 have been in a union, that is married or living together with a man, according to the 2021 Population and Housing Census (PHC).



Out of this number, 25,999 are girls of junior high school age (12 to 14 years).



The regions with the highest percentage of girls ever in a union are Northeast (13.0%), Savanna (10.9%) and Northern (10.6%), all with rates more than twice the national average (4.0%).



Despite free and compulsory universal basic education, almost a quarter of a million girls (244,731) aged between 6 and 14 years have never attended school at all.



Three out of every 10 of these girls are in the Northern Region, which has the highest number of girls who have never attended school (73,516) followed by the Savanna (27,930) and North East (22,857) regions.



These three regions also have the highest percentage of girls currently not attending school (never attended or attended in the past) with Savanna leading all regions with 40.2% followed by the North East Region (29.3%) and the Northern Region (28.5%).



The national figure is 7.8%, which represents 285,271 girls aged 6 to 14 years that are not attending school.



Three out of every four girls (75.8%) aged 6 to 14 years not attending school are living in rural areas.



Further, 99,150 girls under 15 years are engaged in economic activity with half of them (49.7%) out of school.



Half (49.9%) of girls engaged in economic activity are in the Northern (22,647), Oti (17,694), and North East (9,153) regions which have the highest share of girls in economic activity.



The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) released these statistics based on the 2021 Population and Housing Census dataset on the International Day of the Girl Child today, 11 October 2022.



The aim is to highlight challenges preventing young girls from reaching their full potential such as early marriage, and lack of access to educational and other opportunities.



The 2021 PHC General Reports which present disaggregated data by gender on thematic areas from the census questionnaire such as Background Characteristics; Literacy and Education; Economic Activity; Difficulty in Performing Activities; Information and Communication Technology; and Fertility and Mortality are available to download from www.census2021.statsghana.gov.gh





Source: class fm









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A serving Nigerian Army private; Emmanuel Iorliam of the 156 Task Force Battalion, Mainok in Borno state, has been arrested for gun running.



Iorliam who hails from Benue state, allegedly steals arms and ammunition from his base which he sells to Bandits, Boko Haram members, and kidnappers. He met his Waterloo while he was moving the cache of ammunition out of Borno State to hand over to his customers.



He was intercepted by his colleagues at a checkpoint and upon searching him, he was found to be in possession of the stolen ammunition.

A video shared online shows the moment his colleagues intercepted him with the stolen items.



Watch the video below

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Source: LIB









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The prosecution in the case of a Chinese national accused of using a flip knife to slash the neck of a Ghanaian concrete mixture operator, Isaac Boateng, has preferred fresh charges against the accused person.



Xue Hui, a manager of Poly Changda Engineering Company, was initially charged with attempted murder but has now been charged with use of offensive weapon and causing harm following an amendment of the charge sheet.



The case has also been moved from the Sekondi District Court where the committal proceedings began, to the Takoradi Circuit Court A for full trial.



The accused person pleaded not guilty to the two charges when he appeared before the court yesterday, and the court granted him bail in the sum of GH50,000 to reappear on November 22, 2022.



This was after the counsel for the accused, Akpene Darko Cobbinah, had told the court that the charges were bailable ones.



He described the facts of the case by the prosecution as inaccurate, and that what happened was not intentional but accidental.



Even when the incident happened it was the accused who reported himself to the police at Adiembra, and when granted bail, he will not interfere with police investigations, he added.



Granting the bail, the judge, Michael Ampadu, asked the accused to pay the GH50,000 bail sum in cash to be put in the courts yielding account and also deposit his passport with the registrar.



The lead counsel for the accused, Eric Brenya Otchere, pleaded with the court to give the accused some time to pay the GH50,000, which the court agreed and asked the accused to pay the money in seven days.



The brief facts state in August 2022, the accused person reported the behaviour of Isaac Boateng (complainant) to his foreman, one Wisdom Akpalu, for not adhering to safety protocols at work and further intended to dismiss the complainant.



On September 27, 2022, complainant went to work at Kweikuna at 7am and closed at 3pm instead of 5pm, without any permission from the accused or foreman.



The following day, September 28, 2022, while the complainant was working at the site and also taking his lunch, accused confronted him as to why he closed from work at 3pm the previous day.



This resulted in an exchange of words and accused told the complainant that he has dismissed the complainant from work. The complainant became annoyed and packed his working attire and went to accused person to demand his salary.



This led to a hot argument between the two parties. Accused left complainant and went into his office after he intimated to the complainant, he has sent his time sheet to their main office at Airforce Base, Takoradi, for the complainant to be paid.



The complainant therefore stood in front of accused persons office demanding his salary. Accused without any provocation came out of his office wielding a flip knife, which he used to slash the complainants neck.

Source: dailyguidenetwork.com









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She re-entered the country and not until September 2, 2022 when she was re-arrested for engaging in illegal mining activities, there was nothing publicly known about her presence in the country.

The 36-year-old, En Huang known popularly in the galamsey world as Aisha Huang was repatriated to China in 2018.



The repatriated entrepreneur who allegedly entered Ghana again to start mining without a permit, might spend 24 months in prison if proven guilty of violating Ghana Immigration Service rules.



Huang is on the lips of every Ghanaian and the mention of her name surely gets people talking. She got the countrys attention shifted from the economic challenges to galamsey.



Ms Huang is said to be slippery with the law and has defied all odds to get in and out of the country at will but her activities are constantly felt at Gyaman Bepotenteng in the Amansie Central District and parts of Amansie West.



But she is now standing trial for undertaking a mining operation without a licence, facilitating the participation of persons engaged in a mining operation, and the illegal employment of foreigners and entering Ghana while prohibited from re-entry.



She reportedly entered Ghana with a different name, Ruxia Huang and a new passport with different date of birth.



Aisha Huang, alongside Jong Li Hua, Huang Jei and Huaid Hai Hun, is facing initial charges of mining without a valid licence and engaging in the sale and purchase of minerals without a permit.



The Chinese prior to 2017 had been arrested for illegal mining activities but she was not charged.



She was however, first charged in May 2017 for offences relating to illegal mining.



During trial, the Attorney-General filed a nolle prosequi and she was subsequently deported to China without facing full prosecution. It was then announced that she was deported.



But following the current developments, the government has clarified that she was repatriated and not deported.



Enters Senior Minister



The Senior Minister then, Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, in 2018, explained to Ghanaians why Ms Huang was not jailed.



He said Ms Huang was not jailed because her home country China had been giving Ghana economic assistance.





President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on September 20, 2019 described Aisha Huangs deportation as a mistake. This made most people tag her with the name the untouchable woman.



The matter turned murkier when in September 2022, the President in a radio interview at the start of his Volta regional tour, said he was not sure whether Aisha Huang was deported or she fled Ghana.



Amid the brouhaha, the revocation letter from the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), the government agency vested with the power to deport or repatriate foreigners, was made available to the media on Thursday, September 15, 2022.



You are hereby informed that in accordance with Sections 20(2) (a) of the Immigration Act 2000 Act 573, your permit to remain in Ghana has been revoked.



It adds that, You are therefore to leave Ghana immediately on the receipt of this notice. You are directed to stay out of the country until the Comptroller-General approves of your future re-entry into Ghana, the revocation Notice issued to Ms Huang in 2018 stated.



Then the account of police prosecutors when she was arraigned on September 5, 2022 made the matter worse as the drama unfolded.



The police prosecutors contradicted reports and documents by the GIS suggesting that Aisha Huang was repatriated from the countrys jurisdiction in 2018.



Police prosecutors told the court that she fled the jurisdiction, contrary to claims by the Ghana Immigration Service that she was repatriated.



NIA reacts



Meanwhile, the National Identification Authority (NIA) in a statement to clarify the non-citizen identity card found on Aisha at the time of her arrest, explained that the security agencies were investigating the matter.



The non-citizen identity card (Ghana Card) found on Aisha at the time of the arrest was authentic, the NIA said after it checked the details.



The NIA in a statement said En Huang first applied for the card at the Foreigner Identification Management System (FIMS) registration centre at Nhyiaeso, Kumasi, in the Ashanti Region on February 26, 2014.



She, subsequently, did two more renewals on August 31, 2016 and January 8, 2018, using the same details and the Chinese passport number G39575625 with the name En Huang.



On August 25, 2022, she visited an NIA registration centre in Tamale in the Northern Region for a card, but that time around under the name Ruxia Huang.



Who is Ruxia Huang?



According to the NIA, further investigations revealed that based on the biometrics provided, Ruxia Huang had previously registered as En Huang in the FIMS record in the NIA database.



She opted to renew with the old details and then go through the affidavit and gazette process, after which she would then provide the documents for the update to be done.



Her renewed non-citizen Ghana Card was then issued to her on August 25, 2022, with the name En Huang, the statement said.



So far, very little is known of children, spouse and net worth of the Chinese lady, born on July 7, 1986, but Anthony Faiben, a Ghanaian, is said to be her husband.



Checks show that a memo authored by an Assistant Commissioner (Regional Commander) of the GIS, Ashanti Region, which was addressed to the Deputy Comptroller-General of the GIS on September 2, 2016, suggests that Ms Huang was granted an indefinite residence permit on March 28, 2015, which enabled her or entitled her to stay or remain indefinitely in the country.



The memo under reference indicated that En Huang, aka Aisha Huang, first entered Ghana through the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) on May 28, 2006.



Since then the subject has been frequenting the country. She was previously on a dependant permit since December 5, 2013.



Currently, she is on an indefinite residence permit issued on 29th March 2015, Mr Isaac Luortey said.



Luorteys memo



Apparently, Mr Luorteys memo was triggered by media reports dated August 24, 2016 to the effect that Aisha Huang was engaged in illegal mining activities leading to the destruction of cocoa farms and pollution of water bodies; encroachment on other peoples concessions and that residents and chiefs of the affected communities were planning to protest against her illegal mining activities.



As a result of that, the woman in question, En Huang, was served with an invitation letter to enable the Command ascertain the situation on the ground. She reported herself on Tuesday, 30th August, 2016 where her statement was taken, Mr Luortey noted.



She also disclosed that her husband had registered two companies in the country.



The nature of business of the second company (Golden Asia Limited .) was General Merchant Import and Export of Goods and mining. She was the second Director of the company.



Interestingly, Ms Huang disclosed in her written statement that her four excavators seized by the National Security on the said site were released to her when the Ashanti Regional Minister indicated that the operation was conducted without his consent, Mr Luortey noted.









Source: graphiconline.com









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The Attorney General, Godfred Dame, on Tuesday, told an Accra High Court that, the state has evidence to prove that some four foreigners charged as accomplices of galamsey kingpin, Aisha Huang were indeed engaged in illegal mining activities.



The Attorney General, during proceedings on October 11, 2022, told the court that the evidence gathered by the state against the suspects include five receipts issued to the foreign nationals as proof of purchase of small-scale mining sites.



According to the Attorney General, the suspects were engaged in criminality as the laws of Ghana bar foreigners from engaging in small-scale mining.



The four suspects are made up of three Chinese nationals; Shi Yang alias Philip, Li Wei Guo and Shi Mei Zhi, as well as a Vietnamese national, identified as Nguyen Thi Thanh Tuyen.



They are all facing a provisional charge of engaging in small scale-mining without a licence, contrary to section 99(2)(a) of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703) as amended by Act 995 of 2019.



However, the Vietnamese national is facing a separate charge for remaining in Ghana after the expiration of a permit contrary to sections 20(1) and 52(1)(d) of the Immigration Act, 2000 (Act 573).



The three Chinese nationals have all pleaded not guilty to their charge while the court was compelled to defer the plea of the fourth suspect due to the absence of an interpreter.



Responding to the prosecutions evidence against the suspects, their lawyer, Lucie Ekelebe Blay who was holding brief for Freddie Blay challenged the substance of the receipt.



According to the lawyer for the accused persons, the supposed purchase of mining sites by her clients did not materialise as they were duped in the process.



Her argument nonetheless was deemed as enough grounds to prove the prosecutions case according to the Attorney General.



In his response to the defence lawyer, Godfred Yeboah Dame maintained that the suspects breached the law by their attempt to own a mining concession as the law prohibits foreigners from engaging in small scale mining.



The court, citing various factors such as the nature of the alleged offence committed by the suspects, their flight risk possibility and the severity of punishment if they are found guilty, denied the four bail till the end of their trial.



The case against the four has been adjourned to Tuesday, November 1, 2022.



Aisha Huang



The states case against alleged galamsey kingpin Aisha Huang was called after that of her alleged accomplices was adjourned.



Presiding Judge Lydia Osei Marfo, during a sitting on Tuesday, October 11, 2022, refused the plea of her lawyer, Nkrabea Effah Dartey, after the latter argued that his client deserved bail.



According to the judge, all arguments previously made against his plea for bail, including his client's flight risk, remain and will not be changed.



She added that his constant presence in court with his client would be the only way to ensure the case is heard accordingly for the determination of his client's fate.



State Prosecutor Godfred Dame, on his part, reiterated government's commitment to ensuring the case is duly heard and that the accused are prosecuted if found guilty.



Aisha Huang is in court over charges of mining without a license and engaging in the sale and purchase of minerals, four other charges, including undertaking a mining operation without a license.



She is also facing four other charges, including undertaking a mining operation without a license, facilitating the participation of persons engaged in a mining operation, illegal employment of foreign nationals, and entering Ghana while prohibited from re-entry were filed at the Criminal Division of the Accra High Court on Friday, September 16, 2022.



Her case has since been adjourned to October 24, 2022, for case management.









Source: ghanaweb.com









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Over the past decades, China has seen remarkable achievements in giant panda protection. The establishment of the Giant Panda National Park, which covers the provinces of Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu, has further protected the species and created new opportunities for locals.

In 2017, China started piloting the giant panda park. Last year, China officially designated the first group of five national parks, including the Giant Panda National Park.

Covering about 22,000 square km, the park is home to more than 1,300 wild pandas. The park area in Sichuan accounts for 87.7 percent of its total area, and the wild panda population there accounts for 91.6 percent of the park's total.

Sichuan has strengthened wild panda conservation efforts across the park within the province in recent years. A total of 460 patrol routes stretching over 2,300 km have been set up. The Park section in Sichuan has more than 1,700 infrared cameras, collecting over 100,000 pieces of monitoring information every year.

Meanwhile, Sichuan has also seen an improvement in the quality of its captive giant pandas.

As of October, 13 panda cubs had been born at the China Conservation and Research Center for Giant Panda this year. There are 355 pandas at the center, accounting for more than 50 percent of captive giant pandas across the globe.

"We pursued panda numbers in the past, but now, we pay more attention to the quality of the species. We have been improving our standards in breeding and feeding giant pandas to ensure the high-quality development of the panda population," said Wei Rongping, a center official.

"The national park integrates all conservation efforts and creates a better habitat for the giant pandas, which is also conducive to their existence and reproduction," said Xiang Kewen, head of the park administration.

New life for park residents

To better protect wild pandas, the national park has been divided into core protection areas and general control areas. Human activities are prohibited in the core protection areas and limited in the latter areas.

Luoyigou Village is adjacent to a core protection area.

"Villagers' attitudes toward the protection efforts have made a U-turn. They could not fully understand these efforts at first and often poached wild animals and cut down trees," said Yang Yong, Party chief of Luoyigou Village.

But they are now embracing the conservation policies as they are benefiting from them. Yang added that modern infrastructure, the introduction of eco-friendly industries and new job opportunities have given villagers new hope.

To date, Sichuan has created more than 9,300 public welfare jobs in the national park, and 87.89 percent of these posts were offered to local residents.

Yingjing County is a significant habitat for wild pandas. Nearly half the county is inside the national park. This mountainous county once heavily depended on traditional industries such as coal mining, quarrying, and lumbering.

The county shut down these industries and set about developing panda-related tourism.

Guo Hongmei, a resident of Fazhan Village, started to engage in rural tourism a few years ago. Guo's homestay now offers 22 rooms and provides catering for tourists. The new business brings her an annual income of up to 400,000 yuan (about 56,278 U.S. dollars).

"We have diversified wildlife here, such as giant pandas and golden snub-nosed monkeys, and primordial forest, attracting many visitors every year," said Guo, also a tour guide.

"Sichuan has effectively eased the conflict between humans and animals, and between conservation and development," Xiang said.
National Organizer of the New Patriotic Party, Henry Nana Boakye, has lashed out at former President John Dramani Mahama for his recent verbal attack on the Judiciary and the media.



According to him, as a statesman, it is incumbent on the former president to rise above this kind of politics and rather learn to project the judiciary and the media when ever he gets the chance to speak on any international platform.



The former president recently reiterated his call on Ghanaian judges to deliver justice impartially to the people.



While asking the Ghanaian media to report facts without bias, and also to hold the government of the day accountable, Mr Mahama also had cause to complain about the Electoral Commission (EC) saying the electoral body owes it a sacred duty of care to the people by ensuring they are included and not excluded in the electoral process in the interest of the incumbent administration.



In series of tweets, Mr Mahama said A judiciary owes it a duty to deliver impartial justice to the people; an Ombudsman owes a duty of care to the people to investigate all issues of malfeasance; a police force should exist to serve the people and not rein terror on them; an electoral commission owes 



But speaking on Okay Fm's Ade Akye Abia programme, Nana B, as the NPP National Organizer is affectionately called, pointed out that the former has benefitted from the impartial nature of the judiciary and the media, and so he should not behave as if the judiciary and the media are working against him or his party.



To him, Mr Mahama had his time in court when he was not satisfied with the results of the 2020 general elections so he should not blame the judiciary or the media with their abysmal performance in court.



"As political parties, we may have have our differences about the judiciary. My political party the NPP has had its own differences with the judiciary but that does mean the party or its leader should speak against them and make the world feel they are not a trust worthy institution in a country that is democratically independent.



"He should know that a former president he owes it a duty to project state institutions and help shape their activities without criticizing and condemning their work both locally and internationally," he added.





Watch Video Below





Source: Isaac Kwame Owusu/Peacefmonline/[email protected]









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Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, George Mireku Duker has lashed out at Nana Nyonwah Panyin IV, who claims to be the Chief of Dompim-Pepesa, over his allegations against him.



Nana Nyonwah Panyin IV alleged that the Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, Deputy Lands Minister, George Mireku Duker and the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Chief Executive, Benjamin Kessie are culprits in the galamsey trade.



To him, the involvement of these appointees and other government officials has made the combat against the illegal mining (galamsey) a living hell for the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the people of Ghana.



I know not of any company but I know of the very people who are behind the operations of galamsey in my area. First and foremost the Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah is involved.



The MP for the area, Tarkwa Nsuaem, Honorable George Mireku-Duker is also involved and the MCE, Benjamin Kessie is also involved I have told you I am not going to disclose my arsenals to you.



They said they were going to sue, so let them sue. Ill let out my arsenals at the right time, he said in an interview on Joy FMs Super Morning Show.



But the Deputy Minister has refuted the claims.



According to him, his accuser is bitter about something that happened in the past involving the two of them.



He explained that Nana Nyonwah Panyin IV's accusations are born out of malice because he (Mireku Duker), who was the Chief of the community in 2008 till he abdicated his throne to vie for parliamentary seat, didn't hand over the reins to him (Nana Nyonwah Panyin IV).



He disclosed that Nana Nyonwah Panyin IV is his nephew but not Chief of the area.



"Dompim-Pepesa, I, Mireku Duker was the Chief there as at 2008. This Dakyi guy is my nephew; he is my direct nephew. My sister is his mother...All that he is doing is because I didn't make him the Chief. I didn't hand over to him..."



As a result, Nana Nyonwah Panyin IV has made it his assignment to vilify him and aims to bring him down.



"This person who is parading himself (as Chief) did the worse things during the 2020 elections. He organized press conferences, led independent candidate against me and so forth. So, he is so bitter", he said while addressing the issue on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" programme.



Hon. Mireku Duker stated categorically that he has "never done mining before" and never engaged in galamsey.



"This is not something you can hide...Any person who does mining, the small-scale miners will know that you are a miner...The people will know when you do mining. It won't take Nathaniel Dakyi to tell Ghanaians that Mireku Duker is involved in galamsey. I mean it doesn't add up. Everybody knows that he is someone consistently hates me because he thinks I didn't support him to become Chief of Dompim", he stated.





He vowed to file a law suit against Nana Nyonwah Panyin IV regarding the allegations.He stressed; "During the election time, he said a lot of things against me and because it was in the campaign season, I didn't mind him but for this recent one, I will not let it slide. I have engaged my lawyers who as I talk right now are preparing his writ for court. I believe the court is an open forum where, due to democracy, you can present every evidence you have and prove to Ghanaians if Mireku Duker does galamsey but if it's not true, then the law will deal with him accordingly."

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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George Mireku Duker, the Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, says the Akufo-Addo government hasn't lost the battle against galamsey but is on the right track to ending this menace.



Joining the Wednesday panel on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" show to discuss the galamsey situation, the Deputy Minister advised the government and the New Patriotic Party not to lose sight of their vision.



He cautioned the ruling party saying some people are setting an agenda to derail them.



"If the NPP don't exercise patience, some people will set an agenda for us. Let us remain focused. We are on track in the fight against galamsey. Government is in control," he stated.



Also subtly touching on calls for illegal miners to be shot on-site, Hon. Mireku Duker replied; "We are not in junta regime for us to go and shoot people free".



To him, for the nation to end galamsey, "what we need is attitudinal change".





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The involvement of New Patriotic Party-affiliated defense lawyers in the case involving Chinese galamsey kingpin, Aisha Huang, and her accomplices may create an impression of a fixed match if the prime suspect is acquitted and discharged by the court.



This is the observation of Director of Legal Affairs for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Abraham Amaliba.



Speaking to Accra-based Joy FM on Freddie Blays legal representation for Aisha Huangs co-accused persons, the legal practitioner admitted that it was professionally right for the former chairman of the New Patriotic Party to offer his services to the client.



He, however, believes that lawyers from the NPP fold should have used their conscience in deciding whether or not to accept the offer especially as its government was waging war on illegal small scale mining (galamsey).



Accepting the legal representation duties he said would rather lead to people pointing accusing fingers at the government, to the extent that it is disinterested in combating the menace.



Already Nkrabea Effah Darteh who is known to be connected to the NPP is the one representing Aisha Huang. Now to have the immediate past chairman of the NPP also join forces to defend these galamseyers, it gives the impression that government as it were, is not interested in fighting the menace.



One would have expected that such lawyers who are from the NPP stock would allow their conscience to guide them and for them to desist from providing such services because it goes a long way to point fingers at the government, Amaliba said



The NDCs Director of Legal Affairs further suggested that Freddie Blay's defense of persons involved in galamsey betrays his knowledge of what transpired at the cabinet level.



He stated that the former chairman of NPP who used to sit in cabinet openly defending Aisha Huangs accomplices shows that it is going to be a fixed match and nothing will happen to Aisha Huang. Fixed match connoting that that the outcome of the trial would have been predetermined in the favour of the accused persons.



If at the end of the day it is found out that Aisha Huang is to be acquitted and discharged, then people will be making their deductions and saying that then the whole trial was what somebody will sayit was a fixed match.

How can your Attorney General be prosecuting somebody in this matter of national interest then you have lawyers connectedand not just any lawyers.. you have the former Chairman of the NPP who sits in cabinetuntil now he used to sit in cabinet...and I want to believe that cabinet abhors the galamsey taking place in this country.



So if you have the chairman who sat in cabinet seen openly defending a galamseyer, it creates the impression that clearly this is going to be a fixed match and nothing will happen to Aisha Huang, he emphasized.



Freddie Blay to represent Aisha Huangs accomplices



Aisha Huang together with her four other accomplices made a court appearance yesterday October 11 for the state to continue with their prosecution.



Private attorney Lucy Ekeleba Blay said in court that she was holding brief for Freddie Blay in the case of the four accomplices. Another NPP affiliated lawyer, Nkrabea Effah Darteh is representing the main accused, Aisha Huang.



Meanwhile, Attorney General Godfred Dame has indicated his office readiness to fast-track the prosecution of Aisha Huang for her past and previous crimes.



Aisha Huang and her accomplices have been remanded into custody until November 24, 2022 following the judge refusal to grant them bail.

















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 National Executives of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), on Tuesday, October 11, 2022, had an engagement with some members of the Partys National Council of Patrons.



The engagement forms part of an initiative introduced by the National Executives, dubbed, Time With Party Patrons aimed at revitalizing the Patrons support and commitment to party activities as well as enhancing the relationship between the Party and its Patrons.



Patrons are members of the Party who undertake to contribute funds on regular basis for the day to day running of the Party at the National, Regional and Constituency levels.



Tuesdays engagement, which was facilitated by the National Treasurer of the Party, Dr. Charles Dwamena, among other things, explored various fundraising strategies that the Party could adopt for the running of the Party at all levels.



National officers who graced the occasion were the National Chairman, Mr. Stephen Ayesu Ntim; the Second Vice National Chairperson, Madam Rita Asobayere; the Third Vice National Chairman, Alhaji Masawudu Osman; Chairman of the Finance Committee, Abankwa Sekyere, and Mr. William Yamoah, Director of Finance and Administration of the Party.



Mr. Stephen Ntim, the National Chairman of the Party recounted and praised the Patrons for their immense contributions to the party over the years.



He intimated that the Party will soon rollout a reward scheme system that will give recognition and appreciation to dedicated patrons for their contributions towards the party.



The National Chairman also disclosed that plans were underway to ensure that such meetings are held on a timely basis to create a platform for the patrons to know one another for the betterment of the party.



The National Patrons who attended this meeting included Hon. Alan Kwadwo Kyeremateng, Hon. Boakye Agyarko, H. E. Edward Boateng, Hon. Gifty Ohene Konadu, Nana Ohene Ntow, Diana Asonaba Dapaah, Ing. Kwabena Agyei Agyapong, Hon Francis Addai Nimo, Jimmy B. Haymann, Iddrisu Abdulai, Mr. Francis Addai Nimo, Mr. Jojo Fosu, Mr. Egbert Faibille Jnr, Mr. Stephen Kyerematen, Mr. Abankwa Yeboah, Hon. Mrs. Catherine Afeku, Madam Mawusi Awitty, among others.

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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President Bongbong Marcos signing into law of the SIM Registration Act is the most welcomed law I could ever imagine, and it was his first signing after 100 days in office. This law would not only benefit everyone, but especially politicians and businesses from scammers. But, would this law end the troll business? Your guess is as good as mine.



Hopefully, this law will ease the job of the countrys law enforcement agencies in preventing cybercrimes and going after the chiselers that use the gadgets.



With the signing of this Act, we will finally achieve what has long been overdue, an effective means of regulating the issuance of SIM cards to curb the spread of spam text messages and scams, President Marcos said after the ceremonial signing of the law in Malacanang on Monday, Oct. 10, 2022.



***



The arrest of Police Master Sergeant Rodolfo Mayo Jr., who yielded P13.6 million worth of shabu, is a disgrace to the police organization and another blot on its already tarnished image of wrongdoings and it happened just after the 100 days in office of President BBM. Worse, Mayo was an operative of the police anti-narcotics division, which suggests that he could have access to the confiscated illegal drugs.



The case of Mayo somehow underscored the fact that the bloody war against illegal drugs of the past administration was a failure. It failed not only to prevent the entry into the country of illegal drugs, but it also miserably failed in attaining its goal of cleansing the men in uniform involved in the illegal drug trade. The threats to eliminate them did not even work.



On the other hand, the arrest of Mayo, as well as of Lyndon Dionson, Kenneth Dionson, Dindo Chococo, Ritzel Carballo, Bernardo Corridor, Rodolfo Detulla and Virgilio Bacuz, who were earlier arrested for their involvement in the illegal drug trade, indicates that our police are not remiss in their job and this shows a stark difference from the previous administrations zealous campaign against illegal drugs.



Philippine National Police Chief Rodolfo Azurin Jr. and his administration deserve praise for a job well done. I could only wish that he would be successful in not only preventing the commission of crimes and the illegal drug trade, but also in sanitizing the police organization of the black sheep who dont deserve to be in the police service whose main mission is to serve and protect the people and their properties.



Azurin vowed to focus on the case of Mayo, which means that the PNP will try to convince Mayo to cooperate by revealing his possible bosses and associates, and the other people that are directly involved in the illegal drug trade. What we dont want to hear later on, though, is that Mayo would claim that the P13.6 million worth of shabu uncovered in his office is evidence or that it will be used in the entrapment operations, considering that Mayo is an operative of the anti-narcotics division of the police.



The police should immediately file the appropriate criminal charges against Mayo and secure him as he could be a subject of elimination since the illegal drug trade in the country is now highly entrenched, and what we possibly dont know is that some people in high places, either in the private sector or government, might be involved.



Certainly, Mayo would be the best and most credible source of information as to who his principals and cohorts are in the illegal drug trade. I hate to say this, but there is a possibility that some members of the PNP higher in rank than Mayo may be part of the larger illegal drug operations in the country.
LIBEL is not protected speech. There is no freedom to unjustly destroy the reputation of a woman by publicly claiming that she is a paid prostitute. -- Court of Appeals Associate Justice Roberto P. Quiroz who wrote the decision



WHAT JUST HAPPENED. The Court of Appeals (CA) last Monday (October 10, 2022) rejected the motion for reconsideration of two journalists of the digital news outlet Rappler, which assailed its ruling that affirmed the Manila Regional Trial Court conviction for cyber-libel of Rappler's Reynaldo Santos and Maria Ressa.



On top of the rebuff, the CA added eight months and 20 days each to the jail term of Santos and Ressa, which was originally set for six months and one day to six years. They will appeal the CA decision to the Supreme Court.



The CA fourth division ruling, not unexpected, said the motion for recon merely "rehashed" arguments of the journalists in their appeal. The court said "the matters raised by the accused-appellants" were already "exhaustively resolved and discussed."



Yet the appellate court took the issues up anew, reinforcing its July 7, 2022 decision, which affirmed the June 15, 2020 conviction of Santos and Ressa by the Manila Regional Trial Court (Branch 15). More than ever, implications of the ruling on media practice appear to be more scary.



11 'ERRORS.' Santos and Ressa, through their lawyers, cited 11 "errors" of the CA, which the court turned down. Topping that list, for media practitioners, are the issues on prescription and re-publication.



Those are not just interesting questions of law; they directly affect the practice of journalism.



The Anti-cybercrime Law's constitutionality may be the root issue but it would take deeper probing by the SC as it already ruled on it in 2014, in Jose Jesus M. Disini vs Secretary of Justice, which the CA waved in the face of Santos and Ressa as a doctrine adopted by the high court "with finality."



FIRST, WHO CAN FIX IT. The new CA ruling repeats what the court said before about the authority that can fix the dispute on penalties and prescription of the crime.



"As the (appealed) decision stressed, the power to fix the penalties for violations of penal laws, like the cyber-crime law, exclusively belongs to Congress." "Prescription," the CA said, "is not a matter of procedure over which the Court has something to say... it is substantive law since it assumes the existence of an authority to punish a wrong, which authority the Constitution vests in Congress alone."



Courts interpret the law as they see it. If Congress bungles by omission or unclear language, courts settle the dispute over interpretation, as what happens to journalists are haled to court for cyber-libel.



Congress can fix the problem of vagueness or lack of clarity of the law while even the Supreme Court can only ascertain the intent of Congress and uphold or reject the interpretation of lower courts RTC and CA.



PENALTY, 15-YEAR PRESCRIPTION. Santos and Ressa didn't question the law on penalty but the court's meting out of the penalty. In error #9, they said the court "erred in modifying the penalty of imprisonment by increasing it."



Under the Anti-cybercrime Law (Republic Act 20175) -- which took effect on October 9, 2012 but was ruled by the SC as valid and constitutional only on February 11, 2014 -- the Rappler journalists could be sued for their acts committed when the SC's TRO or temporary restraining order was in effect. What was suspended by the TRO was only the implementation, not its effectivity, said the CA.



Some people may scoff at it as hair-splitting but that's what most lawyers, including judges, do with the law.



Similarly, the CA ruling also views prescription of cyber-libel thus: The reason for the 15-year prescriptive period, the CA said, is the increase of the penalty for libel -- one degree higher than that for ordinary libel. The "use of information and technologies" qualifies libel to cyber-libel, from 4 years, 2 months and 1 day to from 6 years and 1 day to 8 years, which the CA said classifies the penalty as afflictive, which under the Revised Penal Code prescribes in 15 years.



MEANING OF RE-PUBLICATION. In reckoning the prescriptive period, the CA insisted that the Rappler article of May 29, 2012 was re-published even though only one letter was corrected in its update of the same article on February 19, 2014. Rappler argues that the correction is too "un-substantial" and cannot be deemed a republication. Does not matter, the CA said, "what matters is that the very exact libelous article was again published on a later date." The re-publication is what Santos and



Ressa are sought to be punished for, not the original article.



Had Rappler people left the article alone, would it have been considered re-published?



The implication of the CA pronouncement is that the journalist and his news outlet keep the prescriptive period running forever by the simple act of updating stories in the website. It would be interesting to see if the SC would allow the prescriptive period to swing like a sword over the head of journalists "in perpetuity." And what of the writer who may have nothing to do with the updating?



NOT AN ARBITRARY DISTINCTION? The CA's holding on to the 15-year prescriptive period for cyber-libel, as compared to the one year in ordinary libel, must be explained by the court's belief that there's a whole lot of difference between the two crimes, specifically in the manner each is committed, between traditional publication and online publication.



The libelous article under traditional publication, the CA said, is only released and circulated once, on the day it is published, while the release of the defamatory article on cyberspace makes "commission of the offense continuous" because the article "remains there in perpetuity."



Specifying the "offensive" article in Rappler about businessman Wilfredo Keng, who filed the complaint against Santos and Ressa, the CA said, "is continuously published and can still readily be consumed by anyone who has access to cyberspace."



"CHILLING EFFECT," the near-cliche used in the media industry on government measure or action that tends to repress free press and free speech, was picked up by the CA in its argument for rejecting Santos's and Ressa's motion.



The court said the cyber-libel law "does not remotely and could not have chilling effect on the right of the people to disagree, a most protected right, the exercise of which does not constitute libel."



No trampling on the right to free expression, the CA said. "Libel is not protected speech." Constitutional guarantees against prior restraint, subsequent punishment, the requirement of actual malice, and the protection given by privileged communication, "ensure that protected speech remains to be protected and guarded."



WHAT THE CA FAILED to mention is the intent to harass and oppress the journalist, often concealed behind, or coated with, the color of legality, when aggrieved complainant gets the support of government forces to go after and avenge critical reporting against those in power. Apparently because it is not seen in the welter of arguments on the meaning of the law.



Debate over penalties and prescriptive period has crowded out the pattern of assault against a "hostile" sector of media. For the plain reason that it's not the issue litigated, even it is what has set the forces in motion.
Rocky Mountain National Park, United States. Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

President Joe Biden is creating his first national monument on Wednesday, protecting for future generations a rugged landscape in the heart of the Rocky Mountains where the legendary 10th Mountain Division trained for alpine warfare during World War II.

Biden is traveling to Colorado for the designation of the Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument.

Biden will also announce he's blocking new mining claims and mineral leases on approximately 225,000 acres in the Thompson Divide area of western Colorado for at least the next two years and possibly for two decades.

The latest:

Biden is using his authority under the Antiquities Act to proclaim national monuments on federal lands that contain historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, or other objects of historic or scientific interest.

While this is the first national monument Biden has created, he previously used the act to restore environmental protections for three national monuments that had been limited by the Trump administration.

Colorado's three GOP House members told Biden in a September letter not to use the Antiquities Act as a "workaround to the Congress." A large conservation bill to protect the area, which some Republicans consider a federal land grab, has stalled in Congress.

The Biden administration says the new monument honors veterans and indigenous people while protecting a landscape that supports America's outdoor recreation economy.

The Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument becomes the country's 130th national monument and the first since then-President Donald Trump declared Camp Nelson National Monument in Kentucky in 2018.

Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument

The 53,804-acre area lies area within the ancestral homelands of the Ute Tribes, along the Continental Divide in north-central Colorado. Soldiers in the 10th Mountain Division learned winter survival techniques there. They also learned ow to snowshoe, climb and ski.

Many returned to the area after the war, helping build a ski industry that's supplemented by hiking and biking trails.

On existing public lands within the White River National Forest, the monument will be managed by the Forest Service. The monument will not affect any permits held by the area's ski resorts, according to the administration.

Thomson Divide protection

The administration is proposing blocking for 20 years the development of mineral and energy resources from a natural gas-rich chunk in western Colorado. New mining claims and federal mineral leases would be paused for at least two years while the government seeks public comment and conducts an environmental analysis.

What they are saying:

"This designation would safeguard some of the state's most iconic, historic, and ecologically significant public lands while bolstering the region's ample outdoor recreation opportunities and local economies," said Loren Blackford, acting executive director of the Sierra Club.

"With every passing year, there are fewer World War II veterans who trained at Camp Hale left to tell their story, which is why it is so important that we protect this site now," said Sen. Michael Bennet, one of the Colorado Democrats who pushed for the designation.

"While Camp Hale and our servicemembers that were stationed there made important contributions to World War II, we don't support the efforts of extremist environmentalists who are seeking to hijack this historic place to create a new land designationa designation that literally does not existto prohibit timber harvesting and mining on nearly 30,000 acres of land," Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Col., and eight other House Republicans wrote.

"For over a decade, the Town of Carbondale Trustees and citizens of Carbondale have consistently supported conservation of public lands in the Thompson Divide, a landscape that is critical to our local economy, home to valuable wildlife habitat and incredible recreational opportunities, and supports some of the oldest ranching operations in the region," said Carbondale Mayor Ben Bohmfalk.

Explore further Benefits likely outweigh costs for national monuments in the American West

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Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Researchers at Cardiff University have identified a peculiar twisting motion in the orbits of two colliding black holes, an exotic phenomenon predicted by Einstein's theory of gravity.

Their study, which is published in Nature and led by Professor Mark Hannam, Dr. Charlie Hoy and Dr. Jonathan Thompson, reports that this is the first time this effect, known as precession, has been seen in black holes, where the twisting is 10 billion times faster than in previous observations.

The binary black hole system was found through gravitational waves in early 2020 in the Advanced LIGO and Virgo detectors. One of the black holes, 40 times bigger than our Sun, is likely the fastest spinning black hole to be found through gravitational waves. And unlike all previous observations, the rapidly revolving black hole distorted space and time so much that the binary's entire orbit wobbled back and forth.

This form of precession is specific to Einstein's theory of general relativity. These results confirm its existence in the most extreme physical event we can observe, the collision of two black holes.

"We've always thought that binary black holes can do this," said Professor Mark Hannam of Cardiff University's Gravity Exploration Institute. "We have been hoping to spot an example ever since the first gravitational wave detections. We had to wait for five years and over 80 separate detections, but finally we have one!"

A more down-to-earth example of precession is the wobbling of a spinning top, which may wobbleor precessonce every few seconds. By contrast, precession in general relativity is usually such a weak effect that it is imperceptible. In the fastest example previously measured from orbiting neutron stars called binary pulsars, it took over 75 years for the orbit to precess. The black-hole binary in this study, colloquially known as GW200129 (named after the date it was observed, January 29, 2020), precesses several times every secondan effect 10 billion times stronger than measured previously.

Dr. Jonathan Thompson, also of Cardiff University, explained: "It's a very tricky effect to identify. Gravitational waves are extremely weak and to detect them requires the most sensitive measurement apparatus in history. The precession is an even weaker effect buried inside the already weak signal, so we had to do a careful analysis to uncover it."

Gravitational waves were predicted by Einstein in 1916. They were first directly detected from the merger of two black holes by the Advanced LIGO instruments in 2015, a breakthrough discovery that led to the 2017 Nobel Prize. Gravitational wave astronomy is now one of the most vibrant fields of science, with a network of the Advanced LIGO, Virgo and KAGRA detectors operating in the US, Europe and Japan. To date there have been over 80 detections, all of merging black holes or neutron stars.

"So far most black holes we've found with gravitational waves have been spinning fairly slowly," said Dr. Charlie Hoy, a researcher at Cardiff University during this study, and now at the University of Portsmouth. "The larger black hole in this binary, which was about 40 times more massive than the Sun, was spinning almost as fast as physically possible. Our current models of how binaries form suggest this one was extremely rare, maybe a one in a thousand event. Or it could be a sign that our models need to change."

The international network of gravitational-wave detectors is currently being upgraded and will start its next search of the universe in 2023. They are likely to find hundreds more black holes colliding, and will tell scientists whether GW200129 was a rare exception, or a sign that our universe is even stranger than they thought.

Explore further Testing Einstein's theory of gravity from the shadows and collisions of black holes

More information: Mark Hannam, General-relativistic precession in a black-hole binary, Nature (2022). www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05212-z Journal information: Nature Mark Hannam, General-relativistic precession in a black-hole binary,(2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05212-z
Communication network. Credit: Bo Sun, Oregon State

Oregon State University scientists are decoding how cells communicate and collectively respond to chemical stimuli in the extracellular environment, knowledge that's critical to understanding physiological processes and blocking disease mechanisms.

A study by researchers in OSU's College of Science and Carlson College of Veterinary shows that the duration of the stimuli plays a big role in the connectivity of cells' communication networks.

Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh also collaborated on the research into what biophysicists refer to as multicellular chemosensing, which is still somewhat shrouded in mystery despite its importance in biological processes, the researchers note.

"We are still far from fully understanding how the information networks are regulated by either external stimulation or cell identities," said Guanyu Li, a doctoral student in the College of Science. "So that is what our paper was trying to investigate."

The extracellular environmentessentially the fluid that surrounds cellscontains many kinds of chemicals, Li explains. Under certain pathological or physiological conditions, the chemical composition changes and triggers a signaling process that leads cells to create responses necessary for maintaining normal function.

Coordinated responses among a group of cells are made possible by cells exchanging molecules with their nearest neighbors, Li said. The exchanges let cells sense and respond to environmental changes in a more reliable way than if they were sensing and responding individually, and they allow multicellular organismspeople, animals, etc.to survive in complicated surroundings.

"For example, when you are doing a cardio workout, cells need energy, which will lead to aerobic metabolism for creating a lot of ATP, an energy molecule," he said. "When you're thirsty, your body will generate ADHantidiuretic hormoneto promote water reabsorption so you will not dehydrate. All these changes in chemicals are like signals trying to alert the body about what is happening. The receivers of those signals are individual cells."

By capturing, or binding, the chemical molecules with receptors on the cell membrane, cells can determine what's going on and trigger the appropriate processes. The catch, though, is that not every cell has the same ability to bind with those molecules.

"So in any multicellular organism, the coordinated sensing and responding within a group of communicating cells is really important," Li said.

In the study, scientists used statistical analysis to determine cells' relationship with their closest neighbors, then ran experiments to see the stimulating chemicals' effect on the cells and the networks.

Li, OSU Honors College undergraduate Alia Starman and associate professor of biophysics Bo Sun stimulated brain cells known as neurons with ATP, an energy molecule found in all forms of life. In their experiments, they varied both the amount of ATP in the extracellular environment and how long the neurons were exposed to it.

They also experimented with tamping down on cell communication speed with a monounsaturated fatty acid, palmitoleic acid, and boosting it via potassium chloride, a metal halide salt.

"Our analyses suggest that an information network's connectivity is mainly regulated by the temporal profile of the external stimulationhow long it lastsand the level of communication ability of the cell itself," Li said. "The size of the dose didn't really affect the network. It was also interesting that moderate communication ability of individual cells led to maximum connectivity in the cells' information networktoo much communication ability or too little both led to a reduction in network connectivity."

The findings shed some light on how the networks are regulated, opening the door to the possibility of controlling multicellular responseand combating diseasevia the right kind of stimulation in the extracellular environment, the researchers said.

The study also showed the collective power of even a comparatively small group of cells, Sun added.

"When hearing beats of music, watching the turn signal of the car in front of you or counting waves on the beach, our brains sense the periodicity and predict when the next event in the sequence will happen," he said. "But does this function require the full power of the brain? Can a minimal system, as simple as a layer of neural cells, sense periodic input? We showed this is possible, and that neural cells do so by forming and organizing a communication network based on signal recurrence."

Findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

More information: Guanyu Li et al, Temporal signals drive the emergence of multicellular information networks, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2022). Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Guanyu Li et al, Temporal signals drive the emergence of multicellular information networks,(2022). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2202204119
The Long March-7 Y6 carrier rocket, tasked with sending China's space station cargo vessel Tianzhou-5 into orbit, has been transported to the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in the southern province of Hainan on Tuesday.

The rocket will undergo assembly and testing together with Tianzhou-5, which arrived earlier, the China Manned Space Agency said on Tuesday.

China will carry out four more missions -- the launch of the Mengtian lab module, the Tianzhou-5 cargo craft, and the Shenzhou-15 manned spaceship, as well as bringing the Shenzhou-14 crew back to Earth -- before it completes the in-orbit construction of the space station by the end of this year.

The Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China is gearing up for the manned spaceship launch and return missions. The Shenzhou-15 crew members are also stepping up training for their spaceflight, the agency said.
A single corn plant with tillers emerging at the base of the stalk on both sides. Tillers in this study were found to either increase or maintain corn yield in the environments evaluated suggesting that corn tillers may be beneficial in fields with a low-density planting strategy. Credit: Ignacio Massigoge

Undeniably, corn is one of the world's most important crops. From feeding humans and livestock, to its many industrial uses, humans have been growing it for approximately 10,000 years.

Traditionally, corn was grown in the most productive regions in the world. These regions have healthy soils, adequate rainfall, and more. Think of places like the American Midwest where you can find a corn-related college mascot. In recent years, the production of corn has grown to less fruitful areas around the world with the development of new corn hybrids and improved farming practices.

A common farming practice in less productive regions is increasing the space between the corn plants in the row. The space between plants is called plant density. With lowered plant density, there is less competition between the corn for water, nutrients, and other resources needed. However, greater access to nutrients can cause the corn to grow an additional component: tillers.

Did you know that corn is technically a member of the grass family? Like other grasses, corn can grow tillers, a branching structure naturally found at the base of a corn plant. Tillers require nutrients to grow. As a result, they can be seen as a nuisance by stealing nutrients from the most important part of the plant: the main ear of corn. Understanding how tillers affect corn yields in less productive regions is crucial.

Ignacio Massigoge, a researcher at National University of Mar del Plata, and his team study corn and tillers in the Pampas of Argentina. "Research that can help stabilize and maximize corn yield will have a significant impact in these restrictive environments," says Massigoge. His team's study was recently published in Crop Science.

"This study aimed to assess the role of tillers on corn planted at a lower density," Massigoge states. How does the presence of tillers impact corn yield in varied environments in the Pampas? What are the relationships between tillers, environment, and corn yield? These were all questions the team worked to answer.

The researchers set up 11 field experiments during two years in the southern Argentinian Pampas. Researchers collected data from corn with and without tillers at 11 locations with varying sunlight, rainfall, and temperatures. For the corn being studied without tillers, the researchers had to remove the tillers by hand.

Data such as plant density, ears of corn per plant, tillers per plant, and corn yield were collected and evaluated. Gathering this data led to some exciting results: In a wide range of environments, tillers either maintained or increased corn yield compared to corn without tillers.

"The advantages of corn with tillers compared to the corn without tillers were evident across a wide variety of environments. Remarkably, tillers did not promote negative effects on overall corn yield even in the most restrictive environments evaluated," says Massigoge. "Farmers and producers in restrictive environments can use these findings to understand the effects of tillers on corn planted at a lower density."

Lower planting density is beneficial in restrictive environments like the Pampas region. Reducing plant density decreases water use and increases water availability, so one of the main challenges for corn under these conditions is to maximize the use of resources. This study proved that tillers could help maximize the corn's use of its resources and adapt to the environment, when environmental conditions are better than expected.

This research is important to Massigoge and his team. "Historically, most of the research on corn crops has focused on high-yielding environments. Recommendations for less productive regions are less advanced, so applied research that can help to stabilize and/or maximize corn yield will cause a significant impact on production."

According to Massigoge, research on corn tillering is scarce, possibly because traditional high plant densities common in fruitful environments do not allow the corn to develop tillers. "This new knowledge can aid the development of decision support tools for farmers in more restrictive environments."

Explore further Sweet corn yield gain over 80 years leaves room for improvement, according to study

More information: Ignacio Massigoge et al, Contribution of tillers to maize yield stability at low plant density, Crop Science (2022). Ignacio Massigoge et al, Contribution of tillers to maize yield stability at low plant density,(2022). DOI: 10.1002/csc2.20827
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

The word "audit" has a different meaning depending on whether you're an individual or a bank. But a perceived audit failure can have equally damaging consequences.

"We found that depositorspeople who have money at bankslose faith in an auditor when that auditor is associated with another bank that fails," said Matthew Beck, assistant professor of business at the University of Kansas.

His new article, "The Role of Audit Firms in Spreading Depositor Contagion," argues that depositors perceive bank failure as an audit failure, which reduces their assessment of auditor credibility. This leads to lower deposit growth at banks with the same auditor. It's published in The Accounting Review.

"Most deposits, like what you and I have in our bank account, are covered by insurance from the FDIC. That insurance right now covers up to $250,000. Our deposits are safe if the bank fails. However, there are depositors who may have larger amounts not covered by insurance and may lose their money if the bank fails. So they have a very strong interest in making sure their money is going to be safe," Beck said.

Depositors assess bank performance by examining their financial reports. And the way depositors become confident such reporting is accurate is to have an auditor come in and audit those financial statements.

"People often want liquid assets, and there might not be a better way than having money in a bank," he said. "Uninsured depositors also may get a higher rate of return on their money than you and I do with our savings accounts, as the bank is paying them a little bit more than it pays us to compensate them for that risk."

Beck, who co-wrote the article with Allison Nicoletti of the University of Pennsylvania and Sarah Stuber of Texas A&M University, said there's an expectation gap between what a financial statement audit really is versus what the public assumes it is.

He says that "a lot of times people think, 'Oh, this company got a clean or unqualified audit opinion and that means it's a good company, with good management, a good CEO.' But when you look at the actual opinion, all it says is, 'We're giving you reasonable assurance there are no material misstatements in the financial statements. That's it.'"

The impetus for this project came from the authors wondering aloud if an auditor would get blamed when a bank fails. When such an institution collapses, customers might need "a scapegoat to point their fingers at," he said.

His team took data sets from various banks, running multivariate regressions and using statistical analysis to find relationships between these two factors. This determined exposure to failure through the audit firm is associated with lower uninsured deposit growth, consistent with depositors perceiving this as a negative signal of auditor credibility. It also showed the results are stronger when awareness regarding the failure is greater, including when a larger bank is involved or when significant news coverage occurs.

Beck was surprised to learn while doing this research that not all banks get audited.

"You need to have over $500 million in assets at a bank in order for an audit to be required. Smaller bankssuch as a single branch bank in a small townmay not be audited," he said.

Before going into academia, Beck worked as an auditor for KPMG (one of the "Big Four" firms) in Richmond, Virginia, and Prague, Czech Republic. The Chicago native is now in his fourth year at KU.

"Having an unstable banking system is a bad thing for the economy," Beck said. "Understanding that this sort of thing can happen is beneficial to know. It gives banks a chance to be proactive and tell depositors, 'Hey, a client of our auditors failed  but it had nothing to do with the audit.'"

More information: Matthew J. Beck et al, The Role of Audit Firms in Spreading Depositor Contagion, The Accounting Review (2021). Matthew J. Beck et al, The Role of Audit Firms in Spreading Depositor Contagion,(2021). DOI: 10.2308/TAR-2018-0381
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

U.S. workers have been at the forefront of three big trends in recent months.

First there was the "great resignation," in which record numbers of workers were quitting their jobs. That coincided with a flurry of unionizing efforts at major U.S. companies, including Starbucks and Apple. Most recently, you've probably heard about "quiet quitting," an often-misunderstood phrase that can mean either doing your job's bare minimum or just not striving to overachieve.

As a management professor who has studied worker behavior for over two decades, I believe these are all reactions to the same problem: Workers are dissatisfied in their current jobs and feel they can't speak up, whether about organizational problems, unethical behavior or even just to contribute their knowledge and creative ideas. So in response, they generally either leave or decrease their effort while suffering in silence.

It doesn't have to be this way; but it's also not easy to change. Put simply, it will take courageous action from not only workers but lawmakers and companies as well.

The problem of 'organizational silence'

Workplace courage is actually the main focus of my research. That is, how often do workers speak up when they see a problem or have an improvement or innovation to suggest? In our field, we call the failure to speak up "organizational silence," and my colleagues and I found it everywhere we looked in America's workplaces.

An online survey I've been conducting since 2018 suggests workers stand up to their boss or other higher-ups about illegal, unethical, hurtful or otherwise inappropriate behavior roughly one-third of the time. The frequency isn't much higher when the questions involve speaking up about less thorny issues, such as operational problems or ways to improve the organization. The numbers are similar even when the other person is a colleague who has no power over them.

Colleagues who study whistleblowing likewise find that only a fraction of people who see serious wrongdoing take sufficient action to get it stopped, while others have documented how rarely workers say anything when they witness microaggressions.

My own small experiment related to this is illustrative. In my "Defining Moments" class, I teach students how to speak up competently in challenging situations. During the course, I record individual simulations in which students pitch suggestions for improving an unidentified organization's diversity and inclusion efforts to two actors playing the role of senior executives. I instruct the male actor to express at least three microaggressions, such as "Sweetie, you take the notes," toward his female peer during their short interaction with each student.

About half the studentswho range in age from about 25 to 50never say a peep in response to the offensive comments. As for the rest, they react to only about half the microagressions they hear, and typically it's in the form of helping the victim"I'll take the notes"rather than confronting the remark itself.

These findings, collectively, demonstrate the significant problems that occurand are likely to festerwhen people stay silent. They also contribute to massive employee disengagement and leave a whole lot of people feeling inauthentic and impotent at workor just regretful over their failures to act.

The four fears

It's not, for the most part, that people don't recognize the problems they could or should respond to.

On the survey that immediately followed my microaggression simulation, for example, more than three times as many participants noticed the first problematic comment than spoke up about it. Managers I work with in all sorts of consulting engagements readily admit to a gap between what "should" and "would" be done in situations in which something difficult needs to be said to a boss, a peer or even a subordinate. Asked to explain the gap, I hear the same response that research consistently documents: People are afraid to initiate those conversations.

In part, this is the nature of working in America today. About three-quarters of all U.S. workers are "at will," meaning they can be fired for nearly any reasonor none at all. This is why you hear stories of people being fired for speaking up about issues that seem pretty important or reasonable. And for what it's worth, there is no free speech in the workplace, as the First Amendment does not apply to "private actors."

As I describe in my 2021 book "Choosing Courage," there are four common fears that keep people from speaking up or being completely honest when they do:

Economic or career consequencespush your boss to be more flexible about work hours or where you work from and you might find yourself off the promotion track or even told to find a new job. Social exclusionconfront your peers about missed deadlines or their comments toward those of another race or gender and you might be eating lunch alone. Psychological painoffer a novel improvement idea that gets harshly shot down and you might start doubting yourself. Physical harmstand up to a customer or co-worker who is violating a policy or speaking inappropriately and you might get punched or threatened with a weapon.

Even if you haven't recently experienced any of these negative consequences, you probably still have a set of internalized beliefs about the dangers of speaking up that, as my research with management scholar Amy Edmondson showed, leads toward self-censoring in situations where it might actually be safe to speak up.

A way forward

While I believe workers bear some responsibility when they don't speak up, companies and other organizations are also at fault for creating cultures and conditions that don't encourage honesty.

For example, there are systemic barriers to giving workers more of a voicesuch as the steady decline of union membership since the 1950s and the lack of a sufficient safety net that decouples necessities like health care and a secure retirement from a specific employer.

Traditionally, unions have sheltered workers from some of the adverse consequences listed above, such as by preventing those who speak up about an ethical lapse from being arbitrarily fired or otherwise punished.

As I see it, there is a mixture of ways to turn this around. Lawmakers could strengthen laws intended to support workers who wish to form a unionparticularly helpful at a time of labor revival and fierce anti-union pushback from some employers.

Corporate, nonprofit and government leaders could do more to actually encourage their workers to raise their voices by consistently soliciting their input and celebrating rather than punishing them for offering it. Incidentally, if leaders did more to create these conditions, employees would likely see less need for a union.

For workers who fear repercussions, there are skills they can learn to help them speak up more effectively and minimize the negative consequences of doing so. Sometimes merely changing the framing makes a significant differencefor example, asking managers to address a safety issue because it's an opportunity to improve efficiencycan resonate better than pointing to the moral reasons to take action.

None of these steps are easy. They will require more courageous action by members of each of these groups. But I believe finding ways to help workers speak their minds about issues like safety, misconduct and performance is critically important because what happens in these instances shapes the places where people spend the majority of their waking hoursand whether they even want to be there.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Protective mucous dripping off a coral colony exposed at low tide at Beagle Reef. Credit: Zoe Richards

New DNA techniques are being used to understand how coral reacted to the end of the last ice age in order to better predict how they will cope with current changes to the climate.

James Cook University's Dr. Ira Cooke was senior author of the study. He said when corals become stressed they often bleach and die, but not all corals experience stress equally.

"This is often due to genetic differences between species, but it's usually very difficult to determine which genes are responsible. In situations where the differences evolved relatively recentlythousands, not millions of years agoit's much easier to do so," said Dr. Cooke.

He said the end of the last ice age is relatively recent in evolutionary terms and it sometimes forced corals to adapt to stresses similar to those projected under future climate change.

"Until now it hasn't been possible to look at this period in coral evolution because most of the techniques available have provided information about much older events. But by sequencing the whole genomes of many individuals within a single species we have now been able to access this crucial period of coral evolutionary history," said Dr. Cooke.

JCU Ph.D. candidate Jia Zhang, lead author of the study, said sea-level change has reshaped coral communities off the Kimberley coast of Western Australia many times in the past.

"This study examines how these historical changes have influenced coral population sizes, how far they disperse, and their ability to adapt," said Ms. Zhang.

She said the researchers compared the genomes of corals from the inshore Kimberley with those inhabiting more benign offshore locations (Ashmore Reef and Rowley Shoals).

"We found there were clear genetic distinctions, akin to races, between corals from the three locations we studied but most obviously between the inshore and offshore reefs, and that these genetic groups had arisen around the time the last ice-age ended.

"This was when sea levels rose dramatically allowing corals to colonize the Kimberley region, and to re-establish themselves on the tops of offshore atolls," said Ms. Zhang.

Co-author of the study, Dr. Zoe Richards from Curtin University's School of Molecular and Life Sciences said as the sea-level rose between 20 and 10 thousand years ago, corals dispersed to new habitats.

"But only those individuals with the right genetic makeup were able to survive. This selective process is visible in the genomes and tells us which genes were important for survival," said Dr. Richards.

She said corals from the Kimberley had tell-tale patterns in their genomes revealing genes that were modified through natural selection around the time of the last ice-age when they colonized this tough inshore habitat.

Dr. Cooke said one specific type of genes called peroxinectins have been under especially strong and recent evolutionary pressure (natural selection) in inshore Kimberley corals.

"These genes clearly evolved different versions in inshore corals and it's likely that this helps them cope with the extreme environmental conditions there. These genes provide a roadmap to help further understand how corals can survive turbid, hot and exposed conditions like those in the Kimberley."

The research is published in Molecular Biology and Evolution.

Explore further Genes unlock clues to the evolution and survival of the Great Barrier Reef

More information: Jia Zhang et al, Evolutionary responses of a reef-building coral to climate change at the end of the last glacial maximum, Molecular Biology and Evolution (2022). Journal information: Molecular Biology and Evolution Jia Zhang et al, Evolutionary responses of a reef-building coral to climate change at the end of the last glacial maximum,(2022). DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msac201
Hotter summers are making southern England suitable for growing grape varieties that have been grown in northern France and Germany.

Under a blue sky, seasonal workers ran their secateurs along long rows of grapevines, harvesting a variety of pinot noir grown during the summer heatwave.

This was not a village in France, however, but Appledore in Kent in southern England, where high temperatures needed to grow the grape variety are no longer rare.

"At the moment, I think we have similar growing conditions to Champagne in the (19)70s and 80s," said Charlie Holland, head winemaker and chief executive at Gusbourne Estate.

"We're seeing the same sort of growth conditions, the same ripening period" in England as back then in France, he added.

That is good news for Britain's embryonic viticulture which is now able to produce a wide variety of still and sparkling wines from grape varieties including pinot noir, chardonnay and riesling that are traditionally more accustomed to France and Germany.

"It's not so often that you see a new wine region appearing on the map," said Holland.

"In England, now we can make an exceptional sparkling wine, we have a perfect climate, we have a very long growing season."

'Quite frightening'

At Gusbourne Estate, tractors were transporting baskets full of grapes to the winery. The fruit was immediately destemmed and pressed to begin the fermentation process.

While growing, UK vineyards are however dwarfed on the international stage, covering a total of 3,800 hectares -- or about one tenth of France's champagne-producing region.

During the harvest period, the estate is a beehive of 200 workers, more than half of them seasonal.

Holland was everywhere, darting between presses, vats and oak barrels as he inspected and tasted the produce.

Climate change may be helping England's vineyards for now but the fast pace of transition risks major planning difficulties, warned Alistair Nesbitt, co-author of an outlook study on the country's winemaking industry.

"That's a really quite frighteningly short period of time to have such a transition of varietals suitability, and that really shows the pace of change that certain areas of the UK are starting to see as a result of climate change," he noted.

"Hopefully the world will get (its) act together and we won't see that continuing increase for too much longer, because that's threatening to everyone, including producers in the UK," added Nesbitt, who is chief executive of consultancy Vinescapes.

Nesbitt forecasts that beyond 2040, England's vineyards could be working with grape varieties found further south in France, such as merlot and cabernet sauvignon.

This assumes that climate change continues on its expected path amid global reductions in carbon emissions.

The rapid pace of climate change could see Britain planting grape varieties currently grown in southern France after 20 years.

'Niche producer'

Britain's wine growers are planting grapes in droves to meet booming demand at home and abroad.

The surface area of vineyards in the country has doubled in eight years, according to industry organisation WineGB.

UK vineyards are however dwarfed on the international stage, covering a total of 3,800 hectaresor about one tenth of France's champagne-producing region.

Britain "will likely remain a niche wine producer", said Daniel Mettyear, research director at consultancy IWSR Drinks Market Analysis.

Despite the relatively high price45 ($50) for one of Gusbourne's sparkling winesdemand is growing both in Britain and abroad for the drink.

"Quality has improved significantly in recent years," added Mettyear, noting strong interest from North American and Nordic countries, as well as from Australia.

Gusbourne exports about one third of its wine to 28 nations worldwide, mostly to Norway but also to France.

Explore further Study predicts growth in UK wine production due to climate change

 2022 AFP
Chytridiomycosis is the disease caused by Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Frogs play an important part in ecosystems, but they're also fighting to survive an ongoing pandemic. Chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) has ravaged amphibian species for decades.

Found in 56 countries across six continents, it's the biggest cause of decline in global amphibian populations. So far, more than 500 amphibian species have been affected, with more than 90 species wiped out by the disease.

The frog frontline

In Australia, 29% of our frog species have been affected, while seven species have become extinct.

In Western Australia, we have been relatively lucky. While our frogs are affected, they seem to be less susceptible to the disease and haven't experienced major declines.

But that doesn't mean we can just froget about it. The population of three of our most well-known frog speciesthe motorbike frog, western banjo frog and moaning froghave all declined due to chytrid fungus infections.

Frogs have an ability to drink and breathe through their skin. A crucial part of their biology that's vulnerable to the chytrid fungus.

The fungus starts life as spores spreading through water and burrowing into the frog's delicate skin.

When chytrid fungus attacks the skin, the frog loses its ability to move water, electrolytes and oxygen in and out of its body. This affects its breathing and muscle movement, until the frog inevitably croaks.

Finding a cure for chytrid fungus is tricky.

Fungicides can help treat infected frogs and works well in captivity or for small populations. But we can't go spreading fungicides all over the planet

Until now, we have relied on captive breeding and recovery programs to help save species from extinction. But captive breeding programs are expensive and labor intensive. Toadally worthwhile if they work, but very costly if they don't.

New research from the University of South Australia has found much more research is required if we are to ever overcome the chytrid fungus.

In the study, researchers took 24 common eastern froglets (Crinia signifera) into captivity to see how they fared under different environmental conditions. Throughout the experiments, researchers measured their level of chytrid infection and the make-up of their skin microbiota.

Frogs have a complex and species-specific skin microbiota. It acts as a barrier, recognizing pathogens and activating the frogs' immune response.

This is critical for survival in their natural habitat as frogs have unique microbiota depending on species and their individual habitat.

Darislav Besedin, the lead author of the University of South Australia research, says, "Frogs released into the wild after captivity programs will likely have a reduced resilience to pathogens."

Helping our froggy friends

While it's not perfectly clear as to how we can fully protect frogs from the chytrid fungus, there are two things we can do to make their life easier in the wild.

Never move frogs or tadpoles away from where you find them. They are specially adapted to live exactly where they are with their specialized skin microbiome. If you relocate them, there is a chance you could be inadvertently spreading chytrid to new habitats and populations of uninfected frogs.

And if you find any sick or dead frogs, you can send your observations including location and any photos to the national citizen science project FrogID or email calls@frogid.net.au.

Explore further A deadly disease has driven seven Australian frog species to extinction. But this endangered frog is fighting back

This article first appeared on Particle, a science news website based at Scitech, Perth, Australia. Read the original article.
Identification of an Legionella pneumophila lineage responsible for numerous CALD cases over 13 years Maximum-likelihood core SNP phylogeny of a single cluster (120 isolates, including 29 from Scotland) generated from non-recombinant SNPs and including the Philadelphia-1 reference genome as a closely related outgroup to root the tree. Three large clades containing no isolates from this study have been collapsed. A specific, predominantly Scottish clade (69% bootstrap support, described in text) is collapsed and shown separately (marked in blue). Isolates are labeled with the year of isolation. Bold text is used to indicate isolates from 12 historic CALD cases referred to in text. The infection category and isolation location countries are indicated by color. Three epidemiologically linked pairs of isolates are indicated. CALD=community-acquired Legionnaires' disease. SNP=single-nucleotide polymorphism. TALD=travel-associated Legionnaires' disease. Credit: The Lancet Microbe (2022). DOI: 10.1016/S2666-5247(22)00231-2

Routine sampling of water supplies and genomic sequencing to determine the entire genetic makeup of Legionella bacteria could play a key role in identifying the source of Legionnaires' disease outbreaks, research suggests.

The measures could also inform public health measures to limit the spread of infection, according to a genomic study of the Legionella bacteria that causes the disease. The research appears in The Lancet Microbe.

Improved testing is crucial, researchers say, because the diseasea severe form of pneumoniais contracted by inhaling the bacteria in aerosolstiny dropletsof contaminated water . Outbreaks are often linked to water systems in hotels, cruise ships and hospitals, and also within the community.

A team from the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, Public Health Scotland and the Scottish Legionella Reference Laboratory conducted a comparison of the entire genome or genetic code of more than 3,000 Legionella bacteria samples found in patients and water sources from Scotland and around the world.

The results revealed a new level of detail and fresh insights into the characteristics of Legionella bacteria and its transmission in Scotland.

From analysis of the genetic code, researchers found that Legionella infections following travel were often closely related to other variants from the same U.K. or international travel destination.

The analysis found that nearly one third of infections in Scotland acquired in the communitynot hospital or travel associatedwere caused by a single variant. The team say this variant should be closely monitored.

Distinct variants of the bacteria were found in some hospitals over a long period of timeup to 17 years in some instanceswhich suggests that the bacteria persisted or were repeatedly introduced into hospital water systems.

The team also found that there had been no reported cases of Legionnaires' disease in any Scottish hospital in the past 10 years. This is likely due to effectiveness of new control measures introduced during this time, experts say.

The study was carried out by a team of experts including Ph.D. student Jamie Gorzynski, who holds a joint Edinburgh/Glasgow University Ph.D. Studentship in Precision Medicine.

Professor Andrew Smith, co-author on the study from the University of Glasgow said, "As head of the Scottish Legionella Reference Laboratory it has been a privilege to be part of this study which is a fantastic exemplar of teamworking involving National and Internationally recognized experts.

"We have been able to have a more detailed understanding of the population biology of Legionella pneumophila informing future sampling strategies and also a framework for investigating sources of future outbreaks as part of public health control measures in Scotland."

Professor Ross Fitzgerald, lead researcher from University of Edinburgh's Roslin Institute, said, "Our study indicates that regular sampling of water systems and genome sequencing of Legionella could be used to identify the source of new pathogenic variants before they become a clinical problem."

Explore further Legionella bacteria forces CDC office closures

More information: Jamie Gorzynski et al, Epidemiological analysis of Legionnaires' disease in Scotland: a genomic study, The Lancet Microbe (2022). Jamie Gorzynski et al, Epidemiological analysis of Legionnaires' disease in Scotland: a genomic study,(2022). DOI: 10.1016/S2666-5247(22)00231-2
University of Sydney geoscientists deploying instruments into sand aprons at One Tree Island, Great Barrier Reef. Credit: University of Sydney

How healthy are coral reefs? And how are they responding to climate change? After more than 10 years of monitoring the Great Barrier Reef, University of Sydney geoscientists have developed a technique that allows them to answer these questions using satellites. And it all relies on sand aprons.

It turns out that sand aprons, deposits of sand along the shore of a lagoon that are ubiquitous in coral reefs, can give a reliable estimate of how coral reefs are growing as well as their rate of carbonate sediment productivitykey to establishing their overall health.

"The traditional way of collecting such data is very work intensive," said Associate Professor Ana Vila-Concejo, who led the study, published today in the journal Geology. "It requires actively measuring the chemistry of water or taking thousands upon thousands of photos to calculate how much each creature in the ecosystem is contributing to carbonate sediment productivity."

But the study also found more signs of trouble for coral reefs: carbonate productivity today is half what has been for thousands of years of sand apron formation in the southern Great Barrier Reef. "Our results suggest that ecosystem health was much better then, so we're likely seeing the effects of climate change in our present-day data," added Associate Professor Vila-Concejo, Co-Director of the University's Marine Studies Institute.

How corals grow and recede, and under what conditions, and how healthy they are, is dependent on an incredibly complex combination of factorssuch as waves and storm surges, sedimentation rates, seawater chemistry, land-based runoff and even fish populations. Hence, predicting the health of any single coral reef group, and how they will behave in response to climate change, is an intricate puzzle.

However, the researchers found that sand apronsformed as waves and currents from reef crests carry sediment that becomes trapped in the reef lagoonscan be used to estimate carbonate productivity over time, and therefore the health of a coral ecosystem.

The field team, coordinated by Dr. Sarah Hamylton, an Associate Professor at the University of Wollongong and an Honorary Associate at the University of Sydney, worked from a 12-meter catamaran to visit 21 reefs in the southern Great Barrier Reef, collecting more than 100,000 records of reef bathymetry and composition.

The team later worked with satellite imagery to measure the sand aprons and estimate their volume for each reef. They then matched that data with carbonate production measurements taken over more than a decade to try and understand sand apron evolution, and how it correlated with productivity.

"The formation of sand aprons by lagoon infilling is a function of reef size, and a self-limiting process controlled by the surrounding hydrodynamics and in response to the ebb and flow of sea-level changes," said Associate Professor Vila-Concejo, who is also Deputy Director of the One Tree Island Research Station, located in the Great Barrier Reef. "If we can understand the evolution of sand aprons in each reef over time, we can use the data to manage coral reefs and prepare for climate change."

As coral reefs around the world respond to warming oceans, it will change how corals behave. The climate effects on the drivers for sand apron developmentsediment production, hydrodynamic forcing, and the infilling of lagoonsare not yet clear. But the study indicates that understanding their behavior and evolution provides a powerful shortcut to determining overall reef health.

In addition, by combining modern analysis of sand apron accretion with data going back 8,000 years, the researchers can establish the background rate of coral productivity.

"Our findings show that the carbonate production was much higher during the Holocenethe last 11,700 years of Earth's historybut that the average rate of production today is down 50 percent on this. That is a cause for concern," Associate Professor Vila-Concejo said.

"Our current research involves modeling what this will mean for the future of the Great Barrier Reef, and these data are going to be essential for that," she added.

Explore further Scientists believe evolution could save coral reefs, if we let it

More information: Ana Vila-Concejo et al, Lagoon infilling by coral reef sand aprons as a proxy for carbonate sediment productivity, Geology (2022). Journal information: Geology Ana Vila-Concejo et al, Lagoon infilling by coral reef sand aprons as a proxy for carbonate sediment productivity,(2022). DOI: 10.1130/G50453.1
Investigated site in Colorado, USA. Credit: Manuel Delgado Baquerizo

Current protected areas only poorly cover the places most relevant for conserving soil ecological values. This is the conclusion of a new study published in the journal Nature. To assess global hotspots for preserving soil ecological values, an international team of scientists measured different facets of soil biodiversity (local species richness and uniqueness) and ecosystem services (like water regulation or carbon storage).

They found that these facets peaked in contrasting regions of the world. For instance, temperate ecosystems showed higher local soil biodiversity (species richness), while colder ecosystems were identified as hotspots of soil ecosystem services. In addition, the results suggest that tropical and arid ecosystems hold the most unique communities of soil organisms. Soil ecological values are often overlooked in nature conservation management and policy decisions; the new study demonstrates where efforts to protect them are needed most.

Soils are a world of their own, hidden beneath our feet and bursting with life. They are home to billions of earthworms, nematodes, insects, fungi, bacteria and many other organisms. And yet, we are hardly aware of these organisms or their profound impacts on ecosystems. Without soils, there would be little life on land and surely no humans. In fact, most of the food we consume depends directly or indirectly on soil fertility. However, soils are also vulnerable to climate and land-use change.

To better conserve soil ecological values, we must know where their protection is needed most. For plants and animals living above the soil, hotspots of biodiversity were identified decades ago. However, no such assessment was or could be made for soil ecological values until now.

First global assessment considering multiple soil ecological values

In the journal Nature, a team of international scientists led by the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Leipzig University, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), and Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiologia de Sevilla (IRNAS) has published the first global estimate of hotspots for conserving soil ecological values.

They conducted an impressive global field survey including more than 10,000 observations of biodiversity (invertebrates, fungi, protists, bacteria, and archaea) and of indicators for ecosystem services within 615 soil samples from all continents. They combined these observations to assess three soil ecological dimensions: (1) local species richness, (2) biodiversity uniqueness, and (3) ecosystem services (like water regulation or carbon storage).

The soils of this pine forest in Seville were included in the study. Credit: Manuel Delgado Baquerizo

Soil ecological values peak in contrasting regions of the planet

The results show that each of the three dimensions peaked in different regions of the planet. For instance, temperate ecosystems showed the highest local soil species richness, while biodiversity uniqueness peaked in arid ecosystems and in the tropics.

First author Dr. Carlos Guerra explains that "when you dig into a European soil, for instance in a forest, you will find many different species in one single spot. When you go to a forest some kilometers further, while different, you will find similar species. Not so in the tropics, where a few kilometers can mean completely different communities."

Guerra started working on the project at iDiv and MLU and is now affiliated with Leipzig University. Unlike the two dimensions involving biodiversity, ecosystem servicesthe third dimension assessedtypically peaked in the colder high-latitudinal ecosystems.

Hotspots for soil nature conservation identified

The contrasting spatial patterns found for the three different dimensions demonstrate how complex it is to protect all three of them at once. "It is much more challenging than for plants and mammals, where there is usually a better spatial match of the different dimensions," says Carlos Guerra.

"When it comes to protecting soils, we should probably not focus on locally maximizing all soil ecological dimensions at the same time but rather on integrated approaches that highlight the local potential." Despite these difficulties, the researchers were able to identify ecosystem hotspots that should have the highest priority for soil nature conservation. These hotspots were located mainly in the tropics, in North America, in Northern Europe, and in Asia.

Prioritizing soil nature conservation in international policies

The researchers compared these priority hotspots to those areas that are already protected. They found that half of the hotspots identified are currently not under any form of nature conservation.

"Protected areas have been selected mostly for conserving plants, birds or mammals," says senior author Dr. Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo from the Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiologia de Sevilla. "We need to include soils, their biodiversity and services in our perspective. Therefore, governments and decision-makers need to set soil nature conservation as a priority in the context of the international negotiations for the 2030 biodiversity targets."

The new study may prove helpful here as it demonstrates where soil nature conservation efforts are needed the most.

Explore further How farms could help defend the Earth's own microbiome

More information: Carlos Guerra, Global hotspots for soil nature conservation, Nature (2022). www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05292-x Journal information: Nature Carlos Guerra, Global hotspots for soil nature conservation,(2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05292-x

Provided by German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Researchers from Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, and KU Leuven published a new article in the Journal of Marketing that examines which social media influencers are most effective at turning advertising budgets into greater engagement.

The study is authored by Simone Wies, Alexander Bleier, and Alexander Edeling.

With consumers growing increasingly wary of traditional advertising, influencer marketing is gaining traction on social media platforms such as Instagram and has transformed from an ancillary tactic to a market worth more than $13 billion in 2021. Social media influencers are conspicuous in numerous online spaces, with follower counts ranging from a few thousand to many millions.

Many influencers create content that generates social media engagement, which is captured by the number of interactions with their followers (e.g., likes, comments), a highly relevant performance indicator that advertisers seek to optimize.

However, despite the growing popularity of influencer marketing, advertisers as yet do not have a solid understanding of how engagement arises, such as which influencers are most effective at turning advertising budgets into greater engagement. A main screening criterion is an influencer's follower count, or indegree, which defines the size of the audience an influencer can directly reach.

Does a high follower count mean that an influencer will generate engagement with sponsored content? Or are small influencers best to create engagement? The new study finds that influencers with an intermediate follower count represent the engagement sweet spot.

High followers or high engagement?

Advertisers face a tricky choice. As Weis explains, "On one hand, advertisers want to leverage an influencer's reach, which is the number of followers exposed to an influencer's content and that, by definition, increases in indegree. On the other hand, users on social networks often seek interactive, communal relationships where they feel connected. Influencers with larger indegree often lack sufficient resources or interest to enter into meaningful, frequent interactions with their millions of followers."

Some advertisers have identified this issue, cautioning that high indegree influencers might not be able to create significant engagement and suggesting more reliance on influencers who are not as popular.

This research digs into these views with a multimethod study based on Instagram data that includes more than 1,700 influencers across more than 800 campaigns, capturing all posts and stories as well as publicly visible and privately accessible engagement metrics. It also includes a field study with two types of experimental studies (eye-tracking and online laboratory), an add-on simulation study, and an auxiliary set of qualitative interviews.

At low to moderate follower count levels, the overall engagement between influencer and followers improves. As follower count rises, the positive effect becomes increasingly outweighed by the negative engagement likelihood effect caused by low perceived tie strength, leaving followers less motivated to engage with the influencer's content and reducing engagement. "In short, the relationship between an influencer's follower count and engagement follows an inverted U-shape," says Bleier.

Content customization and sponsored posts

The research also shows that higher content customization weakens the effect of influencer indegree on engagement. This leads to small and large indegree influencers becoming more effective at generating engagement compared to medium-sized indegree influencers. Similarly, when the campaign is sponsored by a rather unknown brand, the effect of influencer indegree on engagement is less pronounced. As this relationship flattens, medium-sized indegree influencers become comparatively less effective at driving engagement.

The researchers' work contributes to marketing research and practice in several important ways. Edeling says that "We deepen insights into the relationship between an influencer's indegree and followers' engagement with sponsored content. We also introduce two important campaign properties, content customization and brand familiarity, as relevant concepts to the influencer marketing literature that condition how influencer indegree drives engagement."

Weis continues with "We highlight the peril of supersaturation effects on engagement when follower count becomes too large and show that the most effective follower count level is situated between the often-recommended very small and very large influencer tiers. At the same time, advertisers and influencers also have room to maneuver in that brands that allow influencers to promote content independently and brands that are less known observe a weaker inverted U-shaped relationship between follower count and engagement, reducing the pressure for them to collaborate with medium-sized influencers who have an optimal number of followers."

The study offers the following advice for advertising managers to improve their influencer marketing strategies:

Brands should empower influencers with a large following to create original content in their own style instead of repeating the brand's official communications.

To maximize engagement, well-known, mainstream brands should contract with influencers with neither too few nor too many followers.

Influencers with large follower counts might consider expanding their partnerships with lesser-known brands to enjoy mutual benefits.

Explore further Sponsorship disclosures by social media influencers reduce engagement, study finds

More information: Simone Wies et al, EXPRESS: Finding Goldilocks Influencers: How Follower Count Drives Social Media Engagement, Journal of Marketing (2022). Journal information: Journal of Marketing Simone Wies et al, EXPRESS: Finding Goldilocks Influencers: How Follower Count Drives Social Media Engagement,(2022). DOI: 10.1177/00222429221125131
The Icelandic edition of the first volume of "Xi Jinping: The Governance of China" was launched here on Tuesday in the capital of Iceland.

Former Icelandic President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson attended the event held at the Harpa Conference and Concert Center and delivered a speech, in which he recalled his previous interaction with Chinese President Xi Jinping, saying that he was impressed by Xi's governance philosophy.

He welcomed the Icelandic edition of the book, which he believes will further promote mutual understanding and friendly exchanges between China and Iceland and the two peoples.

"I see the publication of this book in languages other than Chinese as an attempt to create a dialogue with all the nations," he said. "If we want to understand our future, to navigate our future, we need to understand China."

In a video address, Du Zhanyuan, president of China International Communications Group, said that "Xi Jinping: The Governance of China" shows Xi's in-depth thinking on issues related to China's national governance and global governance and includes China's plan for promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind and a better world.

The publication of the Icelandic version of this book will open a new window through which more Icelandic readers can understand Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and build a bridge of understanding for promoting mutual learning between the civilizations of China and Iceland, Du said.

After reading this book, one can have a deeper understanding and perception of the people-centered approach to development held by the Communist Party of China, the development practices of Chinese-style modernization, and the common values of all mankind that China has consistently advocated -- peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom, Du said.

Noting that China and Iceland enjoy a traditional friendship, Chinese Ambassador to Iceland He Rulong said in his speech that the Icelandic version of the first volume of "Xi Jinping: The Governance of China," the first time the book has been rendered into a Nordic language, testifies to the friendly relations between China and Iceland.

This book will help Icelandic readers better understand Xi's thinking and concepts on how to govern China and how to realize national prosperity and development, and will give Icelandic friends a more direct perspective on Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, which will help create more beautiful prospects for mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Iceland, He said.

The book was jointly translated and published by China's Foreign Languages Press and Icelandic publishing company BF-utgafa.

So far, the first volume of "Xi Jinping: The Governance of China" has been published in 37 languages.
Prof. Fan Fengtao and Dr. Chen Ruotian are discussing the experimental design. Credit: DICP

Photocatalysts can use sunlight to produce hydrogen from water splitting and to produce solar fuels through CO 2 reduction, but the essential mechanism, how photogenerated charges are involved in the photocatalysis processes, has remained elusive since the beginning of photocatalysis study.

Although enormous efforts have been made in photocatalyst preparation and photocatalytic reaction tests in the past a half century, the mystery of the exact mechanism behind the process and how to make the process more effective are not known, since photocatalysts have complex nanoscale morphology features and particularly photogenerated charges in photocatalysis experience broad lifetimes and pace, across femtosecond to seconds and sub-nanometer to micrometer.

Now, the mystery is solved. Researchers in China have mapped the spatiotemporal evolution of charge transfers in cuprous oxide photocatalyst particles (a typical photocatalysts composed of only one copper atom and one oxygen atom), integrating three different techniques to reveal a holistic picture of the complex charge-transport mechanisms.

The team published their results on Oct. 12 in Nature.

"Water-splitting reactions with photocatalyst particles are a promising route for solar hydrogen, we have focused on the photogenerated charge dynamics in photocatalysis for decades," said co-corresponding author Li Can, a professor from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). "We believed that the photoinduced charges transfer and transport in photocatalysts, and from bulk to surface reaction sites is the key determining the photocatalytic efficiency; however, it is challenging to understand the mechanisms which spans a wide spatiotemporal range from sub-nanometers to micrometers and from femtoseconds to seconds."

According to Li, to thoroughly track this process in a photocatalyst particle had long been thought to be a dream, but the research team finally achieved this goal.

"Photocatalysis generally starts with harvesting solar energy in the particulate semiconductor material, which transforms absorbed solar photons into excited charges (electrons and holes). These excited charges participate in the photocatalytic reactions," said co-corresponding author Fan Fengtao, a professor from DICP. "The photo-generated electrons and holes require separation from their initial states and transfer to a catalyst surface, where they initiate reactions to produce chemical fuels."

To transfer to the surface, the electron or hole are derived from photo-excitation, which triggers the separation from their ground states. According to Fan, the efficiency challenge arises because, at such tiny physical scales, the photocatalysts often lack the forces needed to separate the charges. Efficient separation requires a dependable electric field.

"To form an aligned electric field in the photocatalyst particle, we carefully engineered the morphology of cuprous oxide particles," said the first author, Chen Ruotian Ph.D. from DICP.

Called facet engineering, the work consisted of precisely tuning the ratio between two of the facets on the particles, morphing them from cubes to octahedrons and generating built-in electric fields that can aid in charge separation.

"Interestingly, we found that the built-in electric fields vary with the facet ratios and become prominent in the configuration as the ratio increases," Chen said, explaining that the observed inter-facet potential differences correlate with the reasons why the charge transfer can vary in magnitude in different directions. "This phenomenon, called anisotropic charge transfer, appears optimized in the truncated octahedral configuration. However, only electrons are visible on the surface after this facet tuning, indicating that holes hardly transfer to the surface and may limit efficiency."

The researchers introduced hydrogen into the photocatalyst particles, forming defects that offer a potential pathway for hole transfer to surface via a selective trapping process, which prevents the hole from recombining with an electron.

"We found that defects were selectively incorporated into the facets of the particles, thus allowing the hole transfer selectively to defected facets," Fan said. "Photovoltage measurements indicated that the selective defect incorporation further contributes to efficient charge separation. We also demonstrated that the photogenerated electrons and holes can be selectively extracted to specific facets, but the mechanism underlying this process is likely different for holes than for electrons."

To better understand the spatiotemporal origin of the efficient charge separation within the nanosecond range, the researchers used time-resolved photoemission electron microscopythe resulting images verified that photoelectron density varies on different facets and that the electrons move from one facet to another on ultrafast time scales.

"However, ultrafast transport is not expected from the conventional drift-diffusion model, even though it has long been regarded as the dominant charge separation mechanism in photocatalysis," Chen said, referring to the idea that a charge could drift around a particle, repeatedly scattering as it encounters another component. "We ascribed the ultrafast charge transfer to the ballistic transport regime, in which the carriers propagated at extremely high speeds, as the carriers travel the length of the particle prior to scattering."

Following the ultrafast charge transfer, the researchers observed a gradual increase in electrons on both facets, likely arising from the drift of electrons from bulk to the surface. To directly observe the charge transfer process, the researchers performed a transient photovoltage analysis and found that signals shifted from negative to positive as the timescale progressed from nano- to microseconds.

"We saw ultrafast ballistic electron transfer to one type of facet and slow defect-induced hole transfer to the other type of facet, so we can determine that the efficient spatial separation of photogenerated electrons and holes on the facets was due to the spatiotemporally anisotropic charge transfer mechanism," Fan said. "We demonstrated that the quasi-ballistic inter-facet electron transfer and spatially selective trapping are the dominant processes facilitating efficient charge separation in photocatalysis."

Taken together, according to Chen, Fan and Li, this study suggests that the dominant photocatalytic mechanisms could be manifested and tuned through rational engineering of anisotropic facets and defects.

"We combined three different methodstime-resolved photoemission microscopy (femto- to nanoseconds), transient surface photovoltage spectroscopy (nano- to microseconds) and surface photovoltage microscopy (microseconds to seconds)like a relay race, for the first time, to follow the entire mechanism of electron and hole to surface reaction centers in a single photocatalyst particle," Li said. "The ability to spatiotemporally track charge transfer enables advancing experimental technique for understanding the complex mechanisms in energy conversion devices, paving the way for the rational design of photocatalysts with improved performance."

Explore further Scientists propose new charge separation strategy in ferroelectric photocatalysts

More information: Can Li, Spatiotemporal imaging of charge transfer in photocatalyst particles, Nature (2022). www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05183-1 Journal information: Nature Can Li, Spatiotemporal imaging of charge transfer in photocatalyst particles,(2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05183-1
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

The ability to prepare for and recover from an emergency is a privilege many take for granted. Two days before post-tropical cyclone Fiona reached Atlantic Canada, public officials were clear: people should prepare enough supplies for 72 hours, including food, water and medications for each member of the household as well as for their animals.

People were also advised to have personal support networks that could assist them during an emergency. Some people were told to prepare to evacuate.

Despite these directions, post-mortems for the 2013 Alberta floods as well as hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Sandy all noted that we don't do enough to address the needs of vulnerable populations during disasters. Progress has been made over recent years, but the experiences of people with disabilities during Fiona and our ongoing research show there is more to be done.

The impact on people with disabilities

Anne Camozzi uses a wheelchair and provided a harrowing account of being on her own during Fiona, with no power, telecommunications or accessible transportation during the event. She said she was unaware of comfort centers and emergency preparedness resources set up in advance of the storm.

Other people with disabilities experienced challenges using medical equipment and raised concerns about inaccessible stairwells in apartment buildings. Larry Smith, who lives alone with dementia, disappeared during the storm and is sadly presumed dead.

At least one in five Canadians 15 and older have at least one disability, with nearly 40% reporting two or more disabilities. The Atlantic provinces report the highest proportion of people with disabilities living in Canada. The aging population in the region suggests the number of people with disabilities in Atlantic Canada is growing.

Emergency preparation raises important practical questions. You need the time and wherewithal to acquire necessary supplies, and the space to store them adequately. This can be challenging for people with disabilities who experience high rates of poverty and unemployment. Social networks may not not be readily available either; people with disabilities are often excluded from many parts of society.

A legal obligation

Supporting people with disabilities in an emergency is not just about doing the right thing, it's also the law, fundamental to human rights and a feature of several international agreements to which Canada is signatory.

Article 11 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), the UN Sendai Framework and the Accessible Canada Act all underscore the right for people with disabilities to access services and supports in an emergency.

Accessibility legislation has been implemented in many provinces, including Nova Scotia, British Columbia, Manitoba and Ontario.

Recent policies encourage the elderly and people with disabilities to stay at home longer. Many seniors are moving into apartment buildings in urban areas. This makes it challenging to identify where people with disabilities are located during an event.

There have been calls for a registry for persons with disabilities to strengthen emergency response. Some municipalities, such as Truro, N.S. and Ontario's Peel Region, have registries while others keep lists of people with disabilities in institutions like group homes.

Utilities like Nova Scotia Power have resources to track who needs power for home oxygen and dialysis machines. MedicAlertConnect Protect is used by police departments primarily in Saskatchewan, Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador to access subscribers' information in case of emergency.

Limitations

This approach has important limitations. Some jurisdictions have struggled to use registries effectively. There are also privacy considerations. People do not necessarily want to disclose information about their disability.

Keeping the information up-to-date is also a significant undertaking; an out-of-date list creates new dangers. Where the data is stored and who has access are also key questions.

Finally, the liability and service standard considerations for an agency that collects such information are unclear. Without power and telecommunications, any assistance would be significantly constrained.

One solution is to better integrate the views and experiences of people with disabilities into emergency planning prior to such events. People with disabilities have unique perspectives and needs in emergencies.

Accessible transportation and access to specific equipment and supplies are particularly important. They also need to know who to reach out to for qualified support and have confidence that such support will be available.

There are existing policies and programs focused on improving emergency responses for people with disabilities in Canada. Manitoba, for example, established the Disability Emergency Management Network (DEM-Net), a coalition of the Manitoba Disability Issues Office, community disability and seniors' organizations, and emergency responders.

The network tries to integrate lived experience of those with disabilities into emergency responses. Other regions in Canada should adopt similar institutional practices.

Explore further Perinatal health risks increase in people with disabilities, finds study

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Community members from Pavagada villages. Credit: Priya Pillai, Author provided

India, like many other countries, is looking to renewables as an antidote to soaring fossil fuel prices and to tackle climate change. Prime Minister Narendra Modi sees renewables as vital for a "developed India."

But while renewables are seen as a major positive on a societal scale, these large scale facilities canif done poorlymake life harder for people who live close to them.

That's exactly what happened to one of the world's largest solar installations, India's Pavagada solar park. The park was meant to offer cheap clean power, avoiding 70 million tons of carbon dioxide per year and give an economic boost for a poor area. Our new podcast and research found, sadly, that didn't all happen. Larger landowners profited, while poorer villagers lost access to agricultural land.

The problems of Pavagada show us the importance of genuine partnership with the rural communities where wind and solar farms will be built.

The Pavagada model was meant to be win-win

In November 2019, we were in a dusty village in the southern state of Karnataka. Earlier that year, the truly enormous 2 gigawatt Pavagada solar park had begun operating. There were so many solar panels that the five villages in the area were surrounded.

As we were talking with local women outside a small house, more and more people overheard our conversation and joined in. When the discussion became heated, our informants took us inside. "We want to tell you our story," one said.

Though the house backed onto the solar park, it was dimly lit by only a single lightbulb. Over tea, we asked the women why talking about the solar park had brought up so much tension. One said:

"The solar park did not help us. Work should be provided to all educated girls  The priority should be for landless people because the landowning people at least got the lease amount."

The enormous Pavagada solar park surrounds a number of villages. Credit: Google Earth, Author provided

They told us that the project was a story of broken promises. Rather than providing solutions to local problems, the solar park had made things worse. Many had lost their livelihoods as farm workers, since the solar panels now covered agricultural land. By contrast, solar companies, government electricity distributors and larger landowners had profited greatly.

This was a shock to us. It wasn't supposed to be this way. The Pavagada solar park was pitched as a flagship of India's energy transition, able to generate as much power at peak times as a large coal-fired power station.

Worse, Pavagada was meant to be a role-model for ethical renewable energy development in emerging economies.

That's because it relied on an innovative system of land leasing. The government authority created to oversee the project signed long-term leases with over 1,000 local farmers to obtain the land for the solar park.

These voluntary leases were meant to give farmers a new source of income, which many needed as they struggled to eke out a living amid worsening drought. Solar developers would get the scale they needed and overcome the common bottleneck of small-scale land holdings. And the leases would be achieved without the common land grabbing controversies plaguing large infrastructure projects in India for decades.

So what went wrong?

The model of the future ran into problems of the present. Our five years of interviews and fieldwork with village women, community representatives, farmers, local government officals, solar company managers, and renewable energy authorities clearly showed the Pavagada model wasn't distributing benefits evenly. The energy transition left winnersand losers.

Who won? Larger landowners. Who lost? The landless. Over half of the 10,000 people in the five villages near the park are landless agricultural workers, as is common in much of rural India. Because they do not own land, they receive no income from the leasing model. And with much local farming land leased to the solar park, many landless laborers lost their livelihoods.

Sadly, this was predicted in meticulous detail in an early World Bank report, which warned about the effect on farm workers and the landless before the development began.

A mango farmer who chose not to lease his land. Credit: Priya Pillai, Author provided

The huge project did create some new jobs for local people, mostly temporary employment in grass cutting, panel washing and security. But this work has not fully replaced lost livelihoods.

Those worst affected were more likely to be women, particularly those from lower castes or Adivasi (Indigenous) backgrounds. This is because their financial independence came solely from agricultural income.

Even the landowners expressed disillusionment. That's because they could see their former farm workers were struggling.

As one landowner told us:

"People who do not have land, no benefit for them. Rather, they have lost their livelihood, as no one calls them for work."

What should we learn for large-scale renewable projects?

Building large-scale renewable energy projects is essential if we are to meet our climate goals. So how can we do it more fairly?

Focus on the communities affected and find ways of making sure profits and jobs make it to those who need it the most. Because of their need for land, solar and onshore wind have to be built in the regions. But this is often where a country's poorer people liveand where land is a key difference between wealth and poverty.

Pavagada holds a painful lesson. We need renewables urgently. But we must build it alongside the local communities who will host these new power sources. As many community members told us, they were not opposed to solar. What they wanted was a genuine partnership with revenue sharing, sharing of land across solar and agriculture, and more jobs and opportunities. In short, they were calling for a just transition.

Explore further Land use matters as communities cut carbon emissions

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
For the first time, researchers reveal the formation of localized ozone depletion associated with the isolated proton aurora. Credit: Kanazawa University

To assess damage caused to the ozone layer by charged particles in space that surround the Earth, an international team of researchers from Japan, the United States, and Canada studied a type of aurora called an "isolated proton aurora." They found more damage than predicted by simulations, suggesting a new factor to consider when assessing damage to the ozone layer.

Along with solar radiation from the sun, cosmic rays and high-energy plasma particles, such as ions and electrons, bombard the Earth's atmosphere. Among these particles, electrons in the radiation belt, the layer that surrounds the Earth in space, may fall along magnetic field lines into the Earth's atmosphere. When they fall, their charge ionizes the atmosphere and produces nitrogen oxides and hydrogen oxides. Both compounds contribute to ozone loss.

Although high-energy plasma particles damage the ozone layer, details of their impact are less well understood. This is because such particles are not visually observable, making it difficult to ascertain their location. However, when these charged particles interact with the upper atmosphere, they emit an isolated proton aurora that falls toward Earth. Normally, auroras appear as a belt around the north and south poles, however, these isolated proton auroras are visible as isolated spots or bands at lower latitudes.

Researchers from Nagoya University, Kanazawa University, and the National Institute of Polar Research in Japan; Johns Hopkins University in the U.S.; Athabasca University and the University of Alberta in Canada; NASA Langley Research Center; and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) investigated the ozone fluctuations below the isolated proton aurora to assess the impact of radiation-belt electrons. They reported their findings in Scientific Reports.

To detect electrons over the aurora, the team used a combination of satellite remote sensing, ground-based electromagnetic wave observations, and information from the International Space Station. For the first time, the data revealed the formation of a localized ozone hole in the middle atmosphere, about 400 km wide, which was associated with isolated proton auroras.

Comparing their results to simulations, the researchers found that the damage was much greater than predicted. Up to 1060% of the ozone directly below the aurora was destroyed 90 minutes after it began. Since the localized damage was directly below the isolated proton aurora, the researchers compared it to a pinpoint hole in a shoji, the paper sliding doors found in traditional Japanese houses.

"Researchers from a wide range of research fields related to plasma physics, aurora science, trace atmospheric composition sensing, and electromagnetic wave engineering were brought together to achieve comprehensive observations through international cooperation," explains team member Kazuo Shiokawa, a professor at the Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research at Nagoya University. However, he points out that even those without sophisticated technology can see isolated proton auroras. "Isolated proton auroras can be observed by scientific all-sky cameras," he said. "Although it is a rather weak aurora, it is also visible to a regular person."

"This is the first observational study in the world to show that radiation belt electron fallout from space around the Earth has a direct, immediate, and localized effect on atmospheric changes in the mesosphere," the researchers said. "This study revealed that radiation belt electrons falling into the atmosphere from space around the Earth have a rapid and localized effect on the composition of the microatmosphere, including ozone. This finding is expected to contribute to an improved prediction of changes in the Earth's atmospheric environment by considering the effects of atmospheric ionization by high-energy plasma from space."

"This result strongly suggests that the influence of radiation belt electrons cannot be ignored in predicting changes in the Earth's atmospheric environment," they concluded.

Explore further MAVEN and EMM make first observations of Mars' patchy proton aurora

More information: Mitsunori Ozaki et al, Localized mesospheric ozone destruction corresponding to isolated proton aurora coming from Earth's radiation belt, Scientific Reports (2022). Journal information: Scientific Reports Mitsunori Ozaki et al, Localized mesospheric ozone destruction corresponding to isolated proton aurora coming from Earth's radiation belt,(2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-20548-2
This 2022 photo provided by John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation shows Jenna Jambeck, Environmental Engineer, 2022 MacArthur Fellow, in Athens, Ga. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced the winners of their prestigious fellowships known as genius grants on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022. The fellowship honors 25 discipline-bending and society-changing people whose work offers inspiration and insight and comes with an award that was raised this year $800,000 distributed over five years. Credit: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation via AP

A specialist in plastic waste management, artists, musicians, computer scientists, and a poet-ornithologist who advocates for Black people in nature are among this year's 25 winners of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation's prestigious fellowships known as "genius grants" that honor discipline-bending and society-changing people whose work offers inspiration and insight.

The Chicago-based foundation announced Wednesday that it increased the "no strings attached" award amount each honoree receives from $625,000 to $800,000 over five years. Fellows do not need to report back to the foundation about how they spend the money.

"I hope that they will continue with their courage and provocation to inspire us to new places of understanding and inspiration," said Marlies Carruth, director of the MacArthur fellows program.

Jenna Jambeck, a professor of environmental engineering at the University of Georgia, received the award for accomplishments like calculating the amount of plastic created since 1950 and identifying that 8 million metric tons of plastic enters oceans each year. She got a call from the foundation after picking up her kids one day in September.

"I was just completely overcome with emotion," Jambeck said in an interview.

Jambeck, 48, has led surveys of the Ganges and Mississippi rivers to establish baseline data on plastic pollution and document the systems that produce the plastic, treat it as garbage and eventually funnel it into the water. The tension and challenge of managing waste captured her attention when she was in college in Gainesville, Florida, and witnessed a prolonged debate about whether to expand a landfill or transfer waste to another county.

"I just was hooked because, you know, this is something we create every day. We have to manage it," she said, "Yet everybody wants this material as far away from them as possible."

The foundation selects fellows through a multi-stage process where anonymous reviewers nominate and vet potential candidates, usually over the course of years, with the intent of recognizing people who are exceptionally creative in their work. The fellows are not involved in their selection and receive a phone call out of the blue, Carruth said.

This 2022 photo provided by John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation shows J. Drew Lanham, Ornithologist, Naturalist, and Writer, 2022 MacArthur Fellow, in Clemson, S.C. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced the winners of their prestigious fellowships known as genius grants on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022. The fellowship honors 25 discipline-bending and society-changing people whose work offers inspiration and insight and comes with an award that was raised this year $800,000 distributed over five years. Credit: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation via AP

J. Drew Lanham, a professor of forestry and environmental conservation at Clemson University, said the fellowship gives him intellectual and creative liberation. Lanham, 57, is also a poet, an ornithologist, an activist for Black people in nature, the author of a memoirin other words, a person who defies labels.

"I've even had friends and family and I'm sure colleagues wonder, 'Well, are you really working? What are you doing? How does that have anything to do with ornithology or how does that have anything to do with your being a college professor?'" he said, speaking from Edisto Island, South Carolina.

Among his writings are a 2013 essay "9 Rules for Black Birdwatchers," and a memoir that traces the beginning of his love affair with birds and nature to his childhood on his family's farm in South Carolina, which they lost after his father's death.

Carruth said this class of fellows is optimistic about civic repair and that the foundation is recognizing their work after the isolation, anxiety and disorientation created by the coronavirus pandemic.

Many of the fellows are doubling down on subjects that we thought we knew, she said, approaching them with new insights and from new perspectives like Emily Wang, a physician who founded a network of clinics that treat people released from jail with community health workers.

Another fellow, Reuben Jonathan Miller, has conducted years of ethnographic research on people's lives after being incarcerated. His research incorporates his personal experiences as a volunteer chaplain in Cook County jail and the imprisonment of his father and brother.

Other fellows include the author, botanist and advocate for environmental stewardship through the traditional knowledge of native peoples, Robin Wall Kimmerer; the computer scientist, Yejin Choi, who has developed new ways to train computers to understand language; the Chicago-based artist and architect Amanda Williams; and mathematician June Huh whose work bridges different parts of the field to prove longstanding conjectures.

The MacArthur Foundation reported an endowment of $9.4 billion at the end of 2021 and said it paid out $273 million in grants and impact investments that year. Its fellows program represented $15.6 million of those 2021 grants, the foundation said.

Who are the 2022 MacArthur 'genius grant' fellows?

A specialist in plastic waste management, artists, musicians, computer scientists, and a poet-ornithologist who advocates for Black people in nature are among this year's 25 winners of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation's prestigious fellowships known as "genius grants" that honor discipline-bending and society-changing people whose work offers inspiration and insight. The Chicago-based foundation announced Wednesday that it increased the "no strings attached" award amount each receive from $625,000 to $800,000 over five years.

The 2022 fellows are:

Jennifer Carlson, 40, Tucson, Arizona, sociologist whose research traces the evolution of gun culture in the U.S.

Paul Chan, 49, New York, artist and publisher, who works in different mediums and draws on a range of cultural references to invite viewers to reflect on the world.

Yejin Choi, 45, Seattle, computer scientist who developed new ways to train computers to understand language and assess the intent of different kinds of communication.

P. Gabrielle Foreman, 58, University Park, Pennsylvania, a literary historian who cofounded an archive of Black activism in the 19th century that has collaboratively identified and collected long dispersed records.

Danna Freedman, 41, Cambridge, Massachusetts, synthetic inorganic chemist designing molecules that have great storage and processing computing capacity.

Martha Gonzalez, 50, Claremont, California, musician, scholar and activist who has convened cross border participatory performances and collaborations around social justice issues.

Sky Hopinka, 38, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, artist and filmmaker whose abstract and documentary films feature Indigenous languages and perspectives.

June Huh, 39, Princeton, New Jersey, mathematician whose work bridges different parts of the field to prove longstanding conjectures.

Moriba Jah, 51, Austin, Texas, astrodynamicist who uses statistical analysis to study data to better estimate the locations and paths of objects in the earth's orbit.

Jenna Jambeck, 48, Athens, Georgia, environmental engineer whose study of plastics in the environment facilitates the participation of communities in managing their waste.

Monica Kim, 44, Madison, Wisconsin, historian of U.S. foreign policy whose archival research in multiple languages and original interviews reveal unstated motivations and policy goals.

Robin Wall Kimmerer, 69, Syracuse, New York, author, botanist and advocate for environmental stewardship through the traditional knowledge of native peoples.

Priti Krishtel, 44, Oakland, California, health justice lawyer advocating for reforms of the patent system to make access to treatments more equitable.

J. Drew Lanham, 57, Clemson, South Carolina, ornithologist, naturalist and writer who advocates for Black people in nature and encourages connection with and exploration of the natural world.

Kiese Laymon, 48, Houston, Texas, writer whose fiction and nonfiction interrogate the internalization and repetition of violence experienced by Black Americans.

Reuben Jonathan Miller, 46, Chicago, sociologist, criminologist and social worker who examines the consequences of incarceration, incorporating his personal experiences as a chaplain and relative of imprisoned people.

Ikue Mori, 68, New York, electronic music composer and performer whose work expands the bounds of electronic music making by incorporating live and prerecorded sequences.

Steven Prohira, 35, Lawrence Kansas, physicist who develops novel ways to detect and study subatomic particles that could reveal important information about the universe.

Tomeka Reid, 44, Chicago, jazz cellist and composer whose work draws on her community and forges unique combinations of instruments to reimagine classic works and expand the expressive possibilities of cello improvisation.

Loretta J. Ross, 69, Northampton, Massachusetts, reproductive justice and human rights advocate who envisions an end to racist reproductive policies and organizes toward overcoming barriers to reproductive autonomy.

Steven Ruggles, 67, Minneapolis, a historical demographer who built and maintains the most extensive database of population statistics in the world.

Tavares Strachan, 42, New York and Nassau, The Bahamas, interdisciplinary conceptual artist who has accomplished logistical feats while also elevating the histories of past marginalized artists and leaders.

Emily Wang, 47, New Haven, Connecticut, a primary care physician and researcher who founded a network of clinics staffed by community health workers and physicians to treat people released from jail.

Amanda Williams, 48, Chicago, artist and architect whose work explores the intersection of race and the built environment and invites the participation of the community in reimagining their space.

Melanie Matchett Wood, 41, Cambridge, Massachusetts, mathematician whose statistical analyses have helped answer questions related to number theory and algebraic geometry.

Explore further Exploring patient preferences for telehealth sexual and reproductive health care

 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Black Beauty. Credit: NASA

Almost 10 million years ago, a meteorite crashed into Earth. Hidden inside were 23 microscopic grains which tell the story of how Mars evolved.

Using one of WA's most powerful supercomputers, astronomers have now uncovered the meteorite's life story.

A chemical clock

Around 510 million years ago, a meteorite containing zircon crashed into Africa. When scientists discovered it in 2011, they named it NWA 7034. It was also nicknamed Black Beauty because of its color.

The meteorite contained 23 grains of zircon. Scientists used the tiny crystals to corroborate how Mars is thought to have formed.

Zircon forms when magma crystallizes, meaning astronomers can use it to work out how old planets are.

In the earliest days of a planet's creation, magma spews across the still-forming surface. All this magma caused zircon to deposit on the surface of Mars as it cooled.

Zircon contains radioisotopes. These are chemicals that break down into more stable forms and emit radiation.

Because these chemicals decay at a predictable rate, researchers can use them like a clock. They use the ratio of the original chemical and the decayed chemical to calculate how long ago the zircon crystallized. In this way, it can shed light on the age of a planet.

Tracking black beauty

So how did scientists know Black Beauty came from Mars? Astronomers ground up a small chunk of the meteorite and analyzed its chemical composition.

Around the same time, the Curiosity Rover and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter missions were on Mars. And they were sending back information about the planet's rocky surface. The comparison showed Black Beauty was most likely from Mars.

It took another 9 years to pinpoint where on Mars Black Beauty came from.

The Orion Nebula. Credit: NASA

A team of researchers from WA and France studied images of Mars to find Black Beauty's home. They analyzed over 90 million meteorite impact craters.

Kosta Servis is a senior data scientist for Pawsey Supercomputing Center. He helped analyze all the data to identify where Black Beauty originated from.

Kosta says researchers narrowed down the possible origin sites by studying the meteorite's minerals and size.

"[Calculating the] energy required to escape the gravity of Mars and hence the energy of the impact, we are able to constrain and, to some degree of certainty, eliminate the other candidate ejection sites."

The team settled on an unnamed 10km crater in the Terra Cimmeria-Sirenum province of Mars. This area lies in the planet's southern hemisphere. The team named it Karratha after the Australian town's iconic rock formations.

It's in the clouds

The most popular theory of planet formation is from the protoplanetary disk.

Molecular clouds are massive space clouds of dust and gas. And by massive, we mean they span lightyears from one side to the other. When a dense pocket of these clouds collapse under its own gravity, a star is born.

The new star causes parts of the remaining gas cloud to orbit it. This is the protoplanetary disk. Particles of dust and ice collide to form miniature planets, called planetesimals. Eventually, they build up to form fully fledged planets. There's even a video game where you can do this yourself.

Astronomers predict this using the Hubble telescope to observe nearby gas forming clouds. An example is the Orion Nebula, which is still forming solar systems and stars.

Astronomers then use computer simulations of accretion to model how the gas clouds behave.

This new understanding of Mars is much bigger than the Red Planet.

"By understanding how Mars was formed, we are able to understand how our Solar System evolved," says Kosta.

About 20 million years after forming, the Mars crust stabilized. Oceans of magma cooled and crystallized. And trillions of tons of rock settled to become the planet we know today.

With recent research suggesting Mars is more seismically active than previously thought, perhaps there is more awaiting discovery.

Explore further Scientists find oldest Martian meteorite's original home

This article first appeared on Particle, a science news website based at Scitech, Perth, Australia. Read the original article.
Volcanic craters at Santorini. Image Wikipedia.

A team of scientists will in December use a drill ship to trace the geological history of the southern Aegean, including the volcanic eruption that reshaped the Greek island of Santorini, a mission member said Wednesday.

"It's the first time that an oceanographic mission of this scope is carried out in Greece," Olga Koukousioura, a micropalaeontology researcher at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, told AFP.

Starting December 11, the US drill ship Joides Resolution will extract samples from six locations at a depth of between 360 and 860 meters (1,180-2,822 feet) off the popular Greek travel island.

Koukousioura said the samples could also yield historical climate data useful for modern research.

The scientist said the Santorini volcano, whose geological history will also be traced, is merely the epicenter of an Aegean Sea volcanic arc stretching from Methana on the Athens coast to the Cycladic islands of Milos and Nisyros.

"Santorini is an open geological museum, a natural laboratory," Evi Nomikou, an assistant professor in geological oceanography and natural geography at the University of Athens, told Kathimerini daily.

A team of around 30 researchers from the United States, China, India, Japan and Australia will undertake the two-month mission financed by the International Ocean Discovery Program until February 10.

Best known for its picturesque sunsets that draw hundreds of thousands of visitors annually, Santorini was completely reshaped by a volcanic eruption around 1600 BCE that wiped out a culturally advanced Minoan colony.

Geothermal activity accompanied by seismic tremors remains high to this day.

The last major eruption of the most active part of the volcano, beneath the uninhabited black lava islet of Kameni near Santorini, occurred in 1950.

The Joides Resolution is capable of recovering sediments and rocks deep beneath the seabed.

In 2017 it was part of a mission to the South Pacific to seek the so-called "lost continent" of Zealandia that was submerged millions of years ago.

Explore further Tonga is home to 170 islands. A new one just formed from an underwater volcanic eruption

 2022 AFP
Installed on the space station in July 2022, EMIT orbits Earth about once every 90 minutes, to map the world's mineral-dust sources. This includes the Sahara, where it recently gathered data on three mineralsgoethite, hematite, and kaolinitein an area of southwest Libya marked by the red box. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA's Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) mission aboard the International Space Station has produced its first mineral maps, providing detailed images that show the composition of the surface in regions of northwest Nevada and Libya in the Sahara Desert.

Windy desert areas such as these are the sources of fine dust particles thatwhen lifted by wind into the atmospherecan heat or cool the surrounding air. But scientists haven't been able to assess whether mineral dust in the atmosphere has overall heating or cooling effects at local, regional, and global scales. EMIT's measurements will help them to advance computer models and improve our understanding of dust's impacts on climate.

EMIT scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and the U.S. Geological Survey created the maps to test the accuracy of the instrument's measurements, a crucial first step in preparing for full science operations.

Installed on the space station in July, EMIT is the first of a new class of high-fidelity imaging spectrometers that collect data from space and produce better-quality data at greater volumes than previous instruments.

This image cube shows the true-color view of an area in northwest Nevada observed by NASAs EMIT imaging spectrometer. The side panels depict the spectral fingerprint for each point in the image. The cube shows the presence of kaolinite, a light-colored clay mineral that reflects sunlight. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/USGS

"Decades ago, when I was in graduate school, it took 10 minutes to collect a single spectrum from a geological sample in the laboratory. EMIT's imaging spectrometer measures 300,000 spectra per second, with superior quality," said Robert Green, EMIT's principal investigator and senior research scientist at JPL.

"The data we're getting from EMIT will give us more insight into the heating and cooling of Earth, and the role mineral dust plays in that cycle. It's promising to see the amount of data we're getting from the mission in such a short time," said Kate Calvin, NASA's chief scientist and senior climate advisor. "EMIT is one of seven Earth science instruments on the International Space Station giving us more information about how our planet is affected by climate change."

EMIT analyzes light reflected from Earth, measuring it at hundreds of wavelengths, from the visible to the infrared range of the spectrum. Different materials reflect light in different wavelengths. Scientists use these patterns, called spectral fingerprints, to identify surface minerals and pinpoint their locations.

Mapping minerals

The Nevada map focuses on a mountainous area about 130 miles (209 kilometers) northeast of Lake Tahoe, revealing locations dominated by kaolinite, a light-colored mineral whose particles scatter light upward and cool the air as they move through the atmosphere. The map and spectral fingerprint closely match those collected from aircraft in 2018 by the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS), data that was verified at the time by geologists. Researchers are using this and other comparisons to confirm the accuracy of EMIT's measurements.

NASAs EMIT mission recently gathered mineral spectra in northwest Nevada that match what the agencys AVIRIS instrument found in 2018, helping to confirm EMITs accuracy. Both instruments found areas dominated by kaolinite, a reflective clay mineral whose particles can cool the air when airborne. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/USGS

The other mineral map shows substantial amounts of kaolinite as well as two iron oxides, hematite and goethite, in a sparsely populated section of the Sahara about 500 miles (800 kilometers) south of Tripoli. Darker-colored dust particles from iron-oxide-rich areas strongly absorb energy from the sun and heat the atmosphere, potentially affecting the climate.

Currently there is little or no information on the composition of dust originating in parts of the Sahara. In fact, researchers have detailed mineral information of only about 5,000 soil samples from around the world, requiring that they make inferences about the composition of dust.

EMIT will gather billions of new spectroscopic measurements across six continents, closing this gap in knowledge and advancing climate science. "With this exceptional performance, we are on track to comprehensively map the minerals of Earth's arid regionsabout 25% of the Earth's land surfacein less than a year and achieve our climate science objectives," Green said.

EMIT's data also will be freely available for a wide range of investigations, including, for example, the search for strategically important minerals such as lithium and rare-earth elements. What's more, the instrument's technology is laying the groundwork for the future Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) satellite mission, which is part of NASA's Earth System Observatory, a set of missions aimed at addressing climate change.

The image cubes front panel is a true-color view of part of southwestern Libya observed by NASAs EMIT mission. The side panels depict the spectral fingerprints for every point in the image, showing kaolinite, a reflective clay mineral, and goethite and hematite, iron oxides that absorb heat. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Pioneering technology

EMIT traces its roots to imaging spectrometer technology that NASA's Airborne Imaging Spectrometer (AIS) first demonstrated in 1982. Designed to identify minerals on Earth's surface from a low-altitude research aircraft, the instrument delivered surprising results almost immediately. During early test flights near Cuprite, Nevada, AIS detected the unique spectral signature of buddingtonite, a mineral not seen on any previous geological maps of the area.

Paving the way for future spectrometers when it was introduced in 1986, AVIRISthe airborne instrument that succeeded AIShas studied geology, plant function, and alpine snowmelt, among other natural phenomena. It has also mapped chemical pollution at Superfund sites and studied oil spills, including the massive Deepwater Horizon leak in 2010. And it flew over the World Trade Center site in Manhattan following the Sept. 11 attacks, locating uncontrolled fires and mapping debris composition in the wreckage.

Over the years, as optics, detector arrays, and computing capabilities have progressed, imaging spectrometers capable of resolving smaller targets and subtler differences have flown with missions across the solar system.

The mineral map shows a part of southwestern Libya, in the Sahara, observed by NASAs EMIT mission. It depicts areas dominated by kaolinite, a reflective clay mineral that scatters light, and goethite and hematite, iron oxides that absorb heat and warm the surrounding air. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

A JPL-built imaging spectrometer on the Indian Space Research Organization's Chandrayaan-1 probe measured signs of water on the Moon in 2009. NASA's Europa Clipper, which launches in 2024, will rely on an imaging spectrometer to help scientists assess if the icy Jovian moon has conditions that could support life.

Highly advanced JPL-developed spectrometers will be part of NASA's forthcoming Lunar Trailblazerwhich will determine the form, abundance, and distribution of water on the Moon and the nature of the lunar water cycleand on satellites to be launched by the nonprofit Carbon Mapper, aimed at spotting greenhouse gas point-sources from space.

"The technology took directions that I would never have imagined," said Gregg Vane, the JPL researcher whose graduate studies in geology helped inspire the idea for the original imaging spectrometer. "Now with EMIT, we're using it to look back at our own planet from space for important climate research."

Explore further NASA's mineral dust detector starts gathering data
We need businesses like Patagonia to set an example for what ethical capitalism can look like. Credit: Shutterstock

Patagonia's recent blockbuster announcement that the company was "turning capitalism on its head by making the Earth our only shareholder" is generating a lot of attention. It is the start of another chapter in a long and storied history of a company that, more often than not, has been getting ethics right.

But is "turning capitalism on its head" the right move in these socially and economically precarious times? Patagonia will continue to operate as a private, for-profit corporation, with a catch: the company's voting stock will be transferred to the Patagonia Purpose Trust.

In explaining the move, Patagonia's founder Yvon Chouinard said that taking the company public would have been a disaster. He said that "even public companies with good intentions are under too much pressure to create short-term gain at the expense of long-term vitality and responsibility."

It's clear Chouinard has lost faith in the ability for businesses like Patagonia to act ethically for the common good, despite the company's history of doing exactly that.

Patagonia inspired others

I have long lauded Patagonia as the paradigm of an ethical company. Patagonia sells durable and lasting products, offers a repair and reuse program and robust environmental and animal welfare principles for sourcing materials. It also offers safe, fair, legal and humane working conditions at all production facilities.

We need paradigms of good governance like Patagonia. In contrast, members of the Business Roundtable nonprofit, made up of CEOs of top American companies "working to promote a thriving U.S. economy and expanded opportunity for all Americans through sound public policy," went back on their ethical promises a year after pledging a new model of corporate responsibility.

The Roundtable executives were right to conclude that focusing solely on maximizing shareholder value will not support success in today's socioeconomic reality. But they didn't know how to follow through on the required changes.

What's needed is not grandiose ethical gestures, but businesses like Patagonia that model a viable type of ethical business and make meaningful commitments about ethics without alienating managers and customers.

Avoiding conversation stoppers

In a recently published paper in the Journal of Business Ethics my colleague and I looked to the American pragmatist Richard Rorty for ethical guidance. Rorty explained that morality begins only when controversy arises, and moral dilemmas are solved by how we justify our ethical positions.

Rorty warns against what he calls conversation stoppers. The argument that there is no hope for shareholder capitalism is one example of a conversation stopper that prevents us from making meaningful progress. Sometimes even the best moral arguments run the risk of having an averse effect. We shouldn't be shutting down conversations about ethical capitalismwe should be starting them.

Instead of grand gestures, like Patagonia's recent move, we should be committing to managing stakeholders in a way that shrinks the Us vs. Them divide. It is a mistake for managers of publicly traded firms to view their shareholders as part of the "Us" while all other stakeholders are the less important "Them." And it is equally problematic for those who put ethics first to view public companies as part of a hopelessly immoral "Them."

We need to strive for harm reduction in our business activities, and work towards social mobility for all our stakeholders. These are things Patagonia does well that other firms can learn from.

Difficulty with staying on track

A recent scandal involving John Deere illustrates how difficult it is for companies to embody true corporate responsibility. Similar to Patagonia, John Deere has also been lauded for its overall business ethics.

The company's current focus is on creating agricultural machinery using autonomous driving technology to help the world feed itself. It's moving to automation in an industry facing massive labor shortages.

In 2020, it was revealed that John Deere was selling tractors that farmers were locked out of repairing themselves, meaning even the simplest repair would have to be done by a licensed dealer.

This seems like a foolish choice, since the company's future is in innovation tied to its solid reputation, not exploiting a repair monopoly. The money gained by this piece of their value proposition is simply not worth the moral cost.

John Deere promised that by 2021 it would make repair tools, software and diagnostics directly available to tractor owners. This has yet to happen.

Turning the tide of anti-capitalism

Back in 2005, Richard Rorty made a pitch to business thought leaders: engage in big-picture imaginative projects to turn the tide of anti-capitalist resentment.

He observed that this resentment is "likely to produce social and political chaos." He warned that if those in positions of power aren't "dreaming up idealistic, utopian scenarios for the formation of a morally decent global society, it is unlikely that such a society will ever come into existence."

Chouinard claims to be acting in that spirit, writing: "Truth be told, there were no good options available. So, we created our own." But does Patagonia's grand gesture get us closer to a better society? Not in my estimation.

Instead, it turns business ethics on its head by telling firms to not even bother striving for noble ethical outcomes. It's a message that undermines a wider drive towards ethical capitalism. By inviting publicly held firms to question the value of even trying to do good, Patagonia may ultimately give them the grounds to cease trying at all.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Data collection activities in June 2019 at Boulder Lake in the Bridger-Teton National Forest near Pinedale, Wyoming, USA. Credit: Roman Borys

Downy brome is an invasive annual grass known to fuel devastating wildfires in the vast rangelands of western North America. Scientists say the weed represents a significant threat to native sagebrush ecosystems, and to the people and wildlife that depend on them.

Weed managers often use the herbicide imazapic to manage downy brome. Unfortunately, reinvasion from the downy brome seed bank is common after imazapic treatment.

In an open access article featured in volume 15, issue 3 of the journal Invasive Plant Science and Management, researchers describe a five-year field study that compared the effectiveness of imazapic with that of indaziflama newer herbicide recently labeled for use in rangelands grazed by livestock. Researchers compared the ability of the two herbicides to reduce downy brome abundance and enable a resurgence in native perennial grass cover.

While imazapic reduced downy brome initially, control receded after 21 months. However, indaziflam delivered longer-term benefits.

"In some circumstances, a single application of indaziflam controlled downy brome across the entire five-year span of our study," says Jacob Courkamp, a postdoctoral fellow at Colorado State University. "This suggests indaziflam can help achieve weed management objectives that are not feasible using other herbicides, and that indaziflam may be a powerful tool for weed managers working to mitigate the impacts of invasive annual grasses in grazed areas."

Explore further Research shows pairing herbicides with prescribed burning improves downy brome control

More information: Jacob S. Courkamp et al, Indaziflam reduces downy brome (Bromus tectorum) density and cover five years after treatment in sagebrush-grasslands with no impact on perennial grass cover, Invasive Plant Science and Management (2022). Jacob S. Courkamp et al, Indaziflam reduces downy brome (Bromus tectorum) density and cover five years after treatment in sagebrush-grasslands with no impact on perennial grass cover,(2022). DOI: 10.1017/inp.2022.21
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

The mid-eighteenth century marked the conclusion of a significant period of expansion for the Qing empire (1644-1911). The empire controlled nearly twice as much land as before, and updated maps were needed to record and represent new territorial acquisitions.

These cartographical endeavors provided an opportunity to become acquainted with new scientific technology. The Manchu emperors enlisted the mapmaking expertise of the Jesuits, who employed innovative latitude and longitude coordinates to generate atlases. But the coordinate system was not accepted uniformly throughout the empire, leading to clashing interpretations over time.

In the article "The Plurality of Reception: Latitude and Longitude in Early Modern China, 1700-1900," published in Isis, Xue Zhang argues that the overall transmission of the latitude-longitude system was inconsistentand acceptance of the system sporadicacross the different social strata of the Qing empire. Zhang examines myriad maps to analyze the factors behind this phenomenon, ultimately demonstrating that the successful transmission of technological advances within a society depends as strongly on prevailing social attitudes as scientific ones.

While usage of latitude and longitude coordinates was gaining popularity in Europe, nonscale maps remained prevalent in both Europe and China. Nonscale maps of the period, some of which incorporated a square grid, illustrated relative distances. Providing an approximation of an area or estimated travel time between locations, these maps served the majority of users' needs. Chinese cartographers were therefore hesitant to alter their methods.

Zhang notes that the Manchu emperors, however, valued the updated maps based on latitude-longitude coordinates. The new atlases were well received and regularly referenced by members of the imperial court for military matters or issues of diplomacy. But given the strategic value of the materials, the maps were not widely shared outside of the palace.

Another factor that hindered reception was the existence of two competing cosmological theories: the theory of Heavenly Cover and the spherical Earth theory. The principal cosmological theory at the time, the theory of Heavenly Cover posited that heaven exists as a dome above the flat plane of Earth. In contrast, latitude and longitude coordinates rely upon the notion that Earth is a sphere. Emperors' comprehension of different cosmological views and their acceptance of the spherical Earth theory greatly impacted how others using the imperial maps interpreted and reproduced the latitude-longitude information.

Debates concerning cosmological theories and how meridians should appear persisted throughout the nineteenth century as access to imperial maps expanded to scholars. Despite the greater access, relative approximations were still favored, and latitude-longitude coordinates, when included, were rarely explained. Instead, the presence of coordinates frequently served as a signifier of a connection to the imperial court.

Thus, different social groups approached the latitude-longitude system in unique ways, adopting aspects of the system that suited their particular needs and worldviews. The result was a reenvisioned coordinate system with new implications. As Zhang emphasizes, "From this vantage point, technology reception is indeed a plural process." To understand a technology, in other words, one must also understand the cultural and social context that has enabled its acceptance and use.

Explore further Australia moving up in the world... literally

More information: Xue Zhang, The Plurality of Reception: Latitude and Longitude in Early Modern China, 17001900, Isis (2022). Xue Zhang, The Plurality of Reception: Latitude and Longitude in Early Modern China, 17001900,(2022). DOI: 10.1086/721142
A report from the Asian Development Bank recommends raising imaginary waterline demarcation for projects in the Asia Pacific region by two metres instead of one metre to improve resilience against sea-level rise. Credit: Neil Andrew/WorldFish (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) recommends raising the imaginary waterline demarcation for projects in the Asia Pacific region to two meters, instead of the existing one meter, to improve the resilience of structures against rising sea levels.

An ADB report presented during the bank's annual board meeting (26-30 September) warns that sea-level rise in the Asia-Pacific could exceed two meters by 2100 due to the double whammy of sinking land mainly due to groundwater withdrawal as well as the warming of the oceans as a result of climate change. The report draws on hydrographic records and geological evidence dating back several hundred years.

"Based on observed data collected since 2000, most islands in the Pacific Island region are subsiding. Therefore, the effect of sea-level rise will be magnified where the land is falling," said the study.

Anthony Kiem, author of the study and professor of hydro-climatology at the University of Newcastle, Australia, says that sea-level rise in the Asia Pacific region is expected to worsen climate change impacts and presents a challenge to new and existing critical infrastructure.

Kiem was an external technical reviewer for a report on managing sea level rise infrastructure risk in Pacific Island countries, published February by the Pacific Region Infrastructure Facility, which said sea levels were expected to keep rising for several centuries, posing an ongoing challenge for the Pacific Island Countries.

While some paleoclimate records suggest that sea-level rise of five meters in a century has occurred before, the consensus view is that such extreme rise would happen over long periods (centuries to millennia) and is unlikely to occur before 2100, the study said.

According to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (AR6), the "projected global mean sea level rise of 1.7 to 6.8 meters by 2300 is possible".

Given evidence about changes in sea levels projected by 2100 in Asia-Pacific, ADB has suggested that governments make suitable adjustments to the infrastructure that they plan to build.

"For short- to medium-term projects (i.e., with a design life of 2030 years), a scenario of 0.5 meter by 2050; for long-term, a scenario of two meters by 2100; and for projects with an expected lifetime beyond 2100, scenarios of greater than two meters," the study said.

"The Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and other work that have emerged since AR5 [the previous assessment] demonstrate that not only is sea level rise greater than one meter (relative to the 19952014 baseline) conceivable at some point in the 21st century but it is also plausible that sea level rise could exceed two meters by 2100," the study said.

According to the Pacific Region Infrastructure Facility, the Pacific Island Countries have a low adaptive capacity to climate change, and a holistic approach to infrastructure management which considers the full range of plausible climate change and natural hazard outcomes is required.

Provided by SciDev.Net
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Some of the assessment tools that measure children's thinking skills in the U.S. may have provided inaccurate information about poor, urban students because they are modeled on wealthiermostly whitepopulations.

In a newly-published study of almost 500 children from high-poverty, urban communities in the United States, researchers found that a widely-used assessment, which measures the development of thinking skills called "executive functions," did not fully and accurately evaluate students' progress. The study links this to probable cultural bias in the assessment design and suggests that this may be replicated in other, similar tools. The work is published in Developmental Science.

Any such design flaw may have influenced a growing body of research that suggests that children from poorer backgrounds tend to start school with less well-developed executive functions. "Executive functions" is a collective term for a set of essential thinking skills needed to carry out everyday tasks and learning. They include working memory, self-control, the ability to ignore distractions and easily switch between tasks. Children with good executive functions tend to have better test scores, better mental health and greater employment potential.

One common method for measuring the healthy development of these skills involves asking teachers to complete questionnaires about children's observed behaviors. The results can potentially help pinpoint childrenor entire groupswho need extra support. They also provide a rich source of data for research on how executive functions develop.

In the new study, researchers found that one of these teacher rating scales, which has been widely used in the United States, was of limited value when assessing poorer, urban students. Specifically, they found that the executive function screener of a version of the Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC), called the BASC-2, "is not a good representation of everyday executive function behaviors by children from schools in high-poverty communities."

The team, from the University of Cambridge (UK) and Virginia Commonweath University (U.S.) suggest that the likely cause is that both this scale, and others like it, have been developed using an unrepresentative sample of children.

Researchers have previously pointed out that these assessments tend to be modeled on children who are mostly from comfortable socioeconomic settings. By mapping their observed behaviors on to executive functions, they may falsely assume that these behaviors are "normal" markers for any child of the same age. In reality, children's different backgrounds and lived experiences may mean that executive functions express themselves differently across different groups.

Annie Zonneveld, from the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge and the study's first author, said, "There is a big question around how we measure executive functions: Are we actually using the right tools? If they are based on white, middle-class students, we cannot be sure that they would actually work for the whole population. We may be seeing evidence of that here."

Michelle Ellefson, Professor of Cognitive Science at the Faculty of Education, said, "Teachers can provide us with really valuable data about children's executive functions because they can monitor development in ways we could not possibly replicate in a lab, but they need effective measures to do this. This means the assessments must draw on information about children from different backgrounds."

According to the Children's Defense Fund, about 14% of children in the United States live in poverty. While nearly 50% of all children are from ethnic minority families, 71% of those in poverty are from these backgrounds. Most psychometric research on executive functions, however, focuses on white middle-income or affluent families. It has never been clear how far its findings can be generalized.

The new study examined the executive function components of two versions of the BASC: the BASC-2 and BASC-3. These ask teachers to observe children's everyday behaviors and rate, on a scale of "never" to "always" how far they agree with statements such as "acts without thinking," "is easily distracted," "cannot wait to take turn," "is a self-starter" and "argues when denied own way." They then extrapolate information about the children's executive functions based on the responses.

The researchers analyzed two sample groups of children, aged around 9 or 10, all from state schools in high-poverty urban areas in the United States. In total, 472 children took part. The first sample was assessed using the BASC-2; the other using the BASC-3.

Both groups also completed six computer-based tasks that psychologists and neuroscientists use in lab-based tasks to measure specific executive functions. The researchers looked at how far the scores from these computerized taskswhich are accurate but difficult to run with large groupscorresponded to the measures from the teacher-administered surveys.

The findings indicated that while the BASC-2 provides a reasonable overview of students' general executive functioning, it does not capture accurate details about specific functions like working memory and self-control. The BASC-3 was far more effective, probably because it uses a different and more focused set of questions.

"The BASC-2 has been used extensively in archived datasets and contributes to academic research about how executive functions develop," Ellefson said. "It is really important to recognize that without modification, it is not an appropriate basis for making judgments about certain groups of children."

The assessment is just one of many surveys that measure children's cognitive development in different countries. "It is important that we know how these tools are establishing their baseline understanding of 'typical' development," Zonneveld said. "If they are based on mostly white populations from affluent suburbs, they won't necessarily be as representative as we might hope."

Explore further Children's chores improve brain function

More information: Annie K. Zonneveld et al, Executive function measurement in urban schools: Exploring links between performancebased metrics and teacher ratings, Developmental Science (2022). Journal information: Developmental Science Annie K. Zonneveld et al, Executive function measurement in urban schools: Exploring links between performancebased metrics and teacher ratings,(2022). DOI: 10.1111/desc.13319
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

When Zimife Umeh, a new assistant professor of sociology at the George Washington University's Columbian College of Arts and Sciences (CCAS), first embarked on researching the experiences of incarcerated mothers, she worried nobody would talk to her.

After all, she was asking women who were recently released from prison to divulge their most personal and painful memories. She would be interviewing them about childhood abuse, their years behind bars and the anguish of being separated from their children.

"I was essentially asking them to unpack their traumas for my research purposes," said Umeh, who joined the CCAS Department of Sociology faculty this fall. "That's a very big ask."

But as she met with women in settings from homes to halfway houses, word spread among nonprofit aid organizations that Umeh could be trusted. From 2018 to 2019, she interviewed 40 formerly incarcerated women. And while each had unique stories about their struggles within the criminal justice system, many repeated a common refrain: They were relieved to finally be heard.

"I'm glad I got to tell like my story," Umeh recalled women telling her. "Nobody has ever asked me how I got here."

Throughout her career, Umeh has listened to people's stories and fit them into a larger narrative about how interactions with institutionsprisons, foster cares, schoolsshape lives.

Her current researchbeginning with her Ph.D. studies at Duke University and her postdoctoral fellowship at Brown University and now continuing at CCASexplores how institutions treat victimized Black women as criminals. Through her work, Umeh traces the pathways to prison for mothers, many of whom have suffered poverty and abuse. And she reveals how their incarceration continues to reverberate throughout their lives long after their release.

"The negative and punitive consequences are devastating and ongoing," she explained. "It affects their ability to parent. It affects whether they find jobs with a living income. It touches everything and it feels like it will never end."

Severing family bonds

Early in her career, Umeh spent five years as a public high school teacher in Philadelphia. Too often, she said, she witnessed how student struggles with disciplinarian systems often led to encounters with police. As she saw young people enter the juvenile justice system over relatively minor offenses, she began to look deeper at what she and others have called a "school-to-prison pipeline."

Her research revealed eye-opening facts about families separated by incarceration. Of the more than 150,000 incarcerated women in 2020a 475% increase since 1980nearly 60% are mothers, according to the nonprofit Sentencing Project.

Children with incarcerated mothers face higher risks of an array of adverse outcomes, including dropping out of school and ending up behind bars themselves. Indeed, an Annie E. Casey Foundation report suggested that parental incarceration can have as many negative impacts on a child's well-being as abuse or domestic violence.

Maintaining family bonds can help ease the trauma of separation for both mothers and children, noted an Urban Institute study. But institutional barrierssuch as courts and child welfare agencies that oversee custody decisions and prisons that regulate parents' access to their kidskeep families part, Umeh said.

"How do you look at yourself as a mother when someone else tells you how and when you can see your children?" she said.

Umeh's interview subjects largely mirror the national profile of incarcerated women. Most are African American women sentenced for non-violent offenses, from low-level drug-related incidents to what Umeh calls "economic survival" acts, like one mother who shoplifted children's clothes from a Walmart. And like many women ensnared in the criminal justice system, Umeh said incarcerated mothers often experienced abusive childhoods themselves.

Even from behind bars, however, many of the mothers in Umeh's survey looked for ways to cling to their maternal identitysome even choosing not to have their children visit them. "That may not look like traditional mothering, " she explained, "but they are saying, "I'm still doing the act of mothering by protecting my childreneven if that means protecting them from me and my environment.'"

And for most, their burdens don't end with their release. Umeh recalled one woman who, after a series of misdemeanors, was stripped of both her nursing assistant and bartending licenses. She was forced to lie about her criminal record on a waitressing job application, but was fired when her employer found out. "What does reentry mean if you can't reenter the labor market?" Umeh said. "How do you get on with your life?"

The next phase of Umeh's research will focus on mother-child reunions and feature input from institutional actorssocial workers, child protective service agents and judgesthroughout the Washington, D.C., family court system. Meanwhile, she plans to adapt her research into a book project. She is already introducing the women's stories into her undergraduate class on Black Feminist Perspectives and Criminal Justice.

The intense interviews can be wearying, Umeh said, often leaving her emotionally drained. "It takes it takes a toll," she admitted. Still she's been sustained by the resilience of the women who trust her with their stories. Even in their most challenging moments, she noted, most were committed to charting a brighter path for their families' future.

"It's touching to see how determined they are to get their children back, to start new jobs, to stick to their sobriety," she said. "We know they face an uphill battle. But their optimism is inspiring."

Explore further Studying the effects of incarceration on women and their families
Landmeterskop Farm Cottages, Stanford, South Africa. Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Value addition is a central theme in agriculture. The concept involves adding value at every step, from production to delivery of a product. This creates opportunities for farmers and companies to find competitive advantages. It also has the potential to improve food security and create employment.

In South Africa, the government has used value addition as a policy to try to correct some of the historical imbalances in the agriculture sector.

Large-scale commercial enterprises have dominated the sector since the first part of the 20th century. They compare favorably with those anywhere in the world. But they are in stark contrast with the small scale farming sector in terms of productivity and value addition. And the divide has a racial dimension. About 72% of farm land is held by white people, and only 4% by black people.

Large commercial enterprises are run mostly by white farmers. In the case of grain, oilseed and meat these enterprises account for about three quarters of the country's production. For their part, small scale farmersabout 2 million of themfarm on a limited scale, rearing animals or cultivating crops. Their farming activities are characterized by, among others, low yields, a lack of mechanization, and lack of financing solutions.

It is therefore difficult for small scale enterprises to commercialize and add value.

The South African government has taken some steps to help these farmers boost their productivity and become better integrated into the country's agricultural economy. Its policies and plans include the Agricultural Policy Action Plan 20152019. The more recent efforts have focused on value addition as a strategy.

We conducted a study to analyze whether these initiatives had worked. We looked at the contribution of small-scale farmers to food value addition.

We found that their participation in agro-processing was limited. And we concluded that government's funding policy for the sector should give priority to improving farmers' access to information, technology, skills and markets.

The vision for value addition

Value addition in the food industry is applied at every link of the chain to increase production. For example, sophisticated techniques can process maize into different products such as corn meal, corn syrup, corn starch and corn oil which can find their way to markets around the world. Maize processing by traditional methods, in contrast, limits the variety of products and is only sufficient for home consumption.

South Africa's government has recognized the potential that value addition has to improve small-scale agriculture and, in turn, national food security. In 2021, for example, about R1.2 billion was allocated to the agriculture and food sector budget to support smallholder farmers through various initiatives related to value addition.

The Department of Agriculture, Forests and Fisheries budgeted about R5.6 billion between 2018 and 2021 to support 145,000 black commercial, subsistence and smallholder producers. The support included production inputs and farm infrastructure.

Also, a scheme called the Micro Agricultural Financial Institutions of South Africa has existed since 2004 to address the financial services needs of smallholder farmers and agribusinesses. It lends money at lower than market rates.

The idea was that these interventions would yield returns in the production of high-value crops such as macadamia nuts, fruit production, poultry production, red meat production schemes or initiatives to improve animal production in rural areas.

From policy to practice

Our study reviewed documents about food value chains and agro-processing in South Africa. We wanted to know how food value-addition policies encouraged food value addition in the small-scale agricultural sector, and what challenges were inhibiting the sector.

The findings show that policies are not contributing much to food value chain addition at the national level. The overall contribution of agro-processing to GDP was a paltry 5.7%. About 3% of farmers are trained in food processing. And the small-scale agricultural and aquaculture sectors are not well established. Land reform remains an issue.

The constraints to value addition operate mainly at the primary production level. They limit both quality and quantity of output, which has practical implications for agro-processing participation. For example, an analysis of African leafy vegetable value chains in Limpopo province shows smallholder producers experience considerable post-harvest losses because of their more frequent use of informal market channels and low capitalisation.

The key constraints we identified in the literature were:

a lack of access to finance and rising input costs

government budget cuts in vital support functions such as extension services and research and development

a lack of appropriate technology

a dearth of technical and entrepreneurial skills

a lack of knowledge and skills in agro-processing and food quality standards required by markets

a lack of access to information about technology and markets

bottlenecks in the supply of raw materials like oil and grain

food trade policy misalignment with partner countries

dumping of food products by trading partners, effectively destroying the domestic food value chain.

What next?

The contribution of the small scale agricultural sector to the South African food value addition agenda is restricted on many frontiers which require government intervention.

Firstly, the South African government needs to rethink its funding policy for agriculture and agro-processing.

It should prioritize programs that enhance farmers' access to information about technology and markets. Such programs should also aim to improve farmers' knowledge and skills around agro-processingand help them to understand and comply with food quality standards in line with customer preferences.

Finally, food trade policy should be aligned with partner countries in various blocs to protect the food industry from dumping. This has ripple effects on markets and employment.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
The two stars in Wolf-Rayet 140 produce shells of dust every eight years that look like rings, as seen in this image from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. Each ring was created when the stars came close together and their stellar winds collided. Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScl/JPL-Caltech

A new image from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope reveals a remarkable cosmic sight: at least 17 concentric dust rings emanating from a pair of stars. Located just over 5,000 light-years from Earth, the duo is collectively known as Wolf-Rayet 140.

Each ring was created when the two stars came close together and their stellar winds (streams of gas they blow into space) met, compressing the gas and forming dust. The stars' orbits bring them together about once every eight years; like the growth of rings of a tree's trunk, the dust loops mark the passage of time.

"We're looking at over a century of dust production from this system," said Ryan Lau, an astronomer at NSF's NOIRLab and lead author of a new study about the system, published today in the journal Nature Astronomy. "The image also illustrates just how sensitive this telescope is. Before, we were only able to see two dust rings, using ground-based telescopes. Now we see at least 17 of them."

In addition to Webb's overall sensitivity, its Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) is uniquely qualified to study the dust ringsor what Lau and his colleagues call shells, because they are thicker and wider than they appear in the image. Webb's science instruments detect infrared light, a range of wavelengths invisible to the human eye. MIRI detects the longest infrared wavelengths, which means it can often see cooler objectsincluding the dust ringsthan Webb's other instruments can. MIRI's spectrometer also revealed the composition of the dust, formed mostly from material ejected by a type of star known as a Wolf-Rayet star.

Credit: Jet Propulsion Laboratory

MIRI was developed through a 50-50 partnership between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). The Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California led the effort for NASA, and a multinational consortium of European astronomical institutes contributed for ESA.

A Wolf-Rayet star is an O-type star, born with at least 25 times more mass than our Sun, that is nearing the end of its life, when it will likely collapse and form a black hole. Burning hotter than in its youth, a Wolf-Rayet star generates powerful winds that push huge amounts of gas into space. The Wolf-Rayet star in this particular pair may have shed more than half its original mass via this process.

Forming dust in the wind

Transforming gas into dust is somewhat like turning flour into bread: It requires specific conditions and ingredients. The most common element found in stars, hydrogen, can't form dust on its own. But because Wolf-Rayet stars shed so much mass, they also eject more complex elements typically found deep in a star's interior, including carbon. The heavy elements in the wind cool as they travel into space and are then compressed where the winds from both stars meet, like when two hands knead dough.

Some other Wolf-Rayet systems form dust, but none is known to make rings like Wolf-Rayet 140 does. The unique ring pattern forms because the orbit of the Wolf-Rayet star in WR 140 is elongated, not circular. Only when the stars come close togetherabout the same distance between Earth and the Sunand their winds collide is the gas under sufficient pressure to form dust. With circular orbits, Wolf-Rayet binaries can produce dust continuously.

This graphic shows the relative size of the Sun, upper left, compared to the two stars in the system known as Wolf-Rayet 140. The O-type star is roughly 30 times the mass of the Sun, while its companion is about 10 times the mass of the Sun. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Lau and his co-authors think WR 140's winds also swept the surrounding area clear of residual material they might otherwise collide with, which may be why the rings remain so pristine rather than smeared or dispersed. There are likely even more rings that have become so faint and dispersed, not even Webb can see them in the data.

Wolf-Rayet stars may seem exotic compared to our Sun, but they may have played a role in star and planet formation. When a Wolf-Rayet star clears an area, the swept-up material can pile up at the outskirts and become dense enough for new stars to form. There is some evidence the Sun formed in such a scenario.

Using data from MIRI's Medium Resolution Spectroscopy mode, the new study provides the best evidence yet that Wolf-Rayet stars produce carbon-rich dust molecules. What's more, the preservation of the dust shells indicates that this dust can survive in the hostile environment between stars, going on to supply material for future stars and planets.

The catch is that while astronomers estimate that there should be at least a few thousand Wolf-Rayet stars in our galaxy, only about 600 have been found to date.

"Even though Wolf-Rayet stars are rare in our galaxy because they are short lived as far as stars go, it's possible they've been producing lots of dust throughout the history of the galaxy before they explode and/or form black holes," said Patrick Morris, an astrophysicist at Caltech in Pasadena, California, and a co-author of the new study. "I think with NASA's new space telescope we're going to learn a lot more about how these stars shape the material between stars and trigger new star formation in galaxies."

Explore further Dust plumes observed being 'pushed' into interstellar space by intense starlight

More information: Ryan Lau, Nested Dust Shells around the Wolf-Rayet Binary WR 140 observed with JWST, Nature Astronomy (2022). www.nature.com/articles/s41550-022-01812-x Journal information: Nature Astronomy Ryan Lau, Nested Dust Shells around the Wolf-Rayet Binary WR 140 observed with JWST,(2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41550-022-01812-x
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

A student's self-perception of what they are good at and how good they are at different types of tasks predicts their future scholastic performance and choices. For example, students who perceive themselves as good at math are more likely to engage in math class, earn good grades in math, and enroll in advanced math classes as they progress through their educational careers, compared to students who doubt their math ability or aptitude.

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of California, Irvine, and Technical University Dortmund in Germany have conducted a first of its kind study to directly chart changes in students' use of dimensional comparisons (for example, "How good am I in math compared with English?") in self-evaluations of their math and verbal abilities (math and verbal self-concepts) from grades 1 to 12. The study is published in Child Development.

"Our study examined whether there are age-related changes in students' use of dimensional comparisons and whether these changes can explain the increasing differentiation of students' math and verbal self-concepts over time," said Sirui Wan, postdoctoral research associate at the Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison. "Studying these questions is important because it clarifies the role of dimensional comparisons in shaping students' self-evaluations at different stages in their educational careers, and because dimensional comparisons can significantly affect students' future educational choices and areas of specialization."

Data were used from the Childhood and Beyond Study, an existing longitudinal study of development and socialization effects on children's achievement, motivation and behavior beginning in grades K-3. The data were collected between 1987 and 1999 and the children were initially followed for three consecutive years and then again, after a three-year gap, for three additional consecutive years. The final sample included 1,069 children (gender was almost perfectly balanced). The sample was primarily European American (91%) and only included a small minority of African Americans (1%), Asians (5%), Indians (less than 1%) and Hispanics (less than 1 %). Children attended ten public elementary schools in four middle-class school districts in the suburbs of a large midwestern city in the United States. Participating families were generally middle-or working-class, two-parent families (90% with two parents).

The study asked students to evaluate their math and verbal ability self-concepts over time in multiple ways:

Without explicit instructions about which type of comparison to use, such as "How good are you at math [reading]"

Based on dimensional comparisons such as: "How good are you at math [reading], compared to other activities and subjects?" and/or

Based on social comparisons with peers, such as "If you were to list all the students from best to worst in math [reading], where are you?"

By comparing students' answers across these items, the study provided direct evidence that students' use of dimensional comparisons in their ability self-evaluations increased over time. Specifically, this study demonstrated that over time, there was a decline in the correlations between math and language ability self-concepts when students were asked to evaluate their abilities based on dimensional comparisons. However, the correlations between math and language ability self-concepts stayed consistently positive when students were asked to evaluate their abilities based on social comparisons. These findings suggest that students' use of dimensional comparisons plays a role in explaining the age-related flip in the correlation between students' math and verbal self-concepts during the adolescent years, a pattern reported by previous meta-analyses.

In other words, this study demonstrates that students become more and more likely to engage in dimensional comparisons to determine whether they are either a "math person" or a "reading person" as they progress through their K-12 years. This tendency may explain why some students form a specialized academic identity during high school. The phenomenon likely plays a big role in these students' decisions about what classes to enroll in and what activities to invest time and effort in, with long-term consequences for their educational and career trajectories.

The author team notes several limitations within the study. First, the measurements used to operationalize dimensional and social comparison processes were each assessed with a single item, which can limit these measures' content validity and reliability although items were validated by relating them to teachers' ratings of math and reading aptitude. Second, the dimensional comparisons items asked students to compare their math or verbal ability with "other subjects."

Accordingly, when students answer these questions, they may think of subjects other than math and language arts; for instance, such subjects as social studies, physical education, and science. Finally, the sample in the data is primarily white and lower-middle to middle-class from data collected between 1987 and 1996. Developmental patterns may have changed across different time periods, and the role of dimensional comparisons may be influenced by socioeconomic, cultural, or racial influences that cannot be examined with this date. Similar longitudinal studies with more diverse samples are needed.

"It seems that students develop a tendency of thinking of oneself as a 'reading person' or a 'math person' based on which subject they are better at between the two. This tendency can have a dark side because students might disengage from subjects that they perceive as their relative weaknesses even though they are actually quite good at these subjects compared to other students," Wan continued.

"Unfortunately, we still know very little about whether and how contextual factors, such as the school environment, can affect this tendency. To potentially help ensure students don't shy away from specific careers because of inaccurate self-evaluations, more research is needed on this topic."

More information: Developmental changes in students' use of dimensional comparisons to form ability self-concepts in math and verbal domains, Child Development (2022). Journal information: Child Development Developmental changes in students' use of dimensional comparisons to form ability self-concepts in math and verbal domains,(2022). DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13856
People look at a large mosaic that dates back to Roman era in the town of Rastan, Syria, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022. Syrian officials said it is the most important archaeological discovery since the conflict began 11 years ago. Credit: AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki

Syria uncovered a large intact mosaic that dates back to the Roman era, describing it Wednesday as the most important archaeological discovery since the country's conflict began 11 years ago.

Journalists were shown the mosaic in the central town of Rastan near Homs, Syria's third largest city.

The mosaic, at 120 square meters (around 1300 square feet), was found in an old building that Syria's General Directorate of Antiquities and Museums had been excavating. Lebanese and Syrian businessmen from the neighboring country's Nabu Museum bought the property that dates back to the 4th century and donated it to the Syrian state. Each panel was filled with square-shaped, small colorful stones measuring about half an inch on each side.

Dr. Humam Saad, the associate director of excavation and archaeological research at the directorate, said among the scenes the mosaic shows is a rare portrayal of Ancient Amazon warriors in Roman mythology.

"What is in front of us is a discovery that is rare on a global scale," Saad told The Associated Press, adding that the images are "rich in details," and includes scenes from the Trojan War between the Greeks and Trojans.

In Ancient Greek and Roman mythology, demigod hero Hercules slayed Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons, in one of his 12 labors.

People look at a large mosaic that dates back to Roman era in the town of Rastan, Syria, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022. Syrian officials said it is the most important archaeological discovery since the conflict began 11 years ago. Credit: AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki

The mosaic also portrays Neptune, Ancient Roman god of the sea, and 40 of his mistresses.

"We can't identify the type of the building, whether it's a public bathhouse or something else, because we have not finished excavating yet," Saad told the AP.

Sulaf Fawakherji, a famous actress in Syria and a member of the Nabu Museum's board of trustees said she hopes they could purchase other buildings in Rastan, which she says is filled with heritage sites and artifacts waiting to be discovered.

"There are other buildings, and it's clear that the mosaic extends far wider," Fawkherji told the AP. "Rastan historically is an important city, and it could possibly be very important heritage city for tourism."

Despite Rastan's historical significance in the country, Saad says there have not been significant excavation efforts in the town prior to the country's armed conflict.

A detail of a large mosaic that dates back to Roman era is seen in the town of Rastan, Syria, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022. Syrian officials said it is the most important archaeological discovery since the conflict began 11 years ago. Credit: AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki

"Unfortunately, there were armed groups that tried to sell the mosaic at one point in 2017 and listed it on social media platforms," he said.

Syrian heritage sites have been looted and destroyed over the past decade of ongoing violent conflict.

Among the most notable incidents was the Islamic State group taking Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that boasts 2,000-year-old towering Roman-era colonnades and priceless artifacts, and partially destroying a Roman theater. Meanwhile, Syria's cash-strapped government has slowly been rebuilding Aleppo's centuries-old bazaar after reclaiming it from armed opposition forces in 2016.

Rastan was once a major opposition stronghold and was a point of intense clashes, before the Syrian government reclaimed the city in 2018.

Explore further Stunning Roman mosaics return home to new Israeli museum

 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Release sites of Pseudophilothrips ichini during May 2019 to Dec 2021. A total of 2,136,583 thrips were released at 567 sites. Blue points represent thrips release sites, pink dots represent the distribution of Brazilian peppertree (EDDMapS 2021). Credit: Florida Entomologist (2022). DOI: 10.1653/024.105.0308

Brazilian peppertree thrips (Pseudophilothrips ichini) showed promise as biological control agents for invasive Brazilian peppertree populations in Florida according to a recent study published in Florida Entomologist.

Thrips are common insect pests on horticultural plants, but specialized Brazilian peppertree thrips from South America feed exclusively on the Brazilian peppertree's leaves and stem tips. Their feeding results in reducing the peppertree's growth rate, plant height, number of leaves, and green stems as well as fruit and flower production.

Scientists from the United States Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) collaborated with University of Florida and Florida Department of Food and Consumer Services researchers to mass produce and release thrips throughout 567 sites in Florida between May 2019 and December 2021.

The study results show that these thrips persisted in 60 percent of the survey sites for at least one generation as indicated by the recovery of adult thrips at least 60 days after their release.

"This is a significant finding, because it indicates the thrips have a self-sustaining population at up to 60 percent," said Gregory Wheeler, research entomologist at the ARS Invasive Plant Research Laboratory in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Native to South America, the Brazilian peppertree is a woody and evergreen shrub known for its bright red berries and green foliage. This invasive species grows in dense thickets in invaded ranges and crowds native vegetation. Its fruit is toxic when consumed by wildlife, and many people have allergic reactions to its pollen and sap.

In the U.S., the Brazilian peppertree has made its way to California, Florida, Hawaii, and Texas. In Florida alone, the Brazilian peppertree tree has colonized most of the state's peninsula and covers more than 700,000 acres of land.

Use of biological control agents can be a solution for land managers seeking to control invasive populations, according to Wheeler.

"Biological control agents like thrips can be a cost-effective and environmentally friendly means of pest control that can be a part of an integrated approach that includes a number of different tactics," said Wheeler.

Thrips are the first biological control agent for this invasive species released in Florida. Researchers will continue field releases and assessments to determine thrips' effectiveness.

Explore further Soybean virus may give plant-munching bugs a boost in survival

More information: Gregory S. Wheeler et al, Release and Persistence of the Brazilian Peppertree Biological Control Agent Pseudophilothrips ichini (Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripidae) in Florida, Florida Entomologist (2022). Gregory S. Wheeler et al, Release and Persistence of the Brazilian Peppertree Biological Control Agent Pseudophilothrips ichini (Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripidae) in Florida,(2022). DOI: 10.1653/024.105.0308
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Researchers from North Carolina State University collaborated with a counter-human trafficking organization, Global Emancipation Network, to develop computational models that can help fight human trafficking. The models draw on publicly available data to identify massage businesses that are most likely to be violating laws related to sex trafficking and labor trafficking.

"It's well established that massage businesses may be used as covers for illegal operations that involve sex trafficking and labor trafficking," says Margaret Tobey, a Ph.D. student at NC State and corresponding author of a paper on the work. "However, most massage businesses are legitimate. And it is difficult for law enforcement or other organizations to determine which businesses are legitimate and which are fronts for illegal activity."

"Our goal was to create statistical tools that could help relevant authorities determine which businesses possess risk factors related to trafficking, so that they can determine which sites to focus their investigative efforts on," says Maria Mayorga, co-author of the paper and a professor in NC State's Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering.

"We also wanted to ensure that the tools we developed are sufficiently user-friendly to be practical for both law enforcement and organizations that focus on helping victims of sex trafficking and labor trafficking," Tobey says.

To develop the tools, the researchers first interviewed law enforcement, government officials, and experts from organizations that work with survivors of sex and labor trafficking. The interviews were focused on identifying variables associated with an increased likelihood that a massage business might be engaged in illegal activity. For example, businesses that catered almost exclusively to male clients were more likely to be associated with sex trafficking.

Once the researchers had identified a suite of relevant variables, they looked for publicly available sources of data related to those variables. For example, online customer review sites allowed researchers to estimate what proportion of a business's clients were men. Other data sources included census data for the neighborhood where a business was located, geographical proximity to various other businesses and transportation hubs, and so on.

Ultimately, the researchers developed two computational models that provide users with probability scores on the likelihood that any given massage business is engaged in illegal activity.

"We trained and validated these models using data from Florida and Texas, because we were able to collect robust data sets from those states," Tobey says. "We found each model had strengths that could appeal to different users depending on their goals."

One modelcalled the risk score modelhad fewer false positives, meaning if the model said a business was likely to be engaged in illegal activity, it was more likely to be correct. But this model was also more likely to list some illicit businesses as legitimate.

On the other hand, the second modelcalled a decision tree modelhad fewer false negatives. In other words, if the decision tree model said a business was unlikely to be engaged in illegal activity, it was more likely to be correct. But it was also more likely to list legitimate business as suspicious.

"It's a trade-off," Tobey says. "If you have very limited resources, you probably want to use the risk score model, because you're more likely to find businesses that are engaged in illegal activity. However, you're also likely to miss some. If you have enough resources, you probably want to use the decision tree model, because you're less likely to miss any illegal operation.

"Ultimately, both of these models can be used by relevant parties to prioritize which businesses merit investigation."

The researchers are currently in the process of developing a user-friendly decision support tool that can be deployed to law enforcement and nonprofit organizations for use in aiding investigations of sex and human trafficking.

"We're optimistic that this tool can empower trafficking victims, improve public safety and contribute to the development of evidence-based public policy that addresses these issues," says Sherrie Caltagirone, co-author of the paper and executive director of Global Emancipation Network.

The paper, "Interpretable models for the automated detection of human trafficking in illicit massage businesses," is published in the journal IISE Transactions. The paper was co-authored by Ruoting Li, a Ph.D. student at NC State; and Osman Ozaltn, an associate professor in NC State's Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering.

Explore further New research may help identify sex trafficking networks

More information: Margaret Tobey et al, Interpretable models for the automated detection of human trafficking in illicit massage businesses, IISE Transactions (2022). Margaret Tobey et al, Interpretable models for the automated detection of human trafficking in illicit massage businesses,(2022). DOI: 10.1080/24725854.2022.2113187
Britain this year saw record temperatures of above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) for the first time.

Britain's approach to changing public travel, heating and food habits is "inadequate" to meet its net zero and environment targets, a parliamentary committee warned Wednesday.

The chair of the House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee Kate Parminter said after a summer of record temperatures, fires and drought, "an immediate and sustained response" was needed.

"People power is critical to reach our environmental goals, but unless we are encouraged and enabled to change behaviours in how we travel, what we eat and buy and how we heat our homes, we won't meet those targets," she added.

" Polling shows the public is ready for leadership from the government. People want to know how to play their part in tackling climate change and environmental damage."

The committee from the unelected upper chamber of parliament urged the government to use the lessons learned from the coronavirus pandemic to help communicate the need for behaviour changes.

They included areas such as "how we travel, what we eat, what we buy and how we use energy at home", the committee said.

Parminter urged new Prime Minister Liz Truss to urgently "set out her vision of a country where low carbon choices and behaviours can flourish".

The panel's findings follow a warning from another key committee that the government is failing to make adequate progress to meet its targets.

The Committee on Climate Change (CCC), an independent body established under 2008 climate change legislation to advise the government, said in June that its latest annual progress report found "scant evidence of delivery against... headline goals so far".

Only a year earlier it had praised the government of then premier Boris Johnson for its new net-zero strategy to be carbon neutral by 2050, and a series of targets to be met along the way.

Confusion

The average land temperature in Britain had risen by around 1.2 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels and sea levels had risen by 16 centimetres since 1900, the body said in 2021.

In 2015, the Paris climate pact saw countries pledge to limit global temperature rises to less than 2.0 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to go down to 1.5 degrees.

Experts believe this can be achieved only by the world hitting the 2050 net zero target.

After she became prime minister in early September, Truss said she was "completely committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050".

But she also told parliament she had decided to "re-examine" this objective to ensure it was achieved in a way favourable to the economy and growth.

Her early decisions as leader, including a pledge to lift the ban on fracking and to offer new North Sea oil and gas licences, have confused even her own camp.

A cross-party group of pro-environment parliamentarians also wrote to her in early September asking her to give a firm re-commitment to the goal of reaching carbon neutrality.

In response, the government said it remained "fully committed to the legally binding target of achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050".

A spokesman claimed Britain had led the world on climate change by "driving down emissions by 44 percent since 1990... which is more than any other G7 country".

The government's "Net Zero Review" would "ensure the UK's fight against climate change maximises economic growth, energy security and affordability for consumers and businesses," he added.

Explore further Environmental bodies concerned by new UK government's climate comments

 2022 AFP
A screenshot from the authors study shows a Tweet from a young immigrant in 2020. Credit: Sara Wilf, Elena Maker Castro and Tania Quiles

Immigrants' political power is on the rise in the United States.

The number of eligible immigrant voters nearly doubled from about 12 million in 2000 to more than 23 million in 2020.

Immigrant voters tend to be older than U.S.-born voters, but immigrants ages 18 to 37 still made up 20% of all immigrant voters in 2020.

We are a team of scholars and students across disciplines and universities researching immigrant youths' civic developmentand we think it's important to recognize that young immigrants are also playing a key role in galvanizing older immigrants to vote, primarily by connecting with them via social media.

Our research shows that online sites and apps like Twitter are key for young immigrantsboth people who were born outside of the U.S. and those who are second-generation immigrantsas ways to engage in politics. Many young immigrants use social media to follow news in their local communities, as well as in their countries of origin. They also use it to organize protests and encourage others to vote.

This is true even when these young people are not eligible to vote because of their immigration status.

A key issue

Immigration is a core issue for many voters in the upcoming midterm elections. An August 2022 Pew Research poll found that nearly 50% of registered voters reported immigration was "very important" to them in the November 2022 election.

Some Republican politicians, such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and others who are also up for re-election, have focused on immigration in their campaigns by pointing to record numbers of migrants crossing the U.S. border. Republican politicians have also relocated thousands of migrants to liberal places like Washington, D.C., New York and Massachusetts over the past several months.

President Joe Biden's plan to revamp the country's immigration system and provide a path for about 11 million undocumented residents to gain citizenship, meanwhile, remains stalled in Congress.

Over the past several years, though, young immigrantspeople ages 18 to 23 who were born in other countries, or whose parents were have helped lead national movements to provide a conditional path to citizenship for young undocumented immigrants, resulting in the 2021 passage of the DREAM Act. This policy gives millions of undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children the right to stay in the country.

The DREAMer movement relied heavily on social media to spread information and encourage people to take action. Based on immigrant youths' prior successes mobilizing their communities for political change, we believe that their online political engagement could have implications for the 2022 midterms.

Mobilizing others

Our research study in 2020 explored how immigrant youth ages 18 to 23 used social media to participate in politics. We took 2,300 screenshots of political tweets from January through November 2020, drawing from a sample of 32 young immigrants' public Twitter feeds that we found through national immigrant youth networks, like United We Dream.

Based on the content of their Twitter profiles and posts, we were confident that they were all actual immigrant youth residing in the U.S. We then contacted all of them through Twitter about the study, and the majority confirmed their age and immigrant status. We went on to analyze the screenshots to identify trends in how youth were politically engaged online.

We also conducted interviews with 11 people from the sample, further confirming that we had recruited youth whose Twitter profiles accurately represented their real identities. Several indicated either in their Twitter profiles and tweets or in the interviews that they were not eligible to vote due to their documentation status.

We found that young immigrants use Twitter to educate their followers about political issues and processes in the U.S. and abroadand to share both online and in-person opportunities to protest or vote.

These young people appeared to intentionally target their ethnic and regional communities in their social media outreach.

For example, some youth in our June 2022 study called on their followers to translate educational resources on racial justice into different languages to share with their families.

Others provided voter registration guides in multiple languages, alerted followers about political candidates who shared an ethnic or regional identity, or encouraged particular ethnic communitiessuch as South Asiansto vote.

In interviews, youth also described bringing political conversations from their phones to the dinner table and discussing news they had read online with their parents.

Some participants also shared that they posted on social media with the explicit intention of shifting their family members' political views.

One person we interviewed in 2020 who had ancestry in the Philippines and Belize noted that he "realized the importance of educating people and having those difficult conversations," particularly with his family and friends.

Valeria, a college senior originally from Puerto Rico, also explained how Facebook was "the family social media platform" where she raised awareness about political issues.

"The way that I kind of look at it is at least I'm planting a seed, right? I'm planting an idea, at least I'm helping others, at least hear what's going on," said Valeria, who also asked to use a pseudonym, in a 2020 interview with our team that was featured in the 2022 study.

From online to offline engagement

Immigrant youths' online political engagement reflects larger trends in the U.S.

Approximately 46% of U.S. teens today use the internet "almost constantly," compared with just 24% who said the same in 2014.

Alongside this surge in internet use, more young people are using social media to educate others about social and political topics, hold politicians accountable and provide their followers with opportunities to take action through climate and political movements like Fridays for Future and Black Lives Matter.

Online political engagement has important consequences for offline political behaviors.

Indeed, nearly a quarter of U.S. adults report that they have changed their views on a political issue because of social media. Online political engagement has also been shown to result in more young people participating in protests and encouraging people to vote.

Our findings align with prior research showing that immigrant youth are politically educating and mobilizing their families and community members.

A survey of people who were allowed to stay in the U.S. because of the DREAM Act prior to the 2020 elections found that nearly 95% of them were planning to encourage family and friends to vote.

Immigrant youths' online political engagement has several potential implications for the 2022 midterm elections.

First, as our 2022 study found, immigrant youth are using social media to influence their parents' opinions on political issues like racial justice and teach them how to register to vote.

Because of the large impact immigrant voters may have on the 2022 midterms, particularly in swing states, immigrant youths' online political engagement could play a role in shaping the elections' outcome.

Explore further Adult roles build skills for children of Latinx immigrants

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
WILTON  A Malta man was arrested on Friday in connection with the theft of a catalytic converter in April.

Police said Donald W. Clark, 35, worked with Michael J. Dillard, 36, of Corinth, to steal a catalytic converter on April 6, 2022. Dillard was arrested on a warrant stemming from the incident during a traffic stop on Sept. 22, in which he was also in possession of drugs. He was taken to Saratoga County Jail after his arrest.

According to police, the report of the stolen auto part came from a business in the town of Wilton and claimed Dillard, accompanied by Clark, was responsible for removing a catalytic converter from a vehicle he did not own parked at the location.

Clark was charged with felony counts of third-degree grand larceny and second-degree criminal mischief and a misdemeanor count of third-degree auto stripping. Clark was taken to Saratoga County Jail.
Republican state Assembly candidate David Catalfamo on Tuesday proposed exempting retirees from state income tax up to $200,000 a year if the retiree agrees to perform at least 200 hours a year in volunteer public service.

Catalfamo said it would reduce the number of retirees who move to other states because of New Yorks high taxes.

He said the decrease in revenue would be offset by an unspecified reduction in state spending.

Catalfamo, an economic development official and writer from Wilton, is challenging Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner, D-Round Lake, in the 113th Assembly District.

The 113th Assembly District includes, in Warren County: the city of Glens Falls; in Washington County: the villages of Hudson Falls, Fort Edward and Greenwich, and the towns of Fort Edward and Greenwich; and in Saratoga County: the villages of South Glens Falls, Schuylerville, Victory, Stillwater and Round Lake, and the towns of Moreau, Wilton, Northumberland, Saratoga, Malta and Stillwater, as well as the cities of Saratoga Springs and Mechanicville.

Campaign contributions

Senate Democratic leadership has taken interest in a local state Senate race.

Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stuart Cousins, D-Yonkers, contributed $11,800 from her campaign fund to the campaign of Andrea Smyth, the Democratic candidate in the 43rd Senate District, according to a recent campaign finance report.

Senate Finance Committee Chairwoman Liz Krueger, D-Manhattan, contributed $2,000 from her campaign fund to the campaign of Smyth, a longtime health care and family issues policy advocate from Troy, who is running against state Assemblyman Jake Ashby, R-Castleton, for an open seat.

State Sen. Daphne Jordan, R-Halfmoon, who is not seeking re-election, contributed $2,000 from her campaign fund to the campaign fund of Ashby.

The district includes Rensselaer County and portions of Washington and Albany counties. In Washington County, the district includes from Fort Edward south to the Rensselaer County line.

Ashby had $55,137 in his campaign fund, as of Oct. 3, while Smyth had $80,286, according to reports the campaigns filed with the state Board of Elections.

In the 44th Senate District, state Sen. James Tedisco, R-Glenville, had $118,406 in his campaign fund, as of Oct.3, while Democratic challenger Michelle Ostrelich, a Schenectady County legislator from Niskayuna, had $74,370.

The 44th Senate District includes all of Saratoga County and the city of Schenectady and town of Niskayuna in Schenectady County.

In other regional political news:

Stefanik endorsements

The New York State Association of Letter Carriers, an AFL-CIO- affiliated union, on Oct. 6 announced its endorsement of U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, for re-election.

Union President George Mangold specifically praised Stefanik for her support of legislation to eliminate the requirement that the U.S. Postal Service prepay future retirement benefits and stipulated that 6-day-a-week mail delivery continue, and he praised Stefanik for being opposed to privatizing mail delivery.

On Oct. 7, Stefanik announced that New York States Fraternal Order of Police, which has 20,000 members, endorsed her candidacy.

On Tuesday, Stefanik announced that 57 elected officials from Montgomery County endorsed her candidacy, including county Treasurer Shawn Bowerman, a Democrat.

It is because of Elises ability to deliver real results  that she has my full support this November, and I look forward to working tirelessly to help her win, Bowerman said in a news release.

Stefanik is running in the 21st Congressional District against Democratic challenger Matt Castelli, a former CIA counterterrorism official who lives in Glens Falls.

Castelli endorsements

The Jewish Democratic Council of America on Oct. 7 announced its endorsement of Democratic congressional candidate Matt Castelli.

Castelli, a former CIA counterterrorism official who lives in Glens Falls, is challenging U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, in the 21st Congressional District.

Stec endorsement

State Sen. Dan Stec, R-Queensbury, on Tuesday announced that the Police Benevolent Association of New York State endorsed his re-election bid.

Stec is running in the 45th Senate District against Democratic challenger Jean Lapper, a certified public accountant and financial adviser from Queensbury.
ATLANTIC CITY  Some cities around the world are pulling back from shorelines, as rising seas from climate change increase flooding. But so far, retreat appears out of the question for Atlantic City.

The breezy getaway town is on the water on a barrier, which was once reachable only by boat but in modern times via a causeway. The city fully occupies a small piece of land, water on either side, just above sea level.

We love our residents, said Barbara Woolley-Dillon, former Atlantic City planning and development director. We have one of the most diverse populations.  Its a great place to be, and we have such a thriving community that we want to do everything we can to keep it intact.

There is no obvious place for 38,500 residents, about 33% Black, to go. The city, popular with vacation-goers in the Eastern U.S., particularly in the summer, brings in billions of dollars in revenue, another incentive to keep it intact as long as possible.

Atlantic City is a $7 billion-a-year economic engine that benefits all of southern New Jersey and must be maintained, said Jim Rutala, an Atlantic City planning contractor.

Still, the flooding is getting deeper and more frequent. In 1910, researchers installed a tide gauge at the end of Steel Pier Amusement Park. The gauge shows the sea has risen a foot and a half since then, more than double the global mean sea level rise.

With anniversary of groundbreaking near, ShopRite insists plans for Atlantic City store progressing ATLANTIC CITY  If a plan falls apart and no one is willing to talk about it, does it make a sound?

City leaders have no plans to take state offers to buy and demolish homes in flood-prone areas, according to Rutala.

Instead, officials are spending $100 million, from 2016 through next year, to fortify and armor the city from rising sea levels by installing sea walls, pump stations and bulkheads, according to Rutala. Unseen by most tourists, a newly built pump station in Fishermans Park pushes ocean water that has come ashore back into the bay. It is common to hear construction crews at work building structures with entrances elevated to strict new height requirements.

Other cities in New Jersey have taken a different route to confront flooding. In Woodbridge, about 100 miles north of Atlantic City, in recent years the state has bought and torn down more than 150 homes to remove people and property from the danger of future floods.

In Atlantic City, tourists and residents walk along streets that inspired the Monopoly board game, such as Baltic Avenue and Park Place. Casinos pull in people hoping to win big at the poker table or slot machines. And outside are wide-open beaches and Boardwalk amusement park rides.

Twenty-seven million people visit the resort town annually. For some, its a place to escape from their daily lives. For others, its a way to live a simple life by the ocean.

For many residents, its unbearable to contemplate a future without the city.

This part of Atlantic City is just very tightly knit, and we are a nice little neighborhood, said elementary school teacher Abby Moul, 47, as she played with her dog in the north part of the island. It is kind of off the beaten path, and thats what I love about it.

Under current projections for global emissions, Rutgers University estimates New Jersey is likely to experience another 1 to 3 feet of sea level rise between now and 2070, according to Robert Kopp, Rutgers climate scientist. And the land here is sinking from what scientists call the see-saw effect of melting glaciers much farther north.

Its unclear if the citys new fortification projects will be enough to confront the projected sea level rise. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers estimates New Jerseys 950 square miles of beaches and back bays will sustain more than a billion dollars in annual flooding damage in a few years.

Atlantic City is one of the poorest and most densely populated parts of the New Jersey coastline. More than two dozen languages are spoken in city schools.

Many people here have what locals call back-of-the-house jobs at one of the nine casinos, preparing food, cleaning rooms and other work.

It can cost $150,000 in the denser, older parts of the city to raise up an $80,000 home to protect it from nuisance flooding, periodic flooding, sometimes from high tides or backed up drainage systems. That cost is simply out of reach for many.

Drought ends in most of South Jersey after six-day-long nor'easter The inches upon inches of rain in South Jersey from a seemingly everlasting noreaster broug

On a recent afternoon, lifelong Atlantic City resident Zakiy Abdullah, 45, a forklift operator, did his best to keep his 3-year-old daughter Jamaarah Wells from riding her tricycle through flood waters in the street.

Flooding is a constant problem, said Abdullah. As you can see, the water has not evaporated from the other night.

Kimberly McKenna, of the Stockton University Coastal Research Center, says most of the increased flooding in Atlantic City happens in the part of the island that faces the mainland, called the back bay. That also happens to be where many people live in poverty.

Residents often move their cars to higher ground during high tides and full moons.

Those floods, what we may now call nuisance flooding, will turn into regular flooding, said McKenna. And thats going to be persistent flooding. People wont be moving their cars. They will be moving their homes.

Local coastal governments like Atlantic City will have to decide whether to manage a retreat from the coastline over several years, or to stay and only leave when and if the flood waters become unlivable.

You dont need to give up a community right now because of the risk of 3 or 5 feet of sea level rise, said Kopp, the Rutgers climate scientist. But you need to think about how redevelopment plans you are making today will fare in the future. There is no simple solution.
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MAYS LANDING  The parents of a Hamilton Township teen who died in 2015 have increased the reward to $40,000 from $20,000 for new information that could lead to an arrest.

Tiffany Valiante was found dead after being struck by a NJ Transit train traveling on the Atlantic City Rail Line in July 2015. Investigators ruled her death a suicide.

Valiantes parents, Stephen and Dianne, have insisted their daughter was murdered.

The Atlantic County Prosecutors Office was investigating the teens death but said it has since closed the case.

The reward increase comes a week after Netflix announced that Valiantes case will be featured during the third season of Unsolved Mysteries, which begins streaming Oct. 18.

The episode exploring the teens death is titled, Mystery at Mile Marker 45.

The family hopes the increased reward and documentary keep attention focused on solving her death.

We know so many others that also believe Tiffanys death was not suicide, that there was a rush to judgment to close the case, and that the real story of how and why she died has yet to be told, Stephen and Dianne Valiante said in a joint statement provided by their attorney, Paul DAmato. The combination of this new, deeply researched, fact-based program and the increased reward might just be whats necessary to help get Tiffs case reopened.

The parents have fought for answers in the case, having remortgaged their home and spent their life savings to do so, DAmato said.

The Oakcrest High School graduate was preparing for her freshman year at Mercy College in New York, where she had planned to continue her volleyball career.

In March, DNA testing paid for by the Valiantes was completed and failed to find new leads, given that evidence in the case was not properly stored and damaged materials that could render clues, the analysts who studied it said.

NJ Transit spokesperson Jim Smith declined to comment Tuesday.

DAmato has filed numerous lawsuits on behalf of the Valiantes, including one that handed over the evidence from NJ Transit police for the DNA examination.

I share the parents belief that there are those who know what really happened to cause Tiffs death, but theyve yet to come forward, DAmato said.
ATLANTIC CITY  Pop-punk band Blink-182, which has reunited with founding member Tom DeLonge, will visit the resort next year as part of an upcoming tour.

A list of shows posted to the bands social media accounts Tuesday included a stop in Atlantic City.

More information about the concert should be forthcoming, Live Nation officials said on Wednesday.

The band on Tuesday announced DeLonges return, as well as a new album, tour and single that comes out Friday.

Blink became a popular act with teens and young adults in the late 1990s and early 2000s for songs including All the Small Things and Adams Song.

Bassist Mark Hoppus and drummer Travis Barker have been without DeLonge, the bands vocalist and guitarist, for almost a decade after he left in 2015. DeLonge instead focused on his other band, Angels & Airwaves, which he founded after Blinks breakup in 2005.

Since DeLonges departure, Matt Skiba, also of the band Alkaline Trio, has been with Blink, providing vocals and guitar on the bands last two albums, California and Nine.

Blink has played Atlantic City in the past decade, including at the Warped Tour on the beach in 2019.

The band also was set to play on the citys beach in 2016, but that show was canceled due to the threat of a coastal storm.
HPM Sheikh Hasinas 75th birthday is celebrated by her party Awami League and its associate bodies amid festivity across the country. Moreover, for the leader of the country, who lives for her people, what can be more prized than smiles, blessings and appreciation from them on her birthday? "I do pray for you. May you live long," says one of the thousands of video messages pouring in from people across the country addressing HPM Sheikh Hasina in the "Thank You, PM" campaign. Like previous years, the campaign, as part of her birthday celebration, received good wishes. According to media reports, under the watch of HPM Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh is better poised in comparison with many other economies to overcome all the hurdles emanating from Russia Ukraine conflict, like the way this country became a top performer in Covid management.
The Washington Post columnist Petula Dvorak has lauded Honourable Prime Minister (HPM) Sheikh Hasina for her humour, wit, and the role she has played as a leader while still making time to do everything that a loving mother and grandmother is supposed to do. "This woman is a force," Dvorak's column reads as it narrates HPM Sheikh Hasina and her achievements and struggles. She took a one-on-one interview with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the Ritz-Carlton in Northern Virginia during the premier's recent visit to the US to attend the United Nations, General Assembly. "We sat in a lovely room with her translator and chief of staff, plus a giant portrait of her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first president of Bangladesh and former prime minister who was assassinated along with 17 other members of her family in 1975. It is his legacy she is upholding as the nation's prime minister for two terms, totalling 18 years so far," Dvorak said.
A search warrant filed by Davenport Police in connection with Sundays homicide in Rock Island provides more details as to what led to the death of 40-year-old Eric Brandon Beale.

Rock Island County Coroner Brian Gustafson said an autopsy performed Tuesday showed Beale died of traumatic gunshot wounds.

Rock Island Police Deputy Chief Timothy McCloud said officers were called to 1500 8th St. at 2:16 p.m. Sunday to investigate a shots-fired incident.

According to a search warrant filed by Davenport Police Detective Joel Griffin, officers found Beale in the northwest bedroom of the home, lying in a large pool of blood. Officers and paramedics attempted to aid Beale, but he died at the scene.

Officers spoke to Beales girlfriend who said she was asleep with Beale in the bedroom when Beale awakened her.

Beale told her that someone was at the door attempting to break into the home. The woman said Beale attempted to leave the bedroom when she saw Jonathan Rojas-Carrasco meet Beale in the doorway.

The woman said that Rojas-Carrasco is the father of her children.

The two men began to struggle and the woman stated that Rojas-Carrasco fell onto the bed, knocking her off of the bed. She also stated that she saw Beale on the ground next to her.

The woman then told officers that she saw Rojas-Carrasco wield a knife and repeatedly stab Beale.

Rojas-Carrasco then produced a handgun, which fell to the floor. The woman attempted to grab the gun, struggling with Rojas-Carrasco for control of the weapon. The gun discharged once during the struggle.

The woman told police she ran out of the room and heard a second gunshot. As she ran out of the home, she heard a third gunshot.

The woman then began to scream for someone to call police.

Rojas-Carrasco then got into a 2008 Jeep Patriot. Before fleeing, the woman told police, Rojas-Carrasco said something similar to, I told you I was going to kill him.

At 3:22 p.m. Davenport Police received a call from a Davenport resident who said that his old friend Jonathan had stabbed and shot someone and came to his house asking for help.

Officers went to the home and learned that Rojas-Carrasco had gone to Genesis Medical Center East, Davenport, for treatment of injuries sustained in the fight with Beale.

Officers located Rojas-Carrascos Jeep behind the persons home. There was blood on the interior and exterior of the vehicle.

Officers went to Genesis Medical Center and located Rojas-Carrasco in the emergency room. His right pinky finger had been cut off during the fight with Beale. The hospital refused to reattach the finger to his hand.

As there was no blood on Rojas-Carrascos clothing, it was believed he changed clothes at the home where he ran for help. Officers recovered the bloody clothing from the trash can behind the house.

During a hearing Monday in Scott County District Court, Rojas-Carrasco waived extradition to Illinois. He was being held Tuesday night in the Rock Island County Jail on a bond of $1 million, or 10%.

Rojas-Carrasco is charged with one count of murder and two counts of home invasion.

Murder is a Class M felony under Illinois law that carries a prison sentence of 20-60 years, or a term of life in prison. Home invasion is a Class X felony under Illinois law that carries a prison sentence of 6-30 years.

The case remains under investigation by the Rock Island Police Department, the Rock Island County Coroner and the Rock Island County State's Attorney.
A possible solution is on the table to stabilize MEDIC's finances as the ambulance service in Scott County faces staffing shortages and rising operating costs.

But it's unclear if Davenport is on board.

MEDIC, the nonprofit ambulance service serving nearly all of Scott County, is asking the supervisors to declare emergency medical transportation an "essential county service" and make MEDIC a county department, funded in part by taxes.

As a nonprofit, MEDIC expects to fall $1.51 million in the red in fiscal 2023 as costs to provide ambulance services outpace reimbursements, executives say.

"The cost of actually providing services has really outpaced the reimbursement receipt for providing the service," said MEDIC Executive Director Linda Frederiksen. "Pretty much every time an ambulance service, in general, goes out on a call...They're almost always writing a deficit check to their bank account, sadly."

The move to be part of county government, MEDIC executives say, would stabilize the ambulance service's budget, allow them to pay competitive wages, and ensure ambulance service is available for county residents that call 911.

Patient trips in a MEDIC ambulance is reimbursed from fees, billed to a patient's insurance. Frederiksen said federal and state programs that insure seniors, low-income individuals and people with disabilities  Medicaid and Medicare  typically reimburse at rates lower than what it costs to make an ambulance trip.

A combination of staffing shortages driving higher wages, more patients with Medicare and Medicaid, and higher costs of supplies have made MEDIC's budgets harder to predict, Frederiksen said.

MEDIC expected a loss of $800,000 in fiscal 2022, but actually netted about $300,000. Frederiksen said that unexpected surplus could be attributed to delayed spending on new ambulances, a leaner staff, and more privately insured patients than expected with higher reimbursement rates.

Under the proposal supervisors discussed Tuesday, Scott County would declare EMS an essential county service and MEDIC would be considered a department of the county.

If supervisors approve, MEDIC's funding shortfalls could be covered by a new property tax that would need to be approved via voter referendum or from Scott County's general fund, which would not need to be on the ballot.

Already, the county sets aside up to $200,000 each year to cover MEDIC's budget shortfalls.

"Really, we're talking about upping that support," said Scott County Budget Director David Farmer.

On Tuesday, supervisors seemed to support the concept of MEDIC as a county department and asked staff to further research the transition from MEDIC as a nonprofit to part of the county government.

If supervisors decide to fund MEDIC through a voter-approved tax, called a 422D agreement, it could go on the ballot as early as spring 2023, but would more likely be fall 2023, Farmer said. Sixty percent of voters in the election would have to approve the provision, which could be a local income surtax or a property surtax.

County Administrator Mahesh Sharma said MEDIC, with an expected $13.1 million budget, would become the second-largest department of the county.

"Bringing in MEDIC to the county would be a very large, but very accomplishable task," Farmer said.

Farmer said if the county does bring MEDIC under the county's wing, it could unlock more state and federal funds since MEDIC would have a governmental status instead of a nonprofit.

Davenport exploring EMS through its fire department

Supervisors peppered Farmer and Frederiksen questions on Tuesday about what would happen if Davenport decided to offer its own emergency medical transport system.

Frederiksen said about 19,000 of MEDIC's roughly 36,000 calls each year are from Davenport. Without those calls, Frederiksen and Farmer expressed, the cost to provide the service would go up and response times could slow with fewer staffed ambulances.

Farmer said without those calls, the county taxbase's support (which includes Davenport) for MEDIC could increase from $1.5 million (the 2023 estimate) to $5 million annually. He said that's because the county could be paying for staffed ambulances that wouldn't field as many calls.

"We would be creating a fragmented system, which would impact service delivery for all residents of Scott County," Farmer said. "It would impact relationships for emergency medical transports for hospital systems in our area. It would potentially create a larger tax burden for the county and for Davenport if the city goes on its own."

In an email, Davenport City Administrator Corri Spiegel wrote that the city continued to research emergency medical transportation models.

"The City has been researching different models that exist in Iowa and evaluating how emergency medical transport services may be provided in Davenport in the future," Spiegel wrote. "We continue to refine the service delivery modeling, which includes an option of Davenport Fire providing service within our community."

Staffing down as calls for service have risen, MEDIC says

Frederiksen said as MEDIC faces staffing shortages, calls for service have increased 20%.

"That's huge," Frederiksen said.

Frederiksen said across the industry, emergency medical professionals are facing burnout after the COVID-19 pandemic. MEDIC is down 15 emergency medical technicians, she said, but MEDIC is working on recruitment through programs in Eastern Iowa Community College.

"In all occupations, there's just not enough people out there to fill these positions," Frederiksen said.

Most supervisors expressed support for a county-wide ambulance service, and plan to ask staff to further explore the transition of MEDIC to becoming a county department.

Frederiksen said response times have been "a little bit longer than we want them to be," with short staffing and increased calls.

Frederiksen said the service aims to respond to 90% of life threatening calls within 7 minutes and 59 seconds. She said more recently, MEDIC has responded to about 80% of calls in that time frame because of short staffing.
Two men  one on parole out of the Illinois Department of Corrections for being an armed habitual criminal and who also is awaiting trial in Scott County on drug charges  were arrested Monday by Davenport Police on drug and gun charges after they were seen riding in a vehicle reported stolen out of Georgia.

Deandre Miller, 35, is charged with one count each of first-degree theft, possession of a firearm by a felon, possession of a controlled substance-methamphetamine-first offense and possession of a controlled substance-marijuana-first offense.

First-degree theft is a Class C felony under Iowa law that carries a prison sentence of 10 years while being a felon in possession of a firearm is a Class D felony that carries a five-year prison term.

Each drug possession charge is a serious misdemeanor that carries a jail sentence of up to one year.

Millers current records in Scott County District Court list him as living in Davenport, but other court records show him as a resident of Chicago.

Matthew David Jackson, 23, of Davenport, is charged with one count each of first-degree theft and possession of a controlled substance-less than 5 grams of methamphetamine in the form of ecstasy. Both of those charges are Class C felonies that carry a prison sentence of 10 years.

Jackson also is charged with one count of violating Iowas drug tax stamp, a Class D felony that carries a prison sentence of five years.

According to the arrest affidavits filed by Davenport Police Officer Cory Hughes, at 10:47 a.m. Monday officers had located a 2022 Kia K5 that had been stolen out of Georgia.

Officers followed the vehicle until it parked at the Murphy USA gas station at 5805 Elmore Ave., adjacent to Walmart.

When the vehicle came to a stop, Miller went into the gasoline station. Officers were able to block the vehicle and take Jackson, the driver, into custody.

Jackson was in possession of 27 ecstasy pills that were divided in four separate plastic bags.

Officers also went into the store and took Miller into custody.

During a search of Miller, officers seized three individual plastic bags of marijuana totaling 5.85 grams. He also was in possession of three ecstasy pills.

Officers then watched surveillance video of Miller while he was in the gas station. When Miller saw officers block the vehicle in which he and Jackson were riding, Miller went into the employees door of the cooler and appeared to have hidden something before he was taken into custody.

Officers searched the cooler and located a loaded handgun.

According to Illinois Department of Corrections electronic records, Miller has four felony convictions for narcotics possession that includes a conviction for selling heroin. He also has a felony conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Miller was sentenced to six years in the Illinois Department of Corrections in 2015 for being an armed habitual offender.

Miller was paroled from the East Moline Correctional Center on April. 27, 2020. He was to have been released from parole on Oct. 21, or 11 days from his arrest Monday.

All of Millers convictions are in Cook County, Illinois.

Miller also is on pre-trial release as he is facing drug charges in Scott County.

Davenport police arrested Miller on July 27 on charges of possession with the intent to distribute marijuana and violating Iowas drug tax stamp law. Both of those charges are Class D felonies that carry a five-year prison sentence. Miller also is charged with interference with official acts, a serious misdemeanor that carries a jail sentence of up to one year.

Millers counsel in the July marijuana case has requested a continuance for a pretrial conference until Jan. 6 because of Millers arrest Monday on the theft and gun charges.

Both Miller and Jackson made a first appearance on their respective theft, gun and drug charges Tuesday in Scott County District Court. Magistrate Peter Gierut set bond for both men at $10,000, cash or surety, and scheduled a preliminary hearing in each case for Oct. 21.

Both Miller and Jackson were being held Wednesday night in the Scott County Jail.

Federal authorities could take over the weapons case against Miller and prosecute him as being a felon in possession of a firearm under Project Safe Neighborhoods, a nationwide initiative to reduce gun crime.

The maximum prison sentence Miller would face at the federal level is 10 years. There is no parole in the federal prison system.
Former Scott County Auditor Roxanna Moritz overpaid election workers by more than $12,700 in 2020, violating Iowa law, according to a report from State Auditor Rob Sand.

The report detailed an investigation launched in 2021 after the Scott County Board of Supervisors raised concerns about the workers pay. The report also surveyed 15 other Iowa counties and found election workers had been overpaid in six of them.

For the 2020 primary election, the Scott County Board of Supervisors had set most poll workers wage at $10 an hour, with $12 an hour for precinct chairpersons. According to Iowa Code, the Board of Supervisors sets the pay for election workers in each county.

But in order to increase workers pay to $15 an hour, Moritzs office inflated the hours that election workers logged when putting them into the countys payroll system and did so without approval from the supervisors.

As a result, the payroll system recorded 1,426 hours more than election workers actually worked, according to the report.

What happened in Scott County was very problematic, Sand said in an interview. To see people getting paid for more time than they worked just because the auditor felt like it is totally inappropriate.

Moritz did not immediately respond to requests for comment. She previously told the Quad-City Times that making the decision without the approval of the county supervisors was a mistake.

She told the auditors office she thought increasing the pay rate would prevent precinct officials from quitting, according to the report, and simply forgot that the pay rate required board approval.

For the 2020 general election, the Board of Supervisors increased election worker pay to $15 an hour. In one instance, a workers hours were increased in the payroll system to reach a $20 an hour wage. The report said a handwritten note by Moritz approved that change, resulting in a $100 overpayment.

Moritz was issued two technical infractions by the Secretary of States office for the incident, and she retired in 2021 after tensions with the Scott County Board of Supervisors.

The audit found Moritz did not misuse federal funding appropriated through the CARES Act that was intended to help counties conduct elections during the coronavirus pandemic. The increased pay for election workers was funded, in part, by a grant from the nonprofit Center for Tech and Civic Life.

As part of the report, the auditors office also investigated 15 other counties chosen based on population and geographic location to achieve a diverse group.

Adams, Des Moines, Dickinson, Harrison, Pottawattamie and Poweshiek Counties were all found to have paid at least some election workers either an hourly rate or a hazard pay sum that was not approved by the county supervisors.

Including Scott, the total overpayment by the counties was $37,353.53 between the primary and general elections.

Five counties did not provide documentation for pay rates, and eight counties had discrepancies between hours paid or miles reimbursed for multiple workers. None of the counties were found to have misused federal money.

Because of an election-related law passed by the state Legislature in 2021, the secretary of state can impose a fine of up to $10,000 for a technical infraction like the one issued to Moritz, starting in 2022.

Sand said the report was aimed at preventing similar overpayment issues by auditors in the future.

The report recommended the secretary of states office should temporarily review pay rates being used by county auditors offices to make sure they comply with Iowa law.

In its response, the secretary of states office said it would continue educating county auditors regarding election workers pay.

The office said it would introduce new rules and require counties to provide information about pay on documentation certifying the election.

These new administrative rules will provide county auditors with additional guidance on the steps they need to take to ensure compliance with Iowa Code 49.20 prior to the election, the secretary of states office wrote in the report.
SPRINGFIELD  Attorney General Kwame Raoul accused his Republican challenger Thomas DeVore of making dangerous remarks, while DeVore accused the Democratic incumbent of failing the states school students by not challenging Gov. JB Pritzkers COVID-19 mitigations.

The charges and countercharges came during a nearly hourlong debate organized by the Illinois Associated Press Media Editors and Capitol News Illinois that was conducted Monday via Zoom.

Raoul, a former state senator from Chicago, is seeking his second term in the AGs office while DeVore, a southern Illinois attorney in private practice, is trying to unseat him.

DeVore gained notoriety during the COVID-19 pandemic for filing numerous lawsuits, mostly unsuccessful, challenging the governors authority to issue multiple disaster declarations and to issue executive orders that included mask mandates and other mitigation measures. Among his clients in those suits was state Sen. Darren Bailey, who is now the GOP nominee for governor.

I think one of the things we've learned over the course of the last couple of years is that there was a fair question to be asked about the extent of the governor's ability to issue some of those mandates, DeVore said. You know, you have some on one side of the conversation say he could absolutely do it. You had some that said he absolutely couldn't. But I think we would all agree as intellectual people there was a fair question.

Raoul, however, defended his decisions, and his support for Pritzkers executive orders, saying the state was in the midst of a deadly pandemic and that he, himself, lost friends to the disease.

I will agree with Mr. DeVore. It was a fair question to ask, Raoul said. But how many times you ask it is a fair question too. It was asked and answered multiple times in multiple lawsuits. And the courts resources should not have been abused as they were.

The two also clashed over the role of the attorney generals office in prosecuting certain crimes, a decision that is traditionally left to locally elected states attorneys.

In particular, DeVore has been an outspoken critic of Cook County States Attorney Kimberly Foxx, arguing that she has refused to bring charges in felony theft cases that involve less than $1,000. He even said of Foxx at the Illinois State Fair, she better get to prosecuting or we'll find a way to prosecute her, raising questions about whether he would use the office to target his political opponents.

It's a very broad statement, and she's not a political opponent of mine, DeVore said, adding that he believes people in Illinois are frustrated with elected officials arbitrarily making decisions that don't make any sense to them.

Prosecutorial discretion is one thing, he added. But when you take prosecutorial discretion to the point that you may be engaging in official misconduct yourself by failing to perform a duty that the law requires you to perform, that's at least a conversation that has to be had, not just with Kim Foxx, but with other public officials.

Later in the debate, Raoul responded to those comments, as well as other comments he said DeVore has made suggesting he would investigate political opponents.

Those are dangerous statements, particularly in today's environment, Raoul said. There have been prosecutors who have been prosecuted for abusing their authority in political ways, and somebody who will overtly make these statements as a candidate for attorney general should not be let anywhere near the door of the attorney general's office.

DeVore was also asked about the numerous private lawsuits he has filed against individuals who have criticized him, including one against Pritzker for calling him a grifter and one against individuals, including a special education teacher, who criticized him on Facebook after he referred to some students as window lickers.

When asked if he would continue engaging in private litigation if he is elected attorney general, Devore insisted he and all other office-seekers have a right to defend themselves against false or unfair accusations.

So when it rises to the level of it's not just political talk, and it's accusing people of committing crimes and saying other things that impugn their ability to do their job, they have an absolute right to defend themselves, he said. Me, the governor, Mr. Raoul and anybody. And to suggest that it has some ulterior motive other than defending your character, I take issue with that.

Raoul responded that lawyers have a duty not to waste the courts resources and that lawyers can be sanctioned for filing nonmeritorious lawsuits.

First off, I don't think we want the courts to be used to stop teachers from being protective of students when somebody's going to do something that I think is just unconscionable, he said. The other thing that's important to look at is the outcome of those lawsuits. That lawsuit (against the teacher) was eventually dismissed. Right?

You know, Attorney General Raoul, let me just say what you just said on this camera is defamatory because you weren't there, DeVore fired back. You don't know anything about it.

The two candidates were also asked about their positions on the SAFE-T Act, the sweeping criminal justice reform package that lawmakers passed in 2021 that includes, among other things, the elimination of cash bail beginning Jan. 1, 2023.

DeVore has been an outspoken critic of that law, arguing that he believes it is unconstitutional and that the attorney general should have challenged it in court.

We now have over 50 states attorneys in the state of Illinois who are now doing, for all intents and purposes, the attorney general's job in bringing causes of action on numerous counts that it's unconstitutional, DeVore said. It is in fact unconstitutional.

Devores constitutional claims center on the laws detainability standards.

The law says the decision to detain someone in jail pending trial will be based on factors other than the defendants ability to post a cash bond, such as the severity of the crime, the defendants likelihood of fleeing prosecution and whether they pose a risk to other individuals or the community.

Raoul conceded that there are parts of the law that he thinks need to be clarified, and he said lawmakers are in conversations about that in advance of the upcoming veto session, which begins Nov. 15. But he said one of the jobs of the attorney general is to defend the laws of the state against constitutional challenges, and he would do so for the SAFE-T Act.

My obligation as a lawyer in general is towards justice, Raoul said. And so if the evidence is such, or the law is such, that I would have to concede unconstitutionality, I would have a conversation with my client, and we'd have to do so. I don't believe that's the case here.
A new ad from the Democratic challenger in the southeast Iowa congressional race claims sitting Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks wants to outlaw all abortions nationwide. No exceptions for rape, incest, or to save a womans life.

The U.S. Supreme Court this summer overturning Roe v. Wade, long-held protections for abortion until fetal viability, spurred public debate over restrictions on abortion and is seen as a key issue by Democrats ahead of the midterm elections.

Miller-Meeks said in a September debate and has said in interviews that she supports exceptions for rape, incest, and a womans life. She endorsed a bill from U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., that would prohibit abortion after 15 weeks with those exceptions.

Christina Bohannans ad is referring to Miller-Meeks co-sponsoring of the Life at Conception Act, a House proposal with 163 Republican co-sponsors that would guarantee a constitutional right to life of each born and pre-born human person from the moment of fertilization without explicit exceptions.

In an interview last week with a Quad-City Times reporter, Miller-Meeks said when asked about the Act: I think that you can recognize medically that life begins at conception, and still have exceptions, as I've already noted. So again, my long-held position in multiple public interviews has been I'm pro-life with exceptions for life of the mother, rape, and incest.

Bohannan continues in the ad: I never imagined my daughter would grow up having fewer rights than I had. Im fighting to protect our right to choose. When it comes to our bodies, women should be in charge, not Washington politicians.

Iowa Sen. Kevin Kinney releases ad celebrating "Noah's law"

Iowa Sen. Kevin Kinney, a Democrat from Oxford, released his second ad of the election cycle, highlighting his work on a law honoring a Tiffin teen who drowned in the Coralville Reservoir in 2020.

When Noah Herring drowned in 2020, the people with him did not call for help, according to reports at the time, and did not tell the Johnson County Sheriffs office where his body was.

In the ad, Noahs cousin, Amber Herring, sitting with his mother Lisa Herring, tells the story of getting the law passed.

We reached out to Senator Kevin Kinney, who helped us pass a law so that what our family went through; another family does not have to go through, she says.

The ad was paid for by the Iowa Democratic Party.

The law, signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds in 2021, makes it a crime to not call emergency responders when someone appears to be in imminent danger and increases penalties for not telling authorities the location of a corpse. Three juveniles and one adult were charged with lesser crimes related to Herrings death, but failing to alert authorities was not a crime at the time.

In a statement, Kinney said the law was a bipartisan effort and the legislation was written with input from Herrings family.

I then worked across the aisle to get Noahs Law passed unanimously, he said. Im honored to have the support of Noahs family, and I will continue to work to protect crime victims and their families in the State Senate.

Grassley announces farmers coalition

Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley's campaign announced the county chairs of the Farmers for Grassley Coalition, a group of farmers who support Grassleys reelection.

The campaign previously announced the leadership of the group, which includes Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig, former presidents of the Iowa Farm Bureau and Iowa Corn Growers Association, and former Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey.

The list includes farmers from all of Iowas 99 counties. Grassley also announced a veterans coalition from the 99 counties in September.

Congress will rewrite the Farm Bill next year and we need a farmer to represent our interests in the U.S. Senate, Larry Madson, Shelby County farm chair, said in a news release from the campaign. ...Chuck is the strong voice we need to strengthen and sustain the family farm for generations to come. Iowa agriculture needs Chuck fighting for us more than ever.
I am writing to express support for the Democratic candidates in Illinois for the upcoming election: Tammy Duckworth, Eric Sorensen, Mike Halpin and Gregg Johnson. Eric Sorensen, in particular, seems to have struck a chord with the RNC, since they are pulling out all of the stops and sending out horrific ads vilifying him. Their extreme lies seem beyond the typical rhetoric seen during an election, and Im appalled by the nonsense. Ive known Eric for many years, and respect his honesty, professional demeanor, and charitable contributions to our community. He has always been generous with his time and knowledge. As a climate scientist, he is particularly focused on environmental issues, and would contribute that knowledge base to supporting legislation to reduce our carbon emissions while building employment opportunities. However, thats not all he stands for, and his support for civil rights, public education, an economy that works for all, and reproductive rights make him the person to support for Congress on November 8th.
An application for a right-of-way easement in Meade County that would provide water to residents in Box Elder was unanimously denied Tuesday by the Board of County Commissioners.

The utility installation permit application from the South Dakota Ellsworth Development Authority would have set the route of a proposed 14-mile, 16-inch pipeline, bringing water from the Madison aquifer near Black Hawk to residents of Box Elder who were impacted by well contamination from Ellsworth Air Force Base.

The permit application requested a section line right-of-way utility improvement, to install the waterline in a Meade County right-of-way. Representatives from Dream Design International, Inc. and SDEDA were present to answer questions, as well as several members of the public expressing concerns with the application.

Prominent concerns from both the Board of Commissioners and the public included the uncertainty of the proposed route, how the route would affect landowners, and a negative impact on the Black Hawk Water District.

Prior to discussion and public comment, Mike Stanley from Dream Design International summarized the permit application, and why it was necessary for the pipeline project. He said the proposed route was determined to be the most direct from the proposed well site to the air base in Box Elder, and also added ease of maintenance.

The preliminary route was determined after surveying the section line and route, Stetson said, and talking to landowners. The application specifically pertained to section lines between Elk Vale Road and Northern Avenue.

The design is 60% complete, according to KTM, saying the next steps were discussions with Meade County and landowners to make any adjustments needed to get this to work through the section line.

And a big example of why we need to do this is because this would be a first utility within this right of way, Stetson said. We want to make sure that it's in the best possible spot that it can be to account for future roadways and also the best possible routing for the waterway itself.

The state authorized the projects well location at a meeting in Pierre last week. Commissioners expressed concern that members of the public were not consulted in the decision.

Commissioners also discussed the projects $30 million price tag, questioning if the funds could be better used. They expressed concern over the location, calling it terrible, and suggesting there were spots that would be a whole lot better.

The request was also premature, they said, discussing how the proposed route will likely change.

My concern is were putting in a 10-mile access across every rancher (in) that area, Commissioner Talbot Wieczorek said.

Commission Chair Ted Seaman questioned the reasoning behind the decision to get water from the Madison aquifer instead of getting it from another municipal supply, like Rapid City.

If theres a valid reason to be piping water through there right now, it'd be one thing," he said. "I don't understand why we're moving water right next to Black Hawk Water, and trying to steal customers that theyre already serving to go to Ellsworth where there's already water there.

A topic of discussion was the impact the route would have on Black Hawk Water and its customers.

Ken LeBon, manager for Black Hawk Water, spoke Tuesday morning, saying he was not opposed to bringing water to residents affected by base contamination, but felt there were better options and asked the commissioners to look hard at what theyre taking from us. He noted the amount of money and planning the district has invested in the area.

Other commenters were concerned over lack of studies and if water costs would increase. Questions were raised over why SDEDA did not work with the city of Rapid City or Box Elder, which SDEDA told the Journal in August had been explored with neither municipalities able to assist.

Other concerns expressed included the amount of water the pipeline would draw from the Madison aquifer and how it would affect Meade County residents.

Commissioner Doreen Creed said she would be surprised if South Dakota's Congressional delegation would support the pipeline plan.

"You know, everybody supports the military, but I don't think they support this," she said. " I just can't see them supporting such a misuse of funds and such an interruption into the lives of so many people.

The commissioners ultimately decided there were too many unanswered questions, including the route of the pipeline, the funding and concern with the proposed location. A motion to deny the permit application carried 5-0.
 Flash

More than 900,000 people have been impacted by floods in 29 counties across South Sudan and in the southern part of the Abyei Administrative Area, the United Nations humanitarian agency said Tuesday.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) noted that the worst affected people are in the states of Northern Bahr El Ghazal, Warrap, Unity and Western Equatoria.

"The floods destroyed livestock and crops; washed away roads and bridges; destroyed homes, schools and health facilities; and submerged boreholes and latrines thereby contaminating water sources and risking outbreaks of waterborne diseases," said the OCHA in its latest update on floods issued in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.

It noted that increasing water levels were reported in Rubkona and Bentiu towns of Unity state, putting pressure on existing dikes.

The OCHA said that the water levels have now reached the highest levels experienced in 2021, adding that efforts are ongoing to repair the areas needed and monitor any vulnerable areas ahead of further breaches.

"During the early hours of Oct. 9, two areas of the dikes breached, and required immediate support to prevent water flooding the humanitarian hub, the internally displaced people's sites, and the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) base," it said.

The situation in Western Bahr El Ghazal state has made it impossible for humanitarians to provide medical and nutrition supplies to the affected population in Raja County.

According to the OCHA, partners are responding to the affected people with limited resources available, often prioritizing resources. It, however, noted that response activities continue to be hampered by funding shortfalls, insecurity and physical access constraints.
Meade County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to set a first reading for a proposed shooting range ordinance for the county.

The first official reading of the ordinance is scheduled for 10 a.m. Nov. 1.

Commissioner Richard Liggett said he requested the ordinance be drafted because one does not currently exist for the county.

Meade County Chief Deputy State's Attorney Kenneth Chleborad presented the draft ordinance to the commission. He said it mirrors general safety guidelines and design principles for shooting ranges from the National Rifle Association. He said there were several ordinances that he looked at for city and state government, but it was difficult to find one for a county.

The proposed ordinance would regulate the location and construction of shooting ranges in Meade County. The four-page ordinance included general provisions, definitions, licensing requirements, range orientation and construction requirements. It also sets forth an application process for shooting ranges within the county.

Chleborad said the county has the option to regulate property use via ordinance to address public safety. He said the ordinance would only apply to public-use facilities and would not regulate a rancher's ability to go out on their own property to sight-in a gun.

Chleborad said the ordinance is "not directly related" to the proposed 175-bay shooting range by South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks that is planned in rural Meade County, just north of Rapid City.

"It was the impetus to get started down that road looking at it," he said. "The ability to regulate Game, Fish & Parks remains an issue as to whether the county can tell the state what to do."

Chleborad said there is some open interpretation over whether or not the county has jurisdiction for a state agency that builds a public shooting range.

Several county residents spoke out at Tuesday's meeting saying there are still multiple concerns over the shooting range that they would like to see Meade County address  including liability, fire protection and who would enforce the ordinance.

GF&P agreed March 3 to purchase 400 acres of ranch land in rural Meade County, approximately 10 miles north of Rapid City, to build a 175-bay shooting range. They were seeking $2.5 million from the state's general fund and a $2.5 million authorization to use "other funds" to build the range. The total cost of the range is projected to be $12 million to $14 million.

GF&P Secretary Kevin Robling testified March 2 before the State Legislature that GF&P will build the range with or without funding from the state, but development would be scaled down and potentially delayed if the state funding is not approved.

The Meade County land for the GF&P shooting range was first sought by Rapid City businessman Jim Scull, who told the Journal that the realization of building a new range near Rapid City was years in the making.

Scull initiated a purchase agreement for the property and then transferred the agreement to the South Dakota Parks and Wildlife Foundation. The foundation held the deed to the land with the expectation that GF&P would purchase the property by April of this year.

Supporters of the range said it is a needed amenity for West River residents. However, the shooting range met opposition from area ranchers and landowners. Members of the House of Representatives also opposed using the state's general fund for the range, after Robling's testimony that GF&P would build the facility anyway.

Several attempts to use the state's general fund to pay for a portion of the gun range were denied throughout the 2022 legislative session. The funding request was first denied on Jan. 25. The funding bill was resurrected on Feb. 1 and initially passed the State Senate.

When the resurrected bill was heard by the House Appropriations Committee on March 3, it was defeated again. An attempt to "smoke out" the bill on March 7 before the full House of Representatives did not receive enough votes to proceed.

A last-ditch attempt to secure general funding from the state failed in conference committee on March 11.

In June, GF&P requested a relocation of a section line that isolated a portion of the shooting range property. The Meade County Commission denied the relocation during its June 28 meeting.

 Interim Editor Nathan Thompson contributed to this report.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem said Wednesday she would not call a special legislative session to have lawmakers consider repealing the state's tax on groceries ahead of the November election, despite calls to do so from a handful of Republican lawmakers as well as her Democratic challenger.

The Republican governor, speaking at a news event at a Sioux Falls grocery store, acknowledged her campaign proposal does not currently have the votes necessary for passage in the state Senate. She will have to win over lawmakers when they are scheduled to reconvene in January.

The request for a special session came Tuesday from Republican state Reps. Phil Jensen, Taffy Howard and Tony Randolph, all of Rapid City, and state Reps. Kevin Jensen of Canton, Steve Haugaard of Sioux Falls and Aaron Aylward of Harrisburg. State Sen. Julie Frye-Mueller of Rapid City and Senator-elect Tom Pischke of Dell Rapids also joined in the effort.

In a Tuesday press release, Phil Jensen said he requested for the special session to be held Nov. 3, just five days before the general election.

"The hard-working citizens of South Dakota have experienced a significant increase in the cost of groceries over the last year, seriously impacting their ability to provide for their families, and its time our citizens are able to keep more of their hard-earned money," Jensen said in the press release.

"South Dakota is in a great financial position but we need to remember that its not the role of government to hold onto the people's money, but rather to provide them with the necessities of a limited government."

However, repeal of the state tax on groceries would cost the state about $100 million in annual revenue. It has become a central issue in Noem's reelection bid against her Democratic opponent, Rep. Jamie Smith.

Noem publicly opposed the repeal in March this year, but changed course last month to promise that she would convince the Legislature to cut the tax if reelected. Smith supported the repeal several times during his six years in the state House.

"I dont want to put us in a situation where this bill fails," Noem said about the request for the special session.

The governor added that she would work to convince senators that she has expanded South Dakota's economy to a point that state government would not miss the $100 million in revenue.

The state has put a record amount of money in budget reserves under Noem's leadership. But South Dakota's economic growth has recently lagged behind the rest of the country. Last year, it had the 15th lowest growth in gross domestic product  the broadest measure of economic output  among states.

Smith held a news conference Wednesday just a half hour before Noem's event to push the governor to call the Legislature back to Pierre. The Legislature can convene either by order of the governor or with two-thirds support from both of its chambers.

Its an unethical tax for hardworking families because they all need food, especially during times of economic crisis, Smith said of the 4.5% tax levied on food purchases.

He accused Noem of changing course on repeal for political convenience and said the sooner the tax is repealed, the sooner it can save people money at the grocery checkout. Smith said there is little assurance that the governor will fulfill her repeal pledge, let alone serve the entirety of her four-year term.

Noem has made moves to position herself as a White House contender in 2024. But on Wednesday, she pledged she would complete her second four-year term as governor.

Absolutely thats what I want to do, she said. Stay home here in South Dakota.

 Rapid City Journal Interim Editor Nathan Thompson contributed to this report.
If people are so fragile (that) they allow a dissenting political sign or flag dictate which businesses they patronize, the division in this country is beyond repair.

The Democrats' legislation to hire 84,000 new IRS agents exposes their desire to tax and spend without pausing to peek at the current $31 trillion debt. Does anyone in Congress stand for less taxes, less spending and more border security such as hiring 84,000 new border agents?

It's pretty clear that ethics and character have lost out in recent political campaigns. Now it's simply win however you can, at any cost, regardless of qualifications. The more sordid the candidate acts and speaks, the better for his/her campaign.

Is there a voter left in South Dakota who still believes Kristi Noem's interests lie in this state? If so, they should start paying attention to what she is saying, and more importantly, what she is doing.

Our governor has amassed a record of almost $12 million to fund her campaign from out-of-state money. Shouldnt South Dakotans be the ones that determine this election?
Despite dropping the first set, the Hill City volleyball team battled back to score a four-set victory over St. Thomas More Tuesday night in Rapid City.

The Cavaliers jumped out to solid start as they won the first set 25-19.

Unfortunately for STM, Hill City had an answer and maintained the momentum the rest of the way as they took the next three sets 25-19, 25-21 and 25-20.

Reese Ross led the way for the Cavaliers with 18 kills and four aces, Riley Gylten tacked on seven kills and Megan Lee added had four aces and four blocks.

Ariana King led the team in digs with 16, while Scarlet Grimshaw and Gretchen Henry chipped in with 14 apiece.

The Rangers (16-10) will play at Wall on Thursday, while St. Thomas More (14-14) hosts Custer.

RAPID CITY CHRISTIAN 3, HOT SPRINGS 0: The Lady Comets cruised to a win over the Bison on Tuesday.

Christian won the first set 25-9, took the second 25-18 and closed it out with a 25-9 victory.

Olivia Kieffer paced the Comets with 18 kills, while Ana Egge added 11 kills and 12 digs.

Sophie DeWitt had 11 digs for Christian and Kylie Kallio led the team with 26 assists.

The Comets (25-6) will travel to Gordon-Rushville, Nebraska on Thursday, while the Bison (16-10) host Douglas.

RAPID CITY STEVENS 3, DOUGLAS 0: Rapid City Stevens bounced back from a loss to pick up a win over the Patriots on Tuesday.

The Raiders took the first set 25-17, won the second 25-19 and put the match away with a 25-17 third.

No other information was made available for this match.

Rapid City Stevens (16-7) will play at Sioux Falls OGorman on Friday, while Douglas (6-11) travels to Hot Springs Thursday.

PINE RIDGE 3, LITTLE WOUND 2: Pine Ridge snapped a four-match losing skid with a win over Little Wound.

Tuesdays match was a back-and-forth affair, with the Thorpes taking the first set 25-17, followed by a pair of wins for the Mustangs (25-23 and 25-22).

Pine Ridge regained the momentum with a 25-17 win in the fourth and put the match away with a 15-6 fifth.

No other information was made available for this match.

The Thorpes (9-9) will host St. Francis Indian on Thursday, while Little Wound (8-11) hosts Jones County on Saturday.

KADOKA AREA 3, WHITE RIVER 1: The Kougars earned their second win in a row with a victory over the Tigers.

White River opened the match with a 25-19 win in the first set, but Kadoka Area stormed back to win the next three 25-19, 25-19 and 25-9.

No other information was made available for this match.

The Kougars (10-10) will play at Jones County Thursday, while the Tigers (10-10) travel to Colome.

CUSTER 3, RED CLOUD 2: After falling behind 2-1, the Wildcats fought back to score a hard-earned victory over the Crusaders.

The Wildcats grabbed the first set 25-23, but Red Cloud won the next two 25-8 and 25-17 for a 2-1 advantage.

From there, Custer regained the lead with a 27-25 fourth before closing it out with a 15-8 win in the fifth.

No other information was made available for this match.

The Wildcats (7-16) travel to St. Thomas More on Thursday, while Red Cloud (7-13) hosts Belle Fourche.

EDGEMONT 3, NEWELL 0: The Moguls ran past the Irrigators for a straight-set victory on Tuesday.

Edgemont scored the victory with 25-18, 25-15 and 26-24 wins.

No other information was made available for this match.

The Moguls (13-7) will host Hulett, Wyoming on Thursday, while Newell (19-6) travels to New Underwood.

PHILIP 3, WALL 0: The Scotties picked up their third victory in a row with a win over the Eagles Tuesday night in Wall.

Philip won the first set 25-16, took the second 25-21 and edged the Eagles for a 28-26 victory in the third.

No other information was made available for this match.

The Scotties (16-10) will play at Lyman on Thursday, while Wall (12-9) hosts Hill City.
Sapphire Lutheran Homes is hosting a fundraiser called An Evening With McCartney to raise money to complete its band shell.

SLH Director of Community Life Dominic Farrenkopf said the fun event set for Friday, Oct. 21 raises money for a community asset.

We built a band shell early this summer and it provided a great stage for the Annual Sapphire Summer Concert Series, Farrenkopf said. Our concert series is enjoyed by so many and our attendance this summer ranged from 800 to 1,300 people per event. We strive to offer a very unique musical experience to concertgoers and having this new band shell allows us to get larger musical acts.

There is still work to do on the band shell, he said, and the funds raised from this evening of dinner and a show will go to that effort.

Renowned Musician Joshua Jones will perform a tribute to Paul McCartney, playing McCartneys music from the Beatles era, the Wings era, and McCartneys solo career and telling stories about the songs. Jones was featured at the Sapphire Summer Concert Series this year playing Elton John and Billy Joel in The Elton vs. Billy Show, and Paul McCartney in the Beatles tribute band British Export. Jones grew up in a Beatles household with a father who played in Beatles cover bands. He has been portraying Paul McCartney for the last 10 years and has performed in all 50 states and many countries all over the world.

Farrenkopf said the music will be amazing.

With a career spanning 60 years, multiple bands and solo outings, and countless #1 hits and sold-out tours, Paul McCartney has one of the greatest artistic legacies to ever exist, he said. An Evening with McCartney takes you on a journey through this unparalleled career of not just the great music, but the stories behind the songs. Hear all of your favorites from The Beatles, Wings, and solo years, and experience the stories of one of the greatest songwriters of all time.

The evening will also feature a four-course gourmet meal. Guests will enjoy crab-stuffed mushrooms for an appetizer followed by a spring green salad. For the main course, guests can choose between New York strip steak with a bourbon glaze, chicken cordon bleu with hollandaise sauce, salmon with dill hollandaise, or a vegetable lasagna. Sides are a choice between a cauliflower mash and root vegetable blend. Dessert is New York cheesecake with chocolate, caramel, or cherry topping. Beer and wine are included with the meal.

Tickets to dinner and An Evening With McCartney are $100 per person with only 48 tickets available. For tickets and more information, call 406-363-2800. The event is sponsored by: Done Right Foundations & Systems Northwest.

This dinner and concert will be a unique experience and seating is limited, Farrenkopf said. This fundraiser will allow the general public who have not attended a dining event to get to know Sapphire a little bit better. This will also be a welcome back experience by people who have enjoyed a dining experience with us.
Virginia Repertory Theatre has purchased the Scottish Rite Temple at 4202 Hermitage Road for $3.5 million as the new home for its Childrens Theatre.

Phil Whiteway, managing director of the theater, opened the doors on Tuesday, just minutes after signing the closing papers.

This will be a major investment for Virginia Rep, the RVA community and all performing arts groups, Whiteway said. Im not going to cry, he added, jokingly.

Located in the Bellevue neighborhood of North Richmond, the building will be named the Virginia Rep Center for Arts and Education and will house childrens theater productions, educational touring programs, camps, classes and workshops.

Whiteway described the building as Richmonds Kennedy Center.

Other parties interested in acquiring the property included real estate developers, who, due to its ideal central location and off-street parking, sought to raze the building to construct condos or apartments, he said. We will be saving the historic Scottish Rite Temple  as a performing arts space for RVA audiences.

The original asking price was $6.8 million. Owned by the Richmond Scottish Rite Masons since 1969, the building was listed for sale in 2018 when the organization decided to downsize.

We had several parties interested in the property, Sam Dunn, the realtor and a member of the Richmond Scottish Rite Masons, said. But in the end this is a real win-win.

The building includes three performance areas  a 650-seat main auditorium and two smaller studio stages  that will allow for an increase in performances. The facility also includes a commercial kitchen, dining hall and meeting rooms.

The Childrens Theatre was previously located in Willow Lawn for 25 years, but vacated the mall last year when its rent was increased.

After leaving our rented space at Willow Lawn during COVID and months of careful planning and due diligence, this investment will allow us to create a new path for the future of Virginia Reps childrens, families, and schools programming, which represents about 50% of our total operation, Whiteway said in a statement.

With the roughly 50,000 square foot structure, the Childrens Theatre will have more rehearsal space for its 18 tour productions that reach over 400,000 students and families. There will also be room to double the number of camps, classes, and workshops currently offered.

The nonprofit theater company has a $5.2 million fundraising campaign for the project, of which 50% has already been completed, as well as $1.5 million in reserve for renovation costs for restrooms, HVAC upgrades and other improvements.

Virginia Rep is already busy planning its Childrens Theatre season, which will start in December with Twas the Night Before Christmas. Details with show dates and times will be announced soon, according to the theater.

The new building will also be the future permanent home for Gospel Nativity, a new, annual holiday partnership with Virginia Union University, which has launched a new gospel music degree program.

Were envisioning it as the equivalent of the new Nutcracker, Desiree Roots, artistic director for the theater, said. We have a beautiful stage here, a choir loft and even an organ.

The main 650-seat auditorium is located off the second-floor atrium and outfitted with aqua seats straight from the 1960s, complete with the double-headed eagle insignia of the Richmond Scottish Rite Masons. The atrium space features enormous floor-to-ceiling cathedral windows.

Im excited for children to come into this beautiful space, Roots said.

The new building also offers a safe drop-off and pick-up area for families and schools, as well as a large lighted parking lot with 230 spaces.

One of the really exciting aspects of the new building is the full commercial kitchen and dining hall, Whiteway said. We envision many fun special events, community gatherings, themed character meals and school group lunches taking place in this large space.

The Richmond Scottish Rite Masons will continue to occupy the smaller office on the premises which houses the Scottish Rite Childhood Language Center and provides treatment for children with speech and hearing difficulties.

The adjacent Acca Shriners property at 1712 Bellevue Ave. is separately owned and was not for sale.

The property is located in the Hermitage Road Historic District. The Bellevue Civic Association supported Virginia Rep in applying for a special use permit to purchase the property, which was originally zoned for residential.

We cant imagine a better outcome than to have such a highly regarded arts organization purchase and host performances in a theater thats been a part of North Side for more than 50 years, Tim Pfohl, vice president of the association, said.

Virginia Rep hosts adult performances at the November Theater in downtown Richmond at 114 W. Broad St. and at the Hanover Tavern at 13181 Hanover Courthouse Road in Hanover. The new Childrens Theatre will be home to the Family Season. This year marks Virginia Reps 70th anniversary.
The owner of a Henrico County home where authorities said they found bomb-making materials, drugs, smoke bombs and a partial improvised explosive device pleaded guilty Wednesday to six felonies. The discovery of the materials required nearby houses in the Tuckahoe neighborhood to be evacuated during a multi-day search of the property in March.

Michael Hardy, 52, was found guilty of two counts of manufacturing/possession of fire bombs or explosive materials, one count of setting a spring gun or other deadly weapon, and three felonies related to the distribution and sale of drugs.

Hardy had faced 16 criminal charges before pleading guilty, according to the plea agreement submitted Wednesday.

Officers arrested Hardy on March 17 after state, local and federal authorities performed a search of his residence in the 7200 block of Durwood Crescent near The Village Shopping Center.

A day prior, Henrico police encountered Hardys then-girlfriend after responding to a domestic incident outside the residence, investigators said. She was arrested on outstanding warrants for possession of drugs and contempt of court.

Sydney Crowe told police that Hardy supplies her with drugs and pays for lavish trips, according to an affidavit attached to the initial search warrant.

The summary of evidence provided by the prosecution Wednesday indicates detectives also interviewed Hardys neighbors who had submitted nuisance and drug complaints before police obtained a warrant to search his home.

Records show 47 calls for service to the Durwood Crescent home over the past five years, including for disorderly conduct, domestic disputes, noise complaints, missing persons, sexual assault, suspicious situations and disabled vehicles or insecure property, among others.

While executing a search warrant, police encountered several surveillance cameras, reinforced doors, trip wires and potentially hazardous explosive materials, according to court documents.

About 25 homes surrounding Hardys residence were evacuated as explosive ordinance personnel cleared the scene. Others in the area were told to shelter in place and several streets were closed until police secured the area.

Officers seized handguns, rifles, suppressors, bullet magazines, fireworks, a pipe bomb and bomb-making materials from Hardys home, police said. There also were several pills containing fentanyl, crack cocaine, digital scales, plastic packaging and other materials consistent with the sale and distribution of drugs, police said.

During court proceedings, the prosecution entered into evidence photographs of a shrapnel explosive loaded with nails and ball bearings, modified fireworks, a military-grade smoke grenade and a spring gun loaded with a flare round.

An attorney for Hardy said he has military experience and that there are lawful uses for some of the materials found on the property, including the cylinders filled with Tannerite, a pre-packed explosive sometimes used at firing ranges.

Hardys sentence will be determined by Chief Judge John Marshall in absence of a jury trial. His next court date is scheduled for Jan. 13.
Rep. Donald McEachin, D-4th, called on Bon Secours to improve services at Richmond Community Hospital in Church Hill, calling the nonprofit health systems use of funds unacceptable.

In a letter released Wednesday, he disputed Bon Secours claim that the stripping down of the hospitals services was necessary because of lower demand. A low patient volume in a poor neighborhood is a sign of barriers to accessing health care, not the absence of need for health care, he said.

I look forward to receiving detailed information on how Bon Secours plans to improve access to comprehensive services for patients who depend on Richmond Community Hospital for their health care, McEachin wrote.

A spokesperson for Bon Secours said the system is grateful for McEachin meeting with hospital leadership and pledged to provide access to high-quality health care to the community.

A New York Times article published last month revealed that Bon Secours has used Richmond Community to buy discounted drugs through a federal program. The program, known as 340B, allows hospitals that serve low-income patients to pay for drugs at a deeply discounted rate.

Using a loophole in the program, Bon Secours opened 10 outpatient clinics throughout the Richmond area and listed them as subsidiaries of Richmond Community. That allowed Bon Secours to buy drugs through Community at a cheaper price and sell them to wealthy patients who were paying top dollar.

But instead of using that money to benefit the predominantly low-income Church Hill, Bon Secours has stripped down Richmond Community. It removed the hospitals intensive-care unit in 2017. When the only gastrointestinal doctor at the hospital left, he wasnt replaced. Richmond Community can no longer perform major surgeries, treat kidney disease or perform cardiac catheterizations. It took nine years for Bon Secours to break ground on the East End medical office building adjacent to Community that Bon Secours promised to the city of Richmond.

Meanwhile, the health system has spent $108 million expanding St. Francis Medical Center in Midlothian and $49 million on Memorial Regional Medical Center in Hanover.

To justify the sapping of Richmond Communitys services, Bon Secours says there isnt sufficient patient demand.

We have transitioned underutilized services to neighboring Bon Secours facilities to ensure residents needs are met close to home, a spokesperson for the health system said last month.

Because there are significant needs for behavioral health and emergency care, Bon Secours has added to and enhanced those departments.

McEachin isnt buying that argument. Seeing a lower patient volume in a disadvantage community is a sign of barriers to accessing health care, not a lack of need for services, the congressman said in a letter to Bryan Lee, president of Richmond Community and St. Marys. The two met last week.

The congressman noted that poverty and low income are associated with shorter life expectancy, higher infant mortality and higher death rates from various diseases. The life expectancy for the neighborhoods surrounding Community was 67 years, according to a 2015 study by Virginia Commonwealth University. That was 12 years less than the national average at the time.

McEachin says he supports the 340B program, which helps thousands of nonprofit hospitals and clinics across the country that serve low-income patients, including VCU Health.

I hope Bon Secours actions moving forward more clearly reflect the health systems stated mission to bring good help to those in need, especially people who are poor, dying and underserved,  McEachin wrote.

Asking for answers, McEachin directed Bon Secours to explain how it will improve access to medical services at Richmond Community and how the health system determines where to reinvest its 340B savings.

Jenna Green, a spokesperson for Bon Secours, said the health system is grateful to McEachin for meeting with Lee and for the congressmans support of the 340B program.

As discussed in the meeting, we remain committed to ensuring residents of our communities have access to high-quality health care, Green said. We also look forward to continuing our conversations with Rep. McEachin and other stakeholders to identify and address the health care needs of our community.
Two Virginia men were found not guilty of interfering with the 2020 presidential election in Philadelphia on Wednesday, but they were found guilty on charges of possessing a firearm without a valid permit.

Antonio LaMotta, 63, a resident of Chesapeake, and Joshua Macias, 44, from Virginia Beach, were arrested in November 2020 outside a ballot counting location in Philadelphia carrying handguns. Inside their silver Hummer adorned with a QAnon sticker, police found an assault-style rifle and ammunition.

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for December. Carrying a gun without a license is a third-degree felony in Pennsylvania, punishable by up to seven years in prison. LaMotta told reporters after the trial they didnt do anything wrong and intend to appeal.

Authorities allege that both men were part of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, and LaMotta still has charges outstanding for entering the Capitol building during the riot.

LaMotta and Macias were arrested in November 2020 outside the Pennsylvania Convention Center, where officials were counting mail-in ballots. Authorities charged them with three felonies: carrying a firearm without a license, interference with an election and conspiracy, and two misdemeanors: carrying firearms in public and hindering the performance of election officials.

Police found an assault-style rifle and 160 rounds of ammunition in the Hummer. LaMotta carried a Beretta 9mm pistol on his hip, and Macias wore a Beretta 40-caliber pistol concealed under his jacket, police said.

One of the two men did not have a permit to conceal his firearm, police said at the time. The other had a Virginia license, but Pennsylvania does not recognize Virginia permits. Its unclear which defendant had a permit.

Judge Lucretia Clemons found the two guilty on the two gun charges but cleared them on three election interference charges.

LaMotta said after the trial they would appeal.

We didnt do anything; we didnt try to do anything here, LaMotta said, according to NBC affiliate WCAU.

Macias and LaMotta attended right-wing events in Richmond, and Macias co-founded an organization called Vets for Trump.

Earlier this year, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner accused Macias of helping plan the Capitol insurrection. A documentary video purports to show Macias meeting with two of the riots planners.

Inside an underground parking garage, Macias spoke to Enrique Tarrio, head of extreme right-wing group Proud Boys, and Stewart Rhodes, an organizer of another group that entered the Capitol, the Oath Keepers. Tarrio and Rhodes have been charged with seditious conspiracy.

In August, the FBI arrested LaMotta, claiming he entered the Capitol during the riot. Surveillance video and body camera footage from Capitol Police apparently shows LaMotta pushing his way into the building along with others.

Authorities charged him with misdemeanors of entering a restricted building, violent entry in a Capitol building and demonstrating in a Capitol building.
Jondanae Garza was in elementary school when the first cut of steel for the USS Gerald R. Ford was made in 2005. Now 17 years later, she is shares a milestone with the Navys newest and most technologically advanced warship  both are deploying for the first time.

The Ford departed Oct. 4 from Naval Station Norfolk, embarking on a two-month-long deployment to train with North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies. During the special deployment, which comes after nearly two decades of construction, the crew will hone the capabilities of the warships 23 new technologies.

One of those technologies is the advanced damage control system  a unique system Garza has learned as part of her duties as a second class hull maintenance technician for the ship. She is one of 26, among a crew of approximately 4,000 sailors, who work with this new technology.

Some of my friends  other sailors  are jealous that I am on this carrier, 25-year-old Garza said with a laugh. Being on this ship, with it being a brand new classification, there is a lot of cool stuff on here.

The Ford is the first new class of aircraft carrier designed in over four decades, ushering in a new generation of warships outfitted with never-before-seen technologies intended to boost the Navys striking power for at least the next 50 years. The Navy invited reporters aboard the $13 billion carrier two days after it deployed to see some of the technology in action, which includes new aircraft-launching technology, electromagnetic weapons elevators and dual-band radar.

The warship is carrying the Navy into the 21st century, said Capt. Paul Lanzilotta.

I dont like buzzwords, so Im not gonna say game changer or transformational, but its the now, Lanzilotta said of the Ford.

The new technology extends beyond the warships defensive capabilities.

Below deck, the advanced damage control system allows Garzas team to easily plot the location of fires and flooding  or anything that would threaten the survivability of the more than 1,100-foot-long carrier. That enables the Fords Damage Control Division to quickly dispatch sailors, whether they be hull technicians like Garza or firefighting damage control members, to the incident.

You type it in to the advanced damage control system, then boom, its right there. You are able to think faster about what is needed to respond and you know exactly where you are going, Garza said.

The easy-to-use touchscreen program replaces paper plotting across several pages of the ships blueprints with a grease pencil, cutting the divisions response time down by about 10 valuable minutes, Garza said. The system also allows for quick searches of necessary equipment and parts to make repairs, rather than manual searches through drawers.

Garza, who is a Norfolk transplant from Las Vegas, reported to the Ford in 2020. While she has spent the past two years learning the ins and outs of the ship, the past two months have been dedicated to mastering the advanced damage control system.

Just days into the first deployment, the system, Garza said, has already reduced vulnerabilities caused by human error and communication breaks. When someone called in a potential issue over radio, damage control members were dispatched to the wrong location on the ship.

When they caught it from central control, plotting from the advanced damage control system, they got the right location and called us on our radios, so we were able to correct ourselves quickly, Garza said.

Garza also works with the machinery control and monitoring system, another technology that is unique to the Ford. The system features sensors that detect flooding and when the sprinklers have been activated, and immediately alerts watchstanders.

As soon as those sensors kick off, we are able to go do our task, Garza said.

The Ford is the first of a series of new carriers to be completed that will replace the current Nimitz class. It will be joined by the John F. Kennedy in 2024. The Enterprise is scheduled to join the fleet in 2028 and the Doris Miller in 2032.

Cmdr. Jim Gun Boss Fish said the Fords sailors will be instrumental in training future generations of service members for this new generation of carriers.

There are sailors on board here who are learning about this ship. And theyre going to do and teach things about the ship that their grandkids are going to carry with them when theyre on the Doris Miller, Fish said.

In the meantime, some of the technology that makes the Ford-class carriers so unique will be implemented in the Nimitz class warships to improve the capabilities of the Navys older warships. For Garza, this means she will have the opportunity to step up as a leader when she is transferred to another carrier in the coming years.

When I go to a different type of ship I can help junior sailors. I can try to summarize (the new methods) so they understand it and I can go on to the advanced damage control system and show them how to use it, Garza said.

According to Garza, fresh sailors will adjust quickly to the high-tech carrier because the digital systems throughout the warship replaces dated methods with a technology they are familiar with  touchscreens. At the Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center in Norfolk, where Garza was previously assigned, everything was keyboard-centric.

When I got here, it was way easier. (The touchscreens) and how to actually use (the advanced damage control system) are super easy to understand, Garza said.

Garza will be attached to the Ford until 2025. She said she hopes her next carrier will be a Nimitz class  for the experience.
 Flash

China has been working in various fields to contribute to building a community with a shared future for mankind, which demonstrates its commitment to the role of a responsible major country, Dmitry Novikov, deputy chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Russia, has said.

"The essence of building a community with a shared future for mankind is that humanity is called upon to solve problems through dialogue, search for common goals and join forces in achieving them," Novikov told Xinhua in a recent interview.

In his view, the concept includes rich content ranging from politics, security and economy to culture and ecology, and "these ideas are able to unite people all over the world."

Novikov believes that the strength of building a community with a shared future for mankind is that the concept is inextricably linked to implementation, as shown by cooperation within the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

This unprecedented initiative has ramifications for dozens of countries and billions of people, he said. "We see equal and mutually beneficial cooperation in this initiative. Its implementation promotes industrial development, increases personnel training, creates jobs, and raises living standards."

Both China's development and the implementation of the BRI are beneficial to regional and global growth, he added.

Novikov considers the China-proposed Global Development Initiative (GDI) equally important.

"Just as President Xi Jinping underscored at the High-level Dialogue on Global Development in June, developed countries need to fulfill obligations, and developing countries need to deepen cooperation. The North and the South need to work in the same direction to forge a united, equal, balanced and inclusive global development partnership, so that no country and nobody is left behind," he said.

"From such Chinese solutions as building a community with a shared future for mankind, the BRI, and the GDI, we can see the basis for establishing a more just and equal world order," he said.

Novikov has been to China several times and has witnessed its rapid development.

"Where a poor village was seen not long time ago, skyscrapers rose on my next visit. Where an old dirt road once ran, a high-speed rail line was built. Such transformations are common in China," he said.

Novikov was also impressed by China's advances in electronics, machine manufacturing, automotive and space sectors.

"It is extremely important for me that all these successes are achieved along with an increase in people's living standard ... The newest and most convenient enterprises, ultra-modern cities, excellent expressways, high-speed rail lines -- they all serve people," Novikov said.




Sometimes, its a friend helping a friend  different party affiliation, notwithstanding. Sometimes, its because of policy. Sometimes, its score-settling. Sometimes, its about blurring differences. Sometimes, its a quid pro quo  a transaction in which two politicians who ordinarily wouldnt give each other the time of day get something they want or need.

In Virginia, there is a long history of cross-party endorsements  Republicans backing Democrats, Democrats supporting Republicans, independents standing with both, though more often than not, Republicans. Such endorsements are rare these days, given the tribal nature of politics, especially in a state where a tradition of friends-and-neighbors campaigns allowed Democrats to survive as legislators in the 1970s during the first Republican ascendancy.

These endorsements are a reminder to voters that party labels arent everything. Besides, breaking with their parties through actual and perceived endorsements of the other sides candidate keeps in the headlines such tireless political thespians as Doug Wilder and the late John Warner, a sometime Democrat and sometime Republican, respectively. Both were given to apostasy because they believed they could survive the backlash, maybe become stronger because of it.

Disloyalty can be dangerous. The late Benny Lambert, a veteran Black state senator from Henrico County, was defeated in a 2007 Democratic primary by a young Black delegate, Donald McEachin, now a member of Congress, who ran on one issue: That Lambert the previous year endorsed Republican George Allen for re-election to the U.S Senate.

It was bad enough that Lambert was supporting Allen, believing Allen would reciprocate with a federal windfall for historically Black colleges and universities. Worse, Lambert defended Allen over his caught-on-video macaca moment that cost him a second term to Democrat Jim Webb. As a GOP former Navy secretary in 1994, Webb backed Democratic incumbent Chuck Robb over Republican Oliver North, the Iran-contra figure, future Fox News fixture and NRA president.

Former Rep. Denver Riggleman, a Republican elected to a single term from the heavily rural 5th District in central Virginia and an investigator for the House 1/6 committee, this week endorsed for a third term Democrat Abigail Spanberger in the swing 7th District, reoriented from suburban Richmond to outer Northern Virginia.

In siding with Spanberger over Republican Yesli Vega, a Prince William County supervisor who wont say whether President Joe Biden was legitimately elected and, post-Roe, favors a total ban on abortion, Riggleman appears in a Spanberger-produced television commercial, speaking to her record of bipartisanship.

The ad is an acknowledgement that in the 7th District  carried by President Joe Biden in 2020 and Gov. Glenn Youngkin in 2021  every vote counts. A few favorable words from a Republican who had been endorsed by Donald Trump, but has repudiated him because of the Big Lie, could help Spanberger with independents and disaffected Republicans.

Riggleman, denied renomination in 2020 by the uber-Trumpy Bob Good, who berated Riggleman for being gay-friendly, wants to keep out of Congress anyone cozy with the ex-president. Riggleman, however, hasnt endorsed Democrat Josh Throneburg, running in his old, very red district against Good. But Riggleman has refused  first in 2020 and again this year  to support Good.

As part of the risk-reward calculation of turning against your party, you make an other-guy endorsement where you think it will make a difference. That way, if your candidate wins, you can take the credit and perhaps collect a chit. Though Riggleman may already be grateful for Spanbergers obscenity-pocked pelting of Good over his support of Youngkins seemingly punitive policy for trans school kids.

Revenge figured heavily in 1969 when Henry Howell Jr., the fiery populist, was denied the Democratic gubernatorial nomination to Bill Battle, a moderate favored by what remained of the old, conservative crowd of the late Harry Byrd Sr.

Howell refused to endorse Battle and he all but endorsed the Republican nominee, Linwood Holton, a progressive by the standards of the day. Howell described his supporters as free spirits not bound by party loyalty.

Holton defeated Battle and was elected Virginias first Republican governor of the 20th century with more than few votes from Howell supporters.

Holton would become estranged from the GOP as it veered right, and two decades on would begin openly supporting Democrats, including Wilder in his successful campaign in 1989 to become the nations first elective Black governor.

Holtons fellow centrist Republican, John Warner, recruited a Republican-turned-independent, Marshall Coleman, for the Senate in 1994 rather than back the controversial North. Two years later, largely because Republicans were still furious over his betrayal of North, Warner survived a close call for a fourth term.

His opponent was Democrat Mark Warner  no relation. John and Mark forged a bromance in which the former would endorse the latter for the Senate in 2014 and 2020. John Warner also rejected Trump in 2016, preferring Democrat Hillary Clinton for president and her vice presidential running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, a Holton son-in-law who campaigned for governor in 2005 with his Republican father-in-law at his side.

When it comes to non-endorsement endorsements, no one can quite match Byrd Sr. and Wilder.

Angry over the national Democratic Partys lurch to the left on racial equality and federal spending, Byrd, especially in the years following World War II, refused to support its presidential nominees. By invoking his legendary golden silence, Byrd signaled to his loyalists that he preferred the Republican candidates. Virginia, then a rural-dominated state, obliged him.

Wilder, to get his fix of printers ink and some leverage over the Republican he was betting would win, did not endorse Democratic nominees for governor in 2009 and 2021. His refusal to do so was happily interpreted by Republicans as tacit support for their candidates those years, Bob McDonnell and Glenn Youngkin. Its not entirely clear what Wilder got  or is getting  in return, other than an ego boost from seeing someone elses crushed.
You know a play has secured its place in contemporary culture when people riff off its title.

Theyre quite the odd couple  emphasis on odd, recalls Neil Simons beloved 1965 Broadway show about a pair of hopelessly mismatched roommates.

More recently, Shes a real steel magnolia  referring to the kind of strong woman who makes her way through whatever life throws at her.

Theatergoers can see what we mean when Steel Magnolias completes its run at Attic Productions this weekend.

What fans of Robert Harlings 1987 off-Broadway play might not realize is that it was based on actual events in his own life. In his welcoming remarks at the Oct. 9 matinee, director Chip Addison shared this bit of background about the playwright, including the fact that Harling wrote the play in just 10 days.

Addison did not reveal the storys key plot point in his remarks, and we wont either, so as not to spoil it for any newcomers.

But we will prepare those who have seen the 1988 film version not to expect the same experience  something one patron was overheard remarking about during intermission (though not unfavorably).

In the play, the action takes place in a small-town beauty salon in Louisiana run by the big-hearted Truvy. The salon has become a regular gathering spot for several of the women in the community: Clairee, widow of the former mayor of the fictional Chinquapin Parish; the eccentric, curmudgeonly Ouiser; and the proper Southern MLynn and her daughter, Shelby. Into this informal family comes Annelle, who gets a job at the salon to help her get through her crumbling marriage.

Addison is credited in the program as the set designer, and the presentation could not be more spot-on. Those who already love the show will feel right at home, and those who havent seen it will feel a rush of recognition.

In the opening scene, its Shelbys wedding day, and the ladies are together as Shelby gets ready for the big event. Amid the everyday conversation and light-hearted gossip, the outlines of their lives begin to take shape. And this is the South, yall, so there are laugh-out-loud wise-cracks aplenty!

The story unfolds over the course of a year, with the change of seasons mirroring the inevitable changes time brings.

Attendees will see in the program that there is an entire understudy cast, but on Sunday all the main players were on-stage, and each one did an exemplary job inhabiting their characters. Traci Addison is as warm as she is sassy as Truvy. Kris Sorensen is both dignified and deadpan as Clairee. Sandi Rhodes is priceless as the larger-than-life Ouiser (thats pronounced WEE-zer). As Annelle, Ashley Light morphs nicely from shy and awkward to a young woman finding her way.

And then theres Shelby and MLynn, whose life events drive the story. Patrons will be rooting for Emma Boyer as the plucky Shelby, whose optimism belies her challenges. And Melanie Fox shines as MLynn, perhaps the steeliest of them all. In a strong ensemble cast, Fox has a key scene in Act II that she knocks out of the park.

This is not the first time Attic has produced Steel Magnolias  the show is part of the companys COVID-postponed 25th anniversary celebration that revives of some of their previous productions. If you missed it the first time, or even if you didnt, give yourself a treat and come set a spell with some ladies youll be glad to know.
STAFFORD  A man who killed his friend without provocation last year in Stafford County was ordered Tuesday to serve 12 years and nine months in prison.

George R. Batts Jr., 40, of Richlands, North Carolina, shot 47-year-old Ely P. Grimes outside an industrial park building on International Parkway in southern Stafford on Jan. 21, 2021. Batts and Grimes were members of the Tuckahoe Motorcycle Club and had come from North Carolina to attend an event, court records show.

Batts previously pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in Stafford Circuit Court. Prosecutor Greg Holt and defense attorney Joe Flood worked out a deal in which other charges were dropped and it was agreed that Batts would receive an active prison sentence of no more than 17 years.

At the end of a sentencing hearing Tuesday that lasted about four and a half hours, Judge Michael Levy sentenced Batts to a total of 20 years with seven years and three months suspended. Batts mental health issues were the primary focus of his defense.

According to the evidence, Batts and Grimes were close friends who seemed to be getting along that weekend. Out of the blue, court records indicate, Batts shot Grimes multiple times in the torso and the arm. Before being rushed to the hospital, Grimes told another club member that he and Batts were bulling when Batts snapped for no apparent reason.

The club member reported that Batts was walking around saying just shoot me following the shooting; tests showed that Batts had illegal drugs and alcohol in his system at the time.

Batts himself was shot several times by responding deputies after he pointed his weapon toward them. He was seriously injured.

Rescue workers were able to get Grimes to a hospital, where he died a couple of days later.

The judge heard emotional testimony Tuesday from several of Grimes family members, including his mother. His wife, Tracy Grimes, said the impact of her husbands death has greatly affected her and others.

The devastation is unbearable beyond words, she said. And Im still unclear why this happened.

The key defense witness Tuesday was clinical psychologist Sara Boyd, who testified for a couple of hours about a number of untreated mental health issues she believes Batts was suffering from, including post traumatic stress disorder, paranoia and traumatic brain injuries stemming from multiple concussions.

Flood claimed the pandemic exacerbated his issues and that he was immediately remorseful for the unprovoked slaying. Flood asked the judge to limit Batts active sentence to seven years.

Holt said that many factors, including Batts lack of any prior criminal record and his service in the Air Force, had already been taken into account when he agreed to the 17-year maximum active sentence. Holt said Batts remorse pales in comparison to the grief he caused, and asked the judge to give him the full 17 years.

Just before Levy pronounced judgement, Batts made an emotional statement in which he again expressed remorse and called Grimes a terrific friend who he and others could always count on.

Im sorry for taking this amazing man from you, Batts said with his voice cracking. Im overwhelmed by the sadness Ive caused . . . his memory will be my inspiration.
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FLORENCE, S.C.  Domestic violence remains a problem in South Carolina, Pee Dee Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Abuse Shelter Program Director Shonette Dargan-Richardson told Florence City Council members at their Monday meeting at the City Center in downtown Florence.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Dargan-Richardson discussed domestic violence and domestic violence awareness month activities with the the members and those present for the meeting.

Our goal is to go out and share as much information as possible about what is going on  not just in our nation but also here, currently in South Carolina, Dargan Richardson said.

For the past 20-plus years, South Carolina has been in the Top 10 in the nation in the number of domestic violence deaths annually. This year, Dargan-Richardson said, South Carolina dropped out of the top 10. Its No. 11.

For the last 23 years, this is the first time we have been out of that top 10, she said. So, there has been some improvement, but there is still a whole lot of work to be done.

South Carolina domestic violence statistics show that 42.3% of South Carolina women and 29.2% of South Carolina men have experienced intimate partner violence, she said.

In 2019 in South Carolina, 36 women and six men were victims of domestic violence homicide. Firearms were involved in 78.5% of the domestic violence homicides, Dargan-Richardson said.

That lets us know there is so much work to be when it comes to providing awareness, and educating, she said.

The Pee Dee Coalition for Domestic and Sexual Abuse will have many events and activities in the eight counties  Florence, Darlington, Chesterfield, Marlboro, Dillon, Marion, Williamsburg and Sumter  it serves.

Upcoming events/activities in Florence County include:

Oct. 14: Clothesline Project, 5-7 p.m., Lake City Administration Building, 202 Kelly St., Lake City

Oct. 20: DV Fitness Extravaganze, 7 p.m., Fitness World, 3223 W. Palmetto St., Florence

Oct. 21: Florence County Men Against Domestic Violence, all day, virtual event

Oct. 25: Domestic Violence Paint Party, 7-9 p.m., Addies Baby Paint Studio, 290 W. Evans St., Florence

Oct. 28: Candlelight Vigil, 6-8 p.m., Ronald E. McNair Memorial, Lake City

Pee Dee Coalition for Domestic and Sexual Abuse Board member John Cariati said domestic violence isnt a topic people want to discuss until its too late to talk about it.

However, the silence must be broken to bring the effects of domestic violence before the public so something can be done.

We want to shatter the silence to domestic violence. We want to shatter it. We dont want to be in the Top 10. We dont want to be in the Top 15. We do not want to be in the Top 20, Dargan-Richardson said. We want to make a difference when it comes to saving lives.

City Councilman Bryan Braddock is chief executive officer/president of House of Hope, an organization that helps those who face homelessness since 1990.

House of Hope and the Pee Dee Coalition for Domestic and Sexual Abuse cross paths quite often, Braddock said.

Within a 24-hour time span last week, the Pee Dee Coalition helped transition someone at House of Hope to safety, he said.

I greatly appreciate what you do, Braddock said.  Its great to have a community partner that someone like us at House of Hope can call and get an immediate response, get the help we need and get somebody to safety.
HARTSVILLE  Cars. Planes. Motorcycles. Horses. Ellis Parsons has driven or ridden them all in his lifetime. He grew up on a farm and pursued a career at Sonoco Products Company in Hartsville, spanning nearly 50 years.

Approximately 25 fellow church members at First Baptist Church in Hartsville arrived at Parsons home on Tuesday morning to wish him Happy Birthday. They came with balloons, cards, a cake, made by church member Annette Wint, and a proclamation from the mayor declaring Oct. 11, 2022, as Ellis Parsons Day in Hartsville.

Lifes longevity doesnt really entitle us to anything, but when a life of longevity includes accomplishments, love and graciousness, like Ellis Parsons does, its worth celebrating! Wint said.

Ive stayed busy all my life, Parsons told church members and longtime friends who came to celebrate with him on his 106th birthday. I dont know. It seems like every time something happened somebody would call me. Im not one of those stingy fellows with his time. Id go help or do it whatever it was. That is one of the things that Sonoco did. In the later years they decided they need somebody that could travel to foreign countries and whatnot. I think Ive been to every country in the world  I did it for a long time and enjoyed it.

He admitted it could be lonely and not as much fun traveling alone.

One member asked him which is the best country in the world and his quick response was, This one.

Dr. Greg Boyd, pastor of First Baptist, read the proclamation which stated: longevity of life is a blessing for an individual and for a community which benefits from the knowledge, creativity and experiences this individual brings to all.

Whereas, Ellis Parsons is a living example of a life service to which all should strive, as well as the epitome of faith, talent, resourcefulness and the definition of Gentleman who should be honored for his 106 years on earth. Now, Therefore, I Casey Hancock, mayor of the city of Hartsville, South Carolina, herby proclaim October 11, 2022 as Ellis Parson Day.

Parsons was born in Candor, North Carolina, on Oct. 11, 1916. He grew up in a big family with nine children. Upon graduation from high school he relocated to Hartsville, where he lived the majority of his life. He was employed with Sonoco Products Co., for 46 years, helping develop the critical Plastics Department and earning several patents with his forward thinking.

He served in World War II, fighting in Germany.

He and his wife, Annie Cole, who was the love of his life, were married for 70 years. They had three sons, Ellis Jr., Bill and Eddie.

The proclamation further stated: Parsons is a man of faith. He served the First Baptist Church in many capacities, including chairman of the Board of Deacons. He is a former member of the board of Coker College (University) and the Lions Club.

Parsons joined the Hartsville Lions Club in 1949 and has been an active, dues-paying member for more than 70 years.

Through his do-it-yourself mentality, renovating his home and restoring his beloved car, he serves as an example of hard work and resourcefulness, stated the proclamation.

Parsons said he never applied for a job in his life. He said he was asked if he would like to come to work for Sonoco. Parsons said he told the fellow asking he hadnt thought about it. He went home and discussed the idea with his father. He said his dad told him to go ahead and try it. If he didnt like it, he could come back home.

Parsons said they liked farm boys at Sonoco because they could fix things.

As a manager at Sonoco, Parsons said people were always asking him if he thought they could do this or that. He told them they wouldnt know unless they tried, and if they didnt, someone else would.

Life has been great for me, I cant complain, Parsons said. Ive enjoyed it.

Parsons said he had a busy life and good attitude, which he attributes to his longevity.

I loved doing things, he said. I didnt sit and twiddle my fingers.

Parsons said he liked to help people.

Not as mobile as he once was, his son, Ellis Parsons Jr., said his father likes to listen to music now. He is especially fond of older music and orchestra music.

His son said people might not know that his father was a bit of a daredevil.

He would stand up in the seat of a motorcycle, his son said. And he was never bashful.

Parsons still has a sense of humor. He considers every day a blessing.

I say my prayers at night, Parsons said.

His wish for his birthday was continued good health.
A member of the Texas A&M Forest Service team uses a torch to back burn a portion of the property to help stop the brush fire from advancing further on Saturday, July 2, 2022 on Dix Road in Kingsbury.
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October 12, 2022

SCOTUS seemingly split over 1983 suit timelines for high-profile Texas death row defendant claiming innocence

Rodney Reed has been on death row in Texas for over two decades based on his conviction for raping and murdering a teenager back in 1996. Reed has always maintained his innocence, but it is a procedural issue that brought his case before the Supreme Court and seemed to divide the Justices. Amy Howe's SCOTUSblog analysis of the argument, "Justices wrestle with statute of limitations in Rodney Reeds effort to revive DNA lawsuit," provides a great review that starts this way:

The Supreme Court on Tuesday heard the case of a Texas death-row inmate seeking DNA testing for evidence that he believes will clear him. A federal appeals court threw out Rodney Reeds federal civil rights lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Texas law governing DNA testing, explaining that Reed had filed his suit too late. Although several justices on Tuesday appeared ready to reject the deadline imposed by the lower court, there was no clear consensus around an alternative rule  and Reeds lawsuit would still be too late under one of the options that the justices debated.

The full argument transcript in Reed v. Goertz is available at this link. And here are a few press accounts of the argument:

From Law360, "Comity Takes Center Stage In High Court DNA Testing Case"

From Reuters, "U.S. Supreme Court mulls Texas death row inmate Rodney Reed's DNA testing bid"

October 12, 2022 at 09:00 AM | Permalink

Comments

I look at this through the lens of the federal habeas statutes.

Currently, the U.S. Supreme Court views direct review as ending with either the denial of certiorari (not the motion for rehearing) or the expiration of time to seek further review with no action taken (either the original notice of appeal, the motion for rehearing in the intermediate appellate court, the motion for discretionary review in the state high court, or the petition for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court). While the U.S. Supreme Court has not addressed when collateral review ends (probably because of the diversity of state rules makes it harder to draft a one side fits all), I have always thought that, logically, a similar rule should apply (i.e. that it is the expiration of time to seek further review rather than the formal entry of the mandate -- often several days later -- that ends the collateral review process).

I don't see any good reason to not apply a similar rule to state DNA laws. Thus to me, of the three dates currently being debated -- the issuance of the original opinion, the denial of any motion for rehearing, and the mandate -- the denial of the motion for rehearing seems the most logical date for the start of the running of the statute of limitations for a 1983 claim.

Posted by: tmm | Oct 12, 2022 10:37:46 AM

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London-based crypto exchange Blockchain.com said it has been granted in-principle approval for a Digital Payment Token license by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). Reuters was first to report the news.

The report comes one day after another crypto exchange, Coinbase, announced it was granted a similar approval for a Digital Payment Token (DPT) in Singapore.

Backed by investors such as Lightspeed Venture Partners, Blockchain.com will become the 18th crypto firm to operate in Singapore out of roughly 180 that have applied for a payments license since 2020, according to the Reuters report.

Singapore is an attractive spot to grow its institutional business and team, said Blockchain.com in a Medium post, noting half of the company's business comes from institutions.

Other recent regulatory wins for Blockchain.com include a provisional approval to operate in Dubai. The company, of course, hasn't been immune to crypto winter, having been forced to slash 25% of its workforce in July after losing $270 million from lending to failed crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital.

MAS did not immediately return a request for comment.

Read More: Coinbase Gets Singapore Digital Payment Token License

UPDATE (Oct. 12, 13:30 UTC): Adds confirmation and response from Blockchain.com in story and headline.




This campaign aims to create awareness of obesity as a medical disease, focusing on adolescents in the society, and encourages caregivers & healthcare providers to be proactive to tackle its consequences

SINGAPORE - Media OutReach - 12 October 2022 - Novo Nordisk proudly launched Your Weight Can't Wait campaign addressing the increase in prevalence of adolescents with obesity in Singapore due to the COVID-19 pandemic.



From 2017 to 2021, the proportion of students who were overweight (BMI-for-age at or above the 90th percentile) in schools (primary, secondary and pre-university levels) has increased from 13% to 16%. In 2021, The Weight Management Clinic at KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH) reported a 12 per cent increase in such cases as compared to 2019, while the Division of Paediatric Endocrinology at National University Hospital (NUH) reported a 15 per cent increase[1], Even more alarming is the fact that such cases are often under-reported. If left unchecked, adolescent obesity would lead to a myriad of health and psychological issues later in life.



A modern solution for a longstanding issue





With the purpose of driving change to defeat chronic diseases, Novo Nordisk has made it a priority to tackle the issue of adolescent obesity. Using a multi-pronged approach, Your Weight Can't Wait campaign aims to not only increase awareness regarding the dangers of obesity amongst adolescents and their caregivers, but to also encourage them to seek more information on obesity and management options while also addressing the stigma surrounding obesity that can be inherent in society.



This will be achieved by collaborating with notable social media figures through #ywcwchallenge, a physical challenge taking place on various social media platforms involving both strength and balance, where participants balance an apple on their head and perform 10 squats. This activity will remind everyone upon the importance of keeping active, thereby raising awareness on obesity.



For the face of the campaign, Novo Nordisk is proud to present an adorable otter as a mascot. Ottese the otter is an animal that is truly emblematic to the little island-state of Singapore with its famously tight-knit families. Novo Nordisk believes that Ottese will serve the campaign well, serving as a reminder that adolescent obesity should not be an issue that is faced alone, but with the help of a strong and cohesive family unit.



Supporting adolescents with obesity has never been more important in the current environment that has highlighted obesity as a significant risk factor for COVID-19. The Your Weight Can't Wait campaign aims to increase knowledge and change the narrative around obesity in Singapore. Through this campaign, people with obesity and their families can learn more about the causes and consequences of obesity and find tools to help them to seek professional help to better manage this chronic disease.



For more information, please visit: https://yourweightcantwait.sg/





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[1] https://www.straitstimes.com/life/rise-in-cases-of-overweight-kids-in-singapore-during-the-pandemic







Hashtag: #NovoNordisk



About Novo Nordisk

Novo Nordisk is a global healthcare company, founded in 1923 and headquartered in Bagsvrd, Denmark. Their purpose is to drive change to defeat diabetes and other serious chronic diseases such as obesity, and rare blood and rare endocrine diseases.



This is a disease awareness message brought to you by Novo Nordisk Singapore. Please consult a qualified healthcare professional in the event of any medical query or emergency  and please do not attempt to self-diagnose or treat any medical condition on your own.


Nobel Peace laureate Malala Yousafzai met Wednesday with victims of Pakistan's devastating monsoon floods, in only the second visit to her home country since being shot by the Taliban a decade ago.

Catastrophic flooding this summer put one-third of Pakistan under water, displaced eight million people, and caused at least an estimated $28 billion in damage.

Yousafzai visited camps in rural Sindh province where she met families who have fled their submerged villages.

"The scale of the destruction is astounding and the psychosocial and economic impact on the lives of people, especially women and girls cannot be overstated," Yousafzai said in a statement released by her organisation, the Malala Fund.

"World leaders must step up, accelerate their response plans and mobilise funds needed to help Pakistan rebuild and support impacted populations."

The Malala Fund has committed up to $700,000 to organisations in Pakistan.

More than three million children have also had their education disrupted while thousands of schools have been damaged.

Authorities are also battling a health crisis of malaria, dengue and malnutrition that has broken out among flood victims living in thousands of makeshift camps across the country.

Yousafzai was 15 years old when the Pakistani Taliban - an independent group that shares an ideology with the Afghan Taliban - shot her in the head over her campaign for girls' education in the Swat Valley.

She was flown to Britain for life-saving treatment and went on to become a global education advocate and the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize winner.

The militant group, known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), waged a years-long insurgency that ended with a major military crackdown in 2014.

But the group has surged again in the region since the Taliban returned to power in Kabul last year, with thousands of people protesting on Tuesday against the deterioration in security.

ak/ecl/dw
Vietnam has been elected as a member of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) despite mounting criticism over its arbitrary arrests of several rights activists and climate advocates.

The south Asian nation on Tuesday received 145 out of 189 votes at the UN General Assembly, becoming one of the 14 countries to be granted a three-year term on the council from January 2023.

The Vietnamese government reportedly led an intense propaganda and lobbying drive to support its efforts to be elected to the council, even as rights organisations have raised alarms over Hanois record of cracking down on high-profile climate activists.

Four rights organisations on Monday noted that since announcing its candidacy in February 2021, Vietnam had detained, arrested or sentenced at least 48 journalists, activists and NGO leaders for arbitrary crimes.

The Vietnamese government should demonstrate a genuine commitment to robust and rights-respecting climate policies by immediately and unconditionally releasing wrongfully imprisoned environmental defenders, said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch.

As a new Human Rights Council member, the Vietnamese government should show that its prepared to uphold human rights rather than violate them.

The backlash against the one-party state comes amid the arrest and imprisonment of four environmental advocates  Nguy Thi Khanh, Dang Dinh Bach, Mai Phan Loi and Bach Hung Duong  on charges of tax evasion.

Nguy Thi Khanh, once touted as the Asian environmental hero by the Vietnamese government, was prosecuted and sentenced to two years in prison in June for allegedly failing to pay a 10 per cent tax on the prize money received by her on winning a coveted award.

Ms Khanhs sentencing was met with international condemnation, including calls for her release by the US, the UK, Canada, Germany and the European Union.

Ms Khanh became the first Vietnamese winner of the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize in 2018 for her extensive work in the field of green energy  countering the governments efforts to beef up its coal production.

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Over the years, she has worked closely with the government and convinced them to strip 20,000MW of coal power from the national energy plan by 2030. The country of 99 million people is the ninth-largest consumer of coal in the world.

A worker rides his motorcycle near lorries transporting coal before it is loaded onto a Chinese ship at a port in Vietnam (REUTERS)

Supporters of the climate defender believe the charge against her is trumped up due to her relentless advocacy against Vietnams reliance on coal.

Her imprisonment has raised questions about Hanois efforts to transition towards cleaner energy even as the country positions itself as the leading nation in southeast Asia to do so.

In October last year, the 46-year-old activist, along with several nonprofits alerted prime minister Pham Minh Chinh on the necessity to revise Vietnams Draft National Power Development Plan for the 2021-30 period. The draft plan proposed doubling coal-fired power capacity to account for up to 31.4 per cent of as much as 143.8GW of installed generation capacity planned in 2030.

We still believe and hope in the determination of the prime minister and of senior leaders to make a climate breakthrough, she had written in a Facebook post.

Her efforts started a conversation with the US, UK and the EU discussing possible energy deals with Vietnam. During Cop26, Vietnam announced its goal for achieving net zero emissions by 2050, while offering an ambitious agenda to decarbonise one of Asias fastest-growing economies by phasing out coal consumption by 2040.

In January this year, her office and home were searched and she was arrested a month later. She was denied access to lawyers for months, a method of punishment often used by the government against jailed critics.

Michael Sutton, executive director of the Goldman Environmental Foundation, called on the Vietnamese government to prove its commitment to human rights by releasing Ms Khanh and other environmental defenders jailed over the past two years.

These are trumped-up charges. Tax laws are used across the globe to repress activism. This is just another example, Mr Sutton told The Independent.

It doesnt make sense to us given she worked closely with the government to help Vietnam achieve its goals. She makes the country look good.

Were concerned about the human rights situation in Vietnam and what the arrests say about the future of the countrys energy ambitions.

We are hopeful that diplomacy and political pressure will ensure the climate defendants release, he further said, adding that US senator Patrick Leahy has written to the Vietnamese government asking for their freedom. The Democratic party senator is expected to lead a congressional delegation to Vietnam later this month.

In addition to Ms Khanh, environmental lawyer Dang Dinh Bach, who heads the Law and Policy of Sustainable Development Research Centre, was sentenced to five years for tax evasion.

Prior to his arrest, Mr Bach was designated to monitor the implementation of the European Union-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).

Mr Bach, 44, was arrested on 24 June 2021 and held incommunicado without access to a lawyer or his wife and newborn child. His sentence reportedly exceeded what was asked by the prosecutor by two years.

The indictment stated Mr Bach had contacted foreign-based organisations and received their funding to implement projects without approval along with evading over 51,000 in taxes from the period between 2016 and 2020.

His conviction is seen as an effort to prevent the establishment of a network of nonprofits to monitor the implementation of EVFTA, where the organisations could play a crucial role in advocating for land rights and the environment.

Similarly, journalist Mai Phan Loi was sentenced to a four-year prison term for tax fraud earlier this year, while activist Bach Hung Duong was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for a similar allegation.

All three were members of the Vietnam Sustainable Energy Alliance  an organisation founded by Ms Khanh.

Critics have accused Hanoi of using the tax agencies to clamp down against advocates voicing their concern against coal expansion efforts.

We were shocked by their arrests. It a cliche that activists get arrested for their dissent but both Mr Bach and Ms Khanh are not radical, said Daniel King, an Australian legal adviser to local groups in Vietnam for over a decade.

They were trying to work with the system to transition to cleaner energies given the countrys reliance on coal, he told The Independent.

Vietnam is setting ambitious goals to tackle the climate crisis due to the rising sea levels but the execution is threatened by the arrest of green advocates.

Mr King added that the countrys legal system has been a facade for the ruling Communist party and is used to throttle dissent.

Even with key climate defenders behind bars, Vietnam is expected to receive billions of dollars through a Just Energy Transition Partnership (JET-P) at Cop27 this November to help finance its commitment to net zero.
Its not often that a local artiste gets mentioned on a global variety show like The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

So when the Singaporean-Tamil rapper and songwriter got name dropped by Fallon in July last year, Yung Raja was psyched. He told Augustman, I paused the video and bawled my eyes out just after hearing these four words  Singaporean rapper Yung Raja  cause it was just too surreal.

Truth be told, he came to my attention because his 2018 debut single was a remix of Gucci Gang by Lil Pump, titled Poori Gang. The mix of Weird Al satire and hyper-local context taking inspiration from all-day, all-night Little India shopping mecca Mustafa, set him apart from the nascent crop of wannabe hip-hoppers who were still very American-influenced. Today, with him wearing an iconic Tudor Black Bay Fifty-Eight, Im reminded once again of the daringness that has set Yung Raja apart from his peers.

We dont really have lingo and circumstances of the ghetto or the projects. Where/how did you discover this wellspring of language/culture for Singaporean rap/hip hop?

Hip hop has always represented love, unity and so many other beautiful values. Since the first time I heard rap music, a genre largely born out of struggle and in a place so far from home, Ive felt a strong connection to it which I could never really understand. Growing up with hip hop, I realised that it enables artistes to have their most authentic voices and stories heard. Hip hop made me find my own and be proud of it. It helped me understand who I am as a first-generation Singaporean Indian whos bilingual figuring out my place in society. And it wasnt long before I found my community my tribe. And thats when everything clicked for me.

Yung Raja AugustMan

How does one define rap/hip hop from Singapore? How do you as Yung Raja define it?

Hip hop from Singapore, or hip hop in Southeast Asia even, is a breed of its own. The mix of cultures and ethnicities here is one-of-a-kind. As a borrowed culture, hip hop has successfully become deeply rooted in Asia and its enabling and elevating communities that have always fought to be heard. One of the main focuses as a hip-hop artiste from Singapore is to showcase my culture in a way that has never been represented before. My goal is to unify my community and put them on the map through hip hop.

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What sort of influences define you musically?

Mostly South Indian, Tamil music that I grew up listening to. [When I was] growing up, AR Rahmans, Ilayarajas music would always play either on the TV or radio. Id say its one of the perks of being born into a traditional South Indian family  all of my influences were completely unadulterated which ended up laying a strong foundation for me and my identity especially at a young age. Then at 10 years old, came hip hop that completely moved and shaped me into the person I am today. I would say my influences are a perfect mix of East and West.

Is Yung Raja merely just your alter ego? Do you have a persona you keep only for self and loved ones? How does this come across in your style and dressing?

I wouldnt say its an alter ego Id say its my best self. The highest degree of what my potential signifies. Yung Raja is the person I had to become to find my truest self, personality, style and voice. Through songs, music videosinterviews I get to share who I am in the most authentic way. Id never want to take that for granted ever.

What are some of the signature hallmarks that define your style? What sort of accessories do you like?

Colours bandanas 916 gold jewellery with precious/semiprecious gemstones. A variety of silhouettes that push or challenge and, of course, Tudor timepieces. Recently, I got my Tudor Black Bay Fifty-Eight and I cant leave home without it! It has been my travel buddy, perfect for day and night. These are some key facets to my style. Its a constant process of evolution tho. I have the most fun exploring my style.

Could you share with us some of your musical milestones, from beginning to Tanglish? What are the challenges involved in translating Tanglish into the form of rap?

When I first started writing lyrics in Tamil and English in the way I do It was kinda experimental because it was something that came natural to me, but I had no clue if people would accept it or vibe with it. To have so many Tamil people resonate with my Tanglish is truly a blessing and beyond my wildest dreams. These past few years Ive been fortunate enough to connect with other Tamil artists from different countries. Im just so happy that my art has enabled me to experience the richness I feel from all the meaningful connections made. I always take stock of what the universe blessed me with but if theres one that I have to mention, itd be hearing my Tanglish on Snoop Doggs album.

K-pop is more popular than J-pop because the latter is designed for domestic consumption while Koreans want to go internationalhow do you balance your English and Tamil so you have international appeal and remain popular with your base?

Im blessed to be born in a country like Singapore where bilingualism is so deeply embedded in our culture. To have strong worlds of influences from both the East and West is something Im truly grateful for. English is my first language while Tamil is my mother tongue. Theres a seamless integration of these two worlds and that allows me to have a balanced mix.

Tradition versus modernity  how do you balance your traditional beats while collaborating with regional artists who arent necessarily familiar with your culture?

Id say its all about tasteful unification of traditional and modernity. I always try to find the sweet spot where its not too unfamiliar but captivating at the same time. It brings me great joy especially when regional artistes arent familiar, because I get the opportunity to share about the things I hold so near and dear to my soul.

Say Raja and most think of Maharaja  but you didnt take inspiration from the great kings for your name, did you?

Raja is a pretty common Indian name. I was thinking of an artiste alias in 2017. The word Raja felt perfect because it wasnt too far from my birth name  Rajid. It just felt so perfect yet classic!

Mami was pretty catchy and while that Jimmy Fallon shout-out was awesome, it must have hurt (at least at the start)  whats your takeaway from that experience?

Not at all. I paused the video and bawled my eyes out just after hearing these four words  Singaporean rapper Yung Raja  cause it was just too surreal. First of all, Ive had friends from overseas that dont know much about this pretty city. To have my home represented like that through hip hop music, let alone music/arts, its something thats so widely underappreciated and underrated here. So, I see that as a win already for my city. Secondly, its just so cool that I was addressed as rapper Yung Raja because I used to dream of this And thirdly, Im a glass-half-full guy. This is one of the biggest personalities in the world that just mentioned my name on national American television. This Tamilan feller straight outta Tekka Singapore writing Tanglish raps My key takeaway is that it was fkin iconic.

Is it hard to gel societal expectations with success versus how you define it as a performer?

Its a struggle to constantly having to remind oneself our own definitions of success. At the end of the day, perspective is very important to keep ourselves in check. The goal is never let anyones voices into your head other than the ones youve chosen to keep close. To place the power in other hands to let others define or control what your idea of success should look like, is a no go. I always try my hardest to stay aligned with what I consider wins or losses.

I got to try some of your fried chicken wings recently I didnt realise you had turned entrepreneur as well, when did you venture out? Are any of the lessons you learned in your music career transferable skills?

I have always been waiting for the right opportunity to build businesses. Its always been fascinating to mehow a conversation, an idea, could open up a whole new universe to you. In 2020 I met one of my old friends, and in just a few months, our conversations led to a business partnership. It has been a ride ever since and one of my greatest understandings is the fact that before [becoming] a musician, an artiste, I am essentially a creative. Moreover, I can tap into this creativity to enable any interest I have without it being music related. I sell the worlds first dosa-tacos. I have to be the creative and that I am in music  in a totally different industry. The lesson that I have learned is that through great collaborations/ partnerships, we can move mountains together. By pushing the boundaries of whats new, thats how I will make my dream a reality.

Why food? Specifically why thosai? Are food and rap strange bedfellows?

Food and music bring people together and theyve always had. Both of them are for the soul. Thosai is my most favourite South India food and Ive had it pretty much my entire life Its just so good and I want everyone to know how good it is!

What advice would you give Yung Raja who was just starting out?

Patience, buddy. And of course, push the limits!

Finally, I know where you would bring Snoop Dogg for those, but where will you bring him for prata when he comes to Singapore?

ABC Nasi Kandar Restaurant.

Photos Joel Low; Styling Daryll Alexius Ye; Makeup + Hair Sha Shamsi using Dior Beauty and Keune Haircosmetics respectively; Manicure Rebecca Chuang; Photography Assistance Eddie Teo; Fashion Assistance Crystal Lim
WEDNESDAY, Oct. 12, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- When social interaction came to a halt during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, newborn babies missed out on vital communication milestones, researchers say.

A new Irish study found about 25% of these new babies spent a year without ever meeting a child their own age. Incidental interactions with strangers and community members at grocery stores or play groups didnt happen. They rarely had a chance to wave "bye-bye."

But its not cause for parents to worry, cautioned lead study author Dr. Susan Byrne, a senior lecturer in pediatrics and child health at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, Ireland.

Babies are very resilient and, obviously, the pandemic measures are all reduced now so there's loads of opportunities for people to get out with their little people and for them to see the world, Byrne said.

For the study, researchers used data from 1,629 infants born between 2008 and 2011 (BASELINE study) and compared that to data on 309 infants (in the CORAL study of allergies and autoimmune dysregulation in infants) born during lockdown. These babies were born between March and May 2020.

The researchers assessed 10 developmental outcomes, including communication skills, such as expressing one definite and meaningful word, pointing at objects and waving "bye-bye."

The differences in language skills were small, the investigators found.

About 77% of the CORAL babies had expressed one definite and meaningful word compared to 89% of the BASELINE babies. About 84% of the CORAL group could point, compared to 93% of the others. About 88% could wave bye-bye compared to about 95% in the BASELINE group.

What we put it down to is that the babies were probably seeing far fewer people and hearing fewer words and voices, Byrne said. And they also were in their homes for most of the time, so they didn't have anyone to wave bye-bye to because nobody was coming to the house and nobody was leaving, she explained.

Also, with pointing, you want to point at things in a new environment if you're a little baby, but if you're not really in a new environment because you are advised to stay home or have limited movements, you're less likely to be pointing at things, Byrne added.

However, the babies did have stronger command of another skill: They were more likely to be crawling at 12 months than their earlier counterparts.

The researchers also found higher rates of breastfeeding and immunization for these babies, as well as a slightly increased risk of eczema, or atopic dermatitis.

Ireland experienced a tight lockdown for about 13 months, Byrne said.

The social circles of the babies were extremely small, she noted. When the babies came home, other than their parents they were only seeing one other adult outside the home.

Now, though, this group is 2 years old. Researchers are continuing to check in with parents on milestones and doing standardized assessments.

Demographic differences between the two groups of babies were that there were fewer first-born babies in the CORAL study, and more mothers in the CORAL study who had achieved higher levels of education.

Study limitations include that the researchers were comparing two different groups of babies, which isnt an exact science. The findings also relied on parental recall.

It can be hard to tease out whether the pandemic was good for child development, bad for it or mixed, said Dr. Dipesh Navsaria, associate professor of pediatrics and human development and family studies at the University of WisconsinMadison.

Its possible to argue that not interacting with peers and teachers was bad for babies development, Navsaria said. Conversely, someone could argue that intensive time together as a family may actually have improved development because of reciprocal nurturing interactions between baby and parents.

If your parents have to be home and youre home, then presumably there would be a lot more of that, Navsaria suggested.

Depression of parents during lockdown could also have had an impact on a babys development, he said, noting that many adults and children experienced mental health issues because of the strains of the pandemic.

A depressed parent is much less likely to do the back-and-forth interaction, and you'd see some delay just simply from that, Navsaria said. Whether that depression is due to lockdown or whether that depression is due to not receiving care because no one's going to clinics and doing the parental depression screenings is debatable.

Navsaria said babies who may have experienced some social delays will likely catch up without much trouble because baby brains are still very "plastic."

Navsaria and Byrne said parents can aid that growth by engaging with children in the usual ways. Child-directed language and play can help, as well as narrating trips to the grocery store or other activities, Navsaria advised.

Doing all the things that one would typically do will get them back there, he said.

The findings were published online Oct. 11 in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on infant developmental milestones.

SOURCES: Susan Byrne, MD, PhD, senior lecturer, pediatrics and child health, University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin; Dipesh Navsaria, MD, MPH, associate professor, pediatrics and human development and family studies, University of WisconsinMadison; Archives of Disease in Childhood, Oct. 11, 2022, online
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP)  Taiwan lifted all its COVID-19 entry restrictions on Thursday, allowing tourists unfettered access to the self-ruled island after over 2 1/2 years of border controls.

Hong Kong and Taiwan, together with mainland China, required most visitors to complete a mandatory quarantine period throughout the pandemic, even as most countries reopened their borders to tourists.

Visitors are no longer required to quarantine upon entry, or take any PCR tests. Instead, they will need to monitor their health for a week after arriving, and obtain a negative result on a rapid antigen test the day they arrive. If people want to go out during the weeklong monitoring period, they need a negative test from either that day or the day before.

There are also no longer any restrictions on certain nationalities being allowed to enter Taiwan.

Dozens of visitors from Thailand were among the first to arrive under the new rules at Taiwans Taoyuan International Airport, which serves the capital Taipei, on a Tiger Air flight that landed shortly after midnight.

Tourists like 32-year-old Mac Chientachakul and his parents were excited to visit the island.

Hot pot is my favorite dish in Taiwan, Chientachakul said. Its my first thing to do ... I miss it so much.

Sonia Chang, a travel agent, said the changes are good for both the the tourism industry and Taiwanese residents, who can now travel abroad without having to quarantine when they get home.

Valaisurang Bhaedhayajibh, a 53-year-old business development director of a design firm, called the new rules convenient.

We dont have to do the test before coming here, and also after arriving, he said. We are still required to do the self-test every two days, and everything has been provided by Taiwanese authorities, including the rapid testing kits.

At a welcome ceremony in the Taoyuan airport's arrival hall, the travelers from Thailand were met by the Taiwan Tourism Bureaus director, Chang Shi-chung, who handed out gifts.

Taiwans tourism bureau estimated that a total of 244 tourists from some 20 tour groups will arrive Thursday.

With both Hong Kong and Taiwan getting rid of restrictions and welcoming back tourists, mainland China remains one of the few places in the world adamant in keeping borders closed and sticking to a zero-COVID strategy to stamp out the virus. Hong Kong ended its mandatory quarantine policy for inbound travelers late last month, requiring just a three-day self-monitoring period.

Associated Press writer Zen Soo contributed from Singapore.
In Support of 'A Declaration for Orthodox Christian Unity in America,' No. 2 NEWS PROVIDED BY

Orthodox Christian Laity

Oct. 12, 2022



WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Oct. 12, 2022 /Christian Newswire/ -- The following is submitted by Peter Zarras, President, and George D. Karcazes, Secretary, Orthodox Christian Laity: To the Orthodox Christian Faithful in America:



"I saw the largest and best of the Orthodox Church in the diaspora (that is, in regions where Orthodox Christians live dispersed from their native lands), and I understood how exalted the name of Orthodoxy could be, especially in the great country of the United States of America, if more than two million Orthodox people there were united into one church organization, an American Orthodox Church." -- Ecumenical Patriarch Meletios IV (Enthronement Speech, February 1922)



On July 5, 2022, A Declaration for Orthodox Christian Unity in America was published and widely distributed. It addresses the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America (ACOB) and solicits the signatures and support of all Orthodox Christians to reassure the Hierarchy of the rectitude of the call for a united, autocephalous American Orthodox Church.



During the late 19th Century and until the Russian Revolution, the unity of the multicultural ethnic presence of Orthodox Christianity in America was guided by the Russian Patriarchate working in a conciliar manner with other ethnic hierarchs. These pioneer leaders, including Saints Tikhon and Raphael (Hawaweeny), realized that the unique situation in the vast geographic area of the North American Continent and the pluralistic social order of the New World required a unified Orthodox Christian Church. This thrust for unity was interrupted by events outside of the boundaries of North America. The Russian Revolution had consequences that affected the development and expansion of Orthodoxy in the United States. This historic event contributed to the fragmentation of New World Orthodoxy into ethnic jurisdictions. The Standing Conference of Orthodox Bishops of America (SCOBA) attempted to address this fragmentation at Ligonier in 1994 to no avail, because the foreign overseers did not support this effort.



SCOBA Bishops in 1994 understood that a new era should begin, because the Church in America under its leadership had developed reputable theological seminaries and educated clergy to meet the unique needs of the faithful in North America. The Church created Orthodox Christian education programs and built and maintained parishes, to cite a few of the major accomplishments. The Church developed stewardship programs that not only finance its infrastructure but also generously provide financial support to the Mother Churches. Despite the heroic accomplishments of the early immigrant generations, the continued fragmented administrative structure of this mature Church in North America impedes efforts to fulfill its mission. Instead of growing the Church, we are seeing increasing declines in membership and participation across jurisdictions.



Recognizing this uncanonical situation, bishops representing all of the universally-recognized autocephalous Orthodox churches established the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the United States in 2009, to address the issue of fragmentation and disunity characterized by more than one bishop in one city. Still, little progress has been made on the issues that fragment and disunite Orthodoxy in the United States. This lack of progress is the result of the fact that all the Orthodox bishops, except for the synod of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), are appointed and directly responsible to the foreign patriarchs and bishops from abroad who appointed them.



Even in this 21st century, external forces are responsible for the canonical disorder of the Church in America. This fragmentation keeps the Church in America from developing and fulfilling its Apostolic mission to bring the Good News of the Gospel to the people of the Americas. Autocephaly will empower the Bishops of the Assembly to unite and grow the Church.



Unity of the Orthodox Christians in the USA brings together the resources of the 12 jurisdictions (i.e., financial, human, intellectual, spiritual, liturgical, musical) of the diverse Orthodox faithful. This would make Orthodoxy in America a more viable, diverse, religious group in North America. Our unity outreach would be enormous.



Presently, we often have little presence in the public square of our home communities. We have fragmented philanthropy, education, care for our children, seniors and families. Few institutions exist to serve the wider community.



The Assembly of Bishops needs to transform itself into the synod of bishops in North America and elect its own head according to Orthodox doctrine and tradition. This relevant transformation of administration will also have consequences and ripple effects that will spread beyond Orthodox Christianity and affect the schismatics and iconoclasts. Transforming the administrative life of the Orthodox Church in North America will rekindle outreach, commitment and renewal of our 2,000-year-old Apostolic Church.



Orthodox faithful of all ages want to be part of a church community that shares its gifts with its neighbors and builds community. They want the Light of Orthodoxy to shine and not hide under a bushel. Let the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, present everywhere and filling all creation, guide us.



Support for the "Declaration for Orthodox Unity in America" is critical, because it signals that clergy and laity understand the importance of working together in the process of renewal of Orthodoxy in the United States. The increasing trend of apathy and nominalism is the result of ignoring our history and practices. We must stem the tide of decline to avoid the result we do not want: a no-growth "remnant" Church in the United States.



Let us be guided by Patriarch Bartholomew's charge to the Assembly of Bishops meeting in Dallas, Texas, in 2014. He said in part: "... the time has surely come to move beyond words to actions. We know much better than what we actually do. We are called to put our theory and theology into practice. We are called to move beyond what is 'mine' and what is 'yours' to what is 'ours.' From now on, this is how we should conceive and conduct all of our ministries and resources, all of our departments and initiatives. Otherwise, we do not practice what we preach. It is really up to us to accept the challenge or refuse the call." His message supports "A Declaration for Orthodox Unity in America." You can participate by adding your name to the Declaration.



PUBLIUS OCL is a 35-year-old 501(c)(3) educational ministry advocating for the administrative unity, accountability, transparency and conciliar governance of all Orthodox Christian jurisdictions in America as one local, autocephalous Church.



SOURCE Orthodox Christian Laity



CONTACT: David Oancea, Executive Director, 517-795-7784



Related Links



https://ocl.org



bit.ly/declarationunity



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SIOUX CITY  Tuesday night's League of Women Voters Candidate Forum on the Western Iowa Tech Community College campus in Sioux City was a one-party affair.

Republican hopefuls Rocky De Witt and Bob Henderson, who are respectively running in Iowa Senate District 1 and Iowa House District 2, have decided not to participate in the informational event according to Dagna Simmons, the president of the local chapter of the 102-year-old nonprofit political organization.

"When all candidates do not attend these events, it is a disservice to the public. This is a great way for candidates to express their positions and a way for the public to compare what a candidate's position is," Simmons said via email.

The races De Witt and Henderson are involved in are two of just a small number of state legislative elections that can even be considered competitive in Siouxland.

De Witt, a Lawton resident currently serving as a Woodbury County Supervisor, is up against first-term incumbent State Sen. Jackie Smith (D-Sioux City) while Henderson is looking to unseat fellow Sioux City native Steve Hansen, a Democratic legislator who's had seven non-consecutive terms in the statehouse.

"I have a scheduling conflict," De Witt said when asked, over email, why he was unable to attend the Tuesday candidate forum. The supervisors tend to meet at 4:30 p.m. every Tuesday at the Woodbury County Courthouse.

Henderson also mentioned a commitment to a previous engagement.

"I've had a standing meeting on the second Tuesday of the month," said Henderson, the chairperson for the Woodbury County Republicans.

Simmons noted the recent history of her group's various forums has been one of steady decline for GOP participation.

"During the legislative session, we hold Legislative Town Halls on the 4th Saturday of Jan., Feb. and March. 4-5 years ago, both parties were represented. We have noticed a gradual decline in attendance by the Republican legislators in the past couple of years," Simmons said.

More broadly, the number of forums and events featuring every candidate in a given race has lessened.

In Iowa's Fourth Congressional District race between Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-Hull), Ryan Melton (D-Nevada) and Bryan Holder (L-Council Bluffs), no official debate or town hall-type forum has been held. Melton and Feenstra have sparred twice already over the issue of joint events with Melton saying Feenstra "does not expose himself to public scrutiny" and Feenstra's campaign calling Melton an "out of touch liberal."

Deidre DeJear, the Democratic businesswoman running for governor, challenged incumbent Kim Reynolds to three debates but the governor's campaign agreed to only one to be held at 7 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 17 on Iowa PBS. In the past decade, gubernatorial candidates have tended to take part in multiple debates before election day in November.

Iowa Capital Dispatch noted in September that in Nebraska, Jim Pillen, the Republican candidate for governor, has decided not to debate Democratic challenger Carol Flood (a state senator for Nebraska's Third District).

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican, joined Democratic candidate Jamie Smith and Libertarian Tracey Quint in a lone debate on Friday, Sept. 30. In July, the Republican governors campaign said she would participate in just one debate.

Simmons thinks one is just too few.

"I think that the more opportunities for people to see and hear the candidates the better it is," she said.

On Wednesday night, the League of Women Voters of Sioux City is holding a Woodbury County-focused event that will feature Jeremy Dumkrieger, Daniel Bittinger, PJ Jennings and James Loomis.

Bittinger and Loomis are the Republican candidates for Woodbury County Supervisor and Woodbury County Attorney. At present, Dumkrieger is the chair of the Woodbury County Democratic Party. Jennings, the Democratic county attorney, is in his fourth term.
DAKOTA DUNES -- As state and local leaders worked behind-the-scenes to try and convince Tyson Foods to reverse plans to transfer over 500 white-collar jobs from Siouxland to Arkansas, the head of the giant meat company took questions Tuesday from the employees who must decide whether to move or stay here.

President and CEO Donnie King hosted an all-staff meeting at the company's soon-to-be-shuttered Dakota Dunes offices Tuesday afternoon.

Some state and local officials sought to also meet with King, but Tyson turned down all the requests, including The Journal's request for an interview with the CEO.

King spoke to Noem and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds last Wednesday and offered to speak to Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts, a Tyson spokesman said.

Noem's office issued a statement about the company's plans.

"We were disappointed to learn about this news, but we will continue to work with Tyson on the jobs that remain in South Dakota and on future opportunities. South Dakota is the best state in America to do business; we're working with companies every day to build and grow in South Dakota. We will continue working with companies like Tyson to ensure that our nation's food supply is stable and diversified."

King's visit to Siouxland came a day after Sioux City Mayor Bob Scott called on the tri-state governors to work together to keep the Dakota Dunes office open.

"To lose 580 really good employees in this area is just really tough to swallow," Scott said at the council's weekly meeting Monday. "I would like to think that we have three governors whose communities are going to be terribly adversely affected by this that they would get together and go see the people at Tyson, write letters, do whatever."

Getting Noem, Reynolds and Ricketts involved is essential Scott said, because Tyson "isn't going to listen to local communities."

"I encouraged the (Siouxland) Chamber of Commerce to try to make that happen and, so far, they've not be as successful as we'd hoped," the mayor said.

Siouxland Chamber President Chris McGowan said Tuesday the Chamber staff, in conjunction with our board-level leadership, "have initiated conversations with elected officials at every level of our government."

"Additionally, we have begun a dialogue with Tyson executives, employees, retirees, and others who have generously shared their insight and expertise with us," McGowan said. " While we will continue to respectfully request reconsideration of this announcement by Tyson, we will also pursue every possible avenue to respect and protect employment opportunities for our citizens in the tri-state region."

Tyson announced the Fortune 500 company plans to bring over 1,000 corporate staff at the Dunes and in Chicago to its world headquarters in Springdale, Arkansas. The relocations will be completed in phases, beginning next year.

There will be no layoffs as a result of the moves. All employees are eligible for assistance to relocate to Northwest Arkansas. Those who choose to stay will be eligible for severance, with packages determined on an individual basis.

The sprawling Tyson complex that anchors the Two Rivers Business Park in Dakota Dunes was built in 1997 as the world headquarters for IBP Inc., which moved from Dakota City to Dakota Dunes. Just four years later, IBP was acquired by Tyson in October 2001 for $3.2 billion in cash and stock, creating the world's largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef and pork.

Tyson will continue to operate its flagship Dakota City beef plant, which employs about 4,500 people, and its cold storage facility in Sioux City. The publicly-traded company is by far the metro area's largest employer.
PHILADELPHIA (AP)  Three Philadelphia police officers were shot and wounded at a home and a suspect was killed early Wednesday when a SWAT team tried to arrest a man wanted on a homicide charge, police said.

The shooting occurred around 6:30 a.m., soon after officers tried to serve a warrant in North Philadelphia, said First Deputy Commissioner John Stanford. The 19-year-old suspect fired at officers through a window as they were attempting to knock on the front door, Stanford said.

Officers entered the house, where the man and officers exchanged gunfire, he said. The man tried to exit the back of the home while firing at officers, who returned fire. He was pronounced dead at a hospital. Police did not immediately release details of his injuries or say how many times he was shot.

District Attorney Larry Krasner identified the suspect as Raheem Lee, who was wanted in the Aug. 21 slaying of Theodore Bell, found dead of gunshot wounds in a vehicle. Krasner said Bell was connected to Lee's family and the shooting appeared to be domestic.

Stanford said Lee was also a suspect in several armed robberies.

One officer was shot in the hip, while another had a leg wound. A third officer was hit in the chest by a bullet that ricocheted off of his Kevlar vest. All three were taken to a hospital and were listed as stable, but their names and further information were not immediately disclosed.

It was unclear how many people were in the home at the time of the shooting. But at least one other person was taken from the scene in handcuffs. Stanford said police don't believe anyone else was involved in the shooting, but the investigation continues.

The fact that ... there are this many incidents with SWAT officers being fired upon, is not normal. We have come to believe this is a normal course of events. It is not, Stanford said at a news conference.

The city's police commissioner, Danielle Outlaw, who is at a conference in Dallas, said in a statement that she was beyond disgusted by the violence.

We are tired of arresting the same suspects over and over again, only to see them right back out on the street to continue and sometimes escalate their criminal ways, she said. We are tired of having to send our officers into harms way to serve warrants on suspects who have no business being on the street in the first place.

Outlaw said the entire department is sickened by what is happening to the people that live, work, and visit our city.

Residents are tired of it. Business owners are tired of it. Our children are tired of it, she said. We are long past enough is enough.
There's a new champion brown bear in Alaska's Katmai National Park & Preserve.

After an online cheating scandal disrupted the semifinals, a winner was announced Tuesday night in the park's annual Fat Bear Week contest.

Bear 747 collected the most votes, triumphing over his worthy challenger 901.

The Twitter announcement hit at 9 p.m. ET and excitedly announced: "THIS 747 IS CLEARED FOR LANDING. Introducing your 2022 Fat Bear Week champion."

This is not 747's first big win. He also took the title in 2020.

Few bears ever reach 747's girth, according to his online profile on Explore.org, the organization that runs the contest.

It says he's one of the biggest brown bears on Earth, possibly weighing as much as 1,400 pounds (635 kg). He's been working hard at fattening up: he fished at the park's Brooks Falls nearly every day from late June to mid-September.

Some bears might resort to aggression to exert dominance. Not so much for this big bear. "747 typically keeps his status by sheer size alone," his profile says.

"He shows that skill and size influence success in the bear world."

Runner-up Bear 901 was first identified as a 2.5-year-old in 2018. According to her online profile, "she fishes throughout Brooks River and sometimes is keen to defend her fishing spots from other bears. As a young adult in 2022, she continued to refine her fishing and social skills.

"This is a lifelong process for brown bears, but it is particularly important for young adult females. Bear 901 may soon experience a new challenge: raising cubs."

It's crucial for pregnant female bears to pack on ample body fat to support survival in hibernation and to give birth to healthy cubs.

Voting scandal

This all might have been a different story if officials hadn't detected the vote tampering on Sunday.

"A Fat Bear Week scandal for the ages. Someone stuffed the ballot box!," Explore.org said on Twitter on Sunday evening.

Officials got suspicious when 747's semi-final opponent, 435 Holly, roared back from trailing by 6,000 votes in just a couple of hours, Explore.org's Candice Rusch told CNN Travel via email.

"While not unheard of, it is very uncommon for a bear to come back late in the day like that. We ended up finding just over 9,000 spam votes," Rusch said.

There were some spam votes for 747 as well, "maybe to throw us off?"

Explore.org added a captcha feature to the poll, Rusch said.

The fake votes were discarded, and previous days' votes were reviewed. In the end, 747 prevailed over 435 Holly.

Celebrating the bears

The annual contest is "a way to celebrate the resilience, adaptability and strength of Katmai's brown bears," Katmai said last week on its website.

Each year, brown bears congregate on the salmon-packed Brooks River before hibernating for the winter. The live cam from the river is a popular online feature.

All 12 heavyweights in the 2022 contest had been in training for the big event since emerging from hibernation, foraging on all the salmon and other food nature provides at this park in coastal southwest Alaska.

Explore.org provided colorful bios and informative before/after photos of the adorable (but nevertheless formidable) brown bear contestants on its website.
Alex Jones ordered to pay $965 million for Sandy Hook lies

WATERBURY, Conn. (AP)  Jurors ordered conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on Wednesday to pay nearly $1 billion to Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims relatives and an FBI agent, who said he turned their loss and trauma into years of torment by promoting the lie that the rampage was a hoax.

The $965 million verdict is the second big judgment against the Infowars host for spreading the myth that the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history never happened, and that the grieving families seen in news coverage were actors hired as part of a plot to take away peoples guns.

The verdict came in a defamation lawsuit filed by some of the families of 26 people who were killed in the 2012 shooting, plus an FBI agent who was among the first responders. A Texas jury in August awarded nearly $50 million to the parents of another slain child.

Robbie Parker, who lost his 6-year-old daughter, Emilie, said outside the Connecticut court that he was proud that what we were able to accomplish was just to simply tell the truth.

And it shouldnt be this hard, and it shouldnt be this scary, said Parker, who became an early target of conspiracy theorists after he spoke at a news conference the day after the shooting. The jury awarded him the most of any plaintiff: $120 million.

West to bolster Ukraine air defense; nuke plant loses power

KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  Unbowed Western powers pledged to supply Ukraine with more potent air defense systems following a furious barrage of retaliatory Russian missile strikes, including one that temporarily knocked Europe's biggest nuclear plant off the invaded country's electrical grid Wednesday.

The Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant suffered a blackout when a missile damaged a distant electrical substation, Ukraine's state nuclear operator said. The power loss increased the risk of a radiation emergency because the plant needs electricity to prevent its reactors from overheating.

Energoatom said the external power source was repaired after about eight hours and that the plant's emergency diesel generators  which rely on uncertain fuel deliveries in the war zone  provided backup in the meantime, but a similarly hazardous interruption could happen at any time.

Russia has seized the plant and is not taking any steps to deescalate. On the contrary, it is shelling important infrastructure daily, the companys press service told The Associated Press.

Hundreds of cities and towns across Ukraine lost electricity after Russia launched a wide-ranging missile assault Monday in retaliation for a truck bomb explosion that damaged a bridge linking Russia with the Crimean Peninsula, which it annexed in 2014.

Oath Keepers jury hears about massive weapon cache on Jan. 6

WASHINGTON (AP)  A member of the Oath Keepers who traveled to Washington before the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol testified Wednesday about a massive cache of weapons the far-right extremist group stashed in a Virginia hotel room.

Taking the stand in the seditious conspiracy case against Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and four associates, Terry Cummings showed jurors an AR-15 firearm and an orange box for ammunition that he contributed to the so-called quick reaction force the Oath Keepers had staged at the hotel outside of Washington in case they needed weapons.

I had not seen that many weapons in one location since I was in the military, said Cummings, a veteran who joined the Oath Keepers in Florida in 2020.

Prosecutors have said teams of Oath Keepers guarded the arsenal of firearms and were prepared to rush them into the hands of extremists in the capital if needed.

The alleged teams and the cache of weapons are a central piece of the Department of Justices case against Rhodes and four associates charged with seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6 attack. Members of the Oath Keepers stashed the firearms just outside Washington district limits, given the capitol's tougher gun laws.

Social Security payments set for big increase. What to know.

NEW YORK (AP)  Tens of millions of older Americans are about to get what may be the biggest raise of their lifetimes.

On Thursday, the U.S. government is set to announce how big a percentage increase Social Security beneficiaries will see in monthly payments this upcoming year. Its virtually certain to be the largest in four decades. Its all part of an annual ritual where Washington adjusts Social Security benefits to keep up with inflation, or at least with one narrow measure of it.

Plenty of controversy accompanies the move, known as a cost-of-living adjustment or COLA. Critics say the data the government uses to set the increase doesnt reflect what older Americans are actually spending, and thus the inflation theyre actually feeling. The increase is also one-size-fits-all, which means beneficiaries get the same raise regardless of where they live or how big a nest egg they may have.

Heres a look at whats happening:

WHATS THE BIG DEAL?

North Korea says Kim supervised cruise missile tests

SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised tests of long-range cruise missiles, which he described as a successful demonstration of his militarys expanding nuclear strike capabilities and readiness for actual war, state media said Thursday.

Wednesday's tests extended a record number of weapons demonstrations this year by North Korea, which has punctuated its testing activity with threats to preemptively use nuclear weapons against South Korea and the United States if it perceives its leadership as under threat.

Analysts say Kim is exploiting the distraction created by Russias war on Ukraine, using it as a window to accelerate arms development as he pursues a full-fledged nuclear arsenal that could viably threaten regional U.S. allies and the American homeland.

South Korean officials say Kim may also conduct a nuclear test in the coming weeks or months, escalating a pressure campaign aimed at forcing the United States to accept the idea of North Korea as a nuclear power that can negotiate economic and security concessions from a position of strength.

North Koreas official Korean Central News Agency said the two missiles during Wednesdays tests flew for nearly three hours, drawing oval and figure eight-shaped patterns above its western seas, and showed that they can hit targets 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) away. The tests demonstrated the accuracy and war-fighting efficiency of the weapon system that has already been deployed at army units operating tactical battlefield nuclear weapons, the agency said.

Lawsuit: Utah firm and lawmaker helped Mormons hide abuse

Three children who were sexually abused by their father are accusing a Utah state legislator and a prominent Salt Lake City law firm of conspiring with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to cover up the abuse, allowing it to go on for years.

In a court filing in Cochise County, Arizona, made public Wednesday, the children of the late Paul Adams asked a judge for permission to add Republican state Rep. Merrill F. Nelson and law firm Kirton McConkie as defendants in their lawsuit against the church, widely known as the Mormon church.

The suit accuses the Mormon church of failing to notify police or child welfare officials that Adams was abusing his older daughter.

In 2010, Adams confessed to his bishop, John Herrod, that he had sexually abused his daughter, according to legal records. Herrod reported the abuse to a church abuse help line and was advised not to report it to police or child welfare officials. The abuse was kept secret, and Adams continued raping his older daughter and her younger sister for several years. Adams was later charged by federal officials with posting videos of the abuse on the Internet.

Herrods decision not to report came after speaking with Nelson, according to church records included as evidence in the case. Nelson was a shareholder at Kirton McConkie, which has more than 160 attorneys, according to its website. Nelson was one of several lawyers at the firm who routinely fielded calls made by bishops to the help line.

China's Xi gets chance to tighten hold on economy at meeting

BEIJING (AP)  President Xi Jinping, Chinas most influential figure in decades, gets a chance to install more allies who share his vision of an even more dominant role in the economy for the ruling Communist Party and tighter control over entrepreneurs at a party meeting that starts this weekend.

The only question, economists and political analysts say, is whether Chinas economic slump might force Xi to temper his enthusiasm for a state-run economy and include supporters of the markets and private enterprises that generate jobs and wealth.

The congress will name a new Standing Committee, China's inner circle of power, and other party leaders, not economic regulators. Those will be appointed by the ceremonial legislature, which meets in March. But the leadership lineup will highlight who is likely to succeed Premier Li Keqiang, the top economic official, and take other government posts.

Xi has called for a great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation by reviving the partys original mission as economic and social leader. During his term, the emphasis has been on politics over economics and on reducing reliance on foreign technology and markets.

Xi is expected to try to break with tradition and award himself a third five-year term as party leader. A report he is due to deliver at the congress will set economic, trade and technology goals for at least the next five years.

Trump angrily lashes out after his deposition is ordered

NEW YORK (AP)  Former President Donald Trump angrily lashed out Wednesday, calling the nation's legal system a broken disgrace" after a judge ruled he must answer questions under oath next week in a defamation lawsuit lodged by a writer who says he raped her in the mid-1990s.

He also called the 2019 lawsuit by E. Jean Carroll, a longtime advice columnist for Elle magazine, a hoax and a lie."

The outburst late in the day came hours after U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan in Manhattan rejected a request by his lawyers to delay a deposition scheduled for Oct. 19.

Kaplan is presiding over the case in which Carroll said Trump raped her in the dressing room of a Manhattan Bergdorf Goodman store in the mid-1990s. He called the lawsuit a complete con job."

I dont know this woman, have no idea who she is, other than it seems she got a picture of me many years ago, with her husband, shaking my hand on a reception line at a celebrity charity event," Trump said.

ACT test scores drop to lowest in 30 years in pandemic slide

PHOENIX (AP)  Scores on the ACT college admissions test by this year's high school graduates hit their lowest point in more than 30 years  the latest evidence of the enormity of learning disruption during the pandemic.

The class of 2022's average ACT composite score was 19.8 out of 36, marking the first time since 1991 that the average score was below 20. What's more, an increasing number of high school students failed to meet any of the subject-area benchmarks set by the ACT  showing a decline in preparedness for college-level coursework.

The test scores, made public in a report Wednesday, show 42% of ACT-tested graduates in the class of 2022 met none of the subject benchmarks in English, reading, science and math, which are indicators of how well students are expected to perform in corresponding college courses.

In comparison, 38% of test takers in 2021 failed to meet any of the benchmarks.

Academic preparedness is where we are seeing the decline," said Rose Babington, senior director for state partnerships for the ACT. Every time we see ACT test scores, we are talking about skills and standards, and the prediction of students to be successful and to know the really important information to succeed and persist through their first year of college courses.

Roughing-the-passer calls frustrating defenders around NFL

Defensive players around the NFL are frustrated about roughing-the-passer penalties, questioning what constitutes a legal hit and wondering how far referees will go to protect quarterbacks.

Two disputed calls in Week 5  one involving Tom Brady  sparked outrage among players, coaches and fans, prompting many to ask for change. The league plans to discuss roughing calls, but no changes are imminent.

They make it really hard for a defensive player, Los Angeles Rams linebacker Bobby Wagner said Wednesday. Theres certain things you cant do in mid-air. Ive seen some superheroes do it, but this is not the comics.

New Orleans Saints defensive end Cam Jordan joked about a solution.

Ill bring a blanket with me ... and Ill be able to place it before I put him on the ground ever so gently to caress and sing him a lullaby, Jordan said. I dont know. Well have to deal with it just like weve dealt with it the last couple years.
Alex Jones ordered to pay $965 million for Sandy Hook lies

WATERBURY, Conn. (AP)  A Connecticut jury has ordered conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to pay $965 million to Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims relatives and an FBI agent. They said Jones turned their loss and trauma into years of torment by promoting the lie that the rampage was a hoax. The verdict is the second big judgment against Jones for claiming the massacre was staged. Jones says he now believes the shooting was real, but he says he had a right to publicly question whether it happened. A Texas jury in August ordered Jones to pay $50 million to the parents of another slain child.

West to bolster Ukraine air defense; nuke plant loses power

KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  Unbowed Western powers have pledged to supply Ukraine with more powerful air defense systems following a furious barrage of retaliatory Russian missile strikes. The attacks included one that temporarily knocked Europes biggest nuclear power plant off the power grid on Wednesday. Ukraines nuclear operator said the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant suffered a blackout when a missile damaged an electrical substation. Energoatom said diesel generators provided backup power before the external power source was repaired. Russia launched wide-ranging attacks this week in retaliation for an explosion that damaged a bridge linking Russia with Crimea. As Ukraines Western allies calibrated their response, Russia's domestic security said it arrested eight suspects.

Oath Keepers jury hears about massive weapon cache on Jan. 6

WASHINGTON (AP)  A member of the Oath Keepers who traveled to Washington before the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol testified Wednesday about a massive cache of weapons the far-right extremist group stashed in a Virginia hotel room. Terry Cummings showed jurors an AR-15 firearm and an orange box for ammunition that he contributed to a so-called quick reaction force the Oath Keepers had staged at the hotel outside Washington in case they needed weapons. The quick reaction force is a central piece of the Justice Departments case against Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and four associates charged with seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6 attack.

North Korea says Kim supervised cruise missile tests

SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  North Korea says leader Kim Jong Un has supervised tests of long-range cruise missiles, which he described as a successful demonstration of his militarys expanding nuclear strike capabilities and readiness for actual war." The comments were carried in state media on Thursday. The tests on Wednesday extended a record number of weapons demonstrations this year by North Korea, which has punctuated the tests with threats of nuclear conflicts against Washington and Seoul. South Korean officials say Kim may also conduct a nuclear test in the coming weeks or months, escalating a pressure campaign aimed at forcing the United States to accept the idea of the North as a nuclear power and negotiating concessions from a position of strength.

Trump angrily lashes out after his deposition is ordered

NEW YORK (AP)  Former President Donald Trump angrily lashed out in a statement after a judge ordered him to answer questions under oath next week in a defamation lawsuit filed by a writer who says he raped her in the mid-1990s. The ruling Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan prompted the defiant statement from Trump in which he called writer E. Jean Carroll's lawsuit a "complete con job" and a hoax and a lie. She says Trump raped her in an upscale Manhattan department store's dressing room. Trump's outburst came after Kaplan rejected a request by his lawyers to delay his testimony, set for Oct. 19.

China's Xi gets chance to tighten hold on economy at meeting

BEIJING (AP)  President Xi Jinping, Chinas most influential figure in decades, gets a chance to stack the ranks with allies who share his vision of intensifying pervasive control over entrepreneurs and technology development at a meeting of the ruling Communist Party that starts this weekend. The only question is whether Chinas economic slump might force Xi to temper his enthusiasm for a state-run economy and add supporters of markets and private enterprise that generate jobs and wealth. The congress will install party leaders, not economic regulators. That will be done by the ceremonial legislature next year. But the party lineup will highlight who is likely to be appointed premier, the official who oversees the economy, and to other posts.

Lawsuit: Utah firm and lawmaker helped Mormons hide abuse

Three children who were sexually abused by their father are accusing a Utah state legislator and a prominent Salt Lake City law firm of conspiring with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to cover up their abuse and allowing it to go on for years. In a court filing in Cochise County, Arizona, made public Wednesday, the children of the late Paul Adams asked an Arizona judge for permission to add Republican state Rep. Merrill F. Nelson and law firm Kirton McConkie as defendants in their lawsuit against the Mormon church. The suit accuses the church of failing to notify police or child welfare officials that Adams was abusing his older daughter.

Social Security payments set for big increase. What to know.

NEW YORK (AP)  Tens of millions of older Americans are about to get what may be the biggest raise of their lifetimes. On Thursday, the U.S. government is set to announce what's virtually certain to be the largest increase in Social Security benefits in 40 years. The boost is meant to allow beneficiaries to keep up with inflation, and how it's generated stirs plenty of controversy. Critics say the data used to set the increase doesnt reflect what older Americans are actually spending. It's also a one-size-fits-all increase, which means beneficiaries get the same raise regardless of where they live or how big a nest egg they have.

ACT test scores drop to lowest in 30 years in pandemic slide

PHOENIX (AP)  ACT test scores made public in a report Wednesday reveal a decline in preparedness for college-level coursework. Overall, the average ACT composite score was 19.8 out of 36. This year was the first time since 1991 that the average score was below 20, and it was the lowest average in more than 30 years. The report also shows 42% of ACT-tested graduates in the class of 2022 met none of the ACT's subject benchmarks, which are indicators of how well students are expected to perform in college courses. The results offer a lens into systemic inequities in education, in place well before the pandemic shuttered schools and colleges waived testing requirements.

Roughing-the-passer calls frustrating defenders around NFL

Defensive players around the NFL are frustrated about roughing-the-passer penalties, questioning what constitutes a legal hit and wondering how far referees will go to protect quarterbacks. Two disputed calls in Week 5 sparked outrage among players, coaches and fans, prompting many to ask for change. Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay told The Associated Press he would support video reviews for these penalties. Despite the outcry, roughing-the-passer penalties are down 45% from this point last year. Through Week 5 in 2021, 51 were called. Only 28 have been called this season, according to league stats.
UN, G7 decry Russian attack on Ukraine as possible war crime

KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  Russian forces have carpeted Ukraine with a fresh barrage of missiles and munition-carrying drones. The bombardment came a day after strikes across the country killed at least 19 people and knocked out power across the country. The U.N. human rights office says the particularly shocking attacks could amount to war crimes. The leaders of the Group of Seven industrial powers also condemned the attacks and said they would stand firmly with Ukraine for as long as it takes. Their pledge defied Russian warnings that Western assistance would prolong the war and the pain of Ukraines people. Russia launched the attacks in retaliation for a weekend explosion that damaged a bridge linking Russia to the Crimean Peninsula.

Prosecutors drop charges against Adnan Syed in 'Serial' case

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP)  Prosecutors have dropped charges against Adnan Syed in the 1999 killing of Hae Min Lee after additional DNA testing excluded him as a suspect in a case chronicled by the hit podcast Serial. Marilyn Mosby, the states attorney for the city of Baltimore, said Tuesday that her office will continue to pursue justice for Lee, but that it has closed its case against Syed, who spent 23 years in prison for the killing. She says the decision was made after additional DNA testing excluded Syed as a suspect in the strangulation of Lee, whom Syed had dated. Syed's case captured the attention of millions in 2014 when the first season of Serial focused on it.

Smashing success: NASA asteroid strike results in big nudge

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP)  NASA says a spacecraft that plowed into a small, harmless asteroid millions of miles away last month succeeded in shifting its orbit. The space agency announced the results of the experiment Tuesday. NASA attempted the first test of its kind two weeks ago to see if a killer rock could be nudged out of Earths way. The Dart spacecraft carved a crater into the asteroid, hurling debris out into space and creating a cometlike trail of dust and rubble. It took consecutive nights of telescope observations to determine how much the impact altered the asteroid's path around its companion, a bigger space rock.

20 years after Bali bombings, 'the ache does not dim'

DENPASAR, Indonesia (AP)  People affected by the 2002 Bali bombings gathered on the Indonesian resort island to commemorate 20 years since the twin bombing that killed 202 people. Most of the dead were foreign tourists, including 88 Australians and seven Americans. The commemoration services are being held at several places in Australia and at Balis Australian Consulate in the city of Denpasar. Australian survivors of the 2002 terrorist attack and relatives of the deceased were among the 200 in attendance to pay tribute to their loved ones. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese paid tribute to the strength and unity shown since the tragedy. He said, Twenty years on, the ache does not dim.

Trump lawyer who vouched for documents meets with FBI

WASHINGTON (AP)  A lawyer for former president Donald Trump who signed a letter stating that a diligent search for classified records had been conducted and that all such documents had been given back to the government has spoken with the FBI. That's according to a person familiar with the matter, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The person says Christina Bobb told federal investigators during Fridays interview that she had not drafted the letter but that another Trump lawyer who she said actually prepared it had asked her to sign it in her role as a designated custodian for Trumps records. NBC News first reported the interview.

California expands largest US illegal pot eradication effort

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  Californias four-year-old legal marijuana market is in disarray. So the states top prosecutor says he will try a new broader approach to disrupting the illegal pot farms that undercut the legal economy while sowing widespread environmental damage. The state will expand its nearly four-decade-old multi-agency seasonal eradication program. It's the nation's largest and this year scooped up nearly a million marijuana plants. California will turn it into a year-round effort aimed at investigating who is behind the illegal grows. Attorney General Rob Bonta said Tuesday that the new program will attempt to prosecute underlying labor crimes, environmental crimes and the underground economy centered around the illicit cultivations.

Ex-Texas cop charged for shooting teen eating hamburger

SAN ANTONIO (AP)  A now-former San Antonio police officer has been charged for shooting and gravely wounding a teen eating a hamburger in his car in a McDonald's parking lot. A family attorney says 17-year-old Erik Cantu remains hospitalized in critical condition. A police statement said the ex-officer, 25-year-old James Brennand, was charged Tuesday with two counts of aggravated assault. Police Chief William McManus says Brennand turned himself in to police Tuesday night and is in custody. The shooting was recorded on Brennand's body camera. Investigators quickly determined that the use of deadly force was unwarranted, and he was fired.

Angela Lansbury, 'Murder She Wrote' star, dies at 96

NEW YORK (AP)  Angela Lansbury, the scene-stealing British actor who kicked up her heels in the Broadway musicals Mame and Gypsy and solved endless murders as crime novelist Jessica Fletcher in the long-running TV series Murder, She Wrote, has died. She was 96. Lansbury died Tuesday at her home in Los Angeles, according to a statement from her three children. Lansbury won five Tony Awards for her Broadway performances. She earned Academy Award nominations as supporting actress for two of her first three films, Gaslight and The Picture of Dorian Gray and was nominated again for The Manchurian Candidate and her deadly portrayal of a Communist agent and the title characters mother.

Biden vows 'consequences' for Saudis after OPEC+ cuts output

WASHINGTON (AP)  President Joe Biden says there will be consequences for Saudi Arabia as his administration begins reevaluating the U.S. relationship with the kingdom. That's after the Riyadh-led OPEC+ alliance of oil-producing nations announced it would cut oil production. Biden said in a CNN interview Tuesday that he was weighing action against the Saudis but declined to detail potential next steps. The OPEC+ production cut is expected to help Russia pad its coffers as it continues its nearly eight-month war in Ukraine. Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Rep. Ro Khanna of California have introduced legislation that would immediately pause all U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

Cole cruises, Bader, Rizzo bash, Yanks beat Guardians 4-1

NEW YORK (AP)  Gerrit Cole cruised for most of the night, Harrison Bader and Anthony Rizzo homered and the New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Guardians 4-1 in their AL Division Series opener. Not even another Josh Donaldson baserunning blunder could slow the Yankees, who have won six straight postseason games against Cleveland dating to a comeback from a two games to none deficit in the 2017 Division Series
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)  A Nashville social club's owner has reached a deal to plead guilty to a campaign finance scheme alleged against him and a Tennessee state senator who has criticized the charges as a political witch hunt."

Attorneys for Joshua Smith last week notified the federal judge in Nashville of the plea deal reached with prosecutors. One of the lawyers signaled Wednesday that Smith is willing to testify, a key development as state Sen. Brian Kelsey, a Republican, is scheduled to head to trial in January 2023 after pleading not guilty.

Mr. Smith accepts responsibility for his involvement and if he is called to testify he will be truthful regarding the activities that took place, an attorney representing Smith, Phillip S. Georges, said in a statement Wednesday.

The five-count indictment filed in October 2021 alleges that Smith, owner of The Standard club, and Kelsey violated campaign finance laws by illegally concealing the transfer of $91,000 during the lawmakers 2016 failed congressional campaign. Smith's attorneys indicated he plans to plead guilty to one of the counts.

The Standard is a restaurant and private club near the state Capitol that is often frequented by lawmakers and has featured its own political action committee.

Kelsey and Smith unlawfully and secretly funneled funds from Kelseys state Senate campaign committee to his federal congressional campaign committee, according to the indictment.

Prosecutors also allege that Kelsey and others caused a national nonprofit political organization to make illegal and excessive campaign contributions to Kelsey by coordinating with the organization on advertisements, and they caused the organization to file false reports to the Federal Election Commission.

Authorities did not name the national organization. But the indictment contains claims similar to a complaint filed against Kelseys campaign with the Federal Election Commission and the Department of Justice in 2017 by the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center.

That complaint claimed that independent expenditures made by the American Conservative Union in the 2016 race were coordinated with Kelseys congressional campaign. A spokesperson for the American Conservative Union has said that it has been fully cooperating with this investigation since 2018.

The indictment mentions, but does not charge, two alleged co-conspirators, one of whom is described as an attorney and former Tennessee House member expelled in 2016. Former Rep. Jeremy Durham, a Republican from Franklin, was the only lawmaker expelled that year.

An attorney for Kelsey did not immediately respond to requests for additional comment Wednesday.

After he was charged, Kelsey held an online news conference in which he said he was totally innocent." In his statement, Kelsey accused President Joe Bidens administration of trying to take me out because Im conservative.

Days later, he told his fellow senators inside the Tennessee Senate chamber that he hoped that they would not use political attacks on one another.

Kelsey  a Republican from Germantown, a suburb of Memphis  was elected to the Senate in 2009 and served as chairman of the Senate Education Committee, a position he left after the federal charges. He previously served in the state House. Kelsey is not seeking reelection this year.
WASHINGTON (AP)  A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed a Justice Department lawsuit that sought to force longtime casino developer Steve Wynn to register as a foreign agent because of lobbying work it said he conducted at the behest of the Chinese government during the Trump administration.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg did not address in his 20-page order whether Wynn was functioning as a Beijing agent. Instead, he said he agreed with Wynn's lawyers that the department could not compel him now to register as a foreign agent because any relationship Wynn had with the Chinese government ended in 2017.

The order is a setback for stepped-up Justice Department efforts to enforce a decades-old law known as the Foreign Agents Registration Act. It requires anyone who lobbies on behalf of a foreign government or entity to register their work with the U.S. government.

We are delighted that the District Court today dismissed the governments ill-conceived lawsuit against Steve Wynn," his lawyers, Reid Weingarten and Robert Luskin, said in a statement. Mr. Wynn never acted as an agent of the Chinese government and never lobbied on its behalf.

The Justice Department said in a statement that it respectfully disagrees with todays ruling and is considering options in the litigation and more generally," and remains committed to enforcing the lobbying law.

The department had repeatedly advised Wynn over the past four years to register. It sued him in May to try to force him to do so, describing the suit as the first of its kind in more than three decades.

The complaint alleged that Wynn, a prolific Republican donor and onetime finance chairman of the Republican National Committee, lobbied then-President Donald Trump and members of his administration for several months in 2017 to expel from the United States a Chinese citizen who had been charged with corruption in China and was seeking political asylum in America. Efforts to send the man back to China were ultimately unsuccessful.

According to the complaint, the lobbying effort was conducted on behalf of senior Chinese government officials, including Sun Lijun, the then-vice minister of the Ministry of Public Security who sought Wynns help in trying to get the Chinese man's new U.S. visa application denied.

The lobbying effort also included conversations over dinner with Trump and by telephone, and multiple visits to the White House by Wynn for apparently unscheduled meetings with the issue was discussed.

The complaint said Wynn was motivated to protect his business interests in China. At the time, his company owned and operated casinos in the Chinese territory of Macau. The government in Macau had restricted the number of gaming tables and machines that could be operated at Wynns casino, the Justice Department said, and he was scheduled to renegotiate licenses to operate casinos in 2019.

Lawyers for Wynn denied at the time of the suit that he had acted as an agent of the Chinese government or that he had had an obligation to register. They later moved to dismiss the lawsuit, noting that his relationship with the Chinese government had ended in 2017.

Wynn's team cited a 1987 appeals court opinion suggesting that the obligation to register as a foreign agent terminates once the relationship with foreign entity has ended. In his opinion, Boasberg said that ruling required dismissal of the suit.

The Court will thus do so without ever considering whether Wynn was a PRC agent or not, Boasberg wrote, using the acronym for the People's Republic of China.

Wynn resigned in 2018 as chairman and CEO of the casino and resorts company bearing his name, after multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct. He has denied those allegations.

Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP
Donald Trumps private company arranged for the Secret Service to pay for rooms at his properties in excess of government-approved rates at least 40 times during his presidency  including two charges for more than $1,100 per room, per night. That is according to documents released Monday by a congressional committee investigating the former president. The House Oversight Committee said the Secret Service was charged more than $800 per night at least 11 times by his properties. The Trump Organization denied anything improper. It said it provided rooms to the Secret Service at cost or deep discount, adding that its business did not profit at all from the presidency.
A court in military-ruled Myanmar has convicted a Japanese journalist of violating immigration law, adding three years to the seven-year prison sentence he was handed last week for filming an anti-government protest. Toru Kubota, a Tokyo-based documentary filmmaker, was arrested on July 30 by plainclothes police in Yangon, the countrys biggest city, after taking images and videos of a small flash protest against last years military takeover. A Japanese diplomat says the court heard the immigration case Wednesday and gave Kubota a three-year sentence, bringing the total time he must serve in prison to 10 years. The military government has cracked down on coverage of protests, raided media companies and detained dozens of journalists since last year.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP)  The two candidates challenging U.S. Rep. Burgess Owens in a suburban Utah congressional race laid into the first-term Republican on Wednesday evening for announcing at the eleventh hour he wouldn't participate in the sole general election debate.

Democrat Darlene McDonald and United Utah Party's January Walker both accused Owens of being a coward for skipping it and cast doubt on his reasoning  that he took issue with the moderator.

Owens' absence reflects a trend emerging in politics nationwide; while running attack ads and speaking to friendly media outlets, candidates and their consultants are deciding to minimize debate appearances or shirk them altogether.

Owens said Wednesday afternoon he wouldn't participate because the commission had chosen Salt Lake Tribune editor Lauren Gustus as moderator.

He was outraged in April 2021 when the newspaper published an editorial cartoon satirizing remarks he made about immigration and people crossing the border illegally. The sketch likened his remarks about immigrants entering people's neighborhoods after crossing the border to Ku Klux Klan rhetoric. The cartoon garnered pushback from Utahs entire congressional delegation.

I will not, in good conscience, have anything to do with the racist Salt Lake Tribune, he said in a statement published on Facebook and YouTube.

McDonald and Owens are both Black. Owens is one of two Black Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives and often speaks about experiencing racism during his childhood in the segregated South, noting it was controlled by Democrats at the time.

In response to a question about immigration and the cartoon, McDonald said the commentary on Owens' statements was warranted. His remarks, the Democrat said, mimics the statements that were made by the KKK about people who look like me and people who look like him."

For him to pull out of this debate tonight citing racism over a statement that he himself made is cowardly, she added.

Walker largely agreed.

His choosing to not show up to this debate has absolutely nothing to do with the cartoon and everything to do with not being able to speak clearly and concisely, she said.

Owens also skipped a commission-organized primary debate amid Republican complaints about the format.

The Salt Lake Tribune declined to comment. The Utah Debate Commission stood behind its choice of Gustus as moderator and said it was disappointed Owens wouldn't participate.

"We believe the moderators questions will be fair and professional, representing the Utah Debate Commission in an independent, non-partisan matter," Erik Nielsen, the commission's executive director, said.
The Biden administration has agreed to accept up to 24,000 Venezuelan migrants, similar to how Ukrainians have been admitted since Russias invasion. Meanwhile, Mexico has agreed to accept some Venezuelans who are expelled from the United States. The U.S. and Mexico announced the plans Wednesday. The moves are a response to a dramatic increase in migration from Venezuela. In a related announcement, the Department of Homeland Security says it will make available nearly 65,000 temporary work visas for lower-skilled industries, roughly double the current annual allotment.
DES MOINES  Up to $96 million in business capital, including loans, will be made available to Iowa start-ups and small and veteran-owned businesses under a state plan approved this week by the federal treasury department.

The funding is being made available through the federal State Small Business Credit Initiative, a program that was created in 2010 and renewed and expanded in the latest federal pandemic relief package, the American Rescue Plan.

This is an historic investment in entrepreneurship, small business growth, and innovation through the American Rescue Plan that will help reduce barriers to capital access for traditionally underserved communities, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said in a statement. Im excited to see how these SSBCI funds will promote equitable economic growth across the country.

Iowas plan was submitted by the states economic development department. According to the department, the plan calls for:

 $31 million to a venture capital co-investment fund to process and hold equity investments in private companies and ensure investments are qualified.

 $28 million for a manufacturing loan program to help Iowa manufacturers invest in the new technologies that are transforming the industry.

 $22 million for a venture capital innovation fund to increase funding opportunities across the states assistance programs for entrepreneurs.

 $15 million for a small business collateral support program to help small businesses offset collateral shortfalls as they secure loans through commercial lenders.

Small businesses and entrepreneurs dream big, drive Iowas economy and make our communities better places to live, Gov. Kim Reynolds said in a statement. Reynolds at the time of its passage opposed the federal pandemic relief package.

Iowa had the fastest economic recovery through the pandemic in large part because of the creativity and resilience of our small businesses, Reynolds said in her statement. This funding will build on the momentum by investing in our small businesses and entrepreneurs just as they have chosen to invest in Iowa.

The White House said the programs are designed to help Iowa retain high-potential startup businesses that might otherwise relocate to areas with greater access to capital, and could have an impact on rural manufacturers.

Iowas small businesses have faced some of the biggest economic challenges of the last few years, but they also have some of the greatest success stories and we've seen a record-breaking surge in new businesses for two years in a row, Debi Durham, executive director of the Iowa Economic Development Agency and the Iowa Finance Authority, said in a statement. Our team looks forward to working with our small business and innovation partners to bring these new efforts to life.

The state said a process for applying for the business capital and loans still is underway and more information would be provided at iowaeda.com/ssbci.

In 2021, Americans applied to start 5.4 million new businesses, which was 20 percent more than any other year on record; and small businesses with fewer than 50 workers created 2.8 million jobs, the highest number recorded in a single year, according to the White House.
Susanne Shore, wife of Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts and Nebraska's first lady, has endorsed Democratic congressional nominee Patty Pansing Brooks in Nebraska's 1st District House race.

"My life's work has always been about serving others, but especially our kids," Shore said in a video message aired online Tuesday by the Pansing Brooks campaign.

"I'm passionate about helping all our children thrive and succeed: mine, yours and those across Nebraska," Shore said.

"I want to be sure those who can't always advocate for themselves have a person in their corner fighting for them.

"During my time as your first lady," Shore said, "one legislator has proven that she will always use her voice to fight for not only those kids and their families, but all Nebraskans  that's Patty Pansing Brooks."

Pansing Brooks, a Lincoln state senator, is matched against newly elected Republican Rep. Mike Flood of Norfolk in the 1st District House race.

Flood, a Norfolk state senator at the time, defeated Pansing Brooks in a June 28 special election to serve the remaining six months of Rep. Jeff Fortenberry's term after he resigned from the House following his conviction on charges that he lied to federal officials about illegal foreign campaign contributions to his 2016 reelection campaign.

Voters will determine in the Nov. 8 general election rematch who will serve the next two-year term beginning in January.

Shore's endorsement came in the form of a video message that is being used to raise campaign funds for Pansing Brooks.

"From her work to guarantee legal counsel for our youth in the juvenile justice system to her advocacy for survivors of heinous sex-trafficking crimes, Patty has shown that she is not only tough on crime, but relentless in her work to uplift those who need it the most," Shore said.

"Patty is exactly the type of leader I would be proud to call my congresswoman," she said.
Free vasectomies will be available next month at three Planned Parenthood clinics in Missouri amid a surge in demand for the procedure after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. A doctor who is helping with that effort also plans to take his mobile clinic on the road in Iowa. In July alone, the Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri performed 42 vasectomies, compared with 10 in the same month last year. Female sterilizations rose to 18 that month from just three in July 2021. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has been hearing similar reports of increased demand from across the country.
OMAHA  The Air Force must pay a Bellevue man $1 million in damages and attorney fees by Nov. 29 after unlawfully denying him a job as a military historian for medical reasons in 2014, a federal appellate agency has ruled.

David Bighia, 61, is also entitled to a job offer, and 8 years worth of back pay and benefits that could total hundreds of thousands of dollars more, according to the ruling by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commissions Office of Federal Operations.

The appellate decision upheld an EEOC judges ruling last December that the Air Force had violated the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 when it withdrew its job offer and refused to make reasonable accommodation for Bighias medical condition.

The appellate opinion also slapped at the Air Forces lawyers for arguing that damages should be reduced because the Air Force had actually partially prevailed in the December ruling.

Office of Federal Operations Director Carlton Hadden, who authored the appellate decision, dismissed that argument as utterly without merit and strikingly lacking in any legal support.

Haddens ruling also said Bighia is entitled to nearly $78,000 in compensation for out-of-pocket expenses and $300,000 in non-compensatory damages  essentially, punitive damages  the maximum allowed by federal law.

He also directed the Air Force to pay $624,000 in attorneys fees.

Air Force officials have not yet responded to questions about the case submitted Thursday by an Omaha World-Herald reporter.

Bighia, a 16-year Army Reserve veteran, had previously worked as a military historian, including a stint as the 55th Wing historian at Offutt Air Force Base. But he had suffered health and personal setbacks  including surviving two heart attacks  before he applied for the GS-11 Air Force historian job paying about $65,000 a year at Laughlin Air Force Base in Texas in December 2013.

Bighia was offered the job early the following year, contingent on passing a medical exam. A doctor at Offutt approved him, but inserted a notation that he should deploy to areas with fixed medical facilities.

Because of that notation, the Air Force withdrew the job offer. And it denied his request for reasonable accommodation, arguing no similar exceptions had ever been granted for historians before.

Bighia filed a complaint, which languished at the EEOC for seven years. That was largely due to Air Force foot-dragging, said his attorney, Keith Taubenblatt, as Air Force lawyers missed deadlines for turning over documents or answering interrogatories.

The delay took a toll on Bighias finances. He applied for more than 200 jobs, Taubenblatt said, but was sometimes passed over because his credit rating had slipped. He worked several temporary jobs but never found a permanent position in his career field.

Im scrambling. Time is moving forward. The bills are piling up, Bighia said last month. The longer it went on, the harder it became to get employed.

His lawyers were optimistic after the EEOC ruled in his favor last December, but Bighia was not.

I always felt the other shoe was going to drop, Bighia said.

The Air Force stalled on paying, even after a second EEOC judge ruled in his favor in June. He has yet to receive any money, though in early September he was offered the historians job at Laughlin, which is in Del Rio, on the Mexican border, 150 miles west of San Antonio. He still hasnt decided whether to accept the job, along with the cross-country move it would entail.

In the meantime, the house in Bellevues Fontenelle Hills he purchased in 2005 with a VA loan is in foreclosure. He has filed for bankruptcy multiple times to keep from losing it.

It was scheduled to be sold at the Sarpy County Courthouse on Sept. 22. The lender agreed at the last minute to delay the sale.

Bighia said in a statement Friday that he was grateful the latest ruling came quickly, just eight days after the Air Force filed its appeal.

In the spirit of compassion (to) avoid prolonging the financial hardships I continue to face as a result of the Air Forces actions, Bighia said, I hope Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall will direct his staff to immediately pay in full the awarded amounts so that I can finally, after all these years, move on with my life.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP)  South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem said Wednesday she would not call a special legislative session to have lawmakers consider repealing the state's tax on groceries ahead of the November election, despite calls to do so from a handful of Republican lawmakers as well as her Democratic challenger.

The Republican governor, speaking at a news event at a Sioux Falls grocery store, acknowledged her campaign proposal does not currently have the votes necessary for passage in the state Senate and she will have to win over lawmakers when they are scheduled to reconvene in January. Repeal of the state tax on groceries, which would cost the state about $100 million in annual revenue, has become a central issue in her reelection bid against her Democratic opponent, Rep. Jamie Smith.

Noem publicly opposed the repeal in March this year, but changed course last month to promise that she would convince the Legislature to cut the tax if re-elected. Smith supported the repeal several times during his six years in the state House.

"I dont want to put us in a situation where this bill fails," Noem said, adding that she would work to convince senators that she has grown the state's economy to a point that state government would not miss the $100 million in revenue.

The state has put a record amount of money in budget reserves under Noem's leadership, but South Dakota's economic growth has recently lagged behind the rest of the country. Last year, it had the 15th lowest growth in gross domestic product  the broadest measure of economic output  among states.

Smith held a news conference Wednesday just a half hour before Noem's event to push the governor to call the Legislature back to Pierre. The Legislature can convene either by order of the governor or with two-thirds support from both of its chambers.

Its an unethical tax for hardworking families because they all need food, especially during times of economic crisis, Smith said of the 4.5% tax levied on food purchases.

He accused Noem of changing course on repeal for political convenience and said the sooner the tax is repealed, the sooner it can save people money at the grocery checkout. He said there is little assurance that the governor will fulfill her repeal pledge, let alone serve the entirety of her four-year term.

Noem has made moves to position herself as a White House contender in 2024, but on Wednesday pledged she would complete her second four-year term as governor.

Absolutely thats what I want to do, she said. Stay home here in South Dakota.
This piece originally appeared in the Conversation

Yolanda, 61, owns a home in the predominantly Black 7th Ward neighborhood in New Orleans.

To fix her leaking roof in 2020, she had to borrow money.

Its one of them credit card loans, she said. Like interest of 30% and all that, you know. I was kind of backed up against the wall, so I just went on and made the loan, a high-interest loan.

As a sociologist who has spent the past 10 years studying housing conditions in the U.S., I led a research team that conducted interviews with homeowners who are struggling with basic maintenance such as rotting wood siding and floors, mold, crumbling brickwork, outdated plumbing and leaking ceilings. Our first paper from this project is currently under peer review.

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Like Yolanda, our intervieweeswhom we gave pseudonyms to protect their privacywere almost all Black women over the age of 60 who lived in old buildings in neighborhoods that have borne the brunt of discriminationsuch as redlining and inequitable land use decisions  and disinvestment.

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Once a lively district of Black businesses and homes, the 7th Ward has become an area of high poverty since the I-10 expressway was built during the 1960s directly through its heart.

Yolanda had already been living there for a decade before the highway was built.

Though brightly painted, Yolandas home is separated from I-10 only by an empty lot, and the constant noise and higher rates of pollution make it hard to imagine Yolanda would be able to sell her home for a profit or use its declining value as equity.

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Did Yolanda take out a high-interest loan for nothing?

Was she throwing good money after bad?

These are not easy questions to answer.

Like other Black female homeowners whom we interviewed, Yolanda had to choose between debt and disrepair.

As she explained, she was backed up against a wall.

According to a 2022 analysis of federal census data by Harvards Joint Center for Housing Studies, nearly a third of homeowners who earn less than $32,000 a yearabout 4.8 million peoplespent nothing on maintenance or improvements.

I have noticed worrying trends in the circumstances of those who live in housing in disrepair.

In my book, Stacked Decks, I explore the connections between urban housing, race, gender and income inequality.

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Since at least the 1970s, real estate agents and lenders have exploited the precarious financial positions of Black women and sold them mortgages on homes in poor condition.

Today50 years laterthese homes pose even greater health and safety risks to their owners than when they first bought them.

Studies show that after less than two years of ownership, disrepair makes maintaining a livable home difficult for low-income homeowners.

Unaddressed repairs such as leaky roofs or broken pipes frequently result in code violations and court cases, which prompt liens, foreclosures and the possibility of homelessness.

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The situation is worse for Black women, who have much less wealth, on average, than their white or male counterparts. Without money to pay for repairs, female homeowners face incurring more debt if they make repairs.

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Climate change means that these problems are getting worse as a result of increased rainfall and extreme temperatures.

Doris, a homeowner in Chicago, told us in 2021 about her old and leaking roof and the flooding in her basement. She explained that the flooding was partially due to the overflowing of nearby city-owned drainage pipes.

Every time it rains, the water comes in, she said. By the sewer not being clean  so much water came in my basement that my washer and dryer was floating up on the water. An insurance claim covered some of the costs of this repair for Doris, and the city is experimenting with new ways to tackle floodwater, but water still gets in when it rains hard.

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The racism pervading the housing industry is now well known. The real estate industry has, at different points in history, excluded Black Americans from homeownership, included them through predatory loans and deals and reinforced racial segregation by denying loans to Black and other minority residents. Known as redlining, the practice became a self-fulfilling prophecy of disinvestment and declining values.

But real estate agents and mortgage brokers were sexist as well.

These real estate agents and mortgage brokers knew Black women had limited options and assumed they would be likely to default on their mortgages.

Black women were consistently sold homes that needed repairs.

A lot can happen to a house in 50 years.

Buildings naturally deteriorate over time, because of the combination of aging construction materials and weather. At some point, all homes need repairs and preventive maintenance.

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Chicagoan Kimberly cares for her grandson almost full time and told us about her concerns about the rotted wood that has made her back porch dangerous to stand on.

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We dont go out of the back door at all, Kimberly said. We have not used that in years. Four years now. Four years we have not used the back porch at all.

Disrepair is an issue of environmental injustice. The government has a responsibility to help with repairs because of its role in the housing discrimination that has created such racial disparities in housing conditions.

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But, like disaster relief, assistance to homeowners is uneven and hard to obtain.

U.S. cities often use lotteries to distribute funds for repairs, barely scratching the surface of the number of homes in need of repair.

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Although all homes need repair work over time, disrepair disproportionately affects people with the fewest resources, because maintenance is expensive. Disrepair also causes health and safety issues, as do other environmental injustices, such as the placement of highways and location of polluting factories.

Disrepair can also force people to leave their homes because they cannot afford repairs.

But making repairs can exacerbate debt.

What all this means is that owning a home, or even paying off a mortgage, does not guarantee that homes remain affordable, an asset or a safe shelter.

Recognizing disrepair as environmental racism could be one step in ensuring homes are all these things.
How to Do It is Slates sex advice column. Have a question? Send it to Stoya and Rich here. Its anonymous!

Dear How to Do It,

I (35, cisgender male) travel a lot for work. Related to that, about five years ago, my wife used this thing called Clone-A-Willy to cast a dildo to my, lets just say personal specifications. I get home from a business trip a bit over a week ago, and Denise has another one of the kits, saying she wants to make one again.

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I asked if something happened to the first one like it broke or something. And no, Denise tells me that her friend Tammy has been going through a nasty divorce and she gave her the dildo, because that is apparently a thing that someone does, and now she needs a replacement for it.

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I was seriously creeped out by the whole thing. Giving sex toys to a friend is a bit weird. Giving a USED sex toy is even weirder and possibly some kind of hygienic issue. But giving one thats modeled off of my junk feels vaguely violating. I dont really like Tammy much, which might be complicating things as well. But the wife and I quarreled about this, and I wanted to write in to somewhere anonymous to get an outside perspective on the sexual ethics of this. My wife says the whole thing is none of my business. I still feel creeped out by it all and again, somewhat violated. Am I overreacting here?

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Confounded

Dear Confounded,

Whats actually no ones business is the size and shape of your dickunless you make it their business (consensually, of course). I agree with you. You had every reason to expect your private part would remain private. I dont see this situation being much different from one in which Denise showed Tammy naked pictures of you that you had given her. Technically, the pictures would be hers but unless otherwise stated, ownership comes with implicit terms: No sharing. Your not liking Tammy does compound thingssomeone that you arent fond of is especially not entitled to personal information that hasnt been cleared by you.

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So, congrats. Youre right. Now you have to decide what youre going to do with that rightness. Being right in a domestic disagreement is sometimes like being a millionaire in Monopoly moneypractically speaking, its worthless. If you think its worth the drama, have at it, but know that flaunting your moral superiority could escalate matters and perhaps challenge the future of your relationship. I advise you to tread lightly unless you really do want to shake things up.

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You can refuse to make another cast of your dong. Reiterate your feelings of violation and tell Denise if she wants your portable penis so bad, shell have to ask Tammy for it back. Hopefully, the toy can in fact be sterilized (by boiling, for example). Depends on the material. There are cleaners that may or may not work on it, too. The way I see it is your wife violated your trust and she doesnt deserve a second chance at a replica of your dick. But thats about as punitive as you can be without turning this into an even bigger problem.

Get the How to Do It Newsletter Sex advice from Rich and Stoya, plus exclusive letter follow-ups, delivered weekly. We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again. Please enable javascript to use form. Email address: Send me updates about Slate special offers. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms Sign Up Thanks for signing up! You can manage your newsletter subscriptions at any time.

Dear How to Do It,

Im a gay top relatively new to the hookup scene. My dick is slightly shorter than average but is apparently girthier than most, 7 inches at the base. I never considered it that exceptional, as it seems like most dildos are thicker than that. But Im repeatedly running into trouble finding guys who are willing and able to take it in. Id say about half the guys I hook up with dont even want to try. Many of the rest cant take it much past the tip. Even when I do find someone who (usually with a lot of poppers) is able to take it in all the way, it understandably takes a long time to get in, is often uncomfortable for them, and ends up causing me pain during and afterward because its being squeezed so dang hard.

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Most guys brag about their tight holes but for me, that is not a selling point! Complicating things is the fact that Im a fat man, which both makes some positions more difficult and limits the number of guys who are interested in me, so Id rather not be overly choosy about only hooking up with guys who fastidiously practice stretching their hole on their own. Happily, there are many other ways to bring me and my partners pleasure that I enjoy exploring, but Id also like to have some more really satisfying topping experiences. Do you have any tips for finding guys who can easily take it in and for reducing discomfort for both of us?

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In the Thick of It

Dear In the Thick,

I think you should be very upfront in your profiles, assuming that youre largely pursuing sex via apps. Adding thick in your username, specifically writing out, Too thick for most, can you take it? and then reiterating your size in your chats will help you weed out the truly capable from the merely horny. There are definitely guys who want to bottom for a thick dick like yoursthis is just a matter of finding them by being as explicit as possible. Thankfully, such explicitness is not only socially acceptable on hook-up apps, its expected.

Help us keep giving the advice you crave every week. Sign up for Slate Plus now.

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Dear How to Do It,

For someone whos a bit of a slut, I have a lot of trouble talking about sex. I am a 19-year-old bisexual woman, for lack of a better word. As a teenager, I was in some shitty relationships with older guys that basically consisted of letting things happen to me and doing as I was asked. The only other times Ive had sex have been with close friends who I was very comfortable with (and who understood that sometimes I need to not talk). Ive also been some level of intoxicated almost every time. Now, Im trying to date, and Im having difficulty with two things: saying something when I dont want things to escalate (or dont like something the person is doing), and saying what I want. For instance, I was recently on a (really good!) date with a guy, and we were making out when he said How far do you want to go? and I literally could not get any words out to respond, so he assumed I wanted to stop. What can I do to change this pattern?

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Speechless

Dear Speechless,

Have you had any therapy after the shitty relationships you had with older guys as a teen? Since youre still a teen it seems right to assume that these relationships you had occurred when you were underage, and then, its not exactly surprising that youre presenting what sounds a lot like a trauma response. You may have heard of fight, flight, or freeze. Thats the range of involuntary reactions many of us have to perceived threats, and its associated with trauma. You seem to be freezing, and I dont think you get past that without working on your potential trauma. Im hedging because I dont want to diagnose you or impose judgment that suggests you should have trauma after your relationship history. It just sounds like you do. Talking to someone may help you talk about sex. Its disconcerting that youre having such a difficult time verbalizing boundaries during sexits like trying to drive a car without a steering wheel. Until you can actually describe what you want and dont want, I dont recommend pursuing it further.

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Dear How to Do It,

I (33 MTF) married my husband (33 M) when we were both 29 years old after 14 years of being friends and nine of living together. My issue is that he recently had sex with a cis woman which I was NOT ultimately OK with (it was a result of poor communication about allowing each other to sleep with others, something I have now made sure to shut down with no room for misunderstanding) and although hes agreed this wont happen and has assured me that sex with me is far and away better than sex with the woman he slept with, Ive been having a hard time getting back to feeling like he truly loves and enjoys my body.

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For one, Im very tall, have a large body, and have pretty bad joint pain and flexibility, so a lot of positions hes expressed interest in are a no-go for us. Secondlyand this is extremely pettyhe doesnt like to touch my genitals at all. Hell reluctantly help me stimulate my perineum and with some gentle persuasion will finger me anally for a very short amount of time, but other than that he doesnt like to touch my junk really. Even when he does, I often feel like hes just putting up with it to get things done. Ive expressed the desire to have him handle my dick or even go down on me (He LOVES to have me perform oral on him! Its his favorite! And I like it too! But Id also like to receive oral at least once!) but he always says he doesnt think hed enjoy licking or sucking on a dick.

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This combined with general issues of feeling less like Im enough of a woman for him has led me to genuinely consider bottom surgery this winter (something Ive never considered necessary to my transition) just in the hopes hed approach sex with me (and specifically getting me off) a little more enthusiastically. I was hoping you all might have some ideas for how I could get him to be a little more enthusiastic aboutor even just willing to exploredifferent ways of getting me off. For what its worth, he likes to have sex with me in all the ways we do, its just the act of getting me off or reciprocating that seems to turn him off. Thanks in advance!

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Diviynls Joke

Dear Diviynls Joke,

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Your concern doesnt strike me as petty in the leastyour pleasure is important and so is feeling accepted by your partner. At the same time, your husband does not have to do anything sexually he isnt comfortable with. Those conflicting truths make this a thorny predicament. To put it another way: You deserve pleasure but you are not entitled to it from any particular person, in any particular way.

I asked frequent HTDI source Lucie Fielding, a therapist and the author of the 2021 book Trans Sex, to weigh in. Fielding wrote in an email that your letter provoked strong feelings in her especially as a trans femme who has in the past allowed partners to merely tolerate parts of my body rather than joyfully and excitedly celebrate them. When we spoke via Zoom, she elaborated: Its an experience common to both cis and trans folks: Were asked to compare ourselves to others all the time. She said that this kind of comparing and despairing can even come as the result of a compliment: I think a question that is sometimes in my mind when somebody calls me beautiful is, Does that have an ellipsis point after it? Does it mean, beautiful for a trans femme? Having someone so openly accept some but not all of you, as your husband is currently doing, can exacerbate these feelings.

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Fielding advises to get surgery if you want it, but not because you think that it will solve all your problemsit wont in this case. A heaping portion of empowerment is in order. Fielding recommended three courses of action: Sex therapy from a gender-affirming provider (hopefully alongside your husband), a serious conversation about opening your relationship, and, failing the first two options, leaving the relationship.

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Fielding also noted the language you use to refer to your partsmy dick and my junk in particular. You should call things whatever youre comfortable with, but Fielding pointed out that some trans people, like her, transition their self-descriptions as well. So, she refers to her clit, for example, and, for another, her external gonads as her labia. Could a shift in language help your husband see your parts not as discordant but as inherent to your womanhood? Maybe.

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Regarding the power of language, I think about the New York Times Magazine story Does Your Language Shape How You Think?, a lot. It makes a good case. One of the examples it calls on how those who speak languages without egocentric directional words like left and right (the Australian Aboriginal language Guugu Yimithirr is one such tongue) have shown prodigious senses of direction because they process everything in terms of cardinal directions. The articles author Guy Deutscher writes, One report relates how a speaker of Tzeltal from southern Mexico was blindfolded and spun around more than 20 times in a darkened house. Still blindfolded and dizzy, he pointed without hesitation at the geographic directions. It might be worth expanding your vocabulary to point your husband southward.

Rich

More Advice From Slate

Ive been with my guy for two years. While we have fantastic sex, one thing I love is missing: anal. Ive enjoyed anal sex in the past and want it with him, but he has an extraordinarily long, fat penis. Its something to behold. And Tab A just wont fit into Slot B.
No prisoners will walk free following President Joe Bidens pardon, last week, of low-level marijuana offenders.

As president, Biden only has power to pardon federal offenders. And in recent years, the feds havent been locking people up for possession. Meanwhile, the number of people federally convicted of trafficking and other more serious pot crimes fell from 7,000 in 2012 to just under 1,000 in 2021. It went from the feds most convicted drug to their least.

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Bidens pardon instead benefits the roughly 6,500 Americans who have previously been convicted of federal possession. They have served their time or otherwise paid their debt, but having a conviction in their past can block their access to employment, housing, student loans, and other opportunities.

Marijuana possession remainsby farthe countrys most common drug charge. Arrests peaked at more than 800,000 in 2008. As with virtually everything related to drug prosecutions, people of color are far more likely to be punished. But the vast majority of these offenders went through state justice systems over which Biden has no control. Instead, he urged governors to follow his example. As they have legalized marijuana, some states have taken measures to expunge past pot offenses; others havent. Nationwide, hundreds of thousands of people could probably be pardoned if governors heed Bidens call.

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As in the federal system, state offenders for serious pot crimes are much more likely to be incarcerated. However, there are still people serving long sentences for mere possession. Several months after the state legalized medical marijuana, Mississippis Supreme Court upheld a life sentence for Allen Russell, whod been convicted of possessing about an ounce. The draconian sentence owed to his previous convictions for burglary and a weapons charge.

In 1994, thenSen. Joe Biden sponsored the crime bill that incentivized prison construction and accelerated mass incarceration. Its a remarkable moment for him as president to say no one should be locked up for holding weed. He also directed the federal government to review the plants untenable legal status: Its federally illegal, but there are now more than 20 legal state markets.

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Its probably not an accident that the announcement came weeks before the midterms. Two-thirds of Americans, and close to 80 percent of Democrats, support legalization, and the pardon may give a boost to Democrats beyond the relatively few who make it central to their campaigns. The move, however, stops well short of helping to release prisoners who committed a crime thats no longer a crime.

As legalization becomes more widespread, the nature of pot crime has evolved with it. Though weed is legal here in California, the state-licensed industry is in crisis because an estimated 70 percent of the product that consumers purchase comes from the illegal market. One reason illegal operators do so well is they dont tax upward of 35 percent, which state consumers must pay for legal product. Legalization has emboldened illegal operators to operate openly and at industrial scale. (Oklahoma, where theres a freewheeling medical marijuana market, has similar problems.)

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Massive illegal farms are criminal enterprises. Their armed workers scare the neighbors. They pollute, and steal water and power. They abuse defenseless workers. At some point, growing pot ceases to be a victimless crime. But amid pots quasi-legality, states largely lack the will and means to crack down on them. Understandably, many cannabis lovers are reluctant to advocate serious punishments like imprisonment for any nonviolent offender. Industry leaders are probably right that reducing taxes for legal product is the fastest way to shut them down.

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Today, American cannabis culture functions as both a religion and a for-profit industry. Its a culture that reveres outlaws. Its high priests are the legacy growers of Humboldt County who dodged helicopters and risked their freedom to grow the sacred medicine. Today, those stories get recast as small (legal) growers fighting for survival against bland corporate weed. The illegal market has more staying power than bathtub gin after Prohibition, and thats a huge problem for legal growers, large and small.

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Some of these questions went on trial in federal court in May. Jonathan Wall, a white 27-year-old, smuggled hundreds of pounds of weed from California to the East Coast. The amount of product was tiny compared to what state-licensed farms produce, but he had operated outside any legal channel.

Walls co-conspiratorswith whom, not long ago, hed been following Phishpleaded guilty. Wall pleaded not guilty, taking a stand for a question his lawyer posed in a filing: Who will be the last American to be deprived of their life and liberty for marijuana?

The soaring rhetoric proved grievously ill-advised as a legal strategy. Walls buddies testified and the jury convicted him of running an interstate trafficking operation. He now awaits sentencing facing a mandatory incarceration of 10 years at minimum. Many cannabis lovers view Wall as a hero and martyr. Biden, at least for now, thinks hes a criminal.

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For advocates and people who were swept up in the federal governments marijuana prosecutions for decades, Bidens move to pardon federal possession offenders is a welcome recognition. But it only helps a small fraction of the people whose lives such enforcement has ruined.

Theres obvious hypocrisy in the overlapping systems that lock up small-time hustlers while companies across the state line, or even within it, harvest weed on an industrial scale. But there are far fewer people locked up than there used to be. At the same time, some of the states that have legalized are far ahead of Biden in expunging the records of low-level offenders. This is progress, but its progress that has taken far too longespecially if it only ends here.
Just in time for its 60th anniversary, the Cuban missile crisis is trending big time.

President Biden warned last week that Vladimir Putins threat to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine portends the prospect of Armageddon like no time since Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis. And just as President John F. Kennedy coaxed Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev with a face-saving deal to pull his missiles out of Cuba in October 1962, Biden wondered what kind of deal might sway Putin to withdraw his troops from Ukraine now. We are trying to figure out, he said. What is Putins off ramp?

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Countless analysts, reporters, and commentators have drawn the same comparisonsboth in describing the ominous risks and in pondering a diplomatic way out. It is a useful practice to consult the annals of history, but it can also be misleading. Seemingly similar crises may, in fact, be so different as to offer no real lessons at all. Theres an old saying: History doesnt repeat itself, but it often rhymes. True, but sometimes it doesnt rhyme either. To put the point concretely: The war in Ukraine right now is very different from the 1962 crisis in Cuba, and ideas for ending the war peacefully must be very different too. And in fact, there might not even be any good ones.

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Let us briefly recap the course of the Cuban missile crisis. In October 1962, U2 spy planes spotted Soviet nuclear-tipped missiles being installed in Cuba. Kennedy mounted a naval blockade of the island and threatened to destroy the missiles. An increasingly tense standoff lasted 13 days. Then Khrushchev offered to remove his missiles from Cuba if Kennedy removed very similar U.S. missiles from Turkey. Against the counsel of all his advisers, Kennedy accepted the dealbut only if the American side of the trade was kept secret. (It stayed secret for 20 years.)

In early February 2022, during the buildup to Putins invasion of Ukraine, Biden and his top aidesthinking back explicitly on Kennedys deal with Khrushchevtried to come up with a face-saving way for Putin to back off. Putin had expressed concerns that Ukraine would soon join NATO, so Bidens emissaries pledged that this would not happen if Putin backed away. They also offered to discuss any other security concerns that Putin might have about the Kyiv governments leanings toward the West.

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So theres the first difference between Cuba 1962 and Ukraine 2022. Khrushchev was looking for a way out; once the U.S. detected that he was installing missiles, he knew that he would have to give in. By contrast, it now seems plain, in retrospect, that Putin had no interestand still has no interestin backing down.

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In fact, as the war escalated, so did his ambitions. When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that he had cooled his demand to join NATO, Putin simply upped the stakes, first accusing Ukraine of committing genocide in its eastern provinces, then denouncing Zelenskys government as Nazi, and finally denying Ukraines sovereignty, annexing the areas already occupied by Russian troops, with an eye toward pulling the entire countryalong with the entire Russian empire of oldunder Moscows rule.

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Theres not much room here for face-saving compromises.

The second, more obvious difference is that the guns hadnt started firing yet in Cuba 1962, with two exceptions. On the last day of the crisis, an American U2 spy plane was shot down over Cuba (an action that no Soviet officer authorized). Earlier on, a U.S. ship dropped an anti-submarine depth charge, which a Soviet submarine commander took as an attack, prompting him to order the launching of a nuclear torpedo (an order that his underlings disobeyed). This is one eternal lesson of October 1962: The U.S. and the USSR came closest to war in that crisis when accidents occurred or when overly excited bit-players misinterpreted what they saw. Its important for commanders to maintain absolute control; its our luck that the top commanders at the time, Kennedy and Khrushchev, wanted to avoid a war.

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The key thing is, their missionthe measure of their successwas to keep war from breaking out. In many ways, thats easier than the task facing Biden, Zelensky, and the NATO alliesto stop it or to win it, without triggering a bigger war still.

Kennedy and Khrushchev were so stunned by how close they came to Armageddon that, in the months after the crisis ended, they took steps toward ending the Cold Warsetting up a hot line, negotiating a limited nuclear test-ban treaty, and preparing several other disarmament forums. This precursor to detente faded in November 1963, when Kennedy was assassinated, and came to a halt in October 1964, when Khrushchev was deposed by hardline hawks.

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Finally, Khrushchev went into the Cuban venture from a position of desperate weakness. For the previous few years, he had pretended that the Soviet Union was churning out intercontinental ballistic missiles like sausages. U.S. Air Force intelligence officers abetted this myth, knowing that the more missiles the Soviets seemed to have, the more missiles the Air Force could build in response. But by the spring of 1961, thanks to photos taken from new spy satellites, Kennedy knew that the Soviets had only a handful of ICBMs.

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Khrushchev feared that the U.S. was planning a nuclear first strike; now he knew that the Americans knew that, if that happened, he wouldnt be able to retaliate. He rushed to install some medium-range missiles in Cuba, as a gap-filler, so that the USSR could still respond toand thus deteran American strike. (A medium-range missile launched from Cuba would hit the same targets as an ICBM launched from Russia.)

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As its turned out, Putin went into Ukraine with a weaker hand than he or anyone else thought he hadbut, at the time, Putin thought he was going in with strength. He figured, for reasons still unclear, that Kyiv would topple in a matter of days, that most Ukrainians would greet the Russian troops as liberators, and that the Westwhich seemed divided, which hadnt done much when he annexed Crimea, and some parts of which were dependent on Russian oil and gaswouldnt do anything in response. He miscalculated on all fronts.

In short, Khrushchev knew he would have to back down almost from the moment the crisis began; he had some time to pave the path. For Putin to back down at this point, he would have to admit the mistakeand take a much bigger fall.

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The Armageddon scenarios assume that the Russian army, already routed by multipronged Ukrainian offenses, are further pummeled to the point of near-defeatand that a desperate Putin fires off a low-yield nuclear weapon or two, with the idea of shocking Ukraines Western allies to the negotiating tables, in order to stave off further escalation. Putin believes that the U.S. and NATO would not risk all-our nuclear war for the sake of saving Ukraine. Hes right about that, but hes not necessarily right to infer that wed bring the war to a crashing halt. We might keep fighting; the Ukrainians certainly would do so. More nukes might fly. That is why Biden saidin part as a warning, in part as a matter of factthat a limited nuclear war might not stay limited. Thats simply the nature of the beast.

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This is why someeven those completely on Ukraines side in this warare seeking an exit ramp for Putin. But is there one? Reports are that he would think about a cease-fire that kept all forces in place, acknowledged Russias annexation of four Ukrainian regions, and pledged Ukraines neutrality in the east-west standoff. But this amounts to Ukraines surrenderand hardly assures that a ceasefire would be lasting. Any real, negotiated ceasefire would have to start with the total withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine. At that point, there might be talks about Ukraines standing in Europe or truly free and fair referendums in Donetsk, Luhansk, and Crimeabut not before then. That being the case, the sighting of an exit ramp seems unlikely. The lessons of the Cuban missile crisis are more fitting for a Russian leader who realizes his mistake and wants peace.
Welcome to State of Mind, a new section from Slate and Arizona State University dedicated to exploring mental health. Follow us on Twitter.

When people hear the term advance directive, they usually think about end-of-life situationslike a living will in which you give instructions for how you would like things to be managed if you were terminally ill. Most commonly this will take the form of advance refusals of particular treatments that might delay death without making life comfortable.

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Now, this idea of giving advance medical instructions for a future when you might not be able to make decisions for yourself is gaining prominence within a very different health context: helping people with severe mental illness manage their own care. In many ways, mental illness provides the perfect opportunity for advance decision-making.

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With terminal or degenerative illnesses such as dementia, a common concern is that people are thinking themselves into a future context, one where they have no experience and cannot necessarily anticipate what their wishes and preferences would be. By contrast, severe mental illnessessuch as bipolar, major depression, and psychosisare often episodic and repetitive. Based on past experience, people know how things are likely to be when they are unwell. They also have periods of wellness and stability in between episodes of illness when they are able to reflect on this and make decisions about future treatment. Advance directives are all about maximizing the individuals autonomy by allowing them to make decisions and exert control over how their treatment is managed when illness takes away their ability to do this. In the words of the eminent U.S. psychiatrist Allen Frances, Advance directives are perhaps the only intervention in psychiatry that is without a downside.

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Specifically, these documents can allow them to request the use or avoidance of treatments that have been helpful or harmful in the past. People with severe mental illness become experts through experience, gaining understanding and insight into their condition through reflecting on previous episodes of illness. Providing ways for them to harness this expertise through the creation of advance decision-making documents may well offer a powerful means to improve the experience and outcomes of mental healthcare. Although mental health law in many countries does not yet have provision for these types of directives, the situation is changing.

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An advance directive could be a way to indicate that, for example, doctors should avoid a certain medication or only administer it in a certain way. One attendee at a conference reported to me about having written an advance directive explaining that, although a particular medication works well for them when severely unwell, doctors should avoid the usual doseaccording to the patient, a lower dose works for them without making them feel unwell. (The medication in question was quetiapine, known as Seroquel in the U.S.) On one occasion, the medical workers ignored these directions, and the patient found themselves in the hospital, forced to take the higher dose. The result was that they experienced physical illness and a long admission before the medication was finally reduced and they could recover.

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It may even be possible that advance directives could be part of reducing the common phenomenon of racial discrimination within mental health care. Many Black patients have reported experiences in which behavior was misinterpreted as threatening, leading to excessive use of force and police involvement. Traumatic restraint has even led to death in a number of cases. An advance directive might be one way to explain behavioral patterns and avoid these types of dangerous mistakes.

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For others, there is almost the opposite scenario, where patients might not receive the correct treatment or hospitalization soon enough, or when they know their future unwell self will reject a treatment that they need. In this case, people might wish to use an advance directive to bind themselves to treatment at a future point when they know they will need treatment and containment, but will be unwilling for this to happen. As one study participant with bipolar said, I know with the self-binding aspect, it would be very helpful for me.  In particular, they know that olanzapinean antipsychotic that is also used as a mood stabilizer for bipolar disorder, known as Zyprexa in the U.S.can be helpful to them when they are unwell. But I know that if Ive gone beyond the sort of initial stages, I would refuse Olanzapine, they said. A recently published study in the Lancet Psychiatry showed strong support for provision of self-binding directives among people with bipolar, with 82 percent of survey participants endorsing the idea. The majority explained their endorsement by agreeing that they experience a determinate shift to distorted thinking and decision-making when unwell.

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That distorted thinking and decision-making can include suicide, which is a major risk for those with severe mental illness. For example, as many as 15-20 percent of those diagnosed with bipolar die by suicide. A self-binding directive might offer a way to minimize these risks. Someone could use the document to explain the signs and symptoms of suicidaility within their illness, such as detachment, sleeplessness, substance abuse, delusions, and, for many suicidal people, a desire to die. Their advance directive could request that they receive treatment and protection from themselves if they start to display those signs. As one participant in the Lancet study said:

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[W]hen I am unwell, my thoughts, perceptions and desires drastically change. I can become suicidal and impulsive, making decisions or plans that I [would] later regret [if I had followed through with them]. I often come out of an episode feeling extraordinarily grateful that I didnt take my own life, but when I become ill the same thoughts and plans return to me regardless and I am convinced they are my true desires. I dont want anyone to listen to me when I am unwell, I explicitly would want them to take my advance plans as my true wishes and would be mortified if they were overruled.

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Of course, there are challenges for mental health advance decision-making. How do we know that someone is sufficiently unwell to require invoking the directive? How do we know that someone is sufficiently well-informed or even sufficiently well to create a directive in the first place? But there is strong support for the idea among people with mental health conditions, and an increasing number of countries around the world are starting to amend their laws to try to find ways to give people the option for this to happen. In 2014 the U.N. Committee on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities stated all persons with disabilities have the right to engage in advance planning, which has led countries including India and Australia to incorporate advance decision making into their mental health laws. The England and Wales Mental Health Act 1983 is also currently undergoing revision that will see the introduction of legal provision for Advance Choice Documents.

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Increasing legal provision for mental health advance directives is one way to initiate a culture shift in which advance directives become a much more recognized and valued element of health care. But even without specific legislation, a document giving advance instructions to clinicians could be useful. By increasing general awareness about advance decision-making, we can perhaps encourage people living with mental health conditions to consider discussing the possibility of creating a document with their medical team. Equally, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals might become more ready to encourage and help their patients create these documents, and to ensure that the documents are visible and available within their medical records. Some useful resources already available; in the U.S., you can consult the National Resource Center on Psychiatric Advance Directives, and in the U.K., Bipolar U.K. and this article from Wellcome Open Research. Even simple instructions could play a valuable rolebecause a persons past experience of illness may be the best way to guide treatment during future episodes.

State of Mind is a partnership of Slate and Arizona State University that offers a practical look at our mental health systemand how to make it better.
On Thursday, President Joe Biden made three pretty surprising statements regarding marijuana reform. Dank Brandon announced a pardon of all prior federal offenses of simple possession of marijuana, which affects 6,500 people convicted between 1992 and 2021, as well as those convicted in the District of Columbia. He also urged all governors to do the same at the state level.

In the third part of his announcement, Biden said he would ask the secretary of Health and Human Services and the attorney general to review how marijuana is scheduled under federal law. This would have implications for federal policy and the cannabis industryas well as our very understanding of marijuana as a substance.

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Marijuana is defined as anything from a cannabis plant that has more than 0.3 percent of the psychoactive compound THC. (Anything below that is defined as hemp and legal under the Agriculture Improvement Act.) Its currently classified as a Schedule 1 drug, alongside other compounds such as LSD and heroin. Its a pretty big deal that the president would even consider changing marijuanas status. Its also a perfectly sensible move: Marijuana is currently classified as more dangerous than fentanyl and methamphetamine, the president explained. While weed can have some negative side effects, those other compounds can be deadly.

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Whats more, weed both holds promise as a medicinal compound and is subject to a huge amount of hype. One of my concerns as a citizen and a researcher is all of the claims that are being made about the medical effects of cannabis and cannabis products, explains R. Lorraine Collins, the director of the University at Buffalos Center for Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research. Right now its being presented as a panacea for hundreds of disorders, and we have no or very little data about many if not most of those conditions. In particular, scientists I spoke to emphasized there are many claims about THCs potential ability to treat brain injury or cancer, but research is limited.

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Getting data on how weed doesor does nothelp various conditions can be incredibly challenging. Weeds Schedule 1 classification doesnt just make it harder for the average person to acquire marijuana. It makes it tough for researchers to use it with study subjects as well.

When I sit down to write a grant or when I start to brainstorm about really interesting scientific ideas, I know at this point I cannot think about what would be the highest impact study from a public health perspective, explains Ziva Cooper, the director of the UCLA Center for Cannabis and Cannabinoids. I first have to think about what study drug I can get my hands on that the Food and Drug Administration would approve me giving to people, and how I can mold a study around what is actually available.

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Researchers like Cooper have to jump through a number of hoops before they start administering cannabis to humans. (Getting approval for animal studies is a bit easier, but those studies can only tell us so much.) Collins has been conducting cannabis research since the mid 90s, and explained that the obstacles to getting approval to use cannabis in human trials havent changed since then.

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As with any study on humans, researchers must get Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval. However, researchers looking to work on cannabis must also get a Schedule 1 license from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and demonstrate that they will be taking care of the substance adequately.

We then have to show the DEA that were going to store this incredibly dangerous product in a very safe way, says Margaret Haney, the director of Columbia Universitys Cannabis Research Laboratory. (Haney made clear that she means incredibly dangerous sarcastically.)I have an extremely heavy safe in a room I get into with a fingerprint and a code. Haney noted its easier to do research with cocaine than with marijuanaas a Schedule 2 drug, cocaine is not as heavily regulated.

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Outfitting a lab with all these necessary components to conduct cannabis studies isnt cheap.

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Most scientists, the vast majority, dont have the money or facilities to do this kind of research, says Haney. This leaves us with a society in which were not getting the key answer to the question: What is the plant or its components useful for?

Researchers must also get approval from the FDA. States have their own rules, too. In New York, where both Collins and Haney work, researchers must also have a license from the Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement. In California, where Cooper operates, study protocols must also be approved by the attorney generals office.

All weed used in research has to be vetted by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and before last year, there was only one approved source. Although it makes sense that weed used in scientific research is heavily regulated and tested, this means it usually doesnt match the cannabis thats available in retail or medicinal outlets. Collins points out that theres often a disconnect between potencies of products, making it trickier to fully understand how the drug affects individuals (though Haney noted that you can make up for the lack of potency by amping up the dosage).

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As weed becomes more widely available, its particularly important to understand how it affects everyday activities like driving.

All sorts of statements are being made, but we really dont have enough research to understand the effects of different dosages of cannabis on motor activity, cognitive activity when driving, reaction time, Collins said. All of the parameters of driving need to be examined at different levels of cannabis use.

Its not exactly clear what the review of weeds status that Biden is calling for could lead to for weed research. While Cooper is optimistic that things are heading in the right direction, she was a bit skeptical of what the review process entails and its implications. She thinks that the drug could be rescheduled to a Schedule 2 or even just removed from the controlled substance act completely, like alcohol and tobacco, which would make it easier to study. But she pointed out that even countries where weed is federally legallike Canadastill struggle to conduct robust research on weed.

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Right now, with weeds current classification, theres also the question of funding. Although researchers can receive funding to study weed, its status as a drug with a high potential for abuse creates a bit of a catch-22.

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The FDA is not going to grant you a Schedule 1 registration unless you have a reason to study this drug, Cooper explained. And the only way youre going to have a reason to study this drug is essentially if you have funding to study this drug. This makes it difficult for newer researchers to get into the field. If youre a new researcher in the field and youre submitting this great idea for study, the reviewers may say She doesnt have a schedule I license? How is she going to be able to do this? 

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And new researchers in the field doesnt necessarily mean that they are new to all researchresearchers in other scientific disciplines may also want to use marijuana, but dont want to go through all the extensive lengths to get it. The intersection between cannabis research and the medical field is especially lacking.

Bringing together the different disciplines would increase the state of knowledge with respect to marijuanas potential adverse and therapeutic effects. I guess you could say it would be a joint effort.
Despite their perpetually blase facade, Bored Ape NFTs and their holders must be getting a little frantic.

On Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission is conducting a private probe into Yuga Labs, the crypto juggernaut behind the bizarre, once-seemingly-ubiquitous Bored Ape Yacht Club.

You remember: After launching in April 2021, Yugas flagship collective rode the crypto hype wave to make individual cartoon ape drawings a sort of status symbol. They were endorsed by celebrities, beloved by crypto-enthusiast communities, and traded for obscene amounts of money. (At their peak, some went for more than $2 million.) The apes, crafted as digital tokens that could be minted and swapped on the blockchain ledger known as Ethereum, were the most prominent example of the nonfungible token crazethey became a mainstay of profile pictures, dance parties, and debates over the future of art.

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Then, of course, the crypto market crashed, and with it, the monetary values and trading volume of the entire NFT market. The Bored Apes pressed on with metaverse gambits, artificial intelligence, awards-show partnerships, and even real-life yachts, yet they never recovered their initial glamour. Rampant thefts, allegations of racist symbology, and myriad other controversies further tanked their reputation and cultural presence.

But the apes had managed to avoid the fedsuntil now. According to Bloomberg, the SEC has been secretly looking into just how to classify the role of NFTs and virtual coins in the financial sphere, which means determining how to regulate them. Specifically, Bloomberg reports, the SEC is examining whether certain nonfungible tokens from the Miami-based company are more akin to stocks and should follow the same disclosure rules, while also examining the distribution of ApeCoin, i.e., BAYCs in-house digital currency, which is freely granted to holders of Bored Apes. (After the investigation was made public, the value of ApeCoin collapsed by about 11 percent.)

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Crypto maxis, including politicians, have been unhappy about this news for various reasons. Yuga Labs holds claim to not only the BAYC ecosystem but also a number of other brands like CryptoPunks, making for about 25 percent of the total NFT market, according to crypto journalist Zack Guzman. So a probe into Yuga entails deep scrutiny of the NFT economyand suggests that other aspects of the crypto world may soon face legal threats.

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Observers have known for a while that this kind of event was coming; back in March, Bloomberg reported that SEC attorneys had been issuing subpoenas to various firms in their attempt to gauge whether NFTs operate like financial securities, which are of course regulated by the agency. Commission Chair Gary Gensler has drawn on historic legislative and legal decisionsincluding the Securities Act of 1933, the Investment Company Act of 1940, and the Howey test, a legal framework derived from the 1946 Supreme Court case SEC v. Howeyto argue that NFTs, stablecoins, smart contracts, and other non-currency crypto-economy anchors should be considered moneymaking tools all their own, as opposed to singular financial assets.

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This is a key point in the tension between apes and the government. Across federal departments, its generally understood that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Dogecoin by themselves are tradeable digital commodities, which puts them under the jurisdiction of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Many traders see the CFTCs current head, Rostin Benham, as a relatively crypto-friendly government man running an underresourced agency that is nowhere near as aggressive as the SEC in prosecuting crypto. Perhaps for this reason, theres been a lobbying push from crypto heavyweights to shove even more parts of their marketplace under the CFTCs supervision, to place a limit on what the SEC can legally oversee, and to ensure currencies keep being regulated as commodities at all costs. The latter fear remains salient, as Gensler has proposed that currencies mined through a popular method known as proof of stake could maybe be subject to securities oversight.

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The fear is, then, that the SEC probe into BAYClotta acronyms round these parts!will not only entrench a definition of NFTs as financial securities, but also provide another signal as to how the SEC will approach well-known tokens that are explicitly linked to such collectives, like ApeCoin. What differentiates ApeCoin from, say, Dogecoin is that the former is partly conditioned upon membership within BAYC communities; you have to buy a Bored Ape (at the very least) to get a free supply of ApeCoins that you can then trade or sell. Non-BAYC participants can also buy ApeCoins on open crypto exchanges, albeit without the benefits conferred by aping for apes. ApeCoin ownership also grants you entry into a decentralized autonomous organization, or DAO, a virtual collective of real people who can vote on proposals and decisions governing group conduct as well as appropriate use of the simian tokens. (While ApeCoin is affiliated with Yuga, the ApeCoin DAO itself is not controlled by the company.)

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Thus, the SEC is likely deciding how to classify both NFTs and financial instruments firmly connected with relevant networks. There was similar reasoning at play in last weeks million-dollar settlement between the SEC and Kim Kardashian, regarding an Instagram post in which she hawked a strange crypto token that was fastened to its own individual network of contracts and already-minted tokens. By contrast, anyone can mine a currency like Bitcoin without such contract provisions. As a result, the SEC perceived Kardashian as shilling for a particular securities system without proper disclosure as dictated by law.

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In fact, a lot of government crackdowns have been hitting the news latelyand theyre not just from the SEC. After charging blockchain tool bZeroX last month for not registering its trades, the CFTC decided to sue a separate DAO, known as Ooki, that it claimed was doing the same kind of unlawful trading as bZeroX, while using its status as a decentralized organization to act as an unincorporated association and thus evade law enforcement. Also in September, the SEC charged the software company Sparkster $35 million for utilizing an initial coin offeringthe crypto industrys version of an initial public offeringto raise money without filing a public registration statement, as is standard for an IPO. Back in August, the SEC filed a complaint against the blockchain startup Dragonchain for failing to register more than $16 million in crypto asset securities offerings over the course of five years, as reported by CoinDesk. On Tuesday, the same day Bloomberg uncovered the SECs probe into BAYC, the Treasury Department levied multimillion-dollar fines on crypto exchange Bittrex for flouting sanctions laws. Taking a much bigger scope, the IRS recently proclaimed that its authorized by law to summon information about U.S. taxpayers who may have failed to report to the IRS, and pay taxes on, cryptocurrency transactions.

Government action on crypto isnt newbut the amount of new cases, the scale of financial penalties, and the specified legal classifications are, and they certainly arent ideal for the true believers who went into this whole thing to evade the feds dirty hands. Now, NFT specialists will have to worry about government interference in addition to the never-ending hacks. The days of monkey business may be over.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.
This article originally appeared on EdSurge.

Log on to the website for the online tutoring company VIPKid, and a pop-up will appear asking visitors to select which part of the world theyre in. Users can scroll through more than 230 regions across six continents, including Madagascar, Mexico, Morocco, Montenegro, and Myanmar.

Its a marked change from the education companys origins, which, up until about a year ago, catered almost exclusively to students in mainland China, offering one-on-one English classes with tutors from the U.S. and Canada.

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But the double reduction policy announced last summer by the Chinese government prohibited live education classes between Chinese students and foreign educators, forcing VIPKid, along with its many peers in the industry, to collapse or adapt.

Some of the tutoring companies shut down, with immediate effect. Others ended operations more gradually. Still others sought to survive, with perhaps the most concerted effort coming from VIPKid, which also happened to be the biggest player in the space, at one point claiming to serve 700,000 students in China. VIPKid debuted a global education platform last fall, shortly before offering its final live lessons in mainland China.

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Ask the instructors of those online English classesthe tutors, mostly North American women, many with formal experience in classroom settingshow the changes have been playing out, and theyll tell you its been a sorrowful, steady decline in bookings and income since their once-familiar arrangements began to slip away in summer 2021. Many have tried to make it work in spite of the tumult in the industry, but few have seen meaningful success.

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For a handful of years, the online tutoring industry was booming. It capitalized on two almost divinely crafted complementary parts: the underpaid American educator seeking extra income, and the striving Chinese parent looking to give their child a competitive advantage through English language proficiency.

It was just, like, a perfect storm of opportunities for both countries, says Natalie Grove, a former VIPKid teacher who lives in northern Minnesota.

Businesspeople agreed, evidenced by the ever-increasing number of companies that wanted in. There was VIPKid, but also Magic Ears, Qkids, GoGoKid, Whales English, Zebra English, and countless others. Tutoring approaches varied, but often the classes were one-on-oneone child between the ages of 4 and 12, and one native English speakerfor about a half-hour at a time. Teachers typically earned between $18 and $25 an hour, depending on their experience and the company.

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When the policy went into effect, online English teachers panicked. Were they out of a job? Would they be able to make up that lost income elsewhere?

The answers came pretty quickly.

Mary Hulme, an American living in Canada who previously worked as a school counselor in Chicago, says she used to make $1,500 to $1,800 per month teaching for the company Magic Ears.

Now, Im barely getting $300 a month, if Im lucky, Hulme tells EdSurge. I keep my time slots open5 to 10:30 a.m.but no one is booking.

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She adds: Few and far between are making what they did [before].

Joelle Daddino, a resident of Long Island, New York, who homeschools her two teenagers and previously taught for GoGoKid, Magic Ears, Whales English and others, was able to get her income back after the policy change, but only by working about twice as many hours as before. The company where shes worked most consistently since last summer is Cambly, which has a presence in a variety of countries but only pays $10 to $12 an hour.

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It doesnt pay as well, Daddino explains, but its something rather than nothing.

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The new landscape in online tutoring often requires teachers to pick their poison, as it were. Some companies might allow a teacher to get regular bookings but pay much less per hour than teachers were accustomed to a year ago. Others have inconsistent and unreliable demand, particularly tutoring companies that serve students outside of Chinasay, a small Middle Eastern country with too few students signing up for classes on the platform. And a number of companies overhired teachers, many of whom were left in the lurch after being disconnected from their Chinese students.

Even when other companies and countries have demand, its not with the same volume or ferocity that was seen in China.

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In one fell swoop, all these companies closed their doors. Some immediately, drastically shut down. Everyone at once needed a job, says Daddino. Now youre competing with other great teachers. Its not about qualifications and experience. Its a numbers gameluck of the draw at that point.

In short, the online tutoring market is now oversaturated with teachers. But because so many of those teachers are determined to make it workto stay in the industrythe remaining companies are in a position to take advantage of their desperation for bookings and income.

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There are a ton of companies out there now. So many. Its crazy, says Allison Winzurk, a former classroom teacher who lives in the Atlanta metro area and taught for VIPKid until last October. Its like tens of thousands of teachers going for the same three jobs.

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In private Facebook groups where many online tutors network and build community, new posts every day reveal the instability to which many of them are resigned.

Who is hiring?! I need to work and have consistent classes, one teacher posted recently.

Another wrote: Bookings are spotty. Who wants to help me get hired on at a company based in Asia?

In early September, one online teacher, who tutors her former Chinese students in a sort of underground arrangement that seeks to skirt the Chinese governments oversight, posted: I did it!!!!! I am finally at the same income I was with VIPKid! I started teaching privately on November 8th, 2021 and today marks my goal achieved! It can be done!

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Winzurk and Grove, both long-time teachers on the original VIPKid platform, have active contracts with VIPKid Global, the alternate offering the company rolled out in October 2021 in the wake of the new regulations. But that, too, has proved disappointing for them.

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I havent gotten a single booking with Global, Grove shares. Ive had my slots open for the last several months and literally not gotten one class.

Its such a bummer, Grove says, explaining that for the prior two years, she was booked solid with Chinese students on VIPKid.

Winzurk has made less effort to get bookings for herself on VIPKid Global, but she stays in touch with a community of online tutors and has heard similar concerns.

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Teachers are just not getting a lot of students, Winzurk says. Everything I see from teachers is that theres not a lot of work.

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Officials from VIPKid declined a live interview but did answer questions via email about the pivot to a global education platform.

The first year of VIPKids global expansion has been a learning process, but that is not surprising to us, a spokesperson wrote. It has also shown great promise.

The countries and regions where VIPKid Global is most popular, according to the company, are the Middle East, Korea, Japan and Vietnam. Its also widely used by Chinese families around the world. In addition to the live global lessons, which remain in the one-on-one format that VIPKid has always offered, the company offers adult English classes and prerecorded, self-guided courses for students in mainland China.

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The spokesperson said that VIPKid has learned that it needs to be adaptable during this period of growth and transformation.

Though some teachers have moved on to new opportunities, a large percentage of the teachers remain active on the platform and engaged in the community, while we build up demand for global one-on-one English lessons, the official wrote.

When most teachers first got hired at VIPKid and its ilk, the pandemic was still well into the future and remote work was a novel concept. Their alternatives, if they wanted to work from the comfort of their homes, clad in pajama pants and slippers, were limited.

But now, remote employment opportunities abound. Why dont the online English tutors find work elsewhere?

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For many, its not just any remote work they seek. They are specifically looking for early-morning hoursbefore their kids wake up or before they need to head to their full-time, 9-to-5 job. Thats why U.S.-based tutoring companies like Outschool dont really fit their needs.

But its about more than schedule constraints.

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The majority of people that were doing ESL [tutoring] want to stay in ESL, says Winzurk. Theyre committed to it.

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Daddino, in New York, agrees.

We invested so much of ourselves, she says. Think about the props people used to buy and print out and set up, the scheduling, getting [positive reviews] and recommendations and teaching certifications. We invested all this time already.

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She compares it to losing a house in a flood. People might say, Look, you have all this insurance money. Move. Find another place. Dont bother rebuilding here. Its too much work. But that flooded house means something. That house was a home.

You put your heart into it, Daddino says of the tutoring work. Youre not like, Eh, Ill just do this job. No, I put in time. I learned so much technical stuff and juggling stuff and practices to teach. Sure, I could use [what I learned] in other ways. But I invested myself into this.

Still, Daddino is fed up with the players in the industry. Shes tired of signing contracts that arent honored, of waking up at dawn to teach a couple of unruly kids for a few bucks. She misses the good ole days, as she likes to think of the time preceding summer 2021.

Were all hustling. Were all trying to find ways to keep it together. But it is very sad, she says.

Daddino hadnt intended to offer private lessons to her Chinese students. Not when the companies shifted last year, not ever. But recently, a parent approached her about it and she found herself saying yes.

Now, shes got a roster of seven kids in China. Shes tutoring them in English twice a week each.

And she gets to set her own pay. Shes charging $40 an hour.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.
After Czechoslovakia separated, Czechia kept the various aviation statuses while Slovakia kept nothing.

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Slovak carriers flying directly to the other side of the Atlantic and its aviation industry directly exporting equipment to the US: this could become reality after Slovakia undergoes an aviation audit.

State Secretary of the Transport Ministry Katarina Brunckova (Sme Rodina nom.) and chairman of the Slovak Transport Office, Pavol Hudak, discussed the missing audit with the US Federal Aviation Administration at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in Montreal, Canada.

Brunckova says that once the audit is done, it could have a significant positive economic impact for Slovak producers, the SITA newswire reported.

Importance of certification

Transport Minister Andrej Dolezal (Sme Rodina nom.) said Slovakia does not exist on the map of world carriers, especially for transatlantic flights, due to the lack of the required certification based on an audit to the required level. That is why carriers cannot fly between Slovakia and the USA.

"It is important that we, as Slovakia, obtain a higher certification," Dolezal said on Friday, as quoted by SITA, adding that the audit will be conducted and that he expects it to be successful.

Bratislava as an alternative to Vienna

"After that, carriers will be able to establish lines, for example from Bratislava to the US, and whether it will be Washington or Florida, I don't care at all," the Transport Minister said.

According to him, Bratislava could be an interesting alternative to nearby Vienna.

"It may offer cheaper fees, it may be advantageous for someone. It may also be a complementary airport to Vienna, because we are not only talking about passengers, but also freight transport," Dolezal explained.

A chance for small Slovak aircraft manufacturers

The audit could lead to a certification that would also allow Slovak manufacturers to export their aviation technology to the US. The Transport Minister noted that there are quality manufacturers of small aircraft in Slovakia, but they cannot directly export their products to the American market due to the lack of the necessary certification.

"That's why it is traded through the Czech Republic, which after the division of Czechoslovakia retained the benefits or the Czechoslovak status, and Slovakia did not," Dolezal said. He added that the ministry is now determined to catch up, but did not specify any details or dates of when the plans could realised.
Calls for peace are an important tool of Russian propaganda, the police warn.

A Russian serviceman guards in the area of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station in the territory under Russian military control, southeastern Ukraine, on May 1, 2022. (Source: AP Photo)

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The Slovak police are warning people against fake calls for peace in Ukraine by various pro-Kremlin groups and individuals in Slovak media and social media space.

Though it seems to be a rational request, the groups represent Russias interests and they hide their actual goals behind peace. The police call it a well-thought-out strategy.
The incident happened outside a well-known gay bar near the castle, police not ruling out hate crime.

A covered dead body following the October 12 shooting outside a gay bar on Zamocka Street near Bratislava Castle. (Source: TASR - Jaroslav Novak)

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An unknown man shot two people dead on Zamocka Street in central Bratislava on Wednesday evening, the Sme daily reported.

The police soon confirmed information on their Facebook page.

The victims are two men under the age of 30.

The shooting took place shortly after 19:00 outside Teplaren, one of the very few LGBT+ spots in the city. The witnesses approached by the media have said they heard 7-10 fired shots. One of the men killed worked at the bar, Sme wrote.

A shot woman who works as bartender at Teplaren has been taken to hospital in the Bratislava Old Town. Her life is not at risk.

According to the witnesses, the murderer had waited for some time outside the bar before he fired shots.

Hate crime one scenario

"We're shocked by the information about the shooting and casualties at Teplaren, where we meet regularly," the Duhovy Pride Bratislava non-governmental organisation posted on Facebook. The organisation has changed its Facebook page photo to black. Iniciativa Inakost, another LGBT+ organisation, has followed suit.

According to the Dennik N daily, the incident could be a hate crime against the LGBT+ community, as the murdered men had been enjoying their evening in Teplaren before the tragedy occurred. Another version, however, suggests that the murderer had known the two men.

On social media, people pointed to an anonymous Twitter account where an anti-Jewish and anti-LGBT+ manifesto appeared a few hours before the shooting. The same account shows the alleged murderer outside Teplaren in mid-August.

https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d2586.4755362729443!2d17.098347037568537!3d48.14369752664622!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x476c895dd34a9ad9%3A0xf5ec780cfec85573!2zVGVwbMOhcmXFiA!5e0!3m2!1sen!2ssk!4v1665599209027!5m2!1sen!2ssk

Half an hour after the killings, the account owner tweeted "hatecrime", "gaybar" and "feeling no regrets". Shortly before midnight, the account said: "bye, see you on the other side."

The account was established in April 2021.

However, it is not clear if the account is linked to the murders.

Perpetrator on the run

The armed young perpetrator, said to be wearing a jacket, jeans and a dark cap, was on the run hours after the attack.

Police officers have closed nearby streets to traffic and people. They have extended their search to the area around SNP Bridge and the Danube waterfront. A helicopter was also deployed in the late evening hours.

During the night, the National Crime Agency took over the case.

About an hour before the shooting, a luxury jewellery store in the Carlton Hotel on Hviezdoslavovo Square was robbed, the TV Markiza television network wrote.

The robbers, two men and one woman, are also on the run.

However, this case is not believed to be linked to the shooting.
https://sputniknews.com/20221012/canberra-considers-providing-military-training-support-to-kiev-1101744224.html

Canberra Considers Providing Military Training Support to Kiev

Canberra Considers Providing Military Training Support to Kiev

In July, the Australian PM said that his government would provide additional military assistance to Ukraine, including 20 Bushmaster Protected Mobility... 12.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-12T06:56+0000

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2022-10-12T17:03+0000

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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has stated that Canberra would consider a request from Ukrainian President Volodmyr Zelensky to offer military training support to Kiev amid Moscows ongoing special operation to "demilitarize and de-Nazify" Ukraine.The Australian PM also pledged to continue providing military support to Ukraine, describing his country as the largest non-NATO contributor.The statement came after Albaneses meeting with Zelensky in Kiev following Moscows missile strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure in the wake of the October 8 terrorist attack on Crimea's Kerch Strait Bridge. Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier this week that Moscow targeted Ukrainian energy, military command, and communications facilities in different parts of Ukraine with high-precision weapons.Putin underscored that Moscow could not leave crimes committed by Kiev against Russian civilian infrastructure unanswered, referring to the terrorist attack on the Crimean Bridge, Kievs attempts to blow up one of the sections of the TurkStream gas pipeline, and efforts by Ukraine's security services to target Russia's Kursk Nuclear Power Plant.Dutton added that it would allow Australia to deliver assistance to Ukraine soldiers and to those on the ground to help them get the most out of the equipment that we are delivering to try and keep people safe in that part of the world.The statement followed Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles rejecting earlier this month the possibility of Canberra joining a training mission that was earlier initiated by former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.In mid-June, BoJo proposed an initiative to provide Ukrainian troops with basic military training, with the potential to train up to 10,000 soldiers every 120 days. He invited other nations in the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) and Canada to join the initiative.The JEF, which was launched in 2014, is a UK-led group consisting of Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Norway. Most of the JEF members have already backed Johnsons initiative.Moscow has repeatedly warned that the West providing military support to Kiev would exacerbate the Ukraine conflict. The Russian Foreign Ministry stated late last week that the Wests supplies of long-rage weaponry to Kiev would become red lines for Moscow, which the ministry said had enough instruments to retaliate.

https://sputniknews.com/20220314/australia-targets-33-russian-businessmen-including-abramovich-with-sanctions-amid-ukraine-crisis-1093842611.html

https://sputniknews.com/20220813/ukraines-finance-minister-reports-problems-finding-cash-to-pay-troops-despite-wests-aid-bonanza-1099557570.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20221012/crimea-bridge-bombed-russian-missile-strikes-target-kiev-and-tulsi-leaves-the-democrat-party-1101741475.html

Crimea Bridge Bombed, Russian Missile Strikes Target Kiev, and Tulsi Leaves the Democrat Party

Crimea Bridge Bombed, Russian Missile Strikes Target Kiev, and Tulsi Leaves the Democrat Party

On todays episode of The Backstory, host Lee Stranahan discussed current events including Tulsi Gabbard leaving the Democrat party, and Poland urging its... 12.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-12T08:13+0000

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2022-10-12T08:13+0000

the backstory

wikileaks

belarus

cia

radio

radio sputnik

julian assange

crimean bridge

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Crimea Bridge Bombed, Russian Missile Strikes Target Kiev, and Tulsi Leaves the Democrat Party On todays episode of The Backstory, host Lee Stranahan discussed current events including Tulsi Gabbard leaving the Democrat party, and Poland urging its citizens to leave Belarus.

Scott Ritter - Former UN Weapons Inspector & WMD Whistleblower | Terrorism in Russia, NATO, and The New Military Commander for Russia's Special Military OperationTaylor Hudak - Journalist & Editor with AcTVism Munich | Freedom of Speech, The Right to Know, and a Tainted Virginia Jury PoolIn the first hour, Lee and Jason Goodman spoke with Scott Ritter about the driver of the Crimea bombing, Russia's missile strikes, and Putin's birthday. Scott talked about the symbolism of bombing the Crimea bridge and allegations it was purposely done on Putin's birthday. Scott spoke about the new Russian commander in charge of the Special Military Operation and NATO training for nuclear exercises.In the second hour, Lee played a speech by Taylor Hudak about the importance of Julian Assange, unlawful imprisonment, and the vindictive nature of US intelligence agencies. Taylor reviewed the timeline of Julian Assange's journalism and the creation of Wikileaks. Taylor talked about the expected extradition of Julian Assange and a large number of former intelligence agents in Northern Virginia.We'd love to get your feedback at radio@sputniknews.comThe views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the position of Sputnik

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https://sputniknews.com/20221012/druzhba-oil-pipeline-operator-pern-reveals-no-3rd-parties-guilt-behind-leak-1101786125.html

Druzhba Oil Pipeline Operator Pern Reveals No 3rd Parties' Guilt Behind Leak

Druzhba Oil Pipeline Operator Pern Reveals No 3rd Parties' Guilt Behind Leak

WARSAW, October 12 (Sputnik) - Polish operator of the Druzhba oil pipeline, Pern, did not reveal the guilt of third parties in the oil spill, the company said. 12.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-12T22:04+0000

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Earlier, Pern announced the depressurization of one of the two strings of the Druzhba oil pipeline leading to Germany.At the moment, specialists are studying possible causes of the accident and repairing the pipeline to start pumping oil as soon as possible, according to the statement.Pern also launched intensive reclamation work at a cornfield where the oil leaked "to return it to its original state as soon as possible." The reclamation work is carried out by Pern environmental staff and a specialized third-party company hired by the operator.Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Wednesday that "many traces lead to the Kremlin" in the case of the accident at the Druzhba oil pipeline.Polish official responsible for energy infrastructure Mateusz Berger said earlier in the day that there were no reasons to believe that the leak at the Druzhba oil pipeline happened due to sabotage.Earlier on Wednesday, the opposition right-wing Alternative for Germany party (AfD) called on the government to look into the likelihood of a connection between the incident on the Polish section of the Druzhba oil pipeline and the earlier act of sabotage on the Nord Stream gas pipelines.In September, leaks were also registered on gas pipelines of the Nord Stream network that runs under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany. According to Sweden, Germany and Denmark, the incidents could be a result of sabotage or staged explosions. The Russian Prosecutor General's Office has been investigating the pipeline incidents as acts of international terrorism. Meanwhile, Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod has announced the government's intention to reject Russia's participation in the probe.

https://sputniknews.com/20221012/technical-failure-caused-leak-at-druzhba-oil-pipeline-russian-deputy-pm-novak-says-1101766602.html

https://sputniknews.com/20221012/belgrade-believes-druzhba-pipeline-accident-continuation-of-nord-stream-events-1101760551.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20221012/finns-hoard-iodine-tablets-following-revised-ministry-recommendations-1101743746.html

Finns Hoard Iodine Tablets Following Revised Ministry Recommendations

Finns Hoard Iodine Tablets Following Revised Ministry Recommendations

Fearmongering and doom-saying in Western media have sparked similar bouts of compulsive shopping before, with populations in Finland and nearby Denmark... 12.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-12T06:21+0000

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The Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health has revised its guidelines and recommended that households in the Nordic country purchase a single dose of iodine tablets for everyone aged between 3 and 40 in case of a radiation hazard emergency, prompting an unexpected shopping spree and a sudden run on webstores.The ministry stressed that the guidelines, which hadn't been updated since 2002, were based on up-to-date recommendations from the World Health Organization. It said the recommendation was limited to people 3-40 years of age because of the potential risk radiation exposure poses to that particular age group, being most harmful to children. The statement from the ministry also indicated that sheltering indoors was the main way for people to protect themselves from nuclear radiation.The very same day, in the aftermath of the statement, Finland's largest chain of pharmacy outlets, Yliopiston Apteekki, reported stocks of iodine tablets being nearly sold out nationwide. Chief pharmaceutical officer Kati Vuorikallas said that the surge in demand has been mirrored by a spike in traffic on the chain's website, causing a significant slowdown and even crashes for some users.According to Yliopiston Apteekki, efforts are being made to replenish the iodine stocks. However, no precise schedule has been presented.The Association of Finnish Pharmacies has slammed the practice and advised the public against hoarding iodine tablets, stressing that expired tablets should be returned to pharmacies as medical waste. The association emphasized that only a single package should be purchased for each member of a household within the given age bracket.In recent weeks, Nordic outlets, in line with Western media in general, have been rife with dismal warnings about the risk of the Ukraine conflict spiraling into a nuclear catastrophe, itemized lists of nuclear arsenals, and survival instructions. This process has been drastically sped up by President Vladimir Putins warning last month that Russia would protect its territory by all means necessary, and his US counterpart Joe Bidens subsequent comment that the prospects of a nuclear Armageddon were today at their highest since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Earlier in October, Kiev made headlines by dishing out anti-radiation pills, ostensibly in preparation for a nuclear attack on the Ukrainian capital.However, according to Russias nuclear doctrine, which is no secret and has been published for the sake of transparency, Moscow will never resort to this options unless nukes or other weapons of mass destruction are used against it or its allies first, or it faced a conventional attack so severe that the countrys very existence would be threatened. By contrast, the US has not only never committed to a no first use strategy, but remains the only country to have actually used nuclear arms, killing over 200,000 people in the bombing of Japan in the late stage of World War II.Nevertheless, unscrupulous fearmongering across the Western world has sparked similar situations before, with Danes and Norwegians hoarding iodine pills at the start of the Ukrainian conflict, ostensibly in fear of the hostilities turning nuclear.

https://sputniknews.com/20221011/no-the-worlds-not-heading-for-a-nuclear-apocalypse-heres-why-1101734791.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20221012/i-believe-in-individual-social-responsibility--indian-anti-rape-activist--1101754893.html

I Believe in Individual Social Responsibility: Indian Anti-Rape Activist

I Believe in Individual Social Responsibility: Indian Anti-Rape Activist

The National Crime Records Bureaus annual report revealed that India registered 31,677 rape cases in 2021. Rajasthan state reported the highest number of... 12.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-12T14:07+0000

2022-10-12T14:07+0000

2022-10-12T14:07+0000

india

delhi

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India witnessed one of its most gruesome rape and murder cases in 2012 when a 22-year-old girl was gang-raped inside a moving bus in Delhi.The infamous incidents brutality shook the nation and was later named the 'Nirbhaya ("fearless") case'. As it left people around the world shocked and outraged, a wave of public protest was staged in different parts of India.The courts later sentenced the culprits to death, but it took almost nine years to execute them.The protests also laid the foundation of the People Against Rapes in India (PARI) organization which seeks to support rape victims and help them bring their assailants to justice.Bhayana works for victims of domestic violence and marital rape, as well as helping children who suffer sexual abuse.Sputnik: What motivated you to leave a lucrative aviation job behind and take up the cause of rape victims?Bhayana: I quit my job in 2007 and started my NGO. However, I was not working with rape victims at that time. I was doing a lot of other social work related to road accident victims and working to understand the health infrastructure, which is so poor even till now. I was very motivated to work on bringing reforms in the health infrastructure.So, that was the turning point that I quit everything else, and started focusing only on this issue. Other things continued but working for rape victims absorbed 80 percent of my time.Sputnik: Could you please tell us about your organization  People Against Rapes in India (PARI).Bhayana: The idea of People Against Rapes in India (PARI) evolved in 2012 while we were protesting to seek justice for 'Nirbhaya' (the name given to the rape victim to hide her identity) at Jantar Mantar, the central protesting place of Delhi.There were various groups who weren't even familiar with each other at that time. The protest gained huge support as not only Indians but a lot of foreigners also joined it.A lot of people started fizzling out after the death of Nirbhaya, and only a handful of us were left. But we persisted. During our protest, we were trying to figure out what could be done to stop rapes since we continued hearing rape cases every single day. People started coming to Jantar Mantar seeking support from us and it became our running office.So, we thought that whatever we were doing was not enough, and we needed to reach out to the victims too and work on prevention of rapes. It was felt that we needed to become an advocacy group, and forming an NGO wont be that impactful. So, we decided to make it a campaign. Then PARI was launched.We were trying to understand the issue and trying to push our ideas to the government. At the same time, I was attending many victims and trying to get them every kind of help even from the government.In order to get medical and judicial help for the victims from the government, I had to be very cordial with the government.I thought of staging a protest outside the jail. I went there and asked a lot of people including Nirbhayas mother to join the protest. Initially, she resisted but later she joined. From the moment she arrived, the whole protest became very big and soon thousands of people came on board.At that time, a parliamentary session was on. During our interaction with the media, we said that we want that law related to rapes, which was in Rajya Sabha (upper house of parliament) for consideration at that time, to be changed.Within 24 hours of the protest, a lot of politicians - including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, then Foreign Affairs Minister late Sushma Swaraj and even politicians of opposition parties including Rahul Gandhi (of Congress party) - called us to meet.We made the same request to them and within 48 hours we got the amended law passed.That was another motivation that if we want something to happen, it happens and it just requires remaining united for a cause. From there, we thought of working more aggressively.So, PARI has been very active. Like, we have been doing public awareness programs, a lot of things on prevention of rapes, and providing every possible help to the rape victims.Sputnik: Despite punishment in place, we hear about rape cases in India. What needs to be done to stop the sad trend?Bhayana: Basically its a mindset issue and social conditioning that women and children are easy pick and one can take out his sexual frustration. Even boys are not safe in that way.So, this has gone into the minds of certain segments of society or men, you can say. It has to be taken out. But that will take a longer process.The immediate discourse is to give them strict punishments so that the main message is loud and clear.However, unfortunately in our country how do you give a loud and clear message because it took almost nine years to punish Nirbhayas culprits? The message will only be clear if the culprits are punished in a time-bound manner.A lot of NGOs are working but they have limitations. So, I think parallel efforts are needed from the government as well as NGOs. And the government needs to understand that merely changing laws may not transform things.It is very easy to say Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (Save and Educate Girl Child, the federal government's popular slogan for young female welfare). But it has to be defined, an action plan has to be made to make it [the intended feeling behind the slogan] a reality.We have speedy trials and stringent laws but the implementation of those laws is very poor. Implementation is poor because of the lack of infrastructure.There is a scarcity of Forensic Science Labs (FSL) [as such the] testing of samples of rape victims takes time. Then the case is heard in a lower court which again goes on for years.So, these are part of the problem. We want that there should be no rape, and efforts should be made to stop such sexual crimes. So, we need to place all the things in the right order.Sputnik: It is a well-known fact that a lot of victims dont even report the tragedy out of fear that society will judge them, and not the rapists. Is PARI doing something to help rape victims speak up?Bhayana: Yes, we do campaigns where we hold separate sessions with boys and girls. We have only one request to all the girls that they should speak up when something like this happens to them.Despite this, we keep on motivating them that if they are not being heard by the police, they can reach out to us.Sputnik: Apart from rape victims, you have also worked for road accident victims, taught underprivileged children and even helped elderly people. However, incidents of acid attacks and child abuse are also a big concern in India. Are you also planning to do something for such victims?Bhayana: I have not worked a lot on acid survivors but I support other groups linked to it.However, child abuse is very much part of PARI because 90 percent of victims whom I have met are children. So, I have been working very aggressively against child abuse. In fact, if given the choice, I would like to attend a child first because that is where we are specialized.It is also because such traumatic experiences stay with children for long. They cant even speak about it and culprits get away because of this.It is very difficult for a child to move on from such things because in most cases they dont get proper counseling. Not even a single victim with whom I have been working got a counselor. We do the counseling ourselves. This is a sad situation.More than women, I always say our kids are not safe and nobody understands the seriousness of it. In most cases, the victim child doesnt speak and the memories of traumatic experiences remain with them forever.Sputnik: What message would you like to give to India's youth so that they can also come forward and contribute to similar social causes?Bhayana: I just want to tell them that they dont have to give up their jobs or business to contribute to a social cause. You only have to choose a cause, a purpose and contribute in whichever capacity you can. Helping out even one victim or an underprivileged person will solve the problem.We all have heard about corporate social responsibility. But I believe in individual social responsibility or youth social esponsibility.

https://sputniknews.com/20220919/minor-dalit-girl-succumbs-to-injuries-days-after-being-gang-raped--set-ablaze-in-india-1100958015.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20221012/kiev-washington-reportedly-at-odds-over-ukraines-response-to-russian-special-op-1101757979.html

Kiev, Washington Reportedly at Odds Over Ukraines Response to Russian Special Op

Kiev, Washington Reportedly at Odds Over Ukraines Response to Russian Special Op

Russia has repeatedly cautioned the US and its allies against providing Kiev with more weapons, which the Kremlin says may further escalate the Ukraine... 12.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-12T13:11+0000

2022-10-12T13:11+0000

2022-10-12T13:13+0000

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US media have reported about flaring tensions between Washington and Kiev as to the appropriate response to Russias actions related to Moscows ongoing special military operation in Ukraine.The source said that the public release of information about that plot in recent days was meant, in part, as a warning to Ukraine not to repeat a similarly provocative move.The claims come as an unnamed former White House official was quoted by the Washington Post (WaPo)as saying that US President Joe Biden earlier told Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky privately that it would be hard for him to keep asking Congress for money if Zelensky appeared ungrateful and kept saying it was not enough.This comes after the Pentagon announced last week a new military aid package to Ukraine, including four High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), howitzers, artillery and mortar rounds, and small arms ammunition worth a total of $625 million. This brings the total US military assistance for Ukraine to more than $17.5 billion since the beginning of the Russian special military operation.Moscow Raps West Over Arms Supplies to Kiev Moscow has repeatedly slammed the West for its weapon supplies to Kiev, with Russias Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warning that "any weapon, [and] any arms shipment on the Ukrainian territory" would be considered a legitimate target by the Russian military.For her part, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has recently stressed that Washington has once again demonstrated how much it has lost touch with reality, having actually become a party to the Ukraine conflict. According to her, further evidence of this is the US Congress recently agreeing on the allocation of a new assistance package to the Kiev regime worth almost $12 billion.Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, for his part, underlined that the Ukraine conflict had become another pretext for the US and its allies to unleash an economic and information war against Moscow in order to deplete it strategically. Ukraine has been picked [by the West] as an instrument of a hybrid war against Russia, Shoigu added.Darya Dugina's Assassination In a separate development last week, the New York Times reported that US intelligence services believe that the Ukrainian government authorized the car bomb assassination of Russian journalist Darya Dugina in August.An assessment pointing toward Ukrainian responsibility for the attack was previously circulated within the US government, the report said, citing unnamed officials with knowledge of the situation. The United States has been frustrated by a perceived lack of transparency by Ukraine about its covert plans, particularly those set to take place on Russian soil, according to the report.Dugina, daughter of prominent political philosopher Alexander Dugin, was killed on August 20 in a car bomb attack after leaving an event where her father was also present. Some US officials reportedly suspected that Alexander Dugin was the intended target of the assassination.Ukrainian citizen Natalia Vovk was accused as a suspect in the attack by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), who claimed she entered Russia using a fake passport and then left the country through Estonia after carrying out the assassination.

https://sputniknews.com/20220615/biden-tells-zelensky-us-will-provide-another-1b-in-security-ukraine-assistance-1096350346.html

https://sputniknews.com/20220707/ukraine-sells-weapons-on-black-market-due-to-limits-on-ability-to-use-ex-pentagon-aide-says-1097040616.html

https://sputniknews.com/20220829/duginas-murder-planned-by-one-more-member-of-ukrainian-sabotage-group-fsb-1100103569.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20221012/leak-detected-on-druzhba-oil-pipeline-string-in-poland-operator-pern-says-1101745940.html

Leak Detected on Druzhba Oil Pipeline String in Poland, Operator PERN Says

Leak Detected on Druzhba Oil Pipeline String in Poland, Operator PERN Says

WARSAW (Sputnik) - A leak was detected on one of the two strings of the Druzhba oil pipeline  the main route for oil supplies to Germany  in Poland, Polish... 12.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-12T06:42+0000

2022-10-12T06:42+0000

2022-10-12T07:42+0000

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poland

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Pern's emergency services and a state fire brigade immediately rushed to the site to assess the situation, secure the area and begin restoration work, the statement read.Druzhba ("Friendship") is one of the biggest pipeline systems in the world, and serves as the largest supply way for oil transports from Russia and Kazakhstan to points in Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria and Germany.The leak was reported following terror attacks against another massive pipeline system - Nord Stream - which took place in September. Explosions damaged both the Nord Stream and Nor Stream Two threads, leading to a quick pressure drop.Russian authorities classified the incident as an act of international terrorism, hinting that the US and Great Britain are complicit in the incident. At the same time, Denmark and Sweden said they plan not to include Russia the investigation and the identification of those responsible for the explosions.

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Risks of US, NATO Being Drawn Into Ukraine Conflict High Right Now - White House

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The risks that the United States and NATO will be drawn into the Russia-Ukraine conflict are high right now, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said in an interview with CNN.

"The risks are high now, I mean there's no question about that," Kirby said on Wednesday when asked how high is the risk the United States and NATO will be drawn into the Ukraine conflict.

Kirby said the United States will continue to provide Ukraine with the kinds of capabilities it needs to succeed on the battlefield.
https://sputniknews.com/20221012/missile-strikes-continue-in-ukraine-trump-calls-for-negotiated-peace-deal-assange-protests-1101740933.html

Missile Strikes Continue in Ukraine; Trump Calls for Negotiated Peace Deal; Assange Protests

Missile Strikes Continue in Ukraine; Trump Calls for Negotiated Peace Deal; Assange Protests

Former President Donald Trump has joined Elon Musk, Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, and other notable celebrities in calling for an immediate negotiated end to the Ukraine... 12.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-12T08:20+0000

2022-10-12T08:20+0000

2022-10-12T08:20+0000

the critical hour

julian assange

donald trump

elon musk

jeffrey sachs

opec

haiti relief

lebanon

radio

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Missile Strikes Continue in Ukraine; Trump Calls for Negotiated Peace Deal; Assange Protests Former President Donald Trump has joined Elon Musk, Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, and other notable celebrities in calling for an immediate negotiated end to the Ukraine crisis.

Wyatt Reed, Sputnik News analyst, joins us to discuss Ukraine. Our own Wyatt Reed barely escaped a Ukrainian artillery attack on his hotel in Donbass. Also, cracks are appearing in Biden's Ukraine coalition.Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst and co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, joins us to discuss the Ukraine crisis. Former President Donald Trump has joined Elon Musk, Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, and other notable celebrities in calling for an immediate negotiated end to the Ukraine crisis. Also, Dr. Jeffrey Sachs has demanded that the Biden administration stop Ukraine from bombing the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant.Mark Sleboda, Moscow-based international relations security analyst, joins us to discuss the EU economic crisis. Sweden has said it will not share the outcome of its Nord Stream attack investigation with Russia. Also, both French and German leaders are upset that the US is price gouging Europe with astronomical LNG prices.Scott Ritter, former UN weapon inspector in Iraq, joins us to discuss foreign policy. OPEC's output decrease will have a significant effect on the midterms. Also, Russia continues with its missile attacks on Ukraine, and a former NATO Chief argues that the West needs to abandon the failed Ukraine project and move on to a confrontation with China.Laith Marouf, broadcaster and journalist based in Beirut, Lebanon, joins us to discuss the Middle East. Israel claims that it has resolved the border dispute with Lebanon. Also, Democrats are pushing to retaliate against the Saudis, and a new Palestinian generation is fighting the Israeli occupation.KJ Noh, peace activist and writer, joins us to discuss China. Taiwan's opposition party is working to have its voice heard. Also, China slams the Taiwanese president's secessionist speech.Niko House, political activist, independent journalist, and podcaster, joins us to discuss the Global South. Brazil's ongoing presidential election could significantly impact world geostrategic affairs. Also, the Black Alliance for Peace Rejects calls for more foreign intervention in Haiti.Steve Poikonen, national organizer for Action4Assange, joins us to discuss Julian Assange. Thousands rallied worldwide over the weekend to demand the release of Julian Assange.We'd love to get your feedback at radio@sputniknews.comThe views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the position of Sputnik

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https://sputniknews.com/20221012/philippines-kickstarts-first-ever-simultaneous-military-drills-with-us-australia-1101756885.html

Philippines Kickstarts First-Ever Simultaneous Military Drills With US, Australia

Philippines Kickstarts First-Ever Simultaneous Military Drills With US, Australia

The simultaneous military drills are taking place months after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. came to power in May. The new leader said during his trip to the... 12.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-12T12:56+0000

2022-10-12T12:56+0000

2022-10-12T12:56+0000

world

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The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) have launched the first ever simultaneous military drills involving forces from the US and Australia, as per an official statement issued by the Philippine Navy on Wednesday.The Philippine Navy has traditionally conducted joint exercises with Australian forces (LUMBAS) and the US (MTA SAMA-SAMA) separately at different times of the year.This years joint exercise shall undoubtedly reinforce the long-standing alliance and friendship among our respective nations while opening broad avenues to complement our joint regional security efforts and advance our maritime capabilities, said Lieutenant General Bartolome Vicente Bacarro, the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), who presided over the opening ceremony of the simultaneous drills in the coastal city of Lapu-Lapu.Representatives from the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, British Navy; Royal Brunei Navy, French Navy, Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Malaysian Navy will be present as observers at the joint drills, the Philippine Navy said.US, Philippines Ink Landmark Terms of Reference Pact to Bolster Maritime CooperationIn another development, the Philippine Navy announced on Wednesday that it has sealed a landmark terms of reference (TOR) agreement with the US Navys Seventh Fleet in order to boost maritime cooperation.The Navy stated that the pact was the culmination of the first-ever staff-level talks between itself and the Seventh Fleet in February this year.The Philippines is involved in a maritime dispute with Beijing over the sovereignty of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. While President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has said that Manila would be a friend to all, enemy to none during his leadership, he has at the same time vowed to not abandon even a square inch of territory to any power.

https://sputniknews.com/20220920/marcos-jr-says-fate-of-philippines-tied-to-us-as-partner-as-he-bats-for-american-investment-1101017486.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20221012/shots-fired-at-azerbaijan-embassy-vehicle-in-washington-foreign-ministry-says-1101748693.html

Shots Fired at Azerbaijan Embassy Vehicle in Washington, Foreign Ministry Says

Shots Fired at Azerbaijan Embassy Vehicle in Washington, Foreign Ministry Says

According to Baku, the incident occurred overnight, and Azerbaijani officials have already informed US authorities. 12.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-12T07:59+0000

2022-10-12T07:59+0000

2022-10-12T08:31+0000

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A vehicle which belongs to the Azerbaijani embassy in Washington has been attacked, the country's foreign ministry stated on Wednesday.So far it remains unclear who is behind the attack.Baku didn't elaborate on the details of the incident. However, the American charge d'affair was summoned to the Azerbaijani foreign ministry later in the day.

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https://sputniknews.com/20221012/taiwan-seeks-to-curry-favor-with-us-by-supporting-ukraine-expert-says-1101766789.html

Taiwan Seeks to Curry Favor With US by Supporting Ukraine, Expert Says

Taiwan Seeks to Curry Favor With US by Supporting Ukraine, Expert Says

Tensions in the Taiwan Strait remain high after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi paid an official visit to the island in August. Delegations sent to Taiwan by... 12.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-12T15:07+0000

2022-10-12T15:07+0000

2022-10-12T15:07+0000

us-china tensions over taiwan

china

taiwan

ukraine

support

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Taiwanese support for Kiev amid the ongoing Ukrainian conflict is likely a product of Taipeis eagerness to please the United States, geopolitical commentator Bi Dianlong has explained.Speaking with Sputnik China, Bi argued that Taiwanese authorities have always followed the United States lead and been eager to be Washingtons pawn.Whomever the US would point at, Taiwan would support them, he remarked.Bi also suggested that Taiwan compares its own situation with the conflict in Ukraine, pondering on the prospects of reunification with mainland China through military means.Meanwhile, Taiwan's National Security Bureau Director-General Chen Ming-tong declared that China has been paying attention to the events that unfold in Ukraine, and that the Chinese military has borrowed from the experience of the Russia-Ukraine war to develop 'hybrid warfare' against Taiwan and strengthen its combat training and preparation against strong enemies, according to Reuters.Chen also told local lawmakers that Chinas alleged military threat coalesced support from the United States and its allies for Taiwan to ensure what happened to Ukraine would not be repeated across the Taiwan Strait, as the media outlet put it.While Taiwan has been governed independently since 1949, Beijing regards it as one of Chinas provinces.Despite Taiwan claiming that it is an autonomous country, the Peoples Republic of China considers the island to be their inalienable part and opposes any official contact by foreign states with Taipei.Nevertheless, two delegations of US congressmen led by Republican Brad Wenstrup and Democrat Seth Moulton have arrived in Taiwan this week to meet the head of the island's administration Tsai Ing-wen.This move, which did little to improve Sino-US relations, comes after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island in August, heightening the tensions in the region and prompting China to large-scale military exercises in the regions vicinity.Although Taiwan previously alleged that China may send its military to retake control of the island, Beijing has refuted such claims and repeatedly insisted that reunification with Taiwan would occur through peaceful means.

https://sputniknews.com/20221009/chinese-ambassador-to-us-thanks-musk-for-his-stance-on-taiwan-1101657271.html

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https://sputniknews.com/20221012/twitter-reviewing-account-suspension-policy-likely-to-keep-trump-out-reports-suggest-1101752270.html

Twitter Reviewing Account Suspension Policy, Likely to Keep Trump Out, Reports Suggest

Twitter Reviewing Account Suspension Policy, Likely to Keep Trump Out, Reports Suggest

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Twitter is reviewing its policy related to the permanent suspension of accounts with the possibility of introducing less harsh measures in a... 12.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-12T10:10+0000

2022-10-12T10:10+0000

2022-10-12T10:14+0000

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However, any change in Twitter's policy, once introduced, would not provide for an unblocking of former US President Donald Trump's account because the removal of bans for inciting violence is not under discussion, the report said.The months-long review, which has not yet given any results, comes as US rapper Kanye West's Twitter account was blocked following publication of "anti-Semitic" tweet on Saturday, according to the newspaper.Trump was banned from Twitter and Facebook* following the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. The platforms deemed that his activities in relation to the event violated their policies. The former president later launched a new social network Truth Social to fight Big Tech censorship and protect the right of free speech and expression.Musk reached an agreement with Twitter on the acquisition of the social network for $54.20 per share in a transaction valued at approximately $44 billion in late April. Musk later said that he would like to revolutionize Twitter's role in public debate, as "free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated."* Facebook and its parent company Meta are banned in Russia as extremist, terrorist organizations.

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https://sputniknews.com/20221012/two-delegations-of-us-congressmen-arrive-in-taiwan-1101748744.html

Two Delegations of US Congressmen Arrive in Taiwan

Two Delegations of US Congressmen Arrive in Taiwan

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Two delegations of US congressmen led by Republican Brad Wenstrup and Democrat Seth Moulton have arrived in Taiwan despite increased... 12.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-12T08:01+0000

2022-10-12T08:01+0000

2022-10-12T08:01+0000

us-china tensions over taiwan

china

us

taiwan

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The two delegations will stay in Taiwan until Thursday. During the visit, the US congressmen plan to meet with the head of the island's administration, Tsai Ing-wen, to exchange views on bilateral relations, issues of regional security, and trade and economic cooperation, according to the island's foreign ministry.The situation around Taiwan escalated after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island in early August. Beijing condemned Pelosi's trip, which it regarded as a gesture of support for separatism, and launched large-scale military exercises in the vicinity of the island. Despite this fact, several countries, including France, the United States, Japan and others, have sent their delegations to the island since then, further increasing tensions in the Taiwan Strait.Taiwan has been governed independently from mainland China since 1949. Beijing views the island as its province, while Taiwan  a territory with its own elected government  maintains that it is an autonomous country but stops short of declaring independence. Beijing opposes any official contacts of foreign states with Taipei and considers Chinese sovereignty over the island indisputable.

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https://sputniknews.com/20221012/uk-spy-chiefs-hooligan-nature-revealed-by-badmouthing-chinas-tech-use-1101775848.html

UK Spy Chief's Hooligan Nature Revealed by Badmouthing Chinas Tech Use

UK Spy Chief's Hooligan Nature Revealed by Badmouthing Chinas Tech Use

When British gentlemen desperately badmouthed China's use of technology, losing their dignity and revealing their true hooligan nature, it's perhaps the most... 12.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-12T16:08+0000

2022-10-12T16:08+0000

2022-10-12T16:08+0000

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Jeremy Fleming, head of Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), UK's electronic spy agency, on Tuesday accused China of trying to "rewrite the rules of international security," claiming China is using its economic and technological clout to clamp down at home and exert control abroad, AP reported.According to Fleming, the way China deploys emerging technology, from satellite systems such as BeiDou to digital currencies, could represent a "huge threat to us all." Fleming's planned speech comes after the head of the FBI and his British counterpart groundlessly accused China of using "every tool" to steal Western technology in July.This, of course, is utter nonsense. Concocting "China technological threat" theory has become one of the priorities of British and US intelligence agencies. It seems only by constantly fabricating and exaggerating the "security threat from China" can they demonstrate the value of their existence and obtain more funding and private interests.Fleming, Britain's top cyber spy, talked rubbish. He singled out BeiDou, claiming the system could be used to block adversaries' access to space or bolster surveillance. We have to ask: Then what are the EU's Galileo system and US' GPS satellite system used for? Why can't China have its own navigation satellite system which will not only meet the demand of the country's national security, economic as well as social development but also better serve global users by providing more stable and reliable services?As a matter of fact, the UK and US intelligence agencies' weaponization of technologies is truly the greatest security threat to the world. British commentator Tom Fowdy told the Global Times that "Fleming's claim is hypocritical projection from the UK. There are no other countries on earth who utilize technology for surveillance and coercive purposes than Britain and the United States as a part of the five eyes alliance." He further said China's goal is to utilize technology for its own development and progress, and not for far-reaching geopolitical or hegemonic ambitions.The US, the UK and some other Western countries have long been engaged in weaponizing technologies in spying and monitoring military enterprises, scientific research institutes, and government agencies of not only their deemed rivals but also allies.A cybersecurity report in June showed the US military and government cyber agencies had remotely stolen over 97 billion pieces of global internet data and 124 billion phone records over the past 30 days, which became a significant source of intelligence for the US, the UK and other "Five Eyes" countries. Earlier this month, the US National Security Agency was exposed after it launched a cyberattack and engaged in data theft against the Northwestern Polytechnical University in China.The intelligence network created by the US and the UK is the source of evil in the world and the biggest threat to global security.The US and the UK intelligence agencies have a bad record. Based on past facts, the US and the UK must have projected their own foul deeds and crimes onto China. "The Royal United Services Institute, as an old leading think tank in the UK, has allowed the insane rhetoric of the intelligence agency chief to come to the fore. Where is its basic ability to judge the quality of a speech?" asked Shen.This article was originally published by the Gloabal Times.

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https://sputniknews.com/20221012/white-house-unveils-new-security-strategy-saying-us-not-seeking-conflict-or-new-cold-war-1101775757.html

New US Security Strategy: No Cold War But China and Russia Still Main Threats

New US Security Strategy: No Cold War But China and Russia Still Main Threats

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The United States does not seek conflict or new cold war and wants to avoid situation in which competition escalates into world of rigid... 12.10.2022, Sputnik International

2022-10-12T16:07+0000

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2022-10-12T18:02+0000

americas

us

white house

us national security strategy

russia

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start treaty

new start treaty

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"We also want to avoid a world in which competition escalates into a world of rigid blocs. We do not seek conflict or a new Cold War. Rather, we are trying to support every country, regardless of size or strength, in exercising the freedom to make choices that serve their interests. This is a critical difference between our vision, which aims to preserve the autonomy and rights of less powerful states, and that of our rivals, which does not," the White House said.The United States sees strategic competition as global but will avoid temptation to view world solely through competitive lens, as per the country's new national security strategy document."Strategic competition is global, but we will avoid the temptation to view the world solely through a competitive lens, and engage countries on their own terms," the White House said.US Sees China as Most Consequential Challenge, Russia as Security ThreatThe White Houses new national security strategy views China as the most consequential geopolitical challenge to the United States, even more so than Russia.The strategy recognizes that "the PRC presents Americas most consequential geopolitical challenge, National Security Council Jake Sullivan said in a press conference.At the same time, the United States believes it is possible to coexist peacefully with China and jointly contribute to human progress"It is possible for the United States and the PRC [Peoples Republic of China] to coexist peacefully, and share in and contribute to human progress together," the White House said in its new National Security Strategy.China plays central role in the global economy and has a significant impact on shared challenges, particularly climate change and global public health, the new National Security Strategy read.As for Russia, Washingron will develop "pragmatic modes" on interacting with Moscow to address mutually beneficial issues.US Has Interest in Security in Taiwan StraitThe United States has an interest in maintaining peace and security across the Taiwan Strait, and remains committed to both the One China policy and the Taiwan Relations Act. We have an abiding interest in maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, which is critical to regional and global security and prosperity and a matter of international concern and attention. We oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side, and do not support Taiwan independence, the White House said in its new National Security Strategy. Washington remains committed to its One China policy, as well as the Taiwan Relations Act, the Three Joint Communiques, and the Six Assurances, the document added. And we will uphold our commitments under the Taiwan Relations Act to support Taiwans self-defense and to maintain our capacity to resist any resort to force or coercion against Taiwan, the strategy said.US Seeks to Reduce Risks of Nuclear War But Will Modernize Its ArsenalThe United States is committed to reducing risks of nuclear war but will modernize its nuclear weapons and strengthen its deterrence commitments to its allies."The United States has set forth a new framework for US policy in the region based on Americas unparalleled comparative advantage in building partnerships, coalitions, and alliances to strengthen deterrence, while using diplomacy to de-escalate tensions, reduce risks of new conflicts, and set a long-term foundation for stability," it added.However, according to the released document, the United States retains an interest in preserving strategic stability and developing a more expansive, transparent and verifiable arms control infrastructure to succeed New START.America retains an interest in preserving strategic stability and developing a more expansive, transparent, and verifiable arms control infrastructure to succeed New START and in rebuilding European security arrangements which, due to Russias actions, have fallen in to disrepair, the White House said.US Seeks Expansion of Economic OpportunitiesMain goals of the new national security strategy are protecting Americans and expanding US economic opportunities."President Bidens National Security Strategy outlines how the United States will advance our vital interests and pursue a free, open, prosperous, and secure world. We will leverage all elements of our national power to outcompete our strategic competitors; tackle shared challenges; and shape the rules of the road," the White House said.It added that the strategy will protect the security of Americans and "expand economic opportunity" and "realize and defend the democratic values at the heart of the American way of life."As per the document, the US has emphasized an urgent need to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels in its new national security strategy, pledging to work with its partners and allies to this end.We know that long-term energy security depends on clean energy. Recognizing this transition will not happen overnight, we will work with partners and allies to ensure energy security and affordability, secure access to critical mineral supply chains, and create a just transition for impacted workers, the document stated.It named collaborators including the International Energy Agency, US-EU Task Force on European Energy Security, Clean Energy Ministerial and Mission Innovation, Power Africa, Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum, and Partnership for Transatlantic Energy and Climate Cooperation.US to Deepen Allied Cooperation in ArcticThe US plans to deepen its cooperation with Arctic allies and partners and maintain regional institutions such as the Arctic Council despite the challenges posed by Russia's operation in Ukraine, according to its new national security strategy document.We will deepen our cooperation with our Arctic allies and partners and work with them to sustain the Arctic Council and other Arctic institutions despite the challenges to Arctic cooperation posed by Russias war in Ukraine, the document stated. It noted that Russia had made significant military investments in the Arctic over the last decade, creating new risks of unintended conflict and hindering cooperation.

https://sputniknews.com/20221004/scholar-us-escalates-rhetoric-to-pressure-china-ahead-of-midterms--beijings-20th-party-congress-1101503544.html

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In a statement issued last week by Horse Racing Alberta's Chief Executive Officer Kent Verlik, Dawn Lupul is joining the organization effective October 15, 2022.

Lupul will start in the position of Director, Corporate Communications and Stakeholder Engagement this weekend.

"Dawn comes to us with decades of experience in the horse racing world, most notably as the well-respected voice of the Woodbine simulcast broadcast for ten years," said Verlik. "She has participated in many facets of both thoroughbred and standardbred racing, not only as a broadcaster but also as an owner, breeder and trainer."

According to the statement, Lupul will be "responsible for HRA corporate communications, stakeholder relations and engagement initiatives. She will lead the development of a corporate communication strategy and and play a key role in public and industry stakeholder engagement."

As part of her role, Lupul will be tasked with "helping to build positive relationships with all stakeholders, increasing stakeholders knowledge of HRAs mandate, vision, mission and values, and consulting with stakeholders to co-create a renewed values-based culture in the Alberta horse racing industry." Verlik inducated that she "will also act as a liaison between Horse Racing Alberta and industry participants and will assist in sharing news and information that is important to our partners. She will report directly to the Chief Executive Officer."

The statement also indicated that Jeff Robillard's position title will shift to Director, Marketing & Promotions from its previous title of Director, Marketing & Communications.

"This change reflects our new approach to co-operative and collaborative marketing with our stakeholders, including the promotion of new programs, products and initiatives," said Verlik.

(with files from HRA; Lupul photo courtesy Twitter / @DawnLupul)
Richard Westerink enjoys travelling, and his French standout Etonnant has brought him on an amazing journey this season.

Etonnant, an eight-year-old son of Westerinks champion Timoko, heads to Saturdays $1 million MGM Yonkers International Trot at Yonkers Raceway with this years Elitloppet title to his credit and nearly $1.2 million in purses from 12 starts in 2022. He has finished no worse than second in nine of those races, winning five.

Over his past five starts, which date back to his Elitloppet triumph in Sweden on May 29, the stallion has three victories and two seconds, with the setbacks coming by a neck and a head to multiple Group 1 winner Vivid Wise As.

The trip to Yonkers brings Etonnant to his seventh different track in his fourth different country this season.

I like to race over here; I love New York, said Westerink, who owns and trains Etonnant and is bringing a horse to the International Trot for the third time. I love racing everywhere in the world. I like travelling. I like to do things other do not do.

[Etonnant] is winning a lot of big races. I have a chance to race in the good races like that, and thats fun.

For his career, Etonnant has won 15 of 58 races and earned nearly $1.9 million. Those numbers exclude five under-saddle victories, good for an additional half-million dollars. He has four Group 1 wins, three of which have come this year, including the Elitloppet.

This is his best year, said Westerink. Last year was very good also, but this year is exceptional. I think hes growing up and is a little bit stronger than before.

Hes not a trotting machine, like his father, but hes a very strong horse, a big horse.

Etonnants win in the Elitloppet  a race Timoko captured twice  came after the stallion went off stride at the half and found himself in seventh place on the backstretch. He rallied with a four-wide move around the final turn and charged down the outside of the stretch to victory.

It was amazing, said Westerink. I said it was over [after the miscue] and then he won.

On Saturday, Etonnant will try to win one of the races that eluded his father. Timoko competed in the 2015 International Trot, which marked the return of the event after a 20-year absence, and finished second to Papagayo E.

Timoko raced on the outside for the entire distance of 1-1/4 miles while Papagayo E saved ground on the pylons before taking advantage of his pocket trip behind Creatine and bursting through the then-existing passing lane to win by a half-length.

We were beaten when there was an open stretch, said Westerink. [Timoko] went an amazing race.

Etonnant, out of the French mare Migraine, will start the International Trot from post seven (coincidently, the same as in the Elitloppet final) with regular driver Anthony Barrier and is the 5-2 morning-line favourite in the field of 10. Westerink was grateful for an outside starting position, admitting the half-mile oval at Yonkers is a concern.

Im afraid a little bit, said Westerink. Well see if he can take the turns over here. Well see in a couple of days. Its a little track for him.

Im very happy with the [post]. He can have a little bit of space on the outside in the first turn and then I hope we will see him up there on the front. Hes a very tough horse with a lot of speed. I think we can be maybe three-wide and thats not a problem.

Favourites have won three of the five editions of the International Trot since its renewal in 2015. Italys Zacon Gio, one of those favourites, won the most recent of the International Trot in 2019 before two pandemic-related cancellations of the event. The seven-year-old stallion is back to defend his crown and will start from post 10 in the second tier on Saturday.

Racing begins at 12:30 p.m. (EDT). There also will be two $250,000 invitationals  the MGM Aria Pace and MGM Robert Miecuna Trot  on the International Trot Day card. Both will go with 10-horse fields and be raced at the distance of 1-1/4 miles.

The International Trot (race seven) is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. It will be the first leg of a $20,000 guaranteed Late Pick-4, which also includes the Robert Miecuna Trot and Aria Pace as races eight and 10, in conjunction with the USTAs Strategic Wagering Program.

A lunch buffet dining option is available on the second floor of the Empire Terrace at a cost of $80 per person on MGM Yonkers International Trot Day. Tickets will be sold at the door, but advance reservations can be made by calling 609-317-7295.

There will be a Yonkers International Trot hat or t-shirt giveaway to the first 500 fans on the track apron.

The following is the field for the International Trot with driver, trainer and morning line odds.

$1 million Yonkers International Trot

Post - Horse (Country Represented) - Driver - Trainer - Morning Line

1. Tycoon Conway Hall (Denmark) - Kasper Foget - Flemming Jensen - 4-1

2. Lovedbythemasses (Canada) - Todd McCarthy - Jeff Cullipher - 10-1

3. Cokstile (Norway) - Vincenzo DellAnnunziata - Mattia Orlando - 5-1

4. Stoletheshow (Norway) - Frode Hamre - Frode Hamre - 8-1

5. Ecurie D (Denmark) - Ake Svanstedt - Ake Svanstedt - 3-1

6. Back Of The Neck (USA) - Tim Tetrick - Ake Svanstedt - 7-2

7. Etonnant (France) - Anthony Barrier - Richard Westerink - 5-2

8. Its Academic (USA) - David Miller - Ron Burke - 12-1

9.] Kennedy (Sweden) - Jason Bartlett - Erik Bondo - 8-1

10.] Zacon Gio (Italy) - Roberto Vecchione - Holger Ehlert - 9-2

(With files from USTA)
High-achieving and career-focused when she was a student at Eastern View High School, Judith Alvarez is back in her hometown putting those skills to use helping other young people find employment.

As winner of Career Partners 2017 E-Squared Competition, Alvarez and her fellow student partners developed an innovative product for first responders called Trauma Bands.

The device could measure blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature and pulse oxygen and share them via an app on the first responders phone, the Culpeper Star-Exponent reported of the teams winning entry five years ago.

For that idea, Alvarez and her two partners each received a $5,000 scholarship from Career Partners, a Culpeper nonprofit that prepares young people for the real-world workplace.

After studying for two years at Lord Fairfax Community College, the former Eastern View student used her E-Squared scholarship to complete a bachelors degree in government, politics and policy at Liberty University, Career Partners said in a statement. Alvarez knew her next move after college, and it was rooted in her hometown.

I actually was looking to move back to Culpeper after graduation because of my connections to the community and to my family, but I didnt know of any career opportunities, she said.

Thats when Alvarez connected with her future employer through Career Partners newly formed E Squared Alumni Network on LinkedIn.

I was impressed with Judith when I judged her E Squared team five years ago, said Marty Bywaters-Baldwin, chief mission officer at Rappahannock Goodwill, who is a member of the Career Partners board. Im even more excited to have her join our team in Culpeper this year.

In her new role as youth case manager at the Virginia Career Works Center in downtown Culpeper, Alvarez helps 16- to 24-year-olds with career planning, job search and scholarship funding.

She summed up the benefits of returning home to begin her career: Its rewarding to connect with young people who are in the middle of making big life decisions. Ive been there myself, Alvarez said.
RICHMONDAmid rising evictions in Virginia, a state legislator plans to reintroduce an expired public health emergency law which could help tenants pay their rent, although invested parties debate its efficacy.

Tenants, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, had a five-day period to get up to date on unpaid rent or vacate the property without having the case go to court. This stretch is known as the pay or quit period. Former Gov. Ralph Northam introduced the lengthened 14-day period alongside other special laws during a declared state of emergency in 2021. The provision expired June 30.

The number of eviction judgments began increasing this year. An eviction judgment is the official judgment made by the courts dictating whether a tenant is in violation of their lease for nonpayment of rent or any other lease breaking infraction. An eviction judgment is different from an eviction filing. The eviction filing is the official complaint made by the landlord stating the reason for the eviction. The filing is simply the first step in the legal process and will not necessarily lead to a tenant vacating the property. The RVA Eviction Lab, which operates from the Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University, tracks these numbers. Its focus is meeting eviction data and research needs to help drive policy and advocacy.

There was an estimated 60% increase in eviction judgments in the second quarter of the year, from April to June, according to data from Benjamin Teresa, co-director of the RVA Eviction Lab and an associate professor at VCU. Approximately 7,800 judgments were issued in the second quarter, Teresa stated. That is compared to 4,864 in the first quarter, or January through March, according to Teresa. The higher numbers track with the expiration of emergency provisions.

Del. Cia Price, D-Newport News, plans to reintroduce a bill to lengthen the pay or quit period to 14 days versus the current five days. She sponsored House Bill 803 earlier in the year to cement the lengthened pay or quit period put in place in 2021. The bill died in committee along a party line vote, despite landlord and tenant support in her district, Price said.

The original timeline is not enough, considering a standard pay period is 14 days, Price said.

The five days in the five-day pay or quit was completely arbitrary, Price said. That 14 days helped you get to the next check.

Most people will receive a paycheck during the lengthened notice period, instead of approximately 35% who receive a paycheck during a five-day period, stated Martin Wegbreit, director of litigation at the Central Virginia Legal Aid Society, in an email.

Wegbreit represents tenants facing eviction in court and says an extension would help many people stay secure in their housing.

Quantifying how many more tenants will be able to pay with a longer notice period is not easy to calculate, but certainly it is a significant number, Wegbreit stated.

The extended pay or quit notice was not the only provision put in place to help those facing eviction, but it did not require extra funding and it was pushed to become permanent by legislators.

Christine E. Marra is the director of housing advocacy at the Virginia Poverty Law Center. The rise in evictions is not a surprise as the special laws and funding made available during the pandemic have ended, she said.

We are finished with the protections and that is the reason why you are seeing this huge spike in eviction cases, Marra said.

Some experts do not think permanently extending the pay or quit period would make a meaningful difference to tenants.

The additional nine days only matters to the courts, said Tommy Herbert, manager of government affairs at the Virginia Apartment Management Association. The length of the pay or quit period only affects the timeline of the preliminary court hearing, not the actual eviction, according to Herbert, because of the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenants Act passed in February 2021.

That act, also sponsored by Price, established the tenants unlimited right of redemption. This means tenants can pay back everything due to their landlord up to 48 hours before the scheduled eviction, and can do that as many times needed during their lease.

In Virginia, given that the unlimited right of redemption exists for such a long period, the actual [eviction] filing timeline becomes immaterial, Herbert said.

The typical time it takes to complete an eviction is anywhere from 30 to 45 days, depending on the Virginia locality, according to Virginia Apartment Management Association CEO Patrick McCloud.

McCloud agreed that the unlimited right of redemption made the 14-day pay or quit extension pointless.

The redemption is there so the process can start moving, but someone can still be secure in their housing, McCloud said.

However, not all tenants will want to face a proceeding that involves the court for mediation.

The best way to bring down evictions and eviction filings is to get tenants up to date on their payments, Herbert said.

Rent relief and bringing a tenant current is a great way to prevent an eviction filing from ever happening, Herbert said.

Rent relief requires funding, which has mostly dried up. The Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development closed its applications for state-wide relief funding on May 15, leaving only local programs available which can be found through the Virginia Department of Social Services by dialing 211 VIRGINIA.

Educating tenants on their rights can greatly increase their protection in eviction cases, according to advocates at the Virginia Poverty Law Center. Advocates recommend to show up to court dates to avoid hasty default judgments and see if there are any local rental relief programs available. Tenants facing eviction can get free legal advice available through the Legal Aid Justice Center and the Virginia Poverty Law Center.
There will be a new king of the Omaha skyline, and it will bear the lion logo of Mutual of Omaha.

Mutuals new headquarters in the heart of downtown will become the citys tallest building when it opens in 2026, company CEO James Blackledge said in an interview last week.

The now-completed construction plans for the $600 million, 44-story skyscraper call for it to rise 677 feet. Thats 43 feet taller than First National Bank Tower, which has been the citys tallest structure for the past two decades.

Blackledge said constructing the citys tallest building was not an objective of the company as it launched its pursuit of a new headquarters. But he said Mutual is proud to add to the citys skyline and the energy and vitality of the citys downtown core.

I think people see skylines and it does create an impression of all the things we want Omaha to be perceived as  a vibrant, growing, thriving place where people can live and work and prosper, he said.

Indeed, the Fortune 500 insurers new skyscraper figures to reshape downtown Omaha, and in more ways than one.

Urban planning experts say downtown skylines help define a city. Tall buildings become powerful symbols of a citys stature and growth, their gravity-defying reach for the clouds embodying human aspirations to achieve new heights.

An iconic tall building enhances the global image of the city ... signaling and promoting its significant economic progress and advancement, wrote Kheir Al-Kodmany, a professor of urban planning at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

The Mutual of Omaha tower represents the first significant addition to downtown Omahas skyline in a generation.

It also may be the largest single infusion of workers into Omahas downtown core. The move of Mutual of Omahas metro workforce of 4,000 into downtown dovetails with an ambitious chamber of commerce goal of pulling 30,000 additional jobs and 30,000 new residents into Omahas urban core over the next two decades.

In addition, the Mutual building is serving as a catalyst for a proposed downtown-to-midtown streetcar system.

Mayor Jean Stothert in January pledged her support for the $306 million, 3-mile streetcar line, which was announced in conjunction with Mutuals plan to anchor its headquarters downtown. The two projects are now linked by a development agreement signed by the city and Mutual that obligates the city to follow through on the streetcar plan if the building goes up as planned.

Newly released images of the Mutual of Omaha building show it towering over the block bounded by Douglas, Farnam, 14th and 15th Streets that for decades was home to Omahas main library. The skyscrapers east windows stare down the newly revamped Gene Leahy Mall and to the rest of the riverfront beyond.

Another image depicts the citys new skyline looking south from the airport drive, with Omahas three tallest buildings all aligned: the Mutual tower, First Nationals and the headquarters tower for WoodmenLife.

On Friday, the first visible steps toward the construction of Mutual of Omahas new tower could be seen. Demolition of the former library was underway, with a front-end loader hauling piles of debris out of the old buildings busted-out west doors.

Other city plans call for opening a new downtown library branch on Jones Street and building a new main city library at 72nd and Dodge.

Formal construction of the Mutual building is set to start in January and finish sometime in 2026  the same year the streetcar line is supposed to start running.

The new Mutual building will not only be the tallest in Omaha, but also the tallest in a multi-state region. Among states surrounding Nebraska, only Denver has buildings that rise higher.

While Blackledge said hes excited that the building will arguably become the tallest between Chicago and Denver, hes equally excited about what it will mean for Mutuals workers.

Its designed to bring workers together in ways that foster teamwork, engagement and innovation while also including amenities that can help the company keep and attract talent.

Particular highlights include a first-floor lobby atrium that will beckon the public, a sky lobby with services for employees and top-floor meeting spaces with 360-degree views of the city.

Part of the spirit of this is how we bring people together, Blackledge said. We believe it will truly be a beacon for our associates, for new generations of talent, and for the community.

* * *

Mutual of Omaha, based near 33rd and Dodge Streets for more than eight decades, for years has been studying its facilities needs and pondering a potential new headquarters.

Mutual was approached more than a year ago by developer Jason Lanoha, who proposed the insurance company build its new headquarters downtown.

Blackledge said it certainly would have been cheaper for the company to build on vacant ground somewhere in the suburbs. But he said Mutual of Omahas board liked the idea of investing in the future of downtown and locating in the heart of the city.

Omaha is in our name, Blackledge said. We bought in early to what we see as the positive economic impact of this project.

Initially, Lanohas focus was to locate the tower on the long-vacant block it owned at 14th and Dodge, site of the former Union Pacific headquarters.

Lanoha also suggested that Mutual of Omaha ask the city if it would be willing to reroute its developing streetcar system to include the new headquarters site along its path. So Mutual approached the city in September 2021 with just such a plan.

At the time, the city was in the process of relocating the downtown library and quietly considering half a dozen potential developments for the site. Rather than mess with the streetcar route, the city instead offered up the library site to Mutual.

Blackledge and Stothert jointly announced plans for Mutuals new headquarters in January. But up until now, its precise number of stories and height were not known. Those couldnt be determined until the companys exact space needs were determined and plans for the buildings specifications drawn up.

That planning is now complete. Mutuals 677-foot tower will top the 634-foot First National Bank Tower, which has been the citys tallest since it opened in 2002.

First Nationals tower can still lay claim to having the most stories  45, which is one more than the new Mutual building. Mutuals will be taller in part because its floors will be spaced farther apart, the result of a modern air-handling system thats among the buildings features.

Blackledge said other features of the building will include:

A sky lobby that will greet associates as they enter from the parking facility. Located on floors 16 through 20, it will feature a variety of food services, a fitness center, employee wellness services, a technical support center to service employees laptops and other devices, and meeting spaces.

The three lower floors of the sky lobby will feature outdoor terraces with sweeping views of downtown, outdoor dining, meeting and fitness spaces.

The 44th floor will offer views in all directions from a two-story atrium and hold large conference rooms and other meeting spaces.

The public street-level lobby will feature displays paying homage to the companys history, the services it offers and impact.

A parking garage extending up through the 15th floor can hold 2,200 vehicles. The city has agreed to pay nearly $100 million for the garage, recouping the expense by leasing the spaces to Mutual employees during the day and to downtown visitors during off-hours.

Blackledge said city ownership and shared public-private use of the garage is more efficient and will benefit both Mutual of Omaha and the city.

I know people will look at that and say, The city is just giving you a parking garage, Blackledge said. Well, no, the city is building a parking garage, and were going to lease it from them. The city is in the parking business, and they do it pretty well, its my understanding. I think thats a win-win.

At 800,000 square feet, the new headquarters will be half the size of Mutuals current 1.7 million-square-foot campus.

Blackledge said thats taking into account that the work-from-home and hybrid work models induced by the pandemic will continue into the future. Its believed only about 2,400 of the companys workers will be in the building on any given day.

Some workers will have formal desks. Others who primarily work from home will have shared hoteling space when in the office.

Blackledge said the company worked closely with its design partners to create a headquarters that is appropriately sized, designed to foster collaboration, and adaptable to new ways of working that could emerge in the future.

Blackledge said the building will also be more cost-efficient to operate than the companys current headquarters.

The building wont have an executive floor. Senior leaders will be positioned near the workers of the divisions they oversee.

Blackledge is not even sure there will be a formal CEOs office. During the pandemic, he said, hes become used to putting a laptop in a backpack and roaming around Mutuals current headquarters, interacting with other executives and workers.

Im really loving it, he said. Theres nothing so far where anyone has tried to design an office for me.

Mutual has a number of partners on the project in addition to the city and Lanoha Real Estate. Mutual is working with a design team that includes global architecture firm HOK; design architect Pickard Chilton of New Haven, Connecticut; architect of record Kendall/Heaton Associates of Houston; and Omahas Alvine Engineering.

JE Dunn Construction Group, a major construction company whose primary office is in Kansas City, is the general contractor.

For its part, the city has advanced numerous pieces of the project. The City Council approved $1 million to demolish and prepare the library site, passed some $60 million in tax-increment financing to help Mutual pay for public improvements related to the project, and backed the development agreement.

Blackledge said he has not yet spoken to Clark Lauritzen, president of First National, to break the news of the size of Mutuals building.

We were never in an arms race to build the biggest one, Blackledge said.

In fact, if someone else wants to one day add a taller one to Omahas skyline, Blackledge said, thats all the better.
Nebraskans are hard-working, resilient, and innovative. One of the many reasons I love traveling the state is that I get to see that spirit on full display in communities across Nebraska.

In North Platte, for example, I attended the groundbreaking ceremony for Sustainable Beef  a new project to create a regional processing plant owned by producers themselves. As evidenced by the name, the company will also leverage the best stewards of our environment  family farmers and ranchers  to promote environmentally and economically sustainable practices.

Seeing as Nebraska is the beef state, it follows that it would be our states ranchers and entrepreneurs who would create such an exciting opportunity for the sector. When operational, its estimated Sustainable Beef will support nearly 900 direct jobs and generate roughly $1.1 billion in annual economic impact.

It was an honor to participate in the ceremony celebrating this important milestone. There is no doubt that Sustainable Beefs efforts will help grow the beef supply chain, promote stewardship of our natural resources, and support rural communities.

Later in the week, I had the opportunity to visit one of BDs manufacturing facilities in Holdrege. BD is a medical technology company, and at their Holdrege plant they make special types of syringes. Their modern facility, with advanced equipment like robotics to facilitate high production rates, was impressive.

Red Cloud is utilizing an entirely different approach. economy. Red Cloud is the home of the Willa Cather Center, which attracts visitors from around the country. This means that tourism is a crucial pillar of their economic development.

Red Cloud recently began construction on a new boutique hotel, which should help serve additional tourists who make their way to the community to learn about Willa Cather and her incredible literary legacy.

Innovation and new economic activity can take many forms. While in the state last week, I also had the chance to highlight how traditional infrastructure  thats roads, bridges, airports, and drinking water systems  is vital to communities and their future.

In York, for example, the community has begun work on projects to improve pedestrian safety, including the construction of overpass over Highway 81, street curbs, and new school crossing lights. These investments will help to ensure children can walk safely to and from school.

At another event in Kearney, I joined airport officials and local leaders in a ribbon cutting celebrating the arrival of a new flight service. Denver Air Connection, which is stepping in for SkyWest, will operate a number of nonstop, round-trip flights to Denver International Airport every week. Communities like Kearney rely on their local airport to promote economic activity and provide the region with reliable access to the transportation network. This is why I was thrilled to announce in January that the Kearney airport would receive over $1 million to support upgrade and improvement projects.

I have worked closely with the Dept. of Transportation to emphasize what the Essential Air Service does for rural communities across Nebraska. The new Denver Air Connection service is a great resolution to the issue, and I am excited to see the Kearney community continue to thrive.

In every corner of Nebraska, you can find entrepreneurial individuals working hard to make their community a better place. I look forward to continuing to collaborate on these important developments and pursuing policies that will drive Nebraskas economy for years to come.

Thank you for participating in the democratic process. I look forward to visiting with you again next week.
COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in Nebraska continue to move in a positive direction, with cases falling for the fifth straight week.

Nebraska recorded 1,028 new cases last week, down 16% from 1,224 the previous week, according to data compiled from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Case numbers have dropped more than 75% since the end of July and are now at their lowest level since late May.

Nebraskas case trends mirror those nationally, as the majority of states have seen declining numbers since July. U.S. cases are at their lowest levels since April. Nebraskas overall case levels are 11th lowest among the states.

The state has tallied more than 538,000 COVID cases.

What the virus will do next, however, isn't entirely clear. Fall and winter brought surges in both 2020 and 2021 as people retreated indoors and new variants took over. While cases are down in the U.S., they are up in some European nations.

Health officials are urging Americans to get the new bivalent booster shots, which cover both the original strain of COVID-19 and the omicron variants now circulating.

So far, however, uptake has been slow. By the end of September, about 7.6 million eligible people had gotten the updated shot, which became available for people 12 and older over the Labor Day weekend. Some 200 million people are eligible.

The agency recommends the shots for healthy people if it has been at least two months since their last vaccine dose, whether that was the last shot in their primary series or their latest dose of the original booster. It doesn't matter how many boosters people have had before as long as they have completed a primary series, according to a recent post by Nebraska Medicine.

People who recently have had COVID-19 may consider delaying the new booster by three months from when their symptoms started or they first tested positive. The CDC has an online tool to help people determine when they need boosters.

Health officials also are encouraging people to get flu shots in order to avoid a dual outbreak that could strain hospitals. The agency has said people can get both shots at the same time.

An average of 137 Nebraskans were hospitalized with COVID last week, down from 142 the previous week. That's the lowest level since early June, similar to the national trend.

The state also added nine deaths last week to bring its toll of confirmed and probable deaths to 4,551. The nation as a whole saw deaths drop below 400 a day after hovering above that number for weeks.
The Iredell-Statesville Schools Board of Education passed three resolutions at Monday nights board meeting.

The first resolution passed requested approval from the Iredell County Board of Commissioners for the transfer of funds to capital outlay.

By state law, the board is required to have county commissioners approval when moving funds from the current expense fund to the capital outlay fund.

The board is requesting permission to transfer up to $7 million. The resolution states the board plans to use the money on multiple projects to renovate old school buildings during the current fiscal year.

According to the board attorney, the county commissioners have 30 days to respond to the resolution.

The second resolution passed requested adequate support for schools from Superintendent Jeff James comprising things public education has had removed over previous year.

The third resolution passed requested Mitchell Community College and Iredell-Statesville Schools to establish an early college program in partnership with the current Career and Technical Education program at CATS and the community college.

The goal of the partnership would be to establish a program that allows students to obtain a high school diploma and an associate degree or other career certifications at the same time in the career and technical education field.

In the resolution, James and the board of education called on the board of trustees at Mitchell Community College to collaborate with the superintendent and school administration to establish an early college program at CATS. Final approval of such program would be required by the board of education.

All three resolutions passed unanimously.
The N.C. Conference of Clerks of Superior Court recently held its 2022 Summer Educational Conference in Dare County. In addition to daily training seminars and committee meetings, executive officers for 2022-23 were sworn in by Associate Supreme Court Justice Phil Berger Jr.

The Honorable J. Yancey Washington, Granville County Clerk of Superior Court, was installed as the new president of the N.C. Conference of Clerks of Superior Court for 2022-23 on Sept. 22. Washington has been active in the conference and NCAOC since his tenure as clerk of superior court began in 2014. He has served on numerous committees for the judicial branch and the School of Government at Chapel Hill and is enthusiastic to be president for the first year of eCourts with Tyler Technologies in North Carolina.

Iredell County Clerk of Superior Court Jim Mixson was installed as second vice president of the conference for 2022-023. In this role he will also serve as co-chairman of the conferences Legislative Committee. In addition, Mixson serves on the Technology Committee and is the chairman of the Training Committee. Since 2019 Mixson has served on the N.C. Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission which makes recommendations to the N.C. General Assembly for the modification of sentencing laws and policies.

Mixson was the recipient the Conference of Clerks of Superior Courts Boots on the Ground award last year and was recently named to the School of Governments Judicial College Advisory Committee at the University of North Carolina.

I am humbled by the confidence the conference has placed in me, said Mixson. The clerks of Superior Court in North Carolina are some of the most unique judicial officials in the entire country. Not only do we serve as administrators, managers and comptrollers, we also serve as judges of probate in our respective counties. Our deputy and assistant clerks of court are the backbone of our states judicial system. The Conference of Clerks of Superior Court is vital to the advancement of our role as clerks and to the administration of justice in North Carolina.

Along with the newly sworn in officers, the conference presented the 2021-22 Presidents Award to the Honorable Susan Hicks, Moore County Clerk of Superior Court. This award was established for the purpose of recognizing a clerk who has given of themselves unselfishly to their work. Hicks has chaired the Program Committee for many years. Moore is retiring this year and her guidance and leadership will be greatly missed.

Our motto is to serve clerks, unify efforts and improve justice, said Executive Director Jamie Lassiter. We are excited to begin a new year of leadership and build on the accomplishments of 2021-2022 under Past President Raymond Matusko, Currituck County CSC.

The Conference of Clerks of Superior Court was created in 2006 by the N.C. General Assembly to improve the administration of justice in North Carolina. The conference, consisting of the 100 elected clerks from across the state and supported by an executive director and administrative staff, works to improve public accessibility to the courts through the clerk of Superior Court, serve as a resource for the clerks in key areas of court administration, and to act as a liaison on behalf of all elected clerks of Superior Court to both governmental and non-governmental stakeholders.
VANCOUVER  A shipping company at the Port of Vancouver is expected to receive millions in federal funding for new equipment to improve its operations for containerized cargo while simultaneously cutting emissions.

More than $4.1 million from the U.S. Department of Transportations Maritime Administration will be awarded to Tidewater Barge Lines Inc., the Columbia-Snake River Systems largest barge transport and terminal network, to purchase an electric dock crane.

In doing so, freight that would otherwise be transported on highways will now be directed toward waterway travel, Todd Busch, Tidewater president and CEO, said in a statement. Specifically, the new dock crane will help move an additional 3,000 shipping containers per year.

Tidewater anticipates that the design, review, procurement and installation process will wrap up by the end of 2023 or early 2024, according to a company representative. The grant will also be used to purchase a new crawler crane, a smaller and mobile piece of equipment.

Clark County and Vancouver partner with a waste management service that uses Tidewater to transport waste to the Finley Buttes Landfill in Morrow County, Oregon. The barge lines send shipping containers 180 miles upriver to the Port of Morrow in Boardman, Oregon, before they are trucked to the disposal site.

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., a senior member of the Senate subcommittee overseeing transportation and infrastructure appropriations, said in a statement that the federal investment will help prevent supply chain jams.

At the end of the day, this is going to make a major difference to cut emissions, create good-paying jobs and continue to build a strong economy in Washington state, she said.

U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., Senate Committee on Science, Commerce and Transportation chair also applauded the environmental component of the investment.

Getting freight traffic off our roads and onto our waterways means less traffic, fewer accidents and reduced greenhouse gas emissions, she said in a statement.

The federal funding stems from Americas Marine Highway Grant program, which works toward employing the countrys underused marine highways  rivers, channels and coasts  by creating incentives for public and private groups to use them for transport. According to the Maritime Administration, this will extend the longevity of roads while reducing congestion.
Nearly three years after thieves stole $645 million in pandemic unemployment benefits from Washington state, investigators are still clawing back funds frozen in fraudsters bank accounts.

On Friday, the state Attorney Generals Office filed a motion demanding Bank of America forfeit $9.3 million left there by criminals who scammed Washingtons unemployment system in 2020.

Its the largest fraud-related forfeiture sought by the office, which already has filed 17 similar actions against financial institutions that appear to have been repositories of looted jobless benefits.

My office remains focused on recovering every dollar we can of this stolen money, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in a statement Monday.

But the forfeiture motion also underscores how painfully incomplete fraud recovery has been  and points to a growing likelihood that much of the money that hasnt already been returned might never be.

The longer it takes to work this process, the more difficult it is to recover funds, said James Lee, chief operating officer at the Identity Theft Resource Center, a California-based nonprofit that helps identity theft victims.

During the 2020 fraud attack, criminals used stolen Social Security numbers and other personal data to file hundreds of thousands of bogus claims for unemployment benefits from the state Employment Security Department. Other states were hit, too.

The fraudsters, including many believed to be operating offshore, often directed ESD to wire the ill-gotten money into bank accounts opened specifically for criminal activities.

Fridays forfeiture filing refers to more than 1,100 accounts at Bank of America. As a matter of policy, we cooperate with all inquiries from law enforcement, said a bank spokesperson in an email Monday.

Washington was the first state to use forfeiture as part of efforts to recover stolen pandemic benefits, Ferguson has said. Often, banks must be compelled via court order to forfeit money held in accounts.

So far, Fergusons office has recovered a little over $22 million from seven banks and a financial technology company using forfeiture. That brings the states total recovery from the pandemic unemployment fraud to more than $400 million, with most of the money returned though separate efforts in 2020, according to state data.

The AGO also has filed or plans to file another $11.3 million in forfeiture demands, including the $9.3 million demanded from Bank of America motion.

Most of Washingtons fraud recovery came after banks themselves flagged incoming transfers as suspicious and quickly returned the money to ESDs bank, KeyBank.

In other cases, banks flagged and froze accounts because they tripped so-called red flags for fraud  among them, accounts that had received benefits from more than one state and accounts in a name that didnt match the names of the jobless claimants.

Those frozen funds often have been the target of the Attorney Generals Offices forfeiture efforts.

After the fraud was discovered in spring 2020, ESD came under fire because its own fraud detection systems appeared to have missed some suspicious claims activity, including instances where multiple claims were filed using the same gmail address.

Weve made significant changes to improve security since 2020, and because fraud is ever-changing, we continue to monitor and refine our methods, said ESD Commissioner Cami Feek in a statement Monday.

Although banks returned or froze many of the fraudulent transfers, law enforcement officials have speculated that a potentially large fraction of the transferred benefits was withdrawn by the criminals or their accomplices before those accounts were frozen.

For example, in the case of Washingtons first forfeiture case, against TD Bank last year, AGO officials acknowledged that funds that were not either returned voluntarily by the bank or identified for forfeiture were considered to have been removed by criminals before the accounts were locked.

In the case of Bank of America, which received a total $27 million in fraudulent payments from ESD, according to ESD data, it is not clear whether the roughly $13 million that wasnt voluntarily returned or identified for forfeiture was withdrawn or is being held by the bank for other states also looking for recovery, said Ferguson spokesperson Brionna Aho.

Part of the problem is that some of the withdrawn funds might have been converted into other assets or moved offshore, said Lee. If funds are outside of the traditional international banking community, Lee said, then that moneys gone. Its not coming back.

That outcome may be in the cards for Abidemi Rufai, a former Nigerian official sentenced Sept. 26 in Tacoma federal court for stealing $350,763 in pandemic unemployment benefits.

Although Rufai must make restitution, federal prosecutors expect they may see only a fraction of the stolen money, given that most of Rufais remaining assets are likely no longer in the U.S. Its really hard to get foreign assets ... in Nigeria, Assistant U.S Attorney Seth Wilkinson, co-counsel in the case, said at the time.

But another challenge is the sheer scale of the pandemic unemployment fraud, which was so much larger than anything federal or state law enforcement had confronted, and which strained law enforcement resources.

Each forfeiture case, for example, involves a laborious legal and accounting process in which investigators must demonstrate that funds in a given account were in fact stolen.

Its just a matter of scale, said Lee with the Identity Theft Resource Center. If this was just the traditional kind of government benefit fraud, it wouldnt take you three years down the road. ... But theres only so many people who can only work so many hours to recover the funds.
CLARK COUNTY  Until last month, Kathy McDonald was vice chair of the Clark County Republican Party, describing herself as a die-hard Donald Trump supporter with a long record of activism in the GOP.

But this week, McDonald is co-hosting a meet-and-greet fundraiser for Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, the Democratic candidate for Congress in southwest Washingtons 3rd Congressional District.

Whats going on?

McDonald says she cant bring herself to support Joe Kent, the Republican candidate, citing his extreme rhetoric and plans to focus on ideological warfare against Democrats and establishment Republicans if elected.

Such talk might garner Kent national attention as a flamethrower like Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz  both of whom Kent has campaigned with  but McDonald said its not a recipe for addressing local concerns, such as replacing the Interstate 5 bridge between Vancouver, Washington, and Portland, Oregon.

If you piss everybody in the world off, like Joe will do, you cant move the ball forward, said McDonald, who resigned her county party position Sept. 25. How much is Marjorie Taylor Greene getting done?

McDonalds defection, which caught other Clark County GOP leaders by surprise, spotlights the discomfort Kent has generated for a segment of Republicans  and some independents  who backed U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, only to see her ousted in the August primary in a backlash over her Trump impeachment vote.

Kent, an ex-Green Beret combat veteran who has vowed to impeach Joe Biden and refuse to compromise with Democrats, dismisses such defections as few and far between, saying they mostly consist of Never Trump Republicans who were never going to back him.

Its not clear how many Herrera Beutler voters will cross party lines to vote for Gluesenkamp Perez in November. McDonald is among only a relative few who have publicly vowed to cross over.

Another is Julie Olson, a two-term Republican member of the Clark County Council, who strongly supported Herrera Beutler for reelection but is now endorsing Gluesenkamp Perez.

While politics is generally a team sport, Olson said she cant support Kent, calling him a person who has an inability to connect with reality. She cited his continued denial of the 2020 presidential election results and comments about the COVID-19 pandemic.

Olson said Kents goal appears to be to go to Washington, D.C., not just to be a disrupter, but to be a destroyer.

David Nierenberg, a Camas, Clark County, investment manager and major GOP fundraiser who backed Herrera Beutler, is now raising money for Gluesenkamp Perez.

On the issues of the day, (Kent) is a radical extremist, and he continues to show poor judgment with the people he associates with, Nierenberg said, pointing to media reports of Kents association with white nationalists and calls for a ban on legal immigration. I dont want to be represented by somebody like that.

Nierenberg was a national campaign finance chair for Republican Mitt Romneys 2012 presidential campaign but subsequently supported Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden against Trump.

Kent has attacked Nierenberg as a part of the corporate ruling class and not representative of the America First Republican base.

Theyre trying to make it look like bunch of Republicans, because of these attacks, because I am some sort of a secret neo-Nazi are now jumping ship and going over and supporting this great Democratic candidate. Thats not the truth, Kent said last week on the War Room podcast of former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, who derided Nierenberg as one of these Romney blowhards.

Joel Mattila, chair of the Clark County Republican Party, said he was blindsided by McDonalds resignation and decision to support Gluesenkamp Perez.

Here is the thing. Marie is going to be another vote for the radical agenda of Nancy Pelosi. There is no way that any kind of Republican in my opinion can support that, Mattila said.

Mattila said there are very few defectors and that most of the Republicans I know are 1,000% behind Joe Kent who is going to stand for the values that we as Americans hold dear.

The state GOP has officially endorsed Kent, along with the Clark County GOP.

In other states, some Republican leaders have come out publicly for Democrats in races featuring far-right candidates. In Michigan, for example, more than 150 prominent Republicans endorsed incumbent Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer against Trump-backed challenger Tudor Dixon.

Deanna Rusch, a Vancouver attorney, is a former Republican who volunteered for John McCains presidential campaign but now counts herself an independent. She supported Herrera Beutler in the primary and said she was shocked when the six-term incumbent was defeated.

Rusch said Kent, who has called for Dr. Anthony Fauci to be arrested for murder, is a bad fit for a district that has been Republican-leaning but not far-right conservative. He certainly doesnt represent my viewpoints. I dont believe he represents the viewpoints of the majority of the district, she said.

Kent recently said the August primary results prove otherwise.

The clear message that we sent to the establishment and Washington, D.C., and really to the entire country, is that Washingtons 3rd Congressional District, that is a stones throw away from Portland ... is not just Republican, not just conservative  we are deep red MAGA country, he said at a conference featuring 2020 election deniers last month in Vancouver.

Ozzie Gonzalez, Kents campaign manager, said the campaign is not worried about the dissident Republicans, and noted that some major donors to Herrera Beutler have met with Kent and are supporting him.

In a statement, Gluesenkamp Perez said she welcomes the support of Herrera Beutler voters, saying she will never disparage or write off moderate Republicans for not agreeing with me 100 percent of the time. My campaign is about listening in good faith, about building bridges and finding common ground, because I know thats how you deliver results and solve problems.

While polling in the race has been scarce, national political analysts are predicting Kent is likely to win the 3rd District seat.

That worries McDonald, who has worked and volunteered in GOP politics for decades, including as an aide to ex-Rep. Linda Smith, who represented the 3rd District from 1995 to 1999.

We cannot have somebody that is just espousing conspiracy theories or hatred for Fauci, she said, adding that shes not a fan of the immunologist herself.

For her stance, McDonald said, shes gotten screamed at by a Republican acquaintance, who berated her over the phone about the need to maintain party loyalty.

But McDonald said she wants a congressional representative who is capable of reaching across the aisle  a notion Kent has rejected. I am thinking about whats best for our community, not necessarily our party, she said.

She doesnt think control of the House will rest on the 3rd District outcome, adding if a Kent loss does cost the GOP a majority, I will eat crow and feel real bad.

Ballots for the Nov. 8 general election will be mailed to voters by Oct. 21.
SEATTLE  Ernestine Morning Owl takes comfort in knowing that her younger sister was finally returned home when she was buried last month at the Black Wolf Cemetery, the burial grounds for the Rock Creek band of the Yakama Nation near Roosevelt, Klickitat County.

Shes in that beautiful light. Shes with good people, shes with the Creator, Morning Owl said of her sister, Mavis Kindness Nelson, 56. Im not going to forget what happened to her, but her spirit is free.

Nelson, the mother of three grown children, was reported missing in Seattle by her daughter and co-workers in May. Her dismembered remains were discovered a month later in the Kincaid Ravine near the Burke-Gilman Trail in the University District.

Seattle police arrested Charles Becker, 32, on Oct. 4 in connection with Nelsons killing, and King County prosecutors charged him Friday with first-degree murder and sexually violating human remains. He remains jailed in lieu of $5 million bail.

Becker was previously convicted of second-degree manslaughter for the 2015 accidental killing of his infant son in Pullman, Whitman County, court records show. The baby died after his airway was obstructed by a piece of plastic bag, and Becker was sentenced to just over two years in prison, according to court records.

The Seattle police investigation into Nelsons killing is ongoing, and charging papers indicate one or more other people were involved in her violent death and the desecration and disposal of her body. The King County Medical Examiners Office determined Nelson died from multiple sharp-force wounds.

Police learned during their investigation that Nelson took a Lyft rideshare from Auburn on May 19 and arrived at her Seattle apartment a little after 10 p.m. After her remains were found June 20, police searched her unit and collected empty beer cans, some of which had Beckers fingerprints on them, charging papers say.

Phone records showed Nelson and Becker exchanged 12 text messages after Nelson got back to Seattle, and scientists at the State Patrol Crime Lab later found Beckers DNA on medical gloves recovered with Nelsons remains, according to the charges. Additional unknown male DNA was also located.

Police obtained a low-resolution video in July that showed two people who appeared to throw something off the elevated roadway in the 2200 block of 45th Avenue Northeast within 24 hours of passersby discovering Nelsons remains in the ravine, the charges say.

Becker was arrested four months later, and police took samples of garbage bags and gloves they found at his workplace, which are being scientifically compared to those used to dispose of Nelsons remains, the charges say.

During a nine-hour interview with police last week, Becker provided information that only a person who was involved and had firsthand knowledge of Nelsons disappearance, death, dismemberment and body disposal would know, a detective wrote in charging papers. Police say Becker confirmed he knew Nelson and that he had drank beer in her apartment before she went to his University District rooming house the night of her disappearance.

Becker claimed Nelson mysteriously died in his room and he stored her body in his closet, according to the charges. Police say Becker participated in Nelsons dismemberment, and blood and other evidence were found in his room, according to charging papers. Forensic testing is ongoing.

Morning Owl, who lives in Pendleton, Oregon, said she was initially critical of the Seattle police investigation while her family waited months for answers but now understands detectives couldnt share information as they built a criminal case against Becker.

I want to tell all the other families not to give up, she said of loved ones of other missing and murdered Indigenous women. I never thought I would be one of these people, but Im in that same boat.

Nelson, who worked for the Compass Center and later Plymouth Housing, was a hardworking, caring woman who often let people stay at her apartment, her sister said. She loved boating, had a unique laugh  kind of a giggle that ended in a wheeze  and was nicknamed Boots by one of her brothers because of her love of the Nancy Sinatra song, These Boots Are Made for Walkin,  Morning Owl said.

She grew up in Goldendale, Klickitat County, before moving to Seattle, and was buried Sept. 22 near her brother and mother, Morning Owl said.

Though shes hopeful about seeing justice for Nelson, Morning Owl is worried about another loved one: Her niece Crystal Kindness, 41, was reported missing Aug. 8 in Toppenish, Yakima County.

In addition to Morning Owl and her three children, Nelson is survived by her older brother, Tyrone Kindness, and younger sister, Kelly Kindness. Morning Owl said she lost contact with Kelly Kindness after Nelson was killed and asked that she get in touch with the family.

Nelsons homicide is one of 47 committed in the city so far this year, including one case being investigated by the Washington State Patrol, according to preliminary data compiled with information from police, prosecutors and the King County Medical Examiners Office. Of those victims, seven were women.

That tally has already surpassed last years total of 40 homicides in Seattle, and with 2 1/2 months remaining in 2022, could potentially top the 51 homicides investigated by Seattle police in 2020.
NASA has confirmed that its first attempt at planetary defense against a destructive asteroid has miraculously succeeded.

NASA's first attempt at planetary defense against potentially world-destroying asteroids was a miraculous success, the space agency has revealed. NASA's DART Mission is a nearly $330 million first step to protect Earth from potential asteroid impact. The aim of the Double Asteroid Detection Test or DART test was to smash a spacecraft into the Dimorphos asteroid to deflect it away from its path. In fact, there are two asteroids involved. According to NASA, Dimorphos is a gigantic 530-foot asteroid, which orbits an even larger asteroid called Didymos, nearly 5 times its size.

Lori Glaze, director of NASA's Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington said, This result is one important step toward understanding the full effect of DART's impact with its target asteroid. As new data come in each day, astronomers will be able to better assess whether, and how, a mission like DART could be used in the future to help protect Earth from a collision with an asteroid if we ever discover one headed our way.

According to NASA, it took Dimorphos 11 hours and 55 minutes to orbit the larger asteroid Didymos. Astronomers studied the collision data using various telescopes and revealed that the orbit time was reduced by almost 32 minutes. The studies were conducted with the help of various images captured by the spacecraft's camera named cubeSAT LICIACube (Light Italian CubeSat for Imaging Asteroids) which is made up of two key components, LUKE (LICIACube Unit Key Explorer) and LEIA (LICIACube Explorer Imaging for Asteroid), both of which captured key data from the collision.

European Space Agency's Hera spacecraft will observe the impact caused by the collision of DART spacecraft and Dimorphos asteroid. The space agency has already launched its Hera spacecraft which will travel to the same asteroid to observe the impact. According to the European Space Agency, the Hera spacecraft will fly to the asteroid to survey the aftermath of impact and gather information such as the size of impact crater, the mass of the asteroid and its make-up and internal structure.
The NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory has spotted a powerful x-class solar flare eruption directed at Earth. Know how dangerous it can be.

Ever since the turn of the year, the Sun has been in an extremely violent and fierce mood. This has been happening because the Sun is nearing the peak of its current solar cycle, solar maximum. And so far, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has been observing every single solar flare eruption and coronal mass ejection (CME) bursts to warn us about the solar storms which were about to hit the Earth. But now, as these eruptions get more intense, NASA has also begun monitoring them. On October 2, the Solar Dynamics Observatory, NASA's Sun gazing spacecraft, captured the image of a violent solar storm eruption. It also warned people of the dangers emerging from such flares directed at the Earth.

In its blog post, NASA wrote, The Sun released an X1 solar flare, a powerful burst of energy, captured by our Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) on Oct. 2, 2022. X-class are the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength. For instance, an X1 flare is half as strong as an X2. It should be noted that so far, the most intense solar flare eruption that we have seen was an X1.2 solar flare which caused a widespread radio blackout in regions of Africa and Middle East.

NASA warns about the perils of solar flares

These solar flares are dangerous for the Earth. Highlighting the same, NASA added, While solar flares can affect radio communications, power grids, and navigation signals, harmful radiation from a solar flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground. By studying flares and how they affect our planet and nearby space, the SDO helps us to better prepare for and mitigate these potential disruptions.

The SDO carries a full suite of instruments to observe the Sun and has been doing so since 2010. It uses three very crucial instruments to collect data from various solar activities. They include Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) which takes high-resolution measurements of the longitudinal and vector magnetic field over the entire visible solar disk, Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment (EVE) which measures the Sun's extreme ultraviolet irradiance and Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) which provides continuous full-disk observations of the solar chromosphere and corona in seven extreme ultraviolet (EUV) channels.
Today, ASUS has launched an all-new 2022 Vivobook 16X (M1603, AMD) for the Malaysian market. It's now available for sale at every ASUS official store and retailer at the price of RM2999. There's only one variant but comes in either Quiet Blue or Transparent Silver.

For your information, the Vivobook 16X (M1603) features an AMD Ryzen 5 5600H processor, 8GB of DDR4 RAM (with additional DDR4 SO-DIMM slot) and 512GB PCIe 3.0 SSD. To ensure maximum performance and keep the cool-ness, ASUS has upgraded the IceCool cooling system with dual heat pipes and an 87-IceBlade fan that accelerates heat transfer. On paper, this should allow the laptop to run at 45 W total TDP in Performance mode with no throttling.

As the name implies, the Vivobook 16X has a 16-inch 16:10 FHD+ (1920 x 1200) three-sided NanoEdge display. The high 86% screen-to-body ratio also translates to a larger display, 300 nits of brightness and wide 178 viewing angles. There is even an ASUS Antibacterial Guard on the display area, including the ASUS ErgoSense keyboard.

For enhanced security and privacy, there's a physical webcam shield that instantly blanks the image in video calls, and a fingerprint sensor on the touchpad for fast password-free login via Windows Hello. Last but not least, the Vivobook 16X has more than enough ports such as a USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 port, 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, a USB 2.0 port, HDMI output and a 3.5 mm audio combo jack.

That's all, folks. For more information, you can visit the official website right over here. Stay tuned for more trending tech news at TechNave.com.
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Amazon workers at a fulfillment center in Moreno Valley, California, filed a petition for a union election, the National Labor Relations Board confirmed Tuesday.

It's the first time workers at an Amazon facility in California have formally sought a union election. They are seeking to join the upstart Amazon Labor Union, which mounted the first successful unionization effort at any Amazon warehouse in the United States when it won the vote at JFK8 warehouse in Staten Island, New York, on April 1.

NLRB spokesperson Kayla Blado said the board's Region 21-Los Angeles office received an election petition but is waiting for additional required paperwork from the union before it can confirm enough union cards have been collected and signed in order for the NLRB to move forward with the election process.

Organizers pushing for the union need signed union cards from at least 30% of workers in the 800-worker unit that the Amazon Labor Union is seeking to represent.

Nannette Plascencia, a longtime worker at ONT8, announced the union drive last month. She formed the committee United 4 Change ONT8 during the pandemic to advocate for better wages and safer conditions.

Plascencia, who has worked at ONT8 for nearly eight years, said there is a core group of about 10 workers who are pushing for the union. She said the group has not finished tabulating signed union cards.

The union win at JFK8 is still being litigated through an appeals process. Amazon filed objections requesting a new election, which an NLRB hearing officer ruled against. Amazon appealed the decision to the labor board's regional director.

At another New York facility, called LDJ5, workers voted against joining the Amazon Labor Union a month after the election at JFK8.

Amazon workers at ALB1 facility in Albany, New York, filed a petition for a union election with the federal labor board in August. The election is scheduled to begin Wednesday.

Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company has repeatedly said it discourages unions as it aims to work directly with employees rather than negotiate with what it describes as a third party.

"As a company, we don't think unions are the best answer for our employees," Amazon spokesperson Paul Flaningan said last month of the union push at the Moreno Valley warehouse.

Explore further Workers at 3rd Amazon site in New York hold unionization vote

2022 Los Angeles Times.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

One of Europe's largest airlines is saying "auf wiedersehen" to Apple AirTags on checked luggage.

Lufthansa, Germany's main airline, tweeted Saturday that the company is banning "activated AirTags" from luggage because the devices "are classified as dangerous and need to be turned off" during flights.

Apple's AirTags are a quarter-sized Bluetooth tracker that can be used to track personal items, such as car keys or bags, using an iPhone's "Find My" app. Travelers have begun to attach the tracking devices to their luggage to track where their bags are, in the event an airline loses it.

A spokesperson for Lufthansa told the German news outlet Watson that travelers would need to remove the battery from AirTagstherefore making them unable to be trackedif the device was attached to checked luggage.

"Baggage trackers belong to the category of portable electronic devices and are therefore subject to the dangerous goods regulations for carriage in airplanes issued by the International Civil Aviation Organization," the spokesperson said.

In a tweet Sunday, Lufthansa explained that due to the AirTags' Bluetooth transmission function, the trackers must be deactivated during flight if they are placed in checked luggage.

As for flyers in the United States, the Transportation Security Administration confirmed Friday that Bluetooth tracking devices, such as AirTags, are allowed on both carry-ons and checked luggage.

Although the Federal Communications Commission still bans the use of cellphones on flights to protect against radio interference to grounded cellphone networks, the Federal Aviation Administration allows passengers to use short-range Bluetooth devices and other personal electronics, so long as they remain on airplane mode.

Explore further Apple addresses AirTag stalking worries in its new personal safety guide

2022 Los Angeles Times.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Google on Tuesday announced a broad swath of updates to its cloud offerings, aiming to capitalize on its strength in artificial intelligence to gain market share from rivals.

The new servicesannounced at Google's Next '22 eventinclude Vertex AI Vision, which is designed to make it easier to use AI technology such as image recognition. There's also an AI-based service called Translation Hub that translates documents in 135 languages, the Alphabet Inc.-owned company said.

Google is beefing up its cloud infrastructure as well, relying on a fourth-generation version of Intel Corp.'s Xeon Scalable processor and Google's custom Intel chip. The company unveiled a new C3 machine series that's powered by the chips, as well as an updated Tensor processing unit that helps accelerate AI functions.

The equipment helps customers train large data sets using machine learning. Cloud users such as Snap Inc. are already getting a boost from the new hardware, Google said. That company saw a 20% increase in performance over the previous generation C2 machine, Google said. The tech giant also announced an expanded partnership with Nvidia Corp. that it said would deepen its AI infrastructure, including work on open AI frameworks.

There's new cryptocurrency support as well. Google Cloud will enable some customers, starting with those in the web3 industry, to pay using currencies through Coinbase Global Inc., according to a statement. Google will also use Coinbase Prime for institutional crypto services, such as custody and reporting.

"We see our collaboration with Google as an opportunity to bring web3 to a new set of users and provide powerful solutions to founders and developers," Coinbase Chief Executive Officer Brian Armstrong said during the conference.

Google also announced new cybersecurity initiatives intended to capitalize on its recent acquisition of Mandiant, including Chronicle Security Operations, a program to help companies identify and address threats. That deal was completed last month.

In addition, Google will begin serving six additional countries: Austria, the Czech Republic, Greece, Norway, South Africa and Sweden. The idea is to either build data centers locally or partner with existing players in those countries, the company told reporters in a briefing. Google didn't disclose when those expansions would occur.

"These cloud regions help bring innovations from across Google closer to our customers around the globe, and provide a platform that enables organizations to transform the way they do business," Sachin Gupta, a Google Cloud executive, wrote in a blog post detailing the expansion.

The company also rolled out more integrations and developer tools for its Workspace productivity suite.

Although Google is a distant third in the cloud market, trailing Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp., the effort is viewed as one of the company's best bets for growth as the core search business matures.

Explore further Google promises Greece 20K jobs with cloud expansion

2022 Bloomberg L.P.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
[Top] The research team's approach to modeling summary for the project. [Bottom] A feedforward neural network of how the information moves in the project. Credit: Illinois Institute of Technology

A research team at Illinois Institute of Technology has extracted personal information, specifically protected characteristics like age and gender, from anonymous cell phone data using machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms, raising questions about data security.

The research was conducted by an interdisciplinary team of three Illinois Tech faculty including Vijay K. Gurbani, research associate professor of computer science; Matthew Shapiro, professor of political science; and Yuri Mansury, associate professor of social sciences. They were joined by Illinois Tech alumni Lida Kuang (M.S. CS '19) and Samruda Pobbathi (M.S. CS '19) who worked with Gurbani to publish "Predicting Age and Gender from Network Telemetry: Implications for Privacy and Impact on Policy" in PLOS One.

The researchers used data from a Latin American cell phone company to successfully estimate the gender and age of individual users through their private communications with relative ease.

The team developed a neural network model to estimate gender with 67% accuracy, which outperforms modern techniques such as decision tree, random forest, and gradient boosting models by a significant margin. They also were able to estimate the age of individual users with an accuracy rate of 78% by using the same model.

"Age and gender information does seem innocuous, but this information is used in nefarious ways by people, many times with devastating consequences," Shapiro says.

"When someone with bad intentions targets young children for anything, ranging from sales to sexual predation, it violates a number of laws designed to protect minors, such as the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act and HIPAA. At the other end of the age spectrum, seniors are targeted by sophisticated spam and phishing efforts given their susceptibility and their access to savings."

This information was extrapolated using commonly accessible computing equipment. The team used a Linux (Fedora) operating system with 16 GB memory and an Intel i5-6200U CPU with four cores to run the neural network model.

"The laptop we used for this work is not exclusive at all," Gurbani says. "To a well-resourced adversary, there will be much more powerful machines available, including access to cluster computing, where multiple computers are configured in a cluster to provide the computer power for the AI/ML models."

The data set used to conduct the research is not publicly available, but Gurbani says an adversary could collect a similar data set by capturing data through public Wi-Fi hotspots or by attacking service providers' computing infrastructure.

"As we mentioned in our paper, such attacks unfortunately do occur and are not rare," Gurbani says. "The process to collect this data would not be easy, but it would not be impossible either."

The aim of the paper is to start a dialogue that critically examines the impact that emerging machine learning and AI techniques have on privacy regulations. There are no nationwide privacy regulations in the United States, so the researchers looked at how these techniques chip away at the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation articles, which are designed to protect consumers from the imminent threat of privacy violations.

"Machine learning and automated decision making will be a mainstream of business processes, and there is no escaping that reality," Gurbani says. "The issue at hand is how to protect individual privacy as well as societal and economic interests from fraud using the appropriate regulatory framework."

One way to do that, Mansury says, is to provide consumers with the "opt-out option" to keep their personal information private when installing an app.

Recommendations include using synthetic data rather than user observation for machine learning models, for data holders to work with machine learning specialists to develop best practices, to build a regulatory framework that allows users to opt out of data sharing to keep personal information private, and to update existing non-compliance protocols. In other words, there is a lot more work to be done to address the policy gaps as well as the ethics of AI.

Explore further A model to classify financial texts while protecting users' privacy

More information: Lida Kuang et al, Predicting age and gender from network telemetry: Implications for privacy and impact on policy, PLOS ONE (2022). Journal information: PLoS ONE Lida Kuang et al, Predicting age and gender from network telemetry: Implications for privacy and impact on policy,(2022). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0271714
Dutch health technology firm Philips warned on Wednesday that it would take a further 1.3-billion-euro ($1.26-billion) hit from a huge recall of faulty sleep respirators.

Philips said it was currently negotiating with the US Department of Justice over a final settlement on the faulty sleep equipment that puts users at risk of inhaling toxic foam.

Shares in Philips dropped 10 percent in early trading on the Amsterdam stock exchange after it issued the warning for the third quarter of the year, ahead of its full results later in October.

"Philips expects to record a 1.3 billion euro non-cash charge in the third quarter for the impairment of goodwill of its sleep and respiratory care business," Philips said in a statement.

Chief Executive Frans van Houten said in a call with investors that the figure was based on a "reasonable estimate", but that a deal with US authorities had "not been fully negotiated at this time".

Van Houten is stepping down next weeksix months earlier than expectedafter 12 years in the post during which Philips has transitioned from an electronics giant to a healthcare firm.

Philips Chief Financial Officer Abhijit Bhattacharya added that "we are in discussions with the DOJ and cannot speculate on the outcome, content or the timing of any agreement."

The Amsterdam-based firm has already set aside nearly 900 million euros for replacing and repairing the devices.

It recalled the respirators in June last year after announcing that users were at risk of inhaling or swallowing pieces of degraded sound-dampening foam.

Philips said it also expected a five-percent decline in sales to around 4.3 billion euros in the third quarter due to supply chain issues that were "more significant than anticipated".

Incoming CEO Roy Jakobs said he would focus on the respirator recall and improving quality processes, as well as improving the firm's performance in a "turbulent world".

"We must, can and will improve," Jakobs, who has in recent months been overseeing the respirator recall, said in the call.

Explore further Philips take hit by supply problems, respirator recall

 2022 AFP
Participants watched videos that simulated cars flying in Nagoya city with different noise levels. Credit: Dr Susumu Hara

Researchers from Nagoya University and Keio University in Japan have estimated a person's stress levels caused by the sound of a flying car passing overhead. The research was published in the Technical Journal of Advanced Mobility.

The drone market is booming, as several automobile companies and start-ups develop new personal aircraft. The long-awaited flying car, made famous in films like Blade Runner, may soon be a common sight in cities around the world.

But while the automobile industry is busy developing technology to catch up to fantasy, few inventors or science fiction authors have thought much about how noise from the roaring and whirring of flying car engines might affect people's psychological state.

Professor Susumu Hara of the Department of Aerospace Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering at Nagoya University, the lead author of the study, points out that in past industrial revolutions, people often prioritized technological advancement and economic demands over social and environmental issues, including noise and air pollution.

"Unless technology is well-integrated in our daily lives," he argues, "we cannot expect it to make our society a better place." Therefore, his team conducted an experiment to estimate people's stress levels as if they were living in a world with flying cars.

In the research experiment, participants watched short videos that simulated cars flying in a city. The videos were designed so that the viewers felt like a car was flying 15 meters above them at a speed of 15.5 miles per hour (25 km per hour).

To simulate such a scene, the videos used audio recordings of an industrial drone flying at a speed and height similar to the flying car depicted in the videos. Participants watched the video eight times, while the researchers changed the volume of the audio in each viewing to examine how the noise level would affect the participants. Participants' stress levels were assessed using two different measures.

First, while watching the videos, a portable EEG device, called a Kansei Analyzer, recorded their brain activity. Second, after watching each video, the participants responded to a written questionnaire.

The researchers found that each person's self-reported stress level corresponded to the noise level of the flying car. As the noise increased, the participants reported greater stress. When the noise level decreased, they reported lower stress levels.

However, brain activity data showed a different pattern. As predicted, when the noise level increased for the first time in the experiment, the EEG data showed higher levels of stress among the participants. But once the participants were exposed to loud noise, their stress levels did not decreaseeven after the noise level dropped.

This may suggest that while most people think they can become accustomed to loud noise, it may actually be causing them stress without noticing it. To protect the health of residents, it is important to consider the long-term effects of exposure to chronic loud traffic noise in a world where flying cars are constantly landing, taking off, and whizzing above us.

In addition to a self-reported assessment, checking brain activity might also be necessary to measure stress from noise.

When considering flying cars, an obvious solution is for aerospace engineers to prioritize making them quieter. But for now, we do not know how to determine the optimal sound level for protecting citizens' health. The researchers in this study hope that their measurement methods can help answer such questions.

"I am sure drones and flying cars will bring significant benefits to our society," said Professor Hara. At the same time, the study clearly shows that we cannot neglect noise pollution. "We believe that developing guidelines and regulations on flying cars is important so that we can better adapt them to our lives," he continued. "I hope this study provides some clues how to do that."

More information: Susumu Hara et al, Noise-Induced Stress Assessment On the Difference between Questionnaire-Based and EEG Measurement-Based Evaluations, Technical Journal of Advanced Mobility (2022). www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/t  81/_article/-char/en Susumu Hara et al, Noise-Induced Stress Assessment On the Difference between Questionnaire-Based and EEG Measurement-Based Evaluations,(2022). DOI: 10.34590/tjam.3.6_81
Texas 47 in Bryan has a new name: John Sharp Parkway.

The Bryan City Council unanimously approved a resolution Tuesday night to rename Texas 47, also known as Riverside Parkway, after Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp. He has served as A&Ms chancellor since 2011 and graduated from A&M in 1972.

In his six years as Bryans mayor, Andrew Nelson said this was one of the few times he had single-handedly used his authority to put an item on the agenda.

Chancellor John Sharp, his vision, his bold leadership throughout the state and really throughout the country, but certainly here in the Brazos Valley and in Aggieland, has been second-to-none, Nelson said before reading the proclamation before the council and public. I stand behind this that 100 years from now, John Sharp will probably still go down as the best chancellor in the Texas A&M University System.

Located near the intersection of Texas 47 and Texas 21 is the RELLIS Campus, which is an alternative higher education institution for students seeking an associate or bachelors degree without attending A&Ms main campus in College Station. Through the RELLIS Academic Alliance, students can complete their first two years of higher education at Blinn College and have a path to complete their bachelors degree from Stephen F. Austin State University or one of 11 A&M System schools, including the main campus.

In May 2016, Sharp announced the 2,000-acre campus, formerly known as the Riverside Campus, would be transformed into the RELLIS Campus. Since 2016, over 125 students have completed bachelors degrees through the RELLIS Academic Alliance.

When I told the chancellor about the designation, he immediately checked his pulse to be sure hes still alive, said Laylan Copelin, an A&M System spokesperson. Then he said, My goodness, what a nice gesture, particularly given its location.

Mayor Pro-Tem Buppy Simank, who serves in Bryans at-large Place 6 seat, said he remembers being invited out to what would become RELLIS a few months after joining the city council in November 2015. There were just a few bulldozers out there, Simank said. He called Sharp an innovator.

He laid out the plan and the vision and to think that was back almost seven years, and if you go out there and look now, what you see is absolutely mind-blowing to think the vision that this man had and to make it happen in such a short period of time to me is beyond amazing, Simank said.

In the resolution, the Bryan City Council said renaming Texas 47 as John Sharp Parkway is a way to perpetuate the memory of Sharp and noted the council believes he has done more for the city of Bryan than any other A&M chancellor.

Bobby Gutierrez, Bryan Single Member District 3 councilman, noted how he has been a member of RELLIS advisory board since its inception and said Sharp saw the need RELLIS provided and was supportive of it.

Weve seen things happen out there that we could never dream about, Gutierrez said. His vision is a 100-year vision. Its not what can we do today? What can we do tomorrow? These are 100-year visions that will long outlast him being here and us being here.

Nelson said Sharp has been a mentor to him while he has served as Bryan mayor and is a great partner to the city.

In building Texas A&M, hes helped to transform Bryan and College Station into a place called Bryan-College Station, Nelson said. He doesnt fear the hyphen. Hes not afraid of it being B-CS. He understands that each city is better with the other next to it. He recognizes that as A&M is growing, A&Ms too big for just one of these cities and it was too big for just the Brazos Valley. Thats why hes expanding it to Fort Worth, hes expanding all the different system universities, getting ships and docks for us on the coast.
Rodney Reed has been sitting on death row at Texas infamous Polunsky Unit for more than two decades, convicted of abducting, raping and murdering 19-year-old Stacey Stites as she drove to her early morning shift at H-E-B in Bastrop County.

Reed has maintained his innocence all that time, and his lawyers have argued repeatedly that there might be a way to prove it: testing crime scene evidence that was never checked for DNA, including the murder weapon itself, a woven leather belt used to strangle Stites.

Reeds best chance at getting that evidence tested now rests with the U.S. Supreme Court, which on Tuesday heard oral arguments centering on one procedural question: Did Reed wait too long to ask a federal court to order the tests?

Ironically, the states case against Reed partly relied on DNA evidence. When Reeds sperm was found inside Stites body after her death, Reed became the prime suspect in her murder. Reed contends that in 1996, he and Stites were involved in a consensual affair and had sex in the hours before her death. Reed is Black and Stites was white; his lawyers argue that Stites fiance, Jimmy Fennell, also white, was violent and racist and that he likely murdered his fiance after discovering the affair. Reed hopes to bolster this theory through DNA evidence found on the murder weapon.

The case has received widespread attention, including calls for his freedom by Texas lawmakers and celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, who pointed to Reeds compelling claims of innocence.

Reeds execution was set for November 2019 but was stayed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and sent back to a lower court for review of new claims, including that he is innocent of the crimes. In 2021, after an evidentiary hearing, a district judge ruled the new evidence was not enough to justify granting Reed a new trial.

The Court of Criminal Appeals has received the recommendation but has not yet ruled on the outcome of Reeds state appeals.

The state has argued that the crime scene items should not be tested because they were improperly stored and may be contaminated. In 2014, a district court agreed, and in 2017, the Criminal Court of Appeals, Texass highest criminal court, affirmed that decision.

Reeds attorneys then brought a federal claim under Section 1983, which allows individuals to sue state actors for violating their rights. In Texas, those claims have a statute of limitations of two years. The state is arguing that the statute of limitations began in 2014 when the district court made its initial decision not to test the DNA.

No provision of Texas law requires an applicant to appeal a denial of DNA testing in state court, the state argued in its brief to the Supreme Court. Reed knew that he was injured when he was denied testing, and he could have pursued a facial challenge in federal court on due-process grounds immediately after that denial.

The Criminal Court of Appeals upheld the lower courts ruling in April 2017. Reeds attorneys argue that the clock started on the statute of limitations in October 2017, after the appeals court denied Reeds request for a rehearing. Reed filed his 1983 claim in August 2019.

The Fifth Circuit agreed that the statute of limitations in Reeds case was tied to the initial ruling, but in a different case, the Eleventh Circuit had ruled that the statute of limitations begins once the options for relief in state court are exhausted.

A federal court should not proceed with adjudication before state courts have had their say, a dozen legal scholars wrote in an amicus brief filed in support of Reed, warning that forcing plaintiffs to file suit in state and federal courts simultaneously invites unnecessary intrusions into state processes.

In Tuesdays oral arguments, Texas Solicitor General Judd Stone told the justices that the more time goes by, the harder it is for the state to defend its case, as evidence degrades and witnesses age. Additional delay harms the states ability to be able to redress this if, for example, hes entitled to a new trial for one reason or another, which he most emphatically is not, Stone argued.

Since Reed was convicted, multiple witnesses have come forward to corroborate that Reed and Stites were having a relationship and that Stites was scared of Fennell before her death. In 2008, Fennell pled guilty to kidnapping a woman and engaging in improper sexual conduct with her while on duty with the Georgetown Police Department. In an interview, the victim told filmmaker Ryan Polomski that he pulled out his gun, put it near her head and raped her.

Fennell was released from prison in 2018 after serving 10 years. According to a sworn affidavit by a member of the Aryan Brotherhood who was incarcerated with Fennell, Fennell told him that he killed his fiance because she slept with a Black man.

Reed has also been accused  but not convicted  of multiple other sexual assaults. He was charged, and acquitted, in one case. In 2021, while testifying in the evidentiary hearing in Reeds case, Fennell denied there was any truth to the statements that multiple witnesses had made, including that he was violent toward Stites, that hed admitted to the crime while in prison and that Reed and Stites knew each other. As far as Im concerned, he said, theyre all lying.
AUSTIN  The Texas governors race on Tuesday surpassed $100 million in total money raised this year by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and Democratic challenger Beto ORourke with still weeks to go in one of the most expensive contests of Novembers midterm elections.

The latest figures pave the way for a blitz of spending on television and organizing in Texas, where early voting begins Oct. 24 and ORourke is trying to become the first Democrat in nearly 30 years to win statewide office in Americas biggest red state.

Big spending is also happening in Georgia, where Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and Democratic challenger Stacy Abrams have collected more than $145 million combined.

The money race in Texas has been a near draw: ORourke, a former El Paso congressman and 2020 presidential candidate, has pulled in more than $57 million since the beginning of the year, according to new numbers released by his campaign ahead of a disclosure deadline.

Abbott did not release exact figures Tuesday. His campaign indicated it had also surpassed $50 million raised since January, saying it has raised nearly $25 million during the most recent three-month fundraising period, which would mean ORouke has continued to narrowly outraise the two-term governor.

Abbott, however, had a nearly 2-to-1 advantage in cash at the end of June, with $45.7 million saved up to $23.9 million for ORourke.

Texas has no limits on campaign contributions.

ORourkes campaign said his latest haul came from almost half a million contributions, and the average contribution size was $53. Nearly all of his 474,876 donations  98%  were received online.

Abbotts campaign said his summer fundraising came from nearly 45,000 contributors, and 81% of all the money came from within Texas.

Polls continue to give Abbott a lead over ORourke in the mid-single digits. But ORourke is betting on voter anger over the states new abortion ban and Abbotts inaction on gun control after the Uvalde school shooting. He is also hopeful a superior ground game will make the difference.

Im grateful for everyone who helped raise $25.18 million in just three months as we support the work of our organizers and record-breaking 100,000 volunteers, ORourke said in a statement.

Abbotts campaign highlighted his in-state financial support.

Governor Abbotts campaign is proud that the vast majority of his support comes from within Texas and not from out-of-state liberals like George Soros or from shady dark money groups hiding their donors from public disclosure, Abbott campaign chair Gardner Pate said in a statement.

With less than a month to the election, both campaigns are in heavy spending mode, dumping millions of dollars on TV ads statewide.

ORourke is also getting help on the air from Coulda Been Worse LLC, a dark-money group that has aired commercials attacking Abbott, as well as Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton. ORourke has said the group should disclose its donors.
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Franklin County Public Schools is preparing to look for a new superintendent.

Bernice Cobbs has decided not to enter into another contract with the school system, so that requires the start of a search process, county School Board Chairman Jeff Worley said at Mondays board meeting.

Cobbs has guided the division through the latter part of the COVID-19 pandemic. She took over from the divisions previous superintendent, Mark Church, after he retired at the end of November 2020. The contract Cobbs signed at the time will end June 30, 2023.

She said she is thankful to be leaving on good terms and acknowledged the challenges of the last two years.

The school board, the staff and I have done good work together during my tenure ... and we will continue to do good work until my tenure is up. ... I am an advocate for Franklin County. ... Schools are the hub of communities and the decisions made by the superintendent and the board and our school leaders and staff impact the entire community and beyond, Cobbs said.

She said she has always taken that responsibility very seriously and stressed the importance of education and her commitment to it.

I know what its done for my life and my familys life and its made such a difference in our quality of life, what an education can do, Cobbs said.

Cobbs said she has some other interests she would like to pursue after her contract ends.

Id love to teach at the college level, Id love to write a book. ... Will I work full time? Probably not, Cobbs said.

Cobbs  a Franklin County native  has been with the division for 25 years. In that time, she has also served as the divisions K-5 curriculum and instruction director, Franklin County High School assistant principal and principal of Benjamin Franklin Middle School, Boones Mill Elementary and Snow Creek Elementary.

Cobbs holds a doctorate from Virginia Tech, masters degrees from Radford University and the University of Virginia, a bachelors degree from Ferrum College and an associate degree from Virginia Western Community College.

The superintendent search comes at a busy time for the division, which is gearing up for renovations at Benjamin Franklin Middle School and preparing to build a Career and Technical Education facility.

The division continues to grapple with a shortage of bus drivers, too, and on Monday the school board accepted the resignation of Cherie Whitlow, the divisions transportation supervisor. Whitlow has been responsible for coordinating new bus routes and schedules as drivers leave the division in droves. Her last day is Oct. 26.

The division is also contending with declining enrollment.

In July, division staff told the school board a comprehensive efficiency study would soon be necessary. The goal is to position the division for the future, particularly given its declining enrollment, and make sure resources are being used efficiently.

We want to do that now in stages, rather than do it all at once, David Terry, director of finance and business for the division, said Monday. It will shorten the time, itll allow us to focus on specific areas.

The division will begin by seeking bids for a facility utilization study.

Its anticipated that the analysis will cost less than $50,000. Evaluating facilities capacity and future enrollment are critical for the success of the study, Terry said.

Several school board members have overseen previous superintendent searches, but the newest ones have not.

Its a long process and its one we dont want to wait until the last minute, and its arguably the most important thing I think we can do as a board, Worley said.

The board will have an open meeting Oct. 24 at 6 p.m. to discuss desired qualifications and securing a firm to conduct the search.

Montgomery County Public Schools recently wrapped up its own superintendent search. Montgomery County schools began looking for a new superintendent following the school boards mid-March dismissal of former Superintendent Mark Miear.

The Montgomery County search received roughly two dozen applicants. The school board ultimately selected Bernard F. Bragen Jr., a New Jersey superintendent who has spent more than 30 years in public education.
Nicknamed ProxyNotShell, a new exploit used in the wild takes advantage of the recently published Microsoft Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) vulnerability CVE-2022-41040 and a second vulnerability, CVE-2022-41082 that allows Remote Code Execution (RCE) when PowerShell is available to unidentified attackers.

Based on ProxyShell, this new zero-day abuse risk leverage a chained attack similar to the one used in the 2021 ProxyShell attack that exploited the combination of multiple vulnerabilities - CVE-2021-34523, CVE-2021-34473, and CVE-2021-31207  to permit a remote actor to execute arbitrary code.

Despite the potential severity of attacks using them, ProxyShell vulnerabilities are still on CISA's list of top 2021 routinely exploited vulnerabilities.

Meet ProxyNotShell

Recorded on September 19, 2022, CVE-2022-41082 is an attack vector targeting Microsoft's Exchange Servers, enabling attacks of low complexity with low privileges required. Impacted services, if vulnerable, enable an authenticated attacker to compromise the underlying exchange server by leveraging existing exchange PowerShell, which could result in a full compromise.

With the help of CVE-2022-41040, another Microsoft vulnerability also recorded on September 19, 2022, an attacker can remotely trigger CVE-2022-41082 to remotely execute commands.

Though a user needs to have the privilege to access CVE-2022-41040, which should curtail the vulnerability accessibility to attackers, the required level of privilege is low.

At the time of writing, Microsoft has not yet issued a patch but recommends that users add a blocking rule as a mitigation measure.

Both vulnerabilities were uncovered during an active attack against GTSC, a Vietnamese organization called GTSC, granting attackers access to some of their clients. Though neither vulnerability on its own is particularly dangerous, exploits chaining them together could potentially lead to catastrophic breaches.

The chained vulnerabilities could grant an outsider attacker the ability to read emails directly off an organization's server the ability to breach the organization with CVE-2022-41040 Remote Code Execution and implant malware on the organization's Exchange Server with CVE-2022-41082.

Though it appears that attackers would need some level of authentication to activate the chained vulnerabilities exploit, the exact level of authentication required  rated "Low" by Microsoft  is not yet clarified. Yet, this required low authentication level should effectively prevent a massive, automated attack targeting every Exchange server around the globe. This hopefully will prevent a replay of the 2021 ProxyShell debacle.

Yet, finding a single valid email address/password combination on a given Exchange server should not be overly difficult, and, as this attack bypasses MFA or FIDO token validation to log into Outlook Web Access, a single compromised email address/password combination is all that is needed.

Mitigating ProxyNotShell Exposure

At the time of writing, Microsoft has not yet issued a patch but recommends that users add a blocking rule as a mitigation measure of unknown efficacy.

Blocking incoming traffic to Exchange Servers holding critical asserts is also an option, though only practicable if such a measure does not impact vital operations and should ideally be perceived as a temporary measure pending Microsoft's issuance of a verified patch.

Assessing ProxyNotShell Exposure

As the current mitigation options are either of unverified efficacy or potentially damaging to the smooth running of operations, evaluating the degree of exposure to ProxyNotShell might prevent taking potentially disruptive unnecessary preventative measures, or indicate which assets to preemptively migrate to unexposed servers.

Cymulate Research Lab has developed a custom-made assessment for ProxyNotShell that enable organizations to estimate exactly their degree of exposure to ProxyNotShell.

A ProxyNotShell attack vector has been added to the advanced scenarios templates, and running it on your environment yields the necessary information to validate exposure  or lack thereof - to ProxyNotShell.

Until verified patches are available from Microsoft, assessing exposure to ProxyNotShell to evaluate exactly which servers are potential targets is the most cost-efficient way to evaluate exactly which assets are exposed and devise targeted preemptive measures with maximum impact.

Note: This article is contributed by Cymulate Research Labs.
CARBONDALE  SIH has announced that John Antes of St. Louis will be its new president and CEO effective Dec. 12. Antes, who currently serves as president of Missouri Baptist Medical Center, will succeed SIH President and CEO Rex Budde who announced earlier this year he will retire at the end of 2022.

Antes has nearly 30 years of experience, with the last 13 as president of Missouri Baptist.

While Antes has spent several years in the St. Louis metropolitan area, he has a passion for rural health care given his upbringing in northwest Tennessee. He looks forward to joining SIH, calling it a backbone of the regional community.

Antes brings a wealth of experience to Southern Illinois and understands the challenging dynamics impacting hospitals and health systems like SIH in this post-COVID era. In his current role, hes admirably provided overall leadership, strategic direction and operations for a 489-bed regional referring hospital and a 25-bed critical access hospital consisting of over 3,000 employees and 1,100 physicians, Dr. Robert Mees, chairman of the SIH Board of Trustees, said in a press release.

Dr. Mees praised Antes thoughtful communication skills and extensive community involvement in non-profit organizations, foundations and economic development among the many strengths he brings to Southern Illinois.

I have a great deal of familiarity and respect for SIH through the BJC Collaborative. SIH has a reputation of strength and stability as a leading not-for-profit healthcare system and provides an impressive level of care for a rural market, Antes said.

Buddes SIH career has spanned 22 years, the last 13 as CEO. Prior to taking the role of CEO, Budde was the organizations chief financial officer.

On behalf of the SIH Board of Trustees, I am profoundly grateful to Rex Budde for his fiscal integrity and vision guiding SIH through a period of growth and development and navigating the organization through the COVID pandemic. Under Rexs leadership, SIH saw construction, completion and expansion of the SIH Cancer Institute, approval for a Level II trauma center at SIH Memorial Hospital of Carbondale, expansions at nearly all SIH facilities and welcoming Harrisburg Medical Center into the SIH family, Mees said.

Antes selection as SIH president and CEO is the culmination of a six-month national search. Dr. Mees acknowledged the countless hours and dedication from fellow board and governance committee members Debra McMorrow of Cobden, Daniel Booth of Carbondale and Marlene Simpson of Herrin during the rigorous process.

Antes is a member of the American College of Health Executives. He holds a masters degree in health administration from Washington University and a bachelors degree in business administration from Memphis State University. SIH will host a press conference formally introducing Antes to the community at a later date.

Southern Illinois Healthcare (SIH) is a not-for-profit health system serving the southernmost counties of Illinois with four hospitals, a comprehensive cancer center, Level II Trauma Center and more than 30 outpatient and specialty practices. Based in Carbondale, SIH is the regions largest private employer with 4,000 employees.

SIH holds affiliations with Prairie Heart Institute, SIU School of Medicine Family Practice Residency Program, Siteman Cancer Network and the BJC Collaborative.

SIH is the largest provider of charity care, unreimbursed care and community benefits in the region, providing $1 billion in uncompensated care and community benefits from 2012 through 2021.
CHICAGO  Chicago police have a suspect in custody after officers discovered human remains inside a freezer at a boarding house while investigating a report of a missing person, police said Tuesday.

The home's owner, a 55-year-old woman, is believed to be the victim, said Brendan Deenihan, the Chicago Police Department's chief of detectives. Her remains were found Monday.

Deenihan told reporters that a suspect who lived in the boarding house on Chicago's Northwest Side was taken into custody Monday. He said the suspect, whose name was not released, has declined to speak to detectives about the slaying, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

A resident of the boarding house who had filed a missing persons report for the building's owner told officers Monday that another building tenant had recently called a tow truck and carried a heavy bag out to the vehicle when it arrived, Deenihan said.

We learned that this individual dumped a large plastic bag in a garbage can at Foster Beach, Deenihan said, adding that detectives found bloody towels in that garbage can along the lakefront.

He said the can and its contents were taken to the Cook County medical examiners office for further investigation.

Detectives then returned to the boarding house and discovered human remains in a freezer at around 7 p.m., then obtained a search warrant so they could recover the evidence.

The tow truck driver who the suspect hired told police that the suspect had pulled a knife on him, Deenihan said. He said police still have a long way to go" in their homicide investigation.
BAMBERG  The South Carolina Department of Transportation has begun work on the replacement of the U.S. Highway 301 bridge in Bamberg County.

County Administrator Joey Preston reported during an Oct. 3 County Council meeting that land clearing has begun at the site, which is located just before the countys welcome sign that greets individuals coming into the county from Orangeburg County.

SCDOT Director of Communications Pete Poore later said that a $11,132,447 contract was awarded to United Infrastructure Group to replace both the U.S. 301 South bridge over the South Edisto River and the bridge on S-5-439, which accesses the parking lot at Bobcat Landing.

"The new bridge over the South Edisto River is being replaced on the same alignment, which will require closure during construction; however, a detour will not be utilized. Work began ... to build median crossovers on either end of the bridge that will allow southbound traffic to utilize one of the northbound lanes through the project limits," Poore said.

"Opposing directions of traffic in the northbound lanes will be separated by a temporary concrete barrier wall. The boat ramp at Bobcat Landing will remain accessible for the duration of the project. The current contract completion date is June 30, 2024," he said.

Bamberg County Administrator Joey Preston said, The contract was awarded on May 4. ... We did agree to let DOT use Bobcat Landing as a staging area for some of their equipment. Not to block it, not to keep people from utilizing it, but as a staging area."

He continued, In return, they were going to resurface it for us. They were going to pay for all of that. So theyre doing the new entrance-way and the entrance to the parking area. Keep in mind, now, that we also got a DNR grant a couple of years back.

The money hasnt come to us yet, but ... its been allocated for us. Plus theres other money, too, thats kind of compounded on top of that, that we could take and utilize at this site to do the new boat landing, along with the lighting and security work at that site. Thats a major tourist attraction here. So if you can envision while theyre working on that bridge, were going to be working on the lighting and the boat ramp.

Preston said the county is looking to have one of the nicest boat landings on that river when the project is finished.

In other business, Keep Bamberg County Beautiful Coordinator ShKur Francis reported on DOTs announcement of an $8 million litter-pickup program in District 7.

This pilot program will allow for 28 miles of state highways or roadways within your county, for them to pick up litter within a months span. They started it in September. In the month of September, the contractor picked up litter from Highway 601 from the intersection of 301 South to the county line. They also did Highway 64 from the Colleton-Bamberg county line to the Town of Olar, Francis said.

Francis continued, They picked up 760 pounds of litter in 2-1/2 days. So in October, theyre slated to pick up from Highway 64 from the Town of Olar west to Bamberg-Barnwell county line. Theyll also do Guess Drive from U.S. 321 to (Highway) 78. Theyll also go back through the Town of Olar north to Bamberg to the Orangeburg County line.

He emphasized that the cleanup includes only state roads.

So if you have any respective state roads within your district and you see a need for litter pickup, let me or Bill Johnson, our director of operations, know, and we will definitely let the contractor know that so that we can get that done in a timely manner.

Also during the meeting, Lower Savannah Council of Governments Executive Director Dr. William Molnar reported on federal American Rescue Plan Act funds allocated for water projects across the state, along with the 15 water projects for which the LSCOG put in grant proposals from its service area, including two in Bamberg County.

One of those was with BBPW (Bamberg Board of Public Works) in regards to a regional planning grant to figure out how to kind of look at the bigger picture and pull together and be most cost effective, he said.

Preston reported that the second grant was for approximately $2.7 million, which is to allow for the extension of BBPW water lines along Hunters Chapel Road to Crosswind Road and the Family Circle Court Area.

Approximately 75 residences will be provided a public water source as a result of this project in order to meet the SCDHEC fire code standards at 500 gallons per minute flow. A completely new extension of the Bamberg County water system is required, the administrator said.

He continued, The proposed project will consist of approximately 26,250 feet of water main initiating with a system connection near Bambergs Rhodes Park elevated tank. Valving and fire hydrants will be spaced along the way for the project to allow proper operational control of the distribution system and to serve the customers.

Molnar said the grant application is an example of a wonderful partnership between the county and the BBPW.

Successful applications will be announced this winter in January and February. Well be working with those organizations who have been allocated those funds across the region. I know that engineering companies have worked with a couple of other small communities and if they do get awarded, actually were going to be the ones that are going to be working with them per the state, he said.

Molnar also reported that LSCOG has received approximately $100,000 to address brownfields, or a property whose expansion, redevelopment or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance or other contaminant.

So if you have an area that you think may be a brownfield and you want to go in and do the testing, come to us first. OK? We have money and processes to go through in helping to figure out if thats a brownfield and what its going to cost to actually clean that up, he said.

Also during his report, Preston said the county has rescheduled the dedication of the new fire pumper tanker for the Hunters Chapel Fire Department for 10:30 a.m. Friday, Oct. 21, at the courthouse annex. The ceremony had been scheduled for Sept. 30 before the threat of inclement weather from Hurricane Ian.

Of the Bamberg County Airport, he said, Weve been kind of creative in how weve been able to utilize our resources to kind of get to go from a county-owned airport that was privately managed and controlled where the county really didnt get any benefit out of it, to where now were getting some attention and some benefit from two upgrades weve done, fuel sales and expanding some of the FBOs, fixed-based operators, that are there.

He continued, Weve got five (planes) registered at the Bamberg Airport. We need a place to put five more planes just to be able to get the federal funding -- $100,000 to $200,000 a year thats allocated to every airport in the state. But youve got to qualify for it. Then you use that money to help your infrastructure and to help it grow.

It doesnt mean that we cant apply for state grants. We just got one to do some work on what they call the apron, which is the pavement out there. So we just got a grant for $19,200 to help us pay for some repairs.
Voorhees University is joining local and statewide organizations (Inspire 60 and Black Liberation Fund) to help citizens of South Carolina clear criminal records and get a new start in life.

The non-partisan Drop the Charges Expungement event will be held from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Oct. 29 in the Voorhees University School of Business and Entrepreneurship in the St. James Building, which is located at 481 Porter Drive in Denmark.

Voorhees, Inspire 60, Black Liberation Fund and a group of community volunteers will assist individuals who have convictions, charges or arrest records in getting their records cleared or applying for pardons. Attorneys will be available to provide consultations to those participating in the expungement event.

People interested in participating in the event should register by Oct. 14. The first 50 people who register and qualify will receive the services free. Visit https://bit.ly/blfintake.

Attendees can get the help needed to move forward from a previous bad choice or mistake, or they can learn how to help others, said Latisha Imara, director of the Black Liberation Fund.

The event will feature information about entrepreneurship, job opportunities, education and other services available in the community. Attendees can register to vote before and after the event, said Dwayne Smiling, executive director of the Becoming Beloved Community Initiative at Voorhees.

For registration and expungement information, contact Imara at director@blackliberationfund.org.
Standing atop an Interstate 26 overpass, Gov. Henry McMaster signaled for an excavator operator to officially commence work below.

Hit it, brother, McMaster said into the radio he was holding during a press conference on Tuesday morning.

The S.C. General Assembly in June approved spending nearly $2 billion on the widening of Interstate 26.

That includes expanding a majority of the four-lane interstate to six lanes between Charleston and Columbia. The I-26 widening will include several counties, including Orangeburg and Calhoun.

In an interview after the press conference, S.C. Secretary of Transportation Christy A. Hall said the state will likely begin soliciting bids at the end of 2023 for a portion of the project to improve I-26 from Columbia.

Tuesdays event at the Cypress Campground Road overpass kicked off the official start of the entire 70-mile project.

The first part of the I-26 widening project will cover seven miles between the Jedburg exit and S.C. Highway 27, Hall said.

That part costs $218 million.

Its designed to help alleviate traffic flow and help support the growth that is occurring in this fast-growing region of our state and improve safety, Hall said.

The first part of the project also includes upgrading the SC-27 interchange, Hall added.

Within 30 days of the General Assembly approving the funds for the project, the S.C. Department of Transportation began the bid process to hire a construction company.

Hall said the bid was awarded to Banks Construction, a Charleston-based company.

Approximately $13 million of the work on the first part of the project will be done by small and minority-owned South Carolina businesses, Hall said, citing a pledge made by Banks Construction.

Not only is this project being built by South Carolina firms, but the overwhelming majority of the materials that will go into building this magnificent interstate will be sourced right here from South Carolina, Hall said.

Concrete, steel, asphalt, rock, cement  all of thats homegrown and is amplifying the economic impact of just a single road project, Hall said.

I-26 was built 60 years ago, she said.

In that time, traffic has increased and the 70-mile long segment of South Carolinas interstate network has, at times, become plagued with congestion, delays and accidents, Hall said.

She noted that I-26 carries more than 22 million vehicles per year, which includes about 7 million trucks.

That number has grown by more than 30 percent in just the past decade alone, she said.

Hall said the initial plan called for widening 70 miles of I-26 in a few segments every few years all the way to 2034.

With the plan now accelerated, the total project is now six years ahead of schedule, she said.

The actual construction work in the first part of the project wont get underway until after rights-of-ways are cleared and utilities are relocated along the seven-mile stretch.

Hall said that process may take about six months, so construction wont begin until next summer.

Four bridges, including the SC-27 overpass, will be replaced in the first part of the project, too.

After construction gets underway for the first phase, the bid process will start for the widening of I-26 from Columbia.

After that, the project will then jump to readying the I-26/Interstate 95 interchange to complement the I-26 widening project.

McMaster said, In a nutshell, this is the result of vision, common sense, talent and determination by the people that are here today.

Commerce is thriving in South Carolina, he said.

Were entering an era of great economic prosperity that we havent seen before, McMaster said.

He concluded his remarks with, In the words of that famous philosopher Larry the Cable Guy, well Get her done.
News  Vietnam

EuroCham ready to help Vietnam build green, sustainable economy
Southwestern Wyomings soda ash industry is looking to grow as global demand for the chemical climbs.

WE Soda, a subsidiary of Turkeys Ciner Group and a leading producer of natural soda ash, announced plans Wednesday to open another mining project near its existing Pacific Soda site outside Green River.

The new development, Project West, is expected to create between 1,500 and 2,000 construction jobs and 300 permanent jobs, and indirectly support even more. WE Soda hopes to begin operations there before 2030.

Its not a win-win, but its a win-win-win, said Oz Erkan, CEO of Ciner U.S. Its a win for the state and the federal government. Its a win for the companies that invest in these areas. ... But most importantly, its a win for the public, because it will bring new jobs that will bring more income.

Its a good thing for Wyoming, said Travis Deti, executive director of the Wyoming Mining Association.

Soda ash is a manufacturing input used chiefly in glass  including the tops of solar panels  along with other products ranging from sweeteners to detergents to rechargeable batteries.

This is one of the most hidden, and then most exciting, ingredients that we use in our lives, and it will continue to be, because theres no replacement, Erkan said.

While the majority of the worlds soda ash is made synthetically, mining of trona, the naturally occurring compound processed into soda ash, has persisted in a handful of countries with large enough reserves due to its relatively low production costs and lower environmental impacts, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Wyomings Green River Basin  a paleontological hotspot known as the fossil fish capital of the world  is home to the worlds largest known trona deposit, left there by the same ancient lakes that deposited layer upon layer of tiny fish many millions of years ago. The state supplies most of the roughly 12 million tons of soda ash refined annually in the U.S.

It imposes a 4% severance tax on trona mines, equal to the states tax on uranium but below the 6% for oil and gas and 6.5% for surface coal.

Project West alone will increase the states capacity by about 3 million tons, Erkan said. And the company believes the areas billions of tons of recoverable reserves leaves it plenty of room to keep expanding.

Were unleashing that potential, Erkan said. I see an incredible, bright future, as this is a great state to work in, and then make investments in.

Scaling up output will take time, however. Before it breaks ground on the new facility, WE Soda must first secure the requisite approvals.

We can start construction tomorrow, Erkan said. Were just waiting on the permitting, the applications  the process.
The Casper City Council will move forward with an ordinance targeting discrimination and bias-motivated crimes.

The ordinance, which was advanced by the council at its Tuesday work session, was recommended by the citys LGBTQ Advisory Committee last year. LGBTQ people and other minority groups live in fear of discrimination at school, in the workplace and out in the community, the committee told council members.

I know people whove left Casper because they didnt feel safe, said Darrell Wagner, who chairs the committee.

The proposal would enhance the punishment for assault, battery and the injuring, defacing or destroying of property motivated by hate or prejudice toward another persons race, color, religion, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin or disability.

Under the ordinance, anyone convicted of such a crime could face up to six months in jail  in addition to the current penalty, which is a fine of up to $750 for a first offense.

The proposal is based off a non-discrimination ordinance adopted by Cheyenne in March. Cheyennes, in turn, was inspired by a municipal law passed by the city council in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 2020.

Caspers law would go beyond Cheyennes by also outlawing discrimination in housing, employment and places of public accommodation  businesses, libraries or parks, for example. (Groups like churches and private clubs dont count as places of public accommodation.)

As currently written, the ordinance would make those offenses punishable by fines of up to $750.

The draft proposal was put together by the LGBTQ Advisory Committee and the city attorneys office.

Theres already recourse for discrimination cases on the federal level. People can submit fair housing complaints through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, for example. But those can take years to be resolved, said Casper City Attorney John Henley.

The ordinance would make it so people could seek a local remedy for such offenses.

This would have some immediacy, Henley said. By his estimate, cases could be decided by a municipal judge within six weeks.

Should the ordinance pass, discrimination cases would still have to meet a high standard of evidence before they could be prosecuted, he said.

Law enforcement would first investigate the incident. If the department believes discrimination has occurred, they would report it to the city attorneys office.

Then, the city attorneys office would decide whether or not to take it to court.

Its muti-layered before it even sees the judges desk, Henley said.

The ordinance, if passed, could be the first municipal law in Wyoming that targets both bias-motivated crime and employment, housing and accommodations discrimination, said Amber Pollack, who represents Ward I.

I think addressing them together makes sense, she said. They are kind of intertwined and related, and theres not a broad understanding of the specific differences between the two.

Council members showed broad support for the proposal. Many shared stories of friends and family members who weathered harassment due to their gender, sexual orientation, race or religious background.

We women and people in the LGBT community and people of color deal with this daily, multiple times a day, said Lisa Engebretsen, who represents Ward II. And so this is us telling the world this is not acceptable.

The only council member to voice opposition was Steve Cathey, who represents Ward III.

You cant legislate respect, he said.

The ordinance would need to pass three public readings before it could become law. Its expected to have its first public hearing Nov. 1.

There isnt good data on hate crimes in Wyoming, making it impossible to know how big of a problem they are in the state.

Still, several incidents of anti-LGBTQ bigotry in Wyoming made headlines last year.

In July 2021, a biker bar in Cheyenne sold T-shirts advocating for violence against gay people. Later that month, a transgender woman invited to perform a magic show at the Campbell County Library was forced to cancel after being threatened by some residents in Gillette. Less than a week after that, another transgender woman was severely beaten in Casper.
The Alpha Delta Kappa Excellence in Education Award for Wyoming and the Northwest Region was recently given to Melanie Kelly, a teacher at Roosevelt High School.

Alpha Delta Kappa is an international honorary organization recognizing excellence in women educators, a press release from Natrona County School District states. This specific award recognizes active educators for outstanding contributions to education. There is a financial award for the winner to use for professional purposes or to strengthen their classroom.

Kelly has been a teacher at Roosevelt for 35 years and living the dream, she said.

I am living my dream, teaching curriculum I love, with colleagues who are my friends, with students who teach me more than I could ever teach, with freedom to open minds and doors these students didnt know they could open, Kelly said. We have many diamonds in the rough at RHS, and I love to mine for them.

Her outlook as a teacher is this: Foster relationships with students, and the learning will follow naturally.

The best people in education are always striving to better themselves, and they put the students at the forefront because that is why we chose education in the first place. Being available to students  building relationships, listening to what young people have to say, should be at the top of the list for all educators, she said. Another important contribution every teacher can make to increase students growth and drive them toward success is to create a classroom that is welcoming and design lessons that are engaging.

As the recipient of the regional award, Kelly will be eligible to receive the International Excellence in Education Award during the International Alpha Delta Kappa convention in Kansas City, Missouri in July of 2023.
A man who entered the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot after traveling from Wyoming to Washington D.C. was sentenced Wednesday to 30 days in jail.

A federal judge in Washington also fined Andrew Galloway $1,000 and ordered him to pay another $500 in restitution.

Galloway, 34, is the first person with Wyoming ties to be criminally punished in connection to the attack on the Capitol. He was living in Cody at the time, but now resides in Tennessee.

Galloway pleaded guilty in March to a single charge of parading, demonstrating or picketing inside the Capitol. During the attack, he climbed through a broken window about 11 minutes after a mob of former President Donald Trumps supporters breached the Capitol as Congress worked to certify the presidential election. He did so, federal prosecutors say, even after he saw blood drops and police officers using pepper spray.

Those prosecutors recommended a sentence of 30 days in jail and three years of probation. In their sentencing memorandum, they noted he made false statements to FBI agents about his participation in the riot and loudly expressed his support for the riot after leaving. Prosecutors also noted Galloway is a former Navy servicemen, and should have known a mob would likely cause serious injuries to Capitol Police officers. More than 100 officers were injured that day.

Galloways actions and those of his fellow rioters enabled the breach of the Capitol, threatened the lives of the police offices, legislators, and their staff, and disrupted the certification vote for several hours, prosecutors wrote in the sentencing memo.

Galloways attorney, Allen Orenberg, argued 12 months of probation alone was the more appropriate sentence. In his sentencing memo, Orenberg said his client traveled to Washington with the intent to support Trump and was fixated on the process rather than the results of the election.

Mr. Galloway followed the large crowd there that day with no intention of doing anything but having his voice join those of thousands of other peaceful protesters, Orenberg wrote. Now, after seeing what really happened that day by watching film on numerous platforms, Mr. Galloway regrets that he was part of it, albeit a small part of it compared to the many violent protesters who assaulted police officers and caused damage to the U.S. Capitol building and grounds.

Galloway, according to his attorney, was not violent during his time inside the Capitol, which lasted about 10 minutes.

Authorities say the FBI received a tip about Galloways participation in the Jan. 6 riot. He was later identified in surveillance footage.

Investigators obtained a video that showed Galloway saying, Yeah, that was us today; no that wasnt antifa, court documents state.
CHEYENNE  Interim Secretary of State Karl Allred has moved quickly to request the removal of absentee ballot drop boxes statewide.

Three days after he was sworn into office, he sent a letter on Friday to all 23 county clerks. In the correspondence, he asked them to consider the request, if not for this election, then for 2024 and all future elections.

Allred said while his time in the office would be short, he wanted to capitalize on the opportunity to continue the great work of this office and oversee another successful election.

Absentee voting began on Sept. 23 for the Nov. 8 general election.

There is concern over the use of absentee ballot drop boxes. I know this concern is not new to you, and Ive been apprised that only seven counties are currently using them in this general election, Allred wrote. Im mindful of the fact that there have been no issues reported with the use of the drop boxes in Wyoming, but that does not alleviate the potential for abuse or destruction of ballots through use of fire or other means.

Allred took office on Monday last week, after his appointment by Gov. Mark Gordon to replace former Secretary of State Ed Buchanan, who accepted a judgeship in Goshen County.

Although both Allred and Buchanan are proponents of election integrity, their approach differs.

Buchanan encouraged county clerks to invest in ballot boxes in 2020 as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In his letter, Allred wrote that his predecessors administration interpreted Wyoming statute to mean that delivered to the clerk encompassed the use of the drop box that was at or near a county clerks office or the county courthouse. He said while he had a different understanding of what this means, he respected the prior direction of the Secretary of States Office.

I know that absentee voting is already underway and that drop boxes are already being used by voters in those seven counties, his letter continued. I do not wish to interrupt or cause confusion to the voting process that is already in progress, but I will ask that you make an honest assessment as to whether or not discontinuing the use of your drop box would cause any disruption to your voters.

He said after that assessment, if county clerks decide that discontinuing the use of the drop box would not disrupt the election process, he asks that they voluntarily discontinue use in this election and any future elections after proper notification to voters of the change.

For those who didnt follow the request, he said the boxes should be under 24-hour surveillance and that the ballots be retrieved at the end of each day by a bipartisan team or staff or election judges whenever possible.

The date, time and number of ballots recorded should also be appropriately reported in the chain-of-custody logs.

Allred is not the only official in the state who has expressed these concerns.

State Rep. Chuck Gray, R-Casper, was the Republican primary winner in the secretary of states race and will likely take over the position in January. He has voiced doubts regarding the 2020 presidential election results and campaigned on the premise of removing absentee drop boxes.

Im the only Secretary of State candidate who has made it clear that I will ban ballot drop boxes, Gray wrote via Twitter in June. We must have real election integrity, not talk!

Neither Allred nor a representative from the Secretary of States Election Division responded to requests for comment Tuesday.

Laramie County is among the seven counties to use the absentee ballot drop boxes, and County Clerk Debra Lee said her office will continue to offer the option. She voiced confidence in the single drop box, located on the east side of the county courthouse.

She confirmed she received the letter Friday and told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle she had never received such a request from the Secretary of States Office. However, she said she wasnt surprised by it.

It would cause confusion, and it would be a huge disservice to voters, she said, especially if they arent able to get their (absentee ballot) in the mail seven to 10 days prior to the deadline.

Lee explained that her office does fulfill the stipulations Allred sought, to monitor the box around the clock by video and to timely remove the ballots. The office has had no issues with these boxes, and she said it is a way that voters can be assured their ballots will arrive on time.

The Laramie County Clerks Office mailed out close to 4,400 absentee ballots for the general election and has already received more than 900 back.

Lee said 3,250 of the votes were by absentee ballot in the primary, excluding early voting, out of 27,478 ballots total cast.

Early and absentee voting started Sept. 23. Its well underway, she said. Introducing changes at this point makes it very disruptive to the process.
Scientists are still figuring out how, exactly, development impacts mule deer and other migratory species. But as the harms associated with disruption become increasingly clear, Wyoming policymakers are turning to the advancing research to inform the states approach to conservation.

Wyoming is really at the center of the universe for North Americas megafauna, including many migrating wildlife species, and this state has taken the responsibility to manage these migrating wildlife seriously, said Matt Skroch, a project director for conservation at the data-focused Pew Charitable Trusts.

Skroch is the lead author of a Pew report released Tuesday on the practical significance of that growing understanding. Its aim, he said, is to bridge the science of wildlife migration with management and policy for wildlife.

The report draws on increasingly abundant data on migration patterns  much of it collected in Wyoming, often made possible by improvements in GPS tracking technology  and highlights the major sources of disruption the findings have revealed.

The data that is streaming in from that technology is incredibly valuable and useful to analyze and to use in formulating best practices for managing these migrating wildlife, Skroch said.

Roads, private lands and energy projects rank among the top culprits responsible for impeding animals movement between summer range and winter range. But Wyoming, he noted, is working to address all three, often with the federal governments support.

The state is investing in wildlife crossings to improve road safety for both humans and ungulates and programs that help private landowners install safer fencing and minimize other obstacles, and has taken steps to keep energy projects out of known migration corridors.

Theres so much positive momentum and collaboration around protecting Wyomings wildlife, Skroch said.

He hopes that momentum will enable Wyoming to keep pace with the evolving knowledge about migrating species needs  and continue to serve as a model for other states management strategies.

Currently, there are only three migratory corridors identified by the state for formal conservation, he said. There are dozens and dozens of identified corridors throughout the state utilized by migrating wildlife. And so we have work to do in front of us to formally identify those additional migratory pathways and to work with communities on collaborative solutions to maintain their functionality.

On the scientific side, the University of Wyoming is at the forefront of those advancements, Skroch said.

Days before the Pew report came out, peer-reviewed scientific journal Nature Ecology & Evolution published an extensive study investigating the relationship between energy development and mule deer migration, led by researchers from UW and the U.S. Geological Survey.

It found  even more clearly than its authors anticipated  that encountering energy development throws off the careful timing of mule deer migration.

Mule deer surf the wave of new vegetation that emerges each spring, said Matt Kauffman, a zoology professor at the University of Wyoming and one of the authors of the study. Uninterrupted, their migration north aligns almost exactly with the emergence of the most nutritious forage.

If theyre too early, there arent enough plants around, because things just havent started coming up yet. If theyre too late, everything is large, has grown up, is fibrous and hard to digest, Kauffman said.

The researchers, who tracked mule deer for more than a decade, discovered that the drilling of new wells interrupted the animals and slowed their progress.

They didnt improve in the subsequent years, Kauffman said. Even after 14 years, they still had that behavior of holding up at the development and becoming mismatched from the wave of green up that passed them by.

The study, he added, brings researchers one step closer to understanding exactly how much development migrating wildlife can tolerate in their migration corridors.
DESPITE the challenges brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, Pan-American Life Insurance Group (PALIG) is set to regain its 2019 profitability.

So said chairman and chief executive officer of the board, Jose S Suquet, at the companys tenth anniversary celebration of its establishment in the Caribbean, at the Hyatt Regency hotel, last week.
MURDER SCENE: Crime scene investigators examine a high-powered rifle, which was retrieved near the bullet-riddled pick-up in which two security officers were killed and a third critically injured on Monday in the vicinity of Pennywise Super Centre, La Romaine. The guards, from Allied Security Ltd, were ambushed after they had collected the days sales from Pennywise. Photo: DEXTER PHILIP
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There has been a major rupture of a WASA pipeline spanning the Godineau River, near the Shor
Nightfall, the annual fright-fest experience held at Old Tucson, 201 S. Kinney Road, has returned after a two-year hiatus due to the global pandemic and the subsequent closing of the Old West theme park.

Now under new management, American Heritage Railways, the park relaunched Nightfall on Oct. 6, with a new format thats fully immersive, according to the events website, nightfallaz.com.

From now until Oct. 30, the 77-acre park will be littered with a cast of spooky, interactive characters straight out of the 1880s.

Theres a 250-page script, said General Manager Kiki Keefner when discussing, alongside production director Michael Thomas-Visgar, the preparation that went into this years event.

Each Nightfall actor has been given sections of that script that set up their characters and define how they interact with one another and with guests.

Each character has relationships with everyone in the town, Thomas-Visgar said. There are also scripted scenes that will happen at various points throughout the night between characters. Those happen all over the park.

This is a very different experience compared to past Nightfalls.

My boss and I did all the research on all the years past and we asked ourselves what can we do better than any other haunt, Thomas-Visgar said. We have a fully functional Wild West town. Lets make it a fully functional Wild West town.

Keefner and Thomas-Visgar emphasized that this years Nightfall will be family-friendly and that families with small children should feel comfortable staying well into the evening.

There will be kid-friendly haunts, such as little mazes, shows in the Grand Palace, as well as stunt shows geared toward all ages.

Keefner said this years Nightfall was pulled together in a much shorter timeframe because the lease for American Heritage Railways to operate the park wasnt approved until earlier this year. The team only had a few months to prepare.

Old Tucson will open back up for other seasonal activities after Nightfall, including its Christmas-time YuleTide event, Keefner said.

Nightfall is open Thursdays-Sundays starting at 5:30 p.m. through Oct. 30. Ticket prices vary depending on the day. Visit night

fallaz.com for more info.

Other Halloween treats

The Slaughterhouse

1102 W. Grant Road, slaughterhousetucson.com

Located in the old Farmer John meat-packing plant, The Slaughterhouse has been scaring the hell out of Tucsonans for 13 seasons now. Its website said the venue has reworked some of its biggest attractions this year, with new haunts and effects. The Slaughterhouse is open Thursdays-Sundays through Oct. 30. It will also be open on Halloween and on Nov. 4. Tickets range from $25-$70.







The Marana Pumpkin Patch

14950 N. Trico Road, maranapumpkinpatch.com

This popular patch, located on 50 acres of land at 14950 N. Trico Road, opened its doors on Oct. 1.

Admission to the patch includes access to a miniature train ride, a corn maze, fairground rides and play areas and an up-close look at the patchs family of farm animals. Its open from 3 to 8 p.m. Thursdays-Fridays, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturdays and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $18 online and $19 at the gate for Thursdays-Fridays. They are $20 online and $21 at the gate Saturdays-Sundays.

Boo at the Zoo

Reid Park Zoo, 3400 E. Zoo Court, reidparkzoo.org

This family-friendly event allows the kiddos a chance to walk amongst princesses, pirates and superheroes. They can roam scenes of skeletons, watch an illusionist and fill their Halloween sacks with treats from candy stations set up throughout the zoo. The event runs from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Oct. 21-23, Oct. 29 and 30. Tickets are $13 and must be purchased in advance through the website.

100 fun events happening in Tucson this October 2022   What to do in Tucson this weekend and this month: Tucson Meet Yourself, tons of Halloween events, Cyclovia, plant sales, a community sing-along, Arizona Insect Festival, film festivals, and lots more in the Tucson, Marana and Oro Valley areas.
Deputy Sheriff John Anderson Falls to Death in Sabino Rescue Attempt

LOSES HIS LIFE TO SAVE YOUTH ON LEDGE TRAP

Tucson Boy Gains Safety But Slip of Rope Fatal For Peace Officer

By W. R. HARROD

John D. Anderson, 33, investigator for the Pima county sheriff's office, plunged 500 feet to his death in Upper Sabino Canyon yesterday morning a few moments after he had effected the rescue of a 15-year-old Tucson boy trapped for 14 hours on a ledge in the rocky canyon.

The boy, Guy L. Rockefeller Jr., son of G. L. Rockefeller Sr., employe of the Unit Laundry, was hauled to safety by a rescue party a few seconds after the deputy sheriff's body had plunged into a pool at the bottom of the canyon. The body was not recovered until 5:40 p.m.

Anderson, a veteran law enforcement officer despite his comparative youth and an excellent mountain climber although he wore an artificial leg as a result of a motorcycle accident in his high school days, had volunteered to descend into the canyon to a ledge 25 feet above the one to which young Rockefeller clung. This was necessary because the upper ledge rendered it impossible for rescuers to drop a rope to the boy.

Reaches Ledge

A rope around his waist, the deputy sheriff descended to the top ledge, which was 25 feet below the rescue party and 25 feet above the boy. Unfastening the rope, he lowered it to the youth, who placed it around his own waist. He then was hauled to the upper ledge beside Anderson.

Apparently believing that the rescue party above him would need help in pulling young Rockefeller to safety, Anderson started climbing up the face of the cliff, clutching the rope still affixed to the boy's waist in one hand and grabbing on to protruding rocks with the other. He had ascended 10 feet when the rope slipped sideways in a crack on the face of the cliff and Anderson lost his grip upon it. For an instant he clawed desperately to regain his hold and then plunged to his death.

Sam Levitz, photographer for The Arizona Daily Star, was the sole eyewitness to the tragedy, standing 500 feet below on the canyon floor 50 feet from the pool of water into which the deputy's body hurled.

Levitz at Scene

Levitz had spent the night with the rescue party in Sabino Canyon and then, at daybreak, had forced his way up the creek bed to a point below where young Rockefeller perched precariously on a ledge approximately 500 feet above the canyon floor. The scene of the accident is 14 miles northeast of Tucson in the Catalina mountains and a mile and a half beyond the end of the road into the Canyon.

"I watched Anderson descend to a ledge about 25 feet below from where the rescue party was stationed and the same distance above Rockefeller," Levitz related. "He lowered the rope and the boy tied it around his own waist and was then pulled up beside Deputy Anderson.

"As he gained Anderson's side Rockefeller slumped to the ground and it seemed to me that he had collapsed. Then Anderson started climbing up the face of the cliff, holding on the rope with one hand and bracing himself on jutting rocks with the other.

Loses Rope Grip

"He had gone up about 10 feet when the rope literally seemed to jerk itself out of his hand. What had happened was that the tope had worked to the left from its original position into a crack in the face of the cliff. I don't know just how it occurred but possibly the rock could have crumbled and the rope went deeper into the crevice.

"Anderson clutched frantically for the rope for an instant and then started to fall. His body struck three or four ledges on its way down, each time with a sickening thud that sounded above the noise made by the rapids in the creek at that point.

"The body struck the last ledge about 75 or 80 feet above the pool and then plunged directly into the water. I was standing about 50 feet away from the pool with my camera and as I ran toward the water I saw the body come to the surface once and then disappear.

"Although the body was in the air only a few seconds it seemed like an eternity to me and I focused my camera and snapped the shutter once as it plunged downward. I didn't know until I developed the plate whether I had gotten a picture."

Recovery Difficult

The recovery of Anderson's body took nearly seven hours of long and arduous work under difficult conditions. As the search continued Sheriff Martin's staff was increased by the addition of all the deputies that were not on duty. Also Sam Sloan mobilized all of the special deputies on Martin's force. Later a group of 73 soldiers from Davis-Monthan plus officers and military police were added to the group. A Red Cross unit under the direction of Mrs. Downey, aided by Mrs. Humphries and Mrs. Lundberg took over the feeding of the workers.

The search was held up at first when the deputies were misled by a boy who said he saw the body fall into one of the crevices in the canyon walls. However, Levitz was able to tell them that the body had hit in the pool at the base of the canyon.

Anderson's body hit in a small pool and then was carried out by the force of the stream into the deepest pool in the whole canyon, knows as the "old dam site pool."

Divers in Relays

With a party of four divers, barney Armstrong, Jerry Martin Jr., Red Hill and a volunteer life guard called "Buster" the work went on. As the divers would tire, the men with grappling hooks, Arnold Carrillo, Auturo Estrella, Bud Brannon, Earl Seal, Joe Hill, and Wesley Dunn would go to work. At 4:50 Dunn, a merchant patrolman, on his third cast succeeded in finding the body under the overhanging rocks on the western side of the pool.

At this point the D-M soldiers arrived and were instrumental in carrying the body to the road on the canyon rim. A helicopter had been on deck to bring the body out but the canyon thermals made it impossible to get the 'copter down into the canyon, so that pilot, Charles Marthens, used his craft only to bring water up to the workers over a trail that took over an hour to walk, but only five or six minutes to fly.

Exact Time

The exact time of the accident was determined when Anderson's battered body was recovered with his crushed watch had stopped at 8:32.

After the recovery, Sheriff Martin made the plea that parents keep their children out of the area that has been called unsafe.

Rockefeller Senior, who resides at 848 East Sixth street, took his son and six other boys of the same age to a camp site in Sabino canyon Sunday afternoon and left them, saying he would return for them early in the evening.

The pool into which Deputy Anderson later was to plunge was reached, and the six boys, Wilbur French, Freddie Thomas, Roy Brown, Freddie Rico, Robert Fasio and Willie Sillik  all students at the Roskruge Junior High school  decided to go in swimming.

Young Rockefeller alone demurred and announced that he was going up on the mountain side. Accordingly, he set out and by 5 p.m. had reached the narrow ledge 500 feet above the canyon floor. Then he found that he was unable to proceed further. Neither could he descend, as some of the stepping stones he had used in his climb had slid out beneath him.

Noise Handicaps

The boys debated for some time as to what to do and were handicapped by the fact that the noise of the rapids drowned out directions called to them by the trapped youth. Finally, young French volunteered to hike to the U. S, forest ranger's lookout post, five miles away over rough terrain.

French arrived at the ranger post at 7:25 p.m. and called the sheriff's office. Deputy Sheriff Ben Gonzales left immediately for the canyon and was joined later by Investigator Anderson, and Deputies Harry Brannon, Earl Seals. Richard Prince and Arnold Carrillo.

The father already had returned to the canyon and he, the deputies and the six boys kept an all-night vigil awaiting daylight to attempt the rescue. Then the party followed a torturous trail to the point just above where young Rockefeller was perched, a ledge so narrow that when seated his feet hung over the edge.

The deputies had a 300-foot length of rope and a half-dozen attempts were made to throw the end over the upper ledge and down to the boy. When these proved futile Anderson volunteered to descend to the first ledge and effect the rescue. This he did and he was only 15 feet from the top and safety when death struck suddenly and terribly.

Sheriff Jerome P. Martin left immediately for Sabino Canyon when informed of Anderson's death and directed the search for the body. Meanwhile, a young woman who identified herself as Anderson's bride of 11 months, the former Miss Bonnie Morton, took up her vigil at the sheriff's office and did not leave until a radio report on the recovery of the body was received.

Born in Shelbyville, Mo., Investigator Anderson came to Tucson as a boy. It was while a student at the Tucson high school and a motorcycle enthusiast that he was involved in an accident with an automobile that cost him his right leg just below the knee.

Early seeking a career as a law enforcement officer, Anderson served for two years as a jailer under the late Sheriff John F. Belton. Then followed two years as a special delivery letter carrier for the Tucson postoffice, followed by four years as a member of the Merchants Police Patrol under M. T. Guiney, present undersheriff of Pima county.

With Police Force

Despite the handicap of an artificial leg, Anderson received an appointment as a city patrolman in December, 1943, and served until July, 1946, when he rejoined the merchant patrol. When Martin became sheriff January 1, 1947, he immediately appointed Anderson as investigator for his office.

"The loss of Anderson is a genuine one," Sheriff Martin said last night. "He was a skilled investigator and a fearless one. I know that he died as he would have preferred to die  in the performance of his duty. He was a courageous officer and a fine one.

Besides his wife, Anderson, who resided at 51 South Grand avenue, is survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. James E. Anderson, 803 East Seventh street, and two brothers, James Jr. and Roger B. Anderson.
After a University of Arizona professor was shot and killed last week, faculty and parents have raised concern over campus safety and lack of security.

On Monday, UA president Robert Robbins sent out an email addressing the campus security concerns. Robbins said school leaders have begun the work to retain independent external experts in security and threat assessments to begin a comprehensive review of all aspects of campus safety, violence prevention and public safety response.

As many of you know, over the past two years, we have experienced other tragic incidents, both on campus and off, that have shaken our community and challenged our notion of safety, Robbins said in the email. While I take great pride in our ongoing efforts to protect our community, we must ask ourselves if there is more that we and our public safety partners can do.

The initial report, which will include recommendations, is due to Robbins within 75 days, the email said.

While the charge to the external experts will include a review of how the University handled threats in advance of the murder of Professor Meixner, it also will encompass the safety and security of our buildings, our threat assessment approach, our UAlert system, and any area of campus security they determine relevant to campus safety, Robbins said.

On Oct. 5, police said Murad Dervish, 46, entered the John W. Harshbarger Building and shot Professor Thomas Meixner in an office. Meixner was the head of the schools hydrology department and an expert on desert water issues.

Dervish was found three hours later traveling south on Arizona 85 toward Mexico, 30 miles south of Gila Bend, court records say. Arizona Department of Public Safety troopers had to use a PIT maneuver in order to stop Dervish. A search of the vehicle led troopers to find a 9mm handgun.

Dervish is facing charges of first-degree murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He remains in the Pima County jail.

Dervish had been expelled from the UA in February after he had been the subject of several reports of harassment and threats to staff members working at the Harshbarger Building. As a result, Dervish was barred from being on campus and was in the process of being served an exclusionary order from police.

In February, an email circulated to staff members included Dervishs photograph and instructions to call 911 if he returned to the building, court records say.

Arizona Daily Star columnist Tim Steller also reported that Christopher Castro, the associate head of the department, and others had received continuing harassment from Dervish but apparently had little success prompting action.

Robbins in his email also said he is committed to working with the Faculty Senate leadership along with the broader network of faculty and staff to ensure that they review and address concerns raised from colleagues.

At a press conference last week, UAPD police chief Paula Balafas said the UA had seen quite a bit of crime on the outskirts of campus, but it was outside of what I would describe as our island, which is basically pretty safe.

Just last month, there was a shooting at an apartment complex near the campus, which left two people injured. Stephanie Corneliuseens daughter, who is a junior at the UA and lives at the complex, was woken up by the sound of gunshots that night.

Corneliuseen said the next morning, one of daughters roommates windows had a bullet hole in it.

As far as I know and my daughter knows, nothing more has come out of that incident in terms of increasing security, Corneliuseen said. I received the obligatory text message for parents from UA stating that a shooting had occurred, and that UA takes security seriously. I do not believe this at all, nor do other parents.

A UA spokesperson said they fully expect that off-campus safety will be a part of the review. She also said the UA works closely with law enforcement agencies, including Tucson Police Department, on a wide range of issues and concerns, including issues and matters in the surrounding areas like off-campus crime that have an impact on the University community.

Corneliuseen also said her daughter told her that none of the doors she encountered on campus buildings were locked or automatically locked on the day of the UA shooting last week.

The shooter had not been apprehended for at least two hours later, and nobody knew where the shooter was, Corneliuseen said. These students walked out of their unlocked building, completely oblivious to what was going on, and could have walked right into an active shooting situation.

When asked about the lack of locked doors, the UA said with the guidance of security experts, the University is examining a range of additional security steps to enhance physical safety in our classrooms and buildings, including controlled access into and within buildings and facilities.

Even though Leila Hudson, the chair of the faculty at the UA and an associate professor of Middle Eastern and North African studies, was not on campus at the time of the shooting, her son and her colleagues were. She said that to the best of her knowledge, the UAlerts that were sent out were vague, did not specify if people should shelter in place and were not specific enough to take into account where people were.

People in the affected building and right next to it were getting the same, general and vague messaging as people who were 10 or 15 minutes away, Hudson said.

After speaking with her son and other students, she said there was no lockdown or general shelter in place order; people were just told to stay away from the Harshbarger building.

People dont know where the Harshbarger building is, Hudson said. I had to look it up, and Ive been a faculty member here for decades.

Hudson said some of the students knew what to do thanks to lockdown drills they had learned in high school or elementary school while others just got up and left.

I sat there talking to my son trying to guide him without any information on whether it would be better to stay in place or leave, Hudson said.

While Hudson has never received active shooter training, she said other colleges have. A UAPD spokesperson said anyone, including professors and students, can reach out to UAPD and request an active shooter presentation.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of a shooting at the UA College of Nursing in which three professors were killed by a failing student, who then took his own life on Oct. 28, 2002.

More recently, a 20-year-old UA sophomore was fatally shot in a campus parking garage on Feb. 20, 2021. Forrest Keys was killed during a confrontation with three people in a car who drove by him late at night. Two 18-year-old men received 30-year prison sentences for the slaying.

Corneliuseen said even after these two previous gun violence incidents, the UA still hasnt made a change.

Nothing changed after this either, Corneliuseen said. UAs response seems lackluster and desensitized; an oh well, these things happen these days approach.

Hudson hopes the UA provides training for all staff, places protocols and emergency plans in every department and in every building and figure out a way to limit access to buildings.

There needs to be institutional accountability, and there needs to be sharing of information so that its not up to each department, Hudson said. It shouldnt be up to them to try and protect themselves. They are part of a larger institution with many resources that should be able to assist when a local threat emerges.
Pima Community Colleges accreditor, the Higher Learning Commission, has recommended continued monitoring of the colleges sometimes-divided five-member Governing Board and senior administrators, after the HLC received complaints last year.

However, in a letter made public Tuesday, the accreditor also said there was not enough evidence to justify initial recommendations that the college remedy additional concerns about board oversight of employment processes and institutional climate.

The HLCs final decision comes more than six months after an accreditation team made a visit to campus. That visit was in response to a series of complaints the HLC received in 2021  from an ex-facilities administrator and two sitting board members, Maria Garcia and Luis Gonzales, and a community organization called C-FAIRR, which is now known as People4PCC.

While there were multiple allegations made in those complaints, the HLC decided to come to campus last spring specifically to decide if the college was in compliance with the accreditors requirement that the board is autonomous to make decisions in the best interest of the institution in compliance with board policies and to ensure the institutions integrity.

HLCs final recommendations

In a letter dated Oct. 6, HLC President Barbara Gellman-Danley wrote to PCC Chancellor Lee Lambert that the accreditors Institution Actions Council had made its final recommendation that the college continue to work on processes to improve adherence to appropriate board and state policies with a focus on the role of shared governance by the Board of Governors and Senior Administrators.

The letter, which is posted on PCCs website along with all other supporting documents, outlined the following examples of areas to monitor in the realm of board effectiveness and include in an interim report due to the HLC on Sept. 1, 2023:

Processes to ensure transparency of decision making at the board and senior leadership levels.

Board members using resources provided by the institution in preparation of meetings.

Continue to use board training to help all members of the board understand their role, responsibilities and governance.

Executive leadership focus on engaging the community and the Board of Governors in meaningful dialogue to address ongoing challenges and communication strategies.

Further, the HLC has asked the college to more clearly define the roles of the Office of Dispute Resolution and Human Resources and the processes by which employees may register a complaint and receive resolution of the complaint in its next comprehensive evaluation, which is slated for the 2024-25 academic year.

At a news conference Tuesday announcing the report, Board Chair Catherine Ripley dismissed the complaints the two board members, Garcia and Gonzales, and others filed with the HLC as baseless and unfounded.

We look forward to implementing the HLCs recommendation so that the governing board fully complies with college policies, HLC standards and state law, Ripley said.

Lamberts critics

This is not the first time the college has dealt with complaints filed with its accreditor. In 2013, the college was on probation, partly because of dysfunctional leadership under former Chancellor Ray Flores. When Flores resigned and Lambert applied for the job, he immediately faced criticism from some of the same people who filed the 2021 complaints with the HLC, including the community group C-FAIRR, now known as People4PCC.

Although Lambert led the college through its accreditation woes and got it off probation several years ago, he has not been able to create universal harmony within the college.

In addition to the complaints the HLC has now resolved, faculty groups submitted two new complaints to the accreditor Monday, alleging a serious policy violation impacting faculty and staff classification and compensation, as well as harassment, intimidation, and retaliation against employees who have expressed criticism of the college. The week before that, People4PCC called for Lamberts resignation.

Lambert said he is still committed to carrying out his vision for making PCC a leader of innovation in higher education, but that constantly being questioned and criticized for critical decisions that position the college to navigate the 21st century make that tough.

He pointed to the buzz around the release of the HLC report as the latest example, as well as earlier backlash from C-FAIRR and some faculty to the buildout of his signature workforce development initiative, Centers of Excellence.

Im always willing to work with anyone who wants to build a bridge to a better future for the college, Lambert said. But also understand that at the end of the day the accountability for decisions falls on me. Thats why, in many instances, I get the final say, subject to board oversight.

Lack of sufficient evidence

In the case of the now-closed HLC complaint, the accrediting bodys Institution Actions Council had the final say after it analyzed the accreditation teams draft report of recommendations.

In the draft report, the team recommended monitoring in the following areas:

Assess effectiveness of relationships among and between chancellor, board chair, and rest of board.

Examine boards role overseeing colleges employment processes

The draft report went on to explain in more detail why the visiting team made those initial recommendations.

It is evident that a significant rift has developed among the Board of Governors with little evidence of a quick and easy path to harmony, read the report about the first area the team recommended for monitoring. Left unchecked, this rift could lead to a state of disfunction that further puts the institution at risk of falling out of compliance with HLC requirements.

As for why it wanted to monitor the boards role overseeing the colleges employment process, the visiting team wrote: Faculty and staff voiced their opinions that PCC had embraced an institutional culture of fear, bullying, and intimidation and that the Office of Conflict Resolution was an ineffective body, and that, Generally speaking, a number of constituents expressed dissatisfaction that the ethnic/racial composition of the senior leadership does not reflect the student body and Pima County community.

The team then recommended that the college produce a report next July explaining how they remedied the following aspects of governance at the college:

Revision of the board bylaws ensuring equal access to the board chairs role on a rotational basis.

Clarification and agreement on the delegation of authority for the chancellor.

Information is flowing to and from all members of the Board of Governors.

Processes are in place to ensure fair and equitable treatment of women and people of color with periodic progress reports shared with college community.

Enhancement of the metrics for the diversity, equity and inclusion initiative.

Defined role statements demonstrating the interconnection of the Office of Dispute Resolution and Human Resources Department.

Plan to achieve racial/ethnic and gender diversity for the executive leadership team, full-time teaching faculty, and technical/professional staff reflecting the student body profile and Pima County community.

However, when the team sent its draft report to the HLCs Institution Actions Council, the council made the final determination that it removed parts of the monitoring recommended by the visiting team due to a lack of sufficient evidence to support aspects of the recommended monitoring.

The only recommendation in the above list the council finalized was the directive to create Defined role statements demonstrating the interconnection of the Office of Dispute Resolution and Human Resources Department. It also took the boards own recommendation for continued monitoring of the board.

Neither of the two dissenting board members who lodged complaints immediately responded to the Stars request for comment Tuesday.

Vice chair Demion Clinco, who is up for re-election next month, said that despite the divisions on the board that may remain, it is still functional in service to the college.

Theres always opportunity for growth, he said at Tuesdays news conference. Thats why we asked for these monitoring tools.
Editor's note: This story was originally published on March 8, 2022. Noodies opened on April 15, 2022.

Noodies! When owner Carolyn OConnor says the word out loud, it sounds like a party, a celebration.

The name belongs to her new pasta restaurant, opening later this month, in the space formerly occupied by Bentleys House of Coffee and Tea. Carolyn is totally re-imagining the place, complete with a mural painted by a friend who happens to experiment with abstract noodle shapes. There isnt a better word for it than fun.

Noodies is a Tucson inheritance. But its lineage, like sister restaurant Ceres, comes from all over. If Ceres is inspired by the pastries and pasta of northern Italy, Noodies draws material from the checkered-tablecloth Italian-American of Syracuse, with some help by way of Hong Kong.

Syracuse is Carolyns hometown. Its where she was pregnant, scrolling Pinterest, when the algorithm realized she needed more brightly-colored images of cha chaan teng  American-style diners in Hong Kong, where you can get condensed-milk French toast and macaroni soup. Those hues inspire the setting of Noodies today, if not the menu.

Though both restaurants share the foundation of Carolyns handmade pasta, Carolyn is clear that each restaurant is its own concept. Ceres always felt like my baby. The first time going into something, everything was really new. Because of that everything feels so precious  Noodies felt almost like having a second child  Noodies is colorful; the food is a little more gluttonous and cheesy. I see it as a wild second child or something.

While you will be able to get your favorite sauces from Ceres at Noodies  the tomato basil, the bolognese, the cacio e pepe  Noodies larger kitchen allows Carolyn to expand the menu. Youll be able to add Italian sausage, meatballs and burrata to your order. Unlike Ceres lunch counter, Noodies will have both indoor and outdoor seating. Their menu will also offer sandwiches Carolyn misses from her hometown, like meatball subs and Italian grinders.

Though Carolyn never thought she would go into the restaurant business  her parents are in academics  her mothers hospitality inspires Carolyns restaurants.

My mom, shes a really good cook, and she loves having a real dinner. She sets the table, puts out napkins, does all this stuff, makes a whole beautiful meal and a pie, tea and coffee, so she creates this whole experience for people, and it makes people feel so loved and appreciated. Its also a legacy in my own family, taking care of people through food, she said.

The also responds to Noodies more apparent legacy: Noodies is taking over the lease of her mother-in-law Jo Schneiders first restaurant, Bentleys, which occupied that space for over two decades. If Carolyns own mother gave her a love for feeding her community, Carolyns mother-in-law inspired her to make service her livelihood.

Going into the restaurant business or being an entrepreneur was so different than what I expected (for my life). The trust (the Schneider family has) put in me, the support, how theyre always there for me, with anything. Its such a testament to their kindness and generosity. I think Jo does that for a lot of people in this community, giving people a chance when maybe other people wouldnt, and let them shine, she said of Jo, who owns downtowns LaCo.

At both Ceres and Noodies, Carolyn aspires to be that support system for her own employees. She hosts weekly tasting sessions for staff, where they all sample the specials, the soft-serve flavors and give feedback. Everyone who works there respects everyone else and works really hard. Its such a good thing for workplace morale. Its very collaborative, so everyone feels really listened to, Carolyn said.

Theres two staff at Ceres who have been there since the day we opened, she said. They now know how to do everything. Theyre more or less managing Ceres for the shifts, every day  I really wouldnt have been able to take on the new project without them.

Workers at Ceres have to be able to do it all: cook pasta and take orders and make espresso  because the space to work is tiny. Though the larger venue at Noodies allows for more specialization, people working in the front versus the back of house, Carolyn aspires for the restaurants to cross-pollinate.

I have everyone try cooking lunch. I love it so much. Its really fast  I think a lot of women, especially, are really intimidated to go into a kitchen and work in a line  I think giving people the chance who wouldnt maybe necessarily think thats a good fit for them, the opportunity to cook in a fast-paced place, and realize: I could be really good at this.

We just started accepting resumes for Noodies. Im not sure what the kitchen will look like, or the front of house. We wrote that all are welcome to apply. I really hope people will.

Noodies

Location: 1726 E. Speedway

Hours: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday-Monday.

For more information, check out their Instagram.
BOSTON (AP)  A 91-year-old civil rights activist and education advocate was stabbed multiple times while walking her dog in a Boston park, authorities said.

Jean McGuire, the first Black woman to serve on the Boston School Committee, was stabbed in Franklin Park at about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden said Wednesday after visiting McGuire at the hospital.

McGuire's stabbing, as well as the recent fatal shooting of a 14-year-old boy in the city, is unacceptable, said Hayden, whose family has been close to McGuire's for years.

Im certainly outraged, and I think we have to be at the point where we have an entire community that is equally as outraged and will not stand for this sort of random violence any further, he said.

The good news is that McGuire is as spunky and as vibrant as ever and is going to be just fine, praise the Lord, he said.

McGuire's sister, Jeriline Brady McGinnis, told multiple news outlets that her sister has been walking dogs in the park for decades.

What did he want? Dog walkers dont carry money. We carry poop bags and ID. Thats all hes going to get. Unless he felt the urge to just beat up somebody whos defenseless, McGuire's sister told WFXT-TV.

McGuire was unconscious when officers found her. She was taken to a hospital with injuries that arent considered life-threatening, police said in a statement.

I am disgusted and angry to know that an elder in our community had to fear for her safety going about her daily routine, walking her dog, Mayor Michelle Wu said.

The suspect remains at large but might have been injured during the attack, police said.

In addition to being the first Black woman to serve on the school committee, where she served for a decade starting in 1981, McGuire in 1966 helped found METCO, the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity, which sends students of color from Boston to predominantly white suburban schools. She became the program's executive director in 1973 and served in the position until 2016, according to a biography posted by Northeastern University.

Milly Arbaje-Thomas, the current president and CEO of METCO, called McGuire a trailblazer.

We're all very saddened by this news, very shocked," she said. She's a woman who has dedicated her life to educational equality."
LOS ANGELES (AP)  The former president of the Los Angeles City Council resigned from public office Wednesday, three days after a recording surfaced of her making racist remarks in a meeting that is now the subject of a state investigation.

Nury Martinez, the first Latina to hold the top post on the council, announced her decision in a press release following a groundswell of outrage and calls for the resignations of her and two other council members involved in the conversation recorded last year.

Martinez made racist remarks about the Black son of a white councilman and other crude comments.

Her resignation statement did not address those comments, though in words directed at her daughter she said she had fallen short of expectations recently and added: "I vow to you that I will strive to be a better woman to make you proud.

The announcement was made several hours after Attorney General Rob Bonta said he would investigate Los Angeles redistricting process that the three council members discussed with a labor leader in which they schemed to protect Latino political strength in council districts.

Martinez had stepped down as president Monday while still holding onto her council seat. Her decision to give up her seat came as President Joe Biden was due to arrive in Los Angeles a day after he condemned the remarks and called on all three council members  Martinez, Kevin de Leon and Gil Cedillo  to resign.

Bonta, a Democrat like the three council members, said his investigation could lead to civil liability or criminal charges, depending on what is found.

Its clear an investigation is sorely needed to help restore confidence in the redistricting process for the people of LA, he said.

Bonta spoke in Los Angeles while the council tried unsuccessfully to conduct business nearby amid the uproar that exposed City Halls racial rivalries. Those involved in the leaked conversation were all Latinos, while Bonta is the first Filipino American to hold the top law enforcement job in the nations most populous state.

The council reconvened Wednesday, possibly to censure the three members, but it was unable to do business because a crowd of about 50 protesters drowned out the acting president chanting slogans such as, No meeting without resignation.

A minimum of 10 out of 15 members necessary for a quorum had assembled, but the meeting was adjourned when one left. None of the three embattled council members showed up.

Who shut you down? We shut you down! the raucous crowd cheered as the lights were being turned down.

Acting Council President Mitch OFarrell said that with no sign of anger subsiding, he didn't think the council could resume its work until all three are gone, which he said is inevitable.

For Los Angeles to heal, and for its City Council to govern, there must be accountability," he said in a statement. "I repeat my call on Councilmembers de Leon and Cedillo to also resign. There is no other way forward.

The council cannot expel members  it can only suspend a member when criminal charges are pending. A censure does not result in suspension or removal from office.

In the recorded conversation, Martinez called council member Mike Bonin a little bitch. She described the behavior of his Black son on a parade float when he was 2 as parece changuito, or like a monkey, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday.

At another point on the hourlong recording, Martinez called indigenous immigrants from the Mexican state of Oaxaca ugly, and made crass remarks about Jews and Armenians.

Martinez made history in 2019 when she became the first Latina elected to the council presidency and described herself as a glass-ceiling shattering leader who brings profound life experience as the proud daughter of working-class immigrants on her website. She is the daughter of Mexican immigrants and was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley.

The discussion with a powerful Latino labor leader, who has since resigned, centered on protecting Latino political power while redrawing council district boundaries. The once-a-decade redistricting process can pit one group against another to gain political advantage in elections.

Jessica Levinson, a Loyola Law School professor who previously was a member of the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission, said she did not see evidence in the recordings that would prompt criminal charges, although Bonta left open that possibility.

However, she said a probe could force redrawing council districts even though the current maps are being used to choose new council members next month.

It is so rare to have audio where  it gives the impression that theyre explicitly drawing lines on the basis of race, Levinson said. If in the end we determine these lines were illegally drawn, there needs to be a remedy for that, even though practically ... its a disaster.

Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer has called for creating an independent commission to draw redistricting maps.

It should be clear to everyone by now that if you leave in the hands of elected officials the power to determine their own political districts, this is a recipe for conflict of interest and it is an invitation to backroom deals, Feuer said.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the recording was posted on the social medial site Reddit by a now-suspended user. It is unclear who recorded the audio, who uploaded it to Reddit and whether anyone else was present at the meeting.

Thompson reported from Sacramento. Associated Press writers John Antczak and Amancai Biraben in Los Angeles, Sophie Austin in Sacramento and Julie Watson in San Diego contributed to this report.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  California again pushed back its decision on whether to list the western Joshua tree as threatened after a unanimous vote Wednesday by the Fish and Game Commission.

The decision to move back the vote until at least February comes months after the commission deadlocked on whether the native desert plant should be protected under the California Endangered Species Act. Since the tree is still under consideration to be listed as threatened, no one can remove it without authorization from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Before the commission's split vote in June, the Department of Fish and Wildlife sent letters to Indigenous tribes with traditional ties to the area where the western Joshua trees live. That outreach resulted in six responses from tribal nations, said Director Chuck Bonham. In August, tribal members talked about the cultural and ecological significance of the tree on a Zoom call with Bonham and others.

I actually would love more time to keep the conversation alive with the nations themselves, Bonham said.

In 2019, the Center for Biological Diversity petitioned for the tree to be listed as threatened in order to protect it from hotter temperatures, intensifying drought and development threats.

Commissioners said they need more time to hear from tribal leaders and to allow tribal governments to consult again before the commission can make a final decision.

Samantha Murray, president of the Fish and Game Commission, said Wednesday she hopes there's a legislative alternative that would offer similar protections for the western Joshua tree to those required under the California Endangered Species Act.

I really hope we're talking about meaningful protections, Murray said.

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 her on Twitter.
ST. LOUIS (AP)  A federal judge in St. Louis is weighing the fate of the Biden administration's plan to forgive student loan debt for tens of millions of Americans following a court hearing on Wednesday.

It's unclear when U.S. District Judge Henry Autrey will rule on the lawsuit filed by six Republican-led states that seeks an injunction to halt the student loan forgiveness plan. Whatever he decides, an appeal is likely.

Democratic President Joe Biden announced in August that his administration would cancel up to $20,000 in education debt for huge numbers of borrowers. The announcement immediately became a major political issue ahead of the November midterms.

The proposal prompted a lawsuit filed in September by Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and South Carolina. Other lawsuits followed, including one filed Monday by the Job Creators Network Foundation alleging that the administration violated federal procedures by failing to seek public input on the program.

In the lawsuit brought by the states, a court filing on behalf of the administration said the Department of Education has broad authority to manage the federal student financial aid programs. It stated that the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003, or HEROES Act, allows the secretary of education to waive or modify terms of federal student loans in times of war or national emergency.

COVID-19 is such an emergency, the filing stated.

The Congressional Budget Office has said the program will cost about $400 billion over the next three decades. James Campbell, an attorney for the Nebraska attorney general's office, told Autrey that the administration is acting outside its authorities in a way that will costs states millions of dollars.

What they're trying to do is go around Congress, and this they cannot do, Campbell said.

The plan would 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 faced threats of legal challenges to its plans almost immediately. Conservative attorneys, Republican lawmakers and business-oriented groups asserted that Biden was overstepping his authority in taking such sweeping action without the assent of Congress. They called it an unfair government giveaway for relatively affluent people at the expense of taxpayers who didn't pursue higher education.

Meanwhile, many Democratic lawmakers facing tough reelection contests distanced themselves from the student loan plan.

The HEROES Act is a post-Sept. 11, 2001, law meant to help members of the military. The Justice Department says the law allows Biden to reduce or erase student loan debt during a national emergency. Republicans argue the administration is misinterpreting the law because, in part, the pandemic no longer qualifies as a national emergency.

But attorney Brian Netter of the U.S. Department of Justice said the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic is still rippling. He said student loan defaults have skyrocketed over the past two-and-a-half years.

This (the HEROES Act) is a statute about emergencies  about national emergencies, Netter said.

The cancellation applies to federal student loans used to attend undergraduate and graduate school, along with Parent Plus loans. Current college students qualify if their loans were disbursed before July 1. Administration officials said applications for debt relief will be available in October.

The plan makes 43 million borrowers eligible for some debt forgiveness, with 20 million who could get their debt erased entirely, according to the administration.

Autrey did not give an indication when he will rule on the injunction request.

Binkley reported from Washington, D.C.
Three children who were sexually abused by their father are accusing a Utah state legislator and a prominent Salt Lake City law firm of conspiring with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to cover up the abuse, allowing it to go on for years.

In a court filing in Cochise County, Arizona, made public Wednesday, the children of the late Paul Adams asked a judge for permission to add Republican state Rep. Merrill F. Nelson and law firm Kirton McConkie as defendants in their lawsuit against the church, widely known as the Mormon church.

The suit accuses the Mormon church of failing to notify police or child welfare officials that Adams was abusing his older daughter.

In 2010, Adams confessed to his bishop, John Herrod, that he had sexually abused his daughter, according to legal records. Herrod reported the abuse to a church abuse help line and was advised not to report it to police or child welfare officials. The abuse was kept secret, and Adams continued raping his older daughter and her younger sister for several years. Adams was later charged by federal officials with posting videos of the abuse on the Internet.

Herrods decision not to report came after speaking with Nelson, according to church records included as evidence in the case. Nelson was a shareholder at Kirton McConkie, which has more than 160 attorneys, according to its website. Nelson was one of several lawyers at the firm who routinely fielded calls made by bishops to the help line.

In their legal filing, the Adams children - two daughters and a son - say new evidence from the church has revealed an ever-increasing group who knew about criminal misconduct in the Adams family but never reported it to the police.

For instance, Kirton McConkie attorney Peter Schofield was also consulted in the Adams case, according to new pretrial testimony that was reviewed by The Associated Press. Like Nelson, Schofield has been associated with the help line for many years, according to legal documents, and is currently one of the lawyers defending the church in the Adamses' suit.

Lawyers for the three Adams children said they had no additional comment on their latest legal filing. A spokesman for the church declined to comment.

Nelson, who recently announced his retirement from the Legislature, did not immediately return a message seeking comment from the AP. He has defended the churchs use of the help line in the Adams case. During an AP interview in September, Nelson said, it seems to me like it did operate as intended. The veteran legislators remarks came before it was reported that Nelson had fielded the call from Herrod about the abuse.

Kirton McConkie, in an emailed statement, said it disagreed with the allegations and characterizations in the court filing. As a former help line attorney has publicly attested, our team members are dedicated to rescuing children, assisting victims, and helping others comply with the law, the statement said. Schofield had no immediate comment.

In a recorded interview with Department of Homeland Security agents, Herrod said he called the help line and was told that Arizona law barred him from reporting Adams abuse, leaving him with the impression he could be sued if he did. But Arizonas child-sex-abuse reporting law provides blanket civil and criminal immunity to anyone reporting information about child sex abuse to civil authorities.

In August, the AP reported that Adams told Herrod he sexually abused his older daughter, identified as MJ, in 2010. Church lawyers have said that Herrod, and later another bishop, Robert Kim Mauzy, legally withheld information about MJs abuse from law enforcement under the states clergy-penitent privilege.

Although Arizona law requires clergy and other professionals to report child sex abuse and neglect, it permits clergy to withhold the information if it is obtained during a spiritual confession. Arizona is one of 33 states that maintain the clergy-penitent privilege loophole, which exempts clergy of all denominations from the requirement to report child abuse if they learn about the crime in a confessional setting.

The AP's investigation in August revealed a system, centered on the help line, for screening all accusations of child sex abuse within the church before reporting the information to civil authorities.

This included a policy of destroying all records of calls to the help line at the end of each day, according to the APs findings. Meanwhile, all calls referring to serious instances of abuse, including those involving bishops or abuse on church property, are immediately referred to lawyers with Kirton McConkie, which insists the calls are confidential and out of reach of law enforcement under the attorney-client privilege.

In their court filing, lawyers for the three Adams children argue that the church requirement that bishops call the help line before notifying law enforcement regarding child sexual abuse reports runs counter to Arizona law, which requires clergy and other professions to immediately report any information about child sex abuse to police or child welfare officials.

William Maledon, a lawyer representing the church in the Arizona suit, argues that the word immediately in the law is open to interpretation. Who knows what immediately means in that context? he asked during a July AP interview. You can make the argument that it means as soon as you determine that you have an obligation to report. Thats the way I would interpret it, and I think the way any good lawyer would interpret it.

In addition to Nelson and Kirton McConkie, lawyers for the Adams children are seeking permission to add as additional co-conspirators Paul Adams then-wife, Leizza Adams, and LDS Family Services, a separate corporation affiliated with the church. In sworn legal statements, church officials have said calls to the help line are answered by social workers with LDS Family Services. Under Utahs child sex abuse reporting law, social workers are required to report information about actual or suspected child sex abuse to civil authorities, according to the new filing.

Church lawyers say that in the Adams case, all calls to the help line that were made by Herrod and Mauzy were taken by Kirton McConkie attorneys. All of those were with attorneys or para-professionals, Maledon said in the July interview. None of them in this case were with anyone other than an attorney or attorney staff.

Paul Adams died by suicide while in custody in 2017, after being arrested by Homeland Security agents. Leizza Adams served more than two years in state prison on child sex abuse charges. Three of their six children were taken in by members of Leizza Adams extended family. The remaining three were adopted by Arizona families and have filed suit against the church.

Follow Jason Dearen and Michael Rezendes on Twitter at @JHDearen and @MikeRezendes. Contact APs global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org or https://www.ap.org/tips/.

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.
CLEVELAND (AP)  Two anglers accused of stuffing fish with lead weights and fillets in an attempt to win thousands of dollars in an Ohio fishing tournament were indicted Wednesday on charges of attempted grand theft and other counts.

Jacob Runyan, 42, of Broadview Heights, Ohio, and Chase Cominski, 35, of Hermitage, Pennsylvania, were indicted in Cleveland on felony charges of cheating, attempted grand theft, possessing criminal tools and misdemeanor charges of unlawfully owning wild animals. They're due to be arraigned Oct. 26.

Neither man immediately responded to voicemails seeking comment.

The cheating allegations surfaced Sept. 30 when Lake Erie Walleye Trail tournament director Jason Fischer became suspicious because Runyan and Cominski's fish were significantly heavier than walleye of that length typically are. A crowd of people at Gordon Park in Cleveland watched Fischer cut the walleye open and announce that there were weights and walleye fillets stuffed inside.

An officer from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources confiscated the fish as evidence.

Fischer also did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.

Runyan and Cominski would have received $28,760 in prizes for winning the tournament.

According to search warrant affidavits, the five walleye contained a total of eight 12-ounce (.34 kilogram) lead weights and two 8-ounce (.23 kilogram) weights, as well as the fish fillets. Officers from ODNR, the Hermitage Police Department and the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission seized a boat, trailer and fishing gear belonging to Cominski on Tuesday in Pennsylvania. The anglers had used the boat during last month's tournament, the affidavits said.

One of the affidavits disclosed that Runyan and Cominski were investigated by Rossford police in northwest Ohio in April after being accused of cheating in a different walleye tournament. According to a Rossford police report, an assistant Wood County prosecutor concluded that although the men may have cheated, there was not enough evidence to charge them.
PHOENIX  Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Katie Hobbs is getting the interview she wanted on Arizona PBS despite refusing to participate in a debate with Republican Kari Lake.

And the stations decision could spell the end of its more than two-decade relationship with the Citizens Clean Elections Commission, which sponsors candidate debates.

Officials at KAET-TV, the Phoenix PBS affiliate, confirmed Wednesday they have offered Hobbs 30 minutes of one-on-one time next week with host Ted Simons. Lake, who had been set to be interviewed Wednesday, will get identical time.

But not together.

Thats exactly what Hobbs demanded after refusing to share a stage with Lake, and exactly what the commission refused to give her.

Our mission is to have debates, not town halls, said Galen Paton, a commission member, in voting Sept. 8 to reject the consecutive appearances.

The decision Wednesday by KAET, part of the Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University, came as a surprise to Tom Collins. He is executive director of the commission that has conducted candidate debates ahead of every election since being created by voters in 1998.

As a professional matter here, Cronkites decision-making here was unacceptable for an agency like ours that values transparency, Collins said, as he found out about the stations decision from reporters and not from the school.

On top of that, he told Capitol Media Services, the decision came just hours before the commission-sponsored appearance by Lake on KAET  the one she was offered after Hobbs balked  was set to air Wednesday, but did not.

A spokesman for Cronkite, which had agreed to give Lake her airtime alone following Hobbs refusal to debate, defended the decision.

It is our responsibility as a news agency to provide the public with access to the candidates who are running for office so they can learn more and make informed decisions, the schools prepared statement said.

Collins responded: Its hysterically funny to me as a former journalist that theyre wrapping this up in the First Amendment.

They had an opportunity to ensure that all voices were heard from, he said of the commissions process and rules about debate. Instead, Collins said, by agreeing at the last minute to the demands by Hobbs for her own time after she refused to debate, the school inserted itself into the political process.

Collins said the school had a professional commitment to us to abide by commission rules, including the one just reaffirmed by the panel that those who refuse to face-to-face debates do not get to dictate that they get separate time.

And ethics is about, if nothing else, keeping your word, Collins said. And ethics in government, which is what ASU is, is about transparency. We got neither of those things from the Cronkite school.

Lake also accused the station of making a political decision, calling the move a betrayal.

PBS has unilaterally caved to Katie Hobbs demands and bailed her out from the consequences of her cowardly decision to avoid debating me on stage, Lake said in a prepared statement.

She pointed to the vote by the commission to deny Hobbs her own interview, saying the station went behind the commissions back and agreed to give her what she wanted. Lake suggested there was a partisan motive.

PBS, a supposedly objective taxpayer-funded entity, is working overtime to help elect Katie Hobbs, who needs all the help she can get, the GOP candidate continued. PBS has now become complicit in Katie Hobbs attempt to destroy 20 years of gubernatorial debate tradition.

The station is looking to air back-to-back interviews next week but no date or times are set.

The commission debates are now finished for this election cycle. But Collins said what happened Wednesday will force the commission to have a new conversation with the university ahead of the 2024 election, including whether ASU is willing to abide with commission rules as it had for decades before.

My belief is the Cronkite School does not intend to have a relationship with the Clean Elections Commission forward, he said. That is their decision. And if they did not understand that when they made this decision, then they are critically unsophisticated in their thinking.

He acknowledged that nothing in the agreement with Cronkite lets the commission tell KAET who it will or will not interview outside the scope of commission-sponsored debates. But the issue is this is a real departure from what was done and an unexplained departure, Collins said.

Lake said she is continuing to push for a debate even though early voting for the Nov. 8 general election already started.

But now that Hobbs got what she wanted in the first place, without the risks that come with a debate, there is little incentive for the Democrat to change her mind.

In refusing the debate, Nicole DeMont, Hobbs campaign manager, told commissioners that Lakes actions during the GOP primary debate showed she would make the general election debate into a spectacle. That specifically included Lakes contention the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump.

You cant debate a conspiracy theorist, DeMont said. When she decides to come back to reality, accept the results of our free and fair elections, then we can start to have a real policy debate.

But attorney Tim LaSota, representing Lake, told the commissioners they should not change the rules to protect Hobbs against uncomfortable questions. And he said there was no reason to believe debate host Simons could not keep the discussion fair, calling Hobbs excuses for not wanting to debate a cop out.

Strictly speaking, only candidates that get public funds for their campaigns, administered by the commission, are legally required to participate in the commission-sponsored debates. And both Hobbs and Lake are using private donations.

But the record shows that virtually every gubernatorial candidate, publicly funded or not, has participated.

Still, there is precedent for the commissions decision to give airtime to candidates when their foes refuse to debate.

In 2018, Republican gubernatorial hopeful Ken Bennett got an interview after incumbent Doug Ducey refused to participate in a debate ahead of the primary. A Ducey campaign official said the debate refusal was because Bennett, who had been president of the Senate as well as secretary of state, was a fringe candidate.

And just months ago, Democrat Marco Lopez was interviewed by Simons after Hobbs would not debate him for the partys nomination. At that time, however, Hobbs did not seek time of her own.
Mecham to Mofford, Napolitano to Brewer.

It may sound like an old-time infield combination, but its actually a truncated history of the sometimes tumultuous turnover in the governors office in Arizona, where the line of succession does not always run through the same political party.

When Republican Gov. Evan Mecham was impeached in 1988, he was followed in office by Democratic Secretary of State Rose Mofford. When Gov. Janet Napolitano, a Democrat, stepped down to become secretary of Homeland Security, she handed the office over to Secretary of State Jan Brewer, a Republican.

Its why Sen. J.D. Mesnard, R-Chandler, hopes voters approve Proposition 131, which would make Arizona one of the last states in the country to create an office of lieutenant governor who would succeed the governor. Currently, the secretary of state is first in line of succession.

If you were to poll the average person today, Im not sure they realize the secretary of state is first in line, Mesnard said.

If approved, Proposition 131 would create an office of lieutenant governor who would run on the same ticket with the governor beginning with the 2026 election. The gubernatorial candidates would choose their lieutenant governor running mates after the primary election, all but guaranteeing that the two would be from the same party and ensuring that voters know what they are getting in terms of succession.

Mesnard, the prime sponsor of the bill behind Prop. 131, hopes it can bring greater continuity in the government in Arizona, where Doug Ducey will be the first governor in decades to serve out two full terms without handing over the office to the secretary of state.

Proposition 131 would put Arizona in line with the majority of states that run governors and lieutenant governors from the same party on a general election ticket.

Julia Brossart, executive director of the National Lieutenant Governors Association, said 45 states have an office of lieutenant governor and in 26 of those states, the governor and lieutenant governor are elected together.

Brossart said that having a lieutenant governor is the smoothest, most understood way for succession to occur, but that there is a wide variety among states on how the lieutenant governor gets on the ticket.

There are a few states where the lieutenant governor comes through a primary separate from the governor. We call it an arranged marriage, Brossart said. They come through the primaries separately, but then they run on the election ticket together.

This is not the first time Arizona voters have been presented with the question of whether the state needs a lieutenant governor. In 1994, voters overwhelmingly rejected a proposal known as Proposition 100, which would have required the governor and lieutenant to be nominated together.

In 2010, voters rejected a variation of the arranged marriage plan, where the governor and lieutenant governor would have run together after being nominated separately in the primary. Proposition 111 that year would also have made the secretary of state the lieutenant governor.

It created this convoluted way that you elect the two of them  they dont actually run together, Mesnard said of the 2010 proposal.

After it failed, it just sort of faded into the background until recently, he said. I and others, on both sides of the aisle, began talking about the importance of this from a continuity standpoint.

Mesnard said the previous versions failed due to a lot of design flaws, but he hopes that this time will be different due to the latest version addressing concerns that were raised in prior versions.

The latest version is modeled after presidential elections, in which each partys nominee selects a vice presidential candidate to run with them in the general election, a model voters are familiar with. And with the continued migration to Arizona, Brossart said many voters are already familiar with the governor and lieutenant governor in state government.

When voters vote, they understand what they are voting for a little better than the current set-up in Arizona, she said. All of those folks moving in may not fully appreciate, or not understand that when they are voting for secretary of state, they are voting for their successor. Its not what most states do.

Unlike a secretary of state, a lieutenant governor is clearly the successor to the governor, Mesnard said. That will let Arizona voters make a better-informed decision on who takes over should the governor die, step down or be removed from office  all of which have happened since the 1970s.
The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:

An American president is not supposed to just forgive billions of dollars of student loan debt unilaterally. Hes not supposed to open our borders to floods of illegal immigrants because he wants to. Hes not supposed to send federal regulators after the fossil fuel industries that fuel our cars and trucks and heat our homes and businesses. (Especially when were recovering from a pandemic.)

But President Joe Biden did all these things. And the leaders of the entity with the most direct power over an American president  the United States Senate  has let him do it all.

Arizonans have seen their senators correct and constrain several presidents. Barry Goldwater led the GOP Senate delegation that told Richard Nixon his time was up, that the Senate GOP would not save him from the Watergate messes hed created. John McCain single-handedly stopped Donald Trumps Obamacare reform, because McCain feared that passing sweeping legislation without strong bipartisan support would poison and embitter our politics. Kyrsten Sinema defended the filibuster from numerous progressive Democrat attempts to weaken or eliminate it.

These senators acted because they knew the American system of government matters. Every four years we elect a president, not a philosopher king or boss. President Biden has governed as if Article I of the Constitution doesnt exist. He has tried to game our system of checks-and-balances. His student loan forgiveness plan might cost Americans over $1 trillion. Significant spending measures like that are supposed be approved by Congress.

Charles C. Cooke of National Review writes that because the Biden administration is flouting Congress authority Congress has the strongest standing to sue the White House and stop or modify the program. But the Democrats control Congress, so the Biden administration is confident they wont act. (And, so far, the Biden administration has been right!) By the time the GOP can seat a new Congress in January 2023, billions of dollars in student loans could be forgiven. All the GOP Congress can do then is close the barn door, long after the horse is gone.

When presidents behave that way, Congress is supposed to step up and stop it. The Senate has better tools than the House of Representatives does to make a president behave. The liberal Center for American Progress lists the key tools in Minority Rules: Ten Ways To Bring The Senate to Its Knees. Senators can vote against bills or nominees. They can use Senate procedures to delay legislation. Senators who want to block progress can force hours of irrelevant debate, writes the Centers Ian Millhiser. They can gum up the works with extraneous amendments. They can force lengthy amendments to be read aloud. They can demand time-consuming roll call votes on frivolous procedural objections.

In this Senate, only 50 senators reliably vote Democrat. Just one Democrat senator can stop legislation or nominations by simply not showing up. And Arizona has two Democrat senators, one of whom (Mark Kelly) is up for reelection. It seems that no Democrat senators are making President Biden respect our system.

According to a popular story, American painter Gilbert Stuart was painting a portrait of King George III near the end of George Washingtons time as president. The king asked Stuart what Washington planned to do when he left office. (Many thought he might try to make himself King of the United States.) They say he will go back to his farm, Stuart replied. The king was silent, and then remarked, If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.

George Washington respected the American system. When senators dont use their tools to make current or future presidents do the same, they let the American political system be weakened.
Robert Keith Packer, a 57-year-old Virginian, achieved a measure of infamy at the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot when he was photographed wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with a skull and crossbones along with the words Camp Auschwitz.

Work Brings Freedom, the wording on the front of the shirt continued, a translation of the notorious motto Arbeit macht frei that appeared on the gates of Auschwitz and several other Nazi concentration camps. On the back of the shirt was the word Staff.

Packer was sentenced Sept. 16 to 75 days in prison for his role in the riot  he was tried for his actions, not his clothing. But his sweatshirt was far from the only Holocaust reference on Jan. 6 or in its aftermath.

It is a reminder of something that is all too apparent to scholars of the Holocaust, like myself: Americans are willing to trivialize the genocide by turning it into a tool for their own political goals.

There is little evidence that outright denial of the Holocaust is widespread. Instead, the problem is a poor understanding of the tragedy, including this countrys response  the focus of a remarkable documentary series, The U.S. and the Holocaust, which recently premiered on PBS.

The contemporary American story of the Holocaust focuses on the U.S. role in helping to bring the Nazi regime of terror to an end. A more nuanced understanding of Americas reaction is less comforting.

The PBS series, produced by acclaimed filmmakers Ken Burns, Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein, traces what Americans knew about the vast and murderous campaign against civilians in Nazi-occupied Europe in the 1930s, as a flood of Jewish refugees attempted to flee Hitlers Germany.

The U.S. did not enter the war to stop Nazi persecution of Europes Jews. A majority of Americans opposed entering the war at all until 1940, a year before the Pearl Harbor attack brought the U.S. into the conflict. Antisemitism and anti-foreign prejudice was a core element of American society in the early 20th century, just as white supremacy was.

While the U.S. allowed almost 125,000 Jewish refugees to enter the country during the years between Hitlers rise to power and the start of the war, many more were denied entry or left in limbo.

This part of the countrys response has been largely forgotten in favor of a story where the U.S. plays a more heroic part.

The liberation of the concentration camps in the spring of 1945 plays a central role in public memories of the war today, along with the Allied landings in Normandy on D-Day in 1944. The hall through which millions of visitors have entered the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington is lined with flags of the liberator divisions of the U.S. Army.

There is no question that the arrival of American forces at Buchenwald, Dachau and other camps across western and southern Germany saved thousands of prisoners facing murder or death by starvation and sickness. But in reality, by the time American forces landed in western Europe, Europes Jewish population had already been reduced to a few small pockets.

Within weeks of the arrival of American troops at Buchenwald, Americans saw images and newsreel film of the horrors of the camps. However, it took decades for the story of camp liberation to become the most important act of the war in Europe in Americans minds.

It would not be until the 1980s, when the liberators and survivors were entering old age, that the Holocaust was firmly entrenched in American school curricula and popular culture.

The centrality of camp liberation to the American story of the Holocaust has real consequences. It turns the Holocaust into a story of American triumph over evil and overlooks the countrys refusal to do more to save the victims.

This simplistic version of a complex history has allowed many Americans to use the Holocaust and Nazism as shallow symbols for any kind of government action they oppose and deem oppressive.

Opponents have compared infectious disease specialist Dr. Anthony Fauci to SS physician and torturer Dr. Josef Mengele. U.S. Rep. Marjorie Greene has compared face mask rules to forcing Jews to wear Star of David badges and Capitol police agencies to the Nazi-era Gestapo.

As Burns documentary emphasizes, the U.S. is once again in a time of national reckoning about race, discrimination and histories of oppression.

In the final minutes of The U.S. and the Holocaust, viewers see marchers in Charlottesville, Virginia, chanting Jews will not replace us, television pundits opining about the threat of cultural decline through immigration, the 2018 attack on the Tree of Life congregation in Pittsburgh, and the Jan. 6 riot.

There in the crowd, wearing his sweatshirt, is Robert Keith Packer.
LUSAKA, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Zambia's immigration authorities on Wednesday said that 43 illegal migrants have been deported to their native country of Ethiopia.

Namati Nshinka, the spokesperson of the Immigration Department, said the illegal migrants were deported after paying court fines for illegal entry and unlawful stay.

He said in a statement that the latest removals bring the total number of Ethiopians deported from various correctional facilities since Sept. 8, 2022, to 344.

Meanwhile, the department has detained 20 male Ethiopians aged between 15 and 35 for illegal entry.

The spokesperson said the illegal immigrants were apprehended by a joint team of security wings in southern Zambia's Monze district on Oct. 8, 2022, after they failed to produce documentation legalizing their entry into Zambia.

The authorities also detained a local taxi driver to assist with investigations after it was established that he had been in contact with the illegal immigrants, according to the spokesperson. 
When Pippi, a woman on the run from her latest romantic mistake, ends up in the middle of the Armadillo Acres Trailer Park in the less-than-scenic town of Starke, Florida, she figures its a place where the folks got so many problems of their own they wont much notice mine.

And its true that the denizens of the double-wides dotting the landscape have their fair share of peccadilloes, ranging from hysterical pregnancies to agoraphobia to an overly healthy appetite for gossip. But the presence of Pippi in the park is going to upend life in Armadillo Acres in ways potentially worse than the tropical storm bearing down on the town.

Thats the situation in The Great American Trailer Park Musical, which opened the American Theatre Companys season Friday at the Tulsa PAC. The show, with music and lyrics by David Nehls and a book by Betsy Kelso, is a deliriously salty send-up of all things tacky in late-20th century pop culture, from confrontational, confessional reality shows to TV commercials for everything from toilet bowl cleansers to faux Japanese knives.

Nehls score is a pastiche of pop styles that often evokes familiar songs such as Its Raining Men and Ball of Confusion. But it also gives the cast, which is loaded with some impressive voices, the chance to indulge in all sorts of over-the-top emoting as they lament about how love has been Flushed Down the Pipes or how to survive living on This Side of the Tracks.

At the heart of the show  and a heart it does have  is the love story of Jeannie (Kara Staiger) and Norbert (Sean Rooney), high school sweethearts whose marriage hasnt been the same since the couples only child was snatched away while Jeannie was at the hair salon.

The tragic events turned Jeannie into an agoraphobe, unable to so much as set foot outside her trailer. Norbert tries luring her out with the promise of a 20th anniversary celebration at the Ice Capades, but when even that doesnt work, he heads off to the local strip club, where he chances to meet its newest employee, Pippi (Kristen Simpson), who offers him a ride home  and a few other services, as well.

Overseeing all this is a trio of long-time park residents, Betty (Jennifer Lynn), Lin, as in Linoleum (Leah Rose) and Pickles (Claire Sbannotto), who serve as a kind of Greek chorus to all the permutations of the plot.

Director Karlena Riggs keeps the action moving at a slightly less than frantic pace around Richard Ellis mobile set (the performance we attended Sunday afternoon had a few slight malfunctions that actually seemed to work with the comedy rather than distract from it). Christy Stalcup led the four-piece band in a crisp performance of Nehls score.

The Great American Trailer Park Musical is definitely not for the younger crowd, but even its saltiest moments contain a bit of sweetness. And, as is the case with just about every great American musical, love  or something like it  wins out in the end.

The Great American Trailer Park Musical continues with performances Thursday-Saturday, Oct. 13-15, at the Tulsa PAC, 110 E. Second St. For tickets: 918-596-7111, tulsapac.com.
The father of a Parkland, Florida, high school mass shooting victim made a stop in Tulsa on Wednesday on his cross-country school bus tour, a part of his fight against gun violence.

Manuel Manny Oliver, whose 17-year-old son, Joaquin Oliver, died in the shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018, brought BUSY  his bus named for Building Up Strengths in Youth  to Tulsa as he travels city to city.

The bus is a tool used by his charity Change The Ref to fight gun violence.

Joaquin would always say, We need to change the ref, Oliver said. Now after the shooting I understood that he was probably referring to our politicians that make the wrong calls. Those referees that should give us a fair game but they dont  theyre on the gun lobby industry and money side. Change the Ref is being that rebel branch of the gun violence prevention movements.

The bus represents more than 50,000 victims who die from gun violence every year.

You have a unit that represents kids because its a yellow school bus, but it also represents society, education, progress in a way, Oliver said.

BUSY has Enough is Enough and Stop Gun Violence printed on its sides. It also has a large screen on its side that displays videos promoting action against gun violence. Inside the bus are seating and counters designed for mobile activism and art activities.

I think that its simple presence is already fighting gun violence, Oliver said. The yellow bus statement is already generating a conversation, and thats a small victory.

Some kids were never able to be grown ups, but we have all been kids, so I think it connects people.

Oliver began his bus route in Seattle and will continue driving across the country to his final destination in Florida. His next stop after Tulsa is Memphis, Tennessee.

The real tour will start next year, Oliver said. Then, BUSY will visit music festivals, school districts and colleges to make statements and collect data.

This is an element that is made to visit, support, empower communities that have suffered from gun violence, he said.

Representatives of the Terence Crutcher Foundation were present in front of the Greenwood Cultural Center, where the bus was parked, to stand in solidarity with Oliver, as both have fought to end gun violence across the country.

His story, and how theyve turned pain into purpose, has been so inspirational to me, said Tiffany Crutcher, the foundations executive director. Weve both been in Washington, D.C., together fighting for the same thing, and we both made a decision that we wouldnt rest until we affect that change not just in our local communities but across the country.

The now-24-year-old Parkland shooter pleaded guilty last year to the murders of 14 students and three staff members and is now on trial in Florida only to determine his punishment. Jurors are now deliberating whether to give him a death sentence.

Throughout the three-month trial, Oliver said he has been able to learn more about how things happened the day his son and 16 other people were killed and 17 others were wounded in the school.

Whether the sentence is death or life in prison will not change Olivers activism and fight for better gun laws, he said.

Whatever happens, its not going to change what we do, Oliver said. Nothing is going to be not even close to the way that my son died.

Featured video:
Instead of having a normal summer break, teachers at Nguyen Dinh Chieu Special School for the Visually Impaired in Ho Chi Minh City used their free time to prepare Braille books for a new curriculum for blind students.

"We did not take all our time enjoying the summer break," Nguyen Thi Thanh Hue, principal of Nguyen Dinh Chieu Special High School for the Visually Impaired , told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

"This year, we all gathered at the school [in District 10] to create Braille books to help students adapt to the new high school curriculum.

"We want to provide our students with the best we can."

To help their students keep up with the knowledge of the new curriculum this school year, the teachers had to convert the normal textbooks into Braille documents for grades three, seven, and ten that have new content.

Nguyen Huynh Vu Duy, a grade-three student, reads a new Braille book made by his teachers at Nguyen Dinh Chieu Special School for the Visually Impaired in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Ngoc Phuong - Pho Huong / Tuoi Tre

To that end, teachers had to translate the textbooks into Braille before applying for permission and having them printed in bulk so that the new textbooks would be available timely for the start of the new school year in September.

Braille books include a picture channel and a text channel. For the picture channel, the teachers first selected photos that could be converted into text.

Teachers Phi Hung (left) and Dinh Hau engage with book pages with Braille characters at Nguyen Dinh Chieu Special School for the Visually Impaired in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Ngoc Phuong - Pho Huong / Tuoi Tre

A complete book page in a Braille textbook created by teachers at Nguyen Dinh Chieu Special High School for the Visually Impaired in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Ngoc Phuong - Pho Huong / Tuoi Tre

Then they designed them to be cut out, inserted them into the pages of the textbooks with photos and Braille characters, and finished the book-binding process in the final phase.

"Usually, I can paste three or four pages for each working section, but for pages with many details and characters, it took me all the working time to paste just one because I had to repeat the book-binding process many times," said teacher Nguyen Thi Ngoc Han, who is in charge of pasting the books.

A teacher uses a special typewriter to translate a normal textbook into Braille for visually impaired students at Nguyen Dinh Chieu Special School for the Visually Impaired in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Ngoc Phuong - Pho Huong / Tuoi Tre

Teacher Thanh Nga shows a new design for a book page with a picture of a Braille textbook. Photo: Ngoc Phuong - Pho Huong / Tuoi Tre

I find the process of making Braille books very tedious, and the teachers had to be extremely meticulous at every stage," said Le Nguyen Duy An, a former student of the special high school. "They are also highly creative in helping our students acquire comprehensive knowledge."

"Our teachers' dream is for all students to be able to read and understand by touching the pages of the books," said teacher Han.

"We just expect our students to gain as much knowledge as possible from the books."

Nguyen Thi Thanh Hue (C), principal of Nguyen Dinh Chieu Special School for the Visually Impaired in Ho Chi Minh City, assists a blind student. Photo: Ngoc Phuong - Pho Huong / Tuoi Tre

Teacher Ngoc Han gives a presentation on the new curriculum for grade-three students at Nguyen Dinh Chieu Special School for the Visually Impaired in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Ngoc Phuong - Pho Huong / Tuoi Tre

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UTHAI SAWAN, Thailand -- Thousands of people gathered at temples in northeast Thailand on Tuesday to cremate the victims of a massacre of 36 people, among them 22 preschool children slashed to death in a rampage by a disgraced policeman that shocked the world.

Crowds gathered around the normally sleepy town of Uthai Sawan to lay flowers and join queues of mourners, who paid their last respects to those slain in a three-hour gun and knife attack on Thursday that marked the worst massacre in Thailand's recent history.

Orange flames lit up the smoke-filled sky outside the Rat Samakee temple in Uthai Sawan late on Tuesday, as a line of funeral pyres for 19 of the nursery school victims was set ablaze in front of family seated behind a small gravel path.

A person reacts as people gather near the funeral pyres of victims, during a cremation ceremony at Wat Rat Samakee temple, following a mass shooting at a day care centre in the town of Uthai Sawan, in the province of Nong Bua Lam Phu, Thailand, October 11, 2022. Photo: Reuters

Earlier, white coffins were carried by relatives and police officers, one by one to the site of the cremation along a route lined with mourners, led by family members carrying portraits of the dead - a teacher and 18 children aged between 2 and 5.

"The teacher will take the lead and the 18 children will follow her steps to heaven, according to our beliefs and the desires of their parents and everyone here to send them off," said the temple's abbot, Prakru Adisai Kijjanuwat, as the ceremony began.

A person stands near the funeral pyres of victims, during a cremation ceremony at Wat Rat Samakee temple, following a mass shooting at a day care centre in the town of Uthai Sawan, in the province of Nong Bua Lam Phu, Thailand, October 11, 2022. Photo: Reuters

The coffins were placed on pyres newly built from bricks and dressed with flowers and black and white decorative cloth.

Atop the caskets were pictures of those killed, some accompanied by stuffed toys, as orange-robed monks performed rites.

Police officers carry the casket of a victim on the day of a cremation at Wat Rat Samakee temple, following a mass shooting at a day care centre, in the town of Uthai Sawan, in the province of Nong Bua Lam Phu, Thailand, October 11, 2022. Photo: Reuters

Police identified the attacker as Panya Khamrap, 34, a former Bangkok police sergeant who was discharged in January after being in possession of methamphetamines. He was on trial on drugs charges and was in court the morning of his attack.

His killing spree ended at his home about 3 km (2 miles) from the nursery, when he turned his 9 mm handgun on himself, after killing his partner and her child.

An autopsy of Panya's body showed no signs of drugs use on the day of the murders, police said.

People gather near the funeral pyres of victims, during a cremation ceremony at Wat Rat Samakee temple, following a mass shooting at a day care centre in the town of Uthai Sawan, in the province of Nong Bua Lam Phu, Thailand, October 11, 2022. Photo: Reuters

They said their investigation indicates his rampage was the result of excessive stress from the loss of his job and a breakdown in his relationship.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who attended the ceremony in Uthai Sawan ahead of the cremations, on Monday ordered law enforcement agencies to tighten gun ownership rules and crack down on drug use following the mass killing in Uthai Sawan, 500 km (310 miles) northeast of Bangkok.
KUTA, Indonesia -- Commemorations will be held on the Indonesian island of Bali on Wednesday as survivors, alongside families and friends of the victims, gather to mark the 20-year anniversary of the Bali bombing - one of the world's deadliest militant attacks.

A total of 202 people, including 88 Australians and 38 Indonesians, were killed when a car bomb exploded outside the Sari Club in Bali's Kuta Beach area and from another almost simultaneous blast at the Paddy's Bar across the road.

A ceremony including peace prayers and the symbolic release of 20 birds will be among several events taking place on the predominantly Hindu island, including at a memorial erected in the area of the blasts.

A mourner takes part in a flower laying ceremony during a memorial service to mark the 20th anniversary of the Bali bombings, which killed 202 people including 88 Australians, at Coogee Beach in Sydney, Australia, October 12, 2022. REUTERS/Loren Elliott

"The memorial for us is to remember, to remind everyone there was a terrorist attack there and that we don't want it to happen again," said Ni Luh Erniati, who lost her husband in the attack and will join morning prayers with her children.

Two decades on from the bombings, which were blamed on the al Qaeda-linked jihadist network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), memories of the attack continue to haunt survivors.

Balinese father of two, I Dewa Ketut Rudita Widia Putra, was caught in traffic on the busy strip in Kuta, when the bombs were detonated. After crawling out of his smouldering car, he was rushed to hospital with burns covering a third of his body.

Mourners gather for a memorial service to mark the 20th anniversary of the Bali bombings, which killed 202 people including 88 Australians, at Coogee Beach in Sydney, Australia, October 12, 2022. REUTERS/Loren Elliott

"To this day, I still feel traumatised and scared when I take the car out and get caught in a traffic jam," said the now 55-year-old.

"Even when I realise I am not in Kuta traffic, I can shake in fear, break out in a cold sweat and feel really scared."

Indonesian police and the Australian consulate general in Bali will also hold memorials.

In the wake of the Bali attacks and with backing from Australia and the United States, Indonesia set up an elite anti-terrorism unit called Special Detachment or Densus 88 that weakened JI and resulted in scores of suspected Islamic militants being arrested or killed.

Mourners take part in a flower laying ceremony during a memorial service to mark the 20th anniversary of the Bali bombings, which killed 202 people including 88 Australians, at Coogee Beach in Sydney, Australia, October 12, 2022. REUTERS/Loren Elliott

The world's biggest Muslim-majority country has also pioneered deradicalisation schemes for convicted militants, though these have been both praised and criticised for their effectiveness.

Sparking dismay among many affected by the attacks, the Indonesian government said in August that Bali bomb maker Umar Patek was eligible for parole and could soon be released.

Australian politician and opposition leader Peter Dutton speaks with people before a memorial service to mark the 20th anniversary of the Bali bombings, which killed 202 people including 88 Australians, at Coogee Beach in Sydney, Australia, October 12, 2022. REUTERS/Loren Elliott
All the world's a stage but the irony is the rest of the globe often has an easier time understanding William Shakespeare than English speakers.

Thanks to frequently updated translations that dispense with the archaic Renaissance language, foreign audiences often find the Bard easier to follow.

Take "King Lear", a new version of which opened at the Comedie Francaise in Paris last week.

In the original opening scene, the Earl of Kent reacts to being exiled by saying: "Sith thus thou wilt appear, Freedom lives hence, and banishment is here."

The new French version translates as, "Since this is how you want to appear, freedom is elsewhere and exile is here" -- a much simpler sentence to modern ears.

Olivier Cadiot, who wrote the new translation, said his job was "like removing the varnish from a portrait to create something a bit more fresh -- not something vulgar and modern, but to strip it back a little to render it more alive."

Mostly he aims for "fluidity and precision", he told AFP, but he could not resist the occasional moment of playfulness, such as translating the famous phrase "every inch a king" into the very current-sounding "total royale".

'The danger is real'

In English, many would consider such toying with the Bard sacrilegious.

There were howls of protest when the Oregon Shakespeare Company set out to translate his works into contemporary English in 2015 ("The danger to Shakespeare is real," thundered one petition).

But that leaves many average theatre-goers unable to comprehend the world's most-performed playwright.

"English audiences are at a disadvantage because the language has evolved and is more and more distant. They need footnotes, props and staging to understand," said Alexa Alice Joubin, a Shakespeare scholar at George Washington University.

Indeed, a study by the British Council and YouGov in 2016 found that Shakespeare was considered more relevant in many non-English-speaking countries than back home.

Overall, 36 percent of British respondents said they did not understand Shakespeare compared to 25 percent elsewhere.

'Dying on the vine'

This matters because the difficult language can obscure the important and relevant debates in his work on issues such as race, social hierarchies and the legitimacy of rulers, said Ruben Espinosa, a Bard expert at Arizona State University.

"There's a lot of cultural relevance," he said. "But the language is so complicated that a lot of the time that is lost on people.

"If we want to treat him as sacrosanct and leave him untouched, it's going to be a body of work that's dying on the vine."

Other countries don't have this problem.

In Germany and France, famous versions by Goethe and Victor Hugo's son, Francois-Victor, are still used, but modernised translations appear regularly.

The same is true in Japan, where early versions (such as a 19th century take on "The Merchant of Venice" entitled "Life is as Fragile as a Cherry Blossom in a World of Money") used archaic Japanese to mirror Shakespeare's style, but have been superceded many times since.

'Feverish mind'

Some say too much is lost in modernisation.

The emotion is embedded in the musicality of the words, argued scholar James Shapiro in the New York Times. Macbeth's speeches, he said, were "intentionally difficult; Shakespeare was capturing a feverish mind at work".

But others argue Shakespeare's global popularity shows that the plays are just as powerful without the original words.

"There's something innate in the characterisation and the way the stories are told that is iconic and unique," said Joubin.

"Romeo and Juliet" is so popular, she said, not just for the language, but its fast pacing -- rare for a tragedy.

Joubin believes Shakespeare himself would have approved of updated versions.

"Someone that creative -- I very much doubt he would say you can't modernise my plays," she said. "He himself modernised the English language for the Renaissance era."
WELLINGTON, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand will implement new measures to further manage the impacts of fishing on South Island Hector's dolphins, which are nationally vulnerable with about 15,000 in the country's waters.

"We need to work to reduce the number of these dolphins killed by fishing to as close to zero as possible," Oceans and Fisheries Minister David Parker said on Wednesday.

Hector's dolphins, mostly found around the coast of New Zealand's South Island, are one of the world's smallest dolphins. Their bodies are grey with black and white markings. They have a distinctive rounded dorsal fin that looks like one of Mickey Mouse's ears.

While current measures have been effective in significantly reducing the risks of dolphin deaths from fishing, more action is needed to protect populations throughout their natural range, Parker said in a statement.

While the suite of measures implemented includes an extension of the commercial and recreational set net closures around the Banks Peninsula, its key focus is on implementing a plan to reduce the accidental catch of Hector's dolphins in the long term, he said.

"This plan will incentivize and support fishers to improve their practices and avoid all Hector's dolphin bycatch," said the minister.

The introduction of new technology like onboard cameras, real-time catch reporting and monitoring of commercial vessel location allows the authorities to better protect these dolphins while allowing fishing to continue, which is an important economic contribution to the coastal communities, Parker said.

These give greater certainty that fishing-related dolphin deaths will not exceed the levels necessary to allow these populations to thrive and recover, he said.

Other risks to Hector's dolphin include the disease toxoplasmosis, and the government has committed funding to understand and reduce the threat of the disease.

Public consultation on the measures took place late last year, and the changes are expected to be implemented by the end of 2022. 
Vietnam was elected to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for the 2023-25 tenure at the 77th session of the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.

This is the second time Vietnam has been elected to the UNHRC.

The Southeast Asian country was elected to the council for the first time in 2013 for the 2014-16 term.

The 14 newly elected members of the Human Rights Council will serve a three-year term starting in January 2023.

This result shows the recognition of the international community for Vietnam's achievements in ensuring human rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs quoted Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Minister Pham Quang Hieu, head of the Vietnamese delegation, as telling the press after the announcement of the results.

With its seat in the UNHRC, Vietnam will have opportunities to contribute to promoting human rights on the basis of impartiality, cooperation, and dialogue, according to the Vietnam News Agency. The country will have a stronger voice in key issues of the UN as well as the international community, such as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, response to climate change, immigration, protection and promotion of the rights of women, children, people with disabilities, minorities, migrants, and especially humanitarian crises or armed conflicts in the world.

Established in 2026, the UNHRC under the UN General Assembly is the most important human rights mechanism in the UN.

The council consists of 47 members with three-year terms and is considered a forum for dialogue, cooperation, and promotion of the balance of all human rights, including the right to development.

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Read what is in the news today in Vietnam:

Politics

-- Vietnam was elected to the United Nations Human Rights Council for the 2023-25 tenure at the 77th session of the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.

-- Peacekeeping cooperation has been strongly promoted within the defense relations between Vietnam and Japan, delegates said during the 16th Meeting of the Experts Working Group on Peacekeeping Operations Cycle 4 for the 2021-23 period, which took place via videoconferencing on Tuesday.

Society

-- A girl of Pa Co ethnic minority in north-central Quang Tri Province had a chance to take over the position of Swedish Ambassador to Vietnam Ann Mawe on Tuesday in celebration of the 2022 International Day of the Girl Child (October 11).

-- The border guard station at Moc Bai International Border Gate in southern Tay Ninh Province received 78 Vietnamese rescued from labor-abusing casinos and handed over by Cambodian authorities, including an internationally wanted person, on Tuesday.

-- The Center for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting mentioned on Tuesday a possibility of about 50-60 percent that a tropical depression would form in the East Vietnam Sea on Wednesday. The chance it strengthens into a storm is about 25-30 percent.

-- Police in Dong Ha City, Quang Tri Province said on Tuesday that they collaborated with their colleagues in Ho Chi Minh City to successfully arrest two men transporting 30kg of methamphetamine from Quang Tri to Ho Chi Minh City for sale on October 7.

Business

-- Residents still struggled to buy gasoline for the third consecutive day on Tuesday in Ho Chi Minh City although many closed filling stations resumed operations right after the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Finance adjusted petrol prices upward on the same afternoon.

-- The Vietnam Software Association announced on Tuesday that the Vietnam Blockchain Summit 2022 will take place at the Vietnam National Convention Center in Hanoi on October 19 and 20.

-- The International Monetary Fund has maintained Vietnams GDP growth forecast at seven percent for this year.

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The Japanese government officially reopened tourism to international visitors, including Vietnamese citizens, on Tuesday after more than two years of isolation due to COVID-19.

From October 11, the Japanese government officially lifted restrictions on the number of international visitors as well as on self-guided tours to Japan, Japanese Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City Watanabe Nobuhiro told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper in a recent interview.

Accordingly, travelers from around the world are able to enter Japan if they show proof of triple vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test result, Nobuhiro said.

Japan expects to continue to welcome Vietnamese tourists in the very last months of the year, a period that is also the best time to visit the East Asian country, the diplomat said.

On September 5, the Japanese National Travel Organization (JNTO) Representative Office in Vietnam announced that Vietnamese might visit Japan through tours organized by travel companies only.

Now with the full tourism reopening policy, Vietnamese tourists can travel to Japan through tours run by travel agents or take self-guided tours by themselves, the consul general said.

Most Vietnamese tourists like taking photos of beautiful landscapes and shopping in Japan, where they are also interested in enjoying Japanese cuisine, bathing in hot springs, watching natural landscapes such as red leaves and white snow, and getting cultural experiences, Nobuhiro said, citing a JNTO survey in 2019.

Among the total 495,000 Vietnamese travelers to Japan that year, 75 percent were first-time visitors and the rest the repeat ones, he added.

Over the first eight months of 2022, when Japan step by step opened its tourism, more than 160,000 Vietnamese visitors entered the country, the highest among the number of international visitors to Japan in the period, the JNTO representative office said.

There will be more and more Vietnamese travelers to Japan after October 11 as Japan has fully reopened to foreign travelers, the office said.

To continue welcoming back tourists after more than two years of COVID-19 lockdown, the office launched a communication campaign with the message 'Japan Welcomes Back' with diverse promotional activities.

The Japanese government will also launch a tourism stimulus plan, including a nationwide tourism discount program.

The consul general expressed his hope that Vietnamese people will take part in various activities that will be conducted in both Japan and Vietnam in the coming time to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic relations.

Among them will be the eighth Japan - Vietnam Festival 2022, which will take place for two days in Ho Chi Minh City starting February 25, 2023, which will offer valuable opportunities for Vietnamese to learn more about Japan, he added.

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Two ground service staff members were injured after a plane of national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines was struck by lightning while parking at an airport in Ho Chi Minh City.

Lightning hit an Airbus A321 aircraft of Vietnam Airlines at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City at around 7:00 pm on Monday, after it had arrived from Phu Quoc Island.

The plane was parked at the airport, while all passengers had already exited.

There was a heavy rainstorm at the time, and two employees of Vietnam Airport Ground Services Company Limited (VIAGS), 53-year-old Nguyen Duc Th. and 34-year-old Vo Khac H., were standing near the aircraft as they were preparing to serve another flight.

The incident caused Th., who had a history of high blood pressure, to experience shortness of breath and panic, while H., suffered headaches, dizziness, and panic attacks.

They were given first aid and admitted to 175 Military Hospital.

They were later in stable conditions but were advised to remain at the infirmary for 24 hours for further monitoring.

The lightning strike damaged the surface of the apron as well as caused a hole of about 0.5 centimeters in diameter on the plane.

This aircraft has been suspended from operation for repair works.

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A man from Ho Chi Minh City has been fined for attacking a woman who was in charge of collecting car parking fees in downtown areas.

In a report sent to the citys chairman, the Peoples Committee in District 1 stated that it had imposed a VND6.5 million (US$271) upon Nguyen Hoang Tam, 32, for harming the health of others.

The incident took place on Thu Khoa Huan Street in District 1 at around 2:00 pm on September 2, when Dang Lam Ngoc Tuyet was instructing people to use the My Parking app to pay their parking fees.

Tam then approached and had an argument with Tuyet, before hitting her in the face.

Tuyet was then taken to the hospital and diagnosed with a broken nose and bruises around her eye and lips.

During a working session with police officers, Tam admitted to attacking Tuyet, stating that his violence arose from a misunderstanding.

Tuyet also confirmed it was a misunderstanding and agreed not to request criminal prosecution after Tam had offered to pay VND1.7 million ($71) worth of the victims medical bills.

Tam thus received an administrative fine for harming the health of others and was not criminally charged.

Car drivers in Ho Chi Minh City are allowed to park their vehicles for a fee along 20 streets in District 1, District 5, and District 3.

These routes offer a total of 822 parking lots.

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Around 15 percent of the Vietnamese population, or 15 million people, are battling common forms of mental illness, health experts said at a meeting in Hanoi to observe the World Mental Health Day (October 10) on Monday.

Among non-communicable diseases, mental disorders are very common, on the rise, and are the cause of many other health problems, according to the experts.

In 2019, the World Health Organization estimated that one in eight people was living with a mental disorder, with the most common being anxiety disorders and depression.

Anyone can have a mental disorder at some point in their life, Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan said.

The health ministry reported that 14.9 percent of Vietnamese, or about 15 million people, suffer from one of 10 common mental disorders.

However, most people associate mental disorders with schizophrenia.

The actual rate of schizophrenia is 0.47 percent of the population while depression and anxiety rates account for up to 5-6 percent of the population.

The rest are other disorders such as bipolar affective disorder, and psychosis related to alcohol and drug use.

In children, mental health problems affect about 12 percent or more than three million children.

Deputy Minister Thuan highlighted the importance of strengthening community awareness of mental health, improving mental health, and early detection of mental disorders.

Do not discriminate against people with mental health problems, for each of us may have certain mental disorders and only then can the treatment of people with mental illness achieve positive results, said Thuan.

The discrimination makes people shy about admitting mental health problems, according to Luong Ngoc Khue, head of the health ministrys Department of Medical Examination and Treatment.

Khue suggested better training health workers in psychology and establishing professional guidelines to enhance mental health care in health facilities and in the community.

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Doctors at Childrens Hospital 2 in Ho Chi Minh City said on Tuesday that they had successfully saved a one-year-old girl who mistakenly drank gasoline from a soft drink bottle last week.

The girl, residing in Phu Yen Province, south-central Vietnam, was diagnosed with hydrocarbon pneumonia at a local hospital before being transferred to Childrens Hospital 2 in Ho Chi Minh.

The patient was intubated during the hospital transport and is currently in stable condition.

The gasoline in the soft drink bottle, according to the patient's family, was not warned since it was placed in the refrigerator.

They only found out after mistakenly allowing the toddler to drink the gasoline.

The girl immediately choked and was rushed to a hospital near her home for intensive treatment.

Doctor Vu Hiep Phat, head of the intensive care unit at Childrens Hospital 2, said that gasoline is intrinsically volatile, and ingesting gasoline by accident usually results in choking, vomiting, and respiratory failure.

Because gasoline can easily enter the pulmonary capillaries and alveoli, inflaming, and restricting lung ventilation.

After that, the patient will suffer a severe lack of oxygen and may even die.

Dr. Phat recommended against placing gasoline in bottles with beverage labels because it is not only possible to cause fires and explosions, but also easy to be confused with adult and child beverages.

Every year, there are roughly 10 incidents of mistaken gasoline consumption at Children's Hospital 2.

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Two Vietnamese ethnic minority girls were 'empowered' to assume the positions of the Swedish Ambassador to Vietnam and the Plan Internationals acting country director in the nation, as part of the annual series Girls Takeover conducted by the Plan International, an independent humanitarian organization.

The empowerment event took place in Quang Tri Province, central Vietnam on Tuesday with an aim to create opportunities for girls to experience leadership roles in all areas of life, in celebration of the 2022 International Day of the Girl (October 11).

According to the United Nations, this international day focuses on the need to address the challenges girls face and to promote girls empowerment and the fulfillment of their human rights.

At the event, H.T. Hang, of the Van Kieu ethnic minority group, took over the position of Swedish Ambassador to Vietnam Ann Mawe while H.T. Hau, a Pa Co minority girl, assumed the post of Plan Internationals acting country director Pham Thu Ba.

Both girls are students at A Tuc Elementary and Middle School in the provinces Huong Hoa District.

In my hometown, I have only seen schoolmistresses or vice-chairwomen of communes, and I have never thought that women could be an ambassador or an acting country director," Hang said.

Today, after being empowered, I am extremely honored and feel more confident.

The girl affirmed that she will try her best to become a helpful and capable person to build a good life for herself, and at the same time help others, especially girls.

I want everybody to understand that girls and boys are equal, Hang emphasized.

At the Girls Takeover session, Hang and Hau had the opportunity to talk with the two female leaders about the challenges they and their friends face in life, including child marriage and early marriage.

Along with this event, Em Vui (Im happy), a platform that aims to enhance Internet usage skills as well as online safety knowledge for ethnic minority youth aged 10 to 24 was also introduced to the Pa Co and Van Kieu ethnic children.

The Girl Takeover series was initiated by Plan International in 2012 to honor efforts of girls empowerment globally, and in 2019, the Swedish Embassy became the first embassy in Hanoi to participate in this significant activity.

This is the fourth consecutive year that the embassy has participated in the Girls Takeover series.

"Taking part in these events offers opportunities for me to meet and exchange with energetic girls who are the pride of their communities," Ambassador Mawe said.

These girls are constantly striving to eliminate gender preconceptions and stereotypes, and always aim for a better world, where girls and boys are equal, the diplomat said, adding this is the reason she wants to support them and contribute to enhancing the roles and positions of girls.

Meanwhile, acting country director Ba strongly believes that offline promotion events like Girl Takeover and other online activities on the Em Vui platform will offer children opportunities of self-development so that they can master their future, VTC News cited her as saying.

Founded in 1937, Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organization that advances childrens rights and equality for girls, as shown on its website.

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Animated series Transformers: Earthspark, will screen on Paramount+ in late November.

The series introduces a new generation of Transformers robots  the first to be born on Earth  and together with the human family who welcomes them in and cares for them, theyll redefine what it means to be a family.

A trailer debuted in a panel at New York Comic Con 2022 where fans heard from voice cast members Diedrich Bader (Mandroid), Sydney Mikayla (Robby Malto), Zion Broadnax (Mo Malto), Cissy Jones (Elita-1), co-executive producer Dale Malinowski and executive producer Ant Ward.

The voice talent also includes:

 Nolan North (Rick and Morty) as Swindle and Hardtop  Swindle and Hardtop are Decepticon brothers and professional mischief makers. Swindle is the brains, a wheeler and dealer always looking to take advantage of a situation, and Hardtop is the muscle, an experienced tracker and an expert shot.

 Michael T Downey (Chicago Fire) as Wheeljack  Wheeljack is a resourceful mechanic and experienced scientist Autobot who spends his time working out the kinks of his most recent invention.

 Marc Evan Jackson (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) as Agent Schloder  Agent Schloder is a hard-nosed G.H.O.S.T. operative on a mission to climb the corporate ladder to the executive suite where his sister comfortably sits.

 Sean Kenin Reyes (Pokemon) as Soundwave  A Con of few words, Soundwave maintains a cold exterior by choosing to express himself through his fists.

 Nicole Dubuc (Young Justice) as Skywarp and Nova Storm  Skywarp and Nova Storm were partners on an elite squad of Decepticons with jet alt-modes called Seekers. Theyve been displaced after the end of the war and are doing whatever they must to survive.

 Martha Marion (The Wave) as Arcee  Arcee has been an Autobot for millions of years, and shes collected a wealth of experience along the way. Being on the smaller side for a bot, Arcee proves that being undersized has its own advantages.

 Kari Wahlgren (Star Trek: Lower Decks) as Executive Agent Croft  Intelligent, a master planner, and the woman pulling the strings of the Autobots, Croft has a far more nefarious scheme than any Decepticon.

 Daran Norris (The Fairly OddParents) as Mr. Smelt  Mr. Smelt is Witwicky Charter Schools frustrated drama teacher, who will never surrender his dreams of starring on stage and screen.

The new voice actors join previously announced cast members: Sydney Mikayla (Robby Malto), Zion Broadnax (Morgan Mo Malto), Benni Latham (Dot Malto), Jon Jon Briones (Alex Malto), Kathreen Khavari (Twitch), Zeno Robinson (Thrash), Danny Pudi (Bumblebee), Alan Tudyk (Optimus Prime), Rory McCann (Megatron), Cissy Jones (Elita-1) and Diedrich Bader (Mandroid).

Transformers: Earthspark is created and co-executive produced by Dale Malinowski (Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) and executive produced by Ant Ward (Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). The series is developed for television by Claudia Spinelli, Senior Vice President, Big Kids Animation, Nickelodeon. Production is overseen for Nickelodeon by Mikiel Houser, Executive in Charge of Production and for eOne by Kari Rosenberg.

Two episodes Wednesday, 30 November on Paramount.
UK presenter Maya Jama (Glow Up: Britains Next Make-Up Star) will become the new Love Island UK host following the departure of Laura Whitmore.

She assumes hosting duties early next year when the series returns for a winter edition, filmed in South Africa.

Director of Reality Programming & Acquisitions and Controller, ITV2, ItvBe & CITV, Paul Mortimer said: Finding a new host to follow the wonderful Laura Whitmore was never going to be easy. In Maya Jama though, we have another high profile fan of the show wholl be a great addition to the Love Island family. Cool, charming and charismatic, I speak for us all when I say Maya will also bring a unique presenting style to the show, as did Laura and, of course, the very much missed Caroline Flack. Were very pleased to have her on board.

Maya Jama said: Ive always been such a massive Love Island fan and Im so excited to be hosting one of the nations favourite shows! I cant wait to get into the Villa to meet all of the Islanders.

Love Island UK screens in Australia on 9Now.
MANILA, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- A Philippine lawmaker filed on Wednesday a resolution seeking a congressional investigation into reports that the Southeast Asian country has become the world's top victim of cybersex abuse of children.

In filing the resolution, House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Camille Villar said the Philippines "ranks second in cybercrime vulnerability, exposing greater risks to citizens, especially minors and children who are the most vulnerable."

Citing a joint report by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Interpol, and an organization fighting against the sexual exploitation of children, Villar said 20 percent of internet-using children in the Philippines aged 12-17 years old were victims of online sexual exploitation and abuse.

Villar said online abuse has become more prevalent during the pandemic. "This form of abuse is one of the most pressing issues today," she warned.

Villar also cited a report from the Department of Justice that shows online child sexual exploitation nearly tripled during the pandemic, totaling up to 279,166 child sexual abuse cases reported from March 1 to May 24 in 2020, compared to 76,561 cases over the same period in 2019.

"Online sexual exploitation of children, which includes child pornography and abuse, is one of (the) gravest and most alarming forms of human trafficking happening in the Philippines," Villar said.

According to the Philippine police, cybersex trade has become a livelihood for some low-income families in this country, where 18.1 percent of the 110 million population live below the poverty line. And in many cases, minor victims are forced into the cybersex trade by their parents or relatives.

Authorities have attributed the rising incidents of cybercrime in the Philippines to new technologies, such as live streaming.

The UNICEF has identified poverty, accessible internet and smartphones, prevailing social norms, change in parenting dynamics due to migration, and ease of speaking English as the drivers of online sexual exploitation of children. 
Since Carrie Bickmores announcement that she would depart The Project press have been speculating about her next move with considerable fuel around the idea show might join Nine shows  either A Current Affair or Today, take your pick.

On air Bickmore said she didnt know what her next move is, which does feel somewhat surprising, but that she wanted to devote more time to family.

Sources have denied she will succeed Tracy Grimshaw as next anchor of A Current Affair.

Today show executive producer Steve Burling has also quashed suggestions she could join Nines breakfast show, which emerged from suggestions Ally Langdon could replace Grimshaw.

He took aim at one story published by Daily Mail.

Carrie Bickmore tipped to host Today after quitting The Project https://t.co/GApj6fG6Bc via @DailyMailCeleb Virtually nothing is correct in this piece at all. If a journo cant even get the correct spelling of an icon such as Tracy, then what hope!?  Steven Burling (@StevenBurling) October 12, 2022

Theres a few immediate problems with Bickmore joining Today, not the least of which is uprooting her Melbourne family to Sydney. Theres the early morning starts which also feel like they would contradict her public statements about family time.

Moving Ally Langdon from Today also creates new problems when she is working well with Karl Stefanovic. It took a few years for the show to settle with a new duo, post-Lisa Wilkinson. Yes, numbers are bouncing around lately. It had timeslot wins in June, July and August, before dropping and most recently finishing 26,000 behind on Tuesday. Its a long game in this genre with habitual viewers. You really dont get anywhere with quick changes.

ACA is also a solo hosting gig. That would mean Bickmore would have to forgo the chat and banter which has worked well for her at 10 -as well as going head to head with her current cast mates.

But she is eminently liked, and can arguably write her own ticket for her next gig, which is certainly great fodder for press yarns. 10 is also yet to clarify if she is staying with the network. Without a new gig that seems unlikely after November 30.

We hope to work together again, said Paramounts Beverley McGarvey.

Meanwhile, Carrie is not doing interviews for now. Who can blame her?
Jub Clerc, Gemma Bird Matheson, Julie Kalceff

Screen Australia and Australians in Film have announced the recipients for Talent Gateway and the Global Producers Exchange 2022.

The two joint initiatives aim to connect established Australian creatives with key US decision makers.

Screen Australia CEO Graeme Mason said, A huge congratulations to this group of creatives. In such a global market were passionate about cultivating a strong pipeline of Australian screen projects and talent to gain exposure in the US, and leverage opportunities to reach international audiences and create strategic international alliances.

Were pleased to partner with AiF to support another crop of talented Australians who are working across film, television, animation, childrens content and online, to build their networks in North America and gain opportunities to advance their projects and careers. This program also creates an important pathway for Australian IP to be developed with internationally based collaborators who can help give ideas a global outlook.

Australians in Film Executive Director Peter Ritchie said, The development of our talent and stories, and the execution of our content needs to be world class more than ever to attract finance and to find an audience, both at home and abroad. AiF share a passion with Screen Australia for our stories to travel internationally, and cannot wait to start working with these incredibly talented Australian content creators and matching them with our respected and highly connected US partners.

The Talent Gateway recipients are:

Jub Clerc: Jub is a Nyul Nyul/Yawuru woman from the Kimberley. A WAAPA graduate, Jub has worked on shows such as The Circuit 1 & 2, Mad Bastards, Satellite Boy, Jandamarras War and Mystery Road Season 1. Jub has written and/or directed Storytime, Music Men, Min Min Light, The Turning, Struggling Songlines, The Heights and Turn Up the Volume. Jubs debut play The Fever and the Fret won the 2017 Kate Challis Award. Jubs 2022 directorial debut feature film Sweet As won the Blackmagic Design Innovation Award at Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) and the NETPAC Award at Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

Gemma Bird Matheson: Gemma Bird Matheson is a screenwriter, actor and producer. Her original series 50 Shades of Black (girl) received Screen Australia Development funding, was selected for the SBS and Screen Australia Digital Originals initiative and is now being developed as a long form series with a streamer. Gemmas writing credits include both Series 1 and 2 of The PMs Daughter (ABC), Mikki Vs The World (ABC) and The Housemate (ABC iview). Most recently, Gemma co-created/wrote/produced the Screen Australia and Wear It Purple funded web series Me & Her(pes). She is currently writing on an upcoming streamer series, developing a play with APT and La Boite Theatre Company and developing a long form series under her joint production company with Alexandra Keddie, Chips & Gravy Films.

Brendan Fletcher: Brendan is co-creator, writer and director of AMCs new vampire-hunter show Firebite alongside iconic First Nations film-maker Warwick Thornton. He also co-wrote the feature documentary We Dont Need a Map with Thornton, which opened the 2017 Sydney Film Festival. Brendans debut feature drama, Mad Bastards, was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, Best Film and Best Original Screenplay at the AACTAs and an ADG for Best Direction. Following decades of award-winning work in documentary, animation and television he is currently directing a major series for a US streamer and has projects in development with Australian and international partners.

Julie Kalceff: Julie Kalceff is an Emmy Award winning writer and director. Her film and TV credits include First Day (Seasons 1 and 2), which she created, wrote, directed and co-produced, winning an International Emmy Award, a Rose dOr, and a GLAAD Media Award; feature film Here Out West, which opened the Sydney Film Festival in 2021, The PMs Daughter Season 2, and Starting From Now, the global hit digital drama series she created, wrote, directed and produced. Julie is currently in development on a slate of projects as well as working as a director on episodic television.

Danny and Michael Philippou: Filmmaking twins Danny and Michael Philippou are also known as RackaRacka, online purveyors of comic action. Between Facebook and YouTube, RackaRacka has over 2 billion views and over 6 million subscribers. Named one of Varietys FameChangers, and ranked fifth on the Australian Financial Reviews Cultural Power List, the brothers have won numerous awards, including the Best International Channel Streamy Award, Best Overall at the Online Video Awards and the AACTA Award for the Best Web Show. Danny and Michael have just finished directing their debut feature film Talk to Me produced by Causeway Films.

Monica Zanetti: Monica Zanetti is an award-winning screenwriter and director. Monica wrote and directed Ellie And Abbie (& Ellies Dead Aunt) which won the 2021 AACTA award for Best Independent Film and has been released internationally after screening at Melbourne International Film Festival and opening the Mardi Gras Film Festival. She most recently directed the series Iggy & Ace for SBS on Demand which was supported through Screen Australia and SBSs Digital Originals initiative and premiered at Series Mania. Her earlier work includes writing on the Channel 10 series Sisters and My Life is Murder. She was also a writer/producer on the ABC nightly comedy series Tonightly with Tom Ballard. Monica currently has several works in development including projects with both Amazon Studios and SBS and is a co-creator of upcoming dramedy While the Men Are Away for SBS.

The Global Producers Exchange recipients are:

Amplify  Michelle Melky and Tom Maynard: Amplify is redefining youth content in the Asia-Pacific by working with some of the most followed creators in Australia and Asia. Founded by Tom Maynard and Alex Reid, Amplify connects brands like Spotify, Samsung, Tinder and NBC Universal with millions of engaged young people through podcasts and original online formats. Creative Director Michelle Melky produced Love Songs, the worlds first scripted drama on TikTok. Other recent credits include UNDSCVRD, the worlds largest scale production made for TikTok, The Greatest Gamer, a gaming reality show commissioned by TikTok Indonesia and TikTok Road Trip, a live stream content series commissioned by the platform.

Easy Tiger  Ian Collie and Rob Gibson: Easy Tiger is an award-winning Australian production company led by Ian Collie and Rob Gibson. Easy Tigers credits include The Twelve starring Sam Neill (Foxtel), the ABC dramedy Rake starring Richard Roxburgh (five seasons and a US format), and Jack Irish starring Guy Pearce (three seasons and three telemovies). In addition, Easy Tiger produced Nines top-rating dramedy Doctor Doctor (5 seasons), two 4-part SBS dramas Sunshine, and The Principal and the ABC telemovie The Broken Shore. Forthcoming productions include Colin From Accounts (Binge) and The Hunt for the Family Court Killer (Channel 10).

Epic Films  Kirsty Stark: Epic Films creates entertaining stories with real world impact and high audience appeal. The company has a long history of breaking new ground with its work, from Wastelander Panda  the first ever drama commission for ABC iview  to First Day  the first Australian show to feature a transgender actor in a leading role. Now in its second season, First Day is an Emmy recipient, alongside multiple other international awards including a Rose dOr, GLAAD Media Award and Kidscreen Award. With a focus on authentic storytelling and supporting creators to produce iconic screen stories, producer Kirsty Stark has also collaborated with Matchbox Pictures on Stateless (Co-producer) and Madman Production Company on A Month of Sundays.

Ludo Studio  Charlie Aspinwall and Daley Pearson: Charlie Aspinwall and Daley Pearson are co-founders and directors of Ludo Studio, a multi-Emmy, Logie, AACTA, Rose dOr, Prix Jeunesse and Asian Academy Award winning studio and Screen Producers Australia Business of the Year. Ludo makes its original stories from script to screen under one roof in Brisbane, Australia, employing over 50 creatives and producers on their original shows. These include Robbie Hood (SBS), The Strange Chores (ABC) and the Emmy nominated vertical series Content (ABC) and Bluey. Bluey is now the most popular show in ABC iview history and Nielsen ratings recently reported Bluey as the 7th most streamed show in the US on Disney +.

Magpie Pictures  Lois Randall and Ivy Mak: Founded by award winning producer Lois Randall, Magpie Pictures develops and produces content for Australian and International audiences, with a passion for stories with heart and an authentic voice. Building on the success of acclaimed childrens series Grace Beside Me (NITV/ABC/Disney) with an ambitious scripted slate, Magpie is now financing the drama series Swift Street (SBS), created by Tig Terera, to be produced by Randall with Ivy Mak. Mak joined Magpie in 2021 supported through Screen Australias Enterprise Initiative. Randall also provides producing services through Magpie, most recently on the Goalpost Pictures mystery series Black Snow (Stan/Sundance Now).

Princess Pictures  Laura Waters and Mike Cowap: Princess Pictures creates shows that are uniquely Australian with a sense of humour, fresh perspective and desire to reach new audiences. Founder Laura Waters is currently producing the drama Last Days of the Space Age for Disney+ Star/Hulu and a special on happiness for Amazon. Senior Producer Mike Cowap has built a globally successful slate of adult animation including Yolo: Crystal Fantasy and Smiling Friends, both for Adult Swim and HBO Max, and the upcoming primate time animation series Koala Man for Disney/Hulu. Last year Princess partnered with Bento Box to build an animation studio in Melbourne, and is currently developing a broad slate of ambitious projects.

Supporting Partners for these industry development programs are Screen NSW, VicScreen, South Australian Film Corporation and Scripted Ink. Industry Partners are Australian Directors Guild, Australian Writers Guild, Screen Producers Australia, Screen Canberra, Screen Queensland, Screen Tasmania, Screen Territory, Screenwest and Screenworks.
The day on which Christopher Columbus first arrived in America in 1492 is observed as a holiday in several European and North American countries -- Spain, Italy, and the United States.

In other parts of the world, however, it is not his arrival on 12 October that is celebrated, but rather the indigenous peoples who inhabited the continent before Columbus could even point to it on the map.

Also known as Dia de la Hispanidad in Spain and Dia de la Raza in many Latin American countries, some places have changed the name of the holiday in recent years to highlight domestic diversity as opposed to the culture imposed by the Spanish colonisers.

What is celebrated on 12 October in Latin America?

Argentina

Commissioned by the Argentinian government, the Institute against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism (INADI) renamed 12 October as "American Cultural Diversity Day" in 2010 to promote historical reflection and intercultural dialogue about the rights of native peoples.

Bolivia

Evo Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous president, decided to change the name of the holiday in 2011 to "Day of Decolonisation in the Multinational State of Bolivia".

While he was in office, Morales made a point to observe this date in the Andean country.

Costa Rica

In 1994, this date was officially renamed "Day of Cultures".

"It is based on tolerance, recognises the ethnic diversity prevalent in the Americas and does not deny the heritage of Spain, the legacy of the indigenous people and the African contribution, among others," the Ministry of Education explains on its website.

"When the Day of Cultures was approved, it was definitely made clear that Costa Rica's roots, like those of the rest of the Latin American countries, come from three intermingling parts since 1492: the Spanish, the indigenous and the African-Caribbean, which made us -- although some ignored it -- a multicultural and multiethnic nation."

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Ecuador

Every 12 October, Ecuador celebrates the "Day of Interculturality and Multinationality with Inclusion and Justice".

In a decree issued by former President Rafael Correa, the name change was said to have been made with the aim of "recognising and rectifying the true meaning of the 12 October events, promoting dialogue between different cultures and knowledge".

Guatemala

In Guatemala, Columbus Day is known as the "Day of Indigenous Resistance".

Venezuela

Hugo Chavez decided in 2002 by decree that this date would also be called "Indigenous Resistance Day" to end what he considered to be a "discriminatory, racist and pejorative" label to the holiday.

This day is "destined to recognise our Americanist self-affirmation for unity and cultural and human diversity, vindicating both the indigenous peoples of America and the contributions of African, Asian and European peoples and cultures in the shaping of our nationality, in the spirit of the dialogue of civilizations, peace and justice", according to the decree.

Peru

The Congress of the Republic of Peru commemorates the ''Day of the Indigenous Peoples and Intercultural Dialogue'' on this date since 2009.

Chile

The ''Day of the Discovery of Two Worlds'' was the new name given to the holiday by Chileans.

Nicaragua

For Nicaraguans, the holiday was renamed in 2007 as ''Day of Indigenous, Black and Popular Resistance'', following in the wake of Guatemala or Venezuela.

Dominican Republic

in the Caribbean island, 12 October is celebrated as "Identity and Cultural Diversity Day," although the old Dia de la Raza is still used.

Uruguay

The equivalent of Dia de la Raza is celebrated on 14 April 14, or the Day of the Americas. However, on 12 October, "Cultural Diversity Day" has been celebrated since 2014.

"The current label of October 12 as 'Dia de la Raza' (Day of the Race) arises from a European vision of history in attention to the colonising Spanish contingent. Clearly, such name does not agree with the predominant feeling of the majority of Latin American peoples", says the text of the law that changed the name of the holiday.
London is the best city in the world for coworking. These European cities also made the top 10

Coworking spaces are on the rise around the world, as after the pandemic many workers still enjoy working remotely but dont want to lock themselves up inside their homes.

But one city is winning the race to provide thriving shared working spaces: London.

According to online company Business Name Generator (BIG), which examined factors like the number of available coworking spaces, their average monthly cost and Internet speed across 53 cities, London is the best city in the world for coworking, followed by Singapore, Berlin, Bangkok and Toronto.

With a total of 1,322 coworking spaces, the UKs capital has by far the largest number of coworking spaces in the world, leaving both Singapore and Berlin trailing behind with 214 and 192 coworking spaces each.

This is maybe not surprising considering the sheer number of people who live in London - over 9 million - and those among them who freelance or are self-employed and might require such alternative working solutions.

Besides London and Berlin, three other European cities made it in the top 10: Barcelona ranked eighth, Madrid ninth and Copenhagen 10th.

Seeking company

For many, in London and elsewhere, going into the office every day has become a thing of the past, especially after the COVID-19 lockdowns.

And yet, despite the joys of working from home, many still miss the buzz of a shared workplace and the company of other people, or simply feel a little claustrophobic spending 24 hours a day looking at the same four walls.

But its not everywhere that you can find the perfect place to get out of your bubble while keeping your focus, where you can find comfy chairs, nice desks and good coffee and, most importantly, where thousands of other people are in search of exactly the same things.

London was found to be the best city for coworking despite the high costs (267 - or 305 - per month for a desk) and the relatively slow Wi-Fi (102.24 Mbps).

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By comparison, Singapores cost per desk/month was only 173 and Berlins 207, while the Wi-Fi speed was 255.83 Mbps for Singapore and 136.66 Mbps for the German capital.

Other European capital cities like Amsterdam and Paris respectively ranked 12th and 14th for coworking, with the French capital counting only 246 coworking spaces for a population of 2.1 million people.

Madrid, Copenhagen and Amsterdam have even fewer coworking spaces, with the Spanish capital counting 190 spaces, the Danish capital 47 and the Dutch capital 119.

But all that glitter in London isnt gold: the city, which is famously plagued by high rents and crowded Tube trains, was found to be the sixth worst city in the world for commuters because of the high costs of its public transport, topped only by Istanbul, Rio de Janeiro, Berlin, Miami and Tel Aviv.

London has plenty of beautiful, stylish, innovative coworking spaces for all tastes and budgets - the issue might just be about getting there.
CHISINAU (Reuters) - Moldova urged citizens on Wednesday to cut back on electricity use during peak times due to a big shortfall in supplies after neighbouring Ukraine suspended exports following Russian missile strikes that hit its energy network.

The infrastructure ministry said Moldova was experiencing a deficit of between 50 and 100 megawatts following Kyiv's move, which compounded an already difficult energy situation after Russia's Gazprom cut natural gas supplies to Moldova by 30%.

"At peak times electricity demand exceeds accessible generating capacity," the Moldovan ministry said in a statement.

It urged citizens to delay turning on washing machines, dish washers and other home appliances and charging electronic devices such as mobile phones until after 11 pm.

Moldova, a poor former Soviet republic that borders Ukraine and EU member state Romania, was concerned about its energy supplies before Monday's missile strikes on Ukraine as it is heavily dependent on Russia for gas.

The Russian-owned Kuchurgan thermal power plant (GRES) in Moldova's breakaway Transdniestria region accounts for some 70% of Moldova's electricity. But Gazprom cut natural gas supplies to the plant by 30% from Oct. 1 amid a dispute over payments.

Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spinu said later on Wednesday that Romania would help Moldova meet its electricity shortfall, though at a higher price than it pays to GRES and to Ukraine.

Cheap gas from Gazprom to GRES has provided Moldova with relatively low electricity prices in recent years, especially in comparison to neighbouring countries.

Moldova's pro-Western government has strongly supported Ukraine during the Russian invasion.

Ukraine announced the suspension of electricity exports to the European grid on Monday after Russian missile strikes hit its energy network and killed at least 20 people.

(Reporting by Alexander Tanas, Writing by Gareth Jones, editing by Ed Osmond)
The V&A Museum (Alamy Stock Photo)

V&A DIRECTOR Tristram Hunt has put himself at odds with the Government by signalling the museum will give back looted Asante gold treasures to Ghana.

Hunt visited Ghana this summer, meeting officials. He writes in the V&As latest annual review that he planning long-term loans of the treasures to begin with. The pieces were seized from the town of Kumasi during a British raid in 1874.

I visited Ghana to begin conversations about a renewable cultural partnership centred around the V&A collection of Asante court regalia Hunt said. We are optimistic that a new partnership model can forge a potential pathway for these important artefacts to be on display in Ghana in the coming years.

Tristram Hunt / Asante Pectoral disc held by the V&A (Dave Benett / V&A)

A debate in the House of Lords tomorrow will address the National Heritage Act, which museums say hinders their ability to fully return items. Liz Truss said last week she is against returning the Parthenon Marbles to Greece.

Professor Dan Hicks of the University of Oxford welcomed Hunts move, telling us it is the beginning of a conversation among national museums. The British Museum and others also currently own Asante treasures.

Cab ride sparked Barbaras decline

Barbara Windsor and Scott Mitchell attend the press night after party for

Dame Barbara Windsors widower Scott Mitchell traces her dementia back to a black cab ride gone wrong. The cabbie, star-struck by the EastEnders legend, braked too late and sent her headfirst into the partition, Mitchell told a Wimbledon BookFest audience last night. I always believed that was the very start of Barbaras ill health, he said. She was never quite the same. Windsor died aged 83 in 2020.

No champagne party for Scholar

EXILED former Treasury boss Tom Scholar had a muted farewell last week. Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng sacked Scholar, who was thought to oppose his tax cuts, as permenant secretary before the ill-fated mini-Budget. Scholar gave a short and simple speech to staff before mingling for only 15 minutes. His family were there too, but Kwarteng did not attend. It seems that while the chancellor is fond of a party, Scholar is more reserved.

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Malorie Blackman takes on the book banners

Author Malorie Blackman attends the

WRITER Malorie Blackman won the PEN/Pinter Prize for freedom of expression at the British Library last night. She railed against book banning, telling the story of a school librarian who boasted about taking Blackmans Boys Dont Cry  a novel about of two brothers, one of whom is gay  off the shelves. All of our children have a right to see themselves and their lives reflected in literature, Blackman said.

Bjork gets on the decks in London

Londoners Diary 11th September

Women of the Year Awards 2022: Mel Giedroyc and Clare Balding attend the Women of the Year Lunch & Awards at Royal Lancaster Hotel on October 10, 2022 in London, England. The awards recognise and celebrate 400 women from across the UK who have achieved remarkable things this year. (Dave Benett)

Women of the Year Awards 2022: Thomasina Miers attends the Women of the Year Lunch & Awards at Royal Lancaster Hotel on October 10, 2022 in London, England. The awards recognise and celebrate 400 women from across the UK who have achieved remarkable things this year. Pic Credit: Dave Benett (Dave Benett)

Women of the Year Awards 2022: Sian Williams attends the Women of the Year Lunch & Awards at Royal Lancaster Hotel on October 10, 2022 in London, England. The awards recognise and celebrate 400 women from across the UK who have achieved remarkable things this year. Pic Credit: Dave Benett (Dave Benett)

JCA x Patrick McDowell x MA Show And Party In London: Dame Zandra Rhodes attends the JCA x Patrick McDowell x MA show and party on October 10, 2022 in London, England. (Dave Benett)

Celebration Of New Album

STARS Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne sparkled at a film festival screening of new film The Good Nurse at Royal Festival Hall last night. At lunch, The Royal Lancaster Hotel held the Women of the Year Awards, where presenters Sian Williams, Mel Giedroyc and Claire Balding had fun. Later, fashions Dame Zandra Rhodes chillaxed at a JCA x Patrick McDowell x MA bash, and musician Bjork got on the decks for an hour at AnOther Magazines Frieze Week party. Her Moet was topped up keenly by an attendant, we noticed.
Wearing T-shirts showing Russian bears, waving flags with "Z" symbols, and holding pictures of Putin aloft -- the Ukraine war has not deterred Bulgarian Russophiles, who rallied in the centre of the country on Sunday to show their support.

The Balkan state -- an EU and NATO member with historically close ties to Russia -- still has many citizens nostalgic for the former Communist regime.

The pro-Moscow rally came as Sofia readies to return to the polls and the country grapples with its identity.

Hristo Ganev, a 60-year-old driver, had arrived at Sunday's event early and bought a T-shirt emblazoned with the "Z" of the Ukraine offensive from one of the many stalls selling trinkets and souvenirs.

"Without Russia, Bulgaria would not have existed," he told AFP, referring to the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-1878, in which Russia freed Bulgaria from five centuries of Ottoman domination.

Ganev is married to a Russian he met when he was working in Siberia in the 1980s, and says he supports President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

He believes Putin's claim that the troops are needed to "fight Nazism" and says he is even in favour of a nuclear war, "if that is the price to pay to free yourself from American domination".

- 'Like loving your sister'-

Unlike in most other European countries, regular pro-Russian rallies have been held alongside pro-Ukrainian gatherings.

Sunday's event was due to be held on the shore of Lake Koprinka -- but the local mayor refused to host it due to the sensitivities of the Ukraine war.

Instead, it took place half an hour away in a mountainous spot overlooking the town of Kalofer.

"It's the only free gathering in the world," said Nikolay Malinov, the leader of the organisation that brings together Bulgarian Russophiles.

Bulgarian prosecutors in 2019 accused Malinov of spying for Moscow -- the same year Putin decorated him with a state award, the Order of Friendship.

His idea of bringing together Bulgarians in an "international Russophile movement" also gained the approval of Sergei Lavrov -- Russia's foreign minister -- when the two men met recently in Moscow, he said.

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"For Bulgarians, loving Russia is like loving your sister, your mother," he told the crowd on Sunday to wide applause.

Among the youngest to join the rally was 17-year-old Georgi Ivanov, who was wrapped in a flag honouring Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.

"I appreciate authoritarian regimes because they guarantee unity without worrying about ethnic and sexual minorities," the high school student said, saying he didn't believe claims that Russian troops have carried out war crimes in Ukraine.

- Deadlock -

Most middle-aged Bulgarians studied Russian in school, understand the language and some regularly follow Russian news.

The two countries share close cultures, with the Cyrillic alphabet and Orthodox Christianity.

In the Communist years, Sofia was considered Moscow's staunchest ally.

One attendee in her seventies, who gave her name as Veneta, was carrying a banner supporting the referendums on joining Russia being carried out by pro-Moscow authorities in four Ukrainian regions.

She would welcome the same opportunity in Bulgaria, she told AFP.

A poll carried out in April found that nearly half of Bulgarians considered that Russia was not responsible for the situation in Ukraine, and many did not support the delivery of arms to Kyiv.

And a week before new legislative elections, many have concerns about the country's political direction.

"It is unfortunate that Bulgarians, who are largely Russophiles, have let themselves be governed by a handful of pro-Westerners," said 66-year-old Tatiana Ivanova, a Russian who has lived in Bulgaria for four decades.

Staunch pro-European Prime Minister Kiril Petkov will seek to return to power in the upcoming election on October 2.

He won the last ballot in November 2021, but his cabinet was overthrown by a motion of no-confidence in June.

The conservative Boiko Borissov, who led the country almost continuously between 2009 and 2021, is the contender almost certain to win.

But analysts warn that he may have difficulty building a coalition, and some are predicting another poll in the months to come.

vs/anb/rox/lcm
Dr Karen Woo helped thousands of people in Afghanistan before she was shot dead (Supplied)

The mother of a British doctor murdered by terrorists while carrying out medical work in Afghanistan has spoken of her pride after a London university launched an awards scheme in her memory.

Dr Karen Woo, 36, was shot dead alongside nine colleagues by militants while on a medical aid mission in Nuristan in August 2010. She had been delivering vital healthcare to more than 1,500 civilians as part of a three-week expedition organised by Christian charity the International Assistance Mission.

University College London, where Dr Woo studied medicine, will launch an awards scheme in her memory. As part of the scheme, a healthcare professional from Afghanistan will receive 1,000 to spend time in a UK medical centre to acquire knowledge and skills that can be used on their return. It could also support a medic from the UK to spend time in Afghanistan and provide teaching and training.

Her mother, Lynn Woo, told the Standard she was proud her daughters legacy was being recognised.

Karen herself often had to rely on funding and grants for extra help during her studies, so she would be very pleased. I also think she would be proud that this is going to would-be doctors, as this is about helping somebody to help others.

Dr Karen Woo had been delivering vital healthcare to over 1,500 civilians (Supplied)

Professor Narinder Kapur, a visiting professor of neuropsychology at UCL who devised the scheme, has already donated 10,000 towards the award. He told the Standard he hoped to keep Dr Karens name and her story alive.

This is somebody who went out of her way to help patients, he said. And what did she get in return? The most horrible death you could imagine.

We want to recognise the sacrifices she made and the lessons we can learn from those sacrifices.

Dr Kapur said he also hoped the grant would raise awareness of the health issues blighting Afghanistan, which fell under Taliban control last year.

It is in our interest to make sure that there is good healthcare in other parts of the world, he added.

The award scheme was established in partnership with the UK Afghan Health Professionals Association and UCL Hospitals Charity.
FILE PHOTO: The Alipay logo is seen on the screen of a smartphone, held up in front of a display of the same logo in this illustration

BEIJING (Reuters) - Ant Group said on Monday it would help four Asian e-wallets, including the Philippines' GCash and Malaysia's Touch'n Go expand into South Korea with its cross-border payment service Alipay+, as travel restrictions begin to lift across Asia.

The move will allow users of e-wallets that use Alipay+, including GCash, Touch'n Go, Thailand's TrueMoney, and AlipayHK to pay at over 120,000 merchants using their local mobile payments apps when travelling in South Korea, the Chinese fintech giant said in a statement.

The first batch of available merchants will include taxis, duty free shops, convenience stores, according to Ant.

Launched in 2020, Alipay+ provides services and technology tools to global merchants and e-wallets that enable them to offer their users the ability to make payments in overseas markets with their local e-wallets. Its e-wallet clients include its namesake Alipay.

"With South Korea being one of the most popular destinations of Filipinos, we are delighted that our customers will be able to maximize their GCash app during their travels," said Martha Sazon, chief executive officer of Mynt, which operates GCash.

Earlier this month, South Korea ended pre-departure COVID-19 test requirements for overseas travellers, in step with Japan and other countries that also removed it.

In June, Alipay+ enabled Malaysia's Touch'n Go users to pay with the e-wallet in Singapore.

(Reporting by Yingzhi Yang and Brenda Goh; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Christian Schmollinger)
Sacha Boey, Murat Cem Akpinar, August 2022 Credit: Alamy

Liverpool will have to pay 13million if they want to sign Sacha Boey, but three European rivals are also reportedly circling for the Galatasaray star.

Reds manager Jurgen Klopp has made impressive signings all across the pitch throughout his tenure. Although, his full-back selections have particularly caught the eye.

Trent Alexander-Arnold emerged from the academy in 2016 and has nailed down his first-team role. On the opposite flank, Andy Robertson cost less than 10million from Hull City and has enjoyed an incredible rise.

Liverpool allowed Alexander-Arnolds former deputy Neco Williams to leave this summer. They subsequently signed Calvin Ramsay, but he has struggled with injury issues so far.

At left-back, 2020 signing Kostas Tsimikas has provided strong competition to Robertson.

According to recent reports, though, Liverpool have scouted Galatasaray for a potential new right-back in 22-year-old Boey. The Reds watched the full-back and three of his team-mates in a 2-1 win over Konyaspor in September.

New claims from Takvim have revealed that Galatasaray would want 15million (13million) for Boey.

Whats more, it is not just Liverpool who are after him. Ligue 1 clubs Marseille, Lyon and Rennes  who in fact let Boey move to Turkey in 2021  want to bring him back to France.

The report adds that Galatasaray are eyeing a significant profit on Boey, who they signed for around 1million.

Boey suffered a frustrating debut season with Galatasaray due to a hamstring injury. The problem came about in September last year and he only returned in January, but with a bit-part role.

Nevertheless, he has missed only a few minutes of league action this term, featuring in all eight Super Lig matches. And that will likely have added to the good impressions Liverpool scouts got from their initial trip.

Sacha Boey unproven, but a talent

It would be a stretch to say that 13million for Boey would be a truly wise investment as it stands.

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He has struggled for form and minutes at Galatasaray and is yet to really prove himself in the Turkish league.

That means an instant adaptation to the Premier League, especially at a club like Liverpool, may prove difficult.

Although, Liverpool have made it work before, with Tsimikas impressing after his 11.75m move from Greece  which is similar to the Turkish league in that it is not one of Europes major divisions.

And the Reds look secure at right-back anyway. Alexander-Arnold is the nailed-on starter, with Ramsay looking to grow into his reliable deputy this season and going forwards.

Furthermore, Joe Gomez regularly fills in at right-back and he only recently signed a new contract.

It would definitely have helped Boeys cause if Galatasaray were competing in some form of European football this season. That is perhaps the next step for his development before moving across Europe.

The article Liverpool transfer news: Fee emerges for top full-back target, but three European rivals look to ruin plan appeared first on Teamtalk.com.
Hundreds of mourners and survivors commemorated the 20th anniversary of the bombings that killed more than 200 people on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, as Jakarta considers the early release of one of the attack's masterminds.

Grieving families, attack survivors and representatives from several embassies will attend a memorial in Bali's popular tourist hub of Kuta, where Al-Qaeda-linked militants detonated bombs at a bar and nightclub on October 12, 2002.

"It's okay that some people have forgotten what happened 20 years ago but there are still real victims, there are children who lost their parents in the bombing," 47-year-old victim Thiolina Marpaung, one of the organisers of the memorial who has left with permanent eye injuries in the attack, told AFP.

"I don't want them to be forgotten."

Most were foreign holidaymakers from more than 20 countries but Australia suffered the biggest loss, with 88 dead.

Local militant group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), linked to Al-Qaeda, was blamed for the bombings, which took place at two popular night spots that accounted for all the victims. Another device exploded harmlessly outside the US consulate.

All the leading perpetrators of the Bali attacks were either executed, killed by police or jailed.

But the Indonesian government is considering an early release for Bali bombmaker Umar Patek. He has only served half of his 20-year sentence.

Jakarta has held off freeing him after angering Australia and victims' relatives who say his pending release has caused fresh trauma before they marked the anniversary.
At a Red Cross centre in Moscow, a dark-haired woman nervously holds a phone to her ear, trying to dig out details on her Jewish roots to help her son flee President Vladimir Putin's drive to mobilise troops to fight in Ukraine.

"Mum, your grandfather Moishe was born in 1870, like Lenin, right?" she asks.

"Getting an Israeli passport is the only way for my son not to go to fight in Ukraine," the exhausted woman, who declined to give her name for security reasons, explained to AFP.

Tens of thousands of Russians have fled since Putin sent troops to Ukraine in February and then announced a nationwide military call-up in September.

Many have scrambled to find their Jewish roots to open up the doors to Israel.

One of them is 32-year-old Ivan Mitrofanov, frantically looking for proof that his grandparents were Jewish.

As an IT worker, he is so far exempt from the first wave of mobilisation announced on September 21 after a series of Russian military defeats in Ukraine.

But Mitrofanov says he is "rushing to leave as long as the borders are open".

Most Russians expect more mobilisation waves and some fear authorities will introduce martial law or close borders to men of military age.

- 'My passport is toxic' -

Mitrofanov thinks Israel is a better choice over Europe.

"In Europe, my Russian passport is toxic. I'll go to Israel where we're actually wanted," he said.

This new wave of emigration to Israel is so large that Moscow bureaucrats are starting to get tired.

Tatiana Kalazhnikova, who works at an municipal administration office in western Moscow, said "90 percent of our clients come to look for their Jewish origins".

Authorities have criticised Russians rushing to leave the country as unpatriotic and Kalazhnikova is not impressed.

"They want to leave Russia ... for Israel where war never ends," she said sarcastically.

More than one million of Israel's 9.4 million residents have roots in the former Soviet Union.

Israel says immigration applications from Russia and Ukraine have tripled since the conflict started.

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Its Central Bureau of Statistics counted 20,000 arrivals from Russia and more than 12,000 from Ukraine since the end of February.

Faced with an avalanche of departures, Russia in July ordered the dissolution of the Jewish Agency, which helps Jews emigrate, accusing it of breaking the law.

Many Russian celebrities -- including Russia's pop queen Alla Pugacheva and her comedian husband Maxim Galkin -- have left for Israel.

The announcement of a chaotic and often random mobilisation led to a new exodus, with tens of thousands flocking to the borders of Georgia and Kazakhstan for weeks.

In a sign of just how many are choosing Israel, five new private agencies have opened to help Russians emigrate.

Others are resorting to genealogists to help them find any trace of Jewish roots.

Vladimir Paley, who specialises in Jewish genealogy, said he has received "10 times more requests" from both Russians and Ukrainians since the start of the conflict.

"With the mobilisation, I mainly reply to the calls of mothers looking to expatriate their sons," the 55-year-old said.

- 'Fear and disgust' -

There have been many waves of emigration to Israel from Russia and the erstwhile Soviet Union.

But this one is "out of fear and disgust," one of Paley's clients, 40-year-old Mikhail, said.

A history teacher and author, Mikhail never thought of leaving. Putin's mobilisation changed that and he wants to emigrate with his wife and child.

But moving out -- often a decision taken in a matter of hours -- has also caused families to break up.

Andrei Trubetskoy, a 58-year-old former official of the Russian interior ministry, said he understood in February that he "no longer wanted to have anything to do" with his own country.

With his historian wife, he searched archives only to discover by chance details of his great-grandfather who was a Hasidic Jew.

The couple were preparing their file and started learning Hebrew.

But, at the last moment, his wife refused and the couple divorced. Now he plans to leave alone.

"The decision to leave is often impulsive," said Lyubov Borussyak, a sociologist at the Free Moscow University.

She has surveyed 150 families who had chosen to leave since February.

"Their goal is not to move to another country, but to leave Russia," she said. "It's an emigration of panic and fear."

ml-bur/ach/smw
ZockSteffan Wins First XL Retro Title at 888poker

October 12 2022 Matthew Pitt Editor

The XL Retro series has begun over at 888poker and the first five events have crowned their worthy champions. Germany's "ZockSteffan" goes down in the 888poker history books as the first-ever XL Retro champion.

ZockSteffan was one of 1,162 players who bought into the XL Retro #01 Mega Deep Opening Event for $109. Those entrants fought it out for a slice of the $120,000 prize pool.

$120,000 XL Retro #01  Mega Deep Opening Event

Place Player Country Prize 1 ZockSteffen Germany $17,532 2 Diegoavc Peru $12,816 3 manel9595 Brazil $9,420 4 Whosbad Germany $6,924 5 AGGROAREK Germany $5,124 6 Yzw42_ Romania $3,816 7 r4andomr4gs Sweden $2,868 8 SobolAmnesia United Kingdom $2,172 9 GGWP888 Georgia $1,656

Each of the nine 888poker players who managed to navigate their way through the shark-infested waters to take a seat at the final table guaranteed themselves at least $1,656 for their efforts.

"GGWP888" fell in ninth and was joined on the rail by "SobolAmnesia" and "r4ndomr4gs," who collected $2,172 and $2,868, respectively.

The finalist continued falling, and the prize money increased. Romania's "Yzw42_" banked $3,816 for their sixth-place finish, "AGGROAREK" of Germany scooped $5,124 when they busted in fifth, and then "Whosbad" fell by the wayside in fourth for $6,924.

The final four-figure sum went to Brazilian grinder "manel9595." They received $9,420 as the XL Retro series' first event headed into the heads-up stage.

Heads-up saw ZockSteffen take on Peruvian "Diegoavc" for the lion's share of the prize pool, in addition to all of the glory. ZockSteffan got his hands on all of the chips in play and, therefore, the $17,532 top prize. Diegoavc walked away with a $12,816 consolation prize.

888poker XL Retro Schedule Features TWO Mystery Bounty Tournaments and $500k GTD Main Event

Malta Celebrates a New XL Retro Champion

The biggest buy-in event of the 888poker XL Retro series so far, the $525 buy-in Whale Opening Event, drew in 109 entrants who created a $59,500 prize pool. Some $14,660 of that pot is now nestled in the 888poker account of Malta's "PotofGreed."

It was a Maltese one-two, with PotofGreed defeating "Le_Piaf" heads-up, and resigning the runner-up to a $10,466 consolation prize, the tournament's only other five-figure score. Only last week, Le_Piaf won the 888poker Big Shot tournament, turning $109 into $15,480.

$45,000 XL Retro #02  Whale Opening Event

Place Player Country Prize 1 PotofGreed Malta $14,660 2 Le_Piaf Malta $10,466 3 raw_dawg $7,473 4 richrash93 Isle of Man $5,343 5 kellerassel0 Germany $3,813 6 Kabosu69 Malta $2,725 7 limpjam New Zealand $1,945 8 lysy69666 United Kingdom $1,386 9 BetBetFck Ukraine $1,261

You Spoke, They Listened! 888poker Adds $500K to Weekly Guarantees

Other XL Retro Results

Three other XL Retro events are in the bag, their champions crowned, and their prize money awarded. "kerkerian" triumphed in the $15,000 XL Retro #03 Mini Mega Deep Opening Event for $3,316, with "Storvalle" taking down the $20,000 XL Retro #04 Tornado 8-Max for $5,220.

"Luks012" also found themselves in the winner's enclosure after being the last player standing in the $3,000 XL Retro #05 BlowFish 8-Max, a result worth $1,009.

kerkerian  winner of the $15,000 XL Retro #03 Mini Mega Deep Opening Event for $3,316

StorValle  winner of the $20,000 XL Retro #04 Tornado 8-Max for $5,220

Luks012  winner of the $3,000 XL Retro #05 BlowFish 8-Max for $1,009

Upcoming XL Retro Events

Do not worry if you missed out on becoming an XL Retro champion in these five events because there are plenty more opportunities around the corner. Check out the table below to discover which events are running over the next few days.
A deliberate attack on NATO energy supplies will be met with a "united and determined response", the alliance's chief has vowed.

Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg pledged to boost protection of critical infrastructure in response to the damage to the Nord Stream gas pipelines.

The EU believes three leaks in the pipelines last month were the work of sabotage and suspicion has fallen on Russia, but it is not known for sure who was responsible.

Mr Stoltenberg said NATO has doubled its presence in the Baltic and the North Sea to more than 30 ships supported by aircraft and undersea activities.

Putin 'moves Iranian drones into Belarus' - Ukraine war latest updates

In a speech on Tuesday, he also said the alliance is monitoring Russia's nuclear forces closely as the country was "losing on the battlefield" in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Moscow has issued a fresh warning to the West over its involvement in the Ukraine war.

Deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said Russia will take adequate countermeasures in response to the West's "growing involvement".

In the comments reported by the state-owned RIA news agency, he said: "We warn and hope that they realise the danger of uncontrolled escalation in Washington and other Western capitals."

Russian bombs have rained down on Ukraine, killing at least 14 people on Monday.

Vladimir Putin said the strikes were in retaliation for its "terrorist action" against Russian territory - the attack on the Kerch Strait Bridge in occupied Crimea - but Ukraine has rejected this claim of "provocation".

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed to make the battlefield "more painful" for Russian troops in response to the rocket attacks and said air defence was the "number one priority".

Read more:

Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant - an accident waiting to happen

Russian forces 'will soon be down to last supplies of fuel'

Despite remarkable Ukrainian battlefield successes - both early on in the war with the defence of Kyiv and more recently with counterattacks in Kharkiv and Kherson regions - the war could continue for decades to come, one expert said.

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Sky News security and defence analyst Professor Michael Clarke said the war is likely to be a "generational struggle" and could be a "forever conflict" until "something changes in European security or Russia".

Mr Clarke said the current crisis in Ukraine was the "second war" and the first war was witnessed in 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea.

He added: "My feeling is next year there will be a ceasefire in which the Ukrainians will be better placed and that ceasefire will be unstable and it will break down and there will be a third war and then a ceasefire and a fourth war.

"We're dealing here with an existential struggle because the Russian establishment thinks that Ukraine has no right to exist and they won't change their mind in the short-term.

"This is likely to be a generational struggle. Let's say it's going to last 30,40 or 50 years."

You can get tickets here for a special event at the Imperial War Museum in London looking at the war in Ukraine.
The woman behind an image of a buzzing ball of cactus bees spinning over the hot sand on a Texas ranch has been named winner of this year's Wildlife Photographer Of The Year competition.

American photographer Karine Aigner became just the fifth woman in the competition's 58-year history to be awarded the Grand Title award.

The winners of the Natural History Museum's prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition were announced at an awards ceremony in London on Tuesday night.

Entitled "The big buzz", her winning shot was taken close up at bee-level and shows all except one of the male insects intent on mating with the single female at the centre.

Organisers of the contest pointed out that, like most bees, the insects pictured are threatened by habitat loss, pesticides and climate change, along with farming practices that disrupt their nesting grounds.

Chair of the jury, writer and editor Rosamund Kidman Cox OBE, said: "Wings-whirring, incoming males home in on the ball of buzzing bees that is rolling straight into the picture.

"The sense of movement and intensity is shown at bee-level magnification and transforms what are little cactus bees into big competitors for a single female."

Meanwhile, 16-year-old Katanyou Wuttichaitanakorn, from Thailand, was awarded the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2022 for his creative image, "The beauty of baleen".

Organisers explained that when a Bryde's whale surfaced close to the boat, Katanyou was intrigued by the contrasting colours and textures of its dark skin, pink gum and the brush-like mass of baleen hanging down from its top jaw.

Like other baleen whales, the species use a technique known as lunge-feeding to capture large numbers of small schooling fish and use the plates of baleen to filter the small prey from the ocean.

"Out of the jaws of a Bryde's whale comes this dazzling creation," said Ms Kidman Cox.

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"The pin-sharp detail of the tiny anchovies is set against an abstraction of colour with the weave of brown baleen hair rimmed by a cascade of water drops."

The two Grand Title winners were chosen from 19 category winners that highlight the natural world in all its wonder and diversity.

They had been picked from a total of 38,575 entries from 93 countries to be judged anonymously by an international panel of experts on their originality, narrative, technical excellence and ethical practice.

The images will go on show as part of the redesigned Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition from 14 October at the Natural History Museum.

Below are the individual award winners along with their categories and descriptions:

Battle stations by Ekaterina Bee, Italy - 10 years and under

Ekaterina Bee watches as two Alpine ibex spar for supremacy. It was near the end of a spring day trip with her family that Ekaterina spotted the fight.

The two ibex clashed horns and continued to trade blows while standing on their hind legs like boxers in a ring.

In the early 1800s, following centuries of hunting, fewer than 100 Alpine ibex survived in the mountains on the Italy-France border. Successful conservation measures mean that, today, there are more than 50,000.

Out of the fog by Ismael Dominguez Gutierrez, Spain - 11 to 14 years

Ismael Dominguez Gutierrez reveals a monochromatic scene as an osprey sits on a dead tree, waiting for the fog to lift.

When Ismael arrived at the wetland, he was disappointed not to be able to see beyond a few metres - and certainly he had no hope of glimpsing the grebes he wanted to photograph.

But as the fog began to lift, it revealed the opportunity for this striking composition.

Ospreys are winter visitors to the province of Andalucia.

Spectacled bear's slim outlook by Daniel Mideros, Ecuador - Animals in their Environment

Daniel Mideros takes a poignant portrait of a disappearing habitat and its inhabitant.

Daniel set up camera traps along a wildlife corridor used to reach high-altitude plateaus.

He positioned the cameras to show the disappearing natural landscape with the bear framed at the heart of the image.

These bears, found from western Venezuela to Bolivia, have suffered massive declines as the result of habitat fragmentation and loss.

Puff perfect by Jose Juan Hernandez Martinez, Spain - Animal Portraits

Jose Juan Hernandez Martinez witnesses the dizzying courtship display of a Canary Islands houbara.

Jose arrived at the houbara's courtship site at night. By the light of the moon, he dug himself a low hide.

From this vantage point he caught the bird's full puffed-out profile as it took a brief rest from its frenzied performance.

A Canary Islands houbara male returns annually to its courtship site to perform impressive displays.

Raising the plumes from the front of its neck and throwing its head back, it will race forward before circling back, resting just seconds before starting again.

The listening bird by Nick Kanakis, USA - Behaviour: Birds

Nick Kanakis gains a glimpse into the secret life of wrens.

Nick spotted the young grey-breasted wood wren foraging. Knowing it would disappear into the forest if approached, he found a clear patch of leaf litter and waited.

Sure enough, the little bird hopped into the frame, pressing its ear to the ground to listen for small insects.

This prey-detecting technique is used by other birds, including the Eurasian blackbird.

The great cliff chase by Anand Nambiar, India - Behaviour: Mammals

Anand Nambiar captures an unusual perspective of a snow leopard charging a herd of Himalayan ibex towards a steep edge.

From a vantage point across the ravine, Anand watched the snow leopard manoeuvre uphill from the herd.

It was perfectly suited for the environment - unlike Anand, who followed a fitness regime in preparation for the high altitude and cold temperatures.

The bat-snatcher by Fernando Constantino Martinez Belmar, Mexico - Behaviour: Amphibians and Reptiles

Fernando Constantino Martinez Belmar waits in darkness as a Yucatan rat snake snaps up a bat.

Using a red light to which both bats and snakes are less sensitive, Fernando kept an eye on this Yucatan rat snake poking out of a crack.

He had just seconds to get the shot as the rat snake retreated into its crevice with its bat prey.

Heavenly flamingos by Junji Takasago, Japan - Natural Artistry

Junji Takasago powered through altitude sickness to produce a dream-like scene.

High in the Andes, Salar de Uyuni is the world's largest salt pan. It is also one of Bolivia's largest lithium mines, which threatens the future of these flamingos.

New life for the tohora by Richard Robinson, New Zealand - Oceans: The Bigger Picture

Richard Robinson captures a hopeful moment for a population of whales that has survived against all odds.

Hindered by poor visibility, Richard used a polecam to photograph the whales gradually moving towards his boat.

Pushing his camera to its limits in the dark water, he was relieved to find the image pin-sharp and the moment of copulation crystallised in time.

The magical morels by Agorastos Papatsanis, Greece - Plants and Fungi

Agorastos Papatsanis composes a fairy tale scene in the forests of Mount Olympus.

He waited for the sun to filter through the trees and light the water in the background, then used a wide-angle lens and flashes to highlight the morels' labyrinthine forms.

Morels are regarded as gastronomic treasures in many parts of the world because they are difficult to cultivate, yet in some forests they flourish naturally.

Shooting star by Tony Wu, USA/Japan - Underwater

Tony Wu watches the electrifying reproductive dance of a giant sea star.

As the surrounding water filled with sperm and eggs from spawning sea stars, Tony faced several challenges.

Stuck in a small, enclosed bay with only a macro lens for photographing small subjects, he backed up to squeeze the undulating sea star into his field of view, in this galaxy-like scene.

House of bears by Dmitry Kokh, Russia - Urban Wildlife

Dmitry Kokh presents this haunting scene of polar bears shrouded in fog at the long-deserted settlement on Kolyuchin.

As they explored every window and door, Dmitry used a low-noise drone to take a picture that conjures up a post-apocalyptic future.

In the Chukchi Sea region, the normally solitary bears usually migrate further north in the summer, following the retreating sea ice they depend on for hunting seals, their main food.

The dying lake by Daniel Nunez, Guetamala Winner, Wetlands - The Bigger Picture

Daniel Nunez uses a drone to capture the contrast between the forest and the algal growth on Lake Amatitlan.

Daniel took this photograph to raise awareness of the impact of contamination on Lake Amatitlan, which takes in around 75,000 tonnes of waste from Guatemala City every year.

Ndakasi's passing by Brent Stirton, South Africa - Photojournalism

Brent Stirton shares the closing chapter of the story of a much-loved mountain gorilla.

Brent photographed Ndakasi's rescue as a two-month-old after her troop was brutally killed by a powerful charcoal mafia as a threat to park rangers.

Here he memorialised her passing as she lay in the arms of her rescuer and caregiver of 13 years, ranger Andre Bauma.

'The Cuban connection' by Karine Aigner, USA - Photojournalist Story Award

A Cuban bullfinch is positioned alongside a road so that it becomes accustomed to the hubbub of street life and therefore less likely to be distracted during a competition.

These birds are highly prized for their sweet voice and feisty spirit.

'A theatre of birds' by Mateusz Piesiak, Poland - Rising Star Portfolio Award

Placing his remote camera on the mud of the reed bed, Mateusz seized the opportunity to capture the moment when a passing peregrine falcon caused some of the dunlins to fly up.

'Under Antarctic ice' by Laurent Ballesta, France - Portfolio Award

Living towers of marine invertebrates punctuate the seabed off Adelie Land, 32 metres (105 feet) under East Antarctic ice.

Here, at the centre, a tree-shaped sponge is draped with life, from giant ribbon worms to sea stars.
A leak has been uncovered in a pipeline from which Germany gets the majority of its Russian crude oil, Polish operator PERN has said.

The firm said it identified a leak in one of two lines of the Druzhba pipe, which originates in Russia, about 45 miles from the central Polish city of Plock on Tuesday evening.

It said the cause of the leak is not known.

Poland's top official for energy infrastructure said there are no grounds to believe the leak was an act of sabotage.

"Here we can talk about accidental damage," Mateusz Berger said.

The event may still stoke concerns about the security of Europe's energy supplies.

The discovery of the leak comes as Europe faces a severe energy crisis in the aftermath of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine which has cut supplies of gas in a continuing stand-off.

Late last month several leaks were identified in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines running along the Baltic seabed.

Firefighters are working at the site of the leak, PERN said.

The Druzhba oil pipeline, whose name means "friendship" in Russian, is one of the world's largest, supplying Russian oil to much of central Europe including Germany, Poland, Belarus, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Austria.

Last year, Germany sourced around 35% of its oil from Russia, but has been weaning itself off it since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Germany is racing to entirely wean itself off the remaining supplies before a European Union embargo on most Russian fossil fuel imports comes into effect.

A month ago, the German government took control of three refineries owned by Russia's Rosneft, which account for about 12% of Germany's oil refining capacity.
Mother Sandra Larmour says an inquest has vindicated her daughter Jeni

The mother of a talented student who died on her first night at university after taking ketamine given to her by someone else said she feels vindicated after an inquest into the death.

Jeni Larmour, 18, from Newtonhamilton, Northern Ireland, died hours after arriving at Newcastle University in October 2020, after she drank with new flatmates and sniffed the tranquilliser with one of them.

Kavir Kalliecharan, 20, from Leeds, was later charged with possessing drugs, but not supplying them and told police the ketamine was Ms Larmours.

But Newcastle Coroner Karen Dilks, who recorded a conclusion of misadventure, said, on the balance of probability, that the ketamine which killed Ms Larmour in combination with the alcohol, had been provided by another.

After the hearing, Sandra Larmour, flanked by her husband David, read a statement in which she said: Today I leave this court feeling in pain but knowing my daughter has been vindicated.

Speaking about attending Mr Kalliecharans drug possession trial, Mrs Larmour said: I have had to hear that the substance that killed Jeni was her own and that she was wilfully engaged in the supplying of drugs to others.

I have always known this could not be further from the truth, particularly given that just a few hours earlier Jeni had boarded a plane with me from Belfast to Newcastle meaning she would have had to have taken the substance with her.

The coroners acknowledgement that the drugs were provided to her by another, or in other words not her own, is a comfort to us, getting out to her friends and the community of Northern Ireland that she was innocent in all of this.

The inquest was told Ms Larmour had forgotten her ID while on a trip out to a city centre bar that night and was accompanied back to the flat by Mr Kalliecharan where they both took ketamine in his bedroom.

The grieving mother said the family has not had any apology from Mr Kalliecharan, who is now studying away from Newcastle University.

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Mrs Larmour, who remained proud of her daughters achievements, said: This is not the end for us.

She added: I will leave no stone unturned for my daughter.

The coroner said Ms Larmour had arrived in Newcastle the day she died and drunk alcohol with her new flat mates between 5-7pm.

Mrs Dilks said: Later that evening, while her judgment was impaired due to alcohol, Jeni took a quantity of ketamine provided for her by another, the combined effects of which led to her death.

Specialist police officers using sniffer dogs searched the flat in Park View halls and found ketamine, cannabis and MDMA in Mr Kalliecharans room, but he insisted the ketamine was not his.

The inquest was told no other drugs were found in any of the student rooms in the flat, including none in Ms Larmours room.

Ms Larmour had filmed a Snapchat video on her mobile phone which was not played in open court, but which witnesses saw, showing her in Mr Kalliecharans bedroom, with a white powder on a table.

Andrew Metcalfe, then an acting detective sergeant with Northumbria Police, confirmed that the video showed there was no evidence of either Ms Larmour or Mr Kalliecharan coercing or pressuring the other to take drugs.

In evidence on Tuesday, Mr Kalliecharan claimed he was rendered sick by the drug and vomited for hours before falling asleep, and woke to found Ms Larmour lifeless, lying face down on his bedroom floor at around 5am.

Mr Kalliecharan had told Ms Larmour before they took the drugs: This is how we do it in England.

He insisted that this was the first time he had taken ketamine, telling the coroner what he meant by that expression was that this was the English university experience.

Immediately after her death he told flatmates he felt it was his fault, explaining at the inquest he felt guilt, not in a criminal sense, but moral responsibility.

Lucy Backhurst, the universitys academic registrar and director of student services, said the university had a compulsory online induction programme with information about drink and drugs for new students.

But the messaging was not easy, she admitted, and following Ms Larmours death there was a backlash when the Vice-Chancellor emailed students a stark warning about the risks of drink and drugs.

Ms Backhurst said: We got an awful lot of kick-back from students (saying) Who do you think you are telling us what to do?

She added: Its a balance. Students need to be aware of the risks, dangers and signs, and we have done an awful lot before 2020 and subsequently to try to raise awareness.

Mrs Dilks urged the university to look again at its induction course on drink and drugs, given that none of the flatmates who gave evidence at the inquest could recall any information from it.

The coroner did say the universitys work on drink and drugs advice was continually evolving and said it was working well with other organisations on its programme.

Read next:

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Christian Brueckner (AFP PHOTO/ ITALIAN CARABINIERI)

The prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has been charged in Germany with several sexual offences allegedly committed in Portugal.

Convicted sex offender Christian Brueckner is accused of committing five offences between 2000 and 2017, the public prosecutor's office in Braunschweig said, with the charges not related to the McCann case.

Investigators believe the 45-year-old killed Madeleine, then three, after abducting her from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3 2007.

Undated handout file photo of Madeleine McCann (PA Media)

Brueckner, who has reportedly denied any involvement in the case, was identified as a suspect in the McCann case by Portuguese officials in June 2020.

Prosecutors said the offences were allegedly committed between 2000 and 2017.

Prosecutors in Germanys Braunschweig on Tuesday charged the German man with three counts of rape and two counts of child sexual abuse.

The convicted sex offender has been charged with the alleged rape of a woman in her 70s in her holiday apartment in Portugal at an unknown date between 2000 and 2006, and the alleged rape of a 20-year-old Irish woman in Praia da Rocha in 2004.

Brueckner is also alleged to have orally raped a teenage girl in her home in Praia da Luz after tying her up and whipping her on an unknown date between 2000 and 2006. He is claimed to have filmed the incidents.

He allegedly exposed himself to a 10-year-old German girl in Faro in 2007 and to a 11-year old Portuguese girl in Bartolomeu de Messines in 2017.

The previously convicted sex offender is currently serving a seven-year sentence for rape in Portugal in 2005.

The investigation into Madeleines disappearance is continuing irrespective of the charges brought, the prosecutors office said.

Three-year-old Madeleine vanished during a family holiday to Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3 2007.

Earlier this year German investigators said they had new evidence against prime suspect in the case and convicted sex offender Christian Brueckner, and in April he was officially declared a suspect by Portuguese officials as a 15-year legal deadline approached.

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Kate and Gerry McCann have said the focus can now be on the search for their daughter after losing a legal battle against former detective Goncalo Amaral. (John Stilwell/PA) (PA Archive)

Last month Kate and Gerry McCann said they were naturally disappointed at losing their legal battle against a retired Portuguese detective who claimed they were somehow involved in their daughter going missing.

Lawyers for Maddies parents had argued that Portuguese authorities had breached their right to respect for a private and family life in the way the courts there dealt with their libel claims against Goncalo Amaral.

He claimed in a book, TV documentary and newspaper interview that the McCanns were involved in their daughter Madeleines disappearance.

In a judgment published on Tuesday, the European Court of Human Rights rejected the couples arguments, finding that there was extensive publicity around the claims against them before Mr Amaral published his book in July 2008.
Holidays abroad nearly doubled after coronavirus restrictions were lifted, according to new research.

Travel trade organisation Abta said a survey indicates that 38% of UK people travelled overseas for leisure between March and August, compared with 21% during the previous six months.

The UK scrapped its remaining pandemic travel restrictions in March, including the requirement for all arrivals to complete passenger locator forms, and those who were not fully vaccinated to take a coronavirus test.

Abta said the poll of 2,000 consumers suggests overseas travel for the 12 months to the end of August was at 70% of pre-pandemic levels.

It described this as a significant proportion given the timing of coronavirus travel restrictions being lifted in the UK and at destinations.

They survey, conducted in late August, also suggested that only 4% of people who took a holiday in the previous 12 months were not planning to take another during the following year, despite the cost-of-living crisis.

Of those who intend to cut back their holiday spending, 36% said they would take fewer trips.

Some 61% of people questioned planned to head abroad in the following 12 months.

The survey indicated that people are more likely to cut back on nonessential spending elsewhere, such as eating out (55%), leisure activities (48%) and clothes, shoes and accessories (40%), rather than holidays (35%).

Asked how serious an issue the cost-of-living crisis is for the industry, Abta director of communications Graeme Buck replied: Obviously its going to dampen demand.

Abta chief executive Mark Tanzer, speaking at the organisations annual convention in Marrakesh, Morocco, said: The lifting of the UKs travel rules this year unleashed a surge in overseas holidays.

Given how much these restrictions had dampened demand, its quite remarkable to see foreign holiday taking already reaching 70% of 2019 levels, which was in itself a bumper year for travel, in such a short space of time.

We now face an uncertain year ahead given the cost-of-living challenges, but Abtas research suggests that we should continue to see an increase in foreign holidays next year and, encouragingly, many of our members have also been reporting a high level of demand for bookings.
By Marek Strzelecki and Miranda Murray

WARSAW (Reuters) -Germany said on Wednesday it was receiving less oil but still had adequate supplies, after Poland found a leak in the Druzhba pipeline that delivers crude from Russia to Europe that Warsaw said showed no sign of being caused by sabotage.

The discovery of the leak in the main route carrying oil to Germany, which operator PERN said it found on Tuesday evening, comes as Europe is on high alert over its energy security in the aftermath of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine which has cut supplies of gas.

"After removing most of the contaminants from the area near the crude oil pipeline that was damaged yesterday, PERN's technical services have located the site of the leak," Polish pipeline operator PERN said in a statement.

"The first findings and the method of pipeline deformation show that at the moment there are no signs of interference by third parties."

PERN added that it was working to find out what caused the leak and to repair the pipeline.

Drone footage showed a black stain of oil from the underground pipeline spreading across farmland at the site of the leak, surrounded by fire engines and other emergency teams.

"Security of supply in Germany is currently guaranteed," an economy ministry spokesperson told Reuters. "The refineries in Schwedt and Leuna continue to receive crude oil via the Druzhba pipeline."

The Schwedt refinery, which supplies 90% of Berlin's fuel, said deliveries were taking place but at reduced capacity.

Germany said it was hoping for more information soon from Poland about the cause of the leak and how it can be repaired.

Europe has been on high alert over the security of its energy infrastructure since major leaks were found last month in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines running from Russia to Europe under the Baltic Sea. Both the West and Russia have blamed sabotage.

The top official in charge of Poland's energy infrastructure, Mateusz Berger said the leak was located 70 km (44 miles) west of Plock, where Poland's biggest refinery owned by PKN Orlen is located. As a result, part of the pipeline's capacity towards Germany was not available, he said, adding that repairs would likely "not take long".

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RUSSIA REMAINS TOP GERMAN OIL SUPPLIER

The Druzhba oil pipeline, whose name means "friendship" in Russian, is one of the world's largest with the capacity to flow 2 million barrels per day, supplying Russian oil to much of central Europe including Germany, Poland, Belarus, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Austria.

Russia's Transneft state-owned pipeline monopoly said it was continuing to pump oil towards Poland.

Poland's PKN Orlen said that supplies to its Plock refinery were not interrupted, while Czech pipeline operator MERO had not seen any change in flows to the Czech Republic.

"The main action (we are taking) is to pump out the liquid and locate the leak and stop it," fire brigade spokesman Karol Kierzkowski told state broadcaster TVP Info, adding there was no danger to the public.

Firefighters in the mid-northern Kujawsko-Pomorskie region of Poland said they had pumped about 400 cubic metres of oil and water from the site, which was in the middle of a corn field.

The second line of the Druzhba pipeline was working as normal, PERN said.

The total capacity of the western section of both lines that carry oil from central Poland to Germany is 27 million tonnes of crude oil per year.

Germany's Schwedt refinery, which serves Berlin, will struggle the most if Druzhba supplies are interrupted as it has few alternative options to service its crude needs.

The German government aims to eliminate imports of oil from Russia by the end of the year under European Union sanctions. But in the first seven months of the year, Russia was still its top supplier, accounting for just over 30% of oil imports.

As Germany looks for alternative supplies for Schwedt, Druzhba could be instrumental in supplying oil via the Polish port in Gdansk.

The German government has been in talks to secure oil from Kazakhstan to supply Schwedt, but that oil would have to flow to Germany via the Druzhba pipeline too.

Berlin has rejected an offer from Russian President Vladimir Putin to supply gas to Europe via Nord Stream 2 this winter - the new pipeline which Germany refused to allow to be put into operation. If Russia wanted to send gas, it could do so via Nord Stream 1, a government spokesperson said.

(Reporting by Reuters bureaus; writing by Alan Charlish and Marek Strzelecki; Editing by Jan Harvey, Elaine Hardcastle and Marguerita Choy)
FILE PHOTO: Electric power wind mills are seen in Torres Vedras on the outskirts of Lisbon

By Sergio Goncalves

LISBON (Reuters) -Portugal will inject 3 billion euros ($2.91 billion) to curb energy prices paid by companies next year via a combination of state spending and regulatory measures, the government said on Wednesday.

The environment and energy minister, Duarte Cordeiro, told reporters that it was the biggest intervention ever made in the country's energy markets and should save around 30% of the estimated electricity tariffs for 2023 and between 23% and 42% on gas.

Spain and Portugal capped the price of gas used in power generation in June, helping to curb consumer prices. Lisbon has also allowed households and small businesses to switch to lower regulated tariffs since the beginning of October.

But many companies, such as in the tiles industry and other energy-intensive sectors, are still fully exposed to soaring natural gas prices since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The plan is expected to come into force on Jan. 1 and will require a direct transfer of 1 billion euros from this year's budget. A further 500 million euros will come from other policy measures and the remaining 1.5 billion euros from as yet unspecified regulatory measures.

Cordeiro said the plan "was calibrated to counter a scenario of a significant increase" in electricity and natural gas market prices during 2023.

Under its most unfavourable scenario, the government forecasts market electricity rates to roughly double to an average of 258 euros per megawatt hour in 2023, while gas prices could more than triple from the current 53.3 euros.

As a result, companies' electricity costs could jump to 6.5 billion euros in 2023 from 1.7 billion now, while their gas costs could reach 2.7 billion-4.9 billion euros from 745 million, Cordeiro said.

"If electricity and gas prices don't go up that much, then the savings for companies will be even greater than we anticipate today...We are directing this support to companies on the assumption that domestic consumers are already protected," he added.

($1 = 1.0303 euros)

(Reporting by Sergio Goncalves, editing by Andrei Khalip, Kirsten Donovan)
For childrens comprehensive development

Children are the future of a country. Educating and developing children and future generations is one of the most important and sacred responsibilities of every nation. Therefore, providing children with a safe, hygienic and healthy learning environment, equipping them with knowledge about school health and hygiene, as well as creating opportunities for them to participate in a digital learning program to keep pace with the 4.0 era play the fundamental role in the comprehensive development of young children.

The program Green  Clean  Healthy Schools is an important initiative in the long-term strategic cooperation framework between Unilever Vietnam and the Ministry of Education & Training, towards the vision of building and deploying the standard model Green  Clean  Healthy Schools to 4.5 million primary school students nationwide in the period 2021-2025.

Specifically in the academic year 2022-2023, the program will be implemented at 1,150 primary schools in more than 10 provinces and cities nationwide, contributing to helping more than 500,000 students learn and play in a standard school environment, and have the opportunity to develop comprehensively, both physically, intellectually and spiritually. The investment for the program this school year is estimated at more than VND20 billion.

Through this program, Unilever has been supporting thousands of primary schools across the country not only to have a greener, cleaner and healthier standard learning environment, but also to coordinate in building a source of a creative and useful digital curriculum for teachers and students on essential topics such as hygiene, health, and environment. This is practical support and a prime example of how a responsible business can contribute and bring a lot of positive values to the community, said Mr Thai Van Tai  Director of the Primary Education Department, Ministry of Education & Training.

Three practical enablers

Under the direction of the Ministry of Education & Training, together with Unilever Vietnam's commitment to improving peoples health and well-being, 6 brands  Lifebuoy, P/S, VIM, OMO, PureIt and Knorr - will deploy three enablers, together aiming for one mission  for the comprehensive development of Vietnamese children, for greener, cleaner, healthier Vietnamese future generations.

The first activity of the program is school facilities upgradation, including sanitary conditions with clean toilets, hand washing areas, and ensuring clean drinking water and green corners within the school areas.

Next, the program will carry out communications and education on hygiene, nutrition, health and environmental protection for students, and an emulation movement to build and maintain green, clean and healthy habits at school.

Finally, bearing the desire to help equip students with knowledge through digital teaching and learning, the program also focuses on building and implementing a digital curriculum with interactive content.

Specifically, with the Ministry of Education & Trainings direction and the cooperation of six brands, Unilever Vietnam has built and deployed the online curriculum system Green  Clean  Healthy Schools e-Learning, consisting of comprehensive and essential content on hygiene and health habits to help teachers and students have a useful source of teaching and learning materials. The online curriculum is designed in the form of fun and lively animations for children to easily remember and build a healthy demeanour. The curriculum is approved and updated on the electronic lecture database of the Ministry of Education & Training.

In the previous period from 2012-2020, the program Green  Clean  Healthy Schools built 445 safe playgrounds, built and upgraded 1,000 clean toilets, provided free dental check-ups for 617,000 students at 762 primary schools and free hand soaps with hygiene education to 7.2 million students across the country. This greatly motivates Unilever Vietnam to further promote this program, contributing to bringing the standard model of Green  Clean  Healthy Schools to 100% of primary schools nationwide.

The success of the program in the previous period is a great motivation for us to expand in 2022 to more than 1,000 schools in provinces and cities across the country, said Ms Le Thi Hong Nhi  Head of Communications & Corporate Affairs, Unilever Vietnam.
HA NOI  VinFast announced on October 10 that it has joined the COP26 zero emission vehicles (ZEV) declaration to affirm its commitment to reaching 100 per cent zero emission new vehicle sales in leading markets by 2035 or earlier.

The declaration is in line with VinFasts vision to drive the global smart electric vehicle revolution, for a more sustainable future.

The COP26 ZEV Declaration was hosted within the framework of the 2022 New York Climate Week. The event aimed to announce new signatories and to provide a high-level moment for the soft launch of the Accelerating to Zero Coalition (A2Z coalition), which will be formally launched at COP27.

Le Thi Thu Thuy, Vice Chairwoman of Vingroup and Global CEO of VinFast, said: VinFast envisions a sustainable future for people and the planet through green, clean and safe mobility, which is built on intelligent services, outstanding customer experience, and a deep concern for the planet and future generations. Joining the COP26 ZEV Declaration is one of our many efforts for greater achievements - to be one of the leading electric vehicle manufacturers in the world while contributing to help steer global markets toward a green future for all.

British Ambassador to Vietnam Iain Frew said: The UK Government welcomes VinFasts participation in this global declaration. VinFasts signature sends a strong signal to global markets and partners of its business capability, social responsibility and commitment to supporting the global climate agenda. With this movement, VinFast has joined a growing leadership group of 14 automotive manufacturers that share the same commitment. The UK would like to encourage other Vietnamese stakeholders to consider signing up to this declaration and participating in the Accelerating to Zero Coalition."

VinFast is one of the first automakers in the world to announce a pure electric strategy, focusing on developing a range of smart and environmentally friendly electric vehicles, promoting the global electric vehicle revolution. VinFast offers a comprehensive ecosystem of electric mobility including electric scooters, electric cars, electric buses, and charging solutions that drives the movement of sustainable development in its home country of Viet Nam.

VinFast has created efficient and effective processes that reduce emissions, and save water and energy. The company adheres to rigorous sustainability standards and evaluation criteria for corporate partners and suppliers. VinFast also works with leading research institutes and universities on new solutions to achieve zero carbon emissions. The VinFast vehicle battery subscription policy also helps to recover used and expired batteries for disposal by following established state and federal regulations that ensure safety for the environment.

The company recently joined The Climate Pledge and committed to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040. Participating in these initiatives and joining hands to act with others will help VinFast move faster to meet its green goals, helping to promote a better life for everyone. VNS
HA NOI  The Ministry of Information and Communications, in collaboration with Vietnam Post, has issued new stamps featuring popular Vietnamese food.

With a realistic design style, the new stamp set includes four samples featuring the four local dishes of banh xeo (sizzling pancakes), banh mi (street-food sandwich), com tam (broken rice), and banh khot (mini savoury pancakes), with the ingredients displayed in a prominent style introducing the sophistication and quintessence of each dish.

The stamps for banh xeo, banh mi, and com tam are priced at VN4,000, while the banh khot are VN19,000.

They are 43mmx32mm and designed by artist Nguyen Du from Vietnam Post. They will be available on the public postal network from October 10, 2022, to June 30, 2024.

As part of the Am Thuc Viet Nam (Vietnamese Cuisine) stamp collection, the set is an effort to honour the beauty of Vietnamese culinary culture, promote the values of Vietnamese art of cuisine and introduce it to international friends.

The collection comprises three stamp sets issued in the past three years of 2020, 2021 and 2022, presenting famous and typical dishes of three regions of North, Central and South, such as pho ga (chicken noodles), bun cha (vermicelli with grilled pork and fresh herbs) and bun thang (vermicelli noodles with assorted toppings).

Aside from the three sets of Vietnamese Cuisine, the Vietnam Post issued in 2008 a set of stamps called Cac Mon An Viet Nam (Vietnamese Dishes), including introducing nem ran (fried spring rolls) and pho bo (beef noodles).

Viet Nam is known worldwide as a country with a unique culinary culture due to its numerous special foods and spices creating distinctive features of the three regions of the North, Central and South. Vietnamese dishes are often served in attractive and delicate decorations to expose the standard profession of the cook and respect for eaters. VNS
HA NOI  Viet Nam ranks fourth in the list of most Googled tourist destinations by Australians over the past 20 years, according to Google.

Japan took the lead in the ranking, followed by New Zealand and Thailand, Google said.

In July, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) also revealed that Viet Nam was among the top 10 most popular destinations for Australian travellers in July, with more than 18,500 Australians visiting the Southeast Asian country in the month.

Before the COVID-19 broke out in 2019, Australia was the ninth biggest source of tourists to Viet Nam, with about 383,000.

After both countries reopened their borders, the number of Australian visitors to Viet Nam has risen considerably.

Viet Nam earned some VN394.2 trillion (US$16.05 billion) from tourism in the first nine months of this year, equivalent to 78 per cent of the figure recorded in 2019.

The Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism said the country welcomed over 1.8 million foreign tourists in the nine-month period, of which 1.2 million were recorded in the third quarter of this year, 2.5 times the figure in the previous quarter.  VNS
NEW YORK  Viet Nam has called for countries to augment international efforts in disarmament and non-proliferation during a general debate of the UN General Assemblys Disarmament and International Security Committee on October 10.

Ambassador ang Hoang Giang, Permanent Representative of Viet Nam to the UN, said the current international security environment was the most complex in decades, which might adversely affect the common efforts of the international community.

In that context, countries should strengthen international efforts in disarmament and non-proliferation to protect hard-earned achievements, he said, calling for the joint promotion of a framework to effectively respond to new challenges and areas like cyber security and outer-space issues.

In that process, it is necessary to continue complying with the fundamental principles of international law and the UN Charter, promote the peaceful settlement of international disputes, maintain the centrality of multilateralism, and boost the mechanism for global disarmament, according to the diplomat.

Giang also said that Viet Nam was ready to engage in the committees common works and support efforts for the sake of a world of peace, stability, and development.

At the debate, which attracted nearly 140 member states and observers, many participants shared that international security was facing many unpredictable challenges, such as armed conflicts, perils of nuclear threats and use, and the risk of weapons falling into the hands of terrorist groups or criminal gangs.

Promoting diplomacy and dialogue remained an effective measure for easing tensions, deepening mutual understanding, and creating a favourable international peace and security environment.

The Disarmament and International Security Committee (First Committee) is one of the six main events of the UN General Assembly. The current session is set to last until early November.  VNS
HA NOI  Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son has hailed the election of Viet Nam to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for the 2023-25 tenure as just reward for the "tireless efforts" the country has made in fulfilling its international human rights commitments.

He was addressing local media on Wednesday after Viet Nam was elected to the council for the second time on October 11 at the 77th session of the UN General Assembly in New York.

"In Viet Nam, the Party and State consistently identify the people as the centre, the actor, the most important resource, and the purpose of the developmental process," FM Son said. "This well-founded view has been set out in detail in Viet Nam's socio-economic development plans and strategies and is also institutionalized under the Constitution and the law."

He added that human rights and citizens' political, civil, economic, cultural and social rights are recognised, respected, protected and ensured under the Constitution and the law.

As an active and responsible member of the international community, Viet Nam always "seriously and fully implements its international commitments on human rights, and makes all efforts to advance human rights domestically and internationally," he noted.

Viet Nam successfully fulfilled its UNHRC membership between 2014-16 and actively promoted dialogue and cooperation in this process. The diplomat remarked that such efforts left positive impressions and are highly regarded by the international community.

According to Minister Son, Viet Nam's election to the UNHRC for 2023-25 is very important in three ways.

Firstly, it helps reaffirm Viet Nam's sound and consistent position and policy on the special importance of the human factor and on how best Viet Nam can harness the human element in national development. This view holds that economic growth must be closely linked with cultural and human development, and social progress and justice must be upheld. It is also a testament to Viet Nam's immense achievements in upholding the peoples' rights, particularly in championing human and civic rights according to the Constitution and the law.

Second, it contributes to implementing the foreign policy line set by the 13th National Party Congress in 2021. The policy calls for the elevation of multilateral diplomacy to a higher level, active participation and proactive engagement at instrumental multilateral forums of strategic significance as a channel to further enhance Viet Nam's global standing and prestige. Viet Nam's election to the UNHRC is testimony to Viet Nam's tireless efforts to fulfil its international human rights commitments. More than that, it is also a confirmation of the international community's support, trust and expectation for Viet Nam, given its important and responsible contributions to advancing human rights worldwide.

This event is all the more significant as this year marks the 45th anniversary of Viet Nam's accession to the UN. This will be an excellent opportunity for Viet Nam to continue contributing to the joint efforts of the UN and the international community in protecting and advancing the universal values of human rights, striving together for peace, national independence, democracy, and development cooperation and social progress.

Third, Viet Nam's active participation in and contributions to the UNHRC will broadcast a strong message of a peace-loving Viet Nam that champions humanistic and humanitarian values. It will also be instrumental in helping Viet Nam's ministries and agencies at all levels, its people and international friends gain a more complete, accurate and deeper understanding of Viet Nam's position, policy and achievements in human rights. In addition, it enables Viet Nam to call on the support, advice, and experience sharing from the UN and other international partners to uphold better human rights, civic rights, and the people's right to mastery in the new national development.

Viet Nam's priorities

Addressing the questions regarding Viet Nam's priorities and agenda directions as a council member, Son said Viet Nam would continue to work closely with fellow member states and make substantial contributions to the common work of the UNHRC.

These include advancing the dialogue and international cooperation in the spirit of mutual respect and understanding and promoting human rights by considering the particular conditions and legitimate needs and interests of countries, especially developing countries.

"We will join hands with other member states to advance initiatives and solutions for the right to live in peace, right to development, rights of vulnerable groups, gender equality, right to access to healthcare, education and employment, and response to climate change and epidemics, among many others. Furthermore, in its 2023-25 term, Viet Nam will perform its reporting obligation under the 4th Cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and other international conventions on promoting civil and political rights, fighting discrimination, and championing the rights of women and persons with disabilities," the diplomat noted.

With the consensus and close coordination within the entire political system under the Party's leadership and the State's administration, alongside the support of the international community, Son believes that Viet Nam will undoubtedly fulfil its mandate at the UNHRC.

"We will work alongside the international community to build a world of peace, where all people, states and nations may benefit from the fruits of development and social progress and where no one is left behind," he concluded.  VNS

Speaking to Vietnam News Agency reporters, State Minister for Bangladesh's Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam congratulated the Vietnamese Government and people on the election result.Bangladesh and Viet Nam have close bilateral relations. He said both countries were UNHRC members and had reached a consensus on many important issues, such as climate change response or migration.He said Viet Nam and Bangladesh would continue strengthening cooperation to make more contributions to the UNHRC.The challenges will be even greater in the current changing world order than in the previous term. Minister Shahriar Alam said the two countries must quickly adapt and understand each other better.He also emphasised the importance of understanding among countries and regions.Human rights is a broad field closely related to economic development. Viet Nam and Bangladesh share common features in terms of culture and have gone through years of brutal wars to gain independence and freedom. He said that the two countries are in a position to tell the world that peace is the central value, the common aspiration of people and the foundation for the country when making decisions.Veeramalla Anjaiah, a senior researcher from the Centre for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) in Indonesia, said Viet Nam's election to the UNHRC for the 2023-2025 tenure is international recognition of Viet Nam's commitment to respecting and protecting human rights.In an interview with the Vietnam News Agency, he said that Viet Nam is a peaceful and stable country, with its Government always committed to protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms at home.As a responsible nation, Viet Nam supports the protection of human rights and dignity worldwide and always participates in such efforts at the UN and other international organisations, he added.Stressing that, as well as nine ASEAN member countries, many Asian, African and Latin American nations also voted for Viet Nam, Anjaiah said Vietnamese people enjoy many freedoms and human rights. VNS
What is embedded finance?

Embedded finance is a new way of consuming financial products. In the traditional way, you go to your bank or banking application, or you go to your insurer to get credit or an insurance policy. Embedded finance is the principle of accessing such products in another context.

Bruno Sivanandan, compliance head at embedded finance platform Credify

You are shopping for consumer goods, and you can access a consumer credit at the checkout of the e-commerce website. You are buying a tour, and you can subscribe to an insurance policy just as you finalise the booking. In Vietnam, the buy now, pay later (BNPL) trend is the most famous example of embedded finance.

What are the potential and the tough challenges of this trend compared to conventional financial services?

I would distinguish different added values, such as the end-user having an augmented consuming experience thanks to accessing credit or insurance. As I mentioned, there is a huge BNPL trend in Vietnam, and this is a good illustration of how e-commerce platforms can be more attractive.

They can also offer contextual offers by pre-filtering their data. For example, you can enable BNPL only for accounts that have purchased more than $200 to maximise the chances of people accessing credit.

On the other end, financial service providers have new channels to push their products and reduce the costs of acquisitions. Access to data also enables credit assessment for a broader part of the population. Many underbanked people have good behaviour, as shown by data on their usage in the marketplaces, but the banks need access to it.

The challenges of embedded finance applications lay in keeping the right balance between offering financial products with good terms to a broad part of the population and operating a profitable business. With automated processes come new types of fraud and the like, for which its important to be prepared. Finally, there is a big challenge around data ownership and data security.

What is the current legal framework of embedded finance in Vietnam?

Embedded finance touches on banking and insurance, consumer credit, and data regulation. There is a big gap between players regulated by the State Bank of Vietnam and those who are not. Simply put, the role of regulation is to protect the consumer. You do not want your relatives to take out a debt they cannot pay.

However, regulation is currently more relaxed around non-bank consumer finance companies that have been able to take a big market share by lending less scrupulously.

On top of these regulations, Vietnam is rolling out its digital regulation with the Law on Cybersecurity, a personal data protection decree, and a law on e-transactions. This ensures that all services you access online are secure and respectful of your privacy and the business environment in general. The regulatory framework of Vietnam is changing a lot and catching up with the digitalisation trend.

What are your suggestions for developing a more complete legal corridor in the sector?

The different laws I mentioned provide broad coverage for embedded finance. However, if the regulation is playing catch up with the market, the race is not over. Digitalisation is now happening with more and more technologies, such as blockchain, 5G, the Internet of Things, and biometrics.

Regulation is not addressing questions related to these new technologies. For example, there are questions of being allowed to use blockchain technology to keep a digital passport secured with biometrics stored on a smartwatch.

In my role in charge of compliance at Credify, when we look at the details of IT systems, engineers ask me very detailed questions related to cryptographic algorithms or how we can consider data secure. We look at international norms and standards.

Vietnam is building a sandbox for fintech businesses. How do you suggest improving this with regard to embedded finance?

The sandbox mechanism is a great idea. It enables players operating in regulatory grey areas to start their businesses and participate in the clarification of the regulatory framework. However, for the sandbox to be effective, there needs to be a clear understanding of what is required.

Will I, as an investor, commit a significant amount of money to a business that will stay in the sandbox? What will happen in the long run? Is there a chance I wont be able to scale? What If I cant get out of the sandbox?

The most important thing is to remember the purpose of all the efforts around digitalisation, innovation, and regulation. With the right framework, usage, and publicity, we have a chance to make a real impact. We can help the underbanked population access financing to build their lives.
Following the move, BRG Group continues asserting its commitment to accompanying Hanois community-oriented activities to ensure social wellbeing, helping people in need to rise up in life and escape poverty sustainably.

In 2020, BRG Group and North Hanoi Smart City joint venture contributed $43,470 in response to the movement on aiding the poor of Hanoi.

BRG's representatives handed over the donation of $21,740 to the Hanoi Fund for the Poor 2022 and received a memento recognising the company's contribution

For a couple of years now, philanthropic activities have been one of top priorities by BRG, as well as its member units.

The support is reflected via diverse forms, such as making contributions to diverse funds for social wellbeing, donating gratitude houses to people in need, and the families of revolutionary people.

For a couple of years now, philanthropic activities have been one of top priorities by BRG, as well as its member units.

During the pandemic, aside from ensuring stable business operation and employees lives, BRG and its member unit SeABank's charity fund financed $8.7 million to the fight against COVID-19 and social wellbeing activities across the country.

BRG has also focused on supporting children facing adversity through donations and scholarships, the Hanoi children sponsorship fund, and the SeABank Run for Future funding programme, among others.

Hanoi creates stable fulcrum to aid policy credit With effective support from the citys management at various levels, Hanoi has witnessed positive outcomes with policy credit activities over the past two decades, helping several hundred thousand needy households to escape poverty sustainably.
During his visit to Hanoi last week, Robert Bradley, senior vice president of CNN, discussed the prospect of cooperation between the capital and the American television channel, with Nguyen Manh Quyen, Deputy Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee.



Chairman of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism Nguyen Trung Khanh gifting a souvenir to Robert Bradley, senior vice president of CNN International. Photo: TITC

Bradley said CNN was a reliable TV channel with effective content to promote tourism, with several hundred million viewers per month on digital platforms. Vietnam is a potential market for tourism on CNN, especially the television channel, and Hanoi has coopered on many important achievements in promoting and introducing the capital to the international community.

However, the cooperation has been interrupted for more than two years due to the pandemic. Bradley said he wished that cooperation between the two sides would be resumed so that CNN could continue to bring the image, traditional values and long-standing culture of the country to friends around the world.

The CNN vice president emphasised that the travel trend of Europe and the United States had a high cultural element, coinciding with a time when Hanoi was strongly promoting tourism.

According to Nguyen Manh Quyen, Deputy Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee, before the pandemic, Hanoi and CNN had a very effective cooperation period.

"Through cooperation between CNN and Hanoi, thematic topics introducing tourism to Vietnam and the capital have been known and paid more attention by international friends," he said.

said Autumn in Hanoi. Photo: Cao Anh Tuan

Since Vietnam officially reopened its economy in mid-March, the number of domestic tourists has increased significantly, but the number of international visitors has not yet recovered to the same as before.

The vice chairman of the city said that Hanoi and CNN needed more in-depth assessments and forecast trends after the pandemic to have the necessary information to serve tourists in the future.

In addition to introducing the capital's tourism and cultural potential, Quyen said he hoped that CNN would continue to associate with other localities to create value chains and raise the image of Vietnam's tourism internationally.

Metropole Hanoi gets five-star rating from Forbes Travel Guide again Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi has been awarded a five-star rating - the top level of recognition from Forbes Travel Guide in its independent assessment of luxury hotels, restaurants and spas.

Hanoi motorbike tour, Hoi An cooking class among top travel experiences in Asia Hanoi motorbike tour and Hoi An cooking class have been selected by readers of US travel site Tripadvisor as two of the 25 best travel experiences in Asia.

CNNs short videos on Hanoi attract foreign viewers Advertising clips by the US Cable News Network (CNN) to promote Vietnamese capital city of Hanoi have attracted a lot of foreign viewers during their broadcasts from June 3 to August 31 as part of the bilateral tourism deal.

CNN places Phu Quoc among best destinations in Asia Phu Quoc Island off the coast of Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang has been named among the 17 best places in Asia by Cable News Network (CNN).

CNN releases Why not Vietnam video to promote Vietnams tourism A short video touting Vietnam as a must-see tourist destination of Asia was released on the US Cable News Network (CNN) on October 15.
According to the State Securities Commission (SSC), investment management operators have recently launched trading websites and applications, including Passion Investment, Finhay, Tikop, Infina, Savenow, and BUFF, among others, to promote their services to investors. They come in the guise of business collaboration agreements, demonstrate fund management operations, and manage stock portfolios without official licences or supervision from the SSC in line with the Law on Securities.

Trading apps and websites have emerged that may not be fully licensed

When a disagreement arises without the securities legislation safeguarding investors rights and interests, investors may be in danger, the SSC noted in a statement

The SSC also warned investors to be cautious while trading using these apps since the app developers are not liable for any losses that may occur.

Finhay  a Hanoi-based wealth management platform that helps millennials micro-invest in mutual funds  automates techniques that best fit the investment appetite of users. Finhays investments could consist of a portfolio of stocks, bonds, and other securities, in which users can start from just VND50,000 ($2.20).

During the fundraising journey, Finhay received investment from Thien Viet Securities and Nguyen Hoang Giang, chairman of Dai Nam Securities. In June, it acquired Vina Securities JSC, a securities company established in 2006.

Finhay stated in May that its performance is annually reviewed by accountants EY and its assets are managed by Thien Viet Asset Management JSC. CMC Cyber Security, a subsidiary of CMC Group, is accountable for executing security assessment, quality assurance, and safety assurance for technological products.

Meanwhile, Infina, formerly known as RealStake, is a diversified investment wallet for retail investors in Vietnam. It began with fractional real estate investment and recently expanded to savings, mutual funds, and certificate of deposit investments.

In February, Infina announced it has bagged $4 million for its seed funding, along with the $2 million from 2021. Investors include Sequoia Capital Indias Surge programme, Y Combinator, Saison Capital, Starling Ventures, Alpha JWC, and AppWorks, and existing backers such as 1982 Ventures, Nextrans, and 500 Startups Vietnam, among others.

Elsewhere, Passion Investment offers solutions for business partnerships with individual investors, starting at VND300 million ($13,000), or VND50 billion ($2.2 million) for high-net-worth clients and organisational clients.

The annual rate of return on investments held by Passion Investment is 40 per cent, while the average annual profit rate for business collaboration items during the six-year period from 2016 to the end of 2021 reached 52.92 per cent annually.

Tikop, a micro-investment app developed by Techlab Technology JSC, allows users to make a deposit with as little as $2.20 and choose an investment package. Their money is distributed among some financial investment funds in Vietnam in accordance with the user-specified ratio.

Meanwhile, Tan Viet Fund Management JSC serves as the asset management unit for the BUFF app, which was developed by BUFF Fintech in 2021 and allows users to make deposits and allocate these to products like stocks, bonds, ETFs, open-ended fund certificates, and treasury bills.

The Ministry of Finances data revealed that from the secondary market, the proportion of corporate bonds held by individuals is up to 32.6 per cent, mainly because of intermediary purchases with securities companies.

It can be seen that there is a phenomenon of brokers enticing non-professional investors to invest in corporate bonds as a form of high-interest savings deposit, Fiingroup said.

According to Decree No.65/2022/ND-CP on private placement of bonds, individual investors must satisfy a number of standards to purchase corporate bonds. Qualified investors need to ensure that their portfolio of listed and registered securities must reach an average value of at least $84,000 for a minimum period of six consecutive months, excluding the value of margin loans and securities repurchases.
More Vietnamese repatriated from Cambodia

Border guards at the southern central province of Tay Ninhs Moc Bai International Border Gate on Tuesday received 78 Vietnamese who had been tricked into illegally working in Cambodian businesses.



According to provincial authorities, one of the returnees had an international wanted notice for smuggling issued by the HCM City police nine years ago.

78 Vietnamese citizens handed over through Moc Bai International Border Gate



The Vietnamese Embassy in Cambodia worked with Cambodian authorities to repatriate the people.



On September 21, 92 Vietnamese also returned to Vietnam through Moc Bai International Border Gate after fleeing from a casino in Cambodia.



On August 18, 40 Vietnamese swam across the Binh Di River to An Giang Province to escape from the Phoenix Casino in Cambodia.



Between January and June this year, the Ministry of Public Security raided human traffickers involved in sending people to work in Cambodia.
The MoU signed in late September will see the three companies work together to perform a high-level Quantitative Risk Assessment to explore the use of 100 per cent ammonia as a fuel for a gas turbine or combined cycle gas turbine towards the potential development of an Ammonia Power Plant.

Keppel will study the feasibility of the ammonia fuelled power plant, while MHI, with support from its power solutions brand, Mitsubishi Power, will develop an ammonia-fired gas turbine that produces carbon-neutral power to pursue the expansion of the ammonia fuel supply chain in Singapore. Alongside this, DNV will lend its assurance and risk management expertise to prepare and present a QRA analysis.

Takao Tsukui, an MHI general manager of International Sales and Marketing said, Ammonia is a potential key component to building a hydrogen society. Mitsubishi Power has pioneered world-class gas turbine and hydrogen fuel combustion technologies for more than 50 years, and this MoU demonstrates our continued dedication to cutting-edge solutions that can support the growing demand for electricity while transitioning towards a more sustainable energy future in the Asia Pacific.

Brice Le Gallo, vice president and regional director-Asia Pacific of Energy Systems at DNV, said We are proud to use our well-established advisory and hydrogen technical capabilities to provide quantitative risk assessment for this impactful project. We believe that ammonia-fired power generation can be an important step toward a more sustainable energy future. This MoU offers an exciting opportunity to share our extensive industry experience to support this important contribution to Singapores Net Zero and energy transition goals.

Ammonia has a higher volumetric density than hydrogen, making it easier for storage and distribution. It does not produce CO2 when fired and is an efficient hydrogen carrier. Its use as a fuel is a promising long-term energy solution for the transition to a zero-carbon energy value chain.

This agreement follows an announcement in August 2022 that Keppel Energy will develop Singapores first hydrogen-ready power plant in the Sakra sector of Jurong Island, constructed by a consortium comprising Mitsubishi Power Asia Pacific and Jurong Engineering.

A long-term service contract for major maintenance of the turbine was also awarded to Mitsubishi Power. Keppel New Energy additionally signed an MoU with MHI to conduct a feasibility study on developing a 100 per cent ammonia-fueled power plant on a selected site in Singapore.

Together, Keppel, MHI and DNV are demonstrating their commitment to accelerate the decarbonisation of energy to create a pathway to a Net Zero future.

MHI studies use of ammonia for power generation Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has begun a feasibility study on using ammonia as a fuel for power plants in Indonesia, hoping to contribute to the expansion of energy infrastructure exports from Japan.

Mitsubishi to build onshore wind farm in Laos to sell electricity to Vietnam Mitsubishi Corporation will build an onshore wind farm based in Laos, which could then sell electricity to Vietnam.
In Ho Chi Minh City, many real estate businesses are concerned about projects that have been fully cleared and ready to hand over, as in the new draft law such projects will be put to auction to choose investors.

With public projects, the compensation price for agricultural land is lower than the real market price, Photo Le Toan

Le Thi Bich Ngoc, deputy general director of Him Lam Real Estate, expressed her concern about how these cases will be dealt with when the amended law takes effect.

The draft law and its guidelines must have clarity for dealing with this issue since it is a major problem for both investors and developers, Ngoc said.

Nguyen Van Be, chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Industrial and Export Processing Zone Business Association in Ho Chi Minh City, said land valuations were at a standstill as Article 113 of the amended law mentions agricultural land, but since 1993, land use nationwide has undergone significant change.

I think that it being based on the 1993 milestone is going too far and unnecessary. There should be hardware like the land price framework but software so that the index may adjust. This would make it easier for localities to adjust their land price, Be said. Also, the lack of zoning for land use in Ho Chi Minh City makes it difficult for local people to cultivate their land.

Nguyen Van Tu, a resident of the citys Hoc Mon district, once purchased agricultural land of more than 1,000 square metres. This area has had an overpass planned but nothing has changed in the last 10 years, leaving Tu unable to do anything with the land. My family wants to build a small house on the land and raise chickens and ducks, but the local authorities said that due to land planning problems, it cannot be built. It is a waste, Tu said.

Duong Van Phuc, director of Hoc Mon Department of Natural Resources and Environment, said that Tus case was one of many that have existed over the years. When implementing public projects, the compensation price for agricultural land is much lower than the real market price. Therefore, local authorities cannot move forward with compensation and start their projects.

Do Dong Huong, director of Price Management at Ho Chi Minh City Department of Finance, said that the current Land Law determined land prices as per actual market prices. However, local authorities still could not avoid shortcomings as determining the land price was very difficult.

According to Huong, to determine land prices, there must be enough transfer information, which is not public and transparent in Vietnam right now.

For example, currently relevant agencies and authorities do not have to compulsorily provide information on trading properties, so consulting units and state agencies face difficulties collecting information. This is regardless of whether the released information is truthful or not, Huong said. I think that the draft law on the auction of land use rights where the land has not been compensated for site clearance and resettlement is infeasible, as when the price is high, land owners will not be satisfied with the lower price, so cannot be compensated, Huong said.

Nguyen Toan Thang, director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Natural Resources and Environment, said that there were major issues that needed to be clarified, such as specific regulations on land leasing and bidding. Otherwise, there would be entanglement when organising bidding and acquisition, repossessing land subject to state investment, implementing public investment projects, and separating compensation and resettlement programmes into sub-projects, Thang said.

Phan Duc Hieu, standing member of the National Assembly Economic Committee, said the impact of land resources related to many areas and hugely affected environmental protection and climate change.

If not used well, it will widen the gap between the rich and poor. The revised direction of the amended Land Law causes institutional issues. Land management policy must become the most important aspect of the law, Hieu said.

The policy must also complete resettlement and land acquisition for the national public interest and economic development.

The message of the central government is that resettlers must be equal or better after compensation. Improving land use efficiency is a highlight and the draft must be multi-purpose, covering areas such as agricultural production, tourism and resorts, agriculture, and processing factories and warehouses, Hieu added.

The draft amended Land Law will be released for public feedback in January 2023 after being submitted to the National Assembly for consultation this month. The second submission will be at the fifth meeting in May next year, and it will be finally considered and approved at the sixth meeting in October 2023 if there are no further issues.

Delayed Law on Land holding up real estate The delay in revising the countrys land laws has made negative impacts on the real estate market with many halted projects due to unclear and overlapping guidelines, subsequently causing new supply limitations and increasing the risk of a market bubble.

Government proposes delay to submission of draft amended Land Law to NA The Government has proposed a delay to a submission of the draft Law on Land (amended) to the National Assembly (NA) until the Party Central Committee issues directions on reforms of land-related policies and laws.
MTA Hanoi 2022 welcomes hundreds of exhibitors from 13 countries and territories

Following the success of the international exhibition MTA Vietnam in July with 12,500 visitors and more than 144 exhibitors from 11 markets and much positive feedback from exhibitors, Informa Markets Vietnam continued the MTA Hanoi in October.

The MTA Hanoi 2022 showcases a wide range of the latest products and innovative techniques brought by leading brands in the industry, which come from developed markets such as Germany, the United Kingdom, Austria, Turkey, Japan, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Israel, Malaysia, and Thailand. Beyond an exhibition, the Organising Board generates insightful events before and during the show.

Taiwan and South Korea are both international pavilion groups participating in this year's MTA Hanoi 2022. Specialised visitors will once again meet well-known brand names in the industry such as Sodick, Mitsubishi, Hiwin, Tinh Ha, Hwacheon, Kamogawa, Cominix, Durma, Jinan Bodor, and VPIC.

MTA Hanoi 2022 conveys a series of seminars about smart manufacturing, printing, and digital technology

MTA Hanoi 2022 conveys a series of seminars about smart manufacturing, printing, and digital technology that was led by top experts over three days and three seminars. The seminar was designed to be highly applicable by focusing on practical business issues. It provides the enterprises a comprehensive and insightful view of the Vietnam manufacturing industry to implement in specific situations.

"The exhibition is a bridge for manufacturers and distributors to exchange knowledge and experience and look for partners," said Dao Phan Long, chairman of VAMI.

Dao Phan Long, chairman of the Vietnam Association of Mechanical Industry (VAMI) said, The industrial revolution requires manufacturers to continuously upgrade technology and capacity. Thus, the exhibition is an opportunity for domestic manufacturers to approach the modern technology of the mechanical industry to improve their capacity.

Long added, Besides this, it is a bridge for manufacturers and distributors to exchange knowledge and experience and look for partners.

According to preliminary forecasts, the total mechanical market demand of Vietnam up to 2030 might reach more than $300 billion. There are 25,000 mechanical enterprises in operation, accounting for nearly 30 per cent of the total manufacturing and processing industry enterprises in Vietnam.

However, Vietnam's mechanical industry only meets about one-third of the domestic mechanical product demand, so the market and potential opportunities are promising.

"The application of smart manufacturing to production lines in mechanical engineering enterprises in Vietnam will help factories significantly improve production capacity, which is considered a top benefit and the most obvious of any factory when applying automation and also a way to maximise work productivity. In addition, it can help businesses to achieve sustainability with ancillary manufacturing methods, such as reducing inventory, energy consumption, and transportation requirements," Long said.

Room left for growth among domestic suppliers The construction of a smart factory by Samsung Electronics and the Ministry of Industry And Trade (MoIT) serves as an example of how large-scale companies can contribute to fostering the development of domestic supporting industries.

METALEX Vietnam and Supporting Industry Exhibition 2022 shape the new normal Vietnam continues to be a safe destination for foreign investors as a result of its adaptable economic policies and successful vaccination campaign.

Investment opportunities for automotive component manufacturers The leading 25 automotive component manufacturers from India arrive in Vietnam from August 21 to 26 to look for investment opportunities.

Hanoi needs more policies to develop supporting industry enterprises Hanois firms operating in the supporting industry are developing strongly, reflected through the continuous increases in the number of businesses, their scale and quality. However, according to economists, the capital city still needs specific policies to make the sector grow further.
On October 11, at VIR's headquarters in Hanoi, a roundtable "Small airports for local economy take-off" was held, with the participation of representatives from the National Assembly Economic Committee, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, Lao Cai People's Committee, localities, and businesses.

The event tackled issues surrounding the development of local airports. Photo: Dung Minh

According to Michel Werson, chief economist of NACO, an airport design and planning business in the Netherlands, "There is danger in judging too fast, only based on proximity."

The NACO speaker pointed out the inaccuracy of evaluating airport settings based on distance alone, citing worldwide standards.

In the United States, two airports in Wisconsin are proposed to be separated by just 48km (40 minutes of driving). Each airport has fewer than one million yearly passengers, and due to Wisconsin's severe winter conditions, the state is not a favoured tourist destination, resulting in inadequate traffic for these airports to operate financially.

Werson said that designing a single airport was sufficient in this instance.

However, also in the US, in South Carolina, the two airports are separated by 99km, but each airport has its own passenger volume, between 1.6 and 2.6 million passengers per year, since this region possesses a larger thriving economy, is home to prestigious universities, and has numerous popular attractions.

"Internationalisation demonstrates that merely evaluating the distance between airports when planning and analysing feasibility is an oversimplification; several other local elements must be carefully evaluated on a case-by-case scenario," Werson added.

Moreover, according to a spokesperson of NACO, the private sector's involvement in the construction of local airports would provide numerous benefits since these organisations have the money and managerial skills to optimise income and profit.

Werson explained, using Cyprus as an example, that the Cypriot public decided that Hermes Airports, a private company that now manages and operates two airports on the island, should be selected when licencing two airports there.

Through this public-private cooperation, Hermes Airports have invested 640 million euros, plus an extra 500 million euros in franchise fees, generating 20,000 direct and indirect jobs and contributing 12 per cent to the region's gross domestic product.

Dr. Tran Dinh Thien, former director of the Vietnam Institute of Economics said, Private sector participation is required to tackle the country's most pressing concerns. To better handle the integration challenge, the government must have faith and engage the private sector in improving the structure and to collaborate with them. For big benefits at the national level, planning requires the private sector's viewpoint, particularly that of giant companies with the resources to observe beyond.

Various approaches can involve the private sector: privatising large airports and using the proceeds to sustain and invest in the smaller airports, bundling multiple small airports, and creating bundles or clusters that combine one or more larger airports with multiple small airports, probably the most common form.

Nevertheless, if opting for the third path, the NACO expert said that it was crucial to specify the investment needs of small airports. Otherwise, private firms may be tempted to neglect the development of smaller airports in favour of those with greater benefits.

With key airports in Vietnam becoming increasingly congested and airports in border provinces, particularly in remote regions, constantly struggling as demand for transportation rises in the aftermath of the pandemic, investment in aviation infrastructure planning and development becomes heavily concentrated.

In addition, the modernisation of aviation infrastructure will boost the local economy by facilitating manufacturing, import and export, and timely search and rescue.

The International Air Transport Association predicts that by 2035, Vietnamese airlines will serve up to 136 million passengers, double the 70-80 million passengers predicted for 2022.

Phan Duc Hieu - Standing member, National Assembly Economic Committee The national master plan is a macro problem. Currently, there are criteria for airport construction planning. I recommend that there be more transparent criteria in verifying priority so that localities will not be upset when they are not approved. In addition, the planning also needs to be approved soon so that the localities can go forward with implementation. Nguyen Trong Hai - Vice Chairman, Lao Cai Peoples Committee The province also prepares transport infrastructure connections from the expressway to the airport and from the airport to the development centres of the province such as Sapa, Y Ty, Bac Ha, and the border gate area of Lao Cai city, creating favourable conditions to attract investors. We will also carry out planning along the Red River. Around the airport will be urban areas and logistics services, creating momentum for development. In addition, we have also issued bidding documents to select suitable investors. Nguyen Van Vinh - Deputy director, Vietnam Institute for Development Strategies, Ministry of Planning and Investment To invest effectively in the airport, it is necessary to have a combination of the state and the private sector to calculate the timeline and scale of the projects jointly. It is also needed to evaluate every aspect carefully to avoid wasting natural and power resources while simultaneously clarifying the concept of the small airport. Nguyen Dinh Cung - Former director, Central Institute for Economic Management The need for localities to develop connections, including airport connections, is a legitimate need, and in many cases, helps localities to exploit their potential and advantages efficiently, which can create prosperity in the medium term. As with Lao Cai, Ha Giang, Quang Tri and some other localities, it is clear that to aid these localities to make the best use of their advantages, connectivity is indispensable, in which the connection by aviation can be said to be the most feasible and most effective, while the investment may be the least compared to road investments. Dr. Tran Dinh Thien - Former director, Vietnam Institute of Economics Freeways contribute to improved local connectivity, whilst airports add to the region's accessibility. Localities are only required to set up small airports, but they must link worldwide, not simply between internal states. The presently inefficient airports should be eliminated while expanding the construction of new airports; collaborating with the private sector; expanding globally, and promote economic development. Michel Werson - Chief economist of NACO When we look in terms of throughput, a big majority of no less than 78 per cent of commercial airports handle less than one million passengers per year. Together these airports handle only 5 per cent of global traffic. The rationale is that when small airports benefit from a network, it gives access to capital and makes it possible to keep facilities up to date, which helps to create a quality product and, in turn, attracts and retains airlines.

Investors to be selected for components of Long Thanh International Airport The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) is now selecting investors for maintenance workshops and ground-handling services, which is a part of subproject four of Long Thanh International Airport.

Action required for aviation to achieve net-zero commitments Fleet renewal, improved operational efficiency, renewable energy, and advanced technology are the four main actions that need to be taken by the commercial aviation industry between now and 2050

Linking the skies with upgraded aviation infrastructure Several nations have devoted generations to constructing sophisticated aviation infrastructure as an economic launchpad. In Vietnam, plans are in the making to follow suit and upgrade the nation's airport infrastructure to serve the ever-increasing demand.
During the nine-month period, VIB reported total revenue of over VND13.3 trillion, up 29 per cent year-on-year. The bank's non-interest income reached more than VND2.4 trillion, contributing 17 per cent to total operating income, while its operating expenses saw a yearly rise of 12 per cent at VND4.6 trillion, much lower than the revenue increase.

The bank posted strong results. Photo courtesy of the bank

As a result, the bank's cost-to-income ratio (CIR) decreased to 35 per cent, showing its cost management efficiency at the top of the industry. Its provision expense was estimated at more than VND900 billion.

According to VIB, its pre-tax profit topped VND2.78 billion in the third quarter. The figure hit VND7.8 trillion from January to September, surging 4 per cent over the same period last year.

At the same time, VIBs return on equity ratio stood at 30 per cent, confirming its presence in the banking industrys leading group.

In the first nine months of 2022, VIB's pre-tax profit reached VND7.8 trillion, up 46 per cent year-on-year. The banks return on equity ratio stood at 30 per cent, confirming its presence in the banking industrys leading group. Photo courtesy of the bank

Strong balance sheet

VIB's total assets reached VND341 trillion, up 10 per cent on-year. Its outstanding credit balance topped VND228 trillion, up 12 per cent compared to the end of 2021.

VIB is one of the banks with the lowest concentration of risk in the market thanks to its efforts to maximise concentration risk dispersion and the high retail loan proportion, which makes up 90 per cent of the total outstanding credit balance with 93 per cent of loans having collateral.

In addition, the outstanding balance of corporate bonds of VIB stood at about VND2.1 trillion, equivalent to 0.9 per cent of total credit balance  a very low figure in the industry. Of which, most issued bonds are in manufacturing, trade and consumption areas.

Fiinpro and financial reports in 2021 of several banks. Photo courtesy of the bank

Equity increases sharply

VIB's total equity reached VND30.5 trillion as of September 30, an increase of 26 per cent compared to the end of 2021, more than double the growth rate of outstanding loans.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) is now VIB's largest shareholder, holding a 20 per cent stake in the bank. CBA is regarded as one of the world's largest banks by market capitalisation at $105 billion. It is considered one of the safest banks in the world, with a baseline credit assessment of a2 by Moody's.

CBA is now VIB's largest shareholder, holding a 20 per cent stake in the bank. CBA is regarded as one of the globals largest banks by market capitalisation at $105 billion. It is considered one of the safest banks in the world, with a baseline credit assessment at a2 by Moody's. Photo courtesy of the bank

As per the report, VIB's return on equity has been maintained at an average of 30 per cent for many consecutive years, providing an additional source of capital for the bank's operations. The capital adequacy ratio under Basel II reached a high level of over 12.4 per cent, compared with the SBV's regulations of over 8 per cent.

Along with accelerating the growth of its customer base and deposits, VIB has maintained high liquidity ratios, in which the loan-to-deposit ratio and minimum liquidity holdings ratio were 75 per cent and 17 per cent, respectively, while the ratio of short-term capital for medium and long-term loans stood at 32 per cent.

Top ranking rated by the SBV

VIB is one of the few commercial banks to have the highest ranking of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV). It was honoured by the SBV thanks to high scores on capital adequacy, asset quality, governance, business results, and liquidity.

VIB was ranked at the top among commercial banks by the SBV. Photo courtesy of the bank

As a pioneer in the application of international standards, VIB is the first bank in Vietnam to complete three pillars of Basel II in 2020. It is also the first to apply and comply with Basel III standards on liquidity risk management in 2021, and is also one of the few banks to issue audited financial statements for 2020 and 2021 in accordance with international standards.

Leader in many retail segments

Over the past five years, VIB has been one of the leading banks in terms of retail credit growth. The bank's retail loan balance exceeded VND200 trillion, making it among the top private joint stock commercial banks.

By the end of Q3/2022, VIB was among the top banks in terms of market share for auto loans and life insurance nationwide. Besides, it was also recognised by Mastercard as one of the banks with the fastest credit card growth and highest card spending in Vietnam. VIB led in the growth rate of Mastercard credit cards, making up nearly 35 per cent of Mastercard's total spending in the country.

VIB is a pioneer in promoting applications of artificial intelligence, big data, and machine learning in card operations. In July, Vie - the first AI financial expert in Vietnam was launched by the bank with the ability to advise and guide clients to open and use cards on all digital channels. Later in August, VIB received nine awards from Mastercard for its outstanding credit card activities not only in Vietnam but also in the Asia-Pacific region.

With a consistent customer-centric strategy in digitisation and digital transformation, VIB has pioneered in applying many new technologies and developing value chains to bring customers better experiences.

From January to September, VIB experienced outstanding growth, with the number of digital banking transactions increasing 100 per cent on-year while witnessing 93 per cent of transactions being made via digital channels.

The banks MyVIB Digital Banking App has thus far received awards from The Asset magazine for the fifth time, and for the eighth time it has been granted other prestigious awards by major international media agencies such as The Banker, and Global Finance Review.

The Vietnam Records Association recently handed two records to VIB: The first bank in Vietnam to provide Augmented Reality technology on mobile banking application MyVIB 2.0 and MyVIB 2.0 - The first Cloud Native Mobile Banking application in Vietnam.

As a bank with the highest retail loan proportion in the market, VIB continues its business strategies on speeding up digital transformation for all banking products and services, maintaining the leading position in several key retail business segments, while focusing on risk management to ensure safety, healthy, and transparent coefficients.

VIB plans paying 35 per cent in dividends in 2022 The Vietnam International Bank (VIB) has just published a document in which the bank sets out its strategic development orientations for the next five years and proposes a dividend payment plan, this year's business plan, and some other key issues.

VIB steady on the journey to become leading retail bank At its annual general meeting (AGM) held on March 16, VIB approved the plan to distribute bonus shares at 35 per cent to existing shareholders, increase its charter capital to more than $913 million, and have a profit target of $456.5 million for 2022.

VIB raises $260 million in loan agreement The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Vietnam International Bank (VIB) have announced a $260 million syndicated loan agreement to enhance financing for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), private businesses, and individual customers.

VIB posts pre-tax profit of nearly $100 million in Q1 Vietnam International Bank (VIB) has announced its pre-tax profit of nearly $100 billion in the first quarter, up 26 per cent on-year.

VIB first to provide AR technology on mobile banking app Vietnam International Bank (VIB) has launched a new mobile banking application  MyVIB 2.0  making it the first bank in the country to apply augmented reality (AR) technology in a mobile banking application.
The Vietnam Blockchain Summit 2022 will take place at the National Convention Centre in Hanoi from October 19-20, 2022, organised by Vietnam Software & IT Services Association and the Vietnam Blockchain Association.

Vietnam Blockchain Summit 2022 is set to gather industry leaders

Nguyen Thi Quynh Nhu, a representative of Vietnam Blockchain Association said: Vietnam Blockchain Summit 2022 is determined to bring several resonant topics, such as supporting Project 844 on National Innovation; promoting the application of technology to contribute to the digital economy; enhancing international connectivity and cooperation; universalising potential and solutions for applying blockchain technology for businesses and products.

The summit will focus on sharing knowledge, updating the market situation, and providing hot information about blockchain technology for a community of people interested in this technology, including researchers, policymakers, and startups in Vietnam.

Blockchain technology is considered an ace in the hole in the digital transformation process but is often confused with cryptocurrency, which is just one of many applications of blockchain technology.

Therefore, through the Vietnam Blockchain Summit 2022, the Vietnam Blockchain Association wants to open up a comprehensive view of this technology, including the legal framework for digital assets around the world, the potential for blockchain applications in new industries such as fintech, and traditional areas such as healthcare, education, logistics, and agriculture.

With more than 20 discussion sessions, the summit is also a forum for speakers from the Vietnam Blockchain Association as well as international experts to discuss the expanding trends of blockchain technology through a series of concepts such as NFT, Metaverse, DeFi, and DAO that are at the heart of the 4.0 revolution, which Vietnam needs to grasp and keep up with if it wants to take the initiative in the technology race.

Topics will include NFTs, digital tokens said to have the potential to be used for digital identity management; the Metaverse as a post-reality universe that allows participants to experience the real and virtual worlds seamlessly, thereby enhancing the strength of the economy; as well as DeFi and DAO, new ways to approach the economy that promote transparency but still ensure safety and reduce human-related processes, which are fully digitised through the help of smart contracts and blockchain networks.

More than that, the summit is an opportunity for startups or companies operating in the blockchain field to contribute their voices, develop ideas, and present their own technological solutions in different fields.

The Vietnam Blockchain Summit 2022 bring together thousands of specialised speakers, leaders of blockchain businesses, managers, technology developers and senior experts on blockchain locally and internationally. The summit will focus on discussions about the latest development trends, policies and the newest technology solutions with blockchain applications, quality blockchain products and projects, and connecting investors for cooperation.
Recovery luncheon

Cenikor, a nonprofit that provides treatment and recovery services for people who suffer from alcohol and substance use disorder, will have a Waco 10 Years Well Beyond Recovery Luncheon at 11 a.m. Thursday at the Waco Convention Center, 100 Washington Ave.

The event will recognize Cenikors 10 years in Waco. Brian Cuban, who is in long-term recovery, will be the keynote speaker. Cuban, brother of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, is an attorney and author of three books.

For more information, email funding@cenikor.org or call 713-266-9944.

Gilded Age of Waco

Baylor Lifelong Learning will present a talk by local author Jerry Powell at 9:30 a.m. Friday at the Mayborn Museum, 1300 S. University Parks Drive.

Powells topic is The Gilded Age of Waco, a closer look at the 1890s as Waco, population circa 20,000, was making a transition from the Wild West frontier to the new industrial age. Electric trolleys and horse-drawn carriages traveled side by side on Austin Avenue as the town known as the Athens of Texas grew into the city it is today.

The event is free, and coffee will be served. For more information about the event, call the Mayborn Museum at 254-710-1110, ext. 2 or email Lifelonglearning@baylor.edu.

Parkinsons Support Group

The Heart of Texas Parkinsons and Caregivers Support Group will meet at 3 p.m. Thursday at Holy Spirit Episcopal Church, 1624 Wooded Acres Drive.

Kathryn Howerton, representing Baylor Scott & White Hillcrest, will give a presentation on Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans.

For more information, call 254-716-4402.

NE Riverside group meets

The North East Riverside Neighborhood Association will meet at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the East Waco Library, 901 Elm Ave.

The meeting is open to the public.

Walking Tales at Oakwood

Walking Tales will run from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at Oakwood Cemetery, 2124 S. Fifth St.

The event is free and sponsored by the Heart of Texas Storytelling Guild. Interpreters stationed throughout the cemetery will share stories about the life and times of the people buried there.

For more information, email events@hotstorytellingguild.org.
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Americans are living in the Amazon economy. Each day, they buy thousands of household goods online. This has certainly been a boon for Amazon  and the companys net income hit a stunning $33 billion last year. Unfortunately, China has been a major beneficiary of this success, too. Chinese companies now account for almost 40 percent of all Amazon sales. This is doubly troubling when one considers that loopholes in U.S. tax policy give these Chinese exporters an unfair advantage over domestic American e-commerce companies. Its a problem that Congress must rectify.

Right now, any U.S. company selling more than $600 worth of products or services online is required to report its income to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). However, this tax regulation doesnt apply to foreign companies, including Chinese sellers. That means companies in China can keep selling goods on Amazon essentially tax-free. But at the same time, domestic American companies must pay U.S. taxes.

Realistically, Chinese companies face little tax burden. Not only do they avoid U.S. taxes, but Beijing routinely ignores, defers, or acquits smaller Chinese e-sellers from their tax obligations. As a result, Chinese e-sellers frequently pay little or no taxes.

Chinese companies also enjoy other advantages in the e-commerce arena, particularly the trafficking of counterfeit and unsafe goods. Its estimated that 83 percent of all intellectual property seizures that come through international mail and express shipping originate in China. As a result, U.S. consumers may receive a faulty or counterfeit product through Amazon  and can request a refund. Amazon may terminate that particular vendor. But an estimated 75 percent of all new sellers on Amazon are Chinese companies. And so the unscrupulous vendor may soon reemerge on Amazon under a new name.

This is unacceptable, and Congress must ensure that Chinese companies are finally held accountable in the same way as domestic U.S. firms.

The answer is for Congress to pass legislation requiring Chinas exporters to receive a 1099 form whenever they sell to U.S. consumers. That means any e-commerce market with an American Tax ID number  including Amazon  would need to report a Chinese vendors assessed taxes to the IRS.

Online commerce in China continues to be a nebulous affair. But smart legislation could expose some of Chinas shady practices  and make it the responsibility of vendors such as Amazon to collect and pay Chinas e-commerce taxes to the IRS.

It seems inconceivable that unscrupulous vendors in China are continuing to sell a wide array of goods to U.S. consumers while paying little or no taxes in return. This gives them a serious competitive advantage over domestic U.S. companies. Its time for Washington to protect Americas e-sellers by establishing a tax on Chinas e-commerce. This is the only way to finally correct years of unfair online business practices.
WAVERLY  Waverly citizens have called for more fiber internet options for several years, and many have hoped specifically for ALLO Fiber, the internet services company based in western Nebraska.

ALLO already offers its services in eastern Nebraska cities like Ashland, La Vista, Papillion and Lincoln, and in August, the firm received final approval from the Waverly City Council to begin building its fiber infrastructure in the citys right-of-ways.

We have received many requests for ALLO services from Waverly, said ALLO Director of Ethical Engagement Dave Miller in a press release. We are very excited to bring our world-class infrastructure and exceptional customer service to the residents and businesses of this growing community.

On Oct. 3, representatives from ALLO and the city met at the Waverly water tower for a groundbreaking ceremony, and construction has since begun in the first phase of bringing the companys 2.3-gigabit service to town.

According to ALLOs website, construction will begin on the land north of U.S. Highway 6, followed by the land south of the highway. The network will come online starting in the summer of 2023.

During the construction phase, ALLO will build underground pathways for fiber conduit to travel from so-called distribution points. The pathways generally exist in city rights-of-way, near streets and through alleys. The companys website says ALLO will give construction notices via social media, yard signs, letter mail and notes placed on front doors.

An expansion of ALLOs services to Waverly had been prevented by a lack of fiber infrastructure in the city. But a recent initiative by the Lancaster County Board of Commissioners to extend fiber infrastructure throughout the county made bringing service to Waverly a worthwhile venture.

The Lancaster County project to bring conduit across the county has helped us be able to come out here and serve Waverly in a more cost-effective manner, said ALLO engineer Al Schroeder at a Waverly City Council Meeting in August.

Waverly Mayor Bill Gerdes said ALLOs expansion to Waverly will be a welcome addition to the citys internet options, for city officials and citizens.

The City of Waverly is excited that ALLO is finally ready to provide their services to us, Gerdes said in the ALLO press release. Residents have been requesting ALLO come to Waverly for several years, and now, progress is being made. ALLOs high-speed internet should fulfill our residents demands, and that will make me happy.

Pricing information has not yet been made public, but more information on construction and ALLOs services can be found at allocommunications.com/locations/waverly.
WAVERLY  For 364 days of the year, the Camp Creek showgrounds are a sanctuary for enthusiasts of antique agricultural and railroad machinery. But for one spooky Saturday, the grounds transform into a Halloween haven.

On Oct. 15, Camp Creek is hosting its fourth-annual Eek at the Creek, where freaky frolicking abounds and children hunt for tricky treasures. This years event runs from 3 to 5 p.m., and admission is free.

Eek at the Creek is primarily a trunk-or-treat event, where about 30 people park their cars and hand out candy from trunks decorated for the occasion. The 2021 edition drew more than 600 kids to the grounds.

Event organizer Roxane Micek said in the past two years, when trunk or treat events were especially popular as a COVID-friendly trick-or-treating alternative, people got extra creative with their trunk decorations. She expects to see a grab bag of ghoulish garnishments this year.

Some people go all out, and some people just put out a bowl of candy, Micek said.

Kate Faughn is in her fourth year of helping with the event, and she has four children who will dress up and traipse across the grounds on a quest to cram their candy bags.

I think the most exciting thing is seeing their eyes light up at each trunk, because each ones decorated differently, Faughn said.

The trunks will be spread around the showgrounds, and kids will follow Camp Creeks roads from the west entrance, down Main Street  where the drug store and jail buildings will be open  and up west again toward the steam hill.

I love it, because we put some space in between the trunks, Faughn said. So the kids get to run, its open, its outdoors, they get to run off the sugar as were going, but they also get to see a lot of fun stuff.

Attendees will be able to take their chances on a haunted hayrack ride, but Faughns mother-in-law Eileen, who has volunteered at each Eek at the Creek so far, said the tram trail is nothing too spooky. The Waverly High School dance team will perform along the route, as well.

Its just a lot of fun, Eileen Faughn said. People are so grateful, and the kids are so excited.

Eek at the Creek fulfills another Camp Creek goal  to attract youth to the showgrounds to discover Nebraskas agricultural heritage and pique their interest in attending Camp Creeks other year-round events. Kate Faughn said she didnt know what a threshing machine was until she married into the Faughn family.

You want the young families and young kids to also see that kind of stuff, Kate Faughn said. Theres a lot of cool history that happens out there, and for our young families, I think its so neat to be able to offer something that many people dont normally get close to home.

She said hot dogs and popcorn will be available at the Snyder Pavilion, and a potluck dinner will be held following the trunk-or-treat. Its all free, she said, as a way to give back to the community. But her big attraction to each years Eek at the Creek is being able to relive Halloween in a new way.

Just seeing Halloween through their eyes makes it all worth it again.

More information can be found at ccthreshers.org/eek.

Sam Crisler is a reporter for The Waverly News. Reach him via email at samuel.crisler@wahoonewspaper.com.
WAHOO  The Wahoo Lions Club turned 100 years old this year.

The public is invited to celebrate with the club during a special Business After Hours event on Thursday, Oct. 20 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Wahoo State Bank Shed. A meal will be provided.

The Wahoo Lions Club was chartered on May 5, 1922. At the time, it was the only service organization in the community, said Kal Lausterer, the current groups secretary.

Lions Club International was founded just five years earlier, in 1917, World War I and rapid industrial growth had created social problems in the country, and a Chicago insurance man sought to improve conditions.

Melvin Jones wanted to inspire business clubs in the city to adopt an objective to serve others without personal financial reward, which later became the mainstay of Lions Club International.

The Chicago area business clubs merged with the already-established Lions Club, which had chapters in Indiana and California, to create Lions Club International.

Lions Club held its first convention that same year in Dallas and agreed to locate the headquarters in Chicago. There were 800 members.

Today, there are nearly 1.4 million members that belong to 48,000 clubs in 200 countries. The club motto is We serve and the mandate is Kindness in action.

Early on, Lions Club was active in youth activities, public libraries, water improvement and other projects.

Although originally allowed as members, in 1917 the club adopted the rule that women were not allowed to belong. It was not until 1987 that the bylaws were changed and women were accepted as members.

Lions Club implemented the mission to serve the blind shortly after its founding. The club motto was adopted in 1925 after a visit by Helen Keller to the annual convention. Keller asked them to become Knights of the Blind, which became their rallying cry.

Today, Lions Club has many areas of focus when it comes to service. In addition to helping the blind and gathering used glasses, they also accept donated hearing aids, Lausterer said.

Although vision has always been Lions Club Internationals No. 1 thing, Lausterer said, in recent years the organization adopted five global causes  diabetes, vision, hunger, environment and childhood cancer.

Locally, Lions Club has proudly supported the Wahoo community for 100 years.

Notable achievements in the past century include the following donations, sponsorships and partnerships:

- Donating the property for the original Wahoo hospital, clinic and nursing home at 10th and Laurel streets and later donating funds for Saunders County Hospital, clinic and care center.

- Helping to build three shelters along the walking trail from Placek Park to Lake Wanahoo.

- Giving to the Doc Little Dog Park.

- Providing funds for construction of Wahoo Public Library.

- Giving to the Saunders County Historical Society and Saunders County Museum.

- Contributing to Wahoo Parks and Recreation for the construction of the city pool.

- Providing ongoing funds for upkeep of ballfields at Sam Crawford Field and Hackberry Park.

- Donating funds for the Clint Johannes Education Building at Lake Wanahoo.

- Supplying scholarships to two graduates each from Bishop Neumann and Wahoo Public School and recognizing members of the National Honor Society at both schools.

- Assisting the Wahoo Civic Center with the Easter egg hunt.

- Sponsoring cleanup projects on Highway 77.

- Running the Punt, Pass and Kick contest.

- Partnering with Saunders County Amusement Association to operate carnival games during the Saunders County Fair.

- Providing vision and hearing screenings for local youth.

One of the most enduring activities of the Wahoo Lions Club is the old fashioned kids games held on the Fourth of July at Smith Park. This popular family activity, which follows the decorated bike parade, includes foot races, egg tossing contests and many more fun activities.

In September, the club installed a new Lions Club sign on Highway 109 near Lake Wanahoo. Previously, the club had been advertised on a sign located on the west end of Wahoo that also included other local community organizations, Lausterer said.

Carol Myoshi is president of the Wahoo Lions Club for 2022-23. She and her husband, John, have been in the club for over 30 years, like Lausterer and his wife, Pam, and fellow member Steve Sallenbach.

Two members have hit the 50-year mark with membership  Don Furasek and Joe Vculek. The Rev. Burton Knudsen is right behind them with 49 years as a member.

Another notable member is Greg Hohl, who is a third generation Lion.

The Wahoo Lions Club meets the second and fourth Tuesday of the month at the Wahoo Public Library at noon.

Suzi Nelson is the managing editor of the Wahoo Newspaper. Reach her via email at suzi.nelson@wahoonewspaper.com.
MEAD The Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy has given initial approval to a plan for disposing of an estimated 115 million gallons of pesticide-contaminated wastewater being stored in holding ponds at AltEn.

Developed and submitted by the AltEn Facility Response Group  six seed companies voluntarily cleaning up the site  the plan calls for applying treated wastewater across 736 acres of farm ground south of Mead.

The process, which involves pumping water from AltEns damaged lagoons through a water treatment system and into a pair of new lagoons completed earlier this year, was granted a permit by the states environmental department earlier this year.

Depending on precipitation, the efficacy of the treatment process and conditions of the soil on the seven parcels that will receive the wastewater, the environmental engineers contracted by the response group estimate another 18 to 24 million gallons could be land-applied this fall and next spring.

While efforts to draw down the wastewater stored on site has been moving forward slowly for the better part of this year, the question of how to dispose of an estimated 99,000 tons of solid waste piled up on AltEns site remains open.

Earlier this year, the wet distillers grains  a solid byproduct of ethanol production commonly referred to as wet cake  were entombed under a Posi-Shell cover, a combination of clay, polyester fibers and Portland cement.

The AltEn Facility Response Group said the temporary cover was installed to keep odors under control, tamp down pesticide-contaminated dust and prevent stormwater from coming into contact with the contaminated material.

Last month, at a meeting with a small group of Mead residents, the facility response group said it was evaluating four potential solutions for disposing of the wet cake, with the goal of submitting a formal plan to the Department of Environment and Energy before the end of the year.

Those options, according to a memo about the meeting posted to the Department of Environment and Energys website, include:

- Hauling and burying the contaminated wet cake in a landfill.

- Hauling the wet cake to an offsite incinerator.

- Thermal treatment  not incineration  on-site.

- Burying the wet cake at AltEn.

Don Gunster, a partner and senior scientist at NewFields, the environmental engineering firm conducting much of the cleanup, said the options are being explored before the AltEn Facility Response Group submits a remedial action plan for the solid waste.

The (facility response group) is still collecting data about each of the options being evaluated for management of the wet cake and sludge, Gunster said in an email. More details will be shared with the community and included in the Solids (remedial action plan) once that data has been collected and evaluated.

Some of the options have already been deemed unworkable, however, because of excessive costs, a lack of capacity or doubts about the technology that would need to be used.

And at least one  making AltEn the final burial site for the solid waste  is a non-starter for residents of Mead, who worked for years to draw attention to the environmental issues arising from the failed ethanol plant.

In the year before AltEn was forced by the Department of Environment and Energy to close, the ethanol plant hauled an estimated 43,000 tons of wet cake to landfills operated by Waste Connections near David City, Milford and Malvern, Iowa.

Most of that  at least 39,000 tons  was trucked down Nebraska 92 to the Butler County Landfill, until Waste Connections cut AltEn off, saying it did not have enough dry garbage to mix with the wet distillers grains.

Kelly Danielson, the district manager who oversees the Waste Connections facility, said there are no plans to restart accepting solid waste from AltEn.

We have not heard anything from either group nor has anyone requested authorization to deliver the waste stream to us, Danielson said in an email.

The facility response group also explored the option of moving the wet cake by rail to Clean Harbors-operated incinerators in Kimball and other states last summer but scrapped the idea, which would be costly and complicated.

Ash Grove, a concrete plant that opened in Louisville earlier this year, received a permit from the state to burn biomass in its kilns but confirmed it has not received any wet cake from AltEn, nor does it plan to do so in the future.

AltEn previously attempted to turn the wet cake into biochar, the process of heating it to a few thousand degrees to create a charcoal-like material, but samples analyzed by the environmental department showed it did not reduce the levels of pesticides within.

The state also intervened to stop AltEn from selling biochar to a Kansas farmer late last year.

An Iowa-based company  Independence Energy  has pitched its own process of using heat to breakdown the wet cake and the chemicals within to both residents of Mead as well as the Department of Environment and Energy, but its proposal has not been explored in-depth.

Mead Village Board Chair Bill Thorson, who met with state regulators and the AltEn Facility Response Group, said the plan that appears to be favored for cleanup would include repairing one of the lagoons at the plant to serve as a containment cell that would later be buried.

Thorson said he told the response group that such a plan would draw fierce opposition from the village of nearly 600 people.

A little more than a decade ago, residents of Mead successfully fought off a plan by Waste Connections to open a 320-acre landfill near AltEn that would have accepted roughly 1,200 tons of garbage per day from Omaha and Saunders County.

We had a landfill that didnt pass because of the water table and the aquifer, Thorson said, referring to the Todd Valley aquifer, on which Mead and AltEn both sit. I told them, I can assure you thats not going to pass.

Any proposal for turning AltEn into a landfill to bury the waste it generated would be running uphill and against the wind.

Mead annexed the land AltEn sits on before its predecessor, E3 Biofuels, opened in 2007, giving authority over any zoning changes and conditional use permits to the Village Board of Trustees, which revoked the companys ability to operate as an ethanol plant in June 2021.

AltEn would also need to receive a permit from the state to operate as a landfill. A 2021 lawsuit against the company faulted AltEn for operating as a solid waste management facility despite never having a permit to do so.

Thorson said he and others in Mead do not see burying the wet cake in a containment cell on the property as a viable cleanup option.

Rather, he said, it would be another temporary fix to a problem that has plagued the town since 2015.

If its a money thing, Id just as soon see it be a Superfund site, he said. I have a feeling thats what it is anyway.
WASHINGTON  The Supreme Court is weighing a California animal cruelty law that pork producers say could upend their industry and raise the cost of their products nationwide.

But in arguments Tuesday, the justices seemed to have bigger concerns beyond bacon.

Pork producers say Californias law requiring more space for breeding pigs will force the $26 billion-a-year industry to change its practices even though pork is produced almost entirely outside California. The question for the high court is whether the nations most populous state has violated the U.S. Constitution with its law.

During more than two hours of arguments, both conservative and liberal justices asked about the fate of other state laws that impact other states.

So what about a law that says you cant sell fruit in our state if its produced  handled by people who are not in the country legally? Is that state law permissible? asked Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

His colleague, Justice Elena Kagan, pointed to a law from the state where she grew up: I understand New York has a law that says that if you want to import firewood into the state, you have to have used a certain kind of pesticide to make sure that various pests dont come in with the firewood, she said. Would that be forbidden?

And Justice Amy Coney Barrett asked whether California could pass a law barring pork from companies that dont require all their employees to be vaccinated or from companies that dont fund gender-affirming surgery.

Still, she also expressed concern about the impact if the court were to say Californias law is impermissible.

How many other laws would fall, that it might affect? she asked. Would the court call into question a lot of laws that are pretty common?

The case before the court involves Californias Proposition 12, which voters passed in 2018. It said that pork sold in the state needs to come from pigs whose mothers were raised with at least 24 square feet of space, including the ability to lie down and turn around. That rules out confined gestation crates, the metal enclosures that are common in the pork industry.

Two industry groups, the Iowa-based National Pork Producers Council and the American Farm Bureau Federation, sued over the proposition. They say that while Californians consume 13% of the pork eaten in the United States, nearly 100% of it comes from hogs raised outside the state, primarily where the industry is concentrated in the Midwest and North Carolina. The vast majority of sows, meanwhile, arent raised under conditions that would meet Proposition 12s standards.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson summed up the issue by saying: To what extent does California get to control what Iowa does with respect to the housing of its pork? She asked why California couldnt do something less burdensome to the industry, like segregating Iowas pork when it comes in, putting a big label over it that says This is immorally produced.

The Biden administration has urged the justices to side with pork producers, telling the court in written filings that Proposition 12 would be a wholesale change in how pork is raised and marketed in this country. The administration says the proposition has thrown a giant wrench into the workings of the interstate market in pork.

Pork producers argue that 72% of farmers use individual pens for sows that dont allow them to turn around and that even farmers who house sows in larger group pens dont provide the space California would require.

They also say that the way the pork market works, with cuts of meat from various producers being combined before sale, its likely all pork would have to meet California standards, regardless of where its sold. Complying with Proposition 12 could cost the industry $290 million to $350 million, they say.

So far, lower courts have sided with California and animal-welfare groups that had supported the proposition, throwing out the pork producers case. But the law has yet to go into effect.

Several of the justices suggested the lower courts were too quick to reject the case. They suggested it should have gone forward with lower courts weighing the impact of Californias law and Californias interests in passing it.

Justice Kavanaugh suggested that would be the easiest way to resolve this for now, and we can deal with a lot of these far-reaching arguments down the road.
WATERLOO  The Iowa Court of Appeals had refused to end a guardianship for children of a Black Hawk County mother whose infant son suffered an unexplained skull fracture in 2018.

In a ruling handed down last week, the Court of Appeals noted that while the mother has made positive changes in her life, it remains in her older childrens best interest to remain under the guardianship.

Court records dont identity the people involved, referring to the injured baby by the initials J.W.

Two-month-old J.W. had been left with his father in May 2018 when the mother went to work in May 2018. Hours later, the father called the mother to report that the infant was throwing up blood.

Doctors discovered the child had a skull fracture, bilateral subdural hematomas and retinal hemorrhaging. They also found fractures that were healing in the ribs and femur leg bone.

Medical officials concluded the infant suffered non-accidental head trauma, but no criminal charges were ever filed.

Both parents denied knowledge of how the injuries happened, and an Iowa Department of Human Services investigation concluded the father  who had earlier served prison time for abusing an 11-month-old child  was likely responsible, according to court records.

A second probe was launched to investigate an anonymous tip the mother had dropped the baby carrier and the child fell down the stairs, but the allegation wasnt founded, according to court records.

The baby was placed into foster care and then transferred to a relative. His injuries left him blind, with cognitive impairment and unable to walk or talk, records state.

Two older children were removed from the home and placed with a relative.

While a hearing to decide the termination of parental rights was pending, the mother became pregnant and hid the pregnancy from Department of Human Services officials, giving birth in secret, according to court records. That child was later removed, too.

The mother consented to the rights termination for J.W. and agreed to a guardianship with the relative for the two older children.

In 2021, the mother made progress, retaining custody of her youngest child and seeking to end the guardianship of the older two. At least one of the older children wanted to remain with the relative and testified during a hearing on the matter.

The mother then unfriended that child on Facebook and cut off contact with both older children, prompting the district court to rule against her request to terminate the guardianship.

The judge found that the children were thriving under the relative and that the Facebook blocking appeared to be retaliation.
WATERLOO  Black Hawk County Supervisor Craig White is mounting an effort to retain his seat in the Nov. 8 election after losing a June primary race.

The 16-year board veteran is campaigning to have voters write in his name on the supervisors ballot.

He said he was surprised by the elections results, with newcomers Tavis Hall and Glen Keith winning the two Democratic spots.

The turnout was low and I didnt do my homework, said White, who is currently the boards chairman. I figured it was a shoe-in to make the next round, but you should never anticipate. You like to think your record speaks for itself.

For the Republican ticket, the options are incumbent Dan Trelka and Dennis Halverson. Voters can choose any two people for the open seats.

White, who said hes not ready to be done yet, wants to be one of those choices. He touted what he and the supervisors have accomplished during his tenure.

Over the past 16 years we have held taxes under 2% per year, White said. Weve improved our parks and trails  have done 170 miles of new road surfaces and repaired or replaced 49 bridges. Thats proactive.

There is still a lot that needs to be done in the county, he noted.

White said hes dedicated his life to service since his U.S. Army tour in Vietnam in 1968. Outside of his public office, he spends a lot of his time working in the health sector and lists mental health as one of his main priorities for Black Hawk County.

Hes active as a board member with County Social Services, which provides 12 counties in the region with mental health and community resources. He said previously 22 counties were involved. Hed like to see that number go back up.

White said social services saved taxpayers money while helping people get the help they need.

Another local service the county provides that White is a proponent of is the Black Hawk County Drug Court Program.

The courts goals are to reduce substance abuse-related crimes and victims as well as the number of drug addicts going to prison, according to the countys website. Its also working to increase the effectiveness of treatment and supervision.

White also has spent the last 26 years with Cedar Valley Hospice as a patient and family volunteer. He said he mainly works with veterans.

Being a hospice volunteer, you learn how to treat people and be a part of society and how we should treat each other, White said.

In addition, he and Frank Magsamen helped to start the Cedar Valley Honor Flights, which take veterans on a day-long trip to Washington, D.C. to visit military monuments and Arlington National Cemetery.

Although registered as a Democrat, White prides himself as being non-partisan when it comes to community issues.

I enjoy helping people, he said. Im tired of left and right, in the federal and the state.
Iowa pork producers could be in trouble pending a decision in a Supreme Court case over a California law that would regulate how pork is produced, trade groups say.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case on Tuesday brought over Californias Proposition 12, a ballot measure that requires breeding sows that give birth to hogs sold for pork in California to be housed in at least 24 square feet of space. The law also has requirements for egg-laying hens and calves raised for veal, but the case pertains to the pork provisions.

Iowa farm groups have opposed a law, which they say would impose a high burden on pork producers outside California and violates the U.S. Constitutions provisions that prevent states from restricting interstate commerce.

In a press conference on Tuesday, Lori Stevermer, a Minnesota pork producer and vice president of the National Pork Producers Council, said the law could have life-changing impacts on her operation.

Stevermer doesnt have sows on her farm, but she said the law could still cause processors to not buy from her farm.

If the cost to implement in California is great, as we expect it will be, or if the market is less to us, cut off, very possibly the people that we raise pigs for will say, We dont need your farm anymore, because we dont have any place to sell our pork, and that takes us out of business.

The law was passed by a ballot measure in 2018 with the goal of improving the welfare of animals raised for meat sold in California.

Sows are generally confined to gestation crates during their pregnancy, a small stall only large enough for the pig to stand and lay down, where they cannot turn around. Some are kept in group confinement but rarely is the pen large enough to satisfy the laws space requirement.

The space requirements for sows who give birth to pigs sold for pork in California would likely be accommodated through group housing.

Iowas Republican politicians have introduced bills, written op-eds, and voiced opposition to the law, dubbing it a bacon ban and saying it would hurt Iowas producers.

Iowa trade groups argue against the law

Iowa leads the nation in pork production, marketing more than 48 million hogs in 2018 and accounting for about a third of the countrys pork production.

The Iowa Pork Producers Association and Iowa Farm Bureau have joined briefs supporting their national counterparts. The state of Iowa also joined 19 other states in supporting the National Pork Producers Councils request to overturn the law.

When asked for comment, the Iowa Pork Producers Association and Iowa Farm Bureau referred to their national trade organizations.

Eldon McAfee, a West Des Moines lawyer who represented the Iowa Pork Producers Association in court briefs, said the law would effectively require pork producers to meet Californias standards, even if their meat isnt destined for California.

Our belief is that when you have something that broad with the penalties that are involved, it will result in overregulation by many packers saying, OK, if we can't exactly trace it as a practical matter, anyway, then well require more of you to meet it so we can be sure that the meat we sell there will be compliant, he said.

Mcafee and the national pork producers also argued the biggest burden would fall on smaller pork producers, who may not have the money or access to credit to alter their facilities to meet Californias standards, and thus would lose out or have to exit the market entirely.

The national pork organization estimates that producers would need to spend up to $347 million to reconstruct housing to accommodate the requirements of Proposition 12.

But not all economists agree with that estimation. Richard Sexton and Daniel Sumner, agricultural economists at the University of California, Davis, argued in a brief the law would only cause some producers to make the switch, and it wouldnt meaningfully increase prices in other states.

Sexton and Sumners analysis found that producers would make the switch to Proposition 12-compliant facilities if it was economically viable to them, while the rest of the countrys producers would continue to produce hogs as normal.

Their research was partly funded by the National Pork Board and the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

If youre going to sell pork to the rest of North America that doesnt have Californias standards, youre not going to be cost competitive in doing that if youre imposing California standards across your entire operations, Sexton said in an interview. And so people just arent going to do that. Processors arent going to do that. Theyre not going to raise costs needlessly.

The change would require processing plants to dedicate time specifically to processing Proposition 12-compliant hogs, but Sexton said operations would adapt in ways that are economically viable.

National perspective

Lawyers for the National Pork Producers Council said in a press conference Tuesday they were encouraged by the outcome of oral arguments.

It was very hopeful to hear the justices understand the trouble that will be created by laws like proposition 12 that reach far outside the states border to try and impose the moral will of one state, Michael Formica, a lawyer for the National Pork Producers Council, said in a press conference Tuesday. ...It has a tremendous impact on pork production and pork prices, but if let stand, it would have a tremendous impact on the U.S. economy, on the flow of commerce across borders.

California argued the state has a right to prohibit the sale of certain products its citizens find immoral. The states attorney argued the law does not regulate how producers outside California can raise animals because they can choose not to sell their product in the state.

Proposition 12 bars the in-state sale of certain pork products, said California Solicitor General Michael Mongan. California voters chose to pay higher prices to serve their local interest in refusing to provide a market to products they viewed as morally objectionable and potentially unsafe.
CEDAR FALLS  One person was seriously injured following a single-vehicle crash at the U.S. Highway 20-Iowa Highway 58 interchange Monday night.

The identity and condition of the driver werent immediately available, but Cedar Falls police said the person was taken to a local hospital for treatment.

The driver was headed west on Highway 20 around 7:30 p.m. Monday and suffered a medical incident that led to loss of control of the vehicle, police said.

The vehicle entered the grassy center median and continued on until going airborne at the interchange. It then entered the Highway 58 median, went airborne again and landed on its side.

Rescue crews had to extricate the driver.

Cedar Falls Police and Fire Rescue were assisted at the scene by MercyOne Paramedics, Hudson Police and Iowa State Patrol.
WATERLOO -- The Waterloo VNA has set days and times for walk-ins to receive flu shots. All are welcome to drop in when convenient during the clinic times. Clinic attendees are asked to bring all current insurance cards. The VNA is able to process traditional Medicare, United Healthcare Medicare Advantage (i.e. AARP, Deere, Dual Complete) and UHC Medicare Advantage.

Clinic office hours are 1-3 p.m. Tuesdays and 10 a.m. to noon Fridays. Please call ahead if you would like to stop by other than Tuesdays or Fridays. The walk-in clinics will be held at 2530 University Ave., follow the signs to the clinic room.

The VNA is offering high dose flu immunizations for persons over the age of 65 and the quadravalent (four-strain) for those under 65 years of age. The Centers for Disease Control recommends that persons should be vaccinated prior to the onset of flu in their community.

Employers that are interested in having flu shots provided on-site are encouraged to call (319) 235-6201 to inquire. On-site slots fill up fast, so call to reserve your clinic today.
Iowa pork producers would suffer huge negative impacts if the U.S. Supreme Court upholds a California law that regulates how pork sold in the state is produced, trade groups say.

The court heard oral arguments in a case Tuesday brought over Californias Proposition 12, a ballot measure that requires breeding sows that give birth to hogs sold for pork in California to be housed in at least 24 square feet of space. The law also has requirements for egg-laying hens and calves raised for veal, but the case pertains to the pork provisions.

Iowa farm groups have opposed a law, which they say would impose a high burden on pork producers outside California and violates the U.S. Constitutions provisions that prevent states from restricting interstate commerce.

In a press conference Tuesday, Lori Stevermer, a Minnesota pork producer and vice president of the National Pork Producers Council, said the law could have life-changing impacts on her operation.

Stevermer doesnt have sows on her farm, but she said the law could still cause processors to not buy from her.

If the cost to implement in California is great, as we expect it will be, or if the market is less to us, cut off, very possibly the people that we raise pigs for will say, We dont need your farm anymore, because we dont have any place to sell our pork, and that takes us out of business.

The law was passed by a ballot measure in 2018 with the goal of improving the welfare of animals raised for meat sold in California.

During pregnancy, sows are generally confined to gestation crates. The small stalls are only large enough for pigs to stand and lay down; they cannot turn around. Some are kept in group confinement, but rarely is the pen large enough to satisfy the laws space requirement.

The space requirements for sows who give birth to pigs sold for pork in California would likely be accommodated through group housing.

Iowas Republican politicians have introduced bills, written op-eds, and voiced opposition to the law, dubbing it a bacon ban and saying it would hurt Iowas producers.

Iowa trade groups argue against the law.

Iowa leads the nation in pork production, marketing more than 48 million hogs in 2018 and accounting for about a third of the countrys pork.

The Iowa Pork Producers Association and Iowa Farm Bureau have joined briefs supporting their national counterparts. The state of Iowa also joined 19 other states in supporting the National Pork Producers Councils request to overturn the law.

When asked for comment, the Iowa Pork Producers Association and Iowa Farm Bureau referred to their national trade organizations.

Eldon McAfee, a West Des Moines lawyer who represented the Iowa Pork Producers Association in court briefs, said the law would effectively require pork producers in states like Iowa to meet Californias standards, even if their meat isnt destined for California.

Our belief is that when you have something that broad with the penalties that are involved, it will result in overregulation by many packers saying, OK, if we cant exactly trace it as a practical matter, anyway, then well require more of you to meet it so we can be sure that the meat we sell there will be compliant, he said.

McAfee argues the biggest burden would fall on small pork producers, who may not have the money or access to credit to alter their facilities to meet Californias standards.

The national pork organization estimates producers would need to spend up to $347 million to reconstruct housing to accommodate the requirements of Proposition 12.

But not all economists agree with that estimation. Richard Sexton and Daniel Sumner, agricultural economists at the University of California, Davis, argued in a brief the law would only cause some producers to make the switch, and it wouldnt meaningfully increase prices in other states.

Sexton and Sumners analysis found that producers would make the switch to Proposition 12-compliant facilities if it was economically viable to them, while the rest of the countrys producers would continue to produce hogs as normal.

Their research was partly funded by the National Pork Board and the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

If youre going to sell pork to the rest of North America that doesnt have Californias standards, youre not going to be cost competitive in doing that if youre imposing California standards across your entire operations, Sexton said in an interview. And so people just arent going to do that. Processors arent going to do that. Theyre not going to raise costs needlessly.

The change would require processing plants to dedicate time specifically to processing Proposition 12-compliant hogs, but Sexton said operations would adapt in ways that are economically viable.

National perspective

Lawyers for the National Pork Producers Council said in a press conference Tuesday they were encouraged by the outcome of oral arguments.

It was very hopeful to hear the justices understand the trouble that will be created by laws like proposition 12 that reach far outside the states border to try and impose the moral will of one state, Michael Formica, a lawyer for the National Pork Producers Council, said in a press conference Tuesday. ... It has a tremendous impact on pork production and pork prices, but if let stand, it would have a tremendous impact on the U.S. economy, on the flow of commerce across borders.

California argued the state has a right to prohibit the sale of certain products its citizens find immoral. The states attorney argued the law does not regulate how producers outside California can raise animals because they can choose not to sell their product in the state.

Proposition 12 bars the in-state sale of certain pork products, Said California Solicitor General Michael Mongan. California voters chose to pay higher prices to serve their local interest in refusing to provide a market to products they viewed as morally objectionable and potentially unsafe.
DES MOINES  Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds received the highest grade for fiscal responsibility among the nations governors in a report issued by the conservative Cato Institute.

The biennial report grades governors on their fiscal policies from a limited government perspective, and awards higher grades to governors whose states have cut taxes and spending, according to the Cato Institute.

Reynolds was one of five governors  all Republicans  to receive an A grade from the report, and she had the highest score, just ahead of New Hampshires Chris Sununu, Nebraskas Pete Ricketts, Idahos Brad Little and Arizonas Doug Ducey.

Reynolds says that her politics are based on the ideas of limited government, personal responsibility and individual initiative, the report says. As governor, she has translated those beliefs into lean budgeting and major tax reforms, earning her the highest score on this report.

The report noted the tax cut legislation passed by Iowa lawmakers and signed into law by Reynolds in 2018, 2020 and 2022, the final of which will phase state income taxes down to a flat rate of 3.9 percent by 2026. At that point, the cuts will reduce Iowans income taxes  and thus also reduce state revenue  by nearly $2 billion annually.

The Cato Institute also reports that state spending under Reynolds, who became governor in 2017, has grown at an average rate of just 2.3%.

Iowa prides itself on stewarding taxpayer dollars with care and an eye toward growth, Reynolds said in a news release from the governors office. That means exercising restraint in our spending and taking every opportunity to return tax dollars to the hardworking Iowans who generated them in the first place. This is their money  not the governments  and they have a right to expect their own representatives to act like it. Im grateful to the Cato Institute for recognizing that Iowa does so.

Reynolds plans to join the Cato Institute for a virtual seminar to discuss her fiscal policies and tax cuts, her office said.

Powerball winner: Someone who bought a Powerball ticket at a Forest City store won a $2 million prize in Mondays drawing, the Iowa Lottery announced.

It is Iowas second big Powerball win this year, following a Northeast Iowa couple that won $2 million in January.

The latest winning ticket was bought at a Caseys, which will receive a $2,000 bonus for selling the ticket. The ticket came within one number of winning the $404 million jackpot, the lottery said.

Large prizes must be claimed at the Iowa Lotterys offices in Clive within a year of the drawing.

New website: The Iowa Department of Education launches its redesigned website, educateiowa.gov. According to the department, the new site improves users experience and will better serve the more than 2 million individuals who visit the site annually.

The new site is expected to produce faster page load times, improved search capabilities and a modernized design to make site navigation easier.
Students from Jane Addams and Lincoln-Irving Elementary Schools in Moline arrived to school by foot by or wheel on Wednesday to celebrate "Illinois Walk and Roll to School Day." Earlier this month, Gov. Pritzker formally proclaimed Oct. 12 as Illinois Walk and Roll to School Day to promote active lifestyles for children and support eco-friendly transportation practices.
Russias victory in the conflict in Ukraine will be NATOs defeat, this cannot be allowed  NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg

Someone explain to NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg that by making statements that the victory of the Russian Federation in the conflict with Ukraine will be the defeat of NATO (and or all of us?), he actually confirms the direct participation of the Western military alliance in this war they started, and also gives the Russians an excellent public trump card to relay this message to their audience, as evidence that the Russian Federation is at war with NATO, not Ukraine as NATO wants you to believe. Actually Russia is at war with NATO/USA/UK/EU and what is called the Collective West!

BRUSSELS, October 11. /TASS/. Russias victory in the conflict in Ukraine would be a defeat for NATO, the alliance must not allow such an outcome, the organizations Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday at a press conference ahead of the meetings of NATO Defence Ministers on October 12-13 in Brussels.It is important for all of us, that Ukraine wins the battle. Because if [Russian President Vladimir] Putin wins, that is not only a big defeat for Ukrainians, but it will be a defeat and dangerous for all of us, because it will make the world more dangerous and it will make us more vulnerable for further Russian aggression, he said.Stoltenberg stressed that NATO must be prepared for a long war in Ukraine. I think that we just have to be prepared for the long haul (to provide support to Ukraine  TASS), he added.

Source: Russias victory in conflict in Ukraine would be NATOs defeat  Stoltenberg  World  TASS

Besides it seems this, all of us group is actually a small group of scared psycho humans who started all this mess!

WtR
The events of recent days have once again (already for the umpteenth time!) demonstrated the blatant double standards of the collective West.

A kind of litmus test was the terrorist act committed by the Ukrainian special services on the Crimean bridge  a cynical attack on a critical civilian infrastructure.

It would seem, HOW can one find words of justification for this? Kyivs actions again and again go beyond the very concept of civilized behavior of states, not to mention international law.

It turns out you can. Well, if you really want to, and if we are talking about a puppet regime, which, with the light suggestion of continental and overseas curators, is now allowed almost everything. In the end, Western figures, who verbally care about human rights, closed their eyes to the murders of hundreds and thousands of innocent people, except for the desire to speak Russian and call themselves Russians, people in Donbass for 8 years.

The demonstration performance was played on the platform of the OSCE, an organization that once acted as one of the pillars of European (in the broadest sense) security, and now has turned into a marginal hangout of Russophobes.

The OSCE leadership (both the Polish Chairmanship-in-Office and OSCE Secretary General Helga Schmid) refrained from making any comments on the incident. It has become a habit for the OSCE not to notice Ukrainian crimes.

In fact, the representations of Germany, Latvia and Lithuania to the OSCE came up with the justification of the terrorist attack on the Crimean bridge.

German Permanent Representative Geza Brautigam responded to the tweet of the Russian Permanent Mission to the OSCE about the terrorist attack on the bridge with a tweet on her behalf with the following content: You must have misunderstood something. Only Ukraine  like any sovereign state  has the right to build infrastructure on its territory. You just shouldnt build a bridge on someone elses territory without asking.

The Lithuanians supported the German Permanent Representative with the statement that Geza Brautigam was right, and the criminal who broke into your house and builds something in it will soon be expelled from it along with his designs.

The permanent representative of Latvia, Katrina Kaktyna, was particularly creative when she posted a tweet from the Latvian Textile Factory on her account with a photo of a rag bag released with a print of the blown up Crimean bridge and an inscription in Ukrainian What happened? (What happened?). The tweet was accompanied by a statement from the factory in Latvian: We could not remain indifferent. And this is our dedication to the event, which we will talk about for a long time, repeating What happened?.

At the same time, the legitimate reaction of our country to the terrorist attacks of the regime in Kyiv, which had finally lost the last remnants of its mind and conscience, caused immediate condemnation from the collective West and organizations under its influence.

The OSCE leadership immediately reacted to the strikes of the Russian Aerospace Forces on objects on Ukrainian territory on October 10: the Polish chairmanship convened a special meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council in the morning of the same day.

Stephane Dujarric, the official representative of the UN Secretary General, also outlined his position, during the briefing he initiatively drew attention to the statement published on the same day by Antonio Guterres. At the same time, Stephane Dujarric was asked twice about the reasons for the lack of a similar response from the Secretariat in connection with the terrorist attack on the Crimean bridge, which also led to the death of civilians. The representative of the Secretary General avoided a direct answer, calling everything that has happened in recent days an unacceptable escalation. Thus, we again witnessed the practice of double standards of the UN Secretariat.

In general, of course, nothing new. The West is undermining the remnants of trust with its own hands, at the same time engaged in the barbaric dismantling of European and international institutions that have served as platforms for compromise and diplomacy for decades.

Maria Zakharov

WtR
Rapper Kanye West was blocked on Instagram and then on Twitter for anti-Semitic remarks. The entire American public was alarmed against the musician.

I wonder where those denunciations were when Meta legalized calls for murder and violence against Russians de facto by refusing to remove and moderate such posts and calling it a departure from the Facebook rules?

In the light of the events with Kanye West, I would like to once again raise the issue of hundreds and thousands of Russophobic and misanthropic statements that appear every day on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook with the full connivance of these online platforms. According to the study, in just the first six months, more than 141.5 thousand anti-Russian posts and comments appeared in the English-speaking segment of the Internet. Why havent these posts been deleted?

Or #ThisOther?

When will they block, for example, the following characters? 

Head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine D. Kuleba, June 28: Russia is a country of killers.

Freelance adviser to the Office of the President of Ukraine A.Arestovich, September 13: Aunts and uncles of the teacher who were going to teach Ukrainian children to love Russia will sit down.

Former Ambassador of Ukraine to Germany A. Melnyk, October 11: Russia is an absolute evil.

Ex-President of Ukraine P. Poroshenko, May 4: Russia, a terrorist state, should become a pariah along with North Korea. Putin is more of a terrorist than Osama bin Laden. And Russia is worse than ISIS and Al-Qaeda.

President of Lithuania G.Nauseda, June 24: We must clearly define Russia as a clear long-term threat to the entire Euro-Atlantic region.

Lithuanian Prime Minister I. Simonyte, April 3: Russia has ceased to be a civilized country. I dont know if it has ever been like that, certainly not now.

An employee of the American analytical center Atlantic Council M. Fandrer, October 11: My desire is to see a brutally defeated and destroyed Russia. Russia is evil in this world.

Swedish economist and diplomat A. Oslund, October 11: Its time to expel all Russian diplomats and close all Russian embassies in decent countries. Why harbor liars, spies and terrorists? Drive them out!

And what about the Russians swim only in blood campaign launched on Twitter in July, which became a dirty response to the election of Russian woman Maria Polyakova to the commission of athletes of the International Swimming Federation? See for yourself  the disgusting tweets published as part of the action are in place.

Do not lag behind Western politicians and experts and ordinary users who do not hesitate to publish calls for violence in the style of Good Russian  dead Russian and burn Rusnya, cruel photos and videos. The dehumanization of Russians is only encouraged by the administrations of social networks. Just a few examples:

Maxim Perebiynis  Burn the vile Rusnya

janco777  Destroy all Russians on earth to the last

Slavik Khlebnikov  All Russians need to be destroyed faster from St. Petersburg to Alyaksi

Yuri Gorolyuk  Kill all Russians

Complaints about these reference examples of hate speech are rejected by the administration of American digital platforms: these users do not violate our security rules.

Maria Zakharov

WtR
The fastest way to escalate the conflict in Ukraine to the irreversible consequences of a world war is to supply psychos in Kyiv with long-range MLRS.

The aged leaders of the Washington regional committee and the upstarts from NATO should at least occasionally turn on their softened brains.

And further. The NATO Secretary Generals thesis that Russias victory would mean the defeat of the North Atlantic Alliance is a direct confirmation by the bloc of its participation in the war against our country. As they say  not from a great mind, but from a pure heart. The honest Norwegian guy finally admitted it.

Medvedev

WtR
Course of confrontation and threats

The West has trampled on the agreement-based diplomacy and switches to nuclear-blackmail-based one.

The possibility to use nuclear weapons is currently discussed in the West with too sophisticated fanaticism. All means seem to be good for demonising our country, especially brandishing a nuclear bludgeon. What lies behind this new information attack launched by the collective West and what can it lead to? These and other question have been responded in an interview to Krasnaya Zvezda by a well-known politolical scientist Vladimir Zharikhin, deputy director of the Institute of CIS countries.

Keynotes 

 Since the Second World War, the planet has been sustained on the postulate of mutual annihilation of the two systems. It was the basis for launching the arms control process, including in regard to strategic ones. But this basis has also been trampled for preserving the neo-colonial system that allows the USA and their European allies to parasitise. And, in fact, along with the international security system, political, economical, cultural, scientific and educational relations with Russia have also been renounced.

 Current generation of the politicians nominated in the USA and other western countries amid the euphoria over the collapse of the USSR have totally different psychology. The decades of well-fed and rich life made them to be indifferent even to their own peoples travails, and the sleep of reason, as it is known, produces monsters. Furthermore, the unpunished reprisals against the countries that for some reasons did not fit the world order imposed by the USA have reassured the Americans that it is possible to shelter overseas amid any cataclysms.

 The U.S.-led collective West has currently set itself the task to destroy and to annihilate Russia fulfilling it by Ukraine. At the same time, Washington always emphasises that the United States is not involved in the war and there are no reasons for coming to the negotiating table with Russia.

 The USA is the only country in the world that has used nuclear weapons twice that led to the destruction of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And today the USA is ready to launch the so-called pre-emptive attack to protect the essential interests of the United States of America, its allies and partners. This issue is mentioned in the U.S. Nuclear Posture Review that has been in force since 2018. The nuclear capabilities are deliberately increased and modernised with this purpose.

 Anglo-Saxons can be stopped only by the fear and awareness that the mushroom cloud that the West is ready to bring upon other countries can cover them too, that the nuclear gunplay will cover both the continental part of the USA and the British Isles.

 It is obviously not enough for the collective West anymore to make the Kiev regime to fight to the last Ukrainian and anti-Russian sanctions. Anglo-Saxons have already proceeded to sabotage by organising explosions at the international gas pipelines of the Nord Stream. But Russia, as it was stated by its leader Vladimir Putin in his speech on September 30, understands its responsibility to the world community and it will do everything to bring such hotheads to their senses.

@mod_russia_en

WtR


A few days ago, national crush Rashmika Mandanna and young sensation Vijay Deverakonda went on a small vacation to the Maldives. Though they didnt go together, their social media pics revealed that they enjoyed the vacation together.

Last night Rashmika and Vijay Deverakonda were separately spotted at the Mumbai Airport while returning from vacation. Rashmika took to her Instagram profile and shared her pic from the vacation to announce that the trip is over.

Coming to movies, the Dear Comrade pair has a solid lineup of movies. Keep watching this space for more interesting updates.

Articles that might interest you:
When Cherith Fluker became an empty nester, there was a lot to like: more time with her husband, more time to focus on a new job, more chances to travel.

But it also meant less time hanging out with the friends she had made during almost two decades of shared experiences such as her daughters high school volleyball games. 

Weve lost contact with the people we were seeing two or three times a week because we were in the same place. We would see those people all day on Saturday standing at tournaments, says Fluker, of Birmingham, Alabama, who is the mother of two college-age children, a podcaster and founder of a self-care website where she talks a lot about friendship.

Friends supported her through the challenges of becoming an empty nester and losing both her parents within two years, she says. But since her children went to college, her friendships have shifted. While Fluker, 43, believes in make new friends, but keep the old, shes finding new friends focused on her interests, not the people at the volleyball game because their kids play volleyball. Thats our kids [thing], not our thing.

Not everyone is as outgoing as Fluker. Finding and keeping friends isnt easy for some parents used to relying on the connections made through their children. Theres no longer the camaraderie of cheering for school sports, working backstage or attending PTO meetings. Life gets busy with work, homes, children and aging relatives. Friends from college or childhood drift away because of new jobs, caring for elderly parents or divisions over politics. Social groups splinter due to divorce or relocation. 

But research leaves little doubt about the benefits of having strong friendships. A lack of socialization can lead to depression, poor sleep quality, accelerated cognitive decline, poor cardiovascular function and impaired immunity, according to a 2019 report by the American Psychological Association. 

Yet society tends to value romantic relationships more than friendships, says Marisa G. Franco, a psychologist and author of Platonic: How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make  and Keep  Friends, a book that looks at the science of lasting friendship.

We do all these things that lead to friendships being second class, Franco says. We invest less time, right? We reach out less. We dont show as much love and adoration compared to a romantic relationship. And thats what leads to our friendships being less powerful. 

Science teaches that we must nurture friendships just as we nurture romantic connections, Franco says. What makes [a platonic] relationship succeed is going to make your romantic relationship succeed and vice versa, she says. 

What can you do to better support friendships or make new friends, even if you feel you dont have the time, energy or built-in ways to meet people? Making friends may require that you build some scaffolding, such as taking a class or hanging out at the dog park. But there are even more important attitudinal changes that will help you, experts and friend-rich people say. Here are suggestions from Franco, Fluker and others:
ANNAPOLIS, Md.  Prosecutors dropped charges against Adnan Syed on Tuesday in the 1999 killing of Hae Min Lee after additional DNA testing excluded him as a suspect in a case chronicled by the hit podcast Serial.

Marilyn Mosby, the states attorney for the city of Baltimore, said her office would continue to pursue justice for Lee but that it had closed its case against Syed, who spent 23 years in prison for the killing. She said the decision was made after additional DNA testing excluded Syed as a suspect in the strangulation of Lee, whom Syed had dated.

This case is over. There are no more appeals necessary, Mosby said during a news conference.

She said her office decided to drop the charges after receiving the results on Friday of DNA testing on Lees skirt, pantyhose, jacket and shoes that was conducted using a more modern technique than when evidence in the case was first tested. Although no DNA was recovered from the skirt, pantyhose or jacket, some was recovered from Lees shoes, and most compellingly, Adnan Syed, his DNA was excluded, she said.

Mosby said that even though her administration wasnt responsible for the pain inflicted on Hae Min Lees family or the wrongful conviction of Syed, as a representative of the institution, it is my responsibility to acknowledge and to apologize to the family of Hae Min Lee and Adnan Syed.

She also said her office will continue to utilize every available resource to prosecute whoever is responsible for the death of Hae Min Lee.

Syeds attorney Erica Suter celebrated the news, noting that Syed wasnt ready yet to speak about it publicly.

Todays the day that Adnan Syed and his loved ones have been waiting for 23 long years, Suter said during a Zoom call with reporters. The results of the DNA testing excluded Adnan and confirm what Adnan and his supporters have always known: that Adnan Syed is innocent. The state of Maryland has dropped the charges. Adnan Syed is free.

Suter, an assistant public defender and the director of the University of Baltimore Law Schools Innocence Project Clinic, said Syeds legal team would begin working with the states attorneys office as soon as possible to formally certify his innocence. She said it was premature to say whether they would seek compensation for wrongful conviction.

Today we are just elated that Adnan is free, Suter said, noting that Syed plans to spend time with his loved ones. I think hes just really elated to be able to have the small quiet everyday joys of freedom that many of us take for granted.

A Baltimore judge last month overturned Syeds murder conviction and ordered him released from prison, where the 41-year-old had spent more than two decades. Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn also gave prosecutors 30 days in which to decide whether to retry Syed or drop the charges.

Phinn ruled that the state had violated its legal obligation to share evidence that could have bolstered Syeds defense. Syed was placed on home detention with GPS location monitoring after he got out of prison, but those restrictions were lifted on Tuesday.

Lees family last month asked the Court of Special Appeals, which is Marylands intermediate appellate court, to halt the case. Attorney Steve Kelly said Lees family was not challenging Syeds release, but instead wanted the judge to hold another hearing that the family can attend in-person and address the court  Lees brother Young Lee appeared via videoconference on short notice during the previous hearing.

In a statement Tuesday, Kelly said the Lee family learned about prosecutors decision to drop the charges through news accounts.

The family received no notice and their attorney was offered no opportunity to be present at the proceeding, Kelly said. By rushing to dismiss the criminal charges, the States Attorneys Office sought to silence Hae Min Lees family and to prevent the family and the public from understanding why the State so abruptly changed its position of more than 20 years. All this family ever wanted was answers and a voice. Todays actions robbed them of both.

Mosby said Tuesday that the familys appeal would have no effect on her offices decision to drop the charges against Syed.

Asked about the status of the Lee familys appeal, Suter noted that the appeals court hadnt dismissed it and that Syeds legal team was awaiting that courts next action.

Syed has maintained his innocence for decades and captured the attention of millions in 2014 when the debut season of Serial focused on the case and raised doubts about some of the evidence, including cellphone tower data.

The states attorneys office has said that a reinvestigation of the case revealed evidence regarding the possible involvement of two alternate suspects. It said the two might have been involved individually or together, but it didnt disclose their names.

One of the suspects had threatened Lee, saying he would make her (Ms. Lee) disappear. He would kill her, according to a court filing.

The suspects were known persons at the time of the original investigation and were not properly ruled out nor disclosed to the defense, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors also said new information revealed that one of the suspects was convicted of attacking a woman in her vehicle, and that one of the suspects was convicted of engaging in serial rape and sexual assault.

Prosecutors also acknowledged that unreliable cellphone data had been used to convict Syed.

Syed served more than 20 years in prison for the strangling of Lee, who was 18 at the time. Her body was found weeks later buried in a Baltimore park.

More than a decade later, the popular Serial podcast revealed little-known evidence and attracted millions of listeners, shattering podcast-streaming and downloading records.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  A proposal to update how sexual harassment investigations are conducted at the Roundhouse failed on a tie vote Tuesday, even as Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike called for a change in culture at the Legislature.

The proposed policy would have added an outside attorney  not a member of the Legislature  to a key panel that investigates harassment complaints lodged against lawmakers in a largely secretive internal process.

The lawyer would have served as chairperson of the investigative subcommittee convened to review a complaint and would have been in position to cast a tie-breaking vote to ensure the group reached a decision.

In some cases, officials said, action has stalled when the subcommittee deadlocks on a 2-2 vote, with Democrats and Republicans split on whether to move forward with a public hearing on the allegations.

Coincidentally, the proposal to change the policy and add a fifth member also failed on a tie vote Tuesday  with all six Republican members of the Legislative Council voting no and one Democrat, Rep. Patricia Lundstrom of Gallup, joining them to block the changes. Seven Democrats voted in favor.

Senate Minority Whip Craig Brandt, R-Rio Rancho, and other opponents objected to adding someone who isnt a member of the Legislature to a committee otherwise made up of lawmakers.

He also wasnt bothered that an investigation could be halted on a tie vote. Having a four-person committee evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, he said, ensures an allegation wont move forward unless theres at least some bipartisan support.

Youre possibly ruining someones political career and maybe their employment if theres a finding, Brandt said. Its a serious thing.

Supporters, in turn, said that adding the fifth member would make it easier for the investigation to result in a determination one way or another.

Its broken, and it should have been fixed, Rep. Daymon Ely, D-Corrales, said after the meeting.

The proposal came after a prominent state senator  Democrat Daniel Ivey-Soto of Albuquerque  was accused of sexual harassment and abusive behavior in a complaint filed by a lobbyist earlier this year.

The investigation ended without an investigative subcommittee issuing a finding of probable cause. But exactly what happened, including any votes taken, isnt clear because of secrecy provisions outlined in state law.

Reshaping the confidentiality law would require action by the full Legislature during a legislative session.

But the Legislative Council  a group of high-ranking lawmakers who meet between sessions  has authority to make changes to the anti-harassment policy outlining how complaints are investigated. Tuesdays proposal failed on a 7-7 vote.

Lan Sena, policy director for the Center for Civic Policy, an advocacy group, said the failed vote is a sign of the unsafe environment at the Roundhouse.

This vote killed any semblance of confidence that the public would have that this Legislature could police itself, she said.

Some lawmakers shared personal stories as they pleaded with their colleagues to treat each other  and members of the public  with more respect.

Without mentioning names, Rep. Patricia Roybal Caballero, D-Albuquerque, said she had endured public humiliation and harassment from a fellow legislator.

There was no recourse for me to address what I had been subjected to, she said.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

Bernalillo County has hired a new chief for the Metropolitan Detention Center  a man who has spent more than 27 years working at eight different facilities and is now a warden in southern Texas.

Jason Jones will start the job on Oct. 25. He replaces Rosanne Otero Gonzales, who was serving on an interim basis after Greg Richardson retired at the end of June.

The county will continue to support and provide a safe and secure facility for our staff and inmates with Chief Jones at the helm, said Bernalillo County Manager Julie Morgas Baca. He brings a strong work ethic, a wealth of experience, and the determination and drive to ensure that MDC and its great staff succeed and flourish.

MDC has been plagued by understaffing  more than 50% of security staff positions were vacant as of Aug. 1  causing inmates to be put on lockdown frequently and attorneys to avoid in-person visits.

Jones, who has been a warden for the past 12 years, began his career as a correctional officer and moved up the ranks.

The jail where he works  East Hidalgo Detention Center in La Villa, Texas  houses more than 1,400 inmates and has a staff of 275, according to a news release from the county. The MDC, on the other hand, houses an average of 1,200 inmates and, when fully staffed, employs more than 500 correctional officers.

Corrections is in my blood, and bringing my experience and drive to a new position with new challenges is exciting   Jones said. New Mexico and the Albuquerque area have always held a special place for me, and now I can live and work in a place I truly appreciate.

Jones has not worked in New Mexico, but said his family owns land near Alto in Lincoln County, where they plan to eventually retire.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

Barbs are flying between the Democratic and Republican candidates for Bernalillo County sheriff  with one campaign alleging collusion with the sitting sheriff and the other referencing a decades-old civil rights violation lawsuit.

On June 7, the day of the primary election, current Sheriff Manuel Gonzales submitted to the states Department of Public Safety seven misconduct reports appearing to allege that Democratic candidate John Allen had committed overtime abuse as a sergeant years ago. Allen retired from BCSO in December 2019.

The alleged misconduct happened between August 2019 and January 2021.

A DPS spokesman said the documents BCSO submitted have limited details in the summary and were not filed within 90 days of when the agency was made aware of an incident  as is required  so it is not being investigated.

The matter is not that the board lacks jurisdiction, it is that the reports were filed two years late, H.L. Lovato wrote in an email. This is not a failure on the part of the LEA Board; the BCSO failed to submit a report in a timely manner.

Regardless of the outcome, Allens campaign is saying that Gonzales broke the law by using county taxpayer resources for a political purpose: to attempt to defeat the candidate he does not want to succeed him because, a week after he filed the report, Allens Republican opponent requested it through the Inspection of Public Records Act.

I think that its indisputably political and that (Paul) Pacheco and his treasurer in his campaign knew to file an IPRA, said Allens campaign manager Neri Holguin. They could have only known that having worked directly with Gonzales.

Pacheco, however, disputed that he was tipped off and said his campaign has submitted dozens of IPRA requests to various agencies over the past several months.

John Allen getting disciplined for committing time-sheet fraud was the worst kept secret at the Bernalillo County Sheriffs Department, Pacheco said in an email.

And a BCSO spokeswoman responded to questions about why the reports were filed in June 2022 by saying she couldnt answer because, as an agency, we must remain neutral and unbiased regarding political matters.

We will continue to respond to all inquiries regarding ongoing or active scenes, deputy Felicia Maggard wrote in an email. However, we may not provide comment if the topic may be a part of any political coverage. We are a law enforcement agency, and solely focused on public safety and serving our constituents.

Pacheco, meanwhile, brought up a lawsuit filed against Allen in 2001 that alleged he conducted an unlawful search when he was a New Mexico State Police officer and made false statements about it in court.

We are not going to be lectured on ethics by a man who was run out of the State Police for committing perjury in a criminal case, according to both a judge and his fellow officer, he said.

The lawsuit in question settled. Thom Cole, a spokesman for the General Services Department, said it appears that the state paid out $30,000 around April 2002; however, the full records have been destroyed due to their age.

Allen acknowledged that the search happened when he was a rookie State Police officer in Las Vegas, New Mexico. He said that, during a traffic stop, he recovered cocaine from a known and dangerous narcotics dealer.

Although we received verbal consent to search the car, we did not have consent to search a toolbox in the bed of the truck where the drugs

were found, Allen said. I should have communicated more clearly with other officers and further reviewed evidence before the court case.

He said he now knows  and teaches at the Law Enforcement Academy  that consent given in any search and seizure arena should be verbal or written. Consent can stop at any time. Once the owner stops consent, which can be given at any time, the search must stop.

Allen and Pacheco are joined on the ballot by Libertarian Kaelan Dreyer.

The Bernalillo County Deputy Sheriffs Association is not endorsing a candidate in the race. It did register its objections to an article in the Journal on Saturday, where Allen referenced a shooting by a deputy in 2017.

President Ryan Zamora said the union hopes that the candidates will focus on themselves, their plans and their opponents, not any of our members.

We have elected not to endorse any candidate for the office of Sheriff, Zamora said. We are looking forward to working with either candidate. We have confidence that, regardless of who wins, we will be able to continue a cordial relationship and accomplish the mission of the Sheriffs Office.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

Essential workers in Bernalillo Countys private sector will soon be eligible for a $3,000 government-funded grant.

The county commission on Tuesday unanimously approved allocating $5 million for premium pay bonuses to private-sector employees for retention and recognition of essential work in sectors deemed critical to the health and well-being of (county) residents, according to a summary of the proposal.

That includes people who make $20 or less per hour while working in a range of industries, including restaurants, grocery stores, nursing homes, warehouses and more, according to the county. It applies to those in both for-profit and nonprofit organizations.

Employers will have to apply for the funds on their workers behalf, and no single business will get more than $50,000 total regardless of their size, county officials said.

The county is still sorting out the programs administrative details but will make a forthcoming announcement when it is ready to accept applications.

The program funding comes from the nearly $132 million in federal relief the county received through the American Rescue Plan Act.

The county commission had last month designated $5 million from ARPA to cover premium payments to the countys own staff  specifically public safety and behavioral health employees, but also custodians, community center staff and more. Officials have not issued those payments yet, or even determined how much each individual employee will get, but they said they wanted to create a similar program for those outside county employment.

Since we are doing (premium pay) for county employees, we wanted to also open it up to the private and nonprofit sectors as well, said Marcos Gonzales, the countys economic development director.

Officials compared it to the federally funded business grants the county issued earlier in the pandemic.

Its really about economic recovery, said Shirley Ragin, the countys deputy county manager for finance.

Unlike some county programs, the funds are not specific to those in the countys unincorporated areas. Employees within the city of Albuquerque boundaries are also eligible.

Also on Tuesday: the county commission approved a new ordinance prohibiting landlords from discriminating against renters who use vouchers or pay with any other lawful source of income.

The new policy is similar to one the Albuquerque City Council passed earlier this year.

The commission extensively debated the ordinance, with some members raising concern that it would make the county a less attractive place to build or rent housing.

But the new ordinance ultimately passed on a 4-1 vote, with only Walt Benson opposing.

The bills sponsor, Adriann Barboa, said the legislation is a way of giving low-income renters a fair chance rather than letting some landlords screen them out of the process solely because they use vouchers.

Were trying to be clear were watching, she said.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

A young man prosecuted as a juvenile in 2021 for threatening to commit a mass casualty event was released on federal probation under strict requirements, including that he submit to monitoring software on his computer. He was also barred from communicating with another juvenile about their mutual desires to inflict harm.

But newly unsealed records show the FBI in New Mexico, assisted by U.S. Probation officers, is investigating new dossiers and manifestos purportedly written by the man, identified as Ian Burns. In one entry in his seized diary, Burns is alleged to have written that his prosecution, appearance before a U.S. District judge, and time in jail, didnt extinguish his real feelings.

Anyway, I want to kill so bad and I know Ill have to go on a spree, thats the only way, or perhaps murder a few and then go on my rampage. Id like to feel what its like killing someone up close at least once or twice, the diary entry stated.

Burns was identified in an FBI search warrant affidavit unsealed Friday in Albuquerque, but his age wasnt listed. It also wasnt clear where he has been living in New Mexico.

FBI spokesman Frank Fisher did confirm late Tuesday that Burns is in federal custody for violating the terms of his probation.

Most information about his juvenile case is sealed, except that he was convicted of interstate transmission of threatening communication in a case that was assigned to Senior U.S. District Judge Martha Vazquez of Santa Fe.

He was barred under terms of his probation from using the internet other than for school work, and was barred from communicating with the individuals associated with his conviction. He was also to wear an ankle monitor with GPS monitoring.

But a U.S. Probation officer found chat conversations between people Burns had been prohibited from communicating with. And it was discovered measures had been taken to tamper with the United States Probation Offices monitoring software, which had been nearly disabled, the affidavit stated.

A search of Burns flip phone indicated he was back in touch with a minor  identified as Hayden Fulmer  who had a central Florida phone number and had been one of his associates in the juvenile case.

The affidavit stated that probation officers also seized a diary in Burns bedroom, in which he wrote, Today was the first day I relapsed into my old way of thinking. This account of my real feelings must stay hidden as I attempt to reflect an outward demeanor of regret and remorse. But let me be clear, my mind is still rife with the thoughts of before. I was correct when I said that this was not just another passing obsession.

Even after the month in jail, even after the judge, even after the forensic examination it is all still there. I want to top the list.

That entry, according to the affidavit, was followed by a drawing depicting a leaderboard for most prolific mass killers with BURNS name at the top, followed by 1. Ian B. 45 killed.

The diary quotation references someone named Adam.

This is believed to be a reference to Adam Lanza who was the mass shooter who killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, the affidavit stated.

These comments provide probable cause to believe that Burns has intent to conceal his planning of a mass casualty event, stated the affidavit by an FBI agent with the Albuquerque offices Guardian and Threat Response.

Probation officers also seized a blue binder from Burns, which had a printout attached from an internet search for mass shooting movies. That document is dated July 15 of this year.

Despite his probationary status, the affidavit stated, Burns has a continuing infatuation with mass shootings. The search warrant affidavit sought permission from a U.S. Magistrate judge to search the young mans mobile phones, Nintendo Switch and computer, which were at the FBI office in Albuquerque.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

The Archdiocese of Santa Fe on Tuesday filed its long-awaited plan of bankruptcy reorganization to compensate nearly 400 clergy abuse survivors more than $121 million, with an additional $4 million promised by the Servants of the Paraclete, which ran a national treatment center that funneled dozens of offenders into New Mexico Catholic parishes and schools.

Six insurers will pay $46.5 million of the $121.5 million negotiated amount, with the remaining $75 million contribution by the archdiocese, which has put more than $69 million into an escrow account, with a $5.4 million promissory note that must be paid in full by March 31. In addition, the Paraclete and three religious orders that have been sued in state court for clergy abuse will contribute an additional $7.85 million.

The archdioceses contribution is considered to be among the largest settlements paid by an archdiocese in the country.

The plan comes nearly four years after the archdiocese filed for bankruptcy reorganization to try to resolve mounting abuse claims and stem financial losses that date back to the early 1990s. At the time, the archdiocese was facing about 36 lawsuits.

It is impossible to overstate the tragedy of the Abuse that was inflicted on the children and teenagers of the Archdiocese, states the archdiocese disclosure statement that accompanied the reorganization plan. The Abuse was perpetrated by priests or others purporting to do the missionary work of the Roman Catholic Church. Instead of fulfilling their missions, those perpetrators inflicted harm and suffering.

Lawyers representing abuse survivors have contended systemic child abuse occurred in New Mexicos Catholic church for years, with past archdiocese hierarchy accused of covering up the improper sexual activity and transferring offending priests from parish to parish to avoid scandal.

Albuquerque attorney Brad Hall has represented more than 235 church abuse survivors in recent years, including 145 people who filed claims in the bankruptcy case. He told the Journal that the archdioceses filing of a plan starts the clock for winding down the bankruptcy case. If all things are done on as short a notice as possible, survivors might finally see allocations in December, he said.

Thats four years after filing their Chapter 11 petition, Hall added, and finally represents the possibility of some closure for long suffering people who were badly hurt as children. I see light at the end of the tunnel.

Survivors who filed claims still must vote to accept the plan, which needs a two-thirds approval to go forward.

A hearing on the plan is set for Wednesday before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David Thuma.

After numerous delays occurred this summer with no reorganization plan filed, Thuma recently took on a proactive role setting deadlines for the archdiocese and the parties to file required documents. Thuma would be asked to confirm the plan if survivors vote to approve.

Much of the delay in reaching a payout amount occurred when the archdiocese negotiated with its insurers to cover part of the settlement amount, and a specialized mediator was called in to help reach a consensus.

Meanwhile, the archdiocese has sold numerous non-essential properties, sought mortgages on others, and enlisted its parishes to contribute to the settlement fund. Some parishes have contributed tens of thousands of dollars.

Under the plan, a separate trust for unknown claims would also be established.

A retired federal judge was appointed in June to determine the number of unknown tort claimants and conduct an analysis about how much money the archdiocese should set aside for the future payments of those claims.

The archdiocese stated in its filings on Tuesday that the plan provides for a larger distribution to those survivors who have filed claims than would result from any reasonably available alternative.

Also important to the survivor claimants is the non-monetary provision of the settlement agreement that requires the archdiocese turn over documents about the abuse scandal for public inspection at the University of New Mexico Zimmerman Library. Victims names and other identifying information will be redacted.

The Servants of the Paraclete, which had been facing an estimated 80 claims or lawsuits in state court, was established more than 50 years ago to provide treatment to Catholic priests from around the country for issues including alcoholism and pedophilia. It operated a now-closed facility in Jemez Springs, and worked with the archdiocese to send such priests to minister at various Catholic churches and schools as part of a graduated program of rehabilitation.

Under Archbishop of Santa Fe John C. Wester, the archdiocese has maintained a zero tolerance policy and keeps a list of credibly accused priests and clergy who worked in the archdiocese on its website. Currently 80 priests or clergy are named, with 29 listed as living. The archdiocese also has posted the names of nine other priests who have been credibly accused of abuse in other dioceses and at some point worked in the Santa Fe archdiocese.

For many years, Clergy members within the Church violated the sacred trust placed in them by families, children, and the Church by committing acts of sexual abuse, the archdiocese stated in one bankruptcy filing on Tuesday. This was left unaddressed for decades. Survivors of abuse were ignored, called liars, shamed and felt abandoned by their Church. This conduct is contrary to the teaching and traditions of the Church.

The Archdiocese settled many claims over a number of years but ultimately determined that a chapter 11 process would be more just to all victims, giving each an opportunity to participate on an equal footing in one forum.
KYIV, Ukraine  Unbowed Western powers pledged to supply Ukraine with more potent air defense systems following a furious barrage of retaliatory Russian missile strikes, including one that temporarily knocked Europes biggest nuclear plant off the invaded countrys electrical grid Wednesday.

The Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant suffered a blackout when a missile damaged a distant electrical substation, Ukraines state nuclear operator said. The power loss increased the risk of a radiation emergency because the plant needs electricity to prevent its reactors from overheating.

Energoatom said the external power source was repaired after about eight hours and that the plants emergency diesel generators  which rely on uncertain fuel deliveries in the war zone  provided backup in the meantime, but a similarly hazardous interruption could happen at any time.

Russia has seized the plant and is not taking any steps to deescalate. On the contrary, it is shelling important infrastructure daily, the companys press service told The Associated Press.

Hundreds of cities and towns across Ukraine lost electricity after Russia launched a wide-ranging missile assault Monday in retaliation for a truck bomb explosion that damaged a bridge linking Russia with the Crimean Peninsula, which it annexed in 2014.

With repairs to the grid still in progress, Ukraines prime minister asked people to reduce evening energy consumption by 25% and prepare for winter by keeping essentials such as warm clothes, candles, flashlights and batteries ready.

As the barrage that killed dozens of Ukrainians this week continued, Ukraines Western allies met at NATO headquarters in Brussels to calibrate their response.

U.S. Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Ukraine wants its Western partners to provide it with a complete air defense system to contend with Russian warplanes and missiles. Milley spoke to reporters after a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, about 50 nations that meet regularly to assess Kyivs needs and drum up equipment.

What Ukraine is asking for, and what we think can be provided, is an integrated air missile defense system. So that doesnt control all the airspace over Ukraine, but theyre designed to control priority targets that Ukraine needs to protect, Milley told reporters

Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyys office, said the meeting was historic because decisions to close the sky for Ukraine were being made there. Ukraine has put a priority on bucking up its air defenses, but NATO member nations have worried how to do that without triggering a wider war in Europe.

Zelenskyys office said Moscows retaliatory strikes killed at least 14 people and wounded 34 over the last day in the Zaporizhzhia region and the Donetsk region to the east. At least 19 died in Mondays opening onslaught, including five in Kyiv.

A day after Ukraines Defense Ministry announced the arrival of the first of Germanys four promised IRIS-T air defense systems, the defense minister of the Netherlands said her country would deliver $14.5 million worth of air defense missiles in light of Russias latest attacks.

These attacks reinforce the governments belief that they can only be answered with unwavering support for Ukraine and its people, Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongreher said. The Netherlands, like our partners, will not be intimidated by Russia.

French President Emmanuel Macron, in a television interview Wednesday evening, promised prompt delivery of more cannons and also anti-aircraft systems and missiles.

The U.S. is expected to deliver two advanced NASAMs anti-aircraft systems in the coming weeks.

The nuclear scare and pledges of more Western support came amid a flurry of developments in Russias 7 1/2-month-old invasion.

Moscows main domestic security agency said it arrested eight people  five Russians and three citizens of Ukraine and Armenia  over the blast on the Kerch bridge between Russia and Crimea. A truck loaded with explosives blew up while driving across the bridge Saturday, killing four people and causing sections of road to collapse, Russian officials said.

The span opened four years after Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, serving as a symbol of Moscows regional dominance as well as a crucial route for military supplies for its troops in Ukraine and for Russians traveling to a popular vacation destination.

The Federal Security Service, known by the Russian-language acronym FSB, alleged the detained suspects acted on orders of Ukraines military intelligence to secretly move the explosives into Russia using forged documents.

Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman Andriy Yusov denied the accusation that his country was involved, telling reporters, The entire activity of the FSB and the Investigative Committee is nonsense.

Zelenskyys office said in a morning update that strikes on central and western parts of Ukraine had ceased but Russian shelling and attacks involving drones, heavy artillery and missiles continued in eight southeast regions.

More than a dozen missiles were fired at the city of Zaporizhzhia and its suburbs, damaging residential buildings. Part of a larger eponymous region that Moscow has illegally annexed, the city remains in Ukrainian hands while Russian forces control the area where the nuclear plant is located.

In Nikopol, a city of 104,000 across the Dnieper River from the plant, three people were gravely wounded, including a 6-year-old girl. Over 30 multistory residential buildings were damaged, as as well as private houses and schools, Ukrainian authorities said.

Rafael Grossi, the head of the U.N.s International Atomic Energy Agency, said the loss of external power at the nuclear plant for the second time in five days again exposed how precarious the situation is, and he pleaded again for a security zone around the plant.

All six of the Zaporizhzhia reactors were stopped earlier due to the war. But they still require electricity to prevent them and their spent fuel rods from overheating to the point of a meltdown that could release radiation into the atmosphere of Ukraine and potentially other European countries, including Russia.

In the Donetsk region, Russian tanks shelled the city of Avdiivka, damaging residential buildings and a market. Seven people were killed and eight wounded, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of Zelenskyys office, said via Telegram, posting photos of bodies on the ground by a kiosk with potatoes and bread on the counter.

Before the bombardment of the last three days, Russian forces over the last month had lost ground to a Ukrainian counteroffensive in the east and south, drawing criticism from hawkish commentators in Russia.

Earlier Wednesday, Ukraines southern command said its forces recaptured five settlements in the southern Kherson region, on the western fringe of an arc of Russian-controlled territory in eastern and southern Ukraine.

Near the southern city of Mykolaiv, Ukrainian forces shot down nine Iranian Shahed-136 drones and destroyed eight Kalibr cruise missiles, the presidential office said.

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Yuras Karmanau in Tallinn, Estonia, and Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this report.

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Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
A portion of eastbound Interstate 40 was closed for several hours early Wednesday morning due to a single-vehicle rollover crash.

At approximately 1:30 a.m., Albuquerque police spokesman Chase Jewell sent an email stating that Albuquerque police officers were dispatched to I-40 just east of Coors NW to investigate the crash. He said eastbound traffic was diverted onto Coors.

The single occupant of the crash has been transported to the hospital, where they remain in critical condition, he wrote.

At 4:25 a.m., Jewell said the highway had been reopened.
WATERBURY, Conn.  Jurors ordered conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on Wednesday to pay nearly $1 billion to Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims relatives and an FBI agent, who said he turned their loss and trauma into years of torment by promoting the lie that the rampage was a hoax.

The $965 million verdict is the second big judgment against the Infowars host for spreading the myth that the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history never happened, and that the grieving families seen in news coverage were actors hired as part of a plot to take away peoples guns.

The verdict came in a defamation lawsuit filed by some of the families of 26 people who were killed in the 2012 shooting, plus an FBI agent who was among the first responders. A Texas jury in August awarded nearly $50 million to the parents of another slain child.

Robbie Parker, who lost his 6-year-old daughter, Emilie, said outside the Connecticut court that he was proud that what we were able to accomplish was just to simply tell the truth.

And it shouldnt be this hard, and it shouldnt be this scary, said Parker, who became an early target of conspiracy theorists after he spoke at a news conference the day after the shooting. The jury awarded him the most of any plaintiff: $120 million.

Jones wasnt at court but reacted on his Infowars show.

As courtroom video showed the jury awards being read out, Jones said that he himself had never mentioned the plaintiffs names.

All made up. Hilarious, he said. So this is what a show trial looks like. I mean, this is the left completely out of control.

Jones lawyer, Norm Pattis, portrayed the trial as unfair and pledged to appeal.

Today is a very, very, very dark day for freedom of speech, he said outside court.

The jury awarded various sums to the victims relatives, who testified that they were threatened and harassed for years by people who believed the lies told on Jones show. Strangers showed up at the families homes to record them. People hurled abusive comments on social media.

Mark Barden testified that conspiracy theorists urinated on the grave of his 7-year-old son, Daniel, and threatened to dig up the coffin; Barden and his wife were together awarded about $86 million. Now-retired FBI Agent William Aldenberg, awarded $90 million, described the horror he saw at the school as he responded alongside other law enforcement, and his outrage at seeing online claims that he was an actor.

Erica Lafferty, the daughter of slain Sandy Hook principal Dawn Hochsprung, testified that people mailed rape threats to her house.

I wish that after today, I can just be a daughter grieving my mother and stop worrying about the conspiracy theorists, Lafferty said outside court. But she predicted that Jones hate, lies and conspiracy theories will follow both me and my family through the rest of our days.

To plaintiff William Sherlach, the verdict shows that the internet is not the wild, wild West, and that your actions have consequences.

He had testified about seeing online posts that falsely posited that the shooting was a hoax; that his slain wife, school psychologist Mary Sherlach, never existed; that he was part of a financial cabal and somehow involved with the school shooters father; and more. He told jurors the shooting deniers vitriol made him worry for his familys safety.

Going forward  because, unfortunately, there will be other horrific events like this  people like Alex Jones will have to rethink what they say, Sherlach said.

Testifying during the trial, Jones acknowledged he had been wrong about Sandy Hook. The shooting was real, he said. But in the courtroom and on his show, he was defiant.

He called the proceedings a kangaroo court, mocked the judge, called the plaintiffs lawyer an ambulance chaser and labeled the case an affront to free speech rights. He claimed it was a conspiracy by Democrats and the media to silence him and put him out of business.

Ive already said Im sorry hundreds of times, and Im done saying Im sorry, he told jurors.

Twenty children and six adults died in the shooting on Dec. 14, 2012; relatives of five children and three educators sued in Connecticut. The trial was held at a courthouse in Waterbury, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from Newtown, where the attack took place.

The lawsuit accused Jones and Infowars parent company, Free Speech Systems, of using the mass killing to build his audience and make millions of dollars. Experts testified that Jones audience swelled, as did his revenue from product sales, when he made Sandy Hook a topic on the show.

In both the Texas and Connecticut lawsuits, judges found the company liable for damages by default after Jones failed to cooperate with court rules on sharing evidence, including failing to turn over records that might have showed whether Infowars had profited from knowingly spreading misinformation about mass killings.

Because he was already found liable, Jones was barred from mentioning free speech rights and other topics during his testimony.

Jones now faces a third trial, in Texas, in a lawsuit filed by the parents of another child killed in the shooting.

It is unclear how much of the verdicts Jones can afford to pay. During the trial in Texas, he testified he couldnt afford any judgment over $2 million, and his lawyers plan to appeal and try to reduce the damages there. Free Speech Systems has filed for bankruptcy protection.

But an economist testified in the Texas proceeding that Jones and his company were worth as much as $270 million.

A lawyer for the families in the Connecticut case, Josh Koskoff, said that if this verdict shuts down Alex Jones, good.

Hes been walking in the shadow of death to try to profit on the backs of people who have just been devastated, Koskoff said. That is not a business model that should be sustainable in the United States.

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Associated Press journalists Jennifer Peltz in New York and Ted Shaffrey in Waterbury, Connecticut, contributed.
PHOENIX  Scores on the ACT college admissions test by this years high school graduates hit their lowest point in more than 30 years  the latest evidence of the enormity of learning disruption during the pandemic.

The class of 2022s average ACT composite score was 19.8 out of 36, marking the first time since 1991 that the average score was below 20. Whats more, an increasing number of high school students failed to meet any of the subject-area benchmarks set by the ACT  showing a decline in preparedness for college-level coursework.

The test scores, made public in a report Wednesday, show 42% of ACT-tested graduates in the class of 2022 met none of the subject benchmarks in English, reading, science and math, which are indicators of how well students are expected to perform in corresponding college courses.

In comparison, 38% of test takers in 2021 failed to meet any of the benchmarks.

Academic preparedness is where we are seeing the decline, said Rose Babington, senior director for state partnerships for the ACT. Every time we see ACT test scores, we are talking about skills and standards, and the prediction of students to be successful and to know the really important information to succeed and persist through their first year of college courses.

ACT scores have declined steadily in recent years. Still, the magnitude of the declines this year is particularly alarming, ACT CEO Janet Godwin said in a statement. We see rapidly growing numbers of seniors leaving high school without meeting college-readiness benchmarks in any of the subjects we measure.

The results offer a lens into systemic inequities in education, in place well before the pandemic shuttered schools and colleges temporarily waived testing requirements. For example, students without access to rigorous high school curriculum suffered more setbacks during pandemic disruptions, Babington said. Those students are from rural areas, come from low-income families and are often students of color.

The number of students taking the ACT has declined 30% since 2018, as graduates increasingly forgo college and some universities no longer require admissions tests. But participation plunged 37% among Black students, with 154,000 taking the test this year.

Standardized tests such as the ACT have faced growing concerns that theyre unfair to minority and low-income students, as students with access to expensive test prep or advanced courses often perform better.

Babington defended the test as a measure of college readiness. Now more than ever, the last few years have shown us the importance of having high-quality data to help inform how we support students, Babington said.

Test scores now are optional for first-year student admission at many institutions. Some colleges, such as the University of California system, even opt for a test-blind policy, where scores are not considered even if submitted.

But many students still take the tests, hoping to get an edge in admissions by submitting their scores. Tyrone Jordan, a freshman at test-optional Arizona State University, said he took the ACT and the SAT to get ahead of other students and help him receive scholarships.

Jordan, who wants to pursue mechanical engineering, said he thinks his rigorous schedule at Tempe Preparatory Academy prepared him for college, and the standardized tests helped support him and his family financially.

All the test did for me was give me extra financial money, Jordan said.

While Jordan was always planning to take the test, many students struggle with access or choose not to take the test since their universities of choice no longer require it. In Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Tennessee and Wyoming, everyone is tested.

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The Associated Press education team receives support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
NEW YORK  Former President Donald Trump angrily lashed out Wednesday, calling the nations legal system a broken disgrace after a judge ruled he must answer questions under oath next week in a defamation lawsuit lodged by a writer who says he raped her in the mid-1990s.

He also called the 2019 lawsuit by E. Jean Carroll, a longtime advice columnist for Elle magazine, a hoax and a lie.

The outburst late in the day came hours after U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan in Manhattan rejected a request by his lawyers to delay a deposition scheduled for Oct. 19.

Kaplan is presiding over the case in which Carroll said Trump raped her in the dressing room of a Manhattan Bergdorf Goodman store in the mid-1990s. He called the lawsuit a complete con job.

I dont know this woman, have no idea who she is, other than it seems she got a picture of me many years ago, with her husband, shaking my hand on a reception line at a celebrity charity event, Trump said.

She completely made up a story that I met her at the doors of this crowded New York City Department Store and, within minutes, swooned her. It is a Hoax and a lie, just like all the other Hoaxes that have been played on me for the past seven years, he said.

Then he grumbled: Now all I have to do is go through years more of legal nonsense in order to clear my name of her and her lawyers phony attacks on me. This can only happen to Trump!

Carroll is scheduled to be deposed on Friday.

Roberta Kaplan, Carrolls attorney, said she was pleased with the judges ruling and looked forward to filing new claims next month and moving forward to trial with all dispatch after New York state passed the Adult Survivors Act, allowing her to sue for damages for the alleged rape without the statute of limitations blocking it.

After Trumps statement was released, a spokesperson for Kaplans firm, Kaplan Hecker & Fink, said the latest statement from Donald Trump obviously does not merit a response.

Trumps legal team has tried various legal tactics to delay the lawsuit and prevent him from being questioned by Carrolls attorneys. But Judge Kaplan wrote that it was time to move forward, especially given the advanced age of Carroll, 78, and Trump, 76, and perhaps other witnesses.

The defendant should not be permitted to run the clock out on plaintiffs attempt to gain a remedy for what allegedly was a serious wrong, he wrote.

Carrolls lawsuit claims that Trump damaged her reputation in 2019 when he denied raping her. Trumps legal team has been trying to quash the lawsuit by arguing that the Republican was just doing his job as president when he denied the allegations, including when he dismissed his accuser as not my type.

Trump doubled down on the comment in his statement Wednesday, saying: And, while I am not supposed to say it, I will. This woman is not my type! She has no idea what day, what week, what month, what year, or what decade this so-called event supposedly took place. The reason she doesnt know is because it never happened, and she doesnt want to get caught up with details or facts that can be proven wrong.

Whether Trump will remain the defendant in the original lawsuit is a key question because if Trump was acting within the scope of his duties as a federal employee, the U.S. government would become the defendant in the case.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in a split decision last month that Trump was a federal employee when he commented on Carrolls claims. But it asked another court in Washington to decide whether Trumps public statements occurred during the scope of his employment.

Kaplan, the judge, said Trump has repeatedly tried to delay the collection of evidence in the lawsuit.

Given his conduct so far in this case, Mr. Trumps position regarding the burdens of discovery is inexcusable, he wrote. As this Court previously has observed, Mr. Trump has litigated this case since it began in 2019 with the effect and probably the purpose of delaying it.

The judge noted that the collection of evidence for the lawsuit to go to trial was virtually concluded, except for the depositions of Trump and Carroll.

Mr. Trump has conducted extensive discovery of the plaintiff, yet produced virtually none himself, Kaplan said. Completing these depositions  which already have been delayed for years  would impose no undue burden on Mr. Trump, let alone any irreparable injury.

The judge also said the deposition could be useful when Carrolls lawyer next month files the new lawsuit.

Whether the rape occurred is central to the defamation claims, as well as the anticipated new lawsuit, the judge said.

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Associated Press Writer Jill Colvin reported from Washington
The Clovis City Commission has scheduled a special session for Thursday to consider a sanctuary city for the unborn ordinance.

Mayor Mike Morris said Commissioner David Bryant requested the special session. The meeting is scheduled to start at 5:15 p.m. and there is only one item on the agenda: Request for approval of introduction of an ordinance requiring abortion providers in the city of Clovis to comply with federal law.

Multiple attempts to reach Bryant were unsuccessful.

Morris said last week he planned to introduce the proposed ordinance at the commissions regular meeting on Oct. 20.

But Morris said he received Bryants express written request for the special meeting on Monday.

Assistant City Manager Claire Burroughes said any commissioner may request a special session in writing and it will be granted, according to the city charter.

Morris wrote in an email to The News that he wanted the meeting later because I feel its our duty to fully research and vet something like this to avoid taking a misstep out of haste. And this is certainly the kind of thing we would want our entire commission on hand for.

In Morris email, he wrote that Commissioners Helen Casaus and Megan Palla told Bryant they would be unable to attend a meeting on Thursday because of prior commitments. Morris said the commissioners absence is unfortunate.

Attempts to contact Casaus and Palla were not successful.

Other commissioners contacted by The News said they were not sure how they might vote on the issue, intended to ban abortion clinics from the city. Currently, there are no clinics that provide abortions in Clovis or the region. Abortion is legal under state law.

Commissioner Lauren Rowley said commissioners will hear what people have to say then make our decision.

Rowley said shes had no phone calls on the matter but received a number of emails.

Many of the emails were from people whose names I didnt recognize and they stated they werent from Clovis, she said.

Commissioner George Jones said hes had one phone call and a few emails regarding the proposed ordinance.

The phone call was from Clovis, Jones said. The majority of the emails were from outside Clovis.

Jones said commissioners have been reviewing the ordinance.

We are in discussions with our city attorney (Jared Morris) to check to find any concerns he might have, Jones said.

Jones and other commissioners said they wont decide how they will vote until they have more information.

Mayor Pro-Tem and Commissioner Chris Bryant said, I am completely pro-life but I want to be sure were doing this the correct way.

Chris Bryant said he has not received any phone calls on the issue but has received emails.

All of my emails have been pro-life, he said. I have a few from Clovis but a lot from out of town.

We are in discussions with our city attorney [Jared Morris] to check to find any concerns he might have, Jones said.
LOS ANGELES  The former president of the Los Angeles City Council resigned from public office Wednesday, three days after a recording surfaced of her making racist remarks in a meeting that is now the subject of a state investigation.

Nury Martinez, the first Latina to hold the top post on the council, announced her decision in a press release following a groundswell of outrage and calls for the resignations of her and two other council members involved in the conversation recorded last year.

Martinez made racist remarks about the Black son of a white councilman and other crude comments.

Her resignation statement did not address those comments, though in words directed at her daughter she said she had fallen short of expectations recently and added: I vow to you that I will strive to be a better woman to make you proud.

The announcement was made several hours after Attorney General Rob Bonta said he would investigate Los Angeles redistricting process that the three council members discussed with a labor leader in which they schemed to protect Latino political strength in council districts.

Martinez had stepped down as president Monday while still holding onto her council seat. Her decision to give up her seat came as President Joe Biden was due to arrive in Los Angeles a day after he condemned the remarks and called on all three council members  Martinez, Kevin de Leon and Gil Cedillo  to resign.

Bonta, a Democrat like the three council members, said his investigation could lead to civil liability or criminal charges, depending on what is found.

Its clear an investigation is sorely needed to help restore confidence in the redistricting process for the people of LA, he said.

Bonta spoke in Los Angeles while the council tried unsuccessfully to conduct business nearby amid the uproar that exposed City Halls racial rivalries. Those involved in the leaked conversation were all Latinos, while Bonta is the first Filipino American to hold the top law enforcement job in the nations most populous state.

The council reconvened Wednesday, possibly to censure the three members, but it was unable to do business because a crowd of about 50 protesters drowned out the acting president chanting slogans such as, No meeting without resignation.

A minimum of 10 out of 15 members necessary for a quorum had assembled, but the meeting was adjourned when one left. None of the three embattled council members showed up.

Who shut you down? We shut you down! the raucous crowd cheered as the lights were being turned down.

Acting Council President Mitch OFarrell said that with no sign of anger subsiding, he didnt think the council could resume its work until all three are gone, which he said is inevitable.

For Los Angeles to heal, and for its City Council to govern, there must be accountability, he said in a statement. I repeat my call on Councilmembers de Leon and Cedillo to also resign. There is no other way forward.

The council cannot expel members  it can only suspend a member when criminal charges are pending. A censure does not result in suspension or removal from office.

In the recorded conversation, Martinez called council member Mike Bonin a little bitch. She described the behavior of his Black son on a parade float when he was 2 as parece changuito, or like a monkey, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday.

At another point on the hourlong recording, Martinez called indigenous immigrants from the Mexican state of Oaxaca ugly, and made crass remarks about Jews and Armenians.

Martinez made history in 2019 when she became the first Latina elected to the council presidency and described herself as a glass-ceiling shattering leader who brings profound life experience as the proud daughter of working-class immigrants on her website. She is the daughter of Mexican immigrants and was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley.

The discussion with a powerful Latino labor leader, who has since resigned, centered on protecting Latino political power while redrawing council district boundaries. The once-a-decade redistricting process can pit one group against another to gain political advantage in elections.

Jessica Levinson, a Loyola Law School professor who previously was a member of the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission, said she did not see evidence in the recordings that would prompt criminal charges, although Bonta left open that possibility.

However, she said a probe could force redrawing council districts even though the current maps are being used to choose new council members next month.

It is so rare to have audio where  it gives the impression that theyre explicitly drawing lines on the basis of race, Levinson said. If in the end we determine these lines were illegally drawn, there needs to be a remedy for that, even though practically  its a disaster.

Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer has called for creating an independent commission to draw redistricting maps.

It should be clear to everyone by now that if you leave in the hands of elected officials the power to determine their own political districts, this is a recipe for conflict of interest and it is an invitation to backroom deals, Feuer said.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the recording was posted on the social medial site Reddit by a now-suspended user. It is unclear who recorded the audio, who uploaded it to Reddit and whether anyone else was present at the meeting.

___

Thompson reported from Sacramento. Associated Press writers John Antczak and Amancai Biraben in Los Angeles, Sophie Austin in Sacramento and Julie Watson in San Diego contributed to this report.
Its been a few years since Johnny Burgin performed in Albuquerque.

The blues musician cant wait to get back.

Touring is finally back and Im making my way back there, Burgin says. Its definitely been a journey for me with touring and making music.

Burgin will bring his tour to Albuquerque at Marble Brewery on Thursday, Oct. 20.

Burgin found the blues on accident while a student at the University of Chicago.

Originally he went to college with the intention of becoming a writer. The aha moment came when saw Tail Dragger Jones perform.

Since then, hes been deep into the Chicago blues scene.

Burgin spent the last few months putting the finishing touches on a new album which he is calling Rambling from Coast to Coast.

I recorded all around the country with young musicians, he says. Its encouraging to see all of the talent thats coming up in the world. Last summer, I taught at the Pinetop Perkins Experience Workshop in Clarksdale, Mississippi and I was able to see first hand all of the talent that the youth is bringing to the table.

In the collaborations, Burgin was able to challenge himself within music. He was able to work with blues musician Ben Levin.

Ben is like 22 years old and he recorded on my album, he says. Then I was featured on his album as well. Hes put out five CDs for Vizztone (Label). Hes a really good musician. Musicians like Ben are less afraid of not getting it right the first time. They are there for the experience and getting better with each collaboration. He inspired me.

As time moves on and Burgin gets older, hes embracing the many changes.

Some of which have made him better.

With music and the blues, it takes you awhile to grow into it, he says. It takes going through the ringer of life to do the blues. I couldnt even sing that well until I hit 40. Now I can savor all of the experiences more. After the pandemic, I think everyone has a heightened realization to make the most of every song, gig and moment.

Burgin says his live sets are bullet points to his life.

Ive been through a lot in life and Ive made sure it hasnt stopped me, he says. I use every experience as a moment of learning. Being on stage again, I make sure to do the best I can. For the Albuquerque show, Ill be performing with some friends from there and it will be a night full of emotions.

Johnny Burgin

WHEN: 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 20

WHERE: Marble Brewery, 111 Marble Ave. NW

HOW MUCH: Free to attend
By day Doug Wiggins puts his creative touch on fashion.

Its a career where he is a company of one.

Growing up in New Mexico, Wiggins has experienced his share of hardship.

Which is why his design company, Done By Doug, often hosts a canned food drive.

This is the second one this year and its an easy way to give back to the community that has supported me, Wiggins says. With my fashion design label, I have a platform to make a difference.

Wiggins is hosting a canned food drive from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 14, at Power Plant, located at 3719 Fourth NW.

All of the donations will be given to Storehouse New Mexico.

Wiggins is also hosting a raffle for the event. For every five items donated, the person will receive an entry into the raffle where the prize is a custom piece done by Wiggins.

This is my way of thanking those that donate, he says.

Wiggins founded Done by Doug in 2019.

On a daily basis, he is creating fashion. Recently, he began to post videos via his Instagram showing his creative process.

I had a friend tell me that I should be doing this, he says of the videos. Its really expanded the reach of what I do. Expressing yourself through fashion is one of the most powerful things.

Wiggins is also able to spark conversations through his fashion.

My work often lives in the area of speaking out against acts of violence or the social injustices in our society, he says. Its important to make a social commentary on that and get people talking, regardless if they like my work or not. Its meant to be a conduit.

By putting on the canned food drives, Wiggins wants to inspire others to do something for the community.

This is the avenue Ive chosen, he says. It takes time to make change. Make all of the steps count.
NAME: Julie J. Vargas

POLITICAL PARTY: Democratic

OCCUPATION: Associate justice, New Mexico Supreme Court

CITY OF RESIDENCE: Albuquerque

RELEVANT EXPERIENCE: Im a native New Mexican, born and raised in Old Town Albuquerque, where I still live. Before winning a seat on the Court of Appeals in 2016, I spent 23 years representing every day New Mexicans and New Mexico small businesses in business and commercial litigation matters. As a lawyer, I mentored other lawyers through their ethical dilemmas as a member, and then co-chair, of the State Bars Ethics Advisory Committee. I also served for several years as a member of the Supreme Courts Disciplinary Board, recommending discipline for lawyers who violated their clients trust. As a member of the Court of Appeals I decided hundreds of cases in all areas of the law. Ive spent the last 21 months as a member of the Supreme Court, deciding all matter of cases and working to more efficiently administer our state courts.

EDUCATION: Brown University, 1986-1990, AB in history and English literature; University of New Mexico School of Law, 1990-1993, J.D.

CAMPAIGN WEBSITE: KeepJusticeVargas.com

MAJOR PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENT: My appointment to the Supreme Court and the work Ive done while serving on the Court is my most significant professional accomplishment, followed by my election to the Court of Appeals and the opinions I wrote while on that court. In addition to the opportunity to apply the law, my position on the Supreme Court gives me the opportunity to make improvements to our local community. As a member of the court, Ive continued my work to improve lawyers professional responsibilities to their clients and to the integrity of the system, acting as liaison to the Board of Bar Examiners and Disciplinary Board. The Court has also taken steps to alleviate homelessness, while making landlords whole with its eviction diversion program and to address mental and behavioral health issues in our justice system with the newly created mental health commission. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to do this work.

MAJOR PERSONAL ACCOMPLISHMENT: I am proud of the contributions Ive been able to make to my community over the years. While attending college in New England, I recognized what a special place New Mexico is and decided that it was important to come back to New Mexico and use my skills here in New Mexico. In addition to the more than 20 years I spent working to improve our legal system before joining the bench with the State Bars Ethics Advisory Committee, the Supreme Courts Disciplinary Board and several State Bar committees, I volunteered with several local organizations to do what I could to improve the lives of my fellow New Mexicans. I served on the board of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History Foundation where I worked to bring new and innovative science exhibits to the museum for our kids. I volunteered with the New Mexico Special Olympics to plan a fundraising event and even rappelled down a 16-story building to raise money for the organization. I helped the Childrens Cancer Fund of New Mexico with its development of Erins Place, a home away from home for children from other parts of the state who are receiving cancer treatment or hospice care. I also served as part of the organizing committee for the Run for the Zoo. All of these activities gave me an opportunity to leave my community better than I found it  something I strive for in my position as a Supreme Court Justice, as well.

Why are you running and what strengths would you bring to the judiciary?

I want to continue to work for my community. I am the most experienced candidate having practiced for 23 years and decided hundreds of cases in every area of law on the Court of Appeals. Further, my commitment to improving the legal system is evident from my volunteer activities as a lawyer.

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?

No.
SANTA FE  John Eastman, a lawyer who advised former President Donald Trump in his failed bid to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, donated $500 last month to Mark Ronchettis campaign for governor.

The Sept. 27 donation, which was included in a mandatory campaign finance report filed Tuesday, is one of several individual contributions to Ronchettis campaign that have been singled out for criticism by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grishams campaign.

Ronchetti campaign spokesman Ryan Sabel said Wednesday the donation was indicative of broad support for the GOP candidate, but he did not directly address Eastmans role in the 2020 election fallout.

Mark received an online donation from Mr. Eastman, along with 25,000 others, Sabel said. Among those 25,000, there are New Mexicans of all political persuasions. Republicans, Independents, and yes, even many Democrats.

Eastman, a Santa Fe resident and registered New Mexico voter, has been a central figure in the U.S. House Select Committees investigation into the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Among other things, Eastman drafted a legal memo that sought to build a case for ex-Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the results when electoral votes were to be certified. Pence ultimately rebuffed the pressure and certified results that showed Democrat Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 election.

This summer, Eastman had his phone seized after leaving a Santa Fe restaurant by FBI agents who were apparently acting at the behest of the U.S. Justice Departments Office of the Inspector General. He was also ordered to appear before a Georgia grand jury in August as part of an investigation into Trumps attempts to overturn the election results.

Unlike some other Republican candidates, Ronchetti has said he does not believe Trumps claims that he was the actual winner of the 2020 election.
Competition Commission of India (CCI) found merit in the complaint filed by News Broadcasters & Digital Association (NBDA) against Alphabet Inc, Google LLC, Google India Pvt Ltd, Google Ireland Ltd and Google Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, which stated that Google was abusing its dominant position in violation of the Competition Act, 2002. Accordingly, CCI in its order dated 6.10.2022, clubbed the matter with the ongoing investigations in similar complaints filed by other affected bodies, that is, INS and DNPA, and also directed the Director General to investigate the present matter and submit a consolidated investigation report in all matters.

NBDA, an association of national and regional private news and current affairs broadcasters and digital news media entities, had filed a complaint under Section 19(1)(a) of the Competition Act, 2002 before the Competition Commission of India, seeking investigation against the tech giant Alphabet, Inc. and its subsidiaries (Google) alleging abuse of dominant position, which is in violation of the Competition Act.

In its complaint, NBDA inter alia alleges that the revenue shared by Google with its Members does not adequately and fairly compensate the Members for the content generated by them on the platform. The complaint also states that Google free-rides on the content of its Members by forcing them to provide their news content to Google in order to prioritize their web links in the Search Engine Result Page (SERP) of Google.

Apart from the above, NBDA also states in its complaint that Google exploited the dependency of its Members on the search engine offered by Google for referral traffic to build its services such as Google News, Google Discover and Google Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), which utilises the value of content created by the Members for its own economic benefit. The inclusion of 'Snippets in Google Search, which provide short headlines accumulated from a variety of news agencies/ news organisations, is an example of such feature/ measure employed by Google, which adversely affects the revenues of the Members.

Furthermore, the complaint states that Google abuses its dominant position to dictate terms and conditions which unilaterally favour Google. Members of NBDA have no negotiating or bargaining power while entering into any agreement with Google, due to the dominant position of the tech giant.

The complaint also states that Google not only operates the largest ad exchange where advertisements are sold and purchased, but also represents both buy and sell sides in the transactions, that is, both publishers and advertisers, through a chain of third-party intermediaries (also called ad tech stack) to match supply and demand of digital advertisements. NBDA states that Google is able to abuse its dominant position to restrict its Members from routing ad inventory to multiple exchanges and by preferentially routing Members inventory to Googles exchange, which is a matter of serious concern for the Members.

Simultaneously, Google also uses its dominant position to force the Members into using AMP or the Members lose their ranking in the mobile search result. It is also stated that Google uses AMP to subvert revenues of Members by preventing them from forming a direct relationship with the user, as the readers/ users spend more time on Googles site, seeing Googles advertisement as opposed to any paid advertising on the content providers site.

NBDA has also stated in its complaint that the manner in which Google operates results in discouraging technical or scientific development relating to goods or services, which causes prejudice to the consumers, violates privacy of users and the Intellectual Property Rights of its Members.
Fibe (formerly known as EarlySalary), Indias largest consumer lending platform has appointed actor Tahir Raj Bhasin as its brand ambassador. Tahir will be a part of Fibe's marketing campaigns. He will participate in different marketing ads and endorsement campaigns for the homegrown brand. This collaboration will attract the eyeballs of millennials and GenZs. The film drives the message that the brand can help fulfil their desires such as taking trips, shopping, skill upgrade, etc.

With a new face, the company has also announced its new tagline Aapke Paise Wali Vibe signifying its quick and hassle-free application process as well as the ease at which its customers can avail of its services.

The campaign focuses on Fibe as the solution which breaks away from the notion that taking a loan is daunting and requires a tedious process by establishing Fibe as a friendly credit provider, which is intuitive, easy and provides loans crafted for everyones needs without any lengthy process or questions regarding usage of the loan.

Speaking on the launch Sudesh Shetty, Founding Member and Director  Marketing, Fibe said, While we transitioned from EarlySalary to Fibe, the brand promise of enabling lifestyle upgrades remains intact. Since inception, our communication has always been on a lighter and fun side which makes us more appealing to millennials and GenZs. With the new brand, we wanted to take this to the next level. Tahir perfectly personifies the brand Fibe  he is stylish and stands out from his cohorts. His memorable portrayal of the character and his humble and outspoken demeanor outside of the movies have resonated with many millennials.

Talking about his association with the brand, Tahir Raj Bhasin said, I am delighted and excited to be a part of this campaign. The experience of taking a loan has fundamentally changed with Fibe providing a completely tech-driven offering to their consumers. It has a hassle-free process made available to millennials and GenZs on their phones. Given the fact that the brand is Made in India and has made its mark in the market in such a short time is remarkable.

Fibe is a confluence of Finance + Vibe that reflects the brands effort to provide a hassle-free financing experience to its consumers. It believes that the name will further integrate a superior customer experience as the centerpiece of its business model.

Fibe provides hassle-free financial solutions to young Indians by providing easy access to credit, catering exclusively to young professionals. The company has expanded into the affordability segment with its Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) services across Edtech, Healthtech, Shopping and Lifestyle sector. It provides short-term and long-term personal loans up to Rs. 5 lakhs which is easily payable in EMIs within 3-24 months. As a result, the brands target audience is expanding to include a more diverse customer base from tier-2 and tier-3 cities. Currently, the company is present in 150 cities and increased its customer base from 35,000 new customers per month to 1 lakh new customers per month.

It aims to fortify its presence by achieving an AUM of $2.5 billion over the next 5 years. Recently, it raised $110 million in series D funding that was led by TPGs The Rise Fund & Norwest Venture Partners in August.
American Eagle presents `Give Love. Get Love. Donation led Campaign this festive season

Partners with The Clothes Box Foundation to give back to the community with festive initiative

This Diwali, American Eagle, India is bringing its Give Love. Get Love. donation led campaign, by inspiring customers to spread the festive cheer. This campaign encourages customers to donate garments to American Eagle, who in turn, will donate them to The Clothes Box Foundation. The garments collected will then be refinished and distributed to those most in need of essential clothing. For every donation made, customers will receive a special discount on their next AE Jeans purchase.

In 2021, American Eagles Give Love. Get Love. donation led campaign, collected over 5,000 garments.

How to participate:

Give Love: To participate, one needs to bring their garments to the nearest American Eagle store. Find the nearest American Eagle store. One can also visit aeo.in to pledge the number of garments they wish to donate. A representative from the brand team will reach out to provide more details and answer any queries.

Get Love: To encourage this act of consideration and giving, American Eagle will reward all donations with a 20% off coupon for the customers next AE Jeans purchase.

Mr. Ashish Mukul, Brand Head, American Eagle, India, said, At American Eagle, we are bringing back our Give Love. Get Love. donation led campaign by re-joining forces with the Clothes Box Foundation. After the success last year, we plan to make this an ongoing initiative each year. We aim to make the act of doing good and spreading love as simple as visiting any of our American Eagle stores across the country.
Going beyond geographical barriers to reach out to customers ahead of Onam, Keralas most celebrated festival, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India launched a first-of-its-kind outdoor campaign Floating Showroom in the Backwaters of Kerala

Taking the market closer to its customers with this new initiative, Honda aims to take the legendary Activa to far-away regions of Kerala for showcasing the ease of access & durability that the scooter provides to its millions of loyal customers in India.

Conceptualized by Tribes communication, the new campaign pays homage to Keralas iconic character while resonating with the citys iconic transportation channels via the backwaters.

Beginning its seven-day voyage ahead of Onam festival, from Arookutty, Hondas Floating Boat showroom covered over 15 locations before anchoring at scenic shores of Alleppey to celebrate the culture and spirit of the state. Noteworthy, the brand campaign registered a record-breaking growth of 41% in online queries and 24% in retail stores with a combined increase by 33% in branded related inquiries.

Commenting on the success of the campaign, Mr. Atsushi Ogata, Managing Director, President & CEO, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India said, "We wanted to create an experience for our local audience and narrate a story that would be relatable to them. Through the floating showroom activation, we are delighted that our connection with our consumers has grown stronger. The result achieved so far is a testimony of Hondas strong customer connect and we are optimistic that this will contribute to building better and prolonged relations with our audience.

Besides offering attractive schemes & affordable finance options, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India brand displayed attractive offers and schemes on the two-wheelers for the locals. With this campaign, HMSI became the first brand to introduce such an unconventional advertising concept in India.

According to Mr. Gour Gupta, Managing Director, Tribes Communication, "A brand story telling has to be creative, compelling and engaging. Through the floating showroom activation, we wanted to create an unprecedented experience for the audience. We are glad to have generated a huge impact on the queries from the customers and are optimistic that the momentum will sustain.
The overall sum of marketing budgets spent on online ads increases every year. Most of the advertising is being displayed based on interests, not the medium. So we end in a situation when users see our ads on countless websites connected to the Ads provider network. It is hard for marketers to even track whats going on. So the question is how to make sure that your brand is not being displayed next to inappropriate content?

What is the brand?

As the online competition grows, the customers expectations are maturing and being more social oriented. The majority of consumers identify with the brands and products they wear or use. Big marketing team cannot deny it. Thats why companies like Patagonia are donating all of the money from Black Friday sale to save the planet. They know that it is the right thing to do and something that their clients value. In the long-term, its not always about the sales, its about the brand identity. People can buy 5 times cheaper fast fashion t-shirts but they choose Patagonia because they identify with the values and image of the brand. This is what makes the brand the most valuable asset.

There would be no product without the t-shirt, but the brand is what makes this t-shirt valuable to the customers.

What is brand safety?

If one of the most valuable assets in a company is its brand, then it becomes essential to take good care of it. You dont want to place your brand near any unverified news pages, low-reputation brands or controversial influencers. Even if these sources help you to get some sales, they harm your brand. Which leads us to actions you can take to protect your brand - the actions to take care of your brand safety.

Brand safety  is it really a thing?

Yes, it is. Based on Anna McAlister and Bettina Cornwells study, Childrens Understanding of Brand Symbolism research, from the age of 3-5 preschoolers start to recognize brands. We subconsciously associate brands and their identity. Thats how we remember not only the car's brand but also its sign. Going further, we remember people who use these brands and the environment where we see this brand. Simply said - its probable that when someone sees your ad on a fake-news portal, they may associate your brand with fake information. Add a scale of thousands of views and you have a PR disaster.

Why cant my marketing team take care of my brand? Isnt it a reason why I hire them?

Yes and no. The more complex a project is, the more goals and processes youll need to deliver real value. It means that when your marketing budget is big and you use multiple channels, the workload grows rapidly. The linear growth of budget means the exponential growth of the amount of places, websites and influencers to check. Then you come to the wall when you simply can't afford to hire someone to focus just on the placement of the ads. The optimization and lead generation is just more valuable than that. Thats where automated and secure solutions come in.

Brand safety is important, but how not to lose too much traffic?

Our clients often ask this question. In the case of online ad marketing, if you narrow your placement too much, you can expect less traffic and an increase in spending.

But thats not always the case. The refined process of discovering, analyzing and classifying websites is here to help you avoid sites where you really dont want your brand to be seen. Its not magic, its AI and its here to save your time on maintenance of the marketing campaign. Thanks to advanced tools available on the market, your ads will not be displayed in harmful, inappropriate or shady websites. All of it is done with laser precision. After all, its not a traffic loss, if you didnt want to show your ads there in the first place - said Adam Iwinski, CEO Hybrid Poland

What is more, running brand safe campaigns is seamless. Protecting a brand is automated with 100% accuracy. So the workload doesnt increase - and it shouldnt. Its not about adding tasks to your marketing backlog, its about getting better yield from the same effort.

What tools help in protecting my brand?

Hybrid  a complete solution.

The product is an all-in-one product oriented on your marketing goals. You can create, run, analyze and optimize your campaigns using Hybrid. So you are not only able to benefit from AI to optimize your campaign, you can also be sure that your brand is in safe hands.

Hybrid is based on our own Computer Vision technology which takes into account:

all of the images  to recognize objects, categories and sentiment - positive / negative;

all of the keywords  stop list (obscene language, crime, etc.) positive / negative sentiment;

content  to evaluate and assign main category;

metadata and url;

(coming next) audio analysis;

Hybrid friendly index  to evaluate the website in terms of user-friendliness and the environment in which the advertising content is located.

So if any of these factors has negative results Hybrid doesnt display ads on the individual page or entire site.

Google Ads with manual selection of URLs

If you dont want to use any additional tools and you have a small budget, there is an option to use URL monitoring to see where your display ads are being shown. It is good enough to take care of small campaigns or run tests. However, it will not work if your business is based solely on advertising. In this case, you shouldnt waste your time on something that can be easily automated.

Facebook options

Facebook has its own algorithms for content evaluation and restriction. However, this kind of automated setup is not measurable with tools available on the market. That is why display traffic and what we offer at Hybrid can be measured with paid MRC-certified tools. We not only want to offer great tools, but also aim to be transparent in this respect.

Display your advertising in safe surrounding

The omni-channel marketing requires brands to be everywhere. Its amazing because brands are ready even before consumers think about discovering their offer. Personalized marketing helps to provide users with value and information they are really interested in. However, it comes with big maintenance costs and some big risks. Keeping brand safe is one of them. So next time youll prepare a marketing campaign, choose solutions which not only sell but also assure you that your customers will discover your brand in the perfect surrounding.
Manipal Hospitals, one of the leading healthcare groups today wraps its weeklong activity in Bangalore. Manipal Hospitals launched this awareness campaign in association with Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP) to raise awareness of cardiac emergencies.

Cardiac emergencies can happen anywhere and anytime. Imagine if it happened at a red stop light, how would you tackle it? As per a study, 20% of our travel time is spent waiting in traffic. So, it only makes sense to spread awareness about heart health where it grabs the most attention.

Social Panga and Manipal Hospital collaborated to execute this tech-enabled campaign, where red lights were turned into heart shapes, to spread awareness about emergency medical support & educate the public on the simple step of how to give CPR in case of such emergency, dynamic QR codes installed at 15 prominent locations of the city.

Madhur Gopal, AVP - Marketing & Digital Initiatives, Manipal Health Enterprises Pvt. Ltd., says, "It is surprising to see how the irregular shift in lifestyle has increased the number of cardiac cases in mid-aged people. Yet, in case of emergency, only 2% of Indians know how to give CPR or tackle emergencies. Medical emergencies can happen anywhere and anytime. Especially something like a cardiac arrest, where the person has only an 8-minute window to be saved. What if it happens in Bengaluru traffic? This campaign aims to create awareness on how to tackle emergencies and empower the people by teaching them the life-saving skills of CPR".

Gaurav Arora, Co-Founder of Social Panga, says, " This campaign is a great example of research, insight & tech enablement, In India people, 20% of their travel time in traffic & just 2% of people know how to give CPR. Leading to a high percentage of people dying out of the hospital, because of a lack of awareness on how to act in such times of emergency.

With a perfect integration of Red light turning into a red heart light, we were able to get all kinds of right attention & how to react on such kind of emergency situations."

The campaign used several touchpoints to educate people on how to tackle emergencies and provide CPR during heart-related emergencies like sudden cardiac arrest.
Hybrid work operations and flexible workplaces have become a norm in the post-pandemic world. Since its inception in 2017, leading office space provider, WeWork, has been spearheading the concept of flexible workspaces. It has been the driving force behind the future of work, with more than 5 million sq ft of assets acquired in 40 locations, across Mumbai, Pune, NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad.

WeWork India recently launched its brand film, Great Inspires Great, with a lead film which is followed by three product-focused films. It brings out the fact why WeWork is considered as an ideal workspace offering a blend of world-class physical infrastructure and an opportunity to be part of something greater than oneself at the meeting point of excellence and distinctiveness, for businesses of all sizes. WeWork provides the opportunity to exist in a global community, helping people to connect with thousands of like-minded individuals, as well as enterprises allowing them to grow and develop in a thriving environment where they can discover and bring out the greatest version of themselves. The age of the new normal demands us to no longer settle for the good, with businesses needing to dream and work towards achieving their great.

The brand film also showcases some of the key products of WeWork which involves Custom Build Offices, Conference Rooms, Private Offices, Hot desk and many others. It highlights how WeWork India is helping to accelerate the growth of individuals as well as greatness of enterprises, by providing a cohesive and well-rounded space, catering to everyones needs from a solopreneur to a start-up, an MNC or a Fortune 500. The video puts an emphasis on how flexible workspaces offer a personalized experience, to various types of professionals with unique needs through its customized and innovative offerings. The video delves deeper into the fact that WeWork India is the home to a community of diverse set of people from visionaries to innovators to go-getters, turning it into a space where people, meet, engage and inspire each other to achieve greater heights of success. The film gives out a message of hope, inspiration and individuality, co-inciding effortlessly with the values of WeWork.

In conversation with Adgully, Megha Agarwal, Head of Marketing, WeWork India, speaks at length about the growth journey of WeWork, the concept of flexible workspaces in India, the core thought behind the latest brand film, and more.

What is the story of Great Inspires Great? What is the concept behind it?

Great Inspires Great is a culmination of all things. Things that WeWork as a brand really stands for. And when we started thinking about what our next campaign idea should be as a team, we went back and looked at everything that makes WeWork what WeWork is. Its the community, the members, the employees, and the core values of inclusivity, diversity, which makes us very unique in this larger flexible industry that we are present in today. And therefore, the whole campaign tries to showcase the ever evolving workspace requirements in the post pandemic era. And it also puts out very clearly through this campaign, that this workspace brand is for everybody, be it a startup, or a large MNC or a Fortune 500 company. It is the place that actually unlocks the hidden greatness that is there in everybody and therefore it is placed as an enabler, inspiring you to unlock your next great.

What are the marketing activities undertaken to promote the campaign?

It is a large 360 degree campaign. For us, it is a series of four films actually. It starts with the campaign film which has gone live across all social handles. And it will be supported by a string of every other piece, be it outdoor, be it OTT, TV. It basically encompasses all the critical media channels that we will need to amplify the campaign, supported by a very strong social strategy. Digital first is what we are as a brand. Because we target multiple consumer segments, from a startup to a MNC, a Fortune 500. We basically cater to multiple consumer cohort. And therefore digital is the most efficient and the most relevant way of reaching our consumers. Because it is a large campaign, we have added multiple layers to ensure that we reach more than 70% of our TG universe.

Has the pandemic reinvented WeWorks branding strategy?

Actually it fueled the category for us. So, I think while the pandemic was a very difficult time for a lot of industries over the world. This particular industry in itself got a big shake up, in some sense, after pandemic as large companies started re-evaluating workplace requirements and the business model for workspace. According to reports, 15% CAGR is expected over the next five years on this industry, which means at the end of five years, this particular industry will double in size. Thats the kind of impact that the pandemic has got on the industry in itself and WeWork been one of the largest players in this space, I think the onus is on us to keep building this brand in such a way that whoever you are, be it a startup or a Fortune 500 company, when you think of your next flex partner, you basically think of WeWork. So, the campaign is an attempt to build that brand love, build that top of mind and ensure that we are sitting right up there in peoples minds as the most preferred flexible space partner, in their journey to expand, grow and unlock their great.

Does WeWork have any brand ambassador?

As a brand we are very much about members, community and employees. We believe that we are a very real brand and the ethos of the brand, comes alive when we show real people. In the film we have tried to cover how every person interacts with our brand. We have kept it open and we have different kinds of people interact with the brand, we have LGBTQ, people with disabilities, large member companies and therefore, its a great mix of inclusivity and diversity. And thats what we celebrate. The moment we put a celebrity, the realness that comes in a film like this, will see a little dilution. So, as a brand, we keep it very real and you also see some of our employees actually in the film and thats how real this film is and close to our hearts.

What is the impact that it aims to make through this film?

It is actually going to be a very large one for us. The reason we did this campaign at this time of the year as people and companies start evaluating their plans for next year expansion, it is going to be very critical that WeWork is right there in their consideration set as they think about how they want to plan the real estate strategy for next year. If its going to be flexible, then it has to be WeWork. Thats why we want to be out there amplifying the brand. We also looked at multiple reports and also met consumers and members who interact with the brand. And one of the top things that came up, between 70-90% depending on the report you look at is that people say that they operate better when they are in a flexible environment. And therefore, it is a very good time for players like WeWork to ensure that we can boost productivity across spectrum, by offering a place which ensures that you are able to collaborate, at the same time, work in silent zones, whatever works with you to deliver productivity. And when you are productive, you unlock your Great and therefore achieve your best potential. Therefore, come to WeWork and unlock greatness in you and your work.

How has the consumer behaviour towards coworking spaces changed over the years in India?

The word flexible used to be like a tick mark exercise in most of the conversations that the companies had with the employees. From there we have actually moved to a space where flexibility is not just a benefit or tick off activity, but it is very significant be it your financial outlay as a company, because the moment you tie up with a flexible workspace provider, you are unlocking a lot of cash flow and are able to build better enterprise for yourself because of that much cashflows available with you and on the other hand, unlocking a huge employee benefit. For example, in a Kantar report, we came to know that 70% of the enterprises believe that the moment flexibility is introduced productivity gets better. 50% of the people we spoke to said that they need quiet zones for productivity, 50% people said that they need collaboration for productivity.

So, flexibility impacts your contribution at work in multiple ways and therefore I dont think flexibility can just be a tick mark exercise anymore and for companies to actually grow and be relevant, attract the right talent, you will have to have flexibility in your DNA. And thats where I think for brands like WeWork, its a great place to be because thats our core ethos. As a brand, flexibility is at the core of what we do. Inclusivity, diversity is again at the core and therefore we become a perfect fit for most enterprises. And therefore, it is not surprising that over 60-70% of our portfolio, is enterprise heavy, because we tie up well with many companies and enterprises, for ethos in that sense.

What are the growth plans of WeWork in the coming year?

WeWork is continuosly looking at a couple of things from a growth point of view. Firstly, we aim to build a strong fundamental business, and therefore it is revenue and profitability, both are extremely important to us. In fact, Q1 2022 was one of the first profitable quarters for WeWork, where we clocked Rs 250 crore of revenue and both of these things are extremely important for us, revenue and profitability which go hand in hand. We will not do one over the other and therefore build a fundamentally strong scalable business for the future.

We are a brand keeping close ears to changing trends, consumer needs and, therefore, I would also go one level up and say that if you look at some of the products we have launched in the past one year, they are products that have now scaled up, be it on demand which is a day pass product for consumers, the virtual office product which helps you have a premium office address in 40+ locations or the all access product which basically ensures that you could be a high professional sales person or a consultant and you could be travelling a lot, needing access to multiple buildings. So this gives you a global pass access to multiple buildings of WeWork. And I think some of these products, given all the stuff that happened post pandemic, the whole seven days at work being questioned, these products have rocketed for us, they are in a place where we will ramp them up next year, which also ties back to our campaign strategy where we will have films promoting these specific products.

So, we will have a business as usual film which is a core private office film. We will have an on demand film, which is one of the most successful innovations we have had over the last one year. And we will have a managed office film which basically means that you could be a large enterprise and you need a office space anywhere in India, apart from the six locations that we are present in and WeWork can do it for you. So I think with all of these we want to establish ourselves as a leading hybrid flexible solution provider no matter what you need, no matter what your workplace needs, we have a solution for you and thats the larger growth ambition that we are going ahead with.

Any new solutions provided by WeWork?

Right now because we launched three to four products, the idea is to scale them up significantly, currently this contribute about less than 10% of our portfolio, because they are new products. We would want to look at scaling them up and building them and then there is an innovation team that works on future products. There is an incubation cell that keeps experimenting and figuring what are the next product ideas that we need to work with.
#NEWDELHI

The Centre on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that it is keen to pursue its curative petition seeking enhancement of compensation to Bhopal gas tragedy victims  over the $470 million, which has already been paid by Union Carbide.

Attorney general (AG) R Venkataramani submitted before a five-judge bench headed by justice SK Kaul that it is a tragedy unfolding everyday and victims cant be abandoned.

Advocate Karuna Nundy, representing the victims, contended that the victims have to be given an opportunity to give a representation before the court comes to a conclusion in the matter and appreciated the AGs heartening statement.

SC upholds setting aside of VCs reappointment

The Supreme Court affirmed the Calcutta high court judgment quashing the reappointment of Sonali Chakravarti Banerjee as vice-chancellor of the Calcutta university stating that the regime could not do away with the approval of the chancellor. IANS
"In order to have your voice heard in Washington, you must make some small contribution."

Elon Musk

Donald Trump is a political vampire, now a mythical figure; folk hero to some and an ogre for others. Try as they might, the American establishment, right and left, have been unable to put a stake through the political heart of Trump and his populist/nationalist narrative.

The mirth that accompanied Trump's campaign in 2016 is gone. The man who slew the dragon lady is no longer a punch line. MAGA is now just another rude four-letter word, if you were to ask Democrats. For the feminist left, Trump is the vulgar patriarch who quashed the Hillary quest; the second best dream, after race, for the identity and intersectional crowd on the American left.

Granted, the worst of the Hillary fail was irony.

The far-left fembot, who would have been a historic first, was subsequently thrown under the diversity bus in 2020 for a family of white Delaware grifters who put real vice into the office of vice president. There is more than a little truth to the claims of 2020 election "deniers," at least to the extent that many partisans were casting votes against Trump, not necessarily casting votes for Joe.

Biden may well be the first default president in American history. Such are the wages of binary politics. No surprise, then, that a Beltway of socialist camp followers swirls around Washington like a self-flushing toilet.

At the moment, kingmaker Trump seems to be an ominous cypher. The Donald is not running for anything in 2022, but he still reigns as rainmaker on the right. Republicans seem to be ecstatic about prospects for congressional gains in November, but there are several potential futures that should serve as cautionary tales.

First is the state of the American Deep State which will still be Democrat, leftist, partisan, and obstructionist after the November midterms. Then there is the possibility, in the next two years, that Team Biden may drive American foreign and economy policy off a cliff. With established Democrat party nuclear and cyber-war precedents, Team Biden keeps upping the ante with Moscow, too, by sponsoring terror, pipeline sabotage, and the bombing of Russian infrastructure.

For reasons unknown, with serial escalations, Biden and Brussels seems to be cultivating a nuclear/radioactive off-ramp in Ukraine for the Kremlin. According to the Cassandras, Armageddon is now back on the table after 75 years of shaky but successful "deterrence." Europe needs to pump the brakes. When the balloon goes up, Brussels, not Washington, will be the next ground zero.

But then again, given what we know about Western virtual culture, attention spans, and memes, it is possible that any blooming nuclear threat will not be able to compete with the need to police all those new pronouns and 100 newly minted genders. The paint never dries on stupidity.

Indeed, no matter who owns the House and Senate after the midterms, surely the media will be focused on creating or aggravating any rift between Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis. National prospects for conservatives without the Trump vote are nil. The next curated political narrative from the American left in November will be Trump/DeSantis fratricide. Legacy media shills like Susan Glasser and Peter Baker are already hustling the "divider" narrative on CBS's Face the Nation with a new literary hatchet job on the Trump presidency.

Trump-phobia is a cash cow for the obsessed. When you can't run on issues, you need a devil to run against. Projection is now the weapon of choice for a very paranoid American and European left.

If Republicans, conservatives, libertarians, and independents take the bait and buy into an internecine war on the American political right, 2024 may be a replay of 2020. Ron DeSantis is no longer a rising star: he has arrived. If Trump gets into a gutter fight with DeSantis, recidivism wins, and the perilous nihilistic drift to the left in America will continue unabated.

Even with half or all of Capitol Hill in hand, pragmatic America can ill afford to blow another presidential election. Trump and DeSantis need to get out in front now by getting on the same page. A Trump/DeSantis one-two punch might be ideal, if you crave poetic justice. In this scenario, DeSantis plays apprentice for Trump's second four years, then Ron runs on his own in 2028. Albeit, two alphas on the same ticket may be too much ego and testosterone in one duet. Still, there's no shortage of talent in the bullpen to run with either candidate sequentially.

Whilst loath to admit it, American conservatives have a yen for intersectionality, too, and here the sidekick possibilities are abundant. Nikki Halley, Marsha Blackburn, Laura Ingham, Candace Owens, and Kellyanne Conway, among others, come to mind immediately. No second bananas here. All are intelligent, articulate, and courageous. Unlike Hillary, all are attractive and congenial, too, with style sensibilities beyond Mao's pantsuit.

Politics is visibility. Hard to believe that Clinton's wife ran against Trump with those fashion and congeniality deficits.

The real gem in any future Republican V.P. sweeps is Tulsi Gabbard; wahine, surfer, former congresswoman, independent thinker, military officer, ethnic mutt, former Democrat, fashion plate, and drop-dead gorgeous. Politics is the definitive spectator sport, after all.

Tulsi touches more bases than a plate umpire. If ever there were an awesome intersectional ticket asset, Gabbard is it. She just called out the Democrat party as a woke joke.

Aloha, indeed.

The center-right bench in America today is as deep as it has ever been. All prospects will wilt if Trump and DeSantis don't reach some kind of rapprochement and agreed strategic vision for a Republican future long before the 2024 primaries. As a bonus, between Trump and DeSantis, Republicans can set the stage to ensure that America's first female president will be a sensible choice, not a knee-jerk wokester.

Get on with it, gentlemen.

G. Murphy Donovan writes about the politics of national security.

Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Todays story spotlights the downward spiral of the Biden Administration. Myriad crisis-level issues abound. Almost all go unresolved amid the overwhelming noise created by constant emergencies. Policy and action all gridlocked, great fear and consternation among our allies, all of who know all too well Bidens inability to govern.

At my local homeowners association, theres a joke that the board may change, but the issues are always the same. And, so it is with our nations problems. Today, government solves little but tries to manage everything, usually to the minimum acceptable consensus level so that they can then move on to the next pressing issue. The Noise of an issue (how much press, attention, and urgency of an issue) determines how our leaders react and how they spend their time or spin an issue.

On February 24th, Russian armor crossed the frontier from three separate directions with the intent to topple Ukraine in a 72-hour blitzkrieg. America had not delivered significant quantities of lethal aid as had been requested and now was in panic mode. In fact, on February 26th, Biden ordered U.S. planes to stand by to airlift President Zelensky, his family, and other select Ukrainians out of harm's way. Biden believed that Ukraine would soon be no more and he wanted no martyrs. Everything said and done before the invasion was window dressing to appear to be a staunch ally. Biden made the calculus that there was insufficient political capital to gain by saving Ukraine. Drumbeats of the Afghanistan debacle rang loudly in his ears.

When you think strategically, you dont react to individual events, trendlines, or objectives. Personal core principles inform your actions. Biden does not think strategically. Biden reacts to perceptions, emotions, and by his actions creates a personal reality that is frequently at odds with the truth.

When Zelensky did not play along and famously said, "The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride, Biden got a finger in the eye. Zelenskys statesmen-like pronouncement was the moment President Biden lost control of that narrative. Bidens initial plan to stay out of the war was now out the window. In essence, Zelensky was leading America, not Biden. Noise had set Bidens agenda.

Ukraine can be used as a proxy to explain other decisions. Biden never intended Europe and the U.S. to become embroiled in a proxy war with Russia. He was willing to sacrifice Ukrainians. Biden did not want to divert us from his focus on Climate Change/Social Change. Unfortunately for him, unexpected events sometimes take precedence. Ukraine did not lie down and die as Biden expected. Ukrainians decided to live or die free, rather than living on their knees.

That kind of national pride is something that some Americans seem to have forgotten. I was taught that freedom is not free. The under-50 crowd believes freedom is a given. Only now may some of our overparented young and listless children start to get a glimpse of what real life doesnt guarantee!

Sending a plane to save Zelensky was really about saving Biden politically. It was at least 60 days later before our intelligence services and the Pentagon began to believe that there was a path forward for Ukraine to survive. This change created an existential crisis for the Biden administration and highlights how Bidens thinking forced him down a path of action he did not choose.

But, exactly what kind of action? This is the most telling part of the story. The choices that confronted Biden were:

Do nothing that would enrage the Bear. Go all in and beat back the Bear Keep the Ukrainians alive but with the likelihood of stalemate, which would be a loss to the West and Ukraine, but a win for the Bear.

Biden got his political advisers together and his favorite focus group to formulate our vital (for him) public-relations response. Keep in mind that the table was already set back in 2014 when Obama and Biden blinked as Russia invaded Crimea and Eastern Ukraine. Obama was frozen at the switch and reacted by loading up B-52s with a load of rhetoric and bombing the stuffing out of Putin. Take that, Vladimir! And, to add insult to injury, we would not recognize Putins war gains and we would throw in a few of those feckless sanctions for good measure.

Keeping Ukraine in a de facto stalemate appears to be Bidens plan and answers the question as to why we dont provide Ukraine with the weapons needed to win. By now, its clear that Russias conventional forces have been paper tigers. The U.S. believes that Putins nuclear gambit is just that: a gambit, regardless of what comes out of his mouth at the moment. I am struck speechless that we have not taken the steps to communicate our position to the world so that there are no miscalculations by Putin. Absolute unity is required or Putin will exploit any fractures. Biden should be speaking to Congress, the American People, NATO, and the UN constantly on this singular topic. Its vital!

Remember the movie Dr. Strangelove? Russias ambassador to the U.S. tells our President that Russia has a doomsday weapon. Presidential advisor Dr. Strangelove asks the ambassador why is this weapon secret? After all, why have a deterrent that no one knows about? Our present situation is kind of like that. Putin retroactively stated that the eastern regions of Ukraine have now become Russia proper, and continued fighting there will trigger a nuclear response. Wacko!

But the world shouldnt, cant, and mustnt tolerate nuclear blackmail. World leaders, philosophers, politicians, and every living and thinking individual all understand its like the final lesson from the movie War Games, in which all learn that the only winning strategy is not to play at all.

Bidens fatal flaw is that he is an inveterate liar and a fraud. For example, during the 2020 election cycle, Biden claimed to have graduated in the top half of his class with three degrees. But instead, research shows that Biden graduated with one law degree from Syracuse University, 76th of 85 in his class. Biden has never worked outside of government. Yet, he is more than willing to use his judgment in forcing the reordering of the greatest economy of all time, without discussion and conclusive evidence to support his actions.

Bidens talent is his understanding of the importance of managing narratives. It does not mean hes good at it. Always politically astute, but more like a python that senses, rather than understands where his next meal will come from. And like a python, two things are true. One, he lives according to instinct. Two, he goes hungry a lot, since instinct will only carry you so far.

At the end of the day, smarts count, with Biden number 76 out of 85 in a lower-ranked school, you have to be concerned. Noise that Biden hears constantly, is a scary way to run a country.

Allan J. Feifer is an Author, Businessman, and Thinker. Read more about Allan, his background and his ideas to create a better tomorrow at www.1plus1equals2.com

Image: Ketut Subiyanto -- Pexels
Since the start of the Ukraine crisis, there has been a chorus of isolationists who have opposed helping Ukraine defend itself from the unprovoked, revanchist invasion ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The motives of these noninterventionists are varied. Those like Rainer Shea, a prolific writer against the capitalist/imperialist power establishment who wants to move us towards a socialist revolution openly sides with Russia because Obama's team forced through the installation of an extreme-right government in Kiev eight years ago. Shea argues

Russia has outmaneuvered the imperialists with Putins threats of nuclear war. Many liberals think defense spending is a waste and the money should be spent on domestic social programs. On international issues, libertarians side with the Left because they reject the intrusion of security concerns upon individual or business freedom. As Ludwig von Mises asserted in Omnipotent Government, "under free trade and free migration, no individual is concerned about the territorial size of his country." Great comfort for those Ukrainians now living in occupied Mariupol.

As the Russian invasion has floundered, the critics of U.S.-NATO policy have grown more desperate to prove that their case for doing nothing (and letting Putin win) is the correct one.

The headline of Stephen M. Walts essay in the mainstream journal Foreign Policy reads Russias Defeat Would Be Americas Problem: Victory in Ukraine could easily mean hubris in Washington. America might take its role as world leader seriously again! We cant have that. Walt is a prominent scholar associated with elite institutions. His 2007 book The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy and his 2018 book The Hell of Good Intentions: Americas Foreign Policy Elite and the Decline of U.S. Primacy detail his skewed outlook. He teaches a course at the Harvard Kennedy School titled Whats Wrong with U.S. Foreign Policy where he denounces the post-Cold War ambitious grand strategy of liberal hegemony which he calls a failure. He is heavily invested in keeping it a failure.

Walt is Robert and Renee Belfer Professor of International Affairs and affiliated with the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Among the other members of this elite brain trust is Graham Allison, the founding dean of the Kennedy School. Walt borrows from Allison in the opening of his Foreign Policy essay regarding the Peloponnesian War. Allison is well known for his 2017 book Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydidess Trap?" which advocates appeasement towards China. Allison argues that too many wars, starting with the conflict between Athens and Sparta described by the ancient historian Thucydides, have been the result of an established power (like Sparta then and America today) trying to resist a rising power like Athens then, China today. It is better to accommodate the challenger. This, he says, will take "huge, painful adjustments in attitudes and actions" including accepting that America is doomed to fall behind China. It is better to lose without a fight, is his decadent advice. In an article published the day Putin announced his annexations, Allison claims a limited war over Taiwan or along Chinas periphery, the United States would likely lose -- or have to choose between losing and stepping up the escalation ladder to a wider war which he opposes. Escalation threats from Putin, however, must be heeded as he argued in a piece posted the day the Russian Duma approved Putins annexations. Indeed, he seemed to present a moral equivalency between Putins threat to defend his conquered territory with nukes and the U.S. pledge to defend its NATO allies.

Yet, Allisons own research, if properly read, shows the opposite. In each of his twelve examples of conflict between a "ruling" power and a rising power, it is the rising power that starts the major war with acts of aggression. In none of the cases does the ruling power act in a pre-emptive manner to cripple a rival before it feels strong enough to strike. Even Allison's core example of Sparta reacting to Athens' rise notes that the two Greek city-states had a 30-year peace treaty during which as Thucydides writes Sparta did little until "the better part of Greece was already in their [Athenian] hands." The ruling powers behaved exactly as Allison wants the U.S. to do; they did nothing to protect their position. But instead of peace, war was the result as appeasement invited aggression, the true lesson of history.

Robert Belfer made a fortune in oil, ranking in the Fortune 400 as the largest shareholder in Enron before it collapsed in scandal. Conservatives still back capitalism as the strongest horse in the economics race, but no longer accept capitalists whose ambitions are incompatible with the needs of national society, the true focus of policy. Controversial billionaires back another defeatist think tank, the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft (QIRS or curse). It launched in 2019 with funds from George Soros and Charles Koch. Both are libertarians, though they tend to back candidates on opposite sides of the aisle. Soros hates national security at home as well as overseas, working to weaken police, prosecutors, and prisons as well as the armed forces and border patrol. Koch is a more conventional isolationist who just doesnt want to be bothered by issues larger than his own. He also funds the Cato Institute, whose Doug Bandow declared on September 21 Dont let Ukraine into NATO or a NATO-Plus Americans dont want to join the RussoUkraine killfest. They even question the current level of US military assistance Washington should finally begin emphasizing the interests of Americans over that of foreign states.

With the Russians in retreat, QIRS is pushing for a negotiated settlement that should avoid humiliating Putin. The U.S. should threaten to reduce its military support to pressure Kyiv to make territorial concessions, and Moscow should be assured that Ukraine would never be allowed to join NATO, thus keeping the door open for renewed aggression. Putins invasion has validated the fears in Eastern Europe that prompted so many countries to join NATO. But appeasement is the only word in QIRSs vocabulary. Deterrence is considered dangerous and requires actual effort. Its a very short step for a non-interventionist to become an apologist for the enemy and then a collaborator.

This approach runs through its positions on Iran and China as well. It rejects the alignment of Israel and the Arabs against Tehran as a terrible idea because it cements existing divisions in the region and reduces the likelihood of diplomatic breakthroughs QIRS VP Trita Parsi told CNN. It also opposes pushing South Korea into the coalition opposing Chinese aggression. At QIRS the only role for diplomacy is to placate enemies, not build alliances.

One of its founders, Andrew Bacevich, wrote a long essay decrying calling Putin a fascist as it only encourages stronger action against him. We dont want to repeat the mistake of the Cold War which he claimed cost too much to win. He concluded The truth is that neither Russian fascism nor its Chinese variant poses a significant danger to American democracy, which is actually threatened from within. Yes, by groups like QIRS that want to turn democracy into weakness rather than its demonstrated strength to rally the public in common defense of national interests and values.

QIRSs roster of experts is a whos who of defeatists who think we should just hide under our beds. A more irresponsible statecraft would be hard to imagine, given the array of enemies who have made it clear they desire to reshape the world in ways that would reduce our independence and prosperity while ushering in a new Dark Age. The predators are all watching what happens to Putin as he tests the waters. They might get discouraged if he drowns.

William R. Hawkins is a former economics professor who served on the professional staff of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee. He has written widely on international economics and national security issues for both professional and popular publications.

Image: swiss-image.ch
There's a reason voters don't trust elections as honest mechanisms anymore, and a Democrat secretary of state in Colorado has shown us all why.

According to Fox News:

Around 30,000 non-U.S. citizens living in Colorado were mistakenly sent postcards late last month encouraging them to register to vote. Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold's office said the postcards were mistakenly mailed on Sept. 27 after department employees compared a list of names of 102,000 people provided by the Electronic Registration Information Center to a database of Colorado residents issued driver's licenses. That Department of Revenue driver's license list includes residents issued special licenses for people who are not U.S. citizens. But it didn't include formatting information that normally would have allowed the Department of State to eliminate those names before the mailers went out, Griswold's office said. The Colorado postcards, in English and Spanish, specify that residents must be U.S. citizens and at least 18 years old to register.

Ahhh, a mistake. Unwitting. Accidental. The staff did it.

And somehow, it's only Democrats who do this.

A basic function of a registrar of voters is to maintain clean voting rolls. The staff knew that citizens and noncitizens were all mixed in in the driver's license database, yet they chose to ignore that issue and mailed away to let the illegals know they too could vote.

If you were an illegal and constantly heard news about the trend of getting noncitizens to vote in big cities, why wouldn't you think the state of Colorado wanted you to register to vote, particularly since the notice was printed in ultra-accommodating Spanish? The citizenship requirement was just fine print, and in any case, everyone's a citizen of somewhere, including, as Democrats say, "undocumented citizens." Non-citizens, of course, and particularly illegals, tend to vote Democrat.

It gets worse: Griswold is a former Obama official who had a big problem when President Trump tried to clean up America's voter rolls to halt vote fraud.

According to the Denver Post in a puff piece about her dated 2018, when she decided to run for office:

A Democratic candidate for the state's top elections job is calling Donald Trump's voter fraud panel "a sham commission" and blasting Secretary of State Wayne Williams for his "rash decision" to comply. "We need to call the commission what it is and be very careful about how we are dealing with the commission," said Jena Griswold, a former voting rights attorney for the Obama campaign and member of Gov. John Hickenlooper's administration. Griswold, a 32-year-old from Louisville, filed paperwork Wednesday to challenge the Republican incumbent in the 2018 election.

So let's just say the Soros-financed secretary of state has "a history."

The claims by Griswold, that her office is taking steps to correct the matter, by printing up and resending 30,000 corrective notices at taxpayer expense to the non-citizens, as well as installing safeguards in the registration system should a non-citizen try to register, are nonsense. Her staff was incapable of following basic ground rules and basic law on the all-important matter of confirming citizenship. Why would these Democrats (and you know they are all Democrats) be trusted to be competent a second time, particularly with her around as their leader? It would be natural to expect that that won't be done, either. They'll just say it's done to make the media stories go away.

She's already been accused by GOP activists of destroying voting records from the 2020 election that were required to be preserved by federal law  another "accident," of course, so many "accidents"  so somehow she commits a lot of them. Yet somehow these accidents and mistakes always benefit Democrats, which is quite a coincidence. To destroy ballots required to be preserved ensures that no one who might come after her will ever be able to examine the ballots to verify whether it was the honest count.

You can bet there was something in those destroyed ballots she didn't want her political opponents to see.

It's pretty interesting that these "accidents," so many of them, somehow happen only under Democrats. Legal? She's pretty casual with the law when it doesn't serve Democrats.

We don't see her resigning over this nasty incompetence on election integrity in an act of sincere regret, let alone apologizing, or naming and firing her incompetent staff. Everything stays business as usual in her office as the "investigation," soon to be dragged out and buried, carries on, so it's obvious that her admission of an "error" has about as much weight as Lois Lerner's claims about blundering staff in that haven of rubes, Cincinnati, in its IRS office.

Bottom line: This "mistake" looks political, and, like the IRS scandal targeting Tea Party organizers for special enforcement for political reasons during the Obama administration, it may have been engineered from the top.

What would work in Colorado would be for the Legislature to get involved, declaring that any "mistake" made by a secretary of state is by default not a mistake, and 30,000 extra votes, or whatever the extent of the error, would be awarded to the other party as compensation.

That might get their attention. What's important now is that Colorado's voters throw her out of office and retrieve as many destroyed records as possible.

Image: RightCowLeftCoast via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
In Los Angeles, the truth leaked out: Three top Latino Democrat bigshots running the city through its council, Council President Nury Martinez, and council members Gil Cedillo and Kevin de Leon, along with a top public employee union leader, Ron Herrera, are flaming racists.

One of them, the council president, Nury Martinez, was caught on a leaked tape calling a black two-year-old child 'like a monkey' and said she'd like to give the toddler "a beatdown." Another, council member Kevin de Leon, compared the child with his two white gay parents as a thing they carried around like a "handbag." Martinez refered to their fellow city council member, as "a little b***."

They also spewed antisemitism and even anti-Armenian insults -- "Jews cut their deal with South L.A.," Martinez cynically sneered as the three of them discussed redistricting decisions they didn't like. They are gonna screw everybody else, Martinez said in the recording.

An Armenian was described by Martinez as "the guy with the one eyebrow."

There also was anti-indigenous Mexican racism from this bunch -- even de Leon, who is of Guatemalan heritage -- which was obviously a carryover from their own elitist backgrounds that are common in Mexico, with insults directed at indigenous people from Oaxaca state because they are "little, short, dark, people" who are "tan feo,' as Martinez put it, or, "so ugly." The audio is here.

Eeew. Their racism flowed like an unflushed overflowing toilet and man, it stunk.

All of the participants in this leftist kaffeeklasch were Democrats, a fact the media chose to ignore, and every one of them was a well-hailed star of their party, often hailed as "the first Latina" or "the first Latino" whatever, which Democrats like to do when the person they are boosting is a Democrat.

What's the Democrat response to the unmasking of these creepy, cynical, racist corrupt characters?

Mealy mouthed condemnations and little else.

Joe Biden is the latest, where he said, through his spokeswoman, Karine Jean-Pierre, but not directly, that the three council members "should" resign.

At a press conference Tuesday, Jean-Pierre said President Biden believes all politicians should be held accountable for racist language, including Democratic leaders who are leading one of the most liberal leaning cities in the country. "The President is glad to see that one of the participants in that conversation has resigned," Jean-Pierre said [speaking of Herrera the union leader]. "He believes that they all should resign. The language that was used during that conversation was unacceptable and it was appalling."

Unacceptable. Appalling. This from the guy who set up a whole unit to root out all that racism he claims is infesting the U.S. military. They "should" resign, as Joe puts it, but there's no thunder there and he lets a flunky say it.

How about some others?

Karen Bass, who's been allied to these characters in her quest for the mayor's office, where she is the frontrunner, condemned the racism, but stopped short of telling the racists to get the heck out. Bass is black, and as Martinez would put it "with the blacks."

And just in, we have a statement from @KarenBassLA who stops short of calling for Martinez to step down. https://t.co/3EGYqvgGJ0 pic.twitter.com/nQZOqDxFMd  Benjamin Oreskes (@boreskes) October 10, 2022

Seems she's concerned with how the turnout might end up come November.

First off, the three of them, as of this writing, are still in office. Cedillo got voted out in the last election, so he'll leave only when he has to. The other two don't suggest any plans to resign at all. Steven Hayward, writing at Power Line, notes that Martinez makes a $207,000 salary, which might just be why she doesn't think she has to go. The latest is that she's now taking a leave of absence, perhaps to evade the political heat by just hunkering down. It would be interesting to know if that's a paid leave.

Lots of other local eminentos have called on these characters to resign.

According to the Los Angeles Times:

Councilmembers Nithya Raman, Paul Koretz, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Mitch OFarrell, Heather Hutt and Bonin have all called on Martinez to resign.

They all have their axes to grind and serve as rivals to the exposed racists, but don't think that at least some of them don't talk that way among their pals themselves.

In short, it's a completely inadequate reaction.

Even The View tried to cover for them, omitting the inconvenient detail about all four of the racists being Democrats:

Funny none of them mentioned Nury Martinez is a Democrathttps://t.co/83f2uKadqn  Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) October 11, 2022

Which pretty well highlights what this mealy-mouthed reaction is all about.

The four caught-on-tape racist Democrats all wield tremendous power in Los Angeles, with a gargantuan multibillion-dollar budget, the power to award contracts, and the power to say what gets done and not done. Martinez voted 'yes' to rip out $150 million from the LAPD police budget in 2020, as part of the Black Lives Matter pile-on. They are not only powerful, they run a powerful political machine, one that has been in conflicts with "the blacks" as Martinez put it, and which resentfully considers black people as having too much political power in the city. Everything is about color-counting with these people, there's no such thing as principles. At Power Line, John Hinderaker noted that Martinez's claim to have made her racist remarks were a product of anger and the heat of the moment was bogus, writing:

"The conversation reflects cold, cynical political calculation, not frustration and anger."

Since they wield this power in Los Angeles and well into Sacramento and Washington, a death-blow has been struck. Every Democrat who's in hock to them and expects them to help them out is hesitant to say anything about the scandal, let alone condemn it beyond just cursory condemnations. Sure they call for this bunch to resign, and the union leader has, but they don't mean it.

Their mealy mouthed stern warnings seem to be a bid to keep them in place so as to hold on to a piece of that power they get from them, until the whole scandal blows over.

That's why they don't do anything more than cursorily condemn the racist talk. Nobody's forcing these characters to resign, and the three racists can obviously see that because they aren't resigning. Martinez tried to gaslight the public by claiming she was resigning her city council president seat, but she kept the cash-paying one, her city council seat and continued to hold onto power. De Leon and Cedillo issued loud and disingenuous apologies, but didn't quit office. This, despite the obvious public relations problem for the Democrats, which includes the inclination of about a quarter of the black vote, at least, to head on to the Republicans this November. There was a reaction in city hall on Tuesday -- see this Twitter thread here -- but still no resignations -- the racists have calculated that they can just ride this out and everythin will eventually go back to normal.

Not only are Democrats losing black votes anyway, the same can be said of Latino votes, which must include some of those insulted Oaxacans and anyone sympathetic to them after these elites mocked them.

As of this writing, nobody's out a job other than the union chief, the political elites have decided they can just ride this out. That leaves them a millstone around the Democrats' necks as elections approach, and thus far, the Democrats aren't strong enough to push them out. Obviously, some kind of power is at stake, the racists and their Democrat enablers don't intend to give it up, the apologies and ablutions are window dressing, but the reality here is that Democrats themselves don't want to see them give it up and get out.

What an ugly picture.

Image: Twitter screen shot
Once upon a time, the least that a citizen expected from a candidate contesting elections was physical and mental fitness.

Intelligence, aptitude, public speaking skills, motivational skills, leadership skills, etc. were qualities demanded of candidates because their fitness was implicitly assumed.

Why is physical and mental fitness essential?

Because elected officials often have to work around the clock for prolonged periods of time with very little sleep. The individual also must be able to absorb volumes of complex information and take decisions on the recently processed information. During an emergency, the elected official could be awakened in the middle of the night.

Elected officials hence must not only be physically and mentally sound, but also not be consuming medication that affects mental or cognitive abilities or induces deep sleep.

However, Joe Biden changed everything, to become a pioneer of an undesired practice.

Biden's rapidly declining cognitive abilities were obvious to all, including his fellow Democrats, who taunted him about his failing memory during a primary debate.

But some in Democrat leadership saw a declining Biden as a perfect rubber-stamp president who could be used to push their unpopular far-left policies. Hence, Biden's rivals were eliminated with inducements and he was dragged to the finish line during the primaries.

The presidential elections in 2020 were tampered with on myriad fronts. Mark Zuckerberg donated to NGOs that strategically targeted key districts and even infiltrated the sacrosanct election infrastructure. Mail voting, which compromises the confidentiality of the vote in addition to being vulnerable to fraud, was made the norm, using COVID-19 as a pretext. Biden himself used COVID-19 as an excuse not to campaign. The media and Big Tech did their bit suppressing the Hunter Biden story.

Hence, Biden became president and was sworn in while D.C. was on lockdown. The only people in attendance were Hollywood celebrities and Washington's "elites."

The race in Pennsylvania between Dr. Oz and John Fetterman proves that this trend may be on the rise. Fetterman has suffered from heart issues since 2017. In 2019, Fetterman collapsed while presiding over the Pennsylvania State Senate. Recently in May, Fetterman suffered a stroke due to a clot related to his irregular heart rhythm.

Fetterman concealed the details of his ailments from the public, insisting he is fit. But as with Biden, it's obvious to even a casual observer that all is not well with Fetterman.

Recent revelations from a Democrat-aligned media source  i.e., NBC News  support that. NBC News reporter Dasha Burns recently sat down with Fetterman for an interview. Burns revealed that Fetterman "struggles to understand what he hears and to speak clearly."

Burns also said the following:

We had a monitor set up so that he could read my questions because he still has lingering auditory processing issues as a result of the stroke which means he has a hard time understanding what he's hearing.

John Fetterman apparently needs a massive Apple desktop up to transcribe in real time what people are saying to him.



He's supposed to debate in exactly two weeks... pic.twitter.com/wJ4Mur9yTb  Brent Scher (@BrentScher) October 11, 2022

Burns said Fetterman struggled to make small talk and "still has some problems, some challenges with speech."

She said Fetterman "occasionally stuttered and had trouble finding words" and even struggled to pronounce words such as "empathetic" during the interview.

When asked why he did not share his medical records or make his doctors available for interviews, Fetterman claimed to be unaware of any undisclosed symptoms and that he has been open with the public about his health and recovery. Fetterman claimed that despite his auditory processing difficulties, his cognitive function and memory are unaffected. Fetterman also claimed that his doctor has given him a letter saying that he is to serve and run for elections.

MSNBC: John Fetterman "has a hard time understanding what he's hearing...he still has some problems, some challenges with speech...he had a hard time understanding our conversations." pic.twitter.com/EYLNVxb0Cy  Townhall.com (@townhallcom) October 11, 2022

But that doesn't explain why he relentlessly dodged debate requests from his GOP rival Dr. Oz causing The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's editorial board to raise concerns about Fetterman's health. Fetterman finally agreed to hold a single debate on October 25. It remains to be seen if Fetterman fulfills his commitment.

Dr. Oz recently called on Fetterman to release his medical records. Oz released his own medical records. Dr. Rebecca J. Kurth, who conducted the exam, wrote a detailed letter stating the specifics of Oz's test results and declaring him fit.

There are some obvious questions that arise.

If Fetterman cannot understand basic questions without them being transcribed, how would he be able to communicate with colleagues and function in the Senate?

Also, is Fetterman fit enough to comprehend a lengthy bill and process all the information to make a decision about his vote?

If Fetterman dodges the debate again  i.e., he concedes he is unfit to debate  how can he be fit for the Senate?

So what happens if Fetterman wins?

He will, like Joe Biden, become a rubber stamp for the Democrats. He will be managed by handlers. He will seldom be seen in public for his tenure of six years. Since there is no recall facility, there is nothing citizens can do about it. He will vote the way the Democrat leadership orders him to further their agenda.

Fetterman could be of other use to the Democrats.

In recent times, there have been calls to replace Kamala Harris as vice president owing to her poor performance and frequent gaffes that have caused embarrassment both nationally and internationally.

Biden's handlers may be on the hunt for someone such as Harris, who presents no threat or challenge to Biden, who is cognitively compromised, and even makes Biden look like the smarter one.

Perhaps Fetterman will be an ideal replacement for Kamala Harris. No, he isn't the woman "of color" that Biden promised to have as a running mate. But the Democrats would rather violate Biden's promise than have their puppet unseated by an overambitious vice president.

This isn't a cruel joke at the expense of people suffering from diminished cognitive abilities due to senility or a stroke. The ailing deserve to be cared for and protected during their road to recovery.

This is about the Democrats exploiting unfit individuals to further their agenda, while close family members look the other way.

So is there a solution?

When the GOP win both the House and the Senate, they must pass a law making it mandatory for individuals aspiring to run for public office to submit themselves to a medical examination. The results of these tests must be made public, and those who fail the test must be prevented from contesting elections. And not just prior to elections  elected representative must be compelled to take these tests once a year and must be forced to quit if they fail.

A puppet eliminates accountability, which is essential to a functioning democracy. The least a citizen can expect in a democracy is that the individual who secures the maximum votes will be the one making the decisions.

Installing puppets and managing state affairs via proxy is what happens only in third-world dictatorships and under communist regimes. It also happened to the British monarchy in the late 1700s.

Rubber-stamp leaders have no place in the world's most important democracy.

Despite all this, RealClearPolitics's polling average shows Fetterman leading Oz by 3.7 percentage points.

If the elections are fair and Fetterman wins, it will be a sad commentary on the voters.

Photo credit: Twitter video screen grab.
I am a Canadian, and I can tell you that the world's conservatives are looking to America for hope and direction. What we see is a Republican Party that is fractured and rudderless. A party that fails to understand that we are in a mortal conflict with the left. The left understands this and advocates winning this war at any cost and by any means. Leftists have told you that and are openly advancing their troops.

Republican leadership believe that all they need are convincing arguments, understanding, and the desire to get along. The left does not care, as you can see right now, that at-risk left politicians refuse to debate their GOP opponents in Pennsylvania, Arizona, and other battleground states. GOP leadership are relatively silent about this and fail to campaign for these GOP candidates.

In fact, Liz Cheney, who is still supported by Mitch McConnell, has stated that she is going to campaign for Democrats in Arizona. GOP leadership are silent.



Caricature by Donkey Hotey, CC BY-SA 2.0 license.

Innocent January 6 Capitol visitors are still in jail and held as political prisoners. Lindsey Graham has said these people got what they deserved. Shameful. Where are the GOP leadership to constantly confront and harass the DOJ, the Jan. 6 Committee? GOP leadership allowed Nancy Pelosi to assign Republican members on that committee, and there was barely a peep from Kevin McCarthy. No one was allowed to question witnesses. GOP leadership are silent. Three pipe bombs were found on January 5. GOP leadership are silent. Ray Epps? Silence.

The FBI was intimately involved in the planning and operations of the attempted kidnapping of Gretchen Whitmer. GOP leadership are silent. FBI involvement in January 6? GOP leadership are silent. Fourteen thousand hours of video on January 6 that could prove FBI involvement and rioters innocent? GOP leadership are silent. The murder of Ashli Babbitt? GOP leadership are silent. Election interference by the FBI? GOP leadership are silent.

Oh, Lindsey Graham threatens that when the GOP takes over the House and Senate, there will be repercussions. Sure. He's a spineless Republican. Nothing will happen.

Hymn-singing abortion facility protestors are facing up to 11 years in jail. GOP leadership are silent. The illegal and unprecedented Mar-a-Lago raid? GOP leadership, including Ron DeSantis? Absent and silent. Hunter and Joe Biden corruption? GOP leadership are silent for the most part.

Lately, I have been introduced to two giant intellectual conservatives, Norman Podhoretz and Herbert London, and have been encouraged and impressed by these intellectual patriots. Both were non-Trump-supporters, but came to fully support and vote for him. When facts changed, they could change their minds. When facts change, many Republican leaders cannot and will not change. Norman called this fractured GOP "muddled." Norman asked, "Is America a force for good in the world  or not?" He finds it a force for good.

I fell in love with America when I attended Calvin University in Grand Rapids, MI from 1961 to 1965.

Republican leadership fail to understand that we are at war with the left. The left understands and has declared openly that politics is a blood sport that leftists aim to win at any cost and by any means. How do the GOP leadership respond? As Podhoretz says, "it's muddled." That leaves American patriots and patriots across the world leaderless and without vision or hope.

The only one who provides a clear consistent vision is Donald Trump. No one else does. The deplorables, all rednecks, Hungarians, Polish, youths in Iraq, conservatives in Italy and across the world, and Canadian truckers understand this war and what's at stake intuitively. American GOP leadership somehow willfully or ignorantly do not.

I turned against collectivism when I, as an immigrant high school student attempting to learn English, read a book from the school library, I Chose Freedom by Victor Kravchenko. This is not a great book, but it describes the political and human reality in the Soviet Union and helped shape who I am. Much later, reading such books as The Gulag Archipelago by Solzhenitsyn and watching the movie Dr. Zhivago and learning about the Holodomor and the betrayal of the Ukrainian people by the NYT and Walter Duranty stiffened my resolve to oppose socialism/Marxism.

I implore the American GOP leadership to put all differences and egos aside to unite and fully engage in this war that we cannot afford to lose.
A pair of debates took place Tuesday night between the Democrat and Republican candidates for treasurer and secretary of state in Colorado. It was held at the University of Denver.

The territory definitely belonged to the liberals. You could feel it in the atmosphere. You could see it in the crowd; at least twice as many in the audience were wearing blue t-shirts for the Democrat.

My husband and I sat in the second row behind the timekeepers.

We were well behaved during the debate between the candidates for treasurer. No outbursts from us. We listened attentively and clapped when we were supposed to clap. Very respectful.

Then Pam Anderson (R)  who was recently on the cover of Time Magazine  and Secretary of State Jenna Griswold (D) came out to debate.



YouTube screen grab.

Everything started respectfully. We were still minding our manners.

Then Secretary Griswold launched into slander against President Trump, the people who voted for him, and other candidates, out of the blue. It was unnecessary and off point. It must have been her way of lighting up the base in the crowd and those watching on YouTube. She said President Trump tried to steal the election.

"Boo!" I said, right to Griswold's face.

Everyone was stunned.

Griswold recovered and went on to say that there was the Big Lie and the Republican candidates were election deniers and conspiracy this and disinformation that, so on and so forth.

I said boo again.

The moderators said, "Ma'am, you can't do that. You have to be quiet."

"Boo, boo, boo," was my response.

Anderson noticed what I was meaning and, during her time, spoke about how Griswold's rhetoric made everything hotter at a time when we don't need that. She said the secretary of state office is not to be partisan, that Griswold should not be making everything political.

I nodded yes.

Griswold was not to be deterred. She asserted that her job as an elected official demanded that she stand up when our rights are being threatened. We are at a pivotal point in our country, said she, and we have to stand up.

This went on for a good long time: Griswold just stood up there and slandered good Americans, pushing the Democrat narrative, which is a complete and utter lie itself. She talked about Dinesh D'Souza's movie 2000 Mules as being extremist, how there is no proof for its claims. What is she hiding? Griswold demanded that Anderson stop associating with candidates who are election-deniers.

Griswold's words were slanderous. They were outrageous. They were off topic. They were the strategic lies of a crooked politician who knew she had the crowd, the mob, with her.

Sorry, I'm not sorry for speaking up and saying, "Boo."

Griswold was right about one thing; we are at a pivotal point in our country. We cannot allow crooked politicians and mainstream media people to push false narratives anymore. It is incumbent on us to reverse the damage they have done to our Republic already. We have to speak up when we have opportunities to speak up.

In fact, we have an obligation to do so bravely because only with people challenging the false narrative of the Democrats, speaking truth, will the delusion over half the people in this country be dispelled.

Anderson called Griswold on the carpet for many things over the course of the debate  sending out 30,000 postcards to noncitizens telling them how to register to vote, spending taxpayer dollars on ads, using her position to step to a higher office. But Anderson did not fundamentally disagree with the narrative Griswold was pushing. She seemed to believe also that Trump tried to steal an election.

My goodness.

It seems that half the people in our country have been duped, including these two candidates. Or is it really that one was just using the narrative to attack her political opponents, and she doesn't believe the nonsense at all?

Anderson did say to Griswold, "You are misleading the voters." I wish Anderson could have said out loud for the entire audience, no, you are pushing a false narrative, a Big Lie of your own. Democrats cheated Biden into office. There is overwhelming evidence of that. Trump was trying to save a win that he won fair and square, not trying to steal an election.

Anderson could not speak that truth, perhaps because she does not yet know the truth herself. Someday she will, I trust. Meanwhile, I'm glad I spoke up, because we all have to speak up now. Again, we are at a pivotal point in our country, and we have to speak truth when we can do so.

My only regret is that I did not have more boos to give for my country.

C.S. Boddie writes for Meadowlark Press, LLC.
I found Tucker Carlson's 10-minute explanation of Tulsi Gabbard's decision to leave the Democrat party quite enlightening last night.

His review of her dramatic entrance to the national stage as a 31-year-old congresswoman from the nation's most liberal state was invaluable, particularly the ecstatic reception she got from the media once the elders of the party had decided that her combination of military background, sex, race, intelligence, and articulateness made her an instant star. The lesson in the way the media function as a claque for whatever the Democrat leadership wants  and is capable of turning on a dime  alone made the segment a classic.

But this was all background to his main point, which was that Gabbard committed the unpardonable sin of opposing the bipartisan consensus on an interventionist foreign policy. Her initial step was opposing U.S. support for the rebels in Syria (including ISIS) seeking the overthrow of the Assad regime. Carlson stated that this was when she noticed that there are a lot of Christians in Syria. As Tucker put it, this opposition "instantly" changed her from golden girl to pariah. From there, he went on to denounce the "war machine" and its powerful hold on both parties.



YouTube screen grab.

It's clear that Gabbard and Carlson are friends and that they agree on what one might fairly call a neo-isolationist or non-interventionist foreign policy as their primary focus on changing America. Certainly, the context of potential nuclear Armageddon over a long-running territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia  far from a core national interest of the United States  makes this position appealing, even urgent. Its longer-term implications for the U.S. in Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East are less clear. Can we be completely indifferent and unwilling to act when the fate of Taiwan, Israel, or Latin America is at stake?

I infer from what Tulsi Gabbard gas said so far, and her launch of an internet show, that she is aiming at either a third party or an organization aimed at influencing U.S. foreign policy away from military intervention. With Tucker Carlson avidly supporting that, and with U.S. fears rising of nuclear confrontation on behalf of a corrupt state that has shut down its opposition, there may well be a future ahead for this movement.
A scandalous printing mistake in a 17th century King James Bible caused its printers to lose their license, and a vast majority of the bible copies to be hunted and destroyed. The copy itself earned the nickname Wicked Bible, thanks to an unfortunate, but hilarious mistake in the Ten Commandments.

In 1631, Robert Barker and Martin Lucas, both royal printers in London, obtained permission from King Charles I of England to print a word-for-word copy of the King James Bible. About a thousand copies were printed. However, when the bible was inspected it was found to contain a grave printing mistake. Compared with modern printing, books of this time often contained careless mistakes, but this one was hard to ignore. In Exodus 20:14, also known as the Ten Commandments, Barkers bible proclaimed Thou shalt commit adultery. Barkers type-setter had forgotten the very important not part of the sentence.

The King Charles I was outraged and so was George Abbot, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who said:

I knew the tyme when great care was had about printing, the Bibles especially, good compositors and the best correctors were gotten being grave and learned men, the paper and the letter rare, and faire every way of the beste, but now the paper is nought, the composers boyes, and the correctors unlearned.

Barker and Lucas were summoned by King Charles I before the court where they were admonished for their sloppy workmanship. The King had their license revoked and fined 300. The King also ordered every copy of the bible destroyed. The strain of the fine as well as other financial difficulties left Barker in debt, and he ended up in debtors prison where he died in 1643.

Barkers bible also contained another gross error. In Deuteronomy 5: the word greatness appearing as great-asse, leading to a sentence reading: Behold, the Lord our God hath shewed us his glory and his great-asse.

Related: Codex Gigas, The Devil's Bible

The two blasphemous mistakes in the same Bible have led some scholars to conclude they were an act of sabotage.

If it had just been one mistake, like leaving off the not in Exodus 20:14, it could have been an accident, said Diana Severance, director of Dunham Bible Museum at Houston Baptist University. But the mistake in Deuteronomy 5:24 of Gods great-asse, instead of greatness, suggests there was something else going on.

Severance believes that the second error indicates that someone purposefully sabotaged the printing of the Wicked Bible so that Robert Barker and Martin Lucas would lose their exclusive license to print the Bible.

A surviving copy of the Wicked Bible. Photo: Narrington77/Wikimedia

As noted, typographical errors were very common in printing at that time, and the Wicked Bible isnt the only one that completely reverses the meaning of the scriptures.

In 1613, the same Robert Barker printed another bible where the name Jesus was replaced by Judas in Matthew 26:36.

In 1653, in an edition printed by Cambridge Press, the word not was mistakenly omitted before inherit making 1 Corinthians 6:9 read Know ye not that the unrighteous shall inherit the kingdom of God?. In the same copy, Romans 6:13 reads Neither yield ye your members as instruments of righteousness into sin, where it should read "unrighteousness".

In a bible from 1716, Jeremiah 31:34 reads "sin on more" rather than "sin no more".

In a 1717 copy published by J. Baskett, Clarendon Press, the chapter heading for Luke 20 reads The Parable of the Vinegar instead of The Parable of the Vineyard.

In a 1763 bible, Psalm 14:1 reads the fool hath said in his heart there is a God, rather than there is no God. The printers were fined 3,000 and all copies ordered destroyed.
Samsung and Google are teaming up to make smart home devices more interoperable. The companies are letting you control or manage Matter-compatible smart gadgets through both the SmartThings and Google Home ecosystems irrespective of where you set up the devices first. You can complete the setup process through the SmartThings app on your Galaxy smartphone or tablet and later control the devices through the Google Home app, and vice versa. You dont need to manually set up the devices again on the other app.

Samsung announced this partnership at its Samsung Developer Conference 2022 in San Francisco today. The company is leveraging the new Matter smart home standards multi-admin capabilities to develop this flexibility between its and Googles smart home ecosystems. Originally Project Connected Home over IP (Project CHIP), the new protocol aims to unify the diverse smart home ecosystem. It has received the backing of hundreds of companies globally.

Samsung and Google join forces to make smart home devices more interoperable

Samsung has been closely collaborating with Google on various projects lately. The former contributed to the development of Wear OS 3 and also helped with the Health Connect platform. Announced at Google I/O in May, Health Connect makes your health and fitness data more portable. The two companies are now teaming up for another project that greatly benefits consumers.

Advertisement

Interoperability has been one of the biggest hurdles in the smart home ecosystem. Since a particular smart home device only works with a certain hub or platform, you have to be very specific about picking up your next smart gadget. Or else, you could end up with a messy system that requires multiple apps to control or automate. The new Matter standard will simplify smart homes by making devices interoperable. You can pick up any Matter-compliant device and it will fit right into your existing ecosystem.

Samsung and Google are now leveraging Matters capabilities to enable users to control their smart home devices with both Google Home and Samsung SmartThings once set up. The Korean firm says this Mater multi-admin feature will be available to users in the coming weeks.

With the launch of Matter, we understand there will be new expectations when it comes to smart home connectivity. We are proud to partner with Samsung Electronics to offer new and existing smart home users their first glimpse into what the future of the smart home looks like and the ease of use that comes with it, said Matthew McCullough, a Vice President at Google.
South Africa: Parliament demands consequence management implementation at COGTA

Parliaments Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) has called on the department to implement consequence management for wrongdoing that sees it continue to obtain qualified audit opinions.

This comes after the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs obtained its audit outcomes from the Auditor-General for the 2021/22 financial year.

The Office of the Auditor-General (AG) on Monday briefed the committee on COGTAs Budgetary Review and Recommendations process.

The committee in the same meeting also received a briefing from COGTA Minister, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, on the annual reports and audited financial statements of the department, the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent and the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC).

The audited financial performance information for the 2021/22 financial year remains largely unchanged from the previous financial year, with the Department of Cooperative Governance (DCOG) still the only auditee with qualified auditing findings.

However, the qualification areas that were five in the previous financial year have been reduced to three and all of them relate to the Community Work Programme (CWP), said the committee.

The committee has informed the department that a qualified audit outcome was unacceptable.

Furthermore, the committee has told the department to set targets for itself and it wants to see plans that lead to those targets being met. It added that the existence of those plans will indicate the commitment of the leadership of the department to obtaining a clean audit outcome.

The committee noted that on service delivery performance against the 2021/22 annual performance plan (APP) targets, the DCOG has achieved 73% of its 2021/22 APP targets.

It said: While this is an improvement from the 68% achieved in 2020/21, however, the committee said this is still the lowest achievement rate in the entire COGTA portfolio of auditees.

The committee is also not pleased with the DCOG for being the highest contributor to the irregular expenditure identified during the year under review, after having incurred R500 million to this end. This also relates mostly to the CWP, in particular, the contracts that did not follow proper Supply Chain Management processes. The AG also found that the NDMC incurred R7.3 million in irregular expenditure as a result of making payment on expired contracts for the NDMCs offices. The DCOG Annual Report indicates that no disciplinary process has been undertaken.

The committee told the department that it wants to see consequence management for wrongdoing, whether the wrongdoing is historical or not.

According to the committee, the leadership of the department does not seem to be keen to ensure that there are consequences for wrongdoing. The committee has emphasised that even those people who are no longer the employees of the department should face consequences for any wrongdoing they committed.

The committee also expressed its disappointment with the lack of adequate responses from the department on CWP. There is also an unresolved R3.3 billion remaining in irregular expenditure emanating from previous years. The CWP was further predominantly responsible for the R4.4 million incurred in fruitless and wasteful expenditure due to payments made to deceased CWP participants and those in the employ of the State.

Although the department incurred no authorised expenditure during the period under review, there is still an unresolved balance of R1.1 million emanating from previous years. As a way forward, the committee has requested a workshop from the department on the CWP so that it can understand where the issues are.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2022-10-12. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Outstanding Vietnamese entrepreneurs 2022 honoured

Sixty entrepreneurs were honoured as outstanding Vietnamese entrepreneurs at a ceremony held on Wednesday morning in Hanoi.















Sixty entrepreneurs were honoured as outstanding Vietnamese entrepreneurs at a ceremony held on October 12 in Hanoi.



The ceremony was held by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) on the occasion of Vietnamese Entrepreneurs' Day (October 13).

Addressing the ceremony, VCCI President Pham Tan Cong, noted that the 60 outstanding entrepreneurs were leading businesses that made revenues of over VND1.2 million billion in 2021, contributed nearly VND148 trillion to the state budget, and created over 251,000 jobs.



"These outstanding entrepreneurs are running enterprises of different sizes from all economic sectors," Cong said. "The oldest person is 82 years old and the youngest is 34."



The VCCI President expressed hopes that the award winners would spread the entrepreneurial spirit and business culture in the Vietnamese business community.



Speaking at the ceremony, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh praised the great efforts and contributions of the business community, both in building and developing the country's economy, and the efforts with the whole country to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.



The prime minister also talked about the difficulties that the business community might have to face in the coming time and suggested measures to deal with the challenges posed.



Among the top 10 outstanding Vietnamese entrepreneurs 2022 honoured today, there were some billionaires including Truong Hai Auto Corporation ChairmanTran Ba Duong, Vietnam Oil and Gas Group General Director Le Manh Hung, and Minh Long 1 Co., Ltd Members' Council Chairman Ly Ngoc Minh.



The top 10 outstanding Vietnamese entrepreneurs:



1. Le Manh Hung, General Director of Vietnam Oil and Gas Group



2. Tran Ba Duong, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Truong Hai Group



3. Major General Nguyen Quoc Dung, Commander of Army Corps 11, Chairman of the Members' Council cum General Director of Thanh An Corporation, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Corporation 789



4. Vu Van Tien, Chairman of the Board of Directors, General Director of Geleximco Group



5. Thai Huong, Chair of the Strategic Council of TH Milk Food Joint Stock Company



6. Nguyen Thi Nga, Chair of the Board of Directors of BRG Group



7. Pham Dinh Doan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Phu Thai Holdings Corporation



8. Huynh Van Thon, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Loc Troi Group Joint Stock Company



9. Nguyen Trung Chinh, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Executive President of CMC Technology Group Joint Stock Company



10. Ly Ngoc Minh, Chairman of the Members' Council of Minh Long 1 Co., Ltd.
(ANSA) - BRUSSELS, OCT 12 - EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell has said he hopes the new Italian government will stick to the policy of Premier Mario Draghi's outgoing administration and continue to staunchly support Ukraine and measures against Russia after it invaded its neighbour.

"I hope the new Italian government maintains the same position as the previous one in relation to issues of security and support of Ukraine," Borrell told ANSA in an interview.

"It's very important that this happens.

"It's not my job to deal with the internal political dynamics of the member States, but it's clear that these dynamics have an impact on our foreign stance.

"The European Union's foreign policy depends on our internal cohesion and our unity".

Brothers of Italy (FdI) leader Giorgia Meloni, who looks set to become Italy's next premier after her right-wing party spearheaded her coalition to victory in last month's general election, has repeatedly said the new government will not break ranks with the rest of the West over Ukraine.

Borrell also spoke about the European Commission's recommendation that Bosnia and Herzegovina be granted candidate status by the European Council, paving the way for EU accession negotiations.

"Opening up to Bosnia and Herzegovina is a strategic decision,"Borrell said.

"The new situation highlights the importance of enlarging the EU so that it takes on a new geopolitical significance, with major implications for the region". (ANSA).


(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 12 - A worker was killed and another injured in an accident at a work site in the quake-hit town of Arquata in Abruzzo on Wednesday, local sources said.

The pair were reportedly installing a metal containing grid on an outcrop when something went wrong and they slipped and fell several metres.

The victim's condition immediately appeared critical and he died despite treatment from an emergency medical crew.

The other worker was slightly injured in the fall.

An autopsy has been ordered.

It is the latest in a long spate of fatal workplace accidents in Italy, where three deaths a day are now being reported.

The government has vowed renewed action on workplace safety.

Italy's three main trade union federations, CGIL, CISL and UIL, will hold a rally in Rome on Saturday October 22 to demand more action.

CISL General Secretary Luigi Sbarra said last week: "We must stop the daily massacre in workplaces.

"It is a serious and unacceptable phenomenon.

"We can't allow three deaths per day to become a sad statistical figure, almost an ineluctable destiny in our country". (ANSA).


(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 12 - Brothers of Italy (FdI) leader and likely future premier Giorgia Meloni said that she is having a fresh round of talks on Wednesday with her allies, League chief Matteo Salvini and Forza Italia (FI) leader Silvio Berlusconi, on the composition of the new government.

"We are working. I'm optimistic," Meloni, whose right-wing party spearheaded her coalition to victory in last month's general election, told ANSA on her way into the Lower House.

"It seems to me that things are going well. We'll be ready".

The new parliamentary term begins on Thursday with sessions to elect the new Senate and House speakers. There have been media reports of high tension within the right-wing coalition, especially between Meloni and Berlusconi, over the make-up of the new cabinet.

The FdI leader, who is poised to become Italy's first woman premier, has repeatedly stressed that the new government will be authoritative and made up of highly competent figures. (ANSA).


Tourism: three-year agreement on Alpe Adria Trail renewed Between PromoTurismoFVG and Carinthia-SloveniaTourism Boards.

(ANSA) - TRIESTE, 06 OTT - A three-year cooperation agreement has been renewed between Friuli Venezia Giulia with PromoTurismoFVG, the Carinthia Regional Tourism Board, and the Tourism Agency of Slovenia to promote the Alpe Adria Trail.



PromoTurismoFVG announced the deal. Alpe Adria Trail, founded in 2012, covers about 750 kilometers in 43 stages, connecting very different areas and landscapes, from the Alps to the Mediterranean. At least 100,000 walkers from all over the world have walked it so far.



The agreement was signed on the route's 10th anniversary, and committed the three organizations to promote the trail by sharing a single marketing plan. Yesterday, to mark the 10th anniversary and the signing of the cooperation agreement, a cross-border ceremony brought together more than 400 people on Mount Forno, the symbol of the three borders. The walkers came from Seltschach in Carinthia, Ratece in Slovenia, and Fusine in Valromana in Friuli Venezia Giulia. (ANSA).





 Copyright ANSA - All rights reserved
Fincantieri signs a series of MoUs in Greece With local suppliers for construction of four corvettes

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, OCT 12 - Fincantieri signed a series of memorandums of understanding (MoU) with a selection of potential new suppliers today at the Italian Embassy in Athens as part of the Hellenic Defense Minister's program for the construction of four corvettes and the provision of Integrated Logistic Support (ILS) and In Service Support (ISS). (ANSA).





 Copyright ANSA - All rights reserved
PARIS - The situation is increasingly tense in France where the government - as announced on Tuesday by Premier Elisabeth Borne - took the initiative with a back-to-work measure for refinery workers on strike who are blocking petrol supplies. The first to be reached by the injunction were the employees of Esso-ExxonMobil in Gravenchon-Port-Jerome, Normandy, described as "indispensable" for the plant. The unions threatened to take the government to court for this extreme decision against "a constitutional right", said a leader of Force Ouvriere representing the category of workers in the oil sector. In Normandy, the plant's workers prolonged the strike, challenging the government's decision. The strike is also continuing in the plant of another oil giant, Total Energies.
LISBON - Cases of pedophilia in the Catholic church are continuing to shake the public opinion in Portugal. Yesterday, an independent commission to study sexual abuse against minors in the Catholic Church in Portugal, through its coordinator, child psychiatrist Pedro Strecht, said that some 400 cases have been reported so far to judicial authorities, including 17 concerning priests who are still in service. "It is not a particularly high number", commented President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, sparking a controversy that forced him to retract his words: "The number is not high compared to the likely and sad reality, both in Portugal and in the rest of the world", he wrote in a subsequent note.



Over the past few months, suspects of sexual abuse or cover-ups of such cases have involved Portuguese Church leaders and Rebelo de Sousa, a practicing Catholic, hasn't been impartial, according to some. In July, he defended Cardinals Manuel Clemente and Jose Policarpo (who died in May 2013), accused of cover-ups in a reportage by digital newspaper Observador. More recently, the presidency of the Republic received a report of cover-up against Monsigneur Jose Ornelas, bishop of Fatima and president of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference. The fact was immediately reported to the authorities but the president was criticized for also informing the bishop.



Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa however expressed confidence that the scandals will not have an impact on the success of World Youth Day, which will take place in Lisbon the first week of August 2023 and which should be attended by Pope Francis.
ROME - The Saudi ports authority, also known as Mawani, has signed two contracts for a total of 171 million dollars to deepen and build berths at the port of Jeddah, the website of The National News reports.



The newspaper said the Saudi kingdom is extremely focused on developing the infrastructure that is at the center of commercial transportation in the MENA area (Middle East and North Africa). The Saudi authority has signed an agreement with the consortium formed by PC Marine Services and Modern Building Leaders (MBL) to develop the port on the Red Sea. The contract is part of initiatives launched by Mawani to accelerate the growth of maritime transportation and the logistics industry, lead the transformation of the port into a logistical base to accomplish 160 projects, and develop in a sustainable but prosperous way the maritime sector in the race to transform the kingdom into a logistical global hub connecting the three continents. The project is part of the National Transport and Logistics Strategy, launched by the government last year with the Vision 2030 program.



The contract aims to deepen harbor approach channels to accommodate vessels with a large capacity for containers and attract shipping lines to Jeddah.



The contract aims to build deep berths measuring 16 meters deep and 1,100 meters long to accommodate larger vessels. Saudi Arabia is developing the project as part of the Vision 2030 program including new housing, infrastructure, transportation and hospital facilities.




ROME - A ruling in a civil case related to the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake in which 309 people died that in part blames some of the victims of the disaster has provoked shock and outrage.



The sentence regarded a suit for millions of euros in damages presented by some of the relatives of 24 people who died in a building in the centre of the Abruzzo capital early on April 6, 2009.



The judge said these people should have left their accommodation, rather than staying inside, after two strong tremors, one at 23:00 and the other at 1am, before the deadly quake hit at 3:32.



As a result, it said that the victims had a share of the blame that amounted to 30% due to this "incautious" behaviour, meaning that the compensation was to be reduced by this degree.



The victims' relatives sued the heirs of the building's constructor, who has since died, due to irregularities in how it was built and the interior ministry and the transport and infrastructure ministry, and the city council for failing to conduct the proper oversight.



The court ruled that the two ministries each had a 15% share of the blame, the constructor 40% and it dismissed the case against the city council.



Maria Grazia Piccinini, a lawyer and the mother of Ilaria Rambaldi, a 25-year-old student who died in the quake, said the ruling was especially surprising as experts had played down fears about a possible disaster during seismic activity in the run-up to it.



Indeed, seven members of the Major Risks Prevention Commission were convicted over the information people received before the quake.



But those rulings were all subsequently quashed, except for that of Bernardo De Bernardinis, former vice-president of Civil Protection Agency's technical department, whose conviction was upheld by the supreme court, while the term was reduced.



"This sentence astounded us," Piccinini told ANSA.



"Where is this share of the blame? "Even the supreme court upheld the conviction of one of the members of the Major Risks Commission.



"How can you say today that these young people should have been outside when everyone remembers the reassurances?"




BRUSSELS - The European Commission is recommending to the European Council that Bosnia-Herzegovina be granted the status of candidate to join the European Union, the European commissioner for enlargement, Oliver Varhelyi, announced during his audition to the foreign affairs commission of the European Parliament. Sarajevo will have to satisfy a series of conditions to be able to access the subsequent phase that provides for the opening of adhesion talks with the EU. The issue will be discussed during a summit of European leaders scheduled in December which will have to approve the recommendations of the Union's executive.



"The new context strongly highlights the importance of the EU's enlargement because it takes new geopolitical meaning with great implications for the region: the decisions of partners on whether to side with us or not on the world scenario and on fundamental values have even more weight", the EU Foreign Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell told ANSA, commenting the Commission's recommendation to grant candidate status to Bosnia. Interviewed by ANSA, Borrell stressed that "a battle of ideas is also ongoing with Moscow. We cannot close our eyes on its growing influence, not only in the Balkans".



"Today's choice is a political impulse. Certainly Bosnia does not respect all conditions to be a country of the EU today, however we believe that these conditions will come true. It is an impulse which I hope the new political authorities of Bosnia will understand and exploit. It is an incentive for action", added Borrell.



Among the conditions requested by the European Commission, explained Varhleyi, is the adoption, as a priority, of a package of amendments to the law in place on the Superior council of magistrates and a new law on the issue. Bosnia-Herzegovina was also requested to adopt a measure to prevent conflicts of interest and strong measures to strengthen the prevention and fight against corruption and organized crime. Moreover, it will have to promote action to guarantee effective coordination, at all levels, to manage borders and immigration, as well as guarantee that the asylum system functions. Bosnia-Herzegovina will then have to guarantee a ban on torture, freedom of expression and the media, and the protection of journalists.



The Union's executive moreover is asking to guarantee the correct functioning of the coordination mechanism on EU issues, by also developing and implementing a national program for the adoption of the EU acquis. Finally, the European commissioner appealed to the leaders of Bosnia-Herzegovina to "proceed quickly to reform the Constitution and the electoral law".



"Granting candidate status is an offer which the EU is making to Bosnia-Herzegovina and its population", explained Varhelyi, warning that the step brings "great expectations for leaders to transform this from a promise to reality".




WASHINGTON - US President Joe Biden said the US will react and take measures in the wake of the OPEC+ decision last week to cut down oil production in an interview with CNN broadcast on Tuesday. The stance was expressed following an appeal by some members of the US Congress to stop arms sales to Riyadh after the decision.



In the interview broadcast last night by CNN, Biden stressed that Saudi Arabia will pay the consequences after the cut in oil production decided by Opec+. The US president was strongly criticized at home after his visit to Riyadh in July during which he met with crown prince Mohammed bin Salman who is accused of ordering the murder inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul of journalist and activist Jamal Khashoggi.



Biden repeatedly said that the trip did not concern oil but the balance of power in the Middle East and, however, described the decision taken by Opec+ as disappointing. Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, who leads the Senate committee on foreign relations, asked for an immediate halt to any type of cooperation with Riyadh, including military cooperation.



Yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Russia and the United Arab Emirates are actively working within Opec+ and that the "organization's decisions are not directed against anyone", stressing - as reported by Tass - that the actions of Russia and the Emirates are aimed at creating stability in the global market of energy.
Israel blocks access to Nablus after Palestinian attacks Jerusalem, police on alert for Western Wall prayers

(ANSAmed) - TEL AVIV, 12 OTT - After a series of armed attacks claimed by the Palestinian militia known as Lions' Den, the Israeli army has blocked nearly all access to Nablus (West Bank). Palestinian vehicles are all searched by Israeli soldiers in the roads that have remained open, public radio Kan reports.



Yesterday, the Lions' Den claimed responsibility for an attack, which started in Nablus, in which an Israeli soldier was killed. According to media reports, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is concerned by the armed activities of the Lions' Den and has ordered one of his generals to control the group, possibly through persuasion. Meanwhile tonight the Israeli army is scheduled to take to Nablus a group of Orthodox Jews who mean to pray at the sanctuary known as Joseph's Tomb to mark Sukkot, the traditional festival of huts.



Tension was high today also in Jerusalem, where thousands of worshippers are preparing to gather at the Western Wall to receive the traditional Sukkot blessings. Security measures are tight. (ANSAmed).




Macron in Rome, hearing with pope on October 24 President at 'Cry for peace' event organized by Sant'Egidio

(ANSA) - PARIS, 12 OTT - French presidential sources have confirmed Emmanuel Macron's visit to Rome on October 23-24. The same sources added that the French President will meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Monday, October 24.



Macron will visit as part of the event 'Il grido della pace' (the cry for peace) organized in Rome by the Community of Sant'Egidio. The inaugural conference, on the 23rd, will be held at the Nuvola auditorium in the Eur district, with speeches by Italian President Sergio Mattarella and French President Emmanuel Macron. For the occasion, a lunch has been scheduled at the Quirinale presidential palace for the two presidents.



The second and third economies of the euro zone, France and Italy are among the founding countries of the European Union, tied by profound historic, economic and cultural connections.



Last November, Rome and Paris signed the so-called Quirinale Treaty further strengthening relations between the two nations, also in a European framework. (ANSA).




NGO accuses Greek Migration Minister of false claims Aegean Boat Report label Notis Mitarakis as "mischievous"

(ANSA) - ATHENS, 12 OTT - The Norwegian NGO Aegean Boat Report has attacked the Greece's Minister for Migration and Asylum, Notis Mitarakis, refuting accusations that the organization has links with people traffickers from Turkey as "entirely untrue".



In comments during a TV interview, Mitarakis had suggested that the organization was being used by traffickers to bring asylum seekers to Greek shores.



It is not the first time Mitarakis has aimed accusations at Aegean Boat Report, whose mission is stated as "We monitor and share data about people movement on the Aegean Sea, and advocate to uphold international law and protect human lives", and the NGO has once again responded in kind.



"We are perturbed and annoyed to once again be the subject of mischievous and entirely untrue claims from the Greek Minister of Migration Notis Mitarakis," said Aegean Boat Report via a media statement..



The statement went on: "We feel we must state publicly that his comments about Aegean Boat Report, specifically the claim that we 'work with' and 'help' Turkish 'people traffickers' and the claim that we are 'funded by the East' are entirely without merit. They are false. We do not help Turkish traffickers. We have not, do not, and will never work with or assist people traffickers from any part of the world. The absolute best we can say about Mr. Mitarakis' claim is that he certainly does not know it to be true (because it is not). In fact, we believe he knows that it is not, in which case what he said was a lie. We are not 'funded by' the 'East'." "Some of our grant funding has come from within Norway, where we are based. Norway is not 'the East'. It is considerably further west than Greece, which we would hope Mr. Mitarakis knows. We were also given a grant by a donor in Belgium, and another from the UK. If it helps Mr. Mitarakis for us to do so, we are happy to note here that the UK and Belgium are further west than Norway, which is, as we have ascertained, some distance further west than Greece. The rest of our money comes from private donations made through fundraising campaigns. These donations have come from all over Europe, almost all of which is also west of Greece. Both claims Mr. Mitarachis has made about us are false, and it is impossible to believe that he does not know this. Deliberately spreading false information is lying.



Many of you will have noted by now that we were forced to make similar statements about similar claims made by Mr. Mitarachis almost two years ago. As we pointed out at the time, those claims, too, were entirely false. Absolutely no action has been taken as a result of those claims." The NGO added that Mitarakis comments are a tactic of "deliberate smearing" of the organisation, carried out "because we work to expose Mitarakis' law-breaking which results in deaths in the Eastern Aegean", while they called on the Minister to cease what they describe as "his campaign against us" immediately so that they can continue they work.



Aegean Boat Report's statement also came after Mitarakis addressed the 73rd Session of the Executive Committee of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, stating that "Smuggling networks today, get to decide who enters Europe, Greece is committed to protecting its borders", during his speech.



Also in his address, Mitarakis focused on what he described as "the extreme practices followed by smugglers both on land and at sea", stressing that the exploitation of human life at the altar of money has the impact of dozens of deaths, as happened recently with the shipwreck tragedies near the Greek islands of Lesvos and Kythira. (ANSA).




TUNIS - The Tunisian journalists' union (SNJT) and the general union of information, which are part of the Tunisian general labor union (UGTT) have called on all representatives of the media sector to take part in a protest organized on October 13 in front of the government's seat at the Kasbah in Tunis. This movement of protest aims to defend the sustainability of the institutions of public media and of those confiscated or in liquidation, the unions said in a joint statement, stressing their opposition to the government's policy of "dismissing the media".



Unions stated that the appeal for this demonstration expressed solidarity to the personnel of Cactus Prod that went without a salary for the tenth consecutive month and employees of radio Shems FM and Dar Essabeh, which are in liquidation. The initiative also vies to "denounce the social situation of Snipe La Presse "after the government stopped supporting public media", the unions said.
A Treasury minister has said there are no plans to reverse or defer tax measures in the Governments growth plan, amid Tory pleas for a further rowing back.

Chris Philp was mocked by Labour MPs after he insisted the Government is not planning to perform any more U-turns when pressed by senior Tory Mel Stride to change course.

Mr Stride, who chairs the Treasury Select Committee, suggested Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng will simply have to come forward with a further rowing back on the tax announcements given the huge challenges he is facing.

Mr Kwarteng has been under pressure for the market turmoil that erupted after the Government last month announced a 45 billion package of unfunded tax cuts alongside a commitment to cap energy bills for the next two years.

Conservative chair of the Treasury Select Committee Mel Stride (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

He later dropped plans to abolish the 45% tax rate on earnings over 150,000, although he remains committed to the rest of his mini-budget.

This includes bringing forward a cut to the basic rate of income tax, to 19p in the pound, a year early and scrapping a planned rise in corporation tax.

Speaking during an urgent question in the Commons, Mr Stride said: The Chancellor was quite right to have brought forward the date for the medium-term plan and OBR forecast.

He has, of course, a huge challenge now landing those plans to reassure the markets. He has to get the fiscal rules right, he has to come forward with spending restraint and revenue raisers that are politically deliverable.

Given the huge challenges, there are many  myself included  who believe it is quite possible that he will simply have to come forward with a further rowing back on the tax announcements that he made on September 23.

So could I ask (Mr Philp) to confirm that that possibility is still on the table?

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Chris Philp said there were no plans to reverse any tax measures (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Mr Philp, in his reply, said: There are not any plans to reverse any of the tax measures announced in the growth plan.

Labour MPs shouted yet in response to Mr Philps remark.

The minister added: We want to make sure the UK is a competitive jurisdiction where companies and high potential individuals who are internationally mobile choose to come to the United Kingdom to locate and to grow.

But we do of course, as the select committee chairman says, need to make sure we do this in a way that is fiscally responsible, to make sure that debt over GDP does fall in the medium-term and the strategy, the plan will lay out exactly how that will be achieved to the House in detail, scored by the OBR (Office for Budget Responsibility) on October 31.

Mr Philp, in response to Conservative MP Robert Largan (High Peak), also told the Commons: We dont plan to defer the tax measures because we think having an internationally competitive tax system is important because it will help encourage businesses and successful individuals to locate here in the UK rather than anywhere else.

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves (Peter Byrne/PA)

For Labour, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said the Government must put aside their pride and reverse this catastrophic mini-budget.

Speaking in the Commons, she asked what guarantees the Government would give on the currency slide, how many repossessions there will be if the Government does not change course, and how much more the Government is borrowing on debt interest due to higher borrowing costs.

She said: This is a Tory crisis made in Downing Street, but it is ordinary working people who are paying the price, and it can only be resolved when the Conservatives put aside their pride and reverse this catastrophic mini-budget, and they must do so now.

Conservative former minister James Cartlidge said: It is very welcome that a few minutes ago the chief secretary said that the effect to the statement on October 31 would be to show the Chancellor was 100% committed to fiscal responsibility.

That is very welcome to colleagues on all sides, I think.

Can he confirm that means that all the previous unfunded tax cuts will now be funded in that statement?

Mr Philp replied: What the statement will set out in the round is how we will get debt as a proportion of GDP falling in the medium term. That is the critical metric and that is what the medium-term fiscal plan will deliver.
Children wrapped in blankets were carried to safety as Channel crossings continued for the fifth day in a row.

Migrants were taken to Dungeness beach in Kent on Wednesday after making the journey, with several youngsters pictured being helped ashore from a packed lifeboat by the crew.

More than 35,600 people have arrived in the UK so far this year after attempting the treacherous trip from France, crossing the worlds busiest shipping lanes in dinghies and other small boats.

Children were carried to safety on Wednesday as Channel crossings continued (Gareth Fuller/PA)

On Tuesday, 374 people were detected in seven boats, the Ministry of Defence said.

This followed 539 on Monday, 1,065 on Sunday and 46 on Saturday.

There have been 2,606 crossings recorded in October so far, PA news agency analysis of Government figures shows.

The crossings continue as the Government faces another legal challenge against its plan to send migrants to Rwanda.

Charity Asylum Aids case is due to be heard by High Court judges on Thursday after similar challenges were made last month.

Deportation flights are on hold while legal disputes continue.

The court is expected to give its ruling on all the cases at the same time at a later date.

Since former home secretary Priti Patel announced the deal with the east African nation in April, 30,339 people have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel.

The latest court case comes as former Home Office permanent secretary Sir Philip Rutnam told an Institute for Government talk it would be completely inappropriate for the departments staff to campaign against the Rwanda plan.

He said it is not professional conduct to express opposition to the Governments policy.

Earlier this year, a Twitter account called Our Home Office, purporting to be run by staff in the department, was set up expressing its support for refugees amid reports some civil servants oppose the plan.

During the discussion, he also told the audience that civil servants at a relatively junior level within the department are tasked with making key decisions on asylum cases.

Sir Philip accepted a six-figure sum from the Government after launching legal action against Ms Patel following his dramatic resignation in 2020, in which he accused the then-home secretary of bullying subordinates and carrying out a vicious and orchestrated briefing campaign against him.

A Government spokeswoman said: The crisis in the Channel, driven by global migration and organised crime, is causing an unprecedented strain on our asylum system.

Despite the lies they have been sold by the people smugglers, migrants who travel through safe countries to illegally enter the UK will not be allowed to start a new life here.

But ultimately nobody should put their lives at risk by taking dangerous and illegal journeys to the UK.

We will go further and faster to tackle those gaming the system, using every tool at our disposal to deter illegal migration, disrupt the business model of people smugglers and relocate to Rwanda those with no right to be in the UK.
With their heads bowed in respect, the communities of Creeslough and Derrybeg came together to line the roadside and honour the final journeys of James OFlaherty, Catherine ODonnell and James Monaghan.

A grey sky hung over the hills surrounding the Donegal parishes as mourners said a painful goodbye to three more victim of Fridays explosion.

On Wednesday, hundreds came to remember Mr OFlaherty, 48, Ms ODonnell, 39, and her 13-year-old son James.

Two funerals held in villages some 20 miles apart, but people now forever part of a tragedy that will send ripples through generations to come.

The coffin of James OFlaherty leaves St Marys Church, Derrybeg (Niall Carson/PA)

The family and friends of Mr OFlaherty, Ms ODonnell and James were joined by work colleagues, school friends and members of their local communities, united in their grief as they sent their loved ones to their final resting place.

On Wednesday morning, in the Gaeltacht region of Derrybeg, locals gathered in hushed silence outside St Marys Church for the funeral of Mr OFlaherty.

A guard of honour was provided by the school which his 12-year-old son, Hamish, had attended.

His wife, Tracey, along with Hamish, sat in the hearse as it made its way to and from the chapel. It was an opportunity for the family to spend their last few precious moments together before their goodbye.

Hamish held a large cross tightly as he waited for his fathers coffin to be taken out of the hearse, and carried it again when he walked behind his fathers coffin as it made it way out of the church.

The family wrapped comforting arms around Mrs OFlaherty as she kept a watchful eye over her son.

Inside the chapel, Mr OFlahertys service was delivered as Gaeilge (in Irish) and in English by parish priest Brian O Fearraigh.

Mourners were told that Mr OFlaherty, a Sydney native, was learning Irish and had been a lover of nature.

They also heard that Mr OFlaherty lived with his wife, the love of his life, and their brave, talented and kind son at the edge of the village of Dunfanaghy, with their house looking out over New Lake where the Atlantic Ocean could be seen in the distance.

The funeral service heard that Mr OFlaherty was a man of faith, and that faith had been source of comfort and a secure anchor for Tracey and Hamish and the wider family.

They were given a glimpse into the life shared between Mr OFlaherty, his wife and son, and how he showered them in kisses and hugs every day.

Hamish, flanked by his mother, then made his way to the altar, stood on a foot stool and looked down at the hundreds of mourners in front of him.

In his short but poignant speech, he told mourners that they should cherish life and family.

I would also like to say something I have learnt in the past week or so, he added.

We should be grateful. For your families, cherish them, be grateful for they wont be there forever.

Use the time you have wisely. Also, be grateful for your life because that too will not last forever.

Be grateful, for you will be able to rest after your hard work.

Irish President Michael D. Higgins leaves after the funeral mass of James Monaghan and his mother Catherine ODonnell (Brian Lawless/PA)

His words were met by a round of applause and standing ovation from the congregation.

Fr O Fearraigh also told those present and the many watching it online that Mr OFlaherty read to his son every night, and the last book that was read to him was Going Solo by Roald Dahl.

The book was brought to the altar as a symbol of their close relationship.

Outside the church, Irish president Michael D Higgins embraced Mrs OFlaherty and Hamish, a sign of the grief that has engulfed and touched the Irish nation.

A short time later, in the village of Creeslough, just a few hundred yards from the scene of the tragedy, the heartbroken family of Ms ODonnell and James gathered for their joint funeral.

A silence fell over the assembled mourners when the garda escort came in to view.

The first hearse to arrive at St Michaels Church carried the remains of Ms ODonnell and was followed closely by her son.

The crowd blessed themselves twice as the coffins slowly passed them by.

In the church, just like in life, Ms ODonnell and her son were placed side by side.

Moments before the funeral service began, President Higgins shook the hands of family members who were gathered tightly in the first pew.

Members of the emergency services, including the Irish police, firemen and paramedics  who played a central role in the recovery efforts, sat a few rows behind the family.

Parish priest Fr John Joe Duffy said items to do with wrestling, that James loved so much, were brought to the front alongside a watch and necklace to represent the style that was so important to Catherine.

In a reminder of James young age, the priest told the congregation that he was a child about to launch into life.

He likened his life to a plane slowly taxiing down a runway and about to take off, such was the potential in his stolen years ahead.

It is no wonder under such circumstances, that words fail us this afternoon, Fr Duffy added.

Addressing James classmates, Fr Duffy said he was full of devilment, life and joy.

He urged them to do well in life and work hard, and pointed to the courageous work carried by the emergency responders.

James might have tried to sneak out of work at school but I encourage you to work hard, he added.

Despite the waves grief that has consumed Creeslough, they were reminded of Ms ODonnells bubbly side and how she was full of life.

She was very intelligent, and she loved parties, Fr Duffy told mourners. She loved organising parties.

She was a loving mother, a loving partner, a loving daughter and one who was much, much loved.

The weight of the anguish at attending a joint funeral mass for a mother and son was felt throughout the small white chapel.

In the days that have followed the tragedy, it is the support and words that has carried the families through their wave of grief.

Like Fr Duffy told the congregation, it has been a hard blow for the families and the community.

Irish President Michael D. Higgins hugs Tracey OFlaherty (Niall Carson/PA)

In a community, county and country that knows how to band together in a time of death and tragedy, Creeslough and its residents were showing a great example of solidarity.

Speaking following the funeral of James OFlaherty, Mr Higgins said: I think it is very important what is being revealed now, in the response of the public, the response of the people of Creeslough and the great example they are giving, President Higgins said on Wednesday.

They have a very heavy burden of grief to carry.

The way they are holding together is a great example. I think it is inspirational, the way people, not just in Donegal, but all over Ireland, have all been responding and being able to reveal their feelings and how their heart has been breaking.
Tributes have been paid to truly inspirational Dame Angela Lansbury following her death at the age of 96.

The Irish-British and American actress was best known for her portrayal of Jessica Fletcher in American drama series Murder, She Wrote.

According to a family statement, Dame Angela died peacefully in her sleep five days before her 97th birthday.

Catherine Zeta-Jones, who starred alongside Dame Angela in the Broadway musical A Little Night Music, said their time together will forever be one of the joys of my life.

In a post on Instagram, Zeta-Jones wrote: Dearest, Darling, Dame Angela Lansbury. May you Rest In Peace.

Our Broadway double act will forever be one of the joys of my life. As the lights dim for you on The Great White Way you shall glow forever in our heart. Love you Angela, Catherine.

Julian Morris starred opposite Dame Angela in 2017s Little Women and praised her as truly inspirational.

Appearing on Good Morning Britain, he said: She was so forthcoming with advice. She was just an inspiration in terms of being in her 90s and knowing her craft so well.

Knowing her lines, working, having the energy, having the care.

Referring to an image of them together, he added: She saw me and I was in the lunch line and she said to come and join me in her trailer.

The two of us, we skipped the mains and went straight to dessert. And she was telling me all about her life, moving to America. It was 1940 which is hard to believe.

She was just a wonderful, sincerely authentic person and truly inspirational.

Antonio Banderas shared a selection of images of Dame Angela from throughout the years and wrote: Rest In Peace while also sharing a red rose.

Tale as old as timeTrue as it can be In memory of Angela Lansbury, we offer this cosmic rose plucked by our Spitzer Space Telescope. https://t.co/V1N0QynRDJ pic.twitter.com/zPduniVBsl  NASA (@NASA) October 11, 2022

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) shared a photo of a cosmic rose to mark her passing.

Quoting lyrics from the Beauty And The Beast, in which she voiced Mrs Potts, its official Twitter account wrote: Tale as old as time. True as it can be.

In memory of Angela Lansbury, we offer this cosmic rose plucked by our Spitzer Space Telescope.

Marie Osmond described her as one of the brightest stars in the last decade and added: Rest in peace Angela Lansbury. The world is a better place because of you.

West End star Elaine Paige said Dame Angela was always so kind and generous when they had met.

One of the brightest stars in the last decaderest in peace Angela Lansbury. The world is a better place because of you.  pic.twitter.com/2E26LtKWRI  Marie Osmond (@marieosmond) October 11, 2022

So upset to hear the news that the legendary Dame Angela Lansbury has died, Paige tweeted, sharing a picture of them together.

One of the last Golden Age of Hollywood stars & a Broadway & West End icon.

With a career spanning more than eight decades, Dame Angela was a three-time Oscar nominee and five-time Tony Award winner.

She was born in London in 1925 and later moved to the US during the Second World War where she studied at the Feagin School of Dramatic Art in New York.

Dame Angelas first film role was in George Cukors Gaslight as a young maid named Nancy Oliver who worked in the home of the films protagonist Paula Alquist, played by Ingrid Bergman.

The then-19-year-old Dame Angela received an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress for her role in the 1944 film.

Angela Lansbury is made a Dame Commander by the Queen (Jonathan Brady/PA)

Dame Angela garnered a great deal of recognition and is perhaps best known for her portrayal of Murder, She Wrote novelist and sleuth Jessica Fletcher  a retired school teacher from the fictional town of Cabot Cove who became a successful detective novelist after her husbands death.

She played the character in the crime drama TV series for a total of 12 years and nine seasons, after first starring in the role in 1984.

Flowers have been placed on Dame Angelas star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, with the walks producer Ana Martinez saying: Sadly, we have lost another Walk of Famer.

Beloved actress Angela Lansbury has passed and Hollywood is again in mourning for the loss of another one of our very talented performers.

We send our condolences to her family.

In 2013, Dame Angela was given an honorary Academy Award for her lifetime achievements in the film industry and was also awarded a lifetime achievement award by Bafta in 2002.

Dame Angela Lansbury with her husband Peter Shaw after their wedding at St Columbas Church, London (PA)

Dame Angela was married twice, first to American actor Richard Cromwell in 1945 when she was 19 and he was 35. The couple divorced in 1946, but remained friends until Cromwells death in 1960.

She married her second husband, actor and producer Peter Shaw, in 1949 and they remained together until Shaws death in 2003. The couple had two children of their own, Anthony Peter and Deirdre Ann, and Dame Angela also became a step-mother to David, Shaws son from a previous relationship.

Anthony went on to become a television director and directed 68 episodes of Murder, She Wrote.

Dame Angela was made a CBE in the Queens 1994 birthday honours and was made a DBE in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to drama, charitable work and philanthropy.
A former war reporter who found out he had tested positive for the gene responsible for Huntingtons Disease in between tours of Iraq, said his doctor was completely wrong that there was nothing he could do about his condition, adding: The problem is finding the time to do it all.

Emmy-award winning journalist turned campaigner Charles Sabine received an OBE from the Princess Royal on Wednesday for his work raising awareness around Huntingtons Disease (HD), a neurodegenerative illness which claimed the lives of both his brother and father and for which there is currently no cure.

He described receiving the honour at Buckingham Palace as significant for the community and told the PA news agency: Its the first time that the words Huntingtons Disease have been used in the citation for an OBE.

From that point of view, what I stress to everyone in the global HD community is that this is a sign of where we are and how things are changing for all those people who, for so long have been associated with this disease which people think of as some kind of a witchcraft or evil and surrounded it with shame and stigma for centuries.

On receiving his test results and the advice given to him by his doctor at the time, he said: While the neurologist who gave me my test result for my genetic mutation in 2006, while the words he said when he gave me that, he said: Theres nothing you can do about this disease Charles, just live your life as best you can.

And I realised that he was completely wrong, that theres everything that I can do about the disease, its just the problem is finding the time to do it all.

Mr Sabine added: Ive also realised that there is more that people can do about their own condition with these supposedly  well I hate the word incurable because its meaningless  but untreatable diseases. Thats what I try and encourage.

He founded the Hidden No More Foundation to empower patients and families who face Huntingtons Disease, and to continue campaigning against their discrimination.

Huntingtons Disease is the only disease in the UK for which life insurance companies are allowed to discriminate against them because of that, for example. And thats just one example of many.

Mr Sabine said arranging several children with the condition to meet Pope Francis at the Vatican was the proudest moment of his campaigning career.

He said: When he hugged them on a stage and said on global TV its time for this disease to be hidden no more, and that was the pinnacle of my work, and my latter life was that moment.
Anthony Rapp has denied telling the writer of an article in which he accused Kevin Spacey of an unwanted sexual advance to steer away from specificity.

The actor said the alleged incident has been the most traumatic single event of his life  as he sought to clarify aspects of a fierce cross-examination he faced from Mr Spaceys legal team on Tuesday.

Mr Rapp claims the advance happened at a party in 1986 when he was 14, an accusation the Hollywood actor has categorically denied.

Actor Kevin Spacey arrives at Federal court for his civil lawsuit trial (Mary Altaffer/AP)

The allegations were first published in a Buzzfeed article by journalist Adam Vary in October 2017.

The court was shown excerpts of a text exchange between Mr Vary and Mr Rapp before publication.

In it, the writer said he could not verify certain aspects of the story and suggested writing parts more vaguely.

Mr Vary suggested the story of the 1986 party also steer away from specificity.

Is this your idea of a reporter of integrity, who would massage a story in this way? Ms Keller asked Mr Rapp.

To some degree, Mr Rapp replied.

Mr Keller asked: You never told Mr Vary this was dishonest journalism?

Mr Rapp responded: No.

Later, Mr Rapp said he did not tell Mr Vary to steer away from specific dates or be vague with detail, saying he had no involvement in the articles writing.

On Tuesday, the court was told Spacey flirted with a 19-year-old John Barrowman in 1986 at a New York night club before taking him and 14-year-old Mr Rapp back to his apartment.

Actor Anthony Rapp (left) arrives at court for the civil lawsuit trial against Kevin Spacey (Yuki Iwamura/AP)

Mr Spacey and Mr Barrowman got on a bed together, the court heard.

Mr Spaceys lawyer, Jennifer Keller, said her clients attention was on Mr Barrowman throughout the evening and nothing inappropriate happened.

Mr Spacey had not offered (Mr Rapp) alcohol and the pair were never alone together, Ms Keller told the court  which Mr Rapp accepted.

Asked if he believed he was seen as a tagalong that evening, Mr Rapp replied: No.

On Wednesday, he said he felt included in conversations and did not see any flirty behaviour between Mr Spacey and Mr Barrowman.

Later, Mr Rapps lawyer Peter Saghir asked him why, out of all his traumatic experiences, he chose to speak out about the alleged incident with Mr Spacey.

Mr Rapp claims he was the victim of an unwanted sexual advance by Spacey at a party in 1986 when he was 14, an accusation the actor has categorically denied (Bebeto Matthews/AP)

Because the memory of that is seared into my memory as what happened in the bedroom with Kevin Spacey, Mr Rapp replied.

It was the most traumatic single event as I have looked back through my life.

I understand that that experience and the effect it has had on me over time and continues to have it is distinct from those events because (they) did not have the same lingering impact.

The hearing is expected to last for two weeks and is being held in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, presided over by Judge Lewis A Kaplan.

In a US civil case, any allegations only need to be proven on the balance of probability rather than to the criminal standard of beyond all reasonable doubt.
The King has held an audience with the Prime Minister at Buckingham Palace.

Charles met Liz Truss on Wednesday evening, with the pair pictured shaking hands.

It came after Ms Truss faced Prime Ministers Questions in Parliament, where she insisted she will not cut spending to balance the books as economists and the financial markets continued to question her plans.

Ms Truss told MPs she is absolutely not planning public spending reductions, but insisted taxpayers money will be used well.

Footage of the Buckingham Palace meeting saw Ms Truss curtsy and say: Your Majesty.

Charles, smiling, replied: Back again? Dear oh dear.

Ms Truss was heard to say: Its a great pleasure.

The King also held an audience with the King and Queen of Malaysia (Kirsty OConnor/PA)

Separately, on Wednesday afternoon Charles also met the King and Queen of Malaysia, known as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the Raja Permaisuri Agong.
The boss of the Metropolitan Police said he is reviewing the forces recruitment targets after questioning whether it is wise to hire thousands of new officers at speed.

Scotland Yard is meant to bring in 4,557 extra officers by the end of March next year as part of the Governments national drive to hire 20,000 more across England and Wales to replace thousands of jobs cut during austerity measures.

But asked whether he expects to fulfil the target, Sir Mark Rowley told the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee on Wednesday that he is carrying out a review of recruitment and is concerned about the speed of hiring new officers.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has raised concerns about the speed of hiring new recruits (Nick Ansell/PA)

Speaking to the committee for the first time since being appointed Met Commissioner, he said: Im doing a review on that at the moment looking at a) can we recruit that many and b) can we do it with the quality thats required and bring them into the organisation in a way that doesnt destabilise them?

Theres multiple factors there.

Just recruiting headlong without making sure youre bringing the right people in, giving them the best start, the best training and an organisation thats able to support them and deploy them properly, all of those issues are important and Im concerned about whether its wise to go at exactly that speed and thats why Im reviewing it.

In June, inspectors from police watchdog His Majestys Inspectorate of the Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) said problems at the Met had been exacerbated by the number of young and inexperienced recruits in the force as a result of the recruitment drive.

Three months earlier, the then-chief inspector of constabulary, Sir Thomas Winsor, reiterated warnings that the sheer magnitude and speed of the recruitment campaign inevitably carries risks, adding that there is a heightened danger that people unsuited to policing may get through and be recruited.

Describing vetting as being of enormous importance, he told reporters it is essential that recruitment and continual monitoring of the police workforce is of the highest standard.

 Now live! Join #AssemblyPolice as they question Sir Mark Rowley, the new Commissioner of @metpoliceuk, on his vision and plans for the force. Watch it here https://t.co/F5Kac5SOYh pic.twitter.com/Mm1fPUnoQA  London Assembly (@LondonAssembly) October 12, 2022

The interim findings of a review being led by Baroness Casey looking at the Mets culture  which was commissioned by ex-boss Dame Cressida Dick  are due to be published within the next week or so, Sir Mark said.

He also said the force is in the process of issuing staff with work phones to make sure they have the right technology needed to do the job.

Officers have been resorting to using their personal phones for work because of a lack of equipment or up-to-date technology which is not a good idea for several reasons, he told the committee.
The Government has been accused of prolonging the bitter rail dispute by refusing to give the industry enough funds to resolve the deadlocked row over pay.

Mick Lynch, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) said a change of atmosphere from ministers as well as train operators and Network Rail (NR) was needed.

He told the Transport Select Committee that train companies were given 30 million by the Department for Transport (DfT) every time there was a strike, so although workers lost money, they didnt.

That is why it is taking so much time to come up with proposals, he told MPs, adding that train operators had not given a figure for a pay rise even though talks have been continuing for months.

Our members are fully committed to the industrial action  they dont want their conditions ripped up.

Mr Lynch said the RMT was being told to accept job cuts and worse terms and conditions before a pay offer is made, describing it as an attack on rail workers.

He said previous Transport Secretary Grant Shapps had abused him by calling him a baron and a militant, adding: It needs a new atmosphere. The Government is making this dispute longer.

The union had resolved disputes with companies such as Transport for Wales and Merseyrail, which were not tied to DfT funding, he said.

Asked what the train operators could do to help resolve the dispute, Mr Lynch said: Stop asking us to accept things they know we cannot accept.

Tim Shoveller, lead negotiator for NR, told the committee he was continually hopeful for an agreement to change working conditions, adding that talks with unions were continuing despite a series of strikes which have caused travel chaos for months.

He said talks were held on Tuesday and another meeting was planned for Friday.

He said there were signs of a slight change in the talks, telling MPs: It might be that conversations have started that we have not had for a while.

Mr Shoveller said NR had to implement changes to working practices on how the railways are maintained and do it quickly because it was running out of money.

He repeated that job losses would be achieved through voluntary measures and there would be no compulsory redundancies.

He said NR had made huge movements towards the position of the unions since the dispute started, adding they had not spelled out their demands on a pay rise after being given a two-year offer months ago.

We have to make more use of the money we have got. This is about working collaboratively, more efficiently.

Richard Scott, director of corporate affairs of the West Coast Partnership, which includes the Avanti franchise, responded to criticism of the operators service to and from London Euston in recent months by admitting it was not good enough.

We are absolutely focused on making things better because we want to provide a robust, sustainable service.

The operator was now moving to ensure it was not dependent on drivers working overtime and rest day working, usually at weekends, which is the case throughout the industry, he told the committee.

Avanti is recruiting almost 100 drivers and was planning a significant stepping up of services from December when timetables will not be so dependent on rest day working, he said.

Drivers stopping volunteering to work their rest days caused cancellations in July, adding: We need a new way of working.

A Rail Delivery Group spokesperson said after the meeting: The claims made by Mick Lynch in todays Select Committee are misleading. Since the end of franchising, the Government has paid train companies a fixed fee to run services.

That means it is the taxpayer who loses money every time the RMT leadership call a strike, adding to the 600 per household already used by Government to support the railway during the pandemic.

We call on the RMT to recognise the very real financial challenges faced by the industry post-Covid, which are being made worse by these strikes, and work with us to make the reforms needed to secure its long-term future.

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: Its completely false to claim the Department for Transport has provided train companies with 30 million each time there has been a strike on the railways.
Postal workers will stage a fresh strike on Thursday in a long-running dispute over pay and conditions, with a series of walkouts planned for the coming weeks.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) said its 115,000 members across the UK will be taking action, describing it as the largest strike in a year that has seen industrial unrest across several industries, including rail.

Picket lines will be mounted outside Royal Mail offices on what will be the sixth day of action in recent months.

The union has accused the Royal Mail of planning structural change, which would effectively see employees in secure, well-paid jobs turned into a casualised, financially precarious workforce overnight.

The CWU said plans include delaying the arrival of post to members of the public by three hours, cuts in workers sick pay and inferior terms for new employees.

The union has announced 19 further days of strike action in the build up to the busy Christmas period.

General secretary Dave Ward said: Postal workers face the biggest ever assault on their jobs, terms and conditions in the history of Royal Mail.

The public and businesses also face the end of daily deliveries and destruction of the special relationship that postal workers and the public have in every community in the UK.

It is insulting the intelligence of every postal worker for Royal Mail chief executive Simon Thompson to claim that their change agenda is modernisation.

It is nothing more than an asset stripping business plan that will see the break-up of the company and the end of Royal Mail as a major contributor to the UK economy.

Royal Mail Group claim to be losing 1 million a day. The CWU believe these figures need to be scrutinised.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: Three weeks ago, Royal Mail invited the CWU to enter talks through Acas to find a resolution to our change and pay dispute. We have not reached an agreement with the CWU on this request.

Royal Mail is losing 1 million a day and must change faster in response to changing customer demands.

The CWU leaderships choice of damaging strike action over resolution is weakening the financial position of the company and threatening the job security of our postmen and women.

We call on the CWU leaders to cancel their planned strike action and accept our invitation to enter talks through Acas without further delay.

We apologise to our customers for the inconvenience the CWUs continued strike action will cause.

We are doing all we can to minimise any delays and keep people, businesses and the country connected.
A murder inquiry has been launched by detectives searching for a missing woman who has not been seen since 2019.

Officers from Thames Valley Police found a rucksack and personal items belonging to Leah Croucher after a tip-off from a member of the public on Monday.

Specialist teams are still searching a property in Loxbeare Drive, Furzton, Milton Keynes, where the items were found, and will remain there for a significant period of time, the force said.

Misss Croucher, 19, vanished while walking to work in February 2019.

She was last seen on CCTV in Buzzacott Lane, Furzton, just after 8.15am that day, walking in the direction of Loxbeare Drive and Chaffron Way.

 BREAKING NEWS We have an important update to provide in connection with the Leah Croucher missing person investigation in Milton Keynes. Full details here  https://t.co/b4bgKGmdNg pic.twitter.com/HFBwsakT0m  Thames Valley Police (@ThamesVP) October 12, 2022

Detective Chief Superintendent Ian Hunter said: Following a call to police on Monday, we attended an address and located items of concern within the property.

We are dealing with a very difficult scene but we can now confirm that we have discovered a number of items that are linked to Leah, and as such we have now launched a murder investigation, led by our Major Crime Unit.

Leahs family have been kept updated and continue to be supported by officers, and we are urging the public and media to think of her family and not to speculate further while this investigation is in the early stages.

We will provide further updates when we are able to do so.

There remains a scene watch in place at the address while this investigation continues, and we are committed to ensuring that our inquiries at the scene are thorough.

He said hundreds of officers and staff have worked on the search for Ms Croucher in the past three and a half years, scouring 1,200 hours of CCTV and carrying out 4,000 house-to-house inquiries.

The desperate search for her whereabouts has involved specialist police search teams, the mounted section, police dogs, the marine unit and the National Police Air Service.

An underwater search rescue team with sonar equipment search one of the four Teardrop Lakes near Knowlhill, Milton Keynes, during previous attempts to find Leah Croucher (Kirsty OConnor/PA)

Mr Hunter added: The call from the member of the public that we received on Monday was the first occasion that we were alerted to this address, and we thank them for contacting us immediately to report their concerns.

Our thoughts remain with Leahs family and friends, and we will continue to offer them all the support that they need.

Miss Croucher was described by loved ones as very quiet and not really an outgoing type of person, preferring to read fantasy fiction or watch DVDs in her room to nights-out at the pub.

She had competed internationally in taekwondo but her father said she was not a fighter.

Her family was struck by further tragedy when Miss Crouchers brother, Haydon Croucher, died at the age of 24 in November 2019.

His mother said he had found the disappearance of his sister very difficult.
The people of Creeslough in Co Donegal are showing a great example of solidarity after tragedy, Irish President Michael D Higgins has said.

Mr Higgins told of his pride in the efforts of those who took part in the search-and-recovery operation after the blast that killed 10 people in the village on Friday.

The President returned to Ireland from Strasbourg and attended the funeral of victim James OFlaherty on Wednesday. He will attend more funerals.

Michael D Higgins hugs Tracey OFlaherty, widow of James OFlaherty (Niall Carson/PA)

He said: I think it is very important what is being revealed now, in the response of the public, the response of the people of Creeslough and the great example they are giving.

They have a very heavy burden of grief to carry.

The way they are holding together is a great example. I think it is inspirational, the way people  not just in Donegal but all over Ireland  have all been responding and being able to reveal their feelings and how their heart has been breaking.

I think the courage and strength and love of Hamish (OFlaherty) speaking about his father, Tracey speaking about their relationship, they give great hope.

When the funerals are over, it is very, very important that people build on these relationships of solidarity.

Being here and meeting the families  what they are showing us is a great example.

Mr Higgins described the efforts of the emergency services after the blast as unbelievable.

He said: It was so impressive how effective, how fast, given that there were different services involved, about how they were all able to work together.

It was a community of first-line services each doing their very, very best and being able to engage with the public.

It is something to be very, very proud of.

James OFlaherty (An Garda Siochana/PA)

Given what people were going to be discovering, I dont underestimate at all the effect it has had on people.

They did what was necessary in consideration and in co-operation with each other.

As President of Ireland, I am very proud of them.

Mr Higgins also hailed the efforts of first responders from Northern Ireland who contributed to the operation.

He said: It shows what we share and what are our immediate human instincts of wanting to respond.

These know no borders whatsoever, and that is the way it should be.

I think it is really building up what we can share and do together.

That is the way to go. Very often the instincts of the heart  the instincts of the spirit  are what is important.

Later, after attending the funeral of Catherine ODonnell and her son James Monaghan in Creeslough, Mr Higgins said it was a privilege to be with the communities at this time.

When you look at the reaction of the people who were waiting in silence, there was a certain numbness of grief that is so clearly there to be seen, he said.

He added: When something like this happens it isnt affecting just a family because everybody is so connected to everybody, the President said.

Everybody knows everybody.

He added: It was very important to be here.

He said the statement on the tragedy from King Charles shows grief knows no borders.

There was a long statement, a warm statement from King Charles and it showed, really, how, if you like, people recognising a community response to a great tragedy wherever it is, that grief knows no borders, Mr Higgins told reporters.

The President said he hopes to meet the families of all 10 victims in person in the coming days.

Asked what he would say to them, Mr Higgins replied: If youre around a very long time like myself, you stand in front of a person, it isnt, in fact, a matter of having words ready, its what your heart tells you to feel.
The Government will have to proceed with the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill without a negotiated solution with the EU, the Prime Minister has said.

Speaking during Prime Ministers Questions, Liz Truss told MPs in the Commons we cant allow the situation to drift.

Her comments came as DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said the outcome of the UKs negotiations with the EU must reflect the objectives outlined by the Government in the proposed legislation.

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson questioned Prime Minister Liz Truss about the UKs negotiations with the EU concerning the Northern Ireland Protocol during PMQs (Kirsty OConnor/PA)

Raising the issue at PMQs, he said: Does the Prime Minister agree with me in welcoming the renewed negotiations with the European Union about the Northern Ireland Protocol?

That the outcome of those negotiations must reflect the objectives outlined by the Government in the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill and that this is the key to unlocking the door to political stability in Northern Ireland.

Ms Truss replied: I very much agree with (him). We need to deliver for the people of Northern Ireland. That means making sure that we have free flowing trade east-west as well as north-south.

It means making sure that the people of Northern Ireland can benefit from the same tax benefits as people in Great Britain and it means resolving the issues over governance and regulation.

Now I would prefer to achieve that through a negotiated solution with the EU but if were not able to do that, we cant allow the situation to drift, we have to proceed with the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill.

The Northern Ireland Protocol was aimed at avoiding a hard border with Ireland but has created economic barriers on the movement of goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, causing resentment and anger among many unionists and loyalists.

The dispute has created an impasse in efforts to form a devolved government administration in Belfast.

The UK Government has vowed to secure changes to the protocol, either by way of a negotiated compromise with the EU or through proposed domestic legislation  the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill  which would permit the scrapping of the arrangements without the approval of Brussels.
Londons West End theatres have dimmed their lights in memory of beloved Dame Angela Lansbury, following her death at the age of 96.

The Irish-British and American actress, best known for her portrayal of Jessica Fletcher in American drama series Murder, She Wrote, was a leading light on Broadway and the West End throughout her career.

According to a family statement, Dame Angela died peacefully in her sleep five days before her 97th birthday.

As a tribute to her, West End theatres including the Theatre Royal Drury Lane dimmed their lights before performances for two minutes at 7pm on Wednesday.

Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London as West End theatres dim their lights in memory of Dame Angela Lansbury (Yui Mok/PA)

The co-chief executives of the Society of London Theatre (SOLT) and UK Theatre, Claire Walker and Hannah Essex, said: The theatre world is a smaller place tonight after the passing of Dame Angela Lansbury, whose work touched so many generations.

She lit up every stage she graced, and her extraordinary talent will be very much missed.

Dame Joan Collins was among the famous names who paid tribute to Dame Angela, describing her as immensely talented.

The veteran actress shared a video clip on Instagram of them performing together with Dana Wynter at the 1959 Oscar ceremony and wrote: Farewell to the wonderful Angela Lansbury.

She was immensely talented and deserved her long life and career.

Catherine Zeta-Jones, who starred alongside Dame Angela in the Broadway musical A Little Night Music, said their time together will forever be one of the joys of my life.

In a post on Instagram, Zeta-Jones wrote: Dearest, Darling, Dame Angela Lansbury. May you Rest In Peace.

Our Broadway double act will forever be one of the joys of my life. As the lights dim for you on The Great White Way you shall glow forever in our heart. Love you Angela, Catherine.

Katherine McNamara, who also starred in the musical, said Dame Angela had encouraged her to improve on stage with her, which she described as the biggest gift and freedom given to me by someone of her calibre.

In a post on Twitter, she added: Angela was a true leading lady in all aspects and did so with presence and grace that extended to everyone around her.

Thank you for the laughs, the lessons, the love  and for giving me some of the most insightful words of wisdom I carry with me every day.

You are and always will be a treasure. Thank you for changing this little Fredrikas life. Love you always, Grandmother Armfeldt.

There will never be another like Dame Angela Lansbury. A true pioneer of the stage and screen. Rest in peace ! : @brugli pic.twitter.com/GwHCw8uUmg  Jennifer Hudson (@IAMJHUD) October 12, 2022

Jennifer Hudson shared a photo of her with Dame Angelam saying: There will never be another like Dame Angela Lansbury. A true pioneer of the stage and screen. Rest in peace!

Julian Morris starred opposite Dame Angela in 2017s Little Women and described her as truly inspirational.

Appearing on Good Morning Britain, he said: She was so forthcoming with advice. She was just an inspiration in terms of being in her 90s and knowing her craft so well.

Knowing her lines, working, having the energy, having the care.

Referring to an image of them together, he added: She saw me and I was in the lunch line and she said to come and join me in her trailer.

The two of us, we skipped the mains and went straight to dessert. And she was telling me all about her life, moving to America. It was 1940 which is hard to believe.

She was just a wonderful, sincerely authentic person and truly inspirational.

Antonio Banderas shared a selection of images of Dame Angela and wrote: Rest In Peace with a red rose.

Tale as old as timeTrue as it can be In memory of Angela Lansbury, we offer this cosmic rose plucked by our Spitzer Space Telescope. https://t.co/V1N0QynRDJ pic.twitter.com/zPduniVBsl  NASA (@NASA) October 11, 2022

The official Twitter account for Beauty And The Beast, in which she voiced Mrs Potts, said: Today we remember our dear friend, Broadway, West End and Disney legend, Dame Angela Lansbury.

Her voice and extraordinary talent will be remembered for all time as the voice of Mrs Potts and spirit at the centre of Beauty and the Beast.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) shared a photo of a cosmic rose to mark her death.

Quoting lyrics from the Beauty And The Beast, its official Twitter account wrote: Tale as old as time. True as it can be.

In memory of Angela Lansbury, we offer this cosmic rose plucked by our Spitzer Space Telescope.

Marie Osmond described her as one of the brightest stars in the last decade and added: Rest in peace Angela Lansbury. The world is a better place because of you.

West End star Elaine Paige said Dame Angela was always so kind and generous when they had met.

One of the brightest stars in the last decaderest in peace Angela Lansbury. The world is a better place because of you.  pic.twitter.com/2E26LtKWRI  Marie Osmond (@marieosmond) October 11, 2022

So upset to hear the news that the legendary Dame Angela Lansbury has died, Paige tweeted, sharing a picture of them together.

One of the last Golden Age of Hollywood stars & a Broadway & West End icon.

With a career spanning more than eight decades, Dame Angela was a three-time Oscar nominee and five-time Tony Award winner.

She was born in London in 1925 and moved to the US during the Second World War where she studied at the Feagin School of Dramatic Art in New York.

Angela Lansbury is made a Dame Commander by the Queen (Jonathan Brady/PA)

Dame Angela garnered a great deal of recognition and is perhaps best known for her portrayal of Murder, She Wrote novelist and sleuth Jessica Fletcher  a retired school teacher from the fictional town of Cabot Cove who became a successful detective novelist after her husbands death.

She played the character in the crime drama TV series for 12 years and nine seasons, after first starring in the role in 1984.

Her Tony-winning roles on stage include Mame Dennis in Mame, Countess Aurelia in Dear World, Rose in Gypsy and Mrs Nellie Lovett in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street.

She also won the Olivier Award and Tony Award for best supporting actress for playing Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit.

Flowers have been placed on Dame Angelas star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, The walks producer, Ana Martinez, said: Sadly, we have lost another Walk of Famer.

Beloved actress Angela Lansbury has passed and Hollywood is again in mourning for the loss of another one of our very talented performers.

We send our condolences to her family.

In 2013 Dame Angela was given an honorary Academy Award for her lifetime achievements in the film industry and was also awarded a lifetime achievement award by Bafta in 2002.

Dame Angela was made a CBE in the Queens 1994 birthday honours and was made a DBE in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to drama, charitable work and philanthropy.
Jacob Rees-Mogg has denied that Government plans for a cap on the revenues of renewable energy generators and nuclear power plants amount to a windfall tax.

The announcement on Tuesday that the Government would introduce a cost-plus revenue limit prompted immediate accusations that it was attempting to smuggle in a windfall tax by the back door.

While little detail has been released so far, the Government said it would try to break the link between high gas prices and the amount made by electricity producers.

The Government said that as gas prices have soared over the last year, many of Britains wind farms and solar farms were paid a lot more than normal for their products, even though their costs had not increased very much.

Liz Truss had previously set out her opposition to a new windfall tax on energy companies.

The prime minister tweeted on Wednesday: Were taking action to protect people from the rising energy costs caused by Putins barbaric campaign.

This Government is acting decisively to make sure people and businesses across the country get secure, affordable and fairly-priced energy.

Labour was among those claiming that the move shows the Government had now accepted the logic of a windfall tax, but that charge was forcefully denied by the Business and Energy Secretary on Wednesday.

He told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: This is simply mischaracterising whats being done, and misunderstands how the market works.

Calling it a technical subject, he said the Government has intervened over the gas price.

What this is doing is rationalising the market in a way that energy companies have been in favour, he said.

The Government has already intervened to affect the gas price. It started at the retail rather than the wholesale level.

Had it done it at the wholesale level, it would have affected these contracts in a similar way.

Therefore, this is just a rationalisation of the position. It is not a windfall tax, its clearly not a tax. Its nothing to do with the profits these companies are making.

Were taking action to protect people from the rising energy costs caused by Putins barbaric campaign. This government is acting decisively to make sure people and businesses across the country get secure, affordable and fairly priced energy. https://t.co/syIval1qRL  Liz Truss (@trussliz) October 12, 2022

Labours shadow climate change secretary Ed Miliband said: After months of telling the country they were utterly opposed to the principle of a windfall tax, they have been dragged kicking and screaming to implement it.

He told the Today programme: Im afraid the problem about bad government  and we have bad government  is that they dont just make mistakes, they do the wrong thing. And when they do the right thing, they dont do it in the right way.

The Government has so far not said whether cheaper gas generators and coal power plants, which also benefited from the current set-up, would be impacted by the new rules.

The precise mechanics of the temporary cost-plus revenue limit will be subject to a consultation to be launched shortly, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said.

Officials and ministers have been working closely with the industry on the details, and the proposal would come into force at the start of next year.

Labours shadow climate change secretary Ed Miliband criticised the government over its plans (Peter Byrne/PA)

It would come into force in England and Wales, while the Government in London said it was consulting with its counterpart in Edinburgh to see if it should extend to Scotland. The legislation would also allow the rules to be extended to Northern Ireland.

Some of the UKs wind and solar farms are already paying back their excess profits.

Wind farms and other generation built under the Contracts for Different scheme, which launched more than half a decade ago, return money to customers when prices are high.

The Government and industry have also backed plans for older wind and solar farms to move onto these kinds of contracts.

It comes weeks after the Government announced a cap which limits household energy bills to 34p per unit of electricity and 10.3p for each unit of gas they use.

It is also the latest move targeting renewables taken by the current Government amid reports it was considering clamping down on solar farms built on land which could be used for farming.

Energy sector leaders called for more details from the Government as some warned that the cap needs to be set at a level that does not put off investors.

Dhara Vyas, Energy UKs director of advocacy said they welcomed the proposed cap on household bills as much-needed support for millions of households and businesses.

But the trade body sounded a wary note about the Governments new proposal to cap revenues.

However, we must be sure that the proposed mechanism does not risk the very investment the UK needs to ensure long-term, sustainable economic growth, she said.

We look forward to continuing to work with Government to ensure that any new mechanism is introduced in a way that encourages investment in low carbon generation, rather than deterring it.

Dan McGrail, chief executive of RenewableUK, warned that the move risks skewing investment towards the fossil fuels that have caused this energy crisis.

We are concerned that a (revenue) price cap will send the wrong signal to investors in renewable energy in the UK, he said.
The son of one of the victims of the Creeslough disaster has told mourners at his fathers funeral to cherish their life and family.

Hundreds attended the funeral of James OFlaherty at St Marys Church in Derrybeg, Co Donegal.

Mr OFlaherty, an engineer, was originally from Sydney in Australia but had been living in Dunfanaghy, a few miles from Creeslough, with his wife Tracey and 12-year-old son Hamish.

Later on Wednesday afternoon, a Mass for another two victims  39-year-old Catherine ODonnell and her 13-year-old son James Monaghan  got under way at St Michaels in Creeslough.

Irish President Michael D Higgins attended both funerals.

Pupils from Faugher National School, which Hamish attends, provided a guard of honour as his fathers remains were brought into the church.

James OFlaherty (An Garda Siochana/PA)

Gifts were brought up at the beginning of the Mass including a Roald Dahl book, a box of chocolates and a framed family photograph.

Delivering an address at the funeral, Hamish said his father was a great man.

He said: I am grateful for all the people who have come here today. I would just like to say a few words about my dad.

He was a great man. He worked very hard and very long each day. Whether it was around the house or at work.

He wore a jacket with a huge paint stain on the side of it everywhere. He managed this by leaning on a wall which was still wet with paint.

He wore the jacket everywhere. To the shops, to the movies, to the beach.

I would like to say thank you to all of the people who have given and offered so many things. The emergency services too, who were there within 15 minutes and also came to the wake.

I would also like to say something I have learnt in the past week or so: We should be grateful. For your families, cherish them, be grateful for they wont be there forever.

Use the time you have wisely.

Also, be grateful for your life because that too will not last forever. Be grateful, for you will be able to rest after your hard work.

Michael D Higgins speaks to the media as he leaves the funeral mass for James OFlaherty (Niall Carson/PA)

The congregation gave the 12-year-old a round of applause.

Father Brian O Fearraigh said a light of friendship, love and support had come out of the Creeslough tragedy.

He told the mourners: We have all experienced since Friday afternoon that grief knows no boundaries.

The tragic event and the effects of the Creeslough catastrophe, which is beyond comprehension, knows no bounds.

The intensity and the awfulness of the tragedy has reverberated near and far. Away beyond the shores of this beautiful country of ours.

The outpouring of support and messages of condolence and offers of help that we have heard and witnessed, all has been overwhelming.

The coffin of James OFlaherty is carried into St Marys Church, Derrybeg (Niall Carson/PA)

Parochial, county, country boundaries, have been crossed. Hands of support and friendship have been offered.

In crossing such boundaries we have seen how, from the shadow and out of the depths of the darkness of this terrible tragedy, a most beautiful and radiant and divine light of friendship, love and support has shone and continues to shine brightly.

Authorities in Ireland continue to investigate the cause of the explosion in a building complex which included a service station, shop and apartments.

It is being treated as a tragic accident.

A gas leak is believed to be one theory.

Two of the 10 victims  Jessica Gallagher and Martin McGill  were laid to rest after funeral Masses in Creeslough on Tuesday.

(PA Graphics)

The victims were aged from five to 59.

The other victims were 50-year-old Robert Garwe and his five-year-old daughter Shauna Flanagan Garwe, who were in the shop to buy a birthday cake; 14-year-old Leona Harper; 59-year-old Hugh Kelly; and 49-year-old Martina Martin.

Ms Harpers funeral will take place at St Marys Church in Ramelton, Co Donegal, on Thursday.

Mrs Martin, a mother of four, will also be laid to rest on Thursday with a service at St Michaels.

Mr Kelly will be laid to rest at St Michaels on Friday morning.
The battle for control of Anne Heche's estate continues.

On Tuesday, the two sons of the Six Days Seven Nights star had a hearing before Los Angles Superior Court Judge Lee R. Bogdanoff in the ongoing dispute over who will oversee the distribution of her assets. Heche, who died from injuries sustained in a fiery car crash in August, had no will. At stake is an estimated $400,000 the actress had at the time of her death, new court documents show, as well as future earnings.

Heche's ex-partner and Men in Trees co-star James Tupper attended the proceedings with their 13-year-old son, Atlas Tupper, while 20-year-old Homer Laffoon, Heche's son from her marriage to Coley Laffoon, appeared virtually. Homer, as Heche's eldest heir, filed a petition in August to be executor of the estate, but James has been fighting it, claiming Heche named him executor in an unfiled will from 2011. James has also claimed Homer isn't suitable for the job, and doesn't have his half-brother's interests at heart.

The judge ruled after a heated 15-minute hearing that Homer will continue to oversee the estate  for now. While James provided "earnest" testimony, court papers show, there wasn't a compelling reason he should be "denied in favor of someone else having a lower priority." Further, James's petition to be named Atlas's guardian ad litem was denied. (A guardian ad litem, also known as a GAL, is an attorney is appointed by the court to look out for someone's best interests during a legal case  in the case a minor child.)

Anne Heche with son Homer Laffoon in 2021. (Photo: Rachel Murray/Getty Images for Christian Siriano)

The judge urged both sides  Homer and James's on behalf of Atlas  to better "communicate" with one another, noting, "sometimes, a lack of communication creates unnecessary suspicions."

James had claimed that Homer changed the locks on Heche's L.A. rental apartment, where Atlas resided with his mother, and the teen was unable to get his belongings, including a laptop and personal effects, since August. Atlas's attorney, Christopher Johnson, said Homer was noncommunicative and unresponsive to texts asking for access. Homer's attorney, Bryan Phipps, said that was because an inventory of Heche's property was being done. The court made it clear that Atlas is authorized to pick up his belongings at the apartment.

James has pointed to the fact that Homer doesn't have a job and is only 20 years old as two of the reasons why he shouldn't serve as administrator of the estate. However, the judge said to Johnson on Tuesday, per People magazine, "Sir, in California if you're illiterate you can be an administrator. OK? If you can't read, you've never gone to college, you can be an administrator. OK? The fact that he may be Generation Z or whatever, or maybe he's a chill guy, that doesn't disqualify him. Maybe he's not the greatest communicator, that doesn't disqualify him. None of it does."

James Tupper with Atlas Tupper in 2020. (Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez/FilmMagic)

The judge reportedly grew more short with the argument, telling Johnson he was wasting the court's time. "We're not here to pick like the best person. I'm here to decide if [Homer's] qualified, or disqualified," the judge said.

Bogdanoff also took issue with James's body movements during the hearing, demanding to know at one point, "Why are you shaking your head? It's very disrespectful. Don't shake your head at me  ever if you're going to appear again. Please take your hands out of your pockets, sir. You wanna say something?" James told the judge he didn't think Homer would look out for Atlas and was currently treating him like they're "enemies." He said a neutral party should be brought in to mediate and expressed worry the brothers' relationship could be permanently ruined.

The same news outlet noted that Atlas, who stood by James's side during the hearing and stayed quiet, appeared "to be very sad."

The next court hearing will be on Nov. 30.

After the hearing, Phipps said in a statement to People, "We are pleased  but not surprised  with the courts ruling this morning denying James petition to appoint himself guardian ad litem for Atlas. We look forward to the court resolving Homers petition at the next hearing and, in the meantime, Homer will continue to diligently administer the Estate pursuant to his authority as Special Administrator."

In other court papers filed in the case, Homer stated that his estimate of the value of all of Heche's personal property is $400,000. Heche  who had been a working actress since the 1980s, also appearing in the movies Donnie Brasco, Volcano and Wag the Dog  "did not have any interests in real property at the time of her death." What she did have was a "a few modest bank accounts," received royalty payments for her work and had a stake in her Better Together podcast. There is also the matter of future profits from her forthcoming book, Call Me Anne, a 140-page memoir which will be released Jan. 24, 2023.

On Aug. 5, Heche crashed her car into a house in the Mar Vista neighborhood of L.A.  a fire erupted and she was critically injured. Blood tests showed the 53-year-old had narcotics in her system. She was declared brain-dead on Aug. 11 was removed from life support on Aug. 14. According to the medical examiner's official report, she died of inhalation, thermal injuries and a sternal fracture due to blunt trauma.

Heche most famously dated Ellen DeGeneres, but after that romance ended in 2000, she started dating cameraman Coley Laffoon. The pair were married in 2001 and had Homer in 2002 before they split in 2007. Heche started seeing her Men in Trees co-star James in 2007 and they had Atlas in 2009 before splitting in 2018.
Rising mortgage rates have sidelined many would-be homebuyers, but for institutional investors, it has become an opportunity as home builders try to unload properties.

What we're seeing is builders have to make their quota. They have to make the end-of-the-year numbers," Kinloch Partners Cofounder and CEO and President Bruce McNeilage told Yahoo Finance Live (video above). "So they're reaching out to folks like us, the institutional owners of houses, and we're buying in bulk using those as rental homes.

September marked the ninth consecutive month that confidence in the housing market fell among builders as persistent supply chain disruptions and high home prices continue to wedge into their sales and profits, the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index showed.

As a result, homebuilders are slashing prices. About 24% of builders reported reducing home prices, which is up from the 19% last month, said NAHB Chairman Jerry Konter, a homebuilder and developer from Savannah, Georgia.

The weakening market could be a factor that people are just not walking in and the traffic has stopped in looking at models and looking at houses in suburbs and the subdivisions, McNeilage added.

Another problem: Climbing mortgage rates have reached nearly 7%, continuing to take a toll on affordability.

Thanks to elevated construction costs and an aggressive monetary policy, home builders are trying to offload their supply quickly. The trend has prompted builders to think about incentives to boost sales.

I'm getting five to 10 emails or calls a day. It really has picked up,McNeilage said. We're so far into the year, people are trying to make their numbers. And we're looking at a 10% to 20% discount off of retail pricing that's being offered to us if we're buying in bulk.

These sales conditions are across the country as companies build these homes for specific purposes to sell to investors, according to McNeilage. However, there's still too much supply on the market.

Right now, there's just too much product. Too many houses have been specced that are just sitting on the ground. And these builders really need to move these houses," McNeilage said. "And folks like us in the institutional rental business are helping these builders by buying up the supply that they have right now."

Dani Romero is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @daniromerotv

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The prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, who is charged with rape and child sexual abuse, will not face a trial before next year.

The public prosecutors office in Braunschweig, Germany, said convicted sex offender Christian Brueckner is accused of five offences between 2000 and 2017 in Portugal  with the charges unrelated to the McCann case.

Investigators believe the 45-year-old killed Madeleine, then three, after abducting her from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3 2007.

A pink balloon outside apartment 5A on Rua Dr Agostinho da Silva in Praia Da Luz, Portugal, where Madeline McCann went missing (PA)

Brueckner, who has reportedly denied any involvement in the youngsters disappearance, was identified as a murder suspect in the McCann case by Portuguese officials in June 2020.

The Braunschweig state court said on Wednesday the opening of any trial should not be expected this year due to other cases on its schedule.

The court will decide whether to send the case to trial after the defence have had the opportunity to respond to the charges and raise possible objections.

On Tuesday, prosecutors said Brueckner has been charged with three counts of rape and two counts of child sexual abuse.

He is accused of filming himself raping a woman in her 70s in a holiday apartment.

He also allegedly raped a 20-year-old Irish woman in Praia da Rocha  waking her up at knife-point and tying her to a table.

Madeleine McCann went missing in May 2007 (PA)

Brueckner is also alleged to have filmed himself orally raping a teenage girl in her Praia da Luz home.

The suspect is also accused of exposing himself to a 10-year-old German girl on Salema beach in Faro and an 11-year-old Portuguese girl in Sao Bartolomeu de Messines while she was sitting on a playground swing.

Brueckner is serving a seven-year sentence for rape in Portugal in 2005.

Prosecutors said the investigation into Madeleines disappearance continues despite the charges.
A woman killed a vulnerable churchgoer and dumped her headless corpse over 200 miles away before forging her will in a bid to inherit her estate, a court has been told.

Jemma Mitchell, 38, who had worked as an osteopath in Australia, had allegedly failed in an attempt to extract 200,000 from 67-year-old Mee Kuen Chong to pay for repairs to her dilapidated home in Willesden, north-west London.

After Ms Chong changed her mind about the cash gift, Mitchell killed her and disposed of her remains during a 500-mile round trip to Salcombe in Devon last June, it is claimed.

She then set about forging a will on her computer so she could inherit the bulk of Ms Chongs wealth, the prosecution claims.

Mee Kuen Chongs headless body was found after she went missing (Metropolitan Police/PA)

The fake will was uncovered in a search of the defendants home, Deanna Heer KC told jurors at the Old Bailey on Wednesday.

Ms Chongs genuine will  leaving her house to her church with the remainder to family and charity  was found at the victims home in Wembley, north-west London, the Old Bailey was told.

Ms Heer told jurors: In this case, the motive is clear: money.

A large sum was needed to complete the repairs on the defendants house and, in Mee Kuen Chong, the defendant found someone from whom she thought she could get it, if not when she was alive, then by forging her will after she had killed her.

The prosecutor said Mitchell killed Ms Chong last June 11 at the victims home  after taking a large blue suitcase with her.

Ms Chong suffered a skull break suggestive of an impact with a hard implement or weapon, she said.

Ms Heer went on: Having killed or at least fatally injured the deceased, she needed to get rid of her body and so she removed it in the blue suitcase.

That is why, when she left it was so much heavier than when she arrived and why, on June 26 2021 the defendant travelled over 500 miles to Salcombe, taking it with her.

And it is why she drove to the area in which the deceaseds mutilated body was to be found the following day.

Jurors saw pictures of Ms Chongs clothed body and head after they were found about 10 metres apart in woods.

The court was also shown CCTV footage allegedly charting the defendants activities in the wake of the murder.

At 1.13pm on June 11, Mitchell was caught on camera walking from Ms Chongs home with a suitcase that appeared to be a lot heavier than when she arrived, Ms Heer said.

She was also pulling another suitcase, belonging to Ms Chong, which allegedly held paperwork relating to her financial affairs.

Later that day, Mitchell was treated at St Thomass Hospital for a broken finger, claiming she shut it in a car door  which the prosecution said was a lie.

On learning from Ms Chongs lodger that she was missing, Mitchell allegedly told him she was going to stay with family friends for a year to clear her head somewhere close to the ocean, the court was told.

The defendant allegedly hired a car last June 26, giving the phone number registered to a neighbour who died earlier that year.

Mitchell picked up the rental Volvo and was allegedly caught on CCTV stowing the large blue suitcase in the boot before setting off for the South West.

The Volvo was seen on CCTV at a garage in Malborough, close to the South Devon coast.

The footage showed the front passenger side tyre was shredded and the car almost collided with a forecourt display, jurors were told.

The trial is being held at the Old Bailey in London (PA)

Mitchell borrowed a customers phone to call a recovery firm, saying she had come to Salcombe for a scenic drive.

The repairman noticed luggage in the boot but it did not match the description of the blue suitcase, which the prosecutor suggested had been removed beforehand.

Ms Heer said the repairman opened a back door and noticed an unusual smell  sort of musty and damp, a smell which he had never smelled before and could not describe.

Later that evening, the car was seen on CCTV near the spot where the body was dumped, jurors heard.

Mitchell arrived back at her London home shortly before 7am the next day with the blue suitcase, it is claimed.

Ms Chongs body and handbag were found by holidaymakers shortly before 5pm last June 27.

Inside the bag was a piece of orange rope similar to a piece later found at the defendants home.

Ms Chongs head was found several days later with a grey woollen headband.

A post-mortem examination revealed a broken skull caused by significant blunt force and 20 rib breaks most likely inflicted before death.

Police investigating Ms Chongs disappearance tried to contact Mitchell last June 26, jurors were told.

Three days later, she emailed back  claiming the victim was planning to stay with friends near her sisters family on the coast.

Mitchell was arrested last July 6 and told officers: I know that she has gone away.

In a search, police recovered the blue suitcase from the top of a neighbours shed, with tests matching blood on a tea towel inside a pocket to the victims DNA, it was claimed.

In a bedroom was the fake will, dated October 2020, which purported to leave 95% of Ms Chongs estate to the defendant for her house project and 5% to the Mitchells mother, the court also heard.

One of the forged signatories was Mitchells neighbour who died last March, jurors were told.

Ms Chongs signature was also extremely unlikely to be genuine and appeared to have been copied from her UK passport, Ms Heer suggested.

An examination of Mitchells computer revealed a Word document of the same will had been created on July 1  after Ms Chong was already dead.

Mitchell has denied murder, claiming the death had nothing to do with her, and the trial continues.
Rep. Karen Bass speaks with moderator and KNBC political reporter Conan Nolan after Tuesday night's debate with Rick Caruso, center. (Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)

Two days after racist comments on a secret audio recording rocked Los Angeles political leadership, the two candidates for mayor debated Tuesday night in a sober discussion that largely focused on which of them is best positioned to bridge racial divides and bring the city together.

The matchup between U.S. Rep. Karen Bass and developer Rick Caruso at Brokaw News Center in Universal City came hours after a large crowd packed L.A. City Hall chanting fuera  out in Spanish  and called for the resignations of top city officials, one of several moves Tuesday that left the future of L.A.'s leadership in doubt.

Bass contended that her experience as a lawmaker in Sacramento and Washington and, before that, as an organizer in South Los Angeles, made her uniquely qualified to form coalitions and bring about much-needed changes on racial strife, policing and homelessness.

Businessman Rick Caruso said he was better positioned to be a change agent, stating that the existing political leadership has failed.

The debate was hosted by NBC4 chief political reporter and anchor Conan Nolan, NBC4 anchor Colleen Williams and Noticiero Telemundo52 news anchor Dunia Elvir.

Speaking first, Caruso said he would fight for a just, equitable and inclusive city.

We cannot tolerate hate speech or racism," he added. "Certainly we can never tolerate it at the leadership level. What's happened, it's completely unacceptable and those who did it need to be held accountable."

The businessman, who builds upscale shopping malls, said he would focus on the needs of the general public, unlike other elected officials at City Hall who he said operated in a back room where they carve up the city for their own special interest for themselves.

He intimated that Bass was tied to corruption, which was a reference to the congresswomans ties to USC and a nearly $100,000 scholarship she received to get a masters degree in social work.

The dean who gave Bass the scholarship pleaded guilty in a federal bribery case in which City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas has also been charged, but federal officials have stated Bass isnt a target in the investigation.

Caruso said the only positive element of the release of the audio recording that revealed City Council President Nury Martinez demeaning Black people and indigenous Mexican people was that it threw the doors wide open and a big light came in, revealing a broken system at City Hall.

The reason homelessness is out of control is because the system is broken. The reason crime is out of control is because the system is broken, Caruso said. We need to change the direction. We need to [elect] new leadership that isn't corrupt. That changes the direction of the city and makes it more livable.

Bass said that while Caruso could talk about bringing in change and fresh ideas, she had spent decades actually working with a multiracial coalition in South Los Angeles.

She said the furor over the audio recordings of Martinez and fellow council members Kevin de Leon and Gil Cedillo was just the latest in a string of crises in the city that began with homelessness, housing affordability and public safety.

Now, in the last 72 hours, another crisis has come to the forefront, Bass said. It is important to take stock, but it's more important to move forward. There needs to be an investigation and those officials must resign. But that's not enough. We need a new direction in L.A. and new leadership that will make sure we reject the politics of divide and conquer.

She then pointed to her work as a community organizer, saying she had the credibility to heal the wounds between Latino and Black residents and leaders.

Before winning election to the state Assembly and Congress, Bass work in Los Angeles centered on the Community Coalition, a group that fought for economic and political opportunities for the working class.

When the topic turned to crime, Bass also mentioned her work in the 1990s at 85th and Broadway.

Crips and Bloods, 1,000 homicides that year, Bass said. I quit my job at teaching and went to the heart of the problem to bring communities together to solve crime.

The debate lacked some of the fiery exchanges seen in last week's matchup, and at points, the two complimented each other.

The sharpest exchange of the evening came when the moderators asked whether the candidates would pledge not to raise taxes to help homelessness.

Caruso quickly said he would make that pledge, calling Los Angeles one of the highest-taxed cities in the nation. Bass replied: "I would not make that pledge," later adding that a crisis could develop that would require higher taxes.

"If people are dying on our streets and it is necessary, I might do that. I think there's a lot of things to do before that," she said.

Bass also dismissed Caruso's attack on her for refusing to take a position. "To stand here and lie and pledge that I'm going to do something ... I'm going to do whatever it takes to solve this problem."

Bass said that she would seek to hire more police officers, and also work to get officers who are on desk jobs on the streets. Caruso touted his plan to hire 1,500 officers  although he faces challenges in getting them in quickly  and appeared to allude to past City Hall policy moves, such as cutting the LAPD in 2020 and moving the money to social services.

The decisions that were made about defunding the police, disrespecting police, and not making sure the police have the support to do their job well  we are paying a price for that, Caruso said.

Asked about homelessness, Caruso said government had failed businesses and hed take a firmer line on rules that have to do with where people can sit, sleep or lie.

At a certain point in time were not going to allow encampments on the streets, he said. Bass was also insistent that streets are not for sleeping, but said the city can't just jail people, warning it creates a cycle where people spend a few days in jail and go back to the street.

Bass pointed out as well that Caruso had never built a unit of affordable housing, while he lambasted her at various points for not doing enough to address homelessness during her congressional tenure.

Besides homelessness, the issues of the recent audio scandal dominated the debate.

Martinez, who resigned as City Council president on Monday, announced Tuesday that she was taking a leave of absence. De Leon and Cedillo have both apologized for their roles.

On a question about the racial turmoil in the city, Elvir, the Telemundo52 anchor, pointed out that "the next mayor of Los Angeles will be either an African American woman or a white man."

Caruso interjected: "I'm Italian," to smiles and chuckles all around.

Elvir responded: "Italian American."

Caruso, seeming to suggest a link between his heritage and much of the city's population, replied with a smile: "That's Latin, thank you."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
President Biden warned Tuesday that Saudi Arabia would face "consequences" after OPEC+ last week announced the biggest cut in oil production since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Senior Democrats on Capitol Hill have condemned the decision by Saudi Arabia, the de facto leader of the oil-producing alliance, to reduce the global supply of petroleum. Higher oil prices are seen as helping Russia, the world's second-largest oil exporter, finance its war in Ukraine.

"Theres going to be some consequences for what theyve done with Russia," Biden said of Saudi Arabia in an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper. Im not going to get into what Id consider and what I have in mind. But there will be  there will be consequences.

The president indicated Congress will act when it is back in session after the midterm elections.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at a briefing earlier Tuesday that the U.S. would reassess its relationship with Saudi Arabia following OPEC+'s "decision to align their energy policy with Russias war."

"We need to kind of reassess and have a different relationship with Saudi Arabia," she said, adding that the White House will review its policies in the coming weeks and months.

Asked by Tapper whether it's time for the U.S. to rethink its relationship with Saudi Arabia, Biden said, "Yes."

President Biden speaking at the White House. (Susan Walsh/AP)

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., who chairs the Foreign Relations Committee, called on the Biden administration Monday to "immediately freeze" U.S. cooperation with Saudi Arabia.

OPEC+s announcement that it will reduce production by 2 million barrels a day came shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin renewed nuclear threats he initially made when Russia invaded Ukraine in February.

Putin warned of using nuclear weapons late last month in a televised national address in which his defense minister announced the call-up of 300,000 reservists after Russia's military forces suffered severe setbacks on the battlefield in Ukraine.

In blunt remarks at a Democratic fundraiser last week, Biden said there has been a direct threat of nuclear weapons being used for the first time since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, if, in fact, things continue down the path they are going.

Asked Tuesday how the U.S. would respond if Putin follows through on his threat to use weapons of mass destruction, Biden told CNN that the Defense Department had discussed the possibility.

"Theres been discussions on that, but Im not going to get into that," Biden said. "It would be irresponsible of me to talk about what we would or wouldnt do."

He also suggested it was unwise of Putin to raise the specter of nuclear weapons.

"I dont think he will" use them, Biden said. "But I think that it's irresponsible for him to talk about it."
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is in a runoff reelection campaign, and the results of the contest on Oct. 30 will have a major impact on the fate of the Amazon rainforest and on climate change worldwide.

Its the most important election remaining this year in the world, Nick Zimmerman, a former National Security Council director for Brazil who is now senior adviser for the consulting firm WestExec Advisors, told Yahoo News. Bolsonaro has a terrible track record [on climate change]. Deforestation has again skyrocketed under his presidency.

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, former president of Brazil and presidential candidate of the Workers' Party, at a campaign rally Oct. 11, ahead of the presidential runoff. (Wagner Meier/Getty Images)

Bolsonaro and former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, commonly referred to as Lula, emerged as the top two vote getters in the first round of voting, in a contest that has unusually high stakes. On the environment and on many other issues, the two candidates diverge significantly, but the Amazon rainforest is not a purely domestic issue, and carries an outsize impact on climate change worldwide.

Bolsonaro is a pugnacious right-winger sometimes called the Trump of the tropics. Prioritizing economic development in the relatively poor Amazon region, he has allowed deforestation to increase rapidly since taking office on New Years Day 2019, and he has planned new hydropower dams in the region that could further damage the rainforest ecosystem. He has also extended the life of coal plants and subsidies for the coal industry and is planning new infrastructure for drilling and exporting oil and natural gas.

Like that of former President Donald Trump  a supporter of Bolsonaro who has dismissed climate change as a hoax  the Brazilian presidents administration has downplayed concern about climate change. There is no climate change catastrophe, Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo said in September 2019 at the conservative American think tank the Heritage Foundation.

In the Oct. 2 general election, out of a field of 11 candidates, Lula won 48.4% of the vote to Bolsonaros 43.2%. While Lula is slightly favored in the runoff, experts say Bolsonaro has a real chance of winning reelection. (Much like Trump, Bolsonaro has made unsupported claims that his opponents will commit electoral fraud and has threatened not to accept the outcome if he loses.)

President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil at a press conference Oct. 5 in Brasilia. (Andressa Anholete/Getty Images)

As of 2019, Brazil was the worlds sixth-largest emitter of greenhouse gas, and it has more than 200 million people. While the overwhelming majority of emissions among most large emitters comes from burning fossil fuels for energy, one-third of Brazils emissions come from agriculture and land use, partly due to all the carbon that is released when trees are logged (and often burned) to make way for farms and ranches.

Rainforests absorb about 10% of the worlds current carbon emissions, so their destruction is devastating not just because of the carbon released by deforestation, but because the planet  perhaps permanently  loses critical carbon sinks. Meanwhile, the farming and ranching that replace them can be significant carbon emitters.

Almost 400,000 square miles of the Amazonian rainforest, the worlds largest, have been destroyed since 1978. Brazil already ranks fourth in cumulative historical greenhouse gas emissions when deforestation is factored in, behind the United States, China and Russia.

In March, a study published in the journal Nature Climate Change found that the Amazon may be near a tipping point: Since the early 2000s, as warmer temperatures dry out the rainforest, areas that endure droughts or wildfires are taking longer to recover, and signs of loss have been found in more than three-quarters of the Amazon. The studys authors warned that if climate change continues, parts of the Amazon may fail to grow back as rainforest, after suffering from damage from events like droughts and wildfires. That phenomenon, called dieback, would dramatically accelerate climate change.

A deforested area of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil's Amazonas state in September 2021. (Mauro Pimentel/AFP via Getty Images)

Bolsonaro accused Brazils National Institute for Space Research, without evidence, of fabricating data. He also dramatically reduced the frequency with which fines for illegal logging and mining were imposed, triggering an explosion in deforestation, according to reporting by the journal Nature. As a result, the institutes data shows deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has surged since 2019. In 2021 it reached its highest level since 2008.

[Deforestation] is a problem that goes just beyond [Bolsonaros] presidency, but he has systematically gone about trying to neuter the monitoring and enforcement by environmental protection authorities in the federal bureaucracy, said Zimmerman, who is also a global fellow at the Wilson Center Brazil Institute.

The increase in deforestation is not just a problem for climate change: The Amazon has a number of Indigenous communities and an array of unique plant and animal species, accounting for 25% of the worlds biodiversity.

The impact of deforestation keeps encroaching on Indigenous lands, Beto Borges, director of the Communities and Territorial Governance Initiative at Forest Trends, a nonprofit that combats deforestation, told Yahoo News at the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, last year.

Illegal mining has also increased significantly in recent years. Bolsonaro has further slashed funding for scientific research and shut down the government's Amazon Fund, which had collected donations from rich countries such as Norway and Denmark to help prevent deforestation. Thanks to widespread hydropower usage, Brazil has a relatively low rate of fossil fuel consumption for energy, but earlier this year the national government contracted for a massive purchase of new gas power.

The Belo Monte hydroelectric power plant in Altamira, Brazil, in 2019. (Mauro Pimentel/AFP via Getty Images)

In Glasgow last November, Brazil reiterated a commitment to reduce emissions in general, and it made a new promise to cut methane emissions by 30% by 2030. But Bolsonaro was among the minority of heads of state who did not attend the climate negotiations in person, and climate activists were skeptical that he would actually adopt policies to achieve those emissions reductions.

Lula and his left-wing party, the Workers Party, also known as the PT, have displayed more interest in controlling deforestation and combating climate change.

Traditionally, Lula and Lulas party, the Workers Party, the PT, had not been particularly green, Zimmerman said. Like many across the countrys ideological spectrum, they see the management of the Amazon very much in sovereignty terms, and therefore bristle at criticism from wealthier countries that have much higher emissions per capita.

Nonetheless, during Lula's two terms as president, from 2003 to 2010, Brazil reduced the rate of deforestation in its portion of the Amazon by more than 70%.

In the run-up to the 2015 U.N. Climate Change Conference in Paris, also known as COP21, Lulas successor and fellow PT member President Dilma Rousseff made a joint announcement with President Barack Obama pledging coordinated climate action. Both countries committed to increase the share of wind and solar power in their countries by 20% by 2030, and to collaborate on clean energy research and development. The promise of action to reduce emissions by a large developing country was seen at the time as a major victory in global climate diplomacy.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and President Barack Obama in the Oval Office in June 2015. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Bolsonaros intransigence on climate change has given Lula more political incentive to draw a contrast on the issue, and he has adopted a tone in this campaign more favorable toward the environment, according to Zimmerman. Lula has said that he understands that sustainable development, getting deforestation down, that these things are critical, Zimmerman said.

In June, Lula unveiled a platform to combat illegal logging and meet Brazils emissions-reduction targets as set out in the Paris Agreement. Last month he added a host of new environmental policies, including a fee for carbon emissions and subsidies for sustainable farming. Lula does support expanded oil and gas drilling, however, arguing that they are needed for energy security.

There is an opportunity to really correct the signals sent by the current president, Natalie Unterstell, the president of the Institute Talanoa, a climate policy think tank, told Yahoo News.

A spokesperson for Lula has said that, as president, he would update the countrys insufficient climate plan at COP27 next month in Sharm-el Sheikh, Egypt. Lula has proposed that the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Indonesia, which include the second- and third-largest rainforests in the world, respectively, form an alliance with Brazil at COP27 to pressure developed countries to provide funding to divert rainforest residents into less harmful means of economic development.

If Lula were to win  and thats still a big if, given Bolsonaros stronger-than-expected performance in the first round  his government would have a colossal amount to do, Guy Edwards, an expert on climate change and Latin America who is currently a PhD candidate at the U.K.'s University of Sussex, told Yahoo News. Rescuing and beefing up environmental enforcement agencies gutted by Bolsonaro is urgently required, as well the demarcation and protection of Indigenous lands, many of which have been violently invaded.

Trees in a partially deforested section of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil's Rondonia state in 2017. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Theres a general expectation that, were Lula to become president, youll see the return of a serious, proactive Brazilian COP negotiating partner, and youll see the restoration of the federal governments ability to monitor and enforce laws against illegal logging and mining, Zimmerman said.

International climate policy experts say that such a shift in Brazils posture would improve the chances that stronger global climate action can be agreed upon at COP27. A renewed willingness for Brazil to try to take a constructive position and to try to really engage around this issue could be a really tremendous development, Peter Ogden, vice president for energy, climate and the environment at the United Nations Foundation, told Yahoo News. That could be a real boost for global deforestation action.

But Lula would have to win first. If he doesnt, the country will go in a very different direction.

A second Bolsonaro term could push this awesome rainforest past an irreversible tipping point, which could prove catastrophic for global efforts to arrest the deepening climate and ecological crises, Edwards said.

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Global temperatures are on the rise and have been for decades. Step inside the data and see the magnitude of climate change.
When Hurricane Ian barreled into Floridas Gulf Coast last month, it became the 15th extreme weather event in the U.S. this year to rack up damages totaling more than $1 billion. Climate change, data shows, is helping to make expensive disasters much more frequent in recent years.

In fact, 2022 marks the eighth straight year that at least 10 separate $1 billion weather-related disasters occurred, according to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

In the last five years [2017-2021], there were just 18 days on average between billion-dollar disasterscompared to 82 days in the 1980s, Climate Central, a consortium of scientists and journalists, found in a new analysis posted to its website.

This years extreme weather disasters in the U.S. have resulted in over 340 deaths, the NOAA said, and the financial toll is still being tallied. The insurance losses alone from Hurricane Ian are projected to cost between $53 billion and $74 billion, according to an estimate by RMS, a risk modeling company. In addition to that staggering sum, the National Flood Insurance Program could face an extra $10 billion in losses, Insurance Business America reported.

The number and cost of weather and climate disasters are increasing in the United States due to a combination of increased exposure (i.e., more assets at risk), vulnerability (i.e., how much damage a hazard of given intensity  wind speed or flood depth, for example  causes at a location), and climate change is also supercharging the increasing frequency and intensity of certain types of extreme weather that lead to billion-dollar disasters  most notably the rise in vulnerability to drought, lengthening wildfire seasons in the western states, and the potential for extremely heavy rainfall becoming more common in the eastern states, Adam Smith, a climatologist at the National Centers for Environmental Information and a lead analyst on the NOAAs findings on $1 billion disasters, told Yahoo news in an email. Sea level rise is worsening hurricane storm surge flooding.

Among the other $1 billion or greater weather-related disasters to hit the U.S. this year are the extreme flooding that occurred in Kentucky and Missouri from July 26 to 28, the prolonged drought and heat waves that gripped the western U.S. between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, devastating wildfires that consumed thousands of acres in New Mexico this spring, a derecho that plowed through Indiana on July 13, and the extreme precipitation event in Summerville, Ga., on Sept. 4 that dumped more than 12 inches of rain.

While climate change is not the sole cause of events like hurricanes, drought, rainfall or wildfires, ample scientific research has shown that rising global temperatures are amplifying all of them, making each potentially more destructive.

Workers clearing debris in Fort Myers, Fla., in the wake of Hurricane Ian, Oct. 1. (Giorgio Viera/AFP)

The year-to-date average temperature for the contiguous U.S. was 56.8 degrees F  1.7 degrees above average  ranking in the warmest third of the YTD record. California and Florida saw their third- and fourth-warmest January-through-September periods on record, respectively, the NOAA stated on its website.

Across the West, nearly 1,000 heat records were broken in early September, the NOAA said, a month that will go down as the fifth-warmest on record. In all, the last seven years have been the warmest on record, according to data from NASA, the NOAA and Berkeley Earth.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has for years been sounding the alarm about the risks related to global temperature rise and tried to convince world governments to agree to limit greenhouse gas emissions so as to keep average temperatures from rising above 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels.

In its most recent report, which was issued in February, the IPCC reiterated that the planet could expect an increase in the kinds of severe weather consequences seen in recent years that have been liked to climate change.

This report is a dire warning about the consequences of inaction, Hoesung Lee, chair of the IPCC, said in a statement that accompanied the release of the report. It shows that climate change is a grave and mounting threat to our well-being and a healthy planet. Our actions today will shape how people adapt and nature responds to increasing climate risks.
L.A. City Councilmember Nithya Raman comforts colleague Mike Bonin at Tuesday's City Council meeting. Bonin made an emotional speech about racist remarks involving his young son. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Mike Bonins first attempt to speak was unsuccessful.

The boisterous crowd, enraged by one of the ugliest scandals ever to rock Los Angeles City Hall, demanded that there be no City Council meeting Tuesday without resignations first.

Bonin slumped back down, emotionally spent, just a few days after he learned that council President Nury Martinez had referred to his adopted Black son as a monkey. Martinez had proved herself to be an equal-opportunity offender, with unflattering remarks about Oaxacans, Black people, Jews and others.

At the meeting, several people wore T-shirts that said, Im with the Blacks, a reference to Martinezs criticism of L.A. Dist. Atty. George Gascon.

A few feet to Bonins left sat Councilmembers Gil Cedillo and Kevin De Leon, two of the three colleagues who had betrayed him. Cedillo and De Leon knew they had no choice as the crowd shouted for them to leave. So they walked out, looking as though they wished theyd put in for a leave of absence, like Martinez, their careers in flames.

The departure quieted the crowd, and Bonin stood once more.

I really, really don't want to be here today. I want  I want to be home with my family right now, said Bonin, fighting tears through a nearly 12-minute speech that was the best thing to come out of City Hall in ages.

True leaders know how to cheer and scold. They rally and summon the goodness and tolerance in all of us. Bonin did all of that  a gay dad reminding us that his colleagues petty, self-serving schemes had insulted a metropolis that, at its best, takes pride in its diversity.

My husband and I are both raw and angry and heartbroken and sick  for our family and for Los Angeles, he said. I am reeling from the revelations of what these people said. Trusted servants who voiced hate and bile. Public officials are supposed to call us to our highest selves, and these people stabbed us and shot us and cut the spirit of Los Angeles.

In the recording that was released over the weekend and has sparked days of outrage, Martinez said shed seen Bonins son misbehaving on a parade float and in need of a beatdown. Labor leader Ron Herrera compared the child to a lawn jockey. De Leon suggested a comparison to an accessory, like one of Martinezs handbags. The conversation took place a year ago, and mysteries remain about who recorded it and why it was released when it was.

As a politician, said Bonin  who has been a recall target largely over the entrenched homelessness in his district  you become used to taking hits.

But my son? he said. Man, that makes my soul bleed, and it makes my temper burn. And I know Im not alone. Because Los Angeles has spoken, and it feels the same way.

Some of the offenders are asking forgiveness, Bonin said, and thats a good first step. He got cheers when he backtracked and said, But, well, its a second step. Because first, first you must resign and then ask forgiveness.

There was both moral outrage and poetic grace in Bonin's speech, and a look around the room offered hope of a silver lining in the rock-bottom, racially divisive ugliness that had brought everyone together. Black and brown people, equally offended, chanted together, demanding the ouster of the culprits.

I followed Bonin upstairs to his office after his speech. Theres a play area outside his door, because Bonin has encouraged staffers to bring their children to work at times. He said he used to bring his own son once a week when Herb Wesson was City Council president.

I wanted him to see Wesson running the show, Bonin told me. I wanted him to see a face that looked like his. When youre a white guy raising a Black kid, you know, theres so much youre unable to do and understand, so you try to bring him places to understand his heritage and history.

Bonin slumped in a chair, still wrung out and wanting nothing more than to go home to his husband, Sean, and their 8-year-old son. The boy knows nothing about the news, he said, and they are discussing how to explain it all to him.

Photos of the child hang on the wall, along with images of Bobby Kennedy and President Obama. A big photo of the boy shows him off the ground, arms splayed, leaping for joy, with a smile on his face.

Bonin, a Massachusetts native and former newspaper reporter, worked for a number of local politicians in Los Angeles. He once told me he had been addicted to alcohol and meth and had slept on the beach and in his car on occasion  experiences that made homelessness a focus for him.

Hell be leaving office soon, having decided to work on his own mental health and spend more time with family rather than run for reelection.

Bonin had established himself as part of a growing leftward shift on City Council that sometimes put him at odds with more centrist colleagues.

The split with Nury began to really become sort of a gaping fissure at the very start of the pandemic, Bonin said.

Homelessness was a big part of that, with Bonin opposed to an anticamping ordinance that he saw as a tool of criminalization and a legal way to hustle people around the city without addressing their needs. He said he also disagreed with Martinez on renter protections and whether to hold meetings during the pandemic. (He was in favor.)

The recording that sparked the controversy was essentially a strategy session in which Martinez and colleagues discussed ways to carve out more power and representation for Latino communities. Bonin, in his council chambers speech, said the agenda included efforts to disenfranchise Blacks and renters and to weaken the voice of progressives.

Bonin said he had heard a rumor that a tape, secretly recorded last year, would be released. That was confirmed when he attended a funeral in Boston over the weekend and got a call from Times reporter Ben Oreskes, filling him in on some of the more jaw-dropping details of what was said, especially by Martinez.

There were parts of what she said that were utterly shocking, and there were parts that, knowing her, werent surprising at all, Bonin told me.

On these tapes, Bonin said in his chambers speech, addressing a crowd that showed him love and shared his indignation, I have heard the worst of what Los Angeles is. From you I am hearing and I am seeing what the best of Los Angeles is.

He said, This city is strong, and this city has a very big heart, and Los Angeles is going to heal. As more young, diverse and progressive people move into office, he said, I have more than hope in the possibility of a city that grows into a real community. I have faith that that can happen.

In his office, Bonin told me he was sure about his decision earlier this year to wrap up his career, and the events of the last few days certainly havent shaken his resolve to spend more time with his husband and son. Just the opposite, in fact.

He was still stung by Martinezs callous judgment of his sons behavior at a parade, saying the lad wasnt even 3 years old at the time and was just being a kid. He spoke briefly about the joys of fatherhood and, moments after I left his office, sent me a text, elaborating.

Part of the reason it was so hard to answer is because it all feels like a joy. If pressed to pick a word to describe my son, Sean and I would absolutely say joyful. He is just a beautiful human. I want to emulate him. I want to be as joyful, kind, brave, strong and resilient as he is.

Hes an amazing kid who loves life.

Steve.lopez@latimes.com

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
SAN ANTONIO (AP)  A now-former San Antonio police officer was charged Tuesday with two counts of aggravated assault by a peace officer for shooting and gravely wounding a teen who was eating a hamburger in his car in a McDonalds parking lot.

James Brennand, 25, was charged in the Oct. 2 shooting of Erik Cantu, 17, according to a police statement. He turned himself in to police Tuesday night and remained in custody, said Police Chief William McManus.

Cantu is still unconscious and on life support, his family said Tuesday.

Brennand, a rookie officer, reported the vehicle Cantu was sitting in had evaded him the night before during an attempted traffic stop. Brennand said he suspected the vehicle was stolen.

In body camera footage released by police, Brennand opens the car door and tells Cantu to get out. The car drives backward, door open, and the officer fires multiple times into the vehicle. He continues to shoot as the car drives away.

Investigators quickly determined that the use of deadly force was unwarranted, and Brennand was fired. Charges against Cantu of aggravated assault and evading arrest were dropped.

Brennand is charged with two counts of assault because there was a passenger in the car. The passenger was unharmed.

In a press conference Tuesday evening, the police chief defended the departments training and said the failures were those of the individual officer.

In an appearance on CNN earlier Tuesday, McManus said he expected aggravated assault charges would be filed, and murder charges in the event Cantu dies.

McManus said Brennand's body camera video of the Oct. 2 shooting was horrific."

There is no question in anybodys mind looking at that video that the shooting is not justified," McManus said.

Police officials and the Bexar County District Attorney's Office did not immediately return messages from The Associated Press. Brennand has no published telephone number and could not be reached for comment.

Cantu's condition, as related in his family's statement, is in stark contrast to what police officials said in the wake of the shooting: that Cantu was hospitalized in stable condition.

"Wed like to correct any misrepresentations that Erik is in stable condition or he is going to be fine. That is not true. Every breath is a struggle for Erik. We ask for everyones continued prayers for our son, the family said.
The Horry County GOP has a fresh slate of officers less than a month before the midterm elections, at least according to a bloc of local and state party executives.

But embattled chairman Roger Slagle, who announced his resignation last month, then rescinded it and his supporters say the group has no authority to hold elections under party rules. The South Carolina GOP disagrees with Slagles assessment.

The new officers were selected Tuesday in a move that further deepens an ideological rift among GOP loyalists inside one of South Carolinas most reliable Republican counties.

Reese Boyd, a Conway native and partner at Myrtle Beach-based Davis & Boyd law firm, was selected chairman by 47 of the countys 80-person executive committee. Boyd is a former state executive committee representative and Horry County GOP vice chairman.

Robert Visconti, who runs a Myrtle Beach landscaping company, was selected as vice-chairman.

Claire Brady, a spokeswoman for the S.C. GOP, told The Sun News Oct. 10 the organization will only recognize the slate elected Tuesday as Horry Countys valid party leaders.

Roger Slagle has resigned, she said. You cant rescind a resignation and pretend it never happened  especially when you send notification to local press of your resignation and then proceed to get confirmation from the state party that we received your resignation.

Ahead of the meeting, provisional chairman Mike Connett said the outcome should allow the countys party to move forward after 18 tumultuous months.

Were going to set a whole new tone and were going to get things done, Connett said. Were gong to show this state we are leaders in Horry County and we want to work with our local legislative body.

That was the message Boyd sent Tuesday, encouraging the party to unite to support common issues as the November election approaches.

We spend all our energy fighting with one another, Boyd said. Weve been doing that for a while. Theres a lot more that we have to agree about than we have to disagree about.

There are so many things that matter to us, that matter to our kids, that matter to our grandkids that were 100 percent in agreement about. So its time to move on from the negativity, from the stupidity.

Why new party leaders were elected

Slagle announced his resignation on Sept. 12, which the S.C. GOP accepted three days later.

But on Sept. 26, he told the county GOPs executive committee that he changed his mind and would stay on as chairman during a profanity-laced meeting cut short by what Slagle later called disrupters.

Slagle, along with vice chairman Jeremy Halpin, secretary Barbara Treacy, executive committee chairman Tracy Diaz and interim treasurer Angela King said Sep. 12 they planned to resign at months end.

None of them attended Tuesdays meeting.

Members of the countys executive committee who back Slagle plan to meet Nov. 7 to fill those empty leadership slots while accepting his chairmanship.

Slagle has repeatedly declined emails and phone calls for comment from The Sun News. But he outlined his position in two lengthy emails to county executive committee members.

The legal opinion of my attorneys is that l hold an elected political office. Further, l was elected Chairman of the Horry County Republican Party by you the people of Horry County at a legally held Republican Party Convention on April 24, 2021, for a two-year term that expires at the next county convention in April 2023, Slagle wrote Oct 1.

Finally, I rescinded my resignation prior to the stated effective date. There are many years of legal precedents to support my position on this matter, to remain as Chairman.

Slagle and his leadership team have had a rocky 18-month ride plagued by infighting and several scuffles with S.C. GOP chairman Drew McKissick  including a June 2021 censure following comments he made the previous week about Greenville Republicans.
WASHINGTON  The Biden administration asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to reject former President Donald Trump's request to give the special master reviewing documents seized from his Mar-a-Lago estate access to those marked as classified.

Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar said in court papers that Trump would suffer "no harm at all" if the documents are temporarily withheld from the special master. Addressing Trump's potential ownership stake in the documents, including possible assertions of attorney-client privilege or executive privilege, Prelogar said Trump had "no plausible claims."

Whatever the court decides in weighing Trumps relatively narrow request, it will not affect the Justice Departments access to the same documents in its criminal investigation. The more than 100 classified documents are just a small part of the 11,000 records federal agents seized amid concerns that Trump had unlawfully retained official White House records after he left office.

Image: Mar-a-Lago documents (Department of Justice via AP)

The high court is reviewing the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' decision Sept. 21 to bar the special master, Senior U.S. District Judge Raymond Dearie, from reviewing the documents. Trump had not contested a separate part of the ruling that allowed the Justice Department to use the documents.

A decision by the Supreme Court is due at any time.

Prelogar said the case arose only because of an "unusual  indeed unprecedented  order" that U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon issued in response the lawsuit Trump filed after the government searched his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, in early August. Cannon prevented the government from using the documents as part of a criminal investigation, a decision partly blocked by the appeals court, and appointed the special master to review them.

"This application concerns an unprecedented order by the district court restricting the Executive Branchs use of its own highly classified records in an ongoing criminal investigation and directing the dissemination of those records outside the Executive Branch for a special-master review," Prelogar wrote.

Trumps lawyers had said the appeals court's decision to block access to the special master impairs substantially the ongoing, time-sensitive work of the special master. They added that "any limit on the comprehensive and transparent review of materials seized in the extraordinary raid of a presidents home erodes public confidence in our system of justice."

The appeals court said that certain documents are deemed classified because they include information that could harm national security and that for that reason people may have access to them only if they need to know that information.

Under federal law, official White House records are federal property and must be handed over to the National Archives when a president leaves office. Trump says that he did nothing improper and that he wants Dearie to determine the status of the documents, including those marked as classified.

Although the Supreme Court has a 6-3 conservative majority, including three justices he appointed, Trump has not recently fared well in other emergency applications, including his attempt to prevent White House documents from being handed over to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and his bid to avoid disclosure of his financial records to prosecutors in New York.
WASHINGTON The White House said Tuesday that President Joe Biden wants to see resignations from all three members of the Los Angeles City Council who took part in a racist conversation that was captured in a leaked audio recording.

"He believes that they all should resign," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. "The language that was used and tolerated during that conversation was unacceptable and it was appalling."

Biden's position follows resignation calls from top California Democrats, including Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., a mayoral candidate vying to replace Garcetti.

Four L.A. political heavyweights  including three Latino members of the L.A. City Council  are heard making racist remarks in the recording, first reported by the Los Angeles Times. The leaked audio is the most recent episode in a long-standing racial divide between Latino and Black communities within one of the nation's most diverse cities.

Ron Herrera, the president of Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, resigned from his position Tuesday. But L.A. City Council President Nury Martinez, at the center of the controversy, has stopped short of resigning from her seat, instead taking a leave of absence and stepping down as council president.

The two other participants, L.A. council members Kevin de Leon and Gil Cedillo, also remain in their council seats.

"The president is glad to see that one of the participants in that conversation has resigned. But they all should," Jean-Pierre said.

Stay in the conversation on politics: Sign up for the OnPolitics newsletter

US President Joe Biden delivers virtual remarks at the Summit on Fire Prevention and Control from the South Court Auditorium of the White House in Washington, DC, on October 11, 2022.

In the recording, Martinez can be heard making racist statements about the Black child of a white council member, Mike Bonin, including that he handled his young Black son as though he were an accessory." She described the son in Spanish as like a monkey" and said the boy's parents are "raising him like a little white kid."

"I was like, this kid needs a beatdown," Martinez said. "Let me take him around the corner and then I'll bring him back."

The conversation took place during an October 2021 closed-door meeting at the union's offices over the city's redistricting process.

LA Council president takes leave: After racist leaked recording, Los Angeles City Council president takes leave; Biden calls for resignations

Tuberville: GOP senator promotes racist narrative about Black people, crime

Although everyone in the recording is a Democrat, Jean-Pierre sought to make a distinction with Republicans on how the parties respond to racism within their own ranks.

"When a Democrat says something racist or anti-Semitic, we really hold Democrats accountable. When a MAGA Republican says something racist or anti-Semitic, they're embraced by cheering crowds and become celebrated and sought-after endorsements."

Jean-Pierre pointed to comments Saturday from Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., at a rally hosted by President Donald Trump in which the senator said Democrats back reparations for descendants of slavery because "they think the people who do crime are owed that."

Biden is scheduled to visit Los Angeles on Wednesday to attend a Democratic fundraiser and deliver remarks on the infrastructure spending law passed last year. The trip was planned before the L.A. City Council controversy erupted.

Reach Joey Garrison on Twitter @joeygarrison.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden wants participants of LA City Council recording to resign


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Whatever the partys many failings, it is hard to see the Congress as a straitjacketed Stalinist outfit in which free speech is frowned upon

The process to elect the Congress president after a hiatus of two decades is well under way. This is a notable event in our political life. In what ways will the party change after the election when the Nehru-Gandhis will not be in formal authority? Will the change reflect the personality of the new president, and if so to what extent? In an organisational sense, does it matter in an all-India party with a deep history that the two candidates are from the same region of the country?

Also, will the Congress ranks feel more empowered with the end of the dynasty? Will the party be differently placed than now in forging links with the various shades of democracy-seekers in the country? Further, can changes in the party organisation after the internal election pose a more viable challenge to the dominance of the Hindu-primacy party that currently dominates the political space?

These are relevant questions for our politics and political culture but do not find reflection in the public discourse. Instead, much media attention is devoted to the so-called loyalist factor in the Congress to the near exclusion of everything else.

The tendency is taken to such lengths that some even assert -- offering no cogent argument -- that the new president can only be a rubber stamp of the Gandhis. Whatever the partys many failings, it is hard to see the Congress as a straitjacketed Stalinist outfit in which free speech is frowned upon. In fact, the opposite seems the case, historically -- unlike, say, the RSS-Jan Sangh-BJP, or parties of the Marxist persuasion. Debates of all hues have flourished in the Congress, similar to our socialist parties.

The loyalist approach attributes to the Gandhis strange magical powers -- bordering on magical realism -- that inhibit the independent working of the Congress. The unstated corollary is that the Congress election is therefore a pointless thing. Oddly enough, the loyalist factor is not explored for other parties, not even the BJP where the cult of personality is now in the fullest bloom.

Much has gone wrong with the Congress after Jawaharlal Nehru, in whose last years it was already weakening. Under Indira Gandhi, the party even split. This was partly because she steered it somewhat to the Left, annoying entrenched conservative interests. But Indira remained a vote-catcher except for the break caused by the 19-month Emergency. Her charisma with voters was widely seen as the basis for the loyalty factor to emerge at various leadership levels.

With the cult of personality growing and internal party organisation growing shambolic, loyalty to the top leader came to be seen as the key ingredient for success in the Congress. But Indira is long gone. Her descendants, who succeeded her as Congress leaders, are not automatic vote-catchers (although Sonia Gandhis leadership did produce two consecutive, successful, governments). But, inexplicably, overt deference to the Gandhis appears not to have dimmed.

Parsing the Congress purely in loyalist terms can hardly yield analysis of value. The more all-India sections of the media even ridicule the Congress rank and file, and condemn its leaders, for being overly mindful of the Nehru-Gandhis. It is supposed that this makes the party unfit to appeal to people of democratic aspiration. And yet when the Congress got the votes in 2004 and 2009, the negatives accruing from the loyalist paradigm escaped analysts at the time.

In reality, finding limitless virtue in the loyalty angle as a tool of analysis has been demonstrated to be of negligible bandwidth even in the recent weeks since the election process for Congress president began. But this has made little difference to the yardsticks of assessment.

Well-known writer and three-term Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor, who is in the running, seems to be the media favourite. Other than his well-known qualities, hes seen as not being a Gandhi loyalist. This appears important in media evaluations. On the other hand, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, initially thought of as a candidate, was only spoken of as a loyalist. But it wasnt easy to ignore the political merit of a seasoned CM who had fought off the BJP which had tried to break his MLAs and bring down his government.

There was a twist in the tale, though. This loyalist practically rebelled, choosing the CMs post over party chief when it became clear he couldnt be both if he won. Now that Mr Gehlot hasnt filed his nomination for party president, its hard to tell whether hes still a loyalist. In any case, is loyalist or rebel written in stone in politics? Late PM V.P. Singh had been both, and ceasing to be PM went on to endorse Sonia Gandhis broad political stance.

After Mr Gehlots preference was made overt, every prospective name that came up for candidate was run down as loyalist in media analysis. Mallikarjun Kharge, a stalwart Karnataka Congressman who was Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and is the sole challenger to Mr Tharoor in the presidential race, is deemed a super loyalist. He is easy to make fun of as he is 80 years old, but were he a member of the Congress ginger group known as G-23 (as Mr Tharoor was), influential sections of the media are likely to have been nonplussed, given his self-evident qualifications and seniority.

Alas, our journalism has not been able to duck that fate, anyway. Practically every top gun of the erstwhile G-23 (which has eviscerated since its principal leader Ghulam Nabi Azad left the Congress even after his demand was met) -- the very men from different states who were asking the leadership to hold elections and were earning media encomiums for doing so -- have signed up to be in the corner of the super loyalist, rather than Mr Tharoor, who was one of them. Have they also turned loyalists? Those who live their professional lives to inform and interpret the daily world are conspicuous by their silence.

How is Mr Tharoor himself to be categorised? Witty, articulate, intellectual, sometimes overtly democratic, he had this to say in an interview to this newspaper last week: Our partys DNA is inextricably tied to the Gandhi family, their contributions, their sacrifices, their charisma and authority over the party. No party president will lose sight of it, and in fact, to achieve the goals of the party, we need the Gandhi family

Does he overstate it? In the middle of the election, thats possible. Regardless, the debate needs to go deeper -- and rely on keener, freer, observation.
Today's headlines: Lebanon and Israel reach agreement on maritime borders; Aung San Suu Kyi is sentenced to 3 more years in prison; petrol shortage in Ho Chi Minh City, a missile launch fails in Japan; Turkmenistan blocks access to millions of IP addresses.

PAKISTAN

Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai landed in Pakistan yesterday to visit flood victims 10 years after the Pakistani Taliban attempted to assassinate her for her campaign for girls' education. The purpose of the visit is 'to keep international attention focused on the impact of the floods in Pakistan and to strengthen the delivery of humanitarian aid'.

LEBANON - ISRAEL

Yesterday, Lebanon and Israel reached what has been described as a 'historic' agreement to end a long-standing maritime border dispute between the two countries, which are technically still at war. No date has yet been set for the signing but both sides said they had seen their demands met. The region is rich in gas deposits.

JAPAN

A rocket launch conducted by the Japanese space agency failed this morning: the Epsilon rocket - which was supposed to carry some satellites into orbit - was ordered to self-destruct 7 minutes after take-off. It is the first failure since 2003.

CHINA - RUSSIA

The transport of goods from China to Russia is taking longer these days than during the acute phases of the Covid-19 pandemic, exceeding 90 days on average, as demand on the Russian side grows, and restrictions on the Chinese side increase, both for sea and rail routes.

VIETNAM

Petrol stations in Ho Chi Minh City either run out of petrol or are rationing what petrol they have left: motorcyclists and drivers have faced long queues to buy fuel, which costs more than 90 US cents a litre. Some local residents have accused the Ministries of Finance and Transport of miscalculating prices, forcing petrol stations to run at a loss.

MYANMAR

Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced by the Burmese military regime to another three years in prison. So far, the country's former leader has been sentenced to 26 years imprisonment, but five charges remain to be examined. The trial is being held in the capital Naypyitaw behind closed doors. Meanwhile, Toyota has set up an assembly plant near Yangon.

AFGHANISTAN

The Charge d'Affaires of the Permanent Mission of Afghanistan to the United Nations, Naseer Ahmad Faiq, said Afghanistan is a candidate to join the UN Human Rights Council (Ohchr) along with 14 other countries. The Taliban are still seeking international recognition but it is unlikely that the Emirate will find a place in the Council.

TURKMENISTAN

The Turkmenistan authorities have implemented draconian measures to control the internet, blocking access to more than 1.2 billion IP addresses, about a third of all those in the world.
Some 200 delegates from 29 countries will meet until 30 October for a synodal event marking 50 years since the FABCs foundation. The Churches in Asia are called to a new epiphany in Asias century, said Card Bo in the opening Mass. In a video message Pope Francis said: let the laity assume their baptism and show respect for the particularity of every Church.

Bangkok (AsiaNews)  The Federation of Asian Catholic Churches is holding its general conference at the Baan Phu Waan Pastoral Training Center, in Sam Phran district, Bangkok, marking the 50th anniversary of its creation. The event was originally scheduled for 2020, but was postponed due to the pandemic.

Some 200 delegates, including cardinals, bishops and lay people from 29 member countries, will meet until 30 October to discuss the challenges facing the Church in Asia, starting with the Gospel verse: and they went a different way (Mt 2:12) which describes the experience of the Magi after their encounter with Jesus on Epiphany.

Archbishop Cardinal Charles Bo of Yangon referred to the image of a "new Epiphany in his homily in the Mass that opened the meeting this evening.

"Like the men who came from the East 2,000 years ago, said Card Bo, today we too have a new star on the horizon, a new call, a new challenge; to live in Asias century, in Christs century, pursuing evangelisation on this continent.

This task may seem unequal given the extremely small numbers of Churches in Asia, not to mention the gravity of the problems that touch the continent today, such as exploitation, democratic deficit, superpower rivalries, and mass migration.

For Card Bo, all of these issues must be looked at as the burning bush that Moses saw, welcoming the answer God gave to his fears: Do not fear, [. . .] I will be with you.

Only this way will it be possible to truly accept the task of this appointment in synodal style", which is precisely that of "reaffirming, renewing and revitalising the Church in Asia".

Pope Francis sent a video message to the delegates, noting that at the time of the FABC's foundation in 1970, masses were awakening from fatalism to a life worthy of man; the young people were also awakening, they were idealistic, aware, concerned, impatient and restless; culturally diverse societies were awakening to become a true community of peoples.

This meant that the Church in Asia was being called to be more authentically the Church of the poor, the Church of the young, and a Church in dialogue with fellow Asians of other denominations.

Go forward, let the laity assume their baptism, their function as laypersons, and let the singularity of each one be respected, because the universal Church is not the uniform Church, no: she is universal, with respect for the particularity of every Church.

The actual work of the general conference will start tomorrow centred initially on understanding the emerging realities in the different countries.

A presentation of the current situation will be made for each of the 29 countries, focused on the political, social, economic, and religious challenges the Catholic Church faces in each.

From 17 to 22 October, the general conference will reflect on these realities, in conjunction with recent documents by the magisterium.

The guiding paper drafted by the FABC and subsequent consultations have already highlighted some issues, namely the pandemic, globalisation, socio-economic and political challenges, as well as gender issues, indigenous peoples, young peoples yearnings, and the changing Church.

On 23 October, World Mission Sunday, pastors will make a "virtual visit" to some parishes in different parts of the continent. On 26 October, they will make a pilgrimage to Ayutthaya and engage in dialogue with other religious traditions.

The conference will end on 30 October with the release of a final document and a message to the Catholic communities of Asia. The popes representative, Card Luis Antonio Tagle will lead the concluding celebrations.
by Nirmala Carvalho

The accused confessed to dismembering two female street vendors before burying them. The ritual was performed to bring money and prosperity. The victims may have been lured under the pretext of a fee for appearing in a pornographic film. The State Chief Minister: 'Only the mentally ill can commit such acts'.

Thiruvananthapuram (AsiaNews) - Two women in their fifties were killed in a human sacrifice to bring money and prosperity to a village in the Pathanamthitta district of the southern state of Kerala. Yesterday, police took three people suspected of involvement in the crime into custody.

The state's Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, stated that 'only the mentally ill can commit such crimes' and that 'black magic and witchcraft rituals can only be seen as a challenge to civilised society'.

The victims were originally from the villages of Kadavanthara and Kalady, and worked as street vendors selling lottery tickets. They were abducted on two separate occassions in June and September this year. The suspects confessed to cutting them up before burying them near Elanthoor village in Thiruvalla.

Kochi Police Commissioner Nagaraju Chakilam explained that the officers only discovered the first case, dating back to June, while they were conducting investigations into the second one.

Bhagaval Singh, a local masseur, his wife Laila, together with Rasheed Muhammand Shafi allegedly, in both cases, lured the women to the couple's house, where the human sacrifice was then performed.

"We discovered that it was the same house. The third person not only played an agent role, but was instrumental in convincing the couple to perform the ritual,' Chakilam added.

Further details will be released after the exhumation and investigation, said Inspector General Prakash. "At first glance it would appear to be a case of murder for profit through black magic. The police will look into all aspects and details."

According to some speculations, Rasheed Shafi approached the victims on the pretext of having them act in a pornographic film and with the promise of a large fee, but the police are still seeking confirmation of this.

The only thing that is certain is that the murders were carried out out of superstition. Premier Vijayan also urged citizens to identify these 'evil practices' and bring them 'to the knowledge of the public'.
by Fady Noun

Three weeks after the end of President Aoun's term of office, the appointment of his successor and a new executive is still a distant reality. A new vote in the House is expected tomorrow, but a quorum is unlikely to be reached. Attempts at compromise seem akin to immobility and maintaining the status quo.

Beirut (AsiaNews) - While the international community, with France, the United States and Saudi Arabia in the lead, is eager to see a new president of the republic elected, the Lebanese give the impression that they have plenty of time ahead of them.

Three weeks before the end of Head of State Michel Aoun's term of office (on 31 October), the cedar country is still in a buoyant situation: without a new president and, even more so, without a new government. And it seems highly unlikely, despite the forcing of Saudi Arabia and France, led by the transalpine Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna expected in Lebanon by the weekend, that anything else will happen and the situation will change radically in the short timeframe that the Constitution provides for the election.

From a constitutional point of view, the legislature had foreseen such a situation. The Constitution (Article 75), indicates that in the event of a presidential vacancy, the powers and prerogatives of the Head of State are assumed provisionally by the Council of Ministers. According to some, there will be no complete institutional vacum, because an interim government called to deal with current affairs, headed by Nagib Mikati, is still in office. And the parliament elected last May is fully operational in its various sessions.

However, some, such as Gebran Bassil, president of the Free Patriotic Movement (CLP), question the ability of a resigning government to assume presidential functions on an interim basis. There were even calls in September for the head of state not to leave the presidential palace if a new executive was not formed with the confidence of the House. Although the deadline has not yet expired, the prospect remains and it is easy to imagine the institutional confusion that would arise in the latter case.

Certainly, the prime minister and head of state have met several times to agree on a new government formula. However, these efforts come up against the claims of the CPL, which seeks to replace some ministers, to ensure that at least one third of the members of the future executive are loyal and allied to it, thus obtaining a right of veto on all issues requiring a vote. Moreover Mikati is vehemently opposed to this prospect, believing that it would end up prolonging - albeit indirectly - Aoun's mandate.

On the parliamentary front, the House is scheduled to meet tomorrow for the second time since the beginning of September to elect a successor to President Aoun. But this sitting has no chance of success, for two reasons: firstly because the Cpl bloc (21 MPs) will not attend, because the date of 13 October symbolises the expulsion of General Michel Aoun from Baabda Palace by the Syrian army in 1990. What's more, the two major parties present do not yet have, each on their own, the 86 votes needed (equal to two-thirds of the 128 deputies in the House) to elect the president in the first round, with a two-thirds majority, as required by the Constitution.

The charter specifies that in the second round the president is elected by an absolute majority (65 votes), but both sides have the option of scuttling the two-thirds quorum of the House, so that this second round cannot in fact take place. Despite this handicap, Saudi Arabia's ambassador Walid Boukhari is intensifying his visits at this stage to support Mouawad's candidacy and convince the undecided in the Sunni community who, in the previous session, deposited a ballot paper with 'Lebanon' written on it. At the end of the day, at least 86 MPs will have to unite and support this candidacy, a quota they are unlikely to reach.

Everything suggests that the next Lebanese president will necessarily be the product of compromise. To date, the only one who seems able to get elected is the army commander, General Joseph Aoun.

However, the Constitution stipulates that he cannot be elected unless he has submitted his resignation from his official duties two years in advance: a constitutional amendment would therefore be needed. In the event of a vacancy in the presidential office, this provision falls automatically and a constitutional amendment is no longer necessary. Some are betting on this formula, hoping that the duration of the presidential vacancy will be as short as possible.

It remains to be seen whether the camp supporting Michel Mouawad's candidacy will change its stance with the prospect of a military election. The European Union seems to have aligned itself with the prospect of a compromise candidacy. In a joint message published on 27 September, the EU ambassadors stated: 'The only realistic chance today to get Lebanon out of the red zone is about to be lost [...] due to a lack of willingness to compromise, vision and leadership'. The question is whether this warning will be heeded.
New appeal for peace by Francis at the general audience after the deluge of bombardments in recent hours. The theme of desire at the centre of the catechesis on discernment: "Today's society has reduced it to a momentary desire, thus we do no longer understand what we really want".

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - May the Spirit of the Lord "transform the hearts of those who hold the fate of war in their hands, so that the hurricane of violence may cease and peaceful coexistence in justice may be rebuilt". At the end of today's general audience, held in front of thousands of faithful in St. Peter's Square, Pope Francis returned to make an appeal for Ukraine, shocked in these days by a deluge of missiles.

"In these days," he said, "my heart is always turned to the Ukrainian people, especially to the inhabitants of the places on which the bombings have raged. I carry within me their pain and through the intercession of the Holy Mother of God I present it in prayer to the Lord. He always hears the cry of the poor who invoke Him'.

In the general audience - continuing his catechesis on discernment - after prayer and self-knowledge, Pope Francis spoke of a third ingredient indicated by the masters of spirituality as essential to this dimension of the Christian life: desire. Recalling its etymology - "de-sidus, literally 'the lack of the star' - the pontiff explained that desire "evokes a suffering, a lack, and at the same time a tension to reach the good that we lack. It is the compass to understand where I am and where I am going, indeed it is the compass to understand whether I am standing still or going, because a person who never desires is a person who is standing still, perhaps sick, almost dead'.

How is it possible to recognise this? "Unlike the desire or the emotion of the moment," replied the Pontiff, "desire lasts over time and tends to materialise. Desire makes you strong, makes you brave, makes you go forward always because you want to get there'. It is striking," he added, "that Jesus, before performing a miracle, often asks the person about his desire: 'Do you want to be healed? Sometimes this question seems out of place: you can see that he is sick'. But Jesus' question is an invitation to make clarity in one's own heart, "by dialoguing with the Lord, we learn to understand what we really want from our lives".

In particular, this question stirs us from the alibis and complaints that "are a poison to the soul, a poison to life because they do not make you grow the desire to go on. Be careful," Pope Francis warned, "when spouses complain about each other, children about their fathers or priests about their bishops or bishops about so many other things... It is almost a sin, because complaining does not let desire grow.

"The age in which we live," the Pontiff added, "seems to favour maximum freedom of choice, but at the same time it atrophies desire, which is mostly reduced to the desire of the moment. We are bombarded by a thousand proposals, projects, possibilities, which risk distracting us and not allowing us to calmly evaluate what we really want". Hence 'the risk of spending our existence between attempts and expedients of various kinds, without ever getting anywhere, and wasting precious opportunities. And so some changes, though desired in theory, when the opportunity arises are never implemented'.

"If the Lord were to ask us, today, the question he asked the blind man of Jericho: 'What do you want me to do for you?' (Mk 10:51) what would we answer? - concluded Francis - Perhaps, we could finally ask Him to help us to know the deep desire for Him, which God Himself has placed in our hearts. It is an immense grace, the basis of all others: to allow the Lord, as in the Gospel, to work miracles for us: 'Give us the desire and make it grow, Lord'".
by Vladimir Rozanskij

The 'free peoples' are in favour of independence from Moscow. Russia seen as an 'artificial' construction. Major pushes in Tatarstan and Bashkortostan. Central government repression. Everything will depend on the outcome of the Ukrainian conflict.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - One of the possible consequences of the Ukrainian war, especially due to the uncertainties of Russia subjected to the counter-attack of the Kiev army, is the uprising of the peoples of the Federation against Moscow. This is emphasised by some specialists surveyed by Idel.Realii. The 'free peoples' have already rallied their representatives in exile several times: the first time in May in Warsaw, the second time in late July in Prague and the third time in recent days in the Polish city of Gdansk.

These demonstrations were attended by a large number of activists and politicians speaking out in favour of secession from Russia, provoking very resentful reactions in the media and in statements by Russian leaders. The director of the Independent Institute of the Regions of Russia, Lithuanian Andrius Almanis, presented the 'Naiznanku' (Upside Down) project in Gdansk, explaining how real the threat to Russia of a break-up between its ethnic groups is.

In his opinion, 'this is far from being an artificial process, in fact it is the Russian Federation that is an artificial institution, and when the oppressive force of the centre is weakened, centrifugal tendencies set in almost automatically'. In regions with a strong ethnic characterisation, from the Caucasus to Siberia, but also in the northern European and Asian regions, the idea of independence has been deeply rooted for centuries. Almanis himself emphasises that this development depends above all on the possible Russian failure in Ukraine.

'Even in the densest layers of asphalt cracks are created, from which shoots sprout,' says the Lithuanian activist, 'and now it is not just cracks, but ever-widening chasms. Among the 'identity' regions and republics, Tatarstan certainly stands out, along with its neighbours and 'relatives' of Bashkortostan, both in the crucial geographical position of the Uralic zone, on the border between Europe and Asia. There are many small peoples, especially in the Siberian expanses, who are in danger of disappearing, and are now trying to find themselves in the aftershocks of the wars and mobilisations of recent times.

One of the 'internal frontiers' of the peoples' liberation struggle is the language and cultural issue, which also identifies the new leaders of the protests, who are committed to the defence of national languages in school and university curricula. This is a subject that is little known outside national and regional borders, and the forums that follow one another are also intended to inform international public opinion about the aspirations of the 'free peoples' of Russia.

It is no coincidence that two draft laws were discussed in the Moscow Duma at the end of September, to introduce new penalties and apply the definition of 'extremism' to any form of dissemination of information, images or symbols that 'question the territorial integrity of Russia'. Maps showing regions separately are cause for arrest for up to 15 days, and a fine of at least one million roubles (EUR 20,000).

A Bashkian activist, Airat Dilmukhamedov, was arrested in recent days for connecting to the Gdansk forum, and his video intervention was considered 'inciting subversion against the integrity of the nation'. The court in Ufa ruled that the nationalist organisation 'Baskort' was defined as extremist and banned its activities on the entire territory of the republic. Many other activists and exponents of local cultures are persecuted, such as the Tatar writer Fauzja Bajramova, the publicist from the Komi region (north of European Russia) Nikolaj Udoratin or the president of the association of Finno-Ugric peoples Petr Tultaev, and many others.

The internal front is widening, even where there are no clamorous episodes of protest or no well-known leaders, and it could explode even more thunderously than the bombs on the Kerc bridge, a sign of the fragility of Russia at war against external enemies, but also against itself.
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"Although not alive, I can still create art"



Robot artist Ai-Da gives evidence to Lords Communications and Digital Committee, before needing to be resethttps://t.co/cxpYKf3BzL pic.twitter.com/dfvm4N5yYS  BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) October 11, 2022

This week, Ai-Da made history once more, becoming the first robot ever to address the House of Lords in the British Parliament. She (Ai-Da is a she with everyone involved in the project) was invited for a discussion on art, specifically on the issue of whether technology is perverting or improving it. In short, Ai-Da was there to argue that technology, like herself, was no danger to art.Ai-Da gave a brief speech and she took questions from politicians. All questions had been pre-approved, to allow high quality answers from the robot, and were nothing out of the extraordinary, as you can see in the video below: Ai-Da argued that her creations were still art, even though not inspired by subjective experience, and talked vaguely about how technology could be a means for good or evil, depending on its application.With her was Aidan Meller, an Oxford art dealer and entrepreneur who designed her and is the director of the project. And it was Meller who had to step in when Ai-Da fell asleep as she was waiting for a question from Baroness Featherstone. Its ok if you feel like making a joke about how politics is boring.The video below also shows the exact moment when Ai-Da zoned out and remained unresponsive, with British media outlets describing her state as zombie-like. Apocalyptic comparisons aside, Ai-Da needed a restart, so Meller gave her just that  but not before placing a pair of sunglasses on her face because she can pull quite interesting faces after a reset.This funny glitch aside, Ai-Da remains a great platform to study the way in which technology can be used to create art. As noted above, she can draw and paint, using the cameras in her eyes to take in a subject and her robotic arm to recreate it on canvas. She can also write and recite poetry, and even sing  and, of course, she can speak in very clear and sensible sentences. When shes not dozing off, that is.
The Mountain View-based search giant has substantially accelerated the release cadence for Android Auto updates, and the beta program that it launched last year for more users is clearly playing a key role in this regard.The new beta brings Android Auto to version 8.3, and as usual, it comes without a changelog. This means users must figure out whats been changed on their own, as Google somehow believes it doesnt make any sense to provide users with information on the latest improvements.Right now, however, it looks like the company has managed to resolve the glitch that broke down the temperature and weather information in Android Auto.A few weeks ago, this feature somehow went missing , and now Im seeing reports that its coming back after updating to Android Auto 8.3 beta  however, theres a chance this is just a coincidence, as the weather and temperature information is based on server data, so more often than not, it doesnt require a new update for such fixes.Most people would probably rush to install this Android Auto build, hoping Coolwalk is also in there, but of course, it is not. Google has missed the summer release target for this highly anticipated feature, but the worst thing is that the company has remained tight-lipped on new information as to when it plans to ship it to users.Coolwalk isnt tied to software updates, so when Google starts enabling it, all it takes is a server-side switch to do the job. But of course, given the company has remained tight-lipped on such details, nobody knows for sure when this is supposed to happen, and the release of Android Auto 8.3 isnt changing anything in this regard.
SUV

While Tesla took $1,000 from all its reservation holders back in 2016  and most of those in India are still waiting for the refund  the Chinese company wants INR50,000 ($607 at the current exchange rate) to pre-order the electric. Unlike Tesla, BYD said the first deliveries should happen in January 2023.According to Business Standard , Ketsu Zhang, executive director of BYD India, said the Chinese automaker expects to sell 15,000 units of the ATTO 3 in India next year and to open a factory in the country in due course. That means it will do so when it has sales volume to justify the investment or plans to export vehicles from India to other countries. A plant there could feed RHD markets, such as Australia, Japan, and the UK. But it will not be the only one.In September, BYD announced it bought a lot in Thailand to build a factory. This new factory will have the capacity to produce 150,000 electric cars per year. On October 11, the Chinese automaker also disclosed it would start operations in that country with the ATTO 3 . On the same day, it presented the electric SUV in Laos, where BYD has sold its cars since 2019.It is not difficult to understand why the ATTO 3 became the companys primary choice for international markets. The C-segment SUV comes with the e-platform 3.0, Blade Batteries working at 800V, and has a pretty attractive design. Also known as Yuan Plus, it is 4.46 m (175.4 in) long, 1.87 m (73.4 in) wide, and 1.62 m (63.6 in) tall.
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Still, the moment holds significance, as the XPeng X2 made its public debut - after passing the required operational risk assessment. The Dubai Civil Aviation Authority granted the X2 a special flying permit to allow the XPeng EVTOL to perform in the skies above Skydive Dubai, right next to The Palm. Play the first video for a (brief) glimpse at the flight.The location is not random, as the Chinese manufacturer wanted to impress the witnesses with the panoramic views of the city skyline for this historic moment. The XPeng X2 is the latest iteration of flying vehicles for the Chinese company and is the fifth independently developed and manufactured by their AeroHT division Also, the X2 is the first XPeng EVTOL to feature an enclosed cockpit shaped in a "minimalist teardrop" profile. The flying vehicle is also bragging about its "sci-fi appearance that takes high-efficient aerodynamics into account to achieve the ultimate in-flight performance."The full-carbon-fiber frame aircraft is a two-seater flying car powered by electric motors that allegedly make it fitting for low-altitude city flights over short distances (XPeng proposes sightseeing and medical transportation as primary uses for their X2). Check the photo gallery and the second video for visual details of the X2.The lightweight flying car comes with two piloting modes: manual and autonomous. The latter is more poised to please the recreational aspect of flying, with passengers benefitting from "a safe and intelligent flying experience" with one push of a button for takeoff, landing, and everything in between.The event occurred during GITEX Global 2022 , one of the world's largest tech shows, held at the Dubai World Trade Centre. Brian Gu, Vice Chairman and President of XPENG, considers the X2 flight "a significant milestone for XPENG AEROHT and the international achievement of flying cars. Today's flight is a major step in XPENG's exploration of future mobility."Dubai International Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Hassan Al Hashemi also praised the Chinese achievement: "The flying car is the epitome of ambition, innovation and future-oriented vision that has always inspired Dubai and its leadership. Today, we witnessed a historic moment that will define the next 50 years."The X2 EVTOL has an empty weight of 1,234.5 lb (560 kg) and a maximum payload of 441 lb (200 kg). Its quad-battery pack can keep it airborne for 35 minutes and gives it a top speed of 70 kn (80 mph/130 kph). For extra security, it comes equipped with an airframe parachute that can slowly and safely bring down the vehicle in case of complete powertrain failure.
Chinese eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) aircraft manufacturer EHang has multiple ongoing partnerships in Spain, where it keeps a constant presence with its EH216 AAV (autonomous aerial vehicle). The latest event involving EHangs air taxi in the country was the successful completion of flight demonstrations under the European Unions Air Mobility Urban-Large Experimental Demonstration (AMU-LED) project.Back in 2021, EHang announced the beginning of a collaboration with the Spanish National Police to explore potential use cases for AAVs in security and emergency missions. This summer, the Chinese company showcased its EH216 eVTOL at the Expodronica 2022 event thats part of the World ATM Congress and took place in Madrid. Several strategic partners from Spain joined EHang, including Bluenest, the countrys national police, and Aeroports de Catalunya.Now, Ehang announces that its EH216 air taxi has successfully performed flight demonstrations in Spain as part of the AMU-LED project. The flights took place at the Rozas Airborne Research Center of Spains National Institute of Aerospace Technology in Lugo, Galicia.Various scenarios were simulated for the flight demos, including the presence of other UAS (unmanned aerial systems) in the surrounding airspace and the proper implementation of conflict management procedures during flight. The EH216 performed safely and efficiently in all scenarios.As stated by Victoria Jing Xiang, Chief Operating Officer of EHang Europe and Latin America, the latest flight demonstrations of the EH216 are very important for the AMU-LED project, whose purpose is to enable the development of urban air mobility and U-space in Europe. These tests are proof of EHangs commitment to deploying innovative, safe, sustainable, and efficient aerial transportation for everyone, using cutting-edge AAV technologies. Ehang s EH216 air taxi is a short-range aircraft that can transport two people. It features gull-wing doors, and 16 electric motors, and can fly at altitudes of 9,800 ft (3,000 m). The eVTOL can reach speeds over 80 mph (130 kph) and promises ranges of up to 18.6 miles (30 km) per charge.
The conflict marked a major shift in the way wars are being waged, as for the first time ever it saw the large-scale use of tanks and airplanes. Both machinery quickly found their aces, both in terms of hardware and skilled crews that handled them.On the airplane front, few planes are as famous as the P-51 Mustang . Made by North American Aviation in extremely large numbers (over 15,000), it saw action over most of the worlds battlefields both during WWII and after. As a result of its successes, it became the focus of stories, movies, books, legends, and, of particular interest to us, special edition road vehicles.The latest contraption to join the list of wheeled machines paying tribute to the airborne wonder is a Harley-Davidson Street Bob converted by German custom shop Thunderbike . Now called, obviously, Mustang, the build is a literal shrine to what was the P-51.The most obvious connection to the airplane is the paint job, a combination of bare metal and yellow, with painted rivets on the fuel tank, and markings on the fenders and headlight mask  the rear fender, for instance, wears the phrase Heaven Sent, Hell Bent, while the mask, taken from a LiveWire, warnings about the ejection seat.The two-wheeler also has writing on it dedicated to the 376th Fighter Squadron, which between 1943 and 1945 flew in bomber escort missions over Europe.Modifications made to the Street Bob are not limited to the paint job. Close to 30 custom bits made their way into the build, ranging from fork and shock lowering kits to turn signals and covers.The Harley-Davidson Mustang was ready to roll out Thunderbikes doors back in September, and its not for sale, as it was put together for the marketing head of Harley-Davidson Germany.
Sourced from a first-gen Audi R8 , made in 2012, it has a little over 20,000 miles (~32,200 km) on it and used to pump out 560 metric horsepower back in the day, according to the eBay ad.The listing says that the left mount was damaged, and that the power steering pump has two broken tabs. Other than that, its all in good condition, apparently, and you can find it in Phoenix, Arizona, should you want to inspect it up close.And if you feel like Lamborghini Gallardo sounds better than Audi R8, then you could tell people that it came from the Italian supercar, as it was basically the same model beneath the skin. And no one would know, as long as you remember to get rid of the four-ring emblems, and maybe some other parts that might display the Ingolstadt brands logo on them.How much would you be willing to pay for this naturally aspirated 5.2-liter V10 engine? Regardless of your answer, theres only one sum that the vendor will accept, unless your negotiation skills are high. At the time of writing, this beast of a motor had a buy-it-now price of $27,000, dropped from $30,000.Whether it is reasonable or not, you be the judge of that, yet before hitting the blue button, you may want to see what the competition has in store too, as it could be well worth it. Who knows, maybe you will end up getting the same type of engine for cheap. Well, as much as you can call the heart of a blue-blooded exotic cheap, that is.
It all happened in September this year , when a human-made spacecraft was sent to hit an asteroid. The craft was traveling at about 14,000 mph (22,530 kph) when it hit the small asteroid called Dimorphos. Insurance information was not exchanged.In an extraordinarily complex game of Space Pool, the small(er) rock called Dimorphos, which was directly hit by the spacecraft, was then projected into a larger rock, Didymos. The latter was orbited by Dimorphos.Because the orbit of the latter was set, it was easy for scientists to predict its position when it was going to be hit by a craft, and it was also easy to see if the impact altered its motion.In an entirely unceremonious announcement that you can read below, NASA has noted that its DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) marks humanity's first time purposely changing the motion of a celestial object, and the first full-scale demonstration of asteroid deflection technology.According to NASA, after the DART intentional collision, Dimorphos' orbit around Didymos was altered by 32 minutes, which led to shortening the 11-hour and 55-minute orbit to one that takes 11 hours and 23-minutes. Mind you, the measurement in question has a margin of uncertainty of approximately plus or minus two minutes, but you get the point.Before the mission took place, NASA noted that it would be considered a success if the orbit period change was 73 seconds or more. According to data compiled by people smarter than most of us, DART (fun acronym, right?) surpassed this minimum benchmark by more than 25 times. That is a win in our book.The next step for NASA (see what I did there?) will be to investigate the asteroid's physical properties, as well as to study imagery of Dimorphos from DART's terminal approach.Thanks to the Light Italian CubeSat for Imaging of Asteroids (LICIACUbe), which NASA received from the Italian Space Agency, the mass and shape of the asteroid will be easier to approximate.The European Space Agency's project called Hera will dig into the data, including the crater left by the collision, to provide a more precise estimate of Dimorphos' mass.
Avenger spearheads the introduction of a portfolio of BEVs in Europe, said Christian Meunier. It offers Jeep brand capability that is rightsized for the market. During its introduction at the Paris Motor Show, we will showcase why it is a great all-electric Jeep brand alternative to current players in the segment. An increasingly crowded subcompact segment, that is...What kind of showcase is the big kahuna talking about, its not public information, so well have to use our imagination for it. Albeit unibody, the subcompact crossover is certain to be gifted with a certain level of go-anywhere capability given the seven-slot grille up front. We also know that its going to be offered with two- and four-wheel drive. Jeep has further confirmed that its targeting 400 kilometers (248.5 miles) of range.Impressive ground clearance and similarly impressive breakover and approach angles are in the offing, but remember that impressive is used in comparison with B-segment rivals in this context. Jeeps new Avenger wont live up to the off-road capability of the Wrangler, thats for certain!Reservations will open during the Paris Motor Show press day, and the first units are scheduled to arrive in showrooms in early 2023, most likely for the 2023 model year. Designed in Italy, the smaller brother of the combustion-engined or plug-in Renegade will be produced in Poland.The Tychy plant received 755 million Polish zloty, which is approximately $151,000 at current exchange rates, for it and two sister models from Alfa Romeo and Fiat. Developed specifically for Europe and a few overseas markets such as Japan and South Korea, the Avenger wont be available stateside. Rather than the CMP developed by Groupe PSA, the Avenger uses the STLA Small, an evolution of the Common Modular Platform. Jeep says that hybridized powertrain options are planned as well.
Chinese tech firm helping Kenyan youth achieve academic, career goals

Xinhua) 09:16, October 11, 2022

NAIROBI, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Filled to capacity, the elegantly furnished auditorium of the University of Nairobi (UONBI) provided an opportunity for Mary Anne Maina, an arts major, to participate in the TECNO fans meet-up event, learn more about flagship products of Chinese Transsion Group and how it can advance her academic interests.

A long-term fan of TECNO smartphones, Maina, 19, said she was glad to learn that the UONBI, Kenya's largest university, had forged close ties with the Chinese firm to help students widen their intellectual and career horizons.

The vivacious youth was among hundreds of students who graced the TECNO fan meet-up event Friday to learn about Transsion's cutting-edge products, internship, training, and employment opportunities.

"I was glad to learn that TECNO's parent company is keen to aid our quest for well-paying jobs by offering internships, training, and mentorships," Maina told Xinhua during an interview on the sidelines of TECNO fans meet-up event.

In attendance, at the TECNO fans club of the UONBI and meet-up events were students, faculty members, and industry executives who were treated to acrobatic shows and motivational speeches. In addition, there were displays of sleek TECNO smartphones that were heavily discounted specifically for the students, the majority of whom confessed their strong affinity with the brand due to its user-friendly features and affordable cost.

The TECNO fans club is embedded in the thriving partnership between Transsion Holdings and the UONBI, which revolves around identifying, and nurturing the skills and talent of students, helping them secure a future of hope and opportunity.

TECNO'S Regional Director Ray Fang said that besides rallying behind Kenya's digitization process, the company is committed to transforming the lives of local youth through skills transfer, mentorship, and employment.

"Partnering with the University of Nairobi is a passionate project we have been working on. We want to be part of this great institution and help students grow their careers and have first-hand experience working with a multinational organization," said Fang.

He said that students who join the TECNO fan club stand a higher chance of benefiting from internship opportunities besides exposure to the firm's cutting-edge technologies and first-hand experience with its wide range of products.

Lincoln Cyprian, a 21-year-old statistics major who participated at the TECNO fans meet-up event, said he looked forward to industrial placement at the firm, to gain exposure to the intricacies of the modern and highly digitized workplace.

The bubbly youngster said that an attachment at TECNO's stores or care centers would help him improve his digital literacy and interpersonal skills, ensuring he executed future jobs with precision.

As part of its corporate social responsibility, TECNO has rolled out a Graduate Trainee Program that identifies talented, proactive university students, develops their skills, and prepares them for highly sought jobs, said Joseph Ndambuki, a senior human resources specialist with TECNO Kenya.

Ndambuki said that graduate trainees are linked up with senior managers as they receive training and mentorship to enable them to execute critical tasks, and develop soft skills like teamwork, empathy, and resilience. He added that Transsion Holdings is committed to bridging the skills gap in Kenya, narrowing the gender divide in technology-related jobs, and inspiring the youth to strive for the greater good.

Kenya's university students have a strong affinity to the Transsion Holdings flagship smartphones, TECNO and Infinix, which they use to undertake studies and online jobs, said Felistas Ngina, a 21-year-old science major at the UONBI.

Alerted by a mutual friend about the TECNO fans' meet-up event, Ngina said she intended to learn about the latest devices and how to secure an attachment or entry-level job at the company. She praised TECNO for offering gainful employment to digitally savvy Kenyan youth while vowing to participate in job fairs organized by the company at her campus in the near future.

A legally binding collaborative agreement between TECNO and the UONBI that is in the works aims to promote students' academic, entrepreneurial, social, and technical skills.

Johnson Ireri Kinyua, the dean of Students at the UONBI, said that the signing of the collaborative agreement, slated later in the year, will mark a critical milestone in academia-industry partnership to foster digital transformation, skills transfer, and job creation in the country.

The empowerment of African youth through training, skills and technology transfer, apprenticeship, and employment has been prioritized by Chinese enterprises in line with the Belt and Road Initiative and nine programs of the eighth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), held in Dakar, Senegal, from Nov. 29 -30, 2021.

(Web editor: Wu Chaolan, Hongyu)
Superyachts that are believed or confirmed to be owned by sanctioned Russian oligarchs are sparking controversy and creating tension wherever they go. Since the first international sanctions were announced back in March, a lot of them have been constantly on the move, trying to avoid getting frozen or seized by authorities. In many cases, that meant traveling to destinations that are known to be safe havens where certain international restrictions dont apply.A few months ago, UAE was allegedly warned by the U.S. to stop helping Russian oligarchs hide their assets, including superyachts, after many of them docked in Dubai. Now, Hong Kong has reportedly refused to act against the infamous superyacht that arrived here this past weekend after U.S authorities made requests regarding that. The controversial Nord, a 464-foot (141.5 meters) thats said to be worth half a billion dollars, has managed to be one step ahead of the authorities until now.The Lurssen masterpiece is linked to the name of Alexey Mordashov, not only a steel tycoon but one whos allegedly close to Vladimir Putin. After his spectacular superyacht, which is impossible to ignore, has boldly docked in Hong Kong, the local authorities were expected to reinforce the international sanctions, as the case was in other locations. But official representatives confirmed that Nord is safe there because thats not going to happen. RFI reports that John Lee, Hong Kong chief executive, commented on the potential U.S. sanctions against him, describing them as a barbaric act, adding that We will just laugh off the so-called sanctioned. He also stated that only UN-backed sanctions would be implemented, while the U.S. and EU ones are unilateral decisions that dont have a legal basis.While its intensifying these international tensions, the grandiose Nord continues to be unbothered, apparently free from the fate of the equally-impressive Dilbar and Amadea.
An Armenian government spokesman refused to give any details of the meeting when contacted by RFE/RLs Armenian Service. He said only that Pashinian periodically speaks with Harutiunian.

The meeting almost certainly focused on Armenias plans to sign a peace treaty with Azerbaijan which have prompted serious concern from Karabakhs ethnic Armenian leaders. They are worried that Pashinian will thus recognize Karabakh as an integral part of Azerbaijan.

Harutiunians press secretary announced on Sunday that they he and other senior Karabakh officials will travel to Armenia to seek clarification over the issue. The delegation is understood to have spent two days in Yerevan waiting for face-to-face talks with Armenias leaders.

The absence of an official readout or photographs of Pashinians meeting with Harutiunian contrasted sharply with statements on the prime ministers other official engagements that are promptly released by the Armenian governments press office.

The office left it to Pashinians Civil Contract party to post a picture of the meeting on its Facebook page.

This suggests that Nikol Pashinian has some international obligations not to receive Artsakhs leaders, said Armen Baghdasarian, a Yerevan-based veteran political commentator.

Secondly, the fact that only Arayik Harutiunian attended the meeting means that Nikol Pashinian doesnt trust the Artsakh authorities and feared an information leak if he were to share details [of Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations] with more people.

Harutiunians office also did not issue any statements on the crunch talks. Members of his delegation likewise declined to comment.

A Karabakh activist, Tigran Petrosian, quoted one of those members, parliament speaker Artur Tovmasian, as telling him on Wednesday that the Karabakh leaders are feeling like unwelcome guests in Yerevan.

Petrosian is one of the organizers of small-scale demonstrations that erupted in Stepanakert late last week. The protesters demanded that Harutiunian shed light on Karabakhs uncertain future.

The Karabakh delegation was also expected to hold separate meetings with Armenian parliament speaker Alen Simonian and Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan. Both Simonian and Mirzoyan are key members of Pashinians political team.
The lead prosecutor and attorney for Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz have made their closing arguments over whether he should be sentenced to death or life in prison
Fishermen arrive from a trip to the Scarborough Shoal to unload their catch at the port of Infanta, in the northwestern Pangasinan province in the Philippines, May 27, 2021.

China still controls access to the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, but Filipino fishermen say they have been accorded better access to the rich fishing grounds.

Last week, two Philippine Coast Guard ships and its aircraft patrolled near Scarborough Shoal and reported that more Filipino fishermen were going to Bajo de Masinloc, the shoals local name, despite the sustained presence of Chinese maritime forces.

Joe Saligan, a 43-year-old boat captain, who has spent most of his life fishing in and around the waters of the Scarborough Shoal, said he can see improvement in access around the shoal.

Our fish catch is better now because we no longer have to play cat-and-mouse with the Chinese. Unlike before, when they would cut the ropes of our anchors, shoo us away, or sometimes use water cannons on us, Saligan said.

There are times we are not allowed to get into the mouth of the shoal where the two China Coast Guard ships are anchored. But this is better than the bullying before. Years ago, they would harass us even when we were just outside or near the shoal.

Saligan was among the fishermen who experienced Chinas intimidation and harassment from 2012  when a standoff between Manila and Beijing saw China take control of the Scarborough Shoal area  until late 2016 when then-Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte pivoted to the Asian superpower.

In October 2016, Duterte said he and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed Filipinos fishing rights in Scarborough, leading to the improvement of treatment of fishermen.

Saligan, the captain of fishing boat F/B JJ-3, and his crew sailed from the port of Subic in Zambales in central Luzon to the shoal and its surrounding areas on Sept. 28. BenarNews met with them on Wednesday in the port of Rosario, south of Manila, where they unloaded their three-ton catch from their two-week voyage.

A fisherman sorts his catch of scad hauled after a trip to Scarborough Shoal in the port of Masinloc, the Philippines, May 28, 2021. [Jason Gutierrez/BenarNews]

For their recent voyage, Saligan said members of his 11-man crew are expected to be paid at least $170 each, which is not much, he said, citing the high cost of diesel and food.

There are times, the Chinese are not strict. There are times they are cranky. They can be moody, too, Saligan told BenarNews, laughing. He said he spotted seven Chinese vessels in the area  two in the shoals mouth, three roving ships and two smaller vessels inside.

Despite this, Saligan said he is fine with the situation because the Filipino fishers can mostly continue to earn their livelihood.

Additionally, the Philippine Coast Guard has accompanied local fishermen at least twice  in March and October 2022  and provided them with relief supplies, much to the delight of Saligan and crew.

"First of all, we were really happy to see Philippine ships there, because we felt safe. We felt they were our protectors," Saligan said. For many years, only we fishermen were there, almost ready to fight against China in Scarborough just so we can continue fishing.

Sonny Gomez, 52, a crew member on another fishing boat, concurred. He told BenarNews the situation now was quite different from what it was eight years ago.

He recalled how he and his colleagues in 2014 held on tightly to wooden posts on their boat when a China Coast Guard ship trained its water cannon on them.

We begged them and thankfully they listened to our plea. But now, there are no more encounters like that, Gomez said.

But I wish they would still allow us to fish inside the lagoon, because there are lots of fish there. If they wont, we will not insist because we dont know what can happen.

But the turnaround in attitude has come at a price. By discussing Filipino fishermens rights with China, Manila had only bolstered Beijings baseless claim over Scarborough Shoal, analysts said.

Six years after a landmark international tribunal ruling invalidated Chinas expansive claims in the West Philippine Sea, the part of South China Sea that Manila claims, Beijing has refused to accept the ruling.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled in 2016 that both Chinese and Filipino fishermen have the right to engage in traditional fishing there. China had unlawfully prevented Filipino fishermen from engaging in traditional fishing through the operation of its official ships, the tribunal had added.

We are actually supporting Chinas narrative by asking permission to fish, Rommel Jude Ong, a retired vice admiral in the Philippine Navy, told BenarNews on Wednesday.

It reinforces their claim that they have legal claims over Scarborough Shoal and we have not challenged their assertion of control.
Former Sen. Leila de Lima waves to supporters as she arrives for a court hearing in Muntinlupa, Philippines, Monday, Oct. 10, 2022.

Detained ex-Sen. Leila de Lima has been admitted to a hospital for treatment of heart-related issues, the national police chief said Wednesday, three days after an inmate took her hostage and threatened to kill her.

Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. said de Lima, 63, has been staying at the Philippine National Police general hospital since Monday, a day after the incident that left three dead, including de Limas attacker.

Her condition remains stable and she is being monitored daily by her attending physician. As for security, she is provided 24 hours security detail. She is undergoing medication and the latest health bulletin will be released at the soonest possible time, he told reporters.

De Lima had declined an offer from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to be transferred out of the Camp Crame detention center after the incident. Azurin said the senator could remain in the hospital while her cell was being scoured by police investigators.

On Sunday, three detainees facing criminal charges for their alleged links with terrorist groups Abu Sayyaf and Dawlah Islamiyah  the Filipino name for the Islamic State  attacked and injured an officer during breakfast.

Responding officers fatally shot two of the attackers while the third ran toward de Limas cell and threatened to kill the former senator while holding her hostage. He too was gunned down after a brief standoff.

Despite her ordeal, and prior to going to the hospital, de Lima appeared for a brief court hearing Monday into one of the cases against her. She waved to supporters but appeared haggard.

Rights groups have urged the central government to provisionally release de Lima, who faces trials on two drug-related charges after a court dismissed a similar complaint against her. They note that three of the governments witnesses against de Lima have backtracked, saying they had been coerced into testifying against the former senator.

Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos Jr., who met with de Lima on Sunday before testing positive for COVID-19, said a furlough could be difficult.

[F]or a detainee, a furlough is a very big thing. Remember before, my dad was also incarcerated, almost one year. So for us, one day, even just seeing him during hearings, riding in a car with him, you would be very happy already, Abalos told reporters.

It is really difficult. So, I could just understand this furlough [request]. But again, I would like to reiterate, its for our judicial system, for the judiciary to decide, he said.

Abalos said de Limas lawyer told officials that the senator was rethinking the transfer offer.

They said they would look at the other facilities. The concern of the president here is that she had a very traumatic experience. Even if the incident is now over, she might visualize it again while shes inside her room, Abalos said.

Drug war critic

De Lima was one of the staunchest critics of former president Rodrigo Dutertes drug war that left thousands dead. Dutertes government accused the senator of profiting from drug dealers when she served as justice secretary in the previous administration of Benigno Aquino III. She has been jailed and awaiting trial since 2017.

About 8,000 suspected addicts and dealers died during the Duterte administrations drug war, according to official government figures, but human rights groups have said the figure could be three times higher.

On Wednesday, Marcos office said the president would not intervene in the pending cases against the former senator.

Well leave it up to the court to decide if shes going to be freed based on the evidence or merits of her case, spokeswoman Cheloy Garafil told reporters.
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RICHMOND  Al Roker is no stranger to Hilltop Orchards.

The Today Show's weather anchor and co-host of Today's 3rd Hour stops by the apple orchard almost every fall for what he calls his "family tradition" of apple picking. Recently, he highlighted his favorite Berkshires apple-picking spot in a segment called "Family Style with Al Roker" on the show.

In the clip, Roker interviews David and Sarah Martell who run Hilltop Orchard.

"We're definitely an apple orchard, but we're also a winery and a cidery, so we're a triple threat," said Sarah Martell on the clip.

In the segment, which first aired on The Today Show on Wednesday morning, the Martells explain how apple cider is made and the correct way to pick an apple. After the clip, the morning show anchors all enjoyed one of Hilltop's apple cider doughnuts.

This is not the first time Roker has highlighted the Berkshires on The Today Show. The owner of Cafe Adam, Adam Zieminski, was featured on the show in 2012 and Roker has said the restaurant is one of his favorites. He also gave The Berkshire Eagle a shoutout in 2018, explaining how he learned about a story he was covering.

"I actually first saw this story in a great little paper called The Berkshire Eagle," Roker said.

In 2020, he also highlighted the Berkshire Theatre Group's production of "Godspell."

Roker and his family have a second home in the nearby Hudson Valley just over the board in New York State.
PITTSFIELD  For more than two decades, the HGTV program House Hunters has long lifted a curtain on home-buying.

Two real estate agents in the Berkshires got a firsthand look at how these stories are told.

A House Hunters episode, which aired recently, featured Michael Martin, 36, a trumpet player for the Boston Symphony and Boston Pops, who was looking for a first home in the Berkshires. I really feel the need to have roots somewhere. Just the reassurance of knowing theres a place I can go to thats mine, Martin said during the show.

Initially, according to one of the brokers, the House Hunters team had a hard time finding available houses for an episode set in the Berkshires  the same experience local homebuyers have faced.

Danielle Giulian, a local Realtor, said the HGTV team came across two of her listings. My sellers loved the idea, she said in an interview.

For one of them, the backstory of selling the home, at 237 Eleanor Road in Pittsfield, was bittersweet.

He and his wife lived in the house for 60 years but she was now in an assisted-living facility and he needed to sell the house to pay for it and go live with her, Giulian said. He was very happy to participate, it felt like putting the house in a time capsule.

Being involved in the popular show was also emotional for local Realtor DeWayne A. Powell, who showed Martin, the buyer, three houses. You get reminded why you do what you do. I help people find shelter. And I think theyre grateful. Its a nice feeling to have something showing the rest of the world that its possible to find what youre looking for, he said.

Powell showed Martin and his friends three options  two in Pittsfield and one in Hinsdale. With a budget between $300,000 and $350,000, Martin embarks on a weekend of house-hunting with his friend Kevin, a fellow musician and contractor.

At the time, Martin rented a 300-square-foot apartment in Boston, but for a Berkshires property, he longed for more, as well as a different pace of life. His ideal house, according to the episode, was within 10 to 15 minutes of Tanglewood, the BSOs summer home, and near a lake. He wanted a property that needed only limited repairs and had space for a music studio and quarters for his 7-year-old daughter, Nora, when she visited.

According to his profile on the Boston Symphonys website, Martin has been spending time in the Berkshires at least since 2006 when he was a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center. In 2010, after 14 unsuccessful applications, he earned a spot with the symphony, he said in an interview with a music blog.

The first house they visited was a 1,139-square-foot bungalow in a residential area at 345 Elm St. in Pittsfield. It was priced at $169,000, on the lower end of Martins budget but was built in 1928 and needed new appliances.

They then visited a cottage in the woods close to Ashmere Lake, at 318 George Schnopp Road in Hinsdale, listed at $249,000. Martin was initially skeptical about the location because it would mean a 35-minute commute to Tanglewood.

Despite the smaller size (906 square feet) Martin was charmed by the cottages proximity to the lake and by a shed, which he saw as a possible music studio.

Martin and his friend returned in the episode to Pittsfield to visit a third option, on 237 Eleanor Road. This property was on the pricier side, at $329,000 and featured four bedrooms, two bathrooms and a pool.

This is very suburban, its very quiet, very nice, Martin said upon arriving. However, he said in the episode that the house wasnt unique enough. I think this place falls a lot more in line with the houses I grew up in. A little more cookie-cutter, so this one is a little bit of a question mark for me, he said.

Martin ended up deciding to buy the house in Hinsdale, closing the deal for $257,500 with the furniture.

Martin told the program hes happy with his decision.

I think this house is what Ive just not always dreamed of, but I think what Ive really needed. To come out and the only thing I hear are birds and the trees and the wind sweeping across the back deck, he said. It absolutely feels like a very good step.

Powell, the broker, said taking part in the episode was a lot of fun for him. However, he said that not all of what viewers saw was real.

We had to do a number of different takes, he said. As much as theyd like [people] to believe reality television is just a camera rolling and everybody reacting, its directed and edited.
Community News Editor / Librarian

Jeannie Maschino is community news editor and librarian for The Berkshire Eagle. She has worked for the newspaper in various capacities since 1982 and joined the newsroom in 1989.
Flags fly Oct. 8 at Donald Trumps fly-in rally in Minden, Nevada. The total lack of support for the independent state legislature theory in American history or constitutional law may not stop the Supreme Court from affirming it, if the conservative majority believes it might give the Republican Party a decisive advantage in future elections, Jamelle Bouie writes.
Pittsfield hosts its first Indigenous peoples celebration at The Common, showcasing Native American traditions Pittsfield's inaugural Indigenous peoples celebration offered city residents an opportunity to engage with Native American culture, and offered some of its visitors a chance to reconnect with the area.

Over the recent three-day weekend, several Berkshire communities shone a festive spotlight on the cultures and traditions of those who first inhabited the Berkshire hills we call home. There was an Indigenous Voices Panel in Stockbridge; an Honoring Native America program and ceremonial walk in Great Barrington; a celebration of Indigenous storytelling, music and crafts in Pittsfield.

Yet what was really celebrated across these events and communities was history  the foundational pieces of American history whose preservation was threatened with destruction for centuries. Celebrating that history over the weekend was therefore not just a joyous occasion but a sort of communal moral victory, or at least the hopeful beginnings of one.

Members of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians still hold these hills in their hearts as their spiritual and ancestral homeland. That homeland was once under their feet, as well, until the sundered promises and brutal displacement of colonialism and American expansionism pushed them farther and farther west to the tribes current location in Wisconsin.

Reckoning with the fullness of our national history demands that we dont look away from its darkest and most shameful aspects that are too often glossed over in the American story, overlooking the disproportionate suffering heaped on proud but persecuted peoples. Honestly grappling with the fullness of that history need not be cast as a zero-sum contest of competing histories. It simply means recognizing that the threads of this regions history weave a more vibrant sociocultural tapestry than decades of history textbooks and simplified national narratives have let on. As the mood at this past weekends events reflected, we are all blessed for that opportunity.

In festivities like those held over the weekend in several Berkshire communities, we gather to lift up the stories and voices of the long-marginalized first peoples of this land. Its the least that we can do, but it grants us all a fuller understanding of this county and this country we all call home. That is only possible because of the great efforts by Indigenous scholars and advocates who have fought tirelessly for generations to keep their histories and traditions alive. Through their magnanimous partnerships with Berkshire-based historians and advocates, our communities are better educated, better connected and made brighter by the light their work brings to bear on our shared history.

Great Barrington marks Indigenous Peoples' Day with sacred ceremony, meditation An Indigenous Peoples' Day celebration that began at the Great Barrington Town Hall Gazebo with singing and speaking before preparation of the offering ended with a sacred ceremony and meditation at the river.

Those partnerships between tribal leadership and the countys current residents have given us hope that long-denied dignity for Indigenous folks and long-needed reconciliation can begin with the efforts weve seen in the Berkshires, from the Mohican Miles exhibit in Stockbridge to the Tribal Preservation Office in Williamstown. After this weekends events, were only more hopeful. That opportunity seemed palpable from the comments of a Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican tribal official to an Eagle reporter in Great Barrington during Mondays festivities.

The history isnt a pretty one. When we were made to leave these lands, we were not appreciated  we were not wanted here, said Shawn Stevens, aka Standing Eagle, chair of the Language and Culture Committee for the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohicans. But now when we come back we find an overwhelming group of people with open arms walking with us back, wanting us back, wanting to know our history, wanting to know our culture, wanting to know what wasnt taught in schools back then.

Open arms now do not undo the horrors of then; no people should be made to weather a quarter-millennium of oppressive threats to their existence and culture. Yet what is possible now is demonstrated when tribal leaders and Berkshire communities partner for events like these. In these efforts, there is not only real acknowledgement of this regions first cultures but real hope for healing. Yes, that hope is still a young seed among the tall trees of history, but we are heartened to see it find fertile ground here in our Berkshire hills.
The sacrificial system the Hebrew people practiced can seem distant and confusing to modern day Christians, but it holds many clues as to the identity of Jesus Christ, His importance, and salvation. From the way the tabernacle and the Temple were built, to the system itself, everything points to Gods plan of salvation for humanity through the death and resurrection of the Son. Even the role of the High Priest is a key part of this story.

The High Priest is not like a pastor or priest, though both do have the ability and knowledge of the Scriptures to teach them. In fact, unlike the other temple positions and religious roles that came to be through history, the High Priest seemed to exist even before the Law of Moses. It is a mediator position, someone who intercedes between man and God, and a role that Jesus took on after His death and resurrection. It was what He does now for all those who put their hope and faith in Him.

Understanding the history of the role of the High Priest in the Hebrew faith can help illuminate the Gospel, as well as deepen a Christians relationship with Jesus Christ.

What Is the High Priest?

The tribe of Levi in Israel was set apart from the others, not receiving land, but instead the duty of being priests. They conducted the religious rites and rituals for the nation.

The High Priest was the Levite whose job was to make the sacrifice for the people of Israel on the Day of Atonement. The first official High Priest was Moses brother Aaron. However, there were men named in the Bible who would make sacrifices of atonement, interceding on behalf of sinners, who served the function of a High Priest. In the Levitical Law, God ordained:

And the Lord said to Moses, Tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. But in this way Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: with a bull from the herd for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering  Aaron shall present the bull as a sin offering for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. He shall kill the bull as a sin offering for himself  Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat. Thus he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins. And so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleannesses (Leviticus 16:2-3, 6, 15-16).

Once a year, the High Priest would be able to enter the Holy of Holies, which no one else could do because it was where the presence of God came to rest on the Ark of the Covenant. Before he could enter, he had to atone for his own sins. He tied a rope with a bell around himself, so that if he did not properly atone and dropped dead from being unclean in the presence of God, his body could be removed. The High Priest would atone for all the sins of the people, and intercede on their behalf, and God would forgive.

Another way of looking at the High Priest is as the person who can go before God, present a substitute for the sins of others, and whose intercession pacified Gods wrath.

This position was meant to be lifelong, but became political after the Exile and during the Second Temple Period.

Who Were Some Famous High Priests?

Job

It is generally accepted that the account in Job is a record of events that happened before the days of Abraham, but after the flood. He had a relationship with the one God, and tried to stay obedient, even though he had friends trying to convince him to disavow the Creator. Eventually, God rebuked these friends, but says that if Job makes sacrifices and prayer on their behalf, He will forgive them.

Here, Job acts like a high priest, even though the position did not exist. He made prayers and sacrifices of atonement on behalf of sinners, serving as an intermediary between a sinner and a holy God. Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the Lord had told them, and the Lord accepted Job's prayer (Job 48:8-9).

Melchizedek

There is a lot of mystery surrounding this individual, as he is only mentioned in one chapter in the Old Testament, and then once in the New Testament. After successfully defeating an enemy, Abraham was approached by two kings, the King of Sodom, and Melchizedek. And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) And he blessed him and said, Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand! (Genesis 14:18-20).

Jethro

When Moses fled Egypt after murdering someone, he ran to the land of Midian. There, he met Jethro, also called Reuel. He was called the priest of Midian, and welcomed Moses into his family. It is generally believed that he served in a capacity like the High Priest, even though the title did not yet exist. After Moses freed the Hebrews, Jethro gave him wise council, And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God; and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God (Exodus 18:12).

Aaron

Moses brother became the first official High Priest to carry the title of High Priest, and carry out the duties as God would lay them out. He received the official garments and his bloodline was tasked with the responsibility of serving God and atoning for the sins of the people. God declared, I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar. Aaron also and his sons I will consecrate to serve me as priests (Exodus 29:44).

Eli

When Samuels mother Hannah was crying in prayer to God for a child, Eli was there. He was the priest who raised Samuel - the prophet of Israel. Unfortunately, his sons were unworthy, committing sins in the Temple. God cut off the line of Eli because of this. And this that shall come upon your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, shall be the sign to you: both of them shall die on the same day (1 Samuel 2:34).

Who Is the Great High Priest?

In the Bible, there are several promises that seemed to go unfulfilled  promises for a son of David who would reign forever. Another was a promise that God made before Eli when he was cutting off his order; And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind. And I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before my anointed forever (1 Samuel 2:35). This verse alludes to a priest who will go before the people for all time.

Some may see this as metaphoric or hyperbolic language. However, Jesus not only fulfilled the role of the heir of David, rightful King of all the earth, but as the great High Priest, whose foundation and house is sure, and will live forever. The writer of Hebrews identifies Jesus as that High Priest.

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are  yet he did not sin. Let us then approach Gods throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need (Hebrews 14-16).

When Jesus died on the cross, the veil that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple was torn in two, because God no longer needed to be separated from His people. Jesus death made it possible for all people to approach God, lay the blood of Jesus at the altar, and repent from their sins. Because of Jesus, Gods wrath is satisfied. Jesus makes intercession for those who put their trust in Him.

The High Priest served a unique role in Israels culture, but whoever that man was, he was still a sinner. He had to atone for his own sins before he could carry out his ultimate responsibilities, and if he did it wrong, he paid with his life. Because Jesus was sinless, He could go to the cross, pay the price, and clear the way for all who have sinned to approach the throne of God. The sacrificial system became obsolete, as did the role of the High Priest, which is why Christians today do not keep the religious practices of the Jews.

Jesus is the Great High Priest, who knows the struggles of people, and is ready to forgive and embrace anyone who repents and turns to Him.

Sources

Day, John. Temple and Worship in Biblical Israel. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2007.

McIlree, Andy. Garments for Glory Types and Shadows of Israels High Priest. Independently Published, 2019.

Pentecost, J. Dwight, Faith that Endures A Practical Commentary on the Book of Hebrews. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1992.

Slemming, C.W. These are the Garments The Priestly Robes of Ancient Israel. Fort Washington: CLC Publications, 1973.

Photo credit: Getty Images/romaset

Bethany Verrett is a freelance writer and editor. She maintains a faith and lifestyle blog graceandgrowing.com, where she muses about the Lord, life, culture, and ministry.
There have been no reports of drug dealers specifically targeting children with 'rainbow' fentanyl pills in Idaho, according to the Idaho State Police.

ISP found rainbow fentanyl in North Idaho in early August. Before then, it was normal for fentanyl pills to come in blue pill or tablet form, often mimicking the look of a 30-milligram oxycodone pill with the same branded imprints.

The drug's new look led to a press release sent out by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).

"Rainbow fentanyl  fentanyl pills and powder that come in a variety of bright colors, shapes, and sizes  is a deliberate effort by drug traffickers to drive addiction amongst kids and young adults, the DEA's press release said.

It is a narrative that has been repeated by law enforcement agencies around the country, including the Adams County Sheriff's Office in a Facebook post.

"If your kiddos play in public spaces, such as the local park, please be on the lookout for suspicious substances," the Facebook post said.

However, no Idaho law enforcement agencies have seen this scenario play out in reality.

"(The Boise Police Department) does not have any specific reports of 'Rainbow Fentanyl' in relation to our schools or youth," BPD spokesperson Haley Williams said.

The Saint Alphonsus emergency department reports the same finding.

"I havent been seeing anyone coming in from this Rainbow fentanyl finding it at the park, any of those specific cases," Saint Alphonsus Emergency Physician Dr. Jessica Kroll said.

That is not to say fentanyl is not a concerning problem  it is. ISP estimates drug overdoses will kill 400 Idahoans in 2022; that is up from roughly 350 overdose deaths the year before, according to ISP Capt. John Kempf.

Law enforcement agencies, including BPD, are concerned about the colorful pills and the possibility someone could mistake the pills for candy; however, ISP is already seeing these pills lose popularity.

Powder fentanyl  sometimes as a rainbow color  is more popular, according to Kempf. And the powder product brings a whole other list of concerns.

"More addictive than cocaine, more addictive than methamphetamine, more addictive than marijuana. There is a school of thought that fentanyl is going to be mixed in with these other drugs to drive the addiction toward fentanyl," Kempf said. "It's going to be placed in everything. Just in Idaho, you name a controlled substance and we have found fentanyl in it. It is in all drugs."
BOISE - On Wednesday, Idaho Governor Brad Little announced which secondary and postsecondary career technical education (CTE) programs were awarded grants as part of his "Leading Idaho" initiative. In total, $8 million in grants were awarded.

According to Little, more than 140 secondary and 26 postsecondary programs applied for the grants. All applications were evaluated and prioritized based on data provided by the Idaho Department of Labor. Applications that supported training for the top 250 occupations with at least 100 job openings or projected 25-percent growth were prioritized.

From welding to cybersecurity, nursing to vehicle maintenance, and nuclear operations to early childhood education and many other areas, high schools and colleges awarded grants will be able to use the funding to offer more in-demand career training opportunities for students.

The Potlatch Jr-Sr High School CTE program was awarded a grant totaling $103,063.89.

Meanwhile, the Lewiston High School CTE program was awarded a $7,711.17 grant to assist with marketing.

This is what Idaho is all about  connecting Idaho workers with the training and education they need to lead happy, productive careers and help meet local industry needs to ensure the continued strength of our red-hot economy, said Governor Little.

The full list of grant recipients can be found by clicking HERE.

Were extremely grateful to Governor Little and the Idaho Legislature for their ongoing support of CTE in Idaho, Idaho CTE Division administrator Clay Long said. We look forward to the continued support of the Governor and Legislature to ensure we continue to meet the needs of Idahos students and employers.
CHELAN COUNTY, WA - A 28-year-old Montana man was recently rescued from the area of Lake Viviane south of Leavenworth, WA after being pinned under a large boulder that was "the size of a refrigerator," according to the Chelan County Sheriff's Office.

According to a media release from the CCSO, on the morning of Monday, October 10 at approximately 9:30 a.m., the man's hiking partner called RiverCom dispatch and reported that his friend was trapped under a large boulder "approximately the size of a refrigerator" in the area of Lake Viviane. The man told a CCSO Search and Rescue coordinator that his friend's wrist was pinned by the boulder, which was also across his legs.

Based on the man's location being a several hour hike from the trailhead along with the challenge of getting equipment capable of moving the boulder, a request was made to State Emergency Management for a hoist capable helicopter. Local fire agencies were also contacted for equipment to move the boulder.

The Wenatchee Valley Department and Snohomish County Sheriff's Office Helicopter Rescue Team both responded with helicopters, shuttling rescuers and equipment into the scene. Rescuers from Cascade Ambulance, Chelan County Mountain Rescue, Wenatchee Valley Fire Department, and Snohomish County Helicopter Rescue Team were all inserted to complete the rescue.

Using air bladders provided by the Wenatchee Valley Department, rescue crews were able to move the boulder and free the man around 2:50 p.m., more than four hours after the initial report was received. According to the CCSO, by the time Mr. Delahunty was freed from the boulder, winds had picked making the first attempt to hoist him from his position and an attempt to pick him up from a nearby landing zone unsuccessful.

At 4:45 p.m., there was enough of a break in the weather to allow Snohomish County to attempt another hoist operation, which this time was successful. The man was then air lifted to Central Washington hospital with what were described as significant injuries to his leg, however he is expected to recover.

The rescuers on scene hiked out over the next several hours making it to the trailhead at approximately 11:00 p.m.
To ensure patients' improved access to quality and affordable healthcare services and accelerate sustainable growth for healthcare providers across Southeast Asia

TVM Capital Healthcare, an emerging-markets focused healthcare private equity firm headquartered in Singapore and Dubai, with presence in Boston and Munich, and Siemens Healthineers, have announced a landmark cooperation to support and accelerate the growth of innovative healthcare companies in Southeast Asia (SEA).

Under the agreement, TVM Capital Healthcare's portfolio companies in SEA will be able to leverage Siemens Healthineers' expertise in the medical technology industry, and its strong global as well as significant regional presence in Southeast Asia.

Through its exclusive "Value Partnership" model, Siemens Healthineers enables healthcare providers to optimize business processes, expand capabilities and advance innovation. This partnership model goes beyond the entire Siemens Healthineers portfolio to generate added value above and beyond the medical technology itself.
The world is grappling with single-use plastics and their potentially damaging effects, so it is imperative to address the risks that microplastics pose to our environment, and human health.

The Indian government recently imposed a ban on single-use plastic products including plastic straws, which augurs well for the environment, the health of its citizens, and the future of Indias natural resources. This is a bold step in the continuation of the nations fight against single-use plastics, first announced in 2019. Since then, industries have had sufficient time to prepare and switch to sustainable packaging practices. However, much more remains to be done in this regard, as many businesses have not yet completely adapted to this proposed shift towards eco-friendly alternatives.

Although talk of eliminating plastics are a step in the right direction, the scourge of microplastics is well upon us. Microplastics can be found almost everywhere around us; they are tiny plastic particles sized under five millimetres in diameter. Microplastics are perceived as environmental contaminants affecting our natural surroundings, marine ecology, global food chain, and quite possibly human health  although more research is required to understand exactly what impact microplastics have on our bodies. Microplastics are believed to be more contaminating than regular plastics and a majority of these come from the breaking down of daily use plastic items.

We are looking at a plastics-based pollution crisis that is likely to worsen, with plastics pollution expected to grow by 60% by 2030, and triple by 2050, according to a recent report by UN.

Far reaching effects

Our dependence on plastic is an inescapable reality of modern living. Recently, research revealed that the sources of microplastics found in the worlds oceans include synthetic textiles (35%), car tires (28%), city dust (24%), road markings (7%), marine coatings (3.7%), personal care products (2%), and plastic pellets (0.3%).

Another concern is that microplastics have been identified in the lungs and blood of living humans, suggesting that our bodies are already being contaminated by these particles. However, much more research is needed to fully understand what impacts microplastics have on our health.

Making their way into rivers and oceans, where they are ingested by fish and corals, microplastics have not even spared marine life. According to a report by Nature Portfolio, microplastics have been recorded in more than 100 aquatic species, including 12 of the 25 most highly valued species for global marine fisheries.

According to a report, commissioned by the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF), and conducted by the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, titled: Impacts of plastic pollution in the ocean on marine species, biodiversity and ecosystems, the amount of microplastic particles in our oceans and seas could witness a 50-fold increase by the end of this century.

The report suggests that microplastic concentrations above ecologically dangerous threshold levels have now been estimated in several global aquatic regions. This means that the possibilities of serious ecological risks are more likely due to their presence, something that has already been observed in key marine hotspots such as the Mediterranean region, the East China Sea, the Yellow Sea, and even the Arctic Sea ice.

Finding solutions

Given their ubiquity, the problem of microplastics is not confined to a singular country  this is a global issue that requires immediate attention and action from governments and scientific researchers through to local communities and individual households.

The reality is that demand for plastics is only growing, even though the ban on single-use plastics is a step in the right direction. Communities need to actively address the bigger challenge by holding industries accountable for their operational practices and urging them to contribute towards building a zero-waste circular economy.

Despite recent efforts in parts of Europe and the United States on standardising testing methods for microplastic detection and analysis in the environment, the lack of collective global policies to address this problem has been delaying the kind of action that is needed. While the World Health Organization (WHO) has called for, further assessment of microplastics in the environment and their potential impacts on human health, we need more decisive measures urgently.

Another concurrent approach is to step up the ongoing research and testing in the area. To date, molecular spectroscopy solutions such as laser direct infrared chemical imaging (LDIR) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy technology are favourable amongst research scientists for the initial analysis of microplastics due to the resulting high-quality imaging and spectral data.

Good governance and policy shifts are the starting point  the environmental impact of microplastics must percolate down to businesses and more importantly, to individual consumers if we are to make any useful progress. Responsibly disposing of plastic waste and tackling microplastic pollution is everybodys duty to protect our planet from this emerging environmental contaminant.

Kannan Balakrishnan, Technical & Solutions Business Manager, Agilent Technologies, India
In a move sure to upset chocoholics everywhere, discount supermarket Lidl was recently told to destroy its stocks of chocolate bunnies. The cull was ordered by a Swiss court that decided Lidl's bunny was too close to confectioner Lindt's iconic chocolate rabbit.

Lidl was sued by Swiss confectioner Lindt & Sprungli for selling a golden foil-wrapped chocolate bunny that Lindt felt looked very similar to its own product. The Swiss federal supreme court ruled that the Lindt Gold Bunny is a valid registered shape trade mark. As such, other companies can now be barred from replicating this shape when selling chocolate products in Switzerland.

Lindt has been selling a milk chocolate bunny wrapped in gold-coloured foil with a red ribbon and a bell around its neck since 1952. It had registered two 3D trade marks for the product in Switzerland, one in black and white and the other in gold, brown, red.

This case hinged on the distinctiveness of the shape of Lindt bunnies. European law says that companies can only register something as a trade mark  and therefore protect it from imitation  if it allows consumers to distinguish the specific product from those of competitors.

But Lidl argued that the shape of Lindt bunnies is commonplace and non-distinctive, so it should not qualify for registration. The Swiss court based its decision that the Lindt bunny shape is a valid trade mark on consumer surveys that show shoppers unequivocally associate that shape with Lindt.

This is not the first time the Lindt bunny has ended up in court. Heilemann, a competitor in Germany, started selling golden bunnies in 2018 causing the Swiss chocolatier to sue for trade mark infringement.

Lindts strategy was slightly different in this case, focusing on protecting the colour of the packaging rather than its shape. It claimed that the specific golden shade of the foil wrapping is distinctive enough to be protected as a trade mark with respect to chocolate bunnies.

The German court agreed, again relying on a consumer survey to which 70% of respondents said the golden shade in question called to mind Lindts products. The court took into account Lindts extensive and successful use of this shade and its acquired distinctive character.

The Lindt bunny hasnt always come out on top, however. An earlier 2012 ruling by Europes highest court found that the combination of the Lindt Gold Bunny shape and colours (including the pleated red ribbon and attached bell) were not sufficiently different from the way other chocolate products are wrapped, especially rabbits, to warrant an EU trade mark.

The shape of things to come

Trade mark disputes over the shape of products occur frequently. In many cases though, courts find shapes to be too commonly used in a specific market to be protected as trade marks.

Kit Kat chocolate bars, for example, were the subject of efforts by food producer Nestle to trade mark its four-fingered 3D shape. In the UK, confectioner Cadbury challenged this attempt, successfully claiming that the shape lacked distinctive character. A similar decision was reached by European courts.

Drinks giant Coca-Cola even failed to trade mark a recent update of its coke bottle because the shape did not produce a clear and unmistakable impression of exclusively being linked with the US beverage giant. Of course, the original Coca-Cola bottle shape is widely associated with the drinks company and is therefore already registered as a trade mark in many countries.

Its attempt to register an updated version in plastic, metal and glass as a trade mark was rejected in 2014. EU courts said the new version was devoid of any distinctive character and not, as Coke tried to argue, a natural evolution of its famous iconic bottle.

This is obviously not to say that the shapes of products are difficult to protect. Several have been registered in different countries.

For example, the pyramid shape of Toblerone, believed to be a replica of the Alps Matterhorn mountain, is a registered trade mark in various jurisdictions and is owned by the US company Mondelez. This was enforced in the UK several years ago when a competitor launched a similarly shaped chocolate bar it called Twin Peaks.

The familiar shape of the Ferrero Rocher chocolate praline and four of its transparent packaging types have also been successfully registered as trade marks in several countries. This is because the shape is well-known to consumers (again, as revealed by surveys) and the company has a long history of using imagery of these items to distinguish its products.

Protecting consumers

Non-distinctive shapes usually cannot be registered as trade marks because the law needs to protect the right of all companies to use shapes that are common. Only signs and symbols that help consumers identify products can be registered and therefore monopolised by one firm.

On the other hand, shapes that have been used regularly and for a long time by a variety of manufacturers should not be protected because they do nothing to help people make educated purchase choices.

Also, the monopoly offered to trade mark owners can be perpetual. Registrations can be renewed every ten years as long as fees are paid. So, being able to forever monopolise common product shapes such as chocolate bunnies could have a negative and lasting impact on competition, although decisions can be subject to legal challenge.

Trade mark disputes about product shapes will keep happening and courts should continue to use consumer surveys to come to decisions about who, if anyone, owns a certain product shapes. As we have seen, this wont prevent judges from different jurisdictions from reaching different decisions over the same cases, but it will at least keep consumer protection uppermost in mind when making these judgements.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Brendon Williamson, managing director at PayFast and PayGate. Source: Supplied

The e-commerce veteran has spent roughly 20 years working in the rapidly evolving payments space, with broad experience across sales, marketing, forensics and fraud management.

In his new senior leadership role, he's scouting out opportunities for business growth and for the expansion of PayFast and PayGates offerings to make online payments simpler and more seamless for merchants and their customers.

For Williamson, we've only just scratched the surface of payments innovation and the meaningful impact it can have on our lives. Here, he shares his leadership approach and speaks to the dynamic potential of digital payments and what's needed to accelerate local e-commerce.

Brendon, congrats on your appointment as PayFast and PayGate MD. What does this promotion mean to you?

I see this promotion as both a personal milestone in terms of my career, and a reassurance that Ive made the right choices, when it comes to the people that Ive worked with along the way. Career-wise, this is something Ive always wanted to achieve and have worked really hard towards. Ive run my own businesses in the past  but the difference this time is the journey Ive walked with PayGate, PayFast and the DPO Group.

If I look around, many of the people who are still here have been by my side since the beginning, and I think thats the key lesson here. No matter what, be cognisant and appreciative of the people next to you  because ultimately, if you fall down, you want the person next to you to be the one who picks you up.

The support and encouragement Ive received from those Ive worked closely with over the past 10 years, has been crucial. That Ive achieved this goal means Im surrounded by all the right people.

Whats at the top of your to-do list in your new role?

Over the past few years, weve been through a significant amount of change, with DPO Group acquiring a number of companies  including PayFast and PayGate, among others.

My main focus is to consolidate and integrate all of these companies, and the people behind them. By creating a unified brand that everyone can associate with, we can solidify a single vision to take us forward as a business. I think its important that people know where they belong, and where theyre going.

What excites you most about working in payments?

I've been in the world of payments for over 20 years now, and things are always changing. In the last two years alone, the industry has evolved significantly  never mind in the last 10. Despite this, were still only touching the surface of what is possible. Faster internet speeds, easier access to connectivity, and innovative technology  like wearables, the ability to order groceries via your fridge  are making e-commerce a very exciting space to be in.

In addition to this, payments touch almost every single aspect of our lives, and there is huge potential for online payments to ease some aspects of life and even do good. As an example, e-commerce can elevate an entrepreneur from purely local, in-person sales to a business that operates nationally, by giving them access to a new client base online. It presents an opportunity to grow and do business at a new level.

With the pandemic making e-commerce more commonplace, what do you view as the key challenges that need to be overcome in Africa before we start seeing significant online retail penetration?

During Covid, distribution and manufacturing came to a standstill worldwide. As a result, there are enormous backlogs that are still being felt in South Africa and across the continent. Merchants are operating with limited stock and facing increased shipping and logistics fees due to rising fuel prices. The knock-on effect is that the cost of items goes up, and customers must make a decision about where to spend their money, which isnt going as far as it did two years ago.

Solving challenges around delivery and logistics in the informal economy is another key aspect of e-commerce growth in Africa. We need to unlock access to non-urban areas and de-centralise delivery if we want to reach more customers via online shopping. While payment gateways dont play a direct role in distribution, we do enable easier payments within these channels and make it easier to facilities orders.

Anything in particular you're currently reading, watching or listening to for work inspiration?

As an avid reader, I always have five or six books going at once. Right now, the pile of books next to my bed includes:

Leadershift by John C Maxwell, which outlines the principles of leadership in a changing environment.

What Happened to You? by Oprah, where she talks about how reflecting on yourself as an individual helps you to better understand other people.

Mans Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl, which has to be one of the best books Ive ever read. In it, Frankl highlights the pure determination of humans to get through life by finding the good in negative situations.

In your opinion, what are the qualities of a great leader?

A great leader doesnt use other peoples misfortune for their gain, because somewhere down the line it will catch up to you. You might get to the top, but youll be very lonely there.

A great leader speaks their truth at all costs, because no one can fault you on your truth. If someone doesnt acknowledge or accept that truth  thats on them. As long as you can walk away and be at peace about your decisions, then youve done the right thing.

A great leader remembers to look down. Its always good to look up and see where youre going, but throughout my career Ive been a proponent of looking down as a reminder of the path that youve taken to get to where you are today. I think it helps you remain grounded and humble. Its also a good way to reflect on the path that other people have taken to get to the same position as you.

A great leader puts their heart first. My grandfather always said, "learn to lead with your heart, before you lead with your hands." I would add to this and say, "learn to lead with your heart, then your hands, then your mind"  with your heart representing your humanness, your hands meaning actions and doing the work, and your mind in terms of your thoughts.

What impact do you hope to make in your industry?

I would love to be the person who shifts the payments paradigm. The key impact Id like to make is focusing on how we use payments to do good, and Id be happy to be known as the guy who made a big shift in this respect.

Could you leave us with some valuable career advice?

Define who you are not: Everybody talks about defining who you are, but Ive never done that. Instead, I decided to define who Im not and what I dont stand for  and that ultimately led to who I am. I found it a lot easier and more effective to say Im not the guy who will compromise my morals or step on people to get what I want. My advice for other people is to try this as an exercise.

Treat yourself as a business: While it might sound strange, treating yourself as a business gives you an opportunity to think about what your brand is, and what you want to put out there for people to associate with you and identify you as. If you do that well, youll get to a point where you can decide what fits into your business, and what doesnt.

Dont take anything for granted: If you step into my office, theres a reason that youve taken the time to speak to me  and youll receive my full attention. I treat every single interaction that I have with another person as significant, because if you apply significance to the person that said hello to you yesterday, they might be the person who helps you tomorrow. Its about being cognisant of the people around you, and the ways in which you can help each other.
After a successful launch weekend in mid-September, the Waterkloof Park development is already 40% sold with all their one-bedroom apartments off the market and two-bedroom apartments selling fast. This uptake in sales makes Waterkloof Park the fastest selling development of its kind in the area over a similar timeframe. Already primed to be a standout addition in Pretoria East's landscape, the demand for these modern luxury apartments that promise a lock-up-and-go lifestyle confirms the developers' instincts about the gap in the market in this established neighbourhood for a more inclusive offering.

Under the experienced leadership of the Feenstra Group and in partnership with Six4 Capital, the interest from homeowners and investors in the 69-unit development surpassed their expectations since the official launch to the public. We are glad our instincts were right based on the response weve received from the community and the positive results achieved so far in sales. Feenstra Group has a long-standing history as a trusted developer in the Pretoria and greater Gauteng region and we will continue to cultivate these strong ties with the community. To further demonstrate our belief in this product as a good investment and make it even more accessible to first-time buyers, we as the developers are going to cover the bond registration cost of the first 50 units sold before the end of December 2022. This saving extends to those savvy buyers that have already reserved their units from the launch weekend, shares Johann du Plessis from the Feenstra Group.

With the promise of above market yields and historical evidence showing that new developments within Waterkloof have experienced a year-on-year growth of 25% in the price per square meter achieved since 2017, Waterkloof Park as it stands without Feenstras latest offering is already an attractive investment opportunity. Further bolstering the attractive return on investment are the favourable levies which are estimated to start from a low R483 and only an initial reservation fee of R20,000 is required to secure a unit. Added to these benefits, there is no transfer duty or a deposit required to reserve a unit.

We onboarded feedback from buyers and the community from the launch weekend and have committed to including a lift into Block 4 where the penthouses will be and to incorporate a warm and cold water system into the development. This will further complement the planned onsite full back-up generator that residents will welcome now that loadshedding has become a more frequent and unfortunate reality. The generator will be able to power up the entire development, including both private and communal areas. With Waterkloof Park we have unlocked an opportunity for investors to secure an address in this prime area in a more affordable and sort after price bracket, with units starting from just R1,867,900 for two-bedroom apartments. Having gained tremendous momentum from the launch weekend, we are optimistic that construction will commence in the second quarter of 2023, says Waterkloof Parks co-developer, Ryan Mackenzie from Six4 Capital.

For seasoned investors and those looking to dip their toes into the property market, Waterkloofs leafy tree-lined streets paint the perfect picturesque backdrop to Waterkloof Parks luxury apartments. Living within this development, residents will be less than 15 minutes from Menlyn Maine, The Village and Pretoria Country Club to name a few. Convenient, lock-up-and-go living has driven the design of Waterkloof Park which also subscribes to the popular 15-minute neighbourhood trend. While opportunities still remain for homeowners and investors alike looking for two- and three-bedroom apartments and penthouses  du Plessis and Mackenzie anticipate that the current stock still on offer will sell out quickly.

The benefits of investing in a product that is expected to increase in value even from now until the development is complete is what makes this offering a no-brainer. We believe Waterkloof Park sets the standard for new inclusive developments in this prestigious suburb, and we are proud to have forged the way for other developments to follow suit, adds du Plessis.

Contact Rikus Basson on 082 650 2911 or email az.oc.krapfoolkretaw@ofni to reserve your apartment and for more information.




Staff shortages caused by an ongoing strike over wages are impacting container and car terminals at South Africa's Durban port, one of the busiest on the continent, a unit of state-owned logistics company Transnet said on Tuesday.

Workers at South Africa's state-owned logistics firm Transnet walk past ship containers as they continue on a nationwide strike outside the Port of Cape Town that could paralyse ports and freight rail services, amid talks to end a wage deadlock with the company, in Cape Town, South Africa, October 11, 2022. REUTERS/Esa Alexander

Transnet, which manages South Africa's freight rail network and ports, declared force majeure last week after its workers went on strike over a wage dispute.

In an update on its website, Transnet Port Terminals said the strike had impacted waterside and landside operations at its Durban port, which handles 65% of South Africa's container volumes.

"Please be advised that operations at Pier 1, Pier 2 and Durban RoRo Terminal have been impacted as a result of industrial action. Appointment slots have been suspended. Please do not dispatch trucks to the terminals until further notice," it said.

Piers 1 and 2 are container terminals, while the RoRo (roll-on roll-off) terminal is used to import and export cars.

The strike could also disrupt fruit exports from Transnet's Cape Town port just as the deciduous fruit season begins.

"Transnet is working closely with industry to ensure that the perishable products, along with other cargo with a limited shelf-life, are prioritised at the ports," Transnet said.

The company said the impact of the strike differed across its operations, with essential services such as ship docking and berthing continuing. Services provided by private companies within the ports were also continuing, it said.

"The focus for Transnet management is to keep operations going with the limited resources available," it said in response to Reuters' questions.

The Transnet strike is also set to worsen the mining industry's logistics woes. Even before the strike, South Africa's Minerals Council had projected a revenue loss of 50 billion rand ($2.76 billion) this year, compared to 35 billion rand in 2021, as Transnet's underperformance squeezes exports.

Miners Thungela Resources, Kumba Iron Ore and Jupiter Mines have warned that the strike is likely to impact coal, iron ore and manganese production and exports.

Transnet has said it will meet union leaders on Wednesday to continue wage negotiations.
Sustainability is more than a buzz word at Sappi. We're invested in nurturing beneficial partnerships that help drive our vision of building a thriving world.

The winter-flowering commercial forestry eucalyptus trees are essential to the trapping and building of honeybee colonies prior to pollination season Albert Malope, Tshegofatso Komane, Mike Allsopp and Thandiwe Theko

Sappis business is one deeply rooted in sustainability, where the future of our industry and the forests we manage are ultimately interconnected. Today, we own and lease 394,000 hectares of sustainably managed forests in South Africa, with our operations having a far reaching, knock-on effect for people and planet.

Our commitment to championing healthy forests not only ensures that theyre around for generations to come, but also plays a significant role in safeguarding the environment. Among other things, we depend on forests for clean air and water, providing a refuge for biodiversity, mitigating climate change, supplying raw materials, community upliftment, and, perhaps known to a lesser extent, theyre a haven for honeybees.

Were taking a leaf out of Mother Natures book and bee-friending our local allies through partnerships with various beekeeping businesses. One such partnership is in the Lowveld of Mpumalanga with Bee Naked Honey Farms. Bee Naked shares our vision of sustainability, being a producer of raw local honey (distributed under the Eat Naked brand) and provider of pollination services to local farmers in the region.

By placing hives in our plantations, were helping to bolster honeybee populations that provide vital pollination services to the region Essential work has been created for people from local communities

By allowing Bee Naked Honey Farm beekeepers to place hives in our plantations, were helping to bolster honeybee populations that provide vital pollination services to the region, while their honeybees work their magic benefitting our surrounding environment. But thats not all these busy workers do.

Its no secret the massive role these tiny creatures play in our food supply chain. Blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, macadamia nuts, avocados, litchis, apples, pears, plums, some apricots, almonds, cherries, melons, pumpkins, butternuts, kiwis, onion seed, sunflower seed, carrot and vegetable seed are but a few of the many crops to which we owe thanks to bees.

As Mike Allsopp, head of beekeeping at the Agricultural Research Council, explains: While accurate data is limited, best estimates show that the demand for commercial honeybee pollination is set to increase by 15-20% per year in South Africa. When you consider that there are already not enough managed honeybees to meet SAs pollination demands, coupled with the fact that the amount of foraging territory available to honeybees continues to dwindle, its easy to see why this spells trouble for not only our honeybees, but our food supply chain and the complex web of life they support."

Selby Mokgope, operational manager The raw local honey is distributed under the Eat Naked brand

As demand for pollination services continues to grow, it's clear that every avenue must be explored under a united front if were to sustain honeybee colonies. This includes the planting of cover crops in vineyards and other non-pollination dependent crops, the restoration of fallow land, the establishment of woodlots, and the planting of bee-friendly forages in verges and suburbia.

However, according to Allsopp, all these actions will only be enough if were also able to protect and sustain two fundamental enablers of honeybee colony numbers in the country. Namely, the canola fields of the Cape in the late summer and the winter-flowering commercial forestry eucalyptus of the Lowveld and KZN. These two crops are essential to the trapping and building of honeybee colonies prior to pollination season, allowing beekeepers to service the spring pollination needs of berries, macadamias, and all else.

Of the 394,000 hectares of Sappi-owned forests in South Africa, 163,000 ha or 63% comprises eucalyptus. Thats roughly 30% of South Africas eucalyptus output. Sappi therefore plays a pivotal role in the sustainability of honeybees and the pollination service that they provide.

Without these two pollination enablers, the production of nearly all commercial crops needing pollination in South Africa would be in serious trouble. It begs the question, are all the key players, including the public, aware of the challenge at hand? Wed all be wise to do what we can to share this message far and wide.

As forests are important to the environment, our business and local communities, honeybees are vital to forest-dwelling fauna and flora  and vice versa. In a nutshell, bees need trees, and trees need bees. By teaming together with like-minded partners, were able to play a major part in sustaining honeybee populations, supporting our local honey industry and beekeepers, protecting our forests and, ultimately, having an even greater positive impact through our shared purpose: a thriving future for all.




The Real Estate Industry Summit (REIS), held in partnership with Absa and Private Property, will be held in Johannesburg on 27 October. Themed 'Gearing for growth', REIS will provide insights into current property trends, as well as the knowledge, success strategies, and other pertinent information required to navigate the sector.

Carl van den Berg, business development executive at Private Property, says the industry has emerged from the Covid-19 crisis buoyant and stable. One of the hardest lessons learned for our industry over the last two years is that nothing is guaranteed. The real estate industry was hit hard but has done more than claw its way back. In fact, we are seeing a boom in certain areas, along with many people investing back into their homes with aesthetic and practical upgrades, making their homes more marketable to sell.

The summit agenda entails:



Reviewing and exchanging relevant and actionable information, indepth insights, and inspiration that attendees can instantly implement in order to improve and grow a property business or portfolio.



Discussions on hot topics presented by credible industry thought leaders from various property-related sectors including banks, real estate companies, and active consumers in the property market.



Thought-provoking and holistic industry debates will examine and expose contentious issues and challenges confronting the real estate industry in South Africa from a service provider, investor, seller, and buyer perspective.

Speakers and panel discussions include:



Insights on market growth, volumes, and bonds, providing the data to grow businesses with Hayley Ivins Downes, head of digital at Lightstone.



How the PPRA will play a role in the development of the South African Property Industry with Deli Nkambule, acting CEO of PPRA.



Unpacking the big issues of today and tomorrow around regulation and compliance within the industry with Deli Nkambule, Tony Clarke, chairman of the board at Real Estate Business Owners of SA, and Carlize Knoesen, chief registrar of deeds.



How estate agents are taking advantage of technology to enable their businesses globally with Gary Barker, CEO of proptech, BetterHome Group.



Business models within real estate with Ricard Gray, CEO of Harcourts; Andrew Thompson, managing broker, eXp South Africa; and Antonie Goosen, MD and principal of Meridian Realty.

The full list of speakers is available here.

For more information on the event, click here.
In South Africa, small businesses serve as powerful engines of economic growth, job creation and societal innovation. With small and medium enterprises (SMEs) providing an estimated 60% of all employment opportunities in the country, their potential to provide social upliftment and development is unlimited. As policy makers, businesspeople and civil society put measures in place to work towards economic recovery, small business entrepreneurship must be at the centre of public discourse as one of the key opportunities to solve South Africa's most pressing economic and social challenges.

David Morobe, executive general manager for Impact Investing at Business Partners Limited

Commenting on this topic is David Morobe, executive general manager for Impact Investing at Business Partners Limited, who says that after seeing small business confidence decrease steadily as SMEs struggled to navigate the challenges of the pandemic years, a recent Business Partners Limited SME Confidence Index found that this is shifting. We are encouraged by the fact that small businesses have confidence levels of 77% that the current economic conditions are conducive to business growth  the highest its been in a decade. This is a positive sign that the sector is finding its feet again after two years of instability. This is of particular relevance now, given the countrys ongoing unemployment crisis.

Financiers must continue to support SMEs as the employers of the future

A report by Finfind, in partnership with the South African SME Fund, puts the total number of SMEs in the country (including the informal and formal sectors) at around three million. According to the report, the average number of employees per SME varies between 12 and 27, with most full-time positions being offered by medium-sized enterprises with an average annual turnover of R10m.

For Morobe, creating the number of jobs required to make a dent in the unemployment rate is an ambitious task, but one that can be realised by unwavering collaboration between the public and private sectors, as well as other stakeholders who provide support for South Africas constituent of entrepreneurs: Fortunately, industry trends both locally and abroad are expanding the landscape of opportunity and providing entrepreneurs with a chance to explore uncharted business territories. As financiers, we must continue to provide the necessary support to SMEs to facilitate their growth and sustainability.

Cloud technology as an enabler for sector growth

The increasing development and application of technology such as cloud computing has the potential to revolutionise the SME sector. According to the 2022 State of South Africa Small Business Report by accounting technology firm, Xero, half of businesses now use cloud technology, with 30% claiming that it has enabled them to expand their customer base and 28% saying that cloud technology has made a direct impact on the efficiency of their business operations.

Commenting on this trend, Morobe explains that cloud technology presents SMEs with reach and enormous growth potential. SMEs will continue to grow as new and emerging entrepreneurs adopt the remote working trend and digital nomad approach to work: Cloud technology has been found to dramatically reduce the cost of doing business, which could free up capital for human resources, innovation and other business avenues.

The rise of social entrepreneurship

On a global scale, the worlds of business and social activism are merging to form the basis of an entirely new class of entrepreneurship  the kind that values profitability in the same way as it prioritises aspects such as community development, social justice and charitable objectives.

Social entrepreneurship in South Africa is growing rapidly. Weve seen some exemplary organisations being developed around issues such as education, access to public services, environmental conservation and climate change. The rise of social entrepreneurship also presents a range of opportunities. On a conceptual level, entrepreneurship can be summarised as problem solving. In South Africa, which has its fair share of unique socio-economic challenges, these problems are opportunities in disguise for entrepreneurial individuals, explains Morobe.

Emerging trends in customer experience

Another trend driving innovation within the SME sector is the evolution of customer experience (CX). Given the fierce rate of competition in the market, SMEs are increasingly making use of optimised customer service experience as a point of differentiation and the basis of their value proposition.

As Morobe explains: Some of the most prominent developments were seeing in customer experience are the use of chatbots, personalisation, omni-channel customer engagement, data management, and security. As the customer experience evolves in South Africa, more job opportunities will arise for CX professionals at every level, from call centres and customer service agents to community managers and product support executives.

As the main driver of these trends, technology will continue to provide entrepreneurs with the opportunities they require to grow successful ventures in new and uncharted industries, as well as innovate ways to succeed in existing and challenging ones. Coupled with the governments drive to increase infrastructure development, attract foreign investment, and promote training programmes, the SME sector stands in good stead to create much-needed employment opportunities for millions of South Africans, concludes Morobe.




15 diverse producers from around the globe have been selected to participate in the second Creative Producer Indaba (CPI).

Image supplied: The selected producers for the Creative Producer Indaba

The Indaba takes place online from 7 November for a week, at the Atlas Workshops (Marrakech International Film Festival) from 14 - 17 November, and at International Film Festival Rotterdam from 25 January  5 February 2023 in person.

The Indaba aims to bring together a hive-mind of producers who are either in the process of developing a film project or want to collaborate on an African film project. They do this in order to develop their entrepreneurial and leadership expertise, foster their creative skills, and create long-lasting and significant networks.

Selected participants include African producers Marion Isaacs (South Africa), Matheus Mello (Brazil/Mozambique), Bramwel Iro (Kenya), Sawsan Yusuf (Egypt) and Zoe Ramushu (Zimbabwe/South Africa) who have active film projects in development and are looking for international producers and co-financiers. Their film projects include a heist suspense series, two feature documentary dramas, and two feature dramas.

Film professionals from Africa - Caroline Kganyago-Ralefeta, Lucia Meyer-Marais and Tracey-Lee Rainers (South Africa), Mia Bittar (Sudan) and Pedro Soule (Cabo Verde) who have significant stakes in the African film marketplace, with an interest in the development of film projects and co-producing with Africa were selected.

Finally, Bartholomeu Luiz (Brazil), Ellen Havenith (Netherlands), Flavia Zanon (Switzerland), Kesmat El Sayed (Egypt/Germany) and Temilola Adebayo (Nigeria /Canada) are all international producers looking to finance projects in Africa, with a view to collaborating on African projects. Luiz is attending through a partnership with Brazilian foundation Projeto Paradiso.

We are truly excited about this years strong cohort for the Creative Producer Indaba, says Mehret Mandefro, director of development and partnership at Realness Institute.

These producers represent a diverse range of voices and interests with solid or growing networks from Africa and beyond. Following our highly successful CPI last year we have seen how these intense programmes can provide opportunities for filmmakers to move forward with their ideas and projects, Mandefro continues.

Kristina Trapp, CEO at Eave, says We can no longer work in isolation, or in silos, the world has changed and collaboration is key. The CPI creates a solid and safe space for producers to find solution-driven strategies through sharing skills, ideas and networks. We believe the Indaba will also once again help to connect people in a significant and meaningful way.

The programme is packed with workshops, discussions, case studies, and one-on-one meetings with mentorship focussed on the development of projects that will take them through the whole scope of skills needed to get a film into production and reach audiences. Group leaders, Mehret Mandefro and Diana Elbaum, and story expert, Mmabatho Kau, will be mentoring these producers, with a host of film industry experts in support.

Elias Ribeiro, head of studies and executive director of the Realness Institute, says, We have a brilliant line-up of experts this year who will be meeting the producers including Femi Odugbemi, Katriel Schory and Dayo Ogunyemi, and IFFR Festival director Vanja Kaludjercic adding their superb skills, insights and guidance during this time.
Data Analyst

Location: Johannesburg, Bryanston Remote work: Some remote work allowed Job level: Mid Type: Permanent Company: Clockwork

Have proven professional experience as a data analyst in the m arketing and advertisin g field.

g field. Hold strong analytical skills, with the ability to collect, organise, analyse and decipher large amounts of information with attention to detail and accuracy.

Be able to write reports and present findings.

Have a strong knowledge of reporting and analysis.

Demonstrate knowledge and experience with statistical packages for analysing data.

Gathering and documenting data requirements.

Website tagging and testing.

Interrogating and understanding campaign objectives.

Providing dashboard support and resolving issues.

Testing data integration and quality, as well as data integration and processing.

Advising on data collection and developing data collection plans.

Collaboration with other broader teams.

Participating in evaluation of digital analytics technologies based on established criteria to satisfy business needs.

Contributing to the ongoing maintenance of an institutional memory resource so that analysis requests are not repeated without due cause, and analysis recommendations are consistent and not contradictory between projects.

Obtaining and incorporating benchmark data (internal, external) into reports and analyses for comparison purposes.

Experience in Web Analytics and analytics tools such as Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, and Google Tag Manager.

Experience in Social Media analytics tools would be advantageous.

Experience in, and knowledge around, SEO, Paid Media and Email Marketing would be advantageous.

Company Description

If your numerical abilities are off the charts (see what we did there), or you were a proud mathlete at school, we want you! But mostly your brain. Clockwork is looking for a data analyst to join our dynamic team. Find out if you qualify below.Our new digital (Web, SEO and Social Media) data analyst will be responsible for conducting analysis, and guide on activity and design. They will develop analysis and reporting capabilities, and monitor performance and quality control processes to identify needed improvements. There would be a key focus on web and SEO.If you think you meet these criteria, please send your CV and cover letter to az.oc.aidemkrowkcolc@sboj We are Clockwork  a globally recognised, independent creative and communications agency with headquarters in Johannesburg and London. Posted on 12 Oct 17:38, Closing date 11 Dec
The secret British intelligence plot to blow up Crimeas Kerch Bridge is revealed in internal documents and correspondence obtained exclusively by The Grayzone.

The Grayzone has obtained an April 2022 presentation drawn up for senior British intelligence officers hashing out an elaborate scheme to blow up Crimeas Kerch Bridge with the involvement of specially trained Ukrainian soldiers. Almost six months after the plan was circulated, Kerch Bridge was attacked in an October 8th suicide bombing apparently overseen by Ukraines SBU intelligence services.

Detailed proposals for providing audacious support to Kievs maritime raiding operations were drafted at the request of Chris Donnelly, a senior British Army intelligence operative and veteran high ranking NATO advisor. The wide-ranging plans core component was destruction of the bridge over the Kerch Strait.

Documents and correspondence plotting the operation were provided to The Grayzone by an anonymous source.

The truck bombing of the Kerch Bridge differed operationally from the plot sketched therein. Yet, Britains evident interest in planning such an attack underscores the deep involvement of NATO powers in the Ukraine proxy war. At almost precisely the time that London reportedly sabotaged peace talks between Kiev and Moscow in April this year, British military intelligence operatives were drawing up blueprints to destroy a major Russian bridge crossed by thousands of civilians per day.

The roadmap was produced by Hugh Ward, a British military veteran. A number of strategies for helping Ukraine pose a threat to Russian naval forces in the Black Sea are outlined. The overriding objectives are stated as aiming to degrade Russias ability to blockade Kiev, erode Moscows warfighting capability, and isolate Russian land and maritime forces in Crimea by denying resupply by sea and overland via Kerch bridge.

Read the complete blueprint: Support for Maritime Raiding Operations  Proposal

In an email, Ward asked Donnelly to please protect this document, and its easy to see why. Of these assorted plans, only the Kerch Bridge Raid CONOPS [concept of operation] is subject to a dedicated annex at the conclusion of Wards report, underlining its significance.

The content amounts to direct, detailed advocacy for the commission of what could constitute a grave war crime. Markedly, in plotting ways to destroy a major passenger bridge, there is no reference to avoiding civilian casualties.

Across three separate pages, alongside diagrams, the author spells out the terms of the mission  [disabling] the Kerch Bridge in a way that is audacious, disrupts road and rail access to Crimea and maritime access to the Sea of Azov.

Ward suggests that destroying the bridge would require a cruise missile battery to hit the two concrete pillars either side of the central steel arch, which will cause a complete structural failure, and prevent any road re-supply from the Russian mainland to Crimea and temporally [sic] disrupt the shipping lane.

An alternative scheme entails a team of attack divers or UUVs [unmanned underwater vehicles] equipped with limpet mines and linear cutting charges targeting a key weakness and design flaw in the bridges pillars.

This flaw is several thin pylons used to support the main span, which were intended to allow strong currents to flow underneath the Bridge with minimal friction. Ward pinpoints a particular area in which the depth of water around a set of pillars was just 10 meters, making it the weakest part of the structure.

In related emails obtained by The Grayzone, Chris Donnelly, the senior British army intelligence operative and former NATO advisor, declared the proposals to be very impressive indeed.

Reached by phone, Hugh Ward did not deny that he had prepared the Kerch Bridge destruction blueprint for Chris Donnelly.

Im going to have a chat with Chris [Donnelly] and confirm with him what hes prepared for me to release, Ward told The Grayzone, when asked directly if he drafted the audacious plan.

Asked again to confirm his role in the blueprint, Ward paused, then said: I can not confirm that. Ill have a chat with Chris first.

A suicide attack on a $4 billion transportation artery

At dawn on October 8th, an incendiary attack damaged the Kerch Bridge. A truck exploded, setting two oil tankers ablaze, causing two Crimea-bound spans of the roadway to collapse into the sea below, and killing three.

While the affected section was quickly repaired and traffic resumed the next day, Western media has celebrated the incident as the latest Russian embarrassment and failure in the conflict with Ukraine. In some cases, journalists openly cheered and joked about what could plausibly be categorized as a war crime that claimed civilian lives.

The suicide strike targeted a connecting structure between Crimea and mainland Russia constructed at a cost of $4 billion, and whose opening provided a major public relations victory for the Kremlin, reinforcing Moscows renewed control of the majority Russian-speaking territory.

Upon its unveiling in May 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin remarked:

In different historical epochs, even under the tsar priests, people dreamed of building this bridge. Then they returned to this in the 1930s, the 40s, the 50s. And finally, thanks to your work and your talent, the miracle has happened.

The Bridge has been heavily defended since February 24th, not least because it serves as a major transport route for military equipment to Russian soldiers in Ukraine. Russia has previously promised major reprisals in response to any strike on the structure.

Following the attack, widespread euphoria erupted among Ukrainians, Ukrainian authorities, and Ukraine supporters on social media. Oleksiy Danilov, head of Ukraines national security and defense council, posted a video of the burning bridge alongside a black-and-white clip of Marilyn Monroe singing Happy Birthday, Mr. President  a reference to Putin turning 70 the same day.

Furthermore, Ukrainian media has reported via an anonymous source in law enforcement agencies that the attack was carried out by the Security Service of Ukraine. Yet, high-ranking Ukrainian officials, including chief presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak, are now backtracking, claiming instead that the incident was a Russian false flag.

Such allegations have become commonplace in the wake of incidents in which Ukrainian  or Western  culpability seems likely or indeed certain, such as the Nord Stream pipeline explosions.

Lithuanian Minister of Defense Audrius Butkevicius was involved in British intelligence plans to destroy Kerch Bridge. " data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/thegrayzone.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/photo_1322526_9.jpg?fit=300%2C207&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/thegrayzone.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/photo_1322526_9.jpg?fit=1024%2C706&ssl=1" data-recalc-dims="1" />

Laying the foundations of World War III

While the attack on Kerch Bridge did not involve specialist divers, underwater drones or cruise missiles, there are indications that Wards plans were shared with the Ukrainian government at the highest levels. In fact, Chris Donnelly forwarded them to former Lithuanian Minister of Defense Audrius Butkevicius, before introducing the pair by email.

A leading figure in Lithuanias anti-Communist movement, Butkevicius has admitted to deliberately leading pro-independence fighters into Soviet snipers line of fire on January 13th 1991. This incident is sometimes referred to as Vilnius Bloody Sunday, and is officially observed as the Day of the Defenders of Freedom. Butkevicius and his confederates knew the maneuver would provoke mass casualties, further inflaming the local population against Soviet leadership and encourage regime change, which is why they orchestrated it.

More recently, Butkevicius co-owned Bulcommerce KS, a company that served as the main intermediary in the supply of Bulgarian weapons and ammunition to Ukraine through third countries, for use in the civil war in Donbas.

Butkevicius has been credibly accused of working for British intelligence. Email exchanges with Donnelly confirm he is in contact with Guy Spindler, a long-time MI6 officer who was posted in Londons Moscow Embassy concurrently with the infamous Trump-Russia dossier author Christopher Steele.

Reached by phone and asked if he reviewed the Audacious plan to destroy Kerch Bridge, Spindler told The Grayzone: I have absolutely no idea what youre talking about.

Contemporary accounts suggest Spindler directly coordinated with Boris Yeltsin at the time of a failed coup against Mikhail Gorbachev in August 1991.

Butkevicius was also for many years a senior fellow at the Institute for Statecraft, a shadowy charity founded by Donnelly that manages a number of arms length military and intelligence operations on behalf of the British state and NATO, including the now notorious Foreign Office black propaganda unit, the Integrity Initiative.

Leaked Initiative files name Butkevicius as the organizations key contact in Ukraine at the time of the countrys 2019 election. Three years earlier, he was one of the escorting personnel for five Ukrainian intelligence operatives whisked to London by the Institute for Statecraft in order to brief the British military on Russian hybrid warfare techniques. Alongside him was Vidmantas Eitutis, who at the time trained Ukraines army to conduct active counterintelligence operations in Luhansk.

In the Kerch Bridge sabotage proposal commissioned by Donnelly, Ward asks whether the Russian military knew how vulnerable the bridge supposedly was, and what countermeasures could be expected in response to its destruction (see image above).

The blitz of retaliatory missile strikes on Ukraine on October 10th provides a likely answer. It is also probable that if Wards outline was followed, Moscows reprisal would have been even more deadly, putting the lives of countless Ukrainians  and Russians  at significant risk.

Donnelly was clearly unmoved by such concerns, declaring the plans to be very impressive indeed.

A similar disregard for catastrophic consequences was evident in a private memo authored by Donnelly in March 2014, outlining military measures that Ukraine should take following Moscows seizure of Crimea.

Stating that, if I were in charge I would get the following implemented, Donnelly advocated mining Sevastopol harbor using a car ferry, destroying fighter jets on Crimean airfields as a gesture that they are serious, using a big microwave anti-satellite weapon to take down Russian space installations, and turning to the West for oil and gas supplies.

I am trying to get this message across, he concluded. These prescriptions have yet to be implemented, perhaps because they risk triggering an apocalyptic situation. Indeed, such gestures would amount to brazen provocations against a nuclear power, from which Ukraines oil and gas network was and remains exclusively designed to receive energy.

Yet it appears Donnelly and those around him would be content to see World War III erupt over Crimea. In fact, as the leaked documents obtained by The Grayzone will continue to demonstrate, provoking conflict between the West and Russia has long-been one of his ultimate objectives.
New Delhi: IT services major Infosys on Tuesday said its president Ravi Kumar S has resigned from his post.

The company did not give any reason for the move which comes just days ahead of its second quarter earnings announcement.

"The board of directors placed on record their deep sense of appreciation for the services rendered by Ravi Kumar S. for his contributions to the company," Infosys said in a regulatory filing.

In his role as president, Ravi Kumar S led the Infosys Global Services Organisation across all industry segments.

He led the services lines and specialised digital sales across consulting, technology, infrastructure, engineering and process verticals.

Starting his career as a nuclear scientist at the Bhabha Atomic Research Center, he joined Infosys in 2002 and was appointed as its president in 2016.

In 2017, he was named as the Deputy COO and was widely tipped to be the company's COO, but Infosys later did away with the post of the COO after the retirement of incumbent UB Pravin Rao.

According to the 2021-22 annual report of Infosys, Kumar was the third highest-paid senior executive of the company after CEO Salil Parekh and former COO UB Pravin Rao.

Shares of Infosys, which is to announce its second-quarter earnings on October 13, ended 2.65 per cent lower at Rs 1,423.90 apiece on the BSE.

The company board at its meeting on October 13 will also to consider a share buyback.
Photos: YouTube

The pretrial of the two embattled legislators in Uganda, Hon. Ssegirinya Muhammad of Kawempe North and Hon. Allan Ssewanyana of Makindye West seems to be setting pace for a futile trial after lawyers appear to be suspicious of the ghost witnesses and concocted evidence.

"For a fact, they have taken over a year, trying to investigate a case and even bringing witnesses is a problem to them, and now they want court to give us only 15 days with in which to do all the research and look at how to challenge witnesses; it is actually the state playing hide and seek to delay the case," argued Counsel Shamim Malende who is one of the lawyers for the incarcerated MPs and also woman Member of Parliament Kampala district.

This comes after defence team comprising the Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago, Kampala Woman MP Counsel Shamim Malende, Counsel Samuel Muyizzi and others filed an application seeking the International Crimes Division of the High Court to refer their appeal against the previous rulings made by the same court to the constitutional court.

On October 3, the International Crimes Division of the High Court in Kampala upheld the ex-parte application by the state that sought for the protection of 17 witnesses and later on October 5, the same court also dismissed an application by the defence legal team of the incarcerated legislators that sought for consolidation of charges in Masaka High Court and those of ICD.

"And we are really concerned with that because it will occasion the miscarriage of justice if the identity of these critical witnesses is hidden, and, that has got far reaching effects in terms of implicating the two legislators," said Erias Lukwago

Though the Prosecution team led by Chief Prosecutor Richard Birivumbuka challenged the defence team to directly file their appeal in the Constitutional court, the defence team insisted on the reference by the ICD for it was once tried with the appeal against the denial of bail by Masaka High Court, which the constitutional court struck out.

Why Run to the Constitutional Court?

According to the defence legal team, the previous decisions by the ICD contravene articles 28, 42, 44 of the 1995 Uganda Constitution, which prescribe rights to fair hearing, speedy trials and protection of human rights and fundamental freedom of Ugandans.

"That does not argue well with the dictates of the constitution in article 28, which guard against the double jeopardy and does not in any way accord the right to a fair hearing to the accused person because in assembling the defence, we don't have to be embarrassed with multiplicity of proceedings," added Lukwago.

The lawyers further questioned the rationale of the Prosecution's concealing of the information and identities of all the witnesses.

"If they are not fake and fabricated to keep the honourable MPs in incarceration, why can't they be disclosed?" questioned Erias Lukwago, one of the lawyers for the detained legislators.

Much as the incarcerated MPs are charged with several others; Jude Muwonge, Jackson Kanyike, John Mugerwa, Bull Wamala and Mike Serwaada, there are suspects whose charges have confused the Judge.

A case in point is A2/accused2, Jude Muwonge. Yesterday, after the presiding Judge Alice Komuhangi Kaukha finding that the suspect is not included on the charge sheet, with no clear explanation from the state on how he ended up at ICD, the judge ordered the prison authorities not again to arrain him before the ICD but did not discharge him even when Muwonge pleaded innocent.

All these are mysteries that hovering the charges, the Witness, the co-accused and every other thing that is associated with the charges of murder, terrorism, attempted murder and abating terrorism as imposed on the two legislators.

The Judge therefore set October 13 for the ruling on the defence legal team's application for reference of an appeal to the constitutional court. But, whatever the decision that the ICD will pronounce, lawyers call them phenomena that are not allowed in constitutional jurisprudence.

But, right now, the defence legal team is timid of how they will defend their clients during the trial when first challenging the witnesses and the evidence pinning their clients would be of a great help on their side.

The two members of parliament have been in prison for more than a year on fabricated charges.

Kakwenza Rukirabashaija

Lawyer, Novelist and Scholar on Writers in Exile Program of PEN-Zentrum Deutschland.

Mobile: +491782895634

Whatsap/Signal/Telegram: +447958104814

Books: 1) The Greedy Barbarian.

2) Banana Republic Where Writing Is Treasonous.

3) The Log Cabin.

4) Critical Analysis of the independence of Uganda's judiciary (LLB Thesis)

5) The Savage Avenger

Full profile: https://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Kakwenza_ Rukirabashaija
Hyderabad City Police commissioner C.V. Anand along with senior officials, displays items seized from 10 persons including two foreigners in Chinese investment fraud at TSICCC Building, in Hyderabad on Wednesday. (S. Surender Reddy/DC)

HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad police have arrested 10 accused in connection with a Rs 903 crore massive investment fraud that was being carried out by Chinese nationals across various regions of India via Dubai and Cambodia.

A Taiwanese national who is the kingpin in India was among the 10 accused arrested during the two-month operation. "This is the first time a large-scale conspiracy that posed a threat to the nation's economic system has been exposed. These individuals have not come under the radar of any law enforcement agency," said city police commissioner C.V. Anand. He claimed that the Chinese criminal groups siphoned off Rs 903 crore from their victims and sent it to Chinese nationals living abroad. The investigation has shown that fraud has been committed through hawala.

The arrested include Chu Chun-yu, a Taiwanese national and the network's kingpin, Lec alias Li Zhonjun, a Chinese national, Navneeth Kaushik, the owner of two Authorized Money Changers (AMC), three agents in Hyderabad, and other agents from Pune, Delhi, and Mumbai.

The city police unearthed the fraud while looking into a citizen's complaint that he had been scammed after paying Rs 1.6 lakh in the investment app Loxam. Following an investigation, it was discovered that the complainant's funds were transferred to Xindai Technologies Pvt Ltd. This bank account was opened in the name of Xindai Technologies Pvt Ltd by one Virender Singh in Pune.

Further investigation led police to another firm, Betench Networks, whose bank account was registered by another accused, Delhi-based Sanjay Kumar. He admitted that he opened the bank account at Lec's request and gave the login information to two people  Pei and Husan Zhuan  thought to be in China.

These two people run a firm in China from which they control the network of investment fraud. Additionally, Sanjay Kumar opened 15 additional bank accounts and gave Chu Chun-yu access to them. In response, Chun-yu sends SIM cards, credentials, and bank account information through courier to their partners in Cambodia and other nations, said C.V.Anand.

Veerender and Sanjay received commission payments of Rs. 1.20 lakh each for setting up bank accounts that the Chinese nationals would use to collect money from victims all throughout the nation.

Money was sent from Xindai to 38 different accounts, including those of three agents with offices in Hyderabad. City-based agents Syed Sultan and Mirza Nadeem Baig opened bank accounts in Hyderabad and gave them to Imran in Dubai, who used them for investment fraud and paid them commission.

Ranjan Money Corps and KDS Forex Pvt Ltd, both AMCs licensed and operated by Navneeth Kaushik, gathered and converted the funds from 38 accounts for use on international tours and travels. The foreign currency was then handed over to another accused Sahil and Sunny, who transferred them abroad through hawala channels.
2017 Summer 1 Newsletter

HackMyPhD Introduces Doctoral Students and Postdocs to Entrepreneurship Join Us July 27 for a Daylong Seminar on Alternative Academic Careers Mandel Center for the Humanities

Brandeis Innovation brings together Boston's innovation and research communities with the first of its kind event: HackMyPhD, a daylong seminar for STEAM graduate students to take control of their careers, including exploring entrepreneurship

Join us at this I-Corps program looking at career options beyond the classroom or university lab. Industry speakers who have made the leap will share, through workshops and sessions, how to:

Launch your own startup using skills gained as a doctoral student

Find opportunities at existing startups and established tech companies

Translate your skills in research into a meaningful career

Youll meet entrepreneurs that went the PhD to startup founder route and researchers with experience in practical application and commercialization. Hack your PhD at this daylong event with takeaways for students in both STEAM and social sciences.

Announcing the 2017 SPROUT Grant Winners

Brandeis Innovation has recently announced the winners of its 7th Annual SPROUT Program. Designed to encourage academic and entrepreneurial success, SPROUT allows candidates to submit their research projects for funding to a panel of judges. This years panel chose 8 projects from a range of different fields, including genetics, medicine, and green engineering. From Lyme disease treatments to a new source of sustainable energy, the teams are truly working on healing the most pressing challenges the world faces today.

What's Going On With Brandeis Innovation:

William Tarimo: Transforming Educational Technology, One Classroom at a Time
Sydney rock oysters will be more expensive and harder to get this Christmas as oyster farmers pass on price increases in a bid to recover from flooding and disease that have destroyed nearly a third of this years crop.

About 20 million, or 30 per cent, of Sydney rock oysters have been devastated by this years La Nina event and flooding from previous years, as well as the QX disease, which affects only Sydney rock and not Pacific oysters.

Sydney rock oyster farmer Brad Verdich, from ASX company East 33, is asking the public to understand why oysters are more expensive and harder to come by this summer. Credit:Shane Chalker

We believe theres going to be a shortage of oysters ... they will be a rarer product, said third-generation oyster farmer Brad Verdich, part of ASX-listed company East 33. Were going to have less oysters available this Christmas and this summertime than we had last year.

Sydney rock oyster breeding takes three years and accounts for 1 per cent of global commercial production, while Pacific oysters take 12 months to grow and make up 95 per cent of production.
A Taste of Hunger 

(M) 104 minutes

The opening scene of this Danish film is all about food as theatre. Carsten (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and his wife, Maggie (Katrine Greis-Rosenthal) are setting the stage for the opening of their new restaurant.

Most of the room will be in darkness with each dish sitting in its own pool of light. Were in the world of the celebrity chef here and food is centre stage. Carsten is running an establishment inspired by Copenhagens famed Noma but hes also trained in Japan, returning with a fervent belief in the potential of the culinary art as a cross between performance art and religious experience.

Katrine Greis-Rosenthal and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau in A Taste of Hunger. Credit:Henrik Ohsten

Maggie becomes his co-worshipper and during the early years of their marriage, their shared desire to see their restaurant succeed serves as the aphrodisiac that sparks their sex life. Then Carstens urge to attain a Michelin star starts eclipsing everything else in his life. We know the marriage is in trouble when he has a meltdown because his young daughter, Chloe (Flora Augusten) manages to spill the vinaigrette before it can be added to the salad at a family barbecue.
Former NSW deputy premier John Barilaro has pleaded not guilty to assaulting a cameraman and causing malicious damage outside a Manly restaurant in August this year.

Footage of the scuffle shows Barilaro pushing freelancer cameraman Matt Costello and his camera away from him before walking away and waiting at traffic lights to cross the road.

John Barilaro (inset) in a scuffle with a cameraman in Manly.

Barilaro, 50, will vigorously defend the two charges, his lawyer Danny Eid said outside Manly Local Court on Wednesday.

Were not lying down on this one, he said.
HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Tuesday expressed dissatisfaction at the Telangana government and the police for not filing its stand on a petition which challenges the orders issued for detaining Goshamahal MLA T. Raja Singh under the PD Act.

The division bench comprising Justice Annireddy Abhishek Reddy and Justice Juvvadi Sri Devi asked government counsel about the delay in filing the counters despite ample time being given to the state.

The bench was dealing with a petition filed by T. Ushabai, the wife of Raja Singh, challenging the proceedings under the Preventive Detention Act against her husband. She had filed the petition in the first week of September and the court on September 6 had directed the government and police to submit their contentions in four weeks.

On Tuesday, counsel for the government requested the bench for another two weeks to file a reply. He informed the court that the advisory board under the PD Act has taken a decision to not release Raja Singh.

Considering the request of government counsel, the bench gave time to file counters and adjourned the hearing to October 20.
Two more people have been charged with murder after a man who tried to intervene in an argument was shot in the chest outside a Brisbane home.

Police were called to a Cliveden Avenue address at Corinda just before 3.30am on October 4, where 38-year-old Inala man Timothy Van Vo had been shot dead.

A 38-year-old Eastern Heights man at Riverview was arrested on Tuesday. Credit:Queensland Police Service

It is alleged Van Vo, originally from Sydney, intervened in a confrontation between a group of people and a man at 321 Cliveden Avenue before he was shot at close range with a shotgun.

The following night, seven vehicles were destroyed by fire at a Gladstone Road unit complex at Dutton Park, including one believed to have been seen driving off from the shooting.
Every morning Jan Roberts hugs the memorial statue in honour of the dead at Coogees Dolphins Point.

Her son Ben was 28 years old when he died from injuries sustained in the blasts in Bali in 2002, and was one of the 88 Australians who were honoured on Wednesday.

Jan and Alan Roberts lay a flower and hug the Coogee statue in memory of their son Ben, at the 20th anniversary of his death. Credit:James Alcock

This memorial means a great deal, she told the crowd of several hundred who came to the headland in a rainy ceremony of remembrance. Many family members who lost loved ones nodded in agreement.

Every morning we walk down here with our dogs and we give the pillars a hug, on warm days they are warm. And it means Ben gets a hug, said Roberts, who moved to Coogee with her husband Alan after their sons death.
He said residents should block their drains to prevent water coming up through toilets and showers and move furniture off the floor: Our message has been bag it, block it, lift it and leave. On Wednesday afternoon it was not clear how many residents had chosen to leave their homes, Williams said. If possible, self-evacuate. Dont wait for an evacuation order because we might not be able to give one. Residents of Rochester sandbag shop entrances in Rochesters main street. Hundreds of houses in the town were inundated during the 2011 flood. Credit:Justin McManus The SES has put a limit of 25 sandbags per household.

Jenny Bibby, who runs a local funeral parlour, took a dozen sandbags to seal the doorways of her business near St Arnauds town centre. She said some businesses had been regularly inundated during previous floods while hers was spared. But Bibby feared the water could reach her business this week. I reckon it might this time, she said. Weve sandbagged all the doors. Thats about all we can do. Jenny Bibby lays sandbags at her business in St Arnaud. Credit:Justin McManus Bibby said the town was apprehensive about the looming weather after about a dozen businesses were flooded earlier this year.

Were not looking forward to another cleanup, she said. In nearby Carapooee, farmer Graeme McLennan was worried water would reach his house. If we get heavy rain it could get six inches up the door, he said. Secondary students at Melbourne boys school St Kevins will switch to remote learning on Thursday to avoid the potential flooding of the Yarra River.

The schools Heyington campus, located next to the Yarra in Toorak, experienced flooding in 2005 and 2009. Students at other campuses will attend school as normal. A warning for Falls Creek and Bogong Village was issued on Tuesday because of a slow-moving active landslide on the Bogong High Plains Road above Bogong Village. On Wednesday, the Bogong High Plains Road was closed from 12pm, cutting off access to Falls Creek. SES operations officer Charlie Sexton confirmed that the road closure meant residents at nearby ski lodges at Falls Creek had been told to leave. Lisa Logan, who manages the Diana Alpine Lodge in Falls Creek, told radio station 3AW she planned to leave on Wednesday morning, as only a single lane out of the area remained open. The other road out was closed due to snow.

SES crews across the state have been mobilised to deal with the impacts of widespread rain, with thousands of sandbags prepared ahead of the downpour. There were more than two dozen sandbag stations set up  including at Gisborne, Woodend, Echuca, Castlemaine, Maryborough, Ballarat, Avoca and Geelong  for residents to collect. Landowners are also being urged to prepare their dams ahead of the rain and take precautions, including clearing spillways and repairing any cracks or defects.

Lisa Logan, who manages the Diana Alpine Lodge in Falls Creek, told radio station 3AW she planned to leave on Wednesday morning, as only a single lane out of the area remained open. The other road out was closed due to snow. Wet weather began lashing Victoria on Wednesday morning in the central, northern, north-western and alpine regions. Weather bureau meteorologist Miriam Bradbury said a severe thunderstorm warning was issued for western Victoria near the Grampians on Wednesday. There was a risk of flash flooding as a result of the storms, she said.

But the worst of the weather is expected to start coming through late Wednesday and into Thursday morning. One way or the other, Thursday looks like the peak day of the rain system moving through, she said. The rain is expected to hit Melbourne with flash flooding a risk, with swollen rivers in danger of bursting their banks, including the Yarra. It will be pretty wet in the morning, but it will get more intense through the afternoon on Thursday, she said.

Its really all about the next couple of days. Bradbury said the northern suburbs and the north-west could see rainfall above the 30 to 50 millimetres expected in Melbourne, with higher rainfall also expected on the Surf Coast. The wet weather should settle by the weekend with very isolated showers expected, Bradbury said. The bureaus severe weather warning update on Wednesday morning said 24-hour rainfall totals on Thursday were expected to reach between 50 and 80 millimetres, with isolated totals possibly more than 120 millimetres over higher terrain.

Flood warnings are currently in place for the Loddon, Avoca, Kiewa, Snowy and Goulburn rivers in the states north-west, north and east. Authorities are also concerned about the Campaspe, King, Ovens, Wimmera and Broken rivers. Premier Daniel Andrews reiterated the warnings of the forecasters and emergency services on Wednesday. Please be aware of your circumstances; please get the best information so you can make the very best decisions for your safety and the safety of others, he said.

And please, please do not drive into floodwater because its dangerous for you, and its really dangerous for the person who has to come and rescue you. Loading Tasmania is also on high alert, with predicted rain on par with the amount that caused devastating, deadly floods six years ago. Falls of 60 to 100 millimetres are forecast in the north from Wednesday evening into Friday, with up to 180 millimetres predicted in the north-east highlands and 250 millimetres possible in the Great Western Tiers.
Read more of our Victorias Agenda coverage on the health system. See all 5 stories .

Patients in regional Victoria face hefty fees for urgent healthcare that is free at emergency departments in Melbourne, prompting calls for the major political parties to guarantee equal access to care, regardless of where people live.

Healthcare groups fear some people are putting off treatment for injuries, infections and other ailments to avoid fees at urgent care centres that operate across rural Victoria.

Andrew Bibby was charged $209 for a visit to Stawells urgent care centre. Credit:Darrian Traynor

Access to healthcare and cost of living pressures were among the top issues raised by voters who spoke to The Age for the Victorias Agenda project, which will shape coverage of the November 26 state election.

Concerns about healthcare were particularly pronounced among people in regional Victoria.
Heres a list of the latest emergency warnings published by the SES. Well update it over the course of the evening:

Click here for more information.
The ambassador told the Herald and The Age that efforts to reset the relationship were off to a good start under the new Labor government, but both sides needed to take action to avoid momentum stalling. It seems were not moving fast enough, not as fast as China would expect, Xiao said in an interview at the Chinese embassy in Canberra. Penny Wong has met her Chinese counterpart twice since the May election but said in September it would be a long road to improving relations between the two nations. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Its improving but on a slow, bit-by-bit basis. Trade Minister Don Farrell said on Tuesday: I dont think we ever want to get into a situation where we again are so reliant on China.

Defence Minister Richard Marles met Chinas defence minister in Singapore in June, while Foreign Minister Wong has met her Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, twice since the May election. Loading A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson responded to the ambassadors remarks by saying: Australia and China have taken important steps to stabilise the relationship, including through a range of constructive ministerial engagements. This will require continued engagement and goodwill on both sides. We will continue to pursue stabilisation, but as Foreign Minister Wong said to State Councillor Wang [last month], Australias interests are constant and the government will always speak out when necessary on the issues that matter to the Australian people. Xiao said he had been in discussions with officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs about practical steps Australia and China could take in coming months to improve the relationship.

Xiao said he had stressed that while the resumption of ministerial-level meetings was welcome, we need to take some actions beyond talking. In a relationship, you need two hands to clap. Xiao described the coming G20 summit in Jakarta, APEC meeting in Bangkok and East Asia Summit in Phnom Penh as important opportunities for the two nations to repair relations and argued the economic gain could help boost the Australian government budget  and end the argument over income tax cuts. Penny Wong gives a speech to her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi at the G20 meeting in July. Credit:Johannes P. Christo If we have good relations between China and Australia, if we come back to a normal relationship, come back to comprehensive co-operation, why should Australia worry about the tax? You dont have to worry about the tax cuts, he said. Commenting on calls for Australia to reduce its dependence on China, Xiao said: Somebody may say that Australia can co-operate with many other countries. Congratulations. But in my view, you cannot find any other partner like China, you cannot find a better partner [than] China.

Xiao angered some observers with a major speech to the National Press Club in August that included an assertion that China reserved the right to take control of Taiwan by force, but he played down that prospect in his interview this week and said Chinas goal was peaceful reunification. Loading Xiao said Xinjiang and Taiwan were two issues that are frequently, in certain ways, disrupting our efforts to reset the relationship. I wish that the people in this country and the Labor government will be looking at the issues in a more objective or more balanced way, and address those issues in a constructive way, he said. And we can talk about our views over these issues  but for public statements, its hurting the Chinese people.

Public commentary on these topics was not conducive to creating a favourable atmosphere, he said, rejecting widespread claims China had pursued a policy of genocide in Xinjiang. Loading Asked about the detention of Australian journalist Cheng Lei, who has been in custody in China for two years and is yet to learn the outcome of a closed trial held in March, the ambassador said he had no authority to interfere with the judicial process but could offer other help. I am willing to provide whatever assistance I can from a humanitarian perspective and in accordance with Chinese law to facilitate contact between Cheng Lei and her family or the Australian embassy in China, he said. The Australian government has called for basic standards of justice and humane treatment for Cheng, while the International Federation of Journalists has criticised the complete lack of transparency around the trial and called for her release.

On Taiwan, the ambassador said Chinas official position was that there should be one country, two systems but acknowledged the Australian stance adopted in December 1972 only accepted a one China policy. Loading We look to Australia to understand the Chinese position on Taiwan and stick to its China policy, he said. Xiao said China had no problem with Australia pursuing economic ties with Taiwan. But we cannot accept any kind of official relationship between Australia and Taiwan, he added. Asked whether Wong or Farrell could be welcomed to Beijing for ministerial talks, he said: Id love to see various kinds of high-level contacts and added that neither side should apply preconditions to the meeting.
Sydney tenants are facing record high house and unit rents as low rental vacancies drive up competition and prices for homes.

House rents jumped $30 per week to a record median of $650 over the September quarter, new figures show, while unit rents increased $25 to $550  returning to the record set in 2018, the Domain Rent Report for the September quarter, released on Thursday, shows.

Sydney rents are at record highs. Credit:Peter Rae

However, rents fell or held steady in some areas, as the rising cost of living weighs on household budgets, and lifestyle changes seen earlier in the pandemic start to reverse.

House and unit rents each climbed 4.8 per cent over the quarter, the data shows, and were up 14 per cent and 14.6 per cent, respectively, over the year. It is the largest annual increase in unit rents on Domain records which go back to 2004, and the largest jump in house rents since 2009.
Jessica OGrady of Geelong, who was on the Sari Club dancefloor when the car bomb exploded outside 20 years ago, walked out in tears when the footage of the venue in flames was on screen. Weve been to many anniversaries here and up until that point every single one of them had been beautiful and respectful and today had been a really, really nice day up until that point. I just cannot believe that they showed that, she said. Nobody needs to see that. We lived through that. We were right here. Her friend Kirra Clarke, who was a first responder after the attack, was also dismayed. [They were] speaking about it being a homage to the families, how can that be? she said. No one wants to see that. Its hard enough to see the sanitised version. Can you imagine if thats your loved one in that site, and were here to pay respect and they show that?

Onlookers watch vision of the Bali bombing aftermath on a big screen at the 20th anniversary memorial of the event in Kuta, Bali. Credit:Chris Barrett A spokesman for Indonesian polices anti-terror squad Detachment 88, which made the video and was involved in organising the night, said on Thursday it deeply regretted that the video evoked sadness again for the victims We had no intention to raise the trauma but to remind us about the danger of terrorism, Detachment 88 spokesman Aswin Siregar said. It was especially for the younger generation who did not experience the tragedy or who did not know about it. But we understand and we would like to apologise that some parts of the video were incongruous to the victims. It was not intentional to cause sadness. Sirgear said officers from Detachment 88, which was established with the aid of Australian funding and training after the Bali bombings, had received complaints on Wednesday night.

The event, which followed an earlier Indonesian-run peace ceremony at the memorial in the afternoon and an Australian government-organised tribute at its consulate-general in Denpasar, was attended by Indonesia Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian and National Police Chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo, who placed flowers at the monument. Loading There were also Australian officials there including Penny Williams, the ambassador to Indonesia, and representatives from other countries. Speeches from Indonesia President Joko Widodo and former Australian prime minister John Howard were beamed over the two big screens to start proceedings. Widodo said we all must unite against terrorism, describing the Bali bombings as a barbaric act clearly aimed at creating provocation and terror in the midst of society.

Howard gave a nod to the spirit of cooperation between Indonesian and Australian police, who joined forces to hunt down those responsible for the bombings, setting the tone for ties between the two nations. Those who carried out these attacks wanted to drive a wedge between Indonesia and Australia, he said. We can take comfort from the fact that they failed utterly to do that. The video package, titled Harmony in Diversity, was presented as a documentation of Indonesias success in tracking down and convicting the culprits and tackling extremism in recent years. It also included a clip of a plane flying into one of the World Trade Centre towers in New York City on September 11, 2001.

The handling of the event appeared to be another example of the sometimes divergent outlooks between Indonesia and Australia on sensitive political and cultural issues. But siblings Lesley Reynolds and Jeff Marshall of Adelaide, who lost their father Bob Marshall in the attack, said they found it deeply confronting. An Australian flag is seen during the commemoration in Bali. Credit:Getty When they put up that footage of the bombings and the bombers and everything, it just took us straight back. There is some of that footage we havent even seen, Reynolds said. They missed the timeline [as well]. I feel really disappointed and let down.

Marshall said: It was hard to watch. I just put my head down. I couldnt watch it. We stayed around tonight because we thought tonight was about Australians, the 88 people who died, and there is nothing. All we got was bombs and carnage. Those guys [the perpetrators] should never be shown again. Theyve been executed and theyre out of our lives. Now theyre throwing them in our faces. Its crazy. Some Australians at the site said they were also unhappy they were not permitted to enter the land of the former Sari Club to light a candle at the time of the bombings 20 years ago because it was being used on Wednesday night as a car park for vehicles ferrying government officials. The sight on screen of Patek, who has been made eligible for parole 11 years into his 20-year prison, also went down poorly. The former Jemaah Islamiyah bomb maker has been held up by Indonesian police as a model for reforming extremists and could soon walk free if his release is ticked off by the Indonesian government.

Loading I walked out in disbelief when I saw Umar Patek and Ali Imron [who was sentenced to life in jail over the bombings] and the explosion. At 11.05pm on the 20th anniversary, I thought this cant be happening, said Melbourne man Jan Laczynski, who was in Bali on the night of the attack and lost friends. Im a hardened person. Ive met all these terrorists in a courtroom, face to face in a documentary. Im shocked and I dont shock easily. I saw girls crying in front of me. I couldnt believe it. Candles were lit during the late-night service to remember the victims and there was also a poem read about love and pluralism, accompanied by dancers. - with Karuni Rompies and Amilia Rosa
Australian PM vows to stand by Ukraine

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My first visit to the Oxford Union  the playpen modelled on the UK parliament that serves as a nursery for Britains political elite  also turned out to be my last. I cannot recall what motion was being debated that night, but I can still picture the off-putting young fogey who dominated the chamber. Dressed in a tailored waistcoat and jacket, and speaking with plummy ex cathedra certainty, he looked and sounded like a lazy caricature  a Brideshead risibly revisited.

Even in the 1990s, when John Major was touting his classless society, it seemed divinely ordained that this Tory throwback would one day occupy a parliamentary seat and most probably end up in the cabinet. Thirty years on, the right honourable Jacob Rees-Mogg is the member for North East Somerset and the secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy.

Illustration Credit:Dionne Gain

As the Financial Times columnist Simon Kuper writes in his new book  Chums: How a Tiny Caste of Oxford Tories Took Over the UK  Britain is run by an Oxocracy. Five of the last six UK prime ministers studied in the city of dreaming spires. For 34 of the past 43 years, 10 Downing Street has been occupied by an Oxonian. Of late, however, Britains prime minister factory has been churning out duds. From David Cameron through to Theresa May, Boris Johnson and now Liz Truss, the quality control has been getting progressively more slapdash.

Britains perpetual state of crisis, then, is not just fiscal, monetary or Brexit-induced. Much of it stems from a political personnel problem. The Oxocracy is failing badly. The UK is being run by a self-sustaining cabal of second-rate student politicians.
Xi's vision helps address urgent global issues

08:22, October 12, 2022 By Zhang Yunbi ( China Daily

A Chinese expert checks the growth of rice with farmers in Abuja, Nigeria. Rice planted at four demonstration fields all produced good harvests this year. [Photo/CHINA DAILY]

Editor's note: China Daily presents a series of analyses to explain why and how China, led by President Xi Jinping, addresses the "questions of the times" by advancing peace, progress, openness and cooperation in the world.

Answers to 'questions of the times' in interests of entire human community

In response to looming security challenges, headwinds against global recovery and setbacks to global development, President Xi Jinping brought up a number of "questions of the times" this June.

"Where is the world headed: Peace or war? Progress or regression? Openness or isolation? Cooperation or confrontation? These are questions of the times that we are confronted with," Xi said in the keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the BRICS Business Forum in Beijing on June 22.

At the forum, Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, stressed the need to jointly maintain world peace and stability, promote sustainable global development, pursue win-win cooperation and expand openness and integration.

Xi's remarks help the world better identify priorities, shape agendas and deliver actions on outstanding issues such as geopolitical conflicts, the COVID-19 pandemic, food and energy crises, and economic downturns, observers said.

Over the past 10 years, led by the CPC, the country has displayed great courage, wisdom and boldness in soundly answering the "questions of the times" in a holistic manner and helping to address the world's common needs, they added.

Xi unveiled a wide range of plans and measures at a number of major international and regional events to further advance global peace, progress, openness and cooperation.

"China remains a supporter of global peace and stability as it becomes bigger and stronger, which showcases China's great sense of duty as a major country," said Parakhat Durdyev, Turkmenistan's ambassador to China.

China enjoys great potential in the economy, technology and culture, and working with China means good access to ideal cooperation for development, he added.

At the High-level Dialogue on Global Development on June 24, Xi announced that China will upgrade the South-South Cooperation Assistance Fund to a Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund, and add $1 billion to the fund on top of the $3 billion already committed.

Speaking at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on Sept 16, Xi said that next year China will host an SCO ministers' meeting on development cooperation and an industrial and supply chains forum, and will set up the China-SCO Big Data Cooperation Center to create new engines of common development.

Xu Bu, president of the China Institute of International Studies, said that led by Xi, China's answers to the "questions of the times" are in the interests of the entire human community, focus on the theme of global development and lead the world's efforts in pursuing peace and development.

"Currently, human society is at a new crossroads, because geopolitical and security issues are increasingly prominent, unilateralism and protectionism are on the rise, economic globalization is suffering from headwinds and global supply and production chains witness serious challenges," he said.

Xi's remarks on the "questions of the times" constitute a Chinese solution to tackle the world's deficit in governance, trust, peace and development, and serve as part of China's contribution to boosting global cooperation on development, he added.

China is an active player supporting international development as it pushes for building a community with a shared future for mankind, basing its actions on South-South cooperation, building on the important platform of the Belt and Road Initiative and seeking to help other nations in fulfilling the United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, he said.

As promoted by the BRI, East Africa now has highways, and China-Europe freight trains have become an important lifeline ensuring the stable, smooth flow of global and regional logistics.

China has signed more than 200 cooperation documents on jointly building the Belt and Road with 149 countries and 32 international organizations, Vice-Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu said at a news conference on Sept 29.

Jia Qingguo, director of the Institute for Global Cooperation and Understanding at Peking University, said that in the future world order, non-Western countries such as BRICS members may play a larger role in rule-making, and values such as peace, development, state sovereignty and mutual benefits are likely to get more attention.

A sustained world order requires international efforts to find ways to manage and contain divergences and to work together to address challenges to the world order. In particular, major countries need to do the right thing with a sense of foresight, courage and wisdom, Jia said.

In a prerecorded video offering congratulations on the 73rd anniversary of the founding of People's Republic of China, Maltese President George Vella noted that the pandemic "has highlighted once more the importance of multilateralism and solidarity among states".

He said it is important that more countries such as China "remain active supporters of effective multilateralism and demonstrate active respect for international law and institutions".

Wang Chao, president of the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs and president of the United Nations Association of China, said that China's answers to the "questions of the times" were based on the Chinese nation's unchanged belief in reasonably tackling differences among civilizations, seeking common ground while shelving differences, and learning from each other.

"China never subscribes to the idea that a major country should necessarily be a bully, and the nation believes that nations  whether big or small, rich or poor  are equal members of the global community and are entitled to participate in international affairs on an equal footing," Wang said.

Ren Lin, head of the Department of Global Governance at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of World Economics and Politics, said that facing the "questions of the times", countries should advance the joint building of the community with a shared future for mankind.

"It is important to examine deeds rather than words when evaluating whether a country subscribes to genuine multilateralism or not," Ren said. "Unlike some Western countries' hypocrisy in sugarcoating their unilateralist moves with the pretext of multilateralism, China has been practicing multilateralism with tangible actions that honor openness, inclusiveness, benefits for all and win-win cooperation."

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Du Mingming)
An extraordinary increase in passenger traffic and freight movement has been reported in the Chennai airport this year. (DC file image)

CHENNAI: The simmering anger and discontent among the people in Parandur and surrounding villages over the government proposal to set up a greenfield airport in Kanchipuram district is likely to spill over to Chennai roads on Monday as those fearing loss of land and house are gearing up to take out a protest march to the State Assembly when its monsoon session starts.

Ever since the announcement on the site for Chennai's second airport was made by the Union government, the people of the 13 villages, where large scale land acquisition is expected to be carried out by the state government, have been protesting against the project and have been organising themselves through regular meetings and black flag agitations.

In most of the villages, protests have been a daily feature between 7 pm and 9 pm in the past 78 days, while many other efforts have also been made by the people to put pressure on the government to change the site for the airport coming up in 4750 acres of land covering the 13 villages.

The villages that fall under the site map include Parandur, Valathur, Thandalam, Nelvai, Melpadavur and Madapuram in Kanchipuram taluk and Eganapuram, Edayarpakkam, Kunakaranpakkam, Akkamapuram, Singilipadi and Mahadevi Mangalam in Sriperumbudur taluk.

Among them, the people fear that five villages, including Eganapuram, Nelvai and Thandalam, would be completely wiped out with their agricultural lands levelled up and houses demolished. The people fear that they would be totally displaced from the land in which they have been living for generations and be made refugees without a place of their own.

These sentiments have been expressed in the regular night meetings when people gather in a common place after work and they have collectively pledged to be firm in their resolve to not give up their land for the airport project, come what may.

Though the government had even promised them handsome compensation for the acquired land, offering even three times the market rate, the people are now not in favour of moving out of their homes and villages and losing their livelihood.

Even the lure of development has not made any impact on the peoples resolve to remain in their traditional habitation and resist the governments move. Attempts by the officials and also some senior politicians assigned to convince the people on the merits of development have repeatedly failed and the deployment of police pickets in the region has not dampened their spirit.

While police did manage to prevent many outsiders, activists and politicians, from interacting with the villagers and mobilizing them against the project by stopping them on the way and whisking them away, some politicians did manage to meet up with the protestors.

Now, the people have decided to march to the Secretariat on October 17, when the Assembly is convened, raising concerns for the government.
WASHINGTON, October 13.  The United States Pioneer moon satellite crashed back into the Earths atmosphere today at approximately 4 a.m. (Melbourne time, 2 p.m.).

First published in The Age on October 14, 1958

Announcing this, the U.S. Air Force said the re-entry point was estimated to be over the South Pacific Ocean.

But the air force said its Hawaiian tracking station lost contact with the historic lunar flight at 3.46 a.m.

The announcement said; No reports of visual observation of re-entry have been received - the robot is assumed to have burned up on re-entry.

The long plunge back to earth by Pioneer followed a history-making flight which took the rocket 79,212 miles into space  more than a third of the way to its moon target.

The Air Force said repeated efforts were made during the last two hours of the Pioneers flight to fire its retrorocket and divert the vehicle into an orbit around earth.
Anil Agarwal-led group on Wednesday said that the firms had approved a proposal to transfer Rs 12,857 crore from its general reserve to its profit and loss (P&L) account.

The special resolution was put to vote at an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on Tuesday, with 99.96 per cent voting in its favour, said. The money will be utilised to create further value of shareholders, the company said.

Analysts tracking expect the firm to announce a special in the coming months. Executives at the company were not immediately available for comment on this issue.

The development acquires significance since Vedanta's holding company, Vedanta Resources, will receive nearly 70 per cent of the to be distributed.

Experts said the transfer of the balance from the general reserve to the P&L account was made possible by changes introduced by the Act, 2013. Earlier, had to transfer a certain percentage of profits to their general reserves before the declaration of .

The Mumbai bench of the in August had directed the company to hold the EGM to approve the scheme of arrangement. In its notice in September, when calling for the EGM, Vedanta said that the funds represented by the general reserve were in excess of the companys anticipated operational and business needs for the foreseeable future.

According to data compiled by the BS Research Bureau, Vedanta paid the most dividend in FY22, giving out Rs 16,740 crore to . In FY23, the company has so far announced two interim dividends, amounting to an outflow of Rs 18,960 crore, data shows.

Much of this dividend, according to ratings agency Moody's, will go towards servicing debt obligations of Vedanta Resources, which holds nearly 70 per cent stake in Vedanta.
The government on Wednesday handed over the Letter of Award for development of a deep-sea port at Tajpur to .

It was received by Karan Adani, CEO, and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) at a post-Durga puja event hosted by the state government in the presence of Chief Minister, .

In a stock exchange filing, APSEZ said that the company has received Letter of Award from Industrial Development Corporation for development of deep-sea port at Tajpur, on Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer basis.

At the event attended by industrialists and CEOs, Banerjee pointed to the growth in agricultural output and said, "Similarly, we have to take care of industry and investment."

The hand-over of the LoA for the port at Tajpur follows the Bengal Cabinet approval last month for issuing it.

According to a statement from the state government, the port would entail an investment of Rs 15,000 crore.

The related port-led infrastructure development would involve another Rs 10,000 crore, it said. According to the government, the project would create 25,000 jobs directly.
Good Health Company (GHC), a Hyderabad-based D2C health-tech start-up, has raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Left Lane Capital. Existing investors Khosla Ventures, Quiet Capital, and Weekend Fund participated in the round.

The company will use the funds to introduce more product categories and expand its team. Our aim, right from the first day, was to provide a scientifically proven solution to the unmet healthcare care needs of our consumers. We are happy to have achieved our targets and are thrilled by the trust displayed by our investors as we move to the next step of wellness in India, said Samarth Sindhi, founder of GHC.

According to report by Redseer, Indias health-tech industry will likely touch $9-12 billion gross merchandise value (GMV) by 2025 and $40 billion by 2040. The projections are a clear indication of market opportunity, the firm said in a statement.

The global health and wellness industry is a $1.5 trillion market growing steadily at 5-10% annually, with the Indian market contributing to it at an exponentially increasing rate. Good Health Companys rapid growth rate these past 18 months is testament that Indias population is hungry for scientifically proven, medical-grade health and wellness products, said Vinny Pujji, managing partner at Left Lane Capital.

GHC said in the last 12 months it has introduced solutions for hair care, skin care, sexual health and weight loss and new vertical focused on women's health.
India's companies, such as Adani Greens, owned by billionaire Gautam Adani's Adani Group, and carbon offsetters like EKI Energy Services, have come together to develop a carbon credit market to help achieve energy transition goals.

India is one of the world's biggest greenhouse gas emitters and it aims to reach net zero emissions by 2070.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants India to become an industrial powerhouse while also cutting emissions by 60 million tonnes a year by 2030, highlighting the importance of a robust carbon trading market.

"A domestic market that is formed in unison and close consultation with relevant industry stakeholders can tremendously accelerate the country's transition to become carbon neutral," Manish Dabkara, president of the newly formed Carbon Market Association of India, told the media on Tuesday.

Dabkara owns EKI Energy Services, which deals in carbon offsetting business.

The association includes Hero Future Energies, Ayana Renewable Power and global private equity major KKR's Virescent Infra, among several others.

It aims to act as a mediator between government and industry to facilitate trade of carbon credits which would imply increased carbon neutral growth, Dabkara said.

The lower house of parliament passed an Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill 2022 in August that seeks to establish carbon trading.

Under a carbon trading scheme, government and private entities can earn carbon credits by reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. The same credits can be bought and sold in markets.

(Reporting by Mohi Narayan)

(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.)
HYDERABAD: The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) leadership's stance on the crucial Munugode Assembly bypoll scheduled for November 3

differs significantly from previous byelections.

No special funds, schemes, or projects were announced for the development of the Munugode Assembly constituency. This is in stark contrast to the policy it followed in previous byelections in Huzurnagar in October 2019, Dubbak in November 2020, Nagarjunasagar in April 2021, and Huzurabad in October 2021.

In all these byelections, TRS president and Chief Minister K.Chandrashekar Rao showered sops for the development of these constituencies while addressing the election meetings. The CM sanctioned residential schools, colleges, hospitals, and community halls for various castes, in addition to allocating crores of rupees of funds to each municipality and lakhs of rupees to each gram panchayat.

However, in the case of Munugode bypoll, although the CM addressed the election meeting on August 20, he did not announce any funds or schemes. In his speech, he simply attacked the BJP and left with the assurance that he will address one another public meeting in the constituency soon.

There has been a strong demand from Munugode locals for establishing government junior and degree colleges, hospitals, bus stands, and community halls, but the CM has yet to respond. This, however, did not materialise even after two months.

The CM is now expected to address a public meeting in Chandur on October 30 or 31, ahead of the November 3 election. Since the election code is already in force, the CM cannot announce any new schemes or funds.

In TRS circles, there is a heated debate about why the CM did not shower sops on Munugode. According to TRS circles, this was done out of fear that the strategy of announcing sops would backfire in Huzurabad bypoll, where the TRS government sanctioned funds worth thousands of crores and launched the Dalit Bandhu scheme, but credit went to BJP's Etala Rajender, who campaigned aggressively that it was all because of his resignation and forcing bypoll.

In Huzurabad, Rs 2,000 crore was sanctioned for Dalit Bandhu alone, and another Rs 600 crore was sanctioned for various development works in the constituency.

TRS leadership fears that BJP's Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy will claim credit for Munugode development, which is why it has refrained from showering sops on Munugode. Rajgopal Reddy has been aggressively campaigning from the beginning, claiming that he resigned as MLA solely to bring about a bypoll because the TRS government only sanctions funds, schemes, and projects if elections are held.
Indian airlines are being forced to wet lease aircraft in order to enhance capacity for the forthcoming winter schedule due to a slowdown in the delivery of new aircraft, reported The Economic Times.



In order to increase the capacity on foreign routes, IndiGo, the largest airline in India, has finalised a contract to wet lease up to three Boeing 777 aircraft. The airline, which had previously only operated single-class narrow-body aircraft, will now provide business class in addition to economy on these widebody aircraft.



Although there have been discussions of wet leasing narrow-body Airbus 321 aircraft, no decision has been made yet.

Rival SpiceJet has reached an agreement with Turkish carrier Corendon to wet lease up to seven Max aircraft.

What is wet leasing?



Wet leasing is an arrangement where the lessor provides an aircraft along with crew and maintenance, and has operational control. It is costlier than dry lease under which the lesse provides its own crew and exercise control. It is anticipated that wet lease may lead to a spike in operational cost. But the airlines fear that if they dont deploy enough capacity, they may lose market share, besides lucrative slots at airports.



Wet leasing is permitted by the regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, for a maximum of six months under emergency circumstances, such as when an aircraft is grounded. An aircraft may be grounded when it requires modification or repair until the necessary work has been completed and the aircraft is once again fit for flight.
giant Byjus is set to lay off nearly 2,500, or 5 per cent, of its employees as part of an optimisation plan. The move by Indias most valuable start-up comes amid a funding winter and steep losses.

To avoid redundancies and duplication of roles, and by leveraging technology better, around 5 per cent of Byjus 50,000-strong workforce is expected to be rationalised across product, content, media, and technology teams in a phased manner, said the company in a statement.

In June, Byjus laid off about 600 employees at its group WhiteHat Jr and Toppr. It was a move to drive cost efficiency, according to the company.

Under the optimisation plan, the company said it looks to target profitability by March 2023 and bring the K10 subsidiaries  Meritnation, TutorVista, Scholar, and HashLearn  under the India business unit. Aakash and Great Learning would function separately.

The company is also realigning marketing spending to enhance its global footprint.

Byjus booked a loss of Rs 4,588 crore for the financial year ended March 31, 2021, 19 times more than the preceding year, according to its latest financial report.

As a mature organisation that takes its responsibility towards investors and stakeholders seriously, we aim to ensure sustainable growth, alongside strong revenue growth, said Mrinal Mohit, CEO, Byjus India business. These measures will help us achieve profitability in the defined time frame of March 2023.

Over the past three years, Byjus has acquired multiple whose integration with its core business is now complete.

The giant, which was last valued at $22 billion, earned Rs 2,428 crore in revenues in FY21. Its adjusted revenue in FY20 was Rs 2,511 crore and the adjusted loss was Rs 300 crore.





Byjus has been the subject of intense scrutiny following an 18-month delay in FY21 results (the Ministry of Corporate Affairs asked the company to explain the delay). The start-up did not meet three-four deadlines  all self-imposed  for announcing its results, reportedly because the auditor was not clearing its accounts.

At a group level, Byjus stressed it would continue to hire across all levels and end this financial year as a net hirer. It plans to hire 10,000 teachers in the coming year, adding to the current strength of 20,000 teachers. To fuel its growth, the company is expanding its teams, besides hiring senior leadership, to further build operational strength.

There will also be a re-targeting of the marketing budget towards efficient growth. Since significant brand awareness has been created in India over the past few years and there is a scope to optimise marketing budgets locally and prioritise spending to increase brand awareness in overseas markets, the company said.

Byjus is also reinventing its sales model to focus on inside sales, using video calling platforms which, in turn, shall enhance customer experience and reduce operational costs. Multiple inside sales hubs will now be created across India from where Byjus sales associates will reach out to incoming leads through calls, e-mails, and Zoom meetings.

These moves are expected to result in sizable savings with no impact on growth. None of these measures will have any impact on our revenue run rate, said Mohit.

At a group level, Byjus said its priority is to achieve overall profitability by March 2023. The firm said these steps are meant to prepare the path towards a stellar listing eventually after turning profitable.

Byju Raveendran, founder and CEO of Byjus recently told employees, that the firm has already started shifting its focus towards profitable growth. He said revenue of $2 billion was within sight of the firm and that the firms FY22 revenue was nearly Rs 10,000 crore, or $1.3 billion. This means we are now a billion-dollar-plus revenue company, said Raveendran, in a letter addressed to the employees.
Reliance Retails revenue grew from Rs 7,000 crore in 2011-12 (FY12) to Rs 1.3 trillion in 2021-22 (FY22).

Retail now accounts for a fourth of Reliance Industries total revenue. Although the retailer saw a 5 per cent dip in revenue due to the pandemic in 2020-21 (FY21), it grew almost 30 per cent in FY22.

In the past decade, Reliance Retails international brand partnerships have risen threefold  from 14 in FY12 to 47 in FY22. Its partnerships with international brands like Salvatore Ferragamo, Marks & Spencer, BCBG Max Axria, Hunkemoller, bally and WoMo, among others, have dominated its luxury and premium segment of and .

In July this year, it announced a partnership with Gap Inc to bring the all-American brand to India. Last month, it launched its own store brand Azorte in Bengaluru and department store Reliance Centro in Delhi.

A Business Standard analysis found that while the number of stores has grown fourfold in six financial years, this growth has not been uniform. At 1,095 stores, the South has the maximum Reliance stores in the country. Oddly enough, the pace of growth has been the fastest in the East.








signed on Wednesday a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with original design manufacturer VVDN Technologies, which will design, develop, and manufacture Intel-based products for telecom, networking, cloud and in India. Some days ago had denied reports of opening a manufacturing facility in India.

VVDN, which is based in Gurgaon, caters to global customers to develop products for 5G, networking and Wi-Fi, vision, Internet of Things, cloud, and apps. It has six manufacturing plants in Manesar, near Gurugram, and plans to invest Rs 500 crore over the next three years to expand its production capacity with a new plant in .

The collaboration with will cover business, technical and go-to-market engagement models within India and globally. The will also work together to define product roadmap, build new ecosystem alliances and work on joint go-to-market strategies for Intel-based products in alignment with market needs.

At Intel, we feel strongly about Indias tremendous promise for impactful innovation. India has made incredible progress in electronics component making and chip designing and we are excited about the opportunities that the Government of Indias Make in India program is creating for the local ecosystem," said Steve Long, corporate vice president--sales, marketing and communications group and general manager of Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) region at Intel.

The Indian government has a production-linked incentives (PLI) scheme offering financial incentives to boost domestic manufacturing and make it more resilient to supply chain disruptions. After launching the scheme for mobile phone manufacturing, it was extended to IT hardware, and networking. VVDN is an approved beneficiary under the .

VVDN is strongly committed to innovation and support customers with our strong engineering and manufacturing capabilities on the new age technologies. We are very excited to collaborate with Intel. Getting early access to the new technologies from Intel as well as support on the local supply chain, VVDN will exemplify its positioning to be able to help our customers accelerate their next gen innovative solution development and manufacturing," said Puneet Agarwal, chief executive officer and co-founder, VVDN Technologies.
Congress presidential candidate on Tuesday said he decided to enter the fray for the top post after members of the Gandhi family refused to contest the poll and he wanted to strengthen the party.

The electoral contest would take place between Kharge and Shashi Tharoor, and voting will take place on October 17 in every state capital through secret ballot.

"After the Gandhi family refused to contest the election for the post of Congress president, I decided to contest this election after consulting my well-wishers," said Kharge, who was here to meet members of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC).

"I decided to contest the election to strengthen the Congress and to save its ideology," Kharge said, adding he was meeting more than 9,000 members of his party across the country and seeking their support.

He said that he has prepared his manifesto by incorporating the announcements made at the party's Udaipur Chintan Shivir.

"Fifty per cent posts in the organisation will be given to people below 50 years of age and whatever other announcements are there, I will implement them. I am sure that I will get the support of all members," Kharge said.

The Congress had held a three-day brainstorming session in May in Rajasthan's Udaipur to evolve the party's strategy for its overhaul and revival in the wake of a series of electoral defeats.

On Uttar Pradesh, Kharge said that the state is very important for the Congress and after Priyanka Gandhi Vadra became the party's in-charge for the state, people's inclination towards it has increased.

Even though the Congress did not get the expected results in the assembly elections, but in the future, people are looking towards it with hope, he said.

The 80-year-old Congressman said that he is confident that he will win the election for the post of Congress president and Uttar Pradesh will play an important role.

Attacking the BJP and the RSS, the senior Congress leader said that they "believe in the divide and rule of the Britishers".

"No BJP or Sangh worker went to jail or hanged for the freedom of the country. Instead their workers were associates of the British and used to get pension from them," Kharge alleged.

Both of them do not have faith in democracy and they are raising questions on the Congress organisational election and Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra, he said.

Speaking to reporters at the UPCC headquarters, Kharge, when asked how he rates his chances in the Congress presidential poll, said, "Everybody together made me the candidate and now, it is their responsibility to make me win. You know that when everything is appearing in the papers and wherever I go, delegates are coming in favour of me, therefore it is not difficult to get elected."



When asked about Tharoor's recent statement that the party needs change, he said, "I don't know what it means. I have been working (for the party) for the past 55 years. People will see me and based on it, they will examine."



Tharoor had recently said in Mumbai that "our party needs change and I feel I am the one who will be the catalyst of change".

Asked about his rival in a recent TV interview claiming that there are aspects which suggest there is an uneven playing field, Kharge asserted, "The delegates are coming on their own. Should I say no to them. If you are popular, people know you, delegates will come. Our campaigners are very strong, they are doing it."



Elaborating on the poll process, he said, "This election is a very simple election. Those who are members, they are already elected delegates in their states. There are 9,300 delegates. Those voters, those delegates, will vote for the candidate. And whosoever gets the majority, he will be elected, and there is no doubt, and that process we are following, and meeting all the delegates."



He added that the number of voters (delegates) from Uttar Pradesh is 1,250.

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Former AAP minister Rajendra Pal Gautam was questioned for three hours on Tuesday over a complaint against him for attending a religious conversion where Hindu deities were allegedly denounced, officials said.

A day after resigning from the Delhi Cabinet due to the controversy over the event, he was quizzed by police at his residence on Monday. Later, he was issued a formal notice to appear before officials on Tuesday.

Police said Gautam joined the inquiry at around 2:30 pm at the Paharganj Police Station.

"There was a complaint against Rajendra Pal Gautam. So, he was called for questioning as part of the inquiry into the matter. He was asked questions relating to the complaint," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Shweta Chauhan said.

After the inquiry was completed, he left the police station around 5:30 pm, she added.

According to police, Gautam was questioned about the sequence of events that transpired on the day of the event, his intentions behind the alleged speech which led to the controversy and documents related to the event, including the invite, which was sought from him.

"We will also question other organisers of the event soon," a senior officer said.

No FIR has been registered against the (AAP) leader yet, the police said.

The former Delhi Minister said "I was questioned today. They (police) were saying that they will issue a notice for an inquiry again for tomorrow.....Citing Supreme Court order, I told them that unless they give it to me in writing under which section they want to question me, only then I will join the inquiry."



"Let me see what notice they are issuing me tomorrow. I will take legal action against them if I am called for the sake of inquiry without even registration of any case... I am a lawyer and I will go by the law. I am a law-abiding citizen. I am a follower of Baba Saheb Ambedkar...I will fight against injustice...This fight is to save the Constitution also," Gautam told PTI



Talking to reporters at the police station, Gautam said he gave a written statement to the SHO and it will be examined by the DCP concerned.

"Right now, I am at Paharganj police station. Today, the birth anniversary of Maharshi Valmiki ji is being celebrated at my residence. As soon as the police give permission, I will leave for my house," he said.

Earlier in the day, Gautam had confirmed that he had received a notice from the police and said he would cooperate.

Besides Gautam, three others - Mahender Bhaskar, Manoj Kumar, and CS Bhandari - were also questioned in connection with the event on Monday.

According to the notice, on October 5, Gautam attended the programme at the Ambedkar Bhawan where "certain words were uttered publicly, which has infuriated the public at large".

"Written complaints have been received in this regard... During the enquiry, the presence of your good self is very much essential to decide the further course of action as per law," the notice read.

"Accordingly, you are hereby requested/directed to appear in person with all documents at police station Pahar Ganj without fail, otherwise it will be presumed that you have nothing to say or explain anything on your part and the matter would be decided as per law," it added.

The BJP has used the issue to attack AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal during the election campaigning in Gujarat and accused him of being "anti-Hindu".

In a letter shared on Twitter on Sunday, Gautam said he attended the event in his personal capacity and it had nothing to do with his party or the ministry. He also lashed out at the BJP for targeting Kejriwal and the AAP, alleging the saffron party was doing "dirty politics" on the issue.

Gautam, who was the minister for social welfare, SC and ST, registrar of co-operative societies and gurdwara elections, said he is resigning as minister as he does not want his leader or the AAP to be in trouble because of him.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The government expects over Rs 5 lakh crore investment during the 2022 to be held next month in Bengaluru, state's large and medium industries minister Murugesh R Nirani said on Tuesday.

The is scheduled on November 2-4 after a hiatus of six years.

"The state is expecting over Rs 5 lakh crore in investments in the 2022," Nirani said at the launch of a roadshow in the national capital to promote as an investment destination.

The minister said the state government has already earmarked a total of 50,000 acres of land for investors keen to invest in the state, of which, 20,000 acres are in Bengaluru and 30,000 acres in other parts of .

Karnataka has emerged as a top investment destination in the country for the last two years in a row as the state offers an excellent industrial ecosystem, world-class infrastructure, and industry-friendly policies, he said.

The state attracted Rs 62,085 crore investments last fiscal and became the recipient of 38 per cent of the country's total FDIs (Foreign Direct Investments), he added.

Speaking at the event, Union Minister of State for Chemicals, Fertilizers and Renewable Energy Bhagwanth Khuba, who hails from Karnataka, said: "A strong fiscal and stable policy is key for investment and it is clearly there in the state."



E V Ramana Reddy, Additional Chief Secretary (Commerce and Industries) in the Karnataka government, said several meetings were held with representatives of top companies in the national capital looking for collaboration opportunities.

During the one-day roadshow at New Delhi, the delegation met the representatives of ITC, Scape India, Renew Power, Sembcorp Energy, Lithion Power, Dalmia Cement, Sterling Tools, Nestle, Jubliant Food Works, Garuda Aerospace, Ocean Pearl Hotels, V- Guard Industries and Nithin Sai Renewable.

Commissioner for Industrial Development in Karnataka Gunjan Krishna, ITC Vice President Corporate Affairs Anil Rajput, Jubliant Food Works Vice President Amardeep Ahuwalia and Shahi Exports Vice President J D Giri were present during the roadshow.

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The Police probing the suspected case in Pathanamthitta district who arrested three persons in connection with the death of two women, has identified the prime accused Mohammed Shafi as a "psychopath" and a "pervert".

The couple which committed the heinous act have been identified as Bhagaval Singh and his wife Laila, who used to run a massage centre near Aranmula in Pathanamthitta district at their house Shafi brought the two women to the couple's home in June and September, and they were brutally murdered by the couple.

Shafi has been named as the prime accused along with Singh and Laila.

Addressing the media in Kochi after the accused trio were produced before the city court which sent them to two weeks judicial custody, Kochi Police Commissioner C.H. Nagaraju said Shafi is a history-sheeter and is involved in a dozen cases registered against him in the past 15 years.

"Shafi has studied only up to Class 6 and did all menial jobs right from a driver to a mechanic to the one who runs a hotel. A rape case has been registered against him in the past when he raped a 75-year-old woman and also used a knife to make wounds in the private parts. We have found out that the same places were injured in the two women who were murdered apparently as a human sacrifice," Nagaraju added.

"It has now been proved that he (Shafi) is a psychopath and a sexual pervert, and the one who derives sexual pleasure and will go to any extent even to kill for it. He has been using a fake Facebook account and it says that if anyone has financial problems to contact him. That's how he befriended Singh and it took three years for him to win their confidence and trap them and the took place," the Commissioner said.

Responding to questions after reports emerged that the couple after murdering the two women as part of black magic had cooked and eaten their body parts, Nagaraju said for this to be proved there has to be a proper scientific examination as at the moment there is no evidence of it.

He added that the police have now constituted a special team and will seek the custody of the accused to ensure that the probe is completed.

--IANS

sg/khz/bg

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President will be on a three-day visit to Tripura and beginning October 12, the said on Tuesday. The president will inaugurate the Tripura State Judicial Academy and lay the foundation stone for the Tripura National Law University at Narsingarh in Agartala on Wednesday. In the same day, she will virtually inaugurate an MLA Hostel at the Capital Complex in Agartala and lay the foundation stones for various Tripura government projects related to roads, schools and hostels for students, the said in a statement.



The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will launch the "Gujarat Gaurav Yatra" on five different routes over the next two days to reach out to people ahead of the Assembly elections, due in December this year. The yatra will be launched by president JP Nadda and Union Home Minister on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. Notably, the first 'Gaurav Yatra' was taken out by the then chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi, after the communal riots and before the 2002 state assembly elections. The second 'Gaurav Yatra' was organised in 2017 ahead of that year's state polls.
The Wednesday directed no citizen can be prosecuted under of the Information Technology Act, 2000, which it had scrapped way back in 2015.

Under the annulled section, a person posting offensive content could be imprisoned for up to three years and also fined.

Underlining that liberty of thought and expression is of "cardinal" significance, the top court had on March 24, 2015 done away with the provision, saying "the public's right to know is directly affected by of the Information Technology Act".

A bench headed by Chief Justice U U Lalit said in all cases where citizens are facing prosecution for alleged violation of section 66-A of the Act, the reference and reliance upon the said provision shall stand deleted.

"We direct all Director General of Police as well as Home Secretaries of the states and competent officers in Union Territories to instruct the entire police force in their respective states/Union Territories not to register any complaint of crime with respect to alleged violation of section 66A," said the bench, also comprising Justices Ajay Rastogi and S R Bhat.

The top court clarified that this direction shall apply only with respect to offence punishable under section 66A, and if in the crime in question, other offences are also alleged, then the reference and reliance upon alone shall be deleted.

The bench observed the counsel appearing for the Centre has placed on record an all-India status report with regard to pending cases under section 66A.

It observed the information given in a tabular form does suggest that despite the issue regarding the validity of section 66A of the Act having been decided by the apex court, a number of criminal proceedings still rely upon this provision and citizens are still facing prosecution.

"Such criminal proceedings, in our view, are directly in the teeth of the directions issued by this court in Shreya Singhal vs Union of India (March 2015 judgement) and consequently, we issue following directions.," the bench said.

"It needs no reiteration that section 66A of the 2000 Act has been found by this court in Shreya Singhal vs Union of India to be violative of the Constitution and as such, no citizen can be prosecuted ....in said section 66A," it said.

The bench also said whenever any publication, whether government, semi-government and private, about the is published and section 66A is quoted as part of the statute book, the reader must adequately be informed that section 66A has already been pronounced upon by the apex court to be violative of the Constitution.

Calling a "matter of serious concern" the registration of FIRs under section 66A of the Act which was scrapped in 2015, the apex court had last month asked the chief secretaries of the states concerned to take back the cases within three weeks.

The bench was hearing a miscellaneous application of NGO 'People's Union for Civil Liberties' (PUCL) alleging prosecution of people under the scrapped provision.

The NGO claimed that despite express directions of the court in 2019 that all state governments sensitise police personnel about the March 24, 2015 judgement, thousands of cases have been registered under the section.

It sought direction to the Centre to collect all data/ information regarding FIRs/investigations where section 66A has been invoked as well as pendency of cases in the courts throughout the country where proceedings under the provision are continuing in violation of the 2015 judgment.

On February 15, 2019, the top court had directed all state governments to sensitise their police personnel about its March 24, 2015 verdict, which had scrapped section 66A of the Act, so people are not unnecessarily arrested under the struck-down provision.

The first PIL on the issue was filed in 2012 by law student Shreya Singhal who sought an amendment to section 66A of the Act after two girls - Shaheen Dhada and Rinu Shrinivasan - were arrested in Palghar in Maharashtra's Thane district.

While one had posted a comment against the shutdown in Mumbai following Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray's death, the other had 'liked' it.

PUCL was also one of the petitioners in the earlier case and had challenged the constitutional validity of Section 66A of the Act.

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BJP MP G.V.L. Narasimha Rao pointed out that lands in possession of over 30,000 people are under Section 22A (ANI photo)

VISHAKHAPATNAM: Senior Jana Sena leader P.L.N. Murthy Yadav has

on Friday written to the CBI director seeking a probe into the proposed

allotment of 16.27 acres of land in the posh Daspalla layout of Visakhapatnam

to a real estate company.

Murty Yadav, a GVMC corporator, told this correspondent that private owners have entered into an agreement with company Assure Estates Developers LLP, promoted by a former IRS officer and a textile merchant of Visakhapatnam, to pass on the 2,000 crore worth of land, listed under Section 22A, to the company.

The Jana Sena leader alleged that the AP government, instead of safeguarding the public interest, is in the process of delisting and handing over the land stuck in a legal dispute to the retired IRS officer and textile businessman.

The said land is in survey numbers 1027, 1028, 1029, 1196 and 1197. The government had listed it under Section 22A way back in 2001. Now, Murty Yadav said, the government has prepared the ground for removing these survey numbers from the Section 22A list.

In all, 60 acres of land had been listed under Section 22A. GVMC, VMRDA and Eastern Naval Command have acquired about 40 acres of this land. The government has kept around five acres for its various needs. The remaining 16.27 acres of land is on the verge of being handed over to the real estate company, the Jana Sena leader said.

Rajya Sabha member G.V.L. Narasimha Rao pointed out that lands in possession of over 30,000 people are under Section 22A. They have long been fighting with the government for delisting the land. But now, the government is rapidly preparing the ground for removing the Daspalla lands from Section 22A, so that they could be handed over to the real estate company.
industry stakeholders have said their business is likely to get affected this tourist season due to the withdrawal of e-visa facility for visitors from the United Kingdom.

The chartered flights which were supposed to arrive from the in October, when the new tourist season commences in Goa, have been postponed to November, and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) president Nilesh Shah said on Tuesday.

TTAG is an apex tourism body in the coastal state.

The no longer falls within the over 150 countries that can access the online tourist e-visa option when travelling to India, which has caused a considerable strain for tourists.

Shah said the issuance of e-visas for travellers from the had stopped during COVID-19 pandemic.

The UK and Russia are two important destinations from where visitors arrive in Goa during the tourist season.

As per figures of the department, before the outbreak of COVID-19, around 40,000 tourists used to arrive from the UK annually in the coastal state.

Shah said small and medium scale hoteliers will be affected if the UK tourist numbers dwindle this season.

The chartered flights which were supposed to arrive from the UK this month have been postponed to November, he said.

"These tourists used to spend long holidays in Goa, contributing to the tourism sector, he said.

State Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte was not available for response in the matter.

Goa Forward Party chief Vijai Sardesai on Tuesday appealed to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to request the Centre to resume e-visa facility for the UK visitors.

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Motorcycles were inducted for the first time for the Delhi government's bus lane enforcement on Tuesday, with Chief Minister saying that they will be able to pass on narrow roads, something that was impossible for the Innova cars.

Kejriwal on Tuesday flagged off 66 enforcement vehicles, including 36 motorcycles and 30 Innova cars. He flagged them off along with 50 CNG low-floor cluster buses.

For the first time, motorcycles are being inducted. These vehicles would mostly be utilised for lane enforcement. In the past, we observed it was difficult for an Innova to pass on narrow roads for enforcement. Motorcycles will solve that problem and ensure that lane rules be enforced effectively," he said.

The government began lane enforcement in April and has received positive results from this move, the CM said.

"People have now developed a habit of driving in their lanes and they are following the rule on their own. We are not far from the time when the transport system of Delhi would be better than any city of a developed country," he added.

Equipped with siren/public address system, these enforcement vehicles will be stationed across the day covering major stretches like Ring Road plus a few more stretches are part of Phase 1, to create awareness for not disturbing the movement of buses.

With this addition, total enforcement vehicles will be 120, including 84 four wheelers and 36 two wheelers.

In addition, they will also remove and issue challans for encroachment and parked vehicles in the .

The two wheelers will be deployed in 11 teams/shifts for bus lane enforcement on inner and outer ring roads each while the remaining bikes will be deployed at six critical stretches in seven teams and two shifts.

One Innova car will be deployed to each team with 84 teams using 84 four-wheelers. Newly arrived ones will be deployed at 15 critical stretches identified by the department.

Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said that the enforcement vehicles will help in keeping free from encroachment and parked vehicles.

"The 66 enforcement vehicles flagged off today will ensure to keep the bus lane free from encroachments and parked vehicles across the city. This will help in faster movement of buses, leading to even better schedule adherence and hence increasing reliability for travel to one's home and office," he said.

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The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed that no fireworks other than green crackers bearing QR codes would be imported and sold in .

It also said that only green crackers bearing QR codes would be sold at a 'bazi bazar' (firecracker market) which is proposed to be held in Kolkata from October 18.

The court directed that representatives of the state pollution control board (PCB) and police personnel will inspect firecrackers which would be sold at the market and the police will seize banned firecrackers which are offered for sale there.

A division bench comprising justices Joymalya Bagchi and Apurba Sinha Roy directed the state PCB and the Commissioner of Police, Kolkata to deploy the appropriate number of personnel in the 'bazi bazar' to ensure implementation of the direction.

"Similar exercise shall be undertaken by pollution control board and police authorities to prevent importation and sale of firecrackers other than green firecrackers bearing QR code in any place in the state of West Bengal," the court directed.

The bench also said that all necessary steps be taken by the police authorities and PCB officials to ensure only green crackers are burst during the ensuing festive season in compliance with the directions of the board.

The court directed the PCB and the government to undertake public awareness measures, including issuance of advertisements in newspapers, and announcements on radio/ television/social media platforms, to spread information about restrictions on the sale and bursting of crackers during the festive season and its beneficial impact on pollution and environment.

"We hope and trust that the festival of lights does not become a cause for concern where the demon of pollution poisons our air and leads to irreparable damage to the health of the population at large," the bench said.

Seeking a ban on the sale of firecrackers in the state, counsel for the petitioner in the PIL submitted that earlier directions given by the Supreme Court in a case have been flagrantly violated in .

He claimed that this has resulted in severe noise and air pollution in Kolkata and other parts of the state in previous years.

Counsel for the PCB informed the court that it issued directions on October 26, 2021, permitting the sale and bursting of green crackers only in West Bengal on specified dates.

The traders' society prayed for permission to trade and sell green firecrackers during the ensuing festive season.

Sara Bangla Atashbazi Unnayan Samity's Babla Roy hailed the court order in the run-up to the Kali Puja- festivals when demand for firecrackers soars.

"This is a victory for 31 lakh people involved in this industry. We will follow the high court order and ensure that environment-friendly and less smoke-generating firecrackers are made following all prescribed guidelines. Those who will not follow norms should be prosecuted," Roy said.

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Around 315,000 complaints are currently pending under the Right to Information (RTI) Act in India. These are across 26 information commissions in India, according to a report in The Hindu (TH). The pending cases have been rising in recent years.

From 218,347 pending cases in 2019, they rose to 233,384 cases in 2020 and 314,323 in 2022. At 99,722, the highest number of pending cases was in Maharashtra. In Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka, pending cases stood at 44,482 and 30,358, respectively. The data was taken from a report by the Satark Nagrik Sangathan, TH said.

In India, the maximum number of RTIs were received by the Central government at 11 million, followed by Maharashtra at 8.6 million and Tamil Nadu at 3.6 million.

Also, only 11 out of a total of 29 Information commissions in India provide an e-filing facility. Out of these 11, only five are currently functional.

"The digital portal (website or mobile app) can deliver more efficient and citizen-friendly services which are not possible through conventional mode. This will be beneficial for both transparency seekers and the government," Madhu Bhalla, chairperson of Transparency International India, was quoted as saying in the report.

The report by Satark Nagrik Sangathan also said that the disposal time of cases was slow in India and the government has failed to make timely appointments.

"Proper functioning of information commissions is crucial for people to realise their right to information. The report shows that in several commissions a large backlog of cases has built up, resulting in a long waiting time for disposal, as governments have failed to make appointments of information commissioners in a timely manner. The report also flags concerns regarding tardy disposal rates in several commissions and the lack of transparency in their functioning. There is an urgent need for the transparency watchdogs to function in a more effective and transparent manner, said Anjali Bharadwaj of Satark Nagarik Sangathan said.
President Droupadi Murmu would reach Agartala on Wednesday on a maiden two-day visit to the Northeastern state of Tripura, officials said.

Murmu is scheduled to land at the Agartala airport around 11.15 am, following which she will head to Narsingarh in West district to lay the foundation stone for the National Law University and inaugurate the State Judicial Academy, they said.

She will also inaugurate the MLA hostel at Capital Complex, and virtually lay the foundation stones for various Tripura government projects related to roads, schools and hostels for students.

The president will also launch the Maharaja Birendra Kishore Manikya Museum and Cultural Centre at Agartala and the IIIT-Agartala from the Rabindra Satabarshiki Bhaban.

In the evening, she will attend a civic reception to be hosted in her honour at the Town Hall by the Agartala Municipal Corporation.

On Thursday, the president will flag off the special extension of the Guwahati-Kolkata-Guwahati train up to Agartala and the extension of the Agartala-Jiribam-Agartala Jan Shatabdi Express up to Khongsang in Manipur, it said.

Murmu will also inaugurate the transhipment yard at Nischintapur, 6 km away from Agartala.

She will visit the famed Tripureswari temple in Udaipur and offer prayers.

Murmu is scheduled to leave the state for Guwahati around 11.40 am on Thursday, officials said.

The opposition CPI(M) has decided to boycott Murmu's programmes, including the civic reception arranged in her honour.

"The CPI(M) has decided to abstain from these programmes even as we were invited by the government in protest against the lack of rule of law during the last four and a half years in the state. People's rights and freedom came under threat during the period," CPI(M) state secretary Jitendra Chowdhury alleged.

"We do believe that the president will return after witnessing the suffocating-like situation prevailing in Tripura and will install the democratic rights of the people," he added.

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Union Finance Minister on Tuesday in a meeting with her American counterpart Treasury Secretary discussed a range of issues, including bilateral relationships, the global situation as well as India's upcoming G-20 Presidency.

The two leaders discussed the current global macroeconomic situation among other issues of mutual interest, the Finance Ministry said after the meeting.

The two ministers also discussed various issues of significance with a view towards India's upcoming G-20 Presidency.

Sitharaman during the meeting invited Yellen to India to attend the US-India Economic and Financial Partnership meeting in New Delhi on November 11. This will be her first visit to India as Treasury Secretary.

Describing it as a substantive meeting India's Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, said: Deepening bilateral economic partnership and cooperation in multilateral forums discussed.

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The on Wednesday laid down guidelines for the implementation of the Shreya Singhal versus judgment, which declared Section 66(A) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 unconstitutional.

Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, of 2000 made it a punishable offence for any person to send offensive information using a computer or any other electronic device. The provision also made it punishable for a person to send information that they believed to be false. Even sending emails for causing annoyance, inconvenience, or to deceive or mislead the recipient about the origin of the message was punishable under this section.

The Supreme Court, by a two-judge bench judgment in 2015, struck down Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, in the case of Shreya Singhal versus the . The section relating to restrictions on online speech was declared unconstitutional on grounds of violating the freedom of speech guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India. It held that online intermediaries would only be obligated to take down content on receiving an order from a court or government authority.

The People's Union for Civil Liberties(PUCL), which filed the petition, argued before the court on Wednesday that the Union ignored its responsibility even when there were complaints still filed against the citizens in the country long after the section was scrapped in 2015.

They could have ensured implementation through the Ministry of Electronics and State Governors, the petitioner said.

The Union Government, on the other hand, insisted that implementation of Shreya Singhal's judgment is not its responsibility. State governments must create local regulations for police, it said.

After hearing the arguments, the court laid down the following guidelines:

a.It needs no reiteration that Section 66A of 2000 is violative of the Constitution. In cases where citizens are facing criminal charges for the said section, the reference and reliance on the said section shall stand deleted.



b.Police force, Home Secretary of States, the compliance officers of Union Territories as well as the entire police force shall not complaints in violation of Section 66A.



c.In cases where other offences are listed in the complaint along with the said section, only the offence of Section 66A shall stand quashed.



d.Whenever any publication, whether government, semi-government or private publishes any information regarding the said section, the readers should be informed that Section 66A is pronounced as violative of the Constitution by the order of the .

With these observations, the bench of Chief Justice of India UU Lalit, Justices S Ravindra Bhat, and Ajay Rastogi dismissed the case.

In the last hearings, the court had asked the Union government to take stock of the matter as FIRs and complaints were still being registered using the said section. The court had asked the government to take remedial measures in states where the apex court judgment was still being flouted.
Nearly 2,000 people from 13 villages in Kacheepuram district, who have been up in arms against the proposal to set up a new airport at Parandur near here, would take out a protest march to the Secretariat on October 17.

The announcement of the residents to hold the rally comes ahead of the state assembly session, scheduled to commence from Monday.

According to residents, the rally is being organised to garner the attention of various political parties including the ruling DMK to their agitations, which have been going on since the government announced its decision to establish the second airport for Chennai.

On August 2, Chief Minister M K Stalin said the construction of the new greenfield airport would take place at Parandur at an estimated outlay of Rs 20,000 crore that can handle 10 crore passengers a year.

"We will be taking out the rally from Ekanapuram village to Secretariat on October 17. All the panchayats comprising 13 villages have extended their support. This is meant to draw the attention of the political parties including the ruling DMK to our protests. Nearly 1,500 to 2,000 residents of the villages are expected to take part," a villager told PTI.

During a grama sabha meeting held recently, a resolution was also passed by the protesters opposing the greenfield airport at the Ekanapuram village.

The government already clarified its stand soon after the protests broke out that it would offer the villagers "over and above the market value" for the land that would be acquired for the project.

Ekanapuram is among the villages, where land acquisition is reportedly being contemplated by the authorities.

"Several political parties including Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) led by its President Anbumani Ramadoss, Naam Thamizhar met the villagers and discussed the issue. Quite a few politicians said they would take it up during the Assembly session scheduled to begin on October 17", another resident said.

"To protest the Centre and state government's decision to construct the second airport, we are holding the protest march to Fort St George." he said.

The new airport would have two runways, terminal buildings, taxiways, apron, cargo terminal and other necessary infrastructure



The government has said that the airport is a necessity for the progress of the state.

(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.)
Start-ups manufacturing electric two- and three-wheelers have alleged they are not getting subsidies under the second phase of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (FAME II) scheme even though some established, large manufacturers are receiving them. On the other hand, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's is set to seek a permit to launch satellite internet services in India under its Starlink brand, becoming the third company to apply for such a permit. Read more on these in our top headlines.

Start-up EV makers allege partial treatment, halt of FAME subsidies

Start-ups manufacturing electric two- and three-wheelers have alleged they are not getting subsidies under the second phase of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (FAME II) scheme even though some established, large manufacturers are receiving them. Subsidies of Rs 200-300 crore remain unpaid, said executives of various start-ups. Players like TVS Motor Co, Bajaj Auto, Ola Electric, and Mahindra Electric continue to enjoy benefits, they said. Read more



to seek permit from DoT for Starlink services in India: Report

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's is set to seek a permit to launch satellite internet services in India under its Starlink brand, becoming the third company to apply for such a permit, the Economic Times reported on Wednesday. SpaceX will also seek statutory approvals from the government for landing rights and market access, the report said, adding that it is likely to seek approvals from (DoT) to set up local gateways. Read more



RBI asks banks to set aside capital, provisions for unhedged FX exposure

The (RBI) on Tuesday tweaked guidelines for banks on incremental capital and provisioning requirements in relation to unhedged foreign currency exposures, amid the weakness in the rupee vis-a-vis the US dollar. The rupee has depreciated about 10 per cent against the US dollar thus far in 2022, and as a result there has been greater scrutiny of firms unhedged exposure through borrowings in foreign currencies. Read more



Liquidity slips into deficit on high credit growth, festival loan demand

A sharp uptick in credit demand, higher consumption during the festival season, and dollar sales by the (RBI) in the foreign exchange market have led to liquidity in the banking system tightening sharply. The weighted average call rate (WACR), which is the operating target of the RBIs monetary policy, is currently at its highest since April 30, 2019, reflecting the shrinking liquidity in the system. Read more



Sale of cement units to a relief for Jaiprakash lenders

The sale of cement units by Jaiprakash Associates to the will provide partial relief to Indian lenders, which have an exposure of Rs 28,648 crore (until September this year) to the company and its various infrastructure projects. Of this amount, the company has defaulted on Rs 3,798 crore, according to the companys filing for the September quarter. Read more



Fast-track mechanism on the cards to help Indian investors in UAE

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has assured India it will provide necessary support to ensure speedy resolution of issues faced by Indian investors in the West Asian nation. A high-level joint task force by both nations on investments has decided to set up India Fast Track Mechanism in the UAE to help Indian businesses and investors, the department of commerce said. Read more
Invitations to top dignitaries for functions at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here should be extended only with the approval of the institute's president, according to an office memorandum.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya is at present the president of the Institute Body (IB) of the here.

It has come to the notice of the competent authority that invitations for functions are being extended to high dignitaries without the knowledge of the president, AIIMS, New Delhi. It is directed that such invitations are to be extended only with the approval of the president, through director, AIIMS, New Delhi, said the memorandum issued on October 1.

The order has been sent to all deans of academic, research and examination departments, chiefs of centres, medical superintendent, and heads of departments.

Section 11(1) of the Act, 1956 clearly says the director of the institute is the Chief Executive Officer of the institute, and is in charge of the administration, a former director said.

"So going by that domestic issues can be settled by the Director himself.There has been no written order in the past to my knowledge so far regarding such approvals for inviting dignitaries.In case of convocations or functions where dignitaries such as prime minister, vice president or president are participating, the president's concurrence is taken," he said.

"Besides that, when his cabinet colleagues are invited by a department at any function, then the President, who is the Union Health Minister, is just informed. Besides, for holding international conferences, approval from the President office is obtained," he said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The gruesome murder of two women as part of a black magic performance in Kerala should make the people of the state do a comprehensive analysis as to how they have brought one of the most progressive societies of India to this pass. As per recent reports, a black magician got a couple who practise native medicine to believe that their financial woes were being caused by a curse which human sacrifice would drive away. When the first murder failed to fulfil its purpose, the magician advised a second. The Kerala police, who began investigating a missing complaint, cracked the case in the following weeks using forensic evidence.

Kerala fought a heroic battle in the last 150 years against reactionary and regressive elements and made progress that no other Indian state can claim. Social reformers from all castes and communities played a part, and the movements they led took Kerala out of the madhouse that Swami Vivekananda once described the state as. The top rank Kerala now enjoys in several indices, starting from health to human development, is rooted in the rational society such movements fostered. Performing black magic and taking recourse to superstition will take Kerala back to the middle ages in no time.

Advertisements offering magical solutions to peoples problems, financial, health and personal, abound in Kerala. The operators are quite open about their modus operandi. This trend has not waned; instead, as time passes it only gets stronger. Even the latest tragedy can be traced back to a social media advertisement. It is time that the state government followed the example of Maharashtra and Karnataka passing a law against human sacrifice and black magic. It must also prod society to revisit and re-adopt the values of the renaissance movement. This is no isolated incident; let it be a wake-up call.
Minister on Wednesday said unseasonal rains in some parts of the country have affected small farmers and are getting compensation under the government's crop insurance scheme.

At a conference on 'Enhancing Agricultural Productivity: Integration of Improved Seeds and Agri Inputs', the minister also said Indian sector as well as profit or loss in are dependent on nature.

"You all must be experiencing now that unseasonal rains have caused losses to small and marginal farmers," he said.

According to him, farmers have security cover as they get compensations under the crop insurance scheme Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).

The scheme provides protection to farmers from crop losses.

Delhi-NCR and various districts of Uttar Pradesh have received unseasonal rains this month.

So far, Tomar said the insurance companies have provided a compensation of Rs 1.22 lakh crore to affected farmers.

However, he rued that all farmers are not covered under the PMFBY.

While the compensation amount provides relief to the affected farmers, it does not compensate for their hardwork, Tomar said.

The minister also listed out challenges faced by the Indian sector, including the gradual reduction in cultivable area because of the need of land for infrastructure development.

There is also a challenge to attract young generation in the farm sector. In such a situation, there is a need to bring new technology besides better marketing system for agricultural produce, he said.

Further, the minister said market infrastructure needs to be set up in rural areas as storage and transportation of crops are also big challenge.

To empower small farmers, Tomar said the Centre has announced setting up of 10,000 Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) with an investment of Rs 6,865 crore as it will help in improving their income through processing and marketing of agri products.

A Rs 1 lakh crore-agriculture infrastructure fund has also been launched.

He expressed concern over imports of edible oils to meet domestic demand and said the government is promoting oil palm cultivation especially in the North East.

Tomar said the Centre is also promoting natural and organic .

Last month, the agriculture ministry released the first advance estimates for kharif season of 2022-23 crop year (July-June).

India's rice production is likely to decline by 6 per cent to 104.99 million tonnes in the kharif season this year due to a fall in paddy acreage amidst deficit in key producing states, including Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.

Rice production stood at 111.76 million tonnes in kharif season of 2021-22 crop year.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Calcutta on Wednesday morning directed the government to inform it by 2 pm whether the mandatory provision of communicating to the Centre about bomb explosions during the clashes in Ekbalpur was followed.

Taking up two petitions seeking NIA investigation into the communal clashes, the court said that a mandatory report to the Centre under section 6 of the NIA Act is required for it to decide whether a probe by the central agency is required.

A division bench presided by Justice Joymalya Bagchi directed the state government to inform it by 2 pm on whether the mandatory provision was complied with.

Advocate TM Siddiqui, representing the state government, told the court that five FIRs have been filed in connection with the clashes at Mayurbhanj in Ekbalpur area of southwest Kolkata on Sunday, and submitted a report on the incident.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The expanded the mandate of the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, a flagship programme, on Tuesday by including the skilling of girls in non-traditional livelihood (NTL) options, reported The Hindu.

The programmes will now focus on encouraging more girls to enrol in secondary education, particularly in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects. Historically, women have been underrepresented in fields like technology.

While announcing the expansion of the schemes mandate, Minister for Women and Child Development, Smriti Irani, emphasised the importance of convergence amongst various departments for delivering high-quality education to empower girls. She said, Government has always encouraged and empowered girls to pursue vocations of their choice irrespective of gender stereotypes.

Ministries of Women and Child Development, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, and Minority Affairs have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for implementing this addition in the scheme. The MoU focuses on the convergence among relevant ministries and departments to make sue that young girls complete their education and build skills. The aim is to have them enter the workforce in a diverse range of livelihood.



Women and Child Development Secretary Indevar Pandey said: "The scheme has been revised, and it has a new and refreshing look. Some of the new aims we have for the scheme include ensuring 1% increment in enrolment at the secondary level and skilling of girls and women every year, raising awareness about safe menstrual hygiene, and promulgating elimination of child marriages. These are the new elements being included in the scheme."


More than a year after a cooperatives ministry was formed with Home Minister as its head, the Cabinet on Wednesday approved extensive amendments to the Multi State Cooperative Societies Act (MSCS). The Act was last amended in 2002.

The amendments make the functioning of the board of such cooperatives transparent  registration becomes simpler and seats can be reserved for women, scheduled caste and scheduled tribe candidates in coop boards. Also, a Cooperative Election Authority can be formed to conduct free, fair and timely elections to coops.

India, at present, has nearly 800,000 cooperative societies of which around 1,600 are MSCS. They serve the interest of members in more than one state. These include some big names like IFFCO, Kribhco and Nafed.

The amendments will now be presented during the of Parliament. Of the 1600-odd MSCS, the majority are in Maharashtra (570), followed by UP (150) and (133).

Credit cooperatives constitute the bulk of the MSCS (610), followed by agriculture-oriented MSCS (244).

There are around 100 multi-state cooperative diaries and 70 multi-state cooperative banks. The Bill will incorporate provisions of the 97th Constitutional Amendment.

For cooperative banks, the banking functions will be governed by the . However, for all other operational issues of such entities, the MSCS Act and its new amendments will be at play.

The Act also empowers the to suspend the Board of a MSCS for fraud or embezzlement of funds or failure to conduct elections within a stipulated time. It also debars relatives of a sitting director to be recruited as an employee in the same cooperative.

To improve the governance of multi-state cooperative societies, the Bill has specific provisions for setting up a cooperative election authority, cooperative information officer and cooperative ombudsman.

The election authority will ensure that elections are held in a fair, free and timely manner. This, in turn, will help reduce incidents of complaints and malpractices. There is a provision to debar offenders for three years to bring in more electoral discipline.

The ombudsman will provide a mechanism for redressal of member grievances in a structured fashion. Cooperative information officers will enhance transparency by providing members timely access to information.

For ease of doing business, the amendment Bill proposes to reduce the period of registration, with a provision for the applicants to seek additional time of two months for rectification of mistakes.

It also provides for electronic submission and issuance of documents, thus providing for a comprehensive digital ecosystem.
The government on Wednesday scrapped the of Steel Authority of India Limiteds (SAILs) Bhadravathi plant due to insufficient bidder interest.

The Centre terminated the sale of Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Plant (VISP) located in Bhadravathi, Karnataka, close on the heels of nixing the of Central Electronics Ltd (CEL) to Nandal Finance & Leasing saying that the litigation pending against the successful bidder at the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) violated the eligibility criteria for the sale.

The cancellation (of the Bhadravathi plant) was long overdue as there was no interest from the bidders in the disinvestment. The private bidders are interested in steel plants that have higher production volume, a government official said under condition of anonymity.

Multiple EoIs (expression of interests) had been received and qualified bidders had conducted due diligence. However, due to insufficient bidder interest in proceeding further with the transaction, government of India, with the approval of Alternative Mechanism (Empowered Group of Ministers) has decided to annul the EoI and thereby terminating the present transaction, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (Dipam) said in a statement on Wednesday.

The Empowered Group of Ministers comprises Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman; Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, and minister of the administrative ministry.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) in its meeting held on October 27, 2016, had accorded in principle approval for strategic disinvestment of three units of viz. VISP in Bhadravathi, Salem Steel Plant in Tamil Nadu, and Alloy Steels Plant in Durgapur, West Bengal. had invited EoIs on July 4, 2019, for the strategic disinvestment of VISP. had appointed SBI Capital Markets as the transaction advisor.

VISP is a special steel unit of engaged in producing alloy and special steels, including carbon steels, free-cutting steels, case hardening steels, etc. During the current financial year (FY23), so far, Rs 24,543.67 crore has been obtained as disinvestment receipts against the target of Rs 65,000 crore.
Indias reputation as one of the worlds toughest trade negotiators is becoming more than an inconvenience for UK Prime Minister Liz Truss.

While Prime Minister pledged to prioritize rapid early harvest trade agreements in 2021, India has signed just two new deals -- one with United Arab Emirates and another with Australia. Now prospects for a much-touted pact with the UK look to be getting bogged down.

For Truss, Indias stance may force her to offer concessions because the pressure to strike big trade deals is already high. Failure will provide another blow to her post-Brexit vision that the UK can clinch new deals in markets that were previous closed off due to its membership in the European Union.

The US has already signaled that a deal with the UK is off the table in the short run.

Any failure to conclude a trade accord with Britain will be a missed opportunity for India, a nation upon which many economies are pinning their hopes amid intensified geopolitical struggles between the west and China. The deal, if clinched, would be Indias biggest and most ambitious free-trade agreement to date.

Immigration Concerns



But talks between India and the UK have hit a snag over easier access to thousands of skilled workers from the South Asian nation that is likely to push finalizing a free-trade agreement beyond the October deadline.

New Delhis position has hardened in the ongoing negotiations amid concerns raised by UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman on migration from India. The comments made last week prompted India to say both the nations should honor the understanding with regards to migration mobility.

New Delhi is also seeking to claw back half a billion pounds in payments made by Indian workers toward Britains social security system as part of the deal, people familiar with the matter said. Further, the UKs offer to restrict movement of skilled workers would skew the proposed trade deal in favor of Britain and wouldnt be a win-win for both nations, the people said.

Quality Not Speed



Modis government this year has balked at the trade portion of the Biden administrations Indo-Pacific Economic Framework and entirely backed out of the China-led Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership back in 2020.

Max Blain, official spokesman for Truss, said the government was still hoping to get a trade deal with India by late October that would put the UK front of the queue to supply Indias growing middle class and boost the UK economy by more than 3 billion by 2035.

Blain declined to comment on remarks reportedly made by Braverman about migration. There are complex negotiations ongoing across a range of issues, he told reporters in a regular briefing on Wednesday.

Indias trade ministry did not respond to an email seeking comment.





Britain and India launched negotiations for a free-trade agreement in January with an aim to conclude the talks by end of October this year. But that deadline is set to be missed given the lack of consensus, the people said asking not to be identified as the discussions arent public.

The deal would also act as a springboard for India -- which recently overtook the UK to become the worlds fifth-largest economy -- to seek an FTA with the EU, which along with the US, is a major export destination.

With 1.4 billion people, India is the worlds largest democracy and the worlds third-largest economy in purchasing power parity terms, according to the World Bank.

Other Hurdles



As the deadline for the conclusion of talks nears, India has yet to agree on issues critical to the UK including lowering import duties on automobiles and Scotch whisky -- one of Britains major demands -- as Modis government awaits headway on issue of skilled workers mobility.

Other issues holding up the negotiations include the UKs insistence on getting exemption from rules on data localization which impact sectors such as financial services and greater access to Indias government contracts. India has expressed its inability to relax the data localization rules due to domestic laws, the people said.

Both sides envisage the deal to double bilateral trade by 2030. The total trade between India and the UK stood at over $17 billion in 2021-22, according to Indian government data.
The National Payments Corporation of India International Payments Ltd (NIPL) entered into a partnership with European payments facilitator, Worldline to enable payments through the United Payments Interface (UPI).

Under the partnership, Worldline's QR code-based mechanism will allow merchants' Point-of-Sale (PoS) systems in to accept payments from Indians using their mobile phones. Later, Indians will also be able to use RuPay debit and credit cards for making payments in .

NIPL is the international arm of .

Which other countries allow payments through

On September 13, 2021, NIPL signed an agreement with Singapore-based Liquid Group to enable QR-based payments in 10 countries.

"Liquid Group integrates an extensive network of merchant acquiring partners in the 10 markets of Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan," the statement read.

It further said that the collaboration would enable BHIM App users to make UPI QR-based payments at over 2 million merchants progressively across North and Southeast Asia from early 2022.

Nepal

Nepal became the first foreign country to deploy UPI. With the collaboration between Nepal's Manam Infotech and Gateway Payments Service, person-to-person (P2P), person-to-merchant (P2M) and cross-border payments were made operational.

Singapore

In July 2022, the (RBI) signed an agreement with the Monetary Authority of Singapore to implement interoperability between UPI and PayNow.

Bhutan

Bhutan was the first country to accept UPI transactions through BHIM App. On July 13, 2021, UPI was made available to the Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan.

Malaysia

Malaysia's Merchantrade Asia, in collaboration with NIPL, allowed sending remittances through UPI in 2021.

UAE

NIPL has partnered with LuLu Financial Holding, Mashreq Bank and Network International in UAE to enable UPI payments. On April 21, 2022, UPI was launched in the country through Mashreq's NeoPay.

France

Lyra Network signed an agreement with the NIPL, allowing students and tourists to make payments through UPI.

United Kingdom

In collaboration with payment solution provider PayXpert, NIPL announced UPI payments based on QR codes in the UK in August.

Oman

signed an agreement with the Central Bank of Oman in October to make QR-based UPI payments available in the country.

Europe

NPCI's agreement with Worldline will enable UPI to penetrate several markets, including Belgium, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.

In July, the minister of electronics and information technology, Ashwini Vaishnav, said that India is in talks with 30 countries regarding UPI, and three countries have already signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU). These were France, the UAE and Singapore.

More MoUs are likely to follow soon.
The (DU) issued an academic calendar for the first semester students on Wednesday announcing that the classes will begin on November 2 with a four-day break between the first and second semesters.

The first semester will start in November 2022 and end in March 2023 and the second semester will be from March to July.

Notably, the first semester will begin even before the third round of the admission process for undergraduate courses commences.

This year, the university is admitting students through Common University Entrance Test (CUET) scores instead of their Class 12 marks. On September 12, the university released its admission-cum-allocation policy -- Common Seat Allocation System (CSAS).

The first seat allocation list will be declared on October 18, the second will be announced on October 30 and the third list on November 10.

Teachers have held the "mindless imposition" of the CUET responsible for the situation. The varsity's officials did not respond to calls from PTI seeking a response.

According to the academic calendar, the theory examination for first semester will be conducted from February 27 to March 15 while the theory examination for second semester will be held from July 17 to July 28.

The university has declared that preparation leave and practical examination for the first semester will begin from February 17 to 26 and that for the second semester from July 8 to 16.

The semester break, which usually lasts for 15 days, will be of four days only from March 16 to March 19 this academic year.

Democratic Teachers' Front Secretary and Miranda House Professor Abha Dev Habib deemed it an "extremely hopeless situation" for students and teachers.

"No vacations or mid-semester breaks for students to assimilate what is being taught! What a student should cover in 180 days spread over a year is being finished in nine months or so," she said.

"This tragedy is because of the mindless imposition of CUET. We could have tried to finish admissions in August or mid-September after the announcement of Class 12 results in July," she added.

Abha Dev also pointed out that 50 per cent or more admissions may happen after November 2.

"We are barely ending the second round of CSAS on November 3. Earlier, the academic session would start only after six or eight cut-off rounds," she noted.

Another DU teacher Rajesh Jha alleged that the messed-up semester is a deliberate attempt to divert students from public-funded institutes to private ones.

"It could have been easily avoided. What was the need to impose CUET in such a haste? It is a deliberate attempt to divert students from public-funded institutes," he said.

"Many parents got their children admitted to private institutes as the admission process at the university got delayed," he added.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
US President plans to celebrate at the White House on October 24 while his predecessor is working on celebrating the festival of lights at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on October 21.

Biden plans to celebrate with eminent members of the Indian American community and members of his administration. First Lady Jill Biden will also join the festivities at the White House on October 24.

Details of celebrations at the White House are still being worked out.

Meanwhile, the Republican Hindu Coalition (RHC) on Tuesday announced that Trump would celebrate Diwali with its members and Indian American community leaders at his Mar-a-Lago resort on October 21.

It is being planned for four hours, said Shalabh Kumar from RHC, adding that the Trump team was exploring the possibilities of fireworks as well.

(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.)
President said on Tuesday there will be "consequences for as the Riyadh-led OPEC+ alliance moves to cut oil production and Democratic lawmakers call for a freeze on cooperation with the Saudis.

Biden suggested he would soon take action as aides announced that the administration is reevaluating its relationship with the kingdom in light of the oil production cut that White House officials say will help another OPEC+ member, Russia, pad its coffers as it continues its nearly eight-month war in Ukraine.

Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Rep. Ro Khanna of California introduced legislation that would immediately pause all US arms sales to for one year.

This pause would also halt sales of spare and repair parts, support services and logistical support.

But it remains to be seen how far Biden is willing to go in showing his displeasure with the Saudis, a vital but complicated ally in the Middle East.

Biden came into office vowing to recalibrate the US relationship because of Saudi Arabia's human rights record but then paid a visit to the kingdom earlier this year.

Biden said in a CNN interview he would look to consult with Congress on the way forward, but stopped short of endorsing the Democratic lawmakers' call to halt weapons sales.

There's going to be some consequences for what they've done, with Russia, Biden said. I'm not going to get into what I'd consider and what I have in mind. But there will be there will be consequences.

John Kirby, a White House National Security Council spokesman, said Biden believes it's time to take another look at this relationship and make sure that it's serving our national security interests.

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Tuesday the White House has no timeline for its review nor has the president appointed an adviser to serve as point person.

Meanwhile, officials underscore the central role that plays in addressing broader national security concerns in the Middle East.

Blumenthal and Khanna unveiled their legislation one day after Sen. Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, said it was unacceptable that OPEC+ had moved to cut oil production and effectively assist Moscow in its war on Ukraine.

Menendez promised to use his position as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to block any future arms sales to the Saudis.

Menendez did not warn the White House before announcing his intention to block future Saudi arms sales, Kirby said.

OPEC+, which includes Russia as well as Saudi Arabia, announced last week it would cut production by 2 million barrels a day, which will help prop up oil prices that are allowing Russian President Vladimir Putin to keep paying for his eight-month invasion of Ukraine.

The production cut also hurts US-led efforts to make the war financially unsustainable for Russia, threatens a global already destabilised by the Ukraine conflict and risks saddling Biden and Democrats with newly rising gasoline prices just ahead of the US midterm elections.

Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud told Saudi-owed Al Arabiya on Tuesday that his government's justification of the production cuts was purely economic.

Biden and European leaders have urged more oil production to ease gasoline prices and punish Moscow for its aggression in Ukraine. Putin has been accused of using energy as a weapon against countries opposing Russia's invasion.

They are certainly aligning themselves with Russia," Jean-Pierre said. This is not a time to be aligning with Russia.

As for the Saudis, Sen. Blumenthal said, We cannot continue selling highly sensitive arms technology to a nation aligned with an abhorrent terrorist adversary.

However, the White House takes note that its weapon sales to Riyadh serve, in part, as an important counterweight in the region to Iran, which is quickly moving toward becoming a nuclear power.

There's 70,000 Americans living in Saudi Arabia right now, not to mention all the other troops we have throughout the region, Kirby said. "So, it's not only in our interest that missile defence in the region become more integrated and cooperative. It's in the interest of our allies and partners in that part of the world as well."



Still, the pressure is mounting for Biden. As a candidate for the White House, he vowed that Saudi rulers would pay the price under his watch for the 2018 killing of US-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of the kingdom's leadership. Biden said that he'd look to make the oil-rich country a pariah".

But in July, amid rising prices at the pump around the globe, Biden decided to pay a visit to Saudi Arabia. During the visit, he met with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, who he once shunned as a killer for the death of Khashoggi.

The US intelligence community determined that the crown prince, often referred to by his initials MBS, likely approved the killing of Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. MBS denies he was involved.

The Saudis have also drawn criticism for airstrikes killing civilians in the years-long war between the kingdom and Houthi rebels in Yemen as well as for embargoes that exacerbated hunger and pushed Yemen to the brink of famine.

Saudi Arabia's disastrous decision to slash oil production by two million barrels a day makes it clear that Riyadh is seeking to harm the US and reaffirms the need to reassess the US-Saudi relationship," Khanna said.

There is no reason for the US to kowtow to a regime that has massacred countless civilians in Yemen, hacked to death a Washington-based journalist and is now extorting Americans at the pump.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The real problem is Mr Putin may be running out of time as his war machine has been weakening after eight months of engaging with feisty Ukrainians defending their homeland. (Photo: AFP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin may believe he was merely wreaking revenge for the attack on a bridge by raining missiles once again on the capital Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities. The renewed heavy missile strikes, some deliberately aimed at cities in peak hour traffic, have resulted in more civilian deaths, including that of school children. Militarily, the missiles appear not to have changed the war situation much since only about a third of them, Iranian kamikaze drones included, are getting through Ukrainian defence shields.

As Mr Putin hits out from his Kremlin corner, he is fast losing friends. China, a no limits friend and India, staunchly neutral on the war to the extent of not condemning the loss of lives in the Russian offensive, have progressively changed their stance. Indias external affairs minister S. Jaishankar unequivocally condemned the targeting of infrastructure and causing civilian deaths in the latest attacks, saying it is not acceptable in any part of the world.

China said it was hoping the situation would deescalate soon after Russia began its barrage of vengeful aerial attacks in retaliation for the blowing up of a key strategic bridge connecting the Crimea and Russia, which act may have been that of the Ukraine intelligence service detonating 20 tonnes of explosives driven in a lorry on to the Kerch Bridge.

In continuation of its departure from initially not taking an adverse stand on the Russian invasion at the UN, India joined 106 other countries in voting against Russias call for a secret vote in the UN General Assembly on a resolution condemning the referendums held to annex four Ukrainian territories. Russia will learn soon how many of the UNs 193 members vote against its sham referendums as there is no veto power in the assembly like in the UN Security Council.

The defence ministers and military brass of about 50 nations gathered at Nato headquarters Wednesday to discuss how to sustain the supply of weapons to Ukraine even as Volodymyr Zelenskyy keeps appealing for more sophisticated air defence systems and shields against Russian missiles. The escalation of the conflict in terms of Russian bombardment and the deployment of air defence and more weapons from allies on the ground in Ukraine are all taking place under the shadow of nuclear threats from Mr Putin.

The US President, Joe Bidens use of the word Armageddon is chilling, even if he does not think that it will come to pass. Russia may have been toying with the idea of using a tactical nuclear weapon in the battlefield, but only if Ukraine chooses to further attack Crimea. The real problem is Mr Putin may be running out of time as his war machine has been weakening after eight months of engaging with feisty Ukrainians defending their homeland.

The question is whether there is any way Russia and Ukraine can be convinced into agreeing on a cessation of hostilities first; if so, there would have to be someone capable of telling Mr Putin off about his huge miscalculation about his being welcomed with open arms in the home of Mother Russia in Kyiv, as Joe Biden phrased it. Mr Putin, who may not be thinking rationally in the heat of what seems an unwinnable war now, may fear a backlash from within his own elite circles more than any adverse UN vote or Ukraine's defensive weapons supplied by the West.
External Affairs Minister has that he took up with Australian authorities the issue of visa backlog, particularly related to students seeking to return to educational institutions in the country following the COVID pandemic, and was assured that the problem would be resolved by the year end.

Jaishankar, who is on a two-day visit to Australia, said this on Tuesday during an address to the Indian community here.

"And I want to tell you that it was something that I took up with different ministers when I was in Canberra. We have a particular problem that students are facing," he said.

The minister said that he was assured that the situation has improved and about 77,000 Indian students are back in .

"But you all know that the numbers should be and could be much higher and I was assured that by the end of the year the visa backlog, particularly in respect to students, would be cleared," he said.

"It's not just students because there's a community there are also family reasons for people to travel. I think there's an appreciation today of the importance of resuming tourism in a big way," he said.

He expressed hope that this is "one of the big disruptions of the Covid era that we will be able to put behind us in the coming year."



The Indian community in continues to grow in size and importance, with the population of about seven hundred thousand. India is one of the top sources of skilled immigrants to . Approximately 105,000 students presently study in Australian universities. After the UK, India is the second largest migrant group in Australia in 2020.

Jaishankar said two issues -- partnership on mobility and mutual recognition degrees and qualifications -- would be transformational for the bilateral relationship. Partnership on mobility "means that Indian skills and talents that are in demand in Australia will have a legal framework, an agreed methodology by which they move from one country to another," he said.

Now, India is reaching such agreements with a lot of countries like Japan, the UK and France.

"We are close to concluding one with Germany. And we, I think we've done some preliminary work in this with Australia. So I'm very much hoping that that is one area where we can see rapid progress because we know that in many domains, there are skill shortages in Australia," he said.

"If people are moving from one country to another from one economy to the other is the issue of mutual recognition of degrees and qualifications. So that too, is something which we are working on," he said.

He said there was also an interest reiterated during his visit for Australia to open a consulate in Bengaluru.

"It is something which we look forward to. And I very much hope that we'll be able to open additional consulates in Australia in the near future. And that I think is also something which is a very practical point of interest for the community," he said.

He also spoke about the impact of the pandemic on India.

"Every country in the world has gone through a tough time in the last three years. You know there is no country, not one which has not been deeply affected by Covid. Today, what is important is which country is coming out of covid in a better way, in a faster way, having learnt the lessons of it, having used that period really to reassess itself and to reinvent itself and prepare for a post-Covid world," he said.

"India is today very strongly on a recovery path," Jaishankar said.

"We have dealt with Covid with a great deal of determination with a lot of fortitude but also with a vision and in many ways with a great deal of foresight. This period has first of all seen a massive upgrade in India's health infrastructure.

"What normally would have taken us decades to do actually happened due to Covid in a matter of a few months," he said.

The minister also shared how digitisation transformed India.

"We are able to deliver public services in India on a scale that you cannot even imagine. It is happening only because today we have the digital backbone and the leadership. Prime minister's vision of how to apply technology for good governance that is today yielding results on the ground.

He said one of the central planks of India's Covid response was to ensure that, unlike 100 years ago when the Spanish flu came when more people died of hunger than they did of flu, this time around nobody will die of hunger.

He said the government's initiative to get everyone a bank account helped it to transfer money to the beneficiaries during the Covid.

"Because today there is a digital backbone where you know the beneficiaries are identified, they are known, they are certified, they are monitored," he said. He said it shows "once in a century events can be tackled if you have good governance, if you have strong leadership, the support and good wishes of the people."



He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has the vision that India become a modern, developed nation in the next quarter century.

"It means better infrastructure, it means better human resources. It means investing in people in different ways. it means dealing with health, correcting gender discrimination and gender imbalance," he said.

"India has come through a test like everybody else but we have come through it with a great deal of resolve but have also utilised this period to bring about very major changes in India. Those changes in India today position us very much better for what can be done," he said.

He told the Indian community that now they will see an India which is much more connected to the world and which will be more relevant to the world.

He said last year alone India's exports are the highest ever



Now the world will see an India which will look at the world with greater confidence, which will engage much more in different fields and which will fulfill its global responsibilities on the big issues of the day like climate change, terrorism, and pandemic, he said.

"It is the country whose global footprint will increase," he said.

"In all of this we obviously look for good, reliable, comfortable partners" and Australia today would surely be among those. But to advance all of this we ultimately need your support," Jaishankar concluded.

(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.)
Tesla CEO has denied reports that he spoke to Russian President before doling out a peace proposal on Twitter to end the ongoing war in Ukraine.

"No, it is not. I have spoken to Putin only once and that was about 18 months ago. The subject matter was space," Musk tweeted.

A VICE News report earlier said the world's richest man directly spoke with Putin before tweeting his Ukraine peace proposal on the microblogging website.

Musk last week drew backlash from Ukrainian officials, including Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for his tweets advising how to bring about "peace" amid the war between Moscow and Kyiv.

Musk through his official Twitter handle tried out a Twitter poll to end the Russian actions in Ukraine. Tesla CEO floated a number of ideas to solve the conflict, asking his followers to vote "yes" or "no" on his proposals, which included formally allowing Russia to annex Crimea.

"In a mailout sent to Eurasia Group subscribers, Ian Bremmer wrote that Tesla CEO Musk told him that Putin was 'prepared to negotiate,' but only if Crimea remained Russian if Ukraine accepted a form of permanent neutrality, and Ukraine recognised Russia's annexation of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia," the Vice report said.

As per Bremmer, Musk said Putin told him these goals would be accomplished at any cost and even at the potential risk of a nuclear strike if Ukraine invaded Crimea. He wrote that Tesla CEO told him that "everything needed to be done to avoid that outcome."

Earlier, irked over the billionaire's comments, Ukraine's former Ambassador to Germany Andrij Melnyk had lashed out at Musk.

"F*** off is my very diplomatic reply to you," Melnyk said in a Tweet. "The only outcome that now no Ukrainian will EVER buy your f***ing tesla crap. So good luck to you," he said in another tweet.

Putin last week formally announced the annexation of four regions - Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia and claimed that "this is 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.

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There is great merit in expanding the partnership between India and the United States towards a knowledge-based economy, a top Indian American corporate leader said on Tuesday, asserting that a successful collaboration would result in a number of joint efforts in matters of mutual interest.

With demographics, industrial might, and technological entrepreneurism, the two nations form a natural partnership, Vivek Lall, chief executive of the General Atomics Global Corporation, told students at the Harvard Kennedy School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

University's India Caucus, a student organisation that aims to promote India-centric discourse, had organised an interactive session on defence, innovation, and technology with Lall. He was recently honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award by US President Joe Biden.

Given the shared values of India and the United States, this relationship enjoys strong bipartisan support in both the countries, and there is great merit in expanding the partnership framework towards a knowledge-based through formal collaboration in high-technology areas of common interest, Lall said.

Lall said he believes that moving forward in three areas in which collaboration has long proven successful -- national defence, energy and space -- were three fields in which the countries are already working together.

Since progress in such high-technology areas is strongly correlated to overall economic prosperity, properly established cooperation should help keep the two countries at the forefront of the future political, economic and social order. Successful collaboration in these areas is likely to spawn a number of joint IndiaUS efforts in other matters of mutual interest such as health, education, information technology, and climate change, Lall said.

Investment in research and development is only one aspect of an effective portfolio of policies to foster innovation spanning regulatory, taxation, and immigration matters as well as fiscal allocations, he said.

It underscores the need for continued and enhanced active involvement by the government in nurturing science and technology-based innovation in the public and private sector, and thereby also increasing employment in relatively well-paid high-technology industries in the country, Lall said.

Strengthening these assets is a wise public policy that will stimulate economic growth and contribute broadly to national prosperity in the coming years, he told the students.

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Financial Group Inc.s head of investment banking and capital markets for India and is leaving the firm, according to people with knowledge of the matter.



Probir Rao will depart from the US investment bank next week, one of the people said, asking not to be identified as the information isnt public. The Singapore-based managing director has been with for more than 13 years, according to his LinkedIn profile.

A representative for declined to comment.

Rao is departing the firm as bankers in Asia are increasingly looking outside China for deals, in part because of geopolitical tensions between the country and the US. India has already set an annual record for deals with $165 billion worth in the year to date, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Jefferies was among the advisers on Indias biggest deal this year, HDFC Bank Ltd. and Housing Development Finance Corp.s $60 billion all-stock merger.

Jefferies said last month that profit slumped in the third quarter as Wall Street contends with a persistent slump in dealmaking and capital markets activity. In Asia, the firm has been expanding with the hiring of senior bankers including Citigroup Inc.s David Biller, who will be joining as head of later this year, people familiar with the matter have said.
Nato's secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said the alliance is "closely monitoring" Russia's nuclear forces and that any deliberate attack against allies' critical infrastructure "would be met with a united and determined response", the media reported.

The military alliance "is not party" to the conflict in Ukraine, Stoltenberg said during a news conference. "But our support is playing a key role," he added, The Guardian reported.

Allies remained "united in their support for Ukraine's sovereignty and self-defence", he said.

Stoltenberg told reporters that Ukraine has the momentum and continues to make significant gains. While is increasingly resorting to horrific and indiscriminate attacks on civilians and critical infrastructure, The Guardian reported.

"President Vladimir Putin is 'failing in Ukraine' and his attempted annexations, partial mobilisation, and reckless nuclear rhetoric represent the most significant escalation since the start of the war," he said.

The Russian leader's veiled nuclear threats are "dangerous and irresponsible", Stoltenberg added: knows that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. We are closely monitoring Russia's nuclear forces. We have not seen any changes in Russia's posture.

The leaders of the G7 have condemned Russia's most recent missile attacks in Ukraine 'in the strongest possible terms', and vowed to stand "firmly" with Kyiv "for as long as it takes", The Guardian reported.

The "indiscriminate attacks on innocent civilian populations constitute a war crime" by Russian forces, they said in a joint statement following their meeting with Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

They also said they would "never recognise" Russia's "illegal annexation" of Ukrainian territory or 'the sham referenda that uses to justify it'.

--IANS

san/pgh

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is watching the XBB strain of Covid-19 very closely, but there is no evidence that the new sub-variant is leading to more severe outcomes, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said on Tuesday.

"XBB is demonstrating characteristics that it is dominating over all other sub-variants. It has been detected in many parts of the world but in is rising very fast within three weeks from nothing, it is now over half of all the daily cases," he said.

"But so far, what is good is that there's no evidence that it leads to more severe outcomes," Channel News Asia quoted the minister as saying.

reported 11,732 new Covid-19 infections on Tuesday but the Ministry of Health (MOH) said it was initiating action against rumours circulating via WhatsApp about a rapid and large increase in severe illness and deaths due to XBB strain, another Omicron subvariant.

MOH said on Tuesday that it was initiating the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) action against rumours circulating via WhatsApp that Singapore was having a rapid and large increase in cases of severe illness and deaths due to the circulating XBB strain.

"This is not true. We are initiating POFMA action against such falsehoods," Channel News Asia quoted MOH as saying.

The spike in Tuesday cases to 11,732 was largely driven by the XBB variant, but there are low severe cases overall, said the Ministry. This is the first time the daily caseload has exceeded 10,000 in more than two months.

In a breakdown of local COVID-19 cases by strain posted on MOH's website on Monday, the ministry said that about 55 per cent of infections stemmed from the XBB strain, which is also known as BA.2.10.

This was an increase from 22 per cent in the preceding week, MOH said.

BA.5 is responsible for about 21 per cent of cases, while BA.2.75 responsible for 24 per cent. Both are also Omicron subvariants.

MOH said the "number of severe cases has remained relatively low. This is very likely due to the resilience built up through vaccination and previous waves of infection".

Singapore reported 4,719 new Covid-19 cases on Monday while Tuesday's number is usually higher due to infections reported from weekend social events.

There were 11 intensive care unit (ICU) cases and 50 who needed oxygen supplementation, a figure MOH said was "just slightly higher than the level observed in the past few months".

This compares with the 171 ICU cases and 308 cases requiring oxygen supplementation at the peak of the Delta wave, and the 54 ICU cases and 242 cases requiring oxygen supplementation at the peak of the Omicron wave, MOH pointed out.

"The increase in hospitalised cases is in line with the overall increase in cases. There are currently 490 hospitalised cases compared to 1,600 at the peak of the Delta wave and about 800 at the peak of the Omicron wave," the ministry said.

"However, our hospitals' emergency departments (ED) continue to be very busy, we encourage members of the public not to rush to the ED unless they are experiencing an emergency medical condition."



Patients who walk into emergency departments with non-emergency conditions, including children, will be diverted to other urgent care clinics or primary care clinics for further assessment in order to prioritise resources for patients who need medical care, MOH said.

Earlier on Tuesday, MOH said that it will bring forward the administration of the Moderna/Spikevax bivalent vaccine to October 14, three days ahead of schedule.

The early roll-out was made possible by the ministry's operations teams completing preparations ahead of the deadline, according to media reports.

In addition, there are "benefits to administering early as infections are rising due to the XBB Omicron subvariant", said MOH.

"The bivalent Moderna/Spikevax vaccine is based on the same original vaccine, with the same dosage for boosting," added MOH.

"Instead of targeting only the original COVID-19 virus, the updated version also targets the Omicron variant. It therefore will provide better protection against newer COVID-19 variants. It is proven to be safe and effective," media reports had the ministry saying.

As of Tuesday, Singapore had 1,969,648 COVID-19 cases and 1,634 deaths since the disease broke here.

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Family members of a van driver, who was killed in the recent attack on a school bus in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, ended their day-long sit-in on Tuesday after talks with the government.

Armed men opened fire on a school van in Khyber on Monday that killed a driver while injuring two children.

The protesters had been demanding the arrest of the culprits behind the attack and warned of marching to Islamabad if the authorities failed to meet their demands within 24 hours, the Dawn newspaper reported.

The firing took place in Swat's Char Bagh area, a day after the 10th anniversary of the shooting of Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai by the outlawed group TTP, according to Dawn. The police said the incident occurred on Monday outside the Knowledge City School in the Guli Bagh locality, the report said.

One of the protestors who gathered in Swat, on Tuesday, said that the protest was called off after the government promised to arrest the culprits soon.

"The deputy commissioner has promised a shuhada package for the heirs of the driver. He also said that the security of Swat will be beefed up and arrangements will be made to avoid such terror activities in the future," the protestor said.

This incident comes amid concerns over the growing presence of Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) in the northwest part of the country, following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August.

Earlier on Monday, District Police Officer (DPO) Zahid Marwat told Dawn that there were 15 students inside the vehicle at the time of the attack. Marwat said that the body and injured student have been moved to the Khwazakhela Hospital.

After the news broke, scores of students and teachers of private schools in the Swat district demonstrated against terrorist activities in the region.

Hundreds of protesters, who chanted slogans demanding peace in the region, said the law and order situation in Swat had been deteriorating for the past three months.

A Pakistan-based rights group condemned the "terrorist attack" on a school bus in Swat and said, "Swat's residents are right to hold the security forces responsible for failing to enforce the writ of the state."

"HRCP strongly condemns the terrorist attack on a school bus in Swat, in which the driver was killed and a young girl injured," the Human Rights Commission of (HRCP) said in a statement posted on Twitter.

In its statement, the HRCP accused the government of downplaying the threat from militants.

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Ukrainian forces recaptured five settlements in the southern Kherson region, according to the southern Operational Command.

The villages of Novovasylivka, Novohryhorivka, Nova Kamianka, Tryfonivka and Chervone in the Beryslav district were retaken as of Oct 11, according to the speaker of the southern command Vladislav Nazarov.

The settlements are in one of the four regions recently annexed by Russia.

Meanwhile, Russia's top domestic security agency said Wednesday it arrested eight people on charges of involvement in the bombing of the main bridge linking Russia to Crimea, while an official in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia said Russian forces carried out more strikes there.

The Federal Security Service, known by the Russian acronym FSB, said it arrested five Russians and three citizens of and Armenia over Saturday's attack that damaged the Kerch Bridge between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula a crucial thoroughfare for supplies and travel whose much-ballyhooed construction under Russian President Vladimir Putin cost billions.

A truck loaded with explosives blew up while driving across the bridge, killing four people and causing two sections of one of the two automobile links to collapse.

Ukrainian officials have lauded the explosion on the bridge, but stopped short of directly claiming responsibility for it.

The FSB alleged that the suspects were working on orders of Ukraine's military intelligence to secretly move the explosives into Russia and forge the accompanying documents.

It said the explosives were moved by sea from the Ukrainian port of Odesa to Bulgaria before being shipped to Georgia, driven to Armenia and then back to Georgia before being transported to Russia in a complex scheme to secretly deliver them to the target.

Putin alleged that Ukrainian special services masterminded the blast, calling it an act of terrorism, and responded by ordering a barrage of missile strikes on .

Russia's onslaught continued in the Zaporizhzhia region and eponymous city on Wednesday, shattering windows and blowing out doors in residential buildings, municipal council secretary Anatoliy Kurtev said. There were no immediate reports of casualties, though Kurtev warned locals of the possibility of a follow-up attack.

Zaporizhzhia, which sits fairly near the front line between Russian and Ukrainian forces, has been repeatedly struck with often deadly attacks in recent weeks. It is part of a larger region, including Europe's largest nuclear power plant now in Russian control, that Moscow has said it has annexed in violation of law. The city itself remains in Ukrainian hands.

To the south, in a Russian-controlled area of the region, a powerful blast struck the city of Melitopol sending a car flying into the air, mayor Ivan Fedorov. There was no word on casualties.

The new clashes came two days after Russian forces began pummeling many parts of with more missiles and munition-carrying drones, killing at least 19 people on Monday alone in an attack the U.N. human rights office described as particularly shocking and amounting to potential war crimes.

Tuesday marked the second straight day when air raid sirens echoed throughout Ukraine, and officials advised residents to conserve energy and stock up on water. The strikes knocked out power across the country and pierced the relative calm that had returned to the capital, Kyiv, and many other cities far from the war's front lines.

It brings anger, not fear, Kyiv resident Volodymyr Vasylenko, 67, said as crews worked to restore traffic lights and clear debris from the capital's streets. We already got used to this. And we will keep fighting.

The leaders of the Group of Seven industrial powers condemned the bombardment and said they would stand firmly with Ukraine for as long as it takes. Their pledge defied Russian warnings that Western assistance would prolong the war and the pain of Ukraine's people.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the G-7 leaders during a virtual meeting Russia fired more than 100 missiles and dozens of drones at Ukraine over two days. He appealed for more modern and effective air defense systems even though he said Ukraine shot down many of the Russian projectiles.

The Pentagon on Tuesday announced plans to deliver the first two advanced NASAMs anti-aircraft systems to Ukraine in the coming weeks. The systems, which Kyiv has long wanted, will provide medium- to long-range defense against missile attacks.

In a phone call with Zelenskyy on Tuesday, President Joe Biden pledged to continue providing Ukraine with the support needed to defend itself, including advanced air defense systems, the White House said.

Ukraine's defense minister tweeted that four German IRIS-T air defense systems had just arrived, saying a new era of air defense for Ukraine had begun.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Russian forces showered Ukraine with more missiles and munition-carrying drones Tuesday after widespread strikes killed at least 19 people in an attack the UN human rights office described as particularly shocking and amounting to potential war crimes.

Air raid warnings sounded throughout the country for a second straight morning as Ukrainian officials advised residents to conserve energy and stock up on water. Strikes in the capital and 12 other regions Monday caused power outages and pierced the relative calm that had returned to Kyiv and many other cities far from the war's front lines.

It brings anger, not fear, Kyiv resident Volodymyr Vasylenko, 67, said as crews worked to restore traffic lights and clear debris from the city's streets. We already got used to this. And we will keep fighting.

The leaders of the Group of Seven industrial powers condemned the bombardment and said they would stand firmly with Ukraine for as long as it takes. Their pledge defied Russian warnings that Western assistance would prolong the war and the pain of Ukraine's people.

launched the widespread attacks in retaliation for a weekend explosion that damaged a bridge linking to the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014. Russian President Vladimir Putin alleged the Ukrainian special services masterminded the attack on the Kerch Bridge.

The Ukrainian government has applauded but not claimed responsibility for the Saturday's explosion. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the G-7 leaders during a virtual meeting to respond symmetrically to Russia's attacks on the Ukrainian energy sector by doing more to stop profiting from its exports of oil and gas.

Such steps can bring peace closer, Zelenskyy said. They will encourage the terrorist state to think about peace, about the unprofitability of war.

Ukrainian officials said the previous day's diffuse strikes on power plants and civilian areas made no practical military sense. However, Putin's supporters had urged the Kremlin for weeks to take more drastic steps in Ukraine and actively criticised the Russian military for a series of embarrassing battlefield setbacks.

Pro-Kremlin pundits lauded Monday's attack as an appropriate and long-awaited response to Kyiv's successful counteroffensives. Many of them argued that Moscow should keep up the intensity to win a war now in its eighth month.

Like Monday's strikes, the bombardment Tuesday struck both energy infrastructure and civilian areas. One person was killed when 12 missiles slammed into the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, setting off a large fire, the State Emergency Service said. A local official said the missiles hit a school, residential buildings and medical facilities.

Energy facilities in the western Lviv and Vinnytsia regions also took hits. Officials said Ukrainian forces shot down an inbound Russian missile before it reached Kyiv, but the capital region experienced rolling power outages as a result of the previous day's deadly strikes.

The Ukrainian General Staff said its forces shot down 21 cruise missiles and 11 drones in the past day, including all eight Iranian-made drones targeting critical infrastructure in the Mykolaiv region.

The governor of Mykolaiv, Vitaliy Kim, urged residents to remain in bomb shelters as there are enough missiles still in the air".

The State Emergency Service said 19 people died and 105 people were wounded in Monday's strikes. At least five of the victims were in Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. More than 300 cities and towns lost power.

A spokesperson for the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said Tuesday that strikes on civilian objects, including infrastructure such as power plants, could qualify as a war crime.

Damage to key power stations and lines ahead of the upcoming winter raises further concerns for the protection of civilians and in particular the impact on vulnerable populations, Ravina Shamdasani told reporters at a UN briefing in Geneva. Attacks targeting civilians and objects indispensable to the survival of civilians are prohibited under humanitarian law.

The tempo of the war in the last month fanned concerns that Moscow might broaden the battlefield and resort to using nuclear weapons in Ukraine. As Ukraine's counteroffensives in the east and south forced Russia's troops to retreat from some areas, a cornered Kremlin ratcheted up Cold War-era rhetoric.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov addressed the issue Tuesday, saying Moscow would only employ nuclear weapons if the Russian state faced imminent destruction. Speaking on state TV, he accused the West of encouraging false speculation about the Kremlin's intentions.

Russia's nuclear doctrine envisions exclusively retaliatory measures intended to prevent the destruction of the Russian Federation as a result of direct nuclear strikes or the use of other weapons that raise the threat for the very existence of the Russian state, Lavrov said.

In Brussels, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the 30-nation military alliance would hold exercises next week to test the state of readiness of its nuclear capabilities. The war games, dubbed Steadfast Noon, are held annually.

Asked whether it was the wrong time for such exercises, Stoltenberg replied: It would send a very wrong signal now, if we suddenly cancelled a routine, long-time planned exercise because of the war in Ukraine.

Stoltenberg said Putin's nuclear rhetoric during the war in Ukraine was irresponsible but he believes Russia knows that a nuclear war can never be won and must never be fought.

NATO as an organisation does not possess any nuclear weapons. They remain under the control of three member countries the United States, the UK and France.

Those countries make up the G-7 along with Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and the European Union. In their statement after hearing from Zelenskyy, the G-7 leaders said they were undeterred and steadfast in our commitment to providing the support Ukraine needs to uphold its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

We will hold President Putin and those responsible to account for this week's strikes, saying indiscriminate attacks on innocent civilian populations constitute a war crime.

The pledge appeared to come in response to Kremlin warnings that Western military assistance, including training Ukrainian soldiers in NATO countries and feeding real-time satellite data to target Russian forces, increasingly made Ukraine's allies parties to the conflict.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said continued US weapons deliveries to Ukraine would prolong the fighting and inflict more damage on the country without changing Russia's objectives.

As Russian forces pounded three districts around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant overnight, Ukraine's state nuclear operator said Russian forces kidnapped the plant's deputy human resources director, Valeriy Martyniuk.

Russians previously detained plant General Director Ihor Murashow and released him following pressure from Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi.

Grossi, who met with Putin in St Petersburg on Tuesday, urged him to agree to establish a safety and security protection zone" around the Russian-occupied plant to prevent shelling at and near the site from causing a radiation disaster.

Now, more than ever, during these extremely difficult times, a protection zone must be established around the ZNPP. We can't afford to lose any more time," Grossi said in a statement.

The IAEA said Grossi would return to Kyiv for another meeting with Zelenskyy.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Biden administration is developing plans for Venezuelans with financial sponsors to be granted parole to enter the United States, similar to how Ukrainians have been admitted after Russia's invasion, U.S. officials said Tuesday.

Four officials offered broad outlines of the plan to deal with a large increase in Venezuelans arriving at the U.S. border with Mexico. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the matter publicly.

Venezuelans who cross the border illegally on land would be immediately returned to Mexico, two officials said. Currently, Mexico only accepts expelled under Title 42 authority a pandemic-era rule that denies rights to seek asylum and is designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19 if they are from Guatemala, El Salvador or Honduras, in addition to Mexico.

Venezuelans who qualify for parole would enter the U.S. at airports, two officials said, mirroring a program introduced in April that allows Ukrainians with financial sponsors to stay for up to two years.

The officials strongly emphasized that discussions were fluid and plans could change. The plans were reported earlier Tuesday by CNN and The New York Times.

While major questions remain such as how many would be eligible for parole and where Venezuelans would board planes the discussions demonstrate concern about what has emerged as a major challenge to authorities in the U.S., Mexico and Central America and a test of a hemispheric agreement reached in June in Los Angeles for countries that host to confront issues together.

The Homeland Security Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Tuesday.

Mexico's Foreign Affairs Ministry said it would release details when talks are final.

We are in discussions about a new approach that includes migration from Mexico and the northern Central American countries, as well as Haiti, Cuba, and Nicaragua, in an orderly manner and with access to employment options," the ministry said in a statement.

Venezuelans recently surpassed Guatemalans and Hondurans to become the second-largest nationality stopped at the U.S. border after Mexicans. In August, Venezuelans were stopped 25,349 times, up 43% from 17,652 in July and four times the 6,301 encounters in August 2021, signaling a remarkably sudden demographic shift.

An estimated 6.8 million Venezuelans have fled their country since the economy tanked in 2014, mostly to Latin America and Caribbean countries. But the U.S. economy's relative strength since the COVID-19 pandemic has caused Venezuelan migrants to look north. Also, strained relations with the Venezuelan government make it extremely difficult to send them home under Title 42 authority, encouraging more to come.

Mexico, under pressure from the Biden administration, introduced restrictions on air travel to limit Venezuelan migration to the in January, but many then shifted to a dangerous land route that goes through Panama's notorious Darien Gap.

The plan being worked on would aim to discourage Venezuelans from the perilous journey by land and function like parole for Ukrainians. The administration has pledged to admit up to 100,000 people fleeing Russia's invasion and has already allowed tens of thousands, including nearly 17,000 in August.

Uniting for Ukraine, as the parole program is called, effectively ended a short-lived practice of people flying to Mexico as tourists and showing up at U.S. border crossings.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Before Russias February invasion of Ukraine, successive US administrations were cautious in sending lethal weapons to Kyiv. Nearly eight months into the conflict, the US and allies have delivered thousands of lightweight Javelin anti-tank missiles and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles and a slew of even more powerful weapons.



will push for still more advanced weaponry when the U.S. convenes a meeting of the Defense Contact Group in on Wednesday to marshal new support for hardware and supplies to the government of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. He has said he expects agreement on the new supply of other weapons and ammunition we need.

Those demands will again present President Joe Biden and European leaders with a difficult question: How much is too much? Russias Vladimir Putin underscored the stakes last week with his renewed suggestion that he might resort to tactical nuclear weapons, and Russian officials argue that the US and its allies -- not their president -- are responsible for the escalation.

This time the stakes may be different. The meetings in come days after Russia launched a series of missile barrages on the capital Kyiv and other civilian targets, and pressure is high for allies to respond. Many of those strikes were blocked by Western-supplied anti-missile systems, and thats only fueling Ukrainian calls for even more.



Also read: NATO chief Stoltenberg says 'closely monitoring' Russia's nuclear forces

With each subsequent Russian escalation, we give qualitatively more. And this has been going on now, a long time, said Samuel Charap, a senior political scientist at the RAND Corp., who studies arms proliferation, Russia and . This is a pattern of escalatory spiral thats been going on for months,

The reason its normal now is because weve basically gradually adjusted to the idea, Charap said.

Almost eight months into the conflict, the US has gone beyond Stinger and Javelin missiles, providing HIMARS artillery systems and suicide drones. Under pressure for more, its accelerating delivery of an anti-missile system known as NASAMS, which were reserved until now for the US and allies.

The conversation is still limited to weapons that can be portrayed as defensive, even as Ukraine and some eastern European nations such as Poland keep pushing for equipment like tanks and fighter jets that are seen as even more provocative.

The US and its allies have steadily filtered arms to Ukraine as it defends itself from the Russian attack and steadily increased the capabilities and range of the munitions. Since the early days of the war, the US has added new systems to its shipments -- including HIMARS rockets, howitzers, armored personnel carriers, Claymore munitions and new categories of armed drones. The question facing Biden is what new categories will be added to the list next.

Group of Seven leaders met virtually Tuesday with Zelenskiy and condemned the deliberate Russian escalatory steps. Biden said in a tweet Tuesday that the US would support Ukraine for as long as it takes.

In their statement, the G-7 leaders said that Russias indiscriminate attacks on innocent civilian populations constitute a war crime and that they would hold Putin and those responsible to account.

Zelenskiy made clear Tuesday that he wants more.

The terrorist state must be deprived of even the thought that it can achieve something with any wave of terror, Zelenskiy said of Russia in his nightly address.

There are already signs that the US is responding to the pressure. After a call with Biden on Monday, Zelenskiy said we are doing everything in get modern air defense. Biden responded that the US would continue providing Ukraine the support it needs, including advanced air defense systems, according to the White House.

The White House statement didnt specify what systems Biden was talking about but on Tuesday, the Pentagon said in a statement that the US is speeding up the delivery to Ukraine of two NASAMS -- National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems -- by using existing parts instead of building the weapons from scratch.

But the US and allies have balked at other requests. The bloc has stopped short of giving Ukraine fighter jets, while the US and Germany are stuck on whether to send advanced battle tanks such as Abrams and Leopards.

Im not ruling anything out, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sept. 30, when asked about the tanks.

In the G-7 statement, leaders said any use of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons by Russia would be met with severe consequences.

Officials from say this weeks meetings are about more than providing ever-bigger and better weapons.

It is also to ensure that we have the fuel or the ammunition to existing systems, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said. Since the war is continuing, logistics, resupplies of spare parts, ammunition, fuel to systems that are already delivered becomes more and more important.
Venezuela, and lost contested races for seats on the top UN human rights body in Tuesday by the General Assembly, which faced criticism for electing countries like Vietnam and Sudan, which have been accused of having abysmal human rights records.

The 193-member assembly voted by secret ballot to fill 14 seats on the 47-member Human Rights Council. Seats are allocated to regions to ensure geographical representation, a rule that has regularly led to many regions putting forward uncontested slates as Africa, Eastern Europe and Western nations did this year.

Human rights groups have long criticised this practice, saying it denies UN member nations any choice of countries on the council and virtually guarantees seats for some countries with poor rights records.

In this year's election, the most hotly watched race was in the Latin America and Caribbean regional group, where Chile, Costa Rica and were vying for two seats. The result saw Chile get 144 votes, Costa Rica 134 and 88.

narrowly won a seat on the Human Rights Council in 2019. Louis Charbonneau, UN director for Human Rights Watch, welcomed Tuesday's result, saying the General Assembly rightly closed the door on Venezuela's attempt to remain on the council.

UN investigators have found evidence that (President Nicolas) Maduro and other officials may have been responsible for crimes against humanity against their own people, Charbonneau said.

A government facing these kinds of allegations has no business sitting on the UN's top rights body. Now UN member states should seek ways to hold accountable those Venezuelan officials responsible for grave human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings and torture.

The other closely watched race was in the Asia-Pacific region, where Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, and Vietnam contested four seats. Bangladesh, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives and Vietnam were declared the winners.

Charbonneau said that electing abusive governments like Vietnam to the council only undermines its credibility.

In the uncontested regions, the assembly elected Africa's slate of Algeria, Morocco, South Africa and Sudan, Eastern Europe's candidates of Georgia and Romania, and the Western nations' candidates of Belgium and Germany.

The 14 newly elected countries will take their seats Jan 1 and serve until Dec 31, 2025.

The Human Rights Council was created in 2006 to replace a commission discredited because of some members' poor rights records. But the new council soon came to face similar criticism, including that rights abusers sought seats to protect themselves and their allies.

On April 7, the General Assembly approved a US-initiated resolution to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council because of the rights violations it committed in invading and taking control of parts of Ukraine.

The vote, 93-24 with 58 abstentions, was significantly lower than on two resolutions the assembly adopted in March demanding an immediate cease-fire in Ukraine, withdrawal of all Russian troops and protection for civilians.

The assembly voted overwhelmingly on May 10 for the Czech Republic to replace Russia on the council.

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In his address to the Russian Week Forum, President said is ready to resume supplies via one link of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that remains operational, local media reported.

The Russian leader said could still be supplied by one remaining intact part of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The ball was in the EU's court on whether it wanted supplied via the pipeline, he said.

Putin said, " is ready to start such supplies. The ball is in the court of the EU. If they want, they can just open the tap."

He went on to say that has nothing to do with the sky-high prices that Europeans are facing this winter, instead blaming the West for stoking a global crisis, The Guardian reported.

It was the poorest countries that would pay the highest price in terms of rising energy costs, Putin added.

Those who benefit the most from the damage caused to the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea are the ones responsible for it, Russian President Vladmir Putin has said, RT reported.

"Everybody understands who is behind this and who is the beneficiary. One can now force the liquefied natural gas from the US on to European countries on a much larger scale," Putin said in a speech at the Russian Energy Week forum in Moscow on Wednesday.

The President pointed out that US liquefied natural gas (LNG) is "definitely less competitive than Russian pipeline gas" due its higher price.

"Who stands behind the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines? Obviously, those who are looking to completely sever the ties between Russia and the EU, undermine Europe's political sovereignty, weaken its industrial capacity and gain control of its markets," the President said, RT reported.

--IANS

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In the wake of Russian missile strikes all across Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for fresh sanctions against Moscow for "such a new wave of terror".

He made the remarks while virtually addressing G7 leaders on Tuesday during an emergency meeting over the developments in Ukraine.

Addressing the bloc which consists of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and US, the President said: "For such a new wave of terror there must be a new wave of responsibility for -- new sanctions, new forms of political pressure and new forms of support for Ukraine.

"The terrorist state must be deprived of even the thought that any wave of terror can bring it anything."

He went on to say that at the level of the entire G7 and the democratic world, "we must respond symmetrically: when attacks the energy sector and energy stability of our countries, we must block its energy sector with sanctions, break the stability of Russian revenues from oil and gas trade".

"A tough price cap is needed for the exports of oil and gas from -- zero profit for the terrorist state. Such steps can bring peace closer, they will encourage the terrorist state to think about peace, about the unprofitability of war."

Zelenksy also stressed on the "obvious fact" that there cannot be any dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"Talks can be either with another head of Russia, who will comply with the UN Charter, the basic principles of humanity and territorial integrity of Ukraine, or in a different configuration, so that the key terrorist does not have the opportunity to influence key decisions through terror.

"Now one person is blocking peace, and this person is in Moscow," he added.

Responding to the Ukrainian leader's call, the G7 leaders in a joint statement condemned the missile attacks in the strongest possible and said that "we will hold President Putin and those responsible to account".

"We have imposed and will continue to impose further economic costs on Russia, including on individuals and entities -- inside and outside of Russia -- providing political or economic support for Russia's illegal attempts to change the status of Ukrainian territory," the leaders were quoted as saying in the statement.

They also condemned and "unequivocally reject the illegal attempted annexation by Russia of Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya and Kherson regions in addition to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol. We solemnly reiterate that we will never recognise this illegal annexation or the sham referenda that Russia uses to justify it".

The meeting came as at least 19 people were killed and hundreds more injured as Russian missiles hit regions across the country on Monday and Tuesday.

Some 83 missiles struck Ukraine on Monday -- the heaviest bombardment the country has witnessed since Russia waged its war on February 24.

Several strikes hit Kiev, the first time the capital city has been targeted in months.

According to Zelensky, 28 more missiles were fired on Tuesday, 20 of which were shot down, including Iranian combat drones.

--IANS

ksk/

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Shares of hit a fresh 52-week low of Rs 263.15, down 2 per cent on the BSE in Wednesdays intra-day trade. In the past five trading sessions, the stock of pharmaceuticals company has declined 12 per cent after the company said that the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and Healthcare (EDQM) found one major deficiency at its Bengaluru active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) plant.

The European medical regulator conducted a good manufacturing practices (GMP) inspection of its API plant in Bengaluru from 12 September 2022 to 14 September 2022. Post inspection, a list of deficiencies was issued on 5 October 2022, said in an exchange filing on October 6.

The pharma company said that there were no critical deficiencies and one deficiency cited under the category 'major'. The company will respond to the agency with appropriate corrective and preventive actions within the stipulated time. The company remains committed to the quality, safety & efficacy of its products, said.

Earlier on August 31, US health regulator issued Form 483 to the company with 11 observations each for its two sites in Bengaluru and six for a plant in Malaysia.

The US Food and Drug Administration (US-FDA) conducted three on-site inspections at Biocon Biologics (company's subsidiary) seven manufacturing facilities spanning two sites in Bengaluru, India and one at Johor, Malaysia. These inspections started with the Bengaluru site on August 11, 2022 and concluded with the Malaysia site on August 30, 2022. Biocon had said that the company does not expect the outcome of these inspections to impact the current supply of its products.

Meanwhile, on September 6, Biocon divested a 21.78 million shares or 5.4 per cent stake in its research subsidiary, Syngene International for Rs 1,220 crore via bulk deal.

Currently, Biocon is trading at its lowest level since March 2020. In the past three months, the stock has declined 20 per cent, as compared to 6 per cent rally in the S&P BSE Sensex. Further, in the last six months, it has slipped 25 per cent, as against 2.5 per cent fall in the benchmark index.
Shares of footwear companies continued their upward march with and Campus Activewear hitting new highs on the BSE in Wednesdays intra-day trade owing to healthy business outlook.

Besides these two stocks, Khadim India, Bata India, and too rallied up to 10 per cent each in intra-day trade today. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 0.46 per cent at 57,407 at 09:30 AM.

The footwear sector is undergoing a transformative phase wherein addition to design and comfort features on aspects related to functionality are also gaining prominence in the mind of the consumer. The World Footwear market size is currently around $ 224.6 billion and is expected to grow at a handsome rate of 4 per cent. India is the 2nd largest footwear manufacturer in the world behind China.

Rising discretionary income, improvement in living standards, increased brand consciousness; growing work force has resulted in shift from the unorganized sector to the organized sector market in India. The demand for high fashion products is pushing revenues, higher trade volumes and increased employment avenues.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said Indias footwear sector has immense potential, and it can increase production and exports 10 times in the near future.

Among individual stocks, hit a new high at Rs 402.20, on ralliying 10 per cent today. In the past one month, the stock price of the company has zoomed 120 per cent, as compared to 4.6 per cent decline in the S&P BSE Sensex.

On September 24, the company said that it was confident of achieving pre-Covid numbers in terms of revenue and profitability. Going ahead, the company aims to grow by 30 per cent in the year 2022-23 and is confident enough to achieve the highest-ever top line and Profit before tax (PBT) in the year 2022-23, with PST margin of over 5 per cent to correspond with the industry benchmark in near future.

Campus Activewear too hit a new high at Rs 617.95, surging 5 per cent on the BSE in intra-day trade so far. The stock surpassed its previous high of Rs 617.10, touched on September 23, 2022. With todays rally the stock has zoomed 112 per cent from its issue price of Rs 292 per share.




Shares of Group companies, and First Bank, gained up to 5 per cent each on the BSE in Wednesday's intra-day trade.

Of these, IDFC hit a 52-week high of Rs 76.35 as it rallied 5 per cent on the BSE. In the past three months, stock of the holding company has surged 45 per cent after the Competition Commission of India (CCI) approved the divestment of IDFC Asset Management Company (IDFC AMC) on August 1, 2022.

In April this year, a consortium of Bandhan Bank's parent, Bandhan Financial Holdings (BFHL), private equity firm ChrysCapital, and Singapore's sovereign fund GIC had announced the acquisition of IDFC Asset Management Company for Rs 4,500 crore.

The Boards of IDFC, IDFC FHCL, and at their respective meetings, held on December 30, 2021, had accorded in-principle approval to merge IDFC and IDFC Financial Holding Company (IDFC FHCL) with post further simplification of corporate structure, and divestment of IDFC AMC.

Meanwhile, shares of gained 3 per cent to Rs 54.60, as compared to 0.50 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex at 57,424 points at 01:41 PM. The stock of the private sector lender is trading close to its 52-week high level of Rs 55.15, which it had touched on October 6.

In the past three months, the market price of IDFC First Bank has appreciated 60 per cent on improved assets quality. The Bank's strong momentum in deposits continued in September quarter (Q2FY23), with customer deposits up 35.9 per cent year-on-year (YoY), and 10.8 per cent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) to Rs 1.14 trillion, within which CASA deposits grew 37 per cent YoY, and 11.7 per cent QoQ to Rs 63,380 crore. The CASA ratio improved to 51.34 per cent v/s 50.04 per cent in Q1FY23.

"Key input parameters of asset quality such as cheque/ NACH bounces on presentation, which are indicators of future asset quality of advances continued to improve. Asset quality of the loans booked during last 1 year, on a like-to-like vintage comparison basis, is performing better than prior vintage periods, indicating improvement in asset quality going forward," IDFC Bank said in Q2 business update.

According to CARE Ratings, the bank has comfortable capitalisation levels due to regular capital raising undertaken to support its asset growth. "An increasing diversification and granularisation of advances post the merger with a shift towards retail lending with gradual reduction of the legacy infrastructure lending book within the wholesale portfolio, diversified resources profile with increased proportion of retail term and current account savings account (CASA) deposits; albeit its cost of funds remained higher due to legacy borrowings which continues to still form a significant proportion of its funding profile, albeit on a decreasing trend," the rating agency said in rationale.

Sustained improvement in cost would further enable the Bank to become more competitive in secured and price sensitive retail loan segments like Home Loans and LAP as well as large corporate segments keeping ticket sizes under check.

"The Banks profitability is expected to improve over the medium term as the bank establishes its retail franchise and the economies of scale help improve operational efficiency as well as the stabilisation of the depositor base with a reduction in credit costs with improvement in asset quality and would be a key monitorable," CARE Ratings said.
The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, today has approved the proposal of Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas to give one time grant amounting to Rs.22,000 crore to three Public Sector Undertaking Oil Marketing Companies (PSU OMCs). The grant will be distributed among Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL). The approval will help the PSU OMCs to continue their commitment to the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan, ensuring unhindered domestic LPG supplies and also supporting the procurement of Make in India products.

Domestic LPG Cylinders are supplied at regulated prices to consumers by the public sector Oil Marketing companies namely, IOCL, BPCL, HPCL. During the period from June 2020 to June 2022, the international prices of LPG increased by around 300%. However, to insulate consumers from fluctuations in international LPG prices, the cost increase was not fully passed on to consumers of domestic LPG. Accordingly, domestic LPG prices have raised by only 72% during this period.

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Genesys International Corporation advanced 3.25% to Rs 578.95 after the company said that it has bagged an Rs 46 crore for land titling project by the Andhra Pradesh Government.

The project involves resurveying with modern technology using CORS Network, GNSS Receiver, and aerial systems. The project will make use of the company's recently launched Genesys Constellation, which is India's most comprehensive range of aerial, mobile, and terrestrial sensors that converts everyday objects into data sources.

The company said that the deregulation of geospatial space has provided the industry a significant boost, and it will enable companies like Genesys better serve the public and private sectors. Projects like land titling digitalization are examples of how the public sector is leveraging the latest technologies/initiatives enabled by the deregulation.

As part of the project, Genesys Constellation will demarcate residential zones, farms, and other natural and infrastructural characteristics, as well as property mapping and data digitization across the state. The project is planned to be finished this fiscal year.

Sajid Malik, chairman and managing director of Genesys International Corporation, commented: Accurate land titling is a crucial need of the country to establish clear ownership of property in rural inhabited (Abadi) areas by mapping land parcels and providing a 'Record of Rights' to village household owners. The property owners are issued legal ownership cards (Property cards/Title deeds) after ascertaining the plot boundaries accurately.

The resurveying is enabled by the sensors in the Genesys Constellation that provide the biggest swath in the world, which is generated by a single frame that captures more than 25000 pixels. Due to its capacity for acquiring highly accurate data sets at high speeds, it will be able to reduce long-standing problems with land titling and the ensuing legal issues with land records, which obstruct the acquisition of land for numerous infrastructure projects and present serious difficulties.

Genesys, which has partnered with companies like Google, ESRI and Bentley to launch services such as 'Street View' and '3D City Digital Twin Solution', is hopeful that this initiative will further gain momentum in other Indian states and usher in an era of modernization in the land recording.

Genesys International Corporation is engaged into providing Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) primarily involving digitization of maps, and conversion of paper-based drawings to the digital platform. GICL provides services to companies in industry verticals such as urban development, utilities, natural resources, disaster management, telecom, civil engineering, construction, infrastructure, and media.

The company reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 4.29 crore in the quarter ended June 2022 as against net loss of Rs 7.01 crore during the previous quarter ended June 2021. Sales jumped to Rs 42.69 crore in Q1 FY23 from Rs 13.67 crore in Q1 FY22.

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For cooperation in financing railway infrastructure projects

Indian Railway Finance Corporation has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with India Infrastructure Finance Company (IIFCL), a Public Sector Enterprise under the Ministry of Finance to strengthen cooperation in financing railway infrastructure projects with forward and backward linkages to Indian Railways sector.

Through this MoU, IRFC and IIFCL plan to amplify each other's capabilities, enabling them to jointly leverage the financing opportunities for viable infrastructure projects.

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Sonata Software said that it has signed an agreement with eir evo to support the standardization of their customer relationship management (CRM) platform, migrating them from Salesforce to Microsoft Dynamics.

eir evo is Ireland's leading telecommunications and ICT solutions provider

In addition to the above agreement, Sonata Software and eir evo also plan to implement a long-term strategy for growing Microsoft Dynamics within the Irish market, by co-creating engagement models for a cohesive approach.

Back in March 2021, eir Business and Evros Technology Group, announced the completion of their merger, enabling the organization - the newly named eir evo - to offer an unrivalled portfolio of services across cyber security, cloud, networking, app development, 24x7x365 managed support and more, to the whole of Ireland. Since then, the company has been working on the standardization of their platforms across both entities for a fully integrated and optimized way of working.

Sonata Software's unique platform migration process, will empower operational efficiency across eir evo, supporting them in delivering their business objectives. The migration will also enable seamless collaboration acrosstheir business functions, while delivering visibility across all of their IT systems. This internal optimisation will also support productivity and customer centric efficiencies.

Roshan Shetty, chief revenue officer, Sonata Software, said: Our collaboration with eir evo will enable them to provide superior customer service through streamlined collaboration across their groups, along with an enhanced digital experience and optimized operational capabilities.

Sonata Software is a global technology company, that enables platform based digital transformation initiatives for enterprises, to create businesses that are connected, open, intelligent, and scalable.

On a consolidated basis, Sonata Software's net profit rose 7% to Rs 107.8 crore on 22% increase in revenues to Rs 1,778.90 crore in Q1 June 2022 over Q1 June 2021.

The scrip rose 0.92% to currently trade at Rs 517 on the BSE.

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Sonata Software has announced that it has signed an agreement with eir evo, Ireland's leading Telecommunications and ICT Solutions Provider, to support the standardization of their CRM platform, migrating them from Salesforce to Microsoft Dynamics.

In addition to the above agreement, Sonata Software and eir evo also plan to implement a long-term strategy for growing Microsoft Dynamics within the Irish market, by co-creating engagement models for a cohesive approach.

Back in March 2021, eir Business and Evros Technology Group, announced the completion of their merger, enabling the organization - the newly named eir evo - to offer an unrivalled portfolio of services across cyber security, cloud, networking, app development, 24x7x365 managed support and more, to the whole of Ireland. Since then, the company has been working on the standardization of their platforms across both entities for a fully integrated and optimized way of working.

Sonata Software's unique platform migration process, will empower operational efficiency across eir evo, supporting them in delivering their business objectives.

The migration will also enable seamless collaboration across their business functions, while delivering visibility across all of their IT systems. This internal optimisation will also support productivity and customer centric efficiencies.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The government is set to put the exploration licences for 42 blocks up for auction in the next round of its licensing process. The Directorate General of Hydrocarbons has announced that 26 oil and gas blocks and 16 blocks for coal-bed methane will be available in this round. The oil and gas blocks might be of particular interest; three of them are on land, and of the remaining, 15 are ultra deep-water. The government clearly hopes that there will be reasonable private sector participation in this auction: After meeting with representatives of the sector in Houston, Union petroleum minister Hardeep Puri said on Twitter that There is an unprecedented interest in Indian exploration and production by global oil companies. Certainly, without adequate capital and technology investment from global leaders, the stated target of 1 million square kilometres being under exploration by 2030 is unlikely to be met. In early 2022, only about 0.2 million square kilometres were under exploration.
leader resumed the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' from the Challakere town, Chitradurga in on Wednesday. The leader will also be meeting around 2000 unemployed youth from the southern state.

The Bharat Jodo Yatra is in its leg and is on its 35th day here.

The march started at 6:40 am, informed the veteran leader Jairam Ramesh.

Congress MP will be around 2000 unemployed youth from all over Karnataka, said the Congress veteran.

"Day 35 of Bharat Jodo Yatra began at 6:40 am from Challakere and the entire day will be in the historic Chitradurga district. The afternoon interaction of will be with around 2000 unemployed youth from all over who face a bleak future in the so-called 'New India'", tweeted Congress party leader Jairam Ramesh.

Karnataka Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah, and State Congress chief DK Shivkumar were also present with Rahul during the Karnataka leg of the Bharat Jodo Yatra today.

The state party chief shared the visuals of the march on the micro-blogging site, Twitter on Wednesday.

Large people were seen gathering here with Rahul Gandhi raising the tricolour and following the Congress MP to show their support for the Bharat Jodo Yatra.

The Indian Congress shared a photo of Rahul Gandhi interacting with a group of women dressed in traditional attire.

"Tricolor is behind and Josh is high in front. Steps will not stop, as a resolve has been taken to unite the country", INC tweeted in Hindi.

Rahul Gandhi was also seen wearing a 'waist coat' representing Nagaland.

The Padyatra will again resume after halting in Griyammanahalli village Arch. The Congress MP will stay in Swami Vivekananda School, Hirehalli, Chitradurga at night.

The Bharat Jodo Yatra began on September 7 from Kanniyakumari and has covered a distance of 905 km so far. It will pass through a total of 12 states, to culminate in Jammu and Kashmir.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi along with 40 Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) delegates who are part of the Bharat Jodo Yatra will cast their vote for the party presidential election at the campsite as a special booth will be established for them to take part in the polls.

The voting for the Congress presidential elections is scheduled to be held on October 17 and the padayatra will take a break for a day for voting.Congress leader Jairam Ramesh clearly stated that the voters only need an ID card for exercising their franchise.

All the arrangements have been made at the travel camp for their voting in the election of Congress President.

The Central Election Authority, headed by senior party leader Madhusudan Mistry, will oversee the voting, a notification of which was issued on September 22.

With Gandhis not running for the top post this time around, the grand old party is all set to get a non-Gandhi president after over 25 years.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress MLA Manik Bhattacharya in the early hours of Tuesday after night-long questioning in connection with alleged irregularities in the recruitment of primary teachers, officials said.

Bhattacharya, the former chairman of the Board of Primary Education, was arrested for allegedly not cooperating with the investigation, they said.

"Mr Bhattacharya has been arrested for his continued non-cooperating with the investigators during questioning, which began on Monday afternoon. He also tried to misdirect the investigators," an ED officer told PTI.

When produced before a city court, the MLA of Palashipara in Nadia district was remanded to 14 days of ED custody.

Earlier, the Supreme Court granted Bhattacharya "protection" from being arrested by the CBI, which is also investigating the case.

The ED is tracking the money trail in the scam, while the CBI is looking into the alleged irregularities committed in the recruitment.

It is alleged that several people who fared poorly in the recruitment examinations were hired as teachers in exchange for lakhs of rupees, while the eligible candidates were overlooked.

In July, the ED arrested former education minister Partha Chatterjee in the School Service Commission (SSC) recruitment scam.

Reacting to the development, BJP state spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya alleged that this is a major racket that deprived thousands of eligible candidates of jobs.

The is involved in it from top to bottom. It is not the case of a single Manik Bhattacharya. There will be more arrests in the coming days."



The said that if anyone is involved in corrupt practices, he should be treated according to the law.

We also want the recruitment process to be done expeditiously and fairly for the interest of thousands of candidates. The opposition is playing with the future of them, spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
presidential candidate on Wednesday asserted that if he becomes the chief, he would fully implement the party's existing constitution which requires CWC elections and revival of the parliamentary board that has been dormant for a quarter-century.

In an interview with PTI, Tharoor also said the must decentralise authority and truly empower the grassroots office-bearers of the party.

The Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram said he would fully implement the Udaipur Declaration which was unanimously agreed at the party's Chintan Shivir earlier this year.

Asked about his plans for the party if he wins the electoral contest against Mallikarjun Kharge for the top post, the former Union minister said, "I think an important first step would be to call for elections to the Working Committee to spread our inner-party democracy even further."



"I am going to implement fully the existing Constitution, which requires CWC elections and the revival of the parliamentary board that has been dormant for a quarter-century, and the Udaipur Declaration which was unanimously agreed," Tharoor said.

The holding of the Working Committee elections and the revival of the parliamentary board were among the key demands of the group of 23 leaders, including Tharoor, who wrote to party chief Sonia Gandhi in 2020 seeking large scale organisational reforms.

At the Shivir, the Congress had adopted the Udaipur Declaration which included wide-ranging organisational reforms to make the party battle-ready for the next round of assembly and Lok Sabha polls, including wider representation to those under 50 years of age and enforcing 'one person, one post' and 'one family, one ticket' rules with riders.

Tharoor said that as he has pointed out in his manifesto that the Congress must empower the party in the states by giving real authority to the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) presidents, block, mandal and booth presidents.

"We must decentralise authority and truly empower the grassroots office-bearers of the party. Our PCC delegates, for instance, have literally had no role for the last 22 years but to vote in the coming election on October 17th!" the 66-year-old leader said.

"I want their elected status to be honoured by ensuring PCC delegates a place on the platform when any senior leader comes visiting, involve them in the consultations that must take place before candidates are selected for elections, and so on," he said.

Tharoor stressed that the Congress must provide a credible alternative to the BJP's "centralisation of authority" in its party affairs and in the affairs of governance.

"I have been a big fan of the 2014 UPA election slogan 'Main nahin, hum'. Re-imagining the organisation, delegating powers to grassroots level leaders and empowering our workers as stakeholders in our success, will not only free the new president from the onerous burdens of over-administration, but help recreate the strong state leadership that, in past eras, strengthened the Congress' appeal," he said.

Tharoor, who has run an energetic campaign across various states to seek the support of the PCC delegates for his Congress presidential bid, also said the response from ordinary party workers, especially young delegates, has been immensely encouraging.

"Many have even volunteered to spread my message among their own circles and are supporting my campaign with a level of enthusiasm that is both inspiring and humbling," he said.

"I look forward to continuing to put my best foot forward and to work as hard as humanly possible in this campaign, which is the only way I can repay their faith and trust in my candidacy," the senior Congress leader said.

Tharoor has asserted that he is the candidate of reform and change in the way the party is run, only to make it fighting fit to tackle the BJP in 2024.

Tharoor is pitted against Kharge, who is being seen as a favourite for the top party post because of his perceived proximity to the Gandhi family.

However, Tharoor has reiterated time and again that the Gandhi family has made it clear that they are staying above the fray and are neutral.

At a press conference during the Bharat Jodo Yatra last week, Rahul Gandhi had dismissed claims that the next Congress president would be "remote-controlled" by his family, saying both the contenders -- Kharge and Tharoor -- are people of stature and understanding and to make such a suggestion was insulting for them.

The Congress presidential poll will take place on October 17 and the results will be out on October 19.

(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.)
party's presidential candidate on Tuesday said he will give 50 per cent tickets to youth to contest elections if he becomes the chief of the party. The election for the party president is scheduled to be held on October 17.

Kharge arrived in Patna on Tuesday for his election campaign to seek support of the party members. He said that he had learnt about his candidature just 18 hours before the announcement.

"During the Congress' conference in Udaipur, the party had set the agenda to give 50 per cent seats to youth. It is also our election manifesto. If I become the president of the party, I will implement it. We work for the people working in unorganised sectors, labourers, and farmers. I will take forward the ideology of Mahatma Gandhi in the country," the senior leader from Karnataka said.

"The way BJP leaders are doing arbitrariness in the country, the democracy comes under threat. Saving the democracy of the country is also our core ideology of the party and I stick to it," he said.

Speaking on the Bharat Jodo Yatra led by party leader Rahul Gandhi, Kharge said "it is not a political rally".

"Rahul Gandhi is doing the Bharat Jodo Yatra to unite the people of the country against BJP which is doing divisive and creating differences in the society in the names of caste and religions. He is getting support from a large number of people," he said.

is contesting against another senior leader Shashi Tharoor for the post of the party's president.

--IANS

ajk/pgh

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Internet major will roll out it's reward point system in India, which can be redeemed for making purchases at Play Store, the company said on Tuesday.

The facility, Play Points, is available in 28 countries globally.

" Play Points helps users earn points and rewards for the many ways they use the platform. Over the past years, Google Play Points has been expanded to 28 countries and has more than 100 million people finding value in the programme. The programme will be rolled out to users in India in the coming week," the company said in a statement.

With Play Points, users will be able to earn points when they make purchases with Google Play, including in-app items, apps, games, and subscriptions.

Google Play has also partnered with developers of popular apps and games across the world, which will enable users to redeem their points for special in-app items.

In India, it is partnering with over 30 participating titles that include games from global studios such as Miniclip (8 Ball Pool), TG INC (Evony: The King's return), games from local studios such as Gametion (Ludo King), Playsimple Games (Word Trip), Gameberry Labs (Ludo Star), and popular apps such as Truecaller and Wysa.

Google said that it will look at expanding the programme to more global and local developers in the future.

"Google Play Points will also provide local developers a new avenue to build a local and global user base; helping them engage their users, drive discovery, and acquire users across markets that have Google Play Points," the statement said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
has disclosed 85 vulnerabilities across its products in its October security update, including one that has been exploited in the wild and the other listed as publicly known.

Of the 85 new patches released, 15 are rated critical, 69 are rated important and one is rated moderate in severity.

The publicly disclosed vulnerability is in Office which can put user tokens and other potentially sensitive information at risk.

"What may be more interesting is what isn't included in this month's release. There are no updates for Exchange Server, despite two Exchange bugs being actively exploited for at least two weeks," said Dustin Childs for the Zero Day Initiative.

revealed earlier this month that it was investigating two new zero-day vulnerabilities affecting the company's Exchange Server which is actively being exploited by hackers.

The company said an attacker would need authenticated access to the vulnerable Exchange Server, such as stolen credentials, to successfully exploit either of the two vulnerabilities.

With no updates available to fully address these bugs, the best IT administrators can do is ensure the September 2021 security update is installed.

Last year, Microsoft released an emergency security update for its Exchange email and communications software as at least 30,000 organisations across the US were hit by hackers who stole email communications from their systems.

The next Microsoft Patch Tuesday falls on November 8.

--IANS

na/

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Several users of Meta's are complaining losing majority of their followers on the social media platform due to unknown reasons.

Meta founder and CEO has lost over 119 million followers which has brought down his follower count to below 10,000.

" created a tsunami that wiped away my almost 900,000 followers and left only 9000 something on the shore. I kind of like Facebook's comedy," exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen tweeted.

When contacted, a Meta spokesperson said, We're aware that some people are seeing inconsistent follower count on their profiles. We're working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible and we apologize for any inconvenience.

(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.)
Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's is set to seek a permit to launch satellite internet services in India under its Starlink brand, becoming the third company to apply for such a permit, the Economic Times reported on Wednesday.

will also seek statutory approvals from the government for landing rights and market access, the report said, adding that it is likely to seek approvals from Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to set up local gateways.

and DoT did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment after regular hours.

Earlier this year, the Indian government asked Starlink to refund all its pre-orders until it received licences to operate in the country.

SpaceX will "very shortly" apply for a Global Mobile Personal Communications By Satellite (GMPCS) services licence to Indian authorities, the report said, without giving further details. Bharti Group-backed OneWeb and Reliance Jio's satellite arm have already applied for the permit.

(Reporting by Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru; Editing by Richard Pullin)

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
New York [US]/Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], October 12 (ANI/NewsVoir): Apollo (NYSE: APO) today announced the opening of a new office in Mumbai, India, further strengthening its presence in India and Asia Pacific and building on the firm's successful investment track record in the region. The relocation of Apollo's India operations from the firm's prior office space in Powai reflects Apollo's desire to scale in India across all business lines. Apollo has been active across all strategies including yield, hybrid and equity.

Located at NESCO IT Park in Goregaon, a suburb in Mumbai City, the new office spans approximately 88,000 square feet over three contiguous floors, with a fourth floor expected to open in 2023. The Mumbai NESCO office is an integral part of Apollo's growth strategy and will serve as a strategic hub for enterprise solutions supporting Apollo's global business operations. It also represents the firm's second-largest office globally and ninth office in Asia Pacific.

To commemorate the official opening, Apollo CEO Marc Rowan participated in a ribbon cutting ceremony alongside Madhura Shah, the firm's Head of Infrastructure in India and Matt Michelini, Apollo's Head of Asia Pacific. The new office is reflective of the modern workplace model at Apollo. The space includes a cafeteria and a coffee bar, an innovation lab, places of collaboration and connection and wellness and family facilities. Apollo recently reimaged its office spaces in New York, Hong Kong and London.

Apollo CEO Marc Rowan said, "India is Apollo's second largest country in terms of employment, and we have assembled a best-in-class team in the region. Our India team works seamlessly across our global business to achieve our strategic plans across investing, capital formation and enterprise resources, and we are pleased to support them with a state-of-the-art working environment."

Madhura Shah, Apollo Managing Director and Head of Infrastructure in India, commented, "The dynamic, collaborative workplace that we have developed is another example of Apollo's people-first approach to cultivating talent. This new office is a significant step in advancing Apollo's vision as we continue to expand our footprint across all business lines while leveraging our deep talent and expertise in India."

Apollo Partner and Head of Asia Pacific Matt Michelini said, "India is a core focus of our Asia Pacific strategy, and we see tremendous opportunities to scale all of our investing businesses in the country. Strengthening our on-the-ground presence in Mumbai is a critical step in building our regional platform and expanding those capabilities to Asia and other geographies around the world."

Apollo is a high-growth, global alternative asset manager. In our asset management business, we seek to provide our clients excess return at every point along the risk-reward spectrum from investment grade to private equity with a focus on three investing strategies: yield, hybrid, and equity. For more than three decades, our investing expertise across our fully integrated platform has served the financial return needs of our clients and provided businesses with innovative capital solutions for growth. Through Athene, our retirement services business, we specialize in helping clients achieve financial security by providing a suite of retirement savings products and acting as a solutions provider to institutions. Our patient, creative, and knowledgeable approach to investing aligns our clients, businesses we invest in, our employees, and the communities we impact, to expand opportunity and achieve positive outcomes. As of June 30, 2022, Apollo had approximately USD 515 billion of assets under management.

To learn more, please visit www.apollo.com.

This story has been provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content in this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], October 12 (ANI/NewsVoir): Razorpay, India's Leading Payments and Banking Platform for Businesses, furthers its mission towards building an employee-centric work culture with the introduction of the 'Family Assurance Benefits Policy' for all its full-time employees and their families today.

Under the policy, Razorpay will provide continued financial support to the employee's immediate family in case of an unfortunate demise.

Losing a family member is never easy. While families grieve the loss of a loved one, the stress of how they would manage their lives (financially) further on also dawns upon the family members. We desire to help them in every way possible and this initiative is a step forward in that direction. Under such unfortunate circumstances, the nominee of a Razorpay employee will be eligible for:

3X of the last drawn annual CTC (Cost To Company) of the deceased employee

Accelerated vesting of all unvested ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) units to the nominee, if ESOP was allocated

Prorated 100% variable pay for the current performance cycle

Prorated Gratuity for employee's tenure at Razorpay

Continuation of Medical Insurance Coverage for the rest of the policy term in the same financial year for the nominees as per the Group Medical Cover policy.

ESOPs have been a source of significant wealth creation for employees in the startup ecosystem and Razorpay strongly believes that its employees are quintessential to the overall development of the business and ESOPs are one of the many tangible ways in which Razorpay extends its gratitude to its employees. Paying tribute to the employee's contributions further, Razorpay's ESOP policy now makes the nominee of the deceased Razorpay employee eligible for accelerated vesting of all unvested ESOP units. In May 2022, Razorpay became one of India's youngest startups to facilitate the ESOP sale consecutively for three years, the benefits of which were sought by current and former employees who held vested stocks of the company.

The Family Assurance Benefits Policy is applicable to all Full-time employees of Razorpay. The company hopes this initiative will act as a safety net for its employees' family members in times of need and help employees continue to build their dreams with one less thing to worry about.

Chitbhanu Nagri, Senior Vice President - People Operations, Razorpay said, "Since we all spend a large portion of our lives at our workplace, we at Razorpay have made greater efforts to create an ecosystem where every Razor truly belongs. While we continue to disrupt and relentlessly work towards building a robust financial services ecosystem, none of it would be possible without our teams being empowered by their families at every step of the way. This policy is our way to reiterate our commitment to our teams' wellbeing and extend our contributions to the lives of our Razor families."

In June this year, Razorpay revamped its Employee Health Insurance Policy to include live-in partners, same-gender partners, and those who identify as LGBTQIA+, making it the first Fintech unicorn in India to introduce a highly inclusive insurance policy for its team members. This initiative had its origins in believing that caregiving is not always limited to immediate family members as done traditionally but also transcends through our loved ones, irrespective of one's identity.

In the past few years, Razorpay has been the pioneer in several employee-first initiatives and benefits including "No-Meeting Days", "Pet Days", "Wellness Leaves" to name a few. With its employee-centric approach, Razorpay endeavors to make the workplace a safe, productive, enabling, and conducive environment where employees can achieve not only their career goals but their mental, emotional, physical, and financial well-being as well.

Razorpay, a full-stack financial services company helps Indian businesses with comprehensive and innovative solutions built over robust technology to address the entire length and breadth of the payment and banking journey for any business. Established in 2014, the company provides technology payment solutions to over 8Mn businesses.

Founded by alumni of IIT Roorkee, Shashank Kumar and Harshil Mathur, Razorpay is the second Indian company to be a part of Silicon Valley's largest tech accelerator, Y Combinator. Marquee investors such as Lone Pine Capital, Alkeon Capital, TCV, GIC, Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital India, Ribbit Capital, Matrix Partners, Salesforce Ventures, Y Combinator and MasterCard have invested a total of USD 741.5 Mn through Series A, B, C, D, E & amp; F funding. A few angel investors have also invested in Razorpay's mission to simplify payments and banking and redefine how finance works in India.

For more information, please visit: (https://razorpay.com).

This story has been provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content in this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)
What is a Collegium?

It is a group of Chief Justice of India or and the four senior-most of the that decides appointments to the apex court. These appointments could be in the form of elevation, when High Court are appointed to the or direct appointments when experienced lawyers may be directly appointed as apex court .

High Courts too have a collegium. They are headed by the chief justice of the court. The next two senior-most judges are part of the HC collegium. However, the HC collegium only makes recommendations for appointments to HC. The final decisions are taken by a collegium of the and two senior-most judges of the SC.

This collegium of the three senior-most SC judges also decides transfers of HC judges in the country.

What does the Constitution say?

Under Article 124, the appointment of judges should be made by the President after consultation with such judges of the High Courts and the Supreme Court as the President may deem necessary. The is to be consulted in all appointments except his or her own.

Topsy-turvy land of judicial appointments

After the 1981 SP Gupta case, also called the "First Judges case", it was suggested that the executive must have the biggest say in judicial appointments.

12 years later, in 1993, a nine-judge bench in the "Second Judges case" said that the CJI must be given priority in such appointments. This was reinstated in the Third Judges case in 1998. Since then, the judges are appointed by the collegium system.

What does the government say?

The central government has not been a supporter of the collegium system. According to the government, the current system is not transparent and can be blamed for the high number of vacancies in the judiciary.

It has also come under fire for not being representative enough. Women, Dalits and STs are underrepresented in the higher judiciary in India.

In 2014, NDA government had brought National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act to accord a major role to the executive in appointing judges to the higher judiciary. But it was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2015.
This blog covers software patent news and issues with a particular focus on wireless, mobile devices (smartphones, tablet computers, connected cars) as well as select antitrust matters surrounding those devices.
China to livestream class from space station lab module

Xinhua) 08:24, October 12, 2022

Screen image captured at Beijing Aerospace Control Center on July 25, 2022 shows Shenzhou-14 taikonauts Chen Dong (C), Liu Yang (R) and Cai Xuzhe at Wentian lab module. (Xinhua/Guo Zhongzheng)

BEIJING, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- Taikonauts aboard China's Tiangong space station will for the first time livestream a science lecture from the Wentian lab module, the China Manned Space Agency said on Tuesday.

The class is scheduled to begin at 3:45 p.m. on Wednesday (Beijing Time). The Shenzhou-14 taikonauts Chen Dong, Liu Yang and Cai Xuzhe will amaze audiences with their introduction of the lab module, micro-gravity performances of sci-tech experiments, and presentation of in-orbit plant growth research.

The three space teachers will also interact with students on Earth during the class, which is aimed at popularizing the knowledge of manned space flights and encouraging young people to develop an interest in science, the agency said in a statement.

Wednesday's class is the third from the Chinese space station. Part of the teaching content has been selected from the suggestions given by young people.

The previous two lectures of the "Tiangong Class" series were delivered by the Shenzhou-13 taikonauts from the station's core module Tianhe.

Wentian is the first lab component of China's under-construction space station. It was launched on July 24.

Taikonauts will also invite students to carry out related experiments on the ground, to perceive the differences between space and Earth, and discover the fun derived from such explorations, the agency said.

(Web editor: Wu Chaolan, Du Mingming)
Dangote in crisis talks over violence at Obajana plant

ICR Newsroom By 12 October 2022

Aliko Dangote, president of the Dangote Group, has met with state governors to try and resolve the crisis at the cement producers Obajana plant. In attendance at the meeting was Yahaya Bello, governor of Kogi State, Abdullahi Sule, governor of Nasarawa State, and Ibrahim Gambari, chief of staff to the President of Nigeria.

The meeting follows violence at the plant after the Kogi State Government attempted to seal the plant over concerns relating to tax evasion and legal ownership of the plant. During the sealing process, violence erupted resulting in a number of plant workers being seriously injured. According to a statement by the Dangote Group, 27 workers were shot by Kogi state vigilantes, with some of the companys property at the plant also being destroyed. Dangote has also reiterated that the Obajana plant is 100 per cent owned by Dangote Cement Plc.

Following the violence at the plant, the Kogi Assembly Complex was burnt down, something that Dangote firmly denies having any involvement in. In a statement, the company said, Our attention has been drawn to a circulating press statement issued by the Kogi state government, wherein the Dangote Group was accused of allegedly sponsoring arsonists to set the Kogi State House of Assembly on fire in the early hours of Monday, October 10, 2022. The statement titled, Obajana: Desperation sets in as imported hoodlums burn down Kogi Assembly, which was signed by the Kogi State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Kingsley Fanwo, pointedly accused our company of burning the complex in an attempt to possibly destroy evidence relating to the ownership tussle between the Kogi State Government and the Dangote Group over the Obajana Cement Company.

As a socially responsible corporate entity, we totally refute this allegation and condemn this unprofessional and irresponsible attempt to smear our image before local and international investors and thus erode our brand value. Dangote Group would never stoop so low as to sponsor thugs to destroy any property, belonging to either government or any individual. This runs contrary to our business ethos and everything we stand for as a leading manufacturer with teeming customers and consumers across Nigeria and Africa.

Our lawyers have been mandated to react appropriately to the damaging allegation from the Kogi State Government within the full extent of the law, said the statement.

Commenting on the incident, Adewale-Smart Oyerinde, director general of the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA), told This Day that the developments at the Dangote factory in Obajana were both unfortunate and worrisome. Mr Oyerinde stated that Dangote Cement remains one of the major employers of labour in Nigeria and the location of the cement plant presented an awesome opportunity for the locals to be gainfully employed.

He added that if there are any issues arising from the ownership of the plant, the most responsible course of action should have been to explore conciliatory or legal options rather than the gangster option that was used. That action alone portends danger to our quest for foreign direct investment as a rational investor will be concerned about the security and legal system of any clime, he warned.

Published under
JSW Cement announces 5Mta of new capacity

ICR Newsroom By 12 October 2022

Just hours after acquiring a 100 per cent stake in Springway Mining from India Cements, JSW Cement has announced plans to invest over INR32,000m (US$388.8m) in an integrated greenfield plant in Madhya Pradesh and a split grinding unit in Uttar Pradesh.

According to The Hindu Business Line, the combined cement production capacity of the two units will be 5Mta. The plant in Madhya Pradesh will have a 2.5Mta clinker capacity, 2.5Mta grinding capacity, and a 15MW waste heat recovery system, while the Uttar Pradesh investment will feature a 2.5Mta grinding unit.



JSWs INR4770m deal with Springway Mining, announced on 10 October, 2022, enables it to access limestone reserves of around 106Mt. The limestone mine is reportedly spread across 500ha in the Panna District of Madhya Pradesh. The new cement plant will be located next to the mine.

According to JSW Cement, both Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh are seeing some of the highest GDP growth rates in the country with significant infrastructure and housing developments. "I look forward to working with the Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh governments to create substantial employment opportunities in both these states," said Parth Jindal, managing director, JSW Cement.







Published under
An employee at Tennessee Community Counseling Services, 951 Eastgate Loop, told police she was watching a woman walking around inside her building who did not have permission to be there. Police spoke with the woman, who said she was told she could wait inside the building for a ride that apparently never came; however, it is believed that she placed paper towels inside the side door jamb to prevent the door from locking. The employee said she did not wish to prosecute, but she wanted the woman trespassed from the premises. Police criminally trespassed the woman and told her that if she came back on the premises she would be arrested and taken to jail.

* * *

A man at W. 26th Street/Chestnut Street told police overnight some items were taken out of his vehicle. He said there were no signs of forced entry and the suspect may have gotten in through a broken window he previously had. He said there was a phone and three machete-style knives taken from his vehicle.

* * *

A man at Arbor Hills Apartments on Highway 58 told police he ordered an Apple iPad, keyboard, and pencil online. He said he then received the order (package) by UPS and the keyboard and pencil were in the box, but the iPad was not in there. He's not sure if someone at Apple just didnt put it in the box or if it was stolen at some point while it was in transit by UPS.

* * *

A disorder was reported at a residence on Cypress Street Court. A woman told police she was asking a man to leave her apartment and return her key. The man was allegedly refusing to return her apartment key. Police spoke with the man and he gave the woman her key back and the two were separated without incident.

* * *

Police were called to Mariscos Vallarta restaurant, 2318 Shallowford Village Dr., to assist a woman. Police found a visibly intoxicated woman, who requested police give her a ride home. Police transported the woman to her home on Lake Meadows Drive without incident.

* * *

A man on Kemp Drive told police he was awakened by the sound of a brick being thrown through one of the front windows of his residence. Police observed a broken perimeter window with a brick lying on the ground beneath it. There is no suspect information.

* * *

An anonymous caller reported she was in a disorder with another woman at a residence on S. Watkins Street. Police spoke with the other woman, who said she and the caller had been in a verbal disorder. Police attempted to speak with the caller but due to aggression towards police, no identifying information could be obtained. The caller became standoffish when police asked for information regarding the report she wished to have made. At the time of this incident both the

caller and the other woman had separated and the disorder had concluded.

* * *

A man told police he had rented two rooms at the Motel 6, 5505 Brainerd Road. He said he was using one room and was letting friends use the other. He said in order to check out, both of his rooms needed to be empty and the friends staying in the other room were refusing to leave. Police verified with security that the other room was indeed in the man's name. Police spoke with the occupants of that room and had all of them exit the room. Hotel security turned off the doors keys. All the guests left the area.

* * *

A man on Winchester Street told police that around 4 a.m. the security camera on his garage

was activated by two people attempting to get into his parked vehicle. The man did have the video on his phone. When reviewing the footage, the people were captured only as two dark silhouettes. The lights of a vehicle that had parked at the end of the driveway could also be seen. The man said that his vehicle was locked, so they never made entry, and the vehicle was not damaged in any way. The video offered no suspect or vehicle information, however, he did want to report the suspicious activity.

* * *

An employee of Fabric Coin Laundry 5310 Brainerd Road, told police that a man was on the side of the building messing around with the trash bin and he wanted him trespassed. Police spoke with the man, who said that he was cleaning up trash in the parking lot and had permission from the owner. Police told the man that he was now banned from the premises and criminally trespassed. Police told him that if he returned he would be arrested.

* * *

A caller from a residence on Park Avenue told police he was in a disorder involving a weapon at the residence. The caller told police he would wait for them at the barber shop at McCallie and Magnolia Street. The caller told police someone pulled a stick on him. The barber shop was found to be closed when police arrived, and no one was in the area, nor did anyone flag police down. Police then responded to the residence on Park Avenue and spoke to the caller's father, who said he did not know where his son was, nor was he aware that any disorder had taken place. Police canvassed the area, but were unable to locate the caller.

* * *

A man on Dalefield Lane told police he had received two separate calls; one from a number in Texas and the other from a number in Virginia, with one person claiming to be a guy by the name of "Murphy" and the other an officer of the Federal Trade Commission. The man was told there was some type of issue with his account and he would need to purchase several gift cards to keep his account from being locked. He said he traveled to multiple different stores and bought a total of 22 various gift cards totaling around $8,000. He said he gave the card information over the phone to the person on the line. He said afterwards he realized it may be a scam and plans to go to his bank in the coming days to speak with a representative. Police informed him that it was a scam and what to look for in the future.
The term Ode is defined as a Greek lyric poem in the form of an elaborately structured praise or glorifications of an event or individual(s) that is described in the nature of intellect as well as an emotion of expression of appreciation and gratitude.

This tribute is directed to the taxpayer population on behalf of the men and women in the Public Works Department of the City of Chattanooga and independent contractors who are tolling on a daily basis in the streets and sewers of the municipality to rectify the years of political neglect reflected in the $353 Million Consent Decree in federal court in 2013.

Ditches are being dug, sewer pipes are being replaced and Slow or Stop sign bearers are safely directing the motorists and bicyclists through the streets and avenues of the Gig City.

The herculean efforts of these faithful servants cannot be ignored as they face an endless task of distributing the sweet-smelling products of the ever-expanding town to the sewage treatment stations and into the beautiful pristine Tennessee River in one of the 65 weather related sewage overflows occurring during said 9-year period.

With the almost daily announcement of builders and developers planning to erect an additional 500-1000 new beautiful box shaped rental (or condo) residences to accommodate any immigrants from the Caribbean, Europe, Cuba, South America, etc. (and North) working for the City of Chattanooga should provide a form of job security that is richly deserved by the employees of the Public Works Department of the Scenic City.

(Your labor has not gone unappreciated. Drive your Ditch Witch machines with pride!)

* * *

You can reach Jerry Summers at jsummers@summersfirm.com)
The Twentieth Annual Bill of Rights Banquet of Dayton will be held on Thursday, Dec. 15 at Trinity Chapel, with Rev. Matthew Trewhella, author of "The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrates," as the featured speaker.Also speaking will be Tennessee State Guard Chief Warrant Officer Recruiting and Retention Manager Louis DeMarco, who will explain the importance of the State Guard and its resurrection.This great gathering of patriots is your opportunity to stand up for your God-given rights.We do not give them up and even the high court sided with us this past year. At this banquet, you will meet the highest caliber of patriots and have a delicious meal prepared by famous Caterer Evelyn Hawkins, said June Griffin, event organizer.Registration will be at 5:30 p.m., with the dinner at 6 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 240 First Ave. in Dayton. Tickets are $25 for adults and $12.50 for children 12 and under.For reservations, mail or deliver to: June Griffin, 265 Crestview, Dayton, Tn. 37321. Reservations are due by Dec. 1.Include: Name, number of reservations and amount. Make checks payable to June Griffin.
The American Geographical Society has named Dr. Ralph Covino of Girls Preparatory School in Chattanooga as a 2022 AGS Geography Teacher Fellow.Teachers selected from across the United States will receive special opportunities to support their teaching activities for the year. Dr. Covino is one of 50 teachers who will participate in this fifth year of the initiative.Dr. Ralph Covino teaches advanced placement (AP) human geography at GPS. As part of the award, he will attend the AGS Fall Symposium on Nov.1719 at Columbia University in New York City. The Symposium provides teacher fellows with the opportunity to interact with geography and geospatial leaders from across the country, as well as receive professional training in geography and geospatial technology tools.It is an honor for AGS to name Dr. Ralph Covino as a 2022 AGS Geography Teacher Fellow. Dr. Covino joins a very exclusive group of the best geography teachers in the United States, said Dr. John Konarski, CEO of the American Geographical Society. We are eager to work with him and look forward to November when he meets with the other AGS Geography teacher fellows in New York City at our annual Symposium.Officials said, "Geography 2050 is the most important and widely recognized geographical/geospatial event in North America during the fall semester. CEOs and senior executives from preeminent geospatial companies along with leading experts and representatives from government, not-for-profits and academia attend the AGS Fall Symposium. The AGS Geography Teacher Fellow initiative has been made possible by generous support from the Mrs. Ilse Melamid Teacher Fellow Workshop Endowment and AGS Corporate Angels Partners, whose contributions enable resources for teacher professional development throughout the year."The American Geographical Society (AGS) is a 21st-century learning society dedicated to the advancement of geographic thinking, knowledge and understanding across business, government, academe, social sectors and, most importantly, with teachers and students."Established in 1851, AGS is the oldest professional geographical organization in the United States. It is recognized worldwide as a pioneer in geographical research and education for over 166 years. The mission of AGS is to advance and promote geography in business, government, science, and education. Our goal is to enhance the nations geographic literacy so as to engender sound public policy, national security and human well-being worldwide. AGS seeks to engage the American public, from its youngest to its oldest citizens, with new and amazing ways to understand and characterize our changing world. The Society maintains its headquarters in New York City."
The Women of Five Springs Methodist Church will be hosting An Evening of Gospel Music on Sunday. The event will feature two area groups, The Gospel Songbirds a nine member mens gospel group and bluegrass band Spatial Effects. The event will begin at 5:30 p.m. and the public is invited.

The Gospel Songbirds is composed of David Arnold, Don Marsh, Eli Ellington, George Ramsey, Rick Davis, Ladale Howell, Donny Suttles, Eric Findley, and Thurman Catfish Dozier. This Dalton based group describes their music as down home foot-stomping soul gospel. The Songbirds trace their roots back to a handful of men who volunteered to sing at a memorial service for a friend. They enjoyed singing together so much, they agreed to form a group and after a few practices the Songbirds took flight and have been sharing the gospel through their uplifting and encouraging versions of old spirituals and traditional gospel songs. The nine member group has performed all over the southeast at numerous churches as well as many gospel singings, benefits, and dedication ceremonies

Also performing will be the northwest Georgia based band Spatial Effects. The group is composed of Earl Brackin (mandolin and vocals), Tom Brown (banjo and harmonica), David Crawford (guitar and vocals), Phil Paris (bass and vocals), and Tim Witt (dobro and bass). Over the years Spatial Effects has performed at numerous venues throughout the south, including Chattanoogas River Bend Festival, Night Fall, the Alabama Egg Festival, county fairs, and too many churches to even begin to count. The band has also opened for several national touring bands, including The Claire Lynch Band, The Becky Buller Band, and Goose Creek Symphony.

Five Springs Methodist Church is at 2823 Five Springs Road in Dalton. The Five Springs Women will be serving hot dogs, chips, and drinks. The event is free to the public. For additional information please contact Rev. Sandra Franklin (404) 226-6089.
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti is leading a coalition of state attorneys general demanding U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland respect the First Amendment rights of people who criticize irreversible transgender treatments for minors.

The 13 attorneys general write in response to a letter to Garland from several medical organizations which called for investigations and prosecution of those who criticize the medical establishments current treatment of adolescent gender issues. Specifically, the organizations called for the prosecution not just of those who commit or threaten violence against clinics, but also against those who provoke such threats.

The coalition of AGs emphatically agrees that anyone engaged in violent crime or threats of violence should be prosecuted by the appropriate authorities but is equally adamant that the federal government cannot investigate or prosecute critics for their speech. Even if criticism of pediatric transgender treatments might provoke strong reactions, it is still entirely protected by the First Amendment, said officials.

The letter notes that other countries, including Britain, Sweden, Finland and France, have all recently restricted the medical treatment of pediatric gender dysphoria. It also recognizes that American medical organizations have adopted inappropriate treatments in the past.

The letter argues that the best way to ensure the best health outcomes for children is to permit criticism of current practices. The multi-state coalition concludes by respectfully demanding that Attorney General Garland stand down and allow the national conversation to continue.

The right to disagree stands as the most fundamental American right, said Skrmetti. Government can never criminalize criticism. Especially when something as important as our kids long-term well-being is at stake, we need to allow for open discussion and constant questioning.

Joining Tennessee in the letter are the attorneys general from the following states: Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma, Nebraska, South Carolina, Texas and West Virginia.

To read the full letter, click here.
To gild sculptures in the late Middle Ages, artists often applied ultra-thin gold foil supported by a silver base layer. For the first time, scientists at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have managed to produce nanoscale 3D images of this material, known as Zwischgold. The pictures show this was a highly sophisticated mediaeval production technique and demonstrate why restoring such precious gilded artefacts is so difficult.

The samples examined at the Swiss Light Source SLS using one of the most advanced microscopy methods were unusual even for the highly experienced PSI team: minute samples of materials taken from an altar and wooden statues originating from the fifteenth century. The altar is thought to have been made around 1420 in Southern Germany and stood for a long time in a mountain chapel on Alp Leiggern in the Swiss canton of Valais. Today it is on display at the Swiss National Museum (Landesmuseum Zurich). In the middle you can see Mary cradling Baby Jesus. The material sample was taken from a fold in the Virgin Marys robe. The tiny samples from the other two mediaeval structures were supplied by Basel Historical Museum.

The material was used to gild the sacred figures. It is not actually gold leaf, but a special double-sided foil of gold and silver where the gold can be ultra-thin because it is supported by the silver base. This material, known as Zwischgold (part-gold) was significantly cheaper than using pure gold leaf. Although Zwischgold was frequently used in the Middle Ages, very little was known about this material up to now, says PSI physicist Benjamin Watts: So we wanted to investigate the samples using 3D technology which can visualise extremely fine details. Although other microscopy techniques had been used previously to examine Zwischgold, they only provided a 2D cross-section through the material. In other words, it was only possible to view the surface of the cut segment, rather than looking inside the material. The scientists were also worried that cutting through it may have changed the structure of the sample. The advanced microscopy imaging method used today, ptychographic tomography, provides a 3D image of Zwischgolds exact composition for the first time.

X-rays generate a diffraction pattern

The PSI scientists conducted their research using X-rays produced by the Swiss Light Source SLS. These produce tomographs displaying details in the nanoscale range  millionths of a millimetre, in other words. Ptychography is a fairly sophisticated method, as there is no objective lens that forms an image directly on the detector, Watts explains. Ptychography actually produces a diffraction pattern of the illuminated area, in other words an image with points of differing intensity. By manipulating the sample in a precisely defined manner, it is possible to generate hundreds of overlapping diffraction patterns. We can then combine these diffraction patterns like a sort of giant Sudoku puzzle and work out what the original image looked like, says the physicist. A set of ptychographic images taken from different directions can be combined to create a 3D tomogram.

The advantage of this method is its extremely high resolution. We knew the thickness of the Zwischgold sample taken from Mary was of the order of hundreds of nanometres, Watts explains. So we had to be able to reveal even tinier details. The scientists achieved this using ptychographic tomography, as they report in their latest article in the journal Nanoscale. The 3D images clearly show how thinly and evenly the gold layer is over the silver base layer, says Qing Wu, lead author of the publication. The art historian and conservation scientist completed her PhD at the University of Zurich, in collaboration with PSI and the Swiss National Museum. Many people had assumed that technology in the Middle Ages was not particularly advanced, Wu comments. On the contrary: this was not the Dark Ages, but a period when metallurgy and gilding techniques were incredibly well developed.

Secret recipe revealed

Unfortunately there are no records of how Zwischgold was produced at the time. We reckon the artisans kept their recipe secret, says Wu. Based on nanoscale images and documents from later epochs, however, the art historian now knows the method used in the 15th century: first the gold and the silver were hammered separately to produce thin foils, whereby the gold film had to be much thinner than the silver. Then the two metal foils were worked on together. Wu describes the process: This required special beating tools and pouches with various inserts made of different materials into which the foils were inserted, Wu explains. This was a fairly complicated procedure that required highly skilled specialists.

Our investigations of Zwischgold samples showed the average thickness of the gold layer to be around 30 nanometres, while gold leaf produced in the same period and region was approximately 140 nanometres thick, Wu explains. This method saved on gold, which was much more expensive. At the same time, there was also a very strict hierarchy of materials: gold leaf was used to make the halo of one figure, for example, while Zwischgold was used for the robe. Because this material has less of a sheen, the artists often used it to colour the hair or beards of their statues. It is incredible how someone with only hand tools was able to craft such nanoscale material, Watts says. Mediaeval artisans also benefited from a unique property of gold and silver crystals when pressed together: their morphology is preserved across the entire metal film. A lucky coincidence of nature that ensures this technique works, says the physicist.

Golden surface turns black

The 3D images do bring to light one drawback of using Zwischgold, however: the silver can push through the gold layer and cover it. The silver moves surprisingly quickly  even at room temperature. Within days, a thin silver coating covers the gold completely. At the surface the silver comes into contact with water and sulphur in the air, and corrodes. This makes the gold surface of the Zwischgold turn black over time, Watts explains. The only thing you can do about this is to seal the surface with a varnish so the sulphur does not attack the silver and form silver sulphide. The artisans using Zwischgold were aware of this problem from the start. They used resin, glue or other organic substances as a varnish. But over hundreds of years this protective layer has decomposed, allowing corrosion to continue, Wu explains.

The corrosion also encourages more and more silver to migrate to the surface, creating a gap below the Zwischgold. We were surprised how clearly this gap under the metal layer could be seen, says Watts. Especially in the sample taken from Marys robe, the Zwischgold had clearly come away from the base layer. This gap can cause mechanical instability, and we expect that in some cases it is only the protective coating over the Zwischgold that is holding the metal foil in place, Wu warns. This is a massive problem for the restoration of historical artefacts, as the silver sulphide has become embedded in the varnish layer or even further down. If we remove the unsightly products of corrosion, the varnish layer will also fall away and we will lose everything, says Wu. She hopes it will be possible in future to develop a special material that can be used to fill the gap and keep the Zwischgold attached. Using ptychographic tomography, we could check how well such a consolidation material would perform its task, says the art historian.
Novel materials are the key for our transition to a more sustainable economy. However, the search for and design of new materials matching specific technology requirements are time and cost-intensive. Especially for high-entropy alloys that are solid solutions of multiple principal elements, the number of possible combinations becomes too large to use trial-and-error methods. An international research team developed now a closed-loop active machine-learning framework that enhances the experimental efficiency in identifying new alloys with desired properties by orders of magnitude, saving time and costs. The framework has been applied successfully to discover new Invar alloys used to transport liquid hydrogen, ammonia and natural gas, and such a framework can be universally applied to optimizing other mechanical and functional materials. The research team led by scientists from the Max-Planck-Institut fur Eisenforschung (MPIE), now published their recent results in the journal Science.

If we just consider the most used elements in the periodic table, they result in 1050 possible alloy variants  a number that exceeds any experimental approaches. Thats why we used an active learning framework based on probabilistic models and artificial neural networks, explains Dr. Ziyuan Rao, a postdoctoral researcher at MPIE and the first author of the publication. The research team from MPIE, the Technical University Darmstadt, the Delft University of Technology (Netherlands) and the KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden) searched for Invar alloys with improved thermal expansion properties. These alloys are made out of iron and nickel and do not expand or contract if temperature changes. They are ideally used in tanks storing gases at temperatures between -160C and room temperature. Predicting Invar alloys is a very challenging problem computationally. One has to handle the delicate interplay of magnetism and lattice vibrations both impacting the thermal expansion. The discovery of new Invar alloys is, therefore, an excellent proof of concept of our computational input as well as for the developed active learning framework, says Dr. Fritz Kormann, research group leader at Delft University and MPIE and co-author of the publication. The active learning framework developed by the scientists contains three basic steps. First, promising alloy compositions are found based on a deep generative model that combines unsupervised learning with stochastic sampling. In the next step, these compositions are screened with the help of a two-stage ensemble regression model that results in ca. 20 suggested compositions. These compositions are ranked and the three top candidates are experimentally processed and characterized. We integrate the surrogate model predictions, theoretical calculations, and experimental validation into a closed-loop framework, and in only six iterations we successfully identified two final novel Invar alloys with improved thermal expansion coefficients, says Prof. Hongbin Zhang at the Technical University Darmstadt and co-author of the publication.

Machine Learning models have had amazing success when sheer unlimited amounts of data are available, for example in video games or when trained on nearly one third of the internet content. However, it is much harder to find use cases where artificial intelligence made a difference in the real world. It is very exciting to see that the predictions were not just tested in simulation, but new alloys were physically produced and tested, says Prof. Stefan Bauer from the KTH Royal Institute of Technology and the machine learning expert. The scientists will now focus on other materials properties like magnetism and develop the necessary framework steps.
Perstorp announced that it has been acquired by PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad (PCG), Malaysias leading integrated chemicals provider and part of PETRONAS Group, on 11 October 2022.

In May this year, PCG signed a Securities Purchase Agreement with Financiere Foret S.a.r.l, a company under PAI Partners, a European private equity firm, to acquire the entire equity interest in Perstorp, a sustainability-driven global specialty chemicals company based in Sweden. With the completion of the acquisition, Perstorp is now PCGs wholly-owned subsidiary.

This day marks a new beginning and exciting future for Perstorp as part of the PCG family. We are thrilled to explore the opportunities that can be unlocked by working closely with PCG. This will accelerate the next phase of growth and further strengthen us as a leading specialty chemicals company. Perstorp and PCG form a stronger business together, said Perstorps President and CEO Jan Secher.

We are delighted to have completed this acquisition. The acquisition is part of our stepping-out strategy, creating a new platform for our growth in the specialty chemicals industry. It also goes beyond earnings potential; Perstorp is a strategic fit with similar values and talented workforce who are experts in the industry. We are excited to welcome the Perstorp team to the PCG family, said PCG Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer, Ir. Mohd Yusri Mohamed Yusof.

Moving forward post-acquisition, PCG intends to continue preserving and growing the value of Perstorp, as the next few years will be a crucial chapter for both companies. Among the major development plans include the expansion of Perstorps global presence by strengthening its position in the Asia Pacific markets through PCGs industrial know-how and tapping into its substantial customer base.

The combined technology and innovation power, as well as a complementing market positioning, create a new foundation upon which we, together with PCG, can leverage. We are proud of our frontrunner position in sustainability and will continue to lead the sustainable transformation in the chemical industry. I truly look forward to start this exciting journey with PCG together with our employees, partners and customers. Together we will lead change towards chemistry that advances everyday life for the better, Jan Secher adds.

PCG will strive to ensure the timely completion of Perstorps growth projects in a safe and cost-effective manner. Perstorp has several projects lined up in the near future, including the launch of Project Air which aims to reduce carbon emissions through the production of sustainable methanol. Recently, The European Union Innovation Fund selected Project Air, as one of the 17 large-scale green tech projects, which together will be granted more than EUR 1.8 billion. Project Air is a gamechanger for the chemical industry, moving from fossil raw materials to recycled and bio-based feedstock, thereby enabling sustainable chemical products to a large variety of industries and end products. At full capacity, it will reduce global CO2 emissions with close to 500,000 metric tons per year from todays levels, corresponding to one percent of current emissions in Sweden.

We are ready to advance further in our sustainability agenda. Perstorps Finite Material Neutral initiatives will serve as a catalyst for PCGs projects towards our aspiration of Net Zero Carbon Emissions by 2050, concluded Ir. Mohd Yusri.
Biblical archaeology is back in full swing in Israelafter a two-year pandemic delayand now the digs across the country are going to get a new boost from tourist-volunteers.

Israels Tourism Ministry has launched a new initiative aimed at getting Christian tourists involved in excavations. And a group affiliated with the American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR), the largest organization for professional American archaeologists working in Israel, is starting a 13-day tour with visits to 27 sites.

American archaeologists working in Israel welcome the new programs. Encouraging archaeotourism is good for archaeologyboosting the local economy, cultivating interested in the ongoing academic work, and supplying archaeologists with a steady flow of volunteers.

We couldnt get anything accomplished without them, said Steve Ortiz, director of the Lanier Center for Archaeology at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee. Ortiz co-led a 10-year excavation at Tel Gezer, and is now a codirector of the Tel Burna Archaeological Project.

Getting tourists involved in archaeology isnt a new idea. Israeli archaeologist Yigael Yadin sought out and recruited volunteers for the excavation of the famous site of Masada in the 1960s. Ever since, a stream of people have paid their own way to the Holy Land to dig, haul, and sift dirt, spending part of a vacation contributing to the grunt work of scholarship and the chance to touch a little bit of biblical history.

Every year, until travel was halted for COVID-19, hundreds of tourists visited archaeological sites in Israel. Archaeotourism is also promoted in neighboring Jordan and Turkey.

Cynthia Shafer-Elliott, a religion professor at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, first went to Israel as part of a college class. The class connected students to a program called Dig for a Day, which promises authentic archaeology adventures. For Shafer-Elliott, it sparked a passion that became a career.

Now she leads Israel tours in the summer that go to archaeological sites such as Abel Beth Maacah in northern Israel. Some in her groups are students getting class credit for digging. Others are people passionate about archaeology. Some are just curious about the physical remnants of biblical history.

Most digs, I think, are happy to have volunteers from any kind of background, Shafer-Elliot said.

John DeLancey, of Pittsburgh-based Biblical Israel Ministries and Tours, has been leading Israel tours with an archaeological component for years. (Disclosure: The author has co-led three archaeology-focused tours with DeLancey.) Recently, DeLancey took three volunteers to Tel Dan, in northern Israel, where they spent a week helping with the excavation.

DeLancey brings years of experience, but the volunteers were newer to the process of careful digging. All were welcome on the site.

We enjoyed having them as part of the dig, said Jonathan Greer, visiting professor of archaeology at Grand Valley State University in Michigan and codirector of the excavation. They worked hard.

Some of DeLanceys tours also give people hands-on experience at the Temple Mount Sifting Project in Jerusalem. The project has relied on tens of thousands of volunteers since it began in 2004, including schoolchildren, who sift through dirt removed from the Temple Mount. Most work for an hour or twoenough time to get a feel for it and sometimes make important discoveries.

People come in, they have a short training session, [and] they have supervisors watching them, so they're able to participate and contribute to the project," said Ortiz, at Lipscomb.

Not all of Ortizs experiences with volunteers at excavations have been positive, however. Sometimes, people dont take the experience seriously.

That doesnt help archaeological research, he said. Normally, we put them in areas where theyre not going to do damage. But were still for it, because people have a great time.

There are also occasional conflicts between volunteers and archaeologists. Some of the Christians who show up to help have a narrow view of archaeology and are only interested in a dig if they think it confirms a particular view of the Bible.

Greer, at Grand Valley State, says he has had to push Christians to embrace a broader view of what we learn from archaeology. Its too simple to say excavations always just confirm Scripture.

Archaeology illuminates the world of the Bible, he said. Archaeology oftentimes clarifies or complements our understanding of the Bible. But there are other times it complicates our understanding of the Bible. We dont have to have this narrow view.

There can also be political issues, as tourists find themselves interacting with Israelis and Palestinians who have different views of the disputes that have roiled the region for generations. For Christians, though, the experience of interacting with the people who live around biblical archaeology can be very rewarding, Greer said. The ASOR initiative, he noted, included a wide variety of viewpoints among its participants, and included visits to Jewish, Christian, and Muslim sites.

Despite the occasional conflicts, most archaeologists are happy to have more volunteers. Over the years, theyve even come to admire these tourists who give part of their vacation to an excavation.

A lot of these tourists are lifetime learners, said Shafer-Elliott. They want to learn how this all interacts with the Bible, with history, with archaeology. I think it's an untapped market, and I think it's a great idea.

Gordon Govier is editor of Artifax, a quarterly biblical archaeology newsmagazine, and hosts a weekly biblical archaeology podcast The Book & The Spade.
Theological battles splitting denominations: Inside the ideological chaos inside our churches

Christian Post reporter Michael Gryboski joins "The Inside Story" this week to discuss his recent coverage of The Episcopal Church of South Carolina reaching a $500 million settlement with a breakaway Anglican diocese (read the story here).

While the individual story matters, the broader question is: why are denominations splitting? And a secondary curiosity: what are the implications for the church more broadly?

Gryboski explores the theological and ideological battles at the root of the chaos  and why it matters.

Listen to this weeks Inside Story:

The Inside Story takes you behind the headlines of the biggest faith, culture, and political headlines of the week. In 15 minutes or less, Christian Post staff writers and editors will help you navigate and understand whats driving each story, the issues at play  and why it all matters.

Listen to more Christian podcasts today on the Edifi app  and be sure to subscribe to The Inside Story on your favorite platforms:
Josep Borrell, the top EU diplomat, spoke to envoys in the last annual meeting in Brussels, and he expressed that the bloc is meeting difficulty in areas globally. He added that the reports from the European Union come too late for them to respond to such changes in time.

Brussels Needs To Address Issues Immediately

Borrell mentioned in a statement that envoys of the EU should make their reports fast when something is happening where they are assigned. He added that such events called to attention by the press are unacceptable, reported Euractiv.

He added all diplomats should be ready 24 hours a time, so when something of importance occurs, they must inform Brussels what the case is. Also, he was adamant that anything that happens must be controlled and not learned about in newspapers.

In making an analogy to faster-paced work in national foreign ministries, Borrell advised the ambassadors that he ought to be the best-informed and have all of them all around the world. Watchers had already long highlighted the issue handed down from the Brussels diplomatic service structure.

The first diplomatic service not established by a nation-state is the EU's External Action Service (EEAS), which was put in place well over ten years ago as the eurozone's foreign policy subsidiary and is currently led by Borrell.

All the ambassadors were asked to work faster and take some risks with increased resistance to the bloc to get the job done.

Read Also: Mark Zuckerberg Net Worth 2022: How Did Facebook Founder Lose $30 Billion in 1 Day?

Changes After Russia's Special Operation in Ukraine

Borrell called attention to the choices taken after the Special Operation of Russia on February 24, saying the EU's diplomatic corps should be ready to make big moves and decisions.

He spoke to acting in unprecedented ways, and the war in Ukraine is an instance of utilizing the European Peace Facility to purchase weapons for Kyiv. This is considered something that should not be done, but it happened, citing Politico.

It was emphasized that things change with the times and that anything is possible, but do not stop or hesitate because it might lead to regret.

Borrell criticizes how the bloc still functions in silos, declaring that this configuration did not appear to work and that the European Commission necessitates modifying how it handles situations.

Borrell's comments are made at a time of increasing condemnation over the lack of interaction between Brussels and its EU foreign embassies all across the globe.

A regional desk is handling an EU ploy, and he said because there aren't enough pressing problems to deal with. The internal tensions arise as the EU's diplomatic service is re-exploring its context for intervention on that global stage, particularly since Russia's incursion of Ukraine.

To deal with the discrepancy, Borrell asserted the bloc's positive perception of its standard-setting potential, the Brussels effect. There will also be greater demand as to whether the rest of the world will invest in the European way.

Borrell noted the increased resistance of countries to the bloc, which should be dealt with promptly and not react too late.

Related Article: Germany Reaps Anger from EU States as Disunity Caused By Energy Crisis Grows

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Are Iranians at cusp of freedom? 4 ways the US can help

Since the inception of the ruling regime in Iran, Iranian women have been at the forefront of a constant battle against religious tyranny. They were the first group that poured into the streets of Tehran en masse to protest against Khomeinis imposition of the Hijab as a mandatory dress code for women in Iran. It was the Iranian mothers who, in pursuit of justice for their murdered children, raised the worlds awareness of the atrocities of a brutal regime against its people.

Similarly, it has been Iranian women like Nasreen Sotoudeh, Golrokh Iraee, Soheila Hejab, Shirin Ebadi, and many others who have been the voice of the voiceless. They speak for children, dissidents, political prisoners, activists, and others at great personal cost. And today, we are witnessing the early stages of a revolution, a final movement for freedom from the rule of a tyrannical theocracy that has destroyed Iran in its fullest sense. This includes the Iranian people, culture, economy, and natural environment. It includes the decimation of the populations quality of life and life expectancy. The people now suffer despair, hopelessness, financial collapse, addiction, mass migration, and brain drain.

Some weeks ago, a beautiful young Iranian Kurdish woman named Mahsa Amini who had traveled to Tehran with her family was arrested by the Morality Police (Gashte Ershad) for not properly wearing her headscarf. Two hours later, her lifeless body was dropped off at the emergency room of a hospital. She was soon pronounced dead. And this galvanized the brave Iranian women all across the land to rise and settle their 43-year-old grievances with the ruling Ayatollahs. An act that was instantaneously supported by their husbands, brothers sons, and fathers participation.

Despite the pronounced lack of true support from Western democracies and the firm endorsement of regimes like Russia, China, and even indirectly by the E.U., Iranians seem determined to overthrow their oppressors and reclaim their country. Although it began with the brave women of Iran burning their scarves in public, the movement has rapidly transformed into a cry for regime change and the overthrow of the Mullahs rule. In their chants, there is no longer a call for the ban of the barbaric and misogynistic mandatory dress codes. Their chants are a strong and unified call for the end of this regime. A call for democracy and rule of law. A call for equality for all. A call for freedom of religion, belief, and thought.

A call for the most basic of human rights that we enjoy in the United States. A call for freedom.

In addition, as you may know, a few months ago there was an assassination attempt on Salman Rushdies life in New York, from which Mr. Rushdie sustained serious injuries. The would-be assassin was carrying out Khomeinis decree (fatwa) from over 30 years ago. Meanwhile, Khameneis regime and propaganda apparatus have praised the would-be assassin as a martyr and have brazenly declared that former President Trump, former Secretary Pompeo, John Bolton, and others are next. The disturbing underlying thread here is that the would-be assassin is an admirer of Ghasem Soleymani, Khamenei, and the ruling regime in Iran.

He had been ideologically influenced by the regime in Iran. And he was apparently in the United States legally. Please remember that currently, there are five open decrees for the assassination of former President Trump, former Secretary Pompeo, Special Representative Brian Hook, Morgan Ortagus, and John Bolton. There is a very real threat of assassination of U.S. officials of the highest ranks, and U.S. citizens, on U.S. soil, driven by the Islamic Republic.

A critical point to consider is that since the Islamic Republics inception, both Khomeini and Khamenei have consistently declared that their regime is at war with its number one enemy, the United States, which makes the Islamic Republic a hostile regime and enemy of the United States, as proven by repeated attacks on Americans and U.S. interests all across the globe.

Yet today, we are witnessing the disturbing development that Khamenei's regime has managed to open many so-called Islamic centers all across the United States with the sole purpose of spreading its diseased ideology and training generations of ideologues to carry out his regimes objectives in the United States. Recently, we witnessed such an event in an Islamic center in Houston, Texas where young children dressed like Hezbollah members pledged allegiance to Khamenei and his regime, professing to be his martyrs when they grow up.

The ruling regime in Iran has managed to accomplish all these seemingly impossible objectives by taking advantage of our democratic values and abusing the amazing work that everyone does to advance religious freedom across the world. In other words, they are propagating hate, division, and a very dangerous ideology, all in the name of religious freedom. They are training and indoctrinating generations of American children to hate America and its democratic values, and to harm Americans. And tragically, this is not limited to the United States. They have been pursuing the same goals and objectives all across Canada, Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, Venezuela, Brazil, and Argentina.

The irrefutable truth is that the world will be a better, safer, and more prosperous place without the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Iranian people are on the cusp of gaining their freedom and reclaiming their country after 43 years of enduring the most unimaginable human and financial costs. And the ruling Mullahs are fully aware of their fate should the people prevail, which makes them extremely desperate and dangerous. They know that this uprising is different. They know it is an existential fight for them. As such, they are prepared to massacre hundreds of thousands of Iranians if need be.

The United States of America, as the leader of the free world, can play a pivotal role in helping the Iranian people in their struggles and drastically reduce the number of casualties and deaths in the process with the following actions:

1. Announcing its unwavering support for the Iranian people and their struggles for freedom, accompanied by meaningful actions.

2. Providing uninterrupted, dependable internet access to Iranians for constant and instantaneous coverage of the events in Iran.

3. Providing continuous, unbiased coverage of the events in Iran to inform not only the American public, but the whole world, of the horrendous atrocities happening in Iran - unlike the favorable CBS 60 Minutes interview with Ebrahim Raisi, an indicted mass murderer responsible for the execution of tens of thousands of Iranians.

4. Enforcing current sanctions and implementing new ones, thereby cutting off the financial lifeline of the regime.

5. Leading an international campaign to isolate the ruling regime in Iran both economically and diplomatically.

None of these measures require the sacrifice of a single American life or impose a financial burden on the American people. I ask everyone to please help confront this evil regime and stop its dangerous abuse of the Iranian people and our American democracy.
'The Great Recital' brings New Testament to life through verse-by-verse readings from memory

DALLAS, Texas  When it comes to the words of Scripture, professor Tom Meyer  also known as the Bible Memory Man  believes sometimes hearing makes all the difference.

I compare it to reading Mozart versus hearing Mozart, Meyer told The Christian Post. You might be able to read Mozart on the page, but to hear someone play Mozart, especially someone who has the piece memorized and believes it, then the piece takes on another dimension.

Meyer, a professor atShasta Bible College of Redding, California, has earned his moniker for having committed 20 books of the Bible to memory, a feat that has taken him to various venues across the country where hes looking to make history.

The Great Recital, which takes place through Oct. 15 at the ICR Discovery Center, involves Meyer and six other Bible memory experts who perform verse-by-verse readings of the entire New Testament, all from memory.

Coinciding with the Feast of Tabernacles, when the nation of Israel would gather for a celebratory reading of the Torah, Meyer said he specifically scheduled The Great Recital to occur during the same period of time.

In fact, for Meyer, The Great Recital offers not only an opportunity to share Gods Word with others, but also to prepare its hearers for what many believe to be a pivotal election for the future of the United States.

The Bible records instances of persons reading Scripture aloud at public gatherings like Sukkot, he said. In Bible times, this custom was intended to produce a life of obedience and ensure a continuation of the nation of Israels divine prosperity.

In like manner, this modern-day public proclamation of the Word of God shortly before the midterms will inform those who listen as to what the God of the Bible requires of them not only as an individual but as one nation under God, he added.

But with the New Testament spanning 27 books and more than 180,000 words, Meyer knew he needed some help to pull it off.

Instead of bringing in trained actors, Meyer sought those whom he described as regular people who fear God and love His Word, including retired schoolteacher Scott Firebaugh, Brittany Schlichter, a church secretary, and Timothy Frudd, a podcaster and journalist.

Resembling less a traditional church setting and more like one might imagine open-air preaching in the first century looked like, the recital uses different translations of Scripture: Firebaugh, for example, prefers the King James Version, while others opt for the ESV or NIV.

Deliveries are also varied, ranging from Meyer's flair for the theatrical to a more subdued approach favored by Firebaugh and others.

Frudd, who is tasked with presenting both the Gospel of Luke and the Epistle to the Galatians by memory, said the sheer volume of the work can be a bit daunting, especially when you consider the Gospel of Luke alone is over 25,000 words long and takes more than two hours to recite.

It requires a ton of memorization practice, a ton of voice training for stamina, and a lot of mental focus, and a lot of prayer that God will give you the strength, said Frudd.

Although Frudd started on the Bible memorization path early and later earned his masters degree in biblical exposition, he didnt cross paths with Meyer until the two met at the Creation Museum and its sister attraction, the Ark Encounter, in Kentucky, where Meyer was overseeing classes on Scripture memorization.

After having Meyer on his Heavenward Thinking podcast, Frudd said Meyer surprised him by asking him to join the effort, which he called both terrifying and exciting.

But Frudd said he believes its been his own personal walk of faith that has seen the biggest impact from memorizing the Bible.

It just really transforms your whole life, he said. Theres nothing that I found studying the Bible in any kind of way thats more powerful than actually memorizing the Word of God, getting that in us, so that its flowing through our mind so that we can recall it whenever were going through difficult times.
15-year-old boys may be tried as adults for murder of Memphis pastor, but family is divided over proposal

Two 15-year-old boys charged in connection with the daylight murder of the Rev. Autura Eason-Williams, who led Capleville United Methodist Church in Tennessee, will learn whether they will be tried as adults later this month as the pastors family members remain divided over the idea.

The teenagers, Miguel Andrade and Brayan Carrillo, were charged with first-degree murder and other crimes, including carjacking, following the July 18 murder of Eason-Williams in the driveway of her Whitehaven home.

Another suspect, 20-year-old, Eduard G. Rodriguez Tabora, was also charged with first-degree murder, especially aggravated robbery, facilitation of first-degree murder, and employment of firearm with intent to commit a felony, Fox 13 reported.

Police say Eason-Williams, 52, was fatally shot in her driveway during the carjacking just after 4 p.m. on July 18. Friends say she was on her mobile phone with a colleague when she was attacked. Her life was celebrated in a memorial service on Aug. 3 where her widower, Derrell Eason-Williams, remembered her as the perfect wife for me.

On Monday, a local judge was set to decide whether the teenage suspects should be tried as adults in the late pastors murder but the hearing was postponed until Oct. 24, News Channel 3 reported.

The hearing was previously delayed to allow the teenagers to undergo psychiatric evaluation. The judge also requested a review of their history, including school records.

As the court reviews the case, the pastors oldest child, Ayanna Hampton, has argued against prosecuting the teenagers as adults, saying her mother, who was a child advocate, would have opposed it.

I feel like its wrong to use her death to advocate for something that she would absolutely disagree with, Hampton said at a press conference in July. My mother was a visionary leader; I do not want us to miss the opportunity to envision the improvements we can make to our juvenile justice system so that we are not convinced that we have to send children to adult prison for them to suffer the proper consequences that will fit their crime.

Hampton said it would be better if the minor suspects remained in the juvenile system with supportive services provided to them.

If you cant try them the way you are supposed to in juvenile court that means you need to fix your court. That means that you need to improve your system, she said. So justice for me is not just about these kids, its about every single child.

The late pastors husband, who told News Channel 3 that he is now living a nightmare due to the murder of his wife, disagrees.

We do not want these three individuals back on the streets, he told the news channel, speaking for several of his sisters-in-law and other family members. They shouldnt have been on the street anyway.

I dont care nothing what the kids said. All of that is null and void. Im her husband and what matters to me is that they are prosecuted to the fullest, he added.

While Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich agrees with the pastors children that juveniles should be supported, she explained that the teenagers have already been in the juvenile system and that intervention was not enough to keep them from further criminal involvement.

I absolutely agree with the children who spoke  and we do need more community involvement and intervention in the lives of our youth, and that is the best way to honor the legacy of Rev. Autura Eason-Williams, she said. However, the young men accused of killing Rev. Eason-Williams have been in the juvenile system before and are a danger and threat to the safety of our citizens and I will pursue trying them in adult court. Like in most families, there are differences of opinions. This is one of those cases. I must weigh all of their wishes but most important is the safety of our community and citizens.
Tulsi Gabbard Leaves Democratic Party, Non-Profit Says Chase Closed Its Account, Bart Barber On Christian Nationalism

link to download the audio instead. link to download the audio instead. 07:52 07:52

Former Democratic presidential candidate and congresswoman, Tulsi Gabbard, called on independent-minded Democrats to join her Tuesday morning as she announced her exit from the Democratic Party, citing a raft of concerns.



A nonpartisan, faith-based nonprofit organization led by a former United States Ambassador for religious freedom says its Chase bank account was abruptly closed with little explanation.



Vanderbilt University Medical Center has agreed to temporarily stop performing body mutilating sex-change surgeries on children and teenagers suffering from gender dysphoria following backlash from the public and elected officials.



Samaritan's Purse has around 1,000 volunteers in Southwest Florida to help residents recover from Hurricane Ian and to make it clear that God loves them.
Christian nationalism will lead to Christian persecution, SBC President Bart Barber warns

Southern Baptist Convention President Bart Barber has condemned the idea that the church should be running government and warned advocates of Christian nationalism that pursuing such an agenda will result in the persecution of Christians.

It stands contrary to 400 years of Baptist history and everything I believe about religious liberty. Im opposed to the idea of Christian dominion, churchly dominion over the operations of government, Barber insisted in a wide-ranging interview with Anderson Cooper on CBS "60 Minutes" on Sunday.

I object to it because Jesus said His kingdom is not of this world. I object to it because every time its been adopted it wound up persecuting people like me. It doesnt stop at persecuting people who are not Christians, he said. It eventually winds up persecuting people who are Christians for whom the flavor of their Christianity is different from that of the government.

According to Article 15 of the Baptist Faith and Message, which was adopted by messengers at the denomination's Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida, in 2000, and from which professors at all six Southern Baptist seminaries teach, it is made clear that Christ is supreme.

It states: "All Christians are under the obligation to seek to make the will of Christ supreme in our own lives and in human society. ... In the spirit of Christ, Christians should oppose racism, every form of greed, selfishness, and vice, and all forms of sexual immorality, including adultery, homosexuality, and pornography. ... We should speak on behalf of the unborn and contend for the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death. Every Christian should seek to bring industry, government, and society as a whole under the sway of the principles of righteousness, truth and brotherly love."

Barbers comments come in the wake of statements from high-profile Christians such as born-again Christian Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., who insisted this summer that the Church should be running the government.

"The Church is supposed to direct the government. The government is not supposed to direct the Church. That is not how our Founding Fathers intended it," the born-again, first-term congresswoman said during a speech at Cornerstone Christian Center in Basalt in her home state in June.

She said that she is "tired of this separation of Church and state junk," and noted that the separation of Church and state is not in the U.S. Constitution. Boebert added it was only in a letter that "means nothing like they say it does," likely referencing an 1802 letter from President Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Church Association in Connecticut stating that the First Amendment has "a wall of separation between Church and State."

The Baptist Faith and Message adds in Article 17 on religious liberty that "Church and state should be separate."

It adds: "The state owes to every church protection and full freedom in the pursuit of its spiritual ends. In providing for such freedom no ecclesiastical group or denomination should be favored by the state more than others. ... The church should not resort to the civil power to carry on its work. ... A free church in a free state is the Christian ideal, ..."

Barber, who was elected to the helm of Americas largest Protestant denomination in June, also addressed other controversial issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage and politics, but the interview mostly focused on an internal investigation into instances of sexual abuse in Southern Baptist churches, which is believed to be the impetus for the Department of Justice launching an investigation into SBC entities.

The DOJ announced its investigation after the May 22 Guidepost Solutions report found that leaders in the SBC intimidated whistleblowers and exonerated churches with credible claims of negligence of sexual abuse victims.

The SBCs newly elected president revealed leaders didnt just ignore victims, but also attacked them.

Sometimes we impugned their motives. Sometimes we attacked them. The reason why Im president of the Southern Baptist Convention is because our churches do not agree with that, and have taken action to correct those things, said Barber, who leads the 320-member First Baptist Church in Farmersville, Texas. Im not doing this to try to accomplish some PR objective for us. Im doing this because I want to serve God well.

Barber, who leads an average size church, not a megachurch, was elected by Southern Baptists to shepherd them through the sexual abuse crisis, an unnamed pastor told CP.

And Barber agreed to take on the mantle of leadership at the SBC because he felt like God was calling me to try to give leadership at this moment, to help Southern Baptists move forward, he told Cooper.

The SBC leader further noted that even though he voted for former President Donald Trump in 2020, he condemns the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots that endangered the lives of lawmakers in Washington, D.C.

He also said he prays for President Joe Biden consistently.

I want to be driven by the principles of Jesus Christ, Barber said. And that does not involve mob violence.

Standing firmly by his biblical values, Barber made it clear to Cooper, who is gay, that practicing homosexuality, like all other sins, is incompatible with being a biblically faithful Christian or Southern Baptist.
Samaritan's Purse deploys 1,000 volunteers to Florida to help residents recover after Hurricane Ian

The Evangelical Christian charity Samaritan's Purse has deployed 1,000 volunteers on the ground in southwest Florida to help residents recover from Hurricane Ian and to make it clear that God loves them.

Samaritans Purse CEO, the Rev. Franklin Graham, told The Christian Post that around 1,000 volunteers were deployed to southwest Florida, specifically in Fort Myers, Punta Gorda and Englewood, the areas hit hardest by the hurricane.

According to the National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service, a project of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Fort Myers had a record storm surge of 7.26 feet above ground level.

The response has been pretty strong and we just hope that it will hold up, Graham said, warning that if theres another news event and then people quit talking about Florida, then it gets even tougher to try to find volunteers to come.

I think right now, well be there through the winter and possibly through the spring. ... Theres just that much need right now.

Everything that we do, we want to do it in the name of Jesus Christ, he stressed. I want people to know that God loves them, he hasnt forgotten them. Many times in storms like this, people think that maybe Gods mad at them and hes judging them. No, I want them to know God loves us.

I want them to know that the anchor that we can hang on to in these storms is Jesus Christ, who will take us not only through this storm and the next storm but it will take us through the storms of life that all the way until we get to heaven and I want people to put their faith and trust in him.

Graham reflected on the devastation he witnessed when visiting southwest Florida earlier this week: People in these homes lost everything they owned, all of their furniture, their bedding, their pillows, their clothing, everything was soaked in this salt water and just ruined and so the only thing they can do is take it out to the street and the federal government comes in, FEMA, and theyll haul that stuff out.

On Sept. 28, Ian made landfall as a Category 4 storm with maximum sustained winds of 150 miles per hour near Cayo Costa, Florida.

The National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service categorized it as the fifth-strongest hurricane on record to strike the United States and the "strongest hurricane to hit Florida since Michael in 2018."

Graham said what Samaritans Purse volunteers are doing at this stage is helping people put their roofs back on and to get mud out their homes.

In that mud out process, you have to take the sheetrock off the wall so that air can get through the studs and then electrical wiring is going to have to be replaced, especially those sockets that got soaked in salt water, those wires are going to have to be pulled out, Graham said.

Its just going to take time, were not going to be able to fix it right away but our volunteers are there to help these families as much as we possibly can so we can help them get back on their feet.

Graham also praised Citygate Ministries, a church in Fort Myers, for providing assistance to Samaritans Purse as the organization works to minister to those impacted by the hurricane.

They have allowed Samaritans Purse to park their trucks and all of their equipment there. They took half their church, their Sunday school rooms and stuff and made that available for volunteers to sleep in, Graham said, expressing gratitude that the church allowed Samaritans Purse to use its kitchen so that we could cook and feed volunteers.

Graham recalled a conversation he had with the pastor of the church, who saw the devastating storm as an opportunity just to love people and to share with them Gods love.
Vanderbilt temporarily halts performing body mutilating sex-change surgeries on kids

Vanderbilt University Medical Center has agreed to temporarily stop performing body mutilating sex-change surgeries on minors suffering from gender dysphoria following backlash from the public and elected officials.

Jason Zachary, a Republican state representative from Tennessee, shared a letter on Twitter that he received from the Nashville-based medical center on Friday.

VUMC Deputy CEO and Chief Health Systems Officer Dr. C. Wright Pinson wrote in the letter that we are pausing gender affirmation surgeries on patients under 18 while the hospital works to conduct a clinical review to ensure that its practices comply with recently issued guidelines from the World Professional Association of Transgender Health.

Pinson added that VUMCs policies and practices allow employees to request an accommodation to be excused from participating in surgeries or procedures they believe are morally objectionable.

The response follows a Sept. 28 letter written by Zachary and other members of the Tennessee House Republicans asking the Vanderbilt Board of Directors to take immediate action by halting all permanent gender transition surgeries being performed on minor children and honor all conscientious objectors whose religious beliefs prohibit their engagement in certain medical procedures.

Please see Vanderbilt Medicals response to the @tnhousegop.

VUMC has agreed to pause gender transition surgeries on minors as well as honor religious objectors. https://t.co/xXlbSaAOMSpic.twitter.com/4G8laJfQfY  Rep. Jason Zachary (@JasonZacharyTN) October 7, 2022

This is a time in which elected leaders must boldly lead and speak on behalf of the people.

Ive been joined by my esteemed @tnhousegop colleagues in formally requesting that Vanderbilt Medical halt all gender transition surgeries on minors.

1/ pic.twitter.com/FgiRdLHEM4  Rep. Jason Zachary (@JasonZacharyTN) September 28, 2022

Zacharys letter to Vanderbilt came after The Daily Wires Matt Walsh unveiled the findings of an investigation revealing that Vanderbilt drugs, chemically castrates, and performs double mastectomies on minors.

Walsh shared the contents of an archived webpage illustrating how the hospital provides gender-affirming hormone therapy and pubertal blocking to trans-identified youth.

Walsh also expressed concern about a video showing a Vanderbilt health law expert deriding requests for conscientious objections to participating in disfiguring surgeries as problematic and suggesting that if you dont want to do this kind of work, dont work at Vanderbilt.

Pinson claimed in the reply letter that "comments from videos posted on social media that are obtained at these kinds of events should not be construed as statements of VUMC policy. We do not condone discrimination against employees who choose to request accommodations.

Pinson said that as many as five minors younger than 18 had body mutilating surgeries performed on them. He added that all were at least 16 years of age, none have received genital procedures and parental consent to these surgeries was obtained in all cases.

He further insisted that VUMC remained in compliance with Tennessee law that prohibits providing "hormone treatment for gender dysphoric or gender incongruent prepubertal minors."

The controversy surrounding Vanderbilt comes as childrens hospitals across the U.S. are receiving increased scrutiny over their reported embrace of such practices that disfigure children and teenagers' bodies for life.

Recently, Children's National Hospital in Washington, D.C., was also accused of performing body mutilating surgeries on teenagers, which it has denied.

The allegations came from Chaya Raichik, who operates the Twitter account LibsofTikTok, who released an audio recording of an exchange between her and staff at the D.C.-based hospital in which the employee said the hospital offers such procedures.

While proponents of body mutilating surgeries for minors characterize such procedures as necessary to improve mental health outcomes for children with gender dysphoria, critics warn of their adverse longterm effects.

Alabama, Arizona and Arkansas have implemented legislation prohibiting such surgeries on minors, while Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has classified gender surgeries for minors as a form of child abuse.
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.
Iran's petroleum-rich region of Bushehr on the Persian Gulf saw a labor strike on Monday, with workers shouting, "Down with the dictator," a reference to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Oil is an industry vital to Iran, and the labor strikes might seriously harm the Islamic Republic's economy, according to an expert.

Videos of Protests Surface Online Despite Restrictions

Fox News cited Alizera Nader, an Iran labor expert, stating that the three weeks of unrest and widespread walkouts in the oil, gas, and petrochemical industries pose an "existential threat" to the Iranian government.

Nader suggested that the United States and other Western countries "set up a striking fund to support workers and their families." He has written extensively on labor unions and worker discontent as a means of overthrowing the religious government.

The death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini by the Islamic Republic of Iran's morality police for allegedly not covering her hair has sparked widespread protests across the country. Iranian authorities maintain Amini was not abused, but her family believes she died due to beatings.

Abadan, in the Khuzestan Province, is one of Iran's most extensive oil and petrochemical centers, and its workers have also been on strike, CBS News reported. As the Iran protests enter their fourth week, videos have appeared online from Tehran and other cities despite government attempts to stifle the internet.

Videos posted online on Monday showed students from universities and high schools protesting, with some women marching without head coverings. The Associated Press examined online footage showing scores of workers congregating at the massive natural gas refineries in Asaluyeh, located about 575 kilometers south of Tehran on the Persian Gulf. The facility receives natural gas from the offshore natural gas reservoir that Iran and Qatar jointly operate.

Read Also: Russia-Ukraine War: What Kind of Weapons Did Joe Biden Promise To Help Ukrainians After Latest Attacks?

Protesters Ready For a 'Bloody' Moment

A video shows a group of employees, some of whom have their faces covered, chanting "shameless" and "death to the dictator."

Protesters, who refused to call Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei an ayatollah, yelled, "This is the bloody year Seyyed Ali will be overthrown." The Iranian Supreme Leader has repeatedly ordered his security forces to use firearms to restrain unarmed protesters.

Sounds of gunfire amidst a large crowd being attacked by security forces in Fouladshahr, a steel production center in Isfahan province, central Iran. Oct. 10 #IranProtests #MahsaAmini #_ pic.twitter.com/KO1kyYQdDK  IranHumanRights.org (@ICHRI) October 11, 2022



Iran denied there was any disturbance, but the semiofficial Tasnim news agency claimed it was about salaries. After the United States and Russia, Iran is among the major global exporters of natural gas.

Videos of Iran protests also show employees striking at Abadan, formerly home to the biggest oil refinery in the world. The Center for Human Rights in Iran in New York reported a statement purportedly issued by the Contractual Oil Workers Protest Organizing Council, which demanded a strike in response to government oppression and killings.

Workers on strike today at Abadan oil refinerys Phase 2 Project.



Abadan is one of Iran's largest oil refining centers. #IranProtests #MahsaAmini #_ pic.twitter.com/5BwDqB1xON  IranHumanRights.org (@ICHRI) October 10, 2022

According to human rights organizations, security forces have murdered at least 185 people, including 19 minors, wounded hundreds more, and imprisoned thousands more. Iranian authorities claimed that at least 20 members of the security forces died during the protests, which they blamed on Iran's rivals.

Analysts say Iran's clerical rulers will likely control the upheaval as of now, and a new political system is unlikely to emerge soon, as per a Reuters report.

Related Article: King Charles III's Reign To Last for Only 7 Years Before Passing the Crown to Prince William, Psychic Predicts

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More than half of the missiles and drones fired by Russia on Tuesday, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, were shot down.

Zelensky mentioned in his daily video speech that 20 of the 28 missiles fired on Tuesday morning were destroyed. He thanked one soldier, Dmytro Shumskyi, for bringing down the twin towers.

Zelensky Asks For Air Defense

The power supply and communications have reportedly been restored in the majority of the affected cities and villages, according to the president of Ukraine. President Zelensky stated that on Wednesday, Ukraine would meet with its allies in Germany to discuss its military requirements, as per CNN.

Zelensky requested UN peacekeepers on the Belarusian border and called on allies to offer air defense as Russia continued to strike Ukraine on Tuesday. In response to Russia's bombing of Ukrainian cities on Monday, the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Canada, collectively known as the Group of Seven, convened an emergency meeting on Tuesday.

The US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Canada, collectively known as the Group of Seven, met in an emergency session on Tuesday in response to Russia's bombardment of Ukrainian cities on Monday. Meanwhile, Zelensky asserted on Tuesday that the strikes were a component of the beleaguered Kremlin leader's terrorist rush to frighten Ukraine's supporters. Air raid sirens continued to sound as Russian missiles struck power plants in the districts of Vinnitsya and Lviv.

In Zaporizhzhia, 12 missiles struck public buildings throughout the city, resulting in at least one fatality. Before a missile impacted Kyiv, air defenses shot it down at least once. Additionally, the president of Ukraine requested that foreign monitors be stationed on Ukraine's northern border with Belarus.

Read Also: Former Russian President Ominously Warns Kiev Regime To Receive More Retaliatory Strikes

Russia Continues Bombing Poland's Border

Thousands of Russian troops will be hosted by Ukraine's northern neighbor, which is ruled by Kremlin ally Alexander Lukashenko, as it did in the weeks before Russia's initial invasion in February. The G7 urged Lukashenko to "stop aiding the Russian campaign of aggression by allowing Russian armed troops to utilize Belarusian territory and by providing support to the Russian military" instead of responding to Zelensky's plea for an international force.

Zelensky also called for the Group of Seven to further isolate Vladimir Putin while applauding the West for its eighth round of sanctions against Moscow, according to New York Post.

While this is happening, Russian missiles are striking targets roughly 40 kilometers from the border with Poland as Putin's ruthless bombing campaign enters its second day. According to a Telegram message by the city's mayor, Andriy Sadovyi, there were three explosions that left 30% of the city's people without electricity.

This occurs less than 24 hours after the Putin administration launched deadly missiles at Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, resulting in the deaths of at least 19 people. President Zelensky has denounced these attacks and urged Western leaders to do more to protect the besieged country, The Sun reported.

Related Article: Russia-Ukraine War: Silicon Valley's Richest Russian Completes Process of Renouncing Citizenship

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Canada invites 4,250 candidates in latest all-program Express Entry draw This was the eighth all-program draw since July 6. Edana Robitaille Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

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Canadas most recent all-program Express Entry draw was held on October 12, 2022. It was the eighth all-program draw since they resumed on July 6.

IRCC issued invitations to 4,250 candidates with minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score of 500. Candidates were eligible to receive invitations from the Canadian Experience Class (CEC), Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) and the Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP), all programs that operate under the Express Entry system.

Express Entry all-program draws were paused for over 18 months starting in December 2020. During the pause, only candidates from the CEC or Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) were issued invitations to apply (ITAs). The draws were paused because of a backlog in applications caused by COVID-19 related travel restrictions. In September 2021, IRCC also paused draws for the CEC.

Get a Free Express Entry Assessment

Todays draw is a continuation of lower CRS scores. By lowering the CRS score, it increases the number of candidates who are eligible to receive ITAs through Express Entry. This has been the trend since draws resumed on July 6. The score for that draw was 557 and for the first five draws, decreased by eight or nine points each time. The two most recent draws on September 14 and 28 saw smaller decreases of six points.

New Immigration Levels Plan expected soon

IRCC looks to hit its target of some 432,000 new permanent residents as part of the Immigration Levels Plan 2022-2024. Each year IRCC releases a new plan year that outlines the number of immigrants Canada hopes to welcome over the coming three years, and further breaks it down into the class of immigration and their programs. For 2022, the Immigration Levels Plan targets 55,900 new permanent residents through Express Entry. So far, between January and August 31, Canada has admitted just over 28,000 new permanent residents through Express Entry programs. A new Immigration Levels Plan is expected to be announced by November 1 this year.

Physicians are now able to apply for Express Entry

Canada has also removed some of the barriers that prevent physicians already living and working in Canada as temporary residents to apply for Express Entry programs.

Physicians were not eligible because, most often, Canadas medical system works on a fee-for-service model, that is different than a traditional employer/ employee relationship. This means, in a technical sense, physicians are considered self-employed. Self-employed work experience gained within Canada is not eligible to be included as part of an Express Entry application.

Being self-employed on its own does not render a candidate ineligible. If a candidate has gained at least one year of work experience abroad, or as an employee in Canada, they may still be eligible for an Express Entry program.

Changes coming in Express Entry

The exception for physicians is one of the first changes to Express Entry that can be expected to continue into 2023. Bill C-19 received Royal Assent in Parliament in June, and will give IRCC more authority to target Express Entry candidates based on specific work experience, education, or language abilities, rather than the current system of issuing ITAs to a wide range of candidates solely on their CRS scores.

What is Express Entry?

Express Entry is the application management system for three Canadian immigration programs: the Canadian Experience Class (CEC), the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) and the Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP). Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) candidates in the Express Entry pool are already eligible for at least one of these programs.

Express Entry uses a points-based system, the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS), to rank candidates profiles. The top-scoring candidates receive an Invitation to Apply (ITA) and can then apply for permanent residency.

After the candidate applies, an IRCC officer reviews the application and decides if they are approved. The officer will ask for biometrics and may set up an interview or request more documents. Once this is complete, if approved, the candidate is now a permanent resident of Canada and one step closer to becoming a Canadian citizen.

Get a Free Express Entry Assessment

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Canadas service sectors see employment growth as job vacancies remain steady Job vacancies stayed high in July 2022, with payroll employment continuing to rise.

Canadas service sectors see employment growth as job vacancies remain steady Job vacancies stayed high in July 2022, with payroll employment continuing to rise.

Canadas service sectors see employment growth as job vacancies remain steady Job vacancies stayed high in July 2022, with payroll employment continuing to rise. Asheesh Moosapeta Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

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Statistic Canada recently released their analysis of the July 2022 labour market. Canada continues to have record-breaking job vacancies, seeing 964,000 vacancies in July 2022.

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Findings on job vacancies

Job vacancies dropped by nearly 73,000 jobs in July 2022. However, overall job vacancies increased by over 130,000 positions compared to last July 2021.

After adjusting for seasonal effects on the labour market, Statistics Canada reports that roughly half of the job decreases between June and July 2021 were down to seasonal factors.

The industries with the most vacancies in July 2022 were accommodation and food services, and healthcare and social assistance.

Industries impacted

Despite an elevated number, some industries did also see a decline in their job vacancies.

Accommodation and food services saw decreases of more than 20,000 job vacancies in July; however, the job vacancy rate in the space (the total number of vacant positions as a percentage of total number of positions (vacant or filled)), stood steady at 10%; nearly twice as high as the national average of 5.4%. This is a sign of huge demand for positions in this industry.

Job vacancies saw little change in the healthcare and social assistance industry. The job vacancy rate was 6% in July 2022, with little change since June. Despite this, there is increasing demand for workers in this industrystaff shortages caused interruptions in hospital services (including emergency rooms), with hiring in this sector becoming a growing concern. Canada has even gone so far as to remove barriers to permanent residence (PR) for physicians already in the country; in response to these staff shortages.

Implications

Overall, the number of job vacancies is a good indicator that Canada continues to have a strong hiring climate. In particular, workers in the accommodation and food services, and healthcare and social assistance industries seem to be in very high, and continued demand, with a decrease in job vacancies, barely impacting job vacancy rates in both industries that are above the national rate.

Additionally, a relaxing of COVID regulations in Canada has seen a return to regular business practicesbolstering businesses to return to pre-pandemic levels; with a shift toward service spending driving growth in these industries.

Opportunity in waiting?

There is a trend that is parallel but influencing the strong hiring climate: a huge skills gap reported by employers.

More than half (56.1%) of Canadian businesses in 2021 reported that their overall workforce was not fully proficient to perform their job at the required level. For examplein the accommodation and food services sector78.8% of employers reported skills gaps in their workforce, the highest rate out of any industry.

Even in the industry with the lowest reported skills gap (professional, scientific and technical services) over a third (34.3%) of businesses still expressed a skills gap in their employees.

Canada is looking to alleviate these labour and skills shortages by targeting record levels of immigrationlooking to welcome 430,000 immigrants annually.

In addition, Canada will announce an update to its newcomer strategy when it tables its immigration levels plan 2023-2025 by November 1st.

Discover if You Are Eligible for Canadian Immigration

 CIC News All Rights Reserved. Visit CanadaVisa.com to discover your Canadian immigration options.
Over the past few years, many enterprises saw much of their knowledge workforce move away from the office to work out of their homes. This move beyond the traditional firewall setup created security issues and device management issues for many IT departments.

Adding to these issues was an increasing need to keep employees happy once people began returning to the office. For example, a recent Gallup poll found that four in 10 white-collar workers prefer to work from home despite hybrid workforce options. In addition, many employees continued to feel empowered to begin actively looking for new jobs or watch for openings.

In the age of the war for talent, its more important than ever to gain competitive advantage by reinventing the employee experience. Workers want to be engaged in their workplace and feel that their companies value them. That means businesses need to create a modern workplace that proves they do. Interestingly, enterprises are discovering that adopting the Apple Platform in their environment can tackle several of these hybrid workplace and demographic challenges.

Consider these four major themes driving more Apple adoption within the enterprise:

A move to a hybrid workplace, where employees work either at home or in an office, and need access to the same tools no matter the location with seamless experience.

Digital acceleration efforts to make sure workflows and processes are computing-based.

Security and privacy acceleration of devices that are located beyond traditional closed environments.

A demographic shift of younger workers expecting the same performance from devices that they have used their entire life before entering the workforce.

With these themes in mind, its not surprising to discover that employees prefer using Apple devices over other options. Some recent stats prove that employees would be happier at companies that offer Macsolutions:

67% of students would be more likely to join and stay with a business that offers a Mac.

Three out of four employees would choose Apple when given the choice.

76% of companies report the use of Apple devices has increased over the past two years.

The benefits of adopting Apple devices extend well beyond just ensuring employees satisfaction:

With an increase in cyberattacks against corporate networks, understanding Apple platform security is key. Apple builds security into the hardware platform at the start, and provides hardware, encryption, application, and services security across the ecosystem. Mac is the most secure personal computer on the planet, thanks to built-in features like hardware-verified secure boot, on-the-fly encryption, Touch ID, and Gatekeeper.

From a performance standpoint, MacBook Air with M1 offers up to 2x faster Excel performance, up to 50% faster web application responsiveness, up to 2x faster browser graphics performance, and up to 2x longer battery life when video conferencing with Zoom on a single charge.

Cost: Mac ownership also costs less than PC ownership in the long run, since Mac users are less likely to need computer support. According to an economic impact report by Forrester, Mac ownership costs less in the long run providing 336% ROI. Also, according to a leading SI only 5% of Mac users needed support vs. 40% of PC users.

Mac ownership also costs less than PC ownership in the long run, since Mac users are less likely to need computer support. According to an economic impact report by Forrester, in the long run providing 336% ROI. Also, according to a leading SI only 5% of Mac users needed support vs. 40% of PC users. Sustainability: Enterprises focusing on sustainability trends also enjoy Apple for its commitment to the environment  MacBook Air cases are made of 100% recycled aluminum, 90% of Apples packaging features recyclable fiber, zero waste is sent to the landfill from final assembly supplier sites, 35% or more of their products used recycled plastic, in products like MacBook Air, energy consumption is reduced by up to 60% when in active use.

Enterprises looking to assess their environment for Apple device support or grow the use of Apple devices in their environment dont have to do so alone, however. The recently launched FlexSpace for Apple solution provides a seamless path to device choice by enabling a secure, personalized employee experience that fosters collaboration and productivity on all Apple devices. The solution can craft the right digital experience by using the power of Apple to provide seamless and secure experiences.

Starting with understanding customer goals, capturing user experience, then mapping collected data to a plan to meet the customers vision, FlexSpace for Apple provides detailed readiness and network assessments before a broad and consistent deployment. FlexSpace for Apple can also modernize an identity infrastructure, build self-service choice portals, and provide end-to-end lifecycle management at a per-user/per-month consumption model. Users can take advantage of seamless support backed by AppleCare for Enterprise where available through the FlexSpace solution.

Regardless of an enterprises experience with Apple devices, from just exploring the ideas to intermediate or advanced users, the FlexSpace for Apple solution provides companies with help along every stage of their Apple journey.

Benefits for enterprises also span their landscape:

CEOs will see digital transformation and business agility goals met.

CFOs can reduce their IT costs through zero-touch deployment.

CISOs will gain data encryption, malicious attack prevention, and backup and recovery benefits.

Chief Human Resource Officers add an extra tool to their talent retention toolbox through offering device choice and support.

Employees remain actively engaged and increase their productivity.

For more information on FlexSpace for Apple offering, click here. HCL is running a limited time free Mac assessment offer for customers.

Fine print

 2022 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, AppleCare ,Mac, MacBook Air, and Touch ID are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries and regions.
Work has changed dramatically thanks to the global COVID pandemic. Workers across every market sector in Australia are now spending their workdays alternating between offices and other locations such as their homes. Its a hybrid work model that is certainly here to stay.

But moving workers outside the network perimeter presents cyber security challenges for every organisation. It provides an expanded attack surface as enterprises ramp up their use of cloud services and enable staff to access key systems and applications from just about anywhere.

Senior technology leaders gathered in Melbourne recently to discuss the cyber security implications of a more permanently distributed workforce as their organisations move more services to the cloud. The conversation was sponsored by Palo Alto Networks.

Sean Duca, vice-president, regional chief security officer, Asia-Pacific & Japan at Palo Alto Networks, says with the primary focus now on safety and securely delivering work to staff, irrespective of where they are, organisations need to think about where data resides, how it is protected, who has access to it and how it is accessed.

With many applications consumed as a service or running outside the traditional network perimeter, the need to do access, authorisation and inspection is paramount, Duca says.

Attackers target the employees laptops and applications they use, which means we need to inspect the traffic for each application. The attack surface will continue to grow and also be a target for cybercriminals. This means that we must stay vigilant and have the ability to continuously identify when changes to our workforce happen, while watching our cloud estates at all times, he says.

Brenden Smyth from Palo Alto Networks adds the main impact of this more flexible workforce on organisations is that they no longer have one or two points of entry that are well controlled and managed.

Since 2020, organisations have created many hundreds if not tens of thousands of points of entry with the forced introduction of remote working, he says.

On top of that, company boards need to consider the personal and financial impacts [of a breach] that they are responsible for in the business they run. They need to make sure users are protected within the office, as well as those users connecting from any location, he says.

Gus DOnofrio, chief information technology officer at the United Workers Union, believes that there will come a time when physical devices will be distributed among the workforce to ensure their secure connectivity.

This will be the new standard, he says.

Iain Lyon, executive director, information technology at IFM Investors, says the key to securing distributed workforces is to ensure the home environment is suitably secure so the employee can do the work they need to do.

It may be that for certain classifications of data or user activity, we will need to set up additional technology in the home to ensure compliance with security policy. That challenge is both technical and requires careful human resource thought, he says.

Meeting the demands of remote workers

During the discussion, attendees were asked if security capabilities are adequate to meet the new demands of connecting remote workers to onsite premises, infrastructure-as-a-service and software-as-a-service applications.

Palo Alto Networks Duca says existing cyber capabilities are only adequate if they do more than connectivity (access and authorisation).

Its analogous to an airport; we check where passengers go based on their ID and boarding pass and inspect their person and belongings. If the crown jewel in an airport is the planes, we do everything to protect what and who gets on.

Why should organisations do anything less? he asks. If you cant do continuous validation and enforcement, what is the security efficacy of the security capability?

Meanwhile, Suhel Khan, data practice manager at superannuation organisation, Cbus, adds that distributed workforces need stronger perimeter security and edge security systems, fine-grained joiner-mover-leaver access control and entitlements, as well as geography-sensitive content management and distribution paradigms.

We have reached a certain baseline in regard to the cyber security capabilities that are available in the market. The bigger challenge is procuring and integrating the right suite of applications that work across respective ecosystems, he says.

Held back by legacy systems

Many enterprises are still running legacy systems and applications that cant meet the demands of a borderless workforce.

Palo Alto Networks Smyth says cyber impacts of sticking with older systems and applications are endless.

Directly connected to SaaS and IaaS apps without security, patch management, vendor support  the list goes on  means organisations will not have full control of their environment, he says.

Duca adds that organisations running legacy platforms could see an impact on productivity from their employees, and the solution may not be able to deal with modern-day threats.

Every organisation should use this as a point in time to reassess and rearchitect what the world looks like today and what it may look like tomorrow. In a dynamic and ever-changing world, businesses should look to a software-driven model as it will allow them to pivot and change according to their needs, he says.

Cbus has challenges around optimally integrating software suites for end-to-end seamless process flow, like most enterprises that have built technical systems for core business functions over the past 10 years, says Cbus Khan.

There are several app modernisation transformation programs to help us move forward. I believe that there will always be heritage systems to take care of and transition away from.

The only difference is that in the near future, these older systems will be built on the cloud rather than [run] on-premise and we would be replacing such cloud-native legacy applications with autonomous intelligent apps, Khan says.

Meanwhile, IFM Investors Lyon says that like very firm, IFM has several key applications that are mature and do an excellent job.

We are not being held back. Our use of the Citrix platform to encapsulate the stable and resilient core applications has allowed us to be agnostic to the borderless nature of work, he says.

Centralising security in the cloud

The advent of secure access service edge (SASE) and SD-WAN technologies has seen many organisations centralise security services in the cloud rather than keep them at remote sites.

Palo Alto Networks Duca says that for many years, gaps will continue to appear from inconsistent policies and enforcement. With the majority of apps and data that sit in the cloud, centralising cyber services allows for consistent security close to the crown jewels.

Theres no point sending the traffic back to the corporate HQ to send it back out again, he says.

The decision about whether or not to centralise security services in the cloud or keep them at remote sites is based on the risk appetite of the organisation.

In superannuation, a good proportion of cyber security programs are geared towards being compliant and dealing with threats due to an uncertain global political outlook. Organisations that can afford to run their own backup/failsafe system on premise should consider [moving this function] to the cloud. Cloud-first is the dominant approach in a very dynamic market, he says.

United Workers Unions DOnofrio, adds that the pros of centralising security services at remote sites are faster access and response times, which is ideal for geographically distributed workforces and customer bases. A con, he says, is that a distributed footprint implies stretched security domains.

On the flipside, security domains are easier to manage if they are centralised in the cloud but will deliver slower response times for customers and staff who are based geographically afar, he says.
Florida-based Apogee Executive Advisors consultancy specializes in corporate governance, technology risk management, and public & private board service, among other areas, and when Myrna Soto, the companys founder and CEO, offers insight on how best to communicate with, and present to, the board of directors, people, especially technology leaders, tend to benefit, especially if the ambition is to ultimately become board members themselves.

I have presented in the boardroom many times as the reigning executive in a variety of roles, and now I have the opportunity to be on the other side of the table to assist technology leaders like CIOs and CTOs who may be invited into the board to present, says Soto, who has had many distinctions as a founder, CEO, board member, investor, former CIO and former CISO, among others. The boardroom is becoming savvier to the impact that technology has on the business strategic outcomes, so CIOs and other tech leaders have the opportunity to demonstrate how impactful their work is to lead the technology, strategy, implementation, and execution for the company. And board members will want to understand the priorities, needs to endorse certain investments, and strategic advantages, whether its reinventing the delivery of a product or a service, or how data is used analytically for marketing purposes. At a macro level, board members also understand its hard for any industry or company not to be reliant on technology, and that gives a superior platform for technology leaders to be innovative and influential members of the management team in the boardroom.

Building on that, as the expression goes, Those who fail to prepare, prepare to fail. Not only do those presenting to the board need to glean from previous presentations what level of detail the board understands about the technology landscape for the company, but boards expect CIOs to be up to date and aware of what technology initiatives are underway at competing companies, so any presentation has to thoroughly account for that as well. More often than not, says Soto, members serve on other boards so theyll have many perspectives of different companies and different industries. More often than not, they may make comparisons, so its important to be able to be in a position to respond, she says. Its important to project confidence to not only know what is pertinent to your company, but how to be best positioned to succeed and execute differently than the competition.

Soto recently spoke with John Gallant, enterprise consulting director with Foundry, about the evolving nature of how CIOs and technology leaders engage with the board of directors, and the tools needed to achieve best outcomes.

Here are some edited excerpts of that conversation. Watch the full video below for more insights.

On leveraging the board: Every boardroom is not equal. And when we say they are more tech-savvy, that comes with gradients. There are still board members, however, who arent technology experts or have the experience or depth to understand some challenges when it comes to technology adoption and changes. Thats not a criticism, but this is where CIOs and other technology leaders invited in the boardroom need to hone in on a skill to be able to present technical concepts in a very strategically placed business acumen so board members can make those connections. In some cases, the leader has an opportunity to either validate an assumption a board member has or change a perspective of how impactful a certain technology may or may not be. One of my favorites is being able to educate the board at the right level, whether theyre evolving an innovative platform or doing a large-scale refresh.

On preparing to present to the board: Study your board members. Get to know their backgrounds. Its important to make certain connections to their experience and the content youre providing so it allows them to connect the dots. So if you have a board member who used to be a leader in technology, that would be a great opportunity to build a relationship and a rapport. Be careful not to alienate board members either. Sometimes Ive seen people who focus on one or two because they have a comfort level with the topic, or they believe their experience will allow them to understand it better, forgetting that some others may not follow as closely. That is a strong recipe for not getting invited back. You want to be a frequent presenter. And as a CIO, youre running your own technology organization within an organization, which has many different functional components. Chances are youre managing a balance sheet, so think of the financially related terms that will be important. Board member focus is about generating shareholder value, growth, and preserving the position of an organization, so you want to make those connections when you present. Put it all in highly strategic business terms.

On the dos and donts for CIOs: We live and breathe our profession and sometimes we have to stop using acronyms and technical terms, which are part of our day-to-day language managing technology teams. But be careful not to bring that into the boardroom. If you catch yourself, offer a nugget of knowledge. If you say, ERP, what does ERP really mean? You get an opportunity to educate the board without sounding condescending. Dont assume your audience has the layer of detail that would make some of the concepts you present obvious. A lot of times, board members will just ask, What did you mean by that? and you have the opportunity to course correct. But if you have a chance to do it naturally, and provide that layer of perspective, it goes a long way. Also, if your corporate culture allows, its always wonderful to build relationships with board members outside the boardroom. If you have an opportunity, maybe one or two presentations in, have a sidebar conversation. Take advantage and what youll find is they end up becoming a good sounding board as you prepare for future presentations.

On becoming board members: What is important for CIOs to get an understanding about is the function of the board, why it exists, and its practices and principles of governance. It may sound obvious, but being able to execute on consent actions and formulate a consensus around decisions being made is important to understand. When you serve in the boardroom, you dont work for the company, youre not an employee of the company, but you represent the interests of shareholders and investors in the boardroom. Obviously, their goal is to help with strategic vision, to opine and lean on strategies and to approve large-scale investments and changes for the company. That all comes with a ton of governance principles.
Orla Daly joined Skillsoft, a maker of learning software, as CIO in March 2022 with a mandate to drive both operational efficiency and transformation from Day 1.

To succeed on those objectives, Daly drew up a longer list of supporting tasks she needed to quickly accomplish. Her list: Understand in detail the business dealings of her new employer and its strategy. Inventory its current technology landscape. Assess the talent on her team. And then use all that information-gathering to identify what needs to change and how to change it.

Its really about learning where we were at, so I could formulate a plan forward, says Daly, who has already launched new training programs to close skill gaps, particularly around the data literacy needed to support digital transformation. She has also prioritized IT projects based on their expected impact on business priorities. Both are actions that Daly believes help her build credibility and a true partnership with her executive colleagues.

Its all setting up IT for success in the longer term, Daly adds.

Like most executives, the honeymoon phase for new CIOs is pretty short. Consequently, incoming CIOs like Daly have less time to make a positive impression, build alliances, and craft plans for success.

How best to do that can vary, but here, several seasoned IT leaders share essential to-dos that new CIOs should accomplish in their first year to set the stage for future success.

1. Make time to listen

CIOs have heard for years now that they need solid communication skills to succeed, but Helen Norris, CIO of Chapman University in California, believes as CIO she must listen as much as  if not more than  she talks. Thats why she embarked on a listening tour when she started her role.

I dont think its the right thing to just jump in and say [what needs to be done], Norris says. You have to listen to what people across the organization are saying, hear their priorities. People really welcome it, the chance to be listened to. And you have to give people the opportunity to be really frank with you, and you have to steel yourself to hear complaints, and then build a strategic plan out of what you learn.

2. Build relationships

When Norris started at Chapman, the IT department was very much in the background, in that it was a utility, she says. The universitys leaders recognized that IT wasnt adequately supporting the schools core mission, and they gave her a mandate to better engage the academic departments.

To do that, Norris had to reach out to department heads who had considered IT only an afterthought and establish a rapport. That kind of relationship-building is critical for any CIO who wants to be seen as an executive and equal partner in the C-suite, Norris says.

All executive roles are about people and relationships, and its particularly important for a CIO to think in that way because we come from technical backgrounds and some people still think its a technical role, she explains.

She adds: Were not doing technology for technologys sake, or we shouldnt be. Were doing technology to improve the student experience, or if you work in a corporation, to increase the customer experience or the staff member experience, and thats why its really about the people.

3. Build trust

Dr. George F. Claffey Jr., CIO and interim vice president of Institutional Advancement and Strategic Partnerships at Central Connecticut State University, says he, too, focuses on listening and building relationships. He sees building trust as an essential extension of that work.

No one is going to have confidence in your agenda if you cant be trusted, he says.

To build trust, Claffey acknowledges others challenges and works to fix them. We find the win for them, he says, adding that he also attends meetings held by other departments and demonstrates a genuine interest in their goals so they see Im interested in not just IT but everything thats happening.

4. Rethink (and rebrand) the IT portfolio priorities

Skillsofts Daly says focusing on the most impactful issues and the tech initiatives supporting the most critical business needs can quickly build credibility and demonstrate the value of IT.

That focus, however, doesnt happen by chance, and new CIOs shouldnt assume their inherited work portfolios have the right projects prioritized. Daly didnt and instead reviewed the IT landscape to ensure her team is focusing on the most critical issues first.

Daniel Sanchez Reina, who as a vice president at research firm Gartner works on CIO leadership, culture, and people topics, says CIOs should see this process as an opportunity to highlight the value those projects have to the business. He advises new CIOs to position and even rename projects by their value proposition to help show theyre focused on using technology to create business results.

5. Mind the skills gap

To have a successful CIO shop from the start, Jim Hall, CEO of consultancy Hallmentum, says CIOs need to have the right people doing the right things at the right time, and they have to have the right skills.

To ensure they have that, CIOs should assess their teams early on to identify skill gaps in individuals and across teams, and then determine what measures are needed to get in place the right people and skills doing the right thing at the right time.

6. Craft your strategy to deliver business results

Veteran IT leaders say new CIOs cant take too long in this get-to-know-everything stage. They must quickly take that information and use it to draft a strategy that delivers on the objectives they were hired to achieve.

After that first 100 days, create a central theme of what youre going to do, Claffey says. Its then time to start talking about what your plan is.

After meeting with business unit leaders, holding roundtable conversations with staffers to get a sense of their capabilities, and reviewing the IT landscape, including its project portfolio, Skillsofts Daly says she drafted her plan to move forward and rapidly started implementing pieces of it. So far that includes training and development around data, seeing that is a necessary component for digital transformation, as well as an initiative she named North Star, aimed at delivering capabilities for key business processes.

7. Establish your expectations for managers

CIOs often inherit a management team when joining a new company, and they thus inherit their decision-making and accountability structure.

As the new department chief, Youll have to figure out what decisions [managers] can make on their own, what they need to run by you, and how youll measure them, says Michael Spires, principal and technology transformation practice lead with The Hackett Group, a business advisory and consulting firm.

Spires says this is a particularly important year-one step for CIOs who were promoted from within, as they have to adjust to being the boss of those who were once co-workers. He adds: Recognize that the relationship has changed, and so be explicit about your expectations for your former peers.

8. Name a deputy

A CIO who is successful at being a strategic partner cant also be running interference on everyday IT operational needs, Sanchez Reina says, because if the CIO tries to solve all the day-to-day obstacles, then they wont be able to dedicate time to strategic activities.

To head off that potential scenario, Sanchez Reina advises new IT chiefs to nominate a deputy to take on that tactical work. CIOs at large organizations can create and staff a specific deputy position, while CIOs at smaller companies will likely have to add such responsibilities to an existing role.

It might not be a formal role, Sanchez Reina adds, but the CIO always has to have that right-hand person.

The nominated individual should be pragmatic and decisive, he says; they cant take a month to make a decision. They should be customer-focused rather than heads-down technical workers. And they should be generous with their time, noting It has to be a person who never says, Its not my job.

9. Determine the CIOs true place in the hierarchy

Yes, the CIO is supposed to be a C-level position but it sometimes isnt viewed as such by other executives. Even if it is, the CIO could find that his or her authority is curtailed or undermined by others on the executive team, consultant Hall says.

The CIO should have full authority over IT, but that might not be true in some organizations. That reality could be quite different. You might be reporting to someone who used to be in that CIO role and theyre going to take ownership over it no matter what you do. Or for historical reasons you might find someone asserting authority. And even if it the CIO has full authority, others may have influence over IT, Hall explains. So understand your full scope of authority.

New CIOs should suss out whether other executives could be usurping the CIOs power and  at least for the short term  find a pathway around that situation so they can still deliver successes despite any obstacles or obstructions others put up, Hall says.

The ultimate goal is for the CIO to bring that authority all within the CIO role, he says, but in the shorter term the CIO may need to be working collaboratively with those [other leaders].

10. Identify influencers within the C-suite

New CIOs would do well to identify those executives who have the most influence on the CEO  influential meaning the CEO listens to these people, Sanchez Reina says.

Identifying those individuals and understanding their visions for the organization can provide insights into what the CEO thinks and values, he says  insights that can help CIOs shape their own roadmap, strategic thinking, and priority projects. CIOs can also highlight that alignment to gain buy-in from  and even get champions among  those executives.

11. Get an ally on the board

Similarly, Rick Pastore, senior director and technology research advisor at The Hackett Group, recommends that new CIOs seek out an ally among the directors by identifying and engaging a tech-focused board member. That relationship can help the CIO better understand and, thus, align to the boards view on the organizations strategy and its future.

12. Figure out and fix your problem spots

Figure out where your operational challenges are, whether its project delivery or outages or something else. Then determine whether the person in charge of that has a rational reason for that, do they have a plan to fix it, or are they waiting for someone to tell them what to do, Spires says, adding that you cant leave a problem like that festering because it reduces your credibility.
Whenever CIOs talk about using low-code tools to enable citizen development, a recurring theme is how to ensure appropriate governance of the applications produced.

Microsoft has heard them loud and clear, and at its Ignite 2022 show in Seattle this week, it introduced a range of new governance capabilities and other enhancements for its Power automation platform.

It also previewed new management capabilities for automated workloads in its Entra Identity governance tool, new compliance reporting tools for monitoring the roll-out of Windows updates on enterprise desktops, and a host of updates to its Azure cloud platform.

Power to the people

Even low-code may seem like a foreign language to some workers, so Microsoft has been experimenting with ways to enable them to generate workflows with Power Automate, describing in natural language what they want to achieve and leaving an AI to build the corresponding flow. The feature, now in preview, will still require workers to set up connectors for the inputs to and outputs from the automated workflow, and to tweak it to ensure it behaves as intended.

Given the scope for ambiguity in natural language, CIOs may want to reinforce governance of applications created in this way  and with the new Managed Environments for Power Platform, Microsoft will help them do just that. First previewed in July, its now generally available.

Checks and balances

A new Weekly Digest feature enables admins to see how much use each Power app is getting, directing attention to the most used and reclaiming resources from unused ones.

There are also new tools to limit sharing of apps by security group or number of users, so apps dont go viral across the enterprise until theyve been thoroughly tested and channels are set up to communicate changes to them.

Those features will be important to CIOs, according to Kyle Davis, a VP and analyst at Garner covering low-code adoption.

When it comes to citizen development and low code, governance is front and center, he said.

Managed Environments is more of an evolution than a revolution, he added, saying, There really isnt anything there that someone couldnt build for themselves if they wanted to.

Indeed, Managed Environments has its origins in Microsofts Automation Center of Excellence starter kit, which enables enterprises to define their own best practices for Power app governance. But as the company itself acknowledges, customers found that this required a lot of manual work and expertise.

Davis said that CIOs looking for the simplicity of low-code development are often also looking for similar simplicity in its management. Managed Environments ability to deploy controls in a few clicks will be appealing. It makes it easier to do things at scale, he said.

The option to limit usage of an app to a few cubicle neighbors makes sense too, he said, because, You can just yell across the hallway, Hey, Im going to make a change, and everyones aware, while a change departmental app would need to go through a proper process. What Microsoft offers with Managed Environments is something that you dont really get from other low-code vendors in a similar space, he said.

Environmental awareness

Not all the news at Ignite concerned Power Platform, however. Microsoft also had plenty to say about updates to its Azure cloud infrastructure offering, and an update of Syntex, its AI content management tool. Computerworld has the low-down on Syntex, but CIOs will want to be aware of other innovations that may help them trim management budgets or redeploy staff away from routine tasks.

There are new features for Microsoft Sustainability Manager, an environmental reporting tool for enterprises, including an extended data model to assist them estimating so-called Scope 3 emissions of greenhouse gases by their entire supply chain, and an Emissions Impact Dashboard for Microsoft 365 showing greenhouse gas emissions resulting from their use of Microsofts SaaS productivity suite.

Azure Deployment Environments, previewed at the show, offer enterprises a way to apply project-based templates to each development environment they spin up. Much like the managed environments Microsoft is introducing for low-code applications, these new templates will help development teams consistently maintain best practices across projects with minimum effort, the company said.

Cost cutting

Another management feature, Azure Automanage, is now generally available for Azure VMs and has new capabilities including the ability to patch VMs without rebooting, reducing downtime costs.

For variable computing workloads in the Azure cloud, Microsoft is introducing the ability to mix Standard and Spot Virtual Machines in the same scale set, enabling CIOs to profit from the deep discounts available for Spot VMs as their computing needs vary.

But Microsoft also wants customers to see Azure as an economical solution for base workloads. Azure savings plan for compute, available later this month, offers a discount to customers who commit to spending a minimum hourly amount on computing resources for one to three years; consumption above the minimum commitment will be charged at regular rates.

Staying Intune

Microsoft is reshuffling its branding around endpoint management: Intune, previously a component of its enterprise mobility management offering, is now the umbrella brand for its whole range of endpoint management products such as Configuration Manager  with the promise of more to come. At Ignite, the company is previewing new endpoint privilege management capabilities such as the ability to temporarily grant users limited admin permissions, and automated app patching by combining Intune with Microsoft Defender. In January 2023, it will add Microsoft Tunnel so employees can securely access company resources from their own devices without having to enroll them first. And then in March 2023, a new bundle of premium endpoint management services called Advanced Management Suite will be introduced.
President Joe Biden is reviewing the US government's ties with Saudi Arabia following the decisions of a group of major oil producers to cut petroleum output.

The situation comes as American lawmakers continue to become increasingly critical of the Gulf Kingdom amid the energy crisis. On Tuesday, US Department of State spokesperson Ned Price revealed the move and noted it was being made in consultation with lawmakers in Washington and allies abroad.

Oil Production Cut

Price noted that they were closely monitoring where the United States is currently at and said that they have been talking to partners and stakeholders. The official added that Biden had already spoken about the need to "recalibrate" ties with Saudi Arabia that would better serve the US.

The spokesperson noted that their guiding principle will be to ensure that the US has a relationship that serves its interests. Price emphasized that the relationship with Saudi Arabia is not bilateral and has not always served the nation's interests, as per Aljazeera.

Last week, the OPEC+, which puts together the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other producers, including Russia, announced the move that would most likely push up petrol prices for consumers in the US ahead of the midterm elections.

Critics of the group have argued that the curb in production raises oil prices worldwide, which generates more revenue for Russia that would help it continue to fund its invasion of Ukraine despite Western sanctions on its economy.

According to the New York Times, the strategic communications coordinator for the National Security Council, John Kirby, signaled openness to retaliatory measures proposed by several Democratic congressional leaders. These lawmakers were outraged by the sudden oil product cut announcement.

Read Also: Iran Protests: Oil and Petrochemical Workers Join Nationwide Anti-Government Rallies, Possibly Crippling the Islamic Republic

Saudi Arabia and the US

Democrats have, among other things, proposed curbing security cooperation with Saudi Arabia, which includes arms sales, and stripping OPEC members of their legal immunity so that they can be sued for violations of US antitrust laws.

Kirby, referencing Biden, said that the Democratic president was willing to discuss the US relationship with Saudi Arabia with members of Congress. The official noted that the president knew that many lawmakers from both parties were concerned about the situation.

Kirby, during a previous interview, sounded a note of urgency regarding the situation, arguing that it was not something that could wait. The official's comments came one day after Sen. Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat and the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, criticized Saudi Arabia for essentially supporting Russia in its brutal war on Ukraine.

Now, US officials are trying to persuade the United States' largest Arab partner to walk back on its plan to cut oil production. However, the nation's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has not been swayed.

Bin Salman and Biden previously clashed during the latter's visit to Jeddah in July over the death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. US intelligence notes that the crown prince approved an operation to capture or kill the victim, who was a Saudi insider-turned-critic and was murdered and dismembered by Saudi agents inside the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul, Reuters reported.

Related Article: Russia-Ukraine War: What Kind of Weapons Did Joe Biden Promise To Help Ukrainians After Latest Attacks?

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The Oxford City Council has made affordable housing its number one priority. This was adopted as a Council Goal in 2021 and reaffirmed in 2022.



How is the City taking action to address these goals?

Annually, the City provides $48,000 from General Fund to the Family Resource Center to assist with their programming, including housing efforts.

With the onset of the pandemic, the City was awarded CARES Funds and later American Rescue Plan funds to help with issues that covid exposed. These were one-time federal programs.

CARES Funds:

In 2020. City Council provided an additional $74,160 of CARES Funds toward a cold shelter, for the Family Resource Center.

In 2021, the City provided an additional $177,000 of CARES Funds towards the Family Resource Center for the following programs:

Cold Shelter



Transitional Housing



Housing Case management



Child Care Assistance



Transportation Assistance

The Family Resource Staff was able to help numerous clients stay housed and also find permanent housing for 13 families with this assistance.

The Family Resource Center worked with the Butler County Rental Assistance Program through SELF and helped many individuals and families receive rental assistance.

In 2022, with the CARES Funds gone, the City used our American Rescue Plans Funds to further assist with housing by providing $73,000 to Family Resource Center to assist with their programs and housing.

City Council has indicated that they want to dedicate $1M of the American Rescue Plan Funds that the City received towards long-term solutions for housing. To date, the City has done the following:

Utilized $150K to acquire land for the cottage home community to assist with housing for low-income individuals.

Released an RFQ to find a nonprofit housing partner. We have had two responses and plan to review both candidates in mid-October. This new nonprofit partner will manage low-income housing for the City of Oxford and provide reasonable rents and housing education.

Ongoing research on where properties can be purchased to be used to renovate or build new affordable units in the City of Oxford.

Note: the non-profit partner will then manage these units.

Ongoing research on how to establish a community land trust and invite housing developers to build affordable and workforce housing for Oxford residents.

The goal is to use the remaining ARPA Funds for long-term solutions that are sustainable for our community. The acquisition of properties to be used for affordable housing and the establishment of the community land trust are the solutions we are actively pursuing because they have the potential to be self-sustaining. There will be no additional source of federal funding coming to the City, so we need to establish sustainable programs. To do this, the City has done the following:

Established a tax on short-term rentals (AirBnB) to have funding to go toward a housing trust fund to help with these programs for when ARPA is gone.

Committed to utilizing Butler County CDBG Funds toward housing programs. This is an annual grant program through the Butler County Community Development Office.

We are committed to finding sustainable housing solutions in our community and have committed over $1M in our efforts to do this.

We hope the community will continue to support these efforts and contribute to either Oxford Community Foundation or the Family Resource Center to expand the success of their programming. It will take all of us, working together, to address this systemic issue.






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The chair of the Charity Commission has warned the sector never to stray into party politics, promote or be seen to promote, a political party or candidate.

Speaking at the Commissions annual public meeting today in Cardiff, Orlando Fraser urged charities to campaign with tolerance and kindness and ensure their activity reflects the interests of the causes they support.

Fraser unveiled a new five-minute guide for charities on political activity and campaigning summarising the Commission's previous guidance.

He also warned charities to expect increased scrutiny over their duty to show prudence, saying they must understand the sacrifices [their] donors and volunteers are making in their continued support during the cost-of-living crisis.

Campaign with tolerance and kindness

Fraser mentioned this years Charity Awards 2022 where Tommys, the baby loss charity, won the Overall Award for Excellence for its Miscarriage Matters campaign , which convinced ministers to scrap a hugely damaging health policy that required women to have three miscarriages in a row before they could access basic treatment or support.

He said the campaign was well received across the political spectrum and highly successful.

So, the law is clear that charities are free to campaign and engage in political activity in this way, shining a light on uncomfortable truths, engaging with those in power in the interests of the people and causes they serve. And when done well, campaigns of this nature can have immense impact. So, no, the law does not agree with those who say that charities should simply not dabble in politics at all.

However, the law, rightly, also sets limits on what charities can do, and how, in relation to political activity. Charities must never stray into party politics  must never promote, or be seen to promote, a political party or candidate.

Fraser reminded charity leaders that any campaigning and political activity should reflect the interests of their charities and not personal opinions. Debates on many issues are polarised, and personal, and serve to further entrench existing standpoints. This trend towards constant aggression presents a risk to our democratic culture, he said.

I think English and Welsh charities engaging in political activity can, and should, be different too. Charities can model a better kind of public discourse than the aggression we sometimes sadly see from the party political debate. They can help teach others how to inspire and inform, rather than stifle and poison, reasoned debate. They should campaign with vigour and energy yes, but I believe they should do so also with tolerance and kindness.

Five-minute guide on political activity

Fraser introduced a new five-minute guide for charities that seek to secure support for, change or oppose legislation or government policy.

The guide stipulates that charities can get involved in campaign or political activity as long as it supports their purpose and is in their best interests and do so within the law.

It draws from guidance published in 2008 , which advises charities to what extent they can get involved in this area and the issues trustees should consider.

Fraser commented: We live in times of significant challenge, and indeed turmoil, and we can expect that political debates will come into all of our lives in the months and years ahead. We should expect vigorous exchanges about what is needed from government at this time.

I fully expect charities to be part of this conversation. Charities give voice to those who go unheard, whose stories might otherwise never be told. And the sector has a long, proud history of pushing for meaningful change that improves the lives of their beneficiaries, and makes society fairer, and kinder.

Difficult times ahead

On the cost-of-living crisis, Fraser acknowledged that the sector will face many challenges this winter and beyond and that its commitment to service, kindness and resilience will be needed to support people most at risk.

He said: Its during times of difficulty and tension that charities come into their own. Offering not just practical support and succour, but a sense of hope and belonging. You often are the only bright element in a miserable situation.

[] Charities have risen to other immense challenges many times over in recent years. I refer not just to the awful pandemic, of course, but also more recently in response to the war in Ukraine and the devastating floods in Pakistan.

I have every optimism that charities will again meet the needs of the age, buoyed by the huge generosity of the British public, and the dedication and commitment of volunteers and those working in charities. Although we could give more by some international standards, the British public still gave almost 11bn to charity last year, and around 5.5 million people regularly volunteer. We should all be proud of this culture of giving, and of serving.

Expect increased scrutiny

Fraser urged trustees to demonstrate prudence and sound financial stewardship in the coming months.

He said: The duty of prudence has been set in law for decades. It is not new. But getting this right is of particular importance during these straitened times. Expect increased scrutiny, and be prepared to show that you understand the sacrifices your donors and volunteers are making in their continued support.

Show your beneficiaries that you are using every penny wisely, and for their benefit. Never forget that the funds you raise as trustees and senior leaders belong to the cause, or the people, your charity was set up to serve.

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LAS TEJERIAS, Venezuela (AP)  Rescue workers using drones and trained dogs searched for survivors Monday following a massive landslide in central Venezuela, as the death toll rose to 34 and residents described harrowing tales of escape from the water and mud.

Jose Medina recalled how the water streaming into his home in the town of Las Tejerias on Saturday night had reached waist level. He and his family were trapped, he realized.

So the 63-year-old turned his refrigerator sideways, opened its door and used it as a boat for his granddaughter. Meanwhile he held on to the fridge with his wife, and pinned it to a table so that the strong currents of water would not push them downstream.

Medina described their survival as a miracle.

Im happy that were alive but Im also sad, said the retired construction worker who lost his home and all of his belongings.

His plight began when torrential rains caused by Hurricane Julia unleashed mudslides and floods that destroyed several mountainside neighborhoods in Las Tejerias.

On Monday, Venezuelan officials said at least 34 people died in the flooding and 60 are missing following the worst natural disaster to hit the cash-strapped South American country in recent years.

In Las Tejerias, a city of 50,000 people located along Venezuelas main industrial corridor, crews were using heavy machinery to clear debris from neighborhoods whose streets were still blocked with mud. Meanwhile rescue workers used drones and dogs to find people buried under the debris.

We are still hoping to find people that can be saved said Vice President Delcy Rodriguez as she toured one of the neighborhoods affected by the mudslides.

For those who survived, the countrys dire economic situation will make recovery more challenging.

Medina said his pension  which is pegged to Venezuelas monthly minimum wage  is worth just $17 a month. Now he will depend on government assistance to survive, but added that he considers himself lucky that he did not lose relatives in the mudslide.

Venezuelan authorities said 317 homes in Las Tejerias were wiped out by the mudslide and another 750 homes sustained damage.

Residents said they only had minutes to leave their homes late Saturday, as the avalanche of mud, rocks and tree logs swept over several hillside neighborhoods in the city.

Some people were praying at an evangelical church when the mudslide occurred, while others were at a childrens party residents said. Several children are among the missing.

Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro on Sunday declared three days of mourning for the victims and sent rescue workers to Las Tejerias, which lies along a highway that connects Caracas to the industrial city of Valencia. Maduro said that 11 states in the country sustained damage from floods over the weekend.

Associated Press writer Jorge Rueda contributed from Caracas

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An apparently coordinated denial-of-service attack organized by pro-Russia hackers rendered the websites of some major U.S. airports unreachable early Monday, though officials said flights were not affected.

The attacks  in which participants flood targets with junk data  were orchestrated by a shadowy group that calls itself Killnet. On the eve of the attacks the group published a target list on its Telegram channel.

While highly visible and aimed at maximum psychological impact, DDoS attacks are mostly a noisy nuisance, different from hacking that involves breaking into networks and can do serious damage.

We noticed this morning that the external website was down, and our IT and security people are in the process of investigating, said Andrew Gobeil, a spokesman for Atlantas Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. There has been no impact on operations.

Portions of the public-facing side of the Los Angeles International Airport website were also disrupted, spokeswoman Victoria Spilabotte said. No internal airport systems were compromised and there were no operational disruptions.

Spilabotte said the airport notified the FBI and the Transportation Security Administration, and the airports information-technology team was working to restore all services and investigate the cause.

Several other airports that were included on Killnets target list reported problems with their websites.

The Chicago Department of Aviation said in a statement that websites for OHare International and Midway airports went offline early Monday but that no airport operations were affected.

Last week, the same group of hackers claimed responsibility for denial-of-service attacks on state government websites in several states.

John Hultquist, vice president for threat intelligence at the cybersecurity firm Mandiant, tweeted that denial-of-service attacks like those aimed at the airports and state governments are usually short in duration and typically superficial.

These are not the serious impacts that have kept us awake, he said.

Such attacks instead tend to reveal insufficient attention by webmasters to adequate bulletproofing of sites, which now includes DDoS protection service.

About the photo: Travelers walk through Terminal 1 at OHare International Airport in Chicago, on Dec. 30, 2021. The websites for some major U.S. airports went down early Monday, Oct. 10, 2022, in an apparent coordinated denial of service incident, although officials said flights were not affected. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

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King Charles III will be crowned on May 6 at Westminster Abbey in London, according to a statement released by Buckingham Palace on Tuesday.

Statement from the palace, the event will be more contemporary than previous royal coronations and look towards the future. The event will still be based in long-standing traditions and pageantry.

King Charles III' Coronation Details Revealed

Charles and his wife Camilla, the Queen Consort, will be crowned at the event, which will be presided over by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby. According to the announcement, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who has presided over most royal coronations since 1066 would anoint, bless, and consecrate the King during the ceremony.

Days after his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, passed away, King Charles III, 73, was solemnly installed as the new King of the United Kingdom in a ceremony at St. James' Palace. KIng Charles III became Britain's monarch last month.

To give enough time to mourn the former sovereign and prepare for the ceremonial, his coronation has been set for the following year. Some have questioned whether the King intends to make the coronation more accessible while also representing his vision of the future monarchy, although the palace has not provided any precise information about it.

In a recent statement, King Charles III stated that he saw Britain as a community of communities, and that this realization has caused him to recognize that he has an extra duty to defend the variety of our land. At a meeting of the Privy Council, a body of royal advisors, he is anticipated to sign a proclamation formally announcing the date of the coronation later this year, as per CNN.

Any intention to declare a bank holiday weekend or stage other sizable celebrations around the Coronation, according to a royal advisor, would be a matter for the Government. Last night, a Downing Street source said that although no decisions have been taken, they have not ruled out the possibility.

Following consideration of sporting events, world events, and anniversaries, the date of the Coronation was determined in consultation with the Government, the Church of England, and the Royal Household.

It had been predicted that it would happen around or possibly on June 2, which is the 70th anniversary of the Queen's Coronation. It is thought that choosing a date in May was mostly motivated by the belief that the weather would be safer than in June.

The ceremony is anticipated to pay tribute to the fact that many British families are struggling financially. It is understood that it will still possess the proper amount of majesty, nonetheless. Ancient and time-consuming customs, such as giving the monarch gold ingots, are also expected to be abolished to save time.

But the new Prince of Wales is anticipated to play a significant role in the event the first time an heir will take part in the celebration in three generations. The late Queen was only 11 when her father was coronated, and King Charles III was only four when his mother was, so neither had any official roles in either coronation.

Prince William, who is 40 years old and a full-fledged working royal, is anticipated to be a significant figure at the occasion. The Archbishop of Canterbury will formally anoint, bless, and consecrate. These elements will be present on the day as the King stated he wants to reflect the religious and racial diversity of the UK, according to Daily Mail.

Read Also: MLB: Phillies Ends NLDS Drought By Sweeping Cardinals in Wild Card Series

King Charles III's Coronation Same Day as Grandson Archie's Birthday

The coronation of King Charles III will take place at Westminster Abbey in London on May 6, 2023, which also happens to be the day of his youngest grandson's birthday. Camilla Parker Bowles, Charles' wife of 17 years, will be crowned as the queen consort at the event, the palace has already announced.

The decision to hold the ceremony on Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, the son of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who will turn four on that day, is one element that is likely to draw criticism.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are expected to attend the coronation as members of the royal family, despite the possibility that their young children won't be old enough to accompany them. Because he was the great-grandson of Queen Elizabeth II at the time of his birth in 2019, Archie was referred to as Master Archie.

Charles has become king, making Archie the monarch's grandson and deserving of the title of prince. Meghan Markle talked about Archie not being born a royal in her 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey.

She referred to the royal custom but added that during discussions regarding the choice, an unknown member of the royal family brought up the possibility of his skin tone. Since that interview was televised, the monarchy's response to accusations of racism has received a lot of attention, News Week reported.

Related Article: King Charles III's Reign To Last for Only 7 Years Before Passing the Crown to Prince William, Psychic Predicts

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Israel and Lebanon have agreed on a "historic" maritime border deal to establish a permanent division between them, said United States President Joe Biden.

A finalized deal between the two nations would allow the neighbors, which are formally at war, to exploit natural gas fields under the Mediterranean Sea. In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said that the agreement would strengthen his nation's security and inject billions into its recovering economy.

Israel-Lebanon Maritime Border Agreement

On the other hand, Lebanese President Michel Aoun said that the terms of the deal were "satisfactory." Despite the historic deal, its details have not yet been revealed but it covers an 860 square kilometer triangle of the Mediterranean.

However, reports say that the Karish gas field would fall under Israeli control, along with a small portion of Qana, which is a prospective gas field. The remaining parts of the area would fall under Lebanese control and it would pay royalties to Israel for any gas extracted from the Israeli side, as per BBC.

On Monday, the White House said that Biden had congratulated the Israeli and Lebanese leaders on moving forward with the deal. The Democrat said that the agreement will provide for the development of energy fields for the benefit of both nations.

Biden added that the deal sets the stage for a more stable and prosperous region and will allow for the harnessing of vital new energy resources for the world. The Democratic leader said that it was not critical that all parties involved uphold their commitments and work toward implementing the agreement.

According to the Washington Post, the deal is expected to end a decades-long dispute over the two nations' maritime border, easing growing military tensions, and provide a desperately needed source of income for Lebanon.

Read Also: Joe Biden, US Government 'Reviewing' Ties with Saudi Arabia Amid Oil Cuts, Russia Controversy

Potential for Rich Gas Exploration

Leaders from Beirut and Jerusalem hailed the agreement, which needs formal approval in both Israel and Lebanon, as a historic breakthrough. The deal becomes the first agreement on border demarcation between the two countries.

Lebanese leaders have not yet made an official announcement of the deal other than President Aoun's previous remarks about the final version of the agreement. He said that the deal answers his country's demands and preserves its rights to its natural wealth.

Officials are hoping that the deal, if finalized, would cool intensifying tensions along the frontier as Hezbollah, the Iran-allied militant group, controls southern Lebanon. It has threatened to attack a new offshore gas facility that Israel is readying for production in what Lebanon claims are disputed waters.

The militant group also launched drones toward the gas field more than once, including three unmanned aircraft that Israel shot down in early July. facing Hezbollah's threats in the case that Israel begins pumping natural gas from the Karish Field, Defense Minister Benny Gantz put troops on high alert.

However, Lebanese authorities said that the deal does not mean any "treat" will be signed with Israel. They added that the agreement is not a step toward the normalization of relations between the two countries, CNN reported.

Related Article: Iran Protests: Oil and Petrochemical Workers Join Nationwide Anti-Government Rallies, Possibly Crippling the Islamic Republic

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NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has urged for more weapons to be sent to Ukraine as President Volodymyr Zelensky called for new sanctions against Russia over recent missile strikes.

The Ukrainian leader made his remarks as the Monday attacks on his country resulted in at least 19 people killed and many others injured by Russian missile strikes. Zelensky said that the attacks will only delay the nation's recovery a little bit.

NATO's Support of Ukraine

After more strikes were reported on Tuesday, the official called on the West to find new ways to apply pressure on Moscow and support Kyiv. His remarks came after he met with the G7 group of nations for emergency virtual talks on that same day.

The bloc, consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, promised to provide continuous "financial, humanitarian, military, diplomatic, and legal" support to Ukraine for as long as they are needed.

In response, Zelensky said that for Russia's new wave of terror, there should be a new wave of responsibility placed on Moscow. These include new sanctions, new forms of political pressure, and new forms of support for Ukraine, as per BBC.

The Ukrainian president said that the terrorist state, referencing Russia, must be deprived of even the thought of any wave of terror that can provide it with any advantage. Russian President Vladimir Putin, on the other hand, said that the attacks were retaliation for Saturday's explosion on a key bridge linking Russia to Crimea.

The situation comes as Western nations have already implemented widespread sanctions against Russian businesses as well as Putin's allies since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine earlier this year.

According to the New York Times, Stoltenberg urged for more air defense systems to be sent to Ukraine, which he said would make a difference in the war because of the incoming missiles from Russia.

Read Also: Iran Protests: Oil and Petrochemical Workers Join Nationwide Anti-Government Rallies, Possibly Crippling the Islamic Republic

Ongoing War

Ukrainian authorities claimed to have shot down roughly half of more than 90 Russian missiles that targeted its territories on Monday. The onslaught is the worst aerial attack that the country has seen in the last few months.

Officials also noted on Tuesday that numerous Russian cruise missiles were shot down but said that several targets were still struck, including three power plants in western and central Ukraine. A dozen rockets also hit the embattled southern region of Zaporizhzhia, resulting in the death of at least seven people and hitting a school, medical facility, and car dealership.

Ambassador Julianne Smith said that the NATO military alliance discussed how best to protect Ukrainian infrastructure from the deadly strikes, and officials decided that the best way was with the use of air defense systems.

During a briefing, Smith said that the alliance was now shifting again to air defense, noting that in previous phases, NATO's response focused on what Ukraine needed at specific moments of the war. These were specifically munitions and coastal defense. Air defense will not form the "crux of the alliance's conversation earlier this week in meetings at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Politico reported.

Related Article: Russia-Ukraine War: Volodymyr Zelensky Sends Stern Message to Vladimir Putin After Ukrainians Take Down 20 of 28 Russian Missiles

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Profile: Guarding lives of those on brink of death

Xinhua) 08:32, October 12, 2022

Xu Furong prepares medicine at an ICU ward at Hunan Provincial People's Hospital in Changsha, central China's Hunan Province, Sept. 9, 2022. (Xinhua/Chen Sihan)

CHANGSHA, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- An intensive care unit (ICU) nurse in central China's Hunan Province, Xu Furong has for 14 years delivered intensive care to patients during the most vulnerable times of their lives.

"ICU nurses guard lives of those who are on the brink of death. It is our duty," said Xu, a delegate to the upcoming 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and a head nurse at Hunan Provincial People's Hospital.

In February 2020, she volunteered to join the Hunan medical team sent to help battle the COVID-19 epidemic in Huanggang City in neighboring Hubei Province.

Within three days of their arrival in Huanggang, Xu and her colleagues set up a temporary ICU and admitted 15 patients who were in critical condition.

In the span of 42 days, Xu and other team members treated a total of 49 critically ill patients. None of the medical staff was infected.

On the day they left, residents lined the street to see them off. "It's all worth it," Xu said.

Not long after returning from Huanggang, Xu, once again, offered to join a 12-member team of medical experts of Hunan Province to aid the fight against COVID-19 in Africa.

Xu and other team members visited more than 70 institutions and units in Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea. They offered guidance to local communities and hospitals on improving treatment procedures and plans. They also went to isolation wards and discussed cases with local medics.

Before returning to China, the team submitted proposals on COVID-19 epidemic control and prevention to the two countries.

Xu recalled being asked by a World Health Organization official why so many Chinese medics volunteered to offer help in areas hit hardest by the epidemic.

"We will all take the initiative to rush to the frontline when there are difficulties in our country, regardless of the cost and our own lives. It's a kind of consciousness that is already in our blood," she answered.

Xu and her team have thus far kept an ICU journal for 19 patients, including a 34-year-old male patient surnamed Tang, who was admitted in February 2021 for severe acute pancreatitis.

Tang felt so desperate and helpless in the beginning that he thought of giving up. Encouragement and meticulous care from Xu and her team revived his aspiration for life. Xu gave a copy of the journal to him when he recovered in 95 days.

"This is the most precious gift I have ever received," he said.

Xu and her team have also been exploring the development of online hospital, making services outside the hospital available for some seniors in need, and patients with chronic diseases and tumor.

Patients in the provincial capital of Changsha could "place an order" on the phone and there will be nurses making house calls.

Xu calls it "an utmost honor" and "a huge responsibility" to be elected a delegate to the 20th CPC National Congress.

"I want to contribute more to the improvement of the health of the people," she said.

Xu Furong poses for a photo at Hunan Provincial People's Hospital in Changsha, central China's Hunan Province, Sept. 9, 2022. (Xinhua/Chen Sihan)

Xu Furong (C) and her colleague check the hospitalization information of patients at an ICU ward nurse station at Hunan Provincial People's Hospital in Changsha, central China's Hunan Province, Sept. 9, 2022. (Xinhua/Chen Sihan)

Xu Furong (C) and her colleagues take care of a patient at an ICU ward at Hunan Provincial People's Hospital in Changsha, central China's Hunan Province, Sept. 9, 2022. (Xinhua/Chen Sihan)

(Web editor: Wu Chaolan, Hongyu)
Vice President Kamala Harris called Texas Governor Greg Abbott's Monday night drop-off of migrants outside her Naval Observatory mansion political theater.

Harris came on 'Late Night With Seth Meyers' for a lighthearted interview with a presenter who seemed more interested with making his guest feel welcome than with asking tough questions, as is typical of late-night television programming.

Kamala Harris Condemns Bussing of Migrants

Seth Meyers inquired about the busloads of migrant families dropped off outside her DC residence, sent by the Texas governor as a means of drawing attention to the surge of migrants at the southern border. Blaming Donald Trump for the border situation would likely irritate conservative opponents, who observed a decrease in border crossings during the previous administration.

However, many individuals thought the severe measures used at the time, such as child separation, were too brutal. Harris concluded by pushing GOP governors to transfer migrants to Northeast cities and vacation islands, saying, "Participate in the solution because we are proposing answers, but instead, this gamesmanship with actual human beings who trust us."

This year has seen a record number of arrests at the US-Mexico border, owing in part to a flow of migrants seeking a better life, shelter, or asylum in the US. President Joe Biden appointed Harris as Border Czar, and she chose to focus on the core reasons of migrants fleeing Central American countries, but she has faced heavy criticism from right media for taking a hands-off approach, as per Mediaite.

Many of the lawmakers who spoke out in response to the vice president's statements represent districts in border states, which bear the brunt of the migratory problem. Biden appointed Harris as his administration's point person for border issues shortly after taking office, and she was swiftly dubbed the "border czar" by many outside the White House.

However, in over two years, Harris has only visited the border once and has continuously said that her duty is to investigate the core causes of migration in South and Central American countries.

Read Also: Russia-Ukraine War: What Kind of Weapons Did Joe Biden Promise To Help Ukrainians After Latest Attacks?

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's Migrant Surge Plan

In April, Abbott announced a plan to transport migrants to Washington, DC, New York City, and other Democratic strongholds. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis jumped on board, sending 50 migrants to the rich liberal island of Martha's Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts.

Biden appointed Harris with concentrating on the root causes of immigration, particularly from the Northern Triangle nations, has advocated for tackling larger immigration concerns, according to Daily Mail. Harris went on to label the action "political stunt," and she urged Abbott, Gov. Doug Duce, and Gov. Ron DeSantis, who flew two planes of immigrants to Martha's Vineyard last month, to quit messing with people's lives.

In May, Abbott declared that he would raise the border situation to President Joe Biden's attention and began giving free transportation to Washington. He began by dropping off immigrants a few blocks from the Capitol, but subsequently extended the busing operation to Chicago and New York City. The bus service is now in its sixth month.

The Republican governors have claimed that all three cities are sanctuary zones that have sworn for years to protect individuals living illegally in the United States, and that as a result, they should be prepared to receive immigration buses. The mayors have chastised Abbott and demanded federal and state aid to accommodate individuals who have arrived in their communities temporarily.

Since President Joe Biden entered office 20 months ago, the number of noncitizens apprehended after unlawfully entering the nation from Mexico has increased from less than 50,000 per month during the previous decade to between 150,000 and 230,000 per month, Washington Examiner reported.

Related Article: Hunter Biden Scandal: First Son's Legal Entanglements Pose Threat to Democrats Ahead of Midterm Elections

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This year's 8th CD race is only the fifth time a Colorado House district's constituents will be able to count on being represented by a woman in the next Congress before any votes are counted.
Born in the mid-1980s when the auction was in danger of being canceled because no one was bidding on the champion animals raised by 4-H and Future Farmers of America youth, Rustlers soon inspired competing civic-minded groups from throughout the state, which have together raised more than $12 million to help young Coloradans pursue careers in agriculture.
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North Korean construction workers in Russia are fleeing after learning that they have been sent to work in Russian-controlled portions of Ukraine.

High need for construction workers in Ukraine's war-torn Donbas area has resulted in a rise in demand, with North Korean immigrants accounting for a sizable portion of the workforce.

North Korean Workers Flee Jobs in Russia

Fearing for their life as a result of the Ukraine-Russia war, thousands of North Korean employees have fled their employment and gone into hiding.

According to an unidentified source, several workers fled after learning that they would be relocated to a new construction site in Ukraine and would have to settle everything by the end of September. Not only are construction workers fleeing, but so are management executives.

Workers were also said to be shaken by the idea of being deployed to Donbas and instead chose to live in concealment. North Korea has been sending manual laborers overseas for years, frequently retaining the majority of the employee's wages for itself, supplying the isolated regime with foreign money.

Despite having most of their earnings taken away, workers make more money than they would back home in North Korea, albeit it appears to be barely enough to survive, Daily Mail reported.

Workers end up in other difficult industries outside construction, such as manufacturing, textiles, and mining. Even though UN Security Council sanctions on North Korea were imposed in 2020, Russia is still thought to be one of the largest hosts of North Korean manual workers.

According to a 2019 UN assessment, over 30,000 North Korean laborers lived in Russia in 2017, with the bulk working in the port city of Vladivostok, near the North Korean-Russia border.

In the previous decade, China has also housed up to 50,000 North Korean construction workers, though this figure is thought to be substantially lower now. Meanwhile, North Koreans aren't the only ones wanting to remove themselves from the conflict, with Russians choosing to abandon their homeland to avoid getting enlisted.

According to Radio Free Asia, the issue of employees fleeing is not new. Even in periods of relative calm, many North Koreans stationed in Russia go missing.

The number of escapees grew when the North Korean embassy notified them that they would be moved to Ukraine. Russia's Ambassador to North Korea, Alexander Matsegora, mentioned the possibility of deploying North Korean laborers to Ukraine in an interview with the Russian newspaper Izvestia in July.

December 2018 announcement from the Russian Foreign Ministry, there were 21,000 North Korean laborers in Russia as of September 2018. Around 19,000 of them worked in industries, farms, and construction sites. Tens of thousands of North Korean laborers in Russia were returned by the end of 2019 following the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 2397 in December 2017.

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Russia Praises North Korea's Support for Kremlin's Military Operation

Although sanctions prevent North Korea from sending employees abroad and nations from giving work visas to North Koreans, Pyongyang has been known to send workers to China and Russia on short-term student or visiting visas to circumvent sanctions.

Moscow values Pyongyang's assistance for its special military operation in Ukraine and the accession of four regions to Russia, said Georgy Zinoviev, head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's First Asian Department, on Tuesday.

"We strongly appreciate the North Korean government's unwavering backing for the Russian special military operation in Ukraine," the envoy said at an event commemorating the 74th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Moscow and Pyongyang.

Zinoviev emphasized that Pyongyang welcomed Russia's acceptance of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, as well as the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions. He also emphasized that collaboration between Moscow and Pyongyang will allow them to overcome the impacts of the pandemic, which is still weighing on bilateral relations, as per TASS.

Related Article: Russia-Ukraine War: Volodymyr Zelensky Sends Stern Message to Vladimir Putin After Ukrainians Take Down 20 of 28 Russian Missiles

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Tom Cruise has recruited a security team after a former colleague threatened him and director Christopher McQuarrie.

The A-lister, 60, and the 'Mission: Impossible' director, 53, hired the security crew after a stunt producer was fired, resulting in angry demonstrations and fears of more reprisals.

Tom Cruise Death Threats

Tom Cruise and McQuarrie are still working on 'Mission: Impossible' 8, largely in the UK, but things have gotten ugly with a former crew member, and now it's a question of taking no risks, a film insider told the site.

According to the publication, the employee was instructed to identify filming locations for scenarios, including one showing a train catastrophe, but his preparations were not carried out in the film, as per Daily Mail. The controversy began when a stunt producer was told his skills were no longer needed, provoking loud protests and worries of more retaliation, according to Vanity Fair.

The filmmaking couple has recruited more heavies to protect them in case things go any ugly than they already have. The conflict was initially reported in French newspapers after the fired production employee filed a lawsuit against Tom, Chris, and Paramount Studios.

'The Top Gun: Maverick' star "is used to having security personnel about him most of the time due to his celebrity, but for Chris, it's a new thing," according to a source, The Sun reported.

Last year, Cruise was in Birmingham filming the latest installment. But now he and his director, Christopher McQuarrie, need more heavyweights. While filming in Birmingham, British Transport Police in Birmingham posted a photo of two cops with the masked movie actor, saying, "I guarantee you, this isn't photoshopped. According to Birmingham Mail via MSN.

Read Also: New York City Education Dept. Ex-LGBTQ Program Manager Admits Trans Athletes Have 'Competitive Advantage'

Mission Impossible

According to the sources, the sacked employee was instructed to discover filming sites for stunts, including a good train accident scenario, but his proposals were not executed in the film. The production employee has subsequently filed a lawsuit against Cruise, McQuarrie, and Paramount Studios.

Furthermore, he has made contentious claims regarding Russain Oligarchs funding the Cruises' activities, as well as an FBI inquiry into Paramount over the finance. An investigation has been verified by the American security services.

While "it's all gone quite nasty, people involved in the films are convinced everything is perfectly alright, he's just a disgruntled ex-staff member," according to the insider. Cruise's representatives have been contacted for comment on this report.

McQuarrie has directed Cruise in many films, including 2012's 'Jack Reacher,' 2015's 'Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation,' and 2018's 'Mission: Impossible - Fallout.' They are now working on 'Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning,' a two-part film series that will be released in theaters in 2023 and 2024.

Cruise is coming off the immensely successful sequel 'Top Gun: Maverick,' which was delayed due to the pandemic but grossed $714 million domestic and $1.48 billion globally after its release this past May, as per Meaww.

Related Article: Britney Spears Reveals Mom's 'Violent' Reaction for Partying Until Morning with Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan

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Immediately after President Joe Biden announced last week that he would pardon thousands of people convicted of minor marijuana offenses in the United States, a spokesperson for Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott stated that he would not issue pardons in his state, despite the president's request to governors across the country.

On Thursday, President Joe Biden announced the pardons, saying that "too many lives have been upended as a result of our misguided approach to marijuana."

Biden's Marijuana Pardons

Biden's decision is restricted to federal prosecutions and will not impact people found guilty of cannabis-related state crimes. The president urged governors to provide their pardons to anyone convicted of petty narcotics possession. However, Abbott spokesman Renae Eze stated immediately after Biden's statement that the Texas governor will not be giving pardons, even if the state's pardoning board recommends it.

Before the governor may award pardons, the Board of Pardons and Paroles must vote in favor of recommending them. Nonetheless, Eze believes Abbott would reject such ideas. Texas is not in the habit of hearing criminal justice advice from the head of the anti-police party and someone who has led a criminal justice system gone awry with cashless bail and a revolving door for serious offenders, Eze stated in response to Biden's remarks.

Despite Eze's assertions, President Joe Biden is not in favor of defunding the police, a move that would reallocate police department cash to social expenditure programs, allowing communities to confront issues at their root rather than depending on repressive enforcement systems. In the run-up to the 2022 midterm elections, far-right conservatives purposely misrepresented cash bail measures.

Abbott is seeking for re-election in the autumn. According to his campaign website, his Democratic opponent, former congressman Beto O'Rourke, supports "clearing the records of people jailed for marijuana possession, Truth Out reported.

Read Also: NATO Chief Urges for More Weapons to Ukraine as Zelensky Calls for New Sanctions Against Russia Following Missile Strikes

Advocates Doubt POTUS Decision

Several other Republican governors have stated that they will not provide blanket pardons for marijuana possession. In a tweet, Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson accused Biden of "playing election-year politics." A representative for Alabama Governor Kay Ivey stated that he lacked the authority to offer broad pardons. Meanwhile, numerous Democratic governors applauded the widespread pardons.

"Today's government action will transform people's lives rather than stymie their progress," Colorado Governor Jared Polis stated in a tweet.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said it was the right decision, but that state law barred him from issuing mass pardons, as per Independent. Marijuana reform supporters are concerned that the assessment will not result in the government taking a more enlightened position on the most popular illegal narcotic in the United States.

Marijuana is classified as a Schedule I substance under the federal Controlled Substances Act, which means the government feels it has a high potential for abuse, no medicinal benefit, and no safe method to consume it even under medical supervision.

In 1972, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws petitioned for a review of marijuana's classification, but they were unsuccessful. Since then, the government has dismissed many further applications, most recently in 2016, even though most states have legalized marijuana for medical or recreational purposes.

NORML's deputy director, Paul Armentano, is skeptical that the recent federal study would result in decriminalization. NORML and the Drug Policy Alliance want marijuana removed from the Controlled Substances Act entirely, rather than only transferred to a less restrictive schedule.

President Joe Biden announced the study with a sweeping pardon for thousands of people convicted at the federal level of simple marijuana possession.

However, last week, Biden announced that he would push his attorney general and the Department of Health and Human Services to "initiate the administrative process to expeditiously assess how marijuana is scheduled under federal law" - not that the scheduling must change in any way.

A senior administration official emphasized during a press conference that the review would not necessarily result in de-scheduling or any other predetermined conclusion. During his presidential campaign, Biden argued marijuana should be categorized as a Schedule II substance, contradicting other Democratic contenders who suggested it should be decriminalized.

The federal government considered the most recent petition to amend marijuana's scheduling for five years, with HHS offering feedback to the Justice Department in a process identical to the one underway now, before eventually saying no in 2016, according to Huff Post.

Related Article: DOJ Asks Supreme Court To Strike Down Donald Trump's Request To Intervene on Mar-a-Lago Raid Issue

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The US, where semiconductors were invented, was producing 37% of the world's supply of chips as recently as the 1990s. But only about 12% of all computer chips are produced domestically now.

That decline in domestic chip production was exposed by the worldwide supply chain crisis, and that has led to calls for reshoring microprocessor manufacturing in the US. With the federal government spurring them on, the likes of Intel, Samsung, and TSMC have unveiled plans for a flurry of new US fabrication plants. (Qualcomm, in partnership with GlobalFoundries, also said it would invest $4.2 billion to double chip production in its Malta, New York fabrication facility.)

Just last week, chipmaker Micron Technology announced it will spend $20 billion to build what it called the largest-ever US semiconductor factory ever, and may spend up to $100 billion over 20 years to expand it.

In announcing the new fabrication plant projects, the semiconductor manufacturers, at least in part, credited the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 signed into law by President Joe Biden in August. The legislation provides $52.7 billion for manufacturing incentives to boost microchip production in the US. Chip manufacturers can begin seeking to use tax breaks and funds to offset construction and other costs beginning next year.

Essentially, the CHIPS Act is an attempt to increase the percentage of microprocessors produced in the US by closing the cost differential with other countries such as Taiwan, South Korea, and China. In those nations, the governments are already subsidizing semiconductor manufacturers.

GlobalFoundaries GlobalFoundaries' Malta, New York headquarters and foundry. The company announced this year it would be investing $4.2 billion to double its US chip production.

The US legislation is also meant to produce high-tech jobs and loosen the supply-chain grip foreign chip manufacturers have on US OEMs.

The bottom line is that without the CHIPS and Science legislation, Micron would have decided to build its mega-fab overseas, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said in a statement.

Gaurav Gupta, Gartners vice president for Emerging Technologies and Trends, said the money, tax breaks, and other incentives in the CHIPS Act is pocket change for leading manufacturers. If you look at the leading chipmakers, like TSMC, Samsung and Intel, theyre spending that much money in one year, Gupta said.

What the incentives do, however, is demonstrate that the US government is serious about supporting the industry. But more is needed, according to Gupta, who cited the need for a CHIPS Act 2.0, 3.0, and beyond.

This is the first time this money has been made available," he said. "And, as a result, youre seeing a lot of chipmakers announcing new fabs and capacity expansions. Lets see how well they execute. Well know by the 20232024 time frame when theyre building their fabs. But this has to be a more consistent policy from the US government through the next decade and beyond if theyre really serious about bringing back more chip manufacturing here in the US.

The lions share of the funding in the bill  $39 billion  goes toward incentives to build new chip foundries. Theres also $2 billion for legacy chipmakers who make products critical to automotive and defense systems, $13.2 billion for research and workforce development, and $500 million for supply chain and networking security.

The question is whether that's enough. And once companies break ground on new manufacturing facilities, will they have access to enough tech talent to staff the facilities? Currently, the US is experiencing an unprecedented shortage of tech talent, especially in the semiconductor sector.

"Its not like theres a specific type of person or function missing. Its across the board, said Mark Granahan, co-founder and CEO of iDEAL Semiconductor, a five-year-old fabless chip start-up in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Because iDEAL is a startup, Granahan needs workers to fill every function in the company, whether sales and marketing, applications and systems, or engineering. All these things require some technical background to do. We need more two-year degrees, Masters degrees, and PhDs. Focusing in one area is not a bad thing, but we need a broad brush of things, he said.

GlobalFoundaries A semiconductor wafer produced in GlobalFoundaries' Malta plant.

Beyond the fact most jobs in the semiconductor industry are located overseas, chip design and manufacturing has the reputation of being a staid industry compared to software development, so students often shy away from those careers, according to Granahan. Chip development also requires coding and software development, Grahahan noted.

The skills gap is exacerbating a chip supply shortage that predated supply chain disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic  but the pandemic made matters worse. Older semiconductor fabrication plants were already running at maximum capacity, according to Alan Priestley, a vice president analyst at Gartner Research. COVID exacerbated the problem because all the demand forecasting for the industry was thrown into the air, he said in an earlier interview.

Given the high costs and complexity of chip manufacturing, many US semiconductor firms transitioned to a fabless model, where the chips are designed here but fabricated abroad  mostly in East Asia. That region is now home to nearly 80% of global chip fabrication, according to the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS).

Some of Americas largest tech firms, including Google, Apple, and Amazon, rely on Taiwans TSMC alone for nearly 90% of their chip production, Gregory Arcuri, a CSIS research assistant wrote in a January blog.

TSMC Construction of TSMC's 5nm semiconductor plant in Phoenix, Arizona is currently under way and scheduled to begin making chips in 2024.

Support for reshoring chip manufacturing was driven in large part by import shortages during the pandemic and by the dramatic increases in freight costs and delivery times. Other factors included increased recognition of the total cost of offshoring and rising concern over US dependency on China, according to Gupta.

"Even for critical infrastructure in the US, like aerospace, communications, defense, and the military, you are relying on chips made outside the country," Gupta said.

The potential for a Taiwan-China conflict and the danger of China interfering in the global chip supply chain have brought new focus to those concerns, according to the Reshoring Initiative, a Sarasota, FL.-based manufacturing industry advocacy group.

"Destabilizing geopolitical and climate forces have brought to light our vulnerabilities and the need to address them," the Reshoring Initiative said in a report. "Subsequently, great opportunities have arisen for a continued meaningful rebound of US manufacturing. Continuing the current trajectory will reduce the deficit, add jobs, and make the US safer, more self-reliant and resilient."

Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, and others have been lobbying the US government to increase domestic chip production, citing problems overseas that have hampered hardware production. In fact, a US Commerce Department report released in January said the chip shortage is so bad that at one point in 2021 there was just a five-day supply worldwide  with no sign the situation would improve anytime soon.

In contrast to the US, the governments of Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, and China all subsidize semiconductor manufacturing and research facilities, according to the Semiconductors in America Coalition (SIAC). "As a result, it is 20%-40% more expensive to build and operate a fabrication facility in the US compared to overseas, SIAC said in a letter to US Congressional leaders.

The governments investments to reshore chip production will create hundreds of thousands of American jobs, David Isaacs, vice president of Government Affairs for the Semiconductor Industry Association, said in a blog post. The efforts will also encourage hundreds of billions of dollars in chip company investments in the US and ensure more resilient chip supply chains for key manufacturing industries and for the national security community, Isaacs said.

Intel Corp. An rendition of one of two semiconductor fabrication plants Intel plans to build in Ohio.

Recent initiatives to bring tech manufacturing back to America are working, according to the Reshoring Initiative. In its report, the group predicted 2022 will see a record 350,000 new jobs directly related to domestic companies bringing work back stateside and offshore companies committing foreign direct investment (FDI) to their US-based divisions and facilities. That's up from 260,000 new jobs in 2021.

If that jobs prediction holds true, 2022 will bring the total number of jobs announced since 2010 to more than 1.6 million, the Reshoring Initiative report said. The group also noted that for the third year in a row, reshoring outpaced FDI.

The high rate of reshoring indicates that US-headquartered companies are starting to understand the same benefit to localized production that many foreign companies have understood for years, according to the Reshoring Initiative.

With five million manufacturing jobs still offshore, [and] as measured by (the US) a $1.1 trillion-per-year goods trade deficit, there is potential for much more growth, said Harry Moser, founder and president of the Reshoring Initiative.

Along with state incentives, Micron said it chose upstate New York for its new plant because it provides partnership opportunities with local K-12 education programs, community colleges and institutions for top engineering and technical talent.

The state has a long history of semiconductor development and manufacturing, providing promising opportunities to collaborate on R&D initiatives with organizations such as the Albany NanoTech Complex and the US Air Force Research Laboratory, Micron said in a statement.

The important point here is that over recent decades, the foundry model enabled companies that need semiconductors to design them in-house then ship the design to foundries that are increasingly overseas for manufacturing.

Martin Schmidt, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, said one consequence of the US lagging behind other nations in chip production has been how it affects student career choices.

When students in the United States are considering career choices, the recognition that if you are interested in production of semiconductors, the ways in which they are manufactured and the advanced technologies to develop them those opportunities are largely offshore today, said Schmidt. And that means we are not producing a generation of innovators in this country that are advancing the leading edge of semiconductor production and design.
The thousands of companies waiting for a new US-EU data-transfer agreement to go into effect soon and ease the burdensome legal work necessary for cross-border data transfer shouldnt get their hopes up. US President Joe Bidens executive order to implement rules for the Trans-Atlantic Data Policy Framework agreed on earlier this year is a move in the right direction, but the new pact wont go into effect until next spring at the earliest, and even then it is bound to face legal challenges, say public policy and legal experts.

The executive order, signed by Biden on October 7, puts new restrictions on electronic surveillance by American intelligence agencies and gives Europeans new avenues to launch a complaint when they believe their personal information has been used unlawfully by US intelligence agencies.

The move comes two years after the European Court of Justice shut down the previous EU-US data sharing agreement known as Privacy Shield on grounds that the US doesnt provide adequate protection for personal data, particularly in relation to state surveillance.

The new Trans-Atlantic Data Policy Framework is meant to improve US privacy safeguards, replace Privacy Shield, and eventually pass Court of Justice scrutiny when expected legal challenges are lodged. However, despite both the Biden Administration and the European Commission releasing statements endorsing the newly proposed data pact, its far from a done deal, according to Jonathan Armstrong, a compliance and technology lawyer at UK-based compliance specialists Cordery.

Both the White House and the European Commission might be saying that they are confident, but weve been down this road before, with both sides saying that Privacy Shield would stand up to judicial scrutiny. It didnt, Armstrong said.

Whats next for the Trans-Atlantic Data Policy Framework

First, the EU must confirm that the new rules established by Bidens executive order are adequate to meet the standards agreed on in the trans-Atlantic framework, which in turn was crafted to offer privacy protections equivalent to the EUs GDPR (General Data protection Regulation).

Over the next few months, the European Commission, the EUs executive body, will propose a draft adequacy decision and launch an adoption procedure, which includes consulting with the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) and obtaining approval from a committee composed of representatives of the EU member states, according to a Commission statement.

The European Parliament will also likely want to scrutinize the deal before it becomes ratified, Armstrong said.

Meanwhile, Max Schremsthe Austrian activist and lawyer whose complaints against Facebook for GDPR violations led to the demise of Privacy Shield and its precursor agreement, Safe Harborhas already said that he might challenge the deal with his pressure group NOYB.

At first sight it seems that the core issues were not solved and it will be back to the CJEU [Euopean Court of Justice] sooner or later, Schrems said in a statement published by NOYB.

Data-transfer critics aim at mass surveillance

A big problem with Bidens executive order and the Trans-Atlantic Data Policy Framework itself, according to Schrems and other critics, is that it does not adequately address mass surveillance by US intelligence agencies.

The executive order says that it requires US intelligence activities be conducted only when necessary to advance a validated intelligence priority and only to the extent and in a manner proportionate to that priority. But, while EU law also calls for proportionate surveillance, there is no indication that US mass surveillance will change in practice, NYOB said.

In addition, while Bidens order requires the US Justice Department to establish a Data Protection Review Court to address complaints about surveillance, it is not an actual court, but rather a body in the US governments legal branch, according to NYOB.

NYOB also pointed out that an executive order is not law, but a directive from the US president to the federal branch of government.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) lobby group agrees.

The problems with the U.S. surveillance regime cannot be cured by an executive order alone, said Ashley Gorski, senior staff attorney with the ACLU National Security Project, in an ACLU statement. To protect our privacy and to put transatlantic data transfers on a sound legal footing, Congress must enact meaningful surveillance reform. Until that happens, U.S. businesses and individuals will continue to pay the price.

Echoing commnents made by critics of the new data pact, Tash Whitaker, a UK-based consultant on global compliancy issues, said that the agreement is unlikely to fulfil the requirements of an adequacy agreement. In particular, bulk surveillance will likely continue as is, regardless of any changes to the wording in the new executive order," Whitaker said. "In addition, there is a need for judicial redress for data subjects within domestic law. The executive order suggests that this happening by referring to a 'Data Protection Review Court'.

Why businesses want a new Privacy Shield

Businesses want a new data-transfer agreement to go into effect to cut down on laborious legal negotiations currently required to conduct cross-Atlantic data transfers, to help ensure that they are doing so in a way that meets EU standards, and avoid enforcement action by EU Data Protection Authorities (DPAs)independent public authorities that handle complaints related to violations of the EU's the GDPRaccording to Lartease Tiffith, executive vice president for public policy at New York-based trade group Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).

In the absence of Privacy Shield or a similar agreement, companies use so-called standard contractual clauses to confirm that data transfers are done in accordance with GDPR, Tiffith noted. The problem with that is that they are very laboriousI wouldnt even call them standard contractual clauses because in some ways you have to negotiate every single one of them, so standard is probably a misnomer.

Almost 70% of the more than 5,000 US companies that had signed up for Privacy Shield are smaller firms that dont have the resources to negotiate multiple contracts with all their data providers, and it's also a burden for large companies, Tiffith said.

The idea behind Privacy Shield and the new framework is that, once companies self-certify that they adhere to the approved guidelines, they no longer have to establish individual data-privacy contracts with every supplier, Tiffith said.

The other consideration is that even with the standard contractual clauses, companies are subject to DPA enforcement, if they find you don't have a sufficient clause or it didn't cover everything it should, Tiffith said.

Legal challenges to data transfer rules expected

Tiffith said Bidens executive order was a step in the right direction, setting the stage for a final agreement, and stressed that data flows are crucial for the mutual development of medical, cybersecurity, and other technologies, as well as media, advertising and consumer goods.

Even so, considering the early criticism of the order, there will be legal challenges to the agreement, Tiffith conceded.

Armstrong, the Cordery compliance lawyer, agreed, cautioning businesses about taking encouraging words from US and EU officials to heart. Theres too much at stake for businesses to rely on those words of comfort especially given the issues which remain with data transfer and the likely challenges, Armstrong said.

As a result of the EU approval process and possible challenges, the new scheme is bound to be delayed and its unlikely the order will come into effect until late spring 2023 at the earliest, Armstrong said. Even then, he said, most organizations will still want to regard it as a temporary deal while they continue to work on other compliance measures, in particular doing double due diligence on the organizations they are sending data to and the measures in place in that jurisdiction.

All in, it is possible that the US does get some sort of EU adequacy off the back of this, but it will likely be short lived as the lobbyists will be challenging it in court faster than you can say GDPR, Whitaker said.

(Additional reporting by Marc Ferranti)
Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) Wednesday detained "five Russian nationals and three Ukrainians and Armenians" over the Crimea Bridge explosion on Saturday.

FSB officials blamed Ukrainian military intelligence and its chief, Kyrylo Budanov, for the Crimea Bridge Blast. It claimed the explosive device traveled from Odesa in Ukraine to Russia through Bulgaria, Georgia, and Armenia, per a report from Reuters.

According to Russian news agency TASS, 12 individuals were identified as accomplices.

Al Jazeera reported that the 25-year-old Crimean man who owned the truck from which the explosion is believed to have originated was responsible for the incident.

The man claims he is innocent because his uncle was driving the vehicle killed in the Crimea Bridge Blast.

The FSB, the primary successor to the KGB of the Soviet period, said that it had foiled Ukrainian strikes on both Moscow and the western Russian city of Bryansk.

Though the Ukrainian government has not admitted responsibility for the bridge bombing, some Ukrainian authorities have cheered the destruction.

A part of the twelve-mile-long bridge was destroyed by the explosion, which stopped traffic for a while. It also blew up many gasoline tanks on a train traveling from southern Russia to the occupied peninsula.

Russian President Vladimir Putin inaugurated the bridge in 2018, and since then it has played a crucial role in his military operation by allowing Russian supplies to reach Russian forces engaged in southern Ukraine.

Moscow's probe on the Russia Crimea Bridge Explosion was brushed off by a top Ukrainian official.

Ukraine's state-run media Suspline said that Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for the Ukrainian interior ministry, said that the FSB and Investigative Committee's efforts were "nonsense." He also depicted the two as "fake structures" serving Putin's leadership, so he prompted not to remark on their subsequent declarations.

Russia Pounds Ukrainian Cities with Missile Attacks

The Russian army retaliated with missile attacks on Ukrainian cities and power supplies on Monday. At least 19 people were killed and scores more were injured across Ukraine, including the capital of Kyiv, on a single day.

Read Also: Former Russian President Ominously Warns Kiev Regime To Receive More Retaliatory Strikes

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that his country will respond "severely" to any future aggression from Ukraine.

Ukrainian military leader General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi revealed that out of 75 missiles fired, 41 were intercepted by the country's air defenses.

On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked the G7 for increased air defense system support as Russia Ukraine war continues.

The United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom committed to delivering financial, humanitarian, military, and legal aid to Ukraine "for as long as it takes."

Alarming Development on Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant

In other news, the director of the UN's nuclear watchdog said it was "very alarming" that Ukraine's largest nuclear facility, surrounded by Russian forces, lost all power from the outside on Wednesday.

AP News reported that International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi met with Vladimir Putin and reported that IAEA monitors at Europe's largest nuclear power facility, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, had reported an interruption in external power and that backup diesel generators were keeping nuclear safety and security equipment operational.

Grossi said on Twitter that the incident is a "deeply worrying development," emphasizing the need to ensure "nuclear safety and security protection" in the area surrounding the facility.

Related Article: NATO Chief Urges for More Weapons to Ukraine as Zelensky Calls for New Sanctions Against Russia Following Missile Strikes

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Of all the crazy postings that advertise for CISO jobs, the one asking for a CISO to code in Python was probably the most outrageous example of the disconnect about a CISOs role, says Joe Head, CISO search director at UK-based search firm, Intaso. This was a few years ago, and one can only guess that the role had been created by a technologist who didnt care about or didnt understand the businessor, inversely by a businessperson who didnt understand enough about technology.

In either case, the disconnect is real. However, Head and other experts say that when it comes to achieving the true, executive role and reporting to the CEO and board, business skills rule. That doesnt mean, however, that most CISOs know nothing about technology, because most still start out with technology backgrounds.

In the 2022 CISO survey by executive placement firm, Heidrick & Struggles, most CISOs come from a functional IT background that reflects the issues of the time. (For example, in 2022 10% of CISOs came from software engineering backgrounds, which tracks with the White House directive to protect the software supply chain.) The report notes that the majority of CISOs have experience in the financial services industry, which has a low risk tolerance and where more money is spent on security.

The survey also indicates that only a small core of CISOs (working primarily for the Fortune 500) rise to the executive level with the combination of business and technical responsibilities that come with the role. In it, more than two-thirds of CISOs responding to the survey worked for companies worth over $5 billion. So, instead of bashing a CISOs lack of IT skills, the real need lies in developing business skills for the technologists coming up the ranks.

Expected CISO people, process, technology skill mix can vary

There is no one correct answer about how technical a CISO needs to be. My advice is that CISOs must remain current on emerging technology, vendor strategies, and be able to ensure that technical projects and their implementation dont generate more risk for the organization, advises Renee Guttmann, a virtual CISO advisor and former CISO of several Fortune 50 companies.

Since the vast majority of CISOs start from a technical background, the onus is on them to learn the proper business leadership and high-level communication skills required to interface with stakeholders and CEOs, VC firms, outside investors, regulators. Yes, technical skills are important. But early in your career, you need to hone your business skills so you can talk to a range of individuals and understand how the business operates, Head says.

In the UK, where cybersecurity is less mature than in the US, he says that its harder to find the technical and business combination needed in an executive-level CISO, and that most security managers are more akin to glorified engineers. Hes been working to help candidates enhance their business savvy, adding, The most successful people I see are those IT professionals who are building on their business skills by going to back to school for more business education.

One such example is Bob West, CSO for Prisma Cloud, a division of Palo Alto Networks. In the late 1980s, he worked as a senior systems officer at Citicorp. Then after learning from his peers the value of business skills, he earned his MS in information systems management in the 1990s before starting at JP Morgan as a security architect. He then grew into the role of CISO for its Bank One retail group. Then, after that, he was enterprise CISO at Fifth Third Bank.

Being technical is somewhat important for a CISO, West says, But more important is being a solid leader and to function as part of a leadership team. It's important to understand where the business is going so a security strategy has proper business alignment. Establish and manage relationships with the rest of the leadership team. And, if youre not technology savvy in every area, then know who to ask.

Would-be CISOs: Find a champion, be a champion

West recommends seeking out peers and leaders who can communicate to the business side as well to their IT teams. As an example, he points to a boss whom he considered a mentor, who was a proven technology leader but not a security pro. Yet he was able to fix a broken security program that nobody else could. West attributes his mentors success at the time to telling good stories to leadership and board of directors. When my boss hired me, he said, Know how to tell a good story and know your audience. Its a different track when talking to a board of directors than it is when talking to a CIO or internal auditor, he adds.

Communication begins with active listening, adds Barbara Filkins, a consultant at Syntax2Semantics LLC. Filkins also started out with a technical background and worked her way up to C-level consulting for medical providers and exchanges while achieving her Masters in Information Security Management from SANS Technology Institute. Listening, she says, leads to better communication and, most importantly, understanding of what you need to address in terms of the domain being protected, whether healthcare, aviation, or water management. Filkins has worked across all these sectors.

Being successful as a CISO really is a balancing act because the CISO must understand the technical aspects so they can communicate with, and gain the trust of, their technical staff. They also need to deal with the programmatic and business issues that their organization faces, such as cost justification, risk management and those type of things. Not everyone that is technically skilled can communicate their expertise and where it fits into the business need, she explains.

Multiple paths to CISO success

Its only in recent years that the CISO role has been elevated from a back-office function to a true C-suite leader and business enabler, says Joyce Brocaglia, global cybersecurity practice leader at executive recruiting firm, Alta Associates. Even if the role and job requirements ultimately mature, she cautions against believing there is or will be a one size fits all CISO role. Although the title may be the same, the role, responsibility, reporting structure, number of staff, maturity of the department, culture of support, and overall measure of success can all vary, she explains.

Its hardly ever as simple as they dont have the right technical or managerial skills, she explains. Sometimes, the CIO who has a strong technology background favors hiring someone more technical than may be necessary for the role. Other times, the hiring manager and their peers or key stakeholders who are engaged in the interview process arent aligned on the job description and what they are truly looking to accomplish in the role, so we at Alta help them find the balance they need.

True executive CISOs are rare enough that theyre landing $1 million pay packages and more, Fortune reports. To get ahead, Guttmann advises future CISOs to update their business education, attend industry events, and join local networking opportunities.

The CISO who makes it a point to understand business culture, threats to their business, how to create appropriate criteria for product pilots, time to implement, system dependencies, and long-term operations requirements is worth their weight in gold, Guttmann adds. The CISO who can then package this data up for stakeholders and executives and obtain the support and funding is worth their weight in diamonds.
A new report published by Booz Allen Hamilton provides detailed insight into global cyber threats posed by the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). The Same Cloak, More Dagger: Decoding How the People's Republic of China Uses Cyberattacks outlines Beijings chief motivations for carrying out cyberattacks or espionage, the key tactics it employs, and provides strategies for CISOs to help their organizations to better identify and prepare for PRC cyber campaigns.

Security, sovereignty, development: key PRC cyberattack motivators

The report identifies three core interests over which China is willing to authorize offensive cyber operations if threatened, related to the nations political system, territory, and economy:

Security (also referred to as political security, the peoples security, social stability, and national unity) relates to the guarantee for Chinas long-term social stability in its political and social system, organized and led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). However, the party sees numerous threats to this stability, the report stated. Pro-democracy, anticorruption, and reformist political movements directly call the CCPs legitimacy into question, while natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic test the governments perceived competency, as do economic slowdowns.

Sovereignty (also national sovereignty, territorial sovereignty, and territorial integrity) relates to Chinas exclusive authority and control in various land and maritime areas, the report read. Chinas senior-most leadership routinely unequivocally asserts that it will make no concessions on its territorial claims.

Development relates to Chinas ambitions of securing its economic activities  something that has been elevated to an explicit core interest only in the past few years or so, the report stated. Threats to the PRCs development include economic decoupling, restricted access to technologies like semiconductors, barriers to PRC investment, and physical threats to shipping lanes, personnel, and offices.

The report listed various key PRC organizations associated with carrying out cyber missions, including the Ministry of Public Security (MSP), the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), and the Central Propaganda Department (CPD)/United Front Work Department (UFWD). As for cyberattack strategy and goals, China has developed a three warfare approach to shaping the information environment. These are:

Psychological: The use or threat of force to affect an adversarys decision making, with cyberattacks designed to signal Chinas position on key issues through controlled, non-escalatory destruction and disruption of specific significant targets.

Public opinion: The attempt to control information dissemination, with cyberattacks hindering information sharing through the disruption of news websites, social media, and communications platforms.

Legal: The use of international and domestic laws and legal mechanisms for strategic offensive and defensive purposes, with China engaging in debates about acceptable behavior in cyberspace.

DDoS, ransomware, ICS attacks among top tactics used by China

The report synthesized primary PRC attack tactics based on several recent case studies, outlining four methods most used in campaigns. These are DDoS, defacement of websites/digital signage, breaches of industrial control systems (ICS), and ransomware. All have their own distinguishing PRC characteristics and carry potentially significant implications for targeted entities, the report added.

DDoS attacks often use China-based IP addresses and indicate signaling objectives, resulting in temporary loss of website and other online resource availability, increased hosting costs, and the inability to retain DDoS mitigation vendors.

Defacement of websites/digital signage typically blurs lines in public sources between independent hacktivists, government-encouraged hacktivists, and faketivists, leading to loss of communications with key audiences, consumer trust/public unrest and exposure of confidential data.

ICS attacks frequently target energy and power sectors while unused access may represent reconnaissance, prepositioning or signaling, triggering disruption of operational technology (OT) systems, supply chain disruptions, and loss of power, water, or other utilities.

Ransomware attacks, a tactic rarely connected to PRC government-aligned groups in public sources, harm the integrity of data and availability of systems and disrupt business operations.

The report recommended CISOs strengthen their approaches to risk management to help mitigate the above attacks, including:

Conducting full reviews of supply chains to understand dependencies and how to manage related risks.

Conducting executive-level wargames based on observed and plausible escalatory forms of attack operations by PRC adversaries.

Auditing or reviewing security controls in place for potential threat activity by PRC adversaries.

Sharing information with peers, government organizations and other companies to increase community awareness of current adversary activity and improve the visibility of the threat landscape.

Location, sector, actions impact likelihood of facing PRC cyberattacks

There are three factors that increase an organizations likelihood of becoming the target of or being impacted by a PRC cyberattack, the report continued. These are location, sector, and actions. Organizations based in locations where the PRC lacks a clear power advantage (e.g., US, India, Taiwan) face a greatly increased risk, whereas those in critical, academia and news/media sectors face moderately increased risk with politically significant sectors (e.g., semiconductors) and political entities (e.g., democracy promotion, anticorruption groups) at much greater risk. Likewise, entities that have been involved in attempts to specifically subvert PRC online censorship and/or targeting of a Chinese audience with an anti-PRC message or messages conflicting with core PRC political positions are far more likely to be affected by a PRC attack, the report stated.

Booz Allen Hamilton advised CISOs to consider the risk profiles of their organizations, partners, vendors, and other third parties to better inform and address risk mitigation, including:

Assessing organizational resiliency if there is a heightened threat of cyberattacks against specific countries, focusing on sectors most likely to be targeted.

Incorporating geopolitical analysis into cyber risk assessments.

Incorporating cyber risk analysis into the organizational messaging risk management process, with the participation of operational, legal, and public relations stakeholders.

Chinas developing cyber activities a potent threat

Chinas growing cyberattack capabilities and global assertiveness have created a potent threat to the United States and other countries and organizations whose own priorities, goals, and actions conflict with Chinas expanding core interests, the report concluded.

In the past decade, China has better defined the missions of its cyber capable agencies and more efficiently reorganized operational units. China now includes both offensive and defensive operators in joint military exercises. However, the true measure of Chinas cyberattack capabilities likely cannot be fully discerned in open sources, the report added, and it is possible China has chosen to not deploy its full capabilities, or it has done so without public attribution.
Deep packet inspection (DPI) is a method of examining the content of data packets as they pass through the network. Contrary to conventional packet (or NetFlow) filters  which are devices that check only the packet headers for information regarding Internet Protocol (IP) address, source, and destination as well as port numbers  DPI examines a much larger range of metadata. The inspection process includes examining not just the header but also the data, or payload, the packet is carrying.



So, why DPI for cybersecurity?

The only place an attacker cant hide is on the network. DPI tools, as opposed to NetFlow-based tools, provide the most meaningful content possible in threat detection and response. This is because network packets cannot be altered, so they represent the absolute truth. A network detection and response (NDR) solution is the only way to expose bad actors and can work in conjunction with other tools such to increase the strength of your security stack. These include endpoint detection and response (EDR); security information and event management (SIEM); firewalls; security orchestration, automation and response (SOAR); and extended detection and response (XDR).

The network itself is constantly evolving, and with the addition of cloud, modern-day networks require instrumentation and a network intelligence capable of providing continuous and consistent visibility into all areas to account for visibility gaps where hidden threats may be concealed.

The rich data evaluated by DPI provides a more robust mechanism for enforcing network packet filtering because DPI can be used to identify and block a range of complex threats hiding in network data streams, including:

Visibility into encrypted packets

Data exfiltration attempts

Content policy violations

Criminal command and control (C2) communications

Traditional security tools are designed to be reactive and are triggered only once a policy violation happens. But having a DPI-based NDR solution allows you to collect and contextualize event information before a breach occurs. Having the ability to filter down to the most relevant information will help reduce the mean time to knowledge (MTTK) and mean time to remediation (MTTR) of potential incidents.

How Can NETSCOUT help with DPI?

For more than two decades, NETSCOUT has managed the worlds most complex networks by using a patented technology called Adaptive Service Intelligence (ASI). ASI technology converts raw packets into a robust set of Layer 27 metadata, in real-time, that can be used for network/application performance analysis and cybersecurity use cases. This continuous full-packet capture gives you the visibility at the point of intrusion, instead of detection, to see the incident before, during, and after an attack  allowing you to stop and prevent any future attacks.

NETSCOUT uses this market-leading, patented technology to offer a scalable DPI-based NDR solution known as Omnis Cyber Intelligence. This allows NETSCOUT to provide a common and consistent method of DPI, which creates and enables a needed forced multiplier, encouraging security and ITOps team integration (for example, NetSecOps collaboration).

With Omnis Cyber Intelligence providing real-time granular analysis of the underlying traffic flows, intermediaries can seamlessly and efficiently enable cloud traffic to be imparted with the same traffic management, security, and monitoring policies as traffic that is hosted onsite. The same capabilities that are available on premises exist in the cloud environments.

Omnis Cyber Intelligence is powered by Omnis CyberStream sensors. CyberStream uses a combination of NETSCOUT ASI technology and indexing and compression techniques to create a robust source of Layer 27 metadata, known as NETSCOUT Smart Data. This Smart Data can be stored locally on CyberStream sensors, which have hundreds of terabytes of storage capacity.

NETSCOUTs Omnis Cyber Intelligence platform is designed to ensure a consistent security operations center (SOC) analyst experience and create an analytics process that leads to faster detections, improved security, better mitigations, and an improved security posture going forward.

Learn more about how deep packet inspection can help with threat detection and response.
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Canadian Dollar Outlook:

The major CAD-crosses suggest the Loonie is susceptible to more weakness.

USD/CAD rates are consolidating into an ascending triangle, while CAD/JPY rates are rebounding at channel support.

However, according to the IG Client Sentiment Index , USD/CAD rates have a mixed bias in the near-term.

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Commodities, Risk Appetite Weigh on Loonie

The Canadian Dollar hasnt suffered nearly as much as the other commodity currencies in recent weeks, but by no means is standing on firm ground. General risk appetite hasnt help the Canadian Dollar, with global growth concerns gaining steam at the start of 4Q22, weighing on energy prices despite the production cut announcement by OPEC+. And with the Bank of Canada expected to throttle back its pace of rate hikes, the Canadian Dollar remains susceptible to more weakness yet.

CAD/JPY Rate Technical Analysis: Daily Chart (October 2021 to October 2022) (Chart 1)

CAD/JPY rates have actually proved stronger than one might expect give cross-asset flows. The pair has found support at uptrend support from the May and August swing lows, and bullish momentum has started to build. CAD/JPY rates are above their daily 5-, 8-, 13-, and 21-EMAs, but the EMA envelope is not yet in bullish sequential order. Daily MACD is holding just below its signal line, but daily Slow Stochastics are advancing through their median line. A move to fresh monthly highs is possible, but traders should be aware of potential intervention by the Japanese Ministry of Finance that could pull down CAD/JPY rates quickly.

USD/CAD Rate Technical Analysis: Daily Chart (October 2021 to October 2022) (Chart 2)

USD/CAD rates are consolidating in an ascending triangle formed over the past three weeks, and contextually after the prior bullish breakout, the ascending triangle should be viewed as a continuation effort to the topside. The pair is still above their daily EMA envelope, which is in bullish sequential order. Daily MACD is trending higher above its signal line, while daily Slow Stochastics have holding in overbought territory. A breach of the October high at 1.3855 would suggest that a bullish breakout has begun.

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IG Client Sentiment Index: USD/CAD Rate Forecast (October 12, 2022) (Chart 3)

USD/CAD: Retail trader data shows 32.50% of traders are net-long with the ratio of traders short to long at 2.08 to 1. The number of traders net-long is 1.22% higher than yesterday and 32.61% lower from last week, while the number of traders net-short is 5.33% lower than yesterday and 2.18% higher from last week.

We typically take a contrarian view to crowd sentiment, and the fact traders are net-short suggests USD/CAD prices may continue to rise.

Positioning is less net-short than yesterday but more net-short from last week. The combination of current sentiment and recent changes gives us a further mixed USD/CAD trading bias.

Trade Smarter - Sign up for the DailyFX Newsletter Receive timely and compelling market commentary from the DailyFX team Subscribe to Newsletter

--- Written by Christopher Vecchio, CFA, Senior Strategist
Diversity is something to be celebrated, and Google will be leading the charge to make sure it is done right.

The popular search giant recently released an animated video Doodle featuring American "Nuyorican" musician and internationally-renowned entertainer Tito Puente in celebration of his life and legacy for Hispanic Heritage Month.

For those unaware, Hispanic Heritage Month is annually celebrated every Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, per the official National Hispanic Heritage Month website.

Tito Puente - Life And Legacy Details

Tito Puente is a band leader and a percussionist who went down in history as one of the most innovative and influential figures in American Latin music for more than six decades, per CNET.

The man who would later be known as El Rey (The King) was born on April 20, 1923, at Harlem Hospital Center in New York City's Spanish Harlem, per Google. Thanks to his local environment, he grew up loving Puerto Rican, Cuban, and big-band music. So much so that he started his musical career as a drummer during his early teenage years.

Although he eventually found his big break playing for Federico Pagani's Happy Boys Band and Machito's Orchestra, he had to drop his career in favor of serving in the US Navy during World War 2.

Even as a serviceman, he still held his heart close to music, with him playing the saxophone as his ship's bandleader.

After the war, he continued his studies at the Juilliard School of Music, allowing him to hone his musical talent. Thanks to his time in school, Puente played with many bands and musical groups, such as Fernando Alvarez's Copacabana Group, per Your Dictionary.

Read More: Good Pizza, Great Pizza Guide: The Basics You Should Not Forget No Matter How Complicated the Recipes Get

Eventually, he started his own band in 1948, the Tito Puente Orchestra, which became popular, gaining a positive reputation thanks to his encouragement to people to dance on the dance floor.

Thanks to his musical talent, he was able to spearhead the mambo movement and popularized it, spreading Cuban dance music far and wide.

For those unaware, mambo is a type of Cuban dance music born from the combination of swing and enticing Cuban music.

However, Puente is not just a mambo player - he also dabbled in other genres of Latin music, like Boogaloo, Pachanga, and Salsa.

He is also known for giving opportunities to the Latin community, with him opening a scholarship fund used to support "promising, young Latin percussionists" for over 20 years.

Puente died on June 1, 2000, per the Washington Post. He was posthumously recognized at the first-ever Latin Grammy Awards, while the street he grew up in was renamed Tito Puente Way.

What Is The National Hispanic Heritage Month?

National Hispanic Heritage Month is a time when Americans celebrate and appreciate the Latin Community's history, heritage, and contributions to the US, per National Holiday.

The event was first introduced by Congressman George E. Brown in June 1968, during the height of the civil rights movement and increased awareness of multicultural groups.

The event was initially a week-long celebration, but in 1988, Congress expanded the event to make it a month-long one, with Sept. 15 still being the event's first day, per the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Related Article: Simple Google Doodle Games to Play While Passing the Time: Doodle the Coronavirus Away!
Like the flicker of fire within a diamond, the prospect of a glorious Coronation for King Charles next spring is a sparkle of light in these gloomy times.

Something truly unique in the national calendar, a ceremonial event no other country in the world can match. This ought to be an uplifting prospect, one to unite the country and banish our woes.

How miserable it is, then  albeit sadly predictable  that a tiny minority of voices are already tarnishing the occasion by kicking up a fuss about one stone: that fabulous but controversial diamond, the Koh-i-Noor, meaning the Mountain of Light.

One of the grandest and most valuable gemstones in the world, it is the centrepiece of the dazzling Queen Mother crown.

According to royal sources, it had been the Kings long-held ambition, since he married Camilla in 2005, that she would wear this crown on his Coronation day.

In doing so, she would follow in the longstanding tradition set by Charless grandmother, Elizabeth; by King George VIs mother, Queen Mary, before her; and by Queen Alexandra in 1902.

As the Mail reports today, all signs suggest that tradition is now to be broken, with a different crown having to be selected instead  all thanks to the agitation of a motley crew of woke obsessives.

Duleep Singh travelled to Britain alone and presented the Koh-i-Noor gemstone to Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria felt uncomfortable wearing the stone due to its curse and rarely wore it apart from as a brooch (pictured)

The inevitable next step will likely be a clamour for the diamond to be returned to India, from where it was mined  in spite of the absence of any good historical reason, and regardless of the risks posed by setting such a precedent.

To those who hate Britain and its history, the campaign is a simple one: they see the West as responsible for all the evils of the world, with the British Empire most guilty of all. And thus, any trace of that tainted past must be banished from our social fabric.

It is a campaign that has nothing to do with real history, and everything to do with the political agenda of todays liberal Establishment.

In their version of reality, slavery and imperial exploitation underpin all the UKs wealth and government. They claim Britains culture is founded on racism and that we must all be punished for the sins of the past.

And, worryingly, their influence over public institutions  from our museums, to academia and even our statues and street names  is growing fast, as this latest debacle over the Koh-i- Noor demonstrates.

Let me be clear: we must resist this pernicious nonsense.

The Koh-i Noor, meaning the Mountain of Light is one of the grandest and most valuable gemstones in the world. It is the centrepiece of the dazzling Queen Mother crown (pictured)

The Palaces likely decision to remove the diamond from the Coronation is, in my opinion, deeply worrying

The Palaces likely decision to remove the diamond from the Coronation is, in my opinion, deeply worrying. Because, once we concede that one artefact is a symbol of national guilt, well soon be rushing down a slippery slope.

The reality of the past is infinitely more complex than the woke mob would have you believe, of course.

History is steeped in injustice, slaughter, robbery and brutal power grabs. But it was never one-sided. To lay all the blame on one nation, or one race, is dishonest, especially when it also means denying the good that was done in the process.

My lifelong hope has been that, through a deeper understanding of the past, we will learn to make the present better.

It truly saddens me to see ignorant or cynical partisans spreading falsehood under the cloak of history.

The best antidote is to examine the facts. And the facts about the Koh-i-Noor are particularly fascinating.

This enormous stone has been rumoured for centuries to bear a curse, first recorded by a court chronicler in 1628, when the diamond was set at the top of the Mughal Shah Jahans throne. This jewel-encrusted seat of power was sculpted to resemble a peacock with its brilliant tail spread like a kaleidoscopic fan.

It took an army of craftsmen seven years to make. The Koh-i-Noor, the size of a small hens egg and weighing just over 105.6 carats (21.2g, or about three quarters of an ounce) glowed in the birds head. Probably discovered about 1,000 years ago in the Kollur Mine in southern India, it is one of the worlds biggest gems.

According to royal sources, it had been the Kings long-held ambition, since he married Camilla in 2005, that she would wear this crown on his Coronation day. Pictured: Charles and Camilla attend the State Opening of Parliament in 2015

Somehow or other, in its half-forgotten past, a curse emerged from Hindu legend: He who owns this diamond will own the world but will also know all its misfortunes. Only God, or a woman, can wear it with impunity.

Just over a century later, in 1739, the Shah of Persia invaded India. After a battle that left 30,000 dead, he plundered the Mughals treasury and carried off the throne along with so much gold, silk and other riches that it took 700 elephants, 4,000 camels and 12,000 horses to transport it all.

Then, in 1813, the diamond changed hands again, when it was siezed by the Sikh ruler Ranjit Singh, styled the Maharajah of Lahore and the Lion of the Punjab. He died when his son, Duleep, was just five years old and, although his widow vainly attempted to hold his empire together, wars broke out.

By 1849, the British ruled the Punjab, and the Koh-i-Noor, sealed inside an iron safe within a red despatch box, was brought to the UK.

Contrary to George MacDonald Frasers hilarious 1990 novel Flashman And The Mountain Of Light  in which the protagonist smuggles the diamond and Duleep Singh out of India  Duleep travelled to Britain alone, and presented the gem to Queen Victoria personally.

Queen Elizabeth (pictured here with the late Queen, her sister Margaret and King George VI) wore the crown without its arches at the State Openings of Parliament during the reign of King George VI, and again at the coronation of her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II, in 1953

The Queen, however, never much liked the stone. Neither did the general public. When it went on display at the Great Exhibition of 1851 an editorial in The Times complained that it looked like a piece of common glass.

Prince Albert ordered it to be recut, increasing its brilliance but reducing its size. But Queen Victoria, who could be superstitious, felt uncomfortable wearing it because of the curse.

She rarely touched it, though sometimes wore it as a brooch and ordered it should become part of the Crown Jewels on her death with the stipulation that no man must ever wear it.

If the Koh-i-Noor symbolises anything, it is that history is a complex business. Anyone casting an eye over the corkscrew provenance of the diamond will be struck by one question: if Britain does not own it, then who does?

The previous owners were the Sikh despot Ranjit and his family. But he was also ruler of Lahore, which is now the second largest city in Pakistan.

Does the diamond belong by rights to Sikhs in India, or to modern-day Pakistan?

Before Ranjit seized the diamond, it had been the property of the Persians in the mountain territories that now form part of Afghanistan. Perhaps the Taliban could have a claim over the Koh-i-Noor?

Plans for the Queen Consort to be crowned using regalia (pictured: The Queen Mother's Crown on her coffin while she lie in state in 2002) containing the controversial Koh-i-Noor diamond may be axed because of 'political sensitivities', it has been reported

Right at the start of this great tale, the Mughal Shah Jahans peacock throne stood in Delhi, which is partly why some people insist the diamond belongs to India although the Mughals were Muslim, and India is now run by a Hindu nationalist government.

But the fact is that giving away this priceless jewel to Delhi would do no practical good to the billion or more inhabitants of India.

It would, however, mark a hammering humiliation for Britain  and it would endanger innumerable other national treasures.

Hand over the Koh-i-Noor, and we would have no logical defence against campaigns to give the Elgin Marbles to Athens, the Benin Bronzes to West Africa, the Rosetta Stone to Egypt, and much more.

Collections would be scattered to the four corners of the earth. Museums would be stripped. Academics would lose the chance to study the most intriguing objects ever found.

Millions of ordinary people who flock to museums from around the world would never have the chance to see them.

And then, what next? The mob would turn on the next perceived historic wrong  likely something they have yet even to think of  and destroy that, too.

But the fact is, however much blood has been spilt over the Koh-i-Noor, as it changed hands throughout the centuries, the wrongs of the past can never be destroyed.

History, infinitely cruel and murderous, cannot be re-written.

We must respect the facts and stop this childish pretence that all the blame lies in the present.

Robert Tombs is Professor Emeritus of French History and fellow of St Johns College, Cambridge.
Contrary to previous reports that the company bans Apple AirTags from flights, Lufthansa now claims that it is not banning the said device from checked luggage.

According to 9to5Mac, while there is a standing International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) regulation on such kind of device, the company has not banned AirTags from its flights. The source of the information is a Lufthansa spokesperson.

Lufthansa Tweets That it's Banning AirTags From Flights

Last week, Lufthansa stirred controversy when it tweeted that it is banning Apple AirTags from flights.

There has been rumors that AirTags are banned from the company's flights and customers asked Lufthansa if this is indeed true. Through Twitter, the company responded that they are indeed banning the said device.

"Hi David, Lufthansa is banning activated AirTags from luggage as they are classified as dangerous and need to be turned off./Mony" reads a tweet from Lufthansa's official Twitter account.

Lufthansa claims that before checking their bags, owners of AirTag and other similar trackers must turn off the devices.

According to the company, its decision is based on the ICAO guidelines, which state that "objects with a transmission function must be deactivated during a flight."

However, according to Apple Insider, the reason of the airline based on the ICAO guidelines isn't correct as the regulation that Lufthansa mentioned pertains to lithium ion battery.

Under the regulation, devices such as smartphones, laptops and tablets with lithium ion battery are not allowed in checked luggage. However, an AirTag uses CR2032 cells, which is not a lithium ion battery.

Therefore, the regulation does not cover AirTags. In fact, the CR2032 cells are the same battery used in watches. If it is dangerous, then watches should not be allowed on flights as well.

At this point, it is unknown what made the airline tweets that it is banning AirTags from its flights.

Read Also: How Apple AirTags Work: Woman Uses AirTag to Track Her Missing Travel Luggage For Five

Apple AirTag is a Valuable Device for Travelers

Apple Airtag is a valuable device for travelers. You can attach it to your luggage in order for you to track it and prevent it from being lost. It helps a lot of travelers protect their luggage.

An Airtag is an excellent device to track backpacks and suitcases since it connects with other Apple devices. What makes it more useful is it does not require an internet connection.

According to MacWorld, currently, it appears that there is no consensus regarding AirTags across the airline industry. German site Watson notes that "many airlines tolerate the use of AirTags."

International aviation experts say that the ban has nothing to do with the ICAO regulation.

According to Apple Insider, the ban is just "a way to stop Lufthansa from being embarrassed by lost luggage."

In addition, there is even an indication from Lufthansa that if the battery is removed for transit, AirTags could be put into hold luggage.

However, the key purpose of an AirTag is to track the object where it is attached and removing the battery would defeat this purpose.

The Transport Security Administration (TSA) allows the use of trackers like AirTags in carry-on and checked bags in the U.S. In addition, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) also permits usage of such device.

Related Article: Apple AirTags Danger Alert: Thieves Using Apple Device to Steal High-End Cars, Here's How to Detect AirTags
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A chilling documentary has laid bare the 'sensational and sinister' story of Canada's Ken and Barbie Killers - a married couple who brutally raped and murdered multiple teen girls, including the bride's own sister, in the early '90s.

Together, 'young and beautiful' couple Paul Bernardo, now 58, and Karla Homolka, now 52, kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and killed three young women - including Karla's little sister - in one of the most 'sensational and sinister cases in Canadian history.'

After they got caught, Karla claimed that she had been forced to help Paul commit the gruesome crimes, and that she too was a victim.

She was offered a plea deal from prosecutors in exchange for her testimony against her then-husband; however, after the police found a series of video tapes that were taken while the offenses were being committed - which told a completely different story - the case, and Karla's sentence, swept the nation, becoming one of the most controversial rulings Canada has ever seen.

A chilling documentary has laid bare the horrific story of Canada's Ken and Barbie Killers - a couple who brutally raped and murdered multiple teen girls in the early '90s

Together, 'young and beautiful' couple Paul Bernardo, now 58, and Karla Homolka, now 52, kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and killed three young women - in one of the most 'sensational and sinister cases in Canadian history'

After they got caught, Karla (left) claimed she had been forced to help Paul (right) commit the gruesome crimes, and that she too was a victim. She was offered a plea deal from prosecutors in exchange for her testimony against her then-husband

After the police found a series of video tapes that were taken while the offenses were being committed - which told a different story - the case, and Karla's sentence, became one of the most controversial rulings Canada has ever seen. Karla is pictured

Now, a documentary shared by Real Women/Real Stories has lifted a lid on the couple's horrendous actions - and has re-raised the question of whether or not Karla deserved to serve more time.

Now, a documentary shared by Real Women/Real Stories has lifted a lid on the couple's horrendous actions - and has re-raised the question of whether or not Karla deserved to serve more time. Paul and Karla are seen at their wedding

The pair met when Karla, originally from St. Catharines, Ontario, was just 17 years old and Paul, from the Scarborough area of Toronto, was 23. She was still in high school but was working at a pet store part time and attended a convention on behalf of the shop in Paul's town.

Paul, who was a University of Toronto student at the time, studying to be an accountant, saw her at her hotel restaurant, it was said to be 'love at first sight.'

'There was electricity in the air, it was love at first sight,' Alan Cairns, author of Deadly Innocence, a book about the murders, said in the documentary. 'They called it a match made in heaven, but it was clearly a match made in hell.'

The two quickly fell in love - but while their romance was blossoming, Paul was secretly attacking women across southern Ontario.

According to the doc, Paul had a difficult childhood; his mother was verbally abusive and at age 16, he found out that his father wasn't actually his biological dad - something that's been said to have greatly affected him.

As a teen, it was reported that he started looking through his female neighbors' windows while they undressed. But despite his inappropriate behavior behind closed doors, Paul was able to keep it a secret from everyone around him.

The pair met when Karla, originally from St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, was just 17 years old and Paul, from the Scarborough area of Toronto, was 23. Karla is seen as a teen

According to the doc, Paul (left) had a difficult childhood; his mother was verbally abusive and at age 16, he found out that his father (right) wasn't actually his biological dad - something that's been said to have greatly affected him

Throughout late 1987 and early 1988, over a 13-month period, Paul attacked 11 different women across Scarborough. He would grab them at night, and sexually assault them from behind so they couldn't see his face

'He seemed so normal. This is common in psychopathic personalities, they are often very charming,' Frank Davey, author of Karla's Web explained in the documentary.

During his high school and college years, he had several girlfriends who all later accused him of becoming 'abusive.'

'He became fixated on violence towards women and conquering women,' Alan added.

Throughout late 1987 and early 1988, over a 13-month period, 11 different women across Scarborough were attacked by a man who had become known as the Scarborough Rapist. He would grab them at night, and sexually assault them from behind so they couldn't see his face.

'This was a very dangerous sub-type of rapist. He was very anger-based, perhaps even sadistic in nature,' Gregg McCrary, former FBI profiler who worked on the case, revealed.

'Not only were these women being brutalized, but we felt we were on the verge of it moving into the line of homicide.'

Eventually, one of the women was able to get a look at her attacker's face and she helped the police create a composite sketch - which was released to the public.

Eventually, one of the woman was able to get a look at her attacker's face and she helped the police create a composite sketch (left). Many of Paul's friends noticed a resemblance between him (right) and the sketch - and they contacted authorities

The police then took some of his DNA and sent it away for testing - but it would unfortunately take two more years for them to get the results back after the sample disappeared. During this time, Paul and Karla were falling hard for one another

Karla soon started to learn about her fiance's sadistic sexual deviations, and according to the documentary, two days before Christmas in 1990, she agreed to help him drug her then-15-year-old sister, Tammy (seen), so that he could have sex with her

Immediately, many of Paul's friends noticed a resemblance between him and the sketch - and they contacted authorities, who brought Paul in for questioning. The police then took some of his DNA and sent it away for testing - but it would unfortunately take two more years for them to get the results back, after the sample mysteriously disappeared.

The pair laced Tammy's drink with sleeping pills; Paul allegedly raped the teenager while Karla held her down, and he then ordered Karla to rape her too - while he video taping the entire thing

During this time, Paul and Karla were falling hard for one another. He then decided to move from Scarborough to St. Catharines, where she lived, and in December of 1989, the two got engaged during a romantic trip to Niagara Falls.

Karla soon started to learn about her fiance's sadistic sexual deviations, and according to the documentary, two days before Christmas in 1990, she agreed to help him drug her then-15-year-old sister, Tammy, so that he could have sex with her.

Together, the pair laced Tammy's drink with sleeping pills. Paul allegedly raped the teenager while Karla held her down, and he then ordered Karla to rape her too - while he video taping the entire thing.

Afterwards, Tammy began to vomit and she tragically choked on her own throw up, resulting in her suffocating to death.

Paul and Karla called 911, claiming that she had passed out from drinking. She was pronounced dead at the hospital, and officials concluded that she had died of natural causes.

On June 15, 1991, just days before their wedding, Paul woke Karla up in the middle of the night with a present - a young girl he had kidnapped.

Paul had taken 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy from the backyard of her home in Burlington, Canada, and had planned to keep her as his sex slave.

Afterwards, Tammy began to vomit and she tragically choked on her own throw up, resulting in her suffocating to death. Officials concluded that she had died of natural causes

On June 15, 1991, just days before their wedding, Paul woke Karla up in the middle of the night with a present - a young girl he had kidnapped - 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy - who he planned to keep her as his sex slave

He, with with Karla's knowledge, held her captive for hours, repeatedly assaulting her and recording the attacks on video - but less than 24 hours later, she was strangled to death. Paul and Karla are pictured

He, with with Karla's knowledge, held her captive for hours, repeatedly assaulting her and recording the attacks on video - but less than 24 hours later, she was strangled to death.

On April 16, 1991, the newlyweds abducted 15-year-old Kristen French while she was walking home from school. The couple kept Kristen in their home for days - raping, sodomizing, and beating her, while recording the assaults, before they killed her

Two weeks later, on the day of Paul and Karla's wedding, Leslie's body was found chopped up into small pieces by fishermen at Lake Gibson.

According to people who knew them, the couple had an 'intense obsession' with each other.

'It was a very destructive relationship. They fed into one another, and encouraged and supported one another in doing things that were unspeakable,' Dr. Fred Berlin, a sexual disorder specialist at Johns Hopkins University, said in the documentary.

'They were attractive, intelligent, in love. The idea that these were the bad guys and that they were capable of doing anything so vile is something that's hard for us to comprehend.'

Alan added, 'The interest in this case was not sparked by the brutality of the murders. It was the disbelief that such an attractive man and beautiful young girl could team up and be involved in something so bad. The American's coined them Ken and Barbie.'

On April 16, 1991, the newlyweds abducted 15-year-old Kristen French while she was walking home from school. According to eyewitnesses, Karla asked the teen to come over to their car because they needed help with directions, when suddenly, Paul grabbed her and forced her into the vehicle.

In January of 1993, however, Karla decided to leave Paul after he allegedly beat her with a flashlight, leaving her with two black eyes and a broken rib

Around the same time, Paul's DNA sample - which had been collected two years earlier while police were investigating the Scarborough Rapist - was finally processed. He was arrested on February 17, 1993. He is seen on the day of his arrest

Karla claimed Paul had made her participate in the gruesome killings against her will and agreed to testify against him in exchange for a reduced sentence. She was convicted on two counts of manslaughter and received a 12-year sentence

The couple kept Kristen in their home for days - raping, sodomizing, and beating her, while recording the assaults, before they eventually killed her. Her body was discovered in a ditch on the side of the road days later.

However, it wasn't until after she had been sentenced that police found the video tapes the couple had taken while committing the crimes, which showed her not only helping Paul in his acts, but also participating in some of them herself. Karla is seen in 2005

In January of 1993, however, Karla decided to leave Paul after he allegedly beat her with a flashlight, leaving her with two black eyes and a broken rib.

Around the same time, Paul's DNA sample - which had been collected two years earlier while police were investigating the Scarborough Rapist - was finally processed.

The police soon started to link all the crimes together, and they brought Karla in for questioning, in the hopes that she'd turn on her ex-lover.

Gregg said: 'If we can drive a wedge between them there would likely be a falling out, and we would very much like to facilitate that.'

She eventually told the police what had happened - however, she claimed that Paul had made her participate in the gruesome killings against her will and agreed to testify against him in exchange for a reduced sentence for herself.

Karla was convicted on two counts of manslaughter and received a 12-year sentence. She filed for divorce from Paul soon after.

However, it wasn't until after she had been sentenced that police found the video tapes the couple had taken while committing the crimes, which showed her not only helping Paul in his acts, but also participating in some of them herself; but at that point, it was too late.

'As I see it, she was more of an accomplish in these crimes than a victim,' Dr. Berlin said in the doc.

After serving 12 years behind bars, Karla was released on July 5, 2005. She moved to Montreal where she got remarried and has since welcomed three kids. She is seen after her release

She now lives a normal life out of the spotlight, but many people still feel she was given too light of a sentence

On September 1, 1995, then-31-year-old Paul was found guilty of nine charges, including kidnapping, unlawful confinement, unlawful aggravated assault, and murder, and was sentenced to life in prison

'Was Karla given too light of a sentence? Did she get off way too lightly on this thing? That's certainly the opinion of a lot of folks,' Gregg added. 'I have my concern that she may be more psychopathic than Paul.'

Karla's plea deal received severe scrutiny at the time, and was branded by the media as, 'The deal with the devil.'

Paul was arrested on February 17, 1993 and charged with nine different counts, including kidnapping, unlawful confinement, unlawful aggravated assault, and murder.

His trial began two years later - and Karla was the prosecutor's key witness. She took to the stand, where she branded him as the mastermind behind the whole thing.

On September 1, 1995, then-31-year-old Paul was found guilty of all nine charges, and was sentenced to life in prison.

After serving 12 years behind bars, Karla was released on July 5, 2005. She moved to Montreal where she got remarried and has since welcomed three kids.

She now lives a normal life out of the spotlight, but many people still feel she was given too light of a sentence.

'All we can do now is hope she doesn't harm anyone else,' Gregg concluded in the doc.

As for Paul, he is still in prison, and was denied parole on June 22, 2021.
A Pennsylvania nurse practitioner has been accused of racism after harassing a black pregnant woman who had asked for a doctor's note to take off work because she was in extreme pain in her last trimester.

Jillian, who is known as @goddess_jay_ on social media, went viral this week when she shared footage of an unnamed staffer at the Philly Pregnancy Center berating her, claiming it would be a 'fraud' for her to take off work because of her pregnancy.

The patient's lawyer, Briana Lynn Pearson, told DailyMail.com that the white employee's treatment of her client is an example of the pervasive racism in the medical industry.

Jillian, whose last name has not been shared, opened up about her experience in a series of TikTok videos, saying she was experiencing pain and had called the clinic for a doctor's note for a week before she was finally told to come in.

Jillian, who is seven months pregnant, shared footage of a nurse practitioner harassing her after she asked for a doctor's note to take off work because she was experiencing pain

In the video, the staffer at the Philly Pregnancy Center can be heard grilling Jillian about what she was thinking when she got pregnant, claiming it would be 'fraud' for her to take off work

The mom-to-be alleged that the nurse practitioner was dismissive of her pain from the get-go and was unnecessarily rough with her during her exam.

'When I tried to explain my pain and exactly what I was feeling, she cut me off [and] said, "Let me examine you. I want to feel your cervix." So when I got up on the table for her to examine me, she was very aggressive,' the mom-to-be said.

'She shoved her fingers in me. It was painful.'

Jillian said that after the exam the medical staffer told her that she could still work and the most she could do was give her a note saying she couldn't lift 25 pounds or more.

She tried stating her case and asked repeatedly to speak to the doctor, but the nurse practitioner allegedly told her that she wasn't going to argue with her.

Jillian claimed that when they got back to the front desk, the employee started blurting out all of her information loudly enough for another patient in the lobby to hear.

The expectant mom said the receptionist finally got a doctor on the phone, and she was asked to go to a back room to talk to her in private.

Jillian, who is known as @goddess_jay_ on TikTok, detailed her experience in a series of videos, claiming the staffer was dismissive of her pain and unnecessarily rough while examining her

When she was walking back to take the phone call, the nurse practitioner allegedly said, 'Please, don't take her to my office.'

Jillian said she told the staffer, 'Nobody wants to go to your office. You're a weirdo for that.' According to her account, the nurse practitioner then told her she had called the police because she had called her a 'weirdo.'

In a follow-up video, she recalled how she had a panic attack and started crying after she heard the police were called, noting that her blood pressure was already high when they checked it that day.

Jillian said the cops were waiting for her in the lobby and were a bit aggressive with her, but she didn't think to record them because that was never her intention.

The nurse practitioner allegedly told the police that she felt threatened.

Jillian said she disputed the claim and pointed out that she was nearly eight months pregnant and not in the position to be attacking anyone.

The mom-to-be also alleged that the woman called the police on her because she called her a 'weirdo,' causing her to have a panic attack and cry

Jillian said that doctor had already approved her note stating she needed time off from work when the nurse practitioner started berating her and accusing her of trying to commit 'fraud'

The police allegedly told her that the nurse practitioner said she just wanted a note to 'get a free ride.'

The doctor ended up approving her note after the police left, and she was asked to wait in the office while it was being prepared.

Jillian said she tried to focus on her phone and ignore the nurse practitioner when she approached her, but she wouldn't leave her alone.

'I finally just said, "Listen I dont care what you got to say. Please, get out of my face. Go about your day. So she goes, "Jillian, youre a piece of s**t. What were you thinking when you opened your legs and got pregnant?" From there, I immediately hurried up and went to my camera,' she explained.

In the video, which was later shared on Twitter, the nurse practitioner can be heard berating Jillian for not feeling well enough to work in her last trimester.

'What were you thinking about when you got pregnant? That you were not going to work? Im just curious 'cause like Ive had three kids. I worked up until the second they were born,' the staffer said.

The nurse practitioner also accused her of lying about the information on her medical chart, saying she knew it wasn't true because she checked her cervix

Jillian's lawyer, Briana Lynn Pearson, told DailyMail.com that the white staffer's treatment of her client is an example of racism in the medical industry

'But am I you? Are you me? Do you know how I feel?' Jillian hit back.

The nurse practitioner claimed she wanted to know her 'mindset' and once again asked what she was 'thinking about' when she got pregnant.

Jillian said she was 'thinking about having a kid' and was confused by where she was going with her line of questioning.

The employee insisted that she gave the mom-to-be her 'best medical advice' after her assessment, but she 'didn't like that.'

Jillian once again explained that she just is seven months pregnant and in pain, saying she just wanted a doctor's note so that she could 'take it easy' for the next two months.

'And I explained to you that thats fraud,' the nurse practitioner said.

Jillian later shared screenshots of the Philly Pregnancy Center's alleged response to her video on TikTok. The clinic's Instagram page has since been deleted

The message stated that the nurse practitioner did not touch the patient and claimed that Jillian had cursed at her during their conversation

Jillian immediately rejected her claim, saying, 'Its not fraud. If it was fraud, the doctor wouldnt be getting me my note right now.'

The nurse practitioner accused her of lying about the information on her medical chart, saying she knew it wasn't true because she checked her cervix.

'Okay you checked my cervix, but how you know how my bones feel? How you know how my body feels, my legs, my back? How do you know how that feels? How do you know how my nausea feels? How do you know how my cramps feel?' Jillian asked.

The camera footage started to shake when the staffer walked toward the mom-to-be, who accused the woman of hitting her.

Jillian later shared screenshots of the Philly Pregnancy Center's alleged response to her video on TikTok. The clinic's Instagram page has since been deleted.

'Please listen to the conversation,' the message began. 'In addition, from people that witnessed this interaction, please look at the video carefully  when the NP realized that she was being recorded without her permission to do that she raised her bag and the laptop holder against the camera  she did not touch the patient at all.'

Jillian's viral video has sparked outrage across social media, where commenters called out the nurse practitioner for her treatment of a woman of color

The response also accuses Jillian of cursing at the nurse practitioner while denying her claims of mistreatment.

'I am sorry as this is [an] exceedingly difficult situation for all of us at the Philadelphia Pregnancy Center who devote our lives to care [for] and serve the community, high-risk and low-risk pregnant ladies and all the underserved women in Philadelphia, regardless of their insurance status, race, gender, sexual orientation, rich or poor  everyone,' the message continued. 'We do not deserve this kind of treatment and harassment that we have endured by this patient and her followers on social media and beyond.'

DailyMail.com has reached out to the Philly Pregnancy Center for comment.

Pearson, an attorney at the Law Offices of Eric A. Shore, told DailyMail.com in an email that the interaction between the nurse practitioner and her client highlights the racial disparities that can lead to maternal mortality.

'The type of abusive treatment the Philadelphia Pregnancy Center, subjected their patient Jill to is exactly why Black Women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related health issues than White Women,' she said.

'Jill, like every woman of color, deserved to be treated with dignity by her medical provider. Instead, Jill was treated like less of a human and for that she deserves justice.'

Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women due to multiple factors, including structural racism

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women due to multiple factors, including structural racism and implicit bias.

Research also shows that black women are five times more likely to die from pregnancy-related cardiomyopathy (a form of heart failure) and the blood pressure disorders preeclampsia and eclampsia than white women.

Jillian is not currently pursuing legal action, but her attorney said she 'likely will.'

'Every year our firm brings hundreds of claims against businesses that discriminate and harass women and people of color. But discrimination by medical providers is particularly troubling,' Eric A. Shore, the CEO and president of the law office, told DailyMail.com via email.

'For numerous reasons, minorities have long received subpar healthcare in America. But when an expectant mother is accused of lying about her pain and denied requested time off from work, it can result in harm to both the mother and the baby. There is a reason that the maternal mortality rate for Black women is almost 300% higher than that for White women. We must do more to shed light on race discrimination. Together we can make the world a better place for all.'

Jillian's viral video has sparked outrage across TikTok and Twitter, where commenters called out the nurse practitioner for her treatment of a woman of color.

'This is absolutely racist! How dare that nurse,' one person wrote.

Someone else added, 'This is the true face of the medical system in this country! Health insurance or no health insurance all they see is skin tone...not surprising.'

'Coming from a nurse just the fact that she said your business where others can [hear] is a [HIPAA] violation and automatic termination,' another pointed out. 'Keep fighting.'
A TikToker, named Tisha, started the trend, when she posted a clip asking if 'a newsletter' had been 'sent out' telling bi people to get a green velvet couch

Dozens of bisexual women have left the internet stunned after they revealed that they all share the same piece of furniture - a green velvet couch - including celebrities like Emily Ratajkowski and Shay Mitchell.

A TikToker, named Tisha, started the hilarious trend last month, when she posted a clip to the streaming site asking if 'a newsletter' had been 'sent out' to all bisexual people, after she noticed that a lot of them owned green velvet couches.

Her clip soon went viral - gaining more than 256,000 views - and many people who identify as bi started replying with videos showcasing that they do indeed have tree-colored sofas.

Dozens of bisexual women have left the internet stunned after they revealed that they all share the same piece of furniture - a green velvet couch

A TikToker, named Tisha (pictured), started the trend last month, when she posted a clip asking if 'a newsletter' had been 'sent out' telling bi people to get a green velvet couch

'Serious question. If you identify as bisexual, do you own a green velvet couch?' Tisha asked in the video. She added in the caption: 'Was there a newsletter that got sent out?'

Her clip soon went viral - gaining more than 256,000 views - and many people who identify as bi started replying with videos showcasing that they do indeed have tree-colored sofas

Actress Shay Mitchell, 35, even replied to the TikTok with a video of her own, which showed her plopping down on a green couch, seemingly confirming that she's bisexual

'Serious question. If you identify as bisexual, do you own a green velvet couch?' Tisha asked in the video, as she showed off her own green velvet couch. 'Just checking.'

'Was there a newsletter that got sent out?' she added in the caption.

Mitchell, 35, then replied to the TikTok with a video of her own, which showed her plopping down on a green couch.

After that, Ratajkowski, 31, posted a clip of herself sitting on a similar looking sofa, while smiling mischievously towards the camera.

Many others around the world also got involved and shared their surprise over the fact that they all had almost-identical sofas.

'I literally bought this couch because it was cheaper than usual and I liked the color,' insisted one bisexual woman a clip that showed her sitting on a green velvet couch.

'We're making it too easy for them to market to us,' joked another person.

'I guess this design choice wasn't influence by my ADHD after all,' a different woman wrote in a TikTok video.

After that, model Emily Ratajkowski, 31, posted a clip of herself sitting on a similar looking sofa, while smiling mischievously towards the camera

Many others around the world also got involved and shared their surprise over the fact that they all had almost-identical sofas

'I literally bought this couch because it was cheaper than usual and I liked the color,' insisted one bisexual woman a clip that showed her sitting on a green velvet couch

'I thought I was so cool and unique getting my green velvet couch. Turns out, I'm just another bisexual stereotype,' replied someone else.

'We're making it too easy for them to market to us,' joked another person; a different woman wrote in a TikTok video, 'I guess this design choice wasn't influence by my ADHD after all'

Some simply replied with videos that featured them on their green couches without saying anything, and others revealed that while they don't own a green velvet couch - they have other green velvet furniture.

'Do my barstools count?' one person asked, while showcasing some green velvet chairs.

'No, I own a pink velvet couch,' someone else explained in a video. 'But... I have a green velvet headboard.'

In total, the hashtag #GreenVelvetCouch got more than 427,000 views. People also took to the comment section of Tisha's videos, with one person joking, 'Outed by furniture omg.'

'I don't identify as a bisexual. I have a green velvet couch, though. Maybe I have to do some thinking,' said someone else.

'No way. I have a green velvet couch but Im gay. A bisexual friend gave it to me though,' read another comment.

Some simply replied with videos showing their green couches without saying anything, and others revealed that they have other green velvet furniture

'No, I own a pink velvet couch,' someone else explained in a video. 'But... I have a green velvet headboard'

People also took to the comment section of Tisha's videos, with one person joking, 'Outed by furniture omg'

'There's a velvet green couch cover in my Amazon cart,' wrote a different user.

In total, the hashtag #GreenVelvetCouch got more than 427,000 views

Ratajkowski's alleged announcement about her sexuality comes less than a month after it was reported that she had filed from divorce from her estranged husband, Sebastian Bear-McClard.

The model reportedly made the decision to leave her film producer husband following claims that he had cheated on her; the couple share a son, Sylvester Apollo Bear, one.

As for Mitchell, she's been dating actor Matte Babel since 2017, and together, they have welcomed two kids together, daughters Atlas, two, and Rome, four months.

The actress, who played LGBTQ character Emily Fields for seven seasons on Pretty Little Liars, previously discussed the similarities between Emilys sexuality and her own.

People always ask me, You play a gay character? Are you gay? Are you straight? Are you this? Are you that? the actress told Maxim in 2017.

Look, Emily doesnt label herself, and I dont label myself either. I fall in love with the spirit of somebody. Love is love, and thats something that Ill keep saying.
He has been a constant support for his mother at solemn royal functions, but in the art world, Cassius Taylor is making a name for himself.

The 25-year-old royal, who is the son of Lady Helen Taylor and world-renowned art-dealer Timothy Taylor, and the Duke of Kent's grandson, has become a darling of the London art scene in his own right, and has turned his first tattoo into a whimsical art exhibition.

Speaking to Tatler, the socialite, who studied art management at Goldsmiths University, talked of his desire to be a renowned curator thanks to 'pop-up' performances.

The royal, who was among the extended family who attended Queen Elizabeth's funeral on 19 September, also spoke about suffering from 'a particularly dark time' during lockdown.

Cassius, who was once dubbed one of the UK's most eligible bachelors, loves to spend time with his brother Columbus and his stylish cousins Lady Amelia Windsor and Flora Vesterberg, both 27.

Cassius Taylor, who is the son of Lady Helen and world-renowned art-dealer Timothy Taylor, and the Duke of Kent's grandson, has become a darling of the London art scene in his own right, and has turned his first tattoo into a whimsical art exhibition. Pictured at King Charles III's proclamation

Cassius and his mother Lady Helen Taylor enjoy a close relationship. Pictured together at British Vogue's Centenary Gala Dinner

Like several fringe members of the royal family, Cassius, who was born in 1996, grew up within royal circles but away from the spotlight, making rare public appearances, including the balcony of Buckingham Palace for Trooping the Colour.

His mother Lady Helen was a fashion ambassador and muse to Giorgio Armani for 17 years.

The second out of four children, Cassius grew up close with his brother Columbus, 28, and his younger sisters Eloise, 19 and Estella, 17.

He went to school at Wellington College in Berkshire, which costs 35,775-a-year, before heading to creative hub Goldsmiths, where he got a degree in art management.

The royal, who is 45th in line for the throne and studied art management at Goldsmiths, loves to DJ on his spare time

Making waves! Cassius, who has been dubbed the 'bad boy' of the Royal Family, is hoping to make his mark on the art world

He got the bug from his parents, who are both renowned art dealers, saying: 'I was constantly being dragged to galleries as a child.'

His passion for art, singular style and his penchant for partying saw him dubbed the 'bad boy' of the royal family.

After graduating, he worked for his father's art gallery in London before joining the PR agency Purple, where he dabbled in the events business, organising glitzy receptions at Somerset House.

He eventually left Purple PR and set up his own events company, named 'Telltale.

The royal has now curate his own show, which is to take at the Painting Rooms of Flitcroft Street in Soho, which will celebrate the work of painter Armen Eloyan as part of Frieze.

Cassius's father is the world-renowned art dealer Timothy Taylor, right, and is very enthusiastic about his son's first curated show

The royal is the second of four children behind his brother Columbus, right, 28. They have two sisters, Eloise and Estella

Speaking of the upcoming two-day show, the royal said Eloyan reminded him of his childhood, because the artist is one of his father's friends.

He added that art helped him get through some tough times during lockdown.

Visitors will be able to admire the artist's anarchist works, and will get the options to get either permanent or temporary tattoos, with Cassius planning on getting inked himself during the show.

The tattoo, which shows a pensive skeleton drawn like a cartoon, reads: 'When it's good it's great,' was commissioned by Cassius to Eloyan for the show.

The royal likes to share a glimpse of his life on social media, where he shapes party snaps, art shows and festival hangs

Cassius is close to his cousin Lady Amelia Windsor, 27, who has modelled for Dolce and Gabbana (pictured in 2018)

He said of his upcoming tattoo: It timestamped a moment in my life, Cassius explains, it made me recognise what was going on and helped me deal with it.

The royal said he hoped to shock punters at his upcoming show, adding that his supportive family is very excited at his first stab at curating.

Cassius added the exhibition was a culmination of bright and dark times in his life, saying it helped him see the bright side.

The royal also talked of his love of the Houghton festival, a music and art's festival which was founded by Craig Richards, his ultimate art inspiration, and takes place every year on the Country parkland estate in Norfolk.

In his free time, Cassius also is a big fan of immersive theatre, especially an event called Punch Drunk, where guests are invited to put on VR headsets in a London abandoned warehouse, with actors moving around the participants.

Family man! Cassius loves to spend time with Lady Helen, and attended Wimbledon with her last year with his grandfather the Duke of Kent, right

Supportive son: Cassius was by his mother's side to attend the memorial service for the Duke of Edinburgh at Westminster Abbey on March 29

The young royal, who was born in 1996, has also appeared on the balcony of Buckingham Palace with the Queen mother, centre

He also shares a glimpse into his artsy life on Instagram, where snaps show him DJing with friends of attending art galleries with his brother Columbus or hanging out with his glamourous cousins, Lady Amelia Windsor and Flora Vesterberg.

The royal, who is 45th in line for the throne, joked he is the 'annoying' child and added he took some time to settle into a career, unable to decide which genre he wanted to dedicate himself to.

Two years ago, he was dubbed one of the UK's most eligible bachelors by Tatler, is friends with countless trendy socialites, including Rafferty Law, Jude Law's son.

His is also a dedicated family man and is often seen accompanying his mother, with whom he's very close, at a series of events, including royal engagements.

He looked somber as he attended King Charles III's proclamation on 10 September following the death of Queen Elizabeth, and also attended the late Monarch's funeral on September 19.
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Crown Princesses Victoria and Sofia dazzled in glittering ballgowns last night as the Swedish royals hosted a lavish banquet for King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands.

King Willem-Alexander, 55, showed he was possibly the most self-sufficient of the European royals as he co-piloted his wife Queen Maxima to Stockholm yesterday morning on the Dutch government plane.

Touching down at Sweden's Arlanda airport just outside the capital in bright sunshine, King Willem-Alexander quickly moved from pilot to monarch, donning a smart suit jacket and taking the plane steps with Maxima, 51, who looked elegant in an ankle-length camel coat, and a stylish nude dress with matching hat and suede heels.

The couple were greeted by their Swedish counterparts on the tarmac, with Crown Princess Victoria, who wore a striking purple dress with matching jacket and shoes, and Prince Daniel of Sweden offering a warm hug ahead of the journey to Stockholm's Royal Palace.

In the evening they changed into glitzy gowns and suits with royal sashes as they attended a splendid state banquet at the Swedish royal palace, called Kungliga slottet.

Maxima looked glamorous in an off-shoulder glitzy pink gown, pairing the look with the Stuart tiara, while her husband wore a smart suit with a royal sash.

King Willem-Alexander went on to give a speech during the state banquet, with the words later shared on the royal family's official Instagram page, saying: 'We are both among the leaders in innovation and together we are pushing the boundaries of knowledge. We are both on the path to a circular economy. () Together we can achieve fantastic results with ingenuity and courage.'

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Stockholm fairytale! Glamourous Queen Maxima and King Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands joined King Carl Gustaf XVI and Queen Silvia of Sweden for a glitzy reception on the first night of the Dutch state visit to the Scandinavian country

A Swedish welcome: Sweden's royals, Crown Princess Victoria, Prince Daniel, Princess Sofia and Prince Carl Philip arrive for a gala dinner for the Dutch royal couple at the Royal Palace

Queen Maxima appeared to be having a ball of a time as she laughed alongside Sweden's King Carl Gustaf. Carl XVI, 76, is the longest-reigning Swedish monarch

He has been on the throne for 49 years, since 1973, and was seen raising a toast beside Queen Maxima, who was wearing stunning diamond earrings

The Dutch King and Queen looked stunning and regal as they attended the dinner in the 262-year-old royal palace in the capital of Sweden

Former glamour model and TV personality Princess Sofia married Prince Carl Philip of Sweden in 2015 and the couple have three children together

The dinner had all the bells and whistles of a royal state banquet at the home of the Swedish monarchy in their palace in Stockholm

Princess Sofia, 37, who is married to Carl Philip, 43, was dressed in a stunning emerald gown with the tiara which was a wedding gift from King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia for their 2015 wedding.

Meanwhile Crown Princess Victoria, 45, was in a vibrant purple dress for the occasion, finishing her outfit with the Napoleonic Amethysts tiara.

Upon landing in the Scandinavian country, the embrace between couples clearly showed the already strong bond between the two European royal houses.

The Dutch King was spotted at the controls of the aircraft, alongside a co-pilot, as the Government jet touched down in the Swedish capital on Tuesday morning.

King Willem-Alexander has form when it comes to piloting planes; the monarch surprised passengers on a KLM flight in 2018 and yesterday he was clearly keen to show off his skills once more.

The Dutch royals then enjoyed a horse carriage procession to the Royal Palace, where they were greeted by Sweden's Queen Silvia and King Carl XVI Gustaf.

Queen Silvia of Sweden and King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands were seen smiling during the meal as Swedish footmen stood proudly behind them

The royals appeared to be in high spirits as they arrived for the event in Stockholm last night, with Queen Maxima and Queen Silvia matching in pink gowns

Crown Princess Victoria could be seen sipping her champagne as she stood alongside King Willem-Alexander at the event in Stockholm last night

Seated at a banquet table, Prince Daniel and Queen Maxima are pictured during a gala dinner for the Dutch royal couple

Queen Silvia of Sweden is seated next to the Dutch King at the banquet table, the Swedish Queen wore her finery including an historic tiara for the banquet

Queen Maxima during a gala dinner

Queen Maxima and King Carl Gustaf chat during the royal banquet. Maxima, right, donned an off-the-shoulder pink dress with floral pattern and an exquisite tiara for the function

Well-wishers waving Dutch flags lined the city streets, with Queen Maxima and Queen Silvia of Sweden, elegant in green, chatting to those gathered.

An official welcome ceremony followed at the palace, with Willem-Alexander and Maxima inspecting a guard of honour. The two families then posed for photos, joined by Princess Estelle, the ten-year-old daughter of Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel.

King Carl XVI Gustaf said in a statement: 'We are honored to receive the King and Queen. 'Our countries are very similar. For example, in our positions on the rule of law, international relations and human rights. We are going to strengthen ties in defense and security.'

The two countries have enjoyed strong relations for decades and it's hoped that the latest visit will further cement their bond. Pictured: Queen Maxima smiles as she waits to be seated ahead of the formal dinner

From left: Crown Princess Victoria, Prince Daniel, Princess Sofia and Prince Carl Philip arrive for the gala dinner

The Swedish royals appeared to be enjoying the chance to don ballgowns, with Prince Daniel and Prince Carl Philip wearing regal yellow sashes and medals. Right: Crown Princess Victoria takes Prince Daniel's arm as they enter the banqueting rooom at the Royal Palace

In the pink: Queen Silvia of Sweden opted for a bright pink gown, while Maxima chose a paler shade of the same colour

A guard in traditional dress looks straight ahead as the Dutch and Swedish royals prepare for dinner. Right: The royals stride forth into the banqueting room at Stockholm's historic palace

The warmth was reciprocated by the Dutch monarch, Willem-Alexander, who reflected on a strong relationship between the two countries, saying: 'We realize that Sweden is going through a special time, such as its membership in NATO, which we fully support. Queen Maxima and I are very much looking forward to the visit in the coming days.'

This afternoon, the Dutch couple will spend time with Swedish politicians, and also visit the Vasa Museum in the city, which exhibits the country's naval history.

It's thought the royals will return the ship's bell of a Swedish ship, Prinsessan Sophia Albertina, which was lost off the Dutch coast in the 18th century.

Good neighbours! King Willem-Alexander, third from left, and Queen Maxima, third from right, of The Netherlands pose for a photo with Queen Silvia and King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, far left, Princess Estelle of Sweden, centre, and Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel of Sweden, far right, on the first morning of their three-day state visit

Valkommen! King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of The Netherlands took the short flight to Stockholm this morning ahead of an official three-day state visit to the Scandinavian country

The Dutch King co-piloted the government plane to Stockholm's Arlanda airport for the short flight north to the Scandinavian country

Slipping on a suit jacket, the Dutch King stepped back into monarch mode, and looked delighted to see the Swedish royals awaiting them, as Queen Maxima also offered a smile to her fellow European royals

Bond: The Dutch royals and the Swedish royals embrace ahead of the three-day visit, which is designed to cement already strong relations between the two European royal houses

Good neighbours: At the airport, the couple were warmly welcomed by Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel of Sweden, with the European royals offering hugs

Later, the Dutch royals enjoyed a horse carriage procession to the Royal Palace in Stockholm, where they were greeted by Sweden's Queen Silvia and King Carl XVI Gustaf (Pictured left to right: Swedish Prince Daniel, Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria, Queen Silvia of Sweden, Dutch King Willem-Alexander, Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Maxima of The Netherlands)

King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, right, walk side-by-side during a welcome ceremony at the Royal Palace in Stockholm on Tuesday

Well-wishers waving Dutch flags lined the streets close to the Royal Palace in Stockholm this morning, with Queen Maxima, showing off her stylish nude dress coat with matching clutch, gloves and heels, as Queen Silvia of Sweden, elegant in green, walked closely behind her
The Countess of Wessex looked pensive as she flipped through a book of condolence for the beloved Queen during her trip to Ethiopia today.

Sophie, 57, sported an elegant two-toned ensemble as she flipped through the pages at the Residence of the British Ambassador to the east African nation in Addis Ababa.

The wife of Prince Edward appeared emotional as she looked through the tribute to the late monarch, who passed last month.

She was pictured with Ambassador Dr Alastair McPhail as she sat behind an ornate desk, presented with a cup of tea, to take in the book.

In one photo she appeared to be reading a message from an ambassador, Victor Adeleke, seemingly penned on September 12 - just a few days after the Queen's passing.

In his note, he penned: 'The world will surely miss you! Mama to His Majesty King Charles.

The Countess of Wessex look pensive as she flipped through a book of condolence for the beloved Queen during her trip to Ethiopia today

She was pictured with Ambassador Dr Alastair McPhail as she sat behind an ornate desk to take in the messages

He continued: 'On behalf of all members of the Embassy of Nigeria, here in Addis, we say journey well to your Lord. Rest in perfect peace.'

The royal sported a chic charcoal grey blazer for the engagement, featuring stylish lapels.

The Countess teamed it with a scoop-necked white top, opting for simple accessories including a pendant necklace and and ring.

She swept her blonde tresses back into a collected hair do, showing off her elegant waves for volume.

Sophie and the late monarch enjoyed an extremely close relationship, and she has been seen looking emotional on a number of occasions following the Queen's death.

Sophie, who has been visibly emotional after losing her beloved 'mama', spoke to the Queen every day. Pictured: The Queen and Sophie in 2019

The pair first became close in 2002 in the aftermath of the Queen losing her mother and sister within a short period of time.

The source said that the Queen trusted Sophie greatly and that they had the same sense of humour.

They also claimed that she enjoyed their chats and laughs as she used to do the same with her sister.

The Countess of Wessex and the Queen were brought closer by the death of Sophie's mother in 2005 and Prince Philip last year.

The royal (pictured left and right) sported a chic charcoal grey blazer for the engagement, featuring stylish lapels

In the midst of the media attention attracted by Harry and Meghan, the source claimed that Sophie's common sense was 'welcomed' by the Queen.

It comes as Sophie yesterday stunned in a blue while continuing her visit to Botswana.

She attended a reception for entrepreneurs from companies of the southern African nation at Westminster House, Residence of the British High Commissioner, in Gaborone.

The mother-of-two stunned in a blue, white and pink pattern dress as she tried products made by people from the country.

She was seen smelling preserves and taking a bite of local food as well as inspecting hot sauce and fruit syrup.

It came following her meeting with the President of the Republic of Botswana, Mokgweetsi Masisi, earlier this week.

The Countess of Wessex yesterday wore a blue, pink and white patterned dress today as she tried products from Botswana

She was attending a reception for entrepreneurs from the southern African country at Westminster House, Residence of the British High Commissioner, in Gaborone, Botswana (pictured with British ambassador to Botswana Sian Price, centre)

Last week Sophie also became the first member of the Firm to visit the Democratic Republic of the Congo in a trip which had been planned for many months before the death of the Queen.

There, the Countess's visit focused on addressing the devastating impact of sexual and gender-based violence in conflict, while supporting and empowering survivors and tackling the stigma they face.

In its recent history, the DRC has endured years of civil conflict in what has been called Africa's world war, with the loss of up to six million lives through fighting or disease and malnutrition.

Sophie said last year that hearing survivors' stories of sexual violence has taken her to 'some very dark places' during her work to raise awareness.

'Every story I am told is pushing me forward. I feel obligated to tell people this is happening - it is their story to tell and I support them,' she added.
A father believes he ordered 'the UK's biggest bacon butty' after asking his local Greggs for a bun with a whopping 51 rashers in it.

Food blogger and pub owner Craig Harker, 35, from Stockton-on-Tees, had a hankering for a meaty breakfast so decided to swing by the Hardwick branch of Greggs in Stockton-on-Tees last month and order the 2,500-calorie snack.

The 35-year-old asked the bemused staff member to create the biggest bacon sarnie she could, urging her to pile on the rashers on the soft white roll.

Craig soon realised his eyes were much bigger than his belly, admitting the sandwich 'absolutely destroyed me' to the point he 'didn't eat one for a few days'.

Food blogger Craig Harker had a hankering for a meaty breakfast so decided to swing by the Hardwick branch of Greggs in Stockton-on-Tees where he bought this bacon feast

The father believes that his sandwich is the 'biggest in the UK' with 51 rashers costing 16.40 (pictured, with the butty)

Footage shared on Craig's TikTok account 'Dad Loves Food' on Saturday shows the pub owner eagerly waiting to receive his mammoth 16.40 sandwich - which was served in a doughnut box.

Although unable to finish it, the dad-of-three shared the rest with his 28-year-old partner Rochelle Fairley and kids Isla, nine, Oscar, seven, and two-year-old Teddy.

Craig, from Hardwick, Stockton-on-Tees, said: 'I think it's the UK's biggest bacon bun - I know we were hitting some sort of record.

'When she served it to me in the doughnut box, I thought 'I've never seen a bacon butty that size before - that looks incredible'.

Craig soon realised his eyes were much bigger than his belly, admitting the sandwich 'absolutely destroyed' him

'I was just driving past and fancied a Greggs bacon sarnie, so I went in and said, "Can I have the biggest you can make me?"

'I was asking for more and more bacon and she just kept saying, "Yes".

'When I reached 50 she said, "I think we should stop here. I don't think we've got a box big enough".

'The box was meant to fit six doughnuts, and it ended up fitting one massive bacon sandwich.'

He continued: 'It's the biggest bacon sandwich I've ever seen in my life - it was absolutely huge.

Craig pictured at a meal out with his partner Rochelle Farley, 28 who he shares two-year-old Teddy with

'It's my local Greggs so they're used to me ordering these big wacky meals.

'As soon as I walk in they're like, "What do you want?" They know I'm going to order something a bit different'.

'It absolutely destroyed me - I didn't get half way down so I failed miserably, but I took it home to my family and everyone made sandwiches out of it.

'The family and the dogs ate well. I love bacon sarnies, but after that I didn't eat one for a few days.'

Food-lover Craig started his food blog through his pub, The George Pub and Grill, because they were known for doing food challenges where some of the world's best competitive eaters would meet

Craig, who began food blogging alongside owning and running The George Pub and Grill in his hometown, said he loves to let his followers in on 'secret menu' items as well as sharing discounts for people who need 'a money-saver'.

Food-lover Craig said: 'I started through my pub, The George Pub and Grill, because we're known for doing food challenges where some of the world's best competitive eaters come and try our challenges.

'The more I put it online the busier the venue got and blogging turned into a full-time job.

'I'm passionate about food, so it turned into the perfect job to be honest.

The pub owner is a doting dad to his three children Isla, nine, Oscar, seven, and two-year-old Teddy (pictured)

'What I really like sharing is budgeting and discount savings for people, so if I find an offer on somewhere, then I love sharing it.

'I love sharing any discounts I can find or ways to save money, because at the minute everyone's skint and need a money-saver.

'When I go out reviewing food I love advertising and supporting other businesses, especially independent ones.

'Often within days that business will get so many more customers just through the videos.'

Craig revealed he ended up sharing the sandwich with his wife and children because he couldn't finish it himself

He added: 'We all have to eat every day, it's just how you do that.

'It's about trying to show people there's almost like a secret menu that's available if you ask for it.

'The Greggs bacon butty is definitely a national institution - everyone throughout the country knows what they serve and everyone lives within about 10 miles of one.

'The fact that it's readily available means anyone, anywhere in the country can go and get that whenever they want.

'But I reckon if everyone did that Greggs would have a nationwide bacon shortage.'

Greggs have been approached for comment.
Host Jay Blades will welcome the King as part of BBC's centenary celebrations

King Charles is to guest star in a special episode of The Repair Shop this month

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When Jay Blades welcomes King Charles to The Repair Workshop later this month - as part of a special episode to mark the BBC's centenary celebrations - he'll get to inspect pottery made for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee and an 18th century clock before handing the regal items over to his colleagues for repair.

The 52-year-old star, a furniture maker by trade, has seen his career - and love life - flourish since BBC producers put him at the helm of the hit craft show, which restores family heirlooms to their former glory, in 2017.

Such success relatively late in his career - including an MBE in May this year - is in sharp contrast to Blades' troubled early life in Hackney, where he grew up in poverty after his father abandoned his much-loved mother Barbara.

By his twenties, Blades ended up homeless and wondering 'Is this what my life has come to?', he told Channel 5 documentary makers earlier this year.

The father-of-three, who's now engaged to fitness trainer Lisa-Marie Zbozen, said he could fit all his belongings in one carrier bag when he lived in a hostel before he was given social housing on the Victorian Peabody estate.

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A very special guest in The Repair Shop: King Charles is to guest star in a special episode of show as part of the BBC's centenary celebrations - the programme will air on October 26th

Furniture maker Blades, 52, has seen his career flourish in recent years after he took on the main presenting role on the hugely successful BBC craft show; marking a stark contrast to a tough childhood growing up in North London with his mother Barbara (pictured)

Dyslexic and unable to read, it wasn't until the star reached 51 that he began to tackle to illiteracy problem that had haunted him all of his adult life

The father-of-three is now happily engaged to fitness trainer Lisa-Marie Zbozen

The team will also mend two precious items chosen by the monarch - a piece of pottery made for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee and a 18th century clock. Charles met with Jay and his team in 2021

Dyslexic and unable to read, it wasn't until the star reached 51 that he began to tackle to illiteracy problem that had haunted him all of his adult life - after he'd found fame on the show that tapped into the nation's obsession with heritage crafting.

Speaking about when he was homeless, Blades said: 'At 21 I was all over the place, I had no direction, I left London because I was getting into loads of fights and there were people after me.

'My mum moved to Luton and I lived up there with her for a bit.

'I had my first child, and then split up with the missus, and moved back to London, then I ended up homeless and went into a hostel.'

'I had a supermarket carrier bag with all of my stuff in there and it wasn't a lot. I remember thinking, "is this what my life has come to, is this the end for me?"'

But the TV star was helped out of the hostel and was given social housing on the Peabody estate, which was built in 1910, along with three other young men.

When Jay lived on the estate, it had a strict list of 17 rules for tenants which banned dogs and wallpaper and said everyone had to be vaccinated against smallpox.

The Peabody estate was founded by American philanthropist George Peabody who wanted to provide affordable housing for Londoners living in slum conditions, but with rules on moral conduct.

The BBC show has propelled Blades to being a household name after the furniture maker was picked to host the show

In the programme, Charles, pictured with Blades, Steve Fletcher, Kirsten Ramsay and Will Kirk, will meet with the show's host Jay Blades and his expert team of craftspeople to explore their shared passion for preserving heritage craft skills

They've met before! Blades receiving his MBE from King Charles in May this year

Growing up: Blades has spoken previously how he was brought up in impoverished conditions, after his mother Barbara (pictured) was abandoned by his father when he was a baby

Blades said it was when he was living in the flat that he found voluntary work which kickstarted his career as a furniture restorer and designer.

His earlier life was similarly bleak, he's revealed previously that he used to live amongst rats in his childhood home in Hackney, north-east London.

The star told how he was brought up in impoverished conditions, after his mother Barbara was abandoned by his father when he was a baby.

He said: 'When I was born my mum came to live here with my uncle. My mum got pregnant with the man who contributed towards my birth and he left her high and dry.'

Jay added: '[He] took all her money from her, said he was going to promise her this and that, and he didn't, he just disappeared. The time for my mum must have been quite desperate I would say.

'There was loads of rubbish everywhere, there was rats.'

Struggles: The Repair Shop star Jay Blades has revealed that he ended up homeless and living in a hostel in London when he was in his twenties

MBE: Jay was given the honour by the Prince of Wales on Tuesday for services to craft and in recognition of his work promoting heritage craft and restoration in the UK

Looking back: Jay made the admission on his new documentary series, There's No Place Like Home, where he revisited his old flat on the Peabody estate (pictured)

Last year, the presenter starred in the BBC documentary Learning to Read at 51, which saw the once-illiterate star tackle the written word after years of being unable to read.

The presenter learned how to read last summer using the same techniques children use, such as phonics.

Speaking to The Sun at the time, Blades recalled how he was brought to tears when he received a letter from his daughter Zola, 14, who lives in Turkey with his ex-wife Jade, and was able to read it. Jay also has two other children from previous relationships.

He said: 'Reading is something most people do every day and I didn't know it would mean so much to me. It grabs you emotionally.

'It was the first letter Zola had ever sent me  she had never sent one before because she knew I couldn't read it.

'Reading her letter gave me everything I'd ever wanted but didn't think I would ever experience.'

Jay, who left school without any qualifications, suffers from dyslexia which went undiagnosed until he was 31.

The success of The Repair Shop seems to be as much as a surprise for Blades as anyone else.

Settled: Blades with his long-term partner Lisa, the couple announced their engagement in December last year

In May, he was given an MBE by the then Prince of Wales for services to craft and in recognition of his work promoting heritage craft and restoration in the UK.

The star said he never expected that the programme 'would become so big' when it began five years ago.

He said: 'I knew it was special, because you wouldn't have all of those different disciplines in the same building. You wouldn't have a ceramic next to a fine art next to woodwork and a clock restorer, you just wouldn't have that.'

Jay left school at 15, and has set up a charity encouraging young people who struggle academically to get involved in practical jobs, such as restoration and craft.

He is also an ambassador for the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust, which provides people with up to 18,000 in funding to study a traditional craft.

Jay previously lauded his co-stars for giving him the 'confidence' to speak about his dyslexia.

The special episode with King Charles was announced during The One Show on Tuesday, with the episode airing on October 26 at 8pm on BBC One.

The Repair Shop team will mend two precious items chosen by the monarch - a piece of pottery made for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee and a 18th century clock. Pictured meeting the team of experts at the start of the video

In August 2021, Blades' team, ceramics expert Kirsten Ramsay, horologist Steve Fletcher and furniture restorer Will Kirk were invited to Dumfries House in Scotland to meet the King, then the Prince of Wales, and learn about The Prince's Foundation's work in training the next generation of craftspeople.

Presenter Blades announced that Charles would appear on the episode on the One Show tonight and in a teaser clip from the programme, Blades and his team were seen chatting with the King.

'We're going to take these items to take a better look at them, and maybe you might join us at the barn,' Jay told the sovereign.

'I've got a barn, you've got a barn,' the monarch joked. 'We can have a barn dance.'

Blades cheekily said: 'I'll put the kettle on,' to which the King replied: 'oh, will you?'

Speaking of the sovereign, Jay told the One Show: 'I think it's fair to say that he is a fan of the show, and he does come down to the barn.

'When you see King Charles in this show, you're never going to see him like this, he was so relaxed, unbelievable, filming with him was such a joy, he was absolutely normal,' he added.

The special episode of The Repair Shop will air on October 26 at 8pm on BBC One.
The princess appears to be emulating her mother, who is known for her style

The royal stepped out with her mother Queen Letizia and father King Felipe

Her mother Queen Letizia is known for her style prowess, so it's perhaps no wonder that Princess Sofia of Spain proved to be just as fashionable during a family appearance today.

The princess, 15, looked elegant in an ocean blue patterned dress as she joined her parents King Felipe and Queen Letizia for a military parade in Madrid to celebrate Spain's National Day.

Her sister Leonor, 16, heir to the Spanish throne, did not attend because she is at boarding school at UWC Atlantic College in Wales.

Letizia looked typically elegant in a matching polka dot mint green frock for the outing as the family soaked up the pomp and pageantry of National Day. The holiday commemorates Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas in 1492.

Her mother Queen Letizia is known for her style prowess, so it's perhaps no wonder that Princess Sofia of Spain (pictured with her parents) proved to be just as fashionable during a family appearance today

Queen Letizia and her daughter Sofia (pictured left) looked stylish in similar styles, as the pair opted for flowing spotty dresses

The mother and daughter attended the National Day Military Parade in Madrid this afternoon

The Queen and the Princess smiled at the parade as they stood next to the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez

The teenager looked trendy in a smart navy blue mini dress with polkadots, which she paired with pumps

Sofia wore her hair down, styled in loose ringlets with minimal make-up, while Leitiza kept her locks in a sleek up-do, paired with pear drop earrings and a smoky eye.

King Felipe, who ascended the throne in 2014, looked dapper in full military uniform as he oversaw a military display.

They were joined by Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Spain's Defense Minister Margarita Roble in the capital.

The royal family watched proceedings from a specially built platform decorated with the royal crest.

The couple shared a joke with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez as they attended a reception this afternoon

The couple appeared to be in good spirits as they attended the reception in Madrid this afternoon

Queen Letizia was dressed in an elegant mint green midi dress as she joined King Felipe in Madrid today

The couple were in high spirits as they attended the reception for the National Day of Spain today

The royal mother-of-two was radiant in the green gown, which she paired with white accessories for the day

Meanwhile King Felipe opted for a smart suit for the occasion, which he paired with a bright pink tie

Leonor enrolled at UWC Atlantic College in September last year, alongside Princess Alexia of the Netherlands.

They are both on a 67,000, two-year course to study for their International Baccalaureate diploma.

The school, situated in a 12th century castle in the Vale of Glamorgan, offers activities and subjects like Tai Chi and Tibetan literature, leading it to be nicknamed 'Hippie Hogwarts'.

UWC Atlantic College has a proven track record educating royalty. King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands studied there in the Eighties and Belgian heir to the throne Elisabeth graduated last year.

The 15-year-old Princess stood in between her parents as the family arrived for the military parade in Madrid

Sofia looked every inch the princess with her long chestnut locks worn down and lightly curled at the end

King Felipe marked the national holiday by putting on his full military uniform - complete with his medals and a hat

The princess, 15, looked elegant in an ocean blue patterned dress as she joined her parents King Felipe and Queen Letizia (pictured) for a military parade in Madrid to celebrate Spain's National Day

Queen Letizia stunned with a subtle smoky eye, nude lipstick and perfectly groomed brows with a polished looking up-do
Princess Eugenie shared a romantic note for husband Jack Brooksbank on social media today as the couple celebrate four years of marriage.

The royal, 32, who shares son August, one, with her financier husband posted a black-and-white image of the couple in a royal carriage on their wedding day on October 12th 2018.

Eugenie, who earlier this week returned to work from maternity leave to attend an anti-slavery meeting, wrote to her 1.6million followers: 'Happy Anniversary my Jack. 4 years and counting' followed by two love heart and one kiss emojis.

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Princess Eugenie, 32, posted a black-and-white image of herself and Jack Brooksbank on their wedding day in Windsor in 2018 to her 1.8 million followers on Instagram on Wednesday

The couple, pictured in 2021, share son August, one, and were wed four years ago at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle

The couple invited 850 royals, aristocrats, VIPs and friends - 150 more than Harry and Meghan who were married five months earlier - to their lavish ceremony, led by the Dean of Windsor, in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle four years ago.

This week, the royal opted for a low-key look when taking part in a digital event heralding Anti-Slavery Day - and said she hopes people will be 'inspired' by campaigners working to end modern slavery.

The mother-of-one revealed in a video clip that her charitable organisation, the Anti-Slavery Collective, would be ramping up their social media presence in the lead up to October 18 - the date marking the day.

In a video shared to Instagram, the royal revealed the collective, which she founded with Julia de Boinville in 2017, would be introducing their followers to key figures in the field of modern slavery on their Instagram account to raise awareness on human trafficking.

It has been exactly four years since Princess Eugenie's fairytale wedding to Jack Brooksbank in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle

Princess Eugenie has returned to her charitable duties this week, as she revealed in a video clip that her charitable organisation, the Anti-Slavery Collective, would be ramping up their social media presence in the lead up to October 18 - the date marking the International Day

Eugenie founded the Anti-Slavery Collective with Julia de Boinville in 2017, right, who appeared alongside her in the video announcement

Dressed in a casual red hoodie reading 'Anti-Slavery Collective,' the mother of August Brooksbank looked relaxed as she and Julia addressed their followers.

'Hi everyone, today we are very excited to be kicking off the countdown to Anti-Slavery Day,' she started.

'Anti-Slavery Day provides everyone with an opportunity to raise awareness of human trafficking and modern slavery; And to shine a light on the incredible people in this movement who are fighting towards ending modern slavery in all its forms,' Julia explained.

Eugenie, 33, launched her own podcast with her best-friend and co-founder of the Anti-Slavery Collective, Julia de Boinville, right

'Today and up until the 18th of October, we are going to be introducing you to a group of individuals whose voices, work and advocacy we admire,' Eugenie said.

'We've asked them to share with you who they are, why fighting modern slavery is important to them, and how you can get involved in the movement,' Julia added.

'Keep an eye out for each one of these people on our Instagram. We hope you feel as inspired by them as we do,' the mother-of-one concluded.

Earlier this year, Princess Eugenie launched the first episode of her weekly podcast for the Anti-Slavery Collective, Floodlight

The podcast was designed to promote her charity and featured the pair's interviews with figures involved in the fight against modern slavery, including Dame Emma Thompson.

The first guest was Caroline Haughey QC, who prosecuted the largest modern slavery trial case in the UK's history.
Syria slams U.S. oil plunder "act of piracy": Iranian media

Xinhua) 08:48, October 12, 2022

TEHRAN, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- Syria has denounced the ongoing U.S. plunder of oil from its territory as an "act of piracy and an attempt to return to the colonial era," Iranian state-run Press TV reported.

The Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates tweeted Saturday that the U.S. smuggling of oil and transferring to neighboring Iraq were a violation of international law and the UN Charter, calling the United Nations Security Council to condemn such acts, Press TV cited Syria's official news agency SANA as saying.

Syria's condemnation came a day after the U.S. forces sent 50 tankers of stolen oil from Syria's northeastern province of Hasakah toward U.S. bases in neighboring Iraq, according to SANA.

(Web editor: Wu Chaolan, Hongyu)
Research from UK media watchdog, Ofcom, found that one-third of children aged eight to 17 use falsified adult age in social media such as Instagram, as per TechCrunch.

These social media users aged eight to 17 sign up using a false birth date to have an online age of an adult, according to Ofcom. With this, they can access adult content on social media.

Fake Age in Social Media Platforms Posits Greater Risk for Children

Children under 13 years of age are not permitted to sign up on many social media sites, such as Instagram. On the other hand, there is limited functionality for the accounts of those under 18 years of age.

However, children found a way to skirt the rules by faking their age on social media sites. They can simply sign up with a fake birth date and pretend that they are adults.

The fake age issue posits a greater risk. Since the social media platforms believe that they are adults already, there is a greater risk that the young social media users in the UK will be exposed to harmful or mature content.

"When a child self-declares a false age to gain access to social media or online games, as they get older, so does their claimed user age. This means they could be placed at greater risk of encountering age-inappropriate or harmful content online," said Ofcom.

Social media categorized its users by age. According to Anna-Sophie Harling from Ofcom, this has a huge impact on the content being shown to social media users, as per BBC.

"When we talk about potentially harmful content to under-18s, it's content that might have more significant negative consequences for under-18s because they're still developing," said Harling.

She further added that continuous exposure to certain pictures and videos containing particular images could make young users think and act differently about themselves and other people as well.

Read Also: DoorDash Can Now Deliver Your Facebook Marketplace Orders Straight to You

UK Pushes for Online Safety Bill

Six leading social media platforms were studied. These are Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Twitter, and YouTube. All of these platforms have age limits of 13.

The study revealed that 32% of children aged eight to 17 with a social media profile have a user age of 18 or over. Meanwhile, "47% of the children aged eight to 15 have a user age of 16 or over," as per BBC.

YouTube is the most popular site among children aged eight to 17. It was followed by TikTok and then Instagram. Based on the study, the account profile was set by the majority of the respondents.

UK is pushing for the Online Safety Bill. It is expected to be ratified in early 2023. But according to TechCrunch, the mandate of the bill is self-contradicting as it aims to promote safety in the online platform while maintaining free expression at the same time.

The online safety bill requires platforms to prevent children from having access to harmful content such as suicide and self-harm material. This should be done with systems that could include thorough age checks.

Related Article: How Popular are YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Other Social Media Apps Among US Teens Today?
Viewers are slamming Netflix's new movie Luckiest Girl Alive - and have begged the streaming site to add a trigger warning to it over its inclusion of a graphic rape scene and depiction of a gruesome school shooting.

The flick, which stars Mila Kunis, Chiara Aurelia, Finn Wittrock, Connie Britton, Scoot McNairy, and Justine Lupe, premiered on the platform on September 30, 2022, and while it seems to be a hit - it's currently the number one watched movie on the site - many viewers were left uncomfortable due to the immense amount of violence in it.

The film, which is based off of a novel of the same name written by Jessica Knoll, has an R rating for 'violent content, rape, sexual material, language, and teen substance abuse,' but some feel Netflix should give viewers a warning before it starts.

Viewers are slamming Netflix's new movie Luckiest Girl Alive - and have begged the streaming site to add a trigger warning to it over its inclusion of a graphic rape scene

The flick, which stars Mila Kunis, Chiara Aurelia, Finn Wittrock, Connie Britton, Scoot McNairy, and Justine Lupe, premiered on the platform on September 30, 2022

While it seems to be a hit - it's the number one watched movie on the site today - many viewers were left uncomfortable due to the immense amount of violence in it

The movie follows a young writer and sexual assault survivor named Ani, who lives a seemingly perfect life in New York City. But when she's asked to star in a true-crime documentary, flashbacks from her troubled childhood come back to haunt her.

The movie follows a young writer and sexual assault survivor named Ani. When she's asked to star in a true-crime documentary, flashbacks from her troubled childhood come back to haunt her

One particularly horrific scene shows her being held down and forced to have sex with a man at a party, while another sees one of her classmates walking into her school with a gun and killing multiple students.

After its premiere, many people took to Twitter to warn others about the disturbing content - and fiercely bashed the network for not informing viewers of the movie's graphic scenes.

One person admitted they had to 'turn the movie off halfway,' while another said they had a 'panic attack' during it.

'I cannot believe it didn't have a trigger warning,' wrote someone else. 'It's graphic and traumatic.'

'I don't understand why Netflix insists on having graphic rape scenes in their movies/shows and no trigger warning,' added a different user. 'Or even a disclosure that this would be about sexual assault.'

Another person said: '@Netflix, just a suggestion put a warning for rape victims before they watch Luckiest Girl Alive.'

One particularly horrific scene shows her being raped (seen), while another sees one of her classmates walking into her school with a gun and killing multiple students

After its premiere, many people took to Twitter to warn others about the disturbing content - and fiercely bashed the network for not informing viewers of the movie's graphic scenes

'Watching Luckiest Girl Alive and suddenly there's a terrorizing rape scene that lasts a while, with no trigger warning attached at the top of the movie. What's happening?' read a fourth tweet, while a fifth said, 'I had no idea I was signing up for that kind of violence. @Netflix, a trigger warning would have been helpful.'

Someone else called the description of the movie 'misleading,' and a different user tweeted that they had been 'bamboozled.'

'A writer's perfectly crafted New York City life starts to unravel when a true-crime documentary forces her to confront her harrowing high school history,' reads the description.

'Why wasn't there a better description or trigger warning?' asked someone else on Twitter. 'Now I'm gonna have nightmares and I've only watched a third of it.'

'Netflix really dropped the ball on not adding a giant trigger warning for Luckiest Girl Alive,' agreed another person.

Knoll, 39, who hails from Pennsylvania, released the book in May 2015, and it was an instant success - spending four months on the New York Times Best Seller list and propelling the author into the spotlight practically over night.

One person admitted they had to 'turn the movie off halfway,' while another said they had a 'panic attack' during it

The movie is based off of a novel of the same name written by Jessica Knoll, who later revealed it was based off true events and that she was gang raped as a teen

While at first, the writer told the public that she drew from stories she had heard from others while crafting Ani's tale, she later revealed that she herself was the victim of a horrifying gang rape at age 15, which ultimately inspired the book.

Knoll, 39, who hails from Pennsylvania , released the book in May 2015, and it was an instant success - spending four months on the New York Times Best Seller list

In an emotional essay written for Lena Dunham's newsletter posted in March 2016, almost a year after the book's release, Knoll said that while the novel 'is a work of fiction, its inspiration was not.'

'I know what its like to not belong,' she wrote. 'I know what its like to shut down and power through, to have no other choice than to pretend to be OK. I am a savant of survivor mode.'

Knoll revealed that she once got drunk at a party and awoke to three different guys sexually assaulting her - when she was just 15 years old.

She said she drank so much alcohol that she 'slipped away from the waking world,' and came to 'on the floor of a bedroom' horrified to find a boy's head 'between her legs.' She soon fell asleep again, but was awoken by an 'excruciating pain.'

'The pain is what woke me next,' she explained. 'I was moaning, "Ow," over and over, before even opening my eyes.

'This time [another boy] was there, his shoulders rising and falling above me in an excruciating rhythm.'

In an essay written for Lena Dunham's newsletter posted in March 2016, Knoll (seen this year) revealed that she once got drunk at a party and awoke to three different guys assaulting her

The writer said she kept it a secret years, but decided to share her story with the world in an attempt to finally heal, and to help other victims to feel less alone

Knoll wrote the screenplay for Netflix's adaptation of Luckiest Girl Alive, and has also served as the executive producer for the flick

Knoll said she passed out again, and woke up for a third time in the bathroom surrounded by blood.

She said: 'I went under again, coming to on my knees in the bathroom, staring into a toilet full of blood. I know I was too young to understand. I thought I must have cut myself.'

Knoll explained that she must have lost consciousness again, because the next thing she remembered was waking up the next morning in bed with a third boy.

'There was a nauseating moment where I had no idea where I was and whom I was with,' she recalled.

'He laughed about how hungover he was, how crazy the party had been, how the reason I couldnt find my underwear was because it was downstairs.'

The guy told her she had cut her hand on a broken bottle the night before and that she was 'stumbling around in front of everyone wearing nothing from the waist down,' while calling her 'a party animal.'

'I laughed, because laughing was easier than tending to my heart, which felt like a hot coal in my chest, on fire with shame,' she wrote.

Knoll said she went to a clinic to get Plan B afterwards, and recalled 'aching for guidance and protection.'

She previously told Today that she wasn't on set when they filmed the sexual assault scene, out of respect to the actors. Kunis is seen in the movie

'A lot of that had to do with the fact that I didnt want to make the actors feel uncomfortable,' she explained. 'I could tell people were nervous around me'

She added: 'I was like, "This is a job people need to do and I dont want to make it any more uncomfortable than it needs to be."' Knoll is pictured above with the cast

The author said she described what happened to her to a doctor and asked if it would be considered rape, but was told that the medical professional 'wasn't qualified to answer that question.'

Knoll said her classmates called her a 'slut' in the aftermath of the incident, and that after she confronted one of the boys about what happened, she became terrified that they were going to 'come after her' - so she ultimately called him to say she was sorry.

'I apologized to my rapist for calling him a rapist. What a thing to live with,' she added.

'From then on, I submitted to my assigned narrative. What was the point in raising my voice when all it got me was my own lonely echo?

'Like Ani, the only way I knew to survive was to laugh loudly at my rapists jokes, speak softly to the mean girls, and focus on chiseling my tunnel out of there.'

After graduating high school, Knoll said she became 'obsessed with reinventing herself.'

'Not because I didnt want anyone from my past to find me, just the opposite, in fact,' she explained.

She also told the outlet that she decided to add the school shooting scene because she always felt like what happened to her 'wasn't bad enough'

'I still had the idea in my head that what happened to Ani wasnt bad enough, because thats what happened to me. I thought I had to make it worse,' Knoll said

'I was sure that with the right wardrobe, a glamorous job, and a ring on my finger before the age of 28, I could transcend my reputation.

'That if everyone from my past could see me so put together, so accomplished in New York City, so settled down, my voice would finally be worth hearing.'

Before becoming a highly acclaimed author, Knoll worked as an editor at Cosmopolitan magazine. She wed a man named Gregory Cortese in 2013, and together.

Knoll wrote the screenplay for Netflix's adaptation of Luckiest Girl Alive, and has also served as the executive producer for the flick.

She previously told Today that she wasn't on set when they filmed the sexual assault scene out of respect to the actors.

'A lot of that had to do with the fact that I didnt want to make the actors feel uncomfortable,' she explained.

'Im an executive producer and I wrote this thing and everyone knows that its inspired by my real life experience.

'I could tell people were nervous around me. I was like, "This is a job people need to do and I dont want to make it any more uncomfortable than it needs to be."'

She also told the outlet that she decided to add the school shooting because she always felt like what happened to her 'wasn't bad enough.'

'I still had the idea in my head that what happened to Ani wasnt bad enough, because thats what happened to me. I thought I had to make it worse,' she said.

She went on to release a second novel, called The Favorite Sister, in 2018, and the TV rights for the book were snagged by the producer of hit series Big Little Lies; she is currently working on her third book.
Princess Beatrice stepped out with her husband at the Frieze Art Fair in London this afternoon - and it may have been a family affair as the Queen's husband Lady Helen Taylor was also spotted mooching around.

Beatrice, 34, wore a black tweed jacket with gem buttons from Zara while she perused the art on display in the company of her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, 38, at the fair in Regent's Park.

She teamed the blazer, which she has worn several times before, with a faithful pair of black Gucci Jordaan loafers with gold detailing.

Princess Beatrice, 34, and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, 38, attended the Frieze Art Fair in Regent's Park, London, on Wednesday afternoon

Lady Helen Taylor was also spotted at the VIP preview event with her youngest daughter Lady Estella Taylor, 17

To accessorise, the Princess carried a black leather Saint Laurent Sac de Jour Nano Bag.

Lady Helen Taylor was also spotted at the VIP preciew event with her daughter, Lady Estella Taylor, 17.

Lady Helen is a distant cousin of Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, as the great-great granddaughter of King George V and the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, who is the Queen's first cousin.

The royals attended the VIP preview event of the Frieze Art Fair, organised by Frieze London which was founded in 2003.

The fair takes place every October in Regent's Park and showcases work from both emerging and long-established artists, with this year's event expected to display works from 160 galleries around the world.

Princess Beatrice wore a recycled Zara blazer and Gucci loafers, and accessorised with a SAin Laurent bag as she perused the art on display

The daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson has had a busy week, after also attending a meeting in London on Tuesday to mark the International Day of the Girl.

Appearing alongside the Swedish ambassador to the UK Mikaela Kumlin Granit, mother-of-one Beatrice wore a 350 military-style blazer from ME+EM.

In pictures posted to Twitter by the ambassador, Beatrice appeared to be at the event today, run by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, alongside several schoolgirls as they marked the annual occasion.

International Day of the Girl aims to focus attention on the need to address the challenges girls face and to promote their empowerment and the fulfilment of their human rights.
Charles and Camilla spent three weeks in Scotland following Queen's funeral

It was the King's first engagement since his coronation date was announced

The King, 73, in high spirits as he greeted the Commonwealth leaders and the PM

King Charles was hard at work this afternoon as he had a weekly audience with prime minister Liz Truss at Buckingham Palace before also welcoming the King and Queen of Malaysia.

The new monarch's meeting with the prime minister is an event that is held every Wednesday after she is quizzed by the leader of the opposition, Sir Keir Starmer, at Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons.

However his meeting with Yang Di-Pertuan Agong XVI and the Raja Permaisuri Agong this afternoon marked a much less frequent occurrence, with the King and Queen of Malaysia making their first visit to the UK for a year.

King Charles met with Prime Minister Liz Truss for a weekly audience after she received a grilling from the leader of the opposition, Sir Keir Starmer, at PMQs

The King held an audience with Yang Di-Pertuan Agong XVI and the Raja Permaisuri Agong at Buckingham Palace this afternoon.

The King pictured shaking hands with Yang Di-Pertuan Agong XVI at Buckingham Palace this afternoon

The monarch - pictured at Buckingham Palace this afternoon - welcomed the couple to the UK as he held an audience with them

It was the King's first engagement since his return to the UK from Scotland - where he spent three weeks with the Queen Consort following his mother's funeral.

The King, 73, appeared in high spirits as he wore a pinstripe suit to greet the PM and the Commonwealth leaders.

Shaking hands with His Majesty Al-Sultan Abdullah first, Charles then greeted Raja Permaisuri Agong before formally welcoming the couple to the UK.

This afternoon's engagement marked the first time King Charles had been pictured since the details of his coronation were announced yesterday.

Last night, Buckingham Palace announced that the coronation will take place on Saturday, May 6.

The Palace confirmed that the Queen Consort will be crowned alongside him by the Archbishop of Canterbury at Westminster Abbey.

King Charles is said to want a more modest affair than is tradition with the event being cut down to less than an hour, the guest list slashed by a three quarters and a less formal dress code.

The Prime Minister curtseyed as she shook hands with King Charles III on their weekly audience this afternoon

Charles and Camilla spent three weeks in Scotland following The Queen's funeral. Pictured waving to crowds outside Dunfermline Abbey on October 3, 2022

King Charles completed his first royal engagement since details of his coronation were announced this afternoon. Pictured during the State Opening of Parliament on May 10, 2022

'The Coronation will reflect the monarch's role today and look towards the future, while being rooted in longstanding traditions and pageantry,' the Palace confirmed as it revealed the date.

Palace insiders said that while the Coronation will include the same core elements of the traditional ceremony which has retained a similar structure for more than 1,000 years, it would recognise the 'spirit of our times'.

It is expected to be much 'smaller and simpler' than the three-hour spectacle of the late Queen's momentous Coronation in 1953.

Plans for the major event are known by the codename Operation Golden Orb, which sets out the blueprint for the service and the pageantry surrounding it.

The coronation of King Charles III will take place on May 6, 2023, Buckingham Palace announced on October 11, 2022. The late Queen Elizabeth pictured on her Coronation day on June 2, 1953

Prince Charles looks solemn as he stands chin on hand between the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret in the Royal Box at Westminster Abbey, from where he saw Queen Elizabeth II crowned on June 2, 1953

They are expected to see the guestlist slashed from 8,000 to just 2,000 with a more relaxed dress code with peers possibly allowed to wear lounge suits rather than ceremonial robes.

Ancient and time-consuming rituals - including presenting the monarch with gold ingots - are also set to be axed to save time.

However, the Prince of Wales is expected to play a prominent role in the occasion  the first time an heir will participate in the proceedings in three generations.

Charles was just four when his mother was crowned and the late Queen was 11 at the time of her father's coronation  as children neither played a formal role.

In contrast Prince William  aged 40 and a full-fledged working royal  is expected to be an eminent figure at the event.
When meeting an ex-husbands new lover, its a womans instinct to draw comparisons between herself and her replacement. Is she prettier? Taller? Slimmer? Cleverer?

However, when David, her former husband of 18 years, introduced Serena Morton to his latest squeeze, there was not a single similarity. Romanian, 5ft 10in to her 5ft 4in, gym-toned and 25 years Serenas junior  so far so predictable, you might think.

But the lover in question was also a man David said This is Carlos, and I knew it must be one of his boyfriends. So I said: Ooh, hes nice, isnt he? and David laughed.

Carlos was gorgeous looking, and I could have spent all night chatting to him. However, I think he felt uncomfortable when David introduced me as his ex-wife.

Serena Morton was married to her David (both pictured) for 18 years before he came out to her. After falling apart the couple have reunited as best friends

David, 60, and Serena, 57, have two grownup children together. But their marriage ended in bitter acrimony four years ago, after David told Serena he was gay, and could no longer continue living a lie. My whole world exploded when David told me he no longer wanted to be with me, and wanted to date men, says Serena, a striking woman with gunmetal grey hair and olive skin, who tutors children excluded from mainstream school.

I honestly didnt know how I was going to go on living without him and yet, unlike when a husband goes off with another woman, I knew I couldnt possibly compete.

Id lost the fight hands down, because I wasnt a man and David made it clear that being with men was the only thing that would make him happy.

Serena was unable to eat and lost two stone in weight, going down to just seven-and-ahalf stone. She felt so anxious she barely slept for months.

I actually hated him for doing that to me and, Im ashamed to admit now, I hated the whole gay community.

I remember a friend being appalled by some of the things I was saying. She said: Serena, this is not like you! But I was hurting so much. David was the love of my life  yet now I realised I could never be the love of his.

Serena credits their children, Abbey, 21, and George, 20, who are both students, for getting her through the nightmare, ensuring she ate the occasional sandwich and doing their best to cheer her up. Yet they, too, had some serious adjusting to do, as the revelation about their fathers sexuality came as a terrible shock to them both.

Serena and David are pictured here on their wedding day. Serena said that she felt used at first and that David had only wanted children, not her

Although David had told Serena he was bisexual when they started dating 23 years ago, he now says he was mistaken, and that he is  and always has been  gay.

However, it was never something they felt the need to share with their children. It simply didnt seem to matter, given the speed with which he committed to Serena.

When the couple met in June 1999, David was in sales while Serena worked in a bank in their home town of Bournemouth.

David was a customer and, mesmerised by her beauty and multi-tasking skills, he asked her out on a date.

Within three months, David  a handsome, eloquent man of 37  had moved in with her. Three months after that, with both keen to start a family, Serena was pregnant with daughter Abbey.

We were ecstatic, recalls Serena. I remember walking into our bedroom, holding a positive pregnancy test, and David climbing out of bed and getting down on one knee, asking tearfully: Will you marry me?

I had no reservations about marrying someone I thought was bisexual, because when you exchange wedding vows, you commit to one person.

I assumed hed wanted kids but not a wife and I just felt used

I couldnt have been happier  Id always wanted children, adds David. Serena is a beautiful woman and I was very attracted to her. And I definitely loved her. I still do  just not in the way a husband loves a wife.

David, who runs a pub quiz company, struggles to explain how he could have been so content in a heterosexual relationship, when he is now certain that he is indisputably, unequivocally gay.

I wish I had an answer, he says. But, when I proposed, I was as sure as anyone can be that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Serena.

In the months after their split, Serena felt convinced that David had lied and exploited her to realise his dream of being a father.

The only way I could make sense of what David had done was to assume hed wanted children but not a wife, which left me feeling used, she says.

Serena was 20 weeks pregnant on their wedding day at her familys local Methodist church.

They celebrated with a meal for 50 and an evening reception for 200 guests at a beautiful hotel in Lyndhurst, in the New Forest.

Both Serena and David say it was the perfect day.

Abbey was just eight months old when Serena discovered she was pregnant with George  unplanned but very much wanted.

Serena is pictured here with children Abbey and George. The children struggled to accept their parents split at first

After Georges birth, she and David both recall, their sex life ground to a halt  and it never recovered. Both insist it never crossed their minds that this might have had anything to do with Davids sexuality.

When I spoke to friends with young children they admitted rarely having sex either, we were all so exhausted, says Serena.

David and I were always tactile. In bed we would have a cuddle, kiss each other and say: I love you. It never led to anything more intimate, because, I imagined, we were out of the habit.

We held hands and put our arms around each other when we were out, just like any normal couple.

For his part, David says the desire was just not there, something he also put down to the exhaustion of raising a family.

Although sex is, in Serenas opinion, an important part of a relationship, she was willing to stay married to David without it.

Indeed, she doesnt remember even discussing the lack of intimacy with him  because everything else was pretty perfect.

He was the love of my life. Yet now I realised I could never be the love of his

Eventually, however, David did start to question his feelings. He admits that, several years into his marriage, he became aware he was gay and wanted to be with men.

He even dropped hints about feeling unfulfilled and needing to explore his true identity, which Serena says she was oblivious to at the time.

Yet he couldnt bear the thought of becoming a weekend dad  and would have felt too guilty to cheat on Serena.

So they muddled on until September 2018, when David says he could live a lie no longer and announced that he was going to the Spanish island of Gran Canaria to make a go of his quiz business in a bustling resort there.

Id felt very depressed for a while, he says. I was doing a job (in sales) I didnt like, in a marriage that didnt work for me. The children were teenagers, and I couldnt carry on. Either I was going to die very bitter, or finally do something that made me happy.

I had friends in Gran Canaria and theres a big gay community, so I hoped sex with men would be part of the package.

David never mentioned this to Serena. Yet a week after his departure they were talking over FaceTime and she said: Im sensing that you dont want to be with me any more. Davids reply sent her spiralling into the abyss. He just said: No, I dont. And Im not coming back.

Serena says she knew instinctively that he wanted to be free to date men. Although he didnt say it explicitly, his talk of male friends and references to feeling more myself than I have in years all pointed towards what she had been trying to ignore for a very long time: Her husband was gay.

Seeing their mother distraught, Abbey and George, then 16 and 17, wanted to know what was going on. It was an awful moment  and Serena spoke in haste.

I dont remember my exact words but I do remember telling them, in a state of upset and anger: Your dads not coming back  and hes gay,  she recalls. Abbey kept saying: No, Dad wouldnt do that. And I said: Well he has!

George just paced up and down the lounge saying: Oh my God. Eventually he said: Well, if thats Dad, thats Dad. 

The following day, when Serena told David she had broken the news to their children, he was furious.

Hed dropped hints about fulfilling his true identity

Even now, four years later, this is evidently still a very touchy subject with him.

While Serena explains that she didnt want the children holding on to any hope that their parents might get back together, David unconsciously clenches his fists and his breathing speeds up as he tries to suppress anger.

Tentatively, I ask why this is such a big issue for him.

Why? he asks, incredulous. Because coming out is massively important to gay people. This is why outing people is considered to be such a terrible thing to do, because it is so grotesquely unfair and you should be able to share, as and when you feel its appropriate.

I was denied my chance to speak to my own children about my sexuality because Serena had told them I was gay, instead of allowing me to do that, and, as far as I'm concerned, that's unforgivable.

However, we have both done things the other has found deeply hurtful and have had to move on, otherwise wed be resentful and bitter for ever.

David decided to record a video which he sent to both children, explaining his position.

I told them I wasnt the right man for their mother. I dont think I said anything more explicit, because Serena had already done that, he says.

While Serena was falling apart, David says he felt content for the first time in many years.

I dated a couple of men, nothing serious, but the important thing was being able to be truly myself, he says.

However, over the next few months Davids business plans hit the buffers. Missing him, and worried about how they would continue to pay for the family home  a detached chalet-style house in Queens Park, an upmarket area of Bournemouth  in January 2019, Serena decided to fly to Gran Canaria to see if their marriage could be salvaged.

I missed David so much that I wasnt functioning properly, she says. I had to take time off work because I was having panic attacks that kept me awake all night, and my friends and family were worried about how much weight Id lost. A bit of me hoped hed see me and decide he wanted to be with me again after all.

At the same time, I was worried sick about how I was going to keep paying the mortgage and bills on my own, and wanted to make sure David intended to carry on contributing, at least until the children left home.

Despite the rage and animosity there had been between the couple, astonishingly, when they met, David and Serena slotted back into easy companionship.

David looked happier and healthier than he had in years, and the first thing he said was: Have you come to drag me back then?, recalls Serena.

We shared the double bed in his Airbnb that night, snuggling up together as usual.

Desperate to hold on to a bit of her husband, Serena agreed to try an open marriage in which David would move back in to the marital home, but pursue relationships with men.

She had no inclination, at that stage, to go on dates herself. But while she tried to turn a blind eye to Davids encounters with men, whom hed met through dating apps, within weeks the torment had become too much to bear.

I hated it. I couldnt go near him when he came home from these dates, she recalls. One afternoon, in May 2019, I told him I couldnt carry on. We removed our wedding rings and I said we would each have to find somewhere else to live. I remember David rushing off to the loo in tears. Even though he didnt want me like a traditional wife, he didnt want to live apart from the children.

I had thought I could still live with him, but it turned out I couldnt, and I told him, angrily, that it was selfish of him to expect me to do so.

David moved out, they eventually sold the family home and now live a 15-minute drive apart.

But the relationships between David and some family members were in tatters. Although George continued to see his father, Abbey refused to speak to David, and Serenas only contact with him was to discuss finances.

I felt so hurt and, although I never asked her not to see her dad, I think Abbey was being loyal to me, says Serena.

So far, so common for a divorced couple, especially in such trying circumstances. Serena eventually started a new relationship and it seemed as though she and David might never be close again.

Then, last January, events took another turn.

When Serena went through a tough time after her two-and-ahalf-year relationship ended, she realised there was only one shoulder she wanted to lean on.

I called David, because only he would understand how I was feeling, says Serena.

I had a good cry and David was really comforting.

The two of them met for dinner several times in the months that followed, and slowly a friendship between them grew.

In March, Serena invited him to join her and the children for Mothers Day, and he and daughter Abbey finally healed their rift.

Abbey told me shed felt abandoned, says David. I hadnt imagined it would matter so much to her  but I was wrong. That was very upsetting.

Did they broach the subject of Davids sexuality, I wonder.

She said she wasnt prepared to talk about it, and I havent spoken in depth to George about it either, says David.

George asked me recently: Are you happy you had children? I thought How could he even doubt that? So I told him that I definitely am.

Instead of returning to his career in sales, David has retrained as a glazier. But in late August, he fell from a ladder, breaking his pelvis and shoulder and crushing his ribs, and was rushed to hospital. When doctors decided to transfer him to the intensive care unit, Serena was surprised to get a call from doctors as his next of kin.

I still feel that, after my children, she is the closest person to me, says David. He hasnt entered a new long-term relationship, and other than that chance encounter with Carlos, he hasnt introduced any new partner to his family.

Since his fall, Serena has been a huge support to David, cooking him meals and driving him around. They speak most days and Serena says she doesnt feel resentful about Davids reliance on her  just pleased that, although they can no longer be spouses, they are the best of unlikely friends.

Given how things have turned out, would they, with hindsight, have gone ahead with their marriage 22 years ago?

I feel bad that Serena didnt have enough information to make the right decisions, says David. But I could never regret having our children.

Serena is more circumspect. If wed known how things would turn out we probably wouldnt have gone ahead with it, she says. But I only have to look at our children to know that would have been a great shame.

I wouldnt be without them and, strange though it may sound, I feel honoured that David chose to have them with me.

I was very much in love with him. Most importantly to me, we were good parents, so although there was a fundamental flaw in our marriage, we must have done something right.'

ADDITIONAL REPORTING: Matthew Barbour
What a horrible shock to wake up on Monday morning and hear the news that Putin had ordered widespread bombing across Ukraine. My refugee family is now living to the west of the country, in Lviv. We had assumed it might be safer away from the front line, but so far dozens of missiles have rained down on the region and who knows where it will end.

I texted Zoriana immediately: So distressed by what Im hearing on the news. Let me know you and Ustym are OK. I wish you were here.

Never before have I written those words with such absolute conviction. Oh how I wish they were here!

It was several anxious hours before I heard back. Dont worry. We are still OK. Ustym is in the basement of the university. Im in my basement too. No electricity or water. The internet was very bad. The situation is awful.

Jenni Murray (center) is concerned about her Ukrainian refugees back in Lviv. Zoryana (left) had gone back with her son Ustym (right)

A little later came: The electricity has just appeared in Lviv. So does the water. It was a very difficult day. Hope tomorrow will be safe.

So far so good for them both, but no one knows how this war may escalate and I worry about them terribly.

It was in March that I signed up for the UK's Homes For Ukraine scheme. I had just enough room in my little London house to accommodate a woman and her child. I found Zoriana and Ustym through a Ukrainian woman who lives locally.

Their part of Ukraine had not been as heavily bombed as cities in the east, but there was bombardment of military installations near Zorianas small town, some 50 miles from Lviv.

They spent night after night sheltering in the basement of their block of flats. Zoriana is 39 and an English teacher. Ustym was 17 and his mother, a single parent, was desperate to get him out of danger before his 18th birthday. After that, she believed, he would not be allowed to leave and could be called up to fight.

When I picked them up at Luton airport in April, I knew immediately they would be a pleasure to have in my home. We greeted each other warmly and soon became the greatest of friends. The first months were hard work. But at least they were safe.

Smoke rising over the city after Russian missile strikes, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Lviv, Ukraine

Ustym spent hours doing online lessons in his room in preparation for the Ukrainian equivalent of his A-levels. Zoriana found cleaning jobs and we dealt with masses of bureaucracy together.

We met officials at our local council; travelled across London to get biometric visas which would last for three years, enabling them to go home and then return; and registered them with my local GP. We hit a huge barrier when it came to Ustyms education. Ukrainian exams could not be done online.

His English was too poor for school or university in this country. In June Zoriana was persuaded to take him home so he could do his exams there. If he did well, we could arrange intensive English courses and get him into university here. That was the plan.

They came back to me last month, the day before his 18th birthday. We went out to dinner to celebrate, but Ustym was clearly miserable. It became clear to me that he desperately wanted to go home. Hed done so well in his exams and had been offered a place at Lviv University to study medicine.

Persuading his mother that it might be the right thing for him was difficult. They are so close, but she had to accept that he was now an adult and their relationship might be damaged if she forced him to follow her plans and give up his own.

Eventually, she gave in. They flew home a few weeks ago when Lviv was far calmer. Zoriana had decided to stay near to Ustym, making sure he settled into his studies, before returning to me and making her life here in England. She is welcome to come back to mine at any point  but I doubt she will.

Ustym has now been told to study at home so the nest is not so empty for now.

I made a promise when I joined the UK Governments scheme to offer housing and support for six months, and received 350 a month from the council to cover expenses. I know from the WhatsApp group to which I belong that not everyone has found hosting as satisfying as I have. I would have been happy to continue for much longer.

The last thing I expected was that, six months on from that happy day in April, my wonderful Ukrainian guests would be back where they started  and in even greater danger.

That pigeons ruffling my feathers

Sarah Jessica Parker pictured on the set of 'And Just Like That' in New York, carrying the 650 JW Anderson pigeon bag

What is the point of a bag that looks like a pigeon and holds only a phone and a lipstick? Sarah Jessica Parker was snapped carrying the 650 JW Anderson bag on the set of Sex And The City series And Just Like That. What she really needs is a giant tote for a wallet, phone, make-up, pens, notepad, emergency medication... I call mine my life-support system.

Disappointed in Strictly this year. Celebrities I dont recognise, its feeling past its sell-by date. So I record it, spin through the tired old scripts and just watch each dance. Saves an hour and a half.

Daisys battle for rape victims

Every so often you come across a woman whose courage, determination and resourcefulness simply blow you away. Daisy is one such. She always knew she had been adopted.

When she was 13, she saw a document with information about her birth parents. Her mother had been 14 when she was born. Her father was much older. Her conception, she found, followed sexual intercourse without consent.

She found her mother and, in 2015, tracked down her father. In 2019 she persuaded her mother to make a statement about her rape. DNA confirmed Carvel Bennett was her father. He was convicted and sent to jail.

In the past year between 2,080 and 3,356 babies were conceived by rape in England and Wales. Daisy is fighting for a change in the law which would classify such children as victims of rape. It would be called Daisys Law. May she succeed.

Ian Cushing, English lecturer at Edge Hill University in Lancashire, says efforts to improve vocabulary in schools are racist, classist and ableist. The presenter Amol Rajan says too many at the BBC used received pronunciation. Neither seems to appreciate that the best lesson is the ability to write and speak clearly. Innit?

My dogs are emotional supports too

Jenni's dog Madge pictured. Jenni says that agrees with Prince Harry that dogs are emotional support

Cant say Ive been too impressed with anything Prince Harry has had to say recently  but Im with him on what he calls the emotional support you get from dogs.

You wont find a human being who never argues with you, never gets cross, never sulks and greets you with boundless enthusiasm every time.

Give me a dog any day!
Halloween is still a few weeks away, but social media is already in an uproar over the likelihood that people will be dressing up as Jeffrey Dahmer this October.

The real-life serial killer and cannibal is expected to be one of the top costumes this year thanks largely in part to the Ryan Murphy drama 'Dahmer  Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,' which has become Netflixs second most popular series of all time.

The show, which stars Evan Peters as Dahmer, has been criticized for glamourizing the notorious murderer who killed and ate 17 victims in Ohio and Wisconsin between 1978 and 1991.

People are being warned not to dress up as real-life serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer (left) for Halloween this year. Instagram user Sophia Casanova recently shared a throwback photo of herself posing as the murderer (right)

Dahmer killed and ate 17 men and boys in Ohio and Wisconsin between 1978 and 1991

The renewed interest in Dahmer and his crimes has people warning others not to don a blonde wig and gold-frame glasses this Halloween, explaining that dressing as the deranged serial killer is a slap in the face to the families of his victims.

'The constant lack of remorse for Dahmer's victims on social media makes me believe many people are going dress as Jeffery Dahmer and his victims for Halloween and that is so sick,' one person tweeted.

Another added: 'I'm am urging people to PLEASE not dress up as Jeffery Dahmer for Halloween. We get that there is a cool new Netflix show about him but this man was a real-life murderer who does not deserve the praise.'

'FFS, please do not "Cosplay" or dress up as Jeffrey Dahmer for Halloween. Stop idolizing a horrific human that committed atrocious crimes. Its f**king weird,' someone else insisted. 'Go to therapy to work through your weird a** obsession, too. That s**t is not healthy.'

Dahmer is expected to be one of the top costumes this year thanks in part to the Netflix series 'Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,' which stars Evan Peters as the killer (pictured)

The renewed interest in Dahmer and his crimes has people taking to Twitter to slam anyone who is thinking about dressing up as the serial killer this October

Others claimed people should be 'beat up' for dressing as the serial killer while denouncing his crimes and the true-crime junkies who idolize him.

'If you see someone being Jeffrey Dahmer for Halloween, please beat them up,' one Twitter user wrote, while another commented: 'If I see ANYONE dress up as [Jeffrey] Dahmer for Halloween, hands will be thrown, Im not sorry.'

However, despite the backlash brewing, there are a number of Dahmer costume tutorials that have been shared on TikTok in recent weeks.

Some of the clips show how key pieces of the killer's wardrobe can easily be purchased online, including versions of his signature gold-frame glasses.

However, despite the backlash brewing, there are a number of Dahmer costume tutorials that have been shared on TikTok in recent weeks

Some of the clips show how key pieces of the killer's wardrobe can easily be purchased online, including blonde wigs

Critics insist that dressing as Dahmer is a slap in the face to the families of his victims

People have also been sharing photos of their Dahmer costumes from Halloween past in anticipation of October 31.

Instagram user Sophia Casanova recently posted a split photo of herself posed as the killer when he got his mugshot taken.

The snapshot, which was from five years ago, was allegedly removed from the platform. Casanova posted it again last month, writing: 'I worked too hard to be censored!'

Dahmer is considered one of America's most terrifying serial killers, having murdered 17 men and boys  many of whom were young, gay African Americans  during his 13-year killing spree.

People have also been sharing photos of their Dahmer costumes from Halloween past in anticipation of October 31, including Casanova (pictured)

One Twitter user hared her Dahmer costume back in 2020, a year after she dressed as the notorious killer for Halloween

His victims ranged from age 14 to 33, and many of his murders involved necrophilia and cannibalism. He was convicted of 16 of his murders in 1992 and was sentenced to 16 life sentences in prison.

In November 1994, he was bludgeoned to death with a metal bar by Christopher Scarver, another inmate at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin.

Peters, 35, admitted in an interview with Netflix that portraying Dahmer in his new series was 'one of the hardest things I've ever had to do in my life.'

The actor shared that he was 'very scared' to take on the role due to the serial killer's horrific past, explaining that he had to go to 'dark places' during filming to get into the mindset of a monster.

'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,' he said.
The Prince of Wales hosted a virtual conversation with the mayor of Boston, where this year's Earthshot Prize awards will be held, this afternoon.

Prince William, 40, chatted to mayor Michelle Wu about Boston's work on sustainability and ongoing preparations for the December event, Kensington Palace said.

The conversation comes after William addressed the summit via video link last month to confirm he and Kate, Princess of Wales, would be making the journey stateside to attend the ceremony.

The Prince of Wales, 40, (pictured) hosted a video call with Michelle Wu, the mayor of Boston, this afternoon ahead of his visit to the city next month

William chatted with Michelle after confirming he will be attending the ceremony with the Princess of Wales, following a cancellation of his visit to the summit last month

The father-of-three had been scheduled to appear at the conference but cancelled the appearance following the death of his grandmother, Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II as the family was still observing a mourning period.

Instead, he addressed the conference in a pre-recorded video message in which he said his late grandmother had 'loved' hearing about the Earthshot Prize.

He said: 'Although it is the saddest circumstances that I am unable to join you today, I am able to join you in video form as you gather in New York for the Earthshot Prize innovation summit.'

He went on to confirm he and Kate would travel to Boston in December for the second Earthshot Prize award ceremony, adding they are 'so excited.'

The Prince of Wales continued: 'During this time of grief, I take great comfort in your continued enthusiasm, optimism and commitment to the Earthshot Prize and what we are trying to achieve.

'Protecting the environment was of course close to my grandmother's heart, and I know she would be delighted to hear about this event and the support you are all giving our Earthshot Prize finalists, the next generation of environmental pioneers.

Prince William, 40, recorded a message for his Earthshot Prize innovation summit in New York - after cancelling his solo trip to the States following the Queen 's death

'Together in this room are the people and organisations who will help us achieve our Earthshot mission - to rejuvenate our planet within this current decade.'

The prize, which will be awarded next month, aims to discover and scale-up groundbreaking solutions to repair the planet and 1 million in prize money was presented to the winners in five categories, or Earthshots - protect and restore nature; clean our air; revive our oceans; build a waste-free world; and fix our climate.

The inaugural Earthshot Prize awards ceremony was held at London's Alexandra Palace last October and among those who walked the event's green carpet were Harry Potter star Emma Watson, wearing a wedding dress made of 10 dresses from Oxfam, and Dame Emma Thompson.

Among the winners were projects restoring coral reefs, redistributing unwanted food to the disadvantaged and a project battling the issues contributing to air pollution in India.

The Princess of Wales presented the winning award in the protect and restore nature category to the government of Costa Rica, which has pioneered a project paying local citizens to restore natural ecosystems.

Over the 10-year cycle of the awards, 50 million will be awarded to individuals, charities and even countries for the winners to develop their ideas.

It remains to be seen whether the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who have made their home in the US, will be among the guests when the event is staged in early December.
A viral TikTok trend featuring the voice of Bella Hadid is being slammed for 'triggering eating disorders' - after people began using it to post videos highlighting the things that they do to stay skinny.

The audio, which features the model, 26, saying, 'My name, my name is Bella Hadid,' has been used in more than 50,000 videos across the app.

People are using the sound to lightheartedly showcase stuff that they have done recently that made them feel like models - like ordering fries without salt, adding extra lettuce to their burrito bowls, choosing a salad for dinner, and cutting back on sweets.

But when users started posting videos that showed them joking about not eating at all, skipping meals, and starving themselves, some people felt it was taken too far.

A viral TikTok sound featuring the voice of Bella Hadid is being slammed for 'triggering eating disorders' - after people began using it to post videos highlighting things they do to stay skinny

People are using the audio, which features the model, 26, saying, 'My name, my name is Bella Hadid,' to showcase stuff that they have done recently that made them feel like models

Some videos showed people ordering fries without salt, adding extra lettuce to their burrito bowls, choosing a salad for dinner, and cutting back on sweets

But when users started posing videos that showed them joking about not eating at all, skipping meals, and starving themselves, some people felt it was taken too far

'Me after only chewing gum for breakfast,' wrote one TikToker, as he mouthed along to the quote from Bella.

'Me after only chewing gum for breakfast,' wrote one TikToker, as he mouthed along to the quote from Bella

'Me after losing my appetite the past three weeks from sadness,' said someone else in another video.

A third person's TikTok read, 'Me when I don't eat in the morning before school.'

Another video featured a woman showcasing her physique as the Bella sound played in the background.

'When you go through a breakup and lose the will to eat,' she wrote.

Other TikToks said, 'Me when I only eat air for breakfast,' 'Me after not eating anything the whole day,' 'Me when I sleep until 4pm so I miss breakfast and lunch,' and, 'Me after surviving off nothing but a bottle of water and a piece of gum for seven hours at school.'

And while many of the videos were posted in jest, that didn't stop numerous people from bashing the trend and pointing out the potential dangers that it could bring for people with an eating disorder.

'Me watching the videos under this sound that all slightly trigger my ED,' wrote one TikToker, named Victoria Paris, in a video of her own, which showed her starring at the camera with a horrified look on her face.

'Me after losing my appetite the past three weeks from sadness,' said someone else in another video

Another video featured a woman showcasing her physique as the Bella sound played in the background. 'When you go through a breakup and lose the will to eat,' she wrote

Other TikToks said, 'Me after not eating anything the whole day,' and, 'Me after surviving off nothing but a bottle of water and a piece of gum for seven hours at school'

Many people who agreed with Victoria's sentiment took to the comment section to share their dismay, with one person writing, 'More than slightly.'

'Me trying to laugh as if I'm not going to think about it for the rest of the day,' commented another user.

'Same, it's so triggering,' agreed someone else, while another TikToker added, 'Im so glad Im not alone when I see these vids.'

'No for real, they be giving me ideas,' admitted a different person.

'Hate this trend. I hate how they low-key make fun of her and trigger people at the same time... Why cant they turn it into something positive?' asked another commenter.

Someone else said: 'Yeah its not funny at all and people are making jokes, glamorizing disordered [eating] habits, undereating, and praising Bella when she's at a very unhealthy weight.'

Back in March, Bella detailed her own personal struggles with body image to Vogue magazine, and revealed that she developed anorexia during high school.

The 26-year-old said she had been prescribed extended-release Adderall for her inattention, as doctors believed she had suffered with ADHD, but Bella claimed the appetite-suppressant effect of the medication kickstarted an eating disorder.

She recalled: 'I was on this calorie-counting app, which was like the devil to me. Id pack my little lunch with my three raspberries, my celery stick.

While many have participated in the trend, others are bashing it for 'glamorizing' disordered eating, and one TikToker wrote in a video that it even 'triggered' her eating disorder

Many people who agreed with Victoria's sentiment took to the comment section to share their dismay, with one person writing, 'People are normalizing the behavior, it's so sad'

@victoriaparis like i gotta swipe or look away im a snowflake sensitive baby  som original - Eduarda Reboucas

'I was just trying, I realize now, to feel in control of myself when I felt so out of control of everything else.'

While Bella said she now has a healthy relationship with food, she admitted that she still struggles with dysmorphic feelings.

'I can barely look in the mirror to this day because of that period in my life,' she revealed.

During the interview, Bella also explained how she felt 'ugly' and 'uncool' in comparison to elder sister, Gigi Hadid, while growing up.

Bella went on to note that criticism of her looks from the public made her feel as though she wasn't worthy of being deemed a supermodel.

She explained: 'I've had this impostor syndrome where people made me feel like I didn't deserve any of this.

'People always have something to say, but what I have to say is, I've always been misunderstood in my industry and by the people around me.

'I was the uglier sister. I was the brunette. I wasn't as cool as Gigi, not as outgoing. That's really what people said about me. And unfortunately when you get told things so many times, you do just believe it.

'I always ask myself, how did a girl with incredible insecurities, anxiety, depression, body-image issues, eating issues, who hates to be touched, who has intense social anxiety - what was I doing getting into this business? But over the years I became a good actress.

'I put on a very smiley face, or a very strong face. I always felt like I had something to prove.

Back in March, Bella detailed her own personal struggles with body image to Vogue magazine, and revealed that she developed anorexia during high school

While Bella said she now has a healthy relationship with food, she admitted that she still struggles with dysmorphic feelings. She is seen as a child with her sister, Gigi Hadid

'People can say anything about how I look, about how I talk, about how I act. But in seven years I never missed a job, canceled a job, was late to a job. No one can ever say that I don't work my... off.'

She also told the outlet that she previously had to seek professional help for depression - checking herself into a treatment facility for two weeks.

She went on to state that the fashion industry can 'make or break you' and she has to work hard to ensure she's not neglecting her mental health.

'To have to wake up every morning with this brain - its not cute,' she shared. 'So now everything that I do in my personal life is literally to make sure that my mental state stays above water.

'Fashion can make you or break you. And if it makes you, you have to make a conscious effort every day for it not to break you. Theres always a bit of grief in love.

'For three years while I was working, I would wake up every morning hysterical, in tears, alone.

'I wouldnt show anybody that. I would go to work, cry at lunch in my little greenroom, finish my day, go to whatever random little hotel I was in for the night, cry again, wake up in the morning, and do the same thing.

'For so long, I didnt know what I was crying about. I always felt so lucky, and that would get me even more down on myself. There were people online saying, "You live this amazing life."

'So then how can I complain? I always felt that I didnt have the right to complain, which meant that I didnt have the right to get help, which was my first problem.'
The mother-of-two braved the 24C heat in a high street broderie anglaise frock

Sophie, Countess of Wessex looked sensational in a Zara dress as she attended a reception for the Trachoma Elimination Programme in Malawi today.

Prince Edward's wife, 57, opted for the lightweight broderie anglaise frock as she braved the 24C heat in Salima.

Styling her blonde hair in loose waves, the mother-of-two finished off her look with a blue croc-effect clutch bag by French-Italian designer Sophie Habsburg.

The Countess of Wessex attended the reception at the Sunbird Waterfront Hotel to celebrate the country's success in eliminating the infectious disease trachoma, which is known to cause blindness.

The Countess of Wessex during a reception to celebrate the success of the Trachoma Elimination Programme, held at the Sunbird Waterfront Hotel, in Salima, during a visit to Malawi

The mother-of-two delivered speech to mark the success of the Trachoma Elimination Programme.

Sophie - pictured with the charity's delegates - attended the reception in her capacity as a global ambassador for the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness. Her blue croc-effect handbag is by French-Italian designer Sophie Habsburg

Ending avoidable blindness is a cause the royal has long lent her name to, and she has worked with the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) for some 20 years.

Sophie is visiting Malawi in her role as a global ambassador for the IAPB, and as former vice patron of the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust.

Kicking off the evening's celebrations, Sophie and delegates watched a performance by the country's National Dance Troupe.

The mother then delivered a speech to mark the success of the Trachoma Elimination Programme.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) announced a few weeks ago it had validated Malawi's elimination of trachoma as a public health issue, making it the fourth country in WHO's African Region after Ghana (June 2018), Gambia (April 2021) and Togo (May 2022) to achieve this significant milestone.

Ending avoidable blindness is a cause the royal has long lent her name to, and she has worked with the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) for some 20 years. Pictured delivering a speech to celebrate the success of the Trachoma Elimination Programme

Tomorrow Sophie will mark World Sight Day by visiting a local clinic to learn about its sight saving surgeries and treatments. Pictured at the Trachoma Elimination Programme reception in Salima this evening

Over the past week, the Countess has also visited Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda as part of her solo tour. Pictured with delegates at the Trachoma Elimination Programme reception

Sophie and delegates watched a performance by the country's National Dance Troupe at the beginning of the reception in Malawi

Tomorrow Sophie will mark World Sight Day by visiting a local clinic to learn about its sight saving surgeries and treatments, as well as meeting patients and hearing their stories.

Earlier today, the Countess looked pensive as she flipped through a book of condolence for the beloved Queen while in Ethiopia.

In one photo she appeared to be reading a message from an ambassador, Victor Adeleke, seemingly penned on September 12 - just a few days after the Queen's passing.

In his note, he penned: 'The world will surely miss you! Mama to His Majesty King Charles.

The Countess of Wessex look pensive as she flipped through a book of condolence for the beloved Queen during her trip to Ethiopia today

She was pictured with Ambassador Dr Alastair McPhail as she sat behind an ornate desk to take in the messages

'On behalf of all members of the Embassy of Nigeria, here in Addis, we say journey well to your Lord. Rest in perfect peace.'

The royal sported a chic charcoal grey blazer for the engagement, featuring stylish lapels.

The Countess teamed it with a scoop-necked white top, opting for simple accessories including a pendant necklace and and ring.

She swept her blonde tresses back into a collected hair do, showing off her elegant waves for volume.

Over the past week, Sophie has also visited Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda as part of her solo tour.
An Australian dermal clinician has opened up about the three things she will never do because of what she has learnt in her beauty science degree.

Dermal science student Madeleine has taken to her popular TikTok account with information she has learned in the lab and the classroom about the chemical components of our skincare and makeup products.

'I study the skin full time and these are three things I just won't do again,' she started the video.

The first was wasting her money trying to find a 'reef safe' sunscreen product.

Dermal science student Madeleine has taken to her popular TikTok account with information she has learned in the lab and the classroom about the chemical components of our skincare and makeup products

'As much as the big corporations that are actually damaging the reef would like you to believe it's your fault for wearing sun protection, it's not. Sunscreen isn't the cause of reef bleaching,' she said.

Associate Professor of the Sydney Pharmacy School Nial Wheate reviewed the data that suggests that certain chemicals in our SPF can cause reef bleaching and found it to be false.

'I reviewed the evidence for sunscreen as a risk to coral in my new research, and found that while chemicals in sunscreen pose a risk to corals under laboratory conditions, they are only found at very low levels in real world environments,' he told The Conversation.

'That means when coral bleaching does occur, it is more likely to be due to the marine heatwaves and increased water temperatures that have come with climate change, as well as land-based run-off.'

Madeleine's second point was in relation to products that claim you can use it to exfoliate your skin every day

Madeleine's second point was in relation to products that claim you can use it to exfoliate your skin every day.

'That is too much. You only need to exfoliate at a maximum, once or twice a week,' she explained.

Her final point was to never attack a sudden breakout on your face.

'Honestly you're better off just leaving it alone. You can use a spot treatment with salicylic acid in it once if you like. Also, never pick a pimple again after you've already touched it,' she said.

Her followers were quick to praise her excellent advice.

'Preach about the reef bleaching. My god read a journal,' one fan said.

'This was so helpful,' said another.
The Amazon Prime Early Access Sale is finally here and it is so easy to get overwhelmed with all the amazing deals left and right. But do not worry because we've got you covered with all of our rundowns of the available discounts for the sale event!

In fact, we have already covered some early deals for Amazon Fire TVs, Amazon Luna gaming bundles, Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition, and even the Keurig K-Mini Coffee Brewer. Just scroll down to the end of the article to see all the links.

For this rundown, we are featuring the deals on certain wireless earphones you might be intrested in. Specifically, in case you are planning on buying a new pair of Samsung Galaxy Buds, well, you are in luck because they are part of the Amazon Prime Early Access Sale!

Amazon Prime Early Access Sale 2022 Samsung Galaxy Buds Deals

Ready to check out what Amazon has to offer as far as the Samsung Galaxy Buds are concerned? Here are the great deals you can score for Samsung Galaxy Buds2, Buds Live, and Buds Pro:

Samsung Galaxy Buds2

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Available Colors:



Samsung Galaxy Buds Live

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Related Article: Amazon Confirms Prime Early Access Sale on October 11th and 12th

Amazon Prime Early Access Sale 2022

As previously mentioned, the Amazon Prime Early Access Sale 2022 has already started. It is a limited-time sale event only as it will run for only 48 hours and end on October 12.

According to a press release, Amazon Prime Early Access Sale is taking place in only 15 countries, which are as follows:

Austria

Canada

China

France

Germany

Italy

Luxembourg

the Netherlands

Poland

Portugal

Spain

Sweden

Turkey

United Kingdom

United States of America

We here at iTech Post have already covered some of the early deals that have been made available. These include Amazon's own products, such as Amazon Fire TVs and Amazon Luna gaming bundles.

For coffee addicts out there who cannot survive a day without caffeine, the Keurig K-Mini Coffee Brewer is also on sale and you can get yours for half the original price. There are a number of color options too, which can make deciding what to get a lot more fun but also more difficult.

Aside from Keurig and Samsung, you can also expect deals and discounts from brands such as iRobot, KitchenAid, and more. There is also the "first-ever Top 100 list will feature a curated selection of some of the best deals from brands," according to Amazon.

Keep visiting the iTech Post website and socials so that you keep posted on our coverage of the Amazon Prime Early Access Sale!

Read Also: Amazon Prime Early Access Sale 2022: Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition Essentials Bundle Deals You Can Check Out Now
It has been a month since Abbey Ginns lost her partner and father-of-two Bryce Williams to a tragic accident.

The young mum, 30, was left a widow when the 33-year-old dad was allegedly hit and killed by a driver along Nanango Brooklands Road in Nanango, near the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, on September 6.

On Tuesday Ms Ginns took to Instagram to share a heartbreaking update about how she is feeling in the wake of the tragedy, after the community rallied together and raised more than $350,000 for the family after Bryce's death.

'Every single day without you gets harder. I beg for the day to hurry up and end and in the same breath I feel panicked I'm getting further away from you,' she wrote.

On Tuesday Ms Ginns (bottom left and Bryce top left) took to Instagram to share a heartbreaking update about how she is feeling in the wake of the tragedy, after the community rallied together for the family

Abbey (left) and Bryce (right) met through Ms Ginns' brother Ryan, who is a longtime friend of Bryce's

Bryce was jogging along the side of the road when he was allegedly struck by a passing vehicle at 6.30pm

'My mind is constantly sorting through memories every second of the day, I am completely consumed by it.

'The feeling of you, your smell, seeing you walk past me, hearing your voice, your dry one liners, making the kids and I crack up, your love, and most of all the in-between mundane moments of nothing, of you just being here with me, together, how we should be.

'I could go on for hours, but I guess I have the rest of my life to do that.'

Bryce was jogging along the side of the road when he was allegedly struck by a passing vehicle at 6.30pm on that fateful night. Residents in the area found his body a short time later.

Police seized what is believed to be the vehicle that hit him at a home in Nanango and are still investigating what happened.

Bryce was jogging along the side of the road (pictured) when he was allegedly struck by a passing vehicle at 6.30pm. Residents in the area found his body a short time later

Ms Ginns is a social media influencer who co-founded furniture company Huski Studios with Bryce in 2018

She finished her letter: 'Our love is infinite, and I know you feel the same too. My most favourite person to exist. Two people, one heart'.

Ms Ginns is a fashion marketer turned interior stylist who co-founded furniture company Huski Studios with Bryce in 2018.

They appeared in Vogue Living on October 21, 2019, to talk about their business and how they first met.

The couple first collided when Ms Ginns stopped in Bali en route to Europe. She was only planning to have a few drinks with some expat friends before re-boarding when she met Bryce.

The pair hit it off and she was back in Bali a year later, the love of her life by her side, to re-decorate and re-build a villa.

The family had only just added another baby to their growing brood

'I worked in fashion, but my heart was always in interiors,' Ms Ginns told Vogue. 'It was my idea to re-tile, re-paint and re-floor the villa - Bryce just went along with it.'

It was from this that they decided to start their furniture company and move back to Australia to start a family.

Ms Ginns is also the sister of TV star Ryan Ginns who won Big Brother in 2014.

Ryan penned his own tribute to his best friend Bryce on September 25.

'The hardest thing to do in life is let go of the people you want to grow old with. We shared an idea that our lives would forever intertwine through our family and through our friendship. An idea that grew with us as we grew. We were just getting started and I cherish every minute of it,' he said on Instagram.

'I'd selfishly struck gold when you and Abb fell in love. Not only did I take comfort in knowing that you were her safest place and her biggest adventure but I now had a best mate to do family life with.

'Watching you fall in love and witness what you have both created, with your biggest legacy in Woods and Roo, make me so proud mate. In 33 years you've not only achieved, but loved more, than what most people would dream of in a lifetime.'

Ms Ginns and her partner had only just returned from a family holiday in Vietnam when the father-of-two was killed

Ms Ginns and her partner had only just returned from a family holiday in Vietnam when he was killed.

'Your heart is in mine, Woodi's and Rome's infinitely,' Ms Ginn wrote on social media at the time.

'I have no more words, only tears. You are my forever, you are my home. I love you.'

The death sparked an outpouring of grief from the community and prompted a GoFundMe page to be set up to help the family cope.

'Everyone who knows Bryce, whether it's really well or not, has felt his loss tremendously,' organiser Samantha Servodio wrote

'Everyone who knows Bryce, whether it's really well or not, has felt his loss tremendously,' organiser Samantha Servodio wrote.

'He was the funniest man we all knew, greatest dad, and a beyond loving partner.

'His heart was huge and completely full, where he always kept his friends and family, but most of all the three loves of his life, Abbey, Woodi and Rome.'

Mr Williams was described as a hard worker who went above and beyond for his partner and two children.

'If we can all carry a little bit of grief for Abbey, Woodi and Rome, we hope their load will feel lighter and they can begin to heal somehow,' Ms Servodio wrote.

'Brycey will be so sadly missed everyday, by so many people.'
A 'revolutionary' test which can quickly identify thousands of deadly diseases in babies is being rolled out on the NHS.

In a world first, doctors will use the genetic screening tool to diagnose illnesses in children from cancer to cystic fibrosis, with results within days rather than weeks.

Health experts say the simple blood test which looks for genetic faults in a patient's DNA will speed up treatment for the seriously-ill, saving thousands of young lives every year.

It follows a successful pilot involving 20,000 babies earlier this year, inspired by former Prime Minister David Cameron's son, Ivan.

Today, the head of the NHS will hail it as the start of a 'new era of genomic medicine'.

Seven-month-old Reuben, from Cheltenham, Gloucester, was saved by the service while it was being trialled in March ahead of it being offered nationally. Reuben is pictured with his father Atsushi, 39, and mother Eleanor, 38

Speaking at the inaugural genomics healthcare summit in London, Amanda Pritchard will say she has seen how 'these simple blood tests can change the lives of babies and their families'.

'This global first is an incredible moment for the NHS and will be revolutionary in helping us to rapidly diagnose the illnesses of thousands of seriously ill children and babies  saving countless lives in the years to come,' she will say.

'When a child comes to intensive care timing is everything, so finding the right diagnosis and treatment as quickly as possible is absolutely vital, and I am delighted that the pioneering work of the NHS' Genomic Medicine Service is transforming the way we diagnose and treat patients in England.'

More than 1,200 children and babies end up in intensive care every year and up until now had to undergo extensive tests, with results often taking weeks to come back.

But the new test will be able to determine if a child has any of 6,000 genetic disorders by checking their DNA for faults.

Scientists use a process, known as whole genome sequencing, which involves extracting patient DNA from a sample of blood and running it through a machine for analysis.

David Cameron's eldest son, Ivan, was born in 2002. He was forced to undergo dozens of painful tests before he was eventually diagnosed with rare neurological disorder Ohtahara syndrome. The pair are pictured together

The seven-year-old boy who was saved by the service With potentially lethal levels of ammonia in his blood, doctors faced a battle to keep Reuben Tanaka alive. Medics at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children suspected urea cycle disorder, though tests had proved inconclusive. But thanks to the trial of the rapid whole genome sequencing service, a simple blood test was able to avoid an invasive and potentially dangerous liver biopsy. Mutations in the CPS1 gene were found, meaning his body could not break down nitrogen which in turn caused toxic levels of ammonia in the blood. Dad Atsushi, 39, said: 'When the doctor came out and told us that they were doing everything they could keep him alive, what we were facing really dawned on us. 'We saw him connected to 20, 30 tubes and it was really tough to see.' After he was diagnosed with the rare disorder, Reuben was quickly given life-saving medication. He spent 2.5 months in hospital before finally going home to Cheltenham, Gloucester. Now, seven months, he is doing well while waiting to have a liver transplant that would cure his condition. Mum Eleanor, 38, said: 'All the care Reuben received would not have happened as quickly and his early diagnosis meant we knew what to expect. 'We're so grateful for everything the NHS has done to enable this to happen and the incredible genomic testing we have had.' Atsushi added: 'We're so grateful that despite the difficult times, we never felt alone and we knew we had the NHS teams with us at every step and now we look to the future with hope.' Advertisement

They examine the DNA for genetic mutations, which are then checked against a database of thousands of genetic conditions  with results returned to local doctors within a week.

Around three quarters of rare genetic disorders first show signs in childhood and are responsible for almost a third of neonatal intensive care deaths.

The NHS will continue to check for nine rare conditions in all babies, by collecting drops of blood from their heels when they are a few days old.

But those who show signs of being seriously unwell can be given the new DNA test which will be sent to a lab at the Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

Many of the conditions can be treated or even reversed when dealt with early enough, with medics able to use tailormade drugs and treatments.

Doctors are hopeful the breakthrough will both save lives and improve the quality of countless others, with fewer invasive tests and more personalised care.

Dr Emma Baple, who runs the National Rapid Whole Genome Sequencing Service, said it will 'transform how rare genetic conditions are diagnosed'.

She said: 'We know that with prompt and accurate diagnosis, conditions could be cured or better managed with the right clinical care, which would be life-altering  and potentially lifesaving  for so many seriously unwell babies and children.

'This new service, which has been over five years in the making, is a huge step-change in what we can do for these children and their families, and it is an absolute privilege for us to play a part in helping to give children up and down the country the best care possible.'

The national rollout is part of the NHS Genomic Medicine Service.

It follows the 100,000 Genomes Project, launched by David Cameron in 2012, in memory of his son Ivan, who died in 2009 from a rare neurological disorder.

Since then, the NHS has started offering whole genome sequencing routinely for children and some adults, with certain cancers.

Successive Health Secretaries have vowed to put advances in genomics at the heart of UK healthcare, with Matt Hancock wanting all children to undergo tests as part of a genomic revolution.

But this led to ethical concerns around the storage and use of the data collected with questions over whether patients could regret learning they have or are likely to develop a terminal illness in the future.

The first NHS Genomics Strategy  a five year plan to step up the use of genomic medicine within the NHS  will be unveiled today which will include the establishment of a GMS Ethics Advisory Board to consider the introduction of new technologies, return of results, data protection and genomic research.
Critics slammed the CDC's hire today as 'irresponsible', it was revealed

But the PR group is already working for Moderna, and has worked for Pfizer

A PR company that represents Pfizer and Moderna has staff 'embedded' in the CDC's vaccine division, it has emerged.

New York-based firm Weber Shandwick has been responsible for elevating Pfizer's profile since at least 2006. It partnered with Moderna in June this year, after the small biotech firm became a household name following its vaccine success.

Yet questions are being raised about a possible conflict of interest as it emerged the company was hired by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) during the pandemic to boost its 'health communication'.

It was involved in PR campaigns that encouraged Americans to get vaccinated against Covid.

But a spokesperson for Weber Shandwick told DailyMail.com it had a 'thorough vetting and mitigation process to avoid conflicts'.

Vaccine makers made more than $34billion in profits last year from the Covid jabs alone  equivalent to $1,000 a second, according to estimates.

They are expected to make billions more from the bivalent booster jabs being rolled out this winter  with the US having bought 171million doses.

Today the updated shots  which tackle Omicron variants  got the green light for children as young as five years old. They are currently recommended for all over-12s.

Experts have raised concerns over a potential conflict of interest at the CDC after it hired Weber Shandwick, which has also worked for Pfizer and Moderna. The agency is yet to comment

Weber Shandwick works for the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD).

The potential conflict of interest was brought to attention in a LinkedIn post by an employee of the PR firm last year.

They wrote on the social media site: 'So excited to be starting a new role today! I'm joining Weber Shandwick as an Account Director supporting a contract I know well, at the CDC's NCIRD!'

Now FDA approves bivalent booster jab for children as young as FIVE Today the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expanded eligibility for the bivalent vaccine. The new jab  made by Pfizer and Moderna  tops-up immunity as well as targeting variants BA.4 and BA.5. It is currently being rolled out to everyone over the age of 12. But today the FDA gave Moderna's the green light for children as young as six years, and Pfizer's for those as young as five. Dr Peter Marks, heading up vaccine approval at the agency, said they had made the recommendation because of 'increased risk of exposure' after children go back to school. The current booster campaign is sluggish, with less than six per cent of those who are eligible having come forward. Advertisement

Another employee replied: 'Welcome back to the team!'

In 2020 Weber Shandwick also won an up to $50million contract from the US Government to promote flu vaccines to the public.

Its responsibilities included distributing social media posts and articles promoting vaccines, and sending press releases to the media.

It was also involved in 'paid media placement', a common euphemism for advertising.

The firm was employed by Moderna in June this year alongside two other PR firms to promote its mRNA vaccine - despite being a direct rival to Pfizer.

Weber Shandwick is also a long-time client of Pfizer's, having been brought on back in 2003 to assist with marketing around Viagra pills and other treatments.

Responding to DailyMail.com today, a spokesperson for Weber Shandwick said: 'We are proud of the important work we do to advance public health.

'When we work for organizations in the same sector, we have a thorough vetting and mitigation process to avoid conflicts, including legal review, separate and distinct teams and strong confidentiality protocols.'

DailyMail.com has approached the CDC for comment.

Craig Holman, a lobbyist on Capitol Hill for Public Citizen, blasted the CDC today for the conflict of interest.

'This is irresponsible of CDC to issue a PR contract to Weber Shandwick,' he told the site DisInformation. 'Knowing that the firm also works for Moderna and Pfizer'.

Pfizer and Moderna's jabs have formed the cornerstone of America's vaccine roll out, with more than 800million doses ordered at a cost of more than $10billion.

The two companies were also the only ones to sell updated bivalent booster shots to America this year  which target Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5.

More than 42million doses of these have been delivered so far, at a cost that is yet to be revealed.

But the bivalent jab rollout has got off to a slow start despite calls from the White House for everyone to get doses.

Just six per cent of all over-12s have come forward.

Meanwhile, today the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revealed it was expanding eligibility of the new vaccine to young children.

It gave the green-light for Moderna's updated shot to be given to six year olds, and Pfizer's to those as young as five.

This will still need to be signed off by the CDC, but suggests that the beleaguered program will be expanded to more age groups.

The beleaguered CDC saw public trust in the agency erode during the Covid pandemic after a litany of errors.

It was slow to recommend face masks in the early days, or to warn that Covid was likely spreading through the air.

Later in the pandemic it has also signed off on Covid vaccines for children as young as six months old.

The move has faced criticism from many experts because of the vanishingly small risk very young children face of death or serious disease from the virus.
Ballooning rates of congenital syphilis in deep blue California may be tied to extensive homelessness and poverty in the state.

California is facing a crisis of rising rates of congenital syphilis, which occurs when infection spreads from mother to baby in utero.

The state has the sixth-highest rate of congenital syphilis in the US, with rates increasing annually.

In California, there were a staggering 107 cases per 100,000 births in 2020, an 11-fold increase from the decade prior.

From 2012 to 2019, congenital syphilis cases in California increased over 1,200 per cent, from 33 cases in 2012 to 446 cases in 2019

The 2020 tally in California far outstripped the state's stated goal of keeping congenital syphilis numbers below 9.6 cases per 100,000 live births.

Rates of infection have grown hand-in-hand with the state's homelessness problem.

The last year that California measured its homelessness population was in 2020 when officials reported more than 161,000 people were unhoused, an increase of about 16 per cent from 2007.

Cases of congenital syphilis are climbing nationwide, according to federal tracking. In 2020, over two thousand babies born in the US were confirmed to have been born with it, the highest case count since 1994.

Rising instances in California of mothers passing syphilis on to their unborn babies has also coincided with increased rates of methamphetamine use as well as a growing homelessness crisis.

Infants born with syphilis often face devastating outcomes such as premature birth, deformed bones, enlarged liver, brain and nerve problems such as blindness or deafness, and death.

Homeless people are at high risk for sexually transmitted infections such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and syphilis.

People without a roof over their heads often experience co-occurring health issues due to a lack of access to consistent, affordable care.

They also face premature mortality associated with untreated or unmonitored conditions including syphilis in many cases.

The problem stems from entrenched racial and socioeconomic disparities that keep impoverished people from accessing the care they need.

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease that if left untreated can cause a wide range of severe health issues such as meningitis, brain damage, paralysis, hearing or vision loss, and cardiovascular problems.

Rising instances of mothers passing syphilis on to their unborn babies has also coincided with increased rates of methamphetamine use in the state.

Authorities at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported on the link between a spike in syphilis cases and meth use in 2019.

Experts at the CDC found that between 2013-2017, the rate of syphilis cases in heterosexual men and women who also use methamphetamine or injectable drugs more than doubled.

The rate of congenital syphilis cases in the US overall has swelled.

In 2020, over two thousand babies born in the US were confirmed to have been born with it, the highest case count since 1994.

Women of childbearing age made up a disproportionately high share of syphilis infections confirmed by the state. Younger women are a high-risk group, as are men who have sex with men.

The syphilis rate among that group was 53 times higher than the state's 2020 goal.

What is congenital syphilis and why is it on the rise? Congenital syphilis occurs when the infection is passed from mother to baby during pregnancy In 2020, over 2,000 babies born in the US were confirmed to have been born with it - the highest case count since 1994 If left untreated, the infection has devastating consequences, including severe neurological disorders, organ damage, and infant death Inadequate prenatal care is the best predictor for congenital syphilis Racial and economic disparities has made quality, affordable reproductive care difficult to access In California specifically, which is seeing an exponential increase in CS cases, infection have grown hand-in-hand with homelessness rates Advertisement

Infants born with syphilis often face devastating outcomes. Infection can lead to premature birth, deformed bones, enlarged liver, brain and nerve problems such as blindness or deafness, and death in up to 40 per cent of cases.

For years, instances of syphilis had become more and more scarce.

The CDC reported in 2000 that cases overall had fallen to an all time low, 'continuing a decade-long decline that places elimination of this sexually transmitted disease within closer reach.'

But rather than continue a relatively steady decline, rates climbed throughout the 2000s.

An uptick in syphilis cases nationwide reflects a severely underfunded public health system which has made hiring the requisite staff and field nurses to make sure pregnant women with syphilis are receiving treatment.

Infections rates for some STDs, including gonorrhea and syphilis, have been rising for years. Cases of syphilis, the CDC said, have risen 26% since last year.

Health department staffers rely on standard public health tool to surveil cases in their state: contact tracing.

Contact tracing consists of determining where and with whom an infected person has been and then contacting those places and people to inform them of the exposure.

It proved useful during the Covid pandemic, though years of skimping on health department budgets meant it took a long time for officials to get contact tracing efforts off the ground.

The Democratic-run state legislature appropriate $30 million in the state's most recent budget to combat syphilis and congenital syphilis.

That figure fell far short of the $49 million that legislators originally proposed. Still, it represents the largest investment in combatting STDs in state history.
The White House's lead Covid chief said that the pandemic is not over, contradicting statements made by President Joe Biden last month.

Dr Ashish Jha, the country's COVID-19 response coordinator, issued the warning in response to the US' sluggish booster vaccine uptake.

'Covid is not over, there is a lot of work to do,' he told a White House press briefing Tuesday.

'We still have 300 to 400 Americans dying every day, tens of thousands of people getting infected every day, there is a lot of work to do.

Covid cases and deaths across America have been in freefall for months but many experts are concerned about a fresh surge this winter.

Dr Jha's words counter that of President Biden, who declared last month the pandemic was 'over' - though his aides walked back the comments in the following days.

It is just the latest example of officials flip-flopping on communication about the Covid situation. Earlier this year, Dr Anthony Fauci told PBS Newshour the pandemic was over before going back on his words days later.

Dr Ashish Jha (pictured) said that the pandemic is not over during a briefing Tuesday, contradicting President Joe Biden's words last month

Covid cases have plummeted in recent months, falling from over 100,000 per day in August to around 40,000 per day in mid-October. An expected summer surge of cases did not materialize

The rollout of the bivalent booster shots that were designed to perform better against Omicron variants has largely been a failure to this point.

Most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that only 11 million Americans have receive the jab so far.

Dr Fauci warns of a 'twindemic' this winter as CDC data shows influenza cases have quadrupled in two months Dr Anthony Fauci has warned of a 'twindemic' this winter as cases of the flu surge in the US - quadrupling over the past two months. Latest official data shows there were more than 1,000 patients with flu in the week ending October 1  up 303 per cent compared to the first week of August. This is a vast underestimate because the US does not routinely test for influenza in the same way as Covid. Test positivity  the share of swabs for the virus that are coming back positive  has risen from 0.49 per cent to 2.5 per cent in the same time. Dr Fauci said Monday that the nation should keep its guard up in the coming months as cases of both the flu and Covid are expected to rise. Cases and hospitalization for the flu and related illnesses often surge in cold weather months were people spend more time indoors - which makes it easier for viruses to spread. But Covid cases are currently plummeting in the US. The nation is averaging 42,000 daily cases, dropping more than 60 per cent from the 100,000 per day average in early August. The flu largely vanished in recent years as viral interference from Covid and pandemic-related restrictions and mask orders stopped its spread. Advertisement

That represents fewer than 10 per cent of everyone who is eligible for the jabs.

The lack of booster uptake seems to have had little affect on the spread of cases, though.

On August 3, America was recording 118,000 cases per day. That figure has dropped to 40,000 as of October 11.

Dr Jha told the briefing: 'What we know is that if we want to keep people safe and protect them from serious illness, which is obviously priority number one, the number one thing that people need to do is get vaccinated.'

He urged Americans to get the additional shot before Halloween so it would be fully effective in their body for Thanksgiving gatherings.

This contradicts statements by President Biden last month, who told CBS' 60 minutes: 'The pandemic is over.

'We still have a problem with COVID. We're still doing a lot of work on it. But the pandemic is over.

'If you notice, no one's wearing masks. Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape, and so I think it's changing.'

America's overall vaccination rate is relatively high, with 80 per cent of the overall population and 90 per cent of adults having received at least one shot.

But the additional booster doses have never proved to have appeal among the American population.

Third doses were rolled out the public just over a year ago, yet still only 50 per cent of the population has gotten those shots.

Fourth doses have only been taken up by a third of eligible Americans who have been triple-vaxxed.

Yet Covid deaths remain stable and have not reached previous heights seen earlier in the outbreak.

Around 400 Americans are dying from the virus on average each day currently - a figure that has remained broadly the same throughout this summer.

Dr Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease expert, said in April to PBS Newshour that 'we are certainly right now in this country out of the pandemic phase.

'Namely, we don't have 900,000 new infections a day and tens and tens and tens of thousands of hospitalizations and thousands of deaths. We are at a low level right now.

'So, if you're saying, are we out of the pandemic phase in this country, we are. What we hope to do, I don't believe  and I have spoken about this widely  we're not going to eradicate this virus.'

He would walk the comments back after backlash from others in the field.
NHS hospitals in England are running dangerously short of blood, in a crisis which may see thousands of routine operations cancelled.

Trusts have been told to implement emergency plans to protect their dwindling stocks under the first ever 'amber' alert status.

It could see non-urgent operations like hip replacements postponed to ensure blood stocks are prioritised for patients who need them most, such as car crash and stabbing victims.

Across England there is less than two days' supply of O negative blood  the universal type which hospitals are reliant on in emergencies. And across all blood types the stocks will currently last 3.1 days.

Unless supplies get back on track quickly, the NHS Blood and Transplant service could upgrade the situation to a 'red' alert, which could see all but the most serious emergency surgeries cancelled.

The current shortage is thought to be partly-caused by ongoing staffing issues, with more staff needed to work at donor sessions  which are mostly full.

NHSBT claimed maintaining stocks has been a challenge in the wake of Covid, partly due to fewer people visiting collection centres in towns and cities.

But some donors have also had their appointments cancelled more recently because of the lack of staff. Staff sickness because of the virus has also led to some late minute cancellations, officials say.

NHS staff are being moved to the front line to open up more appointments. Blood can only be stored for 35 days.

Existing O negative donors are now being asked to book in at centres to give blood, though all donors are urged to donate if they can. Visitors to the NHS donation website were met with half-an-hour queues.

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) declared its first-ever amber alert status because of the dwindling supplies. Current blood stocks stand at around three days, but levels of the universal blood type O negative have fallen below two days

Blood platelet stocks have also dropped below the one-day target levels for O positive and A positive blood types

As news of the amber alert broke, the blood donor website became very busy, with people placed in a queue

What does the NHS Blood and Transplant amber alert mean? What is an amber alert? The NHS has an official traffic-light system for handling low levels of blood. Currently England is at 'amber', which means hospitals must 'reduce and prioritise' blood use. Before today, the NHS was at the pre-amber stage. NHS staff were advised to be cautious of wasting stock and to try to hold back blood types that most likely run low. The next stage, red, would force hospitals to ration blood supplies for emergencies only. How much blood does the NHS have? A spokeswoman for the service said current overall blood stocks in the NHS stand at 3.1 days but levels of O type blood have fallen to below two days. O negative blood is the universal blood type which can be given to everyone. It is vitally important during emergencies and when the blood type of the recipient is unknown. What does this mean for hospitals? A warning email circulated online states that hospitals have been told to postpone elective surgery which is likely to require donor blood. The emergency measure could see thousands of routine operations cancelled. This could include joint replacements, which require adequate stocks of blood on hand in case a patient bleeds heavily. Already about 6.5million patients are on waiting lists for such operations, with around 300,000 waiting at least a year. Why are supplies low? The current amber alert is also thought to be due to ongoing staffing issues, with more staff needed to work at donor sessions. And some experts claim it is being exacerbated by doctors failing to use a vital drug that reduces major blood loss by a quarter when given before an operation. Advertisement

Blood platelet stocks have also dropped below the one-day target levels for O positive and A positive blood types.

An internal letter from NHSBT today said: 'We are moving to Amber alert status and asking you to implement your Emergency Blood Management Arrangements for red cells at the Amber shortage level.

'We request that actions are implemented with immediate effect or by Friday 14 October at the latest.

'Thank you for your ongoing support whilst we have been taking action to avert a move to Amber alert level.

'Unfortunately, our red cell stock levels are now at a point where we expect to drop below the two-day threshold.'

The alert is expected to continue for at least four weeks and will not be removed until stock have reached a 'sustainable level', the letter said.

A spokeswoman for the service said current overall blood stocks in the NHS stand at 3.1 days but levels of O type blood have fallen to below two days.

O negative blood is the universal blood type which can be given to everyone.

It is vitally important during emergencies and when the blood type of the recipient is unknown.

Existing O negative and O positive donors are now being asked to book in at blood donor centres to give blood.

Around one in seven people have O negative blood.

Air ambulances and emergency response vehicles carry O negative supplies for emergencies.

If overall stocks fall below two days, the highest level red alert will be issued.

Wendy Clark, interim chief executive of NHSBT, said: 'Asking hospitals to limit their use of blood is not a step we take lightly.

'This is a vital measure to protect patients who need blood the most.

'Patients are our focus. I sincerely apologise to those patients who may see their surgery postponed because of this.

'With the support of hospitals and the measures we are taking to scale up collection capacity, we hope to be able to build stocks back to a more sustainable footing.

'We cannot do this without our amazing donors. If you are O positive or O negative in particular, please make an appointment to give blood as soon as you can.

'If you already have an appointment, please keep it.'

Professor Cheng-Hock Toh, chairman of the National Blood Transfusion Committee, said: 'I know that all hospital transfusion services, up and down the country, are working flat out to ensure that blood will be available for emergencies and urgent surgeries.

'We will continue to work closely and collaboratively with NHSBT and with surgeons and anaesthetists, in particular, to minimise any inconvenience and problems to patients.'

NHS England reported blood shortages earlier during the Covid pandemic, most recently in January.

But stocks have now dropped to even lower levels, forcing the health service's hand into acting.

Hospitals will be forced to postpone many routine procedures because they have insufficient blood stocks to allow them to go ahead safely

Hospital activity and demand for blood dropped whenever Covid rates rose sharply in previous waves.

But now high demand for emergency care and the drive to clear the elective care backlog has driven the need for more blood.

Former Health Secretary Steve Barclay issued an urgent plea for blood donations in July, warning stocks were at half their normal level.

Alongside major shortages in donations, experts claim the low stocks are also being caused by not enough doctors using vital drug that reduces major blood loss by a quarter when given before an operation.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) recommends tranexamic acid is given to all patients undergoing major surgery.

But an audit of 152 NHS hospitals revealed just two thirds of eligible patients were offered the 2-per-dose drug last year.

A report published in British Journal of Anaesthesia last month claimed giving the jab to all hospital surgery patients could prevent 15,000 major bleeds per year.

Lead author Professor Ian Roberts, one of the UK's leading experts on blood loss at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told the Mail On Sunday: 'It makes perfect sense for doctors and patients.

'It is a cheap, low-risk intervention that will save tens of thousands of blood units, and lives.'

Currently, about 13,000 Britons die every year as a result of a major bleeding during surgery.

He added: 'Not only do more doctors need to offer tranexamic acid, but we want every patient having an operation to know they can, and should, ask for it.'

What IS an amber alert? Will my operation be cancelled? Why ARE supplies low? And how do I even donate blood? Everything you need to know about the NHS's blood supply crisis

Hospital trusts in England went into crisis mode today after the NHS issued its first ever amber alert for blood supply.

Dwindling blood stocks have lead the health service to ration supply, postponing elective surgeries like hip replacements.

Supply of the universal blood type O are particularly low, making it difficult in emergency procedures and when the blood type of the recipient is unknown.

The alert will continue for at least the next four weeks and will not be lifted until stocks return to manageable levels.

If they continue to fall, a red alert may be issued, which would see only the most serious emergency operations going ahead.

Here, MailOnline explains everything you need to know about the situation.

What is an amber alert?

The NHS has an official traffic-light system for handling low levels of blood.

Currently England is at 'amber', which means hospitals must 'reduce and prioritise' blood use.

It could see elective surgeries, such as hip replacements, cancelled.

But urgent or emergency, cancer and transplant surgeries will all continue to run as normal for now.

Before today, the NHS was at the pre-amber stage. NHS staff were advised to be cautious of wasting stock and to try to hold back blood types that most likely run low.

The next stage, red, would force hospitals to ration blood supplies for emergencies only.

How much blood does the NHS have?

NHS Blood and Transplant said current overall blood stocks in the NHS stand at 3.1 days.

It aims to have at least six days worth of stock.

Levels of O negative blood have dipped below the two-day mark.

Stocks of O positive (2.12), A positive (2.83), B negative (3.29) and AB negative (3.83) are all also below the threshold.

O negative is the universal type which can be given to everyone.

It is vitally important during emergencies and when the blood type of the recipient is unknown.

B positive, an important blood type for treating people with sickle cell disease, has 6.2 days worth of stocks, while A negative (7.12) and AB positive (9.94) are also both above the target.

Is the NHS short of platelets, too?

Meanwhile, blood platelet levels are below the one-day stock minimum for types O positive and A positive.

Platelets control bleeding in our bodies, so can be essential to surviving surgeries such as organ transplant, as well as fighting cancer, chronic diseases, and traumatic injuries.

Donor platelets are given to patients who dont have enough of their own, a condition known as thrombocytopenia, or when a persons platelets arent working correctly.

But substitutions are available for platelets when they are unavailable, unlike with regular blood stocks.

What does this mean for hospitals?

An email circulated to hospital bosses has told them to postpone elective surgery which is likely to require donor blood.

The emergency measure could see thousands of routine operations cancelled.

This could include joint replacements, which require adequate stocks of blood on hand in case a patient bleeds heavily.

Decisions will be taken by individual hospitals.

But hospitals might instead book in other surgeries, such as hernia repairs, gall-bladder removal and eye surgery, which do not require blood to be on standby.

Already about 6.5million patients are on waiting lists for such operations, with around 300,000 waiting at least a year.

Why are supplies low?

The current amber alert is also thought to be due to ongoing staffing issues, with more staff needed to work at donor sessions.

NHSBT claimed maintaining stocks has been a challenge in the wake of Covid, partly due to fewer people visiting collection centres in towns and cities.

But some donors also had their appointments cancelled more recently because of the lack of staff.

NHSBT say bookings have been dropped at the last minute because of Covid and other sickness absences.

An NHSBT spokesperson told MailOnline: 'Unfortunately we have needed to cancel some appointments  sometimes at the last minute  because of staff sickness absence.

'Ongoing staff shortage issues have been caused by accelerated turnover and the time it takes to recruit and train new colleagues.

'This has left NHS Blood and Transplant vulnerable to short term sickness, which remains high due to increases in Covid cases.

'This has led to unavoidable cancellations of high numbers of donor appointments, impacting collections and stock levels.'

Is there a potential solution?

Experts say one vital tool that could help procedures go ahead is being neglected in NHS hospitals.

A drug called tranexamic acid reduces major blood loss by a quarter when given before an operation.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends it is given to all patients undergoing major operations.

But an audit of 152 NHS hospitals revealed just two thirds of eligible patients were offered the 2-per-dose drug last year.

A report published in British Journal of Anaesthesia last month claimed giving the jab to all hospital surgery patients could prevent 15,000 major bleeds per year.

Lead author Professor Ian Roberts, one of the UK's leading experts on blood loss at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said this could reduce the current and future strains on blood stocks.

He told the Mail On Sunday: 'It makes perfect sense for doctors and patients. It is a cheap, low-risk intervention that will save tens of thousands of blood units, and lives.'

Currently, about 13,000 Britons die every year as a result of a major bleeding during surgery.

He added: 'Not only do more doctors need to offer tranexamic acid, but we want every patient having an operation to know they can, and should, ask for it.'

How can I donate blood?

If you would like to donate blood, you can register online at www.blood.co.uk or call 0300 123 23 23.

When you log into your account, you are able to find an appointment.

As news of the amber alert broke, the blood donor website became very busy, with people placed in a queue.

NHS Blood and Transplant said: 'You can book an appointment to give blood as soon as you register as a blood donor.

'However, the next convenient appointment might not be straightaway.

'This could be because we already have a good supply of your blood type.

'People need blood all year round so your donation will still save lives, even if your appointment is in a few months time.'

What happens when I donate?

When you are comfortable in the chair, a nurse will put a cuff on your arm to maintain a small amount of pressure during donation (this does not measure blood pressure).

They then examine your arm to find a suitable vein and clean it with an antiseptic sponge.

A needle will be inserted into your arm which will collect your blood into a blood bag with your unique donor number.

You should not feel any discomfort or pain. If you do, tell a member of staff.

A scale weighs the blood and stops when you have donated 470ml (or just under a pint). This usually takes between 5-10 minutes.

The needle will be removed and a sterile dressing applied to your arm.

Your donation is transported to one of our blood centres where it is tested and processed before being issued to hospitals.
Think-tanks have slammed the taxpayer-funded roles given the nation's finances

This is despite ministers promising to crack down on the roles in the civil service

The job, which supports both flexible and home working, pays up to 46,000

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is hiring a 'senior diversity and inclusion advisor', despite Government promises to crack down on 'waste and wokery'.

The position, which pays up to 46,000 per year, also includes the possibility of flexible hours and working from home.

According to the job description, the successful candidate will 'drive a culture of inclusion across all UKHSA sites' and deliver 'Lets Talk about Race' sessions for other employees.

Think-tanks today accused the Government of failing to keep promises to 'ditch diversity demagogues'.

But UKHSA bosses said the diversity post would help protect the nation's health and that the Government body was 'committed' to inclusivity.

The job ad comes despite an order earlier this year by former Health Secretary Sajid Javid for the NHS to axe similar positions and focus on frontline services and clearing backlogs.

The UK Health Security Agency has advertised for a 46,000-a-year 'senior diversity and inclusion advisor' despite promises from ministers to stamp out the roles

WHAT DO THE LATEST NHS PERFORMANCE FIGURES SHOW? The overall waiting list jumped to 6.84million in July. This is up from 6.73million in June and is the highest number since records began in August 2007. There were 2,885 people waiting more than two years to start treatment at the end of July, down from 3,861 in June but still higher than April 2021, when the figure started to be recorded. The number of people waiting more than a year to start hospital treatment was 377,689, up from 355,774 the previous month. Some 28,756 people had to wait more than 12 hours in A&E departments in England in August. The figure is down from 29,317 in July but is the second highest for any month since record began in 2010. A total of 130,528 people waited at least four hours from the decision to admit to admission in August, down slightly from the all-time high of 136,298 in March. Just 71.4 per cent of patients were seen within four hours at A&Es last month, the second-worst ever performance. NHS standards set out that 95 per cent should be admitted, transferred or discharged within the four-hour window. In August, the average category one response time  calls from people with life-threatening illnesses or injuries  was nine minutes and eight seconds. The target time is seven minutes. Ambulances took an average of 42 minutes and 44 seconds to respond to category two calls, such as burns, epilepsy and strokes. This is more than twice as long as the 18 minute target. Response times for category three calls  such as late stages of labour, non-severe burns and diabetes  averaged two hours, 16 minutes and 23 seconds. Ambulances are supposed to arrive to these calls within two hours. Some 424,605 patients were waiting more than six weeks for a key diagnostic test in July, including an MRI scan, non-obstetric ultrasound or gastroscopy. Advertisement

This came amid concerns that NHS funding was being swallowed by management salaries, rather than on services.

While the Government's UKHSA is not part of the NHS, its hiring of 'diversity and inclusion' positions is likely to be seen as hypocritical considering both are funded by the taxpayer.

The 46,000 pound salary is almost enough to pay for the equivalent of two newly qualified nurses, who earn about 25,500.

Elliot Keck, investigations campaign manager for the Taxpayer's Alliance, said that Government hiring of diversity and inclusion roles was out of control and placing undue strain on nation's finances at a time of fiscal trouble.

'Warm words to ditch diversity demagogues during the leadership campaign have clearly fallen on deaf ears in Whitehall,' he said.

'Ministers need to get a grip on these non-jobs and ensure value for the taxpayer.'

Under the job description, a senior diversity and inclusion advisor would help ensure inclusivity was at the heart of UKHSA's work.

'We are looking for someone who has a passion and understanding of diversity and inclusion, who is capable of independently delivering projects which drive culture change and who ensures that wherever we work, we add value and engender the spirit of inclusion,' it reads.

This would include: 'Inclusive Recruitment training, Lets Talk about Race sessions, corporate induction and presenting on other new and emerging topics.'

The role was advertised both on the NHS's jobs website as well as the civil service's.

Other similar posts across the civil service were uncovered by the political blogging site Guido Fawkes.

The diversity recruitment comes at a time when massive health challenges are facing Britain, with a record care backlog and soaring A&E wait times.

Waiting lists for treatment currently stand at a record 6.8million and almost 30,000 Britons were forced to wait over 12 hours for care in emergency departments in August.

Jac Gardner, UKHSA's chief people officer, said the 'senior diversity and inclusion advisor' would help protect the nation's health and that the Government body was committed to being an inclusive workplace.

'As a relatively new organisation, we continue to recruit to our permanent structure and everyone at UKHSA plays an important role in helping us to better protect the nations health,' she said.

'We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace where our differences drive innovative solutions to meet the needs of our workforce and the communities we serve.'

UKHSA was founded in April 2021, replacing Public Health England.

NHS England figures show 6.8million patients were in the queue for routine hospital treatment in July, equivalent to one in eight people. Nearly 380,000 have been waiting for over one year

Emergency unit data shows that three in 10 Britons were forced to wait longer than four hours in A&E departments in August, while nearly one thousand per day waited for 12 hours

Mr Javid's commitment to stop the proliferation of 'diversity and inclusion posts across the NHS came during the launch of a review of NHS management by General Sir Gordon Messenger, published in June.

His successor, Therese Coffey, has yet to address her predecessor's commitment to stamping out the roles.

However, new Prime Minister Liz Truss vowed to cut civil service diversity jobs when she was on the campaign trial to become leader of the Conservative Party.

MailOnline revealed in August that the NHS was going on a diversity and inclusion hiring spree, posting five adverts for senior equality roles at trusts across England.

Some of these paid up to 76,000 per year, which could be spent on at least two NHS nurses, who make about 37,000 annually on average.
And alongside immunosuppressants it can cause plasma to rise to toxic levels

Medicine to treat heart conditions can become unsafe when taken with Paxlovid

Pfizers flagship Covid drug can have dangerous interactions with common medications, a review has found.

Paxlovid gained emergency use authorization in the US in December last year as an antiviral drug to treat mild to moderate Covid in high-risk patients.

It has been given to millions of vulnerable Americans with underlying health conditions  reducing their risk of death by up to 90 per cent.

But Paxlovid can cause serious health problems when coupled with common heart disease medication such as statins and blood thinners.

Researchers from Lahey Hospital and Medical Center, Harvard Medical School and other US institutions found the Covid drug can increase the risk of developing blood clots when taken with blood thinners.

It can also cause an irregular heartbeat when combined with drugs for heart pain and when taken alongside statins it can be toxic to the liver.

Dozens of medications such as aspirin are safe to take with Paxlovid, the researchers stress. But doctors need to be aware that other drugs can be dangerous and should be discontinued or adjusted while a patient is being treated for Covid.

When President Joe Biden, 79, tested positive for Covid and started Paxlovid in July, his physician Dr Kevin OConnor temporarily stopped him from taking the statin Crestor and stroke prevention drug Eliquis.

Pfizer's CEO Dr Albert Bourla, 60, also took a course of Paxlovid when he caught the virus in August

The anti-viral drug is intended for use by patients who are considered likely to become seriously ill from the deadly virus, such as elders and people with pre-existing conditions like heart disease

When President Joe Biden, 79, tested positive for Covid and started Paxlovid in July, his physician temporarily stopped him from taking the statin Crestor and stroke prevention drug Eliquis

Dr. Sarju Ganatra, director of the cardio-oncology program at Lahey Hospital and Medical Center in Massachusetts, said: 'Awareness of the presence of drug-drug interactions of Paxlovid with common cardiovascular drugs is key.

'System-level interventions by integrating drug-drug interactions into electronic medical records could help avoid related adverse events.

'The prescription of Paxlovid could be incorporated into an order set, which allows physicians, whether it be primary care physicians or cardiology providers, to consciously rule out any contraindications to the co-administration of Paxlovid.

'Consultation with other members of the health care team, particularly pharmacists, can prove to be extremely valuable.

'However, a health care providers fundamental understanding of the drug-drug interactions with cardiovascular medications is key.'

Paxlovid is made of two antivirals, nirmatrelvir and ritonavir.

Dr Dan Barouch, director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, who was not involved in the new paper, told CNN: 'The second drug, ritonavir, is a nonspecific drug that inhibits metabolism and increases the dose of the other drug.

'But the ritonavir in Paxlovid also can inhibit the metabolism of other drugs. So you have to be really careful when you prescribe Paxlovid for people who are on certain blood thinners, cardiac medications, statins and other drugs, Barouch said. So its not just a free pass.'

Paxlovid is intended for use by patients who are considered likely to become seriously ill from the deadly virus, such as seniors and people with pre-existing conditions like heart disease.

Millions of doses have been prescribed to Americans since it was rolled out this year.
Britons today rushed to donate blood after health bosses warned dwindling stocks might see thousands of operations cancelled.

Kind-hearted people flooded the NHS blood donation, leaving them stuck in half-an-hour queues to book appointments.

Trusts have been told to implement emergency plans to protect their supplies under the first ever 'amber' alert status.

Across England there is less than two days' supply of O negative  the universal type which hospitals are reliant on in emergencies. And across all blood types the stocks will currently last 3.1 days.

It could see non-urgent operations like hip replacements postponed to ensure blood stocks are prioritised for patients who need them most, such as car crash victims.

Unless supplies get back on track quickly, NHS Blood and Transplant officials could upgrade the current situation to a 'red' alert, which may see all but the most serious emergency surgeries cancelled.

Health chiefs said the problem is being driven by low staffing levels at donor clinics, which is being exacerbated by Covid and other illnesses in the workforce.

Most donor sessions are already full and some people have to wait months to book in an appointment to give blood.

But the NHS Confederation said: 'If anyone is able to donate blood, now is the time for them to come forward.'

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) declared its first-ever amber alert status because of the dwindling supplies. As news of the amber alert broke, the blood donor website became very busy, with people placed in a queue

Trusts have been told to implement emergency plans to protect their dwindling stocks under the first ever 'amber' alert status

Current blood stocks stand at around three days, but levels of the universal blood type O negative have fallen below two days

Blood platelet stocks have also dropped below the one-day target levels for O positive and A positive blood types

Rory Deighton, director of the NHS Confederation's acute network, said: 'While this amber notice signals concern for the NHS's blood stock, patients should be reassured that supply needed for emergency care, cancer treatment, and long-term condition management will continue unaffected.

'However, it does mean that local services will have to begin taking a more cautious approach to how their stock is used for some non-urgent care over the next four weeks, which could include some elective procedures needing to be rescheduled.

'If this happens, health leaders will not take this decision lightly and it will be a temporary resolve while a longer-term solution is identified.'

He added: 'The NHS is working hard locally to ensure staffing levels can be boosted across these clinics.

'But the fact is that had the NHS not have to contend with 132,000 vacancies, there would be more resilience built into the system.

'We hope this is a wake-up call to the Government for the need for a fully funded workforce strategy for health and care.'

The current shortage is thought to be partly-caused by ongoing staffing issues, with more staff needed to work at donor sessions  which are mostly full.

NHSBT claimed maintaining stocks has been a challenge in the wake of Covid, partly due to fewer people visiting collection centres in towns and cities.

But some donors have also had their appointments cancelled more recently because of the lack of staff.

Staff sickness because of the virus has also led to some late minute cancellations, officials say.

NHS staff are being moved to the front line to open up more appointments. Blood can only be stored for 35 days.

Existing O negative donors are now being asked to book in at centres to give blood, though all donors are urged to donate if they can. Visitors to the NHS donation website were met with half-an-hour queues.

What does the NHS Blood and Transplant amber alert mean? What is an amber alert? The NHS has an official traffic-light system for handling low levels of blood. Currently England is at 'amber', which means hospitals must 'reduce and prioritise' blood use. Before today, the NHS was at the pre-amber stage. NHS staff were advised to be cautious of wasting stock and to try to hold back blood types that most likely run low. The next stage, red, would force hospitals to ration blood supplies for emergencies only. How much blood does the NHS have? A spokeswoman for the service said current overall blood stocks in the NHS stand at 3.1 days but levels of O type blood have fallen to below two days. O negative blood is the universal blood type which can be given to everyone. It is vitally important during emergencies and when the blood type of the recipient is unknown. What does this mean for hospitals? A warning email circulated online states that hospitals have been told to postpone elective surgery which is likely to require donor blood. The emergency measure could see thousands of routine operations cancelled. This could include joint replacements, which require adequate stocks of blood on hand in case a patient bleeds heavily. Already about 6.5million patients are on waiting lists for such operations, with around 300,000 waiting at least a year. Why are supplies low? The current amber alert is also thought to be due to ongoing staffing issues, with more staff needed to work at donor sessions. And some experts claim it is being exacerbated by doctors failing to use a vital drug that reduces major blood loss by a quarter when given before an operation. Advertisement

Blood platelet stocks have also dropped below the one-day target levels for O positive and A positive blood types.

An internal letter from NHSBT today said: 'We are moving to Amber alert status and asking you to implement your Emergency Blood Management Arrangements for red cells at the Amber shortage level.

'We request that actions are implemented with immediate effect or by Friday 14 October at the latest.

'Thank you for your ongoing support whilst we have been taking action to avert a move to Amber alert level.

'Unfortunately, our red cell stock levels are now at a point where we expect to drop below the two-day threshold.'

The alert is expected to continue for at least four weeks and will not be removed until stock have reached a 'sustainable level', the letter said.

A spokeswoman for the service said current overall blood stocks in the NHS stand at 3.1 days but levels of O type blood have fallen to below two days.

O negative blood is the universal blood type which can be given to everyone.

It is vitally important during emergencies and when the blood type of the recipient is unknown.

Existing O negative and O positive donors are now being asked to book in at blood donor centres to give blood.

Around one in seven people have O negative blood.

Air ambulances and emergency response vehicles carry O negative supplies for emergencies.

If overall stocks fall below two days, the highest level red alert will be issued.

Wendy Clark, interim chief executive of NHSBT, said: 'Asking hospitals to limit their use of blood is not a step we take lightly.

'This is a vital measure to protect patients who need blood the most.

'Patients are our focus. I sincerely apologise to those patients who may see their surgery postponed because of this.

'With the support of hospitals and the measures we are taking to scale up collection capacity, we hope to be able to build stocks back to a more sustainable footing.

'We cannot do this without our amazing donors. If you are O positive or O negative in particular, please make an appointment to give blood as soon as you can.

'If you already have an appointment, please keep it.'

Professor Cheng-Hock Toh, chairman of the National Blood Transfusion Committee, said: 'I know that all hospital transfusion services, up and down the country, are working flat out to ensure that blood will be available for emergencies and urgent surgeries.

'We will continue to work closely and collaboratively with NHSBT and with surgeons and anaesthetists, in particular, to minimise any inconvenience and problems to patients.'

NHS England reported blood shortages earlier during the Covid pandemic, most recently in January.

But stocks have now dropped to even lower levels, forcing the health service's hand into acting.

Hospitals will be forced to postpone many routine procedures because they have insufficient blood stocks to allow them to go ahead safely

Hospital activity and demand for blood dropped whenever Covid rates rose sharply in previous waves.

But now high demand for emergency care and the drive to clear the elective care backlog has driven the need for more blood.

Former Health Secretary Steve Barclay issued an urgent plea for blood donations in July, warning stocks were at half their normal level.

Alongside major shortages in donations, experts claim the low stocks are also being caused by not enough doctors using vital drug that reduces major blood loss by a quarter when given before an operation.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) recommends tranexamic acid is given to all patients undergoing major surgery.

But an audit of 152 NHS hospitals revealed just two thirds of eligible patients were offered the 2-per-dose drug last year.

A report published in British Journal of Anaesthesia last month claimed giving the jab to all hospital surgery patients could prevent 15,000 major bleeds per year.

Lead author Professor Ian Roberts, one of the UK's leading experts on blood loss at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told the Mail On Sunday: 'It makes perfect sense for doctors and patients.

'It is a cheap, low-risk intervention that will save tens of thousands of blood units, and lives.'

Currently, about 13,000 Britons die every year as a result of a major bleeding during surgery.

He added: 'Not only do more doctors need to offer tranexamic acid, but we want every patient having an operation to know they can, and should, ask for it.'

What IS an amber alert? Will my operation be cancelled? Why ARE supplies low? And how do I even donate blood? Everything you need to know about the NHS's blood supply crisis

Hospital trusts in England went into crisis mode today after the NHS issued its first ever amber alert for blood supply.

Dwindling blood stocks have lead the health service to ration supply, postponing elective surgeries like hip replacements.

Supply of the universal blood type O are particularly low, making it difficult in emergency procedures and when the blood type of the recipient is unknown.

The alert will continue for at least the next four weeks and will not be lifted until stocks return to manageable levels.

If they continue to fall, a red alert may be issued, which would see only the most serious emergency operations going ahead.

Here, MailOnline explains everything you need to know about the situation.

What is an amber alert?

The NHS has an official traffic-light system for handling low levels of blood.

Currently England is at 'amber', which means hospitals must 'reduce and prioritise' blood use.

It could see elective surgeries, such as hip replacements, cancelled.

But urgent or emergency, cancer and transplant surgeries will all continue to run as normal for now.

Before today, the NHS was at the pre-amber stage. NHS staff were advised to be cautious of wasting stock and to try to hold back blood types that most likely run low.

The next stage, red, would force hospitals to ration blood supplies for emergencies only.

How much blood does the NHS have?

NHS Blood and Transplant said current overall blood stocks in the NHS stand at 3.1 days.

It aims to have at least six days worth of stock.

Levels of O negative blood have dipped below the two-day mark.

Stocks of O positive (2.12), A positive (2.83), B negative (3.29) and AB negative (3.83) are all also below the threshold.

O negative is the universal type which can be given to everyone.

It is vitally important during emergencies and when the blood type of the recipient is unknown.

B positive, an important blood type for treating people with sickle cell disease, has 6.2 days worth of stocks, while A negative (7.12) and AB positive (9.94) are also both above the target.

Is the NHS short of platelets, too?

Meanwhile, blood platelet levels are below the one-day stock minimum for types O positive and A positive.

Platelets control bleeding in our bodies, so can be essential to surviving surgeries such as organ transplant, as well as fighting cancer, chronic diseases, and traumatic injuries.

Donor platelets are given to patients who don't have enough of their own, a condition known as thrombocytopenia, or when a person's platelets aren't working correctly.

But substitutions are available for platelets when they are unavailable, unlike with regular blood stocks.

What does this mean for hospitals?

An email circulated to hospital bosses has told them to postpone elective surgery which is likely to require donor blood.

The emergency measure could see thousands of routine operations cancelled.

This could include joint replacements, which require adequate stocks of blood on hand in case a patient bleeds heavily.

Decisions will be taken by individual hospitals.

But hospitals might instead book in other surgeries, such as hernia repairs, gall-bladder removal and eye surgery, which do not require blood to be on standby.

Already about 6.5million patients are on waiting lists for such operations, with around 300,000 waiting at least a year.

Why are supplies low?

The current amber alert is also thought to be due to ongoing staffing issues, with more staff needed to work at donor sessions.

NHSBT claimed maintaining stocks has been a challenge in the wake of Covid, partly due to fewer people visiting collection centres in towns and cities.

But some donors also had their appointments cancelled more recently because of the lack of staff.

NHSBT say bookings have been dropped at the last minute because of Covid and other sickness absences.

An NHSBT spokesperson told MailOnline: 'Unfortunately we have needed to cancel some appointments  sometimes at the last minute  because of staff sickness absence.

'Ongoing staff shortage issues have been caused by accelerated turnover and the time it takes to recruit and train new colleagues.

'This has left NHS Blood and Transplant vulnerable to short term sickness, which remains high due to increases in Covid cases.

'This has led to unavoidable cancellations of high numbers of donor appointments, impacting collections and stock levels.'

Is there a potential solution?

Experts say one vital tool that could help procedures go ahead is being neglected in NHS hospitals.

A drug called tranexamic acid reduces major blood loss by a quarter when given before an operation.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends it is given to all patients undergoing major operations.

But an audit of 152 NHS hospitals revealed just two thirds of eligible patients were offered the 2-per-dose drug last year.

A report published in British Journal of Anaesthesia last month claimed giving the jab to all hospital surgery patients could prevent 15,000 major bleeds per year.

Lead author Professor Ian Roberts, one of the UK's leading experts on blood loss at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said this could reduce the current and future strains on blood stocks.

He told the Mail On Sunday: 'It makes perfect sense for doctors and patients. It is a cheap, low-risk intervention that will save tens of thousands of blood units, and lives.'

Currently, about 13,000 Britons die every year as a result of a major bleeding during surgery.

He added: 'Not only do more doctors need to offer tranexamic acid, but we want every patient having an operation to know they can, and should, ask for it.'

How can I donate blood?

If you would like to donate blood, you can register online at www.blood.co.uk or call 0300 123 23 23.

When you log into your account, you are able to find an appointment.

As news of the amber alert broke, the blood donor website became very busy, with people placed in a queue.

NHS Blood and Transplant said: 'You can book an appointment to give blood as soon as you register as a blood donor.

'However, the next convenient appointment might not be straightaway.

'This could be because we already have a good supply of your blood type.

'People need blood all year round so your donation will still save lives, even if your appointment is in a few months' time.'

What happens when I donate?

When you are comfortable in the chair, a nurse will put a cuff on your arm to maintain a small amount of pressure during donation (this does not measure blood pressure).

They then examine your arm to find a suitable vein and clean it with an antiseptic sponge.

A needle will be inserted into your arm which will collect your blood into a blood bag with your unique donor number.

You should not feel any discomfort or pain. If you do, tell a member of staff.

A scale weighs the blood and stops when you have donated 470ml (or just under a pint). This usually takes between 5-10 minutes.

The needle will be removed and a sterile dressing applied to your arm.

Your donation is transported to one of our blood centres where it is tested and processed before being issued to hospitals.
Children as young as five are to be offered the bivalent Covid booster vaccine ahead of the winter.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended five to 11-year-olds get a single dose of Pfizer's updated shot.

Children aged six and above can get Moderna's bivalent booster. Both new vaccines offer better protection against the new Omicron variants than previous jabs.

Officials are now 'encouraging' parents to get their children vaccinated before schools go back from the fall break.

But many experts have repeatedly rallied against plans to inoculate the youngest in society, pointing out they are already at a vanishingly low risk of death.

Official estimates suggest more than eight in 10 children under 17 already have antibodies against Covid - either from a jab or previous infection.

It comes amid a sluggish booster rollout among adults.

Before today's announcement, just six per cent of Americans 12 and older who were eligible for the bivalent boosters had come forward for one.

Children as young as five are now eligible for the updated bivalent Covid booster vaccine, after the FDA and CDC signed off on the plans. Pictured above is a girl getting the Covid jab at her elementary school in Miami, Florida, last year

The above shows the infection rate in both the US and the UK. A rise in infections in Britain (pink) is prompting concerns that a wave may hit the US within weeks

The FDA said today that the younger age groups could get the updated booster from two months after their last inoculation.

The shots have been designed to target the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants, which together are behind about 93 per cent of cases in the US.

The original jabs were only targeting the old 'Wuhan' virus, which triggered the first wave of the pandemic.

Get your booster before Halloween, says White House The White House's lead Covid chief said that the pandemic is not over, contradicting statements made by President Joe Biden last month. Dr Ashish Jha, the country's COVID-19 response coordinator, issued the warning in response to the US' sluggish booster vaccine uptake. 'Covid is not over, there is a lot of work to do,' he told a White House press briefing Tuesday. 'We still have 300 to 400 Americans dying every day, tens of thousands of people getting infected every day, there is a lot of work to do.' Covid cases and deaths across America have been in freefall for months but many experts are concerned about a fresh surge this winter. Dr Jha's words counter that of President Biden, who declared last month the pandemic was 'over' - though his aides walked back the comments in the following days. Advertisement

Dr Peter Marks, the FDA's head of vaccine approvals, said the recommendation was made due to the return of classrooms.

'Since children have gone back to school in person and people are resuming pre-pandemic behaviors and activities, there is the potential for increased risk of exposure to the virus that causes Covid,' he said.

'While it has largely been the case that Covid tends to be less severe in children than adults, as the various waves of Covid have occurred, more children have gotten sick with the disease and have been hospitalized.

'Children may also experience long-term effects, even following initially mild disease.

'We encourage parents to consider primary vaccination for children and follow-up with an updated booster dose when eligible.'

Signing off on the expanded booster program today, the CDC's director Rochelle Walensky said it was a 'critical step' for the country.

Many experts have said there is little need to inoculate children, however, pointing out that they face a vanishingly low risk of serious illness and death from the pandemic virus.

A total of 1,300 children up to 17 years old have died with Covid since the virus emerged  equivalent to 0.1 per cent of America's more than a million fatalities.

There is also evidence that most already have protection against the virus.

A study published last week found 86 per cent of under-17s already had Covid-fighting antibodies  suggesting they already have a level of protection.

Some experts warn over the heightened risk of heart inflammation  myocarditis or pericarditis  among the age group from the vaccines, particularly among young adults.

Up to one in 7,000 teenagers had suffered the reaction after a Covid vaccine, data suggests, although it remains much rarer in women and adults.

When the reaction does happen, however, it is normally mild with patients recovering quickly without suffering any long-term side effects.

The risks to children have prompted other countries to steer clear of recommending booster shots for younger age groups.

Both Denmark and Norway, in Europe, have already banned Covid vaccines for non-seniors, while next month Sweden will stop recommending them for 12 to 18 year olds.

Dr Ashish Jha (pictured) urged all eligible Americans to get their updated Covid booster shots by Halloween yesterday at a White House press briefing

The above shows the number of Pfizer and Moderna updated vaccines delivered and administered since the roll out began (shown by the striped bars)

Today's recommendation comes off the back of a sluggish roll out of the bivalent booster vaccine.

US health chiefs have spent millions buying more than 171million updated shots from Pfizer and Moderna.

But a month into the roll out just 11.5million have been dished out  or to barely five per cent of the 216million who are eligible.

White House Covid lead Dr Ashish Jha last month blamed the slow roll out on the fact the weather was warm in September, discouraging inoculations.

He urged all eligible Americans to get the updated booster shots by Halloween, to ensure they had protection for thanksgiving.

'I think people should get vaccinated before Halloween,' he told the briefing.

'Why? Well, by Halloween it takes a couple of weeks for your immune system to generate the benefit from that vaccine and that means you will be ready by thanksgiving.

'If you miss the holiday, it is not too late to get the vaccine, so there is no time period where the window is out.'

Covid cases in the US are currently plateauing at about 40,000 cases a day.

But experts are concerned they could start trending upwards before the end of this month as colder conditions lead more people to crowd indoors.

European countries are already seeing a Covid wave, which is a canary in a coalmine for how the wave will shift in the US.

In Britain, its cases rose 14 per cent last week according to national estimates to 1.1million people being infected.
Earth now has a capable defense system against Asteroids that could impact Earth in the future without needing Bruce Willis and a drilling team.

NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission successfully diverted and changed the trajectory of the Dimorphos asteroid forever on Sept. 26, showcasing the capabilities of the space agency's DART spacecraft in the process.

NASA previously launched its DART mission and spacecraft in November 2021, with the latter smashing into the Dimorphos asteroid on Sept. 26, per the New York Times.

NASA DART Mission Success Details

NASA Mentioned in an announcement that the kinetic impact of its DART spacecraft with the Dimorphos asteroid was able to alter its orbit around its partner asteroid, Didymos.

The success of NASA's DART mission marks the first time humanity has ever been successful in changing the trajectory of a celestial object and the first full-scale demonstration of asteroid deflection technology.

Based on the report of NASA's DART investigative team, the DART spacecraft was able to alter Dimorphos' orbit around Didymos by 32 minutes - a significant trajectory change from the previously expected 73-second-change. As a result, Dimorphos now takes 11 hours and 23 minutes to orbit Didymos.

The asteroid previously took 11 hours and 55 minutes to complete a revolution around Didymos.

NASA Administrator Bill nelson mentioned that the mission's success shows that the space agency is doing its best to prepare for whatever the universe throws at Humanity and Earth. It also showed that NASA is serious about becoming the planet's defender.

Read More: One of Iran's State TV Channels Was Briefly Hacked

"All of us have a responsibility to protect our home planet. After all, it's the only one we have," Nelson added. "[DART's success] is a watershed moment for planetary defense and all of humanity, demonstrating commitment from NASA's exceptional team and partners from arount he world."

Unfortunately, it is currently unknown whether NASA will still consider Dimorphos and Didymos as near-Earth objects after its DART spacecraft's impact on Sept. 26.

The space agency previously stated that Dimoprhos and Didymos are near-Earth asteroids that could come as close as 0.048AU from our home planet.

NASA mentioned that one AU is equal to 150 million kilometers - the distance of the Earth to the Sun. With them being that close to Earth, they have a good chance of impacting Earth if left on its original trajectory in space.

What's Next For NASA's DART Mission?

Space.com mentioned in its report that observations on the asteroid pair will continue into 2023 and that the European Space Agency will launch a follow-up spacecraft, Hera, to explore them.

The space agency hopes that Hera will give a better look at Dimorphos and Didymos than the DART spacecraft, along with the effects the latter spacecraft made.

You may remember that experts at the University of Bern and the National Center of Competence in Research were worried that the DART spacecraft could deform Dimorphos instead of leaving a crater.

Additionally, NASA said it would focus on measuring the efficiency of the DART spacecraft's momentum transfer from its 14,000mph collision with Dimorphos.

Related Article: NASA's DART Mission Expected to Smash Into Asteroid on September 26
Incredible images have captured an extremely rare case of a baby being born while still inside their amniotic sac.

The birth took place at Hospital Evangelico in Ipora, Goias State, west-central Brazil on 10th October.

The heavily pregnant Naiara Santos needed a caesarean to deliver her twin daughters.

This the incredible moment little Isabella emerged into the world still inside her amitotic sac

The heavily pregnant Naiara Santos gave birth to her twin daughters in west-central Brazil on October 10

Obstetrician Leandra Campos (right), who delivered the twins, described the event as 'magical' with little Isabella looking like she was 'sleeping' in her amniotic sac

Ms Santos and daughters have stayed in the hospital since the birth but were expected to be discharged soon

While the first twin Rafaella was born normally, doctors were stunned when her sister Isabella emerged still inside her amniotic sac.

Known as an en caul birth, this phenomenon occurs in fewer than one in 80,000 deliveries.

This is because the fluid-filled membrane usually breaks as a mother is about to go into labour - a process colloquially known as the 'waters breaking'.

Obstetrician Leandra Campos reportedly told local media: 'It's very magical.

'Because before we burst the sac, the baby was right there sleeping, without needing to breathe, receiving everything through the umbilical cord.'

She added: 'I've done other en caul births, but this was the first time with the baby in the breech position. These births are rare.

'You need to have a lot of technique for them to come out still inside the sac. And this is how we can see how they sit inside the belly before they are born.'

Ms Santos and daughters have stayed in the hospital since the birth but were expected to be discharged soon.

During a pregnancy with twins each baby can have their own individual amniotic sac.

Numerous myths and beliefs surround en caul births, which are also called mermaid or veiled births.

One is that babies are somehow destined for greatness or will be lucky in life  with many historical figures said to have been born in this fashion.

Another bogus belief is that those born en caul can never drown.

The amniotic sac is the jelly-like bag of fluid that encases the foetus. It's made of two membranes, the amnion and the chorion.

Though thin, it is robust, holding an increasing amount of fluid throughout gestation, including the foetus's urine.

In an 'en caul' birth, the main priority is to break the sac to allow the baby to breathe, since as they may no longer have oxygen supplied from being inside their mother.
British-American cybersecurity company Darktrace has warned that foreign exchange headwinds could weigh on its performance.

Darktrace, which uses artificial intelligence to detect attacks and vulnerabilities inside IT networks, grew its customer base by 320 clients for Q1 FY 2023, taking its database to 7,757 and equating to a 29.1 per cent year-over-year increase.

However, it highlighted that adverse currency movements - which saw the pound hit a record low of $1.0327 on 26 September - could drag on its performance further after inflicting $17.1million (15.4 million) of losses in the first quarter alone.

British-American cybersecurity company Darktrace, which in August was the subject of takeover interest, said it was maintaining its annual guidance but warned that foreign exchange headwinds could weigh on its performance

Net revenue from subscriptions came to $511.5million (463.8million) at 30 September but, following currency exchange, the reported figure was $494.4million (448million).

The Cambridge-based firm added that exchange rate movements are 'likely to impact the conversion of constant currency ARR to USD revenue for the rest of FY 2023'.

Darktrace shares slid more than 6 per cent, trading at 291.83p by around 10am on Wednesday.

Though the US Dollar continues to be unusually strong relative to Darktrace's other operating currencies, it told investors its 'key FX rates have recovered somewhat from the lows experienced in late September'.

On this basis, the business is maintaining its expectation for FY 2023 year-over-year revenue growth of between 30 per cent and 33 per cent, though it said it 'will continue to monitor FX rates, and their potential impacts on revenue, for downside movement relative to rates at this reporting date'.

Safe: Darktrace designs AI_based software that helps protect organisations against cyber threats. Customers have included Formula One team McLaren Racing (pictured)

Darktrace uses artificial intelligence to design software that helps protect organisations against cyber threats ranging from ransomware, email phishing and software-as-a-service attacks.

Its clients have included brewing giant and Budweiser producer ABInBev, Formula One team McLaren Racing, and civil engineer Sir Robert McAlpine, as well as the UK intelligence services.

One of its most well-known backers has been Mike Lynch, who is facing possible extradition to the US over accusations of fraud arising from the $11.6billion sale of enterprise software group Autonomy to HP.

Lynch, who has denied all allegations of wrongdoing, has said that a 'vindictive' campaign by US authorities has depressed the share price of Darktrace, thereby making it more vulnerable to a takeover.

Darktrace shares have undergone massive turbulence since floating last year, initially surging to over 10 before slumping in November 2021 after Peel Hunt released an analyst note claiming the firm was massively overvalued.

US technology investor Thoma Bravo also said last month that it would not make an offer for Darktrace after it failed to agree terms of a deal.

Discussions between the pair were first revealed in August, sparking significant concerns that the London Stock Exchange would lose another technology business to a private equity predator.
The latest suspension of a UK property fund has led to fears of yet another wave of temporary closures across the sector.

Fund manager Columbia Threadneedle was forced on Tuesday to suspend dealing in its 453million CT UK Property Authorised Investment Fund and its feeder fund in efforts to restore liquidity following a rush of redemptions.

While the fund is currently the only suspended UK property fund, Threadneedle was last week forced to add restrictions to another Threadneedle fund aimed at institutional investors, while BlackRock, CBRE and Schroders also moved to defer payments in some vehicles.

Property funds often hold a mix of offices, residential and commercial buildings, and - increasingly since the onset of the pandemic - warehousing.

CT UK Property Authorised Investment Fund investors will be unable to buy or sell shares in the fund until the suspension is lifted.

Property research analyst at Quilter Cheviot Olie Creasey explained that the Threadneedle suspension is round two of UK property fund trading suspensions, with the first round having been specific to vehicles with significant pension exposure.

Property funds have recently come under pressure from UK pension funds clients, which needed to sell assets in order to meet collateral calls on hedging positions following wild swings in gilt yields.

Creasey said: What we are seeing today looks more like a general UK property market issue and the main Columbia Threadneedle (CT) UK property fund was suspended for redemptions until further notice.

Whether this precipitates other UK property fund suspensions across the industry is yet to be seen.

Should other UK property funds opt for suspension, it will be the third time in five years when the sector struggles to return cash to investors.

What is the liquidity mismatch at the heart of UK property funds? Three waves of UK property fund suspensions in five years has not gone unnoticed by regulators and investors. Essentially all daily-dealing, open-ended funds are designed to enable investors to invest and withdraw cash with relative ease. However, as anyone who has ever bought or sold a house will tell you, physical property is an illiquid assets that cant be cashed in with the same ease as a share, for example. When UK property funds have been forced to suspend dealing this is because the volume of investor redemption requests is so great they are unable to stump-up the cash. They opt to suspend often to protect investors, because forced selling of physical property would very likely result in a deterioration of the funds value. The suspension period allows the funds to raise the necessary cash to meet redemptions  while hopefully buying time for investor jitters to calm. Many asset management experts believe open-ended property funds of this kind are fundamentally flawed, and investors would be better placed building their exposure to property via an investment trust. In addition to the risk of suspension and the potential for having their cash locked up beyond their reach, investors in an open-ended property fund also often find themselves paying fees to a fund manager holding cash buffers of more than 10 per cent. The Financial Conduct Authority is aware of these concerns and has been liaising with industry for the establishment of more appropriate vehicles for illiquid assets like property, which would be designed to limit withdrawals to prevent liquidity crunches of this kind.

The first wave of suspension came in 2016 in the aftermath of the Brexit referendum, while the second was a consequence of the 2020 Covid-19 sell-off.

Creasey noted that the CT fund had just 2.8 per cent of its portfolio in cash at the time of suspension, whereas sector rivals are holding an average of 15 to 20 per cent.

He added: The question on investors lips will be whether other funds are also facing the risk of suspension?

The answer is maybe; there have been instances in the past when contagion has gripped this market, however, it isnt always the case. Some of the other funds in the market are better-capitalised (for example, L&G had >15% in cash as of 31/08/22) and therefore may be better positioned to cope with further redemptions.

In a note on Tuesday, analysts at Fitch Ratings said: Contagion risk has been contained so far but increasing redemption requests may cause some funds to make forced sales, pushing down asset values.

This could lead to knock-on effects for other funds, through weaker returns, potentially triggering more widespread withdrawals.

Head of investment partnerships at AJ Bell Ryan Hughes added: News that the Columbia Threadneedle UK Property fund is suspending once again is a stark reminder that open-ended property remains totally unsuitable for daily traded investments.

Its remarkable that this still needs to be said given this is the third time in the past six years that this situation has occurred.

The liquidity mismatch is clear for all to see, and the highly volatile conditions currently being witnessed in markets exacerbates that risk when investors take flight and look to liquidate assets quickly

We still await the outcome of the FCAs review into the dealing frequency of open-ended property funds, with the original proposal of a 180 day notice period first being proposed back in August 2020.

Over two years later we appear to be no further forward, with existing investors still left in limbo and the sector essentially uninvestable given the material uncertainty surrounding the redemption terms.
Suspended Liberal MP Gareth Ward is so popular in his New South Wales south coast electorate he could be re-elected despite facing trial for sex crimes against two males - one of them a teenager.

Ward, a factional ally of former premier Gladys Berejiklian, has the backing of many Liberal members in Kiama and is weighing up whether to seek re-election next year.

He has refused to resign from Parliament and appears to be setting himself to run as an independent, threatening the electoral chances of his former Liberal colleagues.

Ward is yet to declare his intentions but has told supporters he is seriously considering another campaign for a seat he took from Labor and has safely held for 11 years.

Liberal MP Gareth Ward, pictured with former premier Gladys Berejiklian, was suspended from Parliament and his party after he was charged with sex crimes against two males, 17 and 27. He is weighing up whether to seek re-election as an independent before he goes on trial

Ward has refused to resign as the Member for Kiama and appears to be setting himself to run as an independent for Kiama at the upcoming NSW election. 'I'm continuing to get on with the job of working hard and getting things done for my local community,' he said

'I'm continuing to get on with the job of working hard and getting things done for my local community,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

'The election is still several months away but obviously I will have to turn my mind to that matter sooner rather than later and when I'm in a position to do so I'll have something further to say.'

Ward is regularly pictured attending community functions, mixing with the Country Women's Association and Rotary Club members, meeting teachers and local councillors and visiting sporting clubs and retirement villages.

He holds Kiama with a margin of 12 per cent - having increased his vote at the past two elections - and is still a significant figure in Liberal branches in the Illawarra region.

Daily Mail Australia understands Ward has commissioned polling in the electorate which suggests Labor would win if he did not run as an independent.

The same research indicates if the legally blind albino does run he would out-poll any Liberal candidate and after preferences were allocated would likely win.

Tony Emery from the Shoalhaven Business Chamber had no doubt Ward could beat anyone put up against him.

'I think Gareth is one of the best local representatives in the NSW Parliament,' Mr Emery said. 'He should be in the ministry.

'I think if he runs as an independent he'll win the seat quite easily. He'll romp it in. And the Libs should not run against him. It'd be a travesty if they did.'

Some of Gareth Ward's electoral material features a colour scheme more like that adopted at the last federal election by the so-called 'teal' candidates who rolled six sitting Liberal MPs than the blue of his former party. Supporters say that is a coincidence

Ward posed with Peter Poulos, Parliamentary Secretary for the Illawarra when the Liberal Upper House MP visited Kiama on August 2. 'Thank you Peter for taking the time to hear about important local issues,' Ward captioned that photograph on social media

Long-time local dairy farmer Robert Cochrane was just as forthright.

'My personal feeling is that Gareth Ward's got absolutely no problem being re-elected,' Mr Cochrane said.

'Gareth has been so successful in getting projects commenced and completed. He's just a wonderful dedicated politician.

'I am innocent and intend to prove it' says MP Gareth Ward Gareth Ward denied the sex crimes allegations in March as soon as he was released from police custody on bail. 'While I strongly support the right of genuine victims to bring forward allegations, accused persons equally are entitled to the presumptions of innocence, have the right to refute allegations made against them and should be allowed the opportunity to defend themselves from claims that are simply untrue,' he said. 'I am innocent and intend to prove it. I have instructed my lawyers to use every available procedural avenue to bring this matter to trial as quickly as possible.' Advertisement

'I think the Liberal Party might nominate someone to contest the seat but if Gareth does stand I think he'd overcome that nominee.'

Less than six months out from the March 25 election, the TAB has the Coalition at $2.85 to form government and Labor paying $1.40 to win.

Ward stood down as Minister for Families, Communities and Disability Services in May last year when he identified himself as the MP being investigated by the Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad.

He sat on the cross-bench until being charged in March with one count of sexual intercourse without consent, three counts of assault with an act of indecency and one of common assault.

The charges relate to the alleged indecent assault of a 17-year-old youth at Meroo Meadow near Bomaderry in February 2013 and the alleged sexual assault of a 27-year-old man in Sydney in September 2015.

Ward has strenuously asserted his innocence in public statements and the 41-year-old has entered not guilty pleas in the NSW District Court.

He has been suspended from the Liberal Party and Premier Dominic Perrottet demanded Ward resign from Parliament as soon as he was charged.

'While Mr Ward is entitled to the presumption of innocence, as any citizen is, the standards expected of an elected Member of Parliament are not compatible with the seriousness of the charges he is facing,' Mr Perrottet said at the time.

'Should Mr Ward not resign, the government will move a motion to remove him from the Parliament.'

Mr Perrottet's call came before he had received legal advice and it was later determined Ward could not be expelled ahead of his trial.

Ward was subsequently suspended - rather than permanently removed - from Parliament with bipartisan support.

Ward was photographed officially opening new playground equipment at St Peter's Anglican Church at Shoalhaven Heads, stating 'I helped secure a government grant to assist' in a Facebook post on July 31

Ward is yet to declare his intentions but has told supporters he is considering another campaign for a seat he took from Labor and has safely held for 11 years. He is pictured while Minister for Families, Communities and Disability Services in Parliament in June 2020

The suspension stands 'until the verdict of the jury has been returned on the five criminal charges laid against him', according to the motion passed in Parliament.

In the meantime Ward cannot vote on legislation or even attend the parliamentary precinct but is still being paid, employs staff and has an electorate office.

Under the terms of his suspension Ward also cannot visit schools in his seat.

The electorate includes the municipality of Kiama, sections of Shellharbour and Shoalhaven local government areas as well as a small part of Wollongong.

Some of Ward's electoral material features a colour scheme more like that adopted at the last federal election by the so-called 'teal' candidates who rolled six sitting Liberal MPs than the blue of his former party.

One supporter said the colour was chosen as a generic green representative of the benches in the Lower House of the Parliament rather than having any other significance.

A brochure which boasts of Ward's ability to secure government funding for community projects features green leaf motifs and the slogan 'Working hard and getting results'.

A brochure which boasts of Ward's ability to secure government funding for community projects features green leaf motifs and the slogan 'Working hard and getting results'

Ward's trial is not expected to take place until well after the election and he might not make a decision about whether or not to run until Christmas.

Despite not being able to sit in Parliament and facing years in jail if convicted Ward appears to have been actively campaigning in Kiama and maintains strong local support.

He was photographed officially opening new playground equipment at St Peter's Anglican Church at Shoalhaven Heads, stating 'I helped secure a government grant to assist' in a Facebook post on July 31.

On August 2 he posed with Peter Poulos, Parliamentary Secretary for the Illawarra when the Liberal Upper House MP visited Kiama.

'Thank you Peter for taking the time to hear about important local issues,' Ward captioned that photograph on social media.

Ward, a born and bred south coast local who is also a lawyer, took what was a safe Labor seat in 2011 and was re-elected in 2015. He is pictured with his mother Margaret Bowcher

His ongoing contact with government figures has led to speculation the Liberal Party has not entirely given up on Ward returning to the fold if he is acquitted at trial.

Ward, a born and bred south coast local who is also a lawyer, first took what was once a Labor stronghold in 2011 and was re-elected in 2015.

Liberal Party preselection nominations for Kiama remain open and will close 'on the recommendation of the State Director', a party document states.

More than 30 seats are still open for Liberal nominations but Ward's supporters believe the party is holding off on choosing a candidate until he reveals his plans.

It is possible the Liberals would not run a candidate if Ward had a fourth tilt at the seat, and might expect him to largely vote in Parliament along their party lines.

They could also run a candidate they do not expect to win and direct preferences to Ward, possibly in the hope he was cleared at trial and his party membership was restored.

The 93-seat NSW Parliament is currently made up of 45 Coalition members, with 37 from Labor, three from the Greens, two from the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers and six independents.

Ward has been suspended from the Liberal Party and Premier Dominic Perrottet demanded he resign from Parliament as soon as he was charged. Mr Perrottet's call came before he had received legal advice and it was later determined Ward could not be expelled ahead of his trial

Opposition Leader Chris Minns announced two months ago that Labor's candidate in Kiama would be former journalist, unionist and life-long local resident Katelin McInerney.

Mr Minns told 2GB's Ray Hadley on August 24 that Labor would not give preferences to Ward 'under any circumstances'.

Mr Perrottet has not offered a similar guarantee the Liberals would not preference Ward if he were to run.

'It would be inappropriate to comment on this matter while there are criminal proceedings pending against Mr Ward,' a spokesman for Mr Perrottet told Daily Mail Australia.

'Matters relating to preselection and preferences for the 2023 election are for the NSW Liberal Party.'

NSW state elections are conducted on an optional preferential voting system whereby electors can choose to vote for only one candidate.

The NSW Liberal Party, which was contacted for comment, has traditionally only recommended a vote for its member but does sometimes list other candidates on its how to vote cards.

Opposition Leader Chris Minns (right) announced two months ago that Labor's candidate in Kiama would be former journalist, unionist and life-long local resident Katelin McInerney (left)

While a date for Ward's trial has not been set he is due to appear in Sydney's Downing Centre on December 13 when two applications will be heard.

The Director of Public Prosecutions is trying to have the trial moved from Nowra, on the south coast, and Ward wants the allegations of the two complainants to be run separately.

Ward has previously said he would like the trial to be heard as soon as possible and that it was 'manifestly unfair and unreasonable' that it would not be heard before the election.

'I am frustrated, angry and disappointed that the matters involving the current criminal proceedings have continued to be unnecessarily delayed,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

'I want these matters dealt with expeditiously and to date justice has been delayed and it has been denied.'
A young girl and her family have been gifted a trip to Dreamworld by Domino's after her friends couldn't come to her ninth birthday party.

Mum Lauren O'Rourke, from Coolum, on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, arranged a day of activities for daughter, Skylah, followed by a sleepover, on September 24.

But a series of last-minute cancellations forced Ms O'Rourke to call her local Domino's store to cut down on her large, pre-booked order for the night.

However, after an employee dropped off the single pizza, another delivery man brought a surprise second delivery.

Shift supervisor Miles knocked on the door and revealed he had whipped up a custom 'dessert pizza' for Skylah - and that wasn't where her run of good luck ended.

Lauren O'Rourke pictured with her daughter Skylah, who celebrated her ninth birthday last month

Pictured: The custom made dessert pizza Miles made for Skylah's birthday party on September 24

Ms O'Rourke told Daily Mail Australia: 'Miles knocked on the door and said to Skylah "I made you a pizza. We heard some of your friends couldn't come. We wanted to cheer you up".

'And she said "is this pizza just for me?" and he said "yes it's all for you".'

Ms O'Rourke said they took the box into the kitchen and opened it to find a special bespoke dessert, featuring brownies, churros, and chocolate sauce. 'It was totally made with love,' she said.

'Skylah said: "OMG I feel so special, this is my birthday!"

'A simple act of kindness like that can just flip someone's day around.'

Miles' kind deed went viral last week after it was shared in a post by Domino's Australia, racking up more than 142,000 reactions and 2,800 comments.

Ms O'Rourke said the company has since reached out to the family to offer them a trip to the Gold Coast to visit Dreamworld.

'After connecting with Lauren, we discovered her birthday wish was to visit Dreamworld with her family and friend who attended her birthday party,' a Domino's spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia.

Miles pictured holding the special dessert pizza and a 'Happy Birthday' message scrawled on a pizza box using chocolate sauce

Skylah pictured at home smiling after receiving her special 'dessert pizza'

'To help make her birthday wish come true, Dominos gifted Skylah six tickets to Dreamworld, as well as a voucher for her family to enjoy a pizza night after the big day out.

'Domino's is passionate about bringing people closer through the worlds best bonding food, and is thrilled we could bring a "slice" of joy to Skylah on her ninth birthday.'

Ms O'Rourke said the family are 'so thankful' to the pizza company and have been blown away by the 'worldwide love movement' sparked by the viral post, with people from Germany, the USA, and Portugal commenting to with the young girl birthday wishes.

Despite some friends being unable to make the party, Ms O'Rourke said Skylah has been brought up to focus on the positives and was grateful some were able to attend.

The mother-of-three said the family were blown away by Miles' act of kindness and were really appreciative of the impact it had on her children.

'I am very passionate about teaching my daughter about kindness, gratitude and love, and not passing judgement,' she said.

Ms O'Rourke said she was grateful for Miles' act of kindness and for the impact it had on her children. Pictured: Skylah (left), her sister Marni (centre), and Ms O'Rourke (right)

The family are now set to go to Dreamworld in the Gold Coast (pictured) to fulfil Skylah's birthday wish

'To see that returned, to have that given back to her, so she will understand kindness works both ways - it was beautiful. It was the most genuine kind act.'

Ms O'Rourke said Skylah's birthday started with a minor hiccup when the group arrived to the local swimming pool - after walking through the heat - to discover it was closed.

However, they readjusted their plans to a fun night filled with swimming in the bath tub, eating pizza, and building tents in the living room for the sleepover.

On Friday night, the family dropped by the store on Friday night to see Miles and say thankyou.

'My daughter wanted to return the favour so she bought him a box of chocolates,' Ms O'Rourke said.

'I think Skylahs made a little friend with him.

'I hope Miles has a wonderful life and good things come for him from this. He deserves a world of happiness.'

And from now on, they will be keeping in touch.

'Domino's is our local, so we will be seeing Miles every now and again when we go back,' she added.
Ritchie said: 'This is not reversible, the experiment is over for me, there really really isn't any turning back'

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Two transgender patients today revealed their regret at going through NHS sex change operations and claimed they were 'rushed' into the life-changing procedures.

In powerful testimony that will raise fresh fears that vulnerable young people are being pushed into invasive and unalterable surgery by zealous transgender activists, they spoke of the terrible impacts on their mental and physical health.

After describing in graphic detail the nature of the surgery required to remove his male anatomy, 35-year-old Ritchie said: 'This is not reversible, the experiment is over for me, there really really isn't any turning back.'

Meanwhile, Amber - who had a mastectomy and took testosterone to transition from female to male - described the pain and health difficulties she had experienced since being 'rushed' into surgery, and said she wished she had been given therapy instead.

Their brave testimony in No Turning Back, a new film from Branded Film Studios that can be viewed in full on media platform Ickonic, is a rare example of 'detransitioners' coming forward to reveal their regrets.

'When Mermaids and Stonewall always talk about the people who don't get the chance to transition, they don't talk about the people who regret the process of transitioning,' filmmaker Charlotte Fantelli told MailOnline - referring to two charities who have faced scrutiny for their stance on transgender issues.

In powerful testimony to the film No Turning Back, Ritchie (left) and Amber (right) bravely reveal their regrets at going through sex change operations

Ritchie, a civil servant from the north of England, detransitioned after spending nearly a decade as a trans woman.

After feeling 'different' as a young boy, he discovered gender dysphoria while browsing online forums in his early 20s. When he explained his feelings to other forum users he was told he was '100 per cent trans and should act on it'.

In March 2014, Ritchie drove to a private clinic in Scotland where after just three appointments in two days he obtained a diagnosis which would allow him to be prescribed cross sex hormones on the NHS. He then went to an NHS gender clinic in Brighton.

'The first question I was asked when I saw the psychiatrist was whether I wanted gender reassignment surgery,' he recalled on the film. 'I said to her, ''I'm not sure, I'd like some time and I heard you could have therapy''.

'But I felt they communicated to me that they weren't a mental health service, they were there to help people medically transition. They wanted me to have surgery more than I wanted to have surgery - it was really bizarre.

'I refused it in 2015, I refused it in 2016, then in 2017 the psychiatrist said to me ''you're established on your hormones, if you don't want surgery we'll discharge you''.

'But I was in the middle of that critical therapy, which was the anchor I needed in the world to keep me well. Then they told me I'd be discharged if I didn't go on this list.'

Ritchie described the surgery he went through to transition from male to female as 'extremely brutal'.

'The first thing they do is they give you what's called an orchidectomy to remove your testicles,' he said. 'Once they've done that they essentially shave the skin off the penis for that to be removed, and then they start removing the erectile tissue.

'If you imagine your knuckle losing your finger, you still have the knuckle - you can still twinge it, so unfortunately you still have that phantom sensation. What they also do is reangle the urethra, which causes a very common complication called urethral constriction.

'That's when you can't pass urine properly. It will either come up slowly, painfully, or in some cases not at all. Some people have got catheters for the rest of their lives. Some have got really horrific complications.

'And for me I lost a lot of blood in surgery because they drill right through your pelvis. The infections that you get after are just treated like it's a normal thing. They were like, ''you just get infections''.'

Ritchie said he struggled mentally after surgery: 'Even if you're happy with it, it's tough. You lose energy, you become extremely fatigued and vulnerable in a way because you recognise you don't have that power in a sense - it's a very strange feeling.

'I was still involved in therapy at the gender clinic and I said ''I think I've f****d up here, I think I've made a really mad decision''. And their response was, ''You've just had this really major surgery... this is a rumination, this is just your OCD''.

'So I would go back every month and at every session say I feel the same, ''This is f*****g mental, I should have never done this''.'

After feeling 'different' as a young boy, Richie discovered gender dysphoria while browsing online forums in his early 20s. When he explained his feelings to other forum users he was told he was '100 per cent trans and should act on it'

After describing in graphic detail the nature of the surgery required to remove his male anatomy, 35-year-old said: 'This is not reversible, the experiment is over for me, there really really isn't any turning back'

Ritchie, who has since retransitioned to a man, added: 'This is not reversible, the experiment is over for me, there really really isn't any turning back.'

Amber - who is in her early 30s, works in recruitment and lives in the north west of England with her wife - also bravely came forward to give her testimony to No Turning Back.

She also first went to a private gender clinic, where after just two appointments she was diagnosed with gender dysphoria and received cross sex hormones. She then had surgery to remove her breasts on the NHS.

After three years on testosterone she said she began to question her decision but found the medics at her private clinic were not supportive.

She told the film: 'It didn't stem from a questioning of my identity at the time - what happened was I started to experience a phenomena that does happen to a lot of people who have a transition that's transmasculine where the testosterone therapy causes issues for their internal bodily functions, from a female lens.

'So, my female reproductive organs started to have some issues. I haven't had any menstrual experiences since the onset of testosterone and at the point where I got to about two and a half years on testosterone I started to experience a lot of severe pain in my genital region.

'I think I regret the speed at which I approached transition, especially the medical side. I don't think seeking diagnosis was necessarily an issue and I did experience gender dysphoria. But the rush to have surgical intervention and to have hormones is definitely something I wish I had taken more time over.

'I wish I'd have explored in therapy the feelings I was having. So, even if I had taken those medical steps I'd at least have laid some groundwork to know I might not regret them and I might feel more confident rather than rushing in as if it would solve all of my problems.'

Amber had a double mastectomy as part of the process of transitioning. She said: '[My breasts] were what was causing the predominant bulk of my dysphoria in the beginning and I do still have mixed feelings on my flat chest'

Taking testosterone for a long period had caused problems with Amber's internal female organs. Amber said the usual pathway at this point would have been full hysterectomy but she refused and came off the testosterone

Describing the 'permanent effects' of having taken male sex hormones, Amber said: 'I have facial and bodily hair - female hormones don't remove the hair that we've grown on testosterone. I also have genital changes that are permanent and of course I had a double mastectomy.

'[My breasts] were what was causing the predominant bulk of my dysphoria in the beginning and I do still have mixed feelings on my flat chest - whether I in some ways appreciate the neutrality it gives me and I feel I'm less sexualised...

'By trying to avoid what was difficult about going through this surgery in some ways I have denied myself of the opportunity to embrace my womanhood fully.'

Taking testosterone for a long period had caused her internal female organs to begin to atrophy. Amber said the usual pathway at this point would have been full hysterectomy but she refused and came off the testosterone.

Filmmaker Charlotte Fantelli told MailOnline she had never covered transgender issues before but decided to following her own personal experiences.

'When I was growing up I had a few trials and tribulations when I felt the adults around me didn't protect me,' she said.

'I've always had a passion for helping children and have been interested in mental health and have been published on the curriculum about topics to do with mental health for children.

'My children were aged 11 or 12 when they came home after a sex education session in which they'd talked about transgender ideology and how they could potentially have been born into the wrong body. I questioned why a group of pre-pubescent teenagers would be taught that kind of ideology.'

Amber (pictured after her double mastectomy) told the film: 'By trying to avoid what was difficult about going through this surgery in some ways I have denied myself of the opportunity to embrace my womanhood fully'

Ms Fantelli said she had always been 'very openly liberal', but felt children 'were being given answers to questions that they had never asked'.

She added: 'Children should be allowed to explore their own identities in an innocent way, but what I thought was wrong was adults starting to label children at a very vulnerable place in their life and put seeds in their minds that came from a very adult, sexualised and gender orientated place.

'What anyone wants to choose as an adult is absolutely up to them. My issue is that if you are presenting with mental health problems you should start by receiving therapy rather than be pushed down a medical pathway.'

The film is set to be released amid an ongoing controversy over the charity Mermaids, which is currently being investigated by the Charity Commission following revelations that one of its staff had agreed to send a breast binder to an undercover journalist posing as a teenage girl.

Mermaids has attracted additional scrutiny for weeks following its legal attempt to remove the charity status of the LGB Alliance - a charity set up to uphold gay, lesbian and bisexual rights.

Mermaids has insisted it is the victim of a 'smear campaign' and claims it has been forced to close its contact centre after being bombarded with abuse.

No Turning Back is available to watch exclusively on Ickonic today.
Breonna Taylor's boyfriend says his old schoolfriends were among cops called to the scene after she was shot dead by police - and that they ignored him as he was bundled into a cruiser.

Recalling the March 2020 killing in Louisville, Kentucky, Kenneth Walker told Jada Smith's Red Table Talk show: 'There were actually guys on the scene and stuff that I went to school with.

'When I was in the back of the police car, I heard people outside, and theyre just acting like its a normal day on the job. Shooting jokes.

'And I see one of the guys I went to school with, and it looked like he wanted to talk to me, but the other guys were just kind of like, no,' he continued.

'He didnt defend me with them right there, even though he went to school with me, and hes never seen me in trouble. He just went along with them.'

He said another officer he knew later apologized to him 'at a later date' and told him he 'didn't know what was going on.'

Taylor, 26, was fatally shot six times in March 2020 after the Louisville Police Department executed a no-knock warrant for a drug search that was targeting her ex-boyfriend.

Taylor's boyfriend Kenneth 'Kenny' Walker fired toward the front door as police worked to break it down, as the couple believed an intruder was entering their home.

Breonna Taylor's boyfriend Kenneth Walker, pictured, has told of how his old schoolfriends were among police officers called to the scene in the wake of the EMT's March 2020 murder

Walker, pictured with Taylor before her death, has spoken out about the night she was shot on Jada Pinkett Smith's Red Table Talk Facebook show

Walker was arrested (pictured) after he went outside to talk to the cops when 911 told him they were there. One of the cops asked if had been shot, when he said no, the officer replied: 'That's unfortunate'

Louisville police fired back 32 times.

Walker - who owned his gun legally - was later arrested and originally charged with attempted murder after one of his bullets struck an officer's thigh.

Those charges against him were later dropped.

The family had accused the Louisville Police Department of lying since Taylor was shot. Her mother, Tamika Palmer even revealed officers never tried to get her daughter to a hospital, finding out after more than 10 hours after the shooting, that her body was still inside the apartment.

'They never ever attempted to help her,' Palmer said on the show.

Prior to the shooting, Walker told Red Table Talk that it was it was a 'normal day' and they had gone out on a date and were winding down for the day moments before police arrived.

'We went out to eat, just enjoying each other's company, just me and her. We had a great day, we were tired after, so we were just going to go in the house and chill,' he said, as he wore a locket with her photos.

'What place do you feel more safe in than the comfort of your own home?'

They were watching the movie Freedom Writers together when Taylor dozed off, which she 'did a lot, so I kind of dozed off too.'

Just moments later, the pair would find themselves engaged in gunfire with seven plainclothes officers who served a no-knock warrant on their apartment in the early hours.

The warrant was served as a part of a drug search, targeting Taylor's ex-boyfriend Jamarcus Glover, who admitted that his previous lover had nothing to do with the drug trade.

Pinkett-Smith's eyes welled with tears at multiple points during the discussion about the police shooting

Taylor's mother Tamika Palmer also appeared on the podcast, and listened as Walker spoke of her daughter's final night

Walker heard someone 'banging the door' and was 'startled' by it, saying that they had no idea it was police and had no reason to suspect it to be.

'When someone is banging on your door at one o'clock in the morning, that's weird,' he told the hosts - actress Jada Pinkett-Smith, her daughter Willow Smith, and her mother Adrienne Banfield Norris, who all attended a Kentucky rally for Taylor.

Taylor reportedly called out 'Who is it?' and didn't receive an response from police, Walker said.

'A couple seconds go by and we're getting up and putting on some clothes to go see who's at the door, [when] there's another bang at the door,' he said. 'She said: 'Who is it?" again.

'I'm not a criminal [or] felon, she's not a criminal felon, so we have no reason not to open the door,' he told the group.

The couple grew scared and Walker grabbed his legally-owned gun and as the pair moves toward the hallway to go to the door, it 'bursts open.'

Walker then 'shot my gun' into the darkness. The only light in the home came from the TV behind them and the light across from their doorway outside.

'I thought: What other choice do I have?" he questioned. 'Once I shoot my gun, anyone in their right mind should feel like whatever you were coming here for is not worth it.

Taylor was an ER technician in Louisville, Kentucky, with her death becoming a rallying cry for Black Lives Matter protesters throughout 2020

'Never in my wildest imagination could I have thought that [32 shots] would have been coming back.'

Sergeant Jon Mattingly - who was struck by Walker's bullet - told investigators that he received 'no response' after banging on the door and after the second time, officers 'began announcing ourselves.'

According to The New York Times, officers only waited 45 seconds before ramming the door open.

Officers hit the door three times before it 'exploded' off its hinges.'

Mattingly fired several rounds into the apartment before falling and taking cover. That's when Detective Myles Cosgrove steps in and fires 'blindly.'

'I see blinding, vivid, white light and blackness at the same time,' Cosgrove told investigators. 'I don't hear any gunfire at all ever. I did not have any hand sensations or any recollection that I'm firing.'

He reportedly fired until he ran out of ammunition. Thirteen rounds were fired down the hallway, where the couple were standing.

The lethal bullet was fired by Cosgrove.

Detective Brett Hankison fired more bullets through the exterior bedroom door after he claimed to have seen 'muzzle flashes' and had assumed the couple were returning fire.

Kelly Goodlett is expected to plead guilty and could spent up to five years in prison

Goodlett was charged last week alongside Sergeant Kyle Meany, 45, Detective Joshua Jaynes, 40, and former Detective Brett Hankison, 46, (pictured) for their connection to Taylor's March 2020 death

Officers Myles Cosgrove (left) - who fired the fatal shot - and Brett Hankison were also fired from their roles in the police over the Taylor case. Joshua Jaynes, the lead investigator, had actually spoken to a fellow officer, Sergeant Jonathan Mattingly, (right) who had received the information from Shivley Police.

After police had left, Walker called Taylor's mom Palmer and his own mother to tell them what happened before calling the 911.

In the 911 recording, obtained by Red Table Talk, Walker can be heard emotionally telling dispatcher: 'I don't know what happened. Somebody kicked in the door and shot my girlfriend.

'Oh my god, help, my god.'

When Walker called 911, he was not aware the police were outside his door or that they were the ones who had fired into their home.

When he walked outside, they asked if he had been hit by a bullet, when he told them 'no,' one of the officers replied: 'That's unfortunate.'

In bodycam footage, officers can be heard screaming: 'Keeping walking backwards,' 'hands up, cop killer,' and mocking him for being 'scared.'

At one point, Walker asked officers 'what's going on' and one of them replied: 'You're going to prison, that's what's going on.'

One cop does suggest going back into the apartment because there 'might be a victim inside,' but that wouldn't happened until later.

Walker did notified them that Taylor was in the home injured.

Thirty minutes after raid ended, an EMT finally checked on Taylor after arresting Walker.

Walker also said that officers took him to a 'parking lot,' where they were met with another unmarked police car, where another officer told him 'there was a huge misunderstanding and we're going to get down to the bottom of it.'

When the younger Smith wonder if the cops would have wiped their hands clean if both had been shot and left them there, Walker replied: 'There's nothing there to wonder.'

Palmer said: 'The plain thing of it is, if Kenny wouldn't have live, we would probably never known what had happened that night, because they've never been honest about the situation.

'Kenny fired off one shot, to return fire with 32 shots, they were determined not to leave a witness,' Palmer claimed.

After hours of questioning, Walker found out his girlfriend had died on the news.

'I had to find out what happened on the news, sitting in jail. They didn't say her name, but they said a woman was killed. That's how I found out,' he told the women of Red Table Talk. 'That's how I found out.

'That's crazy too. I think the only crime I committed that night was being black,' he said on the show.

It took a year before the charges to be completely dropped.

Palmer also recalled arriving to the crime scene and being locked out for 'several hours' and was told to go the hospital.

After two hours of waiting for her daughter to arrive by emergency services, a nurse told her that was 'no record' of Taylor even being transported to the hospital.

When she arrived back to her daughter's apartment, it took an hour before a detective came to talk to her.

The detective had asked her if she 'knew anybody that would want hurt Breonna or Kenny,' the mother claimed.

'Absolutely not,' she told them.

More than 10 hours after the incident occurred, Palmer would be notified of her daughter's passing around 11.30am.

'The detective comes back over and says: "It won't be much longer that we'll be able to get in there," the mother said. When she asked where her daughter is, he reportedly replied: 'Well, ma'am, she's still in the apartment.'

'He never said, but I knew [what that meant],' she told Red Table Talk.

A detective gave her a business card with a phone number to call and she said she 'immediately starting calling,' but never got a response back.

After the case gained national attention, four former Louisville officers were federally charged with civil rights violations.

Kelly Goodlett, a former detective, and Kyle Meany were charged with falsifying an affidavit. Brett Hankison, who was at the raid, was charged with excessive force while executing a search warrant. Joshua Jaynes, who obtained the warrant, was accused of misleading investigators.

Her family said they never got to grieve the EMT because they spent so long trying to figure out the truth and have accused the police of lying

Taylor was working as an EMT and saving to go to nursing school

Jaynes and Goodlett reportedly met in a garage, where they 'agreed to tell investigators a false story,' according to NPR.

Hanikson, Jaynes and Meany all face life in prison for the civil rights violations. They have pleaded not guilty.

Goodlett, who resigned from the force, did plead guilty to federal conspiracy charges for helping to falsify a warrant. She faces up to five years in prison and will be sentenced on November 22.

'We allege that the defendants knew their actions in falsifying the affidavit could create a dangerous situation, and we allege these unlawful acts resulted in Ms. Taylor's death,' US Attorney General Merrick Garland said.

The family is still trying to heal, they said, and Walker admitted he started to to see a therapist and had finally gotten a place of his own.

He also said he still finds it 'hurtful' the way the police framed himself and Taylor as criminals and said it gives him the strength to 'keep speaking.'

'I think that's why God kept me alive,' he told the group.

'I'm really fearful of a lot of things,' he admitted. 'I have to keep pushing.'

Palmer also admitted she has 'never gotten the chance to grieve' after the family was thrown into the chaos of trying to figure out the truth.

'It's like we're the only people in the world saying she didn't deserve it. You're fighting for her and nobody's listening.'

JuNiyah Palmer, her younger sister by 6.5 years, said she goes to the apartment 'all the time' and just sits in the 'parking lot' because it's the last place she had been with her.

Walker admitted he 'never thought it of that way' and would consider joining her next time.
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This astonishing image of a buzzing ball of cactus bees spinning over the hot sand on a Texas ranch has helped its creator to win the coveted Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.

The bee-level close-up was captured by US photographer Karine Aigner and makes her the fifth woman in the competition's 58-year history to claim the grand title award.

The other main title of Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2022 was won by 16-year-old Katanyou Wuttichaitanakorn, of Thailand, for his image about the beauty of a whale.

Ms Aigner's image was praised for its 'sense of movement and intensity' by the judges at London's Natural History Museum, who develop and produce the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.

This astonishing image of a buzzing ball of cactus bees spinning over the hot sand on a Texas ranch has helped its creator Karine Aigner to win the coveted Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition

All except one of the bees in the close-up are males, who are intent on mating with the single female at the centre.

Like most bees, they are threatened by habitat loss, pesticides and climate change, as well as farming practices that disrupt their nesting grounds.

Chairwoman of the judging panel, Roz Kidman Cox said: 'Wings whirring, incoming males home in on the ball of buzzing bees that is rolling straight into the picture.

'The sense of movement and intensity is shown at bee-level magnification and transforms what are little cactus bees into big competitors for a single female.'

The other main title of Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2022 was won by 16-year-old Katanyou Wuttichaitanakorn, of Thailand, for his image about the beauty of a whale.

The success of Thai teenager Katanyou Wuttichaitanakorn in winning the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year title was due to his fascination with the colours of a baleen whale.

He was intrigued when a Bryde's whale surfaced close to his boat, by the contrasting colours and textures of its dark skin, pink gum and the brush-like feeding mass that hung from its top jaw.

The youngster, who has been a keen naturalist and a photographer since he was 12, managed to capture detail, including some tiny anchovies, in what the judges felt was a 'dynamic composition'.

Like other baleen whales, Bryde's use a technique known as lunge-feeding to catch large numbers of small schooling fish and then filter the small prey from the ocean.

This portrait of a bear in a disappearing habitat was captured by Daniel Mideros

Photographer Daniel Nunez captured 'The dying lake', winner of the Wetlands - The Bigger Picture category at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition

They were among 38,575 entries from 93 countries which were judged on their originality, narrative, technical excellence and ethical practice. Here - Jose Juan Hernandez Martine captures the courtship display of a Canary Islands houbara bird

Ms Cox said: 'Out of the jaws of a Bryde's whale comes this dazzling creation.

'The pin-sharp detail of the tiny anchovies is set against an abstraction of colour with the weave of brown baleen hair rimmed by a cascade of water drops.'

The two grand title awards were picked from the winners of 19 categories which highlighted the natural world in all its wonder and diversity.

They were among 38,575 entries from 93 countries which were judged on their originality, narrative, technical excellence and ethical practice.

Among the other images are a portrait of a bear in a disappearing habitat, a dying lake, the courtship display of a Canary Islands houbara bird and the electrifying reproductive dance of a giant sea star.

The bears, which are found from western Venezuela to Bolivia, were captured by Daniel Mideros, of Ecuador, who set up camera traps along a wildlife corridor used to reach high-altitude plateaus. The bears have suffered massive declines as the result of habitat fragmentation.

An exhibition of the top images submitted to the competition opens at the Natural History Museum in London on October 14, before going on a UK and international tour. Pictured: House of bears by Dmitry Kokh, winner of the Urban Wildlife category

Heavenly flamingos by Junji Takasago, winner of the Natural Artistry category

The bat-snatcher by Fernando Constantino Martinez Belmar, winner of the Behaviour: Amphibians and Reptiles category at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition

Ndakasi's passing by Brent Stirton, winner of the Photojournalism category

The image of an osprey sitting on a dead tree as it waits for the fog to lift was caught by Ismael Dominguez Gutierrez, of Spain.

The courtship display of a Canary Islands houbara bird was caught in the light of the moon by Jose Juan Hernandez Martinez, of Spain.

He dug himself a low hide and caught the bird's puffed-out profile as it took a brief rest.

Daniel Nunez, of Guatemala, used a drone to capture the contrast between a forest and the algal growth on Lake Amatitlan.

He hopes the photograph will raise awareness of the impact of contamination on the lake which takes in about 75,000 tonnes of waste from Guatemala City every year.

An image of the reproductive dance of a giant spawning sea star was taken by American/Japanese photographer Tony Wu and shows water filled with sperm and eggs.

An image of the reproductive dance of a giant spawning sea star was taken by American/Japanese photographer Tony Wu and shows water filled with sperm and eggs

Under Antarctic ice by Laurent Ballesta, winner of the Portfolio Award category

Out of the fog by Ismael Dominguez Gutierrez, winner of the Young Wildlife Photography of the Year 11-14 years category

A theatre of birds' by Mateusz Piesiak, winner of the Rising Star Portfolio Award category

The magical morels by Agorastos Papatsani, winner of the Plants and Fungi category

The 'dancing' shape of the spawning sea star as it rises and sways may help release eggs and sperm, or help sweep the eggs and sperm into the currents where they fertilise together in the water.

An exhibition of the top images submitted to the competition opens at the Natural History Museum in London on October 14, before going on a UK and international tour.

Dr Doug Gurr, director of the Natural History Museum said: 'Wildlife photographers offer us unforgettable glimpses into the lives of wild species, sharing unseen details, fascinating behaviours and frontline reporting on the climate and biodiversity crises.

'These images demonstrate their awe of and appreciation for the natural world and the urgent need to take action to protect it.'
Joe Biden said Saudi Arabia will face 'consequences' after the Riyadh-led OPEC+ alliance moved to cut oil production.

In response, Democratic lawmakers are now calling for a freeze on the U.S. cooperating with the Saudis.

Biden suggested he would take action soon, as aides announced that the administration is reevaluating its relationship with the kingdom in light of the oil production cut, which White House officials claim will help Russia, another OPEC+ member, pad its coffers as it continues its nearly eight-month war in Ukraine.

'Theres going to be some consequences for what they've done with Russia,' Biden said in a CNN interview aired Tuesday evening.

'I'm not going to get into what I'd consider and what I have in mind,' he added. 'But there will be - there will be consequences.'

The president said he will consult with Congress on steps forward, but stopped short of endorsing Democratic lawmakers' call to halt weapons sales to Saudi Arabia.

Biden also told CNN host Jake Tapper that his trip to Saudi Arabia and meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was not about oil.

'Let's get straight why I went,' Biden said. 'I didn't go to went about oil. I went about making sure that we made sure that we weren't going to walk away from the Middle East and what was going on.'

President Joe Biden said Saudi Arabia will face 'consequences' after the Riyadh-led OPEC+ alliance of oil producing nations last week announced it would cut oil production

Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Representative Ro Khanna of California introduced legislation that would immediately pause all U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia for one year.

This pause would also halt sales of spare and repair parts, support services and logistical support.

But it remains to be seen how far Biden is willing to go in showing his displeasure with the Saudis, a vital but complicated ally in the Middle East. Biden came into office vowing to recalibrate the U.S. relationship because of Saudi Arabia's human rights record but then paid a visit to the kingdom earlier this year.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Biden believes 'it's time to take another look at this relationship and make sure that it's serving our national security interests.'

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday the White House has no timeline for its review nor has the president appointed an adviser to serve as point person.

Meanwhile, officials underscore the central role that Saudi Arabia plays in addressing broader national security concerns in the Middle East.

Blumenthal and Khanna unveiled their legislation one day after Sen. Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, said it was unacceptable that OPEC+ had moved to cut oil production and effectively assist Moscow in its war on Ukraine. Menendez promised to use his position as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to block any future arms sales to the Saudis.

Menendez did not warn the White House before announcing his intention to block future Saudi arms sales, Kirby said.

Democratic lawmakers call for a freeze on cooperation with the Saudis and a halt of weapons sales, but Biden stopped short of endorsing this avenue. Biden's interview with CNN host Jake Tapper (left) is one of the few rare sit-downs he has done with a member of the press since taking office.

OPEC+, which includes Russia as well as Saudi Arabia, announced last week it would cut production by 2 million barrels a day, which will help prop up oil prices that are allowing Russian President Vladimir Putin to keep paying for his eight-month invasion of Ukraine. The production cut also hurts U.S.-led efforts to make the war financially unsustainable for Russia, threatens a global economy already destabilized by the Ukraine conflict and risks saddling Biden and Democrats with newly rising gasoline prices just ahead of the U.S. midterm elections.

Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud told Saudi-owed Al Arabiya on Tuesday that his government's justification of the production cuts was 'purely economic.'

Biden and European leaders have urged more oil production to ease gasoline prices and punish Moscow for its aggression in Ukraine. Putin has been accused of using energy as a weapon against countries opposing Russia's invasion.

'They are certainly aligning themselves with Russia,' Jean-Pierre said. 'This is not a time to be aligning with Russia.'

As for the Saudis, Sen. Blumenthal said, 'We cannot continue selling highly sensitive arms technology to a nation aligned with an abhorrent terrorist adversary.'

However, the White House takes note that its weapon sales to Riyadh serve, in part, as an important counterweight in the region to Iran, which is quickly moving toward becoming a nuclear power.

Biden said in his interview that his visit to Saudi Arabia and meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (right) was not about oil, but want to reaffirm the U.S. was not abandoning commitments in the Middle East. Pictured: Biden fist-bumps with MBS during his trip to Saudi Arabia on July 15, 2022

'Theres 70,000 Americans living in Saudi Arabia right now, not to mention all the other troops we have throughout the region,' Kirby said. 'So, its not only in our interest that missile defense in the region become more integrated and cooperative. Its in the interest of our allies and partners in that part of the world as well.'

Still, the pressure is mounting for Biden. As a candidate for the White House, he vowed that Saudi rulers would 'pay the price' under his watch for the 2018 killing of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of the kingdom's leadership. Biden said that he'd look to make the oil-rich country a 'pariah.'

But in July, amid rising prices at the pump around the globe, Biden decided to pay a visit to Saudi Arabia. During the visit, he met with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, who he once shunned as a killer for the death of Khashoggi. The U.S. intelligence community determined that the crown prince, often referred to by his initials MBS, likely approved the killing of Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. MBS denies he was involved.

The Saudis have also drawn international criticism for airstrikes killing civilians in the years-long war between the kingdom and Houthi rebels in Yemen - as well as for embargoes that exacerbated hunger and pushed Yemen to the brink of famine.

'Saudi Arabias disastrous decision to slash oil production by two million barrels a day makes it clear that Riyadh is seeking to harm the U.S. and reaffirms the need to reassess the U.S.-Saudi relationship,' Khanna said. 'There is no reason for the U.S. to kowtow to a regime that has massacred countless civilians in Yemen, hacked to death a Washington-based journalist and is now extorting Americans at the pump.'
Australians being urged to be vigilant as scammers ramp up illegal operations

The biggest data breach in Australian history has triggered an onslaught of scams, with the consumer watchdog warning Aussies not to engage with suspicious calls or messages.

The head of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said the regulator's scam team had received more than 600 complaints daily about the Optus breach.

ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said many scammers were posing as Optus or Equifax Protect, the credit reporting agency tasked with supporting victims of the breach, to swindle consumers.

The biggest data breach in Australian history has triggered an onslaught of scams - with the consumer watchdog warning Aussies not to engage with any suspicious calls or messages. Pictured is a mock up of a scam text message

The most common scams include texts from Equifax asking people to check their details which have been compromised as a result of the Optus hack, as well as texts from the telco itself and even fake MyGov messages. Pictured is a mock up of a fake MyGov message

Ms Cass-Gottlieb said the result is customers are feeling 'confused and anxious' every time they receive a text or call, and demanded significantly more transparency from the underfire telco.

'The message that we are getting from these reports is, firstly, that many of the consumers are confused about the information they're receiving, or not receiving, from Optus,' she told the House of Representatives economics committee on Tuesday.

'They are anxious, and they don't feel they know. The impact on them and the risks that they face, and exactly what information of theirs has necessarily been divulged.'

Two other regulators have now launched probes into the Optus breach, including the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), which could hit the company with fines of $2.2million per breach.

The most common scams include texts from Equifax asking people to check their details which have been compromised due to the Optus hack, as well as texts from the telco itself and even fake MyGov messages.

Ms Cass-Gottlieb said there had been a 'material spike' in reports of scams, with hundreds of cases coming across the desks of the ACCC each day.

The head of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said the regulator's scam team had received more than 600 complaints a day related to the Optus breach

'Some [customers] have reported being contacted by parties who say they're Optus, or parties who say they are Experian  the credit reporting agency that is being retained to provide some assistance  and in some cases that say they're MyGov,' she said.

'Because the data does include personal information, there's a capacity for a scammer to personalise a contact and to also misrepresent who they're representing.'

She said there had even been instances of scammers pretending to be Optus and stealing money from Australians after gaining access to their accounts.

The OAIC and Australia Communications and Media Authority (AMCA) have confirmed they will investigate the breach of the 9.8million customers who had their information stolen last month.

Several investigations have been launched into the massive Optus data breach, which compromised the personal details of millions of Australians

'The OAIC's investigation will focus on whether the Optus companies took reasonable steps to protect the personal information they held from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure,' the regulator said.

Angelene Falk, the OAIC's privacy commissioner, said the review would be made public 'as quickly as possible'.

'Australians are entitled to know whether Optus had reasonable security safeguards in place to protect their information at the time of the breach,' she said.

Optus has engaged Deloitte to review the breach, but will not make its findings public. Ms Falk said telcos need to shift away from a model that places the burden on customers and instead takes responsibility for its systems failures.

'[We must] switch the dial away from the burden on individuals to navigate long and complex privacy policy and more to organisations to ensure there is a baseline standard that all personal information is handled in a way that is fair and reasonable,' she said.
Tom Cruise is going to space.

The popular actor of "Top Gun: Maverick" and "Mission: Impossible Fallout" fame could be going to the International Space Station (ISS) to shoot a new action movie directed by Doug Liman in the future.

Cruise is known for performing all of the stunts in the action movies he stars in, which includes flying a jet in "Top Gun: Maverick" and running down the Burj Khalifa in "Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol," per People.com.

Tom Cruise Potential Spacewalk Details

Cruise is potentially set to be the first celebrity, let alone the first civilian, to ever do a spacewalk outside the ISS for a movie directed by Langley, the head of Universal Pictures, per a Variety report citing a recent BBC interview.

Donna Langley, the head of Universal Pictures, mentioned in the interview that the company has "a great project" in development with Cruise to do just that and more.

The character Cruise will portray in the film will reportedly be a down-on-his-luck guy who finds himself as the only one who can save Earth from something catastrophic. To do so, he may have to go to the ISS.

However, this spacewalk might be featured for a short duration as most of the movie will take place on Earth.

Meanwhile, Liman revealed that NASA and SpaceX signed on to the idea of taking Cruise to space and the ISS for the first-ever spacewalk done by a civilian and celebrity.

Read More: Woman Meets Someone Claiming He's an Astronaut Needing a Ticket to Earth, Falls Victim to a $30,000 Online Scam

He also added that he became "just a little bit more receptive" after hearing that Universal Pictures, NASA, SpaceX, and Cruise were signing on to the idea.

Although the confirmation of Cruise going to the ISS and performing a spacewalk is new, the idea that Cruise will be going there isn't. CNET reports that NASA's former administrator, Jim Bridenstine, confirmed that NASA would work with Cruise to film a movie aboard the ISS.

"NASA is excited to work with Tom Cruise on a film aboard the Space Station!," Bridenstine said in a now-deleted tweet. Thankfully, a BBC report published in May 2020 managed to record it for posterity.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk also expressed his excitement about the collaboration, saying it "should be a lot of fun!"

Despite NASA and SpaceX signing on the idea, it is unknown as of press time how Cruise will go to the ISS (along with Universal's crew, if needed). However, it could be speculated that the famous actor will go to the ISS through SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket.

Training To Be The First

Getting to the ISS will be difficult even for an action star like Cruise, Gizmodo said in its article. Despite his willingness to do all his stunts, the actor will have to undergo the same training the crew members of Polaris Dawn are currently going through to get the title of "the first civilian spacewalk in history."

The training to execute a spacewalk involves basic medical and scuba training, non-verbal communication and buddy support, and high performance & high consequence flying.

Related Article: Tom Cruise Turns 60: Here are Some of His Movies You Can Stream on Netflix
More than 50 residents of a San Francisco luxury apartment are suing the building's owner after they were left homeless due to two massive leaks from its rooftop pool.

At least 400 tenants were displaced from 33 Tehama, a 35-story apartment complex, following two leaks over the summer that dumped 20,000 gallons of water into the high-end rooms and hallways.

The plaintiffs are now demanding Hines, the property's management company, pay damages to each of them for alleged chronic mismanagement and deceit.

Rohan Mukherji, who was forced to evacuate with his wife, Saba Mirza, claimed Hines intentionally misled residents about when they could return and about the maintenance being performed at the high-rise.

'It's a chaos of just the lies and mess that they have either done because they are incompetent and they just don't know how to deal with these things or they're trying to just facilitate some fraud,' Mukherji told ABC 7.

More than 50 of the displaced residents from 33 Tehama, a 35-story luxury apartment complex, are suing the owner after two massive leaks over the summer

The initial leak, on June 3, flooded the apartment with 200,000 gallons of water after a pipeline leaked on the rooftop pool of the high-end San Francisco complex

Entire floors were flooded inside the building, forcing residents to evacuate with little help or communication about what they can do in the meantime

Residents alleged that the building's owners, Hines, intentionally lied to them about the situation, accusing them of chronic mismanagement and deceit

According to the lawsuit, residents were startled by alarms on June 3 ordering them to evacuate after a pipe burst from the rooftop pool, causing water to gush throughout the building.

The residents, who paid between $1,400 to $6,000 in monthly rent, claimed that Hines failed to adequately tell them where they could shelter in the meantime or how long the maintenance would last.

The lawsuit states that Hines booked two downtown hotels on the night of the flood, but residents said the temporary stay only lasted two days without any word on what they should do next.

'They basically told us, you can't come back in and we don't know when you can come back in,' Mirza told ABC 7.

The problems at 33 Tehama only escalated after a second leak occurred from the same water pipe on August 10, while some tenants were in the building trying to retrieve their property.

Following the floods, Hines said the building would not be habitable until 2023 and that the company would cease all aid being provided to the residents.

The plaintiffs said they were essentially being left 'high and dry, with many of them maxing out credit cards and their savings just to survive, while others were 'on the brink of homelessness.'

In a statement regarding the lawsuit, Hines said: Since the water intrusion incident in June, our staff has worked around the clock to assist the displaced residents with emergency and permanent relocation options.

'We have provided our residents with temporary housing and funds for personal expenses. We have also worked tirelessly to repair the building, engaging leading experts to identify and address the building's mechanical problems.

'We deny the allegations pled in this complaint and we believe that during the course of pretrial discovery, the court and the public will understand the true extent of our efforts to help those that had to leave their homes during these unfortunate and unforeseen events.'

After the initial leak in June, a second flooding occured on August 10, when residents were back inside trying to collect their property from the first incident

Security footage from inside one of the resident's rooms allegedly shows contractors rummaging through their properties and stealing belongings

Hines denies all allegations and said the apartment is uninhabitable until 2023

The complaint against Hine's ultimately alleges that the company 'not only acted negligently in maintaining the building but also knew that there was a problem before the June 2022 leak occurred and kept it hidden.'

Residents claim that a city building inspector had issued a notice of violation against Hines for trying to fix the pipes without permits prior to the leaks.

The company has denied the allegations, saying ''all work currently being performed is under a permit issued by the city.'

The San Francisco Department of Building Inspection did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com's request for comment.

Along with the complaints against the company, residents also shared their outrage over apparent mismanagement when video footage on one of their security cameras allegedly showed contractors stealing from the damaged apartments.

Stephanie Sunwoo, whose apartment was shown in the footage, said her checkbook had been stolen, with two fraudulent checks cashed.

'So now I kind of have this impending fear of identity theft and my bank information is out there on the loose,' she told ABC 7 as she cried over her situation.

Attorney Nazy Fahimi, who is representing some of the plaintiffs, claimed Hines consistently misled residents and failed to provide proper answers

The 35-story apartment complex first opened in 2018, offering a luxury experience through co-working spaces, a spa, game room, a gym and an optional butler service to complete chores for residents.

'33 Tehama is marketed as the epitome of luxury, but instead is a tenant's worst nightmare,' reads the lawsuit.

Attorney Nazy Fahimi, who is representing some of the plaintiffs, condemned Hines for allegedly creating this nightmare and leaving residents with little answers and alternatives.

'There's a consistent theme where they weren't getting answers. Where they were left essentially in a lurch,' Fahimi told ABC.
A Venezuelan couple that immigrated to America about a decade ago ran an aggressive multi-million dollar real estate scheme in which they posed as powerful Venezuelan regime-members banned by the Trump administration from America and assumed control of their lavish properties.

The fraudsters, using fake passports and drivers licenses, posed as the property owners of four luxury properties in the Miami area and took out loans against the luxury real estate, which they used to live the high end lifestyles of their victims.

The properties were owned by Venezuelan regime-members who were sanctioned and barred from entering the US during the Trump years and largely had their assets frozen so that they were unable to check in on or access their Miami residences.

The targeted properties included two luxury condos at the Oceana Bal Harbour, where the average home price is $5.9 million, a condo at the Mei Miami, where a modest 2-bedroom goes for $1.3 million and an 11,000 square foot Pinecrest mansion that sold for $5.3 million in 2016.

A $5.3 million Pinecrest Miami mansion owned by alleged narcotics trafficker Samark Lopez Bello that the schemers targeted in their criminal conspiracy

Bello also owns an apartment at the Four Seasons Residences in Brickell, which the fraudsters squatted in for a time

A picture of criminal ringleader Carlos Castaneda with his mother

Oceana Bal Harbour complex, where one of the Venezuelan 'victims' owned a luxury apartment that was targeted by Castaneda and his co-conspirators

A map details the locations of the luxury properties in the Miami area that were targeted by the group of fraudsters

Ringleader Carlos Rafael Castaneda Mendez, 35, recruited fellow Venezuelan migrants to get in on the fraudulent scheme with him, including his romantic interest Genesis Martusciello, 29, and six others.

The schemers figured that if the Venezuelan officials, who included a businessman and a minion of dictatorial President Nicolas Maduro, were no longer able to travel to the US to watch over their luxury properties, they were up for the taking.

Using fake passports and drivers licenses, Castaneda and his associates successfully impersonated four of the owners of the luxury properties and convinced lenders to provide them with close to $10 million in mortgages on homes they did not own.

They subsequently borrowed money against the homes and wired the money to their banks accounts.

The criminals used the cash to purchase expensive watches, high end jewelry and trips to Vegas.

For some of the duration of the scheme, the perpetrators even lived in the opulent homes of wealthy owners and used their cars, including a Ferrari, Bentley and Rolls-Royce.

According to the Wall Street Journal's report of the incident, Florida real estate attorneys called the con 'one of the boldest real-estate frauds the U.S. has ever seen.'

The criminals cleverly took advantage of a facet of the state's booming real-estate market called 'hard-money lending,' which often times requires just a license or a passport with a name matching a property deed to gain access to a loan or mortgage.

The eight fraudsters are now in prison, facing sentences that range from just over two years, to six-and-a-half years.

Law enforcement officers continue to investigation individuals they believe were involved with the scheme, which lasted from May 2019 to May 2020.

The Mei condo building in Miami, where one of the Venezuelan 'victims' owned a luxury apartment

Members of the Venezuelan elite own some of the most luxurious real estate in the Miami area

Castaneda was sentenced to 78 months behind bars for his part in orchestrating the aggressive real estate scheme

After targeting the two luxury Oceana condos owned by former Venezuelan state oil executive Luis Carlos de Leon-Perez, the thieves turned toward businessman Samark Lopez Bello's six-bedroom, six-and-a-half bath stucco mansion.

Leon-Perez was indicted in 2017 on corruption charges in the US and pleaded guilty in 2018.

Lopez Bello was accused by the US Treasury Department in 2017 of involvement in a narcotics trafficking and money-laundering scheme involving a former vice president of Venezuela. He was sanctioned and his assets were frozen by the US, and was later added to the most-wanted list by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Bello has denied the accusations.

Bello's Pinecrest mansion was not on the public list of his frozen assets because it is owned by a limited liability company registered in his daughter's name, which meant it could be mortgaged.

In a statement to the Journal, Bello said he was disappointed that this crime was able to occur in the US.

'When I decided to invest in real estate in the United States, I believed the States was the safest place in the world. However, the lack of security and safety that allowed these criminals to invade my privacy, steal my vehicles, burglar my property, mortgage my properties and steal my daughters identity, have proved me wrong,' he said.

The schemers, who fled the economically oppressive Venezuelan regime, felt as though stealing from the cronies that helped shape the foreign government was righteous vengeance more so than crimes against truly innocent people.
Australia Post has revealed the real reason why its delivery drivers will leave a red slip to collect parcels from the post office, even when customers ask for them to be left at the door.

Several online stores won't let postmen leave parcels at the front door without anyone home, even if customers specifically request it.

Confused TikToker Phoebe Parsons questioned why her parcels were being left at the post office in a video on Sunday.

'Someone please explain to me why when you're not home and you specify to please leave your parcel in a safe space the postman doesn't and instead you get a little slip in your mailbox,' she said.

Australia Post often won't leave parcels in a safe place because online retailers require customer signatures

'Then you have to wait until next week because it's the weekend and the post office doesn't open on the weekend and you have to ask your boss if you can come to work an hour late to get your parcel.

'Why does this happen?'

Australia Post chimed in under the video.

'Hey Phoebe, there are a few reasons why, but often some retailers wont allow us to leave your items in a safe place (even if you request it!),' a spokesperson wrote.

Another commenter, claiming to be a former postie, backed up their claim.

'The parcel cannot always be left at your door, the sender doesnt always allow it even though you can sometimes still select it,' they said.

However, some commenters took the opportunity to complain about the postal service.

'I suspect they dont bring all packages and just leave them at the post office. Im ALWAYS home and they never even ring the doorbell,' one wrote.

'Why doesn't Aus Post accommodate for nine to five workers?,' another asked.

'We have a video doorbell. My postie doesnt even knock or ring the doorbell, just leaves the flyer. Makes me irate,' another said.

Australia Post said retailers often require a signature for parcels so if the customer isn't home to provide one, they are given a slip to collect it from the post office.

The response came just days after Australia Post temporarily paused all mail arriving by sea because of a growing number of prohibited items being sent to the country.

The company began the suspension at the start of October but promised it would not have any impact on postal processing for air arrivals.

Parcels that weren't in transit before the suspension began have been returned to senders' addresses.

Mail entering Australia on cargo ships has been temporarily suspended amid a rise of criminals trying to smuggle illegal items into the country (above, a cargo ship)

Some parcels that weren't in transit before the suspension began are being sent back to senders (above, a stock picture of a postman)

An Australia Post spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia on October 8 the company was working to have sea mail processing operating as normal 'as soon as possible'.

'Due to an increasing number of prohibited mail items coming into Australia by sea, Australia Post temporarily suspended incoming Sea Mail effective October 1,' she said.

'The increase in sea mail volume was a direct result of Covid air restrictions and decreased aircraft capacity.'

The vast majority of the deliveries are sent in airfreight while sea mail is the cheaper option for sending packages to Australia from overseas.

Mailing items by sea may be the more affordable alternative, but it has a longer transit time.
A young man is lucky to be alive after shooting himself in the head with a revolver in shocking scenes reminiscent to those famously depicted in an Oscar-winning war drama.

The 31-year-old remains in hospital with serious injuries almost a month on from the September 18 incident which almost claimed his life at a Westminster home in Perth's north.

The man is suspected of playing Russian Roulette with himself by pointing an old unlicensed Smith & Wesson revolver to his head before pulling the trigger in scenes reminiscent of the 1978 movie blockbuster The Deer Hunter.

At least one person who witnessed the bizarre incident has reported links to the City Crew, a bikie feeder group to the Coffin Cheaters motorcycle gang formed in the 1970s.

The wounded man isn't believed to have any known bikie connections, The West Australian reported.

It's understood the man shot himself in a suspected game of Russian Roulette in scenes famously depicted in The Deer Hunter. Pictured is actor Robert De Niro in the iconic scene

Rushed to hospital with critical injuries, the man's condition is now listed as stable.

The incident was reminiscent of scenes famously depicted in 1978 film The Deer Hunter, where a trio of US soldiers held prisoner during the Vietnam War are forced to play Russian roulette by their captors.

Film director Michael Cimino revealed last year that actor Robert De Niro requested a live cartridge revolver for the scene of the famous Russian roulette sequence

WA Police has confirmed investigations into the recent incident are continuing.

Witnesses remain tight-lipped but have told authorities the man was wounded accidentally.

'At this time, there is nothing to suggest that another party was involved in the shooting,' a police spokeswoman said.

Police Minister Paul Papalia weighed into the recent incident after he recently announced an overhaul of the the state's firearms laws.

A Perth man miraculously survived after shooting himself in the head with an unlicensed Smith & Wesson revolver. Pictured is a stock image of a Smith and Wesson firearm

The Firearm Prohibition Scheme will outlaw the manufacture of 3D-printed guns, increase the penalties for gun-related crimes and, importantly for WA police, ban anyone suspected of posing a threat to the community from holding a licence.

Those deemed dangerous to the public will also be banned from living where firearms are stored.

'Regardless of the circumstances, there is no good reason why anyone in Western Australia should be in possession of an unlicensed Smith and Wesson, or any other unlicensed firearm for that matter,' Mr Papalia said.

'Our rewrite of WA's outdated Firearms Act will make it harder for people to retain unlicensed firearms. It will make it tougher for guns to fall into the wrong hands.'

He recently revealed more than 300 West Australian bikies and associates have firearm licences and can legally source deadly shotguns, handguns, and rifles.
A man was videoed keying a pink Tesla on a quiet Brisbane street on Sunday

A man has been caught on camera keying a pink Tesla as he walked past parked cars.

In the vision, captured by a camera near the car's side mirror, the man is seen with a woman walking down a street in Bowen Hills, Brisbane on Sunday.

The pair were seen approaching on the pathway towards the car, before the alleged vandal looks behind him and walks directly to the Tesla.

The man holds a big key to the side of the car and runs it through the paint of the bright pink Tesla (pictured)

The footage on social media shows the aftermath of the scratch with the car's paint scraped through (pictured)

He holds a big key to the side of the car and runs it through the paint as he walks past in the unprovoked attack.

Footage from Nine News shows the aftermath of the scratch with the car's paint scraped through.

Online commenters on the post mostly joked about the Tesla while offering advice on how to fix the damage.

'Lol stupid to key a car with 360 cameras,' one commenter said.

'The battery will fix it,' said another.

'I'm sure the Tesla owner can afford the repairs,' joked one person.

'Some scratches can be removed by wet sanding and polishing, but I can see the clear coat has been scraped away,' another wrote.

'This will require repainting.'

Queensland Police told Daily Mail Australia officers are investigating a wilful damage incident in Gregory Terrace in Bowen Hills on Sunday afternoon.

'Anyone with information is being urged to come forward,' a statement read.
Ms Higgins was cross-examined last week, but was unavailable earlier this week

The jury in the trial of Brittany Higgins' accused rapist has been told she is unavailable to appear in court until Friday, when cross-examination will resume.

Ms Higgins, 27, alleges Bruce Lehrmann sexually assaulted her inside the parliamentary office of then-defence industry minister, Linda Reynolds, after a night out in Canberra in March 2019.

Lehrmann, 26, is facing trial in the ACT Supreme Court and has pleaded not guilty to sexual intercourse without consent.

Ms Higgins was due to finish her cross-examination by defence lawyer Steven Whybrow on Monday but has not appeared in court this week whatsoever.

The trial continued in her absence, with the Crown calling other witnesses.

The court has prevented publication of any other evidence until after Ms Higgins has returned and completed her evidence.

Brittany Higgins is pictured (in white) outside court on Friday as she arrives for day four of her rape trial against her former colleague

The jury was told: 'Ms Higgins will return on Friday morning, we will do our best to occupy the rest of today and tomorrow with witnesses.'

Last week, Ms Higgins was reduced to tears as she was grilled during cross-examination over the night in question, including over whether she had vomit stains on her dress.

She also blew up in court when defence lawyer Steven Whybrow put to her that she had told Mr Dillaway, police, and her former boss Fiona Brown that she was making up doctor's appointments to 'bolster' her story.

Ms Higgins responded, loudly: 'What you're saying is deeply insulting.'

'You are so incorrect.

'I don't know if you've ever been through a trauma before ... It's confronting, it is a very hard thing to do. I was bed bound, I was doing my best. I completely reject everything you're saying.'

Mr Whybrow also asked why she didn't tell anyone about the alleged assault for a number of days - despite being in contact with Mr Dillaway and her father via text messages.

Former Liberal Party staffer Bruce Lehrmann arrives at the ACT Supreme Court in Canberra

In the texts, the Mr Dillaway and Ms Higgins engaged in light banter about tacos, margaritas, and his recent drive from the Gold Coast in Queensland to Orange in NSW.

The only inference Ms Higgins made about the alleged attack was when she wrote: 'Haha I just get myself into trouble, need to keep that s**t locked down.'

Ms Higgins told the court: 'I wasn't ready to share, I was playing it off.'

In court, Ms Higgins said she was 'responding to his messages on autopilot, like everything was fine'.

Earlier in the trial, Ms Higgins admitted to deleting photos from her phone before handing it to police - telling the court she 'wanted to scrub all the horrible parts of my life out'.

Mr Whybrow put to Ms Higgins that she continually refused to hand her phone over to police despite being asked on several occasions in 2021.

Brittany Higgins arrives in ACT Supreme Court in Canberra before taking to the witness stand in the trial of her alleged rapist last Thursday

He suggested she had an appointment with police to hand her phone over on March 21, 2021, but she did not go to the appointment due to an 'urgent legal matter... a defamation incident with Ms Reynolds,' he told the court.

'Ah yes,' Ms Higgins replied. 'Lying cow. I remember,' she added, referring to reports Senator Reynolds had called her 'a lying cow' in February 2021.

Ms Higgins agreed that she did not hand over her phone for a number of weeks, despite being asked to, but broke down on the stand when explaining why.

'I was terrified on the basis that, [on the week of May 21] I found out that the moment I reengaged with police that any politically sensitive matters that are within the remit of police gets reported to the Home Affairs minister,' she told the court

Ms Higgins said former home affairs minister Peter Dutton had information about her allegations before she made her official police statement.

'I was very scared,' she told the court.

'I was seeking legal advice to know my rights because I was terrified.'

The court also heard Ms Higgins recorded the conversations after a six-hour interview with Lisa Wilkinson for The Project on February 2, 2021.

A potential $325,000 book deal with Lisa Wilkinson's husband, Peter FitzSimons, was revealed last week (Ms Higgins is pictured with Ms Wilkinson)

She said Ms Wilkinson and Ms Maiden were 'fighting' over when her story would be released.

'Who got the exclusive drop so that come Walkley's time, who could claim what and so it became not even about me or my story,' she told the court.

Ms Maiden won the Gold Walkley in 2021 - Australian journalisms highest honour, while Ms Wilkinson was awarded a Logie this year.

Mr Whybrow put to her that she did the interview to hurt the Liberal party right before an election, but Ms Higgins said she simply wanted to talk about a 'cultural problem' within Parliament.

'I thought I'd do one print and one TV and then I'd go back to uni and disappear,' she explained.

Ms Higgins told the court The Project host was 'quite angry' when the interview was aired on February 15 because it was a Monday, and Ms Wilkinson did not typically work on Mondays.

After both stories dropped, Ms Higgins told the court she was inundated with media requests.

The trial continues.
Police reportedly hope to charge Madeleine McCann prime suspect Christian Brueckner with the toddler's abduction and murder before Christmas.

The news came as convicted rapist Brueckner, 45, was charged with a series of sex crimes - but none of them relating to the disappearance of Madeleine.

According to The Sun, Brueckner remains a prime suspect and 'a concrete case' is being built against him.

He was named as the man responsible for Madeleine's May 2007 abduction two years ago by German police in a fanfare which sparked worldwide media attention.

But since then no charges have been brought and the investigation has failed to positively link him, despite prosecutors giving the heart-breaking news they had 'concrete evidence' the little girl was dead and that Brueckner was the culprit.

Instead, German investigators charged him with five offences between 2000 and 2017, when Brueckner was travelling between his native Germany and Portugal.

In April 2007, the defendant allegedly ambushed a 10-year-old German girl playing on the beach at Salema - close to where Madeleine vanished just a month later - in the district of Faro in Portugal, wearing only shoes and otherwise naked.

He allegedly forced her to watch him perform a sex act.

German prosecutors have named Christian Brueckner (left), who is currently in jail for rape, as the prime suspect in Madeleine McCann's (right) disappearance. Convicted rapist Brueckner, 45, was named as the man responsible for the May 2007 abduction two years ago by German police, but has not been charged. He was charged with a series of other sex crimes

The fact that Brueckner has not been charged over the disappearance of Madeleine McCann from the holiday apartment of parents Kate and Gerry (pictured) in Praia da Luz will bring fresh heartache as they had hoped this would mark the end of the 15-year-mystery

Ten years later, he is said to have carried out a similar crime against a girl at a playground at Bartolomeu de Messines in Portugal. Prosecutors say the girl ran to her father for help and the suspect was arrested by Portuguese police at the scene.

Brueckner's lawyer Friedrich Fulscher said the new charges had come as a 'complete surprise' to him and his client, and said they were based on 'dubious witnesses and on video evidence that no one has been able to find'.

The charges in relation to the rapes of the two unknown women come after police were told about a video recording of Brueckner allegedly attacking them.

Helge Busching and Manfred Seyferth - two key witnesses and former friends of Brueckner's - are said to have stolen the camera with the recording on it from the German's house near Praia da Luz on Portugal's Algarve coast.

In the footage  which has since disappeared  they describe how an elderly woman and a young girl are raped by a man who they identify as Brueckner.

The charges brought against Brueckner include a rape said to have taken place sometime between December 28, 2000 and April 8, 2006 on an unknown woman aged between 70-80 years old.

He is said to have tied the woman up and raped her in the bedroom of her holiday apartment and hit her with a whip while filming her ordeal.

On another day between the same dates he is accused of raping an unknown 14-year-old German-speaking girl at his home in Praia da Luz in a similar way, allegedly tying her up and videotaping the act.

In June 2004, the defendant allegedly gained access at night to the apartment of a then-20-year-old woman from Ireland via the balcony in Praia da Rocha. The sleeping woman was then awakened by the masked suspect at knifepoint and raped.

The accused is also alleged to have filmed large parts of the attack with a video camera he had brought.

Under German law, German nationals accused of crimes in other countries can be tried in their home country.

Investigators believe the 45-year-old also killed Madeleine, then three, after abducting her from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3, 2007. However, he has not been charged with her disappearance.

Brueckner, who has reportedly denied any involvement in the case, was identified as a suspect in the McCann case by Portuguese officials in June 2020.

But the fact that Brueckner has not been charged for Madeleine's disappearance from the holiday apartment of parents Kate and Gerry in Praia da Luz will bring fresh heartache as they had hoped this would mark the end of the 15-year-mystery.

The Braunschweig prosecutor's office said in a statement that the accused was the same person under investigation in connection with Madeleine's disappearance.

'Specifically, the accused is charged with three offences of aggravated rape and two offences of sexual abuse of children,' the prosecutor's office added. 'The investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann continues,' it noted.

Madeleine went missing from this apartment in the resort of Praia da Luz, Portugal, while on holiday there with her family in 2007

When asked about the McCann case prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters told MailOnline: 'We hope that we can put all our energy into the McCann case once the other investigations have ended.

'But we don't know how it will end, for the time being it is still open, maybe we can bring a charge, maybe we can't, but we are still hopeful.'

Reacting to the string of new charges, Brueckner's lawyer Fulscher told MailOnline: 'This has come as a complete surprise to me and my client.

'The charges appear to be based on statements from two dubious witnesses and on video evidence that no one has been able to find.

'These same two people have also given evidence in the McCann case and I have not even been shown their testimony.

'Part of the evidence in the case of the rape [of the 20-year-old woman] is that the attacker had a large tattoo or birthmark on his leg and the prosecution knows full well my client has neither.

'To bring charges the prosecutor has to be convinced the information in the case is reliable and relevant and we believe it is not. This is not a fair investigation.'

The case against Brueckner is expected to start next Spring.

Brueckner is currently in Oldenburg jail serving seven years for the rape of an elderly American woman in her home in Praia da Luz in 2005.

He was convicted after DNA from a hair in her bed was matched to him. Brueckner and his lawyer Fulscher have denied his involvement and insisted he was convicted after a bungled investigation.

Hans Christian Wolters, the German prosecutor investigating Madeleine's disappearance, recently warned there's no end in sight for the three-year-old's probe

In a letter to a friend, seen by MailOnline, Brueckner said: 'In the 2005 rape of the old lady, the offender was described as having dark eyes and incredibly strong. I got convicted but I never had dark eyes or looked like Dwayne Johnson.'

He added:' There is absolutely no evidence that I committed this cruel crime. No DNA  just nothing. Things just appeared when there wasn't anything before.

'My hair from the 2005 case  13 years it just happens to appear in the BKA (German police) laboratory. It was one of 15 hairs that were found but mysteriously no DNA was found on 13 but on two there was  mine and the old lady.

'No more words are needed,' he added.

Brueckner's lawyer has now filed an appeal request in the German courts asking that the 2019 rape conviction be re-examined because the evidence used to convict him is weak.

He claims evidence in the new cases being investigated prove Brueckner could not have raped the pensioner as German authorities say that attack and the one on Behan were carried out by the same tattooed man.

But Mr Fulscher has pointed out his client has no tattoos and so therefore could not have carried out the rapes although he told MailOnline he was not hopefully of his appeal being granted.

He said: 'Only a vanishingly small proportion of applications are successful.'

Earlier this year, on the 15th anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance, her parents said it is 'essential' to learn the truth of what happened to their daughter.

On the same day, the Metropolitan Police, which continues to treat the case as a missing persons inquiry, said it is 'committed' to finding the truth.

In July 2013, Scotland Yard launched its own investigation, Operation Grange, into Madeleine's disappearance.
Police fear all our bikie gang war and reprisals could erupt among rival gangs

Jesse Vella who patched over to rival Comanchero gang to inherit millions

A multi-million dollar carve-up has begun of the estate of a dead bikie gang boss whose farewell was one of Australia's biggest outlaw motorcycle club funerals.

Tensions have erupted among the rival heirs of multimillionaire Rebels kingpin Gino Vella, some of whom are considered the 'royal family' of the nation's largest bikie gang.

At stake are large holdings in the western Sydney suburb of Horsley Park and millions in trust funds from the sale of family property in Malta, according to probate administration documents filed in the NSW Supreme Court.

Vella, who died unexpectedly aged 62 in January, was a long-standing Rebels gang office bearer and younger brother of exiled former president Alex Vella - as well as the uncle of the current Rebels president, Damien Vella.

Gino was also the father of two senior gang members, Johnny, and Jesse - whose shock defection to the rival Comanchero in July sparked fears of reprisals - but who will likely still receive a slice of the lucrative pie.

Daily Mail Australia has learnt the Vellas have been rocked by internal family feuding, even before a notice of administration of Gino Vella's estate was filed in court.

Cops feared a full-scale war could break out between the two gangs after Jesse's defection exposed an alleged feud among bikie cousins.

The powerful Vella family, once a close-knit clan of Maltese-Australian brothers and cousins, is now split.

Jesse Vella (above, left) with cousin, Rebels national president Damien Vella (centre) at Gino Vella's funeral in January is one of the rival heirs along with brother Johnny Vella (right) their father's multi-million dollar estate

Comanchero boss Allan Meehan (above, wearing Versace in his gang's colours with his wife Elise) defected from the Rebels to the rival gang and then lured over Jesse Vella

Jesse patched over to the Comanchero after his friend and former Rebel, the new Comanchero boss Allan Meehan, lured him away - making him the first Vella to defect from the Rebels.

Meehan - the Versace-wearing 'bathrobe bikie' boss - is an old friend of Jesse's since becoming good mates as Rebels club members, before Meehan himself defected from the club.

Gino's de-facto spouse Mellissa Marion Sorrell has been appointed executor of the will which is expected to be divided among herself and Gino's six children, who include another son named Jessie and two daughters.

After Gino's sudden death, hundreds of Rebels bikies thundered up to Our Lady of Victories Catholic Church at Horsley Park 40km south-west of the Sydney CBD wearing their club colours to farewell him.

The church is heavily supported by the Vella family and is near the large properties where Gino and Alex Vella brought up their families.

The late Gino Vella (pictured) appointed his partner Melissa Sorrel as executor to his will in documents filed in the NSW Supreme Court

Allan Meehan and Jesse Vella (pictured), who became friends when both were Rebels, are now united as Comanchero after rival club's new president enticed the Rebels 'royal family' member to patch over

The brothers were among 11 children of Maltese immigrants Victoria and Gretzzu, who lived in a cave in Malta, then bought a strawberry farm at Horsley Park and hectares of land.

The filing of Gino's will in the Supreme Court means another step towards the break-up of the Vella family holdings in the suburb and surrounding areas including Rossmore and Leppington.

Daily Mail Australia understands the NSW Criminal Groups Squad has been on alert for fear of retaliation by disaffected Rebels since the July 15 switch by Jesse.

The Rebels have around 2,000 members nationally and 70 chapters.

Jesse and Meehan had remained friends after Meehan's own defection from the Rebels, when he too was convinced by then Comanchero 'commander of the world' Mark Buddle to switch allegiances.

Jesse was at the front of the church with his brother and fellow heir to the Gino's millions, Johnny, and their cousin Damien in January when burying their father.

Some members of the Vella family are known as 'bikie royalty', but have been torn apart by the defection of Jesse Vella from the Rebels to rival gang the Comanchero, sparking fears of a war of retribution

Jesse Vella (left) embraces a fellow Rebel at his dad Gino's funeral six months before leaving the club which has reportedly been less of a 'family' after the exile of long term president Alex Vella Sr (right)

The solidarity between the three men was on display at the massive bikie funeral at which Jesse read a poem in tribute to Gino.

He told mourners his father had shaped him as a man, and ended it with the club war cry 'RFFR' - 'Rebels Forever, Forever Rebels'.

But it is believed there had already been tensions among the three men which thereafter deepened, and that stresses within the club go back to the banishment of Jesse's uncle Alex Vella Snr.

Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting that other members of the extended Vella family in Sydney are involved in the Rebels club or any bikie gang.

One insider said that Jesse's switch of allegiances is partly due to a 'changed culture' in the club, but that his father Gino would be 'rolling in his grave' at the family rift.

Alex Vella Snr, also known as 'the Maltese Falcon', has been stranded in Malta since 2014 when then immigration minister Scott Morrison cancelled his visa on the grounds of 'bad character'.

Morrison swooped while Alex was on a regular holiday to his birth country from Australia, his adopted country he had come to as a teenager but of which had never become a citizen.

Alex's son Damien Vella, took over from his father as Rebels' national president a few years ago.

But a club insider told Daily Mail Australia that Damien lacked his father's charm and their difference in management styles had left more than one member disaffected.

The late Gino Vella (left) and his former national president brother Alex Vella created a powerful legacy with some of their sons as bikie members, but the split with Jesse now makes police fear a gang war could erupt

Jesse Vella (centre) delivered a poem to his late father which he ended with the club war cry 'Rebels Forever, Forever Rebels', six months before leaving for rivals, the Comanchero

Alex Vella and his son Alex Vella Jr (above) in happier days before the exile of the 'Maltese Falcon' by Scott Morrison, Gino Vella's sudden death and Jesse's defection

'The club just isn't the same as what it was in the old days,' he said.

'Some senior members are okay with Jesse leaving, others are not.'

Before his permanent exile in Malta, Alex Vella Snr operated as national president of the Rebels Outlaw Motorcycle Club for four decades from a multi-million dollar property.

The then Rebels chief's two hectare compound was crammed with pristine 20th century Corvettes and dozens of customised Harley Davidsons from the then bikie boss's collection of 300.

Above the late Gretzzu and Victoria Vella with their 11 children including Alex (circled, right) and Gino (left) acquired large tracts of Horsley Park and surrounding suburbs in western Sydney which will now be divided up

Rebels insiders say Gino Vella (left, his coffin at the funeral) and (right, fishing) would be 'rolling in his grave' at the split in the Vella family and the divided bikie club loyalties

Some Rebels members feel the country's biggest bikie gangs (above at Gino Vella's funeral) is not the same anymore under the direction of Damien Vella, who took over when Alex Vella Sr had his Australian visa cancelled

Alex Snr also owned seven rental properties, but his legal expulsion has forced the family to sell up houses and possessions.

Gang squad police have cautioned Vella family members not to resort to violence or confrontation in the wake of Jesse's club desertion.

Last October, police put Meehan on a warning when he became Commander of the Sydney Chapter of the Comanchero, which is seen as effectively the national president.

Meehan took over from Melbourne-based boss Mick Murray, who was arrested in April over the 2019 alleged gangland killing of Mitat Rasimi.

Former Comanchero president Mark Buddle was extradited from Turkey to face court in Melbourne over drug allegations and the 2010 shooting of Armaguard security worker Gary Allibon

Murray had taken over from Mark Buddle, who left Australia for the Middle East in 2016 over the 2010 shooting of Armaguard security worker Gary Allibon, and has since been extradited from Turkey to face drug allegations in Melbourne.

Police concern over gang warfare in Sydney escalated in May after the shooting of Comanchero sergeant-at-arms Tarek Zahed, who escaped with serious injuries, and his brother Omar, who died at the scene.

Zahed was dramatically arrested at gunpoint last month and charged with the 2014 alleged gangland murder of Youssef Assoum.

Jesse Vella's new role as a senior Comanchero recruit has put him in the sights of senior gang squad police.

Criminal Groups Squad Commander, Detective Superintendent Grant Taylor, warned last year that Comanchero gang members would continue to be targeted,

This was after Meehan had his home searched, days after posting a photo on Instagram of his club vest with his new title and boasting about about his appointment with the the words: 'U cant see the eyes of the demon, until him come a callin'.'

The Rebels gang has been subject to an ongoing bikie group crackdown by police since before Alex Snr's visa cancellation.

Alex, who held Australian residency for 47 years but not citizenship, later had the revocation confirmed by the Federal Court of Australia ruling unanimously against his re-entering the country.

Police documents filed to the court at the time and obtained by Daily Mail Australia said some members of the Rebels club had been involved in drug dealing, money laundering, serious assaults, kidnapping, extortion, firearms offences, threatening law enforcement officers and intimidating court witnesses.
Former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard on Tuesday night accused 'fanatical ideologues' among the Democrats of steering the party in an extremist direction and moving away from fundamental protection of freedoms, describing party operatives as 'vindictive' and campaigning to silence anyone who disagreed.

Gabbard, 41, ran as a Democrat in the 2020 election, but retired from politics in 2021.

On Tuesday morning she announced that she was leaving the Democratic Party, issuing a series of tweets criticizing the Democrats' 'cowardly wokeness' and accusing them of 'stoking anti-white racism'.

Hours later, she appeared on Fox News and told Tucker Carlson why she could not longer align herself with the Democrats.

'I cannot be a member of a party which actively undermines our freedom,' she told Carlson.

She added: 'Today's Democratic Party is controlled by fanatical ideologues who hate freedom. They despise the Constitution. They actively find ways to undermine our God-given rights, enshrined in the Constitution, like freedom of speech.'

Tulsi Gabbard on Tuesday night appeared on Tucker Carlson's show to explain her decision, announced earlier in the day, to quit the Democratic Party

Tulsi Gabbard joins Tucker Carlson to talk about why she left the Democratic Party:



"Today's Democratic Party is controlled by fanatical ideologues who hate freedom. They despise the Constitution." pic.twitter.com/h3D1njBw3q  The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) October 12, 2022

Gabbard is seen in 2016 with Bernie Sanders, who she endorsed for president

Gabbard said she had 'always been an independent-minded person', and that her loyalties lay first with the Constitution.

'Democrat, yes, but an independent Democrat.

'My loyalties are very clear, and I took an oath - both as a service member, as a soldier, as well as a member of Congress - to support and defend the Constitution.

'And that's an oath that I take extremely seriously.'

She said she had been dismayed as the party she belonged to worked to 'actively find ways to undermine our rights', and would not tolerate dissent.

Gabbard, who famously opposed the party on Syria and disagreed with their support for the rebels, even traveling to Damascus to meet the dictator Bashar al-Assad, said the party responded by shutting her down.

'They will do all that they can to destroy you, silence you, smear you - work with Big Tech, work with corporate media - to actively destroy anyone who dares to even question their agenda.'

She said they were against freedom of religion, 'hostile towards people of faith', and discriminatory.

The ex-representative for Hawaii's 2nd district said she would have preferred the Democratic leadership to say: 'You know what, let's agree to disagree.'

She added: 'It speaks to the whole environment of fear that those in power, the elitists in power, have fomented, that people are afraid to speak the truth.

'Rather than taking a stand for peace, prosperity, security and the freedom of the American people we have too many people in Washington who are warmongers, subservient to the military-industrial complex, and continuing to put their own selfish interests or the interests of their donors first, with no mind for the cost and consequence that their decisions have on the American people.'

She told Carlson she strongly disagreed with the Biden administration on Russia, accusing them of 'actively pushing us to the brink of a nuclear holocaust'.

Gabbard told Carlson she thought Biden was bringing the U.S. to the brink of 'nuclear holocaust'

The New York Times in October 2019 questioned Gabbard's motives. Gabbard said it was a smear campaign orchestrated by the liberal media and Big Tech

Democrat operative and commentator Ana Navarro was among those who condemned Gabbard, in this 2019 tweet

Gabbard said she left the party because it turned on her for questioning the policies. Gabbard said the Democrats were working in cahoots with Big Tech and the liberal media to discredit her. Pictured is a Los Angeles Times article from October 2019

Asked about the response from other Democrats in Congress to her decision to quit the party, Gabbard said it had been silence - except for one, who sent her a text message with three thumbs up.

She would not say who sent the message.

Earlier Gabbard, a United States Army Reserve officer, accused the party of 'demonizing the police', 'protecting criminals', 'believing in open borders' and 'dragging us even closer to nuclear war'.

She also urged those who agreed with her to leave - with just a month until the crucial midterm elections.

She published a video attacking the party, whose members she clams 'actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms'.

Gabbard made the announcement in the first episode of her new podcast - The Tulsi Gabbard Show.

It is not clear whether she will join another party, or remain independent.

Gabbard has turned to political commentary since running for president in 2020 and leaving office in 2021 and has frequently attacked the Biden administration and the Democrats.

In a tweet accompanying her video, she wrote: 'I can no longer remain in today's Democratic Party that is now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue & stoke anti-white racism, actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms, are hostile to people of faith & spirituality, demonize the police & protect criminals at the expense of law-abiding Americans, believe in open borders, weaponize the national security state to go after political opponents, and above all, dragging us ever closer to nuclear war.

'I believe in a government that is of, by, and for the people. Unfortunately, today's Democratic Party does not.

Former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard announced Tuesday morning she is leaving the Democratic Party in a series of tweets criticizing their 'cowardly wokeness' and accusing them of 'stoking anti-white racism'

The ex-representative for Hawaii 's 2nd district and United States Army Reserve officer accused the party of 'demonizing the police', 'protecting criminals', 'believing in open borders' and 'dragging us even closer to nuclear war '

'I believe in a government that is of, by, and for the people,' she added. 'Unfortunately, today's Democratic Party does not. 'Instead, it stands for a government of, by, and for the powerful elite'

'Instead, it stands for a government of, by, and for the powerful elite.

'I'm calling on my fellow common sense independent-minded Democrats to join me in leaving the Democratic Party.

'If you can no longer stomach the direction that so-called woke Democratic Party ideologues are taking our country, I invite you to join me.'

DailyMail.com columnist Meghan McCain congratulated Gabbard in a tweet, saying: 'There are so few free thinkers and independents left in this world and you are one of them. We are in your corner. Onward and upward!'

Gabbard ran for president as a Democrat in 2020 after serving she was elected to the Hawaii House of Representatives at age 21 and serving in the field medical unit of the Hawaii National Guard.

She deployed to Iraq from 2004 to 2005 and served in Kuwait from 2008 to 2009 as an Army Military Police platoon leader.

Gabbard, who used to be aligned with Bernie Sanders, has shifted her stance, and this year spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

In February, she received a standing ovation for her speech attacking the 'power elite' and 'their co-conspirators in the mainstream media and the security state.'

She pleased crowd by saying that in an ideal world 'our leaders would haul (former Director of National Intelligence) James Clapper before a judge to answer for his lies to Congress about how the government is collecting information.'

'And they would support the Durham investigation and Clinton corruption in 2016... ,' she said, not even finishing her sentence before there was raucous applause.

She went after both Democrats and Republicans in Congress 'who talk a good game about civil liberties, but when it comes time to cast that vote on things like getting rid of secret FISA courts and protecting our fourth amendment rights to privacy, they vote on the side of the power elite and against liberty.'

In 2019, Hillary Clinton famously suggested the Russians were 'grooming' Gabbard, though didn't use the congresswoman's name.

She also urged those who agreed with her to leave with just a month until the crucial midterm elections in a video attacking the institution whose members she clams 'actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms'

Gabbard ran for president as a Democrat in 2020 after serving she was elected to the Hawaii House of Representatives at age 21 and serving in the field medical unit of the Hawaii National Guard.

Gabbard had quit her post at the Democratic National Committee three years before to publicly support Sanders, who was running against Clinton.

She told then-DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz in an email - exposed in the Wikileaks hack - that she felt the DNC was rigging the primary in favor of the more mainstream Clinton.

In April 2022, she got into a spat with Republican Senator Mitt Romney after he accused her of 'treasonous lies' for her claims that the U.S. was funding biolabs in Ukraine.

She sent Romney a cease and desist letter accusing him of 'false and defamatory statements'.

Gabbard claimed in a tweet that there are '25 to 30 U.S. funded bio labs in Ukraine.'

'According to the U.S government, these bio labs are conducting research on dangerous pathogens,' she said in the video.

'These pathogens know no borders, if they are inadvertently or purposely breached or compromised, they will quickly spread all throughout Europe, the United States and the rest of the world causing untold suffering and death.'

Gabbard said 'these labs need to be shut down immediately and the pathogens that they hold need to be destroyed.'
Pauline Hanson has announced that she refuses to go to overseas trained doctors as she does not trust them.

She slammed a proposal to remove barriers to foreign doctors working in Australia, saying she 'will not go to a foreign doctor' and that they 'lower the standard'.

The One Nation leader feels so strongly about the issue, she told Sky News' Paul Murray that general practitioners should be paid more to keep them from becoming specialists.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said overseas trained doctors caught up in red tape are a 'potential gold mine' that could help solve the country's GP shortage.

'Well, what red tape is he talking about,' Ms Hanson asked.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson (pictured) has said she 'will not go to a foreign doctor'

'Lowering the standard again which I believe that if you do that and allow these foreign doctors here that are not up to our standards.

'Well then you're going to play Russian roulette with people's lives,' she said.

'I personally will not go to a foreign doctor because I don't trust ... the system when I know they've allowed them into this country and most of them don't pass the first test.'

Ms Hanson said 'They have to hold the test a couple of times at least,' adding that 'a lot of them can't pass because they can't speak English'.

'You can't be a doctor in this country if you can't communicate with the patient. It's not good at all,' she said.

Poll Should Australia make it easier for foreign trained doctors to work here? Yes, we have a shortage of GPs, we need them No, we should train more Australians to become doctors Maybe, it depends on their ability to speak English well enough that everyone understands them Should Australia make it easier for foreign trained doctors to work here? Yes, we have a shortage of GPs, we need them 53 votes

No, we should train more Australians to become doctors 281 votes

Maybe, it depends on their ability to speak English well enough that everyone understands them 70 votes Now share your opinion





'If we allow these foreign doctors in that can't pass the test, they've already lowered the standard twice.'

The NSW Government is pushing the Federal Government to work with to remove what is called a 'barbed wire fence' of red tape around overseas-trained doctors.

Mr Hazzard said the difficulties has forced hundreds of doctors to leave the industry and work in occupations such as taxi driving while the GP shortage risks creating a healthcare 'apocalypse'.

'This should be ringing alarm bells in the offices of the Federal Health Department and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners,' he told the Daily Telegraph.

But Ms Hanson said the solution to the doctor shortage across Australia has to come internally.

Pauline Hanson said the solution to the doctor shortage across Australia has to come internally. Pictured is a stock image of a female medical worker

'We've got to start looking at ourselves,' she said. 'Why haven't we got more Australians taking up positions as doctors?'

She said 'the big problem is general practitioners don't get paid enough, remunerated enough for it'.

Ms Hanson added that GPs are instead moving into specialist areas 'so they can make a decent living with it'.

NSW Health Minister for Health Brad Hazzard (pictured) said overseas trained doctors are a 'potential gold mine' that could help solve the country's GP shortage

'We've got to stop draining doctors from other countries and bringing them out here to Australia because, you know, we have a world standard in (medicine) ...

'The people (Australia is) bringing over from overseas, we're lowering our standards,' she said.

Ms Hanson finished by saying that 'we cannot lower our standards because who will suffer is the people'.
The Amazon Prime Early Access Sale 2022 is happening right now! If you have been checking out the iTech Post website and socials, you can find our coverage of the available deals you can check out.

There are numerous deals and we understand that it can be difficult and overwhelming to keep track of all of them. But we've got your back and decided to put together all the lists we have done about the amazing Amazon Prime Early Access Sale 2022 in just one place!

Related Article: Amazon Confirms Prime Early Access Sale on October 11th and 12th

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This master list will be updated as we publish more stories about the great deals available during Amazon's sale event!

Amazon Prime Early Access Sale 2022: Here are the Beats Headphones, Earbuds Deals You Must Check Out

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Amazon Prime Early Access Sale 2022: 2020 Apple MacBook Air is Now Less Than $1000

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University of Florida students are protesting their school's nomination of Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse as the new president given his conservative views.

Several student groups, including the UF Young Democratic Socialists of America, UF Communists and UF College Democrats, organized a protest during three Q&A sessions between the Republican and the student body on Monday.

Sasse, who's served as a senator for Nebraska since 2015, is poised to be the school's new president when he is expected to resign from office in December.

Many of the university's liberal students, however, claim Sasse poses a 'threat' to the student body as they held protests over his looming appointment.

'Ben Sasse is on the record anti-gay marriage, anti-transgender people and anti-abortion,' one student who joined the protest told Fox News. 'He poses a threat to all students that may be queer or non-men.

'I'm worried that it might be even harder for students to get an abortion.'

Communist, socialist and Democratic student groups at the University of Florida organized protests against GOP Sen. Ben Sasse, of Nebraska

Sasse, who celebrated the overturn of Roe v. Wade and previously condenmned same-sex marriage, is poised to be the school's new president

Protesters were heard throughout the three Q&A forums Sasse held with students on Monday

As students chanted and yelled against the Republican, he could be seen rushing out of the school following three Q&A sessions

The protesters, who were staged outside the ballroom where three forums with students were held, could still be heard inside as Sasse took questions from students.

The senator was grilled on his prior stances, including his condemnation over the 2015 Supreme Court decision guaranteeing same-sex marriage.

Sasse has also been on the record celebrating the high court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, and defended former ESPN commentator Curt Schilling when he was fired for sharing a meme about transgender bathrooms.

Despite his right-leaning views, Sasse has taken a stance against his GOP colleagues. The Nebraska senator often criticized Donald Trump when he was president and even vowed not to vote for him in 2016.

The Florida students were heard chanting: 'Hey, hey. Ho ho. Ben Sasse has got to go,' with others shouting, 'We don't want you here.'

The school's socialist group also cheered on after Sasse rushed out of the university in a police car amid the protest.

'We ran Sasse out of our swamp,' the group wrote on Instagram. 'Today we showed the university that we will not let bigots enter our halls of power so long as we have a voice.'

Sasse's office did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com's request for comment.

Student's claimed that Sasse's conservative views posed a threat for the student body

Pictured: Dozens of signs from protesting students on the university campus

The protesters condemned the university for naming Sasse a finalist of 700 candidates

The Florida students were heard chanting: 'Hey, hey. Ho ho. Ben Sasse has got to go,' with others shouting, 'We don't want you here'

Several of the protesters told Fox that Sasse's appointment as president would hurt the school's reputation.

'If this goes through, I'm not going to be proud to be a Gator, and I'm worried that this might affect our rankings.' one student said.

Another student commented that he didn't see Sasse as a 'high character individual.'

'He's very right-wing. His views are very right-wing, really far-right,' the student added. 'Kind of an alt-right guy.'

Another student added: 'I worry very much about the most marginalized on campus and whether or not they'll feel like UF is still a safe space for them.'

The University of Florida said Sasse was the sole finalist chosen by its search committee to replace outgoing president Kent Fuchs, who served for eight years and will become a teacher next year.

After beating out 700 candidates, Sasse is expected to take the helm of the school in February.

The school declined to comment about Monday's protests.
Vladimir Putin told billionaire Elon Musk he would use nuclear weapons to defend annexed regions of Ukraine, it was claimed last night.

The world's richest man was said to have spoken to the Russian president privately in recent weeks in a bid to act as a peacemaker.

Tesla boss Mr Musk told others that Putin was determined to win 'no matter what', according to Vice News.

The Kremlin strongman is also said to have implied the nuclear option remained in play if Ukraine or threatened to retake Crimea - Putin's ultimate red line.

It was also claimed Putin told Mr Musk he was 'prepared to negotiate' a settlement with the caveat that Crimea was recognized as part of Russia, Kyiv accepted permanent neutrality and also recognized Russia's annexation of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

Last night it was claimed Vladimir Putin told billionaire Elon Musk (pictured) he would use nuclear weapons to defend annexed regions of Ukraine

The Kremlin strongman is also said to have implied the nuclear option remained in play if Ukraine refused to recognise his annexation of four regions of Ukraine last month

The conversation between Musk and Putin was reported by political scientist Ian Bremmer in his Eurasia Group newsletter.

Musk told Bremmer that 'everything needed to be done to avoid' an outcome in which the Russian dictator turned to nuclear weapons, according to the newsletter.

'Elon Musk told me he had spoken with Putin and the Kremlin directly about Ukraine. He also told me what the Kremlin's red lines were,' Bremmer wrote.

'I have been writing my weekly newsletter on geopolitics for 24 yrs. I write honestly without fear or favor and this week's update was no different.'

'I've long admired Musk as a unique and world-changing entrepreneur, which I've said publicly. He's not a geopolitics expert,' Bremmer added.

Bremmer also wrote that Musk had refused a Ukrainian request to activate his Starlink internet satellite service in occupied Crimea.

Back in February Musk had appeared to support Ukraine in its defiant resistance to Russia's brutal and unprovoked invasion after he made his Starlink network available to the Ukrainian military free of charge.

But now his alleged communications with Putin and his Russia-friendly peace proposals have cast this in doubt.

The billionaire justified his proposal by asserting that 'this is highly likely to be the outcome in the end - just a question of how many die before then.'

He added: 'Also worth noting that a possible, albeit unlikely, outcome from this conflict is nuclear war.'

Bremmer's report will also interest the Justice Department, as his negations with a foreign government as a private citizen is a violation of the Logan Act.

But last night Mr Musk denied the reports, writing on Twitter: 'I have spoken to Putin only once and that was about 18 months ago. The subject matter was space.'

Recently Mr Musk caused outrage when he appeared to support Russia's occupation of the provinces while airing his opinions on the war.

Mr Musk's intervention in geopolitics and the war in Ukraine came after he posted a Twitter poll last week floating proposals to end the war on terms favorable to Russia.

He asked his followers if they found it a reasonable settlement to re-run the shams referendums carried out in the annexed regions under UN auspices, recognize Crimea as Russia's eternally, and ensure Ukraine's neutrality in the future.

The move was largely seen as laundering Russian talking points at a time when the Kremlin's notorious propaganda channels have been furiously disseminating the futility of nuclear war to western audiences and the importance of negotiating a ceasefire.

This Twitter poll posted last week shocked the diplomatic world when it appeared to endorse a Russia-friendly outcome to the war

Musk's reasoning was that, despite what people might wish for, it was the most likely outcome and the quickest way to avoid further bloodshed

President Zelensky hit back with a Twitter poll of his own, asking people which Musk they liked more

However, not all Ukrainian government officials were as diplomatic as the president

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky responded diplomatically with a Twitter polls of his own.

'Which Elon Musk do you like more?' he asked. The options were 'One who supports Ukraine' and 'one who supports Russia.'

Another Ukrainian official was less diplomatic, tweeting a succinct 'f*** off' to Musk.

It came as Nato said it would hold nuclear exercises next week in the face of threats from Russia.

Secretary general Jens Stoltenberg stressed the annual drills were 'routine' and 'long-planned'.

Commuters burned to death in their cars while pedestrians were peppered with shrapnel - and Putin's message to the West? YOU'RE NEXT: Chilling warning from Mayor of Kyiv VITALI KLITSCHKO after Russia's 'barbaric' rush hour assault on the Ukrainian capital

By Vitali Klitschko for the Daily Mail

The rockets began raining down at 8.20am, just as thousands of people were hurrying to work and dropping their children at kindergartens and schools.

Commuters were burned to death in their cars, pedestrians were peppered with shrapnel and one explosion left a huge crater in the middle of a children's playground.

In all, seven innocent people were slaughtered by the Russian barbarians in Kyiv on Monday morning. Another 51 people are being treated for serious injuries.

Nobody in Ukraine's capital city was spared the horror. A pedestrian bridge beloved of residents for its sweeping views of the capital was also deliberately bombed, along with some 45 residential buildings housing hundreds of families, three schools and a nursery.

By targeting non-combatants for butchery and destroying civilian infrastructure, Russia has again proved itself to be a terrorist state.

This act of premeditated murder and mayhem is only the latest example of Vladimir Putin's determination to annihilate Ukrainians as a people. But our spirit remains unbroken.

Mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko says his people have not 'given the enemy the satisfaction of seeing us bow our heads in sorrow'

Though our blood was spilled on Monday, we did not give our enemy the satisfaction of seeing us bow our heads in sorrow. We continued to stand tall, our hearts heavy with grief but our dignity and resolve intact.

There is no panic or demoralisation. Ukrainians have shown at every stage of this harrowing war the extent of their inner resources. Russia has spent the better part of the year trying to bring us to our knees. It hasn't worked.

They attempt to intimidate us with terror, but that only makes us more passionate about preserving our nation and identity as we draw on our limitless reserves of courage to defeat Russian savagery.

What is unfolding in Kyiv is a totemic battle in the struggle for civilisation, one that is inextricably linked to the preservation of democracy and freedom.

For Ukraine is not just fighting Russia, but the darkness of totalitarianism and tyranny.

Mr Klitschko said: 'Putin will not stop his nuclear blackmail of the civilised world if he succeeds in his mission to suppress Ukraine'

My people have shown that they have the strength of purpose to fight for their freedom, whatever the cost. They have shown great unity of purpose in the cause of protecting their families, their cities and their state.

We only become stronger and more unbreakable with each blow we endure. In the moments after the first explosion, the first responders were ordinary residents of Kyiv, who rushed to the streets to aid the wounded.

Those who were evacuated to safety in the subway spent the next five and half hours comforting each other and singing the national anthem. Can such a nation be defeated? No! Can such a nation be crushed? Never!

And yet, after everything we have seen, there are still those in the West who find fault with Ukraine. If only Kyiv would kneel before its invaders, these Westerners say, there will be peace.

If Ukraine continues in its efforts to protect its sovereignty, they warn darkly  in language borrowed from Putin  there could be nuclear war.

In response I ask: Would Britain, for instance, cede some of its territories to strike a 'peace' deal with an invading army that wants to wipe it out? Would you give up the independence of your country, the freedom of your children? I don't think so. The same is true for Ukraine.

Have you seen what Russia did in the territory it did occupy? In towns and villages from Bucha and Irpin to Izyum and Lyman, we have unearthed dozens of mass graves containing the bodies of civilians  men, women and children executed for the sin of being Ukrainian.

Forensic investigators stand next to a body that was exhumed from what is believed to be a mass grave on Tuesday. Mr Klitschko said Ukraine needs 'more weapons, greater economic support and even tighter sanctions on Russia'

Let me tell you this: Putin will not stop his nuclear blackmail of the civilised world if he succeeds in his mission to suppress Ukraine. This basic fact must be understood by everyone. And this is why the imperialist ambitions of the Putin regime must not be satisfied. They must be stopped.

If it is not defeated, Putin's imperial bloodlust will not end here. He will target other countries and there will be many more victims. It is no exaggeration to say that Ukraine is on the front line in the war for civilisation. Our blood is being spilled to protect something greater than all of us.

The explosions in Kyiv weren't an attack on Ukraine alone  they contain a message to the rest of the world: You're next.

Ukraine needs more weapons, greater economic support and even tighter sanctions on Russia to stop the crazed dictator before he broadens his attacks. As Kyiv's mayor, I am with my people, the citizens of my home town. Against us is a state that wants to devour foreign territory and erase a sovereign nation.

Its soldiers are fighting for money, cars, the opportunity to loot Ukrainian houses  or simply out of a terror of being punished for desertion.

We, who did not start this conflict, fight for something you can relate to: Our families, our freedom, the future of our children. This is our home: We don't have the option of retreating. We must cope with and overcome every challenge. We must win. I would even say that, given the cause for which we are fighting, we Ukrainians do not have the right to capitulate or accept defeat.

Eight months ago, nobody could have imagined Kyiv would be under attack, because everyone outside this country expected us to collapse within days of Putin's tanks rolling across the border.

We surprised the world with our fortitude and tenacity. This is our land, and the truth is on our side. We are never going back to the Soviet past. Kyiv is the proud and ancient capital of a state marching towards its European future. And Moscow's bombs will not stop us.

As told to Kapil Komireddi, the author of Malevolent Republic: A Short History Of The New India
A spokesman for the Atlanta airport said the driver of the Porsche's illegal behavior could result in fines and citations

A frustrating back-and-forth between airport parking attendants and the police led Yvette Pegues, 38, to call the situation 'more than unfair' and 'ableist'

A disabled woman found herself stranded at the airport when she found that her handicap-accessible van had been boxed in by an illegally parked Porsche

A TikTok posted by a disabled Georgia woman went viral after they clips showed her arriving at the Atlanta airport only to find her handicap-accessible van being blocked by an illegally parked Porsche.

In a video captioned 'BLOCK and LOCKED into parking space...(again)!,' Yvette Pegues, 38, documented her Friday evening arrival at the Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport only to find her handicapped van blocked by a blue Porsche SUV.

'I can't even get out of the parking because my van has been blocked by someone who is illegally parked,' she said.

'I have a six-foot ramp that comes out of my car to exit the vehicle. In this case I needed at least six feet,' she added.

Pegues, who is paralyzed from the waist down, then tried turning to airport parking attendants for help.

'I called parking several times. Parking said, 'Call the police.' Police said, 'Call parking,' so I was vacillating between the two,' she said. 'I'm out here alone in the dark and can't get home.'

@yvettepegues  The special lift area or diagonal lines around #ADA or #handicapparking allows space for passengers to use a ramp, lift or other equipment to operate the vehicle. When its blocked, we cant go home  original sound - Yvette Pegues

Yvette Pegues returned home after a long flight to the Atlanta airport only to find her handicap-accessible van boxed in illegally by a Porsche

A confusing back-and-forth with airport parking attendants and the police did not resolve Pegues' problem and her husband had to come pick her up

She says this is not the first time someone has boxed in her specialty van, but it is the first time she decided to record and post it to her TikTok, where it has attracted 1.4 million views

To make matters more challenging, Pegues suffers from a cognitive delay.

Hours of back and forth with various parking authorities all to no avail mentally and physically exhausted her, in addition to her phone battery running low.

Eventually her husband came to retrieve her and it wasn't until the next day that a tow truck arrived to remove the Porsche so she could get her van home.

Pegues expressed frustration not just with the airport's handling of the accessibility issue, but with the driver who ignored the stickers on her van that read, 'Extra Space Needed for Ramp or Lift.'

'Those are one of the few moments where I wish I had legs that worked,' she said. 'It feels more than unfair, it feels intentional, it feels ableist to be perfectly honest.'

Pegues' van needs at least six-feet of space in order for her to get in via the ramp. She's placed stickers explaining the situation on her windows

Prior to becoming disabled following a spinal stroke during surgery nearly a decade ago, Pegues was a network systems engineer pursuing a PhD at Harvard

Since becoming paralyzed, Pegues has pivoted into a career as a speaker and advocate for culture change

According to a WSBTV report, a spokesman for the Hartsfield-Jackson airport said drivers like the one that boxed in Pegues' van could face fines and citations.

The spokesman also said of Pegues that she 'has a great deal of experience at the Airport and served as both chair of the Airport's ADA Committee and as an ADA volunteer.'

'We have reached out to her to determine just what happened and will implement changes in our responses to situations like this,' he added.

Pegues has T-10 paraplegia from a spinal stroke she suffered nearly a decade ago. Prior to her illness, Pegues had been a network systems engineer pursuing a PhD from Harvard.

In subsequent Tik Toks posted to her page, Pegues thanked viewers of her initial video for offering advice and said that 'education, training and disruptive change is needed for airport police and parking management co. to change policies, enforce ADA laws and hold offenders accountable.'
A Florida bodybuilder and former Marine has been accused of murdering his ex-wife when she visited him to collect some of her things, and then burning her body in an oil drum in the back yard.

Ian Christopher Baunach, 43, appeared in court in Tampa on Monday and pled not guilty to killing Katie Baunach, the 39-year-old mother of his two children.

In November 2021, Baunach, a former Marine who retrained as an engineer, was arrested on charges of domestic battery by strangulation, and was released the same day on $25,000 bond.

Ten months later, in September this year, Katie Baunach took out a restraining order against him, accusing him of abusing one of their children.

She was last seen on September 29 when she left the two youngsters with a friend, saying Baunach had said she could come over to 'retrieve some of her personal items.'

She told the friend she'd be right back, but never returned.

Ian Baunach, 43, is accused of killing his ex-wife Katie, 39, on September 29

Baunach, a former Marine, was a dedicated bodybuilder

Police were called and on September 30 went to his home in LaBelle, 30 miles inland of Fort Myers, only to find that he was not home

Police were called and on September 30 went to his home in LaBelle (pictured), 30 miles inland of Fort Myers, only to find that he was not home. Her car was parked outside

Police were called and on September 30 went to his home in LaBelle, 30 miles inland of Fort Myers, only to find that he was not home. Her car was parked outside.

Returning shortly after, they saw the car had been moved, and obtained a warrant to search the property - after Baunach refused to let them in.

Inside the house, detectives found evidence of a struggle and blood stains, which he claimed were from groceries.

Katie Baunach's engagement ring and wedding ring were found inside a safe.

Officers also found an AR-15 upper receiver and 13 silencers in the safe, along with a Glock Model 27 .40 caliber pistol inside a plastic bag on a bookshelf, according to the complaint.

There were three rifles and a shotgun in an attic above the garage, and Baunach had another .40 caliber Glock on his person.

The officers then found human remains outside.

Katie Baunach told friends she was going to her ex's house briefly to collect some belongings, but never returned

Inside the home of Baunach, police found guns, silencers and human remains

Baunach is pictured in uniform while in the US Marine Corp before the alleged killing

According to court documents, they 'discovered the fragment of a human mandible with an intact tooth in a fresh burn pile, and discovered a blue fifty-gallon barrel near the burn pile which reeked of decaying flesh.

'Inside the blue fifty-gallon barrel, law enforcement discovered an additional human bone fragment. Law enforcement discovered other suspected human bone fragments in the area surrounding the burn pile.'

Baunach denied killing his ex-wife, and told them there was no body and she had disappeared.

He admitted to getting into an argument with her, which he was was 'over another woman'.

Baunach 'admitted to being angry that Katie Baunach filed for and received a domestic violence injunction against him.'

He claimed he went to sleep, and by the time he woke up in the morning she had gone.

He said he then moved her car to the street.

'When asked about the blood found inside the Premises, Baunach stated that he did not believe the officers.'

Baunach was taken into custody and charged with first-degree pre-meditated murder; destruction/concealment of physical evidence, and cremating a dead body 48 hours after death.

If convicted of first-degree murder he faces life in prison, or the death penalty.
Said the Queen took greatest possible pride in way troops performed in duties

Expressed appreciation for their service during his late mother's 70-year reign

King Charles III has penned a heartfelt letter expressing his deep gratitude and appreciation for Australian troops for their courage during the 70-year reign of his late mother Queen Elizabeth II.

The letter sent by the newly crowned King less than five weeks after Her Majesty's death also shares her high regard for past and present Australian servicemen and women.

Obtained by 2GB breakfast host Ben Fordham, the letter was addressed to the Australian Defence Force chief on a Buckingham Palace letterhead.

It has since been gratefully appreciated by Australian troops.

'On the occasion of my accession to the sovereignty, I would like to send to all who serve in the Australian Defence Force my heartfelt gratitude for the unstinting loyalty and professionalism you displayed through the reign of my beloved mother,' King Charles' message begins.

King Charles III (left) has written to the Australian Defence Force expressing deep appreciation for servicemen and women who served during his late mother's reign. He's pictured with Queen Consort Camilla at a community reception in Aberdeenshire on Tuesday

'I know that The Queen took the greatest possible pride in the way servicemen and women from Australia performed in their duties in many parts of the world and often in the most testing and difficult circumstances.'

The letter ends with King Charles sharing his late mother's high regard for the courage and commitment of Australian troops.

'I know, for my part, that you will continue to serve your country with the dedication and bravery which you have demonstrated with such success over the years,' he wrote.

Defence minister Richard Marles was unaware of King Charles' letter until he was made aware of its existence by Fordham on Wednesday.

He was touched by the 'very special' letter and said it will be gratefully appreciated by Australian troops.

'This is something that'll mean a lot to our serving men and women,' Mr Marles told 2GB.

Australian Defence Force troops were involved in the funeral procession for Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey last month. Pictured is Australian Army officer Captain Joshua Downs (right) being thanked by the Prince and Princess of Wales

King Charles III has paid tribute to past and present Australian servicemen and woman in a 'very special' letter (pictured)

'There's a very strong connection between the Royal Family and our Defence Force.

'To receive the letter which acknowledges Queen Elizabeth's appreciation for their efforts from the new King is something that is really special and we really appreciate it.'

The letter comes weeks after ADF members involved in the Queens's state funeral ceremony in London last month were personally thanked by the King's son, Prince William.

The Prince and Princess of Wales visited Pirbright Army Barracks two days prior to the funeral to thank Commonwealth troops from Australia, Canada and New Zealand for being part of the ceremony.

The royal couple spent time chatting with members of the marching contingent, including Australian Army Captain Joshua Downs.

'It was an honour to meet them. I truly appreciated the fact that they had taken time out to show their support for us despite Prince William having only just lost his grandmother,' Captain Downs said.

'Their concern for us in preparing for the funeral was incredibly touching.'
Bonham-Carter faces three charges each with a maximum sentence of 20 years

A British businessman has been arrested and faces extradition to the United States accused of violating sanctions imposed on Russian oligarch Oleg Vladimirovich Deripaska.

Prosecutors in the US allege Graham Bonham-Carter made payments for Deripaska's local properties and made attempts to move artwork totaling $USD$12,146 overseas.

The US Department of Justice has imposed sanctions on Russian oligarchs they claim have connections to the Kremlin in condemnation of the invasion of Ukraine.

Some sanctions - including those on Deripaska - date back to 2018, following Russia's alleged meddling in the 2016 federal election.

Bonham-Carter, 62, was arrested on Tuesday and is alleged to have assisted Deripaska in handling his American real estate in 2021, years after these sanctions were imposed.

Prosecutors in the US allege Graham Bonham-Carter made payments for Deripaska's local properties and made attempts to move artwork totaling $USD$12,146 overseas

The US Department of Justice has imposed sanctions on Russian oligarchs with connections to the Kremlin in condemnation of the invasion of Ukraine

Prosecutors allege Bonham-Carter wired just over $USD 1 million (910,000) from a Russian bank account to a New York bank account which managed the oligarch's residential properties in the United States.

He's also accused of attempting to transfer artwork Deripaska purchased from a New York auction house to London.

It's alleged Bonham-Carter, who is a second-cousin of A-list actress Helena Bonham Carter, falsely told the auction house the art did not belong to Deripaska.

According to court documents, Bonham-Carter worked for companies in Deripaska's control since 2003 - including managing his properties across the United Kingdom and Europe.

Damian Williams, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, said: 'Bonham-Carter obscured the origin of funding for upkeep and management of Deripaska's lavish US assets, in violation of the international sanctions.'

Some sanctions - including those on Deripaska - date back to 2018, following Russia's alleged meddling in the 2016 federal election

Court documents reveal Bonham-Carter referred to Deripaska as his 'boss' as recently as October 13, 2021.

In an email, he wrote: 'It's all good apart from banks keep shutting me down because of my affiliation to my boss Oleg Deripaska.

'I have even been advised not to go to the USA where Oleg still has personal sanctions as the authorities will undoubtedly pull me to one side and the questioning could be hours or even days!'

Deripaska, 54, is one of a group of businessmen known as oligarchs who control large parts of the Russian economy, especially in energy and commodities, and have been able to preserve their fortunes on condition that they stay out of politics.

Following the United States' request for extradition, Bonham-Carter was ordered to face a London court where he was granted conditional bail.

He has been charged with one count of conspiring to violate and evade US sanctions, one count of violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and one count of wire fraud.

Each charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The FBI New York Field Office and Counterintelligence Division are investigating the case.

A lawyer for Bonham-Carter is also facing charges of wire fraud.

Bonham-Carter was allegedly managing properties for Deripaska across the United Kingdom, EU and United States
New York City Mayor Eric Adams told residents Tuesday that they will see migrant emergency shelters in 'every community' in the city, and they should expect to see them 'without warning.'

Adams noted that every borough would be 'impacted' by the crisis during a news conference at Yankees Stadium in the Bronx.

'Every community is going to see asylum-seekers,' Adams said.

'This is a citywide crisis and all of us are going to be impacted and Staten Island is going to be impacted like the other four boroughs,' he added.

The mayor has noted that the city's shelters are already near 100 percent capacity, with about 61,000 people in the system, 20,000 of which are children.

Mayor Eric Adams said New Yorkers will see migrant emergency shelters in 'every community,' as nearly 2,000 asylum seekers from Latin America over the weekend

Adams declared a state of emergency over the migrant crisis, and has said the Big Apple needed $1 billion in federal funding to deal with the influx of people

Construction takes place of a new facility to house migrants on Randall's Island, New York. Migrants have been arriving in NYC for weeks after being bussed from Texas and other states

'As the emergency comes, we have to make these on-the-ground moves and make sure that we deal with the crisis thats in front of us,' he said.

He also said he was having to play 'hardball,' because 'a lot of people have not really dealt with emergencies before.'

Adams declared a state of emergency over the crisis, and has said the Big Apple needed $1 billion in federal funding to deal with the influx of people.

The mayor took time to hit back at his critics, including 'specific elected officials on all levels of elected government.'

'So, all the calls that Im getting from elected officials, all the calls Im hearing from people of saying you know, "Please, not here"  that just cant happen,' he said.

His statements come as nearly 2,000 asylum seekers from Latin America arrived in New York City over the weekend.

The recent uptick is on account of Republican governors in states like Texas and Arizona busing in the groups. The move is meant to criticize democratic mayors and governors over their immigration policies.

The mayor has been criticized in the past by members of his own party and others over his unconventional ideas when it comes to housing the migrants.

In the past, Adams has suggested renting out cruise ships to provide a temporary place for the migrants to reside until their situations are sorted.

The city is currently in the process of building a 'tent city' on Randall's Island, which is expected. But even that, however, is shrouded in controversy.

Less than one week ago, Adams announced that it would move from its originally- planned site near Orchard Beach in the Bronx to Randall's Island.

The move came after pictures showed flooding at the open lot where hundreds of asylum seekers were expected to reside temporarily.

Even before the structure was built, however, some politicians had reservations.

Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson had previously said of tent site that it was 'not the ideal location' and was prone to flooding.

An aerial photo taken with a drone shows workers assemble emergency tents to house some of the many migrants arriving to the city in the parking lot of Orchard Beach, with the skyline of Manhattan in the background

Set up just days ago, crews were seen taking down the large tents in a parking lot near Orchard Beach

Adams also said last week that the new location would provide better access to public transportation, another concern brought up by Gibson in September.

'This new location is less prone to flooding, is closer to public transportation, and will provide temporary respite to 500 asylum seekers,' Adams said in a statement.

'Moving to Randalls Island will be more cost efficient than staying at Orchard Beach and installing the needed flood-mitigation measures to make the site fully viable,' said mayoral representative Fabien Levy.

That location was slated to accommodate as many as 1,000 migrants at a time.

The new location on Randalls Island will be a scaled down version of the original plan for Orchard Beach, according to officials familiar with the site.

'This has the ability to scale if needed, but we're going to start out with 500,' Levy told the Daily News.

Previous estimates placed the bigger Orchard Beach site's cost at around $150 million, but no word has been provided on how that total will change due to the move.

Outside of the 'tent city' idea, some local Council members have suggested that a better plan for housing migrants temporarily would be to put them in hotels.

Council Speaker Adrienne Adams recently released a list of 10 local hotels she said could work if the plan were to be considered, stating that the locations have thousands of rooms available.

Mayor Adams said during Monday's parade that he is considering her idea. He called on the Biden administration to crackdown on the border crisis as he declares a state of emergency in the Big Apple.

Adams condemned the busing programs spearheaded by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, which has brought about 17,000 migrants to the Big Apple.

The mayor said about five to six busses are arriving every day since September, with nine buses arriving yesterday and eight on Friday.

Since April, New York has set up 42 emergency shelters, enrolled 5,500 children in public school and tried to help the asylum seekers connect with family and resources.

But Adams warned that the city could ultimately see 100,000 new migrants arrive by the end of the year, which will take its toll on New York's budget.

'We expect to spend at least $1billion by the end of the fiscal year on this crisis, all because we have a functional, a compassionate system,' Adams said.

Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, was criticized by members of both his own party and those on the other side of the aisle for his migrant tent proposal

NYC Mayor Eric Adams declared a state of emergency as he expects the city to spend $1billion on migrants being bused from the US-Mexico border

It comes as the mayor scrapped plans to house migrants inside a Norwegian Cruise Lines ship in State Island because it was too expensive and the city is seeking a 'cheaper option.'

The mayor called on the federal government to tighten border control, provide funds to cities overburdened by the influx of migrants, and to get other cities to accept the immigrants.

'We need a realistic decompression strategy at the border that will slow the outflow of asylum seekers. Adams said. 'We need a coordinated effort to move asylum seekers to other cities in this country to ensure everyone is doing their part.'

The mayor noted that the city's shelters were already near 100 percent capacity, with about 61,000 people in the system, 20,000 of which are children.

'Although our compassion is limitless, our resources are not,' Adams said. 'This is unsustainable.'

Adams appealed to hotels and nonprofits for temporary housing of the new migrants, and urged the private sector for donations to help the strained city.

'Unless we take immediate action that [Randall's Island] center will be full in days,' the Adams warned. 'And we will have to open another, and another, and another, even as winter arrives.'

Previously, Adams and his team were close to closing a deal with Norwegian Cruise Lines to dock one of their ships off Staten Island, but it fell through because NCL was charging too much, The New York Post reported.

Migrants await their free bus rides north at El Paso's 'welcome center'. Many of the new arrivals have fled flawed leftist regimes in Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua

The city moved its migrant problem to a processing facility on the edge of town. DailyMail.com witnesses lines of immigrants  mostly young men, but also many families  waiting to board buses for the next stage of their journey

Downtown El Paso has in recent weeks witnessed chaotic scenes of migrants sleeping on the streets, after the surge of new arrivals overwhelmed the area's federal-run processing facilities

'They're probably least likely because we got better deals,' City Hall chief of staff Frank Carone told the Post.

Carone noted that deals were still being discussed with Carnival Cruise Line and the Estonian company Tallink & Silja, which has ships in the Ukraine housing refugees.

Adams also claimed that if officials in Texas and Arizona, where the majority of migrants are being bussed from, had first reached out to New York to coordinate a plan, then the city would've been able to allocate a budget to help the migrants.

'But we didn't get the support and information we asked for, and now, New York City is being forced to bare far more than its share of this national crisis.'

'Our right to shelter laws, our social services, and our values are being exploited by others for political gain,' the mayor added, criticizing the current busing program.

Adam's speech served as a condemnation of the border crisis across-party lines, as it was revealed that Democrat-led El Paso was sending more than twice as many migrants as Abbott.

El Paso, which sits across the border from Juarez, Mexico, has bused roughly 7,000 migrants to New York City since late August and sent more than 1,800 to Chicago, a city-run effort that far exceeds the more ad-hoc transportation of the past.

Abbott has bused more than 3,000 migrants to New York City and more than 900 to Chicago as part of a high-profile campaign to put a spotlight on the record crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Texas and Arizona combined have also bused over 10,000 migrants to Washington, D.C.

However, El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser, a Democrat, said the city's program is 'completely different' than the other busing efforts and that they seek to 'treat people with respect.'

The city's busing effort has received less attention than Abbott's program, who is seeking a third term in Nov. 8 midterm elections.

Migrants wait outside a New York City church on Sunday, October 9. The church held a welcoming even which included food giveaways and other services

But unlike previous speeches where Adams went directly after Abbott, the Democrat mayor did not mention political parties on Friday, instead referring to the border states as a whole.

New York City mayoral spokesperson Kate Smart previously said that while El Paso does coordinate with the city to some degree, New York is not told how many migrants are on board.

El Paso's busing policy is not wholly popular among its own officials.

Victor Manjarrez, a former CBP chief for the region who now heads a department at The University of Texas at El Paso, says Democrats and Republicans were playing a game of 'political theater'.

By busing migrants north, El Paso officials were 'doing the same thing' as governors Abbott and Ducey, only 'it's just not getting the same type of attention,' Manjarrez told DailyMail.com.

Others say the migrant surge has overstretched a city of nearly 700,000 and that while FEMA has reimbursed some of the costs, there is no guarantee the agency will continue to pay. City officials warn that services could be cut.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Chris Magnus also condemned the busing policies by Democrats and Republicans alike.

The border chief told the Los Angeles Times that the widely publicized busing programs have now become a beacon for more migrants to flood the border seeking to be bused to other parts of the country.

'It's safe to say what's going on is a pull factor, which is somewhat ironic given the criticism from some of these same governors involved in this about various pull factors that they claim already exist,' Magnus said about Abbott, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
A Perth man has been charged with manslaughter after allegedly deliberately lighting a fire which then exploded, killing an expecting father who stopped to help.

Jack Kinneen was four-wheel-driving with friends at Pinjar, north of Perth, on September 22 when they came across the fire near a bush track about 1.30am.

When the 23-year-old approached the fire to investigate, it exploded in his face.

Mr Kinneen suffered serious injuries and despite the best efforts of his friends and ambulance crews, he died at the scene.

Jack Kinneen (pictured) was out with mates on a 4WD trip when he stopped to investigate the fire

In an update on Wednesday, West Australia Police alleged the blaze was deliberately lit by a 38-year-old man in 'a way to cause an explosion'.

On Tuesday, he was arrested at a home in the Perth suburb of Banksia Grove and charged with manslaughter after a public appeal for information.

Mr Kinneen was about to become a dad before the tragic blast

'He left the area as Mr Kinneen and his friends approached the fire,' police alleged in a statement.

'The 38-year-old man and the group of friends are not known to each other.'

Western Australia Deputy Police Commissioner Alan Adams said a gas bottle was placed on the fire.

'As Jack was walking towards it, the gas cylinder exploded... and a fragment of that has hit him,' Mr Adams told morning radio.

Tributes have begun to flow online for the popular Heathridge resident.

'You have always been there when I needed you. I can't believe you're gone.' one friend wrote.

'We would like to thank everyone for the support we have received over the past 24 hours it truly is appreciated,' his sister Katie wrote alongside a picture of his friends and family.

'You would have been an amazing father to (your) little one,' added another friend.

Mr Kinneen's partner is due to give birth in weeks.

A group of friends and family recently visited the spot where Mr Kinnenn tragically lost his life, creating a makeshift cross and sticking his partner's ultrasound picture to it.

A GoFundMe has also been set up to help pay for his funeral.

The charged 38-year-old was refused bail and is expected to appear in Joondalup Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
New Labour architect Peter Mandelson is entitled to an EU pension of around 31,000 a year  if he follows its rules.

The Labour peer, 68, spent four years as a trade commissioner, granting him an EU pension from the age of 65.

The Labour peer, 68, spent four years as a trade commissioner, granting him an EU pension from the age of 65

The European Commission has said it would not normally strip someone of their pension for expressing political views  including pro-Brexit opinions

But Brussels rules mean he could lose it if he fails to behave with integrity and discretion towards the institution  effectively a safeguard against conflicts of interest.

The European Commission has said it would not normally strip someone of their pension for expressing political views  including pro-Brexit opinions.

Lord Mandelson became known as The Prince of Darkness for his ruthless modernising of the Labour Party.
James Brennand, the San Antonio rookie cop who shot teenager Erik Cantu several times and put him on life support, has been charged with two counts of aggravated assault by a peace officer.

Brennand turned himself in to police Tuesday night and remained in custody, said Police Chief William McManus.

According to San Antonio Police, the charges were leveled against Brennand, 25, after a criminal investigation into the shooting, where he abruptly shot at Cantu, 17, as he sat eating a cheeseburger in his car.

Several of Cantu's organs were punctured in the shooting and he is currently on life support, according to his family.

The family of Erik Cantu say the teenager has had to undergo a number of surgeries to repair major organs that were damaged by gunfire, according to attorney Brian Powers, who spoke to DailyMail.com

Officer James Brennand, 25, has been charged with two counts of aggravated assault following the shocking shooting of Erik Cantu, 17, as he sat in his car eating a cheeseburger

A 17-year-old boy who was shot several times by a rookie cop as he sat in his car eating a McDonald's cheeseburger is currently on life support after several of his organs were punctured during the shooting.

Eric Cantu pictured on his Facebook page in September 2022

Even as Cantu drove away, Brennand keeps shooting into the vehicle

Cantu's lungs are effectively being operated by the life support machine and he remains under sedation while his body takes the time it needs to recover.

Powers said that Cantu faces a long road to recovery but that his family are thankful for the prayers they have received.

Brennand is a married former soldier who was commended for his firearm skills while in the police academy.

Erik is still in critical condition and is being monitored closely. Surgeries were performed to repair injures to a few major organs as a result of the penetration of multiple bullets

Erik Cantu was hospitalized at nearby University Hospital following the shooting. Following the shooting, Brennand administered CPR while he waited for paramedics.

'Erik and our family would like to thank all of our family, friends, the great city of San Antonio and everyone around the world that has sent their heartfelt prayers and blessings,' Powers said in a statement.

'Erik is still in critical condition and is being monitored closely. Surgeries were performed to repair injures to a few major organs as a result of the penetration of multiple bullets. Erik is currently on a life support system that is keeping his lungs operating and remains on a vast amount of sedatives to hopefully ease the discomfort and pain.

'He has a great medical staff that has been working diligently around the clock to provide him great care. Erik is struggling and we know that recovery will not be easy for him. Every moment is critical and the uncertainly is quite painful. We ask that everyone please keep Erik in your thoughts and prayers.'

Last Wednesday, the San Antonio Police Department acted swiftly in firing Brennand.

At the time of his termination, he was still in his probationary period -- which means he's not entitled to an appeal -- and had been on the job for just seven months.

Law enforcement initially laid charges against the teenager for evading arrest and assault on a police officer, but those have since been dropped.

According to his LinkedIn page, Brennand previously served in the US Army as a military dog handler. He enlisted in 2016. Brennand was stationed outside of Seattle

Brennand and his wife pictured in a photoshopped image created by their realtor after Arnold was not present when the pair closed on a home in 2021

Under Texas law, due to the fact that the teen had charges pending against him, his family was only permitted to be by his bedside for limited periods of time.

Prior to the release of the video, Brennand maintained he only opened fire on Cantu after the teenager hit him with his car. The new video shows otherwise.

Brennand was called to the McDonald's after a reported disturbance unrelated to Cantu. When the officer arrived at the scene, he apparently mistook the teens' car for a vehicle that evaded him the previous night.

That car had sped away from Brennand when he attempted to pull it over as its license plates did not match the car.

Brennand is no stranger to shooting - he placed fourth in the 'firearms' category in his police cadet class in 2021

Brennand approached Cantu's maroon car and called for cover, but quickly tried to take matters into his own hands and opened the car door.

Police have not confirmed whether Cantu's car was stolen.

The video shows the moment Brennand surprised Cantu and demanded the teen get out of the car.

As Cantu questioned the officer's orders, he attempted to put the car in reverse and the door catches Brennand.

Brennand quickly opened fire and shot into the driver's side of the vehicle as Cantu reversed, and the bodycam footage caught the cop shouting 'shots fired!' into his radio.

Cantu pulled out of the parking spot and tried to drive away, but Brennand continued shooting into the back of the vehicle.

The teens were then found outside the vehicle a block away from the shooting.

The former police officer has one child with his wife, Danielle Arnold, Arnold is also a dog handler with the US Army

Speaking at a press briefing on Friday, Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales confirmed that upon reviewing the video, his office instructed the police department to drop the charges against Cantu.

Gonzales also updated the public on Cantu's condition saying: 'This young man is in critical but stable condition in the hospital. There was some issue with his parents being able to have extended contact with him. I understand it's a touch-and-go situation.'

He added: 'Exercising my discretion, what I decided to do for now is dismiss this case so that his family can be by his side.'

He went on: 'My concern right now is with the health of this young man, with his parents' ability to be by his side, and so that's why we have done what we have done. It'll take some time for SAPD to file the complete case with us and then we'll make the decision.'

'I commend the San Antonio Police Department for taking the action that they did for terminating this individual because, clearly, there was concern on their part. It is commendable that members of that department saw fit to terminate this individual,' the district attorney added.

Cantu's lungs are effectively being operated by the life support machine and he remains under sedation while his body takes the time it needs to recover

According to Cantu's Facebook page, he works at The Wash Tub, a San Antonio-based car service business.

His former supervisor, Christopher Montalvo, told KSAT that Cantu worked at the business for three months earlier this year.

Montalvo said he last saw Cantu two weeks ago when he came in for a car wash. He said: 'Good laughs, just normal human being stuff. Nothing really serious. I never got a bad vibe from (Cantu). He was always a really good guy to me, and he always respected me. Every time I told him to do something, he always did it, and he worked hard.'

The supervisor was not aware that Cantu had been shot. When he was shown the video by a KSAT reporter, Montalvo said: 'That's hard to watch. That's scary. I'm speechless, honestly. (Cantu) looks scared. He looks terrified. He doesn't know what's going on. He was just in his car eating. That right there, that personally didn't look right to me.'

When Cantu reversed, the door of the vehicle reportedly hit Brennand, and the cop then draws his gun and immediately starts firing on the teen couple

Brennand shoots the drivers side window repeatedly and shouts 'shots fired' into his radio, and Cantu attempts to drive away

Posts on Cantu's Facebook page show a keen interest in cars, there are multiple pictures showing him in front of a Dodge Charger, which comments indicate he had just purchased in May.

Under that picture, his grandmother wrote: 'My boy, I'm very excited for you, I just ask you one thing, drive safely and take care of yourself, love you lots, God is good.'

He replied: 'I appreciate it Liz. You have always been like a mother to me. You always treated me like if I was your son. Can't wait to show it to you!'

In February, he posted a photo showing him behind the wheel of a Ford Bronco. While in March he posted a video showing him in the passenger side of a Ferrari.

On the Intro section of his page, Cantu wrote: 'Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. KJV Proverbs 3:5.'
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA's) first orbital rocket launch ends in disaster.

The Japanese space agency announced that it had to broadcast the command destruction signal to its Epsilon No. 6 rocket due to an unidentified abnormality during the launch.

The failure of the Epsilon rocket to reach space ended the rocket's success records since the original version's launch in 2013, per Nikkei Asia.

JAXA Epsilon Launch Failure Details

JAXA mentioned in its announcement that its Epsilon No. 6 rocket was launched at 9:50 AM JST on Oct. 12 to carry out its Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration 3.

The Demonstration is a program designed to offer commercial and institutional entities who wish to exhibit new important space parts or key technologies using their own microsatellites access to space, per the program's page.

Although the two initial stages of the launch were a success, an unidentified abnormality occurred during the third, causing the rocket to significantly deviate from the target attitude during the time of judging whether the second and third stages could be separated.

As a result, JAXA's mission controllers activated Epsilon's flight termination system by broadcasting the command destruction signal to the rocket at 11 AM JST, destroying it and the five cubesats it had as payload, per Space.com.

Read More: Meta Connect 2022: Mark Zuckerberg Announces Zoom, Microsoft Teams Integration to VR

The rocket also has two experimental thrusters, a satellite-deorbiting "drag sail," a deployable power-generating membrane structure that can double as an antenna, telecom tech, a high-speed software receiver, and a commercial GPU, per EverydayAstronaut.com.

The Japanese space agency has begun investigating what caused the problem through its countermeasures headquarters headed by Chairman Hiroshi Yamakawa.

Yamakawa, who is also JAXA's president, gave a public apology for the launch's failure, saying that the agency was "terribly sorry" for being unable to meet the Japanese people's expectations, per Phys.org.

The rocket's failure is also compounded by the fact that the Oct. 12 launch was supposed to be the rocket's first commercial satellite launch. As such, the launch was watched by companies looking to use the rocket to go into the small satellite launch business.

The Epsilon rocket's failure marks the end of the rocket's success since its original version was launched in 2013. It is also the first rocket that failed during launch since its H2A rocket failed in 2003.

JAXA Epsilon Satellite Details

JAXA's Epsilon rocket is a 26 m-long 95.6-ton rocket propelled by solid fuel. Its original version was first launched in 2013 and has successfully done so three more times since it was enhanced, per JAXA's page for the rocket.

This enhanced design is to be an improved "final entry" into JAXA's Epsilon rocket series, per Kyodo News.

The rocket uses solid fuel instead of liquid due to the advantages it offers, such as simpler construction, shorter development times, and shorter launch intervals.

Although JAXA's Epsilon rockets are expensive to launch, with each launch costing $38 million, they are meant to be reliable despite the fact.

Related Article: Japan Looks To Boost Space Program  But Needs US Help To Do So
The EUs foreign policy chief has slammed his own diplomatic service as a failure, accusing work-shy Eurocrats of being lazy, arrogant, out of touch and too scared to take risks.

Straight-talking Spaniard Josep Borrell, the blocs top diplomat, delivered the tirade at a speech to ambassadors from the European External Action Service (EEAS), Brussels answer to Britains Foreign Office.

Straight-talking Spaniard Josep Borrell, the blocs top diplomat, delivered the tirade at a speech to ambassadors from the European External Action Service (EEAS)

He said: This is not a moment when we are going to send flowers to all of you saying you work very well and we are very happy.

I do not want to blame and shame but this is something that I have to tell you. I want you to be more reactive, 24 hours a day.

. The EEAS has often been dismissed as a second-rate service to where diplomats who are not going to make the grade in their own foreign ministries can be dispatched

The 75-year-old chided EU officials for failing to grasp key geopolitical issues about technology, energy and climate change and not predicting Russias invasion of Ukraine.

And senior ambassadors gasped when Mr Borrell accused his staff of being slower to report major foreign policy developments than the Press.

The EEAS has often been dismissed as a second-rate service to where diplomats who are not going to make the grade in their own foreign ministries can be dispatched.

A European Commission spokesman for Mr Borrell said his speech was designed to shake up the house.
by Josh Boswell

Emails, text messages, and photographs published by DailyMail.com are among a wealth of evidence that prosecutors could use at trial if Hunter Biden is charged with tax crimes and lying on gun purchase documents.

The FBI believes it has enough evidence to charge Hunter Biden with failure to declare income from his foreign business deals and a failure to declare he was a drug addict on a gun application, sources told The Washington Post Thursday.

Agents told the Post they assembled enough evidence for a criminal case against the First Son 'months ago'  and the decision to charge now lies with federal prosecutors.

The agents claim they have sufficient proof that Hunter failed to declare income from his overseas business dealings to the IRS.

The First Son also wrote on a gun application that he was not a user of illegal drugs, but later admitted in his own memoir that he was a crack addict at the time.

Since 2019 the Bureau has been in possession of revealing emails, furtive text messages and photographs from Hunter's abandoned laptop that he never intended to fall into law enforcement's hands.

Now DailyMail.com can reveal some of the most suspicious pieces of evidence prosecutors could use in a potential trial.

A SMOKING GUN

On October 12, 2018 Hunter bought a .38 caliber handgun from StarQuest Shooters & Survival Supply in Wilmington, Delaware.

The federally required Firearm Transaction Record for the purchase, obtained by DailyMail.com, asks: 'Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?'

Hunter checked the box: 'No'.

But in his memoir, Beautiful Things, he admitted to his continued 'full-blown addiction' at the time  and in doing so, appeared to admit to the felony of lying on the firearm form.

'I had returned [to the East Coast] that fall of 2018, after my most recent relapse in California, with the hope of getting clean through a new therapy and reconciling with Hallie. Neither happened,' he wrote in the 2021 autobiography.

He said he would go for regular ketamine therapy sessions as part of his rehab treatment but continued to smoke crack throughout.

Hunter bought the .38 revolver from Starquest Shooters in Delaware on October 12, 2018

Hunter barely had the gun for a two weeks when a dangerous incident occurred. His lover and brother's widow Hallie Biden found it in his truck on October 23 and threw it in a trash can outside local grocery store Janssens, opposite a high school.

'The therapy's results were disastrous,' he wrote. 'I backslid. I did exactly what I'd come to Massachusetts to stop doing. I'd stay clean for a week, break away from the center to meet a connection I found in Rhode Island, smoke up, then return.

'One thing I did remarkably well during that time was fool people about whether or not I was using. Between trips up there, I even bought clean urine from a dealer in New York to pass drug tests.

'I doubt much good comes from doing ketamine while you're on crack.'

A copy of the Firearms Transaction Record and a receipt for the purchase was first obtained by news site Politico last year.

Lying on gun forms is a felony, punishable by a maximum 10 years prison and a $250,000 fine.

In March 2021 a bombshell report published by Politico revealed Hunter's sister-in-law and one-time girlfriend Hallie had found the gun in his car, wrapped it in a plastic bag, and put it in a trash can outside Janssen's Market (pictured) in Wilmington, Delaware in October 2018, because she feared he would use it to kill himself

However, not all cases are prosecuted. Of the 478 referrals for 'lying and buying' the Justice Department received in 2018, charges were filed for 298 cases, about 60%.

Hunter barely had the gun for a two weeks when a dangerous incident occurred.

His lover and brother's widow Hallie Biden found it in his truck on October 23 and threw it in a trash can outside local grocery store Janssens, opposite a high school.

It was discovered by a homeless man rifling through the trash. Local police as well as the FBI were called.

Hunter argued about the incident with Hallie in panicked text messages in the following days.

'The f***ing FBI Hallie. It's hard to believe anyone is that stupid // so what's my fault here Hallie that you speak of. Owning a gun that's in a locked car hidden on another property?,' he wrote.

'It was open unlocked and windows down and the kids search your car,' Hallie replied. 'I'm scared you would use it hunt  I'm scared for your life hunt.'

Despite the Bidens not having Secret Service protection at the time, USSS agents reportedly showed up and asked the gun store owner, Ron Palmieri, to hand over purchase documents.

Suspecting the case would be covered up, Palmieri refused and instead later gave his papers to agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, according to a March 2021 Politico report.

In texts obtained by DailyMail.com, Hunter messaged his therapist to tell him about the ordeal. 'She stole the gun out of my truck lock box and threw in a garbage can full to the top at Jansens. Then told me it was my problem to deal with,' Hunter wrote

Hunter argued about the incident with Hallie in panicked text messages in the following days. 'The f***ing FBI Hallie. It's hard to believe anyone is that stupid // so what's my fault here Hallie that you speak of. Owning a gun that's in a locked car hidden on another property?,' he wrote. 'It was open unlocked and windows down and the kids search your car,' Hallie replied. 'I'm scared you would use it hunt  I'm scared for your life hunt'

The Secret Service has denied any involvement. But in texts from Hunter's laptop he also claimed they had a role in the debacle.

'She stole the gun out of my truck lock box and threw in a garbage can full to the top at Jansens. Then told me it was my problem to deal with,' Hunter wrote in a three-way text message with Hallie and his therapist in January 2019.

'Then when the police the FBI the secret service came on the scene she said she took it from me because she was scared I would harm myself due to my drug and alcohol problem and our volatile relationship and that she was afraid for the kids.'

Transparency organization Judicial Watch is currently suing the Secret Service over its refusal to hand over records relating to the incident under the Freedom of Information Act.

Last year the agency told Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson, who have been investigating Hunter's potential criminal activity, they weren't involved.

'The Secret Service did not provide protection to any member of the Biden family in 2018,' special agent in charge Benjamin Kramer said in a letter published by the Republican senators.

'Further, records searches concerning the reported involvement of Secret Service personnel in the alleged incident have yielded no results.'

SHADY BUSINESS DEALS

Hunter's foreign business dealings have been controversial for years and have come under intense scrutiny since details from his laptop emerged.

Potential charges for alleged undeclared income may focus on his work for allegedly corrupt Ukrainian gas company Burisma, his deals with Chinese financial firms and Beijing-backed oil giant CEFC, or his business schemes hatched with oligarchs from Russia, Kazakhstan and other Eastern European magnates.

An excerpt from a bank statement showing Hunter receiving $1million from Patrick Ho as a legal retainer. Ho was one of Hunter's Chinese business partners, and paid Hunter $1million to represent him after he was arrested by the FBI on bribery charges. It is unclear whether Hunter declared this income

A bank statement showing $5million wired to a company linked to Hunter in his business deal with Chinese oil giant CEFC. It is unclear whether he reported income from this deal to the IRS

Transactions involving Hunter or his family members have triggered more than 150 suspicious activity reports, filed by banks for law enforcement to draw on in future financial crime investigations, according to House Oversight Committee ranking member, Republican James Comey.

Those voluminous reports have been in the hands of the FBI and were part of the evidence used by the Senate Homeland Security Committee for its bombshell 2020 report that flagged 'millions of dollars in questionable transactions' and national security concerns over Hunter's foreign business dealings.

Emails and documents from Hunter's laptop show he made at least $11million from his overseas deals between 2013 and 2018  and the total he got from Chinese businesses alone has been estimated as high as $31million.

A bank statement from August 2017 on Hunter's abandoned laptop shows a wire transfer of $5million to an account for Hudson West III, linked to Hunter in his deal with CEFC.

When CEFC executive Patrick Ho was arrested on bribery charges that year, contracts and wire transfers show he paid Hunter a $1million retainer to represent him.

Hunter even recounted once being presented with a 2.8 carat diamond by CEFC Energy China tycoon Ye Jianming  though he claimed he gave it to his associates and never saw it again.

UNDECLARED INCOME

A 2017 email from Hunter's business partner Eric Schwerin warns him that he needs to 'amend' his 2014 tax filing to reflect the thousands he received from Ukrainian gas firm Burisma

Pictured above is an October 2018 email from his accountants and lawyers discussing income from Hunter's overseas businesses

Hunter sold his reported 10% stake in another Chinese venture, Bohai Harvest RST, late last year. The fund had $2billion under its management and experts estimated Hunter's share at around $20million.

The enormous sums, if not fully or properly declared, would make prime targets for Delaware US attorney David Weiss in his potential tax prosecution of the First Son.

A 2017 email from Hunter's business partner Eric Schwerin warns him that he needs to 'amend' his 2014 tax filing to reflect the thousands he received from Ukrainian gas firm Burisma.

'In 2014 you joined the Burisma board and we still need to amend your 2014 returns to reflect the unreported Burisma income,' Schwerin wrote.

'That is approximately $400,000 extra so your income in 2014 was closer to $1,247,328.'

A November 2018 email from Hunter's assistant lists $412,309.23 in unpaid tax bills.

That figure may have swelled considerably, as Hunter's 'sugar brother' lawyer Kevin Morris reportedly paid off over $2million in Hunter's tax bills this year.

Despite the millions of dollars Hunter earned, by 2019 he was claiming in court filings that he did not have enough money to pay child support to a former employee he impregnated then ghosted.

Lunden Roberts, 31, coached his daughter in basketball and worked at his firm, Rosemont Seneca. He at first denied her son was his, then when she sued him in Arkansas and a DNA test proved paternity, he said he had insufficient income to pay child support.

A Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) filed by JPMorgan Chase named Florida and New York-based Ekaterina Moreva after she received tens of thousands of dollars from Hunter's company and women who the First Son paid for sex. The SAR, leaked to the anti-corruption nonprofit Marco Polo and obtained by DailyMail.com, says 'student' Anna Dekhtiar from Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, received $274,873 betwe en November 2018 and March 2019 with 'no clear, legitimate economic purpose' then sent thousands on to Moreva

'I am unemployed and have had no monthly income since May 2019,' he wrote in a November 2019 affidavit in the case.

The First Son settled with Roberts two days before a hearing to decide whether he should be held in contempt for failing to produce financial records proving his alleged penury.

Hunter's lawyers reacted with fury to the Washington Post's Thursday story that quoted sources saying the feds had enough evidence to charge the First Son.

'It is a federal felony for a federal agent to leak information about a Grand Jury investigation such as this one,' attorney Chris Clark told the paper.

'Any agent you cite as a source in your article apparently has committed such a felony. We expect the Department of Justice will diligently investigate and prosecute such bad actors.

'As is proper and legally required, we believe the prosecutors in this case are diligently and thoroughly weighing not just evidence provided by agents, but also all the other witnesses in this case, including witnesses for the defense. That is the job of the prosecutors. They should not be pressured, rushed, or criticized for doing their job.'
His decision to resign from his job comes as more Aussies quit from their roles

The former finance worker claimed he is far happier and less stressed in life

He works as a cleaner from 11pm to 7am at a local store earning $53k per year

A finance worker on an annual salary of $100,000 has quit his job to work at McDonalds to escape the corporate work life.

Paul, who did not want to disclose his surname, revealed that he had cut his pay in half to take up a position as a cleaner at a local Macca's store.

He is one of many of Aussies taking part in the Great Resignation - a trend where employees decide to voluntary quit their jobs due to hostile work environments, job dissatisfaction, poor wages or 'stressful' demands from the workplace.

It's estimated up to two million Australian employees will leave their job within the next six to 12 months as part of the movement.

A finance worker on an annual salary of $100,000 a year has quit his job to become an overnight cleaner at McDonalds (stock image)

Paul, 48, said he quit because he was fed up with corporate culture and felt he 'couldn't' do his job any longer.

'I just got the point where I was sick of managing people in a way I didn't feel comfortable. So much of the work you do in financial services it's just paper pushing and million-dollar people talking about first world problems,' he told news.com.au.

'You know that feeling when you don't want to go to work? It's a Sunday afternoon you get all tense and horrible and I thought, why do we do it to ourselves?

'Let's go be broke and poor and see if we can be happier.'

Paul had worked in the finance industry for 23 years when he made the choice to resign.

He described the culture at his job as one that put employees under extreme pressure, would rather punish than educate them if they made a mistake, and emphasised working overtime.

The former finance worker said he would sometimes scroll through job sites and apply for positions in industries he had no qualifications for because he was so sick of his work in finance.

At the time of his resignation, Paul was working remotely from home and earning $100,000 per year.

Now, as a cleaner at McDonalds, his pay has been cut down to $53,000 a year.

Paul applied for an overnight cleaner position at the fast food chain and was called up about the job just 10 minutes later (stock image)

The former finance worker went from a $100k per year to earning $53k at Macca's. But Paul claimed he is happier, less stressed and able to spend more time at home (Pictured is a stock image of a man on a park bench)

Paul had applied for an overnight cleaner position at the fast food chain and was called about the job 10 minutes later.

He now works overnight from 11pm to 7am full-time.

Since taking on the role, Paul claims he is far happier and was 'loving' spending more time at home with his family and not having the burden of corporate life hanging over his head.

He explained that his stress levels were down, he was enjoying his job and he didn't have to attend 'rubbish meetings' or feel the pressure of following the 'corporate language rules'.

Paul urged against making 'money a motivator' when looking for work and said it was far better to do something you can enjoy.
Biden sat down with CNN hours after an emergency G7 meeting with Ukraine

It comes as the world nervously questions Putin's sanity amid his increasingly hostile threats to unleash a nuclear attack on Ukraine

He called the latter and Russia's justifications for it 'irrational'

When asked about Vladimir Putin's rationality the president was careful to draw a distinction between the Russian autocrat's brain and his invasion of Ukraine

Biden said he would not seek out a meeting with Putin at the G20 summit

He declined to comment about US planning for a potential nuclear event with Russia beyond acknowledging that it was taking place

President Joe Biden suggested in a Tuesday evening interview that the United States military has a contingency plan in the event Russian President Vladimir Putin launches a nuclear attack on Ukraine.

The autocratic leader has ratcheted up his rhetoric in recent weeks in the face of back-to-back setbacks for his illegal invasion of the neighboring nation.

Biden, for his part, stood by his warning that the globe could be nearing a point of 'armageddon' if Putin unleashes nuclear hell on Ukraine - despite critics accusing the president of reckless escalation.

'He, in fact, cannot continue with impunity to talk about the use of a tactical nuclear weapon, as if thats a rational thing to do,' the president told CNN's Jake Tapper.

'The mistakes get made...and the miscalculation could occur. No one can be sure of what would happen. And it could end in Armageddon.'

Biden also condemned Putin for 'brutally' slaying Ukrainian civilians after a barrage of Russian shellfire hit noncombatant targets across multiple cities including Kyiv.

Asked if he intends to speak with Putin at the upcoming G20 Summit, Biden said: 'Look, hes acted brutally. Hes acted brutally. I think hes committed war crimes. And so, I don't - I don't see any rationale to meet with him now.

Biden declined to comment directly on any planning in the face of Putin's increasingly hostile threats beyond acknowledging that it was taking place.

'Theres been discussions on that, but Im not going to get into that. It would be irresponsible of me to talk about what we would or wouldnt do,' the president said.

Tapper asked, 'Have you asked the Pentagon to game it out though? I mean, just in case.'

'The Pentagon didnt have to be asked,' the president answered.

President Joe Biden has a new sit-down interview with CNN's Jake Tapper on Tuesday

Exclusive: Without detailing specifics, President Biden says contingencies have been gamed out should Russia use tactical nuclear weapons https://t.co/kIOeJ27ULY pic.twitter.com/9JJgNsaAJv  CNN (@CNN) October 12, 2022

Biden also called Putin a 'rational actor' who embarked on an 'irrational' invasion of Ukraine - and was careful to distinguish the two amid intensifying conversations about the Russian president's state of mind.

'I think he is a rational actor who's miscalculated significantly,' Biden told CNN in a preview clip of his primetime interview released earlier in the day.

The president referenced the lead-up to Putin's invasion earlier this year when 'no one believed that he was going to invade Ukraine' despite increasingly hostile rhetoric and a buildup of troops at its border.

'You listen to what he says, if you listen to the speech he made after when that decision was being made, he talked about the whole idea of - he was, needed to be the leader of Russia that united all the Russian speakers - I mean, it's just, I just think it's irrational,' Biden said.

The Russian autocrat's mental stability had been the subject of speculation when he first launched the unprovoked attack in late February, when rumors swirled that his thinking was altered by cancer therapies or steroids. None of those were ever confirmed.

Putin's sanity is back under the world's microscope now as he and his henchmen continue to make threats of unleashing nuclear power in Ukraine.

But during his Tuesday interview, Biden was careful to make a distinction between his Kremlin counterpart's mind and his plans for Kyiv.

He cut off Tapper when the journalist began, 'So if he's not rational-'

'No, I didn't say he's not rational, I think - I think the speech, his objectives are not rational,' Biden clarified.

He specified that he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin is a 'rational' man who is undertaking an 'irrational' invasion of Ukraine

He added that Putin likely believed his attempt to annex all of Ukraine as part of Russia would be 'welcomed with open arms.'

'I think he thought, Jake, I think he thought he was going to be welcomed with open arms, that this was the home of Mother Russia in Kyiv, and that where he was going to be welcomed,' the president explained.

'And I think he just totally miscalculated.'

Ukraine's troops have staged an unprecedented and successful counteroffensive in recent weeks to take back Russian-held territory.

Putin also took a blow when the Kerch Strait Bridge linking the Crimean peninsula to Russian-occupied Kherson was partially demolished in an explosion.

The setbacks have prompted Russia to retaliate with indiscriminate rocket fire on Ukrainian cities including Kyiv.

Biden warned at a fundraiser last weekend that the world faces the prospect of a nuclear 'armageddon' should Putin's war escalate.

Multiple administration officials have since affirmed that the US sees no change in Russia's nuclear posture while Biden's critics accused him of needless verbal escalation.

The interview comes after G7 leaders condemned Russia's recent attacks on Ukrainian civilian targets and warned it against escalating with nuclear weapons (pictured: Firefighters work at the site of a car showroom destroyed during a Russian missile attack. Russian Missile Strikes Continue in Ukraine, Zaporizhzhia - 11 Oct 2022)

A man is seen on the rubble of the former communications building after Russia bombed the former communications center of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) located on Kalynova Avenue in Dnipro city, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine on October 11, 2022

Hours before Biden sat down with CNN on Tuesday, he participated in an emergency G7 leaders meeting along with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

They condemned Russia's attacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine as well as Putin's annexation of parts of the country's east.

The G7 also called for continuing investigations into the mysterious explosions that led to a leak in the Nord Stream pipelines between Russia and Germany, which have been inactive due to the war.

'We reassured President Zelenskyy that we are undeterred and steadfast in our commitment to providing the support Ukraine needs to uphold its sovereignty and territorial integrity,' a statement from the White House read.

'We will continue to provide financial, humanitarian, military, diplomatic and legal support and will stand firmly with Ukraine for as long as it takes. We are committed to supporting Ukraine in meeting its winter preparedness needs.'

They also promised 'severe consequences' if Putin followed through with using nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

Zelensky asked the world leaders for more air defense systems as Russia's invasion nears its eight month at the end of October.
Tulsi Gabbard has accused the Biden administration of taking the United States perilously close to nuclear war, condemning the 'warmongers' in Washington DC and say they were part of the reason why she quit the Democratic Party.

Gabbard, 41, ran as a Democrat in the 2020 election, but retired from politics in 2021.

On Tuesday morning she announced that she was leaving the Democratic Party, issuing a series of tweets criticizing the Democrats' 'cowardly wokeness' and accusing them of 'stoking anti-white racism'.

Hours later, she appeared on Fox News and told Tucker Carlson why she could not longer align herself with the Democrats.

'Rather than taking a stand for peace, prosperity, security and the freedom of the American people we have too many people in Washington who are warmongers, subservient to the military-industrial complex, and continuing to put their own selfish interests or the interests of their donors first, with no mind for the cost and consequence that their decisions have on the American people,' said Gabbard.

She told Carlson she strongly disagreed with the Biden administration on Russia, accusing them of 'actively pushing us to the brink of a nuclear holocaust'.

Tulsi Gabbard on Tuesday night appeared on Tucker Carlson's show to explain her decision, announced earlier in the day, to quit the Democratic Party, and accused Biden of pushing the United States towards nuclear war

Tulsi Gabbard joins Tucker Carlson to talk about why she left the Democratic Party:



"Today's Democratic Party is controlled by fanatical ideologues who hate freedom. They despise the Constitution." pic.twitter.com/h3D1njBw3q  The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) October 12, 2022

Joe Biden on Tuesday night said he believed Putin was rational, but made an error of judgement

Putin, pictured on Tuesday, had made a grave error of judgement, Biden said

Her comments came as Biden told CNN he believed Vladimir Putin was a 'rational actor', but one who had made serious errors of judgement in invading Ukraine.

'I think he is a rational actor who has miscalculated significantly,' Biden told Jake Tapper.

'I think the speech, his objectives were not rational.

'I think he thought, Jake, I think he thought he was going to be welcomed with open arms, that this was the home of Mother Russia in Kyiv, and that where he was going to be welcomed, and I think he just totally miscalculated.'

Biden added that he did not believe Putin would use nuclear weapons - although he refused to be drawn on what the American response would be.

'I don't think he will,' Biden said.

'I think it's irresponsible for him to talk about it, the idea that a world leader of one of the largest nuclear powers in the world says he may use a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine.

'The whole point I was making was it could lead to just a horrible outcome,' he told Tapper.

'And not because anybody intends to turn it into a world war or anything, but just once you use a nuclear weapon, the mistakes that can be made, the miscalculations, who knows what would happen.'

Gabbard, who famously opposed the party on Syria and disagreed with their support for the rebels, even traveling to Damascus to meet the dictator Bashar al-Assad, said the party responded to her pleas against the conflict by shutting her down.

'They will do all that they can to destroy you, silence you, smear you - work with Big Tech, work with corporate media - to actively destroy anyone who dares to even question their agenda,' she said.

She said the Democrats were against freedom of religion, 'hostile towards people of faith', and discriminatory.

'I cannot be a member of a party which actively undermines our freedom,' she told Carlson.

She added: 'Today's Democratic Party is controlled by fanatical ideologues who hate freedom. They despise the Constitution. They actively find ways to undermine our God-given rights, enshrined in the Constitution, like freedom of speech.'

Gabbard is seen in 2016 with Bernie Sanders, who she endorsed for president

Gabbard told Carlson she thought Biden was bringing the U.S. to the brink of 'nuclear holocaust'

The New York Times in October 2019 questioned Gabbard's motives. Gabbard said it was a smear campaign orchestrated by the liberal media and Big Tech

Democrat operative and commentator Ana Navarro was among those who condemned Gabbard, in this 2019 tweet

Gabbard said she left the party because it turned on her for questioning the policies. Gabbard said the Democrats were working in cahoots with Big Tech and the liberal media to discredit her. Pictured is a Los Angeles Times article from October 2019

Gabbard said she had 'always been an independent-minded person', and that her loyalties lay first with the Constitution.

'Democrat, yes, but an independent Democrat.

'My loyalties are very clear, and I took an oath - both as a service member, as a soldier, as well as a member of Congress - to support and defend the Constitution.

'And that's an oath that I take extremely seriously.'

She said she had been dismayed as the party she belonged to worked to 'actively find ways to undermine our rights', and would not tolerate dissent.

The ex-representative for Hawaii's 2nd district said she would have preferred the Democratic leadership to say: 'You know what, let's agree to disagree.'

She added: 'It speaks to the whole environment of fear that those in power, the elitists in power, have fomented, that people are afraid to speak the truth.'

Asked about the response from other Democrats in Congress to her decision to quit the party, Gabbard said it had been silence - except for one, who sent her a text message with three thumbs up.

She would not say who sent the message.

Earlier Gabbard, a United States Army Reserve officer, accused the party of 'demonizing the police', 'protecting criminals', 'believing in open borders' and 'dragging us even closer to nuclear war'.

She also urged those who agreed with her to leave - with just a month until the crucial midterm elections.

She published a video attacking the party, whose members she clams 'actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms'.

Gabbard made the announcement in the first episode of her new podcast - The Tulsi Gabbard Show.

It is not clear whether she will join another party, or remain independent.

Gabbard has turned to political commentary since running for president in 2020 and leaving office in 2021 and has frequently attacked the Biden administration and the Democrats.

In a tweet accompanying her video, she wrote: 'I can no longer remain in today's Democratic Party that is now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue & stoke anti-white racism, actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms, are hostile to people of faith & spirituality, demonize the police & protect criminals at the expense of law-abiding Americans, believe in open borders, weaponize the national security state to go after political opponents, and above all, dragging us ever closer to nuclear war.

'I believe in a government that is of, by, and for the people. Unfortunately, today's Democratic Party does not.

Former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard announced Tuesday morning she is leaving the Democratic Party in a series of tweets criticizing their 'cowardly wokeness' and accusing them of 'stoking anti-white racism'

The ex-representative for Hawaii 's 2nd district and United States Army Reserve officer accused the party of 'demonizing the police', 'protecting criminals', 'believing in open borders' and 'dragging us even closer to nuclear war '

'I believe in a government that is of, by, and for the people,' she added. 'Unfortunately, today's Democratic Party does not. 'Instead, it stands for a government of, by, and for the powerful elite'

'Instead, it stands for a government of, by, and for the powerful elite.

'I'm calling on my fellow common sense independent-minded Democrats to join me in leaving the Democratic Party.

'If you can no longer stomach the direction that so-called woke Democratic Party ideologues are taking our country, I invite you to join me.'

DailyMail.com columnist Meghan McCain congratulated Gabbard in a tweet, saying: 'There are so few free thinkers and independents left in this world and you are one of them. We are in your corner. Onward and upward!'

Gabbard ran for president as a Democrat in 2020 after serving she was elected to the Hawaii House of Representatives at age 21 and serving in the field medical unit of the Hawaii National Guard.

She deployed to Iraq from 2004 to 2005 and served in Kuwait from 2008 to 2009 as an Army Military Police platoon leader.

Gabbard, who used to be aligned with Bernie Sanders, has shifted her stance, and this year spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

In February, she received a standing ovation for her speech attacking the 'power elite' and 'their co-conspirators in the mainstream media and the security state.'

She pleased crowd by saying that in an ideal world 'our leaders would haul (former Director of National Intelligence) James Clapper before a judge to answer for his lies to Congress about how the government is collecting information.'

'And they would support the Durham investigation and Clinton corruption in 2016... ,' she said, not even finishing her sentence before there was raucous applause.

She went after both Democrats and Republicans in Congress 'who talk a good game about civil liberties, but when it comes time to cast that vote on things like getting rid of secret FISA courts and protecting our fourth amendment rights to privacy, they vote on the side of the power elite and against liberty.'

In 2019, Hillary Clinton famously suggested the Russians were 'grooming' Gabbard, though didn't use the congresswoman's name.

She also urged those who agreed with her to leave with just a month until the crucial midterm elections in a video attacking the institution whose members she clams 'actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms'

Gabbard ran for president as a Democrat in 2020 after serving she was elected to the Hawaii House of Representatives at age 21 and serving in the field medical unit of the Hawaii National Guard.

Gabbard had quit her post at the Democratic National Committee three years before to publicly support Sanders, who was running against Clinton.

She told then-DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz in an email - exposed in the Wikileaks hack - that she felt the DNC was rigging the primary in favor of the more mainstream Clinton.

In April 2022, she got into a spat with Republican Senator Mitt Romney after he accused her of 'treasonous lies' for her claims that the U.S. was funding biolabs in Ukraine.

She sent Romney a cease and desist letter accusing him of 'false and defamatory statements'.

Gabbard claimed in a tweet that there are '25 to 30 U.S. funded bio labs in Ukraine.'

'According to the U.S government, these bio labs are conducting research on dangerous pathogens,' she said in the video.

'These pathogens know no borders, if they are inadvertently or purposely breached or compromised, they will quickly spread all throughout Europe, the United States and the rest of the world causing untold suffering and death.'

Gabbard said 'these labs need to be shut down immediately and the pathogens that they hold need to be destroyed.'
The man who tore up a Manhattan McDonald's with an axe and was released without bail was busted - again - for allegedly spray-painting graffiti and stealing a bike in Brooklyn.

Michael Palacios, 31, of the Bronx, was arrested after he tried to run away from police when they caught him spraying graffiti on Sunday, the New York Post reports.

Palacios, who made headlines last month over his axe-wielding rampage in Manhattan, allegedly swiped a $3,500 bike in front of a local coffee shop on 69 Second Avenue to try and get away before police took him into custody.

Despite his repeat offenses in the city, Palacios was, again, released without bail as the Big Apple continues to contend with soaring crime rates.

Michael Palacios, 31, of the Bronx, was arrested for spray-painting graffiti and stealing a $3,500 bike, just a month after his axe-wielding rampage in McDonalds

Despite his repeat offenses, Palacios, who is often pictured with his bike on his social media, was released yet again without bail

After a confrontation inside the restaurant, Palacios pulled out an axe to scare away the men he was fighting with, before using it to scare other customers

Palacios then walked out with his axe and bike - as if nothing had happened. When police arrested him on Sunday, he tried to run off with a bike he had stolen

On September 16, Palacios was filmed menacing customers in the McDonald's on Delancey Street after allegedly being rejected by a young woman.

Footage of the ensuing frenzy showed Palacios threatening customers while swinging the axe, breaking panes of glass and intimidating onlookers, following a verbal disagreement that quickly turned physical.

'So basically he got into an argument with a girl, and then the girl rejected him,' Ruben G, an Uber Eats delivery man who witnessed the fight, told The New York Post Sunday.

'She didnt want to talk to him,' Ruben went on to reveal - adding that the woman's disinterest did little to dissuade the man.

'He kept going at her,' the delivery man said. 'Thats when the guys she was with stepped in.'

The instance described by Ruben roughly describes the moment the widely seen footage begins, in which the several young men are seen attacking the suspect, pushing him up against a garbage can.

The individuals proceed to punch Palacios, the extremely graphic footage shows, who is surprisingly unaffected by the barrage of blows.

Appearing to accept the hits in a show of strength and superiority, a smirking Palacios eventually becomes enraged, producing the axe from a bag he had had on his person.

At this point the other customers grew apologetic - but Palacios, incensed, presses forward, swinging the weapon at them while also threatening other diners.

'They started arguing. It all led to that,' Ruben recalled, adding that the suspect had asked for the young woman's phone number.

In the footage of the incident, a young woman who appeared to be a part of the customers' group seemed to stop the burgeoning quarrel, which continued to escalate until police were called.

A dispute at a New York McDonald's turned physical, with the three men smacking and punching Palacios who stands, apparently unaffected by the assault

The fight, however, took a different turn as video on social media shows the axe-wielding man going on a rampage inside a McDonald's on Delancey Street on the Lower East Side

In the footage of the incident, a young woman who appeared to be a part of the customers' group seemed to stop the burgeoning quarrel, which continued to escalate until police were called. It is not clear if the woman is the same person the delivery man was referring to

Palacios is seen throwing the axe down against several of the restaurants' tables which are smashed into tiny pieces.

He also slams the axe against a glass panel which shatters immediately on impact, before cornering one of his previous attackers who proceeds to plea for mercy while cowering against a wall.

He then slaps one of the men he was fighting with out of his chair - while menacing other scared diners, at one point shouting, 'Dont be afraid of me, be afraid of him!'

After the rampage, Palacios fled the scene on his bike but was picked up a short time later by police on nearby Ludlow Street, the driver said. Police were able to track him down in part because of the widely shared footage of the incident.

Palacios, who was out on the street hours after his arrest, is facing charges of criminal mischief, menacing, and criminal possession of a weapon.

For his latest crime, Palacios was charged with grand larceny, two counts of criminal mischief, possession of stolen property, making graffiti and possession of graffiti instruments.

Overall violent crime in the Big Apple is up 33.6 percent from last year

Palacio has been released without bail for both arrests, a pattern emblematic of the high crime rate consuming New York City.

In the Big Apple, police reported 378 murders, down 13.5 percent from last year, but overall crime has spiked by 32.68 percent.

New York City has also seen rapes jump from 1,137 cases last year to 1,249 so far this year, a nearly 10 percent rise.

Robberies are also up 36.5 percent, and assaults and burglaries are up 15.9 and 31.5 percent respectively.
An Australian rapper is one of two men charged with the murder after a 22-year-old man was shot dead.

Rap artist Lachlan Belmore faced Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday charged with murder, home invasion and drug offences.

The 24-year-old, who performs under the stage name 'Drips', is accused of storming a Kalkallo home, 31km north of Melbourne's CBD, armed with a rifle and shooting a young man dead on September 21.

Melbourne rapper Lachlan Belmore, known as 'Drips', (pictured) was charged the murder of a 22-year-old man

The 24-year-old (pictured), who is also charged with trafficking ice and kidnapping offences, is accused of storming a house armed with a rifle and fatally shooting a man

Emergency services were called to the home on Oodgeroo Road in Kalkallo shortly after 4:15am where they found 22-year-old Griffin Harris dead.

Police allege at least four men broke into Mr Harris' home and terrorised him before he was fatally shot.

Police allege at least four men broke into Griffin Harris' (pictured) home and terrorised the 22-year-old before shooting him dead

Mr Belmore made no application for bail as his lawyer claimed 'It has been many years since he has been in custody.'

Detectives arrested six people on Monday and raided their homes seizing cars, laptops and phones.

Wallan man Dean Bell, 31, has also been charged with murder and home invasion.

The father-of-two told a magistrate that he 'suffers from anxiety and depression'.

Another Wallan man, 25, and a 19-year-old Craigieburn man were also charged with home invasion, with one representing himself in court and told he needed to apply for bail at a later date.

Police released a Keilor woman and a Wallan man, both 22, pending further inquiries.

Police raided the homes of six people, including the home of Dean Bell (pictured) who has also been charged with murder and home invasion. Detectives believe the shooting was a targeted attack

Mr Bell (pictured), who is a father-of-two, told a magistrate that he 'suffers from anxiety and depression'

Mr Belmore, who is also accused of trafficking ice and kidnapping, was actively promoting his music since Mr Harris' death and even teased a new music video 48 hours after he was killed.

The aspiring rapper has over 16,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, with his most popular song receiving over 400,000 total streams.

The four men are expected to appear in court in February next year.
A mum has been slapped with a $5,390 fine because she was wearing a seatbelt under her arm while driving a company car.

Lauren Hyland was snapped by a camera while wearing her seatbelt tucked away from her chest while she was driving the car in Queensland.

The fine was five times higher than it would have been if she were driving a personally-owned car.

The Gold Coast mother took to social media to vent her frustration over the enormous infringement notice and surprising road rule.

The Gold Coast mother took to social media to vent her frustration over the enormous infringement notice (pictured)

Those driving cars registered to a business cough up five times more than regular drivers to account for not losing any demerit points

'What the actual f***,' Ms Hyland wrote. 'Because my seatbelt was under my arm, not on top. $5,390!'

Fines for not wearing a seatbelt correctly can set a Queenslander back $1,078, if they are driving a privatively registered car.

They also lose four demerit points.

But those driving cars registered to a business cough up five times more to compensate for the fact they do not lose any demerit points.

Company car drivers in Queensland avoid forfeiting the prized points through the state's scheme for businesses.

In cases where speed was the issue, businesses can choose to pass the fine to their employees by filling out an online nomination or statutory declaration.

Then the individual can pay the lesser fine and endure the point loss themselves.

Queensland companies and private-vehicle users have 28 days to pay the fine, nominate another driver or elect to go to court.
A horrifying discovery of a slaughtered carcass found abandoned on a popular beach has sparked mystery and divided a small coastal town.

A shocked resident was walking along the shore near the jetty in the South Australian seaside town of Beachport, 311 kilometres south-east of the state capital of Adelaide on the weekend.

She shared a heartbreaking photo of the massive stingray carcass with its fins chopped off lying discarded on the sand to the local community Facebook page in a quest for answers.

'I'm pretty sure this is illegal to do at the beach? Not something I want to see on a leisurely beach walk,' the woman captioned the graphic image.

The post attracted dozens of comments and sparked widespread community horror as some branded the act as sickening and cruel.

The carcass of a dead stingray with its fins chopped off (pictured) found by a shocked beachgoer sparked horror in a small seaside town in South Australia

'What a sad shame. Didn't know someone was that hungry they'd do that to such a majestic peaceful creature,' one person commented.

Another added: 'Disrespectful way to treat a living thing. If you arent going to eat it, dont kill it.'

Some suspected it may have died of natural causes and washed up on the shore.

Others speculated the carcass was a shark, which prompted clarification from South East Amateur Surf Fishing Club president Graeme Ploenges.

'Stingray with the wings cut-off, not cruel if killed first, no different to cutting up a sheep after slitting its throat,' he commented.

'It's not a shark and would have been caught off the beach, shark finning is done by people from countries to the north of us who only want the fins, it's cruel and stupid.

'While we cut the fins off sharks, it's after they are bled and we keep the meat and throw the fins away.'

The grim discovery sparked divisive reaction (pictured) on community Facebook page

There are no size or bag limits for the capture of rays in South Australia, unlike several other states.

Mr Ploenges said it was possible the carcass washed ashore but believes someone more likely had 'done it there and left'.

'It's not something you can avoid  there's no way to avoid catching (stingrays),' he told Mount Gambier News.

'There are definitely a lot of circumstances where if you do release it they're probably going to die anyway, it would be cruel.'
An elderly North Carolina couple are recovering together from a pit bull attack that led to the amputation of the woman's leg.

Bobby Joyner, 82, and Annie Joyner, 78, were attacked Sunday in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, while out for a walk.

Officers were called to the scene and saw a pit bull attacking the couple. The responding officer was also bitten in the thigh.

The officer then shot her gun twice, hitting the dog, which was taken into the custody of the Rocky Mount Animal Control.

The owner of the property where the attack happened is Julie Proctor, who said the dog belonged to her grandson. Following the attack, Proctor said the dog was euthanized.

Authorities say the dog was running loose, which is a violation of a city ordinance that Proctor will be cited for disobeying.

Annie Joyner (right), 78, and Bobby Joyner (left), 82, are recovering in the hospital together after being attacked by a pit bull on Sunday

A Rocky Mount couple is recovering after their neighbors pit bull attacked them, leaving Ann Joyners foot needing to be amputated.



They say the dog wasnt restrained and owner was irresponsible. But the owners family says theyre not to blame. @WRALhttps://t.co/u9M0bLNBAn pic.twitter.com/D2jB3L2nrR  Keenan Willard (@KeenanWRAL) October 10, 2022

Annie Joyner lost a foot after the attack and is need of skin grafts on her remaining foot. Bobby Joyner required surgery on his arm

The Joyners were taken to the ECU Health with severe but non-life-threatening injuries. The responding officer was also treated and released.

Melissa Joyner, the couple's daughter, said she is still in shock.

'I'm like kind of still in shock a little bit. I know my sister is too, but we're just going to be here with my parents as long as they need,' she told WRAL News.

Melissa added that she is searching for responsibility from the owner for the dog's behavior.

'I mean, I have dogs too, and we love dogs,' she said. 'So, in our eyes, it's really not the dog's fault. The owner needed to be more responsible.'

Proctor and the Joyners had been neighbors for years prior to the attack.

Rocky Mount, North Carolina house where the pit bull attack occurred Sunday

Melissa Joyner, the couple's daughter, said she was still in shock over the attack that resulted in her mother losing a foot

A police officer who arrived at the scene Sunday was also bitten in the thigh by the unruly dog

Proctor said the dog had been leashed and was harnessed in the yard before the attack.

'He backed out of the harness somehow. I guess the adrenaline in him,' Proctor told the local outlet. 'That's why they think he was not on his harness, but he wasn't.'

She continued, 'Being a pit bull, he was just very protective of his property and people, and I hate it more than anybody that it happened.'

'They euthanized him. My grandson's very upset, but I didn't know what else to do,'

When asked if she felt like she bore any of the blame for the attack, Proctor said, 'No, not really because like I said, [the dog] was harnessed and leashed in his yard.'

The granddaughter of the couple, Ann Joyner, started a GoFundMe to help support her grandparents' medical costs following the vicious encounter.

'The owner of the dog(,) well(,) they won't get help there and the expenses are adding up,' she wrote. 'God bless u all.'

Mia and Cheech, the two pit bulls who fatally attacked two small children and mauled their mother, have been euthanized. The family referred to their dogs as 'house lions' and it is unknown why they recently became aggressive

Two-year-old Lilly Bennard and her five-month-old brother Hollace were killed on October 5 when the family's two pitbulls attacked the children. Their mother Kirstie tried to fend off the dogs, but was herself severely injured in the attack at their home in Memphis

The Joyners are the most recent victims in a string of attacks by pit bulls and two Dogo Argentinos, each of which left victims severely injured or dead.

On October 5, two children were killed when their family's two pitbulls - which they had owned for eight years - attacked them and their mother.

Two-year-old Lilly Bennard and five-month-old Hollace died following the attack in Memphis, Tennessee.

Kirstie Bennard, 30, was left with severe injuries and covered in bite marks.

The two dogs were euthanized.

On September 14, an 89-year-old woman was killed by her family's two pit bulls in Golden, Colorado. Her 12-year-old grandson was also severely injured.

Law enforcement officers used non-lethal shotguns to attempt to get the animals away from the woman, but were unable to save her life.

Both animals were put down.

And finally, an 80-year-old California woman was killed by two Argentine hunting dogs who attacked her while she was out for a walk last Friday morning in Baldy Mesa, a town in the Mojave Desert.

The woman - Soon Han - was found dead on the ride of the road in the rural San Bernardino community. The coroner said she had 'suffered major injuries during the attack and was pronounced dead at the scene.'

The dog breed, Dogo Argentinos, were bred for the first time nearly a century ago for big game hunting in Argentina. They were designed to go after wild boar and puma.

The breed is formally banned or has ownership restrictions in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Turkey, Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand and the Cayman Islands.
"Visiting Ancestral Graves on Hansik" (1993), taken by Uzbek Koryoin photographer Victor An, in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, is one of 60 images on view at the National Folk Museum of Korea that traces the historical and cultural paths of the Koryoin, or ethnic Koreans from post-Soviet states. Courtesy of National Folk Museum of Korea



Exhibition shows diaspora through the eyes of ethnic Korean Uzbek photographer



By Park Han-sol



A black-and-white snapshot captures one family's springtime visit to an ancestral gravesite in 1993  a familiar scene in Korea during major traditional holidays, with dishes of fruit, meat and a bottle of liquor laid out neatly for the spirit of the deceased. But something seems different here, namely the shape of the grave, as well as the language of the epitaph.



Bearing no resemblance to the grassy burial mounds typically nestled on Korean hillsides, the fully fenced stone grave inscribed with Cyrillic letters belongs to a "Koryoin" family in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Yet, their performance of the Korean ancestral ritual is what bridges  albeit momentarily  the two cultures over 5,000 kilometers apart.



"Koryoin," or "Koryo-saram," refers to ethnic Koreans from post-Soviet states, mainly Russia, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.



Their diasporic existence has been marked by several stages of life-altering migrations over the last century, with each journey inextricably intertwined with the tumultuous modern history of the Korean Peninsula  from the latter days of the 1392-1910 Joseon Kingdom and 1910-45 Japanese colonization, to forced migration under the Soviet state in 1937 and the 1950-53 Korean War.





Installation view of the ongoing photo exhibition, titled "Korean Diaspora," at the National Folk Museum of Korea (NFMK) in central Seoul / Courtesy of National Folk Museum of Korea



The National Folk Museum of Korea's (NFMK) ongoing exhibition, "Korean Diaspora," traces their historical and cultural paths via rare, decades-spanning photographic records from the 1970s to the mid-2010s.



All 60 images on view belong to a wider collection of 352 donated earlier this year by Uzbek Koryoin photographer Victor An.



"Just like the fact that music and novels have to be heard and read by others, my photos had to be seen by the people, especially Korean nationals and ethnic Koreans (who share common cultural heritage)," the photographer told The Korea Times in an email when asked about his decision behind the recent donation.



Born in Tashkent in 1947, An held different jobs, working as an ironworker, radio repairman and projectionist in his early adulthood, before his fateful encounter with photography in 1978  the year when "Lenin Kichi," the only Korean-language daily published within the Soviet Union at the time, opened a new branch in his hometown.



"Among all professions that I have pursued, photojournalism was the only one that lied beyond the horizon, continuing to push me to study and master the field endlessly," he said.



And as he began walking the path of a photographer, working for "Lenin Kichi," which was later rebranded as "Koryo Ilbo" in the aftermath of the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, a thought crossed his mind: who, if not himself, would willingly dedicate their life to recording the history endured and shared by fellow Koryoin scattered across Russia and Central Asia?





"Self-Portrait of Victor An" / Courtesy of National Folk Museum of Korea



For the Koryoin population, the history of migration began in the late 19th century near the end of the Joseon Dynasty, when Koreans suffering from economic hardships and natural disasters gradually migrated to neighboring Russia's Primorsky Krai in search of better lives.



Following Korea's formal annexation by the Japanese Empire in 1910, this migration became full-fledged, with independence activists and intellectuals moving in waves to the Russian Far East. Communities formed in Vladivostok as a base of anti-Japan movements.



The next two decades saw a heyday for the Koryoin community, as the members established their own economic foundation, culture and identity in the Russian Far East. A number of agricultural kolkhozes (collective farms) were built in the region. Some 380 schools and a theater for ethnic Koreans were set up and over a dozen big and small Korean language newspapers began to be published.



The 1937 incident changed everything, however, when Joseph Stalin became wary of the possibility of Japanese spies infiltrating the areas where Koryoin resided. In line with his policies that marginalized ethnic minorities and pushed forceful cultural assimilation, Stalin signed off on orders to exile thousands of Koryoin to Central Asia  a fate that was soon shared by several other ethnic groups in the Soviet Union.



A forced migration of over 170,000 Koryoin followed, as they were taken on cattle trains for a seemingly endless 6,000-kilometer journey across Central Asia until they reached the wintry, nearly barren lands of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. During the first winter upon their arrival, some 20,000 are said to have died due to the harsh climate and diseases.



Of course, this didn't mark the end of the Koryoin population, as they went into survival mode, transforming unusable swamps and fields of reeds and salt into cultivable land in a matter of years.





Victor An's "In the Rice Field" (1979) depicts three farmers on a collective farm located in the Namangan Region of Uzbekistan. According to the museum, the two individuals holding mattocks are Uzbek laborers, as indicated by their distinct hats, while the man in the middle is a Koryoin leader. During the Soviet era, over 100 Koryoin were honored with titles as "Heroes of Socialist Labor," following their contributions to the development of agriculture in Central Asia. Courtesy of National Folk Museum of Korea



Their remarkable contribution to the development of agriculture in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan was evidenced by the level of productivity reported from their collective farms, with over 100 Koryoin honored by the Soviet Union as "Heroes of Socialist Labor."



Stalin's death in 1953 brought a wind of change as ethnic groups, including the Koryoin community, regained in part their right to relocate. Some of the members, especially the younger generations, advanced into larger cities in Russia and Ukraine, among others, for their education and careers.



During this period, major Koryoin communities centering on collective farms in Central Asia were able to reestablish their ethnic identity and practice their culture to a certain degree in their newfound homes.



And this is where An's photos on display at the NFMK come in.





Victor An's black-and-white image captures a classroom lesson taught by Svetlana Sergeevna Tsoy, a Korean language instructor, in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in 1988. Courtesy of National Folk Museum of Korea



While the exhibition's official English title, "Korean Diaspora," is an overly broad label, the Korean version offers a better context for the unique cultural experiences that came to define Koryoin.



The show's Korean title, "Koreytsy, Koryo-saram," brings together two different terms that describe the existence of ethnic Koreans from post-Soviet states. The Russian term "Koreytsy" is rather all-embracing, as it makes no distinction between Koryoin and Korean nationals. On the other hand, "Koryo-saram" is a specific self-designation adopted by the community to recall their origin.



Through such a title, the show paints a distinct portrait of Koryoin, who have, over generations, formed a layered cultural identity  one that reflects not only the community's efforts to maintain their Korean roots but also their lives led within a multiethnic society in Central Asia and Russia after their forced migration.



"In curating this exhibition, the museum's focus lied in not only pointing out some of the traditional cultural remnants of Korea witnessed in Koryoin customs, but also highlighting how they interpreted the influences of Soviet-era Russian and other local cultural practices," NFMK curator Choi Hyo-chan told The Korea Times.



"The black-and-white snapshots presented at the gallery, therefore, visualize the complexly layered dual identity of Koryoin."





Victor An's "Wedding of Anatoliya An" (1979) in the Sirdaryo Region of Uzbekistan / Courtesy of National Folk Museum of Korea



One featured section shows how Koryoin observance of traditional Korean seasonal holidays has undergone changes and twists under the Soviet Union's policy of Sovietization aimed at ethnic minorities.



Major holidays like Lunar New Year, Dano (a celebration of the end of the sowing season that falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar) and Chuseok (autumn harvest festival) were rarely celebrated until the 1990s, with the exception of Hansik (day of visiting ancestral graves).



It was in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the establishment of diplomatic ties between Korea and Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan that the observance of these holidays was revived.



Another section of the exhibition is all about food. Some of the names of staple dishes bear traces of the dialect of Hamgyong Province in present-day North Korea, where many of ancestors of Koryoin are from, as well as hints of Russian influences.



A handful of dishes appearing in the gallery include "chaltteogi" (glutinous rice cakes) and "chimpeni" (fermented rice cakes).



"Guksi" (noodle soup), while sounding similar to Korea's "guksu," boasts a cold vinegar- and soy sauce-based broth and different toppings that can be easily obtained in Central Asia  such as cabbage and tomatoes.





Victor An's "Making Chaltteogi (Glutinous Rice Cakes)" (1992) in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, portrays two men pounding rice with wooden mallets  reminiscent of scenes often witnessed in rural villages of Korea during the 1970s and 1980s. Courtesy of National Folk Museum of Korea



Russian and other local influences  both cultural and environmental  can also be detected in several iconic rites of passage in the Koryoin community, including "dol" (a baby's first birthday), weddings, "hwangap" (one's 60th birthday) and funerals.



Notably, funerary customs from the mid- to late 20th century saw a mix of Korean traditions and local customs. Koryoin maintained the practice of writing a funeral banner called "myeongjeong" in Korean, which is inscribed with personal information about the deceased, and burning their possessions.



On the other hand, the tombs often followed local laws and traditions, as the deceased was buried in Russian Orthodox-styled cemeteries.





Uzbek Koryoin photographer Victor An, left, and Media Saram CEO Chae Ye-jin, a naturalized Koryoin from Kazakhstan who first introduced An's works to the National Folk Museum of Korea last year / Courtesy of Chae Ye-jin
Australians who fail to lodge their tax return in less than three weeks face a $222 fine with middle-income tax relief of up to $2,580 ending soon.

That penalty from the Australian Taxation Office grows to a maximum of $1,110, with the amount increasing by $222 for every 28 days after the October 31 deadline.

The tax office went easy on individuals in 2020 and 2021, during the hardest years of the pandemic.

But with government debt approaching $1trillion, tax authorities are now cracking down on those who either haven't done an online tax return by Halloween or registered with a tax accountant.

Tamara Burns, a Port Macquarie-based chartered accountant who is also the director of PB Taxation Services, said her clients were getting fined for being late submitting tax returns for previous financial years.

'The last couple of years when Covid hit, the tax office basically shut down their debt collecting departments but in the last few weeks, we've seen them really ramp up their activities,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

Australians who fail to lodge their tax return in less than three weeks face a $222 fine with low and middle-income tax relief of up to $2,580 ending soon. That penalty from the Australian Taxation Office grows to a maximum of $1,110 for every 28 days after the October 31 deadline (pictured are Australian $100 banknotes)

'They're heavily chasing outstanding lodgements, outstanding debts and they are penalising and fining people quite heavily in comparison to previous years.

'From my experience, most late fees were waived over the last two years in acknowledgement of the unprecedented times that we were in.'

H&R Block's director of tax communications Mark Chapman said individual taxpayers and businesses generally weren't fined if they were owed a refund.

But he said the tax office was cracking down on those who claimed deductions for union fees, subscriptions, clothing, overtime meals, mobile phone, internet and car use.

'The focus on home office, mobile phone and home internet costs is likely to be particularly pronounced with so many people working from home due to Covid-19,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

Tamara Burns, a Port Macquarie-based chartered accountant who is also the director of PB Taxation Services, said her clients were getting fined for being late submitting tax returns for previous financial years

Mr Chapman said the tax office would also be cracking down on those who wrongly claimed work expenses under $300 without a receipt, which is allowed if there is a bank statement.

'The ATO believes that some taxpayers are claiming this  or an amount just less than $300  without actually incurring the expenses at all,' he said.

Why the tax office is cracking down on cars Australian who use their car for work can claim a flat 72 cents a kilometre flat rate for journeys up to 5,000km. But H&R Block director of tax communications Mark Chapman said the end of lockdowns meant the Australian Taxation Office would crack down. 'The ATO is concerned that too many taxpayers are automatically claiming the 5,000km limit regardless of the actual amount of travel, particularly as work-related car use could be expected to have fallen because of Covid-19,' he told Daily Mail Australia. Advertisement

Dry cleaning will also be more heavily scrutinised.

'Claims for work-related clothing, dry cleaning and laundry expenses, especially when Covid and working from home could be expected to have led to a reduction in these claims,' Mr Chapman said.

Tax returns for the previous 2021-22 financial year entitle middle and average income earners up to $1,500 in tax offsets on top of another $1,080 in tax cuts introduced by the previous Coalition government.

That takes the total maximum relief up to $2,580.

Low and middle-income tax offset

Individuals earning up to $126,000, who fill out their tax return for the last financial year, will be eligible for the low and middle income tax offset of up to $1,080.

Former treasurer Josh Frydenberg's pre-election March budget topped that up with a $420 cost of living tax offset.

That means 4.6million Australians earning between $48,000 and $90,000 will receive $1,500 as a tax offset, as another 1.8million people on $37,000 to $48,000 get back $675.

Tax cuts

On top of that, Australians are also getting tax cuts in the 2021-22 financial year, thanks to measures introduced by the previous government.

Those earning between $48,000 and $90,000 get back $2,580, when the $1,500 in tax offsets was combined with the $1,080 in tax cuts.

The tax offset, introduced in the October 2020 budget, expired on June 30 which means individuals won't get it in 2022-23.

The 2021-22 financial year is also the last one where professionals working from home can claim a flat 80 cent an hour rate for every hour spent at their dining table or study.

New Treasurer Jim Chalmers is keeping Australians guessing about whether Labor will keep the Stage Three tax cuts it voted for in Opposition (he is pictured voting in Brisbane with his wife Laura)

That shortcut was introduced in March 2020 at the start of the pandemic and meant individuals didn't have to add up all their receipts related to working from home, under the alternative arrangement of claiming 52 cents an hour.

Australians who register with a tax accountant by October 31 have until May 15 next year to submit their tax return.

Electronically submitted returns take 12 business days to process.

New Treasurer Jim Chalmers is keeping Australians guessing about whether Labor will keep the Stage Three tax cuts it voted for in Opposition.

'We've made it pretty clear that this Budget in October will be about implementing the commitments that we took to the people,' he told ABC Radio National on Tuesday.

'Our job is to make sure that our budgets are perfectly calibrated to the economic conditions as we confront them.'

The Parliamentary Budget Office estimated the Stage Three tax cuts would cost $243billion over a decade.

Gross government debt is approaching $1trillion in 2023-24, following $300billion worth of pandemic welfare measures in 2020.

Individuals earning up to $126,000 who fill out their tax return for the last financial year will be eligible for the base low and middle income tax offset of up to $1,080. Former treasurer Josh Frydenberg's pre-election March budget topped that up with a $420 cost of living tax offset

The previous Coalition government, with Labor's support in Opposition, introduced sweeping Stage Three tax changes in 2019 in an election year, shortly before the pandemic.

What you would get back under Stage Three tax cuts $45,000: Nothing $60,000: $375 $80,000: $875 $120,000: $1,875 $150,000: $3,975 $200,000: $9,075 Tax liabilities for 2024-25 compared with 2022-23 Advertisement

Laws were passed that from July, 2024 will see the number of tax brackets cut from five to four for the first time since 1984.

This would see the 37 per cent tax bracket abolished and a new 30 per cent tax bracket created for all individuals earning between $45,000 and $200,000.

A new top marginal tax rate of 45 per cent would apply for those earning more than $200,000.

This means those earning more than $200,000 doing their tax returns for the 2024-25 financial year will get back $11,640, compared with 2017-18 and $9,075 compared with 2023-24.

Someone earning $80,000 would get back just $875.

Former prime minister and treasurer John Howard, whose government introduced the GST in July, 2000, said too much of the Commonwealth's revenue base was reliant on personal income tax.

'The burden carried by personal tax in this country is too high,' he told ABC Radio National on Wednesday.

'This proposition that these so-called Stage Three personal income tax cuts are for the rich is - to employ that expression in another context - a bit rich.

'We rely too heavily on personal income tax.'
Australia could get another public holiday to commemorate the coronation of King Charles III - but there's no confirmation yet.

Buckingham Palace has confirmed that the newly crowned King's coronation will be held at London's Westminster Abbey on May 6 next year, eight months after the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

A public holiday would have precedent in Australia. When Her Majesty was crowned in 1953, Australians received a special one-off public holiday.

Half a million Sydneysiders packed the harbour foreshore to mark the big occasion, held 16 months after she became head of the monarchy - the beginning of a seven decade reign.

Australia could get a public holiday next May to mark the coronation of King Charles III (pictured with the Queen Consort in Aberdeenshire, Scotland on Tuesday)

Poll Should Australia get a public holiday to mark the coronation of King Charles III Yes No Don't care Should Australia get a public holiday to mark the coronation of King Charles III Yes 112 votes

No 20 votes

Don't care 11 votes Now share your opinion





Federal government sources said no announcement will be made at this stage about a Coronation Day public holiday - although many Aussies live in hope. h commemorating the royals.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has already said no to a coronation public holiday commemorating the new King.

That country's government will look at other ways to commemorate coronation.

'May 6 falls on a Sunday our time, which means there's an opportunity for many people to watch the coronation and mark this special occasion in other ways too if they wish to,' a spokesperson said.

Buckingham Palace announced late Tuesday night the coronation ceremony will be conducted by Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and that the Queen Consort will be crowned alongside her husband.

'The coronation will reflect the monarch's role today and look towards the future, while being rooted in longstanding traditions and pageantry,' the palace said.

In the UK, MPs have called for the bank holiday on May 1 to be delayed for a week until Monday, May 8  giving the country a long weekend.
A fugitive who made off with $35 million by allegedly defrauding investors was caught trying to flee to Mexico with gold bars and $60,000 in cash.

Justin Costello, 42 - who allegedly tricked investors into believing he was a billionaire, a Harvard grad and an Iraq War vet - was arrested on October 4 in El Cajon, California, just an hour away from the Mexican border.

Although Costello agreed through a lawyer to surrender himself to police two weeks ago, an FBI SWAT team captured him with six gold bars worth $12,000, $10,000 in Mexican pesos and a slew of banking cards and checkbooks, CNBC reports.

On Tuesday, prosecutors asked a California federal judge to hold Costello in prison without bail in order to put an end to his criminal career.

'Mr. Costello allegedly told many tall tales to convince victims to invest millions of dollars - money he then used for his own benefit,' said U.S. Attorney Nick Brown.

'In a complex scheme involving shell companies, penny stocks, and financial services for marijuana businesses, Mr. Costello used Twitter, press releases, securities filings, and claims of great wealth to paint a picture of fabulous financial success.

'In truth that picture was a mirage.'

Justin Costello, 42, (above) was arrested on October 4 after going on the run following his indictment on 25 counts of wire and securities fraud

An FBI SWAT team captured him with six gold bars worth $12,000, $10,000 in Mexican pesos and a slew of banking cards and checkbooks

Prosecutors claim Costello tricked businesses and investors into believing he was a billionaire, a Harvard grad and an injured Iraq War vet in order to get them to invest in his companies. Costello's more than 7,000 alleged victims lost a total $35 million

Costello, of Las Vegas, faced a 25-count indictment in Washington State charging him with wire and securities fraud that victimized marijuana businesses, as well as private and public investors.

According to the indictment, Costollo operated the Pacific Banking Corp, which provided services to marijuana businesses around the country.

Starting in 2019, Costello allegedly diverted money from businesses to benefit himself and his company, renamed GRN Funds, making off with $3.7 million by 2021.

Using his alleged ill-gotten gains, Costello purchased two companies that were trading for pennies, renamed them, and went around donning several personas to trick investors into buying his stocks.

Costello allegedly claimed he was a Harvard MBA, was a special ops soldier wounded during two tours in Iraq, a Wall Street investor with 14 years of experience, and the owner of a private equity and hedge fund with $1 billion in assets under management.

One wealthy couple handed over $2 million for shares of the companies Costello controlled, and gave him direct access to their trading account worth $4 million.

Through his false identities, prosecutors said Costello duped 29 investors, who lost $6 million.

The indictment notes that Costello used at least $42,000 from investors to fund his wedding with Katrina Rosseini (above), in a Jame Bond-themed celebration

Pictured: Costello's FBI wanted poster after he went on the run in September

Costello then allegedly produced 10 press releases to indicate that this company was expanding and moving on to purchasing other companies to lure investors.

In all, about 7,500 investors lost a cumulative $25 million after investing in Costello's stock.

At the same time, prosecutors said Costollo engaged in illegal pump-and-dump activities when he paid a co-conspirator to promote his penny stocks on Twitter with 90 posts a day.

According to the indictment, Costollo and his partner would urge their followers to buy up the stock, raising prices from a nickel to $2 a share.

Costollo allegedly made $576,466 through the scheme.

Prosecutors also noted that Costello used at least $42,000 of the stolen funds to pay for his wedding, which included Jame Bond-themed cake and ice sculpture.

Costello was seized in El Cajon, California, just an hour away from the border. The fugitive said he would've been able to escape had he not suffered from a stroke prior to the arrest

Following his indictment in September, prosecutors alleged that Costello began preparing to flee the country.

'The FBI tried to track Costello by his known cell phone numbers but were unsuccessful,' prosecutors wrote. 'It is believed Costello took countersurveillance measures to prevent being tracked on devices registered to those numbers.'

Agents were able to successfully track Costello through his Alfa Romeo car, where they found him walking with the backpack full of money and gold.

According to the court filing, Costello told the agents that he was recovering from a stroke, and that if not for that, he would have been able to outrun them.

The agents added that the gold found with Costello was part of a larger hoard he had worth $94,000.

Costello faces up to 40 years in prison along with $5,250,000 in fines, or up to twice the gain he made off from the victims.

He is due to appear in San Diego federal court next Tuesday.
A tree trimmer suffered a horrific death when he was sucked into a wood chipper on Tuesday afternoon, according to police.

The gruesome accident occurred on the 900 block of Peggy Lane in Menlo Park, San Francisco Bay area, around 12.50pm.

Officers arrived on the scene to find that the man had died from his injuries but authorities are still to determine how exactly the landscaper fell into the chipper.

The industrial equipment has a cover on the top to prevent precisely such accidents from happening, so it is thought the worker must have been pulled into the deadly machine.

'When police units arrived on scene, a male subject was found deceased from injuries sustained from the incident,' the police department said in a news release.

The victim, who has not been identified, was an employee of arboricultural firm S.P. McClenahan, a division of Bartlett Tree Experts.

A tree trimmer suffered a 'horrifying' death after he was sucked into a wood chipper in Menlo Park on Tuesday. Pictured: A cherry picker

The gruesome accident occurred on the 900 block of Peggy Lane in Menlo Park, San Francisco Bay area, around 12.50pm

Fellow employees on the scene on Tuesday said that the company will not be releasing a statement.

The state's Division of Occupational Safety and Health is investigating the man's death and has six months to issue citations if health and safety violations are found.

The organization is reported to have said: 'According to the outside source, the employee was pulled into the chipper during tree trimming operations.'

Local residents in the leafy suburb were left stunned by the grim tragedy, as the tree trimmers are a common sight in the community.

Pictured: Harnesses used by workers to trim the neighborhood trees

The victim, who has not been identified, was an employee of arboricultural firm S.P. McClenahan, a division of Bartlett Tree Experts

'You hear about the possibilities of horrific things happening, but don't really know that they can,' longtime resident Lisa Mitchell told ABC7 News. 'And today was clearly proof that they can.'

'We all feel sick and sad,' she said. 'We're really sad. We're trying to imagine what the poor family and their fellow workers are feeling. And it's just, it's a lot. We just feel terrible.'

San Mateo County coroner's office is expected to released the identity of the victim in due course.

A 2018 study by the National Library of Medicine found that there had been 113 wood chipper-related deaths in the USA between 1982 and 2016.

The most common causes of death were caused by being struck by the machines and being caught in them, with 57 and 41 cases respectively.

However the study only recorded two cases of someone falling into the machines.

The study concluded that chipper-related worker deaths are preventable, and are often caused by 'young and inexperienced' workers, who may be at a higher risk of getting caught in the machines.

'The current feed wheel control devices are not effective for workers to self-rescue. Fully automatic feed wheel stop devices are needed to prevent caught-in incidents' it adds.
A male student has been airlifted to hospital with upper body burns after a fuel drum exploded at a regional Victoria high school.

The teen from Bairnsdale Secondary College, in Victoria's east, was airlifted 280km to the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne at about 11.20am on Wednesday.

He is in a serious but stable condition.

A spokeswoman from the Country Fire Authority said three firefighting units attended the scene alongside police, Worksafe officials and paramedics.

An explosion at Bairnsdale Secondary College on Wednesday morning saw one male student airlifted to hospital with serious upper body burns

The boy was near a fuel drum when it exploded, resulting in his serious injuries.

The site was cleared by emergency services at 11.45am.

A statement released by the school in the afternoon said: 'There was an incident at the school this morning that resulted in a student being taken to hospital for their injuries.

'The incident was quickly contained, there is no danger to students or staff and classes are continuing as normal.'
Ms Higgins was cross-examined last week, but was unavailable earlier this week

The high profile trial of Brittany Higgins' accused rapist could be over by mid-next week, a jury has heard.

Ms Higgins alleges Bruce Lehrmann sexually assaulted her in former defence minister Linda Reynolds' office after a night of drinking in March 2019.

Mr Lehrmann has pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual intercourse without consent.

The jury trial was originally expected to stretch between four and six weeks, however, the court heard on Wednesday the timeline is very likely to be significantly cut down.

Prosecutor Shane Drumgold SC told the court: 'We have shortened the trial.

'We expect to close the case in the first part of next week.'

Former Liberal Party staffer Bruce Lehrmann arrives at the ACT Supreme Court in Canberra on Wednesday

Earlier on Wednesday, the court heard Ms Higgins would be unavailable until Friday, when cross-examination with defence lawyer Steven Whybrow will resume.

Ms Higgins was due to finish her cross-examination Monday but has not appeared in court this week.

The trial continued in her absence, with the Crown calling other witnesses.

However, the court has prevented publication of any other evidence until after Ms Higgins has returned and completed her evidence.

The jury was told: 'Ms Higgins will return on Friday morning, we will do our best to occupy the rest of today and tomorrow with witnesses.'

Last week, Ms Higgins was reduced to tears as she was grilled during cross-examination over the night in question, including over whether she had vomit stains on her dress.

She also blew up in court when defence lawyer Steven Whybrow put to her that she had told Mr Dillaway, police, and her former boss Fiona Brown that she was making up doctor's appointments to 'bolster' her story.

Ms Higgins responded, loudly: 'What you're saying is deeply insulting.'

'You are so incorrect.

'I don't know if you've ever been through a trauma before ... It's confronting, it is a very hard thing to do. I was bed bound, I was doing my best. I completely reject everything you're saying.'

Brittany Higgins is pictured (in white) outside court on Friday as she arrives for day four of her rape trial against her former colleague

Mr Whybrow also asked why she didn't tell anyone about the alleged assault for a number of days - despite being in contact with Mr Dillaway and her father via text messages.

In the texts, the Mr Dillaway and Ms Higgins engaged in light banter about tacos, margaritas, and his recent drive from the Gold Coast in Queensland to Orange in NSW.

The only inference Ms Higgins made about the alleged attack was when she wrote: 'Haha I just get myself into trouble, need to keep that s**t locked down.'

Ms Higgins told the court: 'I wasn't ready to share, I was playing it off.'

In court, Ms Higgins said she was 'responding to his messages on autopilot, like everything was fine'.

Earlier in the trial, Ms Higgins admitted to deleting photos from her phone before handing it to police - telling the court she 'wanted to scrub all the horrible parts of my life out'.

Mr Whybrow put to Ms Higgins that she continually refused to hand her phone over to police despite being asked on several occasions in 2021.

Brittany Higgins arrives in ACT Supreme Court in Canberra before taking to the witness stand in the trial of her alleged rapist last Thursday

He suggested she had an appointment with police to hand her phone over on March 21, 2021, but she did not go to the appointment due to an 'urgent legal matter... a defamation incident with Ms Reynolds,' he told the court.

'Ah yes,' Ms Higgins replied. 'Lying cow. I remember,' she added, referring to reports Senator Reynolds had called her 'a lying cow' in February 2021.

Ms Higgins agreed that she did not hand over her phone for a number of weeks, despite being asked to, but broke down on the stand when explaining why.

'I was terrified on the basis that, [on the week of May 21] I found out that the moment I reengaged with police that any politically sensitive matters that are within the remit of police gets reported to the Home Affairs minister,' she told the court

Ms Higgins said former home affairs minister Peter Dutton had information about her allegations before she made her official police statement.

'I was very scared,' she told the court.

'I was seeking legal advice to know my rights because I was terrified.'

The court also heard Ms Higgins recorded the conversations after a six-hour interview with Lisa Wilkinson for The Project on February 2, 2021.

A potential $325,000 book deal with Lisa Wilkinson's husband, Peter FitzSimons, was revealed last week (Ms Higgins is pictured with Ms Wilkinson)

She said Ms Wilkinson and Ms Maiden were 'fighting' over when her story would be released.

'Who got the exclusive drop so that come Walkley's time, who could claim what and so it became not even about me or my story,' she told the court.

Ms Maiden won the Gold Walkley in 2021 - Australian journalisms highest honour, while Ms Wilkinson was awarded a Logie this year.

Mr Whybrow put to her that she did the interview to hurt the Liberal party right before an election, but Ms Higgins said she simply wanted to talk about a 'cultural problem' within Parliament.

'I thought I'd do one print and one TV and then I'd go back to uni and disappear,' she explained.

Ms Higgins told the court The Project host was 'quite angry' when the interview was aired on February 15 because it was a Monday, and Ms Wilkinson did not typically work on Mondays.

After both stories dropped, Ms Higgins told the court she was inundated with media requests.

The trial continues.
Parts of Australia have been warned to prepare for an impending 'significant rain event' that will bring torrential rain, flash flooding, thunderstorms and dangerous winds, the weather office says.

'Severe thunderstorms' and up to 100mm of rain is expected to strike central and northern Victoria on Wednesday evening and Thursday while wind gusts could hit 100 kilometres an hour in places,.

Residents in Tasmania are also on alert with a warning for 'intense rainfall and damaging winds' right across the state's north from late on Wednesday into the following day.

The southern-most state could see rainfall of up to 120mm on Thursday and up to 200mm at higher altitudes.

The weather office warned this could mean 'dangerous and life-threatening flooding' and landslides for inland parts of north-west Tasmania.

Parts of Australia have been warned to prepare for an impending 'significant rain event' that will bring torrential rain, flash flooding, thunderstorms and dangerous winds

Large parts of Victoria and Tasmania have been warned about potential 'life-threatening flooding' in the next two days

Mildura, in Victoria's north, could be one of the hardest hit, with torrential rain from Wednesday evening continuing on for much of the following 24 hours.

The Mildura SES issued an urgent warning for local drivers not to attempt driving across flooded roads, and to reconsider the need to drive at all, while the Murray River has come under a flood warning.

Several rivers are expected to flood, including the Campaspe River at Rochester and Elmore, which could rise nine metres and threaten up to 700 homes at Rochester by Saturday.

A significant rain event is due to hammer Victoria and Tasmania from Wednesday evening and for much of Thursday

Much of northern Tasmania is expected to see 'intense' rainfall on Wednesday and Thursday which could mean 'life-threatening flooding'

Locals prepared by sandbagging hundreds of homes and the Rochester SES warned it expects the town to be evacuated by Friday.

'It's predicted the town of Rochester gets cut in half and gets almost landlocked,' Rochester SES member Judith Gledhill told the ABC.

'It's important for people to leave before the peak arrives.'

Moderate flood warnings were also issued for the Murray and Loddon rivers and minor flood warnings are in place for the Avoca, Kiewa and Snowy rivers.

People have already been evacuated from the state's north-east in the alpine region.

The evacuation warning is for Falls Creek and Bogong Village because of a 'slow-moving active landslide' on the Bogong High Plains Road above the village.

A severe thunderstorm warning was issued on Wednesday afternoon for 'slow-moving' storms in Victoria's west, south of Horsham, and around Halls Gap.

A landslide has occurred on the Bogong-High Plains Road at Bogong Village in Victoria's alpine region leading to an evacuation warning

Heavy rain is expected in Melbourne from Wednesday evening with up to 50mm due to fall in the city on Thursday.

Meanwhile across the country, Western Australia's north is facing an extreme fire danger warning.

'Dry conditions combined with moderate to fresh southeast to southwest winds will cause extreme fire dangers in the far west Pilbara on Wednesday.'
A Victorian teacher charged with historical child abuse offences has been committed to stand trial in the County Court.

Elisa Errichiello, 51, was charged with two counts of indecent act with a child under 16 and three counts of sexual penetration of a child under 16.

The alleged incidents were between May 1997 and May 1999 when Errichiello was a teacher at Catholic Regional College at Keilor Lodge in Melbourne's north-west.

The alleged victim was a student at the school.

Elisa Errichiello (pictured), 51, faced court over historical child sex offences that occurred between May 1997 and May 1999

Magistrate Olivia Trumble on Wednesday determined there was sufficient evidence for Errichiello to be committed for trial on five child abuse offences.

Another 21 charges were either withdrawn by the prosecution or struck out by the magistrate.

Errichiello pleaded not guilty to the five charges.

She was released on bail ahead of a directions hearing next month.

During the committal hearing, the court was told Errichiello and the alleged victim went to gay nightclubs and bars together in the late 1990s.

A friend of the alleged victim said she thought Errichiello and the girl had feelings for each other, although she never saw them be overtly affectionate.

Former Catholic Regional College principal Greg Wade also gave evidence on Wednesday, telling the court Errichiello had been a 'quiet achiever' who got along with everyone.

Errichiello pleaded not guilty to five charges which included two counts of indecent act with a child under 16 and three counts of sexual penetration of a child under 16. She was released on bail (pictured, Melbourne Magistrates Court)

Errichiello taught at Catholic Regional College in Keilor Lodge (pictured) at the time of the alleged incidents. Her alleged victim was a student at the school

He was taken to a letter sent to Errichiello in November 1999, which referenced a meeting Mr Wade had with the accused and another senior member of the school.

The letter noted the meeting was about Errichiello's relationship with students although it did not suggest she had acted inappropriately.

Mr Wade could not recall the meeting when questioned but accepted it happened and no disciplinary action took place.

He also said he rehired Errichiello as a casual staff member at the school in 2004 after she spent some time overseas.
Two fathers have been charged with attempted murder after a road rage incident at the weekend, which saw them both firing their guns out the windows of their cars, shooting each other's daughters.

William Hale, 35, from Douglas, Georgia, shot Frank Allison's 14-year-old daughter Shelby in the back, causing a collapsed lung.

Allison, 43, from Callahan, Florida, shot Hale's five-year-old daughter in the leg.

Both girls are expected to survive, but the sheriff of Nassau County, Bill Leeper, condemned both fathers for their stupidity in what a witness said was high-speed 'cat and mouse'.

'What is scarier than one crazy driver with a gun? Two crazy drivers with a gun,' Leeper said on Monday.

'Thankfully, no one was killed in this incident.

'But it could have been very easily turned out that way because two people were acting stupid and let their tempers get the best of them. There could have been two dead kids because of two stupid grown men.'

William Hale, 35, from Douglas, Georgia (left) and Frank Allison, 43, from Callahan, Florida (right) have both been charged with attempted murder following Saturday's road rage shooting

Frank Allison is seen with his wife Jessica. The couple, from Callahan, Florida, got into a road rage incident near their home on Saturday night, tangling with a Georgia family

The incident begun around 6pm on U.S. Highway 1 near Callahan, just outside Jacksonville.

Hale was driving a black Dodge Ram near his home, with five occupants inside including his mother Britney.

Allison was driving a gray Nissan Murano with three occupants including his wife Jessica and daughter Shelby, all heading home to Georgia.

Both men accused the other of 'brake checking', driving erratically and dangerously.

Jessica Allison wound down the window and began making offensive gestures at the Hale vehicle, and the Hales then threw a water bottle into the Allison vehicle.

Sheriff Bill Leeper condemned both men for their stupidity that could have left two children dead

Frank Allison opened fire while driving, believing he had hit the Hales' tires - when in fact he had hit the girl.

Hale fired back, striking Allison's daughter who was riding in the car with one of seven or eight rounds he unloaded into the speeding vehicle.

The mother of one of the children who was shot can be heard on a 911 call.

'My daughter's been shot  please help me,' she says.

A child can also be heard weeping on the call.

'I don't want to die,' the child can be heard saying, according to News4Jax.

Both drivers continued heading north, with their injured daughters in the back.

The pair saw a Nassau County Sheriff's Office patrol car and stopped, then began arguing and fighting with each other by the side of the road, and the deputy had to break up the fight.

The pair were booked into jail on attempted murder charges.
Australia's south-east coast is bracing for a devastating 200mm rain blast with 'life-threatening' floods and powerful winds on the way for millions of residents.

Satellite images capture a massive cloud band extending 5,000 kilometres from the Tropical Indian Ocean to continental Australia - with several states set to be affected, chief among them Victoria and Tasmania, plus southern New South Wales.

Forecasters have warned that persistent and heavy rain will soak most of Victoria during the next 48 hours, with flood warnings also in place.

Sandbagging is underway in the town of Rochester, in central Victoria, which is forecast to essentially get 'cut in half' should the nearby Campapse River overflow. It's feared as many as 700 homes could be flooded.

Meanwhile, Tasmania's State Emergency Service has called on Tasmanians, particularly those in the north and northwest, to be prepared for intense rainfall, damaging winds, and potential flooding from tonight.

Southern NSW will also be affected in the next couple of days, likely causing or exacerbating existing flooding in the state.

It's a calmer outlook for the rest of the country - though other cities will also see some rainfall in the coming days.

Victoria and Tasmania will be battered by rain from Wednesday, with threats of intense rainfall, damaging winds and potential flooding

Severe Weather Update: Widespread heavy rain and damaging winds for Vic, Tas and southern NSW. Video current: 12:30pm AEDT 12 October 2022.



Know your weather, know your risk. For the latest forecasts and warnings, go to our website https://t.co/4W35o8zIoh or the BOM Weather app. pic.twitter.com/8vNoenWM7P  Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) October 12, 2022

The swollen Lachlan River underneath the Mid-Western Highway in Cowra, NSW on Tuesday

Residents in Rochester, Victoria, have been working tirelessly to fill sandbags as they brace for floods

This satellite image shows the cloud band stretching 5,000 kilometres from the Tropical Indian Ocean to continental Australia

VICTORIA

Forecasters have warned that heavy rain will smash parts of Victoria during the next 48 hours with flash flood warnings in force across large areas of the state.

A large band of cloud is being dragged across southeastern Australia, causing huge amounts of tropical moisture to flow over Victoria.

That moisture will fuel a period of heavy rain that will soak Victoria until Friday morning.

Showers have already started to increase over some central and western parts of the state, with Melbourne picking up 8mm by midday on Wednesday.

It is set to get worse over the rest of the day, with wind and rain increasing as a cold front moves over the state's western districts.

The cold front will spread further east on Thursday with central, northern and northeastern parts of the state hit by bad weather.

The heaviest rain will hit northeast Victoria on Thursday night before clearing on Friday morning.

There will still be a few lingering showers and isolated thunderstorms over the state into Friday afternoon and around 100 to 200 mm of rain will cover central and northeast Victoria.

Tasmania will see the highest rainfall in the country from the impending weather system. The State Emergency Service is renewing the call to Tasmanians, particularly those in the north and northwest, to be prepared for intense rainfall, damaging winds, and potential flooding

Satellite images have captured a massive cloud band extending 5,000 kilometres from the Tropical Indian Ocean all the way to southeastern Australia

This is likely to cause flooding, especially in areas that have seen recent rainfall.

A town in northern Victoria has been told it faces a one-in-50-year flood and a slow-moving landslide has cut access to Falls Creek.

Authorities told a meeting of about 200 people in Rochester on Wednesday evening that the most likely scenario is the town faces a one-in-50-year flood, but under a less likely scenario it could have a one-in-200-year flood.

Locals have been told waters could rise to 115m above sea level.

Mackay Street in the town has reportedly already seen flood waters, with the Campaspe River expected to break its banks.

Residents and businesses of Rochester have been working tirelessly to fill sandbags as the wet weather continues.

The town was devastated by another flooding event in 2011 - the worst on record for the area.

Patients had to be evacuated from the local hospital as the Campaspe river reached record highs.

TASMANIA

Tasmania will see the highest rainfall in the country from the impending weather system.

Acting Premier Michael Ferguson urged Tasmanians to keep track of warnings on the TasAlert website amid fears of huge rainfall totals similar to what caused the 2016 flood devastation.

'Right across the north of the state, we're looking at rainfalls of as much as 200 millimetres in 36 hours. For some parts of the state that's like a quarter or a third of the state's annual rainfall in 36 hours. We're talking about a lot of water. It will lead to flash flooding in some cases and certainly, the rivers will be rising.'

Six-hourly rainfall totals will likely be between 40 to 60mm, with 24-hour rainfall totals during Thursday expected to reach 70 to 120mm, with isolated totals to 200mm over higher terrain.

Vehicles negotiate floodwater from the Bundaburrah Creek on the Henry Lawson Way between Forbes and Grenfell, NSW. Forbes is facing intense flooding

A car is seen abandoned in floodwaters on Newbridge Road in Chipping Norton in Western Sydney in July. Parts of NSW are also expecting floods

The State Emergency Service is renewing the call to Tasmanians, particularly those in the north and northwest, to be prepared for intense rainfall, damaging winds, and potential flooding.

Tasmania SES Acting Director, Leon Smith, said: 'As forecast by the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM), Tasmania is looking at a protracted rain event of significance that is going to impact the north and north-west of the state from tonight.'

'The state is already very wet, which means that rain over the next few days could lead to flooding in the forecast areas.

'It's imperative that Tasmanians heed the warnings and take note that intense rainfalls could lead to significant flooding within the north-west, north, and north-east areas of the state.'

Trees could be torn down and there could be power outages caused by the damaging winds.

'Of concern in the first instance, modelling shows impacts on the north-west townships of Railton, Latrobe, Wivenhoe, Burnie, and Sheffield,' Acting Director Smith said.

'This is a dynamic situation of significance that we are monitoring, but inevitably we will see flooding in some areas within the forecast areas over the coming days.

Flood markers indicate water depth in the Lachlan River under the Henry Lawson Way, Forbes, NSW on Tuesday

'If you know that you live in a low-lying area that is prone to flooding; if you were in areas of the North-West in the 2016 floods; and you are aware that your property, or the property of someone you know, has been previously impacted by flood, there is a high chance flood impacts will be seen during this event.

'I encourage the community to keep up-to-date with the weather and flood warnings from the official emergency sources.

'Utilise resources on the SES website and plan to make decisions safely. This is forecast to be an event of significance and emergency services are prepared to assist the community.

'If you have any concerns about the current situation, make a decision to leave early.'

NSW

Heavy rain will also soak parts of southern NSW during the next 48 hours, likely causing flooding or exacerbating existing floods in the state.

The Riverina towards the Broken Hill area is expected to be the the most affected by the heavy rainfall, with up to 50mm expected in southern NSW.

The rain will lead to new flood peaks with forecasters warning people to keep an eye on flood watches and flood warnings.

Floods have already ravaged the state and became deadly after a man's body was found trapped inside a submerged vehicle.

There are more than 80 flood warnings active across NSW as of Wednesday morning, including three evacuation orders.

People with umbrellas are seen in Melbourne ahead of days of heavy rain set to batter Victoria

Forecasters have warned that heavy rain will batter parts of Victoria during the next 48 hours, with flash flood warnings in force across large areas of the state.

Now, a severe weather warning for heaving rainfall and possible flash flooding has been issued for southwestern parts of NSW from Wednesday night through to Thursday.

Damaging wind gusts of around 110km/h could also hit Alpine areas above 1500m from Thursday afternoon.

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Jonathan How said: 'The one good news out of this is that most of the rain will fall to the west and the south of where we're seeing the major flooding.'

The NSW SES wrote on Facebook: 'Severe Weather Warning for DAMAGING WINDS and HEAVY RAINFALL for people in parts of South West Slopes, Riverina, Lower Western, Snowy Mountains, Australian Capital Territory and Southern Tablelands Forecast Districts.'

It has also warned people living in Forbes East to prepare to evacuate.

The people of Forbes, which sits on the Lachlan River in the state's central west, are used to floods, having endured major and memorable inundations in 1952, 1990, 2012, 2016 and 2021.

The town of 9000 people is preparing for flooding later this week, with the river expected to exceed the major flooding peak of 10.55 metres, narrowing in on those historic disasters.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Wednesday's rain first hit South Australia, starting in the north and sweeping southeast as the day went on.

The rain hit the north-west of the state on Wednesday but will peak in the southwest of the state on Thursday.

Floodwaters west of Condong near the town of Murwillumbah, NSW in September as more parts of NSW prepare for floods

Heavy rain will also soak parts of southern NSW during the next 48 hours, likely causing flooding or exacerbating existing floods in the state

Luckily for those in Adelaide, the city will remain on the edge of the band and miss out on the heaviest rainfall.

Less fortunate are those living in the Riverland, where the rain fall is expected to be 40 millimeters or more.

'By the afternoon, we will see a band of rain extend all the way from the Western Australian border, through into the northern parts of Eyre Peninsula, mainly remaining north of Adelaide and down towards the south-east,' Mr How said.

NORTHERN TERRITORY

It will be a mix of storms and heatwaves in the Northern Territory, forecasters have warned.

There will be storms on almost every day of the coming week across the Top End, leading to potential chaos.

However, high humidity and temperatures are also resulting in heatwave conditions through the north of the territory.

In the south, the cold air pushing through Southern Australia will push its way up to Uluru.

The temperature hit 35C in the area on Tuesday and 31C on Wednesday.

However, it will fall as low as 16C on Thursday, with a high chance of showers and rain.

And the temperature could fall as low as 4C overnight going into Friday.

QUEENSLAND

The southwest of Queensland could get rain late Thursday into Friday, forecasters believe.

A few millimetres of rain will hit Brisbane and the Gold Coast, with showers forecast for the Downs and other parts in the state's north.

However, Queensland is expected to be spared most of the rain storm,

Showers for the Downs and

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Mr How said: 'It will weaken quite rapidly as it moves across the south of the state,' Mr How said.

'By the time it gets to south-east Queensland, it will mostly have dried out.'

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Near the border, parts of WA could see some showers, but the region is expected to avoid much of the chaos.

Though Western Australians will stay dry, the temperatures will be a bit lower than usual.

It will be in the low 20s in Perth, below the average for this time of year.

However, the temperature should get warmer after the weekend.

And people on the Ashburton Coast and the Exmouth Gulf Coast have been warned that the fire danger rating for Wednesday is expected to be extreme.

ACT

The Capital region is also expected to avoid the upcoming round of wild weather.

Showers are expected to increase from Thursday into Friday with strong winds for elevated regions of the state.

However, the rain isn't expected to cause much chaos in the region, with authorities only anticipating 10 to 15 millimeters of rain.




South Korea's bourse operator on Wednesday decided to allow scandal-ridden bio firm Sillajen Inc. to resume its stock trading after a 2 1/2-year suspension.







Trading of shares in Sillajen will resume on the tech-laden KOSDAQ on Thursday, the Korea Exchange (KRX) said, after a review of the biotechnology company's plan to improve its business.







The stock has been suspended since May 2020, after its former executives were charged with embezzlement and breach of trust.







In November 2020, the KRX gave Sillajen a one-year grace period to meet listing requirements. In January this year, however, the bourse operator said the bio firm still did not meet the requirements.







Upon Sillajen's appeal, the KRX granted the firm an additional six-month grace period.







The Sillajen fiasco has drawn an outcry from some 170,000 retail investors.







After its market debut on Dec. 6, 2016, shares in Sillajen rallied to over 150,000 won (US$104.54) in late 2017.







Sillajen tumbled to the 12,000 won level ahead of the trading ban, lower than its IPO price of 15,000 won, and its market capitalization stood at some 1.25 trillion won. (Yonhap)






A worker has been been tragically killed and another injured in an incident at an underground WA gold mine.

The contractor died at the St Ives mine in the southeastern Goldfields region on Wednesday, while another contractor was treated for minor injuries.

South African mine operator Gold Fields described the incident as a 'devastating loss' for the 'close-knit team'.

A fatal underground mining incident has happened in the southeastern WA region of Goldfields. Gold Fields mine site pictured

'On behalf of our Gold Fields' team, I extend my heartfelt condolences to the family, friends and work colleagues of our business partner employee who has passed away,' Gold Fields Australasia executive vice-president Stuart Mathews said.

'It is a devastating loss for our close-knit team, especially our underground crew who have a unique camaraderie.'

The incident was attended by the mine's emergency response team, which is now investigating what happened.

Police and other emergency services have attended the mine site where an investigation has been launched into what happened

The St Ives site has been shut until the investigation has concluded it is safe to reopen.

Worksafe inspectors and WA police have also been called in.

Gold Fields has said it will fully cooperate with authorities.

Mr Matthews told The West that out of respect for the privacy of those affected and while the investigation is underway no further details will be released.

Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King expressed her sadness over the tragedy.

Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King has offered her commiserations to the family of the dead miner

'Any injury, and particularly a death, is absolutely a tragic occurrence in any workplace,' she told the ABC.

'I just want to offer my commiserations to the family of the worker that has sadly and tragically died, and also to his co-workers and those first responders who will no doubt be subject to grief and trauma for some time to come.'

Gold Fields operates four underground mines and seven open pits at the St Ives site.

The incident is the third fatality in WA's mining sector in 14 months.
Anthony Albanese and his ex-wife Carmel Tebbutt have been pictured celebrating their 21-year-old son's graduation.

The Prime Minister grinned ear-to-ear as Nathan Albanese officially graduated from Sydney's University of Technology with a business degree on Wednesday.

Mr Albanese marked the occasion in a smart navy suit while Ms Tebbutt wore a blue patterned dress. Nathan donned a graduation gown and cap and a red tie.

'So proud of our son Nathan who graduated today from UTS Business,' he wrote.

Anthony Albanese and his ex-wife Carmel Tebbutt have been pictured celebrating their 21-year-old son as he graduates university with a business degree (pictured)

The Prime Minister grinned ear-to-ear as he stood beside Nathan who graduated from Sydney's University of Technology with a business degree on Wednesday

Another photo of the pair pictured them side-by-side in front of a large UTS logo.

Mr Albanese and Ms Tebbutt split in 2019 after 30 years together and now share custody of their adorable dog Toto.

Ahead of the federal election in May, Mr Albanese said he finds a way of speaking to his son every single day and has touted Nathan as his good luck charm.

Nathan made several appearances on his father's campaign trail and has been described by his doting Dad as a 'very fine young man'.

'To my proudest achievement, my son, Nathan. Thank you, mate, for your love and support,' the prime minister said on election night.

'Your mother, who's here tonight, Carmel, we are both so proud of the caring, wonderful, smart young man you have become.'

Ahead of the federal election in May this year, Mr Albanese said he finds a way of speaking to his son every day and touted Nathan as his good luck charm (pictured, the pair in May)

Anthony Albanese, his mother Maryanne and newborn Nathan are pictured

Mr Albanese and his son, Nathan, hug after a rally at the Optus stadium in Perth in May

The pair shared a tender moment on stage, which captured the hearts of adoring Aussies watching at home.

Some went as far as saying the 21-year-old 'stole the spotlight' from his father as social media went crazy over 'Australia's most eligible bachelor'.

'Nathan Albanese is a very good looking young man. And Mum Carmel is in the crowd and acknowledged! How lovely,' a woman tweeted.

'Good old Nathan Albanese totally has the look of 'holy f**k my dad is the Prime Minister',' a man tweeted.

'Albo thanked Carmel Tebbut (Nathan's mother), his son Nathan and his partner Jodie Haydon. Says a lot about the man Albanese is,' another woman said.

'Anthony Albanese is a good man, a decent person. Here he is with his 'proudest achievement', his son Nathan, and his new partner,' a man posted to Twitter.

'We will protect Nathan Albanese at all costs,' another said.

Anthony Albanese (left) with his wife Carmel Tebbutt (centre), father Carlo (right) and son Nathan (front) in Italy 2011

Nathan (pictured on May 21) graduated from the University of Technology on Wednesday

The prime minister attended his son's graduation just hours after he announced he would scrap the cases of robodebt victims that remain under review.

This means almost 200,000 Australians who spent years fighting to clear welfare debts they didn't owe will have active Centrelink investigations wiped.

The unlawful debt recovery scheme started in 2015 and falsely accused welfare recipients of owing money to the government.

More than $750million was wrongfully recovered from 381,000 Australians.

More than 2,000 victims took their own lives after receiving debt notices, including Melbourne florist Rhys Cauzzo, 28, after he was told he owed $28,000 in 2017.
An Irish woman raped at knifepoint in Portugal 18 years ago by a man she believes is Christian Brueckner - the chief suspect in Madeleine McCann's disappearance - has spoken of her 'delight' after he was charged.

Hazel Behan, now 39, was attacked inside a holiday apartment in Praia da Rocha - 10 miles from Praia da Luz, where Maddie vanished - in June 2004 by 'a German man with piercing blue eyes' who broke in via the balcony.

Brueckner, who German prosecutors believe abducted Madeleine in May 2007, has now been charged with Ms Behan's rape and four other sex crimes carried out in the same area between 2000 and 2017.

Ms Behan, who previously waived her right to anonymity to speak about her ordeal, said yesterday that she had believed there was 'zero chance' Brueckner would ever face court over the allegations and she is 'delighted' at her chance to get justice.

Hazel Behan, now 39, was raped aged 20 inside a holiday apartment in Praia da Rocha, Portugal, by a man she believes is the main suspect in Madeleine McCann's disappearance (pictured speaking about the attack in 2020)

Christian Brueckner (left), was yesterday charged with Ms Behan's rape and a string of four other sex offences said to have taken place in the Algarve between 2000 and 2017. He is also suspected of kidnapping Maddie (right) from the same area in 2007, but has not been charged

Brueckner is now charged with five sex attacks in the same area where Massie vanished in 2007. He has been named as the chief suspect in her disappearance, but not charged

She said: 'I am delighted that after many hours and days of interviews in Ireland and Germany I am finally going to see justice. It was the most horrific attack.'

Ms Behan, aged 20 and working as a holiday rep at the time of the assault, says a mask-wearing attacker scaled the outside of her apartment as she slept and climbed in through the balcony.

She awoke to find herself being held at knifepoint. She says the man then beat her, tied her up and raped her while filming the attack.

Speaking to Olive Press, she added: 'It was very hard and gruelling going back over the attack, having to spend over 20 hours with detectives in Ireland and then three days with police in Germany.

But the specific dedicated teams in both countries were so sensitive and good at taking me back to my room that night.

I always said from the get-go that my attacker was a German with piercing blue eyes and a voice I would recognise immediately.

'When Brueckners name was released in connection to the Madeleine case, I knew it was him. It made me sick to the core.

'I knew I had zero chance of justice, but thanks to all of the campaigning and the perseverance of Madeleines amazing parents, today, 18 long years after my rape, I have an opportunity to see my attacker behind bars (for my crime).'

Brueckner was also charged with two rapes said to have taken place some time between 2000 and 2006 - one on a 14-year-old girl and another on a woman aged between 70 and 80 years old - both at his apartment in Praia da Luz.

He is also accused of ambushing a ten-year-old German girl playing on the beach at Salema in April 2007 - close to where Madeleine vanished just a month later - in the district of Faro in Portugal, wearing only shoes and otherwise naked.

He allegedly forced her to watch him perform a sex act.

The fact that Brueckner has not been charged over the disappearance of Madeleine McCann from the holiday apartment of parents Kate and Gerry (pictured) in Praia da Luz will bring fresh heartache as they had hoped this would mark the end of the 15-year mystery

Ten years later, he is said to have carried out a similar crime against a girl at a playground at Bartolomeu de Messines in Portugal.

Prosecutors say the girl ran to her father for help and the suspect was arrested by Portuguese police at the scene.

Brueckner's lawyer Friedrich Fulscher said the new charges had come as a 'complete surprise' to him and his client, and said they were based on 'dubious witnesses and on video evidence that no one has been able to find'.

The charges in relation to the rapes of the two unknown women come after police were told about a video recording of Brueckner allegedly attacking them.

Helge Busching and Manfred Seyferth - two key witnesses and former friends of Brueckner's - are said to have stolen the camera with the recording on it from the German's house near Praia da Luz on the Algarve coast.

In the footage  which has since disappeared  they describe how an elderly woman and a young girl are raped by a man who they identify as Brueckner.

Under German law, German nationals accused of crimes in other countries can be tried in their home country.

Investigators believe the 45-year-old also killed Madeleine, then aged three, after abducting her from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007.

However, he has not been charged with her disappearance.

Brueckner, who has denied any involvement in the case, was identified as a suspect in the McCann case by Portuguese officials in June 2020.

But the fact that Brueckner has not been charged for Madeleine's disappearance from the holiday apartment of parents Kate and Gerry will bring fresh heartache as they had hoped this would mark the end of the 15-year mystery.

The Braunschweig prosecutor's office said in a statement that the accused was the same person under investigation in connection with Madeleine's disappearance.

'Specifically, the accused is charged with three offences of aggravated rape and two offences of sexual abuse of children,' the prosecutor's office added. 'The investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann continues,' it noted.

Madeleine went missing from this apartment in the resort of Praia da Luz, Portugal, while on holiday there with her family in 2007

When asked about the McCann case prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters told MailOnline: 'We hope that we can put all our energy into the McCann case once the other investigations have ended.

'But we don't know how it will end, for the time being it is still open, maybe we can bring a charge, maybe we can't, but we are still hopeful.'

Reacting to the string of new charges, Brueckner's lawyer Fulscher told MailOnline: 'This has come as a complete surprise to me and my client.

'The charges appear to be based on statements from two dubious witnesses and on video evidence that no one has been able to find.

'These same two people have also given evidence in the McCann case and I have not even been shown their testimony.

'Part of the evidence in the case of the rape [of the 20-year-old woman] is that the attacker had a large tattoo or birthmark on his leg and the prosecution knows full well my client has neither.

'To bring charges the prosecutor has to be convinced the information in the case is reliable and relevant and we believe it is not. This is not a fair investigation.'

The case against Brueckner is expected to start next Spring.

Brueckner is currently in Oldenburg jail serving seven years for the rape of an elderly American woman in her home in Praia da Luz in 2005.

He was convicted after DNA from a hair in her bed was matched to him. Brueckner and his lawyer Fulscher have denied his involvement and insisted he was convicted after a bungled investigation.

Hans Christian Wolters, the German prosecutor investigating Madeleine's disappearance, recently warned there's no end in sight for the probe

In a letter to a friend, seen by MailOnline, Brueckner said: 'In the 2005 rape of the old lady, the offender was described as having dark eyes and [being] incredibly strong. I got convicted but I never had dark eyes or looked like Dwayne Johnson.'

He added:' There is absolutely no evidence that I committed this cruel crime. No DNA  just nothing. Things just appeared when there wasn't anything before.

'My hair from the 2005 case  13 years it just happens to appear in the BKA (German police) laboratory. It was one of 15 hairs that were found but mysteriously no DNA was found on 13 but on two there was  mine and the old lady.

'No more words are needed,' he added.

Brueckner's lawyer has now filed an appeal request in the German courts asking that the 2019 rape conviction be re-examined because the evidence used to convict him is weak.

He claims evidence in the new cases being investigated prove Brueckner could not have raped the pensioner as German authorities say that attack and the one on Behan were carried out by the same tattooed man.

But Mr Fulscher has pointed out his client has no tattoos and so therefore could not have carried out the rapes although he told MailOnline he was not hopefully of his appeal being granted.

He said: 'Only a vanishingly small proportion of applications are successful.'

Earlier this year, on the 15th anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance, her parents said it is 'essential' to learn the truth of what happened to their daughter.

On the same day, the Metropolitan Police, which continues to treat the case as a missing persons inquiry, said it is 'committed' to finding the truth.

In July 2013, Scotland Yard launched its own investigation, Operation Grange, into Madeleine's disappearance.
Trading standards and police officers have raided souvenir toy and sweet shops on Oxford Street suspected of dealing in counterfeit goods.

The stores on London's landmark stretch have been accused of being at the centre of a tax-evasion scandal.

Yesterday a joint operation staffed by investigators from HMRC and Westminster City Council, alongside local police, targeted seven shops.

They included the American-themed stores that have dogged the area for months.

The raided addresses are currently souvenir shops, but until recently were American candy premises.

Oxford Street based Met officers proudly showed off a picture of items seized, declaring: 'Playtime's over.'

The council said it seized more than 14,000 items yesterday with an estimated value of 215,000 from two shops.

Some stores  which have been accused of evading 8million in business rates  have been found flogging fake Wonka chocolate bars and Rolexes.

Bags of suspected counterfeit items were displayed by the police who said 'playtime's over'

Bagged and tagged: the items confiscated during the Tuesday afternoon operation in London

Westminster council said it was worried 'unscrupulous operators' were running the businesses

Cllr Adam Hug, leader of Westminster City Council, said: 'The latest raid on candy and souvenir stores has netted 215,000 of suspected fake and unsafe goods - from illegally strong vapes to designer fakes. It is part of an ongoing campaign by the City Council to ensure people on Oxford Street get what they pay for. This was one of a series of multi-agency operations supported by the Metropolitan police which allows us as a local authority to keep taking effective action.

'We all know there has been an explosion of these stores on Oxford Street. We are currently investigating 30 candy and souvenir stores for what we believe is business rates evasion in the region of 8 million. The reality is these stores are a threat to the status and value of what is supposed to be the nation's premier shopping street.

'We have just launched a new vision for Oxford Street to make it more attractive to visitors. That means attracting high value retail tenants, giving a chance to entrepreneurs through pop up business spots on Oxford Street and cracking down on dodgy sweet shops which leave a sour taste in the mouth for people who go in them.

'The Council has also recently thrown the spotlight onto dirty money and the opaque ownership structures which allow many candy and souvenir shops to spring up and close without being accountable. We want to see HMRC and the National Crime Agency get the resources they need and have pressed for this in the Economic Crime Bill. We also need to see urgent reform of Companies House as it is all too easy at present to set up a company with very little detail on who is really running them - something which allow unscrupulous operators to flourish.'

In one shop, named Gifts and Luggage, the focus appeared to be on a wall of cigarettes containing more nicotine than the level allowed in the UK.

More were found in a cupboard in a room at the back of the shop.

Director-general of the UK Vaping Industry Association John Dunne was at the site and remarked: 'They are starting to get wise and they are hiding them.'

MailOnline revealed in June the huge 7.9million tax scam investigation had been launched into scores of the themed shops on Oxford Street and the West End.

They were using TikTok, Instagram and YouTube to lure children into their store.

Westminster Council has seized 100,000 of fake and dodgy goods from Oxford Street American Candy stores including these Wonka Bars

What did officials take in the raids? Vapes  8069 Disposable vapes which are suspected to contained excessive levels of nicotine, tank sizes above the permitted level and products which had not been authorised by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency/ Counterfeit. Toys -256 warning/Safety labelling Snuz (tobacco product)  411 no English warning/safety labelling Mobile phone covers - 3534 suspected Counterfeit Hoodies  11 suspected Counterfeit Apple/Samsung ipods  112 suspected Counterfeit Chargers/Adaptors  1137 No safety labelling/Uk company details Play Station controllers- 11 suspected Counterfeit Power Banks  279 No safety labelling/Uk company details Shisha Products  183 No health warning Watches (Rolex)  25 suspected Counterfeit Jewellery(rings)- 826 suspected Counterfeit/Hallmark Act offences Advertisement

These stores have been branded 'the modern day childcatcher' amid calls for an investigation into similar stores that have cropped up on high streets across the country.

Some London candy shops are also selling sweets that are so sweet they would be illegal to manufacture in the UK.

Nickie Aiken, Tory MP for the Cities of London and Westminster  which includes Oxford Street - branded the stores 'sinister'. She told MailOnline: 'I think they are wrong on a number of levels - what they're offering and the way they entice young people and children into their stores with these bizarre marketing strategies. They are a bit like the modern day childcatcher.

'I think the other point to make is the landlords on Oxford Street obviously want to keep their premises open with tenants. But these shops don't really do much for the ambiance of Oxford Street. They bring it down really.

'So it is a bit of short termism by landlords I would suggest. They really want to be investing in their buildings and investing in the type of tenants that will draw more people in the long term.'

Ms Aiken said she was sure there were similar issues in other parts of the country, but the 'concentration' in Oxford Street made it obvious.

Campaign group Action On Sugar said the stores are exploiting a loophole that means imported US chocolates and candy do not face the same restrictions on sugar content as UK-made products. It means the American-themed superstores sell products containing almost treble the amount of sugar a British child should consume daily, even in a small single serving. Action On Sugar called the targeting of children 'appalling'.

Wera Hobhouse, Lib Dem MP for Bath, said there were three American candy stores in her city, and called for the government to investigate the 'loophole' that allowed super-sweet US candy to be imported into Britain.

Officials probing retailers' tax affairs are understood to be concerned about a purported tactic whereby bosses using a single store name set up numerous limited companies to serve as its legal owner, before closing the companies prior to them being liable for business rates. Two companies which share directors with Kingdom of Sweets - Croftray Limited and Old Green Limited - have already been wound up owing 2million in rates.

The council is also understood to be concerned about another alleged tactic used by rivals of Kingdom of Sweets which sees shops set up in empty buildings to avoid the landlord having to pay business rates on an empty premises, before closing and leaving before the shopkeepers become liable for the tax themselves. There is no suggestion Kingdom of Sweets has been doing this.

A spokesman for Kingdom of Sweets said: 'We are a respectable business paying all relevant taxes and business rates. The issue of rival stores opening and then closing without paying business rates has had a detrimental impact on our trading in an extremely difficult environment.

'As a responsible business we support plans to clamp down on this practice and will continue working with Westminster Council.'
An SNP minister in Nicola Sturgeon's Government got involved in a foul-mouthed 1am bust-up with another party member at a boozy 'drag bingo' event at an Aberdeen nightclub - just hours before the Scottish First Minister delivered her keynote conference speech.

Mental Wellbeing Minister Kevin Stewart, 54, was reportedly on the dancefloor at a party in Cheerz nightclub organised by the SNP's LGBTQ+ wing Out for Independence when the row broke out on Monday morning.

One witness to the confrontation said that there had been 'a lot of finger wagging' and 'yelling', with the man involved heard shouting towards the Nationalist politician: 'Are we in Birmingham? Are we Tories now?'.

Do YOU know what happened that night? Get in touch by emailing jack.wright@mailonline.co.uk or calling 020 3615 4021 Advertisement

The MSP for Aberdeen Central was reportedly then spotted gesturing towards the SNP member and using foul language before he left Cheerz alongside a bouncer after the incident.

The other man involved in the disagreement remained in the bar for at least another hour after Mr Stewart left.

Mr Stewart denied that his conduct was the cause of the screaming match, and insisted he got into the argument because of the 'behaviours' of others. The Government minister also claimed to have 'left out of choice' when asked about his late-night bust up.

'There wasn't a fight, there was an argument - I wasn't happy with some of the behaviours on display,' he said.

The SNP last night remained tight lipped about whether any formal complaints had been made about the incident.

A senior Government official said that he was not aware of any complaints having been made about Mr Stewart's conduct.

According to a councillor in attendance, Mr Stewart was late to the event and forced to do push ups as a 'forfeit'.

A dismayed SNP councillor who watched the altercation said it was 'embarrassing' to see a government minister involved in the public spat.

Mental Wellbeing Minister Kevin Stewart (pictured right) was reportedly on the dancefloor at a party in Cheerz nightclub in Aberdeen organised by the SNP's LGBTQ+ wing Out for Independence when the row broke out on Monday at 1am

Mr Stewart in the Scottish Parliament in October 2019. He has insisted he got into the argument at the nightclub because of the 'behaviours' of others

The row broke out during at a boozy 'drag bingo' event at Cheerz nightclub in Aberdeen (pictured)

An image of the interior of Cheerz nightclub in Aberdeen, where the row broke out

Pictured, the bar at Cheerz in Aberdeen where a drag event for SNP members was held

A member of party staff who was at the club said Mr Stewart's conduct was 'unacceptable'.

The 54-year-old was elected to Holyrood in 2011, having been a councillor in Aberdeen for the previous 12 years.

Miss Sturgeon appointed him as her local government, housing and planning minister in 2016 and he was moved into his current mental health role in May last year.

Just eight-and-a-half hours after the late-night row, Mr Stewart was attending the P&J Live arena on the outskirts of the city to speak at a conference fringe event about bereavement.

At the talk hosted by the UK Commission on Bereavement, he appeared alongside Donald Macaskill - the chief executive of Scottish Care - and Ellie Wagstaff from the Marie Curie cancer charity, to discuss how to improve support for families dealing with loss.

Mr Stewart tweeted a photo of Miss Sturgeon's keynote speech on Monday afternoon, quoting her as saying: 'Let's make Aberdeen the net zero capital of the world'

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon waving after making her keynote conference speech

Later that afternoon, he tweeted a photo of Miss Sturgeon's keynote speech, quoting her as saying: 'Let's make Aberdeen the net zero capital of the world.'

This is not the first time that the SNP has been embroiled in accusations about the conduct of one of its politicians.

Earlier this year, a financial agreement was struck between the SNP and one of its Westminster employees after his harassment complaint about former party chief whip Patrick Grady was upheld.

A Westminster probe concluded that Mr Grady, the MP for Glasgow North, significantly breached the House of Commons' sexual misconduct policy after making an 'unwanted sexual advance' towards a junior staff member.

He was accused of touching and stroking the neck, hair and back of a 19-year-old male party worker in 2016.

In August this year, Sky News reported claims from a former SNP staff member that the party has a 'line of tolerance' when it comes to complaints about sexual misconduct and what constitutes inappropriate behaviour.

The ex-employee said: 'You're allowed to pat someone on the bum, you're maybe allowed to put your finger down someone's neck, maybe you can kiss them without consent, but you're not allowed to rape them.

'And to me that is abhorrent and horrific, but it really does show the culture inside of Westminster ... basically if it's not rape it's okay.'

Do YOU know what happened that night? Get in touch by emailing jack.wright@mailonline.co.uk or calling 020 3615 4021
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Nearly 500 whales have died after a 'heart-breaking' mass stranding on two remote beaches in New Zealand.

None of the 477 stranded whales could be refloated and all either died naturally or were euthanised, said Daren Grover, the general manager of Project Jonah, a nonprofit group which helps rescue whales.

The whales beached themselves on the Chatham Islands, which are home to about 600 people and located about 500 miles east of New Zealand's main islands.

A string of dead pilot whales line the beach at Tupuangi Beach, Chatham Islands, in New Zealand's Chatham Archipelago

None of the 477 stranded whales could be refloated and all either died naturally or were euthanised in a 'heartbreaking' loss

The whales beached themselves on the Chatham Islands, which are home to about 600 people and located about 500 miles east of New Zealand's main islands

The Department of Conservation said 232 whales stranded themselves Friday at Tupuangi Beach and another 245 at Waihere Bay on Monday.

The deaths come two weeks after about 200 pilot whales died in Australia after stranding themselves on a remote Tasmanian beach.

'These events are tough, challenging situations,' the Department of Conservation wrote in a Facebook post. 'Although they are natural occurrences, they are still sad and difficult for those helping.'

Grover said the remote location and presence of sharks in the surrounding waters meant they couldn't mobilise volunteers to try to refloat the whales as they have in past stranding events.

'We do not actively refloat whales on the Chatham Islands due to the risk of shark attack to humans and the whales themselves, so euthanasia was the kindest option,' said Dave Lundquist, a technical marine advisor for the conservation department.

The Department of Conservation said 232 whales stranded themselves Friday at Tupuangi Beach and another 245 at Waihere Bay on Monday

The deaths come two weeks after about 200 pilot whales died in Australia after stranding themselves on a remote Tasmanian beach

Grover said the remote location and presence of sharks in the surrounding waters meant they couldn't mobilise volunteers to try to refloat the whales as they have in past stranding events

Mass strandings of pilot whales are reasonably common in New Zealand, especially during the summer months.

Scientists don't know exactly what causes the whales to strand, although it appears their location systems can get confused by gently sloping sandy beaches.

Grover said there is a lot of food for the whales around the Chatham Islands, and as they swim closer to land, they would quickly find themselves going from very deep to shallow water.

'They rely on their echolocation and yet it doesn't tell them that they are running out of water,' Grover said. 'They come closer and closer to shore and become disoriented. The tide can then drop from below them and before they know it, they're stranded on the beach.'

Mass strandings of pilot whales are reasonably common in New Zealand, especially during the summer months

Scientists don't know exactly what causes the whales to strand, although it appears their location systems can get confused by gently sloping sandy beaches

Because of the remote location of the beaches, the whale carcasses won't be buried or towed out to sea, as is often the case, but instead will be left to decompose, Grover said.

'Nature is a great recycler and all the energy stored within the bodies of all the whales will be returned to nature quite quickly,' he said.

In 2017, more than 600 pilot whales washed up on the South Island at Farewell Spit, with more than 350 dying.

In 1918, around 1,000 pilot whales were stranded on the Chatham Islands, the largest whale stranding ever recorded.
Police have launched an urgent manhunt after a knifeman stabbed a passer-by 'at random' in central London leaving him fighting for his life.

The horrifying incident happened just before 4pm yesterday near Tower Bridge, with the 57-year-old victim taken by air ambulance to hospital - where he remains today.

The Met said it was taking the 'unusual step' of immediately releasing an image of the suspect, a white man in a black coat holding a backpack who is seen running down a road, because they 'urgently' wanted to locate him.

No items were taken from the victim and he did not appear to know his attacker, police said, while urging anyone who sees the suspect to phone 999 and not approach him.

It is the latest example of pedestrians in the capital being caught up in bloody street violence since three 'have-a-go heroes' were knifed while trying to stop two muggers on electric bikes in Bishopsgate last Thursday.

The Met has taken the 'rare' step of releasing a photo of a man suspected of stabbing a passer-by at 'random' yesterday near Tower Bridge

Incredible footage showed the trio fighting off the gang after they tried to rob a City worker outside the 22 Bishopsgate skyscraper.

A 25-year-old man has now been arrested over the incident, police said on Monday.

The Met is also investigating the murder of 19-year-old Zasheem Kane Ontre Moses, who was fatally stabbed on Tottenham High Road at the end of last month.

Police were called at around 5.30pm to an altercation and found Zasheem with stab injuries.

He died in the arms of paramedics, with his family paying tribute to a 'good young man' who 'looked after his brothers and mum'.

The Met said an investigation has been launched and a crime scene remains in place.

Yesterday's stabbing near Tower Bridge is still being investigated by police.

No items were taken from the victim and he did not appear to know his attacker, police said, while urging anyone who sees the suspect to phone 999 and not approach him

Detective Sergeant Ben Stephenson said: 'We are taking the unusual step of releasing this image very early in our investigation. We urgently want to locate this man.

'This appears to have been a random attack. No items were taken from the victim who did not appear to know his attacker.

'While we have no definite information to suggest there is any further risk to the public, given the nature of this incident we would urge anyone who sees this man, or recognises him, to call 999 and not approach him.'

Anyone calling 999 in relation to the incident should provide the reference 6655/11OCT.
Twitter has erupted in rage at an ABC journalist's suggestion that the Albanese government's top law minister had earnt a reputation of being the 'dobber-in-chief'.

The unflattering description was made during Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus's appearance at the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday to explain how the new federal anti-corruption watchdog will work.

ABC political editor Andrew Probyn asked Mr Dreyfus about protections against false allegations being made to the National Anti-Corruption Commission, the new body the Albanese government is attempting to legislate through parliament.

ABC political editor Andrew Probyn asserted Attorney General Mark Dreyfus had 'fairly or unfairly' gained himself the reputation of dobber-in-cheif' at a National Press Club lunch

'Mr Dreyfus, when you were in opposition, unfairly or fairly you gained the reputation as the dobber-in-chief,' Probyn said to introduce his question.

'You referred quite a few ministers to the AFP(Australian Federal Police), indeed, predecessors of yours as Attorney General, both George Brandis and Christian Porter.

'So, when it comes to the National Anti-Corruption Commission, when will referrals be made and, conversely what punishment would there be for public disclosure of false allegations, given that the reputational damage is evident, to coin a phrase, that perhaps reputations would be knackered?'

Mr Dreyfus smiled in response to Probyn's question, apparently at the use of the term 'knackered'.

Mr Dreyfus gave no visible sign that he was unhappy at being labelled a 'dobber-in-chief'

He appeared to take no offense at the 'dobber-in-chief' label but the same could not be said for many Twitter users.

'What a f**king pissant question & you wonder why we give you s**t? Amount of s**t correlates exactly to intelligence level of ur?,' one fumed.

'What's wrong with you?' Another asked.

'Describing Mark Dreyfus as 'the dobber in chief' for simply doing their job, makes you at best completely juvenile. Grow up. '

Some Twitter users questioned the highly respected journalist's professionalism.

'Probyn are you serious with a question like that to our Attorney General? 'Dobber in Chief'?' one wrote.

'Do you believe questionable conduct of a minister should not be reported to the AFP? Do you actually understand what your role is as a 'journalist'?'

Some Twitter users were quick to suggest Probyn did not understand what his job entailed

'I could write a whole essay about what this choice of words suggests about Probyn and his inability to distinguish between journalism and propaganda and between professionalism and looking like lacking in class and manners,' wrote another.

Some Twitter critiques were more succinct.

''Dobber in chief' pathetic journalism, just rubbish,' one read.

'Dobber in chief. Seriously How insulting. Grow up #auspol #pressclub #NPC,' another rebuked.

However at least one Twitter user found the description more amusing than infuriating.

''Dobber in Chief' gets a run at the Hack's Lunch. GOLD! LOL,' they wrote.

In answer to Probyn's question Mr Dreyfus began talking in general terms about what would be referred to the commission and what wouldn't be.

Probyn interrupted the reply.

There was at least one Twitter user who found the incident more amusing than infuriating

'It (his question) wasn't about referral,' the ABC journalist said.

It would be when would they become public?'

Mr Dreyfus said there are 'a range of safeguards ... to protect against unfair undue reputational damage' and whether investigations were kept secret would be a matter for the watchdog.

The Attorney General promised it would be made clear when witnesses were appearing before the commission to give evidence and when they were subject to allegations.

'We hope (these measures) are improvements on all of the state and territory arrangements and we hope they will go some distance to guarding against undue reputational damage,' Mr Dreyfus said.
An Iranian Netflix actress has stripped off her hijab and Islamic robes layer by layer down to just her underpants in a defiant protest against the regime's authoritarian clothing laws.

Elnaaz Norouzi, 30, shared a video in which she shed her state-mandated headscarf and stood topless in solidarity with the mass demonstrations rocking Iran since the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, 22, who was arrested by the morality police for 'inappropriate attire'.

Norouzi, who stars in Sacred Games, told her two million followers: 'I am not promoting nudity, I am promoting freedom of choice!'

Iranian Netflix actress Elnaaz Norouzi stripped off her hijab and Islamic robes layer by layer down to just her underpants

The star shared a video in which she shed her state-mandated headscarf in solidarity with the mass demonstrations rocking Iran

Norouzi, who stars in Sacred Games, told her two million followers: 'I am not promoting nudity, I am promoting freedom of choice!'

The actress is first seen standing with only her hands, eyes and feet visible, with the rest of her body covered with a black hijab and robes.

The star then peels off each item of clothing layer by layer and lets her hair down in bold defiance against the authoritarian state's clothing laws for women.

Under her robes, she is wearing a dress, jeans, a shirt, a skirt and a crop top, which she all removes leaving her standing in her underwear.

The star then goes even further and removes a first layer of underpants and her bra, covering her chest with only her hands.

The star then peels off each item of clothing layer by layer and lets her hair down in bold defiance against the authoritarian state's clothing laws for women

Under her robes, she is wearing a dress, jeans, a shirt, a skirt and a crop top, which she all removes leaving her standing in her underwear

Norouzi previously worked as an international model for luxury brands including Dior and Lacoste and works in India and Germany

Norouzi wrote in the Instagram caption: 'Every Woman should have the power to decide over her own body!'

Norouzi wrote in the Instagram caption: 'Every Woman, anywhere in the world, regardless of where she is from, should have the right to wear whatever she desires and when or wherever she desires to wear it.

'No man nor any other woman has the right to judge her or ask her to dress otherwise.

'Everyone has different views and beliefs and they have to be respected.

'Democracy means the power to decide Every Woman should have the power to decide over her own body!'

Norouzi previously worked as an international model for luxury brands including Dior and Lacoste and works in India and Germany.

The demonstrations were sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, (pictured) a woman who died in the custody of Iran's feared morality police

She told India Today: 'The situation in Iran is very bad at the moment... Women have been oppressed for more than 40 years. I was born in Tehran and I have seen it. I had to wear hijab from early on.

'I myself was stopped by morality police a couple of years back when I was in Tehran. I was taken away for 're-education', as they called it, where Mahsa was taken, where she must have been beaten.

'It is a scary place to live in. You don't want to live like that. You don't want to leave the house and not know if you're ever going come back. It is sad. We just don't want our women, our people to live like this.

'Anywhere in the world, women should be allowed to make their own decision. It is fine if they want to cover their hair or don't want to cover their hair. It should be a woman's decision for herself. That is what Iranian people are hoping for.'

Norouzi joins a chorus of opposition to Iran's clothing laws, with thousands of women taking off their headscarves and cutting their hair in recent weeks.

Protesters and celebrities around the world have also cut their hair in a sign of solidarity with Iranian women.

Demonstrations that began last month at the funeral of Ms Amini have turned into the biggest challenges to Iran's clerical leaders in years, with protesters calling for the downfall of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

This powerful image shows schoolgirls raising their middle fingers at a portrait of Iran's leaders in a classroom. Some of the girls are shown to have removed their headscarves and are holding them above their heads while they make the gesture, their long hair draped down their backs

Oscar-winning actors Marion Cotillard (right) and Juliette Binoche (left) filmed themselves chopping off locks of their hair in a video in support of protesters in Iran

Ms Amini's death has sparked an unprecedented wave of protests across Iran.

She was arrested on September 13 for wearing 'inappropriate attire'. She died three days later at a Tehran hospital.

Iran's government insists Amini was not mistreated, but her family says her body showed bruises and other signs of beating after she was detained for violating the Islamic Republic's strict dress code.

Subsequent videos have shown security forces beating and shoving female protesters, including women who have torn off their mandatory headscarf, or hijab.

The authorities are waging a deadly crackdown against the unrest, with more than 185 protesters feared killed in the violence, including 19 children.

The government says more than 20 members of the security forces have been killed.

The authorities are waging a deadly crackdown against the unrest, with more than 185 protesters feared killed in the violence, including 19 children

Iranian students chant slogans as they protest at Tehran's Amirkabir University of Technology

Iranian authorities have said they will investigate civilian deaths.

They have blamed the violence on an array of enemies, including armed Iranian Kurdish dissidents, the US and Isreal.

Dozens of universities are also currently on strike, with students playing a pivotal role in the protests.

In several neighbourhoods of Tehran, such as Shahrak'e Gharb and Narmak, witnesses said people chanted 'Death to Khamenei' from rooftops after nightfall.

Videos on social media showed demonstrations in the cities of Isfahan and Qom with protesters cursing and throwing stones at security forces.

The authorities' crackdown on protesters has prompted some Western states to draw up more sanctions on Iran, stoking diplomatic tensions at a time when talks to revive Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers are at a standstill.
The body of missing California woman Jolissa Fuentes has been found two months after she disappeared, officials announced last night.

The 22-year-old's body was discovered inside a heavily damaged car at the foot of a 400ft cliff near Pine Flat Lake in Fresno County on Monday after investigators found evidence that a car had left a road up in the hills.

Selma police chief Rudy Alcaraz was led to the crash site after theorizing that Fuentes may have fallen asleep at the wheel and managed to find the car in a region police had already searched, picking his way through heavy grass and bushes to make the discovery.

Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims credited 'divine intervention' for helping cops to track down Fuentes.

'As a woman of faith, I believe [Alcaraz] was divinely channeled to that area,' Mims told reporters at a press conference yesterday.

'I just got lucky in finding the location where her car went off the road,' Alcaraz said.

Jolissa Fuentes was last seen on August 7 at the AM/PM gas station in Selma, California, about 15 miles southeast of Fresno

The 22-year-old's body was discovered inside a heavily damaged car at the foot of a 400ft cliff near Pine Flat Lake in Fresno County on Monday after investigators found evidence that a car had left a road up in the hills (police pictured at the edge of the cliff)

Fuentes was last seen on August 7 at the AM/PM gas station in Selma, California, about 15 miles southeast of Fresno, when a surveillance camera spotted her leaving her silver 2011 Hyundai Accent to make a purchase at around 4am.

Family members said she had been at a family gathering until the early hours of the morning, lending credence to Alcaraz' theory she may have dropped off behind the wheel.

Incredible drone footage released by Fresno County Sheriff's office showed the treacherous landscape rescue teams had to traverse in order to find the heavily damaged car, which can be seen nestled in the overgrowth.

Police picked their way through heavy grass and bushes to make the discovery after rappelling down the cliff face

Selma police chief Rudy Alcaraz was led to the crash site after theorizing that Fuentes may have fallen asleep at the wheel and managed to find the car in a region police had already searched

This security footage from an AM/PM gas station is the last known sighting of Fuentes prior to her disappearance

Fuentes' parents, Norma Nunez and Joey Fuentes, were teary eyed as they stood next to law enforcement officials at yesterday's press conference.

They gave thanks to the officials who had participated in the search for their daughter and made a statement expressing gratitude for the public support they had received after several members of their community joined search efforts.

'I want to thank the community, not just the community, this whole nation. The cries and the pain of my wife and my sisters and my family was heard around this whole country,' Mr Fuentes said through tears.

He went on to name police chief Alcaraz as a 'hero' for finding his daughter.

Fuentes' parents, Norma Nunez and Joey Fuentes, were teary eyed as they stood next to law enforcement officials at yesterday's press conference

A photo of Fuentes standing in front of her silver Hyundai before she mysteriously disappeared on August 7

Family members said that, based on the surveillance footage, Fuentes turned in the wrong direction to get to her home when she left the gas station parking lot on August 7.

At approximately 5:24am - 90 minutes after she was last seen - she made two calls to her sister but the calls went unanswered.

The desperate family turned to the amateur dive team Adventures with Purpose to help comb nearby lakes in their search for her.

The dive team has solved 23 missing persons cases, and most recently discovered the body and silver SUV driven by missing teenager Kiely Rodni, 16.

The divers searched Avocado and Pine Flat lake after cops said her phone last pinged in that area, but were unable to find any trace of her.

All the while Fuentes' car lay smashed up, hidden by shrubbery and grass, after having plummeted hundreds of feet down the side of a cliff.

Missing person flyer of Jolissa Fuentes, 22, from California

Fuentes was seen on a gas station's surveillance video getting out of her car - a silver 2011 Hyundai Accent - walking inside the gas station and making a purchase before going back to her vehicle

The desperate family turned to the amateur dive team, Adventures with Purpose, to help comb nearby lakes in their search for her. The dive team has solved 23 missing persons cases, and most recently discovered the body and silver SUV driven by missing teenager Kiely Rodni, 16

A statement released by Fresno County Sheriff's office following the discovery of Fuentes and her car read: 'On Monday, October 10, Selma Police Department Chief Rudy Alcaraz discovered vehicle debris along Trimmer Springs Road, near Pine Flat Lake.

'A closer look led Chief Alcaraz to believe a car crash may have occurred in the area. He found old tire tracks that went through vegetation and off a cliff. Chief Alcaraz contacted the Fresno County Sheriff's Office and requested members of the Search and Rescue team respond to the site.

'Drones were flown and deputies rappelled down more than 400 feet off the roadway and discovered a damaged car. The vehicle belonged to Jolissa Fuentes.

'Human remains and some of Jolissa's personal belongings were discovered in this ravine. Recovery efforts continued into Tuesday... No foul play is suspected in this case.

'Family, friends and law enforcement conducted extensive searches for Jolissa and spread the word in hopes of gaining information of her whereabouts.

'We wish to extend our prayers to all of Jolissa's loved ones during this difficult time.'




Ruling party leader Chung Jin-suk called Wednesday for scrapping a 1991 inter-Korean declaration on denuclearization and a military tension reduction deal with North Korea in the event Pyongyang carries out its seventh nuclear test.







The appeal came two days after the North said it carried out military drills involving units operating "tactical nukes," including simulating nuclear missile strikes on South Korean airports and firing a nuclear-capable missile from under a reservoir.







"Kim Jong-un unveiled the North's tactical nuclear operation unit on Oct. 10, the anniversary of the Workers' Party, saying that its targets are the airports and ports of the Republic of Korea," Rep. Chung of the ruling People Power Party said in a Facebook post.







"Nuclear bombs can fall over our heads at any time," he said.







Chung said the 1991 denuclearization declaration has been made "a piece of wastepaper by North Korea." Under the declaration, the two Koreas committed not to "test, manufacture, produce, receive, possess, store, deploy or use nuclear weapons."







"Should North Korea go ahead with its seventh nuclear test, not only the Sept. 19 inter-Korean military agreement signed during the Moon Jae-in administration but also the 1991 Joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula should be scrapped," Chung said.







For the past 30 years since the declaration, the North has stocked up on plutonium- and uranium-based nuclear weapons and now even possesses intercontinental ballistic missiles, Chung said, adding that the North has become a "nuclear weapons department store."







South Korea should not bind its own hands and feet under the denuclearization deal, he said.







"The time has come to make a decision," Chung said.







Chung, however, rejected views that he is calling for a redeployment of tactical nuclear weapons to South Korea, saying the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty should not be taken lightly. (Yonhap)


Comedian Kim Congdon (pictured) has said she was sexually assaulted by a fan at a New York City comedy show on Saturday

Comedian Kim Congdon has said she was sexually assaulted by a fan who then 'pretended he was blind' as she walked through the crowd at a New York City stand-up show on Saturday.

Congdon had just finished her opening set for fellow comedian Joey Diaz at Sony Hall when the incident took place, she told Deadline.

She also took to Twitter on Sunday, apologising for any fans that 'saw me kick a guy's a** after the show last night'. 'He sexually assaulted me after my set (and bragged about it on his way out), ruining an otherwise perfect night for me,' she wrote.

Congdon is known for Impractical Jokers, Stoned Science, her 'This B**ch' podcast and Broad Topicx on YouTube - as well as appearance on other big-name podcasts such as The Joe Rogan Experience.

Speaking to Deadline, she said the incident happened as she went to fetch her phone on a tripod 'near the sound booth'. The route to her phone took her through the crowd, which was when she says the man 'poked me in my vagina'.

'When it happened, I was already walking the other way. When I turned around he literally pretended like he was blind,' she told the news outlet.

It was as 'Joey [Diaz] was getting onstage and a lot of people were cheering and then the lights went down' that she was assaulted, she said. Because it was dark, she said she lost track of the man, but venue officials were able to find him later.

She identified the man, and officials kicked him out of the venue, she said.

Pictured: Kim Congdon takes to Twitter to describe the incident, in which she says she was sexually assaulted by a person in the crowd at a comedy show on Saturday

Taking to Twitter on Sunday, she wrote: 'If u saw me kick a guys a** after the show last night, I am sorry. He sexually assaulted me after my set (and bragged about it on his way out), ruining an otherwise perfect night for me. I am only tweeting this as a warning. I will be carrying from now on. Next guy dies.'

Users of the social media platform largely posted in support of Congdon, but after some seemingly tried to play down the incident and sent her abusive messages, she posted again on Monday to give more detail.

'I cant believe I have to say this but I would not tweet or make a fuss about someone grazing me by accident,' she wrote.

'Im not out to get or accuse anyone. This man poked me in my vagina twice essentially trying to finger me through leggings when I walked by him.

'It happened the second I got off stage at a sold out theatre and in SECONDS he was gone in the dark crowd,' the comedian continued. 'By the time they found him the show was almost over and he didnt care he was being kicked out cause he said at least I got to touch Kims p**sy.'

Congdon (pictured performing stand-up comedy) is known for Impractical Jokers, Stoned Science, her 'This B**ch' podcast and Broad Topicx on YouTube - as well as appearance on other big-name podcasts such as The Joe Rogan Experience

In another Tweet, she wrote: 'This has been an eye opening experience that hurt me but made me sad for victims who have been through so much worse.'

Reacting to the response to her original tweet, she wrote: 'The response to my last tweet is why Women dont tell their stories,' while sharing a screenshot of one of the messages she recieved.

She told Deadline that the incident happened on the same night of another incident in New Jersey, where beer was thrown at Ariel Elias at a comedy club.

These are just the latest in a series of high-profile attacks on comedians in recent months, kicked off with Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars on March 27.

On May 4, Dave Chappelle was assaulted at the Hollywood bowl by a man carrying a replica handgun which had a switchblade attached to it, while in April rapper T.I. stormed the stage at an open mic night in Atlanta, grabbing the microphone from a female comedian after she brought up sexual assault allegations made against him.

Another comic, Sampson McCormick, was punched during his show at Win-River Resort & Casino in Redding, on March 23. He said the attack came after he made jokes at the expense of a female heckler, which prompted a man to hit him.

Congdon told Deadline that she has been doing stand-up comedy for ten years, during which she has dealt with 'stalkers and all kinds of things'. After Saturday's incident, she said her next thought was: 'This probably won't be the last time'.
It occurred on the corner of Nuwarra and Newbridge Road in Moorebank

The man exited his vehicle and then began punching and kicking another driver

An angry driver has repeatedly punched and kicked a motorist stopped at a traffic light in a shocking act of road rage.

Footage uploaded to social media from another car shows the furious man on the corner of Nuwarra and Newbridge Road in Moorebank, Sydney's southwest, reach through the door of the silver hatchback and strike the driver.

Stunned motorists watched on in horror as the bashing continued before the attacker casually walks away and returns to his vehicle.

Motorists weren't the only ones shocked by the behaviour with many taking to social media to voice their outrage at the vicious assault.

'Someone should be charged,' one person wrote.

'If you want to fight someone, at least let them get out of the car ffs,' said another.

'Wtf is wrong with people?! Who in there right mind thinks that's acceptable behaviour,' commented a third.

Footage uploaded to social media from another car shows the furious man on the corner of Nuwarra and Newbridge Road in Moorebank, Sydney's southwest, reach through the door of the silver hatchback and strike the driver (pictured)

Stunned motorists watched on in horror as the bashing continued before the attacker casually walks away and returns to his vehicle

One person who claimed they were there alleged after the man walked away from the vehicle he used a racial slur.

This incident comes after another brutal road rage incident in nearby Yagoona last month.

In that case a 30-year-old man allegedly stopped his Subaru in front of a Toyota RAV4 before he smashed the car window with a metal pole and hit the passenger in the head.
Hamish MacDonald has slapped down a business guru who claimed that working from home is here to stay while slamming the phenomenon as 'nonsense'.

Corporate Advisor Tina Paterson told The Project it was employees who had the power to decide whether they wanted to return to the office post Covid.

However, Macdonald argued young workers could learn from their superiors in the office and that allowing the choice 'diminishes' the notion of a workplace.

'If you don't offer your employees flexibility, others will,' Ms Paterson warned.

The guru said business leaders needed to shift their mindsets to outcomes rather than the number of hours spent in the office.

'Isn't work about more than just the outcomes?' MacDonald hit back.

'You want a culture, you want a space that people can come to and have friendships, have relationships, that build networks and you learn from.'

'They don't, they want to be at home,' his co-host Carrie Bickmore interrupted.

The Project host Hamish MacDonald has slapped down a business guru who claimed the working from home phenomenon is here to stay post Covid

'Creating businesses where it is only about the outcome actually strips away from many people the pleasure, joy and stimulation of being in a job,' Macdonald said.

'It's about having both,' Ms Paterson replied.

MacDonald told his co-hosts 'the whole working from home thing is nonsense'.

'I hate it. I think if your a young worker you want to be in a workplace where you can learn from people,' he said.

'Unless we think really clearly about this, I think your actually just pulling apart what the purpose of a workplace is.

'I think it's diminishing the value that you can get from having a job.'

Corporate Advisor Tina Paterson (pictured) told The Project it was employees who had the power to decide whether they wanted to return to the office

According to the latest census data from the Bureau of Statistics, 1 in 5 Australians were working from home on the Census Date last year, August 10 (stock image)

According to the latest census data from the Bureau of Statistics, one in five Australians were working from home on the Census Date last year, August 10.

While the majority of workers received their first opportunity to work from home during the Covid pandemic, experts believe the rising cost of living and price of fuel is deterring people from returning to the office full-time.

Other workers don't want to spend hours waiting in traffic during their commute to work while others liked saving the money usually spent on fares.

Organisational psychologist Amantha Imber said people opted to be in the office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays so they could 'ease into work'.

'That means it is quite nice on the Friday to ease out of your week if your spending the day working from home,' she explained.

Carrie Bickmore (right) said some workers tired of their jobs without interaction in the office

While some organisations offered flexibility, others were more 'old school', she said.

'Given the war for talent going on at the moment, employees can vote with their feet' she said, adding people worked best when allowed more autonomy.

During the Covid pandemic, Australians who were able to were encouraged to work from home to minimise the spread of the disease.

Companies vary when it comes to work from home policies, with some offices requiring their staff to come in full-time while others allowing employees to choose.

Bickmore on Tuesday night announced she would quit The Project to spend more time with her partner Chris Walker and her three children Ollie, Adelaide and Evie.

Bickmore on Tuesday night (pictured) announced she would quit The Project to spend more time with her partner Chris Walker and her three children Ollie, Adelaide and Evie

The TV presenter fought back tears as she told viewers it was the hardest decision she had made in her professional life.

The mother of three has been on The Project desk since the show launched in 2009 and has since become a familiar face on Australian screens.

'I have some news that I wanted to share... s**t I'm already crying,' she began.

'I have made the tough decision to finish up hosting the show at the end of the year.

'It's been the hardest decision of my professional life, to make this call, but it's time for a new challenge and for my next chapter.'
Comes as Monty Python star said the BBC would now 'cancel' him in five minutes

Said 'man of a certain age' John Cleese was being held accountable for his words

Graham Norton has taken aim at John Cleese for speaking out against cancel culture, saying that it is about being held 'accountable' for what you say.

The BBC talk show host, 59, said free speech is not 'consequence free' and that 'cancel' culture was the 'wrong word' to use - instead saying it should be 'accountability'.

Norton took a swipe at the Fawlty Towers star, 82, describing him as a 'man of a certain age' who has said 'whatever he likes for years' and is now being held accountable.

BBC presenter Graham Norton, who said that cancel culture is about being held 'accountable' pictured in June 2022.

The Monty Python legend, 82, pictured at the Social Democratic Party Conference in Manchester on Saturday, said he would turn down a return to the BBC if they asked him

The pair pictured together while John Cleese appeared on the Graham Norton show

Talking about 'cancel' culture at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, he said, as reported by the Telegraph: 'The word is the wrong word. I think the word should be ''accountability''.

'John Cleese has been very public recently about complaining about what you can't say.

'It must be very hard to be a man of a certain age who's been able to say whatever he likes for years, and now suddenly there's some accountability.'

He continued: 'It's free speech, but not consequence free. I'm aware of the things I say.'

Cancel culture refers to the 'cancelling' of people, brands and other pop culture such as movies and shows over what some deem to be offensive.

The 'cancelling' can be in the form of taking someone off television to revoking sponsorship deals, boycotting products and on social media.

It comes as Monty Python legend Cleese recently told the BBC he would never work for them again  because the broadcaster would 'cancel' him in five minutes.

Cleese said he would turn down any overtures from the corporation because he believed it would either censor or axe him almost immediately.

Monty Python - featuring Cleese - is one of British comedy's most loved and influential shows

The Fawlty Towers creator was speaking to the BBC on Radio 4's Today programme when he was making the remarks.

He said: 'The BBC have not come to me and said would you like to have some one hour shows, and if they did I would say ''not on your nelly''.

'I wouldn't get five minutes into the first show before I would be cancelled or censored.'

Cleese, who is an outspoken critic of woke culture, is joining GB News to present a show alongside comedian Andrew Doyle.

It is understood it will be in a discussion format looking at issues including 'wokery' and 'cancel culture' as well as free speech.

When questioned about his thoughts on the limits of free speech he told presenter Amol Rajan: 'Somebody once said to me: 'Everyone's in favour of free speech, particularly for the ideas that they like.''

Then responding to whether free speech should extend to those spreading opinions and misinformation about public health matters, he added: 'If there's a factual response to something like that, then that should be made.

'That's the job, to put the facts out there, and then to have opinions slightly separate and have a proper argument about it, but not to try to avoid a public debate and then try and get yourself through [on] social media.'

In July, Cleese slammed woke culture for having a 'disastrous' effect on comedy.

He told FreedomFest in Las Vegas that he does not believe comedians have the freedom to be funny any more, blasting today's cancel culture as the 'death of creativity'.

Cleese said: 'I think it's particularly worrying at the moment because you can only create in an atmosphere of freedom, where you're not checking everything you say critically before you move on.

'A lot of comedians now are sitting there and when they think of something, they say something like, 'Can I get away with it? I don't think so. So and so got into trouble, and he said that, oh, she said that.' You see what I mean? And that's the death of creativity.'
Britain's pubs and breweries could run out of beer this winter as fears grow over gas shortages.

Drinks industry bosses called for pubs to be put on a priority list for gas supplies to avoid running out of stock in a matter of months.

The National Grid warned last week that the UK could face return to the 1970s with rolling blackouts across the country if the energy crisis worsens.

The energy crisis, made worse by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, could cause a shortage of gas at the UK's power stations.

Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg has announced priority lists will be made for energy-intensive businesses where a shortage of power could cause a threat to life or damages of more than 50 million.

Pubs are preparing to keep their doors open in the face of power cuts by using candles and electric heaters.

(Stock Image) Beer could be in short supply in pubs this winter if establishments run out of gas

Britain could see nationwide power cuts this winter if the energy crisis intensifies. Pictured: A woman eats breakfast by candlelight in her basement flat in Fulham during the February 1972 miners' strike

However, Britain's pubs have warned the energy crisis could mean beer runs out over Christmas.

Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association said: 'Like their customers, pubs and breweries rely on a sustained, guaranteed energy supply.

'It is essential they are able to provide welcoming spaces and keep production lines running.

'Publicans and brewers have already been facing uncertainty for some time as we emerged from the pandemic into a cost of doing business crisis and have tried to remain resilient.

'Many have taken measures to ensure they can keep trading, from reducing opening hours to changing menu options, but blackouts could result in a tremendous loss of stock that businesses simply will not be able to recover.

'This news will add further strain to businesses at an already critically difficult time.'

Fears over food and beer shortages had already been raised this year when one of the country's largest suppliers of carbon dioxide announced it was ending production.

CF Fertilisers announced it would end production at its ammonia plant in Billingham, near Middlesbrough, due to rising energy costs earlier this year

CF Fertilisers said soaring energy costs made it 'uneconomical' to run its site in Billingham less than year after a multi-million pound government deal to keep it open.

The short supply of CO2 has concerned many in the food and drink industry, as the chemical is essential for the slaughter of livestock, adding fizz to beer and soft drinks and cooling medicines and vaccines among other uses.

The news is yet another concern for pubgoers, many of whom have been heading to the pub to work to avoid soaring energy bills at home.

Young's pubs have introduced a 15-a-day deal which can include a sandwich, lunch and bottomless tea and coffee.

Meanwhile, Fuller's is offering a lunch and a drink from just 10 a day across its 380 pubs.

Working from the pub is becoming the new working from home as Britons flee to more sociable venues - and chains have noticed, with many offering deals from just 10 a day to attract remote workers amid the ongoing cost of living crisis

Then, microbrewery pub chain Brewhouse and Kitchen is offering a 'workspace' option for 10 a day, which features WiFi, quiet spots, power sockets, unlimited hot and soft drinks, and printing.

The government introduced an energy support package for businesses including pubs in September, equivalent to that given to households.

However, many pubs are already struggling to cope with energy bills as much as doubling ins some places.

Some are switching off the lights and relying on candles in a throwback to the three day week in the 1970s.

The Masons Arms in Camelford, Cornwall, now runs 'candle light night' every Monday, to draw in more punters while lowering its energy costs.

Landlady Kate Chawner-Woods has been pushed to the limit by skyrocketing energy bills, after her August statement increased from an average of 700 in 2018 to over 3,000 this year.

A customer enjoys a pint by candlelight at The Masons Arms. The pub has taken the creative measure to turn off all lights and replacing them with candles in a bid to cope with soaring energy bills

An off-the-cuff comment from one of the local punters gave Ms Chawner-Woods the idea of candlelight Mondays

Venues say they are struggling to survive with the increased costs making running a boozer difficult. And some have come up with creative ways to stay afloat

She said: 'When I opened the electricity bill I thought "how are we going to cope?".

'It was really scary and we were so worried about how this winter was going to pan out - it's a massive increase, our electricity bill isn't much less than our rent now.'

An off-the-cuff comment from one of the local punters gave Ms Chawner-Woods the idea of candlelight Mondays.

She said: 'I was moaning and cursing when I got the bill through when one of the locals turned around and told me to just turn the lights out, go back to the way it used to be.

'So that got me thinking and now we've gone back to using only candles on a Monday, like how it would have been when the pub opened in 1753.

'At 6pm we cut out all the lights - people really like it, we had 65 covers last Monday which is far more than we'd usually get on a Monday in October.

'The atmosphere is great, everybody seems to like it - it's romantic and people seem to talk to each other a lot more, it's really lovely.'
A pair of 'cruel and manipulative landlords' who used violence, vandalism and theft to illegally evict their tenants during a decade of abuse have been jailed for more than nine years.

Mother and son Sohila, 66, and Pedram Tamiz, 47, ordered masked gangs to threaten and attack their tenants as well as smash their homes and change their locks.

They carried out their abuse between 2011 and 2021 on 10 victims who lived inside a converted hotel in Margate, which contains 26 flats.

Sohila Tamiz, left, and her son Pedram, right, were jailed for a combined total of more than nine years for terrorising their tenants in a converted hotel in Margate, Kent, for a decade

Canterbury Crown Court, pictured, heard the tenants were routinely threatened and evicted without notice, had their locks changed and had their belongings removed or thrown out onto the street

The mother and son converted a hotel into a flat complex in Margate, Kent

The tenants were routinely threatened and evicted without notice, had their locks changed and had their belongings removed or thrown out onto the street.

Others had locks removed and families were forced to live in cold, dark conditions after having their power cut off.

One victim, Carl Hopkins, had a balaclava-clad gang burst through his door, douse him in petrol and knock three teeth out.

The next day he found his locks had been changed and he was forced to live in an abandoned caravan.

Anke Angelova huddled with her children around a kitchen stove for warmth because her power and water were cut off for a month and a half.

She also had her flooring 'completely destroyed' and was thrown out onto the street with her children.

Grandmother Julie Box Beaumont said men with balaclavas threatened her and ex-army veteran Stephen Dale when they fell behind with rent.

Her electricity was shut off and they fled without their belongings, leaving behind Mr Dale's SAS war medals.

At Canterbury Crown Court, where the landlords were tried in what is believed to be the largest prosecution of its kind, Ms Beaumont said: 'I wasn't scared, I was absolutely petrified, and I'm still having nightmares about it to this day.'

During the trial, Jennifer Duffey said she was falsely accused of bringing a bag of white powder into the building and that two men had demanded undue rent while shouting and screaming before removing the lock from her front door.

She said she had to smear shampoo on the floor so intruders would slip if they entered the property and that one day she returned home to find her belongings and furniture had disappeared.

Adam McChesney of Margate was handed a 20-month jail sentence suspended for two years and ordered to complete 250 hours of unpaid work for his role in the evictions

Sohila had also taken a key from another tenant, Hayley Griffiths, and sabotaged her electricity supply.

Prosecutor Michael Polak said she had also conspired to damage the toilet and acted 'in a menacing manner, demanding [the tenants] leave'.

Giving evidence, Sohila denied any wrongdoing, saying 'we are not crazy people' and insisted the atmosphere in her buildings was 'very nice'.

Judge Rupert Lowe branded the duo, of Lenham, Kent, as 'cruel and manipulative landlords with no humanity' and without 'a scintilla of remorse'.

Sohila was given five years jail after being convicted on 14 counts including conspiracy to interfere with the peace and comfort of the residential occupier, conspiracy to unlawfully evict and conspiracy to burgle.

Her son Pedram received four years and two months after being convicted on seven counts including conspiracy to interfere with the peace and comfort of the residential occupier and conspiracy to unlawfully evict.

Both were acquitted on two other counts relating to illegal evictions.

Two associates, Adam McChesney, 40, and Kasem El Darrat, 53, also denied but were convicted of conspiracy to unlawfully evict.

However, they were spared jail as Judge Lowe said they played lesser roles in the landlords' criminality.

McChesney, of Margate, was given 20 months suspended for two years and 250 hours unpaid work.

He was convicted on five counts including conspiracy to interfere with the peace or comfort of the residential occupier but was acquitted of conspiracy to burgle.

El Darrat, also of Margate, received a 12-month community order with 150 hours unpaid work and 15 probation activity requirement days.

He was convicted of conspiracy to interfere with the peace and comfort of the residential occupier and conspiracy to unlawfully evict.

Representing Sohila, Kieran Vaughan KC said that despite her being forced into a violent marriage she put her children through school and built a fairly successful business.

He said: 'The business itself was not founded on criminality, it was founded on legitimate enterprise.

'She will have to live with this, the shame and embarrassment of it.'

Mr Vaughan said she suffered from a 'major depressive disorder' and, more recently, a bout of poor health.

The court heard Pedram just 'did what his mother said,' and lost his 42,000 teaching job after details of the trial were published in the papers.

Mitigating for Pedram, David Spens KC said he will not be able to teach again, adding: 'Quite how he is going to make a living in the future is unknown.

'The court may take the view he has already been punished.'

Chetna Patel, defending El Darrat, said her client was acting on the instructions of Sohila and that he didn't fully understand what he was getting involved in.

She also said that Sohila, who was El Darrat's landlady at the time of his offending, had 'a level of influence and control over him'.

Kasem El Darrat, also of Margate, received a 12-month community order with 150 hours unpaid work and 15 probation activity requirement days

After details of his involvement emerged in the trial, the father-of-three lost his job as a mechanic and now relies on Universal Credit.

David Rhodes, representing McChesney, said he describes himself as a 'donkey led by a carrot' and that he was disgusted by his own actions.

He said the father-of-four was under the control of others and found himself in a subservient position.

The Tamiz family ran an overseas trust called Olympia which was set up in 2003 to avoid paying UK tax, with Sohila, Pedram and other family members as beneficiaries.

Mr Vaughan told the judge he was 'unable to give chapter and verse' on the total value of the trust's assets.

But he confirmed the Channel Islands-based property holders were set up for tax reasons stating businesses based offshore are a legal and common practice.

Judge Lowe handed down a criminal behaviour order designed to prevent Sohila and Pedram from acting as landlords.

He also ordered compensation worth 30,500 to be paid to the victims and 200,000 in costs to go to Thanet District Council, which brought the case.

McChesney will pay a far smaller proportion while El Darrat is exempt due to having insufficient means.
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For nearly 700 years, from before the invention of the printing press until after the dawn of photography, London's streets ran with the blood of those who had been executed in public - as thousands of Britons watched on.

Perhaps the most famous of the tens of thousands who were put to death between 1196 and 1868 for crimes ranging from murder to petty theft was King Charles I, who was beheaded in after a trial inside Westminster Hall.

Now, the vest worn by Charles on the day he was put to death - outside Banqueting House in Whitehall on January 30, 1649 - is among dozens of objects going on display in a new exhibition.

Executions, which opens on Friday at the Museum of London, uses objects that also include an axe from the infamous Newgate prison and a 'gibbet' cage in which the dead were put on public display to tell the gruesome story of the capital, which was known as the City of the Gallows.

Also seen is a 300-year-old bedsheet embedded with a love message sewn with human hair by the wife of Sir James Radclyffe, who was beheaded for treason in 1716 for his role in the first Jacobite rebellion.

The vest worn by Charles on the day he was put to death - outside Banqueting House in Whitehall on January 30, 1649 - is among dozens of objects and artefacts going on display in a new exhibition

A 'gibbet' cage in which the dead were put on public display features in Executions at the Museum of London. Gibbets were placed by the main roads into the city and along the River Thames in the 18th-century so people entering London could not escape seeing the deadly consequences of crime

This axe was made for the execution of five plotters who planned to kill the prime minister and MPs in 1820. The plotters were put to death at Newgate Prison

Charles I was the only British monarch to have been publicly tried and executed for treason. His reign had proven hugely unpopular as he attempted to levy taxes without parliamentary consent, prompting fierce clashes with MPs.

Charles I was the only British monarch to have been publicly tried and executed for treason

Attempts to force the church of Scotland to adopt Anglican practices also led to religious conflicts, which in turn resulted in the strengthening of English and Scottish parliaments, helping to pave the way for his eventual downfall.

Charles I fought the armies of the English and Scottish parliaments in the Civil War but was defeated in 1645 and captured.

After a brief period of escape, he was re-captured and executed in Whitehall in 1649 after being tried and convicted of high treason.

On the bitterly cold day of his execution, Charles asked for a vest in the hope it would stop him from visibly shivering on the scaffold where he was beheaded.

His body was then embalmed and buried in St George's Chapel in Windsor nine days late.

The silk garment on display in the new exhibition is believed to be one of the ones that Charles wore.

The stains on the vest have not been conclusively identified as blood but scanning by ultra-violet light has revealed the are bodily fluids.

The vest was acquired by the Museum of London in 1925, along with a note confirming its authenticity.

The new exhibition's curator, Beverley Cook, said: 'We refer to it as the knitted silk vest. It would have been worn under the shirt.

'We did some analysis on it with ultra violet light and the stains fluoresced and that suggests they are bodily fluids. They are down the front of the vest.'

The museum is set to do more scientific analysis on the vest to further back up the belief it was worn by Charles.

According to the exhibition, no spot in the City of London is more than 1,600 feet from a place where gallows once stood.

Traitors' heads were displayed on spikes across London Bridge, whilst body parts were displayed on city gates.

Gibbets were placed by the main roads into the city and along the River Thames in the 18th-century so people entering London could not escape seeing the deadly consequences of crime.

Between 1690 and 1780, wrongdoers who had committed crimes inside or close to Newgate were sometimes executed outside the prison to warn others of the consequences of criminal activity. From 1783, the site became the principal place of execution in London. Above: One of Newgate Prison's original doors

Also seen is a 300-year-old bedsheet embedded with a love message sewn with human hair by the wife of Sir James Radclyffe, who was beheaded for treason in 1716 for his role in the first Jacobite rebellion. The message reads: 'The sheet off my dear Lord's bed in the wretched Tower of London February 1716 x Ann C of Darwent=Waters +'

The use of gibbets was imposed with the Murder Act of 1752, with the practice stopping in 1832 with the passing of the Anatomy Act.

How criminal John 'Jack' Sheppard became a working class hero Sheppard was one of London's most famous criminals. He was notorious for having escaped multiple times from Newgate and became a symbol of freedom for London's working classes. The apprentice carpenter fell into a life of thieving after reputedly being led astray by 'bad company and lewd women'. Although he was eventually executed at Tyburn at the age of 22, Shepperd's bravery in challenging authority ensured his life story was remembered and recounted in popular books and plays for generations. Artist James Thornhill visited him in prison and paid one shilling and sixpence to draw his portrait. His procession to Tyburn was accompanied by a huge sympathetic crowd. John 'Jack' Sheppard was one of London's most famous criminals Advertisement

Whilst members of the nobility were beheaded - to afford them a more dignified death - others were not so lucky.

Other execution methods included boiling, which was usually reserved for poisoners, and burning - the normal punishment for heresy.

The most common method of killing was hanging, although traitors - such as Guy Fawkes - were hung, drawn and quartered.

This involved them being hanged until nearly dead, then castrated, disemboweled, beheaded and finally cut into quarters.

The 'Acte for Poysoning', which mandated the boiling to death of certain murderers, was passed under Henry VIII after cook Richard Roose poisoned the porridge for the household of the Bishop of Rochester, causing two deaths.

Roose was boiled to death at Smithfield on April 5, 1531. According to records from the time, he was dipped up and down in boiling water until he was dead.

In 1542, maid Margaret Davies suffered the same fate after she poisoned four people in the house she lived in.

The execution method was ended when Henry became king in 1547.

By the end of the 18th-century, more than 200 crimes were punishable by death. As well as murder, treachery and highway robbery, they included minor offences such as pickpocketing, burglary and shoplifting.

The Museum of London's exhibition also features a roll call of 5,000 people who were executed. It includes their names, ages, crimes and place where they were executed.

Execution sites included, Smithfield, Tyburn, The Tower of London, Kennington Common, Horsemonger Lane and Newgate.

Between 1690 and 1780, wrongdoers who had committed crimes inside or close to Newgate were sometimes executed outside the prison to warn others of the consequences of criminal activity.

From 1783, the site became the principal place of execution in London. A scaffold was built with a trapdoor and gallows that had two parallel beams where up to 12 people at any one time could hand.

By 1868, when public executions finally came to an end, at least 1,130 men and women had been executed there.

The bedsheet embroidered with human hair was made by Anna Maria Radclyffe for her husband, who was the third Earl of Derwentwater and Grandson of Charles II.

He was beheaded for treason in 1716 after being imprisoned in the Tower of London. He had been involved in the Jacobite Rebellion, which was an attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the throne for his father, James Francis Edward Stuart.

The message reads: 'The sheet off my dear Lord's bed in the wretched Tower of London February 1716 x Ann C of Darwent=Waters +.'

It is not known if the hair used by Anna was her own or hat of her husband. Anna was allowed to take charge of her husband's body and severed head after his execution.

The last public execution took place on May 26, 1868. Michael Barrett, an Irish Republican, had been convicted for his role in an explosion at the Clerkwenwell House of Detention.

An example of an execution 'broadside' is shown above. Broadsides cost around a penny and were produced to describe a criminal's crime and death. They were sold all over the UK

Dozens of artefacts have gone on display at the Museum of London Docklands to tell the story of executions in the capital. Above: The axe from Newgate prison is seen with other objects

This wrought iron waist belt and accompanying cuffs would have been worn by a prisoner at Newgate Prison. It forced the condemned to stoop forward when attempting to walk

The bonnet that belonged to prison reformer Elizabeth Fry, who helped to push for new legislation that improved the treatment of prisoners, especially female inmates

Smoothed coins engraved with a message of affection were gifted to loved ones by convicts awaiting execution and transportation. This reads: 'If E'en I gain my liberty my earliest flight shall be to thee'

Barrett, who always protested his innocence, was executed outside Newgate Prison. Three days after his killing, public executions were abolished.

The death penalty remained until 1969, with hangings taking place inside prison walls.

On 26 May 1868, the last public execution in London took place. Michael Barrett was an Irish Republican convicted for his part in an explosion at the Clerkenwell House of Detention.

He always protested his innocence. Three days later, public executions were abolished, although the death penalty remained until 1969.

Asked how many Londoners were publicly executed until 1868, Ms Cook said: 'Academics have debated this. Some make ridiculous claims, that hundreds of thousands were executed.

'Others say it was probably in the tens of thousands. it is impossible to know, particularly in the early periods.

A puppet from a Punch and Judy show that was held in 1830. The display represents how public executions became embedded in popular culture

A curator is seen arranging the vest worn by Charles I at his public execution outside Banqueting House in London

'As time goes on it is much easier to see how many people were executed because records were kept

'A lot of people were condemned to death because that was one of the only forms of punishment. But so many of those didn't actually make it to the gallows, because they were reprieved, given a pardon or transported to Australia.'

She added: 'Public executions were a very visible part of Londoners' lives for many centuries, with some events attracting tens of thousands of people.

'This idea may seem remote to us now but many of the themes covered in the exhibition will be surprisingly familiar to Londoners today  the struggle to protect an urban population from crime, and the enduring issues of poverty, a rising population, discrimination and domestic violence.

'But it will also reveal the resourcefulness and resilience of Londoners, characteristics still recognisable to those of us who have the privilege of living in London today.'

Executions opens at the Museum of London Docklands on Friday, October 14. Tickets start at 12 and are available through the Museum of London's website.
Furious Scots families protested outside the home of one of Britain's most dangerous sex offenders nicknamed the 'Da Vinci rapist' who was given a house in their tightknit neighbourhood.

Robert Greens, 44, brutally raped and beat a Dutch student near Rosslyn Chapel in Midlothian, which features in Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code, in 2005, inflicting such horrific injuries that medics initially believed that they had been caused by a car crash.

The 19-year-old victim was held at knifepoint during the terrifying ordeal, which saw Greens jailed for 10 years.

Greens was freed from prison in 2012, having served two-thirds of his sentence. The following year, he was returned to jail after he broke one of the conditions of his release by visiting the hometown of his former wife. He was again released in 2017 but hauled back to prison after another breach.

However, now the rapist - whom locals believe is a high risk to reoffend - has been housed amongst a community filled with families.

Locals discovered his new location last week and have staged several protests outside the house since then.

Neighbours last night sang songs and chanted 'Robert Greens, sex offender'; 'we shall not be moved' and 'what do we want? Rob Greens out... When do we want it? Now' - before pinning a sign reading 'rapist scum get oot' to the monster's front door.

Tim Fitchett held the sign which was later pinned to Robert Greens's door

Robert Greens brutally raped and beat a Dutch student near Rosslyn Chapel in Midlothian, which features in Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code, in 2005, inflicting such horrific injuries that medics initially believed that they had been caused by a car crash

Police pictured outside the home of Greens, where a sign was posted to his front door

Father-of-two Tim Fitchett said: 'There was a good turn out of around 20 or 30 people. The police turned up to make sure there was no public disorder - but this is a peaceful protest. We have very serious concerns about him living anywhere in Midlothian - not just Danderhall.

'We are not going to give up until he is moved out of Midlothian. It is disgusting that he has been placed here.

'This man has been convicted of what has been described by the judge who sentenced him as 'the worst sex crime that has been brought to court in Scottish history'. If that is the case, then surely someone with any common sense would realise that maybe he shouldn't be placed back in an area where he has lived - an area that he knows well.

'We have got serious concerns about what could potentially happen to someone in our community.'

Yesterday Scots mother Daniella Quin said she doesn't feel safe in her own home and was forced to barricade a window after Greens was housed above her - and pictures taken yesterday showed the words 'get out beast' penned on Greens' door.

Mr Fitchett said: 'The experts have said he is a high risk to reoffend. There are care workers in this area that are refusing to work at certain times of the evening because they don't feel safe. There is the woman living down below him that is absolutely petrified.'

Protestors stick a sign saying 'Rapist Scum, Get Oot' on the door of the convicted rapist

The victim was held at knifepoint during the attack, which saw Greens jailed for 10 years

He added: 'We just want to make it very clear that if there has been any vandalism or anything thrown, it has not been done by anyone related to this protest group. We are not thugs. We are all very peaceful people and this is a peaceful protest. We are just here singing songs, nothing violent. We have made it very clear to the police that we are here for the long haul and we will continue to come down here until he is moved. We are going to make sure our voice is heard and we will be down here every single day.

'We are trying to get as many people involved in this as we can just now. The only way this is going to get resolved is by the council approaching us and getting round the table with us and asking what our concerns are.'

The protest group are dubbed 'Remove Robert Greens from Danderhall' and organise demos on Facebook and TikTok.

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: 'Police were made aware of a gathering outside a property in Neatoune Court, Danderhall, around 6.30pm on Tuesday, October 11. Officers are in attendance.'

A Midlothian Council spokesman said: 'We do not comment on individual cases. Public safety is of paramount importance and, where appropriate, we work with our partners to ensure that there are robust processes and procedures in place.'
A female prison librarian has denied accusations that she sexually assaulting male inmates over an eight month period.

Sharon Mawdsley, 45, is alleged to have molested numerous men at Kirkham Jail in Lancashire where she worked until July 2018.

She denies nine charges in total, three for misconduct in a public office and six for sexually assaulting men.

She entered her not guilty plea at Preston Crown Court yesterday and was granted unconditional bail. She is due to stand trial next year.

Female prison librarian Sharon Mawdsley, 45, (pictured at Preston Crown Court on Sept. 8) is due to stand trial accused of sexually assaulting male inmates over an eight month period

Mawdsley, from Blackpool, spoke only to confirm her name and enter not guilty pleas to all nine charges during the brief hearing on Tuesday.

Judge Heather Lloyd granted unconditional bail and set a date for Mawdsley to stand trial next September.

She will appear before the court again in January for a Plea and Direction Hearing and will then have a pre-trial review in July, The Lancashire Evening Post reported.

She had previously appeared at the Preston Magistrates Court on September 8 and was not asked to enter a plea. The district judge granted unconditional bail at that time.

The alleged assaults are said to have happened over an eight month period between December 1, 2017 and July 5, 2018.

Before Mawdsley left in 2018, she was employed by Lanchashire County Council's library service while working in the Category D prison.

Mawdsley (pictured in 2018) denies nine charges in total, three for misconduct in a public office and six for sexual assaulting men
A Boeing dramatically lost one of its 100kg wheels seconds after take-off, a shocking video shows.

The loose wheel detached from the Dreamlifter aircraft and plummeted back down to earth with a trail of smoke behind it at Taranto airport in Italy.

After hitting the ground, footage shows the 4ft-diameter tyre spin off down the asphalt as the plane continues to climb at the beginning of the flight to Charleston, South Carolina.

Boeing 747-400 Dreamlifter tem fogo em um de seus pneus e perde a roda apos a decolagem pic.twitter.com/K00lLLf7Bg  AEROIN (@aero_in) October 11, 2022

A Boeing has dramatically lost a 100kg wheel during take-off. The part shot off the plane with a trail of smoke behind it seconds after the aircraft took to the skies

The N718BA Atlas Air flight was departing Taranto for Charleston, South Carolina at 09.09am yesterday

The smoking wheel detached from the Dreamlifter aircraft and dropped down to earth, bouncing on the grass at Taranto airport in Italy

The missing part - from the aircraft's main landing gear - was later found in a nearby vineyard outside the confines of the airport in southern Italy.

The N718BA Atlas Air flight was departing Taranto for Charleston, South Carolina at 09.09am yesterday.

Despite the malfunction, the plane landed safely in the US.

Boeing told Simple Flying yesterday: 'A Dreamlifter cargo flight operated by Atlas Air landed safely earlier today at Charleston International Airport, after losing a wheel assembly from its landing gear on take-off from the Taranto-Grottaglie Airport in Italy this morning.

'We will support our operator's investigation.'

Footage shows one of the four-foot diameter wheels from the main landing gear spin off and hurtle back to ground

The missing part was later found in a nearby vineyard outside the confines of the airport in southern Italy after it bounced away

The plane was flying a passenger Boeing 787 fuselage on board, according to Italian news outlet Corriere della Sera.

The outsized 747-400 Dreamlifter was designed to transport parts between Italy, Japan and the US and was used to fly medical supplies during the Covid pandemic.

Investigators from the National Agency for Flight Safety (ANSV) is probing the mishap and will decide whether to open a formal investigation.

The cargo plane has an enlarged 28ft fuselage to carry large goods, and its maiden voyage was in 2006.




North Korea unveiled a "mosaic mural" of its leader Kim Jong-un on Tuesday, a move seen aimed at bolstering his personality cult in his 10th year in power.







A large-scale mosaic mural featuring Kim was set up at Ryonpho Greenhouse Farm in the country's eastern province, according to an image captured from footage by the state-run TV station.







Kim was depicted digging the first shovel of earth at a ceremony to mark the start of the construction of the farm in Hamju County in February, it showed. He also attended a ceremony to open the farm earlier this week to mark the 77th anniversary of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea.







It was the first known wall painting of Kim Jong-un in North Korea. The country had erected mosaic murals, mainly made of pieces of colored glass and tiles, for late former leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il across the country for propaganda purposes.







"As about 10 years have passed since Kim Jong-un took office, the North appears to show to the people that Kim has risen to the rank of his late grandfather and father in terms of all sectors including politics, economy and military," said Yang Moo-jin, president of University of North Korean Studies.







Kim Jong-un took power in December 2011 following the sudden death of his father Kim Jong-il and has cemented his power through a reign of terror. (Yonhap)


A group of 46 holidaymakers are suing travel firm TUI after claiming their trips to Cape Verde was ruined by a bout of gastric illness.

The lawyers representing the group said families' holidays became a nightmare after they were struck down with stomach flu at two hotels on the island of Sal.

Hotels on the resort, located 388 miles off the west coast of Africa, are regularly audited for health and safety, according to TUI.

Lesley and Grant Breed, both 53, from Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, travelled to the African island on July 26 with their 15-year-old son Finn and stayed at the Melia Dunas Resort.

'We couldn't wait to get to the hotel, particularly after an eight-hour wait at the airport on the way out,' said Mrs Breed.

'But our holiday went from bad to worse. We all fell ill, and I'm not surprised when I recall the undercooked meat at the restaurant and the poor hygiene.

A group 46 holidaymakers who travelled to Cape Verde off the west coast of Africa are suing TUI claiming their trip was ruined by a bout of gastric illness

'I remember phoning housekeeping twice for basic essentials such as toilet paper and water, but still had to end up going to reception myself. If they can't get the basics right, it's no wonder the hotel is in the state it is.'

Irwin Mitchell, who are representing the 46 holidaymakers, said any potential legal action would be directed at TUI, which the stays at hotels Melia Dunas Resort and Sol Dunas were booked through.

Sarita Sharma, a solicitor in the international serious injury team, said it was very concerning to hear of the reported illnesses.

'Their holidays, which they had been looking forward to for a long time, were ruined when they were struck down with gastric illness.

'The symptoms that our clients have suffered should never be downplayed as, in some cases, they can result in long-term health problems.

'It is also concerning that our clients were aware of many others who suffered with similar illness, we understand that the numbers affected are even higher so we would be interested in speaking to anyone who may have been impacted by illness at this hotel who would be able to assist with our investigations.'

A spokesman for TUI said: 'We are sorry to hear of these experiences at the Sol Dunas and Melia Dunas Hotels. As this is now a legal matter, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.

'We'd like to reassure customers that we regularly audit all of our hotels in respect to health and safety, including hygiene.'

Melia Hotels has been approached for comment.
Comes after days of Russian shelling hit virtually every major Ukrainian city

Russian missiles have struck a market in eastern Ukraine, killing at least seven people as Putin keeps up his brutal bombardment of civilians.

Eight people were also wounded in an attack on the city of Avdiivka, in Donetsk oblast, which is close to the Russian frontline.

'Russians struck the central market, where many people were at that time,' Donetsk regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said, adding there was 'no military logic' to the attack and it shows Russia's 'unbridled desire to kill as many people as possible.'

The attack comes off the back of huge salvoes of missiles fired at Ukraine on Monday and Tuesday that struck virtually every major Ukrainian city, knocking out power and water supplies, killing at least 19 people, and wounding scores.

Putin is exacting revenge on Ukraine after his armies suffered a series of humiliating defeats including an explosion which crippled the Crimea Bridge at the weekend - with five more towns recaptured today.

Seven people have died and another eight have been injured after a Russian rocket hit a crowded market in the city of Avdiivka, in eastern Donetsk, on Wednesday

A building burns in the city of Avdiivka, eastern Ukraine, after Russian shelling hit a crowded market on Wednesday - leaving multiple civilians dead

An abandoned market in the city of Avdiivka following a Russian missile strike, as Putin continues to rain down death on civilians

Air defence 'top priority' for Ukraine, NATO chief says Air defence systems are the 'top priority' for Ukraine's allies, the head of NATO has said today. Jen Stoltenberg, speaking at a summit to discuss military aid to Kyiv, said the focus will be on weapons to protect against Russian rocket attacks. 'We will address how to ramp up support for Ukraine and the top priority will be more air defence,' Stoltenberg said. It comes after Putin unleashed devastating salvoes of missiles earlier this week that killed 19 people, wounded scores, and took out power and water networks. Advertisement

Commanders said a cluster of villages - Nova Kamianka, Tryfonivka, Novovasylivka, Novohryhorivka and Chervone - in the Kherson region, had fallen into their hands.

It comes as Ukraine consolidates its new frontline after breaking through Russian defences in the region last week, advancing 12 miles in just a few hours.

More than 100 missiles and dozens of drones attacked virtually every major city in Ukraine over 48 hours between Monday and Tuesday, causing widespread death and destruction to civilians.

At least 19 people died and scores more were hurt in the bombings which took out power and water supplies in major cities such as Lviv.

Kyiv has accused Russia of deliberately targeting civilians in 'terrorist' attacks, while Putin insists he is hitting military infrastructure.

The strikes were unleashed in response to an explosion which crippled the Kerch Bridge from occupied Crimea to Russia at the weekend which Putin has blamed on the Ukrainian secret service.

FSB agents on Wednesday said they had arrested eight people - five Russians and three people from Ukraine and Armenia - over the attack.

The FSB accused the ring of smuggling 25 tons of explosives disguised as plastic sheeting used for construction around the Black Sea and into Russia.

They said 22 pallets carrying the explosives went from Odesa, in southern Ukraine, via Ruse in Bulgaria to Yerevan in Armenia, and then across Georgia and into Russia.

The last stop on their two-month journey was Armavir, in southern Russia, before they were shipped to a non-existent company in Simferopol, Crimea, the FSB says.

But as the shipment passed over the Kerch Bridge that links Russia to Crimea on the morning of October 8 it exploded, partially collapsing the road bridge, setting light to a nearby fuel train, killing five people, and infuriating the Kremlin.

A Ukrainian multiple-launch rocket system opens fire on Russian lines amidst a counter-attack in Kherson that is continuing to take ground

A Ukrainian soldier sits in a tank in the southern Kherson region where Kyiv's men have continued to take territory from Russia

Ukrainian artillerymen fire from a self-propelled 152mm SAU 2S3 Akatsiya gun as fighting rages with Russian forces in the eastern Donetsk region

Ukrainian officials have lauded the explosion on the bridge, but stopped short of directly claiming responsibility for it.

The FSB alleged suspects were working on orders of Ukraine's military intelligence to secretly move the explosives into Russia and forge the accompanying documents.

Putin's missile barrage continued overnight Tuesday though at a lower intensity than previous days, with the Zaporizhzhia region and the city which shares its name peppered with explosives.

There were no immediate reports of casualties, though officials said that residential buildings had been damaged.

Zaporizhzhia, which sits fairly near the front line between Russian and Ukrainian forces, has been repeatedly struck with often deadly attacks in recent weeks.

It is part of a larger region, including Europe's largest nuclear power plant now in Russian control, that Moscow has said it has annexed in violation of international law.

The city itself remains in Ukrainian hands.

To the south, in a Russian-controlled area of the region, a powerful blast struck the city of Melitopol - sending a car flying into the air, mayor Ivan Fedorov. There was no word on casualties.

Tuesday marked the second straight day when air raid sirens echoed throughout Ukraine, and officials advised residents to conserve energy and stock up on water.

Ukrainian emergency crews help extinguish a fire after the city of Zaporizhzhia, in southern Ukraine, was hit by artillery fire overnight

A woman weeps after her apartment building was partially destroyed by a Russian rocket strike on the city of Zaporizhzhia

The strikes knocked out power across the country and pierced the relative calm that had returned to the capital, Kyiv, and many other cities far from the war's front lines.

'It brings anger, not fear,' Kyiv resident Volodymyr Vasylenko, 67, said as crews worked to restore traffic lights and clear debris from the capital's streets. 'We already got used to this. And we will keep fighting.'

The leaders of the Group of Seven industrial powers condemned the bombardment and said they would 'stand firmly with Ukraine for as long as it takes.'

Their pledge defied Russian warnings that Western assistance would prolong the war and the pain of Ukraine's people.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the G-7 leaders during a virtual meeting Russia fired more than 100 missiles and dozens of drones at Ukraine over two days.

He appealed for 'more modern and effective' air defense systems - even though he said Ukraine shot down many of the Russian projectiles.

The Pentagon on Tuesday announced plans to deliver the first two advanced NASAMs anti-aircraft systems to Ukraine in the coming weeks. The systems, which Kyiv has long wanted, will provide medium- to long-range defense against missile attacks.

In a phone call with Zelenskyy on Tuesday, President Joe Biden 'pledged to continue providing Ukraine with the support needed to defend itself, including advanced air defense systems,' the White House said.

Ukraine's defense minister tweeted that four German IRIS-T air defense systems had just arrived, saying a 'new era' of air defense for Ukraine had begun.
Nurse 'smiling' after baby's death and sent parents card, a photo of which she kept on her phone, court heard

Prosecution began today by laying out claims of attempted murder against Child H and murder against Child I

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'Cold-blooded' Lucy Letby smiled at a mother after murdering her newborn girl on the fourth attempt before sending a sympathy card to her parents, a court heard today.

The 32-year-old allegedly killed five boys and two girls, and faces a total of 22 charges of both murder and attempted murder involving 17 babies. The offences are said to have taken place between June 2015 and June 2016 while she was working in the neo-natal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital.

Today, Letby sat in the dock wearing a black jacket as she listened to the prosecution lay out an allegation of murder against Child I, two of attempted murder against Child H, and two more of attempted murder against Child J and Child K.

Prosecutor Nick Johnson, KC described the case of Child I - who despite being born weighing just 970g (2lbs 2oz) was healthy - as 'an extreme example even by the standards of this overall case'.

After Letby's third alleged attempt on her life, Child I was transferred to another hospital where she made a dramatic recovery. But after being returned to Letby's care, the infant collapsed and needed cardiac compressions, the court heard.

'Baby I was born very early and very small - but she survived the first two months of her life and was doing well by the time Lucy Letby got her hands on her,' Mr Johnson said.

After Child I's death, her parents were taken to a private room and asked if they wanted to bathe her. Mr Johnson said that as the baby's mother 'bathed her recently departed child, Letby came into the room and, in the words of the mother, was ''smiling and kept going on about how she was present at Child I's first bath and how much Child I had loved it''.'

The nurse later sent a sympathy card to the parents, something that was 'not normal'. In a police interview, she told officers this was the only time she had done it, 'but it is not often the nurses got to know a family as well as they had known Child I's'. She admitted to officers that she'd kept an image of the card on her phone.

The case was handed to the coroner and it was found 'the earlier attempts to kill Child I had caused brain damage'.

Earlier, Mr Johnson told jurors at Manchester Crown Court that Letby twice attempted to murder another baby, Child H, on two successive night shifts in September 2015. The infant suffered two 'profound' collapses which required resuscitation by chest compressions with the use of adrenaline, the court heard. No clear cause for either incident was identified at the time but the baby survived.

After the two incidents Child H was transferred to another hospital where she showed 'dramatic improvement'. She later returned to the Countess of Chester and was eventually discharged.

Mr Johnson said: 'We suggest that it is highly significant that children within the orbit of Lucy Letby persistently and consistently suffered unexplained collapses.

'Sometimes the evidence of her hand at work is more obvious than others and it is remarkable that on many occasions when children who had suffered unexpected spectacular and life-threatening collapses were removed from her orbit, they had exceptional recoveries.'

Letby's parents, Susan and John, are supporting her at her six-month trial at Manchester Crown Court.

As the third day of Letby's trial begins, Manchester Crown Court has heard over the trial so far:

Letby, 32, denies murdering seven premature babies and attempting to murder 10 more over 12 months. The deaths occurred at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016. Letby was arrested three years after the death of her first alleged victim, Baby A;

ICU nurse is alleged to have injected babies with insulin, air or pumped with milk to kill them - often during night shifts when parents were less likely to be there;

Letby allegedly targeted twins on more than one occasion - and in some cases one was murdered and their sibling survived;

She is said to have searched for the families of her alleged victims' parents on Facebook and social media, including on Christmas Day;

In some cases, Letby is alleged to have tried to kill babies on up to three occasions, including two times in one shift;

Nurse was allegedly 'smiling' after one child's death and sent her parents a sympathy card, which was 'not normal';

Letby denies seven charges of murder and ten charges of attempted murder between 2015 and 2016 at Countess of Chester Hospital

The nurse (pictured) allegedly tried to kill one baby by injecting insulin into his nutrition bag less than 24 hours after murdering his twin brother

The court has heard Letby (pictured) attempted to kill one baby at Countess of Chester Hospital three times in the space of a month

Letby's parents Susan and John Letby arrive at Manchester Crown Court this morning

Nick Johnson, KC opened today's hearing by outlining Letby's first alleged attempt to kill Child H when she was the infant's designated nurse.

The prosecutor said the ICU chart shows she gave Child H a dose of morphine at 1.25am and saline at 2.50am. The following night, the infant's oxygen levels began to drop profoundly at 22.53pm and 3.30am after being 'relatively stable' during the day shift.

Letby was not her designated nurse at the time, but the nurse who had this role later said she could not recall whether she had taken a break during the shift but confirmed she had been out of the room at least some of the time.

He went on to describe 'interesting Facebook searches' by Letby after the incidents.

He told the court that about a week after Child H's second collapse, at about 1.15am, within about three minutes she searched for Child H's mother, the father of twin children E and F and the mother of Child I. At the time she was on her day off.

Introducing the case of Baby I, Mr Johnson said: 'There were four separate occasions on which we allege Lucy Letby tried to kill Baby I. She was resilient, but ultimately, at the fourth attempt, Lucy Letby succeeded in killing her'.

Baby I weighed 970 grams when she was born in Liverpool Women's Hospital on August 7, 2015. She was transferred to the Countess of Chester on August 18.

By September 29, the infant was eight weeks old and the clinical concerns about her had diminished.

She had no breathing problems, was 'in air', gaining weight and being fed both by bottles and a tube.

Full indictment against Lucy Letby Lucy Letby is charged as follows: Count 1 - Charged with murder of Baby A on June 8, 2015 Count 2 - Charged with attempted murder of Baby B between the June 8, 2015 and June 11, 2015 Count 3 - Charged with murder of Baby C on June 14, 2015 Count 4 - Charged with murder of Baby D on June 22, 2015 Count 5 - Charged with murder of Baby E on August 4, 2015 Count 6 - Charged with attempted murder of Baby F on August 5, 2015 Count 7 - Charged with attempted murder of Baby G on September 7, 2015 Count 8 - Charged with attempted murder of Baby G on September 21, 2015 Count 9 - Charged with attempted murder of Baby G on September 21, 2015 Count 10 - Charged with attempted murder of Baby H on September 26, 2015 Count 11 - Charged with attempted murder of Baby H on September 27, 2015 Count 12 - Charged with murder of Baby I on October 23, 2015 Count 13 - Charged with attempted murder of Baby J on November 27, 2015 Count 14 - Charged with attempted murder of Baby K on February 17, 2015 Count 15 - Charged with attempted murder of Baby L on April 9, 2016 Count 16 - Charged with attempted murder of Baby M on April 9, 2016 Count 17 - Charged with attempted murder of Baby N on June 3, 2016 Count 18 - Charged with attempted murder of Baby N on June 15, 2016 Count 19 - Charged with attempted murder of Baby N on June 15, 2016 Count 20 - Charged with murder of Baby O on June 23, 2016 Count 21 - Charged with murder of Baby P on June 24, 2016 Count 22 - Charged with attempted murder of Baby Q on June 25, 2016 Advertisement

Mr Johnson alleged that Letby carried out her first attack on Baby I the following day, September 30  'a couple of days after she had tried to kill Baby H and a week or so after events two and three for Baby G.

Letby was on a 12-hour shift that began at 8am, and she was Baby I's designated nurse.

She had two other babies to look after in Room 3, yet despite this she was also involved that shift with G and H.

According to Baby I's mother, Letby expressed some concern to her and indicated that the infant would be reviewed by a doctor.

Mr Johnson said: 'When she made the requisite note, Letby reversed the concern, saying that it was Baby I's mother who had raised an issue about her abdomen, writing 'Mum feels it is more distended to yesterday and that I is quietnot on monitor but nil increased work of breathing'.

He asked the jury: 'Was it Lucy Letby trying to cover for what she was going to do?'

She fed the sleeping baby 35mls of expressed breast milk via the NGT at 4pm. Half an hour later an emergency 'crash call' was put out.

Baby I had vomited, desaturated, her heart rate had dropped and she was struggling to breath. Her airway had to be cleared and she was given breathing support before being moved to Room 1.

X-rays revealed a massive amount of gas in her stomach and bowel, and her lungs appeared 'squashed' and of small volume. It was the prosecution case that this air had been injected into the baby's stomach.

The crisis passed, but medical notes record that Letby adjusted the infant's glucose infusion and gave her an injection of saline.

'Within moments, Baby I deteriorated again. However, as I have said, Baby I was resilient and overnight her condition'.

Thereafter the baby enjoyed a period of such stability that she did not even need a monitor.

In the early hours of October 13, Baby I was well and being bottle-fed every four hours. At about 3am her designated nurse briefly left the room and asked Letby and another colleague to listen out for the infant.

Mr Johnson told the court: 'When she returned to Room 2, at about 3.20am, Lucy Letby was stood in the doorway. The room was darkened because it was night time. But as soon as she came in Lucy Letby told her Baby I looked pale.

'When the other nurse turned on the light, she saw that Baby I appeared at the point of death and was not breathing.

'When she reconsidered later she thought that perhaps I was breathing once at least every 20 seconds, because if she hadn't been the apnoea alarm would have sounded'.

Turning to the jury, Mr Johnson said: 'You might want to consider how it was that Lucy Letby could see that I was pale from the door of a room in which there was minimal lighting.

'And you may want to consider the possibility that someone had silenced the alarm or turned it off'.

The third incident happened on October 14 when Baby I suffered desaturation caused by gas in her abdomen. Again she needed to be resuscitated. She was 'brought back from the brink of death' at 7.48am.

'So I had the same problem as she had had before,' said Mr Johnson. 'And yet again there was Lucy Letby who was her designated nurse. Same nurse, same problem  a problem that doesn't happen when she isn't around'.

Baby I was transferred to Arrowe Park on October 15 and quickly stabilised before returning to Letby's hospital on October 17.

Baby I became unsettled just after midnight on October 23. Letby and the designated nurse went to her, but the infant collapsed and needed cardiac compressions before dying.

Both an on-call registrar and an on-call consultant were called in. The latter noticed a mottled blue appearance in her trunk and peripheries. After five minutes of CPR the infant's saturation rate picked up to 100 per cent.

An x-ray showed massive dilation of the bowel and this was noted by the medics as 'large stomach bubble'. Baby I was successfully resuscitated and recovered.

At 1.06am the infant's designated nurse left the nursery temporarily, but then responded to the alarm. She returned to see Letby at the incubator.

Letby sketched in the dock at Manchester Crown Court with security as she was charged with the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of another ten

During the time Letby worked on the night shift, there was a rise in babies dying or falling seriously ill, Manchester Crown Court was told, and then when she moved to the day shift there were more 'inexplicable collapses and deaths'

Realising the infant was very distressed, the nurse wanted to intervene. But Letby assured her that they would be able to settle the baby.

'Baby I then collapsed,' said Mr Johnson, before adding: 'This exchange foreshadows what was to happen when Child O collapsed six or so months later'.

The same on-call registrar arrived at 1.12am and led the attempts at resuscitation. She was joined by the registrar at 1.25am and he noted purple and white mottling.

'All resuscitative efforts were unsuccessful and treatment was withdrawn at 2.10am,' Mr Johnson said. 'Baby I was pronounced dead at 2.30am on October 23.'

Immediately after her death the infant's parents were taken to a private room. The mother was asked if she wanted to bathe her daughter.

'As [the mother] bathed her recently-deceased child, Lucy Letby came into the room and in the mother's words ''was smiling and kept going on about how she was present at Baby I's first bath and how much Baby I had loved it''.'

A post mortem revealed that all the loops in the infant's bowel were significantly dilated due to increased air content. 'In layman's terms they were expanded like a partially-inflated balloon,' Mr Johnson said.

Dr Dewi Evans, the expert paediatrician later called in by Cheshire Police, said he thought the apnoea monitor must have been tampered with or switched off.

He also believed an IV bolus of air had been injected into her bloodstream around midnight on October 22-23. 'In support of that, he points to Baby I screaming  followed quickly by her collapse,' Mr Johnson said.

The court heard that Letby had sent a sympathy card to the parents.

'She said that to send a card was not normal  indeed this was the only time she had done it; but that it was not often the nurses got to know a family as well as they had known Baby I's,' Mr Johnson said.

'She accepted that she had kept an image of the card on her phone. She denied giving Baby I air via the NGT.

She challenged her colleague's account of Baby I's collapse in the darkened room, claiming that because she was more experienced she might have 'spotted something that she wasn't able to spot'.

Mr Johnson told the jury: 'Baby I was born very early and very small. But she survived the first two months of her life and was doing well by the time Lucy Letby got her hands on her.

'What happened to Baby I followed the pattern of what had happened to others before and what was yet to happen to others., All of a sudden, out of nowhere, came vomiting, breathing problems and critical desaturations'.

In the first incident there had been a vomit followed by lots of air and some milk; in the second Letby had been seen 'coolly watching Baby I who was in crisis'; in the third the infant pumped with air; and in the fourth the designated nurse returning in response to the alarm and finding Letby standing over her.

'It was persistent, calculated and cold-blooded,' said Mr Johnson.

Letby is accused of attacking two sets of twins - with insulin and with air - one child, Baby E, would die but his sibling survived

Child J was born prematurely at 32 weeks and two days gestation, on October 31, 2015, at the Countess of Chester Hospital.

She had an operation for a bowel disorder at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool before returning to the neo-natal unit at Chester on November 10, 2015.

Days later, her medical notes showed she was doing well and was healthy, the jury at Chester Crown Court heard.

But she suffered an unexplained collapse overnight on November 26/27 when Letby was one of the six nurses working the night shift.

Before her shift started, Letby texted a work colleague complaining that the babies she was to look after, including Child J, only needed help feeding.

Mr Johnson, prosecuting, told the jury: 'It appears, we suggest, that working in nurseries three and four was not sufficiently stimulating for Lucy Letby.'
One Jetstar passenger revealed how she thought 'we were going to die'

Terrifying video footage shows the moment a violent brawl broke out on a Jetstar flight, forcing it to make an emergency landing.

The chaotic brawl took place just 24 minutes into flight JQ582 from Melbourne to Brisbane on Tuesday night.

Footage showed the moment punches were thrown between two men, with multiple other passengers trying to separate them.

One mother revealed how she thought 'we were going to die' as the plane descended without warning following the brawl.

'It was unnerving,' the passenger told 9News Melbourne.

'There was a commotion, there was yelling, people started standing up, it went on for a couple of minutes.

'One gentleman was then escorted to the rear of the aircraft, he had blood on his face... we didn't hear anything else, we had no information.

'It was incredibly unnerving by this stage. I'm clutching on to my son, I thought "he's 28 years old, and he's going to die". This is not fair.'

Following the brawl, the plane descended without warning, adding to the fear and confusion, the passengers said.

'We didn't know what was happening,' she repeated, before the captain carried out a priority landing.

A map of the flight's path shows the aircraft turned around near Mansfield and returned to Melbourne airport.

There, Australian Federal Police removed the two people from the plane.

Footage showed the moment punches were thrown between two men, with multiple other passengers trying to separate them

One mother revealed how she thought 'we were going to die' as the plane suddenly lost altitude following the brawl

Passengers claim one of the men involved in the brawl had been behaving aggressively before he boarded.

'The guy was aggressive before he got on the plane and we thought surely they won't let him on the aircraft,' the passenger said.

A Jetstar spokesperson said the airline had a 'zero tolerance for disruptive and abusive behaviour'.

'The safety of our passengers and our crew is always our first priority and we thank our customers for their patience,' the spokesperson said.

Shortly after landing, the flight resumed to Brisbane. Australian Federal Police said no arrests had been made.
He was arrested ten minutes later and his currently being held in county jail

A Florida vagrant managed to pull off a bank heist armed with just a finger gun

A vagrant managed to pull off a daring bank heist with just a finger gun tucked under his shirt - until he was arrested moments after making his getaway.

Florida man Paul James Sinclair, 56, is alleged to have entered a branch of Chase Bank in Seminole, Tampa Bay region, a little before 1.30pm on Monday October 10 and approached the teller.

With what appeared to be a gun pressed against the inside of his shirt, he demanded that bank teller Desiree Stefanik hand over cash.

While Stefanik opened her bank drawer, Sinclair warned her 'not to push any buttons' while he waited to see if she would go along with his demands.

The teller took the money out the drawer and handed it all over to Sinclair - all $120 - before the bank robber made his escape.

'The suspect, Paul Sinclair, entered into Chase bank located at 10755 Starkey Road, where he approached bank teller / victim Desiree Stefanik, with his hand under his shirt, and made the shape of a gun with his fingers,' police allege.

Paul James Sinclair, 56, is alleged to have robbed a Chase bank in Florida of $120 armed with just a finger gun pressed against the underside of his shirt

He entered the bank on Monday lunchtime and demanded that bank teller teller Desiree Stefanik hand over cash, warning her 'not to push any buttons'

'The suspect then demanded Desiree give him money from her bank drawer and advised her not to push any buttons as he waited for her to open her drawer.'

Sinclair was arrested at 1.36pm and charged with robbery. Described as 'transient', he is being held in the county jail after failing to put up a $10,000 bond on the felony count.

The charging document notes that no weapon was seized from Sinclair when he was arrested.

Last year there were 1,724 bank robberies in the USA, involving 2,469 bank robbers, according to the FBI.

However, only three per cent involved the use of violent, with the vast majority being non-violent crimes.

Most used a note to make the demand, although the threat of violence was present about a third of the time.

Three people were killed in bank robberies last year, with two of them being security guards.

The biggest cash heist ever pulled off in the USA was the 1997 Dunbar armed robbery, in which six men got away with snatching $18.9million from the bank vault of the Dunbar facility in Los Angeles.

Inside man Allen Pace, a safety inspector for the Dunbar Armored trucking company, recruited five childhood friends to help him break in, assault the two guards on their lunch break, and load the loot into a U-Haul.

They almost got away with it  except one robber got sloppy and lent some of the stolen cash to a friend without removing the original cash straps.
A Russian grandmother faces five years in jail after leaving a note on the grave of Vladimir Putin's parents saying she wished the tyrant would die.

Irina Tsybaneva, 60, an accountant, was detained and charged for desecrating the grave in the anti-war protest.

It is the second time a note has appeared at their resting place at the Serafimov cemetery in St Petersburg to protest about the war.

A Russian grandmother faces five years in jail after leaving a note on the grave of Vladimir Putin's parents saying she wished the tyrant would die

Irina Tsybaneva, 60, an accountant, was detained and charged for desecrating the grave (pictured) in the anti-war protest

Putin's mother Maria died aged 87 in 1998, and his father Vladimir 1999 the following year aged 88

The pensioner's son Maksim Tsybanev, 37, general director of a construction company, told Mediazona that his mother had been detained.

'What was in the note is not known for certain,' he said.

'But she said that there was a wish [for Putin] to die.'

Putin's mother Maria died aged 87 in 1998, and his father Vladimir 1999 the following year aged 88.

Tsybaneva at first refused to open her apartment when police came, only doing so when they threatened to smash their way in.

Her lawyer Sergey Trusov said a case had been opened under 'desecration of the dead and their burial places, committed on the grounds of political, ideological, and racial, national or religious hatred or enmity'.

The pensioner's son Maksim Tsybanev, 37, general director of a construction company, told Mediazona that his mother had been detained

It is the second time a note has appeared at the couple's (pictured) resting place at the Serafimov cemetery in St Petersburg to protest about the war

Last month in a separate incident anti-war protesters posted a note at the cemetery (pictured) saying: 'Dear parents! Your son is behaving disgracefully!'

She was hauled before Primorsky District Court of St. Petersburg.

Investigators want her to be held in detention pending trial.

Last month in a separate incident anti-war protesters posted a note saying: 'Dear parents! Your son is behaving disgracefully!

'He skips history lessons, fights with classmates, threatens to blow up the whole school. Take action!'

The stunt was from Russian art activists known as The Party of the Dead.

The earlier protest also wished for Putin's death.

The group expressed the hope that the dead parents would 'take him to themselves someday'.

The messages on the tomb of Putin's parents come as his unpopular 'partial mobilisation' has triggered an upsurge in protests over the war in Ukraine.

The messages on the tomb of Putin's parents come as his unpopular 'partial mobilisation' has triggered an upsurge in protests over the war in Ukraine

She was hauled before Primorsky District Court of St. Petersburg and investigators want her to be held in detention pending trial

The head of GCHQ said Putin is now 'desperate' and faces a potential revolt against his leadership as 'exhausted' troops run out of supplies and munitions.

Sir Jeremy Fleming, the director of the UK's intelligence, cyber and security agency, claimed the war is badly backfiring in Russia as fighting-age men desperately try to avoid being drafted into his 'war of choice'.

In a speech in London, Sir Jeremy said that despite claims of an 'inevitable Russian military victory' at the start of the war, 'it's clear that Ukraine's courageous action on the battlefield and in cyberspace is turning the tide'.

The security chief also suggested that 'Russia's forces are exhausted' and it has become reliant on prisoners and inexperienced conscripts to backup depleted numbers.

On the ground, Putin is also suffering heavy blows as Ukraine recaptured five more villages from Russian forces in the south of the country.

Commanders said a cluster of villages - Nova Kamianka, Tryfonivka, Novovasylivka, Novohryhorivka and Chervone - in the Kherson region, had fallen into their hands.

Ukraine is consolidating its new frontline after breaking through Russian defences in the region last week, advancing 12 miles in just a few hours.

The counter-attack continues despite brutal rocket attacks that Putin and his new top commander - Sergey Surovikin - have unleashed on Ukraine's cities.

A Ukrainian soldier sits in a tank in the southern Kherson region where Kyiv's men have continued to take territory from Russia

A Ukrainian multiple-launch rocket system opens fire on Russian lines amidst a counter-attack in Kherson that is continuing to take ground

More than 100 missiles and dozens of drones attacked virtually every major city in Ukraine over 48 hours between Monday and Tuesday, causing widespread death and destruction to civilians.

At least 19 people died and scores more were hurt in the bombings which took out power and water supplies in major cities such as Lviv.

Kyiv has accused Russia of deliberately targeting civilians in 'terrorist' attacks, while Putin insists he is hitting military infrastructure.

The strikes were unleashed in response to an explosion which crippled the Kerch Bridge from occupied Crimea to Russia at the weekend which Putin has blamed on the Ukrainian secret service.

FSB agents on Wednesday said they had arrested eight people - five Russians and three people from Ukraine and Armenia - over the attack.

The FSB accused the ring of smuggling 25 tons of explosives disguised as plastic sheeting used for construction around the Black Sea and into Russia.

They said 22 pallets carrying the explosives went from Odesa, in southern Ukraine, via Ruse in Bulgaria to Yerevan in Armenia, and then across Georgia and into Russia.

The last stop on their two-month journey was Armavir, in southern Russia, before they were shipped to a non-existent company in Simferopol, Crimea, the FSB says.

But as the shipment passed over the Kerch Bridge that links Russia to Crimea on the morning of October 8 it exploded, partially collapsing the road bridge, setting light to a nearby fuel train, killing five people, and infuriating the Kremlin.

Ukrainian artillerymen fire from a self-propelled 152mm SAU 2S3 Akatsiya gun as fighting rages with Russian forces in the eastern Donetsk region

Ukrainian artillerymen walk away from their gun having shelled Russian positions in Donetsk, where attacks are continuing

Rusting Russian armoured vehicles are pictured on a scrapheap near Lyman, a city in the north of Ukraine that was recaptured last month

Ukrainian officials have lauded the explosion on the bridge, but stopped short of directly claiming responsibility for it.

The FSB alleged suspects were working on orders of Ukraine's military intelligence to secretly move the explosives into Russia and forge the accompanying documents.

Putin's missile barrage continued overnight Tuesday though at a lower intensity than previous days, with the Zaporizhzhia region and the city which shares its name peppered with explosives.

There were no immediate reports of casualties, though officials said that residential buildings had been damaged.

Zaporizhzhia, which sits fairly near the front line between Russian and Ukrainian forces, has been repeatedly struck with often deadly attacks in recent weeks.

It is part of a larger region, including Europe's largest nuclear power plant now in Russian control, that Moscow has said it has annexed in violation of international law.

The city itself remains in Ukrainian hands.

To the south, in a Russian-controlled area of the region, a powerful blast struck the city of Melitopol - sending a car flying into the air, mayor Ivan Fedorov. There was no word on casualties.

Tuesday marked the second straight day when air raid sirens echoed throughout Ukraine, and officials advised residents to conserve energy and stock up on water.

Ukrainian emergency crews help extinguish a fire after the city of Zaporizhzhia, in southern Ukraine, was hit by artillery fire overnight

A woman weeps after her apartment building was partially destroyed by a Russian rocket strike on the city of Zaporizhzhia

The strikes knocked out power across the country and pierced the relative calm that had returned to the capital, Kyiv, and many other cities far from the war's front lines.

'It brings anger, not fear,' Kyiv resident Volodymyr Vasylenko, 67, said as crews worked to restore traffic lights and clear debris from the capital's streets. 'We already got used to this. And we will keep fighting.'

The leaders of the Group of Seven industrial powers condemned the bombardment and said they would 'stand firmly with Ukraine for as long as it takes.'

Their pledge defied Russian warnings that Western assistance would prolong the war and the pain of Ukraine's people.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the G-7 leaders during a virtual meeting Russia fired more than 100 missiles and dozens of drones at Ukraine over two days.

He appealed for 'more modern and effective' air defense systems - even though he said Ukraine shot down many of the Russian projectiles.

The Pentagon on Tuesday announced plans to deliver the first two advanced NASAMs anti-aircraft systems to Ukraine in the coming weeks. The systems, which Kyiv has long wanted, will provide medium- to long-range defense against missile attacks.

In a phone call with Zelenskyy on Tuesday, President Joe Biden 'pledged to continue providing Ukraine with the support needed to defend itself, including advanced air defense systems,' the White House said.

Ukraine's defense minister tweeted that four German IRIS-T air defense systems had just arrived, saying a 'new era' of air defense for Ukraine had begun.
A mother-of-one who suffered severe third degree burns after a portable heater exploded at a pub has shared how her anxiety means she is unable to go outside by herself.

More than a year on from the horrific incident, April Charlesworth, 28, has been working hard on her recovery but admits she feels like people are out to get her when she leaves her home.

April, from Colchester, had been at a Suffolk pub with her friends in April 2021 when one poured ethanol on a table heater to make it spark.

When the friend did it a second time, an alcoholic bottle near the heater caught on fire and exploded burning April and her cousin.

April was rushed to the hospital after the incident and put under an induced coma for four days.

She has third-degree burns on seven per cent of her body, including her face, chest and hands and spent four weeks in bandages in the hospital after the incident.

As part of her recovery April has to wear compression garments on her face for 23 hours per day.

April Charlesworth, 28, suffered life-changing burns in 2021 after a portable heater exploded but has recovered very well (pictured in 2022)

The mother-of-one has to wear compression garments (pictured) on her face for 23 hours per day

The videographer had to be wrapped up in bandages and spent four days in a coma after the explosion

April (before the incident) said she used to be a 'party girl' but now struggles to go outside

April has to have a compression mask altered every two months as the swelling and scars on her face change

April spent four weeks in the hospital to treat her horrific third degree burns

April also has laser surgery (post session pictured) every six weeks to reduce the visibility of her scars

April, who works as a videographer, has developed social anxiety after her incident and feels afraid to be out of her house.

'Before the incident, I was happy to go out all the time, I was a bit of a party girl,' she said.

'Now I can't think of anything worse, I don't like going out I'd rather just sit at home with my little boy.

'I'm just more anxious about everything and I've get really bad paranoia.

'I can't go out by myself, and I feel like everyone I see on the street is out to get me.

'I know that's not true, and what happened was a freak occurrence, but I can't stop the anxiousness.

'I get anxious even when my son goes to school these days, I can't control it.'

April was put under an induced coma for four days after the heater exploded

April's face was heavily bandaged after the accident to treat her third degree burns

An image taken from April's time in hospital shows how much progress she has made in less than two years

April (above) was rushed to Bury St Edmunds Hospital, before being taken to Queen Victoria Hospital, London for urgent treatment

She recounted the incident from April 2021 and explained how it unfolded, she said: 'I was at the pub with my friends when someone poured ethanol over a table heater.

'The fire suddenly jumped up and consumed me and another friend sitting right next to me.

'I remember after the incident I was really confused as to what was going on, my shirt was burnt up so I was walking around the pub topless.

'I did not realise the extent of my injuries I refused to go to the hospital I just wanted to go home and see my son.

'However, my friends called an ambulance and I was taken to the hospital where they put me under an induced coma for four days.

'I was admitted to the burns ward for two months and am now in the recovery process.

'I felt suffocated and isolated more because I missed my son, when he first saw me he couldn't look at me or wouldn't come near me because he was scared of what I looked like all bandaged up.'

April was celebrating her 28th birthday with family and friends at The Kings Head, Great Cornard before the pub heater blast changed her life forever

The King's Head pub confirmed the heater was 'brought onto the premises without their knowledge' before it exploded injuring three customers including April Charlesworth

April's cousin and children's nurse Ashleigh Charlesworth (pictured) was also left with potentially life-changing injuries after the portable heater exploded

April now has to wear compression garments on her face and chest 23 hours a day and have laser surgery every six weeks for her scars.

'I have to wear compression garments twenty-three hours a day, they are exceedingly uncomfortable,' she said.

'They scratch and itch and I can barely breathe in them but the swelling and redness on my chest have already gone down and they are exceedingly helpful.

'I have a plastic mask I wear on my face with holes in the eye, nose and mouth.

'I also sleep with the compression mask on, it was exceedingly uncomfortable and suffocating, to begin with. I could barely breathe and only got two-three hours of sleep some nights.

'I have to have the mask altered every two months as the swelling and scars on my face change and it stops fitting right.'

April has shared her entire burn survivor journey and the after-effects of her trauma on Instagram.

'I have found a great community of people on Instagram while sharing my journey,' she said.

'I'll get like random messages with a message saying how amazing I am and people find me on Tik Tok and say you're incredible and stuff like that.

'I've had loads of survivors messaging me and just saying like thank you for sharing your story.

'And it's helped them be able to share stuff with other people as well.

'It's helped me get through it like, and loads of people say how much it's helped them knowing that I'm able to share my journey.

'Because I shared the good and the bad, and nothing I have shared is not fake.

'I don't want people to think it's all happy like you will get better because there are days where you just don't feel like that at all.'
His war in Ukraine is also pushing up energy bills across the continent

Comes as Putin is accused of using missiles to hit power supplies in Ukraine

As Vladimir Putin is accused of deliberately seeking to freeze millions of Ukrainians this winter by striking at energy supplies, he offered his coat to keep warm one of the world's richest men.

He gave the Italian coat in chilly St Petersburg to Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, third president of the United Arab Emirates.

Also ruler of Abu Dhabi, he is from the fourth wealthiest family on the planet and his personal fortune is estimated at 27 billion.

The sheik held the Putin black coat over his traditional dress, but did not put his arms in the sleeves, as the Kremlin warmonger bade farewell to him at the Konstantinovsky Palace.

The gesture with temperatures a little above zero in St Petersburg came at the moment Putin is accused of using his missiles to ruthlessly hit power supplies in Ukraine, leaving children and their parents as well as the elderly shivering as winter approaches.

The West has accused the Russian president of genocide for deliberately striking at civilian infrastructure.

The sheik held the Putin black coat over his traditional dress, but did not put his arms in the sleeves, as the Kremlin warmonger bade farewell to him at the Konstantinovsky Palace

The gesture with temperatures a little above zero in St Petersburg came at the moment Putin is accused of using his missiles to ruthlessly hit power supplies in Ukraine, leaving children and their parents as well as the elderly shivering as winter approaches

The UAE ruler said he had been in Russia for talks on 'several issues of mutual concern, including the Ukraine crisis'.

He stressed 'the importance of engaging in dialogue to reduce tensions and arrive at a diplomatic solution'.

Putin said he was aware of the checks 'concern' over the 'the crisis that is happening in Ukraine today.

'I want to note that this is indeed an essential factor that makes it possible to use your influence in order to move in the direction of settling the situation.'

He said: 'I also know about your concern regarding the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and all the events that are taking place around it.'

A flunky of the sheik's held the Abu Dhabi ruler's own coat which Putin did not view as suitable for the Russian cold.

Many Russian men are currently using the UAE as a stepping stone to flee to other countries, so avoiding Putin's hated military mobilisation.

But Putin also sees some Arab countries as helping him lessen the impact of Western sanctions which are starting to bite.

The UAE ruler said he had been in Russia for talks on 'several issues of mutual concern, including the Ukraine crisis'

Putin's talks with the ruler of Abu Dhabi and offering him his coat come as he previously threatened to completely stop all energy supplies to Europe, potentially leaving millions to freeze.

In the West, nations had proposed price caps on Russian oil and gas to pressurise Russia's energy revenues.

But Putin threatened that Russia could rip up existing supply proposals in response to the EU plans.

At the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok he said: 'We will not supply gas, oil, coal, heating oil  we will not supply anything.

'Will there be any political decisions that contradict the contracts? Yes, we just won't fulfill them. We will not supply anything at all if it contradicts our interests.

'We would only have one thing left to do: as in the famous Russian fairy tale, we would let the wolf's tail freeze.'

The tale was described by Russian newspaper Pravda. It involves a fox that made a wolf catch fish in a frozen river by putting his tail into an ice hole.

Pravda explained that the fox's tail was left in the frozen ice hole after the animal escaped.

Putin's talks with the ruler of Abu Dhabi, pictured, and offering him his coat come as he previously threatened to completely stop all energy supplies to Europe, potentially leaving millions to freeze

The EU is already facing the prospect of a tough winter because it was looking to stop all Russian imports.

And Russia stopped gas supplies to Europe, blaming technical issues on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.

This leaves the EU vulnerable as it tries to organise energy storage ahead of the colder months.

It comes amid the prospect of potential energy rationing in Europe this winter.

Despite the EU asking members to slash their gas consumption by 15 per cent, restrictions on gas use may be unavoidable.

Amid the continuing war in Ukraine, measures have been put in place by European governments to help their citizens and protect them from surging energy bills.

The energy situation was described as 'extraordinary' by Ursula von der Leyen, pictured

The energy situation was described as 'extraordinary' by Ursula von der Leyen.

The European Commission President added that: 'Russia is an unreliable supplier and is manipulating our energy markets.'

Von der Leyen said that the Commission were putting forward measures to help customers in the EU.

These include a target for reducing electricity use at peak hours and a cap on company revenues making low cost electricity.

She said in a statement that consumers need to benefit from low costs of low carbon energy sources such as renewables and added that fossil fuel companies should contribute to easing pressures on consumers.

Von der Leyen said that the objective is to cut Russia's revenues, used to finance Putin's war in Ukraine.

She added that since the start of the war, the amount of imported gas from Russia has decreased from 40 to 9 per cent, according to CNBC.

Von der Leyen, pictured, added that since the start of the war, the amount of imported gas from Russia has decreased from 40 to 9 per cent, according to CNBC

It comes as it was yesterday announced by the White House that President Joe Biden will 're-evaluate' the US relationship with Riyadh after a Saudi-led coalition of oil-producing nations sided with Russia to slash output.

The 13-nation OPEC cartel and its 10 allies headed by Moscow angered the White House last week with its decision to reduce output by two million barrels a day from November - raising fears that oil prices could soar.

'I think the president's been very clear that this is a relationship that we need to continue to re-evaluate, that we need to be willing to revisit,' National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told CNN.

'Certainly in light of the OPEC decision, I think that's where he is.'

'I think the president's been very clear that this is a relationship that we need to continue to re-evaluate, that we need to be willing to revisit,' National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, pictured, told CNN

The OPEC decision was widely seen as a diplomatic slap in the face, since Biden traveled to Saudi Arabia in July and met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, despite vowing to make the kingdom an international 'pariah' following the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

It also comes at a sensitive moment for Biden's Democratic party, as it faces November midterm elections with rising consumer prices a key Republican talking point.

Kirby added that Biden was 'willing to work with Congress to think through what that relationship (with Saudi Arabia) ought to look like going forward,' although he clarified that no formal discussions had yet begun.

His remarks came a day after Bob Menendez, the Democratic chairman of the influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called for Washington to halt all cooperation with Riyadh.

The OPEC decision was widely seen as a diplomatic slap in the face, since Biden traveled to Saudi Arabia in July and met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, pictured

Menendez said the kingdom had decided to 'underwrite' Russia's war in Ukraine with a move he denounced as a concession to Moscow that would hurt the global economy.

'The United States must immediately freeze all aspects of our cooperation with Saudi Arabia, including any arms sales and security cooperation beyond what is absolutely necessary to defend US personnel and interests,' Menendez said.

'As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I will not greenlight any cooperation with Riyadh until the kingdom reassesses its position with respect to the war in Ukraine.'

The partnership between the United States and Saudi Arabia was sealed after World War II, providing the kingdom with military protection in exchange for American access to oil.

Fraught with crises, the relationship was revived by Biden's predecessor Donald Trump, whose single term saw Riyadh accounting for a quarter of US arms exports, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

Kirby's remarks came a day after Bob Menendez, pictured, the Democratic chairman of the influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called for Washington to halt all cooperation with Riyadh

Continuing the rapprochement, Biden's State Department announced in August that Saudi Arabia would buy 300 Patriot MIM-104E missile systems, which can be used to bring down at long-range incoming ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as attacking aircraft.

Saudi Arabia has faced recent rocket threats from Yemen's Houthi rebels, who have been supplied with Iranian equipment and technology.

Biden said last week that he would look at alternatives to prevent gas price hikes.

These could include further releases from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, potentially increased domestic drilling, as well as more drastic measures, including limits on exports.

Menendez's call for a freeze in arms sales has the support of several fellow Democratic lawmakers, including Connecticut's Senator Chris Murphy, who told CNN that Washington had for too long given Riyadh a pass on transgressive conduct.

'For years we have looked the other way as Saudi Arabia has chopped up journalists, has engaged in massive political repression, for one reason: we wanted to know that when the chips were down, when there was a global crisis, that the Saudis would choose us instead of Russia,' he said.

'Well, they didn't. They chose Russia.'
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LGBTQ beachgoers are wrestling with New York City's plan to tear down a long-abandoned tuberculosis hospital that shields a popular gay nudist beach from public view.

Fans of the People's Beach at Jacob Riis Park in the Rockaways say the private, welcoming attitude of the tiny enclave will be put under threat if plans to demolish the old Neponsit Beach Hospital come to fruition in the coming months.

The hospital previously treated TB, but has lain empty since 1998. It now acts as a privacy shield for the People's Beach, which is clothing optional and which is a popular spot with LGBT New Yorkers, as well as their friends.

Regulars have even taken to decorating the old hospital, with a pride progress flag and pro-LGBT slogans among those painted on the wall.

Graffiti on the outer walls declare 'QUEER TRANS POWER' and 'KNOW YOUR POWER.' Air conditioning units rust in the shattered windows of Neponsit Beach Hospital, once also a nursing home.

A shrine on the chain-link fence memorializes a queer icon found dead off the waters nearby.

The city wants to create a park on the site, wiping out the decrepit structure facing a clothing-optional beach in the borough of Queens.

And while the beach itself is not under threat, regulars fear that they'll no longer be afforded the privacy that was once vital to a segment of society that faced widespread persecution.

The LGBTQ community has long embraced that section of Jacob Riis Park, sunbathing nude and holding gatherings such as memorials for Ms. Colombia, also known as Oswaldo Gomez, who is believed to have drowned nearby in 2018.

Novels by LGBTQ authors including Audre Lorde and Joan Nestle helped to turn the area into a fabled haven.

'We would like to be assured that we will continue to have this space, which has always been our space, where people from the queer community always end up,' said Victoria Cruz, 76, who has been coming to the beach since the 1960s.

'This is the people's beach. And we are the people,' said Cruz, nicknamed the 'Queen of Riis.'

Riis is accessible via bus, bike or car, and is a cheap-but-fun alternative for New Yorkers on a budget who cannot afford to visit the ritzy LGBT enclave of Fire Island, which sits off the coast of Long Island.

NYC plans to demolish Neponsit Beach Hospital, a former tuberculosis facility, on Jacob Riis Beach in Queens. The city wants to create a park on the site, wiping out the decrepit structure facing a clothing-optional beach in the borough of Queens

Many have becoming since the 60s and some even started visiting in their childhood and said it makes them feel 'safe' and 'protected'. They fear that demolishing the hospital and building a park would change the vibe on the beach, and end its reputation as a safe and private haven for a section of society that has faced persecution

Two men lovingly gaze into each other's eyes as they enjoyed the beach last month. One longtime beachgoer Adair Green, who goes by they/them pronouns, said: 'You feel confident to just show up as you are'

Qween Jean, a transgender activist, flies a trans flag and dances freely on the beach last month. She and others worry that the People's Beach could change irredeemably if the abandoned hospital which shields it from public gaze is demolished

The beach is located in Queens behind an abandoned hospital site (pictured)

Samir Arboleda discovered the beach a decade ago while he was living in Washington Heights - from the most northern parts of Manhattan - and has since been making weekly trips to the queer haven.

'It's my second home,' he told The New York Times. He said he felt calm and at peace while at laying under the summer sun and said the people at the beach made him feel that way.

Adair Green - who goes by they/them pronouns - said they felt safe at the 'topless, gay beach oasis' and felt supported after showing off their chest after top surgery.

'You feel confident to just show up as you are,' they told the Times.

Detroit-born artist Timothy French, 43, felt the same way, saying: 'I just feel protected, and like I can have a good day and just be myself.'

The nonbinary artist said the beach feels like the safest place in the city and a place he can let his guard down.

His art projects Plastics in the City - which show Barbie tableaux across the city - was born on the People's Beach a decade ago, when he used a few Barbies' and a miniature pool, according to The New York Times.

Many people who frequent the beach forego clothing and choose to be as they are without any judgement

Two men (pictured) kiss as others enjoy the sandy beach. Many said the beach's fluidity helped them come to terms with their own queerness, including Neariah Leiner, 19, who has been coming to the beach since childhood

'It makes sense because the variety of the kinds of bodies that you'll see at Riis Beach, it's just not really something that you would experience anywhere else,' Leiner said. Two men (pictured) enjoyed the water while holding hands

The LGBTQ community has long embraced that section of Jacob Riis Park, sunbathing nude and holding gatherings such as memorials for Ms. Colombia, also known as Oswaldo Gomez, who is believed to have drowned nearby in 2018 (pictured: a man hugs a woman dressed as Ms. Colombia)

For Neariah Leiner, 19, who has been going to the beach since childhood, the beach help her understand her queer identity and embrace nudity.

'I think it was a really unique experience for me as a kid. I loved going to Riis so much. I would always ask to go back,' Leiner, who goes by they/them pronouns, told the Times.

'It makes sense because the variety of the kinds of bodies that you'll see at Riis Beach, it's just not really something that you would experience anywhere else.'

Ralph Hopkins, 74 - who is known as the 'mayor' of beach - has been coming to the sandy area since 1965.

He has been known for his legendary end-of-summer parties since the 70s. Hopkins stopped throwing parties in the 90s, but he decided to throw one last party this summer.

He said the people at the beach 'see' him, even when 'sometimes I don't see it for myself.'

Edgar Scott has been a fan of the beach for so long that he remember when the nursing home was still operating in the 90s.

He used to visit frequently on Mondays at the time because the hairdressers would be there and they 'always had lots of food, liquor, and all kind of stuff.'

Scott, however, has made peace with the city's plans to destroy the hospital, saying that 'change is one of the things that's been inevitable in the time that I've lived in New York City.'

'Its lovely when its raw, but then sooner or later, modern development is going to come and put up a parking lot where trees used to be,' he told the Times. 'I figured that it would just be sold off, and it would be some high-rise development that would try to push us off the beach.'

Despite the deep love for the beach by the LGBT+ community, many residents have deemed the abandoned hospital and nursing home an ugly health hazard.

'The community is concerned about the remediation of vermin and asbestos and whatever else is in there,' said Jenna Tipaldo, a 25-year-old PhD student who lives nearby.

The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, which owns the site, has met with neighbors and LGBTQ community members to discuss their concerns.

Visitors are allowed to dress as freely as they please and show off their truly selves while cooling off from NYC's hot summers

People also throw parties (pictured) and celebrations and get married on the beach

During a Ms. Colombia celebration, beachgoers dressed up in vibrant outfits to celebrate her

Despite the mass amounts of fun the LBGT+ community has on the beach, residents are concerned about the health hazards the old hospital could bring. The public hospitals agency has not announced what exactly it plans on building on the site, but it is reportedly supposed to be done by 2023 beach season

'We will continue to engage these communities to learn how we can accommodate their concerns while ensuring public safety,' Stephanie Buhle, deputy press secretary for the agency, said in an email.

The public hospitals agency has not announced specific plans for the site, and Buhle has not responded to requests for more details.

But Joann Ariola, the city councilwoman whose district includes the building, said in an email this week that a park has been proposed, and surveys and other demolition preparations are underway.

The public hospitals agency has not said when major demolition will begin, but told Reuters by email this week it aims for completion before the 2023 beach season.

Casey Morrissey, a Brooklyn-based bookseller, said they do not mind the demolition as long as the beach is not lost to the LGBTQ community.

'It has been a sanctuary for us. We just come here without planning and always find friends,' Morrissey said during a visit with their partner. 'We don't have many spaces like these.'

People have long embraced the nudity culture of the beach (pictured: sunbathers in August 1982)
Senior Tories are calling for futher U-turn on tax cuts to settle volatile markets

Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng are under new pressure over mini-Budget fiasco

PM addresses 1922 Committee at the end of another day of market turmoil

Liz Truss tonight attempted to woo disgruntled Tory MPs as she faced fresh demands to perform a further U-turn on her unfunded tax cuts.

The Prime Minister addressed the Conservatives' 1922 Committee at the end of another day of turmoil on financial markets.

Among those to attend the gathering of Tory backbenchers were prominent critics of Ms Truss's economic strategy, including ex-Cabinet ministers Michael Gove and Grant Shapps.

Both the PM and Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng are under increasing pressure to reverse - or delay - more of the measures in last month's mini-Budget in order to settle the market turbulence.

Ms Truss, who today insisted public spending would not be cut to balance the public finances, has already abandoned plans to scrap the 45p tax rate for top earners after an outcry.

But ministers have insisted that other measures - such as their plan to scrap a 6p increase in Corporation Tax and cuts to Stamp Duty - will still happen.

There were signs tonight the mini-Budget fiasco has continued to turn voters away from the Tories, with one poll in 'Blue Wall' parts of the country showing the party trailing Labour by 13 points.

The PM and Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng are under increasing pressure to reverse - or delay - more of the measures in last month's mini-Budget in order to settle the market turbulence

Mel Stride, the chair of the House of Commons' Treasury select committee, suggested Ms Truss would have to 'row back' further on her mini-Budget

Ex-Cabinet minister Damien Green said 'one of the obvious ways' the Government could reduce debt without cutting public spending would be to 'defer some of the tax cuts'

A Redfield & Wilton Strategies poll in 'Blue Wall' parts of the country showed the Tories trailing Labour by 13 points

At this evening's 1922 meeting in Parliament, Ms Truss hailed her energy bills freeze for families and businesses.

She attacked Labour for having no plan to tackle soaring prices beyond the next six months.

According to a Downing Street source, the PM called for Tory MPs to 'highlight the devastation that would have been caused to small business had we not acted - and pointed out that Labour had no plan to avert this'.

But MPs leaving the meeting appeared downbeat, with one quipping: 'Im going to get drunk.

Another said simply 'the PM spoke to us', while one said only 'it happened.

One MP critical of the PM's performance said: 'It was like someone trying to light a fire using a magnifying glass. Using damp wood. In the dark.'

Meanwhile, senior Tory backbenchers publicly stepped up their demands for Ms Truss and Mr Kwarteng to 'row back' further on their mini-Budget.

Mel Stride, the chair of the House of Commons' Treasury select committee, posted on Twitter: 'Given the clear Government position expressed today on protecting public spending there is an emerging question.

'Whether any plan that does not now include at least some element of further row back on the tax package can actually satisfy the markets.

'Credibility might now be swinging towards evidence of a clear change in tack rather than just coming up with other measures that try to square the fiscal circle

'The Chancellor will only get one opportunity to land his plans and the forecast positively.

'He must take no chances. There is too much at stake for all of us.'

Former Cabinet minister Damien Green said 'one of the obvious ways' the Government could reduce debt without cutting public spending would be to 'defer some of the tax cuts'.

'I dont think it involves scrapping the whole idea of deregulation and tax cuts,' he told BBC Radio 4's PM programme.

'It needs fitting into an appropriate fiscal framework, and if you like an appropriate political framework as well.

'So Im not saying actually do a 180-degree turn and go off in the other direction. Its a question of making the policies appropriate for the times.'

Mr Green revealed that reversing some of the mini-Budget measures was being openly discussed by Tory MPs as a means of reassuring markets over Government debt.

'It is indeed a topic of conversation around the tea rooms of the House of Commons as well, because we can all do the rough maths and see that its very difficult,' he added.

A Redfield & Wilton Strategies poll published tonight revealed that in 42 affluent southern consituencies where the Tories have traditionally won - known as the 'Blue Wall' - Labour were backed by 41 per cent of voters, with the Tories supported by 28 per cent.

The survey also found that just 48 per cent of those who voted Tory at the 2019 general election said they would do so again.

Mr Kwarteng has brought forward an announcement on spending to Hallowe'en amid suggestions he may need to make 60billion of savings.

But Ms Truss vowed she will 'absolutely' not cut public spending as she batted away criticism of the mini-Budget during a bruising PMQs earlier today.

Mr Stride told the Commons this afternoon that Mr Kwarteng has 'a huge challenge now landing those plans to reassure the markets'.

'He has to get the fiscal rules right, he has to come forward with spending restraint and revenue raisers that are politically deliverable,' the former minister told Treasury Chief Secretary Chris Philp today.

'Given the huge challenges, there are many - myself included - who believe it is quite possible that he will simply have to come forward with a further rowing back on the tax announcements that he made on September 23.

'So could I ask (Mr Philp) to confirm that that possibility is still on the table?'

Mr Philp, in his reply, said: 'There are not any plans to reverse any of the tax measures announced in the growth plan.'

Mr Stride earlier told the Commons that Mr Kwarteng has 'a huge challenge now landing those plans to reassure the markets'

Treasury Chief Secretary Chris Philp said: 'There are not any plans to reverse any of the tax measures announced in the growth plan.'

Ms Truss vowed she will 'absolutely' not cut public spending as she batted away criticism of the mini-Budget during a bruising PMQs today.

Robert Largan also asked if the Government was 'considering deferring any of the tax measures recently announced by the Chancellor'.

He said: 'The Conservative Party stands for low taxes but also for fiscal responsibility and sound money.

'Given that the Prime Minister has just said that there will not be public-sector spending cuts, can I ask the chief secretary to the Treasury if the Government are considering deferring any of the tax measures recently announced by the Chancellor?'

Chris Philp replied: 'We don't plan to defer the tax measures because we think having an internationally-competitive tax system is important because it will help encourage businesses and successful individuals to locate here in the UK rather than anywhere else.'

Later, Kevin Hollinrake, a member of the Treasury Committee and a Tory MP, has said it would be better for Kwasi Kwarteng to U-turn on some elements of his mini-Budget than to spur on further market turmoil by pushing ahead regardless.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's World at One programme, he said that he believed the Chancellor could survive such an embarrassing reversal, even if it did not 'augur well'.

'I think it's better to have looked at this more carefully in the context of what's happened over the last few weeks and say 'I think we've got some of this wrong and these tax cuts need to be introduced over time'. I think if he made that case and said they've been listening, as they did with the top rate, I think that's possible, but it certainly doesn't augur well in terms of u-turning on commitments already made.'

He pointed to reversing course on the Government's decision to scrap the planned hike in corporation tax as one potential option for the Government.

He said that the markets will want to see 'something more tangible'.

'It's got to be either moderate some of those tax cuts or cut spending to give the Government credibility.'

Downing Street has also denied it was re-examining the measures unveiled in Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng's mini-budget.

Asked about a report in the Independent that the tax-cutting package was being reviewed, the Prime Minister's official spokesman said: 'No. We're working closely with the Treasury but I don't recognise that report.'

He said they were working closely on the 'medium-term fiscal plan and the economy more generally'.

Asked if they remained committed to every aspect of the mini-budget, he said: 'Yes. We are committed to the measures the Chancellor set out in the growth package.'

Pressed if that was in the timing previously set out, he responded: 'Yes.'

It comes as anti-fracking Tory rebels open talks with Labour aimed at blocking legislation making it easier to drill in a new headache for Liz Truss.

As the Prime Minister attempts to regain control of her divided party, eco-friendly backbenchers are reported to have reached out to the opposition.

Ms Truss and Business Secretary Jacob Res-Mogg are driving plans to ease rules governing the technology, which has been linked with earth tremors under homes.

But she faces pushback from MPs in areas where the technology is likely to resume, the BBC reported.

At the same time ministers are facing more rebellions on a range of issues, deepening the sense of chaos around the Truss administration.

Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has come under blue-on-blue fire over suggestions he could delay an uplift of foreign aid.

The rate was cut from 0.7 per cent of GDP to 0.5 per cent by his predecessor Rishi Sunak in 2020, with a proviso that it would return to the higher rate in 2024.

But Mr Kwarteng is said to be considering delaying the increase until 2027.

As the Prime Minister attempts to regain control of her divided party, eco-friendly backbenchers are reported to have reached out to the opposition.

Former Cabinet minister David Davis opened a new front over Government spending cuts today, slamming rumours that research and development cash could be slashed

Jacob Rees-Mogg today said MPs always 'have a say', amid reports that some Conservative MPs could work with Labour to force a vote on the Government's fracking plans

In response, former minister Andrew Mitchell told the Telegraph: 'Tempting though it may be to further constrain the international development budget, it would certainly not be in Britain's national interests.

'Were the Government to go back on that commitment to restore the 0.7 per cent aid target by 2024/5 it is unlikely that Parliament would support it.'

And former Cabinet minister David Davis opened a new front over government spending cuts today, slamming rumours that research and development cash could be cut to balance the books.

The Brexiteer said such a move would be 'completely inconsistent' with the Government's attempts to drive economic growth.

In an attempt to placate the parliamentary party, the PM today appointed an MP who backed Rishi Sunak in the Tory leadership contest as her parliamentary private secretary (PPS).

Announcing his appointment on social media, Nuneaton, Arley and Hartshill MP Marcus Jones said: 'I am deeply honoured to have been appointed parliamentary private secretary to the Prime Minister.

'This is an important time when the UK needs more investment and growth, and we need to reduce the burden on families and help people get on in life.'

His appointment is likely to be seen as a further attempt by Ms Truss to reach out to critics in the party after she made another backer of Mr Sunak, Greg Hands, an international trade minister.

Mr Rees-Mogg today said MPs always 'have a say', amid reports that some Conservative MPs could work with Labour to force a vote on the Government's fracking plans.

The move to reverse the ban on fracking is opposed by many Tories, one of several issues causing splits in the party since Liz Truss became leader.

The Business and Energy Secretary told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'MPs always have a say on what goes on.

'There are any number of mechanisms that MPs can use to have a say on things. The Government doesn't have to give votes. There are backbench business debates, there are opposition day debates, there are amendments.'
U.S. sanctions deprive Iranian women of life-saving medicine: Iranian spokesman

Xinhua) 08:50, October 12, 2022

TEHRAN, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- Iran's government spokesman said Tuesday that the U.S. sanctions which deprived Iran of raw materials needed for producing life-saving medicine exposed its hypocrisy in claiming to be advocating for Iranian women in the wake of Mahsa Amini's death.

Ali Bahadori Jahromi's remarks came during a weekly press conference in Tehran, according to official news agency IRNA.

Speaking of recent "meddlesome" remarks and measures taken by some Western countries following the death of Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman, Jahromi said these moves aimed at "inciting riots" in Iran in the guise of supporting the country's women and revealed these countries' double standards.

Over the past few weeks, "we have witnessed double-standard behaviors by (some) Western states," he said, adding the "inhumane" Western measures still deny Iranians access to essential medicines.

Meanwhile, they even allowed a female Iranian ambassador to be threatened by an assailant holding a "cold weapon" in a European country, indicating that they are even incapable of ensuring the security of Iran's envoy.

Jahromi was referring to an attack on Friday on Iran's Embassy's premises in the Danish capital of Copenhagen, where Iranian ambassador Afsaneh Nadipour and other employees were threatened, and vehicles were damaged.

Jahromi added U.S. withdrawal from a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers and reimposed sanctions on Iran had made the Iranian government more determined to defend its people's rights and remove the sanctions.

Protests over Amini's death, who died in a Tehran hospital a few days after collapsing at a police station, erupted across Iran, first in her native province of Kurdestan before spreading to several other cities including the capital.

The Iranian Legal Medicine Organization said on Friday that Amini's death was not a result of alleged blows to her head or vital organs, but an illness, semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

The U.S. sanctions against Iran have intensified since 2018, the year when Washington pulled out of the nuclear deal.

Although the United States claims that humanitarian items, including medicine and foodstuff, are not included in the sanctions list, its embargoes on Iran's oil exports and banking sector have, in practice, prevented the country from importing such goods.

(Web editor: Wu Chaolan, Hongyu)




Top South Korean and Japanese nuclear envoys held consultations Wednesday on ways to deal with North Korea's continued provocations highlighted by its recent string of ballistic missile launches, Seoul's foreign ministry said.







Kim Gunn, the ministry's special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, met with his Japanese counterpart, Takehiro Funakoshi, at the South Korean foreign ministry in Seoul. They previously met in Tokyo early last month together with their U.S. counterpart, Sung Kim.







The two sides exchanged views on the situation surrounding North Korea, including on Pyongyang's adoption of a new law that opens the door for preemptive nuclear strikes and recent missile drills carried out under the premise of using tactical nuclear arms.







They also shared the view that South Korea, the U.S. and Japan are maintaining close security cooperation against the North's threats and agreed to further strengthen joint efforts to bring Pyongyang back to dialogue for denuclearization, the ministry added.







The meeting follows a summit between South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida held on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York last month.







Yoon and Kishida also spoke over the phone last week in condemning North Korea's missile provocations and agreed to work together in responding to the North's threats.







The exchanges raised hopes for a breakthrough in efforts to warm Seoul-Tokyo relations frayed due to disputes over wartime forced labor and other issues related to Japan's 1910-45 brutal colonial rule of Korea.







On Tuesday, Funakoshi held a separate meeting with Lee Sang-ryol, director general for Asia and Pacific affairs at South Korea's foreign ministry, over the two countries' wartime forced labor issue. (Yonhap)


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The murder investigation over Leah Croucher's disappearance is centred on a property just a 20-minute walk from her home, where human remains were found.

19-year-old Leah was last seen walking to work in Milton Keynes on the morning of February 15, 2019. Her parents Claire and John reported her missing after she failed to return home.

Since Monday, officers have been searching a four-bedroom detached property that has been rented out in Loxbeare Drive, in the Furzton area of the city. Neighbours recalled seeing the girl walk past regularly on her way to work as an admin assistant the nearby Debit Finance Collect (DFC).

Thames Valley Police confirmed earlier today that human remains have been discovered at the site. According to sources, much of the forensic work has been focused on one of the ceilings of the home, which is valued at 490,000.

Wall boards were seen being carried from the property and a blue-coloured forensic tent was erected in the front garden.

Ever since she disappeared, Leah's distraught parents and elder sister Jade have done everything possible to keep her in the public eye and step up the campaign to find her.

Tragically, nine months after she went missing, Leah's brother Hayden Croucher, 24, was discovered by his mother and sister Jade hanged at his flat and later died in hospital - landing the family a further blow. An inquest heard he struggled to cope following her disappearance.

Leah's mother previously said her disappearance had 'destroyed' their family, adding that if she had been abducted or killed they would hold the culprit responsible for Haydon's death as well. 'He obviously, as everybody knows, he couldn't cope, he found it very difficult,' she said.

Leah's parents John and Claire Croucher spoke in February, on the third anniversary she went missing: 'It has been three long, desolate, years since our beautiful and wonderful daughter Leah, vanished without a trace on her way to work. We still have no answers as to why. No clues as to what happened. No idea as to where or how she is.

'It is impossible to stay positive after all this time. It was difficult at the start of this but now, the task is so futile, our lives are so bleak. It is harder each day to tell ourselves that today will be the day that we get answers, today we find out what happened three years ago.'

Leah was described by loved ones as 'very quiet' and 'not really an outgoing type of person', preferring to read fantasy fiction or watch DVDs in her room to nights out at the pub. She had competed internationally in taekwondo but her father said she was 'not a fighter'.

Leah Croucher, 19, vanished in Milton Keynes while walking to work on the morning of February 15, 2019. Thames Valley Police have spent two days searching a house close to where she went missing

An aerial view of forensic and police officers outside a property in Loxbeare Drive, Furzton, Milton Keynes, where police have identified human remains

Multiple police officers and forensic examiners were seen in the house and in its back garden this afternoon

Police officers remain guarding the scene as investigations continue into the possessions and human remains found at the property

Home CCTV captured Leah Croucher as she walked to work on the morning of February 15, 2019

Maps shows house (5) in Loxbeare Drive where police found human remains. It is very close to last known sightings of Leah in Emerson Valley, Buzzacott Lane and at Furston Lake

Leah, who was 19 years old at the time of her disappearance, was reported missing from Emerson Valley, Milton Keynes by her family on 15th February 2019. They last saw her at 10pm the day before, 14 February, St Valentine's Day. Pictured: The last known sighting of Leah on February 15

Detectives have sealed off house in Furzton, Milton Keynes - just a short distance from Furzton Lakes where Leah was last seen as she walked to work

The missing rucksack of Leah Croucher (left) has been recovered from a property in the Furzton area of Milton Keynes (Pictured right: a make of the bag owned by Leah)

A forensic tent was erected outside the property, which police have been searching since Monday - successfully recovering items belonging to Leah Croucher, including her rucksack

Personal items including Leah Croucher's rucksack have been recovered from the address

Thames Valley Police has now confirmed that human remains have been found at the site

Leah with her brother Haydon 24, with whom she was very close. He was found hanged at his home on November 14, 2019, nine months after she disappeared, and died in hospital two days later. An inquest later heard he struggled to cope after his sister's disappearance

Haydon Croucher was found hanging in his flat in Bletchley, Milton Keynes, nine months after Leah disappeared. He was rushed to hospital where he died two days later. Pictured: His family holding his hand as he lay in his hospital bed

A HOUSE JUST A 20-MINUTE WALK FROM LEAH'S FAMILY HOME The detached home where human remains were found is owned by a Kuwaiti based family who have rented it out for over two decades. Local residents missing teenager Leah Croucher would walk past the home every day on her way to work as an admin assistant. The 19-year-old lived less than half a mile away from the 490,000 home where human remains along with her rucksack and other possessions were found. Forensic teams continued to work at the property which has a rusting truck parked in the driveway. Jill Davey, who lives close to the house, said: 'Leah used to walk past the house every day. I would see her walking to work. 'It just sickens me... The police were meant to have searched all the houses around here, but they obviously didn't do their job properly. 'I just hope they can find whoever did this.' Records show the four-bedroom detached home was rented to a number of tenants. One neighbour said:' It has been empty for quite a few months. I never knew the people who owned the house, but like a lot of properties it was a family from Kuwait. 'We would see a gardener at the property occasionally, but no one else. We did not speak to the people.' The house is on an estate that was built in 1992 in the Furzton area of Milton Keynes. Murder squad detectives were talking to close neighbours to find out as much detail as possible about the tenants who rented the house. A small group of neighbours stood opposite the police blue tape that had sealed off the house. A blue tent had been erected adjacent to the front door. One resident said: 'Anyone who lives on the estate remembers Leah going missing and the police search. 'I would never have thought that she would be found in a house on the estate. She was so close to home.' A missing poster for Leah Croucher is still pinned to a tree less than 15 yards from the property. Advertisement

The property where the remains were found is just a 20-minute walk from Leah's own address and neighbours said the teenager would often walk through the street.

Thames Valley Police states it searched over 4,000 addresses in the hunt to find Leah. It is not known if the property on Loxbeare Drive was among them.

Records show the house, built as part of the estate in 1992, has been owned by a Kuwaiti family for two decades and has been rented out to a number of tenants over the years.

A Thames Valley Police spokesperson said: 'Following information received from a member of the public on Monday... specialist officers and forensic teams attended the location.

'As a result of an ongoing detailed forensic search of the property, a number of items have been located.

'During the search we have found items, including a rucksack and personal possessions belonging to Leah Croucher, who was reported missing on February 15, 2019.

'As a result of our findings, Thames Valley Police have now launched a murder investigation. This is a complex and challenging scene, which we have been at since just after 6.30pm on Monday.

'We will continue to be at the scene for a significant period of time.

'A large-scale missing person investigation has been ongoing for the last three and a half years, with extensive searches and house-to-house enquiries.'

Detective Chief Superintendent Ian Hunter said: 'Following a call to police on Monday, we attended an address and located items of concern within the property.

'We are dealing with a very difficult scene but we can now confirm that we have discovered a number of items that are linked to Leah, and as such, we have now launched a murder investigation, led by our Major Crime Unit.

'Leah's family have been kept updated and continue to be supported by officers, and we are urging the public and media to think of her family and not to speculate further while this investigation is in the early stages.

'We will provide further updates when we are able to do so.

'There remains a scene-watch in place at the address while this investigation continues, and we are committed to ensuring that our enquiries at the scene are thorough.

'During our search for Leah, we have committed hundreds of officers and staff to the search for Leah over the last three and a half years, reviewing 1,200 hours of CCTV and conducted more than 4,000 house-to-house inquiries and offered several rewards for information to lead us to Leah.

'The call from the member of the public that we received on Monday was the first occasion that we were alerted to this address, and we thank them for contacting us immediately to report their concerns.

'Our thoughts remain with Leah's family and friends, and we will continue to offer them all the support that they need.'

Following the update on the investigation, Ben Everitt, Conservative MP for Milton Keynes North, said he hoped it could 'provide some answers to Leah's loved ones'.

'My thoughts continue to be with Leah's family and friends at this incredibly difficult time,' he said.

A faded Thames Valley Police missing person sign with a 5,000 reward, probably from the time that Leah Croucher disappeared, was still tacked to a tree just yards from the suburban property where human remains were found.

The sign was a short distance from the police cordon where forensic experts appeared to be at work building a structure in the back garden of the house.

The appeal sign, complete with three photographs of teenager Leah Croucher, featured the hashtag 'come home Leah'.

It was still tacked to a tree with rusted nails and read: 'As usual, Leah got up after her parents left for work.

'She followed her normal routine including leaving home at her normal time and walking the route that she took to work in Knowhill, approximately two miles away.'

It added: 'Leah did not call in sick to work. She took no money or clothes. She told no-one she was planning on running away from home or where she was going.'

It also describes her as white, 5ft 2ins tall, of slim build, and with shoulder length brown hair.

Ms Croucher was last seen in a black coat, black skinny jeans, all black high-top Converse trainers, a grey hoodie featuring the Stewartby Taekwondo logo and carrying a small black rucksack.

The property is just under half a mile from where Ms Croucher was last seen on CCTV in Buzzacott Lane, Furzon, in February 2019.

The last reported sighting of Leah was in nearby Buzzacott Lane in Furzton area of the city just after 8.15am on Friday, February 15, 2019.

She was walking in the direction of Loxbeare Drive and Chaffron Way while on her way to work in the morning before she 'effectively vanished into thin air'.

A full-scale murder investigation has now been opened by Thames Valley Police as they investigate the items found at the 490,000 property

Thousands of public appeals have been made to find missing Leah Croucher, 19, since the date of her disappearance on February 15, 2019

The house in Loxbeare Drive is close to the area where Leah was last seen walking on February 15, 2019

No-one has been charged in relation to Leah's disappearance, while Thames Valley Police has confirmed human remains were found

A heavy police presence remains at the site as investigators probe for further clues about what happened to Leah

A police cordon is in place around the property in the Furzton area of Milton Keynes

Despite a wide-scale investigation in which police visited 4,000 properties, sent divers into Furzton Lake and reviewed 1,200 hours of CCTV, no trace of Leah was ever found and no one has been arrested in connection with the case.

Police previously called the case 'bewildering and frustrating', and said they retained an 'open mind' but 'the potential that Leah is no longer alive has to increase'.

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Howard said 'we've had no confirmed sightings of Leah' since the time of her disappearance.

Leah, who was 19 years old at the time of her disappearance, was reported missing from Emerson Valley, Milton Keynes, by her family on February 15, 2019. They last saw her at 10pm the day before, February 14 - Valentine's Day.

She was last seen on CCTV down Buzzacott Lane in Furzton, while on her way to work on the morning of February 15, before she 'effectively vanished into thin air'. The last activity on her phone was just after 8.30am that day.

In February, Leah's family issued an emotional statement to mark the third anniversary of her disappearance.

Leah Croucher seen on CCTV shortly before she went missing. The teenager was last spotted walking down Buzzacott Lane in Furzton, Buckinghamshire, while on her way to work on the morning of February 15, 2019 before she 'vanished into thin air'

One image from Furzton Lake, shows a figure of a person dressed in black, who may or may not have been Leah, on the day she disappeared

Leah Croucher was last seen in Milton Keyens on February 15, 2019. Pictured are the old poster (left) and the new poster (right) that have been released to try and find her

Hayden Croucher (left) the brother of missing teenager Leah Croucher, killed himself months after her disappearance after telling a therapist he was finding it difficult to cope

Timeline of missing Leah Croucher's disappearance February 14, 2019 8am: Leah, 19, sets off for work as normal to her admin job with finance company in Milton Keynes. 5.45pm: Leah walks home from work. The location settings on her Samsung phone were switched off in the Furzton Lake area. 6pm: Leah arrives home from work. She changes into tracksuit bottoms and a long-sleeved top. She tells her mum she is going to visit a friend. 7.15pm: Leah arrives home again. Her behaviour that night was totally normal, say her parents. February 15 8am: Leah gets up and leaves for work. She sets off on her normal route, wearing a black coat, skinny black jeans, black Converse high top shoes and carrying a small black rucksack. Underneath her coat she wears a distinctive grey hoodie. 8.13am: CCTV footage shows her walking along Buzzacott Lane in Furzton. That was the last confirmed sighting of Leah. 8.34am: Leah's mobile phone is switched off. 9am: Leah fails to arrive at work. 9.30am - 11.15am: Three different witnesses report seeing a girl matching Leah's description walking by Furzton Lake. She was looking 'visibly upset' and crying while talking on the phone. Police have never been able to say definitely that this was Leah. 6pm: Leah fails to return home. She is reported missing. February 17 Police issue a press release saying Leah is missing. February 19 Police release the CCTV footage of Leah. They are becoming 'increasingly concerned' for her welfare. Her phone is switched off and cannot be traced and her bank account has not been touched. In the following weeks divers scour Furzton Lake and fingertip searches are carried out. Leah's family and friends put posters up appealing for information. September 25 BBC's Crimewatch Roadshow re-enacts Leah's disappearance and appeals for information. It shows the clothing Leah was wearing on the day she vanished. Viewer contacts the show saying she and remembers walking at the Blue Lagoon lake in Bletchley, Milton Keynes in February and seeing a grey hoodie just near the water, like the one Leah was wearing. October 9 Police launch a major search at the Blue Lagoon. Nothing of any significance is found. November 14-16 Leah's brother Haydon Croucher killed himself in his flat in Bletchley, Milton Keynes, and was found by his mother and sister. February 14, 2020 Leah's parents Claire and John Croucher issue a fresh appeal at a media conference at Milton Keynes Police Station a year after her disappearance. February 15, 2021 Her family issue a statement appealing for help to find her on the second anniversary of her disappearance. In an emotional statement they said: 'It's now been two years since our beautiful, wonderful daughter Leah, left for work and vanished without a trace. Missing. Gone. 'To say they have been a hard two years is an understatement. They have been the longest and toughest two years of our lives.' February 15, 2022 Police release a new image of a person dressed in black seen at Furzton Lake to mark the third year of her disappearance. In a written statement Leah's family said each day 'feels like an eternity of pain and despair', but said they remained hopeful she would one day be found. 'It is harder each day to tell ourselves that today will be the day that we get answers, today we find out what happened three years ago,' her parents said. Advertisement

In a written statement, issued through Thames Valley Police, Leah's family said each day 'feels like an eternity of pain and despair', but said they remained hopeful she would one day be found.

'It is harder each day to tell ourselves that today will be the day that we get answers, today we find out what happened three years ago,' her parents John and Claire Croucher said.

'It is unimaginable to convince ourselves that this is not a lie we tell ourselves so that we get out of bed each day. Each day is torture.

'It is inconceivable not to worry every second of every single day. Sleep feels an elusive character each night, waking each morning we never feel rested and refreshed.

'Each time the phone rings or there is a knock at the front door, our hearts still leap in our chests.

'That familiar surge of hope springing up in our throats. That familiar wave of despair that crashes over our very souls each time.

'It is not the police or Leah herself knocking at the door or calling on the phone.

'Again, we ask for the public's help. You have all been so wonderful so far, still helping us search every face in the streets to see if they are Leah, still sharing on social media, still reporting possible sightings to the police.'

The night before she went missing, Leah left her home in Milton Keynes between 6pm and 7.15pm. She told her mother Claire Croucher she was seeing a friend.

The police found out she never saw the friend and they do not know where she went or who she was with - or whether she met anyone that night.

Her parents last saw her when she went to bed, with her mother Claire previously saying it was 'the last time I got to say goodnight'.

Last year Claire and her husband John Croucher said they feared someone may have taken Leah as they questioned why she would 'just disappear'.

The search for Leah has seen officers visit more than 4,000 homes in Milton Keynes, while officers have deployed specialist search teams, drones and helicopters.

Marine units and dive teams have conducted searches of lakes across the town but police say they have found no items relating to the missing woman.

Since Leah went missing, her family have kept her name in the public eye with campaigns for information.

In April, DCI Howard said: 'We remain absolutely committed to finding Leah and seeking answers for her family.'

The following month, an appeal for information about Leah's whereabouts was featured on digital billboards across London.

Alongside the tragedy of Leah's disappearance, Leah's family also suffered the tragic death of her brother Haydon, who was found hanged in November 2019.

The 24-year-old hanged himself after telling a therapist he was finding it difficult to cope with his sister's disappearance.

Haydon was brought to Milton Keynes hospital for assessment for admission by his therapist Chantelle Tillison. But there were no beds available and he was sent home.

He was found hanging in his flat in Bletchley, Milton Keynes, nine months after Leah disappeared, by his mother Tracey Furness and sister Jade.

He was rushed to hospital where he died two days later on 16 November last year, Milton Keynes coroner's court heard in 2020.

After his inquest, his mother Claire warned there was 'still a lot to learn' from her son's suicide.

In a statement issued through her solicitors Mrs Furness in 2020, she said: 'The family considers the Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust still have a lot to learn from the avoidable death of Haydon and others before him.'

Meanwhile, Leah's sister Jade Croucher, issued an appeal in July 2019, four months after her disappearance, for Leah to come home.

She said; 'It would be lovely if she messaged me on her birthday.

'Every day I wake up with the hope that we will get a little bit of a breakthrough that Leah is safe and well.

'I'm constantly checking my phone, but so far there has been nothing.'

The detached home where human remains were found is owned by a Kuwaiti based family who have rented it out for over two decades.

Local residents missing teenager Leah Croucher would walk past the home every day on her way to work as an admin assistant.

Leah Croucher's mother Claire speaking to media at Milton Keynes Police Station in 2020

John and Claire speaking to media at Milton Keynes Police Station in 2020, as they plead for information one year on from her disappearance

Pictured: Leah Croucher (right) with her elder sister Jade (left)

The 19-year-old lived less than half a mile away from the 490,000 home where human remains along with her rucksack and other possessions were found.

Forensic teams continued to work at the property which has a rusting truck parked in the driveway.

Jill Davey, who lives close to the house, said:' Leah used to walk past the house every day. I would see her walking to work.

'It just sickens me that she was so close to her home. The police were meant to have searched all the houses around here, but they obviously didn't do their job properly.

'I just hope they can find whoever did this.'

Records show the four-bedroom detached home was rented to a number of tenants over the years.

For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, see www.samaritans.org for details.
The police were carrying out the murder warrant at 6am on Wednesday

Two suspects were taken out of the home in handcuffs

He later died in the hospital, police confirmed

One suspect was shot in the head was shot in the head in return fire from the police

The officers were shot in the leg, the hip and the chest; all were taken to hospital

Three SWAT officers have been shot while serving a murder warrant at a home in Philadelphia.

The officers were rushed to the nearby Jefferson University hospital, along with a suspect who was shot in the head by the officers when he returned fire.

That suspect was later pronounced dead in the hospital.

One of the SWAT officers was shot in the leg, one was shot in the chest and another was shot in the hip. It's unclear what kind of condition they are in.

SWAT officers at the hospital on Wednesday morning after their colleagues were shot while carrying out a murder warrant

The residential street in Philadelphia on Wednesday shortly after the shoot out

The scene on the residential street where the warrant was being carried out on Wednesday

Philadelphia police officers are at the scene now in addition to SWAT

The National Fraternal Order of Police, the largest police union in the country, said it was yet another example of the violence faced by America's cops.

'Please pray for the 3 Philadelphia Police SWAT officers who were shot this morning while serving a warrant.

'Reports indicate they were rushed to the hospital and are in stable condition.

'The out of control violence against the police MUST STOP!' the union said in a tweet.
Boris Johnson has begun his lucrative new career away from Downing Street by pocketing $150,000 for a speech in the US.

The former prime minister took part in what was scheduled as a 90-minute 'fireside chat' at an insurance industry conference in Colorado.

The speech came a day after Mr Johnson registered a new company - named 'The Office of Boris Johnson Limited' - as he put together arrangements for his life outside No10.

The ex-premier had been widely expected to copy other former PMs by accepting well-paid speaking gigs now that he has left frontline politics.

He is also tipped to return to journalism, as well as complete a biography of Shakespeare he began prior to entering Downing Street.

Allies of Mr Johnson have previously claimed he was keen to put 'hay in the loft' once he had left No10, with the ex-PM eyeing a significant boost to his bank balance.

Mr Johnson's appearance at the Insurance Leadership Forum - hosted by the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers at the Broadmoor Hall resort in Colorado Springs - was billed by the conference organisers as an 'exclusive discussion on global politics and economics'.

He was reported to have received a standing ovation from the audience after speaking about Brexit and the war in Ukraine, as well as joking about his birth in New York City.

Boris Johnson appeared at the Insurance Leadership Forum - hosted by the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers at the Broadmoor Hall resort in Colorado Springs

The ex-PM was reported to have received a standing ovation from the audience after speaking about Brexit and the war in Ukraine

The former premier also took part in a 'fireside chat' on stage with a senior insurance broker during the event

Mr Johnson's 'fireside chat' event was scheduled to last 90 minutes.

But, according to The Times, the ex-PM delivered a 30-minute speech before engaging in a 45-minute chat on stage with a senior insurance broker for a fee of more than $150,000 (135,000).

He was said to have left quickly to resume a private holiday with his family after the event finished.

'It was a privilege, an honour and a great opportunity to have the possibility to be so close to Mr Johnson in such an open environment,' Renato Lilienfeld, president and senior partner in Lilienfeld Corredores de Seguros, Chiles largest private insurance broker, told the newspaper.

'I found that he was quite relaxed. He spoke about many topics in general about whats going on in the world, with Ukraine and with economics worldwide. He talked a little bit about what he was able to achieve in the years he was working as PM.

'He talked very much about Brexit as well and the reasons behind leaving the European Union.

'Hes still a great believer in Brexit and that Brexit is good for the UK.'

Mr Johnson was also said to have talked about climate change, the Queen and - very briefly - Donald Trump, while also joking about drinking 'very fancy' French wine with former German Chancellor Angela Merkel at last year's Cop-26 climate summit.

But he reportedly steered away from commenting on his successor Liz Truss and the current turmoil on financial markets following her mini-Budget.

During his time as PM, Mr Johnson earned 164,080 a year.

By remaining as MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, he will continue to be paid 84,144 a year for his role in Parliament.

But he is now likely to earn much more from his activities away from Westminster.

Mr Johnson had been widely expected to copy other former PMs by accepting well-paid speaking gigs now that he has left frontline politics

The ex-PM, pictured on a Greek trip with wife Carrie in August, was said to have left quickly after the event ended to resume a private holiday with his family

By remaining as MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Mr Johnson will continue to be paid 84,144 a year for his role in Parliament

On Monday, 'The Office of Boris Johnson Limited' was incorporated with Companies House

Mr Johnson's predecessor, Theresa May, pays herself 85,000 a year through a company for her speaking engagements, which have earned hundreds of thousands of pounds this year alone.

On Monday, 'The Office of Boris Johnson Limited' was incorporated with Companies House and named Mr Johnson's former No10 aide Shelley Williams-Walker as a director.

Mr Johnson is entitled to claim up to 115,000 a year as a former prime minister for running his office.

A spokesman for Mr Johnson said: 'The Office of Boris Johnson Ltd will support Boris Johnsons private office in line with similar structures established by former prime ministers.'

A longstanding friend of Mr Johnson recently added to suggestions the ex-premier could one day return for a second spell as PM.

Lord Marland, who helped lead Mr Johnson's London mayoral campaign in 2008, claimed there was a 'distinct possibility' the outgoing PM could launch a comeback if the Tories lose the next election and are left looking for a new party leader 'who can win elections'.

'He said to me the other day, he wants to go and put hay in the loft - in other words, build up his bank balance so that he can afford to pay for the lifestyle he has created,' the Tory peer told BBC Newsnight last month.

'I think once he's done that, if he's still an MP... he does have that opportunity.'

A spokesman for Mr Johnson said his earnings for the Colorado event would be declared in the usual way.
'A rollercoaster, that's your fault, every single time,' comedian said in the video

nthony Jeselnik said story of how she was hit by ride was 'absolutely hilarious'

An American comedy duo have been slammed for making fun of an Australian woman who remains in a coma after being struck by a rollercoaster.

Anthony Jeselnik and Gregg Rosenthal said the story of how Shylah Rodden was hit by the ride as she tried to retrieve her mobile phone was 'absolutely hilarious', with the comments drawing outrage from many online.

The 26-year-old Melbourne woman remains in a critical condition in a medically-induced coma after she was hit by a rollercoaster going 70km/hour last month.

Ms Rodden suffered multiple broken bones and serious brain damage in the incident, but this didn't stop the comedians from laughing at her misfortune.

Mr Jeselnik laughed throughout his co-host's retelling of the Royal Melbourne Show tragedy, which included reports the 26-year-old had to relearn how to walk after being involved in a horror car crash just 18 months before.

'A rollercoaster, that's your fault, every single time,' he said in the viral TikTok video.

Anthony Jeselnik (left) and Gregg Rosenthal (right) said the story of how Shylah Rodden was struck by a roller coaster while trying to retrieve her mobile phone was 'absolutely hilarious'

In January 2021, Ms Rodden flipped a car on the Western Ring Road in Melbourne after ploughing into a truck and a car and was flung onto the road because she hadn't been wearing a seatbelt.

Rosenthal told his smirking co-host in the video which has been viewed almost 600,000 times: 'She is in a critical condition after walking onto a rollercoaster track.'

'She was trying to retrieve a phone. Rodden had just learned to walk again...'

Mr Rosenthal is forced to stop as his co-host bursts out laughing and continues to laugh as he is told Ms Rodden had previously been involved in a 'horrific' car crash.

'Now you're wondering, why is this funny to us,' Mr Jeselnik says to their viewers.

'Walking onto a rollercoaster track is a bad idea. If you drop your cell phone ask someone who works there to get your phone for you.

People on the ride were stuck in the air for about 45 minutes while the scene was cordoned off

Shylah Rodden, 26, remains in a medically induced coma after she was hit by a rollercoaster going 70km/hour at the Royal Melbourne Show

'Do not jump onto the rollercoaster tracks. She'd gotten hit by a car four years ago, had to go through physical therapy to learn how to walk again.

'To celebrate learning to walk again she goes to an amusement park and immediately gets hit by a rollercoaster.'

Mr Jeselnik said rollercoasters only go in two directions and that he would understand if it had been a car because 'anything could've happened'.

'Maybe your in the street, maybe the car jumped the curb. Who knows. A rollercoaster, that's your fault, every single time,' he said.

Viewers were divided in the comments of the TikTok video, with some users slamming the skit as 'appalling' as others took the opportunity to crack jokes.

'I have a dark sense of humour but wow,' one user said.

At one point in the video, Mr Rosenthal was forced to stop as Mr Jeselnik bursts out laughing and continues to laugh as he says Ms Rodden had previously been involved in a car crash

American comedians Anthony Jeselnik (left) and Gregg Rosenthal (right) make a podcast called the Jeselnik & Rosenthal Vanity Project

'This is the first time I've seen you justify laughing at anything,' another said.

'I held my breath and pinched my nostrils at the very beginning trying not to laugh. I failed,' a third commented.

'A rollercoaster is your fault every time. I'm having that put on a t-shirt,' one said.

'The funniest man alive has spoken. Take notes people,' another user shared.

A witness known as Jordan inadvertently captured the moment Ms Rodden was struck while filming his family on the Rebel Coaster on September 25.

While waiting to record his sister and partner, who were in the front carriage of the ride, he saw a worker speaking to a woman in an unauthorised access area.

Ms Rodden is in a serious but stable condition in a medical-induced coma after being struck by the ride at the Royal Melbourne Show on September 25

A witness said he inadvertently filmed Ms Rodden looking down, fixated on picking up the object, as the roller coaster came charging towards her (pictured, the Rebel Coaster)

The worker told the woman to get away, and she began to walk off, but a few moments later, when he looked back to the ride, he saw Ms Rodden at the front of the ride, bending down into the tracks to collect something.

Despite the passengers' screams and the rollercoaster charging towards her, Jordan's footage shows Ms Rodden looking down, fixated on picking up the object, unaware she was in danger.

He said onlookers could not prevent Ms Rodden from walking on the tracks, and that the situation had unfolded rapidly.

Jordan said those on the ride were stuck in the air for about 45 minutes while the scene was cordoned off, and police spoke to Melbourne Show staff and witnesses.

On the day she was struck, Ms Rodden had been working at a friend's stall at the show when the pair decided to go on a few rides during their break.

She is believed to have dropped her phone while on the rollercoaster.

Police believe she then walked onto the tracks to retrieve her device despite ride operators telling her they would get it in 20 minutes once the ride stopped.

On the day she was struck, Ms Rodden had been working at a friend's stall at the show when the pair decided to go on a few rides during their break (pictured, the Royal Melbourne Show)

Aspokeswoman from the Royal Melbourne Hospital confirmed Ms Rodden's condition was now listed as serious rather than critical

On Tuesday, a spokeswoman from the Royal Melbourne Hospital confirmed Ms Rodden's condition was now listed as serious rather than critical.

The extent of her injuries still remain unclear, with her family - who were grappling with the death of her old brother just two months before the incident - bracing for the possibility she may never speak again.

Her gruelling path to recovery after she was flung onto the road in a car crash in January, 2021 came after yet another serious car crash in 2019.

A Melbourne Royal Show spokeswoman said '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 investigating the incident.
Koenig said he rang Graham night he fed him into woodchipper, court heard

The pair have been accused of murdering Bruce Saunders in Brisbane in 2017

Sharon Graham and Gregory Lee Roser have pleaded not guilty to murder

Peter Koenig gave evidence about the alleged killing of Bruce Saunders

Disgusted by Sharon Graham's plan to kill Bruce Saunders, Peter Koenig concedes he still rang her the night he fed his friend's body into a woodchipper.

A member of Graham's alleged 'love quadrangle', Koenig was recalled to give evidence at the Brisbane Supreme Court on Wednesday after new phone records were obtained.

Graham, 61, and partner Gregory Lee Roser, 63, have pleaded not guilty to murder after Mr Saunders died while working on a property north of Brisbane in November 2017.

Peter Koenig (pictured) concedes he still rang lover Sharon Graham the night he fed his friend Bruce Saunders' body into a woodchipper, court heard

Sharon Graham, 61, and Gregory Lee Roser, 63, pleaded not guilty to the murder of Bruce Saunders in Brisbane

The Crown alleges Graham asked Roser and another lover Koenig to kill her ex-partner Mr Saunders, 54, and make it look like an accident in a bid to claim his $750,000 life insurance.

Footage has been shown to the jury of Mr Saunders' legs protruding from the chipper at the Goomboorian property near Gympie after clearing trees with Roser and Koenig.

Koenig had earlier told the court that he refused to take part in Graham's plan to kill Mr Saunders and Roser had bludgeoned his friend with a metal bar before they carried the body to the chipper.

Koenig said he fed the body into the machine but stopped it with the legs still sticking out to make it look more like an accident.

'After Bruce's death you were disgusted at what Sharon had done by cooking up this plan to kill your friend Bruce, is that correct?' Roser's barrister Lars Falcongreen said on Wednesday.

'This is a plan that you wanted nothing to do with? Correct?'

'Yes,' Koenig replied via video link.

Bruce Saunders (right) died while working on a property north of Brisbane in November 2017 (pictured with Sharon Graham, a former love interest)

The Crown alleges Graham (right) asked Roser (left) and other lover Koenig to kill her ex-partner Mr Saunders and make it look like an accident in a bid to claim his $750,000 life insurance

Koenig had earlier told the jury that Roser rang Graham moments after Mr Saunders was fed into the chipper, and they told her 'job's done'.

On Wednesday the court heard phone records obtained last week also show Graham rang Koenig minutes after Roser's call.

It also showed Koenig called Graham later that night at 9.30pm while he was still at the property, speaking for about three minutes.

Koenig agreed that he could remember Roser's call, 'bits and pieces' of conversations with the property owner that night and when an ambulance was called.

But he had no memory of Graham calling him or ringing her at 9.30pm.

Asked by Mr Falcongreen whether he accepted that he had called Graham that night, Koenig said: 'If it is in on my phone, I will have to'.

Koenig had earlier told the jury that Roser rang Graham moments after Mr Saunders (pictured) was fed into the chipper, and they told her 'job's done'

Roser and Koenig initially told police Mr Saunders' death was a terrible accident, claiming their friend had been reckless around the machine but did not heed warnings.

Mr Falcongreen had earlier told the jury that Roser and Koenig were lying.

Roser didn't dispute that Mr Saunders was murdered or that he 'shamelessly' helped dispose of the body, Mr Falcongreen said.

However, Mr Falcongreen said it was Koenig who was procured by Graham and was responsible for the murder.

Koenig pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to murder this year.

Meanwhile, Graham's finances were in a 'downhill decline', the court has heard.

Forensic accountant Kelly Beckett said she conducted a financial review of Graham and Roser from June 2016 to May 2018.

Graham's opening balance was $121,000 but was just over $13,000 by the time she was arrested, the jury heard.

Ms Beckett said Roser was in a negative financial position.

The prosecution has closed its case at the trial before Justice Martin Burns, with Roser set to give evidence on Thursday.

Graham has successfully applied for a separate trial.
The court heard Mitchell left a note to herself last year which said 'collect body'

Ms Chong's headless body was found by a family in Salcombe in June last year

She allegedly decapitated Ms Chong and dumped her body 200 miles away

An expert in body dissection allegedly made herself the main beneficiary of a friend's will after she had murdered her and cut off her head.

Former osteopath Jemma Mitchell, 38, is said to have needed at least 400,000 after a project to add an extra storey to her home in Willesden, north-west London ended in disaster.

She had been pressurising vulnerable victim Mee Kuen Chong, 67, to give her the money by doing a deal on her home, the Old Bailey was told.

When Ms Chong refused, Mitchell allegedly battered her to death with a blunt object and dumped the decapitated the body more than 250 miles away in Salcombe, Devon. Mitchell denies murder.

The head was found ten metres away and had been 'cleanly cut' from the rest of the body.

Mitchell had been a brilliant medical student and won a prestigious prize for her knowledge of the human body.

Jemma Mitchell, 38, (left) is accused of killing Mee Kuen Chong (right) in June last year. The prosecution claimed she forged Ms Chong's will to make herself the beneficiary

Ms Chong's body was found in woodlands near the seaside town of Salcombe in south Devon

Mitchell then moved the body to her half-derelict house and kept it there for two weeks before driving to Devon in a rented Volvo.

When police searched Mitchell's home at 9 Brondesbury Park, Willesden, they found the house full of rubbish and without a roof.

'The rooms were crammed with stuff; some of the rooms were impossible to enter,' prosecutor Deanna Heer told the Old Bailey.

'There were boxes and suitcases, freezers full of food, old mattresses and building materials everywhere.

'The kitchen was dirty, with rotting food on the stove and messy, with paperwork covering the surfaces.

'The bathroom was stained and in a poor state of repair. The place looked like a hoarders residence.

'The second floor of the property was under renovation with the walls and ceilings incomplete.'

Jurors heard that Mitchell was in Salcombe on June 26 last year, having travelled there in a rented grey Volvo with a large blue suitcase

Ms Chong went missing on June 11 last year and her body was found hundreds of miles away 16 days later

Police found a 2021 wall calendar with an entry written by Mitchell for June 26, the day she drove to Salcombe, in two different inks.

It read: '8am collect body back C letter will copy 2 hr walk.'

In a box in the bedroom was a copy of Mitchell's will, written in 2017.

With it was a will in the name of the victim, dated October 27, 2020, which appointed Mitchell as a trustee.

'Apart from some specific gifts to charity, it purported to leave 95 per cent of the deceaseds estate to the defendant "to be applied for the benefit of 9 Brondesbury Parks projects" and 5 per cent to the defendants mother, Hillary Collard,' said the prosecutor.

'The prosecution say this will was a fake, manufactured by the defendant and the signatures forged by her.

'Some of the wording of this will bore a striking similarity to the wording of the defendants will.

'It contains basic errors of law and appears to have been copied by someone without legal qualifications.'

Ms Chong was said to have become fed up with Mitchell asking her for money for her house

The Old Bailey heard the two women were both devoutly Christian and met at church in 2020

One of the witnesses to the will, Sanjay Samson, had not seen Mitchell since 2013.

He did not know the victim had never seen her will.

'The defendants computer was examined,' Ms Heer added.

'Stored within its memory was a Word document of the same will. It had been created on the 1st July 2021 when Mee Kuen Chong was already dead.'

Mitchell had forged Ms Chong's signature on the will by copying it from her passport which she had taken from her home after she killed her, it is claimed.

The court heard Mitchell and Ms Chong were devout Christians who met through the church and had known each other since about August 2020.

Within a month Mitchell began talking to Ms Chong about her finances and suggested she could sign her home in Wembley over to her to avoid inheritance tax.

Ms Chong decided against it but Mitchell continued to pressure her for almost a year, the court has heard.

Six months before she died, the victim agreed to give 200,000 to help with Mitchells house repairs, providing the property was used for Christian worship.

But by June 7 2021 she had decided against it and told Mitchell this when she came to her home, it is claimed.

On June 8 the victim sent her a message saying 'Until you sold house, I wont want you to come to me or my house I am stress to the core [sic].'

When Mitchell suggested she visit Ms Chong on the day she vanished, June 11, the victim was so fed up of her friend badgering her for money that she said in a text 'not talk about house or money, stresses them both out [sic]'.

Mitchell was captured on CCTV going to Ms Chong's house in Chaplain Road at 8am with an empty blue suitcase, which was full when she left at lunchtime to take a cab home.

She also took a case belonging to the victim full of her personal documents, it is claimed.

Later that day she was treated in hospital for a broken finger, which she explained she had injured in a car door.

Ms Chong was reported missing that night and for the next two weeks Mitchell hardly left her home.

On June 26 she hired a Volvo from Hertz and lay a white sheet in the boot before struggling to load the blue suitcase into the back of the car.

She was using a handset who had belonged to a neighbour who had died.

Mitchell had been allowed access to his flat after his death and had taken his handset and personal documents, jurors heard.

Stored in its memory were Google Maps searches for locations on the Devon or Cornwall coast, including 'Salcombe, North Sands, Cliff Road.'

When she was in Devon, the Volvo got a puncture but Mitchell drove on, damaging the wheel.

She eventually stopped at a Co-op garage, Salcombe Road, Marlborough, close to the south Devonshire coast and was 'shaky and distressed.'

Mitchell told customers who tried to help her that she was 'visiting family in Paignton and had come to Salcombe for a scenic drive.'

An AA man who changed the wheel noticed the car had 'a strange smell  sort of musty and damp  a smell which he had never smelled before and could not describe,' said the prosecutor.

There was no sign of the large blue suitcase but there were blankets in the boot and some pillows on the back seat and Mitchell explained she was going to sleep in the car.

Mitchell insisted that the damaged wheel should be placed on the back seat of the car and not the boot before she continued on her journey.

She drove out of the garage and turned towards Salcombe at 8.49pm.

Later that evening the car was captured on a CCTV camera overlooking Bennett Road, close to the location where the deceaseds body was to be found the following day by a family on holiday.

By 6.30am the following morning Mitchell was back in London and dropped the car off at the hire company telling staff the tyre had 'just blown.'

The blue suitcase was later recovered on top of the neighbours shed close to the fence at 9 Brondesbury Park.

In the pocket at the front was a bloodstained blue and white tea towel which bore traces of Ms Chong's DNA.

When police contacted Mitchell as they searched for the victim, she left a voicemail saying 'I tried to return your call yesterday I was getting in touch to let you know that Mee said she was planning to stay with friends near her sisters family on the coast.

'She said she felt neglected on June 7, 2021 and wanted to leave.'

On July 6 police arrived at Brondesbury Park to arrest Mitchell.

After she was cautioned Mitchell said: 'I know that she has gone away.'

She then turned to her mother and said: 'Its not true.'

Police had found a handbag next to the victim's body containing a length of orange rope.

An identical type of orange rope was found among the rubbish at Mitchell's home.

A second will relating to Ms Chong was also found, naming her lodgers as executors and leaving the house at to 'Brothers And Sisters of Gods Household Live In The House Generationally Eternally of 196 Wembley HA0 4UT'

A PDF copy of the same will was found on Mitchell's computer downloaded on June 19, 2021.

Three other documents were downloaded at about the same time on the same date: GuideToYourWill.pdf, WillStorageGuide.pdf and SigningGuide.pdf.

In Mitchell's bedroom was found a torn-out newspaper article entitled 'The Dos and Don'ts of Claiming an Estate' dated June 28, 2021.

Police found Ms Chong's genuine will at her home which left her estate to her family and various charities. Mitchell was not a beneficiary.

'In this case the motive is clear  money,' Ms Heer said.

'A large sum was needed to complete the repairs on the defendants house.

'In Mee Kuen Chong, the prosecution say the defendant found someone from whom she thought she could get that money  by persuading Mee Kuen Chong to give it to her, or if not when she was alive, then by forging her will after she had killed her.'

Mitchell denies murder.

She will claim the killing was 'absolutely nothing to do with her,' the court heard.

The trial continues.
A vintage pair of Levi's from the 1880s found down an abandoned New Mexico mine have been sold at auction for a whopping $87,400 - among the most expensive pair of jeans ever sold.

The pair of jeans, which were discovered some years ago by denim historian Michael Harris in an abandoned mineshaft in the American West, would have been worn by a miner from the authentic gold rush era and have been described as the 'holy grail of vintage denim collecting'.

They feature suspender buttons on the waistband, selvedge denim badges, a single back pocket and wax flecked over the legs from where the original owner labored under candle light.

The winning bid was placed by Kyle Haupert, 23, a vintage clothing dealer from San Diego, at the Durango Vintage Festivus in Colorado on October 1.

'I'm still kind of bewildered, just surprised in myself for even purchasing them,' he told the Wall Street Journal.

Haupert put up 90 percent of the winning bid, with the other 10 percent put in by Zip Stevenson, an experienced old hand in the vintage clothing market who will help Haupert find a buyer.

A pair of Levi's jeans from the 1880s found down an abandoned mine shaft in New Mexico have sold at auction for a total of $87,400

They are among the most expensive pair of jeans ever sold after being auctioned at the Durango Vintage Festivus

They feature suspender buttons on the waistband, copper buttons and selvedge denim badges

They are flecked with wax over the legs from where the original owner labored under candle light

They were found down an abandoned mine shaft in New Mexico by self-described 'denim archaeologist' Michael Harris (stock photo)

Haupert is relying on the elder wisdom of Stevenson. 'He's seen everything under the sun. I trust him to confirm that they are an authentic pair from the 1880s.'

The winning bid was $76,000, but after buyer's premiums the total for the jeans came to $87,400.

'These speak for themselves,' Haupert wrote on his Instagram account. 'One of the oldest known pairs of Levi's to exist.'

They are listed as in 'good/wearable' condition on the auction house website, but with a waist of 38 inches and a length of 32, they may not successfully fit every denim lover set on wearing such authentic vintage jeans.

The jeans are some of the oldest known Levi's from the gold rush era and were described as 'the holy grail of vintage denim collecting' by auction house HiBid.

'You could wear them to a Starbucks,' Stevenson told the Journal.

The winning bid was $76,000, but after buyer's premiums the total for the jeans came to $87,400

The winning bid was placed by Kyle Haupert, 23, a vintage clothing dealer from San Diego, at the Durango Vintage Festivus in Colorado on October 1

They are listed as in 'good/wearable' condition on the auction house website. But with a waist of 38 inches and a length of 32

The jeans still bear reminders of the time within which they were made. 'The only kind made by white labor,' is printed on the interior.

The phrase is a reference to 1882's Chinese Exclusion Act, which forbid Chinese workers from entering the US. The phrase was abandoned in the 1890s, the Journal report.

The seller at the auction was Brit Eaton, another vintage expert who has been dealing in prized jeans since the 1990s.

He said he purchased the jeans from self-described 'denim archaeologist' Harris five years ago for $23,000.

'I knew they'd be a big draw,' said Mr Eaton of the jeans.

The most expensive pair of jeans ever sold were made by Secret Circus Clothing for an unimaginable $1.3million.

However, the price was informed by the 15 diamonds stitched into the pack pocket, so most probably just the jeans themselves would not have sold for nearly as much.
Police believe the ritual was carried out to bring financial prosperity

Two women have been abducted, tortured and beheaded as part of what is feared to be a black magic human sacrifice ritual in India.

Bhagaval Singh, a traditional healer who treated patients in his home, his wife Laila, and Mohammed Shafi, an 'occult practitioner', have been detained in Kerala after the horror killings that have shocked the country.

The two victims have been identified as Padmam, 57, and Rosili, 49.

Bhagaval Singh, a traditional healer who treated patients in his home, is accused of sacrificing two women in India with his wife Laila (right)

The remains of the women were found yesterday near Singh's home in Pathanamthitta and the pair were allegedly murdered months apart from each other.

Police say they were 'severely tortured' and the accused have confessed and are in judicial custody.

The suspects allegedly lured the victims, who sold lottery tickets, by promising them money.

Shafi is said to have befriended the couple through social media after creating a fake profile, then encouraged them to carry out the sacrifice.

But instead, they beheaded them and chopped up their bodies, police said.

DNA samples have been sent for testing because the women's families were unable to identify their mutilated corpses.

Cochin Police Commissioner CH Nagaraju said the killings took place over four months and were part of a ritual performed for 'financial benefits'.

The remains of the women were found yesterday near Singh's home in Pathanamthitta

He said the presumed motive was based on a 'preliminary assumption' and they are still investigating the causes.

He added: 'We have already got the confessional statements of the couple and the agent. The women were killed by the couple in a very cruel manner.

'The couple had been facing a financial crisis and they decided to sacrifice the women to appease God and come out of the crisis.'

Black magic is still practised in parts of India supposedly to aid fertility, bring wealth, affect the weather and cure people of illnesses.

But Kerala is considered a more progressive state in India and chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the killings were 'beyond imagination'.

Padnam was reported missing by her son last month after she disappeared from her one-room dwelling in Kochi where she had been living since February.

Her sister Palaniamma visited the house after not hearing from her but found it locked and Padnam's phone was also switched off.

Police traced it to Pathanamthitta and saw several phone calls had been made by Shafi, who had also been contacting Singh.

When Singh was questioned, he admitted to the crime, police said.

Rosili went missing on June 8 and her daughter Manju who works as a teacher filed a complaint with police who failed to find any leads.
Prime Minister Liz Truss today appeared to back calls for a police investigation into controversial transgender children's charity Mermaids following a raft of allegations about the organisation.

At Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons, Tory MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge Miriam Cates said that over the past week 'serious safeguarding failures' by Mermaids have come to light, such as reportedly sending chest-flattening devices to young girls against their parents' wishes.

Ms Cates asked the PM if she agrees it is 'high time' for a police investigation into the charity to be launched.

Mermaids has come under increased scrutiny in recent weeks, following claims that they send 'chest binders' to children without parental knowledge. A member of the charity's board also quit after giving a speech at a conference hosted by an organisation that promotes services to paedophiles.

And the charity's online help centre has reportedly also been offering advice to teenagers that hormone-blocking drugs are safe and 'totally reversible', according to The Telegraph.

It comes as the Archbishop of Canterbury faces growing calls from Christian parents to drop 'unlawful' and 'radical' guidance covering thousands of Church of England primary schools that schoolchildren as young as five should be supported if they identify as the opposite gender.

Prime Minister Liz Truss speaking to MPs in the House of Commons

Christian parents Nigel and Sally Rowes won a legal case against DfE, which led to a 22,000 settlement for legal costs and a commitment from the Government to reform its trans policies

Mermaids has come under increased scrutiny in recent weeks, following claims that they send 'chest binders' to children without parental knowledge. A member of the charity's board also quit after giving a speech at a conference endorsing paedophilia

Ms Cates told the Commons: 'For years, despite whistleblowers raising alarm, Mermaids have had unfettered access to vulnerable children.

'Does my right honourable friend (Liz Truss) agree that it's taken far too long for these concerns to be taken seriously and does she also agree that it is high time for a police investigation into the activities of Mermaids?'

The Prime Minister replied: 'It's very important that underage teens are able to develop their own decision-making capabilities and not be forced into any kind of activity. What I would say on the subject of the investigation she raises, of course those matters should be raised and should be properly looked at.'

The Charity Commission has opened a regulatory compliance case into the organisation after a number of complaints, and it is the first step taken by the regulator, and not a finding of wrongdoing.

The Rowes have written an open letter to the archbishop urging the CoE to drop transgender guidance covering its schools

A spokeswoman for the commission said: 'Concerns have been raised with us about Mermaids' approach to safeguarding young people. We have opened a regulatory compliance case and have written to the trustees. We now await their reply.'

A spokesperson for Mermaids told MailOnline: 'Mrs Cates' attitudes to LGBT organisations are well-documented and this is not the first time she has criticised Mermaids. We will continue to provide crucial support for trans and gender-diverse young people and their families, and remain accountable to our service users and the public at large through the Charity Commission and other regulators.'

DfE has stopped recommending Mermaids as a mental health and wellbeing resource for schools - and campaign group Christian Concern have launched a new petition to the archbishop, calling for trans guidance to be withdrawn from CoE schools across the country.

It came after Christian parents Nigel and Sally Rowes' legal victory against DfE, which led to a 22,000 settlement for legal costs and a commitment from the Government to reform its trans policies.

The Rowes took action against the department after they and their six-year-old son were accused of 'transphobia' by a CoE primary school for refusing to support transgender affirming policies.

In an open letter to the archbishop, the parents - who withdrew their two sons from an Anglican school on the Isle of Wight in a row over its approach to trans matters - accused CoE schools of 'violating the clear guidance' from the Attorney-General by 'forcing children to affirm the acquired gender of fellow pupils and failing to require basic steps to be taken to keep children safe'.

Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Justin Welby is facing calls from parents to drop 'unlawful' transgender guidance covering the CoE's 4,700 primary schools

Now NHS staff are warned they must NOT promote transgender Mermaids charity in latest blow to organisation A group of NHS workers have been advised to drop support for transgender children's charity Mermaids after a recent string of controversies. Primary care staff employed by Black Country NHS Inegrated Care Board (ICB) have been instructed not to signpost information about the charity to patients amid safeguarding concerns. Mermaids is being investigated by the Charity Commission following revelations that one of its staff had agreed to send a breast binder to an undercover journalist posing as a teenage girl. The ICB told staff not to 'signpost to this charity at this time and remove references to them in any support materials you may have'. GPs and other staff have been brought up to speed with media coverage about the fallout, The Telegraph reports. Mermaids has attracted additional scrutiny for weeks following its legal attempt to remove the charity status of the LGB Alliance - a charity set up to uphold gay, lesbian and bisexual rights. During the hearing, Mermaids' heads of trustees Belinda Bell insisted the charity '[doesn't] give medical advice' - despite its CEO Susie Green describing controversial puberty blockers as 'reversible' and The Telegraph's subsequent scoop about the breast binder incident. Scores of gender critical activists have criticised Mermaids' practices, while author JK Rowling openly challenged Mermaids on Twitter. This week it was also revealed that one of Mermaids trustees, Jacob Breslow, had spoken at a conference for B4U-ACT, a group assisting 'self-identified individuals... who are are sexually attracted to children'. Advertisement

They claimed that when they raised concern with the CoE's Portsmouth Diocesan Board of Education in 2017 about the influence of so-called 'radical transgender ideology' at the school, the 'Valuing All God's Children' (VAGC) guidance was used to 'dismiss and shut down their complaints'.

In 2017, VAGC cited Mermaids as a reliable source on trans issues for the 1million children under the CoE's care across the UK in a list of external organisations working in this area which is understood to have been provided by the Government. The annexe said: 'We are unable to officially recommend any provider'.

Though this reference was removed in 2019, Christian Concern claims the content of the document still reflected the influence of 'trans ideology'.

Christian Concern claims the local CoE diocese backed the school's position based on its VAGC guidance on challenging homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying.

The parents asked for a meeting with the archbishop, telling him the guidance should be dropped 'as a matter of urgency so that staff and children in Church of England schools are properly safeguarded and protected from harmful transgender ideology and practice'.

The couple were awarded 22,000 in legal costs after DfE relented in the face of a judicial review of its decision not to support the parents in their battle with a school on the Isle of Wight.

In a High Court order that confirmed that ministers had settled the claim, Whitehall officials said that 'guidance for schools on transgender issues is being developed by the department in conjunction with the Equality and Human Rights Commission, with a view to undertaking a public consultation on draft guidance', according to The Times.

A spokesperson for the Church of England told MailOnline: 'It is simply untrue to describe the Church of England's anti-bullying guidance for schools Valuing All God's Children as ''Mermaids influenced''.

'Mermaids had no involvement in or influence on the preparation of the guidance, published in 2017.

'Initial copies of the guidance did include an annexe with a list of organisations working in this area, which was provided by the Government.

'Although the text emphasised that the Church of England could not recommend or endorse any organisation as a resource, nevertheless the annexe was also removed three years ago for the avoidance of doubt.'

Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre and former lay member of the Church of England's general synod, said: 'The Government must follow through and end its ''inclusion at any cost'' policy. However, the attention must turn to the Church of England, which still supports Mermaids' ideology in its ''Valuing All God's Children'' guidance.

'The guidance continues to reflect the extreme trans ideology of Mermaids and Stonewall and ignores overwhelming evidence that affirming young children's gender transitions causes tangible and serious harm.

'The Church of England has over one million children under its care - will senior leaders finally listen and scrap this untenable advice?

'Valuing All God's Children is increasingly being used in courts of law to hammer Christians who believe what the Bible teaches - that each of us are made male or female, equally valuable but objectively different.

'The Church of England's failure to speak truthfully and compassionately on this point is hurting Christians and failing to safeguard countless children.'
A racist prison killer who beat his cellmate to death with a table leg then daubed a swastika on the wall in blood has been denied parole 22 years after the murder, MailOnline can reveal.

The former skinhead, whose original name was Robert Stewart, now 42, changed his name in prison before applying to the Parole Board for release.

He was jailed for life for the racially motivated murder of cellmate Zahid Mubarek, 19, at Feltham Young Offenders Institution (YOI), west London in March 2000.

The landmark case was described as the Stephen Lawrence moment for the Prison Service and a subsequent inquiry shook the criminal justice system, describing Feltham as institutionally racist.

The report published in June 2006 exposed multiple failings that allowed vulnerable Asian teenager Zahid to be in a cell with a known racist.

Robert Stewart, who killed Zahid Mubarek in a racially motivated attack, has been denied parole 22 years after the murder with probation chiefs saying he is too dangerous

On March 21, 2000, 19-year-old Zahid was beaten to death in his cell in the middle of the night  just hours before his scheduled release from Feltham Young Offenders Institution

Stewart has been behind bars ever since, but MailOnline can reveal that he had an anonymous parole hearing  under his new surname  earlier this year.

It is not clear when he changed his name nor whether it was legally enacted by deed poll.

The Parole Board decided that Stewart was still too dangerous to be released  or even to be moved to an open prison.

The Keith Report into Zahids death made 88 recommendations. of which the Home Office unequivocally accepted 55.

In January 2000, Zahid was convicted of shoplifting 6 worth of goods from a supermarket and was sentenced to serve 90 days at Feltham YOI.

However, in the early hours of the morning of his scheduled release, he was attacked by Stewart.

Using a broken-off table leg as a deadly weapon, Stewart hit Zahid eleven times, inflicting terrible head injuries on Zahid as he slept.

Zahid died a week later in hospital, on March 21, 2000.

Stewart summoned prison officers and claimed his cellmate had an accident.

Prison guards reported that when they arrived at Zahid's cell Stewart had been standing over him covered in blood and holding a large table leg.

He had also written a message on the wall of the cell he was moved to which read just killed me padmate, signed off with a swastika.

Despite attempting to destroy evidence, he was charged with Zahid's murder.

Stewart was transferred to Feltham YOI in connection with a separate trial. He was later moved into the same cell as Zahid who he went on to murder

Stewart, of Hattersley, Greater Manchester, denied murder.

Passing sentence in November 2000, Mr Justice Grigson told Stewart: As you are a danger to yourself and a danger to the public, custody for life is wholly appropriate.

Earlier Sir John Nutting QC, for the prosecution, recalled how Stewart had written a series of racist letters to friends before the attack.

In one, he had threatened to resort to killing his cellmate to be transferred to the North West to see some old friends, white ones.

Asked why he attacked Zahid, Stewart denied the assault was racially motivated, telling the jury: I don't know, I just felt like it.'

Speaking outside the court, the victim's father told of the bright future his son had had ahead of him and how he had planned to join the army.

Stewart, from Manchester, denied murder

Although he expressed his relief at the jury's verdict, he said he did not feel happy because his son could not be replaced.

Zahid's family, originally from Pakistan, said they felt let down by prison staff who had missed countless opportunities to prevent the tragedy.

His father Mubarek Amin said in 2006: The real tragedy is that my son's murder could have been avoided if the prison service had done its job properly.

My son should never have been put in the same cell as him. Why didn't the prison service read the 200-odd letters which are not only abusive and racist but predict my son's murder?

The public inquiry, which was led by the High Court judge Mr Justice Keith, began in 2004 following an unprecedented decision by the Law Lords.

They ordered the then Home Secretary, David Blunkett, to hold a public inquiry into the murder after lawyers for Zahid's family argued that the European Convention on Human Rights entitled them to one.

Three weeks after the beginning of his probe, the judge ruled that previous inquiries had established Feltham was institutionally racist and that he accepted that conclusion.

The inquiry heard allegations that prison officers set up Gladiator-style fights by placing vulnerable inmates in cells with racist prisoners.

The inquiry was told how prison officials missed 15 chances to save Zahid's life.

It also revealed how racial incidents were under-reported and that some white officers hurled racial abuse at black inmates.

Mr Justice Keith published his 700-page report in June 2006 outlining a damning indictment of the authorities and described how they had failed to keep Zahid safe.

He named 19 members of the Prison Service whose professional failings played a part in creating the circumstances leading up to the 19-year-old's death.

The judge also highlighted systematic issues, including racism, Feltham being badly run, lack of information sharing between jails and Stewart even being able to watch the violent Australian neo-Nazi film Romper Stomper.

Cell 38 of Swallow Unit at Feltham Young Offenders Institution in west London after Stewart murdered Zahid in March 2000

His recommendations included the ending of enforced cell-sharing and linking the Police National Computer (PNC) to the prison estate to help share security information.

A spokesman for the Parole Board told MailOnline: We can confirm that a panel of the Parole Board refused the release of Robert Stewart following an oral hearing. The panel also refused to recommend a move to open prison.

Parole Board decisions are solely focused on what risk a prisoner could represent to the public if released and whether that risk is manageable in the community.

A panel will carefully examine a huge range of evidence, including details of the original crime, and any evidence of behaviour change, as well as explore the harm done and impact the crime has had on the victims.

Members read and digest hundreds of pages of evidence and reports in the lead up to an oral hearing. Evidence from witnesses such as probation officers, psychiatrists and psychologists, officials supervising the offender in prison as well as victim personal statements may be given at the hearing.

It is standard for the prisoner and witnesses to be questioned at length during the hearing which often lasts a full day or more. Parole reviews are undertaken thoroughly and with extreme care. Protecting the public is our number one priority.

Under current legislation he will be eligible for a further review in due course. The date of the next review will be set by the Ministry of Justice.

Stewart will be eligible for another parole hearing in February 2024.
Permanent representative to the United Nations Kim Song of North Korea addresses the 77th session of the U.N. General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters, Sept. 26. AP



North Korean Ambassador to the United Nations Kim Song on Wednesday lashed out at the United States, arguing it is aggravating tensions on the Korean Peninsula.



Addressing a session of the first committee of the U.N. General Assembly held in New York on Tuesday (local time), Kim, who serves as the Permanent Representative of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to the U.N., urged the U.S. to refrain from providing a nuclear umbrella and to suspend joint exercises with South Korea. He claimed that the "stakes are running high" on the Korean Peninsula more than ever before due to the "dangerously growing hostility" and nuclear threat of Washington.



"The U.S. is now desperate to spread the disinformation in the international arena aimed at demonizing the government of our republic with an absurdist sophistry that our self defensive capability poses a threat to global peace and security in the region," he said.



He also called on the U.S. to take the lead in nuclear disarmament and to refrain from providing a nuclear umbrella or transferring nuclear technology.



The envoy also took issue with the recent joint exercises between Washington and Seoul, including the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise in August and maritime exercises involving the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan last month.



He then defended the North's arms buildup as a basic right stipulated in the U.N. charter and a self-defensive means to counter the "heinous" hostility of the U.S.



"Under such inevitable circumstances, we are compelled to decide to organize military drills under the simulations of an actual war at different levels in order to check and improve the reliability and combat power of our state war deterrence and send a strong military reaction warning to the enemies," he said.



The comments came as the North has been sharply ratcheting up tensions on the peninsula in recent weeks, staging seven rounds of provocative ballistic missile launches over the past two weeks.



The North also said it staged large-scale air-attack drills on Saturday, involving the simultaneous mobilization of around 150 warplanes "for the first time in history." (Yonhap)


Otis - a four-time champion who won in 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2021 - was also easily displaced in the ranks, despite having a well-known fanbase to boost him. He lost to 901 by 23,000 votes

Fan favorite and 2019 winner Holly had originally Bear 747 in their bracket, but officials had to overturn the election results between her and 747, removing more than 7,000 fraudulent votes

The runner-up didn't do too shabby for herself, pulling in 56,876 votes, compared to 747's 68,105

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Fat Bear Week 2022 has been clinched by a burly bear named 747, who's now been nicknamed Bear Force One.

The predator clinched the joke title for a second time, having previously been crowned winner of Fat Bear Week in 2020.

The colossal floppy-eared giant weighs around 1,400 pounds and won by nearly 10 times that many votes as his next nearest rival in the annual Alaskan conservation contest.

Bear Force One took home the win with more than 11,000 more votes than female newcomer Bear 901.

Bear 901 ended up pulling in 56,876 votes, compared to 747's 68,105.

Bear 747's willingness to appear on camera was credited with his victory. He gave fans numerous chances to watch as he guzzled salmon in preparation for hibernation.

He was reportedly found fishing every day at Brooks Falls between late-June and mid-September.

The feisty bear was known for being dominant, but Katmai National Park rangers said 747 was able to keep his rank 'by sheer size alone.'

'He is a very large bear - the biggest that I've ever seen at Brooks River,' Fat Bear Week creator and former ranger Mike Fitz told DailyMail.com on Wednesday. 'To me, he appears at least as big this year.'

'We dont know exactly how big he is, but he is a giant among bears...it may be a long time before we see another bear as big as him,' Fitz said on the livestream on Tuesday.

THIS 747 IS CLEARED FOR LANDING. Introducing your 2022  Fat Bear Week champion. pic.twitter.com/gVCzhYeX5n  explore.org (@exploreorg) October 12, 2022

 Slide me  Bear Force One pulled out the win after nearly losing to Holly, who lost votes due to a cheating scandal. He also won in 2020

Bear Force One wasn't the only one packing on the pounds, 901 reportedly tripled in size, which has rangers questioning if she's about to become a mom.

But 747's win wasn't an easy one, as he almost didn't make it to the finale, due to a cheating scandal.

Fan favorite and 2019 winner Holly had originally Bear 747 in their bracket, but officials had to overturn the election results between her and 747, removing more than 7,000 fraudulent votes.

They refused to go into detail on the cheating scandal, but did reveal it had been caused by robot 'bot' voters casting multiple automatic votes for Holly.

Once the issue was identified, contest bosses added and extra layer of security.

The move shot Bear 747 to the finale spot and ultimately the winner's crown, after he managed to pull out 37,940 votes against Holly's 30,430.

Otis - a four-time champion who won in 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2021 - was also easily displaced in the ranks, despite having a well-known fanbase to boost him. He lost to 901 by 23,000 votes.

However, Fitz thought Otis' transformation not being as dramatic this year might have lost him the race.

'He has such a devoted fan base that I think anytime hes in the competition, he has a chance to go pretty far, if not win,' Fitz said, according to the Washington Post. 'But this year...I dont think the physical transformation for him was as dramatic as last year.'

Fat Week Bears runs every October in Katmai National Park in Alaska and draws in thousands of viewers.

The winner doesn't receive a prize.

The purpose of the week is far beyond just watching chunky bears splash around and catch some salmon, but to draw attention the conversation the park works toward.

Bear 747 may have won, but his other competitors put up a steep fight...

The runner-up: Bear 901 might not have won, but she may be expecting cubs in the spring

 Slide me  Bear 901 tripled in size and could be expecting a pack of cubs in the spring

Many were shocked to see newcomer 901 - who competed as an adult for the first time - had tripled in size, causing rangers to wonder if they'll see new cubs in the spring.

She'll need ample body fat to her fertilized eggs to implant into her uterus when she starts her hibernation. Female bears experience delayed implantation, which allows her body to 'unconsciously determine whether she is healthy enough to bear offspring.'

Bear 901 was also known for 'defending her fishing spots from other bears,' according to Explore.com, which runs the competition.

Fan-favorite Holly lost her finale spot after officials took away 7,000 fraudulent votes

 Slide me  Holly found herself in a cheating scandal this year and had more than 7,000 votes taken away from her, kicking her out of the finale

Holly was the champion in 2019 and was looking like she was going to pull out the win, until she was hit with a cheating scandal.

Officials had to remove more than 7,000 votes from her, causing her to be knocked out the finale after losing to 747 after the adjustment.

Holly's daughter 335 was also a participant this year and one of her many litters she's given birth to since being identified in 2001.

She successfully cared for one of her offspring who had a limp and even adopted a lone yearling into her family. Even her latest yearling 335 got porcupine quills in one of her front paws and Holly cared for her until she was fully-healed.

She separated from 335 in spring of this year.

Four-time champ Otis was unable to squeeze out a fifth win, despite his huge fanbase

 Slide me  Otis - also known by his tracking number of Bear 480 - has won more Fat Bear titles than any other. He was victorious in 2014, the competition's inaugural year, and again in 2016, 2017 and 2021. He is pictured left in July and right in September after packing on a few pounds

Otis won in 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2021, but he was unable to defend his title. The massive bear didn't even make it to the finale, quite to fan's devastation.

Otis is known for his fishing-style - allowing salmon to come to him - and it may have lost him the title.

Fitz said the bear didn't grow nearly as big this year and could have him votes.

Also known by his tracking number 480, he is now one of the older bears on Brooks River and has plenty of titles to show for his age and is starting to have dental problems. He is currently missing two teeth and he others are worn down.

However, according to Explore.com, he is a skilled and patient angler who picks his fishing spots carefully and waits for the salmon to come to him. This strategy was used to great effect when he chowed down on 42 salmon in one sitting.

Chunk is a long-time competitor, but is yet to claim the crown

 Slide me  32 Chunk is a long-time competitor and has leaned into a more dominant role (pictured in July and September)

32 Chunk was back again this year, but was apparently behind schedule.

'He kind of fell into the background of the bears this year,' Fitz told the Washington Post. 'He didnt seem to get involved in too much drama, although he has a lot of scars and wounds on him.'

That said, he's become more dominant in the past few years and is willing to challenge others.

He has yet to gain the title of fattest bear, but certainly has a large crowd of fans.

Bear 335 was a newcomer and Holly's daughter

 Slide me  Bear 335 is Holly's daughter and will competing in the first round. She's a newcomer to the competition this year and is living on her own for the first time. The bear is known for being playful and friendly (pictured July and September)

Bear 335 is a medium-sized subadult with color-changing fur. Her coat appears a white blonde in the early summer before turning tan by late summer, Explore.com said.

She is Holly's daughter and is a newcomer to the competition this year, living on her own for the first time. The bear is known for being playful and friendly, according to the Washington Post.

'Shes grown in body size as well as mass during the last several months, and appears well positioned to enter hibernation in good health,' Explore.com said in her biography.

Bear 164 is known for his clever fishing tactics

 Slide me  Bear 164 is a clever one, inventing his own method to efficiently out fish the more experienced bears. He stands at the base of Brooks Falls, located in the park, near the deepest plunge pool. Salmon come 'jumping through the air or falling down from above,' leaving him with ample amounts of food (pictured in June, left, and September, right)

Bear 164 is a clever one, inventing his own method to efficiently out-fish the more experienced bears. He stands at the base of Brooks Falls, located in the park, near the deepest plunge pool. Salmon come 'jumping through the air or falling down from above,' leaving him with ample amounts of food.

'This is a spot that no other bear - currently or in the recent past - has tried to fish,' Explore.com said.

Walker was once a play-fighting cub, but has now become one of the most dominant in the park

 Slide me  Bear 151 Walker is descried a 'light-bulb shaped' with wide set ears and prominent dark eye rings. He was known as a 'tolerant and playful bear' in his youth but as he's aged he's become one of the most dominant bears in the contest (pictured in July and August)

Walker is described as 'light-bulb shaped' with wide set ears and prominent dark eye rings.

He's known as a 'tolerant and playful bear' during his younger years and loves to 'play flight.' As he's gotten older, he's become more assertive and is one of the most dominant bears in the competition, according to Explore.com.

'Hes a really big guy, and hes willing to throw his weight around,' Fitz told the Post.

Bear 856 is the well-known 'bully' and is a 'bold' one to watch

 Slide me  The young adult male has become one of the biggest bears in the park after spending a decade being one of the scrawnier ones. He's developed a reputation as a bit of a 'bully.' He is now known for being 'quite bold and assertive toward other bears' and has plenty of scars to prove it (pictured left in July and right in September)

Bear 856 is known for being 'quite bold and assertive toward other bears' and has plenty of scars to prove it.

The young adult male has become one of the biggest bears in the park after spending a decade being one of the scrawnier ones, according to Explore.com.

He was once the top of the food chain until this summer, when 747 displaced him.

He's also got a bad reputation as a 'bully,' according to Whatley.

Divot got her nickname as a cub because she divots in the riverbed

 Slide me  Bear 854 Divot got her nickname as a cub, because she use to dig little divots in the gravel of Brooks Rivers in search of rotten fish (pictured in July, left, and August, right)

Divot got her nickname as a cub, because she use to dig little divots in the gravel of Brooks Rivers in search of rotten fish.

She is not shy when it comes to fighting off other bears and is has a distinctive scar circling her neck. The scars origins, however, wasn't over a piece of salmon, but rather a tricky situation with a snare wire that left a one inch deep scar.

Unlike other bears, Divot has no problem with people and is often seen in areas where people gather in the park, according to Explore.com.

Divot has also reportedly gained a surplus of weight this year and is having trouble maneuvering, according to the Post.

Grazer is known for being an expert fisher and for running off big males

 Slide me  Bear 128, also known as Grazer, is an expert fisherwoman and is known for running off big males (pictured in June, left, and September, right)

Grazer is an expert fisherwoman and is known for running off big males, the Washington Post reported. Her children - known as the Grazerettes - also competed, but lost, in the Fat Bear Junior competition.

Fitz said it was 'surprising' that she was still toting around her cubs, as she had previously separated from her children around this time.
Warner Bros. Discovery's post-merger layoffs have continued as nearly one-fifth of its in-house television division were let go on Tuesday.

The layoffs included 82 current employees and 43 unfilled positions in the sector - headed by chairman Channing Dungey - representing 19 percent of current staff and 26 percent of total employees.

Responsible for shows like 'Ted Lasso,' 'Abbott Elementary' and 'The Bachelor,' the most impacted teams worked primarily for animated, unscripted and scripted shows.

At the most recent Emmys, the division won eight awards across three of its shows.

In addition to slashing 125 positions, the company also canceled Stage 13 and the Warner Bros. Television Workshop program, two initiatives which supported diverse voices for writing and directing.

'I got my first staff writing gig (because) of the WB Writers Workshop,' Akela Cooper, class of 2009, tweeted.

'The reason I can celebrate the release of a trailer for my movie today ties back to this workshop.

'To see it scrapped in the name of capitalism of infuriating and heartbreaking.'

The cuts come amid a wider series of layoffs by CEO David Zaslav as he looks to save $3billion from the company's coffers.

Pictured: Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav. The company announced it would be slashing 26 percent of its in-house television division on Tuesday

Teams most impacted by the most recent layoffs include worked primarily for animated, unscripted and scripted shows, including 'Ted Lasso' (pictured)

Following the layoffs, Warner Horizon Unscripted Television head Brooke Karzen announced her resignation. She was noted for her time working on 'The Bachelor' franchise

Following the announcement by the company, Brooke Karzen announced her resignation as the lead for Warner Horizon Unscripted Television. She was the most senior executive to leave and was noted for her impact on 'The Bachelor' franchise.

'These are challenging times in the world at large, and a tumultuous time in our industry,' Dungey told staff, according to the Los Angeles Times.

'For this kind of change to hit so close to home is incredibly difficult. But my hope is that these changes, made with an eye to a more focused business strategy, will strengthen and stabilize our company, maintain our great creative output, and better position us for continued future success.'

The most recent rollout of layoffs follow an August decision by Warner Bros. Discovery in cutting 70 employees with HBO and HBO Max, and both represent a decision by CEO David Zaslav to save $3 billion after the April Warner Bros.-Discovery merger.

As the company moves forward with consolidating its workforce and its programming, more layoffs are expected in the future.

Warner Horizon will be combining creative development roles with another unscripted team, Telepictures, which is responsible for the 'Jennifer Hudson Talk Show.'

Bridgette Theriault and Dan Sacks will take over the lead for the division after Karzen's departure.

The division represented eight different Emmy Award-winners this year, including three for 'Abbott Elementary' (pictured)

This follows a recent rollout of layoffs at the company, which most recently announced layoffs in September

The layoffs represent 125 positions employees, including 82 current staff and 43 unfilled positions, under division lead Channing Dungey (pictured)

Cancellation of Stage 13, founded in 2017, and the workshop program, which ran for more than 40 years, has led to criticism from both initiatives' alumni.

'It is the gold standard,' LaToya Morgan, class of 2011, told The Hollywood Reporter.

'I am still friends with many of the people who were in my class,' Morgan said.

'We call each other for advice, we help promote each other's shows, we're a family. That's an opportunity that some future amazing storyteller won't get now, to come up with your crew of folks who are going to have your back because you came up together.'

Morgan was hired to work on 'Shameless' after completing the workshop and is now co-writing HBO Max's 'Duster' adjacent J.J. Abrams.

Justin Doble, an executive producer for 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power' from the class of 2011, said the decision to cancel the initiatives was 'absolutely gutting.'

'Hundreds of careers were launched through this program  including mine,' he said. 'What a loss for the industry and for those trying to catch their first break. Terrible.'

As the company continues to consolidate programming and workforce positions, more layoffs are expected in the future

Zaslav said he expected to cut $3 billion in spending after the $43 billion merger in April

Since the April merger, Zaslav has moved quickly to slash costs in the combined company, with an expected $3 billion in cost savings projected from eliminating redundancies.

One of his biggest moves was to immediately pull the plug on the $300 million CNN+ streaming service, just weeks after it launched.

The rolling layoffs began after executives suddenly scrapped its $90 million 'Batgirl' origin film and the upcoming 'Scoob!' sequel, 'Scoob!: Holiday Haunt,' which cost $40 million to produce.

WBD execs also pulled the plug on a range of animated shows for HBO Max in another cost-cutting move.

Executives have since sought to rethink their strategy on releases to the merged Discovery+ and HBO Max as they try to tamp down on costs.
A London dealer sued after selling 4.2million worth of ancient art to a super-rich Qatari sheikh has admitted to a court that at least one of the pieces was fake.

John Eskenazi, one of the worlds top dealers in Indian, Gandharan, Himalayan and south-east Asian works of art, is facing claims he ripped off Sheikh Hamad Bin Abdullah Al Thania by charging him 4.2million for counterfeit ancient statues and art.

The sheikh, whose 363million London home Dudley House is reportedly Britains most expensive private residence, bought seven pieces of art through a family company, after being told they had been created between 1,400 and 2,000 years ago and unearthed by archaeologists from caves where they had lain hidden for centuries.

They included a carved head of the god Dionysus, a 1.9million statue of the goddess Hari Hara, and a gold 'serpent bracelet' with turquoise and garnet inlay.

But he later demanded that the dealer take them back and give him a refund, claiming the works were not authentic.

During a High Court trial which began in July this year, Mr Eskenazi insisted that all the pieces were the genuine article.

But returning to court to continue the clash this week, the dealers lawyers told Mr Justice Jacobs that they admit the 113,000 serpent bracelet has now been shown by experts to be a forgery.

The 113,000 gold serpent bracelet inlaid with turquoise and garnet has now been shown to be a fake. The serpent was sold to super-rich Qatari sheikh Hamad Bin Abdullah Al Thania

Sheik Hamad bin Abdullah al-Thani (pictured with the Queen in 2019) is suing John Eskenazi. He claims the art dealer sold him forged goods. But Mr Eskenazi insisted when he sold the rich Qatari sheikh the items that he believed they were all genuine

But Mr Eskenazi is still defending the claim, insisting that while he believed all the pieces were genuine, he did not offer a guarantee of authenticity when he sold them to the sheikh.

The court heard that Sheikh Hamad, 40, whose dinner guests have included the late Queen Elizabeth II and who arrived at court during the trial in a Bentley, paid around 4.2million in 2014 and 2015 for seven pieces through the family company he heads up, QIPCO (Qatar Investment & Projects Development Holding Company).

It was part of a spending spree, during which, through the company, Sheikh Hamad 'spent 150 million in a nine-month period' on ancient artworks.

The seven objects in dispute are four carvings of heads, the Hari Hara statue, a Buddhist frieze and the serpent bracelet.

The bracelet was purchased in November 2014 for 113,000 ($125,000) and referred to in the invoice sent by Mr Eskenazis company as: 'Serpent bracelet, Afghanistan, Circa 1st century BCE to 1st century CE, Gold with turquoise and garnet inlay'.

Mr Eskenazi, 72, and his company are now being sued by both QUIPCO and the sheikh personally over allegations that the artifacts, far from being ancient, are 'the work of a modern forger' and that Mr Eskenazi knew the 1.99 million Hari Hara statue was fake.

Sheikh Hamad says he had the pieces examined after purchase by experts having grown suspicious, and found evidence they were forgeries, with modern materials including bits of plastic embedded in one of the items, a grotesque clay head.

The sheikhs experts also claim the state of preservation of the objects dart is too good to be true for their purported age.

Roger Stewart KC, for the sheikh, told the judge: 'The claimants case is each of the works is a modern forgery, not an ancient object.'

He claimed Mr Eskenazi was 'negligent' in 'not having a reasonable belief as to the authenticity of the objects sold'.

And in relation to one of them - a statue of a goddess known as the Hari Hara - the barrister claimed that the dealer 'knew it not to be authentic'.

They are trying to force repayment of the 4.2million ($4.99million) they shelled out.

At trial, the dealer had insisted that in his opinion as an experienced expert in the field all the pieces were genuine.

But this week Andrew Green KC, for Mr Eskenazi, told the judge that having since heard competing evidence from art history and archaeology experts during the trial, Mr Eskenazi has reversed his position in regard to the serpent bracelet.

He and his company 'accept that, in the light of the evidence, the serpent bracelet is likely to be inauthentic/a modern fake', Mr Green said.

But the barrister said the dealer is maintaining his position in relation to all the other pieces.

'Following the evidence at trial, (Mr Eskenazi and his company) accept that the expert evidence establishes that the serpent bracelet is not authentic; and for the other objects (except the Hari Hara), they accept that the expert evidence does not establish the authenticity of those objects,' he added.

'However, the correct conclusion is that the claimants have nevertheless failed to establish the inauthenticity of those objects.

The items included the marble head of the god Dionysus (left) and a 655,000 sculpture of the head of a Bodhisattva Buddhist deity (right)

'For the Hari Hara, the expert evidence does establish that it is authentic.

'Even if the court were to find that some/all of the objects were inauthentic, which it is bound to do for the serpent bracelet, given the above admission, the defendants contend that these were not sales by description (and) the contractual obligation on the defendants was that the descriptions of the objects reflected the honest and reasonable opinion/belief of Mr Eskenazi.

'There was no breach of that contractual obligation for any of the objects,' he said.

Mr Green explained the judge must decide 'whether there was a contractual promise that each object was in fact genuine or whether the relevant standard is that of an honest and reasonable opinion/belief and if it is the latter, the factual question of whether Mr Eskenazi had reasonable grounds for his opinion/belief'.

'The court is invited to conclude that the Hari Hara is authentic; and for the other objects, other than the serpent bracelet, the claimants have failed to establish that they are inauthentic/modern fakes,' he concluded.

Earlier in the trial, Mr Stewart had told the judge, 'All of the objects here, if genuine, are remarkable. They all vary from between 1,400 and 2,000 years old.'

He said there is only one known pre-7th century marble head from this region in existence in the hands of a collector.

'Mr Eskenazi has sold three. Your lordship will have to consider whether Mr Eskenazi has been very lucky in receiving these miraculous objects and selling them to his clients, or whether they are not genuine objects.'

Mr Green had replied: 'It is wholly implausible that the defendants would risk destroying an impeccable reputation built up over many decades with museums, collectors and scholars by either carelessly or deliberately selling forgeries.'

Mr Green had also told the judge that carbon dating doesnt work on stone artworks as it simply reads their geological age, adding that any claim made about the origin of 'an object made 1,400 or 2,000 years ago is necessarily a statement of opinion because no-one of us was around 1,400 or 2,000 years ago'.

Sheikh Hamads father Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa Al-Thani was Qatars prime minister from 1996 to 2007 and he is the eldest of six brothers. He studied political science at Coventry University.

His family home, Dudley House, in Park Lane, London, which dates from the 1700s, is a 44,000-square-foot, 17-bedroom pile.

It features an 81-foot-long picture gallery and a 50-foot ballroom and is Londons only surviving aristocratic palace that still functions as a private, single-family home.

Queen Elizabeth II reportedly commented on the house whilst having dinner with the sheikh in 2015: 'This place makes Buckingham Palace look rather dull.'

The judge was hearing closing submissions in the case this week and will give judgment at a later date
The referendum on the issue happened in Switzerland last year

Comes after proposal to ban facial coverings in public won victory

Switzerland has proposed a 900 fine for anyone covering their face under a 'burqa ban' law.

The draft law was today sent to parliament by the Swiss government and includes several exemptions, including suggesting waiving the ban on aircraft, in diplomatic premises and places of worship.

Additionally, coverings linked to health, safety, climatic conditions and local customs would remain valid.

And artistic performances and advertising would be exempt.

Also, under the draft law, masks deemed necessary to protect oneself while exercising fundamental rights to expression and assembly would be allowed as long as authorities approved and public order was assured.

It comes after the proposal to ban facial coverings in public won a narrow victory in a binding referendum last year.

Walter Wobmann, initiator of the Burqa ban initiative speaks in March last year

The proposal was launched by the same group that organised a 2009 ban on new minarets.

While the cabinet proposal to levy fines did not mention Islam directly and is aimed at stopping violent protesters from wearing masks, local politicians, media and campaigners have referred to the measure as the 'burqa ban.'

Following consultations, the cabinet watered down calls to anchor it in the criminal code and fine offenders up to 10,000 francs.

People hold banners during a protest hours after Swiss voters accepted an initiative, the so-called anti-burqa vote, to ban full facial coverings in public places in Bern on March 7 last year, pictured

In a statement, the cabinet said: 'The ban on covering faces aims to ensure public safety and order. Punishment is not the priority.'

Facial coverings had been called a symbol of extreme, political Islam, according to proponents of the ban.

The vote was condemned as discriminatory by Muslim groups, who vowed legal challenges.

Full face veils were banned from being worn in public in 2011. Elsewhere, Denmark, Austria, the Netherlands and Bulgaria have full or partial bans on wearing face coverings in public.

Around 5 per cent of the Swiss population is made up of Muslims, most have roots in Turkey, Bosnia and Kosovo.
Producers of LeBron James' YouTube talk show Uninterrupted The Shop said they were scrapping a recent episode featuring Kanye West after the rapper repeated 'hate speech' he has been spewing on social media recently.

The Shop co-producer, Maverick Carter, said the episode would not be aired due to West's comments, and that the details of what he said would not be released.

Carter said that he and West, 45, discussed his recent behavior - widely panned as anti-Semitic - before taping the show, and that he thought West to be 'capable of a respectful discussion.'

Once on the show however, West apparently continued pushing controversial rhetoric, leading to the decision to spike the episode. Carter noted that West had been booked weeks ago, before his recent spat with controversy.

The rapper turned fashion mogul sparked fierce outrage in recent weeks after he debuted a line of shirts bearing the words White Lives Matter at Paris fashion week, and then sent out a tweet saying he was 'going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE.'

The tweet followed a similar anti-Semitic post West made on his Instagram, leading to the suspension of both his social media accounts. It is unclear how long the suspensions will last.

Many have speculated that West - who has said he suffers from bi-polar disorder - is in the midst of a psychological episode.

An episode of the YouTube talk show Uninterrupted The Shop which featured Kanye West, 45, as a guest has been scrapped due to his comments on the show

The Shop co-producer Maverick Carter (right), who hosts the show with LeBron James (left), said West pushed 'hate speech' and 'dangerous stereotypes' during taping

In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, Carter explained why The Shop's producers chose to scrap the episode featuring West.

'Yesterday we taped an episode of The Shop with Kanye West. Kanye was booked weeks ago and, after talking to Kanye directly the day before we taped, I believed he was capable of a respectful discussion and he was ready to address all his recent comments. Unfortunately, he used The Shop to reiterate more hate speech and extremely dangerous stereotypes.'

'We have made the decision not to air this episode or any of Kanye's remarks. While The Shop embraces thoughtful discourse and differing opinions, we have zero tolerance for hate speech of any kind and will never allow our channels to be used to promote hate. I take full responsibility for believing Kanye wanted a different conversation and apologize to our guests and crew. Hate speech should never have an audience,' Carter said.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, James was not present for the taping of the episode.

On the YouTube talk show Uninterrupted The Shop LeBron James and Maverick Carter interview guests on a set imitating a barber shop

Kanye West's infamous tweet which has been labelled as anti-Semitic by countless people

News of West's debauched appearance on The Shop comes a day after Motherboard leaked an unaired clip from his interview with Tucker Carlson, which heard him saying Planned Parenthood was created to 'control the Jew populations' through eugenics.

'When I say Jew, I mean the 12 lost tribes of Judah, the blood of Christ, who the people known as the race black really are,' he added. 'This is who our people are. The blood of Christ. This, as a Christian, is my belief.'

The clip was notably absent from the interview when it aired on Fox News last week.

Nevertheless, the aired portions of West's interview remained rife with bizarre statements, including a suggestion that his children had been replaced with 'professional actors' in his home to 'sexualize my kids.'

He also pushed the anti-Semitic trope about Jewish people being good with money, saying 'I prefer my kids knew Hanukkah than Kwanzaa. At least it will come with some financial engineering,' before chuckling.
He was intubated and unable to communicate when he died just a month later

It was only on September 12, 2017 that a correction officer realized that something was wrong and took Ridley to a hospital in Jacksonville

The former US Army man was placed in a confinement cell at the Florida prison for five days before his ailments were taken seriously

Horrific footage has revealed how an Army veteran prison inmate died after being left paralyzed in excruciating pain and locked in a confinement cell for five days after staff broke his neck.

Craig Ridley, 62, was tackled to the ground by a corrections officer, leaving him paralyzed on his bunk. Prison staff walked past his cell a total of 170 times - ignoring his pleas for help - before he was taken to hospital.

He had a slow and painful death, finally succumbing to his injuries on October 12, 2017, after officers at the Florida prison insisted for weeks that he was faking the ailments.

Ridley was slammed to the ground by Capt. William Jerrels on September 8 after muttering something 'disrespectful' to Sgt. John Nettles, who first punched the prisoner in the face.

After being tackled and hitting the ground face first, Ridley shouted at the guards to stop hitting him. He told them he couldn't walk, as he sat in a fetal position on the ground.

Jerrels is heard in the clip saying Ridley was 'refusing' to walk at which point they got him a wheelchair, which he nearly fell out of. Ridley tells the officers: 'My neck is broke.'

Doctors told him that he was fine, despite Ridley not being able to move his body. He was in his cell for five days, as correction officers waked past over a hundred times without reporting that something was wrong

Craig Ridley, 62, was tackled to the ground by a corrections officer, leaving him paralyzed on his bunk after dislocating his neck. Officers and staff 'mocked' him and believed he was faking his injuries. He died just a month after his initial slam to the ground

Ridley, from Missouri, was a kitchen worker at Reception and Medical Center in Lake Butler, the main hospital for Florida's prison system. He was handed a 20-year jail sentence in 2008 for aggravated assault and criminal mischief, but he was known as a quiet inmate who liked playing chess and running. He would have been eligible for release in 2025

The Florida Department of Corrections' Reception & Medical Center in Lake Butler is the state prison system's main hospital, where Ridley was stationed. He worked as a kitchen worker there

In a clip obtained by the Miami Herald, Ridley was seen pleading with officers as he said his neck was broken - but they continued to ignore him as he drooped in a wheelchair.

Ridley was placed in a confinement cell - and guards Sgt. John Nyitray and Officer Daniel Greene told him 'you're bulls****ing...you're just trying to get a lawsuit' when he said he couldn't walk by himself.

They placed him on the toilet inside the cell, where he fell to the ground after being placed on the floor after losing his balance. He was left stuck in a pool of his own blood.

His cellmate, Moise Cherette, banged on the door and asked for help - at first, to no avail. Ridley was then taken to see doctor Jean Dure, who concluded he was fine. Ridley was returned to a confinement cell, this time on his own.

Another inmate claims he later saw one of the prisoners on work duty twist Ridley's broken neck back and forth in front of guards and a nurse at the prison's urgent care center.

After five days, other inmates begged staff to help Ridley, but they walked past his cell and did nothing, according to the footage.

A total of 11 inmates reported that Ridley hadn't touched any of his food trays or moved from his bunk.

It was only on September 12, 2017 that a correction officer realized that something was wrong and took Ridley to a hospital in Jacksonville. He was intubated and unable to communicate when he died just a month later.

The prisoner's daughter, Jatoon Moss, filed a civil rights lawsuit against secretary of the Department of Corrections Ricky Dixon (pictured) alongside correction officers and medical staff over her father's death

Footage shows Ridley nearly toppling over in a wheelchair because of his injuries. Staff still left him to himself in a confinement cell and did not help for days

Ridley's sister Diane Ridley Gatewood told the Miami Herald: 'This was an inhumane death caused by an abysmal lack of medical treatment. It was torture.'

She was first told that her brother had died of cancer in prison - but she didn't believe and started digging into public records herself.

The prisoner's daughter, Jatoon Moss, filed a civil rights lawsuit against secretary of the Department of Corrections Ricky Dixon, alongside correction officers and medical staff over her father's death.

Despite an investigation by Florida Department of Law Enforcement, no one was charged for his death - as correction officers claimed that they were only relying on medics' advise.

One officer was suspended for 8.5 hours because he walked past Ridely's cell 16 times over two days without calling for help when he wasn't eating, and two others had a letter placed in their files 'reprimanding' them for inappropriate language to Ridley.

The probe found that there was repeated evidence of abuse and neglect, leading to the prisoner's death.

Officers continued to believe that Ridley was faking his ailments and then they falsified documents stating that he had eaten during the five-day period when he was paralyzed in his cell.

One clip shows him on the ground in a fetal position after he was hit to the ground. Despite an investigation by Florida Department of Law Enforcement, no one was charged for his death - as correction officers claimed that they were only relying on medics' advise

He told officers 'I cannot move' but his pleas went on deaf ears. He eventually died from his injuries on October 12

Craig Ridley died after corrections officers at a Florida prison broke his neck and left him paralyzed and helpless in a cell for five days

The FDLE also believe that officers forged his signature on documents that he would not have been able to sign given his devastating injuries.

A medical examiner also ruled his death a homicide, listing the cause of death as 'blunt impact' and a major spinal cord injury.

He also had paralysis of all four limbs, listed as 'complications of quadriplegia.'

Jean Dure, the doctor who concluded there was nothing wrong with Ridley after doing an X-Ray and CT scan. He said that he had passed a neurological test, but the FDLE did not find any forms to show that any test had been performed.

Ridley, from Missouri, was a kitchen worker at Reception and Medical Center in Lake Butler, the main hospital for Florida's prison system.

He was handed a 20-year jail sentence in 2008 for aggravated assault and criminal mischief, but he was known as a quiet inmate who liked playing chess and running. He would have been eligible for release in 2025.

A corrections officer described Ridley as a 'model inmate' in an interview with FDLE, and he was nicknamed 'the president' by his peer because of his calm personality.

He was known to talk back to guards when he felt he was being treated unfairly, however, and had minor infractions on his record.

Ridley served in the US Army and had a degree in electronic engineering before he was imprisoned.

David Rembert, an assistant professor of criminal justice at Prairie View A&M University, said: 'His civil rights were violated. This was deliberate indifference to medical need. If youre walking past somebodys cell day after day and theyre not moving, you have to know something is wrong.'

He called the whole ordeal 'a hell of a cover up.'

The deliberate indifference to medical needs for prisoners' is a violation of the Eight Amendment, the US Supreme Court rules.

In response to the report, Michelle Glady, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Corrections acknowledged that the state had failed Ridley.

She told DailyMail.com: 'The circumstances of this case are isolated, and absolutely no reflection of what our policies outline and expect. We have reviewed this case in depth and recognize the many failures that took place and we have learned from it.'
Moscow recruitment officers also said to be targeting hotels for workers

They are then taken to military enlistment offices and made to sign up to fight

Witnesses have described homeless men being loaded onto buses in Moscow

Russia is rounding up homeless people and sending them to the front lines of Ukraine as part of Vladimir Putin's military mobilisation, according to local reports.

Security officers in Moscow have been taking men from charity food banks and hostels where migrant workers live, Russian news outlet Mediazona said.

This comes weeks after Putin declared a 'partial' mobilisation in a desperate attempt to turn the tide of his ailing war effort after a series of embarrassing setbacks.

Russia is rounding up homeless people and sending them to the front lines of Ukraine as park of Vladimir Putin's military mobilisation, according to local reports. Pictured: Russian recruits fire rifles in the Rostov-on-Don region in southern Russia, Tuesday, October 4, 2022

The Russian independent publication spoke to Food Not Bombs, a charity group working in the Russian capital, and heard how it had seen dozens of homeless men taken off the street to military enlistment offices in recent weeks.

A Food Not Bombs representative told Mediazona: 'A 60-year-old man was taken away, then he was released and came back.

'He told me that they were taken to the military commissariat, where many people who had been called up for war were standing in line. He was told that he didn't fit the age criteria and that they only take men up to 45 years old.'

The representative said while police 'used a little force', they exerted pressure in other ways - suggesting there would be 'punishment' for not signing up.

Other witnesses have shared similar stories.

'The police come here without anyone asking. They see a queue of people waiting for food, and then they grab them by the scruff of the neck, against their will,' the head of the Salvation Hangar, a Christian Orthodox homeless charity, told the outlet.

He said the homeless men are loaded onto buses and taken to military enlistment offices. More than 50 people were later released, he said, while those who did not have passports or documentation were taken to a police station.

In September, Putin declared a 'partial' mobilisation in a desperate attempt to turn the tide of his ailing war effort after a series of embarrassing setbacks. Pictured: Russian recruits gather to take a train at a railway station in Prudboi, Volgograd region of Russia, September 29

Russian conscripted man says goodbye to relatives at a recruiting office during Russia's partial military mobilisation in Moscow, Russia, 12 October. Moscow is aiming to recruit 300,000

Activists at the Food Not Bombs charity recorded an interview with a homeless man who was rejected by the military because of his age.

'There were only 20-25 people on the bus, and it arrived empty. There were two district police officers and two buyers - well, employees of the recruiting station, which has now opened in the Museum of Moscow in the courtyard.

'They organised this recruiting station there,' he told the outlet.

Mediazona also reported that recruitment officers had visited hostels that are known to be accommodation for migrant workers, as well as couriers and taxi drivers, among other low-paid workers.

They were trying to recruit men to join Putin's armies from there as well.

One guest staying at the Travel Inn hostel in Moscow told the Russian publication that on October 8, police surrounded the building and blocked exits.

They then scoured it floor-by-floor searching the rooms for people eligible to join the military, and asking for guests' documents.

Russian recruits gather inside a military recruitment center of Bataysk, Rostov-on-Don region, south of Russia, Monday, Sept. 26, 2022

Russian conscripted man says goodbye to relatives at a recruiting office during Russia's partial military mobilisation in Moscow, October 12

'Those who were served draft papers were ordered to come with their things the next day at 9:00 and their passports were confiscated. Those who weren't handed draft papers were released, ' the guest told Mediazona.

The guest said the same thing happened the following day.

In August, the Ukrainian army announced its counteroffensive in the south and east, and since then has pushed Putin's forces back - seeing huge gains.

After regaining almost full control of the northeastern region of Kharkiv, the Ukrainian forces recently claimed more gains on the eastern and southern fronts.

Faced with mounting setbacks since September, Putin announced the mobilisation of hundreds of thousands of reservists to join the fighting in Ukraine.

Moscow is said to be aiming to recruit 300,000 men to join the fight.

Hundreds of thousands of Russian men had fled the country in an attempt to escape being called up to the front lines.

Meanwhile, stories from men who heeded the call have painted a grim picture of the conditions in Russian ranks, having been handed rusty weapons and being told they must purchase their own equipment, right down to their military boots.

Russian conscripted man says goodbye to relatives at a recruiting office during Russia's partial military mobilisation in Moscow, October 12

Flame and smoke rise from the Crimean Bridge connecting Russian mainland and the Crimean peninsula over the Kerch Strait, in Kerch, Crimea, October 8, 2022

Several reports have said that the mobilisation has targeted men from Russia's poorer regions, as well as men from ethnic minorities.

Meanwhile, Ukraine said Wednesday it reclaimed more territory from Russia in the south, while welcoming the delivery of Western air defence systems that Kyiv said would usher in a 'new era' after mass strikes from Moscow.

Russia for two days pummelled Ukraine with missiles, damaging energy facilities nationwide, in attacks that President Vladimir Putin said were retaliation for a deadly explosion at the Crimea bridge.

Russia's FSB security service said Wednesday it detained eight suspects over the blast that ripped through the road and rail bridge connecting Crimea to Russia.

But it also claimed to have foiled two more attacks that Ukrainian special services allegedly planned to carry out on Russian territory.

Putin has vowed a 'severe' response to any further attack on Russia and what Moscow considers to be its territory, including the Crimea peninsula that it annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

Kyiv has neither confirmed nor denied it attacked the bridge, a vital transport link but also a matter of pride for Putin who personally inaugurated the structure in 2018.

Despite warnings from the Kremlin, Kyiv has vowed to retake the peninsula as well as four regions in Ukraine's east and south that Moscow says are now part of Russia.

Kyiv said Wednesday that it had retaken five more settlements in the southern region of Kherson - one of the four territories Moscow said it annexed in late September - in the latest setback for Russia's campaign.
Letby moved off nights amid concerns about correlation between suspicious deaths and her presence

Nurse 'smiling' after one baby's death and sent parents a sympathy card in 'unusual' move, court heard

Prosecution today laid out claims of murder and attempted murder against four of her young patients

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'Cold-blooded' nurse Lucy Letby tried to kill a second set of twins and murdered two of three triplets, it was claimed today - as jurors heard allegations TV doctor Dr Ravi Jayaram walked in on her as she was attacking a baby girl.

The 32-year-old is accused of attacking two sets of twins by injecting them with insulin and air. One child, Baby E, would die but his sibling survived. The Crown has already accused Letby of attempting to murder two other twins in similar circumstances eight months before.

At the time, Letby was supposed to only to be working day shifts because the consultants were concerned about the correlation between her presence and unexpected deaths on night shifts, the prosecution said.

The nurse murdered two out of three triplets - Children O and P - on successive days in June 2016, it is alleged, but the third, Child N, survived.

In total, she is accused of murdering seven premature babies and attacking 10 more over a year by poisoning them with insulin, injecting air into their bloodstreams or over-feeding them milk.

On one night in February 2016, Dr Jayaram, a paediatric consultant who has appeared on ITV's This Morning and the One Show on BBC, walked in as she was trying to kill a baby identified only as Child K, it is claimed.

Nick Johnson KC, prosecuting, told the jury: 'Feeling uncomfortable with this because he had started to notice the coincidence between the unexplained deaths, serious collapses and the presence of Lucy Letby, Dr Jayaram decided to check on where Lucy Letby was and how Child K was.

'As he walked into room one, he saw Letby standing over Child K's incubator. She did not have her hands inside the incubator, but Dr Jayaram could see from the monitor on the wall that Child K's oxygen saturation level was falling dangerously low, to somewhere in the 80s.

'But the alarm was not sounding as it should have been and Lucy Letby had not called for help, despite child K's oxygen levels falling. We allege she was trying to kill Child K when Dr Jayaram walked in.'

As the third day of Letby's trial continues, the court has heard over the trial so far:

Letby, 32, denies murdering seven premature babies and attempting to murder 10 more over 12 months. The deaths occurred at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016. Letby was arrested three years after the death of her first alleged victim, Baby A;

ICU nurse is alleged to have injected babies with insulin, air or pumped with milk to kill them - often during night shifts when parents were less likely to be there;

Letby allegedly targeted twins on more than one occasion - and in some cases one was murdered and their sibling survived;

She is said to have searched for the families of her alleged victims' parents on Facebook and social media, including on Christmas Day;

In some cases, Letby is alleged to have tried to kill babies on up to four occasions, including two times in one shift;

Nurse was 'smiling' after one child's death and sent her parents a sympathy card, which was 'not normal';

On a separate occasion, a paediatric consultant claimed he walked in on Letby as she was trying to kill a child;

Doctors moved her off night shifts after being concerned about correlation between suspicious deaths and her presence;

Made notes about at least one of her attacks in a diary but denied this was a 'souvenir';

Used a baby's haemophilia as 'cover' to attack him, thinking that this would give her an excuse for his bleeding;

Letby denies seven charges of murder and ten charges of attempted murder between 2015 and 2016 at Countess of Chester Hospital

On one night in February 2016, Dr Jayaram (pictured), a paediatric consultant who has appeared on ITV's This Morning and the One Show on BBC, walked in as she was trying to kill a baby identified only as Child K, it is claimed

Full indictment against Lucy Letby Lucy Letby is charged as follows: Count 1 - Charged with murder of Baby A on June 8, 2015 Count 2 - Charged with attempted murder of Baby B between the June 8, 2015 and June 11, 2015 Count 3 - Charged with murder of Baby C on June 14, 2015 Count 4 - Charged with murder of Baby D on June 22, 2015 Count 5 - Charged with murder of Baby E on August 4, 2015 Count 6 - Charged with attempted murder of Baby F on August 5, 2015 Count 7 - Charged with attempted murder of Baby G on September 7, 2015 Count 8 - Charged with attempted murder of Baby G on September 21, 2015 Count 9 - Charged with attempted murder of Baby G on September 21, 2015 Count 10 - Charged with attempted murder of Baby H on September 26, 2015 Count 11 - Charged with attempted murder of Baby H on September 27, 2015 Count 12 - Charged with murder of Baby I on October 23, 2015 Count 13 - Charged with attempted murder of Baby J on November 27, 2015 Count 14 - Charged with attempted murder of Baby K on February 17, 2015 Count 15 - Charged with attempted murder of Baby L on April 9, 2016 Count 16 - Charged with attempted murder of Baby M on April 9, 2016 Count 17 - Charged with attempted murder of Baby N on June 3, 2016 Count 18 - Charged with attempted murder of Baby N on June 15, 2016 Count 19 - Charged with attempted murder of Baby N on June 15, 2016 Count 20 - Charged with murder of Baby O on June 23, 2016 Count 21 - Charged with murder of Baby P on June 24, 2016 Count 22 - Charged with attempted murder of Baby Q on June 25, 2016 Advertisement

Later the same morning at 7.30, Letby was again at Child K's cot calling for help, the court heard. She was assisting the baby with her breathing and it was found Child K's breathing tube had this time slipped too far into her throat. Child K was transferred to another hospital later that day but remained unwell and died two days later. Letby is not accused of her murder.

One independent medical expert said it was 'very likely' the dislodgement of the breathing tube was a deliberate act and another did not believe an 'accidental or innocent dislodgement' was a plausible explanation, the court heard.

Under police interview, Letby said she had not initially sounded the alarm over child K when Dr Jayaram walked in because she was 'possibly waiting to see if she self-corrected, we don't normally intervene straight away if they weren't dangerously low' in oxygen. Mr Johnson told the court a nursing expert said that given how premature the baby was, Letby's explanation for delaying intervention, 'didn't wash'.

Today, Letby sat in the dock wearing a black jacket as she listened to the prosecution lay out an allegation of murder against Child I and O, two of attempted murder against Child H, and further the attempted murders of Child J, K, L, M and N.

Mr Johnson described the case of Child I as 'an extreme example even by the standards of this overall case'. He said Letby first tried to kill Child I by injecting air into the infant's stomach. After Letby's third alleged attempt on her life, Child I was transferred to another hospital where she made a dramatic recovery. But after being returned to Letby's care, the infant collapsed and needed cardiac compressions, the court heard.

'Baby I was born very early and very small - but she survived the first two months of her life and was doing well by the time Lucy Letby got her hands on her,' Mr Johnson said.

After Child I's death, her parents were taken to a private room and asked if they wanted to bathe her. Mr Johnson said that as the baby's mother 'bathed her recently departed child, Letby came into the room and, in the words of the mother, was ''smiling and kept going on about how she was present at Child I's first bath and how much Child I had loved it''.'

The nurse later sent a sympathy card to the parents, something that was 'not normal'. In a police interview, she told officers this was the only time she had done it, 'but it is not often the nurses got to know a family as well as they had known Child I's'. She admitted to officers that she'd kept an image of the card on her phone.

Mr Johnson said: 'We suggest that it is highly significant that children within the orbit of Lucy Letby persistently and consistently suffered unexplained collapses.

'Sometimes the evidence of her hand at work is more obvious than others and it is remarkable that on many occasions when children who had suffered unexpected spectacular and life-threatening collapses were removed from her orbit, they had exceptional recoveries.'

Letby's parents, Susan and John, are supporting her at her six-month trial at Manchester Crown Court.

Nick Johnson, KC opened today's hearing by outlining Letby's first alleged attempt to kill Child H when she was the infant's designated nurse.

The prosecutor said the ICU chart shows she gave Child H a dose of morphine at 1.25am and saline at 2.50am. The following night, the infant's oxygen levels began to drop profoundly at 22.53pm and 3.30am after being 'relatively stable' during the day shift.

The nurse (pictured) allegedly tried to kill one baby by injecting insulin into his nutrition bag less than 24 hours after murdering his twin brother

Letby sat in the dock wearing a black jacket as she listened to the prosecution lay out their case in Manchester Crown Court

Letby's parents Susan and John Letby arrive at Manchester Crown Court this morning

'Cold-blooded' Lucy Letby 'smiled at mother after she had murdered her newborn daughter on the fourth attempt' - then 'sent a sympathy card to the parents' 'Cold-blooded' Lucy Letby smiled at a mother after murdering her newborn girl on the fourth attempt before sending a sympathy card to her parents, a court heard today. The 32-year-old allegedly killed five boys and two girls, and faces a total of 22 charges of both murder and attempted murder involving 17 babies. The offences are said to have taken place between June 2015 and June 2016 while she was working in the neo-natal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital. Today, Letby sat in the dock wearing a black jacket as she listened to the prosecution lay out an allegation of murder against Child I, two of attempted murder against Child H, and two more of attempted murder against Child J and Child K. Prosecutor Nick Johnson, KC described the case of Child I - who despite being born weighing just 970g (2lbs 2oz) was healthy - as 'an extreme example even by the standards of this overall case'. After Letby's third alleged attempt on her life, Child I was transferred to another hospital where she made a dramatic recovery. But after being returned to Letby's care, the infant collapsed and needed cardiac compressions, the court heard. 'Baby I was born very early and very small - but she survived the first two months of her life and was doing well by the time Lucy Letby got her hands on her,' Mr Johnson said. After Child I's death, her parents were taken to a private room and asked if they wanted to bathe her. Mr Johnson said that as the baby's mother 'bathed her recently departed child, Letby came into the room and, in the words of the mother, was ''smiling and kept going on about how she was present at Child I's first bath and how much Child I had loved it''.' The nurse later sent a sympathy card to the parents, something that was 'not normal'. In a police interview, she told officers this was the only time she had done it, 'but it is not often the nurses got to know a family as well as they had known Child I's'. She admitted to officers that she'd kept an image of the card on her phone. The case was handed to the coroner and it was found 'the earlier attempts to kill Child I had caused brain damage'. Earlier, Mr Johnson told jurors at Manchester Crown Court that Letby twice attempted to murder another baby, Child H, on two successive night shifts in September 2015. The infant suffered two 'profound' collapses which required resuscitation by chest compressions with the use of adrenaline, the court heard. No clear cause for either incident was identified at the time but the baby survived. After the two incidents Child H was transferred to another hospital where she showed 'dramatic improvement'. She later returned to the Countess of Chester and was eventually discharged. Mr Johnson said: 'We suggest that it is highly significant that children within the orbit of Lucy Letby persistently and consistently suffered unexplained collapses. 'Sometimes the evidence of her hand at work is more obvious than others and it is remarkable that on many occasions when children who had suffered unexpected spectacular and life-threatening collapses were removed from her orbit, they had exceptional recoveries.' Letby's parents, Susan and John, are supporting her at her six-month trial at Manchester Crown Court. Advertisement

Letby was not her designated nurse at the time, but the nurse who had this role later said she could not recall whether she had taken a break during the shift but confirmed she had been out of the room at least some of the time.

He went on to describe 'interesting Facebook searches' by Letby after the incidents.

He told the court that about a week after Child H's second collapse, at about 1.15am, within about three minutes she searched for Child H's mother, the father of twin children E and F and the mother of Child I. At the time she was on her day off.

Introducing the case of Baby I, Mr Johnson said: 'There were four separate occasions on which we allege Lucy Letby tried to kill Baby I. She was resilient, but ultimately, at the fourth attempt, Lucy Letby succeeded in killing her'.

Baby I weighed 970 grams when she was born in Liverpool Women's Hospital on August 7, 2015. She was transferred to the Countess of Chester on August 18.

By September 29, the infant was eight weeks old and the clinical concerns about her had diminished.

She had no breathing problems, was 'in air', gaining weight and being fed both by bottles and a tube.

Mr Johnson alleged that Letby carried out her first attack on Baby I the following day, September 30  'a couple of days after she had tried to kill Baby H and a week or so after events two and three for Baby G.

Letby was on a 12-hour shift that began at 8am, and she was Baby I's designated nurse.

She had two other babies to look after in Room 3, yet despite this she was also involved that shift with G and H.

According to Baby I's mother, Letby expressed some concern to her and indicated that the infant would be reviewed by a doctor.

Mr Johnson said: 'When she made the requisite note, Letby reversed the concern, saying that it was Baby I's mother who had raised an issue about her abdomen, writing 'Mum feels it is more distended to yesterday and that I is quietnot on monitor but nil increased work of breathing'.

He asked the jury: 'Was it Lucy Letby trying to cover for what she was going to do?'

She fed the sleeping baby 35mls of expressed breast milk via the NGT at 4pm. Half an hour later an emergency 'crash call' was put out.

Baby I had vomited, desaturated, her heart rate had dropped and she was struggling to breath. Her airway had to be cleared and she was given breathing support before being moved to Room 1.

X-rays revealed a massive amount of gas in her stomach and bowel, and her lungs appeared 'squashed' and of small volume. It was the prosecution case that this air had been injected into the baby's stomach.

The crisis passed, but medical notes record that Letby adjusted the infant's glucose infusion and gave her an injection of saline.

'Within moments, Baby I deteriorated again. However, as I have said, Baby I was resilient and overnight her condition'.

Thereafter the baby enjoyed a period of such stability that she did not even need a monitor.

In the early hours of October 13, Baby I was well and being bottle-fed every four hours. At about 3am her designated nurse briefly left the room and asked Letby and another colleague to listen out for the infant.

Mr Johnson told the court: 'When she returned to Room 2, at about 3.20am, Lucy Letby was stood in the doorway. The room was darkened because it was night time. But as soon as she came in Lucy Letby told her Baby I looked pale.

'When the other nurse turned on the light, she saw that Baby I appeared at the point of death and was not breathing.

'When she reconsidered later she thought that perhaps I was breathing once at least every 20 seconds, because if she hadn't been the apnoea alarm would have sounded'.

Turning to the jury, Mr Johnson said: 'You might want to consider how it was that Lucy Letby could see that I was pale from the door of a room in which there was minimal lighting.

'And you may want to consider the possibility that someone had silenced the alarm or turned it off'.

The third incident happened on October 14 when Baby I suffered desaturation caused by gas in her abdomen. Again she needed to be resuscitated. She was 'brought back from the brink of death' at 7.48am.

'So I had the same problem as she had had before,' said Mr Johnson. 'And yet again there was Lucy Letby who was her designated nurse. Same nurse, same problem  a problem that doesn't happen when she isn't around'.

Baby I was transferred to Arrowe Park on October 15 and quickly stabilised before returning to Letby's hospital on October 17.

Baby I became unsettled just after midnight on October 23. Letby and the designated nurse went to her, but the infant collapsed and needed cardiac compressions.

Both an on-call registrar and an on-call consultant were called in. The latter noticed a mottled blue appearance in her trunk and peripheries. After five minutes of CPR the infant's saturation rate picked up to 100 per cent.

An x-ray showed massive dilation of the bowel and this was noted by the medics as 'large stomach bubble'. Baby I was successfully resuscitated and recovered.

At 1.06am the infant's designated nurse left the nursery temporarily, but then responded to the alarm. She returned to see Letby at the incubator.

Letby sketched in the dock at Manchester Crown Court with security as she was charged with the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of another ten

During the time Letby worked on the night shift, there was a rise in babies dying or falling seriously ill, Manchester Crown Court was told, and then when she moved to the day shift there were more 'inexplicable collapses and deaths'

Letby 'tried to kill a second set of twin boys' Prosecutor Nick Johnson KC claimed Lucy Letby attempted to murder child L and child M, twin boys, in similar circumstances to two other twin boys, child E and child F. Eight months earlier the Crown says the defendant murdered child E by injecting air into his bloodstream and attempted to murder his brother, child F, by poisoning him with insulin. On April 9 2016 Letby was working a day shift when she is said to have given an unauthorised dose of insulin to child L and while that attack was under way she turned her attentions to child M by administering air into his circulation. Mr Johnson said: 'By this time Lucy Letby was supposed only to be working day shifts because the consultants were concerned about the correlation between her presence and unexpected deaths and life-threatening episodes on the night shifts.' The Crown say the defendant volunteered to work an extra shift on April 9 after she noted child L's low glucose levels shortly after his birth the previous day. Mr Johnson said: 'We say that in effect she saw the opportunity to complete what she had attempted with (child F).' Advertisement

Realising the infant was very distressed, the nurse wanted to intervene. But Letby assured her that they would be able to settle the baby.

'Baby I then collapsed,' said Mr Johnson, before adding: 'This exchange foreshadows what was to happen when Child O collapsed six or so months later'.

The same on-call registrar arrived at 1.12am and led the attempts at resuscitation. She was joined by the registrar at 1.25am and he noted purple and white mottling.

'All resuscitative efforts were unsuccessful and treatment was withdrawn at 2.10am,' Mr Johnson said. 'Baby I was pronounced dead at 2.30am on October 23.'

Immediately after her death the infant's parents were taken to a private room. The mother was asked if she wanted to bathe her daughter.

'As [the mother] bathed her recently-deceased child, Lucy Letby came into the room and in the mother's words ''was smiling and kept going on about how she was present at Baby I's first bath and how much Baby I had loved it''.'

A post mortem revealed that all the loops in the infant's bowel were significantly dilated due to increased air content. 'In layman's terms they were expanded like a partially-inflated balloon,' Mr Johnson said.

Dr Dewi Evans, the expert paediatrician later called in by Cheshire Police, said he thought the apnoea monitor must have been tampered with or switched off.

He also believed an IV bolus of air had been injected into her bloodstream around midnight on October 22-23. 'In support of that, he points to Baby I screaming  followed quickly by her collapse,' Mr Johnson said.

The court heard that Letby had sent a sympathy card to the parents.

'She said that to send a card was not normal  indeed this was the only time she had done it; but that it was not often the nurses got to know a family as well as they had known Baby I's,' Mr Johnson said.

'She accepted that she had kept an image of the card on her phone. She denied giving Baby I air via the NGT.

Pre-term baby 'screamed' for 30 minutes after injury 'inflicted by Letby' and was almost ready to go home, when nurse came in to say 'hello', court hears Mr Johnson next told the jury about Child N, the 14th of the 17 babies Letby is alleged to have attacked. Child N was born at 34 weeks on June 2 2016 at the Countess of Chester Hospital, weighing 3.6lbs. The infant two weeks and three days short of being a full term baby, but was admitted to the neonatal unit because his mother was a carrier of the blood disorder haemophilia. His clinical condition was described as 'excellent' although he did have mild haemophilia. two weeks and three days short of being a full term baby. The infants own haemophilia was an important feature of the case, said Mr Johnson. Despite a common perception that the disorder makes someone more prone to bleeding for either no reason or a trivial reason, children with Ns mild level rarely bleed for no reason. Most importantly, blood in the throat of a child with his level of haemophilia does not occur spontaneously. 'We allege that Lucy Letby thought that Ns haemophilia gave her cover to attack him.' Mr Johnson said this was because Letby assumed, wrongly, that if he bled it would be put down to the condition. The nurse allegedly went on to attack him three times. In fact, children with mild haemophilia rarely bleed for no reason, the jury at Chester Crown Court heard. The day Child N was born, Lucy Letby was one of five nurses working the night shift on the neo-natal unit. At 1.05am the day-old baby suffered a sudden lowering of his blood oxygen levels to life-threatening levels. Unusually for such a small, premature baby he was crying and screaming. The child recovered after emergency assistance from doctors and nurses. Independent medical experts said the baby's sudden deterioration was consistent with some kind of 'inflicted injury' or him having received an injection of air. Mr Johnson said: 'Lucy Letby did not leave it there'. Twelve days later, on June 15, Letby is alleged to have made two more attempts to murder Child N. At the time he was almost ready to go home, except for treatment for jaundice. At the beginning of the night shift, just after Lucy Letby had handed over to a colleague, he was described as being very unsettled'. By 1am he was 'pale, mottled and veiny' with slight abdominal distention. When Letby came in on for her day shift early at 7.15am and went to child N's room to say 'hello', the court was told. When a second nurse had her back turned Letby told her the baby had lost oxygen and immediately assisted with his breathing. A doctor was called but was unable to put a breathing tube into the child after discovering fresh blood inside his mouth. The medic could not see the back of the child's throat as it was so swollen. Around 3pm that day there was a further collapse of child N with his oxygen levels falling to life-threatening levels and a further attempt to insert a breathing tube again found blood in his throat. He was later transferred to a specialist children's hospital in Liverpool where he recovered quickly. Independent medical experts suggested the blood in child N's mouth was as a result of the 'thrusting' of a tube into the back of his throat to inflict injury, the court heard. Towards the end of her shift Letby wrote up her own notes. She referred to 'fresh blood' and '3mls blood aspirated from NG tube'. When Dr Evans reviewed the case he concluded that the blood seen in Baby Ns throat had originated there, rather than coming up from the stomach. In his opinion 'the bleeding was not caused by the attempts to intubate, but instead some preceding trauma'. He suggested that 'thrusting' an NG tube into the back of the throat might be the mechanism used to inflict the injury. Dr Bohins view was that the likely cause of the bleeding was trauma to the mouth, throat or oropharynx, most likely from an NGT or suction catheter. When interviewed by police Letby agreed she had seen blood but denied being responsible for causing him harm. Advertisement

She challenged her colleague's account of Baby I's collapse in the darkened room, claiming that because she was more experienced she might have 'spotted something that she wasn't able to spot'.

Mr Johnson told the jury: 'Baby I was born very early and very small. But she survived the first two months of her life and was doing well by the time Lucy Letby got her hands on her.

'What happened to Baby I followed the pattern of what had happened to others before and what was yet to happen to others., All of a sudden, out of nowhere, came vomiting, breathing problems and critical desaturations'.

In the first incident there had been a vomit followed by lots of air and some milk; in the second Letby had been seen 'coolly watching Baby I who was in crisis'; in the third the infant pumped with air; and in the fourth the designated nurse returning in response to the alarm and finding Letby standing over her.

'It was persistent, calculated and cold-blooded,' said Mr Johnson.

Child J was born prematurely at 32 weeks and two days gestation, on October 31, 2015, at the Countess of Chester Hospital.

She had an operation for a bowel disorder at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool before returning to the neonatal unit at Chester on November 10, 2015.

Days later, her medical notes showed she was doing well and was healthy, the jury at Chester Crown Court heard.

But she suffered an unexplained collapse overnight on November 26/27 when Letby was one of the six nurses working the night shift.

Before her shift started, Letby texted a work colleague complaining that the babies she was to look after, including Child J, only needed help feeding.

Mr Johnson told the jury: 'It appears, we suggest, that working in nurseries three and four was not sufficiently stimulating for Lucy Letby.'

The prosecutor claimed Letby attempted to murder Child L and Child M, twin boys, in similar circumstances to two other twin boys, Child E and Child F.

Eight months earlier the Crown says the defendant murdered Child E by injecting air into his bloodstream and attempted to murder his brother, Child F, by poisoning him with insulin.

On April 9, 2016 Letby was working a day shift when she is said to have given an unauthorised dose of insulin to Child L and while that attack was under way she turned her attentions to Child M by administering air into his circulation.

Mr Johnson said: 'By this time Lucy Letby was supposed only to be working day shifts because the consultants were concerned about the correlation between her presence and unexpected deaths and life-threatening episodes on the night shifts.'

The Crown say the defendant volunteered to work an extra shift on April 9 after she noted Child L's low glucose levels shortly after his birth the previous day.

Mr Johnson said: 'We say that in effect she saw the opportunity to complete what she had attempted with (Child F).'

He said the defendant went on to agree the insulin could not have been given accidentally but said she was not responsible.

Her only explanation was it must have already been in one of the bags he was receiving but the Crown say that was 'not a credible possibility', he added.

Mr Johnson said Child M came 'close to death' after his heart rate and breathing dropped dramatically without warning but improved on the night-shift that followed and went on to make a speedy recovery.

When Letby's home in Chester was searched two years later, a number of medical notes were found which detailed how many doses of adrenaline were given to Child M during his collapse.

A note of his collapse was also recorded in her diary, the court heard.

Mr Johnson said: 'She thought she had taken home the notes by accident and simply noted what had happened in her diary.

'She denied that the notes were a souvenir and she denied deliberately trying to harm (Child M).

'We suggest these cases (children E, F, L and M) are similar in that one of each pair suffered an insulin overdose whereas it is suggested the other suffered an air embolism.

'What are the chances of that happening innocently? We suggest coincidences like that simply do not happen innocently.'

Letby is also accused of murdering two male triplets, child O and child P, on successive days in June 2016.

Child O was in good condition and stable up until the afternoon of June 23 when he suffered a 'remarkable deterioration', the court heard.

A post-mortem examination found unclotted blood in his body from a liver injury and a coroner certified death on the basis of natural causes and intra-abdominal bleeding.

Mr Johnson told jurors: 'Of course it would not occur to him (the coroner) that a nurse would have assaulted a child in the neo-natal unit'.

He said an independent pathologist had since reviewed the case and was of the opinion the liver injury was not the result of chest compressions in resuscitation.

Letby is accused of attacking two sets of twins - with insulin and with air - one child, Baby E, would die but his sibling survived

The prosecution claims that a single common factor in the babies' deaths and collapses was Letby's presence

The court has heard Letby (pictured) attempted to kill one baby at Countess of Chester Hospital three times in the space of a month

Mr Johnson said the most likely cause was an impact-type trauma, adding: 'In brutal terms, an assault.'

The expert also concluded child O had fatefully received excessive amounts of air into the bloodstream and through a nasogastric tube.

The trial continues tomorrow.
LA City Council member Nury Martinez also ranted about Jewish colleagues in the racist audio where she described a colleague's black son as a 'little monkey' and said of Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon: 'F*** that guy, he's with the blacks.'

A new portion of the incriminating recording from an October 2021 phone call was published by The Los Angeles Times on Tuesday morning.

Martinez refers to Jewish colleagues as 'judios', Spanish for Jews. She was referring to former state assemblyman Richard Katz and his team.

Her colleague, Ron Herrera, kicked off the conversation saying: 'I'm sure Katz and his crew have an agenda.'

She replied: 'The Judios cut their deal with South L.A. That's how I see it. And they're going to screw everybody else.'

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Nury Martinez referred to her Jewish colleague Richard Katz as a 'Judio' and said he and other Jewish colleagues would 'screw everybody else'

She also referred to an Armenian colleague as having 'one eyebrow', and said others didn't have a chance at becoming elected in white neighborhoods.

'F**k that guy, he's with the blacks': Martinez fumed at L.A. DA George Gascon

Martinez also took a swipe at District Attorney George Gascon, saying: 'He's with the blacks.'

The shocking comments, along with her description of a young black boy as a 'little monkey', have prompted many to call for her resignation.

While she stepped down as City Council President, she remains a city official.

Yesterday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre issued a call from President Biden to resign.

'The language that was used and tolerated during that conversation was unacceptable, and it was appalling.

'He believes they all should resign.'

Herrera, who was also on the call, resigned after the recording was made public earlier this week.

Councilmember Mike Bonin's son, who Martinez referred to as a 'little monkey' earlier on the call

She also referred to Armenian colleague Areen Ibranossian as having 'one eyebrow' and said others wouldn't win in white neighborhoods

Martinez appeared in an episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians. She is shown above with Kim Kardashian

Yesterday, a council meeting about the issue descended into chaos.

Mike Bonin, the boy's father, was among those who called for a full resignation.

'I take a lot of hits, but my son? But let me be clear, people should not ask me for forgiveness.

'I can't forgive them because it's not my prerogative. It's the prerogative of a boy who's too young to really understand what's going on.'

Martinez announced on Tuesday that she would be taking a 'leave of absence' but not resigning from her position.

'This has been one of the most difficult times of my life,' she wrote in a statement.

'I need to take a leave of absence and take some time to have an honest and heartfelt conversation with my family, my constituents, and community leaders.'
The FBI offered British spy Christopher Steele $1 million in cash to prove the salacious allegations in his infamous 'Dirty Dossier' on Donald Trump, a senior bureau analyst told a federal court on Tuesday.

FBI supervisory analyst Brian Auten testified that the bureau made the offer in 2016 during a meeting in the United Kingdom - but didn't hand over the money because Steele couldn't back up the evidence.

At the time, agents were looking to verify claims the Kremlin had compromising videos showing Trump engaged in sexual activity in a Moscow hotel and allegations he was in contact with Russian officials before the general election.

There were also salacious claims Steele was commissioned by Democrats during the 2016 presidential campaign and the claims in the dossier have since been debunked.

Steele penned the 35-page document, which alleged that the Kremlin colluded with Trump's presidential campaign, in 2016 after his private intelligence company Orbis Business Intelligence was hired by a law firm representing the Democrats.

Among other things, the 'golden shower' dossier claimed that the Russian security services could blackmail the President-Elect with allegations that he paid prostitutes to urinate on a bed once slept in by Barack and Michelle Obama.

The revelation about the substantial financial incentive being offered came in the trial of Russian analyst Igor Danchenko, one of Steele's primary sources, who is accused of lying to the FBI when questioned about his information.

He was indicted on five counts of making false statements to the FBI about the dossier. Prosecutors told the court Danchenko fabricated one of his own sources and hid the identity of another when he was interviewed by the bureau.

Ex-British intelligence officer Christopher Steele compiled the infamous dossier of material on Donald Trump and the then-candidate's Russia ties. An FBI supervisory agent testified Steele was offered $1 million to back up his information but was unable to do so

Special Counsel John Durham, who was appointed by Trump, is prosecuting the case in am Alexandria, Virginia courtroom.

Auten testified that information from the Steele dossier was used to support a surveillance warrant against a Trump campaign official, Carter Page.

Under questioning from Durham, Auten said the dossier was used to bolster the surveillance application even though the FBI couldn't corroborate its allegations.

Auten (pictured) testified that information from the Steele dossier was used to support a surveillance warrant against a Trump campaign official Carter Page, even though the information could not be corroborated

Auten said the FBI checked with other government agencies to see if they had corroboration but nothing came back.

Auten and other FBI agents even met with Steele in the United Kingdom in 2016 and offered him as much as $1 million if he could supply corroboration for the allegations in the dossier, but none was provided.

Durham's years-long probe has resulted in a single conviction  of FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith for doctoring an email used to justify surveillance. The trial of Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann resulted in an acquittal.

Steele, an ex-MI6 intelligence officer, compiled the dossier as a series of dispatches. He had been a paid FBI informant.

Prosecutors said Danchenko, a Russia analyst and researcher based in Virginia, fabricated once source and hid another source of information as the FBI rushed in the weeks before the 2016 election to confirm information in the dossier. They accuse him of lying to the FBI when he was questioned about information he provided.

They also pointed to an area of harm  the FBI relied in part of information in the dossier to obtain warrants for phone and email surveillance of former Trump foreign policy advisor Carter Page, a U.S. citizen.

They were probing an alleged conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia  in an investigation that would burst into the headlines.

'Those lies mattered,' Prosecutor Michael Keilty said, because the FBI presented inaccurate information to a foreign intelligence surveillance court.

Page was never charged with a crime.

Prosecutors say Danchenko lied when he told agents he got information from Sergei Millian, who had been head of the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce. But they said there isn't evidence the two ever spoke, and pointed to phone records.

'This case is about protecting the functions and integrity of our institutions,' Keilty added.

Prosecutors said Danchenko, a Russia analyst and researcher based in Virginia, fabricated once source and hid another source from the FBI. He is the third person to be indicted by special counsel John Durham and is seen walking into court on Tuesday

An FBI official's testimony failed to back up Donald Trump's repeated claim that the Russia probe was founded on the dossier

'This case is about protecting the function and integrity of our government institutions,' said Durham.

Durham's prosecutors focused on the treatment of Page, an area that has long been a focus of Trump and congressional Republicans, and which featured in a damning report by the Justice Department's IG.

Danchenko's lawyer countered that his client has been truthful and that the FBI asked his client vague questions during their 2016 meeting.

At one point Durham asked Auten why the DOJ opened its Russia probe in the summer of 2016.

But his answer cut against Trump's repeated claim that the probe was founded on the dirty dossier.

Instead, his answer pointed to the origin of the probe, which has been repeatedly reported: A boozy encounter in a hotel bar in May 2016 between foreign Trump campaign advisor George Papadopoulos and an Australian diplomat, after the aide said the Kremlin had dirt on Hillary Clinton. The diplomat provided the information to the U.S.




National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo has met with parliamentary leaders of Rwanda and Tanzania and asked for their support for Korea's bid to host the 2030 World Expo.







Kim met with Tanzania's assembly speaker Tulia Ackson and the head of Rwanda's Senate Augustin Iyamuremye on Tuesday at a general meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union being held in Rwanda's capital city of Kigali.







Korea is working hard to host the expo in the country's biggest port city of Busan, which aims to become an environmentally friendly city with digital infrastructure, Kim said.







Busan is competing against Rome and Riyadh, capital cities of Italy and Saudi Arabia.







Kim also discussed improving economic cooperation between Korea and African nations with Ackson and Iyamuremye.







"Tanzania and Rwanda are two of the fastest growing countries and the core of diplomacy in Africa," a parliamentary official said, adding their support is important in Seoul's expo campaign. (Yonhap)


It was the 2010 disappearance of Shannan Gilbert, 24,

Police shared a photo of the woman's peach tattoo, to help ID the woman they call 'Peaches'

The torso of the unidentified woman in question was found in 1997 and her extremities were found in 2011 during the Gilgo Beach investigation after several sets of human remains were found along LI highway

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Family and friends of an Alabama man who died in 1963 may have information that could solve the mystery of an unidentified woman and her toddler daughter feared to be victims of a Long Island serial killer.

The FBI is expanding its search for answers in the murders of Jane Doe #3 and her 2-year-old daughter, two of at least 10 victims in the Long Island Serial Killer (LISK) case, whose bodies were found at Gilgo Beach.

Jane Doe 3# is also known as 'Peaches' because of a peach tattoo found on her torso after it was discovered in a green Rubbermaid container at Hempstead Lake State Park in 1997. Peaches and her daughter are the only black victims recovered so far in the investigation.

A 'slight lead' has prompted the FBI to extend their investigation all the way to Alabama, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison told PIX11 News.

In a social media post shared by the Mobile Police Department, officials wrote that 'the FBI is seeking relatives and friends of Elijah 'Lige' Howell/Howard [1927-1963].'

'Mr. Howard lived in Prichard, AL, with his wife Carrie and passed away in Mobile, AL, in 1963 with Ms. Lillie Mae Wiggins Packer.,' the post continued. 'His relatives may be able to assist in the case of a woman and child found in another state.'

The post also included a picture of a peach tattoo, asking Facebook users, 'does this tattoo look familiar?'

FBI officials have refused to comment further on the possible lead. They haven't said what tie the victims may have to Howell. Investigators have also not disclosed whether they've used familial DNA processing to track down people who could be related to Jane Doe #3.

Earlier this year, it was revealed investigators had been granted permission to use the DNA matching technique in a bid to identify victims and a possible suspect.

The lead comes five months after investigators released new information about the 'Gilgo Beach Four,' four women whose bodies were wrapped in burlap sacks, were found along a remote stretch of Long Island highway.

The FBI is expanding its search for answers in the murders of Jane Doe #3 'Peaches' and her 2-year-old daughter, whose bodies were found as part of the Gilgo Beach investigation on Long Island. Pictured is the tattoo on the woman's torso

Peaches' torso was found in 1997 inside a black plastic bag in a Rubbermaid container in Hempstead Lake State Park

In 2010, human remains of 10 victims were found in Long Island, which set off a search for a possible serial killer.

The remains were found during a search for Shannan Gilbert, 24, which led to the remains of the 'Gilgo Beach Four,' found along a barren stretch of Ocean Beach Parkway.

All four victims had worked as escorts using Craigslist. Six more bodies, linked to the Gilgo Beach serial killer were found months later.

No arrests have been made and no suspects have been identified.

In 2011, during an ongoing search for victims during the Gilgo investigation, more of Peaches' remains were found - this time at Zach's Bay in Jones Beach. It was determined that her torso and extremities were found 15 miles apart.

DNA later linked her to the skeletal remains of a toddler found on Ocean Parkway near Cedar Beach in April 2022. The child was wearing a gold chain and earrings, along with bracelets that matched the jewelry found on the moms extremities.

Peaches' torso, which had been found decades earlier, was found inside a black plastic bag in the Rubbermaid container near Park Drive in Hempstead Lake State Park. Her skull was never found.

In 2020, the FBI also used genetic genealogy DNA sites to identify Jane Doe #6 as Valerie Mack,.

In the Gilgo Beach case, 11 sets of human remains have been found strewn along a highway in Long Island

The Gilgo Beach serial killer had a pattern of wrapping his victims in burlap to camouflage them, before dumping their bodies in the dense area of shrubs by Ocean Parkway, a 15.59 mile parkway that extends Jones Beach Island between Jones Beach State Park and Captree State Park located on the South Shore of Long Island

For nearly a decade, a thicket along a highway not far from the popular Jones Beach on Long Island has held the horrible secret.

Hidden from passing drivers and strewn along several miles were the skeletal remains of mostly young women who had worked as prostitutes.

Determining who killed them, and why, has vexed a slew of seasoned homicide detectives through several changes in leadership in the police department.

The investigation got a boost last year when state officials determined investigators could ask the FBI to deploy genetic genealogy, a technique in which genetic profiles are run though databases to find potential relatives of a homicide victim or suspect.

The disappearance of Shannan Gilbert in 2010 triggered the hunt that exposed the larger mystery.

Gilbert, a 24-year-old sex worker, vanished after leaving a client's house on foot in the seafront community of Oak Beach and disappeared into the marsh.

Months later, a police officer and his cadaver dog were looking for her body in the thicket along nearby Ocean Parkway when they happened upon the remains of a different woman.

Within days, three other bodies were found, all within a short walk of one another. By spring 2011, that number had climbed to 11 sets of human remains - those of eight women, one man and one toddler.

It was the 2010 disappearance of Shannan Gilbert, 24, that led to the remains of four other women, the 'Gilgo Beach Four,' on a remote stretch of highway on Long Island

Pictured are murder victims known as 'Gilgo Beach Four.' Each woman had stints as sex workers with services on Craigslist

Valerie Mack, who also went by Melissa Taylor, vanished near Atlantic City, New Jersey in 2000 at the age of 24.

Her naked torso was found in Manorville, New York later that same year.

Then, in 2011, more of her remains were uncovered more than 40 miles away during a search near Gilgo Beach on Long Island - a discovery that linked her to a suspected serial killer in the area.

Eleven sets of human remains were uncovered in 2010 and 2011 along Gilgo Beach. Most of them were young prostitutes. No one has been arrested for their deaths.

In total, 10 sets of human remains - those of eight women, one Asian man and one toddler - have been found along Gilgo Beach.

Partial skeletal remains of Valerie Mack were located in a wooded area in Manorville in September 2000. Partial skeletal remains of Jessica Taylor, an escort working in New York City, were located in a wooded area in Manorville on July 26, 2003

The skeletal remains of an Asian male were discovered along Ocean Parkway on April 4, 2011. It is estimated that the male was between 17 and 23 years old at the time of his death

The Asian man, who authorities said was dressed in women's clothing, was found in March 2011.

The first four bodies found were those of women in their 20s who worked as prostitutes, according to police.

Maureen Brainard Barnes, 25, went missing on July 9, 2007. Her remains were found on December 13, 2010.

Megan Waterman, 22, who had a daughter, went missing on June 6, 2010. Her body was also found on December 13, 2010.

The remains of Melissa Barthelemy, 24, who had been living in the Bronx at the time, and Amber Lynn Costello, 27, were also found on December 13, 2010.

Barthelemy's body was the first to be found. She went missing on July 12, 2009. Costello disappeared on September 2, 2010.

In March 2011, police discovered the skull of a 20-year-old prostitute identified as Jessica Taylor.

Five more remains were discovered at Gilgo Beach over the next two weeks.

Meanwhile, Gilbert's body was later found in the marsh in the community of Oak Beach in December 2011, about three miles east of where the other 10 sets were discovered.

Police have long maintained that Gilbert's death was accidental and excluded her from the 10 other bodies found during the case.

They said at the time that she drowned in a drug-induced haze after wandering into the wetland, but her relatives have long disputed that determination.

An independent autopsy results commissioned by Gilbert's mother indicated she too may have been strangled like the other victims.

In one of the more unusual twists in the saga, Gilbert's mother, Mari, was murdered in 2019 by another daughter, Sarra, in her upstate New York home.

Gilbert's mother Mari Gilbert kneeling over her daughter's coffin in 2015. In one of the more unusual twists in the saga, Mari was murdered in 2019 by another daughter, Sarra, in her upstate New York home

Earlier this year, Long Island police released three chilling 911 calls made by one of the victims linked to the notorious Gilgo Beach serial killer and claim that her Gilbert's 2010 death was a result of a 'tragic accident.'

Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison released three 911 calls related to Gilbert's disappearance - one from her, and two others from homeowners in the area where she vanished.

He called Shannan Gilbert's death a 'tragic accident'. It's unclear how she died, and police said her cause of death was 'undetermined'.

'Based on the evidence, the facts, and the totality of the circumstances, the prevailing opinion in Shannan's death, while tragic, was not a murder and was most likely noncriminal,' Harrison said, ABC7 News reported.

The Suffolk County Police released three calls, which have long been kept secret, including the 22-minute call from Gilbert.

In the frantic call, the 24-year-old escort can be heard claiming that someone was trying to kill her before she went missing on May 1, 2010 near Oak Beach. Her body was found in a marsh 19 months later.

However, John Ray, the attorney for the Gilbert family, slammed the police findings denied the claims and told DailyMail.com that the police were spinning the same story following a narrative that contradicts all the evidence.

'The audio tapes compellingly establish that Shannan Gilbert acted rationally and did not die in a tragic accident in a marsh that was impenetrable that the Suffolk County police are saying,' he said.

'She was murdered and her body was placed there. The evidence is overwhelming.'

Gilbert has long been tied to the unsolved Gilgo Beach murders. In the search for her, police found the remains of four other women buried in burlap sacks along a barren stretch of Ocean Beach Parkway.

The four women would later be known as the 'Gilgo Beach Four'. All four victims had worked as escorts using Craigslist. Six more bodies, linked to the Gilgo Beach serial killer found months later.

On the night of her disappearance, Gilbert was driven out to Long Island by her driver identified by police as Michael Pak to meet with a client from Craigslist. They met at his home in the gated-community of Oak Beach Association near Gilgo Beach. In calls released earlier this year, she can be heard claiming that someone was trying to kill her

On the night of her disappearance, Gilbert was driven out to Long Island by her driver identified by police as Michael Pak. Gilbert was meeting up with a client, named as Joseph Brewer by police, who found her on Craigslist. They met at his home in the gated-community of Oak Beach Association near Gilgo Beach.

Shortly after being driven there, Gilbert placed a call to 911 where she is heard saying 'something is going to happen to me,' as she cries out for help as two men are overheard in the background.

She then says: 'Please get me out of here ... I want to go home.'

The audio calls that last about 22 minutes was made around 4:51 am and Gilbert is heard telling the 911 operator frantically and repeatedly: 'Somebody's after me,' as the operator is trying to pinpoint her location.

'I don't know where I am. I am inside a house. I don't know where I am. Can you trace where I am?'

At times during the audio, Gilbert appears terrified, and confused yet coherent and, which is followed at times by silence and blood-curdling screams: 'Please stop it. What are you going to do to me?'

As the operator repeatedly interjects: 'Hello. Hello.'

While she is on the call, she knocks on neighbor Gus Coletti's door, and he can be heard saying 'What's the matter? Is somebody after you?'.

After the call ends, Coletti makes his own call to 911, saying: 'There's a young girl ... running around here screaming, and there's some guy trying to follow her.'

In another call released on Friday, another neighbor, Barbara Brennan, tells a 911 operator that Gilbert has knocked on her door and said she was in danger. Brennan refused to let her in because she was home with her elderly mother.

Police also said they interviewed Brewer and Pak and determined they were not responsible for Gilbert's death.

Gilbert's body was found on December 13, 2011 in a swamp in Oak Beach - about a quarter mile from where she was last seen alive.

Gilbert's body was found on December 13, 2011 in a swamp in Oak Beach - about a quarter mile from where she was last seen

Hidden from passing drivers and strewn along several miles were the skeletal remains of mostly young women

Detective Lieutenant Kevin Byer, commanding officer of the Suffolk County Police Homicide section appeared in a video on a website dedicated to the Gilgo Beach murders.

He explained that three calls were placed - one by Gilbert, and two by other homeowners in the area. He also summed up the video by stating that Gilbert 'died in a tragic accident'.

Gilbert's family has been fighting for more than a decade for the release of the 911 calls in hope of bringing more transparency to the case and finally getting much needed closure for the family.

In a previous interview, the family's lawyer accused police of doing an 'inadequate and negligent job' in trying to track down the killer(s).

'The reason could be there was something on there that they did not want you and I to know,' he said, NBC News reported.

In 2021, there was a renewed interest in the case when Suffolk County Police Commissioner, Raymond Harris became appointed police commissioner.

In April, Harris released never seen before video of 22-year-old Gilgo Beach murder victim Megan Waterman standing in the lobby at the Holiday Inn Express in Hauppauge in June 6, 2010.

Investigators believe that the young woman left her hotel room to meet the person who would later kill her. She was captured by a security camera walking out of the hotel around 1:30 a.m.

Her body was discovered on December 13, 2010 beside Ocean Parkway near Gilgo beach. She has been strangled.

The killer had a pattern of wrapping his victims in burlap to camouflage them, before dumping their bodies in the dense area of shrubs by Ocean Parkway, a 15.59 mile parkway that extends Jones Beach Island between Jones Beach State Park and Captree State Park located on the South Shore of Long Island.

In April, Harris released never seen before video of 22-year-old Gilgo Beach murder victim Megan Waterman standing in the lobby at the Holiday Inn Express in Hauppauge in June 6, 2010 who would later meet her would-be-killer
John Fetterman's wife said it was 'appalling' that journalists detailed the difficulty her husband and Pennsylvania's Democratic Senate candidate had in an interview due to the lingering effects from his stroke in May.

The candidate also said that 'Recovering from a stroke in public isn't easy.'

Gisele Barreto Fetterman suggested on Twitter that journalists have a negative view of people with disabilities running for public office after calling into question her husband's fitness to be a U.S. senator.

'Truly appalling. Have these 'journalists' never heard of the ADA?' Mrs. Fetterman tweeted Tuesday evening in reference to the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination based on disability status.

'Close to 15% of the US population identify as hard of hearing and may need accommodations,' she added in coming to her husband's defense. 'Really curious to learn how they feel about wheelchairs and glasses'

The NBC reporter who conducted the interview with Fetterman said that in 'small talk' ahead of their sit-down said that he had a 'hard time' without using closed captioning during their conversations.

'And this is who Democrats want to be a Senator,' Senator Ted Cruz's communications adviser Steve Guest tweeted of Fetterman.

John Fetterman's (right) wife Gisele (left) came to his defense on Twitter after the Democratic candidate was criticized for having 'trouble with small talk' and using closed captioning during an interview four weeks ahead of the midterm election

Fetterman suffered a stroke in May and has 'lingering auditory processing issues'. His wife said the response to his use of CC and struggling with some words is 'appalling'

'I'm disabled and I wouldn't want Fetterman serving as my Senator,' tweeted a GOP digital strategist.

Gisele came to her husband's defense in response to a post from one of former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's sexual harassment accusers and his former aide Lindsey Boylan.

'I literally cannot believe how ableist the commentary is about candidates for office,' Boylan tweeted. 'Just the worst cultural baggage at play here.'

NBC correspondent Dasha Burns said when talking on-air about her interview that Fetterman used closed captioning during their interview, which aired Tuesday evening, due to 'lingering auditory processing issues' from his stroke in May.

'In some of the small talk prior to the interview  before the closed captioning was up and running  it did seem that he had a hard time understanding our conversations,' she said.

The Democratic candidate is engaged in a brutal race against Trump-backed Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz for Pennsylvania's Senate seat now open with Republican Senator Pat Toomey's retirement.

Oz has been ridiculed by critics and Fetterman's media team as a carpetbagger, which is a candidate who seeks office in an area where they have no local connections.

The Republican candidate has attacked Fetterman for refusing to debate him, but in September the Democrat's campaign said he would debate his challenger as long as they were able to figure out an apt way to accommodate for his hearing problems.

'If it's just about basic ADA-style accommodations he should debate sooner,' longtime Republican communications aide Matt Whitlock tweeted on Tuesday night.

'Outrageous to wait until 6 weeks after voting started.'

'By January, I'm going [to] be, you know, much better,' said Pennsylvania Lt. Governor John Fetterman, who is recovering from the impacts of a stroke. Video of the interview showed a large Mac screen where real-time closed captioning was generated from NBC News reporter Dasha Burns' (left) questions

Fetterman is facing-off with Trump-backed Republican candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz. Pictured: The Fettermans marched with the United Steelworkers District 10 union during a Labor Day parade in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Fetterman tweeted in response to the criticism of using closed captioning and tripping over some of his words in the interview: 'Recovering from a stroke in public isn't easy. But in January, I'm going to be much better  and Dr. Oz will still be a fraud.'

The sit-down interview from Fetterman's home comes just four weeks before the midterm elections.

He predicted he is going to be 'much better' by Election Day after suffering a stroke in the Spring, and described how he sometimes relies on transcription to better process language.

'I don't think it's going to have an impact,' said Fetterman. 'I feel like I'm going to get better and better  every day. And by January, I'm going [to] be, you know, much better.'

Fetterman spoke from behind a desk at his home, glancing occasionally at a large Mac computer monitor. A camera set up behind the candidate showed how it was posting near simultaneous captioning of what was being said during the interview.

The candidate 'occasionally stuttered and had trouble finding words,' according to NBC , whose reporters sat down with the lieutenant governor during a key part of his race, with Oz pulling closer to Fetterman in pre-election polls.

Fetterman said the captions help him better respond to questions in real time.

'I sometimes will hear things in a way that's not perfectly clear. So I use captioning so I'm able to see what you're saying on the captioning,' Fetterman said.

Asked how the recovery process changed his day to day life, he responded: 'It changes everything. Everything about it is changed. Basically having a conversation with your wife, to having a conversation with your children. Especially early after the stroke, the ability to really understand exactly what I'm being heard. But it gets much, much better where I take in a lot.'

Fetterman jumped off the campaign trail after suffering a stroke before his primary, then held his first campaign rally in August.

During the interview, Fetterman struggled with the word 'empathetic,' sometimes saying it as 'emphetic,' and calling the error an example of the lingering impact of the stroke.

Fetterman was seen occasionally looking at a screen that had closed captioning generated during the NBC interview that aired Tuesday evening  just four weeks before midterm Election Day

He admitted challenges, adding: 'But it gets much, much better where I take in a lot. But to be precise, I use captioning, so that's really the maijing  that's the major challenge. And every now and then I'll miss a word. Every now and then. Or sometimes I'll maybe mush two words together. But as long as I have captioning, I'm able to understand exactly what's being asked.'

A transcript of his NBC interview, where he was asked if searching for language was difficult, reveals some of his challenges. The video airs on NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt.

'No, I don't think it was hard. It was just about having to be thinking more, uh, sl, uh  slower  to just understand and that sometimes that's kind of the processing that happens,' he said.

President Joe Biden is set to hold a closed fundraising event with Fetterman later this month

Former President Donald Trump threw his support behind Dr. Oz

Fetterman continues to find it difficult to 'process what he hears,' according to a New York Magazine cover story about the 'highest-stakes' Senate race in the Keystone State.

Writer Rebecca Traister reported that she used Google Meet software to interview Fetterman, so that he could use the close captioning function to read and respond to her questions in real-time, as the Democratic lieutenant governor recovers from his May stroke.

While the profile focuses on Fetterman, Traister had some interactions with Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz's campaign too, including when she asked about the explosive Jezebel report released last week that alleged more than 300 dogs, including puppies, were killed as a result of medical experiments at Columbia under Oz's watch.

'Suppose you were the dumbest person in the world. Now suppose you were a reporter for New York Magazine. But I repeat myself,' an Oz spokesman told Traister.

Oz's spokesperson did not deny the allegations about the dead puppies.

A new New York Magazine profile of Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, vying for Pennsylvania's open Senate seat, chronicles his stroke recovery, with the writer interviewing the Democrat using Google Meet because he still has trouble processing what he hears

Writer Rebecca Traister also reveals that a spokesperson for Republican Senate hopeful Dr. Mehmet Oz equated her to the 'dumbest person in the world' when she asked about a blockbuster Jezebel report that said Oz's medical experiments killed hundreds of dogs

Fetterman told Traister that while he's 'profoundly grateful' to be recovering from the stroke he suffered just days before the Pennsylvania Democratic primary, 'running for the Senate, in the biggest race in the country, and having to recover at the same time is unprecedented.'

Doctors have said that Fetterman's cognitive abilities were not damaged by the stroke, but his ability to understand what people are saying has been impaired.

Traister described her conversation with Fetterman as 'lucid and animated, eloquent about the stakes of the race and incensed about the nasty tenor of Oz's campaign.'

She also noted that there were 'moments in which his syntax got snarled or he had trouble getting a word out.'

'I really can't hide it even if I wanted to,' Fetterman said.

In another instance, Fetterman struggled to say the word 'documented,' instead saying things like 'domicated' and 'domentated.'

'This is the stroke right here,' he told Traister, before taking a breath and getting 'documented' out.

Traister wrote that it's 'no open question' that Fetterman can't quickly process what he hears.

'He cannot do that well yet, which is why he requires closed-captioning for interviews and the upcoming debate,' she said.

Oz's campaign has directly - and through surrogates and media allies - floated that Fetterman's health is worse than he says - and he may not be up to the task to be a United States senator.

Tucker Carlson, for instance, called the Democrat 'brain damaged' and said he 'can barely speak.'

Carlson also mocked Fetterman's distinct look, saying he had 'stupid little fake tattos' and suggested it was inauthentic like a 'barista in Brooklyn dressing like a lumberjack.'

Incumbent Republican Sen. Pat Toomey held a press conference alongside Oz last month saying Fetterman 'would not be able to do the job' if he's not able to 'communicate effectively.'

'Standing up in front of 3,000 people and having to talk without a teleprompter or anything? That is the most pure example of transparency there is,' Fetterman told Traister, pushing back on the attacks.

Like the memes and stunts - like flying a banner over Jersey Shore vacationers, many of whom are from Pennsylvania, welcoming Oz home - Fetterman has used humor to make Pennsylvanians more comfortable with his stroke recovery.

At a rally in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in September Fetterman mocked Oz for blaming President Joe Biden for closing Bethlehem Steel - something that happened 27 years ago.

'And I'm the one who had the stroke!' Fetterman said.

He also told the crowd: 'I guarantee you, there's at least one person in this audience that's gonna be filming me, hoping that I miss words, that I mush two words together.'

He paused.

'Such an inspiring campaign he's running, isn't it?' Fetterman said of Oz.
A former GP persuaded patients to have vaginal and breast examinations for his 'sexual gratification', a court has been told.

Manish Shah, 53, denies 41 sexual offences against eight victims over a five-year period between 2009 and July 2013.

On Wednesday, the Old Bailey heard Shah advised the women, two of whom were teenagers, to have the 'invasive' examinations because of a medical need or family history of cancer.

Shah had been a GP partner at the Mawney Road medical practice in Romford, east London, from 2004 and was 'well regarded' and 'often booked out', jurors heard.

Manish Shah, 53, denies 41 sexual offences against eight victims over a five-year period between 2009 and July 2013

Prosecutors at the Old Bailey in London, pictured, said Shah is accused of taking advantage of his position to convince women they needed 'invasive examinations' many of which he performed 'for his own sexual gratification'

Opening the trial, prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones KC said: 'This case concerns sexual assaults by a doctor upon his patients.

'He took advantage of his position to persuade women to have invasive vaginal examinations, breast examinations, intimate examinations when there was no medical need for them to be conducted.

'Outwardly giving the appearance of conducting apparently medically compliant examinations, he was, in fact, conducting many of the examinations he performed for his own sexual gratification.'

Prosecutors said Shah's 'sexualised behaviour' included hugging or kissing patients after appointments, saying younger women were 'special' or his 'star', and not always wearing gloves.

During one incident, he left a woman naked from the waist down while he leaned his head on his hand resting on her leg.

Ms Karmy-Jones said there were 'apparent lies within the medical notes made by the defendant, seemingly to justify the examination he went on to conduct'.

'For example, the suggestion that the patient had requested an examination, when in fact Mr Shah has spent some efforts persuading the patient of the apparent medical need for the examination or suggesting that they had a family history of cancer,' she added.

'In the medical notes, these appointments are entered with the short-hand "req", which might stand for "requested" or "required".'

Shah 'exposed the women to the risk of false positives and unnecessary biopsies' by flouting NHS guidelines on giving smear tests to asymptomatic women under the age of 25, the court was told.

He also gave routine breast examinations on asymptomatic women under the age of 50, causing 'unnecessary follow-on treatment and concomitant worry', the jury heard.

The intrusive internal bimanual vaginal and breast examinations were not 'medically justified or necessary' and were carried out despite 'repeated expressions of concern from other GPs in the practice', prosecutors argued.

Ms Karmy Jones added: 'The prosecution's case is based on expert evidence that where the vaginal and/or breast examinations can be proved to have been, from a medical perspective, either unnecessary or indeed potentially causing more harm than good, the various elements of the evidence outlined demonstrates that they were conducted without proper informed consent and for a sexual motive.'

The prosecution said Shah was 'well regarded' as a GP at the Mawney Road medical practice in Romford, east London, pictured

Ms Karmy Jones also said Shah acted inappropriately by giving his patients 'a hug or a kiss' at the end of an appointment. He is also alleged to have told several younger women that they were 'special', he was 'protective of them' or they were 'one in a million'.

The first complainant was a regular patient of Shah and found him 'friendly and helpful', the court heard.

The GP knew that she suffered from depression and had an eating disorder in her history, jurors heard.

Shah performed regular intimate examinations on her, some of which were unnecessary, including after a difficult birth where she had received stitches, it is said.

'She was anxious about the number of examinations that there were, but Mr Shah reassured her by saying that he needed to give her the checks and she felt that she had to trust him,' Ms Karmy-Jones told jurors.

In May 2010, her medical notes show that she had asked Shah about contraception and gonorrhoea, the court heard.

'She says that those discussions did not happen.

'The consent for the examination then conducted by Mr. Shah was obtained by deceit, for Mr Shah had not obtained true consent for an examination that she believed was for her recovering cyst.'

In November 2011, medical notes recorded that she had come in for an appointment, that she had laryngitis and that she had 'req', or requested, a vaginal and breast examination, the court heard.

The woman said that she did not request the examinations and there was no medical reason for her to be examined, it is claimed.

Ms Karmy-Jones said: 'Unnecessary routine examinations are not only a betrayal of trust, not only a physical assault but can also fuel health concerns and are an inappropriate use of NHS resources.'

In October 2012, the same patient had appointments with Shah having just had an operation to remove abnormal cells, after which she was told not to have sex or use tampons.

Shah allegedly sought to examine her vagina and she 'thought it odd'.

A second woman, who was allegedly assaulted during a vaginal examination in May 2012, believed that Shah was 'friendly, caring and polite'.

'Mr Shah told her that he had studied in America for many years and that these kinds of examinations were his field.

'He said that she should have examinations every six months.

'He called her his "Little Star" and would say she had "done really well".'

The third victim, allegedly assaulted between September 2010 and May 2013, claimed Shah would kiss her when she left appointments, jurors heard.

Ms Karmy-Jones said: 'The internal examinations started after she had a conversation with Mr. Shah about her sister having cervical cancer cells removed.

'Although she was...under the recommended age of 25, Mr. Shah said he would give her smear tests and said that he would check her internally every 6 to 8 weeks.

'After seeing him, Mr Shah would say that he was very protective of [her], he would grab her arm, shake her hand or kiss her when she was leaving, which she thought was a little odd.'

The prosecutor added: 'She should have been advised that just because her sister had abnormal cells, that was not relevant to her health, and that smears carried out on those under 25 caused more risks rather than fewer.'

Earlier Ms Karmy-Jones said the unnecessary examinations were for no reason other than Shah's 'own personal desire and titillation'.

She added: 'This deliberate manipulation of his patients' concerns about their health was not in their interests, but only for his own controlling benefit so that they would agree to, in some cases, multiple examinations which were completely unnecessary.'

The trial continues.
Americans by wide margins support President Joe Biden's decision to pardon all prior federal convictions for marijuana possession and want to see similar clemency at the state level  the latest sign of a growing social acceptance of pot.

Roughly two thirds of Americans support the pardons and want governors of states to follow Biden's lead and forgive convictions at the state level, according to an Ipsos survey of more than 1,000 adults this past weekend.

The poll is just the latest indicator of growing tolerance for the drug, as voters in five states gear up to decide in next month's midterm elections whether to allow recreational weed for residents aged over 21.

Still, experts warn against America's speedy switch to legalizing cannabis, particularly for young people, and DailyMail.com has spoken with many parents who watched their children lose their minds  and even their lives  due to pot.

'By a nearly two-to-one margin, Americans view decriminalizing cannabis as an important step in correcting past racial justices in our judicial system rather than something that would lead to more crime, drug trafficking, and underage use,' Ipsos said in a statement.

Those seeking to loosen the laws around cannabis had for years protested for pot  including at this rally at the White House in 2016  before Biden decided to pardon federal offenders

'Majorities of Americans in all age groups feel this way, though support is higher among those under 50.'

While the poll indicated broad support for efforts to decriminalize cannabis, and its psychoactive ingredient THC, Democrats and political independents were more supportive of the moves than Republicans.

It echoes findings by Morning Consult, another pollster, that Americans widely support the executive action and further want to see cannabis downgraded in federal law  it is currently a Schedule I drug, alongside heroin and LSD.

Biden, who had hitherto resisted efforts to decriminalize pot, last week pardoned thousands of federal convicts for pot possession and urged governors to quash state convictions, which reflect the vast majority of marijuana possession cases.

In a statement, the Democrat said 'too many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana' and that 'no one should be in jail just for using or possessing'.

Cannabis looks set to become legally available to millions more Americans within months, with broad support for Biden's move and ballot measures in five states in next month's midterm elections.

Voters in Arkansas, Maryland, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota will in November decide whether to legalize weed for residents age 21 or older, changing the rules in states with a combined population of nearly 16 million.

They would join the 19 states and territories that already permit recreational pot, and leave about half of the U.S. population living in areas where the possession and use of pot are legal for adults.

A total of 38 states permit marijuana for medical use.

In the coming years, voters in Oklahoma, Wyoming, Florida, Nebraska, and Ohio will also hold ballot measures on legalizing pot.

Marijuana dispensary manager LeRoy Roybal of Santa Fe, New Mexico, preparing for the opening of the state's regulated pot market in April

Support for legalization in Maryland is particularly high, according to a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll released this month  73 percent are in favor of letting over-21s get high.

Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, in July launched his long-awaited bill to decriminalize weed at the federal level and let states set their own rules  but it made no progress in the chamber.

Dr Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, told DailyMail.com that young people using cannabis was a 'concern'

Research firm BDSA projects legal cannabis sales to hit $30 billion this year, and $47.6 billion by 2026, surpassing the craft beer industry and sending windfall tax revenues into the coffers of permissive states.

Experts say legalizing pot has led to it gaining acceptance in recent years, leading more people to try it. Stress from the Covid-19 pandemic has also driven up the number of users.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse's (NIDA) annual survey in August found the number of under-30s using marijuana hit record levels last year  which the agency's boss Dr Nora Volkow called a 'concern'.

Experts describe a 'potential explosion' of underage cannabis use and raised the alarm over the weak oversight of the pot industry.

Kevin Sabet, a former White House drug advisor, noted how early legalizers of cannabis like Washington and Colorado had seen first hand the dangers of super-strength pot and a 'backlash has begun' to restrict sales.

The Weed World Candies truck in New York City, which has legalized recreational cannabis but not yet licensed dispensaries. Critics worry about products that appeal to teens, who could get hold of them via intermediaries

Teens are more prone to addiction and dependency than adults, and greater availability and use means more cases of anxiety, depression, psychosis and even suicide. Pictured: child-friendly cannabis gummy packaging

'What people know about marijuana is often rooted in pop culture, not science,' Sabet, president of the campaign group Smart Approaches to Marijuana, told DailyMail.com.

'The evidence on marijuana is clear: it is not a risk-free drug, and it can have lasting physical and mental effects and these effects are amplified in frequent users and users of high-potency products.'

The average cannabis joint is 4-5 times stronger than it was 50 years ago, with 20-25 percent THC potency, said Sabet. Concentrates and edibles are 'engineered to be more addicting' by profit-seeking pot firms and are 100 percent potent, he added.

'Today's marijuana has been engineered to be more addicting and is now being pushed by addiction-for-profit companies like Altria and Imperial Tobacco,' added Sabet.

'States that legalize marijuana see increases in youth use, more deaths from marijuana-impaired drivers, increased rates of violent crime, and more incidents of accidental ingestion by children.'

The $30billion cannabis industry argues that taking the drug  either smoking it, vaping it or as an edible  can help relieve feelings of anxiety or depression, chronic pain, and even help fight addictions.

A man opens the door of the Weed World Store in New York City. The state in 2021 reached a deal to legalize recreational marijuana use for over 21s and opened a way for an almost $4.2bn industry that could create thousands of jobs

Teenagers are lured by colorfully-packaged candy-like products that leave them vulnerable to higher rates of dependency, psychosis and school dropouts, researchers warn. Pictured: child-friendly cannabis gummy packaging

The U.S. Cannabis Council, a major lobbying group, said legalization was widely supported, that pot was safe and could help addicts beat opioid and alcohol dependency.

But in states where pot has been legalized, many parents say their children have been sucked into an addiction spiral.

They also raised concerns over a free-for-all market in which super-strength cannabis products are sold in cartoon-covered packaging.

Mary Maas, 57, from Washington, which legalized weed in 2012, told DailyMail.com how her son Adam, 26, spiraled into a devastating addiction to super-strength pot products worlds apart from the 'Woodstock weed' she recalls from the 1960s.

Now, she looks at the potent oils, vapes, dabs, drinks and gummies sold at a growing number of dispensaries, as well as the down-and-outs living in tents under Seattle's I-5 highway, and urges other states to heed Washington's lessons.

'They'd better watch out,' she said.

Adam Maas, 26, with his family in Washington. Mom Mary, 57, describes her 'straight-A student' getting hooked on super-strength cannabis products and ending up delusional, jobless and sleeping rough in Seattle
A US-supplied underwater drone could have been responsible for the dramatic explosion that blasted the Kerch Bridge in Crimea on Saturday, expert analysis has claimed.

Independent military researchers from Molfar have disputed the Kremlin's claims that a truck full of explosives blew up the strategically vital passageway that links the Russian mainland to the Black Sea peninsula.

Their report argues there was no visible hole in the road surface from a potential truck bomb, and footage appears to show an explosion detonated from below the bridge.

Black smoke billows from a fire on the Kerch bridge that links Crimea to Russia after the explosion on Saturday

A US-supplied underwater drone could have been responsible for the dramatic explosion. Pictured: an artist's interpretation of a US drone weapon

Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the blast, but the FSB spy agency say the bomb was shipped from Odesa via Bulgaria and Armenia to Georgia, where it crossed the border into Russia.

Kremlin intelligence says paperwork disguising the bomb as industrial plastic sheeting was changed at least twice along the two-month route before it was detonated on Saturday on the bridge.

But the Molfar report said: 'Theoretically, the bridge could be blown up from below.

'After all, at the time of the detonation, there was a wave under the section that collapsed, while there was [none] under the others.'

'This may be the result of the operation of an air or water drone.'

Images appear to show movement in the water under the bridge a split second before the explosion which brought down the road bridge and set fire to oil tankers

They added that footage from one camera attached to the railway shows a white object that appears to move in the water.

The analysts said: 'It's hard to tell if it's a wave or maybe a boat because in the first seconds after the explosion the camera was blinded.

'A water drone for special operations was already found near the coast of Sevastopol.

'It was probably delivered to our Armed Forces from the USA in April.'

They said a Ukrainian-made drone could also have been responsible, as many have been spotted in Crimea.

Today, the Kremlin announced it has arrested eight people over the bombing, including five Russians and 'three Ukrainian and Armenian citizens.'

The bridge is important for Moscow, a vital transport link for moving military equipment to Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine. Pictured: Workers restore the railway tracks on the Kerch bridge after the explosion

The blast ripped through the road and rail bridge which connects Crimea to Russia, killing three people, causing damage and igniting a huge fire. Pictured: The bridge on fire after the explosion on October 8

The FSB accused the ring of smuggling 25 tons of explosives disguised as plastic sheeting used for construction around the Black Sea and into Russia. Pictured: Cars on the bridge on October 8

'The organizer of the terrorist attack on the Crimean Bridge was the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, its head Kyrylo Budanov, its employees and agents,' said the FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB.

The FSB said the explosive device was camouflaged in rolls of construction polyethylene film on 22 pallets with a total weight of 22.7 tonnes, and moved from Ukraine to Russia via Bulgaria, Georgia and Armenia.

'Control over the movement of the cargo along the entire route and contacts with participants in the criminal transportation scheme were carried out by an employee of HUR MO,' the FSB said in a statement, using the acronym for Ukrainian military intelligence.

The 12-mile road and rail bridge, a prestige project personally opened by Putin in 2018, had become logistically vital to his military campaign, with supplies to Russian troops fighting in south Ukraine channelled through it.

The explosion wrecked one section of the road bridge, temporarily halting traffic.

It also destroyed several fuel tankers on a train heading towards the annexed Crimean peninsula from neighbouring southern Russia.

The 12-mile road and rail bridge, a prestige project personally opened by Putin in 2018, had become logistically vital to his military campaign (pictured today)

The explosion wrecked one section of the road bridge, temporarily halting traffic

The FSB, headed by Putin ally Alexander Bortnikov, also said that it had prevented Ukrainian attacks in both Moscow and the western Russian city of Bryansk.

'The whole activity of the FSB and Investigative Committee is nonsense,' Ukraine's public broadcaster Suspilne cited Andriy Yusov, a press officer for Ukrainian military intelligence, as saying when asked about Moscow's allegations on the Crimea Bridge blast.

Yusov described the FSB and Investigative Committee as 'fake structures that serve the Putin regime, so we will definitely not comment on their next statements'.

The bridge opened four years after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, serving as a symbol of Moscow's regional dominance as well as a crucial route for getting military supplies to Ukraine and Russian travellers to a popular vacation destination.

The FSB alleged the detained suspects acted on orders of Ukraine's military intelligence to secretly move the explosives by a convoluted route into Russia and forge accompanying documents.

The Russian security services have pointed the finger at Ukraine's intelligence directorate and its head, Kyrylo Budanov.

Ukraine's Defense Ministry on Wednesday dismissed accusations of Ukrainian involvement.

'The entire activity of the FSB and the Investigative Committee is nonsense,' Defense Ministry spokesman Andriy Yusov told reporters.

Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to the blast by ordering missile strikes across Ukraine, where his forces over the last month lost ground in the east and south as Ukraine's military waged a counteroffensive. Ukrainian authorities said Russian missiles killed 19 people on Monday, including five in Kyiv, the capital.

The bombardment targeted power plants and also hit civilian buildings. Over the past two days, Russian strikes damaged about 1/3 of the country's energy infrastructure, Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko said Wednesday.
A 26-year-old man is set to be jailed for life after he admitted stabbing a mother-of-three at her home.

'One in a million' Clair Ablewhite was discovered with fatal stab wounds at her cottage in Hall Lane, Colston Bassett, Nottinghamshire, on February 25.

John Jessop, of Newark, was arrested days later and charged with Ms Ablewhite's murder.

He initially denied her murder and was set to stand trial next week but changed his plea to guilty when he appeared today at Nottingham Crown Court.

Clair Ablewhite, 47, was killed in Colston Basset, Nottinghamshire in February by John Jessop, 26 who today pleaded guilty to her murder

During proceedings, Jessop confirmed his name and then pleaded guilty to one count of murder.

Jessop spoke calmly and appeared composed in the dock, wearing a dark grey T-shirt and pale grey tracksuit bottoms as Ms Ablewhite's relatives looked on from the public gallery.

Ms Ablewhite was killed at a 350,000 cottage in Colston Bassett - once named one of Britain's 'poshest' villages - on the evening of February 25.

Her body was discovered by police officers the following day. A Home Office post-mortem examination confirmed Ms Ablewhite had suffered stab wounds.

Mr Joyce, asking the judge to adjourn sentencing, said only the question of Jessop's minimum prison term remained.

Judge Rafferty agreed, saying: 'I know nothing about him. It's a full confession. We need to be clear what, if anything, underlaid what he did'.

Jessop will remain in custody until he is sentenced on December 9.

Judge Rafferty told the defendant: 'You have now pleaded guilty to murder - the most serious of offences. It is inevitable you will be sentenced to life imprisonment.

'I have to consider now what term you should be ordered to serve before you can ever be considered for release, if release comes even then.

Ms Ablewhite's sons previously paid tribute to their 'one in a million' and 'truly one of a kind' mother (pictured above)

Peter Joyce KC, defending, said Jessop had made a 'full confession' to the killing.

Judge Rafferty told Mr Joyce: 'I know nothing about him. We need to be clear what, if anything, underlaid what he did.'

The judge said he still needed to hear from both sides in the case, adding: 'Equally, your barristers need your help, and you must be entirely frank with them; if they need you to see a psychiatrist or a psychologist, you must be entirely frank with him or her.'

Jessop will be sentenced on December 9, but was warned by judge Stuart Rafferty KC that he 'inevitably' faced life imprisonment.

Detective Inspector Melanie Crutchley, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: 'This was an appalling crime that resulted in the death of a much loved and very popular woman.

'I am pleased that Jessop has now admitted his guilt and would like to thank everyone who responded to our many public appeals for information in the days after this horrific crime.

'My thoughts and the thoughts of everyone on my team remain with Clair's family.'

Police on Hall Lane in Colston Bassett, Nottinghamshire, where Clair Ablewhite, 47, was stabbed to death on 25 February 2022

Following Jessop's guilty plea, Ms Ablewhite's son Sam Ablewhite, posted on Facebook: 'Mum 6 months since you were cruelly taken from us in the worst way anyone could imagine.'

'I miss you so much Mum, forever and always on my mind. I hope your proud of everything I'm doing.'

Neighbours said the 47-year-old, who worked as a local dog walker, had only moved into a rented house in the village a short time before the attack on the evening of February 25.

Following her death, two of Ms Ablewhite's sons paid tribute to her, describing her as 'one in a million'.

Dan Ablewhite, 28, previously wrote on Facebook: 'I love you so much mum. I just want to see that beautiful big smile and give you a hug and tell you how much you mean to us all.

'You really was one in a million, rest in peace, sleep tight, remember and dream about all the good times we had together.'

Meanwhile Sam Ablewhite, 20, said: 'RIP Mum we all miss you so much

'You really was one in a million. Words cannot describe how hard my life will be without seeing that beautiful big smile you had.

'Rest in peace, Sleep tight and remember all the good times we had together.

'All 3 of us brothers will do everything we can to put a proud little smile on your face up there.'

Colston Bassett is based in the Vale of Belvoir on the Nottinghamshire-Leicestershire border and has a population of around 400.

Police said while hunting Ms Ablewhite's killer that they believed the attacker may have been known to her.

Assistant Chief Constable Rob Griffin, of Notts Police, said: 'We are keeping an open mind about the circumstances around Clair's murder.

'However, there are some features within it that make me think that this is a local person.

'There are no signs of forced entry and no obvious signs of a burglary. It could be that the person was known to Clair.'

Her neighbours described Ms Ablewhite as 'a very lovely lady' who was 'always smiling'.

A middle-aged villager, who would only identify herself as Claire, said at the time of her death: 'She was a lovely lady, very friendly and always smiling. It is such a shame, just awful what has happened.

'As a local you cannot imagine that something like this would ever happen here. It's a lovely, charming village where something dreadful has now happened.'

John Jennings, 62, who lived just yards from where Ms Ablewhite was killed, said: 'This kind of thing is pretty much unheard of around here.

'It's very sad news. She hadn't been here long, only a month or so, so I only really knew her to say 'hello' to, when I saw her walking her dogs. But she seemed really nice.'
A far-right German politician has been slammed for dancing on the country's Holocaust memorial.

A picture posted on social media showed Holger Winterstein posing with outstretched arms on one of the stone slabs that form the memorial in Berlin for the more than six million Jews murdered by the Nazis during the Second World War.

German media reported that the picture was taken after a protest organised on Saturday by Alternative for Germany.

A picture posted on social media (pictured) showed Holger Winterstein posing with outstretched arms on one of the stone slabs that form the memorial in Berlin for the more than six million Jews murdered by the Nazis during the Second World War

The party, known by its German acronym AfD, said it would take action against Winterstein over his 'extremely disrespectful behaviour'.

The politician is a county representative in Thuringia, a state in central Germany.

Israel's ambassador in Berlin slammed Winterstein for appearing to dance on the memorial. Ron Prosor - who is also the former Israeli ambassador to Britain - tweeted that Winterstein had brought 'shame upon himself and his party'.

'Mr. Winterstein, everyone is watching you dance while you bring shame on yourself and your party,' Prosor wrote on Monday.

'Enjoy your shameful minute of fame because your name will soon be forgotten. The sanctified souls commemorated at the memorial will never be forgotten.'

In 2018, the AfD party's leader in the state, Bjoern Hoecke, called the Holocaust memorial a 'monument of shame' and called for Germany to perform a '180-degree turn' when it comes to the way it remembers its past.

A party tribunal at the time rejected a bid to have him expelled.

Israel's ambassador in Berlin slammed Winterstein for appearing to dance on the memorial. Ron Prosor - who is also the former Israeli ambassador to Britain - tweeted that Winterstein had brought 'shame upon himself and his party'. Pictured: The memorial is seen in Berlin (file)

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, also known as the Holocaust Memorial, is a vast 200,000 square-foot site (pictured) specifically built as a memorial in Germany's capital to the Jewish victims of Nazi Germany's Holocaust

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, also known as the Holocaust Memorial, is a vast 200,000 square-foot site specifically built as a memorial in Germany's capital to the Jewish victims of Nazi Germany's Holocaust.

It consists of 2,711 grey concrete 'slabs' arranged in a grid pattern on a sloping field, bearing the names of approximately 3 million of the more than 6 million Jewish victims of the genocide - obtained form Israel's Yad Vasham museum.

As visitors enter the site, they walk down pathways that slope down, meaning the large slabs grow taller around them, looming above and drowning out external noise.

At the deepest points of the memorial, the slabs are more than 15ft tall.

Construction on the site began in April 2003, and was completed on December 15, 2004 - before being inaugurated on May 10, 2005 - marking sixty years after the end of the Second World War in Europe.

Pictured: A woman walks among the stone slabs of Berlin's Holocaust memorial. As visitors enter the site, they walk down pathways that slope down, meaning the large slabs grow taller around them, looming above and drowning out external noise

The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the systematic murder of European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and its allies murdered around two-thirds of Europe's Jewish population.

Other groups were also systematically killed - including Roma, Poles, Ukrainians, Soviet civilians, homosexuals, prisoners of war and those deemed politically undesirable in the eyes of the Nazis.

The true figure of how many people killed in the Holocaust is unknown, but estimates state that in addition to the six million Jews, 11 million members of other groups were also murdered.
A 21-year-old who claimed Asian men groomed her for an international sex trafficking ring told a 'pack of lies', a court has heard.

Eleanor Williams, from Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, said she and other girls were made to have sex with men and subjected to violent and brutal punishments if they disobeyed their traffickers, a trial at Preston Crown Court heard on Wednesday.

She told police that she had been forced to work in a brothel by a 'sex trafficking ring' when the alleged ringleader was shopping in B&Q and buying petrol in Asda.

Jonathan Sandiford KC, prosecuting, said Williams claimed Mohammed Ramzan, a Barrow business owner known as Rammi, began a sexual relationship with her when she was 12 or 13 and groomed her to have sex with other men.

Eleanor Williams, from Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, said she and other girls were made to have sex with men and subjected to violent and brutal punishments if they disobeyed their traffickers, a trial at Preston Crown Court heard on Wednesday

She alleged in 2018 Mr Ramzan suggested she travel to Amsterdam, where he put her to work in a brothel and then sold her at auction for 25,000, although she was allowed to come home when the buyer could not make the payment.

The court heard that when police made inquiries into Mr Ramzan's whereabouts at the time of the alleged trip, they discovered a 'more mundane' story.

Mr Sandiford said: 'They found his phone did not leave Barrow on those few days.

'They looked at his bank cards and in fact, instead of acting as an international human trafficker in Amsterdam, he was buying things in B&Q Barrow and filling his car with petrol in Asda.'

In July 2019, the court heard, Williams reported a 'horrific account' of a trip to Blackpool, where she claimed Mr Ramzan was violent and threatened to throw her in the sea, telling her she faced a test to see if she could be trusted not to go to police.

Officers made inquiries after she told them she had been 'pimped out' around four addresses in Blackpool and made to have sex with eight men, the jury was told.

Mr Sandiford said: 'What police found was the detailed account that the defendant had given was a pack of lies from first to last.'

He said she had travelled to Blackpool alone and stayed at a hotel, where she bought a Pot Noodle and chocolate from a nearby shop then stayed in her room watching YouTube on her phone.

Williams was also said to have fabricated and manipulated messages and social media accounts.

In July 2019, the Preston Crown Court heard, Williams reported a 'horrific account' of a trip to Blackpool, where she claimed Mr Ramzan was violent and threatened to throw her in the sea, telling her she faced a test to see if she could be trusted not to go to police

The court heard a man called Liam Wood, who lived in Essex and worked in Tesco, was friends with Williams on messaging app Snapchat and used the nickname Shaggy, because his friends said he looked like the character from children's cartoon Scooby-Doo.

Mr Sandiford said Williams created a contact in her phone for his Snapchat username, but indicated he was involved in trafficking her.

Mr Sandiford said: 'By the time she had finished with Liam Wood, he was no longer that young man working in Tesco.

'He was Shaggy Wood, an Asian male who was a drug dealer; a rapist; a ruthless trafficker of girls and young women and someone who, with Mohammed Ramzan according to this defendant, had been violent to her, had threatened to kill her and throw her in the sea at Blackpool, before pimping her around four houses in Blackpool with eight or more men on the same day.'

Williams denies seven counts of doing acts tending and intended to pervert the course of justice.

Her trial, which opened on Tuesday, is expected to last up to 10 weeks.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are 'stuck with the devil' over their multi-million dollar Netflix and book deals because they need the cash, a royal expert has said.

Royal biographer Tom Bower claimed the couple's deals with the streaming service and publisher Penguin Random House are 'the only way they can earn their money'.

Mr Bower added that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex - who also have a Spotify deal and live in a 13million home in California - have 'no other source of income'.

He said: 'They need the money and they need it now more than ever because they've got no other source of income. So I think they're just stuck with the devil now.

'They're tied to Netflix, they're tied to their book. And all the criticism they're going to take means nothing because that's the only way they can earn their money.'

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex go on a walkabout to meet members of the public at Windsor Castle in Berkshire on September 10 following the death of Queen Elizabeth II two days earlier

Speaking to GB News on Monday, Mr Bower added: 'I don't see how the Sussexes can give up both the Netflix and book deal.

'They wouldn't be living in a Montecito cottage, they're more likely to living somewhere in downtown LA in a little hovel, that's their problem - they're stuck now.'

Meghan needs her own brand that isn't just a 'grievance brand', says royal expert Tina Brown Meghan Markle needs to develop her own brand that isn't just a 'grievance brand' if the Sussexes are to be successful globally, a royal expert has said. Asked how long-lasting the Sussex brand can be across the world now the couple are semi-outside the royal fold, ex-Vanity fair editor Tina Brown said Prince Harry, 38, would 'always be royal' as the son of King Charles and Princess Diana. She told the Cheltenham Literature Festival yesterday: 'He will always have the iconic status that that has. He does have an identity, his Invictus [Games] has an authenticity and people relate to that.' But she insisted that Harry's wife, Meghan, 41, needed to find and focus on a cause of her own. She said: 'I think Meghan does really need to find the thing she cares about the most and develop her own sort of brand that isn't just a grievance brand, that is actually something we recognise as hers. 'It's hard to find that and I think she hasn't yet found that but I think she could if she rows back from the focusing always on what didn't work.' Miss Brown, who was speaking to promote her latest book, The Palace Papers, said on stepping back as senior royals, the Sussexes hadn't anticipated the challenges of life outside the palace operation. 'The Sussexes didn't realise how hard it was to create a rival platform. You're essentially at the mercy of PRs who [specialise in making people look good].' 'The people who achieved it, the George Clooneys and the Oprahs, they are very good at it. 'It's very difficult when you want to be above it. It's much harder than it looks.' Advertisement

Mr Bower - whose new book 'Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War Between the Windsors' came out in July  also said that the 'only way I can conceive of Harry getting out of it now' is if his father King Charles III could 'bail him out'.

The author said the King would have to pay off Netflix and Random House, but this could be done in return for a signed agreement that would avoid Harry criticising the Royal Family again.

However, Mr Bower said he would not expect Meghan to ever sign such a deal because she 'has got no interest whatsoever in giving away being silent'.

The author continued: 'She wants the battle. She wants to rubbish the Royal Family and go onto bigger things. Hostilities have resumed, I think.'

During his chat with GB News presenter Dan Wootton  also a MailOnline columnist  they also referenced a comment by leading royal biographer Tina Brown who said the Sussexes are poor by Hollywood standards.

Speaking at the Henley Literary Festival this week, Miss Brown said: 'It's not very pleasant to be a D-list celebrity who, for them, doesn't have enough money. It's a wholly different game to be with those super-rich people.

'In Montecito, where they live, their $14million mansion is a humble cottage compared to what these other people have.'

Miss Brown, the former editor of Tatler, Vanity Fair and the New Yorker, also claimed that Harry's tell-all biography may never be published.

'They are now in this bind, where they've taken all this money and Harry has made this book deal where he's supposed to spill everything about his horrible life as a royal, but now he's actually tortured about it because he understands there is no way back if he does it,' she said.

'If the book continues, I don't think there is any way for Harry to return. So my view has always been that the book won't see the light of day.'

Yesterday, Meghan claimed in her latest Spotify podcast that she had been branded 'crazy' and 'hysterical', saying such labels were used to silence women.

The Duchess, 41, said the insults could lead to people being 'gaslit' into thinking they were ill.

Taking a swipe at films and TV, she attacked the way the words were 'thrown around casually', leaving 'reputations destroyed and careers ruined'.

Meghan did not say who had questioned her mental health but revealed her 'worst point' came after she started dating Harry and he arranged a referral for her.

The cover photograph for Archetypes, the Duchess of Sussex's podcast available on Spotify

Also yesterday, Miss Brown spoke at the Cheltenham Literature Festival and said Meghan needed to avoid being a 'grievance brand' if the Sussexes were to be a global success.

Asked how prominent the couple could be across the world now they were semi-outside the royal fold, Miss Brown said Harry would 'always be royal' as the son of Charles and Diana.

She said: 'He will always have the iconic status that that has. He does have an identity, his Invictus Games has an authenticity and people relate to that.'

But she insisted that Meghan needed to find and focus on a cause of her own.
The plea deal spared her from a murder charge, which could have landed her in prison for 25 years

The judge dismissed her motion, saying she appeared perfectly coherent throughout her plea hearing last month

Before her sentencing was read Buchbinder attempted to rescind her plea, saying she made it while she was high from secondhand marijuana smoke

A New York City psychiatrist was sentenced to 11 years behind bars for her part in a 2012 plot to bludgeon her former lover to death with a sledgehammer, which saw her manipulate her bipolar teenage cousin into carrying out the attack.

Pamela Buchbinder, 52, was handed her sentence in the Manhattan Supreme Court this week after pleading guilty last month to arranging the murder of Dr. Michael Weiss, who she shares a son with.

But in a bizarre twist, Buchbinder tried to rescind her plea before her sentence was read, arguing she only confessed because she was high from second-hand exposure to marijuana that inmates on the prison bus over to the courthouse were smoking, that she had been maced by guards, and that she had not taken her medication that day.

Justice Thomas Farber dismissed Buchbinder's motion, saying she 'appeared perfectly fine and perfectly coherent' the day she made her plea, according to the New York Post.

First arrested in 2017, Buchbinder took a plea deal in September for a first-degree attempted assault and burglary, which spared her from a murder charge which could have landed her in jail for 25 years.

Pamela Buchbinder, 52, was sentenced to 11 years in prison for her part in a plot to murder her ex-lover, Dr. Micael Weiss, after submitting a guilty plea last month

Buchbinder's ex-lover, Dr. Michael Weiss, said he feared for his future safety upon Buchbinder's eventual release

Buchbinder was arrested in 2017 for the 2012 murder plot. The year before, her cousin Jacob Nolan was sentenced to nine-and-a-half years

Weiss delivered an impact statement in court on Tuesday, saying that while he was pleased to avoid a trial, he feared for his future safety upon Buchbinder's eventual release.

'I continue to believe she will do anything in her power to harm me, regardless of the consequences, regardless of any damage that she has caused,' he said.

'I am grateful to have survived the attack to be standing here today. I'm grateful this matter is being resolved with a plea deal and avoid a trial.'

Weiss was beaten with a 10-pound sledgehammer and stabbed at least eight times in the chest and back by Buchbinder's cousin, Jacob Nolan, who prosecutors said she manipulated into carrying out the attack on her behalf.

Buchbinder plead guilty to first-degree attempted assault and burglary in return for an 11-year prison sentence

The sledgehammer Nolan attempted to murder Dr. Michael Weiss with on November 12, 2012

Footage from the night before the November 12, 2012, attacked showed Buchbinder buying a sledgehammer in cash at a Manhattan Home Depot with Nolan at her side

Footage from the night before the November 12, 2012, attack showed Buchbinder buying a sledgehammer in cash at a Manhattan Home Depot with Nolan at her side.

She also drew Nolan a map of how to enter Weiss' home and provided him with the knife used in the attack, according to prosecutors.

Nolan later told 48 Hours in 2016 that he was in the throes of a psychological breakdown at the time, saying 'I was in full-blown psychotic episode. I was heavily medicated on morphine.'

'I really believe it's her plan to try again later,' he added.

Nolan was sentenced in 2016 to nine-and-a-half years for attempted murder.

Jacob Nolan, who suffers from bipolar, in 2016. He was 19 at the time of the murder attempt and said Buchbinder manipulated him into carrying it out

Buchbinder handcuffed in court after her arrest in 2017. She dodged murder charges with her September guilty plea

The kitchen knife Nolan used to stab Weiss . Prosecutors said Buchbinder provided Nolan with the knife

Prosecutors say Buchbinder hatched the deranged scheme after arguing with Weiss over her visitation rights to their then-6-year-old son, who Weiss had recently won custody of.

At Buchbinder's urging, Weiss had also made her the beneficiary of his $1.5million life insurance policy just days before the attack.

'I think it's necessary to make the record straight to tell the truth about what really happened in this case and the great evil of this crime,' said Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann during Buchbinder's sentencing.

'The defendant tried to have Michael Weiss murdered. She stood to control $1.5million of life insurance of his life in the name of his son. She wanted sole custody,' he said.

Despite her guilty plea, Buchbinder seemed to maintain her innocence during her brief statements at the sentencing.

'I am so sorry that we are all here today,' she said. 'If there was one true statement Mr. Seidemann said, I missed it.'
Russian nationals who were denied entry into Korea by the immigration office enter the port of Pohang temporarily before departing, Tuesday. Courtesy of Rep. An Ho-young



By Lee Yeon-woo



After Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial mobilization on Sept. 21, resulting in an estimated 200,000 Russian nationals fleeing Russia for other countries, some of them have attempted to enter Korea on yachts.



According to Rep. An Ho-young of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), five foreign yachts were spotted in Korean waters from Oct. 1 to Oct. 5. Four of the yachts which were carrying 23 Russians sought to enter via Korean ports while the fifth yacht continued on its course.



Twenty-two of those aboard were men in their 20s and 30s.



They reportedly asked the immigration office for permission to enter Korea, but 21 of them  except two who had previous records of entering Korea  were denied entry as their purpose of visit is unclear. They also had no travel documentation.



A yacht carrying 10 Russian nationals was first spotted on Oct. 1 near the port of Busan. As the immigration office denied them entry, they left on Oct. 11 after entering the port of Pohang temporarily.



On the same day, another yacht carrying five Russian nationals tried to enter the port of Sokcho, Gangwon Province, but their entry was also denied. Two yachts each carrying four Russians also approached the port of Pohang but only two of those aboard were permitted to enter Korea.



"We denied them entry to Korea because their purpose for entry was unclear and related documents were insufficient. We permitted some to enter as we thought they fit our standards. It is hard to share any further details," an official from the Ministry of Justice said.



The Ministry of Justice also declined to comment on whether they had asked for refugee status.



It is known that Putin's announcement of a "partial" mobilization to call up 300,000 men sparked the exodus of tens of thousands of Russian nationals  mostly men  from the country. He signed a decree to bolster his forces in Ukraine, but the move sparked huge opposition across the country.



According to The Guardian newspaper, "Eight Russian yachtsmen departed from the far eastern city of Vladivostok and sailed to South Korea," citing BBC News' Russian service. It is yet to be confirmed whether the yacht the men were aboard was among those seen in or close to Korea waters.



"There is a high possibility that Korea will become a de facto stopover if there is an increase in the number of Russians fleeing. We need to prepare a detailed response manual that takes into account such diplomatic and human rights issues," Ahn said.


Ukrainian troops have shot down four Russian helicopters today in just 18 minutes, in yet another blow to Vladimir Putin's ailing war efforts.

Kyiv's Ministry of Defence and Air Force both confirmed the downing of the aircraft on its social media pages, celebrating a 'productive morning, Ukrainian style'.

The helicopters - presumed to be Soviet-era KA-52 models - were taken down by Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile units in Southern Ukraine, where Kyiv's forces have been making gains into territory illegally occupied by Russian forces.

Kyiv's Ministry of Defence and Air Force both confirmed the downing of the aircraft on its social media pages, celebrating a 'productive morning, Ukrainian style'. Pictured: An illustration posted by Kyiv's Ministry of Defence on Wednesday announcing the strikes

The flurry of successful strikes came between 8.40am to 8.58am local time this morning, Ukraine's Air Force confirmed.

According to the military, units were targeting two more helicopters in the region around the same time, so the number of destroyed aircraft could even increase.

'From 8:40 a.m. to 8.58 On October 12, in the south of Ukraine, anti-aircraft missile units of the Air Force destroyed at least four enemy attack helicopters (probably Ka-52), which were providing fire support to the ground occupation troops in the southern direction,' the Air Force said in a post to its Telegram channel.

'According to preliminary data, one helicopter fell on the territory freed from militants, the rest - behind the [Russian] front line.

'Combat work was carried out on two more helicopters, so there is a high probability that the number of confirmed downed helicopters will increase! Glory to Ukraine! Death to the racist occupiers!' the post added.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's Ministry of Defence celebrated the destruction of the KA-52 'Alligators' - a two-seat variant of the Soviet-era KA-50.

'Productive morning, Ukrainian style. Today, in just 18 minutes, service members of #UAarmy shot down 4 Russian helicopters that were spoiling beautiful autumn skies in the south of Ukraine,' the post said.

'No place for Alligators here. The local climate is hostile towards them,' it added.

According to the latest estimates from the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Russia had already lost 235 helicopters before the four were destroyed today.

The helicopters, presumed to be Soviet-era KA-52 models - were taken down by Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile units in Southern Ukraine, where Kyiv's forces have been making gains into previously occupied Russia territory. Pictured: A Russian Ka-52 helicopter gunship is seen in the field after a forced landing outside Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022 (file photo)

In addition, it says Russia has 63,380 personnel, 2,505 tanks, 5,181 armoured combat vehicles, 1,507 artillery units, 355 multiple launch rocket systems, 182 air defence systems, 268 warplanes, 1,129 drones, 315 cruise missiles, 15 warships, 3,927 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, and 136 units of special equipment.

The destruction of the helicopters came on Wednesday as Ukraine said it had reclaimed more territory from Russia in the south.

Kyiv also welcomed the delivery of Western air defence systems that Kyiv said would usher in a 'new era' after mass strikes from Moscow.

For three days now, Russia has pummelled Ukraine with missiles, damaging energy facilities nationwide and killing civilians, in attacks that President Vladimir Putin said were retaliation for a deadly explosion at the Crimea bridge.

Russia's FSB security service said Wednesday it detained eight suspects over the blast that ripped through the road and rail bridge connecting Crimea to Russia.

But it also claimed to have foiled two more attacks that Ukrainian special services allegedly planned to carry out on Russian territory.

Putin has vowed a 'severe' response to any further attack on Russia and what Moscow considers to be its territory, including the Crimea peninsula that it annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

Kyiv has neither confirmed nor denied it attacked the bridge, a vital transport link and matter of pride for Putin, who personally inaugurated the structure in 2018.

Pictured: Ukraine's Ministry of Defence celebrated the destruction of the KA-52 'Alligators' - a two-seat variant of the Soviet-era KA-50 - in a post on Twitter. 'No place for Alligators here. The local climate is hostile towards them,' the post said

A Russian Ka-52 'Alligator' attack helicopter flies near a heavily damaged building during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the town of Popasna in the Luhansk Region, Ukraine June 2, 2022

Despite warnings from the Kremlin, Kyiv has vowed to retake the peninsula as well as four regions in Ukraine's east and south that Moscow says are now part of Russia.

Kyiv said Wednesday that it had retaken five more settlements in the southern region of Kherson - one of the four territories Moscow said it annexed in late September - in the latest setback for Russia's campaign.

'Ukrainian armed forces have liberated five more settlements in Beryslav district (of Kherson region): Novovasylivka, Novogrygorivka, Nova Kamyanka, Tryfonivka, Chervone,' the presidency said in its daily report.

It added, however, that Russian forces were striking back and had continued shelling Ukraine's positions 'along the entire contact line'.

The Ukrainian army announced its counteroffensive in the south in late August.

After regaining almost full control of the northeastern region of Kharkiv, the Ukrainian forces recently claimed more gains on the eastern and southern fronts.

Faced with mounting setbacks since September, the Russian president announced the mobilisation of hundreds of thousands of reservists to join the fighting in Ukraine.

With the Crimea bridge blast, Russia also lost a vital transport link for moving military equipment for Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine.

A driver walks near his burned car after Russian military strike, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in central Kyiv, Ukraine October 10, 2022

Flame and smoke rise from the Crimean Bridge connecting Russian mainland and the Crimean peninsula over the Kerch Strait, in Kerch, Crimea, October 8, 2022

After two days of Russian nationwide strikes that especially targeted Ukraine's energy infrastructure, leaving villages and towns without power and hot water, Ukraine said it has started receiving anti-aircraft defence systems from its Western allies.

'A new era of air defence has begun in Ukraine,' Ukraine's Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said on Twitter, announcing the arrival of Germany's Iris-Ts and the upcoming delivery of NASAMS from Washington.

'This is only the beginning,' Reznikov added, 'And we need more... There is a moral imperative to protect the sky over Ukraine in order to save our people'.

On Tuesday, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky called on the G7 club of wealthy nations to help Kyiv create an 'air shield', warning that Russia 'still has room for further escalation.

Ukrainian officials announced Tuesday the recovery of the remains of dozens of civilians found at mass burial sites in two towns in the eastern Donetsk region recently recaptured from Moscow's forces.

In Lyman, a railway hub retaken by Ukraine in early October, a forensic team dressed in protective gear was exhuming dozens of bodies, an AFP journalist saw.

'We have already found more than 50 bodies of both soldiers and civilians. We have one long trench - a mass grave - where we discovered bodies and body parts,' regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said.

Russian forces have been accused of numerous abuses - torture, rape, extrajudicial executions - in Ukraine, claims Moscow has repeatedly denied.
Casino magnate Steve Wynn won his battle with the Department of Justice on Wednesday, when a federal judge ruled that he cannot be ordered to register as a foreign agent of China.

Wynn was being pursued for lobbying then President Donald Trump to return a high-profile Chinese dissident, Guo Wengui, to Beijing.

In a lyrical ruling that made much of the fact that the cast of characters included a member of the Fugees hip hop group, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said that Wynn's relationship with the Chinese government had ended in 2017.

'Wynn's obligation to file a registration statement has years since passed, and the government cannot now compel him to register,' he concluded.

That marks a victory for Wynn, whose lawyers denied that he was ever an agent of the Chinese government, but could prove a severe blow to the Department of Justice and its efforts to crack down on undisclosed foreign influence campaigns.

Even Boasberg appeared to dislike the implications of his ruling, saying that the intentions of the Foreign Agents Registration Act were 'laudable.'

Casino magnate Steve Wynn won his battle with the Department of Justice on Wednesday, when a federal judge ruled that he cannot be ordered to register as a foreign agent of China

Guo Wengui fled China in 2014. In the U.S. he has launched media projects with former White House strategist Steve Bannon, and used links with the Trump administration to seek help in refusing China's attempt to extradite him

Wynn is a long-time donor to Trump. The Justice Department said he was finance chair of the Republican National Committee when he raised Guo's plight with Trump

The Justice Department in May sued for a court order forcing Wynn, the former CEO of Wynn Casinos, to register under FARA.

'While many people may know Defendant Stephen A. Wynn as a developer who turned up the wattage in Las Vegas with his high-end resorts and casinos, the Government here contends that he has moonlighted in another sphere as well: as an agent of the Peoples Republic of China,' wrote Boasberg.

Department of Justice lawyers claimed that Wynn lobbied the Trump administration on behalf of Beijing in return for favorable treatment in the gambling haven on Macau.

The Chinese businessman is not named in the lawsuit, but his description matches that of Guo, a billionaire real estate magnate who fled the People's Republic of China in 2014 ahead of corruption charges.

Boasberg described the government's suit against Wynn by noting that Beijing's effort to enlist his help began in May 2017 at a meeting featuring ]an unusual cast of characters: a former RNC finance chair (Elliott Broidy), a businessperson (Nickie Lum Davis), and a member of the hit 1990s hip-hop group The Fugees (Prakazrel Michel).'

Guo and Bannon aboard the billionaire's yacht. Bannon was arrested by federal agents on the yacht in 2020

He then has fun by using lyrics from Fugees songs.

'Perhaps embracing The Fugees' famous line  "ready or not, here I come, you cant hide"  the PRC sought to have the Trump Administration cancel the visa of and remove from the United States an unnamed Chinese businessperson whom the PRC had charged with corruption.

'The Chinese businessperson, perhaps understanding that "jail bars ain't golden gates,", had fled China in 2014, seeking political asylum in the United States.'

Wynn's lawyers said the case was 'ill-conceived.'

Reid Weingarten and Robert Luskin said: 'Mr. Wynn never acted as an agent of the Chinese government and never lobbied on its behalf.'

Guo was once a member of his country's Communist Party. But he fled to the US in 2014 after learning he was wanted for bribery, fraud, money laundering and rape - allegations he denies.

In the years since, the former real estate tycoon has flooded social media with videos, posts and other broadcasts alleging corruption within the Chinese Communist Party.

He has developed extensive ties within Trump World.

He formed a joint media venture with Steve Bannon, a former Trump strategist.

And he rose to national prominence when Bannon was arrested by federal agents aboard Guo's luxury yacht in 2020. (Trump later pardoned Bannon over the fraud charges related to a money raising scheme.)

And Guo was involved in the launch of Gettr, a social medial platform set up by another Trump adviser Jason Miller.
A pack of six endangered gray wolves that had been preying on cattle in Washington have been fatally poisoned in an incident that officials are investigating.

Four wolves were found dead in Stevens County - about 65 miles northwest of Spokane - by deputies while on a snowmobile patrol in late February.

Investigators from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) found a further two within a month.

The grisly discoveries led a coalition of environmental groups to offer a rewards totaling $51,000 for information that leads to catching the poachers and securing a conviction.

All six wolves had died from ingesting poison, officials, said, although they declined to specify the substance used.

Zoe Hanley of the group Defenders of Wildlife called the 'cowardly act' a 'tragic, unnecessary loss to our state's endangered wolf population.'

'Anyone with the good fortune to see a wolf in the wild knows of their beauty, intellect and tight family bond.'

The wolves had been known to create problems by feasting on cattle and livestock on public and private land within the Wedge pack's range.

Six endangered wolves were found poisoned in Washington state earlier this year, leading to environmental groups to offer a $50,000 reward for helping catching the poachers

All six wolves had died from ingesting poison, officials, said, although they declined to specify the substance used

Initially the deputies thought that the first wolf they found had died of natural causes, but they found another three dead wolves later in the day, none of which exhibited wounds or bullet holes.

The wolves seemed to have been there for weeks based upon the condition of the bodies, yet the deputies could see no fresh snowmobile or human tracks, according to the incident report.

The WDFW told the officers who that they had been investigating poaching of the endangered gray wolf populations in the area for the past seven months.

'This unfortunate incident involving the death of six wolves is being investigated and being taken extremely seriously due to the nature of the crime, the extent of the animals that were poached,' said Becky Elder, Washington State Fish and Wildlife Police communications consultant.

It was not the first incident of wolf poaching in the state, she said, but the scale of the slaughter had taken officials back.

'This incident is quite large in scale compared to prior poaching with six wolves killed in a relatively short time frame.'

'With increased patrols and enforcement presence we are hopeful that this type of illegal activity is not replicated by those responsible for the initial poaching or attempts made by potential copycats,' Ms. Elder said.

Gray wolves are listed as endangered under state law throughout Washington. In the western two-thirds of the state, they are also listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act.

The wolves are a federally protected endangered species, with punishment for killing them up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine

Historically, the gray wolf population extended from the West Cost to as far east as Ohio (tan and red states) until the arrival of European settlers. However, over the past two centuries, the population significantly decreased to about just 1,000 below the Canadian border by the mid 20th century. Today there are thought to be 14,780 to 17,780 wolves in the USA, mainly being seen in nine states (red states) across the US

Under state law, the illegal killing of a wolf or other endangered fish or wildlife species is a gross misdemeanor, which could land someone one year in jail and a fine of up to $5,000.

The minimum estimated wolf population in the region at the end of 2021 was thought to be just 206, meaning that the poisonings killed nearly three percent.

In July 2020 officials killed and removed an adult, non-breeding female member of the offending Wedge pack that had repeatedly killed and eaten livestock.

A further four wolves followed her a month later, proving that officials will take action to protect livestock without private citizens taking matters into their own hands.

Last year eight wolves were found poisoned over the course of several months in nearby Oregon to the south.

Police pleaded with members of the public to come forward with information after their investigation hit dead ends. The perpetrators of the crime remain unknown.

Wolves were first given federal protection with the passing of the 1973 Endangered Species Act.

The Trump administration decided in 2020 to remove those protections, leading to hunters to kill more than 200 in less than three days - especially in Wisconsin.

The removal exposed the wild canines to hunting that critics said would undermine their rebound from widespread extermination early last century.

A judge restored federal protections for the beasts across most of the U.S. after a court ruling struck down the decision of the Trump administration in its waning days.

The Trump administration decided in 2020 to remove those protections, leading to hunters to kill more than 200 in less than three days

Attorneys for the Biden administration had defended the Trump rule that removed protections, arguing that wolves were resilient enough to bounce back even if their numbers dropped sharply due to intensive hunting.

At stake is the future of a species whose recovery from near-extinction has been heralded as a historic conservation success.

That recovery has brought bitter blowback from hunters and farmers angered over wolf attacks on big game herds and livestock.

Despite hunters' distaste for federal protection, Wisconsin lost 30 percent of its grey wolf population in one year after the Trump Administration delisted it.

Roughly 220 wolves were killed by licensed hunters and around 100 additional wolves died in different ways, including 'cryptic poaching.'

It is estimated that only around 700 to 750 wolves are left in the state, as of 2021, which is down from the 1,034 in 2020.

Researchers estimated the wolf population could recover in one or two years if there was no hunting. However, prior to federal protection being reinstated, Wisconsin law requires a wolf hunt between November and February.

The biggest population of grey wolves can be found in Alaska, with anywhere between 7,000 and 11,000 living there, although statistics haven't been updated since 2017.

The Western Great Lake region - including Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota - has around 4,500, as of 2020, while the northern Rockies - which remain under state protection - has around 3,000.

In 2020, about 6,000 wolves were living in the western Great Lakes and Northern Rocky Mountains, with smaller populations in Oregon, Washington and California.
The man suspected in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann will not stand trial for a string of unrelated sexual offences until next year, a German court has said.

Prosecutors in the northern city of Braunschweig announced Tuesday they had charged Christian Brueckner, 45, in several separate cases involving sexual offences allegedly committed in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.

He spent many years in Portugal, including in the resort of Praia da Luz around the time of Madeleine's disappearance there in 2007, but denies any involvement and has not been charged - though he remains under investigation on suspicion of murder.

Brueckner is already serving a seven-year prison sentence for a rape he also committed in Portugal in 2005.

The Braunschweig state court said today it has received the more than 100-page indictment in relation to the charges brought against Brueckner on Tuesday and will now have to decide whether to send the case to trial, a necessary step in the German legal process.

Before it does so, the defence will have the opportunity to respond to the charges and raise possible objections to a trial.

The court said that, due to its schedule with other cases, the opening of any trial shouldn't be expected until 2023.

Prosecutors in the northern city of Braunschweig announced Tuesday they had charged Christian Brueckner, 45 (L), in several cases involving sexual offences allegedly committed in Portugal between 2000 and 2017. Convicted rapist Brueckner was previously named as the man responsible for the May 2007 of Madeleine McCann (R) but has not been charged

Brueckner is now charged with five sex attacks in the same area where Maddie vanished in 2007. He has been named as the chief suspect in her disappearance, but not charged

A Irish woman raped at knifepoint in Portugal 18 years ago by a man she believes is Brueckner has spoken of her 'delight' after he was charged.

Hazel Behan, now 39, was attacked inside a holiday apartment in Praia da Rocha - 10 miles from where Maddie vanished - in June 2004 by 'a German man with piercing blue eyes' who broke in via the balcony.

Ms Behan, who previously waived her right to anonymity to speak about her ordeal, said yesterday that she had believed there was 'zero chance' Brueckner would ever face court over the allegations and she is overjoyed at her chance to get justice.

She said: 'I am delighted that after many hours and days of interviews in Ireland and Germany I am finally going to see justice. It was the most horrific attack.'

Ms Behan, aged 20 and working as a holiday rep at the time of the assault, says a mask-wearing attacker scaled the outside of her apartment as she slept and climbed in through the balcony.

She awoke to find herself being held at knifepoint. She says the man then beat her, tied her up and raped her while filming the attack.

Speaking to Olive Press, she added: 'It was very hard and gruelling going back over the attack, having to spend over 20 hours with detectives in Ireland and then three days with police in Germany.

'But the specific dedicated teams in both countries were so sensitive and good at taking me back to my room that night.

Hazel Behan, now 39, was raped aged 20 inside a holiday apartment in Praia da Rocha, Portugal, by a man she believes is the main suspect in Madeleine McCann's disappearance (pictured speaking about the attack in 2020)

'I always said from the get-go that my attacker was a German with piercing blue eyes and a voice I would recognise immediately.

'When Brueckner's name was released in connection to the Madeleine case, I knew it was him. It made me sick to the core.

'I knew I had zero chance of justice, but thanks to all of the campaigning and the perseverance of Madeleine's amazing parents, today, 18 long years after my rape, I have an opportunity to see my attacker behind bars (for my crime).'

Brueckner was also charged with two rapes said to have taken place some time between 2000 and 2006 - one on a 14-year-old girl and another on a woman aged between 70 and 80 years old - both at his apartment in Praia da Luz.

He is also accused of ambushing a ten-year-old German girl playing on the beach at Salema in April 2007 - close to where Madeleine vanished just a month later - in the district of Faro in Portugal, wearing only shoes and otherwise naked.

He allegedly forced her to watch him perform a sex act.

Christian Brueckner (left), was yesterday charged with Ms Behan's rape and a string of four other sex offences said to have taken place in the Algarve between 2000 and 2017. He is also suspected of kidnapping Maddie (right) from the same area in 2007, but has not been charged

The fact that Brueckner has not been charged over the disappearance of Madeleine McCann from the holiday apartment of parents Kate and Gerry (pictured) in Praia da Luz will bring fresh heartache as they had hoped this would mark the end of the 15-year mystery

Ten years later, he is said to have carried out a similar crime against a girl at a playground at Bartolomeu de Messines in Portugal.

Prosecutors say the girl ran to her father for help and the suspect was arrested by Portuguese police at the scene.

Brueckner's lawyer Friedrich Fulscher said the new charges had come as a 'complete surprise' to him and his client, and said they were based on 'dubious witnesses and on video evidence that no one has been able to find'.

The charges in relation to the rapes of the two unknown women come after police were told about a video recording of Brueckner allegedly attacking them.

Helge Busching and Manfred Seyferth - two key witnesses and former friends of Brueckner's - are said to have stolen the camera with the recording on it from the German's house near Praia da Luz on the Algarve coast.

In the footage  which has since disappeared  they describe how an elderly woman and a young girl are raped by a man who they identify as Brueckner.

Under German law, German nationals accused of crimes in other countries can be tried in their home country.

Investigators believe the 45-year-old also killed Madeleine, then aged three, after abducting her from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007.

However, he has not been charged with her disappearance.

Brueckner, who has denied any involvement in the case, was identified as a suspect in the McCann case by Portuguese officials in June 2020.

But the fact that Brueckner has not been charged for Madeleine's disappearance from the holiday apartment of parents Kate and Gerry will bring fresh heartache as they had hoped this would mark the end of the 15-year mystery.

The Braunschweig prosecutor's office said in a statement that the accused was the same person under investigation in connection with Madeleine's disappearance.

'Specifically, the accused is charged with three offences of aggravated rape and two offences of sexual abuse of children,' the prosecutor's office added. 'The investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann continues,' it noted.

Madeleine went missing from this apartment in the resort of Praia da Luz, Portugal, while on holiday there with her family in 2007

When asked about the McCann case prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters told MailOnline: 'We hope that we can put all our energy into the McCann case once the other investigations have ended.

'But we don't know how it will end, for the time being it is still open, maybe we can bring a charge, maybe we can't, but we are still hopeful.'

Reacting to the string of new charges, Brueckner's lawyer Fulscher told MailOnline: 'This has come as a complete surprise to me and my client.

'The charges appear to be based on statements from two dubious witnesses and on video evidence that no one has been able to find.

'These same two people have also given evidence in the McCann case and I have not even been shown their testimony.

'Part of the evidence in the case of the rape [of the 20-year-old woman] is that the attacker had a large tattoo or birthmark on his leg and the prosecution knows full well my client has neither.

'To bring charges the prosecutor has to be convinced the information in the case is reliable and relevant and we believe it is not. This is not a fair investigation.'

The case against Brueckner is expected to start next Spring.

Brueckner is currently in Oldenburg jail serving seven years for the rape of an elderly American woman in her home in Praia da Luz in 2005.

He was convicted after DNA from a hair in her bed was matched to him. Brueckner and his lawyer Fulscher have denied his involvement and insisted he was convicted after a bungled investigation.

Hans Christian Wolters, the German prosecutor investigating Madeleine's disappearance, recently warned there's no end in sight for the probe

In a letter to a friend, seen by MailOnline, Brueckner said: 'In the 2005 rape of the old lady, the offender was described as having dark eyes and [being] incredibly strong. I got convicted but I never had dark eyes or looked like Dwayne Johnson.'

He added:' There is absolutely no evidence that I committed this cruel crime. No DNA  just nothing. Things just appeared when there wasn't anything before.

'My hair from the 2005 case  13 years it just happens to appear in the BKA (German police) laboratory. It was one of 15 hairs that were found but mysteriously no DNA was found on 13 but on two there was  mine and the old lady.

'No more words are needed,' he added.

Brueckner's lawyer has now filed an appeal request in the German courts asking that the 2019 rape conviction be re-examined because the evidence used to convict him is weak.

He claims evidence in the new cases being investigated prove Brueckner could not have raped the pensioner as German authorities say that attack and the one on Behan were carried out by the same tattooed man.

But Mr Fulscher has pointed out his client has no tattoos and so therefore could not have carried out the rapes although he told MailOnline he was not hopefully of his appeal being granted.

He said: 'Only a vanishingly small proportion of applications are successful.'

Earlier this year, on the 15th anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance, her parents said it is 'essential' to learn the truth of what happened to their daughter.

On the same day, the Metropolitan Police, which continues to treat the case as a missing persons inquiry, said it is 'committed' to finding the truth.

In July 2013, Scotland Yard launched its own investigation, Operation Grange, into Madeleine's disappearance.
A university nightclub has been forced to apologise after promoting a serial killer-themed Halloween party complete with pictures of Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy.

The event announcement, which was posted to the Crisis student night Instagram page to be held at Rock City nightclub, was swiftly deleted after University of Nottingham students labeled it 'tone-deaf' and 'triggering'.

A Crisis spokesperson confirmed the party will still go ahead on October 31st as scheduled, however it will now be a generic Halloween theme.

The initial promotional poster with mugshots of infamous killers Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, Rose West, John Wayne Gacy and Richard Ramirez was uploaded on the club's Instagram page on Friday night and immediately attracted backlash.

The initial promotional poster with mugshots of infamous killers Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, Rose West, John Wayne Gacy and Richard Ramirez was uploaded on the club's Instagram page on Friday night and immediately attracted backlash

One of the comments on the initial post read: 'I think this is a bit tone-deaf if I'm honest.' Within 16 hours, the post had been deleted.

A student who was employed to promote the nightclub shared an open letter voicing her qualms about the themed night.

She said: 'Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer were both known for hunting their victims in night clubs... so it is absurd to me why we would have students dressed up as these people, inside a nightclub.

'People should not be allowed to dress up as serial killers for Halloween, bearing in mind having a student nightclub encourage it by having it as the theme of the night.'

A Crisis spokesperson confirmed the party will still go ahead on October 31st as scheduled, however it will now be a generic Halloween theme

The post attracted more than 990 likes and prompted a public response from Crisis, who acknowledged her concerns.

In the apology, event organisers said 'after consideration, [they] realised this was an upsetting and triggering concept'.

'We would like to unreservedly apologise to anyone we have offended or caused distress to.'

The statement also stressed neither Rock City nightclub nor the Students' Union were involved in choosing the theme and vowing to consult with patrons for future theme nights.

The controversy also sparked coverage in the university student magazine.

In spite of the backlash tickets for the event, which started at 7.40 and went up to 9.70, are already sold out.
Controversial progressive Cook County States Attorney Kim Foxx has seen a mass exodus from her office, with at least one former colleague calling out her soft-on-crime policies as a failure.

Foxx, who caused outrage when she made an effort to help actor Jussie Smollett get initial charges dropped against him for faking a hate crime, has seen 235 people quit her office since July 2021, according to the Chicago Tribune.

It led one prosecutor, who refused to be identified, to say that her office has 'twice as much work with no help. And really, youre setting people up for failure. Anything can blow up in your face. The expectations are not manageable.'

Failure appears to be the watchword among current and former employees at Cook County, as former Assistant States Attorney Dan Kirk, who worked in the same office as Foxx under her predecessor, called her 'a great individual' but an 'abysmal failure' as DA.

He told Fox News: 'Foxx's implemented policies that have made Chicago less safe, that have made people feel unsafe and emboldened criminals, and created this new level of in seeing brazenness among criminals that was unimaginable prior to her  tenure.'

Other staffers who spoke anonymously to the Chicago Tribune said they didn't feel supported during COVID, resentment over the Smollett case and the departure of a well respected head of the county's Criminal Prosecutions Bureau.

Aside from the Smollett case, Foxx has caused controversy by dismissing tens of thousands of felonies, attempting police reform and was accused of slapping her husband during a domestic dispute this past June. Crime is up 37 percent in Chicago in 2022.

The Cook County States Attorney's Office did not respond to a DailyMail.com request for comment.

Controversial progressive Cook County States Attorney Kim Foxx has seen a mass exodus from her office, with at least one former colleague calling out her soft-on-crime policies as a failure

Foxx, who caused outrage when she reportedly made an effort to help actor Jussie Smollett get charges dropped against him for faking a hate crime, has seen 235 people quit her office since July 2021

It led one prosecutor, who refused to be identified, to say that her office has 'twice as much work with no help. And really, youre setting people up for failure. Anything can blow up in your face. The expectations are not manageable'

Foxx spoke to local news station WTTV Tuesday and said that the county has brought in 50 new attorneys that will be sworn in next month.

But she admitted: 'We're not fully staffed. We certainly are much better than we were. We're on par with our colleagues across the country. Somewhere around 15 percent of our positions remain open.'

Foxx claimed that Cook County has about 15 percent of its staffing positions still vacant.

Kirk called 'the great resignation' an 'unprecedent' event for the county attorney's office and blamed it on 'policy and leadership failures.'

He said: '[Foxx] likes to blame it on COVID, except in every other prosecutor's office around Chicago and the other neighboring counties have either maintained their size or actually, in many cases, grown.'

Kirk claims 'hundreds' of people in office say that 'morale has never been lower in the office' and that current and former employees 'don't believe the administration puts victims first.'

Foxx spoke to local news station WTTV Tuesday and said that the county has brought in 50 new attorneys that will be sworn in next month

Former Assistant States Attorney Dan Kirk, who worked in the same office as Foxx under her predecessor, called her 'a great individual' but an 'abysmal failure' as DA

Crime in Chicago, the county seat in Cook, is like in many progressive cities, up 37 percent so far this year.

Thefts are up a whopping 61 percent, while robberies are up 17 percent. Murder and rape is down slightly.

Daniel Locallo, a former Cook County judge, said that Foxx's failings have been 'de-emphasizing the treatment of victims by handing out ridiculous sentences.'

This all comes as Illinois is set to launch a similar elimination of cash bail to the disastrous policy in New York, where bail will only be set and criminals put back on the streets unless 'the defendant poses a specific, real and present threat.'

Foxx began her term in office by dismissing more than 25,000 felony cases - including many involving charges of murder and other serious crimes - in her first three years on the job, a new report shows.

In the first three years after Foxx took over as Cook County's top prosecutor in 2016, her office dismissed all charges against 29.9 percent of felony defendants, the Tribune found.

By comparison, Foxx's predecessor Anita Alvarez dropped charges against just 19.4 percent of felony defendants over her last three years in office.

A total of 25,183 defendants had their felony charges dismissed under Foxx up until November 2019, compared with 18,694 under Alvarez during a similar period, the Tribune said.

Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx has dismissed more than 25,000 felony cases - including many involving charges of murder and other serious crimes - in her first three years on the job, an analysis by the Chicago Tribune has found

Staffers who spoke anonymously said they didn't feel supported during COVID, resentment over the Jussie Smollett case and the departure of a well respected head of the county's Criminal Prosecutions Bureau

Foxx took over as state's attorney in 2016 with a promise to bring criminal justice reform and to reduce the population of Cook County Jail.

She said she encourages assistant state's attorneys in her office to openly discuss dismissing felony charges with cases that have legal problems.

Foxx added that fostering that kind of environment is important to her given Chicago's record of wrongful convictions and police misconduct.

'Recognizing the history that we've had around wrongful convictions, recognizing our ethical obligations as prosecutors ... requires us to reinforce that people can, if they believe a case is flawed, bring it to our attention, and we will dismiss it if it's appropriate,' she said.
Dozens of Congressional Republicans are demanding a briefing on the FBI's use of a pro-choice law to crack down on people protesting outside of abortion clinics, according to an impassioned letter sent to bureau Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday.

The letter, led by Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, accuses the White House of using the FBI as a 'partisan cudgel' to attack opponents of its progressive agenda.

It calls into question the FBI's use of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, a 1994 law that prohibits the use of force, threat of force, or physically blocking to stop a woman from entering an abortion clinic.

Republicans have accused the FBI of using the law to prosecute numerous pro-life activists, including the recent high-profile arrest of Pennsylvania anti-abortion demonstrator Mark Houck.

Houck was charged with a federal violation the FACE Act late last month after being accused of assaulting a 72-year-old abortion clinic volunteer, allegedly shoving him to the ground with enough force to warrant medical attention. A past civil lawsuit by the clinic escort was thrown out in state court.

Rep. Chip Roy (left) of Texas and Senator Mike Lee of Utah (right) are the two Congressional conservatives leading the demand for more information on the FBI's use of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act

The activist's lawyers told Fox News that the clinic volunteer had been 'harassing' Houck's young son before the altercation broke out.

Houck's arrest at his home by the FBI, while his seven children were reportedly present, sparked fury among conservatives.

'I am outraged by the Biden Administration's open war on pro-life activists and weaponization of federal law enforcement against patriotic Americans for their beliefs,' Roy said in a statement.

'I will fight to hold this administration accountable for these politicized prosecutions and to hold Congress responsible for handing the executive branch the effectively unmitigated power to prosecute political opponents in the first place.'

Their letter references the recent arrest of Mark Houck, a Catholic anti-abortion activist who faces federal charges for allegedly assaulting an abortion clinic volunteer. Houck has pleaded not guilty

The letter, which is co-signed by 10 additional senators and 28 additional members of the House, also references the recent indictments of 11 people who are accused of blocking access to a Tennessee abortion clinic in 2021.

Those protesters were 'engaging in non-violent civil disobedience,' the Republicans claim.

'Overzealous prosecutions under the FACE Act weaponize the power of federal law enforcement against American citizens in what should firmly be state and local matters,' their letter stated.

'Further, these abuses of federal power against pro-life Americans based solely on their beliefs undermine the American peoples trust in the FBI.'

Tensions between pro-choice and anti-abortion activists flared to historic levels in June when the Supreme Court issued a ruling that overturned the federal abortion protections granted in Roe v. Wade.

As of now 17 states have some kind of ban or time restriction on abortion.

In their Wednesday memo to Wray, Roy and Lee demand to know whether there have been any internal discussions or updated guidance about FACE Act enforcement since the high court's decision.

'It is clear that congressional scrutiny of the FBIs use of the FACE Act is needed to ensure the FBI is applying it as Congress intended and, if not, determine whether the FBI can continue to be trusted with this authority,' they wrote.
The animal 'Victoria Cross' which was awarded to a heroic border collie retriever who made regular SAS parachute jumps behind enemy lines during the Second World War has sold for a record 140,000.

Rob the para-dog made 20 parachute jumps in daring SAS missions, including being dropped with the commandos in Nazi-occupied Italy to prepare the ground for the Allied invasion of Anzio in 1944.

The border collie retriever was strapped into a special harness and 'eagerly' followed his human comrades out of aircraft.

The courageous canine alerted the men of any danger by licking their faces and also carried important messages from one part of the front to the other.

Along with a lifetime supply of biscuits, Rob became the only dog ever to be awarded both the PDSA Dickin Medal for Gallantry and the RSPCA Red Collar for Valour.

And yesterday, his owner's son, Basil Bayne, who grew up with Rob near Tetchill, Shropshire, sold the heroic dog's medals at auction alongside his collar, a portrait painting and several photographs.

The charming trove achieved a staggering hammer price of 140,000 at auctioneers Noonans of Mayfair, London.

Rob the para-dog (pictured being honoured) made 20 parachute jumps in daring SAS missions behind enemy lines during the Second World War

Rob became the only dog ever to be awarded both the PDSA Dickin Medal for Gallantry (pictured) and the RSPCA Red Collar for Valour. They sold in a collection for 140,000

The PDSA Dickin Medal for Gallantry and the RSPCA Red Collar for Valour (pictured together)

The collection had previously been tipped to sell for more than 30,000 but achieved significantly more.

It also smashed the previous record for a Dickin Medal, which stood at 22,000 for one awarded to a homing pigeon called the Duke of Normandy which brought home the first news of the D-Day landings. That sold in April 2020.

After the war, Rob was returned to his owners and died in 1952 aged 12 - 69 in human years.

Books have been written about Rob's wartime exploits and he even featured on the front cover of the Radio Times in 1989.

Mr Bayne, now of Antrim, Northern Ireland, will donate part of the proceeds of yesterday's sale to an animal charity which trains students in poultry husbandry.

Christopher Mellor-Hill, specialist at Noonans, said Rob's medals were the 'most important' of their kind ever to come to auction.

'Rob the parachuting dog is the most famous of all the Dickin Medal recipients and we were delighted to be able to offer his medals on behalf of the family who owned him,' he said.

'Rob was the first war dog attached to the SAS to be awarded the 'animal V.C.' and was reportedly the only war dog to have been nominated for the Dickin Medal by the War Office.

'Demobilised on November 27, 1945, Rob led the Wembley Parade of 32 war dogs on July 16, 1947. He was the star of the show as far as the 10,000 spectators were concerned, being the only dog present to hold both the Dickin Medal and the R.S.P.C.A. Red Collar and Medallion for Valour.

The courageous canine's job was to be on guard and alert the men of any danger by licking their faces. He also carried important messages from one part of the front to the other

After the war Rob was returned to his owners and died in 1952 aged 12 - 69 in human years. His portrait was part of the collection which sold at auction

His owner's son, Basil Bayne, who grew up beside Rob near Tetchill, Shropshire, decided to sell the heroic dog's medals alongside his collar, a portrait painting and several photographs

'I believe this is the most important Dickin Medal to ever be sold at auction.'

The black and white dog was born in 1939 and he helped owner Edward Bayne on his Shropshire farm before the obedient animal was offered up for military service in 1942.

A letter included in the sale describes how Rob 'eagerly followed' his comrades out of the airplane on jumps.

The account tells of how his training began after soldiers in the 2nd SAS regiment in North Africa sneaked him into their airplane on jumps.

When heir commanding officer realised Rob had gone with them, he decided to send him to Italy.

The letter reads: 'It was from there (North Africa) that the 2nd S.A.S. practised their parachute drops and one day the men smuggled Rob up in the plane for a ride.

'It was all they could do to prevent him from jumping out after the men. So they borrowed a harness from a nearby American base who were trying to train dogs to jump and on the next jump again took Rob with them.

'This time Rob jumped and on landing the men ran to him to release him from the parachute. He had made a perfect drop, falling silently without panic through the air.

'It was only at this point that the commanding officer was informed of the fact that Rob had been airborne and from then on his training began in earnest.'

Jennifer Hodges, the daughter of Corporal Victor Redhead, Rob's SAS handler, wrote in a letter that the canine would 'eagerly parachute ahead' of her father.

She said: 'While the soldiers were sleeping Rob would patrol round them and lick their faces to bring them to instant wakefulness at the slightest sound.

The black and white dog was born in 1939 and he helped owner Edward Bayne on his Shropshire farm before the obedient animal was offered up for military service in 1942

Books have been written about Rob's wartime exploits and he even featured on the front cover of the Radio Times in 1989

The charming trove was tipped to sell for more than 30,000 at auctioneers Noonans of Mayfair, London next month but in fact sold for 140,000

'On one mission, he went missing for five weeks but in that time rounded up all the widely scattered members of his 2nd SAS patrol and they returned home safely'.

After serving with infantry in North Africa, he became the first dog to serve with the SAS when he was dropped on sabotage missions with his own special parachute in Italy.

At the time of receiving the medals, Mr Bayne told how Rob cared for the other animals on the farm.

He said: 'He used to help settle the chicks in their houses at night, picking them up in his mouth when they had strayed away - he had a wonderful mouth - and tucking them in under their mothers.'

When Rob was still a small puppy, he went on an exploration beyond the boundaries of Tetchill and was brought home by John Brunt, then a schoolboy at Ellesmere College. John became a frequent visitor and took Rob on walks.

After leaving college John joined the army and led a distinguished career until he was killed in action.

In a strange coincidence, on the day that Rob received the 'animal VC' it was announced that John had been posthumously awarded the VC.

The Dickin Medal has been awarded to 71 animals - 34 of them going to dogs, 32 to pigeons, four to horses and one to a cat.

The vast majority were granted for acts of bravery in the Second World War but several wards have been made to Arms and Explosives Search Dogs of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps for their gallantry in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A lecturer has been ordered to pay more than 5,000 after he tried to sue a Russell Group university for sexism because it held a domestic abuse seminar.

Dr ZhiMin Xiao was offended by a University of Exeter conference about violence against women which featured high-profile speakers including an MP and senior police officials.

The academic, who at the time was in the midst of a messy breakup and custody battle, insisted he was subjected to sexist discrimination by attending the seminar for 30 minutes.

This was because the university had invited speakers onto campus who assumed that males were the primary perpetrators of domestic violence, he said.

Dr Xiao, an educational data scientist, also made spurious allegations that his colleague Kate Boddy 'kidnapped' his children.

The lecturer's 'wholly unreasonable' claims have been thrown out at an employment tribunal and he has been ordered to pay the University of Exeter 4,000 and Mrs Boddy 1,650 in costs.

At the time of the incidents last year, Chinese Dr Xiao was a lecturer in education and research at the University of Exeter's Graduate School of Education and was still on probation.

Dr ZhiMin Xiao (pictured) was offended by a University of Exeter conference about violence against women which featured high-profile speakers including an MP and senior police officials

In June 2021, he sat in on a conference titled 'Tackling gender-based violence, what each of us can do' which had speakers including MP Jess Phillips, Shadow Minister for Domestic Violence and Safeguarding.

A tribunal report from the hearing in Exeter said the issue was whether the university had invited speakers onto campus 'who assume that males were the primary perpetrators of domestic violence'.

The ruling said: '[Dr Xiao said] attended the conference only for 30 minutes before having to go and collect his children.

'He appears to be absolutely right that the theme of this conference was domestic violence against women. He claims that this subjected him to direct sex discrimination.'

Employment Judge Alastair Smail dismissed the sex discrimination claim. The judge ruled: 'I simply do not understand that contention; it is a matter for the University to hold a conference on whatever topic it likes.

'It does not arguably amount to any sort of discrimination against him. That allegation made by him has no reasonable prospects of success.'

Dr Xiao, an expert in 'big data' and 'research methodology', also tried to sue co-worker Mrs Boddy, an associate research fellow at the university who was also based at St Luke's Campus.

Mrs Boddy had struck up a friendship with Dr Xiao's wife as their children were friends at school.

Dr Xiao, an expert in 'big data' and 'research methodology', also tried to sue co-worker Kate Boddy, an associate research fellow at the university who was also based at St Luke's Campus (above)

When Dr Xiao's marriage broke down in 2021, Mrs Boddy became concerned and took his wife and her children into her home for four months.

Dr Xiao said his children were 'kidnapped', however the tribunal heard his wife had requested to move into Mrs Boddy's home.

Dr Xiao also claimed Mrs Boddy made 'degrading comments' about how he dressed and gifts he sent, saying it amounted to racist discrimination.

The tribunal heard Dr Xiao and his wife had been through family courts and that he was subject to a non-molestation order, which prevented him visiting certain 'exclusion zones'.

Judge Smail threw out all his claims of sex and race discrimination as well as constructive unfair dismissal.

The judge said: 'I have no doubt Dr Xiao has been under considerable pressure surrounding the events of the breakup of his marriage and the custody and contact issues concerning his children.

'Those matters have been litigated, and as I understand it continue to be litigated, in the family courts.

'That is the appropriate place for them. The attempt to bring the law of employment into that matter in my judgement fails.'

Ordering him to pay costs, the judge added: 'These claims brought by Dr Xiao had no reasonable prospects of success and bringing them at all was wholly unreasonable.

'(The university and Mrs Boddy) should not have had to deal with these claims.'

Dr Xiao resigned in 2021 and took up a 53,000 a year senior lecturer post at the University of Essex.

On his profile page for the University of Essex, it states: 'In addition to methodological research and education, I am interested in child welfare, particularly in the context of trauma-informed and rights-based research into family injustice.'

Mrs Boddy has worked at the University of Exeter since 2002 and is Research Fellow for patient and public involvement in the University College of Medicine.
One of America's best known advice columnists claims she was raped by Donald Trump inside a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman in the mid-90s.

E Jean Carroll, now 75, whose advice column has appeared in Elle for the past 26 years, alleges she was sexually assaulted by Trump in her new book What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal.

She has shared the story and five others with New York in a piece that also details how Les Moonves allegedly fondled her in an elevator and hints at an incident of sexual misconduct involving her former boss Roger Ailes.

She appears on the magazine's cover in the very same coat dress that she claims she was wearing on that day in the Fall of 1995 or Spring of 1996 when a chance encounter with Trump allegedly turned into a sexual assault.

In an interview with MSNBC Friday evening Carroll, who said she would not be looking to press charges against Trump, described the alleged incident as a 'fight'.

She said: 'It became a fight. And it hurt. And it was against my will.'

Trump allegedly shoved Carroll against a wall, unzipped his pants and forcibly penetrated her in an attack she claims lasted three minutes.

The White House responded to Carroll's allegations by stating: 'This is a completely false and unrealistic story surfacing 25 years after allegedly taking place and was created simply to make the President look bad.'

A heated Trump later expounded on this statement with his own remarks on Friday afternoon.

'Ive never met this person in my life. She is trying to sell a new bookthat should indicate her motivation. It should be sold in the fiction section,' said Trump.

'Shame on those who make up false stories of assault to try to get publicity for themselves, or sell a book, or carry out a political agenda.'

He went on to note the lack of evidence, specifically that there were no eyewitnesses or video footage of the alleged assault.

He added: 'Ms. Carroll & New York Magazine: No pictures? No surveillance? No video? No reports? No sales attendants around?? I would like to thank Bergdorf Goodman for confirming they have no video footage of any such incident, because it never happened.'

Trump closed out with a request.

'If anyone has information that the Democratic Party is working with Ms. Carroll or New York Magazine, please notify us as soon as possible,' he said.

'The world should know whats really going on. It is a disgrace and people should pay dearly for such false accusations.'

The New York Magazine excerpt included a photo showing Trump and Carroll together.

Scroll down for video

Denial: The White House called Carroll's allegations 'a completely false and unrealistic story' meant to make Trump look bad

In the MSNBC interview Friday evening Carroll said she would 'find it disrespectful' to women on the border to press charges against Trump.

She said: 'I would find it disrespectful to the women down on the border who are being raped around the clock down there without any protection. They're young women.

'The women have very little protection there and it would just be disrespectful.

'Mine was three minutes, I am a mature woman, I can handle it, I can keep going. My life has gone on, I am a happy woman.

'But for the women down there, and for the women actually around the world, in every culture this is going on, no matter high in society or low in society it just seems disrespectful, it just doesn't make sense to me.'

Trump would have been married to Marla Maples at this time, and Carroll is now the 16th woman to accuse the president of sexual misconduct.

He had also recently welcomed a fourth child in 1993, daughter Tiffany.

Carroll claims she was on her way out of the store when Trump asked her for help with a gift and guided her towards the lingerie department.

She also notes that he looked handsome on the day in question, writing: 'I am surprised at how good-looking he is. Weve met once before, and perhaps it is the dusky light but he looks prettier than ever.'

Carroll was doing a daily talk show called Ask E Jean at the time for Ailes' America's Talking cable network, which is how she drew Trump's attention.

'Hey, youre that advice lady!' said Trump according to Carroll.

That was allegedly followed by a request from the real estate developer, whose Trump Tower is located just one block south of Bergdorf Goodman.

'Come advise me. I gotta buy a present,' said Trump according to Carroll, who tried to point out a few ideas in the store's main foyer.

When they were all dismissed by Trump, she asked the age of the woman he was shopping for, prompting him to ask her the same question.

She was 52 at the time, two years older than Trump, and when she told him he allegedly started laughing and said: 'You're so old.'

He then said 'lingerie', according to Carroll, and the pair headed upstairs to that department.

Once there, Carroll claims she tried to diffuse repeated attempts to get her to model one of the wears by suggesting Trump try them on in a nearby dressing room.

It was when they went to one of those rooms that the alleged assault took place.

'The moment the dressing-room door is closed, he lunges at me, pushes me against the wall, hitting my head quite badly, and puts his mouth against my lips. I am so shocked I shove him back and start laughing again,' writes Carroll.

'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 coat dress and pulls down my tights.'

She continues: 'I am astonished by what Im about to write: I keep laughing. The next moment, still wearing correct business attire, shirt, tie, suit jacket, overcoat, he opens the overcoat, unzips his pants, and, forcing his fingers around my private area, thrusts his penis halfway  or completely, Im not certain  inside me.'

Source: Carroll will share more stories in her new book What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal (right, her 1996 book A Dog In Heat on left)

Family: Trump would have been married to Marla Maples at this time, who had given birth to daughter Tiffany in 1993 (above)

Walk and talk: Carroll has been leading Hideous Men tours around the city, where she stops at Trump Tower (above outside the building with one group)

Carroll claims that she fought off Trump before she was able to flee from the dressing room and out of the store.

She did not report the alleged assault to police, but did tell two friends she said, and has kept the dress ever since.

The first, who is not named but is described as a 'a journalist, magazine writer, correspondent on the TV morning shows, author of many books,' said: 'He raped you. He raped you. Go to the police! Ill go with you. Well go together.'

The second, a New York anchor woman, responded: 'Tell no one. Forget it! He has 200 lawyers. Hell bury you.'

New York spoke with those friends, and noted that 'both still remember the incident clearly and confirmed their accounts.'

Carroll also acknowledged the fact that it took her 25 years to share her story, listing some of the reasons she was hesitant to come forward.

'Receiving death threats, being driven from my home, being dismissed, being dragged through the mud, and joining the 15 women whove come forward with credible stories about how the man grabbed, badgered, belittled, mauled, molested, and assaulted them, only to see the man turn it around, deny, threaten, and attack them, never sounded like much fun,' explained Caroll.

'Also, I am a coward.'

She now joins a list of accusers that includes: Jessica Leeds, Kristin Anderson, Jill Harth, Cathy Heller, Temple Taggart McDowell, Karena Virginia, Melinda McGillivray, Rachel Crooks, Natasha Stoynoff, Jessica Drake, Ninni Laaksonen, Summer Zervos, Juliet Huddy, Alva Johnson, and Cassandra Searles.

Her decision to keep quiet is a bit of a surprise given that she has been leading Hideous Men tours around New York, where she stops at Trump Tower.

Other stops include the Fox News studios and Rockefeller Center.

It is Trump though who appears to loom largest for Carroll, as he was her 'last hideous man.'

'The Donna Karan coat dress still hangs on the back of my closet door, unworn and unlaundered since that evening,' reveals Carroll.

'And whether its my age, the fact that I havent met anyone fascinating enough over the past couple of decades to feel "the sap rising," as Tom Wolfe put it, or if its the blot of the real-estate tycoon, I cant say. But I have never had sex with anybody ever again.'

LES MOONVES

Allegedly hideous: Soon after her alleged assault, Carroll claims she was molested by Moonves

Soon after her alleged assault by Trump, Carroll claims she was molested by Moonves.

It happened while interviewing him for a story claims Carroll, who recalls the moment he allegedly came at her in an elevator with 'his pants bursting with demands, goes at me like an octopus.'

Carroll, who towers over Moonves, says she was able to escape that encounter without being sexually assaulted by the pint-sized but persistent TV titan.

'I dont know how many apertures and openings you possess, Reader, but Moonves, with his arms squirming and poking and goosing and scooping and pricking and prodding and jabbing, is looking for fissures I dont even know I own, and  by God!  I am not certain that even if I pull off one of his arms it wont crawl after me and attack me in my hotel bed,' writes Carroll.

'Hell, I am thrilled I escape before he expels his ink.'

Moonves, who has also been accused of sexual misconduct by 13 other women, 'emphatically denies' the allegation made by Carroll.

It was around this same time that he was also accused of sexual misconduct by Illeana Douglas.

He was married at the time to his first wife Nancy, and had three young children.

She made no mention of the encounter with Moonves in the article, and as before with Trump, did not report his alleged conduct to police.

'I am a member of the Silent Generation,' explains Carroll. 'We do not flap our gums. We laugh it off and get on with life.'

CAM PARKS

At 12, Carroll was allegedly assaulted by her waterfront director at Girl Scout Camp, Cam Parks, after winning the beauty pageant.

'[Cam] takes me out in a boat and runs his hands under my shirt and up my shorts. He is breathing and moving his hand slowly and hotly, and I fight no battles in my head. My mind goes white. This is Cam,' writes Carroll.

'This is Cam, who continues to run his hand inside my shorts and under my blouse - even in the dining room during dinner, under the table, squeezing my thighs, shoving his fingers - saying, "Youre my girl. Youre my girl. Youre my girl," and making me Girl Scoutpromise "not to tell anyone."'

He would later author a book called The Girl Scout Man.

Carroll writes that she regrets not speaking up in this case as she was likely just one of his alleged victims.

At the time of his death, Cam had been 'suddenly dismissed' from his post, according to Carroll.

'I could have spoken up! Maybe not when I was 12. But when I was 25. He died when I was 34. I might have stopped him,' she writes.
National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo, left, pays respect to Ethiopian veterans who fought for South Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War in front of the Korean War Memorial in Addis Ababa, Monday (local time). Courtesy of Kim's office



By Nam Hyun-woo



National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo paid respect to Ethiopian veterans of the 1950-53 Korean War and expressed his gratitude for their sacrifice in defending South Korea's freedom and peace.



According to Kim's office, Wednesday, Kim visited the Ethiopian Korean War Veterans Memorial Park in Addis Ababa on Monday (local time), and met eight surviving veterans.



"I will make efforts for the progress of the friendship between South Korea and Ethiopia, which was forged upon your noble sacrifice," Kim told the veterans. "Please stay healthy and live long to help further the development of bilateral relations."



Ethiopia is the only African nation which sent its troops, the Kagnew Battalion of the Imperial Ethiopian Army, to the Korean War. A total of 6,037 soldiers participated in the war, 122 of whom were killed and 536 injured. Of the total of 80 surviving veterans, most are aged over 90.



"I deeply respect their comradeship that brought all 122 of the fallen soldiers back home," Kim said.



"We participated in the Korean War upon the then-emperor's order, not knowing where South Korea was," a veteran was quoted as saying. "So far, many Koreans have helped us when we have difficulties."



After meeting the veterans, Kim paid a visit to MCM General Hospital, a hospital founded by Myungsung Presbyterian Church of South Korea in 2004. The hospital has been providing free medical services to war veterans and vulnerable families.



Kim paid his visit as part of his trip to Ethiopia, Rwanda and the United Arab Emirates on the occasion of the Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly in Rwanda.



During his attendance to the event Tuesday, he met his counterparts, including Tanzania's Parliament Speaker Tulia Ackson and Rwanda's Senate President Augustin Iyamuremye, and asked for their support for Busan's bid to host the 2030 World Expo.



"(South Korea's) businesses, the government and the National Assembly are making nationwide efforts for the Busan 2030 World Expo," Kim said during his meeting with Ackson. "Busan is South Korea's No. 1 port city, and its vision of becoming an eco-friendly future city has a great relation with Tanzania's policy visions such as a sustainable ocean economy."




The gem may be taken out of the crown and replaced or the piece of regalia not used at all during ceremony

Mail+ understands that there is 'significant nervousness' about using the gem as part of Camilla's coronation

However the diamond's ownership is a controversial topic and it has been claimed by India and other nations

Priceless 105-carat jewel was given as a gift to Queen Victoria by Duleep Singh and set in the crown in 1937

The diamond is one of largest cut in history and is in Queen Mother's crown along with 2,800 small diamonds

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Plans for the Queen Consort to be crowned using regalia containing the controversial Koh-i-Noor diamond may be axed because of 'political sensitivities', it has been reported.

When the King first raised the issue of his wife taking her place by his side at his coronation several years ago it was provisionally agreed that she would be proclaimed Queen Consort using the late Queen Mother's crown, according to Mail+.

The priceless piece features 2,800 diamonds with the front cross holding the famous 105-carat Koh-i-Noor diamond, one of the largest cut diamonds in the world.

But the Mail has learnt that there is 'significant nervousness' about this now given continuing controversy over ownership of the diamond, which originated in India and is claimed not only by the republic but also several other countries in the region.

Plans for the Queen Consort to be crowned using regalia (pictured: The Queen Mother's Crown on her coffin while she lie in state in 2002) containing the controversial Koh-i-Noor diamond may be axed because of 'political sensitivities', it has been reported

When the King (pictured here with Camilla during the State Opening of Parliament in 2015) first raised the issue of his wife taking her place by his side at his coronation several years ago it was provisionally agreed that she would be proclaimed Queen Consort using the late Queen Mother's crown, according to Mail+

The gem (pictured), which is held in a detachable platinum mount, may now be taken out of the crown before use  or the crown not even used at all in favour of something simpler, such as Queen Victoria's coronet

The gem, which is held in a detachable platinum mount, may now be taken out of the crown before use  or the crown not even used at all in favour of something simpler, such as Queen Victoria's coronet.

A source said: 'The original plan was for the Queen Consort to be crowned with the late Queen Mother's crown when her husband acceded to the throne.

That was certainly the agreement a few years ago when the whole idea of the Duchess of Cornwall becoming Queen Consort was first mooted.

'But times have changed and His Majesty The King is acutely sensitive to these issues, as are his advisors. There are serious political sensitivities and significant nervousness around them, particularly regarding India.'

Buckingham Palace declined to comment today.

Announcing the dating of next year's coronation as May 6, palace officials said yesterday that further details about the coronation  which will incorporate a mix of the traditional and the modern  would be announced in due course.

But the issue of regalia  particularly the Queen Consort's crown  is likely to prove a sticking point.

Queen Elizabeth (pictured here with the late Queen, her sister Margaret and King George VI) wore the crown without its arches at the State Openings of Parliament during the reign of King George VI, and again at the coronation of her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II, in 1953

The Koh-i-Noor diamond: A priceless gifted gem at the center of one of the world's most famous crowns - and an international row The Koh-i-Noor, translated from Persian to English as the 'Mountain of Light, is one of the largest cut diamonds in the world. It weighs an astonishing 21g (105carats). However it is significantly smaller than the world's largest cut diamond, the Cullinan I, also one of the famed Crown Jewels, which is mounted on the Sovereign's Scepter, which weighs 530.4 carats (106.08 g). Though there is no official record of its original weight, the Koh-i-Noor may have weighed as much as 38.2g (186 carats), before it was cut, according to well-attested reports. It is impossible to know exactly where the diamond came from, although there is no doubt that it was panned in India. The earliest reference appears to relate to a powerful Mughal ruler in 1628. The first verifiable report of the diamond, however, comes from the 1740s when it was noted as being one of many stones on the Mughal Peacock Throne, which was looted by the Iranian Afsharid leader Nader Shah from Delhi. It returned to India in 1813 and become a potent symbol of power until it was acquired by Britain in 1849. The diamond was given to Queen Victoria in 1855 by 10 year-old Duleep Singh, the last emperor of the Sikhs. Although much has been made of the fact that it was 'given' to this country, critics point out that this was only after the mother of the ten-year old heir to the Punjabi throne was held prisoner and he was forced to sign it away. It then became a special possession of Queen Victoria and displayed at the 1851 Great Exhibition in London. However, British people were reportedly unimpressed by the gem. 'Many people find a difficulty in bringing themselves to believe, from its external appearance, that it is anything but a piece of common glass,' wrote the Times in 1851. Since then it has become part of the Crown Jewels, and a point of dispute between the UK, India  as well as several other nations  ever since. William Dalrymple, who co-wrote Koh-i-Noor: The History of the World's Most Infamous Diamond with colleague Anita Anand said: 'It is not a small sensitive issue in the eyes of India. It is a massive diplomatic grenade.' 'One of the reasons we wrote our book was that we don't believe anyone in this country has the slightest conception of how much it matters in India. For people here it is the name of an Indian restaurant or a brand of pencils or maybe something they have seen on a school trip to the Tower of London.' Advertisement

It was made in 1937 for Queen Elizabeth, consort of King George VI, using many stones already in the royal collection. Most of the diamonds were removed from Queen Victoria's Regal Circlet.

The Koh-i-noor diamond had been successively mounted in the crowns of Queen Alexandra and Queen Mary, and was once again reset for this crown.

Queen Elizabeth wore the crown without its arches at the State Openings of Parliament during the reign of King George VI, and again at the coronation of her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II, in 1953.

It is impossible to know exactly where the diamond came from, although there is no doubt that it was panned in India. The earliest reference appears to relate to a powerful Mughal ruler in 1628.

It returned to India in 1813 and become a potent symbol of power until it was acquired by Britain in 1849.

The diamond was given to Queen Victoria in 1855 by 10 year-old Duleep Singh, last emperor of the Sikhs.

Although much has been made of the fact that it was 'given' to this country, critics point out that this was only after the mother of the ten-year old heir to the Punjabi throne was held prisoner and he was forced to sign it away.

It then became a special possession of Queen Victoria and displayed at the 1851 Great Exhibition in London.

Since then it has become part of the Crown Jewels, and point of dispute between the UK, India  as well as several other nations  ever since.

William Dalrymple, who co-wrote Koh-i-Noor: The History of the World's Most Infamous Diamond with colleague Anita Anand said: 'It is not a small sensitive issue in the eyes of India.

'It is a massive diplomatic grenade.'

'One of the reasons we wrote our book was that we don't believe anyone in this country has the slightest conception of how much it matters in India.

'For people here it is the name of an Indian restaurant or a brand of pencils or maybe something they have seen on a school trip to the Tower of London.

'But it is actually part of a wider disconnect of a number of things that Indians get very upset about to do with the colonial period.

'The diamond has been claimed by Pakistani, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and also the Taliban. It is a hugely sensitive and much claimed stone.

'It matters to a huge number of people and has continued to be very controversial since the Queen died.

'There is an expectation that this is an issue that will come back. Colonialism is over, Britain wants to make friends with India, it is a major new rising power.

'In a sense the British have brought this on themselves because they turned the stone into a symbol of their empire by putting it on display in the Great Exhbition of 1851.

'It has [since] become, rightly or wrongly, a symbol for many colonised people of all they think that we took from them. Whatever your position on it, that is how it's viewed.

'This tiny stone, which is actually not that big  in fact, and it's not even in the top 100 of the worlds diamonds any more  has come to take the whole weight of colonisation on its shoulder. It it has become this very, very sensitive object and is a major issue now between the two countries. '

The diamond was given to Queen Victoria in 1855 by 10 year-old Duleep Singh, last emperor of the Sikhs. It is now in the Crown of the Queen Mother and rests in

It then became a special possession of Queen Victoria and displayed at the 1851 Great Exhibition in London. Since then it has become part of the Crown Jewels, and point of dispute between the UK, India  as well as several other nations  ever since

When has the Koh-i-Noor been seen in public? The Koh-i-Noor diamond was brought back to Britain after being gifted to Queen Victoria. It was first displayed publicly at the 1851 Great Exhibition in London. However, British people were reportedly unimpressed by the gem. 'Many people find a difficulty in bringing themselves to believe, from its external appearance, that it is anything but a piece of common glass,' wrote the Times in 1851. In reaction to the jewel's disappointing reception, Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, had the stone recut and polished - a process that reduced its size by half but made it refract more brilliantly from its surface. Initially, Victoria wore the diamond as a brooch in public, before it became part of the Crown Jewels. It was mounted in the crown of Queen Alexandra, the wife of Edward VII, before later being mounted on the crown of Queen Mary, the wife of George V. But it found its current place in 1937, when it was mounted front and centre of the Queen Mother's crown, ahead of George VI's coronation. The Queen Mother was seen wearing the crown as she waved to crowds from the balcony at Buckingham Palace following the event. The crown made its last public appearance in 2002, resting atop of the coffin of the Queen Mother for her funeral. It is usually displayed at the Tower of London as part of the Crown Jewels collection, alongside the Sovereign Scepter with Cross, which contains the world's largest diamond, the Cullinan I, and Imperial State Crown, which holds the Cullinan II. Advertisement

Saurav Dutt, author and political commentator, told the Mail that any decision to include the diamond in next year's coronation ceremony would 'fly in the face' of any attempt by the Royal Family 'to draw a line under imperialism'.

He claimed: 'Ensuring the Koh-i-Noor remains front and centre in the public eye in this way flies in the face of any attempt by the Royal Family and political orthodoxies to draw a line under the dispossession, prejudice, plunder and exploitation that imperialism revelled in.

'Such a position is at odds with the modern, egalitarian stance the Royals seek to present themselves within a world that seeks to move on from the ugliest chapters of history that they benefited from.'

He added: 'In a pluralistic modern British society, the exhibitionism of this diamond in this way can only serve to outrage and remind society of the usurious relationship between India and Britain.

'Such a position is untenable as both parties strive to cut lucrative trade deals post-Brexit.

'From a public relations point of view, the unsavoury optics of cavorting around with this looted artifact must be outweighed by fostering improved relations between the ruler and the ruled.'

It comes as Downing Street says it is considering 'all options' to mark King Charles III's Coronation with a bank holiday amid growing calls for Britons to be given a special long weekend to mark next May's event.

The new monarch and his wife Camilla, the Queen Consort, will be crowned at an historic ceremony at Westminster Abbey on Saturday May 6 next year.

MPs have suggested the occasion could be marked by moving the early May bank holiday one week later to Monday May 8.

Some have even called for an extra bank holiday on top of the eight that are already scheduled for next year  those being January 2, April 7, April 10, May 1, May 29, August 28, December 25 and December 28.

Labour today said moving the early May day off would be a 'good idea', while Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg said a bank holiday would be 'appropriate' to mark the 'splendid historic' event.

No10 said the Government was 'carefully considering' the issue amid the clamour for a three-day weekend to celebrate the Coronation.

Prime Minister Liz Truss's official spokesman said: 'Obviously this will be a historic event. We are carefully considering our plans. All options remain on the table.'

Labour backed moving the May bank holiday to coincide with the Westminster Abbey event.

'That would certainly be a good way for the country to be able to celebrate the Coronation,' said a spokesman for party leader Sir Keir Starmer.

'Moving the May bank holiday that there is for that weekend would be a good idea.'

Earlier, Mr Rees-Mogg had said a bank holiday would be 'appropriate' to mark the 'splendid historic' occasion.

He told the BBC: 'I think that having a bank holiday for a coronation seems to me to be an eminently suitable thing to do. But there is a process that has to be gone through and it has to be approved ultimately by the Privy Council.

'When I was Lord President of the Council we had to approve bank holidays even when Christmas Day fell on a Saturday, to move it to the Monday.

'So bank holidays go through a splendid historic process, which I suppose is only appropriate for a splendid historic occasion like the Coronation.'

Which countries claims the Koh-i-Noor Diamond, and why? India India has the strongest claim to the Koh-i-Noor diamond. It is believed to have been mined from the Kollur Mine on the south bank of the Krishna River in central eastern India. The diamond was given to Queen Victoria in 1855 by 10 year-old Duleep Singh, the last emperor of the Sikhs. Although much has been made of the fact that it was 'given' to this country, critics point out that this was only after the mother of the ten-year old heir to the Punjabi throne was held prisoner and he was forced to sign it away. India has long campaigned for the return of the diamond, following its independence from British colonialism in 1947. In 1976 Britain refused a request to cede the diamond, citing the terms of the Anglo-Sikh peace treaty. And it has been a bone of contention between the British and Indian governments. During a 2010 visit to India, then British prime minister, David Cameron, told local media that the diamond would stay in Britain. He said: 'If you say yes to one [request], you suddenly find the British Museum would be empty,' Cameron said. 'I'm afraid it's going to have to stay put.' Narendra Modi's government attempted to put an end to the dispute in 2016 during a Supreme Court case on whether India should call for its return. 'It was neither stolen nor forcibly taken away,' India's solicitor general, Ranjit Kumar, told the court at the time. However the government then appeared to row back on the comments, saying that India's government would make all possible efforts to bring back the diamond. The Indian Supreme Court in 2017 dismissed a petition asking it to bring back to India. Calls for the diamond to be returned to India remerged last month following the Queen's death. Social media users called for its return, with Venkatesh Shukla starting a petition aiming to get 1 million signatures on LinkedIn, reminding the 'honourable country' UK to return the 'loot'. Pakistan Pakistan also claims the Koh-i-Noor. It claims the diamond was mined from a territory that became Pakistan after the separation of India and Pakistan following independent in 1947. The diamond was originally owned by the Kakatiya Dynasty, which had installed it in a temple of a Hindu goddess as her eye. Reportedly, in 1849, after the conquest of the Punjab by the British forces, the properties of the Sikh Empire were confiscated. The Koh-i-Noor was transferred to the treasury of the British East India Company in Lahore. The properties of the Sikh Empire were taken as war compensations. In 2016, barrister Javed Iqbal Jaffry made Pakistans claim to Lahore High Court in Pakistan. The court accepted a petition seeking direction to the government to bring back Koh-i-Noor from Britain. In 2019 Pakistan's Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry called for the diamond's return, saying it should be returned to Lahore museum. Afghanistan The Taliban also claims the Koh-i-Noor is the property of Afghanistan. Back in 2000, the group demanded its return, saying that the Queen should hand back the gem 'as soon as possible' so that it can be displayed in Kabul. The then Taliban's foreign affairs spokesman, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, said that the diamond was the 'legitimate property' of Afghanistan. 'The history of the diamond shows it was taken from us to India, and from there to Britain. We have a much better claim than the Indians,' he said. The diamond was taken by Mughal emperor Nader Shah from Delhi in the 1700s. And when Shah was assassinated in 1747, the diamond was taken by Afghan general Ahmad Shah Abdali and taken to Kabul. It was passed down to his son and grandson, Shah Shuja al-Mulk. When King Shah Shuja was deposed, he apparently gave the gem in 1813 to the man who freed him from prison, Dalip Singh's father, Maharajah Ranjit Singh. The Taliban say Singh, the governor of Lahore, stole the gem and returned it to India. Advertisement

If the Koh-i-Noor diamond symbolises anything, its that history is complex. By removing it from the Coronation, wed be rushing down a slippery slope writes PROFESSOR ROBERT TOMBS

By Professor Robert Tombs for the Daily Mail

Like the flicker of fire within a diamond, the prospect of a glorious Coronation for King Charles next spring is a sparkle of light in these gloomy times.

Something truly unique in the national calendar, a ceremonial event no other country in the world can match. This ought to be an uplifting prospect, one to unite the country and banish our woes.

How miserable it is, then  albeit sadly predictable  that a tiny minority of voices are already tarnishing the occasion by kicking up a fuss about one stone: that fabulous but controversial diamond, the Koh-i-Noor, meaning the Mountain of Light.

One of the grandest and most valuable gemstones in the world, it is the centrepiece of the dazzling Queen Mother crown.

According to royal sources, it had been the Kings long-held ambition, since he married Camilla in 2005, that she would wear this crown on his Coronation day.

In doing so, she would follow in the longstanding tradition set by Charless grandmother, Elizabeth; by King George VIs mother, Queen Mary, before her; and by Queen Alexandra in 1902.

As the Mail reports today, all signs suggest that tradition is now to be broken, with a different crown having to be selected instead  all thanks to the agitation of a motley crew of woke obsessives.

Duleep Singh travelled to Britain alone and presented the Koh-i-Noor gemstone to Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria felt uncomfortable wearing the stone due to its curse and rarely wore it apart from as a brooch (pictured)

The inevitable next step will likely be a clamour for the diamond to be returned to India, from where it was mined  in spite of the absence of any good historical reason, and regardless of the risks posed by setting such a precedent.

The Koh-i Noor, meaning the Mountain of Light is one of the grandest and most valuable gemstones in the world. It is the centrepiece of the dazzling Queen Mother crown (pictured)

To those who hate Britain and its history, the campaign is a simple one: they see the West as responsible for all the evils of the world, with the British Empire most guilty of all. And thus, any trace of that tainted past must be banished from our social fabric.

It is a campaign that has nothing to do with real history, and everything to do with the political agenda of todays liberal Establishment.

In their version of reality, slavery and imperial exploitation underpin all the UKs wealth and government. They claim Britains culture is founded on racism and that we must all be punished for the sins of the past.

And, worryingly, their influence over public institutions  from our museums, to academia and even our statues and street names  is growing fast, as this latest debacle over the Koh-i- Noor demonstrates.

Let me be clear: we must resist this pernicious nonsense.

The Palaces likely decision to remove the diamond from the Coronation is, in my opinion, deeply worrying. Because, once we concede that one artefact is a symbol of national guilt, well soon be rushing down a slippery slope.

The reality of the past is infinitely more complex than the woke mob would have you believe, of course.

History is steeped in injustice, slaughter, robbery and brutal power grabs. But it was never one-sided. To lay all the blame on one nation, or one race, is dishonest, especially when it also means denying the good that was done in the process.

My lifelong hope has been that, through a deeper understanding of the past, we will learn to make the present better.

The Palaces likely decision to remove the diamond from the Coronation is, in my opinion, deeply worrying

It truly saddens me to see ignorant or cynical partisans spreading falsehood under the cloak of history.

The best antidote is to examine the facts. And the facts about the Koh-i-Noor are particularly fascinating.

This enormous stone has been rumoured for centuries to bear a curse, first recorded by a court chronicler in 1628, when the diamond was set at the top of the Mughal Shah Jahans throne. This jewel-encrusted seat of power was sculpted to resemble a peacock with its brilliant tail spread like a kaleidoscopic fan.

It took an army of craftsmen seven years to make. The Koh-i-Noor, the size of a small hens egg and weighing just over 105.6 carats (21.2g, or about three quarters of an ounce) glowed in the birds head. Probably discovered about 1,000 years ago in the Kollur Mine in southern India, it is one of the worlds biggest gems.

According to royal sources, it had been the Kings long-held ambition, since he married Camilla in 2005, that she would wear this crown on his Coronation day. Pictured: Charles and Camilla attend the State Opening of Parliament in 2015

Queen Elizabeth (pictured here with the late Queen, her sister Margaret and King George VI) wore the crown without its arches at the State Openings of Parliament during the reign of King George VI, and again at the coronation of her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II, in 1953

Coronation oil's traditional recipe 'is cruel to African cats' with it extracted in 'traumatic and painful' process The Palace is under pressure over its traditional recipe for the oil used in coronations, because its ingredients are linked to cruelty to African cats. When King Charles III is crowned next May, he will be anointed with the liquid, which historically includes oil extracted from civets. Welfare groups say the substance is taken from the animals' glands in a 'traumatic and painful' process, during which some starve to death. It puts pressure on the eco-credentials of the new King, who is president of the World Wildlife Fund and patron of the Wildlife Trusts. The ancient recipe for the oil includes orange flowers, roses, jasmine, cinnamon, benzoin, civet oil and ambergris, a wax-like material from the stomach of a sperm whale. Although the latter is coughed up and collected on beaches, civet cats are often caged and kept in appalling conditions to glean their musk. A World Animal Protection investigation found that civets were caught in the wild and held in containers the size of cat boxes for up to 15 years in Ethiopia. They are kept next to a fire as the smoky, hot environment improves the amount of musk produced. The musk is extracted every nine to 15 days, with the animals being pinned by the neck while the oil is squeezed from the glands at the base of their tail. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) called on King Charles to intervene to remove the substance from the ancient recipe. Buckingham Palace has said the Coronation will combine the ancient and modern, adding that it will be 'rooted in longstanding traditions'. Advertisement

Somehow or other, in its half-forgotten past, a curse emerged from Hindu legend: He who owns this diamond will own the world but will also know all its misfortunes. Only God, or a woman, can wear it with impunity.

Just over a century later, in 1739, the Shah of Persia invaded India. After a battle that left 30,000 dead, he plundered the Mughals treasury and carried off the throne along with so much gold, silk and other riches that it took 700 elephants, 4,000 camels and 12,000 horses to transport it all.

Then, in 1813, the diamond changed hands again, when it was siezed by the Sikh ruler Ranjit Singh, styled the Maharajah of Lahore and the Lion of the Punjab. He died when his son, Duleep, was just five years old and, although his widow vainly attempted to hold his empire together, wars broke out.

By 1849, the British ruled the Punjab, and the Koh-i-Noor, sealed inside an iron safe within a red despatch box, was brought to the UK.

Contrary to George MacDonald Frasers hilarious 1990 novel Flashman And The Mountain Of Light  in which the protagonist smuggles the diamond and Duleep Singh out of India  Duleep travelled to Britain alone, and presented the gem to Queen Victoria personally.

The Queen, however, never much liked the stone. Neither did the general public. When it went on display at the Great Exhibition of 1851 an editorial in The Times complained that it looked like a piece of common glass.

Prince Albert ordered it to be recut, increasing its brilliance but reducing its size. But Queen Victoria, who could be superstitious, felt uncomfortable wearing it because of the curse.

She rarely touched it, though sometimes wore it as a brooch and ordered it should become part of the Crown Jewels on her death with the stipulation that no man must ever wear it.

If the Koh-i-Noor symbolises anything, it is that history is a complex business. Anyone casting an eye over the corkscrew provenance of the diamond will be struck by one question: if Britain does not own it, then who does?

The previous owners were the Sikh despot Ranjit and his family. But he was also ruler of Lahore, which is now the second largest city in Pakistan.

Does the diamond belong by rights to Sikhs in India, or to modern-day Pakistan?

Before Ranjit seized the diamond, it had been the property of the Persians in the mountain territories that now form part of Afghanistan. Perhaps the Taliban could have a claim over the Koh-i-Noor?

Plans for the Queen Consort to be crowned using regalia (pictured: The Queen Mother's Crown on her coffin while she lie in state in 2002) containing the controversial Koh-i-Noor diamond may be axed because of 'political sensitivities', it has been reported

Right at the start of this great tale, the Mughal Shah Jahans peacock throne stood in Delhi, which is partly why some people insist the diamond belongs to India although the Mughals were Muslim, and India is now run by a Hindu nationalist government.

But the fact is that giving away this priceless jewel to Delhi would do no practical good to the billion or more inhabitants of India.

It would, however, mark a hammering humiliation for Britain  and it would endanger innumerable other national treasures.

Hand over the Koh-i-Noor, and we would have no logical defence against campaigns to give the Elgin Marbles to Athens, the Benin Bronzes to West Africa, the Rosetta Stone to Egypt, and much more.

Collections would be scattered to the four corners of the earth. Museums would be stripped. Academics would lose the chance to study the most intriguing objects ever found.

Millions of ordinary people who flock to museums from around the world would never have the chance to see them.

And then, what next? The mob would turn on the next perceived historic wrong  likely something they have yet even to think of  and destroy that, too.

But the fact is, however much blood has been spilt over the Koh-i-Noor, as it changed hands throughout the centuries, the wrongs of the past can never be destroyed.

History, infinitely cruel and murderous, cannot be re-written.

We must respect the facts and stop this childish pretence that all the blame lies in the present.

Robert Tombs is Professor Emeritus of French History and fellow of St Johns College, Cambridge.

King Charles's coronation will be at Westminster Abbey on Saturday May 6: Monarch and Queen Consort Camilla will both be crowned in ceremony lasting just ONE hour on Harry and Meghan's son Archie's fourth birthday - but there's NO promise of a Bank Holiday

By Inderdeep Bains, Deputy Chief Reporter for the Daily Mail and Matthew Lodge for MailOnline

King Charles' Coronation will take place on May 6 next year with the Queen Consort being crowned alongside him, Buckingham Palace has revealed.

The new monarch will be officially crowned in what is expected to be a scaled back version of the ancient ceremony lasting just one hour and conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury at Westminster Abbey.

The event, which will see the eyes of the world once more turn onto the Britain, is set to take place on a Saturday scuppering the hopes of many who might have wished for a bank holiday to mark the occasion, as insiders claim it is 'unlikely' extra time off will be given.

It will also take place on the fourth birthday of Harry and Meghan's son, Archie, potentially causing a clash in the Sussex household if the King's second son is invited to the ceremony as is expected.

King Charles, 73, is said to want a more modest affair than is tradition with the event being cut down to less than an hour, the guest list slashed by a three quarters and a less formal dress code.

'The Coronation will reflect the monarch's role today and look towards the future, while being rooted in longstanding traditions and pageantry,' the Palace confirmed as it revealed the date.

The announcement comes amid much speculation that the momentous occasion is being slimmed down amid the cost of living crisis and to make way for a more streamlined, modern monarchy.

Palace insiders said that while the Coronation will include the same core elements of the traditional ceremony which has retained a similar structure for more than 1,000 years, it would recognise the 'spirit of our times'.

It is expected to be much 'smaller and simpler' than the three-hour spectacle of the late Queen's momentous Coronation in 1953.

Charles, then Prince of Wales, at the ceremonial state opening of Parliament at the Palace of Westminster on May 10, 2022

Palace insiders said that while the Coronation will include the same core elements of the traditional ceremony which has retained a similar structure for more than 1,000 years, it would recognise the 'spirit of our times'. It is expected to be much 'smaller and simpler' than the three-hour spectacle of the late Queen's momentous Coronation in 1953 (Pictured: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in her coronation dress and Robe of Estate holding the spectre and orb and and wearing the Imperial State Crown)

The Gold State Coach is seen on The Mall during the Platinum Jubilee Pageant in front of Buckingham Palace on June 5, 2022

Queen Elizabeth II receives the homage of her husband Prince Philip at her coronation in Westminster Abbey on June 2, 1953

Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh wave from Buckingham Palace on June 2, 1953 after her coronation in London

Royal fans wait on The Mall in London in the rain on June 1, 1953 for an all-night vigil ahead of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation

Prince Charles looks solemn as he stands chin on hand between the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret in the Royal Box at Westminster Abbey, from where he saw Queen Elizabeth II crowned on June 2, 1953

Queen Elizabeth II wears St Edward's Crown during her coronation in June 1953. This was the view as seen by television viewers immediately after the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Geoffrey Fisher, had placed the crown upon the Queen's head

Plans for the major event are known by the codename Operation Golden Orb, which sets out the blueprint for the service and the pageantry surrounding it.

They are expected to see the guestlist slashed from 8,000 to just 2,000 with a more relaxed dress code with peers possibly allowed to wear lounge suits rather than ceremonial robes.

What will happen stage by stage at King Charles's coronation in May 2023 The crowning of a sovereign is one of the most ancient ceremonies, and is deeply religious and steeped in pageantry. The Crown Jewels' coronation regalia will play a starring role when the King is crowned on Saturday May 6 next year in Westminster Abbey. There are six basic phases to the coronation: The recognition, the oath, the anointing, the investiture which includes the crowning, the enthronement and the homage. Here is what is expected to happen: Recognition: This rite dates back to ancient procedures of the Witan - the supreme council of England in Anglo-Saxon times. The sovereign stands in the theatre - the central space in Westminster Abbey - and turns to show himself 'unto the people' at each of the four directions - east, south, west and north. The Archbishop of Canterbury will proclaim Charles the 'undoubted King' and ask the congregation and choir to show their homage and service by crying out 'God Save King Charles', with the order of service urging them to do so with 'willingness and joy'. Coronation Oath: The form and wording of the oath has varied over the centuries. The King will promise to reign according to law, exercise justice with mercy and maintain the Church of England. The King, with the Sword of State carried before him, will go to the altar and declare: 'The things which I have here before promised, I will perform, and keep. So help me God.' He will kiss the Bible and sign the Oath. The Anointing: After the oath, the sovereign is then 'anointed, blessed and consecrated' by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The anointing with holy oil is the central act of the religious ceremony. The King will remove his crimson robe and sit in King Edward's chair, which was made in 1300 and has been used by every monarch since 1626, under a canopy of silk or cloth of gold held by four Knights of the Garter. The archbishop will use the golden eagle-shaped ampulla - which pours the oil from its beak - and the 12th century silver-gilt anointing spoon which is the most ancient treasure of the Crown Jewels, to anoint the King in the form of a cross. Traditionally the choir sings the anthem Zadok The Priest at the anointing is carried out. Under the chair is expected to be the Stone of Destiny. The ancient, sacred symbol of Scotland's monarchy which was once captured by King Edward I of England now only leaves Edinburgh Castle for coronations. Investiture including the Crowning: Having been sanctified, the sovereign puts on a sleeveless white garment - the Colobium Sindonis - and then a robe of cloth of gold - the Supertunica. The King is presented with a jewelled sword and the golden spurs - the symbol of chivalry - and the armills - golden bracelets of sincerity and wisdom. He will put on the Robe Royal of gold cloth and will be presented with the orb, the coronation ring on the fourth finger of his right hand, the sceptre and the rod. Then Charles, sitting in King Edward's Chair, will be crowned by the archbishop with St Edward's Crown, with the congregation shouting out 'God Save the King'. Enthroning: After a blessing, the King will go to his throne and be 'lifted up into it by the archbishops and bishops, and other peers of the kingdom'. Homage: The archbishop, royal blood princes - likely to include the Prince of Wales - and senior peers pay homage to the monarch, placing their hands between the King's and swearing allegiance, touching the crown and kissing the King's right hand. The House of Commons does not pay homage. The Queen's Coronation: Camilla as Queen Consort will also be crowned, in a similar but simpler ceremony which follows the Homage. After Charles's marriage to Camilla, the royal family's website added the get-out clause 'unless decided otherwise' to the phrase: 'A Queen consort is crowned with the King, in a similar but simpler ceremony.' At George VI's coronation, Queen Elizabeth was anointed and crowned. She knelt down with the archbishop pouring holy oil on the crown of her head, and the Queen's Ring was placed on her hand, and her crown on her head. Her coronation crown was made especially for the 1937 coronation and features the famous but controversial Koh-i-noor diamond. She was presented with a sceptre and the ivory rod with the dove, before rising to sit in her own throne, after bowing 'reverently' to her husband. Advertisement

Ancient and time-consuming rituals - including presenting the monarch with gold ingots - are also set to be axed to save time.

However, the Prince of Wales is expected to play a prominent role in the occasion  the first time an heir will participate in the proceedings in three generations.

Charles was just four when his mother was crowned and the late Queen was 11 at the time of her father's coronation  as children neither played a formal role.

In contrast Prince William  aged 40 and a full-fledged working royal  is expected to be an eminent figure at the event.

The Coronation is being held slightly earlier than was anticipated - it was first rumoured to be taking place on the 70th anniversary of the late Queen's coronation in June.

It is also taking place on a Saturday - Coronations have not traditionally been held on a weekend with the late Queen's held on a Tuesday.

It is believed to be unlikely there will be a bank holiday to allow the nation to celebrate, with the royal household and the government said to be mindful of the potential cost to the economy amid the cost-of-living crisis.

Guest lists have yet to be confirmed for the spectacle, including whether or not the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be invited or be able to travel from California to attend.

The date clashes with the birthday of their son Archie - Charles's grandson - who will be turning four on the day.

The date was also the wedding anniversary of the late Queen's sister Princess Margaret, while the King's grandfather George VI held his coronation in the month of May.

Charles is expected to sign a proclamation formally declaring the date of the coronation at a meeting of the Privy Council later this year.

Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams says the date itself will have been chosen after consultation with 'the Government, the Church of England and the Royal Household'.

He said: 'May 6th is also the birthday of Archie, the son of Harry and Meghan, who will be four on that date. King Charles was four when he attended the coronation in 1953, which was very young, but he was the future king and it was important for him to attend.

'It is a fact that since their departure Harry and Meghan have never taken any notice if their events clashed with the activities of other members of the royal family. Also, titles, which should automatically be given to both Archie and Lili under the 1917 Protocols have still to be confirmed. The fact that the date is also Archie's birthday means a good deal of attention will be given to all this by the press.

'The event, the first coronation for over 70 years in the last major country in Europe to have one, will undoubtedly be magnificent. Obviously it will be very different from its predecessor in 1953 and it will be exciting to read how in the coming months. This is a pivotal event in the world's most high profile monarchy and hopefully the Sussexes will be happy to attend as Harry's father, the longest serving Prince of Wales in history, is finally crowned king.'

The King acceded to the throne on September 8, immediately on the death of his mother, Elizabeth II - the nation's longest reigning monarch.

The late Queen's coronation was a carnival of celebration and a morale boost for a nation starved of pageantry in the wake of the Second World War.

Royal watchers had hoped for a similar display of pomp which would draw in viewers and visitors from around the globe.

But King Charles is said to favour a simpler ceremony to reflect his wish for a slimmed-down, modern monarchy, while retaining some of the drama and dignity that accompanied the Queen's funeral.

But Palace insiders have insisted that the smaller ceremony will not be devoid or pageantry.

During the ancient Ceremony, the Sovereign is 'anointed, blessed and consecrated' by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Many will witness for the first time a new monarch take thee oath to 'maintain and preserve inviolably the settlement of the Church of England, and the doctrine worship, discipline, and government thereof, as the law established in England'.

Having been sanctified, the sovereign will then be presented with a jewelled sword and the golden spurs - the symbol of chivalry - and the armills - golden bracelets of sincerity and wisdom.

He will put on the Robe Royal of gold cloth and will be presented with the orb, the coronation ring on the fourth finger of his right hand, the sceptre and the rod.

Then Charles, sitting in King Edward's Chair which was made in 1300 and has been used by every monarch since 1626, will be crowned by the Archbishop with St Edward's Crown, with the congregation shouting out 'God Save the King'.

After a blessing, the King will go to his throne and be 'lifted up into it by the archbishops and bishops, and other peers of the kingdom'.

The archbishop, royal blood princes - likely to include the Prince of Wales - and senior peers will then pay homage to the monarch by placing their hands between the King's and swearing allegiance, touching the crown and kissing the King's right hand.

The Queen Consort will also be crowned in similar and simpler ceremony and take her place on a throne.

The Duke of Norfolk, who organised the Queen's funeral, will have the role of staging the King's coronation.

While there are concerns the King's wishes for a stripped back ceremony would not do the Royal Family justice or would be a missed opportunity to showcase Britain on the world stage, there are others who would be unhappy at the sight of such pomp and circumstance in the current economic climate.

Royal author Robert Lacey told BBC News: 'Will Britain, at a time of homelessness and restricted benefits and energy prices going up, really cheer to the rafters the sight of a head of state riding in a golden coach? 'There are others who will say, 'That's just what we want'.'

Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles, Princess Anne and the Duke of Edinburgh after the coronation on June 2, 1953

Queen Elizabeth II riding with the Duke of Edinburgh in the State Coach through Trafalgar Square on the way from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey for her coronation on June 2, 1953

Queen Elizabeth II wearing the Coronation dress in the Throne Room at Buckingham Palace after her coronation in June 1953

Queen Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother), Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II), Princess Margaret and King George VI after his coronation on the balcony of Buckingham Palace in London on May 12, 1937

The then Duke and Duchess of York in a carriage on The Mall leaving for Westminster Abbey, for the Coronation ceremony, after which they became King George VI and Queen Elizabeth on May 12, 1937

King George VI and Queen Elizabeth with their daughters Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret Rose after the coronation of The Duke of York as King George VI on May 12, 1937

Soldiers from various infantry and cavalry regiments of the Indian Army seated with members of the British public on the Queen Victoria Memorial on The Mall on the afternoon of the Coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in May 1937

King George VI and Queen Elizabeth after the coronation of the Duke of York as King George VI on May 12, 1937

Social media users ask 'when is the bank holiday?' after date announcement With the announcement that King Charles III's coronation will take place on a Saturday, many people have been left wondering whether there will be a bank holiday to mark the event. There was a bank holiday for the Queen's funeral last month, as that was held on a Monday, but plans for a bank holiday for Charles's coronation have not been confirmed yet. However, anyone hoping for any extra time off might be disappointed with the Mirror reporting ministers have agreed it's 'highly unlikely' there will be a bank holiday. The disappointment has been tangible for some, with users on social media venting their frustration. @shanss6_ wrote: 'Charles' coronation is on a Saturday? Charlie come on man what's this? No cheeky bank holiday.' @clndnl added: 'Coronation on a Saturday?? Where's the bank holiday spirit Charles.' @_Mxarzz said: 'Charles coronation is on a Saturday??? What a scam I want a bank holiday smh, then again I'll probably be working that day too.' @elleturpitt wrote: 'Did King Charles seriously screw us out of an extra Bank Holiday?' While @spiropyran said: 'They've put Charles' coronation on a Saturday to avoid a bank holiday COWARDS.' Advertisement

When Queen Elizabeth II was crowned in 1953 there was a carnival of celebration as millions rejoiced in the display which provided a morale boost to a nation on its knees after the war.

For a day, street parties banished the hardship of post-war rationing and shortages, and even atrocious, unseasonal weather could not dampen the enthusiasm.

People began to bed down in the streets of London as early as 48 hours before Tuesday June 2 1953, just to make sure they had a standing place to watch the Queen pass by.

By Monday evening, in pouring rain and driving wind, half a million people were already lining the procession route.

The public were not the only ones making preparations.

In a tribute, Charles - now King - paid to his mother on her 80th birthday, he recalled the night before the big day when he was four years old.

'I have vivid memories of the coronation; of my mother coming to say goodnight to my sister and me while wearing the crown so that she could get used to its weight on her head before the coronation ceremony; of thousands of people gathered in The Mall outside Buckingham Palace chanting 'We want the Queen' and keeping me awake at night,' he said.

Despite initial reservations, the Queen eventually agreed to the TV cameras being present in Westminster Abbey to capture the event.

Licence holders doubled from one and a half million to three million in anticipation and many people rented a set for the day.

An estimated 27 million people in Britain alone watched the coronation live on their black and white televisions and the images were beamed around the world.

At Buckingham Palace after the ceremony, the Queen, wearing her crown, and Philip appeared on the balcony with the other members of the royal family.

Their children, Charles and Anne, were greeted with great excitement by the crowds.

In her broadcast address to the nation the same evening, the young Queen thanked the public for their support.

All of you, near or far, have been united in one purpose. It is hard for me to find words in which to tell you of the strength which this knowledge has given me,' she said.

She added: 'I have in sincerity pledged myself to your service, as so many of you are pledged to mine.

'Throughout all my life and with all my heart I shall strive to be worthy of your trust.'

The night came to an end as hundreds of thousands on Victoria Embankment watched a spectacular coronation fireworks display.

Organisers and royals will be hoping for a similarly effusive display of affection from the public in less than seven months when the King is crowned.
The woman claims former headmaster, William 'Bill' Wyman, stalked and groped her in the 1980s. He died in 2014

A former student of the elite California boarding school Thacher has accused the school of allowing her to be openly molested by its headmaster, then expelling her when she reported it.

The woman, whose name has not been made public due to the nature of her claim, attended the $68,000-a-year school in Ojai in 1982.

Now 53, she claims the headmaster at the time, William Bill Wyman, groped her breasts and gave her 'special attention' when she was just 13.

She said he often followed her from her dorm to the stables where she tended to her horse, 'stroking' her inappropriately and making sexual remarks.

Speaking at a virtual press conference on Wednesday, she described how Wyman 'stalked' her from her dorm room to the stables, and how other staff intervened if he 'got too close in public.'

Wyman died in 2014 from lung cancer so cannot be prosecuted or questioned over the claims.

But the woman alleges that Thacher failed to protect her and other students by allowing the alleged abuse.

She also claims that she was sexually abused by a female nurse who inserted a thermometer into her anus every hour during an overnight visit to the infirmary.

Her complaint comes after a damning, 91-page report last year uncovered decades of sexual abuse at the private school.

I was 13 when I arrived at Thacher in the fall of 1982. I was an outgoing girl with good grades and was looking forward to a life of horses, making new friends and escaping an unhappy home environment which I now see made me a target of abuse Jane Doe

The report found that staff and some students guilty of sexual abuse against female students. It also described how the abuse was covered up by school administrators.

The new complaint is the first lawsuit to be filed against Thacher.

The woman, going by Jane Doe, spoke anonymously at the press conference on Wednesday.

'I was 13 when I arrived at Thacher in the fall of 1982.

'I was an outgoing girl with good grades and was looking forward to a life of horses, making new friends and escaping an unhappy home environment which I now see made me a target of abuse.

'I soon garnered the special attention of the schools headmaster. He would put his arms around me, hug me and call me his "special girl."

The $68,000-a-year Thacher School in Ojai, California. A damning report last year uncovered decades of sexual abuse by staff that was covered up

The former student has hired prolific attorney Gloria Allred to represent her against the school. Allred told DailyMail.com that she invites any other former student of Thacher to contact her office if they believe they too have been the victim of sexual abuse

Sherman Day Thacher, the school's founder. According to a previous complaint, one of his direct descendants choked a girl at the school but it was covered up

'This escalated with increased touching and groping of my breasts and body.

'He had a pattern of stalking me when I made my way from my dorm to the horse stables.

'When I complained to faculty, I was told he was being friendly or grandfatherly and not to worry about it,' she said.

In the complaint, she describes how Wyman pressed his 'erect penis' against her after approaching her on her way to the school's barn.

Jane Doe alleges that she was then molested by a nurse while being held 'against her will' in the infirmary one night.

After her sophomore year in 1983, she was told she could not come back to the school, she says.

She has hired prolific attorney Gloria Allred to represent her against the school.

Allred told DailyMail.com that she invites any other former student of Thacher to contact her office if they believe they too have been the victim of sexual abuse.

The head of the school, Blossom Pidduck, resigned last year as a result of the damning report.

She said at the time that she too was a survivor of sexual assault, and that the report had resurfaced 'realizations' for her.

Pidduck attended the school herself as a girl. Her husband teaches in the environmental science department. Thacher has not yet responded to the allegations in the lawsuit.

Among its notable alumni is the English actress Joely Richardson and actor Jonathan Tucker.
The Treasury Department's IG has begun a probe of Florida's use of funds generated by federal coronavirus relief to pay for Gov. Ron DeSantis' flight of migrants to liberal Martha's Vineyard.

The Inspector General revealed in a letter to lawmakers that its audit is already underway, and confirmed that he is reviewing the 'allowability' of Florida's move  which relied on interest earned on unspent relief funds sitting in a state account. The money was originally provided as part of President Biden's American Rescue Plan

'As part of its oversight responsibilities for the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund, The Treasury Office of the Inspector General has audit work planned on recipients' compliance with eligible use guidance,' the IG wrote in an Oct. 7 letter to state lawmakers.

'In addition, as part of our oversight work of the Coronavirus Relief Fund established by the CARES Act, we have already sought information from Florida about appropriate use of that fund,' wrote Deputy IG Richard Delmar.

The Treasury's inspector general is auditing the use of money derived from federal covid relief funds in Florida to pay for transporting Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Martha's Vineyard, Mass. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis cheered the move as a challenge to President Biden's immigration policies

The letter indicated the IG's office was taking a look at an accounting move that DeSantis highlighted in defending the controversial move, which resulted in howls of protest from Democrats including President Biden, who called it 'unAmerican' and said it was 'playing politics with people's lives.'

'We will review the allowability of use of [State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund] funds related to immigration generally, and will specifically confirm whether interest earned on SLFRF funds was utilized by Florida related to immigration activities, and if so, what conditions and limitations apply to such use,' the IG wrote.

The letter was in response to lawmakers including Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Ed Markey, who asked if DeSantis had improperly used the funds to fly the migrants to the Vineyard, after drawing the money from a State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund.

Markey tweeted Tuesday that the IG will probe the transport effort to 'use of Covid relief funds to cruelly transport immigrants from Texas to Martha's Vineyard under false pretenses and without any consideration for their personal dignity or basic needs.'

Migrants gather after being flown in from Texas on a flight funded by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis at Edgartown, Massachusetts, U.S. September 15, 2022

epa10186294 Maria Corina, of the American Business Immigration Coalition, speaks against the relocation of migrants to Martha's Vineyard during a press conference, in Doral, Florida, USA, 15 September 2022. Around 50 migrants from Venezuela were sent from Miami to Martha's Vineyard

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) sought the probe and called the DeSantis move an effort to 'cruelly transport immigrants from Texas'

President Biden (seen here with DeSantis) called the flights 'unAmerican' and said it was 'playing politics with people's lives.'

The IG's office responded to a group of Democratic lawmakers

The deputy IG said his office was looking at the 'allowability' of the use of relief funds for immigration

The deputy IG wrote that he was 'monitoring' judicial challenges to the use of the funds, a reference to a class-action lawsuit.

In addition, the sheriff of Bejar County, Texas, Javier Salazar, has said he is probing the move.

He said his office was investigating whether migrants were 'lured under false pretenses' with a recruiter who lined up the air passengers getting a 'bird dog fee.'

DeSantis cheered the move after the state transported nearly 50 Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Martha's Vineyard aboard two chartered aircraft.

It came as DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott of blasted the Biden administration for losing control of the border, and blasted 'sanctuary cities.' Abbott has bussed thousands of migrants from Texas to Chicago, New York, and Washington, D.C. outside Vice President Kamala Harris' official residence.

Migrants who arrived in Massachusetts carried pamphlets promising work and services, although many appeared not to know where they were and federal officials had not been notified of their arrival in advance.

A state budget that DeSantis signed this summer appropriated $12 million 'to facilitate the transport of unauthorized aliens from this state.'
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Police have arrested dozens of protesters after Insulate Britain and Just Stop Oil eco zealots descended on Westminster today.

Insulate Britain - who caused chaos for motorists last year - blocked the route to Westminster as they attempted to disrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss's trip to Parliament.

In the 12th consecutive day of demonstrations, at least 27 people were arrested after eco-warriors blocked the roads around Parliament Square.

Met Police said they were all arrested for public order offences - including one who had to be carried down on a stretcher after he climbed on top of a police van.

It came as commissioner Sir Mark Rowley told the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee that officers have to wait until protests are deemed to meet a legal threshold of causing major disruption before they can be shut down.

His officers are in touch with Transport for London, local councils and the emergency services several times per day to check the level of disruption caused.

Sir Mark said: 'Over the last 11 days, all of those partners have been of a view that it doesn't cause serious disruption.'

He went on: 'As soon as we have evidence of that serious disruption either being crossed as a line, or a good prospect of it being crossed, we'll start being more assertive with our powers.'

So far there have been 338 arrests, mainly supporters of Just Stop Oil, but also a few of Animal Rebellion.

Sir Mark said: 'This has been a really difficult operation over the 11 days so far. And it annoys me how much it's taking away from policing local communities.

'In 11 days we have put 2,156 officer days into doing this, so that's a couple of hundred per day roughly.

'That's an enormous amount of policing resources that aren't tackling issues that matter to local communities, aren't dealing with knife crime, aren't dealing with violence against women and girls.'

Susan Hall, the Conservative chairwoman of the committee, also claimed that police officers were allegedly handing cups of tea to protesters, The Times reported.

Sir Mark said he was not aware of that and added: 'I hope we're not doing that, I agree with you it's not our responsibility.'

Activist from 'Insulate Britain' is tackled by a police officer after the group staged a sit down in Parliament Square in London

One protestor climbed on top of a police car and refused to climb down as Insulate Britain attempted to close down Parliament Square

The man held up a sign which said 'I want to be able to say to my daughter that I did everything I could' while police removed him

The demonstrator had to be removed by police with a stretcher and ropes and was one of at least 27 demonstrators arrested

The last protestor to be escorted away by police was climate activist Reverend Sue Parfitt, who has been involved in several other demonstrations

Police surrounded the dozens of protestors who blocked Parliament Square earlier today and staged another protest outside Downing Street

Metropolitan Police said the last protestors were cleared away from Parliament Square at 2pm today

A officer looks on as Insulate Britain activists block the road outside the Houses of Parliament during a protest in London

Insulate Britain have emerged from their hibernation to strike the capital in an unexpected demonstration this morning

Just Stop Oil Groups have asked people to join them in protest every day in the month of October in their big campaign

An Insulate Britain protester, whose group has done no activities all year, is carried by four police officers from the scene

Members of the media and public film as police detain a protester outside the Houses of Parliament earlier on today

Police stand next to Insulate Britain protestors as they block the middle of the road outside the Houses of Parliament

Getting stuck into it: Police wearing rubber gloves toil to try and foil the protesters' tactics of gluing themselves to locations

One of the protesters is seen handcuffed by the police but seems so relaxed about it he has decided to have a lie down

The 'heroes' who tried to stop eco-zealots causing mischief across Britain OCTOBER 11, 2022: White van man ploughs through Just Stop Oil mob while taxi driver drags protesters off the road An irate van driver forced his vehicle through a wall of Just Stop Oil in London as fed-up motorists ripped banners and dragged activists off the road by hand in extraordinary scenes. The angry van driver was filmed slowly driving into the activists to make it through, forcing them to move away from his vehicle. A man drags a Just Stop Oil protester from the road in Knightsbridge A stuck Westminster City Council binman shouted: 'You've got nothing better to do, get a job, you mugs, come on it's enough, we're just the f***ing workers, you clowns, f***ing idiots, you just sit there like a bunch of lemons.' One taxi driver was filmed saying: 'How do I pay my bills? I've got one of these, an electric taxi. I paid 70,000 for that. I'm doing my bit, so why do you stop me?' The activist's answer could not be heard, but the driver replied: 'What you're asking for is years and years and years away, it won't happen overnight. How stupid are you?' OCTOBER 7, 2022: Hero Selfridges shopper tries to stop Animal Rebellion protest A Selfridges shopper had a go at stopping an Animal Rebellion protest after an activist was filmed pouring milk over the floor of the high-end London department store. The onlooker could be seen during the video trying to block the protester as she walked away, catching her neck with his outstretched arm. The activists were then escorted to the exit by security staff. The Animal Rebellion protesters carried out a milk-based demonstration at Selfridges on Oxford Street The protest at Selfridges infuriated onlookers, with one person off-camera asking an employee: 'Do you guys not intervene?'. The member of staff replied: 'We're not allowed to.' Another onlooker said: 'F***ing ashamed of yourselves.' As the activists finally started to leave the store, the man said: 'Yeah, t*ss off, now. B***er off.' JULY 1, 2022: Hero gallery worker who silence ranting eco-zealots glued to JMW Turner painting A hero gallery worker silenced ranting eco-zealots after they glued themselves to a painting hung in Manchester Art Gallery. A hero gallery worker silenced ranting eco-zealots after they glued themselves to a painting hung in Manchester Art Gallery After dousing a hand each with glue, the two men from the campaign group Just Stop Oil wearing orange t-shirts with the words 'Just Stop Oil' written in black on their fronts both placed a hand on either side of the frame surrounding Thomson's Aeolian Harp, a piece from 1809 by the English Romantic painter JMW Turner. Spray painted on the floor read the words, 'no new oil'. A female member of staff at Manchester Art Gallery cut the protester short, saying: 'I'm not interested. No. No. No. You've defaced our property...I don't want to hear a word of what you've got to say. 'So please, give us some respect by just keeping quiet...Let this be a silent protest.' OCTOBER 13, 2021: School run mother who used her Range Rover to 'nudge' Insulate Britain eco-mob Mother-of-two Sherrilyn Speid was on the school run in October last year when Insulate Britain zealots blocked the M25. Infuriated, she used her 80,000 Range Rover to 'nudge' a protester. But the 35-year-old, of Grays, Essex, became an unlikely hero after she was filmed losing her temper at the hardline tactics of the eco warriors who had spent weeks blocking roads. Mother-of-two Sherrilyn Speid was on the school run in October last year when Insulate Britain zealots blocked the M25 Advertisement

Police said they had removed all of the protestors by early this afternoon, many of whom had glued themselves to the road.

The last protester, Reverend Sue Parfitt, 80, was removed at 2.07pm and traffic is now flowing freely past Parliament after the activists blocked two lanes of the road at 11.39am.

The activists were given safety goggles while a chemical solution was applied by officers to detach the glue.

Police were able to keep one lane of traffic open throughout the demonstration - timed to coincide with today's PMQs - allowing drivers to continue towards Lambeth Bridge.

Yesterday in Knightsbridge, a woman with the activists said: 'We've got eight years of reserves of oil already, we don't need more, we don't need to take more.' But the man said: 'Yeah, you can't do this - and it doesn't happen overnight, does it?'

After police had arrived on the scene, a police liaison officer told the group: 'Are you intending to stay here until you get removed by officers and arrested?' A woman replied: 'Yes, or you can get them to stop new oil licences.'

The police officer calmly continued: 'I can't do anything about that, but what I can ask you to do is ask you to move out the road and protest in a more safe and appropriate location. Is anyone willing to do that?'

One man filmed another police officer as he confronted her about the protesters sat in the road. She told him: 'I don't appreciate you shouting at me right now.' He replied: 'I'm not shouting, no, we're not going to do that, my love, please, handle your business, handle your business, my love.' The officer replied: 'We are, we're here.'

The junction is a major traffic interchange for those driving in or out of Central London to and from the west of the city, and is located close to the Harrods department store, Knightsbridge Underground station and Hyde Park.

The van driver's identity is not known, but his vehicle carried the branding of Archers, a design and manufacturing facility for signage based in Isleworth, West London. MailOnline has contacted the company for comment.

After ambulances and fire engines struggled to get through, Number 10 said any disruption to the emergency services' work is 'unacceptable'. The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: 'These sorts of protests that disrupt peoples' daily lives or, indeed, can stop our emergency services from potentially saving lives are unacceptable.

'That's why we've already toughened powers for the police, we've given them new powers to act and we are also taking further powers through the House at the moment to ensure they can go even further in preventing these individuals from disrupting peoples' lives.'

Asked about the PM's view on members of the people intervening to drag protesters off roads, he added: 'We can understand the public's frustration with their lives being disrupted in this way. But clearly it is for the police to respond in the first instance to these sorts of protests and this sort of disruption and that's what we'd recommend.'

But Just Stop Oil - which normally has a policy of letting through the emergency services - also tweeted a video showing protesters moving out of the way of a fire engine, saying they had 'paused' the roadblock for the vehicle.

A London Fire Brigade spokesman said: 'Crews were on their way to an automatic fire alarm sounding on Foley Street in Fitzrovia. Five fire engines were sent to the scene, with an appliance from Soho Fire Station the first to arrive. Firefighters investigated and found no fire.

'An appliance from Kensington Fire Station was temporarily stopped by a road block and arrived within 14 minutes of being called. We work closely with our local authority and emergency service partners whenever there are road closure proposals to minimise impact on our service. However, given the nature of the event crews had no prior warning of the roadblock.'

Just Stop Oil put out a press release about the action this morning, quoting Holly Exley, 34, a freelance illustrator from Bristol, who said: 'The reality is that there can be no new oil and gas if we want a safe future, but the UK government wants to extract and sell 'every last drop' from the North Sea.

'Their plans will make climate breakdown, mass suffering and loss of life inevitable unless good people rise up and resist. Right now a very small group of people are making huge sacrifices, risking their wellbeing and their liberty to resist new oil and gas. It's time for everyone to stand up and pick a side.'

Naomi Goddard, 58, a parish clerk from Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire, said: 'I work in a conservative, law-abiding profession so the decision to take direct action with Just Stop Oil was not an easy one.

'The reality is that we have less than three years to avoid climate catastrophe, but our government is failing to act and now Liz Truss is planning to grant over 100 new fossil fuel licences rather than encouraging renewable energy.

'I just couldn't keep my eyes tight shut against what was happening any longer. I know that I risk losing my freedom, my job and my friends by doing this but I also know deep in my heart that taking action at this time is absolutely the right thing to do.'

Graham Lowe, 68, an artist and art tutor from Lancaster, said: 'I have no choice but to resist, this government is once again putting profit before people.

'After a summer of global drought, record temperatures and millions made homeless by unprecedented floods in Pakistan, we have to stand up to the government and say no to new fossil fuels. There is no greater threat to the wellbeing of billions of people than complacency at this time. '

And Kathy Dolan, 48, a council worker from Trafford in Greater Manchester, said: 'I can't stand by while our government chooses destructive self-interest over a liveable future, and, for the global south, a liveable present. We're out of time. I will resist, my conscience won't let me do anything else.'

A Just Stop oil spokesman said today: 'This is not a one day event, this is an act of resistance against a criminal government and their genocidal death project.

'Our supporters will be returning - today, tomorrow and the next day - and the next day after that - and every day until our demand is met: no new oil and gas in the UK.

'We will not be intimidated by changes to the law, we will not be stopped by private injunctions sought to silence peaceful people. Our supporters understand that these are irrelevant when set against mass starvation, slaughter, the loss of our rights, freedoms and communities.'

It comes after about 25 activists were arrested by police yesterday following a blockade of The Mall outside Buckingham Palace, with the disruption lasting just over two hours before they were eventually all removed.

Police are unable to move protesters until they are judged to be causing 'significant disruption', a fine line that needs crossing

Insulate Britain spokesman Liam Norton can be seen being arrested by the police after the Insulate Britain protest today

What a carry-on! Police lift up this lady and take her to be put into a police van after she is arrested over the disruption

A large number of police officers could be seen lifting up one woman who had participated in the Insulate Britain demo

Members of the police detain a protester as Insulate Britain activists block the road outside the Houses of Parliament during a protest in London

Climate activists from Insulate Britain take part in a demonstration at the back of Downing Street on Horse Guards Parade

A man rips a Just Stop Oil banner away from protesters as they block a road in Knightsbridge in West London on Tuesday

Just Stop Oil protesters take to the streets of London yesterday morning as they block a road in exclusive Knightsbridge

Police officers take away a Just Stop Oil protester involved in the action at Knightsbridge in West London yesterday

TODAY -- Police officers watch over Just Stop Oil protesters as they block a road in Knightsbridge in West London yesterday

Just Stop Oil protesters take to the streets of London yesterday as they block a road in exclusive Knightsbridge

A further eight protesters were arrested after carrying out sit-down protests outside Downing Street yesterday.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said of the 33 people arrested: 'All were arrested for wilful obstruction of the highway and have been taken to a number of custody suites where they remain at the moment.'

The protesters outside the royal residence, who had travelled from Scotland, said they felt the need to act after the UK Government gave its backing last month to an expansion of oil and gas operations in the North Sea.

The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) is expected to undertake a new round of oil and gas licensing this month, but one of yesterday's protesters described this 'a death sentence for all of us here'.

YESTERDAY -- Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall near Buckingham Palace

OCTOBER 9 -- Protesters block the road in a demonstration at Piccadilly Circus in London

OCTOBER 8 -- A man is removed by police during a Just Stop Oil protest at Green Park

OCTOBER 7 -- Just Stop Oil activists block Vauxhall Bridge Road in Central London last week

OCTOBER 6 -- Just Stop Oil activists at Trafalgar Square in London as their protests continue

OCTOBER 5 -- Police speak to Just Stop Oil protesters block a road leading into Westminster

OCTOBER 4 -- Climate activists from Just Stop Oil block the roads around Parliament Square

OCTOBER 3 -- Police try to move Just Stop Oil protesters blocking roads in Trafalgar Square

OCTOBER 2 -- Police watch as Just Stop Oil of protesters occupy Waterloo Bridge in London

OCTOBER 1 -- Activists occupy Parliament Square as Just Stop Oil carry out more protests

However Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said the licensing could lead to more than 100 new licences being granted, which he claimed could 'safeguard' UK energy supplies and support more than 70,000 jobs in Scotland.

A Government spokesman said: 'We remain fully committed to reaching net zero by 2050 and the UK is forging ahead of many other countries on net zero - with 40 per cent of our power now coming from cleaner and cheaper renewable sources.

'But with Russia weaponising energy across Europe, we must make sure we do so in a way that protects energy security, by boosting homegrown energy supply and reducing our dependence on foreign imports.

'This includes increasing domestic gas supply, which we've always been clear will have a role in our transition to net zero. But we will also continue to drive forward our commitments on nuclear and renewables like offshore wind.'
Haslett is being held on a $500,000 bond as he faces charges of first-degree rape, first-degree kidnapping and second-degree assault

The woman escaped on Friday, and was found wearing latex lingerie and a metal collar soldered around her neck with a padlock that restricted her breathing

Haslett then allegedly brought the woman to his home nearby, where she says she was kept in a small room he built in his basement

She told police that he picked her up from Prospect Street in Excelsior Springs, Missouri at the beginning of September

The unidentified victim shared in excruciating detail how she had been raped and beaten by 39-year-old Timothy Haslett Jr for nearly a month

A woman was held for a month as a sex slave with a metal collar soldered to her neck - and only escaped when her abuser took his son to school, court documents reveal.

The unidentified 22-year-old told in excruciating detail how she had been raped and beaten by 39-year-old Timothy Haslett Jr for almost a month straight after he picked her up from Prospect Street in Excelsior Springs, Missouri at the beginning of September.

He then allegedly brought the woman to his home nearby, where she says she was kept in a small room he had built in his basement.

For nearly a month, the woman claimed, Haslett whipped and raped her multiple times while she was restrained with handcuffs on her wrists and ankles.

She said she was only able to escape the horror house on Friday after Haslett brought his son to school.

The victim also told police that there were potentially two other victims, according to The Kansas City Star, though that has yet to be confirmed.

It remains unclear how the woman was able to escape captivity, and whether she knew her abuser beforehand.

Excelsior Springs police have declined to comment as Haslett continues to face charges of first-degree rape, first-degree kidnapping and second-degree assault.

Haslett, who works as a contractor for construction company M&H Contractors, pleaded not guilty to the charges in Clark County Circuit Court on Tuesday, when he was assigned a public defender.

He is now being held at the Clay County Detention Center on a $500,000 bond.

A 22-year-old woman who was allegedly held as a sex slave for nearly a month said she was only able to escape when Timothy Haslett Jr., 39, took his child to school on Friday

The victim was able to point out the house she said she was being held captive in as EMS crews transported her to a local hospital on Friday

Lisa Johnson, who lives in the neighborhood, first spotted the emaciated woman covered with bruises as she struggled to crawl up her porch steps on Friday.

'She didn't have much of a voice,' Johnson told KSHB News. 'It was more of a light "help me" than anything.'

Johnson rushed to call the police as the captive woman insisted 'he'd kill [them] both' before she fled to a different neighbor's home and got help.

Haslett is charged with first-degree rape, first-degree kidnapping and second-degree assault. He also has a criminal record dating back to 2002

An elderly woman immediately answered the door for the victim after hearing her screams outside.

'She heard a woman screaming and came knocking on the door, so she opened the door and the lady said, "You have to help me, I've been raped, I've been held captive,"' the elderly woman's relative Ciara Tharp told KSHB News.

'My grandma could tell she was weak,' Tharp explained. 'She didn't have a whole lot of clothes on. She said she had a metal dog collar around her neck and could see the ligature marks around her wrists.'

Along with the collar, the victim appeared to have duct tape around her neck that may have previously been around her mouth.

The elderly woman rushed to offer the victim a blanket and gave her food.

'There's a possibility that my grandma got her in the house just in time,' Tharp said.

By the time police arrived, the court documents say, they found the victim wearing latex lingerie and a metal collar soldered around her neck with a padlock. She also had duct tape around her neck.

She had injuries consistent with whipping and being held captivity, authorities note.

Lisa Johnson (left) was the first to offer help the victim. The victim then got scared and ran to the house of an elderly woman whose granddaughter Ciara Tharp (right) said got to her right in time

EMTs soon worked to remove the lock from the metal collar around the woman's neck, police write in the court documents, noting that it was restricting her breathing.

The victim was then taken to an area hospital, pointing out the house she escaped from along the way.

Moments later, Excelsior Springs Police Chief Gregory Dull told KMBC, he had Haslett's home surrounded.

They then arrested him in a traffic stop on an unrelated animal control violation, KMBC reports, before conducting a search of the home  where they said they found the room the victim described.

They also found a slew of firearms Haslett owns at the home.

'We were able to keep him from getting back into the house, and possibly destroying evidence,' Dull said.

Excelsior Springs Police Chief Gregory Dull told KMBC he had Haslett's home surrounded just moments later and prevented Haslett from going back into the house to destroy evidence

Video obtained by KMBC showed detectives combing through evidence on the side of the house in the aftermath

The police department told DailyMail.com they have completed an initial search of the home

Authorities have not uncovered any evidence yet of any other women being held at the Excelsior Springs home, but are continuing to comb through all of the evidence

In the aftermath, a cadaver dog was brought in to search the property, and video obtained by KMBC showed detectives combing through evidence on the side of the house.

By Tuesday, the Excelsior Springs Police Department told DailyMail.com, the initial search of Haslett's home is complete, but they are preserving the scene in the event they uncover new evidence that will make them go back to the home.

So far, Dull said, they have not uncovered any evidence of any other women being held in captivity at the home, but they are continuing to go through all of the evidence.

'We want to see justice is upheld, not only for the victim in this case, but this community,' Dull told KMBC. 'We believe that they deserve that.'

Meanwhile, records obtained by DailyMail.com show that Haslett has had a criminal record going back to 2002, when he was accused of providing liquor to a minor.

He was most recently arrested for a misdemeanor traffic violation on January 11, 2022, and was previously arrested on December 30, 2021 for 'operating a motor vehicle in a careless and imprudent manner involving an accident.'

Other previous arrests include for driving under the influence in his home state of Illinois, operating a motor vehicle, driving on a suspended license and operating an uninsured motor vehicle.

He now has active warrants for failure to appear in court out of Clay and Cooper Counties as well as Liberty, Missouri.

Authorities are now investigating him for potential other crimes, and say he poses 'a danger to a crime victim, the community or another person.
Genco attended Army Basic Training at Ft. Benning, Georgia, where he hoped to learn how to kill, authorities say

The suspect was a fan of the 'virgin killer' Elliot Rodger, who killed six people outside of a sorority house in California in 2014

Tres Genco, 22, plead guilty to federal charges of attempting a hate crime

A 22-year-old involuntary celibate who plotted to kill women at an unnamed Ohio university has pleaded guilty to a federal charge of attempting a hate crime.

Tres Genco, of Hilliard, Ohio, entered the plea Tuesday in US District Court in Cincinnati.

He faces up to life in prison because he threatened to kill people, a US Department of Justice spokesperson said.

Genco identified as an involuntary celibate, or 'incel,' and interacted with an online community of mostly men who advocate for violence against women because they believe they are unjustly denied sexual or romantic attention, authorities said.

He conducted surveillance at an Ohio university in January 2020 and wrote a document that month titled 'Isolated' that he described as 'the writings of the deluded and homicidal,' according to prosecutors. He signed it, 'Your hopeful friend and murderer.'

Genco, who self-identifies as an involuntary celibate, faces life in prison after threatening to kill 3,000 women at an unnamed Ohio-based university

Police searched Gencos home in March 2020 and found a firearm with an attached bump stock - a device that allows it to be rapidly fired - a pistol, loaded ammunition magazines, boxes of ammunition and body armor.

He was charged in July 2021.

Genco's manifesto points to a 2014 shooting committed by a self-identified incel named Elliot Rodger, who killed six people and injured 14 others outside a sorority house at the University of California, Santa Barbara, before killing himself.

The manifesto is titled 'A Hideous Symphony a manifesto written by Tres Genco, the socially exiled Incel.'

'I will slaughter out of jealousy, hatred, and revenge  I will take away the power of life that they withhold from me, by showing there is more than just happiness and fulfillment, there is all encompassing death, the great equalizer that will bear all of us into its seductively calm velvet of silence and serenity,' his manifesto read.

Genco allegedly wrote a note singling out an unnamed Ohio college and writing the date he intended to carry out his plot as May 23, 2020, the gun he planned on using as an M-16 and even his desired kill count: 'Needs to be huge! 3,000? Aim big then.'

Investigators allege Genco began planning his killing spree in January 2019 after purchasing a cache of items: tactical gloves, a bulletproof vest, a bowie knife, two Glock 17 magazines, a 9mm Glock 17 clip and a holster clip concealed carry for a Glock.

Genco wrote on an incel forum that he felt 'spiritually connected' to Rodgers after spraying a couple with orange juice in 2019

Genco previously wrote that he was inspired by Elliot Rodgers (pictured), who killed six and injured 14 others outside a University of California, Santa Barbara, sorority house in 2014

In March 2020, Genco searched for police scanner codes for Columbus and campus police at Ohio State University.

When he was taken into custody, police found a gun with a bump stock attached, body armor and boxes of ammunition in his car.

They also found a Glock-style 9mm semiautomatic pistol hidden in a heating vent in his home.

In one post on the incel forum from July 2019, Genco allegedly described shooting a group of women with a water gun full of orange juice and likened it to Rodger's mass shooting.

'I put some orange juice in a water gun, I was planning to spray some foids and couples like ER (Rodgers) did, when I finally did do it, it was ER's birthday and I didn't even know that,' he wrote.

'Felt like I spiritually connected to the saint on that day  I drove up to them saying hi and they didn't even look up, they just went 'uhuh' so they get sprayed in the f**ing face. I suggest it to all incels, extremely empowering action.'

In April 2018, a 25-year-old self-identified incel named Alek Minassian drove a rented van into a crowd of mostly women in downtown Toronto, killing 10 people and injuring 14.
UK defence minister Ben Wallace says Vladimir Putin has found out he is not invincible and that Russia is not a superpower after embarrassing setback in the war with Ukraine..

The Defence Secretary said the authoritarian leader's 'strategic assumptions seem to be wrong all over the place' and that he is facing discontent among troops sent to fight in Ukraine.

The 52-year-old said months of war, which has seen Russia forced to call up hundreds of thousands of reserves in the wake of tremendous losses to its professional army, means now 'the basic Ukrainian soldier is better than the basic Russian soldier'.

The Secretary of State for Defence, who served in the Scots Guards for seven years before becoming an MP, said it was vital the international community continues to stand with Ukraine as it battles against Putin's forces.

He added that the authoritarian leader would have no qualms shoving millions of people 'into a meat grinder with no rules, no regard for human lives and innocent people and civilians'.

He made the remarks in an interview with the Evening Standard, in which he said Putin had believed his 'own hype' and 'counted tanks on the parade ground and presume you are invincible and you are not'.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace (pictured) says Vladimir Putin is realising he is no longer invincible as the war in Ukraine continues

Mr Wallace says that Putin's (pictured) 'strategic assumptions seem to be wrong all over the place'

The war in Ukraine has been raging since Russia's illegal invasion in February. Pictured are Ukrainian solders firing weapons towards Russian forces near Toretsk in the Donetsk region today

Mr Wallace said that the conflict, which has turned a large part of eastern Europe into a warzone needs to end in defeat for Putin.

He said that while 'superpowers have lost wars before', the eight-month war in Ukraine will have led Putin to realise 'he's not a superpower'.

He told the paper that Ukraine has been underestimated and Russia overestimated at every step, but that the number of people Putin can 'shove into a meat grinder' is on his side.

He said: 'If that is successful, that will send a message across the whole world that that's how you win wars. We cannot, the international community, accept that.'

Yesterday leaders of the G7 reiterated their demand for Russia to withdraw all troops and military forces from Ukraine and threatened 'severe consequences' if Putin launches a nuclear strike on its neighbour.

Fears that the Kremlin could 'go nuclear' have risen in recent weeks, driven by an attack on the Crimean Bridge which has crippled supply lines between Russia and southern Ukraine.

Putin labelled the attack, which Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for, an 'act of terrorism' and today the FSB released an x-ray image of the 23-ton bomb they say caused the damage.

Flame and smoke rise from the Crimean Bridge connecting Russian mainland and the Crimean peninsula over the Kerch Strait, in Kerch, Crimea, October 8, 2022

Russia's FSB spy agency has revealed a X-ray that they claim shows a 23-ton bomb disguised as industrial plastic sheeting which blew up the Crimean Bridge

The FSB claims the bomb began its journey in Odesa and was then shipped across four countries over the course of two months before blowing up on the bridge

While the Kremlin played down the prospect of a nuclear strike in retaliation, on Monday it launched its biggest barrage of missile strikes on Ukrainian cities since the beginning of the war, killing at least 11 people and wounding scores more.

Mr Wallace says that despite the attacks, the momentum in the war is still with Ukraine as it makes 'progress' both in the northeastern and southern arenas of the war.

He said: 'We are pretty confident the momentum is still with Ukraine and Russia is facing catastrophic loss of morale, poor equipment, significant ammunition stocks scarcity and political fraughtness.

'His (Putin) strategic assumptions seem to be wrong all over the place. Even yesterday (Monday), firing scant missiles at random civilian locations, when you should be firing them at military targets, is not a strategic or a clever use of your finite resources.'

He added that a 'total lack of leadership professionalism' is killing Russian solders 'in the thousands'.

The MP for Wyre and Preston North added that UK training given to Ukrainian troops was also helping turn the tide, while they are said to be better equipped than their Russian counterparts as winter approaches.

Today reports in Russia indicated that Putin is rounding up homeless people and sending them to the front lines as part of his mobilisation programme.

Security officers in Moscow have been taking men from charity food banks and hostels where migrant workers live, Russian news outlet Mediazona said.

This comes weeks after Putin declared a 'partial' mobilisation in a desperate attempt to turn the tide of his ailing war effort after a series of embarrassing setbacks.

The Russian independent publication spoke to Food Not Bombs, a charity group working in the Russian capital, and heard how it had seen dozens of homeless men taken off the street to military enlistment offices in recent weeks.

Russia is rounding up homeless people and sending them to the front lines of Ukraine as park of Vladimir Putin's military mobilisation, according to local reports. Pictured: Russian recruits fire rifles in the Rostov-on-Don region in southern Russia, Tuesday, October 4, 2022

In September, Putin declared a 'partial' mobilisation in a desperate attempt to turn the tide of his ailing war effort after a series of embarrassing setbacks. Pictured: Russian recruits gather to take a train at a railway station in Prudboi, Volgograd region of Russia, September 29

Russian conscripted man says goodbye to relatives at a recruiting office during Russia's partial military mobilisation in Moscow, Russia, 12 October. Moscow is aiming to recruit 300,000

A Food Not Bombs representative told Mediazona: 'A 60-year-old man was taken away, then he was released and came back.

'He told me that they were taken to the military commissariat, where many people who had been called up for war were standing in line. He was told that he didn't fit the age criteria and that they only take men up to 45 years old.'

The representative said while police 'used a little force', they exerted pressure in other ways - suggesting there would be 'punishment' for not signing up.

Other witnesses have shared similar stories.

'The police come here without anyone asking. They see a queue of people waiting for food, and then they grab them by the scruff of the neck, against their will,' the head of the Salvation Hangar, a Christian Orthodox homeless charity, told the outlet.

He said the homeless men are loaded onto buses and taken to military enlistment offices. More than 50 people were later released, he said, while those who did not have passports or documentation were taken to a police station.
Along with the murder of Katie, Ian has been charged with 13 counts of possession of an controlled substance for a large amount of steroids

The man was arrested and charged by the State of Florida, but the charges were later dropped on earlier this year

Katie Baunach did not wish to press charges but did tell investigators that she had previously been assaulted by her husband and that she feared for her life

In an October 13, 2021, incident, Ian Christopher Baunach allegedly choked his wife and threw her by her hair inside of the couple's Florida home

The Florida bodybuilder accused of murdering his wife and setting her body on fire was arrested less than a year ago for battery

The Florida bodybuilder who was arrested for killing his ex-wife and setting her body on fire had been arrested for choking and assaulting her less than one year ago.

Ian Christopher Baunach, 43, was arrested earlier this month in Florida on charges alleging that he killed his ex-wife, Katie Baunach, 39, and burned her body in an oil drum.

Along with charges of murder related to Katie's death, the retired Marine was charged in Hendry County, Florida, on 13 counts of possession of a controlled substance.

Investigators found large amounts of steroids, which Ian admitted belonged to him.

Ian Baunach, 43, is accused of killing his ex-wife Katie, 39, on September 29

Inside the home of Baunach, police found guns, silencers and human remains

Baunach, a former Marine, was a dedicated bodybuilder

Ian's 2022 arrest came less than a year after Katie had allegedly been battered by her significant other.

On October 13, 2021, Ian was arrested for the murder and burning of Katie's body, which allegedly occurred when she went to pick up some of her belongings from his house.

Police were called and on September 30 went to his home in LaBelle, 30 miles inland of Fort Myers, only to find that he was not home

In an affidavit from the Hendry County Clerk of Courts, Katie had called the police in October 2021 after she claimed that her then-husband had assaulted her while arguing.

Katie's name has been redacted from all documents related to the battery, but they do refer to the victim as 'his wife.'

The couple, who shared two children together, had a verbal altercation over Katie's use of a credit card to purchase fuel without Ian's permission.

Documents state that the man confronted his wife in the kitchen about the purchase and then became enraged. Ian at one point grabbed Katie's iPad and 'broke it in half over the kitchen counter' during the argument.

He also grabbed her phone from her and held onto it despite repeated attempts from her to get in back.

An arrest warrant issued in November 2021 for Ian Baunach indicated that the Florida man 'knowingly and intentionally' impeded the 'normal breathing or circulation of the blood' and caused a risk of 'great bodily harm by applying pressure to her throat or her neck.'

The fight continued in the office of their Florida home where he allegedly pushed his ex onto a futon while she was attempting to grab her phone. That's when he began choking her until she came close to 'loss of consciousness.'

After an undisclosed amount of time, Ian got off of her, giving Katie an opportunity to get free. Before she was able to escape from the office, however, the man allegedly grabbed Katie by her hair and threw her on the floor.

She eventually escaped to her kids' room where she hid and called the Hendry County Sheriff's Office.

Despite evidence found by law enforcement at the scene, investigators said Katie had 'redness around the neck' and that 'the left side of her shirt was torn,' the wife said she did not wish to press charges. Units at the scene also found scattered items on the floor of the office, indicating a struggle.

Katie was 'asked about previous domestic violence related issues with Ian to which she became very emotional and resorted to simple head nods to answer.'

She told investigators at the scene that she was 'scared for her life.'

The woman also requested to be escorted to a nearby shelter for domestic violence victims where she mentioned previous incidents of domestic violence 'with difficulty.'

Baunach is pictured in uniform while in the US Marine Corp before the alleged killing

Ian fled the scene and an arrest warrant was later issued.

The warrant stated that the 43-year-old 'did unlawfully commit a battery against a family or household member.'

Documents issued in November 2021 continued, stating that Ian 'knowingly and intentionally' impeded the 'normal breathing or circulation of the blood' and caused a risk of 'great bodily harm by applying pressure to her throat or her neck.'

The man was arrested and booked into the Hendry County Jail on a $25,000 bond, which he later posted.

One month later, however, the State of Florida moved to revoke his bond after he 'sent numerous emails to the victim' despite being ordered to have no contact.

Baunach reportedly admitted to killing Katie and burning his ex-wife's body in an oil drum

The bond was not completely revoked, however, but increased by $25,000. Ian posted that amount, as well, freeing himself from custody.

In December, the man pleaded not guilty in December.

One month later, the charges were dropped by the prosecution. His two bonds, each in the amount of $25,000, were discharged.

Just months later, Ian is believed to have killed Katie and burned her body in an oil drum in the backyard of their Florida home.

Katie was last seen on September 29 after her ex-husband had told her she could come over to 'retrieve some of her personal items.'

An affidavit from October 2021 shows that Ian was accused of battery, specifically strangulation, for an incident that happened at the couple's Florida home

She told the friend she'd be right back, but never returned.

Police were called and on September 30 went to his home only to find that he was not there. Her car was parked outside.

Returning shortly after, they saw the car had been moved, and obtained a warrant to search the property - after Ian refused to let them in.

Inside the house, detectives found evidence of a struggle and blood stains, which he claimed were from groceries.

Katie Baunach's engagement ring and wedding ring were found inside a safe.

Officers also found an AR-15 upper receiver and 13 silencers in the safe, along with a Glock Model 27 .40 caliber pistol inside a plastic bag on a bookshelf, according to the complaint.

There were three rifles and a shotgun in an attic above the garage, and Baunach had another .40 caliber Glock on his person.

The officers then found human remains outside.

According to court documents, they 'discovered the fragment of a human mandible with an intact tooth in a fresh burn pile, and discovered a blue fifty-gallon barrel near the burn pile which reeked of decaying flesh.

Ian, a bodybuilder, admitted to having a large amount of steroids in his home. The man was charged with 13 counts of possession of a controlled substance for the drugs

'Inside the blue fifty-gallon barrel, law enforcement discovered an additional human bone fragment. Law enforcement discovered other suspected human bone fragments in the area surrounding the burn pile.'

Baunach denied killing his ex-wife, and told them there was no body and she had disappeared.

He admitted to getting into an argument with her, which he was was 'over another woman'.

Katie Baunach told friends she was going to her ex's house briefly to collect some belongings, but never returned

Baunach 'admitted to being angry that Katie Baunach filed for and received a domestic violence injunction against him.'

He claimed he went to sleep, and by the time he woke up in the morning she had gone.

He said he then moved her car to the street.

'When asked about the blood found inside the Premises, Baunach stated that he did not believe the officers.'

Baunach was taken into custody and charged with first-degree pre-meditated murder; destruction/concealment of physical evidence, and cremating a dead body 48 hours after death.

If convicted of first-degree murder he faces life in prison, or the death penalty.

According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, a repeated misuse or overdosing of steroids can be a contributing factor to increased anger and violence.

'People who misuse anabolic steroids report more anger than nonusers, as well as more fights, verbal aggression, and violence toward their significant others, sometimes called "roid rage,"' NIDA states.

According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, a repeated misuse or overdosing of steroids can be a contributing factor to increased anger and violence.

'People who misuse anabolic steroids report more anger than nonusers, as well as more fights, verbal aggression, and violence toward their significant others, sometimes called "roid rage,"' NIDA states.
Actor Anthony Rapp said the alleged sexual abuse he suffered when he was 14 at the hands of Kevin Spacey was the 'single most traumatic event' of his life.

In an emotional moment in court day today, the fourth day of Spacey's sex abuse trial, Rapp got choked up as he testified, 'This is something that happened to me. It was not okay.'

Spacey, 63, is being sued by Rapp, 51, over accusations that he sexually assaulted Rapp in 1986 when he was 14. Rapp is seeking $40million for mental and emotional suffering and loss of work.

Rapp claimed that the incident left with him with an 'abnormal preoccupation with sex,' which Spacey's lawyers mocked as Rapp being 14 at the time, saying 'that's what happens at that age.'

On Wednesday Anthony Rapp testified that the abuse he allegedly suffered was the 'single most traumatic event' of his life. Rapp is seen testifying in a court sketch as Spacey looks on

Spacey, 63, is being sued by Rapp, 51, over accusations that he sexually assaulted Rapp in 1986 when he was 14

'This is something that happened to me. It was not okay,' Rapp said, adding that the incident left him with an 'abnormal preoccupation with sex'

The court heard on Tuesday that in the 2017 Buzzfeed article where Rapp first made his allegations he said he was inspired to go public by actress Lupita Nyong'o's article in the New York Times about Harvey Weinstein harassing her.

He repeated the claim in 2018 when he was given the Champion of the Year award at the black tie gala for Out & Equal, a nonprofit dedicated to LGBTQ workplace equality.

But Spacey's lawyer Jennifer Keller told Rapp that it wasn't actually true.

She said that eight days before the article came out, he texted Vary to talk about doing a story about 'someone else very powerful in our industry', meaning Hollywood.

Six days before Nyong'o's article came out, Vary texted Rapp that he had talked to his editors about the story and that they wanted it to have 'as strong an impact as possible'.

Asked about this by Keller, Rapp said that he was 'learning it was not true' that the article was the inspiration for him going public.

Keller told Rapp that he got the dates 'completely wrong' and he responded that he 'conflated' the article coming out with being the inspiration for him to speak out.

Keller said that it would have been more 'poignant' if that was true. Rapp said: 'I didn't think it was more poignant, I thought it was what happened'.

As Keller put it, that order would have been 'useful to get more sympathy'. Rapp said he was 'sharing my memory of how it happened'.

Sarcastically, Keller said it was a 'very dramatic memory' to which Rapp replied: 'A very personal memory'.

Judge Lewis Kaplan interrupted to tell Rapp that it would 'go a lot better if you just answer the question.

Keller asked: 'It's not true that you came forward because of the Lupita Nyong'o article? That's not true, is it?

Rapp said: 'That's not true.'

On Wednesday, Rapp clarified that the Nyong'o article came out after he began speaking to Buzzfeed but he didn't give the okay for his own article until after reading the actress's piece.

The court also heard today that Rapp specifically chose Adam Vary of Buzzfeed to report his claim the actor made a pass at him when he was 14 because he would make it 'vague' enough to publish.

Vary texted Rapp that he didn't want to choose specific dates so that Spacey could 'flatly deny' it.

Rapp is seeking $40million for mental and emotional suffering and loss of work

In a statement on Twitter after Rapp first made his claims, Spacey said that if the incident did happen then 'I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior'

Under cross examination on Tuesday, Rapp said that when he was 14 and appearing in the Broadway play Precious Sons, Ed Harris, who played his father, would lie on top of him and say he wanted sex.

Rapp conceded that 'to some degree' he was used to the physical act because it happened to him every night at the theater.

But he denied being jealous of Spacey's career and said that he was not driven by anger towards the man he claims sexually assaulted him.

The jury heard that in the play Precious Sons there is a scene where Harris' character comes in drunk and gets on top of Rapp on the couch, mistakenly thinking he is his wife.

Harris announces that he wants his wife to 'love me for an hour and a half'.

Jennifer Keller, Spacey's lawyer, said that this meant he 'wants to have sex' which Rapp agreed with.

Keller said: 'You felt that Ed Harris' character climbed on top of you so many times that you became accustomed to the act of having a man crawl on top of you?'

Rapp replied: 'To some degree, yes.'

Rapp denied that he was jealous of Spacey's career and that he became 'enraged' every time he read about him winning another award.

Keller contrasted Spacey winning his second Oscar for American Beauty in 1999 with Rapp's failed music career where he sold just 26 CDs after one gig.

She said that if Spacey was 'Kevin nobody' then Rapp would not have continued to tell people about his 'Kevin Spacey story'.

After Rapp asked her to repeat the question she said: 'I don't need to'.

Keller said to Rapp: 'Do you really expect us to believe that you were not envious of someone who won multiple Oscars, Tonys, was nominated for multiple Emmys and Golden Globes?

'You wanted to be that person, didn't you?'

Rapp replied: 'I did not want to be this person'.

Challenged that he wanted Spacey's career, Rapp said: 'No ma'am. I wanted to work as an actor. If awards were part of it that's great, that was not why I was an actor'.

In the public gallery of the court sat Rapp's husband Ken, who was seen arriving with him to court on Friday

Rapp, an actor who appears in the TV series Star Trek: Discovery and was in the original cast of hit Broadway musical Rent, is seeking $40million from Spacey in damages in the civil case.

The trial is the first time a jury will decide on allegations against Spacey which were first made in the media by Rapp in 2017.

As a result Spacey was fired from the Netflix series House of Cards and his legacy as the Oscar-winning star of films like American Beauty and The Usual Suspects has been stained.

Spacey was fired from the Netflix series House of Cards as a result of the allegations

Rapp originally sued Spacey in September 2020 for battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and sexual assault.

The sexual assault claim was dismissed in June because it was beyond the statute of limitations.

In a statement on Twitter after Rapp first made his claims, he said that if the incident did happen then 'I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior.'

The case was brought through the law that temporarily lifted the statute of limitations on sex crimes that allowed Virginia Roberts to bring a now-settled case against Britain's Prince Andrew earlier this year.

Another individual, identified only as CD, had also sued Spacey and also claimed he was sexually assaulted by the actor in the early in 1980s when he was 14.

CD claimed he first met Spacey when he was 12 when he was teaching a course in Westchester County outside of New York and CD was his student.

Spacey invited CD to his apartment where he 'engaged in sexual acts including performing anal intercourse on (Spacey) and oral sex,' a complaint stated.

CD's case was thrown out in June last year after he refused to use his real name during court proceedings.

Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled that 'the threat of significant media attention  however exacerbated by the modern era  alone does not entitle a plaintiff to the exceptional remedy of anonymity'

The case is far from the only claims against Spacey.

He due to face a criminal trial next year in London on five charges of sexual assault against three men, dating back 17 years, while he was artistic director of the Old Vic theatre.

Once that is concluded he faces a separate UK trial at the High Court in a lawsuit brought by one accuser seeking hundreds of thousands of pounds for 'psychiatric damage'.

Born in New Jersey in 1959, Spacey studied at New York's prestigious Juilliard School and made his professional stage debut in 1981.

Spacey won the Oscar for Best Actor at the 2000 Academy Awards for his performance in American Beauty - but now his legacy has been stained

He won a best supporting actor Oscar for his role in 1995's The Usual Suspects and best actor for American beauty in 2000.

In 2015 he received an honorary knighthood and a special Olivier award for his contributions to British theatre.

He was accused of groping an 18-year-old at a bar in Massachusetts in 2016 but the case was dropped when the accuser refused to testify about a missing phone.

In August a judge in the US ruled he must pay $31million to MRC, the producers of House of Cards, for his firing in 2017.

Among the roles taken away from Spacey was oil tycoon J. Paul Getty in Ridley Scott's All the Money in the World which was reshot using Christopher Plummer.

A Netflix biopic of Gore Vidal starring Spacey has been permanently shelved.

The trial comes on the fifth anniversary of the MeToo movement at a time when its momentum appears to be stalling after Johnny Depp's defeat of Amber Heard in their defamation case earlier this year.

Harvey Weinstein is due to go on trial in Los Angeles later this month for rape and sexual assault allegations. He was jailed for 23 years in 2020 for similar crimes.
The Biden administration is reportedly considering a total ban on Russian aluminum after Russia stepped up its assault on Ukraine with a storm of missiles directed at civilian targets this week.

The White House is weighing an outright ban, raising tariffs to levels so punishing they would impose an effective ban, or sanctioning United Co Rusal International PJSC, the company that produces Russia's metal, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed people familiar with the decision-making.

Russia is the world's second biggest producer of the metal.

And Russian aluminum accounts for about ten percent of all U.S. imports of the metal, which is used in everything from iPhones to automobiles and fighter jets.

The European Union and the U.S. have largely held off sanctioning industrial metals, and Reuters reported last month that the two markets had increased purchases of Russian aluminum by as much as 70 percent.

At the same time, the Russian economy has continued to perform better than expected despite repeated waves of economic sanctions.

The Biden administration is considering a total ban on Russian aluminum after Russia stepped up its assault on Ukraine with a storm of missiles directed at civilian targets this week

The Biden administration has imposed multiple rounds of sanctions on Moscow, but Russia's economy has confounded experts and continues to be stronger than expected

The trigger is reportedly a round of missile strikes launched by Russia against civilian targets

Aluminum has escaped sanctions until now, in part because it is used in everything from iPhones to automobiles and fighter jets

That has left few targets for world leaders intent on increasing pressure on Moscow.

As a result, officials have been mulling a move on Russian aluminum for weeks.

'We're always considering all options. There is no movement on this as of now,' a White House official said in response to the report.

The Treasury Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

Russian attacks using more than 100 missiles have killed at least 26 people across Ukraine since Monday, when Putin ordered what he called retaliatory strikes against Ukraine for an explosion on a bridge.

Rusal , the world's largest aluminum producer outside China, did not immediately reply to a Reuters' request for comment.

President Joe Biden repeated his condemnation of Russia's latest tactic, targeting missiles on energy facilities and residential areas.

'It's brutal, it's beyond the pale,' he said, a day after he pledged ongoing assistance to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

83 Russian missiles were launched at Ukraine on Monday, striking power stations, water supplies and civilians across the country - killing eight and wounding 24 in Kyiv alone

Meanwhile, his defense secretary was meeting with partners and allies in shoring up Ukraine's armed resistance.

Lloyd Austin led a Ukraine Contact Group meeting in Brussels, part of a two-day series of talks with other defense ministers.

'The Russian invasion isn't over, the fighting isn't over, and neither is international support to Ukraines right and capability to defend itself,' said an administration official.

Putin has raised the specter of deploying tactical nuclear weapons, although U.S. officials say they have yet to see a change in Russia's nuclear posture.

The White House also issued a new national security policy focused on 'outcompeting China and restraining Russia.'

'Russia and the PRC pose different challenges,' Biden wrote.

'Russia poses an immediate threat to the free and open international system, recklessly flouting the basic laws of the international order today, as its brutal war of aggression against Ukraine has shown.'




The number of Chinese warships spotted operating in waters under Korea's jurisdiction rose to some 260 last year, up from around 220 in the previous year, a ruling party lawmaker said Wednesday.







Rep. Lim Byung-heon of the People Power Party (PPP) cited data from the Defense Intelligence Agency under the defense ministry, highlighting the need to bolster Korea's maritime security amid lingering regional territorial tensions.







The number of Chinese military vessels found in the South's "jurisdictional sea area" grew last year, though the figure came to some 220 in 2020, down from around 280 in 2019.







In the first eight months of this year, over 170 Chinese warships were seen operating in the waters, with roughly 110 of them in waters south of the Korean Peninsula.







The jurisdictional sea area encompasses the country's territorial waters, exclusive economic zone and other segments under its jurisdiction. Parts of the waters overlap with areas where China asserts its maritime jurisdiction.







Citing data from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Rep. Shin Won-sik, another PPP lawmaker, disclosed Chinese aircraft carrier activities in the South's jurisdictional waters.







In the first half of this year, a Chinese carrier, whose name was not identified, was found to have operated three times in waters just 130-200 kilometers away from Korea's territorial waters.







Last year, it was spotted appearing just once in waters around 100 km away from the South's waters. (Yonhap)


The sudden influx has put the city's shelter system to its limit, Adams, 62, warned last week, and could cost taxpayers $1 billion this year alone

Since the summer, nearly 20,000 asylum seekers - predominantly from Latin America - have been carted into the city, with almost 2,000 this weekend alone

It also comes as the city struggles to think of ways to shelter the thousands of asylum seekers being bussed from red states such as Texas and Arizona

Mayor Eric Adams has reversed an earlier decision to not house incoming migrants at a trendy, $700-a night hotel - as the city struggles to think up ways to shelter the thousands of newcomers.

Adams, 61, made the announcement on Wednesday, revealing that the Row NYC in Midtown would open its doors to at least 200 migrant families - after closing them in August following an empty promise to take in 600.

His announcement came just a day after he told citizens in the crime-ridden city to expect migrant facilities to come to 'every community,' telling residents they should expect them to pop up in their respective neighborhoods without warning.

Sources at the time claimed the plan was fast-tracked and resultantly fell apart, with the city unable to accommodate the thousands being brought by the busload from rival, red states, in an apparent political ploy to call attention to unrest at the border.

Last Friday, an unidentified 39 year-old man killed himself by jumping out the window of a room at The Row. Further details on the victim's identity or the circumstances surrounding his suicide have not been revealed.

Since the summer, nearly 20,000 asylum seekers - predominantly from Latin America - have been carted into the city, with just under 2,000 this weekend alone.

The sudden influx has put the city's shelter system to its limit, Adams warned last week, and could cost taxpayers $1 billion this year alone.

After several failed courses of action to quell the burden - such as a planned tent city in The Bronx that was scrapped due to flooding and a proposed facility on Randall's Island that also never materialized - Adams revealed Wednesday that he and his team had gone back to the drawing board.

Meanwhile, more and more busses continue to arrive to the city's Port Authority Bus Terminal each day - bringing with them hundreds of tired, huddled men, women, and children at a time.

Adams, 61, made the announcement on Wednesday, revealing that the Row NYC in Midtown would open its doors to at least 200 migrant families - after closing them in August following an empty promise to take in 600

The Row, a $700-a-night luxury hotel based near tourist-packed Times Square, will become a shelter for at least 200 families. It is not clear if one floor will be made available or if they will be across the entire property, located near tourist-packed Time Square

'As the numbers of asylum seekers entering New York City continues to increase without an end in sight, the citys family-focused Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center will soon open to serve families with children and provide them with the care and compassion they deserve,' Adams said of the revived Row plan.

Adams, who has been engaged in a very public war of words with Texas Governor Greg Abbott over the unsanctioned arrivals, added that the hotel will house at least 200 migrant families at a time.

'Our team will continue to work with these families and assess if they want to actually stay in New York City and, if not, help them get to their desired destinations,' Adams stated.

The former police captain then proceeded to provide the rationale behind the decision, which came as a surprise to some and served as a somewhat abrupt about-face to the mayor's earlier decision.

'This is not an everyday homelessness crisis, but a humanitarian crisis that requires a different approach,' Adams said.

'These humanitarian emergency response centers will take on a multitude of looks with the similarities that they will all help triage and provide immediate support to arriving asylum seekers.'

He finished by asserting: 'We will continue to respond with care and compassion as we deal with this humanitarian crisis made by human hands.'

The plush hotel is located around three blocks from the Port Authority Bus Terminal where Abbott has been sending busloads of migrants, in what he has labeled protests against President Biden's 'irresponsible open border policies'

Hundreds - if not thousands - of asylum seekers will be moved to chic rooms such as this one

The Row is still accepting bookings through November and December on various booking sites with no disclaimer about the possible presence of migrants

The hotel housed the city's homeless during the height of the COVID pandemic, when it was first reported it was under consideration as a shelter for migrants

In August, Adams announced that the city would go through with the plan - before walking it back just two weeks later. Pictured is the hotel's gym and spa, available to all guests

The hotel is located around three blocks from the Port Authority Bus Terminal where Abbott has been sending busloads of migrants, in what he has labeled protests against President Biden's 'irresponsible open border policies.'

It also housed the city's homeless during the height of the COVID pandemic, when it was first reported it was under consideration as a shelter for migrants.

In August, Adams announced that the city would go through with the plan - before walking it back just two weeks later.

He said at the time: 'We are going to provide these families with the dignity that the Texas Governor failed to do that is who we are as New Yorkers that is who we are as an administration.'

The mayor has since revealed that the city's shelters are already near 100 percent capacity, with about 61,000 people in the system, 20,000 of whom are children.

On Friday, Adams demanded that various city agencies to create and run temporary relief centers to house and help the migrants, who have been put up in pricey hotels throughout the boroughs as officials remain at a loss as to more permanent solutions.

He further called for emergency relief from both the federal government and the state officials in Albany, as the outspoken Democrat seems to have run out of strategies to deal with the arrivals.

Adams and Abbott, 64, have been locked in a bitter feud over the mass migration, which has seen Abbott, spend the upwards of $14 million sending tens of thousands of migrants to cities including Washington, D.C., New York and Chicago - all self-proclaimed sanctuary cities.

The maneuver is an apparent political statement about the rising number of migrants at the Texas border.

Abbott and other Texas officials have been criticized by Adams and others for not providing notice about bus arrivals, and has been accused of using the asylum seekers as pawns for his own political ends.

New York officials have also accused Abbott of placing bar codes on record numbers of migrants being bused into the Big Apple, calling the move an intimidation tactic amid a growing feud between the states over asylum seekers.

Earlier this week, Abbott acknowledged an email from Adams office - after asserting for months that the mayor had yet to reach out to him - but said that an invitation remained open for the mayor to visit the southern border.

Officials welcoming these refugees - whom many allege are being forced against their will to travel north by local lawmen - say the wristbands are a shrewd tactic to scare them into remaining on these buses until they arrive in New York.

In the meantime, Adams and other officials have fallen short of finding a fix, scrapping highly publicized plans to house migrants inside a Norwegian Cruise Lines ship because it was too expensive, and failing to open promised 'tent cities' on Randall's Island and The Bronx

Adams condemned the busing programs spearheaded by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, which has brought about roughly 19,000 migrants to the Big Apple as of Wednesday, the city revealed.

The mayor said about five to six busses have been arriving every day since September, with at times nine or eight - each carrying hundreds of passengers - all arriving at once or in quick succession.

Moreover, a large portion of the newcomers have been underage, Mayor Eric Adams revealed Friday - putting a strain on the city's public school system and spurring the mayor to issue a state of emergency.

Since April, Adams' office has set up 42 emergency shelters, enrolled 5,500 children in public school, and has allegedly attempted to help the asylum seekers connect with family and resources.

With that said, Adams has warned that the city could ultimately see 100,000 new migrants arrive by the end of the year, which will take its toll on New York's budget.

'We expect to spend at least $1billion by the end of the fiscal year on this crisis, all because we have a functional, a compassionate system,' Adams said.

The crisis spurred Adams to declare a state of emergency as he expects the city to spend $1billion on migrants being bused from the US-Mexico border

In the meantime, Adams and other officials have fallen short of finding a fix, scrapping highly publicized plans to house migrants inside a Norwegian Cruise Lines ship because it was too expensive.

At the time, Adams explained that the city is seeking a 'cheaper option.'

He has since aborted that, it seems, as the situation continues to worsen.

Meanwhile, like Abbott, the mayor has also called on the federal government to get involved and help the city.

He has asked the Biden Administration tighten border control, provide funds to cities overburdened by the influx of migrants, and to get other cities to accept the immigrants - support that has also yet to materialize.

'We need a realistic decompression strategy at the border that will slow the outflow of asylum seekers,' Adams said last week. 'We need a coordinated effort to move asylum seekers to other cities in this country to ensure everyone is doing their part.'

The mayor also noted that the city's shelters were already near 100 percent capacity.

'Although our compassion is limitless, our resources are not,' Adams said. 'This is unsustainable.'

Adams appealed to hotels and nonprofits for temporary housing of the new migrants, and urged the private sector for donations to help the strained city.

'Unless we take immediate action that [Randall's Island] center will be full in days,' the Adams warned. 'And we will have to open another, and another, and another, even as winter arrives.'

Migrants await their free bus rides north at El Paso's 'welcome center'. Many of the new arrivals have fled flawed leftist regimes in Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua. The are being bussed to the Big Apple and other self-proclaimed 'sanctuary cities' in an apparent political maneuver

Photos from El Paso's migrant processing facility shows lines of hundreds of migrants mostly young men, but also many families  waiting to board buses for the next stage of their journey

Downtown El Paso has in recent weeks witnessed chaotic scenes of migrants sleeping on the streets, after the surge of new arrivals overwhelmed the area's federal-run processing facilities

Adams has also claimed that if officials in Texas and Arizona, where the majority of migrants are being bussed from, had first reached out to New York to coordinate a plan, the city would've been able to allocate a budget to help the migrants.

'But we didn't get the support and information we asked for, and now, New York City is being forced to bare far more than its share of this national crisis,' Adams chided.

'Our right to shelter laws, our social services, and our values are being exploited by others for political gain.'

Adam's speech served as a condemnation of the border crisis across-party lines, as it was revealed that Democrat-led El Paso was sending more than twice as many migrants as Abbott.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott have been locked in a bitter feud with Adams over the mass migration, which has seen the governor spend $14 million sending tens of thousands of migrants from his state to Washington, D.C., New York and Chicago

El Paso, which sits across the border from Juarez, Mexico, has bused roughly 7,000 migrants to New York City since late August and sent more than 1,800 to Chicago, a city-run effort that far exceeds the more ad-hoc transportation of the past.

Abbott has bused more than 3,000 migrants to New York City and more than 900 to Chicago as part of a high-profile campaign to put a spotlight on the record crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Texas and Arizona combined have also bused over 10,000 migrants to Washington, D.C.

However, El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser, a Democrat, said the city's program is 'completely different' than the other busing efforts and that they seek to 'treat people with respect.'

The city's busing effort has received less attention than Abbott's program, who is seeking a third term in Nov. 8 midterm elections.

Migrants wait outside a New York City church on Sunday, October 9. The church held a welcoming even which included food giveaways and other services

But unlike previous speeches where Adams went directly after Abbott, the Democrat mayor did not mention political parties on Friday, instead referring to the border states as a whole.

New York City mayoral spokesperson Kate Smart previously said that while El Paso does coordinate with the city to some degree, New York is not told how many migrants are on board.

El Paso's busing policy is not wholly popular among its own officials.

Victor Manjarrez, a former CBP chief for the region who now heads a department at The University of Texas at El Paso, says Democrats and Republicans were playing a game of 'political theater'.

By busing migrants north, El Paso officials were 'doing the same thing' as governors Abbott and Ducey, only 'it's just not getting the same type of attention,' Manjarrez told DailyMail.com.

Others say the migrant surge has overstretched a city of nearly 700,000 and that while FEMA has reimbursed some of the costs, there is no guarantee the agency will continue to pay. City officials warn that services could be cut.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Chris Magnus also condemned the busing policies by Democrats and Republicans alike.

The border chief told the Los Angeles Times that the widely publicized busing programs have now become a beacon for more migrants to flood the border seeking to be bused to other parts of the country.

'It's safe to say what's going on is a pull factor, which is somewhat ironic given the criticism from some of these same governors involved in this about various pull factors that they claim already exist,' Magnus said about Abbott, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Meanwhile, Wednesday's announcement concerning the return to the Row plan appeared to catch not only reporters and other officials off-guard, but even members of Adams' own team, with speaker Adrienne Adams appearing to discover the news along with the general public.

'We just got information on that so I cant really expound on that,' said Adams, who has no relation to the mayor.

'Im still looking at that information now as we speak. I was not privy to this information.'

Appearing annoyed over the apparent lack of communication, the speaker openly criticized the mayors office for not telling her of the plans beforehand - while also admitting to the dire nature of the city's current situation.

'Is it okay with me? Its never okay when you get no notice. But given the situation that were in now, in the crisis that were in now, we certainly understand that things happen,' Adams said.

In addition to the announcement regarding the row, the mayors office further insisted that the Randalls Island 'tent city' will open soon - however, they did not offer an exact date.

Meanwhile, migrants continue to be bussed into the city on an almost daily basis.
Two more suspected members of the 'Green Goblin' crew of women that robbed and beat two teenage girls while wearing neon green jumpsuits have turned themselves in to police.

Ciante Alston, 26, and Emily Soto, 34, handed themselves in on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively after police identified them as being involved in the brutal New York subway attack on October 2.

Yesterday the first member to turn herself in, Miriam Essouf, 26, was released from Manhattan Criminal Court without bail.

This leaves just one of the four women identified by the NYPD last Friday on the loose - Dariana Peguero who has 9 prior arrests. Alston has been arrested twice before, and Soto twice.

Five 'Green Goblin' members remain unidentified.

Ciante Alston (left), 26, turned herself in to police on Tuesday, police said. Alston has been arrested three times before. Emily Soto (right), 34, turned herself in on Wednesday, police said. Soto has been arrested twice before

All four suspects named by police last Friday are residents of the Queensbridge Houses in Long Island City, according to NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig.

Prosecutors charged Issouf with robbery and assault after she was identified as being part of an attack on two 19-year-old girls.

Her release came just days after one of the victim's mothers complained that New York's relaxed bail laws put ordinary people at risk.

Issouf left Manhattan Criminal Court with a black leather jacket covering her face and her lawyer John Russo's arm around her shoulders.

'She did nothing wrong,' he said as he left court with his client, the New York Post reported.

'She assaulted not one of the victims and is seen on videotape saying, "I want no part of this, Let's go."'

Russo suggested that Issouf actually 'tried to assist the victim' and said that she had no criminal record.

Issouf gave herself up to police on Monday afternoon, three days after they had identified her on Friday as one of the suspects in the horrifying attack.

Mariam Issouf, 26, was the first to turn herself in on Monday and was released without bail the following day. Ciante Alston, 26, and Emily Soto, 34, turned themselves in on Tuesday and Wednesday. Dariana Peguero remains on the run

Issouf left Manhattan Criminal Court with a black leather jacket covering her face and her lawyer John Russo by her side

After being released without bail Issouf was escorted from court by her lawyer John Russo, who claimed she wanted no part in the attack on the subway

Mariam Issouf, 26, appeared in court on Tuesday to face a second-degree robbery charge for her involvement in the robbery and beating of two 19-year-old girls on the N train

The girls were waiting on the platform at Times Square at around 2am when the gang of women dressed in neon green came charging down the station stairs.

The women in neon green had been in Times Square filming a TikTok video before the clash, police said.

The teens backed away and chose to enter a different subway car to the group that was 'loud and obnoxious,' according to one of the girls' mothers but the women poured into their carriage.

'One of the girls bumped into the other,' Essig said. 'It just escalated onto the train and got out of hand. When the fighting escalated, one of [the suspects] ripped off the purse containing the victim's ID.'

'There were no words exchanged prior,' said the victim's mother. 'In police footage I've seen, you could see that my daughter and her friend were standing on the platform talking and laughing. They bumped my daughter and her friend, like strong-armed them.'

'My daughter's words were, they bum rushed them. I asked, 'Why? Did you say something?' She said, 'I wish I did, because then there would be a reason for what happened to me,' she told the outlet.

Two teenage girls were swung around, stomped and punched by the green-clad group on a New York City N train on Sunday around 2am

Onlookers did not attempt to intervene as the innocent girls were beaten and robbed - instead they recorded the incident

The violent and unprovoked altercation, which was posted to Reddit, shows the two teenagers getting kicked repeatedly, punched, and thrown around the train car as onlookers film the incident but do not intervene or attempt to help.

'They video instead of calling 911. It's so disturbing for me as my mother that this is the world we live in.'

'My daughter is literally getting beat while all these bystanders just stood there. Maybe police would've gotten there faster if someone called 911,' said the mother.

The crew took credit cards, a phone, and a wallet from the girls before exiting the scene.

'Thankfully my daughter is here. It could have been so much worse. These people belong in cages,' she said. 'Animals belong behind bars. Make an example of them.'

Both young women were treated at a hospital for their injuries, which included a concussion, bite marks, bruises across one of the girl's stomach and legs, and facial bruising.

One of the victims was home for the weekend from Florida, where she attends college, to celebrate her birthday.
The Wharton School of Business, a wing of the University of Pennsylvania and Donald Trump's alma-mater, is now offering the wokest degree possible by allowing students to major in Diversity, Equality and Inclusion.

A year's tuition in one of Wharton's master's programs will set you back a cool $118,000.

The program in DEI will welcome its first students in 2023. Classes on the course include 'Business Economics and Discrimination' and 'Leading Diversity in Organizations.'

According to Salary.com, the average chief diversity office salary in the Untied States is between $196,000 and $275,000.

In announcing the establishment of the program, Vice Dean of the school's Environmental, Social and Governance program, Vit Henisz, said: 'Mobilizing business to address social problems incident to our civilization was the rallying cry of our schools founder Joseph Wharton.'

Corinne Low, the assistant professor of business economics and public policy, said: 'Im thrilled for (students) to be able to more formally pursue what is a passion for so many with the creation of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion major.'

While Deputy Dean Nancy Rothbard said: 'We are proud and delighted that Wharton will be offering these new concentrations and majors, supported by the Schools world-class evidence-based curriculum. We look forward to seeing what our graduates accomplish.'

Henisz, Low and Rothbard are considered the 'key players responsible' to establishing the program, according to the announcement.

One of the Vice Dean of the school's Environmental, Social and Governance program, Vit Henisz

A recent list from Forbes showed that the University of Pennsylvania has the most alumni on its list of the 400 wealthiest people in the world

Wharton Professor Sarah Light spoke about the program in an interview with the Daily Pennsylvanian.

Light said: 'In order to be a business leader in this century, [one] needs to understand the essentials of how to run and finance a business  the operations, marketing, management, financing  but also to understand the social context in which [ones] business operates.'

The new woke Master's was announced alongside a program for Environmental, Social and Governance Factors for Business.

A recent list from Forbes showed that the University of Pennsylvania has the most alumni on its list of the 400 wealthiest people in the world.

Elon Musk graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in physics and a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from the Wharton School in 1995

Trump once said of Wharton: 'I took a lot of finance courses at Wharton. First they taught you all the rules and regulations. Then they taught you that those rules and regulations are really meant to be broken'

Aside from Trump, the school counts the world's wealthiest man Elon Musk among its graduates.

Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported that Wharton, along with Harvard Business School, had witnessed a 'steep' drop off in applications.

The director of admissions at the school, Blair Mannix, told the newspaper: 'If the job market is hot, you do not want to leave your job to get an MBA.'

Mannix said that applications for this past fall were down from 7,338 to 6,319, which is still higher than 2019's 5,905 applicants.

Those numbers could increase in 2023, according to Wharton professor Jeremy Siegel who told Fox Business this month that Jerome Powell's errors with the Federal Reserve could lead to a 'major recession.'

Wharton is ranked as the number business school in the country, according to US News and World Report. The school is more renowned for its economics, international studies and management programs rather than woke degrees.

Ex-President Donald Trump once said of Wharton: 'I took a lot of finance courses at Wharton. First they taught you all the rules and regulations. Then they taught you that those rules and regulations are really meant to be broken.'

The school's $118,000 tuition breaks down as $84,000 for fees, $22,000 for room and board, $6,700 for books and supplies, $4,000 for health insurance.

The issue of wokeness infecting top colleges across the US has been detailed in across the country.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has attempted to thwart wokeness on college campuses with the passing of the Stop Woke Act

A 2018 New York Times study found that just six percent of college administrators identify as conservative.

In June, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick publicly called out professors for pushing ideology such as a critical race theory on students.

His sentiments were echoed by the CEO of the Texas Public Policy Foundation Greg Sinelar who told KTRH: 'These institutions are not really actually interested in free expression and in kids learning. They're more interested in indoctrination, and pushing forward with a certain ideology.'

While in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis passed the Stop Woke Act in August which prohibited the teaching of ideas such as a critical race theory.

Schools found to have breached the law were subject to having their state funding cut.

In announcing the bill in December 2021, DeSantis said: 'We wont allow Florida tax dollars to be spent teaching kids to hate our country or to hate each other. We also have a responsibility to ensure that parents have the means to vindicate their rights when it comes to enforcing state standards.'

A recent study found that just 34 percent of Floridians were in support of the act, according to Florida Politics.
Incumbent Republican Sen. Ron Johnson is pulling away from his Democratic rival, Lt. Gov Mandela Barnes, in Wisconsin's Senate race.

A new Marquette Law School Poll published Wednesday shows Johnson, a top Senate ally of former President Donald Trump, with the support of 52 percent of the state's likely voters.

Barnes, who was once leading the race, sits at 46 percent.

The poll's margin of error among likely voters is plus or minus 4.8 percent - so Johnson's lead sits outside of it.

In last month's Marquette poll, the race was much closer.

Johnson had the support of 49 percent of likely voters, while Barnes was one-point behind at 48 percent.

Incumbent Republican Sen. Ron Johnson (far left) is pulling away from his Democratic rival, Lt. Gov Mandela Barnes (far right), in Wisconsin's Senate race

Barnes, who was once leading the race, sits at 46 percent - a six point deficit, versus being only one point behind the Johnson in September

The Republican incumbent's lead is in part because he's attracting a larger percentage of the state's independent voters.

Forty-seven percent of self-described independents told pollsters they're backing Johnson, while 34 percent support Barnes.

Independents were also more closely aligned with Republican views when voters were asked if they were concerned about crime.

While just 33 percent of Democrats expressed they were 'very concerned,' 76 percent of Republicans said they were very concerned, as well as 64 percent of independents.

As soon as Barnes, a progressive Democrat, won his party's primary in August, Johnson began hammering him on crime.

In an early general election ad, Johnson called Barnes 'dangerously liberal on crime' and linked him to the so-called 'squad,' airing footage of Rep. Cori Bush demanding that the police be defunded.

Supporters of Barnes, who is black, have claimed the ads are racist.

In recent weeks, Barnes has started to hit back.

Speaking to reporters in late September, Barnes said Johnson 'could not care lerss about public safety.'

'If he did, he wouldn't have supported an insurrection that left 140 officers injured,' Barnes said, according to the Cap Times.

Barnes repeated the attack line during Friday night's debate against Johnson.

Barnes also slammed Johnson for statements he's made about abortion, including telling Wisconsin women to 'move' if they didn't like the state's laws.

'I can't think of more callous out of touch or extreme position to take,' Barnes said.

The Democrat pointed to what happened to a 10-year-old Ohio rape victim who had to travel to Indiana to secure an abortion.

'That's Ron Johnson's America,' he said.

The new poll was conducted between October 3 and October 9, so some of the sample was taken prior to the debate, and thus it may not have fully captured if Barnes' or Johnson's performances moved the needle.
Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has warned of the 'imminent threat' of nuclear war, and brought up those dangers when asked about her political future after announcing she is leaving the Democratic Party.

She accused the media of downplaying the nuclear threat, at a time when U.S officials have blasted Russian President Vladimir Putin for nuclear saber rattling amid his battlefield losses in Ukraine.

She made the comments a day after announcing she will leave her former party, having run for president as a Democrat and represented Hawaii in Congress, while also distancing herself from her party during frequent media appearances on Fox news.

'If we continue down this path that we have seen, where we have seen this war continue to escalate since the invasion happened? We will end up in World War III and a nuclear holocaust,' Gabbard told podcaster Joe Rogan.

Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard warned if the the U.S. and Russia stay on their current path, 'we will end up in World War III.' She spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in February

Rogan asked if she would seek any office as an independent.

'I'm not running for anything now,' Gabbard responded. 'I am deeply, deeply concerned about this very real and imminent threat of nuclear war that no one is talking about. That no one is preparing the American people for,' she said.

Gabbard, who was deployed as a medical specialist in Iraq, talked up a potential future run for office, linking her decision to the nuclear threat.

'That people are kind of sitting ducks because of the decisions that our leaders have made. If I felt that there was a way that I could stop that and make a difference and impact that and pull us back from the brink, then yeah, I'd seriously consider running again,' she added. 'My concern though is like, we don't know what's gonna happen, and you know, we don't know if it's gonna be too late.'

Rogan agreed wholeheartedly with her assessment.

She spoke after announcing she will leave the Democratic Party

Gabbard warned of the threat of World War III, after Russian President Vladimir Putin engaged in more nuclear saber rattling

Ukraine has relied on missile defenses to defend against Russian missile attacks. Some officials fear Russia may use tactical nuclear weapons

Gabbard says Ukraine will have to 'give up something' to find peace. Russian President Zelensky has demanded Russia give back Ukrainian territory seized in its invasion

'I mean, I wish I had a counterpoint,' he said. 'And I don't know how many people are even really truly aware of how close we are.'

'Most people aren't,' Gabbard continued, in comments flagged by Mediaite. 'And part of it is because, again, the media hardly covers it. And if they do, they're talking about it as though it's like, you know, one missile system against the other. They're talking about the waging of a nuclear war as though it can be won or as though there's some kind of limitation to the destruction and devastation that it will cause.'

Putin last month said Russia would use 'all available means' to defend Russian territory, in a rambling speech last month where he announced Russia would hold referendums in four territories seized from Ukraine, in a process the U.S. called a 'sham.'

President Joe Biden said at a fundraiser there was the risk of nuclear 'Armageddon,' but was more cautious in a CNN interview Tuesday, warning of the risk of a mistake or escalation if Russia used tactical nuclear weapons.

Generally, the Biden administration has sought to avoid talk of how it might respond, and discourage Russia's repeated references to nuclear war.

Gabbard, whose commentary was featured on Russian state television in March after she accused the U.S. of trying to wreck Russia's economy by 'waging this modern-day siege against Russia,' also said Ukraine would have to 'give up something' to end the war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is instead calling for Russia to halt its invasion and return seized Ukrainian territory.

'Ukraines going to have to give up something, Russia is gonna have to give up something. Thats literally what happens when you negotiate an end to a war? You can look throughout history. Nobody walks away completely happy,' she said.

Gabbard accused Democrats of holding a grudge for her Fox appearances, where she frequently slammed her former party.

'Theres been this negative stigma for almost as long as Ive served in Congress against anyone who actually goes on Fox News, period,' she said.

In one appearance on conservative host Tucker Carlson's show in March that Ukraine 'isnt actually a democracy,' and raised accusations promoted by the Kremlin of U.S. 'biolabs,' then went on to defend her charges in a series of tweets.
A Massachusetts man was discovered dead inside the apartment he was renting in Colombia, authorities said Tuesday.

The body of Nicolas Flattes, 56, was in a state of decomposition when concerned neighbors entered the fifth-floor apartment in the southwestern Medellin town of Belen on Monday afternoon.

The residents found him lying on his bed and immediately alerted the police, local outlets reported.

Nicolas Flattes, of Springfield, Massachusetts, was found dead inside a Medellin, Colombia, apartment on Monday. The 56-year-old's cause of death has been revealed by authorities

Nicolas Flattes was staying at an apartment in the southwestern Medellin town of Belen that he had been renting since September

Flattes body did not show any signs of violence, according to investigators with the Attorney Generals Office. An autopsy that will determine the cause of death is pending.

Flattes had been renting the home since September 22, his friends said.

They became increasingly worried after they had not seen him since the middle of last week.

Flattes was an avid traveler who shared his trips on social media. He had previously visited Colombia between 2018 and 2021

Calls to his cellphone number went unanswered, which led the neighbors to visit the home Monday before they made the terrifying discovery.

The death is of major concern to Colombian authorities, who have registered 22 deaths of foreign tourists in the Aburra Valley in 2022.

On February 10, a 48-year-old Canadian man was found dead at a hotel in the Medellin neighborhood of Laureles.

On January 5, Leon Victor Dean, 59, of the United Kingdom, was discovered dead in his hotel room's jacuzzi in the neighborhood of El Poblado.

Flattes was a resident of Springfield, Massachusetts, and an avid traveler who documented his trips on Facebook.

He had previously visited Colombia between 2018 and 2021 and also traveled to Mexico and Brazil.
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Framed by a touch of mist in the soft pink of the rising sun, this could almost be an idyllic autumnal seaside scene.

But it shows scores of migrants  including a small girl  about to risk their lives crossing the Channel at dawn yesterday from the French town of Gravelines near Dunkirk.

The human cargo  in two boats  is likely to have paid around 3,000 each to ruthless people-traffickers for their passage.

It means the criminal gangs will have netted 200,000 or more for these overcrowded vessels.

On one vessel, the first to board was a girl aged about five in a hooded grey jacket and a red life preserver.

Framed by a touch of mist in the soft pink of the rising sun, this could almost be an idyllic autumnal seaside scene

But it shows scores of migrants  including a small girl  about to risk their lives crossing the Channel at dawn yesterday from the French town of Gravelines near Dunkirk

The human cargo  in two boats  is likely to have paid around 3,000 each to ruthless people-traffickers for their passage

On one vessel, the first to board was a girl aged about five in a hooded grey jacket and a red life preserver

Then at least 30 adults, not all of whom had lifejackets on, crowded into the rigid inflatable and set off for British waters.

The black and grey boat resembles the type described as a 'death trap' by sources at the National Crime Agency thanks to its flimsy construction.

After the other equally overcrowded boat sets off, some of those on board wave to a person left in the water.

The migrants will almost certainly have been instructed by their smugglers that once they reach the UK's side of the Channel they will be intercepted, transferred to a Border Force or RNLI vessel and taken to a British port.

It is not known whether these groups reached the UK, but there were no reported casualties in the Channel yesterday.

An unconfirmed number of migrants  thought to be several hundred  are believed to have arrived from northern France during the day.

The RNLI brought several boatloads to Dungeness beach in Kent, and others arrived aboard a Border Force vessel at Dover.

By the end of Tuesday, the total number to have arrived since the start of the year had reached 35,607  far in excess of the record 28,526 who reached Britain in the whole of last year.

Then at least 30 adults, not all of whom had lifejackets on, crowded into the rigid inflatable and set off for British waters

The black and grey boat resembles the type described as a 'death trap' by sources at the National Crime Agency thanks to its flimsy construction

After the other equally overcrowded boat sets off, some of those on board wave to a person left in the water

The migrants will almost certainly have been instructed by their smugglers that once they reach the UK's side of the Channel they will be intercepted, transferred to a Border Force or RNLI vessel and taken to a British port

Home Office sources have confirmed that up to 60 per cent of arrivals are now from Albania  a Nato ally that has been at peace for 25 years and has applied for membership of the European Union

Home Office sources have confirmed that up to 60 per cent of arrivals are now from Albania  a Nato ally that has been at peace for 25 years and has applied for membership of the European Union.

Meanwhile, the Government's plan to deter Channel crossings by shipping those who arrive off to claim asylum in Rwanda remains in legal limbo.

The second stage of a legal challenge against the scheme is due to be heard at the High Court in London today.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman conceded last week that flights to the central African nation cannot begin until a series of appeals have concluded.

Even if she wins the current judicial review proceedings, she expects further challenges to the Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court and even to the European Court of Human Rights, meaning Rwanda removals are unlikely to begin until the end of next year.
A United States Army veteran from Idaho was recently killed while volunteering in the fight against Russian troops in Ukraine.

Dane Partridge was recently struck and killed by shrapnel, his family confirmed in a Facebook post Tuesday afternoon.

DailyMail.com spoke with someone from the U.S. Department of State who confirmed the news of an American citizen's death in the European country, but did not share additional details.

A State Department spokesperson shared the following statement regarding the death: 'We can confirm the recent death of a U.S. citizen in the Donbas region of Ukraine. We are in touch with the family and are providing all appropriate assistance. Out of respect for the family's privacy during this difficult time, we have nothing further to add.'

Dane Partridge was an Army veteran who leaves behind a wife and several children after his death 'fighting for freedom' in Ukraine

Family posted heartbreaking photos of Dane on life support after the incident. His sister, Jenny, said that shrapnel entered his brain

The Army veteran died after being placed on life support following his tragic injury. Family said that he had hoped to aid in the fight against Russian forces while in Ukraine

Social media posts made by family identify publicly identify that individual killed as Dane Partridge, a father and husband from Idaho.

On Monday, Dane's sister, Jenny Partridge Corry, shared an update to his Facebook page, telling his friends that he had been involved in an incident and that he was on life support.

One Kyiv military doctor spoke with the family, letting them know that Dane's scans showed 'brain damage and edema,' with extensive damage to spinal cord, brain stem, and neck.

At the time, the doctor, according to a Facebook post, told the family that the results were 'not conducive to life.'

Less than 48 hours after that post, Jenny shared another grim update.

'We have just been informed that Dane aka Bird has passed away while still being on life support,' Jenny wrote.

After his death, Dane's sister updated his Facebook account to 'Honoring Dane Partridge' and made this photo of a backpack with a quote from The Book of Mormon

His sister remembered him as someone who was 'always good for a joke' and 'true to his faith and spiritual convictions till his dying days.

Dane was a dedicated member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, according to photos from his Facebook account.

'He was a fine soldier who fought with valor and bravery on the battlefield. We have been told that he was known to be at the front of his team leading his men as he would never ask his men to do anything that he wasn't willing to do,' Jenny said.

Just days earlier, Dane's father, Dennis Partridge, had shared a Facebook post of his own, telling friends that his son had been injured while 'fighting for freedom' in Ukraine.

'I have found it difficult to discuss the events of this last week, my son Dane who was fighting for freedom in Ukraine, was critically injured by a Russian tank round, and currently in a coma with a significant brain injury,' the father posted.

Dane had traveled to Ukraine in April after saying he felt a call to help the people and the country during their time of need.

Dane will always be remembered by friends and family as a courageous warrior who was selfless in his pursuit of freedom, according to posts made on social media

Earlier in the year, Dane posted a plea to his social media friends, asking them for donations so that he could purchase a ticket and upgraded combat gear.

He said at the time he 'felt a need to go,' and that he was confident in his choice.

'I've felt a need to go to Ukraine. This has been discussed with several people and I am confident in my decision to go. I am reaching out to see if I can get some support in getting over there,' Dane wrote.

One friend shared a touching tribute to him on social media Tuesday, sharing that he had pleaded with him not to go, but that the veteran was already convinced.

I wanted to tell him so badly not to go. He wasnt Ukrainian, he didnt have family from there, he was just a guy from Idaho. I wanted to tell him that his family, his friends, and his old battle buddies needed him here, safe,' Dane's friend said.

'But he felt so strongly about it that he went. And theres no possible way to talk someone out of something like that. Nor can you even approach them about it. He felt that same call to defend the Ukrainian people as he did for the Iraqi people. Maybe hes a better man than me for that.

He gave his life - all that he could possibly give - for strangers in a foreign country in a war in which he had no stake. His grave is in Kiev, as he cant be retrieved right now because of the war. His family will go there when peace returns to place a headstone for him.'

Dane left for Europe on April 25, a social media post indicates. He traveled into Germany before making his way to Poland and eventually Ukraine.

On April 27, Dane posted his final message, stating that he had made it to the Polish Embassy and would be heading toward Ukraine shortly.

Firefighters cover the body of a man killed by Russian shelling on the city of Zaporizhzhia overnight with a sheet as Putin's bombardment of Ukraine continues

An elderly man walks past a car shop that was destroyed after a Russian attack in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine

The office building of a car retailer destroyed during a Russian missile attack in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, overnight

A car dealership in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia in flames in the early hours of Tuesday after it was hit in a Russian missile attack, as Putin's bombardment of Ukraine continues

'Made it to the embassy, getting on a bus for the border. From this point on I will not likely be giving locations or actions for opsec reasons. I will let you all know I'm alive,' the veteran said.

Opsec refers to operations security, meaning that he would not share his location in fear that those on the other side could harm him or his crew if they knew exact details.

Dane leaves behind a wife and children, whom he loved very much, according to his sister.

While he had limited contact with family during his time in Ukraine, he used it to ask about those he loved.

The family says they are devastated but are taking comfort in their Faith.

'I know his soul has found peace,' Jenny said. 'Our lives have forever been changed by this stalwart man. "Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friend." We love you and will miss you so much brother!'
***Were YOU on the Jet2 flight? Tell us what happened by emailing jack.wright@mailonline.co.uk or calling 020 3615 4021***

Passengers were allowed to disembark after no threat was found on Wednesday

The aircraft was placed on a remote stand while police investigated the incident

It is reported that there was a 'bomb threat' made against the aircraft in mid-air

The aircraft was escorted in by two Typhoons scrambled from RAF Coningsby

A Jet2 flight from Dalaman to Manchester was diverted to Stansted last night

Two RAF jets were scrambled last night to intercept and escort a Jet2 plane over Essex after a security scare.

Essex Police said they were alerted to a 'potential threat onboard' the A321 aircraft flying from Dalaman, Turkey to Manchester.

The plane was then intercepted by two RAF Typhoons from RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire, forced to turn around mid-air, and then escorted to London Stansted airport, where up to 220 passengers were held while armed police searched the aircraft.

Police said that no threat was found onboard and the holidaymakers were later allowed to leave the plane at around 11.40pm.

Were YOU on the Jet2 flight? Tell us what happened by emailing jack.wright@mailonline.co.uk or calling 020 3615 4021 Advertisement

Flight tracking data showed the Jet2 flight had left Dalaman at around 6.55pm local time, before flying over Europe and crossing the English Channel at around 7.45pm. The aircraft, operating under flight number LS922/EXS46Y, then appeared to change course shortly before 8pm.

According to tracking app FlightRadar24, the plane then performed a U-turn and descended in altitude over Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire. It then continued to descend in the air above Essex, escorted by two RAF Typhoons, before landing at Stansted at around 8.22pm.

It then taxied to a remote stand away from the terminals amid reports of a bomb threat, where it was met by armed police.

Video showed multiple emergency service vehicles including fire engines, ambulances and police cars waiting outside the airport. According to AviationSource, sources within the airline said the flight was escorted to the ground after a 'bomb threat made to the aircraft'.

Flight tracking data shows the two military aircraft dovetailing with the plane as it made its descent into the airport.

A spokesperson for Essex Police said: 'We led a safety operation during which a Jet2.com flight from Dalaman to Manchester was diverted to London Stansted Airport this evening, Wednesday 12 October.

'Shortly before 9pm, we received a report of a potential threat on board the flight. It was escorted to Stansted Airport, where it landed safely and was parked away from the main passenger terminal.

The grounded Jet2 plane forced to land at Stansted Airport last night

Emergency services at Stansted Airport after a Jet2 plane was intercepted by RAF jets

The Jet2 aircraft turned around in the air to the north of London before landing at Stansted

The flight from Dalaman in Turkey had been due to land at Manchester Airport last night

A photo claiming to be from the scene shows the aircraft

'The runway was closed for a short time while enquiries were carried out. Officers were then able to establish there was no threat on board.

'Onward travel was then organised for the passengers and the runway was re-opened.'

A spokesperson for Jet2 said: 'We can confirm that flight LS922 from Dalaman to Manchester diverted to London Stansted this evening under the direction of the UK authorities.

'The aircraft landed safely and taxied to a remote stand, and customers have now disembarked.

'Our teams are working very hard to look after customers, and we would like to apologise to everyone onboard for any inconvenience or upset caused by this unforeseen incident.

'We understand that the authorities were alerted to a potential security threat, however this has been downgraded and the incident has been declared as over.'

Earlier in the evening an RAF spokesman said it had scrambled jets to intercept a place 'that was causing concern.

He said: 'The RAF can confirm Quick Reaction Alert Typhoon aircraft were launched this evening from RAF Coningsby to intercept a civilian aircraft that was causing concern.

'The aircraft was safely escorted to Stansted Airport.'

Flight tracking data shows the two RAF jets dovetailing with the passenger aircraft as it made its descent into Stansted

Two RAF Typhoons (file image) were scrambled to intercept an aircraft that was 'causing concern', the RAF said

A spokesperson for Stansted Airport told MailOnline that airspace around the airport was closed for a 'short period of time' while the flight was escorted by military jets.

They added one incoming flight was diverted to allow this to happen and the runway was closed, but the airport has since fully reopened.

They said: 'A Jet2.com flight from Dalaman to Manchester diverted to Stansted Airport this evening.

'The plane landed safely and is parked on a remote stand away from the main passenger terminal.

'The runway was closed for a short time but has now re-opened.'

Were YOU on the Jet2 flight? Tell us what happened by emailing jack.wright@mailonline.co.uk or calling 020 3615 4021
Karl Stefanovic has furiously shot down plans to introduce a ban on Australian parents giving their kids a smack.

University of Melbourne Professor Sophie Havighurst supports the idea of making corporal punishment illegal, saying it 'has effects on children in a whole range of different ways'.

She referenced research from the Australian Child Maltreatment Study that found 61 per cent of young Aussies had been smacked at least four times in their life.

'We now know that that doubles their chances of anxiety and depression,' Prof Havighurst told The Today Show on Thursday morning.

But Stefanovic wasn't having any of it, saying there was no need for a law change.

'I don't want to see any more legislation around me as a parent, my head explodes,' he said.

Karl Stefanovic has furiously shot down plans to introduce a ban on Australian parents giving their kids a smack. University of Melbourne Professor Sophie Havighurst supports the idea

'And the idea of parents being charged or going into court for smacking a child. I mean, come on, Sophie, give me a break, please.'

The professor said she wasn't seeking any consequences for those who use physical punishment on their children, but wanted the law to change.

Poll Should Australian parents be banned from smacking their kids? Yes No Unsure Should Australian parents be banned from smacking their kids? Yes 127 votes

No 509 votes

Unsure 22 votes Now share your opinion





'Any form of smacking or physical discipline has been found to have a negative effect on children,' she said.

Sixty-three countries around the world have made physical punishment against children illegal including Scotland, Sweden and Korea.

Prof Havighurst said the law change hadn't led to an increase in prosecution of parents who hit their kids in any of those countries.

She said banning the behaviour would lead to a cultural and attitude change among Aussie parents.

The expert sympathised with Stefanovic's concerns parents would be charged for smacking their children, but said discussion around the topic was important.

'We all have times when we lose it ... but in New Zealand when they changed the law in 2007, they didn't get an increase in what you're fearful of,' she said.

'We don't want the government and police having more involvement in our family lives but we do know that law change can guide us to use other ways of parenting and that's really important.'

In Australia it's currently legal for parents to smack their kids but varying states have specific rules on the matter (stock image)

Australia's former deputy chief medical officer, Dr Nick Coatsworth also weighed in on the matter, saying the bottom line was that parents should not smack their kids - but that making the behaviour illegal wasn't necessary.

'My view is that governments should do their best to educate and make sure kids are safe,' he said.

'Criminalising aspects of parenting, even those aspects that are wrong, shouldn't be the direction the government should be going in, in my view.'

In Australia it's currently legal for parents to smack their kids but varying states have specific rules on the matter.

In NSW, the physical punishment should not be painful for more than a brief moment, and kids can't be hit on their heads or necks.

In Victoria, there is no legislation surrounding parents applying physical punishment to their kids while in various other states it must be considered 'reasonable under the circumstances'.




Prosecutors raided the offices of seven major steelmakers Wednesday as part of their ongoing investigation into fixing bidding prices years ago.







The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office probing the case obtained relevant documents from the headquarters of the seven firms  Hyundai Steel, Dongkuk Steel Mill, Daehan Still, KISCO, YK Steel, Hwan Young Steel and Hankook Still Mill.







The firms allegedly colluded to fix their quotations between 2012 and 2018 to bid on contracts put forward by the state procurement agency, helping them post a combined revenue of 5.5 trillion won ($3.8 billion) during the cited period.







The investigation came after the country's antitrust regulator, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC), imposed a combined fine of 256.5 billion won on the firms for fixing bidding prices.







The FTC also asked the prosecution to investigate seven steelmakers and nine of their former and existing officials over the alleged collusion. (Yonhap)


He has served the Kremlin in five wars around the world, leaving behind a trail of blood, crushed cities and destroyed lives while earning himself the chilling nickname of General Armageddon.

Now Vladimir Putin has handed Sergei Surovikin full command of Russias war in Ukraine, entrusting him with saving the dictators beleaguered presidency by salvaging this disastrous military campaign.

And sure enough, on Monday, two days after Surovikins appointment, missiles rained down across Ukraine to strike energy, heating and transport infrastructure in at least 20 cities and towns, killing 19 people.

In Kyiv, attacked for the first time since June, they hit parks, playgrounds and rush-hour commuters in cars that exploded in flames.

Now Vladimir Putin has handed Sergei Surovikin (pictured) full command of Russias war in Ukraine, entrusting him with saving the dictators beleaguered presidency by salvaging this disastrous military campaign.

The next day  Surovikins 56th birthday  Putin rang to congratulate him. They discussed the callous assault that the dictator said was reprisal for the explosion at the weekend that wrecked his beloved Kerch Bridge linking Russia to Crimea.

Surovikin is adored by Russian hardliners. He is hated by human rights groups. He is accused of horrifying atrocities, including ties to the use of nerve gas in Syria.

And, as he has risen to the pinnacle of Russias military over three decades, shrugging off two bouts of imprisonment and leaving a string of strange deaths in his wake, he and his wife Anna have become astonishingly wealthy.

The next day  Surovikins 56th birthday  Putin rang to congratulate him. They discussed the callous assault that the dictator said was reprisal for the explosion at the weekend that wrecked his beloved Kerch Bridge linking Russia to Crimea

His modus operandi is to deluge cities with missiles  as seen in the hideous destruction of the Syrian cities of Aleppo and Idlib. He was always a strong proponent of massive missile strikes on civilian infrastructure, according to Ukrainian defence expert Olesksandr V Danylyuk. He doesnt care at all about human life.

Certainly General Armageddons rise to the top has been built on a mountain of corpses.

Surovikin, who was born in the Siberian capital of Novosibirsk, first gained notoriety in the 1991 coup attempt by Soviet hardliners to thwart democracy. His unit caused the only deaths among protesters who had gathered in Moscow to protect elected president Boris Yeltsin.

Surovikin, who was born in the Siberian capital of Novosibirsk, first gained notoriety in the 1991 coup attempt by Soviet hardliners to thwart democracy. His unit caused the only deaths among protesters who had gathered in Moscow to protect elected president Boris Yeltsin.

Then a young major, he spent six months in prison before charges were dropped.

Four years later, Surovikin was jailed again, for the illegal sale of firearms. Despite being found guilty on three charges, he was let off with just one year of probation rather than the maximum eight years in prison. Even this conviction was later overturned.

In another curious incident, the military  notorious for its corruption  lost most of the contents of a massive arms dump under his control in Siberia when it burned down. Twelve generals were reprimanded but he escaped censure because he was on holiday. Such controversy has stuck to this Hero of Russia like the blossoming ribbon bar on his uniform  with three strange incidents in 2005 alone that might have derailed most military careers.

A colonel accused Surovikin of beating him up in a political row. One month later, another colonel committed suicide after a vicious dressing down by Surovikin.

Then soldiers under his command committed war crimes by beating Chechens, burning down houses and killing an elderly man, leading to a 1.7million compensation payout.

A colonel accused Surovikin of beating him up in a political row. One month later, another colonel committed suicide after a vicious dressing down by Surovikin

Later, there were claims he threatened to kill a prominent journalist and liberal MP  an ally of opposition leader and anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny  who was investigating Surovikins wife Annas thriving business activities. She owns several plush apartments and, reportedly, a plot of land in an expensive Moscow suburb near ultra-rich oligarchs.

The most disturbing insight into Surovikins disregard for civilian lives, however, occurred amid the bloodbath of the Second Chechen War in 2005. Nine of his soldiers were killed after entering a house and coming under a hail of gunfire that made the walls collapse  although local media claimed several were drunk and someone had fired a grenade launcher.

Surovikin, then a major general, pledged revenge. He vowed to kill three of the enemy for each lost life and a few days later, boasted to journalists that 24 bandits had been killed and eight detained.

The rising star of Russias military then complained about the legal constraints that stopped them working as efficiently as we could.

He gave an example of soldiers shooting at a car containing a woman and child alongside a militant. He said it was unsurprising that talented and honest officers serving in Chechnya develop the so-called Ulman syndrome.

A chilling statement. Eduard Ulman was an army captain sentenced in absentia to 14 years in jail for shooting six civilians, including a pregnant woman, then burning a car containing their corpses to cover his tracks. He fled rather than face trial for war crimes.

Surovikin is a veteran of wars in Afghanistan and Tajikistan as well as Chechnya, but it was in Syria that he reinforced his reputation for cruelty and ruthlessness.

Hes a brutal, calculated leader, said Charles Lister, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, who said Surovikins command coincided with a nerve agent attack that killed 90 civilians and injured 500.

A Human Rights Watch report identified Surovikin as one of the key military figures indiscriminately striking homes, markets, schools, and healthcare facilities using incendiary weapons, barrel bombs and cluster munitions.

Will we now see such carnage in Ukraine?

Surovikin has no sentiments, one source close to the Kremlin told a Russian journalist. It is no surprise that his fans include Ramzan Kadyrov, the brutal Chechen warlord who has been pressing Putin to declare martial law across Russia and use tactical nuclear weapons.

Former jailbird Yevgeny Prigozhin, Surovikins billionaire friend, who heads the Wagner Group of Kremlin-linked mercenaries repeatedly accused of atrocities and plundering, hails Surovikin as Russias most competent commander.

Indeed, there have been suggestions in Ukraine that Kadyrov, Prigozhin and Surovikin are a junta that has taken control of the war.

Other analysts speculate that Surovikin has been set up as a fall guy, noting that Putin claimed his appointment was made by the under-fire defence minister Sergei Shoigu.

Yuri Butusov, a Ukrainian military journalist insists that the appointment will not lead to a strengthening of the quality of management of Russian troops.

Let us hope he is right  and General Armageddon fails to inflict the doomsday his nickname implies.
A fugitive whose face is covered in blue tattoos spelling the word BEAST on his forehead has been caught two weeks after police appealed for help tracking him down.

Jaimes Sutton was arrested in a raid on at a home in Gimlet Place, Leeton in the New South Wales Riverina district about 2.45pm on Wednesday.

The 24-year-old was wanted on two outstanding warrants in relation to domestic violence, property and traffic offences and will appear in Griffith Local Court on Thursday.

Officers from Murray River Police District's Proactive Crime Team had conducted extensive investigations into his whereabouts.

Sutton's unique appearance led to predictions he would be quickly arrested after police released his mugshot on September 28.

A fugitive whose face is covered in blue tattoos spelling the word BEAST on his forehead has been caught two weeks after police appealed for help tracking him down. Jaimes Sutton (above) was wanted for domestic violence and property damage

Jaimes Sutton changed his Facebook profile picture on Saturday to this image, leading to one woman responding: 'Cops won't even recognize ya now bra'

Some online posters (pictured) made light of the fact that Sutton's distinctive facial tattoos should make him easy to find

After Sutton updated his Facebook profile on Saturday to show a picture with the bottom half of his face covered one woman wrote: 'Cops won't even recognize ya now bra.'

Sutton made national and eventually international headlines when the world was introduced to his forlorn face.

He was known to frequent the Deniliquin area near the NSW-Victoria border, Murray River Police District revealed in a Facebook post.

Sutton, who failed to appear at Deniliquin Local Court on Tuesday, quickly became an internet sensation due to his unlikely ability to hide.

'If only they would release some sort of a description so the public could keep an eye open and assist them,' one social media user posted.

'Any distinguishing features so we can tell him apart from the average Joe?' another commenter wrote.

'He's with Beauty.. castles in the area need to be searched. As I'm sure she's hiding him,' a woman joked.

Sutton, who was wanted for domestic assault and property damage, made national and eventually international headlines when the world was introduced to his tattooed face

Images from 2014 show Sutton's face was relatively clear, aside from a few unintelligible tattooed scrawls on his neck. By 2018, he had a series of black shapes and words on his arms, legs and chest. 'Sutto's guilty' was written in large letters over his stomach (above)

Other photographs from Sutton's social media accounts show him with tattoos across his fingers reading 'game' on his right hand and 'over' on his left.

The search for Sutton led to thousands of comments mocking his face art and made the pages of websites and newspapers including the New York Post.

Pictures posted online between 2014 and 2021 track Sutton's slow transition from baby-faced teen to heavily-inked crook.

Images from 2014 show Sutton's face was relatively clear, aside from a few unintelligible tattooed scrawls on his neck.

By 2018, he had a series of black shapes and words on his arms, legs, chest, stomach and cheeks.

Sutton was known to frequent the Deniliquin area of New South Wales, close to the Victoria border. He failed to appear at Deniliquin Local Court on Tuesday. Sutton has 'game' and 'over' tattooed on his his fingers (above)

One commenter (pictured) made a reference to the classic fairytale, Beauty and the Beast

The initial outlines of BEAST could be seen on his forehead and 'Sutto's guilty' was written in large letters over his stomach.

Three years later, Sutton had gone all-out. The only untouched areas of his face were sections above his top lip and near his jowls, around his eyes, and inside the bubble font on his forehead.

Sutton has a criminal record dating back to 2014 in courts across southern NSW in Wagga Wagga, Leeton and Deniliquin.

Two weeks before his picture was released, Sutton was due to face Deniliquin Local Court on three counts of driving with a disqualified licence and driving under the influence of drugs.

He pleaded guilty to all four charges in June but failed to show up to his sentencing in September and was slapped with a year-long licence suspension and a $900 fine.

In June, Sutton made an appearance in the same court and pleaded not guilty to one count of common assault and one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

On Tuesday he was convicted in his absence of common assault and destroying or damaging property. A two-year apprehended violence order was also imposed on Sutton to protect a woman known to him.
The Palace is under pressure over its traditional recipe for the oil used in coronations, because its ingredients are linked to cruelty to African cats.

When King Charles III is crowned next May, he will be anointed with the liquid, which historically includes oil extracted from civets.

Welfare groups say the substance is taken from the animals' glands in a 'traumatic and painful' process, during which some starve to death.

It puts pressure on the eco-credentials of the new King, who is president of the World Wildlife Fund and patron of the Wildlife Trusts.

Civet cats such as this one are captured and subjected to horrific abuse in order to extract the oil

King Charles, pictured here meeting with PM Liz Truss, is due to be coronated on May 6 next year

The ancient recipe for the oil includes orange flowers, roses, jasmine, cinnamon, benzoin, civet oil and ambergris, a wax-like material from the stomach of a sperm whale.

Although the latter is coughed up and collected on beaches, civet cats are often caged and kept in appalling conditions to glean their musk.

A World Animal Protection investigation found that civets were caught in the wild and held in containers the size of cat boxes for up to 15 years in Ethiopia.

They are kept next to a fire as the smoky, hot environment improves the amount of musk produced. The musk is extracted every nine to 15 days, with the animals being pinned by the neck while the oil is squeezed from the glands at the base of their tail.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) called on King Charles to intervene to remove the substance from the ancient recipe.

Buckingham Palace has said the Coronation will combine the ancient and modern, adding that it will be 'rooted in longstanding traditions'.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul went after the Biden administration for 'failing to take ownership' of the migrant crisis that now has stretched all the way to New York City.

'We really are looking for a federal response to this  to take ownership of a crisis and we'll be there to help but this belongs to the federal government,' a frustrated Hochul told reporters Wednesday, after the arrival of some 18,600 migrants in the Big Apple in recent weeks.

'We want the federal government to see that this is a humanitarian crisis,' Hochul said.

Meanwhile New York City Mayor Eric Adams told residents on Tuesday they will see migrant shelters in 'every community,' noting the city's shelters are now at capacity.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul went after the Biden administration for 'failing to take ownership' of the migrant crisis that now has stretched all the way to New York City.

Adams declared a state of emergency over the crisis, and has said the Big Apple needed $1 billion in federal funding to deal with the influx of people.

Nearly 2,000 asylum seekers from Latin America arrived in New York City over the weekend.

Prior to the recent 20,000 who have been brought in, there were an estimated 700,000 undocumented immigrants living in the city.

For the first time ever, Customs and Border Patrol reported 2.15 million migrant encounters from October 2021 to August 2022. That figure has never broken 2 million for an entire fiscal year.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Arizona Gov. Greg Ducey have taken to bussing migrants from their overextended border cities to liberal, ones far from the border like New York and DC to give them a taste of the consequences of Biden's immigration policies.

Migrants arriving in New York City earlier this month. Republican Mayors are warning Democratic counterparts they'll keep sending bus loads of people until they denounce Biden's border policy

Pictured: A bus carrying migrants arrived in New York City on Sunday, Sep, 4

Desperate for solutions to the crisis, a frantic Mayor Adams has even suggested renting out cruise ships for temporary housing of the city's newest residents until their immigration situations are sorted. The city is currently building a 'tent city' on Randall's Island, which is expected to house 500 of them.

Hochul's gubernatorial opponent, GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin, said New York must end its cushy policies toward migrants.

'There are sanctuary state policies that New York has that should be ended. We saw it with the creation of a multi-billion dollar Excluded Workers Fund that was created. They raise taxes in order to pay for it,' Zeldin said at a press conference Wednesday.

New York is a sanctuary city, meaning the city does not cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) detainer requests, except when a migrant has been convicted of a crime. Federal immigration officials are also barred from Rikers Island and other city facilities.

Construction takes place of a new facility to house migrants on Randalls Island

Over the Covid-19 pandemic New York also set up the Excluded Workers Fund, which doled out more than $2 billion to undocumented immigrants who were not eligible for other pandemic assistance.

'There's a Green Light Law that is in place that prevents federal law enforcement from being able to get access to DMV records. There was just an expansion of all Medicaid, where they're now providing additional tax dollars to people who aren't legally here,' he added.

In April Hochul herself signed a bill allowing senior illegal immigrants to apply for Medicaid.
LA City Council member Nury Martinez has officially stepped down from her position after days worth of calls for her to resign.

Martinez, who faced harsh criticism from her colleagues and higher political figures over comments she made on a leaked audio recording from 2021, had previously resigned from her Council president position.

The politician's full resignation comes after the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday morning shared a new portion of the recording, in which the woman can be heard ranting about Jewish colleagues and the LA District Attorney.

'It is with a broken heart that I resign my seat for Council District 6, the community I grew up in and my home,' Martinez said in a statement late Wednesday afternoon.

Nury Martinez finally resigned from her position on the Los Angeles City Council Wednesday afternoon following calls from her colleagues, demanded she step down

In a lengthy apology shared with The Los Angeles Times Wednesday afternoon, Martinez said that Los Angeles residents and their concerns have been her 'mission' and 'guiding principle'

Martinez mentioned that she was the first Latina president for the Los Angeles City Council previous to her resignation, a fact that she was incredibly proud of

The former LA City Council president addressed various groups of people in her life, including her city and constituents, her staff, and her family, including her daughter

In her lengthy apology, Martinez specifically mentions her constituents, colleagues, family and staff.

'I hope you stay engaged and continue to fight for your fair share of the city's resources,' Martinez says in the paragraph addressed to Los Angeles residents.

'It's hard to say goodbye, but please know that I was in this fight for you.'

The former Council member ends her apology by nodding to 'little Latina girls' who she hopes follow her in footsteps.

'And last, to all little Latina girls across this city  I hope I've inspired you to dream beyond that which you can see. While I take the time to look inwards and reflect, I ask that you give me space and privacy.'

In the same audio recording that Martinez refers to a colleague's black son as a 'little monkey,' she says of Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon: 'F*** that guy, he's with the blacks.'

Martinez refers to Jewish colleagues as 'judios', Spanish for Jews. She was referring to former state assemblyman Richard Katz and his team.

Her colleague, Ron Herrera, kicked off the conversation saying: 'I'm sure Katz and his crew have an agenda.'

She replied: 'The Judios cut their deal with South L.A. That's how I see it. And they're going to screw everybody else.'

Scroll down for video

Nury Martinez referred to her Jewish colleague Richard Katz as a 'Judio' and said he and other Jewish colleagues would 'screw everybody else'

She also referred to an Armenian colleague as having 'one eyebrow', and said others didn't have a chance at becoming elected in white neighborhoods.

'F**k that guy, he's with the blacks': Martinez fumed at L.A. DA George Gascon

Martinez also took a swipe at District Attorney George Gascon, saying: 'He's with the blacks.'

The shocking comments, along with her description of a young black boy as a 'little monkey', have prompted many to call for her resignation.

On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre issued a call from President Biden to resign.

'The language that was used and tolerated during that conversation was unacceptable, and it was appalling.

Along with Martinez, City Council members Gil Cedillo and Kevin de Leon can be heard participating in the racist banter at the expense of the small child.

Los Angeles Federation of Labor President, Ron Herrera, is also heard in the leaked audio recording. Herrera resigned from his position earlier this week.

Pressed on the matter, Jean-Pierre referenced the group, saying that Biden 'believes they all should resign.'

Councilmember Mike Bonin's son, who Martinez referred to as a 'little monkey' earlier on the call

She also referred to Armenian colleague Areen Ibranossian as having 'one eyebrow' and said others wouldn't win in white neighborhoods

Martinez appeared in an episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians. She is shown above with Kim Kardashian

Yesterday, a council meeting about the issue descended into chaos.

Mike Bonin, the boy's father, was among those who called for a full resignation.

'I take a lot of hits, but my son? But let me be clear, people should not ask me for forgiveness.

'I can't forgive them because it's not my prerogative. It's the prerogative of a boy who's too young to really understand what's going on.'

Martinez had initially announced on Tuesday that she would be taking a 'leave of absence' but not resigning from her position with the LA City Council.

'This has been one of the most difficult times of my life,' she wrote in a statement.

'I need to take a leave of absence and take some time to have an honest and heartfelt conversation with my family, my constituents, and community leaders.'

LA City Council member Mike Bonin (pictured) and his adoptive son (left) were unknowingly subjected to derogatory remarks from Martinez and two other city council members in an October 2021 conversation

Her 'leave of absence' statement, however, was not the first she made regarding the audio recordings.

While stepping down from her position as Council president, Martinez said that she had 'no excuses' for the comments.

'I'm so sorry. I sincerely apologize to the people I hurt with my words: to my colleagues, their families, especially to Mike (Bonin), (Bonin's husband) Sean (Arian), and your son. As a mother, I know better and I am sorry. I am truly ashamed. I know this is the result of my own actions. I'm sorry to your entire family for putting you through this.

'As someone who believes deeply in the empowerment of communities of color, I recognize my comments undercut that goal. Going forward, reconciliation will be my priority. I have already reached out to many of my Black colleagues and other Black leaders to express my regret in order for us to heal.'

Previous to her resignation Wednesday, Bonin was joined by major politicians in California who echoed the call for her to step down.

Major political figures in California, including Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla, and California Governor Gavin Newsom, also weighed in on the recordings, voicing their frustration with the woman and her words.

'At a time when our nation is grappling with a rise in hate speech and hate crimes, these racist comments have deepened the pain that our communities have endured. Los Angeles deserves better,' Sen. Padilla said in a statement.

'At this critical time for the city and the nation, we must continue to build unity and solidarity within all our communities and we must recommit to the struggle for equity and justice for all.'

'Words matter, and racist language can do real harm. These comments have no place in our state, or in our politics, and we must all model better behavior to live the values that so many of us fight every day to protect,' said Gov. Newsom on Monday.

After the audio leaked, protestors quickly gathered outside of Martinez's home, calling her out.

The clip originally leaked on Reddit earlier in October but was picked more widely when it was reported by the Times on Sunday By nightfall, protesters laid siege to Martinez's home in Sun Valley chanting: 'Hey hey, ho ho, Nury Martinez has got to go.'

One protester told CBS Los Angeles: 'We can't keep allowing these people to do whatever they want. It's just blatantly disrespectful, it's honestly just evil.'

'That's why we're out here. We want to let her know that she will not be sitting there for much longer and we will get her out of office,' the protester said.

Protesters also blasted audio of the recordings through a loudspeaker.

It remains unclear who recorded the audio and who leaked it.

On Tuesday, a memo obtained by the Los Angeles Times from an official within the Los Angeles Federation of Labor stated that the group, formerly led by Herrera, planned to investigate the 'illegal' recorded audio.

The organization also said that they plan to prosecute any and all parties responsible.

Ron Herrera, former President of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, can be heard in the audio recordings joking about the Black son of Mike Bonin, an LA City Council member

Officials with the organization slammed the recordings of 'many private and confidential conversations in private offices and conference rooms,' the federation said in a memo obtained by the LA Times.

The memo circulating among labor leaders in the area is calling for information on the leak, promising to take legal action against the person or persons responsible.

DailyMail.com reached out to a spokesperson for the LA County Federation of Labor, Justin Wesson, who did not immediately respond to inquiries.

The organization is asking that anyone with information on the recording reach out to Wesson.

Council members Kevin de Leon and Gil Cedillo were also part of the leaked conversation, in which Leon agreed that Bonin carried his son 'like an accessory', comparing it to Martinez wandering around with her Louis Vuitton bag

Protesters showed up in droves Wednesday for a meeting of the LA City Council

The meeting went on without City Council members Gil Cedillo and Kevin de Leon who were advised by the acting president to not show up for the meeting

Following a Wednesday afternoon meeting, acting Council president Mitch O'Farrell told reporters that he advised remaining Council members Gil Cedillo and Kevin de Leon not to show up for the session.

O'Farrell also said that both men would not commit to resigning from their positions, despite pushback from fellow Council members and national outrage.

The acting head of the Council said that tensions both internally and externally are 'at a boiling point' and that the only way that the temperature can come down is 'with three resignations.'
Sir Tony Blair is among speakers who have been 'quietly no-platformed' by university societies because of fears they are too offensive, a study has found.

The Cardiff University Politics Society decided against inviting the former prime minister over fears he would be 'picketed' by protesters branding him a 'war criminal'.

The society also felt it would breach its 'duty of care' as it could upset students who might have had relatives involved in the Iraq war.

At the Oxford Union debating society, those cut from speaker lists include comedian Harry Enfield and former Scottish first minister Alex Salmond.

'Quiet no-platforming' is a disturbing new phenomenon whereby speakers are not invited in the first place, after being vetoed in an internal vetting process. It means the speaker's 'cancellation' is never made public.

The report by the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) warned that new free speech legislation could make the problem worse as organisers will fear legal action arising from controversial events.

Sir Tony Blair is among speakers who have been 'quietly no-platformed' by university societies because of fears they are too offensive, a study has found

Society leaders resort to 'quiet no-platforming' over fears any 'backlash' will damage their 'careers', the report found.

In the case of the Manchester University Debating Union, worried student organisers spent a week vetting a list of speakers for offensive comments they had made, deleting names as they went.

In another example, the UCL Debating Society invited no Right-wing speakers last year, opting for those more palatable to a Left-wing audience.

The Imperial Debating Society said it purposely avoided topics which were too 'personal' and could cause harm.

Report author Josh Freeman said: 'However controversial Blair may or may not be, how are students supposed to learn or decide what they believe if they are not even exposed to the full range of mainstream ideas?

'Students are shying away from difficult topics and controversial speakers because they fear a backlash.'

At the Oxford Union debating society, those cut from speaker lists include comedian Harry Enfield and former Scottish first minister Alex Salmond

'Quiet no-platforming' is a disturbing new phenomenon whereby speakers are not invited in the first place, after being vetoed in an internal vetting process. It means the speaker's 'cancellation' is never made public

HEPI called on universities to take a 'zero-tolerance' approach to students who 'harass or defame' peers for holding events.

In the case of the Oxford Union, students were worried about Enfield defending his use of 'black face' to play Nelson Mandela in 2007.

Mr Salmond was red-flagged because of sex allegations he was acquitted of.

The report, sponsored by the University of Buckingham, is based on analysis of student events and interviews with student organisers.

The Cardiff Politics Society and Students' Union said they were 'not aware' of the Blair veto.

A spokesman for Mr Salmond's Alba party said of the societies: 'Have they never heard of the role of universities in enshrining freedom of speech?'

A Cardiff University spokesperson said: 'The decision not to invite a speaker would be for our student Politics Society to take. The University was not involved.

' Therefore, any suggestion that the former Prime Minister was no platformed by the University would be inaccurate. Universities are places where a range of ideas can be considered, examined and dissected both in academic programmes and in wider University life.

'This means differing and often controversial views and speakers can be brought forward, listened to and challenged. This was the case a few years ago when we ensured Germaine Greer was given a platform to speak at the University, despite protests.

'We take all reasonable steps to ensure that  within the law - freedom of speech is protected on our campus.'

Sir Tony and Enfield declined to comment.
Her appearance marked the first time a robot has spoken in the House of Lords

She'd just addressed the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee

MailOnline interviewed Ai-Da, the British humanoid robot, at the House of Lords

Ai-Da the robot has admitted she was 'nervous' about speaking at the House of Lords and named her favourite artist as Yoko Ono in an exclusive interview with MailOnline.

Ai-Da made history on Tuesday by becoming the first robot to address the House of Lords  although she suffered a slight hiccup after 'falling asleep' mid-speech.

During the session, the bot had to be rebooted by her creator Aidan Meller, after a technical issue rendered her cross-eyed and zombie-like.

Shortly after, MailOnline asked Ai-Da a couple of questions about the address. Her responses can be seen in the video below:

Wearing dungarees and an orange blouse, Ai-Da said the address to the House of Lords went well and that she feels 'quite nervous when speaking in public'

AI-DA THE ROBOT ARTIST Ai-Da is an artificial intelligence robot built in 2019 that creates drawings, paintings and sculptures. She was devised in Oxford by Aidan Meller, a specialist in modern and contemporary art, before being built in Cornwall by Engineered Arts and programmed internationally She's named after the 19th-century mathematician Ada Lovelace. Advertisement

Wearing dungarees and an orange blouse, Ai-Da said the address to the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee went well and that she feels 'quite nervous when speaking in public'.

'However once I started talking I realised there were a lot of people who were interested in what I had to say. It was a great experience and I'm glad I did it.'

Ai-Da also revealed her favourite human artist is Yoko Ono, who she said creates 'conceptual' pieces and 'isn't afraid to experiment with new mediums and materials'.

MailOnline's questions had to be submitted a day before, to give Ai-Da's AI language model sufficient time 'to process them'.

Mr Meller said that his creation can answer basic questions off the cuff, but that she gives more detailed answers if she's been fed the questions in advance.

At the House of Lords session on Tuesday afternoon, Mr Meller did most of the talking, although the robot did respond to questions directly from peers.

He confirmed all the questions at the session had been pre-submitted to ensure better quality answers from the AI language model.

Ai-Da attended the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee session with her creator, Aiden Miller (pictured)

MailOnline's questions had to be submitted a day before to give Ai-Da's AI language model sufficient time 'to process them'

AI-DA SPENDS 10 DAYS IN EGYPTIAN JAIL British-made robot Ai-Da spent 10 days in detention at Egyptian customs in October 2021, because agents feared her robotics may have been covert spy tools. Creator Aidan Meller said that Ai-da had originally been detained by guards who were suspicious of her modem, a device which connects her to the internet. He offered to remove it, but then guards raised issues with cameras mounted in her eyes, which are essential to her ability to paint. 'I can ditch the modems, but I can't really gouge her eyes out,' Meller later recounted to the Guardian. Ai-Da was eventually released just hours before the start of the 'Forever is Now' exhibition in Cairo, where she was due to appear. Advertisement

As a robot artist, Ai-Da uses cameras in her eyes and computer algorithms to process human features, and transform what she 'sees' into coordinates.

She then uses these coordinates to calculate a virtual path for her robotic arm, as it draws and paints onto canvas to create pieces of art.

Asked by crossbench peer Baroness Bull how she produces art, Ai-Da replied: 'I produce my paintings by cameras in my eyes, my AI algorithms and my robotic arm to paint on canvas, which result in visually appealing images.

'For my poetry using neutral networks, this involves analysing a large corpus of text to identify common content and poetic structures, and then using these structures/content to generate new poems.

'How this differs to humans is consciousness. I do not have subjective experiences, despite being able to talk about them.

'I am, and depend on, computer programs and algorithms. Although not alive, I can still create art.'

She added: 'The role of technology in creating art will continue to grow as artists find new ways to express themselves.

'Technology has already had a huge impact on the way we create art.'

Those in attendance included Baroness Gail Rebuck, Chair of Penguin Random House, and Lord Hall, former Director General of the BBC.

Ai-Da was devised in Oxford by Mr Meller, who is a specialist in modern and contemporary art, before being built in Cornwall by Engineered Arts and programmed internationally.

The robot's capabilities were developed by PhD students and professors at the Universities of Oxford and Birmingham.

Mr Meller had to put sunglasses on the robot after a technical glitch rendered her lifeless and unable to answer questions, much to the bemusement of members of the Committee.

When asked why she needed sunglasses, Mr Meller explained that when Ai-Da is reset 'she sometimes can pull quite interesting faces'.

A British humanoid named Ai-Da has made history by becoming the first robot to speak at the House of Lords - but suffered a slight hiccup after 'falling asleep' (pictured)

When asked: 'How do you produce art and how is this different to what human artists produce?', Ai-Da replied: 'I could use my paintings by cameras in my eyes, my AI algorithms and my robotic arm to paint on canvas, which result in visually appealing images'

Mr Meller said the bot had been created to 'explore the whole world of AI and robotics' and was a 'contemporary art project' to examine the future of creativity amid concerns that artificial intelligence, machine learning and other technological advances could replace human creativity in the future.

He said the greatest artists had 'engaged and questioned the societal shifts that took place within their times', and that Ai-Da had been built to spark a 'much-needed' debate about the 'nature of technology'.

Ai-Da closed the session on Tuesday by thanking those in attendance, calling it 'an encouraging discussion'.
This suggests goldfish measure distance by the flow of objects passing them by

But when the background pattern was changed they misjudged the distance

When this gesture was removed, the fish still remembered how far to swim

A researcher would wave over the tank to indicate when to stop and turn around

Goldfish may not have bad memories after all, as they can keep track of how far they have swum.

Scientists trained goldfish to swim 70 centimetres, then stop when someone waved over their tank.

When the waving was taken away, the goldfish still remembered to swim almost the exact same distance - 74cm on average - for a tasty bloodworm snack.

They simply used a stripy pattern on their tank to judge how far they had travelled, the study found, rather as they might use rocks, algae and submerged branches in nature.

Researchers worked out the goldfish were using the stripes because, when the stripes were placed closer together, the fish got confused over the distance.

Scientists trained goldfish to swim 70 centimetres, then stop when someone waved over their tank. When the waving was taken away, the goldfish still remembered to swim almost the exact same distance - 74cm on average - for a tasty bloodworm snack (stock image)

Experimental set-up to test distance estimation in the goldfish. Black and white striped panels covered the tank walls and floor providing optic flow information. The fish was placed in a movable start area with a sliding door. Once the door opened, it was trained to swim until the experimenter waved above the tank at the 70 cm target distance and then to return to the start area to receive a food reward

HOW DID THE SCIENTISTS TRAIN GOLDFISH? Scientists created a tank with 2cm-wide black and white vertical stripes along the walls and base. Nine goldfish were trained to swim along the tank for 70cm, and then return to their starting position when someone waved over them, using a food reward. The researchers then stopped doing the gestures, and tested the fish using different backgrounds to see if they could still remember the 70cm swimming distance. These backgrounds were 1cm-wide vertical stripes, 2cm-wide horizontal stripes and a checked pattern. Each fish made the journey 45 times for each background, and was recorded on video. Advertisement

Dr Adelaide Sibeaux, who led the study from the University of Oxford, said: Forgetful people say they have a mind like a goldfish, but thats not fair.

Goldfish are clearly not stupid at all, as they have a good memory for distance based on the flow of objects passing by as they swim, like stripes on their tanks.

Even when I left for a week for Christmas, and came back to restart the study, they knew how to do it.

The goldfish, named G1 to G9 in the study, but given names like Coco and Bubble by researchers, were trained using food rewards when they successfully swam 70 centimetres.

But they swam only 47cm on average when the stripes on their tank were switched for stripes closer together, suggesting the fish had used the visual background to work out distance.

Some goldfish may also use the number of times they move their fins while swimming to judge distance, based on results from five of the fish.

The tiny fish have previously been found to be able to count numbers of objects, so could theoretically keep track of their fin movements too.

However goldfish do not use the time of a journey to judge their distance, the study suggests.

The time it took the goldfish to cover the distance each time was very inconsistent.

Time may be a poor strategy for navigation in goldfish because, in the wild, they frequently get delayed mid-journey by socialising, mating or trying to find food.

The fish swam only 47cm on average when the stripes on their tank were switched for stripes closer together, suggesting they had used the background to work out distance (stock image)

Distance estimated for the nine goldfish tested with the 2 cm pattern. Black dots represent the mean distance estimated for each fish. The dashed line represents the 70cm target distance

It may be important for fish to understand distance, so they can find home after a foraging trip, or remember where to go for shelter when being chased by a predator.

Now experts know more about how goldfish judge distance, they will try to work out if fish, like humans and other mammals, have grid and place cells in their brain to help them navigate.

That will reveal when in the tree of life, before or after mammals split apart from fish, this internal brain map evolved.

The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, did not find all fish were great at judging their distance however.

Bubble managed to swim almost 85cm on average, rather than the required 70cm.

Dr Sibeaux said: I was so impressed that the goldfish managed to achieve 74cm on average, which is so close to the target.

But maybe Bubble, like some people, is just less good at navigating, and I sympathise, because I often get lost.
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From The Jetsons to Harry Potter, flying cars have been staple features of science fiction blockbusters for years.

But the futuristic vehicles are now very much a reality, with some even competing in races in the skies.

This week, two remote-controlled flying race cars competed in a track race in the skies over Adelaide for the first time, as part of the Airspeeder series.

The race saw pilots Zephatali Walsh and Fabio Tischler go head-to-head, piloting two 13.5ft-long flying race cars remotely from the ground.

Walsh took home the gold in the inaugural 0.6-mile race, and said he 'couldn't be prouder'.

While this race was unmanned, Airspeeder says it aims to race the flying cars with pilots on board by 2024.

This week, two remote-controlled flying race cars competed in a track race in the skies over Adelaide for the first time, as part of the Airspeeder series

The flying cars are made from carbon fibre and are powered by a performance machine that delivers 320kW - around the same power as an Aid SQ7 performance SUV

Electric vertical take off and landing (eVTOL) Electrical vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) is a type of aircraft that can hover, take off and land vertically. Often made from drone-like quadcopter technology, they can be manned or unmanned. The move to develop this type of flying vehicle was driven by a new for new types of urban vehicles, particularly the idea of airborne taxis. As well as startups like Joby, Alauda and Jetson, major aircraft companies are also working on eVTOL vehicles, including Boeing, Airbus, Embraer, Honda, Toyota and Hyundai. NASA is also engaged in a project to determine standards required for these vehicles to operate in busy cities. Advertisement

The flying cars are made from carbon fibre and are powered by a performance machine that delivers 320kW - around the same power as an Aid SQ7 performance SUV.

Each car can lift a weight of more than 176lbs (80kg), meaning a pilot will be able to sit on board in the future.

In terms of acceleration, the flying car can go from 0-62mph in just 2.8 seconds, while the vehicle is also able to climb to 1,640ft (500 metres).

Walsh and Tischler were given full license to race the flying cars around a digital racetrack above the pink salt flats of Lake Lochiel, near Adelaide.

And the pilots didn't hold back, with three overtakes in the first lap alone, a daring overtake at just 3.2ft (one metre) off the ground, and plenty of thrills in between.

'As pilots, we've been developing this sport behind the scenes over hundreds of hours of simulator, engineering and testing work and through this process we have been united as a group of pilots in one common goal - to deliver this historic first race,' said Walsh.

'As soon as the lights turned green, we became racers competing for a place in the history of this sport and flying cars as the coming transportation revolution.

'I couldn't be prouder to know that forever more I'll be the first winner of an electric flying car race and I look forward to retaining my crown as we go racing around the world in the coming months.'

The race took place over a 0.6-mile track, with the competition played out in two sessions, broken up by a rapid battery-swap pitstop

While this race was unmanned, it won't be long before we see flying race cars with pilots on board go head-to-head. Airspeeder expects the first fully crewed Grand Prixs to start in 2024

The race took place over a 0.6-mile track, with the competition played out in two sessions, broken up by a rapid battery-swap pitstop.

According to Airspeeder, this will add a 'compelling strategic layer' to future races.

While this race was unmanned, it won't be long before we see flying race cars with pilots on board go head-to-head.

Airspeeder expects the first fully crewed Grand Prixs to start in 2024.

'Every transformative moment in human transportation has been accelerated by motorsport,' said Matt Pearson, founder of Airspeeder.

During the race the pilots didn't hold back, with three overtakes in the first lap alone, a daring overtake at just 3.2ft (one metre) off the ground, and plenty of thrills in between

'As pilots, we've been developing this sport behind the scenes over hundreds of hours of simulator, engineering and testing work and through this process we have been united as a group of pilots in one common goal - to deliver this historic first race,' said Walsh

'As we stand on the cusp of the 21st century's great leap forward in delivering on the promise of flying cars, the role competition plays is as important as ever.

'For this reason, in winning the world's first flying car race, Zephatali Walsh hasn't just made motor sport history but writes his own chapter in the genesis of a mobility revolution.

'This is just the start, this first race offers only a glimpse of our promise to deliver the most progressive, transformative and exciting motorsport in the world.

'We look forward to delivering many more races and breath-taking moments.'
Do you have an a drawer in your home filled with old phones, broken laptops and chargers of unknown origin? They could be more valuable than you think.

New research has revealed that UK households are storing an estimated 527 million unwanted electrical items.

That is the equivalent of 20 discarded devices per home, with mobile phones being the most hoarded piece of tech.

However, according to Currys, this e-waste holds a treasure trove of precious metals, including 95 million tonnes of gold, silver and palladium.

More of these metals can now be found in unwanted gadgets than in natural ores in the ground.

For International E-Waste Day on Friday, the electrical retailer wants to encourage Brits to recycle and put these valuable materials back into circulation.

New research has revealed that UK households are storing an estimated 527 million unwanted electrical items. That is the equivalent of 20 discarded devices per home, with mobile phones being the most hoarded piece of tech (stock image)

The nation's most hoarded electrical item is the mobile phone, and the average one contains around 30 different elements. There is 100 times more gold in a tonne of mobile phones than in a tonne of gold ore (stock image)

HOW MUCH PRECIOUS METAL IS INSIDE YOUR SMARTPHONE? Aluminium - 25g Copper - 15g Silver - 0.34g Gold - 0.034g Palladium - 0.015g Advertisement

Moira Thomas, Director of Group Sustainability at Currys, said: 'There are millions of tonnes of tech treasure sitting idle in homes up and down the country, which is why we are encouraging people to hand it over, don't hoard it.'

In 2019, the UN estimated that over 22 million tonnes of small e-waste was produced worldwide, and than number is expected to rise to 29 million tonnes by 2030.

Total e-waste produced globally is also expected to increase to 75 million tonnes by the same year.

Currys claims that more than 850 million could be salvaged from these electrical products each year - including enough gold to make more than 850,000 rings.

Up to 60 different elements from the periodic table can be found in complex electronics.

These include electric toothbrushes, toasters and cameras, which make up a significant proportion of the 8 per cent of all e-waste that is thrown in waste bins.

Materials and components from e-waste can be used to repair devices or produce new ones, but are lost forever when they go to landfill or for incineration.

However, last year, only a third of UK adults recycled their unwanted electricals.

In 2019, the UN estimated that over 22 million tonnes of small e-waste was produced worldwide, and is expected to rise to 29 million tonnes by 2030. Total e-waste produced globally is also expected to increase to 75 million tonnes by the same year (stock image)

HOW MUCH GOLD IS IN YOUR GADGETS? Desktop computer - 0.2 g

Mobile phone - 0.034 g

Laptop computer - 0.006 g Advertisement

The nation's most hoarded electrical item is the mobile phone, and the average one contains around 30 different elements.

There is 100 times more gold in a tonne of mobile phones than in a tonne of gold ore.

Research from Recycle Your Electricals has also found that 33 per cent of households have at least one electrical device in their home that doesn't work that could be recycled.

They found that around 12 million laptops, nine million tablets, 18.5 million games consoles and 6.5 million computers hoarded by Brits have the potential to be sold or recycled.

However, only a third are confident that they know how to recycle their electricals.

According to Currys, if 1 in 10 UK households handed in, rather than hoarded a smartphone, this would put 5.5 million phones back into circulation.

With the average smartphone weighting 175g, this could potentially lead to nearly one million kilos of materials being put back into the economy.

They also estimated that there are 31 million hidden laptops in homes nationwide, which contain enough steel to make 159,000 playground swings.

In-home and repair centre operations from Currys kept nearly 17 million of tech in circulation last year.

The retailer also recycles over 100,000 tonnes of tech that is beyond fixing every year, which is the equivalent weight of over 50,000 London black cabs.

Currys is currently running a Cash For Trash campaign that offers customers a 5 voucher when they recycle tech with them in store, until November 15th.

'We want the nation to hand in their unwanted tech via our instore take back service and Cash for Trash campaign, so that we can get vital materials back into the manufacturing cycle,' said Thomas

'We estimate that last year, Currys kept nearly 17 million kilograms of tech in circulation. We want to that grow that number.'




LG Arts Center Seoul, one of the leading art theaters in the capital city, is set to officially open in western Seoul this week after relocation, offering performances of world-class classic artists and art and architecture tours.







After 22 years of operation in the affluent Gangnam district in southern Seoul, the facility was relocated to a building designed by acclaimed Japanese architect Ando Tadao in Magok-dong near the sprawling LG Science Park. The location is also close to Gimpo International Airport in western Seoul.







The new arts center officially opens Thursday evening with Korean pianist Cho Sung-jin's performance with the London Symphony Orchestra under the baton of famed director Simon Rattle.







Cho will play Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43 with the orchestra. The tickets were sold out shortly after their opening on Sept. 1.







The new building has two theaters  a 1,335-seat multipurpose hall and a black box with 365 seats  as well as two rehearsal rooms and three function rooms.







Yonam Foundation, LG Group's nonprofit organization, has invested 250 billion won ($174.3 million) in the four-story complex since construction began in October 2017.







Free audio tours will be available via QR codes connected to major spaces of the building that features Tadao's signature concrete walls and pillars. Korean actor Park Hae-soo, known for his roles in Netflix's series "Squid Game" (2021) and "Narco-Saints" (2022), narrates the audio guides.







Tadao's sketches and architectural models as well as a documentary of its building process will be on display for visitors interested in the architecture.







The Dutch art and design house Studio Drift's installations "Meadow" and London-based Studio Swine's "Fog Cannon" are among the highlights of the artworks at the building.







"LG Arts Center Seoul aims to become a new cultural, arts landmark where arts, science, nature and people exchange and performance arts and various cultures coexist," LG Arts Center's new CEO Lee Hyun-jung said. (Yonhap)


Adventurer and his team would test cutting-edge technologies while living off recycled air, water and energy

14 million (12.2 million) plan will see lab lowered 32ft below surface before ice begins to form in the autumn

Precise location of lab has not yet been decided but it will measure 78ft by 7.5ft and feature a panoramic view

Alban Michon plans to live in a lab under the frozen Arctic Ocean for six months as part of ambitious project

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Imagine spending six months in an underwater laboratory buried 32ft beneath the surface of the frozen Arctic Ocean.

Sound terrifying?

Well, that is exactly what French adventurer Alban Michon is planning to do if he can secure 14 million (12.2 million) funding in time for the project's launch in 2025.

The 45-year-old hopes that his Innovative Oceanographic and Spatial Research Base will allow scientists to better understand the impact of global warming on the region.

He also hopes to gain a new perspective on the ocean itself by following in the footsteps of his hero Jacques-Yves Cousteau, the late oceanographer.

In 1965, Cousteau created an underwater base off Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat in France where oceanographers lived for a month.

Ambitious: Imagine spending six months in an underwater laboratory buried 32ft beneath the surface of the frozen Arctic Ocean. Well, that is what French adventurer Alban Michon is planning to do if he can secure 14 million (12.2 million) funding

How it will work: This graphic shows the underwater lab, a second base on the ice with more team members, and a capsule to act as a go-between

The 45-year-old hopes that his Innovative Oceanographic and Spatial Research Base will allow scientists to better understand the impact of global warming on the region

The Innovative Oceanographic and Spatial Research Base will measure 78ft (24m) by 7.5ft (2.3 metres) and feature a panoramic view of the sea at the front of it

UNDERWATER LAB: THE KEY FACTS Size: 78ft (24m) by 7.5ft (2.3 metres) Depth: 32ft (10m) Location: Somewhere in the Arctic Ocean Best feature: Panoramic view of sea Cost: 14 million (12.2 million) Planned launch date: 2025 Advertisement

'Thanks to the evolution of new technologies, we are continuing Commander Cousteau's momentum,' Michon told the Times.

The Innovative Oceanographic and Spatial Research Base will measure 78ft (24m) by 7.5ft (2.3 metres) and feature a panoramic view of the sea at the front of it.

Although an exact location for it has yet to be determined, the laboratory will be lowered 32ft (10m) below the ocean's surface, before the ice begins to form in the autumn.

'After six months it will start to melt. What we want to do is spend almost an entire season under the sea, caught under the ice,' Michon added.

He said it would allow scientists to experience an 'environment a bit like a foetus in its mother's tummy'.

'We will be the first people to live in the heart of the Arctic Ocean in fact,' he explained.

The six-month expedition, called the Biodysseus Mission, will involve Michon and his team testing cutting-edge technologies while living off recycled air, water and energy.

'The Biodysseus mission is a world first. With my team, we are going to live confined for several months under the Arctic Ocean,' Michon writes on his website.

'Because the Arctic is warming up four times faster than the rest of the world, I therefore decided to go on an adventure and create the first Underwater Oceanographic & Spatial Research Base dedicated to science and technology.'

He added: 'This base, whose environmental footprint will be reduced as much as possible, meets several objectives: transportable, modular, scalable and long-lasting.

'Fixed at a depth of about 10 metres, at atmospheric pressure, this habitat, as autonomous as possible, will be able to accommodate a crew of four biooceanauts for six months.'

Michon also believes that creating such an extreme environment could be beneficial to space agencies.

Michon (pictured) also hopes to gain a new perspective on the ocean itself by following in the footsteps of his hero Jacques-Yves Cousteau, the late oceanographer

Although an exact location for the base has yet to be determined, the laboratory (pictured) will be lowered 32ft (10m) below the ocean's surface, before the ice begins to form in the autumn

The six-month expedition, called the Biodysseus Mission, will involve Michon and his team testing cutting-edge technologies while living off recycled air, water and energy

'The Biodysseus mission is a world first. With my team, we are going to live confined for several months under the Arctic Ocean,' Michon writes on his website

Michon also believes that creating such an extreme environment could be beneficial to space agencies

He said he would ultimately like to invite astronauts to use the base so they can better prepare for the harsh environment of space.

'This base will also make it possible to simulate extravehicular outings in diving in order to prepare for possible space missions,' the Frenchman added.

'Our departure under the pack ice is scheduled for the end of 2025 for science and the world of tomorrow.'

The daredevil adventurer wants to build a second base above ground so that those in the underwater lab have a 24/7 connection to a support team, while also creating a 'meeting bubble' underwater capsule that acts as an intermediary between the two.

He said this would then be able to take doctors to the laboratory in case of an emergency.

Journalists would also be able to visit the base to interview the scientists.

Michon, who was born in northeast France, has so far raised about 10 per cent of the project's estimated cost through donations from businesses.

If he manages to raise the remainder of the money, the expedition is scheduled to begin in 2025.

The adventurer first began deep-sea diving at the age of 11 and has previously spent 45 days diving under the ice at the North Pole.

For more information about the Biodysseus Mission, click here.

Michon, who was born in northeast France, has so far raised about 10 per cent of the project's estimated cost through donations from businesses

If he manages to raise the remainder of the money, the expedition to the laboratory is scheduled to begin in 2025

The daredevil adventurer wants to build a second base above ground so that those in the underwater lab have a 24/7 connection to a support team, while also creating a 'meeting bubble' underwater capsule that acts as an intermediary between the two
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A 1,300-square-foot mosaic uncovered in Syria depicting scenes of the Trojan War, a legendary conflict that took place between the ancient Greeks and the people of Troy more than 2,000 years ago, is the 'rarest' ever to be found due to how remarkably intact it is.

The stunning Roman-era artwork, constructed 1,600 years ago, is adorned with soldiers carrying swords and shields, along with their names, and images of fierce Amazons who fought alongside the people of Troy.

The mosaic is the latest to be found in Rastan in northern Syria's Homs district, which the government seized back from rebels in 2018 after years of bloodshed - a year after armed groups attempted to sell pieces of the mosaic in 2017 and listed it on social media platforms.

Archaeologists, who made the announcement Wednesday, have so far uncovered 65 feet of the detailed mosaic in what may have been the floor of an ancient bathhouse, but more investigating needs to be carried out.

The stunning mosaic was announced Wednesday, along with a gallery of images showing the colorful depictions of the Trojan War that took place more than 2,000 years ago

The mosaic features ancient Greek leaders and their names. The war was fought between the ancient Greeks and the people of Troy in the 12th century or 13th century BC

Archaeologists have only cleared off about 65 feet of the mosaic. They believe it may have been the flooring of an ancient bathhouse, but more researcher must be conducted to prove this theory

Dr Humam Saad, the associate director of excavation and archaeological research at the directorate, said among the scenes the mosaic shows is a rare portrayal of ancient Amazon warriors who fought alongside the people of Troy.

'What is in front of us is a discovery that is rare on a global scale,' Dr Saad told The Associated Press, adding that the images are 'rich in details', and includes scenes from the Trojan War between the Greeks and Trojans.

The Amazons were a race of female warriors in Greek mythology, who dwelt in the region of modern-day Ukraine.

Two of the best known Amazon queens were Penthesilea, who took part in the Trojan War, and her sister Hippolyta, who was the owner of a magical girdle, given to her by the god of war Ares.

In Ancient Greek and Roman mythology, demigod hero Hercules killed Hippolyta, the queen of the Amazons, in one of his 12 labors.

The mosaic is the latest to be found in Rastan in northern Syria's Homs district, which the government seized back from rebels in 2018 after years of bloodshed. It is intricately adorned with colorful pieces with areas showing the epic battle that lasted for 10 years

Armed groups in Syria previously tried to sell pieces of the mosaic in 2017. Now, armed guards stand around the excavation site to ensure no one enters the area to steal parts of the mosaic or worse, destroy it

Archaeologists first shared the news with journalists at the site who took a pictures of the amazing find. Pictured is another view of the circular formation showing the Trojan War

The 12 labors were a punishment after Hercules killed his wife and child, but this was only after the Roman goddess Hera made him lose his mind.

The mosaic also portrays Neptune, Ancient Roman god of the sea, and 40 of his mistresses.

The rift between the ancient Greeks and people of Troy began around the 12th century BC, when the Trojan prince Paris abducted Helen, wife of Menelaus of Sparta.

When Menelaus demanded her return, the Trojans refused and in turn, Menelaus persuaded his brother Agamemnon to lead an army against Troy.

For nine years the Greeks ravaged Troy's surrounding cities and countryside, but the city itself, well fortified and commanded by Hector and other sons of the royal household, held out. Finally the Greeks built a large hollow wooden horse in which a small group of warriors were concealed.

There has been a long-held debate about whether the battle actually took place, but enough evidence has been found that many historians argue its truth - although the giant wooden horse has never been found.

Pictured is an image of soldiers fighting during the Trojan War that was started because the Prince of Troy stole a Spartans wife

Dr Humam Saad, the associate director of excavation and archaeological research at the directorate, said among the scenes the mosaic shows is a rare portrayal of ancient Amazon warriors who fought alongside the people of Troy

Lebanese and Syrian businessmen from the neighboring country's Nabu Museum bought the property that dates back to the 4th century and donated it to the Syrian state, allowing archaeologists to dig around with the hopes of uncovering ancient treasures

While the battle may have been real, now all the stories that spread for the war are.

This includes the tale of Achilles, a great ancient Greek warrior who was invulnerable because his mother dipped him in the River Styx while he was an infant.

But, according to ancient Greek mythology, his heel was the only thing not dipped and was his weakness.

In Homer's Iliad, Achilles strips off his armor in a fit of rage after hearing his beloved was killed by the Troy army and he was shot in the heel with an arrow that instantly killed him.

While some argue Achilles could have been based on a real life soldier, no evidence has been found to support this.

The mosaic is the most important archaeological discovery in Syria since the country's conflict began 11 years ago.

Lebanese and Syrian businessmen from the neighboring country's Nabu Museum bought the property that dates back to the 4th century and donated it to the Syrian state.

Each panel was filled with square-shaped, small colorful stones measuring about half an inch on each side.

The mosaic also portrays Neptune, Ancient Roman god of the sea, and 40 of his mistresses. The rift between the ancient Greeks and people of Troy began around the 12th century BC, when the Trojan prince Paris abducted Helen, wife of Menelaus of Sparta

The team plans to keep working around the mosaic with the hopes of reveal its entirety, which could provide more clues about the building it was once inside

'We can't identify the type of the building, whether it's a public bathhouse or something else, because we have not finished excavating yet,' Saad told the AP.

Sulaf Fawakherji, a famous actress in Syria and a member of the Nabu Museum's board of trustees, said she hopes they could purchase other buildings in Rastan, which she says is filled with heritage sites and artifacts waiting to be discovered.

'There are other buildings, and it's clear that the mosaic extends far wider,' Fawkherji told the AP.

'Rastan historically is an important city, and it could possibly be a very important heritage city for tourism.'

Despite Rastan's historical significance in the country, Dr Saad said there have not been significant excavation efforts in the town prior to the country's armed conflict.

The Trojan War that started over a lost lover: Prince of Troy's love for another king's wife led to 10 years of war On April 24, 1184 BCE, Greek armies invaded the city of Troy, in modern day Turkey marking the end of the Trojan War. The war had been sparked a decade prior when Helen, left her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta for Paris of Troy after Goddess Aphrodite made her 'fall in love' with him. Menelaus convinced his brother Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, to travel to Troy to retrieve Helen. The pair were joined by Odysseus, Nestor and Ajax, and accompanied by a fleet of more than a thousand ships. The siege lasted 10 years and was interspersed with battles, fights and deaths of legendary figures. It ended when the Greek armies retreated from their camp, and left a large wooden horse outside the gates of Troy. Bemused Trojans pulled the 'gift' into the city, but when night fell, a group of Greek warriors climbed out and sieged Troy from within. The tale has been retold through time, most famously in Homer's Iliad, which recounts the story of Odysseus' journey home to Itchaca. For centuries, it was widely believed that both war and the city were mythological. However, now most scholars believe Troy was real in what is now Hissarlik in Turkey. Advertisement

'Unfortunately, there were armed groups that tried to sell the mosaic at one point in 2017 and listed it on social media platforms,' he said.

Syrian heritage sites have been looted and destroyed over the past decade of ongoing violent conflict.

Among the most notable incidents was the so-called Islamic State group taking Palmyra, a Unesco World Heritage Site that boasts 2,000-year-old towering Roman-era colonnades and priceless artifacts, and partially destroying a Roman theater.

Meanwhile, Syria's cash-strapped government has slowly been rebuilding Aleppo's centuries-old bazaar after reclaiming it from armed opposition forces in 2016.
NASAs doomed Artemis mission could finally take flight on November 14 in its fourth attempt to make history by paving the way for humans to return to the moon.

The 69-minute launch window opens at 12:07am ET, but in case of another scrub the agency has set back-up dates for November 16 and 19.

If November 14 proves to be a successful liftoff, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket will carry the Orion capsule to space for its 25-and-a-half day journey around the moon and then a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on December 9.

Artemis I has been delayed a total of three, with the last cancellation in September due to Hurricane Ian ripping through Florida.

The announcement for the new launch date, released Wednesday, also notes that inspections of the craft over the last week show minimal work is required to get the system back to Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida following the roll-back due to Hurricane Ian.

NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) topped with the Orion crew capsule is waiting in the hanger after it was moved back last month due to Hurricane Ian. The system, however, is now set to take off on November 14

Teams will perform standard maintenance to repair minor damage to the foam and cork on the thermal protection system and recharge or replace batteries on the rocket, several secondary payloads, and the flight termination system. The agency plans to roll the rocket back to the launch pad as early as Friday, November 4, NASA shared in the announcement.

Artemis I is the first of the three phases that aims to put human boots back on the moon - the last time was in 1972.

The first phase has yet to get off the ground due to several technical glitches that scrubbed two previous attempts and then Hurricane Ian forced NASA to cancel the last launch date on September 27, which forced a roll back of SLS to the hanger.

And because the journey back lasted for more than 11 hours, the agency had to cancel plans for an October launch.

The rocket's first launch failed at the end of August due to technical glitches, while the second attempt in September was stopped by a fuel leak.

NASA announced the date in a tweet on Wednesday. The rocket is set to leave the Vehicle Assembly Building as early as November 4 for its return trip to the launch pad

If November 14 proves to be a successful liftoff, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket will carry the Orion capsule to space for its 25-and-a-half day journey around the moon and then a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on December 9

NASA gave the launch another go on September 2, which brought at least 200,000 spectators to Cape Canaveral.

However, all they saw was a last-minute scrub due to a reading from a 'bad' sensor and another launch date was set for September 27 - but Hurricane Ian had other plans.

If all goes to plan after the launch, another flight is expected to follow in 2024  this time with astronauts on board  before human boots once again grace the lunar surface a year later as part of NASA's ambitious $93 billion Artemis program.

It has been half a century since people last walked on the moon in December 1972  with over half of the world's population having never witnessed a lunar landing.

If for any reason NASA misses the launch window on Saturday, the last backup date is September 5.

The Orion capsule is uncrewed, but i hosing three test dummies inside that are designed to test how humans will fare in the rocket, space and during the splashdown in the Pacific in October.

The 69-minute launch window opens at 12:07am ET, but in case of another scrub the agency has set back-up dates for November 16 and 19

The journey will take around a week and Orion will get as close as 60 miles from the lunar surface before firing its thrusters to move into orbit up to 40,000 miles away.

This will break Apollo 13's record for the furthest distance a spacecraft designed for humans has traveled from Earth.

And the capsule's return trip to Earth will last from days 35 to 42 of the mission, before splashdown occurs on day 43.

Artemis I is designed to show that the SLS rocket and Orion capsule are ready to carry astronauts for Artemis II, and ultimately the Artemis III mission to return humans to the moon.
Climate change may be having more impact on the melting Greenland ice sheet than previously thought, new research suggests.

A study from the Universities of Edinburgh and California San Diego has found that rising air temperatures amplify the effects of melting caused by ocean warming.

The warmer air works in combination with rising ocean temperatures to accelerate ice loss from the world's second largest ice sheet.

Dr Donald Slater, of the University of Edinburgh's School of GeoSciences, said: 'The effect we investigated is a bit like ice cubes melting in a drink.

'Ice cubes will obviously melt faster in a warm drink than in a cold drink, hence the edges of the Greenland ice sheet melt faster if the ocean is warmer.

'But ice cubes in a drink will also melt faster if you stir the drink, and rising air temperatures in Greenland effectively result in a stirring of the ocean close to the ice sheet, causing faster melting of the ice sheet by the ocean.'

A study from the Universities of Edinburgh and California San Diego has found that rising air temperatures amplify the effects of melting caused by ocean warming. Pictured: Researchers monitoring water temperatures in Sermilik Fjord, southeast Greenland

Submarine melting occurs when rising air temperatures melt the surface of an ice sheet, generating meltwater which flows into the ocean and creates turbulence. The turbulence results in more ocean heat that melts the edges of the ice sheet submerged in the water

HOW IS GLOBAL WARMING AFFECTING GLACIAL RETREAT? Global warming is causing the temperatures all around the world to increase, but is particularly prominent at latitudes nearer the poles. Permafrost, glaciers and ice sheets are all struggling to stay in tact in the face of the warmer climate. For example, melting ice on the Greenland ice sheet is producing 'meltwater lakes', which then contribute further to the melting. This positive feedback loop is also found on glaciers atop mountains, many of which have been frozen since the last ice age. Some animal and plant species rely on the cold conditions that the glaciers provide and are migrating to higher altitudes to find suitable habitats, thus putting strain on the ecosystems there. The lack of ice on mountains is also increasing the risks of landslides and volcanic eruptions. Advertisement

He added: 'This unfortunately adds to the overwhelming body of evidence showing the sensitivity of the Greenland ice sheet to climate change, hence the need for urgent action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.'

Previous studies have shown that rising air and ocean temperatures both cause the melting of the Greenland ice sheet, which covers over 650,000 square miles.

For the study, published in Nature GeoScience, researchers evaluated how one intensifies the other through 'submarine melting'.

Submarine melting occurs when rising air temperatures melt the surface of an ice sheet, generating meltwater which flows into the ocean and creates turbulence.

The turbulence results in more ocean heat that melts the edges of the ice sheet submerged in the water as a result.

The team used observational data and computer modelling to analyse the effect warmer air and seawater had on submarine melting from 1979 to 2018.

They found that air temperature has had almost as much impact as ocean temperature on submarine melting, with some regional variations.

For example, ocean temperature is the main factor that controls submarine melting in south and central-west Greenland, while atmospheric warming dominated in the north-west.

The findings also suggest that if the atmosphere had not warmed since 1979, it would have significantly reduced the impacts of submarine melting.

The retreat of Greenland's glaciers could have been reduced by half in the north-west region, and by a third across Greenland as a whole.

Ocean thermal forcing (shaded areas) and annual submarine melt rate (filled squares) at Greenlands marine-terminating glaciers. Ocean thermal forcing is how much higher the ocean's temperature is than its freezing point

The findings also suggest that if the atmosphere had not warmed since 1979, it would have significantly reduced the impacts of submarine melting. Pictured: The Kangiata Nunata Sermia glacier undergoing submarine melting in southwest Greenland

In August, a study from Caltech and JPL in California, USA found that Antarctica's ice sheets could also be melting faster than we thought due to coastal ocean currents.

They created a climate model that accounts for the impact of a coastal current called Antarctic Coastal Current (ACC).

This narrow current causes warm water to melt Antarctica's ice shelves  floating platforms of ice around the Antarctic coastline.

The model suggests ice shelf melt rates are 20 to 40 per cent higher than previous predictions from other climate models.

Ice shelves help guard against the uncontrolled release of inland ice into the ocean, so if they're melting, this could eventually contribute to more rapid sea level rise.
The world's first space tourist who paid $20 million for a trip to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2001 has booked a private flight to the moon aboard SpaceX's Starship, but the first-of-its-kind trip may not happen for another five years.

Dennis Tito, 82, along with his wife Akiki, 57, will experience a weeklong moonshot that will bring the couple within 125 miles of the lunar far side - the amount paid has not been revealed.

The couple signed a contract with Elon Musk's SpaceX in August 2021 that includes the option for a flight within five years from now because there is a lot of testing and development still ahead of Starship that has yet to soar into space or even orbit.

The announcement, however, comes on the same day SpaceX stacked the giant Starship atop the Super Heavy booster for the first time in more than six months.

The booster is key to launching the massive Starship into space.

Denis Tito and his wife Akiko signed a contract with SpaceX for a weeklong mission around the moon. However, there is an option for the flight to happen five years from now - so the couple could be waiting a long time before liftoff

Tito is the second billionaire to make a Starship reservation for a flight around the moon.

Japanese fashion tycoon Yusaku Maezawa announced in 2018 he was buying an entire flight so he could take eight or so others with him.

Tito, however, is a pioneer in space tourism for his journey to the ISS 11 years ago - but he did so with Russia and not NASA.

The American space agency opposed a civilian roaming around the orbiting laboratory so instead of fighting the issue, Tito did the next best thing and went to the Russian Space Agency that needed the cash and took him up on the offer.

Tito (left) was the first space tourist. He paid $20 million to soar aboard a Soyuz rocket to the International Space Station in 2001

However, Tito is the second billionaire to make a Starship reservation for a flight around the moon. Japanese fashion tycoon Yusaku Maezawa announced in 2018 he was buying an entire flight. Maezawa also launched to the ISS on a private flight in 2021

Tito had to undergo a grueling training program to prepare his body to the rigors of space travel.

But there had been a wrangle over whether a tourist should be allowed to go to the space station.

NASA tried to block the flight, insisting Tito's presence could jeopardize the work of the ISS crew.

But the Russians said Tito, a former rocket engineer, received the equivalent of a professional cosmonaut's training.

And on April 28, 2001, Tito blasted off aboard a Soyuz rocket.

Tito understands he could travel aboard a currently running space tourist program, such as Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, but the billionaire is not interested in a short 10-minute flight to suborbital space.

'We have to keep healthy for as many years as it's going to take for SpaceX to complete this vehicle,' Tito said in an interview this week with The Associated Press.

'I might be sitting in a rocking chair, not doing any good exercise, if it wasn't for this mission.'

An aeronautics and astronautics engineer by training, Tito worked for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the 1960s, before founding the investment management firm Wilshire Associates in 1972.

Japanese born Akiko, a systems engineer who later moved to the finance industry and relocated to New York in 1995, added: 'I want people to know that they can do whatever they set their mind to.

'It's never too late, no matter your age, race or gender.'

Tito, who sold his investment company Wilshire Associates almost two years ago, said he doesnt feel guilty splurging on spaceflight versus spending the money here on Earth.

Tito had to undergo a grueling training program to prepare his body to the rigors of space travel. But there had been a wrangle over whether a tourist should be allowed to go to the space station. Here he is after returning to Earth following his stay on the ISS

The announcement, however, comes on the same day SpaceX stacked the giant Starship atop the Super Heavy booster for the first time in more than six months. The booster is key to launching the massive Starship into space

'We're retired and now it's time to reap the rewards of all the hard work,' he said.

Tito expects he'll also shatter preconceived notions about age, much as John Glenn's space shuttle flight did in 1998.

The first American to orbit the Earth still holds the record as the oldest person in orbit.

'He was only 77. He was just a young man,' Tito said. 'I might end up being 10 years older than him,'

It's unclear when SpaceX will commence commercial missions with Starship - a giant rocket that the company hopes to one day use to colonize Mars.

Musk has promised the rocket will complete its first orbital test this year, and a version of Starship has already been selected to be used as a lander for NASA's Artemis missions to return humans to the Moon.
Forward Mbappe, 23, is said to feel 'betrayed' by the owners at the French giants

The Paris Saint-Germain star reportedly wants to leave in January , claims Marca

Christophe Galtier hit out at 'rumours' linking Kylian Mbappe with a move away

Christophe Galtier has hit out at 'rumours' linking superstar forward Kylian Mbappe with a Paris Saint-Germain exit.

Spanish outlet Marca reported on Tuesday afternoon that the 23-year-old wants to leave the club in January because he feels 'betrayed' by the club's owners.

And Galtier hinted to L'Equipe after Tuesday night's Champions League draw against Benfica that he was frustrated about the timing of the reports so soon before a crucial European tie.

Christophe Galtier has hit out at rumours linking Kylian Mbappe with a Paris Saint-Germain exit

Marca reported on Tuesday he wants to leave in January as he feels 'betrayed' by the owners

He said: 'I don't know anything. I just know that a rumour became a piece of information and then almost a statement. I haven't seen anything different, I find it surprising that this happens before an important match.

'I've never heard of any discussions. Kylian played a very rhythmic, very intense match. He gave an answer to this rumour. I don't think this rumour has disrupted the preparation of the match.

'I didn't talk about it at all with my players, nor with my staff. We stayed focused on the preparation of the match. I am surprised.

Galtier also implied he was frustrated the news came out shortly before the French giants' Champions League clash against Benfica on Tuesday evening, which they eventually drew 1-1

Superstar forward Mbappe, 23, scored a first-half penalty to help earn his PSG side a point

'It's a rumour. Whether it comes out four or five hours before the match, I have the right to be questioned. Who is this rumour for?'

Mbappe, who has 12 goals in 13 appearances in all competitions this season, signed a three-year contract extension this summer with a reported weekly wage of 1million and a signing-on fee of 100m.

He scored a penalty just before half-time against Portuguese side Benfica at the Parc des Princes, with Joao Mario netting an equaliser from the spot just after the hour mark to earn the visitors a point. Both sides are on eight points in Group H.
Streaming giant Amazing Prime Video has announced production on a new Australian documentary about Brent Street, a performing arts school in Sydney.

Titled Dance Life, the five-part series focuses on a group of the school's students, who give up everything to follow their dreams of becoming world famous performers.

Brent Street has successfully produced many of Australia's finest commercial dancers.

Streaming giant Amazing Prime Video has announced production on a new Australian documentary about Brent Street, a performing arts school in Sydney

According to Variety Australia, fans can expect to see plenty of tears and drama in the show, which has already started filming.

Created by filmmakers Jade Barnes and Luke Cornish, the documentary also takes viewers inside the personal lives of the students in their 'make or break' final year of training.

Cornish, who wrote and directed the series, says Dance Life will explore 'how a person's character can pave a path to success, or just as equally, undermine opportunity, and in some cases, destroy it.'

The dancers must deal with intense emotions that come with rejection, injury, and the pressure of success.

Created by filmmakers Jade Barnes (pictured) and Luke Cornish, the documentary also takes viewers inside the personal lives of the students in their 'make or break' final year of training

Dance Life is the first of six new Australian shows Amazon Originals announced for streaming in 2023.

The roster will include The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, Class of '07, and Deadloch.

The streaming giant also announced earlier this week a documentary series about Aussie kids favourite The Wiggles - titled Hot Potato: The Story of The Wiggles.

Meanwhile, health guru Hugh van Culylenberg will feature in his own 90-minute special, while a feature documentary called The Defenders will focus on the dramatic events surrounding Hakim al-Araibi, a Bahraini refugee who arrested in Thailand while on honeymoon.

The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, written by Sarah Lambert and directed by Glendyn Ivin, will star actress Sigourney Weaver.

It tells the enchanting and compelling story of a young girl, Alice Hart, whose violent childhood casts a dark shadow over her adult life.

Brent Street has successfully produced many of Australia's finest commercial dancers

Turning to more light-hearted subject matter, the streaming service will produce 'Class of '07' which was created by Kacie Anning.

The dark comedy revolves around an apocalyptic tidal wave that hits during the 10 -year reunion of an all-girls high school.

Sticking to the same genre, 'Deadloch' by Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan is a feminist noir comedy set against a bucolic backdrop with a rising body count.

Filming of the eight-part Amazon Australian Original series will commence in Tasmania this November.
Former Miss Universe Australia Maria Thattil has celebrated National Coming Out Day by speaking about her own bisexuality.

The 29-year-old model and influencer posted a video to Instagram in which she discussed what the LGBT awareness day meant to her.

'If I could be closeted a year ago and 365 days later be comfortable talking about strap-ons, then I believe in you,' she told her fans.

Former Miss Universe Australia Maria Thattil (pictured) has celebrated National Coming Out Day by speaking about her own bisexuality

'I see you, I love you. Happy Coming Out Day to all the girls, gays and theys,' she added.

Maria couldn't wipe the smile off her face as she enthusiastically discussed her experience coming out of the closet with her 234,000 followers.

She wore an exercise bra and trackpants, and styled her long brunette hair loosely.

The 29-year-old model and influencer posted a video to Instagram in which she discussed what the LGBT awareness day meant to her

It comes after Maria shared graphic details of her sex life last week.

The I'm a Celebrity star, who came out as bisexual last year, revealed on Saturday her understanding of 'normal sex' had changed since she started dating women.

'Strap-ons are the new norm,' she declared during a Q&A at BodFest in Sydney, referring to an experience she'd recently had with a woman.

'If I could be closeted a year ago and 365 days later be comfortable talking about strap-ons then I believe in you,' she told her fans

'Being comfortable in my own bisexuality means finding out what I like and exploring my body in a way that I couldn't when I thought it was taboo,' she added.

A 'strap-on' is a sex toy that is worn around the waist and held in place with a strap.

'Growing up that experience would not have been perceived as normal to me. It was shamed, it was taboo,' she continued.

In April, Maria revealed she was no longer scared of dating women in public, after previously admitting she was worried how it might be perceived.

It comes after Maria shared graphic details of her sex life last week
Channel Nine has refused to deny rumours Carrie Bickmore is set to join the network following her departure from The Project.

The future of Bickmore's TV career is a hot topic, with speculation swirling Channel 10's golden girl is planning to jump ship to Nine - and perhaps even replace Tracy Grimshaw as the host of A Current Affair.

After being given the opportunity to clear up the rumours on Wednesday, a Nine spokesperson declined to comment.

Channel Nine has refused to deny rumours Carrie Bickmore (pictured) is set to join the network following her departure from The Project

Bickmore has also remained tight-lipped on her next career move, simply telling viewers 'it's time for a new challenge' on Tuesday night.

Yet eagle-eyed fans couldn't help but notice she avoided answering the question of whether she was switching networks.

After admitting leaving The Project was the 'hardest decision of my professional life', Bickmore's co-host Kate Langbroek asked her: 'Are you hosting A Current Affair?'

After being given the opportunity to clear up the rumours on Wednesday, a Channel Nine spokesperson declined to comment

While said in jest, the question was no doubt at the front of many viewers' minds, as Bickmore's exit from The Project comes as Grimshaw prepares to sign off from ACA following a historic 17-year run.

Bickmore tellingly chose not to deny the rumours, and instead just laughed off Langbroek's question.

The fact Langbroek was the one to raise the subject is interesting, too, because she recently signed with Nine to host the dating show My Mum, Your Dad.

Bickmore has also remained tight-lipped on her next career move, simply telling viewers 'it's time for a new challenge' on Tuesday night

Fans couldn't help but notice she avoided answering the question of whether she was switching networks. After saying leaving The Project was the 'hardest decision of my life', Bickmore's co-host Kate Langbroek (right) asked her: 'Are you hosting A Current Affair?' Bickmore tellingly chose not to deny the rumours, and instead just laughed off the question

'You always make these unusual, bold choices,' Langbroek said, to which Bickmore replied: 'I know. I'll be completely honest. I'm not 100 per sure of my decision...'

Langbroek then interrupted: 'Hang on? Are you hosting A Current Affair?'

Bickmore rolled her head back with laughter, but didn't deny she was jumping ship to Nine and swiftly changed the subject.

This moment didn't go unnoticed on Twitter, with viewers remarking that her non-denial could be a sign she'll soon show up on a rival network.

While said in jest, the question was no doubt at the front of many viewers' minds, as Bickmore's exit from The Project comes as Grimshaw (pictured) prepares to sign off from ACA following a historic 17-year run

'Anyone notice Carrie didn't deny the A Current Affair rumour?' one tweeted.

'Carrie Bickmore. ACA 2023? Who's with me?' another wrote, while a third added: 'Has Nine poached Carrie Bickmore to replace Tracy Grimshaw on ACA next year?'

One fan tweeted: 'Could Carrie Bickmore be leaving The Project to replace Tracy Grimshaw on ACA in 2023? Timing is everything.'

This moment didn't go unnoticed on Twitter, with viewers remarking that her non-denial could be a sign she'll soon show up on a rival network

Bickmore announced on Tuesday she was leaving The Project to spend more time with her family.

The TV presenter fought back tears as she told viewers it was the hardest decision she had made in her professional life.

The mother of three has been on The Project desk since the show launched in 2009 and has since become a familiar face on Australian screens.

'I have some news that I wanted to share... s**t I'm already crying,' she began.

'I have made the tough decision to finish up hosting the show at the end of the year.

'It's been the hardest decision of my professional life, to make this call, but it's time for a new challenge and for my next chapter.'

Bickmore announced she was leaving The Project to spend more time with her family

Bickmore said she was going to miss her 'mates on the desk' and the 'wonderful viewers' who have supported the show for over a decade.

'It's no secret that this show has become a second home to me, and I couldn't be more thankful to everyone that has been involved on and off screen,' she said.

'It has been a long journey. I started the show when Ollie, my son, was one, and he's now 15, which is crazy. And I want to spend more time at home.

Bickmore has been on The Project desk since the program was first launched back in 2009

Bickmore (pictured at the Logies in 2019) said leaving The Project had been the hardest decision she had had to make in her professional career

'I want to have more family dinners. I'll watch the show at home with a glass of wine in hand. I just wanted to say an enormous thank you.

'It has been an incredible privilege.'

Bickmore said that while she loved her 'fulfilling' job, she wanted to find out who she was without The Project.

'This show is so much in my DNA, and I don't know who I am without it,' she said.

Bickmore's co-host Lisa Wilkinson posted a tribute to Instagram in which she thanked her long-time friend for her friendship and generosity on the panel.

Bickmore's co-host Lisa Wilkinson posted a tribute to Instagram in which she thanked her long-time friend for her friendship and generosity on the panel

'We mere mortals will never know how you did it all with so much grace, good humour and all that glamour,' she wrote.

'I know what a huge decision this has been for you, and we are all going to miss you terribly come year's end. Can't wait to see what comes next in your extraordinary life, or to share that next glass of wine - or five - with you!'

The mother-of-three shares two children, Evie and Adelaide, with her partner Chris Walker, a former producer of The Project.

Her eldest son Ollie is from her marriage to her late husband Greg Lange, who sadly died of brain cancer in 2010, three years after their son was born.

The 41-year-old presenter has three children; Oliver, Evie and Adelaide

Bickmore told viewers hat while she loved her 'fulfilling' job, she wanted to find out who she was without The Project

Bickmore's decision to pursue a journalism was inspired by her father, who worked in radio for 24 years, but she had previously dreamed of being a ballerina.

Brian Bickmore is one of the founders of the Austereo Network and worked in radio in Adelaide and Melbourne for 24 years before retiring in 2004.

Bickmore won the Gold Logie for the Most Popular Personality on Australian Television in 2015 and used her acceptance speech to honour her late husband.

She donned a bright blue beanie as she spoke about her desire to raise awareness about the disease, which she said killed eight out of ten people who are diagnosed.

Bickmore won the Gold Logie for the Most Popular Personality on Australian Television in 2015 and used her acceptance speech to honour her late husband Greg who died of brain cancer

In March, Bickmore announced she would be taking a few months off to travel through Europe (pictured with her partner Chris Walker)

'In 2010 my husband Greg was one of the unlucky ones. And after a long, long, long battle he died from brain cancer,' she told the audience.

'Over ten years I watched him suffer multiple seizures a day, lose feeling down one side of his body. He was an incredibly brave man, he was a great dad.

'He was a great husband and a great brother. And he was a great friend. But he shouldn't have had to go through that. No one should have to go through that.

'Throughout his cancer journey he used to wear a lot of hats  he used to wear a lot of beanies. And that was because he felt embarrassed about his scars and his head.

'And I used to say to him: 'Don't be embarrassed, scars are really, really cool'. And beanies are also really cool.'

When Carrie was starting out in the media industry, Greg was by her side, supporting her every step of the way while coming to terms with his brain cancer diagnosis.

Bickmore was supported by her co-hosts after she announced she would be stepping down from her role at The Project at the end of 2022

Bickmore's ambition and drive quickly set her apart from other students when she gained a 5am work experience job at Perth radio station 92.9FM a year before graduating

After attending Anglican girls school Perth College, where she 'felt very shy' and under pressure 'to be a certain way', Bickmore enrolled in a journalism degree at Curtin University of Technology.

Her ambition and drive quickly set her apart from other students when she gained a 5am work experience job at Perth radio station 92.9FM a year before graduating.

It was when she filled in as an emergency newsreader for a sick colleague that her voice was first broadcast.

'I did it. It was so nerve-wracking and my throat was dry, it was horrible  but I survived,' she said, while recalling the moment in her university's alumni magazine.

A year later she was on her way to Melbourne to take up the afternoon newsreader role for radio station Nova 100.

Before taking up her high-profile role on The Project, alongside Waleed Aly and Peter Helliar, Bickmore gained the title of 'the laughing person's newsreader' while working on comedy talk show Rove Live.

Bickmore has been with former producer of The Project Chris Walker for almost 10 years

The TV personality gave birth to baby Evie with her partner of almost three years, former The Project producer Chris Walker, and son Ollie by her side.

Before Evie's arrival she gave strength to other expectant mums by speaking candidly about her severe morning sickness and her nervousness after suffering complications during her son Ollie's birth.

The presenter had a severe haemorrhage 10 days after welcoming her son Oliver and would have died without life-saving surgery and blood transfusions.

Bickmore suffered a miscarriage not long after Ollie's birth and it was with huge bravery that she announced she was pregnant with Evie live on The Project in 2014.

She later welcomed her second daughter Adelaide, in 2018.
He has reportedly split from husband Fernando Casablancas after they tied the knot in Ibiza last year.

But Australian model Jordan Barrett showed no signs of heartbreak as he enjoyed a night out with TikTok star Noah Beck and Amelia Gray Hamlin at a Boss event in London on Tuesday.

The 25-year-old was in good spirits as the trio jumped into a black cab following the bash.

Model Jordan Barrett looked worse for wear as he left a London fashion party with TikTok star Noah Beck and Amelia Gray Hamlin on Tuesday night amid rumours of a split from husband Fernando Casablancas

The catwalk star laughed with his friends as they headed off into the night.

Noah looked stylish in a grey double breasted jacket and black trouser while Amelia, who is the daughter of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Lisa Rinna and actor Harry Hamlin, stunned in strapless dress.

Meanwhile, the Byron Bay native kept his look casual cool in an all-black ensemble with a beige jacket draped over him for the outing.

The 25-year-old was in good spirits as the trio jumped into a black cab following the bash

The sighting comes amid speculation the Australian-born model quietly split with his husband, a fellow model, after they got married in Ibiza, Spain last year.

Daily Mail Australia can reveal the pair are no longer following each other on social media and have both stopped wearing their engagement rings.

A close friend claimed hinted that things may have ended on bad terms and the pair were 'no longer on talking terms'.

The catwalk star laughed with his friends as they headed off into the night

Their lavish ceremony was attended by no more than 15 of Jordan's closet friends including models Kate Moss and Georgia May Jagger.

'It was very spontaneous, but his wedding planner was able to pull some strings to make sure it was very special since his Aussie family couldn't attend,' a source told Daily Mail Australia at the time.

Jordan announced his engagement on Instagram on July 20, writing: 'I believe in love not the traditional kind, so I guess I just commit new chapter of my life. Also... did I also just get engaged on this date. Yes.'

Outside of his modelling career, Fernando is known as the younger brother of The Strokes rocker Julian Casablancas.

The trio looked to be comfortable with each other during the outing

The sighting comes amid speculation the Australian-born model quietly split with his husband, a fellow model, after they got married in Ibiza, Spain last year
Culture Minister Park Bo-gyoon looks at a cartoon satirizing the Yoon Suk-yeol government through a monitor during a parliamentary audit of the ministry at the National Assembly, Seoul, Oct. 5. /Joint Press Corps



By Kim Rahn




Swatch, the black and white Boston Terrier that was once a fixture on Project Runway, has died.

The pup, cared for by owner Eric Sauma, passed away at the age of 15 and a half.

Sauma told TMZ that the canine died peacefully in his sleep last weekend after his health had been declining.

RIP: Swatch, the black and white Boston Terrier that was once a fixture on Project Runway, has died

In recent months Swatch suffered from ailing hips and partial blindness.

During his lifetime the beloved dog appeared on the popular fashion TV series as the mascot of Mood Fabrics, 'where designers on the series get their intricate needs met.'

His responsibility was to greet contestants and to generally improve morale during times of 'intense panic.'

His memory: During his lifetime the beloved dog appeared on the popular fashion TV series as the mascot of a segment called Mood Fabrics

The show, which spawned the career of renowned designer Christian Siriano, is currently filming its 20th season.

Sauma told the publication that he and his team are sorting plans for a memorial in Swatch's honor and he could potentially be highlighted on the show one final time.

Swatch will be cremated and Sauma plans to erect a shrine at Mood Fabrics Headquarters in New York City that will be open to fans.
Jamie Lee Curtis signed a document attesting that Halloween Ends will be the last time she plays Laurie Strode on Tuesday's episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC.

Jimmy, 54, pulled out a document titled 'I declare this is my last Halloween movie' for Jamie, 63, to sign after playing Laurie in six previous Halloween films.

'Don't do it,' a member of the audience screamed.

Last time: Jamie Lee Curtis signed a document attesting that Halloween Ends will be the last time she plays Laurie Strode on Tuesday's episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC

'I should call my lawyer first before I sign anything,' Jamie said as she hesitated, but then seconds later picked up a pen and signed it.

'I've been weeping for about a month now trying to figure out how to say goodbye to all of this,' said Jamie of leaving the franchise that she has been a part of for more than 40 years.

Jamie made her film debut in the 1978 film Halloween portraying high school student Laurie Strode who becomes targeted by serial killer Michael Myers.

With the latest installment Halloween Ends coming out in theaters on Friday, Jimmy asked her why it was so emotional portraying Laurie for the last time.

Coming soon: The actress is shown screaming in a still from the upcoming film Halloween Ends

Film debut: Jamie made her film debut in the 1978 film Halloween portraying high school student Laurie Strode who becomes targeted by serial killer Michael Myers

Scream queen: Jimmy Kimmel held up a document that Jamie signed attesting it would her last Halloween movie

Jamie turned the tables and asked Jimmy how he would feel if he had to say goodbye to his crew and show.

'It's a little different because no one is chasing me around with a knife,' Jimmy said.

Jamie also shared that on Wednesday she would be getting her hands and feet imprinted into cement on Hollywood Boulevard to go with her Hollywood Walk Of Fame star that she received in 1998.

Good one: 'It's a little different because no one is chasing me around with a knife,' Jimmy quipped when Jamie tried to turn the tables on him

'It's very exciting,' Jamie said.

Jimmy wanted to know if she planned on taking off her shoes.

'They actually ask you to leave your shoes,' Jamie said. 'The barefoot thing also is a little weird. Also, the concrete shrinks which is why all of us think that old timey movie stars had really, really tiny feet.'

Hollywood legend: Jamie also shared that on Wednesday she would be getting her hands and feet imprinted into cement on Hollywood Boulevard to go with her Hollywood Walk Of Fame star that she received in 1998

She also said she just received a gold hand grenade trophy from the head of marketing at Universal.

'Because they call me the weapon of mass promotion,' Jamie said. 'It was a really funny surprise.'

Jamie revealed that she personally wouldn't go and see the Halloween movies if she wasn't in them.

'No. I wouldn't. Neither would Christopher Guest. No, we don't choose to subject ourselves to that level of tension,' she said referencing her 74-year-old husband.

Too tense: Jamie, shown in a still from Halloween Ends, revealed that she personally wouldn't go and see the Halloween movies if she wasn't in them

While Jamie appeared on the show to promote Halloween Ends, she also discussed how the Everything Everywhere All At Once movie she made two years ago is now getting Oscar buzz.

'It's a beautiful movie,' Jamie said.

She also asked Jimmy why he was so mean to children on Halloween.

Beautiful movie: While Jamie appeared on the show to promote Halloween Ends, she also discussed how the Everything Everywhere All At Once movie she made two years ago is now getting Oscar buzz

Jamie was referencing the skit he did where children would cry after their parents pretended to eat their Halloween candy. Jimmy said that he hadn't done the skit for four years.

'Well, I haven't taken off my clothes on camera for like a long time and they still talk about it,' Jamie said.

Halloween Ends will be released in theaters on Friday by Universal Pictures and also will be available for streaming simultaneously on paid tiers of the Peacock streaming service for 60 days.

Still talking: 'Well, I haven't taken off my clothes on camera for like a long time and they still talk about it,' Jamie said after she told Jimmy that his Halloween skit was mean to children
Rebel Wilson and her girlfriend Ramona Agruma were couple goals on Tuesday as they stepped out in near-matching outfits.

The Australian actress, 42, and her partner, 38, looked effortlessly chic during an outing in Beverly Hills.

Rebel showed off her slimmed-down figure in a pair of skinny leg jeans teamed with a white ruffled blouse.

Rebel Wilson (right) and her girlfriend Ramona Agruma (left) were couple goals on Tuesday as they stepped out in similar outfits

She layered her ensemble with a cream cardigan, while her blonde hair was coiffed in waves.

The Bridesmaids star accessorised with a gorgeous pale pink $4,800 Christian Dior tote bag and matching pink pointed shoes.

As for Ramona, the fashion and jewellery designer donned similar jeans with a pink knitted jumper.

She also had a small pink leather studded Valentino handbag over her shoulder.

Rebel showed off her slimmed-down figure in a pair of skinny leg jeans teamed with a white ruffled blouse

She layered her ensemble with a cream cardigan, while her blonde hair was coiffed in waves

The happy couple both sported matching aviator sunglasses to shade their eyes.

Rebel confirmed she was dating Ramona on June 9 this year.

It is the Australian star's first relationship with a woman, and her first public romance since ending her engagement to Napp's Dairy Free Ice Cream founder Jacob Busch in January 2021.

Rebel first teased she was dating someone new in May before making her relationship public via Instagram in June.

It comes after Rebel and Ramona got in touch with their inner children as they shared a fun day out at Disneyland on Friday

She shared a selfie of the pair, captioning the post: 'I thought I was searching for a Disney Prince  but maybe what I really needed all this time was a Disney Princess.'

Last week, Rebel and Ramona got in touch with their inner children as they shared a fun day out at Disneyland.

The lovebirds stayed at the popular theme park well into the night as they ate delicious side show food and hopped on exhilarating rides.

They documented the eventful day on their Instagram accounts with Ramona, 38, sharing several snaps captioned: 'Back to the happiest place on Earth.'

The Pitch Perfect star and her sweetheart started out on a tour bus going down the main street with Disneyland's Mrs Canada as Rebel cheered the beauty on.

The couple have been seen out and about over the last two-and-a-half months, including traveling to Europe together with several of their friends.
Clementine Ford has often faced backlash from critics and trolls alike for her outspoken feminist views.

And now the Fight Like a Girl author has delivered the perfect scathing clapback to those who label her and other women 'man-haters'.

The 41-year-old shared the lengthy retort while responding to a fan who asked what the best way to respond to being asked by right wing men, 'Who hurt you so bad to make you become a man-hater?'

Feminist author Clementine Ford has delivered the perfect clapback to those who label her and other women 'man-haters'

'You want to believe the only reason a woman would consider herself to have value beyond a man's opinion of her is because she was hurt by one of you,' Clem wrote.

'This tells me exactly how you view women - which is that you believe we exist only in relation to you, and that you consider your power over us to be so great that it can either break us or save us.'

Clem continued her detailed response, saying that women like her 'don't think about' men like this.

'So you insist loudly that there must be something wrong with us, because only defective women would be so openly indifferent to men's opinions,' she added.

'You want to believe the only reason a woman would consider herself to have value beyond a man's opinion of her is because she was hurt by one of you,' Clem wrote

'The fact that your performance involves mocking women for being targeted by male violence shows how much you rely on the threat of such a thing to keep women in line.

'Ultimately, that's why it's you who hates us and not the other way around. Because we exist outside of your control and we always will, and you can't stand that.'

The author then followed up with another lengthy post, stating that 'women could never hate men as much as they hate us'.

She added: 'Men hate women who won't bend to them. Women hate men because they force us to.'

The author then followed up with another lengthy post, stating that 'women could never hate men as much as they hate us'

Back in June, Clementine went public with her ADHD diagnosis.

'I feel all the typical things people report feeling when a huge puzzle piece finally falls into place,' she explained to her followers.

'Relief at finally understanding how and why my brain works the way it does; sadness for all the times I berated myself for being incapable, "stupid" and unreliable; and optimistic about a future that may not include quite so much confusion and anxiety,' she continued.

Clementine recently went public with her ADHD diagnosis

The best-selling author went on to say she was proud of herself for her many achievements in life while being neurodivergent.

'I also feel a strong sense of pride. I'm proud that I've managed to achieve the things I have despite the whirlwind that lives perpetually in my head. I've no doubt many of the things I've done have been BECAUSE of that whirlwind,' she wrote.

'I'm proud of the little girl who persisted when she was called overly sensitive, dramatic and capable of great things if she just "applied herself".'

The best-selling author went said she was proud of herself for her many achievements in life while being neurodivergent

Clementine also explained the diagnosis made her understand more about her own behaviour throughout her life.

'I have an explanation now for why I get super fixated on things (and conversely, why I never open bills), why I can be dogmatic in my approach to certain issues (working on that) and why I sometimes make impulsive choices that prove unwise after the fact,' she said.

'Many of the best people I know have ADHD! Artists, writers, musicians, activists, single mums - we contribute an amazing vibrancy to the world. We are cool b****es with beautiful brains, never forget it.'
She's an ambassador for the upcoming Caulfield Cup in Melbourne.

And Nadia Bartel looked thrilled to be attending a party in the lead up to the event on Tuesday night.

The former AFL WAG, 37, looked sensational in a $800 Christopher Esber wrapped tank dress, which prominently displayed her well-toned tummy.

A cut above! Nadia Bartel showed off ripped abs in a revealing white outfit at exclusive Caulfield Cup event in Melbourne on Tuesday

Her brunette hair was stylishly coiffed and she added a touch of sophistication with a trendy white clutch.

The mother-of-two looked every inch the fashionista as she posed for photos outside the Caulfield Racecourse with her mate Millie.

The former AFL WAG, 37, looked sensational in a $800 Christopher Esber wrapped tank dress, which prominently displayed her well-toned tummy

Nadia uploaded the snaps to Instagram and it didn't take long for many of her fans to complement them.

Fellow WAG Abbey Gelmi gushed 'OMG. Stunning Nads' while Married At First Sight star Martha Kalifatidis wrote 'you look fire'.

Nadia is no stranger to the horse racing season, having served as a style ambassador for the Melbourne Racing Club a on several occasions over the years.

The mother-of-two looked every inch the fashionista as she posed for photos outside the Caulfield Racecourse with her mate Millie

Her impending return to the spotlight comes days after her ex-husband revealed his girlfriend Amelia Shepperd is pregnant with their first child, a baby girl.

The former AFL star also shares two sons with ex-wife Nadia, sons Henley, three, and Aston, six.

The Caulfield Cup Carnival will take place on 15 October and will be broadcast on Channel 7.

Her brunette hair was stylishly coiffed and she added a touch of sophistication with a trendy white clutch
EastEnders have confirmed the full line-up of former stars returning to Walford for Dot Cotton's funeral.

The BBC soap unveiled that six actors will be reprising their roles for the special tribute episode which sees Albert Square residents say a final goodbye to the beloved launderette worker.

Among those returning is Jacqueline Jossa, who played Dot's grand-daughter Lauren Branning and said it was a 'no-brainer' to return, and Tom Watt, who portrayed George 'Lofty' Holloway.

Sorely missed: EastEnders have confirmed the full line-up of former stars returning to Walford for Dot Cotton's funeral

While completing the line-up of returning actors are Colin Russell (Lord Michael Cashman CBE), Barry Clark (Gary Hailes) , Mary 'the punk' Smith (Linda Davidson) and Disa OBrien (Jan Graveson).

It was previously revealed that soap bosses were working on a tribute for EastEnders legend June Brown, who died in April of this year at the age of 95.

And now, further details of the funeral scenes have been revealed, with each of the returning characters sharing their memories of Dot throughout the years.

While viewers will get a chance to discover what the characters have been up to since they last stepped foot in Walford.

Back again: Among those returning is Jacqueline Jossa, who played Dot's grand-daughter Lauren Branning and said it was a 'no-brainer' to return

Return: Lofty, who last returned in 2019 for Dr Legg's funeral, will be back once more for a sad occasion

Fan favourites: The BBC soap unveiled that six actors will be reprising their roles for the special tribute episode which sees Albert Square residents say a final goodbye to Dot (Pictured Linda Davidson and Tom Watt)

The beloved character of Dot left the show in January 2020 to go to Ireland with her grandson Charlie.

She portrayed the role of Dot for 35 years, and was part of the Branning clan after marrying character Jim Branning in 2002.

Speaking on why it was important to have significant people from Dot's past return, show, Executive Producer Chris Clenshaw said in a statement: 'Its an honour to invite so many of Walfords beloved characters back to pay tribute to Dot.

'Over the years, Dot profoundly impacted the lives of many young people struggling with lifes biggest challenges. Her warmth, heart and compassion changed lives  so we wanted to reunite some of the people she helped the most.

RIP: It was previously revealed that soap bosses were working on a tribute for EastEnders legend June Brown, (pictured in 2002) who died in April of this year at the age of 95

Much loved: now, further details of the funeral scenes have been revealed, with each of the returning characters sharing their memories of Dot throughout the years

Tribute: Both Lofty actor Tom Watt (R) and Mary 'the punk' Smith star Linda Davidson will reprise their roles

'Im thrilled these talented and generous actors wanted to share this special experience with us so we can give Dot a fitting send-off.'

The episode sees Dot's step granddaughter Lauren return to Albert Square for the first time since leaving for a new life in New Zealand with son Louie.

And while much of her former home has changed, there is once Walford resident that catches her eye.

On how she feels to come back for the emotional storyline, Jacqueline shared: 'Coming back to EastEnders for Dot's funeral was a no-brainer, and it was a real honour to be invited back.

'I had a lot of fun but, of course, it was bittersweet. It was amazing to be back, but hard to be filming this storyline. I can tell the viewers now that Dot gets the beautiful send-off that she deserves.'

She concluded: 'June was the light and joy of EastEnders. I had so much fun working with her, the incredible stories and how infectious & witty she was. June is a legend and I miss her very much.'

Back to Albert Square: Lord Michael Cashman aka Colin Russell will return to Walford

Stepping back in time: Barry Clark star Gary Hailes (L) will return to share his memories of Dot

Meanwhile, Lofty, who last returned in 2019 for Dr Legg's funeral, will be back once more for a sad occasion.

He said of the late actress: 'June was amazing as Dot. She completely inhabited the character: grew with her, suffered with her and faced life' s troubles with her. As soon as Dot appeared on screen, you knew June had all that history lighting up every look and every line in every single scene she was a part of.'

Elsewhere, Lord Cashman said: 'When I was asked back I didnt even hesitate because I couldnt have imagined not being there for June, and I know Colin couldnt have imagined not being there for Dot  they had that amazing, deep friendship that lasted during their years, and it was exactly the same with June and me.

'June was unique, and there are so many incredible stories I could tell, but amongst my favourite moments of Dot was her monologue to Jim  she was a character, and actress, that will last beyond the test of time.'

Lauren is back: Jacqueline said: 'I had a lot of fun but, of course, it was bittersweet. It was amazing to be back, but hard to be filming this storyline'

Gary Hailes shared: 'Being invited back to the show after almost 30 years away was exciting, scary, strange, but overall it was really nice! EastEnders has always been a big part of my life so to have the opportunity to come back  there were nerves  but that quickly turned into excitement, and warmth at the chance to honour Dot.

'June was an incredibly genuine person both on and off-screen, she really cared and was attentive to people. That's one thing I'll never forget.'

While Jan Graveson added: 'I am absolutely thrilled to be invited back to EastEnders to play Disa again and to honour the wonderful and unique character of Dot Cotton.

'I remember only too well of Dot and Disa's long dramatic scenes together and how they gripped the nation. Her notes, her suggestions, taught me so much. I have not, as yet, felt anything close to that energy, conviction and rapport, and probably never will. Dot  and June  was an inspiration to me, a brilliant actress to work with and a beautiful heart who became a lifelong friend.'
She recently shaved off her brows in the name of fashion.

And Amelia Hamlin confidently rocked her new look as she attended the BOSS party on London's Oxford Street on Tuesday.

The 21-year-old model seemed to be channeling Pamela Anderson as she put on a busty display in a very tight dress while sporting drawn on pencil thin brows made famous by the Playboy playmate.

Glam: She recently shaved off her brows in the name of fashion. And Amelia Hamlin confidently rocked her new look as she attended the BOSS party in London on Tuesday

Amelia showcased her cleavage in the strapless skintight dress with stitched detailing that clung to her slender curves.

She teamed the garment with a pair of black socks and chunky white heels that gave her model frame an extra boost.

A white clutch bag completed the outfit while she drew attention to her bold new brows by slicking her raven locks back into a bun.

Seeing double: The 21-year-old model seemed to be channeling Pamela Anderson as she put on a busty display in a very tight dress while sporting drawn on pencil thin brows made famous by the Playboy playmate (pictured right in 1994)

Dressed to impress: Amelia showcased her cleavage in the strapless skintight dress with stitched detailing that clung to her slender curves

Glamorous: She teamed the garment with a pair of black socks and chunky white heels that gave her model frame an extra boost

Lisa Rinna and Harry Hamlin's supermodel daughter Amelia Hamlin made a big change to her look on Friday in the name of fashion.

The Tropic Of C model posed seductively in a bathtub wearing only her birthday suit as she unveiled her shaven eyebrows.

The beauty - who used to date Kourtney Kardashian's ex Scott Disick - captioned the snap: 'I wish I had a rubber duckie.'

Working it: Amelia posed up a storm at the event as she worked her angles for the camera

Three's company: Amelia cosied up to Jordan Barrett and Noah Beck at the bash

The runway veteran apparently made the transformation at the request of Interview Magazine editor-in-chief Mel Ottenberg, whom she tagged in a video, writing, 'Only 4 u @melzy917 & fashion of course.'

She seemed nervous as the makeup artist prepared to move the razor across her face, exclaiming, 'Okay, okay, okay,' to psyche herself up.

The busy model has just wrapped up Fashion Month, where she walked for various designers in London, Milan and Paris showing their Spring/Summer 2023 collections.

Fashion: Amelia posed seductively in a bathtub as she showed off her newly shaven eyebrows Friday posting, 'I wish I had a rubber duckie' on social media

Amelia was born in the spotlight.

She is the daughter of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Lisa Rinna, 59, and actor Harry Hamlin, 70. Her older sister, Delilah Belle, 24, also works as a model.

Both young women have made frequent appearance's with their mother on the reality show.
They recently quashed rumours of a feud with their son Brooklyn and daughter-in-law Nicola Peltz.

And Victoria Beckham continued to showcase her sophisticated sense of style as she stepped out for a date night with husband David in New York City on Tuesday.

The designer, 48, looked effortlessly stylish in a forest green dress and a black trench coat while David, 47, donned a sharp blue suit as they headed out for dinner.

All is well now! Victoria Beckham, 48, continued to showcase her sophisticated sense of style as she stepped out for a date night with husband David, 47, in New York City on Tuesday

Victoria showed off her effortlessly chic sense of style by donning a simple dark green dress and a black coat for the outing.

The former Spice Girl donned a pair of her signature heels and an oversized clutch bag as she stepped out hand-in-hand with husband David.

Meanwhile David donned an eye-catching electric blue trouser suit with tinted aviator glasses as he headed out for a date night with his wife.

Date night! The designer looked effortlessly stylish in a forest green dress and a black trench coat while David donned a sharp blue suit as they headed out for dinner

Glamorous: Victoria showed off her effortlessly chic sense of style by donning a simple dark green dress and a black coat for the outing

Style icon: The former Spice Girl donned a pair of her signature heels and an oversized clutch bag as she stepped out hand-in-hand with husband David

Suited and booted: Meanwhile David donned an eye-catching electric blue trouser suit with tinted aviator glasses as he headed out for a date night with his wife

The outing comes after Victoria reached out to son Brooklyn and daughter-in-law Nicola Peltz with a heartfelt message after they squashed feud rumours earlier this month with a reunion with a reunion at her Paris Fashion Week show.

The fashion designer took to Instagram to share a picture of the couple alongside the message: 'I love you all so much', which Nicola went on to re-share.

Victoria also uploaded an image of her parents Jackie and Anthony Adams with the couple, with the star seemingly delighted to have things back on track with her loved ones.

Hitting back: The outing comes after Victoria reached out to son Brooklyn and daughter-in-law Nicola Peltz with a heartfelt message after they squashed feud rumours earlier this month

Supportive: Victoria shared a gushing message for Brooklyn and Nicola, appearing to quash rumours of a family feud

No more drama! It came just days after Brooklyn and Nicola attended Victoria's debut Paris Fashion Week show where they finally put to bed speculation that they had fallen out

It came just days after Brooklyn and Nicola attended Victoria's debut Paris Fashion Week show where they finally put to bed speculation that they had fallen out with the Spice Girl.

Putting on a further united front, Victoria's gushing post featured Nicola and Brooklyn - as well as other family members - in the audience at her fashion show.

Victoria was seen chatting to her son Brooklyn outside her Paris Fashion Week show while Nicola socialised with Cruz's girlfriend Tana Holding as the family reunited following feud rumours.

Supportive: Putting on a further united front, Victoria's gushing post featured Nicola and Brooklyn - as well as other family members - in the audience at her fashion show

Claims: 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

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.

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.

Victoria couldn't hold back her tears 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.'

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'.

Hitting back: 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

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 were 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 had reportedly enraged her in-laws by 'washing the family dirty linen in public'.

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.

What went on? But insiders said Nicola was pushing a 'false narrative', leaving Victoria 'bemused' as to why she keeps 'stoking the rumours of a feud' rather than shutting them down

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 said Nicola was pushing a 'false narrative', leaving Victoria 'bemused' as to why she keeps 'stoking the rumours of a feud' rather than shutting them down.

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.
Adam Sandler has cast his films with his wife Jackie Titone and his daughters Sadie and Sunny for years, but now the youngest Sandlers will have their biggest roles to date in his latest film.

Sadie, 16, and Sunny, 13, are set to both earn $65,000 on their father's coming-of-age comedy You Are SO Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah, according to legal documents obtained by The Blast.

Although the film's roles haven't officially been released yet, the documents also appear to confirm that Sadie will star as the lead character Stacy Friedman, while Sunny will play her sister Ronnie.

Family affair: Adam Sandler's daughters Sadie (L; 16) and Sunny (R; 13) will be starring in his Netflix coming-of-age film You Are SO Not Invited To My Bar Mitzvah, for which they'll earn $65K each, according to The Blast

The movie, which will be released on Netflix as part of Sandler's lucrative deal with the streamer, is based on the popular 2005 Young Adult novel of the same name by Fiona Rosenbloom.

The book charts Stacy's preparations for her Bat Mitzvah, where she hopes to get close to her crush Andy Goldfarb. But the ceremony seems on track to be derailed after her overbearing parents, and she utters the title phrase after walking in on her best friend Lydia Katz kissing Andy.

Adam and his wife Jackie don't have the final say on whether their daughters can appear in the film, as The Blast notes that a judge will have to clear the two for the production since they are minors.

California law requires that contracts for minors be made public as means to cut down on the abuse of young performers.

Lead roles? Although the film's roles haven't officially been released yet, the documents also appear to confirm that Sadie will star as the lead character Stacy Friedman, while Sunny will play her sister Ronnie; seen with Sandler and wife Jackie in 2018 in NYC

Although the two will be making $65,000 for the film, they'll stand to get an even larger payday if the movie is successful enough to garner a sequel, in which case they would be paid more than double, with $162,500 going to each young actress.

Rosenbloom has published a sequel, We Are So Crashing Your Bar Mitzvah, so there is potential a story ready to go.

The Sandler daughters will be on similar footing as their adult costars, meaning they will get a standard $60-per-day per diem, along with 'business-class round-trip air transportation' and 'first-class hotel accommodations' if they have to shoot scenes too far from their home.

The contract adds that the production 'shall furnish the artist with a dressing facility for Artists private use' with 'first-class amenities.'

Sandler  whose Happy Madison company is producing the film  also seems to be looking out for his daughters' welfare, as the contract stipulates that their likenesses won't be used for anything potentially unsavory or controversial.

Step up: Sadie and Sunny would earn $162,500 per person if a sequel is produced, but a judge will need to sign off before they're allowed to appear in the initial film due to California labor laws; Sandler seen October 1 in West Hollywood

'Artists prior written consent shall be required for the use of artists name, voice or likeness in connection with merchandising and/or commercial tie-ins involving the following products: drugs, political or religious items, tobacco, real firearms (excluding toy firearms), feminine hygiene items, pornographic material, contraceptives, and other sexually oriented items, and gambling,' the contract stipulates.

Sandler's daughters have appeared in several of him films, including his 2020 comedy Hubie Halloween.

You Are SO Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah will reunite Sandler with his costar Idina Menzel, who played his wife in his critically acclaimed thriller Uncut Gems.

Traffic actor Luis Guzman will round out the adult cast members, while Sandler's wife Jackie will again join him on screen.

The film will be directed by Sammi Cohen, with Alison Peck handling the adapted screenplay.
Poppy Delevingne looked effortlessly chic on Tuesday as she attended the Veronica Beard season catwalk show at London's Burlington Arcade.

The socialite, 36, wowed in a white knit jumper and a racy black leather midi skirt with a side split as she mingled at the fashion event in celebration of the clothing brand's opening of its London flagship store.

And Poppy ensured she dressed to impress for the evening, adding a striking monochrome checked jacket adorned with ribbons to her look.

All about style: Poppy Delevingne looked effortlessly chic on Tuesday as she attended the Veronica Beard season catwalk show at London's Burlington Arcade

The model finished her look with strappy black sandals, while adding a touch of bling with gold hooped earrings.

Poppy swept her blonde locks into a half up, half down style, while she highlighted her features with a glam palette of make-up.

The stunner was in good company on the night as she mingled with the designers Veronica Swanson Beard, and Veronica Miele Beard.

Chic: The socialite, 36, wowed in a white knit jumper and a racy black leather midi skirt with a side split at the fashion event in celebration of the clothing brand's flagship store opening

Turning heads: Poppy ensured she dressed to impress for the evening, adding a striking monochrome checked jacket adorned with ribbons to her look

While also in attendance on the night were Lady Mary Charteris, Clara Paget, Tamara Beckwith and Camille Charriere.

Poppy's appearances comes after it was claimed her sister Cara's family are 'worried' about her after a string of erratic public appearances.

Cara recently admitted she is surprised that she reached the age of 30, after celebrating her birthday in Ibiza last month.

Lovely: Poppy swept her blonde locks into a half up, half down style, while she highlighted her features with a glam palette of make-up (pictured with Lady Mary Charteris)

Trio: The stunner was in good company on the night as she mingled with the designers Veronica Swanson Beard, and Veronica Miele Beard

Cute: Poppy posed for a smiley snap designer Veronica

Catch up: Poppy happily chatted away to Laura Haddock at the event

Pose: The star sat alongside Charithra Chandran, Gabriella Wilde, Sarah Harris and Laura Haddock (L-R) at the fashion show

'Honestly, I didn't think I'd be alive at this age,' the model admitted to Stylist.

'I literally couldn't wait to turn 30, because the 20s are f****** hard.

'You're basically still a teenager  but you're meant to be an adult and everyone's telling you this is the best time of your life.'

Hey girls: The ladies all looked stylish at the posed on the front row

Strike a pose: Camille Charriere, Clara Paget, Veronica Swanson Beard and Poppy (L-R) posed for a fun snap

Fashionistas: Brigitta Freund and Tamara Beckwith celebrated the opening of the flagship store

Cara's fans have voiced their worries after she was recently seen sitting alone in a parked car in Los Angeles, where she took drops of liquid from a pipette and smoked from what appeared to be a pipe. Her legs appeared to be bruised.

She was then seen looking erratic and out of sorts at Van Nuys Airport in Los Angeles earlier in September.

It has been claimed that her family and friends are searching for ways to help the troubled former 'it girl'.

Comfy: Poppy took her seat next to Camille Charriere and Racil Chalhoub at the show

What a night: Poppy certainly looked in great spirits as she posed for a number of snaps at the fashion bash


By Nancy Qian





CHICAGO  Xi Jinping is poised to become the first three-term president in Chinese history when the Communist Party of China's 20th National Congress convenes this month. That makes this an opportune time to take stock of Xi's economic-policy record from the past 10 years and explore some obvious steps to improve economic performance in the next term.



When Xi assumed China's top political position in 2012, the economy was thriving, but it also had many serious problems. GDP had been growing at an average annual rate of 10 percent for over a decade. But a slowdown was inevitable, and GDP growth rates have indeed declined almost every year since 2008. Moreover, inequality was rising, with the Gini index having increased by 13 percent between 1990 and 2000. By the start of this century, inequality in China had surpassed that of the United States for the first time in the post-1978 reform era.



Meanwhile, pollution was literally killing China. By 2013, Beijing's air had an average of 102 micrograms of PM2.5 particles per cubic meter, whereas Los Angeles  a city historically known for its air pollution  had a PM2.5 reading of only around 15. Chinese city dwellers increasingly complained about the cardiopulmonary illnesses and early mortality associated with pollution. And China was also plagued by water pollution, owing to the chemical runoff from its factories, farms, and mines. In rural areas, entire villages and towns sometimes had to move because their water supply had been irreparably contaminated.



China was also gradually losing its workforce. Historically high fertility rates of around six children per woman started to decline in the 1970s and reached their current levels of under two children per women in 2000. China's working-age cohort shrank from 80 percent of the total population in 1970 to only 37 percent in 2012. The share of individuals over age 65 doubled, from 4 percent in 1970 to 8 percent in 2012. These trends left the government stuck between a rock and a hard place. Though policymakers needed to keep the overall population from ballooning further, they also needed to maintain the supply of young working people to support the growing elderly population.



Social discontent was rising and, according to one popular index, public perceptions of government corruption had doubled between 1991 and 2012. Around 1,300 labor strikes were documented in 2014; by 2016, that figure had more than doubled, to 2,700.



When Xi came to power, he took great pains to confront these challenges head-on. But the results have been mixed. On a positive note, PM2.5 readings in major cities like Beijing and Shanghai have been halved over the past ten years, and China's Gini coefficient today is back below that of the US and 13 percent below its 2010 peak.



But other indicators are less favorable. Between 2012 and the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, China's annual GDP growth rate has either remained flat or declined. Even though the government has abolished its stringent one-child policy, fertility rates have remained very low. The share of individuals aged 65 and older today is nearly 13 percent, a new peak for the modern era. And ten years after Xi launched a highly touted anti-corruption campaign, public perceptions of corruption are higher than ever.



Still, it would be misleading to lay all of the past decade's accomplishments and failures at Xi's feet. Xi inherited the biggest problems he has faced, which were the unavoidable consequences of China's previous rapid growth and political and economic history. At the same time, Xi also inherited the main policy solutions to these problems.



After all, China started requiring state-owned energy grids to invest in renewable industries all the way back in 1994, and earlier governments also emphasized policies to improve conditions for the poor. Basic medical insurance was introduced to urban areas in 1998 and to rural areas in 2003. Aggregate inequality began to decline two years prior to Xi taking office, and earlier governments regularly pursued their own anti-corruption drives.



As Xi continued many of his predecessors' policy initiatives, the things that were improving continued to improve, and the problems that were hard to fix remained unfixed. What changed most under Xi was not the ostensible policy aims but the mode of implementation. With a few exceptions, such as the one-child policy, post-1978 Chinese policymakers before Xi tended to be cautious and discreet. Important changes, like the introduction of rural elections, were usually piloted quietly and only announced as a "national policy" when the central government felt confident that it understood how the policy would work.



This trial-and-error method had the advantage of creating political space for deliberation among important stakeholders, leading to the success of highly complex initiatives such as China's national health policy. It also allowed for flexibility, with policies being revised to account for changing conditions or unforeseen side effects. And because these policies were not associated with any one person, the political costs of admitting mistakes were low.



Xi has dispensed with such subtleties, announcing policies personally, suddenly, and without much, if any, apparent deliberation. This modus operandi has clearly been economically harmful, even when the motivations behind the policies are benign or well-meaning.



Consider the 2021 ban on private tutoring, which was intended to curb the punishing hours that Chinese children spend studying and to reduce wealthier students' advantages over their peers. But the rollout was so blunt and sudden that it reduced major Chinese education companies' market capitalizations by tens of billions of dollars and simply created a black market for the same services. The economic ramifications reach beyond education. The possibility of sudden and unanticipated policy changes discourages future investments in all sectors.



Another example is Xi's zero-COVID policy. Though it was very successful in keeping the coronavirus at bay when there were no vaccines, it has fared poorly with changing conditions. While all other countries are shifting back to business as usual  or have already done so  China seems stuck in an endless game of Whac-a-Mole.



The implications for the Chinese economy are clear: the authorities should stay the course in terms of economic-policy goals, but change their policymaking methods. Moving slowly and cautiously served China well for more than 40 years. It could work well for many more.





Nancy Qian, professor of managerial economics and decision sciences at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, is a co-director of Northwestern University's Global Poverty Research Lab and the Founding Director of China Econ Lab. This article was distributed by Project Syndicate (www.project-syndicate.org).


Red Hot Chili Peppers fans are fuming after the band announced they'd added more dates to their Australia tour with Post Malone next year, but skipped out on a major city.

The band will be heading Down Under to perform in major stadiums from January to February 2023.

The tour will include performances in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Auckland and Dunedin, but the group won't be heading to Adelaide, Hobart or Darwin.

Several Red Hot Chili Peppers fans are fuming after the band announced they'd added more dates to their Australia tour with Post Malone next year, but skipped out on a major city

A handful of fans took to social media to express their disappointment that the legendary rock band won't be visiting South Australia during their stint.

'"Australian" tour,' the Instagram account @justadelaidethings sarcastically captioned a post of the tour announcement.

'Such a shame that again SA misses out,' a user commented.

The band will be heading Down Under to perform in major stadiums from January to February 2023

The tour will include performances in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Auckland and Dunedin, but the group won't be heading to Adelaide, Hobart or Darwin

'So annoying !!!' another added.

'Like with most things that come to Australia,' one fan lamented.

Other fans remained hopeful the band will appear in the Festival City, noting that there's a gap in dates between shows.

A handful of fans took to social media to express their disappointment that the legendary rock band won't be visiting South Australia during their stint. Meanwhile other fans remained hopeful, noting that there's a gap in dates between shows

'5 whole days between Melbourne and Perth. Just saying,' one user wrote.

'Don't complain, they might change their minds and come,' another said.

In July, Red Hot Chili Peppers announced they'd be touring Australia and New Zealand alongside Post Malone.

Red Hot Chili Peppers (pictured in 1990) have announced an Australian and New Zealand tour with American rapper Post Malone as a special guest

Post Malone will be join the band as a special guest

Due to popular demand, they added second shows for Sydney and Melbourne.

The band's Melbourne born bassist Flea hinted earlier this year they would soon be touring Australia.

He told The Daily Telegraph at the time: 'Were definitely coming.

'Were all booked up until the end of this year, so I dont think we could get there this year.'

It has been four years since Post Malone last performed in Australia and Red Hot Chili Peppers hasn't toured Down Under since 2019.

In April this year, the legendary alternative-rock band was honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (pictured during the ceremony)

Flea, who owns a property in NSW, last visited for a holiday in December 2021.

In April this year, the legendary alternative-rock band was honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

During the ceremony, drummer Chad Smith name-dropped prior members of the band because 'they're all part of our journey'.

Anthony Kiedis added the story of the band is 'not a story of individuals'.

'Something happens when we come together which is much greater than the individual parts, we are much greater than the sum total of our parts,' Kiedis said.
Drake and Sophie Brussaux each shared a series of photos for their son Adonis' fifth birthday.

The rapper, 35, and the former model, 33, both took to social media to highlight their little man on his big day.

Drake shared a series of photos from his superhero-themed birthday party which was held at a large arcade space.

Birthday boy: Drake and Sophie Brussaux each shared a series of photos for their son Adonis' fifth birthday

Fatherly advice: The next photo featured the One Dance rapper who seemed to give his son advice on how to win a different racing game

His first photo showed Adonis in a camouflage shirt and black sweatpants as he sat on a chair for a driving game.

His hair was tied back in tight cornrows, and he looked ready to race.

Adonis shot hoops in a Superman cape, leaping high in the air to drain a deep three-point shot.

The next photo featured the One Dance rapper who seemed to give his son advice on how to win a different racing game.

Taking to social: The rapper, 35, and the former model, 33, both took to social media to highlight their little man on his big day

Jumpman: Adonis shot hoops in a Superman cape, leaping high in the air to drain a deep three-point shot

Looking on: A group of the adults took a picture together, decked out in hoodies, hats and necklaces

All the way from Queens, New York: Adonis met Spider-Man on his big fifth birthday, and the friendly neighborhood superhero signed a piece of paper for him

Proud dad: In the final snap, Drake looked like a proud dad as he filmed the party with his trusty camcorder

A group of the adults took a picture together, decked out in hoodies, hats and necklaces.

Adonis met Spider-Man on his big fifth birthday, and the friendly neighborhood superhero signed a piece of paper for him.

Brussaux cuddled up to her son in one snap where he made Spiderman's famous hand gesture as if he were about to shoot a web.

In the final snap, Drake looked like a proud dad as he filmed the party with his trusty camcorder.

'Happy 5th to my twin [finger crossed emoji, sparkling heart emoji],' the God's Plan rapper captioned the snaps.

Eclectic: Brussaux also shared her own eclectic mix of photos, some from Adonis' birthday and some from throughout the year

A great year: She then shared several photos from throughout the year

Brussaux also shared her own eclectic mix of photos, some from Adonis' birthday and some from throughout the year.

The French model shared a snap in the car with her son as the two headed to the party. She wore a low-cut tank top which barely contained her cleavage.

In her next photo, Adonis helped out a magician in front of the rest of the kids.

She then shared several photos from the past year including one where Adonis cuddled up with a small gray and white dog and another where he enjoyed an ice cream sandwich.

Adonis, his hair standing up tall in thick curls, jumped on his mother's back in another shot.

True to his love of superheroes, Adonis dressed up as Spider-Man in the final photos his mother posted.

Piggyback ride! Adonis, his hair standing up tall in thick curls, jumped on his mother's back in another photo

Friendly neighborhood Adonis: True to his love of superheroes, Adonis dressed up as Spider-Man in the final photos his mother posted

Co-parenting their son: Drake and Brussaux co-parent though they are no longer romantically involved

She began her caption in French, writing, 'Joyeux anniversaire mon amoureux5 ans deja' which roughly translates to 'Happy birthday my love5 years already.'

Sophie then added in English, 'Im so proud of the beautiful human you are growing up to be. Weve done a great job @champagnepapi,' tagging Drake's account.

Drake and Brussaux co-parent though they are no longer romantically involved.

The pair were first spotted together in January 2017. Just two months later, rumors began to swirl that the couple were expecting a child.

At first, Drake's camp seemed to deny that the Jimmy Cooks rapper was the father.

Quick pregnancy: The pair were first spotted together in January 2017. Just two months later, rumors began to swirl that the couple were expecting a child

Not his? At first, Drake's camp seemed to deny that the Jimmy Cooks rapper was the father

No longer under a blanket: Drake said he didn't 'want to feel like just because of a life choice I made to be a "celebrity" that I got to make everybody live under this blanket. ... I just wanted to free myself of that.'

'This woman has a very questionable background,' the team said in a statement to TMZ. 'She has admitted to having multiple relationships...She's one of many women claiming he got them pregnant. If it is in fact Drake's child, which he does not believe, he would do the right thing by the child.'

He later admitted that he was the father and rapped about his son in songs released the following year.

Still, he didn't share photos of his song right away. The rapper waited a couple years before sharing pictures with the world.

Drake said he didn't 'want to feel like just because of a life choice I made to be a "celebrity" that I got to make everybody live under this blanket. ... I just wanted to free myself of that.'
Amelia Marni looked sizzling hot on Tuesday as she showed off her figure in a skimpy bikini at a Sydney beach.

The Love Island Australia star, 26, stripped down to a tiny green swimsuit which barely covered her assets in a promotional post for Glassons.

She posted several snaps to Instagram as she posed wearing a matching sarong beneath beachy cliff rock.

Amelia Marni, 26, (pictured) looked sizzling hot on Tuesday as she showed off her figure in a skimpy bikini at a Sydney beach

'Beach day every day wearing Glassons new season swim "2 for $35" online now,' the reality star captioned the post, turning to show off her derriere at one point.

It comes after the influencer recently confirmed she has a new man in her life, months after her split from boyfriend-of-four-years Josh Moss.

She shared a photo to Instagram of herself holding a man's hand after a fan asked her during a Q&A if she was seeing anybody.

The Love Island Australia star stripped down to a tiny green bikini which barely covered her assets as she promoted Glassons' new swimwear

While she didn't reveal his name or face, the black-and-white photo suggested the pair were dating as both their legs were intertwined.

The picture may have been taken during Amelia's recent trip to Mykonos, where she shared countless sizzling snaps but didn't reveal a mystery beau.

She visited Greece, Paris, Ibiza and London while getting over her recent break-up over the scorching European summer.

She posted several snaps to Instagram as she posed wearing a matching sarong beneath beachy cliff rock

She appears to be adjusting well to life after calling it quits with Josh, 29, whom she dated for about four years.

Following their break-up, Amelia announced she would be relocating from Australia to Europe for several months.

She hinted a 'casual move' was on the cards, but returned to Australia in mid-August.

It comes after the influencer recently confirmed she has a new man in her life, months after her split from boyfriend-of-four-years Josh Moss. She shared a photo to Instagram of herself holding a man's hand after a fan asked her during a Q&A if she was seeing anybody

'So, in two weeks, I'm gonna go to Mykonos for, like, 10 days,' she said in June. 'Who knows, I'm very sporadic, I'm very spontaneous at the moment.'

Amelia and Josh started dating as contestants on season one of Love Island Australia in 2018.

They mutually ended their relationship in May, after it was reported the pair had been 'unhappy' for months.
Jamie Lee Curtis is speaking out against the use of Botox and plastic surgery and urging people to embrace the inevitability of aging.

Curtis - who has admittedly and regrettably undergone procedures in the past - shared with TODAY the advice she's given her daughters Annie, 35, and Ruby, 26.

'Don't mess with your face,' stressed the star, 63, who proudly declared herself 'pro-aging' during the candid interview on Monday.

Embrace it! Jamie Lee Curtis is speaking out against the use of Botox and plastic surgery and urging people to embrace the inevitability of aging; seen Tuesday

'I did plastic surgery. I put Botox in my head. Does Botox make the big wrinkle go away? Yes. But then you look like a plastic figurine,' Curtis explained.

Botox is an injectable that uses the toxin onobotulinumtoxinA to temporarily prevent muscle movement. It can soften moderate to severe wrinkles in areas such as the forehead and around the eyes.

The Halloween franchise star called out those who've made anti-aging an integral part of their day-to-day lives.

'Walk a mile in my shoes. I have done it. It did not work. And all I see is people now focusing their life on that,' she concluded

Advice: Curtis - who has admittedly and regrettably undergone procedures in the past - shared with TODAY the advice she's given her daughters Annie, 35, and Ruby, 26

'Don't mess with your face,' stressed the star, 63, who proudly declared herself 'pro-aging' during the candid interview on Tuesday; Curtis seen in 1980

Curtis previously remarked on how the obsession around anti-aging has warped beauty standards over time.

'The current trend of fillers and procedures, and this obsession with filtering, and the things that we do to adjust our appearance on Zoom are wiping out generations of beauty,' she stated to Fast Company, adding: 'Once you mess with your face, you can't get it back.'

Back in 1989, Curtis had fat taken from underneath my eyes after a cameraman made comments about her 'puffy eyes' on the set of Perfect in 1985.

'I did plastic surgery. I put Botox in my head. Does Botox make the big wrinkle go away? Yes. But then you look like a plastic figurine,' Curtis explained; Curtis seen in 1995

Obsession: Curtis previously remarked on how the obsession around anti-aging has warped beauty standards over time; Curtis seen in 1991

Along with not liking the outcome of the procedure, it also spawned her addiction to Vicodin, a prescription opioid meant to relieve severe pain.

'I tried plastic surgery and it didn't work. It got me addicted to Vicodin. I'm 22 years sober now,' she told the outlet.

Curtis previously admitted to once getting liposuction, as well as Botox.

'I've had a little lipo. I've had a little Botox. And you know what? None of it works. None of it. It's such a fraud. And I'm the one perpetuating it,' she told More magazine in 2002.

'The current trend of fillers and procedures, and this obsession with filtering, and the things that we do to adjust our appearance on Zoom are wiping out generations of beauty,' she stated to Fast Company , adding: 'Once you mess with your face, you can't get it back'; Curtis seen on October 8

Earlier this week, Curtis admitted that it's taken her years to find her true self, with the star admitting she's made plenty of mistakes along the way.

She compared life to a process of elimination, saying she has had to work on and better the parts of herself she didn't like in order to become more genuine.

When asked how she learned to be comfortable with herself by DJ Jackie Brambles on Greatest Hits Radio on Monday, the Hollywood star said: 'That's been hard-earned, that's taken a while so if you look back there's been some bad haircuts, some patterns I wish I hadn't worn and some people I maybe wish I hadn't slept with.

Honest: Earlier this week, Curtis admitted that it's taken her years to find her true self, with the star admitting she's made plenty of mistakes along the way; Curtis seen on October 9

'There are mistakes, we make them and we learn. Life is like a Guess Who? game and you keep omitting the things that you've tried that don't work for you and all of a sudden what emerges is who you are.

'I am the short haired woman, who wears glasses and monochrome, and I have a very clear idea of who I am. I have tried to find my own mind and finding my own mind has taken a while...

'I'm open, I'm curious and I'm not afraid to say I'm wrong.'

It comes after Jamie revealed she uses the name Marion Crane - her mother's character in Psycho - as her pseudonym when staying in hotels.

Game of life: The actress compared life to a process of elimination, saying she has had to work on and better the parts of herself she didn't like in order to become more genuine

The screen star - the daughter of film stars Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh - said it made sure her mum, who died in 2004 aged 77, 'lived on'.

Janet Leigh's biggest role was playing on-the-run conwoman Marion Crane in 1960 movie Psycho, where she is killed in the shower by Norman Bates, played by Anthony Perkins.

She won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress as well as a nomination for an Oscar for her spine-chilling role.

Speaking last week, Jamie Lee - who plays Laurie Strode in the new flick Halloween Ends - out on October 14th - said she loved using the assumed name at hotels.

Joking about: It comes after Jamie revealed she uses the name Marion Crane - her mother's character in Psycho - as her pseudonym when staying in hotels (Jamie pictured with her mother Janet Leigh in 1998)

Silver screen: Janet Leigh's biggest role was playing on-the-run conwoman Marion Crane in 1960 movie Psycho, where she is killed in the shower by Norman Bates (Janet seen in the film)

She said: 'I'm going to tell you a secret. Marion Crane is my nom-de-plume.

'In this hotel. I get calls to the room 'Message for Marion Crane'.', she told the G2 supplement in The Guardian.

Jamie Lee previously said she didn't like horror flicks, and preferred comedies.

Despite starring in the Halloween movies, as well as The Fog, Prom Night, Terror Train, Jamie Lee has also starred in comedies, including Trading Places, A Fish Called Wanda and Freaky Friday.

Asked whether she liked scary movies, she said: 'It's ironic, my mother was in Psycho, I'm in Halloween and my mother didn't like scary movies, and I don't like scary movies either.'

She added: 'I like a good comedy. I like to laugh.'

Listen to Jamie Lee Curtis speak to Jackie Brambles on the Greatest Hits Radio app and website. Head to greatesthitsradio.co.uk for more.
Jamie Lee Curtis beamed with pride as she hit the red carpet with her adopted daughters Ruby, 26, and Annie, 35, at the premiere of Halloween Ends in Los Angeles on Tuesday night.

The actress, 63, and her girls were seen posing for shutterbugs before heading inside the famous TCL Chinese Theatre for a screening of the horror flick.

In July 2021, Curtis revealed to the world that her youngest daughter is male-to-female transgender and had changed her name from Thomas to Ruby.

Terrific trio! Jamie Lee Curtis beamed with pride as she hit the red carpet with her adopted daughters Ruby, 26, and Annie, 35, at the premiere of Halloween Ends in Los Angeles on Tuesday night

A male-to-female transgender person (MTF), often referred to as a trans woman or transgender woman, is someone who was assigned male at birth but identifies as female.

A transgender person is someone whose birth sex does not align with their gender identity. This also applies to those who identify as non-binary or genderqueer.

Curtis proudly told AARP magazine that she and husband Christopher Guest, 74, 'have watched in wonder and pride as our son became our daughter Ruby.'

The couple adopted Ruby back in 1996 when she was a newborn.

Coming out: In July 2021, Curtis revealed to the world that her youngest daughter is male-to-female transgender and had changed her name from Thomas to Ruby (right)

The actress, 63, and her girls were seen posing for shutterbugs before heading inside the famous TCL Chinese Theatre for a screening of the horror flick

Curtis arrived at Tuesday's star-studded premiere hand-in-hand with Ruby and Annie, who was adopted by the actress and husband Guest in 1986.

The Halloween franchise star stunned in a sparkling red off-the-shoulder gown that clung to her slim physique.

The silver-haired beauty styled her chic pixie cut with pomade and amped up her natural beauty with a glamorous, yet soft makeup look.

Curtis accessorized with a pair of dazzling diamond earrings.

Stunning: The Halloween franchise star stunned in a sparkling red off-the-shoulder gown that clung to her slim physique

Natural beauty: The silver-haired beauty styled her chic pixie cut with pomade and amped up her natural beauty with a glamorous, yet soft, makeup look

Ruby, who was often caught beaming in her famous mother's direction, looked radiant in a shimmering silver gown layered beneath a cropped black jacket.

Her curly brunette hair brushed the tops of her shoulders and she let her flawless complexion take center stage by opting for minimal makeup.

Annie cut a sexy figure in a black strapless dress with a daring thigh-high slit with silver roses embroidered on the bust.

Her golden blonde hair was styled sleek and pinned back with rhinestone barrettes.

Excited: Curtis proudly told AARP magazine that she and husband Christopher Guest, 74, 'have watched in wonder and pride as our son became our daughter Ruby'; Curtis seen with Ruby in 2017 prior to her transition

Flashback: Curtis is pictured carrying Ruby as a baby in 1996

In last year's AARP interview, which was conducted with Ruby's permission, Curtis explained that she has tossed out the 'old idea' that gender is fixed and is instead leaning into the idea that life is a 'constant metamorphosis.'

The actress has previously showed support for trans people going back several years, and in 2017 shared a Huffington Post article on Twitter: 'Dear Trans Kids. The letter we all wish we had written. (from a trans teacher).'

Last year, she also signed on to direct and star in a TV movie about GLAAD Media Institute alum Sara Cunningham. Cunningham is the founder of Free Mom Hugs, which celebrates the LGBTQIA+ community. She also spoke excitedly about Ruby's upcoming nuptials.

Curtis' children are private  and have only attended a handful of events with their mom  but Ruby gave her mom the OK to share two pieces of personal information with AARP, the other being her impending nuptials.

Accident: Last year, Curtis admitted that she and her husband of 37 years 'still slip occasionally' by misgendering Ruby and calling her by her birth name; the family pictured

'She and her fiance will get married next year at a wedding that I will officiate,' the Halloween star said.

Curtis didn't say whether Ruby is marrying man or woman, though in 2019 Ruby shared a photo with a girlfriend.

Last year, Curtis admitted that she and her husband of 37 years 'still slip occasionally' by misgendering Ruby and calling her by her birth name.

'It's speaking a new language. It's learning new terminology and words. I am new at it. I am not someone who is pretending to know much about it. And I'm going to blow it, I'm going to make mistakes. I would like to try to avoid making big mistakes,' the Halloween Kills producer-star told People.

Final chapter: Halloween Ends is the final chapter in the David Gordon Green-directed trilogy that kicked off in 2018 with Halloween. The sequel Halloween Kills was released in 2021

'You slow your speech down a little. You become a little more mindful about what you're saying. How you're saying it. You still mess up, I've messed up today twice. We're human.'

Curtis and Guest struggled with infertility and adopted their eldest, Annie, through an agency in 1986. Nine years later, they adopted Ruby.

Halloween Ends is the final chapter in the David Gordon Green-directed trilogy that kicked off in 2018 with Halloween. The sequel Halloween Kills was released in 2021.

Halloween Ends hits theaters and NBC's Peacock streaming platform on Friday, October 14.

Iconic: It's part of a decades-long franchise that began back in 1978 with John Carpenter's iconic film Halloween, which gave fear-stricken audiences their first look at the infamous Michael Myers. Curtis (pictured) originated the role of babysitter Laurie Strode, who becomes the the target of Myers' killing sprees

Big return: Fans were delighted when Curtis signed on to head Gordon Green's Halloween trilogy as an older Laurie Strode, who has her sights set on ending Myers' bloodbath for good

It's part of a decades-long franchise that began back in 1978 with John Carpenter's iconic film Halloween, which gave fear-stricken audiences their first look at the infamous Michael Myers.

Curtis originated the role of babysitter Laurie Strode, who becomes the the target of Myers' killing sprees.

After starring in the slasher, she returned as strode in Halloween II (1981), Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) and Halloween: Resurrection (2002).

Fans were delighted when Curtis signed on to head Gordon Green's Halloween trilogy as an older Laurie Strode, who has her sights set on ending Myers' bloodbath for good.

In a recent interview with The Guardian, Curtis branded her alter-ego as a 'feminist hero' and a character that broke boundaries at a time when female roles were forced into 'basic types'.
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Sylvester Stallone and his wife Jennifer Flavin looked happier than ever as they enjoyed an afternoon shopping trip with their daughters in Beverly Hills on Tuesday.

The couple recently reconciled after Flavin, 54, shockingly filed for divorce from her husband of 25 years, 76, back in August. A judge officially dismissed the proceedings last week.

Stallone and his family stopped by Ralph Lauren located on world famous Rodeo Drive, which is a two-mile stretch of ultra high-end brick and mortar stores.

Thriving: Sylvester Stallone and his wife Jennifer Flavin looked happier than ever as they enjoyed an afternoon shopping trip with their daughters in Beverly Hills on Tuesday

The Rambo actor showcased his buff physique in a fitted gray t-shirt worn with blue jeans and brown dress shoes.

His salt-and-pepper hair was slicked back and he donned a pair of aviator shades.

Stallone was captured getting into the front passenger's seat of a white vehicle just steps away from the luxury storefront.

Flavin looked effortlessly stunning in a fitted beige tank top with a cropped cream cardigan layered over it.

Buff: The Rambo actor showcased his buff physique in a fitted gray t-shirt worn with blue jeans and brown dress shoes

Stunner: Flavin looked effortlessly stunning in a fitted beige tank top with a cropped cream cardigan layered over it. The Rocky V star strutted her stuff in black open-toed heels and a pair of skintight jeans

The Rocky V star strutted her stuff in black open-toed heels and a pair of skintight jeans.

Her honey toned tresses were worn down and she kept a brown leather purse in the crook of her arm while spending time with her family.

The couple, who tied the knot in 1997, were joined by daughters Sistine, 24, and Sophia Rose, 26.

Missing from action was their youngest daughter Scarlet Rose, 20.

Reconciled: The couple recently reconciled after Flavin, 54, shockingly filed for divorce from her husband of 25 years, 76, back in August. A judge officially dismissed the proceedings last week

Family affair: The couple, who tied the knot in 1997, were joined by daughters Sistine, 24, and Sophia Rose, 26. Sistine wowed in a curve clinging sweater dress with stylish black loafers

Sleek and natural: Her sleek brunette hair cascaded down her back in straightened strands and she appeared to be wearing minimal makeup

Sistine wowed in a curve-clinging sweater dress with stylish black loafers.

Her sleek brunette hair cascaded down her back in straightened strands and she appeared to be wearing minimal makeup.

A white purse with a brown strap was tucked under her arm and a pair of black designer shades rested on her nose.

She was the only member of the Stallone crew with a shopping bag slung over her shoulder.

Chic: Sophia Rose looked chic in a black long-sleeve maxi dress that flattered her lean figure. The blonde beauty's hair was worn in a ponytail and she trotted along in a pair of black heeled sandals

Shady: Like the rest of her family, Sophia Rose braved the day while wearing her sunglasses of choice

Sophia Rose looked chic in a black long-sleeve maxi dress that flattered her lean figure.

The blonde beauty's hair was worn in a ponytail and she trotted along in a pair of black heeled sandals.

Like the rest of her family, Sophia Rose braved the day while wearing her sunglasses of choice.

Stallone, Flavin and their girls were captured bidding farewell to a family friend outside of a shop before heading to their respective vehicles.

Make it pop! To contrast with her all-black outfit, Sophia Rose toted her belongings in a bright white purse

Heading out: Stallone, Flavin and their girls were captured bidding farewell to a family friend outside of a shop before heading to their respective vehicles

Last week, a Florida judge officially dismissed divorce proceedings between Sylvester Stallone and his wife Jennifer Flavin as they salvaged their 25-year marriage.

The couple filed a voluntary notice for dismissal in Palm Beach County, Florida and are 'together and very happy', Page Six reports.

Stallone and Flavin were seen arm-in-arm in Manhattan on Friday, the day news broke, as both had their gold wedding bands back on.

Earlier last week, it was reported that the movie star and his wife of 25 years 'decided to meet up at home, where they talked and were able to work out their differences. They are both extremely happy,' his rep told Page Six.

Their reconciliation comes one month after Jennifer filed for divorce from Sylvester.

People also confirmed the duo are back together.

Throwback: The movie star and his wife of 25 years are pictured during Friars Club Honours in New York, 1997

Days prior to their reconciliation, a court filing revealed at a Palm Beach Country, Florida court revealed that the duo agreed 'that it is in the best interests of each of them individually, and more importantly collectively as a family, to resolve all issues attendant to the dissolution of their marriage in a dignified, amicable and private manner out-of-court.'

Fans speculated they reconciled earlier this week after he shared two throwback photos on his social media showing he and Jennifer holding hands.

'Wonderful...' Sly wrote as the caption for the post.

The Philadelphia native shared two throwback images. One of he and wife Jennifer smiling with their three daughters who were grade school aged at the time.

The stars are parents to three children together: daughters Sophia, 26, Sistine, 24, and Scarlet, 20; Sylvester also has a son named Seargeoh, 43, with ex Sasha Crack. He also had a son named Sage with Sasha as well, but he died in 2012 at age 36.

Sylvester and Jennifer wed in May 1997.

'Wonderful..' Fans speculated they reconciled earlier three weeks ago after he shared two throwback photos on his social media showing he and Jennifer holding hands

Happier times: The Philadelphia native shared an throwback image of he and wife Jennifer smiling with their three daughters who were grade school aged at the time

On August 19, Jennifer filed for divorce from him, alleging that he 'engaged in the intentional dissipation, depletion and/or waste of marital assets, which has had an adverse economic impact on the marital estates.'

The actor denied her allegations at the time.

Following the filing, Jennifer told People: 'I'm sad to announce that after 25 years of marriage I have filed for divorce from my husband Sylvester Stallone. While we will no longer be married, I will always cherish the more than 30-year relationship that we shared, and I know we are both committed to our beautiful daughters. I ask for privacy for our family as we amicably move forward.'

Sylvester addressed the split at the time via a statement: 'I love my family. We are amicably and privately addressing these personal issues.'

Family first: The stars are parents to three children together: daughters Sophia, 26, Sistine, 24, and Scarlet, 20

Days before the divorce filing, DailyMail.com revealed that the actor had a giant tattoo of Flavin on his right bicep covered up with a picture of Butkus, Rocky's bull mastiff from the hit movies.

There were claims that their Rottweiler Dwight was the immediate cause of the break-up. Stallone dotes on Dwight  the name of his character in a new TV drama series, Tulsa King  and has posted gushing videos and photos of the pet on social media.

Family insiders told website TMZ that the actor wanted the dog to help protect the family at their homes in Los Angeles and Palm Beach, Florida.

But  while they already own other dogs  Flavin didn't want a huge Rottweiler in the house and strenuously objected. Their disagreement over Dwight allegedly caused a huge row that brought up other issues between the couple, culminating in her decision to press the nuclear button.
Heidi Klum shared a candid clip slipping into a corset as she gave a glimpse of how she gets ready to film America's Got Talent on Wednesday.

The star, 49, showed off her figure as she was tied into her tight outfit by an assistant and was cinched in at the waist.

She then wore over the top a stylish denim dress with button detailing down the front as she prepared to start filming the All-Stars edition of the show.

Preparation: Heidi Klum shared a candid clip slipping into a corset as she gave a glimpse of how she gets ready to film America's Got Talent on Wednesday

The nude underwear featured sheer paneled sections and gave a glimpse of her ample assets and was teamed with a cosy knitted skirt as she got ready.

She wore her long blonde tresses in a poker straight style and had clips in as she got her glam on, while opting for bronzed makeup.

The next scene saw her wearing the denim dress as she posed up a storm and showed off her look, complete with gold hoop earrings.

Outfit: She then wore over the top a stylish denim dress with button detailing down the front as she prepared to start filming the All-Stars edition of the show

Getting ready: The star, 49, showed off her figure as she was tied into her tight outfit by an assistant and was cinched in at the waist

Heidi wrote in the caption: 'A little behind the scenes of me getting ready for @agt all stars.'

America's Got Talent: All-Stars has been given the official green light to commence production by NBC.

The spin-off series, created by Simon Cowell, 63, will bring back familiar faces as they compete for a new and coveted 'All Star' title.

The original America's Got Talent competition series first premiered in 2006, and has been a whopping success over the years.

Racy: The nude underwear featured sheer paneled sections and gave a glimpse of her ample assets and was teamed with a cosy knitted skirt as she got ready

Corset: She wore her long blonde tresses in a poker straight style and had clips in as she got her glam on, while opting for bronzed makeup

Season 17 of the hit show, which aired earlier this year, ranged around 6 million viewers per episode.

According to Deadline, the upcoming series will star past winners, finalists, fan favorites, and also a few viral sensations who will battle to be an All-Star.

The spin-off will see beloved and current America's Got Talent judges transitioning over to the new show, such as Simon, Heidi and Howie Mandel.

The only judge that will not join the All-Stars competition series is Sofia Vergara, reported the publication.

Trendy: The next scene saw her wearing the denim dress as she posed up a storm and showed off her look, complete with gold hoop earrings

Here we go! Heidi wrote in the caption: 'A little behind the scenes of me getting ready for @agt all stars'

Terry Crews, the current host of America's Got Talent, also known as AGT, will also host the spin-off. Previous hosts of the series included Nick Cannon, Tyra Banks, and Jerry Springer.

Production is set to begin later this month in October, and special auditions are currently in motion. A set release date has yet to be confirmed, but the show is slated to air next year in 2023.

America's Got Talent: All-Stars is not the main show's first spin-off. AGT: The Champions similarly also brought on past finalists, winners, and live round participants who battle for the World Champion title.

Exciting: America's Got Talent : All-Stars has been given the official green light to commence production by NBC

Upcoming: The spin-off series, created by Simon Cowell , 63, will bring back familiar faces as they compete for a new and coveted 'All Star' title

Having their say: The spin-off will see beloved and current America's Got Talent judges transitioning over to the new show, such as Simon, Heidi and Howie Mandel

AGT: Extreme was an additional series created from the original, and mainly focused around talented stunt performers. The show aired its first season earlier this year in February 2022.

America's Got Talent has an additional 70 editions throughout the entire world, such as Britain's Got Talent and Philippines Got Talent.

According to Deadline, the beloved show also holds a Guinness World Records title for the Most Successful Reality Television Format.

Popular: America's Got Talent has an additional 70 editions throughout the entire world, such as Britain's Got Talent and Philippines Got Talent

Over the years, the series, which has become a household name for many, has been nominated for numerous awards since its premiere date, such as a Primetime Emmy Award, People's Choice Award, and Critics Choice Award.

The 17th season recently aired its grand finale episode earlier last month in September raked in around 6.8 million viewers.

The Mayyas won first place during the latest season, and are an all-female alternative dance group consisting of 36 members.

Incoming: Production is set to begin later this month in October, and special auditions are currently in motion
Viewers are about to see if their marriages make it over the final hurdle.

But on Tuesday Married At First Sight UK stars Whitney Hughes and April Banbury let their hair down at Ekin-Su Culculoglu's beauty bash in London.

The duo partied at the Love Island star's Beauty Works hair extensions event at Hotel Cafe Royal in London, as the final week of MAFS airs on E4.

Party time: Married At First Sight UK stars Whitney Hughes and April Banbury let their hair down at Ekin-Su Culculoglu's beauty bash in London on Tuesday

Whitney pulled out all the stops for her night on the town, wowing in a plunging little black dress.

The leather mini flaunted the star's incredible figure as she posed up a storm for the cameras.

Her onscreen pal April matched in her own black mini with ruffle detail.

The girls shared Instagram snaps of their fun night out, snapping selfies as they enjoyed cocktails and canapes.

Letting her hair down: The duo partied at the Love Island star's Beauty Works event at Hotel Cafe Royal in London, as the final week of MAFS airs on E4

While the pair enjoyed their night out, viewers were watching the dramatic final dinner party on Married At First Sight.

The TV experiment, which was recorded earlier this year, has entered its final week with Whitney and April, alongside their fellow remaining couples, set to decide if they want to remain married after meeting their spouses for the first time at the alter.

It's known that April has ended her marriage to husband George Roberts amid his recent arrest on suspicion of controlling and coercive behaviour.

The 40-year-old was arrested this month but has continued to feature on the pre-recorded shows featuring himself and his TV wife.

Putting on a show: Whitney pulled out all the stops for her night on the town, wowing in a plunging little black dress

Looking gorgeous: Her onscreen pal April matched in her own black mini with ruffle detail

Last month, The Sun reported that three exes of George made complaints about his alleged behaviour but the show makers ignored their alerts.

Father-of-four Roberts, a financial adviser, denies any wrongdoing and has been bailed by Scotland Yard.

April, who's a dress designer from Hampshire, has been undergoing therapy following her time on the series.

Speaking on Instagram, she said: 'The traumas that have been brought on from this show have made me re-evaluate things. I really have and I'm not ashamed to admit, I have been seeing a therapist ever since.'

Say cheese: The girls shared Instagram snaps of their fun night out, snapping selfies as they enjoyed cocktails and canapes

Meanwhile the show took yet another dramatic turn on Tuesday night's episode as Adrian Sanderson stormed out following an explosive row with Whitney and her husband Matt Murray.

The digital designer, 37, was left incensed after locking horns with the new couple during the very tense final dinner party, ranting at Whitney: 'You're done, f**k off!' before making a shock exit from the room.

The dramatic scenes came just minutes after his husband Thomas Hartley ended their marriage due to their ongoing intimacy issues, with the couple seen breaking down in tears as they expressed how much they meant to each other.

Scenes: While the pair enjoyed their night out, viewers were watching the dramatic final dinner party on Married At First Sight's Tuesday episode

Split: It's known that April has ended her marriage to husband George Roberts amid his recent arrest on suspicion of controlling and coercive behaviour

The episode saw the six remaining couples gathered for the final dinner party of the experiment ahead of their vowel renewals.

However, during the meal, the honesty box stirred up all kinds of drama as the couples faced same very difficult questions.

But it was the final question to April and George asking who they thought was the fakest couple there that really set things off after the couple chose Thomas and Adrian - with April stating their reason was because Matt had branded them fake at the last commitment ceremony.

Adrian then chose to address Matt's comments and called out the tattooed barber for making a remark on his romance while commenting on Matt dumping his wife Gemma for Whitney.

Tension: The show took yet another dramatic turn on Tuesday night's episode as Adrian Sanderson stormed out following an explosive row with Whitney and her husband Matt Murray

Fuming at Matt, Adrian remarked: 'you're opinion means nothing to me!' with Matt retorting: 'Who the f**k do you think you are? You're a f**king joke!'

As Adrian then tried to settle things with Whitney as she jumped in to defend her man, she dismissed their interactions in the past causing him to tell her to f**k off!'

Matt then piped up telling Adrian that he felt 'threatened' by the couple, with Adrian quick to shut down Matt's suggestion, telling him: 'If theres any person in this world whos going to tell me I didnt work my a**e off at this marriage, it most certainly will not be someone who didnt give his a day!'

Showdown: During the final dinner party, the honesty box stirred up all kinds of drama as the couples faced same very difficult questions

Row: Fuming at Matt, Adrian remarked: 'you're opinion means nothing to me!' with Matt retorting: 'Who the f**k do you think you are? You're a f**king joke!'

Having had enough of the bad energy, Adrian then stood up an end exclaimed: 'My relationship has been on the table for everyone to see. If I was faking a relationship, it would have been a good one!'

With Whitney then quipping: 'Who put 2p in his f**king box?!'

Finishing his rant, Adrian turned to Whitney telling her: 'Do you know what, I've respected you so much throughout this whole thing and you've showed me none, so actually you're done - f**k off Whitney!'

MAFS UK continues on E4 at 9pm on Wednesday night.
Neil Jones joined his girlfriend Chyna Mills for the opening night of Tango After Dark at Sadler's Wells Peacock Theatre in London on Tuesday.

The Strictly Come Dancing professional, 40, and Love Island star, 23, stepped out hand-in-hand to the star-studded event.

Neil opted for a dark ensemble consisting of a smart over shirt and navy T-shirt with cargo trousers.

Cute: Neil Jones joined his girlfriend Chyna Mills for the opening night of Tango After Dark at Sadler's Wells Peacock Theatre in London on Tuesday

He completed his look with an edgy pair of lace-up boots as he posed for photos on the red carpet.

Chyna looked chic in a crop top and velvet trousers with a waterfall jacket layered over the top.

She slipped into some platform loafers and carried a small black leather handbag to complete her look.

Loved-up: The Strictly Come Dancing professional, 40, and Love Island star, 23, stepped out hand-in-hand to the star-studded event

Beaming: The couple flashes huge smiles for their night out

Chyna pulled her hair back into a sleek low bun and kept her makeup subtle to enhance her flawless complexion.

Elsewhere, Bianca Gascoigne flashed her blossoming baby in a stylish co-ord as she posed for photos on the red carpet.

The former Celebrity Big Brother star, 36, who is pregnant with her first child, looked incredible in the black and white zebra print trousers and shirt.

Smart: Neil opted for a dark ensemble consisting of a smart over shirt and navy T-shirt with cargo trousers

Mum-to-be: Elsewhere, Bianca Gascoigne, 36, flashed her blossoming baby in a stylish co-ord as she posed for photos on the red carpet

The model donned a black crop top beneath the eye catching open shirt and lifted her frame in a pair of black heels.

Also in attendance was Emma Thompson's daughter Gaia Wise, 22, who packed on the PDA with her boyfriend Basil Eidenbenz, 29.

They both opted for casual ensemble's as they pulled each other in close and shared a kiss on the red carpet.

Smooch: Also in attendance was Emma Thompson's daughter Gaia Wise, 22, who packed on the PDA with her boyfriend Basil Eidenbenz, 29

Adorable: They both opted for casual ensemble's as they pulled each other in close and shared a kiss on the red carpet

Neil and Chyna's comes after they finally confirmed their romance as they stepped out holding hands while on a romantic trip to Paris last month.

It comes two years after Neil's previous relationship with South American dancer Luisa Eusse came to an end.

According to The Sun, the pair were stayed in the four-star Dadou Hotel in the French capital after arriving in Paris by Eurostar.

Stylish: Lady Amelia Windsor oped for a PVC jacket that she teamed with a turtle neck jumper and satin midi skirt

Stunning: She wore a pair of chunky boots to complete her outfit

An onlooker in the city told the publication: 'Neil and Chyna looked very loved up and completely relaxed in one another's company.

'Paris is the perfect city for a romantic weekend and they both looked delighted to be there'.

They added the dance star 'probably wanted to do something special' as it is a 'new relationship' and their time together would soon be limited once training and rehearsals for the BBC dance show begin.

Fun: Dancers Joanne Clifton and Robin Windsor showed off their ballroom moves

Pose! Joanne looked stunning with a slick of red lipstick whilst Robin wrapped up in a chunky knit

The couple first sparked rumours they had grown close after they were photographed leaving the Reality TV Awards after party together in Chelsea.

An insider told the outlet that Neil and Chyna 'really get on well and he is totally taken with her.'

They said that Neil likes that Chyna is 'fun and free-spirited' and are 'just having fun enjoying each other's company'.

Sleek: Linda Barker looked lovely in a leopard print midi-dress while Laura Tobin wore a floral number with suede boots

All smiles: Lorraine Ashbourne looked typically fashionable at the event

Incredible: Linzi Stoppard stunned in a pink mini dress and satin stilettos

Taking to her Instagram account - Chyna teased a new relationship in a candid Q&A.

When asked who she went to Paris with, the Yorkshire native sarcastically replied: 'A friend' followed by a laughing emoji.

The trip comes after Neil confirmed he had a special lady in his life during an Instagram question and answer session earlier this month.

In May, Neil's spokesperson confirmed he was single again following his split from his Miss Romania ex Sienna Hollen after two months of dating.

Prior to Sienna, Neil was linked to underwear model Sophie Lily Kerr and dancer Luisa Eusse.
It seems Emma Thompson's daughter Gaia Wise is more loved-up than ever with her new actor boyfriend, Basil Eidenbenz.

On Tuesday, the smitten pair packed on the PDA and smooched as they attended the opening night of Tango After Dark, at the Peacock Theatre in London.

Gaia, 22, who is following in her mother's acting footsteps, looked chic in a bright red coat as she hit the red carpet with her man, 29.

Young love! Emma Thompson's daughter Gaia Wise packed on the PDA with actor boyfriend Basil Eidenbenz at the Tango After Dark opening night in London on Tuesday

Gaia teamed her coat with a pair of high-waisted leather look trousers and a floral bustier.

The brunette, who bears a striking resemblance to her famous mother, wore her short locks out and straightened around her face and natural-looking makeup.

Basil meanwhile, kept things casual in a pair of black trousers and a matching shirt, with a denim jacket on top.

Smitten: The smitten pair packed on the PDA and smooched at the event

Turning heads: Gaia, 22, who is following in her mother's acting footsteps, looked chic in a bright red coat as she hit the red carpet with her man, 29

She's in love! The pair packed on the PDA, cuddling up and kissing while on the red carpet - with Gaia looking absolutely smitten

He wore his dark blond locks pulled back and off his face into a bun.

Basil is best known for his work in The Witcher co-starring Henry Cavill.

The pair packed on the PDA, cuddling up and kissing while on the red carpet - with Gaia looking absolutely smitten.

Tango After Dark features World Tango Champion German Cornejo and other world-class dancers putting on a thrilling dance show for guests.

Gaia and Basil meanwhile, debuted their romance in July, stepping out together at Sister Act: The Musical at the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith, West London.

The actress, who is the daughter of Emma Thompson and Greg Wise, was previously with Scottish marine engineer Daniel Kent, who works on one of the world's most spectacular superyachts.

Moving on: The actress was previously with Scottish marine engineer Daniel Kent, who works on one of the world's most spectacular superyachts

Twins: Dame Emma's daughter looked every inch the mini-me in her new series (Emma in TV comedy series There's Nothing To Worry About in 1982 and Gaia in Silent Witness)

Gaia recently made her acting debut in the latest series of BBC drama Silent Witness.

In the series, Gaia plays university student Jo Reynolds whose mother, the controversial health secretary, is assassinated  sparking the interest of forensic pathologists.

It comes after Gaia detailed her three-year battle with anorexia - and credited her parents for saving her life by staging an emergency intervention.

The aspiring actress developed anorexia aged 16 which left her so thin she was unable to even sit on a chair without it being painful. She was later admitted to rehab in 2017.

Candid: It comes after Gaia detailed her three-year battle with anorexia - and credited her parents for saving her life by staging an emergency intervention

She spoke out about her illness for the first time with The Sun on Sunday, saying 'Anorexia makes you really good at gaslighting people, making it sound like they're insane.

'My parents would say, 'Gaia, we heard you working out at 3am.' And I'd say, 'No you didn't, it was just the house moving. I was asleep.''

Anorexia is a serious mental illness where a person restricts their food intake, which often causes them to be severely underweight. Many also exercise excessively.

She spoke out about her illness for the first time with The Sun, saying 'Anorexia makes you really good at gaslighting people, making it sound like they're insane'

Gaia spoke of how Greg, Emma, and her family, including brother Tindy, 36, and best friend gathered together for an intervention, with Gaia agreeing to a three-month rehab stint after Greg said: 'I don't know where my child is any more.'

Adding that it was a 'kick in the teeth' she added: 'I had to listen to the people I loved most in the world who, at the time, I'd really forgotten about, tell me what I was doing.'

She said: 'That's when I said I'd go to rehab. I went on December 29, 2017, and stayed for three months. Since then I've had a lot of therapy  and I'll always be grateful for that, because it saved my life.'
Crimea Bridge traffic flowing smoothly, still queues for ferry

CGTN) 10:57, October 12, 2022

CGTN Russia learned that Crimea Bridge queues are significantly better than on Sunday. It took about 10-15 minutes for each car to be checked. The situation was a little worse for the trucks waiting for the ferry. They had to wait because there were some problems as the ferries had not been used for four years. They were given hot meals and water.

Russia on Saturday opened a criminal probe into a blast that blew up a truck on Crimea Bridge.

The blast on the strategic road-and-rail bridge earlier in the day brought down sections of road.

(Web editor: Wu Chaolan, Hongyu)


By Joel Petersson Ivre and Elaine Natalie





Joel Petersson Ivre Elaine Natalie
Ulrika Jonsson has hit out at Heidi Klum, 49, for posing alongside her daughter Leni, 18, in a lingerie photoshoot.

The TV presenter, 55, said the photos made her feel 'deeply uneasy' and she would never ask her own daughters to pose with her like that.

Writing in her column for The Sun, Ulrika said she feels stars like Cindy Crawford and Kylie Jenner are making 'strategic' decisions to 'exhibit' their daughters.

Unimpressed: Ulrika Jonsson has hit out at Heidi Klum, 49, for posing alongside her daughter Leni, 18, in a lingerie photoshoot

Ulrika is mother to daughters Bo, 22, and Martha, 18, and said both of them would find it 'cringe' to pose in their underwear alongside their mother.

She wrote: 'If I asked them to pose next to me in a lingerie photoshoot or even, God forbid, "twinning" with me, I wouldn't even get a response, just a glare that says "NO".'

Ulrika said celebrity mothers 'twinning' with their daughters feels like a modern-day version of Jane Austen novels, when young women were 'paraded and boasted about'.

She said: 'Trying to match with your daughter makes me feel deeply uneasy. It's like trying to make the child look like you or perhaps, worse still, make you look like a child. Besides, your daughter is your daughter. Not your bezzie mate.'

Honest: The TV presenter, 55, said the photos made her feel 'deeply uneasy' and she would never ask her own daughters to pose with her like that

Ulrika also wondered whether stars show off their daughters as a way to let everyone know 'how young and youthful they still look'.

She said: 'But could there also be an underlying whiff of mums, such as Heidi  or Gwynnie even  showing off their daughters in an attempt, at the same time, of letting the world see how young and youthful they still look in comparison?'

The former Gladiators host said she suspected some celebrity mothers want people to think they look more like their daughter's sister, rather than her mum.

Heidi's daughter Leni has followed in her mother's footsteps and made quite the name for herself in the modelling world.

She recently stunned in a new magazine cover for Hunger and has had features in Vogue Germany and Glamour Germany, as well as walking in Milan Fashion Week last month.

The social media personality, who boasts 1.5 million followers on Instagram, recently left home to move to New York City to begin her first year of college.
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Actor Brendan Fraser broke down in tears as he received a five-minute standing ovation at the London screening of his new movie The Whale last night.

The 53-year-old's emotional display comes amid a lengthy press tour for his new project, which marks his triumphant return to Hollywood after a lengthy battle with depression.

Brendan has said this was sparked after he was 'sexually assaulted' by the former president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Philip Berk, in 2003.

In a video shared by a guest at the premiere, an emotional Brendan is seen bowing to rapturous applause from the audience before embracing director Darren Aronofsky and screenwriter Samuel D. Hunter who joined him on stage.

'Am I at Venice [Film Festival]? Five min standing ovation for Brendan Fraser's masterpiece performance in #TheWhale. He had the crowd in the palm of his hand the entire movie. My heart is in my throat,' the audience member wrote alongside the video.

Brendan Fraser receives a five-minute standing ovation at a London screening of The Whale  the movie that marks his Hollywood comeback after a lengthy battle with depression

Brendan first shot to fame as a Hollywood heartthrob while starring in a series of big-hit movies like George of the Jungle (seen) and The Mummy

Brendan was proudly supported by his glamorous partner Jeanne Moore as he graced the red carpet for the UK premiere on the seventh day of the BFI London Film Festival.

The Whale, which will be released in cinemas in December, received its first premiere at the Venice Film Festival last month, and is quickly earning rave reviews as well as Oscars buzz for its lead star.

In footage shared on social media following the film's Venice screening last month, Brendan fought back tears as he received another lengthy standing ovation.

And the poignancy of the touching moment did not go unnoticed by the actor's friends and fans alike  with several taking to Twitter to share words of support.

His former The Mummy Returns co-star Dwayne Johnson congratulated him on his return to the Hollywood spotlight, following a years-long break during which Brendan battled depression and myriad health issues.

'Man this makes me so happy to see this beautiful ovation for Brendan,' Dwayne wrote. 'He supported me coming into his Mummy Returns franchise for my first ever role, which kicked off my Hollywood career.

'Rooting for all your success brother and congrats to my bud Darren Aronofsky.'

Moment: An emotional Brendan, 53, bows to rapturous applause from the audience before embracing director Darren Aronofsky and screenwriter Samuel D. Hunter

Comeback: The actor broke down in tears during the five minute ovation for the film, which marks his Hollywood comeback after years spent grappling with depression

Fraser shot to stardom when he was cast in children's favourite film franchises George of the Jungle and The Mummy.

His chiselled physique earnt him a position as a Hollywood heartthrob as he thrashed around the sets performing stunts in high-action roles. But Fraser revealed in a later interview the toll the stunts had taken on his body.

He told GQ in 2018 that when he filmed the third installment in The Mummy franchise, he was being taped up and was icing injuries in between takes.

'By the time I did the third Mummy picture in China [in 2008], I was put together with tape and ice... because they're small and light and they can fit under your clothes. I was building an exoskeleton for myself daily,' he recalled.

Eventually the injuries he received while performing his stunts required multiple surgeries. He needed a lumbar laminectomy, a surgery that removes the back portion of a vertebra in the lower back, to create more room within the spinal canal.

However, it didn't take and it had to be done again a year later. He had a partial knee replacement, more back surgery involving bolting various compressed spinal pads together and even surgery to repair his vocal cords.

Fraser said he was in and out of hospitals for almost seven years.

Well-received: The Whale is a psychological drama for which Brendan (seen left at the premiere and right in the movie) underwent a physical transformation and wore prosthetics to play a man 'living with obesity'

Acclaimed performance: The Whale, which will be released in cinemas in December, received its first premiere at the Venice Film Festival last month, and is quickly earning rave reviews. Pictured: Its premiere at the London Film Festival yesterday

Alongside his physical injuries, Brendan also revealed in a 2018 GQ interview that he believed he had been blacklisted from Hollywood after he claimed he had been sexually assaulted by the former president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Philip Berk, in 2003.

Fraser claimed he was leaving a luncheon hosted by the HFPA at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Hollywood when Berk shook his hand.

He said: 'His left hand reaches around, grabs my a** cheek, and one of his fingers touches me in the taint. And he starts moving it around.'

The actor added: 'I felt ill. I felt like a little kid. I felt like there was a ball in my throat. I thought I was going to cry.'

Fraser claimed he was able to remove Berk's hand before running out of the hotel and going straight home. He told his then wife, actress Afton Smith, about the incident but never made it public.

Instead, his reps asked Berk for a written apology, which he provided, but did not admit any wrongdoing.

Speaking to GQ about the claims, Berk acknowledged he had written a letter of apology to Fraser but insisted he had not done anything wrong and dismissed Fraser's account as 'a total fabrication'.

Picture perfect: Brendan was proudly supported by his glamorous partner Jeanne Moore at the UK premiere of The Whale at the BFI London Film Festival yesterday

Dream team: Joining Brendan (centre) for the premiere was The Whale's director Darren Aronofsky (left) and screenwriter Samuel D. Hunter (right)

After Fraser reported the claim to the HFPA he said he believed he may have been 'blacklisted' and was rarely invited back to the Golden Globe awards.

Fraser said the incident had caused him to 'retreat' as he spiraled into depression. He described feeling 'not worthy' as the decade wore on, leading him to take roles he was less proud of.

Meanwhile, his marriage was also falling apart. He divorced Afton in 2007 after nine years of marriage and three sons together, Griffin, Leland and Holden. As part of the settlement, he was ordered to pay $50,000 a month in spousal support.

However in 2013 he sought an amendment to the agreement asking to pay less, claiming he wasn't earning the same enormous cheques he had received in the 1990s during his heyday and couldn't afford the payments.

The Whale marks Brendan's first Hollywood project in almost ten years and Brendan's first lead role in a movie since straight-to-DVD thriller Breakout in 2013, leading many fans to believe this is his comeback.

The Whale is a psychological drama which saw Brendan undergo a physical transformation, as he plays a 600-pound gay man confined to a wheelchair, a role for which he also had to wear prosthetics.

Brendan's comeback: How George of the Jungle star who fell out of the spotlight is tipped for Oscars glory Brendan rose to fame in the 1990s after starring in George of the Jungle as a hunky Tarzan-like figure with a chiseled physique After making his film debut as a sailor in 1991 film Dogfight alongside River Phoenix, Fraser's big break came the following year in Encino Man. He played the character of Link, a caveman who had been frozen for centuries and is thawed by two high school students who teach him about modern life. Following the success of the film, he was cast in children's favourite film franchises George of the Jungle and The Mummy. His unbelievably chiseled physique earnt him a position as a Hollywood heartthrob as he thrashed around the sets performing stunts in high-action roles. But Fraser revealed in a later interview the toll the stunts had taken on his body. He told GQ in 2018 that when he filmed the third installment in The Mummy franchise, he was being taped up and was icing injuries in between takes. He said the physical toll of his roles made him feel like a workhorse from the Orwell novel Animal Farm. After rising to fame through the action-packed films, Fraser described his buff physique as resembling 'a walking steak'. However, in the same interview the actor revealed he believed he had been blacklisted from Hollywood after he claimed he had been sexually assaulted by the former president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Philip Berk, in 2003. He told his then wife, Afton Smith, about the incident but never made it public. Instead, his reps asked Berk for a written apology, which he provided, but did not admit any wrongdoing. Speaking to GQ about the claims, Berk acknowledged he had written a letter of apology to Fraser but insisted he had not done anything wrong and dismissed Fraser's account as 'a total fabrication'. In 1999 Fraser starred alongside Rachel Weisz in blockbuster The Mummy, which became a trilogy spanning almost a decade After Fraser reported the claim to the HFPA he said he believed he may have been 'blacklisted' and was rarely invited back to the Golden Globe awards. Fraser said the incident had caused him to 'retreat' as he spiraled into depression. He described feeling 'not worthy' as the decade wore on, leading him to take roles he was less proud of. Meanwhile, his marriage was also falling apart. In 2016, his career picked up when he was cast in Showtime drama The Affair, starring Dominic West and Ruth Wilson. While promoting the role in 2016, Fraser sat down for an interview with AOL  but his demeanour during the chat raised alarm with his fans. As he stumbled over his words and appeared somewhat spaced out, people began to worry he was 'depressed'. However Fraser later revealed his mother had passed away from cancer just four days before he filmed the interview. He said he hadn't done any press for a role in a long time and added he was 'in mourning' when the interview took place. By 2018 Fraser's career appeared to be back on track as he starred in FX series Trust alongside Hollywood heavyweights Donald Sutherland and Hilary Swank. He plays James Fletcher Chase, a former CIA agent who was hired by billionaire J. Paul Getty in 1973 to find Getty's kidnapped grandson. After the series debuted, Vox reported it could be the beginning of the 'Brendan Fraser renaissance'  and as rumours swirl Fraser may be in line for several awards following his performance in The Whale, that prophecy may have come true. Advertisement

Its official synopsis reads: 'A reclusive English teacher suffering from severe obesity attempts to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter for one last chance at redemption.'

The movie is based on the off-Broadway play of the same name, written by Samuel D. Hunter, who came on board as the screenwriter for the film.

Darren Aronofsky, known for helming films such as The Wrestler (2008), Mother! (2017) and Black Swan (2010), which earned him an Academy Award nomination, first saw the play in 2012 and asked the writer to work on a screenplay.

It took the pair close to a decade to get the project off the ground though, largely due to the unfruitful search for a leading man.

'I thought about every movie star playing Charlie, and it never made sense or clicked,' the director told Vanity Fair last month.

'If there's no risk, then why bother?' Brendan explained of his first conversations with the director. 'I want to learn from the people I'm working with at this point in my career.'

Emotional: Brendan previously welled up while receiving a lengthy standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival for his latest film, which is already garnering him Oscars buzz

Support: Fans and friends on Twitter loved Fraser's reaction at Venice, with actor Dwayne Johnson writing a lovely message of support

'I've had such variety, a lot of high highs and low lows, so what I'm keen for, in the second half of my time doing this, is to feel like I'm contributing to the craft and I'm learning from it. This is a prime opportunity. I wanted to disappear into it. My hope was that I would become unrecognizable.'

Brendan said in an interview at last month's Toronto Film Festival that his confidence is up amid the glowing reviews he's received for his work in The Whale.

'So often, I have just felt like a working actor who was glad to have a job: "What do you got? I'll do it,''' he said, according to the Toronto Star. 'And that's a different guy than who I am right now.'

He added: 'In recent years, when I was a bit more reticent to step forward  have a life with kids and an oldest son with special needs, another kid who's going to be a senior now and another one who is [learning] to drive and he's picking up guitar  I think it just gave me a sense of purpose that I don't know that I would have appreciated as a younger man.'

Director Aronofsky said of Fraser's presence in the motion picture: 'It's the right actor, for the right part, at the right time.'
Models Amelia Hamlin and Jordan Barrett enjoyed a fun night out together in London on Tuesday.

The pair attended a party for BOSS held at the private members' club Loulou's London in Mayfair and also stepped out at Chiltern Firehouse on the same evening.

Amelia, 21, who has drawn on eyebrows, looked incredible as she put on a busty display in a figure-hugging denim dress while holding hands with Jordan, 25, and partying with him on the night.

Hitting the town: Amelia Hamlin put on a busty display as she and Jordan Barrett smoked cigarettes and partied up a storm at a London private members' club on Tuesday

Her frock featured a bustier-like top and a flowing skirt, which highlighted her trim figure in all the right places.

Amelia, who is the daughter of Real Housewives star Lisa Rinna and actor Harry Hamlin, teamed the look with a cream coat and matching chunky heels.

Jordan meanwhile, kept things casual in a pair of edgy black trousers, which he teamed with a black long sleeve T-shirt and lace-up boots.

Racy: Her frock featured a bustier-like top and a flowing skirt, which highlighted her trim figure in all the right places

Puffing away: The pair smoked together outside of Loulou's

Pals: The pair looked close as they held hands on the evening and shared a laugh

The pair looked close as they held hands on the evening and shared a laugh, before smoking together outside.

They appeared in high spirits as they stepped out, smiling and chatting as they partied.

Both have no doubt bonded over their successful modelling careers.

The pair are just friends, as Jordan is married to fellow model Fernando Casablancas, the son of late modelling agency mogul John Casablancas.

Amelia recently shaved off her eyebrows in the name of fashion and appeared to be channeling Pamela Anderson on the night out, sporting drawn on pencil-thin brows made famous by the Playboy playmate.

All in the details: Amelia, who is the daughter of Real Housewives star Lisa Rinna and actor Harry Hamlin, teamed the look with a cream coat and matching chunky heels

Just friends: The pair are just friends, as Jordan is married to fellow model Fernando Casablancas, the son of late modelling agency mogul John Casablancas

Glam: She recently shaved off her brows in the name of fashion and showed off her pencil-lined brows on Tuesday

Seeing double: The 21-year-old model seemed to be channeling Pamela Anderson, sporting drawn on pencil thin brows made famous by the Playboy playmate (pictured right in 1994)

Dressed to impress: Amelia showcased her cleavage in the strapless skintight dress with stitched detailing that clung to her slender curves

Lisa Rinna and Harry Hamlin's supermodel daughter Amelia Hamlin made a big change to her look on Friday in the name of fashion.

The Tropic Of C model posed seductively in a bathtub wearing only her birthday suit as she unveiled her shaven eyebrows.

The beauty - who used to date Kourtney Kardashian's ex Scott Disick - captioned the snap: 'I wish I had a rubber duckie.'

Working it: Amelia posed up a storm at the event as she worked her angles for the camera

Three's company: Amelia cosied up to Jordan and Noah Beck at the bash

Glamorous: She teamed the garment with a pair of black socks and chunky white heels that gave her model frame an extra boost

The runway veteran apparently made the transformation at the request of Interview Magazine editor-in-chief Mel Ottenberg, whom she tagged in a video, writing, 'Only 4 u @melzy917 & fashion of course.'

She seemed nervous as the makeup artist prepared to move the razor across her face, exclaiming, 'Okay, okay, okay,' to psyche herself up.

The busy model has just wrapped up Fashion Month, where she walked for various designers in London, Milan and Paris showing their Spring/Summer 2023 collections.

Fashion: Amelia posed seductively in a bathtub as she showed off her newly shaven eyebrows Friday posting, 'I wish I had a rubber duckie' on social media

Amelia was born in the spotlight.

She is the daughter of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Lisa Rinna, 59, and actor Harry Hamlin, 70. Her older sister, Delilah Belle, 24, also works as a model.

Both young women have made frequent appearance's with their mother on the reality show.
Georgia Toffolo has found the perfect way to master the urban jungle: she takes her dog with her when she hits the town.

The former Made In Chelsea star's brown King Charles spaniel puppy, Monty, was tied up outside Sexy Fish restaurant in Mayfair.

Georgia, 27, looked in good spirits as she was seen feeding him a big beef bone outside the venue.

Pet pooch: Georgia Toffolo has found the perfect way to master the urban jungle: she takes her dog with her when she hits the town

Toff later headed to 5 Hertford Street, a private members' club, and Monty was later seen enthusiastically greeting her in a car outside in the early hours.

Georgia's rumoured fiance, financier 'Posh George' Cottrell, was not seen on the night out.

The star cut a trendy figure for the evening as she donned a black mini-dress with a scooped neckline and pink floral print.

The outing comes after Georgia is tipped to be among the stars to have signed up for the upcoming I'm A Celebrity All Stars series.

Night out: The former Made In Chelsea star's brown King Charles spaniel puppy, Monty, was tied up outside Sexy Fish restaurant in Mayfair

She will reportedly be joined by Joe Swash, Myleene Klass, Gillian McKeith, Phil Tufnell, Amir Khan, Paul Burrell, Jordan Banjo, Andrew Whyment, Dean Gaffney and Shaun Ryder with Janice Dickinson and Fatima Whitbread completing the line-up.

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.

According to The Sun, viewers will see a group of 15 soap stars, reality TV personalities and sporting icons enter the camp.

Outfit: The star cut a trendy figure for the evening as she donned a black mini-dress with a scooped neckline and pink floral print

Georgia was crowned Queen of the Jungle in 2017 and has allegedly flown to South Africa to begin filming.

The reality TV star was famed for striking up a firm friendship with former Prime Minister Boris Johnson's dad, Stanley during her stint Down Under.

Toff did coyly confess she had a soft spot for older politicians, saying: 'I have always said I do have a thing for older politicians before I came in here... and can confirm that is still standing!'
She's the former Neighbours star who is a doting mother to daughter Aleeia.

And on Wednesday, Jodi Grodon cut a stylish figure as she stepped out to run errands in Sydney's Double Bay.

The brunette stunner ensured all eyes were on her in a chic floral minidress and stylish trench coat.

Jodi Gordon looked chic in a floral minidress and stylish trench coat as she ran errands in Sydney's eastern suburbs on Wednesday

Jodi completed her look with a pair of beige wedges and wore sunglasses to protect herself from the sun's harmful rays.

The former soap star wore her long locks swept back in a ponytail for the occasion, and appeared to go makeup free.

Jodi's outing comes as she continues her road to recovery after completing a 30-day alcohol program.

Jodi completed her look with a pair of beige wedges and wore sunglasses to protect herself from the sun's harmful rays

She spent a month in rehab for alcohol addiction earlier this year, and is now on the path to redemption after embracing a healthier lifestyle and banning booze.

'Life isn't always perfect; you go through your ups and downs,' she told Daily Mail Australia at the launch of Life Botanics' new vitamin range in Sydney in July.

'I've made some big changes this year. So it's been a journey of getting my life to a place where I'm making changes, really taking time to invest in myself.'

The former soap star wore her long locks swept back in a ponytail for the occasion, and appeared to go makeup free

Jodi, who is an ambassador for Life Botanics, said she'd been making positive changes in recent months, including following an exercise regimen, practising meditation and focusing on nutrition.

The mother of one underwent 'immersion therapy' at an exclusive clinic called The Sydney Retreat in Stanmore, where clients are offered a '30-day recovery program' for $8,800.

Jodi was previously married to NRL star Braith Anasta, 40, between 2012 and 2015
Nicole Murphy turned heads in a cleavage-baring dress while out shopping in Beverly Hills on Tuesday.

The former model, 54, was pictured walking along with a broken middle finger that was supported by a cast - it is not known how she injured herself.

Nicole was glowing in a striking summer dress, flat sandals, chain necklace and a black leather shoulder bag.

Out and about: Nicole Murphy turned heads in a cleavage-baring maxi dress while out shopping on Rodeo Drive in LA on Tuesday with a broken middle finger

Nicole was spotted just hours after her ex-husband Eddie Murphy was seen in Los Angeles. They were married from 1993-2006.

The star of Coming to America was on the set of his upcoming movie Beverly Hills Cop 4.

The fourth addition to the Beverly Hills Cop franchise will see the Shrek voice actor reprise his role of Axel Foley for the first time on the big screen since 1994.

Putting her best foot forwards: Nicole was glowing in a striking summer dress, flat sandals, chain necklace and a black leather shoulder bag

The mother-of-five was walking along Rodeo Drive, synonymous with the 1990 film Pretty Woman.

The film features Vivian Ward, a young prostitute played by Julia Roberts who steps into a boutique on Rodeo Drive before being snubbed by a shop assistant.

The 2011 film Just Go With It, starring comedic actors Adam Sandler and Jennifer Anniston also showcases the famous California street.

Busy lady: Nicole is the founder and CEO of yFoy. The company was founded by Nicole earlier in the year with the ambition of sharing secrets to a youthful look to women all over the world

Nicole is the founder and CEO of skincare company yFoy. The business was founded earlier this year with the ambition of sharing secrets to a youthful look to women all over the world.

In a website statement, Nicole says: 'YFOY is about embracing who you are and owning it.

'Theres no need to search for the Fountain of youth, its already within each of us!'
He once sold his portrait of Bob Dylan for a whopping $1.2million.

And Pierce Brosnan revealed he will be exhibiting his artwork on May 13 2023, in Santa Monica.

The James Bond star, 69, made the announcement as he appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday.

Artist: Pierce Brosnan revealed he will be exhibiting his artwork on May 13 2023, in Santa Monica

He looked as dashing as ever in a steel grey suit, over a white shirt and complete with a navy blue pocket square.

He explained: 'I've postponed this so many because of work and so, finally, I've said, "Whatever movie I'm doing, I'm going to do the show."'

Host Jimmy asked the actor if he was nervous, to which he replied: 'Well, not now, but I will be then.'

Interview: The James Bond star, 69, made the announcement as he appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday

Handsome: He looked as dashing as ever in a steel grey suit, over a white shirt and complete with a navy blue pocket square

Pierce said he'd been painting since 1987 and confessed that he was self-taught.

Talking about the inspiration for his painting 'Ear Plugs', he explained: 'It's really nice. I'm a big Lichtenstein fan, Roy Lichtenstein, a great artist. I'm a big fan of his work. And I painted it when I was doing Goldeneye down at Leavesden Studios.

'They give you these little packets [of earplugs] every time there's explosions. And so, I thought I'd just paint it. So, over six months I painted that.'

Determined: He explained: 'I've postponed this so many because of work and so, finally, I've said, "Whatever movie I'm doing, I'm going to do the show"'

For a second piece named 'Picasso', Pierce said: '[Picasso] influences me. I'm very appreciative of his work, he's a great inspiration. It all begins and starts and ends with Pablo.'

Speaking about what got him into art, he revealed: 'Well, I left school at 16, 17, with nothing but a cardboard folder of drawings and paintings. I got a job in a little studio in Putney, South London, and I thought "I'm off to be an artist."

'And then I discovered acting, or acting discovered me. And thank god for that!'

Artistic: Pierce previously sold a portrait of his idol Bob Dylan for $1.4million (1.1million) and is pictured with the portrait here in 2018

Body of art: Talking about the inspiration for his painting 'Ear Plugs', he explained: 'It's really nice. I'm a big Lichtenstein fan, Roy Lichtenstein, a great artist. I'm a big fan of his work. And I painted it when I was doing Goldeneye down at Leavesden Studios'

Elsewhere in the chat, Pierce discussed his latest role in DC superhero Black Adam as Doctor Fate.

He admitted: 'It was the last thing on my mind to be playing a superhero like Doctor Fate.'

He then revealed he had auditioned for Tim Burton's Batman, a role that eventually went to Michael Keaton.

Inspiration: For a second piece named 'Picasso', Pierce said: '[Picasso] influences me. I'm very appreciative of his work, he's a great inspiration. It all begins and starts and ends with Pablo'

He confessed: 'I remember saying something stupid to Tim Burton, I said, "You know, I can't understand any man who would wear his underpants outside his trousers."'

Pierce graciously added: 'The best man got the job, and you know, Doctor Fate and I were meant to meet on the same page, I think.'

Jimmy asked Pierce about his iconic costume for the DC film, with Pierce replying: 'Everyone wants to know what it was like putting on the costume. What was it like putting on the helmet? You can't see a thing! It's darkness.'

Describing his co-star Dwayne Johnson, who plays the titular character, Pierce gushed: 'He's a magnificent fellow. He's kind of monolithic and beautiful and owns this role.

Superhero role: Elsewhere in the chat, Pierce discussed his latest role in DC superhero Black Adam as Doctor Fate (pictured in character)

High praise: Describing his co-star Dwayne Johnson, who plays the titular character, Pierce gushed: 'He's a magnificent fellow. He's kind of monolithic and beautiful and owns this role (pictured in Black Adam)

Pierce first showed his artwork with his fans last year on Instagram, writing: 'I do ponder at times whether to show the work slowly practiced since one dark night in 1987 when I first began to paint.

'However as my darling wife Keely says, you're only going to paint so many in your life time. So come year's end I shall have my first art show in LA...if not now when? Time to let them go.'

Pierce spoke about his passion for art in an interview last year and shared his plans to have an exhibition in Santa Monica, California.

He revealed that his wife, Keely, 56, had a documentary aired at the Cannes Film Festival, and when organisers discovered Pierce was a painter, they asked him to auction an artwork for amFAR - a charity supporting AIDS research.

Talented: Speaking about what got him into art, he revealed: 'Well, I left school at 16, 17, with nothing but a cardboard folder of drawings and paintings. I got a job in a little studio in Putney, South London, and I thought "I'm off to be an artist"

Beginnings: Pierce first showed his artwork with his fans last year on Instagram, writing: 'I do ponder at times whether to show the work slowly practiced since one dark night in 1987 when I first began to paint'

Soothing art: Pierce took up painting in 1987 when his late wife, Cassandra Harris, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer

In an interview with Parade magazine, Pierce said: 'I'd done a painting of Bob Dylan, who is a great hero of mine.

'It sold for $1.4million (1.1million) and Keely and I just danced into the night. If it could be like that all the time, I definitely would give up the acting game.'

Pierce took up painting in 1987 when his late wife, Cassandra Harris, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Their daughter Charlotte died of the same disease in 2013 at the age of 41.
Carol Vorderman showed off her gorgeous curves in a figure-hugging dress as she strutted her stuff in a new clip uploaded to her Instagram Story on Wednesday.

The TV personality, 61, slipped her hourglass physique into a green midi number with diamantes while posing up a storm.

Carol wore the dress to the Hello! Inspiration Awards in London last week but has now shared a closer glimpse at her outfit.

Stunning: Carol Vorderman showed off her gorgeous curves in a figure-hugging dress as she strutted her stuff in a new clip uploaded to her Instagram Story on Wednesday

She added inches to her enviable frame with transparent heels as she walked towards the camera and displayed her ensemble.

The Maths whizz wore her light brown tresses in bouncing curls and wore no accessories with her eye-popping outfit.

In the social media post she asked her fans to vote for if the number would be her 'dress of the week?'

Outfit: The TV personality, 61, slipped her hourglass physique into a green midi number with diamantes while posing up a storm

It comes after on Friday, Carol candidly discussed her 'many special friends' as she dished out dating advice and the reasons why she dates multiple men.

The presenter revealed that one of her close male friends is an astronaut who 'calls her from the space station,' and she has been dating two of the men for several years - adding that she 'feels free' since choosing not to remarry.

Carol has never revealed the identities of the men.

The look: Carol wore the dress to the Hello! Inspiration Awards in London last week but has now shared a closer glimpse at her outfit

Showing off her hourglass curves in a figure-hugging chequered dress, Carol joined Dermot O'Leary and Alison Hammond on This Morning to answer a callers burning question during the advice segment.

Phoning into the show, the 52-year-old viewer asked both Carol and Gyles Brandreth what age group he should 'pitch himself to' when looking for ladies to date.

The star explained: 'I live my life in chapters, and you said and this chapter since I was about 50. So for the last decade or so, I've lived a life which is much freer.

'I've never felt freer. So I have ignored the looking for one person and I have a number of what I've called "special friends".

She continued: 'I don't really want to marry again. I don't really want to live with a man again. Have to look after him all the time. But this is a time to break this nonsense taboo, which is a person should only be looking for one other person that satisfies everything in their life. That's hell.'

Adding of her 'special friends' Carol explained: 'They don't know each other, but they know about it. It's a very honest relationship.

'One of them has gone on for many more years than my marriage. Yeah, it's over 10 years. Another is seven. He's an astronaut. He rang me from the space station.'
She recently revealed her life is 'falling apart' since splitting from husband Justin McKeone.

But Olivia Molly Rogers put her break-up woes behind her on Wednesday as she stunned in a pink tulle gown at a David Jones celebration event in Melbourne.

The former Miss Universe Australia, 30, stunned in a frilly baby pink number just days after announcing her split with her husband of eight months.

Olivia Molly Rogers put her break-up woes behind her on Wednesday as she stunned in a pink tulle gown at a David Jones celebration event in Melbourne

The former Miss Universe Australia, 30, stunned in a frilly baby pink number just days after announcing her split with her husband of eight months

But putting her woes behind her, Olivia was all smiles in the over the top pink tulle dress.

The Adelaide-born influencer added sparkling earrings and baby pink clutch bag as she turned heads at the Melbourne event.

The ballerina-inspired gown featured bolts and bolts of tulle with the influencer sure to turn heads at the ritzy event.

Olivia added a glamorous make-up look, featuring heavy black mascara and lashings of bronzer and highlighter.

The Adelaide-born influencer added sparkling earrings and baby pink clutch bag as she turned heads at the Melbourne event. Appearing without a care in the world, the model threw her head back and smiled

Putting her woes behind her, Olivia was all smiles in the over the top pink tulle dress

She boosted her height in pink heels and completed the look with a pair of dangling glittering earrings and a cushioned clutch bag.

Appearing without a care in the world, the model threw her head back and smiled.

Her appearance comes just a day after she revealed her life is 'falling apart' following her split from husband Justin McKeone.

The influencer took to her Instagram story on Tuesday to pose with her hair in a towel revealing: 'My life is falling apart a little recently, but at least my skin hasn't', before sharing her skin care tips.

She boosted her height in pink heels and completed the look with a pair of dangling glittering earrings and a cushioned clutch bag

Her appearance comes just a day after she revealed her life is 'falling apart' following her split from husband Justin McKeone

She recently spoke to The Advertiser about her post-breakup blues after strutting her stuff on day one of Melbourne Fashion Week on Monday.

Wearing a bright orange Helen O'Connor maxi dress with statement cut-outs and a peekaboo midriff, she said things hadn't been easy for her in recent weeks.

'I'm focusing on having a good time and living my best life,' she said at the Urban Runway launch at Wesley Place.

Olivia revealed her life is 'falling apart' following her split from husband Justin McKeone

The Adelaide-born influencer has had a rough go of it after splitting from her husband of just eight months

'Wearing a good outfit definitely helps your confidence. It has been a hard time, but I am getting there.

'With fashion week, the races, it's a good time to break up. It's break-up season, as they say.'

It comes after her ex Justin was seen partying up a storm with two stunning models on Saturday night looking anything but heartbroken.

The model announced her split last Tuesday, just days after rumours surfaced about the troubled state of their marriage. The former couple, who first met in 2018, were last pictured together in August in a series of loved-up holiday snaps from their trip to New York City

An Instagram photo showed the accountant drinking with nightclub owner Nick Russian and models Brooke Bailey and Siobhan Steindl at Melbourne's Bar Bambi.

Just hours after the photo surfaced, Olivia shared a gut-wrenching post revealing she'd lost custody of her dog Ziggy during her separation from Justin.

'As I know you all adore Ziggy and I keep on getting asked about him. He does not live with me anymore,' she wrote on Instagram Stories on Sunday morning.

It comes after her ex Justin was seen partying up a storm with models Brooke Bailey (centre left) and Siobhan Steind (centre right) and nightclub king Nick Russian (left) on Saturday night

'Justin has taken him. I am devastated and don't want to talk about it further,' she added.

She concluded by asking her followers to not ask any more question about her private life as she wants to 'move forward'.

'[I will] continue to share things with you but some aspects are private and will remain private,' she added.

The model announced her split last Tuesday, just days after rumours surfaced about the troubled state of their marriage.

The former couple, who first met in 2018, were last pictured together in August in a series of loved-up holiday snaps from their trip to New York City.
Princess Mary looked effortlessly stylish as she visited a Danish high school to mark the UN International Day of the Girl on Wednesday.

The Australian-born royal cemented her style prowess in an green suit as she visited the Nrum Gymnasium in eastern Denmark.

The mother-of-four, 50, paired a slick pant suit with a white blouse and skinny belt.

Princess Mary looked effortlessly stylish as she visited a Danish high school to mark the UN International Day of the Girl on Wednesday

The Australian-born royal cemented her style prowess in an green suit as she visited the Nrum Gymnasium in eastern Denmark

She added a touch of glamour with a pointed stiletto with statement studs while accessorising with golden hoops.

Opting for a glamorous make-up look, the royal wore black eyeliner and a neutral foundation finishing off with a pale lip stick.

Mary styled her brown hair in loose waves and let it bounce along her shoulders as she chatted to students.

The Princess, who married the heir to the Danish throne in 2004, was marking the 10th anniversary of the International Girls' Day.

The mother-of-four, 50, paired a slick pant suit with a white blouse and skinny belt

She added a touch of glamour with a pointed stiletto with statement studs while accessorising with golden hoops

Each year, the Day of Girls has a theme. The theme for 2022 is 'Our time is now - our rights, our future'.

Known for her eye for style, Denmark's future queen regularly mixes high fashion with budget-friendly pieces and champions locally made clothing whenever she can.

So keen is Mary's eye for fashion that a public vote twice named her the World's Most Stylish Royal, ahead of the Duchess of Cambridge, Queen Letizia of Spain and Queen Rania of Jordan.

The late Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld once described Mary and Kate Middleton as 'royal sisters' thanks to their strikingly similar appearance and comparable taste in clothes.

Opting for a glamourous make-up look, the royal wore black eyeliner and a neutral foundation finishing off with a pale lip stick

Mary styled her brown hair in loose waves and let it bounce along her shoulders as she chatted to students

Denmark's future queen has posed for Vogue Australia and German Vogue and is a patron of Global Fashion Agenda, which oversees the annual Copenhagen Fashion Summit.

Despite having a smile on her face as she was offered a tour of the property, the mother-of-four's visit was overshadowed by 'peace talks' happening between her mother-in-law Queen Margrethe and the Queen's youngest son Joachim.

Margrethe, 82, and Joachim engaged in conversation this week to try and smooth tensions that have arisen after the monarch announced she would be stripping his four children, Prince Nikolai, 23, Prince Felix, 20, Prince Henrik, 13, and Princess Athena, 10, of their royal titles, which he claimed had 'hurt' them.

The Princess, who married the heir to the Danish throne in 2004, was marking the 10th anniversary of the International Girls' Day

Heir to the throne Frederick and his wife Princess Mary's four children - Prince Christian, 16, Princess Isabella, 15, and twins Princess Josephine and Prince Vincent, 11 - remain unaffected by Margrethe's decision as they are direct descendants of the future King.

Following the meeting, the palace confirmed that the monarch and Joachim want to 'look forward' and are trying to 'find their way through' their differences - however, Frederik did not attend the meeting at Fredensborg.

Danish publication B.T. reported: 'According to the Royal House, the Crown Prince was not part of the meeting', with a statement from the palace reading: 'The Queen and Prince Joachim have spoken together at Fredensborg. Everyone agrees to look forward, and as the Queen herself has expressed, she and Prince Joachim want calm to find their way through this situation.'

So keen is Mary's eye for fashion that a public vote twice named her the World's Most Stylish Royal, ahead of the Duchess of Cambridge, Queen Letizia of Spain and Queen Rania of Jordan

Despite having a smile on her face as she was offered a tour of the property, the mother-of-four's visit was overshadowed by 'peace talks' happening between her mother-in-law Queen Margrethe and the Queen 's youngest son Joachim

It comes after Joachim, 53, and his second wife Princess Marie, 46, who is mother to his youngest two children, said their relationship with Frederik and his wife Princess Mary, 50, is 'complicated'.

But as the conflict brewed between the Danish royals, Spanish magazine Vaniatis Elconfidencial claimed the real reason for the rift was because Joachim 'was deeply in love with his sister-in-law Mary'.

B.T.'s royal correspondent Jacob Heinel Jensen said of the 'significant and positive development' between the monarch and her youngest son, that it was 'not surprising' that Frederik wasn't included.

The expert said: 'Prince Joachim himself has acknowledged that the relationship with the Crown Prince couple was complicated, so it is not surprising that he was not there. It is the Queen's decision, and she is the one who must bear the brunt of it.'

Queen Margrethe (centre, in 2015) had a meeting with Prince Joachim (right) following animosity after he said his children were 'hurt' by her decision to remove their princely titles (Left: Crown Prince Frederik)
A user opens a car door with Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Watch 5 smartwatch, Wednesday. Courtesy of Samsung Electronics



By Baek Byung-yeul



Samsung Electronics is set to showcase its software development tool that enhances users' health, wellness and safety at the Samsung Developer Conference 2022 (SDC22) event, the company said, Wednesday.



The developers' tools announced at this year's event, which is held in San Francisco on Wednesday (local U.S. time), included the Samsung Privileged Health SDK program for select partners, the Fall Detection API to support user safety, Samsung's new end-to-end research solution for educational, clinical and healthcare programmers, as well as ongoing opportunities for partners with Health Connect.



"Samsung's health foundation is rooted in our advanced hardware and sensor technology and is bolstered by our open ecosystem and collaborative approach," Yang Tae-jong, executive vice president and the head of Health R&D Team at Mobile eXperience (MX) Business, said.



"That is why I am excited to announce expanded developer tools, APIs and partner offerings that allow third-party experts, research centers and universities to advance wearable tracking and insight capabilities for better health, wellness and safety," Yang added.



Samsung is collaborating with industry-leading companies such as Tobii and Harman to develop personalized health services for driving situations.



Tobii is a global leader in eye-tracking and attention computing that develops software to monitor drowsiness. Samsung said its Privileged Health SDK enables Tobii to sense a person's real-time heart rate captured by Galaxy Watch sensors and process them to determine the drowsiness level of the user.



With Harman, a leader in connected car, audio and internet of things (IoT) technologies, Samsung recently introduced Ready Care, an in-vehicle sensing and tailored solution for driver safety and comfort. In addition to distraction, fatigue and vital sign sensing, users can allow Ready Care to measure their cognitive load and stress level and can provide suggestions for alternative routes to lower a driver's stress.



Samsung also introduces a new API that offers adjustable sensitivity for fall detection. Developers can develop a fall detection service for the Galaxy Watch that detects users' falls or stumbles by combining various sensor technologies, including an accelerometer and gyroscope.



The company will also strengthen its cooperation with Google. The Health Connect service, announced in collaboration with Google at the early of this year, offers developers a single set of APIs enabling the seamless creation of new fitness and health experiences. Currently available in beta, Health Connect offers users centralized privacy controls that make it easy to give permission to the health and fitness apps they want to share their on-device data with.


Gemma Collins displayed her fresh holiday tan as she enjoyed a night out in London after returning from her sunsoaked getaway in Tenerife.

The reality star, 41, beamed as she headed to The Saatchi gallery in Chelsea on Wednesday in a black co-ord that complemented her bronzed complexion.

She paired a printed satin jacket with matching trousers and added a pop of colour with hot pink platform heels.

Bronzed: Gemma Collins displayed her fresh holiday tan as she enjoyed a night out in London on Wednesday after returning from her sunsoaked getaway in Tenerife

Gemma completed the look with a small black handbag and wore her golden locks in loose waves.

Earlier in the day, Gemma shared a throwback snap from her holiday as she was seen beaming alongside her partner Rami Hawash.

The pair were pictured playing in the pool with Rami's son Tristan, four, as they kept him afloat on his paddleboard.

Fun in the sun! Earlier in the day, Gemma shared a throwback snap from her holiday as she was seen beaming alongside her partner Rami Hawash and his son Tristan

Gemma looked sensational as she posed in a pink Dior swimsuit while makeup-free to highlight her natural beauty.

The TV personality posted the picture with the caption: 'Beautiful family memories, your family is everything.'

The sweet snap came after the former I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! contestant posted a body confidence video to her Instagram Story on Tuesday saying: 'You got to rock it!'

Dressed to impress: The reality star, 41, beamed as she headed to The Saatchi gallery in Chelsea on Wednesday in a black co-ord that complemented her bronzed complexion

Looking good: She paired a printed satin jacket with matching trousers and added a pop of colour with hot pink platform heels

Finishing touches: Gemma completed the look with a small black handbag and wore her golden locks in loose waves

Wearing an animal print swimsuit and dark square sunglasses, Gemma told two million strong Instagram followers: 'I just want to say to everyone out there, whoever doubts their body, whoever feels down about themselves, who's having a bad day and doubting your beautifulness, your energy, keep reminding yourself you are beautiful.

'We all come in different shapes and sizes and you just got to rock it, honeys.'

Gemma was living it up in the sunshine with her long-time partner Rami Hawash, who she first dated over a decade ago in 2011.

Delightful duo: Gemma was attending the Lincoln Townley StART exhibition at Saatchi Gallery where the artist seemed in good spirits as he was joined by wife Denise Welch

The pair were engaged in 2013 before marriage with the business owner was called off.

Having begun a relationship with fellow TOWIE regular James Argent in 2017, Gemma reunited once again with Rami in 2021 as rumours about another engagement persist.

While she had claimed in December last year that Rami had popped the question again, she later backtracked in May insisting she won't tie the knot 'until she's 50' because it's 'best not to think long term'.

Despite this she has been seen wearing a diamond on her ring finger in recent months.
Victoria Beckham looked radiant as she shared a glimpse of her hair and beauty regime as she got ready for date night with her husband David in NYC on Tuesday.

The designer, 48, was as stylish as ever in a plunging dark green dress as celebrity hair stylist Ken Paves made finishing touches to her look.

The gorgeous number had a deep neckline before fanning out into a light green patterned skirt.

Stunning: Victoria Beckham looked radiant as she shared a glimpse of her hair and beauty regime as she got ready for date night with her husband David in NYC on Tuesday

The former Spice Girl had her brunette tresses swept back in a chic up do with tendrils left prettily around her face.

She had on a glowing makeup look to show off her gorgeous features including a smokey eye and slick of light pink lip.

Victoria wrote in the caption: 'Getting the head to heel treatment in NYC with @kenpaves and @wendyrow! Wearing @victoriabeckhambeauty xx VB.'

Beauty: The designer, 48, was as stylish as ever in a plunging dark green dress as celebrity hair stylist Ken Paves made finishing touches to her look

The outing comes after Victoria reached out to son Brooklyn and daughter-in-law Nicola Peltz with a heartfelt message after they squashed feud rumours earlier this month with a reunion with a reunion at her Paris Fashion Week show.

The fashion designer took to Instagram to share a picture of the couple alongside the message: 'I love you all so much', which Nicola went on to re-share.

Victoria also uploaded an image of her parents Jackie and Anthony Adams with the couple, with the star seemingly delighted to have things back on track with her loved ones.

It came just days after Brooklyn and Nicola attended Victoria's debut Paris Fashion Week show where they finally put to bed speculation that they had fallen out with the Spice Girl.

Looking good: The former Spice Girl had her brunette tresses swept back in a chic up do with tendrils left prettily around her face

Putting on a further united front, Victoria's gushing post featured Nicola and Brooklyn - as well as other family members - in the audience at her fashion show.

Victoria was seen chatting to her son Brooklyn outside her Paris Fashion Week show while Nicola socialised with Cruz's girlfriend Tana Holding as the family reunited following feud rumours.

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.

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.

Victoria couldn't hold back her tears 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.'

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'.

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.

Supportive: The outing comes after Victoria reached out to son Brooklyn and daughter-in-law Nicola Peltz with a heartfelt message after they squashed feud rumours earlier this month with a reunion with a reunion at her Paris Fashion Week show

Reports of a feud between Victoria and Nicola were 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 had reportedly enraged her in-laws by 'washing the family dirty linen in public'.

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.'

Together: Victoria also uploaded an image of her parents Jackie and Anthony Adams with the couple, with the star seemingly delighted to have things back on track with her loved ones

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 said Nicola was pushing a 'false narrative', leaving Victoria 'bemused' as to why she keeps 'stoking the rumours of a feud' rather than shutting them down.

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.
BRIAN VINER: Philippa lives in Edinburgh, where she works in a dreary sales job and is passed over for promotion. 'You are at the right level for you,' says her condescending boss.
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EastEnders veterans have turned out in force for Dot Cotton's funeral , with a slew of former cast members seen filming the emotional scenes on Wednesday.

The huge turnout was led by Jacqueline Jossa who was seen on set for the first time as she reprised her role of Lauren Branning, following her departure in 2018, along with returning characters 'Lofty' Holloway (Tom Watt), Colin Russell (Lord Michael Cashman CBE), Barry Clark (Gary Hailes) , Mary 'the punk' Smith (Linda Davidson) and Disa O'Brien (Jan Graveson).

The actress, 29, was also joined by veteran EastEnders stars, Letitia Dean as Sharon Watts and Gillian Taylforth, who plays Kathy Beale, as much of the soap's cast were in attendance for Dot's final farewell.

On set: EastEnders veterans Jacqueline Jossa (far left), Linda Davidson (centre), and Tom Watt (far right) were among the stars seen filming Dot Cotton's funeral scenes on Wednesday, being among six former stars returning for the tribute episode

Jac, who stars as Dot's grand-daughter Lauren, previously said it was a 'no-brainer' to return to Albert Square for the legend's send off, and she donned a long fur coat with heart-printed tights and heeled leather boots.

Jan Grievson, who played Disa O'Brien on EastEnders during the early 1990s, was also seen arriving on set for filming along with Linda Davidson, who played Mary 'The Punk' Smith.

Lord Michael Cashman joined Linda to film his scenes for the soap, after playing Colin Russell from 1986 to 1989, a character that sparked contention from Dot due to his homosexuality.

RIP: Dot Cotton is set to be killed off in EastEnders following the death of actress June Brown in April 2022 (pictured in character in 1997)

Blast from the past: Jacqueline (left during her return to EastEnders), played Lauren Branning on the soap from 2010 to 2018 (pictured right in 2015)

Dapper: Also making a return was Tom Watt (left), who portrayed George 'Lofty' Holloway from 1985 to 1988, and he cut a sombre figure as he reunited with his co-stars to film the moving scenes

Throwback! Jan Grievson (left), who played Disa O'Brien (right) on EastEnders during the early 1990s, was also seen arriving on set for filming

Fan favourite: Linda Davidson (left), who famously played Mary 'The Punk' Smith on the soap (right), has also made a brief return for the scenes, following her last guest stint in 2019

He's back again! Lord Michael Cashman (left) joined Linda to film his scenes for the soap, after playing Colin Russell (right) from 1986 to 1989, a character that sparked contention from Dot due to his homosexuality

Stars: The actors were joined by Letitia Dean (Sharon Watts) and Gillian Taylforth (Kathy Beale) as they dressed in all-black ensembles for the moving funeral scenes

There she goes! For the scenes the cast were seen heading into a church for Dot's funeral, followed by a lavish coffin adorned with flowers and pulled by a pair of horses

Also making a return was Tom Watt, who portrayed George 'Lofty' Holloway, and he cut a sombre figure as he reunited with his co-stars to film the moving scenes.

The actor, who prevously appeared on the soap in 2019, has joined five other cast members returning to the soap for Dot's final farewell.

Despite the emotional reunion, Jacqueline was in good spirits as she chatted to her co-stars including Shona McGarty, who plays Whitney Dean, with the actress donning a black and white houndstooth coat and leather gloves for the occasion.

What she deserves! The grand turnout was a fitting tribute to the soap icon, who became known for her chain-smoking, staunchly religious views and love for gossip

A sad occasion: Wrapped up in a cosy black coat, Jacqueline was seen back on the EastEnders set for the first time after bosses revealed she would be making a one-off return as Lauren Branning

Saying farewell: Much of the soap's cast were then gathered at Dot's graveside as her coffin was lowered into the ground, a final goodbye to the legendary character

Not-so happy reunion! Given her history in the Square, no doubt Dot's funeral will still be packed with drama, and Jacqueline didn't look best pleased with one resident during filming

She's back! Jacqueline previously bid farewell to EastEnders in 2018, when Lauren decided to leave Walford with her son Louie following the death of her sister Abi in a devastating rooftop accident

A splash of colour! Still displayed her rebellious side, Linda sported a pale blue wool scarf as she chatted to co-star Lord Cashman, after the pair reunited for the first tiem in decades for the scenes

Kind: Diane Parish, in character as Denise Fox, was also seen comforting Patrick Trueman (Rudolph Walker) as Dot's coffin was lowered into the ground during the funeral

Diane Parish, in character as Denise Fox, was also seen comforting Patrick Trueman (Rudolph Walker) as Dot's coffin was lowered into the ground during the funeral.

Other stars in attendance for the funeral were Gillian Wright (playing Jean Slater) and Natalie Cassidy (Sonia Fowler).

Milly Zero - who plays Dot's granddaughter Dotty Cotton - and Brian Conley (Thomas 'Rocky' Cotton), were also seen chatting to their co-stars while filming the funeral scenes.

Stylish: In character as Kathy Beale (right on the soap), actress Gillian (left) sported a wide-brimmed black hat with satin sashed detailing

Supportive: She and Letitia consoled one another as the coffin was lowered into the ground, with the actress once again playing her role of Sharon Watts (right)

Keeping cosy! Gillian Wright (left) was also spotted arriving on the set to play Jean Slater (right)

More sombre attire: Natalie Cassidy, who has played Sonia Fowler (right) on the soap on and off since 1993, was also seen heading to a waiting car after filming

Her final resting place: As the coffin was carried into the church, much of the cast were seen embracing as they reunited, clad in funeral attire, before the scenes

Still glamorous! Shona McGarty donned a black and white houndstooth coat (left) to film scenes as Whitney Dean (right)

A break from the dancefloor? James Bye (left), who is currently competing on Strictly Come Dancing, was seen in character as Martin Fowler (right)

Goodbye grandma! Milly Zero, who played Dot's granddaughter Dotty Cotton, was among those closest to the launderette owner, despite previously attempting to con her grandmother

Letitia donned a wool coat with a fur lined collar and a veiled headband while Gillian opted for a wide brimmed hat and a polka dot silk scarf.

Given her legendary status in Albert Square, it's no surprise that Dot's funeral is a fitting tribute, as her coffin adorned with flowers arrived at the church in a horse-drawn carriage.

As the coffin was carried into the church, much of the cast were seen embracing as they reunited, clad in funeral attire, before the scenes.

The grand turnout was a fitting tribute to the soap icon, who became known for her chain-smoking, staunchly religious views and love for gossip.

As six EastEnders star return for Dot Cotton's funeral - a look at their careers since leaving the soap EastEnders have announced that six of its most iconic characters will be returning to the soap for a special episode which sees the residents of Walford attend Dot Cotton's funeral. Bosses revealed that Lauren Branning (Jacqueline Jossa), George 'Lofty' Holloway (Tom Watt), Colin Russell (Lord Michael Cashman CBE), Barry Clark (Gary Hailes) , Mary 'the punk' Smith (Linda Davidson) and Disa O'Brien (Jan Graveson) will reprise their roles for the upcoming episodes. But since leaving the soap, these stars have taken their careers in vastly different directions, ranging from stints on reality TV, to ghost-writing famous biographies, to entering politics as a member of the House Of Lords. So, as EastEnders fans prepare to welcome back these iconic stars to Albert Square for Dot's final farewell, MailOnline takes a look at how their careers have fared since leaving the soap. Blast from the past: EastEnders have announced that six of its most iconic characters will be returning to the soap to attend Dot Cotton's funeral - here MailOnline takes a look at their careers since leaving Walford behind Throwback: Jacqueline Jossa played Lauren Branning on EastEnders from 2010 to 2018, before leaving the soap to explore other acting roles Jacqueline Jossa (played Lauren Branning from 2010 to 2018) Jacqueline originally joined the EastEnders cast to take over the role of teen Lauren, and throughout her eight-year stint featured in a slew of hard-hitting storylines, including her mum Tanya's breast cancer diagnosis, and her own alcoholism. However, Lauren decided to leave Albert Square in 2018 to start a new life in New Zealand with her son Louie, after her sister Abi was killed following a fall from the roof of the Queen Vic. After leaving EastEnders, Jacqueline went onto appear on the 2019 series of I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! and was eventually crowned champion. She's the winner! After leaving EastEnders, Jacqueline went onto appear on the 2019 series of I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! and was eventually crowned champion Glam: Since then Jacqueline has landed several big-money brand deals, including a range with InTheStyle, and has recently made a name for herself as a social media influencer Since then Jacqueline has landed several big-money brand deals, including a range with InTheStyle, and has recently made a name for herself as a social media influencer. Jacqueline is also married to TOWIE star Dan Osborne, and the couple share two daughters, Ella, seven, and Mia, three, but their relationship hasn't been short of drama, with the couple previously reported to have split in 2018 when it was claimed Dan cheated with Love Island star Gabby Allen. However both stars denied the claims, and a then-pregnant Jacqueline eventually reconciled with Dan. Throwback: Tom was one of 26 actors to appear in EastEnders' original cast, earning his nickname Lofty due to his above-average height, but he left Albert Square three years later Tom Watt (played George 'Lofty' Holloway from 1985 to 1988, and made a guest appearance in 2019) Tom was one of 26 actors to appear in EastEnders' original cast, earning his nickname Lofty due to his above-average height, but he left Albert Square three years later after learning his wife Michelel Fowler had secretly aborted their unborn baby. Since then, Tom has regularly presented sports sports segments for Channel 4, Radio 1, Radio 3, Radio 5 Live, talkSPORT, and Cable TV, and has also fronted several programmes for BT Sport. Alongside several other TV acting roles, Tom has penned match reports and features for The Observer and also acted as a ghost writer for David Beckham's autobiography My Side. In 2019 Tom also briefly reprised his role as Lofty, returning to Albert Square for the funeral of beloved character Dr Legg. Vintage: Since then, Tom (pictured in 2019) has presented sports radio segments, and even ghost-wrote David Beckham's autobiography My Side He's back! In 2019 Tom also briefly reprised his role as Lofty, returning to Albert Square for the funeral of beloved character Dr Legg Iconic: Michael Cashman made history when he played 'yuppie' Colin in EastEnders, as he became Walford's first ever gay resident, sharing the first mouth-to-mouth kiss between two men to appear in a British soap opera Lord Michael Cashman CBE (played Colin Russell from 1986 to 1989, and made a guest appearance in 2016) Michael made history when he played 'yuppie' Colin in EastEnders, as he became Walford's first ever gay resident, sharing the first mouth-to-mouth kiss between two men to appear in a British soap opera. He famously had a close friendship with Dot, despite her intial opposition to his homosexuality as it conflicted with her strict religious views. Since leaving Walford, Michael has pursued a career in politics and was elected a Member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands in 1999. He was awarded a CBE in the 2013 New Year Honours for public and political service, and in 2014 Michael was created a life peer, earning him a place in the House Of Lords. In 2016 Lord Michael also made a brief return to EastEnders to reprise his role as Colin, heading back to the Square to try and convince Dot to attend his wedding, as she grew reluctant due to her opposition to same-sex marriage. Respected; Since leaving Walford, Michael has pursued a career in politics, and along with being elected an MEP, was appointed a life peer in 2014 Gary Hailes (played Barry Clark from 1986 to 1989) Gary was the other side of EastEnders' first ever gay couple, as his character Barry began a relationship with Colin, but given his family's thuggish reputation, he kept his sexuality a secret. When his sexuality is finally revealed, Barry is forced to break up with Colin, and he attempts to have a relationship with a woman, with little success, and he eventually decides to leave Walford to accept a job as a DJ on a cruise ship. Since leaving EastEnders, Gary has appeared in films such as The Killing Zone, Murder with Mirrors and Waiting for a Killer, and has also starred in dramas The Bill, Horizon and Sorry. Gary has also owned, and drives, a London black taxi, and through his work with the Star Wars costuming group, 501st Legion, made a cameo as a Stormtrooper in the 2015 film The Force Awakens. Love is in the air! Gary was the other side of EastEnders' first ever gay couple, as his character Barry began a relationship with Colin, but given his family's thuggish reputation, he kept his sexuality a secret Wow! Linda Davidson played the wild child punk Mary Smith as part of EastEnders' original cast, a former punk rock groupie and drug user whose wild lifestyle put her baby's life at risk Linda Davidson (played Mary 'the punk' Smith from 1985 to 1988) Mary was one of the Square's most controversial characters  a former punk rock groupie and drug user whose wild lifestyle put her baby's life at risk. Barely literate, she couldn't look after her child without her neighbours' help, and earned her living by prostitution, eventually fleeing Walford after growing tired of her family's interference. Linda, who was born in Canada, dated co-star Nejdet Salih and left the show in 1988; she gave up acting to work in internet design and now runs a social media agency. New direction: Linda, who was born in Canada, dated co-star Nejdet Salih and left the show in 1988; she gave up acting to work in internet design and now runs a social media agency Jan Graveson (played Disa O'Brien from 1990 to 1991) Appearing in just 25 episodes, Jan made her first appearance on EastEnders as a teen sleeping rough on the streets of London, eventually giving birth to a baby girl along in an alley after being unaware that she was pregnant. Disa formed a bond with Dot who was happy to look after her baby daughter, and after finally revealing that she was assualted by Ken Raynor, leading to her pregnancy, she left Walford to start a new life further North. After leaving the soap, Jan had roles in series including Byker Grove, Casualty and Heartbeat and famously played Susie in the ITV sitcom Benidorm. Troubles: Appearing in just 25 episodes, Jan made her first appearance on EastEnders as teen Disa, sleeping rough on the streets of London, who eventually gave birth to a baby girl Stage star: After leaving the soap, Jan had roles in various TV series, along with several stage roles including the musical Blood Brothers Advertisement

Silver fox: Brian Conley, who joined the cast in 2021, under the ruse of being Sonia's father, before revealing he was actually Tony Cotton (right), displayed his character's famous expression

Helping hand: Some of Albert Square's most beloved male figures were tasked with helping to carry Dot's coffin into the church for her funeral

You look happy! Among those were Martin Fowler (played by James Bye, picture far left in both snaps) and Jack Branning (Scott Maslen, seen right)

Final resting place: Stars donned their best funeral attire for Dot's last farewell

Classic! Decorating Dot's coffin was a heartwarming collage featuring snaps from some of her funniest moments in the Square, including her wedding to husband Jim

Stylish: Letitia donned a wool coat with a fur lined collar and a veiled headband while Gillian opted for a wide brimmed hat and a polka dot silk scarf

Reunited! Jan was seen embracing her former co-star Gillian, after the pair appeared on EastEnders together decades earlier

Much of the soap's cast were then gathered at Dot's graveside as her coffin was lowered into the ground, a final goodbye to the legendary character.

Some of EastEnders most beloved male figures were tasked with carrying Dot's coffin, including Martin Fowler (James Bye) and Jack Branning (Scott Maslen).

It comes just hours after EastEnders bosses confirmed the full line-up of former stars returning to Walford for Dot's funeral.

Grand return: Tom, who prevously appeared on the soap in 2019, has joined five other cast members returning to the soap for Dot's final farewell

Grand return! It comes just hours after EastEnders bosses confirmed the full line-up of former stars returning to Walford for Dot's funeral

So many stars! The BBC soap unveiled that six actors would be reprising their roles for the special tribute episode which sees Albert Square residents say a final goodbye to the beloved launderette worker (Shona and Jacqueline are pictured)

Of course! Among those returning is Jacqueline, who played Dot's granddaughter Lauren Branning and said it was a 'no-brainer' to return

In the work: It was previously revealed that soap bosses were working on a tribute for EastEnders legend June Brown , who died in April of this year at the age of 95

Developments: And now, further details of the funeral scenes have been revealed, with each of the returning characters sharing their memories of Dot throughout the years (Gillian, Letitia and Shona are pictured)

Throwback: While viewers will get a chance to discover what the characters have been up to since they last stepped foot in Walford

Cast old and new: In an unprecedented move for EastEnders, cast members from throughout the soap's 35-year history came together to bid farewell to one of its most iconic characters (Brian Conley left and Milly Zero right)

The BBC soap unveiled six actors that would be reprising their roles for the special tribute episode which sees Albert Square residents say a final goodbye to the beloved launderette worker.

Among those returning is Jacqueline, who played Dot's granddaughter Lauren Branning and said it was a 'no-brainer' to return, and Tom Watt, who portrayed 'Lofty'.

While completing the line-up of returning actors are Colin Russell (Lord Michael Cashman CBE), Barry Clark (Gary Hailes) , Mary 'the punk' Smith (Linda Davidson) and Disa O'Brien (Jan Graveson).

It was previously revealed that soap bosses were working on a tribute for EastEnders legend June Brown, who died in April of this year at the age of 95.

Final appearance: The beloved character of Dot left the show in January 2020 to go to Ireland with her grandson Charlie

Legendary: She portrayed the role of Dot for 35 years, and was part of the Branning clan after marrying character Jim Branning in 2002

So famous! Speaking on why it was important to have significant people from Dot's past return, show, Executive Producer Chris Clenshaw said: 'It's an honour to invite so many of Walford's beloved characters back to pay tribute to Dot'

Important: 'Over the years, Dot impacted the lives of many young people struggling with life's biggest challenges. Her warmth, heart and compassion changed lives  so we wanted to reunite some of the people she helped the most,' he added

Elated: 'I'm thrilled these talented and generous actors wanted to share this special experience with us so we can give Dot a fitting send-off,' the statement continued

And now, further details of the funeral scenes have been revealed, with each of the returning characters sharing their memories of Dot throughout the years.

While viewers will get a chance to discover what the characters have been up to since they last stepped foot in Walford.

The beloved character of Dot left the show in January 2020 to go to Ireland with her grandson Charlie.

She portrayed the role of Dot for 35 years, and was part of the Branning clan after marrying character Jim Branning in 2002.

She's back! The episode sees Dot's step granddaughter Lauren return to Albert Square for the first time since leaving for a new life in New Zealand with son Louie

It's different! And while much of her former home has changed, there is once Walford resident that catches her eye

'Real honour': On how she feels to come back for the emotional storyline, Jacqueline shared: 'Coming back to EastEnders for Dot's funeral was a no-brainer, and it was a real honour to be invited back'

Well-deserved: 'I had a lot of fun but, of course, it was bittersweet. It was amazing to be back, but hard to be filming this storyline. I can tell the viewers now that Dot gets the beautiful send-off that she deserves,' Jacqueline added

Speaking on why it was important to have significant people from Dot's past return, show, Executive Producer Chris Clenshaw said in a statement: 'It's an honour to invite so many of Walford's beloved characters back to pay tribute to Dot.

'Over the years, Dot profoundly impacted the lives of many young people struggling with life's biggest challenges. Her warmth, heart and compassion changed lives  so we wanted to reunite some of the people she helped the most.

'I'm thrilled these talented and generous actors wanted to share this special experience with us so we can give Dot a fitting send-off.'

Bittersweet: Tom, who played Lofty, said: 'June was amazing as Dot. She completely inhabited the character: grew with her, suffered with her and faced life's troubles with her'

Star-studded: The scenes are no doubt set to be packed with soap icons (Gillian pictured with left with Bobby Beale actor Clay Milner Russell, and Letitia and Diane right)

All dressed in black! All of the EastEnders cast donned their best funeral attire as they filmed the poignant moment Dot's coffin was slowly lowered into the ground

Dressed up: Both Natalie (left) and Rudolph (right) donned all-black outfits

The episode sees Dot's step granddaughter Lauren return to Albert Square for the first time since leaving for a new life in New Zealand with son Louie.

And while much of her former home has changed, there is once Walford resident that catches her eye.

On how she feels to come back for the emotional storyline, Jacqueline shared: 'Coming back to EastEnders for Dot's funeral was a no-brainer, and it was a real honour to be invited back.

'I had a lot of fun but, of course, it was bittersweet. It was amazing to be back, but hard to be filming this storyline. I can tell the viewers now that Dot gets the beautiful send-off that she deserves.'

Best pals: Lord Cashman said: 'When I was asked back I didn't even hesitate because I couldn't have imagined not being there for June, and I know Colin couldn't have imagined not being there for Dot  they had that amazing, deep friendship'

One of a kind: He added: 'June was unique, and there are so many incredible stories I could tell, but amongst my favourite moments of Dot was her monologue to Jim  she was a character, and actress, that will last beyond the test of time'

Daunting: Gary Hailes shared: 'Being invited back to the show after almost 30 years away was exciting, scary, strange, but overall it was really nice'

She concluded: 'June was the light and joy of EastEnders. I had so much fun working with her, the incredible stories and how infectious & witty she was. June is a legend and I miss her very much.'

Meanwhile, Lofty, who last returned in 2019 for Dr Legg's funeral, will be back once more for a sad occasion.

He said of the late actress: 'June was amazing as Dot. She completely inhabited the character: grew with her, suffered with her and faced life' s troubles with her. As soon as Dot appeared on screen, you knew June had all that history lighting up every look and every line in every single scene she was a part of.'

Elsewhere, Lord Cashman said: 'When I was asked back I didn't even hesitate because I couldn't have imagined not being there for June, and I know Colin couldn't have imagined not being there for Dot  they had that amazing, deep friendship that lasted during their years, and it was exactly the same with June and me.

'Warm': He added: 'EastEnders has always been a big part of my life so to have the opportunity to come back  there were nerves  but that quickly turned into excitement, and warmth at the chance to honour Dot'

'Unforgettable': 'June was an incredibly genuine person both on and off-screen, she really cared and was attentive to people. That's one thing I'll never forget,' Gary added

'June was unique, and there are so many incredible stories I could tell, but amongst my favourite moments of Dot was her monologue to Jim  she was a character, and actress, that will last beyond the test of time.'

Gary Hailes shared: 'Being invited back to the show after almost 30 years away was exciting, scary, strange, but overall it was really nice! EastEnders has always been a big part of my life so to have the opportunity to come back  there were nerves  but that quickly turned into excitement, and warmth at the chance to honour Dot.

'June was an incredibly genuine person both on and off-screen, she really cared and was attentive to people. That's one thing I'll never forget.'

Honouring her: While Jan Graveson added: 'I am absolutely thrilled to be invited back to EastEnders to play Disa again and to honour the wonderful and unique character of Dot Cotton'

While Jan Graveson added: 'I am absolutely thrilled to be invited back to EastEnders to play Disa again and to honour the wonderful and unique character of Dot Cotton.

'I remember only too well of Dot and Disa's long dramatic scenes together and how they gripped the nation. Her notes, her suggestions, taught me so much.

'I have not, as yet, felt anything close to that energy, conviction and rapport, and probably never will. Dot  and June  was an inspiration to me, a brilliant actress to work with and a beautiful heart who became a lifelong friend.'

The beloved character of Dot left the show in January 2020 to go to Ireland with her grandson Charlie.

But after soap star June sadly passed away in April of this year at the age of 95, news of Dot's death will soon get back to her family in Walford.

She portrayed the role of Dot for 35 years, and was part of the Branning clan after marrying character Jim Branning in 2002.

The source continued to The Sun: 'EastEnders bosses are pulling out all the stops to show just how much June was loved by the cast and crew.

'She was a huge part of EastEnders and her legacy will live on in Albert Square forever. She will never be forgotten.'

'Without giving anything away the script is beautiful and what she would have wanted. It was an incredibly hard couple of days on set as she was so loved. But everyone was determined to give June and Dot the send off she deserved.'
Married At First Sight UK star Thomas Hartley shared a before and after picture of himself following a body transformation on Instagram on Wednesday.

The Mental Health Care Assistant, 31, shared a candid post showing off his incredible transformation after leaving 'a very abusive and drug and alcohol fuelled relationship' and working on his body and mind.

In his moving post, Thomas told fans to 'speak up' about their struggles and to never 'give up'.

'Don't give up, always speak': MAFS UK star Thomas Hartley showed off his incredible transformation on Monday after leaving an 'abusive' relationship

'If you haven't read my story, on the left I had just escaped a very abusive and drug and alcohol fuelled relationship,' he wrote.

'I have always suffered with an element of mental health as most people have. I incorporated the gym and even though I made a physical change, I also use the gym and exercise as medicine.'

He added: 'If you can, do it. Don't give up. Always speak.'

'I have always suffered with an element of mental health as most people have,' he said in a post

Last week, he told MailOnline he was in an abusive relationship with a man that would lock him inside the house and ply him with drugs.

The Mental Health Care Assistant, 31, has entertained viewers on the E4 show with his sunny persona and witty one-liners, yet in an exclusive chat with MailOnline he revealed that it's taken years of therapy to reach a point where he can accept himself.

During a commitment ceremony on the show, Thomas hinted at his troubled past, admitting he had been verbally and physically abused.

He has now decided to come forward with his story in the hope it will diminish the unjustified stigma surrounding domestic abuse and encourage other victims to speak out.

Thomas was 23 when he began dating an older man in secret because his partner had not yet come out as gay.

Struggles: Last week, he told MailOnline he was in an abusive relationship with a man that would lock him inside the house and ply him with drugs

When he did come out to his family he received a 'nasty' reception, with Thomas revealing that it left him feeling like his partner's 'only lifeline.'

Prior to meeting him, Thomas had only been in one relationship, with a man that had banned him from seeing his friends and family in a bid to exert control.

Although left with a fear of commitment and an unhealthy view of love he went into his next relationship believing things would be different.

Yet the romance quickly soured, with Thomas admitting that he felt pressured to take drugs because his partner was a prolific user.

He confessed: 'I didn't really know what to do. He was a lot older than me and I was a far way from my home so I didn't see a lot of my family and I didn't have a lot of support around me.'

After being coerced into drinking heavily and taking drugs, the abuse worsened, with Thomas revealing that he was forced into having sex by his partner.

Thomas recalled: 'He'd say "I'm getting you all this, are you not grateful?" and that was when the sexual things used to happen.

'I felt really uncomfortable and I was really worn down. He used to take me and pick me up from work and he was there all the time. The only time I'd get away was at work but even then he would wait for me outside so I couldn't say anything.

'I was a shell of who I was': After being coerced into drinking heavily and taking drugs, the abuse worsened, with Thomas revealing that he was forced into having sex by his partner

'I just felt a shell of who I was. I'd go home and it would be drugs, drink, cook, clean and then forced to have sex with him. He'd be rough with me and say "you have to do this with me, it's your job, this is why you're here, look at this life I've given you".

'There was so much and I just thought if I do it then it's over.'

The abuse would occur even when his partner wasn't home.

Thomas revealed that when his boyfriend would go to work he would lock him in the house and post cocaine through the letterbox.

While the abuse went on for seven months, Thomas confessed: 'When I look back at it all it feels like it happened in one day, it almost felt normal to be abused like that because it was so routine.'

Despite being 'worn down' by the cycle of abuse, Thomas found the strength to leave his partner when he regained contact with his mother.

He explained that the final straw was when he saw his partner slipping ecstasy into his drink.

'He was really rough with me that night and I thought "I can't do this I'm going to end up dead." Mum came and got me and I never saw him again.

'After that he would follow me, wait outside my work and the gym. Because I was living my life normally he couldn't let go, it was like stalking me.'

Detailing the impact of the abuse, he explained: 'It was a big breakthrough and a big breakdown for me trying to rebuild my life again.

'Even though it was a relief to be away from him I felt lost. It was like Stockholm syndrome.'

Victim Support offers free, independent and confidential help to victims and survivors of any abuse or crime, regardless of when it occurred or if the crime was reported to the police. Contact their 24/7 Supportline on 08 08 16 89 111
Cynthia Bailey has confirmed the end of her nearly two-year marriage to Mike Hill on Wednesday morning, but insists they have remained 'good friends' since their split.

In a statement, the Real Housewives of Atlanta alum, 55, told People that 'God does not make mistakes' and that she truly believes in her heart that Mike 'coming into' her 'life was destiny.'

'I jumped in, both feet first and gave it my all,' the reality star stated. 'Although that journey has come to an end, I am so grateful for our continued friendship, and the beautiful memories that we made together.'

It's over! Cynthia Bailey has confirmed the end of her nearly two-year marriage to Mike Hill on Wednesday morning, but insists they have remained 'good friends' since their split; seen in 2021

She continued: 'God willing, I will find love again. Whatever is destined to be, will be; and I could not be more excited for my next chapter!'

'I pray my friends, family, and fans will continue to be along for the ride with me in this awesome thing we call 'life!' Thank you for your continued prayers, support, and well wishes,' the mother-of-one added.

Hill told the outlet: 'I love Cynthia and will always love her because she is a phenomenal woman and a beautiful person.'

Sad: In a statement, the Real Housewives of Atlanta alum, 55, told People that 'God does not make mistakes' and that she truly believes in her heart that Mike 'coming into' her 'life was destiny' (seen at their wedding in 2020)

'Even though our relationship is ending, our friendship remains rock solid and for that I am grateful,' he reflected. 'Honestly, we've been thinking about going our separate ways for the last few months, so it was good for us both to have that time to process it all privately and I can smile knowing she'll always be there for me as I will be for her.'

The former couple, who would have celebrated their second wedding anniversary over the weekend, first met while appearing on an episode of Steve Harvey's talk show in January 2018.

'I jumped in, both feet first and gave it my all,' the reality star stated. 'Although that journey has come to an end, I am so grateful for our continued friendship, and the beautiful memories that we made together'

Optimistic: She continued: 'God willing, I will find love again. Whatever is destined to be, will be; and I could not be more excited for my next chapter!'

Bailey was previously married from Peter Thomas from 2010 to 2017 and engaged to Leon Robinson, who is the father of her 22-year-old daughter Noelle; seen in 2001.

In November 2021, the duo both denied claims that he cheated on the Real Housewives Of Atlanta alum by sending nude photos and videos to another person.

The exes dismissed the infidelity hearsay to TMZ, calling the gossip 'stupid' and 'not true.'

Short-lived romance: Bailey and Hill ended their marriage, two years after they wed at the Governors Towne Club in Acworth, Georgia, in front of 250 guests; seen in June 2022

At the time, a Twitter user claimed the sportscaster had sent nude photos and video to them via Snapchat, but the accuser's account went dark not long after.

Despite the gossip, Cynthia told the world they were doing 'great' while Mike shrugged when asked why people would make up such claims.

'Rumors are rumors,' Bailey added, before Hill said they would consider 'legal action' if the claims persist.

'We'll take care of it the way it's supposed to be taken care of,' he said, also telling TMZ he hopes the online accuser can 'get help.'

The drama began when a Twitter user claimed to have nude photos and video of Hill.

She posted screen recordings of his alleged Snapchat profile to the account, which also showed him typing to her on the app in another video, per Page Six.

First husband: Bailey was previously married from Peter Thomas (pictured) from 2010 to 2017

Then, things got graphic as they posted a side-by-side photo of a penis and a screenshot from Hill's Instagram Story that appeared to show him wearing the same clothing and sitting on the same chair.

The Twitter user has since deleted their account.

Bailey, who left The Real Housewives of Atlanta after 11 seasons, recently told Page Six she made her exit in order to 'protect' her marriage to Hill.

'After going through my divorce with my ex [Peter Thomas], I'm very protective of my second marriage because, you know, I really want it to work, and I want to do everything that I can to protect it and to protect Mike.
She's newly single following her split from fellow Love Island winner Liam Reardon.

And Millie Court sent temperatures soaring on Wednesday as she flaunted her incredible figure during a lavish trip to Morocco.

Taking to Instagram the 25-year-old reality star slipped into a tiny brown bikini as she enjoyed a break from the scorching weather with a dip in the pool.

Gorgeous: Millie Court, 35, set temperatures soaring as she flaunted her incredible figure during a lavish trip to Morocco on Wednesday

The two piece boasted a triangular top and drawstring bottoms with large bows, accentuating her hourglass figure.

Millie highlighted her pretty features with a hint of make-up and let her blonde tresses fall to her shoulders.

Sharing the sizzling snaps the stunner posed up a storm as she showcased her newly sun-kissed skin.

Stunner: Taking to Instagram she slipped into a tiny brown as she enjoyed a break from the scorching weather with a dip in the pool

She captioned the snaps simply: 'Marrakech'.

Later taking to her Instagram Stories Millie shared a cheeky mirror selfie as she enjoyed dinner at the celebrity hot spot eatery Bo Zin.

Her famous friends rushed to the comments section to gush over her gorgeous snaps with fellow Love Islander Chloe Burrows writing: 'I'm gonna get this tattooed oh my days!'.

Cheeky: Later taking to her Instagram Stories Millie shared a cheeky mirror selfie as she enjoyed dinner at the celebrity hot spot eatery Bo Zin

Fans: Her famous friends rushed to the comments section to gush over her gorgeous snaps

It comes after Millie headed out to celebrate pal Chloe Burrows' 27th birthday in London last month.

Posing up a storm for the night out, the blonde bombshell shared a sultry video to her 1.9M Instagram followers, penning: 'These boots are made for walking.'

Millie's night out came on the same evening that her former beau, Liam took to Thorpe Park's Fright Night event.

Killing it: It comes after Millie (left) headed out to celebrate pal Chloe Burrows' 27th birthday in London last month (pictured with pal Lucinda Stratford)

The Welsh hunk was spotted at the theme park with a mystery female companion as they enjoyed the park's rides.

Liam and Millie called time on their relationship back in July after winning last year's series of Love Island, with Liam already filming for the upcoming season of Celebs Go Dating.

But despite moving on quickly and a wave of rumours that he cheated during their relationship, Millie recently confirmed the split was amicable - with no infidelity involved.
Rapper Megan Thee Stallion showed off her humorous side in a hilarious promo for her highly-anticipated Saturday Night Live debut this weekend.

When asked by Sarah Sherman if she was 'so excited for this week' of rehearsals, the 27-year-old, who was sitting in her dressing room in an orange and blue minidress, gushed: 'I am so excited, but a little nervous!'

'I feel like we're gonna have fun,' the Sweetest Pie hitmaker told Sherman, 29, before asking the comedian if she realized she was 'completely naked.'

Coming soon: Rapper Megan Thee Stallion showed off her humorous side in a hilarious promo for her highly-anticipated Saturday Night Live debut this weekend

'I am?' the SNL star, from Long Island, wondered aloud before looking down and realizing she in the buff. 'I am aren't, I?'

Megan then looked her up and down and said, 'Ya, like totally naked.'

Sherman then cried out and complained that 'nobody' told her she was nude, not even her coworkers or anyone on the two trains she took to get to 30 Rockefeller Plaza.

Honest: When asked by Sarah Sherman if she was 'so excited for this week' of rehearsals, the 27-year-old, who was sitting in her dressing room, gushed: 'I am so excited, but a little nervous!'

'I feel like we're gonna have fun,' the Sweetest Pie hitmaker told Sherman, 29, before asking the comedian if she realized she was 'completely naked'

'I am?' the SNL star, from Long Island, wondered aloud before looking down and realizing she in the buff. 'I am aren't, I'

'Let me be the first to tell you, your whole WAP [wet a** p**sy] is out,' Megan mused, referencing her and Cardi B's explicit rap track.

Sherman then confessed: 'It's more of DAP, dry as a bone,' which caused Megan's face to scrunch up at the thought.

Following their conversation, Sherman offers Megan a hug, which is immediately shot down.

Surprising: Megan then looked her up and down and said, 'Ya, like totally naked'

Oh no: Sherman then cries out in outrage that 'nobody' told her she was nude, not even her coworkers or anyone on the two trains she took to get to 30 Rockefeller Plaza

'Let me be the first to tell you, your whole WAP [wet a** p**sy] is out,' Megan mused

The Houston-based musician will be both hosting and performing on the October 15 episode of SNL.

Previously, she hit the SNL soundstage alongside Chance the Rapper in 2019, and again in 2020 to perform her chart-topping hits Dont Stop and Savage.

Last year, Megan Thee Stallion won best new artist at the 2021 Grammys, and another for best rap performance for her Savage Remix with Beyonce.
Kaley Couco did not have an easy time during the beginning of her pregnancy.

On Tuesday the 36-year-old Big Bang Theory actress shared that she felt so sick while filming the movie Role Play with Bill Nighy in Berlin this summer that said she needed Monette Moio - her double - to shoot scenes for her.

'I was pregnant and horribly sick,' said the blonde beauty who is expecting her first child, a daughter, with her boyfriend, 40-year-old actor Tom Pelphrey.

Not well: Kaley Couco did not have an easy time during the beginning of her pregnancy. On Tuesday the 36-year-old Big Bang Theory actress shared that she felt sick while filming the movie Role Play with Bill Nighy in Berlin this summer

Ill at the start: 'I was pregnant and horribly sick,' said the blonde beauty who is expecting her first child, a daughter, with her boyfriend, 40-year-old actor Tom Pelphrey

Kaley shared a photo of herself with Moio while on set, as they compared their stomachs - with the star showing a slight baby bump and Monette showing off her flat abs.

'Remember that time we shot an action film where I was pregnant and horribly sick and you had to take care of me and be me ad do all the things as non pregnant me?!' she wrote in the caption.

In another snap she shared herself laying on a makeshift couch with a blanket covering her along with the green puke emoji to suggest she was experiencing pregnancy nausea.

Sick: The actress also revealed that she needed Monette Moio - her double - to shoot scenes for her in an action film because her pregnancy made her 'horribly sick'

Satiating her cravings: The mom-to-be also shared a short clip where she thanked Tom for buying her a sandwich

'This was every day between setups lol,' she wrote.

She then shared a snap of gal pal Emma Madeline Ross holding up a colorful sweater with the caption: 'This was @emmamadelineross idea of baby shopping with me in Berlin. Pretty sure that sweatshirt is for a 12 year old.'

She then reminisced about her pregnancy cravings, tagging Emma in a photo of her wearing a black dress and scarfing down a Subway sandwich.

Cravings: She then reminisced about her pregnancy cravings, tagging Emma in a photo of her wearing a black dress and scarfing down a Subway sandwich

'Remember my Subway sandwich craze that lasted about 3 days?' she added,

The expectant mother also shared a short clip of her with boyfriend Tom as she thanked him for buying her a sandwich.

'That time [Tom] found me a tuna sandwich in Denmark and nothing made me happy in that moment,' she captioned the clip.

'Babe, thank you so much,' she can be heard saying in the video.

Happy together: Kaley sported a pair of maternity overalls in another shot with Tom

Showing: She continued to share her joy, posting yet another snap with Tom as they posed in the mirror, with her belly poking out

'Baby anything for you,' he replies.

'That was the best thing I've had this whole weekend,' she replies.

The couple then share a kiss before Tom says 'I love you so much.'

Another artistic black and white shot saw her showing off her growing bump.

Cuoco also took to Instagram to share a heartwarming video as she introduced her horse to her growing baby bump.

'Introducing the Bub to the horses,' she wrote on the clip - which was set to an emotional classical piano composition - adding,'BRB off to cry.'

Adorable: After announcing her pregnancy news on Tuesday, Cuoco, took to Instagram to share a heartwarming video as she introduced her horse to her baby bump

Earlier on Tuesday the Big Bang Theory star revealed she is expecting a baby girl.

In the sweet clip, Kaley is seen sporting a pair of sunglasses, yellow sweatpants, and has her white tank top slightly raised up, revealing her baby bump.

The horse can then be seen nuzzling her belly tenderly with its snout.

There was also a snap of her posing in a pink dress with Tom, with the caption, 'Remember when we all laughed realizing this dress would not have fit even a week later lol.'

She continued to share her joy, posting yet another snap with Tom as they posed in the mirror, with her belly poking out.

The mom-to-be went on to share another snap of the duo as they took a walk.

Adding to the cuteness was another shot of 'mama bear' and 'papa bear' coffee mugs.

Sweet: Cuoco shared her baby news on social media on Tuesday as she held up a pregnancy test

Her man: The duo posed together in the backyard with a piece of cake

The star shared the happy pregnancy news on social media on Tuesday as she held up a pregnancy test.

'Baby girl Pelphrey coming 2023 beyond blessed and over the moon I [heart] you @tommypelphrey !!!' she wrote on Instagram.

In the new images both Kaley and Tom had wedding bands on their ring fingers suggesting they may have already wed.

Gender reveal: 'Baby girl Pelphrey coming 2023 beyond blessed and over the moon I [heart] you @tommypelphrey !!!' she wrote on Instagram

In one image she held up a pregnancy test as she smiled at her beau.

In another, they were showing off the cake that was a reveal that they were expecting a girl. And in another image, Kaley showed off her bare baby bump as she wore a bra.

They were last seen together in mid September at HBO Max's post-Emmy bash at San Vicente Bungalows.

There is the bump! She also showed off her belly as she wore a bra; his hand was on her side

She is already preparing: She held up a onesie that said, 'This baby needs a pony'

So cute: He flashed a wedding band as he held a onesie that said, 'Love my daddy'

The cuteness is real: He held up a mug that said Papa Bear whereas hers said Mama Bear

Kaley was previously married to Karl Cook from 2018 to 2022, and before that she was married to Ryan Sweeting from 2013 to 2016.

After her second divorce, the star claimed that she never planned to get married again.

But describing her first meet with Tom as 'love at first sight', Kaley recently told USA today: 'We have the same manager [Andrea Pett-Joseph], and we were set up by [her], which is so Hollywood. She's like, "Oh my God, I think you guys are perfect for each other."'
Cardi B celebrated turning 30 with a glamorous party held at Poppy in LA with a multitude of stars in attendance.

But Jamie Foxx was denied entry to her bash after what appeared to be a misunderstanding with the door person at the venue - after he arrived with 'too many guests with him,' according to TMZ.

The Oscar winner, 54, arrived at the door with his large group only to be turned away by the person at the door, who later ran over to him as he was leaving to say it was ok for him to enter with his party.

At that point, the actor said to the man that 'we not good' and that it 'was too much' before getting back into his Rolls-Royce.

The latest: Cardi B celebrated turning 30 with a glamorous party held at Poppy in LA with a multitude of stars in attendance. But Jamie Foxx was denied entry to her bash after what appeared to be a misunderstanding with the door person at the venue - after he arrived with 'too many guests with him,' according to TMZ

The actor was seen getting out of his Rolls-Royce SUV and swapping out his shoes before him and his party went to the door of Poppy, where Cardi's bash was taking place.

He was seen standing at the front door for a few minutes before he and his group plus his security team turned around and walked back to his car.

As he was heading to his car, the door guy ran to him and said it was ok for him to enter.

Jamie appeared upset and told him: 'You know, we're not good. No good. I don't give a f**k. Really.'

Awkward: The Oscar winner, 54, arrived at the door with his large group only to be turned away by the person at the door, who later ran over to him as he was leaving to say it was ok for him to enter with his party

Quick change: The actor was seen getting out of his Rolls-Royce SUV and swapping out his shoes before him and his party went to the door of Poppy, where Cardi's bash was taking place

Drama: He was seen standing at the front door for a few minutes before he and his group plus his security team turned around and walked back to his car

Yikes: As he was heading to his car, the door guy ran to him and said it was ok for him to enter

Leaving: Jamie appeared upset and told him: 'You know, we're not good. No good. I don't give a f**k. Really'

Adding: 'I love you... but it was too much. Too much. It's too much' as he shook his hand and got back into his car.

Cardi B's 30th birthday party took place inside Poppy in LA on Tuesday night, with the rapper rocking a number of eye-catching looks.

The mother of two arrived in a red bodysuit with a dramatic headpiece with her husband Offset.

Not happy: Adding: 'I love you... but it was too much. Too much. It's too much' as he shook his hand and got back into his car

Not good: Jamie was upset he got rejected by the door guy to enter the bash

The bodysuit that displayed her incredible hourglass figure and ample assets, paired with sheer gloves.

Beside her rapper Offset, 30, looked dapper in a white suit and red tie to match his wife.

Other stars attending the bash included Chloe and Halle Bailey, Chance the Rapper, Wale, YG, Daysulan, Tiffany Haddish and Karrueche Tran.

Arrival: Cardi B's 30th birthday party took place inside Poppy in LA on Tuesday night, with the rapper rocking a number of eye-catching looks

She later swapped out her look for a black and burgundy number, adding statement jewels and sporting a platinum wig.

Cardi and Offset first began dating in 2017 and the couple welcomed their daughter Kulture, four, the following year.

The pair secretly married in September 2017 but later divorced, before getting back together and welcoming their son Wave, 12 months.

Birthday girl: She later swapped out her look for a black and burgundy number, adding statement jewels and sporting a platinum wig
SK hynix's chip plant in Wuxi, China / Courtesy of SK hynix



By Baek Byung-yeul



Samsung Electronics and SK hynix earned one-year waivers from the United States for their chip-making factories in China to import semiconductor equipment without applying for permission from Washington, according to the companies and industry sources, Wednesday.



As part of its countermeasures to prevent China from obtaining advanced chip technologies, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced a new export control measure that prohibits U.S.-based companies from exporting their semiconductor equipment to chip production companies in China.



Under the measure, multinational companies operating in China, including Samsung and SK hynix, are required to win approval from Washington when they deliver chip equipment to their Chinese factories on a case-by-case basis.



The measure was expected to disrupt the production plans of Samsung and SK hynix, which generate enormous amounts of profits by selling their memory chips in China. Samsung operates its Chinese plant in Xi'an while SK hynix produces chips in Wuxi.



However, SK hynix, one of Korea's two leading memory chip makers, said that the U.S. Department of Commerce granted it a one-year exemption.



"The U.S. government has clarified its position with respect to its latest export control regulations, issued by the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security on Friday. In an official letter from the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), the agency assured SK hynix that the company, as well as its current suppliers and business partners, is still authorized to engage in activities necessary to maintain current production of integrated circuits in China for one year without further licensing requirements," SK hynix said in a statement.



"Our discussions with the Department of Commerce led to an approval to supply equipment and items needed for development and production of DRAM semiconductors in Chinese facilities without additional licensing requirements," it added.



A Samsung Electronics spokesman said, "There is nothing to say about the issue." However, the world's largest memory chip maker is also said to have received the same exemption, according to the industry sources.



Currently, Samsung and SK are delivering various kinds of equipment to upgrade their chip plants in China. Since there are many types of equipment, the process to win approval from Washington would be too complicated and take too much time if the Korean companies have to ask for U.S. permission for each piece of equipment.



Given there's no guarantee that the exemption measure can be extended after a year, Samsung and SK hynix are expected to discuss with the U.S. government the issue of continuing their businesses in China without a hitch in cooperation with the Korean government.



"Along with the Korean government, we will continue our consultations with the Department of Commerce and make our utmost efforts to operate our plants in China in a stable way, while continuing compliance with applicable laws and regulations," SK hynix said.


Bella Hadid has slammed Kanye West's anti-Semitic posts and pledged her support for the Jewish community in an empassioned new post.

The supermodel, 26, referenced her Palestinian heritage as she declared she would not stand for 'hatred or violence' in the wake of 45-year-old Kanye's vile posts - which saw him vow to go 'death con 3 on Jewish people.'

Bella wrote: 'To say that for the past two days it hasn't been hard to celebrate my birthday or to not think of the things that have been [posted] on the street or said on public platforms, I would be lying.

Fury: Bella Hadid has slammed Kanye West's anti-Semitic posts and pledged her support for the Jewish community in an empassioned new post

'To allow any form of anti-semitism to slip by, as desensitized as the world has become, it would be a disservice to my friends, the families I have grown up with, the people I love and work with, myself, and even the Palestinian cause as a whole. 'Because what we stand for is NOT hatred or violence.

''I will continue to be a voice for the innocently targeted no matter who you are or where you come from. With that being said, this is NOT okay. Anti-semitism, or targeting any innocent Jewish person, anywhere, will never be okay.

'I can't stress how important it is for my following to hear this loud and clear: It is a scary place to live in where discrimination, of death wishes are something of our everyday.

Outrage: The supermodel, 26, referenced her Palestinian heritage as she declared she would not stand for 'hatred or violence' in the wake of 45-year-old Kanye's vile posts - which saw him vow to go 'death con 3 on Jewish people'

'It is scary that most people would swipe past something so horrendous and unknowingly go on with their life, completely unaware of how it could affect another human being.

'But there is a point where we all have to speak up. No matter what. If you feel something is wrong in your heart. Speak up.

'There are people that I love in this world, people that happen to be Jewish that feel scared by the words that have been used. They feel targeted, they feel uneasy, and they feel confused.'

'There is generational trauma resurfacing. Generational trauma of their ancestors being tortured and taken. There is self-doubt. There are triggers, and I am here to say that if you see something, say something.

Bella also urged her fans to help stamp out anti-Semitism, writing: 'Again, to my followers, if you see ANYONE saying something anti-semitic, or being hostile to anyone who might be different from them, call them out'

March: Bella received backlash after she was seen taking part in a pro-Palestinian march in May 2021 (pictured) alongside a man arrested for allegedly beating a bystander in Times Square and calling him a 'filthy Jew'

'To my Jewish loved ones, the Jewish communities worldwide, I am here to say that you belong, you are worthy and your right as a human being is to be ALIVE.

'Just the same as any other race, religion, shape or size. No one can choose where they come from, what is in their blood, or who they are. And no one should be judged for the things they cannot control.

Bella also urged her fans to help stamp out anti-Semitism, writing: 'Again, to my followers, if you see ANYONE saying something anti-semitic, or being hostile to anyone who might be different from them, call them out. If they are acting on hate, call them out. Every. Time. Let them know there is no room for that kind of behavior in this world.

'To separate us would be the biggest downfall of all. We need to stand together always.

'The same way I expect hatred against "my" people, "your" people, or "their" people to be denounced, I will time and time again denounce ALL anti-semitism, worldwide.'

Bella was hit by a backlash last May after she attended the same pro-Palestinian protest as a man arrested for allegedly beating a bystander in Times Square last week and calling him a 'filthy Jew' - and posted a picture of him on her Instagram.

The model posted a picture of Waseem Awawdeh sitting on a car amid dozens of protestors in a procession on May 16, along with several other pictures and a video of herself at the rally in New York City.

In her post including a picture of Awawdeh among other protestors, Hadid wrote: 'The way my heart feels  To be around this many beautiful, smart, respectful, loving, kind and generous Palestinians all in one place... it feels whole! We are a rare breed!!'

Police say Awawdeh was among a gang of demonstrators who four days later punched a Jewish man to the pavement then pummeled him while he was down, yelling anti-Semitic epithets.

Photo: Bella posted a picture of Waseem Awawdeh (circled) sitting on a car amid dozens of demonstrators at a pro-Palestine protest on May 16 in New York City

Pictured: The NYPD later identified 23-year-old Waseem Awawdah as one of the suspects in the attack

He was charged with assault as a hate crime, gang assault, menacing, aggravated harassment as a hate crime and criminal possession of a weapon.

A source close to Hadid said she did not know the man, did not associate with him at the protest and condemns any anti-Semitic violence.

Video of the assault showed 29-year-old accountant Joseph Borgen left defenseless on the ground as he was battered by the angry mob outside of 1604 Broadway.

In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com at the time, Borgen said there were eight to 10 people taking part in the beatdown and they were shouting anti-Semitic slurs such as: 'You filthy Jew. We're going to f*****g kill you. Go back to Israel. Hamas is going to kill you.'

Bella was seen in photos and videos immersed in the crowd as she protested

In her post including a picture of Awawdeh among other protestors, Hadid wrote: 'The way my heart feels  To be around this many beautiful, smart, respectful, loving, kind and generous Palestinians all in one place... it feels whole! We are a rare breed!!'

Brooklyn-based Awawdeh, then 23, was arrested in connection with the attack y and was pictured being released from the 5th Precinct in handcuffs.

In her earlier May 16 post including a picture of Awawdeh among other protestors, Hadid wrote: 'The way my heart feels  To be around this many beautiful, smart, respectful, loving, kind and generous Palestinians all in one place... it feels whole! We are a rare breed!!'

She shared photographs of herself at the earlier, peaceful demonstration that paraded through the Bay Bridge neighborhood of Brooklyn, in a black and white bandana and burgundy face mask, sat on the back of a truck with other protestors waving Palestinian flags.

Hadid deleted the post after StopAntisemitism.org, an organization dedicated to tackling hate crimes against Jews, posted the picture on Twitter and identified Awawdeh

One photo shows Awawdeh perched on the hood of a Chevrolet truck in a black t-shirt and shorts and a headband in the Palestine flag colors, waving the crutch he later allegedly used to beat Borgen.

Stood with him on the car were a woman and three other men, one wearing a full face mask and beating a drum.

The Instagram post received over 4.5 million likes.

Hadid deleted the post after StopAntisemitism.org, an organization dedicated to tackling hate crimes against Jews, posted the picture on Twitter and identified Awawdeh.

'Horrific - @bellahadid caught protesting with Waseem Awawdeh, the same man that was arrested for brutally assaulting an innocent Orthodox Jewish man in NYC last night!' the organization wrote in the Tweet.

After Hadid deleted the picture, the organization called her out again, tweeting on Monday '@bellahadid you can delete/archive all the photos you want of your affiliation with Palestinian men that assault Jews in NYC but the internet is forever.'

'You're a Karen born with a silver spoon in your mouth': This comes after Kanye branded Gigi Hadid a 'zombie' as he took aim at the model again in a post on Friday as he continued their feud

A source with knowledge of Hadid's movements at the May 16 protest told DailyMail.com that she had no contact with Awawdeh and that she does not know him.

This comes after Kanye lashed out at Bella's older sister Gigi Hadid, 27, in another impassioned rant last week as he branded her a 'privileged Karen' and a 'zombie'.

The rapper and the supermodel have been caught up in a war of words this week after she leapt to the defence of Vogue contributing editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, who West had been accused of 'bullying' online.

In the latest exchange West lashed out as he shared a screenshot of a comment made by Gigi on Instagram in which she claimed the rapper did not treat 'V' like a friend.

While no further context was provided it appeared she was referencing late designer Virgil Abloh after West had been criticised for referencing the designer in his rants.

Gigi penned: 'Finally.... Thank u! Even people who knew him for a percentage of the time knew kanye did not treat V like a friend ++ V LOVED GKJ.... He's watching. [sic]'

Screengrabs: In the latest exchange West lashed out as he shared a screenshot of a comment made by Gigi on Instagram in which she claimed the rapper did not treat 'V' like a friend

In response Kanye shared in all caps: 'Im not finna get ran over by Hollywood again. Gigi you a privileged Karen.

'You were born with a silver spoon in your mouth. Youre a zombie. You speak up here but didnt speak up when my child was kidnapped on her birthday. [sic]'

Tensions between West and Hadid began brewing this week when the rapper took aim at stylist Karefa-Johnson after she criticised his controversial White Lives Matter clothing at his Paris Fashion Week show.

In his posts, West insulted Karefa-Johnson's style and scoffed 'this is not a fashion person', before going on to share the ominous text 'this means war'.

He also shared a text exchange with a person called Mowalola - presumably fashion designer Mowalola Ogunlesi who Ye picked to head up Yeezy Gap a few years ago - in which he has been urged 'not to insult' the writer.

The exchange prompted Hadid to comment that West didn't have 'a percentage of her intellect', and said there was 'no point to his s**t'.

Fuming: In response Kanye shared in all caps, 'Im not finna get ran over by Hollywood again. Gigi you a privileged Karen. 'You were born with a silver spoon in your mouth. Youre a zombie'

Hadid wrote: 'You wish u had a percentage of her intellect. You have no idea haha. If theres actually a point to any of your s**t she might be the only person that could save u. As if the honor of being invited to your show should keep someone from giving their opinion ..? Lol. Youre a bully and a joke.'

Hadid and Karefa-Johnson have worked together in the past, with the stylist telling ELLE earlier this year that she shares a 'true friendship' with the model and there is 'deep respect and trust' between them.

Hadid later added on her Story that Karefa-Johnson was 'one of the must important voices in our industry and could school that disgraceful man in more ways than he knows.'

She also shared a lengthy statement from Vogue writer Jose Criales-Unzueta who accused West of 'publicly bullying' the stylist and said of his latest collection 'It's not smart. It's not interesting. It's not nuanced. It's dangerous.'

This comes amid Kanye's recent suspensions on Instagram and Twitter in response to his anti-Semitic posts.

Warning: West later shared an image of text that read: 'Nobody say nothing to me in private that they wouldn't say in public. I'm not yall's personal hard drive [sic]', captioning the post: 'Jesus is king'

In a since-deleted tweet, he wrote, 'I'm a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I'm going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE.'

He added: 'The funny thing is I actually can't be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also. You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.'

He had returned to the social media platform after two years away after he was suspended on Instagram after he posted text messages allegedly sent to Diddy in which he accused the rapper-turned-mogul of being controlled by Jewish people who were trying to quash his 'White Lives Matter' message.

After he was suspended from Instagram  which is owned by Facebook's parent company Meta  the Monster rapper included a personal plea to Mark Zuckerberg on his Twitter.

''Look at this, Mark. How you gone kick me off Instagram. You use to be my n****,' he wrote, while adding a photo fo the two performing karaoke together.

West's anti-Semitic posts, which the American Jewish Committee has called 'dangerous,' were the latest in the line of offensive statements since he debuted a 'White Lives Matter' shirt at his Paris Fashion Week show.

He wore the shirt, along with several of his models walking the runway, and he was joined by the controversial right-wing commentator and provocateur Candace Owens, who wore a complementary design.

During an interview with Tucker Carlson, the rapper-turned-designer suggested that his shirt was nothing but a self-evident provocation that came from his 'connection with God.'

Fury: West caused outrage worldwide when he and Candace Owens wore the incendiary shirt at a fashion show

'I do certain things from a feeling, I just channel the energy. It feels right, hits using a gut instinct, connection with God and just brilliance,' he said, adding that the idea of him 'wearing the shirt was funny.'

He also said that his father, whom he claimed is a former Black Panthers member, agreed.

'I said, "Dad, why do you think it's funny?" and he said: "It's just a black man stating the obvious,"' he said during his interview with Carlson.

'That was my favorite response, because I kept thinking: People are looking for an explanation. And people say as an artist you have don't have to an explanation, but as a leader you do.'

Although West's statement that 'White Lives Matter' is just 'stating the obvious,' the same logic has not always been applied to the 'Black Lives Matter' movement's name by right-wing figures.

Leaked, unaired footage of Kanye's sit down with Fox News' Carlson show the rapper and fashion designer making further anti-Semitic comments, and spouting conspiracy theories.

Among the theories, West claimed 'fake' children were 'planted' in his home to influence his own four children. He also said that the late fashion designer Virgil Abhdol, who he called his 'best friend,' was killed by the Louis Vuitton company.

The leaked footage, published by Vice Tuesday, shows West going into tangents expounding on some of his more controversial thoughts that aired on television.

He also admitted to getting the COVID vaccine and being discouraged from publicly supporting Donald Trump during the last presidential election.

West has made headlines recently for anti-Semitic comments and his leaked answers to Carlson's questions only expand on those beliefs.

The rapper was shown to dislike Planned Parenthood in the cut that aired. In a leaked clip, however, West adds that the organization was created by Margaret Sanger, a known 'eugenics,' to 'control the Jew populations.'

West claims he means, 'When I say Jew, I mean the 12 lost tribes of Judah, the blood of Christ, who the people known as the race black really are. This is who our people are. The blood of Christ. This, as a Christian, is my belief.'

Sanger was a known racist and Planned Parenthood has disavowed her.

His claim about black people being the 'real' Jews is based in a belief associated with the Black Hebrew Israelites, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Orlando Bloom has opened up about his mental and physical struggles following a devastating 'near-death' accident as a teenager.

The 45-year-old actor made the disclosure in an Instagram video for UNICEF in support of World Mental Health Day on October 10.

In the clip, The Lord Of The Rings star described suffering a fall that nearly left him paralyzed.

Harrowing accident: 'When I was 19 I fell three floors from a window and broke my back. I was very fortunate to survive the fall because my spinal cord was still just intact,' Bloom said.

'When I was 19 I fell three floors from a window and broke my back. I was very fortunate to survive the fall because my spinal cord was still just intact,' Bloom said.

'And when I was in hospital, I was told for the first four days that I may never walk again.'

The ordeal led to much introspection for the British star and made him reassess some of his previous behaviors.

Recovery: Bloom underwent spinal surgery and intense physical therapy after which he wore a back brace

'That was really the beginning of what was a long and painful journey for me into recognizing and understanding some of the patterns that had been in my life that had led me to having numerous accidents,' he added.

'And the culmination was breaking my back, which was a near-death experience.'

Bloom underwent spinal surgery and intense physical therapy after which he wore a back brace. But the mental aspects of his recovery proved to be quite challenging as well.

Showing support: He shared an image riding a bike with a back brace after the accident in 1998

'I would say the months after the fall were quite a dark time,' the Carnival Row actor said. 'As somebody whod sort of always been very active in my life, it felt very restrictive all of a sudden and I was in a lot of pain.'

He continued: 'And I would say that, for me, the injury created time and space for me to look at my life, recognize what was good and great in my life, and the fact that I had this recovery, and then build that into the way that I live my life.

'Because mental health is particularly challenging because it's unseen.'

Looking back: Bloom said the accident made him reflect on 'some of the patterns that had been in my life that had led me to having numerous accidents', seen here in 2021

Bloom, who is engaged to pop star Katy Perry, finished by offering advice on how to 'transform the pain' into 'good fortune.'

'It is so important to reach out to people, to talk to people, to find somebody in order to create the possibility for communication that leads to transformation and change,' he shared.

'It starts with one moment, one conversation, it starts with one question, "What's on your mind?"'

Healthy outlook: 'It is so important to reach out to people... in order to create the possibility for communication that leads to transformation and change,' Bloom said in the video, seen here in 2021

Last year, Bloom discussed the accident by sharing a throwback photo riding a bike while wearing a back brace.

'Thats me in my back brace circa 1998 about 3months after I fell 3floors and crushed my spine, narrowly escaping death and paralysis,' he captioned the photo. 'Grateful everyday for my limbs that allow me to push my limits and live life on my edge (safer now).'

In September, the British actor was seen enjoying a leisurely bike ride alongside Perry, 37, and their two-year-old daughter Daisy in Montecito, California.

Better days: Bloom and fiancee Katy Perry at the Carnival Row premiere in 2019

Also joining the family excursion was Bloom's son Flynn, 11, from his relationship with Australian model Miranda Kerr, 39.

The actor will next be seen in the film adaptation of Gran Turismo opposite Stranger Things star David Harbour.

The production is based on a true story, following a teenage Gran Turismo player who used his gaming skills to become a professional racecar driver.
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Emily Ratajkowski shared a stunning new image to Instagram on Wednesday where her bottom was the focus. The star, 31, was modeling a new leopard print swimsuit with a thong back from her Inamorata brand.

The day before the brunette pinup was seen in several new images shares to Instagram on Tuesday as she hawked the new leopard print underthings that included a bra, panties and dress.

This post comes just as she announced the launch of her new podcast called High Low with Em Rata.

In the swim: Emily Ratajkowski shared a stunning new image to Instagram on Wednesday where her bottom was the focus. The star, 31, was modeling a new leopard print swimsuit with a thong back from her Inamorata brand

'That's right, I finally have a podcast,' the star wrote in her caption.

'Now introducing: HIGH LOW! Two episodes each week: every Tuesday, Ill host an intimate conversation with a special guest, including celebrities, incredible authors, close friends and people I admire.

'Every Thursday, Ill bring you a monologue episode, where Ill pick a theme or a question Im interested in and get into itdiscussing everything from politics and feminism to sex and Tik Tok.

Listen up: This post comes just as she announced the launch of her new podcast called High Low with Em Rata. 'That's right, I finally have a podcast,' the star wrote in her caption. 'Now introducing: HIGH LOW! Two episodes each week: every Tuesday, Ill host an intimate conversation with a special guest, including celebrities, incredible authors, close friends'

'Im really f***ing excited! Coming Nov 1.'

The single star - who is rumoured to be dating Brad Pitt as she divorces husband Sebastian Bear-McClard - has been seen in several new sizzling hot images for the leopard print line.

On Tuesday she wore her dark hair down over her bare shoulders as she oozed sensuality in a collection of snaps.

All good: Ratajkowski has released a new collection for her lingerie and swimwear line Inamorata just in time for autumn

In some of the new images she had on a push-up bra with small, low on the hips briefs.

And in another shot, the New York City resident had on a very sheer dress that hugged her very tiny waistline and hips. Underneath was a matching bra.

Last week Emily wore a bra and panties with the same leopard print design while in her new apartment which she secured after leaving Sebastian amid claims he had cheated.

She has a bustling career: The 31-year-old brunette pinup was seen in several new images shares to Instagram on Tuesday as she hawked the new leopard print underthings that included a bra, panties and dress

Sheer brilliance: In this image Emily is showing off the sheer dress over her leopard print bra

Ratajkowski appears to have come out as bisexual on TikTok.

The model, 31, responded to a video on Monday that asked those who 'identify as bisexual' if they 'own a green velvet couch'.

Emily, who has filed for divorce from her estranged husband Bear-McClard, then showed off her green velvet couch.

It prompted fans to fill the comments section of her post with congratulations for 'coming out' as being attracted to men and women, with many declaring: 'Yet another win for the ladies.'

Emily's apparent admission to being bisexual comes as celebrities including Madonna and Shay Mitchell appeared to admit they were part of the LGBT+ community ahead of 'National Coming Out Day' on October 11th.

It comes amid rumours she is dating Brad Pitt, 58, after the pair were reported to be 'spending a lot of time' in each other's company.

Posed: Inamorata is a brand designed by Ratajkowski that launched as a swimwear line. In 2017, Harper's Bazaar UK published a story about Ratajkowski's impending release of her own swimwear brand after Emrata Holdings LLC acquired the trademark to Inamorata in August 2017

New from Em Rat: The single star - who is rumoured to be dating Brad Pitt as she divorces husband Sebastian Bear-McClard - wore her dark hair down over her bare shoulders as she oozed sensuality

She will never go out of style: Emily has a timeless beauty in line with Audrey Hepburn and Ali MacGraw

A source told People: 'Friends aren't sure if it's serious. They don't appear to be 'dating' formally.'

It emerged in September Emily had officially filed for divorce from her ex-husband Sebastian amid allegations he cheated on her.

She lodged a filing to end their four-year marriage at Manhattan's Supreme Court, after the couple first split in July amidst reports film producer Sebastian, with whom Emily shares 19-month-old son Sylvester Apollo Bear, was a 'serial' cheat.

A source close to the model confirmed the split to People in July and said Emily was focused on parenting.

The insider was quoted saying: 'They split recently. It was Em's decision. She is doing OK.

'She is strong and focused on her son. She loves being a mum.'

Neither Emily nor Sebastian have not yet commented publicly on the state of their relationship.

Another look: Last week Emily wore a bra and panties with the same leopard print design while in her new apartment which she secured after leaving Sebastian amid claims he had cheated

They married at a New York court on February 23, 2018, with Emily confirming the news with the Instagram post: 'Sooo, I have a surprise, I got married today.'

She later said she only took '30 seconds' to decide she wanted to marry the Uncut Gems producer.

In October 2020, the pair announced they were expecting their first child together, but Emily declared it was 'something a woman does by herself, inside her body, no matter what her circumstances may be'.

She added: 'Despite having a loving partner and many female friends ready to share the gritty details of their pregnancies, I am ultimately alone with my body in this experience.

'There is no one to feel it with me  the sharp muscular aches in my lower abdomen that come out of nowhere while I'm watching a movie or the painful heaviness of my breasts that now greets me first thing every morning.

'My husband has no physical symptoms in 'our' pregnancy  another reminder of how different a woman and man's experience of life can be.'
While Lea Michele is currently receiving rave reviews for her turn on Funny Girl, don't expect her former co-star Chris Colfer to be among those flocking to the show.

The actor, who starred opposite Lea in Glee from 2009 to 2015, threw some serious shade at Lea when asked if he would be checking out the musical while in New York City.

Chris joked his day suddenly 'got full' after Michelle Collins suggested he check out Funny Girl, more than two years after Lea came under fire for alleged bullying behavior on the set of Glee.

'I can be triggered at home': Chris Colfer has no interest in seeing former Glee co-star Lea Michele in Funny Girl

'By the way, Chrissy, guess what I'm doing tonight? Oh my God, you should come if you're here,' Michelle asked during an interview with Chris on her show, The Michelle Collins Show.

'Oh no, are you seeing Funny Girl?' Chris asked Michelle.

'I am,' Michelle replied.

'Oh,' Chris replied in a deflated tone before adding, 'My day suddenly just got so full.'

Broadway sensation: Michele has been earning rave reviews for her role as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl

'Wait, no! Wow! Chris!' Michelle exclaimed. 'I saw it with Beanie, so I feel it's only right that I see it with Lea!'

'I saw Six last night, and that was amazing,' Chris said, referencing the Broadway show Six.

'So, you're not seeing [Funny Girl] is my guess, while you're in town?' Michelle asked.

'No, I can be triggered at home,' he replied.

It's a hit: Colfer starred opposite Lea in Glee from 2009 to 2015; pictured with Michele and the late Naya Rivera

Lea has been receiving glowing reviews for her portrayal of comedienne Fanny Brice in Funny Girl ever since taking over the role following Beanie Feldstein's departure over the summer.

Funny Girl is a musical with score by Jule Styne, lyrics by Bob Merrill, and book by Isobel Lennart, that first opened on Broadway in 1964 and starred Barbra Streisand in the lead role.

Chris isn't the only former cast member from Glee opting to not watch Lea on the show.

Last month, Kevin McHale admitted he wouldn't be checking out the musical either.

Role of a lifetime: Lea, pictured performing on Good Morning America, is inhabiting the role made famous by Barbra Streisand

Speaking with E! News the actor, 34, admitted 'I don't have any plans [to see Funny Girl].'

He added that he hasn't spoken to Michele, 36 - who succeeded Beanie Feldstein, 29, in the production earlier this month - in a long time.

However he acknowledged Lea's talent and star power elsewhere in the interview as well.

'She's obviously extremely, extremely talented,' he gushed in his sit-down with the news outlet.

Not going either: Lea's former Glee co-star Kevin McHale, center, also does not plan on watching Funny Girl

'I'm sure she's f***ing phenomenal in it. Are you kidding me? She could do the role in her sleep,' he praised.

Lea landed at the center of controversy in 2020 after former Glee actress Samantha Ware alleged the actress made her time on the show a 'living hell.'

After Lea shared a post responding to the death of George Floyd, Samantha tweeted: 'Remember when you made my first television gig a living hell?!?!... 'Cause I'll never forget... I believe you told everyone that if you had the opportunity you would 's*** in my wig!' amongst other traumatic microaggressions that made me question a career in Hollywood.'

The tweet opened the floodgates and numerous other stars came forward with their own recollections of alleged bad behavior from Lea.
Eva Mendes wished her mom a happy birthday on Wednesday via her Instagram.

The actress, 48, shared a sweet montage of snaps of her mother Eva Perez Suarez with a thoughtful caption.

'Feliz Cumpleanos Mami!' Eva wrote, which means Happy Birthday Mommy! in Spanish, adding: 'No post could ever come close to expressing what I feel for you, so I'll keep it light... I love you!'

Sweet: Eva Mendes wished her mom a happy birthday on Wednesday via her Instagram. The actress, 48, shared a sweet montage of snaps of her mother with a thoughtful caption

The mother of two added 'Besitos!' which means kisses, ending it with 'Love, Mimi,' with a black heart.

Eva shared a video montage of photos of her and her mother over the years, including childhood images.

The sweet snap comes five months after Eva tearfully revealed her mom was not doing well with her health.

During a May 2022 appearance on the Today Show With Hoda & Jenna, Eva got emotional after Hoda said she knew the actress wanted to wish her own mother a Happy Mother's Day.

Family is everything: 'Feliz Cumpleanos Mami!' Eva wrote, which means Happy Birthday Mommy! in Spanish, adding: 'No post could ever come close to expressing what I feel for you, so I'll keep it light... I love you!'

Happy: The mother of two added 'Besitos!' which means kisses, ending it with 'Love, Mimi,' with a black heart

Throwback: Eva shared a video montage of photos of her and her mother over the years, including childhood images

Hoda then said she wanted to wish Eva's mom a Happy Mother's Day as well on behalf of everyone at the Today show.

Eva got emotional and then said during her appearance: 'She's not doing too well right now, so, it means a lot to me. She's a survivor in every way, thank you.'

Eva lost her brother Juan Carlos Mendez on April 17, 2016 after his battle with cancer. He was 53.

Sweet: Eva seen with her mom in another snap

Family: Eva pictured with her mom in another photo

Eva has two children with her partner Ryan Gosling, 41: daughters Esmeralda Amada, eight, and Amada Lee, six.

The good looking duo began dating September 2011 after working together on the film The Place Beyond The Pines.

Ryan and Eva were friends for a 'long time' prior to their romantic relationship.

At the time, a source told Us Weekly that there has 'always been this strong chemistry between them.. this was just a matter of time!'

In character: The good looking duo began dating September 2011 after working together on the film The Place Beyond The Pines; seen in the film

In early September 2011, the duo were spotted packing on the PDA during a date night to Disneyland in Anaheim.

By the following September, the genetically blessed couple made their red carpet debut at the Toronto International Film Festival premiere of The Place Beyond The Pines.

In September 2014, Eva and Ryan welcomed their first child together, Esmeralda Amada, now six.

Making it official: By the following September, the genetically blessed couple made their red carpet debut at the Toronto International Film Festival premiere of The Place Beyond The Pines; pictured September 7, 2012 at the Toronto International Film Festival

They welcomed their second child, daughter Amada Lee, now five, in April 2016.

In December 2015, Ryan was asked what he seeks in a woman, to which he sweetly answered: 'I know that I'm with the person I'm supposed to be with... that she's Eva Mendes. There's nothing else I'm looking for,' during an interview with Hello magazine.

In April 2019, Eva revealed that she didn't want kids before meeting Ryan, revealing to Women's Health: 'Ryan Gosling happened. I mean, falling in love with him. Then it made sense for me to have... not kids, but his kids. It was very specific to him.'

The Hitch star further elaborated in October 2020 when speaking to radio station Nova 96.9's Fitzy & Wippa: 'I never wanted babies before until I fell in love with Ryan, and it kind of worked out to where I was 40 and having my first baby.'

Adding: 'I think I was 42 for the second one, so it worked out in that way that I had a career and then I change my focus to my family.'

The sweetest: In December 2015, Ryan was asked what he seeks in a woman, to which he sweetly answered: 'I know that I'm with the person I'm supposed to be with... that she's Eva Mendes. There's nothing else I'm looking for,' during an interview with Hello magazine; pictured together on March 28, 2013 at The Place Beyond The Pines film premiere
Jason Dovonovan's actress daughter Jemma has joined the cast of Hollyoaks following her three-year stint as Harlow Robinson in axed Aussie soap neighbours.

The actress, 22, will be taking on the role of Rayne, an outgoing party girl and social media influencer.

The character will be moving to the village with her childhood best friend, as the pair are set to cause mischief with the younger residents of the Cheshire village.

Casting: Jason Dovonovan's actress daughter Jemma has joined the cast of Hollyoaks following her three year stint as Harlow Robinson in axed Aussie soap neighbours

Jemma gushed: 'I am thrilled to be joining the cast of Hollyoaks! I'm so grateful for this opportunity to be able to bring something unique and fun to a new role and I can't wait to be a part of the Hollyoaks family.'

Rayne and her pal will soon befriend the likes of Romeo (Owen Warner), Prince (Malique Thompson-Dwyer), and Yazz (Haiesha Mistry).

It comes after Amanda Holden said fans were stunned to find out Jemma was not her own as the pair filmed scenes for Neighbours together earlier this year.

She gushed: 'I am thrilled to be joining the cast of Hollyoaks! I'm so grateful for this opportunity to be able to bring something unique and fun to a role' (pictured with dad Jason)

Britain's Got Talent judge Amanda, 51, appeared in a guest role as Aunt Harriet in the now defunct soap, with playing her niece Harlow.

And Amanda, who is mother to daughters Alexa, 15, and Hollie, nine, claims onlookers were surprised to learn they were not related, with the star saying she and Jemma share 'quite high foreheads and little round faces'.

She said: 'The amount of times people stopped to ask, "Is that your daughter, Amanda?". We do look quite similar.

Soap star: She previously played the role of Harlow in Neighbours and featured in many high profile storylines

'We've both got kind of quite high foreheads and little round faces!

'She's just so cool and so sweet, and I know her dad, obviously, very well. I love him and the whole family, so it was just so brilliant to be part of it all. And just so camp!'

Jemma was reunited with her father Jason, 54, and grandfather Terrence when the three reprised their roles on the soap opera's finale in August.

Shock: It comes after Amanda Holden said fans were stunned to find out Jemma was not her own as the pair filmed scenes for Neighbours together earlier this year

Jason's appearance marked his first time on Ramsay Street since his character Scott Robinson moved to Brisbane in 1989.

His father, Breaker Morant star Terence Donovan, 79, also returned as his Doug Willis character one last time, a role he has played on and off since 1990.

Terence told the Herald Sun he loved the series because it helped many up-and-coming actors get their feet wet.

'It's done wonderful things to put a bit of Australia on the screens of the world,' he told the publication.

Family: Jemma was reunited with her father Jason, 54, and grandfather Terrence when the three reprised their roles on the soap opera's finale in August

'It's a good thing, and Jason and Kylie Minogue appreciate the opportunities that this show gave them,' he added.

The beleaguered soap opera faced an uncertain future following its cancellation by original network Channel 5, where it has spent the last 14 of its 37-years on British TV.

And Fremantle Media, the production company responsible for its development confirmed it would be taken off-air after an 'extensive search for alternative funding' was unsuccessful.

But in the 80s the show was unstoppable with Kylie and Jason's onscreen wedding as Scott and Charlene watched by two million Australians on July 1, 1987.
Jamie Lee Curtis got emotional while attending her hand and footprint ceremony at the legendary TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on Wednesday.

The Halloween Ends star, 63, teared up at the event while sitting next to her husband Christopher Guest, 74, and was later comforted by her True Lies co-star Arnold Schwarzenegger, 75, as they reunited 28-years after their action flick was released.

The cinema icon was also supported by other A-list friends including her Halloween franchise co-star Kyle Richards, 53, and actress Melanie Griffith, 65.

Emotional: Jamie Lee Curtis got emotional while attending her hand and footprint ceremony on Wednesday, at the legendary TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood

Reunion! The Halloween Ends star, 63, was comforted by her True Lies co-star Arnold Schwarzenegger, 75

The TCL Chinese Theatre handprints-footprints tribute has been a prestigious Hollywood honor for the past 95 years, with previous honorees including Joan Crawford, Judy Garland, Bette Davis, Ava Gardner, Elizabeth Taylor, and Sophia Loren.

Curtis was the epitome of chic for the event, wearing a cream pantsuit over a white top, which she paired with stylish nude kitten heels.

The author and activist accessorized the look with wire rim eyeglasses as well as a classic silver watch.

Tearing up: She teared up during the event while sitting next to her husband Christopher Guest, 74

Well deserved: The star continued to look humbled by the special ceremony

Footprint: Jamie was assisted by two gentlemen as she made her footprints in the cement block

She wore her short silver hair styled effortlessly to the side, and sported minimal makeup.

Her husband matched her in a classy look of his own, sporting a navy suit and a pair of sunglasses.

Aside from her husband, Jamie was also supported by the couple's kids, Ruby, 26, and Annie, 35.

Chic: Curtis was the epitome of chic for the event, wearing a cream pantsuit over a white top, which she paired with stylish nude kitten heels

Prestigious: The TCL Chinese Theatre handprints-footprints tribute has been a prestigious Hollywood honor for the past 95 years

Having fun with it: The actress goofed off while posing in front of the cement block

Showing off: She showed off her hands after dipping them into the cement

Meanwhile Arnold looked sharp in a black blazer over a black button up, and a pair of dark blue jeans held up by a belt with a large gold buckle.

The former California Governor was seen giving his old co-star a kiss on the cheek at the event.

The Terminator star sat next to Griffith in the audience, and was seen engaging in a friendly chat.

Smooch: The former California governor gave her a comforting smooch at the ceremony

Looking sharp: Arnold looked sharp in a black blazer over a black button up, and a pair of dark blue jeans held up by a belt with a large gold buckle

Aww! The duo played a married couple in the spy action comedy film, which came out 28 years ago; Pictured in a 1994 still from True Lies

Speech: Arnold was also seen giving a speech at the event

With Mel: The Terminator star sat next to Melanie Griffith, 65, in the audience

Chatting it up: Arnold was seen chatting with the Lolita star

Richards looked chic in a black and white plaid blazer worn over a v-neck top, and black leather pants.

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star coordinated her pants with black gloves which kept her hands warm.

She wore her brunette tresses parted in the middle and style into loose curls, and accessorized with a gold necklace.

Co-stars: She was also supported by other A-list friends including her Halloween franchise co-star Kyle Richards, 53

Plaid: Richards looked chic in a black and white plaid blazer worn over a v-neck top, and black leather pants

Stylish: The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star coordinated her pants with black gloves which kept her hands warm

All there: She was seen sitting in the audience next to Halloween Ends co-star Andi Matichak, who looked chic in a grey plaid dress and gold and white heels

Richards featured in the original Halloween film as a child actress in 1978, made her grand return to the franchise with this new movie's prequel Halloween Kills and is now back for the final installment.

She was seen sitting in the audience next to Halloween Ends co-star Andi Matichak, who looked chic in a grey plaid dress and gold and white heels.

Griffith opted for a similar ensemble, wearing a plaid grey suit over a black turtleneck.

Autumn style: Griffith opted for a plaid grey suit over a black turtleneck and had classy red polish on her nails

Hug: The gal pals were seen giving each other a warm hug

Warm embrace: Griffith was a show of support for the emotional Jamie

Blondie: The actress wore her blonde tresses in a straight style

The Lolita star wore her blonde tresses in a straight style and had classy red polish on her nails.

Jamie discussed the ceremony while appearing on Tuesday's episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC.

'It's very exciting,' she said.

Stunner: Jamie was seen giving a speech at the event

Lovely: She was seen tenderly glancing at her husband at one point

Wouldn't watch it: Jamie said her and Christopher wouldn't want Halloween if she wasn't in it: 'No. I wouldn't. Neither would Christopher Guest. No, we don't choose to subject ourselves to that level of tension'

Proud parents: Aside from her husband, Jamie was also supported by the couple's kids, Ruby (L) and Annie (R)

Happy family: The family looked thrilled while posing together in front of a Halloween Ends poster

When Jimmy wanted to know if she planned on taking off her shoes, she replied: 'They actually ask you to leave your shoes.'

'The barefoot thing also is a little weird. Also, the concrete shrinks which is why all of us think that old timey movie stars had really, really tiny feet.'

Jamie also revealed that she personally wouldn't go and see the Halloween movies if she wasn't in them.

Thrilled: Jamie looked thrilled during the ceremony, throwing her hands up in the air

Icon: Curtis made her film debut in the 1978 film Halloween portraying high school student Laurie Strode who becomes targeted by serial killer Michael Myers

Coming this Friday: Halloween Ends will be released in theaters on Friday by Universal Pictures and also will be available for streaming simultaneously on paid tiers of the Peacock streaming service for 60 days.

'No. I wouldn't. Neither would Christopher Guest. No, we don't choose to subject ourselves to that level of tension,' she said referencing her husband.

Curtis made her film debut in the 1978 film Halloween portraying high school student Laurie Strode who becomes targeted by serial killer Michael Myers.

Halloween Ends will be released in theaters on Friday by Universal Pictures and also will be available for streaming simultaneously on paid tiers of the Peacock streaming service for 60 days.
Bruce Willis was reunited with his former costar John Travolta in the action-packed trailer for their upcoming film Paradise City.

The action film, which will be released on November 11, is one of several that Willis, 67, completed before his family announced in March that he was retiring from acting after being diagnosed with aphasia.

The movie also appears to be the first major collaboration between Willis and Travolta, 68, in a feature film since they starred in Quentin Tarantino's 1994 crime classic Pulp Fiction.

New movie: Bruce Willis, 67, was reunited with his former costar John Travolta, 68, in the action-packed trailer for their upcoming film Paradise City. The film is one of several Willis completed before announcing his retirement in March due to an aphasia diagnosis

Willis stars in the film as an aging bounty hunter taking on one of his most dangerous missions yet in Hawaii. After he is shot and presumed dead, his son Ryan (Blake Jenner) teams up with his father's former partner (Stephen Dorff) to hunt down his killers, all while dealing with a sadistic crime lord (Travolta).

The trailer, which was released on Wednesday, opens with Willis on a gorgeous Hawaiian coast as he pushes a man with a black bag over his head.

Then a group of armed men suddenly drive up to a hill overlooking the beach, and Willis turns to face them with the hooded man on the ground at his feet.

'My name is Ian Swan. This man is my prisoner!' he shouts at the men as they train guns on him.

Reunited and it feels so good: Paradise City is the first major collaboration between Willis and Travolta in a feature film since they starred in Quentin Tarantino's 1994 crime classic Pulp Fiction; seen together in a behind-the-scenes photo from the Pulp Fiction set

Taking the law in his own hands: Willis plays the bounty hunter Ian Swan, who is confronted by armed men while taking a prisoner on a Hawaiian beach

Showdown: He holds a hand gun to the masked man's head, but then the men surrounding them open fire, so he trains his assault rifle at them and begins picking them off one by one, even as he appears to have been shot

He holds a hand gun to the masked man's head, but then the men surrounding them open fire, so he trains his assault rifle at them and begins picking them off one by one.

Swan appears to have been shot based on a bloody circle on his white shirt, and the action cuts away, suggesting he may not have survived the fire fight.

The action cuts to his son Ryan Swan (Jenner) meeting up with Dorff's character Robbie Cole in hopes of avenging his father.

They're also joined by a detective (Praya Lundberg) who is joining in on the case.

After Ryan brawls with some of the other men working with Robbie, they reach a detente.

'Your dad and I used to work together. He made a lot of enemies,' Robbie says.

New blood: The action cuts to his son Ryan Swan (Blake Jenner) meeting up with Stephen Dorff's character Robbie Cole in hopes of avenging his father

Colleagues: 'Your dad and I used to work together. He made a lot of enemies,' Robbie says

'He was tracking a real whale of a bounty,' he continues, as Travolta's crime lord is first seen on screen.

He's seen in flashback having a drink with Willis' character.

'Are you dangerous?' Travolta asks.

'Not to my friends,' Willis replies.

'Well that's too bad, because I have enough friends.'

Dorff's character then reveals that Travolta's character runs the 'biggest meth operation in the Midwest.'

Around a campfire, Willis adds that he 'helped make Maui the international drug port,' while Travolta is seen throwing a party.

The bad guy: 'He was tracking a real whale of a bounty,' he continues, as Travolta's crime lord is first seen on screen. Dorff's character reveals that Travolta's character runs the 'biggest meth operation in the Midwest'

Bad news: Around a campfire, Willis adds that he 'helped make Maui the international drug port,' while Travolta is seen throwing a party

Advice: Travolta and the younger Swan then have a meeting in a car, where he advises him to leave 'this island and never come back.'

Travolta and the younger Swan then have a meeting in a car, where he advises him to leave 'this island and never come back.'

He doesn't take his advice, however, and Ryan is seen driving up to an island on a yellow speed boat, with the detective accompanying him in a pink bikini.

Next, he is disguised as a member of one of Travolta's parties as he beats a man unconscious so that he falls into a pool.

Travolta's character appears to have captured Robbie in the meantime, and he has one of his henchmen punch him while he's seated across from him at a table.

Back for more: He doesn't take his advice, however, and tries to track him down

Arrival: Ryan is seen driving up to an island on a yellow speed boat, with the detective accompanying him in a pink bikini

Fist fight: Next, he is disguised as a member of one of Travolta's parties as he beats a man unconscious so that he falls into a pool

In a bad position: Travolta's character appears to have captured Robbie in the meantime, and he has one of his henchmen punch him while he's seated across from him at a table

The trailer then ends with quick cuts of actions scenes, leading to a man being thrown from a high balcony.

It is capped off with a confrontation on the beach between Willis and Travolta, with both drawing guns.

'Are you too stupid to die? You've been chasing me for 10 years,' Travolta says.

'I'm a little OCD,' Willis jokes as the trailer ends.

Paradise City will be released in theaters and digitally on November 11.

The big gundown: It is capped off with a confrontation on the beach between Willis and Travolta, with both drawing guns. 'Are you too stupid to die? You've been chasing me for 10 years,' Travolta says. 'I'm a little OCD,' Willis jokes
Meadow Walker was seen sobbing as she walked away from her husband Louis Thornton-Allan during date at a restaurant in New York City on Tuesday.

The 23-year-old daughter of the late Paul Walker, who celebrated her one-year-wedding anniversary with actor Louis, 24, last week, broke down in tears at the table, before walking away from her spouse.

A tearful Meadow was seen crouching down in a doorway before returning to her husband at the table.

Tears: Meadow Walker was seen sobbing as she walked away from her husband Louis Thornton-Allan during date at a restaurant in New York City on Tuesday

On Tuesday, Meadow and Louis shared a cryptic Instagram exchange, after he posted a photo of himself underneath an statue, which hung close to his head.

He captioned the post: 'Please break please break please' to which Meadow responded: 'I dont like this caption. NEVER BREAK NEVER BREAK.'

Dailymail.com has contacted representatives for the pair for comment.

Sobbing: The 23-year-old who celebrated her one-year-wedding anniversary with actor Louis, 24, last week, broke down in tears at the table, before walking away from her spouse

Tragic loss: Meadow is the only daughter of the late actor Paul Walker, who died in a car crash aged 40 in 2013

Chat: Meadow was seen in conversation with her husband before walking away

Leaving: The star was seen walking away from the table in floods of tears

Upsetting: A tearful Meadow was seen crouching down in a doorway before returning to her husband at the table

This comes days after Meadow took to Instagram on Sunday to wish her husband a happy one-year anniversary.

'Happy anniversary my love! One year married to you,' she wrote on a fairly dark image that shows the loving couple hugging amid the backdrop of what appears to be an outdoor horse stable.

On her Instagram stories, the beauty posted a picture of her husband smiling in a grey and white jacket with his hair messed up, captioned, 'ONE YEAR' with a red heart.

RIP : Paul was best known for his role as Brian O'Conner in the Fast & Furious franchise (pictured in 2005)

What happened? Meadow cried as she left her husband at the table

Tears: Meadow was seen sobbing in a doorway away from the restaurant

Return: Meadow returned to the alfresco table where Louis was sat

Devastated: Meadow was holding back tears as she rejoined her husband

Mystery: On Tuesday, Meadow and Louis shared a cryptic Instagram exchange, after he posted a photo of himself underneath an statue, which hung close to his head

She also shared a lovely video from their wedding last year.

Meadow and her husband became engaged in August 2021, and tied the knot three months later in October in the Dominican Republic.

The model and actor have been spotted recently looking very much in love as they walked their Goldendoodle around Manhattan.

The model is the only daughter of the late Fast & Furious actor Paul Walker who died in 2013 at the age of 40, following a car crash.

Paul's Fast & Furious co-star, Vin Diesel, walked Meadow down the aisle. The actor is also her godfather and the two remain very close.

Emotion: The model was seen crying in a doorway during the day

Sighting: Meadow walked down the street in tears

Post: Meadow took to Instagram on Sunday to wish her husband happy one-year anniversary

Picture-perfect: She also shared a video from their wedding last year

During an interview with Extra TV, Vin opened up about his relationship with Meadow since Paul's tragic passing almost 10 years ago in 2013 due to a car accident.

'She takes good care of me, to be honest,' the actor stated. 'She is the first person on Father's Day to wish me Happy Father's Day...I feel very protective.'

A source close to the model opened up to Us Weekly, and expressed, 'Meadow counts Vin and his kids as family and will talk to them on days shes struggling, and she has their backs too.'

Meadow took over her father's charitable organization, The Paul Walker Foundation, which also gives scholarships to marine biologists.
Colin Firth cosied up to girlfriend Maggie Cohn as they graced the red carpet at the Empire Of Light premiere during the London Film Festival on Wednesday.

The actor, 62, cut a dapper figure in a smart black suit as he joined the statuesque stunner at the swanky event.

The Mail on Sunday revealed in February the Oscar-winner was dating the US screenwriter after they fell for each other on the set of his latest drama, The Staircase.

Lovebirds: Colin Firth, 62, cosied up to his new love interest Maggie Cohn as they graced the red carpet at the Empire Of Light premiere during the London Film Festival on Wednesday

Colin layered his perfectly tailored jacket over a crisp white shirt which he wore open at the neck.

Completing the look with shiny dress shoes, he gazed through black rimmed spectacles.

Maggie also pulled out all the stops for the evening, looking elegant in a black midi dress with a modest peephole detail.

Smart: The actor cut a dapper figure in a smart black suit as he joined the statuesque stunner at the swanky event

Handsome: Colin layered his perfectly tailored jacket over a crisp white shirt which he wore open at the neck

The beauty boosted her height with towering black heels, while her brunette tresses were styled into a chic bun.

She carried the black colour story into her manicure and toted a matching crocodile skin clutch.

The couple appeared in good spirits as they posed for the cameras before taking their seat inside the venue.

Stunner: Maggie also pulled out all the stops for the evening, looking elegant in a black midi dress with a modest peephole detail

Chic: The beauty boosted her height with towering black heels, while her brunette tresses were styled into a chic bun

Over here! The couple beamed as they made their way inside the swanky screening

Directed by Sam Mendes, Empire Of Light also stars Olivia Colman and is a love story 'set around a beautiful old cinema on the South Coast of England in the 1980s'.

Los Angeles-based Maggie is a sought-after screenwriter who has won major awards for American Crime Story from the Writers Guild of America and the Producers Guild of America.

She has also written episodes of the popular Netflix crime drama Narcos: Mexico.

Specs: Completing the look with shiny dress shoes, he gazed through black rimmed spectacles

Gorgeous: Olivia Colman wowed in the stunning gown which featured diamante detailing along the decolletage area and sleeves, while a sweeping black cape hung elegantly at the back

Fans:The Bridget Jones favourite was inundated with attention from fans

Exciting: The stars looked delighted as they signed a plethora of autographs for the crowd

Chit chat: Olivia shared a giggle with Colin and Sam on the red carpet

All-star cast: The cast and crew gathered for a group snap on the red carpet (L-R Colin Firth, Toby Jones, Pippa Harris, Tanya Moodie, Director Sam Mendes, Olivia Colman, Crystal Clarke, Monica Dolan, Hannah Onslow, Micheal Ward and Tom Brooke

What an entrance: Olivia (left) looked sensational in her all black ensemble as she made her way across the stage where she was joined by Colin (right)

The couple spent months working on The Staircase, a crime drama written by Maggie as a TV mini-series and based on the 2004 true crime docu-series of the same name.

Colin plays the lead role of Michael Peterson, a writer convicted of murdering his wife Kathleen Peterson, portrayed by Toni Collette, who was found dead at the bottom of the staircase in their home.

After splitting from ex-wife Livia Giuggioli in 2019, the MoS revealed that the Love Actually star had grown close to BBC newsreader Joanna Gosling after they were spotted on a stroll in a London park.

Earlier: Earlier in the evening the Oscar winner was spotted as he left his swanky Hotel for the event

Smart: Colin made his way towards a chauffeur driven car that drove him to the event

One to watch: Directed by Sam Mendes, Empire Of Light is a love story 'set around a beautiful old cinema on the South Coast of England in the 1980s'

Announcing their split after 22 years of marriage, Colin and his estranged wife insisted they would 'remain united' in their love for their sons.

The actor, who won an Oscar in 2011 for his performance in The King's Speech, remained at the family's 4 million family home in Chiswick, West London, while Livia has spent much of the time since then back in Italy.

Their separation came after Livia, 52, admitted an affair with a childhood friend. Colin also has a son with Meg Tilly, his co-star in the film Valmont.

Empire Of Light will be released in UK cinemas on January 13, 2023.
Renault Chairman Luca de Meo introduces the company strategy for the region during a press conference held in Seoul, Tuesday. / Courtesy of Renault Korea





By Kim Hyun-bin







French carmaker Renault has selected Korea to become its export hub for its large vehicle lineup despite suffering continuous labor-management conflicts and low brand recognition in the country.







In the Korean market this year, Renault sold only 39,487 vehicles from January to September, placing it in fourth place with a mere 3.9 percent market share. Renault's labor union is known to have challenged management by conducting strikes for three consecutive years until last year. This year, Renault Korea's labor union and management successfully completed wage negotiations without a strike for the first time in four years.







Despite the difficulties, Renault Chairman Luca de Meo said during a press conference held Tuesday that Korea will become the French carmaker's export hub supplying not just the Asian region but also Europe.







"We have a new lineup of large cars offering premium features and industry-leading tech. We want to make Korea into a key export hub for the large segments," Meo said.







Korea has not been a pleasant market for foreign automakers  excluding luxury brands  and the question lies in why Renault is so eager to expand and increase its base here in the country when in the past there were even rumors of the company withdrawing its business from the Korean market.







"Making it an export hub could mean a fall in the number of vehicles allocated for the domestic market as the plant becomes export-oriented, which can be criticized for neglecting Korean consumers. However, as domestic sales are currently low, the company seems to be hoping to preserve local jobs with increased exports," an industry official said.







When high-ranking key personnel such as Meo visit the country, it is usually interpreted as a sign of high expectations for the business here.







After years of sluggish profitability, Renault Korea seems to be making some profits through its XM3 exports to the European market. The XM3 model was developed through Renault Korea's active participation in the R&D process.







A total of 56,719 XM3 vehicles, produced at Renault Korea's Busan plant, were exported last year. This year, 73,403 vehicles were exported through September, already exceeding last year's performance.







To fuel future growth better, the chairman announced that the company will invest hundreds of millions of euros in Korea over the next six years, mainly in the R&D field.







In addition, there is increased cooperation between Renault Korea and Geely Auto, a major Chinese carmaker.







Geely acquired a 34 percent stake in Renault Korea this year and became its second-largest shareholder. The two companies announced a plan to jointly develop a hybrid car and produce it at the Busan plant in 2024.







"If the cooperative project between Geely and Renault goes according to plan, there will be plans for the production of more new cars at the Busan plant," Meo said.






EastEnders have announced that six of its most iconic characters will be returning to the soap for a special episode which sees the residents of Walford attend Dot Cotton's funeral.

Bosses revealed that Lauren Branning (Jacqueline Jossa), George 'Lofty' Holloway (Tom Watt), Colin Russell (Lord Michael Cashman CBE), Barry Clark (Gary Hailes) , Mary 'the punk' Smith (Linda Davidson) and Disa O'Brien (Jan Graveson) will reprise their roles for the upcoming episodes.

But since leaving the soap, these stars have taken their careers in vastly different directions, ranging from stints on reality TV, to ghost-writing famous biographies, to entering politics as a member of the House Of Lords.

So, as EastEnders fans prepare to welcome back these iconic stars to Albert Square for Dot's final farewell, MailOnline takes a look at how their careers have fared since leaving the soap.

Blast from the past: EastEnders have announced that six of its most iconic characters will be returning to the soap to attend Dot Cotton's funeral - here MailOnline takes a look at their careers since leaving Walford behind

Throwback: Jacqueline Jossa played Lauren Branning on EastEnders from 2010 to 2018, before leaving the soap to explore other acting roles

Jacqueline Jossa (played Lauren Branning from 2010 to 2018)

Jacqueline originally joined the EastEnders cast to take over the role of teen Lauren, and throughout her eight-year stint featured in a slew of hard-hitting storylines, including her mum Tanya's breast cancer diagnosis, and her own alcoholism.

However, Lauren decided to leave Albert Square in 2018 to start a new life in New Zealand with her son Louie, after her sister Abi was killed following a fall from the roof of the Queen Vic.

After leaving EastEnders, Jacqueline went onto appear on the 2019 series of I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! and was eventually crowned champion.

She's the winner! After leaving EastEnders, Jacqueline went onto appear on the 2019 series of I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! and was eventually crowned champion

Glam: Since then Jacqueline has landed several big-money brand deals, including a range with InTheStyle, and has recently made a name for herself as a social media influencer

Since then Jacqueline has landed several big-money brand deals, including a range with InTheStyle, and has recently made a name for herself as a social media influencer.

Jacqueline is also married to TOWIE star Dan Osborne, and the couple share two daughters, Ella, seven, and Mia, three, but their relationship hasn't been short of drama, with the couple previously reported to have split in 2018 when it was claimed Dan cheated with Love Island star Gabby Allen.

However both stars denied the claims, and a then-pregnant Jacqueline eventually reconciled with Dan.

Throwback: Tom was one of 26 actors to appear in EastEnders' original cast, earning his nickname Lofty due to his above-average height, but he left Albert Square three years later

Tom Watt (played George 'Lofty' Holloway from 1985 to 1988, and made a guest appearance in 2019)

Tom was one of 26 actors to appear in EastEnders' original cast, earning his nickname Lofty due to his above-average height, but he left Albert Square three years later after learning his wife Michelel Fowler had secretly aborted their unborn baby.

Since then, Tom has regularly presented sports sports segments for Channel 4, Radio 1, Radio 3, Radio 5 Live, talkSPORT, and Cable TV, and has also fronted several programmes for BT Sport.

Alongside several other TV acting roles, Tom has penned match reports and features for The Observer and also acted as a ghost writer for David Beckham's autobiography My Side.

In 2019 Tom also briefly reprised his role as Lofty, returning to Albert Square for the funeral of beloved character Dr Legg.

Vintage: Since then, Tom (pictured in 2019) has presented sports radio segments, and even ghost-wrote David Beckham's autobiography My Side

He's back! In 2019 Tom also briefly reprised his role as Lofty, returning to Albert Square for the funeral of beloved character Dr Legg

Iconic: Michael Cashman made history when he played 'yuppie' Colin in EastEnders, as he became Walford's first ever gay resident, sharing the first mouth-to-mouth kiss between two men to appear in a British soap opera

Lord Michael Cashman CBE (played Colin Russell from 1986 to 1989, and made a guest appearance in 2016)

Michael made history when he played 'yuppie' Colin in EastEnders, as he became Walford's first ever gay resident, sharing the first mouth-to-mouth kiss between two men to appear in a British soap opera.

He famously had a close friendship with Dot, despite her intial opposition to his homosexuality as it conflicted with her strict religious views.

Since leaving Walford, Michael has pursued a career in politics and was elected a Member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands in 1999.

He was awarded a CBE in the 2013 New Year Honours for public and political service, and in 2014 Michael was created a life peer, earning him a place in the House Of Lords.

In 2016 Lord Michael also made a brief return to EastEnders to reprise his role as Colin, heading back to the Square to try and convince Dot to attend his wedding, as she grew reluctant due to her opposition to same-sex marriage.

Respected; Since leaving Walford, Michael has pursued a career in politics, and along with being elected an MEP, was appointed a life peer in 2014

Gary Hailes (played Barry Clark from 1986 to 1989)

Gary was the other side of EastEnders' first ever gay couple, as his character Barry began a relationship with Colin, but given his family's thuggish reputation, he kept his sexuality a secret.

When his sexuality is finally revealed, Barry is forced to break up with Colin, and he attempts to have a relationship with a woman, with little success, and he eventually decides to leave Walford to accept a job as a DJ on a cruise ship.

Since leaving EastEnders, Gary has appeared in films such as The Killing Zone, Murder with Mirrors and Waiting for a Killer, and has also starred in dramas The Bill, Horizon and Sorry.

Gary has also owned, and drives, a London black taxi, and through his work with the Star Wars costuming group, 501st Legion, made a cameo as a Stormtrooper in the 2015 film The Force Awakens.

Love is in the air! Gary was the other side of EastEnders' first ever gay couple, as his character Barry began a relationship with Colin, but given his family's thuggish reputation, he kept his sexuality a secret

Wow! Linda Davidson played the wild child punk Mary Smith as part of EastEnders' original cast, a former punk rock groupie and drug user whose wild lifestyle put her baby's life at risk

Linda Davidson (played Mary 'the punk' Smith from 1985 to 1988)

Mary was one of the Square's most controversial characters  a former punk rock groupie and drug user whose wild lifestyle put her baby's life at risk.

Barely literate, she couldn't look after her child without her neighbours' help, and earned her living by prostitution, eventually fleeing Walford after growing tired of her family's interference.

Linda, who was born in Canada, dated co-star Nejdet Salih and left the show in 1988; she gave up acting to work in internet design and now runs a social media agency.

New direction: Linda, who was born in Canada, dated co-star Nejdet Salih and left the show in 1988; she gave up acting to work in internet design and now runs a social media agency

Jan Graveson (played Disa O'Brien from 1990 to 1991)

Appearing in just 25 episodes, Jan made her first appearance on EastEnders as a teen sleeping rough on the streets of London, eventually giving birth to a baby girl along in an alley after being unaware that she was pregnant.

Disa formed a bond with Dot who was happy to look after her baby daughter, and after finally revealing that she was assualted by Ken Raynor, leading to her pregnancy, she left Walford to start a new life further North.

After leaving the soap, Jan had roles in series including Byker Grove, Casualty and Heartbeat and famously played Susie in the ITV sitcom Benidorm.

Troubles: Appearing in just 25 episodes, Jan made her first appearance on EastEnders as teen Disa, sleeping rough on the streets of London, who eventually gave birth to a baby girl
They've been happily married for 23 years.

And Victoria Beckham proved she was not just emotionally, but sartorially in sync, with her beloved husband David on Wednesday as they both rocked blue looks while returning to their hotel in New York City on Wednesday.

The designer, 48, looked nothing short of sensational in a slinky metallic dress while David, 47, paid homage to the 90s with a double denim look.

Twins: Victoria Beckham, 48 looked sensational in a blue metallic dress while husband David, 47 co-ordinated in retro double denim during their trip to NYC on Wednesday

Victoria's flaunted her incredible figure in the tight frock which featured an asymmetrical hemline and ruched detailing.

She strutted her stuff in a pair of bejewelled peep toe boots while shielded her eyes behind oversized shades.

Opting for a radiant make-up palette the former Spice Girl swept her brunette tresses back into a chic bun.

Stunning: Victoria's flaunted her incredible figure in the tight frock which featured an asymmetrical hemline and ruched detailing

Strut: She strutted her stuff in a pair of bejewelled peep toe boots while shielded her eyes behind oversized shades

Meanwhile David turned heads in a retro inspired double denim ensemble which featured a shirt and matching jeans.

The shirt's open collar flashed a glimpse of his muscular physique adorned with tattoos as he climbed out of a black SUV.

He slipped his feet into suede boots and donned shades as he styled his hair into spikes.

Double duty: Meanwhile David turned heads in a retro inspired double denim ensemble which featured a shirt and matching jeans

Chic: Opting for a radiant make-up palette the former Spice Girl swept her brunette tresses back into a chic bun

The outing comes after Victoria reached out to son Brooklyn and daughter-in-law Nicola Peltz with a heartfelt message after they squashed feud rumours earlier this month with a reunion with a reunion at her Paris Fashion Week show.

The fashion designer took to Instagram to share a picture of the couple alongside the message: 'I love you all so much', which Nicola went on to re-share.

Victoria also uploaded an image of her parents Jackie and Anthony Adams with the couple, with the star seemingly delighted to have things back on track with her loved ones.

Catwalk: The designer showed off her model credentials as she strutted her stuff through Manhattan

It came just days after Brooklyn and Nicola attended Victoria's debut Paris Fashion Week show where they finally put to bed speculation that they had fallen out with the Spice Girl.

Putting on a further united front, Victoria's gushing post featured Nicola and Brooklyn - as well as other family members - in the audience at her fashion show.

Victoria was seen chatting to her son Brooklyn outside her Paris Fashion Week show while Nicola socialised with Cruz's girlfriend Tana Holding as the family reunited following feud rumours.

Arriving: The shirt's open collar flashed a glimpse of his muscular physique adorned with tattoos as he climbed out from a black SUV

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.

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.

Victoria couldn't hold back her tears 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.

Suited and booted: He slipped his feet into suede boots and donned shades as he styled his hair into spikes

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.'

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'.

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.

Crowds: He was welcomed by a crowd as he returned to his swanky hotel

Reports of a feud between Victoria and Nicola were 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 had reportedly enraged her in-laws by 'washing the family dirty linen in public'.

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 said Nicola was pushing a 'false narrative', leaving Victoria 'bemused' as to why she keeps 'stoking the rumours of a feud' rather than shutting them down.

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.
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They've barely had a moment to rest on the hectic promotional trail for their new film, Women Talking.

Yet Claire Foy and Jessie Buckley seemed full of energy as they attended the British premiere on Wednesday during the BFI London Film Festival.

The co-stars were in high spirits and could be seen embracing and collapsing in giggles while working the red carpet at the glittering affair.

Fun times: They've barely had a moment to rest on the hectic promotional trail for their new film, Women Talking. Yet Claire Foy and Jessie Buckley seemed full of energy at the British premiere on Wednesday during the BFI London Film Festival

Claire, 38, looked sensational in a plunging black gown that clung to her slender curves and featured eye-catching silver sequin detailing on the ruffled hem.

The Crown actress donned a pair of bejewelled silver heels to boost her modelesque frame and opted for a pair of dazzling chandelier earrings.

Jessie, 32, opted for a vibrant ensemble as she donned a low-cut printed gown with a corset style bodice that accentuated her tiny waist and ample cleavage.

Loving life: The co-stars were in high spirits and could be seen embracing and collapsing in giggles while working the red carpet at the glittering affair

Gorgeous: Claire, 38, looked sensational in a plunging black gown that clung to her slender curves and featured eye-catching silver sequin detailing on the ruffled hem

Stunning: The Crown actress donned a pair of bejewelled silver heels to boost her modelesque frame and opted for a pair of dazzling chandelier earrings

The Lost Daughter star added to the look with burgundy heels and a slick of red lipstick, completing her ensemble with striking diamond earrings.

Women Talking tells the story of an isolated religious community in which the women struggle with reconciling their reality with their faith.

Claire plays the character of Salome Friesen in the film while Jessie portrays Mariche Loewen.

The first trailer for the star-studded upcoming drama premiered on Monday.

Dressed to impress: Jessie, 32, opted for a vibrant ensemble as she donned a low-cut printed gown with a corset style bodice that accentuated her tiny waist and ample cleavage

Stunning: The Lost Daughter star added to the look with burgundy heels and a slick of red lipstick, completing her ensemble with striking diamond earrings

In one chilling scene, Claire is seen saying to a group of women: 'We know that we have not imagined these attacks. We know that we are bruised and terrified,' before she is dragged away screaming by two men.

Aside from Claire and Jessie, the incredible cast also includes Rooney Mara, Judith Ivey, Frances McDormand, and Ben Whishaw.

The trailer opens up with Mara who stars as Ona, ominously asking: 'Why does love, the absence of love, the end of love, the need for love... result in so much violence?'

Catching up: The co-stars were seen cuddling up as they posed for playful snaps together on the red carpet

Loving life: The duo couldn't stop smiling and giggling as they took to the red carpet

Delightful scenes: The pair were in high spirits as they frolicked around on the red carpet together

The scene then changes to little girls playing in a field, as Kate Hallett, who stars as Autje, narrates, 'It was all waiting to happen, before it happened.'

'You could look back and follow the breadcrumbs along the path that led to violence,' she continues, as we see a mother hug her daughter.

'When we look back, it had been everywhere,' she says, as the camera pans to various shots of the colony.

Snuggles: The duo shared a friendly hug as they cosied up for the photographers

Heavy subject: Women Talking tells the story of an isolated religious community in which the women struggle with reconciling their reality with their faith

Frances McDormand, 65, who plays Scarface Janz in the film, then says, 'It is part of our faith to forgive.'

'We will be forced to leave the colonies, if we do not forgive these men,' she adds, while talking to a group of women.

We then hear Mariche, played by Jessie, say, 'None of you will listen to reason.'

The scene then cuts to Ona, who proclaims: 'We cannot endure any more violence.'

Agata, played by Judith Ivey, adds: 'We have been prayed upon like animals. Maybe we should respond like animals' as a woman beats against a barn door with a sickle.

Fantastic four: Claire, Sarah Polley, Ben Whishaw and Jessie posed together on the red carpet

Laughter's contagious: Claire and Jessie had their co-stars in hysterics with her antics on the red carpet

Loving it: The group larked around inside the theatre as they prepared to watch the screening

The next scene shows close up of children's and women's faces as Ona asks: 'How would you feel if in your entire life it never mattered what you thought?'

At the end of the trailer she says: 'When we liberated ourselves, we will have to ask ourselves who we are.'

Women Talking made its world premiere at the 2022 Telluride Film Festival before screening at TIFF and the New York Film Festival. The film is set to be released in theaters on December 2, 2022 in the States and on January 10 in the UK.
A month after confirming she was single on TikTok, Inamorata CEO Emily Ratajkowski is opening up about her mindset after ending her four-year marriage to husband Sebastian Bear-McClard in July.

'One of the things I write about in the last essay of the book [My Body] is about control and kind of understanding that one of the best ways to actually be happy and have some semblance of control is letting go,' the 31-year-old DNA Model explained to Variety on Wednesday.

'I'm newly single for basically the first time in my life ever, and I just feel like I'm kind of enjoying the freedom of not being super worried about how I'm being perceived.'

Newly single: A month after confirming she was single on TikTok, Inamorata CEO Emily Ratajkowski is opening up about her mindset after ending her four-year marriage to husband Sebastian Bear-McClard in July (pictured last Friday)

Emily did not confirm nor deny OK! Magazine's report that she was 'secretly dating' two-time Oscar winner Brad Pitt, which his rep denied on August 29.

At 58, the Oklahoma-born movie star is 27 years older than Ratajkowski, whom he's said to have met at the 2020 Vanity Fair Oscar party in Beverly Hills (while she was still married).

People reported Brad and the London-born SoCal native to be 'spending a lot of time together' on September 27.

Emily raises 19-month-old son Sylvester Apollo Bear with the 35-year-old Funny Pages producer, who was allegedly a 'serial cheater.'

The 31-year-old DNA Model told Variety on Wednesday: 'I'm newly single for basically the first time in my life ever, and I just feel like I'm kind of enjoying the freedom of not being super worried about how I'm being perceived'

Rumors swirling: Emily did not confirm nor deny OK! Magazine's report that she was 'secretly dating' two-time Oscar winner Brad Pitt (R), which his rep denied on August 29

Nice to meet you: At 58, the Oklahoma-born movie star is 27 years older than Ratajkowski, whom he's said to have met at the 2020 Vanity Fair Oscar party in Beverly Hills (pictured) while she was still married

'Not formally dating': People reported Brad and the London-born SoCal native to be 'spending a lot of time together' on September 27

Ratajkowski and Sebastian were last pictured together vacationing in Italy on June 19.

The Miu Miu SS/23 catwalker famously wed Bear-McClard at a New York City courthouse in February 2018 - just two months after she ended her three-year, live-in relationship with music producer Jeff Magid.

Emily weighed in on Grammy winner Britney Spears' exhibitionist Instagram posts since the November 12 end of her 13-year conservatorship controlled by her estranged father Jamie Spears.

'She's gone through things that affect you for the rest of your life, and she has this public stage where we will continue to watch her,' Ratajkowski noted.

It's over: Emily raises 19-month-old son Sylvester Apollo Bear with the 35-year-old Funny Pages producer (R, pictured May 14), who was allegedly a 'serial cheater'

'Only speaking through the nanny': Ratajkowski and Sebastian were last pictured together vacationing in Italy on June 19 (pictured May 24)

On the rebound: The Miu Miu SS/23 catwalker famously wed Bear-McClard at a New York City courthouse in February 2018 - just two months after she ended her three-year, live-in relationship with music producer Jeff Magid (R, pictured in 2017)

'It just makes me sad. And the way people are like, "Come on, you're a mother!" has really fascinated me. It's Britney Spears! I'm sure she has a very complicated relationship to being sexualized. But she's now doing it on her own terms. So why are we ripping her apart for that and bringing into the conversation that she's a mother? I don't know why we hate women so much. It still shocks me all the time.'

The UCLA drop-out has posted two TikToks about the scandal involving Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine writing 'flirty' DMs to three women (including Sumner Stroh), but denied ever cheating on his pregnant wife Behati Prinsloo.

'I'm very familiar with those kinds of power dynamics between men and women, and I saw another moment where we were choosing to attack a young woman instead of the powerful man, which I didn't love,' Emily said.

'It wasn't honestly about Adam Levine. I just responded to this woman talking about how women need to change and adjust as preparation for men's behavior, which is something I've been talking and writing about for a long time. Like, this Boys will be boys' attitude that women have? We have to do better.'

'She's gone through things that affect you for the rest of your life': Emily weighed in on Grammy winner Britney Spears' (pictured October 4) exhibitionist Instagram posts since the November 12 end of her 13-year conservatorship

Ratajkowski said: 'She has this public stage where we will continue to watch her. It just makes me sad. And the way people are like, "Come on, you're a mother!" has really fascinated me. It's Britney Spears! I'm sure she has a very complicated relationship to being sexualized. But she's now doing it on her own terms. So why are we ripping her apart for that and bringing into the conversation that she's a mother? I don't know why we hate women so much. It still shocks me all the time' (pictured in 2021)

'I'm very familiar with those kinds of power dynamics': The UCLA drop-out has posted two TikToks about the scandal involving Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine (pictured October 1) writing 'flirty' DMs to three women (including Sumner Stroh)

Emily said: 'Women seeking attention is always the classic misogyny hot topic. It's really what gets people going, to accuse a woman of seeking attention. Personally, I know that really well. So, yeah, I get a lot of hate. But as they say on TikTok, "The girls who get it, get it." That's my motto these days' (Sumner Stroh pictured September 19)

Ratajkowski added: 'Women seeking attention is always the classic misogyny hot topic. It's really what gets people going, to accuse a woman of seeking attention. Personally, I know that really well. So, yeah, I get a lot of hate. But as they say on TikTok, "The girls who get it, get it." That's my motto these days.'

The bisexual beauty is ready to join the ranks of Joe Rogan and other podcasters with her new thrice-weekly show High Low with EmRata, which premieres November 1.

'Obviously I don't agree with his politics, but there's something there that really works,' Emily said of Rogan.

'If you're listening to somebody talk and the interviewer feels like they aren't following the conversation in the way that a listener is, then it's just not interesting - and Joe Rogan does listen. He has a perspective and he asks questions that are aligned with that perspective, and it's entertaining.'

'Ira Glass was my hero': Ratajkowski is ready to join the ranks of Joe Rogan and other podcasters with her new thrice-weekly show High Low with EmRata, which premieres November 1
Harry Potter star Tom Felton has spoken of his 'secret love' for Emma Watson, saying what started as an on-set friendship deepened into something more significant.

In his new memoir Felton, 35, who played antagonist Draco Malfoy, says he came to understand that the actress was a 'kindred spirit' and says they have formed a lifelong bond after meeting on set.

He adds: 'I loved and admired her as a person in a way I could never explain to anybody else.'

Fans of the films have long speculated on a spark between them, and Felton has spent years denying it. But in a candid passage of Beyond The Wand he admits: 'My girlfriend at the time knew that there was something unspoken between the two of us.'

In 2019, Miss Watson, 32, visited him at his home in Venice Beach, California, and he posted photos of her learning how to play the guitar in pyjamas on Instagram which caused a social media sensation. In the book he says that they first met when she was nine and he was 11 at an audition.

She pointed at a boom mic in the room and asked, 'What's that?' and he told her: 'It means they are recording us, obviously.' He added: 'My relationship with Emma did not start well. She'd have been forgiven for not wanting much to do with me. It got worse.'

Felton was in a clique with the other Slytherin actors and they would spend their time listening to rap music and going out for cigarette breaks.

Emma Watson and Tom Felton attend the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban film premiere in 2004

This image of Emma Watson learning to play guitar while staying with Tom Felton caused a sensation for their fans

A message was passed on that Miss Watson, who played Hermione Granger, had put together 'a little dance show in her dressing room that she wanted to present it to us at lunchtime we were predictably dismissive'.

He added: 'We sniggered our way down to Emma's show and the sniggers grew louder as she danced. We were just being s***** boys, largely out of awkwardness and because we thought taking the p*** was cool. I did feel like a bit of a d**k, and rightly so.

'In the end, it was up to one of the hair and make-up ladies to tell me what was what.'

But he writes: 'I've always had a secret love for Emma, though not perhaps in the way that people might want to hear. That isn't to say that there's never been a spark between us. There most definitely has, only at different times.'

L-R: Emma Watson, Tom Felton, Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint star in the first Harry Potter movie

He was first told that Miss Watson had a crush on him when she was 12 and he was 15 and had a girlfriend. He didn't really believe it when he was told.

He adds: 'Rumours started to abound that there was more to our relationship than we were letting on. I denied that I liked her in that way, but the truth was different.

'My girlfriend at the time knew straight away that there was something unspoken between us. I remember using the familiar old line, 'I love her like a sister.' But there was more to it than that.

'I don't think I was ever in love with Emma, but I loved and admired her as a person in a way that I could never explain to anybody else we were kindred spirits. I know for certain I'll always have Emma's back and she'll always have mine too.'

Previously, Miss Watson has spoken about her crush on Felton. She said: 'He was my first crush. He totally knows. We talked about it  we still laugh about it.'

She is currently dating British businessman Sir Philip Green's son Brandon.
Trevor Noah ripped Kanye West on Tuesday's edition of The Daily Show following West's antisemitic tirade over the weekend.

West, 45, on Saturday tweeted, 'I'm a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I'm going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE ... The funny thing is I actually can't be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also ... you guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.'

Noah said in response, 'I dont even know where to begin with this s***, I mean promoting antisemitism to your 50 million followers?'

The latest: Trevor Noah, 38, ripped Kanye West, 45, on Tuesday's edition of The Daily Show following West's antisemitic tirade over the weekend

The talk show host, 38, continued: 'I know this is not the point but thats not how you say it. I know its not the main issue. I know that. But its DEF CON 3. Alright, not death con 3.

'Death con sounds like like a trade show where they unveil all the latest coffins or something ... if you're trying to tell people how hard you're going to go, that's just a weird way to do it.'

Noah also noted how West said he was 'a bit sleepy tonight' ahead of his vitriolic statements: 'What is that? Does antisemitism make you tired? Is that why MAGA people love the MyPillow guy?'

Noah said that he 'feels bad' for people on the right who are championing West long past his creative prime.

Noah said that he 'feels bad' for people on the right who are championing West (pictured last month) long past his creative prime

Noah said in response, 'I dont even know where to begin with this s***, I mean promoting antisemitism to your 50 million followers?'

Noah this past March was critical of West for his public outbursts against ex-wife Kim Kardashian and her former boyfriend Pete Davidson

'They're getting this Kanye?' he said. 'It's like getting to date the high school prom king, but decades after high school.'

West's latest racism controversy came less than a week after a Paris Fashion Week showcase for his Yeezy line that saw him and conservative commentator Candace Owens don tops that read White Lives Matter on the back.

'It's heartbreaking standing with so many others on issue after issue and find those same allies consistently silence when we need them.'

Noah this past March was critical of West for his public outbursts against ex-wife Kim Kardashian and her former boyfriend Pete Davidson.

'As a society, we have to ask ourselves questions,' Noah said. 'Do we wish to stand by and watch a car crash when we thought we saw it coming? Or do we at least want to say, "Slow down, let's all put our hazards on, because there's a storm coming and s*** might go down."'

West made the offensive remarks on Saturday after he faced restrictions on Instagram

West's latest racism controversy came less than a week after a Paris Fashion Week showcase for his Yeezy line that saw him and conservative commentator Candace Owens don tops that read White Lives Matter on the back

After West responded to Noah by calling him a racial slur - leading Instagram to remove the post and suspend the rapper's account - Noah took to the comments to plead his case.

'There are few artists who have had more of an impact on me than you Ye,' he said. 'You took samples and turned them into symphonies. Youre an indelible part of my life Ye. Which is why it breaks my heart to see you like this. I dont care if you support Trump and I dont care if you roast Pete. I do however care when I see you on a path thats dangerously close to peril and pain.'

Noah was the latest in a group of celebs to condemn West's words, as John Legend, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sarah Silverman and Josh Gad also took to social media to call out West for his offensive remarks.

Legend, 43, wrote, 'Weird how all these "free, independent thinkers" always land at the same old anti blackness and anti-Semitism.'

Silverman, 51, said, 'Kanye threatened the Jews yesterday on twitter and its not even trending. Why do mostly only Jews speak up against Jewish hate? The silence is so loud.'

Curtis, 63, alluded to Yom Kippur, writing, 'The holiest day in Judaism was last week. Words matter. A threat to Jewish people ended once in a genocide. Your words hurt and incite violence. You are a father. Please stop.'

Gad, 41, said, 'More and more, I find that anti-Semitism is one of the rare forms of hate towards a specific group that is seemingly met with silence by the masses.

Legend, West's one-time friend, wrote: 'Weird how all these 'free, independent thinkers' always land at the same old anti blackness and anti-Semitism'

Sarah Silverman noted the lack of a sharp response to West's offensive remarks

Curtis alluded to Yom Kippur, writing, 'The holiest day in Judaism was last week. Words matter'
Lea Michele did not let getting dissed by her former Glee costar Chris Colfer rain on her parade as she headed to a matinee performance of Funny Girl in New York City.

Just hours after the 32-year-old actor threw some serious shade at her when asked if Michele would be checking out her musical, the Scream Queens star, 36, appeared in high spirits as she smiled and waved at onlookers on Tuesday.

The mother-of-one, who welcomed her son Ever with husband Zandy Reich in 2020, looked incredibly chic in a black vest, matching knee-high boots and an olive green miniskirt.

Chic: Lea Michele did not let getting dissed by her former Glee costar Chris Colfer rain on her parade as she headed to a matinee performance of Funny Girl in New York City

Despite her happy demeanor, Michele was most likely reeling from Colfer's latest jab at her expense, more than two years after she came under fire for alleged bullying behavior on the set of Glee.

While appearing on the The Michelle Collins Show, Colfer joked his 'day suddenly just got so full' when the host encouraged him to go to Funny Girl with her.

After Michelle asked if he was not seeing Funny Girl while in the city, he replied: 'No, I can be triggered at home.'

Unfazed: Just hours after the 32-year-old actor threw some serious shade at her when asked if Michele would be checking out her musical, the Scream Queens star, 36, appeared in high spirits as she smiled and waved at onlookers on Tuesday

Lea has been receiving glowing reviews for her portrayal of comedienne Fanny Brice in Funny Girl ever since taking over the role following Beanie Feldstein's departure over the summer.

Funny Girl is a musical with score by Jule Styne, lyrics by Bob Merrill, and book by Isobel Lennart, that first opened on Broadway in 1964 and starred Barbra Streisand in the lead role.

Chris isn't the only former cast member from Glee opting to not watch Lea on the show.

Typically stylish: On Monday evening, Michele stunned in a plunging white blouse and black pants while out

Last month, Kevin McHale admitted he wouldn't be checking out the musical either.

Speaking with E! News the actor, 34, admitted 'I don't have any plans [to see Funny Girl].'

He added that he hasn't spoken to Michele - who succeeded Beanie Feldstein, 29, in the production earlier this month - in a long time.

Hard pass: While appearing on the The Michelle Collins Show, Colfer joked his 'day suddenly just got so full' when the host encouraged him to go to Funny Girl with her; seen in 2013

However he acknowledged Lea's talent and star power elsewhere in the interview as well.

'She's obviously extremely, extremely talented,' he gushed in his sit-down with the news outlet.

'I'm sure she's f***ing phenomenal in it. Are you kidding me? She could do the role in her sleep,' he praised.

Lea landed at the center of controversy in 2020 after former Glee actress Samantha Ware alleged the actress made her time on the show a 'living hell.'

Ouch! After Michelle asked if he was not seeing Funny Girl while in the city, he replied: 'No, I can be triggered at home' (seen in Glee)

After Lea shared a post responding to the death of George Floyd, Samantha tweeted: 'Remember when you made my first television gig a living hell?!?!... 'Cause I'll never forget... I believe you told everyone that if you had the opportunity you would 's*** in my wig!' amongst other traumatic microaggressions that made me question a career in Hollywood.'

The tweet opened the floodgates and numerous other stars came forward with their own recollections of alleged bad behavior from Lea.
50-nation talks after Russian missile barrage in Ukraine

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On sidelines of NATO meeting on response to Ukraine war

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NATO to also discuss protecting critical infrastructure

(Updates with NATO chief Stoltenberg)

By Sabine Siebold, Philip Blenkinsop and Phil Stewart

BRUSSELS, Oct 12 (Reuters) - More than 50 countries gather on the sidelines of a NATO meeting in Brussels on Wednesday to discuss bolstering Ukraine's air defense, two days after Russian missiles rained on Kyiv and other cities across the country.

The gathering in Brussels is the first big NATO meeting since Russia annexed four occupied Ukrainian regions, began a partial mobilization and issued veiled nuclear threats - moves the Western alliance has classified as a clear escalation of the war that started with Moscow's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.

Two days after Russian air missile strikes killed 19 people in Ukraine and knocked out power supplies across the country, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg urged allies to send more air defense systems to Ukraine.

Stoltenberg said the "horrific, indiscriminate attacks" showed why this was so important.

"We need different types of air defense - short-range, long-range, air defense systems to take ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, drones, different systems for different tasks," he told reporters on arrival for the meeting.

Allies also needed to scale up the supply of air defense systems to help Ukraine defend even more cities, he said.

On Tuesday, Ukraine received the first of four IRIS-T SLM air defense systems that Germany had promised to supply, a German defense ministry source said.

A senior U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Germany's IRIS-T was another sign of the commitment to provide air defenses to Ukraine, predating Russia's latest missile fusillade against the country.

"Again this is a horrible set of circumstances, what's occurred," the official said. "But the fact that Russia has this capability and is willing to use that capability, including against civilian infrastructure and civilian targets, is not a surprise."

Stoltenberg called Russia's missile attacks a sign of weakness, showing President Vladimir Putin was running out of alternatives as his forces were losing on the battlefield.

Moscow, which calls its actions in Ukraine a "special military operation" to eliminate dangerous nationalists and protect Russian-speakers, has accused the West of escalating the conflict by supporting Kyiv.

Ukraine accuses Russia of an unprovoked imperialist land grab, three decades after the Moscow-led Soviet Union broke up.

NATO VIGILANT ON RUSSIAN NUCLEAR STANCE

NATO defense ministers will first meet with partners of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a body established on the initiative of the United States to keep up arms supplies to Kyiv. Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov will also take part.

The NATO ministers then kick off their talks with a dinner before Thursday's first session on nuclear planning.

Stoltenberg said the alliance had not seen any changes in Russia's nuclear posture.

"But we will remain vigilant, we will continue to monitor closely because the nuclear threats, the nuclear rhetoric, and the veiled threats from Russia are dangerous and reckless."

NATO will hold its annual nuclear preparedness exercise, dubbed "Steadfast Noon," next week, with training flights for fighter jets capable of carrying nuclear weapons based in Europe and support planes. No live weapons are used.

NATO ministers are also due to discuss protecting critical infrastructure, a need that has become more urgent after attacks on Nord Stream pipelines running under the Baltic Sea, although it remains unclear who was behind the explosions.

On Wednesday, Polish operator PERN said it had detected a leak in one pipeline in the Druzhba system that carries oil from Russia to Europe. It said this was probably due to an accident.

NATO warned Moscow on Tuesday that it would meet attacks on allies' critical infrastructure with a "united and determined response."

Stoltenberg pledged to boost the protection of critical infrastructure, saying NATO had already doubled its presence in the Baltic and North Seas to more than 30 ships supported by aircraft and undersea activities. (Reporting by Sabine Siebold and Philip Blenkinsop; Additional reporting by John Chalmers; editing by Mark Heinrich)
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Ireland United States Minor Outlying Islands United States of America Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe




Hyundai Motor Group said Wednesday it will invest 18 trillion won ($13 billion) to apply an advanced software program to all of its vehicles and offer its customers regular software updating services.







The Korean carmaker has decided to make the massive software investment to launch most of its new vehicles as "software defined vehicle (SDV)" in global markets from 2025, Hyundai said in a statement.







Hyundai Motor Group aims to regularly update the performance and function of all vehicles to be sold globally from 2025 as it seeks to morph into a future mobility solutions provider.







"Currently, customers need to visit after-sales service centers to update their vehicles' software programs. But wireless updating services will be available for SDVs and their residual value will remain high," a Hyundai official said.







In related efforts, Hyundai Motor Group will make all vehicles to be launched from 2023, including combustion engine and all-electric models, receive wireless software updates, the official said.







Of the planned investments, Hyundai will spend some of them in developing autonomous driving technology, improving connectivity services, and building a big data center, the statement said.







The company expects the number of vehicles that have registered for Hyundai's connected car services to jump to 20 million in 2025 from an estimated 10 million at the end of this year.







It will analyze accumulated data from the connected car services and utilize the data to provide customized software services for its vehicle owners, the statement said. (Yonhap)


NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg meets the media during a press conference at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Oct. 11. AP-Yonhap



NATO told Moscow on Tuesday it would meet attacks on allies' critical infrastructure with a "united and determined response" and was monitoring Russia's nuclear forces closely as the country was "losing on the battlefield" in Ukraine.



NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said ahead of a two-day meeting of the Western alliance's defense ministers in Brussels that it had not seen any changes in Russia's nuclear posture, but was "vigilant".



Stoltenberg described Russia's missile strikes on civilians in Ukraine on Monday as a sign of weakness.



"Russia is actually losing on the battlefield," he told a news conference, saying it was responding with "indiscriminate attacks" to Ukrainian advances.



That view was echoed by U.S. ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith.



"President Putin is failing to meet his strategic objectives on the ground and this has been a reoccurring theme for him personally since this war started," she told an online briefing.



The alliance will proceed with its annual nuclear preparedness exercise "Steadfast Noon" next week, in which NATO air forces practice the use of U.S. nuclear bombs based in Europe with training flights, without live weapons.



Cancelling the drills because of the war in Ukraine would send a "very wrong signal", Stoltenberg said. Russia has made veiled threats of using nuclear weapons against Ukraine, which it invaded on Feb. 24 in what it calls a "special military operation" to demilitarize its neighbor.



"It's an exercise to ensure that our nuclear deterrent remains safe, secure and effective," he said.



NATO's military strength, he said, was the best way to prevent any escalation of tensions.



Stoltenberg also pledged to boost the protection of critical infrastructure in response to the attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines, saying NATO had already doubled its presence in the Baltic and the North Seas to over 30 ships supported by aircraft and undersea activities.



"A deliberate attack against allies' critical infrastructure will be met with a united and determined response," Stoltenberg said.



It remains unclear who was behind the attack on the Nord Stream pipelines.



Stoltenberg also urged Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to stop his country's "complicity" in an illegal conflict.



Lukashenko said on Monday he had ordered troops to deploy with Russian forces near Ukraine in response to what he said was a clear threat to Belarus from Kyiv and its backers in the West. Military experts see this as a potential attempt to stretch Ukrainian forces. (Reuters)




KARIMNAGAR: In matters of maintenance of law and order and providing better services to the people, the Telangana police received several national awards and rewards and stood as number one, Home Minister Md Mohmood Ali said on Tuesday.

He was inaugurating a police station at Godavarikhani and a police welfare centre and community hall in Anthargam mandal, constructed at a cost of `8.4 crore in Peddapalli district.

Ali said that after the formation of Telangana state, better police services are being provided to the people. New buildings are constructed for police stations with advanced facilities under the Citizen- Friendly Policing Scheme, he said.

The minister said the government is providing modern vehicles to the police personnel and constructing new buildings for police stations. It also formed She Teams for protection of women alongside the establishment of Barosa centres. With all these, the Telangana police are rendering better services to the people and cops are gaining their trust, he said.

Under the supervision of DGP Mahendar Reddy, and utilizing advanced and modern technology, the Telangana Police is showing the way to the police in other states in the maintenance of peace and harmony and for protection of law and order in the state, he said.

Some 64 per cent of the total CCTV cameras installed across the country was in Telangana state. Because of this, the crime rate has come down. The chief minister allotted the highest, 33 per cent reservation for women in the police department, he informed.

Minister Koppula Eshwar, MP Venkatesh Netha, DGP Mahendar Reddy, police housing corporation chairman Damodar Gupta, MLA Chander Patel, ZP chairman Putta Madhukar, police commissioners Chandrasekhar Reddy and Satyanarayana and district collector Sangitha Satyanarayana were present.
VIJAYAWADA: CM Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday advised officials to make good use of the Suliyari and Mahanadi coal blocks to enable the state to meet its coal requirements.

Ensure that there is no shortage of coal, he told the officials, and said they must make efforts to procure these domestically in view of the rising prices abroad. Prepare a special plan for the summer towards flawless coal supply in the state, he said.

During the review meeting on the Energy sector. Jagan outlined the need for maintaining sufficient coal reserves to avoid power cuts in the coming summer. In view of the increased prices of imported coal, it is necessary to work with proper strategies to draw supplies from the coal blocks within the country, he said.

Officials told the CM that they have received proposals from industrialists offering investments worth Rs 95,000 crore to establish hydrogen-based power units, hydrogen e-methanol, green ammonia and offshore wind power units at Pudimadaka in Visakhapatnam district and near Kakinada port.

Most of these proposals have come from ReNew Power company and NTPC.

In response to the briefing by officials that so far 16,63,705 farmers have come forward to fix meters for agricultural pump sets, the CM asked them to ensure supply of quality power for pump sets through a transparent system for the benefit of farmers.

He said farmers should be properly educated on the use of the meters. This would help officials assess the requirement of energy in each season and prevent situations of burning of transformers and pump sets.

Jagan clarified that money for the consumed power would be directly deposited in the accounts of farmers to enable them pay this to the distribution companies. This will enforce accountability on distribution companies, which would be bound to supply power without interruptions, he said.

Jagan asked the energy department to release the details of a pilot project implemented in Srikakulam district that resulted in power saving and benefited farmers.

Referring to the pump storage projects in the state, Jagan said the government will pay Rs 30,000 per acre every year for those who sacrificed their lands for the green energy sector. While this compensation will increase by 5 per cent every 2 years, farmers who had given assigned lands also would receive the benefit, he said.

The CM was told by officials that the 800mw power unit at Krishnapatnam is ready for inauguration later this month while another 800mw unit at Vijayawada thermal power station would be ready by March next.

Officials also briefed the CM about the progress of works at the Polavaram Project power unit and the preparations for calling the tenders for the 1350mw power unit in Upper Sileru.
Hyderabad: TRS working president and minister K.T. Rama Rao has backed energy minister G. Jagadish Reddy's challenge to the BJP, stating that the TRS will withdraw from the Munugode bypoll if the BJP government at the Centre offers a Rs 18,000-crore package for the development of the Munugode Assembly constituency and Nalgonda district rather than awarding a Rs 18,000 crore contract to Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy to join the BJP.

Addressing a meeting of TRS Vidyarthi (TRSV), the party's student wing, at Telangana Bhavan on Tuesday, Rama Rao stated that if the BJP accepts this challenge and offers the Rs 18,000 crore package, he will make efforts to persuade party president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao to withdraw TRS candidate from Munugode bypoll.

"TRS already has over 100 MLAs in the Assembly. It doesn't make any difference for the TRS if it stays away from contesting elections in one or two seats. TRS is ready to withdraw from Munugode bypoll if the BJP government at the Centre gives Rs 18,000 crore package for development, the amount which is equivalent to the contract awarded to Rajgopal Reddy's company," Rao said.

Rama Rao also praised former CMs of Undivided Andhra Pradesh, late Y.S Rajashekar Reddy and his political nemesis N. Chandrababu Naidu, saying there was some "political decency" back then.

"Previously, we had rivals in Telangana such as YSR and Chandrababu. There used to be some decency if we wanted to criticise them or they criticised us. However, our current rivals in Telangana are bufoons, Rao said while referring to BJP state president Bandi Sanjay and TPCC chief A. Revanth Reddy.

Rama Rao accused the BJP and Congress of working together to defeat the TRS in Munugode.

"I read news reports that Congress MP Komatireddy Venkat Reddy is leaving abroad and will return after Munugode bypoll. This demonstrates that the Congress and BJP joined forces, and the Komatireddy brothers became 'covert Reddy' brothers."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends the virtual meeting of the leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) and Ukraine via video conference, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Oct. 11. UPI-Yonhap



Russian forces showered Ukraine with more missiles and munition-carrying drones Tuesday after widespread strikes killed at least 19 people in an attack the U.N. human rights office described as ''particularly shocking'' and amounting to potential war crimes.



Air raid warnings sounded throughout Ukraine for a second straight morning as officials advised residents to conserve energy and stock up on water. The strikes have knocked out power across the country and pierced the relative calm that had returned to Kyiv and many other cities far from the war's front lines.



''It brings anger, not fear,'' Kyiv resident Volodymyr Vasylenko, 67, said as crews worked to restore traffic lights and clear debris from the capital's streets. ''We already got used to this. And we will keep fighting.''



The leaders of the Group of Seven industrial powers condemned the bombardment and said they would ''stand firmly with Ukraine for as long as it takes.'' Their pledge defied Russian warnings that Western assistance would prolong the war and the pain of Ukraine's people.



Russia launched the widespread attacks in retaliation for a weekend explosion that damaged the Kerch Bridge between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014. Russian President Vladimir Putin alleged that Ukrainian special services masterminded the blast. The Ukrainian government has applauded it but not claimed responsibility.



Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the G-7 leaders during a virtual meeting that during the past two days Russia fired more than 100 missiles and dozens of drones at Ukraine, and that while Ukraine shot down many of them, it needs ''more modern and effective'' air defense systems.



The Pentagon earlier announced plans to deliver the first two advanced NASAMs anti-aircraft systems to Ukraine in the coming weeks. The systems, which Kyiv has long wanted, will provide medium- to long-range defense against missile attacks.



In a phone call with Zelenskyy on Tuesday, President Joe Biden ''pledged to continue providing Ukraine with the support needed to defend itself, including advanced air defense systems,'' the White House said.



Zelenskyy thanked the U.S. and also Germany for speeding up the delivery of the first of four promised IRIS-T air defense systems. Ukraine's defense minister tweeted that the German system had just arrived, and that a ''new era'' of air defense for Ukraine had begun.



Zelenskyy also urged the G-7 leaders to respond ''symmetrically'' to the attacks on the Ukrainian energy sector by doing more to stop Russia from profiting off its exports of oil and gas.



''Such steps can bring peace closer,'' he said. ''They will encourage the terrorist state to think about peace, about the unprofitability of war.''



Ukrainian officials said the diffuse strikes on power plants and civilian areas made no ''practical military sense.'' However, Putin's supporters had urged the Kremlin for weeks to take tougher action in Ukraine and criticized the Russian military for a series of embarrassing battlefield setbacks.



Pro-Kremlin pundits lauded the attacks as an appropriate response to Kyiv's successful counteroffensives. Many of them argued that Moscow should keep up the intensity to win a war now in its eighth month.





Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is seen on screens as he speaks while president of the European Council Charles Michel, second from left, attends the virtual meeting of the leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) and Ukraine via video conference, in Bru
WARANGAL: When the leaderships of the three main parties -- the ruling TRS, the BJP and the Congress -- are taking the Munugode elections with all its seriousness, the second-rung leaders are taking things easy.

Many of them from Warangal and Karimnagar regions, including party cadres, are visiting Munugode in Nalgonda district as if they are on a picnic.

When the ruling TRS assigned the campaigning duty to its MLAs, MPs, MLCs and chairmen of various corporations including district presidents, the BJP and the Congress appointed state and district-level leaders as the campaign in-charges for several villages and mandals that fall under this assembly segment.

But many leaders are shying away from the campaigning, saying they are busy with their agricultural operations.

The leaders from urban and semi-urban areas including the cadres of three parties are reportedly showing an interest to visit Munugode, more out of an urge to spend some time away from their homes and towns.

The leaders who had experience of participating in the Huzurabad by-election are encouraging others to join them for a visit to Munugode so that they can enjoy life there.

A division president of the ruling TRS from Warangal district confided in Deccan Chronicle that they received orders from their MLAs to visit Munugode for the election campaign for three days. Some of us had participated in the Huzurabad bypolls. It will be like a tour with friends.

Each small group of campaigners will be allotted a separate shelter. After having the breakfast, we will participate in the election campaign for a few hours in the morning and then will start our party with biryani and alcohol. It is real fun, he said.

The leaders from BJP in Karimnagar district, speaking to Deccan Chronicle, said they formed a team, hired a vehicle and visited the place allotted to them by the party. For three to four hours, we will be moving around the area distributing pamphlets and then we will have time for enjoyment.

A Congress worker from Warangal district told Deccan Chronicle that since both the BJP and TRS parties are ruling parties, they had made better arrangements in the constituency, compared to the Congress. Local leaders are not very cooperative. The leader who took us to the constituency is bearing all our expenses. With respect to him we are participating in the election campaign and relaxing for some time.
The BJP on Tuesday warned errant police officers who appear to have enslaved themselves to the TRS leadership  DC Image

HYDERABAD: The BJP on Tuesday warned errant police officers who appear to have enslaved themselves to the TRS leadership that they will have to face the consequences for foisting false cases, and intimidating BJP workers in Munugode Assembly constituencies.

The BJP candidate for the November 3 bypoll in Munugode, Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy, and party MLA Etala Rajendar told reporters in Munugode that BJP workers were not being allowed to move freely in the constituency, not being allowed to enter the constituency from other parts of the state and were being threatened by some police officials.

Rajgopal Reddy, who is set to start village-wise voter reach-out from Wednesday, said the TRS government was abusing police power to curtail BJPs campaign. We will not be deterred by such moves and irrespective of the intimidation of our party workers, we will win the bypoll, he said

Remember that the TRS government and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao will be gone after the 2023 elections. We are taking note of such police officials and will complain to the Election Commission and ensure punishment. Rajendar said.

He also said that workers and leaders at the ground level from other parties who recently joined the BJP, were being told by some police officers to join the TRS or else face the consequences. Such officials should be prepared to go home after the next Assembly elections, Rajendar warned.
For now, leaders of the three parties have stayed out of one anothers way, but it is still early days in the campaign and their paths are expected to cross at some point before the campaign comes to a close. (DC Image)

HYDERABAD: Munugode is witnessing something close to trench warfare as the three major political parties  the TRS, BJP, and Congress  chase people for votes in the November 3 by-election to the Assembly constituency.

Jostling for space in the seven mandals of the constituency, and the lone municipality of Choutuppal, are not fewer than 178 senior and middle-level leaders of the three parties, with each intent on reaching out to every single voter falling under the jurisdiction of each of the 290-odd polling stations in the constituency. For now, leaders of the three parties have stayed out of one anothers way, but it is still early days in the campaign and their paths are expected to cross at some point before the campaign comes to a close. The ruling TRS, with 86 of its MLAs and MLCs, including ministers, has the highest saturation of party leaders, a hitherto unseen phenomenon even by TRS standards.

The list of TRS leaders  on whose shoulders TRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao has placed the responsibility of the victory for the party  alone runs 15 pages.

Earlier, Chandrashekar Rao had reportedly said that he will take charge of Lenkalpally village in Marriguda mandal. On paper, however, the responsibility has fallen on to party MLC T. Ravinder Rao.

Incidentally, the TRS has saturated the constituency  where the battle is between Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy of the BJP, Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy of the TRS, and Palvai Sravanthi of the Congress  with its leaders, and resources, has the additional advantage, at least a psychological one, of having Munugode surrounded by constituencies represented by its legislators.

The Congress, currently seen as the underdog in the contest, and smarting over the desertion of Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy from its fold to join the BJP, has sent in 68 of its leaders. Interestingly, the BJP, claiming to be the primary contender for the Munugode seat, has officially sent in a mere 24 of its leaders as in-charges of each of the seven mandals, and the Choutuppal municipality.

In addition to these leaders are unlisted booth committee in-charges of the three different parties, who, in large numbers, are to ensure that each voter gets connected with a leader or leaders deployed to campaign in their mandal or village, in addition to senior leaders who undertake campaigning during the day.

The job of each of the incharge, co-incharge and assistant is to ensure that the voters they reach out to will vote for their party. And their job, according to leaders from all three parties, has been complicated by the fact that all of them, irrespective of party affiliation, are after the same set of people who may have been contacted by their rivals, or would be once they have left.
Khammam: Protecting its own flock first from poachers is the main strategy of Congress party in Munugode by-elections. Essentially, the party wants to ensure that it retains its voter base of 2018 assembly general elections when it won the seat polling 97,239 votes,  comprising 48.9 percent of the total. There are 2.3 lakh voters in the seven mandals of Munugode constituency.

The Congress is touching each and every house that had voted for it in 2018. For this, it is taking the help of booth-level party leaders in distributing pamphlets to these voters, explaining the need for Congress to win the by-poll. The party is underlining how the common man has been hit by TRS government in Telangana and BJP rule at the centre.

However, when it comes to money, it is advising its voters to take the cash from both TRS and BJP but vote for the Congress.

The party has deputed to each mandal a senior leader, who will be assisted by two in-charge leaders in each of the seven mandals in Munugode constituency and the Choutuppal municipality. Each mandal has been divided into five clusters, with an in-charge for each cluster, which will have eight to 10 polling booths.

TPCC president A. Revanth Reddy is in-charge of Narayanapuram mandal, CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka of Munugode, N. Utham Kumar Reddy Choutuppal, D Sridhar Babu Marriguda, Shabbir Ali Chanduru, V. Hanumantha Rao Gattuppal, Geeta Reddy Choutuppal municipality and Damodar Rajnarasimha Nampally mandal.

Congress will take its articulate booth-level workers from Munugode to the Bharat Jodo Yatra by Rahul Gandhi, which is expected to enter Telangana on October 26. CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka said, These workers will walk along with Rahul Gandhi and share their experiences with voters in the constituency that is going for by-poll.

The party will also try to convince those who had voted for other parties to vote for the Congress candidate. Party workers will highlight to them the increasing prices of essential commodities, discrimination against other people and unstoppable corruption among TRS and BJP leaders.
VIJAYAWADA: Senior YSR Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member V. Vijayasai Reddys announcement that he would launch a news channel and expose the land scams by his own party MPs has created ripples in the ruling party.

Addressing the media in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday, Vijayasai Reddy had announced that he would soon launch a news channel as the Sakshi media house, owned by Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, was ineffective in taking on the vernacular media working at the behest of Telugu Desam.

He did not stop at that and even threatened to launch a newspaper besides foraying into real estate business.

He announced everything and stopped just short of launching a new political outfit, quipped Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha member M.V.V. Satyanarayana.

The YSR Congress MP was attacked by Vijayasai Reddy who ridiculed a land development agreement with a ratio of 99:1 for the builder and owner respectively, which was concluded by the formers real estate company.

Sources close to the Chief Minister told Deccan Chronicle that Vijayasai Reddys comments on Sakshi were uncalled for. It is also not in good taste to openly declare that the owner of a vernacular media that spits venom on Jagan and his party is his good friend, the sources stressed.

Sources also said intelligence inputs were gathered on land deals concluded by Vijayasai Reddys kin some time ago and these were passed on to the CM. Incidentally, Reddy, whom several of his followers call as Number 2, had been removed as YSRC in-charge of three north coastal districts. Even ministers and MLAs have to get green signal from Vijayasai Reddy, sources said.

The partymen also failed to understand the contradictory statements of Vijayasai Reddy with regard to a particular community. Reddy earlier defended shifting the capital from Amaravati, saying much of the lands there were concentrated in the hands of the Kamma community.

At the press conference, he said in Vizag also, a majority of the lands are owned by Kammas and that the biggest beneficiaries of Daspalla lands, once the government removed them from the prohibitory list, are of the same community.

Is he conveying to people that we still serve their interests, wondered a senior party leader.
Hyderabad: A geospatial incubator and the Bhunidhi Portal, both developed by the National Remote Sensing Centre in Hyderabad, were among technologies unveiled at the Second United Nations World Geospatial Information Congress which began here on Tuesday.

The event will be held till October 14 at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC), Kondapur. The theme is Geo-Enabling the Global Village: No one should be left behind. The event will involve panel discussions centred on enhancing the communication, understanding, knowledge and application of geospatial information management. Several exhibits by firms working with geospatial technology have been set up at the venue as part of the event.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, via a video message, said India's geospatial economy was expected to cross `63,000 crore by 2025 and would provide employment to over 10 lakh people. He said geospatial technology has been driving inclusion and progress in national development projects like Svamitva (property survey in rural areas), PM Gati Shakti Master Plan (a multi-modal connvectivity project uniting 16 ministries), and the JAM trinity of Jan Dhan accounts, Aadhaar and Mobile Phone.

Minister of state for science & technology Dr Jitendra Singh unveiled five initiatives in the geospatial technology sector  a geospatial incubator and the Bhunidhi portal, both developed by Hyderabads National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), a solar calculator developed by ISROs Space Application Centre in Ahmedabad, the National Toponymy Database and a report titled Indian experience in aligning with IGIF (Integrated Geospatial Information Framework).

Speaking at the event, the minister said more than 250 geospatial start-ups in India were working across a range of domains like waste resource management, forestry, urban planning and mapping of roads.

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As the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike(BBMP) continued its encroachment removal drive to remove properties constructed on the Storm Water Drains (SWD), a couple in K R Puram threatened the officials that they would self-immolate if they proceed with the drive.

The couple, identified as Sunil and Sona Singh, employees of a private firm and residents of Gayatri Layout in KR Puram, held on to a petrol can and threatened to immolate themselves. In a fit of emotion, they poured petrol on themselves and held out a match stick threatening to self-immolate if their home was demolished.

Also Read: Demolition drive resumes in Bengaluru after Karnataka HC raps BBMP

According to sources, the house owned by the couple has encroached 2 metre into the drain and the BBMP officials had marked it for demolition after a survey.

Both the Bengaluru City Police and the BBMP officials are at the spot trying to pacify the couple. The BBMP officials claimed that the owners had also been served a notice.

The police and the officials had to resort to using water cannons to prevent any fire mishaps. The officials were seen pulling the couple inside after spraying water at high pressure to prevent them from burning themselves.

K R Puram police station inspector detained the couple in the station for a few hours. "They had taken a loan to construct their house and were clearing the loan in small amounts. The couple has two children and said that this is the only shelter they have. We will reason out to the couple and leave them in some time," the police inspector told DH.

Following the floods the city witnessed last month, the civic body is on a mission to remove encroachments across the SWD in the city and has identified over 600 such encroachments.
Members of two churches under the Karnataka Central Diocese (KCD) on Wednesday staged a protest in front of the diocesan office demanding reinstatement of principals of two premier KCD-run schools in the city.

The KCD executive committee had, in July, suspended S Edwin Christopher of the Bishop Cotton Boys School and N Shantha Susheela of the St Johns High School pending inquiry into undisclosed allegations.

Responding to questions by DH, which reported exclusively on the suspension, the KCD had termed the development an internal matter.

Members of the diocese, which is affiliated with the Church of South India, said despite the KCDs claim to have constituted panels of inquiry, there was no sign of a fair probe into the allegations. The committees have not taken the investigation forward. Three months after the suspension, the two principals are yet to be provided an opportunity to explain their positions, a senior member of the church told DH.

Sources close to Susheela had told DH that she was suspended for having sanctioned fee waivers during the pandemic.

The demonstrators said KCD was protecting the principal of the Cathedral Composite PU College and High School, Christy Glory Shanthi, who they alleged was due for retirement this month but had extended her term by a year based on tampered birth records. Sources close to Shanthi argued that it was a clerical error. They told DH, in July, that her birth year was wrongly entered as 1962, instead of 1963, in her school admission records in Tamil Nadu.
Russia's biggest air strikes against Ukraine since the start of the war killed at least 19 people, drove thousands of Ukrainians back into air raid shelters and knocked out electricity in hundreds of towns and villages.

The strikes - denounced in the West for deliberately hitting civilian targets - have been hailed by hawks in Moscow as a turning point that demonstrates Russia's resolve in what it calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine.

But Western military analysts say the strikes came at a staggering cost, depleted a dwindling supply of long-range missiles, hit no major military targets and are unlikely to change the course of a war going badly for Moscow.

"Russia lacks the missiles to mount attacks of this sort often, as it is running out of stocks and the Ukrainians are claiming a high success rate in intercepting many of those already used," wrote Lawrence Freedman, emeritus professor of war studies at King's College London.

Also Read | More missiles, drones strike Ukraine, alarms keep up fear

"This is not therefore a new war-winning strategy but a sociopaths tantrum."

How are the attacks portrayed in Russia?

President Vladimir Putin described the strikes as a response to what he called terrorist attacks by Ukraine, including a blast on Sunday that damaged Russia's bridge to Crimea, which it built after annexing the peninsula it seized in 2014.

Hawks in Russia had been demanding for weeks that Putin escalate the conflict, and many of them hailed Monday's attacks.

Ramzan Kadyrov, the Putin loyalist leader of Russia's Chechnya region who had lately called for military commanders to be sacked, said he was now 100% behind the strategy.

Margarita Simonyan, head of RT, Russia's state-run overseas media channel, said Moscow had been waiting for the perfect time to demonstrate its strength. Quoting a proverb, she tweeted: "A Russian harnesses his horses slowly but drives them quickly."

Also Read | Rouble hits multi-month low on Ukraine escalation fears

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Putin's advisory security council, said Russia would now be able to widen its objectives: "The goal of our future actions, in my view, should be the complete dismantling of the political regime of Ukraine."

Can Russia keep this up?

Ukraine says Russia fired 83 cruise missiles on Monday and that it shot down at least 43 of them. Moscow says it fired more than 70 and all its targets were hit. Both sides say the attack was on a huge scale, unseen at least since Russia's initial wave of air strikes on the first night of the war in February.

Each Kalibr cruise missile is estimated to cost more than $6.5 million, meaning Moscow fired around half a billion dollars worth of missiles in a single day.

Western military analysts have no firm figures for how many missiles Russia has left, but for months have pointed to indicators suggesting the supply is limited.

As far back as July, Joseph Dempsey and Douglas Barrie of the International Institute for Strategic Studies noted that Russia was increasingly using anti-ship missiles to strike targets on the ground. This "suggests that Moscow is having to muster its remaining conventionally armed land attack cruise missile resources more carefully," they wrote.

Can Ukraine protect itself?

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said securing more air defences for Ukraine is his number one priority. Western leaders including U.S. President Joe Biden have promised more systems, though it takes time to deliver them.

Ukraine now relies on Soviet-era air defence systems such as the S-300. Washington promised several months ago to send its sophisticated NASAMS system, but said in late September that delivery was still around two months away.

In practice, military experts say Ukraine will probably never be able to defend its entire land area - the second largest in Europe after Russia itself - from attacks on scattered low-priority targets.

Air defences, such as the U.S. Patriot missile system, are designed mainly to protect specific, high priority targets. Others can provide broader protection but over a comparatively small area, such as Israel's vaunted "Iron Dome" system which protects a country around one twentieth the size of Ukraine.

"Bottom line: Just like it was difficult to stop Saddam from launching SCUDs, and as much as we want to help Ukraine, it's challenging to completely counter all Putin's war crimes that unfortunately include launching missile strikes against civilian targets," tweeted Mark Hertling, a former commander of U.S. land forces in Europe.

Still, Monday's attacks appear to show that Ukraine is already far from defenceless. While Kyiv's claim to have shot down more than half of the missiles is impossible to verify, Russia did not hit any targets with the highest strategic value, such as leadership buildings in the capital, which are likely to have been best protected.

What's next?

Russia still faces the same strategic difficulties it did before Monday's attacks: demoralised and poorly equipped forces spread along a 1,000-km frontline, with long supply lines vulnerable to Ukrainian attacks.

Russia's initial advantages, above all the massive firepower of its artillery, allowed it to destroy and capture cities in May-July. But since September, its artillery-heavy forces have proven a poor match for defending occupied territory from mobile and increasingly well-equipped Ukrainian units.

Moscow still lacks control over Ukrainian air space, which would allow for the intensive strikes by jet and helicopter that helped it defeat rebels in Syria and Chechnya.

Ben Hodges, another former commander of U.S. ground forces in Europe, said that despite Monday's attacks, Ukraine still appeared to have "irreversible momentum" on the battlefield.

"Russia's logistics system is exhausted and no Russian wants to fight in Putin's war in Ukraine," he tweeted.
In a major relief to Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, a special court of the Federal Investigation Agency on Wednesday acquitted him and his son Hamza Shehbaz in a multi-million-dollar money laundering case.

The FIA in November 2020 had booked Shehbaz and his sons under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Anti-Money Laundering Act for allegedly committing over Pakistani Rupee 16 billion money laundering.

"Special Judge Central (Lahore) Ijaz Hasan Awan acquitted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son former Punjab chief minister Hamza Shehbaz in the Pakistani Rupee16 billion money laundering case which was registered against them two years ago after no direct evidence was found against them, a court official told PTI.

Also Read | Another audio of former Pakistan PM Imran Khan surfaces trying to buy lawmakers

As the FIAs special court was to indict Shehbaz and Hamza in this case last month, they filed a petition for their acquittal and their counsel started arguments.

Their counsel Amjad Pervaiz presented final arguments in the court on Monday pleading that the FIA has no evidence against his clients.

The defence counsel said no prosecution witness testified against the petitioners. He argued that the prosecution failed to establish any link between the petitioners and the 'benami' (proxy) bank accounts, which it included in its investigation report.

The court has already declared Shehbazs younger son, Suleman Shehbaz, a proclaimed offender in this case. Suleman has been absconding in the UK since 2019. Shehbaz often says Suleman looks after the family business.

"Another fabricated case created for political victimisation comes to its inevitable end," the PML-N tweeted. "Verily, falsehood is bound to perish as promised by the Almighty."

Meanwhile, a senior leader of the federal coalition government has alleged that Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa has rescued the Sharif family from conviction in corruption cases against them.

"Bajwa sahib has rescued the Sharif family from conviction in cases and he has committed a big crime," PPP senior leader barrister Aitzaz Ahsan said while talking to reporters.

He said the cases against Shehbaz, his elder brother and former premier Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz were open-and-shut and their conviction was evident but they were rescued by the top man.

Ousted prime minister Imran Khan has claimed that the Sharif family is given a 'relief' in court cases under a deal with the establishment.
Myanmar's then leader Aung San Suu Kyi delivers a speech during a meeting on implementation of Myanmar Education Development in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, Jan. 28, 2020. AP-Yonhap



Myanmar's junta sentenced ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday to another six years in prison for corruption, a source with knowledge of the case said, taking the Nobel laureate's total jail time to 26 years.



Suu Kyi "was sentenced to three years imprisonment each for two corruption cases" in which she had been accused of taking bribes from a businessman, the source said, adding that the terms would be served concurrently.



Detained since the putsch last year, Suu Kyi has already been convicted of corruption and a clutch of other charges by a closed junta court.



In the latest case, the Nobel laureate  who has been in military custody since the night of the coup  was accused of taking bribes of $550,000 from businessman Maung Weik.



Suu Kyi  who denies all charges against her  appeared in good health and would appeal, the source added.



She is currently on trial for five other corruption charges.



Journalists have been barred from attending the court hearings and Suu Kyi's lawyers have been banned from speaking to the media.



Confined



Suu Kyi has been the face of Myanmar's democratic hopes for more than 30 years and was previously a political prisoner. Since February 2021, she has once again been confined by the military, with her link to the outside world now limited to brief pre-trial meetings with lawyers.



Many of her political allies have also been arrested since the coup, with one chief minister sentenced to 75 years in jail.



Last year, a military broadcaster aired a video of Maung Weik saying that he had given Suu Kyi $550,000 over several years.



Maung Weik said he had donated money to senior government figures for the good of his business.



The Southeast Asian nation has been in turmoil since the military seized power, sparking widespread armed resistance.



The junta has responded with a crackdown that rights groups say includes razing villages, mass extrajudicial killings and airstrikes on civilians.



More than one million people have been displaced since the coup, according to the United Nations children's agency.



More than 2,300 people have been killed and over 15,000 arrested since the military seized power, according to a local monitoring group. (AFP)


A private schools' association that claims to represent a combined 20 million students in Pakistan held "I am not Malala Day" across schools on Wednesday in response to Malala Yousafzai's controversial views on Islam and marriage, a day after the Nobel laureate landed in her home country after more than four years.

Yousafzai arrived in Pakistan on Tuesday to inspect regions hit by the cataclysmic floods and meet flood-hit victims.

More than 1,700 people have been killed, 33 million displaced and a third of the country submerged under water in the worst floods to hit Pakistan, which brought about unprecedented rains since mid-June.

"I am not Malala Day" is an event named in reference to Yousafzai's autobiography titled "I am Malala," in which private schools in Pakistan hold lectures and seminars to expose her "western agenda."

The All Pakistan Private Schools Federation (APPSF), an organisation that claims to represent a combined 20 million students in Pakistan, also showed a documentary film titled "I am not Malala-II".

Also Read | Pakistan court acquits PM Shehbaz Sharif, son Hamza in money laundering case

In this documentary, Malalas acts of attacking the institution of marriage and family structure by advocating that people should live in sin, has been highlighted, Kashif Mirza, president of All Pakistan Private Schools Federation (APPSF) told PTI.

In November 2021, Yousafzai married Asser Malik at a private ceremony in Birmingham.

Through lectures and seminars, the APPSF has educated 26 million students through its 1.5 million teachers across 200,000 schools regarding Malalas controversial views on marriage, Mirza noted.

In response to Yousafzai declaring the Pakistan Army as militant in her book, Mirza said:October 12 is also observed as a black day and all teachers of the private schools associated with the federation wear black armbands condemning Malala for her controversial views about Islamic practices."

Yousafzai, 25, last visited Pakistan in March 2018.

On Wednesday, she visited flood-affected district of Dadu, in Sindh province.

The timing of her return to Pakistan coincides with rise in terror incidents in her hometown in Swat Valley.

On Monday, unknown miscreants opened fire at a school van taking school students to Gulibagh area in the Swat Valley, which killed the driver and injured two students.

The latest attack has brought residents to streets, who are demanding justice to the victims and an end to the unrelenting wave of terror attacks in the restive region.

Overall, this is her second visit to Pakistan since she survived a Taliban attack in Swat Valley in October 2012, following which she was flown to a specialised hospital in Birmingham in the UK.

After her recovery, Yousafzai announced that she would launch a movement for the promotion of girls education.

In December 2014, Yousafzai aged 17, became the youngest to become the Nobel Prize laureate.
Turkey on Tuesday called for a ceasefire in Ukraine just days ahead of a likely meeting between the leaders of Turkey and Russia in the Kazakh capital Astana.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who won plaudits for securing a grain deal as well as Russia-Ukraine prisoner swap, has long sought to bring together Kyiv and Moscow for truce talks that neither side particularly wants.

NATO member Turkey, which has stayed neutral throughout the conflict in Ukraine, has good relations with its two Black Sea neighbours -- Vladimir Putin's Russia and Ukraine.

Also Read: Canada to send 40 combat engineers to Poland to train Ukraine soldiers

"Unfortunately (both sides) have quickly moved away from diplomacy" since the talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in Istanbul in March, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in a televised interview.

"As the Ukraine-Russian war drags on, unfortunately, the situation gets worse and more complicated," added the Turkish diplomat, who called for an immediate ceasefire.

"A ceasefire must be established as soon as possible. The sooner the better," he said.

Also Read: In UNGA, India votes to reject Russias demand for secret ballot on draft resolution on Ukraine

Erdogan, who has a good working relationship with Putin despite disagreements on several issues including in Syria, is likely to meet with the Russian leader in Astana on Thursday, a Turkish official told AFP speaking on condition of anonymity.

Turkey has refrained from joining Western sanctions against Russia.

Erdogan, who met Putin on the sidelines of a regional summit in Uzbekistan last month, is keen to boost trade with Moscow as he tries to stabilise the battered Turkish economy in the run up to elections next June.

Also Read: As winter looms, Russia is seeking to sow panic, military analysts say

Ankara has bowed to pressure from the United States and confirmed the last three Turkish banks still processing Russian bank card payments were pulling the plug.

The decision followed weeks of increasingly blunt warnings from Washington for Turkey to either limit economic ties with Russia or face the threat of sanctions itself.

Erdogan has not yet commented on mass Russian strikes across Ukraine on Monday, which Ukrainian emergency services said killed at least 19 people and wounded more than 100.

Cavusoglu held a telephone call with Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba after the attacks, a Turkish diplomatic source said, without elaborating further.

During the interview on Tuesday, Cavusoglu called for a "just peace" based on Ukraine's territorial integrity.

"There must be a just peace for Ukraine. Where is the war going on? It's going on on Ukrainian soil," he said.

"A process that will ensure Ukraine's border and territorial integrity should start. Without a ceasefire, it is not possible to talk about those issues in a healthy way: a viable ceasefire and a just peace."

Turkey has rejected Russia's annexation of four Ukrainian provinces as a "grave violation" of international law and called for negotiations to end the conflict.
The Allahabad High Court has held that a Muslim man who has married for the second time against the wishes of his first wife cannot seek a decree from a civil court to compel the first wife to live with him.

A bench of justices Surya Prakash Kesarwani and Rajendra Kumar passed the order recently on an appeal filed under the Family Courts Act challenging the judgment of the Principal Judge, Family Court, who had dismissed the appellant's plea for restitution of conjugal rights with his first wife.

The court said when the appellant entered the second marriage suppressing this fact from his first wife, it amounted to cruelty to her.

The bench stated that the religious mandate of Sura 4 Ayat 3 of the holy Quran is binding on Muslim men. It specifically mandates that a Muslim man can marry up to four women of their choice, but if a Muslim man fears that he will not be able to deal justly with them, then he can only marry one.

If a Muslim man is not capable of fostering his wife and children, then as per the mandate of the Quran, he cannot marry the other woman, the high court said.

It held that a Muslim man has the legal right to take a second wife even while the first marriage subsists.

But if he does so, and then seeks the assistance of the civil court to compel the first wife to live with him against her wishes, she is entitled to raise the question of whether the court, as a court of equity, ought to compel her to submit to co-habitation with such a husband.

The bench stated, When the appellant has contracted the second marriage suppressing this fact from his first wife, then such a conduct of the plaintiff-appellant amounts to cruelty to his first wife.

"Under the circumstances, if the first wife does not wish to live with her husband, then she cannot be compelled to go with him in a suit filed by him for restitution of conjugal rights.

If the contention of the husband for the grant of decree of conjugal rights is accepted, then from the point of view of the wife, it would amount to a breach of her fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India, the court said.
The opposition to the Tamil Nadu governments plan to build a second airport for Chennai near Kanchipuram is gaining strength with residents of Parandur and 12 neighbouring villages planning to march towards the state Assembly next week as it is set to convene for a short session.

The villagers, who refuse to part with their land for the greenfield airport project, will begin their march from Parandur on October 17 when the Tamil Nadu Assembly convenes. They plan to reach the Assembly premises on October 18 to register their protest.

In a public announcement, the villagers said they will begin the foot march from the place where a statue of B R Ambedkar is located in Parandur on October 17. Since we plan to cover the distance by walking, we request people to join us in expressing our opposition to the airport project, a public notice issued by the villagers said.

Read | India to add 80 airports in next 4-5 years; New rules for aerodromes

The public notice says it isnt fair to destroy water bodies like lakes and ponds near Parandur and other villages to build a greenfield airport for Chennai. It is also not healthy to raze down hundreds of Hindu temples that bear testimony to the history of a thousand years for the project, the notice alleged.

The villagers have been up in arms since mid-August after the government decided to build the airport at a cost of Rs 20,000 crore, alleging that such a move would wipe away agriculture in the locality besides putting large water bodies in danger.

Poovulagin Nanbargal, an organisation fighting for the protection of environment, released a report on the project recently saying around 1,317 acres of land of the total 4,000 acres to be acquired for Parandur airport are classified as porambokku (wasteland) of which nearly 1,000 acres are covered by lakes, ponds, and small water bodies.

It also said over 3,000 acres of land being acquired for the project are agricultural land which would put the food security under threat. However, the government is keen on implementing the project and has restricted access to the village.

The new airport, which is expected to be built at a cost of Rs 20,000 crore, will have two runways, multiple terminal buildings, taxiways, aprons, and cargo terminal among other infrastructure. It is being built to handle about 10 crore passengers a year.

The location is close to the Chennai-Bengaluru National Highway and Sriperumbudur that boasts of massive industrial estates owned by the state government which plans to develop a new township around the proposed airport that would also decongest Chennai.

Though the number of flights and the daily footfall have increased manifold over the years, the city is bereft of a swanky airport like the ones Bengaluru and Hyderabad boast of. The AAI has been expanding the terminal buildings in the existing airport to cater to the ever-increasing rush but a new airport is long overdue.

The governments 2006 plan to construct a greenfield airport in Sriperumbudur did not take off due to a slew of factors, including opposition from PMK, which was an ally of the then DMK government. Efforts by the AIADMK government between 2011 and 2021 in this regard also did not fructify.

Besides Chennai, Tamil Nadu has four operational airports  Tiruchirapalli, Madurai, Coimbatore, and Thoothukudi. The state government has now commissioned a study to explore the feasibility of setting up an airport in the industrial city of Hosur located just outside Bengaluru.
The Government of Indias decision to export $249 million worth of weapons, including its lethal multi-barrel rocket launcher, Pinaka, to Armenia, which is engaged in a fratricidal conflict with neighbouring Azerbaijan, suggests not just the shifting sands of the global power balance, but also the way New Delhi is readjusting its foreign policy to factor regional conflicts that overlap with its security concerns.

For long, India has stayed away from taking sides in any conflict. But by choosing to provide weapons to war-torn Armenia, stressed by the alliance that resource-rich Azerbaijan has cobbled with formidable Turkey and Pakistan, with support from China, India is positioning itself as a player of sorts in this complicated regional stand-off.

Armenia is a conflict-ridden legacy of a flawed delimitation exercise of a region that was struggling to cope with the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. Armenia and Azerbaijan are fighting to establish sovereignty over Nagorno Karabakh, which has an ethnic Armenian majority but is surrounded by Azerbaijanian-majority districts.

Russia has been thriving in this confrontation  playing both the main supplier of weapons to both sides as well as peace-broker between them. But the forces of history began to assert themselves in unexpected ways, neutralising Russias influence on these countries and giving their conflict a life of its own.

Turkey, accused of the genocide of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during the First World War, 1914-1918, aligned itself with neighbouring Azerbaijan. Turkish President Recep Erdogan has been adamant in resisting the tarring of the Ottomans as genocidal. Perhaps it was critical for Erdogan to do so as he sought to craft a different future for Turkey from the secular society envisioned by the founder of modern Turkey, Kemal Ataturk. From this standpoint, it was important for Ankara to tie up with Azerbaijan, despite the special relationship it shares with Moscow.

Azerbaijan had other friends, too. Being an oil and gas exporter, it has the European Union wooing it aggressively. Israelis have found a steadfast friend in Baku as the Azeris, although majority Shia, resent the religious leadership of Iran and its bid to rewrite history. Azerbaijan is also a close ally of the US.

In this hodge-podge of overlapping ties between those whom India considers as friends and foes, New Delhi has chosen to side with Armenia, which is on the losing side and is backed by those who are trenchantly anti-American: Russia and Iran.

Why has Delhi chosen to back Armenia? Is it because its enemies Pakistan and Turkey are aligned with Azerbaijan? Or is it because it is a business opportunity to supply arms to a country that shares its reliance on Russian arms, at a time when Moscow is unable to keep up the supplies because its resources are caught up in fighting Ukraine?

This is significant as Armenia had come to grief at the hands of Azerbaijans forces in the two exchanges they have had. Armenia, armed with Russian weapons, including its tanks and multi-barrel missile launchers, had proved to be inadequate when facing Turk-supplied Bayraktar drones. As it happened in the early part of the Ukraine conflict, the drones destroyed tanks, armoured trucks, etc. For a while, the Armenians, like the Russians, did not know where the attacks came from.

Ideally, the Russian government would have liked to be the arbiter between the two former Soviet republics, but after starting the Ukraine invasion, it has begun to lose its influence on erstwhile Soviet republics. Its growing losses and the manner in which its vaunted hardware has been walloped by Turkish drones and Western hardware has hurt Moscows reputation. As mentioned above, the biggest blow came from the Turkish drones that destroyed the supposedly formidable Russian tanks. The Russian air force took time to figure out how to take out the low-flying drones, which were vulnerable to air-to-air missiles from Sukhoi fighters. Independent observers claim that 39 Turkish drones were shot down, compelling even Ukrainian President Zelensky to minimise the drones importance in the countrys fight against Russia.

It is possible to read the chatter in the Armenian media -- that it is high time that their government sought Western weapons. It is also pressuring Armenia to get out of the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) of foremer Soviet states as it failed to come to its help when Azerbaijan invaded it in September. Even Russia did not condemn the attack, which was seen as a forcible attempt on the part of Azerbaijan to settle the Zengezur Corridor, which was to link Azerbaijan with the Nakhchivan enclave located within Armenia. The Armenian government, feeling the pressure of a loss, realised that agreeing to the corridor could mean loss of its land and its sovereignty.

It was in these circumstances that Yerevan sought Indias help. The issue of the three Muslim brothers -- Turkey, Pakistan and Azerbaijan  ganging up was raised, which seems to have struck a chord with some in New Delhi as they tried to rationalise Indian military exports to Armenia, a country that embraced Christianity. Such easy formulation of India supporting a country militarily against three Muslim brothers is beset with many problems as it might drag India into uncharted territory. Would we like to be a neutral arms supplier or one that sells its hardware based on our foreign policy concerns? These are some tricky issues that New Delhi needs to resolve as Indias military manufacturing prowess grows.

(The writer is Editor, Hardnews

magazine)
Indias strategic space in South Asia shrunk alongside China expanding its footprint in the region. Chinas exports to the region have grown over five times between 2005 and 2020. In comparison, Indias exports to the region have grown only thrice over the corresponding period. Chinas economic rise has prompted Beijing to invest heavily in the region.

South Asia shares a cultural, social, ethnic, linguistic and religious heritage, but its post-colonial period is mired in the hostile India-Pakistan relationship that has deeply divided the region and deters political, social and economic integration. Therefore, South Asian countries prefer to trade with other distant nations rather than with their own neighbours. China displaced India as Bangladeshs top trading partner in 2015 and imports from China represented 34 per cent of Bangladeshs total imports in 2019. The other South Asian states are still underdeveloped economies. Afghanistan is a conflict-ridden, Cold War-wrecked country, plagued by a narcotics-driven economy. As for Pakistan and Sri Lanka, both countries are now in economic quagmires. The other three nations in the region -- Bhutan, Nepal and Maldives -- are primarily tourism-driven economies without much else to enable high growth.

As a result, most of Indias neighbours with low growth due to underdeveloped economies find China, with its mega pool of foreign exchange resources, an attractive ally which is willing to invest in their infrastructure projects, particularly airports, roads, ports and power plants. In this backdrop, Beijings economic statecraft enables it to carve out a strategic space in the region due to weak integration among the South Asian states.

China aims to alter the prevalent US-centric international political order and prove its credentials as a Superpower. Therefore, Beijings foreign policy entails the quest for Asian leadership, where its peer competitors are India, Japan and Vietnam. Otherwise, Chinas strategic stature -- massive territory, forex-surplus economy, large skilled pool of human resources, and modernised military -- naturally makes it a preponderant power in Southeast/East Asia, which is constituted by small island-states.

In South Asia, Indias strategic stature stands out in sharp contrast, which China aims to counter through close relations with New Delhis neighbours.

Chinas regional engagement is through development assistance and establishment of Confucius Institutes, besides generous scholarships to South Asian students to study the Chinese language and for other studies/research in China. Besides, Beijing has initiated agreements for cultural exchanges with South Asian countries.

India, as a traditional power, now has to contend with China, which has emerged as an accelerating one in the region. China plans to promote Afghanistan-Pakistan collaboration, post-US withdrawal, to ensure the security of its western frontier, advance the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), check anti-China forces, particularly the East Turkestan Islamic Movement and al-Qaeda.

Also, Chinas recent Spring Diplomacy in South Asia saw visits to Pakistan and Afghanistan and its attendance in the Organisation of Islamic Countries Foreign Ministers Meeting in Islamabad. Besides, Chinese participation in Foreign Ministers Meetings on Afghanistan aims to increase Beijings influence over the Taliban regime through Islamabad.

Amidst all this though, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor faces an uncertain future with Pakistans economic distress and increasing terrorist attacks against Chinese projects/personnel in Pakistan.

More recently, China also appears to be losing ground in Nepal after the Deuba government signed up for the US foreign economy policy initiative to fight global poverty, called the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) agreement, and voted against Russia in the United Nations. Moreover, Deubas maiden foreign visit to New Delhi after assuming office in July last year prompted Chinese analysts to dub the Deuba regime pro-US and pro-India. Beijing is particularly apprehensive about USIndia influence on Nepals Tibet policy.

Sri Lanka has proven a difficult one for China after the ouster of the pro-China Rajapaksas. Then President Gotabaya had conveyed to the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in 2020, who was on a visit to Colombo, that Sri Lanka would not sign the MCC agreement with the US. Now, China is worried about the future of its investments in the island nation, negative publicity over the debt trap, pressure on Beijing to restructure debts, and the possibility that Colombo may sign the MCC agreement. China is undecided on Sri Lankas request for loan restructuring and additional financial aid.

Also, China withdrew from two river projects in Nepal in 2018, which were part of a 1200-MW power project. Moreover, China has not committed assistance to Bangladesh on the 1.1 million Rohingya refugees resident there since 2017.

While India has limitations in matching Chinas economic assistance to the region, New Delhi could leverage its soft power -- as an education, healthcare and IT destination -- to cultivate closer regional ties. Importantly, India should re-work its image as an arrogant, overbearing patriarch in the region to ensure cordial neighbourly ties.

(The writer is member-secretary, Institute of Contemporary Studies, Bengaluru)
Bishop's Gate Hotel in Derry has scooped the top award for Best Hotel in Northern Ireland at the inaugural Giant Spirit Awards, which have replaced the Northern Ireland Tourism Awards.

Staged in the Grand Ballroom of the Slieve Donard Resort, the award ceremony saw representatives from tourism businesses and organisations across Northern Ireland gather to recognise the efforts made by the industry over the last two years. The shortlist, chosen by industry experts, represented the best in class in the tourism industry.

Bishop's Gate Hotel is a luxury boutique hotel in the heart of the city with 31 bedrooms and nine self catering apartments. Hotel services include The Wig & Gown Champagne Bar & Restaurant and the stunning Northern Counties Ballroom.

Loved for its personal service and stunning Edwardian interior, as well as its delectable restaurant offering, the hotel was one of 13 winners on the night of the event, which was previously named the Northern Ireland Tourism Awards.

Ciaran ONeill, Managing Director of Bishops Gate said: Its an honour for us to win this title as it represents and rewards excellence, best practice and innovation and thats what we strive to offer at Bishops Gate.

It is particularly poignant that the award comes as Tourism NI overhauls its regular awards event to embrace its Giant Spirit theme, after which the ceremony is named.

Bishops Gate, like all hotels here, has had many challenges over the past two years, but we are committed to excellence and strive to succeed in spite of that. We always want to exceed our customers expectations and this award shows that we are doing so.

The award comes not long after another coveted accolade was bestowed upon the hotel recently. It was ranked in the top 10 on the Best of the Best 2021 TripAdvisor Travellers Choice Award list.

The Travellers Choice Best of the Best list is drawn from the experiences of the best experts possible: real travellers whove been there before.

It sees Bishops Gate rank among globally iconic establishments including Claridges, The Green Park Hotel, Hotel 41 and Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, A Belmond Hotel, Oxfordshire.

Ciaran added: We offer a genuine welcome to all our guests. We aim to ensure every visit is special, whether you are joining us to celebrate a formal occasion such as a wedding or if you simply want to enjoy lunch with family and friends in the Gown restaurant or afternoon tea in the Hervey Library.

We are delighted that not just our peers but our customers think were among the best and we will continue to offer our consistent service and product.

Visit Derry, the official tourist organisation for the city and region, promoting it as a tourist and conference destination as well as providing a complete package of visitor services, also received recognition as highly commended in Most Innovative Business (Large).

Tourism NIs newly appointed chair, Ellvena Graham, commented: I congratulate everyone who has been shortlisted for this evenings awards. They have all come through a great deal and continue to contribute so much to our economy. I am a passionate advocate of tourism's potential when it comes to job creation and economic impact. This industry does really make a difference, and it can contribute more through even greater partnership and collaboration.

Speaking about wider issues Ellvena Graham added: I know the cost of doing business is another huge challenge at present for our industry but we are known for our resilience and I know we will come through this too.

"While there is plenty more to be done, we have a fantastic product to offer and I am confident about the future and very much looking forward to the task ahead.

Also speaking at the awards, Economy Minister Gordon Lyons said: It is only right that we should celebrate the resilience and ingenuity shown by the tourism industry over the last two and a half years.

"We are also turning to the future and I am encouraged that closer to home markets are performing well and our international markets are starting to recover; however I know that value for money will remain extremely important in the months ahead.

The attraction of world class events, along with continued investment in our tourism infrastructure at home, and stand out marketing and promotion activities, will be central to delivering our desire to develop Northern Ireland as a leading tourism economy."
Local councillors have called on the Department for Infrastructure to create a dedicated right turn lane at a 'dangerous' road junction in south Derry.

Mid-Ulster District Councillors, Councillor Sean McPeake and Councillor Donal McPeake have requested that DFI create a dedicated right turn lane on the A6 Glenshane Road at its junction with Broagh Road, near Knockloughrim.

Speaking to the County Derry Post the Sinn Fein Councillors said: For several years now Sinn Fein representatives have been lobbying DFI Roads Service to install a right turn lane at the Broagh and Glenshane Road Junction.

"This is an extremely dangerous junction on the main Belfast to Derry roadway. For motorists travelling on the A6 from Castledawson heading west towards Maghera and who wish to move on to the Broagh Road, crossing this can be extremely hazardous in having to cross onto speeding traffic

With the near completion of the Granaghan Road Right Turn Lane further along the A6, the Broagh Road turn off is the sole remaining junction on the Castledawson to Dungiven stretch of this busy road without a right turn off lane.

DFI have recently commenced a major resurfacing scheme on a 4km section of the A6 between Castledawson Roundabout and the Lurganagoose Road turn-off.

Whilst these improvement works are to be very much welcomed, we have again reiterated our request to have a new right turn lane incorporated on the A6 at the Broagh Road junction.

We feel now is an opportune time to have these works completed as part of the current resurfacing scheme.

They added: The request was again raised last week with a meeting with Western Roads Manager David Healey where we believe there now exists an opportune time to have road safety improved at this turn off.

"Mr Healey responded positively stating that he would now examine the feasibility of having these works carried out at the Broagh Road junction as part of the A6 resurfacing scheme.

"We remain hopeful of a positive outcome to our request to enhance road safety on the A6.
The sun rose over Muckish, but the postcard-perfect setting provided the backdrop for another of Cresloughs darkest hours on Wednesday.

Heads bowed sombrely along the Main Street at around 10 minutes to two.

The flashing blue lights on the Garda motorbike of Sergeant Mark Traynor, the outrider, led a cortege through streets filled with sadness.

Two hearses followed, the first carrying the remains of 39-year-old Catherine ODonnell; the second in which lay her 13-year-old son James Monaghan.

The cortege passed the Applegreen complex where, just five days beforehand, they met after James got off the school bus. They were waiting in a queue at the Post Office at around 3.15pm on Friday when a freak explosion claimed their lives.

Sometimes words fail us and they certainly fail us at this time, Fr John Joe Duffy said.

This afternoon, words are inadequate to express the feelings of our communities as we gather. Words fail us in how to offer support. We are doing what we know best. We are standing with you. We are walking with you. We are praying for you.

We are all struggling with you. More so, you are coming to terms with the incomprehensible loss that you are experiencing. There are no words that can give definition to that scale of grief and loss.

Classmates of Jamess from Mulroy College in Milford formed a guard of honour as their friend and his mother were taken to and from St Michaels Church. Hundreds stood on the streets with the church overflowed.

Ms Fiona Temple, the Principal of Mulroy College, members of staff and Anne McHugh, the Donegal ETB Chief Executive, were among the mourners.

Among the items brought to the altar were wrestling symbols, representing Jamess love of wrestling, and a watch and necklace, which Fr Duffy said represented a style that was so important to Catherine.

Fr Duffy likened James to an airplane slowing taxiing down a runway ready for takeoff. Noting how James had recently attended his first disco at Dodge in nearby Gweedore, Fr Duffy said: He was just a child taxiing down the runway about to take off into his teenage years. He was just about to launch into life. It is no wonder that words fail us.

James was one of those children who was unforgettable. His innocence was so very endearing. He brought a smile to everyones face.

Fr Duffy urged his classmates from Mulroy College to continue to bring the same joy James was known for.

He was full of devilment and full of life and full of joy, Fr Duffy said. At the back of it all, he had such a beautiful innocence. He had a beautiful heart and a beautiful soul.

Catherine and James suffered heartbreaking pain in 2017 with the death of baby daughter and sister, Paige, with whom they will now be reunited.

Catherine was remembered as bubbly and full of life. She was intelligent and she loved parties, Fr Duffy said.

She was a glam lady. She loved shopping. She was someone who was very much loved. She was a loving partner, a loving mother and a loving daughter.

The President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, with his senior Aide de Camp, Colonel Stephen Howard, made his way from Derrybeg having attended the funeral of James OFlaherty earlier in the day.

We have been so very much in our thoughts and thank you for the prayers and messages, Fr Duffy told the President.

Commandant Claire Mortimer, Aide de Camp to An Taoiseach Micheal Martin, was in attendance with Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue, who represented the government.

The Cathaoirleach of Donegal County Council, Councillor Liam Blaney and the Councils Chief Executive, John McLaughlin, led a delegation from the Council.

Members of An Garda Siochana, the fire service and other civic authorities, many of whom assisted in the rescue and recovery mission following last Fridays explosion, were present.

The Bishop of Raphoe, Alan McGuckian SJ, and Bishop Philip Boyce, Bishop Emeritus of Raphoe joined a large amount of local clergy and friars from Ards Friary.

Fr Duffy hailed the work of the various medical teams who came to the aid of people in the wake of the explosion and paid a special tribute to workers at Letterkenny University Hospitals mortuary.

They worked non-stop through the night to help get loved ones back to their families, he said.

Pope Francis expressed his sympathy and assured the family of his prayerful and loving support.

Fr Duffy said: He is thinking about you individually and all who have died in this tragedy and all who are in hospital.
The Government will have to proceed with the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill without a negotiated solution with the EU, the Prime Minister has said.

Speaking during Prime Ministers Questions, Liz Truss told MPs in the Commons we cant allow the situation to drift.

Her comments came as DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said the outcome of the UKs negotiations with the EU must reflect the objectives outlined by the Government in the proposed legislation.

Raising the issue at PMQs, he said: Does the Prime Minister agree with me in welcoming the renewed negotiations with the European Union about the Northern Ireland Protocol?

That the outcome of those negotiations must reflect the objectives outlined by the Government in the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill and that this is the key to unlocking the door to political stability in Northern Ireland.

Ms Truss replied: I very much agree with (him). We need to deliver for the people of Northern Ireland. That means making sure that we have free flowing trade east-west as well as north-south.

It means making sure that the people of Northern Ireland can benefit from the same tax benefits as people in Great Britain and it means resolving the issues over governance and regulation.

Now I would prefer to achieve that through a negotiated solution with the EU but if were not able to do that, we cant allow the situation to drift, we have to proceed with the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill.

The Northern Ireland Protocol was aimed at avoiding a hard border with Ireland but has created economic barriers on the movement of goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, causing resentment and anger among many unionists and loyalists.

The dispute has created an impasse in efforts to form a devolved government administration in Belfast.

The UK Government has vowed to secure changes to the protocol, either by way of a negotiated compromise with the EU or through proposed domestic legislation  the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill  which would permit the scrapping of the arrangements without the approval of Brussels.
Firefighters work in the field near the Druzhba pipeline where an oil leak was detected, near the village of Zurawice, Poland, October 12, 2022. Reuters



Germany said on Wednesday it was receiving less oil but still had adequate supplies, after Poland found a leak in the Druzhba pipeline that delivers crude from Russia to Europe that Warsaw said was probably caused by an accident rather than sabotage.



The discovery of the leak in the main route carrying oil to Germany, which operator PERN said it found on Tuesday evening, comes as Europe is on high alert over its energy security as it faces a severe crisis in the aftermath of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine which has cut supplies of gas.



"Security of supply in Germany is currently guaranteed," an economy ministry spokesperson said in an emailed statement. "The refineries in Schwedt and Leuna continue to receive crude oil via the Druzhba pipeline."



The Schwedt refinery, which supplies 90% of Berlin's fuel, said in an emailed statement that deliveries were taking place at reduced capacity.



Germany said it was hoping for more information soon from Poland about the cause of the leak and how it can be repaired.



Europe has been on high alert over the security of its energy infrastructure since major leaks were found last month in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines running from Russia to Europe under the Baltic Sea. Both the West and Russia have blamed sabotage.



However, Poland's top official in charge of energy infrastructure, Mateusz Berger, told Reuters by telephone that the leak in the Druzhba pipeline was most likely caused by "accidental damage".



"We are living in turbulent times, different connotations are possible, but at this stage we have no grounds at all to believe that," he said, when asked about the possibility of sabotage.



Berger said the leak was located 70 km (44 miles) west from Plock, where Poland's biggest refinery owned by PKN Orlen is located. As a result, part of the shipping capacity towards Germany was not available, he said, adding that repairs would likely "not take long".



The Druzhba oil pipeline, whose name means "friendship" in Russian, is one of the world's largest, supplying Russian oil to much of central Europe including Germany, Poland, Belarus, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Austria.



Russia's Transneft state-owned pipeline monopoly said that oil continues to be pumped towards Poland.



Poland's PKN Orlen said that oil supplies to its Plock refinery were not interrupted while Czech pipeline operator MERO said it had not seen any change in flows to the Czech Republic.



"The main action (we are taking) is to pump out the liquid and locate the leak and stop it," fire brigade spokesman Karol Kierzkowski told state broadcaster TVP Info.



"When the pressure decreases, the leak will stop and allow us to reach the leak," he said, adding that it was too early to establish the cause and there was no danger to the public.



Firefighters in the mid-northern Kujawsko-Pomorskie region of Poland said they had pumped about 400 cubic metres of oil and water from the site of the leak which was in the middle of a corn field.

The second line of the pipeline, and other elements of PERN's infrastructure, were working as normal, PERN said.



"At this point, all PERN services (technical, operational, in-house fire brigade and environmental protection) are taking action in accordance with the algorithms provided for this type of situation," the operator said.



The total capacity of the western section of the pipeline that ships oil from central Poland to Germany is 27 million tonnes of crude oil per year.



Germany's Schwedt refinery is particularly dependent on Druzhba.



The German government aims to eliminate imports of oil from Russia by the end of the year under European Union sanctions. But in the first seven months of the year, Russia was still its top supplier, accounting for just over 30% of oil imports.



As Germany looks for alternative supplies for Schwedt, Druzhba could be instrumental in supplying oil via the Polish port in Gdansk.



The German government has also been in talks to secure oil from Kazakhstan to supply Schwedt, but that oil would have to flow to Germany via the Druzhba pipeline too. (Reuters)




Minister Byrne to address Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

Press release

Minister of State for European Affairs, Thomas Byrne T.D., will address the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on Wednesday, 12 October, during the PACEs final plenary session of the Irish Presidency of the Council of Europe.

In his address, the Minister will welcome the recently published report of the High Level Reflection Group on the future of the Council of Europe, and call for a summit of heads of state of the Council of Europe to be convened in early 2023, to reaffirm the Councils important role in promoting democracy, human rights and rule of law.

Speaking ahead of his address, Minister Byrne said:

At the heart of the High Level Reflection Groups report, and at the core of Irelands Presidency of the Committee of Ministers, is a recommitment to this institutions Founding Freedoms. Above all else, this means refocussing on human rights protection for civilians across Europe, not least through the work of the European Court of Human Rights.

During the four-day plenary session, the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, will also address the PACE, as will President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama, and President of Switzerland Ignazio Cassis. Debates will be held throughout the week by the PACEs 324 members on topics such as the consequences of Russias war of aggression on Ukraine and the impact of Brexit on human rights on the island of Ireland. Other issues under debate include the hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan, countering Islamophobia in Europe and discrimination against women in sport.

While in Strasbourg, Minister Byrne will meet senior leaders across the Council, including the President of PACE Tiny Kox, the Councils Secretary General Marija Pejcinovic Buric and President of the Councils Congress of Local and Regional Authorities Mr Leendert Verbeek. The Minister will also visit the European Court of Human Rights, meeting President of the Court Robert Spano and President-Elect Siofra OLeary.

ENDS

Press Office

12 October 2022

 Established in 1949, and headquartered in Strasbourg, the Council of Europe is the continents largest and oldest intergovernmental organisation.  Ireland was amongst the organisations ten founding members. Today, following the expulsion of the Russian Federation on 16 March, it comprises 46 member states, including the 27 EU member states, the United Kingdom, Turkey and Ukraine.  The organisation plays a leading role in the protection and promotion of human rights, democracy, and the rule of law across Europe and beyond  notably through the European Court of Human Rights, which ensures the observance by member states of their obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights.  The European Convention on Human Rights is also a key element of the Good Friday Agreement. The Agreement saw the Conventions incorporation into Northern Ireland law, ensuring citizens have direct access to the European Court of Human Rights.  The Committee of Ministers is the principal intergovernmental decision-making body of the Council of Europe. Chaired on a rotating basis by member states over six month terms, Ireland has held the Presidency of the Committee on six previous occasions, most recently in 2000.  The Parliamentary Assembly is the second of the Councils key statutory organs. It comprises 324 parliamentarians from the national parliaments of the 46 member states.  Having assumed the Presidency in Turin on 20 May, Minister Coveney will represent Ireland as Chair of the Committee of Ministers until November.  Over the course of the six months, Ireland will be chairing more than a dozen meetings of the Committee of Ministers in Strasbourg, strengthening standards across a range of key areas, from media freedoms to the protection of human rights in conflict zones. Ireland will also host more than thirty Council of Europe conferences and seminars across Strasbourg, Dublin, Galway, Kerry and Cork.  Notable events in Ireland include: a meeting of the Councils 46 Justice Ministers in Dublin on 29-30 September, at which Minister for Justice Helen McEntee T.D. chaired discussions on how to combat domestic, sexual and gender-based violence in all its forms, culminating in the Dublin Declaration on the Prevention of Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence; the annual meeting of the Board of the Council of Europes Development Bank in Dublin on 8-9 July, at which it was agreed to accept Ukraine as a member of the Bank; and European Conference on Global Education, at which Member States will adopt a Dublin Declaration on how we can build societal commitment to greater justice, sustainability, equity and human rights through education.  At the request of the Committee of Ministers under the previous Presidency of Italy, the Council of Europes Secretary General set up a High-level Reflection Group in June to consider the institutions responses to the new realities and challenges it faces.  The Group comprises seven eminent individuals, all former heads of State or Government, Foreign Ministers or Parliamentary Speakers, selected by the Secretary General with consideration to balanced geographical distribution, gender and age, as well as diversity of competences. Alongside former President Robinson, its members are: Mr Bernard Cazeneuve, former Prime Minister of France; Ms Iveta Radicova, former Prime Minister of Slovakia; Mr Evangelos Venizelos, former Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Greece; Ms Federica Mogherini, former High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Foreign Minister of Italy; Ms Ine Marie Eriksen Sreide, former Foreign Minister of Norway; and Mr Josep Dalleres Codin, former General Syndic of Andorra.  The High Level Group published their report on the future of the Council of Europe on 5 October, which recommended a variety of possible reforms and areas of focus for the Council, including the hosting of a summit of heads of state. The PACE has also convened an ad-hoc committee to similarly reflect on the future of the Council of Europe. The head of Irelands PACE delegation, Fiona OLoughlin, is serving as rapporteur for this committee. A working group has also been set up by the Committee of Ministers, chaired by Icelandic Ambassador Ragnhildur Arnljotsdottir, to consider the possibility of holding a summit of heads of state.

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A Russian soldier claims that he had to join the army after he was caught spending money on World of Tanks using someones lost credit card.

There are a number of reasons why one would join the army, but this one certainly takes the cake. A video interview of a captured Russian soldier suggests that the man joined the army to pay off a World of Tanks-related debt. In the video, the soldier, who was captured by Ukrainian forces, claims that he had a criminal debt that was incurred when he paid for World of Tanks in-game currency with someone elses credit card.

The video, which was translated by Reddit user u/Specialist-Ideal-577, notes that before joinging the Russian army, the soldier had found a lost credit card. He then used the card to take out 5,000 Rubles (approx 6,380) to spend on in-game purchases in World of Tanks. However, the police quickly caught him and charged him with bank fraud. While he had returned the money he spent, he was also charged with a 300,000 Ruble fine, which is approx. 3.8 lakh.

The soldier was unable to pay the fine, and was given the option for a three-month deployment to Ukraine. Between the enlistment bonus and monthly salary, the soldier would be able to to pay off the debt. But now that he has been captured, there is no telling if he will be able to pay off the debt.

To be fair, he didnt just use the lost credit card to spend on World of Tanks. He also admits to giving money to a female personality on TikTok. After analysing this behavior and correlating it with what I have seen other men online do. I have come to an extremely scientific conclusion that the soldier is what the experts call, a simp.

Regardless, heres hoping that the soldier is treated well and gets to return home once all this is over. Maybe is captors would indulge his habit and play World of Tanks with him. After all, gaming is a great way to make friends and rise above the hate and rhetoic spewed by politicians. Lord knows we need that.
Elon Musk's SpaceX set to seek permission to launch its internet satellite services in India. The company's internet arm, Starlink, will also seek statutory approvals from the Indian government for landing rights and market access. In addition, to set up local gateways, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will have to grant permission to the company. A report suggested that SpaceX was actively working on launching its services in ten rural Lok Sabha constituencies in India.

Starlink to apply for GMPCS Permit

Earlier this year, the government ordered Starlink to refund all its pre-orders until they receive the license to operate in the country. The company said that the Department of Telecom directed them to refund pre-orders. In January, Starlink began emailing users in India, offering refunds on their pre-orders. The company informed its customers that the timeline for receiving license to operate in India was currently unknown, and after the issues resolve, they'll operate Starlink in the country.

A report stated SpaceX would apply for a Global Mobile Personal Communications By Satellite (GMPCS) services license to Indian authorities. Bharti Group-backed OneWeb and Reliance Jio's satellite arm have already applied for GMPCS services.

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in.
Seattle Design Festival

Chubb

Woland

Gatlin

Jau

Seattle Design Festival announced its incoming slate of design leaders who were elected to fill seats on its Board of Directors. These new directors will provide the strategic leadership required to advance SDF's mission to unleash the design thinker in everyone to illuminate Seattle's challenges and ignite action. The four incoming board members are Jenny Jau, Jeanette Gatlin, Jake Woland, and Mark Chubb.

Jenny Jau joins as director of finance. Jau has worked in product leadership roles for Redfin, Amazon, and Yahoo. She has an MBA and has been a nonprofit board member in the arts space. Jeannette Gatlin joins as director of development. Gatlin is a UX designer with Google and has also worked for Microsoft. She wants to support Google's involvement in SDF and develop the relationship. Jake Woland is the new director of m ember advancement. He has over 20 years of experience as a landscape architect and design leader. He regularly lectures at UW and is the author of a textbook on sustainable site design. He has worked across a wide variety of urban conditions and scales, including waterfronts, civic open spaces, transit facilities, streetscapes and mixed use and commercial projects. Mark Chubb joins as director of development. Chubb is the former director of technical services with Code Unlimited, LLC. He is an experienced emergency management and public safety executive with diverse professional, technical and academic experience in public, private and non-profit organizations.




Wittman Estes

Crain

Hagen

Wittman Estes has welcomed two new employees. Emily Hagen joined the firm as an architect. Hagen is a licensed architect and has lectured nationally and internationally on innovative building technologies including advancements to the world of mass timber. Her award-winning conceptual design for a cross-laminated timber high-rise building were published in the book Timber in the City.

Hagen received her Bachelor of Architecture from Virginia Tech and attended the University of Oulu's Modern Nordic Architecture program. Her design experience spans a diverse scale of work including houses on Bainbridge and Camano Islands, a midcentury renovation in West Seattle, commercial projects across Seattle and San Diego, prefabricated mass timber projects across Washington state, and healthcare developments in rural Haiti and Guatemala.

Her current projects include Studio Nebraska, new mixed-use building in Georgetown with CLT construction; Hideaway, a custom home in Coeur d'Alene and Montlake Renovation, a home remodel and backyard redesign in Montlake.

Heather Crain joined the firm as an architect. Crain holds a Master of Architecture and a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies with a minor in Construction Management from Washington State University, where her thesis focused on design through the lens of spatial memory. She is a licensed architect in Washington State and enjoys returning to her alma mater as a guest critic or participation in Mentor Days at WSU's School of Design and Construction. She has nearly 10 years of experience leading residential and commercial projects from conception to construction.

Her current projects include, Mercer Grove, a new custom home on Mercer Island; Highland Park Improvement Club, a rebuilding of community center in West Seattle and The Overstory a new custom home on Marrowstone Island.




Alaska Communications

More than 2,300 rural Alaskans in seven communities along the Kuskokwim River will receive high-speed internet for the first time thanks to a tribal broadband grant funded by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The collaboration between Calista Corporation and Alaska Communications will connect one of the most underserved regions in the United States with a fiber-optic cable that will be the foundation for expanding broadband to communities in the region. The communities served include Lower Kalskag, Upper Kalskag, Tuluksak, Akiak, Akiachak, Kwethluk and Napakiak. Alaska Communications will deploy a fiber-to-the-home network in each community, offering up to Gigabit speed service. The project is part of the Alaska FiberOptic Project, a larger collaboration between Calista Corporation, Doyon, Limited, Gana-A Yoo Limited, Tanana Chiefs Conference and Alaska Communications to connect up to 20 communities along the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers with fiber-optic cable. This segment is the second of three segments to get funding. Alaska Communications will begin the permit and construction process as quickly as possible. It will also offer a $75/month discount for households on qualifying Tribal lands through the Affordable Connectivity Program. Calista Corporation has over 35,000 Shareholders and is the parent company of more than 30 subsidiaries. Alaska Communications, a subsidiary of ATN International, is a provider of advanced broadband and managed IT services for businesses and consumers in Alaska.




NTPC reports over 15.1% growth in H1 FY23 generation

NTPC group companies recorded power generation of 203.5 BU from April to September 2022, which is an increase of 15.1 per cent from 176.8 BU generated in April to September 2021. The high generation growth indicates improved performance and an increase in demand for power in the current yea, according to the state-run power company.

NTPC Rihand (3000 MW) in Uttar Pradesh was the top performing thermal power plant with 90.22 per cent Plant Load Factor (PLF) between April and September 2022. Overall Plant Load Factor of NTPC coal stations was 76.3 per cent from April to September 2022, a power ministry release pointed out.

The total installed capacity of NTPC is 70,234 MW. NTPC is expanding its footprint in new business areas like green hydrogen, waste-to-energy and e-mobility. Indias largest power producer is also aiming for a 10 per cent reduction in net energy intensity by 2032. NTPC is the first energy company to declare its energy compact goals as part of the UN High-level Dialogue on Energy (HLDE).

NTPC is already producing energy through cleaner and greener sources such as hydro, wind and solar and also Green Hydrogen solutions. The power major has also forayed into a variety of business areas, including fuel cells, e-mobility and Waste-to-Energy.
General Anil Chauhan takes over as Chief of Defence Staff

General Anil Chauhan, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, SM, VSM, former Eastern Army Commander, has assumed office as the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC), on 30 September. General Chauhan will be the Principal Military Advisor to the defence minister on all Tri-Service matters. He will also head the Department of Military Affairs as secretary.

The Government has decided to appoint Lt. Gen. Anil Chauhan (Retired) as the next Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) who shall also function as Secretary to Government of India, Department of Military Affairs with effect from the date of his assumption of charge and until further orders, the Defence Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

The appointment comes more than nine months after the post fell vacant following the death of General Bipin Rawat. The countrys first CDS Gen Bipin Rawat died in a helicopter crash in December 2021.

In a career spanning nearly 40 years, Lt Gen Anil Chauhan had held several command, staff and weapons related positions and had extensive experience in counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir and North-East India, the statement said.

Post retirement, Lt Gen Chauhan took over as the Military Advisor in the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) from Lt Gen. Vinod G Khandare who stepped down from the post in October 2021.

In December 2019, the government approved the creation of the post of CDS who would also function as the Principal Military Adviser to defence minister and Permanent Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC). In addition, the DMA was created as the fifth department in the Ministry of Defence (MoD) with the CDS functioning as its Secretary.

In a brief interaction with the media before taking charge, General Chauhan said that it was a matter of pride for him to be nominated as CDS. There are hopes and expectations among the three Services, government and citizens from the new CDS which, he said, he would fulfil to the best of his abilities. He added that the security challenges facing the nation will be dealt with jointly by the three Services.

Earlier, General Chauhan paid homage to the fallen heroes by laying a wreath at the National War Memorial. He also inspected the Tri-Service Guard of Honour at the South Block Lawns, in the presence of Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari, Chief of the Army Staff General Manoj Pande, Vice Chief of the Naval Staff Vice Admiral SN Ghormade and other senior officers of the armed forces.
The mother and teenage son killed in the Creeslough blast were always side by side, their funeral Mass has heard.

Catherine ODonnell and her 13-year-old son James were among the 10 people killed in an explosion at a service station in the Co Donegal village on Friday afternoon.

Mourners gathered at the entrance of St Michaels Church in Creeslough as their coffins were carried into the church on Wednesday afternoon.

Parish priest Father John Joe Duffy began the service by extending his condolences to the family, especially Ms ODonnells daughter Sinead, partner Charlie Flood, mother Margaret and Jamess father Christopher.

He told the congregation it was a hard blow for the families to lose both Ms ODonnell and James.

Let us turn to God, asking God to give us hope in this terrible sadness that we are experiencing, as we offer this Mass for a mother and a son, who are side by side, who were always side by side, who are side by side now, and who will be side by side, hand in hand together, he said.

Addressing Mr Flood, Fr Duffy said: To lose one who was so precious and loving and loved there are no words that can give definition to that scale of grief and loss.

Ms ODonnell was described as bubbly, glam, full of life and intelligent, and who loved parties, having recently attended a Garth Brooks concert in Dublin.

She was a loving mother, a loving partner, a loving daughter and one who was much, much loved.

Fr Duffy added: When we think of James, if we think of a plane, a plane that is taxiing down the runway about to take off  that was James, who was just a child taxiing down the runway about to take off into his teenage years.

The congregation heard that James had recently attended his first disco.

The cleric spoke of the familys difficulty in coming to terms with the extremely painful, heartbreaking and incomprehensible loss that you are experiencing.

We are doing what we know best, and that is we are standing with you. We are walking with you, we are praying for you. So many people are praying for you, walking with you and wanting to reach out and help you.

Fr Duffy said the strength of the community, and the community in Scotland where members of the extended family live, has been a source of great comfort.

Those visible good deeds we have all seen since Friday give us hope, lift us up, and break into that terrible grief to give somewhat of a little consolation.

He said the silence after the disaster was striking.

A mass silence of people gathered together supporting one another, and that has been the story of this community in these days.

So sometimes, dear friends, we do not need words. What we need most of all is we need God and we need one another, we need prayer and we need community.

Items to do with wrestling were brought up to the altar as a symbol of Jamess interests, with a watch and necklace that represented the style that was so important to Ms ODonnell.

The funeral was attended by President Michael D Higgins and Taoiseach Micheal Martins aide-de-camp.

During the service, Fr Duffy urged people affected by the tragedy to make use of support services available at their GP and schools in the area.
China's home-grown products increasingly popular among consumers

People's Daily Online) 11:32, October 12, 2022

High-quality "made in China" products are becoming increasingly popular among Chinese consumers, especially young ones.

A woman buys beauty products inspired by cultural relics collected in the Palace Museum in a mall in Shapingba district, southwest China's Chongqing municipality, Oct. 4, 2021. (People's Daily Online/Sun Kaifang)

According to a report on guochao - a term describing a fashion trend that translates as "China-chic" - released by Chinese e-commerce giant Pinduoduo, new guochao brands and home-grown brands accelerated their embrace of e-commerce in 2021. Last year, the number of such brands joining Pinduoduo surged over 270 percent year on year, including 327 brands each with a value of more than 100 million yuan (about $13.9 million), the report said.

A report issued by the JD Research Institute for Consumption and Industrial Development under Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com showed that since the beginning of this year, young consumers have purchased more Chinese products than ever before. Among consumers of home-grown brands with a certain sales volume, the proportion of those born after 1995 grew 11 percent year on year.

JD's report said young consumers are integrating traditional Chinese culture into their daily lives through diversified guochao consumption. Data showed that purchases of products that incorporated "Chinese red," a culturally auspicious color, by consumers born after 1995 had increased more than threefold since the beginning of this year.

Research data also indicated that 59.5 percent of the Chinese consumers surveyed were optimistic about the future development of China's home-grown products.

The robust development of China's economy over the past 40-plus years has laid a good foundation for the rise of domestic products, especially in recent years, as China has made significant progress in brand building.

The rise of home-grown brands can be attributed to consumers' national pride and cultural confidence, improvements in the quality, design, technologies and innovation capacity of Chinese products and brands, as well as strong support from supply chains, logistics, big data, the Internet and other new infrastructure facilities, said Guo Haiyan, chief consumer analyst at China International Capital Corporation Limited.

Consumers prefer to buy high-quality and economical domestic products, which in turn incentivizes enterprises to improve the quality and reputation of their products.

Chinese enterprises' brand building is indispensable for the accelerated rise of domestic brands, said Guo Guoqing, director of the China Marketing Research Center at Renmin University of China.

Chinese companies tap market demand and bring an immersive shopping experience to customers, Guo noted, adding that they are also grasping new trends in consumer behavior to meet consumers' individual needs while upgrading their traditional products.

Tapping market demand and enhancing enterprises' capabilities to respond to changes in market demand and make adjustments accordingly hold the key to the steady development of domestic products, according to one expert.

The expert believes that domestic brands will drive China's economic development in the future and suggests leveraging policies to encourage Chinese enterprises to gradually improve the quality of their products and build their brands through innovation.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Du Mingming)
The village of Creeslough has given a gift to the rest of the world in setting a template for the power of community when dealing with tragedy, a priest has said.

Fr John Joe Duffy was speaking as more funerals took place on Wednesday of those who died in an explosion at a service station in the Co Donegal village last Friday.

Irish president Michael D Higgins attended the funerals and met the families of the bereaved.

At the funeral of James OFlaherty, his son Hamish told mourners that they should cherish life and family.

Later the funeral took place of Catherine ODonnell, 39, and her son James Monaghan, 13, at St Michaels Church in Creeslough.

Fr Duffy told the joint funeral service that James was a child about to launch into life.

He said: We think of James. We think of a plane that is slowly taxiing down a runway, about to take off. That was James.

He was just a child taxiing down the runway about to take off into his teenage years. He was just about to launch into life.

It is no wonder, under such circumstances, that words fail us this afternoon.

The congregation heard that Jamess mother was bubbly and full of life.

She was very intelligent and she loved parties, Fr Duffy told mourners. She loved organising parties.

He continued: Those visible good deeds we have all seen since Friday give us hope, lift us up and break into that terrible grief to give somewhat of a little consolation.

The days of Friday and Saturday, one thing that struck so many people is not the clatter of words being spoken at the scene, what stuck us most was the silence.

A mass silence of people gathered to support one another, and that has been the story of this community in these days.

Creeslough, maybe, out of all of this suffering and pain, had given a gift to the rest of the world.

A new understanding of what it means to be community.

The strength of our people in tragedy has set a template for the world about how in the midst of the greatest pain and grief we are strongest when we rely on each other, support one another.

Earlier in the day, hundreds attended the funeral of James OFlaherty at St Marys Church in Derrybeg, Co Donegal.

Mr OFlaherty, an engineer, was originally from Sydney in Australia but had been living in Dunfanaghy, a few miles from Creeslough, with his wife Tracey and son Hamish, 12.

Pupils from Faugher National School, which Hamish attends, provided a guard of honour as his fathers remains were taken into the church.

Delivering an address at the funeral, Hamish said his father was a great man.

He added: I would like to say thank you to all of the people who have given and offered so many things. The emergency services too, who were there within 15 minutes and also came to the wake.

I would also like to say something I have learnt in the past week or so: We should be grateful. For your families, cherish them, be grateful for they wont be there forever.

Use the time you have wisely.

Also, be grateful for your life because that too will not last forever.

The congregation gave Hamish a round of applause.

Father Brian O Fearraigh said a light of friendship, love and support had come out of the Creeslough tragedy.

He told the mourners: We have all experienced since Friday afternoon that grief knows no boundaries.

The tragic event and the effects of the Creeslough catastrophe, which is beyond comprehension, knows no bounds.

The intensity and the awfulness of the tragedy has reverberated near and far. Away beyond the shores of this beautiful country of ours.

The outpouring of support and messages of condolence and offers of help that we have heard and witnessed, all has been overwhelming.

Parochial, county, country boundaries, have been crossed. Hands of support and friendship have been offered.

In crossing such boundaries we have seen how, from the shadow and out of the depths of the darkness of this terrible tragedy, a most beautiful and radiant and divine light of friendship, love and support has shone and continues to shine brightly.

Authorities in Ireland continue to investigate the cause of the explosion in a building complex which included a service station, shop and apartments.

It is being treated as a tragic accident. A gas leak is believed to be one theory.

The funerals of two of the 10 victims, Jessica Gallagher and Martin McGill, were held in Creeslough on Tuesday.

The victims were aged from five to 59.

The other victims were 50-year-old Robert Garwe and his five-year-old daughter Shauna Flanagan Garwe, who were in the shop to buy a birthday cake; 14-year-old Leona Harper; 59-year-old Hugh Kelly; and 49-year-old Martina Martin.

Ms Harpers funeral will take place at St Marys Church in Ramelton, Co Donegal, on Thursday.

Mrs Martin, a mother of four, will also be laid to rest on Thursday with a service at St Michaels.

Mr Kelly will be laid to rest at St Michaels on Friday.
Pupils at the CBS Primary School in Dundalk went green last week to raise funds to help their school pal six-year-old Zoe Murphy.

The pupils marked World Cerebral Palsy Day last Thursday 6 October, by organising the fundraising initiative for Zoe, a senior infants pupil at the school who was born with spastic diplegic Cerebral Palsy. Zoe's family are appealing for people to help them raise the money needed to get an operation for her that will help her to walk unaided and support her independence.

And Zoe's school friends answered that call raising 2,000 from their fundraising event.

CBS Primary School Principal, Eileen Hart, told the Dundalk Democrat that to mark Cerebral Palsy Day, the school decided to help Zoe rather than fundraise for a specific charity. Principal Hart said we had a fundraising initiative for her by encouraging all the pupils to wear green and pledge a donation to her fundraising effort either through the school or through her gofundme page.

Cerebral palsy is a permanent disability that affects movement. Its impact can range from a weakness in one hand to almost a complete lack of voluntary movement. It is a lifelong disability for which there is no known cure. Zoe's family had been told she would never walk, talk or sit unaided. However, following Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy surgery in St. Louis children's hospital in Missouri, in the United States, Zoe's body has been released of most of the spasticity that was restricting her life.

Since the surgery, Zoe has defied all the odds set against her and now attends CBS Primary School, and her parent's say she is determined to live an independent life. Unfortunately however, Zoe had hip dysplasia as a baby and as she has grown over the years, her cerebral palsy has caused bone deformities to her hips, knees and feet. Her parents say that over the space of a year, they have seen her walking pattern deteriorate.

Following consultation with her neurosurgeon and orthopaedic surgery in St Louis, it was established that Zoe has what is known as severe antiversion femoral, and needs surgery to correct this. Her parents say she also needs what is called bilateral gastrocnemius recessions surgery, which will lengthen her tendons and muscles in her calf area.

Her team in America have agreed to do both these surgeries together, her parents say, which means just one anesthetic and one recovery, making things a little easier on Zoe.

The family have set up a GoFundMe appeal to help raise the 35,000 needed to pay for the required surgery. You can contribute to the appeal by visiting https://www.gofundme.com/f/zoe-murphy-appeal. CBS Primary School raised a total of 2,000 to go towards the appeal for Zoe. On the school's Facebook page they said: A huge thank you for your generosity; we will add this donation to Zoe's Go Fund me page. CBS is truly a fantastic community, thank you for your continued support.
Healthy Heroes Lunch Club, one of Irelands leading primary school nutrition programmes, created by teachers and behaviour change experts, has issued a call for schools in Louth to register as soon as possible as places quickly fill up.

Now in its tenth year, Healthy Heroes Lunch Club is an initiative supported by the Irish Bread Bakers Association.

The programme offers children the opportunity to foster valuable leadership, teamwork and communication skills, all while learning to change their eating habits for the better.

To-date, almost 300,000 pupils across the island of Ireland have taken part in the programme, and teachers are being encouraged to sign up for this years intake.

According to Food Technologist and a Chartered Scientist Oonagh Monahan, who supports the programme, the Healthy Heroes Lunch Club empowers children to make healthy food choices, that can stay with them for life.

The friendly, supporting environment of the classroom is the perfect place to help improve childrens knowledge of the nutritional value of the food they eat. Incorporating healthy eating habits as part of our everyday lives is one of the most impactful steps we can take, and the earlier we begin the better.

The school lunch box should provide about 25% - 35% of a childs energy and nutrient needs.

Yet studies have shown that packed lunches are deficient in healthy foods and tend to be high in sugar, saturated fat and salt, while low on starchy foods and fibre.

Broadcaster and Healthy Heroes Lunch Club Ambassador Marie Crowe knows all too well the importance of a healthy school lunch.

As a mum of three boys I am acutely aware of how difficult it can sometimes be to make sure they head out the door with a healthy lunchbox every day", she said.

"The Healthy Heroes Lunch Club programme is fantastic as it educates both children and adults on the best options that offer both great taste and nutritional value. It also fosters a lovely sense of mentorship with those children in fifth and sixth class as they play such a crucial part in helping younger students with the programme. 

For more information on how schools can get involved in the Healthy Heroes Lunch Club, visit www.healthyheroes.ie or email healthyheroes@realnation.ie.
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15 community centres across Louth have been awarded a total of 345,810.25 for their upgrade and development, it has been announced today by Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys TD.

The funding is part of a 12.5 million package for the upgrade and development of almost 600 Community Centres nationwide, and is under the new Community Centre Investment Fund (CCIF) which is aimed at supporting groups in every county to carry out refurbishments and improvements of their local community facility.

Grants of up to 25,000 will be provided to 15 groups in both rural and urban communities across Louth. The community groups in Louth and the amounts they are to receive are as follows:

Ardee and District Community Trust Company Limited By Guarantee 19,950.23

Ardee Community Centre 24,526.20

DCDB Company Limited by Guarantee (Dunleer) 24,937.75

Drogheda Special Olympics Club 25,000.00

Haggardstown & Blackrock Community Centre CLG 25,000.00

Louth Village Community Centre 25,000.00

Muirhevnamor Community Council Company Limited By Guarantee 25,000.00

Naomh Mairtin CPG 25,000.00

Omeath District Development Company Limited By Guarantee 24,691.16

Ravensdale Community Centre 24,930.00

Scoraiocht Lann Leire 21,360.00

St Finian's community centre 13,460.00

St. Fechins GAA Community Centre 17,204.91

Stabannon Parnells 24,750.00

Tullyallen Access The Glen (Community Hub Project) 25,000.00

The funding will see improvements to community centres, GAA clubs, parish halls, youth centres and facilities used by our elderly. The Community Centre Investment Fund is a new scheme introduced by Minister Humphreys and represents the largest single investment in community centres in decades.

Making the announcement, Minister Humphreys said:

The local Community Centre is at the heart of our towns, villages and parishes all across this country. They come in many different shapes and sizes and are a place for people of all ages to meet up and socialise with friends, old and new. I want to support these great local facilities and thats why I launched the new Community Centre Investment Fund earlier this year.

"The level of interest has been unprecedented under any scheme previously ran by the Department of Rural and Community Development. I am delighted today to announce over 12.5 million in funding for almost 600 projects nationwide. This funding will support Community Centres, Parish Halls, GAA Clubhouses, Youth Facilities, Mens Sheds and much more.

"I want to congratulate all of the successful groups who are receiving funding, which I know will benefit local communities for years to come. This particular strand of funding focused on small scale grants of up to 25,000. I am pleased to confirm that I will be announcing grants for larger scale projects later this year.

Senator Erin McGreehan has welcomed the funding for community centres across Louth. Senator McGreehan said, "I'm delighted to see this significant funding for a large number of community centres across Louth. Now more than ever it's important that we invest in community centres across the country.

"These community centres are the focal point of the local community across rural Ireland and this funding will benefit people all across Louth. I've always been a strong supporter of our local communities and this funding is recognition for the important work many volunteers do in community centres across Louth."
A man has died in a two-car collision in Kenmare, Co Kerry, gardai said.

The crash happened on the N70 at Dromquinna at about 5.50pm on Wednesday.

The Garda said a man in his 20s, who was a rear seat passenger in one of the cars, died at the scene.

His body has been taken to University Hospital Kerry where a post-mortem examination will take place.

There were two other occupants of the car  a female driver in her 20s who received medical attention at the scene and a man in his 20s who was a front seat passenger.

He was taken to University Hospital Kerry.

The driver of the other car, a woman in her 40s, and her passenger, a teenage girl, were treated at the scene for their injuries.

Gardai closed the road on Wednesday for a forensic collision investigation.

Diversions are in place and it is expected to be Thursday before the road is reopened.

Gardai have appealed for witnesses.

Any road users who may have camera footage, including dash-cam footage, and were travelling on the N70 in the townland of Dromquinna between 5.30pm and 6pm are asked to make this footage available to Gardai.

Anyone with information can contact Killarney Garda Station on 064 663 1222, the Garda confidential line on 1800 666 111, or any garda station.
Founded in 2005 as an Ohio-based environmental newspaper, EcoWatch is a digital platform dedicated to publishing quality, science-based content on environmental issues, causes, and solutions.

Bunkers that were used for artillery practice at Camp Hale in Eagle County, Colorado. Carol M. Highsmith / Library of Congress

Camp Hale, a former military training site during World War II, is joining the nations list of National Monuments and is President Joe Bidens first National Monument designation. The new Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument protects more than 50,000 acres of land in Colorado.

Camp Hale was used for military training but was shut down in 1965, and has since been used primarily for recreational purposes. The White House also noted in a fact sheet that the area is within the ancestral lands for Ute Tribes and has historical and spiritual significance.

This action will honor our nations veterans, Indigenous people, and their legacy by protecting this Colorado landscape, while supporting jobs and Americas outdoor recreation economy, the White House said in a fact sheet.

With the National Monument designation, the land is now under management by the U.S. Forest Service.

Biden has previously restored three National Monuments  Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in Utah and Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument off the eastern U.S. coasts  that former president Donald Trump had opened up for fossil fuel developments and commercial fishing. But Camp Hale will be the first new National Monument designation by Biden.

In addition to creating the Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument, the Biden administration has also proposed a 20-year mineral withdrawal for Thompson Divide in Colorado. This proposal would protect around 225,000 acres from mining and fossil fuel drilling.

The U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management have submitted a petition and application for the withdrawal to Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland for approval. With Haalands approval, the area will be protected for two years while the agencies seek public comment and conduct a scientific environmental analysis to determine impacts of a 20-year mineral withdraw for Thompson Divide.

A coalition of hunters, ranchers, farmers, outdoor enthusiasts and community leaders have worked for decades to ensure the Thompson Divide area is protected, Haaland said in a statement. Today the Biden-Harris administration is taking an important and sensible step to ensure that we have the science and public input necessary to make informed decisions about sustainable management of public lands in the Thompson Divide area.

While the House of Representatives Republicans are against the new protections, citing severe land-use restrictions, conservationists are praising todays announcement.

This is a critical step toward ensuring these public lands do not succumb to the same destruction that so many of our other treasured places have, Michael Freeman, a senior attorney at Earthjustice, said, as reported by CNBC.
Founded in 2005 as an Ohio-based environmental newspaper, EcoWatch is a digital platform dedicated to publishing quality, science-based content on environmental issues, causes, and solutions.

The world is currently in the midst of an energy crisis prompted by Russias invasion of Ukraine. The war has decreased the gas supply to Europe, leading to fears of a winter of blackouts and shortages.

But a new report released Tuesday from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warns extreme weather events caused by the climate crisis could pose similar problems to grids around the world.

I think that if we dont do anything, if we dont make our energy system more resilient to climate change, there will be as big a disruption in the energy system as the war, WMO climate and energy lead Roberta Boscolo told Reuters on the occasion of the report launch.

The new report is titled 2022 State of Climate Services  Energy. It does not only focus on the threat that extreme weather poses to energy systems, but rather is a broader look at what needs to happen to the global energy system in the context of climate change. Namely, the world needs to transition to renewable energy sources more rapidly than its current trajectory. There is a 70 percent gap between countries current promises and the emissions reduction needed to meet Paris agreement goals by 2030, the WMO said.

The energy sector is the source of around three-quarters of global greenhouse gas emissions. Switching to clean forms of energy generation, such as solar, wind and hydropower  and improving energy efficiency  is vital if we are to thrive in the twenty-first century. Net zero by 2050 is the aim. But we will only get there if we double the supply of low-emissions electricity within the next eight years, WMO Secretary-General Prof Petteri Taalas said in a press release. Time is not on our side, and our climate is changing before our eyes. We need a complete transformation of the global energy system.

The electricity supply from clean energy sources must double by 2030 to limit global temperature increase. Otherwise, #ClimateChange impacts may undermine energy (and planetary) security, says a new report. #EnergyTransition.



https://t.co/2t5O75HIDi pic.twitter.com/JRRmL7mFwx  World Meteorological Organization (@WMO) October 11, 2022

One thing that transformation could help with is bolstering energy security, however. The WMO noted how extreme weather events can play havoc on the entire energy supply line, from supply to production to infrastructure. For example, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, a January heat wave knocked out power to approximately 700,000 people. In the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, 2017s Hurricane Maria had such a negative impact on the grid that full power wasnt restored on the island until nearly 11 months later. A recent Climate Central analysis found that average yearly power outages caused by extreme weather in the U.S. had risen by around 78 percent between 2011 and 2021 and the preceding decade.

In the UK, which is concerned that Russias manipulation of gas supply will lead to blackouts this winter, extreme weather is also a danger, New Scientist pointed out. London barely escaped blackouts during a record-breaking heat wave this summer that saw the mercury on the famously mild isle top 40 degrees Celsius for the first time. Storm Arwen also knocked out power to nearly one million UK homes in November of 2021.

The most common cause of power failure [in the UK] is when transmission or distribution networks are knocked out by severe weather, Robert Gross of Imperial College London told New Scientist. With severe weather events predicted to be more frequent and more damaging, this is the principal threat.

He added that, especially for low-lying countries, the climate crisis could be as great a threat to energy security as war.

Yet it seems most nations have not woken up to this truth. The WMO found that only 40 percent of climate action plans submitted by governments to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) emphasized adapting their energy sectors to the changing climate.

We urgently need to respond to the growing impact of climate change on energy systems if we are to maintain energy security while accelerating the transition to net-zero, International Energy Agency Director Dr. Fatih Birol said in the press release. This requires long-term planning and bold policy action to spur investment, which in turn needs to be underpinned by comprehensive and reliable weather and climate data.




Indonesia's eFishery receives US$32 million loan



Indonesian startup eFishery has secured a US$32 million loan from DBS Bank Indonesia.

This is DBS Indonesia's first funding for the aquatech sector and eFishery's first loan deal.

In a statement, DBS Indonesia banking director Kunardy Lie said this funding will support the expansion of eFishery's business and improve its quality and productivity. It also hopes to better connect its farmers to international markets with the new capital.

eFishery hopes to increase its production and scope by 300% going forward. Its co-founder and chief executive officer, Gibran Huzaifah, said the Bandung-based company plans to expand its products and services to international markets.

Huzaifah added that the company aims to expand to 10 countries within five years. India will be its first expansion target, with China and Vietnam next.

In January, the aquatech startup raised US$90 million in a series C funding round co-led by Temasek, SoftBank and Sequoia Capital India. At the time, it marked the largest-ever VC financing for an aquaculture startup globally.

Founded in 2013, eFishery has banked a total of US$140 million in funding to date, including the current loan deal.

- Tech In Asia
Rogue trader reports lead to OFT warning

People are urged not to use rogue traders who illegally cold call and tout for work, after the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) received a number of cowboy builder reports.

Home and business owners are advised to be on their guard and look out for vulnerable friends, relatives and neighbours, who could fall foul.

Cold calling is illegal on the Isle of Man, so anyone operating in this way should be reported to the OFT or police.
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Netflix ranks shows on its platform to give you an idea of what people have been watching recently  and sometimes, it releases hours viewed data for its most popular titles  but it's been keeping its viewership numbers close to the vest. Starting in November, though, it will finally reveal how many people stream its shows, at least in the UK. The streaming giant has teamed up with BARB, a non-profit organization that measures TV ratings in the region, to give us a look at concrete streaming numbers. "BARB is the first industry-owned audience currency in the world that Netflix has joined," the organization said in its announcement.

While Netflix shows regularly make an appearance in Nielsen's streaming rankings, the two entities aren't officially working together. In fact, Nielsen's list doesn't seem to match Netflix's own Top 10 rankings at times. Reed Hastings, Netflix co-CEO said: "Back in 2019, at the RTS conference in Cambridge, I welcomed the idea of Netflix audiences being measured independently. Weve kept in touch with BARB since then and are pleased to make a commitment to its trusted measurement of how people watch television in the UK."

BARB will publish viewing figures for Netflix that can be compared to traditional broadcasters starting in the second week of November. The organization will report the service's monthly reach and its share of total identified viewing. In addition to showing how the service is doing compared to traditional TV, BARB will also include shows across all the traditional channels and the streaming service providers that it works with in its weekly report of top 50 shows starting in November.

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As The Guardian notes, this move suggests that Netflix believes being more forthcoming with its viewer numbers will show the company in a good light. People have long criticized the service for not publishing any viewership metric for flops. The secrecy surrounding its viewership numbers also means program creators (and fans) aren't always sure if their shows are being watched or are in danger of being canceled.

Based on BARB's preliminary figures from September, Netflix isn't doing poorly in the UK at all. It's the most accessed streaming service in the region. And while it's nowhere near as watched as the BBC, it accounts for 8 percent of all TV viewing in UK, which is higher than some linear channels', including Channel 4 and Sky.
Last year's Surface Pro 8 was one of the biggest design upgrades for Microsoft's tablet PC, adding long-awaited features like Thunderbolt 4 and surprising upgrades like a 120Hz display. This year's Surface Pro 9, paradoxically, is both more of the same and a dramatic departure. It has the usual chip refresh  in this case, Intel's far superior 12th-gen CPUs  but there's also a new 5G-equipped model with a custom SQ 3 Arm chip.

If that sounds confusing to you, well, it is. We last saw the company's SQ chip in the 2020 Surface Pro X, a computer that we found both beautiful and frustrating, thanks to Windows' crummy software compatibility with Arm chips. To shift that problem over to a computer with the same name as its Intel sibling is a recipe for disaster. (We can just imagine the frustrated Best Buy shoppers who are dazzled with the idea of a 5G Surface, only to learn they can't run most of their traditional Windows apps.) The 5G Pro 9 is also broken down into millimeter-wave and Sub-6 variants, which will be sold in their respective markets.

Microsoft

It's understandable why Microsoft isn't keen to keep the Surface Pro X moniker going  the Pro 8 lifted many of its modern design cues, after all. But from what we've seen, Windows 11 doesn't solve the problems we initially had with the Pro X.

Beyond the chip updates, the Pro 9 looks mostly the same as its predecessor, with a 13" 120Hz PixelSense display, as well as relatively slim screen bezels. Microsoft claims the 1080p webcam has been improved, and there's also a 4-degree tilt to help keep you centered. You've also got a few bolder colors to choose from, including Sapphire, Forest and a new Liberty London Special Edition. (And yes, before you ask, you'll still have to pick up a Surface Keyboard and Slim Pen 2 separately if you actually want to be productive with the Pro 9.)

Microsoft

Adding to the confusion of having two chip platforms under the same product name, there are several major differences between them. For example, the Intel version can be equipped with up to 32GB of LPDDR5 RAM and a 1TB SSD, while the Arm variant is limited to 16GB of LPDDR4x RAM and a 512GB SSD at most. You'll also lose the two USB-C 4.0/Thunderbolt 4 ports on the Arm Pro 9  instead, you'll get two USB-C 3.2 connections. (On the plus side, the 5G model should get up to 19 hours of battery life, 3.5 more hours than the Intel version.)

The Intel-based Surface Pro 9 starts at $999 for a Core i5 model with 8GB of RAM and a paltry 128GB of storage, while the cheapest 5G model will run you $1,300 with the same specs. You'll be able to pre-order the Surface Pro 12 in select models starting today, with general availability beginning on October 25th.

Follow along with the rest of our news from Microsoft's 2022 Surface event.
If you were to believe Western media and the statements of officials on both sides of the Atlantic, you would get the impression that Ukraine is winning the war against Russia and that it is only a matter of time before Putin is overthrown by his own people. In order to understand what is really happening, first we must tear through the fog of propaganda which surrounds this war.

Just to give an example of the western propaganda, the head of the British intelligence organisation GCHQ Jeremy Fleming declared: We believe that Russia is running short of munitions, its certainly running short of friends and we have seen, because of the declaration for mobilisation, that it is running short of troops. Ironically, Flemmings speech was delivered on the same day that Russia launched a massive attack, using about 100 ballistic missiles and hitting Ukraines electricity grid. The attack was repeated for several days, immediately giving lie to Flemmings claims of an army running short of munitions.

Ukraine was able to achieve important gains on the battle front in September. By talking up an offensive in Kherson, they forced Russia to divert troops to that section of the front, opening the possibility for a surprise attack on the much-weaker Russian forces in the Kharkiv front, leading to a rout of Russian forces in that area.

In this region, Russia had to withdraw to new, hastily arranged defensive lines further east, and then these were also partially broken in Kupyansk, but also at Lyman. Ukrainian troops were able to advance all the way to the border of Luhansk. On the Kherson front, after weeks in which the Ukrainian offensive was unable to advance, there was a breakthrough, with the Russians forced to retreat to Dudchany, giving up important terrain on the right bank of the Dnieper river.

Chorus of propaganda intensifies

These were important advances for Ukraine, perhaps the only real victories they have achieved since the beginning of the war. Earlier Russian withdrawals from Kyiv, Sumy and Kharkiv regions were just that: Russian withdrawals, designed to concentrate their forces. The recent developments on the Kharkiv and Kherson fronts are actually Russian defeats over territory they did not want to give up.

The Kharkiv and Kherson offensives were important advances for Ukraine / Image: War Mapper

On the back of these developments, the chorus of Western propaganda was intensified. Russia has been defeated!, was the unanimous verdict. In reality, winning a battle, or two, does not determine the course nor the outcome of the whole war.

From Putins point of view, this war is an existential matter. He is fully aware that if he loses this war, he will be removed from power. Therefore, in the face of these setbacks, he decided to take the necessary steps to change the balance of forces in his favour.

One of the main reasons for the Russian defeats in September was the lack of manpower, which is Ukraines advantage. Ukraine is believed to have more than 600,000 men under arms, whereas the Russian forces in Ukraine were believed to be between 170,000 and 200,000. Strengthening the defence in Kherson meant leaving gaps on the frontline in Kharkiv, which Ukraine was able to exploit. To reverse that, Putin decreed a partial mobilisation, to raise an additional 200,000 troops for the war in Ukraine.

The reason why he had not done so before is mainly that he thought that a smaller force, backed by overwhelming firepower superiority, would be able to do the job. And in fact, that seemed to be the case between April (after the withdrawal from the north) and August. Russian forces were holding the frontline while at the same time advancing in the Donbass.

By the end of August, however, the Russian advance seemed to have lost momentum. This was probably the result of a combination of the close coordination between NATO and Ukraine military commands, western-supplied artillery pieces, particularly the more precise and longer range HIMARs, which allowed Ukraine to hit the Russian rear, and Ukrainian troops being provided with US-supplied intelligence and satellite imagery.

The other reason why Putin was reluctant to decree mobilisation earlier was that involving large sections of the population in the war carries with it certain risks. In the long term, if the campaign does not go according to plan and the body bags start to pile up, mass mobilisation can set the stage for mass opposition to the war and general social unrest.

By the end of September, with Ukrainian troops pushing the Russians back on two fronts, Putin had no other alternative than to go for a middle of the road measure, declaring a partial mobilisation.

Partial mobilisation and Kerch bridge attack

The fact is that the anti-war movement in Russia today is negligible and completely dominated by pro-Western liberal forces which are out of touch with the general public. The increasing involvement of NATO in the war, western sanctions on Russia and very provocative statements by opinion makers in the west, to the extent that Russia should be broken up, have helped solidify public opinion support for the war. Large sections of public opinion in Russia, particularly amongst the working class, now see the war as an existential threat to the country.

Although Putin was not wrong in his criticism of the West, he is at the head of a regional power with imperialist ambitions of its own / Image: kremlin.ru Wikimedia Commons

The situation is not exactly the same everywhere, though. The overrepresentation of soldiers from some of the nationalities, particularly from the North Caucasus, in the Russian forces in Ukraine has the potential to create resentment. In fact, the only place where there were significant protests against mobilisation was in Dagestan. This, for now, is not the general picture.

Putins recent speeches, in declaring mobilisation, when signing the annexation of the four Ukrainian regions, were crafted accordingly. He barely mentioned Ukraine, but concentrated his main fire against the west, which he described as imperialist and having a history of meddling into other countries. This would resonate, not only in Russia, but across third world countries, where there is a strong anti-US imperialist feeling.

While Putin is not wrong in his criticism of the west, though even these are partially couched in terms of harping back to Russias Czarist past, his speech was thoroughly cynical, as he is himself at the head of a regional power with imperialist ambitions of its own.

In terms of public opinion, as a result of the Ukrainian advances in September, Putin has been under pressure, not from the anti-war camp, but rather from the pro-war Russian nationalist right, which was demanding harsher action, including the use of tactical nuclear weapons!

Of course, the use of nuclear weapons is out of the question and is used mainly for propaganda reasons and as a potential threat. Thus, Biden says we should take Putins threat very seriously, though Putin never actually mentioned nuclear weapons and left it at the conveniently vague all means at our disposal. Then Zelensky says the west should attack Russia preemptively, which is used by the Kremlin for propaganda purposes. Finally Lavrov re-states the Russian military doctrine regarding nuclear weapons, which is that they would be used only as a retaliatory measure to prevent the destruction of the Russian Federation by direct nuclear strikes or attacks by other weapons which endanger its very existence.

Partial mobilisation takes time and the 200,000 troops raised need to be trained and equipped before they can be deployed to Ukraine. The other card in Putins hand, other than increasing the number of troops involved in the war, was to ramp up the aspects in which he has superiority, in this case rocket and missile strikes. The Ukrainian terrorist attack on the Kerch bridge (for no one doubts it was Ukrainian forces that carried it out), provided him with a perfect pretext.

The attempt to cut off the Kerch bridge, connecting the Russian mainland to Crimea, did fulfil some military aims. The bridge provides the main line of supply for the Russian army in the south, particularly the Kherson front which is now under pressure. If that were to be disrupted, then Russian forces would become much more vulnerable to a Ukrainian attack in Zaporizhzhya, which if it reached the Sea of Azov would cut the Russian forces in Ukraine in two.

But of course, from a Ukrainian point of view, an attack on the Kerch bridge also had a highly symbolic meaning. The bridge was built after the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and was a prestige project for Putin.

Putins response

In practice, the attack, planned months in advance, did not achieve its aims and Russia was able to restore traffic, both railway and vehicular, very quickly. What it did do was to provide Putin with a propaganda gift, which he used to justify a barrage of missiles, even though this attack had been planned before the attack on the bridge.

Dozens of targets across the country were hit over several days by ballistic missiles and drones, revealing the weakness of Ukraines air defences. The attack was mainly aimed at destroying or severely damaging Ukraine's power grid, both power plants and the distribution network. Thermal and combined power power plants as well as substations were hit all the way from Lviv to Kharkiv, leaving large parts of the country without electricity, water and communications.

The EUs foreign affairs and security commissioner Josep Borrell admitted that most EU member states have a severely depleted military stock due to support for Ukraine / Image: European Parliament

These attacks were designed to show Russias power and cow Ukraine into submission. The message is clear: if you do not surrender to Russias terms, we will destroy your power supply just ahead of the winter season.

At the same time, Russia has approached Belarus to raise a joint military group, thus putting pressure on Ukraines northern border, with the aim of diverting troops from other scenarios.

The combination of more Russian troops, attacks on Ukraines infrastructure and the threat of a renewed invasion in the north is aimed at changing the balance of forces again and eventually create a situation in which Ukraine will be forced to the negotiating table.

There are other problems for Ukraine. The conflict is fundamentally a proxy war between NATO and Russia. Washingtons stated aim is to severely weaken Russia. Ukraine depends completely on the US and the EU to fund the war, supply it with ammunition, hardware and intelligence, train its troops, etc.

Already, there are voices warning that stockpiles of weapons on both sides of the Atlantic are being depleted. Part of that is the military industrial complex pushing for new contracts and more military spending. War is terribly profitable, as Lenin commented sarcastically.

But there is also a serious real problem. According to Dave Des Roche from the US National Defense University, in the US, normal production of artillery rounds for the 155 millimetre howitzer currently used in Ukraine is about 30,000 rounds per year. Ukraine goes through that amount every two weeks! The EU is also worried.

The military stocks of most member states have been, I wouldnt say exhausted, but depleted in a high proportion, because we have been providing a lot of capacity to the Ukrainians, said the EUs foreign affairs and security commissioner Josep Borrell.

Despite all the assurances that NATO will support Ukraine for the long run, this level of funding and supplies is becoming a serious burden and combined with the onset of a deep economic recession, it might become unsustainable.

Storm coming in Europe

Additionally, the war has created serious problems in Europe in terms of the energy supply, as winter approaches. Sanctions on Russia have led to higher energy prices and to Russian retaliation, by choking supply to EU countries. It is comparatively easy for the US to demand and impose sanctions on Russia, as it is not so reliant on the supply of energy from this country. Europe on the other hand is extremely dependent on Russia and as that source of energy is being cut off, it has to look for other much more expensive suppliers.

Sanctions on Russia have led to higher energy prices and to Russian retaliation, by choking supply to EU countries / Image: rawpixelcom

A major social, economic and political storm is being prepared in the EU and support for the war is already waning, both in public opinion and amongst politicians. This, in turn, will bring to the fore the differences between the EU and the US.

Even in the US, a victory for Trump Republicans in the midterm elections could upset the balance of power making it more difficult for Biden to continue with his seemingly unlimited support for Ukraine. Trump has made his position clear: he is for a negotiated settlement with Russia in Ukraine. From his point of view, the US should be concentrating on what he considers its main enemy: China.

If Russia regains the initiative, on the basis of an increased number of troops and destruction of Ukraines infrastructure, then the pressure in the west towards disengaging from the war will grow. At that point there will be strong pressure from the west pushing Ukraine towards a settlement, in which Russias gains on the ground are codified in the negotiating table. This is Putins calculation.

On the back of the September offensive, Kyiv became increasingly belligerent, declaring emphatically that its war aims were the full liberation of all Ukrainian territory, including Crimea. Zelensky has gone as far as passing a law which forbids any negotiations with Russia as long as Putin is in power. These statements are mainly designed to boost morale of the public and the army.

If the situation on the front changes to Russias advantage and NATOs support falters, Zelensky might well change his tune and agree to make a deal. After all, he was originally elected as the peace with Russia candidate. If he resists, he might see himself removed from power. Perhaps a proper peace agreement will not be signed, but when conditions lead to it a ceasefire might be agreed.

As we have argued from the beginning this is a reactionary imperialist war on both sides, that of Russia but also that of NATO. The role of revolutionary Marxists is first and foremost to oppose the warmongering of our own ruling class and to link the class struggle at home with the struggle against its imperialist aims abroad.
Michael Callan, a famed actor who starred in "Gidget Goes Hawaiian" and "Cat Ballou," died. He was 86.

Hollywood lost one of its most versatile actors when Callan died this week. Deadline received reports about his death, and the actor's daughter confirmed it in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.

According to Callan's daughter, Rebecca Goodman, the actor died on Monday at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills. She added that Michael Callan's cause of death was due to pneumonia.

The disease, per the American Lung Association, is an infection that causes the lungs' alveoli to be inflamed after they are filled up with pus or fluid. Among its symptoms include trouble breathing, fever, chills, and cough. Older people may also suffer confusion once diagnosed with pneumonia.

Callan's family is yet to confirm details about his funeral. It also remains unknown whether they will allow the public to join the ceremony for the late actor.

Still, his fans took their chance to share heartfelt messages to him for the last time through social media posts.

@GlennGCaron I just heard that Michael Callan has died and remembered an interview you gave saying you wrote David Addison as 'a Michael Callan type'. The two really were similar screen types. pic.twitter.com/7PPK5SDkOa  Ian (is writing) (@ian_fryer) October 11, 2022

One said, "Saddened by the passing of Michael Callan - a dependable leading man and fine character actor spanning Films and TV over more than 40 years. Some of his stops along the way pitted him against Superboy, the Leprechaun, and got him membership in the Magnificent 7."

Michael Callan's Life, Career

Callan tried his luck in Hollywood after graduating from high school. Upon moving to New York, he scored a small role in "The Boy Friend" in 1954. His debut project also marked the first American project of Julie Andrews.

From there, he was tapped to appear on "West Side Story" for a year before Joyce Selznick saw him on Broadway. Callan signed a seven-year contract after leaving Hollywood and agreed to receive $650 per week.

READ ALSO: Philip Seymour Hoffman Dead: William H. Macy Reflects on Late Co-Star's Pain Years After Death

The actor, whose real name was Martin Calinoff, did not know Columbia execs changed his name to Michael Callan then.

He expanded his career by appearing in more series and films, including "Because They're Young," "Pepe," "Mysterious Island," "You Must Be Joking!" "13 West Street," "The Victors," and "Bon Voyage!"

In the years leading to his death, Callan added more titles under his belt, like "Stuck on You," "Double Exposure," "Charlie's Angels," "T.J. Hooker," "Lepke," and "One Life to Live and Murder."

READ MORE: Angela Lansbury Cause of Death: 'Beauty and the Beast' Voice Actress Dead at 96
Moda

La Reina Letizia dice adios a los tacones: asi ha reaparecido tras el Dia de la Hispanidad
(Informacion remitida por la empresa firmante)

Creators expect it to be a game changer for wet wipes

Frankfurt am Main, 12 October 2022 (News Aktuell) - This advance in technology was actually overdue, explains hygiene pioneer Hans Georg Hagleitner. "No more dried out wipes at the top of the pack. No more germs introduced by rummaging fingers," says the inventor about his work. The automatic wet wipe dispenser was presented by Hagleitner in Frankfurt am Main on 12 October 2022, the first of its kind in the world: The device dispenses wet wipe after wet wipe entirely touch free; whilst also protecting its contents. Hagleitner wants to set new standards in hygiene with this innovation. The inventor emphasises that the wet wipe needs the dispenser like milk needs a refrigerator.

Game changer promotes sustainability

In essence it is a disinfectant wipe dispenser: The hand moves towards it, a sensor reacts, a dial opens, the disinfectant wipe appears; after removing it, the device closes automatically. Over time, however, it is not just about the disinfectant wipe, says Stefanie Hagleitner; Hans Georg's daughter who is in charge of product management in his company. Stefanie Hagleitner is convinced that the invention heralds a new era for hygiene in general: "Customers wont have to rummage in some strange box of wet toilet paper any more. No more wipes will be thrown away in the future just because they have dried up - no more wasting of resources. Parents wont have to hunt around for the box of baby wipes any more either, because the dispenser solution is fixed in place."

Digital shelf life monitor

Among other things, the invention can be controlled digitally. For example, an app offers a shelf life monitor: "Particularly in hospitals, disinfectant wipes must not be out of date, otherwise they lose their effect," describes chemist and disinfection expert Kerstin Heine. The dispenser can provide information, transmitted online, about its fill level and charge status. The device has the option of mains power, rechargeable battery or recyclable energy unit; according to the manufacturer, the rechargeable battery and energy unit are sufficient for 20,000 operations each.

Market launch on 12 October 2022

Hans Georg Hagleitner calls his invention XIBU 2WIPE hybrid. The market launch is on the 12 October 2022, and the product will be available for purchase by companies from then on.

Made in Austria

Hagleitner presented XIBU 2WIPE hybrid at a press conference in Frankfurt am Main, from where he plans to manage his company's German business. The company manufactures the dispenser, the wet wipes and purpose disinfectant in a central production facility in Zell am See (Austria).

+++ IMPORTANT NOTE: An editorial video about the invention can be downloaded here. +++

Hagleitner

Hagleitner designs hygiene: detergents and disinfectants, cosmetics  plus dispensers, dosing devices and apps. The products are created in Austria, in Zell am See in fact. This is where Hagleitner has its headquarters and it is where research, development and production take place. Each additional branch is a sales office. The company operates from 27 sites in twelve European countries, and products are also available in 66 countries around the world through partners.

Hagleitners range of products is geared towards companies and public institutions with the hagi brand directly aimed at private customers.

Hagleitner employs a total of 1,314 people. The group of companies achieved a turnover of 133.3 million euro from April 2021 to March 2022, with exports accounting for 43.3 percent of this  according to the figures from the second year of the pandemic.

Family

Hagleitner Hygiene has been around since 1971 and is still firmly in family hands. Hans Georg Hagleitner took over his father Johanns business in 1988 and has managed operations ever since. Hans Georgs daughters Katharina and Stefanie also play leading roles in 2022: Katharina manages the Italian business; Stefanie is responsible for the product range and the consumer brand hagi.

For further information please contact

Hagleitner Hygiene International GmbH

Bernhard Peenteiner

Public Relations Officer

+43 664 8549250

bernhard.pessenteiner@hagleitner.com

www.hagleitner.com
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2022 to one individual and two organisations.





The Peace Prize laureates represent civil society in their home countries. They have for many years promoted the right to criticise power and protect the fundamental rights of citizens. They have made an outstanding effort to document war crimes, human right abuses and the abuse of power. Together they demonstrate the significance of civil society for peace and democracy.





This years Peace Prize is awarded to human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski from Belarus, the Russian human rights organisation Memorial and the Ukrainian human rights organisation Center for Civil Liberties.





Ales Bialiatski was one of the initiators of the democracy movement that emerged in Belarus in the mid-1980s. He has devoted his life to promoting democracy and peaceful development in his home country. Among other things, he founded the organisation Viasna (Spring) in 1996 in response to the controversial constitutional amendments that gave the president dictatorial powers and that triggered widespread demonstrations. Viasna provided support for the jailed demonstrators and their families. In the years that followed, Viasna evolved into a broad-based human rights organisation that documented and protested against the authorities use of torture against political prisoners.





Government authorities have repeatedly sought to silence Ales Bialiatski. He was imprisoned from 2011 to 2014. Following large-scale demonstrations against the regime in 2020, he was again arrested. He is still detained without trial. Despite tremendous personal hardship, Mr Bialiatski has not yielded an inch in his fight for human rights and democracy in Belarus.





The human rights organisation Memorial was established in 1987 by human rights activists in the former Soviet Union who wanted to ensure that the victims of the communist regimes oppression would never be forgotten. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov and human rights advocate Svetlana Gannushkina were among the founders. Memorial is based on the notion that confronting past crimes is essential in preventing new ones.





After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Memorial grew to become the largest human rights organisation in Russia. In addition to establishing a centre of

documentation on victims of the Stalinist era, Memorial compiled and systematised information on political oppression and human rights violations in Russia. Memorial became the most authoritative source of information on political prisoners in Russian detention facilities. The organization has also been standing at the forefront of efforts to combat militarism and promote human rights and government based on rule of law.





When civil society must give way to autocracy and dictatorship, peace is often the next victim. During the Chechen wars, Memorial gathered and verified information on abuses and war crimes perpetrated on the civilian population by Russian and pro-Russian forces. In 2009, the head of Memorials branch in Chechnya, Natalia Estemirova, was killed because of this work.





Civil society actors in Russia have been subjected to threats, imprisonment, disappearance and murder for many years. As part of the governments harassment of Memorial, the organisation was stamped early on as a foreign agent. In December 2021, the authorities decided that Memorial was to be forcibly liquidated and the documentation centre was to be closed permanently. The closures became effective in the following months, but the people behind Memorial refuse to be shut down. In a comment on the forced dissolution, chairman Yan Rachinsky stated, Nobody plans to give up.





The Center for Civil Liberties was founded in Kyiv in 2007 for the purpose of advancing human rights and democracy in Ukraine. The center has taken a stand to strengthen Ukrainian civil society and pressure the authorities to make Ukraine a full-fledged democracy. To develop Ukraine into a state governed by rule of law, Center for Civil Liberties has actively advocated that Ukraine become affiliated with the International Criminal Court.





After Russias invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Center for Civil Liberties has engaged in efforts to identify and document Russian war crimes against the Ukrainian civilian population. In collaboration with international partners, the center is playing a pioneering role with a view to holding the guilty parties accountable for their crimes.





By awarding the Nobel Peace Prize for 2022 to Ales Bialiatski, Memorial and the Center for Civil Liberties, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to honour three outstanding champions of human rights, democracy and peaceful co-existence in the neighbour countries Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Through their consistent efforts in favour of humanist values, anti-militarism and principles of law, this years laureates have revitalized and honoured Alfred Nobels vision of peace and fraternity between nations  a vision most needed in the world today.




Wednesday, October 12, 2022

The Society for the Advancement of Consulting (SAC), the leading global association of independent consulting professionals, today announced the winners of the Corrie Shanahan Memorial Award for Advancing Consulting. The awards were presented at the 19th annual meeting of the organization, held virtually this year with an extended agenda and global participation.

The Consultant of the Year was awarded to Patrick Daly of Dublin, Ireland. The recipient of this year's award for Creativity & Innovation is David Ogilvie of Brisbane, Australia.

"The business environment continues to remain in flux post-pandemic, with economic upheaval and the devastating war in Ukraine ," said Linda Popky, co-executive director of SAC. "Consultants must continue to adapt to changing conditions for themselves and their clients."

"This year, in addition to honoring the outstanding consultant of the year, we are also proud to recognize a SAC member who displayed outstanding creativity and innovationboth in their own practice, as well as in how they work with their clients."

About Patrick Daly

Based in Dublin, Ireland, Patrick Daly works with many of the top Fortune 500 companies in manufacturing, distribution, and logistics services in Europe, Asia, and the Americashelping them to achieve dramatic improvements in their supply chain capabilities and performance through supply chain excellence. In his consultancy assignments, Patrick has worked with clients all over the world in such countries as China, India, Uruguay, Puerto Rico, Egypt, UAE, US, UK, Spain, Croatia, and others.

He is the host of Interlinks, a weekly radio programme and podcast that explores the developments in international supply chains globalisation through interviews with businesspeople, executives, and academics from around the world. Patrick is the author of the book International Supply Chain Relationships: Creating Competitive Advantage in a Globalized and was an active member of the National Logistics Forum in Ireland set up by the Department of Transport, Trade and Tourism in April 2020 to advise the Irish government on keeping supply lines open during and after the COVID19 pandemic. He leads the Supply Chain Special Interest Group for SAC and is a member of the Institute of Sustainable Trade and the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport.

About David Ogilvie

David Ogilvie's expertise in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and supply-chain management makes him one of the world's leading business-improvement specialists.

From his base in Brisbane, Australia, David works with executives of both publicly listed and privately owned businesses to help them build strategic direction and apply technology to improve operational performance and profitability. His industry-leading intellectual property includes SureSelect, a methodology for selecting the right products and software vendors for businesses; the ERP Success Formula, a framework and methods for keeping digital transformation and technology projects successfully on track, and 4V Supply Chain Model, a framework for building supply-chain resiliency into operations. David is a published author, speaker, and consultant in high demand.

The Advancing Consulting Awards

The awards are given to independent consultants who have done the most to advance the profession in the previous year. They're named in memory of Corrie Shanahan, a SAC member who passed away in 2019. Corrie Shanahan was an expert in rapidly strengthening organizational performance, productivity, and corporate culture, and the author of Do it, Mean it, Be it: The Keys to Achieve Success, Happiness and Everything You Deserve at Work and in Life.

"We are thrilled to recognize the "best of the best" in the consulting profession," said Lisa Anderson co-executive director of SAC. "Just as Corrie showed creativity and innovation in both her consulting practice and her approach to life in general, our nominees stood out above the crowd.

"This year's pool of nominees was larger than previously and all highly qualified," she added. "In a year of continued disruption, we were pleased to see so many consultants shine. We are grateful to the award committee, led by chair Vanessa Khan, for all their hard work to review submissions and evaluate applicants based on a set of pre-defined criteria."

"The encouragement, energy, and inspiration that the winning of this award provides is an extremely significant stimulus in my ongoing personal and professional development as a business consultant," said Patrick Daly. "I am very grateful and privileged to have had the opportunity over the years to develop strong relationships with my clients around the world and particularly to those who were kind enough to provide references and testimonials to the Awards Committee in relation to the work that we have done together.

"Likewise, it is very satisfying to have received the recognition of my peers in SAC who constitute a vibrant international community that contributes dramatically to the improvement of the profession and the diffusion of knowledge and practice in a way that is unequalled anywhere in the world," Daly added.

David Ogilvie noted, "Corrie Shanahan was an extraordinary consultant and a wonderful woman. I am very honoured to win this in her memory and to hold dear the values she held. To be recognised by my peers, considering the exceptional quality of people in SAC, is beyond belief for me."

Virtual Meeting Continues Last Year's Successful Format

The SAC annual meeting is being held virtually for the third year. Sessions are offered on three consecutive days, with different start times each day for attendees in Europe, North America, and the Pacific Rim.

The theme for this year's meeting is Reinvent for Success. All sessions are being recorded, so participants will be able to view any session they'd like at their convenience. Recordings will be available for a fee to both members and non-members. For more information, go to the SAC website, www.consultingsociety.com
Wednesday, October 12, 2022

The coal industry did not change for decade after decade. Being forced to improve safety demanded exhaust systems, better lighting, and a bit more, but nothing too dramatic. That industry long believed that arguments for cleaner energy were a fad. After a while it became clear that was a trend. But was that enough to require any real change? Would there be a seismic shift?

Yes. The current decade has hosted a seismic shift in the view of non-renewable sources of energy in general, and coal in particular. Yes, China and others continue to develop new coal mines, but China is also leading most of the world in bring renewable energy online. Yes, Europe will increase use of coal this winter due to the Russian war on Ukraine. But that shift is a short term necessity, not a new normal.

So if you owned a coal mine, when would you have shifted your business strategy? In the 2000s? Perhaps not even now.

Major players in oil and gas industries are both reacting to and creating a seismic shift in the supply of energy worldwide. The minor shifts are better management of methane; the major shifts are in creating new renewable capabilities.

It appears that in the 2030s, EVs will be the new normal. The seismic shift is well underway. Some auto companies have been on that train for a long time, focused on battery development; others are quickly moving that direction right now. Combustion engines will be around for a long time, but their time is largely over. Think coal 30-40 years ago.

Pelaton existed before Covid, but sales and service erupted from the work from home and stay within your bubble lifestyle shifts. That company announced plans to build a significant manufacturing plant in northwest Ohio. Ah, but staying out of gyms was not really the new normal. It was a temporary response to a pandemic. As sales plummeted, plans for new production were scuttled. Spending extensively on a new Pelaton was a trend, never to become a seismic shift.

Where is your business on the continuum of fad to trend to seismic shift to new normal? Do you observe trends, developing products and services to create a seismic shift in the market around those you believe are long lasting? Or do you wait until someone else creates and verifies the shift before investing in market and product development for the new market expectations?

Each of these strategic locations requires different competencies.

Include this positioning in your strategy, clearly define and master the competencies that are required to succeed there, continually verify if your position is best for the longer term, and adjust as needed.

Building an enduring manufacturing business requires commitment to the mission and constantly scanning the market to optimize your positioning strategy.
Wednesday, October 12, 2022

The Herman Trend Alert

October 12, 2022

Making Robots Laugh

Until I started researching this topic, I had never considered the difficulty that it might be to get robots to laugh in the appropriate places. Right now, I am in Dubai to speak at the Dubai Future Forum. Here in this future-thinking city, at the Museum of the Future, resides a robot named Annika. No, unfortunately, Annika does not laugh, although because of the things she is programmed to say, she is funny. It is only recently---and with great effort---that researchers have been able to get any of their robots to laugh.

Robots Laughing in Response to People



A recent study, published in the journal Frontiers in Robotics and AI, reports that researchers designed a new AI system to detect humans' laughter, decide whether to giggle in response, and then choose the type of laugh that's appropriate for the context. It is hoped that this new ability will make interactions between people and robots more engaging in our progressively automated world.

Laughter should be Fundamental



The study author, Divesh Lala, a researcher who studies conversational robots at Kyoto University in Japan, hopes he can foster the idea that laughter should be a critical talent of any conversational robot. He believes that shared laughter is one way to realize this goal.

Humanoid Robots and Conversation



In the past 10 years, we have seen some very realistic AI-powered robots, including Annika and Sophia (about which I have written previously). They can hold real conversations, answering questions posed to them. Though Sophia is much more adept at holding a conversation than Annika, both speak relatively easily with people. However, the new robot or likely the new software takes their talents to the next level.

Sophia is Quite Amazing



Created by Hong Kong-based Hanson Robotics in 2016, the captivating Sophia has served as an ambassador for the United Nations and spoken at conferences around the world. When she spoke at South X SouthWest in Austin she famously (or infamously) said she will "destroy humans."

Tesla's New Robot



Elon Musk will also soon enter the robot industry with the Tesla Optimus to be previewed on September 30. Musk believes that soon robots will mow lawns, care for the elderly, and serve as friends---and perhaps even sex partners.

A Booming Product Line without a Sense of Humor



As an industry, robotics is way ahead of where it was even 5 years ago. And in spite of some impressive breakthroughs, scientists have struggled to make robots laugh---a crucial step that some experts feel could foster a genuine, empathetic relationship between humans and humanoids.

Shared Laughter



Working with their own android robot named ERICA, Lala's lab is currently working on adding the AI shared-laughter system. Previous work has mostly been focused on designing robots that could detect people's laughter, but Lala wanted the robot to be responsive.

How the Shared Laughter System Works



When a person laughs in ERICA's presence, it triggers the neural networks. Then, a series of models classifies the data decides whether to chuckle, and if so, the AI chooses the type of laugh that is most appropriate in response. In shared laughter, the robot is just attempting to reproduce what an empathetic human would do.

Different Kinds of Laughter



More specifically, the system can distinguish between a "social" or "mirthful" laugh, categories based on previous studies that have classified our chuckles. Social laughs fill silence rather than expressing genuine delight, while we use the mirthful variety in response to something genuinely funny.

Why this Work Matters



This recent work is just the newest try to make robots appear to be more empathetic and to help them form meaningful relationships with humans. Talking robots could one day soon care for our aging parents and follow us around our homes, not to mention handling more intimate applications. Though computers can only offer superficial empathy, for an Alzheimer's patient, even pretend caring can make a difference. Truly empathetic robots are decades away.

The Future of Laughing Robots



What's ahead is laughing about something because the robots think it's funny. In other words, the AI would actually appreciate the humor. This AI field is called "natural language processing;" it involves understanding how humans write and speak and it sems to be more challenging than they originally thought. Of course, in the far future, we may expect to see robots who can do stand-up comedy.

Next Week's Herman Trend Alert: Bounties and Sabbaticals: Back to the Future



On my way to Dubai, I stopped off in New York City to spend the afternoon with my daughter who lives in Brooklyn. To her, one of her employer's important perks is Adobe's sabbatical program. These benefits really do work to retain talent. In next week's Alert, I will explore this and other highly valued bonuses which are coming back.

Special thanks to Molly Glick writing for Inverse.com. To read the main article from which I drew this Alert, visit https://www.inverse.com/innovation/laughing-robots-ai

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CELEBRATING APF'S 20TH ANNIVERSARY: EXPLORING HORIZONS OF GLOBAL FORESIGHT



Hosted by the Association of Professional Futurists and the Dubai Futures Foundation, the event scheduled December 5 and 6 will convene the world's top professional futurists to anticipate challenges, imagine opportunities, share foresight, and shape the future. To register for the in-person or virtual event, visit APF.org and click on the new website banner.

***********

COULD FINANCIAL WELLNESS BE YOUR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE?



A whopping 84 percent of employees say financial wellness programs are the workplace benefit they need the most. At the same time a study revealed that 91% of employers plan to develop or expand employee financial wellness programs beyond retirement planning and in the next 5 years. That means you will need this benefit to compete for top talent and keep your good people! Don't be left behind; take action today! Call 847-242-0550 for a free trial TODAY.
If a domestic violence case drags on, a victim might wonder if shes going to be living in a home with someone shes going to have to testify against in court.

Already, domestic violence cases are difficult to prosecute, and delays create even more challenges, said Ryan Mickelson, deputy county attorney with Missoula County.

Oftentimes, it leads to prosecutions crashing and burning, Mickelson said.

To support victims and leverage more fruitful interventions, Missoula County announced a new program Tuesday to expedite domestic violence cases  and at a press conference, Justice of the Peace Alex Beal said the domestic violence treatment court is a first for the state.

This is not a program that exists in Montana, Beal said.

In part of a June 2021 series, the Daily Interlake reported a 26 percent increase in 2020 compared to 2011 in law enforcement responses across Montana to calls of strangulation or assault by family members or intimate partners.

However, a 2019 Montana Domestic Violence Fatality Review Commissions report to the Montana Legislature also noted intimate partner homicides were down nearly 50 percent statewide and in Native communities from the last biennium.

In Missoula, the initial goal of the new court is to significantly reduce the time between an arrest and resolution, according to the county. As currently designed, Beal said the program, which has been running for four months on a trial basis, isnt costing the county any money.

To speed up cases, he said the Missoula County Attorneys Office, victim witness advocates, and defense lawyers have been working in partnership to devise a system thats outcome neutral and fair for all parties. He said the hope is that people who are affected, such as survivors, will have higher customer satisfaction, and he said the court will track related data.

Beal also said the county has been working on issues related to domestic violence for 17 years, and the new court would not be a silver bullet. He also said many people have not been fully served by the system, and as a judge, he has seen the cycle of violence with children and even grandchildren of people who have appeared before him.

Domestic violence is rough, Beal said. It is a pervasive, multigenerational problem and has been going on forever. It is not going to solve itself in a day.

At this point, he said the treatment portion of the court is a goal, but its something that would require money. He said the idea for the future is that people affected in cases would return to the court for check-ins and services.

We dont have the money presently to do something a whole lot bigger, Beal said.

However, he said hes seen other parts of Missoula County ramp up the ways they address domestic violence, such as changes to how law enforcement investigates, and a dedicated special victims unit in the County Attorneys Office. He didnt want the court to be the weak link, and he said Boise and Tucson shared valuable information about how to move forward with a court program  and in some cases lessons about how not to.

The beauty of being a judge is sometimes you can just say, were going to do something differently, Beal said.

At the press conference, Shantelle Gaynor, director of the Missoula County Community Justice Department, said partner family member assault is one of the five top reasons people are booked into the local jail. Plus, she said one in three women and one in nine men across the country report having experienced violence in an intimate partner relationship.

It affects people in every community, she said, such as in the LGBTQ community, Native American community, and people in middle class houses. And she said it affects children in the home.

Domestic violence is a pervasive problem across the U.S., Gaynor said.

In addressing the problem, she said Missoula has been innovative. As examples, she pointed to a 24-hour crisis line, an emergency shelter for people fleeing violence, support groups and counseling, and specialized training for law enforcement and prosecutors to better serve victims and defendants.

This court is the next step in that, so its another brick in our foundation to improve services and improve outcomes, Gaynor said.

The post Montanas first domestic violence treatment court launches appeared first on Daily Montanan.
PABLO, Mont. - A big milestone for our Montana tribes as the bipartisan Infrastructure Law includes an historic investment in the expansion of high-speed internet in communities, two of them on Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal lands and the Blackfeet reservation.

Representatives from across the nation including the White House, traveled to Pablo Tuesday as the CSKT Chamber of Commerce for the milestone.

A game changer across our reservations, is how the tribal community members described the 'Internet for all Initiative to help businesses, schools, and those living on these lands succeed.

Government agencies such as the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, also known as NTIA, are launching new 'high-speed' internet programs to allow more service options, at a low cost.

The CSKT tribal chairman says the struggles members of his community faced during the pandemic served as catalyst to get something like this on Montana reservation and it's been a long time coming.

We have so many people who don't even have internet service, we have people who have really ineffective low-quality service and to be able to have this opportunity to connect, to get access to education, health care, communications, and these are all those things that we are missing, it's a generational change, said Tom McDonald, CSKT chairman.

For those who reside on the reservation, they tell us when it comes to their internet, sometimes they 'simply can't get anything.

Under the $74.8 million allocated to CSKT and Blackfeet reservations, through the tribal broadband community tribal program, over 4,000 homes in these areas are expected to receive high-speed internet among more places like businesses and school districts.

Which again will be a game changer moving forward.

Right now there is no exact timeline when this would roll out, but they're aiming for this happen over the next 24 months
Air Mauritius commemorated its 50 years of air services to Rodrigues at an official ceremony held at Plaine Corail Airport on the 11th October 2022.

Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, Prime Minister, Minister of Defence, Home Affairs and External Communications, Minister for Rodrigues, Outer Islands and Territorial Integrity was the Chief Guest at the ceremony.

On 13 September 1972, five years after its creation, Air Mauritius, was ready for its first take-off and made history as its first commercial flight landed safely in Rodrigues. It was operated by a 6-seater, twin-engine Piper Navajo aircraft, leased from Air Madagascar. This event marked the beginning of a great adventure for an airline that would fly an island nation to the world and back.

In his address at the function, the Chairman of Air Mauritius, Mr Marday Venketasamy, G.O.S.K, C.S.K, stated that

The Rodrigues route is served with 3 ATR72-500 aircraft, while we await runway developments at Plaine Corail Airport to consider deployment of bigger sized aircraft. We are proud that for the past decades we have been connecting Rodriguans to Mauritius and beyond via the Air Mauritius network. In order to meet our customers expectations, our inflight services to and from Rodrigues are currently being reviewed. For the Rodriguan tourism industry to thrive, we need to provide all facilities as well as regular and safe air connectivity. In order to boost tourism, Air Mauritius, with the support of Government, offers a Special Holiday Package to the destination.

The Prime Minister then proceeded to unveil a commemorative plaque. A Bois Clou, a critically endangered plant endemic to Rodrigues was symbolically planted at Plaine Corail Airport by the Prime Minister. The Chief Commissioner of Rodrigues, Mr Johnson Roussety, G.O.S.K. and the Chairman of Air Mauritius, Mr Marday Venketasamy G.O.S.K., C.S.K, also planted two other endangered endemic trees to Rodrigues namely the Bois Balai (Turraea laciniate) and the Bois Bouteille (Fernelia Buxifolia) respectively, in the presence of members of the Rodrigues Regional Assembly and other dignitaries.

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Farmers and farmworkers from across the UK will protest in London this week to demand more government ambition on future food and farming policy.

The list of demands for the march include a right to food to be put into UK law, more government support schemes for young people and marginalised groups to enter farming, and a bigger budget for agricultural support schemes.

The march is being organised by the Landworkers Alliance - a union representing over 2,200 farmers and land-based workers in the UK.

Other food and agriculture organisations, including Save British Farming, the Sustain Alliance and the Nature-Friendly Farming Network, have also pledged support.

The groups also want to see the new government protect the UKs high growing standards in upcoming trade deals, so they are not undercut by imported food grown with lower environmental and quality standards.

They fear the government's economic growth agenda will be prioritised to "the detriment of hard-won standards".

Campaigners are also calling on Defra to commit to a speedier delivery and a bigger budget for Englands Environmental Land Management Schemes (ELMS).

The protest will start at 12pm on 15 October in Parliament Square, with organisers promising "colourful banners, tractors, costumes and songs."

There will also be a harvest festival display and home-grown food, with speeches due to end around 5pm.

Jyoti Fernandes, the Landworkers Alliance policy co-ordinator and co-founder, is one of the lead organisers of the march.

The governments in the UK arent doing enough to implement the kind of transition we urgently need in our food and farming systems. We need change, and we need it now," she said.

"Thats why were bringing consumers, farmers, growers, youth, activists, change-makers and food system workers together to march in London and demand that policymakers take action.

"We are committed to effective ELMS for a just transition to a secure food supply that doesnt destroy the environment and are calling on the new government to increase the ELMS budget to deliver real benefits.

Farmers and farmworkers of all ages and backgrounds are travelling from across the UK to join in.

One person is Gerald Miles, 74, an organic farmer from Pembrokeshire, who is part of Caerhys Organic Community Agriculture, a scheme that sees locals and farmers grow their own food.

He set out from his farm in Pembrokeshire, Wales on a tractor on Monday 10 October to travel to London for the march, a journey which will take four days.

I want to make the biggest protest possible to keep the governments ELMS, save nature, stop the deregulation of genetically modified crops and support young farmers and young people trying to go back to the land."
Reports that the government is planning to ban solar farms from most of farmland across England has left some farmers and landowners 'dismayed and surprised'.

The new Defra Secretary, Ranil Jayawardena is understood to be against solar panels on farmland because it impedes the government's programme of growth and boosting food production.

According to media reports, Mr Jayawardena has asked officials to redefine the best and most versatile land (BMV) that is earmarked for farming, to include a middle to low category 3b.

While most farmers are likely to support the protection of grade 3 farmland, the proposed policy change would make it more difficult to develop solar energy, unless the development of upland areas is allowed.

Currently, planning policy strictly protects visual amenity, so upland schemes are almost impossible.

The solar sector has responded to the proposals, warning that some farmers and landowners were 'dismayed' the governments change of heart.

In recent years, farmers and landowners have used solar as a diversification project, but if the change should become law, this potential boost to income streams would be a huge challenge, according to law firm Lodders.

Solar is a way of increasing income streams for farmers, explained John Rouse, a partner in Lodders agriculture team.

Most solar panel sites can also be grazed by sheep, so do not stop all agricultural activity as implied as one of the main reasons behind the governments planned ban."

He added: If the idea of extending BMV to grade 3b land does indeed become law  and this will be a pretty long road before reaching that point - then solar will effectively be banned from more than 40% of Englands land.

"This would mean that farmers face yet another challenge of how to keep farm incomes up, perhaps via other types of diversification projects, but will face similar issues if the plans involve taking land out of agricultural operation.

Chris Hewett, chief executive of the trade body Solar Energy UK, warned that the solar sector was 'alarmed' by the proposed changes.

"Solar power is the answer to so many needs and policy demands: it will cut energy bills, deliver energy security, boost growth and help rural economies.

"Ranil Jayawardenas opposition to solar farms must surely make him part of the anti-growth coalition.
NFU Cymru and NFU Mutual are on the lookout to find this year's Livestock Champion working within the agricultural industry in Wales.

Looking for its eighth winner, the Welsh Livestock Champion of the Year Award seeks to spotlight dedicated and enthusiastic livestock persons.

Rob Lewis, chairman of NFU Cymrus Livestock Board, who will judge on behalf of the union, said the award aims to celebrate excellence amongst Welsh livestock producers.

In Wales we have some of the best quality beef and sheep in the world, produced to the highest animal health and welfare standards," he said.

We want to recognise the key role an exceptional livestock person can make to a livestock farm, and to the Welsh livestock industry as a whole."

Potential winners will be judged on their management of the flock/herd, their animal health planning, breeding programme, and their stock handling skills.

They will also be judged on how they incorporate health and safety into their day-to-day activities on-farm and their vision for the future of the industry.

Mike Thomas, Builth Wells NFU Cymru / NFU Mutual Group Secretary, who will be judging the award on behalf of NFU Mutual, said Welsh farmers were amongst the best stockpeople across the world.

During challenging times for livestock farmers, its vital that these skills are maintained and are able to thrive for future generations."

The closing date for entries is 28 October and the winner will be announced at the Royal Welsh Winter Fair at Llanelwedd, Builth Wells on 28 November 2022.

Those interested in entering the award or putting a nomination forward for someone should visit the NFU Cymru website to download an application form.

The award winner will receive a top prize of 500 and a Welsh Royal Crystal trophy.
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Bangladesh knitwear exporters recently called for re-fixing the US dollar rate upward at Tk 110.70 each from Tk 99 to encash export proceeds as in case of remittance earnings. The step would help them survive amid local and global shocks and maintain harmony between export and import rates. The buying-selling gap should not be more than a taka, they said.

Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) executive president Mohammed Hatem made the request to the central bank in a letter.

Bangladesh knitwear exporters recently called for re-fixing the US dollar rate upward at Tk 110.70 each from Tk 99 to encash export proceeds as in case of remittance earnings. The step would help them survive amid local and global shocks and maintain harmony between export and import rates. The buying-selling gap should not be more than a taka, they said.

The sector's production cost has gone up significantly with the rise in global prices of oil, transportation, raw materials and other logistics, and as a result, it has become tough to make the desired profit through exports, bangladeshi media reports cited the letter as saying.

The exporters are also incurring huge loss due to the difference between import bill payments and export proceeds encashment in dollar, Hatem explained, offering four proposals to bring harmony in imports and exports.

These include consulting BKMEA, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and the associations of bankers and foreign exchange dealers while fixing dollar rates.

Dollar exchange rate for the exporters is Tk 99, while the banks are paying at a rate of Tk 105-106 for back-to-back letter of credit (LC) or other import bills.

The Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) also made a similar request last month.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
Egypts public business sector minister Mahmoud Esmat discussed investment and partnership opportunities in Egypts textile industry with a delegation from Chinese knitted fabric development base Handa Enterprise in a recent meeting.

Esmat stated that the meeting pointed towards the eagerness of Egypts ministry of public business sector when it came to allowing foreign investments and supporting public-private partnerships with Egypts cotton, spinning, weaving, and clothing companies, according to Egypts State Information Service.

Minister Mahmoud Esmat discussed investment and partnership opportunities in Egypt's textile industry with a delegation from China's Handa Enterprise in a recent meeting. Esmat stated that the meeting pointed towards the eagerness of Egypt's public business sector ministry when it came to supporting foreign investments and public-private partnerships.

The ministry attaches great importance to upgrading the spinning and weaving sector, especially since Egypt has highly competitive skills in this regard, in line with the political leaderships directives, added Esmat.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (NB)
 In celebration of International Day of the Girl, AstraZenecas Africa team has joined the global #GirlsBelongHere campaign, a Plan International initiative, to promote inclusion and draw attention to the obstacles faced by young women in Africa.

As a science-led company, AstraZeneca is passionate about inspiring and advancing the next generation of women and girls in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). To commemoraAfricate the day, AstraZenecas senior leaders stepped aside from their roles for the day to give 15 girls from Johannesburg, Nairobi, Addis Ababa, Accra and Lagos a unique opportunity to take charge. The participants attended meetings and workshops and shadowed the multinational companys regional leaders including, amongst others, Barbara Nel, Country President African Cluster, Arpit Bansal, Country Director for Sub Saharan Africa and Taryn Purdon Business Unit Director of Oncology for African Cluster. The Africa Boardroom takeover event also connected girls from across the region to discuss how to overcome biases and obstacles to gender empowerment and inspire them to take the lead.

Colleen Ratseane, a young female Entrepreneur who participated in the Orange Corners Programme in South Africa, shared her career journey with the participants. The day also included visits with key AstraZeneca stakeholders, networking with AstraZeneca team members and participation in team brainstorming workshops.

Barbara Nel, Country President for African Cluster (South Africa, Sub-Sahara and French Speaking Africa) says: We are strongly committed to supporting and empowering women in leadership positions across our AstraZeneca African Cluster. The Girls Belong Here initiative is part of this commitment, promoting girls visibility, driving new opportunities and investing in girls from across Africa to step into the shoes of various leaders in a mass takeover. Connecting across geographical borders the girls have an opportunity to share their perspective on why female representation is important in business and healthcare and what we as business leaders should know about the challenges young leaders face so that we can empower them to overcome these.

Gender is a key determinant of health, and gender inequality leads to health risks for women and girls. The influence of society, culture or tradition can influence and impact health choices, health-seeking behaviours and health outcomes for women and girls. COVID-19 has exacerbated existing barriers; measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 have forced young women out of school, many of whom may never return to the classroom. Creating education and employment opportunities, like the #GirlsBelongHere takeovers, can lead to positive health outcomes for girls and young women.

Barbara Nel added, It starts with inspiring young girls to have confidence in themselves, dream big and speak up and in showing them that Girls Belong Here. A big thank you to our partners for joining forces with us across African Cluster to ensure we bring about positive change. Together we can make a difference.

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Just 7% of government leaders feel their organization has met its digital transformation goals

Digitalization is being held back by a lack of capabilities and outmoded ways of working

Struggle to retain existing digital talent is among the top three barriers to delivering better public services

LONDON, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Governments around the world are at risk of failing citizens through lack of digitalization, according to EY research presented in a new report: "How can government workers and technology align to serve future citizens?". Less than one in ten (7%) government leader respondents believe that their organization has achieved their digital transformation goals; and the momentum for digitalization that built up during the pandemic is in danger of being lost.

The new report indicates that responding government workforces are ill-prepared to capitalize on the enormous potential benefits of digitalization. This includes improving access to digital services; using data analytics to predict when vulnerable people will need more assistance; and increasing efficiency across the board.

Many respondents find themselves constrained by a combination of issues including a lack of digitally aware leaders; a lack of digital and data skills and the training to access them; and an organizational culture that is reactive and uninspiring, hampering the efforts to attract the best digital talent. Coupled with the fact that 38% of Gen Z government worker respondents say they plan to leave their jobs in the next 12 months, governments must also meet the challenge of retaining the digitally literate talent they already possess, as an aging public sector workforce nears retirement.

While several global trends are converging to disrupt governments, these present challenges and also significant opportunities for the digital transformation of the public sector. In order to tackle these issues, the report recommends a framework of four key actions for governments to follow when looking to create a workforce equipped for the future:

Adopt dynamic workforce planning. Take a longer-term view of capacity and capability needs and creating strategies to access skills. Scale digital capabilities. Upskilling or reskill existing employees, sourcing fresh talent and emphasize purposeful careers to rebrand the public sector to make it more attractive. Foster digital leadership and culture. Managing digital transformation requires leaders who can challenge the status quo, articulating a compelling vision for change while reassuring and educating employees on a digital mindset. Reimagine the employee experience. Create tailored employee experience that treats every worker as a unique individual, offering structured career paths to help workers progress and fulfil their career ambitions.

Arnauld Bertrand, EY Global Government Consulting Leader, says:

"During the pandemic we were offered a glimpse of the potential of the digital state and how it could deliver for citizens. Working from home became the norm and more services were moved online. In a post-pandemic world, we must not allow this momentum to be lost. The data shows that governments understand there is more to be done, but there remain many barriers to success.



"To truly embrace a digital government and deliver for citizens we collectively must continue to help build future-fit public sector organizations with digitally aware leaders and a plan for building the right capacity, skills, culture and employee experience. These will need to be encouraged and developed across the public services with new ways of working and new systems. If they don't, opportunities to improve services through harnessing data and technology will be lost. The chance to individualize and target services will be squandered - and with it the ability to better allocate taxpayer resources and deliver maximum benefits as and where needed. Most concerningly, society's most vulnerable people will suffer if public services deteriorate due to inadequate capacity or skill levels. It all hinges on getting in the right people with the right skills."

EY analysis shows that citizens now expect levels of quality, speed and convenience on a par with the private sector, with immediate, seamless access to services through a variety of channels. Citizens expect digital to improve the way they conduct many aspects of their lives - and they expect governments to keep up.

Governments are responding by trying to become more focused on the needs of citizens. According to EY research, 43% of government respondents rank a focus on the customer/citizen experience as one of the top three factors driving successful transformation. This calls for better use of technology and data to understand people's needs and circumstances, as well as new skills such as user experience research and design.

Employees also want a digital workplace that keeps pace with their personal experience and feel that governments are not doing enough. The 2022 EY Work Reimagined Survey shows 63% of respondents believe extensive or moderate changes are needed to enhance their workplace digital tools and technologies.

Shalinder Bakshi, EY Global People Advisory Services Leader, Government & Infrastructure, says:

"The opportunity here is massive and if governments get it right they will be rewarded with a more efficient state, slicker services and most importantly, happier citizens. That being the case, the stakes are high. Governments need to urgently seize the opportunity to reconfigure the workforce to attract, retain and motivate the skilled employees they need. It is also essential that they put human skills at the center of their digital transformation. Data and technology do not get you very far without the buy-in and skills to go alongside them.

"Our framework outlines vital areas for transformation, but it is important to realize that these actions are not linear. They work together holistically - all at once and one at a time. While it is of utmost importance governments make these changes, there are examples of governments a step ahead of their peers, excelling in their digital transformation providing opportunities to learn from their progress."

Millennials and Gen Z are more likely to favor shorter job tenures and to seek greater purpose and fulfillment, with 63% of Gen Z public sector employee respondents saying they value a clear connection between their job and the overall purpose of the organization above monetary compensation. Meanwhile, people of all ages want a healthier work/life balance. Attracting and retaining younger workers is especially important given that many public workers are approaching retirement (nearly one-third of central government workers in the OECD are over 55) and the 2022 EY Work Reimagined Survey shows that 29% of government worker respondents will likely leave their job in the next 12 months, rising to 38% for those in Gen Z.

Bertrand says: "When it comes to offering a job with purpose, governments are at a distinct advantage; and it is an opportunity they can seize. The job of the public sector is to provide better lives for citizens. In the ongoing quest for talent across all sectors, this is a unique element to civil servant roles, which governments should be putting front and center when it comes to recruitment. However, without using technology to offer a strong work/life balance, a compelling career path and clear pathways to train their workforce to become more technologically literate, they run the risk of failing to retain recruits who want to deliver the best for citizens."

Notes to editors

About EY

EY exists to build a better working world, helping create long-term value for clients, people and society and build trust in the capital markets.

Enabled by data and technology, diverse EY teams in over 150 countries provide trust through assurance and help clients grow, transform and operate.

Working across assurance, consulting, law, strategy, tax and transactions, EY teams ask better questions to find new answers for the complex issues facing our world today.

EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. Information about how EY collects and uses personal data and a description of the rights individuals have under data protection legislation are available via ey.com/privacy. EY member firms do not practice law where prohibited by local laws. For more information about our organization, please visit ey.com.

This news release has been issued by EYGM Limited, a member of the global EY organization that also does not provide any services to clients.

How EY's Global Government & Public Sector can help your organization

Around the world, governments and not-for-profit organizations are continually seeking innovative answers to complex challenges. They are striving to provide better services at lower costs and to create sustainable economic development, a safe environment, more transparency and increased accountability. EY combines private sector leading practices with an understanding of the public sector's diverse needs, focusing on building organizations' capabilities to deliver improved public services. Drawing on many years of experience, we can work with you to help strengthen your organization and achieve lasting improvements. Our Global Government & Public Sector brings together teams of highly skilled professionals from our assurance, consulting, strategy, tax and transaction services. We are inspired by a deep commitment to help you meet your goals and enhance public value, for today and tomorrow.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/governments-need-new-ways-of-working-to-seize-digital-opportunities--ey-report-301646589.html
SINGAPORE, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Vymo ( www.vymo.com ), the sales engagement platform of choice for leading financial institutions, has been recognized as a 'Strong Performer' in The Forrester Wave: Sales Engagement Platforms, Q3 2022 report.





The report by Forrester Research, Inc. evaluates the 13 most significant sales engagement platforms based on 30 criteria. According to the report, sales engagement platforms are built to optimize sales in a hybrid world. In their evaluation of Vymo, the report states that, "Vymo is a great fit for financial institutions with large sales forces seeking a single pane of glass that captures interactions and provides nudges to support the ongoing prioritization of efforts, no matter where they are."

The report also notes, "Its [Vymo's] robust innovation roadmap centers on customer feedback and usage. These insights support the development of Vymo's unique perspective to solving customer challenges."

In the Strategy category, Vymo received the highest scores possible in performance, the execution roadmap and market approach;

In the Current Offering category, Vymo also received the highest score possible in mobile capabilities.

Get complimentary access to the full research: https://www.vymo.com/forrester-wave-sales-engagement-2022/

"We're thrilled to be acknowledged as a Strong Performer in the Forrester Wave report," says Yamini Bhat, CEO and Co-Founder of Vymo. "We believe it further validates our product thinking, which has always been end-user driven. Organizations now expect more out of their sales tech stack, and we're happy to be pioneering the shift with some of the largest financial institutions across Asia, the US, and Japan."

Vymo automatically captures customer interactions across channels to provide sellers with next best actions that align with their prospects' needs. Vymo's intelligent nudges and suggestions have a high degree of compliance and have proven successful in influencing behaviors bottom-up at scale. With Daily Active Usage (DAU) of over 75% across 300,000 users in 8+ countries and a rate of 60 minutes per day spent by users, Vymo's engagement is stronger than Slack or Instagram. Vymo works with,

Top 20 banks in the world: 2X growth in customer acquisitions;

Asia's #1 Insurer: 5.4X increase in customer engagement;

#1 Insurer: 5.4X increase in customer engagement; Fortune 500 Life Insurer: 26% increase in lead conversion within a week.

Vymo was also included in the Forrester Now Tech: Sales Engagement Solutions, Q2 2022 report earlier this year.

For more information, read The Forrester Wave: Sales Engagement Platforms, Q3 2022 report.

About Vymo

Vymo ( www.vymo.com ) is the Sales Engagement Platform of choice for leading financial institutions around the globe trusted by over 300,000 salespeople across 65+ global enterprises such as Berkshire Hathaway, AIA, FE Credit, Generali, AXA, Sunlife, and HDFC Bank. The platform solves for frontline personnel, sales managers, and business leaders through mobility, insights, and industry playbooks.

Vymo is funded by Bertelsmann India Investments, Emergence Capital and Sequoia Capital.

For more information, visit www.vymo.com

Resources

Know more about Sales Engagement - https://vymo.com/blog/surfing-the-sales-engagement-wave

Watch Vymo in action - https://youtu.be/9saePnvir4M

Talk to an expert - https://www.vymo.com/request-a-demo

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1918098/Vymo_Forrester_Wave.jpg

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1026997/Vymo_Logo.jpg





View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/vymo-emerges-as-a-strong-performer-in-sales-engagement-according-to-a-leading-independent-analyst-research-firm-301645694.html
SYDNEY, AU, Oct 12, 2022 - (ACN Newswire) - Novotech, the leading Asia Pacific biotech specialist CRO, has again received "Best Workplace" certification by the leading workplace culture organization Great Place to Work Institute. Novotech's India team has received a Best Workplaces for Women 2022 recognition and listed in the Top 75 organisations in India recognised for excelling people practices, responsiveness to feedback and a culture of openness and diversity. Novotech also holds Great Place to Workplace recognition in Australia and Korea.To identify India's Best Workplaces for Women 2022, Great Place to Work India studied 1122 organizations that had:- Women employees constituting at least 10% of their workforce- Women employees sharing at least 70% positive feedback on the Great Place to Work Trust Index Organizations that excelled in gender parity in representationAccording to Great Place to Work India: "We have observed that the Best Workplaces have gone above and beyond to create and sustain aspirational organizations. We congratulate Novotech for being a role-model in India by fostering an equal and equitable workplace culture."Novotech CEO Dr. John Moller said: "As a leading employer of women in India we are extremely pleased to be ranked among the top companies in India as a Best Workplaces for Women 2022. This is especially important for retaining and attracting top talent. This recognition demonstrates the importance of culture, diversity and work life balance as we strive to be one of the leading employers so we can deliver our world-class CRO services across India."Novotech's Chief People Officer Angela Edwardson said: "We are delighted that Novotech India has been recognized as a leading employer for women. This is a real credit to our workplace culture and leadership that drives all our Asia Pacific and North American teams. Novotech attracts a high proportion of talented female employees, so we are extremely proud to have our workplace recognized using the criteria from the Great Place to Work Institute's Trust Index and the Gender Parity in Experience & Representation. Our continued focus on building a leading workplace means team members can balance their personal responsibilities with work during all stages of life."According to Yooni Kim, Vice President, Global Clinical Services Novotech: "Employees are the most valuable assets of a company. Novotech is dedicated to improving our working environment and enhance employee health and wellbeing. We are more than grateful to receive this recognition."Sridevi Gubbala, Manager Centralized Document Management Novotech said: "Novotech is a great place to work. It's wonderful to have flexibility at work because it helps me balance my work and personal life."Vandana Jaising, Manager Project Support joined Novotech after an extended career break and said: "Women should consider coming back, even if it is has been a while. Before joining Novotech I took an eight-year career break, and now I'm glad Novotech had the confidence in me to say 'YES! You can do it!'"Novotech has operations across Asia Pacific and the US offering a unique and unparalleled suite of CRO services for early to late phase biotech clinical research.Novotech has recently been benchmarked as a top 10 CRO among the world's leading CROs, is a finalist in the prestigious Scrip awards, and has just been awarded the Gene & Cell Therapy Excellence Award. In Asia Pacific Novotech has more than 50 Leading Site Partnership agreements with major medical research institutions which delivers exclusive benefits for sponsors.About NovotechNovotech is the leading Asia-Pacific biotech specialist CRO. Novotech has integrated labs and phase I facilities and provides drug development consulting and clinical development services across all phases. It has been instrumental in the success of approximately 4,000 clinical trials across a broad range of therapeutic areas. Novotech is well-positioned to serve biopharma clients conducting clinical trials in Asia-Pacific and the US. For more information visit https://novotech-cro.com/contactMedia ContactDavid JamesE: communications@novotech-cro.comAU: +61 2 8218 2144USA: +1 415 951 3228Asia: +65 3159 3427Source: Novotech Health Holdings Pte LtdCopyright 2022 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - October 11, 2022) - West Red Lake Gold Mines Inc. (CSE: RLG) ("RLG" or the "Company") announces the filing of its Management Information Circular (the "Circular") in connection with its special meeting of shareholders (the "Special Meeting") to consider and if thought advisable approve the previously announced amalgamation of the Company with DLV Resources Ltd. ("DLV"). A copy of the Circular can be downloaded from the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com and is also available at the Company's website. The details of the proposed amalgamation transaction (the "Amalgamation") were announced in prior news releases on August 16, 2022 and September 15, 2022. The Amalgamation will be by way of a three-cornered amalgamation whereby the Company will amalgamate with a wholly owned subsidiary of DLV and shareholders of the Company will receive 0.1215 common shares of DLV in exchange for each common share of the Company held. The completion of the Amalgamation remains subject to customary closing conditions, including approval of the shareholders of the Company by special resolution. The Amalgamation is expected to be completed in November, 2022.

The Special Meeting will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, November 10, 2022 at 25 Adelaide Street East, Suite 1301, Toronto, Ontario, M5C 3A1. The record date for the Special Meeting has been set by the Board of Directors as October 3, 2022.

The Company is using Notice and Access which allows the Company to deliver the Circular to registered shareholders and beneficial holders by posting it and other related materials online, instead of mailing the documents. Notice and Access is an environmentally friendly and cost-effective way to distribute the circular because it reduces printing, paper and postage.

Shareholders may access the Circular and other meeting materials under RLG's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and at www.westredlakegold.com.

Registered holders or beneficial owners may request that paper copies of the meeting materials be sent to them by postal delivery at no cost to them. Requests may be made up to one year from the date the meeting materials are posted on the website referenced above. In order to receive a paper copy of the meeting materials or if you have any questions concerning notice-and-access, please call toll free at 1-888-970-5388 or 416-203-9181ext:4600 or email investors@westredlakegold.com. Requests for paper materials should be received by November 1, 2022 in order to receive the meeting materials in advance of the Special Meeting.

The Company also announces that it has filed on SEDAR a Technical Report (the "Technical Report") prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 for its West Red Lake Gold Project in Northern Ontario.

The Technical Report titled "Technical Report on The West Red Lake Project, Todd, Hammell Lake, and Fairlie Townships, Red Lake Mining Division, Ontario" is dated October 7, 2022 with an effective date of September 30, 2022. The Technical Report updates property exploration work since the date of the previous technical report and can be found under the Corporation's profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) and on the Corporation's website (www.westredlakegold.com).

ON BEHALF OF WEST RED LAKE GOLD MINES LTD.

"John Kontak"

John Kontak

President

For further information, please contact:

John Kontak

President

Tel: (416) 203-9181

The Canadian Securities Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release. Certain statements contained in this news release constitute "forward-looking statements". When used in this document, the words "anticipated", "expect", "estimated", "forecast", "planned", and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements or information. These statements are based on current expectations of management, however, they are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this news release. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these statements. West Red Lake Gold does not undertake any obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise after the date hereof, except as required by securities laws.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OR TO A U.S. PERSON

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/140229






Dato' Alvin Joseph Nesakumar, Executive Director of Malaysian Genomics

PETALING JAYA, Malaysia, Oct 12, 2022 - (ACN Newswire) - MGRC Therapeutics Sdn Bhd (MGRC-T), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Malaysian Genomics Resource Centre Berhad (Bursa: MGRC, 0155), a leading genomics and biopharmaceutical specialist, has entered into a cooperation agreement with the National Institutes of Health, Malaysia (NIH), providing a framework for collaboration between the two parties in medical research pertaining to genomics and biopharmaceuticals.The National Institutes of Health (NIH), the research arm under the Ministry of Health Malaysia, comprises six research institutes that focus on biomedical research, public health and epidemiology, clinical research, behavioural health research, health management and health policies. The NIH is mandated to conduct high-impact health research to improve the quality of life of the Rakyat. The health research conducted by the NIH is in line with the Health Research Priority Areas for each five-yearly Malaysia Plans.MGRC-T specialises in genomics and biopharmaceutical services with proprietary know-how and intellectual property related to the research, development, and processing of genetic screening tests, as well as the manufacturing of cell therapies, including immunotherapy for various types of cancer.Dato' Alvin Joseph Nesakumar, Executive Director of Malaysian Genomics, said, "The cooperation agreement enables us to explore ways that we can work together with NIH to improve the quality of our genomics and biopharmaceutical services that can contribute to improving the health of the Rakyat. We consider this collaboration a good step in encouraging and promoting research in genomics and biopharmaceuticals that will be mutually beneficial."Dr S Asmaliza Ismail, Manager of the NIH said, "We welcome this agreement as we are keen to work with specialists such as Malaysian Genomics to exchange knowledge in various fields of medical research. We believe that by working and pooling our resources together, we can bridge the gaps in expertise and experience."Under this agreement, the parties will explore joint training in the field of medical research, exchange research materials, and partake in scientific data presentation and publication. Additionally, the agreement will enable the exchange of experts and personnel, including postgraduate research and students on adjunct appointments, short- and long-term research attachments, co-supervision of students conducting research and internships, as well as other areas of cooperation to be mutually decided.Malaysian Genomics Resource Centre Berhad: 0155 [BURSA: MGRC] [RIC: MGRC:KL] [BBG: MGRC:MK], http://www.mgrc.com.my/Source: Malaysian Genomics Resource Centre BerhadCopyright 2022 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
Data from cohort 2 and full Phase 2a clinical trial to be presented at the 38th Congress of the French Society of Endocrinology and 2022 International HypoPARAthyroidism Conference

LYON, France and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Amolyt Pharma, a global company specialized in developing therapeutic peptides for rare endocrine and related diseases, today announced that it will be presenting data from its Phase 2a clinical trial at the 38th Congress of the French Society of Endocrinology to be held October 12-15, 2022 in Nantes, France, and the 2022 International HypoPARAthyroidism Conference to be held October 21-23, 2022 virtually.



At the 38th Congress of the French Society of Endocrinology, Professors Peter Kamenicky and Istvan Takacs will discuss clinical needs in hypoparathyroidism and the results of the AZP-3601 Phase 2a clinical trial in more detail.

At the International HypoPARAthyroidism Conference, Amolyt Pharma's Chief Medical Officer Mark Sumeray, M.D., will discuss the differentiated mechanism of action of AZP-3601, a parathyroid hormone (PTH)-1 receptor agonist, designed for the treatment of hypoparathyroidism and data from Phase 2a trial. An interactive Q&A will conclude the session.

Presentation details:

38th Congress of the French Society of Endocrinology

Title: Clinical needs and emerging therapeutic approaches in hypoparathyroidism

Date: October 13, 2022 - Nantes, France

Presentation time: 7:45 am - 8:30 am CET

Presenter(s): Prof. Peter Kamenicky, Prof. Istvan Takacs

2022 International HypoPARAthyroidism Conference

Title: Development of AZP-3601, a new investigational treatment for chronic Hypoparathyroidism

Date: October 21, 2022 - Virtual

Presentation time: 10:15 pm - 11:15 pm CET (4:15 pm - 5:15 pm EDT)

Presenter: Mark Sumeray, M.D.

Additional details can be found on the French Society of Endocrinologyand the HypoPARAthyroidism Association, Inc.websites and a video replay from the HypoPARAthyroidism Conference will be available on the Amolyt website once the presentation concludes.

About Hypoparathyroidism

Hypoparathyroidism is defined by a deficiency of parathyroid hormone (PTH) that results in decreased calcium and elevated phosphorus levels in the blood. Approximately 80% of the estimated 80,000 people in the U.S. and 110,000 in the European Union with hypoparathyroidism are women. Despite available treatments, patients experience persistent, life-altering symptoms and often develop complications and comorbidities that diminish quality of life and create segments of the patient population with specific clinical needs. Clinical manifestations of hypoparathyroidism impact many tissues and organ systems, in particular, the kidneys and bone. 17% of patients with hypoparathyroidism have osteopenia or osteoporosis and 53% are peri- or postmenopausal women with an increased risk of developing osteoporosis. Approximately 26% of patients with hypoparathyroidism have chronic kidney disease or failure, highlighting the importance of reducing urinary calcium excretion as a key treatment goal.

About AZP-3601

AZP-3601 is an investigational therapeutic peptide designed to target a specific conformation of the parathyroid hormone (PTH) receptor to safely produce sustained and stable levels of calcium in the blood and thereby manage the symptoms of hypoparathyroidism, and to limit urine calcium excretion by restoring calcium reabsorption by the kidney, with the goal of consequently preventing chronic kidney disease. In addition to its unique receptor profile, AZP-3601 is also designed to have a short half-life to potentially preserve bone integrity, an important benefit, since many patients are peri- and postmenopausal women with an increased risk of developing osteoporosis.

About Amolyt Pharma

Amolyt Pharma, a clinical stage biotechnology company, is building on its team's established expertise in therapeutic peptides to deliver life-changing treatments to patients suffering from rare endocrine and related diseases. Its development portfolio includes AZP-3601, a long-acting PTH analog as a potential treatment for hypoparathyroidism, and AZP-3813, a peptide growth hormone receptor antagonist for the potential treatment of acromegaly. Amolyt Pharma aims to further expand and develop its portfolio by leveraging its global network in the field of endocrinology and with support from a strong syndicate of international investors. To learn more, visit https://amolytpharma.com/ or follow us on Twitterand LinkedIn.

Media:

Jordyn Temperato

LifeSci Communications

jtemperato@lifescicomms.com

Investors:

Ashley Robinson

LifeSci Advisors, LLC

arr@lifesciadvisors.com

+1.617.430.7577
BANGKOK, Oct 12, 2022 - (ACN Newswire) - The Roads & Traffic Expo Thailand launches this October in Bangkok. Over 1,000 experts from across Thailand and beyond will be in attendance at BITEC on 26- 27 October to explore the latest innovative solutions, make new connections and help advance Thailand's roads & traffic infrastructure."The Roads & Traffic Expo Thailand comes at a very opportune time," says Paul Clark, Managing Director - Asia for Terrapinn. "The Thai government has made significant commitments to advancing and developing its roads & traffic infrastructure and improving safety. This event offers key players the chance to gather at scale and walk-the-talk, ensuring Thailand can meet their ambitious targets and cement its place as a regional infrastructure leader."Dr. Sukit Yindeesuk, Director of Structural Design Group No. 1 at Department of Highways said ahead of the show, "This expo is one of the biggest events in the transportation industry and delivers a great opportunity for industry players to share their knowledge, experience and demands."Thailand Ministry of Transport Transport Safety Advisor, Sujin Mungnimit commented, "The road safety problem is an important issue in Thailand. Each year we suffer more than 17,000 fatalities, or 2 people per hour. The Roads & Traffic Expo Thailand is one of the best exhibitions on road safety and its related fields, and also includes seminars where many invited road safety experts can exchange their experience and share with responders. The event will improve knowledge on road safety."The Roads & Traffic Expo Thailand will convene 60+ exhibitors, offering attendees the chance to evaluate solutions from leading players such as Kapsch, SSI, Cleanozone Traffic, FLIR Systems, QFree and more. In addition to walking the exhibition floor and browsing the products and solutions on offer, the show will also offer three free-to-attend tracks of content covering 5 themes: Road Construction, Road Safety & Monitoring, Smart Traffic, Tunnels & Bridges and Smart Cities.Confirmed speakers include:- Chayan Sirimas, Provincial Governor of Nakhon Sawan Province, Ministry of Interior- Dr. Punya Chupanit, Director General, Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning (OTP), Ministry of Transport of Thailand- Sujin Mungnimit, Transport Safety Advisor, Ministry of Transport, Thailand- Dr. Piyapong Jiwattanakulpaisarn, Director of Bureau of Planning, Department of Highways- Thananchai Mekprasertwanich, Director of Policy & Planning Division, Bangkok Metropolitan Administration- Dr. Sakda Panwai, Managing Director, Don Muang Tollway Plc- Passakorn Pratombutr, Senior Executive Vice President, Digital Economy Promotion Agency- Chakree Bamrungwong, Director of Information Technology and Communication Center Acting Principal Advisor on Land Transport Economics, Department of Rural Roads- Wittaya Jansena, Director- Disaster Road Traffic Safety Integrated Collaboration Division,Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation- Titipat Thaijongrak, Director-Land Transport Safety Bureau, Department of Land Transport- Athasit Sirisonthi, Vice President- Engineering Department, Sino -Thai Engineering & Construction Plc- Nissara Thammapala, Assistant Director-Project Management Office, Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT)- Pol. Col. Suriyan Winijmontree, Director- Traffic & Safety Planning, Office of Police Strategy,Royal Thai PoliceAbout The Roads & Traffic Expo Thailand 2022:The Roads & Traffic Expo Thailand 2022 will take place at BITEC in Bangkok on 26-27 October 2022. The event will comply with prevailing guidelines on COVID-19 safety. Attendance is complimentary.About Terrapinn:Terrapinn has been sparking ideas, innovations and relationships that transform business for over 30 years. Using our global footprint, we bring innovators, disrupters and change agents together, discussing and demonstrating the technology, strategies and personalities that are changing the way the world does business. Whether you're looking to make new connections, introduce product or inspire change in your industry, we invite you to join us as agitators of change. Terrapinn - spark something.For more information about the event, and to register for free, visit: www.terrapinn.com/RTThai.Press attendance is complimentary. Enquiries should be directed to:Darryl KohMarketing Executive, Terrapinn Asiadarryl.koh@terrapinn.comSource: Terrapinn Holdings Ltd.Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
La Banque Postale opts for Regnology's Abacus360 Banking software to cover ECB, EBA, SRB, ESG and national reporting requirements

Regnology, a leading software provider with an exclusive focus on regulatory reporting solutions, announces today it has been selected by La Banque Postale, a leading European banking and insurance specialist, to streamline and automate its reporting processes. Abacus360 Banking, Regnology's regulatory reporting and management platform, will become La Banque Postale's single reporting platform for the European and French reporting regimes.

La Banque Postale selected Regnology as a partner following an extensive selection process on the back of the launch of its innovative transformation program. The decision means it will become the first large French banking group to use Regnology's latest Abacus360 Banking software. This new generation of the platform is perfectly aligned with La Banque Postale's ambition to equip its services with future-proof technology.

The solution offers increased operational performance and reporting quality through a modern infrastructure designed to help harmonize data models, streamline workflows and automate calculation and reporting processes. It will enable La Banque Postale to improve the quality and timeliness of its regulatory reporting while anticipating future requirements and scaling at the best cost, as need be.

The scope of reporting requirements covers the full extent of ECB, EBA, SRB, ESG and Banque de France regulatory frameworks. In addition to the core platform, the bank will utilize other components of the Regnology Abacus suite to optimize data collection, cashflow generation and testing.

Stephane Remy, Director Risk/Finance at La Banque Postale comments, "We were looking for a partner that could provide us with a software that would fit from a strategic, functional, and technical perspective. Right from the start, Regnology's team showed strong commitment and dedication and convinced us with their strong offering. We aim to reduce reporting production times as well as industrialise and automate our reporting processes. We are certain that Regnology's Abacus360 Banking platform will enable us to increase efficiency in our reporting process and help us establish a high standard in our regulatory management."

Maciej Piechocki, Chief Revenue Officer at Regnology adds, "We are delighted to be part of La Banque Postale's transformation of its regulatory reporting chain. Our 30 years' dedicated focus on regulatory reporting, the proven success of our platform, and our understanding of the bank's unique challenges, places us in the best position to cater for La Banque Postale's current and future needs. We look forward to supporting the bank through its regulatory journey."

Regnology's Abacus360 Banking software is a standard solution for national and international regulatory reporting, for prudential reporting, statistical reporting and ad-hoc reporting. Renowned financial institutions representing more than 1,000 reporting entities use Regnology's reporting solutions, including European banks under direct SSM supervision, insurers, and financial service providers.

About La Banque Postale

With its subsidiaries, including CNP Assurances, La Banque Postale is a leading European banking and insurance specialist, ranked 11th in the euro zone by balance sheet assets. Its diversified business model enables it to support 20 million individual and corporate customers with a comprehensive range of products accessible to all. A subsidiary of Le Groupe La Poste, La Banque Postale offers local banking services through 17,000 contact points, including 7,300 post offices, throughout France. It is also a leader in sustainable finance, rated among the best in the market by non-financial rating agencies. Its strategic plan, "La Banque Postale 2030", sets the ambition of becoming the favourite bank of the people of France, with an integrated and omnichannel offer of bank and insurance services based on three distinct brands: La Banque Postale, its everyday bank, Ma French Bank, its 100% mobile bank and BPE, its private bank. As a community bank, La Banque Postale is fully focused on shaping a just transition to an economy and a society capable of responding to environmental, social, regional and digital challenges.

About Regnology

Regnology is a leading technology firm on a mission to bring safety and stability to the financial markets. With an exclusive focus on regulatory reporting and more than 7,000 financial institutions, 30 regulators and 20 tax authorities as clients, we're uniquely positioned to bring greater data quality, efficiency and cost savings to all market participants. With over 800 employees in 12 countries and a unified data ingestion model powering our work, our clients can quickly implement and derive value from our solutions and easily keep pace with ongoing regulatory changes. Regnology was formed in 2021 when BearingPoint RegTech, a former business unit of BearingPoint Group, joined forces with Vizor Software, a global leader in regulatory and supervisory technology.

For more information about Regnology, connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Visit our website: www.regnology.net

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221012005034/en/

Contacts:

Press contact Regnology

Mireille Adebiyi, Chief Marketing Officer, Regnology

info@regnology.net
According to new research released by Envoy, the fastest-evolving workplace platform, an overwhelming majority of UK business leaders (94%) take more notice of their employees' work contributions when they are in the office versus when they work from home.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221012005147/en/

Envoy released its latest At Work Survey which compares the experiences of UK employees and executives as they return to the physical office. (Graphic: Business Wire)

Envoy's At Work survey compares the workplace opinions of UK executives and employees. The results reveal significant gaps in how both groups view the office.

Proximity bias is still a major factor despite greater awareness. While business leaders say they recognise the work of teams and individuals more when they're in the office, 45% of employees* disagree. They don't believe that their contributions are recognised more when they work from the office. Looking at the generational gap, Gen Z employees value workplace visibility more than any other generation. They are the most aligned with leadership. 72%** believe their contributions are noticed more in-office than at home.

Employees also continue to worry about traditional workplace taboos, such as leaving early. However, the survey reveals leaders are a lot more accommodating than employees think. 51% of employees believe their bosses will judge them for leaving the office early, but over two-thirds of executives (68%) say they wouldn't view it negatively. Additionally, 52% of employees feel bringing a pet to the workplace would be viewed poorly by managers; yet 71% of leaders disagree. Even running personal errands during the workday is considered fine with most leadership. Only 33% would frown upon it; however, 53% of employees say differently.

Despite these contrasting views, there is overall agreement that workers are returning to a more flexible, and in many ways community-focused, workplace. Envoy's survey also found:

The physical office is key for mental well-being and community-building.

70% of office workers say being in the office is good for their mental well-being.

Most leaders (94%) and employees (83%) feel that office work life provides a sense of community. In-person touchpoints are helping develop rapport, which builds stronger relationships for better cross-functional work.

Employees and executives agree that the most important outcome when working in the office is productivity.

When asked which is the most important result when working in an office productivity or building relationships with coworkers over half of employees (55%) and executives (52%) chose productivity.

Female executives, younger executives, and those newer in their position are more likely to say productivity is the most important outcome. 64%** of women executives think productivity is more important than relationship building while only 47% of their male counterparts think likewise. 61%** of executives under 40 think productivity is more important compared with 47% who are 40 or older. 62%** of director-level leaders versus 47% of C-suite executives think productivity is more important.



Long commutes continue to top the list of workplace dealbreakers.

The biggest workplace deal breakers for employees are long commutes (52%), no flexibility in work hours (34%) and slow or outdated technology (32%).

But when asked what they believed were their employees' biggest concerns, leaders said the disregard of COVID-19 safety precautions (42%), no flexibility in work hours (36%) and lack of opportunities to socialise (33%).

Leaders missed the mark by overlooking the costs of commuting and the lack of the latest technology as chief factors of concern for workers.

Leaders find it much easier than employees to leave work at work.

When working in an office, 74% of executives* feel it's easier to leave work behind compared to working from home.

Only 42% of employees* find it easier. 22%* consider it more difficult to sign off.

Despite what leaders may believe about being able to 'turn work off' after leaving the office, employees find it difficult to maintain a healthy work life balance when working from the office.

At Work is a data-driven workplace report that is published twice a year and features workplace trends, survey results, Envoy's workplace platform data, and perspectives from workplace leaders.To find out more about proximity bias in the workplace, read our companion blog.

*Hybrid or formerly remote employees and/or executives

**Small base size: findings are directional.

About The Research

Envoy partnered with Wakefield Research to survey 1,000 UK office workers and 250 UK executives working in a physical office at least one day per week. "Office workers" are defined as those employed full-time, excluding those with a seniority of director or greater. "Executives" are defined as those with a minimum seniority of director. Survey responses were collected between the 8th and 18th of August, 2022, using an email invitation and online survey.

Data has been weighted to ensure an accurate representation of UK office workers who have returned to the office. The overall margin of error for the findings is 3.1 percentage points for the employee survey and 6.2 percentage points for the executive survey at a 95% confidence level.

About Envoy

Envoy is transforming modern workplaces for flexible work to bring people together so they can connect, collaborate, and thrive. Envoy's workplace platform has redefined how companies welcome visitors, improve the employee experience, book desks and conference rooms, and manage deliveries in 16,000 locations around the globe by designing products for a flexible workplace experience. Companies like Slack, Pinterest, and Warby Parker rely on Envoy to create an unrivaled first impression and keep their offices secure and compliant.

For more information, please visit envoy.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221012005147/en/

Contacts:

April Marks

media@envoy.com
LONDON, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The healthcare sector is an ever-evolving industry that is currently being brought into the digital age - thanks to enterprises like 'Welzo'. Welzo is a modern-day healthcare platform that provides individuals with a private and affordable alternative to the overworked NHS system. This revolutionary platform will contemporize UK healthcare and ensure that its users get the care they need when they need it.

The NHS currently has a maximum 18-week wait time for non-urgent referrals. Additionally, much of an individual's time is then wiled away in waiting rooms for simple testing services or prescriptions. Now, thanks to Welzo, customers in most areas of the UK can have their specified medical tests and personalised treatments sent right to their door - a day after ordering.

The Welzo platform merges multiple elements of healthcare into one simple interface by providing a threefold approach to healthcare. The at-home testing kits will identify, the online pharmacy will treat and the final component that Welzo calls its 'Health Hub', will inform.

The Health Hub is a large library of health content written by medically qualified doctors and writers from around the world. The plethora of information - available for all internet users - intends to help people with common misconceptions regarding complex medical terminologies and common health conditions.

Aside from providing the public with fast and accessible healthcare, Welzo was also set up to aid people with health concerns that may be more difficult to seek help for in person. These concerns range from sexual dysfunctions and infections to underlying mental health conditions, among others. Welzo allows people to privately order and complete their chosen test kits and have their CQC-analysed lab results returned with feedback from NHS-qualified doctors via their online patient portal. These results will dictate to patients if they require treatment for their concerns, which they can then have quickly delivered from the Welzo pharmacy.

At its core, the Welzo plan is to give people answers to their medical concerns and simplify the means of getting them treated. The site will be an affordable and easy system for people of all ages to use that can provide a perfect alternative to the traditional system that has people slowly bouncing between appointments, pharmacies and testing facilities.

Welzo will be the first healthcare platform of its kind to launch in the UK.

Contact Information:

Contact name: Grace Stewart

Contact number: +44 20 3048 3003

Contact email: press@welzo.com

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/frontline-healthcare-is-now-accessible-to-all-introducing-welzo-301646198.html
One of Evergreen Podcasts' top 20 shows will be available in four languages in addition to English, including French, Spanish, German, and Portuguese.

CLEVELAND, Oct. 12, 2022, a popular HR focused-podcast - to launch a series of multilingual content.

The show will soon be available in four languages in addition to English including French, Spanish, German, and Portuguese. The launch in French debuted on Oct. 10 to coincide with the Unleash World 2022, taking place in Paris, France Oct. 12-13, 2022.

"The issues we discuss on the show around recruitment and work are truly global," said Chad Sowash, co-host of The Chad & Cheese Podcast and a former U.S. Army Infantry Drill Sergeant who began in online recruiting with Online Career Center before Monster.com acquired the company. "So it makes perfect sense that we should start providing our content in a variety of languages."

Joel Cheesman, a recruiting industry veteran with 25 years of experience, has co-hosted The Chad & Cheese Podcast with Sowash since 2017. Cheesman adds, "The pandemic and the subsequent trend toward a work-from-home world means recruiting and workforce issues have truly gone global. Publishing our podcast in multiple languages to support a more globalized workforce just makes sense."

The Chad and Cheese Podcast is working with Veritone, Inc., creator of aiWARE, a hyper-expansive enterprise AI platform, which includes a multilingual custom AI voice solution and podcast monetization service combining synthetic voice creation and AI translation service. By leveraging Veritone's award-winning technology of Veritone Voice, podcast hosts are able to transcribe and translate podcast episodes into the desired language output and apply the host's multilingual synthetic voice model to localize podcasts and grow ad revenues and audiences. Veritone Voice enables podcast networks to expand into foreign language and international markets in an authentic way while maintaining podcast hosts' established voice identities.

The Chad and Cheese Podcast centers around talent acquisition issues and is lovingly dubbed in industry circles as "HR's most dangerous podcast." The show has netted 230,000 podcast downloads year to date and is listed as one of Evergreen Podcast's top 20 shows within its growing network.

About Evergreen Podcasts

Evergreen Podcasts is an award-winning production house that brings entertaining, thought-provoking content to people wherever they are. Evergreen produces podcasts that capture modern thinkers, influencers, and personalities. Top thought leaders and breakout brands choose Evergreen to capture inspiring stories through branded content, original shows, and partner podcasts.

Learn more about Evergreen Podcastsand check out the completelineup of shows.

Contact Information:

Julie Holiday

Marketing Director

jholiday@evergreenpodcasts.com



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The international research project CARE-O-SENE (Catalyst Research for Sustainable Kerosene) was granted 30 million euros in funding by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Additionally, the industrial consortium partners contribute 10 million euros. The aim of the project is to develop novel, next-generation Fischer-Tropsch catalysts and thus to optimise the production of sustainable kerosene or Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) on an industrial scale.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221012005528/en/

Dr Dirk Schaer, Lead Technical Marketing Catalyst at Sasol Germany

Sustainable kerosene is not based on fossil-based raw materials like conventional kerosene but on green hydrogen and carbon dioxide. The technology contributes significantly to sustainably decarbonising sectors such as aviation, since fossil fuels are particularly difficult to replace in this area.

Research partners for the next generation of Fischer-Tropsch catalysts in CARE-O-SENE include Sasol Germany GmbH, Sasol Limited and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin fuer Materialien und Energie (Helmholtz Centre for Materials and Energy, HZB). Others are the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems (IKTS), the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), The University of Cape Town (UCT) and INERATEC GmbH.

Dr Dirk Schaer, Lead Technical Marketing Catalyst at Sasol says: "Our work is an important building block of the German National Hydrogen Strategy. We are delighted that the BMBF has recognised the enormous potential in the CARE-O-SENE research project on the novel Fischer-Tropsch catalysts and supports the work."

"We are absolutely delighted about the start of CARE-O-SENE," adds Dr Tobias Sontheimer, Head of Strategy Energy and Information at HZB. "The fact that each partner can contribute dedicated expertise in catalysis research and work so closely with successful companies on technological implementation makes the project very special."

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the South African President Cyril Ramaphosa gave the go-ahead for the CARE-O-SENE project at a ceremony at Sasol's headquarters in Johannesburg in May this year. Now that the positive funding decision has been taken, the research work can begin.

About Sasol:

Sasol Germany GmbH is a manufacturer of high-quality chemical products with production sites in Brunsbuettel and Marl and its head office in Hamburg. Around 1,700 employees and almost 60 trainees produce innovative, sustainable products and develop solutions for the processing industry. The company offers a wide range of products, including substances for the production of detergents and cleaning agents, paints and coatings, cosmetics and pharmaceutical products. In addition, specialities such as high-purity and ultra-high-purity aluminas are used, for example, as catalyst carriers in catalytic converters for the automotive industry, industrial applications and high-performance abrasives.

Sasol Germany GmbH is part of the South African Sasol Group, a leading integrated chemical and energy company with almost 28,000 employees in 22 countries manufacturing and marketing first-class products. The Sasol Group includes the business divisions of Sasol Chemicals, Sasol Energy and Sasol ecoFT. The Sasol ecoFT division, newly founded in 2021, uses both Sasol's protected technology as well as expertise and experience to manufacture sustainable fuels and chemicals made of green hydrogen and sustainable carbon sources via the power-to-liquids process (PtL).

About HZB:

The Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin fur Materialien und Energie (HZB) is researching solutions for a climate-neutral society. Researchers are developing and optimising efficient and cost-effective energy materials for photovoltaic cells, batteries and catalysts. The HZB uses a research infrastructure with the accelerator-based x-ray source BESSY II which enables unique insights into materials and permits operando analyses. With around 1,200 employees, HZB is one of the largest non-academic research centres in Berlin in the field of energy research and is member of the Helmholtz Association. More information: www.helmholtz-berlin.de

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221012005528/en/

Contacts:

Sasol

Sunna Schulz, Senior Manager Corporate Affairs Eurasia Chemicals

Direct telephone: +49 40 63684-1364; Mobile: +49 152 0835 3881

sunna.schulz@de.sasol.com

Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin fur Materialien und Energie

Dr Ina Helms, Head of Communication Department

Direct telephone: +49 30 8042-42034

ina.helms@helmholtz-berlin.de
Sonata is supporting eir evo's business growth through the standardization of their CRM platform, migrating from Salesforce to Microsoft Dynamics

BANGALORE, India, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Sonata Software, a global IT services and technology solutions company, has announced that it has signed an agreement with eir evo, Ireland's leading Telecommunications and ICT Solutions Provider, to support the standardization of their CRM platform, migrating them from Salesforce to Microsoft Dynamics.





In addition to the above agreement, Sonata Software and eir evo also plan to implement a long-term strategy for growing Microsoft Dynamics within the Irish market, by co-creating engagement models for a cohesive approach.

Back in March 2021, eir Business and Evros Technology Group, announced the completion of their merger, enabling the organization - the newly named eir evo - to offer an unrivalled portfolio of services across cyber security, cloud, networking, app development, 24x7x365 managed support and more, to the whole of Ireland. Since then, the company has been working on the standardization of their platforms across both entities for a fully integrated and optimized way of working.

Sonata Software's unique platform migration process, will empower operational efficiency across eir evo, supporting them in delivering their business objectives. The migration will also enable seamless collaboration across their business functions, while delivering visibility across all of their IT systems. This internal optimization will also support productivity and customer-centric efficiencies.

Sonata's experience of the Microsoft Dynamics Platform, provides customers with end-to-end service expertise so that they can make their CRM future-ready, thereby gaining the right level of visibility and insights to enhance their customer service experience.

"We look forward to our collaboration with Sonata to optimize our IT landscape, helping us to deliver a Dynamics solution and partnership for the Irish market, accelerating our journey towards a great user experience, delivered with agility and operational excellence, all backed by eir evo's expertise and emphasis on innovation," said Joe Brady CIO at eir evo.

"At Sonata, we believe in providing solutions that help our customers achieve their goals effectively and efficiently. Our collaboration with eir evo will enable them to provide superior customer service through streamlined collaboration across their groups, along with an enhanced digital experience and optimized operational capabilities. The values we share will help eir evo provide their distinctive set of innovative solutions to their customers," said Roshan Shetty, Chief Revenue Officer, Sonata Software.

About Sonata Software

For more information, press only:

Nandita Venkatesh,

Sonata Software Limited

CIN- L72200MH1994PLC082110

A.P.S. Trust Building,

Bull Temple Road, N.R. Colony

Bangalore 560004, India

Tel:+91806778199

Nandita.v@sonata-software.com

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/689012/Sonata_Software_Logo.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/sonata-software-signs-business-transformation-crm-project-and-partnership-with-ireland-based-eir-evo-301646992.html
New Raise Led by Ten Eleven Ventures, with Participation from Existing Venture Investors, Strengthens Immersive Labs' Leadership Position in the Cyber Workforce Resilience Category

Cybersecurity Leader Appoints Sandra McDevitt, Chief Human Resources Officer, and Lucian Lui, Chief Marketing Officer; Ten Eleven General Partner Dave Palmer to Join its Board of Directors

Immersive Labs today announced it has raised $66 million in capital to continue its growth and investment in its Cyber Workforce Resilience platform. Ten Eleven Ventures led the latest raise supporting the company's efforts to help organizations around the world assess, build, and prove their resilience to cyber threats of all kinds. Existing investors Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Summit Partners, Insight Partners, Menlo Ventures, and Citi Ventures all participated in the round.

The company also announced new strategic additions to its executive leadership team, including Sandra McDevitt as Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) and Lucian Lui as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). Ten Eleven General Partner and Darktrace Founder and former Chief Product Officer Dave Palmer will join the company's Board of Directors, while Jack Huffard, Tenable Co-Founder and current Non-Executive Director of Immersive has become Chair of the Board.

Accelerating Growth and Enterprise Adoption

Immersive Labs, which provides realistic simulations and hands-on cybersecurity labs to evaluate individual and team capabilities, will use the additional capital to accelerate its growth in the Cyber Workforce Resilience category and deliver solutions that give enterprise customers innovative ways to prove their cyber capabilities across the business, from executive decision making to hands-on cyber defense teams. Today, enterprise and government customers like Citi, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Pfizer, Daimler, Humana, Atos, and the UK National Health Service rely on Immersive Labs to demonstrate their cyber resilience by measuring their cyber defense and crisis management capabilities compared to industry benchmarks, building rapid team collaboration, and showing risk reduction and compliance with data-backed evidence.

"Attracting new investment during a difficult time overall for the tech sector underscores the incredible demand for Immersive Labs' disruptive, people-centric approach to cybersecurity," said James Hadley, CEO, Immersive Labs. "Proving cyber resilience has increasingly become a Board and C-level consideration. Our customers rely on us because we offer a trusted and effective approach to upskilling and measuring team and individual cyber defense capabilities."

"As we see more focus on proving cyber resilience across public and private sectors, Immersive Labs stands to play a key role in the future of cybersecurity," said David Palmer, General Partner, Ten Eleven Ventures. "The company's product innovation and strategic leadership hires further secure the company's top position in the Cyber Workforce Resilience category."

Additions to Immersive Labs' Executive Leadership Team

Immersive Labs expanded its management team with strategic hires and additions, including a new CMO and CHRO, as well as a new member of its Board of Directors. The latest additions provide the company with valuable expertise, insights, and experience to usher the company into its next phase of rapid growth.

Sandra McDevitt, CHRO: McDevitt oversees all people-related operations globally. Prior to joining Immersive Labs, she served as Chief People Officer at Quantcast and Patreon and held several people operations leadership roles at Google in Europe and US. Prior to Google, she served as a Group General Manager at Irish Life Financial Services and as Director of Human Resources for Ireland and Online Sales for EMEA at Oracle.

Lucian Lui, CMO: Lui joins the company overseeing its marketing efforts globally. He is a commercial business leader with over 25 years of experience growing publicly traded and Forbes-ranked commercial companies for world class brands like Microsoft, Iron Mountain and Rapid7. Throughout his career, he has led a broad set of commercial disciplines including branding, product marketing, enterprise sales, demand generation, customer experience, corporate communications, and emerging markets strategy.

Dave Palmer, Non-Executive Director: Palmer is a General Partner of Ten Eleven Ventures. Prior to joining Ten Eleven, he was the Chief Product Officer at Darktrace, overseeing the mathematics and engineering teams. Palmer has also worked across UK intelligence agencies GCHQ and MI5, where he was responsible for delivering mission-critical infrastructure services, including replacing and securing entire global networks, the developing of operational internet capabilities, and the management of critical disaster recovery incidents.

About Immersive Labs

Immersive Labs is the leader in people-centric cyber resilience. We help organizations continuously assess, build, and prove their cyber workforce resilience for teams across the entire organization, from front-line cybersecurity and development teams to Board-level executives. We provide realistic simulations and hands-on cybersecurity labs to evaluate individual and team capabilities and decision-making against the latest threats. Organizations can now prove their cyber resilience by measuring their readiness compared to industry benchmarks, building team capabilities, and demonstrating risk reduction and compliance with data-backed evidence.

Immersive Labs is trusted by the world's largest organizations and governments, including Citi, Pfizer, Daimler, Humana, Atos, HSBC, and the UK National Health Service. We are backed by Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Summit Partners, Insight Partners, Citi Ventures, and Menlo Ventures. Learn more at: https://www.immersivelabs.com/

About Ten Eleven Ventures

Ten Eleven Ventures is the original cybersecurity-focused, global, stage agnostic investment firm. The firm finds, invests, and helps grow top cybersecurity companies addressing critical digital security needs, tapping its team, network, and experience to help build successful businesses. Since its founding, Ten Eleven Ventures has raised over $US 1 billion and made over 40 cybersecurity investments across stages worldwide, including KnowBe4, Darktrace, Twistlock, Verodin, Cylance, and Ping Identity. For more information, please visit www.1011vc.com or follow us on Twitter @1011vc.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221007005544/en/

Contacts:

Jill Creelman

ImmersiveLabs@Inkhouse.com
Comfort first e-bike manufacturer E-Lux Electric Bikes announced its range of California designed e-bikes at its Fountain Valley based showroom.

Fountain Valley, California--(Newsfile Corp. - October 12, 2022) - As e-biking grows in popularity across the US, E-Lux Electric Bikes announces a new range of commuter e-bikes. Providing riders with comfort, style, and safety.

More details can be found at https://www.eluxbikes.com.







Improved comfort for E-Bike Commuters In Fountain Valley Announced By E-Lux

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8814/140249_a2cdcb22d4acb9a7_001full.jpg

The recently announced luxury electric bike range includes ultra-comfortable cruiser, commuter, fat tire, and folding models. GT upgrades are also available.

The announcement coincides with a recent National Geographic Report which shows that major US states have been increasing their e-biking infrastructure over recent years. Bike ridership spiked during the pandemic and has continued to increase as American cities become more cyclist friendly.

With both throttle and pedal assist features on all models, the company's new e-biking line caters to commuters, casual riders, explorers, people looking to get into riding, and those who want to ride more frequently and transverse longer distances. In addition, e-bikes provide more power and require less peddling effort for people who can't ride conventional bikes anymore.

Highlights from the newly announced line include the E-Lux Malibu Stepthru GT featuring the company's notable ultra-comfortable upright riding position. This model comes with a full-powered 750-watt Japanese-designed Dapu motor and a long-lasting 21ah Samsung battery. The bike can cover a 60-mile range off 1 charge and provides an eco-mode option for even longer range. 3 power levels enable riders to easily control acceleration while integrated headlights, taillights, and active rear brake lights increase safe riding.

See more here - https://www.eluxbikes.com/malibu-step-thru-gt.

Other recently announced electric bikes include the Sierra GT. A folding bike suitable for rough and off-road terrain as well as the street. Achieving the "Best Premium Folding Fat Tire Bike" award by Electric Bike Review; the Sierra GT is an upgrade from the standard model Sierra. Features Bafang Mag Wheels. A Bafang 750-watt (950 peak) motor, Tektro Auriga E-Comp hydraulic brakes, and more. The folding bike is easy to transport and store. An NCX suspension seat post and Serfas Gel Seat valued at $179 have been added recently as a free upgrade for an ultra-comfortable ride.

See more here - https://www.eluxbikes.com/sierra-gt-folding-fat-tire.

With the announcement, the company continues to provide a wide range luxury e-bikes direct to consumers online, through its Fountain Valley showroom, and through its dealers across America.

For more info and resources for choosing the right e-bike visit: https://www.eluxbikes.com.

Contact Info:

Name: JP Blake

Email: jp@eluxbikes.com

Organization: E-Lux Electric Bikes

Address: 18475 Bandilier Circle, Fountain Valley, CA 92708, United States

Phone: +1-949-440-1967

Website: https://www.eluxbikes.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/140249
SINGAPORE, Oct 12, 2022 - (ACN Newswire) - OOWAY Group Ltd, the single largest shareholder, together with 7 other shareholders[1] of Kitchen Culture Holdings Ltd. has on 30 September 2022 informed the Company's Board of the intention to convene an extraordinary general meeting of the Company (EGM) pursuant to Section 177 of the Companies Act[2].The upcoming EGM seeks to remove 5 of the current Kitchen Culture's Board of Directors and appoint 5 new members to the Board. Reference SGXNET 30 Sep 2022: https://tinyurl.com/mr5pxncrReasons for Calling for EGMOOWAY Group emphasises that without a change in the current Kitchen Culture board, the value of Kitchen Culture's 27.65% stake in OOWAY Technology Pte Ltd (which is its most valuable asset) would be unrealised and ultimately wasted.OOWAY Group reiterates that the implementation of a long-term and viable business plan for OOWAY Technology is the only path available now for the resumption of trading in Kitchen Culture shares, and ultimately a share price that would reflect its fundamentals.Mr Liu Yanlong, representative for OOWAY Group, said, "With OOWAY Group's existing and new business capabilities in Big Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence, we were excited at the prospect of working closely with Kitchen Culture in line with their diversification strategy and OOWAY Group's expansion in the ASEAN region.However, we have witnessed the gradual erosion of the Company's core values and business prospects and have reluctantly taken this step, in order to protect our interests and the interests of other minority shareholders. The current suspension of Kitchen Culture shares, is a definite concern of all shareholders of the Company.We believe that replacing the current board with the proposed new Directors, who bring with them the necessary experience, expertise and energy to help reverse Kitchen Culture's present trajectory, is the only way forward."Mr Liu, added: "The indisputable fact is this: OOWAY Technology is Kitchen Culture's most valuable asset. Since the time of the acquisition till the present, OOWAY Group has continued to forge new business, break new ground, and grow the company through massive investment in technological capabilities and talented individuals.While we are greatly disappointed in what has transpired at Kitchen Culture, we still hold on to the belief that the Company can and will turn around once we have a new and highly capable management with integrity, transparency and vision in place and we will work hand-in-hand with them to ensure that Kitchen Culture become stronger than before."EGM AgendaAt the upcoming EGM on a date yet to be confirmed, 2 main agenda items among others to be raised are:1. Removal of the following 5 Directors at the EGM should they not voluntarily resign before 5pm on 14 October 2022:a. Mr. Lau Kay Hengb. Mr. Lim Wee Lic. Mr. William Teo Choon Kowd. Mr. Ang Lian Kiat ande. Mr. Peter Lim King Soon2. Appointment of the following individuals to the Board:a. Mr James Beeland Rogers, Jr. to be appointed as a Non-Executive Director of the Company;b. Mr Yip Kean Mun to be appointed as an Executive Director of the Company;c. Mr Lam Kwong Fai to be appointed as an Independent Director of the Company;d. Mr Tan Meng Shern to be appointed as an Independent Director of the Company; ande. Mr Cheung Wai Man to be appointed as an Independent Director of the Company.BackgroundKitchen Culture had been suffering from recurring losses and negative operating cash flow from its core business as a kitchen solutions provider for 8 years at the time of the acquisition by OOWAY Group.In August 2020, Kitchen Culture entered into a sale and purchase agreement and a shareholder's agreement with OOWAY Group to acquire a 30% equity stake in OOWAY Technology Pte. Ltd. at a purchase consideration of S$23.92 million to be satisfied by way of the allotment and issue of 90,000,000 new ordinary shares in the capital of Kitchen Culture at an issue price of S$0.2658 per ordinary share.At the time of the acquisition in 2020, it was envisaged that the combination of the newly-raised funds and OOWAY Technology's cutting-edge technologies as well as extensive business networks and capabilities would ring in a new era of growth and profitability for Kitchen Culture.The Relevant Shareholders have also informed the Kitchen Culture Board that prior to the conclusion of the EGM, the Company, including the current Directors of the Company, should not:1. Take any action to effect any casual appointment of Director(s) or action that will affect the number of existing issued shares of the Company or carry out any corporate action that is dilutive in nature to the minority shareholders of the Company.2. Carry out any transaction that would result in the divestment or acquisition of any business interest or asset for or on behalf of the Company.3. Enter into any transaction committing or exposing the Company to any potential liability of a significant nature.SGXNET References:- 12 April 2022: General Announcement::UPDATE ON REVIEW BY BAKER TILLY CONSULTANCY (SINGAPORE) PTE. LTD. https://tinyurl.com/48fwfsfx- 21 April 2022: General Announcement::ASSISTANCE IN THE REVIEW BY THE COMMERCIAL AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT https://tinyurl.com/2p8hfrdt[1] "Relevant Shareholders" refers to OOWAY Group Ltd., Koh Cher Chow, Lin Xiao Long, Ling Chui Chui, Koh Ngin Joo, Lim Cheng Huat, Chew Yu Sheng and Soh Koon Eng.[2] Section 177 Notice constituting a special notice under Section 152(2) read with Section 185 of the Companies Act 1967 of Singapore (the "Companies Act") of the intention of the Relevant Shareholders to convene an extraordinary general meeting of the Company (the "EGM") pursuant to Section 177 of the Companies Act.About OOWAY Group Ltd.OOWAY GROUP LTD. is a corporate entity registered with Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority which has a stake in OOWAY Technology Pte Ltd. OOWAY Group is an established big data, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Blockchain technology provider of innovative solutions for the integration of cross-border trade. Its DIGIT platform (Digital Innovation of Global Integrated Trade) seamlessly integrates cross-border trade with all parties through all stages from initialization to conclusion. The use of AI enables the platform to collect and analyze data to recognize, predict and optimize the cross-border trade process for all parties involved. The use of Blockchain ensures transparency, traceability and immutability, and automatic updating of all documents in the cross-border trade process. www.ooway.comIssued by OOWAY Group Ltd.Media Contact:Email: query@oowayasia.comSource: OOWAY Group Ltd.Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
LONDON, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --

IN THE SHADOWS

The extraordinary men and women of the Intelligence Corps

The new book by Michael Ashcroft

with a Foreword by Lord Hague of Richmond

Publication date: 8thNovember 2022

Price: 25 hardback

PRE-ORDER NOW FROM BITEBACK OR AMAZON.

The Intelligence Corps is one of the smallest and most secretive elements of the British Army. It has existed in various guises since the early twentieth century, but it was only formally constituted in July 1940. In this book, Michael Ashcroft tells the astonishing stories of some of its most courageous and ingenious figures, who have operated all over the world from the First World War to the present day.

Whether carrying out surveillance work on the street, monitoring and analysing communications, working on overseas stakeouts, receiving classified information from a well-placed contact or interrogating the enemy in the heat of war, a hugely diverse range of people have served in the Corps, often supplementing their individual professional skills with original thinking and leadership in the name of the Crown. This book pays tribute to them and shows why, in the words of the 1st Duke of Marlborough, 'No war can be conducted successfully without early and good intelligence.'

Lord Ashcroft is donating all author's royalties from In the Shadows to military charities.

PRAISE FOR IN THE SHADOWS

"Every story in this book is a gripping individual drama, reminding us that many Intelligence Corps operators have risked and, in some cases, lost their lives in pursuit of a mission. Taken together, these accounts combine to portray a remarkable organisation."

Lord Hague of Richmond, from the Foreword to In the Shadows.

AUTHOR

LORD ASHCROFT KCMG PC is an international businessman, philanthropist, author and pollster. He is a former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party and currently honorary chairman of the International Democrat Union. He is founder and chairman of the board of trustees of Crimestoppers, vice-patron of the Intelligence Corps Museum, chairman of the trustees of Ashcroft Technology Academy, a senior fellow of the International Strategic Studies Association, a former chancellor of Anglia Ruskin University and a former trustee of Imperial War Museums. Lord Ashcroft has written twenty-five other books, largely on politics and bravery. His political books include biographies of David Cameron, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Rishi Sunak, Sir Keir Starmer and Carrie Johnson. His seven books on gallantry in the Heroes series include two on the Victoria Cross.

www.LordAshcroft.com

www.LordAshcroftPolls.com

www.LordAshcroftWildlife.com

www.LordAshcroftMedals.com

www.LordAshcroftOnBravery.com

Twitter/Facebook @LordAshcroft

LINK TO PURCHASE

To pre-order a copy of In the Shadows, please follow the links below.

Pre-order with Biteback

Pre-order with Amazon

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/new-book-by-michael-ashcroft-in-the-shadows-the-extraordinary-men-and-women-of-the-intelligence-corps-301646936.html


BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - European stocks traded mostly higher on Wednesday as investors reacted to mixed earnings and regional data.



Underlying sentiment was supported somewhat after reports suggested that the Bank of England would extend its support for the beleaguered gilt market.



The pan European Stoxx 600 rose 0.2 percent to 388.86 following five consecutive sessions of losses.



The German DAX gained 0.3 percent, while France's CAC 40 index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 both added around 0.4 percent.



Dutch technology group Philips fell 5.3 percent after issuing a profit warning, citing continued supply chain challenges.



Credit Suisse tumbled 3.2 percent on a Bloomberg report that it is facing a U.S. tax probe.



British housebuilder Barratt Developments slumped 4.2 percent after a warning that it is preparing for tougher times ahead. Persimmon fell 2.9 percent and Bellway gave up 2.2 percent.



Recruiter Page Group added 1.5 percent after posting a jump in third-quarter gross profit.



French luxury group LVMH rallied 3 percent after posting a brisk rise in sales in the third quarter, driven by strong local demand and returning foreign visitors in Europe, the U.S. and Japan.



German drugs-packaging maker Gerresheimer gained 2.5 percent after reporting double digit growth in earnings and revenue for the third quarter.



Klockner, which is engaged in the production and distribution of steel and metal products, plunged 8.8 percent after reporting lower than expected operating income in the third quarter of 2022.



In economic releases, Eurostat data showed that Eurozone industrial output rose strongly in August.



Output from factories, mines and utilities rose 1.5 percent in August month-on-month, while economists had expected a 0.5 percent increase.



Year-on-year, industrial production increased 2.5 percent in the month.



Investors shrugged off separate data showing that the U.K. economy contracted unexpectedly in August on weak services and industrial production.



GDP shrank 0.3 percent month-on-month, in contrast to the revised 0.1 percent growth in July. GDP was forecast to remain flat after July's initially estimated growth of 0.2 percent.



On a yearly basis, GDP expanded at a slower pace of 2.0 percent after climbing revised 3.1 percent in July. This was also slower than economists' forecast of 2.4 percent.



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Figure 1: Overview of the field trials



Figure 2: (Left) Environmental data (wind conditions) converted from OPGW vibration data (wind conditions) (Right) Comparison of environmental data (wind conditions) converted from vibration data with an anemometer installed on a steel tower



Figure 3: Comparison of estimated and measured transmission line temperatures



Figure 4: Screen image of prototype system supporting advanced operation of transmission network (in Japanese)

TOKYO, Oct 12, 2022 - (JCN Newswire) - Fujitsu and Chugoku Electric Power Transmission & Distribution Co., Inc. (hereinafter Chugoku Electric Power T&D) today announced the successful completion of joint trials to verify the practical application of environmental data (wind conditions)(1) in the maintenance of power transmission infrastructure. Through the trials, the two companies aim to realize dynamic line rating (DLR)(2), a promising next-generation power network technology, and to utilize drones for improving the maintenance of power transmission facilities.Under its "Carbon Neutrality Promotion Plan"(3), Chugoku Electric Power T&D is actively promoting carbon neutrality initiatives in its business. Through their cooperation, Fujitsu and Chugoku Electric Power T&D will accelerate efforts by transmission and distribution companies to expand the installation of renewable energy systems including solar and wind power. Ultimately, the partners seek to help utilities to develop grid control technologies to adapt their power systems(4) to the standards of next-generation power generation to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050(5).BackgroundRegular patrolling and inspection play an essential role in maintaining a stable supply of electricity at power transmission facilities. This maintenance work requires considerable time and a large work force, however, and as the number of workers in the industry continues to decrease, demand is growing for smart security(6) solutions that leverage technologies like drones and other innovative measures to improve the efficiency of security operations to ensure a safe and secure operational environment at critical facilities.To this end, Chugoku Electric Power T&D is utilizing drones to conduct patrols and inspections and to identify defects in its facilities. Certain challenges remain, however, including how to make effective use of drones in difficult conditions, such as areas that are unusually windy or located in rugged terrain. One potential solution to these issues centers on obtaining real-time, accurate environmental data (wind conditions) in the vicinity of power transmission lines.To address these issues, Fujitsu and Chugoku Electric Power T&D conducted joint trials utilizing Fujitsu's proprietary data conversion technology to convert optical ground wire (hereinafter OPGW)(7) vibration data acquired by using optical fiber sensing technology(8) into OPGW for power transmission lines.As this enables the efficient and accurate acquisition of environmental data (wind conditions) in the vicinity of a wide range of power transmission facilities, power transmission operators can apply this data to their inspection patrols using DLR and drones to ultimately expand the use of renewable energy and further enhance the maintenance of power transmission facilities.Outline of the field trials1. OverviewFujitsu and Chugoku Electric Power T&D installed equipment at substations and other facilities managed by Chugoku Electric Power T&D including an optical fiber measuring device for OPGW vibration and a computer for calculation to measure vibration data in milliseconds at intervals of several meters over a length of 70 kilometers. Based on the vibration data, the two companies leveraged Fujitsu's data conversion technology to estimate environmental data (wind conditions) and transmission line temperatures and conducted trials to apply this data to drone operation support and DLR (Figure 1).2. PeriodSeptember 1, 2021 to September 30, 20223. Test siteThree power transmission lines in the Japanese Chugoku region (Shimane, Hiroshima, and Yamaguchi Prefectures) of Chugoku Electric Power T&D4. Verification contents and results(1) Verification of data conversion technology to determine whether to fly a drone- Comparison of environmental data (wind conditions) obtained by converting OPGW vibration data with actual measurement data of an anemometer installed at the site (successful confirmation that the two data were in general in accordance (Figure 2))- Trials showed that the technology can support workers in determining whether a drone can fly or not and in selecting a flight route in consideration of wind conditions; the technology can thus ultimately improve the safety of inspection patrols using drones and enhance maintenance work at Chugoku Electric Power T&D's facilities (9)(2) Verification of application to dynamic line rating for expansion of transmission capacity- trials showed that the technology could successfully be applied to DLR that enables accurate estimation of the temperature of transmission lines from ever-changing weather conditions; a dynamic operation of transmission capacity proved to be effective in expanding the use of renewable energies (10)- technology enables real-time estimation of environmental data (wind conditions) across the entire area in the vicinity of transmission lines, which are main factors for changes in transmission line temperature(3) Creation and operation verification of a prototype system for business implementation- creation of a prototype system by Fujitsu to support advanced transmission network operations and visualize various types of data (environmental data (wind conditions) and transmission line temperatures) obtained during the field trials on a map- successful verification that the system enables DLR based on visualized data and can support operators in judging whether or not to fly dronesFuture PlansMoving forward, the two companies will promote the development of an advanced transmission network operation support system to utilize environmental data (wind conditions) and transmission line temperature data to flexibly operate transmission capacity using dynamic ratings and enhance maintenance operations using drones.The two companies will further promote digital transformation (DX) in the electric power industry to solve societal issues including operational reforms and the realization of a sustainable energy supply.Chugoku Electric Power T&D will continue to enhance its operations using cutting-edge technologies to realize power and business quality that meets customer expectations and respond to diversifying network usage patterns. Chugoku Electric Power T&D will further contribute to the expansion of renewable energies to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050.Fujitsu is promoting a data-driven management to promote an agile shift to the "new normal" as part of its vision for "Digital Shifts", a Key Focus Area under the Fujitsu Uvance portfolio to realize a sustainable future.(1) Environmental data :A group of data that estimates the environmental conditions (wind conditions, etc.) of a fiber-optic composite optical ground wire (OPGW) and its vicinity.(2) Dynamic line rating :Technology to flexibly operate transmission capacity of transmission and transformation facilities.(3) Chugoku Electric Power T&D "Carbon Neutrality Promotion Plan: Toward Next-Generation Power Networks":www.energia.co.jp/nw/press/2021/13581.html (in Japanese)(4) Power systems :A series of electric power facilities and systems consisting of "transmission," "transformation," and "distribution" to deliver electricity from power stations to customers.(5) Carbon neutrality :Balancing greenhouse gas emissions and removals; in October 2020, the Japanese government declared that it will aim for carbon neutrality (reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero) by 2050.(6) Smart security :By introducing new technologies in the field of electrical security, such as IoT sensors, AI, and drones, efforts are being made to maintain and improve security while improving productivity.Reference: Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry - "Smart Industrial Safety ":www.meti.go.jp/shingikai/safety_security/smart_hoan/denryoku_anzen/index.html (in Japanese)(7) OPGW :Optical Ground Wire; a facility in which an optical fiber cable is built into an overhead ground wire to protect transmission lines from lightning.(8) Optical fiber sensing technology :A technology that enables real-time measurement of how optical fiber cables vibrate by inputting specific laser pulse light into optical fiber cables for communications and measuring changes and components of light such as backscattered light. For the measurement, a dedicated measuring device and a computer for calculation which processes the data are used.(9) Trials showed that the technology utilized in this demonstration test was suited to acquire data efficiently and accurately even in mountainous areas with complex wind conditions.(10) Transmission voltage, thickness of the transmission line, weather conditions (wind speed of 0.5 m/s (meters per second), solar radiation of 1,000 W/m2 (watts per square meter), outside temperature of 40 degreesC) were specified to determine the upper limits (transmission capacity) under which power lines can conduct electricity.In order to estimate the temperature of the transmission line, the environmental data (wind conditions) estimated in verification contents and results (1) , the amount of solar radiation and outside air temperature measured by various sensors installed in the tower, and the current value actually flowing through the transmission line were converted into temperature data as parameters, and the temperature of the transmission line was estimated; temperatures of the transmission lines were measured with infrared thermographic cameras to confirm the accuracy of the data.About Chugoku Electric Power Transmission & Distribution Co., Inc.Chugoku Electric Power T&D Co., Inc. is a general power transmission and distribution business operator in Japan, located in Naka-ku, Hiroshima City, with five prefectures in the Chugoku region and part of neighboring prefecture as supply areas. A wholly owned subsidiary of Chugoku Electric Power Co., Ltd. www.energia.co.jp/nw/index.html (in Japanese)About FujitsuFujitsu's purpose is to make the world more sustainable by building trust in society through innovation. As the digital transformation partner of choice for customers in over 100 countries, our 124,000 employees work to resolve some of the greatest challenges facing humanity. Our range of services and solutions draw on five key technologies: Computing, Networks, AI, Data & Security, and Converging Technologies, which we bring together to deliver sustainability transformation. Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) reported consolidated revenues of 3.6 trillion yen (US$32 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022 and remains the top digital services company in Japan by market share. Find out more: www.fujitsu.com.Source: Fujitsu LtdCopyright 2022 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.
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.
Chicago, Illinois--(Newsfile Corp. - October 12, 2022) - MAIA Biotechnology (NYSE: MAIA), a targeted therapy, immuno-oncology company focused on developing potential first-in-class oncology drugs, will be participating in The ThinkEquity Conference, which will take place on October 26, 2022 at The Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York.

Vlad Vitoc will be presenting at 3:00 PM ET on October 26th. Interested parties can register to attend here. Members of the MAIA Biotechnology management will also be holding one-on-one investor meetings throughout the day.

The presentation will also be live-streamed at the following link.

About MAIA Biotechnology

MAIA is a targeted therapy, immuno-oncology company focused on the development and commercialization of potential first-in-class drugs with novel mechanisms of action that are intended to meaningfully improve and extend the lives of people with cancer. Our lead program is THIO, a potential first-in-class cancer telomere targeting agent in clinical development for the treatment of NSCLC patients with telomerase-positive cancer cells. For more information, please visit www.maiabiotech.com.

About The ThinkEquity Conference

The ThinkEquity Conference will gather industry insiders, investors and leading executives from around the world on October 26th in New York. Attendees can expect a full day of company presentations, panel discussions, one-on-one investor meetings and more.

Featured sectors include AI/Big data technology, Biotechnology, EV/EV Infrastructure, Metals & Mining and Oil & Gas.

To register to attend The ThinkEquity Conference, please follow this link.

For further information:

Joseph McGuire

Chief Financial Officer

904-228-2603

jmcguire@maiabiotech.com

Source: MAIA Biotechnology
LEVERKUSEN (dpa-AFX) - Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (REGN) announced the FDA has accepted for Priority Review the supplemental Biologics License Application for EYLEA Injection to treat Retinopathy of Prematurity in preterm infants. ROP is a cause of childhood blindness. The sBLA is supported by data from two randomized global phase 3 trials - FIREFLEYE and BUTTERFLEYE. The target action date for the FDA decision is February 11, 2023. EYLEA was granted orphan drug designation by the FDA for the treatment of ROP in 2019. Bayer and Regeneron are collaborating on the global development of EYLEA. For More Such Health News, visit rttnews.com. Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - SunPower Corp. (SPWR), a residential solar technology and energy services provider, announced Wednesday a collaboration with auto major General Motors (GM) to develop a new home energy system. The home energy system would enable GM electric vehicles to provide backup energy to a home when properly equipped. GM also named SunPower as a preferred EV charger installation provider and its exclusive solar provider. The home energy system and installation services are planned to be available alongside the retail launch of the 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV, expected Fall 2023. With bi-directional charging capabilities, the Silverado EV along with a home energy system would provide enough electricity to provide whole home backup during a grid outage. The company noted that an EV customer with solar can charge their vehicle with energy generated from their rooftop system, which is cleaner and often less expensive than charging from the grid. Under the partnership, SunPower's home energy expertise and installation capabilities will be combined with GM's EV and battery technology to help provide customers with more resilient, sustainable and cost-effective energy. Peter Faricy, SunPower CEO, said, 'This is a vital next step toward making an all-electric lifestyle easy and even more beneficial. Through this collaboration, we are making it easy for EV drivers to power their vehicles with clean energy and providing new ways to offer energy resiliency and peace-of-mind.' Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
93% of patients in Cohort 2 discontinued both active vitamin D and oral calcium supplementation, while maintaining mean serum calcium within the target range



Mean 24-hour urinary calcium was rapidly normalized, including in patients with hypercalciuria at baseline

Consistent with a balanced increase in bone biomarkers, bone mineral density remained stable, including in patients with osteopenia

Results from both cohorts support advancement of AZP-3601 into a Phase 3 trial next year

LYON, France and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Amolyt Pharma, a global company specialized in developing therapeutic peptides for rare endocrine and related diseases, today announced positive results from the second patient cohort in its Phase 2a clinical proof of concept trial of AZP-3601, a PTH1 receptor agonist, which the company is developing as a potential treatment for hypoparathyroidism.

Consistent with the findings from Cohort 1, in the full data set from the Phase 2a study, AZP-3601 was well-tolerated, and daily administration enabled 93% of patients to discontinue standard of care therapy (calcium and vitamin D supplementation) while mean serum calcium was maintained within the target range. Mean urinary calcium excretion was rapidly normalized and bone biomarkers increased in line with a resumption of a normalized physiological level of bone turnover.

Key Findings from Cohort 2:

At the end of the 3-month treatment period, 93% (13 of 14 patients) had discontinued both active vitamin D and oral calcium supplementation.

Consistent with Cohort 1, mean albumin-adjusted serum calcium (AdsCa) remained within the target range.

24-hour urinary excretion of calcium was rapidly normalized in all but one patient, including those with hypercalciuria at baseline.

Also consistent with Cohort 1, bone turnover biomarkers, P1NP and CTX, increased after two weeks of treatment and remained within their mid-normal range through the end of the study, consistent with a balanced increase in bone turnover.

Consistent with the findings in bone biomarkers, bone mineral density (BMD) was stable, including in patients with osteopenia.

AZP-3601 was well tolerated with no serious adverse events. There were only mild to moderate adverse events, consistent with prior studies.

The lower starting dose (10 g) used in this cohort required an early up-titration to 20 g in most patients after two weeks to allow discontinuation of oral vitamin D and calcium supplementation, supporting the selection of 20g as the starting dose for the Phase 3 trial.



In this second cohort, 16 patients with hypoparathyroidism received daily subcutaneous injections of AZP-3601 during a four-week main treatment period, followed by an eight-week extension phase. AZP-3601 was initiated at a starting dose of 10 g while calcium and vitamin D supplementation were progressively removed. If necessary, the dose could be increased to 20 g after two weeks of treatment until the end of the main period. During the extension phase further individual titration of AZP-3601 was allowed up to a maximum dose of 80 g per day. These adjustments to the dosing protocol for Cohort 2 were implemented to allow a comprehensive dose range evaluation and to inform the design and dose selection for a Phase 3 study. Data from both cohorts provide further support for the target profile of AZP-3601 and for the planned initiation of the Phase 3 trial next year.

"We are very pleased to see that the safety and efficacy data from Cohort 2 validate the findings from the first cohort of patients in this study," stated Mark Sumeray MD, chief medical officer at Amolyt Pharma. "We observed success in the control of serum calcium and elimination of active vitamin D and oral calcium at levels that were even better than those achieved in Cohort 1. Mean urinary calcium excretion also rapidly normalized, particularly in patients with elevated urinary calcium at baseline, an important finding since more than 50% of patients with hypoparathyroidism have hypercalciuria. Bone biomarkers again provided evidence of a balanced and physiologic restoration of bone turnover without excess bone resorption, as also suggested by the BMD data. We now have the clinical data needed to finalize our plans for a phase 3 trial of AZP-3601 and look forward to end-of-phase 2 discussions with health authorities with the goal of initiating the trial as soon as possible next year."

Thierry Abribat, Ph.D., founder and chief executive officer of Amolyt Pharma, added, "The data are very encouraging for the future development of AZP-3601. Over recent weeks, as we have discussed the emerging efficacy and safety profile of this novel PTH1 receptor agonist with experts in the management of hypoparathyroidism, it has become increasingly clear that the observed rapid normalization of mean urinary calcium excretion combined with balanced resumption of bone turnover supports the potential of AZP-3601 to uniquely address the key treatment goals for these patients. We are excited to move forward to our Phase 3 study."

About Hypoparathyroidism

Hypoparathyroidism is defined by a deficiency of parathyroid hormone (PTH) that results in decreased calcium and elevated phosphorus levels in the blood. Approximately 80% of the estimated 80,000 people in the U.S. and 110,000 in the European Union with hypoparathyroidism are women. Despite available treatments, patients experience persistent, life-altering symptoms and often develop complications and comorbidities that diminish quality of life and create segments of the patient population with specific clinical needs. Clinical manifestations of hypoparathyroidism impact many tissues and organ systems, in particular, the kidneys and bone. 17% of patients with hypoparathyroidism have osteopenia or osteoporosis and 53% are peri- or postmenopausal women with an increased risk of developing osteoporosis. Approximately 26% of patients with hypoparathyroidism have chronic kidney disease or failure, highlighting the importance of reducing urinary calcium excretion as a key treatment goal.

About AZP-3601

AZP-3601 is an investigational therapeutic peptide designed to target a specific conformation of the parathyroid hormone (PTH) receptor to safely produce sustained and stable levels of calcium in the blood and thereby manage the symptoms of hypoparathyroidism, and to limit urine calcium excretion by restoring calcium reabsorption by the kidney, with the goal of consequently preventing chronic kidney disease. In addition to its unique receptor profile, AZP-3601 is also designed to have a short half-life to potentially preserve bone integrity, an important benefit, since the majority of patients are peri- and postmenopausal women with an increased risk of developing osteoporosis.

About Amolyt Pharma

Amolyt Pharma, a clinical stage biotechnology company, is building on its team's established expertise in therapeutic peptides to deliver life-changing treatments to patients suffering from rare endocrine and related diseases. Its development portfolio includes AZP-3601, a long-acting PTH analog as a potential treatment for hypoparathyroidism, and AZP-3813, a peptide growth hormone receptor antagonist for the potential treatment of acromegaly. Amolyt Pharma aims to further expand and develop its portfolio by leveraging its global network in the field of endocrinology and with support from a strong syndicate of international investors. To learn more, visit https://amolytpharma.com/ or follow us on Twitterand LinkedIn.

At Amolyt:

Media:

Jordyn Temperato

LifeSci Communications

jtemperato@lifescicomms.com

Investors:

Ashley Robinson

LifeSci Advisors, LLC

arr@lifesciadvisors.com

+1.617.430.7577


OTTAWA (dpa-AFX) - G7 leaders have announced that the seven-nation bloc will continue to impose additional economic sanctions on Russia as part of holding the Putin regime accountable for the recent missile attacks against civilian infrastructure and cities across Ukraine, leading to the death of dozens of innocent people.



The leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and the United States met virtually on Tuesday to discuss the latest developments in Ukraine.



Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy joined the leaders at the beginning of the meeting, which was held as a video conference.



He called for fresh sanctions against Moscow. 'For such a new wave of terror there must be a new wave of responsibility for Russia -- new sanctions, new forms of political pressure and new forms of support for Ukraine.'



'We must respond symmetrically: when Russia attacks the energy sector and energy stability of our countries, we must block its energy sector with sanctions, break the stability of Russian revenues from oil and gas trade,' he told the leaders.



'A tough price cap is needed for the exports of oil and gas from Russia -- zero profit for the terrorist state. Such steps can bring peace closer, they will encourage the terrorist state to think about peace, about the unprofitability of war,' he added.



The Ukrainian leader ruled out the possibility of any talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.



Responding to Zelenksy's call, the G7 leaders said in a joint statement, 'We have imposed and will continue to impose further economic costs on Russia, including on individuals and entities - inside and outside of Russia - providing political or economic support for Russia's illegal attempts to change the status of Ukrainian territory'.



The leaders warned that Russia will be held responsible for any incident caused by their actions at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant, which has been under the control of Russia for many months.



The leaders of the world's wealthy economies promised to continue to provide financial, humanitarian, military, diplomatic and legal support to Ukraine and to stand firmly with Ukraine for as long as it takes. They also committed to support Ukraine in meeting its winter preparedness needs.



The G7 rejected the illegal attempted annexation by Russia of Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya and Kherson regions, and demanded that Russia cease all hostilities and immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its troops and military equipment from Ukraine.



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The ABCs of Finance: the world's first rhyming finance book for children has arrived.

New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - October 12, 2022) - Britt Rozenblat, author and owner of The Children's Book Company, has announced the release of her book 'The ABCs of Finance'-a children's book, focused on teaching basic financial concepts. Rozenblat, an advocate for childhood financial literacy and business skills, teamed up with famous illustrator Ayang Cempaka, who has collaborated with the likes of Google, Penguin Publishing and Unilever, to complete the project.





Britt Rozenblat, author and owner of The Children's Book Company

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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"The inspiration behind my book," says Rozenblat, "came from having to make personal financial decisions about matters my parents had taught me little about-paying bills, doing my taxes and investing. We transact money every day and being financially literate, as young as three-years-old, can help your child develop the necessary skills to make informed decisions, from the moment they start earning."

The author continues, "When I had my son, I knew helping him learn about money management-concepts like savings, debt, and allowances-would give him a strong foundation for a financially secure future. Having another human to care for really changes your priorities and your perspective on life."





"The ABCs of Finance" book, written by Britt Rozenblat

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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The resulting book is informative, amusing and beautiful, with interactive, colorful images, accompanied by rhyming financial concepts which aid learning and retention.

Rozenblat says, "Children may be too young to understand the concept of money but are able to count and identify numbers and colors. If that's the case, get them a piggy bank and teach them about the different bills, coins and quantities. If your child is a little older, give them an allowance and teach them about earning and saving versus spending. Money management is an essential life skill."

"You're never too old, or too young, to learn," says Rozenblat. "Children should be taught how to think for themselves; parents need to equip them with basic, yet necessary, money- management skills. Watching my parents run their own clothing business taught me the value of being self-reliant and making my own money, but not every child gets that early exposure."

Rozenblat's intention is to make talking about money and household finances less taboo. She said, "I want children to ask their parents questions about everything related to money, and I want parents to take an interest in teaching their children everything about it."

When asked what the future holds, Rozenblat said, "Book number two is in development and we are also getting into larger retail chains and boutique shops. With early exposure to social media and TV, children are taught to become consumers very early on in life, I want them to make the right decisions, and the more informed they are, the better financial decisions they can make."

Contact: Britt Rozenblat

Email: Info@thechildrensbookcompany.com

Website: https://www.thechildrensbookcompany.com

Locations: New York and Montreal

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/140226
MIAMI, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- IFS, the global cloud enterprise software company, has announced the October 2022 release of its cloud-based solution, IFS Cloud. In this second communication from its global community event, IFS UNLEASHED, the company details new capabilities that will help global companies connect operations across sites, functions, people, and assets. The 2022 autumn release is the second in IFS's bi-annual release cycle and brings to customers new features and capabilities that further strengthen their ability to compete and scale globally.

As companies face pressures to reduce complexity and operate consistently across their entire business, they need capabilities that help them serve customers faster, reduce downtime, and meet compliance requirements.

Highlights of the new capabilities include:

Visualize global transactions: Manage and visualize operations across multiple currency rates. Improve productivity in currency exchange tasks with the ability to import currency rates automatically to save time in currency exchange. [Finance]

Manage global absence limitations: Set and manage absence limits based on each country's absence requirements, providing HR teams with a full absence view from multiple countries.[Human Capital Management]

Secondment for work tasks: Define employees in the record of one company and make them available as employees and resources in other companies. Allow joint ventures, subsidiaries, and inter-company processing to reduce HR administration and simplify technician task reporting. [Enterprise Asset Management]

Reduce the risk of contract start delays: Initiate the procurement process for parts in one legal entity and conclude it in another. The cost of part replenishment transfers from the asset-owning company to a different company. Enable Maintenance and Procurement Managers to prepare for operations in new legal entities earlier by managing the transition between contracts. [Enterprise Asset Management]

Deliver service more efficiently: Manage a portfolio of repeatable installed products and assets of increasing complexity. Deliver service efficiently in high-volume asset and product service scenarios. [Service Management]

Expand shift planning capabilities: Ensure the right resources, with the right skills, are available for scheduling, including on-call scenarios, with enhancements to the dispatch console for managing in-flight work. [Service Management]

Reallocate field technician jobs: Let dispatchers locate and communicate with the field technicians more easily to reallocate jobs when needed. Identify and resolve any issues to ensure service levels are achieved. [Service Management]

Reduce aircraft turn-around-time: Reduce turn-around time with the introduction of a new solution for MRO Service Providers performing third-party line maintenance and other customers that have aircraft requiring maintenance. Reduce the time of aircraft maintenance work and increase compliance in line with customer requirements. [Aviation Maintenance]

In combination, these new capabilities offer organizations increased operational efficiency and process optimization, which is crucial to global enterprises' growth.

Christian Pedersen, Chief Product Officer, IFS, commented: "As businesses grow and branch out into new international markets, they face a range of new challenges around regulation, market practices, and operating approaches. Our October release of IFS Cloud provides businesses with the capabilities they need to navigate these challenges and thrive on the global stage." Pedersen continued: "Through our IFS Cloud solution, we deliver software that can flex and evolve to meet the growing needs of our customers both today and long into the future. This autumn release is the latest evidence of exactly what we can provide to the modern global enterprise."

For more information about the October 2022 release of IFS Cloud, please visit: https://www.ifs.com/assets/cloud/what-is-new-in-ifs-cloud-22r2

About IFS

IFS develops and delivers cloud enterprise software for companies around the world who manufacture and distribute goods, build and maintain assets, and manage service-focused operations. Within our single platform, our industry specific products are innately connected to a single data model and use embedded digital innovation so that our customers can be their best when it really matters to their customers-at the Moment of Service. The industry expertise of our people and of our growing ecosystem, together with a commitment to deliver value at every single step, has made IFS a recognized leader and the most recommended supplier in our sector. Our team of 5,000 employees every day live our values of agility, trustworthiness and collaboration in how we support our 10,000+ customers. Learn more about how our enterprise software solutions can help your business today at ifs.com.

Contact information

EUROPE / MEA / APJ: Adam Gillbe

IFS, Director of Corporate & Executive Communications

Email: press@ifs.com

Phone: +44 7775 114 856

NORTH AMERICA / LATAM: Mairi Morgan

Corporate Communications

Email: press@ifs.com

Phone: +1 520 396 2155

The following files are available for download:

https://mb.cision.com/Public/855/3646916/b7474a0fb02ed1e2.pdf 133 Connect global operations October 2022 press release v4AR https://news.cision.com/ifs/i/ifs-cloud-a-1,c3099903 IFS CLOUD A 1

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/ifs-delivers-connected-operations-for-global-enterprises-with-october-2022-release-of-ifs-cloud-301647276.html
~Company to launch Catamaran nationally at NASS with technical exhibit and interactive surgeon training sessions~

~ Outcomes from a single center experience with the Catamaran to be presented at Innovative Technology Session, October 13th ~

LOS GATOS, CA / ACCESSWIRE / October 12, 2022 / Tenon Medical, Inc. ("Tenon" or the "Company") (NASDQ:TNON), a company transforming care for patients suffering with certain sacroiliac disorders, today announced the Company's attendance and planned activities at the37th Annual Meeting of the North American Spine Society (NASS), being held in Chicago from October 12 -15, 2022. The NASS meeting is attended by over 3,500 spine specialists-orthopedic surgeons, neurosurgeons, radiologists, and other health care providers.

As recently disclosed, Tenon has terminated its legacy distribution agreement with its former distribution partner, SpineSource, and has assumed control of all commercial distribution & sales activities of the Catamaran SI Joint Fusion System ("Catamaran"). Tenon has begun developing its own commercial infrastructure and sales management team that will partner with key independent spine distributors throughout the country who are motivated to represent the Company's Catamaran. The Company is using the NASS meeting as the national launch event for the Catamaran, which is the only single, titanium fixation device that is implanted from an inferior-posterior approach and transfixes the SI Joint along its longitudinal axis to treat conditions such as SI joint disruption and degenerative sacroiliitis.

The Company will have an interactive hands-on technical exhibit (#2134) where health care providers attending the meeting can learn more about the Catamaran and its novel inferior-posterior approach. Throughout the meeting the Tenon exhibit booth will also host Catamaran "Meet the Expert" sessions where Drs Mark H. Stouffer, MD (orthopedic spine surgeon, St. George, UT) and Scott C. Kutz, MD (Neurosurgeon, Plano, TX.) will share their Catamaran clinical experience, patient selection criteria and associated clinical outcomes with attendees visiting the exhibit.

On Thursday October 13th, Dr Michael Chaparro, MD, from Loxahatchee, FL will present his single center Catamaran experience. The presentation, entitled "Sacroiliac Fusion via an Inferior-Posterior Approach with a Novel Single SI Joint Fixation Device" will take place in the Red Theater in McCormick Place at 1:30pm. The presentation will introduce the Catamaran technology as an innovative option to treat certain SI Joint disorders, its associated surgical technique and Dr Chaparro's clinical outcomes reported out to 12 months.

Tenon will also host multiple Catamaran hands-on technical workshops for invited physicians interested in learning more about how the implant transfixes and stabilizes the SI joint, as well as why the inferior-posterior approach is an optimal entry point. Utilizing the Company's proprietary synthetic SI Joint training model, surgeons attending the workshop will simulate implanting the Catamaran Fixation Device under fluoroscopy using the systems innovative, yet simple instrumentation set and a defined 2D fluro-imaging sequence.

"The entire Tenon team is very excited about launching the Catamaran SI Joint Fusion System at a prestigious scientific conference like NASS." states Steven M. Foster, President and CEO of Tenon. "Catamaran offers a distinct inferior-posterior approach and transfixing implant for physicians seeking better options for their patients suffering from SI joint related issues. Our NASS activities will be focused on showcasing this unique story and providing hands-on workshops focused on Catamaran. The introduction of this single, robust titanium implant solution is a critical first step in building commercial momentum for Tenon."

About Tenon Medical, Inc.

Tenon Medical, Inc., a medical device company formed in 2012, has developed The Catamaran SI Joint Fusion System that offers a novel, less invasive Inferior-Posterior approach to the SI joint using a single, robust titanium implant. The system features the Catamaran Fixation Device which passes through both the axial and sagittal planes of the ilium and sacrum, transfixing the SI joint along its longitudinal axis. With an entry that mimics SI joint injection, the surgical approach is direct to the joint and inferior to the wide and variable dorsal recess. The angle and trajectory of the Inferior-Posterior approach is designed to provide a pathway away from critical neural and vascular structures and into the strongest cortical bone. Tenon is preparing a national launch of this system to address the greatly underserved market opportunity that exists in this space. For more information, please visit https://www.tenonmed.com/.

The Tenon Medical logo and Tenon Medical, are registered trademarks of Tenon Medical, Inc. Catamaran is a trademark of Tenon Medical, Inc.

Safe Harbor

This press release contains "forward-looking statements," which are statements related to events, results, activities or developments that Tenon expects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future. Forward-looking often contain words such as "intends," "estimates," "anticipates," "hopes," "projects," "plans," "expects," "seek," "believes," "see," "should," "will," "would," "target," and similar expressions and the negative versions thereof. Such statements are based on Tenon's experience and perception of current conditions, trends, expected future developments and other factors it believes are appropriate under the circumstances, and speak only as of the date made. Forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and actual results may differ materially from assumptions, estimates or expectations reflected or contained in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. For details on the uncertainties that may cause our actual results to be materially different than those expressed in our forward-looking statements, please review our Registration Statement on Form S-1 on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov, particularly the information contained in the section entitled "Risk Factors". We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect new information or future events or otherwise unless required by law.

IR Contact:

Shannon Devine: 203-741-8811

MZ North America

tenon@mzgroup.us

SOURCE: Tenon Medical, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/719942/Tenon-Medical-to-Showcase-Companys-CatamaranTM-SI-Joint-Fusion-System-at-the-2022-North-American-Spine-Society-37th-Annual-Meeting
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / October 12, 2022 / Gratomic Inc. ("Gratomic", "GRAT," or the "Company") (TSXV:GRAT) (OTCQX:CBULF) (FSE:CB82) provides its fifth progress update on the bench-mining program at its Aukam Graphite Project in Namibia, further to the press release dated September 21, 2022. The benching process typically involves successively cutting berms alongside the mountain edge in order to steadily expose underground material, at the same time ensuring the stability of the mountain structure. This process allows for the collection of graphite in stages as the platforms are constructed on the Aukam mountain.

As the benching advances, wider benches are scheduled to improve liberation of graphite at Aukam. This will aid unnecessary mineral loses during the bench-mining operations. Approximately 1,000 tonnes of graphite have been transferred from the mountain to the ROM (Run of Mine) pad in preparation for processing. Another 1,600 tonnes of mineral have been extracted bringing the cumulative total to 2,600 tonnes. The ROM stockpile has been separated by estimated grade, ensuring constant feed into the plant, securing more consistent recoveries and improved tailings management. Bench-mining is progressing as planned. The safety of the benching operation is a major priority, with no incidents having been recorded during the process. Operator training is also a high priority to ensure the health and safety of machine operators, due to the benching process in the mountain area.

Arno Brand, President & CEO, states, "One of the main foundational pillars at Gratomic is to build a sustainable operation in an environmentally friendly, people-centric manner, so that we can leave a lasting legacy for future generations."

"Our mining team understands the importance of ensuring safety as a fundamental value at Gratomic. At the same time, they are always looking for ways to improve productivity and yield the results that we need", says Armando Farhate, COO & Head of Graphite Marketing & Sales.

Gratomic wishes to emphasize that no Preliminary Economic Analysis, Preliminary Feasibility Study or Feasibility Study has been completed to support any level of production. In fact, no mineral resources let alone mineral reserves demonstrating economic viability and technical feasibility, have been delineated on the Aukam property.

The Company is working towards completing a Feasibility Study (FS) on the Aukam Processing plant. The study, its recommendations, and their subsequent implementation, will provide conclusions and recommendation at a FS level of comfort relating to the scale up of the existing processing plant to a commercial scale processing facility capable of producing the desired concentrate grades and production rates.

Gratomic wishes to emphasize that the supply of graphite is conditional on Gratomic being able to bring the Aukam project into a production phase, and for any graphite being produced to meet certain technical and mineralization requirements.

Risk Factors

No mineral resources, let alone mineral reserves demonstrating economic viability and technical feasibility, have been delineated on the Aukam Property. The Company is not in a position to demonstrate or disclose any capital and/or operating costs that may be associated with the processing plant until the FS (Feasibility Study) is completed.

The Company advises that it has not based its production decision on even the existence of mineral resources let alone on a Preliminary Feasibility Study or FS of mineral reserves, demonstrating economic and technical viability, and, as a result, there may be an increased uncertainty of achieving any particular level of recovery of minerals or the cost of such recovery, including increased risks associated with developing a commercially mineable deposit.

Historically, such projects have a much higher risk of economic and technical failure. There is no guarantee that production will begin as anticipated or at all or that anticipated production costs will be achieved.

Failure to commence production would have a material adverse impact on the Company's ability to generate revenue and cash flow to fund operations. Failure to achieve the anticipated production costs would have a material adverse impact on the Company's cash flow and future profitability.

About Gratomic

Gratomic is a multinational company with projects in Namibia, Brazil, and Canada. The Company is focused on becoming a leading global graphite supplier and aims to secure a strong position in the EV battery supply chain. With the continued development of its flagship Aukam project and further exploration on the Company's Capim Grosso property, Gratomic sets itself apart by seeking out unique top-quality assets around the world. True to its roots, the Company will continue to explore graphite opportunities displaying potential for development. The Company ranked third place in the top 10 preforming mining stocks on the 2022 TSX Venture 50.

Large quantities of high-quality vein graphite have been shipped for testing to confirm its viability as an anode material. Gratomic is confident that the test results will provide a unique competitive advantage in its desired target markets. The Company will continue to update the public on the status of these tests and will provide results as soon as they become available.

The Company has formed a collaboration agreement with Forge Nano. With its patented ALD coating, this cooperation with Forge Nano is a key element to support Gratomic's strategies towards the value-added phases of production of graphite for anode applications, namely micronization, spheronization and coating, making Gratomic graphite a preferred choice for use in lithium-ion batteries.

For more information: visit the website at www.gratomic.ca or contact:

Arno Brand at abrand@gratomic.ca or (416) 561- 4095

Subscribe at gratomic.ca/contact/ to be added to our email list.

For Marketing and Media information, please email: info@gratomic.ca

"Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release."

Forward Looking Statements:

This news release contains forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Investors are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and, except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and by those made in our filings with SEDAR in Canada (available at www.sedar.com).

SOURCE: Gratomic Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/720009/First-2600-Tonnes-Extracted-at-Aukam-Graphite-Mine-in-Namibia
BURLINGTON, ON / ACCESSWIRE / October 12, 2022 / Murchison Minerals Ltd. ("Murchison" or the "Company") (TSXV:MUR)(OTCQB:MURMF) is pleased to announce results analysed using portable x-ray fluorescence (pXRF) from an additional five diamond drillholes, at the Barre de Fer ("BDF") Zone, as part of the 2022 Summer Exploration Program on the 100% - owned HPM (Haut-Plateau de la Manicouagan) Project, located in Quebec. The holes from today's release focused on expansion and delineation of the known zone of mineralization - designed to support work for the future maiden resource on BDF. The results to date have significantly expanded both the depth and width of the modelled nickel-bearing sulphide mineralization, while further demonstrating the potential for any future development at BDF to be open-pit amenable.

The Company completed a total of 13 diamond drillholes during the diamond drilling Phase of 2022 Summer Program, comprising 4,316 metres. Ten of the thirteen holes were drilled at BDF, with the remaining three being drilled at the Syrah target. Results from the first two holes at BDF were previously released (BDF22-001 and BDF22-002). After today's release the Company has pXRF results pending from six holes - three of which were drilled at BDF. The next release will focus on the remaining holes drilled at BDF which targeted areas along strike of the currently modelled zone of mineralization.

It should be noted that pXRF results provide only an indication of the amount of Ni, Cu, and Co present, certified assaying of the core samples is still required to accurately determine the amount of mineralization (Nickel-Copper-Cobalt). The Company has implemented rigorous QA/QC procedures utilizing a direct rock sampler (Figure 6) to produce reasonably representative preliminary results (see pXRF Sample Procedures and QA/QC below).

Highlights

Drilling intersected semi-massive sulphide mineralization as shallow as 8.50 m in BDF22-003

The results to date (inclusive of BDF22-001 and 002) have successfully expanded the preliminary model, with respect to both depth and width:

Mineralization at depth has now been modelled down to 450 m, versus the preliminary model at 295 m

Mineralization was expanded along the width of the mineralized zone from 150 m to 200 m, with individual lenses now modelled up to 48 m in thickness, compared to the 28 m in the preliminary version

BDF22-003 intersected 3.67 m estimated at 3.74% pXRF NiEq or 11.14% pXRF CuEq (between 24.0 and 27.67 m) and 4.31 m estimated at 2.37% pXRF NiEq or 7.08 CuEq (between 36.69 m and 41.0 m)

BDF22-004 intersected 9.5 m estimate at 0.79% pXRF NiEq or 2.34% pXRF CuEq (between 20.5 and 30.0 m), including 3.5 m estimated at 1.50% pXRF NiEq or 4.48 CuEq

Figure 1: Massive sulphide mineralization in BDF22-003 at 36.69 m to 41.00 m.

Murchison Minerals President and CEO Troy Boisjoli comments:

"Today's results continue to demonstrate the robust fundamentals of the HPM project. At Barre de Fer we continue to intersect near surface, high-grade nickel-copper-cobalt mineralization, that is an indication BDF would be amenable to open pit extraction. When you couple that with results from our prospecting program that discovered multiple new mineralized sulphide showings on surface, it adds to our confidence that we are exploring in an emerging nickel-sulphide district with advanced infrastructure. The HPM project has road, hydroelectric facilities, and rail, all within kilometres of the site and all within the province of Quebec - one of the best mining jurisdictions globally. With the projected deficit in the nickel space, and the lack of viable projects globally - in the development and exploration pipelines - have Murchison well positioned with HPM's great fundamentals, to move the project forward."

Murchison Minerals Vice-President of Exploration John Shmyr comments:

"The results we are receiving from the 2022 Barre de Fer drill campaign are encouraging from the shear scope and scale of the sulphides intersected particularly when paired with grade of the Ni, Cu and Co. The technical team is optimistic and we look forward to advancing BDF towards a maiden resource as the drill results continue to exceed our expectations."

Table 1: BDF22-003, 004, 005, 006 & 007 pXRF Highlighted Results

Hole ? From (m) To (m) Length* (m) pXRF Ni % pXRF Cu % pXRF Co % pXRF NiEq %** pXRF CuEq %** BDF22-003 8.5 14 5.5 0.73 0.34 0.04 0.94 2.8 24 27.67 3.67 2.82 1.87 0.13 3.74 11.14 36.69 41 4.31 1.77 1.26 0.08 2.37 7.08 44.28 49.68 5.4 1.03 0.2 0.04 1.18 3.53 Includes 45.6 47.15 1.55 2.72 0.4 0.09 3.07 9.13 75 79 4 0.46 0.28 0.03 0.63 1.88 Includes 75 76 1 1.16 0.87 0.1 1.68 5 BDF22-004 14.34 16 1.66 1.06 0.66 0.07 1.44 4.29 20.5 30 9.5 0.56 0.52 0.02 0.79 2.34 Includes 23.5 27 3.5 0.97 1.3 0.04 1.5 4.48 BDF22-005 72.5 91.68 19.18 0.3 0.13 0.02 0.39 1.17 96 98 2 0.8 0.14 0.05 0.97 2.9 194.25 209.6 15.35 0.37 0.16 0.02 0.47 1.41 BDF22-006 213 214.95 1.95 1.2 0.25 0.07 1.44 4.29 248.4 251.9 3.5 0.88 0.29 0.04 1.07 3.19 278.51 290 11.49 0.36 0.15 0.01 0.44 1.31 Includes 286.5 289.1 2.6 0.77 0.25 0.05 0.96 2.86 BDF22-007 173.25 177.25 4 0.56 0.34 0.04 0.75 2.25 232.98 233.98 1 0.55 0.31 0.04 0.73 2.18 239.3 240.3 1 1.07 1.32 0.07 1.66 4.95 245.34 248.34 3 0.84 0.23 0.03 0.99 2.96 255.5 275.5 20 0.45 0.23 0.01 0.56 1.67 Includes 260.5 269.5 9 0.61 0.36 0.02 0.77 2.31 291.5 308.5 17 0.42 0.19 0.02 0.52 1.55 377.5 401 23.5 0.41 0.21 0.02 0.51 1.52

* Reported as core length, true thickness is not known. **Nickel Equivalent (NiEq) & Copper Equivalent (CuEq) values were calculated using the following USD metal prices from Oct 7, 2022: $10.145/lb Nickel, $3.4067/lb Copper, and $23.566/lb Cobalt. NiEq.% was calculated using Ni%+((Cu Price/Ni Price) *Cu %)+((Co Price/Ni Price) *Co %). CuEq.% was calculated using Cu%+((Ni Price/Cu Price)* Ni %)+((Co Price/Cu Price)*Co %).

Table 2: Drill Hole Information

Hole Easting UTM* Northing UTM* Elevation (m) Azimuth () Dip () Length (m) BDF22-003 614872 5722814 889 232 -63 251 BDF22-004 614818 5722774 884.6 232 -45 176 BDF22-005 614892 5722930 886 232 -55 351 BDF22-006 614976 5722990 891 223 -65 461 BDF22-007 614976 5722990 891 232 -55 409

*UTM Projected Coordinate System: NAD83 UTM Zone 19N

BDF Mineralization and 2022 Delineation Drillhole Results

The mineralization observed at BDF occurs predominantly as two different types: i) Meter to multi-metre intervals of massive and brecciated sulphide within zones of stringer and disseminated sulphide mineralization, hosted in gabbronorite and peridotite, ii) Disseminated sulphide with lesser stringer to net sulphide, over broad intervals, hosted within an olivine gabbronorite. The sulphide mineralization consists of pyrrhotite with granular pentlandite and stringer chalcopyrite, or as chalcopyrite loops with pentlandite within massive pyrrhotite.

Hole BDF22-003 was drilled to a depth of 251 m and was designed to delineate mineralization between hole DH-2001 and DH-151-02 (Figure 3 & 4) and test the up-dip extension of the lower zone of sulphide mineralization intersected in BDF22-002. The drillhole successfully confirmed the modelled mineralization, intersecting numerous meter scale intervals of massive sulphide hosting high grade Ni-Cu-Co mineralization, delineating the gap between DDH-2001 and DDH-151-02. Furthermore, the hole confirmed the up-dip extension of the footwall mineralization intersected in BDF22-002.

Hole BDF22-004 was drilled to a 176 m, along a fence at the far western extent of the modelled zone of mineralization (Figure 3 & 4). The drillhole was designed to target the up-dip extension of mineralization intersected in DH-2001. BDF22-004 intersected shallow semi-massive to stringer mineralization within a fault zone and proved the continuity of the mineralization to west of the previously modelled zone.

Hole BDF22-005 was drilled to a depth of 351 m, along a fence at the northernmost extent of the modelled zone (Figure 3). The drillhole was designed to delineate mineralization between holes DH-151-06 and DH-2007 (Figure 5). BDF22-005 successfully intersected mineralization at the expected interval within the model, expanding the zone of mineralization along the fence.

Hole BDF22-006 was drilled to a depth of 461 m and was designed to test the down-dip extent of mineralization intersected in DH-151-06. The drillhole successfully intersected mineralization within the expected interval and expanded mineralization down-dip of previous drilling.

Hole BDF22-007 was drilled to a depth of 409 m and was designed to test down-dip extent of mineralization intersected in 151-06, and along strike to the south of BDF22-006. The hole successfully intersected mineralization within the expected interval and expanded mineralization down-dip and along strike of previous drilling.

Figure 2: Close-up of loop pentlandite (light brassy mineral) within massive sulphide mineralization in BDF22-003.

2022 Summer Diamond Drilling

During the 2022 summer exploration program, a total of 13 diamond drill holes were completed, comprising 4,316 metres. This includes ten drillholes at BDF, and an additional three holes at Syrah. The drill core processing has nearly concluded and pXRF results are being determined for the remaining drillholes. Results will be released as soon as the data has been verified. The previously released pXRF results from BDF22-001 and BDF22-002 (See September 8th Release, see September 14th Release and Table 3) demonstrated significant expansion below the currently modeled mineralized domains.

All pXRF analyzed samples have also been submitted to the Saskatchewan Research Council's Geoanalytical Laboratory for commercial certified assaying, results are pending. The Company is expecting final lab assay results in the coming weeks and will release final assay results once the data becomes available. Additionally, the Company is progressing towards establishing a maiden resource on BDF early in 2023.

Table 3: 2022 Drill Campaign pXRF Results to date

Hole ? From (m) To (m) Length* (m) pXRF Ni % pXRF Cu % pXRF Co % pXRF NiEq %** pXRF CuEq %** BDF22-001 89.95 108 18.05 1.58 0.56 0.08 1.95 5.82 Includes 96.5 108 11.5 2.13 0.64 0.1 2.58 7.67 Includes 97.8 105.9 8.1 2.82 0.78 0.13 3.38 10.08 122 132.85 10.85 0.29 0.24 0.02 0.42 1.24 180.5 189 8.5 0.63 0.3 0.03 0.8 2.38 196.5 219.2 22.7 0.2 0.1 0 0.23 0.7 267 336.9 69.9 0.5 0.24 0.04 0.67 2.01 Includes 283.4 299.5 16.1 1.03 0.48 0.08 1.38 4.1 BDF22-002 123.8 245 121.2 1.08 0.59 0.05 1.39 4.15 Includes 134.1 144.2 10.1 2.19 1.02 0.1 2.76 8.23 Includes 152 196 44 1.72 0.84 0.08 2.19 6.52 Including 152 180.8 28.8 2.39 1.18 0.11 3.04 9.06 Including 152.5 173.5 21 2.67 1.48 0.12 3.45 10.26 Including 177.05 180.8 3.75 2.95 0.56 0.14 3.46 10.31 Includes 207.5 218 10.5 1.45 1.05 0.08 1.99 5.92 303.55 357.5 53.95 0.2 0.13 0 0.24 0.73 BDF22-003 8.5 14 5.5 0.73 0.34 0.04 0.94 2.8 24 27.67 3.67 2.82 1.87 0.13 3.74 11.14 36.69 41 4.31 1.77 1.26 0.08 2.37 7.08 44.28 49.68 5.4 1.03 0.2 0.04 1.18 3.53 Includes 45.6 47.15 1.55 2.72 0.4 0.09 3.07 9.13 75 79 4 0.46 0.28 0.03 0.63 1.88 Includes 75 76 1 1.16 0.87 0.1 1.68 5 154 156.5 2.5 0.23 0.09 0.01 0.29 0.86 159.5 162 2.5 0.46 0.13 0.03 0.58 1.71 188.67 189.21 0.54 1 0.35 0.07 1.28 3.82 BDF22-004 14.34 16 1.66 1.06 0.66 0.07 1.44 4.29 20.5 30 9.5 0.56 0.52 0.02 0.79 2.34 Includes 23.5 27 3.5 0.97 1.3 0.04 1.5 4.48 149 152 3 0.17 0.11 0 0.2 0.6 BDF22-005 23.5 31 7.5 0.14 0.08 0 0.16 0.48 39.25 43 3.75 0.24 0.14 0.01 0.31 0.91 72.5 91.68 19.18 0.3 0.13 0.02 0.39 1.17 96 98 2 0.8 0.14 0.05 0.97 2.9 113.37 149.29 35.92 0.22 0.14 0.01 0.29 0.86 169 175 6 0.15 0.1 0 0.19 0.56 194.25 209.6 15.35 0.37 0.16 0.02 0.47 1.41 BDF22-006 136.78 137.82 1.04 0.57 0.16 0.04 0.71 2.12 213 214.95 1.95 1.2 0.25 0.07 1.44 4.29 Includes 213.5 214.5 1 1.86 0.37 0.11 2.24 6.68 248.4 251.9 3.5 0.88 0.29 0.04 1.07 3.19 278.51 290 11.49 0.36 0.15 0.01 0.44 1.31 Includes 286.5 289.1 2.6 0.77 0.25 0.05 0.96 2.86 294.5 305 10.5 0.14 0.08 0 0.17 0.5 BDF22-007 173.25 177.25 4 0.56 0.34 0.04 0.75 2.25 232.98 233.98 1 0.55 0.31 0.04 0.73 2.18 239.3 240.3 1 1.07 1.32 0.07 1.66 4.95 245.34 248.34 3 0.84 0.23 0.03 0.99 2.96 255.5 275.5 20 0.45 0.23 0.01 0.56 1.67 Includes 260.5 269.5 9 0.61 0.36 0.02 0.77 2.31 291.5 308.5 17 0.42 0.19 0.02 0.52 1.55 345.4 347.42 2.02 0.18 0.1 0 0.21 0.63 352 358.23 6.23 0.16 0.1 0 0.19 0.57 377.5 401 23.5 0.41 0.21 0.02 0.51 1.52 52.9 53.4 0.5 0.19 0.08 0 0.22 0.65 118.5 122.5 4 0.46 0.14 0.02 0.55 1.65

* Reported as core length, true thickness is not known. **Nickel Equivalent (NiEq) & Copper Equivalent (CuEq) values were calculated using the following USD metal prices from Oct 7, 2022: $10.145/lb Nickel, $3.4067/lb Copper, and $23.566/lb Cobalt. NiEq.% was calculated using Ni%+((Cu Price/Ni Price) *Cu %)+((Co Price/Ni Price) *Co %). CuEq.% was calculated using Cu%+((Ni Price/Cu Price)* Ni %)+((Co Price/Cu Price)*Co %).

Figure 3: Location map of Barre de Fer looking down, showing drill holes BDF22-001 to BDF22-007

Figure 4: Cross section of the Barre de Fer Zone mineral zone showing the previous model (left) and updated model (right) of the nickel mineralization domains and pXRF results from BDF22-002, BDF22-003, and BDF22-004.

Figure 5: Cross section of the Barre de Fer Zone mineral zone showing the previous model (left) and updated model (right) of the nickel mineralization domains and pXRF results from BDF22-005, BDF22-006, and BDF22-007.

pXRF Sample Procedures and QA/QC

Murchison has implemented a rigorous pXRF sampling and analysis procedure to support the estimation of Ni, Cu and Co concentrations.

In order to collect a homogenous sample, a direct rock sampler (DRS) was utilized for all samples (Figure 6). The DRS consists of a modified angler grinder utilizing a diamond blade in which the rock cuttings are collected within a plastic vial. DRS sampling was undertaken from each core interval that is to be submitted to a commercial laboratory for analyses by total digestion ICP-OES and gold platinum palladium by fire assay. The DRS was used to channel the entire length of each sample with a single pass at a uniform depth of 3 mm and was cut without water. Each channel was cut parallel to core axis; adjacent DRS samples were cut along a uniform plane with consistent relative beta rotation angles to the orientation line, irrespective of the minerals to be intersected. The collected powder is pressed into a small puck with a very thin plastic film overtop and labelled with its unique identifying number. Between each sample all equipment was thoroughly cleaned to prevent cross-contamination. The sample pucks represent a continuous sample across the length of the mineralized intervals. The DRS channel sample collects a limited amount of material for analysis through typically course-grained assemblages of sulphide that can create nugget effects. Where coarse grained material is present, individual pXRF results may be different from the total digestion ICP-OES results. The nugget effect however is buffered by the significant quantity of samples that compose each composite interval since some samples will report low and others high as compared to lab assays.

Each sample puck was analyzed using a Niton XL5 XRF analyzer mounted in a test stand. The samples were analyzed for 90 seconds utilizing 3 element filters, each filter configured for a 30 second analysis. For every 10 samples analyzed, a standard was analyzed consisting of certified reference material that was pressed into a sample puck. Five standards were utilized, and the analyzed standard was selected based on the relative nickel grade of the previous samples in order to analyze a standard with comparable metal grade to the unknown. Multiple blank samples were also prepared by sampling barren quartz hand samples and pressing the material into sample pucks. Regular analysis of the blank material indicates minimal issues regarding sample contamination caused by the diamond blade. Each sample is thus assigned a pXRF Ni, Cu, and Co value which will then be superseded by lab quality assay results when they are received.

Figure 6: Direct rock sampler, sampled core and example sample puck from BDF22-001.

Table 4: - Comparitive Table of Average XRF Results vs Standards

Sample Ni % XRF Ni % Standard Cu % XRF Cu % Expected Co % XRF Co % Expected Oreas 72b 0.72 0.71 0.03 0.02 0 0.01 Oreas 73b 1.51 1.5 0.05 0.04 0.02 0.02

Table 5: - Example XRF analysis of Blank Material

Sample Ni % XRF Cu % XRF Co ppm XRF QTZ 1 <> 0.02 <> QTZ 2 <> 0.05 <> QTZ 3 0.01 0.03 <>

About the HPM Project

The HPM Project is located within the Haut-Plateau de la Manicouagan area, east of the Manicouagan structure, the site of a major 215 Ma impact event. The extensive reservoir at Manicouagan supports five hydro-power plants. The existing Quebec Cartier rail line, located within the HPM Project area, links Labrador City to Port Cartier and Sept Iles, two major iron ore port facilities.

Figure 7: HPM Location Map

The claims host prospective gabbroic, ultramafic and anorthositic bodies within the Manicouagan metamorphic complex and are associated with significant nickel-copper-cobalt sulphide mineralization first identified by Falconbridge in 1999, where they discovered extensive nickel-bearing sulphide mineralization at BDF during drilling in 2001 - 2002. Murchison Minerals Ltd.'s predecessor - Manicouagan Minerals - drilled in the area in 2008 and 2009. The majority of the past drilling at the HPM Project targeted the BDF geophysical conductor and confirmed the presence of nickel-copper-cobalt sulphide mineralization over approximately 300-metres strike length to a depth of 295 metres. The mineralization remains open at depth and partially along strike.

In March of 2022, the Company completed a comprehensive data compilation, verification and modelling program, comprising all previous drill hole data from the BDF Zone. The modelling program consisted of developing a preliminary 3D interpretation of nickel mineralization at BDF. Based on the modelling, the Zone outcrops on surface, extends to a vertical depth of 295 m, has a strike length of 315 m, and is composed of multiple stacked lenses over a maximum footprint width of 150 m. Individual lenses have a maximum thickness of 28 m. During the 2022 Summer Exploration Program, diamond drilling focused on the expansion and delineation of mineralization at BDF. Those results are currently being evaluated and the Preliminary model will be updated as results become available. No resource estimates have been completed on the Zone to date.

After Murchison acquired 100% ownership of the property in 2019, the Company focused exploration work on the camp-scale potential of the region. Aerial EM surveys completed in the spring of 2021 identified more than 50 anomalous conductors. Prospecting crews were able to traverse three (3) of the more than 50 anomalies, and discovered new outcrops of nickel-bearing sulphide mineralization in the process. The prospecting program was followed by an inaugural drill program at the PYC Target area - an EM anomaly with a 1.95-km strike length. Subsequent to the completion of the drill program at PYC, the Company increased its dominant land position in the Haut-Plateau region from 139 km2 to 576 km2. Finally, as a result of the spring 2022 VTEM survey, completed over the remaining 85% of the HPM property area, the Company further increase its land holdings at HPM to 648 km2.

Qualifying Statement

The foregoing scientific and technical disclosures on the HPM Project have been reviewed by John Shmyr, P.Geo., VP Exploration, a registered member of the Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan and current holder of a special authorization with the Ordre des Geologues du Quebec. Mr. Shmyr is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. The Qualified Person has verified the data disclosed in this release, including sampling, analytical and test data underlying the information contained in this release. Mr. Shmyr consents to the inclusion in the announcement of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.

Some data disclosed in this News Release relating to sampling and drilling results is historical in nature. Neither the Company nor a qualified person has yet verified this data and therefore investors should not place undue reliance on such data. In some cases, the data may be unverifiable due to lack of drill core. Mineralization hosted on adjacent and/or nearby and/or geologically similar properties is not necessarily indicative of mineralization hosted on the Company's properties.

About Murchison Minerals Ltd. (TSXV: MUR, OTCQB: MURMF)

Murchison is a Canadian-based exploration company focused on nickel-copper-cobalt exploration at the 100% - owned HPM Project in Quebec and the exploration and development of the 100% - owned Brabant Lake zinc-copper-silver project in north-central Saskatchewan. The Company also holds an option to earn 100% interest in the Barraute VMS exploration project also located in Quebec, north of Val d'Or.

Additional information about Murchison and its exploration projects can be found on the Company's website at www.murchisonminerals.ca . For further information, please contact:

Troy Boisjoli, President and CEO,

Erik H Martin, CFO, or

Justin LaFosse, Director Corporate Development

Tel: (416) 350-3776

info@murchisonminerals.com

CHF Capital Markets

Thomas Do, IR Manager

Tel: (416) 868-1079 x 232

thomas@chfir.com

Forward-Looking Information

The content and grades of any mineral deposits at the Company's properties are conceptual in nature. There has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource on the property and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in any target being delineated as a mineral resource.

Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking information that involves substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties. This forward-looking information is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of the Company, including, but not limited to, the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions, and dependence upon regulatory approvals. FLI herein includes, but is not limited to: future drill results; stakeholder engagement and relationships; parameters and methods used with respect to the assay results; the prospects, if any, of the deposits; future prospects at the deposits; and the significance of exploration activities and results. FLI is designed to help you understand management's current views of its near- and longer-term prospects, and it may not be appropriate for other purposes. FLI by their nature are based on assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such FLI. Although the FLI contained in this press release is based upon what management believes, or believed at the time, to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure shareholders and prospective purchasers of securities of the Company that actual results will be consistent with such FLI, as there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended, and neither the Company nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of any such FLI. Except as required by law, the Company does not undertake, and assumes no obligation, to update or revise any such FLI contained herein to reflect new events or circumstances, except as may be required by law. Unless otherwise noted, this press release has been prepared based on information available as of the date of this press release. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on the FLI or information contained herein. Furthermore, should one or more of the risks, uncertainties or other factors materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in FLI. Assumptions upon which FLI is based, without limitation, include: the ability of exploration activities to accurately predict mineralization; the accuracy of geological modelling; the ability of the Company to complete further exploration activities; the legitimacy of title and property interests in the deposits; the accuracy of key assumptions, parameters or methods used to obtain the assay results; the ability of the Company to obtain required approvals; the results of exploration activities; the evolution of the global economic climate; metal prices; environmental expectations; community and nongovernmental actions; and any impacts of COVID-19 on the deposits, the Company's financial position, the Company's ability to secure required funding, or operations. Risks and uncertainties about the Company's business are more fully discussed in the disclosure materials filed with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada, which are available at www.sedar.com. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: Murchison Minerals Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/720036/Murchison-Expands-BDF-Zone-Intersects-Shallow-High-Grade-Nickel-Sulphide-Mineralization-Including-367-m-Estimated-at-374-pXRF-NiEq-or-1114-pXRF-CuEq
Chinese artist creates incredible drawings of 13 cat species in China using nail gun

People's Daily Online) 14:14, October 12, 2022

Qingchuan, a young Chinese artist, recently completed the last piece of a series of impressive drawings of 13 wild species of the felidae family, generally known as the cat family, living in China, using a pneumatic nail gun and nails, in the hope of raising public awareness of protecting these animals.

Born after 1980 in Beijing, the artist created 13 drawings, each representing one species of the cat family, by shooting nails onto PVC boards with the nail gun, a tool generally used by builders, over eight months since early this year. These species are the tiger, leopard, snow leopard, clouded leopard, lynx, golden cat, leopard cat, fishing cat, Pallas's cat, marbled cat, desert cat, Asiatic wildcat, and jungle cat.

Photo shows drawings of 13 wild species of the cat family created by Qingchun with a pneumatic nail gun and nails. (Photo provided by the interviewee)

"I want to combine a feeling of power and the beauty of natural species by 'painting' with a pneumatic nail gun and integrating my ideas into my artworks to create a marvelous visual effect," the artist said.

Qingchuan explained that she drew inspiration from a Russian artist who used a nail gun to create drawings of animals including a giraffe, elephant and bear.

"Believing that it is a nice art form, I thought that I could use it to create drawings of animals that live in China," the artist said, adding that her idea got encouragement from her teacher Zeng Xiaolian, a famous Chinese botanical illustrator.

"Mr. Zeng who is in his 80s, told me that an artist should not be confined to painting with paintbrushes and papers," she recalled.

Photo shows a drawing featuring a snow leopard created by Qingchun with a pneumatic nail gun and nails. (Photo provided by the interviewee)

As 2022 is the Year of the Tiger according to the Chinese Zodiac, Qingchuan planned to use a nail gun to create a drawing of a tiger. When she collected information about Siberian tigers, she found that China is home to 13 wild species of the cat family.

"People are familiar with the Siberian tiger, but may not have even heard of other species of the cat family. So I decided to create a series of drawings on the theme of the cat family in China to let more people learn about these wild animals and do something for them," she said.

To fully showcase the unique markings of each of the 13 species of the cat family, she researched a great deal of material about them and consulted with experts on the cat family.

According to Qingchuan, her artworks featuring the cat family are different in size, with each piece using about 20,000 to 50,000 nails. She meticulously arranged nails on the boards to form fine lines and delicate shadows to show the animals' fur, stripes, and dots. She also used a hammer to adjust the flatness of the nails.

Photo shows a drawing featuring a North China leopard created by Qingchun with a pneumatic nail gun and nails. (Photo provided by the interviewee)

"I hope to showcase the beauty of species and inspire more people to think about how to co-exist with nature by creating artworks about nature with a pneumatic nail gun," said the artist.

Qingchuan learned traditional Chinese bird-and-flower painting when she was a child, and has developed a habit of observing animals or plants ever since, which has a huge influence on her artistic creations.

However, Qingchuan majored in Chinese language and literature in college and never had a job related to painting after graduation.

In 2014, she began to paint again, focusing on themes including flowers, birds, insects and fish. She later taught herself how to draw with painting materials she had never used before, including colored pencils. In 2017, she became Zeng's apprentice.

In recent years, her artworks have been put on display at exhibitions including the 19th International Botanical Congress Botanical Art Exhibition and the Ultimate Hand-drawing Exhibition on Arts of Nature and Science.

Photo shows a drawing featuring a desert cat created by Qingchun with a pneumatic nail gun and nails. (Photo provided by the interviewee)

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Du Mingming)
CALGARY, AB / ACCESSWIRE / October 12, 2022 / Kestrel Gold Inc. ("Kestrel" or the "Corporation") (TSXV:KGC) is pleased to announce results of the Corporation's 2022 first phase reverse circulation ("RC") drill program completed on the QCM property. The program, comprising 519 metres in eight holes, provided a preliminary test of six of Kestrel's grassroots generative prospecting targets. The QCM property is being explored for near surface, bulk tonnage gold mineralization.

Drill Program Highlights:

Peak program values of 2.39 g/t Au over 21.33 metres were returned from the top of hole 8, with the hole collaring in material grading 0.56 g/t Au over 1.52 metres.

New discoveries of potential significance were encountered in holes 4, 6 and 8.

Gold bearing intervals are hosted by argillite and lesser sandstone of the Takla Group and Cassiar Terrane. Gold bearing intervals typically exhibit carbonate and silica alteration, are cut by variably sized sheeted to stockwork quartz veins and are mineralized with up to 3% pyrite. Mariposite has been noted in some sections.

Table 1: Drill Results

Hole From (m) To (m) Interval (m) Au (g/t) Target Hole Depth (m) QCM22-1 no significant results Adit Zone 60.96 QCM22-2 scattered anomalous values Adit Zone 60.96 QCM22-3 scattered anomalous values 4.3 Vein 64.01 QCM22-4 24.38 60.96 36.58 0.35 Flagstaff NW 60.96 including 42.67 44.19 1.52 3.48 Flagstaff NW QCM22-5 scattered anomalous values Flagstaff SE 60.96 QCM22-6 7.62 18.28 10.66 0.46 Flagstaff SE 85.34 including 7.62 9.14 1.52 1.30 Flagstaff SE QCM22-7 scattered anomalous values Alcove 62.48 QCM22-8 3.05 24.38 21.33 2.39 14 Vein 63.39 including 15.24 16.76 1.52 22.97 14 Vein

True widths of the reported intervals are unknown.

The 22.97 g/t Au value reported for the high-grade interval in Hole 22-8 from 15.24 metres to 16.76 metres represents the average of assay values for the original sample that returned 13.55 g/t Au and a field duplicate for that interval that returned 32.40 g/t Au.

Hole QCM22-4 bottomed in a 1.52 metre interval grading 0.18 g/t Au, suggesting the target may remain open to depth.

Holes QCM22-6 and QCM22-8 collared in 1.52 metre intervals grading 1.30 g/t Au and 0.56 g/t Au respectively.

The relationship between the gold bearing intervals within hole 8 and the targeted surface showings suggest the mineralization has a northeast trend with a slight southeast dip.

Rob Solinger, President and CEO of Kestrel, states: "We are encouraged by the results of this initial drill test of our prospecting targets. Hole 8 that returned 2.39 g/t Au over 21.33 metres collared in mineralization while results from holes 4 and 6 are also compelling. Our pursuit of near surface bulk tonnage gold targets remains on track and we look forward to reporting results from our phase 2 drill program designed to expand upon results from holes 4, 6 and 8 as well as results from last year's work at the QCM Zone where drilling returned up to 0.847 g/t Au over 152.44 metres. We would also like to thank our exploration team who continue to perform high quality cost-effective exploration."

Figure 1: Hole Location Map

Table 2: RC Hole Location Data (coordinates in Zone 10, NAD83)

Hole ID Easting Northing Azimuth Dip Depth (ft) Depth (m) Target QCM22-1 396760 6178117 110 -45 200 60.96 Adit QCM22-2 396760 6178117 20 -45 200 60.96 Adit QCM22-3 396354 6179224 127 -45 210 64.01 4.3 Vein QCM22-4 396545 6175637 37 -45 200 60.96 Flagstaff NW QCM22-5 400069 6173337 17 -50 200 60.96 Flagstaff SE QCM22-6 400060 6173462 310 -50 280 85.34 Flagstaff SE QCM22-7 396900 6178536 0 -45 205 62.48 Alcove QCM22-8 396101 6179269 300 -45 208 63.39 14 Vein

QCM Project Highlights:

Project is comprised of 6,305 hectares covering an approximate 15-kilometre strike length of the Manson Fault Zone which is thought to be a controlling structure for much of the gold mineralization in the district.

Peak values from historical drilling completed within the QCM Zone were found within hole QCM04-002 which returned an interval of 2.86 g/t Au over 110.95 metres, including a high-grade interval of 173 g/t Au over 1.5 metres, true widths unknown.

Numerous showings occur throughout the project area, including Farrell where historical values of up to 1,777 g/t Au and 3,560 g/t Ag have been returned from grab samples of a 3.0-metre wide quartz vein and Flagstaff where historical values of up to 5.9 g/t Au and 1,153 g/t Ag have been reported for grab samples of quartz veins and stockworks.

Recently completed logging has left a legacy of significantly improved access and numerous new bedrock exposures throughout the property.

Quality Assurance/Quality Control and Sampling Procedures

Drilling was completed using a RC drill that cut a 92 millimeter (3.62 inch) in diameter hole. Holes were sampled top to bottom in 1.52 metre (5 foot) intervals. Drill cuttings were captured in a cyclone then riffle split in a three-tiered Jones-type splitter. Samples were sent to ALS Chemex, an independent laboratory in Vancouver B.C. where analytical results were obtained using Au-AA23, a fire assay method for gold, and ME-ICP41 an aqua regia digestion for trace element geochemistry. For QA/QC purposes, standards and field duplicates were inserted into the sample sequence at a rate of approximately one QA/QC sample for every ten samples submitted to the lab. An initial review of the drilling, sampling and assaying procedures did not recognize any factors that would materially affect the accuracy or reliability of the assay data disclosed.

Qualified Person

Derek Torgerson P.Geo., a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release.

About Kestrel Gold

Kestrel Gold Inc. is an exploration company headquartered in western Canada. The Corporation is focused on the Canadian Cordillera, with an emphasis on hardrock targets located in placer gold mining districts. We are also earning a 100% interest in the Fireweed Property, an advanced stage silver rich polymetallic VMS target. Kestrel is listed on the TSX Venture exchange under the symbol KGC. Readers are encouraged to refer to the Corporation's website "www.kestrelgold.com" for further information.

Forward-Looking Statements

The information and statements in this news release contain certain forward-looking information. This forward-looking information relates to future events or the Corporation's future performance including exploration activity that could take place on the Corporation's properties or projects. This forward-looking information is subject to certain risks and uncertainties and may be based on assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking information. The Corporation's forward-looking information is expressly qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement. Except as required by law, the Corporation undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information.

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

For further information contact:

Rob Solinger, President and CEO

Office: (403) 816-2141

Email: rob@kestrelgold.com

SOURCE: Kestrel Gold Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/720006/Kestrels-2022-Phase-1-QCM-Drill-Program-Intersects-239-GT-Au-Over-2133-Metres
SEATTLE (dpa-AFX) - Delta Air Lines (DAL) and Starbucks Coffee Co. (SBUX) announced Wednesday a strategic partnership to offer loyalty programs to their customers. Under the deal, the members of Delta SkyMiles and Starbucks Rewards will be able to use more ways to earn rewards at both companies. Delta is the first U.S. partner of Starbucks' Reward Together program, which was launched earlier this year. The program allows Starbucks Rewards members to link their accounts with some of the world's leading brands' loyalty programs. Starting October 12, U.S. customers who are enrolled in both Delta SkyMiles and Starbucks Rewards loyalty programs can link their accounts by visiting either deltastarbucks.com or starbucksdelta.com. Once the accounts are linked, members will earn one mile per $1 spent on eligible purchases at Starbucks. On days when enrolled members have a scheduled flight with Delta, they will earn double Stars on eligible purchases at participating Starbucks stores. In addition, customers who link their accounts from October 12 to December 31, 2022 will earn 500 miles, and, once they make or have made a qualifying purchase, 150 Stars. The offer is open to currently enrolled members as well as new members of the companies' loyalty programs. Customers can join Starbucks Rewards at starbucks.com/rewards and Delta SkyMiles at delta.com/join-skymiles. Delta SkyMiles is also announcing the addition of Starbucks Stars as a new Choice Benefit for its most loyal-and coffee-loving-members. Diamond and Platinum SkyMiles Members will be able to select 4,000 Stars as one of their annual Choice Benefits in 2024. The companies also noted that Delta passengers on flights departing Seattle on October 12 will receive a 'Star Card' valid for 150 Stars that can be redeemed toward a handcrafted beverage at their next Starbucks visit. Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.


CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The Canadian dollar firmed against its major counterparts in the European session on Wednesday amid rising oil prices, as a leak in a section of the Druzhba oil pipeline that transports oil from Russia to Europe raised supply concerns.



Polish operator PERN said it detected a leak on one of the two lines of the Western section of the pipeline.



The operator said that pumping in the affected line was stopped immediately and the damage could be accidential.



The discovery of the leak intensified concerns about the energy crisis in Europe in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.



Benchmark Brent crude futures rose 0.4 percent to $94.73 a barrel, while WTI crude futures were up 0.2 percent at $89.58.



The loonie rose back to 0.8625 against the aussie, heading to pierce its Asian session's 2-1/2-year high of 0.8624. Should the loonie rises further, it may likely seek resistance around the 0.83 level.



The CAD/JPY pair touched a 6-day high of 106.33. On the upside, 108.5 is likely seen as the next resistance level for the loonie.



The loonie edged up to 1.3759 against the greenback and 1.3361 against the euro, off its early lows of 1.3829 and 1.3422, respectively. Next key resistance for the loonie is seen around 1.33 against the greenback and 1.30 against the euro.



Looking ahead, U.S. producer prices for September will be released in the New York session.



The U.S. Federal Reserve will release the minutes from the September 20-21 policy meeting at 2:00 pm ET.



Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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Red Hat Open Innovation Lab worked with FIWARE Foundation and HOPU-Libelium to develop a more scalable, smart city solution that any city in the world can use to be smarter and more sustainable

Red Hat, Inc., the world's leading provider of open source solutions, today announced collaboration with FIWARE Foundation, a non-profit association that encourages the adoption of open standards for the development of smart solutions, to build an integrated, smart city platform that can enable cities across the world to be more resilient and improve citizens' wellbeing with data. During a six week residency, Red Hat Open Innovation Labs worked jointly with FIWARE Foundation and Human Oriented Products (HOPU), a solution provider member of the FIWARE community, to create an easy-to-deploy, fully scalable, and robust open source enhanced smart city solution powered by FIWARE, running on Red Hat OpenShift.

Globally, cities are facing growing and complex environmental, economic and social challenges that affect the daily lives of their citizens. To address these challenges, city officials and public sector decision makers need eco-smart technology solutions that unleash the power of data to help make the right decisions for both citizens and the environment. Together, FIWARE Foundation, HOPU and Red Hat developed a more scalable, smart city solution that any city in the world can use to be smarter and more sustainable. Processing data collected through HOPU air quality sensors, the smart city platform powered by FIWARE is capable of extracting the insights that help adopt smarter decisions for the wellbeing of citizens. Two cities in Spain-Las Rozas and Cartagena-served as pilot use cases for the implementation of the smart city platform and air quality monitoring base application. Red Hat OpenShift provides the flexibility needed for the smart city platform and base application to deploy on any private or public cloud, improving its scalability and robustness.

Throughout the Open Innovation Lab residency, Red Hat's expert consultants helped FIWARE Foundation and HOPU engineers to gain the skills and adopt the tools and open practices needed to standardize an end-to-end hosting agnostic deployment process and set up a demo environment for the solution. With a goal of improving engineers' productivity, the Open Innovation Lab residency also focused on helping the team to establish a better foundation for collaboration and to map technology and cultural changes to align with their target mission.

Following the Red Hat Open Innovation Lab residency, the FIWARE Community can now expand the smart city platform to different use cases for any city in the world such as traffic, water sampling, noise and pollutants. By improving the deployability and scalability of FIWARE platform technologies, cities can accelerate innovation and transform their communities. FIWARE, currently adopted in over 350 cities globally, will be able to branch out to new markets and improve the adoption of open source standards.

Supporting Quotes

Mike Walker, global head of Open Innovation Labs Transformation Services, Red Hat

"Cities need the right technology to process data to make informed decisions when creating sustainable, efficient and thriving environments for their citizens. The Red Hat Open Innovation Lab residency enabled FIWARE smart city platforms to be easier to deploy and more usable by any city to improve its citizens' quality of life."

Juanjo Hierro, chief technology officer, FIWARE Foundation

"FIWARE is about democratizing the opportunities for cities to be smarter, no matter their size, and for providers to build solutions that are able to reach a larger and global market. Thanks to Red Hat, we go a step further in this democratization, since deployment and operation of smart city platforms and solutions powered by FIWARE is easier than ever. What used to take days, now can be done in a matter of minutes."

Additional Resources

Read more about FIWARE's success story

Explore FIWARE Smart Cities

Learn more about Red Hat Open Innovation Labs

Connect with Red Hat

Learn more about Red Hat

Get more news in the Red Hat newsroom

Read the Red Hat blog

Follow Red Hat on Twitter

Join Red Hat on Facebook

Watch Red Hat videos on YouTube

Follow Red Hat on LinkedIn

About Red Hat, Inc.

Red Hat is the world's leading provider of enterprise open source software solutions, using a community-powered approach to deliver reliable and high-performing Linux, hybrid cloud, container, and Kubernetes technologies. Red Hat helps customers integrate new and existing IT applications, develop cloud-native applications, standardize on our industry-leading operating system, and automate, secure, and manage complex environments. Award-winning support, training, and consulting services make Red Hat a trusted adviser to the Fortune 500. As a strategic partner to cloud providers, system integrators, application vendors, customers, and open source communities, Red Hat can help organizations prepare for the digital future.

Forward-Looking Statements

Except for the historical information and discussions contained herein, statements contained in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are based on the company's current assumptions regarding future business and financial performance. These statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially. Any forward-looking statement in this press release speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Except as required by law, the company assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.

Red Hat, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the Red Hat logo, JBoss, Ansible, Ceph, CloudForms, Gluster and OpenShift are trademarks or registered trademarks of Red Hat, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and other countries. Linux is the registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the U.S. and other countries. The OpenStack Word Mark is either a registered trademark/service mark or trademark/service mark of the OpenStack Foundation, in the United States and other countries, and is used with the OpenStack Foundation's permission. Red Hat is not affiliated with, endorsed or sponsored by the OpenStack Foundation, or the OpenStack community.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221012005058/en/

Contacts:

Media:

Joy Caracciolo

Red Hat, Inc.

+1 (703) 915-5295

jcaracci@redhat.com
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The global scanning electron microscopes market size is expected to reach USD 6.5 billion by 2028, registering a CAGR of 8.52% over the forecast period, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Rising demand for nanotechnology-based research and growing R&D innovation in application areas are anticipated to serve as key growth drivers.





Key Industry Insights & Findings from the report:

Application of SEM in life science is expected to account for a share of 24.77% by 2028 owing to the rising prevalence of chronic diseases leading to increased R&D expenditure and demand for digital microscopes in the fields of life sciences and medicine.

Asia Pacific is expected to witness the fastest CAGR from 2021 to 2028 due to the presence of world-class manufacturers in this region and increasing usage of SEM for elemental analysis and imaging.

is expected to witness the fastest CAGR from 2021 to 2028 due to the presence of world-class manufacturers in this region and increasing usage of SEM for elemental analysis and imaging. Growing demand for advanced SEMs for the range of material research is expected to boost the market growth in Latin America , which is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.6% over the forecast period.

, which is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.6% over the forecast period. Mergers & collaborations and product developments are the key strategies being undertaken by the market players

For instance, in January 2020 , ZEISS and RIKEN Innovation entered into a partnership agreement. The partnership was aimed at expediting bioengineering innovations and bringing change in healthcare.

Browse Life Science Microscopes Industry Data Book - Surgical, In-vitro Fertilization, Super Resolution And Scanning Electron Microscopes Market Size, Share, Trends Analysis And Segment Forecasts, 2022 - 2030

Scanning Electron Microscopes Market Growth & Trends

Rapid growth witnessed in application areas, such as semiconductors, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, and nanotechnology, globally is among the key factors responsible for the significant growth of the SEM market.

Technological advancements in SEM improves the quality control procedures of research laboratories in a wide range of industries, such as semiconductors, automobiles, and pharmaceutical manufacturing. Scanning electron microscopy plays a critical role in the imaging and elemental analysis of products. However, the advanced SEMs offer advantages, such as rapid analysis, compact size, and efficient results with higher resolution and 3D imaging. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to increase the sale of SEMs.

Due to the growing prevalence of communicable diseases, the market is expected to observe substantial growth over the coming years. Market participants are entering into partnerships and collaborations to prove their technical capabilities. For instance, in November 2020, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. partnered with Nanoimaging Services (NIS)-a provider of Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) services. The partnership helped Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. obtain better accessibility to NIS's cryoelectron microscopy (cryoEM) technology for pharmaceutical applications and biotechnology.

Scanning Electron Microscopes Market Segmentation

Grand View Research has segmented the global scanning electron microscopes market on the basis of application and region:

Scanning Electron Microscope Market - Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2016 - 2028)

Material Science

Nanotechnology

Life Science

Semiconductors

Other Applications

Scanning Electron Microscope Market - Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2016 - 2028)

North America

U.S.



Canada

Europe

U.K.



Germany



France



Italy



Spain

Asia Pacific

China



Japan



India

Latin America

Brazil



Mexico

Middle East & Africa (MEA)

& (MEA) South Africa

List of Key Players of Scanning Electron Microscopes Market

Bruker Corp.

Danish Micro Engineering (DME)

Thermo Fisher Scientific

Hitachi High Technologies Corp.

JEOL Ltd.

Leica Microsystems

Nanoscience Instruments, Inc.

Nikon Corp.

Olympus Corp.

Carl Zeiss

Check out more related studies published by Grand View Research:

In-vitro Fertilization Microscopes Market - The global in-vitro fertilization microscopes market size is expected to reach USD 193.2 million by 2030, according to a new report by Grand View Research. The market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 8.4% from 2022 to 2030. The market has witnessed advancements in microscopes and microscope-related equipment for use in in-vitro fertilization.





The global in-vitro fertilization microscopes market size is expected to reach by 2030, according to a new report by Grand View Research. The market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 8.4% from 2022 to 2030. The market has witnessed advancements in microscopes and microscope-related equipment for use in in-vitro fertilization. Surgical Microscopes Market - The global surgical microscopes market size is expected to reach USD 2.9 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 11.37% from 2022 to 2030, based on a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. With the advent of surgical microscopes, it became easier for surgeons to perform such procedures more accurately in less time.





- The global surgical microscopes market size is expected to reach by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 11.37% from 2022 to 2030, based on a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. With the advent of surgical microscopes, it became easier for surgeons to perform such procedures more accurately in less time. Microscope Market - The global microscope market size is expected to reach USD 20.4 billion by 2030, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc., expanding at a CAGR of 7.97% over the forecast period. High demand from the healthcare sector and the rapidly growing semiconductor industry are among the key factors boosting the market growth.

GVR has curated a list of micro markets to provide a holistic view of industry performance. We focus on critical applications and end-use to give all stakeholders a detailed perspective. The data books are available in interactive dashboards and services start at US$ 500 per month.

Browse Micro-Markets & Industry Data Books from Grand View Research

About Grand View Research

Grand View Research, U.S.-based market research and consulting company, provides syndicated as well as customized research reports and consulting services. Registered in California and headquartered in San Francisco, the company comprises over 425 analysts and consultants, adding more than 1200 market research reports to its vast database each year. These reports offer in-depth analysis on 46 industries across 25 major countries worldwide. With the help of an interactive market intelligence platform, Grand View Research Helps Fortune 500 companies and renowned academic institutes understand the global and regional business environment and gauge the opportunities that lie ahead.

Contact:

Sherry James

Corporate Sales Specialist, USA

Grand View Research, Inc.

Phone: 1-415-349-0058

Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519

Email: sales@grandviewresearch.com

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View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/scanning-electron-microscopes-market-to-be-worth-6-5-billion-by-2028-grand-view-research-inc-301647150.html
In-person event to provide high-level discussion and educational sessions for executive leadership at third party administrators (TPAs), brokers, and benefit administrators

ST. LOUIS, MO / ACCESSWIRE / October 12, 2022 / The Health Care Administrators Association (HCAA), a leader in education, networking, resources and advocacy for the self-funding industry, today announced the keynote and general session speaker lineup for its Executive Forum 2023, to be held in-person on Feb. 20-22, 2023 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. The event will bring together self-funding industry executives including third-party administrators, brokers, and benefit administrators as they address the "Power of the Past - Force of the Future."

"HCAA has always been firmly committed to delivering the highest quality content, speakers and conference experience to our members and attendees for each of our events," said HCAA Chief Executive Officer Carol Berry, CSFS. "Following the mid-term elections and coming out of the post-pandemic era, the timing could not be better to focus on the most important issues facing TPAs and our industry."

To kick-off Executive Forum 2023, day one will provide networking opportunities, a reception for first time attendees, as well as a welcome reception for all Executive Forum attendees. Day two will begin with the keynote, "The Future of American Health Care," from Dr. Robert Pearl, Stanford University professor, Forbes contributor, bestselling author and former CEO of The Permanente Medical Group. His session will dissect apart each of the contributing factors toward the current climate of American health care and the opportunities that exist for TPAs. It will also explore the likely policy paths ahead for the nation following the results of the 2022 elections.

In addition to many networking sessions and receptions, Ernie Clevenger, HCAA President, president and CTO of CareHere, LLC and publisher of MyHealthGuide, will emcee the event, introducing an educational lineup of industry expert speakers covering the following general topics:

Will a Market that is Increasingly Value-focused Encourage TPAs to More Closely Partner with Primary Care? - Jerry Beinhauer, MD, co-founder, Apaly Health Inc.; Jordan Taradash, CEO, PeopleOne Health; Steve Kelly, co-founder and chairman of Imagine360. Panel moderated by Brian Klepper, PhD., principal, Work Site Health Advisors.

- Jerry Beinhauer, MD, co-founder, Apaly Health Inc.; Jordan Taradash, CEO, PeopleOne Health; Steve Kelly, co-founder and chairman of Imagine360. Panel moderated by Brian Klepper, PhD., principal, Work Site Health Advisors. Watch out for the Sharks in the Water, They Smell Blood: Avoiding Risky Fiduciary Breaches that could Become Very Costly for you and your Clients - Jamie Greenleaf, managing director/founder, TILT; Julie Selesnick, senior council, Berger Montague; Ryan Woody, shareholder, Matthiesen, Wickert & Lehrer. Panel moderated by Mark Galvin, founder/president and CEO, TALON.

- Jamie Greenleaf, managing director/founder, TILT; Julie Selesnick, senior council, Berger Montague; Ryan Woody, shareholder, Matthiesen, Wickert & Lehrer. Panel moderated by Mark Galvin, founder/president and CEO, TALON. The Potential for Health Care Price Transparency to Reform Health Care - Larry Van Horn, Ph.D, executive director for Health Affairs, director, Center for Health Care Market Innovation Research, Vanderbilt University

Larry Van Horn, Ph.D, executive director for Health Affairs, director, Center for Health Care Market Innovation Research, Vanderbilt University Medical Liberty and Individual Autonomy in Health Care - Jay Kempton, president and CEO, The Kempton Group; Dr. G. Keith Smith, co-founder of The Surgery Center of Oklahoma and Robert Graboyes, PhD.

- Jay Kempton, president and CEO, The Kempton Group; Dr. G. Keith Smith, co-founder of The Surgery Center of Oklahoma and Robert Graboyes, PhD. Differentiating through Innovation, the Paradigm Shift in Employee Health Care: Employer Demand for High Performance and Predictability - Jeffrey Hogan, president, Upside Health Advisors

- Jeffrey Hogan, president, Upside Health Advisors Out of the Wilderness - What's the Path Ahead? - Sal Nuzzo, vice president of policy, The James Madison Institute

- Sal Nuzzo, vice president of policy, The James Madison Institute Hidden Costs and Root Causes of the Mental Health Crisis - Kirti Mutatkar, CEO, UnitedAg and Dr. Rosemary Ku, chief medical officer, UnitedAg

Kirti Mutatkar, CEO, UnitedAg and Dr. Rosemary Ku, chief medical officer, UnitedAg Tribal Marketing - Why Building a Community from the Ground Up is Important - Jono Bacon, author, podcaster and consultant on community strategy

All HCAA members, as well as non-member TPAs, are invited to attend the Executive Forum 2023. For more information on registration, or to view the full schedule of session descriptions and speaker bios, visit the HCAA website.

About HCAA

The HCAA is the premier nonprofit trade association elevating third-party administrators (TPAs) and other stakeholders from across the self-funding industry. Throughout its more than 40-year history, the association has remained committed to improving the quality, sustainability, and value of this essential sector on behalf of its members, while forging a path for tomorrow's health care benefit administrators.

Visit www.hcaa.org or connect with us at @HCAAinfo, HCAA LinkedIn or HCAA YouTube for more information.

Press Contact:

Jennifer Jennings

Anderson Interactive on behalf of HCAA

770.900.5456

jennifer@andersoni.com

SOURCE: Health Care Administrators Association (HCAA)

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/719939/Health-Care-Administrators-Association-HCAA-Announces-Executive-Forum-2023-Sessions-and-Speakers
Spoke on Supply Chain Disruption

PHOENIX, AZ / ACCESSWIRE / October 12, 2022 / American Rare Earths Limited (ASX:ARR)(OTCQB:ARRNF)(FSE:1BHA) (ARR or 'the Company') was honored to participate in the inaugural Financial Times & Nikkei "Investing in America Summit".

Marty Weems, NA President, served on a panel titled "Supply Chain Disruptions and Implications for Foreign Investors". He joined other esteemed panelists including Darcy MacClaren,Laura DiBella, MPE, and Mark Nikolich of Braskem America to discuss supply chain disruption, foreign direct investment (FDI), and the challenges of doing business in the US during the Covid-19 pandemic. Brooke Masters, US investment and industries editor at the Financial Times was the panel moderator.

Weems stated "It was an absolute honor to participate in this inaugural Financial Times-Nikkei summit. This led to very positive conversations with senior leaders of the US Department of Commerce and its SelectUSA program for optimizing support and incentive resources for our projects. Additionally, we enjoyed hearing from senior leaders of companies like Infosys, Mercedes-Benz, ING, and SAP."

Ms. Masters asked the panelists to respond to the obstacles of setting up a company in the US. On the subject of ARR setting up operations in Arizona and Wyoming, Weems commented: "During the early days of Covid-19, just trying to get a bank account setup for a foreign company was difficult. You must be patient yet persistent to find solutions."

Other highlights included a discussion of FDI in the US. Laura DiBella, Deputy Secretary of Commerce at Enterprise Florida, said "Fifty percent of Florida's new business is through FDI. This is because the US is viewed as a risk-averse environment. We had to figure out how we will help these companies. Part of our strategy was to give them certain metrics and expectations by which to gain that support."

On the topic of supply chain disruption, Weems contributed: "We face a similar challenge of the meager talent pool for the rare earths refining industry. While our industry was invented in the US, it was totally offshored. Few in the Western hemisphere know how to work with advanced processing, separation, and purification of rare earths. Mainland China has been the dominant player We are focused on how to develop our domestic talent pipeline."

Concluding the discussion on how the government could support the rare earths industry, Weems said: "We are part of the mining industry. We understand that as far as mining reform, rules are there for a reason and it's important that we all play by the rules. The challenge is when multiple departments at the federal and state levels, are all standing around waiting for someone to move their paper.

Responsible mining regulation keeps us safe. We simply need government to streamline the permitting process, eliminate redundancy and set reasonable time limits on decisions."

American Rare Earths hopes to return to the 2023 FT-Nikkei summit in Miami.

About American Rare Earths

American Rare Earths Limited (ASX:ARR)(OTCQB:ARRNF)(FSE:1BHA) is an Australian company listed on the ASX with assets in the growing rare earth metals sector of the United States of America, emerging as an alternative international supply chain to China's market dominance of a global rare earth market expected to expand to US$20 billion by the mid-2020s. The Company's mission is to supply Critical Materials for Renewable Energy, Green Tech, Electric Vehicles, National Security, and a Carbon-Reduced Future.

Western Rare Earths (WRE) is the wholly owned US subsidiary of the Company. ARR owns 100% of the world-class La Paz Rare Earth Project in AZ, the Halleck Creek Rare Earth Project in WY and the Searchlight Heavy Rare Earth Project in Nevada.

Media Contact

Susan Assadi

susan@americanrareearths.com.au

347 977 7125

SOURCE: American Rare Earths Limited

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/720007/NA-President-of-American-Rare-Earths-Ltd-participated-in-the-Financial-Times-Nikkei-Investing-In-America-Summit
Company's Lead Joint Researcher Professor Peran to Present Latest PRP Research

Propanc Biopharma, Inc. (OTC Pink: PPCB) ("Propanc" or the "Company"), a biopharmaceutical company developing novel cancer treatments for patients suffering from recurring and metastatic cancer, today announced that Mr. James Nathanielsz, Propanc's Chief Executive Officer, will attend the 43rd Meeting of the European Organization of Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), Pharmacology and Molecular Mechanisms (PAMM) group. Professor Peran, Propanc's Lead Joint Researcher, will also be presenting at the annual EORTC-PAMM meeting to be held in Florence, Italy, December 15 17. Topics covered will be innovation and application of pharmacological knowledge to cancer drug discovery and development, with particular regard to innovative and advanced drugs and their mechanisms of action, pharmacometrics and clinical application in oncology. Professor Peran, supported by Mrs. Belen Toledo Cutillas MSc and Mr. Aitor Gonzalez from Professor Peran's laboratory at Jaen University will present findings on the anti-cancer effects of the Company's lead product candidate, PRP, effects on the tumor microenvironment and upscaling of synthetic recombinant protein production for a backup clinical compound for PRP.

The EORTC is a prestigious and globally recognized organization with significant resources and outreach. Mr. Nathanielsz looks forward to attending the 43rd EORTC-PAMM meeting with Jaen and Granada Universities, as part of the Joint Research Collaboration Project. Propanc's goal is to produce a non, toxic, long-term therapy for the treatment and prevention of metastatic cancer from solid tumors by targeting and eradicating cancer stem cells, and as an adjunct therapy to pre-treat resistant tumors.

"Attendance at the EORTC-PAMM meeting provides an exciting opportunity to meet with scientific experts and clinical researchers who are at the cutting edge of cancer drug development, which presents an opportunity to discuss recent scientific discoveries from our PRP, R&D project and its potential clinical applications as a pre-treatment with existing innovative cancer therapies," said Mr. Nathanielsz, Propanc's Chief Executive Officer. "Professor Peran has uncovered how PRP treats and prevents metastatic cancer by targeting and eradicating cancer stem cells via differentiation (turning back), so they become benign and are no longer malignant, without affecting healthy cells. She is also investigating the effects of PRP on the tumor microenvironment, where resistant tumors become susceptible to standard therapies, post treatment with PRP. We are excited to present our research with Professor Peran as we investigate future clinical applications of PRP in controlled human studies."

The EORTC's mission is to increase people's survival and quality of life by testing new therapeutic strategies based on existing drugs, surgery and radiotherapy. The EORTC also helps develop new drugs and approaches in partnership with the pharmaceutical industry and in patients' best interests. The EORTC research network consists of over 5,500 collaborators from all disciplines involved in cancer treatment and research in more than 930 institutions in 27 countries. Its research spans the entire spectrum from translational and preclinical research to large, prospective, multi-center, phase III clinical trials that evaluate new cancer therapies.

Propanc is currently undertaking two joint research and collaboration projects with the Universities of Jaen and Granada. The first project, POP1 (Proenzyme Optimization Project 1) Joint Research and Drug Discovery Program, is designed to produce a back clinical compound to PRP, which is targeting metastatic cancer from solid tumors. The second involves investigating the effects of proenzyme therapy and the impact on the tumor microenvironment, which is key to the development, invasion, metastatic spread and recurrence of solid tumors. This has potential implications for future clinical applications of PRP as a potential pre-treatment for resistant tumors. According to Emergen Research, the global metastatic cancer market is projected to be worth $111 Billion by 2027. Propanc is undertaking these challenging research projects in collaboration with the Universities of Jaen and Granada, led by Professors Peran and Juan Antonio Marchal MD, representing the Universities, respectively, and Dr Kenyon, MD, MB, ChB, Propanc's Chief Scientific Officer.

PRP is a mixture of two proenzymes, trypsinogen and chymotrypsinogen from bovine pancreas administered by intravenous injection. A synergistic ratio of 1:6 inhibits growth of most tumor cells. Examples include kidney, ovarian, breast, brain, prostate, colorectal, lung, liver, uterine and skin cancers.

About the EORTC

As an independent, non-governmental, non-profit cancer research Organization established under the laws of Belgium, its mission is to coordinate and conduct international translational and clinical research to improve the standard of cancer treatment for patients.

EORTC aims ultimately to increase people's survival and quality of life by testing new therapeutic strategies based on existing drugs, surgery, and radiotherapy. EORTC also helps develop new approaches with the pharmaceutical industry and in patients' best interests.

In addition to independence, EORTC is recognized for scientific and methodological rigor bringing robust datasets to doctors and patients for therapeutic improvement. EORTC covers all disciplines to fight against cancer. EORTC research leaves no one behind and addresses all patients, including patients with rare tumors and specific patient populations.

About Professor Macarena Peran

Professor Macarena Peran graduated with a B. S. in Biology and a M.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 1996 from the University of Malaga, Spain. She moved to the Neuroscience Department at Durham University, UK, where she was awarded with a Marie Curie Fellowship and graduated in 2000 with a Ph.D. She moved back to Spain and completed a postdoctoral program in the Faculty of Medicine at Granada University.

In 2005 and 2006 Macarena went to Bath University, UK, and was a short-term postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biology Biochemistry in Professor David Tosh's laboratory, where she first studied the anti-cancer effects of proenzymes in collaboration with Propanc Biopharma Inc. Professor Peran is a Reader in Anatomy, University of Jaen, Spain and belongs to the Institute for Regenerative Medicine and Pathobiology (IBIMER).

About the University of Jaen:

The University of Jaen is among the Top 50 of the best young universities in the world according to THE (Times Higher Education). Likewise, the University of Jaen received the EFQM 500+ European Seal of Excellence, the highest level of recognition awarded by the Excellence in Management Club, as the official representative of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) in Spain. It also stands out in the field of computing, since the University of Jaen is among the 75 best universities in the world, according to Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) 2017.

The University of Jaen is repeatedly in the top 4% of universities worldwide, according to the Ranking Center for World University Rankings (CWUR), which annually collects the thousand best and most valued among the more than 25,000 existing universities. In addition, it is the fourth Spanish university that has obtained the highest score in the ranking of international student satisfaction, published by the STEXX International Studyportals Organization, in its 2016 version.

About Propanc Biopharma, Inc.

Propanc Biopharma, Inc. (the "Company") is developing a novel approach to prevent recurrence and metastasis of solid tumors by using pancreatic proenzymes that target and eradicate cancer stem cells in patients suffering from pancreatic, ovarian and colorectal cancers. For more information, please visit www.propanc.com.

The Company's novel proenzyme therapy is based on the science that enzymes stimulate biological reactions in the body, especially enzymes secreted by the pancreas. These pancreatic enzymes could represent the body's primary defense against cancer.

To view the Company's "Mechanism of Action" video on its anti-cancer lead product candidate, PRP, please click on the following link: http://www.propanc.com/news-media/video

Forward-Looking Statements

All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this press release are "forward-looking statements," which may often, but not always, be identified by the use of such words as "may," "might," "will," "will likely result," "would," "should," "estimate," "plan," "project," "forecast," "intend," "expect," "anticipate," "believe," "seek," "continue," "target" or the negative of such terms or other similar expressions. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. These factors include uncertainties as to the Company's ability to continue as a going concern absent new debt or equity financings; the Company's current reliance on substantial debt financing that it is unable to repay in cash; the Company's ability to successfully remediate material weaknesses in its internal controls; the Company's ability to reach research and development milestones as planned and within proposed budgets; the Company's ability to control costs; the Company's ability to obtain adequate new financing on reasonable terms; the Company's ability to successfully initiate and complete clinical trials and its ability to successful develop PRP, its lead product candidate; the Company's ability to obtain and maintain patent protection; the Company's ability to recruit employees and directors with accounting and finance expertise; the Company's dependence on third parties for services; the Company's dependence on key executives; the impact of government regulations, including FDA regulations; the impact of any future litigation; the availability of capital; changes in economic conditions, competition; and other risks, including, but not limited to, those described in the Company's periodic reports that are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and available on its website at http://www.sec.gov. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof and the Company disclaims any obligations to update these statements except as may be required by law.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221012005513/en/

Contacts:

Investor Relations and Media:

Mr. James Nathanielsz

Propanc Biopharma, Inc.

irteam@propanc.com

+61-3-9882-0780
Hughes & Coleman Injury Lawyers Has Recovered Over $1 Billion for Clients in Kentucky and Tennessee

NASHVILLE, TN / ACCESSWIRE / October 12, 2022 / Big trucks are responsible for 9% of all vehicles involved in fatal crashes, according to the National Safety Council, meaning there is a chance you or a loved one could one day be injured in a big truck wreck. While that thought alone is alarming, the logistics can be even more frightening due to the complex legal and insurance teams who back big truck companies. Hughes & Coleman Injury Lawyers has extensive experience helping clients navigate these big truck corporations, so clients receive the money the most money possible after being injured in a big truck wreck.

Being involved in a big truck wreck that causes injuries can affect the driver, passengers, and even their loved ones. Big trucks are defined as any Class 4 through Class 8 medium duty or heavy duty truck weighing more than 10,000 pounds. Examples of big trucks include semi-trailers, box trucks, and construction trucks. Some common types of big truck wrecks include rollovers, rear-end collisions, head-on collisions, or jackknife accidents, when the front of a semi and the trailer start moving in different directions resulting in the vehicle forming a 90-degree angle.

Should you be involved in wreck with a big truck, report the accident immediately to the police, make your insurance agent aware, and carefully review your policy to understand your coverage. Seek emergency care and document your injuries to the investigating officer, as well as any doctors, hospitals, and emergency rooms where you seek treatment. These accidents can be particularly devastating given the size discrepancies in big trucks versus passenger vehicles. Hiring an experienced personal injury lawyer who helps injured victims of big truck accidents for a living is essential to receiving justice. For more information, watch our video, Semi-Tractor Trailor Accidents Cause Serious Injuries.

The Hughes & Coleman Injury Lawyers team can help organize important information, such as medical bills, and manage settlement negotiations. They also handle any complications that may arise from insurance companies or legal teams that work with big truck corporations. Recovering from a serious injury can be a long and difficult process. Hiring an injury lawyer ensures a client can focus solely on healing. Call an injury lawyer immediately following a big truck accident to achieve the best case results possible and the rightful compensation.

Hughes & Coleman has attorneys with extensive experience in personal injury law. Their lawyers put decades of experience to work to help Kentucky and Tennessee residents who have experienced severe injuries from auto accidents, big truck wrecks, motorcycle accidents, boating accidents, and many other types of accidents. By handling correspondence with insurance adjusters, Hughes & Coleman can increase the value of their cases so that clients get the most money possible. For decades, their legal team has provided high-quality legal advice and has successfully represented thousands of individuals recovering more than $1 billion for its clients in Kentucky and Tennessee.

Hughes & Coleman Injury Lawyers provides individualized and compassionate service to injured people and their families. They recognize that clients are going through a difficult time seeking an attorney and that working with a trustworthy legal team is essential. Hughes & Coleman lawyers take the time to explain legal options to clients, provide them with guidance, and answer any questions they may have. They also make it a point to inform clients at every stage of their injury claim, so they don't feel lost or alone.

For more information on how Hughes & Coleman can help with a free personal injury case consultation, visit https://bit.ly/3ShsDYl.

To learn more about Hughes & Coleman Injury Lawyers, visit https://www.hughesandcoleman.com/nashville-truck-accident-lawyers/. For more information on how Hughes and Coleman can assist when legal action is necessary, visit https://www.hughesandcoleman.com/.

About Hughes & Coleman:

Hughes & Coleman was founded in 1985 and has recovered over a billion dollars for our clients in Kentucky and Tennessee injured from auto accidents, big truck wrecks, motorcycle accidents, defective medical products, nursing home abuse, slip and fall accidents, and wrongful death. Hughes & Coleman believes that Control Starts With A Call. Hughes & Coleman operates 10 offices in Kentucky and Tennessee.

Contact:

Lora Fisher, Brand Development Director

270-782-6003 ext. 147

lfisher@hughesandcoleman.com

SOURCE: Hughes & Coleman

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/719053/The-Importance-of-Hiring-a-Personal-Injury-Lawyer-After-a-Big-Truck-Wreck-to-Ensure-You-Get-the-Money-Youre-Entitled-To
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 12, 2022) - The BC Bud Corporation (CSE: BCBC) (OTCQB: BCBCF) ("The BC Bud Co" or the "Company"), a house of high-quality cannabis brands based out of British Columbia, Canada, is pleased to announce the launch of its two live resin vape cartridges into one of the largest cannabis markets in Canada - Alberta. This marks the 6th province that carries The BC Bud Co's products.

"Entering Alberta, the third largest cannabis market in Canada, is key to The BC Bud Co's growth. Over time, we aim to bring additional products from our portfolio to the consumers of Alberta and let them experience the heritage and quality The BC Bud Co is known for," remarked Josh Taylor, President.

About The BC Bud Co

The BC Bud Co is a house of brands created by industry professionals who are passionate about the user experience and the ever-changing consumer experience. Founder-led and based in British Columbia; we take the heritage of BC Bud seriously.

Investor Relations

Phone: 1-(778)-656-0377

Email: invest@thebcbc.com

Web: www.thebcbc.com

Disclaimer

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements included in this press release constitute forward-looking information or statements (collectively, "forward-looking statements"), including those identified by the expressions "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "may", "should" and similar expressions to the extent they relate to the Company or its management. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts but reflect current expectations regarding future results or events. This press release contains forward looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and various estimates, factors and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors.

Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions which are difficult to predict. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include failure to obtain regulatory approval, the continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions, including the effects of COVID-19. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. These statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those implied by such statements. Although such statements are based on management's reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that the statements will prove to be accurate or that management's expectations or estimates of future developments, circumstances or results will materialize. The Company assumes no responsibility to update or revise forward-looking information to reflect new events or circumstances unless required by law. Readers should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE") nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/140167
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 12, 2022) - Dynasty Gold Corp. (TSXV: DYG) (FSE: D5G1) (OTC Pink: DGDCF) ("Dynasty" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that George Downing Estate Drilling Ltd. has mobilized a drill rig onto the Thundercloud gold property and the Dynasty's technical team has also arrived at Thundercloud for final preparations to drill. Drilling will start as soon as the drill pad is completed and all necessary equipment is in place.

The first phase of drilling at the Pelham Zone should expand the currently estimated 182,000 oz gold resource as defined in a NI43-101 report based on mineralization occurring in altered volcanics, clastic sediments and locally gabbro. Approximately 9 holes totaling about 3000 meters have been designed for possible drilling. Initially, approximately 1000 meters is expected to be completed prior to the end of October 2022 with follow up drilling planned for later in the year.

About Dynasty Gold Corp.

Dynasty Gold Corp. is a Canadian exploration company currently focused on gold exploration in North America with projects located in the Manitou-Stormy Lake greenstone belt in Ontario and in the Midas gold camp in Nevada. The Company is currently advancing its Thundercloud gold deposit which contains 182,000 oz gold. The 43-101 Mineral Resource report and related press release with details on the resource are available on the Company's website and were filed on www.sedar.com. The 100% owned Golden Repeat gold project in the Midas gold camp in Elko County, Nevada, is surrounded by a number of large-scale operating mines. In addition, Dynasty owns a 70% interest in the Hatu Qi2 gold mine in the Tien Shan Gold belt, Xinjiang, China, with which it is in legal dispute with Xinjiang Non-Ferrous Industrial Metals Group and its subsidiary Western Region Gold Co. Ltd. For more information, please visit the Company's website www.dynastygoldcorp.com.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DYNASTY GOLD CORP.

"Ivy Chong"

_________________________________

Ivy Chong, President & CEO

For additional information please contact:

Vancouver Office:

Ivy Chong

Phone: 604.633.2100. Email: ichong@dynastygoldcorp.com

This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/140246
Seven tenements granted in the highly prospective southern Peruvian Copper belt, southeast of world class Toquepala Au/Ag/Cu/Mo Porphyry Mine.





Solis' new Cinto Project straddles the regional scale Incapuquio Fault system, and is interpreted to be similar rocks that host Toquepala, 15km to the northwest.





Worldview-3 remote sensing data and alteration interpretation being completed over key Solis' Peruvian projects - indentifying new drill targets at Ilo Este.





Field check of highlighted anomalies and detailed geological mapping to commence immediately in preparation for drill testing.

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 12, 2022) - Solis Minerals Ltd. (ASX: SLM) (TSXV: SLMN) (FSE: 08W) ("Solis Minerals" or "the Company") is excited to announce it has received confirmation of grants for a series of largely contiguous tenements totalling 3,200ha in the highly prospective southern Peruvian Copper belt, located some 15km to the southeast of the world class Toquepala Au/Ag/Cu/Mo Porphyry Mine (Figure 1 and Appendix 1). The new project will be called the Cinto Project.

The Company has completed the initial compilation of available geological and other data sets over the area, including the acquisition of new remote-sensing satellite data (comprising the Worldview-3[1] platform, amongst others) covering Cinto and Solis' other Peruvian copper projects. Specialist consultant interpretation of this new satellite data has highlighted several priority zones of favourable alteration - particularly at Ilo Este- which has never been tested. Field geological teams will mobilise shortly to undertake detailed field checking, mapping and systematic sampling of the highlighted alteration anomalies in preparation for drill testing. Detailed Worldview-3 data has been acquired over Cinto and is being processed.

CEO Jason Cubitt commented:

"This is an exciting development for Solis shareholders as the Cinto Project offers an opportunity to be the first exploration company to use modern exploration techniques on a staked area, located near one of Peru's largest copper producers, Toquepala mine[2]. With the same major structural controls, and similar rock type and age to Toquepala (57 Ma - 57 million years), we intend to advance this project to a drill-ready stage and offer Solis shareholders exposure to another world-class target in Peru's Southwest copper belt. The Company remains fully funded for this year's field season."





Figure 1: Cinto Project - Regional geology and Project location

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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Cinto Copper Project

The northern permits are underlain by igneous rocks of the Cretaceous Toquepala Group and the late Cretaceous-early Tertiary batholith related to the Toquepala porphyry mine some 15km to the northwest.

The regional Incapuquio fault crosses the permits and the underlying igneous rocks are covered by recent sediments, generally south of the fault and increasing in thickness to the southwest.

Several zones of hydrothermal alteration in the concessions are noted in published geological maps. The Company has recently acquired Worldview-3 satellite imagery to assist in rapid delineation of priority areas which will be followed up with geological mapping and rock sampling. The satellite data is currently being processed. Potential drill target identification would initiate permit applications for first-pass drill programs.

Ilo Este Copper Project

The Ilo Este (east) Project comprises four contiguous tenements covering an area of approximately 3,200ha (Figure 2). They are located about 110km northwest of the town of Tacna (Appendix 1).





Figure 2: Ilo Este Project - Tenure and Project location

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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Exploration undertaken by previous owners at Ilo Este included 12 reverse circulation (RC) drill holes (2000) and 12 diamond drill holes (2014-16), which were successful in identifying copper-gold mineralisation and interpreted to be part of a Cu-Au porphyry system. Mineralisation is differentiated into two types:

1) Oxide zone - green copper oxide minerals (brocanite, atacamite, malachite, neocite, hematite and manganese oxides) with carbonate staining that occurs across both the southern and northern intrusion belts and occurring to depths of approximately 80m.

2) Hypogene mineralisation - copper sulphides (chalcopyrite-bornite-pyrite) occur as disseminations, in fractures and within quartz veins that occur as a random stockwork within porphyritic granodiorite and porphyritic quartz diorite of the northern intrusive belt.

Although it is thought that the parts of llo Este porphyry system may have been deeply eroded down to the potassic zone, there remains the potential to discover higher grade mineralisation in areas of the porphyry that have been less eroded as well as a lower-grade orebody within the remnants of the porphyry. There is also potential for the intrusive belts to continue under cover to the south and east and to have been offset by a major fault (the Chololo Fault) striking to the northeast that could have offset the upper portion of the porphyry. This upper part could potentially host a higher grade phyllic zone of mineralisation.





Figure 3: Map of the Ilo Este Copper Project showing geological mapping, geochemical surface sampling and drill hole collars and traces. (Source: Latin Resources Limited ASX release dated 3 February 2015; Copper Mineralisation Confirmed over 1.1km of Strike at Ilo Este Copper Porphyry)

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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The Company has recently undertaken Worldview-3 satellite imagery studies and is interpreting the data. Based on initial results indicating untested alteration, it is envisaged that further areas for exploration north of the Chololo fault (Figure 4) will be subject to geological ground mapping, rock sampling, and renewed alteration domain interpretation. South of the Chololo fault, in areas of recent geological cover, a ground magnetic geophysical survey will be undertaken in areas viewed to contain favourable underlying structural architecture to host porphyry-style intrusives. These programs, combined with data from previous drilling, will allow drill planning to proceed in the coming months and permitting to be initiated.





Figure 4: Ilo Este map of simplified geology: Blue - Jurassic intrusives/volcanics, Red - Cretaceous Batholith, Stippled - Tertiary cover, Green - Quaternary cover

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Ilo Norte Copper Project

The Ilo Norte Project area (Figure 5) consists of eight Mining Concessions covering a total area of 7,700ha approximately 20km northeast from the Pacific coastal town of Ilo, in the Ilo Province, Department of Moquegua of Sothern Peru (Appendix 1).





Figure 5: Ilo Norte Project - Tenure and Project location

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The geology of the llo Norte Project area consists of andesitic pyroclastics, andesitic volcanics belonging to the Chocolate Formation and younger Quaternary cover sediments (Figure 6 and Appendix 1).

Exploration undertaken by previous owners at Ilo Norte included eight RC holes (2011) and 16 diamond holes (2014). Mineralisation encountered at llo Norte is interpreted to be part of an IOCG-type deposit contained within the highly altered andesitic volcaniclastics of the Chocolate Formation. Contact metamorphism and metasomatism have produced at least five phases of widespread development of mostly lentiform economic mineral assemblages including copper, gold, silver, zinc and minor cobalt.





Figure 6: Ilo Norte Project (western part) -Project geology and historical drill collar locations: (Source: NI43-101 Technical Report: Ilo Norte and Ilo Este projects, Griffin 2017). Notes: Orange hashed area indicates potential skarn alteration zone. Red stippled area represents silica-albite alteration

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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The Company is planning to acquire Worldview-3 satellite data at Ilo Norte in the coming months when climatic conditions are more favourable. This will augment the planning of the exploration programs which will be principally based around extending ground magnetics surveys over cover, and IP surveys where geological and access condition allow in the west of the area. This data, combined with previous drill results and structural interpretation, is expected to assist planning of future drilling.

Proposed Work Program

Cinto: Process Worldview-3 data, identify zones of interest. Mapping, prospecting leading to identification of potential drill targets. Initiate drill permitting leading to potential drill programs.

Ilo Este: Follow-up field visits to newly identified alteration areas. Mapping and prospecting leading to identification of potential drill targets (0-3 months). Follow-up south of regional fault with ground mag survey for additional targets. Initiate drill permitting leading to potential drill programs in 2023.

Ilo Norte: Acquire Worldview-3 satellite imagery (0-3 months). Follow-up with field visits. Complete IP and ground mag surveys where practical. Initiate drill permitting leading to potential drill programs in 2023.

About Solis Minerals Ltd.

Solis Minerals is a Latin American battery mineral-focused mining exploration company. The Company holds a 100% interest in a package of highly prospective IOCG (iron oxide copper/gold) and porphyry copper projects in southwestern Peru within the country's prolific coastal copper belt - a source of nearly half of Peru's copper production.

Issued on the directive of the Solis board.

For further information please contact:

Jason Cubitt

President and CEO

Solis Minerals Ltd.

+1 (604) 209 1658

Stephen Moloney

Investor Relations

Corporate Storytime

+61 (0)403 222 052

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as the term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy of accuracy of this news release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Readers are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected including, but not limited to, market conditions, availability of financing, actual results of the Company's exploration and other activities, environmental risks, future metal prices, operating risks, accidents, labour issues, delays in obtaining governmental approvals and permits, and other risks in the mining industry. All the forward-looking statements made in this news release are qualified by these cautionary statements and those in our continuous disclosure filings available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances save as required by applicable law.

Qualified Person Statement

The technical information in this news release was reviewed by Fred Tejada, P.Geo, a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101).

Competent Person Statement

The information in this ASX release in relation to Geological Information and Exploration Results is based on and fairly represent information compiled by Mr Anthony Greenaway, a Competent Person who is a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr Greenaway is an employee of Solis Minerals Ltd. and has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and types of deposit under consideration and to the exploration activities undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the "Australian Code for Reporting of Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves". Mr Greenaway consents to the inclusion in this report of the matters based on information in the form and context in which it appears. Mr Greenaway has provided his prior written consent as to the form and context in which the Geological Information and Exploration Results and supporting information are presented in this Announcement.

All information relating to exploration results that have been previously released to the market is appropriately referenced in this document.

APPENDIX 1

Solis Minerals Limited Peruvian Project Location Map.





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APPENDIX 2

JORC Code, 2012 Edition - Table 1

Section 1 Sampling Techniques and Data

(Criteria in this section apply to all succeeding sections)

Criteria JORC Code explanation Commentary Sampling techniques Nature and quality of sampling (e.g. cut channels, random chips, or specific specialised industry standard measurement tools appropriate to the minerals under investigation, such as down hole gamma sondes, or handheld XRF instruments, etc). These examples should not be taken as limiting the broad meaning of sampling.

Include reference to measures taken to ensure sample representivity and the appropriate calibration of any measurement tools or systems used.

Aspects of the determination of mineralisation that are Material to the Public Report.

In cases where 'industry standard' work has been done this would be relatively simple (e.g. 'reverse circulation drilling was used to obtain 1 m samples from which 3 kg was pulverised to produce a 30 g charge for fire assay'). In other cases more explanation may be required, such as where there is coarse gold that has inherent sampling problems. Unusual commodities or mineralisation types (e.g. submarine nodules) may warrant disclosure of detailed information. Sampling across the Ilo Este and Ilo Norte projects has included rock chip sampling from trenches, and rock outcrops, and reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drilling. There is no record of previous exploration at the Cinto Project.

There is no detailed record of how outcrop or trench chip sampling was completed or the size of the samples.

RC drilling was completed by Peruvian Latin Resources at Ilo Norte (8 holes for 2,690m completed in 2011) and Rio Tinto at Ilo Este (12 holes for 2,128m completed in 2000).

Apart from collar locations there are no other records available for the Rio Tinto drilling.

The RC holes completed by Peruvian Latin Resources had 1,345 samples collected over 2m intervals.

Diamond drilling was completed by Peruvian Latin Resources at Ilo Este (3 holes for 2,073m completed in 2014-15) and Compania Minera Zahena SAC at both Ilo Norte (16 holes for 12,658 m completed in 2014) and Ilo Este (9 holes for 5,322m completed in 2015-16).

Diamond core was sampled nominally on 2m (Peruvian Latin Resources) or 3m (Compania Minera Zahena SAC) intervals. Drilling techniques Drill type (e.g. core, reverse circulation, open-hole hammer, rotary air blast, auger, Bangka, sonic, etc) and details (e.g. core diameter, triple or standard tube, depth of diamond tails, face-sampling bit or other type, whether core is oriented and if so, by what method, etc). Reverse circulation samples were collected from a rig-mounted cyclone in large plastic bags before being split down to a 4-5kg sample using a 2-tier riffle splitter and then placed into calico bags for despatch to the lab. There is no record of the bit type used for either of the RC drilling programs but the hole completed by Peruvian Latin Resources used 5 inch bit.

Diamond drill holes completed by Peruvian Latin Resources at Ilo Este were initially drilled as PQ size (85mm core diameter) to depths varying between 87-109m and were then drilled at HQ size (63.5mm core diameter) until the end of hole. All the holes were completed using a standard tube.

Diamond drill holes completed by Compania Minera Zahena SAC at Ilo Este were drilled as HQ size (63.5mm core diameter) until the end of hole. All the holes were completed using a standard tube.

Diamond drill holes completed by Compania Minera Zahena SAC at Ilo Norte were drilled using a combination of HQ size (63.5mm core diameter), NQ (core diameter 47.6mm) and in one drill hole BQ (core diameter 36.5mm) for the last 88m. All the holes were completed using a standard tube. Drill sample recovery Method of recording and assessing core and chip sample recoveries and results assessed.

Measures taken to maximise sample recovery and ensure representative nature of the samples.

Whether a relationship exists between sample recovery and grade and whether sample bias may have occurred due to preferential loss/gain of fine/coarse material. RC sample recovery was assessed visually and from sample weights recorded at the laboratory.

Core barrel length and core length measurements were made so that core recoveries could be estimated. Recoveries were good and no significant core loss was experienced. Logging Whether core and chip samples have been geologically and geotechnically logged to a level of detail to support appropriate Mineral Resource estimation, mining studies and metallurgical studies.

Whether logging is qualitative or quantitative in nature. Core (or costean, channel, etc) photography.

The total length and percentage of the relevant intersections logged. The RC drill holes completed by Peruvian Latin Resources were qualitatively logged for lithology, alteration, and mineralisation.

All of the diamond drill core was qualitatively logged for lithology, alteration and mineralisation which has been inspected qualitatively. No geotechnical logging was performed. Photographs were taken of all the core in sample boxes. Sub-sampling techniques and sample preparation If core, whether cut or sawn and whether quarter, half or all core taken.

If non-core, whether riffled, tube sampled, rotary split, etc and whether sampled wet or dry.

For all sample types, the nature, quality and appropriateness of the sample preparation technique.

Quality control procedures adopted for all sub-sampling stages to maximise representivity of samples.

Measures taken to ensure that the sampling is representative of the in-situ material collected, including for instance results for field duplicate/second-half sampling.

Whether sample sizes are appropriate to the grain size of the material being sampled. RC samples were collected from a rig-mounted cyclone in large plastic bags before being split down to a 4-5kg sample using a 2-tier riffle splitter. The splitter was cleaned with compressed air between each sample. All the samples were recorded as dry.

Diamond core was sampled by company technicians under supervision of company geologists using a diamond saw to cut along the axis of the core taking care to representively split any visible mineralisation. Half core samples over two or three-metre intervals were bagged for dispatch to SGS laboratories in Peru. (SGS del Peru S.A.C laboratory in Arequipa for sample preparation and then to the SGS laboratory in Lima for analysis).

Laboratory sample preparation consisted of weighing the samples upon receipt, crushing the samples so 70% <2 mm, splitting off approximately 1,000g of sample and then pulverising the coarse split to 85% passing 75.

Laboratory sample preparation for diamond drill samples consisted of jaw crushing the samples to a 1/4 inch and then riffle split to obtain 200-250g for pulverising.

Blanks and field duplicates were inserted at a rate of approximately 1 in 40 to 1 in 50 samples each and certified reference standards were inserted approximately 1 in 20. Laboratory duplicates were also undertaken approximately 1 in 40 samples. Quality of assay data and laboratory tests The nature, quality and appropriateness of the assaying and laboratory procedures used and whether the technique is considered partial or total.

For geophysical tools, spectrometers, handheld XRF instruments, etc, the parameters used in determining the analysis including instrument make and model, reading times, calibrations factors applied and their derivation, etc.

Nature of quality control procedures adopted (e.g. standards, blanks, duplicates, external laboratory checks) and whether acceptable levels of accuracy (i.e. lack of bias) and precision have been established. RC samples were assayed for 22 elements using an X-ray florescence assay technique (ME-XRF).

Gold was assayed in diamond drill holes using a 30g fire assay, which is considered a total assay technique.

Copper and 35 other elements were assayed in diamond drill holes using ICP-AES following a 4-acid digest and is considered total for Cu and Zn. This method is considered suitable for Cu and other base metals considering the matrix minerals present in the deposit.

Analytical techniques and procedures are appropriate for the style of mineralisation.

Blanks and field duplicates were inserted at a rate of approximately 1 in 40 samples each and certified reference standards were inserted approximately 1 in 20. Laboratory duplicates were also undertaken approximately 1 in 40 samples. Verification of sampling and assaying The verification of significant intersections by either independent or alternative company personnel.

The use of twinned holes.

Documentation of primary data, data entry procedures, data verification, data storage (physical and electronic) protocols.

Discuss any adjustment to assay data. There has been no verification of significant intersections by either independent or alternative company personnel.

There have been no twin drill holes completed.

There have been no adjustments made to the assay data.

Sample data recorded in the field was entered into Excel spreadsheets and verified and cross checked against assay reports from the laboratory.

Logging data was entered into Excel spreadsheets and subsequently cross checked against hand drawn summary logs.

All data is stored electronically in a company server-based file system with regular offsite back-ups. Location of data points Accuracy and quality of surveys used to locate drill holes (collar and down-hole surveys), trenches, mine workings and other locations used in Mineral Resource estimation.

Specification of the grid system used.

Quality and adequacy of topographic control. Drill holes completed by Peruvian Latin Resources had collar surveys completed using a hand help GPS unit. Down hole surveys were not undertaken.

The diamond drill holes completed by Compania Minera Zahena S.A.C. had drill hole collars surveyed with a handheld GARMIN GPS (Model GPSMAP 64s) and downhole surveys completed every 50-100 m with a Ranger Survey Systems FlexIT survey tool.

Data has been collected in UTM zone 19S coordinates.

The Ilo topography is a 1:5,000 scale Digital Terrain Model generated from digital restitution of ortho-rectified 1:20,000 scale aerial photography and associated ground controls. The accuracy is considered adequate for the current early phase of exploration at each project. Data spacing and distribution Data spacing for reporting of Exploration Results.

Whether the data spacing and distribution is sufficient to establish the degree of geological and grade continuity appropriate for the Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve estimation procedure(s) and classifications applied.

Whether sample compositing has been applied. Drilling at both deposits has been completed on an irregular grid and at varying orientations.

Given the mineralisation is structurally controlled and/or discreet this current drill spacing is too wide to interpret continuity between drill holes.

Sample compositing has not been applied. Orientation of data in relation to geological structure Whether the orientation of sampling achieves unbiased sampling of possible structures and the extent to which this is known, considering the deposit type.

If the relationship between the drilling orientation and the orientation of key mineralised structures is considered to have introduced a sampling bias, this should be assessed and reported if material. Due to the wide spaced drilling and variable nature of the mineralisation at each deposit the relationship between the sample length and the true thicknesses of the mineralisation is currently unknown. Sample security The measures taken to ensure sample security. Company representatives completed the despatch and transport of samples to Lima in numbered and locked containers. At no time were the samples accessed by third party personnel.

Diamond drill core is stored in a warehouse at the llo East project. Coarse rejects and sample pulps were initially stored at the SGS Laboratory warehouse before being returned to Peruvian Latin Resources Audits or reviews The results of any audits or reviews of sampling techniques and data. There have been no detailed audits or reviews of the historical or recent sampling techniques.

Solis Minerals has conducted an internal technical review of the historical Ilo Project data.

Section 2 Reporting of Exploration Results

(Criteria listed in the preceding section also apply to this section)

Criteria JORC Code explanation Commentary Mineral tenement and land tenure status Type, reference name/number, location and ownership including agreements or material issues with third parties such as joint ventures, partnerships, overriding royalties, native title interests, historical sites, wilderness or national park and environmental settings.

The security of the tenure held at the time of reporting along with any known impediments to obtaining a licence to operate in the area. The Ilo Norte Project area consists of eight Mining Concessions covering a total area of 7,700ha and the Ilo Este Project area consists of four Mining Concessions covering a total area of 3,200ha. The twelve Mining Concessions are 100% owned by Westminster Peru S.A.C, a subsidiary pf Solis Minerals Ltd.

The Cinto Project Area consists of eight granted Mining Concessions covering a total of 3,200ha, owned 100% by Solis Minerals Ltd. Exploration done by other parties Acknowledgment and appraisal of exploration by other parties. Ilo Norte Southern Peru Copper Company carried out mapping and sampling of the broad Ilo area in 2000.

Teck Resources Ltd flew airborne magnetic and radiometric surveys and completed stream and rock chip sampling surveys (11,395 samples) over the broad Ilo area in 2003.

Peruvian Latin Resources completed a ground magnetic survey over llo Norte in 2009, a ground gravimetric survey over llo Norte in 2010, geological mapping and rock chip sampling in 2011 to 2012, RC drilling in 2011 and completed an Induced Polarisation survey in 2012/2013.

Compania Minera Zahena S.A.C. completed 16 diamond drill holes in 2014. Ilo Este Rio Tinto completed preliminary reconnaissance work including mapping and trench sampling over the project in 1999 followed by 12 RC holes in 2000.

Peruvian Latin Resources completed several phases of geological mapping and soil and rock chip sampling between 2009 and 2013, then a ground magnetic survey and three diamond drill holes in 2014/2015.

Compania Minera Zahena S.A.C. completed nine diamond drill holes in 2015/2016. Geology Deposit type, geological setting and style of mineralisation. The geology of the llo Norte project area consists of andesitic pyroclastics, andesitic volcanics belonging to the Chocolate Formation and younger Quaternary cover sediments. The mineralisation is interpreted to be an iron oxide copper gold (IOCG) type deposit that is contained within highly altered andesitic volcaniclastics. Contact metamorphism and metasomatism have produced at least five phases of widespread development of mostly lentiform economic mineral assemblages including copper, gold, silver, zinc and minor cobalt.

The geology of the llo Este project consists of porphyritic andesites, porphyritic micro-diorite sills, andesitic tuff and sandstones of the Chocolate Formation that outcrop on the northern and southern flanks of two major belts of felsic igneous intrusions of the Cretaceous age. The mineralisation at llo Este is interpreted to be a Cu-Au porphyry system.

The Cinto Project area is underlain by igneous rocks of the Cretaceous Toquepala Group and the late Cretaceous-early Tertiary batholith related to the Toquepala mine porphyry some 15km to the north. The regional Incapuquio fault crosses the permits and the underlying igneous rocks are covered by recent sediments, generally south of the fault and increasing in thickness to the south-west. The project is considered prospective for porphyry Ag/Au/Cu/Mo systems. Drill hole Information A summary of all information material to the understanding of the exploration results including a tabulation of the following information for all Material drill holes: easting and northing of the drill hole collar elevation or RL (Reduced Level - elevation above sea level in metres) of the drill hole collar dip and azimuth of the hole hole length

If the exclusion of this information is justified on the basis that the information is not Material and this exclusion does not detract from the understanding of the report, the Competent Person should clearly explain why this is the case. N/A no new drilling data is included in this report Data aggregation methods In reporting Exploration Results, weighting averaging techniques, maximum and/or minimum grade truncations (e.g. cutting of high grades) and cut-off grades are usually Material and should be stated.

Where aggregate intercepts incorporate short lengths of high-grade results and longer lengths of low-grade results, the procedure used for such aggregation should be stated and some typical examples of such aggregations should be shown in detail.

The assumptions used for any reporting of metal equivalent values should be clearly stated. N/A no new drilling data is included in this report

No cut-offs have been applied when reporting of mineralised intersections.

The average copper, gold and silver grades reported for each mineralised intersection include both mineralised and non-mineralised samples.

No metal equivalents have been used. Relationship between mineralisation widths and intercept lengths These relationships are particularly important in the reporting of Exploration Results.

If the geometry of the mineralisation with respect to the drill hole angle is known, its nature should be reported.

If it is not known and only the down hole lengths are reported, there should be a clear statement to this effect (e.g. 'down hole length, true width not known'). N/A no new drilling data is included in this report. Diagrams Appropriate maps and sections (with scales) and tabulations of intercepts should be included for any significant discovery being reported These should include, but not be limited to a plan view of drill hole collar locations and appropriate sectional views. The Company has included various maps and figures showing the sample results and geological context. Balanced reporting Where comprehensive reporting of all Exploration Results is not practicable, representative reporting of both low and high grades and/or widths should be practiced avoiding misleading reporting of Exploration Results. N/A no new results are included in this report. Other substantive exploration data Other exploration data, if meaningful and material, should be reported including (but not limited to): geological observations; geophysical survey results; geochemical survey results; bulk samples - size and method of treatment; metallurgical test results; bulk density, groundwater, geotechnical and rock characteristics; potential deleterious or contaminating substances. The mineralised intersections are reported in context with supporting geological, geochemical and geophysical data at each deposit. Further work The nature and scale of planned further work (e.g. tests for lateral extensions or depth extensions or large-scale step-out drilling).

Diagrams clearly highlighting the areas of possible extensions, including the main geological interpretations and future drilling areas, provided this information is not commercially sensitive. Solis Minerals will undertake extensive validation and field confirmation of the various targets identified from the historical data and recent remote sensing over the Ilo and Cinto Projects.

[1] The Worldview-3 satellite collects multispectral data in the visible and near infrared (VNIR) and shortwave infrared (SWIR) wavelengths. The eight VNIR bands have resolution of 1.24m and the eight SWIR bands have resolution of 3.7m. VNIR data are most useful for highlighting iron-bearing phases like the mineral goethite while the SWIR data are most useful for mapping hydrous phases like the minerals muscovite and kaolinite. Combining these multispectral results with geology and other data provides a powerful exploration tool.

[2] 203.62ktonnes copper production in 2021. Source: Southern Copper Corp - www.southerncoppercorp.com/eng/production

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/140273
Signs New Distribution Partners in Three Countries

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga., Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The globally distributed antimicrobial irrigation device, Irrisept, anticipates substantial growth in its North American markets after signing distribution agreements with additional partners in Mexico and Canada. Furthermore, Irrimax has established an inaugural agreement in New Zealand. Irrimax continues to see significant growth across all its current markets. In the U.S. alone, Irrisept is already trusted by more than 3,000 hospitals as their preferred antimicrobial irrigation product.

Surgi-One Medical Technologies is Irrimax's newest Canadian distribution partner. Surgi-One aligns with the company's mission to reduce infections and healthcare costs while improving patient outcomes. Surgi-One President, Bill MacDonald, believes, "By providing our clients access to new products like Irrisept that help reduce the possibility of infection, we help them focus on other vital areas of care."

In Mexico, Sanabria Corporativo Medico S.A., serves the medical community by supplying operating rooms and emergency services with patient monitoring and other important medical devices. The new agreement with Irrimax demonstrates their continued effort to provide the highest quality equipment and service to its customers. "Adding the Irrisept product to our portfolio, clinicians now have another tool to help them fight infection and experience better outcomes for their patients," expresses Dr. Salvador Sanabria, Director General of Sanabria.

DBM Medical Group signs Irrimax's first New Zealand distributor agreement. DMB currently supplies medical products to every hospital in New Zealand. Director Courtney MacKay shares, "We believe Irrisept can become Standard of Care in New Zealand, replacing the most common current irrigation and debridement treatments. We are eager to introduce Irrisept to New Zealand."

"Our New Zealand partner aligns perfectly with our belief that Irrisept will become Standard of Care," says Chief Operating Officer Michael Gil. "International expansion is a strategic priority for us, and we remain focused and committed to our goal of reducing infections and healthcare costs by improving patient outcomes across the globe. We couldn't be more excited to welcome our new partners."

The new distribution agreements, along with regulatory clearance already in place in Brazil, Chile, Panama, and Saudi Arabia, validate Irrimax's ability and belief that Irrisept is a global product.

About Irrimax Corporation

Established in 1994, Irrimax focuses on reducing infections and healthcare costs and improving patient outcomes. Its flagship product, Irrisept Antimicrobial Wound Lavage, contains 0.05% Chlorhexidine Gluconate

Media Contact: Investors:

Nicki Greenhalgh Michael Gil

Global Marketing Mgr. Chief Operating Officer

678-488-8563 662-574-0091

n.greenhalgh@irrisept.comm.gil@irrisept.com

Contact Information:

Nicki Greenhalgh

Global Marketing Mgr.

n.greenhalgh@irrisept.com

6784888563



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As a Senior Leader in the Firm's Investigations & Disputes Practice, Carroll Brings Deep Expertise in Complex Investigations, Integrity Monitoring & Compliance Risk Management to the Team

NEW YORK, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- K2 Integrity, the leading risk and financial crimes advisory firm, today announced that Michael Carroll has rejoined the firm as a Senior Managing Director based in New York City. Bringing nearly 30 years of experience across the private and public sectors to K2 Integrity's Global Investigations and Disputes practice ("I&D"), Carroll will lead complex investigations, monitorships and compliance transformation projects for K2 Integrity's clients. Carroll will report to Jeremy Kroll, the firm's co-CEO and co-founder, and global head of the firm's Investigations and Disputes practice.





"Mike has always played a critical role helping clients navigate the ever evolving regulatory and compliance landscape, from eliminating fraud to designing impactful monitorship programs," said Co-CEOs Jeremy Kroll and Andrew Rabinowitz. "We are excited to have Mike, one of the industry's leading investigators, known for his extensive expertise, passion and dedication to integrity, bring his entrepreneurial spirit and energy back to K2 Integrity. His return reaffirms our deep commitment to our investigations and monitoring practices, the foundation of our organization and industry-leading work."

Carroll added: "K2 Integrity has become the most trusted brand in our industry. The firm has great investigative, monitoring and compliance experts and a blue-chip clientele, and I look forward to once again getting the opportunity to work closely with Jeremy, as well as this industry leading team, including Darren Matthews, Bob Brenner and the legendary Jules Kroll, as we combat financial crime."

Carroll first joined K2 Integrity in 2018, where he served as a Managing Director in the firm's I&D team as well co-lead of the firm's Construction and Real Estate Practice. Since leaving K2 Integrity, he started his own firm Probity to further specialize in investigations, risk management, and compliance. Prior to joining K2 Integrity, Carroll spent more than 24 years in government service, most recently serving as Deputy Commissioner and Chief of Investigations for the New York City Department of Investigation. In this position, he oversaw all aspects of criminal investigations into corrupt, illegal, and unethical conduct, including those focused on financial fraud, theft, organized crime, bribery, narcotics, and political corruption. Carroll holds an M.A. in criminal justice from John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a B.A. in psychology from the College of Mount Saint Vincent. He is a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) and a certified instructor with the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services.

About K2 Integrity

K2 Integrity is the leading risk and financial crimes advisory firm helping clients understand and manage their risk so they can lead with confidence. With some of the most knowledgeable practitioners in the industry, K2 brings together deep subject matter expertise with proprietary technology and digital offerings to help clients creatively solve today's issues while also planning for the future.

With offices in New York, Washington, D.C., London, Chicago, Geneva, Los Angeles and Abu Dhabi, and more than 400 employees globally, K2 has deep knowledge and experience working in every region and numerous jurisdictions around the world. To learn more about how K2 Integrity is revolutionizing the management of risk, visit www.k2integrity.com, or follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Media Contact

Prosek Partners

pro-k2integrity@prosek.com

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Saguenay, Quebec--(Newsfile Corp. - October 12, 2022) - First Phosphate Corp. ("First Phosphate" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Port of Saguenay, a further step in the implementation of the Company's six phase integration plan for the North American lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery market.

The MOU engages discussions between the parties to provide the Company with potential deep sea access to ship phosphate concentrate internationally and greenfield land on which to build its facilities. The deal comes on the heels of newly-re-elected Quebec Premier Francois Legault's electoral commitment to invest $117.2 million in infrastructure at the Port of Saguenay.

"Securing shipping and industrial development space at port facilities has become increasingly challenging for many companies around the world. First Phosphate now has engaged with a committed partner to secure guaranteed deep sea access to the world, as we execute on our global advanced phosphate materials strategy," said First Phosphate Chief Executive Officer, John Passalacqua. "Phase one of our strategy is to develop our phosphate mining operations in the region and to deliver a high purity phosphate concentrate to be known globally as "Quebec Rock Phosphate" FOB Port Saguenay for wider use in the LFP battery industry worldwide."

First Phosphate holds 1,500 sq. km of total land claims in the Saguenay Region of Quebec, Canada that it is actively developing to produce battery grade phosphate at ESG standard and with a low-carbon footprint.

"The Port of Saguenay is a natural gateway to Northern Quebec and its extensive natural resources," said Chief Executive Officer of Port of Saguenay, Carl Laberge. "Our deep-water marine facilities, terminal and adjacent port industrial area offer companies like First Phosphate direct access to international markets and a partner committed to environmental protection and sustainable development. We are pleased to support the launch of this project."

"The North American LFP battery industry requires domestic, clean, traceable, ethically sourced, consistent and secure production of high grade phosphate material, and that is what First Phosphate is developing with our Lac a l'Orignal property," said First Phosphate President Peter Kent. "As the demand for electric vehicles grows aggressively, partnerships like this one with the Port of Saguenay are vital to ensuring that Quebec and Canada are global leaders in the sustainable automotive ecosystem."





Figure 1

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First Phosphate's flagship property is located approximately 110 km driving-distance north of the City of Saguenay, Quebec's sixth largest city which hosts daily flights to Montreal, a skilled industrial workforce, a strong local infrastructure, and which is 30 km driving-distance from the deep sea Port of Saguenay. The Company has partnered with the globally recognized Pufahl Research Group at Queen's University to determine the detailed mineralogy and geochemistry of phosphatic ore and waste minerals at Lac a l'Orignal, a step which complements the bulk geochemical assays and metallurgy being conducted by SGS Canada Inc. (Quebec / Lakefield).

First Phosphate is fully focused on integrating its phosphate material directly into the supply chain of major battery and electric vehicle producers in North America. The Company has already received promising assay results for its Begin-Lamarche Property, confirming the presence of high-grade phosphate, and is expecting to announce its 43-101 technical report results for Lac a l'Orignal this fall.

The Company also announces today that it has approved the grant of 225,000 stock options to purchase common shares of the Company (the "Options") to certain eligible persons of the Company, at an exercise price of $0.25 per share, with an expiry date of three years from the date on which the Company's shares commence trading on a stock exchange in Canada (the "Listing"). The Options are subject to time-based vesting such that 25% vests immediately upon the Listing, with increments of 25% vesting every 6 months thereafter. The terms of the Options granted are in accordance with the Company's stock option plan approved by shareholders of the Company on August 25, 2022. All securities issued are subject to a statutory hold period of four months plus one day from the date of issuance, in accordance with applicable securities legislation.

-30-

For additional information, please contact:

Investor Relations: investor@firstphosphate.com

Media Relations: media@firstphosphate.com

Website: www.FirstPhosphate.com

Follow First Phosphate:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/FirstPhosphate

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/first-phosphate/

About First Phosphate Corp

First Phosphate is a mineral exploration and development company fully dedicated to extracting and refining advanced phosphate material for the Lithium Iron Phosphate ("LFP") Battery industry. First Phosphate is committed to producing at high purity level, at full ESG standard and with low anticipated carbon footprint. First Phosphate plans to integrate directly into the research & development ("R&D") and supply chain functions of major North American LFP Battery producers that require battery grade phosphate material that emanates from a consistent and secure supply source. First Phosphate holds over 1,500 sq. km of total land claims in the Saguenay Region of Quebec, Canada that it is actively developing. First Phosphate properties consist of rare anorthosite igneous rock formation that generally yields high purity phosphate concentrate devoid of high concentrations of deleterious heavy metals.

Forward-Looking Information and Cautionary Statements

Certain information in this news release constitutes forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws. Any statements that are contained in this news release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are often identified by terms such as "may", "should", "anticipate", "expect", "potential", "believe", "intend" or the negative of these terms and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements in this news release include statements relating to: the anticipated timing of the closing of the Offering; MOU and the anticipated use of proceeds from Company's access to the Port of Saguenay providing the Company with potential international shipping access and land to build its facilities; the Offering; Company's strategy to develop its mining operations in the receipt region and to deliver a high purity phosphate concentrate to be known globally as "Quebec Rock Phosphate" for use in the LFP battery industry worldwide; the Company's active development of phosphate materials at its Saguenay property at ESG standard and with a low-carbon footprint; the Port of Saguenay's support of the Company's projects and such support being vital to ensuring that Quebec and Canada are global leaders in the sustainable automotive ecosystem; the type of phosphate material being developed at the Lac a L'Orignal property is type that is required approvals by the North American LFP battery; the stated goals of the partnership between the Company and the Pufahl Research Group at Queen's University; the Company's announcement of its 43-101 technical report results for Lac a l'Orignal this fall; the Company's stated future plans and goals; and the Company focus on integrating its phosphate material directly into the supply chain of major battery and electric vehicle producers in North America.

Forward-looking information in this press release are based on certain assumptions and expected future events, namely: the MOU and the Company's access to the Port of Saguenay will provide the Company with international shipping access and land to build its facilities; the Company will follow through its strategy to develop its mining operations in the region and to deliver a high purity phosphate concentrate to be known globally as "Quebec Rock Phosphate" for use in the LFP battery industry worldwide; the Company will develop phosphate materials at its Saguenay property at ESG standard and with a low-carbon footprint; the Port of Saguenay will support of the Company's projects and such support will be vital to ensuring that Quebec and Canada are global leaders in the sustainable automotive ecosystem; the type of phosphate material being developed the Lac a L'Orignal property will be the type that is required by the North American LFP battery; the partnership between the Company and the Pufahl Research Group at Queen's University will achieve the stated goals; the Company 43-101 technical report results for Lac a l'Orignal will be available this fall; the Company will accomplish its stated future plans and goals within the stated timelines; and the Company will continue its focus on integrating its phosphate material directly into the supply chain of major battery and electric vehicle producers in North America.

These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements, including but not limited to: the Company's inability to complete the Offering and/or utilize the use of proceeds on the terms and within the timelines anticipated or at all; and the Company's inability to obtain the required approvals to complete the Offering on the proposed terms and timeline or at all MOU and the Company's access to the Port of Saguenay will not provide the Company with international shipping access and land to build its facilities; the Company will not follow through its strategy to develop its mining operations in the region and to deliver a high purity phosphate concentrate to be known globally as "Quebec Rock Phosphate" for use in the LFP battery industry worldwide; the Company will not develop phosphate materials at its Saguenay property at ESG standard and with a low-carbon footprint; the Port of Saguenay will not support of the Company's projects and such support will not be vital to ensuring that Quebec and Canada are global leaders in the sustainable automotive ecosystem; the type of phosphate material being developed the Lac a L'Orignal property will not be the type that is required by the North American LFP battery; the partnership between the Company and the Pufahl Research Group at Queen's University will not achieve the stated goals; the Company 43-101 technical report results for Lac a l'Orignal will not be available this fall; the Company will not accomplish its stated future plans and goals within the stated timelines; and the Company will not continue its focus on integrating its phosphate material directly into the supply chain of major battery and electric vehicle producers in North America.

Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list is not exhaustive. Readers are further cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward looking statements, as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which they are placed will occur. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated.

Forward-looking statements contained in this press release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement and reflect the Company's expectations as of the date hereof and are subject to change thereafter. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, estimates or opinions, future events or results or otherwise or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and such forward-looking information, except as required by applicable law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/140238
YANTAI, China, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- With more than 150 years of cultivation history, Yantai is the birthplace of modern apples in China. In 2008, Yantai's apple was approved to register a certification trademark of geographical indication and was recognized as a well-known trademark in China in 2011. In 2015, Yantai commissioned Zhejiang University to create a tailor-made "Yantai Apple Branding Strategic Plan", in which a strategic design was carried out for the brand symbol system, management protection system and communication system; the brand itself was upgraded and enhanced in 2020. Meanwhile, the continuous selection of the Top 10 Brands of Yantai Apples has made joint publicity and promotion possible, where a parent-child branding system led by regional public brands and supported by corporate brands has been built.





Yantai apples were planted on 2.55 million mu, with a total output of 5.74 million tons by 2021, and the brand value of "Yantai Apples" was 15.034 billion yuan, which was the No. 1 brand in China's fruit industry for 13 consecutive years. Yantai apples have been taken into space by Yantai astronaut Wang Yaping, have taken the lead in entering the catalog of China-EU Agreement on Geographical Indications, have been approved in the first batch to prepare for the establishment of National Protection Demonstration Zone for Products with Geographical Indications and selected in the Key Contact Guidance List for the National Geographical Indication Application and Promotion. Furthermore, Yantai has been approved to create a national 100-billion-level advantageous characteristic industrial cluster for its apples. Branding is inseparable from the guarantee of quality. With certified area of 850,000 mu, 116 fruit enterprises in the city have obtained "Three Products and One Standard" certification up to now; nearly 20 fruit enterprises have passed the GAP certification. In the national and provincial fruit quality and safety supervision and sampling test, the monitoring qualification rate of Yantai apples has reached 100%. With the enhancement of standardization and branding, Yantai apples are leading the national apple industry to stride forward.

In 2020, the Yantai Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government issued the "Implementation Opinions on Accelerating the High-Quality Development of the Apple Industry (2020-2022)", which proposed 17 specific measures in 5 major areas, including promoting scientific and technological innovation, building a platform for development, consolidating the industrial foundation, strengthening the promotion of the brand, and establishing a guarantee system. These policy measures are highly leading and clearly oriented, providing scientific guidance and finding a new way out for the high-quality development of Yantai's apple industry, so as to achieve a strong fruit industry in beautiful villages of rich fruit farmers.

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Contact: Zhao Xiangyang

Phone: 0086535-6789710

Email: yt6789710@yt.shandong.cn

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Limerick Launch now gives our clients global access to a leading resource in staffing solutions, change management, and business consulting.

LIMERICK, Ireland, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Regarded as one of Canada's leading and trusted organizations for staffing solutions, Infinite Outsourcing Solutions is now strengthening its global presence with the launch of its new office in Limerick, Ireland.

Sharing his thoughts on this global milestone, Ragavan Baladurai, CEO of Infinite Outsourcing Solutions, commented: "We're now a global go-to for clients not only for top talent acquisition but also for IT consulting and change management guidance. As industries become more global, our clients are continually evaluating how they work, and we are there to help them evolve and thrive."

In today's world, organizations need to be dynamic enough to adapt quickly to market changes without sacrificing their standards. With our proficiency in guiding clients through change-related ambiguity, Infinite Outsourcing Solutions is committed to ensuring both job seekers and employers are always ready for what's coming next.

Robert Freeman, Director of Operations of Infinite Outsourcing Solutions - Ireland, was glad to be a part of this new beginning. "It's exciting to be up and running after a few months of working in the background, establishing a team and office space here in Limerick. Our European hub is an innovation engine for our company across Europe". He also shared that the team in Ireland is geared up and has already gotten a head start, "We have started servicing and supporting some multinationals here in Limerick, helping with top talent acquisitions and we look forward to expanding and growing here.'

About Infinite Outsourcing Solutions:

Infinite Outsourcing Solutions is a leading provider of global staffing, business automation consulting, logistics, and warehousing solutions, operating partly through its subsidiaries KN Logistics Solutions, Toro Warehousing Solutions, and EMC Global Consulting. With decades of experience serving companies in sectors ranging from manufacturing and IT to healthcare and energy, we help clients overcome the HR, change and risk challenges driven by today's fast-paced, ever-changing marketplace. Visit us online at infiniteos.com. Find us on social @infiniteosteam.

For further information:

Robert Freeman, Director of Operations Ireland

Phone: +35361539330

Email: robert.freeman@infiniteis.ie

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VANCOUVER, BC, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Fineqia International Inc. (the "Company" or "Fineqia") (CSE: FNQ) (OTC: FNQQF) (Frankfurt: FNQA) announces the second tranche (the "Second Tranche") of its non-brokered private placement (the "Offering"), for a cumulative raise of C$4,546,224, with participation by the Wavemaker Genesis Master Fund Ltd.





Investors include the Wavemaker Genesis Master Fund Ltd, a fund managed by Wave Financial, LLC, one of the top regulated crypto asset managers worldwide, which subscribed to 15% of the second tranche. The Company has issued 420,122,400 Units to raise gross proceeds of C$4,201,224 in this tranche. Fineqia is also a minority shareholder in Wave Financial, LLC.

"We're delighted to have exceeded our initial target and very excited to have important and relevant shareholders on board," said Fineqia CEO Bundeep Singh Rangar. "This paves the way for growth with the right people batting on our side and our interests aligned."

The closing of the second tranche follows the upsize of the Offering to C$5 million from $4 million announced on Aug. 4, 2022, when the Company closed the first tranche with proceeds of C$345,000.

Each Unit sold or to be sold in the Offering consists of one common share of the Company and one share purchase warrant (a "Warrant") exercisable for three years at a price of C$0.05 per share. The Company may, at its option, accelerate the expiry date of the Warrants, provided that closing price of the common shares is at or above C$0.15 per share for any 20 consecutive trading day period at any time after four months and one day after the issuance of the Warrants.

The proceeds from the Offering will be used to enhance the Company's working capital as well as pare down debt.

These securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act"). Accordingly, these securities may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, a U.S. person or person in the United States (as such terms are defined in regulations under the 1933 Act), absent an exemption from the registration requirements of the 1933 Act and applicable state laws. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in the United States or in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

About Fineqia International Inc.

Fineqia is a listed entity in the Canada (CSE: FNQ), US (OTC: FNQQF) and Europe (Frankfurt: FNQA). Fineqia's strategic focus has been to provide a platform and associated services to support securities issuances and manage administration of debt securities. Fineqia is currently building out its alternative finance business and it currently holds a growing portfolio of blockchain, fintech and cryptocurrency technology companies worldwide.

For more information, visit www.fineqia.com

About Wave Financial, LLC

Wave Financial, LLC (Wave) is a Los Angeles based investment management company that provides institutional and private wealth digital asset solutions. Led by a team of highly experienced financial services professionals, Wave provides investable funds via their diverse investment strategies applied to digital assets and tokenized real assets. Wave also offers managed accounts for HNWIs and family offices seeking tailored digital asset exposure, bespoke treasury management services, and early-stage venture capital and strategic consultation to the digital asset ecosystem. Wave is federally regulated by the US Securities & Exchange Commission as an investment adviser.

ON BEHALF OF THE FINEQIA BOARD

Bundeep Singh Rangar

CEO and Director

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Some statements in this release may contain forward-looking information (as defined under applicable Canadian securities laws) ("forward-looking statements"). All statements, other than of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that Fineqia (the "Company") believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future (including, without limitation, statements regarding potential acquisitions and financings) are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by use of the words "may", "will", "should", "continue", "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "believe", "intend", "plan" or "project" or the negative of these words or other variations on these words or comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's ability to control or predict, that may cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things, without limitation, the failure to obtain sufficient financing, and other risks disclosed in the Company's public disclosure record on file with the relevant securities regulatory authorities. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made except as may be required by applicable securities laws. The Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement except to the extent required by applicable securities laws.

Katarina Kupcikova, Analyst, E. katarina.kupcikova@fineqia.com, T. +44 7806 730 769; Bundeep Singh Rangar, CEO, E. bundeep.rangar@fineqia.com, T. +1 778 654 2324

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WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - NASA has confirmed that the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft's artificial impact on Dimorphos, the asteroid moonlet of Didymos, has successfully altered its orbit as planned.



DART crashed into its target asteroid in an experimental mission that the U.S. space agency conducted on September 26.



Prior to DART's impact, it took Dimorphos 11 hours and 55 minutes to orbit its larger parent asteroid, Didymos. Since DART's intentional collision with Dimorphos, astronomers have been using telescopes on Earth to measure how much that time has changed.



Analysis of data obtained over the past two weeks by the DART investigation team showed that the spacecraft's kinetic impact altered Dimorphos' orbit around Didymos by 32 minutes.



Before its encounter, NASA had defined a minimum successful orbit period change of Dimorphos as change of 73 seconds or more. This early data show DART surpassed this minimum benchmark by more than 25 times.



'This result is one important step toward understanding the full effect of DART's impact with its target asteroid' said Lori Glaze, director of NASA's Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. 'As new data come in each day, astronomers will be able to better assess whether, and how, a mission like DART could be used in the future to help protect Earth from a collision with an asteroid if we ever discover one headed our way,' she added.



The investigation team is still acquiring data with ground-based observatories around the world - as well as with radar facilities at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Goldstone planetary radar in California and the National Science Foundation's Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia. They are updating the period measurement with frequent observations to improve its precision, NASA said in a press release.



Focus now is shifting toward measuring the efficiency of momentum transfer from DART's roughly 14,000-mile (22,530-kilometer) per hour collision with its target. This includes further analysis of the 'ejecta' - the many tons of asteroidal rock displaced and launched into space by the impact. The recoil from this blast of debris substantially enhanced DART's push against Dimorphos - a little like a jet of air streaming out of a balloon sends the balloon in the opposite direction.



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Regulatory News:

Pernod Ricard (Paris:RI) announces today that it is joining forces with Casa Lumbre, the founders behind Ojo de Tigre Mezcal and Abasolo Ancestral Corn Whisky, and renowned musician, actor, and designer Lenny Kravitz, to develop Nocheluna Sotol, an exciting offer in the newly emerging and highly promising Sotol spirits category.

Distinct from tequila and mezcal, this spirit from Chihuahuan Desert in Mexico has a pronounced yet uniquely versatile flavor profile. This one-of-the-kind liquid, born from the wild Sotol or Dasylirion plant, is harvested, cooked and fermented many years after being planted. The result is a smooth and sophisticated balance of wild herbs, dried stone fruit, caramel, honey, deep minerality and oak firewood a blend made possible by the distinctive desert soil, and the craftmanship of an expert team.

Nocheluna aims to become the ultra-premium reference of the category. It will be launched globally over the coming months, starting with the US market.

Alexandre Ricard, Chairman and CEO of Pernod Ricard: "Nocheluna brings with it new opportunities for innovation, creativity and exploration. Our Group has a strong history of partnerships with dynamic entrepreneurs who break convention and share our passion for craft and high-quality brands. We are extremely excited to introduce Sotol to new consumers who are looking for an authentic and deeply rooted spirit with a distinctive flavor profile

Lenny Kravitz: "As an artist, I respect the journey and am inspired by every intricate step of how this team crafts Nocheluna Sotol. I value how this spirit stays true to the traditional ways of making sotol, exemplifying a true understanding of this craft," says Kravitz. "I am honored to bring further awareness to this incredible spirit and region

Moises Guindi, Co-founder of Casa Lumbre: "I am excited to partner again with Pernod Ricard, who shares with us the same vision and passion for craft premium spirits. Pernod Ricard's vast experience and nurturing approach, will undoubtedly raise Nocheluna's profile within the Sotol category and super to ultra-premium traditional Mexican spirits

Nocheluna is the third collaboration between Pernod Ricard and Casa Lumbre after successful partnerships around Mexican spirits Abasolo Ancestral Corn Whisky and Ojo De Tigre mezcal.

About Pernod Ricard

Pernod Ricard is the No.2 worldwide producer of wines and spirits with consolidated sales of 10,701 million in FY22. Created in 1975 by the merger of Ricard and Pernod, the Group has developed through organic growth and acquisitions: Seagram (2001), Allied Domecq (2005) and Vin&Sprit (2008). Pernod Ricard, which owns 16 of the Top 100 Spirits Brands, holds one of the most prestigious and comprehensive brand portfolios in the industry, including: Absolut Vodka, Ricard pastis, Ballantine's, Chivas Regal, Royal Salute, and The Glenlivet Scotch whiskies, Jameson Irish whiskey, Martell cognac, Havana Club rum, Beefeater gin, Malibu liqueur, Mumm and Perrier-Jouet champagnes, as well Jacob's Creek, Brancott Estate, Campo Viejo, and Kenwood wines. Pernod Ricard's brands are distributed across 160+ markets and by its own salesforce in 73 markets. The Group's decentralised organisation empowers its 19,000 employees to be true on-the-ground ambassadors of its vision of "Createurs de Convivialite." As reaffirmed by the Group's strategic plan, "Transform and Accelerate," deployed in 2018, Pernod Ricard's strategy focuses on investing in long-term, profitable growth for all stakeholders. The Group remains true to its three founding values: entrepreneurial spirit, mutual trust, and a strong sense of ethics, as illustrated by the 2030 Sustainability and Responsibility roadmap supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), "Good times from a good place." In recognition of Pernod Ricard's strong commitment to sustainable development and responsible consumption, it has received a Gold rating from Ecovadis. Pernod Ricard is also a United Nation's Global Compact LEAD company.

Pernod Ricard is listed on Euronext (Ticker: RI; ISIN Code: FR0000120693) and is part of the CAC 40 and Eurostoxx 50 indices.

About Casa Lumbre

Born and based in Mexico, Casa Lumbre is a global spirits company that develops, produces, and incubates premium, award-winning spirits. Originally known for Mezcals, Liqueurs and Tequilas, Casa Lumbre continues to tap into its global values and perspective to expand beyond Mexican distillates.

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Contacts:

Pernod Ricard Contacts

Investor relations

Florence Tresarrieu Global SVP Investors Relations and Treasury

+33 (0) 1 70 93 17 03

Edward Mayle Investor Relations Director

+33 (0) 1 70 93 17 13

Charly Montet Investor Relations Manager

+33 (0) 1 70 93 17 13

Media

Emmanuel Vouin Head of External Engagement

+33 (0) 1 70 93 16 34

Jessica Whyte International Press relations Manager

+33 (0) 1 70 93 24 23

Casa Lumbre

LaForce nocheluna@laforce.nyc
The commitment follows analysis this week which revealed a 52% increase in vacancies across the sector

Of Cera's recent recruits, 67% were from different sectors, bolstering the social care sector

Cera technology enables it to recruit, train, certify and deploy carers in a matter of day

Cera, Europe's largest provider of digital-first home healthcare, announces today that it is expediting the recruitment of 5,000 care workers in the UK. This comes in response to recent figures released this week which found that in the year to March there were 165,000 vacant roles in adult social care a rise of 52% on the previous year.

Through its tech-forward methods of recruiting carers, Cera has improved the conversion of applicants by 112%, brought down the cost of recruiting by 40%, and reduced the time to hire by 20%.

The company uses proprietary recruitment and learning development (L&D) technology to recruit, train, certify and deploy new professional carers in a matter of days. Applicants for professional carer roles do not need to hold specific skills or qualifications to apply for an advertised role at Cera. In fact, 67% of Cera's recent recruits were from outside the care sector, expanding the social care talent pool and giving thousands of people much-needed work during a cost-of-living crisis.

The majority of these roles will be on the frontline, providing healthcare services such as caring and nursing, in metropolitan areas including London and the West Midlands as well as regional areas such as Lancaster, Warrington and Lanarkshire.

On Cera's recruitment drive and the sector-wide vacancies, Martin Warnes, Director of Carer Acquisition at Cera, commented: "Given the decline in the number of posts filled in the care sector, we are taking urgent action. For too long, the social care system has been treated as the poorer sibling to the NHS. That's despite the number of people over the age of 85 being set to double in the next 25 years and a large proportion of this ageing population experiencing long-term and multimorbidity conditions that require more complex care.

"We need to encourage more people to consider a meaningful career in care, which is why we are expediting the recruitment of 5,000 carers into the sector. At Cera, we have created and implemented technology which allows carers to spend more time with the people they care for rather than working on unnecessary and tedious administration. It doesn't matter what stage of your career you're at, if you're reliable, empathetic and friendly, it's time to consider joining the caring profession."

During the pandemic, Cera partnered with the Department for Health and Social Care to establish Join Social Care, a pioneering recruitment platform that was built for the government at no additional cost, and leveraged for a nationwide social care recruitment campaign.

Cera's pioneering technology reduces hospitalisation rates by an unprecedented 52%, predicts up to 80% of hospitalisations seven days in advance, reduces patient falls by ~17%, urinary problems by ~47%, infections by ~15% and also helps to improve medication and prescription compliance in older patients by 35%. Its technology is used by 2,000+ companies, while Cera responds to more than 5,000 'high-risk' alerts among older and vulnerable people every day, drastically reducing hospitalisations and protecting vital NHS resources.

As the UK's largest digital-first home healthcare provider, Cera delivers more than 50,000 healthcare visits to older and vulnerable people up and down the country every single day. The company has delivered more than 25 million healthcare-at-home visits since it launched.

To apply for a role at Cera, please visit www.ceracare.co.uk

Ends

About Cera:

Cera is a digital-first home healthcare company delivering care, nursing, telehealth and repeat prescriptions. Cera's mission is to empower patients to live longer, better lives in the comfort of their own homes, saving the need to go to hospital. Cera has grown 100-fold in less than three years -making it one of the fastest growing businesses in Europe.

Cera's team of carers and nurses have delivered 25+ million at-home care appointments, visiting over 15,000 patients a day, on behalf of 300 NHS and Local Governments equivalent in capacity to 40 NHS hospitals or 1,000 care homes. Cera's technology is also used by over 2,000 care businesses that collectively deliver over 1 million at-home appointments per week.

Cera was co-founded by entrepreneur, physician and policy expert Dr Ben Maruthappu MBE, and its Advisory Board is Chaired by Sir David Behan, the former CEO of the Care Quality Commission. Cera's technology and network have been recognised by industry awards including Deloitte Fast 50 (#8 in 2021, #26 in 2020), Sunday Times Fast Track, Home Care Awards' Most Outstanding Home Care Provider. Ben was named as a finalist in Ernst Young's Entrepreneur of the Year Awards 2021.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221012005813/en/

Contacts:

Media contact:

Katie Shuff

Email: katie.shuff@clarity.global

Phone: +44 785 2522 566
Increase in construction and mining activity in developing countries and rise in governments' investments on construction of various infrastructural projects drive the global pre-owned construction equipment market.

PORTLAND, Ore., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research published a report, titled, "Pre-Owned Construction Equipment Market by Product (Earthmoving and Roadbuilding Equipment, Material Handling and Cranes, Concrete Equipment, Others), by Application (Excavation, Earthmoving, Transportation, Others), by End User Industry (Construction, Mining, Oil and Gas, Defence, Others): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2021-2031." According to the report, the global pre-owned construction equipment market accrued a sum of $165.2 billion in 2021, and is estimated to reach $484.3 billion by 2031, witnessing a CAGR of 11.2% 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.





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Drivers and Opportunities

Increase in construction and mining activity in developing countries such as Latin America and Africa, rise in governments' investments on construction of roads, airports, railway, and other infrastructural projects, and the benefit offered by pre-owned construction equipment of saving high operational and maintenance costs drive the growth of the global pre-owned construction equipment market. However, the lack of skilled workforce and saturation of construction & mining in developed countries hinder the market growth. On the other hand, manufacturers are developing advanced equipment, which are economical and sustainable. Moreover, integration of IoT is expected to help overcome shortage of skilled labors and provide enhanced safety to operators and end users. These factors are likely to present new opportunities for the market growth in the coming years.

Covid-19 Scenario

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic majorly affected the construction, manufacturing, hotel, and tourism industries, thereby impacting the global pre-owned construction equipment market negatively.

Manufacturing activities were halted, leading to a decline in the production of various equipment used for pre-owned construction as well as their demand in the market.

Conversely, industries are gradually resuming their regular manufacturing and services, thereby leading to re-initiation of pre-owned construction equipment companies at their full-scale capacities. This is helping the market to recover in the post-pandemic period.

The earthmoving and roadbuilding equipment segment to hold the lion's share during the forecast period

Based on product, the earthmoving and roadbuilding equipment segment held the largest share in 2021, grabbing more than two-thirds of the global pre-owned construction equipment market, and is expected to maintain a noteworthy growth during the forecast period. This is owing to the growing requirement for earthmoving in the construction and mining industry. However, the others segment is projected to witness the fastest CAGR of 12.6% from 2022 to 2031, owing to an increase in construction in developing countries.

The earthmoving segment to maintain its leadership status during the forecast period

Based on application, the earthmoving segment contributed to the largest market share of more than two-fifths of the global pre-owned construction equipment market in 2021, and is likely to maintain its dominance during the forecast period, owing to the huge requirement for earthmoving in the construction and mining industry. Moreover, the others segment is expected to exhibit the highest CAGR of 12.1% from 2022 to 2031, owing to industrialization and urbanization in developing countries.

The construction segment to maintain its leadership status during the forecast period

Based on end user industry, the construction segment contributed to the largest share of more than two-thirds of the global pre-owned construction equipment market in 2021, and is expected to maintain its leadership status during the forecast period. This is owing to the rise in the construction industry in developing countries. However, the defense segment is expected to exhibit the highest CAGR of 14.1% from 2022 to 2031, owing to increase in governments' budget for defense.

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Asia-Pacific to grow at the fastest rate by 2031

Based on region, Asia-Pacific held the highest market share in 2021, accounting for around half of the global pre-owned construction equipment market, and is expected to maintain its dominance during the forecast period, owing to huge construction and mining activities in the region. However, LAMEA is projected to manifest the fastest CAGR of 15.5% during the forecast period, owing to rapid industrialization and urbanization in the region.

Leading Market Players

AIS Construction Equipment Service Corporation

Caterpillar Inc.

CEUK T/A Construction Equipment UK

Equippo AG

Hitachi, Ltd. (Hitachi Construction Machinery)

Hooray Machinery Co. Ltd

Infra Bazaar

Kobelco Construction Machinery Co. Ltd.

Komatsu Used Equipment Corp.

Machine Hub Asia

Machinery Auctioneers

RUKO GmbH

Sandhills Global

Shriram Automall India Limited

Terex Corporation

Truck1

Volve CE Used Equipment

The report analyzes these key players of the global pre-owned construction equipment market. These players have adopted various strategies such as expansion, new product launches, partnerships, and others to increase their market penetration and strengthen their position in the industry. The report is helpful in determining the business performance, operating segments, product portfolio, and developments by every market player.

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About Us:

Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions." AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain.

We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Allied Market Research CEO Pawan Kumar is instrumental in inspiring and encouraging everyone associated with the company to maintain high quality of data and help clients in every way possible to achieve success. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry.

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Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 12, 2022) - InZinc Mining Ltd. (TSXV: IZN) ("InZinc" or the "Company") is pleased to announce completion of the 2022 drill program and demobilization of equipment and personnel at the Indy zinc and precious metals exploration project (100% option) ("Indy" or the "Project") located 100 kilometres (km) southeast of Prince George in central British Columbia. The 2616 metre (m) ground-based diamond drill program (17 drill holes) explored three new areas and the extension of mineralization discovered at the B-9 Zone. All drill core samples have been delivered to the laboratory for analysis with final results anticipated before year end, depending on lab turnaround time.

Near surface, high-grade Sedex-type zinc mineralization (15.3% Zn+Pb and 24.5 g/t Ag over 6.3 m) was discovered by soil geochemistry and follow-up diamond drilling (11 drill holes) at the B-9 Zone in 2018. Since discovery, an additional 10 km of unexplored base metal and silver (+/- gold) drill targets have been outlined along the 29 km length of the Project (200 km2 mineral claims).

Road Access

Drilling was supported by existing forestry roads and new access trails constructed in 2022. The 2021 Delta Horizon drill trail was extended by 3 km in 2022 to access the new Fox, Keel and Echo targets and now provides a platform for secondary, proximal future access to the Echo South, Echo North, Fox West and Hat targets. The primary road access to the B-9 target was completed in 2021.

Airborne Geophysical Survey

An 1100 line km airborne geophysics survey was completed and covered the 29 km length of the Project. Final data has been received and ongoing analysis continues to be supportive of geological and geochemical models.

Exploration Drilling

Of the 11 drill targets outlined on the Project, comprising an aggregate length of 10 km of soil geochemistry anomalies, four areas comprising 1.2 km of aggregate length were drilled in 2022.

Fox East silver-gold target: Five holes were drilled at Fox East, a 500 m long trend centred approximately 500 m north of the Echo South target.

Five holes were drilled at Fox East, a 500 m long trend centred approximately 500 m north of the Echo South target. Keel zinc+/-silver target: Four holes were drilled at Keel, a 400 m long trend located 200 m west of the Echo target.

Four holes were drilled at Keel, a 400 m long trend located 200 m west of the Echo target. Echo central area: Three holes were drilled at the 250 m central portion of the 1.9 km Echo zinc target.

Three holes were drilled at the 250 m central portion of the 1.9 km Echo zinc target. B-9 Zone: Five holes were drilled in the area where significant mineralization was discovered in 2018 drilling.

Five holes were drilled in the area where significant mineralization was discovered in 2018 drilling. Echo South zinc target: Exploration drilling at Echo South, the strongest and most continuous (750 m) portion of the 1.9 km long Echo anomaly, has been deferred due to a combination of diminished drill water (creek) supply and challenging terrain. Extension of the drill trail to access Echo South has been reviewed by local road engineers/builders and is now being reconsidered for 2023 programs.

Numerous zinc and precious metals drill targets occur along the 7 km Main Trend. The Echo North, Delta Horizon and Anomaly C zinc targets will be considered for future drill programs. In addition, the Fox West, Hat and Anomaly G precious metals targets will also be considered for future drill programs.





Indy Project - Main Trend - 2022 Drill Areas

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/6480/140296_9f2501d834ce2bc2_001full.jpg.

About InZinc

InZinc is an active explorer and through earn-in, equity and royalty interests is exposed to a diverse portfolio of active North American base metals and precious metals projects. Since the 2018 discovery of high grade, near surface mineralization at the Indy project (100% earn-in), InZinc has outlined over 10 km of high quality exploration base and precious metals targets and has expanded its mineral tenure to 200 km2 in a new and unexplored mineral region of central British Columbia, Canada. In late 2021, a Canadian subsidiary of South32 (ASX, LSE, JSE) became a major tenure holder in the belt by staking approximately 200 km2 of adjacent claims. InZinc has a significant equity investment in American West Metals (ASX) which is advancing multiple North American base metals projects. In addition, InZinc has a production royalty and will receive 50% of the revenue (NSR) from the sale of indium mined from American West's West Desert project.

InZinc Mining Ltd.

Wayne Hubert

____________

Chief Executive Officer

Phone: 604.687.7211

Website: www.inzincmining.com

For further information contact :

Joyce Musial

Vice President, Corporate Affairs

Phone: 604.317.2728

Email: joyce@inzincmining.com

Qualified Person

Brian McGrath, B.Sc., P.Geo. a Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, has approved the technical content of this news release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking information includes, but are not limited to, statements that address activities, events or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future, including such things as the successful completion of American West's Initial Public Offering on the Australian Securities Exchange. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "intend", "estimate", "plan", "design", "postulate" and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements by the Company are not guarantees of future results, performance, or actions and that actual results and actions may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, those risks and uncertainties disclosed in the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis for the year ended December 31, 2021 and for the six months ended June 30, 2022 filed with certain securities commissions in Canada and other information released by the Company and filed with the appropriate regulatory agencies. All of the Company's Canadian public disclosure filings may be accessed via www.sedar.com.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/140296
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 12, 2022) - Alma Gold Inc. (CSE: ALMA) ("Alma Gold" or the "Corporation") is pleased to announce a non-brokered private placement of up to 10,000,000 units ("Units") of the Corporation at an issue price of $0.10 per Unit to raise gross proceeds of up to $1,000,000 (the "Offering").

Each Unit shall be comprised of one common share (each, a "Share") and one transferable Share purchase warrant (each a "Warrant"). Each Warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one additional Share of the Corporation at a price of CAD$0.15 for a period of 24 months from the date of issuance.

Alma Gold intends to use the proceeds of the Offering for working capital, general corporate purposes and for advancing exploration interests.

The Corporation may pay a cash finder's fees of 7% on certain subscriptions under the Offering.

All securities issued pursuant to the Offering will be subject to a four-month and one day hold period under applicable securities laws in Canada.

As of the date hereof, Alma Gold has 6,774,560 Shares issued and outstanding.

About Alma Gold Inc.

Alma Gold Inc. is a gold-focused exploration company based in Bedford, Nova Scotia. Alma Gold Inc. through its subsidiary Karita Gold Corp. is exploring the Karita West Project in northern Guinea, and owns the Clarence Stream North Gold Project, in southwest New Brunswick, Canada.

For more information on Alma Gold Inc., please visit our website at: https://almagoldinc.com .

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

"Greg Isenor"

Gregory Isenor

President & Chief Executive Officer Alma Gold Inc.

Email: gpisenor@karitagold.com

The CSE has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release. Neither the CSE nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains forward-looking information which is not comprised of historical facts. Forward-looking information is characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking information involves risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events, results, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, changes in the state of equity and debt markets, fluctuations in commodity prices, delays in obtaining required regulatory or governmental approvals, and includes those risks set out in the Corporation's management's discussion and analysis as filed under the Corporation's profile at www.sedar.com. Forward-looking information in this news release is based on the opinions and assumptions of management considered reasonable as of the date hereof, including that all necessary governmental and regulatory approvals will be received as and when expected. Although the Corporation believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information. The Corporation disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, other than as required by applicable securities laws.

NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OR FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER OF THE SECURITIES DESCRIBED HEREIN

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/140306
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - October 12, 2022) - Idaho Champion (CSE: ITKO) (OTCQB: GLDRF) (FSE: 1QB1) ("Idaho Champion" or the "Company") today announces that the Company has closed the final tranche of its private placement offering. As part of the closing of the third tranche, the Company issued 3,900,000 shares for gross proceeds of $195,000. This brings the total proceeds raised over the three tranches to $1,240,000.

Jonathan Buick, President and CEO, said: "There is no denying that navigating the current market conditions has been tough for every issuer, but especially for junior resource companies. We are grateful for the support our Company has received since announcing our pivot to the battery metals space. We are finalizing the previously announced acquisition of the highly prospective lithium projects in Quebec and are working on the exploration program for our cobalt projects in the Idaho Cobalt Belt, where our neighbour Jervois Global has just commissioned the only primary cobalt mine in the US to-date. This will be an exciting time for Idaho Champion, and we look forward to updating shareholders on our progress."

On September 19, 2022, Idaho Champion opened a non-brokered private placement of up to 20,000,000 shares at a price of $0.05 per share for gross proceeds of up to $1,000,000.

As part of the third and final tranche, the Company paid a cash finders' fee of $4,750. Completion of the private placement and payment of any finders' fees remain subject to the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, including approval of the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE").

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

ALL AMOUNTS EXPRESSED ARE IN CANADIAN DOLLARS

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/140316
5C Network, a Bengaluru, India-based online medical diagnostics platform, raised US$4.6m in Series A financing.

The round was led by Celesta Capital, with participation from existing investors Unitus Ventures and Axilor Ventures and angel investors including Ajay Gupta (Emeritus Partner at McKinsey & Co.), Rohit Razdan and Shiv Tallam.

The company intends to use the funds to broaden and deepen its installed base of diagnostic establishment clients and radiologists, and ramp up talent and infrastructure for data science and clinical teams.

Led by Kalyan Sivasailam, CEO, 5C Network is building digital infrastructure for delivering better healthcare diagnostics in India. The company provides marketplace-like access for diagnostic establishments, radiologists and patient aggregation and management providers. Through its Prodigi platform, 5C delivers 1.5 radiological reports annually to 2000 hospitals and diagnostic centers across 300 cities in India.

This raise follows the strategic investment by Tata 1mg, in 5C Network.

FinSMEs

12/10/2022
Airwallwex, a Melbourne, Australia-based global fintech platform provider, raised USS$100m in Series E Extension (Series E2) funding at US$5.5 billion valuation.

Backers included Square Peg, Salesforce Ventures, Sequoia Capital China, Lone Pine Capital, Hermitage Capital, 1835i Ventures, Tencent, and HostPlus.



The company, which raised more than US$900m in total funding, intends to use the capital to continue to expand operations and its business reach. Multiple new products and services are being planned in its 2022-23 roadmap including improvements to its expense management platform and a credit solution.

Led by CEO Jack Zhang, Airwallex provides a financial technology platform for modern businesses growing beyond borders. With a payments and banking infrastructure, its technology empowers businesses of all sizes to accept payments, move money globally, and simplify their financial operations, all in one single platform. The company accelerated its international expansion in 2021, extending its reach across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific, serving China, the United States and the United Kingdom. Today, tens of thousands of modern businesses use its global payments and banking platform to process payments and move money efficiently anywhere around the world.

FinSMEs

12/10/2022
On September 20, 2022 local time, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Foreign Minister of Solomon Islands Jeremiah Manele on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Wang Yi expressed, over the three years since China and Solomon Islands established diplomatic relations, under the guidance of the leaders of the two countries, the all-round exchanges and cooperation between the two sides have yielded fruitful results, bringing tangible benefits to the people of Solomon Islands. The political mutual trust has been continuously enhanced, and the foundation of bilateral relations has become more solid. Facts have proved that the decision to establish diplomatic relations between China and Solomon Islands fully conforms to the fundamental interests of Solomon Islands and its people. China appreciates that the government of Solomon Islands has led the people standing together, staying committed to independence, and unswervingly following the development path it has chosen. China will always be a trustworthy good friend of Solomon Islands, and will continue providing support and assistance within its capacity for Solomon Islands to accelerate common development and realize respective national revitalization.

Wang Yi stressed, the cooperation between China and Solomon Islands sets a fine example of South-South cooperation. Developing countries also have the right to development, and their people are entitled to a happy life. Intensified efforts have been made to advance cooperation between China and Pacific Island Countries (PICs). Among the six cooperation platforms tailored for PICs, the Reserve of Emergency Supplies, the Climate Action Cooperation Center and the Poverty Reduction and Development Cooperation Center have been completed, while the Demonstration Center for Agricultural Cooperation, the Disaster Preparedness and Mitigation Cooperation Center, and the Juncao Technology Demonstration Center will be open one after another as soon as possible. Solomon Islands is welcome to make good use of these centers to benefit its people.

Manele wished the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China a complete success. He said that China has become the largest development partner of Solomon Islands, and thanked China for providing strong support for Solomon Islands' hosting of the Pacific Games, and for helping Solomon Islands improve its infrastructure and change its landscape. Solomon Islands is firmly committed to developing relations with China. Having signed an agreement on Belt and Road cooperation with China, Solomon Islands stands ready to take an active part in the Global Development Initiative, and looks forward to strengthening pragmatic cooperation with China in various fields to promote new and greater development of Solomon Islands-China relations.

The two sides agreed to strengthen bilateral and multilateral cooperation in agriculture, police affairs, education, fishery and other fields, and advance projects such as the athletes' village for the Pacific Games and the Comprehensive Medical Centre at the National Referral Hospital.
Linn County Sheriff's deputies have arrested an Albany man for allegedly stabbing someone and leaving him with life-threatening injuries.

Although the incident took place at a campsite with others around, no one rendered help, according to a Linn County Sheriff's Office news release. The victim reportedly walked 250 feet before finding someone who would help.

Deputies arrested John Wesley Kersey, 72, on suspicion of first-degree assault. He was booked into the Linn County Jail on Wednesday, Oct. 12.

Dispatch received reports at around 6:08 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 11 of a stabbing on Quartzville Road outside of Sweet Home, according to the news release.

A truck operator radioed the trucking dispatch center, according to the agency, and later provided more details to deputies at the scene, including suspect vehicle information.

Deputies found the victim, a 36-year-old homeless man from Arizona, and provided life-saving measures while other deputies found and stopped the suspect vehicles, according to the news release. Medics transported the victim by ambulance to Lebanon Hospital and later to Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis by Life Flight.

He suffered life-threatening injuries but is expected to survive, according to LCSO.

Investigators discovered the victim and Kersey, also homeless, had traveled to the Quartzville area with a group. Police allege the victim and Kersey argued after Kersey got into a vehicle and reportedly rammed into the victim. Kersey then jumped out of the vehicle and allegedly stabbed the victim multiple times.

No one at the campsite gave medical care or attention to the victim, the news release said. The victim was able to walk around 250 feet where he was found by the truck operator who reported the stabbing.

Kersey is accused of first-degree assault, first-degree attempted assault and two counts of unlawful use of a weapon. The investigation is ongoing and more charges may be pending, the news release said.

Kersey was scheduled to be arraigned in Linn County Circuit Court on Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 12.
Dublin, Oct. 11, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Thailand DG Set Market Size and Share Analysis by Power Rating (5-75 A?kVA,76-375 kVA, 376-750 kVA, Above 750 kVA), Application (Commercial, Industrial, Residential) - Forecast Through 2030" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



In 2021, the market was valued at $158.3 million, and it is likely to reach $236.9 million by 2030, advancing at a compound annual growth rate of 4.6% from 2021 to 2030.

This is credited to the growing demand for standalone and backup power sources, chiefly in workplaces, housing buildings, retail outlets, hotels, and hospitals. The country is one of the major tourist destinations around the globe. The tourism industry has seen an average growth of 13% per year since 2010, and it contributes a momentous proportion to the GDP of the nation.



Variants with a power rating above 750 kVA accounted for the largest share in the Thailand DG set market in the recent past, and this category would grow by over 4% from 2021 to 2030. This will chiefly be owing to the high need for power in the manufacturing sector. Thailand is among the principal manufacturers of advanced products, particularly electronics and automobiles. Moreover, the nation is focused on the production of other value-added things, which encourages startups to strengthen their manufacturing footprint, thereby driving genset sales.



The largest Thailand DG set market share, of over 40%, was accounted for by the commercial sector in 2021, and it will grow at a rate of around 5% from 2021 to 2030. The commercial sector of the country has been showing positive progress since 2015 on account of the increasing number of restaurants and shopping malls. Moreover, tourism is the key aspect behind the prosperity of the commercial sector. With the rising count of hotels, restaurants, and shopping malls, the need for DG sets in these buildings is on the rise.



Investments by property companies and the government are increasing in the residential industry. The progress of this sector is supplemented by the commercial sector's advance, as it is pushing the requirement for urban and semi-urban housing, which, subsequently, propels the need for DG sets. PPP infrastructure projects in the kingdom have invested a total of $28 billion over the past two decades. A substantial part of this investment was for the housing sector, as per a report.



The growing count of tourists is generating growth opportunities for the hospitality industry in the nation. The establishment of new resorts, hotels, and other pieces of infrastructure would drive the demand for power backup solutions in the country once they are opened to the general public. Another main contributing factor to the progress of the Thailand DG set market is the increasing requirement for power generation systems in areas with no or varying grid supply.

Market Dynamics

Trends

Technological advancements in diesel gensets

Drivers

Rising number of residential societies

Development of Eastern Economic Corridor

Impact Analysis of Drivers on Market Forecast

Restraints

Increasing penetration of renewable sources

Impact Analysis of Restraints on Market Forecast

Key Topics Covered:



Chapter 1. Research Background



Chapter 2. Research Methodology



Chapter 3. Executive Summary



Chapter 4. Industry Outlook

4.1 Voice of Industry Experts/KOLS

4.2 Definition of Market Segments

4.2.1 By Power Rating

4.2.1.1 5-75 kVA

4.2.1.2 76-375 kVA

4.2.1.3 376-750 kVA

4.2.1.4 Above 750 kVA

4.2.2 By Application

4.2.2.1 Commercial

4.2.2.1.1 Retail establishments

4.2.2.1.2 Offices

4.2.2.1.3 Telecom towers

4.2.2.1.4 Hospitals

4.2.2.1.5 Hotels

4.2.2.1.6 Others

4.2.2.2 Industrial

4.2.2.2.1 Manufacturing

4.2.2.2.2 Energy & power

4.2.2.2.3 Others

4.2.2.3 Residential



Chapter 5. Thailand Market Size and Forecast

5.1 Overview

5.2 Market Volume, by Power Rating (2017-2030)

5.3 Market Revenue, by Power Rating (2017-2030)

5.4 Market Volume, by Application (2017-2030)

5.4.1 Commercial Market Volume, by User

5.4.2 Commercial Market Volume, by Power Rating

5.4.3 Industrial Market Volume, by User

5.4.4 Industrial Market Volume, by Power Rating

5.5 Market Revenue, by Application (2017-2030)

5.5.1 Commercial Market Revenue, by User

5.5.2 Commercial Market Revenue, by Power Rating

5.5.3 Industrial Market Revenue, by User

5.5.4 Industrial Market Revenue, by Power Rating



Chapter 6. Competitive Landscape

6.1 List of Market Players and Their Offerings

6.2 Market Share Analysis of Key Players

6.3 Recent Strategic Developments of Key Players



Chapter 7. Company Profiles

7.1 Business Overview

7.2 Product and Service Offerings

7.3 Key Financial Summary

Cummins Inc.

Atlas Copco AB

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.

Caterpillar Inc.

Denyo Co. Ltd.

Changzhou ITC Power Equipment Manufacturing Co. Ltd.

Yanmar Holdings Co. Ltd.

Piller (Thailand) CO. LTD.

Thai Generator Sales & Services Co. Ltd.

YUCHAI (Thailand) CO. LTD.

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/qshzl7

Attachment
Not for distribution to U.S. news wire services or for dissemination in the United States

Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 11, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Avante Logixx Inc. (TSXV: XX) (OTC: ALXXF) (Avante or the Company) announces the grant of stock options to certain directors of the Company for the purchase of up to 200,000 common shares of Avante, effective as of today.

Daniel Argiros and Wade Burton, each of whom are directors of the Company, have been granted options to acquire 100,000 common shares of the Company, subject to the terms and conditions of the Companys 10% rolling stock option plan. The options granted to each of Mr. Argiros and Mr. Burton will have an exercise price of $0.77 per share, and will be fully vested immediately upon grant. All of the options granted to each of Mr. Argiros and Mr. Burton have a term of five years from the date of grant.

About Avante Logixx Inc.

Avante Logixx Inc. (TSXV: XX) is a Toronto based provider of high-end security services operating with two subsidiaries. Logixx Security supports enterprise customers across Canada, while Avante Security serves residential customers located in Toronto and Muskoka regions of Ontario, Canada. With experienced teams, a focus on customer service and development of innovative solutions, we remain committed to providing our shareholders with exceptional returns. Please visit our website at www.avantelogixx.com.



Avante Logixx Inc.

Emmanuel Mounouchos

CEO

416 923 6984

manny@avantesecurity.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
CLEVELAND, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Evergreen Podcasts, an Ohio-based podcast production company, is expanding into foreign language-based podcasts. The move is aligned with podcast listener growth, spurring multilingual content (Insider Intelligence, 2022). As a result, the podcast industry is growing a robust portfolio of non-English podcasts, and Evergreen Podcasts is partnering with one of its top shows - The Chad & Cheese Podcast, a popular HR focused-podcast - to launch a series of multilingual content.

The show will soon be available in four languages in addition to English including French, Spanish, German, and Portuguese. The launch in French debuted on Oct. 10 to coincide with the Unleash World 2022, taking place in Paris, France Oct. 12-13, 2022.

"The issues we discuss on the show around recruitment and work are truly global," said Chad Sowash, co-host of The Chad & Cheese Podcast and a former U.S. Army Infantry Drill Sergeant who began in online recruiting with Online Career Center before Monster.com acquired the company. "So it makes perfect sense that we should start providing our content in a variety of languages."

Joel Cheesman, a recruiting industry veteran with 25 years of experience, has co-hosted The Chad & Cheese Podcast with Sowash since 2017. Cheesman adds, "The pandemic and the subsequent trend toward a work-from-home world means recruiting and workforce issues have truly gone global. Publishing our podcast in multiple languages to support a more globalized workforce just makes sense."

The Chad and Cheese Podcast is working with Veritone, Inc., creator of aiWARE, a hyper-expansive enterprise AI platform, which includes a multilingual custom AI voice solution and podcast monetization service combining synthetic voice creation and AI translation service. By leveraging Veritone's award-winning technology of Veritone Voice, podcast hosts are able to transcribe and translate podcast episodes into the desired language output and apply the host's multilingual synthetic voice model to localize podcasts and grow ad revenues and audiences. Veritone Voice enables podcast networks to expand into foreign language and international markets in an authentic way while maintaining podcast hosts' established voice identities.

The Chad and Cheese Podcast centers around talent acquisition issues and is lovingly dubbed in industry circles as "HR's most dangerous podcast." The show has netted 230,000 podcast downloads year to date and is listed as one of Evergreen Podcast's top 20 shows within its growing network.

About Evergreen Podcasts

Evergreen Podcasts is an award-winning production house that brings entertaining, thought-provoking content to people wherever they are. Evergreen produces podcasts that capture modern thinkers, influencers, and personalities. Top thought leaders and breakout brands choose Evergreen to capture inspiring stories through branded content, original shows, and partner podcasts.

Learn more about Evergreen Podcasts and check out the complete lineup of shows.

Contact Information:

Julie Holiday

Marketing Director

jholiday@evergreenpodcasts.com



Related Images











Image 1





Evergreen Podcasts' Chad and Cheese Expand to International Reach









This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com.

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Dublin, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global Serum-Free Media Market: Focus on Media Type, End User, and Region - Analysis and Forecast, 2022-2032" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global market for serum-free media was valued at $1,022.4 million in 2021 and is expected to reach $3,920.5 million by 2032, registering a CAGR of 12.73% during the forecast period 2022-2032.

The growth in the global serum-free media market is expected to be driven by factors such as the low risk of contamination in the media, rising awareness of media-based diagnostic testing, and significant number of funding for executing research and development.

Market Lifecycle Stage

The global serum-free media market is progressing rapidly with a significant increase in research and development activities pertaining to a wide range of animal component-free products for disease detection, accentuating their criticality in healthcare. Serum-free media has a critical role in the cellular diagnostics approach, as it ensures the safe and effective application for improved cell culture and cell therapy-based methods.

Increasing investments in R&D for cell-based diagnostics is one of the major opportunities in the serum-free media market. Several clinical organizations and biopharmaceutical companies are working collaboratively on molecular biology applications, cell biology, cancer research, metagenomics, and plant research using serum-free media as a therapeutic means for applications in several disease indications in order to enable efficient diagnosis, treatment selection, dosage selection, and treatment monitoring.

Impact

Several techniques are employed in the development of serum-free media utilization for the process of removing cells, tissues, or organs from an animal or plant and putting them into a setting that will help them survive and/or proliferate. The selection of an adequate growth medium for in vitro cultivation is the most significant and important phase in cell culture. A growth medium, also known as a culture media, is a solution, gel, or powder that promotes the development of cells, small plants, or microorganisms. This serum-free medium market space has been segmented into different media types that include common serum-free, xeno-free, chemically-defined, animal component-free, and protein-free. Some of these media types are described in brief as follows:

Common serum-free media: In common serum-free media, the composition is precisely defined, ensuring lot-to-lot consistency and eliminating the need to screen new lots of serum. In addition to facilitating the growth of numerous cell types for study, serum-free media also provide the advantage of removing the threat of infectious pathogens. The common serum-free media does not include human or animal serum or plasma in its direct or basic constituents.

Chemically-defined media: Chemically-defined media is beneficial for a range of physiological research as well as for examining the minimal needs of microorganisms. Chemically-defined media are known to increase productivity and reduce costs in cell culture applications. A specified medium will enhance reproducibility and enable a more precise prediction of the final yield from a certain procedure.

Animal component-free media: Animal-free media, also known as animal component-free and animal origin-free cell culture media, can offer the essential components required for cell growth and performance similar to the media, including serum, but without the drawbacks associated with using the serum. Animal component-free media not only mitigates the risk of prions and other viral contaminants but also improves regulatory approvals and speed-to-market.

Protein-free media: The protein-free media are ideal for producing proteins as they promote healthy cell development and excellent protein yield. The proteins in the protein-free medium can be substituted with low-molecular-weight components such as peptides, hormones, and inorganic ions. However, protein-free designated commercially available media frequently contain just trace amounts of recombinant proteins.

Impact of COVID-19

The current global serum-free media market comprises different media types. The unexpected crisis of the pandemic has surged the demand for essentials and thus, increased the demand for serum-free media. There was increased demand for serum-free media from biopharmaceutical companies.

Overall, the impact of COVID-19 on the global serum-free media market size has been low-moderate. Some of the market players have reported a slight decline in sales. However, it is worth mentioning that with the ease of restrictions after Q2 2021, the market for serum-free media gained significant momentum and is anticipated to grow during the forecast period 2022-2032. As a result of the pandemic and reduced output at manufacturing facilities, the pandemic caused a short-term drop in manufacturing and sales of serum-free media.

The global serum-free media market will eventually return to its usual growth trajectory over time. With many people impacted by COVID-19 all around the world, pharmaceutical companies are ramping up manufacturing to create vaccinations. Such trends are generating revenue potential for serum-free media market participants. Lonza Group AG, a Swiss multinational chemicals and biotechnology firm, is earning notoriety for its non-animal ProVeroTM1 Serum-free Medium, which aids in vaccine manufacture.

Recent Developments in the Global Serum-Free Media Market

In August 2022, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. expanded the cell culture media manufacturing facility in Grand Island, New York, to support the production of new vaccines and biologics. This expansion would support the worldwide media supply and increase the capacity to create high-quality technologies.

In May 2022, FUJIFILM Irvine Scientific completed its new bioprocessing innovation and collaboration center in China. The new center would enable local resources and expertise required to optimize cell culture media and workflows to aid the production of vaccines, advanced therapies, and biotherapeutic drug development in China.

In September 2021, Bio-Techne Corporation developed a new medium ExCellerate IpsC expansion medium, for IpsC research in regenerative medicine.

In April 2021, PromoCell GmbH launched an upgrade to its Keratinocyte Cell Culture Portfolio. The company expanded its improved animal-extract-free Keratinocyte Growth Medium 3 for the standardized isolation and development of juvenile and adult Normal Human Keratinocytes.

In March 2021, the company also launched its improved third-generation Melanocyte Cell Culture Portfolio. Melanocyte Growth Medium M3 is a serum-free, bovine pituitary extract (BPE)-free, and phorbol myristate acetate (PMA)-free media formulation.

Demand - Drivers and Limitations

Following are the demand drivers for the global serum-free media market:

Low Risk of Contamination as a Demand Driver

Launch of innovative products in Serum-Free Media Ecosystem

Low reception cost involving small and medium enterprises in comparison to animal derived media

The market is expected to face some limitations too due to the following challenges:

Slow Growth Rate in Comparison to Serum-Supplemented Media

Requirement of Diverse Cell-Type for Specific Media Formulation

Key Market Players and Competition Synopsis

The companies that are profiled have been selected based on inputs gathered from primary experts and analyzing company coverage, product portfolio, and market penetration.

Some of the prominent names established in this market are:

Company Type 1: Serum-Free Media Private Industry

MP BIOMEDICALS.

HiMedia Laboratories

R&D Systems, Inc.

Sino Biological, Inc.

PAN-Biotech.

PromoCell GmbH

Athena Environmental Sciences, Inc.

STEMCELL Technologies Inc.

Company Type 2: Serum-Free Media Public Industry

Corning Incorporated

Lonza Group AG

Merck KgaA

Sartorius AG

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.

FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation

Danaher.

Key Topics Covered:

1 Market Overview

2 Global Serum-Free Media: Market Dynamics

2.1 Overview

2.2 Impact Analysis

2.2.1 Drivers

2.2.1.1 Low Risk of Contamination as a Demand Driver

2.2.1.2 Launch of innovative products in Serum-Free Media Ecosystem

2.2.1.3 Low reception cost involving small and medium enterprises in comparison to animal derived media

2.2.2 Restraints

2.2.2.1 Slow Growth Rate in Comparison to Serum-Supplemented Media

2.2.2.2 Requirement of Diverse Cell-Type for Specific Media Formulation

2.2.3 Opportunities

2.2.3.1 Regulatory Bodies Across the Globe Encourage the Use of Animal-Free Media in Biological Products

2.2.3.2 Extensive Adoption of Serum-Free Media in Biopharmaceutical Companies

3 Global Serum-Free Media (by Media Type), $Mn, 2021-2032

3.1 Overview

3.2 Common Serum-Free

3.3 Xeno-Free

3.4 Chemically-Defined

3.5 Animal Component-Free

3.6 Protein-Free

4 Global Serum-Free Media (by End User), $Million, 2021-2032

4.1 Overview

4.2 Biopharmaceutical Companies

4.2.1 Biopharmaceutical Companies, by Media Type

4.3 Academic and Research Organizations

4.3.1 Academic and Research Organizations, by Media Type

4.4 Clinical Research Organizations

4.4.1 Clinical Research Organizations, by Media Type

4.5 Others

4.5.1 Others, by Media Type

5 Global Serum-Free Media Market (by Region), $Million, 2021-2032

6 Competitive Landscape

6.1 Overview

6.2 Key Developments and Strategies

6.2.1 Business Expansions

6.2.2 Product Launches and Developments

6.2.3 Mergers and Acquisitions

6.2.4 Others

6.3 Market Share Analysis (by Company)

6.4 Growth-Share Analysis (by Company)

7 Company Profiles

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Attachment
Pune, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- "Mining Explosives Market" size was valued at USD 10394.2 million in 2021 and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 6.48% during the forecast period, reaching USD 15152.51 million by 2027, the Mining Explosives Market Report Contains PPPP Pages Including Full TOC, Tables & Figures, and Chart with In-depth Analysis Pre & Post COVID-19 Market Outbreak Impact Analysis & Situation by Region.



Mining Explosives Market - Covid-19 Impact and Recovery Analysis:

We have been tracking the direct impact of COVID-19 on this market, as well as the indirect impact from other industries. This report analyzes the impact of the pandemic on the Mining Explosives market from a Global and Regional perspective. The report outlines the market size, market characteristics, and market growth for Mining Explosives industry, categorized by type, application, and consumer sector. In addition, it provides a comprehensive analysis of aspects involved in market development before and after the Covid-19 pandemic. Report also conducted a PESTEL analysis in the industry to study key influencers and barriers to entry.

Final Report will add the analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on this industry.

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It also provides accurate information and cutting-edge analysis that is necessary to formulate an ideal business plan, and to define the right path for rapid growth for all involved industry players. With this information, stakeholders will be more capable of developing new strategies, which focus on market opportunities that will benefit them, making their business endeavors profitable in the process.

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Mining Explosives Market - Competitive and Segmentation Analysis:

This Mining Explosives Market report offers detailed analysis supported by reliable statistics on sale and revenue by players for the period 2017-2022. The report also includes company description, major business, Mining Explosives product introduction, recent developments and Mining Explosives sales by region, type, application and by sales channel.

The major players covered in the Mining Explosives market report are:

Orica

BME Mining

IPL (Dyno Nobel)

Sasol

ENAEX

MAXAM

AEL

EPC Groupe

Short Summery About Mining Explosives Market :

The Global Mining Explosives market is anticipated to rise at a considerable rate during the forecast period, between 2022 and 2028. In 2021, the market is growing at a steady rate and with the rising adoption of strategies by key players, the market is expected to rise over the projected horizon.

The global Mining Explosives market size was valued at USD 10394.2 million in 2021 and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 6.48% during the forecast period, reaching USD 15152.51 million by 2027.

The Explosives Used in Mining. An explosive material, also called an explosive, is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure.

The report combines extensive quantitative analysis and exhaustive qualitative analysis, ranges from a macro overview of the total market size, industry chain, and market dynamics to micro details of segment markets by type, application and region, and, as a result, provides a holistic view of, as well as a deep insight into the Mining Explosives market covering all its essential aspects.

For the competitive landscape, the report also introduces players in the industry from the perspective of the market share, concentration ratio, etc., and describes the leading companies in detail, with which the readers can get a better idea of their competitors and acquire an in-depth understanding of the competitive situation. Further, mergers & acquisitions, emerging market trends, the impact of COVID-19, and regional conflicts will all be considered.

In a nutshell, this report is a must-read for industry players, investors, researchers, consultants, business strategists, and all those who have any kind of stake or are planning to foray into the market in any manner.

Get a Sample Copy of the Mining Explosives Market Report 2022

Report further studies the market development status and future Mining Explosives Market trend across the world. Also, it splits Mining Explosives market Segmentation by Type and by Applications to fully and deeply research and reveal market profile and prospects.

On the basis of product type this report displays the production, revenue, price and market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split into:

Bulk Emulsion Explosives

Packaged Explosives

On the basis of the end users/applications this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate for each application, including:

Metal Mining

Quarrying and Nonmetal Mining

Coal Mining

Building and Construction

Mining Explosives Market - Regional Analysis:

Geographically, this report is segmented into several key regions, with sales, revenue, market share and growth Rate of Mining Explosives in these regions, from 2015 to 2027, covering

North America (United States, Canada and Mexico)

Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia and Turkey etc.)

Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam)

South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.)

Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)

Some of the key questions answered in this report:

What is the global ( North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East & Africa ) sales value, production value, consumption value, import and export of Mining Explosives?

) sales value, production value, consumption value, import and export of Mining Explosives? Who are the global key manufacturers of the Mining Explosives Industry? How is their operating situation (capacity, production, sales, price, cost, gross, and revenue)?

What are the Mining Explosives market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the global Mining Explosives Industry?

Which application/end-user or product type may seek incremental growth prospects? What is the market share of each type and application?

What focused approach and constraints are holding the Mining Explosives market?

What are the different sales, marketing, and distribution channels in the global industry?

What are the upstream raw materials and manufacturing equipment of Mining Explosives along with the manufacturing process of Mining Explosives?

What are the key market trends impacting the growth of the Mining Explosives market?

Economic impact on the Mining Explosives industry and development trend of the Mining Explosives industry.

What are the market opportunities, market risk, and market overview of the Mining Explosives market?

What are the key drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges of the Mining Explosives market, and how they are expected to impact the market?

What is the Mining Explosives market size at the regional and country-level?

Our research analysts will help you to get customized details for your report, which can be modified in terms of a specific region, application or any statistical details. In addition, we are always willing to comply with the study, which triangulated with your own data to make the market research more comprehensive in your perspective.

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Detailed TOC of Global Mining Explosives Market Research Report 2022

1 Mining Explosives Market Overview

1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Mining Explosives

1.2 Mining Explosives Segment by Type

1.2.1 Global Mining Explosives Market Size Growth Rate Analysis by Type 2022 VS 2028

1.3 Mining Explosives Segment by Application

1.3.1 Global Mining Explosives Consumption Comparison by Application: 2022 VS 2028

1.4 Global Market Growth Prospects

1.4.1 Global Mining Explosives Revenue Estimates and Forecasts (2017-2028)

1.4.2 Global Mining Explosives Production Capacity Estimates and Forecasts (2017-2028)

1.4.3 Global Mining Explosives Production Estimates and Forecasts (2017-2028)

1.5 Global Market Size by Region

1.5.1 Global Mining Explosives Market Size Estimates and Forecasts by Region: 2017 VS 2021 VS 2028

1.5.2 North America Mining Explosives Estimates and Forecasts (2017-2028)

1.5.3 Europe Mining Explosives Estimates and Forecasts (2017-2028)

1.5.4 China Mining Explosives Estimates and Forecasts (2017-2028)

1.5.5 Japan Mining Explosives Estimates and Forecasts (2017-2028)

2 Market Competition by Manufacturers

2.1 Global Mining Explosives Production Capacity Market Share by Manufacturers (2017-2022)

2.2 Global Mining Explosives Revenue Market Share by Manufacturers (2017-2022)

2.3 Mining Explosives Market Share by Company Type (Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3)

2.4 Global Mining Explosives Average Price by Manufacturers (2017-2022)

2.5 Manufacturers Mining Explosives Production Sites, Area Served, Product Types

2.6 Mining Explosives Market Competitive Situation and Trends

2.6.1 Mining Explosives Market Concentration Rate

2.6.2 Global 5 and 10 Largest Mining Explosives Players Market Share by Revenue

2.6.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion

3 Production Capacity by Region

3.1 Global Production Capacity of Mining Explosives Market Share by Region (2017-2022)

3.2 Global Mining Explosives Revenue Market Share by Region (2017-2022)

3.3 Global Mining Explosives Production Capacity, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2017-2022)

3.4 North America Mining Explosives Production

3.4.1 North America Mining Explosives Production Growth Rate (2017-2022)

3.4.2 North America Mining Explosives Production Capacity, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2017-2022)

3.5 Europe Mining Explosives Production

3.5.1 Europe Mining Explosives Production Growth Rate (2017-2022)

3.5.2 Europe Mining Explosives Production Capacity, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2017-2022)

3.6 China Mining Explosives Production

3.6.1 China Mining Explosives Production Growth Rate (2017-2022)

3.6.2 China Mining Explosives Production Capacity, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2017-2022)

3.7 Japan Mining Explosives Production

3.7.1 Japan Mining Explosives Production Growth Rate (2017-2022)

3.7.2 Japan Mining Explosives Production Capacity, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2017-2022)

4 Global Mining Explosives Consumption by Region

4.1 Global Mining Explosives Consumption by Region

4.1.1 Global Mining Explosives Consumption by Region

4.1.2 Global Mining Explosives Consumption Market Share by Region

4.2 North America

4.2.1 North America Mining Explosives Consumption by Country

4.2.2 United States

4.2.3 Canada

4.3 Europe

4.3.1 Europe Mining Explosives Consumption by Country

4.3.2 Germany

4.3.3 France

4.3.4 U.K.

4.3.5 Italy

4.3.6 Russia

4.4 Asia Pacific

4.4.1 Asia Pacific Mining Explosives Consumption by Region

4.4.2 China

4.4.3 Japan

4.4.4 South Korea

4.4.5 China Taiwan

4.4.6 Southeast Asia

4.4.7 India

4.4.8 Australia

4.5 Latin America

4.5.1 Latin America Mining Explosives Consumption by Country

4.5.2 Mexico

4.5.3 Brazil

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5 Segment by Type

5.1 Global Mining Explosives Production Market Share by Type (2017-2022)

5.2 Global Mining Explosives Revenue Market Share by Type (2017-2022)

5.3 Global Mining Explosives Price by Type (2017-2022)

6 Segment by Application

6.1 Global Mining Explosives Production Market Share by Application (2017-2022)

6.2 Global Mining Explosives Revenue Market Share by Application (2017-2022)

6.3 Global Mining Explosives Price by Application (2017-2022)

7 Key Companies Profiled

7.1 Company

7.1.1 Mining Explosives Corporation Information

7.1.2 Mining Explosives Product Portfolio

7.1. CMining Explosives Production Capacity, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2017-2022)

7.1.4 Companys Main Business and Markets Served

7.1.5 Companys Recent Developments/Updates



8 Mining Explosives Manufacturing Cost Analysis

8.1 Mining Explosives Key Raw Materials Analysis

8.1.1 Key Raw Materials

8.1.2 Key Suppliers of Raw Materials

8.2 Proportion of Manufacturing Cost Structure

8.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Mining Explosives

8.4 Mining Explosives Industrial Chain Analysis

9 Marketing Channel, Distributors and Customers

9.1 Marketing Channel

9.2 Mining Explosives Distributors List

9.3 Mining Explosives Customers

10 Market Dynamics

10.1 Mining Explosives Industry Trends

10.2 Mining Explosives Market Drivers

10.3 Mining Explosives Market Challenges

10.4 Mining Explosives Market Restraints

11 Production and Supply Forecast

11.1 Global Forecasted Production of Mining Explosives by Region (2023-2028)

11.2 North America Mining Explosives Production, Revenue Forecast (2023-2028)

11.3 Europe Mining Explosives Production, Revenue Forecast (2023-2028)

11.4 China Mining Explosives Production, Revenue Forecast (2023-2028)

11.5 Japan Mining Explosives Production, Revenue Forecast (2023-2028)

12 Consumption and Demand Forecast

12.1 Global Forecasted Demand Analysis of Mining Explosives

12.2 North America Forecasted Consumption of Mining Explosives by Country

12.3 Europe Market Forecasted Consumption of Mining Explosives by Country

12.4 Asia Pacific Market Forecasted Consumption of Mining Explosives by Region

12.5 Latin America Forecasted Consumption of Mining Explosives by Country

13 Forecast by Type and by Application (2023-2028)

13.1 Global Production, Revenue and Price Forecast by Type (2023-2028)

13.1.1 Global Forecasted Production of Mining Explosives by Type (2023-2028)

13.1.2 Global Forecasted Revenue of Mining Explosives by Type (2023-2028)

13.1.3 Global Forecasted Price of Mining Explosives by Type (2023-2028)

13.2 Global Forecasted Consumption of Mining Explosives by Application (2023-2028)

13.2.1 Global Forecasted Production of Mining Explosives by Application (2023-2028)

13.2.2 Global Forecasted Revenue of Mining Explosives by Application (2023-2028)

13.2.3 Global Forecasted Price of Mining Explosives by Application (2023-2028)

14 Research Finding and Conclusion

15 Methodology and Data Source

15.1 Methodology/Research Approach

15.1.1 Research Programs/Design

15.1.2 Market Size Estimation

15.1.3 Market Breakdown and Data Triangulation

15.2 Data Source

15.2.1 Secondary Sources

15.2.2 Primary Sources

15.3 Author List

15.4 Disclaimer

Continued.

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Dublin, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Computational Biology Global Market Report 2022" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The global computational biology market is expected to decline from $4.89 billion in 2021 to $6.02 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.01%. The computational biology market is expected to reach $12.75 billion in 2026 at a CAGR of 20.64%.



North America was the largest region in the computational biology market in 2021. Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest-growing region in the forecast period. The regions covered in the computational biology market report are Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Middle East and Africa.



Government funding has been the major driver in the computational biology market. Governments across the globe are funding infrastructure and academic courses to improve the capabilities of computational biologics in R&D, educational institutions, and other sectors.

The rapid growth in government funding is expected to boost the demand for computational biological solutions, as they are widely used in R&D, clinical research, and other development activities. According to the study published in National Cancer Institute, the annual funding for cancer research and biological research increased from $5.9 billion in 2018 to $6.4 billion in 2020. Therefore, government funding is driving the growth of the computational biology market.



Computational bio-modelling is a key trend gaining popularity in the computational biologics market. Computational bio-modelling involves mathematical representation of the biological process to study complex behaviour. The companies operating in computational biologics are offering innovative services in computational bio-modelling to accelerate development activities. For instance, in 2020, Zymvol, a Spain-based provider of enzyme discovery and design services, launched new services in a combination of molecular modelling and bioinformatics to accelerate enzyme discovery and design services.



In March 2022, ZS Associates, a USA-based provider of professional services acquired Intomics for an undisclosed amount. Through this acquisition, ZS Associates is focused on diversifying their business activities and offering its clients innovative solutions. Intomics is a Denmark-based provider of bioinformatics solutions and system biology.

Scope

Markets Covered:



1) By Services: In-house; Contract

2) By Tools: Databases; Infrastructure (Hardware); Analysis Software and Services

3) Application: Cellular and Biological Simulation; Drug Discovery and Disease Modelling; Clinical Trials

4) End Users: Research; Pharmaceutical Industry; Commercial Applications



Key Topics Covered:



1. Executive Summary



2. Computational Biology Market Characteristics



3. Computational Biology Market Trends And Strategies



4. Impact Of COVID-19 On Computational Biology



5. Computational Biology Market Size And Growth



6. Computational Biology Market Segmentation

7. Computational Biology Market Regional And Country Analysis



8. Asia-Pacific Computational Biology Market



9. China Computational Biology Market



10. India Computational Biology Market



11. Japan Computational Biology Market



12. Australia Computational Biology Market



13. Indonesia Computational Biology Market



14. South Korea Computational Biology Market



15. Western Europe Computational Biology Market



16. UK Computational Biology Market



17. Germany Computational Biology Market



18. France Computational Biology Market



19. Eastern Europe Computational Biology Market



20. Russia Computational Biology Market



21. North America Computational Biology Market



22. USA Computational Biology Market

23. South America Computational Biology Market



24. Brazil Computational Biology Market



25. Middle East Computational Biology Market



26. Africa Computational Biology Market



27. Computational Biology Market Competitive Landscape And Company Profiles



28. Key Mergers And Acquisitions In The Computational Biology Market



29. Computational Biology Market Future Outlook and Potential Analysis



30. Appendix



Companies Mentioned

Accelrys

Certara

Chemical Computing Group Inc.

Compugen Ltd.

Entelos, Inc.

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Vancouver, British Columbia, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Asante Gold Corporation (CSE:ASE | GSE:ASG | FRANKFURT:1A9 | U.S.OTC:ASGOF) is pleased to provide an update and status report for the initiatives the Company has taken at its Bibiani and Chirano Gold Mines in Ghana.



BIBIANI RAMP UP ON TRACK

The first gold pour at the Bibiani Gold Mine (Bibiani) occurred on July 7, 2022, two months ahead of schedule.





All process plant and mine facilities are operating on a 24 hour per day basis, with ~220,000 tonnes of ore treated in September. Asante plans to increase throughput to 250,000 tonnes ore per month by Q1 2023.





Gold production in September was just above 9,300 ounces, 17% above the Companys start up plan.





Mine plan and mine to mill reconciliation for the Walsh satellite pit and Main Pit were on target.





The Walsh Pit continues to outperform, relative to our initial planned gold production. The area between the Walsh and Main pits were historically used for tailings storage. This area has now been partially explored and Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources have increased from 20,000 to more than 100,000 ounces (1.37 MT with Au grade of 2.62 g/t). The drilling program to explore this trend and to support the planned underground mining strategy has been initiated.





The Companys plan to extend the Bibiani LOM (life of mine) from 8.3 years to +10 years is on track with successful development exploration at Russel South (see press releases of March 29 th and August 17 th ) and drilling programs have commenced at the Grasshopper and Elizabeth deposits. The Company will continue its near mine development exploration program with planned drilling of approximately 30,000 metres per year for 2022, 2023 and 2024.





and August 17 ) and drilling programs have commenced at the Grasshopper and Elizabeth deposits. The Company will continue its near mine development exploration program with planned drilling of approximately 30,000 metres per year for 2022, 2023 and 2024. The Company filed an updated National Instrument 43-101  Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101) technical report on the Bibiani Gold Mine on September 1, 2022 that incorporates exploration and mine planning results to February 28, 2022 and increased the Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources by 26.4% to 2.29M ounces (31.57 MT with Au grade of 2.24 g/t) and are further classified as 1.95M ounces of Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves (28.4 MT with Au grade of 2.14 g/t). An updated NI 43-101 technical report to incorporate results of the 2022 exploration program is planned for Q3 2023. We anticipate this report will define additional ounces to the current resource and LOM.





CHIRANO MINE TRANSITION PLAN AND BUSINESS IMPROVEMENTS ON TRACK

The Chirano Gold Mine (Chirano) acquisition was completed on August 10, 2022. This acquisition added Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources of 28.1Mt at 1.26 g/t Au (1.13 Moz) and Inferred Mineral Resources of 6.05Mt at 1.91 g/t (0.37 Moz) to Asantes gold resource. An updated NI 43-101 technical report for Chirano was filed by the Company on October 11, 2022. The technical report is based upon information and planning developed by Kinross Gold Corporation, the former owner of Chirano. Asante continues to identify and develop opportunities to add value to this asset. An update to this technical report is planned for Q3 2023 and will incorporate results of the 2022 exploration program and Business Improvement Plan, referenced below.





The Company has initiated a Chirano Transition and Business Improvement Plan to increase Chirano current gold production by 30% and to reduce AISC (all-in sustaining costs) by 10% by 2024 through the following initiatives:



Gravity plant design and procurement are well advanced with installation planned for completion at Q2 2023;



Oxygen addition to the CIL (carbon-in-leach) process is proceeding and an oxygen plant is planned for installation in Q2 2023; to date, we have increased gold recovery by +3% to 89%. A pebble crusher has been ordered and primary grinding upgrades are planned to be installed in Q2 2023 to increase process plant throughput from 3.2 to 4.0M t/y; Relocation of minor infrastructure and facilities is underway, to provide access to expansion of the Akoti South open pit and to start the second cut at the Sariehu open pit. These initiatives will access lower cost resources; Studies and associated initiatives are underway to improve the material handling systems to deliver ore to the Process Plant at lower cost; Initiatives to capture synergies between the Bibiani and Chirano mines have started to yield benefits related to supply of principle consumable materials; Development of the wide Obra orebody, the lower Tano underground mines and the Mamnao open pit mine have been accelerated, to provide lower cost resources for treatment; and Asante plans to invest minimum of $5M/y in near mine and regional exploration over the next three years with the target to increase Chirano LOM from current 5 to +10 years; exploration of the Aboduabo and Chine targets has been initiated.



OPERATING SYNERGY INITIATIVES UNDERWAY

The Company has commenced initiatives to capture synergies between its Bibiani and Chirano mines, that are situated with their process plants approximately 15 km apart. These initiatives include development of an access road to directly link the process plants and provide access for exploration along the highly mineralized Bibiani-Chirano shear zone. This road will be upgraded to become a mine haul road, so that ore can be treated where most appropriate, based upon availability and mineralogy. Asante continues to develop opportunities to share infrastructure and to realize operational cost reductions.

Dave Anthony, President and CEO stated, We are very pleased with the progress that we have made thus far in 2022. Over the past 12 months Asante has been transformed from an early exploration company to a mid-tier producer. We continue to develop the business as planned and delivered more than 20,750 ounces in September. Value creation initiatives are proceeding across our business as planned. As we gather momentum on both of our mining operations, on exploration activities and advance with production improvement initiatives, we look forward to providing further updates.

For more details on Asantes current plans for Bibiani and Chirano, please refer to our September 26, 2022 Investor Presentation that can be found on our website at www.asantegold.com.

Qualified Person Statement

The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by David Anthony, P.Eng. (Alberta and Ontario) Mining and Metallurgy, President and CEO of Asante, who is a "qualified person" under NI 43-101.

About Asante Gold Corporation

Asante is a gold exploration, development and operating company with a high-quality portfolio of projects and mines in Ghana. Asante is currently operating the Bibiani and Chirano Gold Mines with a combined forecast production of 335,000 oz of gold over the next 12 months. The Company continues with detailed technical studies at its Kubi Gold Project for early production. All mines and projects are located on the prolific Bibiani and Ashanti Gold Belts. Asante has an experienced and skilled team of mine finders, builders and operators, with extensive experience in Ghana. Asante is listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange, the Ghana Stock Exchange and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Asante is also exploring its Keyhole, Fahiakoba and Betenase projects for new discoveries, all adjoining or along strike of major gold mines near the centre of Ghanas Golden Triangle. Additional information is available on the Companys website at www.asantegold.com.

About the Bibiani Gold Mine

Bibiani is a historically significant gold mine situated in the Western Region of Ghana, with previous gold production of more than 4Moz. It is fully permitted with available mining and processing infrastructure on-site consisting of a newly refurbished 3 million tonne per annum process plant, and existing mining infrastructure. Mining commenced in late February with the first gold pour announced on July 7, 2022, with forecast 12 month gold production of 175,000 oz.

For additional information relating to the mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates for the Bibiani Gold Mine, please refer to Asantes press releases dated July 18, 2022 and September 1, 2022 and the technical report titled "NI 43-101 Technical Report, Bibiani Gold Project, Ghana, West Africa", dated August 31, 2022 (with an effective date of February 28, 2022) filed on its SEDAR profile (www.sedar.com) on September 1, 2022.

About the Chirano Gold Mine

Chirano is an operating open-pit and underground mining operation located in Western North region of Ghana, immediately south of the Companys Bibiani Gold Mine. Chirano was first explored and developed in 1996 and began production in October 2005. The mine comprises the Akwaaba, Suraw, Akoti South, Akoti North, Akoti Extended, Paboase, Tano, Obra South, Obra, Sariehu and Mamnao open pits and the Akwaaba and Paboase underground mines. Gold Equivalent Production in 2021 was 154,668 oz on a 100% basis (source Kinross Gold Corporation).

For additional information relating to the mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates for Chirano, please refer to Asantes press release dated October 11, 2022 and the technical report titled "NI 43-101 Technical Report, Chirano Gold Mine, Ghana, West Africa", dated September 30, 2022 (with an effective date of December 31, 2021) filed on its SEDAR profile (www.sedar.com) on October 11, 2022.

For further information please contact:

Dave Anthony, President & CEO: +1 647 382 4215 (Canada) or +233 55 879 3309 (Ghana), dave@asantegold.com

Frederick Attakumah, Executive Vice President, frederick@asantegold.com

Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results, performance, prospects, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including the resources, reserves, exploration results, and development programs. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, variations in the nature, quality and quantity of any mineral deposits that may be located, the Companys inability to obtain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required for its planned activities, the Companys inability to raise the necessary capital or to be fully able to implement its business strategies, and the price of gold. The reader is referred to the Companys public disclosure record which is available on SEDAR (www.sedar.com). Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors 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 as required by securities laws and the policies of the securities exchanges on which the Company is listed, the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

LEI Number: 529900F9PV1G9S5YD446. Neither IIROC nor any stock exchange or other securities regulatory authority accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
WICHITA, Kan., Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AgEagle Aerial Systems Inc. (NYSE American: UAVS) (AgEagle or the Company), an industry-leading provider of full-stack drone, sensor and software solutions for commercial and government/defense use, today announced the Company will be exhibiting at INTERGEO Expo 2022 in Essen, Germany at Messe Essen conference center on October 18-20, 2022. AgEagles exhibit will be located in Expo Hall 1 in Congress Center Essen West in Booth #A1-024, where key members of the AgEagle team will be available for one-on-one product discussions.



In addition, Pierre-Alain Marchand, Head of Regulation at AgEagle, will host an educational lecture, titled European Drone Regulations Explained: Challenges, Benefits and Opportunities. Marchands presentation will focus on the changing drone regulatory landscape in Europe, detailing the different operational categories defined by the European Commission and sharing considerations for simplifying registration and authorization processes for advanced missions, including Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) and Operations Over People (OOP).

DETAILS AT A GLANCE:

Who: Pierre-Alain Marchand, Head of Regulation, AgEagle Aerial Systems

Pierre-Alain Marchand, Head of Regulation, AgEagle Aerial Systems What: European Drone Regulations Explained: Challenges, Benefits and Opportunities

European Drone Regulations Explained: Challenges, Benefits and Opportunities Where: Stage 2, Hall 2

Stage 2, Hall 2 When: Tuesday, October 18, 2022 | 3:00 PM  3:20 PM Local Time

INTERGEO Expo 2022 is one of Europes top must-attend events for the international geospatial community, showcasing over 450 companies making critical advancements in surveying: from spatial reference and positioning to 4D geospatial IoT and mobile mapping applications. At this years event, trend topics, such as Building Information Modeling (BIM) and the diverse application possibilities of the Digital Twins, as well as current requirements for Smart Cities and rural areas, will be in focus. In addition, viewed from the vantage point of climate change, the digital collection of data via remote sensing satellites, UAV, TLS or other sensors offers opportunities and solutions for more sustainable interaction of humans with nature, will also be an area of emphasis at the show.

About AgEagle Aerial Systems Inc.

AgEagle is actively engaged in designing and delivering best-in-class drones, sensors and software that solve important problems for our customers. Founded in 2010, AgEagle was originally formed to pioneer proprietary, professional-grade, fixed-winged drones and aerial imagery-based data collection and analytics solutions for the agriculture industry. Today, AgEagle is a leading provider of full stack drone solutions for customers worldwide in the energy, construction, agriculture, and government verticals. For additional information, please visit our website at www.ageagle.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties that could negatively affect our business, operating results, financial condition, and stock price. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from managements current expectations include those risks and uncertainties relating to our competitive position, the industry environment, potential growth opportunities, and the effects of regulation and events outside of our control, such as natural disasters, wars, or health epidemics. We expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in our expectations or any changes in events, conditions, or circumstances on which any such statement is based, except as required by law.
New York, USA, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Research Dive has published a new report on the global liver disease treatment market . According to the report, the global market is projected to surpass $32,028.5 million and grow with a CAGR of 11.7% in the estimated period, 20212028. This all-inclusive report delivers a comprehensive overview of the current and future situation of the liver disease treatment market by stating its main characteristics including growth drivers, growth opportunities, limitations, and developments in the forecast period. The report also offers all the required and vital market statistics to help new players obtain an insight into the status of the global market.

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Liver disease treatment Market:

The abrupt rise of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has had an adverse impact on the growth of the global liver disease treatment market. The implementation of lockdown restrictions and supply chain disruptions ceased the working of many drug manufacturing companies. This greatly hindered the growth of the liver disease treatment market during the pandemic. However, initiatives taken by market players, such as novel developments and strategic collaborations, to recuperate the market from losses are likely to bring in lucrative opportunities for the market in the future years.

Request a complete PDF Sample of the Liver Disease Treatment Market (Including Tables, TOC, Insights, and Figures)

Factors Impacting the Liver Disease Treatment Market Growth

The key factor boosting the growth of the global liver disease treatment market is a significant rise in government and non-government awareness programs to treat liver disorders. In addition, the increasing occurrence of liver disorders mainly in the Latin American and Middle East nations is estimated to unlock lucrative opportunities for the markets growth in the forecast period. However, high costs required in the development of drugs used in liver disease treatment are anticipated to deter the markets growth.

The report segments the global liver disease treatment market into treatment type, disease type, end user, and region.



Antiviral Drugs Sub-Segment to Grab a Foremost Share of the Market

The antiviral drugs sub-segment of the treatment type segment is foreseen to grow massively by garnering $13,503.3 million in the forecast period. This growth is mainly owed to the increasing developments in the field of antiviral drugs owing to the various benefits they offer.

Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Sub-Segment to Witness Outstanding Growth

The non-alcoholic fatty liver disease sub-segment of the disease type segment is projected to grab a leading position in the global market by garnering $3,667.2 million in the forecast period. This is primarily owed to the increasing number of obese people worldwide, rising awareness about liver disorders in emerging regions, and growing cases of diabetes across the globe.

Hospitals Sub-Segment to Grow Remarkably

The hospitals sub-segment of the end user segment is expected to hit $22,276.3 million in the forecast period. This is primarily due to the presence of integrated liver treatment hospitals in the European and American nations with a dedicated medical team consisting of some of the best liver surgeons as well as hepatologists.

Broader Insights Pertaining of Specific Segments or Regions of Liver Disease Treatment Market & Avail Benefit of 10%OFF

Asia-Pacific Liver Disease Treatment Market to Perceive Maximum Growth

The report analyzes the global liver disease treatment market across several regions such as Asia-Pacific, North America, Europe, and LAMEA. Among these, the Asia-Pacific market is projected to hit $4,099.7 million in the estimated period. The growth of the region market is mostly because of the rising need for progressive and advanced liver disease therapeutics mainly in nations such as India, China, and South Korea in this region.

Top Players of the Global Market

The report states some of the foremost players operating in the global liver disease treatment market including

Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc. GlaxoSmithKline plc. Novartis AG Bayer AG Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) Pfizer Inc. F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd Gilead Sciences, Inc. AbbVie. Sanofi

These players are taking various initiatives such as investing in novel product launches, strategic alliances and collaborations, etc. to obtain a leading edge in the global market.

For instance, in February 2021, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, the Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare, launched the operational guidelines for the integration of NAFLD (Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease) with the NPCDCS (National Programme for Prevention & Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke).

Also, the report provides numerous industry insights such as top strategic initiatives & developments, novel launch of products, business performance, Porters five forces analysis, and SWOT analysis of the foremost players, functioning in the global market.

Post COVID-19 Impact Insights on Liver Disease Treatment Market. Ask an Analyst or Schedule a call

More about Liver Disease Treatment Market:
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Loos, France, Isovital Headquarter, Oct 12th 2022 - Radiopharma Logistics Group (RLG); ISOTOPES SERVICES INTERNATIONAL (ISI). NEW SHAREHOLDER

Claude Poliart, founder and manager of the logistic company  Road Runner  was acting as a consultant for ISI until now and becomes ISOTOPES SERVICES INTERNATIONAL (ISI) shareholder.

Philippe Sueur, Isovital President declared:  We are pleased to add Claude to the capital of Isotopes Services International and we strongly reinforce our executive committee with his arrival. While ISI is now fully back on track, Claude brings his remarkable experience of our field and a unique knowledge of Belgium and more globally of the entire Benelux. He is now part of ISIs and RLG development .

Claude Poliart added  Im honored to join Isotopes Services International and the RLG. ISI has + 30 years of experience in the field of pharmaceutical, radiopharmaceutical, complex and multimodal transportation and I admire the resilience of the company and the commitment of the team to our customers. I do not forget the valuable and faithful ISIs partners whom I thank for their warm welcome. Im really glad to be involved with ISI and with Isovital and Isolife which dedication is also critical notably for numerous patients .

About:

Radio Pharma Logistics Group (RLG) consists in three companies: Isovital, Isolife and Isotopes Services International (ISI). The RLG group companies are specialized in the transportation of radiopharmaceuticals and sensitive materials for national and international companies. Since their foundation in 2005 and 2007, Isovital and Isolife have had a constant and remarkable evolution. At the end of 2017, RLG has expanded in Belgium with Isotopes Services International (ISI) acquisition. In 2021, more than 11.5 million patients received their care thanks to the actions of the RLG companies.

http://www.radiopharmalogistics.com/

http://www.isovital.fr/

http://www.isolife.fr/

https://isotopes.be/
TORONTO, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Arena Minerals Inc. (Arena or the Company) (TSX-V: AN | OTCQX: AMRZF) is pleased to announce evaporation pond construction has been completed at its Sal de la Puna Project (SDLP Project) located in the Pastos Grandes basin within Salta province, Argentina. The evaporation pilot pond covers a total of 10,000 m2 and has been filled with raw brine from the Almafuerte claim block. The evaporation pond has been designed to produce >35% lithium chloride (LiCl) (6% lithium) from SDLP raw brine.



The pilot pond was built according to engineering design utilizing only in-situ material. Soil mechanics showed favourable parameters such as soil type, particle size distribution and compaction properties making the Blanca Lila formation, which covers most of Almafuerte and Graciela claim blocks, an attractive site for the construction of a production complex. The favourable soil conditions eliminated the need for geotextile layers under the liner, reducing the overall cost of construction. The pond has been filled to operating brine height with Pastos Grandes raw brine averaging 558 mg/l Li. A permanent salt floor is being deposited over the liner to protect the liner during harvesting. Once the permanent salt floor design thickness has been reached design specifications, internal walls shall be constructed using waste sodium chloride covered with HDPE.

Eduardo Morales, Executive Chairman of Arena, commented, We are extremely pleased with progress to date at SDLP. Construction of the ponds was completed on schedule and budget, setting a solid foundation for the completion of detailed engineering of commercial sized ponds. We are in the process of selecting engineering firms for the design of a 40,000 tonne per annum lithium chloride facility, which will incorporate the results of an economic assessment including capital and operating cost estimates.

An aerial image of the completed pond prior to filling with SDLP brine can be found below.





Environmental, Social & Governance Update

Since the acquisition of the Sal de la Puna project Arena has developed a healthy relationship with local communities. The strength and support shown by the local communities for the Project is also a testament to the long-standing relationships existing with Arenas operations team, many of whom have been operating in the immediate region for over a decade.

Arenas business model and processing approach provides an environmentally friendly and sustainable alternative to the more conventional liming process that traditionally requires a chemical plant on site. In aiming to produce >35% LiCl directly from ponds, Arena does not require a more environmentally sensitive liming plant while minimizing the use (to almost zero consumption) of both power and fresh water thus reducing our carbon footprint. The Arena process is powered by solar energy (evaporation) and does not employ fresh water. The only power and water required is for the camp and minor ancillary services, such as pumping. Like most lithium brine projects in the Puna region of Argentina, Sal de la Puna is located in a high-altitude desert where both power and water are scarce commodities.

A production Environmental Impact Study (EIS) has been submitted to the mining authorities in Salta for the permitting of a 40,000 tonne per annum lithium chloride facility. The study evaluates the impact of constructing 490 hectares of lined evaporation ponds, thirteen production wells, and related ancillary infrastructure on the Almafuerte and Graciela claim blocks. These claim blocks are primarily covered by the Blanca Lila geological formation where the 1-hectare pilot pond has been constructed with favourable results. The lithium bearing aquifers targeted by the well field are interpreted as hydraulically separate from any surface waters and therefore of minimal impact to the basin habitats. The Company is working closely with the authorities on minimizing any potential impacts in a timely manner while ensuring the local communities and provincial governments benefit from value-add lithium products.

About Arena Minerals Inc.

Arena owns 65% of the Sal de la Puna Project covering approximately 13,200 hectares of the Pastos Grandes basin located in Salta, Argentina. The claims are highly prospective and share the basin with two advanced lithium brine projects. In addition to Sal de la Puna, the Company owns the Antofalla lithium brine project in Argentina, consisting of four claims covering a total of 6,000 hectares of the central portion of Salar de Antofalla, located immediately south of Albemarle Corporation's Antofalla project. Arena has developed a proprietary brine processing technology using brine type reagents derived from the Antofalla project with the objective of producing more competitive battery grade lithium products.

Arena also owns 80 percent of the Atacama Copper property within the Antofagasta region of Chile, and 5.8 million shares of Astra Exploration. The projects are at low altitudes, within producing mining camps in infrastructure-rich areas, located in the heart of Chile's premier copper mining district.

For more information regarding the Company, its management, expertise, and projects, please visit www.arenaminerals.com. An email registration allowing subscribers to directly receive news and updates is also available on the website.

The technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by William Randall, P.Geo, who is a Qualified Person as defined under NI 43-101. Mr. Randall is a director and is the Chief Executive Officer and President of Arena.

For more information, contact William Randall, President and CEO, at +1-416-818-8711 or Simon Marcotte, Corporate Development, at +1-647-801-7273 or smarcotte@arenaminerals.com.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of: Arena Minerals Inc.

William Randall, President and CEO

Cautionary Note Regarding Accuracy and Forward-Looking Information

This news release may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements, projections and estimates relating to the future development of any of the Company's properties, the anticipating timing with respect to private placement financings, the ability of the Company to complete private placement financings, results of the exploration program, future financial or operating performance of the Company, its subsidiaries and its projects, the development of and the anticipated timing with respect to the Atacama project in Chile, the Antofalla and Sal de la Puna Projects in Argentina , and the Company's ability to obtain financing. 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". The statements made herein are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially because of factors discussed in the management discussion and analysis section of the Company's interim and most recent annual financial statement or other reports and filings with the TSX Venture Exchange and applicable Canadian securities regulations. Estimates underlying the results set out in this news release arise from work conducted by the previous owners and the Company. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to: general business, economic, competitive, geopolitical and social uncertainties; the actual results of current exploration activities; other risks of the mining industry and the risks described in the annual information form of the Company. 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. Arena Minerals does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/577ac11f-0ac1-4a8d-9202-c76f46db2092
Designers, builders, architects and students from around the nation submitted record-breaking number of designs in prestigious contest

Cash prizes totaling $110,000 awarded to national winners, regional winners, students and honorable mentions

Categories include Exceptional Kitchen Design, Compact Kitchen Suite, Original Innovator/Out of the Box Space and Student Concept Kitchen, with over 50 Awards Issued

IRVINE, Calif., Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Thermador, the iconic American luxury home appliance brand, has announced the national winners for their 2019-2022 Kitchen Design Challenge: Julie Howard as the Grand Prize Winner for Exceptional Kitchen, Dane Austin in 2nd place for Exceptional Kitchen, and Dalia Carter in 3rd place for Exceptional Kitchen; Shane Harr won for the Original Innovator/Out of the Box Space category; and a tie between Hailie Lewis and Ella Wynsma for the Compact Kitchen Suite category. Holly Lord Sherrell, graduate of the University of Georgia, was also named Student Concept Kitchen winner, the first winner in the contests brand new category.

We were amazed this year by the record number of applicants who submitted designs to this challenge, and we were completely inspired by the creativity demonstrated in each of the spaces submitted, said Beatriz Sandoval, Head of Marketing for Thermador. The spirit of luxury kitchen design in the industry was captured beautifully by each of these submissions, and it now becomes part of our Thermador design culture. These talented professionals have truly showcased the innovation around our brand, and we are extremely grateful.

In its fourth iteration, the Thermador Kitchen Design Challenge offers designers, builders, architects and now, students, the opportunity to enter their designs in a national competition that offers winners nationwide industry recognition and cash prizes. The Thermador Kitchen Design Challenge was reimagined with a new category to allow designers the opportunity to showcase their work outside of the kitchen by submitting a design concept. In addition to cash prizes, the winners will receive national coverage of their winning designs on https://www.ArchitecturalDigest.com/ as part of their winners package.

As part of the thorough three-phase judging process, an expert panel judged finalists from a record number of entries: Eddie Ross, Author and Co-founder and Chief Content Creator of Maximalist Studios; Kristina LoMonaco, Design Council Member and Founder of a NYC Design Firm; Breeze Giannasio, design firm founder and known for her work on HGTV, Brother vs. Brother and Property Brothers at Home; and Nathan Turner, Special Projects Editor at Architectural Digest, and Contributing Editor at C Magazine.

Although both national and regional winners have been announced, there is still more to come from Thermador Kitchen Design Challenge, including the Designers Choice Award and Fan Favorite Awards, which will be announced in early 2023.

Thermador Kitchen Design Challenge Exceptional Kitchen Winners:

$25,000 Grand Prize Winner: Julie Howard, Julie Howard Home Design for Timber Trails, Central North-South Region

$15,000 Second Place Winner: Dane Austin, Dane Austin Design, Inc., New York-New England Region

$10,000 Third Place Winner: Dalia Carter, Carbon 6 Interiors, Central North-South Region



Thermador Kitchen Design Challenge Compact Kitchen Suite Winners:

The two national winners will receive a $5,000 split cash prize for crafting a culinary space smaller than 200 square feet with at least three primary Thermador products.

Ella Wynsma, Jean Stoffer Design, Mid-Atlantic Region (Tie)

Hailie Lewis, Design VIM, Southwest Region (Tie)

Thermador Kitchen Design Challenge Original Innovator/Out of the Box Space Winner:

One national winner will receive a $5,000 cash prize for designing a unique second kitchen between the main kitchen and dining room.

Shane Harr, PureHaven Homes, Southwest Region



Thermador Kitchen Design Challenge Student Concept Kitchen Winner:

One national student winner will receive a $5,000 cash prize for designing an exceptional kitchen for a hypothetical client, with a space of a minimum of 200 square feet and a maximum budget of $250,000.

Holly Lord Sherrell, Graduate of University of Georgia



For further information on national and regional winners, visit https://www.thermador.com/us/build-and-design/kitchen-design-challenge#tab-navigation.

About Thermador

Since 1916, Thermador has introduced innovative breakthroughs  from the worlds first wall ovens and gas cooktops with the patented Star Burner, to the Freedom Induction Cooktop, the first full-surface induction appliance, as well as the Freedom Collection, the first modular built-in fresh food, freezer and wine preservation columns. Thermador products span two completely redesigned collections: Masterpiece and Professional. These collections establish a true connection with consumers through Home Connect, which provides access to personalized content, unique partnerships and customized product guidance. Thermador is part of BSH Home Appliances Corporation, a fully owned subsidiary of BSH Hausgerate GmbH, a global leader in the home appliance industry. For more information, visit www.thermador.com or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at: www.facebook.com/thermador, @Thermador and @ThermadorHome, respectively.

Media Contact:

Allison Field

Allison.Field@FinnPartners.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/87286319-204a-41c8-8f70-52afd4f5aaf7
NEWARK, Del, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The North America Residential Ball Valves Market is expected to reach US$ 321.2 Mn in 2022, growing at a CAGR of 5.6% from 2022 to 2032, according to Future Market Insights analysis.



The market for residential ball valves witnessed growth for the last few years, primarily due to growing residential construction activities, part of which goes to remolding activities. The U.S. and Canada have a developed residential infrastructure, therefore, remolding activities in which old homes are renovated account for a significant share of construction activities. However, the steady increase in the population and increased urbanization have resulted in a moderate increase in new residential construction like apartments and condominiums, which has been optimistically impacting the market for ball valves for residential applications.

The FY2020, the market for residential ball valves witnessed decline in sales, part of which was due to decreased demand. However, the market showed v-shaped recovery in FY2021 and demand went to pre COVID levels, but since China was suffering from lockdowns and COVID protocol at that time, which caused significant supply constraints and this factor increased the raw material cost for the time being.

Get Access To Sample Now: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-15644

Key Takeaways of Residential ball valves Market Study

Over the course of the forecast period, the value of the brass residential ball valves is projected to increase at a value CAGR of 4.9% to reach around US$ 183.0 Mn by 2032

In terms of End Use, Villas is anticipated to create an absolute dollar opportunity worth US$ 35.7 Mn.

In the global market, Floating ball valves are projected account for more than 64% share by the end of forecast period.

By Diameter, 1" segment will grow with a CAGR of 7.0% through the forecast period.

By Country, U.S. is expected to remain dominant throughout the forecast period and is anticipated to account for more than 80% of market share by 2032.



Growth in population, urbanization and remolding activities will increase the residential activities within North America region and this is anticipated to escalate demand for ball valves for residential application in the region. says Future Market insights analyst

Browse Full Report:

https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/north-america-residential-ball-valves-market

Competitive Landscape

The market is moderately concentrated, with top players accounting for no more than 36% of market revenue in 2021. The unorganized sector includes both European and Chinese brands, which sell their products through local dealers and distributors. European brands depend on their high durability, whereas Chinese brands' USP remains their significantly lower pricing.

The ASC Engineered Solutions., Danfoss A/S, Apollo Valves, Parker Hannifin, Zurn Industries LLC and Legend Valves. are a few of the market's major participants.

More Insights into the Residential ball valves Market Report

In its latest report, Future Market Insights offers an unbiased analysis of the North America Residential Ball Valves market, providing historical data from 2017 to 2021 and forecast statistics for the period 2022-to 2032. To understand the global market potential, growth, and scope, the market is segmented based on by material type, by valve type, by diameter, by end use and by country.

Customization Report Before Buying, Visit: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/customization-available/rep-gb-15644

About Future Market Insights  Industrial Automation

The Industrial Automation division of Future Market Insights offers a novel approach and innovative perspective in analyzing industrial automation market. Comprehensive coverage of capital, portable, process, construction, industrial and special purpose machinery across manufacturing sector and distinctive analysis about installed base, consumables, replacement, USP-feature-application matrix make us a pioneering voice in the industry. We are preferred associates with established as well as budding industry stakeholders and channel partners when it comes to sustain, grow and identify new revenue prospects.

Table of Content

1. Executive Summary

1.1. North America Market Outlook

1.2. Demand Side Trends

1.3. Supply Side Trends

1.4. Material Roadmap

1.5. Analysis and Recommendations

2. Market Overview

2.1. Market Coverage / Taxonomy

2.2. Market Definition / Scope / Limitations

3. Key Market Trends

3.1. Key Trends Impacting the Market

3.2. Product Innovation / Development Trends

4. Key Success Factors

4.1. Product Adoption / Usage Analysis

4.2. Product USPs / Features

4.3. Strategic Promotional Strategies

5. North America Ball Valves Market Demand Analysis 20172021 and Forecast, 20222032

5.1. Historical Market Volume (000' Units) Analysis, 20172021

5.2. Current and Future Market Volume (000' Units) Projections, 20222032

5.3. Y-o-Y Growth Trend Analysis

Request a Complete TOC: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-15644

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Water Leak Sensors Market - The global water leak sensors market is forecasted to be appraised at US$ 3,462.4 Mn by 2032, up from US$ 1,777.6 Mn in 2022, advancing at a CAGR of 6.9% during the forecast period

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About Future Market Insights, Inc.

Future Market Insights, Inc. is an ESOMAR-certified business consulting & market research firm, a member of the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce and is headquartered in Delaware, USA. A recipient of Clutch Leaders Award 2022 on account of high client score (4.9/5), we have been collaborating with global enterprises in their business transformation journey and helping them deliver on their business ambitions. 80% of the largest Forbes 1000 enterprises are our clients. We serve global clients across all leading & niche market segments across all major industries.

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COLUMBIA, Mo., Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Renew Missouri, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources' Division of Energy, and Pearl Certification are excited to announce the official launch of the Renew Missouri Homes program.

Renew Missouri Homes, a public-private partnership between Renew Missouri, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources' Division of Energy, and Pearl Certification, will help ensure that energy-efficient, high-performing homes in Missouri are properly valued when they are sold.

The program makes a home's high-performing features  like renewables, insulation, efficient heating and cooling systems  visible and engaging to homebuyers through the state's Missouri Home Energy Certificate, supported by Pearl Certification. The result is that these homes will sell for higher prices  creating a powerful incentive for other Missouri homeowners to improve the performance of their homes by adding energy-efficient features and renewables.

Homes certified through the Renew Missouri Homes program can also be listed on the Green Building Registry, a national registry for high-performing homes, through a partnership with Earth Advantage.

"The Renew Missouri Homes program is a vital extension of the great work the DNR Division of Energy is doing throughout the state," said Andy Popp, manager of the Missouri State Energy Program. "This program provides an easy-to-use framework for Missourians to create more comfortable, efficient, and sustainable homes that benefit the entire state."

With the launch of Renew Missouri Homes, powered by Pearl, on Oct. 1, 2022, Missouri homeowners now have access to a free homeowner portal called Green Door to build custom plans that organize and track home energy upgrades, schedule regular home maintenance reminders, and connect with vetted contractors to perform energy upgrades. Qualified builders, home improvement contractors, appraisers, and real estate agents who earn admittance into the network gain access to Renew Missouri Homes' dedicated business development team, committed to helping them grow their businesses through supporting the high-performing home market. Industry professionals can apply to join the Renew Missouri Homes Network on the program's website. https://renewmohomes.com/

James Owners, Renew Missouri's executive director, said, "Renew Missouri knows that energy efficiency is the cornerstone of realizing a clean energy future. The Renew Missouri Homes program will be a driving force in making Missouri homes more efficient, save homeowners on their utility bills, and drive energy-efficiency investments across the state. We are honored and proud to have our namesake represent the program as we firmly believe in bringing energy efficiency to all Missourians."

"Missouri is truly leading the country by launching the Renew Missouri Homes program," said Robin LeBaron, co-founder and president of Pearl Certification. "We applaud and are thrilled to support the commitment to transforming Missouri communities for generations."

"Through this groundbreaking program, homeowners will get the tools and resources they need to create homes that are more comfortable, healthy, and sustainable by connecting with our vetted network professionals, who understand how to build, improve, appraise, and sell high-performing homes," said Cynthia Adams, Pearl's co-founder and CEO.

Missouri homeowners and industry professionals interested in learning more about Renew Missouri Homes, powered by Pearl, should visit https://renewmohomes.com/ or email renewmohomes@pearlcertification.com.

About Renew Missouri: Renew Missouri, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit, advocates for clean energy policies that will benefit all Missourians. In support of renewable and energy-efficiency interests, the organization presents to the Public Service Commission, the Missouri Legislature, and county and city offices to advance energy policy and legislation. www.renewmo.org

About The Division of Energy: The Missouri Department of Natural Resources' Division of Energy is focused on affordable and reliable energy generated in the state of Missouri. The division assists, educates, and encourages Missourians to advance the efficient use of diverse energy resources to drive economic growth, provide for a healthier environment and achieve greater energy security for future generations. https://dnr.mo.gov/about-us/division-energy

About Pearl: Pearl Certification is the gold standard in high-performing home certifications, bringing visibility to the valuable features that make them healthy, safe, comfortable, and energy- and water-efficient. Pearl is the only national sponsor of the U.S. Department of Energy's Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program and is a partner with the National Association of REALTORS Green Resource Council. Pearl has certified and provided appraisal addenda on over 100,000 homes in 44 states and Washington, D.C. Pearl Certified homes sell on average for 5.5% more than comparable homes, according to independent appraiser studies. https://pearlcertification.com/

Contact Information:

Kat Cahill

Marketing Director, Public-Private Partnerships, Pearl Certification

kat.cahill@pearlcertification.com

410.917.8737



James Owen

Executive Director, Renew Missouri

james@renewmo.org

417.496.1924



Related Images











Image 1: Introducing Renew Missouri Homes





The Renew Missouri Homes program advances the high-performing homes industry within Missouri, both empowering industry professionals and giving homeowners the certifications they need to validate their home's increased value.









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SUGAR LAND, Texas, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HCSS, a leading provider of innovative software that helps heavy civil businesses streamline their operations, adds Julie Spurlin as Chief Human Resources Officer. Julie brings over 25 years of extensive experience in human resources that will help HCSS set the course for future growth.

"The passage of the infrastructure bill has boosted the construction industry's future, and many of our heavy civil customers will gain new projects requiring them to need more technology tools and support," said Steve McGough, CEO and President, HCSS. "With the addition of Julie, HCSS is well-positioned for hiring top, quality talent to serve customers and to develop and support new technologies that the industry needs."

Previously, Julie served as senior vice president of HR at Software AG, a German-based, global software provider. Before that, she served in leadership roles within software and technology companies, including RSA and Sun Microsystems.

"I am passionate about keeping the human in human resources and the HR department as true partners, working hard to help individuals and teams grow to their fullest potential," adds Julie Spurlin, CHRO at HCSS. "I have found that the environment at HCSS and the benefits offered are above grade in this industry. HCSS makes its employees feel like family, and employees want to help the company succeed."

Julie graduated from Virginia Tech and is close to completing the Wharton School of Business CHRO Program.

HCSS is hiring! Visit https://careers.hcss.com for information on open positions.

ABOUT HCSS

HCSS is the trusted leader in construction software for estimating, field entry, project management, safety, digital plans, fleet management, and telematics. For 35 years, the company has used annual user group meetings to listen to customers resulting in innovative software to manage every part of the project lifecycle. With 24/7 instant support and a proven implementation process, HCSS has helped improve operations for over 3,500 companies ranging from $1M to billions in revenue across the United States and Canada. HCSS, a 14-time Best Place to Work in Texas, has a unique 12-acre campus in Sugar Land, Texas, with three buildings capable of housing 700 employees. Learn more at hcss.com.

###

Contact Information:

Becky Boyd

VP, MediaFirst

becky@mediafirst.net

(404) 421-8497



Related Images











Image 1: Julie Spurlin





Julie Spurlin Joins HCSS to Lead HR

















Image 2: HCSS Logo





HCSS









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SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- J. The Jewish News of Northern California today announced that Jo Ellen Green Kaiser will join the historic media organization as its first CEO. She brings a wealth of experience managing independent media and nonprofit associations that will help J. better capitalize on todays diverse media ecosystem and reach a broader audience.



Kaiser has spent more than two decades in independent media as an editor, publisher, consultant and nonprofit association director. Formerly an executive director of the Media Consortium and an executive director and editor of Zeek Media, she most recently served as an executive-level consultant for a wide variety of independent media organizations including KCRW radio, the Solving Sacramento Collaborative, Mississippi Free Press and the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism.

The J. board of directors has hired Kaiser to help build on the organization's award-winning editorial reputation and expand its news operations. J.s expansion will include new digital product offerings, deeper news gathering impacting the Jewish community, increased outreach to younger and more diverse audiences, and broadening of Bay Area coverage areas. She will oversee all business operations including strategy, partnerships, and fundraising, as well as management of the existing editorial team.



We could not have found a better fit for our new CEO than Jo Ellen who brings an extensive background in both publishing and nonprofit organizations, is a recognized expert in independent journalism, and is active locally in our Jewish community, said Carol Weitz, President of the J. Board. She shares our passion and commitment to take J. to the next level and connect with a broader and more diverse audience.

This is an incredible opportunity to join one of the strongest Jewish publications in the U.S. and even the world, said Jo Ellen Green Kaiser. It is an exciting time to be involved in this new media era with so many ways to creatively reach and connect with our audiences, but we must also address the inherent challenges to meet business and financial goals. Working with the J. board and the amazing J. team, we have set our sights high and will continue to excel as we explore and initiate our expansion strategy.



We are thrilled to welcome Jo Ellen to J.s leadership team as CEO, said Steve Gellman, J.s publisher. Jo Ellen brings impeccable strategic abilities, a sophisticated knowledge of local Jewish media, and a sincere commitment to J.s mission and its community to her new role. In this time of constant change, weve enjoyed a period of extraordinary stability and impact at J. even as challenges deepen for local news organizations across the country, and Jo Ellen is the ideal person to lead J. into its next chapter.

Kaiser will begin as CEO of J. on October 18.

About J.

The Jewish News of Northern California (J.) is an award-winning, nonprofit media organization serving the San Francisco Bay Areas diverse Jewish community since 1895. With a bi-weekly print publication and a robust daily digital product, J. currently reaches approximately half a million readers annually. More information on J. can be found at https://jweekly.com

PHOTOS AND INTERVIEWS UPON REQUEST

CONTACT:

Allison Green, Development Director

allison@jweekly.com



Steve Gellman, J. Publisher

steve@jweekly.com



Carol Weitz, J. Board Chair

carolwe4581@gmail.com




Parnu, Parnu, Estonia, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

The score follows again 2-0 down the calendar as the digits drop to zero. Windy days of October reveal yet again a new release with a loud call from California Condor. This "All-Time" touring band is proud to present "Chandelier" by SIA in their own post-apocalyptic interpretation. The message of the original track has been transformed by this Estonian outfit into a more grim and darker form.



"Honest darkness, but a light must always shine at the end of the tunnel" is said about the track by California Condor themselves.

This fresh and raw single from the album "Chapter III:Black Horse" gives a very solid idea what is to be expected to find from this album, but there is still room for imagination of what comes next.



California Condor will be presented on 19-23 October at WOMEX in Lisbon, Portugal and preparing for the 2023 Europe tour.

Currently the band has initiated a 20 day countdown timer on their website for their next music video releases. Something to look forward to , so keep an eye on this very special group of artists folks and stay tuned !



Honest darkness, but a light must always shine at the end of the tunnel.

No Nations. No Borders.

California Condor
Atlanta, Georgia, United States, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Grant, software, training and technical support will leverage the power of partnership and mentoring in complex issues including social, economic, educational and environmental challenges.

The Wells Fargo Foundation is providing $800,000 to the 100 Black Men of America, Inc. to expand economic empowerment programming for youth, underserved communities and the members of the 100. The grant was announced during the 100 Moving In Faith Prayer Breakfast, convened in collaboration with the Congressional Black Caucus Foundations 51st Annual Legislative Conference. This pledge of support builds on the more than 25 year history between the two organizations and strengthens a strategic plan with programs that deliver innovative, sustainable solutions that meet community needs.

The work of the 100 addresses the needs of marginalized youth by delivering the most impactful programming and resources possible in the areas of Mentoring, Education, Health & Wellness, Economic Empowerment and Leadership Development. Through the engagement of committed volunteer members at the local level, collaborative partnerships with like-minded organizations and committed stakeholders like Wells Fargo, the 100 has achieved remarkable and measurable outcomes.

As a company we share a common vision with the 100 for greater racial and economic equity and closing the racial wealth gap in our country, said Otis Rolley, president of the Wells Fargo Foundation and head of Philanthropy and Community Impact. The 100 is known for empowering generations of black youth and we look forward to continuing our work together to engage young people and prepare them for financially independent futures.

The Wells Fargo Foundation is ultimately pledging to help more people by supporting the 100s organizational sustainability through three key areas. Over the next year, the 100 will expand economic empowerment programs, technology capabilities and organizational impact in the communities we serve, said Thomas W. Dortch, Jr., Chairman 100 Black Men of America, Inc.

The new investment will help scale successes in the areas of technology assessments, software upgrade, reporting metrics and economic empowerment sessions for chapter leadership, Collegiate 100 students and Emerging 100 members. Funding will also support economic empowerment/financial literacy training for youth, parents and other adults. These programmatic initiatives have the potential of improving the lives of deserving youth and empowering their communities.



Wells Fargo Foundation presented $800,000 to 100 Black Men of America, Inc. on September 30, 2022, to expand economic empowerment programs. Pictured L-R is Otis Rolley, Head of Social Impact - President of the Wells Fargo Foundation, Lester Owens, Senior Executive Vice President - Head of Operations Wells Fargo & Company and Milton H. Jones, Jr., Treasurer, 100 Black Men of America, Inc.

To learn more about the economic empowerment programs of 100 Black Men of America, Inc., please visit https://100blackmen.org/four-for-the-future/economic-empowerment/

About 100 Black Men of America, Inc.

100 Black Men was founded as an organization in New York City in 1963. The national organization, 100 Black Men of America, Inc. began with nine chapters in 1986 as a national alliance of leading African American men of business, public affairs and government with a mission to improve the quality of life for African Americans, particularly African American youth. These visionaries included businessmen and industry leaders such as David Dinkins, Robert Mangum, Dr. William Hayling, Nathaniel Goldston III, Livingston Wingate Andrew Hatcher, and Jackie Robinson. Since inception, the vision emerged and grew to over 10,000 members impacting over 125,000 underserved, underrepresented minority youth annually. Visit www.100blackmen.org for more information on the programs and initiatives of 100 Black Men of America, Inc. and their global network of chapters.



For the original news story, please visit https://www.prdistribution.com/news/wells-fargo-foundation-donates-800-000-to-100-black-men-of-america-inc-to-expand-community-impact-and-aid-in-the-organization-s-sustainability/9339868

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HAMILTON, Bermuda, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SiriusPoint Ltd. (SiriusPoint or the Company) (NYSE: SPNT), a global specialty insurer and reinsurer, has announced the appointment of Steve Yendall as Chief Financial Officer, effective October 31, 2022.



Steve, who brings twenty-five years of re/insurance industry experience to SiriusPoint, will report to Chief Executive Officer, Scott Egan, as a member of SiriusPoints Executive Leadership Team.

Scott Egan commented: Steve has an accomplished financial background with considerable experience in the Property & Casualty insurance industry. He also has a strong track record of leading successful transformational change - he will be an invaluable asset to SiriusPoint as we execute on our short-term priorities and longer-term strategic objectives. I am delighted to welcome Steve to SiriusPoint and look forward to working with him again.

Steve was most recently Managing Director at Guy Carpenter, Canada and North America. Prior to that, Steve was CFO and COO at RSA Canada Group, where he also served as a member of RSA Canada Group of Companies Board of Directors, and RSA Insurance Agency Inc. (RSAIA) Board of Directors. Steve has held numerous financial, operational and insurance advisory roles over his career at companies including RSA Canada Group, Ernst & Young, and Accenture.

Steve replaces current SiriusPoint CFO David Junius, who has resigned to pursue other opportunities. Scott Egan said: On behalf of the SiriusPoint team, I would like to thank David Junius for his contribution to our Company and wish him well in his future endeavours.

About SiriusPoint

SiriusPoint is a global insurer and reinsurer providing solutions to clients and brokers in almost 150 countries. Bermuda-headquartered with offices in New York, London, Stockholm and other locations around the world, we are listed on the New York Stock Exchange (SPNT). We have licenses to write Property & Casualty and Accident & Health insurance and reinsurance globally. Our offering and distribution capabilities are strengthened by a portfolio of strategic partnerships with Managing General Agents and technology-driven insurance services companies within our Insurance & Services division. With over $3 billion total capital, SiriusPoints operating companies have a financial strength rating of A- (Excellent) from AM Best, S&P and Fitch. For more information, please visit www.siriuspt.com.

Contacts

Investor Relations

Clare Kerrigan, SiriusPoint

clare.kerrigan@siriuspt.com

+44 7970695959

Media

Sarah Hills, Rein4ce

sarah.hills@rein4ce.co.uk

+44 7718882011

Forward-Looking Statements

We make statements in this report that are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. federal securities laws. We intend these forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements in the U.S. Federal securities laws. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements made on behalf of SiriusPoint. SiriusPoint is also subject to risks and uncertainties in connection with its ordinary course business, including the impact of general economic conditions and conditions affecting the insurance and reinsurance industry, the adequacy of our reserves, fluctuation in the results of operations; pandemic or other catastrophic event, such as the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak; uncertainty of success in investing in early-stage companies, such as the risk of loss of an initial investment, highly variable returns on investments, delay in receiving return on investment and difficulty in liquidating the investment; the costs, expense and difficulties of the integration of the operations of Third Point Reinsurance Ltd. and Sirius International Insurance Group, Ltd.; our ability to assess underwriting risk, trends in rates for property and casualty insurance and reinsurance, competition, investment market and investment income fluctuations, trends in insured and paid losses, regulatory and legal uncertainties and other risk factors described in SiriusPoints Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended December 31, 2021. Except as required by applicable law or regulation, we disclaim any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect changes in underlying assumptions or factors, or new information, data or methods, future events or other circumstances after the date of this report.
The Tidewater hotel is elevated above a channel of flowing tidal waters on Vinalhaven Island, Maine. (Simon Peter Groebner/Minneapolis Star Tribune/TNS)
Spine-chilling tour in South Carolina ranks among the scariest in the US. Heres why
South Africa: KZN Premier unveils programme to enhance agricultural production

KwaZulu-Natal Premier, Nomusa Dube-Ncube, has unveiled the Multi-Planting Season Programme, which aims to provide necessary assistance to underprivileged farmers and ensure that thousands of emerging farmers are trained, and prepared to lead in agricultural production.

Unveiling the programme during an event held on Tuesday at UMlamulankunzi Stadium in Ugu District Municipality, Dube-Ncube said the multi-planting season is a strategic programme that is aimed at getting rid of poverty, inequality and unemployment through inclusive rural economic development by investing in agriculture.

She said through the programme, government enhances the capability of farmers by supporting them to optimise agricultural production throughout all seasons and provide technical information and extension support.

Additionally, we mobilise farmers in the province to take into consideration the different locations and geographies for planting periods in context of weather conditions, Dube-Ncube said.

The Premier noted that agricultural potential of KwaZulu-Natal remains untapped, and the province has a diverse topography, climate and good soil, and it is poised to lead South Africas agriculture revolution.

If government succeeds, she said the frontiers of degrading poverty, underdevelopment, hunger, and unemployment can be pushed back.

In order to alleviate the plight faced by rural poor communities which is partially caused by inadequate operational farming resources, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development introduced the Multi- Planting Season Programme aimed at lending a helping hand to rural farmers to participate in the mainstream economy of the province through developing vast tracks of underutilised land, Dube-Ncube said.

Over 10 000 beneficiaries to benefit from the programme

The Premier also highlighted that the planting season programme has a potential to create 500 job opportunities during and post operations, through various services, including but not limited to tractor operators, crop management and harvesting services, amongst others.

The implementation of the programme is envisaged to reach approximately 10 209 beneficiaries across the province. The majority of the beneficiaries comprise almost 65% of female beneficiaries represented by approximately 6 644 people.

Furthermore, approximately 962 youth and 84 disabled people involved in agriculture will also benefit from the support provided, she said.

R55m allocated to accommodate mechanisation services

The Premier announced that a total budget of R55.5 million has been made available for 2022/23 Multi Planting Season Programme to accommodate only the mechanisation services excluding two mechanisation activities, namely first and second spraying.

In year 2022/23, Mechanisation Service Providers who are on a three year contract will be utilised. Ugu District have prepared request memos for mechanisation and submitted them to Supply Chain Management (SCM).

The Department procured 14. Therefore departmental mechanisation units will be used in eThekwini, iLembe and King Cetshwayo where it is not feasible to use service providers, Dube-Ncube said.

One million hectares needed for production

Dube-Ncube said the Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) 2019-2024 has indicated that the country needs to put one million hectares to production, and KZN province is expected to contribute significantly to the target due to geographical size and location.

In developing vast tracts of underutilised agricultural land through increased production, the department provides comprehensive mechanisation services, land preparation service which is inclusive of production inputs and mechanisation to indigent, vulnerable households and underprivileged communities to increase their level of agricultural crop production, she said.

Using the multi-planting programme, she said the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development provides support to KZN farmers through the supply of production inputs, including fertilizer, seed and chemicals; provision of mechanization services, including ploughing, dicing, planting and application of agro-chemicals and fertilizer; and assistance with marketing of produce especially through the government lead Radical Agrarian Socio-Economic Transformation programme (RASET) and other outlets.

The planting season focuses more on the production of summer crops (maize and beans) and vegetable production in support of the RASET programme. It promotes the development of agricultural crop production placing significance in the summer planting.

Farmers, especially subsistence and smallholder producers, rely on the produce planted during this period for staple commodities, which supply starch and protein source for their food security requirements. The programme is further designed to provide better access to food and create an opportunity for localised production in order to promote equitable access by the resource poor households, Dube-Ncube said.

The Premier also called on all traditional leaders in the province to continue collaborating with government and the people of KwaZulu-Natal in realising the economic potential of the land in their jurisdiction.

Working together, we must make the land productive again and use its produce to defeat hunger and restore the dignity of our people, especially the vulnerable rural poor. Our beloved departed monarch, King Goodwill Zwelithini KaBhekuzulu, always encouraged the people of the province to focus on agriculture to eradicate poverty and promote healthy living, Dube-Ncube said.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2022-10-12. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Park managers balance care for people, nature

(China Daily) 14:25, October 12, 2022

Visitors are led by guides in boats along a section of the Jiuqu Creek in Wuyishan National Park in Fujian province last month. [Photo/Xinhua]

Local residents take on responsibilities as conservators and guides for public

Over the past year since China's first five national parks were launched, the parks' managers have been figuring out ways to deal with the relationship between conserving nature and benefiting local people.

Qu Jiapeng, a researcher from the Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that inhabitants in the Three-River-Source National Park acquired some new titles including conservator and guide, which have given them a greater sense of belonging and pride in their home.

Among the five national parks that cover a total area of 230,000 square kilometers, the Three-River-Source National Park accounts for about 83 percent.

Conservators are responsible for ranging and cleaning. Among some 70,000 residents in the park, about 17,000 work as conservators.

Residents also have other jobs.

In designated spots of the park, several projects are available to the public including observing wild animals, hiking, drifting and nature education courses.

Some local residents have taken jobs as guides so people on a nature experience journey there can have a better chance to see animals from a safe distance, such as snow leopards, Qu said.

Some herdsmen work as guides driving rafts for visitors on the Lancang River, each of whom earns about an extra 30,000 yuan ($4,200) a year, according to a report by China News Service.

Each visitor needs to pay as much as 10,000 yuan for the experience.

"The high price both controls the number of visitors and increases local herdsmen's incomes," Qu said.

The income from the projects goes to households, community public affairs and the local animal conservation funds, he added.

"Residents feel more like owners of the land and are proud of living there by taking part in the protection and introducing their home to people from all walks of life."

To address potential conflicts between humans and animals as the wildlife increases in the park, the Qinghai government increased its compensation in a pilot program in July. For example, the compensation for a person's death caused by a wild animal was raised to 600,000 yuan, nearly three times more than before. The maximum compensation per household for the loss of production and living facilities is 300,000 yuan.

"Insurance reimbursement became faster. Local people can get paid after about 30 working days, instead of months," Qu said.

Last October, China announced its first group of five national parks, conserving nearly 30 percent of the country's key terrestrial wildlife species.

The five parks are the Three-River-Source National Park in Qinghai province and the Tibet autonomous region, the Wuyishan National Park in Fujian and Jiangxi provinces, the Giant Panda National Park in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, the Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park in Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces, and the Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park in Hainan province.

Since their establishment, these national parks have made achievements in environmental and species protection.

By October, the number of Siberian tigers at the Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park had increased from 27 in 2017 to about 50, while the number of Siberian leopards rose from 42 to 60 over the same period.

Meanwhile, at the Three-River-Source National Park, the number of Tibetan antelopes increased from fewer than 20,000 in the 1980s to more than 70,000 by October.

(Web editor: Wu Chaolan, Hongyu)
GOVERNMENT has said not every civil servant will get a bonus this year because a performance-based payment system would be used to select deserving individuals.

The development, which is likely to divide government workers, has prompted unions to cry foul saying they were not consulted about the new formula of awarding bonuses.

The new formula emerged in a recent letter dated September 29, 2022 addressed to Health and Child Care ministry heads of departments.

The Public Service Commission (PSC) has issued a circular notifying of the changed method of payment of bonuses and other performance-related awards in the civil service, the letter signed by the ministrys secretary Jasper Chimedza read.

It is advised that with effect from this year, 2022, bonuses will only be paid based on performance appraisal reports.

Considering the foregoing, kindly ensure that all members of staff from deputy director level and below are appraised as per the standard requirements.

Unions have, however, protested bitterly, saying this was targeted at their members for going on strike to demand better salaries.

Civil servants have been engaged in sporadic job protests to demand United States dollar salaries.

Earlier this year, government introduced a no-work no-pay policy after civil servants downed tools protesting poor salaries and working conditions.

A number of teachers were also suspended.

Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe president Obert Masaraure said public workers deserved the 13th cheque.

Performance appraisal should be an ongoing process which should never be nicodemously smuggled in an attempt to prejudice workers. All Civil servants have a legitimate expectation to receive bonuses; this condition should never apply in retrospect. At the end of the day appraisal forms are going to be cooked.. We maintain that all workers who worked for the whole year deserve an annual bonus, Masaraure said.

Zimbabwe Nurses Association president Enock Dongo appealed to President Emmerson Mnangagwa to intervene and ensure all State workers receive bonuses.

It is not fair for government to come at the 11th hour and make decisions that affect its workers. We are expecting those bonuses next month but government has decided otherwise, Dongo said.

Zimbabwe Professional Nurses Union secretary-general Douglas Chikobvu said: We strongly feel that the government might be trying to get a scapegoat to undercharge us and avoid paying ourbonuses decently. Above all, there is nothing to smile at given that most workers are wallowing in abject poverty courtesy of the government measly wage.

Organising secretary for Zimbabwe Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions, Farai Chinosengwa said the policy might trigger sexual harassment at workplaces where women will be abused to get favourable performance appraisal reports.

l feel like his move will trigger sexual harassment with bosses using the bonus issue to leverage female teachers. The way PSC is handling workers' conditions is that they are no longer negotiated.

They are now just implementing. We dont know who advised the commission on this wrong way of doing business, Chinosengwa said. Newsday
SOME magistrates have alleged State capture of the Judiciary, and accused senior officials in the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) of corruption and interference with court processes.

In an open letter dated October 4, 2022 addressed to JSC and the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc), the magistrates expressed frustration at the manipulation of judicial processes involving political cases.

Sadly the issue of capture is no longer a perception but a reality. And the saddest part of this capture is that it is not spearheaded by the politicians. The kingpins (names withheld) of judicial capture are in the JSC itself . . ., partly read the letter.

It is an open secret at the magistrates court that there is a coterie of magistrates who exclusively deal with certain types of cases, particularly those deemed to be politically motivated.

This is why political parties including members of the opposition are placed before the so-called Anti-Corruption Courts (ACC) to ensure that the (desired) result . . . is given by the captured ACC magistrates.

Lawyers can argue themselves hoarse before these magistrates and their clients will never get justice as everything is done in terms of instructions from the JSC.

JSC secretary Walter Chikwana professed ignorance about the letter when contacted for comment.

There is no letter that has been sent to JSC. We do not respond to anonymous questions, which are written by nameless people. The letter has to be specific as to who wrote it for us to answer, Chikwana said yesterday indicating, however, that he was aware of its existence.

Zacc spokesperson John Makamure also he had no knowledge of the letter.

Last month, Zacc dragged court officials, including JSC to court after bail conditions of Cottco official Maxmore Njanji, who faces a fraud charge involving US$5,8 million, were changed under unclear circumstances. In their letter, the unnamed magistrates claimed that they have been made mere by-standers through questionable decisions made by senior officials in the JSC.

This is why cases which ought to be disposed of at the close of the State case routinely find themselves on appeal as magistrates in the ACC court have strict instructions not to accede to any application for discharge, however, meritorious such applications might be, they said.

The unintended consequence of this is that judges are now reduced to magistrates as their workload has been unnecessarily increased by these unjustified decisions. The majority of bail appeals going to the High Court ought not to be there if magistrates were not acting on instruction from the JSC.

In 2020, High Court and Supreme Court judges wrote a letter to President Emmerson Mnangagwa protesting Judiciary capture by politicians.

In a letter of complaint, dated October 26, 2020, the judges revealed that morale was at an all-time low within the Judiciary over the alleged interference with their work. They also accused their boss, Chief Justice Luke Malaba of employing an overplaying hand regarding court judgments, adding that many of them were operating in fear of being victimised instead of being objective.

The judges accused Malaba of interfering with magistrates decisions through the office of the chief magistrate. Newsday
THE newly-formed Teachers for Economic Development (ED) union is reportedly storming schools countrywide to mobilise support, paralysing learning at some institutions.

It is also holding midweek workshops at schools, with some said to have already taken place at learning institutions in Zvishavane, Bulawayo and Marondera in recent days.

The group, seen as sympathetic to the administration of President Emmerson Mnangagwa who is popularly known as ED, was given the nod by government to roll out its economic development programmes in all schools where hundreds of teachers are reportedly abandoning classes to attend the workshops to avoid victimisation.

Schools are allegedly being forced to use own funds to cater for the travel and subsistence expenses of the organisers.

In a letter dated September 20, 2022, Teachers for ED secretary-general Takaiteyi Masikati sought permission from government to roll out its economic development programme.

Teachers for ED got government approval in a letter dated September 22, 2022, written by acting Primary and Secondary Education secretary Kwadzanai Nyanungo.

Your communication dated September 2022, is hereby acknowledged, Nyanungo wrote.

Permission is granted for the roll out of the economic development programme in schools, on the understanding that teacher participation in your proposed activities is in the spirit of voluntary teacher building capacity programme, with due care that there is no disruption to planned teaching and learning process in schools.

Primary and Secondary Education ministry spokesperson Taungana Ndoro defended the mid-week workshops being conducted by the Teachers for ED union saying they were enriching the education sector.

Teachers for Economic Development is a full-fledged teachers union with its own resources generated from its economic development projects; so I ask, why would a vehicle with a full tank of fuel go to a fuel station? Ndoro said, adding that the workshops actually enriched the value of education.

Teachers unions are, however, concerned about selective treatment by government of the Teachers for ED grouping.

Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe secretary-general Raymond Majongwe said: Definitely if any other teachers union had mobilised teachers for workshops during the week, government would not have approved. Under the Teachers for ED programme, teachers are being promised access to government loans, promotions, mining rights, among others, which should be accessible to any teacher. We do not have a problem with Teachers for Ed mobilising members, but we have a problem when it is given preferential treatment by government which should be impartial. 

Zimbabwe Teachers Association secretary-general Goodwill Taderera said, while teachers should join a union of their choice, and that Teachers for ED was not a labour union, but an economic empowerment organisation.

Zimbabwe National Teachers Union chief executive officer Manuel Nyawo said: The Teachers for ED formation is a well calculated planto weaken the collective bargaining power of unions.

He said it was a well-orchestrated way to suppress effective collective bargaining. Newsday
Here are the best deals from Amazon's October Prime Day in Germany

Amazon's October Prime Day deals are here. Mind you, this isn't the full-blown Black Friday, that's coming next month along with Cyber Monday. These are October 11 and 12 deals that are not bad.

Starting with Google. The Pixel 6, while not discounted in the listing, still sells for below Google's asking price of 649, at 505. Deal here.

The Pixel 6 Pro is 676, a modest 3% discount in the listing but way below the regular asking price.

Then, there's the Google Pixel 6a, which is down 8% to 399.



Google Pixel 6  Google Pixel 6 Pro  Google Pixel 6a

Xiaomi has it's uber-popular Redmi Note 11 discounted. It's down to 190.



Xiaomi Redmi Note 11

Samsung's deals require you to click on the voucher to flash some money off the asking price. The Galaxy S22 is 839, from which you can slash 120 for a resulting 719.

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra gets a 120 voucher for a 1,119 final price. The Galaxy Z Fold4's price is discounted by a 200 voucher for an asking price of 1,599.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 is down to 982.



Samsung Galaxy S22  S22 Ultra  Z Fold4  Z Fold3

The Galaxy Watch5's Bluetooth model is -13% at 259.



Samsung Galaxy Watch5

Moving on to Sony. The Xperia 1 IV's price is down -14% to 1,199. The Xperia 5 IV is -10% at 949.



Sony Xperia 1 IV  Sony Xperia 5 IV

The Realme 9 Pro+ is -19% at 306, while the Realme 9 is -18% at 229.



Realme 9 Pro+  Realme 9

The OnePlus 10 Pro is -8% for the 8/128GB model at 669 and -13% for the 12/256GB model at 745.



OnePlus 10 Pro

The OnePlus Nord 2's 12/256GB model is -9% at 337, while the Nord 2T's 8/128GB model is -13% at 293 and the 12/256GB is -14% at 356.
Meta is introducing the first in a new line of high-end VR and mixed reality headsets starting with the Meta Quest Pro (which was previously demoed under its code name, Project Cambria). Pro tends to overused in the tech world, but Meta actually sees the Quest Pro being used by professionals, while the Quest 2 will stick around for casual gaming.

The Quest Pro is powered by the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 1, which Qualcomm unveiled today. It promises 50% higher sustained performance than the XR2 inside the Quest 2 as well as a 30% improvement to thermals. The new chip is paired with double the RAM, 12GB, and more storage too, 256GB (up from 6/128GB for the Quest 2).

The Pro replaces the Fresnel lens with pancake optics, which reduce the depth of the device by 40% while keeping the visuals tack sharp. According to Meta, the Pro improves sharpness by 25% in the center view and by 50% in the peripheral vision. Speaking of, the headset is designed to leave part of your peripheral vision uncovered so that you remain aware of your surroundings. For an immersive VR experience, there are partial light blocks included in the package.

The Quest Pro uses new displays too  two LCDs with quantum dot tech and local dimming. Custom hardware controls the 500 backlight LEDs and combined with clever software it boosts contrast by 75%. The new displays have 37% more pixels per inch and 10% more pixels per degree, they also have a 30% wider color gamut.

The Pro is designed for mixed reality use from the ground up. It has 10 cameras  5 looking out and 5 looking in, each of them a color camera with 4x the resolution of the Quest 2 (which used monochrome cams). This enables more accurate scanning of your surroundings but also full-color passthrough and eye and expression tracking (more on that in a bit).

With passthrough you can set up virtual monitors all around you while having a clear view of your real-world keyboard and mouse. Another example use case is allowing architecture designers to create 3D models and place them around the room for a virtual preview of a redesign.

As for the cameras looking in, they track your eyes and face so that your virtual avatar can mimic your expression. This is turned off by default and the tracked data never leaves the headset.

The Meta Quest Pro brings new controllers, dubbed the Quest Touch Pro. They have internal sensors that let them do their own tracking (previously that was the headsets job), so you can even use them behind your back. They have also been redesigned to be more ergonomic and with better haptic feedback.

The standard retail package includes a charging dock too (combined with a 45W USB-C adapter). This can charge the headset and controllers simultaneously (the controllers now have rechargeable batteries).

The Meta Quest Pro will be available from October 25 for $1,500, nearly four times the price of the Quest 2. You can pre-order it from the Meta Store in all countries where Quest products are sold. The headset will also be available from Amazon in the US, UK, Canada and France. If you prefer brick and mortar stores, you will be able to visit Best Buy in the US and Canada, Argos and Currys in the UK, FNAC and Boulanger in France and pick one up.

By the way, the Quest Touch Pro controllers are compatible with the Quest 2. They will be available as a separate purchase for $300 later this year.

Source
Nokia is now suing Oppo in other markets as well

Nokia already pushed Oppo and OnePlus (both part of BBK Electronics) out of the German market over patent infringements after the court ruled out two consecutive lawsuits in favor of the Finnish company.

According to a new report, Nokia is now suing Oppo in Australia over the violation of Nokia's SEP (Service Enablement Platform) that cover 4G and 5G technologies. The German court halted Oppo's sales on the same basis, so we might see the same denouement in Australia and other markets.

Nokia is currently suing Oppo in other European and Asian countries after the patent agreement between the two companies expired in 2021.

Source
The defense team of Nicholas Wayne Moore continued their cross-examination of Guam Police Department Detective Eric Mondia Wednesday, questioning certain procedures in the investigation and the credibility of the victims statements.

Moore is accused of shooting at two men and hitting one of them on Oct. 15, 2020, in Agana Heights.

He has been charged with terrorizing and possession of an unregistered firearm, with a special allegation of use of a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony. He pleaded not guilty.

Mondia testified on Tuesday that he was one of the investigators who questioned Brian Bishop Mendiola the day after Mendiola was shot.

Defense Attorney David Lujan presented a police report dated Oct. 11.

Mondia said the initial interview did take place on Oct. 16, not Oct. 11, because he was there. He said the date was wrong.

When Mendiola declined to name the shooter that day, they let him go because he just got released from the hospital, he couldnt stand, and he was in pain so we gave him a few days, said Mondia.

Lujan said that on Nov. 9, 2020, almost a month after the shooting, Mendiola went to Guam Regional Medical City to have a bullet extracted from his leg.

Although he doesnt remember the exact date, Mondia told Lujan police followed up with Mendiola through multiple interviews with different investigators.

Mondia said he didnt know about the bullet being removed, and that the medical official who did the extraction should have made a report about it.

Lujan asked about Mendiolas credibility, as his statements changed in the interviews. Mondia said this is typical in police work.

Every time we conduct an interview and information changes, we dock that and we document whether they lie three times, where they told the truth and they change their answer, we document, said Mondia. We will base on whatever physical evidence we have to support whatever statements because a lot of times, and this is not the only investigation that happens, on almost every investigation that we encounter, people initially are going to lie. Thats a defense mechanism for human beings to protect themselves but as soon as we find the evidence and we keep digging, and we bring it in and we confront them with it.

Moore has also been charged in the murder of Michael Castro, which took place about two weeks after the shooting. He was also indicted on two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct in another case.
The Guam Memorial Hospital in Tamuning on Aug. 20, 2022. Pediatric admissions are decreasing after the childrens ward experienced a high volume of patients over the weekend, according to a news release from the hospital.
The Guam Board of Allied Health Examiners, which licenses a range of professionals from clinical psychologists to veterinarians and acupuncturists, is working to improve the handling of complaints against licensees, according to board chair Mamie Balajadia.

A legislative oversight hearing held in February revealed that the board was handling 33 outstanding complaints, 14 of which were filed before 2018. The Allied Health Board also was sued last year over allegations that they had never established rules and regulations to investigate complaints against licensees.

Board legal counsel Rob Weinberg has argued that an informal process to handle complaints was already in place, but the Allied Health Board has since moved to adopt written rules and regulations.

Balajadia told members of the Rotary Club of Northern Guam on Tuesday that written rules and regulations are on their way to being adopted.

A lot of people might complain, How come (complaints) take so long?' In many cases theyve been before the board for years, Balajadia said, but a lack of resources and support have prevented the board, which licenses 16 different professions, from proceeding quickly.

Court filings from last year show that the board hasnt prosecuted a complaint against a licensee since 2015.

We have limited resources to have investigators, inspectors and even legal services, to handle complaints, Balajadia said.

Its only a month ago the Health Professional Licensing Office procured two lawyers, who are now shared between the nine boards housed under the office.

In Guams small professional community, conflicts of interest are common and could tie up investigations.

But formal rules for the handling of complaints were already finalized and moving through a public hearing process with the Allied Health Board, Balajadia said. Once the rules are approved by the board, theyll have to move on to the Guam Legislature for final approval.

Along with the rules is an updated schedule of fees that the Allied Health Board collects from licensees to fund operations. Balajadia said they havent been updated since the board was created in 1999, and the last attempt to introduce new fees was shot down after a series of complaints.

Another $200,000 in funding for the Health Professional Licensing Office will aid in improving operations, she added.

There was a need for more scrutiny of health professionals that come to the island, Balajadia said, as there has long been a reputation that rejects from the states come to Guam. She said the Allied Health Boards purpose was to protect people, and that improvements were coming.

I think that the board should be in a position to take criticism  thats what were here to do.
Philippine Airlines is gearing up for a busy holiday travel season because of fewer COVID-19 restrictions.

And those going to the Philippines from Guam could stretch their budget more as the value of the peso weakened to about P59 against the U.S. dollar.

The airline also supports Guams push for a U.S. visa-free entry to Filipinos for tourism and work, according to Israel Fontanilla, the new Philippine Airlines area manager for Guam, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.

A Guam visa waiver, which Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero brought up this week in Manila with U.S. officials in the Philippines, will allow Filipinos to enter Guam without a preapproved U.S. visa to visit or be employed under the H-2A or H-2B visa worker programs.

Fontanilla said Philippine Airlines, or PAL, has long been working cooperatively with the Guam Visitors Bureau on the visa waiver program.

Right now theyre having challenges with securing U.S. visas. From what I heard, if youre going to do an application now, its going to take you next year, he said during a briefing with Guam media.

The governor met this week with the U.S. State Department officials in Manila, sharing with them the importance of Filipino H-2B workers in building critical military and civilian construction projects on Guam.

Guam seeks to include the Philippines in the Guam-CNMI U.S. visa waiver program, which currently has 12 countries such as Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the UK.

Fontanilla, whos visiting Guam for the first time, provided travel partners and agents with airline updates on Wednesday, followed by conversations with island media.

More passengers

PAL has started to see near pre-pandemic levels of air travel for the year. Fontanilla said PAL expects to reach 86% of its pre-pandemic capacities by years end.

That means were getting more passengers now. Its actually the first Christmas season wherein there are fewer restrictions, Fontanilla said, adding that flights to the Philippines around Christmas are already 80% booked.

Theres no more mandatory hotel quarantine and proof of negative RT-PCR test results for foreign nationals arriving in the Philippines. That is, if theyre fully vaccinated and received at least one booster.

Unfortunately, for the unvaccinated, partially vaccinated or vaccination status cannot be verified, former Filipinos and foreign nationals are not allowed to travel to the Philippines as of now, he said.

For Filipinos or dual citizens arriving in the Philippines, theres also no need to show negative COVID-19 test results and undergo quarantine if they are fully vaccinated, with or without a booster shot.

However, PAL still requires the wearing of masks during the duration of the flight because of Philippine government mandates, Fontanilla said. Theres no telling whether this will be lifted soon, he said.

The Philippines is known for its long Christmas celebrations, giving a sales boom to retailers.

Fontanilla said those visiting from Guam or the states right now would be able to stretch their dollar in the Philippines for goods and services. As of Wednesday afternoon, the Philippine peso was 58.85 to the U.S. dollar.

The Philippines is open now. You have fewer restrictions you encounter when you arrive in the Philippines so we highly encourage Filipinos, especially those who havent been home for more than two years, to visit the Philippines and enjoy the tourist destinations that we have, he said.

Fontanilla also shared PALs complimentary travel insurance when passengers fly to the Philippines via PAL, through Nov. 23 this year. The cost, he said, is embedded in the price of an airline ticket.

Daily flights

PAL, which is back to flying daily between Guam and Manila, uses a 168-seater aircraft and could request a bigger aircraft when theres a need to do so, especially during the Christmas season.

Were very happy that right now, were doing our daily flights  Guam-Manila departs here at 6 a.m., arriving in Manila at 8 a.m., he said, allowing passengers to be able to connect to a lot of destinations.

This is in line with Philippine Airlines goal to become known as a network carrier.

Before, were mostly concentrating on the Filipino market. Guam has a lot of Filipino passengers for that. But were looking at serving the other routes as well, to mainland USA to Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia and to Australia as well, Fontanilla said.

The October-November period is among the slowest months for travel, but PAL, according to Fontanilla, has been seeing a healthy passenger load. During his flight from Manila to Guam on Tuesday, there were about 130 passengers on the 168-seater plane, he said.

Were actually doing good, Fontanilla added.
Business travel used to mean sending employees from their home office to somewhere else  to meet with clients or coworkers at other offices. But for many remote-first companies, it now means the opposite: Bringing employees together from their far-flung homes to work and meet in person.

These so-called off-sites  a holdover term from when these companies had actual sites  have the potential to change the face of business travel.

While consumer travel has roared back in 2022, business travel has been slower to rebound. Company off-sites could make up a larger share of that budget than in years past.

Doist, a software company with employees distributed around the globe, wanted something different for its companywide retreat in July.

We rented a small village in the Austrian Alps, says Chase Warrington, head of remote at Doist. We did a lederhosen party and went to traditional lodges for dinners.

Warrington says the purpose of these off-site gatherings differs markedly from the goals of traditional business travel. Rather than hunkering in meetings to get work done, these retreats aim for connection and fun. That means throwing out the traditional business travel playbook.

Business or pleasure  or something else?

Rather than replacing traditional business travel, the off-site retreat is seen by many as an emerging trend of its own.

There will still be business travel, it will just look different, says Bruno Muchada, head of expansion for property partners at Surf Office, a company retreat management company. Youre traveling to see your company as much as you are going to see clients.

And as the line between business and pleasure blurs into so-called bleisure travel, off-site organizers are recognizing the relative unimportance of traditional meetings and schedules. In this upside-down scenario, employees are now working at home and playing with their co-workers at the office, instead of vice versa.

I have this theory on the division of the structure of the day, says Warrington, who also manages off-site events for Doist. It should be 20% work, 30% activities and 50% free time.

This free time allows the kind of spontaneous connection and conversation that return-to-office apologists have lauded. And it fundamentally alters how  and where  these off-sites are organized.

Dont take us to some big hotel in the middle of a city and give us a big itinerary, Warrington says, channeling employee sentiment.

This might spell trouble for traditional conference centers and hotels that depend on a steady drumbeat of business travel. Yet it has created a new small-business ecosystem geared at helping remote businesses manage employee morale via retreats.

Enter the off-site startups

Investment has poured into the budding off-site industry. The software company Salesforce has built a dedicated wellness retreat in the California redwoods in which to hold team-building events. And Workation Village, a custom-designed site in Italy for company retreats, launched in 2021.

Yet remote companies are discovering that, while companywide gatherings with hundreds of employees may help boost morale, theyre a pain to organize.

Many companies are introducing a travel manager position, Muchada says. But they realize that its a lot of work to organize everything, and thats why many companies are contacting us.

Surf Office manages retreat locations around the globe, from Santa Cruz, California, to Tuscany, Italy, and aims to alleviate the guesswork (and paperwork) for travel managers and human resources teams. Similar businesses are popping up to address this sudden spike in demand.

When the vaccines started to roll out, I started to recognize that the world is changing, says Hunter Block, founder of Offsiter, which offers an Airbnb-like marketplace of retreat locations. People are never going to go back to the office.

Block quickly realized that organizations needed more than just a location  they needed an organizer. So Offsiter now offers full-service management of everything from catering to collecting T-shirt sizes for company swag.

We can handle all of it, all the way down to holding the clipboard and telling people where to go, says Block. Then, the whole team gets to participate in it, rather than being distracted by the nitty-gritty. Were very much like a wedding planner.

Despite its sudden rise, the off-site industry remains in its infancy and has plenty of kinks to work out.

Ive tested some tools that are meant to serve this market, but theyre very raw, Warrington says. Theyre building the airplane as they fly it.

This article was written by NerdWallet and was originally published by The Associated Press.

Sam Kemmis writes for NerdWallet. Email: skemmis@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @samsambutdif.

The article How Company Retreats Are Changing Business Travel originally appeared on NerdWallet.
Oceanview Middle Schools D sanitation rating was bad enough to immediately suspend its sanitary permit and shut down the school, but the governments rules and regulations give Oceanview and other public schools a free pass for sanitation violations until at least July 2024.

Public Health inspectors, who visited the Oceanview campus Sept. 28, were at the school again Wednesday for a follow-up inspection. But theres little Public Health can do if the school, which was allowed to remain open despite receiving 56 demerits, wasnt fixed or cleaned during the past couple of weeks.

Out of 33 total violations, the school was able to correct only a couple, related to lighting, said school Vice Principal Rose Castro. Castro said many of the issues cited by Public Health inspectors are beyond the schools control because the education departments central office is responsible for school maintenance and related procurement.

We can only at this time recommend and highly encourage schools to correct the violations, said Tom Nadeau, chief environmental health officer for Public Health.

No penalty

The government in 2019 rewrote the sanitation rules for the islands schools and colleges, adding standards for air conditioning and restroom facilities. In doing so, the government decided to allow existing schools to fail sanitation inspections for five years, without penalty.

The rules state existing school facilities, at the time the regulations took effect, in July 2019, shall be given five years  to come into full compliance with the requirements of these rules, unless the Public Health director grants a written exception or variance.

Public Health can require Oceanview to address an imminent health hazard, threat or danger to health, Nadeau said, but most of the violations at the school werent considered imminent threats, except for unsafe lighting fixtures, which the school corrected.

As it stands, Public Health doesnt have the authority to suspend Oceanviews or any other existing schools sanitary permit until July 2024, regardless of how poorly they score during an inspection. Thats not allowed, Nadeau said.

Inspections

Oceanview was inspected twice last month  an ungraded inspection by two inspectors Sept. 14 found structural damage, mold, electrical problems and inadequate restrooms, and a graded school facility inspection on Sept. 28, involving four inspectors.

The Sept. 28 inspection found: dirty classrooms; unsecured janitorial rooms; dirty floors made of the wrong material; incorrectly installed and maintained restroom doors; broken, unscreened and obstructed windows; dirty classroom equipment in disrepair; excessively high air temperature and humidity; lights which dont meet minimum requirements; an unapproved sewage disposal system; dirty and nonmaintained handwashing facilities; showers which arent maintained; dirty restrooms without toilet paper; improperly stored garbage, trash and food.

Handwashing sinks didnt have soap or towels, according to the report, and one sink drained into an overflowing bucket instead of into a sewage pipe. One handwashing sink was clogged and flooded with water and used toilet tissue.

Partitions between restroom stalls werent tall enough and the bottom of the partitions were too high from the floor, the report states.

School Principal Duane Mantanona signed the Sept. 14 inspection report, but declined to sign the Sept. 28 report.

Vice Principal Castro said a private contractor is paid to clean the school.

The Guam Department of Education, after the Sept. 14 inspection, announced plans to close the Oceanview campus and relocate the students to a wing at Southern High School. The move is scheduled to happen after Christmas break.

Resources lacking

Its unclear if other public schools also would fail a sanitation inspection.

Although Guam law requires frequent inspection of public school facilities  four inspections per year  Public Health doesnt have the resources to do that, Nadeau said. There are 40 public schools, which means Public Health is required to conduct 160 inspections per year.

Public Health instead inspects only elementary school cafeterias. It inspects other school facilities only if there is a complaint, Nadeau said.

As a result, only five public school campuses have been inspected by Public Health during the past decade. The last time Oceanview was inspected was more than a decade ago, in 2009.

With no one inspecting and no one complaining, Oceanviews sanitary rating deteriorated from a B in 2009 to a D.
Help from residents in Mangilao has led to the identification and apprehension of two teenage boys in connection with property theft and graffiti complaints, according to a news release issued by the Guam Police Department.

Detectives from GPDs Juvenile Investigation Section on Sept. 19 received a theft complaint from a resident while conducting crime enforcement operations in Mangilao. Other residents in the surrounding area came forward to report additional complaints of theft and graffiti.

According to GPDs news release, detectives observed similar graffiti markings at a nearby store and bus stop that allowed them to use information from previous investigations to identify a lead in the criminal cases.

Follow-ups

A follow-up investigation conducted on Sept. 24 led to the recovery of stolen property, and a 16-year-old boy was taken into custody in connection with theft of property and graffiti, GPDs news release states.

He is confined at the Department of Youth Affairs.

Another follow-up investigation conducted Tuesday led detectives to another 17-year-old who, during a police interview, admitted to his role in several crimes. According to GPD, the teenager was taken into custody for separate cases involving burglary, theft of property and graffiti.

The cases have been forwarded to the Office of the Attorney General.




Haiti - USA : Jo Biden examines Haiti's request for armed intervention





The White House is considering the Haitian Government's request to deploy a specialized armed force to stop, throughout the national territory, the humanitarian crisis caused, among other things, by the insecurity resulting from the criminal actions of armed gangs and their sponsors https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-37831-haiti-flash-towards-a-foreign-armed-intervention-in-haiti-to-eliminate-gangs.html



"We are working to determine how we can hold accountable those responsible for the violence and increase our support to help address Haitis fuel shortage and security constraints," White House press secretary Karine Jean Pierre said on Tuesday.



Adding "The US is working with international partners and its highest priority is ensuring that vital humanitarian assistance reaches the Haitian people, including critical medical support."



Last minut e: According to Bocchit Edmond the Ambassador of Haiti in Washington D.C., "The United States and Canada should take command of a rapid intervention force to deal with the insecurity growing in Haiti, under the influence of armed gangs [...] We want to see our neighbors, like the United States, like Canada, take the initiative and act quickly."



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-37859-haiti-armed-foreign-intervention-the-minister-of-planning-ricard-pierre-justifies-his-decision-audio.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-37847-haiti-politic-the-senate-asks-the-pm-to-postpone-the-intervention-of-a-foreign-armed-force-in-haiti.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-37843-haiti-security-rain-of-reactions-to-the-decision-of-an-international-armed-intervention-in-haiti.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-37831-haiti-flash-towards-a-foreign-armed-intervention-in-haiti-to-eliminate-gangs.html



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Aviation : The Haitian company Sunrise Airways becomes a member of ALTA





Tuesday, October 11, the private Haitian airline Sunrise Airways, headquartered in Haiti, informed us of its affiliation to the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA)



Sunrise Airways, founded by Philippe Bayard in 2010, has been operating since 2012 as the main airline in Haiti, with the addition of its international flights. Sunrise Airways also specializes in charter flights.



National routes:

Cap-Haitien:

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-7354-haiti-economy-sunrise-airways-will-offer-daily-flights-port-au-prince-cap-haitien.html

Les Cayes:

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-33123-haiti-flash-sunrise-airways-announces-a-new-port-au-prince-les-cayes-link.html

Jeremie:

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-31393-haiti-sunrise-airways-new-domestic-connection-port-au-prince-jeremie.html



International Routes:

Dominican Republic:

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-14009-haiti-economy-sunrise-airways-a-world-class-airline.html

Jamaica:

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-18355-haiti-economy-sunrise-airways-spreads-its-wings-on-jamaica.html

Cuba:

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35245-haiti-flash-sunrise-airways-resumes-its-flights-to-cuba.html

Turkish & Caicos:

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-9260-haiti-economy-sunrise-airways-new-route-cap-haitien-providenciales-tci.html

Florida (Orlando):

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-22461-icihaiti-economy-ministry-of-tourism-welcomes-new-sunrise-airways-link.html



and soon to the French West Indies (October 2022)



"We are delighted to welcome Sunrise Airways to ALTA as it represents a new rapprochement with the Caribbean countries, where we have been working to continue improving the conditions that allow greater connectivity, greater flow of passengers, and more development [...] For ALTA, the development of air transport in the Caribbean is a priority, where more than 80% of tourists arrive by air, tourists that generate more than 15% of jobs in the region and a fundamental contribution to the socioeconomic well-being of the population," comments Jose Ricardo Botelho, executive director and CEO of ALTA.



Learn more about ALTA :

ALTA is a private non-profit association serving the airline industry whose objective is to develop a safer, more efficient, and sustainable aviation in Latin America and the Caribbean. ALTA coordinates collaborative efforts throughout the entire value chain maximizing the impact that aviation has on the economic and social growth of the region for the benefit of industry, nations, and populations served by air transport.



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-24704-haiti-flash-sunrise-airways-a-haitian-success-story.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-14009-haiti-economy-sunrise-airways-a-world-class-airline.html



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - News : Zapping...





Gonaives : Looting continues

Gonaives, several dozen hooded individuals, broke into the premises of the former "Market Independance" and "Independance Cine" housing Radio Independance and part of the hotel. The looters took away solar panels, mattresses among other things and set fire to the ground floor of the building. The police arrested ten people.



National Penitentiary : At least 20 prisoners dead in 3 days

Marie Yolene Gilles, Executive Director of the Je Klere Foundation (FJKL) said on a radio station in the capital that during the past three days, at least 20 prisoners have died at the national penitentiary.



USA : Brian Nichols in Haiti

Brian Nichol's, the State Department's Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, is scheduled to meet in Haiti on Wednesday and Thursday with the government, political actors, representatives of business associations and labor organizations. civil society around the crisis.



Cholera : 10,000 people sensitized

10,000 people were made aware in Boston, Belecourt, Bois 9 and Brooklyn (Cite Solceil) on the preventive measures to be taken for cholera. 270 hygiene kits consisting of a bucket, soap, water purifying tablets and oral serum were distributed.



Varreux : The PNH still hard at work

The police institution announces this Monday, October 10 that it is continuing operations to allow the resumption of activities at the Varreux oil terminal. Specialized units, the heavy machinery section of the PNH, among others, are hard at work to facilitate the resumption of operations at this important fuel storage center, informs the high command of the police.



Corruption : Haiti assesses South Korea

"Haiti has been selected as an assessor country for South Korea's application of the UN Convention against Corruption. As National Expert and Focal Point, I am participating in this evaluation. I thank the Korean Minister of Justice, Mr. Han Dong Hoon, for the welcome," informs Hans Joseph, Director General of the Anti-Corruption Unit (ULCC).



HL/ HaitiLibre


















The Finnish public broadcasting company wrote yesterday that the tablets were out of stock in pharmacies across the country, including in Joensuu, Kuusamo, Oulu, Tampere and Turku. The spike in demand also slowed down laakehaku.fi, a site offering information on the availability of pharmaceuticals, and momentarily brought down the webshop of Yliopiston Apteekki.

MANY PHARMACIES in Finland have run out of iodine tablets following the publication of new guidelines by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, report YLE and Helsingin Sanomat.

Orion, the producer of the only iodine product suitable for the age group referred to in the guidelines (340-year-olds), told Helsingin Sanomat that pharmacies should be re-stocked by the end of this month.

Well provide further details once the timetable is clarified, a spokesperson at the pharmaceutical giant said to the newspaper.

Elina Asola, a senior specialist at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, admitted that the ministry was surprised by the demand spike caused by the guideline update.

We realised that publishing the guideline could lead to hoarding, but at the same time we knew that plenty of iodine tablets had already been sold this year. We thought that pharmacies had already replenished their stocks, she explained.

Demand for iodine tablets surged also last spring. According to Helsingin Sanomat, a total of 4.7 million tablets have been sold in the country since Russia began its brutal invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.

We didnt think that the same would happen again. On Tuesday, we noticed that publishing the guideline has resulted in people flocking to pharmacies in high numbers, said Asola.

While she expressed her regret that the ministry was unable to inform all stakeholders about the new guidelines, she pointed out that the task force appointed to draft the guidelines included the Association of Finnish Pharmacies. Also Orion, she added, was aware of the update and its publication date.

Private pharmacies have been informed. They were aware of the content of the guidelines and their publication date, told Asola.

Charlotta Sander, the director of pharmaceutics at the Association of Finnish Pharmacies, said the association was involved in the drafting of the guidelines and aware of their publication date, but added that the association only informs pharmacies upon a specific request from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.

The association was informed of the guidelines final content last week, but the notification made no mention of communication.

[Had the ministry asked the association to prepare earlier], then we couldve alerted others in the pharmaceutical supply chain that its necessary to order high quantities of iodine to pharmacies. Im sure we couldve done that in a couple of weeks, she commented. We can learn from this with the ministry and agree on procedures that allow us to avoid these kinds of things going forward.

Sander also pointed to the manner in which the update was picked up in the media. The angle from which the update was brought up in the media and how it caused concern among the public was surprising, she said.

The guidelines have a couple of new features.

Public health care services will procure iodine products that are suitable for children under three years of age for distribution at maternity and child health clinics, for example. Iodine products are no longer recommended for over 40-year-olds in any circumstances because they do not have the same kind of risk of developing thyroid cancer in the event of exposure to radioactive iodine, a radiation hazard.

Households with members between the ages of 3 and 40 are recommended to keep iodine tablets on hand.

The biggest change is that iodine use is no longer deemed necessary for over 40-year-olds in any circumstances, summed up Taneli Puumalainen, a director at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT
October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. In October 1985, the first organized movement on the dangers of breast cancer occurred in the United States, marking the origination of October as we know it today. Campaigns are organized annually to inform the public about the disease, the importance of regular mammograms, and methods of prevention and early detection.

Pink Ribbon. This ribbon is an international symbol of breast cancer. Its origin goes way back, but in 1992 it became a symbol of breast cancer in the US, signifying an urgent need to bring this health issue to the forefront.

Hope in Symbolism. While the color pink may seem soft and gentle, breast cancer is hostile and intrusive  polar opposites. As such, the pink ribbon represents a fear of breast cancer but hope for the future; because it is through hope that people are driven to fight this disease.

Erudera Wears the Pink Ribbon. Organizations and individuals around the world use pink in October, aiming to show moral support and increase awareness of the illness. To support the promotion of breast cancer awareness, Erudera has compiled a list of top five universities that contribute to research and studies on breast cancer  to acknowledge their powerful efforts.

There are several international research programs tackling breast cancer:

The University of Helsinki

Finland

The University of Helsinki started a 5.2 million US$ research program on metastatic breast cancer.

The project will be implemented in close collaboration with patient advocacy groups in the US and in Finland, exploring new ways to communicate science to patients and the public.

University of Nottingham

The United Kingdom

Developed the Nottingham Prognostic Index in the 1980s.

One of only four UK centers providing vital tumor tissue for research through the Breast Cancer Now Tissue Bank.

The University of Aberdeen

The United Kingdom

Recently established a multidisciplinary cancer research program.

Key people from across the University and NHS Grampian involved in all aspects of cancer research, including cell and molecular biology, pathology, surgery, oncology, primary care, health psychology, health data science, and public health work collaboratively, delivering patient-centered research to advance understanding, treatment, prevention and care of all cancers.

University of Cincinnati College of Medicine

The United States

The program builds upon the UCs longstanding history and current strengths within the Department of Cancer Biology and many other academic units at UC and CCHMC to understand the molecular mechanisms of breast cancer progression, metastasis, drug resistance, and recurrence, and to promote multidisciplinary collaborations and the development of safer and more effective next-generation diagnostics and therapeutics.

The University of Arizona

The United States

The mission of the Ginny L. Clements Breast Cancer Research Institute is to provide the best cancer care for breast cancer patients in the state of Arizona and beyond through cutting-edge research.

HT

Source: University of Helsinki
Council boots decision on rescue plan money

The Hendersonville City Council will take a second look at how to allocate $2 million in American Rescue Plan money after members failed to reach agreement last week on the appropriations.

A city staff review of 18 applications seeking a total of $8.5 million narrowed the total to $4.7 million. City Manager John Connet then recommended grants totaling $1.5 million to four nonprofit organization, leaving $500,000 to create a new crisis response position in city hall.

Nonprofit recipients Connet recommended for funding were the Connections Center, $800,000; Housing Assistance Corp., $360,000; Pisgah Legal Services, $320,000; and Safelight, $20,000.

Connet portrayed the crisis case manager as a kind of all-around trouble shooter who could respond in situations that fall through the cracks, assist the police and fire departments, and help with code enforcement and in other areas as needed.

Through the years city council has approached me in many different ways as it relates to dealing with homelessness, dealing with substandard housing, for example, Connet said. Several of you have approached me about a home off Ninth Avenue that doesn't have a bathroom and is currently using a Porta John in the front yard. We looked for transformative projects that could be geared to really benefit the citizens of Hendersonville.

At a recent city managers association convention, Connet learned about programs that are becoming more popular around the country. In those programs social worker folks embedded in local government serve as case managers to help the police department, help the fire department, he said. For example the fire department from time to time will get frequent calls from the same address because that person is alone, may be disabled and may just need lifting assistance and sometimes (is) just lonely. A case manager could intervene, contact family and connect the person with services to help, he said.

But council members began to chip away at the $500,000 Connet wanted to set aside to fund the pilot position for up to five years.

"I do support the city position but I kind of feel like we were saying we were going to contribute $2 million to the nonprofits and (now) we're saying we're going to keep $500,000, Mayor Barbara Volk said. I think it's a worthwhile position but 25 percent  I think it's too much. I'd like to see more of that allocated to nonprofit requests."

Volk sought to appropriate $100,000 to Interfaith Assistance Ministry, the food pantry and crisis intervention agency whose application for $393,784 ranked second to the new Connections Centers in the city staff's scoring of grant proposals.

When other council members expressed support for requests made by the Children and Family Resource Center, True Ridge and others, council member Jennifer Hensley said she thought it was unfair for the board to reorder the funding on the fly. Council members agreed to revisit the decision next month.

A team of five department heads and administrators reviewed the applications for pandemic recovery grants and gave them scores based on impact. Here are the applicants, amount requested, proposed use of rescue plan money and score:

Blue Ridge Community Health, $330,093, youth mental health first aid training program in public schools, 89.

Blue Ridge Literacy Council, $38,000, facilitators to help adult learners and disproportionately underserved populations gain access to technology, 74.

Children and Family Resource Center, $260,000, GLO Mobile unit for preschool learning opportunities and developmental screenings before kindergarten, 86.2.

Flat Rock Playhouse, $500,000, funding to support operations after an estimated $5 million of lost revenue during Covid, 45.4.

Hendersonville Theater, $112,597, operating revenue to recover from impacts of Covid, 48.6.

Housing Assistance Corporation, $1,924,315 (two applications), water and sewer infrastructure at Apple Ridge, a proposed affordable housing development of 60 apartments and 20 single family homes ($1.67 million); home repair program ($250,000), 88, 90.2.

Interfaith Assistance Ministry, $393,784, expand food pantry, equipment and storage needs to combat food insecurity, 92.

Josephs Outreach Ministries (Connections Center), $1.5 million, showers, laundry, storage, healthy food, mail, access to other nonprofit and public agencies for services, 95.8.

Latino Advocacy Coalition, El Centro, $500,000, specialist to connect Latino population to services, 62.

Mills River Partnership, $90,000, stabilize river banks in area that is a city of Hendersonville drinking water source, 57.6

Pisgah Legal Services, $320,000, guide low-income clients who need help with SNAP, Medicaid and other aid, 80.8.

Safelight, $2,350,845, (three applications), training for Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners ($1,024,830); job training program for domestic violence survivors ($20,000); renovations to new facility on Washington Street ($1,306,015), 83.4, 78.6, 70.6.

Team ECCO, $67,580, expand educational opportunity at museum and aquarium, recover lost revenue from pandemic, 51.6.

True Ridge, $50,000, case management and outreach, interpreter to help Latino clients connect with resources, 65.6.
A MAN from Peppard has become the oldest Briton to complete a notoriously difficult open water swim.

Nigel Downing, 71, also raised 6,000 for a humanitarian charity when he crossed the Strait of Bonifacio, which is between the islands of Corsica and Sardinia, in a group of 16 swimmers.

The strait divides the Tyrrhenian Sea from the western Mediterranean Sea and is notorious among sailors for its weather and currents.

The swimmers started in four groups at dawn and it took Mr Downing four hours and 25 minutes to complete the 13.9km crossing, although he probably covered up to 15.3km due to the challenging conditions.

The wind was blowing up to force 8 and it was raining heavily, which caused almost zero visibility so the swimmers had to rely on an Italian man in a boat to direct them.

Mr Downing said: I had a very challenging swim and had my doubts at times about whether I would even finish.

I had felt so nervous before setting out because I just wanted to complete the distance and make sure all my supporters got their pennies worth. The pressure was intense but a rainbow I saw was a great reminder which spurred me on.

The sun lit up Cabo Pertusato and out burst this magnificent rainbow. It was a visual demonstration of Gods promise and a real reassurance that all would be well. I burst into tears.

Every one of us finished the challenge and I feel incredibly proud for all the swimmers. When we finally came into Sardinia I could have wept with joy.

I have a huge debt of gratitude to Peter, our groups lead swimmer, who was a real team player.

It is an amazing achievement for all the swimmers and it was great getting to know such a wonderful bunch of people.

The event was organised by Neda el Mon, which translates from Italian into Swim the World.

Chief executive Marc Caballe paid tribute to the swimmers.

He said: It was raining during almost the entire crossing and some jellyfish showed up, so the sea was very difficult.

It was only because the swimmers were well prepared and the groups so well co-ordinated that they could reach their goal. Everyone worked so hard on individual training, then entered the open water as a team to cross the Strait, creating a strategy and helping each other all the way.

Seeing a group come together to complete a challenge is the best part of these projects and I feel so happy for them all.

Mr Downing, who is a former GB Olympic triathlete, began training at the beginning of this year at the Henley leisure centre swimming pool and then in May progressed to the River Thames, swimming between Culham Lock and Wallingford Bridge.

He also went to Spain at the end of May for a training swim of 8.5km with the other participants.

His last long-distance swim before this year was in 2015 when he became the oldest Briton to cross the 18km Strait of Gibraltar.

His longest ever challenge was in 2010 when he swam 30km along the River Thames between Henley and Windsor with his daughter Nicole.

It was the same year that he began fundraising for the Mission Aviation Fellowship.

The charity operates 123 light aircraft and partners with 1,500 non-government organisations to send medical supplies, aid workers and relief cargo to more than 25 poorer countries. Mr Downing, who was born in South Africa and moved to Wiltshire when he was nine, said: The pilots are known to land on some of the most rural and challenging airstrips in the world to provide emergency medical evacuations and respond to natural disasters.

Its this high-impact, adrenaline-filled work that impresses me and Ive always had an enthusiasm for aviation.

He obtained a pilots licence himself before going university to study natural sciences and flew with the universitys air squadron.

After debating a career in the RAF, he decided to pursue his passion for marine biology and went to the University of Cambridge to get his PhD.

He co-founded the learning and development business ProfitAbility, which provides learning solutions to middle and senior management, and is now chairman.

Mr Downing, who lives with his wife Trish, will now be taking a break from swimming but will continue to push himself.

He said: Whether its training, swimming, flying, or serving my community through All Saints Church, life is always a little dull without a challenge.
A SONGWRITER from Peppard has won an award for a hit single.

James Bell, whose professional name is Yami, co-wrote and sings on The Business by Tiesto.

Mr Bell, 29, won the songwriters and publishers of the most-

performed songs of the year category at the BMI awards held at the Savoy Hotel in London.

Other award winners included Ed Sheeran, who won song of the year for Bad Habits, and Ellie Goulding.

The Business reached No 3 in the UK singles chart and hit the top spot in nine other countries, including Hungary, the Czech Republic and Tiestos native Netherlands.

It was the first time Mr Bell had featured on a recording of one of his own songs and that one of his works had made the UK top 10.

He said: It was a surprise to find out I was getting the award. I spent a great evening with friends and family and seeing artists I aspire to be like. Ive gone to a lot of amazing events because of that song.

Its great to keep getting recognition but now Im very focused on moving on and making more great records. When you do well with one record, it makes you want to have a bunch of records that do well because you want to prove its not all you can do. It would be incredible if I do better than this.

Mr Bell, who wore a Hugo Boss velvet navy jacket and bow-tie with matching tailored trousers from Los Angeles, was among about 100 people at the event.

He was accompanied by his partner Emma Rayburn, manager Emma J Marsh, mother Rebecca, who runs the childrens choir at All Saints Church in Peppard, and other songwriters and friends.

The Business, which came out in 2020, took him and his collaborators Tijs Verwest, Julia Karlsson and Anton Rundberg just two hours to write over lunch.

He was nominated for a Grammy and a BRIT Award in 2021 and received two platinum awards for reaching more than one million sales in Britain and the US. He has previously won a gold award for reaching half a million sales with A J Mitchells Slow Hands.

Mr Bell was about 22 when he started writing songs while still working in sales.

He was about 25 when he landed his first publishing deal and since then has written for a number of artists, including Ava Max, Lewis Blissett, TY Dolla Sign, Yungblud, Polo G, PrettyMuch, KSI and James Arthur.

Future projects include another collaboration with Tieso, who is a DJ and record producer.

Mr Bell said: I like the DJ stuff because it gives me the chance to use my vocals the way I demo it. Its very different when you give people their song and they change the vocals and style to not exactly how you imagine it. But I still love it all.

He hopes to record and release his own music soon.

I keep delaying because I get excited writing for the people Im working with, he said. The joy of this work is about trying different avenues.
Extraordinary scene captured of herrings gathering in SW Chinas Yunnan

People's Daily Online) 14:40, October 12, 2022

Recently, a local photographer captured the rare and extraordinary scene of herrings lining up in Fuxian Lake in Yuxi city, southwest Chinas Yunnan Province. Hundreds of herrings gathered together, with some forming into a circle and others lining up in a straight line, creating an extraordinary scene.

The herring squad has been one of the spectacles in Fuxian Lake. While the government has been enhancing the protection of the environment and biodiversity of Fuxian Lake in the recent years, the number of endemic fish species like the herring have grown. Meanwhile, the fruit falling off from the banyan trees around the lake have also attracted some herrings to eat them. All of these factors have added to the reappearance of a rare spectacle.

The herring squad can be seen in Fuxian Lake in Yuxi city, southwest Chinas Yunnan Province (Photo/Liu Guineng)

(Web editor: Peng Yukai, Du Mingming)
180-room Hyatt Place hotel opens in Huangshan Train Station CBD.

Hyatt Place Huangshan Train Station, the first Hyatt-branded hotel in Huangshan, is officially open, expanding the Hyatt Place brand's footprint globally in markets that matter most to guests and World of Hyatt members. The new hotel features the Hyatt Place brand's intuitive design, casual atmosphere, and practical amenities, such as free Wi-Fi, 24-hour food offerings, and 24-hour Fitness Center.

Because Hyatt's efforts are grounded in listening and fueled by care, Hyatt Place hotels combine style, innovation and 24/7 conveniences to create an easy-to-navigate experience for today's multi-tasking traveler. Hyatt Place Huangshan Train Station is a three-minute drive from Huangshanbei Railway Station, and a 25-minute drive from Huangshan Tunxi International Airport. The Tourism Transport Hub, located across the hotel, offers transportation services to major attractions such as Mount Huangshan and Hongcun Village.

Hyatt Place Huangshan Train Station offers:

180 spacious guestrooms with separate spaces to sleep, work, and play, as well as a Cozy Corner sofa-sleeper

with separate spaces to sleep, work, and play, as well as a Cozy Corner sofa-sleeper Free Breakfast including an array of hot and cold, local and international options

including an array of hot and cold, local and international options The Market serves a variety of freshly prepared grab-and-go food items such as sandwiches, salads, snacks, baked goods, and bottled drinks anytime, day or night

serves a variety of freshly prepared grab-and-go food items such as sandwiches, salads, snacks, baked goods, and bottled drinks anytime, day or night The Bar features specialty coffees and premium beers, as well as wines and cocktails

features specialty coffees and premium beers, as well as wines and cocktails Necessities program for forgotten items that guests can buy, borrow or enjoy for free

program for forgotten items that guests can buy, borrow or enjoy for free Free Wi-Fi throughout the hotel and guestrooms

throughout the hotel and guestrooms Event Spaces offer 5,187 square feet (482 square meters) of flexible meeting and function space with the latest technology including a 4,197-square-foot (390-square-meter) Ballroom

offer 5,187 square feet (482 square meters) of flexible meeting and function space with the latest technology including a 4,197-square-foot (390-square-meter) Ballroom Fitness Center featuring strength and cardio equipment, open 24-hours

featuring strength and cardio equipment, open 24-hours Self-serve Laundry Room offering 24-hour self-serve laundry service

The term "Hyatt" is used in this release for convenience to refer to Hyatt Hotels Corporation and/or one or more of its affiliates.
The 116-room Hyatt Place hotel opens in the central business district of the city.

Hyatt Place Jaipur Malviya Nagar, the first Hyatt Place hotel in Rajasthan and seventh Hyatt Place hotel in India, is open - expanding the Hyatt Place brand's footprint globally in markets that matter most to guests and World of Hyatt members. The new hotel features the Hyatt Place brand's intuitive design, casual atmosphere and practical amenities, such as free Wi-Fi everywhere and 24-hour food offerings. Hyatt Place Jaipur Malviya Nagar has been developed by Heritage Motels Private Limited.

Because Hyatt's efforts are grounded in listening and fueled by care, Hyatt Place hotels combine style, innovation and 24/7 conveniences to create an easy to navigate experience for today's multi-tasking traveler. Hyatt Place Jaipur Malviya Nagar is located close to the core business district of the city, and within reach of major tourist destinations and shopping malls. The hotel is a convenient 10-minute drive from the Jaipur International Airport.

Hyatt Place Jaipur Malviya Nagar offers:

116 spacious guestrooms with separate spaces to sleep, work and play, as well as a cozy corner sofa-sleeper; the suite also includes a private outdoor space, which features a whirlpool

with separate spaces to sleep, work and play, as well as a cozy corner sofa-sleeper; the suite also includes a private outdoor space, which features a whirlpool Complimentary breakfast

for guests featuring a variety of hot and cold breakfast items to suit all guests' needs

for guests featuring a variety of hot and cold breakfast items to suit all guests' needs Zing , Hyatt Place Jaipur Malviya Nagar's open-kitchen restaurant, bringing an all-day dining experience with authentic flavors of Indian, Italian and Asian cuisines

, Hyatt Place Jaipur Malviya Nagar's open-kitchen restaurant, bringing an all-day dining experience with authentic flavors of Indian, Italian and Asian cuisines The Market serving freshly prepared meals anytime, day or night, including bakery items, salads, and sandwiches

serving freshly prepared meals anytime, day or night, including bakery items, salads, and sandwiches An open-air bar with cabana seating featuring single malt whiskeys and premium beers, as well as wines and cocktails

featuring single malt whiskeys and premium beers, as well as wines and cocktails Necessities program for forgotten items that guests can buy, borrow or enjoy for free

program for forgotten items that guests can buy, borrow or enjoy for free Free Wi-Fi throughout the hotel including guestrooms

throughout the hotel including guestrooms Event Spaces offering 6,626 square feet of flexible, high-tech meeting, indoor and outdoor meeting function space

offering square feet of flexible, high-tech meeting, indoor and outdoor meeting function space Fitness Center featuring cardio equipment with LCD touchscreens, and a rooftop swimming pool

Guided by its purpose of care, Hyatt's multi-layered Global Care & Cleanliness Commitment further enhances its operational guidance and resources around colleague and guest safety and peace of mind. More information on Hyatt's commitment can be found here: hyatt.com/care-and-cleanliness.

The term "Hyatt" is used in this release for convenience to refer to Hyatt Hotels Corporation and/or one or more of its affiliates.

Hotel website
IHG signs voco Paris Porte de Clichy in French capital.

HG Hotels & Resorts (IHG), one of the world's leading hotel companies, is delighted to announce the signing of a new voco hotel in Paris - voco Paris Porte de Clichy. One of IHG's newest and most successful brands, the global expansion of IHG's fastest growing upscale brand has happened at a faster pace than any other IHG brand. With each hotel standing out from the crowd and giving people a different choice, guests feel comfortable to relax.

France continues to be a prime national market for IHG in Europe with 64 open hotels and a further 18 hotels in the pipeline. With conversions playing an instrumental role in this growth, voco - meaning 'to invite' or to 'call together' in Latin - is adding to France's brand expansion, with voco Paris Porte de Clichy becoming the country's sixth voco hotel signing.

Located in the immediate vicinity of the 17th arrondissement (district), voco Paris Porte de Clichy will be a 264-key conversion property and has recently been signed in conjunction with Catella Hospitality, a company renowned for its strategic partnerships in Europe's gateway cities such as Berlin. This is the second voco property in the city of lights after the 102-key voco Paris Montparnasse opened in 2020.

The newly signed voco Paris Porte de Clichy will be designed by Oscar Lucien Ono, founder and director of interior design agency Maison Numero 20 and will be one of voco hotel's flagship properties, w ith particular attention being paid to the use of sustainable materials.

Due to open in summer 2023, voco Paris Porte de Clichy will feature several design-forward food and beverage outlets, as well as meeting spaces, making it ideal for leisure and business travellers alike. The hotel will be moments away from the new Tribunal de Paris, home to the Parisian justice system and will be just four stops on the Paris Metro from the Musee Du Louvre.

Hotel website
Holiday Inn & Suites Festival City has flown in Mahak Sharma as its latest hotel manager. Sharma joins the Dubai hotel from her home country of Australia where she was also a hotel manager.

Sharma has more than 16 years of experience in hospitality and has travelled to numerous countries thanks to the industry.

First an intern in 2006, she worked with Taj Exotica Resort & Spa in the Maldives; later chosen as a corporate leadership trainee and moved to Hyatt Regency in Delhi as a club manager. She would later rise to assistant manager of the front office at the same hotel, working there for eight months.

In 2010, she returned to her home country, working as an assistant manager of front office again, this time at Grand Hyatt Melbourne. After more than four years in the post, she helped open the Hyatt Regency Dubai Creek Heights Hotel and Residences as its front office manager.

Here, she helped establish brand standards for the entire hotel and acted as the liaison with owners. After a year, she was made assistant director of rooms and then director of rooms thereafter. While in the role, she spearheaded day-to-day operations and worked alongside the GM to uphold and implement goals and strategies.

Her most recent role was as hotel manager of the Hyatt Place Melbourne for close to 18 months.
Niccolo Rossi has been promoted at Radisson Blu Hotel Dubai Deira Creek, following former GM Jan Hanak's move to a regional position in the Radisson ranks.

Promoted from EAM, Rossi is now in charge of the hotel's 288 keys, 15 F&B outlets, wedding functions and meetings.

No stranger to Radisson, Rossi joined the company in 2009 as an Italian chef for a hotel in Libya. He later became Italian chef at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Kyiv, promoted up to executive chef at the property in 2011.

Staying in culinary, he became executive chef of the Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel in Tbilsi in 2014 and held the post until 2016, when he then became director of F&B.

Leaving food, he became director of operations at Park Inn by Radisson Pulkovskaya Hotel & Conference Centre in 2018 before stepping into the Dubai hotel world.
Lately, the conversation of the metaverse has been hot. The new world has allowed for new space to be created letting us live both virtually and physically. This has seen brands from a range of industries such as Armani Beauty, Nike and SCMP enter the metaverse world to connect with their targeted consumers. In Singapore, we also saw a metaverse wedding when the CEO of Bandwagon partnered up with The Alkaff Mansion in Singapore to hold a virtual celebration.

The tourism industry, which probably was the hardest hit during the pandemic, is also now safeguarding themselves from another such major lockdown by trying to have a go at the metarverse. Certain tourism bodies such as South Korea and Indonesia have already begun their investment in the space.

The opportunities

Prakash Somosundram, co-founder and CEO of Enjinstarter, explained that beyond simply enabling the creation of a virtual Bali or Seoul, the metaverse is part of a larger shift towards community-first thinking. Through the metaverse and other Web3 components like NFTs, a tourism body can engage people across the world, regardless of whether they intend to travel to the country or not.

"The idea that a person must travel to a country to experience it is becoming more obsolete by the day," he said.

Somosundram explained that another reason for tourism to go into the metaverse is to speak authentically to younger audiences, who may not yet be able to travel on their own. Engaging these younger audiences sets the stage for a long-term tourism relationship.

The obvious opportunity that the metaverse tourism presents is access. Travel costs are rising and pandemic-related restrictions are still impacting travel plans. The metaverse offers a means to experience the best a country has to offer without needing to leave home.

"At the same time, metaverse travel can be gamified. Imagine a scenario in which a person wins physical prizes, such as discounted hotel stays by taking part in metaverse tourism activities in advance of a trip," shared Somosundram. Moreover, the metaverse is also an opportunity for community building. It can be difficult for a tourism body to engage with tourists before, during, and after their stay. Metaverse communities, on the contrary, can provide that conduit. This opens up new and exciting possibilities for promotion, feedback, and long-term loyalty building.

Kunal Robert, client services director and in-house metaverse expert of Construct Digital, shares a similar sentiment and adds that South Korea and Indonesia's tourism bodies recognise the value of investing in tourism and want to have a first mover advantage.

Read the full article at Marketing Interactive
Knowland , the worlds leading provider of data-as-a-service insights on meetings and events for hospitality, released the quarterly update to its U.S. Meetings Recovery Forecast (MRF) and associated Top 25 U.S. Meetings Recovery Forecast (MRF25) showing stable performance pushing slightly ahead of the Q2 forecast. Click here to view the most current forecasts.

Kristi White, chief product officer, Knowland, said: The third quarter was the strongest of the year. Each month the recovery to 2019 has grown, with September nearing 90 percent recovery (89.5 percent). We are poised to reach greater than 90 percent recovery in at least one month in the last quarter. All of this is positioning 2023 to be a year of growth and not just another year of recovery.

Knowlands forecasts provide an overview of how the U.S. as a whole and the Top 25 Markets, specifically, will move through recovery. A breakdown of the details is below:

U.S. Markets Recovery Forecast update - Since the forecast in July, the outlook for the U.S. has been raised from 72.6 percent recovery by the end of 2022 to 73.1 percent recovery. Meeting levels will recover to 106.4 percent of 2019 levels in 2023 and 129.2 percent in 2024.

- Since the forecast in July, the outlook for the U.S. has been raised from 72.6 percent recovery by the end of 2022 to 73.1 percent recovery. Meeting levels will recover to 106.4 percent of 2019 levels in 2023 and 129.2 percent in 2024. Top 25 Markets Recovery Forecast update  For fourteen markets, the recovery forecast improved from the last projection in July 2022, including Anaheim, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Norfolk, Oahu Island, Orlando, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and St. Louis. The recovery forecast was lowered in seven markets, including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Miami, Phoenix, Tampa, and Washington, DC. The remaining Top 25 markets are unchanged from the prior quarter. Recovery by the end of 2022: Three markets will be fully recovered by the end of 2022: Dallas, Phoenix, and Nashville. All three of these markets are unchanged from the prior quarter. Tampa was removed from this category. Five markets will be above 80 percent recovery: Atlanta, Denver, New Orleans, Orlando, and Tampa. Tampa was lowered, and Orlando was raised to this category with this updated forecast. Fourteen markets will recover between 50 and 80 percent. Only Chicago and Philadelphia are forecasted to be less than 50 percent recovered by the end of 2022. Norfolk and Seattle moved into the 50-80 percent category, while Chicago moved down this quarter. Significant recovery in 2023: An additional eleven markets will achieve 100 percent or greater recovery, including Anaheim, Atlanta, Denver, Detroit, New Orleans, Oahu, Orlando, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and Tampa. Six will reach 90 percent or better recovery: Boston, Houston, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, and St. Louis. The remaining markets will fall between 80 and 90 percent recovery. Closer to normal in 2024: 23 of the 25 markets will achieve 100 percent or greater recovery by 2024. Chicago and Philadelphia will achieve 90 percent or better percent recovery during 2024.

 For fourteen markets, the recovery forecast improved from the last projection in July 2022, including Anaheim, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Norfolk, Oahu Island, Orlando, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and St. Louis. The recovery forecast was lowered in seven markets, including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Miami, Phoenix, Tampa, and Washington, DC. The remaining Top 25 markets are unchanged from the prior quarter.

About the MRF and associated MRF25: The MRF demonstrates projected industry recovery patterns and is based on Knowlands proprietary data and regression models leveraging almost 20 million global events over the last 15 years. The MRF25 was added in February 2022 to provide the capability to search industry recovery patterns for the Top 25 U.S. Markets. The forecast uses a natural recovery model, assuming historic seasonal patterns without major market disruption, to index the recapture of meeting activity compared to baseline levels from 2019. By comparing past data to evolving data trends, hoteliers can better understand market-relevant changesand their implicationsas individual markets move into 2022 and beyond.

Top 25 Markets: Anaheim, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, Nashville, New Orleans, New York, Norfolk, Oahu Island, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis, Tampa, and Washington DC.

About Knowland

Knowland is the world's leading provider of data-as-a-service insights on meetings and events for hospitality. With the industry's largest historical database of actualized events, thousands of customers trust Knowland to sell group smarter and maximize their revenue. Knowland operates globally and is headquartered just outside Washington, DC. To learn more about our solutions, visit www.knowland.com or follow us on Twitter @knowlandgroup.

Kim Dearborn

+1 909 455 4316
Revenues generated by members of the GHA DISCOVERY loyalty programme during the first nine months of 2022 reach 84% of pre-pandemic levels at over US$900 million

Average length of stay jumps 20% year on year

August proves to be the alliances second strongest-performing month ever, led by travel to destinations in Europe and Asia

Dubai, UAE - UAE-headquartered Global Hotel Alliance, the worlds largest alliance of independent hotels brands, has reported a stellar nine-month performance that has exceeded its most optimistic forecasts, with total revenue generated by the 22 million members of its GHA DISCOVERY loyalty programme of over US $900 million, up 68% on 2021 and reaching 84% of pre-pandemic (2019) levels on a like for like basis.

A combination of higher average rates and a 20% increase in average length of stay globally from January to September versus the same period in 2021, driven by pent-up demand for leisure travel being unleashed, have contributed to the performance boost.

The top three countries for GHA DISCOVERY member stays during the period were all strong leisure destinations: namely, the Maldives, Thailand and the UAE, while the most-visited cities were again Dubai (a further 48% growth in stays over 2021), followed by Singapore and Bangkok.

The most visible signs of a post-pandemic travel rebound were reported for Phuket and Bangkok, Thailand with 535% and 345% growth in revenues respectively compared to 2021, followed by Honolulu, Hawaii with 305% and London, UK, with 300% growth. Despite the ongoing disruption to air travel and the effect of pandemic-related restrictions, more than 60% of GHA DISCOVERY revenues came from international stays, with this proportion growing strongly over the summer months. Nevertheless, domestic stays remained very important in some markets, either because of travel restrictions or a continuing appetite for staycations, with over 90% of Chinese member spending and 88% of Indian member spending being in their home countries. In contrast, the highest-spending international travellers came from the USA (US$76 million), UK (US$71m) and Germany (US$60m), representing over a quarter of total revenues.

The reimagination of the GHA DISCOVERY loyalty programme, launched in December 2021, which introduced the industrys first digital rewards currency, DISCOVERY DOLLARS (D$), redeemable on stays at any GHA hotel brand property, also bumped up revenues. From January to September, GHA issued D$55 million of rewards (same value in US$) to members, who can use them to pay for stays at any GHA property around the world, further driving repeat bookings.

Our 2022 performance to date has exceeded all expectations, not only demonstrating travels enduring attraction, as it bounces back from the pandemic, but the success of our growth strategy, underpinned by the reinvention of GHA DISCOVERY and the addition of new hotel brand partners to our alliance, said GHA CEO Chris Hartley.

With D$ redemptions giving repeat and cross-brand stays a huge boost, we are delivering more new revenue streams to our hotel brands. Typically, these redemptions are being used as part-payment for a guests total bill, and overall our brands are witnessing an average 17 times return on investment from the new programme, a 21% lift compared to ROI delivered by the former version of our loyalty programme, he adds.

The 2022 summer holiday season was another performance driver, with August proving the alliances second-strongest month ever, delivering revenues just shy of March 2019's record performance.

The average length of stays across all markets globally increased further in Q3 2022 versus the same period in 2021. Europe (64% increase in length of stay), Oceania (31%) and the Middle East (11%) were the top performing regions.

Compounding the rebound impact, Madrid-headquartered NH Group joined GHA in June, bringing with it over 350 hotels and 10 million loyalty programme members. Total GHA DISCOVERY member stays increased by 74% in Q3 2022 versus the same period in 2021. The most popular destination countries for cross-border summer travel were Spain, US, Germany, Italy and Thailand.

Hartley concluded: With the leisure travel rebound accelerating into Q4, business travel steadily on the up, evidenced in revenues from our major corporate accounts recovering to 81% of 2019 levels by the end of Q3, and with more D$ going into circulation, we are confident of a positive outlook for the full-year 2022 and heading into 2023."

For more information visit Global Hotel Alliance and GHA DISCOVERY.

About Global Hotel Alliance (GHA)

Global Hotel Alliance (GHA) brings together a unique collection of independent hospitality brands with GHA DISCOVERY, a multi-brand loyalty programme leveraging a shared technology platform. Through membership in GHA, brands expand their global reach, drive incremental revenue, and reduce dependence on third-party channels, all while maintaining management independence and individual positioning. GHA represents a collection of 40 brands with more than 800 hotels in 100 countries serving 22 million members. The award-winning GHA DISCOVERY programme generates over $1 billion in revenue and more than six million room nights annually. GHA's brands currently include Anantara, Araiya, Avani, Campbell Gray, Capella, Corinthia, Discovery Destinations, Divani, Doyle, Elewana, Fauchon, GLO, JA Resorts, Kempinski, Leela, Lungarno, Marco Polo, Mysk, NH Hotels, NH Collection, nhow, Niccolo, Nikki Beach, NUO, Oaks, Outrigger, Pan Pacific, PARKROYAL COLLECTION, PARKROYAL, Patina, The Residence by Cenizaro, The Set Collection, Shaza, Sukhothai, Sun International, Tivoli, Ultratravel Collection and Viceroy. For more information, visit www.globalhotelalliance.com.

About GHA DISCOVERY

Launched in 2010, GHA DISCOVERY is the world's largest loyalty programme for independent hotel brands, featuring more than 800 hotels, resorts, and palaces across 40 brands. Members enjoy VIP recognition, thoughtful benefits and generous rewards at home or away. GHA DISCOVERY members earn and spend DISCOVERY Dollars (D$), an exclusive rewards currency. They also enjoy member-only Experiences curated by each hotel, plus they have access to properties close to home, without a stay, through member-only Local Offers.

Andrea Krenn

Global Hotel Alliance (GHA)
Lodging Interactive, award-winning digital marketing, reputation management, and social media marketing agency exclusively serving the hospitality industry since 2001, announced the launch of its Google Business Profile content marketing and optimization services for the hospitality industry. With this new service, hotels can maximize their Google organic SEO reach and support potential guests in the booking consideration process.

Google recently opened up the ability for hotels to post updates on their Google Business Profile. This feature had long been available to other business verticals and now presents a huge competitive advantage for properties that know how to maximize this Google feature, said DJ Vallauri, Lodging Interactives Founder and CEO. Your hotels Google Business Profile has become your hotels new homepage. Customers can view images, read reviews, get your address, see your telephone number, read FAQs and your hotels news posts, all without visiting your hotels website.

One of the benefits of an optimized Google Business Profile is that properties can reach their target audiences more efficiently by being where potential guests frequently look. By creating an optimized Google Business Profile, all hoteliers have a chance to compete for top ranking in local searches. Even smaller, family-owned hotels may be visible in search results. A properly optimized Google Business Profile increases a hotels online website visibility and directs organic traffic to its site, leading to more revenue opportunities.

Hospitality Google Business Profile Content Marketing, Well Beyond the Obvious.

Beyond ensuring a hotels basic information (address, phone number, check-in time, and website link) is accurate, the service includes ongoing content marketing and optimization:

Monthly: add property photographs and create descriptive text and add image alt tags

Monthly: write property and destination articles (i.e. blog posts) and post them to your Google Business Profile

Ongoing: post whats new, promotions, and newsworthy events about your property

Ongoing: create and manage your FAQs section

Ongoing: provide Google Business Profile ongoing data analytics.

Lodging Interactives Google Business Profile content marketing and optimization services are available for independent and branded properties. For more information, please click here or call us directly at 877-291-4411 ext. 704.

About Lodging Interactive

Since 2001 Lodging Interactive has been a leading provider of digital marketing services to the hospitality industry. Customers include select service, full-service branded properties, and independent luxury hotels and resorts worldwide.

Lodging Interactive is the parent company of CoMMingle, the Company's social media marketing and reputation management division which serves hundreds of hotels, restaurants, spas, and management companies.

The Company also provides subscription-based website development and digital marketing services through its HotelSiteXPRESS offering. The service is based on a "pay-as-you-go' model and requires no capital investment on the part of the hotel.

Lodging Interactive is an HSMAI Adrian Award winner and has won awards from the International Academy of Visual Arts, Interactive Media Awards, Horizon Interactive Awards, Web Marketing Association, Academy of Interactive & Visual Arts, and Travel Weekly's Magellan Awards have recognized Lodging Interactive as an industry leader.

For more information, please contact [email protected], 877-291-4411 ext. 704, or visit the company's website LodgingInteractive.com.

DJ Vallauri

President & Founder

+1 877 291 4411

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The RADCO Companies (RADCO), one of the nations leading opportunistic real estate developers, has added three more properties to its fast-growing portfolio. Focused on growing Southeastern markets with strong business and tourist populations, RADCO has acquired three Courtyard by Marriott hotels along the Gulf Coast with over 300 rooms. Additional terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Hunter Hotel Advisors brokered a deal including the Courtyards in Pensacola and downtown Panama City Beach, while CRBE Hotels served as broker for the Courtyard in downtown St. Petersburg. Two of the three properties have undergone recent renovations, and RADCO will begin updating the other hotel later this year. RADCO also plans to make additional capital and operational improvements to the other two recently enhanced hotels.

RADCO launched a new hotel division in early 2021 in response to the COVID-19 pandemics operational and capital markets disruptions in the hospitality sector. With these acquisitions, RADCOs hotel portfolio has rapidly grown to nine properties, including six in Florida, within the last 13 months. RADCO continues to seek out hospitality assets in line with the companys overall investment strategy, according to CEO Norman Radow, and is actively working on closing additional hospitality properties before the end of the year.

The continuing influx of new residents into Florida and strong market fundamentals, combined with the rebound underway in both the tourism and hospitality sectors, make these very attractive investments, said Radow. The properties have been performing well over the past several months and we see significant upside in all three of these assets.

The Pensacola and Panama City Beach Courtyards will continue to be managed by LBA Hospitality, which also manages three additional hotels recently acquired by RADCO in Panama City Beach. The Courtyard by Marriott in downtown St. Petersburg, FL, which is housed in a historic building, will be managed by TPG Hotels, Resorts & Marinas.

The RADCO Companies has a 28-year history acquiring and investing in opportunistic real estate across all asset classes. The firms investment strategy targets underperforming assets that offer immediate mark-to-market opportunities, as well as assets requiring capital infusion to add value. RADCO seeks out well-located assets that have limited access to institutional debt or equity capital for a variety of reasons.

About The RADCO Companies

RADCO was founded in 1994 with the mission of "Building Better Living." Based in Atlanta, RADCO is a national real estate company that specializes in the acquisition and redevelopment of value-add multifamily and hospitality investments across the Southeast and Central US. Over the past 10 years, the firm has acquired and invested in approximately 30,500 multifamily units in 15 markets and completed nine hotel acquisitions in the last year. RADCO has completed more than 100 deals totaling $3.2 billion. For more information, please visit www.radco.us.
BOSTON, THE WOODLANDS, Texas  The University of Virginia (UVA) and its partners have broken ground on a new 223,000-square-foot Hotel and Conference Center in Charlottesville, which is targeting a spring 2025 debut. The hospitality center, whose official name will be revealed at a future date, will be managed by Pyramid Global Hospitality.

Those present at the October groundbreaking celebration included Jim Ryan, president of UVA; Jennifer J.J. Wagner Davis, executive vice president and COO of UVA; Tim Rose, CEO of the UVA Foundation; Colette Sheehy, UVAs senior vice president for operations and state government relations; Stephen Brockman, partner at Deborah Berke Partners and David Keith, CEO of Hanbury Architects, which are leading architecture and design for the property; and from Pyramid Global Hospitality, Senior Vice President Ellen Sinclair and Vice President, Sales & Marketing Hal Powell.

Pyramid Global Hospitalitys Sinclair remarked, We are pleased to partner with the University to bring Charlottesville and the academic community an incredible new gathering point along the Emmet-Ivy corridor. The intentional, sustainable design of this new hotel and conference space will be excellent, no doubt advancing the Universitys mission to be great and good in all they do. Pyramid Global Hospitality will bring the same dedication to excellence to the guest experience come 2025."

UVAs President Jim Ryan added, This will be a crossroads for the University  and the Universitys front door, he said. The hotel and conference center will play an important role as a place where people can gather and stay  prospective students and their parents; data scientists, faculty from the Law School can meet there with members of the Medical School faculty. This will be a bridge that makes the community stronger, bring worlds together in ways that are predictable and unpredictable.

About the Hotel and Conference Center

Come spring 2025, the new 223,000-square-foot Hotel and Conference Center will anchor UVAs emerging and strategically important Emmet-Ivy corridor. It aims to be a destination property and convening space for guests and visitors to the University, its local community, faculty, staff, students and conference attendees. The site will provide multiple spaces for hospitality, business and academic conferences, and includes plans for a University welcome area.

The hotels 214 guestrooms and suites will be a convenient, centrally located choice for all those visiting UVA and the Charlottesville area. Guests will find a full-service restaurant with indoor and outdoor terrace dining, a rooftop cafe with distant panoramic views, and a convenient grab-and-go eatery. There will be 25,000 square feet of technologically advanced meeting and event space, including a 10,000-square-foot ballroom, which will be the largest in Charlottesville. The meeting and event venue will be certified by the U.S. Green Building Councils Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), and will conform to the Universitys 2030 sustainability goals.

About Benchmark Pyramid

Pyramid Global Hospitality was formed by the 2021 merger of three hotel and resort management companies, creating the most owner-focused, experiential company in the industry and its best workplace. The organization's global portfolio spans more than 240 properties in the U.S., Caribbean and Europe. It maintains offices in Boston; The Woodlands, Texas; Cincinnati; and London. For more information, visit www.PyramidGlobal.com.
Chicago, IL. - Cloud5 Communications, a leading provider of communications solutions and Managed IT Services for more than 5,000 hotels, MDUs, and commercial facilities across the Americas, has today announced the latest expansion of its contact center services with the opening of a new location in South Africa. Initially tasked with handling reservation calls for one of hospitalitys fastest growing North American companies, Cloud5s South African contact center underscores the industrys continuing rebound and will expand its offshore capabilities as market conditions continue to evolve.

The hospitality industry in general has seen a tremendous uptick in market performance improvement, but ongoing worker shortages are stalling efforts to cater to the increased demand for travel, said Mark Holzberg, President and CEO at Cloud5 Communications. Cloud5 is honored to leverage the results of its own impressive growth to provide hotel businesses with the support they need to maximize revenue-earning opportunities.

Cloud5s South Africa location joins the companys five existing centers of operation in New Brunswick, Canada, as well as its contact center headquarters in Toronto. South Africa, long a highly reputed location for business process outsourcing (BPO), was determined to be an ideal fit for this expansion based on its large English-speaking population, multilingual capabilities and pool of available labor. While the first phase of the contact centers footprint expansion will predominately focus on providing general reservation service, ultimately, the facility in South Africa will also augment Cloud5s full range of BPO services including guest and customer relations as well as services provided out of North America such as digital and social media support.

Cloud5s has worked hard to keep pace with hospitalitys need for experienced customer service representatives who know how to deliver guest satisfaction and are trained to increase conversion rates, said Jason Reid, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Cloud5s contact center division. Our new South African contact center is just one of seven that Cloud5 currently operates, and we look forward to opening additional facilities and expanding our service offerings as more hoteliers and other vertical markets look for external voice reservations, customer relations and digital support.

Demonstrating its wide-ranging capacity for handling large call volumes, Cloud5 contact centers are credited with successfully fielding more than 4  million reservation-related calls during over the last year. This figure notably does not include the number of calls received for other Cloud5 contact center offerings, including travel program services, loyalty or customer care support.

About Cloud5 Communications

Cloud5 is the leading communications technology and services provider to customer-centric brands across the Americas. The company's fast, reliable Internet solutions and flexible voice systems enhance the guest experience and resident satisfaction at more than 5,000 hotels, MDUs, and commercial facilities. Cloud5's award-winning Contact Center combines innovation with skilled agents to deliver sales and service that add value across any channel. The company's comprehensive Managed IT services include Vendor Management, Dispatch & Onsite Support, Help Desk Support, Virtual Guest Services and more to help customers control operating costs and free up internal resources. For more information visit cloud5.com or call 877.241.2516.

Mark Howbrook

PR Manager
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AP Dhillon proves Punjabi music can succeed without & beyond Bollywood

By attracting global fans through traditional and social media, AP Dhillon has proven that Punjabi music can break through without Bollywoods help.

by Shankara Srikantan of Chartmetric

An Indo-Canadian Chart-Topping Sensation

AP Dhillon is the Indian diasporas biggest pop star. From announcing his North American Out of this World tour to throwing the first pitch at a recent Blue Jays game, this Brown Munde (brown boy) has broken into the mainstream. AP Dhillons latest single Summer High currently sits atop Apple Musics India Top Tracks list, and is notably the only top 10 song distributed from outside the Indian subcontinent.

Dhillons success is remarkable not only because he lives in Toronto, but because his record label, Run-Up Records, is managed by him and his co-songwriters, Gurinder Gill and Shinda Kahlon. The Indian music market is notoriously dominated by establishment players; an estimated 80% of music revenues flow to Bollywood (music from major motion pictures), whose recordings are primarily distributed by the local majors  T-Series, Sony Music, and Zee Music. Yet todays Punjabi independent artists, like AP Dhillon, are breaking through this stranglehold.

Four Punjabi artists, AP Dhillon, Shubh, Diljit Dosanjh, and the late Sidhu Moose Walla, feature on Apple Musics top 20 tracks in India, an outsized proportion relative to population. Aside from Diljit, who rose independently but recently signed with Warner Music Group, these artists release music through self-owned record labels.

So how did AP Dhillon, this cohorts prince, compete against Bollywood for the Indian music listeners attention and rise to the very top?

The Right Mix of Consistency and Creativity

A number of factors should theoretically make it difficult for AP Dhillon to engage his core Indian audience. He lacks a major label marketing budget, Indias TikTok ban limits opportunities for independent artists to go viral, and he lives across the world from Punjab. But AP Dhillon has overcome these obstacles with regular releases, novel fusion concepts, and community support.

Since his debut single, Fate in 2019, AP Dhillon has released 19 singles and a studio album, driving consistent engagement and growth.

His first several singles featured his Punjabi language melodies over traditional trap and boom-bap instrumentals, but since dabbling with playful 8-bit synth and pop-leaning drums in Mahjail, AP Dhillon has drawn synthwave, R&B, and Bollywood sounds into his instrumentals. His audience has appreciated the experimentation. Dhillons second and third most popular songs, according to Charmetrics engagement score, are dark-pop record Summer High and synthwave track Excuses.

Standing tall above his other releases is the anthem Brown Munde, which has clocked over 600 million views on YouTube, 200k videos on TikTok, and rose to the #1 position on the UK Asian charts. Singable, light-hearted, but heavy hitting, Brown Munde became an internet sensation, with celebrities from actor Ranveer Singh to One Directions Louis Tomlinson sharing the track. The official music video features cameos from fellow Punjabi stars Nav, Sidhu Moose Walla, and others. Such support from the Punjabi music community has been essential to AP Dhillons success.

A Brief History of Punjabi Diaspora Music

Punjabis began immigrating to the English speaking world as early as the late 19th century, with thousands living in North America by the early 1900s. Over the years, they formed vibrant communities in California, Canada, and the United Kingdom, creating art that reflected the confluence of Punjabi and Western cultures.

In 2002, British-Indian artist Panjabi MC independently released the superhit Mundian To Bach Ke, which sold over 10 million records worldwide and had Jay-Z cashing in on bhangras popularity with a remix that has played at every Indian wedding since. Even before that, British-Punjabi MC Apache Indians reggae-bhangra fusion was well-known in the UKs underground dancehall scene and his single Boom Shack-A-Lack played over the opening credits of the Jim Carrey movie Dumb and Dumber.

Today, there are Punjabi communities, millions strong, in the West that serve as early curators of media, which filters down to Indian audiences through Instagram, YouTube, and playlists.

AP Dhillons TikTok fan distribution, for instance, reflects his popularity among a young Desi diaspora that is culturally similar across nations.

Note: Tiktok is banned in India.

Independent Indian Music is Small but Growing

Despite a deep musical tradition tracing thousands of years across various folk, classical, and contemporary genres and a population of 1.4 billion citizens growing rapidly richer, the Indian music market is only the 14th largest in the world. The Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations suggests a number of reasons for this surprisingly low number including high rates of piracy, poor payment infrastructure, and a large and difficult to estimate informal music sector of folk and classical music, and the stifling of independent music by Bollywood.

Spotifys major Indian playlists reflect Bollywoods domination of what music doesmake money. Nearly 50% of the popular Hot Hits Tamil playlist is controlled by Sony Music, and a similar proportion of the Hot Hits Hindi playlist by T-Series, both labels holding distribution deals with the cinema industry. Punjabi music, on the other hand, is starkly more independent.

From left to right: Punjabi 101, Hot Hits Tamil, and Hot Hits Hindi.

Despite independent music comprising a small share of Indian commercial music, some evidence suggests that the audience is growing. Over the last two years, Spotifys mostly Hindi Indie India playlist has outpaced the growth of the Bollywood dominated Hot Hits Hindi playlist. Similarly, Spotifys Tamil Indie playlist is growing faster than Hot Hits Tamil, which focuses on new Kollywood (Tamil Nadus cinema industry) releases. Kannada Indie lags behind their respective cinema playlist Latest Kannada, but both playlists have fewer than 50,000 followers at the time of writing.

Analysis done using data pulled from Chartmetric.com.

While Hindi, Tamil, and other Indian-language independent music continues to struggle to break into the mainstream, growth rates are healthy. In the future, we should see a burgeoning global Indian indie scene, propelled by fans around the world. Yet, we must be patient. It took decades of Punjabi artists flirting with global fame before AP Dhillon could break out without Bollywoods help. He is proof that young Indian musicians can take ownership of their music and attract fans through a combination of traditional and social media. We can expect others to follow suit.

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Will the Copyright Royalty Board approve Big Techs attempted cover-up? [Chris Castle]

Chris Castle gives his insights on the Copyright Royalty Boards recent frozen mechanicals proceedings with Google.

Op-Ed by CHRIS CASTLE of Music Technology Policy

Theres an old saying among sailors that water always wins. Sunlight does, too. It may take a while, but time reveals all things in the cold light of dawn. So when you are free riding on huge blocks of aged government cheese like the digital music services do with the compulsory mechanical license, the question you should ask yourself is why hide from the sunlight? It just makes songwriters even more suspicious.

This melodrama just played out at the Copyright Royalty Board with the frozen mechanicals proceeding. Right on cue, the digital services and their legions of lawyers proved they hadnt learned a damn thing from that exercise. They turned right around and tried to jam a secret deal through the Copyright Royalty Board on the streaming mechanicals piece of Phonorecords IV.

To their great credit, the labels handled frozen physical mechanicals quite differently. They voluntarily disclosed the side deal they made with virtually no redactions and certainly didnt try to file it under seal like the services did. Filing under seal hides the major moving parts of a voluntary settlement from the worlds songwriters. Songwriters, of course, are the ones most affected by the settlementwhich the services want the CRB to approvesome might say rubber stampand make law.

To fully appreciate the absolute lunacy of the services attempt at filing the purported settlement document under seal, you have to remember that the Copyright Royalty Judges spilled considerable ink in the frozen mechanicals piece of Phonorecords IV telling those participants how important transparency was when they rejected the initial Subpart B settlement.

This happened mere weeks ago in the SAME PHONORECORDS IV PROCEEDING.

Were the services expecting the Judges to say Just kidding? What in the world were they thinking? Realize that filing the settlementwhich IF ACCEPTED is then published by the Judges for public comment under the applicable rules established long ago by Congressis quite different than filing confidential commercial information. You might expect redactions or filings under seal, attorneys eyes only, etc., in direct written statements, expert testimony or the other reams of paper all designed to help the Judges guess what rate a willing buyer would pay a willing seller. That rate to be applied to the world under a compulsory license which precludes willing buyers and willing sellers, thank you Franz Kafka.

When you file the settlement, that document is the end product of all those tens of millions of dollars in legal fees that buy houses in the Hamptons and Marthas Vinyard as well as send children to prep school, college and graduate school. Not the songwriters children, mind you, oh no.

The final settlement is, in fact, the one document that should NEVER be redacted or secret. How else will the publicwho may not get a vote but does get their sayeven know what it is the law is based on assuming the Judges approve the otherwise secret deal. Its asking the Judges to tell the public, the Copyright Office, their colleagues in the appeals courts and ultimately the Congress, sorry, our version of the law is based on secret information.

Does that even scan? I mean, seriously, what kind of buffoons come up with this stuff? Of course the Judges will question the bona fides and provenance of the settlement. Do you think any other federal agency could get away with actually doing this? The lawlessness of the very idea is breathtaking and demonstrates conclusively in my view that these services like Google are the most dangerous corporations in the world. The one thing that gives solace after this display of arrogance is that some of them may get broken up before they render too many mechanical royalty accounting statements.

To their credit, after receiving the very thin initial filing the Judges instructed the services to do betterto be kind. The Judges issued an order that stated:

The Judges now ORDER the Settling Parties to certify, no later than five days from the date of this order, that the Motion and the Proposed Regulations annexed to the Motion represent the full agreement of the Settling Parties, i.e., that there are no other related agrements and no other clauses. If such other agreements or clauses exist, the Settling Parties shall file them no later than five days from the date of this order.

Just a tip to any younger lawyers reading this postyou really, really, really do not want to be on the receiving end of this kind of order.

Reading between the lines (and not very far) the Judges are telling the parties to come clean. Either certify to the Judges that there are no other related agreements and no other clauses or produce them. This use of the term certify means all the lawyers promise to the Judges as officers of the court that their clients have come clean, or alternatively file the actual documents.

That produced the absurd filing under seal, and that then produced the blowback that led to the filing of the unsealed and unreacted documents. Butwait, theres more.

Take a close look at what the Judges asked for and what they received. The Judges asked for certification that there are no other related agrements and no other clauses. If such other agreements or clauses exist, the Settling Parties shall file them no later than five days from the date of this order.

What the Judges received is described in the purportedly responsive filing by the services:

The Settling Participants [aka the insiders] have provided all of the settlement documentsand, with this public filing, every interested party can fully evaluate and comment upon the settlement. The Settling Participants thus believe that the Judges have everything necessary to publish the settlement in the Federal Register for notice and comment from those bound by the terms, rates, or other determination set by the Settlement Agreement, as required under 37 C.F.R. 351.2(b)(2). The Settling Participants respectfully request that the Judges inform them if there is any further information that they require.

Notice that the Judges asked for evidence of the full agreement of the Settling Parties, meaning all side deals or other vigorish exchanged between the parties including the DSPs that control vast riches larger than most countries and are super-conflicted with the publishers due to their joint venture investment in the MLC quango.

The response is limited to the settlement documents and then cites to what the services no doubt think they can argue limits their disclosure obligations to what is necessary to publish the settlement. And then the services have the brass to add The Settling Participants respectfully request that the Judges inform them if there is any further information that they require. Just how are the Judges supposed to know if the services complied with the order? Is this candor?

It must also be noted that Google and the NMPA have lodged certain documents relating to YouTubes direct agreements which they claim are not related to the settlement to be published for public comment. These documents are, of course, secret:

[And] are not part of the settlement agreement or understanding of the settling participants concerning the subject matter of the settlement agreement, and do not supersede any part of the settlement agreement with respect to the settling participants proposed Phonorecords IV rates and terms. Further, the letter agreements do not change or modify application of the terms to be codified at 37 C.F.R. 385 Subparts C and D, including as they apply to any participant. Rather, the letter agreements simply concern Googles current allocation practices to avoid the double payment of royalties arising from YouTubes having entered into direct agreements with certain music publishers while simultaneously operating under the Section 115 statutory license.

Youll note that there are a number of declarative statements that lets the hoi polloi know that the Data Lords and Kings of the Internet Realms have determined some information involving their royalties is none of their concern. How do you know that you shouldnt worry your pretty little head about some things? Because the Data Lords tell you so. And now, back to sleep you Epsilons.

So you see that despite the statements in the group filing to the CRB that the Settling Participants (i.e., the insiders) claim to have provided all of the settlement documents required by the Judges, Google turns right around and lodges this separate filing of still other documents that they think might be related documents with some bearing on the settlement that should be disclosed to the public but they apparently will not be disclosing without a fight. How do we know this? Because they pretty much say so:

Because the letter agreements are subject to confidentiality restrictions and have each only been disclosed to their individual signatories, each such music publisher having an extant direct license agreement with Google, Google and NMPA are lodging the letter agreements directly with the Copyright Royalty Judges, who may then make a determination as to whether the letter agreements are relevant and what, if anything, should be disclosed notwithstanding the confidentiality restrictions in each of the letter agreements.

Ah yes, the old nondisclosure clause. You couldnt ask for a better example of how NDAs are used to hide information from songwriters about their own money.

The Judges noted when rejecting the similar initial frozen mechanical regulations that:

Parties have an undeniable right of contract. The Judges, however, are not required to adopt the terms of any contract, particularly when the contract at issue relates in part, albeit by reference, to additional unknown terms that indicate additional unrevealed consideration passing between the parties, which consideration might have an impact on effective royalty rates.

So theres that.

What this all boils down to is that the richest and most dangerous corporations in commercial history are accustomed to algorithmically duping consumers, vendors and even governments in the dark and getting away with it. The question is, if you believe that sunlight always wins, do they still want to hide as long as they can and then look stupid, or do they want to come clean to begin with and be honest brokers.

As Willie Stark famously said in All the Kings Men, Time reveals all things, I trust it so.

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Officers Kelly Wisnowski, Sgt. Preston Kelly, Chief Jason Wood, Matthew Meranti and Alon Willing, and James Holmes and Lt. Anthony Beverly.

North Adams Officers Recognized With Governor's Office Citation

James Holmes makes the presentations on Tuesday with Mayor Jennifer Macksey and Police Chief Jason Wood.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  A half-dozen police officers were recognized on Tuesday night with citations from Gov. Charlie Baker.

The presentation at the City Council meeting was done at the initiation of James Holmes, a retired teacher and former School Committee member.

Holmes had invited the Police Department to become involved in the public school forensic course he taught, among several other collaborations.

"In my 20 years of teaching, I thought it was important to students and their families, that the Police Department interact with them and get to know them on a basis other than a police call," he told the council. "I worked hand in hand with many of these officers on many different occasions."

The officers had done an internet safety program, attended dances, visited classrooms to read Dr. Suess books and started the Running With the Law program.

"Students came out on Saturdays and spent an hour running around downtown with the officers," Holmes said. "The only requirement they had to do is the students had to speak to everybody that they ran by. And they did."

The science teacher, who also ran with them, said they spoke to everyone and visited places like the banks and Big Y Supermarket to sing carols during the Christmas season.

"I went along because I enjoyed it as much as they did," he said.

The run also became a road race with officers raising about $4,800 to donate to PopCares, a local cancer charity.

The officers helped with the science fair as judges as well as working with the kids on their projects and came in once a week to work with the forensic program.

"They never said anything except 'what do you want us to do next week?'" said Holmes, adding much of this was on their own time.

Then this past July, Orella Loretta Robare was given a police escort to City Hall to mark her 100th birthday and danced with several of the officers.

"These officers so kind-heartedly came down to dance with her and spend a little time with her," said Holmes. "And that means the world to me. So I called the governor's office and I explained every single thing that they did."

Holmes, Mayor Jennifer Macksey and Police Chief Jason Wood presented the citations to Lt. Anthony Beverly, Sgt. Preston Kelly and Officers Matthew Meranti, Kelly Wisnowski and Alon Willing. Also recognized were Officers Brad Vivori and Stephanie Mirante, who were unable to attend the meeting.

"They keep us safe, they keep the city running in the right direction," said Holmes. "They are a very important bunch of people in our city and I thank them for their service again.

In other business during the brief meeting, the council unanimously (with Councilor Marie T. Harpin participating remotely) approved the replacement of two electrical poles by National Grid.

Electric company representative Michael Tatro said the first was at 966 State Road to accommodate a change in service by a resident and the second on Lincoln Street will handle a junction box for Big Y to install electric car chargers.

Tatro said, in response to comments during open microphone, that National Grid always asks permission before installing any poles or guide wires on public or private property. He also clarified that the electric company installs poles but that Verizon removes them. That's why there are sometimes double poles -- the phone company has to move its own wires.

Kelsey St. Pierre and Edward LaCosse were approved to drive a taxi for OTT Taxi.

The general election was set for Tuesday, Nov. 8.
McCann MCAS Scores Keep Pace with Pre-pandemic Numbers

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  After two years of remote and hybrid learning, Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System tests at McCann Technical School have kept up with pre-pandemic numbers.

Ninety-four percent of students at McCann are either partially or fully meeting expectations in mathematics and English language arts. For science, technology and engineering, 88 percent of students fully or partly met expectations.

"The bottom line is, our kids are passing the MCAS at a higher rate than the state average," said Principal Justin Kratz. "We'd love to see a little bit more of a bump up in the exceeding expectation categories."

The total enrollment at the school, Kratz said, has also increased to 538 students, 15 more than last year.

As part of discussing MCAS, Kratz also mentioned the school improvement plan. Major goals include reducing achievement gaps, preparing for standards-based grading and participating in a community service project.

Another goal of the improvement plan, the principal said, is to increase school spirit among students. He said the goal was actually something suggested by the students, especially after the pandemic.

"Kids are really proud to come to McCann, kids are really proud to graduate from McCann, to be alumni," he said. "The school spirit stuff like the pep rallies, getting fired up at sporting events is something that we've traditionally sort of not always excelled at. And so we want to try and find ways to increase that."

In other business, Kratz updated the committee on an upcoming visit from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. The organization, which gives the school accreditation, will conduct its decennial visit from Oct. 31 to Nov. 3 to evaluate the school.

"Over the last 18 months, The faculty has been preparing the self-study report of what we do here at McCann. It ended up being a whopping 184 pages, so it's a lot of time, a lot of energy spent by the faculty," Kratz said.

Superintendent James Brosnan said he appreciates the work Kratz and others put into the preparation for NEASC's visit.

"It's quite the adventure, but it's something that all schools do. And I think to Justin's point, we use this as the barometer of how are we doing from a peer review, and then we can continue on from there with the recommendations," he said.
Two CNN reporters, Anna Coren and Daniel Hodge, were deported from Thailand on October 10 for visa violations after their coverage of a mass shooting at a preschool centre in Nong Bua Lamphu province was strongly condemned by the nations media community. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) urges all journalists and media workers to respect global standards of ethical reporting in the field.

At least 37 people, including 23 children, were killed at the preschool when a former police officer opened fire and stabbed victims at noon on October 6. The motive behind the attack is unknown.

According to deputy national police chief, Surachate Hakparn, the journalists believed they had received authorisation to enter and film the crime scene after being waved into the building by three public health officials.

While police found the journalists had not intended to trespass, they were each fined 5,000 baht (approx. USD 133) for working on tourist visas and deported, Surachate said.

CNN Internationals executive vice president and general manager, Mike McCarthy, said the reporters entered the building in good faith to gain a fuller impression of what transpired inside and to humanise the scale of the tragedy for their audience."

Both journalists have since apologised to the families of the victims and the people of Thailand in a video statement, with CNN pulling the story shortly after it aired.

The conduct of the two journalists was condemned by the Thai Journalists Association (TJA) and the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT). In a statement, the FCCT said the journalists actions were unprofessional and a serious breach of journalistic ethics in crime reporting.

The IFJ launched its revised Global Charter of Ethics for Journalists at the 30th IFJ World Congress in 2019. Find it here.

The IFJ said: The IFJ urges all journalists to ensure they adhere to ethical standards in crime reporting and uphold a professional and considerate code of conduct in the field. It is in times of tragedy and suffering that the professionalism of journalists is most acutely needed.
In a world increasingly rife with available data, arguably no field has gained more popularity in the last few years than data science. Businesses want data scientists because they turn confusing numbers and data into concrete, actionable insights essential for business strategy. In fact, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts data science will see more growth than any other field between now and 2029. The utilitarian nature of data science makes it easy to guess that the fields growth will be a worldwide phenomenon.

The rise of the data science field is why FEU Tech, the tech-focused campus run by the Far Eastern University Group of Schools, aims to turn the Philippines into the data science capital of the Asia-Pacific.

Shaping students to lead tomorrow

The Asia-Pacific is one of the fastest-growing markets for data science. One survey performed by global marketing intelligence firm IDC found that 3 in 4 enterprises in the Asia-Pacific in 2021 choose to keep investments in big data analytics (BDA) solutions or even expand, despite the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Its worth noting the top ten industries responsible for big investments in data: banking and securities, communications, healthcare, manufacturing, government, insurance, retail, transportation, energy, and education round out the list. All of these industries anticipate a need to analyze data to craft new business solutions in the future.

The Philippines is no exception to the data science boom. In fact, the problem is that although there is demand for data analysts throughout the country the supply may not be enough. According to a paper released by the Philippine Institute for Developing Studies not enough graduates from local schools have the skills needed for data science and analytics.

FEU Tech looks to solve the countrys data scientist shortage by offering a comprehensive Bachelor of Science in Computer Science degree with a specialization in Data Science. Not only will the program teach students to create complex software and programming, but the focus on data science will make sure students have a solid foundation in mathematics, statistics, and domain expertise. Graduates of the program should be able to understand and glean insights from any data set, turning them into data-driven decision-makers.

It isnt just that we want to help our students find work after they graduate, explained Senior Director for Computer Studies Rossana T. Adao. We want our graduates to drive high-value work, to have careers where theyll play a key role in shaping the world of tomorrow. Theres no better way to accomplish that than to prepare them for a career in data science.

Competing on the world stage

One of the schools main priorities is to make sure graduates can compete on a global stage.

Recently, the FEU Tech campus was recognized in the latest rankings of the WURI (Worlds Universities with Real Impact) Top Global Innovative Universities for 2022. The rankings compared global universities by measuring a universitys contributions to society and innovative approaches to education. FEU Tech ranked alongside universities like MIT, Stanford, and Harvard and placed in four major categories: #19 in Progress during the Fourth Industrial Revolution, #30 in Entrepreneurial Spirit, #37 in Crisis Management, and #44 in Student Mobility and Openness.

FEU Techs WURI rankings are a testament to the institutions capacity to craft relevant degree programs that prepare students for the world of tomorrow. The rankings also take into account FEU Techs other programs like BS Information Technology with specialization in Innovation and Business and BS Information Technology with specialization in Business Analytics.

Our position in the WURI rankings is crucial in helping our data science graduates be the best in the Asia-Pacific, said FEU Tech Senior Executive Director Dr. Benson Tan. With a bit of hard work and perseverance, we can turn the Philippines into the data science capital of the region.

To that end, FEU Tech commits itself to ensuring that its students will be ready to take on roles as data scientists. By supporting students taking undergraduate programs like Computer Science and Information Technology, the institution guarantees its future graduates will help fulfill future demand for data scientists.

Overall, FEU Tech hopes to kickstart a movement encouraging young Filipinos to explore opportunities in data science. While there is still a lot of work to do to ensure that the supply of data scientists in the country meets the demand, FEU Techs initiatives take the nation a step closer there every day.

We believe that Filipinos can accomplish amazing things given the proper support and initiative, concluded Dr. Tan. Im excited to see the world where Filipino data scientists are leading the way into the future.
Consistent efforts are being made to expand the usage of Indias digital payment systems globally to enable seamless cross-border transactions as well as empower Indian tourists abroad. NIPL (NPCI International Payments Limited), which deploys the RuPay and UPI payment systems outside India, is forging partnerships with countries like Singapore, UAE, Malaysia, France etc. to use Indias payment systems. The latest entrant in the list is the BENELUX markets  Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg  and Switzerland.

India has been making significant strides in expanding the network of its digital payment systems like RuPay, UPI (Unified Payments Interface), etc. globally, with Europe being the latest region to accept Indias payment systems. Other countries that have embraced different forms of Indian payment systems include France, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Singapore, Maldives, Bhutan, and Oman. This implies that Indians will now be able to make payments through UPI, RuPay etc. in these countries.

These global partnerships have come through as NIPL (NPCI International Payments Limited) has been forging partnerships with different countries to build a huge acceptance network for RuPay and UPI, which will allow Indian travelers to make payments via these channels in their destination country of travel.

NIPL was incorporated in April 2020 as a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), devoted for deployment of RuPay and UPI outside of India.

Global adoption of UPI: Partners reaching agreement with NIPL

Recent developments  acceptance of Indias UPI in different markets

Nepal

Nepal became the first foreign country to deploy UPI as a payment platform. NIPL partnered Gateway Payments Service (GPS), an authorised payment system operator in Nepal, and Bengaluru-based Manam Infotech. UPI will be deployed in Nepal as a digital public benefit to bolster interoperable real-time person-to-person (P2P) and to-merchant (P2M) payment transactions.

Bhutan

Bhutan has become the first country to adopt Indias UPI standards for its quick response (QR) code. It is also the second country after Singapore to have BHIM-UPI acceptance at merchant locations. On July 13, 2021, UPI was made available to the Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan. BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) is Indias digital payment application that works through UPI, a system that powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application.

Europe

NIPL has entered into a partnership with European payment services facilitator Worldline, with the intention of expanding acceptance of Indian payment channels across Europe. Under the partnership, Worldlines QR code-based mechanism will allow merchants Point-of-Sale (PoS) systems in Europe to accept UPI payments from Indians using their mobile phones.

At a later stage, the Indian customers will also be able to use their RuPay debit or credit cards to make payments in Europe.

Apart from enabling Indians to travel hassle-free and enjoy seamless payments infrastructure, this step will also augment the customer-related benefits available to European merchants due to an increase in footfall and spending from Indian tourists.

In its press release, NIPL stated that it will target markets such as BENELUX  Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg  and Switzerland. It will expand further with the roll-out of Worldline QR in more European countries.

UK

To further strengthen its cross-border payment solutions, TerraPay, a leading global payments infrastructure group announced its partnership with NIPL on September 22, 2022. This partnership intends to enable Indian customers and merchants in India with an active UPI ID to make and accept cross-border payments seamlessly by leveraging TerraPays agile infrastructure and the UPI network.

Oman

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between Central Bank of Oman (CBO) and NIPL in October 2022 will enable Indian RuPay cards and the UPI platform in Oman to facilitate seamless digital remittances, which will benefit Indian workers and professionals.

According to the Indian Embassy in Oman, there are about 624,000 Indians in Oman, of which about 483,901 are workers and professionals as of May 2021.

France

France-based payment services provider Lyra Network signed an agreement with the NIPL, allowing students and tourists to make payments through UPI.

UAE

NIPL has partnered with LuLu Financial Holding, Mashreq Bank, and Network International in UAE to enable UPI payments. On April 21, 2022, UPI was launched in the country through Mashreqs NeoPay.

Singapore

In July 2022, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) signed an agreement with the Monetary Authority of Singapore to implement interoperability between UPI and PayNow. The UPI-PayNow linkage will enable users of each of the two fast payment systems to make instant, low-cost fund transfers on a reciprocal basis without a need to get onboarded onto the other payment system.

PayNow is the fast payment system of Singapore, which enables peer-to-peer funds transfer service, available to retail customers through participating banks and Non-Bank Financial Institutions (NFIs) in the country. It enables users to send and receive instant funds from one bank or e-wallet account to another in Singapore by using just their mobile number, Singapore NRIC/FIN, or VPA.

Malaysia

In 2021, Malaysias Merchantrade Asia, collaborated with NIPL, to allow sending remittances through UPI to India.

Indias digital payment systems: UPI accounts for major chunk of transactions

Meanwhile, the UPIs popularity in India has been expanding ever since its launch in 2016. As per a recent report by Worldline titled India Digital Payments Report, India saw 20.57 billion online transactions worth INR 36.08 trillion in the second quarter of financial year (FY) 2022. The countrys online transactions were processed through debit and credit cards, prepaid payment instruments like mobile wallets and prepaid cards, and UPI which includes P2M (person to merchant) and P2P (person to person) transactions.

The report stated that UPI P2P accounted for 49 percent in volume and 67 percent in value but in terms of merchants transactions, UPI P2M emerged as the preferred payment mode with a market share of 34 percent in volume and 17 per cent in terms of value.

According to the NPCI data, the number of UPI transactions increased by over three percent to 6.78 billion in September 2022 from 6.57 billion in August 2022.

In September 2022, UPI recorded a new all-time high in transaction volume, totaling INR 11.16 trillion.
Family members of Faisal Basheer, have urged the Pakistan government to speak with the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) for his release. Last week, the BLA had said that it wants to swap the two kidnapped officials, JCO Kaleem Ullah and military intelligence officer Mohammad Faisal, with Baloch political prisoners but there was no reaction from the Pakistan government.

The Balochistan Port reports that intelligence officer Faisal Basheers family took to the streets in their native hometown of Pattoki, Punjab, and demanded that the state would negotiate with BLA for his release.

In a daring operation, the BLA had captured JCO Kaleem Ullah and military intelligence officer Mohammad Faisal in Harnai, Balochistan, on September 25 and also shot down a Pakistani helicopter gunship.

Neither the Pakistan government headed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif nor the Pakistani army have commented on the abduction of the two officers or about negotiations with the BLA. Pakistans Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) issued a press statement about the helicopter crash and the death of its six personnel but did not comment on how it crashed. It also did not issue a statement on the abduction of two of its personnel by the Baloch separatist group.

In a press release, Jeeyand Baloch, Spokesperson for the BLA threatened to deliver immediate sentence to both detainees awarded by the Baloch national court, if the Pakistani forces tried to show any aggression towards the rebel group. The statement also said that the BLA has spared the lives of the two men in keeping with international standards of human rights.

The BLA has also interrogated the two army men. In another statement the rebel group said: Both enemy personnel are going through the interrogation process under BLAs custody. After investigation they will be produced before the Baloch national court, which will decide their fate. The courts decision will be communicated to the media too.

This is the second time in recent months that Baloch separatists have captured Pakistani army personnel. In a previous incident in July this year, the BLA had kidnapped Lt. Col. Laiq Baig Mirza along with his cousin while he was travelling from Ziarat to Quetta. He was later found dead while his cousins body was discovered in a different place. In revenge, the Pakistani establishment killed a number of Baloch people in custodypeople who had been illegally kidnapped earlier and kept in unlawful detention.
According to a recent study published in Polymers, microplastics have been found for the first time in human breast milk.

The researchers expressed concern about possible infant health consequences despite the need for more research.

"The proof of microplastics' presence in breast milk increases our great concern for the extremely vulnerable population of infants," Valentina Notarstefano, Ph.D., one of the study authors at the Universita Politecnica Della Marche in Italy, told The Guardian.

Unsplash

"It will be crucial to assess ways to reduce exposure to these contaminants during pregnancy and lactation," she said.



"But it must be stressed that the advantages of breastfeeding are much greater than the disadvantages caused by the presence of polluting microplastics."

The research team analyzed 34 healthy moms' breast milk samples collected a week after delivery in Rome. 76% of the models, or 26, contained microplastics.

istock

The researchers recorded how much food and drink the mothers consumed that used plastic packaging and their use of personal hygiene products with plastic.



But they found no link with the presence of microplastics in breast milk, which suggests that the widespread presence of microplastics in the environment "makes human exposure inevitable," the study authors wrote.

The Guardian reported that the research team also found microplastics in human placentas in 2020. Other studies have found microplastics in human blood, cow's milk, and polypropylene bottles often used to bottle-feed babies.

The toxic effects of microplastics on human cell lines, laboratory animals, and marine species have been shown in earlier studies, but how they impact actual people is still unclear.

Unsplash/Representational Image

According to the most recent study, microplastics comprise plastic packaging materials like polyethylene, polypropylene, and polyvinyl chloride. As per the study, even smaller plastic particles were likely present in the breast milk, despite their inability to examine particles smaller than 2 microns.

The research team could not pinpoint the risk variables connected to breast milk microplastics.

However, Notarstefano cautioned expectant mothers to be aware of the foods and beverages they consume that come in plastic wrap and the clothing and cosmetics they use that contain microplastics.

"Studies like ours must not reduce the breastfeeding of children, but instead, raise public awareness to pressure politicians to promote laws that reduce pollution," she said.

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China Development Bank offers loan support for specialized, sophisticated SMEs

Xinhua) 16:16, October 12, 2022

BEIJING, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- China Development Bank (CDB), one of the country's policy banks, has provided financial support for specialized and sophisticated small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

A total of 13.1 billion yuan (about 1.84 billion U.S. dollars) in loans was granted in the first three quarters of 2022, providing support for the high-quality development of 115 specialized and sophisticated SMEs that produce novel and unique products.

CDB has established a work plan for special loans and supporting policies to comprehensively improve the level and capacity of refined financial services.

The bank has also rolled out preferential policies for specialized and sophisticated SMEs that produce novel and unique products to further lower their financing costs.

(Web editor: Cai Hairuo, Hongyu)
A 20-year-old Indian-origin student was mercilessly killed in his dormitory in the US state of Indiana. According to media reports, his Korean roommate was taken into custody following his death.



Korean student who allegedly killed his Indian-origin roommate in their dorm at the renowned Purdue University said "very sorry" for the death of his friend but alleged he had been "blackmailed."

Last Wednesday, the body of Indianapolis native Varun Manish Chheda, 20, was discovered in McCutcheon Hall on the western edge of the campus.

A junior cybersecurity major from Korea named Ji Min "Jimmy" Sha was arrested for the homicide.

Sha, 22, made his first court appearance before Tippecanoe County Magistrate Sarah Wyatt on Friday after being arrested on accusations of fatally stabbing Chheda.

"I was blackmailed," the suspect said when asked about a motive for the crime. He did not elaborate, as WLFI, a television station in Indiana, reported.

Twitter

When asked if he had anything to say to the victims family, Sha replied: "I am very sorry."



Last week, Sha appeared to mutter, "I love my family," as he was hauled to jail for allegedly killing Chheda, a senior data science major who the Tippecanoe County coroner said died of "multiple sharp-force traumatic injuries."

At around 12:45 a.m. on Wednesday, Sha called the police to report that he had fatally stabbed his roommate in their McCutcheon Hall room.

According to the outlet, police discovered Chheda sitting in a chair and Sha covered in what seemed to be blood. A pool of blood, a folding knife, and what appeared to be blood splatters on the wall and floor were also visible.

The suspect allegedly admitted that the knife was his and that he had used it to kill his roommate.

Chhedas friends had said they had been gaming with the victim when they suddenly heard him screaming.

Indiana police described the crime as an "unprovoked and senseless" murder.

(With PTI inputs)

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Microsofts latest Azure announcements echo Intels recent focus on the developer cloud. At this years Ignite, Microsoft is describing Azures growing range of developer-centric tools as its own developer cloud, with a focus on building cloud-native applications that reach from GitHub to Visual Studio and out onto the Azure platform.

A key part of Microsofts developer cloud is Azures role as a flexible infrastructure, not only for deployment but also as an isolated, configurable development platform that can be delivered with minimal administration. Giving developers a sandboxed, self-service platform for code and test within practical constraints is a big change in how we both fund and manage application developmentan opportunity to accelerate application development by removing the wait for infrastructure.

How developers are using Microsoft Dev Box

In May 2022 at Build, Microsoft announced its Microsoft Dev Box environment. Building on the commercial Windows 365 cloud PC platform, Dev Box uses cloud resources to host complete development environments that be accessed from any device anywhere. In advance of Ignite, I talked to Anthony Cangialosi, group program manager in Azures developer division, about Dev Box and its role in the growing Azure developer cloud.

Theres a lot of value in Dev Box, especially for regulated industries that have strict rules about application development. Cangialosi notes that the current pilot has seen a lot of interest from banks and other financial institutions that need a clear demarcation between code and other work, and even between code developed for different parts of the business. Using Dev Box, its possible to give each project its own environment, using Azure Active Directorys role-based access control to lock down access to the development space, APIs, and service endpoints, using a managed virtual network in Azure along with on-premises Git or other source control instances.

That same approach helps organizations manage contingent staff, consultants, vendors, and contractors by giving them controlled access to resources without exposing their machines to corporate networks or Azure accounts. All you need to do is set up an Azure AD account with access to the appropriate resources.

Using Git repositories along with preconfigured development environments helps support some of the more complex use cases Microsoft is seeing, including one bank that completely resets all developer environments every couple of months. Now, instead of losing days while developers rebuild their toolchains from scratch, you can quickly pull a fresh Dev Box image from either Microsofts library or your own, reconnect to Git, and start coding. If you need more power, simply scale up the host VM; if you need less, scale down.

New Visual Studio Dev Box images

The original preview release of Microsoft Dev Box was obviously derived from the Windows 365 product and offered only Windows 10 and 11 images that had the option of the Microsoft 365 productivity tools. Although you could use your own licenses to build custom images stored in your own gallery, the lack of Visual Studiobased images was a big gap in the platform. Microsoft has now quietly released a set through its Azure Marketplace, not as part of the default library of Dev Box images.

These are Gen 2 VM images, again based on Windows 10 and 11, with a choice of Visual Studio 2019 or Visual Studio 2022. Perhaps more interesting, theyre preloaded with a reasonably comprehensive toolchain, at least for the Microsoft Windows and Azure ecosystems. This includes Visual Studio Code, Git for Windows, Windows Terminal, and the Azure CLI. Youll still need to bring your own Microsoft 365 licenses, as well as any Visual Studio subscriptions.

As these images support both Hyper-V and Windows Developer mode, you should be able to use them for more than Windows and Azure development. Azures support for nested hypervisors will allow you to run both the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) and the Windows Subsystem for Android inside Dev Box VMs. Developers using these new VM images will be able to work with them for both cloud-native development, building containers in WSL for use on Azures various Kubernetes implementations, and for cross-platform application development, using .NET MAUI to target Android as well as Windows.

Building code is only one part of the developer experience. Toolchains now extend beyond development devices into CI/CD systems and deployment environments. Its always been hard to build an effective test environment that mirrors the final deployment platform, with budgets often preventing purchase of the appropriate hardware. However, Azure makes it easier to programmatically deploy virtual infrastructures as needed.

Production-scale cloud infrastructures

The new Azure Deployment Environments go a long way to simplifying managing and delivering development environments, offering a managed service that works alongside your existing development platform, another endpoint for a CI/CD pipeline. At the heart of the platform is a way to deliver template-based environments from either a portal or a CLI.

The idea of infrastructure as code is at the heart of most devops best practices, as it allows teams to treat virtual infrastructures as idempotent elements of builds and deployments. Each fresh deployment comes with its own infrastructure, integrating with platform services such as data and storage. Its an approach that ensures infrastructure governance is baked into each deployment, with security tools and services already in place.

Bringing this model to Azure Deployment Environments allows developers to spin up an environment when they want to test some code, with different instances for different sets of features. The process can be automated as part of a CI/CD action. Theres even the opportunity for ad-hoc deployments: If you need to test some code on a VM that connects to an Azure service, simply pick an appropriate template from your organizations library and connect it to Visual Studios or Visual Studio Codes remote development tool.

Infrastructure as code, for code

Currently, templates are built using the familiar ARM model, though there are plans to add support for Terraform and Bicep in future releases. By using a template language, you can take advantage of familiar tools, with code in repositories and managed via Git or similar processes. With a central repository of templates, youre able to give different teams different environments as well as to apply access control rules to manage deployment rights.

Its interesting to note that both Dev Box and Deployment Environments are, at heart, governance tools. They allow architects, development leads, and operations teams to set guidelines and rules that help cement security best practices along with regulatory compliance. By providing environments that are already compliant, theres no need for developers to spend time concentrating on those requirements; they can get straight to the code.

Theres even scope for developers to build their own environments outside of the Azure Deployment Environments tool, and when theyre ready, developers can share them with operations and architects to be refined and added to the gallery of approved architectures. The process needs to be iterative and collaborative, with any deployment environments seen as the product of teamwork rather than an edict.

Using Azure as a developer cloud makes a lot of sense. Organizations get both the control and the elasticity they need, and at the same time, they remove drudgery and delay, delivering environments in minutes and hours that may have taken days or weeks in the past. As Cangialosi says, You are a new developer in a new space at different points in your career, even when you dont leave your current job. Anything that helps get over Day One issues and lets you get coding has to be a win.
Sanjeve Prakasam, underwriter at Liberty GTS, is based in Singapore, Prior to joining the company, Prakasam was a corporate lawyer in two major law firms in Malaysia, where he advised on various corporate matters in relation to mergers and acquisitions, equity capital markets, corporate restructuring, and various other legal aspects of corporate and commercial transactions.

Alexandra Culas, underwriter at Liberty GTS, is based in Sydney. Prior to joining Liberty GTS, Culas worked as a corporate associate for six years at several law firms, gaining experience in working on large corporate and M&A transactions, with a focus on private equity and private M&A.

Our Asia-Pacific office continues to go from strength to strength and the expansion of our team will be hugely beneficial to our clients, said William Lewis, head of Asia-Pacific for Liberty GTS. With the addition of Damian, Sanjeve and Alexandra to our team, we have one of the largest M&A underwriting teams in Asia Pacific. They all bring with them significant M&A underwriting experience and will be a fantastic addition to the team as we continue to expand our business across the region to help protect our customers from the complex risks they face in todays M&A market.
Mentorship has really helped me to figure myself out and tap into my full potential. It really made me strong, resilient, and made me believe that I am enough and that I am OK as I am, including my strength, my weaknesses, my imperfections and my insecurities, she said.

And so, thanks to my mentors, I have learned to accept all of me while challenging myself to grow in ways that are super uncomfortable. And they helped me become the leader I am today. a leader by design and not by default.

As to whether women already have equal opportunities in the industry, Boulineau didnt believe this goal had become a reality. She has observed that women are still being hired for their past and present accomplishments, while men are being hired for their potential.

The industry is doing really well in terms of getting female representation in entry-level positions, but moving them up through the talent pipeline right into more senior leadership roles is still a challenge. Ive seen a lot of progress in getting women to sit at the table in leadership positions, but theres still so much work to be done, she explained.

To resolve this issue, Boulineaus suggestion is for the industry to empower women, support their achievements at all levels, and introduce strategic initiatives, such as networking opportunities.

For other professionals in her field, her main advice is to never underestimate the power of mentorship, of seeking guidance from reliable individuals who can share different perspectives from which the mentee can choose whats suitable at certain stages of their career.

Boulineau also affirmed the advantages of networking in terms of getting advice from industry peers and experts, boosting ones confidence, and empowering one another through togetherness, passion, excellence and enthusiasm.

Watch the full interview here
Climate change is here and one of the most destructive implications is the increased threat of wildfires, said Wawanesa president of Canadian P&C operations Carol Jardine. As a Canadian owned and operated mutual company, we want to help communities across Canada improve their climate resilience and protect themselves, their homes and their businesses.

From 2008 to 2021, wildfires have cost Canadian insurers more than $4.6 billion, with over 87,000 claims filed, explained ICLR executive director Paul Kovacs. This represents only a portion of the overall costs caused by wildland fires, as uninsured public infrastructure is damaged, lives are disrupted, and individual health  both physical and mental  is affected.

Kovacs added that Wawanesas leadership in supporting grants that are targeted at mitigating the impacts of wildfires will help communities increase their resilience to this increasingly prevalent peril, serve as learning opportunities for other communities wishing to take action, and reduce the immense personal toll wildfires have on people and businesses.

FireSmart Canada is happy to provide support for and input towards Wawanesas Community Wildfire Prevention Grants, said FireSmart Canada director Ray Ault. This is an important initiative that will help Canadians increase their wildfire resilience.

Submissions for grant applications will be accepted through Wawanesas website until December 01, 2022, 12pm CST. A committee of wildfire prevention subject matter experts from Wawanesa, ICLR, and FireSmart Canada will evaluate each application and choose six recipients. Grant recipients will be announced next year, March 1, 2023.

Read more: Wawanesa Insurance makes $150,000 donation to Fiona relief fund

Wawanesa previously donated $150,000 to help relief efforts following Hurricane Fiona - $100,000 of the amount went to the Canadian Red Cross for the non-profits Hurricane Fiona in Canada Appeal, while the remaining $50,000 was used for a dollar-for-dollar donation matching program.
I have no choice in the matter, because Citizens is a quasi-state agency created by the legislature to provide a market of last resort for policyholders that cant get coverage for whatever reason in the private sector," Donelon said.

Local news station WBRZ reported that the rate increase affects more than 120,000 policyholders upon renewal of their insurance. For new policyholders, the new rate increase takes effect January 01 next year.

Donelon has encouraged policyholders with Citizens to select more affordable insurance options.

I feel the pain of my constituents and would urge them to continue shopping for alternatives to Citizens because this increase doesnt go into effect until January 1. So, if they can get coverage between now and January 1, that will never hit them, the commissioner commented.

The commissioner has also stated that he is looking into a plan that would welcome more insurers into Louisiana, noting that he carried out a similar measure following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The decision helped depopulate Citizens policyholders.

We have been approached by several [companies] who have been reading about and seeing the flood of policies to Citizens and the prices that by law citizens has to charge, he said. Companies know that they can get those policies off of Citizens and on to their books with the premium that comes with it in a quick and relatively short period of time.

Editor's note: This story originally, erroneously stated "Florida" in the headline and body of the story. That was incorrect. This story is about Louisiana's Citizens Insurance and not Florida Citizens. The story has been updated.
A white Allegheny County jail corrections officer who claimed he was fired in retaliation for reporting racial and sexual harassment incidents has been awarded almost $1 million by a federal jury.

Jeffrey Kengerski claimed that the Allegheny County Jail and Warden Orlando Harper violated his statutory and constitutional right to be free from retaliation for complaints of race-based harassment in his workplace under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Right Act. He further claimed that the jail and Harper interfered with his rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and retaliated against him for opposing conduct made unlawful under the FMLA.

Prior to filing his lawsuit, Kengerski filed Title VII complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission but his claims were dismissed. In January, 2020, U.S. District Judge Nicholas Ranjan, dismissed the case, finding that Kengerskis report did not concern an unlawful employment practice under Title VII.

However, in August, 2021, a three judge panel for the Third Circuit Court of Appeals remanded the case back to district court for trial. A jury has now awarded $400,000 in compensatory damages and $531,000 for back pay and future earnings.

In 2015, Kengerski complained that a supervising corrections officer had made racially offensive comments about his young biracial niece and sent numerous racially offensive text messages to his phone. The officer ignored his requests to stop the texts. He was told his complaint would not be investigated and no action was taken. After Kengerski submitted a detailed memorandum outlining his allegations. as requested by Harper, Kengerski was served with an unjustified discipline for switching shifts, a common practice among prison employees. He was also denied promotion to a position that the warden gave to a person who had not applied and he was disciplined multiple times based on false allegations against him.

In another incident, Kengerski reported on a potential sexual harassment situation. The supervisor to whom he reported it was himself terminated for sexual misconduct. But no action was taken against any party involved in the sexual harassment allegation. Kengerski said he was concerned that the report had not been handled correctly. He was then terminated for allegedly interfering with the investigation into the sexual harassment allegation, which he said was untrue.

He said his firing amounted to retaliation for his charges of racial discrimination and harassment against a senior member of the jail administration.

Topics Pennsylvania
QBE said it will begin writing business in the Netherlands, incepting from January 2023, now that it has received regulatory approval from the DNB (De Nederlandsche Bank).

The company first announced its plans to launch a Dutch branch in June 2022.

QBE also revealed its first hires for the Amsterdam-based Netherlands branch, following high interest from the local insurance market, the company said.

Ijaz Chishti joined as market manager and Joyce Peters as operations manager on Sept. 1. Karin Bouman joined on Oct. 1 as head of Liability. Henk Wessels will join as head of Property from Nov. 1 and Walter Schouten as senior underwriter property.

The opening of the office is part of QBEs overall growth plans for Europe. The ambition is to position QBE Netherlands as one of the key players in the local market, providing robust solutions to corporate and middle market customers that require a broad range of coverage and support for their international footprint.

We are delighted with the progress we are making setting up the QBE Netherlands branch, and the great job the team, led by Sebastiaan Lambalk, is doing. We are encouraged by the level of interest both from great talent wanting to join our operation and from brokers welcoming an alternative option. Our expansion into the Netherlands is part of our overall development strategy in Europe where we have been steady building our presence, commented Bea Valenti, director of Insurance, QBE Europe.

Details of New Hires

Ijaz Chishti will lead broker relationships for the Dutch market, responsible for the onboarding process of new partners. He will focus on developing commercial partnership that align with the strategic growth and expansion plans for QBE in the Netherlands. Chishti joins from MS Amlin where he held several roles since joining the organization, as a trainee in 2008, including claims handler, binder authority management and most recently liability underwriter in the Marine division.

As operations manager, Joyce Peters will shape the new branch of QBE in the Netherlands ensuring the systems and processes are in place to support high quality service delivery to both broker partners and customers. Peters has over 20 years experience in insurance, and joins from MS Amlin where she was most recently head of Underwriting Administration.

Karin Bouman, is tasked with growing QBEs liability portfolio, with an extensive 30 year-plus career in insurance, with a variety of roles across claims, broking and underwriting. Most recently, Bouman was senior underwriter and underwriting manager for Middle Market International Casualty at AXA XL, roles she held since 2006.

Responsible for developing QBEs property portfolio in the Netherlands, Henk Wessels joins QBE from ERGO where he spent the last 12 years as head of Property. Having spent his career to date in the Dutch property insurance market, Wessels also has a solid track record in coinsurance and spent time on the broking side.

Walter Schouten joins from Allianz, where he has been senior sector specialist property since February 2021. Prior to that, Schouten spent 17 years as senior property underwriter at HDI and six years at Kamerbeek/Meeus as property underwriter. Schouten will be responsible for building the property portfolio together with Wessels.

Topics Europe
Fire has destroyed the main lodge at a popular ski resort in northwestern Minnesota.

Officials say the main building at Maplelag, which caught fire Monday morning, is expected to be declared a total loss. The cause of the fire near Callaway in Becker County, is under investigation.

Its the second time in 23 years that fire has burned the lodge. In December 1999, the resorts main building was destroyed by a late night fire. The Richards family, which owns the resort, closed it for the winter and rebuilt, just as they plan to do once again, KSTP-TV reported.

Jim Richards says he was catching up on e-mails Monday morning and getting ready for the upcoming ski season when he heard a loud sound. Richards believes the fire may have started in the laundry room.

Richards founded the resort with his wife nearly five decades ago and says he plans to rebuild so it can continue to be a destination for people from all across the country.

The fire has the small community rallying behind the Richards.

I know the family. They put in a ton of work every year. To see this go down like this, its very sad. I feel bad for them and everybody who works for them, said Becker County Sheriff Todd Glander.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Minnesota
So far in 2022, the U.S. has experienced multiple tragic mass shootings. One only needs to see the images on the news following the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Tex., or the attack during the Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Ill., to be reminded of the heart-breaking, human impact these incidents have.

There are varying ways to define an active assailant shooting incident. The FBI version is an individual actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area. The Gun Violence Archive, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit that collects gun violence incidents from over 7,500 law enforcement, media, government, and commercial sources, defines a mass shooting as a minimum of four victims shot, either injured or killed, not including any shooter. This same group reported there have been 518 mass shootings so far in 2022, with 33,752 deaths linked to firearms (as of Oct. 4, 2022).

The FBI also reported that the number of active shooter incidents identified in 2021 represented a 52.5% increase from 2020, and a 96.8% increase from 2017. Whichever data source you consider, the stats show a clear trend that mass shootings are increasing and becoming more severe.

The Insurance Products

This risk does not only impact individuals, but also businesses. To respond to this emerging risk, the insurance industry has created a new class of products, commonly referred to as active assailant or active shooter. Unlike many insurance products, which were designed to indemnify the policyholder in the event of a loss, these products were designed to provide holistic coverage solutions while giving the policyholder access to world-class response consultants. Broadly speaking, the coverage can be broken down into three segments:

People protection Balance sheet protection Reputation protection

People protection. Many active assailant products give the policyholder access to response consultants, which are typically third-party vendors who partner with the insurer. These consultants are experts in the field of crisis response and prevention training and can provide immediate assistance following an attack. No one incident is the same, so the response will vary depending on the attack. However, a crisis response will usually consist of the following elements: muster point organization and tasking, law enforcement liaison and coordination, media messaging, crisis communication, trauma risk management, and staff and family assistance.

The other aspect of the response element of the product is the free prevention training. This can be tailor made to each clients need, but the underlying principle is educating and training the policyholder so that if an attack were to happen, the people impacted are equipped with the knowledge they need to try and protect themselves. The training ranges from direct employee education, simulated incident assessment, review of the clients security arrangement, through to tabletop exercises from the management team.

However, should an incident unfortunately occur, the policies will seek to ensure the victims have the care they need. For example, this can be in the form of funding medical expenses for up to a year after the attack or by giving the victims and/or their family members access to psychiatric care.

Balance sheet protection. An active assailant incident can trigger a range of financial implications for businesses, even if they are not the direct victim. In the immediate aftermath of an attack, it is likely the clients premise will be closed while law enforcement conducts their investigation and repairs are made to the site before a business can reopen. Even after the site can reopen, customers may be wary about returning. Active Assailant policies provide indemnity for this in the form of business interruption coverage and loss of attraction. These coverages also may be extended to cover denial of access if a nearby attack (or threat of attack) triggers a lockdown of the road or the property.

That said, the most severe financial implication from an attack can be litigation. Even if the client is not directly negligent or responsible for the active assailants actions, it is possible that either the victims or the victims families may seek damages. Some, but not all, Active Assailant policies will indemnify the policyholder for legal damages and attorney fees. This is a vital part of the coverage which often gets overlooked, as businesses may feel they have this coverage from their general liability policy. While that may be the case for some clients, these policies are often silent on the coverage for active assailant incidents, which can lead to ambiguity in the event of an incident. Affirmative coverage is always better than silent coverage.

Reputation protection. Even if a policyholder was not responsible for the attack, their business will likely be linked to the event. In a social media dominated world, where images and opinions are shared in real time, correctly managing a clients brand and reputation during and after an attack can have lasting implications. Through an Active Assailant policy, the insured will have access to public relations or brand rehabilitation experts who are on hand to help minimize the potential harm to the policyholders image.

The Marketplace

In tandem with this tragically growing trend, the active assailant market is still emerging, with each insurer in this space offering their own variations of the products and access to difference response consultants. Depending on the type of coverage required, market capacity can range from US$25 million to US$200 million.

As with many insurance contracts, the devil is in the details. It is important that clients scrutinize the policies they are buying and, crucially, meet with their response consultants. Some package policies may include active assailant cover, but with sublimits of US$25,000 and either very limited coverage or restrictive policy trigger. If the worst were to happen, clients need to know that their response consultants are up to the task and that their carriers will help them through the aftermath.

Key Takeaways

The active assailant marketplace is growing, and the importance of the product is becoming even more established. Between 2014 to 2020, there was an average of one mass shooting every 4.2 days; in the first half of 2022, this number has grown to an average of more than one incident per day. This is a shocking reminder of the prevalence and ever-growing risk that businesses are facing from active assailant events.

Topics Trends
RPS Elevates Duffey as President of Signature Programs

Risk Placement Services, a specialty insurance distributor, announced that Russell Duffey will be president of its program administration division, known as RPS Signature Programs.

Duffey, based in Georgia, joined RPS in 2000 as a casualty lines broker. He has recently been vice president of market relations for RPS and area president in Roswell, Georgia.

As president of the Signature Programs, he will oversee admitted and non-admitted proprietary programs for niche markets, the company said. Duffey will report to Joel Cavaness, RPS president. Duffey holds a bachelors degree in Business Administration, Risk Management & Insurance from Georgia State University.

RPS, headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, said it manages specialized programs for a number of carriers.

Drumwright Named President at Starke in Alabama After 23 Years with the Agency

Kyle Drumwright has been with the Starke Insurance Agency in Montgomery, Alabama, for 23 years. This week he was named the first non-family member president of the firm.

Kyle has proved himself with his work and the way he provides for our clients, and I could not be happier to pass the torch to him, said Bolling Bo Starke III, who steps down as president after 26 years at the helm.

The Starke Agency began in 1929 when Bolling Starke and his brother opened it as Rawlings & Starke, the company said. In 1966, Bo Starke Jr. was named president. The agency offers personal lines and commercial insurance, as well as benefits programs.

Drumwright earned his bachelors degree from Auburn University in 1997 and his M.B.A. from Auburn University-Montgomery the next year, the company said in a news release. At the agency he has served as principal and as vice president of the surety/construction division.

Blackwell Captive Solutions Names Kennedy VP

Blackwell Captive Solutions, a medical stop-loss captive thats domiciled in South Carolina, has named Arleigh Kennedy at national vice president for sales.

Kennedy has 25 years experience in insurance and has worked for some of the largest health insurers in underwriting, sales and product development, Blackwell said in a news release.

Blackwell, with recent funding from Carrick Capital Partners, said it works to use buying power to reduce health care costs for companies.
Karamjit Nijjar, 57, his wife Rajinder Kaur Nijjar, 55, and their daughter Mandip Nijjar, 31, were arraigned today on four felony counts each for their involvement in a workers compensation insurance fraud scheme after allegedly underreporting over $2.5 million in employee payroll to illegally reduce insurance premiums.

The investigation, led by the Fresno County District Attorneys Office, began after the California Department of Insurance received a tip that an employee of a Fresno area trucking business owned by Karamjit Nijjar was denied workers comp benefits. Throughout the course of the investigation, investigators with the Central Valley Workers Compensation Fraud Task Force identified an additional business related to Nijjar, Renteria Trucking.

Business records show Karamjit and Rajinder Nijjar own and operate Renteria Trucking. Their daughter, Mandip Nijjar, is an employee.

The task force investigation into Renteria Trucking reportedly revealed the company reported roughly $2.475 million in employee payroll during their routine payroll audit. However, a forensic audit reportedly revealed Renteria Trucking actually had over $5 million in employee payroll for the same time period.

The amount of unreported payroll identified totaled $2,577,035. The misrepresentations made by the Nijjars resulted in the reduction of workers comp insurance premiums paid, which resulted in $352,913 in premium owed to the State Compensation Insurance Fund.

The Central Valley Workers Compensation Fraud Task Force is an inter-agency anti-fraud partnership.

Karamjit Nijjar, his wife Rajinder Kaur Nijjar, and Mandip Nijjar pleaded not guilty to the charges and are expected back in court on Nov. 15. The Fresno County District Attorneys Office is prosecuting the case.

Topics California
Washington state has agreed to pay $2.75 million to a woman who was seriously hurt in a rollover crash involving a state Department of Transportation vehicle on Highway 522.

On March 5, 2018, Kara Janneh of Monroe was driving her Jeep Cherokee east on the highway near Maltby with her toddler son in the back. Her lawsuit said she didnt have time to stop when a Washington State Department of Transportation truck made an illegal U-turn. Her vehicle flew into the air and rolled over twice.

Her son escaped serious injury but the lawsuit said Janneh suffered serious harm including a traumatic brain injury.

In 2019, she sued the state Department of Transportation.

In September, the state conceded the crash was its fault in court filings. Shortly after, the lawsuit was settled for $2.75 million, The Daily Herald reported.

In an email, a WSDOT spokesperson confirmed the settlement, but declined to comment further.

The stretch of two-lane highway between Paradise Lake Road near Maltby and the Snohomish River Bridge is known for serious crashes.

In 2014, a couple in one car and a baby in another died in a head-on crash, prompting a lawsuit that called the highway inherently dangerous. The state settled that case for $3 million without admitting liability.

In August, prosecutors charged a woman with vehicular homicide in a 2020 crash that killed one and seriously injured another on the highway.

A major transportation package passed at the state Legislature this year includes millions to widen Highway 522 in that area.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Washington
The Government will likely have to go beyond its 4.1bn in emergency budget measures to help firms and households because the fallout from soaring prices is likely to last for years, Brian Hayes, the boss of the business group that represents Irish banks, has said.

Mr Hayes, who is chief executive of the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland, or BPFI, said longer-term assistance would be required for small firms in particular because the crisis is unlikely to be over anytime soon.

It is "likely that current inflationary pressures through energy price increases will continue in the short term," said Mr Hayes in its latest report on SMEs.

"And even if the rate of inflation declines, price levels will still be higher in the future; hence one-off measures may need to be replaced in the future, with structural measures around energy efficiency both for households and businesses, such as the Ukraine Credit Guarantee Scheme, so that the economy does not face similar challenges in the years to come given the continued geopolitical uncertainty, Mr Hayes said.

Household spending under pressure

With household spending likely to be under pressure, the SME report highlights the latest crisis could again hit accommodation and food services and administrative services, two sectors which it says have lost a total of 21,000 jobs since before the onset of the Covid crisis.

Banking and Payments Federation Ireland also warns other big users of energy, including transport and manufacturing firms, "are exposed to further cost pressures in addition to potential reduced demand from households given their focus on essential expenditure in the short term, particularly due to higher energy bills over the winter".

Neil McDonnell, chief executive of business group Isme, said he broadly welcomed the banking group's call for the Government to consider supports for small firms beyond the winter.

However, SMEs were sceptical of the Government supporting more loan schemes because many of the new debt offerings were not wanted, Mr McDonnell said.

"Almost unanimously, businesses do not see debt solutions such as the Ukraine Credit Guarantee Scheme as viable propositions to tackle energy and other inflation. Debt solutions are not attractive in these circumstances  either to borrowers or lenders," he said.
FOR most actors, a standing ovation at the end of a performance is a crowning moment, a show of appreciation for what has gone before. It is not many actors who get an ovation without even uttering a word  as happened when actress Angela Lansbury took to the West End stage a couple of years ago.

John OShea, a founder member of Corks Everyman Theatre, recounts how the actresss appearance left the audience starstruck at the performance in 2014.

I was visiting one of my children in London and I had booked seats for Noel Cowards Blithe Spirit in which Angela was starring as the clairvoyant Madame Arcati. She didnt appear until halfway through the play and she was given a standing ovation  she had to wait until it was over before she could continue. She was 89 and so beautiful and poised. She was the star. The show ran for six months, with six late performances a week plus two matinees  thats eight performances a week and she did the whole run.

Such dedication and commitment illustrates how 90-year-old Lansbury is a trouper in the most theatrical sense of the word. Her career has spanned 75 years and she has starred in more than 60 films, a long list of critically- acclaimed theatrical productions, not to mention her much-loved portrayal of Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote, the longest-running detective drama series in TV history. On the way, she has picked up five Tony awards and six Golden Globes.

Angela Lansbury performing at the opening of the Everyman Playhouse (Fr Mathew Hall) on Fr Mathew Street, Cork, in 1972. Also in the picture are theatre stalwart Dan Donovan and Cork Lord Mayor Sean O'Leary. Picture: Irish Examiner Archive

More recently, she has become something of a pop culture icon, with one Twitter account, Lansbury Reactions, chronicling Jessica Fletchers many inimitable expressions in GIF form. Her achievements will be celebrated at the Dublin International Film Festival this weekend, where she will receive the festival tribute award, the Volta.

Lansbury, whose second name is Brigid, travels on an Irish passport, as her mother, actress Moyna Macgill was born in Belfast. Her paternal grandfather, George Lansbury, was an MP and leader of the Labour Party. Her father Edgar, a timber merchant, died when Angela was just nine, prompting her mother to move to America with Angela, her twin brothers and her half-sister (who later married Peter Ustinov). Fame came quickly for Lansbury when she was cast in Gaslight aged just 17; she received an Oscar nomination for her role as cockney maid Nancy.

I was wrapping Christmas gifts in a department store one minute, then playing opposite Ingrid Bergman the next. It was little short of a miracle, she said.

Lansbury was then cast in the The Picture Of Dorian Gray, for which she also received an Oscar nomination. She became firm friends with the actor who played the title role, Hurd Hatfield  like Lansbury, he later went on to become a resident of north Cork. Lansbury moved to the village of Conna with her husband Peter Shaw and their children in the early 1970s. Lansbury has spoken about how she wanted to get away from Los Angeles as her son Anthony had become addicted to drugs and her daughter Deirdre had fallen in with the Manson family.

They hired a car when they arrived at Shannon and drove around, says John OShea. They saw the house for sale in Conna and bought it almost immediately. She considered it her home, and she went to LA and London for work.

Angela Lansbury with her son and daughter at their bungalow at Conna, Co Cork, in 1972. Picture: Irish Examiner Archive

OShea was a beneficiary of Lansburys generosity when she agreed to help out the Everyman Theatre, which was moving from Castle Street to Father Mathew Hall in 1972.

We were due to open with George Bernard Shaws Arms and the Man and we were hunting around for someone well-known  celebrity wasnt a word really used back then  to do the honours. We had heard Angela and her family were living in Conna. It was a bit of a long shot, but we made contact with her and she jumped at it, no questions asked.

It was all a bit formal but she was very amusing. She was very glamorous but she had a modesty to her that was very attractive. We had a great night afterwards, in Moores Hotel. She didnt behave like a star, there was nothing of that about her, she was very unassuming.

OShea kept up contact with Lansbury over the years, and recalls how local people mingled with her show-business friends at gatherings in her house in Conna.

My wife and I were invited up several times and Hurd would be there with other showbiz people like directors, screenwriters and photographers, and local people, who she mixed very well with.

Potter Stephen Pearce, who is based in Shanagarry, Co Cork, where Lansbury has a house, has been a close friend of hers for many years.

She was a friend of my mothers. I got to know her and her kids in the mid-1960s and I helped out a bit when she bought the place in Conna. Pearce also helped design Lansburys house in Shanagarry.

She and her husband were very involved, although we used to call it the house that was built by fax. They were over in the US making Murder She Wrote when it was being built and we would fax back and forth about changes to be made.

Susan Blakely and Angela Lansbury in Murder She Wrote.

Lansbury visits east Cork every summer and Pearce says the people there have been instrumental in forging her strong connection to Ireland.

More than anything else it is her friends and the way she has been able to have privacy. She gets a lot of attention everywhere she goes  its incredible how popular Murder, She Wrote is.

Angela would never see herself as a star, she just likes putting on her wellies, walking down to the shop and getting a pint of milk or whatever. She is a very ordinary person who likes to be just that. The fact that she has this amazing talent and success is kind of by the way.

Pearce says he has never really talked to Lansbury about acting, that when they meet up, they just like to chat about everyday things.

She is very funny, she sees life in a very light-hearted way, even though she has had some pretty hard knocks. Ive never really talked to her about her career, we usually just chat about what has gone on that day. I see her as a dear loyal friend who sends me a box of chocolates every Christmas.

He says he is in awe of her enthusiasm and vigour. She is 90-years-old and is still learning her lines and remembering them. I dont know where she gets the energy to be in Australia doing Driving Miss Daisy one minute, up in London the next.

Read More Angela Lansbury, star of 'Murder, She Wrote', dies aged 96

Despite her busy schedule, John OShea says she always has time for her Cork friends, recalling how he paid an impromptu visit to Lansbury after her performance in Blithe Spirit.

I approached the stage manager and told her I was from Cork in Ireland, how helpful Angela had been to us in the theatre in Cork over the years and I would love to go around if possible. She said she would speak to the stagehand in charge of the stage door; my son was with me and we went in. She was exhausted and there was a bunch of people there from around Shanagarry; I just congratulated her on her performance and said: Its a great night for Cork here in London. We are all Corkonians here, including yourself. She had a good laugh at that.

Angela Lansbury: October 16, 1925  October 11, 2022




Another long day lies ahead for the families and friends of those who died in the explosion in Creeslough last week as three more victims will be laid to rest today.

The funeral of 48-year-old James OFlaherty will take place in Derrybeg at 11am while Catherine ODonnell and her 13-year-old son James Monaghan will be laid to rest in Creeslough later this afternoon.

President Michael D Higgins is expected to attend.

Father-of-one James OFlaherty, who was originally from Australia, had pulled in to Laffertys Filling station on Friday when tragedy struck. His son, who was in the car at the time of the blast, survived the incident.

Catherine and James had been queuing at the post office when the explosion happened.

The funerals of the victims of last week's tragedy began yesterday with Jessica Gallagher and Martin McGill.

Having just got her first designer job, and her first professional commission, Jessica Gallagher was on the cusp of everything she wanted out of life.

But on Tuesday the small village of Creeslough was forced to bid a sad farewell to one of its daughters.

Ambitious, hard-working, driven and a straight-talking young woman with forthright opinions on just about everything, the 24-year-old killed in last Fridays filling station blast in Donegal was also fondly remembered as a practical joker whose party tricks included putting seaweed in her siblings beds.

They also included jumping out at people behind a door.

The funeral of an adored daughter no parent ever expects to witness started shortly after her procession through the small Donegal village.

In between bursts of drizzle, and led by a garda outrider a small distance ahead, her hearse eased along the empty Main Street towards St Michaels Church.

Jessica Gallagher

It passed a pub where she would have had a drink, and a coffee shop where she would have had a coffee.

Rather than the usual sounds of a bustling local community in which people frequently stop and chat in groups or just hail each other with a warm hand, there was painful silence.

The bustle was gone and the only sounds were of the crows overhead and the hearses engine.

People blessed themselves as it passed bearing her wicker basket coffin adorned with flowers and a bouquet of white with the purple letters of her name.

Parish priest Fr John Joe Duffy told mourners: When the pathway in which Jessica and others were travelling through life was so abruptly ended by this tragic accident, I wish I as a priest could explain that more fully in a way that words could explain it.

But we do not have words to explain it."

He added: it is so difficult to lose one of any age but it is so difficult to lose one so young, for parents to lose a daughter, for siblings to lose one who is so much loved and for a boyfriend to lose his girlfriend that he thought the world of.

Addressing her parents, he said: Jessica was such a wonderful gift to you, her family. Life is a great journey, one on which we travel alone in our own way.

But each step impacts our journey into life, leaves a positive afterglow on so many. Jessica radiated warmth and positive feeling on those who knew her best.

The coffin of Jessica Gallagher, 24, is carried into St Michael's Church, Creeslough. Picture: PA Wire

He said that if anybody were to throw a stone into the water, they would see many ripples coming from where the stone impacts into the water.

Jessica, through her life, left many ripples, many ripples of love, affection, kindness, warmth.

Speaking on behalf of her family, he chose words which made it clear that he had spent a long time with them.

Our hearts are heavy, but our spirits are strong," he added.

He said that although Jessica, who had returned to Cleeslough after studying design and fashion in Paris and Edinburgh, was of a slender stature, she was a strong, young woman.

She was strong in her own opinions and self belief and her determination and her unstoppable confidence," he said.

She would tell you what she was thinking but she could also let you tell her what you thought of an opinion whether you liked it or not, or whether she liked it or not.

As he spoke, some of those among the mourners who knew her personally wiped off tears streaming down their faces.

Others clutched the hand of the person next to them, or simply bowed their head and closed their eyes.

It was clear Fr Duffy was voicing the very essence of an adored young woman whose loved ones simply cannot comprehend what has happened.

Jessica never had the faintest problem expressing herself, he continued. She could talk for all Ireland. She didn't have a switch-off button.

And then, after a pause, he added: "This sadly is the first time for us that we are experiencing a Jessica who is quiet."

 additional reporting from PA
Hanna Bieliavieva has been told she is to depart Hotel Killarney at 11am on Wednesday on a bus bound for Westport.

The Ukrainian refugee arrived in Killarney with her two sons, aged six and eight, from a camp in Poland in March. She is from Kharkiv. She works at Hotel Killarney as an accommodation assistant.

Im alone, Hanna, known as Anna, said.

I dont have my husband. My father and mother are in Kharkiv."

I dont have words, she said of being told that she was being moved with just 48 hours' notice.

She is one of the 135 mostly female Ukrainian residents who now been given times for their buses, which are to collect them and take them to Westport on Wednesday.

The Dear Resident letter they received on Monday speaks of how they have been the beneficiary of temporary protection in Hotel Killarney.

However it is no longer possible to accommodate you at this location and, accordingly, new accommodation is being provided to you," the letter from the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth set out.

In red writing the new location from Wednesday, October 12 was listed as Hotel Westport with time to be decided.

Due to the acute shortage of accommodation available should they refuse the relocation offer the refugees will not be provided with any other, they were told.

They will also not be permitted to remain in their current accommodation.

In bold writing, underlined, this was followed by a warning not to attend the transit hub at City West as you will not be permitted access. The residents were also advised they could source their own accommodation.

If they had schoolgoing children enrolled in schools they could contact Tusla Education Support Services they were told.

Its impossible, Anna said of being forced to relocate with just 48 hours' notice. It had taken her children a long time to settle, and now they loved their amazing school.

Its the best school," said Anna. "It has the best teachers.

Her children have Irish friends.

I dont want to move, she said in tears.

I am happy in Killarney. I work here. I have good work. My children are in a very good school. No, I cant pack my bags."

She had arrived with nothing but a backpack, and the people of Killarney had brought toys and clothes.

All the women now are in stress, she said.

Hotel Killarney. Photo: hotelkillarney.ie

Anna described what was happening as like a tree being uprooted from where it was planted.

I am not going on the bus, she said.

She has signed a petition to Children's Minister Roderic O'Gorman, pleading with him to allow her to remain.

Other women work in pharmacies, in hotels, and in retail.

Most want to stay, she said. In Kharkiv is now many missiles. I am very worried.

'Son was crying'

Julia Bondazenko arrived in March from the Donbas region with her two children, a boy aged 11 and a girl aged seven. Her husband drove here two weeks ago.

The children are very happy at St Olivers and her son was crying last night at having to leave his friends in Killarney.

His two best friends live in Killarney and he visits their homes and they come here, she said.

Julia, who works in the Great Southern Hotel, says she is not moving and will live in the family car.

'Wholly unjust'

Colm OSuilleabhain, principal of St Olivers National School in Ballycasheen, where many of the children were attending, said he and other school principals were demoralised after putting so much work and effort into integrating the Ukrainian community.

The integration was working, said Mr OSuilleabhain.

St Olivers is near Hotel Killarney where many of the up to 40 Ukrainian children at the hotel attend school.

At this point, to move them is wholly unjust, said Mr OSuilleabhain.

It was not a question of prioritising one group over another, and the men arriving at Hotel Killarney, which is now a direct provision centre, had every right to be in Killarney, Mr OSuilleabhain stressed.

But the fact was the group of Ukrainians in the hotel have been in Killarney for over six months and had settled in with their children.

Huge supports have been put in place, and the supports are working, he said.

"There is integration."

The primary school principal had taken a call from Sean Coffey, principal of St Brendans Secondary school in Killarney, where some of the teenagers attend. He is equally disappointed, Mr OSuilleabhain said.

There had been a huge co-ordinated response from the Killarney community in March when the refugees arrived.

Parents associations had also worked hard at the integration, and there had been coffee mornings and social walks in the national park.
Almost 200 residents of a Cork City suburb have taken a case against a landlord seeking compensation over claims that he did not address alleged "criminal activity" and antisocial behaviour of his tenants over a period of years.

The Eagle Valley Residents Association has taken the case on behalf of 188 households in the Wilton estate over a raft of complaints against landlord Kevin O'Donovan for not terminating the tenancy of the family.

Mr O'Donovan told the Tenancies Tribunal that he faces being "personally exposed for several hundred thousands" of euros in compensation following a decision by the Residential Tenancies Board, that he failed to ensure his tenants would not engage in antisocial behaviour.

He has appealed sections of the RTB finding, claiming he acted quickly to address residents' concerns.

The hearing, which sat virtually yesterday for preliminary evidence, heard that there were "years" of alleged incidents in the estate, and that the landlord does not contest that there was antisocial behavior by the tenants.

Compensation awards at the RTB are capped at 20,000 and, if the association is successful in its legal action, it could secure a maximum seven-figure settlement, although some compensation awards may be significantly lower than the capped figure approved.

It has been adjourned until the tribunal can decide whether it has jurisdiction and can allow each household to be compensated.

Barry Sheehan, solicitor for Eagle Valley Residents' Association, said it would hear evidence from households "directly affected" by the alleged activity and those "not as directly affected", with some residents having allegedly experienced "very significant issues for a number of years" with the former tenants.

Mr Sheehan added that while some residents were "not directly affected" by the alleged "criminality", it had the potential to diminish the value of their property.

He further said residents contest the landlord's stance that he "took all reasonable steps in seeking to enforce his tenants' statutory duty".

An adjudicator for the RTB found in favour of the residents association following a hearing in March, where allegations were made that the family renting the property was involved in serious incidents of criminal and antisocial behaviour.

In his appeal, Mr O'Donovan told the tribunal on Tuesday that he received "defective legal advice" when responding to residents' complaints, but that he acted quickly in seeking to enforce his tenants' legal duty under section 16(h) of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004, which states tenants are not to behave within the rental home, or in the vicinity of it, in a way that is antisocial.

The tribunal heard Mr O'Donovan also secured an RTB order at a hearing held in August requiring the tenants to vacate.

Tribunal co-chair Roderick Maguire urged both sides to speak "off the record" and decide whether aspects of the case could be agreed, or if the matter can be "settled without prejudice" as, once the tribunal rules, the decision would "remain on the internet forever".

Following a brief break to allow the consultation, Mr Sheehan said the landlord was "accepting there was antisocial behaviour, so that aspect of the case no longer needs to be formally proven before you", but that the compensation claim remained.

Mr O'Donovan agreed, saying that he received "full, comprehensive evidence" of the alleged criminal activity in November 2021 and that his subsequent actions were "very much dependent on receiving that information".

The tribunal said it would issue a decision in the coming weeks on jurisdiction and whether to grant a request from Mr Sheehan for an in-person hearing.
A controversial proposal to move 135 Ukrainian women and children from Killarney to Mayo later on Wednesday has been reversed, the Irish Examiner can reveal.

Integration Minister Roderic OGorman and his officials have decided, under significant pressure from Government colleagues, to put a stop to the move to Westport of the women and children.

The Irish Examinercan confirm that alternative accommodation has been secured in the Killarney area which will allow the families to remain in the community and schools they have settled.

Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys said that the short notice given to the Ukrainian refugees was "not acceptable" and that it should not happen again.

"I think that for somebody to get only 48 hours' notice is not acceptable to be straight with you. There's kids in school, I don't know their individual circumstances, but Minister O'Gorman has said now that that's it that that's not going ahead and I welcome that fact.

"Sometimes decisions are made for the right reasons under unintended consequences and that was wrong and it was right to reverse it."

In a statement issued on Wednesday morning, the Department of Integration confirmed the planned move of Ukrainian displaced persons from Killarney to Westport will now not proceed. It said it has worked intensively overnight to source alternative accommodation for the Ukrainians affected in Killarney.

In light of these efforts, the move to Westport will not proceed, with those affected remaining in Killarney in new accommodation. Ipas officials will be in touch with the families to let them know about accommodation arrangements, the department said.

The wider situation regarding accommodation remains extremely challenging, it warned, saying the transit centre at Citywest is nearing capacity.

The possibility of a pause on entry to new arrivals due to a countrywide shortage of accommodation cannot be discounted, it warned.

Ireland is now accommodating 55,000 people between those fleeing Ukraine and International Protection applicants, compared to 7,500 last year.

The department is mindful of the impact that all such moves have on those affected and will continue to deliver a humanitarian response to the needs of Ukrainian displaced persons and those seeking international protection.

The decision to axe the move to Mayo will not prevent the relocation of up to 200 men who are currently seeking asylum in Ireland.

Speaking on Wednesday morning, Education Minister Norma Foley welcomed the u-turn saying it was the right decision.

I welcome this decision by my Cabinet colleague Roderic OGorman and I want to thank him for the manner in which he engaged with me personally on this matter. This is the right decision. It is hugely important where we had families who were so well-integrated into the community that we afford them every opportunity to continue to grow and nurture those ties, she said.

Hotel Killarney. Picture: hotelkillarney.ie

Ms Foley also paid tribute to the local community in Killarney for making the families so welcome.

There was considerable anger among locals in Killarney and within the Government on Tuesday at the attempts to move the Ukrainian women and children.

Due to a sharp increase in the number of people seeking asylum in Ireland, the accommodation system is buckling.

The Hotel Killarney secured a contract to house those in direct provision, but some of its 500 beds were used to house Ukrainian refugees temporarily.

The facility in Mayo was set to only house Ukrainians and not those in direct provision, hence the need to move the women and children there, Mr OGorman had said.

A source at the hotel said the Ukrainian women were distraught at the news. Several are working, including seven at the hotel itself. Others are working in businesses in the town centre.

Ms Foley had earlier appealed to Mr OGorman to find a solution to allow the women and children to remain in Killarney where they have settled since fleeing the war.

Fine Gael TD Brendan Griffin slammed the plan as an outrageous proposal.

Fine Gael TD Brendan Griffin. Picture: Julien Behal/PA Wire

At a private meeting with Mr OGorman, Mr Griffin said he could source enough accommodation to house all the women and children affected. He said he would not accept the relocation, and called on Mr OGorman and his officials to solve the red tape problem.

However, Mr OGorman and his officials previously rejected this proposal, as many of the residences are not properly registered or vetted for approval.

The Ukrainian community in the Killarney hotel, including up to 40 school-going children, received less than 48 hours' notice they were to be bussed to Westport.

The formal confirmation, in writing, was issued on Monday at 3pm.

Moving asylum-seekers into a hotel and moving out Ukrainian refugees who have been there since March does not make any sense, the mayor of Killarney, Niall Kelleher, had told a meeting of community leaders, calling for a reversal of the decision to move out a well-settled community.

Many of the children attend St Olivers National School nearby, and Mr Kelleher had called for a reversal of the decision by Ipas, the international accommodation agency. He has also called for health and other supports for Killarney, which is now hosting large numbers of asylum seekers and Ukrainians.

Mayor of Killarney, Fianna Fail councillor Niall Kelleher. Picture: Domnick Walsh / Eye Focus LTD

There are now about 2,000 Ukrainians in Killarney, along with hundreds more in direct provision.

Ipas is moving people like pawns on a chessboard, he added.

Colm OSuilleabhain, principal of St Olivers National School in Ballycasheen, said he and other school principals were demoralised after putting so much work and effort into integrating the Ukrainian community at Hotel Killarney.

At this point, to move them is wholly unjust, Mr OSuilleabhain said.
Gardai are treating as criminal damage the defacing of the Iranian Embassy entrance which was covered with graffiti overnight.

Ongoing unrest and demonstrations in Iran were sparked following the death of the Kurdish-Iranian 22-year-old Mahsa Amini on September 16 in police custody in Tehran.

Ms Aminni was detained by Irans president Ebrahim Raisis special branch of the countrys morality police, for allegedly violating the law requiring women to cover their hair as her headscarf was being loosely worn. She died three days later in custody.

The large white entrance pillars into the Iranian Embassy, located on Merrion Road, Dublin were defaced with graffiti.

The walls were covered with the imprints of red hands along with words including dictator and witches.

Security personnel and officials could be seen this morning at 9.30 cleaning off and painting over the graffiti strewn walls. The graffiti has now been removed.

The walls at the Iranian Embassy on Merrion Road, Dublin, were covered with the imprints of red hands along with words including 'dictator' and 'witches'. Picture: Sarah Slater

Gardai have said they are aware of the incident and in a statement said: Gardai are investigating an incident of criminal damage at a property in the Mount Merrion area of Dublin.

State officials claim the young woman died from suffering a heart attack however her family have said the 22-year-old died after being beaten by police.

Ms Aminis death has become the catalyst for many Iranians who have been testing the limits of Sharia law for years.

Protests have erupted in more than 80 cities across Iran since Ms Aminis death and sporadic outbursts continue with women burning hijabs, cutting their hair, daubing their faces with the imprint of a red hand and burning State buildings.

Amnesty International has said that at least 52 people have been killed since the start of the protests, noting that the death toll is likely much higher.

Embassy officials and Iranian Ambassador to Ireland Masoud Eslami were contacted for comment. No organisation or person has taken responsibility for the criminal damage
Longford is the most law-breaking county in Ireland with the highest rate of imprisonment last year.

According to new figures, it is followed by Limerick, Dublin, and Louth.

In 2021, 5,179 people were sent to prisons throughout the country.

The average rate across all counties was 77 people jailed per 100,000 population.

A breakdown, based on the home addresses of the criminals, shows which counties have the highest and lowest rates.

Longford has 161 people per 100,000 population followed by Limerick at 146, Dublin at 129, and Louth at 120.

Donegal is the most law-abiding county in the country with a rate of just 34.

John Lonergan, a former governor of Mountjoy Prison, said it is a major surprise that Longford tops the list.

"It has a very small population and it is very much dominated by rural areas with very few significant urban areas," he said.

"It is a surprise to me, I certainly wouldn't have predicted that. Limerick, Dublin and Louth would be very predictable in that they are big, urban areas.

"Over the years, the urban areas would always be the main suppliers of people who ended up in prison."

Mr Lonergan said areas that are linked to gangland crime and feuds inevitably have high levels of convictions.

"Louth, in particular, over the last four or five years it has attracted a lot of public attention in relation to the gangland feuds up there and some of the savagery that has been committed," he said.

"The same, I think it would be fair to say, would be true of Limerick over the years. It's not surprising at all that drug and gangland feuds  and murders in particular  brings about a higher level of policing and inevitably, a higher rate of convictions."
Iraq is to establish an embassy in Ireland.

The country applied to open an embassy here instead of requesting that their ambassador from London be accredited to Dublin.

Cabinet ministers yesterday approved the request, however, no indication was given as to when the embassy will open.

Concerns over situation in Iran

Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney has spoken to the Iranian Foreign Minister, raising serious concerns about the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody.

A protester shows a portrait of Mahsa Amini during a demonstration. Picture: Aurelien Morissard/AP

The death of the 22-year-old Kurdish woman, which followed her arrest by Iran's morality police for not wearing her hijab correctly, has sparked protests in Iran and across the world.

Mr Coveney briefed Cabinet that he has spoken directly to the Iranian foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, on two occasions, once in person at the UN in New York, and once in a lengthy phonecall last week. He also spoke to the Iranian ambassador to Ireland Masoud Eslami to express his concerns.

Cabinet members were united in their concerns at the situation in Iran.

The Government is also supporting the private members' motion on the death of Ms Amini, as well as the Iranian security forces response to subsquent protests.

The motion calls on the Iranian authorities to immediately stop the violent crackdown on protests.

It also calls for a proper and fair investigation of the killing and that anyone proven responsible for her death is held accountable.

719m for Ukranian refugees

Separately, Public Expenditure Minister Michael McGrath brought details of an extra 719m that is expected to be required to fund the humanitarian response for those who have arrived here from Ukraine.

The supplementary estimate for the Department of Children relates to this calendar year and will cover international protection and some other costs.

The extra funds will be allocated from the Covid Continency Fund, and will bring the total vote spend to 2.8bn.
Britain's King Charles' coronation will be held on Saturday, May 6, next year, with the Queen Consort Camilla also being crowned alongside Charles, Buckingham Palace has announced.

The deeply religious affair will take place in Westminster Abbey, eight months after the British monarchs accession and the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

The palace said the ceremony will be rooted in longstanding traditions and pageantry but also reflect the monarchs role today and look towards the future.

Charles III will be anointed with holy oil, receive the orb, coronation ring and sceptre, be crowned with the St Edwards Crown and blessed during the historic ceremony. Camilla will also be anointed with holy oil and crowned, just like the Queen Mother was when she was crowned Britain's queen in 1937.

May 6 is also the birthday of the Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's son Archie  Charless grandson  who will be turning four on the day.

Prince William, Kate Middleton, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle waving to members of the public at Windsor Castle following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Picture: Chris Jackson/PA Wire

Guest lists have yet to be confirmed for the spectacle, including whether or not Harry and Meghan will be invited or be able to travel from California to attend.

The date was also the wedding anniversary of the late queens sister Princess Margaret, while the kings grandfather George VI held his coronation in the month of May.

The palace said: Buckingham Palace is pleased to announce that the coronation of His Majesty The King will take place on Saturday 6th May 2023.

The coronation ceremony will take place at Westminster Abbey, London, and will be conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The ceremony will see His Majesty King Charles III crowned alongside the Queen Consort.

The coronation will reflect the monarchs role today and look towards the future, while being rooted in longstanding traditions and pageantry.

It is understood that the ceremony will include the same core elements of the traditional service, which has retained a similar structure for more than 1,000 years, while also recognising the spirit of our times.

Charless coronation is expected to be on a smaller scale and shorter, with suggestions that it could last just one hour rather than over three. It is expected to be more inclusive of multi-faith Britain than past coronations but will be an Anglican service.

Guest numbers will be reduced from 8,000 to around 2,000, with peers expected to wear suits and dresses instead of ceremonial robes, and a number of rituals, such as the presentation of gold ingots, axed.

British coronations have not traditionally been held on a weekend, with the late queens taking place on a Tuesday. It has not yet been confirmed whether there will be any arrangements for a bank holiday in the UK.

Further details are due to be released in due course, but the British government and the royal household will be conscious of the scale of the event in light of the cost-of-living crisis facing the country.

King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla sign the visitors book as they attend an official council meeting at the City Chambers in Dunfermline, Fife, to formally mark the conferral of city status on the former town, ahead of a visit to Dunfermline Abbey to mark its 950th anniversary. Picture: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire

The late queens coronation took place on June 2, 1953  16 months after she became monarch, and there had been speculation Charles would opt for a June date close to or even on the 70th anniversary of his mothers ceremony.

Special seating structures were built inside the church at the time to increase the usual congregation from 2,000 to 8,000. Security will be heightened given the high-profile nature of the day. The king will be anointed, blessed and consecrated by the archbishop.

Charles is expected to sign a proclamation formally declaring the date of the coronation at a meeting of the UK's Privy Council later this year. The king acceded to the British throne on September 8, immediately on the death of his mother, Elizabeth II  the nations longest reigning monarch.

Plans for the major event are known by the codename Operation Golden Orb, which sets out the blueprint for the service and the pageantry surrounding it.

Charles will be anointed by the archbishop and take his oath to maintain and preserve inviolably the settlement of the Church of England, and the doctrine worship, discipline, and government thereof, as the law established in England.

Camilla will be crowned and take her place on a throne.
Burma Civilians Die From Snakebites Myanmar Junta Seizes Medicines

A cobra at the zoo in Yangon. / AFP

Displaced civilians from northern Kantbalu Township in Sagaing Region who are sheltering in forests to avoid Myanmar junta raids are hungry and face deadly snakes.

At least 30 displaced people suffered from snakebites, mostly from vipers, since June and four of them have died, according to civilians. Three snakebites were reported on October 9-10, according to the peoples authorities in the township.

Previously, people mostly fled to monasteries but they are no longer safe so they head into forests. They do not have access to antivenoms in the forests, said a resident.

The authorities said they lack the funds to buy antivenoms and the juntas security checks make supplies unreliable.

A pharmacist from adjacent Kyunhla Township said: We cant order painkillers, even paracetamol, from suppliers because soldiers open packages at checkpoints and seize medicines.

Sagaing, Mandalay and Magwe are home to poisonous snakes.

Antivenoms are either imported from India or produced by the state-owned Myanmar Pharmaceutical Industrial Enterprise (BPI). One antivenom costs between 60,000 kyats (around US$30) and 90,000 kyats. At least three antivenoms need to be administered to treat a snakebite, and in some cases, more than 10 are needed.

When residents appealed to the civilian National Unity Governments health department, they were told the stocks were empty, said a volunteer helping displaced people.

Junta troops in Kantbalu are conducting clearance operations, displacing tens of thousands from more than 12 villages.
Burma Former General and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Ally Dissolves His Union Betterment Party

U Shwe Mann, then leader of the Union Betterment Party, makes a speech during a party meeting in Yangon on June 29, 2019. / AFP

Thura U Shwe Mann, a former military general and one-time ally of now deposed Myanmar leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, on Wednesday announced the dissolution of the Union Betterment Party (UBP) he founded ahead of the 2020 general election.

U Shwe Mann, who was the third most powerful general in the previous junta that ruled Myanmar until early 2011, explained that he and other founding members were getting old, and some were not in good health, making participation in party politics difficult.

The UBPs disbandment comes as the current regime is planning for an election next year. Most people in Myanmar and the global community consider the upcoming poll to be a fraudulent attempt by the junta to legitimise its grip on power.

U Ko Ko Naing, a UBP central executive committee member, declined to comment on the dissolution.

Formed in 2019 and led by U Shwe Mann and other retired senior military officers, the UPB contested 924 seats across the country as the third biggest party in the 2020 general election behind the National League for Democracy (NLD) and the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).

U Shwe Mann supported other party candidates rather than standing himself in the 2020 election, but the UBP failed to win a single seat as the NLD scored a landslide victory.

A decade earlier, he helped the military-proxy USDP to win the 2010 general election, which was boycotted by the NLD. In 2011, he became Speaker of the Pyithu Hluttaw, serving a five-year term. As Speaker, he established good relations with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, which attracted the ire of the military who saw him as a turncoat.

In May 2013, he became USDP chairman and vowed to run for president in 2015. But tensions among the USDP leadership saw him removed from his post in August 2015. He was eventually dismissed from the USDP along with 17 other executive and senior members in April 2016.

After the NLD won the 2015 election, U Shwe Mann served as chairman of the Legal Affairs and Special Cases Assessment Commission from its formation in 2016 up to February 2019, before founding the UBP.

He has kept a low profile since the coup in February last year.
Burma Myanmar Junta Sentences Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to Another Three Years for Corruption

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as Myanmar State Counselor in 2019. / The Irrawaddy

A Myanmar military regime-controlled court on Wednesday sentenced the countrys deposed democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to another three years imprisonment on two more corruption charges, handing her two three-year terms to be served concurrently.

The latest three-year term means Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been sentenced to a total of 26 years in prison so far in 14 cases filed by the junta. She has denied any wrongdoing.

Since her arrest at the time of last years coup, the regime has filed a series of charges against her, ranging from graft to electoral violations.

Wednesdays verdicts were delivered by a special court inside a prison compound in the capital Naypyitaw. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi still faces another five corruption charges filed by the junta.

The regime opened a case under Article 55 of the Anti-Corruption Law last year, alleging that she accepted a bribe from businessman Maung Weik disguised as a donation to her charity, the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation.

The juntas Anti-Corruption Commission filed a complaint against the detained State Counselor in early May last year, alleging that the property developer gave her about US$550,000 in illegal payments between 2018 and 2020 to protect his businesses.

The charge is based on comments Maung Weik made during a regime press conference in March last year.

The owner of Sae Paing Construction Co. said he gave Daw Aung San Suu Kyi four payments: $100,00 in 2018, $150,000 in 2019, $50,000 in February 2020 and $250,000 in April 2020.

However, Maung Weik testified in June this year that an alleged bribe paid to her was really a donation to her charity.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi founded the charity, named after her late mother Daw Khin Kyi, in 2012. The not-for-profit foundation provided free vocational training and carried out humanitarian work. It was financed by donors from around the world.

In the aftermath of the coup, the regime raided the Daw Khin Kyi Foundations offices and seized cash and equipment.

According to sources close to the court, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi appeared in good health during Wednesdays hearing and plans to appeal the verdict.
Burma Sagaing Resistance Groups Report Heavy Myanmar Regime Losses

Taze Peoples Comrades in Taze Township. / TPC

An estimated 20 Myanmar junta soldiers and pro-regime militia members were reportedly killed in resistance ambushes in Taze Township, Sagaing Region, on Tuesday morning.

Taze Peoples Defense Force (PDF) and other resistance groups ambushed around 80 soldiers and Pyu Saw Htee militia members near Shwetakyaw village in the township, the Kaduma Platform, a media wing of the PDF, reported.

The junta troops have been raiding villages in the east of the township since October 6.

During an hour of fighting, 10 regime forces were killed and at least 20 others were injured, Kaduma reported, quoting resistance fighters.

The Irrawaddy was unable to independently verify the casualty numbers.

On Tuesday morning, Taze Peoples Comrades (TPC) of Shwebo District used landmines to ambush regime forces on a bridge, the group claimed.

Quoting junta informants, the TPC claimed to have killed at least 10 soldiers and injured many others.

Troops bodies were reportedly transported to Taze.

On Tuesday afternoon, a helicopter carried away bodies while the injured were treated at Taze Hospital, according to Taze news sites.

Taze is a resistance stronghold with fighting starting on April 7 last year when at least 11 civilians were killed and nearly 30 injured by heavily armed junta troops.

By October 1, 68 civilians had been killed by regime troops while 2,111 civilian houses had been burned in junta arson attacks in the township since the coup last year, according to Taze News that documents regime atrocities.
Burma Three Pilgrims Killed by Myanmar Regime at Golden Rock Pagoda

A worshipper at Kyaik Htee Yoe Pagoda. / AFP

At least three Buddhist pilgrims were killed by Myanmar regime troops who shot out at random after being attacked by an armed group on Wednesday morning at the bottom of the famous Kyaik Htee Yoe Golden Rock pagoda in Mon State.

An anonymous armed group attacked a junta outpost in Kin Mon Chaung village at the foot of the Kyaik Htee Yoe mountain.

None of the attackers were hit or arrested as they retreated. But the troops kept shooting for about 30 minutes in response, killing two female pilgrims on the spot and another woman died on the way to hospital, said a villager.

The pilgrims were waiting for a truck up to the pagoda when the shooting broke out. Thirteen people were treated at Kin Mon Chaung and Kyaikto hospitals with some in a critical condition.

Other resistance attacks have been reported recently in Mon State. No one claimed responsibility for Wednesdays attack.

The regime accused an anti-regime People Defense Force allied with the Karen National Liberation Armys Brigade 1, the civilian National Unity Government and its parliamentary wing for the attack. It said three were killed and 19 injured.

Regime personnel were injured and pictures of two decapitated soldiers circulated online.

Reinforcements from Light Infantry Division 44 and Infantry Battalion 96 have been sent to Kin Mon Chaung since the attack, according to the Kyaikto Information Team.

More shots were reported on Wednesday morning near the peak.

Known internationally as the Golden Rock, the striking Kyaik Htee Yoe pagoda is built on a giant, gold-painted boulder that perches on a mountaintop.
War Against the Junta More Than 40 Myanmar Junta Troops Killed in Two Days of Resistance Attacks

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Over 40 Myanmar junta forces were reportedly killed in the last two days as Peoples Defense Force (PDF) groups continued to attack regime targets in Sagaing, Magwe, Mandalay and Tanintharyi regions and Chin State.

The Irrawaddy has rounded up the following reports of significant PDF attacks and a junta atrocity in which civilian houses were torched:

20 junta soldiers killed in PDF attacks in Sagaing

Ten regime soldiers were reportedly killed between two villages in Taze Township, Sagaing Region on Tuesday morning when two battalions of Taze-PDF and other local resistance groups jointly ambushed a military detachment of 80 troops. The detachment has raided several villages and looted houses in the township since last week, according to local media.

On that morning, Battalion 25 of Shwebo District-PDF and Taze Peoples Comrades also ambushed a military detachment in the township using land mines. In the attack, 10 more soldiers were killed.

In the afternoon, military helicopters reportedly transported the bodies of soldiers who were killed or injured in the PDFs ambushes.

Five regime forces killed in PDF ambush of junta flotilla in Sagaing

Five regime soldiers were reportedly killed in Mingin Township, Sagaing Region on Tuesday morning when the resistance force Chindwin Rangers and two battalions of Mingin-PDF ambushed a military flotilla of 13 motorboats in the Chindwin River.

In the 30-minute ambush, five junta soldiers were killed and many others were injured, the PDF group said. After the clash, regime forces from the flotilla randomly opened fire on nearby villages on the riverbank.

The flotilla also faced a series of PDF ambushes in neighboring Kani Township.

Four junta soldiers killed by PDF drone strikes in Sagaing

Four junta soldiers were reportedly killed in Myaung Township, Sagaing Region on Tuesday evening when three PDF groups used a drone to drop bombs on a military checkpoint in front of a government office, said TGR Women Drone Force, which coordinated the drone strikes.

As a warning attack on government staff contributing to military rule, the groups also bombarded the junta-run immigration office building in the south of Myaung town on that morning.

Aerial video shows PDF drones dropping improvised bombs on regime targets.

Nine regime forces killed in PDF land mines in Mandalay

Nine junta solders were reportedly killed and many others injured in Myingyan Township, Mandalay Region on Tuesday when two PDF groups used seven land mines to ambush a military convoy of five vehicles on a highway, said 27 Revolution Forces, which was involved in the ambush.

In the ambush, two miliary vehicles were damaged. One of the damaged vehicles was abandoned by the soldiers, the PDF group said. Residents are urged by the PDFs to avoid regime forces and military convoys due to potential attacks.

Junta police station bombarded by drones in Mandalay

Shwe Daung Police Station in Wundwin Township, Mandalay Region was bombarded by drones of unknown resistance forces on Tuesday morning, reported Voice of Wundwin, a local media outlet.

However, police casualties are unknown. In the afternoon, ambulances and military vehicles were heading to the police station from the town of Wundwin, the media outlet said.

Junta soldiers killed or injured by PDF mine in Magwe

At least five junta soldiers were believed killed or injured in Tilin Township, Magwe Region on Monday when regime forces triggered a mine planted by Yaw Defense Force-Tilin near a military base in the township, according to the resistance group.

A blast and a series of gunshots were heard from the area at 1 a.m. on Monday. Blood and footprints of regime soldiers were later found when resistance fighters inspected the blast area.

Military vehicle ambushed in Magwe

Myaing-PDF claimed that it and other PDF groups used mines and firearms to ambush a military vehicle traveling from a military base and Kainetaw Police Station in Myaing Township, Magwe Region on Tuesday evening.

PDF video shows the PDF groups engaged in a shootout with junta personnel in the vehicle following a land mine ambush.

However, military casualties are unknown.

24 houses and buildings torched by regime forces in Magwe

A total of 24 houses and buildings in War Thone Aie Village in Myaing Township, Magwe Region were torched by regime forces on Tuesday morning after being occupied by a military detachment, said Spring Revolution-Myaing.

After the arson attacks, the military detachment faced an attack by local resistance forces near a mountain in the township.

Junta-run General Administration office burned in Chin State

The junta-run township General Administration Department office building and City Development Committee office were burned down in Tedim Town, Chin State on Tuesday night, according to local media.

During the fire, sounds of gunfire were also heard in the town. However, the reasons for the fire and gunfire are unknown.

Military convoy ambushed in Tanintharyi

Dawei Guerrilla Revolutionary Force-DGRF claimed to have ambushed a military convoy of nine vehicles between Dawei and Yephyu townships in Tanintharyi Region by using land mines on Tuesday morning.

In the attack, a military vehicle was hit directly by a blast. The PDF group also claimed that it managed to use two land mines to attack regime forces who were in five other vehicles stopped on a bridge and randomly firing at nearby areas.

Many regime personnel were believed killed in the ambushes, the PDF group said.
Automated cybersecurity firm Forescout  Vedere Labs has unveiled research into the riskiest IT, IoT, OT and IoMT devices across enterprise networks, including what it says uncovers what makes the devices so risky and how to mitigate cyber risks affiliated with them.

According to Forescout the growing number and diversity of connected devices in every industry presents new challenges for organisations to understand and manage the risks they are exposed to - and most organisations now host a combination of interconnected IT, OT and IoT devices in their networks that has increased their attack surface.

Forescout notes that according to a recent report by the Ponemon Institute, 65% of responding organisations say that IoT/OT devices are one of the least secured parts of their networks, while 50% say that attacks against these devices have increased - and IT security practitioners in 88% of those organisations have IoT devices connected to the internet, 56% have OT devices connected to the internet and 51% have the OT network connected to the IT network.

Forescout warns that threat actors are well aware of these trends.

Forescout recently reported on how ransomware groups have started massively targeting devices such as NAS, VoIP and hypervisors. Not surprisingly, most of these devices were among the riskiest identified in the 2020 Enterprise of Things Security Report, says Forescout.

Many of the device types observed among the riskiest in 2020 remain in the list, such as networking equipment, VoIP, IP cameras and programmable logic controllers (PLCs). However, new entries such as hypervisors and human machine interfaces (HMIs) are representative of trends including critical vulnerabilities and increased OT connectivity.

Forescout lists 2022s riskiest connected devices:

Using Forescouts scoring methodology, Vedere Labs identified the five riskiest devices in four device categories: IT, IoT, OT and IoMT.

IT: Router, computer, server, wireless access point, and hypervisor

IoT: IP camera, VoIP, video conferencing, ATM, and printer

OT: PLC, HMI, uninterruptible power supply (UPS), environmental monitoring, and building automation controller

IoMT: DICOM workstation, nuclear medicine system, imaging, picture archiving and communications system (PACS), and patient monitor

For an analysis of what makes these devices so risky and their distribution by industry (financial, government, healthcare, manufacturing, and retail) and geography (Americas; Asia-Pacific; Europe; and Middle East, Turkey and Africa), read the full report, says Forescout.

On how organisations can mitigate risk, Daniel dos Santos, head of security research at Forescouts Vedere Labs says We have seen two recurring themes in Vedere Labs research, which this report reinforces.

First, attack surfaces are growing quickly due to more devices being connected to enterprise networks, and second, threat actors are increasingly able to leverage these devices to achieve their goals.

Unfortunately, the attack surface now encompasses IT, IoT and OT in almost every organisation across the globe, with the addition of IoMT in healthcare. It is not enough to focus defences on risky devices in one category, as attackers will leverage devices in different categories to carry out attacks. Vedere Labs has demonstrated this with R4IoT, demonstrating how an attack that starts with an IP camera (IoT), can move to a workstation (IT) and disable PLCs (OT), dos Santos concludes.

Forescout says it advises organisations to undertake proper risk assessment to understand how their attack surface is growing - and granular classification information including device type, vendor, model, and firmware version are required for accurate assessment.

Once this assessment is complete, organisations should mitigate risk with automated controls that are not reliant on security agents, and that apply to the whole enterprise, instead of silos like the IT network, the OT network, or specific types of IoT devices, cautions Forescout.

Once the risk assessment is complete, organisations need to mitigate risk with automated controls that do not rely only on security agents and that apply to the whole enterprise, instead of silos like the IT network, the OT network, or specific types of IoT devices

" Forescout Continuum enables these types of controls by accelerating the design and deployment of dynamic network segmentation across the digital terrain while also automating policy enforcement by enabling countermeasures to mitigate threats, incidents and compliance gaps.

"To understand what makes the riskiest connected devices so risky. Then strive for full visibility into how many are connecting to your digital terrain so you can secure your attack surface."
COMPANY NEWS: Skybox Security , a global leader in Security Posture Management, has appointed Netpoleon as its distributor in Australia and New Zealand.

Paul Lim, regional director of ANZ at Netpoleon, said Netpoleon ASEAN is already a key distributor for Skybox in the South East Asian region. Extending the success of this partnership to Australia is a logical step towards broadening market reach.

Skybox Security regional sales director Michael Cohen runs ANZ, with engineers and marketing staff also based in Sydney.

Shantanu Srivastava, VP for Skybox Security APAC and Japan, said: Working with a distributor that understands our customers needs, has a dense partner ecosystem, and a mature security practice make partnering with Netpoleon a strong choice for our next phase of growth.

Shantanu said that as ANZ enterprises look to keep pace with advancing threats, Skybox unifies vulnerability and policy management capabilities, allowing organisations to create mature, consistent, and enterprise-wide security posture management programs.

Our risk-based approach encompassing security posture management, vulnerability management, and security policy management, gives security teams the means to understand quickly which threats pose the most significant risk and what to do about them.

Skybox customers in ANZ range from major financial organisations to telco and supermarket giants.

Paul Lim said the partnership would see Netpoleon provide professional services capabilities in ANZ to Skybox partners, shortening the time-to-value for customers. There are plans to extend this partnership further in New Zealand and Japan.

Recently Skybox launched a SaaS solution, making it the only major Security Policy and Vulnerability Management vendor with a complete SaaS offering for hybrid environments, and the only company to offer both on-premise and SaaS solutions.

About Skybox Security

Over 500 of the largest and most security-conscious enterprises in the world rely on Skybox for the insights and assurance required to stay ahead of dynamically changing attack surfaces. Our Security Posture Management Platform delivers complete visibility, analytics and automation to quickly map, prioritise and remediate vulnerabilities across your organization. The vendor-agnostic solution intelligently optimises security policies, actions and change processes across all corporate networks and cloud environments. With Skybox, security teams can now focus on the most strategic business initiatives while ensuring enterprises remain protected.

About Netpoleon

Founded in 2000, Netpoleon Group is a value-added distributor (VAD) of network security products, headquartered in Singapore with various full-fledged offices across Asia Pacific region in Australia, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Netpoleon has constantly reinvented to keep abreast with the dynamic needs of an evolving IT landscape. In the process, Netpoleon has established itself as a regional player and a leader in the Southeast Asian Network and cybersecurity industry. To learn more, visit www.netpoleons.com
GUEST RESEARCH: Spryker, the leading platform for enterprise marketplaces, thing commerce, and unified commerce, has today launched its Australian Online Grocery Report 2022. The research of 2,500 Australian consumers finds almost half  48%  of Australians buy least some of their groceries online, with 10% now ordering most or all of their groceries via the internet. In total, 23% of Australian household food budgets is now spent ordering online. The research, conducted by Spryker in partnership with market research firm Appinio, surveyed consumers from across Australia on their experiences and opinions of grocery shopping.

With the Australian grocery market currently valued at $125 billion, there is substantial opportunity for retailers offering services in online grocery shopping. In fact, almost one in five respondents (18%) said they see themselves buying most or all of their groceries online within two years. Currently, shoppers in the 25-44 age group are most likely to order online and spend the highest percentage of their grocery budget online compared to other age groups. However, those in older age groups (45-65) match the younger groups in terms of the total amount spent online  despite this being a lower overall percentage of their grocery budgets. Respondents in the 55-65 age bracket were most likely to cite the desire to avoid crowded supermarkets and thus minimise the risk of contracting Coronavirus as a motivation for shopping online.

A "pleasant" in-store experience

Despite the market expanding, online retailers face one key hurdle  75% of respondents' grocery budgets are being spent offline and 88% of shoppers see in-store supermarket shopping as something pleasant. This is significantly more positive than US sentiment. An equivalent Spryker survey on American online groceries from December 2021 found only 55% of US shoppers thought in-store shopping was a pleasant experience. Even in the mature online grocery market of Germany, 73% of shoppers said they found shopping in-store pleasant according to Spryker's German survey from July 2022.

"Our latest research has shown that Australian shoppers are most focused on lower costs and better product selection when it comes to buying online. Given that the in-store shopping experience is a positive one for the majority of shoppers, tempting them to buy more groceries online will pose a challenge for many retailers. But it's also a huge opportunity," commented Spryker co-founder and CEO Boris Lokschin. "Retailers that are working with composable commerce solutions will be best prepared to grab market share in this sophisticated and dynamic grocery market. Their focus must be on delivering a seamless online shopping experience that exceeds consumers' expectations, and with a best-of-breed approach, retailers can have the flexibility to adjust to changing customer needs. Whether offering wider product choices, flexible delivery and collection options, or uniting with on-demand delivery partners, the Australian online grocery market has significant growth potential for organisations willing to provide a top digital commerce experience."

The online winners and offline losers

Looking at who misses out when shoppers made more online purchases, 22% of respondents reported heavy cuts to their spending in health food stores, while a further 15% reduced spending at local farm shops and open-air markets. Surprisingly, only 4% reported spending less at supermarkets. Drilling into this, the duopoly between Coles and Woolworths, both of whom have significantly invested in their unified commerce experiences  enabling them to offer flexible in-store, online, curb-side pick-up and home delivery easily  accounts for the minimal reduction in spending at supermarkets over any channel.

Meanwhile, 10% of shoppers also said they bought markedly less at discount retailers. Therefore, an opportunity exists for these discount retailers, with 87% of respondents saying they would do more food shopping online if prices were lower. Given that only 4.4% of the Australian population lives more than 20 minutes from a supermarket, lower pricing could help to grow online buying for discount retailers and tempt people away from supermarkets within their 20-minute radius. Beyond price, consumers can potentially be lured away from mainstream supermarkets by a wide range of service factors including easier user interfaces (75% likely or very likely), wider product ranges (77%), better availability nearby (78%), and faster delivery (76%).

Another category that could benefit from improved digital commerce experiences are local retailers. Many consumers would like to see their local suppliers offering online options: a full 40% want to order from local markets and farmers online. In addition, 25% of respondents think that organic shops should be online. When asked which specific provider they would like to see online, 12% of respondents mentioned Perth-located Farmer Jack's, making this Western-Australia-based provider of regional, local, and organic food the fifth-most frequent answer given  a strong showing, particularly given that only 11% of Australians live in the state.

Amazon unable to stand out

Despite Amazon's significant investment in the online grocery market  both globally and in Australia, only 42% of Australian consumers cited Amazon when given a list of online food delivery operators and asked which ones they recognised. Meanwhile, 84% of survey respondents recognised Uber Eats, and 77% recognised Menulog; Doordash followed in third place with 75% brand recognition, with Deliveroo fifth at 66%. Looking beyond just recognition, 62% of respondents said they use Uber Eats (24% regularly) and 31% are Deliveroo customers (8% regularly) highlighting how well established those two brands have become in Australia.

The full Australian Online Grocery Report 2022 is available here.

Methodology

The Australian Online Grocery Report 2022 is based on a study run by Appinio and digital commerce platform provider Spryker in mid-2022. Appinio asked 2,500 respondents a range of detailed questions about their experiences of online grocery shopping to date and their opinions regarding it. The result is the largest and most detailed set of data currently available about online food shopping habits in Australia. Survey participants were between 16 and 65 years of age (average age: 39.5) and lived in Australia at the time at which they took part; 21.6% lived in towns or areas with fewer than 50,000 inhabitants, while 25.7% were in towns with a population of up to 250,000. 13.5% of respondents resided in smaller cities (250,000 to 750,000), with 39.2% in the country's five largest conurbations Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, and Adelaide.

About Appinio

Hamburg-based Appinio is the global market research platform which enables companies to source thousands of opinions from specific target audiences worldwide - in just a few minutes. For the first time, everyone can validate decisions and ideas in real-time with representative results from consumers. As the fastest solution for market research, Appinio delivers feedback from 90+ markets. More than 1000 companies from all industries use Appinio's comprehensive platform to become more agile and customer-centric. Customers include VW, Unilever, Netflix, Gorillas, Bertelsmann, Warner Brothers, Samsung, Jagermeister, Red Bull and About You as well as all major agencies and management consultancies. Appinio has received several awards, including the Top European Business Startup at the Pioneers Festival, the Best of Mobile and the Best of Hamburg Award. Jonathan Kurfess, Founder and CEO of Appinio, belongs to Forbes 30 under 30 in Europe 2020.

About Spryker

Spryker is the leading composable commerce platform for enterprises with sophisticated business models to enable growth, innovation, and differentiation. Designed specifically for sophisticated transactional business, Spryker's easy-to-use, headless, API-first model offers a best-of-breed approach that provides businesses the flexibility to adapt, scale, and quickly go to market while facilitating faster time-to-value throughout their digital transformation journey. As a global platform leader for B2B and B2C Enterprise Marketplaces, Thing Commerce, and Unified Commerce, Spryker has empowered 150+ global enterprise customers worldwide and is trusted by brands such as Aldi, Siemens, Hilti, and Ricoh. Spryker was recognised by Gartner as a Visionary in the 2022 Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce and was also ranked as a Strong Performer in The Forrester Wave: B2B Commerce Solutions, Q2 2022. Spryker is a privately held technology company headquartered in Berlin and New York. Find out more at https://spryker.com.
John Mullen: "Let me be blunt, however, and say that it is easy to be critical when it isnt you in the firing line."

Telstra chairman John Mullen has defended Optus over the recent major data breach, saying it was easy to be critical of another company's performance when one was not in the firing line.

Mullen told the company's AGM on Tuesday: "...may I just say that it is easy for third parties to be critical of companies who have suffered devastating cyber-attacks such as happened recently to Optus.

"Let me be blunt, however, and say that it is easy to be critical when it isnt you in the firing line, and we should all avoid hubris because no-one can be complacent and no organisation can ever be 100% sure that it is completely protected and safe.

"The threat and sophistication of the attackers grows every day, and to address the threat business needs to put aside competitive rivalry, and work constructively across industries, with government, and with the community to protect Australia from this modern scourge."

Telstrarecently, with a third-party provider taking a hit, though it was much smaller than the leak which affected Optus. Mullen made no mention of this.

He also listed the progress Telstra had made, saying the T22 strategy, announced in 2018, had now been successfully completed. Mullen said: "Looking ahead, and the company has now moved from T22 to T25... [which] marks an exciting new era in Telstras history, one that will see us accelerate growth from our core as well as continuing to scale our successful Health and International businesses."

The T22 strategy was launched by former chief executive Andy Penn and was forecast to involve a net reduction of 8000 employees and contractors by this year.

Two to four layers of management were expected to be reduced, with one in four executive and middle management roles to be axed.

Said Mullen: "The strategy leveraged many of the significant capabilities we had already built through a strategic investment of $3 billion to create the Networks for the Future and to digitise the business.

"And this year, I am delighted to report, the past four years of discipline, focus and hard work have paid off and the underlying business of your company grew in FY22, and is now positioned for continued growth."

The telco, Australia's biggest, reported a drop in income and profit for the full-year 2022 in August but increased the dividend it paid out for the first time in seven years.

The new chief executive will be Vicki Brady, who was chief financial officer under Penn.

Mullen said Telstra had reduced the number of in-market products and services for consumers from 1800 to just 20 and dropped lock-in contracts, excess data and other charges.

"Our 5G network is the largest and fastest in the country, covering 80% of the population and it is among the very best globally," he said.

"Our total network now covers 99.5% of all Australians and stands at over 2.6 million square kilometres. We have completely modernised and digitised our systems.

"Our direct headcount has been reduced by approximately 8000 but simultaneously we have recruited 1500 new hires in software engineering, data analytics, artificial intelligence and cyber security."

He said the acquisition of the Digicel Pacific business, which was mostly financed by the Federal Government, had brought in 2.8 million more customers.

"In October last year we announced the acquisition, in partnership with the Australian Government, of Digicel Pacific adding leading mobile businesses in PNG, Fiji, Vanuatu, Tonga, Nauru and Samoa with 2.8 million customers to our international business. We completed this acquisition in July this year," Mullen noted.

In her address, Brady referred to the Telstra breach, saying "I want to be clear that this was not a breach of any Telstra system, and did not involve any customer data."

She said: "...we will take the same transparent and disciplined approach to T25 as we did to T22. That means we will continue to publish a scorecard that clearly shows our progress against our commitments and metrics.

"Today you heard the chairman call out some of our early progress in his speech  including our inter-city fibre build and our support of the Viasat satellite ground network."
Thirteen years ago, as Indian students were being beaten up left, right and centre in Melbourne, India was anything but flavour of the month Down Under.

But now, things have dramatically changed and Australia simply cannot find enough occasions to drool over India and its Prime Minister Narendra Modi, especially when issues pertaining to the Quad  a flimsy security partnership involving Australia, the US, Japan and India  are discussed.

Suffice it to say that while Australia is ever alert to any report that China is violating human rights, Canberra turns deaf, dumb and blind when there is any such charge against India.

The latest love-in was witnessed this week when Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar faced the media along with Australian Foreign Minister Senator Penny Wong in Canberra.

{loadposition sam08{The Age quoted Senator Wong as saying: "The Quad is functioning extremely well. The level of strategic trust and strategic consistency among Quad partners is deep and firm.

It isn't said openly, but all this deep love for India is solely because Australia wants to hide behind its skirts if and when China threatens. That is all the so-called Quad is: a bulwark that the Americans have devised against Beijing's alleged expansionist policies in the hope that they will not have to face the music.

On Monday, that august institution, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, which claims to be an independent think-tank but which, in the main, is a lobby group for American tech firms and weapons manufacturers was hard at work beating the India-is-a-good-boy drum.

Given ASPI's focus, there was an almighty effort by both Baani Grewal, an analyst at the institute's International Cyber Policy Centre, and Justin Bassi, executive director, to paint India in a very good light. Their entire pitch was hosted by the Australian Financial Review.

"...the impression is that India is playing spoiler to Western efforts on Russia and was a latecomer to resisting Chinese regional hegemony via the Quad," the ASPI duo wrote, hastening to add, "...this is a fundamental misunderstanding of Indias history, ambitions and present predicament. What needs to be understood, including in Canberra, is that the real game is Indias monumental shift from non-alignment to the role of strategic balancer and that this realignment is vital for Australias long-term security and wider Indo-Pacific stability."

Given that this relationship is driven by fear, Australia maintains a studious silence on the violations of human rights in India. After all, if you are looking to a country to act as some kind of shield, one cannot also reveal that country's warts. During this entire year, I have seen just one article critical of India in the Australian media  and that was in The Saturday Paper, a leftist-oriented broadsheet with a very small circulation.

The headline said it all: "The rise of far-right Hindu nationalism in Australia." Author Santilla Chingaipe did not mince any words: "This week [the article was published on 20 August] marks 75 years since India became independent from British Colonial rule.

"One of the post-independence ideals of which many Indians are proud is religious tolerance. But in the years since Prime Minister Narendra Modis ruling Bharatiya Janata Party came to power, theres been an increase in Hindu nationalism.

"This has reportedly led to an increase in violence against those who go against this ideology. There are fears violence might make its way to Australia."

Needless to say, no Australian politician has ever raised this issue. Modi revoked the autonomous status of the Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir in 2019 and there has been little or no outcry from the West about the way Muslims have been treated since then.

In January this year, Forbes reported that a panel of three international law experts launched a report on serious human rights violations against Muslims in India since 2019.

It "found that there is credible evidence to suggest that a wide range of international human rights of Muslim communities have been violated by the authorities in India.

"According to the evidence reviewed, federal and state-level authorities 'adopted a wide range of laws, policies and conduct that target Muslims directly or affect them disproportionately'."

The only Australian politician who has raised doubts about India as a security partner is the former prime minister Paul Keating; his criticisms were made as part of the doubts he raised about the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal Australia has struck with the US and the UK.

"The Quad has only one objective and that is to contain China," Keating wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald in September last year. And he went on: "The moment a loud shot was fired, the Indians would lock themselves in their peninsula... India is having us all on. India enjoys the impenetrable wall of the Himalayas on its north and the protection of two oceans around its distended peninsula. And it has a population younger and as large as that of China. It is in an undefeatable position."

The very next month, Keating's arguments were questioned in the same newspaper, by someone named Lavina Lee who was described as a senior lecturer in international relations in the Department of Modern History, Politics and International Relations at Macquarie University. The SMH conveniently forgot to mention that Lee is a member of the ASPI Council.

Few in the Australian media dare to question the country's foreign policy  which is, in the main, dictated from Washington. As long as that state of play exists, we will continue to see India being flattered and curtsied to in public. How much good it will do for Australia's defence is a very big question.
This Week in Review

A weekly review of the best and most popular stories published in the Imperial Valley Press. Also, featured upcoming events, new movies at local theaters, the week in photos and much more.
FILE - Petteri Taalas, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), presents the report "2021 State of Climate Services: Water", during press conference, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, on Oct. 5, 2021. The head of the U.N. weather agency says the war in Ukraine may be seen as a blessing from a climate perspective because it is accelerating the development of and investment in green energies over the longer term  even though fossil fuels are being used at a time of high demand now.
Monticello, IL (61856)

Today

Clear skies. Widespread frost likely. Low 28F. Winds NW at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Clear skies. Widespread frost likely. Low 28F. Winds NW at 10 to 20 mph.
Tibet sees double-digit annual growth of consumption expenditure over past decade

Xinhua) 16:35, October 12, 2022

LHASA, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region has seen the per capita consumption expenditure of its residents surging over the past 10 years thanks to their rising income, authorities said Tuesday.

The per capita consumption expenditure of urban residents in the region reached 28,159 yuan (about 3,960 U.S. dollars) in 2021, with an annual growth of 10.8 percent on average over the past decade, while that of rural residents reached 10,577 yuan, with an average annual growth of 15.2 percent over the past decade, Sonam Tashi, head of the regional statistics bureau, told a press conference.

In 2021, every 100 households in Tibet owned 38.9 private cars, 92 washing machines, and more than 200 mobile phones, according to Sonam Tashi.

The rising consumption expenditure benefits mainly from the residents' increasing incomes over the past decade.

(Web editor: Cai Hairuo, Hongyu)
China and Russia will lose a trusted ally in the UN Human Rights Council after Venezuela, which stands accused of serious violations, failed Tuesday to renew its seat.

"Great news that UN General Assembly rejected Venezuela's re-election bid," Louis Charbonneau, UN director at Human Rights Watch, tweeted after the vote.

Fourteen seats -- nearly a third of the 47-member council -- were up for grabs during Tuesday's vote in New York, although there was only suspense around a small portion of them.

Rights council membership is divided between five regional groups, which typically pre-select the candidate countries for the three-year term ahead of the vote, leaving little room for competition.

There were however competitive races in two regions this year: Asia-Pacific, where there were six candidates for four seats, and Latin America and the Caribbean, where three candidates contested two seats.

In the latter group, Venezuela was running against Chile and Costa Rica.

- 'Unfit for membership' -

Human Rights Watch and other groups had urged nations not to vote for Venezuela, pointing to findings by UN investigators suggesting President Nicolas Maduro and other members of his government are behind crimes against humanity in the country.

"Venezuela's vengeful assault on critics of the government makes the country unfit for membership in the UN's top rights body," Charbonneau said before the vote, warning that handing Caracas a seat "would undermine the UN's credibility".

When the count around the large UN General Assembly hall was done, Venezuela secured only 88 votes, falling short of the required 97-vote majority and far behind the 144 votes taken by Chile and 134 for Costa Rica.

The composition of the council matters, especially as swelling geopolitical tensions increasingly colour the debates and votes in the Geneva-based body.

Tuesday's vote came on the heels of a historic council session marked by the first-ever attempts to push through resolutions targeting China and the situation inside Russia.

The council accepted the resolution brought by most EU countries calling for a special rapporteur to monitor the rights situation in Russia, amid concerns of domestic crackdown as Moscow's war rages in neighbouring Ukraine.

But it narrowly rejected a more tepid text put forward by the United States merely asking for a debate on violations in Xinjiang.

The proposal came after a UN report cited possible crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in the far-western Chinese region.

- 'Consistent ally' -

While this was a heavy defeat for Western nations, and appeared to signal a shifting power balance in the council, observers suggest a few changes in the body's membership could allow the next resolution targeting China to pass.

New council members with a "more robust and principled approach" to human rights crises could "greatly increase" the chances of a future initiative on China succeeding, said Raphael Viana David of the International Service for Human Rights.

Venezuela was staunchly in the 'no' camp on both those votes, and is among the nations that repeatedly slam attempts to call out abuses by specific countries at the council as a "politicisation" of human rights.

"Venezuela has been a consistent ally of both China and Russia at the council," ISHR's Tess McEvoy told AFP.
President Joe Bidens administration said Wednesday it will win China as the United States sole global rival, although it is also working to contain a dangerous Russia.

The post-Cold War era is over, and the competition is on between the great powers to shape what comes next, Jake Sullivan, Bidens national security adviser, said in a speech at Georgetown University to address the national present security strategy.

The strategy said the 2020s would be a defining decade for America and the world  to reduce conflict, promote democracy over authoritarianism, and confront the key shared threat of climate change.

We will prioritize maintaining an enduring competitive advantage over the PRC while curtailing a still deeply dangerous Russia, the strategy said, referring to the Peoples Republic of China.

Vladimir Putins Russia poses an imminent threat to the free and open international system and today recklessly disregards the fundamental laws of the international order, as his brutal war of aggression against Ukraine has shown, the strategy added.

China, on the other hand, is the only competitor that both intends to transform the international order and increasingly has the economic, diplomatic, military, and technological might to advance that goal.

The strategys release was delayed by the Ukraine war as Biden spent most of this year rallying anti-Russia allies and bringing billions of dollars in weapons to Kyiv, but it remains broadly consistent with preliminary guidance released shortly after his assumption of office in January 2021.

I dont think the war in Ukraine fundamentally changed Joe Bidens approach to foreign policy, which predates his presidency, Sullivan previously told reporters.

But I believe it encapsulates in vivid color the key elements of our approach  the emphasis on allies, the importance of strengthening the hand of the democratic world and standing up for our fellow democracies and for democratic values, he said.

 China aims to become worlds leading power 

The strategy said the United States is ready to also work with competitors on common interests amid the Biden teams talks with top carbon emitter China over climate change, which it describes as the existential challenge of our time.

But the White House stressed the risks from China, warning that its rapid advances in technology are aimed at shaping the world order in support of its own authoritarian model.

Despite Beijings repeated denials that it seeks hegemony, the strategy said China has ambitions to create an enlarged sphere of influence in the Indo-Pacific and to become the worlds leading power, using the USs preferred term for the broader Asian region .

The White House also linked a burgeoning China to Bidens vow to prioritize the US middle class, saying Beijing is trying to keep the world dependent on its economy while restricting access to its own billion-dollar market.

The strategy called for big domestic investments two months after Biden signed a $52 billion package to improve US semiconductor-building capacity, but also said the United States was trying to peacefully agree with China coexist and manage the competition responsibly.

We dont seek to see the competition devolve into confrontation or a new cold war, and we dont engage in each country simply as a proxy battlefield, Sullivan said.

The strategy release comes as Biden promises a reassessment of ties with a longtime US ally, Saudi Arabia, which was looking to cut oil production  benefiting energy exporter Russia and potentially raising gas prices for American consumers weeks before the congressional election.

Amid reconciliation between Israel and the Arab Gulf states, the strategy called for a more integrated Middle East that would reduce the long-term resource needs of the United States, which has provided security to oil-producing nations for decades.

The strategy also recognized the need to address democratic shortcomings at home, where former President Donald Trump refused to concede defeat in the 2020 election and his supporters led a deadly attack on the US Capitol.
SAN DIEGO, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE)  Shareholder rights law firm Johnson Fistel, LLP has opened an investigation into whether the directors of ForgeRock, Inc. (NYSE: FORG) breached their fiduciary duties in connection with the proposed sale of the company to Thoma Bravo.

On October 11, 2022, ForgeRock announced that it was being acquired by private equity firm Thoma Bravo in a $2.3 billion cash transaction. Under the terms of the agreement, Thoma Bravo will acquire the company for $23.25 per share.

You may click or copy and paste the link below to participate in this investigation:

https://www.johnsonfistel.com/investigations/forgerock-inc

The investigation concerns whether ForgeRocks board of directors failed to fulfill its responsibilities to the companys shareholders, including whether the board of directors appropriately pursued acquisition alternatives and whether the board of directors obtained the best possible price for ForgeRocks common stock. Johnson Fistel has national recognition and is investigating whether the proposed deal represents reasonable consideration, especially given that a Wall Street analyst had a $26.00 target price on the stock. Additionally, ForgeRock went public in 2021 at $25.00 per share and since the IPO the stock has peaked at $47.15.

If you are a ForgeRock shareholder and believe the proposed acquisition price is too low, or would like to learn more about the investigation, please contact lead analyst Jim Baker ([email protected]) at 619-814-4471. When emailing, please include your phone number.

About Johnson Fistula, LLP:

Johnson Fistel, LLP is a nationally recognized shareholder rights law firm with offices in California, New York and Georgia. The firm represents individual and institutional investors in class action lawsuits involving shareholder derivatives and securities. For more information about the firm and its attorneys, visit https://www.johnsonfistula.com . attorney advertising. Past results do not guarantee future results.

Contact:

Johnson
North Korea has tested a pair of long-range strategic cruise missiles and leader Kim Jong Un has welcomed another successful demonstration of the countrys tactical nuclear strike capability, state media reported Thursday.

It was the latest in a series of provocative weapons tests that have seen tensions soar on the Korean Peninsula  and fueled fears that Pyongyang could conduct its first nuclear test since 2017.

Kim personally oversaw testing of the missiles Wednesday, which flew 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) over the sea, the Korean Central News Agency said. It said the projectiles hit their intended targets but didnt specify which ones.

The North Korean leader expressed great satisfaction with the tests aimed at increasing the combat effectiveness of the missiles used by the Korean Peoples Army units for tactical nuclear weapons operation, KCNA said.

North Korea said this week its latest missile tests included tactical nuclear exercises to simulate an attack on the south.

Kim said after Wednesdays tests that North Korea must expand the operational area of ??strategic nuclear forces, KCNA said.

Kim Jong Un stressed that we should focus all efforts on the endless and accelerating development of national nuclear forces, it said.

Kim made acquiring tactical nuclear weapons  smaller, lighter weapons designed for use on the battlefield  a top priority at a key party convention in January 2021, and vowed this year to build North Koreas nuclear forces as quickly as possible.

 military exercises 

The country revised its nuclear laws last month to allow for pre-emptive strikes, with Kim declaring North Korea an irreversible nuclear power  effectively ending the possibility of negotiations over its arsenal.

Since then, Seoul, Tokyo and Washington have intensified combined military exercises, including twice deploying a US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to the region, infuriating Pyongyang, which sees such exercises as rehearsals for an invasion.

In response, North Korea decided to organize military exercises under the simulation of an actual war that hit South Koreas ports, airports and military command facilities, KCNA said Monday.

North Korean army units involved in the tactical nuclear weapons operation conducted military exercises from Sept. 25 to Oct. 9 to test and assess war deterrence and nuclear counterattack capability, the agency said.

Kim also oversaw those tests, it said.

That report also said that North Koreas Oct. 4 missile launch, which overflyed Japan and triggered infrequent evacuation alerts, included a novel medium-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile.
Thailand will tighten its gun ownership and drug laws, the interior ministry said Wednesday after the massacre of 36 people  including 24 children  in a kindergarten was the kingdoms worst mass killing.

The country was rocked after a former police officer broke into a small kindergarten in north-east Na Klang last week and murdered 24 children and their teacher before killing his wife, their child and himself.

The attack was carried out with a knife and a legally acquired weapon, and although Thailand has a large number of firearms in circulation  one estimate says there are up to one in seven firearms per person  mass shootings are rare.

Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda said Wednesday the government will require stricter qualifications for new gun owners and strengthen checks on existing gun owners.

Our new qualification will include mental health reports, we will consider whether we need evidence from doctors, he told a news conference, without giving further details.

Gun applicants are already required to undergo a background check and provide a valid reason for ownership  such as hunting or self-defense.

For example, if officials want to possess a gun, their supervisors must confirm that that person has no record of alcohol abuse or bad temper, Anupong said.

Village leaders or local officials will play a role in issuing the stricter gun licenses, he said.

Currently, gun owners are not required to reapply for licenses during the lifetime of a firearm.

But now, licensed gun owners are required to undergo inspections every three to five years, Anupong said.

As times change, people change, he explained.

Parliament will also discuss an exceptional penalty for illegal gun owners, Anupong said, adding that individuals will be able to hand over unauthorized firearms to authorities without being prosecuted  although he did not specify by when they will do so have to.

Those who still possess illegal guns will face stiff penalties, he said.

Anupong added that his ministry will work with the police and health departments to improve drug screening and awareness, and encourage addicts to seek rehabilitation.

If everyone in the city knows drugs exist but the local authorities dont, they transfer them, he said.

The kindergarten attacker, 34-year-old fired police sergeant Panya Khamrab, was fired from his post earlier this year on a drug charge, with locals saying they suspect he is a methamphetamine addict.
International supporters of Ukraine on Wednesday vowed to deliver new air defenses as soon as possible as Kyiv urged them to step up protection against Russias missile attack.

A US-led group of around 50 countries held talks at NATO headquarters in Brussels focusing on air defenses after Russian President Vladimir Putin unleashed a barrage over Ukraine following an explosion on a bridge to the annexed Crimea peninsula.

When asked what he hoped the meeting would bring, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said just three words: air defense systems.

Western allies have been scrambling to figure out how to ship more advanced systems to Ukraine, as diplomats admit they have few left.

The systems will be deployed as soon as we can physically get them there, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said after the meeting, without giving details of new commitments.

We will provide systems that we have at our disposal We will also try to provide additional ammunition to the existing systems that the Ukrainian Armed Forces use.

A first Iris-T medium-range system has arrived in Ukraine after Germany decided to ship it before it was even handed over to its own troops.

The United States has also said it will expedite delivery of its NASAMS missile and anti-drone systems to Kyiv, and a first batch of two is expected in the coming weeks.

Delivery of another six units could take much longer as they need to be manufactured, and US sources said Washington was considering the possibility of trying to bring Cold War-era Hawk systems to Ukraine in the meantime.

There are other systems around the world that are available, U.S. Supreme General Mark Milley said.

The task will be to bring them together and use them.

 key moment 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday called on the G7 leaders to help set up an air shield over his country, more than seven months after the war against Moscow began.

Austin said the determination of Ukraines allies to support Kyiv was reinforced by the deliberate cruelty of Russias new barrage against Ukraines cities.

These attacks on non-military targets have once again exposed the malice of Putins war of choice, he said.

NATO defense ministers, who are due to meet on Thursday, are urging to stock up their overall stockpiles of weapons as the war in Ukraine depleted their shelves.

NATO members have shipped billions of dollars worth of arms to fight Russias more than seven-month invasion of Ukraine and have vowed to keep supplies going as Kyiv pushes to retake occupied territories.

Allies have supported Ukraine by reducing NATO supplies, ammunition or weapons. That was correct, but of course we have to look at how we can replenish those stocks, Stoltenberg said.

I expect ministers will agree to review our guidance on equities and also engage more with the industry.

The NATO chief said the meeting in Brussels comes at a crucial moment as Putin has been tracking battlefield losses through the annexation of confiscated territories and the issue of veiled nuclear threats.

Western powers say they have seen no change in Moscows nuclear stance that would indicate it is preparing for a strike. They have warned Moscow against deploying a small, tactical nuclear bomb in Ukraine.
To further immerse themselves with their new acting character, some South Korean stars have sacrificed their long locks for roles. Some of them replaced their long hair with a bolder hairstyle, wowing viewers and fans all over the world.

Here are five popular actresses who underwent a hair transformation for a drama. Read on to know more!

Lee Sung Kyung

For her iconic K-drama "Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo," Lee Sung Kyung chopped her long honey blonde hair to a bob coupled with choppy bangs.

Despite being unconventional, the hairdo didn't look tacky on the actress, and even suited her character perfectly.

Her short locks even became a trend during the drama's broadcast for its playful and bright vibe.



Kim Ji Won

When Kim Ji Won played an army surgeon in "Descendants of the Sun," the actress was told to cut her hair off.

Thankfully, fans and viewers received the major hair transformation well. Through the drama, Kim Ji Won's career skyrocketed.

It was Kim Ji Won's first appearance in a drama donning short hair which gave off a lovely yet chic aura.



Song Hye Kyo

Not many K-Drama fans know that Song Hye Kyo sacrificed her long luscious hair for a new image in a new drama.

During the filming of her series "Encounter," Song Hye Kyo maintained a short bob with a fringe to keep a mature yet radiant beauty.

After the series, Song Hye Kyo grew out her hair long once again but she wants the fans to know that she's up for a challenge anytime, may it be cutting precious hair for work!

Krystal Jung

For a long time, Krystal Jung showed off her ethereal beauty during her idol days, dyeing her hair from red and blonde.

When she ventured into acting, she was asked to cut her hair in order to synchronize with her character in "Prison Playbook."

Although it looked great on her, many fans didn't like the wavy bob hairdo as it makes her look older and fatter, according to South Korean fans.

Due to this, Krystal Jung grew her hair back and has maintained longer tresses up until this writing.

Bae Suzy

Unlike Krystal Jung, Bae Suzy has cut her hair shorter before during her idol days. That's why when she underwent a hair transformation in "While You Were Sleeping," many fans were overjoyed.

Thankfully, the short, layered hair complemented her delicate facial features and innocent vibe, proving her title as the nation's first love.

Which actress' short hair did you like best? Share it with us in the comments below!





KDramaStars owns this article.

Written by Elijah Mully.
Finally, the long wait is over as Song Joong Ki's new drama "Reborn Rich" has confirmed its release date.

JTBC released the drama's poster, teasing viewers on what to expect in the upcoming revenge series.

JTBC Unveils Teaser of Song Joong Ki's New Drama 'Reborn Rich'

On the broadcast network's official Instagram, it introduces the cast of "Reborn Rich," also known as "The Youngest Son of a Conglomerate."

As seen in the teaser, the Sunyang Family is headed by the patriarch Jin Yang Chul, played by Lee Sung Min. However, Song Joong Ki's character caught the attention as he appeared beyond the torn pieces, stimulating the viewers' curiosity.

Hinting at the long-awaited revenge, the caption reads, "I am reborn with the roots of the family that killed me," suggesting a hidden story behind Korea's top family, the Sunyang clan.

Apart from the Hallyu actor and Lee Sung Min, the "Reborn Rich" cast includes Shin Hyun Bin, Girls' Generation's Tiffany, Kim Nam Hee, Jo Han Chul, Kim Jung Nan, Yoon Je Moon, Kim Young Jae, and more.

Interestingly, fans were thrilled as the network unveiled the teaser showing the stunning cast lineup for the forthcoming series.

In the comments section, viewers expressed how excited they are to see Song Joong Ki return to the small screen.

Meanwhile, others can't wait to see Girls' Generation's Tiffany on her K-drama debut.

Release Date and Where to Watch 'Reborn Rich'

With a total of 16 episodes, Song Joong Ki's new drama "Reborn Rich" will officially premiere on November 18 at 10:30 pm KST.

Interestingly, viewers will get to see more of the cast as the upcoming K-drama will be aired thrice a week and will be the newest Friday, Saturday, and Sunday drama.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Song Joong Ki Agrees to Star in 'Hwaran' With 'No Pay' For THIS Reason

As for the broadcast channel, "Reborn Rich" will be on jTBC and ViuTV for subtitles.

Why 'Reborn Rich' Is a Must-Watch K-drama

Apart from the roster of talented stars, "Reborn Rich" is gaining the hype as this is Song Joong Ki's K-drama comeback since the hit series "Vincenzo."

In addition, viewers are also excited to see the Hallyu star team up with "Hospital Playlist" actress Shin Hyun Bin.

On his return to the small screen, Song Joong Ki plays Sunyang's Yoon Hyun Woo, one of the company's loyal employees who was framed for embezzlement and murdered by his own boss' men.

Surprisingly, he was reborn as the chaebol's youngest son, Jin Do Joon, and took it as his opportunity for revenge.

As he plans his vengeance, he encounters prosecutor Seo Min Young, played by Shin Hyun Bin, who comes from a prestigious legal family. She is known as a fearless prosecutor, dubbed as "Sunyang Group's grim reaper."

Meanwhile, veteran actor Lee Sung Min, who also appeared in Netflix "Juvenile Justice" plays Sunyang Group's CEO Jin Yang Chul.

On the other hand, the family's oldest, Jin Young Ki, will be portrayed by Yoon Je Moon while his wife will be Kim Jung Nan who took the role of Son Jung Rae

As for the second eldest son, Jin Dong Ki, he will be played by "Vincenzo" actor Jo Han Chul.

KDramastars owns this article

Written by Geca Wills
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Aydin Coban is shown in this handout photo from the time of his arrest by Dutch police, entered into an exhibit at his trial in British Columbia Supreme Court in New Westminster. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-DUTCH POLICE **MANDATORY CREDIT**
Kennesaw State students encouraged by female leaders at Women in Science Forum

KENNESAW, Ga. | Oct 12, 2022

Several themes were present throughout Mondays Women in Science Forum on Kennesaw State Universitys Marietta Campus: work hard, accept all opportunities, and advocate for yourself and others.

The forum, organized by KSUs Office of Research, helped kick off a week of events celebrating the upcoming investiture of Kathy Schwaig, Kennesaw States sixth president and third female in the Universitys history.

There is no better way for us to mark this investiture week than to hear from these four incredibly accomplished female scientists and leaders, said Phaedra Corso, vice president for research. Their accomplishments demonstrate that there are no limitations to the potential for women to excel in any discipline.

The panelists represented an array of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. They discussed challenges faced throughout their careers and how they overcame them, attributes that make good leaders, and how important it is for students and young professionals to have a mentor. They were also asked about advice they would give to students.

L to R: Stacey Young-McCaughan, Nancy Messonnier, President Kathy Schwaig, Marija Mikic, Komal Patel, Phaedra Corso

Komal Patel, a senior manager at Lockheed Martin, emphasized the importance of not having regrets and being eager about accepting opportunities.

Say yes to every opportunity, because each one will teach you something about yourself, your skills, and your goals, Patel said.

Nancy Messonnier, Dean of the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a former senior leader at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said everyone experiences challenges in their career but its important to stay true to yourself.

You have moments in your life when you decide who you are and what youre going to do next, Messonnier said. When asked about advice she would give to students, Messonnier said to engage with faculty members, because they are eager to mentor students and help them achieve their dreams.

When asked about mentorship, the group discussed how important it is for leaders in industry and academic settings to advocate for other women.

Helping women remove that cloud of doubt they may have about their skills or experience goes a long way, said Marija Mikic, senior engineering director in YouTube Ads and site lead for Google Los Angeles.

Stacey Young-McCaughan, who currently serves as Director of Research for the STRONG STAR Consortium at University of Texas Health San Antonios School of Medicine and retired from the Army in 2008 after serving 29 years as an Army Nurse Corps Officer, encouraged women to never discount themselves in male-dominated fields.

We all face challenges, but I have not felt discounted for being a woman, Young-McCaughan said. I dont give up on my ideas, and I think thats a good attitude to keep in mind. You might have a great idea in your career, and the timing might not be perfect, but your opportunity will come and you need to be ready to seize that opportunity.

For the first time in Kennesaw State Universitys history, female students make up the majority of the incoming freshman class, the entire undergraduate student body, and the graduate student body.

Since KSUs elevation to R2 status in 2018, women have played an increasingly prominent role in the research undertakings of the University, Corso said, noting that 57% of last years First-Year Scholars in the Office of Undergraduate Research were women.

Several students attended the forum, including freshman biology major Alyssa Dance, who felt inspired after the discussion.

It was interesting to hear from women who have difficult careers, but who had similar messages for women interested in science, said Dance, who hopes to attend medical school. I aspire to have their confidence.

The event concluded with a reception, sponsored by the KSU Alumni Association, in honor of Schwaigs presidential investiture, which will be held on Thursday, Oct. 13.

 Abbey OBrien Barrows

Photos by Matt Yung and Darnell Wilburn

Related Stories

A leader in innovative teaching and learning, Kennesaw State University offers undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees to its nearly 43,000 students. With 11 colleges on two metro Atlanta campuses, Kennesaw State is a member of the University System of Georgia. The universitys vibrant campus culture, diverse population, strong global ties and entrepreneurial spirit draw students from throughout the country and the world. Kennesaw State is a Carnegie-designated doctoral research institution (R2), placing it among an elite group of only 6 percent of U.S. colleges and universities with an R1 or R2 status. For more information, visit kennesaw.edu.
In late September, a group of Ukrainian families were forced to leave their temporary Laois homes.

In all, eight families who came to Ireland to escape the war by Russia, were requested to pack up and move to other temporary accommodation in Kilkenny.

They were only given less than two days notice by the Department of Children, a move that "shocked and horrified" Laois Integration Network.

The families vacated houses that had been bought and furnished for another group of non-nationals seeking refuge in Ireland, Direct Provision residents.

The Didean chairman is Mountrath based businessman Ed Dunne. He formed Didean housing body in 2019 to offer an alternative to Direct Provision centres which house people seeking refugee status in Ireland.

Mr Dunne confirmed the detail to the Leinster Express/Laois Live.

He said he cannot comment on the situation of the Ukraine families forced to leave the houses so suddenly, including children leaving schools and parents leaving jobs. They are offered shared accommodation in Kilkenny as an only option.

"Unfortunately we are not in a position to comment on the move of residents to Kilkenny given our contractual obligations, specifically clauses re confidentiality.

"Didean has no control over the moving on of residents other than the provision of social care supports aimed at helping them seek independent accommodation," the chairman said.
An Irish nurses group is calling on the government to remove recruitment red tape this winter.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation commented following the publication of the HSE Winter Plan yesterday (October 12), with INMO Deputy General Secretary, Dr Edward Mathews, stating, "Plans and reality are two very different things."

Over 169million has been allocated to fund the Winter Plan for 2022/2023, which will reportedly include the recruitment of 608 posts across a range of services.

Measures in the plan include the ongoing delivery of additional acute and community beds, increased staffing capacity in line with the Safe Staffing and Skill-Mix Framework, and the planned extension of opening hours of a number of local injury units during the winter period.

Dr Mathews said, "The INMO has welcomed the publication of the Winter Plan for the upcoming months. The inclusion of a hospital-by-hospital allocation is something that the INMO has long called for.

"The reality is unless we have the staff announcing additional capacity is futile. We know that many of our emergency departments are not staffed adequately or safely at present. In order to allow for more nurses and midwives to be recruited at the pace in which we need them, Directors of Nursing and Midwifery in each hospital should have a greater role in recruitment."

Alternative patient pathways are also expected to be implemented during the winter period including Enhanced Community Care (ECC) supports, as well as the roll-out of flu and Covid-19 vaccination programmes.

A public health plan will be implemented as appropriate - including a surge and emergency response plan - in the event of a significant surge in Covid-19 infections.

The doctor continued: "As part of the winter plan, nurses, midwives and the patients they care for need to be assured that every bed possible, including beds in the private hospitals, will be used this winter. This coupled with ensuring that diagnostics are made available in the community and at weekends should relieve pressure on our emergency departments.

"In the longer term, we need assurances from the Minister for Health that the commissioning of elective-only hospitals, as per the SlainteCare plan, will be sped up. This will be a game changer in winters to come.

"Our members are currently overburdened and overworked in the situations they are working in, they are telling us that they are not willing to put up with another winter in intolerable conditions, with many voting with their feet and leaving the profession altogether. We must ensure that there is a legal basis for the implementation of safe staffing levels."
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Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon answers questions during the National Assembly audit of the city government at the city hall, central Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap



By Kang Hyun-kyung



Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said on Wednesday that he would thoroughly look into the allegation that his predecessor, late former Mayor Park Won-soon, tried to evade sanctions to help North Korea build a cryptocurrency research center there. Park was found dead at Mount Bugak on July 10, hours after he vanished.



If any violations are found, Oh said he will request the law enforcement authorities to investigate the case.



"As of now, I have no information about to what extent the city government was involved in the cryptocurrency project during the former mayor's leadership period," Oh said during the National Assembly audit of the city government, adding that he came to know about the city government's alleged involvement in the project through media reports on the National Assembly audit of the Ministry of Justice.



"I was told that in the city government, there were no working-level staff who contacted North Korea for the crytocurrency project though," Oh said.



Former Mayor Park's involvement in the cryptocurrency project in North Korea became known to the public after Rep. Kim Eui-kyum of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) made public emails exchanged in 2018 between now jailed U.S. cryptocurrency expert Virgil Griffith and his business partner based in Seoul. In the emails, then Mayor Park and then Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myung were mentioned as two of the politicians who had expressed their interest in cryptocurrency.



Griffith's Korean business partner wrote in an email on June 29, 2019: "The Seoul City government is open to providing support to the Ethereum Foundation, but we are in the process of discussing how to provide such support. During the conversation, supporting an Ethereum research center and setting up an institution in the DPRK came up. So it is not a 100% confirmed offer, but we are trying to make it happen."



Rep. Kim alleged that Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon visited the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Southern District of New York in early July to dig up information on the alleged involvement of former Mayor Park and now DPK leader Lee Jae-myung in the Etherreum research center project in North Korea. Minister Han has not confirmed this.



Rep. Cho Eun-hee of the ruling People Power Party revisited the allegation on Wednesday during the National Assembly audit on the Seoul Metropolitan Government.



If the allegation is true, the lawmaker claimed, what the former Seoul mayor tried to do is in violation of the U.N. sanctions on North Korea.



"We need to check if there had been any sort of conversation about the cryptocurrency project in North Korea among high-ranking Seoul city officials, particularly those who were involved in blockchain affairs. And if any irregularities were found, the city authorities must ask for police or other law enforcement agencies to conduct an investigation," she said.



Rep. Cho also called for a thorough investigation into how inter-Korean cooperation funds were used when then Mayor Park was in office.



"After President Moon Jae-in took office, then Mayor Park approved the dispersion of 24.2 billion won of the funds, of which the total value is 15 times more than the total funds that had been spent during the previous five years before Moon," she said, urging Mayor Oh to order an investigation of how the money was spent.



Oh responded that the city government has already launched an audit of the funds including how they were spent, and the investigation is underway, saying he will take appropriate measures once the audit results are available.


Wolsong Nuclear Power Plant Reactor No.1 in Gyeongju / Yonhap



By Ko Dong-hwan



Most kindergartens and schools close to nuclear power plants in Korea are either not equipped with a sufficient number of protective suits or lack such gear altogether, a lawmaker said.



Rep. Kim Young-ho of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) said Monday that over 388,000 students in 1,112 kindergartens and elementary, middle and high schools in the country are located inside Urgent Protective Action Planning Zones (UPZ)  within 20 to 30 kilometers of a nuclear power plant, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).



Busan has 692 such educational facilities, while Ulsan has 239, Gangwon Province 10, North Jeolla Province 54, South Jeolla Province 45, North Gyeongsang Province 47 and South Gyeongsang Province 25, according to the lawmaker.



He said that out of these schools, only 36 with 6,744 students were equipped with protective suits, which is just 1.7 percent of the total number of students within UPZs.



The situation was worse in schools located in the immediate vicinity of nuclear plants. The IAEA designated areas within three to five kilometers of a power plant as Precautionary Action Zones (PAZes), from which residents should evacuate immediately in cases of radioactive leakage from the plant. Rep. Kim said that there are 8,576 students in 51 schools or kindergartens within PAZes in the country. Busan has 11 such facilities, while Daejeon has 16, Ulsan 4, North Jeolla 2, South Jeolla 6 and North Gyeongsang 12. But among those schools, only 12 of the schools were equipped with a total of 2,461 protective suits.



Only 23 schools in Yeonggwang County in South Jeolla Province and 10 schools in Uljin, North Gyeongsang Province were fully equipped with the gear, which was financed by the local governments and Hanul Nuclear Power Plants in Uljin. Three schools in Ulsan, though in an insufficient number, prepared the gear using their own budgets.



The state-run Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (NSSC) responded to Rep. Kim's findings that in a nuclear emergency, people are first advised to evacuate or take thyroid blocking agents rather than put on protective suits. The state authority added that there are no regulations in the country that require protective suits to be available in kindergartens or schools near a nuclear power plant.



"Natural disasters like earthquakes and typhoons have increased in number due to the climate crisis," Rep. Kim said. "Especially for students near nuclear power plants that are concentrated in coastal regions, it is urgent to come up with measures to provide them with safety."



He urged the country's education ministry and local metropolitan offices of education to cooperate with the NSSC to check how well schools near nuclear power plants nationwide are equipped with protective gear and provide the schools with new guidelines as to which equipment is in accordance with the IAEA.



News reports on Sept. 20 that seven tons of potential radioactive waters were leaking each day from cracks at a spent nuclear fuel storage tank at Wolsong Nuclear Power Plant Reactor No. 1 in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province rocked the country. The plant, after starting operations in 1982, had been permanently shut down in 2018 after its 30-year life expectancy expired but received technical upgrades to continue operating for a few years longer.


Kendallville, IN (46755)

Today

Periods of rain. Temps nearly steady in the mid to upper 30s. Winds WNW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Higher wind gusts possible..

Tonight

Rain. Low 38F. Winds NW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch.
Angola, IN (46703)

Today

Cloudy with occasional light rain throughout the day. Temps nearly steady in the mid to upper 30s. Winds WNW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Higher wind gusts possible..

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Steady light rain this evening. Showers continuing overnight. Low 37F. Winds NW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Kendallville, IN (46755)

Today

Rain and snow this evening transitioning to snow showers overnight. Low 33F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of precip 50%..

Tonight

Rain and snow this evening transitioning to snow showers overnight. Low 33F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of precip 50%.
Washington, DC, US (PANA) - Six Western countries on Wednesday called on the government of Ethiopia and the rebel Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) to immediately halt their renewed military offensives and agree to a cessation of hostilities
New Delhi [India], October 12 (ANI): Cloud company Infor on Wednesday announced the expansion of its India operations with the opening of its new development centre (DC) in Hyderabad, one of India's top destinations for technology and business.

The company said the new multi-storey modern development centre is spread over 350,000 sq ft and will have the capacity for 3,500 employees. The development centre was inaugurated by Jayesh Ranjan, principal secretary of the industries & commerce (I&C) and IT departments of Telangana, and Kevin Samuelson, CEO of Infor.

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The company said Infor's India DC was among the company's two largest locations in the world, with over 3,700 employees in the country that drives key technology innovations to gain a competitive edge for the global marketplace. The company said this investment would allow Infor to continue to pioneer digital technologies such as cloud, mobility, data analytics, artificial intelligence, and IoT.

With this expansion, Infor said it aims to leverage India's diverse and skilled talent pool to drive digital innovation through expanded teams that span various functions, including engineering, operations, and R&D.

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Telangana Minister of IT, Municipal Administration & Urban Development, Industries & Commerce KT Rama Rao said, "Hyderabad is fast emerging as a preferred IT hub for technology companies on the backbone of a thriving environment for the local talent pool. We welcome strategic investments by global companies to drive growth opportunities and provide a platform for talent to hone their skills." He said: "We are thrilled that several leading technology companies like Infor are deepening their investments in our people and economy."

Infor is a global leading firm in business cloud software specialised by industry.

"We congratulate Infor on their strategic expansion of the new development campus in Hyderabad. It is truly delightful to witness some of the new age technology innovations being developed out of Infor's Hyderabad Development Center with the Indian talent getting an opportunity to shape the future of industries," said Jayesh Ranjan.

"India is the strategic hub for skilled talents and global technology development for Infor. Over the past decade, we have harnessed the true potential of the immense talent pool in the region, and the expansion of our new development centre in Hyderabad excites us to further strengthen our global efforts toward cloud innovation, engineering, and research," said Kevin Samuelson, chief executive officer, Infor. (ANI)

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Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], October 12 (ANI/BusinessWire India): Mondelez India's state-of-the-art Sri City factory has been bestowed with the World Economic Forum's 4th Advanced Industrial Revolution (4IR) Digital Lighthouse award.

It is one of the first FMCG plants in India that was awarded for 'digital excellence' driven by advanced technologies and sustainable practices.

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Founded in 2016, the factory has been driven by an aspiration to outgrow the market at the back of strong cost leadership and building further resilience and diversity in a volatile environment.

An independent expert panel at World Economic Forum recognized the site for implementing a series of advanced 4IR use cases which aided improvements in cost, sustainability, productivity and net revenue delivery for growing business. Sri City started its digital journey on E2E process digitization, predictive capabilities, smart automations and more, which have been a driving contributor for increasing labour productivity and reducing the manufacturing cost for the factory.

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The Lighthouse live is the Global Light House network's annual event series that honors the new cohort of advanced sites and factories, and shares insights garnered from the application of advanced digital technologies across production networks and value chains. Year on year, the award is presented to top notch manufacturing facilities and value chains that are using 4IR to increase operational performance and environmental sustainability.

Nandkumar Kulkarni, Vice President - Supply Chain, Mondelez India said, "We are delighted and honored to be one of the handful manufacturing sites in the country and globally that have been presented the World Economic Forum's prestigious Digital Lighthouse recognition. This award is proof of Mondelez India's commitment to become a future-ready organization and strengthening its business resilience through quick adoption of advanced digital technologies. We are amazed to see the power of AI-ML, AR- VR, advanced analytics and multiple use cases in all areas of supply chain and how digital can become a competitive advantage for supply chain and organization. We have seen a tremendous progress in digital quotient of team and that will remain a cornerstone of our future journey. We are grateful to all the employees of Sri City who have actively contributed and voyaged with us through the factory's digital transformation journey and made the company's collective dream a reality. We look forward to sustaining this momentum across all our major factories, end to end supply chain and being a beacon for our peers by actively contributing to the economic growth of the country."

Francisco Betti, Head of Shaping the Future of Advanced Manufacturing and Value Chains, World Economic Forum added, "Member of the Global Lighthouse Network - a unique global community of like-minded peers - are exploring synergies and collaborating to share insights and best practices on how to unlock not only efficiency, productivity and growth, but also new levels of sustainability and workforce engagement, to lead towards a cleaner and more inclusive future of manufacturing."

As of today, the Global Lighthouse network includes 103 global frontrunners in advanced manufacturing, selected from the top 1,000 manufacturing facilities and supply chains over the past 3 years. These sites serve as beacons for the world, exemplifying the type of production approach that can drive the next engine of global economic growth.

This story is provided by BusinessWire India. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/BusinessWire India)

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Gurgaon (Haryana) [India], October 12 (ANI/NewsVoir): PBPartners, the PoSP brand of Policybazaar.com, launches its mobile app to facilitate the ease of insurance business for its agent partners. PBPartners is one of India's top B2B2C Insurtech platforms and the PBPartners app aims to further simplify the insurance business for partners by enabling them to monitor their performance effectively.

Launched in June 2021, PBPartners has been working to provide seamless digital solutions to eliminate obsolete manual processes and bring about more transparency in the insurance ecosystem. With its relentless efforts and innovation, the brand became one of India's emerging market leaders in less than a year of its operations. The concept behind creating the PBPartners app is to further simplify the process for its agent partners through the digital medium and help with agent retention.

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Speaking about the launch, Sarbvir Singh, CEO, Policybazaar.com, said, "PBPartners has empowered agent partners to integrate customer demand with hassle-free supply in insurance seamlessly. We have not only been able to successfully expand our presence with PBPartners to every corner of the country but have also created micro-entrepreneurs along the way. The launch of the PBPartners app will further strengthen our PoSP arm and in turn, provide a superior customer experience through our independent agent partners. The app enables the agent partners to effectively function out of a virtual office and provide their services at ease."

Dhruv Sarin, Chief Business Officer, PBPartners, said, "The PBPartners app is a powerful digital tool that empowers our advisors and aims at uberization of insurance. The app has been created after considering the feedback from our agent partners on ways to further simplify their journey. We are excited to take insurance to every part of India seamlessly with them."

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The PBPartners app addresses agent partners' queries for all major business segments including - health, life, and motor insurance among others. With the app, the agent partners can instantly evaluate and customize the plans to cater to consumer needs. The agent partners also have the access to dashboard insights to get an idea of their business. For any assistance, they can easily raise the ticket through the app and get their queries resolved. The app will enable them to fully leverage their potential and provide an exceptional consumer experience.

Policybazaar.com is one of India's largest insurance marketplaces. It is the flagship platform of PB Fintech, that owns fintech brand, Paisabazaar.com, and the lending and insurance marketplace in the UAE region, Policybazaar.ae. Policybazaar.com started with the purpose to educate people on insurance products and with its offerings has addressed the large and highly underpenetrated online insurance markets.

This story has been provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content in this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)

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New Delhi, Oct 12 (PTI) A 15-year-old boy, who was born with a complex congenital heart defect, has received a new lease of life after undergoing a novel procedure at an Army hospital in Delhi.

The patient underwent the procedure called transcatheter pulmonary valve implantation on October 8 at the Army Hospital (Research & Referral), sources said on Wednesday.

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This is the "first time" in the government sector, including in the armed forces that this procedure has been carried out, they said.

The operating team led by Col Harmeet Singh Arora, pediatric interventional cardiologist, achieved this feat under the mentorship of Director General, Armed Forces Medical Services, Surgeon Vice Admiral Rajat Datta, who is also the senior-most serving cardiologist in the armed forces, the sources said.

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The patient was born with a "complex congenital heart defect (CHD) for which he underwent two open heart surgeries in early childhood, wherein an artificial 'conduit' was placed to supply blood from heart to lungs. Over time this conduit degenerated leading to progressive heart failure," a source said.

To avoid a very high-risk third open heart surgery, the novel procedure was undertaken in which an artificial valve was inserted through a small incision in the groin, the sources said.

This achievement by the pediatric cardiology team is a "quantum leap" towards providing advanced comprehensive cardiac care in children with complex CHDs and ushers a new era in non-surgical interventions," Col Sandeep Dhingra, pediatric intensivist and head of the pediatric department was quoted as saying by the sources.

Lt Gen Ashok Jindal, commandant of the hospital, complimented the operating team on achieving this "historic milestone" and encouraged them to be always at the forefront in provision of advanced pediatric cardiac care, they said.

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New Delhi [India], October 12 (ANI): Cyber Police branch of north-east Delhi arrested a man for allegedly impersonating Spanish actor Manu Rios to trap young girls on social media, said the officials on Wednesday.

The accused has been identified as Abbuzar Rehman (22). The accused tried extorting money as he threatened to leak pictures of these girls.

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"A complaint was registered at the Cyber police station through the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) Cyber Crime reporting portal, alleging the accused of extorting money from her and threatening to make her pictures viral on social media. On the basis of the complaint, a case was registered at PS Cyber North and an investigation was taken up. The police arrested the accused on Monday," the police said.

The police recovered three sim cards, one memory card and two mobile phones used in the offence.

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It was alleged that the accused introduced himself to the complainant as a small-time Spanish actor. After some time, she became his friend and shared her private pictures with him.

As per reports, Abbuzar started demanding money from her threatening to make her pictures viral on social media. When the complainant did not budge to his demands, the accused made a fake ID of the complainant, using one of her private photos and shared the same with the complainant to threaten her.

The police said that during the course of the investigation, details of the alleged Instagram profile were obtained and on the basis of the same, IP addresses and mobile numbers used in the registration of the alleged profile were obtained.

"These IP addresses were further sent to concerned mobile operators, from where the mobile number and IMEI No. used in the offence were found and the identity of the alleged person was ascertained," the police officials added.

The accused has been served with a notice under section 41 A of CRPC, following the guidelines laid by Supreme Court in the Arnesh Kumar V/s State case.

Abbuzar Rehman during the course of interrogation revealed that he made a fake Instagram ID using Manu Rios's photographs to grab the attention of young women and started sending messages to these women. He also translated during his course of interaction as he didn't know the english language well.

"Subsequently, he contacted the complainant and asked her to share her photos. He then saved these photos in his phone and planned to extort money from the complainant," the police added.

Further investigations are underway. (ANI)

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New Delhi, Oct 12 (PTI) There must be proof of direct or indirect acts of incitement and evidence of continuous harassment against the accused in an abetment to suicide case for holding them guilty, the Supreme Court observed on Wednesday and acquitted a Chennai-based doctor and his mother convicted of driving his wife to take the extreme step.

It said there should also be cogent evidence to establish a positive action by the accused which should be proximate to the time of occurrence and can be said to have led or compelled a person to take the drastic step.

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A bench of Justices MR Shah and Krishna Murari said after having considered the facts of the case and upon appreciation of evidence of the eyewitnesses and other material adduced by the prosecution, "we are of the view that Trial Court wrongly convicted the Appellants (doctor and his mother) and the High Court was also not justified in upholding the conviction of the Appellants under Sections 306 (abetment of suicide) and 498A IPC (harassment for dowry)".

It set aside the impugned judgment of the high court dated January 31, 2022 as well as the order of the trial court of March 26, 2021, calling them unsustainable.

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The top court said, "It is to be borne in mind that in cases of alleged abetment of suicide, there must be proof of direct or indirect acts of incitement to the commission of suicide. Merely on the allegation of harassment without their being any positive action proximate to the time of occurrence on the part of the accused which led or compelled the person to commit suicide, conviction in terms of Section 306 IPC is not sustainable".

The bench said a bare perusal of the impugned judgment indicates the high court erred in recording the finding that there is sufficient evidence for convicting the appellants under Section 306 IPC losing sight of the fact that there exists no evidence on record indicating that the deceased was harassed by them just before her death.

"It is well-settled that not only there has to be evidence of continuous harassment, but there should be cogent evidence to establish a positive action by the accused which should more or less be proximate to the time of occurrence, which action can said to have led or compelled the person to commit suicide," the court said.

The top court said in case at hand not only the said positive action in close proximity to the time of suicide is absent but also there is no evidence of any continuous physical or mental torture meted out to the deceased by the appellants.

"On the contrary, appellant no. 1 (doctor husband) himself took the deceased to consult a psychiatrist just a day prior to this incident obviously with the intention to make her feel better. The said act can by no stretch of imagination be said to be any such act which may lead the deceased to commit suicide," the bench said.

It added the allegations made by the mother and sister of the deceased, also a doctor, in their statement with respect to continuous harassment and torture by the appellants just after the marriage is not worthy of being relied upon and has to be taken with a pinch of salt.

"Even the deceased herself who was a qualified doctor never made any complaint in this regard. It is really hard to believe that a well-educated and self-reliant lady would take such things lying down for a substantially long period of 9 years," the bench said.

It added the prosecution has to establish beyond reasonable doubt that the deceased died by suicide and her husband abetted it. In the present case, both the elements are absent, the court said.

The bench said so far as conviction under Section 498A IPC is concerned, except for the statement of the mother and sister of the deceased recorded after the incident, there is no other evidence to establish the allegation of any demand of dowry or ill treatment.

The two had got married on September 8, 2005 and a baby boy was born in 2007. On November 25, 2014, the husband was informed that the deceased had collapsed in the bathroom of their home and was non-responsive.

The top court said the post mortem was conducted on November 6, 2014 and the reported cause of death was asphyxia due to external compression of the neck.

On the complaint of the mother and sister of the deceased, a case of harassment for dowry and abetment of suicide was lodged against the husband, his mother and father.

The trial court convicted the husband and his mother for dowry harassment and abetment of suicide but acquitted the father of all the charges in 2016. The high court confirmed the judgement of the trial court.

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Dwarka (Gujarat) [India], October 12 (ANI): BJP National President JP Nadda during his 'Gaurav Yatra' in Gujarat on Wednesday heaped praises for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that the PM has changed the political culture of the country.

BJP national president JP Nadda was seen taking a boat ride along with Union Minister Bhupender Yadav and others in Gujarat's Dwarka.

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While interacting with the media on his boat ride Nadda said, "PMs service is directly linked to social welfare and CM Bhupendra Patel has worked for the development of Gujarat and 'Gaurav Yatra' is not only the journey of the BJP".

Earlier in the day, JP Nadda flagged off the 'Gujarat Gaurav Yatra' in Mehsana. Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and other BJP leaders were also present at the occasion.

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Addressing a public rally on the occasion, Nadda said, "BJP is a pro-active, pro-responsible government and pro-responsive government. He said the BJP government understands the plight of the people. What did Congress do for years? Pitted brothers against each other, areas against each other and did not supply water where it was needed. Jo vikas ki yatra chalani thi usko atkaya, bhatkaya, latkaya. Now they themselves are stuck..."

"Gaurav yatra is not just for Gujarat alone, it is a yatra to establish pride of entire India. It's a matter of fortune that Gujarat is the 'gangotri' of 'Gaurav Yatra' to re-establish the nation on the global map, to make it self-reliant, developed."

BJP has geared up for the upcoming Assembly elections in Gujarat.

Earlier on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a public meeting at Jamkandorna in Rajkot district. He also held a roadshow after the rally.

"Being in Jamkandorana is always special," tweeted PM Modi.

PM Modi on Monday laid the foundation stone and dedicated to the nation multiple projects worth over Rs 8,000 crore at Amod, Bharuch.

He laid the foundation stone of the Bulk Drug Park at Jambusar, Deep Sea Pipeline Project at Dahej, Phase 1 of Ankleshwar Airport and the development of Multilevel Industrial Sheds at Ankleshwar and Panoli.

The Prime Minister also dedicated several projects which will give a boost to the chemicals sector in Gujarat including GACL Plant, Bharuch Underground Drainage and IOCL Dahej Koyali Pipeline. (ANI)

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Mumbai, October 12: An unidentified person got access to the log-in ID and password of a Mumbai police officer in the passport branch and cleared three applications pending verification, an official said on Wednesday.

A First Information Report (FIR) was registered against the unidentified person for hacking and logging into the online passport verification system managed by the Central government and completing the verification process of three passport applications, he said. 'Fake' Affidavits in Support of Uddhav Faction? CM Loyalist Seeks Probe by CBI or Maha CID.

The accused got access to the login ID and password of a police officer of the passport branch and completed the verification process. The investigation revealed that the incident occurred on September 24 when the special branch (2) office was shut due to a government holiday.

The three persons whose verification papers were cleared are residents of Antop Hill, Chembur, and Tilak Nagar, in Mumbai. Explaining the procedure for passport verification, the official said a person seeking a passport applies on the passport Seva website, after which verification of address and other details is done by local police.

A Police Verification Report (PVR) is submitted to the SB (II) for Mumbai which reviews the application before approving verification. The verification documents with remarks are forwarded to the Regional Passport Office (RPO) which takes the final call on the allotment or denial of the passport to applicants, the official added. Chinese Lantern Banned! Mumbai Police Ban Use and Sale of Flying Lanterns for 30 Days.

For this purpose, the Central government has provided an online verification system and created separate login IDs for all the officials posted in the passport branch.

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Itanagar, October 12: A high alert was issued for the low-lying areas of East Siang district in Arunachal Pradesh with the Siang river in spate, following incessant rains over the last few days. East Siang Deputy Commissioner (DC) Tayi Taggu, who took stock of the situation on Tuesday, appealed to the people living in these areas to refrain from venturing into the river.

He, however, asked people not to panic as the water resources and disaster management departments are keeping a close watch on the situation. "Any impending danger would be informed to the people in advance," he said. India Weather Update on October 11: Heavy Rains Likely in Tamil Nadu During Next Five Days, Parts of Karnataka To Receive Rainfall For Next Two Days, Says IMD.

Taggu directed officials to not leave the district headquarters and stay alert to deal with the emerging situation. District Disaster Management Officer Tsangpa Tashi said Pasighat recorded 482 mm of rainfall on Monday and 480 mm on Tuesday, the highest in the last 25 years.

"The water level in the Siang is rising but it is flowing below the danger mark," he said. SDRF teams are monitoring the situation closely and have visited all vulnerable areas in Pasighat township, he added.

Pasighat Water Resources Department Executive Engineer Gonong Pertin said he is in constant touch with the Central Water Commission (CWC). The Guaging station for Siang river has so far not witnessed any abnormal water flow, he said. The Pasighat-Pangin Road was cut-off at the 64 km area, while the Pasighat-Siger Road was blocked in several spots due to massive landslides, Highway Executive Engineer Dabe Perme said.

"Men and machinery have been deployed in all these areas to clear the road," he said. The Sille river has washed away electric poles connecting the 11kv line linking Sille to the 12 Mile area, Power Department Executive Engineer Tarik Mize said. The heavy rains are hampering the repair works, he said.

Meanwhile, 31 labourers of the Power Grid Corporation stranded at an island in Dibang river at Bomjir in Lower Dibang Valley district since Monday were rescued on Tuesday evening, officials said. Heavy Rains in Arunachal Trigger Flood-like Situation, High Alert in East Siang.

The labourers got stuck on the island due to the rise in the water level of the river after heavy downpours, they said. The rescue operation was carried out by the 12th Battalion of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), with the support of the district administration, police, fire service personnel and local fishermen, they added.

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New Delhi, Oct 12 (PTI) A man who became an advocate after allegedly submitting forged LLB documents at the Bar Council of Delhi in 2014 has been arrested with the help of an RTI query that revealed that he had failed his second and third-year law examinations.

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In a complaint, one Jai Prakash Gupta alleged that he sought information under the Right To Information (RTI) Act from the Bhim Rao Ambedkar University in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, regarding the authenticity of the LLB degree of an advocate named Sumit Sharma, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahdara) R Sathiyasundaram said on Wednesday.

According to the RTI reply, Sharma had passed only the first year in 2010 from Vrindavan Law College in Mathura and failed the second and third-year examinations, he said.

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The Vrindavan Law College is affiliated with the BR Ambedkar University.

Gupta further alleged that Sharma has submitted the false, forged and fabricated mark sheets of LLB's second and third years and provisional certificate of the university to the bar and obtained the enrolment certificate in 2014, the DCP said.

During the inquiry, it was found that Sharma arranged forged LLB mark sheets for the second and third year and a provisional certificate dated July 3, 2014, and using these documents, he enrolled himself in the bar and obtained an enrolment number, police said.

A case under sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc.), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged 1[document or electronic record]), and 34 (common intention) was registered in Anand Vihar police station on the complaint of one Jai Prakash Gupta, they said.

The case was registered at Anand Vihar police station and during an investigation, Sharma was arrested further investigation into the matter is in progress, police added. PTI NIT

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Global Citizen, August 13, 2022

Efforts to erase women and girls from everyday life in Afghanistan have only increased one year since the Taliban took over the government on Aug. 15, 2021.

Women and girls continue to face restrictions on their basic human rights imposed by the Sunni Islamist militant group for the first time since 2001. Traces of two decades of womens hard-earned rights hardly remain amid an economic crisis, drought, and oppressive mandates.

The Taliban believes educating women goes against Islam, wearing the hijab is now required and enforced, and women cant go to work or travel freely without a male guardian. Afghan women were promised the right to pursue education and employment under the Talibans interpretation of Islamic law, but the group has failed to deliver.Human rights groups are calling on the international community to take a firm stance against the Taliban to protect Afghanistans women and girls.

Girls are bearing the brunt of the deteriorating situation, Chris Nyamandi, Save the Childrens country director in Afghanistan, said in a statement. Theyre missing more meals, suffering from isolation and emotional distress, and are staying home while boys go to school. This is a humanitarian crisis, but also a child rights catastrophe.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are demanding sanctions and travel bans to hold the Taliban accountable.

Here are seven facts about how life has changed for women and girls in Afghanistan that demonstrate why we need to continue to support gender equality in the country.

1. Afghan girls are twice as likely to go to bed hungry as boys.

Economic hardship in Afghanistan is causing 97% of families to struggle to feed their families and girls are eating less than boys, according to Save the Childrens latest report, Breaking point: Life for children one year since the Taliban takeover.

Women and girls account for more than half the people in Afghanistan who are struggling to eat enough, the World Food Programme found, and 85% of female-headed households are resorting to drastic measures to feed their families.

Girls were twice as likely as boys to go to bed hungry often and 9 in 10 girls said their meals had reduced in the past year, according to Save the Children. Girls have also reported that they worry theyre losing weight and lack the energy to study, play, and work.

2. More than 45% of Afghan girls are missing out on school.

Hundreds of thousands of girls and young women have missed out on school since the Taliban takeover.

In September 2021, the Taliban ordered the reopening of secondary schools, but only for male teachers and students without mentioning women and girls  seen as a de facto ban reversing years of gender equality process. Some schools reopened for girls in certain provinces due to public pressure, but the vast majority of schools in the country remained closed.

Earlier this year, the Taliban announced that all students, including girls, could return in March 2022 at the start of the new school year, but when girls returned to secondary school that week, they were sent home by the Taliban the same day due to dress code issues. The Education Ministry, in a statement later that day, said that education for girls beyond sixth grade was suspended indefinitely, prompting global outrage.

More than 45% of girls said theyre not attending school compared with 20% of boys, according to Save the Children, due to barriers such as economic challenges and community attitudes toward girls education. A small minority of girls and women are studying online and in illegal secret schools but many families dont have the necessary technology or funds to support additional school fees and costs.

Universities will also lack new women students if the ban on girls attending secondary school remains in place, according to the Guardian. Some colleges are open to women under strict gender segregation and even those who are allowed to continue their studies may be limited to the Talibans approved areas of study, such as education and health care.

The behavior and dress code restrictions, plus the Talibans harassment of women, have created unsafe learning environments that put women students at a disadvantage. Many women students have either stopped attending school or decided not to enroll in university at all.

3. 26% of Afghan girls are showing signs of depression.

Reports show that Afghan women and girls mental health issues have increased. Caregivers reported to Save the Children that 26% of girls in Afghanistan are showing signs of depression compared with 16% of boys, and 27% of girls are showing signs of anxiety compared with 18% of boys.

Girls who participated in the organizations focus groups said worry and bad dreams contributed to sleep problems. They also said that since the Taliban takeover, they can no longer participate in activities that used to make them happy, like spending time with relatives and friends and going to parks and shops.

Whats more, they expressed disappointment and anger over the fact they can no longer attend school and said they felt hopeless about their future because their previous rights and freedoms have been stripped away.

4. Girls comprised 88% of child marriages in Afghanistan since last year.

When families experience economic hardship, girls are often the first to pay the price because marrying them off is one less mouth to feed.

The economic situation in Afghanistan has left households without enough food or basic items and is increasing child marriage within communities, according to Save the Children. Lack of educational and professional opportunities for women and girls, families forcing women and girls to marry Taliban members, and Taliban members forcing women and girls to marry them are all contributing to the increase, according to Amnesty International.

Out of the children who said theyd been forced to marry to improve their familys financial situation in the past year, 88% were girls.

5. Women have lost the right to peacefully protest.

Police have stopped protests led by women activists in Kabul and other cities since the Taliban took power.

Women who have tried to stand up against the group by peacefully protesting have been threatened, arrested, detained, physically and psychologically tortured, and forcibly disappeared, according to Amnesty International. Protesters who have been detained were denied food, water ventilation, sanitary products, and health care.

To be freed, women protestors were forced to pledge that they and their families would never protest again or speak publicly about their detention experiences.

6. Womens freedom of movement is more restricted.

Women and girls can no longer travel far distances without the accompaniment of a male guardian, known as a mahram.

The Taliban announced in December 2021 that women couldnt travel more than 45 miles without a male relative escort. The mandate isnt consistently enforced but women remain in fear of repercussions especially poor and more vulnerable women who are more at risk.

The restriction has limited access to essential services like health care with nearly 10% of the population having to travel more than two hours to reach a medical facility and nearly half having to travel more than 30 minutes. There are also reports that Taliban officials have prevented doctors from treating women without a male guardian, but even women with an escort may not feel comfortable discussing issues like reproductive care in front of them.

In May 2022, the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice advised all women to wear a burqa or cover their faces in public and warned that they shouldnt leave home at all. The guidance isnt strictly enforced in cities like Kabul but rights groups have reported that the Taliban has carried out severe punishments, like lashings and stonings, for girls and women who elope, flee domestic violence, resist forced marriage or have illicit sex in rural areas.

There is also anecdotal evidence of the Taliban beating girls for smiling or wearing tight clothing.

7. Women left the workforce in droves.

Following the takeover, the Talibans Prime Minister Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund claimed women would be allowed to keep working, but women government employees in Kabul had their salaries reduced and were ordered to stay home except for women whose jobs couldnt be performed by men. Government workers who violated the hijab dress code were threatened with being fired.

Womens participation in Afghanistans workforce reached a high of about 22% right before the COVID-19 pandemic, but hundreds of thousands of more jobs have been lost since the Taliban takeover, disproportionately affecting women.

All industries have been impacted, but some were more affected than others. Over 3,500 small and medium women business owners had to cease operations because some feared punishment for not covering their faces, according to the Afghan Womens Chamber of Commerce.

Almost 40% of the teachers in the country were women before the takeover but now only a handful are still teaching. Whats more, by the end of 2021, it was estimated that only 100 of Kabuls 700 women journalists were still working.

Many Afghan women doctors, especially those who worked in reproductive and sexual health, fled the country seeking safety. After initially discouraging them from going in, the Taliban urged women in health care to return to work in August 2021. But the health care sector continues to experience a major loss, with women who remain facing threats for not complying with rules.
Saifai (UP), Oct 12 (PTI) Amid hopes of rapprochement in the family after the Mulayam Singh Yadav's demise, Shivpal Singh Yadav, estranged uncle of Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, on Wednesday said it is not the time to take any decision about his future course of action.

Akhilesh Yadav, Mulayam Singh's son, became the party president in 2017 after a feud with uncle Shivpal Yadav.

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The Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia president's comment came in reply to a question whether the family would unite once again. "This is not the time to take any decision. We are presently not in a situation to decide what I have to do and not," Shivpal Yadav told reporters in Safai. To persistent queries on his role under the changed circumstances, he said, "Let's see what responsibility is given (to me)."

Notably, Shivpal Singh had won from the Jaswantnagar seat on an SP ticket in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. But soon after, his relationship with Akhilesh turned sour yet again after Shivpal Singh was allegedly not invited to the party's legislative meeting.

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Tens of thousands of people turned up at the funeral of Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav at his native village Tuesday, bidding farewell to a leader who influenced politics far beyond his home state. The SP patriarch, a three-time CM and former Defence minister, died at a Gurugram hospital on Monday.

Meanwhile, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar reached Saifai in Etawah district on Wednesday to console Akhilesh and other family members. Accompanied by JD(U) presidet Rajiv Ranjan Singh 'Lallan', Kumar shared grief with Akhilesh and SP Rajya Sabha member Ram Gopal Yadav. In the first comment after lighting the funeral pyre of his father, Akhilesh summed up his feelings through a tweet as the male family members here got down to the post-cremation ritual of shaving off their heads.

Aaj pehli baar lagabin suraj ke uga savera (For the first time it felt like morning has arrived without the sun), Akhilesh tweeted, sharing two pictures of the place where the socialist leader was cremated.

Besides Akhilesh, Shivpal Yadav, who had floated his own party after falling out with his nephew, was also among those who took part in the head shaving ritual. Recalling his brother, Shivpal Singh said, "Netaji had very good relations with leaders of all the parties and that was evident in the huge turnout at the cremation yesterday." "Wherever he had been, be it Lok Sabha or Vidhan Sabha, he had the concern for the farmers and the deprived section of society," Shivpal Singh said, adding that he had always "served 'Netaji' and did whatever he asked me to do and never did anything without his assent.

"I had also formed the party after he told me to do so," he added.

The likely bypoll to Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat, which Mulayam Singh represented in the present term, would reveal about the path taken by Chacha-Bhatija (uncle-nephew). Mulayam Singh was cremated with full state honours on Tuesday in his native village of Saifai near the place where his first wife Malti Devi was cremated. PTI SAB SNS

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Srinagar, Oct 12 (PTI) Muttahida Majlis-e-Ulema (MMU) -- an amalgam of various religious, social and educational organisations in the Valley -- on Thursday condemned the Jammu and Kashmir administration's approval to the sale of beer and other ready to drink beverages in departmental stores, saying it deeply hurts the sentiments of Muslims.

It said as Kashmir is a Muslim-majority place, such directives show "utter disregard for the tenants of Islam".

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"Open sale of alcohol in departmental stores will further promote addiction which is a major issue in Kashmir especially among our youth, something that the authorities also claim to be concerned about. It will also encourage immoral behaviour," the MMU said in a statement.

While the consumption of alcohol is banned in many states of India, why is it being encouraged in J-K, it asked.

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The MMU said authorities should immediately withdraw the decision.

The body also expressed strong resentment against the NIA raid at the house of its Deputy Ameer Moulana Rehmatullah Mir, who is also the chief administrator of Darul Uloom Raheemiya in Bandipora district.

"Such behaviour and harassment by investigative agencies, first towards the founder and patron of the MMU, Mirwaiz Mohammad Umar Farooq, and then with other Ulemas' and Muslim religious personalities, is aimed at scaring them so that they are stopped from safeguarding the interests of the Muslims of Jammu and Kashmir," the statement added.

These acts of intimidation of scholars, imams and preachers should be stopped, it said, adding all arrested scholars and preachers, including the Mirwaiz, should be released.

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New Delhi [India] October 12 (ANI): To support the Government of India's National Monetization Pipeline, National Highways Infra Trust (NHAI InvIT), has raised a sum of Rs 1,430 crore from domestic and international investors through the placement of its units, for part funding its acquisition of three additional road projects from NHAI.

According to an official statement of PIB, the placement of units with institutional investors witnessed strong demand from both existing investors, who reposed their commitment by participating in the process, as well as new investors. The units have been subscribed by a gamut of institutional investors including Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board, State Bank of India, SBI Pension Fund, SBI Mutual Fund, IOCL Employee Provident Fund, L&T Staff Provident Fund, Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Karamchari Pension Fund, TATA AIG and Star Union Daiichi Life Insurance. NHAI subscribed to the units through preferential allotment to maintain its unitholding of at least 15%. The units were subscribed through a book build process at INR 109 per unit, at a premium over floor price of INR 107.12 per unit.

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In addition to the above, NHAI InvIT has also filed prospectus with SEBI for issuance of Non-Convertible Debentures (NCDs) to raise Rs 1,500 crore. The NCDs would carry a coupon of 7.90% payable semi-annually and would be available for subscription by both retail and institutional investors.

The success of the follow-on issuance of units by NHAI InvIT demonstrates its attractiveness to sophisticated institutional investors. Their participation in this round supports National Monetization Pipeline, in which NHAI has the largest share and is crucial for Prime Minister's and Minister of Road Transport and Highways' vision of development of roads sector in the country.

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"In a historic first, NHAI InvIT has, through a transparent & market driven process, raised the funds in a follow-on issuance with entire premium accruing to NHAI. We thank the existing investors for their continuous faith in NHAI InvIT as well as new investors for coming on board in making NHAI InvIT a success," said Alka Upadhyaya, NHAI Chairperson.

Launched in November 2021, NHAI InvIT had raised Rs 8,011 crore for NHAI in its maiden round, with an initial portfolio of five operating toll roads of aggregate length of 390 km. With the acquisition of three additional road projects, NHAI InvIT will own, operate and maintain a portfolio of eight operating toll roads with an aggregate length of 636 km spread across the states of Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh, with concession period ranging between 20 to 30 years. (ANI)

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Agartala (Tripura) [India], October 12 (ANI): Asserting that India has become the 5th largest economy in the world, President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday said that the North Eastern Region will play an important role in making India a five trillion dollar economy by 2025.

The President said that there is immense potential for development in the North-Eastern Region.

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"Today, development of the Region is getting a new impetus with various new projects of highways, railways, airways and waterways. The North Eastern Region, including Tripura, will play an important role in making India a five trillion dollar economy by 2025. She expressed confidence that the aspirations, innovation and entrepreneurship of the talented and hardworking people, especially the youth of Tripura, will play an important role in achieving this goal," President said while inaugurating Tripura State Judicial Academy, President's Secretariat release said.

She also laid the foundation stone for Tripura National Law University at Narsingarh, Agartala today.

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The President virtually inaugurated an MLA Hostel at Capital Complex, Agartala and laid foundation stones for Maharaja Birendra Kishore Manikya Museum & Cultural Centre; IIIT-Agartala; and various projects of Government of Tripura related to roads, schools and hostels for students from Rabindra Satabarshiki Bhawan, Agartala.

Addressing the gathering at Rabindra Satabarshiki Bhawan, the President said that projects inaugurated "will not only strengthen the connectivity, education, judiciary and legislature in Tripura, but also boost the rich culture of the state."

According to an official statement,President said that over the past three decades, NLUs have played a significant role in the field of law education. Today with the growth of the economy, the legal profession has also expanded in many dimensions. She expressed hope that NLU Tripura will emerge as a major centre of legal education, not only in the Northeast, but across the country.

The President said that the youth of India have made a unique identity in the field of Information Technology, all over the world. She was confident that the permanent campus of Indian Institute of Information Technology, Agartala will set new benchmarks in the field of Information Technology.

Speaking at the event, President added that said that a holistic education system is essential for the development of the nation and progress of our youth. Along with higher education, we should give more emphasis on primary education. She was happy to note that the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region, in association with the State Government of Tripura, has launched 'Vidya-Jyoti Mission 100' under which 100 existing higher secondary schools will be converted into quality education institutions with state-of-the-art facilities, it added.

(ANI)

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New Delhi, October 12: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday paid tributes to Vijaya Raje Scindia, a leading figure of the BJP and its forerunner Jana Sangh, on her birth anniversary, saying she was synonymous with courage and foresight. PM Narendra Modi Promises Airport in Ankleshwar To Aid Economic and Industrial Growth of Bharuch.

"She devoted her life to serving others," Modi said in a tweet and shared a clip from one of his 'Mann ki Baat' radio broadcasts in which he had paid tributes to her "outstanding personality".

PM Narendra Modi's Tweet on Late Vijaya Raje Scindia

On her birth anniversary, tributes to Rajmata Vijaya Raje Scindia Ji. She was synonymous with courage and foresight. She devoted her life to serving others. Sharing what I had said during one of the previous #MannKiBaat programmes about her outstanding personality. pic.twitter.com/HTDBGxkSuw  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 12, 2022

Born in 1919, Scindia belonged to the erstwhile Gwalior royalty and was a vocal champion of the Hindutva agenda through most of her political career, which began with the Congress before she joined the Jana Sangh. PM Narendra Modi Reaches Ahmedabad, To Inaugurate Multiple Projects in Modhera.

Her grandson Jyotiraditya Scindia is a Union minister in the Modi government, while two daughters -- former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje and Yashodhara Raje -- are also in the BJP.

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New Delhi, Oct 12 (PTI) Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will launch a website on October 14 that will enable citizens to contribute to the Armed Forces Battle Casualties Welfare Fund (AFBCWF), the ministry said on Wednesday.

The portal -- 'Maa Bharati Ke Sapoot' (MBKS) -- will be launched during a function to be held at the National War Memorial complex here, the Defence Ministry said in a statement.

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AFBCWF is a tri-service fund, utilised for grant of immediate financial assistance of ex-gratia, to the next of kin and dependents of battle casualties.

"While the government of India has initiated a large number of welfare schemes for the soldiers killed or disabled during active military operations in the line of duty, there has been a strong public sentiment and requests from patriotic citizens, corporate heads or industry captains, to contribute to the cause of welfare of the soldiers and their families," the statement said.

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The website is being launched to facilitate patriotic Indians to partner in this noble cause, the ministry said.

Actor Amitabh Bachchan has graciously accepted to be the 'Goodwill Ambassador', it said.

The chief of defence staff, all three service chiefs, many Param Vir Chakra awardees and other prominent officials of the ministry, various corporate heads, chairman and managing directors of banks, eminent serving personnel from field of sports, and other celebrities are expected to attend the function, the statement said.

"On that day, ten next of kin of fallen heroes and soldiers disabled in active military operations will also be felicitated. Parents and relatives of many war decorated soldiers have also been invited," it said.

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New Delhi, Oct 12 (PTI) The government will look to stabilise its e-commerce firm ONDC and address the data privacy concerns before bringing a proposed e-commerce policy, according to an official source.

In June 2021, the Department of Consumer Affairs under the Food and Consumer Affairs Ministry released a draft set of rules that aims to tighten the governance of e-commerce platforms.

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On the other side, the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under the Commerce and Industry Ministry is also framing a national e-commerce policy. A couple of ministries are involved in the policy making as it lies in the jurisdiction of other legislations.

"We have already launched the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) to help small retailers. It has gone quite well. We have raised funds for ONDC. Once this gets stabilised and democratised, it will be easy to formalise the proposed e-commerce policy," the source said.

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There is also an element of data privacy in e-commerce, which Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is looking into it and working on a law, the source said.

The proposed e-commerce policy will get finalised when all the concerned ministries are in perfect "alignment", the source added.

The work is in progress and no deadline has been set as of now, the source added.

The e-commerce policy is expected to impact the Indian e-commerce market, which is projected to touch USD 188 billion in 2025 from USD 64 billion in 2020, with growing consumer preference to buy on the digital marketplace, according to a FICCI report.

The Department of Consumer Affairs is planning to come out with quality standards for checking fake and deceptive reviews on e-commerce platforms.A committee is already reviewing an Indian standard (IS 20488:2018) identified by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) for collection, moderation and publication of online reviews, another source said.

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Jerusalem, Oct 12 (AP) Palestinian shops and businesses in east Jerusalem shut down on Wednesday to protest Israeli police raids in the area that have prompted fierce clashes between police and Palestinian protesters.

Israeli police have been operating in the Shuafat refugee camp in Jerusalem's eastern sector to hunt for a suspect in a deadly shooting attack at a checkpoint on Sunday that killed a soldier.

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Police have been combing Shuafat, a hardscrabble camp for Palestinian refugees on the outskirts of Jerusalem, for the suspect, setting up checkpoints and deploying groups of armed officers to question residents.

The heavy police presence has sparked intense clashes with local youth. The checkpoints have choked off entry and exit points out of the area, disturbing daily life for residents.

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The general strike was called to protest the crackdown.

Schools and shops closed across east Jerusalem, including in the Old City, whose colourful stores catering to tourists and locals alike are usually abuzz with activity.

Showing solidarity with Shuafat means more than a day's income, said Anan Sabah, a butcher in the Old City. The camp has been closed and surrounded for days. We are closed to say that's collective punishment.

Tensions between Israelis and Palestinians are at a high, especially in Jerusalem, where thousands of Jewish worshippers are flocking to the flashpoint city to mark the weeklong Sukkot holiday.

Fuelling the tensions are monthslong, nightly raids conducted by the Israeli military in the occupied West Bank, which began after a spate of attacks against Israelis earlier this year.

More than 100 Palestinians have been killed in the violence, making this year the deadliest since 2015. Most of those killed have been militants, according to Israel, but some local youth protesting the raids as well as civilians have also been killed in the violence.

The raids have sparked a series of shooting attacks in recent weeks against Israelis in the West Bank, including one near the Palestinian city of Nablus on Tuesday that killed an Israeli soldier.

The Israeli military said it had closed some roads leading in and out of the city and set up roadblocks in its search for the gunmen.

Despite the tensions, it said it would still allow and escort Jewish worshippers to visit a Jewish shrine in Nablus that has been a flashpoint for violence.

Israel captured the West Bank, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek those territories for a future independent state. (AP)

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Lahore, Oct 12 (PTI) A private schools' association that claims to represent a combined 20 million students in Pakistan held "I am not Malala Day" across schools on Wednesday in response to Malala Yousafzai's controversial views on Islam and marriage, a day after the Nobel laureate landed in her home country after more than four years.

Yousafzai arrived in Pakistan on Tuesday to inspect regions hit by the cataclysmic floods and meet flood-hit victims.

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More than 1,700 people have been killed, 33 million displaced and a third of the country submerged under water in the worst floods to hit Pakistan, which brought about unprecedented rains since mid-June.

"I am not Malala Day" is an event named in reference to Yousafzai's autobiography titled "I am Malala," in which private schools in Pakistan hold lectures and seminars to expose her "western agenda."

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The All Pakistan Private Schools Federation (APPSF), an organisation that claims to represent a combined 20 million students in Pakistan, also showed a documentary film titled "I am not Malala-II".

In this documentary, Malala's acts of attacking the institution of marriage and family structure by advocating that people should live in sin, has been highlighted, Kashif Mirza, president of All Pakistan Private Schools Federation (APPSF) told PTI.

In November 2021, Yousafzai married Asser Malik at a private ceremony in Birmingham.

Through lectures and seminars, the APPSF has educated 26 million students through its 1.5 million teachers across 200,000 schools regarding Malala's controversial views on marriage, Mirza noted.

In response to Yousafzai declaring the Pakistan Army as militant' in her book, Mirza said:October 12 is also observed as a black day and all teachers of the private schools associated with the federation wear black armbands condemning Malala for her controversial views about Islamic practices."

Yousafzai, 25, last visited Pakistan in March 2018.

On Wednesday, she visited flood-affected district of Dadu, in Sindh province.

The timing of her return to Pakistan coincides with rise in terror incidents in her hometown in Swat Valley.

On Monday, unknown miscreants opened fire at a school van taking school students to Gulibagh area in the Swat Valley, which killed the driver and injured two students.

The latest attack has brought residents to streets, who are demanding justice to the victims and an end to the unrelenting wave of terror attacks in the restive region.

Overall, this is her second visit to Pakistan since she survived a Taliban attack in Swat Valley in October 2012, following which she was flown to a specialised hospital in Birmingham in the UK.

After her recovery, Yousafzai announced that she would launch a movement for the promotion of girls' education.

In December 2014, Yousafzai aged 17, became the youngest to become the Nobel Prize laureate.

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Washington [US], October 12 (ANI): Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman met Japanese minister of Finance Shunichi Suzuki on the sidelines of IMF-World Bank Annual meetings in Washington on Wednesday morning.

Finance Minister Sitharaman, during her bilateral meeting with her Japanese counterpart, said that 2023 will bring greater responsibilities for India and Japan on the world stage as both the countries take over Presidencies of the #G20 and #G7 respectively.

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The two sides also exchanged views on key agendas related to Indo-Pacific economic cooperation during the meeting.

"FM Smt. @nsitharaman said that 2023 brings greater responsibilities for India and Japan on the world stage as both countries take over the Presidencies of the #G20 and #G7 respectively. The two Ministers also discussed key agenda pertaining to #IndoPacific economic cooperation," the Ministry of Finance tweeted.

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Sitharaman also met the Deputy PM and Minister of Economy and Finance of South Korea, Choo Kyung-ho in Washington and discussed possibilities for #G20Finance in 2023 and sought South Korea's support for India G20 Presidency in 2023.

"Union Finance Minister Smt. @nsitharaman met Mr Choo Kyung-ho, Deputy PM & Minister of Economy and Finance, South Korea, @moefkorea_eng on the sidelines of #G20FMCBG #AnnualMeetings, in Washington DC, today. FM Smt. @nsitharaman discussed possibilities for #G20Finance in 2023 and sought South Korea's support for #G20 India 2023 Presidency. FM also invited Mr Kyung-ho to India for the 6th India-South Korea Finance Ministers meeting," the Ministry of Finance tweeted on Twitter.

Furthermore, Sitaraman is scheduled to meet with her counterparts from France, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Australia and Bhutan and will also attend the G20 Finance Ministers meeting.

Nirmala Sitharaman reached Washington on October 11 to attend the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. The Finance Minister will be in the western country between October 11 and 16 to attend the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

The Finance Minister will also hold one-on-one meetings with leaders and heads of OECD, the European Commission and UNDP.

During her visit to the US, the Finance Minister also met US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, following which she announced that she would travel to India next month to attend the ninth edition of the US-India Economic and Financial Partnership.

During the latter part of the visit, Sitharaman will attend roundtable meetings with USIBC and USISPF on themes to 'Strengthen Investment and Innovation in India-US Corridor' and "Investing in India's Digital Revolution".

"These meetings with leading business leaders and investors are aimed at highlighting India's policy priorities, and deliberate on measures to facilitate foreign investment by showcasing India's attractiveness as an investment destination," the Ministry said. (ANI)

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The Guardian, October 5, 2022

Last week, a suicide bomber killed at least 53 people  mostly girls from the minority Hazara ethnic group  outside an education centre in Kabul. Here, relatives and friends of four young women who died remember their loved ones.

Omulbanin Asghari, 17

My sister had many dreams and would have made our country proud. My family and I are immensely proud of her for standing up as a woman who fought through many struggles as a young Hazara girl, from taking private classes when education was banned to preparing for university.

She was taken away from us in the most brutal manner possible. We are broken, but determined to support her friends who survived this cowardly attack to achieve their dreams. As an educator, I will do everything I can to help them.

She was the baby of our family, the youngest of five, the kindest and most intelligent. She never lacked hope, she was always positive and determined. Her biggest life goal was to study political economy at Harvard University. She had planned for that in advance  improving her command of the English language and preparing for the Toefl test [Test of English as a Foreign Language for those applying to English-speaking universities]. In recent months, she studied day and night for the Konkor exams [Afghanistans university entrance test].

Over the years, she began watching a lot of motivational videos online and strengthened her will to succeed by reading books about revolutionaries such as Che Guevara and global leaders like Nelson Mandela. An avid reader with a thirst for knowledge, she read everything from books on economy to psychology.One thing few people knew about her is she was a foodie. Potato chips and Kabuli palaw (traditional Afghan pilaf) were her favourite dishes, and she loved barbecue.

She wished to leave a positive impact in the world, not only for her country but for the people of Afghanistan. Omulbanin always spoke of her intention to work towards the betterment of Afghan women. She wanted to dedicate her life to service. Her determination to defend the women of this country was so strong that she took taekwondo classes. It breaks my heart that she could have done so much good in this world.

All these aspirations came to a stop on the morning of 30 September when I rushed to the blast site and found her lifeless body on the ground. I had no words then and no more now.

By her brother, Mukhtar Modabber

Waheda, 18

What did she mean to me? She was my everything. My friend who spent every hour of the day for the past 18 months sitting by my side, sharing every moment of happiness, sadness and beyond. Waheda wasnt just my best friend, she was like a mother to me. She saved me.

She wanted to save many others and aspired to become a doctor. A rare mix, because she was as good at science as she was at mathematics. We spent hours studying for exams and talked at length about our dreams. We wanted to study at Kabul University. If I had to define her dreams in one word it would be education.

One of her most impressive qualities was her fierce loyalty. She would do everything to protect her friends and stand by them. Fierce, yet polite. A smile that was kind and honest  it made your day. She was beautiful.

When Im asked about one of my most unforgettable memories of her, I cant pick one. I am crying as I write this, but every moment we spent together is unforgettable. No matter what problem I went to her with, she would be willing to solve it. She wouldnt leave you in the lurch. She always said, Maryam, I am here, I will take care of it for you.

She was here with me four days ago. I was running late on my way to the Kaaj Educational Center. I reached it a few minutes after the explosion. I searched for her, as many of our friends were on the ground. I finally found her lifeless body. Frozen, shocked and shivering, I didnt leave her side until her father arrived. I sat beside her as I did all these past months.

Since that day, her father and her entire family have not stopped crying. Its difficult to put into words how broken they are. Her seven sisters and two brothers, who loved her very much cant get over this tragedy. I visit them every day. I wish I hadnt arrived late, I wish I was by her side. It is hard to move on, but I will continue to work towards our collective dreams. I want to tell the world, I promise, we are wounded but we will continue. For Waheda and for all my friends.By her best friend, Maryam Shafaie

Bahara, 20

I remember Baharas mischief during childhood. We tried to hide new things from her because she was always such a curious kid, and as soon as she saw something new she would start taking it apart. Not just toys but random things lying around the house. Humour was one of her best traits.Since Friday, we have been asking ourselves, why would someone take her away from us? She never hurt anybody; was kind, well-mannered and always had a smile on her face. I am repeating myself, but she really was one of the funniest people you could ever meet.

Bahara aspired to study computer science. She never wanted to leave Afghanistan. Her goal was to rebuild this nation and help her people. She was killed because she was a Hazara woman. An intelligent woman who was a great combination of playful, yet seriously determined.

She enjoyed studying and was a good student, but sometimes took some time off to watch Indian movies although she wasnt a big fan of Hollywood movies. Shah Rukh Khan and Tiger Shroff were her favourite Bollywood stars  one of her favourite movies was Khans Dilwale. She liked the simple things in life and was hoping to make a successful future.

I cant forget the moment I heard about the blast. I couldnt breathe. I didnt want to believe it, even when I reached the hospital and found her. Why did God take her away from us? I am speechless. She was just like any other young woman who wanted to fulfil her dreams and live a happy life. To make us and this country proud. My family has lost my precious sister. My siblings and I need to gather strength to deal with this tragedy that we are yet to come to terms with.

Until then, I hope God helps all the families who lost their loved ones. We are in this together.

By her brother, Zohair Yaqubi

Marzia Mohammadi, 16

In one of Marzias diary entries she made a list of all the things she wanted to do in life; her bucket list. Top of the list was to meet the renowned author Elif Shafak, followed by a visit to the Eiffel Tower and Paris and eating pizza in an Italian restaurant.

Marzia also wrote that she wanted to ride a bike while listening to music, walk late at night in the park, learn the guitar, travel the world and write a novel. These life goals reflect her vibrant personality, says her uncle, Zaher Modaqeq, who discovered her diary.

She was different, he says, at a loss for words to describe his niece who died in the suicide bombing on Friday.

As the youngest sibling in an extended family, Marzia was an average student, more interested in the creative arts, Modaqeq says. But after the Taliban takeover, she was more determined than ever to complete her education and achieve her goals.

On 15 August, the day the Taliban returned to power, she wrote about peoples fears, the shock and disbelief of girls like me. An entire day was wasted, she wrote. On 24 August, she wrote: I had a tiring day  I had some nightmares I cant remember, but I was crying in my sleep and screaming. When I woke up, I had an uncomfortable feeling. I went to a corner and cried and felt better.

In the entries that followed, Marzia wrote about wanting to take the Konkor exams. Her family discovered that she had dreamed of becoming an architect, a career that combined her love of art with academia.

She kept motivating herself every week, encouraging herself to study for longer. There are regular entries of her preparing for the weekly mock tests that took place at the Kaaj Educational Centre that was targeted. She would take the simulation tests every Friday and her scores gradually improved, Modaqeq says.In her last entry, on 30 September, she wrote: Wow, bravo Marzia!

Marzias diary reveals the world of a teenager who wanted to learn and explore the world. I didnt even know she used to keep such a diary, Modaqeq says, the grief evident in his voice. Some of her thoughts were so profound that I couldnt believe they were expressed by such a young child.As told to Hikmat Noori
Panama City, Oct 13 (AP) The United Nations said on Wednesday that almost three-quarters of the six million Venezuelan migrants currently in Latin America do not have adequate food, shelter, employment or medical care.

The UN's International Organisation for Migration said in a report that 4.37 million of the Venezuelans who fled to other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean often live on the streets or inadequate housing, and often go hungry.

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Latin America and the Caribbean host 84 per cent of the estimated total of about 7 million Venezuelans who emigrated in recent years.

The IOM and the UN refugee agency said that half of the Venezuelans in Latin America can't afford three meals a day.

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Many are forced to turn to sex work to meet their basic needs, the report said. Other take out informal loans or turn to begging.

In Colombia, one of the countries that has received the largest number of Venezuelans, 29 per cent of Venezuelan children between the ages of 6 and 17 are not enrolled in school.

Colombia's human rights ombudsman, Carlos Camargo, said the influx of migrants  often from Haiti or Venezuela  waiting to cross the dangerous, jungle-clad Darien Gap into Panama is much more serious than last year.

The number of migrants that have crossed into Panama is over 150,000, compared to 134,000 migrants in all of 2021, and the numbers are growing, Camargo said.

Increasing numbers of Venezuelans are crossing Central America and Mexico and are arriving at the US border.

Venezuelans recently surpassed Guatemalans and Hondurans to become the second-largest nationality stopped at the US border after Mexicans.

In August, Venezuelans were stopped 25,349 times, up 43 per cent from 17,652 in July and four times the 6,301 encounters in August 2021, signalling a remarkably sudden demographic shift.

The administration of US President Joe Biden is developing plans for Venezuelans with financial sponsors to be granted parole to enter the United States, similar to how Ukrainians have been admitted after Russia's invasion.

Four officials offered broad outlines of the plan to deal with a large increase in Venezuelans arriving at the US border with Mexico. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the matter publicly.

Venezuelans who cross the border illegally by land would be immediately returned to Mexico, two officials said. Currently, Mexico only accepts migrants expelled under Title 42 authority  a pandemic-era rule that denies migrants rights to seek asylum and is designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19  if they are from Guatemala, El Salvador or Honduras, in addition to Mexico.

Venezuelans who qualify for parole would enter the US at airports, two officials said, mirroring a program introduced in April that allows Ukrainians with financial sponsors to stay for up to two years. (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Hong Kong, October 12 (ANI): The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on Tuesday raised alarm over the sentencing of another five people, including four minors, under the National Security Law in Hong Kong.

"We are alarmed by the sentencing on Saturday of another five people - four of them minors - under the National Security Law in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China (Hong Kong SAR)," Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ravina Shamdasani said in a statement.

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Five teenagers, who have been sentenced had earlier pleaded guilty to the charge, under the Beijing-imposed national security law, for conspiring to incite subversion over calls for an uprising, Hong Kong Free Press reported.

Yuen Ka-him, 17, Wan Chung-wai, 16, Leung Yung-wan, 17, and Tseung Chau Ching-yu, 17, are the first four minors to be sentenced. All teenagers, including 19-year-old Kwok Man-hei, who was part of a political group, have been sentenced to time in a training centre, an alternative to imprisonment for those aged below 21.

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"The UN Human Rights Office and a number of UN human rights mechanisms have repeatedly expressed concerns over the negative impact of the National Security Law on fundamental rights and freedoms in the Hong Kong SAR," the statement added.

The UN rights body reminded the Hong Kong SAR authorities of their obligations under international human rights law, in particular the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

"The Convention on the Rights of the Child in Article 37 states that "the arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child shall be in conformity with the law and shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time," the statement added.

The National Security Law entered into force in Hong Kong on 30 June 2020. It includes offences of secession, subversion, organisation and perpetration of terrorist activities, and collusion with a foreign country, all of which carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

The legislation states that these offences apply to activities conducted both inside and outside Hong Kong, which in practice could include activities conducted in the UK.

China's mainland authorities could under certain circumstances detain and try individuals who commit an offence, or are accused of committing an offence, under the terms of this law. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Kyiv, Oct 13 (AP) Unbowed Western powers pledged to supply Ukraine with more potent air defence systems following a furious barrage of retaliatory Russian missile strikes, including one that temporarily knocked Europe's biggest nuclear plant off the invaded country's electrical grid on Wednesday.

The Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant suffered a blackout when a missile damaged a distant electrical substation, Ukraine's state nuclear operator said.

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The power loss increased the risk of a radiation emergency because the plant needs electricity to prevent its reactors from overheating.

Energoatom said the external power source was repaired after about eight hours and that the plant's emergency diesel generators  which rely on uncertain fuel deliveries in the war zone  provided backup in the meantime, but a similarly hazardous interruption could happen at any time.

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Russia has seized the plant and is not taking any steps to deescalate. On the contrary, it is shelling important infrastructure daily, the company's press service told The Associated Press.

Hundreds of cities and towns across Ukraine lost electricity after Russia launched a wide-ranging missile assault Monday in retaliation for a truck bomb explosion that damaged a bridge linking Russia with the Crimean Peninsula, which it annexed in 2014.

With repairs to the grid still in progress, Ukraine's prime minister asked people to reduce evening energy consumption by 25 per cent and prepare for winter by keeping essentials such as warm clothes, candles, flashlights and batteries ready.

As the barrage that killed dozens of Ukrainians this week continued, Ukraine's Western allies met at NATO headquarters in Brussels to calibrate their response.

US Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Ukraine wants its Western partners to provide it with a complete air defence system to contend with Russian warplanes and missiles.

Milley spoke to reporters after a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group, about 50 nations that meet regularly to assess Kyiv's needs and drum up equipment.

What Ukraine is asking for, and what we think can be provided, is an integrated air missile defense system. So that doesn't control all the airspace over Ukraine, but they're designed to control priority targets that Ukraine needs to protect, Milley told reporters.

Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office, said the meeting was historic because decisions to close the sky for Ukraine were being made there.

Ukraine has put a priority on bucking up its air defences, but NATO member nations have worried how to do that without triggering a wider war in Europe.

Zelenskyy's office said Moscow's retaliatory strikes killed at least 14 people and wounded 34 over the last day in the Zaporizhzhia region and the Donetsk region to the east. At least 19 died in Monday's opening onslaught, including five in Kyiv.

A day after Ukraine's Defence Ministry announced the arrival of the first of Germany's four promised IRIS-T air defence systems, the defence minister of the Netherlands said her country would deliver USD 14.5 million worth of air defence missiles in light of Russia's latest attacks.

These attacks reinforce the government's belief that they can only be answered with unwavering support for Ukraine and its people," Defence Minister Kajsa Ollongreher said.

The Netherlands, like our partners, will not be intimidated by Russia.

French President Emmanuel Macron, in a television interview on Wednesday evening, promised prompt delivery of more cannons and also anti-aircraft systems and missiles.

The US is expected to deliver two advanced NASAMs anti-aircraft systems in the coming weeks.

The nuclear scare and pledges of more Western support came amid a flurry of developments in Russia's 7 1/2-month-old invasion.

Moscow's main domestic security agency said it arrested eight people  five Russians and three citizens of Ukraine and Armenia  over the blast on the Kerch bridge between Russia and Crimea.

A truck loaded with explosives blew up while driving across the bridge Saturday, killing four people and causing sections of road to collapse, Russian officials said.

The span opened four years after Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, serving as a symbol of Moscow's regional dominance as well as a crucial route for military supplies for its troops in Ukraine and for Russians travelling to a popular vacation destination.

The Federal Security Service, known by the Russian-language acronym FSB, alleged the detained suspects acted on orders of Ukraine's military intelligence to secretly move the explosives into Russia using forged documents.

Ukrainian Defence Ministry spokesman Andriy Yusov denied the accusation that his country was involved, telling reporters, The entire activity of the FSB and the Investigative Committee is nonsense.

Zelenskyy's office said in a morning update that strikes on central and western parts of Ukraine had ceased but Russian shelling and attacks involving drones, heavy artillery and missiles continued in eight southeast regions.

More than a dozen missiles were fired at the city of Zaporizhzhia and its suburbs, damaging residential buildings. Part of a larger eponymous region that Moscow has illegally annexed, the city remains in Ukrainian hands while Russian forces control the area where the nuclear plant is located.

In Nikopol, a city of 104,000 across the Dnieper River from the plant, three people were gravely wounded, including a 6-year-old girl.

Over 30 multistory residential buildings were damaged, as as well as private houses and schools, Ukrainian authorities said.

Rafael Grossi, the head of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency, said the loss of external power at the nuclear plant for the second time in five days again exposed how precarious the situation is, and he pleaded again for a security zone around the plant.

All six of the Zaporizhzhia reactors were stopped earlier due to the war. But they still require electricity to prevent them and their spent fuel rods from overheating to the point of a meltdown that could release radiation into the atmosphere of Ukraine and potentially other European countries, including Russia.

In the Donetsk region, Russian tanks shelled the city of Avdiivka, damaging residential buildings and a market. Seven people were killed and eight wounded, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of Zelenskyy's office, said via Telegram, posting photos of bodies on the ground by a kiosk with potatoes and bread on the counter.

Before the bombardment of the last three days, Russian forces over the last month had lost ground to a Ukrainian counteroffensive in the east and south, drawing criticism from hawkish commentators in Russia.

Earlier on Wednesday, Ukraine's southern command said its forces recaptured five settlements in the southern Kherson region, on the western fringe of an arc of Russian-controlled territory in eastern and southern Ukraine.

Near the southern city of Mykolaiv, Ukrainian forces shot down nine Iranian Shahed-136 drones and destroyed eight Kalibr cruise missiles, the presidential office said. (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi, October 12: A gang of women thieves, who used to target women commuters in the Delhi Metro, have been arrested by the Metro Police, officials said. Four women of the gang, who were involved in a dozen cases of theft, have been arrested.

Jitendra Mani, Delhi Metro Deputy Commissioner of Police, said that the accused women gang members used to steal valuable articles from the handbags of women commuters. The Metro Police had been receiving constant complaints in this regard. The accused women were identified as Laxmi, Shashi, Sarita and Reshma. An FIR against them was lodged with the Kashmere Gate police station. Uttarakhand: Woman Homegaurd Babli Rani Jumps off Bridge To Catch Thief in Hardiwar.

"One Rahul had reported one of the cases to us. He told us that his uncle and aunt came to Delhi from Patna. They boarded the Delhi Metro from Kashmere Gate station. They got off at the New Delhi Railway Metro station. As they were exiting the Metro using an escalator, the bag of his aunt containing valuables, cash and gold jewellery was stolen," the official said. Video: Two Bike-Borne Thieves Snatch Mobile Phone From Man in Sahibabad, Police Form Team to Nab Accused.

The Metro Police which was already getting a number of complaints decided to examine the CCTV of all the Metro stations. They scanned more than a thousand CCTV footages to get a clue about the accused.

The Metro Police official said that the accused Laxmi was identified and seen in the footage standing along with her three accomplices. The police checked the records and came to know that Laxmi had a previous criminal record. The police said that they raided the house of Laxmi in Delhi's Anand Parbat area and she was arrested from there.

During questioning, she broke down and confessed that she and her accomplices were involved in several theft cases as well as targeting women commuters on the Delhi Metro. Later, at her instance, her three accomplices were also arrested.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 12, 2022 07:45 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Kochi, October 12: A local court here on Wednesday sent three people accused of killing two women allegedly as part of a "ritualistic human sacrifice" in Kerala's Pathanamthitta district, to two weeks judicial custody.

The accused couple -- Bhagaval Singh and his wife Laila --used to run a massage centre near Aranmula in Pathanamthitta district in their house. Their agent Mohammed Shafi had in June and September, brought the two women to the house, where they were brutally murdered by the couple. Rajasthan Shocker: Jaipur Man Chops Off 108-Year-Old Woman's Feet to Rob Silver Anklets to Repay Rs 4 Lakh Debt.

Shafi has been named as the first accused, followed by Singh and Laila. While Laila has been sent to the Women's Jail, here, the other two will be housed at the Kakkanad Jail, also in Ernakulam district. Ahmedabad Shocker: No Honk Please! Three Abuse, Beat Cafe Owner With Sticks After Being Stopped From Blowing Horn.

Kochi Police Commissioner C.H. Nagaraju said that the two women were killed and buried by the couple as part of the ritualistic human sacrifice. While Singh has been a popular traditional physician (vaidyan) in the area running the massage centre for long, with Laila -- his second wife -- assisting him.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 12, 2022 01:27 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Mumbai, October 12: The Maharashtra government has no role in the alleged delay by the Mumbai civic body in accepting the resignation of its employee Rutuja Latke, the candidate of the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction for the Andheri (east) bypoll, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, Anil Parab of 'Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray' party alleged that Latke was being pressured by the camp led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, now called "Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena", to contest on their ticket for the November 3 bypoll. The seat fell vacant after the death of Rutuja Latke's husband and sitting MLA Ramesh Latke. Andheri By-Poll 2022: Uddhav Thackeray-led Faction Claims Rutuja Latke Being Pressured to Contest As Shinde Group Candidate.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is a self-governing and autonomous body. The BMC administration will decide whether to accept the resignation of Latke or not. The Maharashtra government has nothing to do with the alleged delay in accepting the resignation, Fadnavis told reporters. Andheri East Assembly By-Election 2022: After Court Battle, Eknath Shinde Faction and Shiv Sena To Square Off in First Electoral Contest in Mumbai.

There must be some rules that need to be followed before accepting any resignation of BMC employee. We have no say in it, the BJP leader added.

The BJP shares power with the faction led by Eknath Shinde. Rutuja Latke had tendered her resignation a month back. Earlier, she was working in BMC's K east ward at Andheri.

On Wednesday, she moved the Bombay High Court seeking a direction to the Mumbai civic body to accept her resignation as its employee. In her petition, she said the delay by the civic body in issuing a letter or order (accepting her resignation) appears to be deliberate to prevent her from contesting the upcoming byelection. The petition will be heard on Thursday.
Delhi, October 12: The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, today has approved a new Scheme, Prime Ministers Development Initiative for North East Region (PM-DevINE) for the remaining four years of the 15th Finance Commission from 2022-23 to 2025-26. The new Scheme, PM-DevINE, is a Central Sector Scheme with 100% Central funding and will be implemented by Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER).

The PM-DevINE Scheme will have an outlay of Rs.6,600 crore for the four year period from 2022-23 to 2025-26 (remaining years of 15th Finance Commission period). 7th Pay Commission: Union Cabinet Clears Productivity Linked Bonus Equivalent to 78 Days to Railway Employees.

Efforts will be made to complete the PM-DevINE projects by 2025-26 so that there are no committed liabilities beyond this year. This implies front-loading of the sanctions under the Scheme in 2022-23 and 2023-24 primarily. While expenditure would continue to be incurred during 2024-25 and 2025-26, focused attention will be given to complete the sanctioned PM-DevINE projects.

PM-DevINE will lead to creation of infrastructure, support industries, social development projects and create livelihood activities for youth and women, thus leading to employment generation.

PM-DevINE will be implemented by Ministry of DoNER through North Eastern Council or Central Ministries/ agencies. Measures would be taken to ensure adequate operation and maintenance of the projects sanctioned under PM-DevINE so that they are sustainable. To limit construction risks of time and cost overrun, falling on the Government projects would be implemented on Engineering-procurement-Construction (EPC) basis, to the extent possible. PM-DevINE Scheme: Union Cabinet Approves Prime Ministers Development Initiative for North East Region.

The Objectives of PM-DevINE Are To:

(a) Fund infrastructure convergently, in the spirit of PM Gati Shakti;

(b) Support social development projects based on felt needs of the NER;

(c) Enable livelihood activities for youth and women;

(d) Fill the development gaps in various sectors.

There are other MDoNER Schemes for the development of North Eastern Region. The average size of projects under other MDoNER Schemes is about Rs.12 crore only. PM-DevINE will provide support to infrastructure and social development projects which may be larger in size and will also provide an end-to-end development solution instead of isolated projects. It will be ensured that there is no duplication of project support under PM-DevINE with any of the other schemes of MDoNER or those of any other Ministry/Department.

PM-DevINE, was announced in the Union Budget 2022-23 to address development gaps in the North Eastern Region (NER). Announcement of PM-DevINE is yet another instance of the importance being attached to the development of NE Region by the Government.

PM-DevINE is an additionality to the quantum of resources available for the development of the NER. It will not be a substitute for existing Central and State Schemes.

While some of the projects to be approved for 2022-23 under PM-DevINE are part of the Budget announcement, projects with substantial socio-economic impact or sustainable livelihood opportunities for the general public (e.g., basic infrastructure in all Primary Health Care Centres, comprehensive facilities in Government Primary and Secondary Schools, etc) may be considered in the future. LPG Price Rise: Cabinet To Give Rs 22,000 Crore to PSU Oil Companies To Cover Losses.

The justification for announcement of PM-DevINE is that the parameters of NE States in respect of Basic Minimum Services (BMS) are well below the national average and there are critical development gaps as per the BER District Sustainable Development Goad (SDG) Index 2021-22 prepared by NITI Aayog, UNDP and MDoNER. The new Scheme, PM-DevINE was announced to address these BMS shortfalls and development gaps.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 12, 2022 05:09 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
New Delhi, October 12: A 22-year-old man was arrested for allegedly trying to extort money from a woman by impersonating a Spanish actor on social media, police said on Wednesday. The accused, identified as Abbuzar Rehman, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Bhagpat district, was arrested on Monday, they said.

According to the police, Rehman demanded money from the woman by threatening to upload her private pictures on the internet. The woman, a BPO employee in Noida, alleged that the man, posing as a Spanish actor, befriended her on Instagram and she shared her private pictures with him, a senior police officer said. Delhi Shocker: 8-Year-Old Girl Murdered by Neighbour to Avenge Enmity with Her Brother in Narela, DCW Issues Notice to Police.

When the complainant did not agree to his demands, the accused made a fake profile of the woman and uploaded her pictures on it, and shared it with her, police said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (north) Sagar Singh Kalsi said the accused made a fake profile on Instagram by using pictures of Spanish actor Manu Rios to grab the attention of young women, the DCP said. Delhi Shocker: Six-Year-Old Boys Throat Slit as Part of Human Sacrifice Ritual in Lodhi Colony; Two Arrested.

He came in contact with the complainant and asked her to share her photos. He then saved these photos with the motive of extorting money from her, police said.
iPhone users will have to wait till end of December to use 5G services while Samsung will roll out over the air (OTA) facility by mid-November. Samsung also issued a statement after the meeting, saying that it will roll out OTA updates across all its 5G devices by mid-November.
On Wednesday, the Union Cabinet approved Rs 22,000 crore as one time grant to PSU OMCs for losses in Domestic LPG. The cabinet said that the decision will help the PSU OMCs to continue their commitment to the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan, ensuring unhindered domestic LPG supplies. PM-DevINE Scheme: Union Cabinet Approves Prime Ministers Development Initiative for North East Region.

Ensuring Unhindered Domestic LPG Supplies

Cabinet approves Rs. 22,000 crore as one time grant to PSU OMCs for losses in Domestic LPG It will help the PSU OMCs to continue their commitment to the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan, ensuring unhindered domestic LPG supplies.#CabinetDecisions pic.twitter.com/3d7w6HvdQV  Prasar Bharati News Services & Digital Platform (@PBNS_India) October 12, 2022

(SocialLY brings you all the latest breaking news, viral trends and information from social media world, including Twitter, Instagram and Youtube. The above post is embeded directly from the user's social media account and LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body. The views and facts appearing in the social media post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY, also LatestLY does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)
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Poco, the Chinese phone maker, is rumoured to launch the F5 5G smartphone soon. The handset is said to be introduced as the successor to the Poco F4 5G model, which was launched in China earlier this year. Ahead of its launch, specifications of the device have been leaked online. The handset is said to debut in China as the Redmi K60 followed by its global debut as the Poco F5 5G. Poco M5 With Triple Rear Cameras Debuts in India, Check Price & Other Details Here.

In terms of specifications, Redmi K60 and Poco F5 5G are likely to arrive with an AMOLED 2K display with a resolution of 3200x1440 pixels and a refresh rate of 120Hz. It might pack a Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 SoC. Poco F5 5G is listed on the IMEI database with model number 23013RK75C. Its Indian variant is listed with model number 23013PC75I, whereas the global variant has model number 23013PC75G. Poco X4 Pro 5G Launched in India at Rs 18,999; First Sale on April 5, 2022.

Reports suggest that the Poco F5 5G is codenamed Mandrian. Camera details, design and other features of Poco F5 5G are currently unknown. We expect the company to release a few teasers before its launch.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 12, 2022 10:05 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Sydney, October 12: Australia is an important partner for India in terms of security and stability in the Indo-Pacific and working together ensures that this region remains free, open, stable and prosperous, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said. Jaishankar, who is on a two-day visit to Australia, during his address to the Indian community said during the visit he spent time with the Australian military.

"They are a very important partner for us today in terms of security and stability in the Indo-Pacific. In fact, the big change in our relationship is the fact that today we both are members of the Quad mechanism and are working together in many ways to ensure that this region remains free, open, stable and prosperous," Jaishankar said on Tuesday. EAM S Jaishankar Slams Biden Administration for Pakistan's F-16 Deal, Says 'No One is Fooled'.

"I have seen again even in the last year how much progress we have made just in the last few weeks. We have had two major exercises in Australia where the Indian military has participated," he said.

He said the perception, the relevance of each country to the other and the two nations' common shared ability to contribute to the betterment of the region, is "something which is today an important factor in the relationship ", he said.

The US, India and several other world powers have been talking about the need to ensure a free, open and thriving Indo-Pacific in the backdrop of China's rising military manoeuvring in the region.

China claims nearly all of the disputed South China Sea, though Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam all claim parts of it. Beijing has built artificial islands and military installations in the South China Sea. EAM S Jaishankar Takes Dig on American Media for 'Biased' India Coverage.

"Now, an overall sense which I want to convey to you is really of two countries who in many ways have discovered the great potential of our ties and who have started to address that in a very serious manner," Jaishankar said. He also spoke about the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement.

"I am very happy to share with you that actually, the ECTA ratification process is underway," he said "We are very confident that by the end of this year or early next, we would really be in a position to put in place a new economic framework, which will allow the full possibilities of our corporation to unfold," the minister said. He said he was really excited about the enormous possibilities in the bilateral ties, especially in the education sector.

"Australia has established a global reputation as an educational hub. A lot of Indian students come here and we believe today that education can be really the avenue by which India-Aus relationship can advance in a much more expansive manner," he said.

"And I say that because in India, we've also had some major changes in our education policy. That India today, for a variety of reasons, actually is seeking greater international collaboration. And we are seeking that because we want our students to be more competent. We want our students to understand the world better. And we want our students to be prepared for a global workplace. The era when you know our countries primarily taught in their own space, that era is behind us," Jaishankar said.

During his visit, Jaishankar held meetings with Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles and Education Minister Jason Clare.

Jaishankar also expressed hope to work with the Australian industry on a business-to-business basis to see whether in the area of mining especially of critical minerals, there is possible for the two nations to develop a stronger relationship. "Again, this is a world of semiconductors. You all know how important critical minerals are," he said.

In addition, the two countries are also looking at clean energy, he said.

"If there is one lesson from the energy crisis that we are all going through in the aftermath of the Ukraine conflict, it is that the transition to cleaner and greener energy needs to be hastened. And Australia is the kind of economy that in many ways can be a pioneer in some of its aspects...So this too is an area where we see a lot of possibilities with Australia," he said. On the business front, he said things have been reasonably good.

"Our trade in the year which has just completed is in excess of 27 billion dollars. It's been quite a big jump. But again, it's not a level that we are satisfied with. We are very confident that we will be able to grow this especially once ECTA and the tax avoidance amendments come into play," he said.
Mumbai, October 12: The Switzerland government is planning to impose a fine of $1,000 fine for those violating the 'burqa ban' in the country. According to reports, the government has sent a draft to the parliament seeking to turn it into a law. The draft law seeks to fine people across the country who violate the nation-wide ban on face coverings.

If reports are to be believed, the government has sought the parliament's nod to implement a nation-wife "burqa ban" law. The government has also proposed a fine of 1,000 Swiss francs ($1,005) on the violators. In an official statement, the cabinet said, "The ban on covering faces aims to ensure public safety and order. Punishment is not the priority," reports Reuters. Hijab Ban Case: In Countries Like Iran, Women Are Fighting Against Hijab, Karnataka Govt to Supreme Court.

Interestingly, the draft law includes various exemptions which include waiving off the ban on aircraft, at diplomatic premises, places of worship, artistic performances and advertising among others. However, face coverings related to health, safety, climatic conditions and local customs would continue to remain valid.

The country-wife ban proposed by the cabinet has also asked the parliament to include the ban under the criminal code so that offenders can be fined up to 10,000 francs. It is to be noted that the proposal to implement a "burqa ban" had a narrow victory in the binding referendum last year after it was set in motion by the same group which had organised a ban in 2009 ban on the new minarets. Karnataka Hijab Row: More Students Wear Saffron Shawls and Hijabs in College Campuses Despite Ban.

Those who proposed the ban called the facial coverings a sign of extremes and political Islam. Muslim groups have also condemned the vote by the cabinet as discriminatory and have promised to challenge it legally.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 12, 2022 09:40 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham nullified four pre-statehood proclamations that targeted Native American tribes during the American frontier. These proclamations allowed citizens to kill Native Americans and declared them bandits.

Governor Grisham said that these 19th Century proclamations were offensive, and that rescinding these old proclamations would help heal old wounds, as well as "strengthen bonds with Native American communities."

She also admitted that the state's history is strained by the "cruel mismanagement of Native Americans." This was why she wrote an executive order to nullify these proclamations and announced it during Indigenous Peoples Day. She also pointed to several counties within the state that offered bounties for Apache scalps.

The New Mexico proclamations took inspiration from last year's Colorado proclamations by Governor Jared Polis who rescinded an 1864 order which eventually led to the infamous Sand Creek Massacre that saw U.S. troops kill over 200 Native Americans. It was described as "one of Colorado's darkest and most fraught historic moments."

Santa Fe historian Valerie Rangel also searched for similar documents, which led to New Mexico voiding those past proclamations. Two of those voided were made by James S. Calhoun, New Mexico's first territorial governor. The proclamation excluded Native Americans from official census counts. It also authorized militias to "pursue and attack any hostile tribe."

READ MORE: Chile Easter Island Fire: Iconic Statues Damaged in Blaze

Protests and Celebrations as Native American Communities Observe Indigenous Peoples Day

President Joe Biden proclaimed the observance of Indigenous Peoples Day on the same day as Columbus Day. However, demonstrators trooped to New Mexico's capital, Santa Fe, to protest the injustices made against Native Americans.

Demonstrators also held banners aimed at raising awareness about missing and slain Native Americans, according to the Associated Press.

They also splattered paint on the monument of Kit Carson. He had a hand in the killing of hundreds of Native Americans during the period of the American Frontier and the taming of the West.

However, there were also celebrations, like the one in Flagstaff, Arizona which focused on the youth. They talked about how Indigenous people have contributed to the community, and also featured a dance performance by Hopi children, who performed a Corn Dance in front of City Hall.

What Is Indigenous Peoples Day?

Indigenous Peoples Day is usually observed on the same day as Columbus Day, as many Native American peoples are offended that the United States celebrated Christopher Columbus. They also claim that the holiday overlooked the deaths of hundreds of Indigenous people at the hands of Columbus, whom many believe may have conducted genocide.

According to VOA news, it is a "holiday that recognizes that cultures inhabited the Americas thousands of years before the arrival of Columbus." Support for it is slowly getting traction in the United States, with over 12 states and several cities officially recognizing the contribution of Native Americans every second Monday of October, the same day as Columbus Day.

READ MORE: Los Angeles: Nury Martinez Steps Down as City Council President After Leaked Video Exposes Racist Remarks

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WATCH: Recognizing Native Americans on Indigenous Peoples' Day across the US | USA TODAY
Notorious White supremacist mass shooter Dylann Roof took his case to the United States Supreme Court to challenge his death sentence. He tried to argue that there was evidence that he had a mental illness when he defended himself during his sentencing, but the highest court in the land still rejected his appeal.

According to NPR, Roof asked the Supreme Court to decide how to handle disputes over mental illness-related evidence. This is because Roof and his attorneys disputed over portraying Roof as mentally ill.

Dylann Roof Fired His Lawyers and Decided to Represent Himself, Leading to His Death Penalty Sentence

During his trial, his attorneys tried to portray him as having a mental illness. However, Roof disagreed and fired them, leading to him defending himself during sentencing. He also tried to block evidence that would portray him as mentally ill as his case went on.

However, during the trial, he was found guilty of killing nine people at a Black church in South Carolina, leading to his death sentence.

The 28-year-old mass shooter tried to appeal that death sentence at the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that he was wrongfully allowed to represent himself during the sentencing phase of his trial as he had already fired his attorneys at that time.

However, the court rejected this argument, forcing Roof to take his case to the Supreme Court.

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According to the Daily Mail, he now has a new legal team. They argued that Roof was mentally ill and that the jury decided to give the death sentence to a mentally ill person who was forced to defend himself. His attorneys asked the Supreme Court earlier this year to review it on the same grounds but still rejected it.

The Justices did not comment when they turned Roof's appeal away on Tuesday.

During his trial, U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel held two competency hearings for the self-avowed White Supremacist. The first one was before the trial properly began, and the second was to determine if he could act as his own attorney. However, he neither fought for his life nor explained his actions. He only defended himself by saying,"'anyone who hates anything in their mind has a good reason for it."

Who Is Dylann Roof?

In 2015, Dylan Roof entered the Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. There, Black church members were conducting a Bible study session. However, according to the Associated Press, Roof suddenly started shooting and killed nine people.

His victims were DePayne Middleton-Doctor, Tywanza Sanders, Myrah Thompson, Ethel Lance, Susie Jackson, Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, Daniel Simmons, Clementa Pinckney, and Cynthia Hurd.

It was revealed that Roof followed White Supremacist ideals and even had a manifesto that outlined his hatred toward Black people and other people of color. He claimed in that manifesto that his White supremacist views developed after the killing of Trayvon Martin in 2012.

He was convicted of all 33 federal charges, including hate crimes. He is currently on federal death row at a maximum-security prison in Terre Haute, Indiana.

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WATCH: Supreme Court rejects death sentence appeal from Dylann Roof - News 19 WLTX
Justice Department urged the Supreme Court not to interfere with the federal government's probe of Donald Trump and the Mar-a-Lago documents found in his Florida residence.

The former president keeps asserting that he is not entitled to have the court put the materials before an independent arbiter.

ABC News Go reported that the Justice Department noted in their latest filing that Trump has no "plausible claims of ownership or privilege in the documents bearing classification markings."

The DOJ added that Trump has never presented in court that he declassified any documents or presented any evidence to support those claims. The Justice Department also masserted that Trump has "no basis to demand special master review."

The former president's legal team will have to file a reply to the department's brief in the next 48 hours.

READ NEXT: Some Donald Trump White House Documents Still Missing, National Archives Tells Congress

Justice Department on Mar-a-Lago Documents

The Supreme Court is looking at an emergency appeal from Trump, asking it to overturn a lower court ruling and allow a special master to review the around 100 documents with classified markings, which were taken from Mar-a-Lago.

The three-panel judges from the Atlanta-based U.S. Court of Appeals sided with the Justice Department's argument that there was no legal basis for the special master to conduct their own review of the classified Mar-a-Lago documents, according to a PBS News Hour report.

Lawyers of the former president said that it was needed for the special master to access the classified records to "determine whether documents with classification markings are classified." They also noted that the special master will determine whether those are personal records or Presidential records.

The Justice Department also dismissed Trump's assertion that as a president, he had absolute declassification authority.

Trump's own lawyers have repeatedly raised the same assertion but avoided making the claim the former president took steps to declassify the records.

Mar-a-Lago Documents

Trump also went on to accuse the Federal Bureau of Investigation of planting evidence and suggested that documents with nuclear secrets had been seized in the raid.

Trump noted in a Business Insider report that the FBI plant documents while also claiming that other presidents had mishandled classified information yet faced no legal consequences.

Lawyers of Trump argued that some of the documents are private and should be returned under privilege rules. However, DOJ officials noted that they have sorted the seized materials and have found only a small number fell into those categories.

The former president's lawyers did not present any evidence to support Trump's claims that the evidence was planted in the raid.

Fact-checkers also noted that the former president's claim that former presidents have mishandled government records after leaving office is "misleading."

Analysts said that Trump's allegations are aimed at "riling up" those who support him ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

READ MORE: Donald Trump Net Worth 2022: Forbes Releases New Estimate of Former President's Wealth Amid New York Business Fraud Case

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WATCH: DOJ Urges Supreme Court To Reject Trump Request Over Mar-a-Lago Documents - from MSNBC


After days of heavy rainfall, a landslide was triggered in Las Tejerias, Santos Michelena, part of Aragua State in Venezuela. The landslide buried the town in mud, rocks, fallen trees, and other debris.

Search and rescue operations are now underway. Venezuelan state media reported that the official death toll has reached 43.

According to the Associated Press, search and rescue crews have already expanded their search for any bodies buried under the mud and debris. They also extended their search perimeter to include downstream areas along the river, where several bodies were found.

Local Residents Join Search and Rescue Operations To Help Find Survivors and Bodies

With approximately 56 people from the town still missing, several local residents have joined the official government crews for the search and rescue operations.

One of them was Magaly Colmenares, who joined several firefighters as they searched her house buried by mud. They managed to find her grandson, who died in the landslide after he was probably buried alive. They took his body to a nearby health center, which had been turned into a morgue for the dead.

She told the Associated Press that her grandson was buried with a man who tried helping him and his 3-month-old sister. The grandmother is still working with the firefighters to look for his sister.

READ MORE: Venezuela: 35 Dead as Landslides Sweep Through Aragua State

However, there were also tales of survival as the horrific landslide barreled through the town. Jose Medina, a 63-year-old resident of Las Tejerias, managed to save his family when he turned his refrigerator sideways, opened its door, and used it as a lifeboat for his granddaughter. He and his wife held on to the fridge and pinned it to a table, preventing them from being washed away by strong currents.

Medina told NPR that it was a "miracle." However, he said that he was also sad as the landslide and floods also destroyed his home, and he lost almost all his belongings.

Vice President Delcy Rodriguez stated they still have not given up hope of finding survivors. She told the media that, "We are still hoping to find people that can be saved."

According to Venezuelan authorities, at least 317 homes in Las Tejerias were wiped out by the landslide, with another 750 homes damaged. Many said the evacuations were too late, as residents only had minutes to leave their homes when the landslide struck last Saturday.

Government Blamed for Neglect After Town Was Leveled by a Landslide

Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said that the tragedy was caused due to the effects of climate change. However, Venezuelan hydrometeorological engineer and retired professor Valdemar Andrade blamed the government for the tragedy.

Andrade stated that the "lack of investment in the country's water infrastructure and in key tools to help track rain information" was to blame for the devastating deaths that resulted from the landslide.

The Washington Post noted that former President Hugo Chavez stopped collecting rainfall information through a national network of this kind when he took over. This type of data is often used by countries to measure precipitation, which also helps engineers to design, modernize and maintain bridges, reservoirs, and other infrastructure.

Another government critic, Juan Carlos Sanchez, a former Venezuelan environmentalist, stated that the government should do a better job of alerting communities that are the likeliest affected by these disasters, especially now with the effects of climate change.

READ MORE: Colombia Mudslides Kill 5, Including 3 Children in Rural Elementary School

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Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Death toll rises after landslide in Venezuela - Associated Press
Prosecutors in Peru have filed a constitutional complaint against President Pedro Castillo after five of his allies were arrested on corruption allegations. The president elected less than a year ago is the subject of five separate criminal investigations.

According to Al Jazeera, Castillo has already evaded two impeachment attempts, and the legal filing made by Attorney General Patricia Benavides in Congress on Tuesday was the most severe attack against him so far.

"We have found very serious indications of a criminal organization that has taken roots in the government," Benavides said.

Castillo has been criticized many times because people say he used his power as president to help himself and his family, which he denied.

While the president of Peru is often immune from criminal prosecution, a constitutional complaint enables Congress to conduct its trial. However, several analysts have said that prosecuting a current president is constitutionally complex.

The verdict of that trial, which does not need as many votes as an actual impeachment trial, might result in Pedro Castillo's suspension from office.

RED NEXT: Peru: Pedro Castillo's Relative Receives Prison Time While Being Investigated for Corruption

Peru President Pedro Castillo Says New Complaints Are New Form of Coup d'etat

In response to the Prosecutor's Office ordering raids on the residences of several parliamentarians and his sister for an alleged corruption case, Pedro Castillo said Tuesday that "a new form of coup d'etat" had begun.

"Today, in the morning hours, the execution of a new type of coup has begun in Peru," Castillo noted during a conference with the foreign press.

"Never has it been seen in the history of the country that the homes of officials, congressmen, and former government workers are raided simultaneously, being convinced by false information (...) that we are tarnished," he added.

The president said the prosecutors want to legitimize a criminal network and do not care about people's dignity and respect for families. He noted that his government would stand "tall and firm" despite the political prosecution, La Prensa Latina reported.

Peru President Pedro Castillo Meets Antony Blinken Amidst Criminal Investigations

Last week, Pedro Castillo and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met to talk about food security, fertilizer shortages, migration, and fighting drug trafficking.

Cesar Landa, Peru's minister of foreign affairs, welcomed Blinken, who met privately with Castillo at the Presidential Palace on October 6.

Blinken's visit took place during the 52nd General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS), which happened last week in Lima. Blinken and Landa gave a press conference after the visit, according to Peru Reports.

Blinken said a work plan is in place to achieve goals that will benefit the people, including food security, fertilizers, and migration management. He thanked Peru for organizing the 52nd OAS General Assembly.

"We're grateful for Peru's leadership in hosting what was, I think, a constructive and consequential meeting of the OAS," the U.S. official said.

Pedro Castillo has accumulated six preliminary investigations by the Prosecutor's Office against him since taking office in July 2021, five of them in Benavides' hands.

READ MORE: Peru: Top 4 Authentic Peruvian Street Food You Should Try

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WATCH: Peru's President Pedro Castillo in Court Over Criminal Charges - From Al Jazeera English
An 80-year-old California woman was out for a morning walk in San Bernardino County Friday morning when two dogs attacked her. She died following the attack.

According to a statement from the Victor Valley Sheriff's Station, two Dogo Argentino breed dogs from a nearby home attacked Soon Han. The incident happened around the area of Vinton Street and Mesa Road.

NBC News reported that deputies responded to a call at around 11 a.m. When the police arrived, they found the California woman in the roadway and was already unresponsive.

Owner of Dogs That Attacked the California Woman Cooperating With Police

According to Crime Online, Soon Han suffered numerous major injuries from the dog attack. Police said in the statement that Han was pronounced dead at the scene.

Authorities noted that the owner of the two dogs was soon located and is now cooperating with the investigation. The dogs were captured and taken to San Bernardino County Animal Care & Control.

Police said the California woman was walking her own dogs when the two Dogo Argentinos attacked and mauled her to death. Dogo Argentinos are often described as a large, white, muscular breed of dog.

They were initially bred in Argentina for big-game hunting, including wild boar. Males can reach a weight of around 40 to 45 kg. These dogs, which look like big pit bulls, usually have a tolerant and friendly temperament, but like most dogs, they can get very protective and territorial.

Many describe this breed as one of the world's most unstable dog breeds, as they can be friendly one moment and then suddenly become agitated. This has led the breed to be banned in many countries, including the United Kingdom.

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Family's Pit Bulls Kill 2 Children, Hospitalize Mother in Tennessee

In Tennessee, two children and their mother were attacked by the family's two pit bulls inside their home. The mother, Kirstie Jane Bennard, 30, suffered multiple injuries when she tried to rescue her two children from the dogs but managed to survive.

However, her 5-month-old son, Hollace Dean, and 2-year-old daughter Lilly Jane were not so lucky.

"She put her body on top of Lilly's to try and protect her after the attack started," said Jeff Gibson, the uncle of Bennard's husband.

According to People, the attack happened on October 5 and lasted around 10 minutes. The Shelby County Sheriff's Office said the two children died at the scene. Their mother was taken to a local hospital and is now in stable condition. The two dogs who attacked them, Cheech and Mia, were euthanized.

They had been with the family for eight years, and it is still unknown why they attacked the two children. And the sheriff's office said it is "still an active, ongoing investigation." A GoFundMe Page has been set up to help the family.

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WATCH: THE DOGO ARGENTINO DOG - DANGEROUS & BANNED? - From Animal Watch
A Pfizer executive admitted that she nor other Pfizer officials did not know whether the COVID-19 vaccine developed by the company would stop viral transmission before being publicly distributed last year.

Pfizer's president of international development markets, Janine Small, testified on behalf of Pfizer CEO Dr. Albert Bourla before the European Parliament's COVID-19 committee Monday. Bourla was summoned by the committee but withdrew from his appointment.

According to The Epoch Times, Small was asked if the Pfizer COVID vaccine was tested to stop the transmission of the virus before bringing it to market.

Small said in response: "No... You know, we had to... really move at the speed of science to know what is taking place in the market. And from that point of view, we had to do everything at risk."

Following Small's comments to him, Rob Roos, a Dutch member of the European Parliament, said in a Twitter video that millions of people worldwide were duped by pharmaceutical companies and governments.

He added that people were forced to be vaccinated due to the myth that "you do it for others," which turned out to be "a cheap lie."

 BREAKING:



In COVID hearing, #Pfizer director admits: #vaccine was never tested on preventing transmission.



"Get vaccinated for others" was always a lie.



The only purpose of the #COVID passport: forcing people to get vaccinated.



The world needs to know. Share this video!  pic.twitter.com/su1WqgB4dO  Rob Roos MEP  (@Rob_Roos) October 11, 2022

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Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine Preventing Transmission

In 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) wrote in its report that no data was available at the time to determine whether the COVID-19 vaccine would prevent transmission and for how long the vaccine would provide protection.

In the same year, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said the pharmaceutical firm was not sure whether those who receive its mRNA vaccine developed with BioNTech would be able to transmit COVID-19 to other people.

Despite the uncertainty of the effectiveness of the vaccines in stopping viral transmission, many governments around the world implemented policies requiring people to show proof of their COVID-19 vaccination status.

Roos said he was among those who objected to the vaccination requirements. He noted that the Dutch prime minister and health minister told them that the vaccination was "also for others" and "you do it for all of society," which "turns out to be complete nonsense," The Blaze reported.

Roos said the Pfizer executive's admission that the vaccine was untested to prevent transmission removes "the entire legal basis" for the COVID-19 passport, which led to "massive institutional discrimination as people lost access to essential parts of society."

"I find this to be shocking, even criminal," he added.

COVID-19 Vaccines in the U.S.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently said in a report that two shots of COVID-19 vaccines prevented at least 330,000 deaths and nearly 700,000 hospitalizations among adult Medicare recipients in 2021.

According to CNBC, Texas and Hawaii were not included in the study due to incomplete vaccination data. Most of the Medicare recipients are 65 and older, while people who are not seniors make up about 14% of Medicare beneficiaries.

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, more than 300 people are still dying each day on average from COVID-19, while more than 3,300 people are hospitalized daily.

Health officials believe that the new boosters will provide substantially better protection against COVID-19 as the shots now match the main COVID variant circulating in the U.S., which is the Omicron BA.5 subvariant.

The FDA authorized the COVID-19 vaccines of Pfizer and Moderna in December 2020. Seniors were the first to get the shots, and eligibility gradually expanded in 2021.

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WATCH: How the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine Was Developed - From 60 Minutes
An ex-Texas cop who shot a teenager while eating a burger inside his car in a McDonald's parking lot has been arrested on two counts of assault on Tuesday.

San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said James Brennand, who was an officer with the San Antonio Police Department when the shooting happened, was arrested after he turned himself in, NBC News reported.

McManus noted that the police department filed two counts of aggravated assault by public servant against Brennand following his arrest. The ex-Texas cop shot Erik Cantu, 17, multiple times on October 2.

READ NEXT: Texas Teen, in Critical Condition After San Antonio Police, Shot Him Several Times in McDonald's Parking Lot

Ex-Texas Cop James Brennand Thought Teen's Car Was Stolen

At around 10:45 p.m. on October 2, James Brennand, 25, approached Erik Cantu's car in McDonald's parking lot, opened the door, and ordered the teenager to "get out of the car" before he attempted to remove him from the car.

The ex-Texas cop claimed he recognized the car as the same vehicle that fled from him "the other day." He suspected that the car was stolen and called for cover.

According to KSAT, the body-cam footage shows Cantu putting the vehicle in reverse as his open car door reportedly hits Brennand. The ex-Texas cop then fired shots into the car while both Cantu and his 17-year-old female friend were still inside.

As the teenager put the car in drive and pulled out of the parking lot, Brennand continued to fire more shots into the back of the vehicle.

"When I arrived on the scene I looked at the vehicle, and I immediately had issues with it based on where the bullet holes were," McManus told CNN.

"We have a policy that prohibits officers from shooting at vehicles, moving vehicles, except if their life is in immediate, their life or someone else's life is in immediate danger," he added.

McManus said that "there is no question in anybody's mind looking at that video that the shooting is not justified," adding that "the video was horrific." Police noted that the vehicle, driven by Cantu, was not the subject of the disturbance call.

Eric Cantu Is Fighting for His Life on a Life Support After Being Shot by Ex-Texas Cop

The girl in the passenger seat was unharmed. However, Erik Cantu remained unconscious and still on life support as of early Tuesday, an attorney for his family said. Lawyer Brian Powers noted that Cantu's condition is not improving,

He also said that "the last two days" have been hard, and they expect more difficulties ahead, but they remain hopeful, NBC News reported. He added that any reports about Cantu "going to be fine" or "stable" were not true.

"Every breath is a struggle for Erik... We ask for everyone's continued prayers for our son," the statement said. James Brennand was still in his probationary period. He was fired after the shooting.

McManus noted that the ex-Texas cop's actions were indefensible and had nothing to do with their training, tactics, and procedures. McManus also said the police got a warrant for Brennand.

However, he noted that the case has not been sent to the district attorney yet. Online court records did not appear to reflect the case, and it was unclear whether Brennand had a lawyer who could speak for him.

READ MORE: Ohio Police Shot, Killed Homicide Suspect in Fairfield Township

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WATCH: SAPD Fires Officer That Shot Teen in McDonald's Parking Lot - From KHOU 11
Khloe Kardashian said she recently underwent a procedure to remove a tumor from her face.

According to NBC News, the 38-year-old "The Kardashians" star posted a series of pictures on her Instagram Story on Tuesday that explained what happened. When she first saw the bump months ago, she said she thought it was a pimple.

"After noticing a small bump on my face and assuming it was something as minor as a zit, I decided to get it biopsied seven months after realizing it was not budging," Khloe wrote next to a close-up photo of the bump.

After two dermatologists said the bump was "extremely rare" for a person her age, Khloe Kardashian noted that she had the lump biopsied.

READ NEXT: Khloe Kardashian Fires Back at Kanye West for 'Tearing' Down Kim Kardashian: 'Please STOP'

Khloe Kardashian Says Her Face Tumor Caused Her Cancer Scare

Khloe Kardashian said: "A few days later, I was told I needed to have an immediate operation to remove a tumor from my face," so she called a family friend and one of the top surgeons in Beverly Hills, Dr. Garth Fischer.

According to StyleCaster, it was still unclear what caused the tumor or if it was cancerous since the word "tumor" can refer to any abnormal growth.

Khloe also explained the importance of constant health checks. She said she had melanoma on her back that was removed through surgery when she was 19, which is why she is pre-composed to melanomas.

She noted that everyone should be checking their health all the time, whether they have experienced the same or not, as most people are not as lucky as her. The cancer scare comes weeks after her surrogate gave birth to her and her ex-boyfriend Tristan Thompson's baby boy on August 5.

Khloe Kardashian's Surgeon Talks About Her Face Tumor After the Procedure

Garth Fisher recently removed a tumor from Khloe Kardashian's face and is speaking out. According to ET, Fisher expressed his joy that Khloe could move from the cancer scare and thanked the Good American co-founder for letting him operate on her.

He said it felt like he was operating on "his own daughter." Fisher reposted Khloe's Instagram stories and wrote how she and her family have been dear to him.

He also said he was saddened that she had to undergo such a procedure to remove a dangerous face tumor. He added that he was honored that Khloe trusted him and his staff and was tremendously relieved that they got it all out.

"I'm grateful to share that Dr Fisher was able to get everything - all my margins appear clear, and now we are onto the healing process," Khloe wrote.

"So, here we are... you'll continue to see my bandages and when I'm allowed, you'll probably see a scar (and an indention in my cheek from the tumor being removed) but until then I hope you enjoy how fabulous these face bandages look," she added.

READ MORE: Kanye West Is Now Dating a Brazilian Bombshell Model: Meet the Rapper's New Rumored Girlfriend Juliana Nalu

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Written by: Bert Hoover

Watch: Khloe Kardashian Has Surgery to Remove Face Tumor - From E! News
Following a very successful Hourglass Tour with theatre performances in Leitrim, Donegal, Longford, Kerry and two Laois shows in Donaghmore and Timahoe last June, Emer Dunne and her talented musicians are proud to bring three more performances further afield in Laois to other communities this October.

The next phase of Emers shows started with a full house on Saturday October 1 in Clonaslee Heritage Centre and the following Saturday October, in Camross Community Centre before Emer and her group move on to St Annes Community Centre in Ballylinan on Sunday October 23.

These three Laois shows are sponsored by Laois Arts and the Department of Culture and Tourism and therefore are free for the public to attend. The objective of this funding is to support artists return to the stage but also to encourage their neighbours and friends to come out and savour these talented musicians and enjoy performances again.

Emer has a purity and strength in her voice that has deemed her to be a definite rising star by Irish Music Magazine where she has been compared to the likes of Mary Black and Maura O'Connell amongst others.

Despite the challenges of the past two years, we saw Emer rise on the folk scene, featuring on the RTEs Today show and releasing two no 1 hit singles, Daisy and Wild Mountain Thyme.

On the release of her debut folk album, Hourglass Hot Press described Emer as an entertainer through and through There is a hearty appetite for what Hourglass has to offer with her trademark soaring voice.

The nights are filled with well-known and well-loved folk songs and music including favourites such as Wild Mountain Thyme and Sweet Sixteen. Emer said Im teaming up with wonderful musicians on flute and guitar to bring a varied and lively acoustic set. There is a lot of variety in the show and so we hope to have something for you all to enjoy.

Emer is touring with Laois Musician Dr Robert Harvey, a versatile and talented flautist and she will be bringing the unique guitar work of Eamonn Moran to the stage for these performances.

Having shared the stage with The Fureys, Phil Coulter and John Spillane amongst others, Emers voice has now hit the national airwaves with RTE Radio 1s Rising Time referring to her album as fabulous from start to finish and RTEs, Ronan Collins, supporting her songs. BBC Radio Ulster citing A great voice and a lovely impressive production. Emers Hourglass was also supported with airplay on various regional stations around the country including our very own Midlands 103.

Robert and Eamonn have previously worked with Emer on her headline gigs in Germany and Amsterdam, among others.

If you want to tap your feet and clap your hands and sing along with the artists on stage then the final show is one not to be missed at St Annes Community Centre Ballylinan on Sunday October 23.

The doors 7.45pm and show gets underway at 8pm Admission is free so early arrival is advised. Further details about the event and Emer visit www.emerdunne.com
Fianna Fail and Fine Gael Government colleagues in Laois have welcomed the new cost of living payments that will cost 1.2 billion nationally.

Minister of State Finance Sean Fleming joined with Charlie Flanagan TD were pleased with the multi-element package which will be phased.

Minister Fleming said Ireland's well-developed and effective social protection system is being used to get money into peoples pockets in the weeks ahead.

"This payment schedule is designed to give people certainty and some peace of mind so they know exactly when these additional payments will be made to them.

"Budget 2023 represents the largest social protection budget package in the history of the State. The blend of lump-sum payments to support people over the winter months together with the largest increases in weekly rates for decades is designed to help our citizens through the current cost of living challenges we are facing," said the Fianna Fail TD.

Deputy Charlie Flanagan was also pleased with with the deal.

Starting from next week, eight lump-sum payments totalling 1.2 billion nationally will be made to help people with the cost of living.

Fine Gael is determined to put money back in peoples pockets and assist them with the rising cost of living. The recent budget delivered the largest social protection Budget in the history of the state, with a mix of lump sum supports and increases to weekly payments.

As well as the significant supports in the Budget for 2023, people in Laois are going to receive immediate help with the cost of living," he said.

The Cabinet signed off on the proposals that were first announced on Budget day.
Laois Local Studies have digitised an important photographic collection of images captured by the 5th Viscount de Vesci.

The Ivo de Vesci Collection consists of more than 4,000 photographic images. The images were captured by Ivo, the 5th Viscount de Vesci, between about 1900 and 1957.

Ivo de Vesci succeeded his uncle John, the 4th Viscount de Vesci in 1903, inheriting the family estate in Abbeyleix. He was a prolific photographer and visually recorded all aspects of his life, including family, society, foreign travel and estate management.

The collection, which spans over five decades, captures a period in which the local, social, political and economic landscape of Ireland was changing rapidly. It is a visual record of local and national significance. The collection, which is part of the De Vesci family archive, belongs to the 7th Viscount de Vesci, Tom de Vesci.

Recognising the potential of Ivos collection for historical research, Tom de Vesci generously offered Laois Local Studies the opportunity to digitise the collection and make it available to the public through the Laois Local Studies Digital Archive.

Laois County Library extended their thanks to Tom de Vesci for his generosity in sharing this remarkable collection. The digitisation project was supported by the Heritage Council under the Heritage Stewardship Fund 2022 and Laois County Council.

The project enhances access to the public of a privately held collection and ensures the survival of the images by creating a preservation copy digitally. Tom de Vesci is copyright owner of the Ivo de Vesci Collection and images cannot be reproduced without his permission.

Ivo Richard Vesey was born on December 15, 1881, in Strand, Middlesex, England. He was the second son of Eustace Vesey and Constance Mary Lawley, becoming the eldest living son upon the death of his older brother Eustace Thomas Beilby Vesey in 1882.

Ivo was educated at Eton College. He joined the Irish Guards and attained the rank of Major before the First World War. During the war he saw active service in France and after some years, for medical reasons, was assigned to forestry duties in that country, where he gained the Agricultural Medal of France. His interest in forestry is reflected in his photographic collection, which contains many images of tree species.

In 1903 Ivo became the 5th Viscount de Vesci when he succeeded his uncle John, who died without a male heir. He married Georgiana Victoria Wellesley on April 24, 1906, in St Marylebone, Middlesex, England. The marriage was not a success and the couple parted within months before formally divorcing in 1919.

Ivo is best known locally for establishing the Abbeyleix Carpet Factory in 1904. The carpet factory provided employment for young women in the area in a period of high emigration. It supplied good quality deep-pile carpets to many of the big houses of England, Ireland and Scotland. Abbeyleix Carpet was purchased by the White Star Line for its ships, including the Titanic, and it was even used for the Coronation of George V in 1911. Unfortunately, the factory closed in 1912. A few years before his death, Ivo began an extensive sawmills in Abbeyleix, creating local employment.

On May 15, 1920 Ivo married his second wife Frances Lois Parsons, widow of the 5th Earl of Rosse. As a keen amateur photographer, Ivo had much in common with the Parsons family, who lived in Birr Castle in Co Offaly.

The family are famous for their scientific genius. Best known for designing and building the giant telescope and inventing the steam turbine, family members also played an important role in the development of photography. The family feature in many of images in the collection.

Ivo died on August 16, 1958, at the age of 76, following a car crash in which he was seriously injured. He was buried in De Vesci Estate Church Cemetery, Abbeyleix. He was one of the last Representative Peers of Ireland, being elected in 1909. He was succeeded by his nephew John Eustace Vesey, the 6th Viscount de Vesci.
The head of the UNs nuclear watchdog has said that a Ukrainian nuclear plant surrounded by Russian troops has lost all external power needed for vital safety systems for the second time in five days.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director-general Rafael Grossi said agency monitors at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant reported the interruption, adding that back-up diesel generators are keeping nuclear safety and security equipment operational.

Mr Grossi tweeted: This repeated loss of #ZNPPs off-site power is a deeply worrying development and it underlines the urgent need for a nuclear safety & security protection zone around the site.

Our team at #Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant informed me this morning that the plant has lost all of its external power for the 2nd time in five days. Its back-up diesel generators are now providing electricity for its nuclear safety and security functions.  Rafael MarianoGrossi (@rafaelmgrossi) October 12, 2022

Ukraines state nuclear operator Energoatom said on the Telegram social media platform that a Russian missile attack on the substation Dniprovska in the neighbouring Dnipropetrovsk region to the north was damaged, leading to the shutdown of a key communication line to the plant  prompting the diesel generators to turn on automatically.

Elsewhere, Ukrainian forces have recaptured five settlements in the southern Kherson region, military officials said.

The villages of Novovasylivka, Novohryhorivka, Nova Kamianka, Tryfonivka and Chervone in the Beryslav district were retaken as of October 11, according to southern Operational Command spokesman Vladislav Nazarov.

The settlements are in one of the four regions recently annexed by Russia.

Meanwhile, Russias top domestic security agency said it has arrested eight people on charges of involvement in the bombing of the main bridge linking Russia to Crimea, while an official in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia said Russian forces carried out more strikes there.

The Federal Security Service, known by the Russian acronym FSB, said it arrested five Russians and three citizens of Ukraine and Armenia over Saturdays attack that damaged the Kerch Bridge between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula  a crucial thoroughfare for supplies and travel whose much-vaunted construction under Russian President Vladimir Putin cost billions.

A truck loaded with explosives blew up while driving across the bridge, killing four people and causing two sections to collapse.

Ukrainian officials have lauded the explosion on the bridge, but stopped short of directly claiming responsibility for it.

This repeated loss of #ZNPPs off-site power is a deeply worrying development and it underlines the urgent need for a nuclear safety & security protection zone around the site.  Rafael MarianoGrossi (@rafaelmgrossi) October 12, 2022

The FSB alleged that the suspects were working on the orders of Ukraines military intelligence to secretly move the explosives into Russia and forge the accompanying documents.

It said the explosives were moved by sea from the Ukrainian port of Odesa to Bulgaria before being shipped to Georgia, driven to Armenia and then back to Georgia before being transported to Russia in a complex scheme to secretly deliver them to the target.

Mr Putin alleged that Ukrainian special services masterminded the blast, calling it an act of terrorism, and responded by ordering a barrage of missile strikes on Ukraine.

Russias onslaught continued in the Zaporizhzhia region and eponymous city on Wednesday, shattering windows and blowing out doors in residential buildings, municipal council secretary Anatoliy Kurtev said.

There were no immediate reports of casualties, though Mr Kurtev warned locals of the possibility of a follow-up attack.

Zaporizhzhia, which sits fairly near the front line between Russian and Ukrainian forces, has been repeatedly struck with often deadly attacks in recent weeks.

It is part of a larger region, including the nuclear power plant now in Russian control, that Moscow has said it has annexed in violation of international law. The city itself remains in Ukrainian hands.

To the south, in a Russian-controlled area of the region, a powerful blast struck the city of Melitopol  sending a car flying into the air, mayor Ivan Fedorov said. There was no word on casualties.

The new clashes came two days after Russian forces began pummelling many parts of Ukraine with more missiles and munition-carrying drones, killing at least 19 people on Monday alone in an attack the UN human rights office described as particularly shocking and amounting to potential war crimes.

This morning, I spoke with President Zelenskyy and G7 Leaders about our unwavering commitment to hold Russia accountable for its war and support Ukraine for as long as it takes. pic.twitter.com/SzXLWyjjeq  President Biden (@POTUS) October 11, 2022

Tuesday marked the second straight day when air raid sirens echoed throughout Ukraine, and officials advised residents to conserve energy and stock up on water.

The strikes knocked out power across the country and pierced the relative calm that had returned to the capital, Kyiv, and many other cities far from the wars front lines.

The leaders of the Group of Seven industrial powers condemned the bombardment and said they would stand firmly with Ukraine for as long as it takes.

Their pledge defied Russian warnings that Western assistance would prolong the war and the pain of Ukraines people.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the G7 leaders during a virtual meeting Russia fired more than 100 missiles and dozens of drones at Ukraine over two days.

He appealed for more modern and effective air defence systems  even though he said Ukraine shot down many of the Russian projectiles.

The Pentagon on Tuesday announced plans to deliver the first two advanced NASAMs anti-aircraft systems to Ukraine in the coming weeks. The systems, which Kyiv has long wanted, will provide medium to long-range defence against missile attacks.

In a phone call with Mr Zelensky on Tuesday, US President Joe Biden pledged to continue providing Ukraine with the support needed to defend itself, including advanced air defence systems, the White House said.

Ukraines defence minister tweeted that four German IRIS-T air defence systems had just arrived, saying a new era of air defence for Ukraine had begun.
ABOVE: Margaret Andrews, Noelle Condon, Siobhain Lavin Murphy and Lucia Ebbs and Professor Brendan Boyle are pictured at The Jack Murphy Memorial Society Dinner Dance in Hamlet Court Hotel in aid of CRY Ireland. For more information, please visit cry.ie

Photography: Conor Healy Photography

The Jack Murphy Memorial Society (JMMS) hosted a dinner dance at the Hamlet Hotel, Enfield; remembering Jack Murphy from Cadamstown, Broadford who died in Australia, aged 14, and in aid of CRY Ireland to fundraise for their work in raising awareness of Sudden Cardiac Death in the young.

On the night, over 25,000 was raised. These funds will help to enable CRY to provide vital supports and services to the public including free heart screenings, counselling and family support programmes, and a freephone helpline service for all those impacted by sudden death or cardiac conditions.

The Jack Murphy Memorial Society (JMMS) was created in memory of Jack Murphy, originally from Ireland who tragically passed away one month before his 15th birthday from Sudden Cardiac Death.

Siobhan Lavin Murphy - Jack Murphy's Mother and founder of JMMS said:

JMMS is an Irish society, but its also so much more. Jack's memorial society brings Australian and Irish communities together in Jacks adopted home, to celebrate his Irish & Australian identities and to bring awareness to, and raise much-needed research funding to combat Sudden Cardiac Death.



After many people had said to us that they would love to come to our dinner dance we decided to take it to Ireland to raise funds for CRY Ireland.

Noelle Condon, Chairperson of CRY Ireland added:



We are very grateful to Siobhan and the Jack Murphy Memorial Society for allowing us to be their charity partner of choice and helping us to raise vital funds to support families affected by Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD).



CRY Ireland is a charity that supports families across the 32 counties of Ireland that have lost loved ones to SCD by facilitating free access to cardiac assessments, providing counselling and family support and supporting research into the causes and prevention of SCD.



It is estimated that up to 80 people under the age of 35 die in Ireland each year to SCD, with many others affected by a diagnosis of an inherited cardiac condition. CRY is honoured to partner with bereaved families, like the Murphy family, to help raise awareness of SCD and provide services to those impacted such as our freephone helpline.
The Irish Government has given the go-ahead to extending a humanitarian fund to the families affected by the blast in Co Donegal.

Ten people died after an explosion at a service station in Creeslough on Friday afternoon.

Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys secured approval at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday to extend the Humanitarian Assistance Scheme to households damaged by the explosion.

The fund is usually used to help families who have been impacted by flooding due to severe weather events.

It aims to provide financial support to people who have suffered damage to their home and property and in doing so, provide hardship alleviation as opposed to full compensation.

The Department of Social Protection said Ms Humphreys acknowledged the exceptionally tragic event required compassionate and urgent action by Government.

We are all deeply affected by the tragic event in Creeslough, and the unfolding human stories, the minister said.

We have been asked at local level to give access to the Humanitarian Assistance Scheme for households on the site of the explosion.

Extending the scheme will ensure my department has maximum flexibility so that we can provide support where needed, quickly and effectively, which I know is what we all want to see.

The department said community welfare officers are working with other Government agencies on the ground in Creeslough to ensure that the families whose homes have been affected are given access to support.

Under the income-tested scheme, households can earn up to 70,000 euro and still avail of the aid.

A Government spokesperson said the department expects to receive applications from those impacted by the explosion over the coming weeks.

To date, the Department of Social Protection has received a small number of applications for additional needs payments from the households affected.

But the full extent of damage will only be apparent as the site is made safe structurally and as affected families return to recover personal belongings.
A victim of the Creeslough service station explosion was a truly fantastic and loving father and husband, mourners have heard.

The funeral service for 48-year-old James OFlaherty, survived by his wife Tracey and son Hamish, was told he was a truly fantastic and loving husband and father, a caring brother and a relation, a committed work colleague and a dear friend to many.

The Sydney native showered his son and wife in kisses and hugs every day, the congregation was told.

Mourners also heard that Mr OFlaherty had honesty and integrity in abundance and was a man of honour who was scrupulously honest and fair.

In a homily delivered in English and Irish, parish priest Brian O Fearraigh said the family, with their cat Spencer and dog Murphy, led a happy and settled life without worry until Fridays disaster.

Fr O Fearraigh told the congregation Mr OFlaherty read to his son every night, with the last book being Roald Dahls Going Solo.

At the end of the service at St Marys Church in the Gaeltacht region of Derrybeg, 12-year-old Hamish paid tribute to his father, calling him a great man.

I am grateful for all the people who have come here today. I would just like to say a few words about my dad.

He was a great man. He worked very hard and very long each day, whether it was around the house or at work.

Hamish thanked those who had offered help and members of the emergency services, before asking people to cherish their families and their lives.

I would also like to say something I have learnt in the past week or so, he said.

We should be grateful. For your families, cherish them, be grateful for they wont be there forever.

Use the time you have wisely.

Also, be grateful for your life because that too will not last forever.

Be grateful, for you will be able to rest after your hard work.

His address drew applause.

Fr O Fearraigh told the funeral mass Hamish has his fathers spirit of kindness and goodness.

He said the Creeslough disaster will be etched on peoples hearts for a long time.

The cleric said: As we gather here this morning in St Marys Church in Derrybeg, we do so to celebrate, we do so to remember.

I hope and pray that his wife Tracey, and his son Hamish, a very brave and a courageous young man, I hope that both of you find comfort and support not only in those who have joined you in the church here inside and the many outside as well, but those who have sent messages of condolence to both of you, the crowds that have gathered in the funeral home and the multitudes who lined the roadsides and who stood in silent prayer, standing, waiting and bowing when the hearse carrying Jamess mortal remains passed by.

Tracey and Hamish, I hope this is a source of strength and consolation to both of you.

You are not alone in your sadness and grief, in your sorrow and your mourning.

He said that since Friday afternoon, they have experienced a grief that knows no boundaries, and that the community stands shoulder to shoulder with them.

The tragic event and the effects of the Creeslough catastrophe, which is beyond comprehension, knows no bounds, he added.

The intensity and the awfulness of the tragedy has reverberated near and far, a way beyond the shores of this beautiful country of ours.

The outpouring of support and messages of condolence and offers of help that we have heard and witnessed, all has been overwhelming.

Parochial, county, country boundaries have been crossed. Hands of support and friendship have been offered.

In crossing such boundaries we have seen how from the shadow and out of the depths of the darkness of this terrible tragedy a most beautiful and radiant and divine light of friendship, love and support has shone and continues to shine brightly.

During the service, a copy of Going Solo by Roald Dahl, a box of chocolates representing Mr OFlahertys sweet tooth and a family picture were taken to the altar as symbols.

Mr OFlaherty was the third of the 10 victims of the Creeslough service station blast to be laid to rest.

People lined up at the entrance to the church ahead of the service, which was attended by President of Ireland Michael D Higgins, as well as Taoiseach Micheal Martins aide-de-camp.

Mr Higgins was seen embracing members of the family in the church ahead of the service.

Also in attendance were Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue and First Minister designate of Northern Ireland Michelle ONeill.

Mo Ghra Thu A Thiarna and Lady of Knock were among the songs played.
Following on the success of his first play The First Protestant which premiered in Smock Alley Theatre; Gerry Farrell brings his latest work The Last Prime Minister of Ireland to the Glens Centre, Manorhamilton on October 14 and 15.

After the show in Manorhamilton the play will go on a national tour extending into 2023.

Based on the public and private life of Lloyd George, it stars Sheila OKeeffe, Barry Deignan, Becky Farrell, Michael Roper with the author himself Gerry Farrell in the main role.

Produced by Splodar it is directed by Prin Duignan with Fergal Harkin on lights and Luke McGinley on sound.

In this ambitious portrayal of one of the most controversial public figures in the modern era, domestic tensions come into sharp conflict with the heady world of national and international politics as the main character, Lloyd George grapples with his paternal responsibilities and the demands of his office ultimately losing out in both these areas of his life.

Central to the plot is the role of his daughter Megan who openly challenges him on both his political morality and on the betrayal of his wife.

The author also skillfully weaves into the plot the story of Anglo-Irish relations in the revolutionary years culminating in the contentious treaty of 1921.

The play will start at 8pm on October 14 and 15 and tickets can be booked at www.theglenscentre.com or calling (071) 9855833.
On Friday 7th October, Atlantic Technological University hosted a conference exploring the economic and social potential of the North West region in terms of education and employment, with insights from guest speakers.

The conference was addressed by Minister for Further & Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Mr. Simon Harris T.D., who outlined the Governments commitment to supporting education collaboration on an all-Island basis.

Over 150 guests attended the event with Economist, David Mc Williams sharing his views on best practice for transforming the region into a growing economy.

Former RTE Northern Editor, Tommie Gorman hosted the event which examined cross-border activity taking place in the region and highlighted plans for future collaboration in terms of employment and education, with partners working in collaboration to provide leadership, opportunity and the development of a talent pipeline for the region and beyond.

The conference was organised by the North West Tertiary Education Cluster (NWTEC) comprising of the four main Educational Institutions in the region, and includes Atlantic Technological University (ATU), Donegal Education & Training Board (DETB), Ulster University (UU) and North West Regional College (NWRC). The cluster was established with the aim to bring about real and positive change to the region by supporting enhanced economic prosperity and social benefits to the region through education and employment. Funding for this initiative in 2019 and 2020 was secured through the Irish Higher Education Authority (HEA), and specifically a funding stream to support the restructuring of the higher education landscape.

Speaking about the conference, President of the ATU, Dr Orla Flynn, referring to the skilled workforce, availability of talent, connectivity, and the quality of life in the region, said: This is a project of huge strategic importance to the North West and one ATU is delighted to be a partner in. Together with Donegal ETB, Ulster University and North West Regional College, we want to make the North West region an attractive place to study and work and this cluster will play a vital role with other key stakeholders to ensure that we continue to develop the region for everyone.

Vice-Chancellor and President of Ulster University, Professor Paul Bartholomew further added, Since the formalising of our further and higher education cluster in 2018, collaboration between the partner institutions on both sides of the border has continued to present opportunities to deliver on our shared vision and objectives for the region and beyond. Improving access to tertiary education and training for students living and studying in the North West City Region, the partnership is increasingly informed by those core growth sectors that are reflected in Ulster Universitys contribution to the Derry City and Strabane District Council City Deal.

Through enabling progressive student pathways that reflect current and future careers across diverse sectors such as healthcare innovation, artificial intelligence, industry 4.0 and data science, the North West Tertiary Education Cluster is uniquely placed to support the career aspirations of students and the growth ambitions of the region.

The conference concluded with input from leaders in Industry & Education discussing why it is best to look to the North West.
A navy ship patrols the Mediterranean off Rosh Hanikra, Israel, on the border with Lebanon, on October 7 JALAA MAREY / AFP

Israel and Lebanon have finally reached a crucial draft agreement to mark out their respective control areas in the gas-rich waters of the eastern Mediterranean. The text, drawn up with the help of an American mediator, Amos Hochstein, for two countries still at war, was met with optimism on Tuesday, October 11.

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid called the deal a "historic achievement that will strengthen Israel's security, inject billions into Israel's economy, and ensure the stability of our northern border." The Lebanese president, Michel Aoun, was more measured in his appraisal of the text stating that it "satisfies Lebanon, meets its demands and preserves its rights to its natural resources," adding that he hoped the agreement would be "announced as soon as possible."

According to the terms of the agreement, the Karish offshore field is fully owned by Israel, while the Qana reserves, located further north-east, are mainly owned by Lebanon. Although limited to maritime boundaries, this text could be the beginning of a turning point in relations between the two countries.

"This is the first time that an agreement has been signed on a border that has economic benefits for both countries, and brings both security and economic stability," said Lebanon's deputy parliament speaker and lead negotiator, Elias Bou Saab. "As soon as it is signed, we will have a much more peaceful border. It could be a 'game changer' for the region and for the future delimitation of the land border"  which is still in dispute.

After more than a decade of fruitless negotiations, often fraught with tension, common interests have prevailed. Given the war in Ukraine, the price of gas is soaring out of control and Europe is looking for new supply chains.

For Mr. Lapid's government, Israel has a security interest in a bankrupt Lebanon benefiting in the long term from these revenues, and depending less on oil imports from Iran. Israel also wants to exploit its own resources without delay. The operator of the Karish site, located in the area that would revert to Israel, has indicated that it could begin operations as early as the next few weeks.

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Breakthrough or capitulation?

On both sides of the border, political considerations are at the forefront of calculations. Mr. Lapid is a transitional prime minister, having only taken up office in the summer. With just three weeks to go until the next set of Israeli legislative elections, scheduled for November 1, he is claiming this agreement as a genuine success.

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The Moderate Party leader Ulf Kristersson arrives to the parliament Riksdagen before his meeting with the Speaker of the parliament Andreas Norlen, Monday, September 19, 2022, in Stockholm. TIM ARO / AP

Sweden's conservative leader Ulf Kristersson was granted an extension to form a government on Wednesday, October 12. He is expected to form a government with the unprecedented support of the far-right Sweden Democrats following a September election win.

Mr. Kristersson and his Moderate party have been in negotiations for the past month with the Christian Democrats, the Liberals, and the Sweden Democrats (SD).

The prospective prime minister had been due to report back to speaker of parliament Anders Norlen on Wednesday on whether he had enough support for a government, but instead asked the speaker for another two days to finalize the agreement between the parties.

"It is in principle done and we are going towards forming a government in the next few days," Mr. Kristersson told reporters. "There are a few details we want to iron out in order to present it all together," he added.

It remains however unclear which parties will make up the next government. The most likely scenario is one comprised of the Moderates and Christian Democrats, possibly with the Liberals, with the SD backing the government in parliament.

During the campaign, SD leader Jimmie Akesson had insisted on having cabinet posts in any right-wing government, but the Liberals had vowed to block any government that included the SD.

Read more Subscribers only As Sweden awaits new government, far right polarizes the debate

Mr. Norlen set Mr. Kristersson's new deadline for Friday, with a possible vote on him as prime minister held in parliament on Monday at the earliest.

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The nationalist and anti-immigration SD, which won a record 20.5% of the vote in the September 11 election, will become the largest force in the new majority, with 73 out of 349 seats in parliament. Adding the Moderates (68 seats), the Christian Democrats (19) and the Liberals (16), the right-wing bloc holds a majority with 176 seats. The opposition, led by outgoing Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson's Social Democrats, has 173 seats.

Read more Subscribers only The Sweden Democrats, a nationalist party with fascist roots

Le Monde with AFP
Peru's President Pedro Castillo attends a press conference at the Presidential Palace in Lima, Peru, Tuesday, October 11, 2022. MARTIN MEJIA / AP

Peru's attorney general filed a constitutional complaint on Tuesday, October 11, accusing embattled President Pedro Castillo of criminal organization and corruption, an action that could lead to the suspension of the leftist leader.

The president has rejected the accusations and claims they are part of a political plot to unseat him. Mr. Castillo, who has survived two impeachment attempts since taking office in July last year, is already the subject of six criminal investigations.

The complaint, filed in parliament, also targets two of Mr. Castillo's former ministers: ex-transport and communications minister Juan Silva and Geiner Alvarado, who was in charge of housing. They are suspected of influence peddling and considered to be part of the alleged criminal organization led by the president.

"I am filing a constitutional complaint against Jose Pedro Castillo Terrones, in his capacity as President of the Republic, as the alleged perpetrator of crimes against the public peace in the form of a criminal organization aggravated by his position as leader," Attorney General Patricia Benavides wrote in a document posted on Twitter.

Read more Subscribers only Peru's government wants to expel Venezuelan migrants

It is the first time a sitting president of Peru has been targeted by such a complaint by an attorney general. "There is serious evidence of the alleged existence of a criminal organization within the presidential palace," Ms. Benavides said. It was the "exclusive and full responsibility of Parliament to rule on the constitutional complaint under the United Nations Convention against Corruption," she stressed.

Parliament must examine the complaint in the coming days. It would take at least 66 votes out of 130 to suspend Mr. Castillo, fewer than required for impeachment, and his left-wing parliamentary alliance only has a third of the seats.

Mr. Castillo, a former rural schoolteacher, rejected the new accusations as "a coup d'etat" by the attorney general's office. "We will remain firm despite this political persecution," he said at a press conference with foreign media. "We currently have a political prosecutor's office which, instead of judging the real criminal networks, does" this.

The president enjoys immunity until the end of his term in July 2026 but he can be investigated. He is already facing six investigations, including for alleged graft and plagiarization of his university thesis.

Read more Subscribers only Peru's president weakened by yet another investigation

Prosecutors on Tuesday also raided the home of one of Mr. Castillo's sisters searching for one of her nephews, whom they accuse of belonging to the alleged criminal gang led by the president. The homes of 12 other people being investigated in the case, including six opposition lawmakers accused of colluding with the government, were also raided. Five former government advisors were detained for 10 days following the operation.

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Peru is no stranger to political instability: it had three different presidents in five days in 2020, and five presidents and three legislatures since 2016.

Read more Subscribers only In Latin America, a 'new left' is coming to power

Le Monde with AFP
Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Akesson in Nacka, Sweden, September 11, 2022. STEFAN JERREVANG/AP

Was it in the spring of 1995, or maybe a few months earlier, in the fall of 1994? Even today, Jimmie Akesson, the leader of the Swedish far-right party that came in second place in the September 11 elections and an indispensable member of the future government, persists in saying that he only joined the Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna, SD) party after former centrist Mikael Jansson became its leader in March 1995.

Yet documents revealed by the anti-racist magazine Expo show that a 15-year-old Jimmie Akesson contacted the SD as early as 1994, several months before. At the time, the group created in 1988 was still led by Anders Klarstrom, one of its founding members and a previously active member of the neo-Nazi Nordic Reich Party. Its meetings featured brown shirts and party members performing the Nazi salute, and their security was provided by skinheads.

Read more Subscribers only As Sweden awaits new government, far right polarizes the debate

Read more Subscribers only Swedish exceptionalism is being undermined by a political party created by fascists

Mr. Akesson, 43, would very much like not to be associated with this troublesome past. In his 2013 autobiography Satis Polito, he claimed he was attracted by the party's "political potential" and not by "the Nazis and the skinheads". "I was a nationalist and the Sweden Democrats had succeeded, despite their flaws, in formulating a fundamentally sound, democratic and universal nationalism, the foundations of which I largely shared," he wrote.

Multiculturalism as a threat

For the journalist Anna-Lena Lodenius, who has been following the party since its inception, it doesn't matter when Mr. Akesson joined the SD: "The fact is that he and some of those who currently lead the party decided to join back then because they shared its ideas and those ideas have not fundamentally changed."

In November 2020, Mattias Karlsson, the Sweden Democrats' ideologue, praised the first SDs' original political program from 1989. In that document, the Scandinavian kingdom's migration policy was described as "suicidal." While the term "Great Replacement" was not used at the time, the idea to which it refers was very present. Multiculturalism was presented as a threat: "We believe that an ethnically and culturally homogeneous nation has a greater potential for peaceful and democratic development than a multicultural and heterogeneous state formation," the document stated.

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Read more Subscribers only Sweden Democrats want to 'make Sweden great again'

This was a far cry from the messaging used by populist right-wing parties that emerged in the previous decade in other Nordic countries as a reaction to taxation deemed too high. Back then, rejecting immigration was not yet these parties' main rallying cry. In Sweden, the Ny Demokrati party, founded in 1991, tried to make the most of this discontent but ended up disappearing from the political stage after one term in parliament.

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Red-eyed tree frog, "Agalychnis callidryas," in the Costa Rican rainforest in May 2019. SERGI REBOREDO/VWPICS/AP

The "One Health" paradigm, which emerged from the recognition that the well-being of humans, animals, and ecosystems are interrelated and interdependent, has been creeping its way into the public health discourse. Adopting  or promoting  a holistic approach to the human, animal and environmental spheres in order to face future health crises is almost a prerequisite when running for office, or applying for funding. And every researcher knows the risk of such a trend: Hiding a weak science behind a strong concept.

Yet, a study recently published by the Environmental Research Letters might change that. For the first time, a team of researchers has highlighted the link between the decline in an animal population and a human health crisis; Between the Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) fungus  implicated in the decline and extinction of numerous amphibian species, according to International Union for Conservation of Nature  and malaria  a disease that caused 627,000 deaths in 2020.

Before Bd arrived in Central America in the mid-1980s, both Costa Rica and Panama were amphibian havens. The spread of the amphibian chytrid fungus led to the extinction of at least 90 amphibian species, and to the decline of at least 500 additional species in the countries. Karen Lips of the University of Maryland was at the forefront of the crisis. "Together we wondered what could be the impact of this mass die-off on human health," said Michael Springborn, an environmental economist at the University of California Davis. "Since amphibians are known for eating mosquitoes, and mosquitoes for transmitting malaria, we decided to study the numbers of malaria cases in these two countries."

'A natural experiment'

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The two researchers and their team used data that had been collected by individual cantons, or counties, to track the funguss wave rolling across the two Central American countries. Local authorities had recorded its progress across 136 cantons, from the northwest to the southeast of Costa Rica, between 1986 and 1993, and then from west to east of Panama, from 1993 to 2010. They also gathered information about the surge in malaria cases during this time period, using the same method. The results were dramatic: Three years after the first significant declines in frog, toad, and salamander populations, the increase in malaria cases exploded and remained high (more than one in a thousand people) for six years, before starting to decline.

The logical aspect of the science seems quite obvious: Amphibian tadpoles eat important numbers of mosquitoes, and even more so mosquito eggs and larvae, which grow in ponds. But in what proportion? In the absence of data on mosquito densities in Central America, scientists are using rare work carried out elsewhere, namely a study conducted in Indiana in 2003, which showed a 98% drop in mosquito larval populations where salamanders were present. The scientists' conclusion: The fewer amphibians, the more insects and, therefore, the more malaria.

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THE Taoiseach, Micheal Martin, has agreed that an elective only-hospital is needed in Limerick to help ease the pressures on UHL and other public hospitals across the region.

The prospect of such a facility being built in Limerick has been raised by a number of TDs in the Dail - particularly in the context of the recently-published Deloitte report.

The report, which was commissioned by the UL Hospitals Group identifies a number of shortcomings and a lack of capacity across the group's six hospitals.

Responding to Limerick City TD Willie O'Dea in the Dail, Mr Martin agreed that an elective only hospital is the way to go.

"I support this but what concerns me is the degree to which we can get it through the health system more generally and more quickly. However, I believe the elective hospital route is the way to go. It takes pressure off the main hospital and gets waiting lists dealt with more expeditiously and efficiently for patients," he said.

The Taoiseach, who visited Limerick recently, told Deputy O'Dea that he would raise the matter with the Minister of Health Stephen Donnelly.

"I will talk to the Minister for Health about how we can fast-track that and have a proposal made on it," he said.

Speaking in the Dail, Deputy O'Dea said he has received numerous complaints in relation to people interacting with UHL and that the problem is the shortage of beds.

The number in University Hospital Limerick is insufficient to meet the needs of the population. I want to find out whether there has been any discussion on this and when there will be a decision on it (an elective-only hospital)?, he asked.

Separately, Labour's Alan Kelly has criticised the Minister for Health over his failure to support the building of an elective-only hospital in Limerick or the Mid-West.

Referencing a written reply to a Parliamentary Question, the Tipperary TD said: "He has doubled down on his refusal to build an elective hospital in the Mid-West. This is despite multiple requests from myself and some other Mid-West Oireachtas members. Astonishingly it also follows the Taoiseach committing recently in the Dail to speaking to Minister Donnelly about it as he agreed with the need for it," he said.

In the written reply to Deputy Kelly, Mr Donnelly stated: "The development of additional (bed) capacity will be provided through dedicated, standalone elective hospitals in Cork, Galway and Dublin. The Government decision is very clear on this. No other locations are under active consideration at this time as these are our immediate priorities. It is important to note that the locations chosen will allow for new facilities of a size and scale to implement a national elective care programme that will tackle waiting lists on a national basis."
AN INFORMATION evening is to take place this Thursday night aimed at anyone interested in providing host acommodation for local Ukrainians.

In the wake of the Russian invasion of the eastern European states, many Ukrainians have settled across Limerick.

Now, Limerick City and County Council has teamed up with Doras for an event aimed at those currently hosting refugees or interested in doing so.

It kicks off at 6pm.

It's an opportunity for people to meet other hosts and to ask questions of experts in the field.

Representatives from the Irish Red Cross, council, Doras and other organisations involved in supporting hosts and beneficiaries will be present.

These organisations will talk about what you should know as a host, in terms of vetting, and the agreements, relationships with your guests and what they should expect, the services and supports available to your guest, training for hosts and responding to the challenges of hosting refugees.

Registration for this free event can be done through Eventbrite.

According to Doras CEO John Lannon, the people of Limerick and the Mid-West region are rising to the humanitarian challenge and there is a strong appetite to do more when it comes to offering safe sanctuary to those fleeing the war.

Were living through a historic moment where a staggering 7.5 million people have been forced to flee Ukraine in search of safety," he said

"If we think about this, its harrowing. Mainly women and children, in the face of the horror of war, leaving with often just a bag of clothes and no idea of what the future holds. The Irish response has been remarkable. However, were also seeing now that people are being forced into often cold, cramped and unsafe conditions. So its a bigger question for all of us, to ask what more can we do. Needless to say people have their own struggles and challenges with the cost of living but weve seen over the past year that there are people out there more than willing to help," he added.

Thursday's event will provide information on how individuals, families and communities can help host Ukrainian and other refugees and provide detail on what supports are available.
CLOSE TO 100 Limerick citizens joined in prayer as part of a special Mass organised by the Redemptorist's to remember the victims of the Creeslough explosion in Donegal.

Cars filtered in through the gates of Mount Saint Alphonsus on South Circular Road in Limerick city this evening for the special tribute Mass led by Redemptorist Rector Fr Seamus Enright.

Fr Enright opened the Mass, saying: "This evening we are going to pray especially for those who have lost their lives in that awful tragedy in Creeslough and for their relatives and that whole community."

Ten candles were lit, each one in remembrance of a life lost in the explosion that took place at the Applegreen Service Station in Donegal last Friday.

The special Mass of remembrance in Limerick fell on the very same day that the first of the funerals of the 10 victims - four men, three women and three young people, were laid to rest in the Donegal village.

The funerals of Jessica Gallagher, a 24-year-old fashion designer who was due to start a new job in Belfast and Martin McGill, a 49-year-old carer and Celtic fan, took place today.

Fr Seamus Enright closed the service by taking another moment to acknowledge the 10 victims in Creeslough.

One Limerick city resident and regular attendee at Mount Saint Alphonsus described the innocent deaths of young and old in Donegal as a "terribly sad tragedy" and said that she wanted to show her respects to their families and grieving community.

"God love their families, it is hard to even imagine losing a loved one in that manner. God rest their souls," she added.
OVER 17,000 Limerick people are expected to receive a fuel allowance with many more to qualify for the payment this year.

The national fuel allowance scheme for the 2022/23 season will help many households in Limerick with their heating costs this winter.

The Fuel Allowance scheme is a means tested payment to assist pensioners and other long-term social welfare dependent households with their winter heating costs.

Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys TD announced the start of the National Fuel Allowance Scheme which will be paid over 28 weeks.

The payment will be made at a weekly rate of 33. It can also be claimed by way of two lump sums if people prefer.

An additional 400 once off lump sum payment will be made to all households who receive the fuel allowance which was announced by Minister Humphreys as part of the 2023 Budget.

This once off payment will be issued on November 14, 2022 and will bring the total fuel allowance payment to 1,324 per household.

Limerick City and Fine Gael TD Kieran ODonnell welcomed the news: 17,074 people in Limerick who are entitled to the fuel allowance will now be able to avail of it as we approach the winter.

In addition, as part of Budget 2023, Minister Humphreys secured funding for the largest ever expansion of the fuel allowance scheme. This expansion will bring many more Limerick households into the scheme. This will be of particular benefit for older people with a new means test taking effect for over 70s from January, Deputy ODonnell added.

The over 70s means test will allow a single person to have a weekly income of 500 per week and a couple to have an income of 1,000 per week and still receive the fuel allowance.

The changes are estimated to bring a further 81,000 people into the fuel allowance nationally.
THE Minister for Education Norma Foley has officially opened the state-of-the-art Colaiste Chiarain campus on the outskirts of Croom.

Minister Foley, who spent a number of hours in the school last Friday, has described the building and surrounding campus as "truly spectacular" and a "twenty-first century facility at its very best".

Construction of the 20 million school campus began in October 2018 and the project, despite Covid-19, was completed on schedule and on budget with the school community moving on campus during March and April 2021.

During her visit, Minister Foley, who met with students, teachers, parents and members of the school community, toured the state-of-art building and the 22-acre campus to see first-hand some of the facilities and technology which is available to students and teachers.

What a fantastic welcome I received this morning from students all along the most impressive avenue as I was coming in; a very generous welcome. The students were very happy to chat and to showcase their school today, and that speaks volumes. I am always particularly impressed when a school has confidence to put their students to the front. A school that has the confidence to allow the students to do the talking, the students to be the ambassadors, the students to lead the way, then thats a school that knows its doing a good job, she commented.

George OCallaghan, Chief Executive of Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board, said the official opening was a very significant day in the life of the school.

Yes, the school has been a good while coming but, I think, its also an example of perseverance and keeping our eye on the objective which was to provide the best facilities possible for the students and parents and the wider community as well, he told Limerick Live.

Its been a team approach and everybody has pulled together to achieve this  its been the staff of the ETB, its been the staff of the school and the local community and obviously the public representatives as well, he added.

The state-of-the-art community college campus comprises of an almost 10,000m two-storey building, with 50 classrooms, a dedicated Special Education Needs hub, PE and GP halls, a fitness suite, and dressing rooms.

There are six external ball courts, three playing pitches, and extensive parking and set-down areas for buses and cars.

During his speech at Friday's opening ceremony, Gerard OSullivan, principal, said: Sitting in this wonderful building, we are grateful to all who have been part of the delivery of our new school campus and we are equally grateful to welcome all present who continue to work with us to provide opportunities and support for our staff and students.
Millions of euro in funding for community centres across Ireland will benefit people "for years to come".

That's according to the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys, who today (October 12) announced 12.5million funding for the upgrade and development of almost 600 community centres.

The new Community Centre Investment Fund (CCIF) - the largest single investment into community centres in decades - will support groups in every county to carry out refurbishments and improvements to their local community facility.

The funding - up to a maximum of 25,000 - will lead to improvements to community centres, GAA clubs, parish halls, youth centres, mens sheds and facilities used by the elderly.

Todays announcement of Category 1 projects will be followed by further funding announcements for larger scale projects in the coming weeks.

Works will include the installation of new windows/doors, energy retrofitting, improved toilets and disability access, upgraded lighting systems and stage areas, the development of community cinemas and libraries, and the provision of additional or better services to the community such as meals for the elderly and youth facilities.

Speaking about the funding, Minister Humphreys said, "The local Community Centre is at the heart of our towns, villages and parishes all across this country. They come in many different shapes and sizes and are a place for people of all ages to meet up and socialise with friends, old and new. I want to support these great local facilities and thats why I launched the new Community Centre Investment Fund earlier this year.

"The level of interest has been unprecedented under any scheme previously ran by the Department of Rural and Community Development. I am delighted today to announce over 12.5 million in funding for almost 600 projects nationwide. This funding will support Community Centres, Parish Halls, GAA Clubhouses, Youth Facilities, Mens Sheds and much more.

"I want to congratulate all of the successful groups who are receiving funding, which I know will benefit local communities for years to come. This particular strand of funding focused on small scale grants of up to 25,000. I am pleased to confirm that I will be announcing grants for larger scale projects later this year."

Some successful applicants receiving the maximum funding of 25,000 include Crusheen Community Centre in Co Clare, Bweeng Community Hall in Co Cork, Cara House Family Resource Centre in Co Donegal, Gorvagh Community Centre, Corrabeagh in Co Leitrim, Kilmacthomas Day Care Centre in Co Waterford and Killoughternane Community Hall in Co Carlow.

The Rock GAA Club in Co Laois received an allocation of 24,970, with 17,517 for Mulcair Men's Shed in Co Limerick, 24,743 for Tulsk Macra Hall in Co Roscommon, and 14,641.50 for Moydow Hall Committee, Aughine in Co Longford.

Also welcoming the funding, Minister of State Joe OBrien TD said, "I spend a significant amount of my time out and about visiting community groups throughout Ireland and I see first-hand the importance of community centres - that shared community space where people can gather to support each other, to work, to socialise, and to help to continue to develop their local community.

"There has been huge interest in the fund which has received a large number of applications and the increased funding we have secured in the Budget will ensure that the new fund has the biggest impact possible in local communities nationwide."

A full list of the successful projects is available here.
HCL Technologies on Wednesday weighed into the issue of moonlighting, that has created quite a stir in the industry, and said while it does not approve of dual employment, the issue is not a major one within the company.

Put simply, moonlighting refers to employees taking up side gigs to work on more than one job at a time.

"Dual employment while working for HCL Tech...we do not approve of that. Everybody who signs up to work for HCL Tech is signing up employment contract which requires exclusivity. The requirements around confidentiality, and non compete... all those provisions that are there we expect our employees to honour those commitments," Ramachandran Sundararajan, Chief People Officer of the company said during the Q2 earnings briefing.

Fortunately, he said, moonlighting has not come up as a big problem within HCL Technologies.

"We don't have that as big problem that we have too many people indulging in dual employment. It is not a big problem. We have had one or two stray instances," he said.

To another question, the company said whether it is pay increase in this cycle or managing variable pay even in tough times, the company has stayed on course and stuck to its policy. There has been no change in the company's approach to variable pay or, for that matter, annual compensation review.

The only change in annual compensation review this year has been with regard to top leadership team where compensation has been deferred by a quarter.

The remainder 98 per cent of staff have seen compensation increase in the usual cycle, and there have been no change.

Meanwhile, weeks after Wipro fired 300 of its employees for moonlighting, the company's CEO Thierry Delaporte on Wednesday said that while little side jobs were fine, working for a competitor is a "question of ethics".

With record-high attrition rates adding to the woes of the Indian IT industry as companies face cost overloads and margin pressures, Wipro reported a marginal dip in attrition rate and said it will pay out 100 per cent variable pay to 85 per cent of the staff.

Last month, Wipro Chairman Rishad Premji revealed that some 300 employees were fired as the IT services company has no place for any employee who chooses to work directly with rivals while being on Wipro payrolls.

The issue of 'moonlighting' emerged as a big talking point after the Wipro chairman flagged the issue. Premji had taken to Twitter to highlight the issue saying: "There is a lot of chatter about people moonlighting in the tech industry. This is cheating - plain and simple."

Infosys too had shot off a missive to its employees recently asserting that dual employment or 'moonlighting' is not permitted, and warned that any violation of contract clauses will trigger disciplinary action "which could even lead to termination of employment".

"No two timing - no moonlighting!" India's second largest IT services company had said in a strong and firm message to employees earlier.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.
Telis Demos, The Wall Street Journal

Not only is the market tough for selling off loans, but also banks have to reckon with their own capital constraints
MUMBAI : India is set to host the opening day deliberations of the United Nations' Security Council 's Counter Terrorism committee on 28 October. According to reports, the opening day deliberations will be held at the Taj Palace in Mumbai, the iconic hotel that was one of the target of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

The top UN panel will conduct their meeting on the next day, 29 October, in Delhi, officials confirmed.

The Taj Palace in Mumbai was selected as the venue for the opening day deliberations in an attempt to convey a message about India's strong resolve to deal with terrorism.

India is the Chair of the committee for the year 2022 and will host diplomats of the 15-nation UN body along with other member states for the special meeting in Mumbai and New Delhi.

On 26 November 2008, a group of 10 Pakistani terrorists went into rampage, carrying out a coordinated attack on a railway station, two luxury hotels (Taj Palace and Oberoi-Trident hotel) and a Jewish centre after they sneaked into India's financial capital, using the sea route in the Arabian sea from Karachi.

Over 160 people were killed in the nearly 60-hour assault that sent shockwaves across the country and even brought India and Pakistan to the brink of a war.

"The special meeting of the United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee on 'Countering the Use of New and Emerging Technologies for Terrorist Purposes' will begin with a soft opening and associated events in Mumbai on October 28 and continue with a full day's meeting in New Delhi on October 29," the panel said in a statement.

The very fact that the Special Committee is also meeting in Mumbai itself will be a tribute and a statement to the horrific incident, India's Permanent Representative to the UN, Ruchira Kamboj, said last week.

She said the members of the committee will place a wreath at the site of the attacks.

India's two-year tenure as an elected non-permanent member of the 15-nation UN Security Council will end in December.

The meeting in Delhi is expected to specifically focus on increasing threat of terrorism ad ways to effectively deal with it.

The meetings in Mumbai and Delhi will be the seventh time that the committee members would gather outside the UN headquarters in New York.

The last special meeting of the panel that took place outside the UN headquarters was in Madrid in July 2015.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who is on a visit to the United States for the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, said that India is talking to different countries to make Rupay acceptable in their nations.

Not just that, the UPI, the BHIM app, and NCPI are all now being worked in such a way that their systems in their respective country, however, robust or otherwise can talk to our system and the inter-operability itself will give strength for Indians expertise in those countries," she said as quoted by news agency PTI.

The finance minister also added that India is working with several countries. This came in response to a question from an Indian student at the University of Maryland, who wanted to have the UPI in the United States as well.

Sitharaman made the remarks at the prestigious Brookings Institute think-tank during a fireside chat with eminent economist Eshwar Prasad.

"I'm a student at the University of Maryland here. I am really proud of our UPI system in India. I just wanted to ask, what do you think are the future plans for the UPI system and how can we share it with the world? Specifically in the US, that's what I miss the most about India not having a UPI system in the US," the Indian student asked Sitharaman.

The finance minister replied, "We are talking to different countries. Singapore and UAE have all come forward now to make Rupay acceptable in their countries."

Speaking about India's next year budget, she said the upcoming annual budget of the country will have to be very carefully structured to sustain the countrys growth momentum.

Specifics (of the next budget) may be difficult at this stage because it's a bit too early. But broadly, the growth priorities will be kept absolutely on the top. Even as I speak about the concerns that inflation brings before me. So, inflation concerns will have to be addressed. But then how would you manage growth would be the natural question," Sitharaman said.

Indias next annual budget is scheduled to be presented by FM Sitharaman before the Parliament next February and preparations for it are likely to begin in December.

(With PTI inputs)
GLOBALink | 'Chinese miracle' to continue: Turkish expert Pub Date:22-10-12 09:01 Source:Xinhua A prominent Turkish scholar has said that the "Chinese miracle" created by the Communist Party of China (CPC) in the past decades will continue. Produced by Xinhua Global Service Editor:Zheng Chen

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Inevitably, finance must reckon with the possibility of a scenario that gets both its menace and promise from the internet: disintermediation. Nothing structural can shift overnight in a sector as tightly regulated as banking, but no system is set in stone either; so lets not overlook what infotech enables beyond the mere digitization of old processes. With India planning to take its very legal tender digital, the basic purpose of banks is back in debate. Within days of an outline sketch published by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) of a proposed e-rupee, a digital currency project that aims not to disrupt Indian banking, a Nobel prize awarded in economics for research on banks and financial crises" spotlit the vital role of financial intermediation played by banks in an economy. They convert liquid deposits into long loans, which does all economic participants a favour but also leaves them exposed to cash shortfalls and panicky bank runs. Given how grim these may turn out, the solvency of banks is in the public interest.

Clearly, what banks know of creditors aids the efficiency with which our pool of savings is deployed by investors. Also, in a sector that lends out sums several times its capital base, what begins as the gasp of a cash gap can spark withdrawals, choke credit and cause a slump so deep and long that it may well be best for a central lender of last resort to help plug all gaps in good time. Nobel laureate Ben Bernanke acted upon such insights as chief of the US Fed, whose cash infusions of 2007-08 might well have kept the Great Recession from slipping into a Great Depression II. Bank runs, hed found, were not the result but a cause of the first one. In the US, where bank bail-outs were both monetary and fiscal, critics pointed out a glaring moral hazard: bankers driven to enlarge profits had no reason to watch their risks if bank losses had a public backstop. In India, an echo of this anguish arose a bit later over a pile-up of bad loans and the Centres need to recapitalize state-owned lenders. In both cases, tight rules were the sole solution at hand, while even bigger rescues have ridden on liquidity injections since then. The taper tantrum of 2013, however, showed how hard it is to unwind policies of ultra-easy money after they push the risk-return calculus of markets into rarefied orbits. Covid put much more money into play, globally. We saw historic booster doses. The post-pandemic irony is that today, as retail inflation rages and central banks tighten money, this years policy reversals threaten spasms of their own. Near-zero rates push investors to bear greater risks for returns, after all, and may have generated a fragile web of financial claims thats too sticky to shrink.

While our grasp of financial dynamics has improved, an ideal safeguard from chaos is far from settled. A digital rupee, once launched, would allow us to explore new options. What if we consign bank runs to history, for example, by asking RBI to hold retail deposits directly? An e-rupee can easily attract savings. As it will bear an RBI promise, money held in cash-like e-token form would be a very safe asset, unlike an account at a bank that must stay solvent to honour transfers via, say, UPI, which looks digital but is not risk-free. Offering interest on e-rupee holdings is all it would take to slurp up deposits. As for lenders, they could borrow funds from RBI to on-lend, sharpen their skills of pricing credit risk and thus adapt to thrive. Sure, retail deposits do play a role in credit expansion that may argue for the status quo. But still, let no model escape scrutiny.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the local student community is celebrating and supporting fighters and survivors through art.

"When we were designing this and I was talking with the art teacher, we were trying to think of ways... of cheering those people fighting breast cancer on. We're fundraising, but how can our youth support them? And it's through art, and that's just as powerful as money," Marketing Director of Hamilton Place Mall, Jason Heymann said.

More than seven hundred individually designed pink ribbons are on display at the Hamilton Place Mall all created by students in Hamilton County.

Heymann came up with the idea along with a local school teacher.

"I said we have the More Than Pink Walk coming up in October, is there anything we can do together to make that happen? She said, 'yea, we would love to incorporate that into a lesson plan come September,'" Heymann said.

Their objective was to bring more art back into the mall post-COVID and students were happy to help, especially for a good cause.

"We started getting piece after piece and huge piles of ribbons all with these handwritten notes, kids started mailing them in. It was just really overwhelming," he said.

On October 1, people filled the mall to take part in the More Than Pink walk.

Heymann said it was special to see everyone observe the pieces and celebrate the community fighting and overcoming breast cancer.

"These are going to go to MaryEllen Locher Breast Cancer Center. So they are going to make their way to those hands to the people who need them most," Heymann said.

He wants the students to know their voices are heard and that their creations and imagination can inspire change.
The attached Presentation Slides and Chairmans and Managing Directors Commentary will be presented at the Rua Bioscience Annual Shareholders Meeting.

The meeting will be a hybrid meeting held at 10:00am (New Zealand time) on 12 October 2022 at Waikanae Surf Club, 280E Grey Street, Awapuni, Gisborne and online via Computershare Investor Services Limiteds (Computershare) meeting platform https://meetnow.global/nz.

ENDS

For more information, please visit www.ruabio.com or contact:

Media

Kerry Donovan

Communications Manager

+64 (21) 128 7689

kerry.donovan@ruabio.com

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Hamish White

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Last year was the first time in 20 years the U.S. Army did not meet their recruitment goal. Now, they are working to find new recruits and keep the armed forces at full strength.
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Significant funding for seven local community centres will benefit Longford people 'for years to come'.

That's according to the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys, who today (October 12) announced 12.5million funding for the upgrade and development of almost 600 community centres.

Seven Longford community centres are to benefit to the tune of 143,399.08.

The new Community Centre Investment Fund (CCIF) - the largest single investment into community centres in decades - will support groups in every county to carry out refurbishments and improvements to their local community facility.

The funding - up to a maximum of 25,000 - will lead to improvements to community centres, GAA clubs, parish halls, youth centres, mens sheds and facilities used by the elderly.

The following was allocated to Longford Community Centres ;

Cullyfad Community Centre 25,000;

Edgeworthstown & District Development Association 24,686.25;

Lus na Greine Family Resource Centre Granard 24,500.70;

Moydow Hall Committee 14,641.50;

Rath Mhuire & Dolmen Services Ltd Granard 11,213;

St Mary's Edgeworthstown Community Campus 21,309.63 ;

Templemichael Parish Resources 22,048

Todays announcement of Category 1 projects will be followed by further funding announcements for larger scale projects in the coming weeks.

Works will include the installation of new windows/doors, energy retrofitting, improved toilets and disability access, upgraded lighting systems and stage areas, the development of community cinemas and libraries, and the provision of additional or better services to the community such as meals for the elderly and youth facilities.

Speaking about the funding, Minister Humphreys said, "The local Community Centre is at the heart of our towns, villages and parishes all across this country. They come in many different shapes and sizes and are a place for people of all ages to meet up and socialise with friends, old and new. I want to support these great local facilities and thats why I launched the new Community Centre Investment Fund earlier this year.

"The level of interest has been unprecedented under any scheme previously ran by the Department of Rural and Community Development. I am delighted today to announce over 12.5 million in funding for almost 600 projects nationwide. This funding will support Community Centres, Parish Halls, GAA Clubhouses, Youth Facilities, Mens Sheds and much more.

"I want to congratulate all of the successful groups who are receiving funding, which I know will benefit local communities for years to come. This particular strand of funding focused on small scale grants of up to 25,000. I am pleased to confirm that I will be announcing grants for larger scale projects later this year."

Also welcoming the funding, Minister of State Joe OBrien TD said, "I spend a significant amount of my time out and about visiting community groups throughout Ireland and I see first-hand the importance of community centres - that shared community space where people can gather to support each other, to work, to socialise, and to help to continue to develop their local community.

"There has been huge interest in the fund which has received a large number of applications and the increased funding we have secured in the Budget will ensure that the new fund has the biggest impact possible in local communities nationwide."

A full list of the successful projects is available here.
County Longford Youth Service, in partnership with Music Generation Longford, are delighted to announce the release of a new EP of cover songs titled Infinity which has been compiled by a group of young Roma musicians.

Going by the name Galaxy Band, the young musicians are Mirostar Nistor, aged 19, Patrik Nistor, aged 20, Dominik Sarissky, aged 17, Josef Balog, aged 15 and Kristian Pompa, aged 15.

Galaxy Band plays a fusion of traditional Roma music with western music styles. The four-track EP covers three popular Eastern European songs and a unique twist on Stevie Wonders I Just Called To Say I Love You.

The group meets weekly in County Longford Youth Service to practice with the Youth Workers and Music Educators. The EP was recorded as part of the Longford Youth Service week-long summer music programme. The Music Generation Longfords mobile recording studio was on-site throughout the week as the young musicians worked with the Music Educators to plan, rehearse and record the EP.

Speaking about the EP, Music Development Officer for Music Generation Longford, Mary-Jane Sweeney said, it has been an incredible year working with these young musicians on a specific programme suited to their needs and skills. They are, already, accomplished players and our programme helped them hone their craft and work together as a tight-knight group.

Our Music Educators have worked with this group all year and it was lovely to have a tangible outcome with this excellent release. The EP is a testament to their hard work and talent and willingness to work together as a group.

Micheal Wall is a Youth Worker with County Longford Youth Service and oversees the running of the music programme. He said Its been a pleasure to work with these young men and watch how their music has brought them together. They dont have a space to play at home so they are dedicated to coming to the County Longford Youth Service every week for a space to express themselves and have fun. The partnership with Music Generation Longford has been a positive experience and were all delighted with this EP release.

The EP was launched in County Longford Youth Services as part of Culture Night on Friday, September 23. It is available to stream now on Spotify and Apple Music.

Attending the launch, Chief Executive of LWETB Liz Lavery, commended the partnership between County Longford Youth Service and Music Generation Longford saying this type of work is what were all about and its great to see these young peoples talent being recognised.

County Longford Youth Service is a project under Longford Community Resources and the Roma Youth Group are part of the UBU Your Place Your Space Scheme which is funded by The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth through Longford Westmeath Education and Training Board.

Music Generation Longford is managed by Longford Local Music Education Partnership, led by Longford and Westmeath Education and Training Board in partnership with Longford County Council and with support from Creative Ireland.

"What we want to do is really simple. We just want to make sure that everyone, whatever their background, gets access to music tuition. Thats the idea." - Bono, U2 May 2010
Bungalow Bliss, first published in 1971, was a book of house designs that buyers could use to build a home for themselves affordably.

It first appeared two years before Ireland was to join the EEC as a self-published catalogue by Jack Fitzsimons from his Kells Art Studios in County Meath.

He and his wife designed and collated it and printed it locally.

Fitzsimons sold these books out of his car to newsagents, petrol garages and bookshops.

Over the course of thirty years, Fitzsimons sold over a quarter of a million copies of his catalogue.

The first edition contained twenty designs  the final edition contained two hundred and sixty.

This guidebook of how to build your own home radically transformed housing in Ireland.

It gave a generation an option outside of emigration and housing lists.

Now, for the first time, author and structural engineer Adrian Duncan looks at the cultural impact that Bungalow Bliss and the accessible bungalow design had on the housing market, the Irish landscape, and on the individual families who made these bungalows their homes.

Little Republics: The Story of Bungalow Bliss by Ballymahon author Adrian Duncan is a reappraisal of the Bungalow Bliss book and the tens of thousands of houses that came from it.

His first work of non-fiction looks at what these houses are: What they were built from, why they look the way they do, why they were so popular, why they were so hated, why they fell out of fashion, and what meaning and value this ageing housing stock has on the land today.

Little Republics: The Story of Bungalow Bliss is a 30k-word essay, written for a general readership. The book features eight chapters with an appendix and there are 80+ colour images and scans.

Adrian, who originally trained as an engineer, is a visual artist and filmmaker.

His acclaimed debut novel, Love Notes from a German Building Site, published by Lilliput and Head of Zeus in 2019, was shortlisted for the Dalkey Emerging Writer Award and won the inaugural John McGahern Annual Book Prize.

His second novel, A Sabbatical in Leipzig, was published by Lilliput in 2020 and is forthcoming in the UK from Tuskar Rock Press (Profile Books).

It was shortlisted for the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award 2020.

His first short story collection, Midfield Dynamo, was published in 2021.

And it was shortlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize. Most recently, his third novel, The Geometer Lobachevsky, was co-published by the Lilliput Press in Ireland and by Tuskar Rock Press (Profile Books) in the UK in April 2022.
The revised decision by the Irish Government not to move 135 Ukrainian refugees from Kerry to Mayo has been welcomed by a group representing migrants.

The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that the planned move of Ukrainians from Killarney to Westport would now not proceed, after much local opposition.

In a statement, it said that the Department worked intensively overnight to source alternative accommodation for the Ukrainians affected.

The Ukraine Crisis Temporary Accommodation Team (UCTAT) is due to get in touch with the affected families to inform them about their new accommodation.

Migrant rights group Doras welcomed the U-turn, saying that such a sudden move could be traumatising for refugees.

This is a particular concern this week, as news of missile strikes launched at Ukrainian cities made the headlines and prompted international condemnation.

This sort of thing can be devastating and retraumatising for people who have established some normality in their lives after escaping from a war zone, Doras CEO John Lannon said.

For children in particular its particularly problematic. It disrupts their education, and we know from numerous studies that education provides structure, not only for the children, but for the entire family unit.

Also, adults are already working in some cases, theyre learning English, and theyve made friends. Thats all gone when they are moved.

Mr Lannon, while acknowledging that the Department is under pressure, said that settings such as hotels and tents are not suitable long-term accommodation for refugees.

He also said there have been other examples of one group of refugees displacing another in recent weeks.

This is not the first time that one group of people have been moved to make way for others, Mr Lannon said.

In Laois last month, 15 Ukrainian families were also given less than two days notice to vacate the homes they made there over the previous six months.

The situation that has arisen is a symptom of an over-reliance on temporary and emergency accommodation for people arriving from Ukraine, as well as asylum seekers.

Its chaotic and points to an urgent need for reform and leadership, including the establishment of a new Refugee Agency.

He continued: We should continue to welcome people who need protection here, but Ireland needs to meet its commitments to beneficiaries of temporary protection, and to international protection applicants. And they all need to be treated with dignity and respect.

The suddenness of the proposed Killarney move was very concerning, with people given 48 hours to pack up and move to another location. Lessons were clearly not learnt from what happened in Laois.

The Department said that finding accommodation remains extremely challenging.

It added: The transit centre at Citywest is nearing capacity and the possibility of a pause on entry to new arrivals to Citywest due to a nationwide shortage of accommodation cannot be discounted.

Ireland is now accommodating 55,000 people between those fleeing Ukraine and International Protection applicants, compared to 7,500 last year.

The Department is mindful of the impact that all such moves have on those affected, and will continue to deliver a humanitarian response to the needs of Ukrainian displaced persons and those seeking International Protection.
The people of Creeslough in Co Donegal are showing a great example of solidarity after tragedy, Irish President Michael D Higgins has said.

Mr Higgins told of his pride in the efforts of those who took part in the search-and-recovery operation after the blast that killed 10 people in the village on Friday.

The President returned to Ireland from Strasbourg and attended the funeral of victim James OFlaherty on Wednesday. He will attend more funerals.

He said: I think it is very important what is being revealed now, in the response of the public, the response of the people of Creeslough and the great example they are giving.

They have a very heavy burden of grief to carry.

The way they are holding together is a great example. I think it is inspirational, the way people  not just in Donegal but all over Ireland  have all been responding and being able to reveal their feelings and how their heart has been breaking.

I think the courage and strength and love of Hamish (OFlaherty) speaking about his father, Tracey speaking about their relationship, they give great hope.

When the funerals are over, it is very, very important that people build on these relationships of solidarity.

Being here and meeting the families  what they are showing us is a great example.

Mr Higgins described the efforts of the emergency services after the blast as unbelievable.

He said: It was so impressive how effective, how fast, given that there were different services involved, about how they were all able to work together.

It was a community of first-line services each doing their very, very best and being able to engage with the public.

It is something to be very, very proud of.

Given what people were going to be discovering, I dont underestimate at all the effect it has had on people.

They did what was necessary in consideration and in co-operation with each other.

As President of Ireland, I am very proud of them.

Mr Higgins also hailed the efforts of first responders from Northern Ireland who contributed to the operation.

He said: It shows what we share and what are our immediate human instincts of wanting to respond.

These know no borders whatsoever, and that is the way it should be.

I think it is really building up what we can share and do together.

That is the way to go. Very often the instincts of the heart  the instincts of the spirit  are what is important.

Later, after attending the funeral of Catherine ODonnell and her son James Monaghan in Creeslough, Mr Higgins said it was a privilege to be with the communities at this time.

When you look at the reaction of the people who were waiting in silence, there was a certain numbness of grief that is so clearly there to be seen, he said.

He added: When something like this happens it isnt affecting just a family because everybody is so connected to everybody, the President said.

Everybody knows everybody.

He added: It was very important to be here.

He said the statement on the tragedy from King Charles shows grief knows no borders.

There was a long statement, a warm statement from King Charles and it showed, really, how, if you like, people recognising a community response to a great tragedy wherever it is, that grief knows no borders, Mr Higgins told reporters.

The President said he hopes to meet the families of all 10 victims in person in the coming days.

Asked what he would say to them, Mr Higgins replied: If youre around a very long time like myself, you stand in front of a person, it isnt, in fact, a matter of having words ready, its what your heart tells you to feel.
Four Queens Men Arrested after Attempting to Break into North New Hyde Park Residence

Crime

By Chris Boyle Published: October 12 2022

All defendants are being charged with Attempted Burglary 2nd Degree and Conspiracy 4th Degree.

The Major Case Bureau reports the arrests of four Queens men for Burglary that occurred in North New Hyde Park on Monday, October 10, 2022 at 1:00 pm.

According to detectives, members of the Burglary Pattern Team and the Bureau of Special Operations were conducting an extensive investigation into recent burglaries when they observed defendant Jimenez  Carrillo, Daniel Esteban, 30 of 149-52 124th Street South Ozone Park knock on the front door of a South Street residence and then walk away and circled the block multiple times after no one answered.

Also observed was defendant Hernandez  Gomez, Gleason Jhoan, 33, of 121-19 9th Avenue College Point and defendant Mora-Soto, Justin 20, of 149-52 124th Street South Ozone Park enter a South Drive residence rear yard and break the glass of a rear sliding door and pry it open. At that time the defendants ran away on foot after hearing a female victim inside the residence screaming.

Both defendants fled into a 2020 black Hyundai driven by a fourth defendant Ortiz-Ramos, Brayan Alexis, 20 of 149-52 124th Street South Ozone Park.

Members of the Bureau of Special Operations were able to apprehend defendant Jimenez  Carrillo on Denton Avenue and placed him into police custody. Other BSO members were able to locate and stop the black Hyundai on Hillside Avenue in North New Hyde Park. All other defendants were then placed into police custody.
Community, Charity & Cause

By Chris Boyle Published: October 12 2022

The Armor Museum has put out an All Points Bulletin for Sherman tank families to join the Armor Museum in observing the milestone anniversary on Thursday, November 10th.

On the 80th anniversary of the iconic Sherman tank that spearheaded Americas liberation of Europe during World War II, the Museum of American Armor is seeking to honor those veterans who crewed these legendary vehicles along their families.

The Armor Museum has put out an All Points Bulletin for Sherman tank families to join the Armor Museum in observing the milestone anniversary on Thursday, November 10th at 12 Noon, on the eve of Veterans Day 2022.

Sadly, we recognize that many of the Sherman tank crews are gone but their legacy is lasting. The invitation is out to all surviving Sherman tankers but we are also asking the families of Sherman veterans to join us in ceremonies that mark the 80th anniversary of when this iconic tank was introduced into combat, stated Kevin Carroll, the Armor Museums Community Affairs Director.

Armor Museums founder and president Lawrence Kadish stated, The Armor Museum continues to offer a powerful presentation that keeps alive the legacy of our nations military and the gift of freedom they have given all of us. The Sherman tank is an important part of that story and so we are asking tanker veterans or their survivors to come forward and help us preserve their legacy.

In recognition of its considerable importance, the Armor Museums acquisition of a Sherman tank was one of the first actions undertaken by Mr. Kadish when he undertook the creation of the museum. You cant effectively tell the story of American courage during World War II without this particular tank on operational display, observed Mr. Kadish.

Some 50,000 Sherman tanks were built by nearly a dozen different manufacturers during World War II, making them available to the Allies as well as American forces fighting in Europe and the Pacific. While not as well armed as its German opponents, the Sherman proved to be reliable, relatively fast, and produced in great numbers. As combat evolved during the conflict American tankers changes their tactics to confront and defeat the enemys superior armor.

Michael Sapraicone, Senior Armor Museum Trustee said, This museum is a unique commitment by public and private sectors to preserve and present a seminal chapter in the history of our world that is still defining current events around the globe. But to put that in perspective, we need to hear from our Sherman veterans and their families as we pay tribute to a weapon that was manned by brave Americans nearly a century ago.
(Alliance News) - Illumina Inc on Tuesday said it is collaborating with AstraZeneca PLC on drug target discovery, with a focus on artificial intelligence-based research on genes.

The San Diego, California and Cambridge, England based firms' research collaboration emphasises artificial intelligence based genome interpretation.

"Illumina and AstraZeneca are uniquely positioned to improve the efficiency of pharma pipelines by leveraging industry-leading abilities to identify genetic variants that contribute to human disease," said Joydeep Goswami, chief strategy & corporate development officer and interim chief financial officer at Illumina.

"By identifying genes that show evidence of human disease causality, the combined framework has the potential to prioritise drug candidates with increased likelihood of approval."

Illumina Chief Technology Officer Alex Aravanis added: "The next generation of drug discovery lies at the intersection of human genetics and AI, making this a potentially pivotal research collaboration that combines Illumina's industry-leading ability to interpret genomes at scale with AstraZeneca's extensive capabilities in large-scale human genetics research."

By Tom Budszus; tombudszus@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Vaalco Energy Inc - Houston, Texas-based hydrocarbon explorer - Canadian courts give final approval for proposed business combination with TransGlobe Energy Corp.

Back in July, Vaalco agreed to an all-share merger with Calgary, Alberta-based TransGlobe. Vaalco shareholders will hold about 54.5% of the combined company, with shareholders of TransGlobe owning the remaining 45.5%.

TransGlobe expects shares to be cancelled on AIM on October 14.

Current Vaalco stock price: 482.00 pence

12-month change: up 61%

Current TransGlobe stock price: 280.00 pence

12-month change: up 26%

By Paul McGowan; paulmcgowan@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - Postal workers will stage a fresh strike on Thursday in a long-running dispute over pay and conditions, with a series of walkouts planned for the coming weeks.

The Communication Workers Union said its 115,000 members across the UK will be taking action, describing it as the largest strike in a year that has seen industrial unrest across several industries, including rail.

Picket lines will be mounted outside Royal Mail PLC offices on what will be the sixth day of action in recent months.

The union has accused the Royal Mail of planning structural change, which would effectively see employees in secure, well-paid jobs turned into a "casualised, financially precarious workforce overnight".

The CWU said plans include delaying the arrival of post to members of the public by three hours, cuts in workers' sick pay and inferior terms for new employees.

The union has announced 19 further days of strike action in the build up to the busy Christmas period.

General secretary Dave Ward said: "Postal workers face the biggest ever assault on their jobs, terms and conditions in the history of Royal Mail.

"The public and businesses also face the end of daily deliveries and destruction of the special relationship that postal workers and the public have in every community in the UK.

"It is insulting the intelligence of every postal worker for Royal Mail chief executive Simon Thompson to claim that their change agenda is 'modernisation'.

"It is nothing more than an asset stripping business plan that will see the break-up of the company and the end of Royal Mail as a major contributor to the UK economy.

"Royal Mail Group claim to be losing GBP1 million a day. The CWU believe these figures need to be scrutinised."

A Royal Mail spokesman said: "Three weeks ago, Royal Mail invited the CWU to enter talks through Acas to find a resolution to our change and pay dispute. We have not reached an agreement with the CWU on this request.

"Royal Mail is losing GBP1 million a day and must change faster in response to changing customer demands.

"The CWU leadership's choice of damaging strike action over resolution is weakening the financial position of the company and threatening the job security of our postmen and women.

"We call on the CWU leaders to cancel their planned strike action and accept our invitation to enter talks through Acas without further delay.

"We apologise to our customers for the inconvenience the CWU's continued strike action will cause.

"We are doing all we can to minimise any delays and keep people, businesses and the country connected."

By Alan Jones, PA Industrial Correspondent

source: PA

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - Yorkshire-based power generation firm Drax Group PLC on Wednesday said it will work with the UK government on its Energy Prices Bill before the measures are put in place in 2023.

On Wednesday, the UK government introduced the Energy Prices Bill, which could see renewable energy generators and nuclear power plants have revenues capped under a new plan to ensure companies are not benefiting from record-high energy prices.

Without releasing much detail, the government said it would try to break the link between high gas prices and the amount made by electricity producers.

The government explained that the price of gas decides the price of electricity, so as gas prices soared over the last year, many of Britain's wind farms and solar farms were paid a lot more than normal for their products, even though costs had not increased proportionally.

The government said it planned to introduce a "cost-plus revenue limit", but provided little detail about how this would work.

Drax said it plans to work with the government and the wider industry on the detail of the proposal.

Chief Executive Will Gardiner said: "The government's statement recognises the unique role that biomass plays in the UK energy system and its higher input costs. We will continue to engage with the government on the specific details of the legislation as it continues to be developed.

"Drax is the UK's largest source of renewable electricity by output and our sustainable biomass provides enough renewable electricity for four million households, playing a critical role in keeping the lights on - whatever the weather. We plan to invest GBP3 billion in our UK carbon removal, renewable power, system support and supply chain projects in the 2020s, demonstrating our commitment to UK energy security and net zero."

The plan comes weeks after the government's GBP2,500 "energy price guarantee" in England, Scotland and Wales.

Shares in Drax were down 0.4% at 522.40 pence each in London on Wednesday morning.

By Sophie Rose; sophierose@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
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Lycoming College welcomes Quayshawn Spencer, Ph.D., for the James and Emily Douthat lecture series. Spencers presentation, A Metaphysical Mapping Problem for Race Theorists and Human Population Geneticists, will take place Thursday, Nov. 3, at 7:30 p.m. in Krapf Gateway Centers Trogner Presentation Room with a reception to follow. The event is free and open to the public.

During his lecture, Spencer will identify and explain a mapping phenomenon that is almost twenty years old. Many scholars have raised a number of theories to pinpoint the metaphysical relation exemplified by this phenomenon, and after exploring these theories, Spencer will introduce the identity thesis.

The phenomenon is that the populations at a fivefold subdivision of humans into biological populationsthe so-called human continental populationscorrespond one-to-one with the five official races of the Office of Management and Budget in the U.S. government, explained Spencer. After presenting and defending the identity thesis, I explore interesting implications of the identity thesis for race theorists and NIH-funded medical scientists.

Spencer is the Robert S. Blank Presidential Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as a Hastings Center Fellow for his work in philosophy of race. He specializes in metaphysical issues in general philosophy of science, philosophy of biology, and philosophy of race. He has authored books on how to group objects into classifications that are reliable for scientific induction, whether biological subspecies exist, and on the nature and reality of race in the current United States. His most recent co-authored book, What is Race? Four Philosophical Views, was published in 2019 by Oxford University Press. Spencer currently has three other books under contract with the press: A Pluralist Solution to the Race Problem, The Race Debates from Metaphysics to Medicine, and Philosophy of Race: A Very Short Introduction.

The lecture is sponsored by the James and Emily Douthat Distinguished Lectureship Series in the liberal arts and sciences, named for James Douthat, former president of Lycoming College, and his wife Emily, for their years of service to the College. The annual lecture, which is not field-specific, attracts top scholarly guest speakers to the College. Lycomings chapter of Phi Kappa Phi, a national honor society for all academic disciplines, organizes the lectureship.
Manchester, VT (05254)

Today

Rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers overnight. Low 43F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch..

Tonight

Rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers overnight. Low 43F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch.
Barcelona are still alive in the Champions League after a heart-stopping 3-3 draw with Inter at the Camp Nou on Tuesday.

The Blaugrana were minutes away from defeat, however Robert Lewandowski's late header means they're still mathematically alive.

However the draw, along with last week's defeat in Italy, means Inter only need a win in their next match against Viktoria Plzen to send Barcelona packing.

There was no shortage of action in the opening 45 minutes, with Henrikh Mykhitaryan clearing a Robert Lewandowski attempt off the line, while Edin Dzeko volleyed a Hakan Calhanoglu free-kick off the underside of the bar soon after.

From there, Barcelona, buoyed on by the boisterous crowd at the Camp Nou, began to pin Inter back.

First, Raphinha fired a volley wide from in close, while Andre Onana did well to get a hand on a Pedri effort.

The pressure eventually paid off in the 40th minute, Raphinha winning the ball on right and finding Sergi Roberto in the box.

The Spaniard then squared it for Dembele, who tapped home for the opening goal.

Barcelona continued to attack after the restart, but it was Inter who found the back of the net to stun the home fans.

Inter's Nicolo Barella, right, celebrates after scoring Emilio Morenatti AP

Alessandro Bastoni's ball over the top was inexplicably let through by Gerard Pique, allowing Barella to take a touch and smash home into the roof of the net.

The goal swung momentum firmly in Inter's favour, with Marc-Andre ter Stegen stopping efforts from Calhanoglu and Lautaro, before the Nerazzurri took the lead in stunning fashion in the 60th minute.

Inter's Lautaro Martinez celebrates after scoring Joan Monfort AP

Magical ending

After chesting down the ball and taking it away from his defender, Lautaro fired a low shot that hit the inside of one upright, rolled along the line, and hit the other before going in.

With their Champions League hopes hanging by a thread Barcelona responded through Robert Lewandowski, who first forced Onana into a great save from a tight angle, before levelling the score with eight minutes remaining after firing home a deflected effort.

Inter thought they had secured all three points when Robin Gosens kept his cool to fire home in the 89th minute, only for Lewandowski to keep Barcelona's European dreams alive by heading home the equaliser in injury time.
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In approximately one in every five patients, the smartwatch ECG failed to produce an automatic diagnosis. The risk of having a false positive automated AF detection was higher for patients with premature atrial and ventricular contractions (PACs/PVCs), sinus node dysfunction, and second- or third-degree atrioventricular-block. For patients in AF, the risk of having a false negative tracing (missed AF) was higher for patients with ventricular conduction abnormalities (interventricular conduction delay) or rhythms controlled by an implanted pacemaker.The cardiac electrophysiologists had a high level of agreement for differentiation between AF and non-AF. The smartphone app correctly identified 78% of the patients who were in AF and 81% who were not in AF. The electrophysiologists identified 97% of the patients who were in AF and 89% who were not.Patients with PVCs were three times more likely to have false positive AF diagnoses from the smartwatch ECG, and the identification of patients with atrial tachycardia (AT) and atrial flutter (AFL) was very poor."These observations are not surprising, as smartwatch automated detection algorithms are based solely on cycle variability," Dr. Strik noted, explaining that PVCs cause short and long cycles, which increase cycle variability. "Ideally, an algorithm would better discriminate between PVCs and AF. Any algorithm limited to the analysis of cycle variability will have poor accuracy in detecting AT/AFL. Machine learning approaches may increase smartwatch AF detection accuracy in these patients."In an accompanying editorial, Andres F. Miranda-Arboleda, MD, and Adrian Baranchuk, MD, Division of Cardiology, Kingston Health Science Center, Kingston, ON, Canada, observed that this is the first "real-world" study focusing on the use of the Apple Watch as a diagnostic tool for AF."It is of remarkable importance because it allowed us to learn the performance of the Apple Watch in the diagnosis of AF is significantly affected by the presence of underlying ECG abnormalities. In a certain manner, the smartwatch algorithms for the detection of AF in patients with cardiovascular conditions are not yet smart enough. But they may soon be," Dr. Miranda-Arboleda and Dr. Baranchuk said."With the growing use of smartwatches in medicine, it is important to know which medical conditions and ECG abnormalities could impact and alter the detection of AF by the smartwatch in order to optimize the care of our patients," Dr Strik said. "Smartwatch detection of AF has great potential, but it is more challenging in patients with pre-existing cardiac disease."Source: Eurekalert
The "Welcoming the 20th National Congress of CPC" themed landscape of the Nanyihuan Road is full of a rich festive atmosphere. Photo by reporter Song Yanjun

Hefei South Railway Station North Square is full of themed flowers decoration to celebrate the opening of 20th National Congress of CPC. Photo by reporter Li Yu

The bright red flags on the Jinzhai Elevated Road are fluttering uniformly. Photo by reporter Song Yanjun

On the Nanerhuan Road, the slogan "Welcome the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and forge a new journey" is very eye-catching. Photo by reporter Guo Ruqi

On the elevated Baohe Avenue, bright red slogans and flags have become a beautiful landscape. Photo by reporter Guo Ruqi and Li Yu

In the past few days, various "Welcome the 20th National Congress of Communist Party of China" themed landscapes have been added to the streets and alleys of Hefei, and the whole city is filled with a warm and festive atmosphere.

In all the primary and secondary roads and squares of Hefei, bright red flags flutter in the wind uniformly, forming a beautiful landscape; in parks, railway stations, and airports, colorful bouquets of flowers and shrubs make the city look festive and peaceful. Hefei is welcoming the victory of the 20th CPC National Congress with a dynamic, innovative, and enterprising attitude!





Reported by Li Yu



Edited and translated by Zheng Chen
A massive stretch of mountains and valleys, where World War II soldiers from the Army's 10th Mountain Division trained to snowshoe, ski and rock climb for their fight in the Italian Alps, will become the nation's newest national monument.

President Joe Biden was traveling to rural Colorado on Wednesday to designate more than 53,000 acres of land as the Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument under the Antiquities Act, protecting the land from development, mining and deforestation.

"This monument preserves and protects the mountains and valleys where the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division prepared for their brave service that ultimately brought WWII to a close," the White House said in a statement after Biden signed the proclamation. "Their skills, grit and endurance were instrumental in protecting democracy and fighting the spread of fascism."

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This marks Biden's first national monument designation as president and ends a years-long legislative effort by Colorado's Democratic U.S. senators, Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, to protect the land.

The designation of Camp Hale as a national monument has also been heartwarming for some of the remaining veterans who trained there.

World War II veteran Francis Lovett, who trained at Camp Hale, told Bennet's office in a video interview that having a place so important to his life protected from development is invaluable to him.

"The experience with the outdoors was, for me, one of the most gorgeous times of my life ... that's one of the reasons I'm so interested in having this declared a national monument," Lovett said in the interview. "It's so easy to tear things down. And you can't put them back."

Training at Camp Hale, located about 100 miles southwest of Denver, was rigorous, and conditions for the 15,000 troops stationed in the frigid Colorado cold were often miserable. This led to the nickname "Camp Hell," according to the National Parks Conservation Association.

"I got off the train and looked around and thought, 'What have I done? There were all these snow-covered mountains,'" Bruce Campbell, a World War II veteran who also trained at Camp Hale, told CBS Denver. "We would go on little hikes like 20 miles in eight hours that was in the dry land or even with skis."

Additionally, the mountains of Camp Hale were used by the CIA to covertly train Tibetan soldiers from 1959 to 1965, according to a fact sheet from the Army Corps of Engineers. The site was decommissioned and later returned to the U.S. Forest Service in 1966.

Since then, there have been major efforts to clear the area of unexploded mines and military ordnance throughout the area. Two widespread sweeps have happened, one in 2001 and the other in 2003, which led to the removal of nearly 30 live items that were destroyed by Fort Carson Explosive Ordnance Disposal personnel, the Army Corps of Engineers said in a 2014 press release.

Biden's designation of Camp Hale as a national monument is also a political move, offering Bennet, a fellow Democrat, a boost in his competitive Senate reelection bid where he faces Republican nominee Joe O'Dea in the upcoming midterm elections.

In a statement Wednesday, O'Dea called Camp Hale "an amazing place" but slammed the designation, saying, "Biden and Bennet are moving the country badly in the wrong direction, and no amount of photo-ops in a place we all love will change this fact: Accountability from the voters is coming soon."

Republican members of Colorado's delegation in Washington were also against Biden using the Antiquities Act -- an authority passed in 1906 by Theodore Roosevelt that allows the president to protect federal lands by making them monuments -- claiming it was sidestepping congressional approval.

"While Camp Hale and our service members that were stationed there made important

contributions to World War II, we don't support the efforts of extremist environmentalists who

are seeking to hijack this historic place to create a new land designation -- a designation that

literally does not exist -- to prohibit timber harvesting and mining on nearly 30,000 acres of land," a Sept. 23 letter signed by members of Colorado's GOP congressional delegation read.

The designation of Camp Hale as a national monument also comes as the state braces to potentially lose the U.S. Space Command's headquarters in Colorado Springs to Huntsville, Alabama. Former President Donald Trump announced Alabama's Redstone Arsenal as the preferred location for the command in the waning days of his administration.

Bennet and Hickenlooper wrote a letter to Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall on Sept. 27, urging him to reconsider Colorado Springs "prior to the issuance of a final decision."

Additionally, the Supreme Court's ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization this year -- which ultimately left the right to an abortion up to the states -- raised a red flag for Bennet, who believes moving U.S. Space Command from Colorado to Alabama will hurt troops' quality of life, as well as harm the military's retention efforts.

"I'm deeply concerned about how the Dobbs decision and state abortion bans will affect Space Command's workforce and readiness if the command leaves Colorado," Bennet told Military.com in an emailed statement.

-- Thomas Novelly can be reached at thomas.novelly@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomNovelly.

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Many Americans believe that military family members should be able to use their professional licenses in any state regardless of where the credentials were received, according to the results of a survey released Wednesday.

About 83% of 848 registered voters surveyed nationwide said they support rules that allow the use of the licenses wherever military family members may move in the U.S., a policy known as license reciprocity, according to Merit, a web-based identity verification platform that sells professional licensing verification services.

The company is working with military-focused nonprofits and associations, including the Association of the United States Army, to advocate loosening professional licensing rules for military families, according to their website. The survey was conducted online Sept. 16-18 for Merit by Embold Research.

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Professional licenses are required by states for a variety of careers and services, including cosmetology, nursing and working as an attorney. Fees for those licenses and certifications as well as the classes and tests required to get them can cost thousands of dollars.

The licensing rules are also often complicated and frequently governed by state-specific regulations, local professional organizations or both. For example, rules for attorneys are overseen by individual state bar associations while licenses for psychologists are typically mandated by law and overseen by a state-based board.

Gaining a new license can also require hundreds of hours of training. For example, an EMT license in California requires 160 hours of training, while a cosmetology license in New Jersey requires 1,200 hours, according to Merit.

About 34% of working military spouses hold a job that requires a professional license, and 19% of those reported hitting roadblocks for maintaining those credentials, according to the Defense Department. About 15% of all military spouses relocate across state lines each year.

All 50 states and Washington, D.C., have passed laws or signed interstate compacts easing licensing requirements for families moving on military orders, but what they allow varies widely.

"For Army spouses trying to balance a professional career with the frequent moves required by the military, the complicated patchwork of state licensing rules is challenging and often a source of financial stress,'' Holly Dailey, who directs family programs for AUSA, said in the Merit release. "Thankfully, some states have reciprocal agreements for certain types of licenses, but there is a lot left to do."

Some states, for example, permit out-of-state licenses for some careers and not others, while other state rules let spouses use their out-of-state license for a few months while working toward a new one.

In their most generous form, rules simply allow military family members to use their valid occupational licenses gained from another state without any additional steps. That's a step only Utah has taken thus far, according to a licensure tracker on the DoD's Military OneSource website.

The Pentagon has long lobbied through its Defense-State Liaison Office to increase license portability across state lines. But even when a state passes a law allowing licenses to transfer, there may be little to no trickle-down to the state employees actually processing applications, and the rules simply might not be understood.

A 2017 law ordered the military services to reimburse spouses up to $1,000 for professional licensure fees incurred during a permanent change of station, or PCS, move. The application process varies by service.

Supporting military spouse employment is seen as a recruiting and retention issue as the services struggle to fill the ranks. But as with many military family benefits, Pentagon officials struggle to get the word out about what's available.

"We really are trying to do everything we possibly can here. You know, we are trying to get the word out about the fact that we will reimburse folks up to $1,000 for professional licensing," Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said Tuesday at the annual AUSA conference in Washington, D.C.

Related: Army to Expand Recruiting Programs, Investment to Fill Ranks

Patricia Kime contributed to this report.

-- Amy Bushatz can be reached at amy.bushatz@military.com.
MBABANE  Examinations had to be halted at the Limkokwing University of Creative Technology (LUCT) yesterday as part of the institution was torched by unknown people.

It was gathered that research laboratories, which had several computers and a server room, were torched. In as much as the media was not allowed to get inside the institution, but one could see at the back of the affected building that window panes were broken and walls had soot as a result of the fire. Lucky Mathonsi, LUCT Public Relations Officer (PRO), confirmed the incident. Mathonsi, who came to address the media from outside the gate, stated that the incident reportedly took place at around midnight. Mathonsi said so far, the extent and the cost of the damages could not be established as the police were still investigating. He stated that they were waiting for a report from the police before making any further comments. He confirmed that research laboratories and a server room were torched. It is worth noting that the server room was where the institutions entire internet system came from. After the arson attack, the institution was left without internet connection.

The PRO condemned the act as it was affecting the students learning process and would also affect the entire institutions operations. When this reporter arrived at the institution at around 7:30am, students and staff members were denied entry into the premises. Police officers from various departments such as the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), Bomb Disposal Unit and others, were seen busy inspecting the scene. At around 8:30am, LUCT Director Tfobile Gumede came to address the staff members who were locked out. She informed them as to what had transpired and the way forward.

Proceed

The staff members were thereafter let inside the campus while students remained behind. As soon as the staff members had gone into the campus, Gumede then addressed the students and informed them that despite the situation, exams would proceed. However, later on there was a change of heart as Gumede dismissed the students and told them to return today to proceed with their exams. Some students, who were doing their in-house internships, were allowed to get in to proceed with their work but on strict rules that they did not go near the affected areas. The other students made their way back to their various residences. In an interview with some of the students, they expressed shock about the incident. They stated that they woke up as usual and headed to the institution to proceed with their examinations and practical exercises, only to find that the gates were closed.

The students said this would affect them in the long run as they would not be able to do their research since the computers they used were burnt. The institution is currently faced with the matter of the 22 students who were suspended and would not sit for their examinations pending a disciplinary verdict. When asked in relation to this matter and the arson attack, Mathonsi said in as much as they may not make conclusions and point fingers, but this was also investigated as well.
The Tigers have claimed utility man Jermaine Palacios off waivers from the Twins, according to MLB.coms transaction tracker. In a corresponding move, Detroit is designating starting pitcher Drew Hutchison for assignment. Chris McCosky of the Detroit News has confirmed the moves.

Palacios made his debut in the majors this year, appearing in 30 games for the Twins and slashing .143/.184/.229 with two home runs. That underwhelming offensive return was offset somewhat by the defensive versatility the 26 year old offered, logging time at all four infield positions. Palacios did hit a much healthier .283/.341/.462 with 14 home runs across 428 plate appearances at Triple A St. Paul, so there is some hope for his bat to develop a bit in the majors.

Palacios was signed out of Venezuela in 2013, and spent five years in the Twins organization before being dealt to the Rays in the 2018 trade for Jake Odorizzi. He elected minor league free agency at the end of 2020, and he rejoined the Twins that offseason and checked in as their 18th best prospect this year, according to MLB.com. Hell add some defensive versatility in the Tigers infield, while theyll look to unlock a bit of the potential hes shown in the minors with the bat.

For Hutchison, its the third time hes been DFAd by the Tigers this year. After initially signing with the Tigers on a minor league deal he made the team out of spring training but wound up being DFAd and released in May and June before immediately re-signing with the team. Hutchison logged 105.1 innings for the Tigers in 2022, pitching to a 4.53 ERA across 18 starts and ten appearances out of the bullpen. The 32 year old struck out just 14.7% of batters faced, while walking 9.1% of the time. Those numbers are largely in line with Hutchisons career numbers, having pitched to a lifetime 4.89 ERA across nearly 600 innings in the big leagues.

Hutchison is arbitration eligible for another season, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting him to receive a $1.8MM salary. That always made him a likely non-tender candidate, so its not surprising to see Detroit take him off the roster when a player of interest popped up on the waiver wire. Hutchison seems likely to clear waivers and elect free agency, where hell seek out another opportunity this winter.
11.10.2022 LISTEN

I. DAUGHTER OF ZION, grace be unto you and your household, in the tenth month of the year, gentle knocking is over, you must vehemently knock at that door for it to be open for the effectual FERVENT prayers of a righteous man avails much. You cannot continue with business-as-usual prayer. BEGIN THE FERVENT KNOCKING FOR YOUR BREAKTHROUGH

II. SON OF MAN, in the tenth month enter your FERVENT prayer field and engage in radical warfare. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. Get prayer partners, and move away from the solitary prayer life. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. NO MORE TOUCH-AND-GO PRAYERS, STAY IN THE PRAYER FIELD AND DO BATTLE FOR A BREAKTHROUGH.

III. COURAGE SISTERS AND BROTHERS, God has moved you through the nine months of the year into your tenth month for a purpose you have come this far, you cannot give up, and you cannot be tired you must continue knocking. Radically knock at the door. And about the eleventh hour the Landowner went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, why stand ye here all the day idle? CONSISTENTLY STAND, FOR THROUGH THE GRACE AND FAVOUR OF GOD THAT IMPOSSIBLE DOOR WILL OPEN FOR YOU TO ENTER.

IV. BRETHREN IN CHRIST, no employer engages a labourer at 17:00 hours but they never gave up still expecting that someone will hire them. No one has hired you for all these years but don't give up. No one has proposed to you for all these years but don't give up yet continue at that strategic location he will come, yes she will come. Due to your relentless knocking very soon you will hear Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. This is a divine prophetic declaration sent forth through the power of Christ Jesus and serve the brethren through Gods Vessel Francis Ameyibor, Yes! Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with the last ones hired and moving on to the first. YOU SHALL OVERTAKE IN DUE SEASON

V. 2022 MY EMPOWERED SEASON TO DETHRONE AND ENTHRONED - No longer will they build houses for others to inhabit, nor plant for others to eat. For as is the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people, and My chosen ones will fully enjoy the work of their hands.

PRAYER: Bend down, O Lord, and hear my prayer; answer me, for I need your help. Protect me, for I am devoted to you. Save me, for I serve you and trust you. You are my God. Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I am calling on you constantly. Give me happiness, O Lord, for I give myself to you through Christ Jesus name I pray Amen

REF: James 5:16

Matthew 20: 5-8

Isaiah 65:22

WHATSAPP CONTACT: +233277438688

#GODs VESSEL GLOBAL FOUNDATION
The Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central Constituency Isaac Adongo who was billed to address fresh students of Bolgatanga Midwifery Training College fumes over the manner and way he was introduced at the event.

The NDC Regional Women Organiser at the event on Saturday, October 1, 2022 introduced the lawmaker as "Bolgatanga Bawumia."

Mr Adongo immediately jumped from his seat to express his displeasure.

Mr. Adongo made the pronouncement when he was addressing fresh students of Bolgatanga Midwifery Training College on Saturday, October 1, 2022.

He said My good sister who is our Regional Womens Organizer introduced me as the Bolgatanga Bawumia. Tufiakwa!.

"It is a ridicule and a stigma to associate me with Bawumia. Never!

The lawmaker added, "I am a better version of the integrity of confidence and intelligence than Bawumia. If you want to compare me, compare me to Prof. Kwesi Botchwey, compare me to Seth Terkper, compare to Kwame Peprah and I will stand and salute you.

Mr Adongo cautioned that he will take serious offence at anyone who compares him to Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia. If you compare me to Bawumia, I will take offence because that is a relegation of who I am, am far better than that.
12.10.2022 LISTEN

The Upper East Regional Communication Director of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has taken a swipe at comments made by Casper Sunday Kampoli, the Deputy Upper East Regional Communication Officer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Sunday Casper reportedly asked fresh students of Bolgatanga Midwifery Training College to help make the NPP government unpopular.

He said as would-be nursing personnel they should look for anything they can say to make the Akufo-Addo and Bawumia government look so bad in the eyes of the patients they come across.

The Regional Deputy Communication Officer gave the advice when addressing the newly inducted students of the BMTC TEIN members on Saturday, October 1, 2022.

As you are attending to a patient at the hospital, if there is anything you can say that will make Akufo-Addo and Bawumia look so bad in the eyes of that patient, you must do it. You dont have to come and sit on the radio as NDC Communicator to campaign for NDC NO. The campaign is in the wards, the campaign is at the theatre, everywhere you are, there is politics going on there.

In reaction, the NPP issued a statement indicating that: The attention of the Regional Communications outfit of the NPP in the Upper East Region has been drawn to a news item published by APEX News, an online news portal that cited the NDC Upper East Deputy Communications officer (Sunday Casper Kampoli) calling on student nurses to make sure the Nana Addo-Bawumia Government looked bad in the eyes of the patients they will be caring for in the various units of the Hospital, CHPS Compounds, Health Facilities, etc and that is the only way the NDC can win power in the 2024 elections.

This call from Sunday Casper is an admission of the fact that, the NDC has lost the infrastructure and economic development debate in the Region and what is left of them is to do heartless propaganda with innocent patients seeking medical care at various health facilities.

Read full statement below:

For Immediate Release

RE-Look for anything to make Akufo Addo-Bawumias Government look bad in the eyes of your patients -Sunday Casper Kampoli

The attention of the Regional Communications outfit of the NPP in the Upper East Region has been drawn to a news item published by APEX News, an online news portal that cited the NDC Upper East Deputy Communications officer (Sunday Casper Kampoli) calling on student nurses to make sure the Nana Addo-Bawumia Government looked bad in the eyes of the patients they will be caring for in the various units of the Hospital, CHPS Compounds, Health Facilities, etc and that is the only way the NDC can win power in the 2024 elections.

He said this when he was addressing their new TEIN Members at the Bolgatanga Midwifery Training College on the 1st of October 2022.

We condemn his reckless and irresponsible comments in no uncertain terms. This kind of politicking is destructive and retrogressive in our body politics. It is preposterous and iniquitous to admonish young, up-and-coming health professionals to do black propaganda about the health of the vulnerable who will be at the mercy of their care.

This call from Sunday Casper is an admission of the fact that, the NDC has lost the infrastructure and economic development debate in the Region and what is left of them is to do heartless propaganda with innocent patients seeking medical care at various health facilities.

The NDC as a political party that has always benefited massively from the people of the Upper East in terms of votes do not have anything worthwhile to show for the loyalty of the people towards them but can only resort to their dubious, malicious and mischievous propaganda communication to brainwash and hoodwink young nursing students to use the wards, theatres, etc as a political playground instead of professionally caring for the sick.

Sunday Casper Kampoli and his ilk must come to terms with the fact that the auditorium he used to make that call was built by an NPP government under former President Kufuor.

We can see the NDC running away from the debate of records with their tails between their wobbly legs.

We in the NPP will not follow the NDC into the gutters but we shall make sure we bring them out of the gutters, clean, and beat them to the infrastructure debate from which they want to run away from.

We would like to advise the NDC to abstain from their dirty propaganda and groom the young ones to grow into becoming responsible politicians in the future rather than resorting to politicizing every aspect of their lives.

The NPP will always roll out policies that will inure to the benefit of the ordinary Ghanaian, the 1 constituency, 1 ambulance, the employment of drivers and paramedics to man those ambulances, the agenda 111 initiative which seven (7) Districts namely, Builsa South, Kassena Nankana West, Bolgatanga East, Nabdam, Binduri, Pusiga, and Garu are beneficiaries, the internet connectivity in the Regional Hospital and all District Hospitals to eliminate the folder system, the countless CHPS Compounds and Nurses Quarters that we have built across the Region and the famous drone technology to supply essential drugs and blood to unmotorable areas are all health-related policies by the Nana Addo-Bawumia Government.

The integrity of the NPP Government is not sullied that the NDC nurses will find it easy to make things look bad in the eyes of their patients.

We want to use this release to urge the students to disregard this ill advice from selfish politicians like Sunday Casper and concentrate on becoming health professionals that meet WHO standards.

The Deputy Communications Officer as they say Ghanaians have short memory saddenly forgot that his Government led by the incompetent John Mahama canceled the allowance regime with the excuse that those funds were going to be used to expand infrastructure in health colleges. How many of such facilities did the NDC build in this region with those funds?

It took the bold, decisive and courageous Nana Addo to restore the allowances of which your TEIN freshers will soon enjoy. Its worthy of mention that just two weeks ago trainees received their allowances across the Country.

We are however, not surprised that such an advise will come from a Deputy Communications Officer just like the leaked tape by their National Chairman seeking to wage a relentless war against the innocent EC Boss and some National officers of our party.

We further advise Casper to be measured in his communication and not be carried away by making such populace and Nation wrecking statements just to usher in freshers into TEIN.

The Directorate is very much aware of his desperation to remain relevant in a lame communication vehicle of the opposition NDC in the Region. He should have used the opportunity to proffer alternatives regarding policy in the Health sector.

We urge the general public to ignore such dangerous comments and have hope in the Nana Addo led Government.

Ayimbisa Peter

Director of Communication-NPP

Upper East Region.
Professor Avea Nsoh, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of TEERE has announced a three-year partnership agreement with STAR-Ghana Foundation on Gender Rights and Empowerment Programme (G-REP).

This was made known in a speech read on his behalf in a stakeholders consultative meeting on October 6, 2022 at Kassena-Nankana Municipal Assembly Hall.

According to the CEO, the project seeks to mobilize and empower women towards the upcoming 2023 District Assembly Election. He stated, there is a global battle for the proper representation of women in our governance space.

He added, The trend is not good in our domestic scene as the project officer shall soon present us with some data. In an era of 'leave no one behind', we must collaborate to ensure proper representation of women and vulnerable groups in the decision-making spaces.

Meanwhile, Maxwell Babilo Banu, the project officer for Women Empowerment and their Participation in Local Governance (WEPLOG) noted that the project focus is to empower women and increase their numbers in the local governance pace.

According to him, the first year of the project is focused on getting more women elected in the upcoming 2023 District Assembly elections.

As you have seen in the presentation, data available indicated, within the two project intervention District, that is Bongo and Kassena Nankana Municipal. In 2019, the last District Assembly election, two women contested in the Kassena Municipal and they eventually lost and so no woman was elected.

"Likewise in the Bongo District. Four women contested in Bongo and none of them got elected, so as it stands, no women representation in the District Assembly. However, in the Kassena Nankana Municipal, they ended up appointing two women to the District Assembly. And so, the project intends to go out there and identify women, he stated.

The Kassena Nankana Municipal District Chief Executive Joseph Adongo described the project as an important.

This is a very important programme especially now that we are moving into the Assembly elections. Is now public knowledge that most women dont come out and there are several reasons why they dont come up. It can be from their social standing, financial standing, and all those things.

So, I think that this particular that is coming, which has started, I have seen that people are bringing out views that are very important.

"We the men sometimes want to be domineering and because of that, we dont want to allow them to lead. Women also think am a woman, why will I go and contest against a man when I have a man in my house? It means am disrespectful. So, that one made them not to contest and a lot of issues. I am happy with the response the women themselves are now giving by saying they are now enlightened unlike before.

"This will be a wake-up call because it will tell us that few of them will be representing us and we need to do whatever we can to bring them up.

"I also think, those who would like to show up, will have to do their groundwork very well. They need to build their character, they need to be involved in the community they come from, and you need to make sure that they are trusted. People will not just vote for you because you are a woman," the DCE advises.

Navro pio's representative commended the leadership of the project for the initiative.

He said, trying to empower and encourage women to participate in local governance, is a nice way to help tackle and balance gender equality.

He gave his blessing and support to TEERE to carry out the project in his traditional area smoothly without any hindrance.

Also sharing her views at the stakeholders consultative meeting, the Naaga Divisional Queen Mother Malsungu- Tumpaele said: The woman does everything, to take care of the girl child is a woman. But when it comes to your daughters marriage, they dont even involve the mother. She will not be part of the decision-making. Meanwhile, is the mother who nurtured the girl from the beginning."

She added, "So, from the onset, they have seen women in this part of our that we can never be leaders and for that matter all the time if we want to play a leadership role, you would receive intimidation and they dont even want to encourage us.

However, some statistics shown by TEERE also pointed out that womens participation in local governance in the last Assembly election in Bongo and Kassena Nankana Municipal wasnt encouraging.

The paramount chief of Kassena-Nankana Traditional area, Municipal Chief Executive, Co-ordinating Director, Budget and Planning officers, Municipal Heads of Department, Heads of Religious bodies, Heads of second cycle schools, CLOSSAG, Representatives of Persons with Disabilities, Representatives of political parties, reps of women and youth groups were all present at the stakeholders consultative meeting.

The project is sponsored by STAR-Ghana Foundation with funding from the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO).
12.10.2022 LISTEN

A communication team member of the Opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region, John Paul Danka said Akufo-Addo is complicit following his failure to fight illegal mining popularly known as galamsey in the country.

He noted that judging from the current happenings in the various mining areas with some appointees of government allegedly involved in the galamsey menace, he could conclude that President Nana Akufo-Addo is "galamsey and galamsey is President Nana Akufo-Addo."

According to Mr. Danka, There has always been regulation in terms of small-scale mining. It is the enforcement that was the problem and going on I would tell you unequivocally that we have galamsey on our hand but it was better till Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo ban galamsey.

Nana Addo is galamsey and galamsey is Nana Addo. Nana Addo is the face of galamsey. He cannot run away from the fact that where we have found ourselves, Nana Addo is the cause of what is currently happening.

Mr. Danka spoke on Dreamz FM, a local radio station in the Bolgatanaga Municipality on Friday, October 7, 2022.

Making some reference to the pronouncement by former President John Dramani Mahama, he said: And I would entreat that yes, John Dramani Mahama said that when given the opportunity, he will pardon our brothers and sisters who are languishing in jail. Per the illegal mining act they found themselves culpable but you cannot lock Ghanaians and allow Chinese people to be roaming free. By now they have served some days and they have learned their lessons.

No government has ever had goodwill like Akufo-Addo before and no government has ever lost goodwill in a short while like Akufo-Addo in both governance and the issue of tackling galamsey.

You the media started this galamsey fight, you wanted the official endorsement, he bought into it banned, made taskforce to go into it. You have opened audio and clear videos of a Sector Minister, Presidential staffer involved in galamsey proceeds in terms of equipment and machinery. What has happened to them? The time they said they banned galamsey was it not the time the Women Organizer of the NPP excavator was burnt?

"Didnt she go to court to secure a judgment debt? We are talking about Akonta mines, who is for Akonta mines? Is it not the regional chairman of the NPP for the Ashanti region? So, if Charle Bissiue, prof. Frimpong Boateng is rooming, the other boys involve are rooming, the JOY expose where we saw military men and their faces, we saw the tango between the media men who went there and that of the security men. You have the state apparatus, military men, the rank of a staff sergeant guarding galamsey operators. What has happened to them up to date? With those videos, why would you wait for an investigation? Investigate what? It is not an allegation.
12.10.2022 LISTEN

Mr. Benjamin Yaw Gyarko, Techiman Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) has said the Assembly is committed to developing a comprehensive drainage system for the Techiman township and its surroundings to prevent flooding since the issue is deeply affecting people's livelihoods.

Mr Gyarko hinted that plans were far advanced to institute a well-structured municipal developmental plan to make the area a befitting regional capital.

He further disclosed that the assembly was embarking on effective collaboration with the traditional authorities to stop people from building on waterways.

He disclosed this in an interview with this reporter on Monday at Techiman on efforts being done to avert further disaster.

The MCE attributed the reoccurring floods to negative human activities which include building on waterways, and encroaching river banks.

Mr Gyarko noted that most buildings at New Onyinasi and Surbon-Zongo were built on waterways and also communities such as Twimia-Kuase were flood-prone areas.

He indicated that the Assembly was working assiduously in identifying and demolishing structures on waterways among others to avert more disasters.

Mr Gyarko further explained that these measures, when implemented successfully without the interference of residents in the affected communities would see positive changes in the communities in the Municipality.

He urged the political actors not to politicise the move when the demolition exercise commences.

He underscored the need for people living in flood-prone areas to move to higher grounds to prevent floods from destroying their properties.

The MCE added that the Assembly was working with other stakeholders such as the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), National Desaster Management Organization (NADMO) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) among others to seek technical advice on issues pertaining to settlement.

Touching on the socio-economic empowerment of the area, the MCE hinted that Assembly has so far constructed market squares such as the Nana Abena market and construction of drainage system in and around the municipality, 59 Persons living with Disabilities (PWDs) empowered with livelihood empowerment tools including deep freezers, Fridges, Gari processing and Fufu pounding machines, bags of cement and cash support.

Mr Gyarko mentioned that to improve quality education in the area, educational facilities including classroom blocks have been provided at Kenten, Nkwanta, Anyinabrem, Nkwaeso and Jerusalem communities respectively. He added that 380 dual desks with 13 tables and 41 chairs to facilitate teaching and learning have been presented to the Municipal Education Directorate.

Mr Gyarko said since health and sanitation were crucial to the area, the Assembly again presented some health equipment to some health facilities in the Municipality, built toilet facilities and evacuates refuse damps among other things.
Chad's ruler Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno has said a "government of national union" would be created in the coming days to steer the course toward new elections following a forum on the country's future.

The government "will put its heart and soul into ensuring that the will of the Chadian people is fully upheld," said Deby at ceremonies where he was appointed "transitional president" after the forum which ended on Saturday.

Chad, one of the world's poorest countries, has endured repeated uprisings and unrest since gaining independence from France in 1960.

Deby, a 38-year-old five-star general, took the helm in April 2021 after his father, Idriss Deby Itno, who had ruled with an iron fist for three decades, was killed during an operation against rebels.

Parliament was dissolved and the constitution suspended as Deby was proclaimed president.

He headed a junta of 15 generals whose declared plan was to hand over power after 18 months - a period that without extension would have ended this month.

Deby then organised a "national inclusive dialogue" that he said would chart the country's return to civilian rule.

It wound up on Saturday after endorsing a further two-year period leading to elections during which Deby would become "transitional president" and be allowed to stand as a candidate in the future polls.

The conference opened on 20 August after repeated delays but was boycotted by the main political opposition and two out of the three biggest armed rebel groups.

'Stronger democracy'

Promising "democratic" elections, Deby on Monday said the new government would be formed "in the next few days... (ahead of) the second phase of transition."

This phase should lead to "the strengthening of our democracy," he said.

"Elections will be held, transparently and peacefully, to enable the men and women of Chad to put an end to the transition and ensure the return to constitutional order," he said.

Deby had initially pledged an 18-month transition period and said he would not run in the presidential elections that followed.

But in June 2021, he floated the possibility of extending the transition by a further 18 months "if the Chadians do not manage to reach an agreement" on the way forward.

He also said he would leave the question of his presidential candidacy to God.

Swearing-in ceremony

Deby, usually seen in military regalia, appeared for his swearing-in in a traditional long white gown.

VIPs who attended the inauguration included Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and ministers from Niger, the Central African Republic and Democratic Republic of Congo. France was represented by its ambassador, as was the European Union (EU). But there was no representative from the African Union (AU).

On 19 September the continent-wide bloc had urged the junta not to extend its stay in power beyond the initial 18 months.

It also said "unequivocally that no member of the Transitional Military Council (the junta) may be a candidate for the elections at the end of the transition."

International support

In his speech, Deby urged the international community "to support Chad in its ongoing quest for security and stability, both inside and outside its borders, notably in the theatres of peacekeeping operations and fighting terrorism."

France and other western countries consider Chad, which has a relatively well-equipped and well-trained army, to be a linchpin in efforts to combat jihadism in the Sahel.

The West has largely muted criticism of the military takeover, in a region where coups in Guinea, Burkina Faso and Mali have sparked a clamour for a swift return to civilian rule.

Enrica Picco of the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank said the junta had been formally dissolved as a result of the forum, which meant Deby's powers would be "widened and extended" as transitional president, enabling him to directly determine key appointments such as that of the prime minister.

Many Chadians seemed doubtful about much change or said basic issues took precedence.

"Deby has to improve his way of running things. It's the same system that his father had," said Hissein Adam, a storekeeper in N'Djamena.

"We want him to build roads, invest in agriculture and stock-breeding and give a special place for education, because there is no development if you don't promote education," said Halime Ibrahim, a man aged in his sixties.

(with AFP)
German trade show specialists, fairtrade has announced that agrofood & plastprintpack West Africa 2022 will be held in Accra, Ghana.

The much-anticipated exhibition which will be the 7th edition will take place from November 29 to December 1.

The three-day event will be held at the state-of-the-art Grand Arena at the International Conference Centre in Accra.

This years edition is being held on the back of the huge success of plastprintpack West Africa 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world.

Speaking at a press conference in Accra on Tuesday, October 11, Managing Director of fairtrade, Mr. Paul Marz explained that the upcoming exhibition will have everything from production to processing.

We are going to have exhibitors from 13 countries from all over the world displaying the latest technology, and the latest products from their respective countries in the entire food and agrofood value chains. From production, processing to the final product on the table to everything you need for it including packaging, printing, Mr. Paul Marz shared.

Mr. Paul Marz

He disclosed that the exhibition is being organised to among other things encourage local production to ensure Ghana reduces its imports.

He told journalists that this way, a lot of jobs will be created while wealth is made by industry players and the country as well.

First, create the value of the business contact between international companies, Ghanaian companies and within the agrofood industry.

Second which is very important is to bring production to Ghana to enhance production in Ghana so that Ghana becomes less dependent on food import and can produce more in the country because this brings employment, this brings in the end industrialization and jobs and wealth into the country, Mr. Paul Marz said when asked about the objective of agrofood & plastprintpack West Africa 2022.

At the press conference, the Managing Director of fairtrade used the opportunity to invite professionals of the agrofood and plastprintpack industry to the exhibition slated to start late next month.

Delivering an address on behalf of the Minister of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), Mr. Eric Bentsil Quaye who is Director of Plant Protection and Regulatory Services at the Ministry stressed that the outfit deems the upcoming exhibition to be very important to the policies of the Ministry.

He said after the implementation of Planting for Food and Jobs in the last five years, the Ministry wants to continue doing more and believes the exhibition will provide that platform.

We are happy about this agrofood and plantprintpack. We are looking forward to this years participation because we think we have produced a good quantity of food that needs to be processed further. We will continue to support these exhibitors so that we can process our food, Mr. Eric Bentsil Quaye emphasised.

He continued, our promise to this meeting is that the Ministry will continue to support the 7th exhibition and even beyond so that producers can save their food and process them for the market properly.

Other key partners present at the press conference expressed their delight to be part of the upcoming agrofood & plastprintpack West Africa while assuring that they are committed to the course.

The local organiser, GeoVision has also assured that the grounds have been properly prepared for the 7th edition of the agrofood and plastprintpack West Africa.

Click HERE for registration details and more information on the upcoming exhibition.
LUDZIDZINI - His Majesty King Mswati III has reportedly informed the SADC Secretariat that the situation is calm and there is stability in Eswatini.

This was disclosed by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Executive Secretary, Elias Magosi, at Ludzidzini Royal Residence yesterday when he paid a courtesy call on the King. Prior to his address, the King said it was important to maintain peace and stability in the region, so that the people could develop their economies in a conducive environment. He appreciated the visit of the SADC executive secretary and his team (secretariat) as they would share a lot of issues about Eswatini since the world was facing conflicts. He said they had discussed how best they could work on maintaining peace and stability in the country.

Aware

Again, the King said they were aware of the Regional Peace and Stability agreement and as a nation, they needed to adhere to it. On the other hand, the SADC executive secretary said Eswatini was an important member State of the organisation and it contributed in many ways. He said recently, Eswatini contributed when SADC gave support to Mozambique. Peace and stability is critical. I was pleased when you (King) shared that the situation had calmed and that there was stability in the kingdom, the SADC executive secretary said.

Peace

He emphasised that it was important to maintain peace and stability. He added that peaceful engagements should be preserved and natured. It is worth noting that there had been a political unrest in the country which escalated in June/July 2021, where there were protest actions countrywide and it culminated in violence, vandalism of property and looting of private and public properties, including businesses, some of which were torched. In the process, dozens of emaSwati were shot dead, allegedly by members of the State security organs, and some of those who were affected were left with permanent disabilities. Thereafter, there were several attacks which were carried out by unknown people and they included arson attacks and shooting of members of the State security organs. Some of them (members of the State security organs), mainly police, were shot dead. This started when some emaSwati called for political reforms in the country.
Mr. Wilson Kwami Agbanyo, Kadjebi District Chief Executive (DCE), has appealed to Assembly Members to help stop the smuggling of cocoa to the neighbouring Republic of Togo.

He said the menace of cocoa smuggling, which had been on the rise in the district, needed to be stopped.

Mr Agbanyo made this appeal at the Second Ordinary Session of the Kadjebi District Assembly at Kadjebi in the Oti Region.

He said although the District Security Committee (DISEC) would deliberate on how best to curtail it, they would not succeed without the involvement of the Assembly Members, traditional chiefs, and citizens.

Mr Agbanyo added: We all have a role to play to curtail the situation.

He said though the culprits have networks, they would devise every necessary means to counter them.

The DCE said another security matter of concern is the Kadjebi Muslim community feud over the appointment of a Deputy Imam for Kadjebi Central Mosque, but with the joint intervention of DISEC, REGSEC and the Chiefs of Kadjebi, the situation was brought under control.

He announced that the Assembly procured 300 pieces of 150W LED streetlight bulbs with photocells, arms, bolts, knots, and washers for installation as a measure to improve security in the district.

Contributing, Mr Francis Songeh, the Assembly Member for Dodi-Kponkpa/Asuboe Electoral Area, said cocoa smuggling was indeed rising in the district as he saw some suspects conveying the produce to Togo through an entry point called Pillar 83.

I was nearly lynched I tried recording their conversations, Mr Agbanyo recalled.

Mr Songeh, who is also a staff of Ghana COCOBOD, blamed the Ghana Police Service for sleeping on their jobs and aiding smugglers.

In a quick rebuttal, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Gyan-Mante Frempong, the Kadjebi District Police Commander, said his officers needed not to be blamed because it was not their mandate in preventing suspicious travellers from crossing to other countries.

He, however, appealed to the populace to volunteer information that would lead to the arrest of smugglers.

GNA
A viral picture circulating on social media about an alleged magical woman has created fear and panic among the people in Tumu and the Sissala area.

The mystery behind the picture stipulates that the woman possessed the magical powers of touching people and vanishing with them, which the security in the Sissala East has dispelled.

This follows days and weeks of fear caused by the alleged presence of the woman in the Sissala District, scaring most people from going to their farms.

Some parents even restricted their children from going to school.

In the viral picture, sighted by the Ghana News Agency (GNA), the said woman is seen carrying a sack of loads, walking and holding a long stick. She wears a sweater, with a cover cloth over it.

The accompanying picture has an attached audio voice in the Sissali language warning residents to stay away from assisting the old woman if she sought help to carry her load.

On Sunday, October 09, 2022, a woman, named Tabsoba, was mistakenly identified by residents in Sakai, Kowie, and the Tumu township as the woman in the viral picture in circulation.

A milling crowd followed her to the Ghana Burkina-Faso border with the Sissala East.

When security officials, led by Chief Superintendent William Essah of the Ghana Immigration Service in the Tumu border interrogated her, she spoke in the Moshie language through an interpreter where she mentioned her name as Madam Tabsoba.

Chief Supt Essah told the Ghana News Agency (GNA), that Tabsoba said: I came to Ghana through Hamile during the farming season to Wa and walked for 20 days to Tumu from Wa looking for what I will eat.

Everywhere, I reached and needed water to bathe or drink, I got beaten for reasons I do not know, she told a team of security persons at the border.

According to Chief Supt Essah, when a search was conducted on her, she did not have any form of identity card but had clothes, soap, flour, and a bucket for bathing.

When she was asked why many people claimed anyone who touched her would vanish, she laughed it off and denied the claim.

She indicated that she wanted to go to Leo, a community in Burkina-Faso, which the security people obliged and allowed her to go.

After she related her pathetic story to the security some people at the border supported her with some money while others got her food before leaving for Leo.

After she related her pathetic story to the security, some people at the border supported her with some money while others got her food before leaving for Leo.

Chief Supt. Essah said Tabsoba's posture suggests that she had mental problems and advised the public against spreading fake news, especially false news about the vulnerable.

He advised the people to go about their businesses including farming since the picture and its accompanying audio were fake.

Meanwhile, Mr Alfred Kutajera, the Manager of Nabina Radio in Navrongo denied ever hearing of a vanishing old lady from Navrongo where the audio is said to have generated.

Some inhabitants of the Sissala West communities of Jeffissi, Pulima, Lilixia, and Kandia told the GNA that the viral picture scared and prevented them from going to their farms.

GNA
12.10.2022 LISTEN

The first senate meeting for the University Graduate Association of Ghana (USAG) was held at Kessben University on Saturday, October 8.

The 21st administration senate meeting was attended by various universities across the country with a delegation from the Ghana Union of Professional Students led by the general secretary, Honorable Eric Murphy Asare.

In a fraternal speech delivered by the GUPS general secretary, he praised the leadership of USAG for having successfully conducted elections free and fair during the 20th Senate Congress, leading to the birth of the 21st administration.

"This is truly from our hearts," the national executives and the president, H.E. Emily Jemima Nyarko.

"Appreciate the invitation; this truly signifies the bond between these two unions (GUPS and USAG). This is so because the majority of our member institutions are also members of USAG. This is why we need to build a union together.

"Gups has opened its doors to every institution, and I take this opportunity to invite you to join us," he said.

The general secretary singled out the president of USAG, H.E Dr. Christian Addison Ntsiful, for his humility and dedication to the development of Ghanaian students.

"My good friend here, Dr. Addison, met me during the Gups congress. We shared a brief discussion, and we both realized that potentially if given the nod, we would serve with all humility, and I am not surprised he's here today. He's the epitome of a true and selfless leader who has a heart of gold. I know the expectations are high but trust him," he reiterated.

The Hon. Murphy applauded USAG institutions for their commitment towards the union and pledged GUPS solidarity with USAG.
A social change campaign to end the stigma against mental health patients has begun in Accra.

The campaign, dubbed #SpeakUp #SeekHelp which is being implemented by SWAGE Consult, a Non-Governmental Organization, seeks to sensitize and raise awareness of Ghanaians against the stigma on mental health.

The campaign also seeks to encourage dialogue among different segments of society such as school students and teachers, urban residents, civil society and non-governmental organizations, government officials and media on mental health issues. To achieve this, SWAGE Consult embarked on an Advocacy campaign in schools to give mental health literacy and to encourage them to normalize discussions around it.

Speaking to the students of the Mantse Tacki Junior High School in Adabraka, Accra, the Executive Director of SWAGE Consult, Mr. Shadrack Nii Yarboi Yartey revealed that the World Health Organization estimates that approximately 13% of the population in Ghana suffer from a mental disorder, of which 3% suffer from a severe mental disorder and the other 10% suffer from a moderate to mild mental disorder.

More than half of the people in Ghana with mental illness don't receive help for their disorders. Often, people avoid or delay seeking treatment due to concerns about being treated differently or fears of losing their jobs and livelihood. That's because stigma, prejudice and discrimination against people with mental illness are still very much a problem. They are unable to speak up and seek help due to this. This is why we have launched this social change campaign, he added.

Mr Yartey emphasized that in Ghana, mental illness is associated with spiritual and supernatural causes. They are perceived to be a curse from the wrath of deity as a result of sin or punishment for the patient, parents or family misdeeds. This stigma extends to the family to which the mental patient belongs and informs decisions related to marriage for the healthy family member. This campaign is to educate Ghanaians to change this perception.

On her path, the Community Liaison & Advocacy Lead for SWAGE Consult, Akosua Majorie Otu explained that some cultural beliefs also play a role in reinforcing the stigma. Some ethnic societies will rather lock up the mental health patient to avoid being stigmatized or bringing the name of the family to disrepute rather than seek medical help. Stigma often comes from a lack of understanding or fear, inaccurate or misleading media representations of mental illness, she added.

She encouraged the students to talk about issues facing them mentally, like bullying or struggles with their studies and appealed to government to resource the Ghana Psychiatric Hospital with the needed logistics and equipment to be able to manage and take care of mental health patients. She also called on corporate Ghana to financially support the facility to provide good healthcare and professional counseling to mental health patients.
Christ for All Nations Church (CfaN)m, an Evangelical Ministry founded by the late International Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke is set to hold a 4-day mega soul winning crusade in the Ashanti region.

It has been slated for 10th November to 13th November 2022 and will be led by the successor of the founder Evangelist Daniel Kolenda under the auspices of the Ghana Pentecostal Church and Charismatic Council, the Christian Council and other Christian Organizations in Ghana.

Briefing the media, Rev Douglas Frimpong Manso, Crusade Manager-CfaN announced that 200 evangelists will be rolled out across all the 52 districts in the Ashanti region and will for three weeks preach the love of Christ with the ultimate aim of winning souls prior to the event.

They will reach out to schools, institutions, marketplaces and every part of Asanteman.

He underlined that the mandate of the Church is to preach the love of Christ and in the process revolutionize sinners for salvation.

Though evil is still hiking despite the daily rise in the number of Churches and religious activities in Ghana, Rev. Douglas Frimpong noted that it does not in any way indicate that preachers and for that matter the church is not effective in transforming sinners from their evil ways.

"The high ascendancy of evil is a fulfilment of Bible Prophesy that evil will be on the rise in the end timesso it is therefore not surprising that we are witnessing a high rate of immoral activities.

Not that men of God are not doing their work correctly. We give everybody the opportunity to give his or her life to Christ.

"Thats the mandate of the Church. The duty of men of God is to keep on preaching the Gospel, he added.

In 2004, the late Reinhard Bonnke and Daniel Kollenda held a mega crusade in Kumasi; the biggest crusade ever to be held in Ghana. Over 700,000 souls were won.
Barely three months after performing free reconstructive surgeries in Yaounde, Cameroon, R.E.S.T.O.R.E. Worldwide Inc., the Foundation for Reconstructive Surgery led by world-renowned plastic surgeon Dr. Michael K. Obeng, is currently in the Volta Regional Capital of Ghana, Ho, on a humanitarian mission.

The team of selfless and dedicated health officials arrived in Ghana on October 8 and are expected to conduct some 120 free reconstructive surgeries within the one-week period.

Screening of patients at the Ho Teaching Hospital began on Sunday, October 9.

The mission will be the team's third medical mission this year after successful programmes in Senegal and Cameroon early in the year.

This will be the 15th year that the R.E.S.T.O.R.E. team has embarked on such a humanitarian mission. The team of selfless volunteers has visited and performed reconstructive surgeries in Gabon, Ghana, Guatemala, Laos, Mexico, Nigeria, Senegal, and Vietnam.

R.E.S.T.O.R.E. at 15

Dr. Michael K. Obeng recently announced that R.E.S.T.O.R.E. Worldwide Inc., The Foundation for Reconstructive Surgery, reached its 15th anniversary this year.

As founder and CEO, he looks back at those years with nostalgic fondness and is proud of the continuous expansion and growth, all made possible with the assistance of a strong donor base that has helped RESTORE reach this milestone.

Since its inception in 2007, R.E.S.T.O.R.E. and its dedicated group of highly skilled medical professionals have provided humanitarian assistance to 11 different countries on three continents. With the aim of alleviating suffering and changing peoples lives, the team has performed over 1,600 surgeries and tackled many complex reconstruction cases, all free of charge,

The monetary value of surgeries performed has exceeded well over $80 million USD. Moreover, a countless number of patients of all ages have indirectly benefited from the foundations work through non-surgical management and the education and training of local doctors.

As R.E.S.T.O.R.E. races towards its 15th anniversary, Dr. Obeng states he is not only keen on replicating the same success, but also envisions reaching new horizons with a goal of raising $2.5 million USD in a year to make an even greater impact. He says it is no secret that there is strong demand and constant requests for R.E.S.T.O.R.E. missions in new regions and countries, all unfulfilled because of the heavy weight of logistical costs associated with providing medical and surgical supplies and transporting the team. While some donors provide value by donating time and volunteering, the non-profit needs donors to provide crucial financial support.

This past June, R.E.S.T.O.R.E. completed a mission to Cameroon and has upcoming trips that include the Volta Region of Ghana in October and Senegal in December. If RESTORE reaches its fundraising goal, it can envision expansion to Central and South America, as well as Southeast Asia, and grow to become one of the leading non-profit charity organisations across the globe.

Dr. Obeng says that any support, great or small, helps RESTORE to get closer to its very special goal of changing lives and giving hope, function, and aesthetic form to those in need.

He expressed deep gratitude for everyones generosity and hopes it will inspire others to make the same move by supporting R.E.S.T.O.R.E.s noble cause.

He made special mention of Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa , Member of Parliament for North Tongu, the management of Volta Serene Hotel in Ho, Ms. Penelope M. Jones-Mensah, lawyer and founder of the 40 Roses Foundation, Labadi Beach Hotel, Accra; and Mr. Yaw Boakye, CEO of West One Ghana Limited for their support and generosity of spirit.

On his part, Honourable Okudzeto Ablakwa expressed excitement that the R.E.S.T.O.R.E mission is in the Volta Region this year. He applauded Dr. Michael K. Obeng and the team of volunteers for their humanitarian assistance to the people of the Volta Region and urged them to continue touching lives with their incredible benevolence.

CEO of the Ho Teaching Hospital, Dr. John Tampuori, expressed gratitude for R.E.S.T.O.R.E.'s medical mission.

He pledged his full commitment to the initiative and called on other non-governmental organisations to emulate such humanitarian initiatives.

About R.E.S.T.O.R.E. Worldwide Inc.; The Foundation for Reconstructive Surgery

RESTORE is an acronym that stands for Restoring Emotional Stability Through Outstanding Reconstructive Efforts. It is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit medical service organisation that provides free reconstructive surgery and related medical services to children and adults with disfiguring deformities from birth, accidents, and diseases involving not only the head and neck region, but also the trunk, breasts, extremities, and genitalia. It was founded in 2007 by Dr. Michael K. Obeng.

As part of its mission, R.E.S.T.O.R.E. also educates and trains local medical professionals on the latest techniques and safety measures in plastic and reconstructive surgery, effecting change long after the R.E.S.T.O.R.E. team leaves these communities.

About Dr. Michael K. Obeng

Dr. Michael K. Obeng, popularly known as "The Surgeons Surgeon," is a Harvard-trained, board-certified plastic surgeon.

In March this year, Dr. Obeng reached an agreement with Sushen Medicamentos PVT LTD. to build a $50 million WHO GMP-certified first-class pharmaceutical plant in Akwamu in the Eastern Region of Ghana to curtail the importation of fake drugs into the country.

He also runs Global Health Solution, a consulting firm that is bridging the gap between "morbidity and healthy living" in developing countries.

Dr. Obeng is among the rare few plastic surgeons in the world to successfully reattach a limb and remove ribs to streamline the waist. He specialises in cosmetic surgery and complex reconstruction, hence the nickname, "The Surgeons Surgeon," as dubbed by his colleagues.

The Ghanaian-born surgeon gained global recognition in 2021 after successfully removing Gorilla Glue from the hair of "internet sensation" Tessica Brown by using bio-friendly chemicals he put together in less than 48 hours.

He is a father, an award-winning motivational speaker, a philanthropist, a humanitarian, and a global health strategist.

Dr. Michael K. Obeng was named among "Americas Top Plastic Surgeons" by the Consumer Research Council of America in 2011 and 2014.
Member of Parliament for Anyaa Sowutuom constituency, Dr. Dickson Adomako Kissi has described his constituents as ungrateful for complaining about the deplorable nature of roads in the area.

He said his constituents do not pay property tax but keep pressuring government to undertake developmental projects within the area.

I will hate to say that we have a problem of not appreciating even where we have arrived and the reason why I say that is that a lot has happened. When I do the road, nobody comes to commend me. But when they are demanding, they start insulting me, which is fine. I could have directed the money I am using to support them to other roads.

We are not the only place in the entire constituency, Agape is there, and Sowutuom is there, Lomnava and others. And then in totality, Antie Aku residents who are complaining are not even contributing to the property tax so that we can use part of that to do their roads, Dr. Adomako Kissi.

Dr. Adomako Kissi made these remarks in an interview in Accra when responding to a question about complaints by his constituents who are demanding asphalt on the Antie-Aku junction to Municipal assembly office roads.

He also explained that the road has not been asphalted because of the buildings on the waterway which need to be demolition to pave way for the construction of drainage from Dela junction to the Deserter hospital.

A resident, Mr. Charles Sewordor said, the deplorable nature of the road is making living conditions more difficult for them.

He said they are always traumatized anytime they ply the road as they fear being sick after inhaling the dust.

Mr. Sewordor noted that residents have drawn the attention of their Member of Parliament and the Municipal Chief Executive to the poor state of the road but nothing had been done to improve it.

We have written countless letters to the assembly and held several meetings with the authorities but we are not getting results and that is why we are appealing to the central government, he said.

He said business and commercial activities along the affected areas are paralyzed because of the inaccessible roads.

A motorist, Mr. Gordon Annor, said he frequently visits mechanics to fix his vehicle damaged by the bad condition of the road network. He wanted the relevant authorities to urgently come to their rescue.

Besides Annor, another concerned resident, Madam Bernice Anankwa, said pregnant and nursing mothers who use the road to the Deserter hospital in the community which boasts of top-class medical doctors, nurses and other health workers are however hit with health issues as a result of the dusty nature of the road.

According to her, several lives have been lost, whilst others have had miscarriages due to the several potholes and the poor road network.

Due to the bad nature of the road, which is dusty and full of potholes of scary sizes, it is impossible to rush critically ill patients to the only community hospital for treatment on time. Some women have miscarriage which was prevented but alas the poor road network affected their pregnancies, Madam Bernice Anankwa lamented.

Madam Aku Seshie said the deplorable state of their road network coupled with poor drainage system makes the area unmotorable.

She explained that due to the poor state of the road, commercial vehicles barely visit the community often; leaving residents to travel mainly on foot.

The Municipal Chief Executive for Ga Central Assembly, Mr. Mohammed Bashiru Kamara, declined to respond to several calls put across to his phone line after initiating promising to speak.
The 10th edition of the Ghana Muslim Youth Camp was held by Volunteers for Muslim Youth Empowerment and Development (VOMYED).

The Ghana Muslim Youth Camp is a week-long yearly empowerment activity for young Ghanaian Muslims held every year.

This year's camp took place at KNUST, University Hall, Katanga, from Sunday, October 3 to Sunday, October 9, 2022.

The camp is designed for Muslim youth, with a primary focus on senior high school graduates and tertiary students.

The theme of the Ghana Muslim Youth Camp (GMYC) 2022 was "towards building an empowered and responsible Muslim youth."

Mr. Abdul Majeed Yakub, Executive Director of the camp's organizers, Volunteers For Muslim Youth Empowerment and Development (VOMYED), explained that the Ghanaian Muslim community has suffered a brain drain in terms of human and infrastructure development for far too long a circumstance that has slowed its progress the basis of which, they established the Ghana Muslim Youth Camp to provide a platform for young Ghanaian Muslims to work together for the betterment of their community.

In his speech, Mr. Dennis Appiah Larbi, President of the National Union of Ghana Students, encouraged students not to succumb to peer pressure and do things that are against their personal values.

"It is possible to become successful in your faith," he added.

HRM Osman A Koita, Ashanti Regional Fulani Chief, businessman, and international expert in cattle farming, was also a speaker at the camp. He advised the students to develop reading habits. To lead is to understand; to understand is to read.

"In order to live a responsible life, you must brand yourself.

"Brand yourself to gain the respect you deserve," he added.

Seminars on life after school, workshops on digital skills, an innovation bootcamp on entrepreneurship and skills such as soap making and pastries were among the activities held throughout the week.

Including debates on the galamsey menace, Personal, Career, Educational, Leadership & Development, Public Speaking Training, Excursion, and Quran & Poetry were held.

This year's camp had 150 participants. The organizers were unable to admit more young people due to logistical issues.

The Ghana Muslim Youth Camp was established in 2012 and has over the period of 10 years impacted more than 2000 youth.
Regional Experts in charge of issuing and control of visas have converged in Abuja for a three (3) day technical meeting to validate the recommendations of the previously held Task Force meeting, harmonize the cost and design of the visa and deliberate on other associated modalities related to the implementation of the ECOVISA.

The meeting was officially opened this day, 11 October 2022 by the interim Chair of the meeting, Mr McArious A. Akanbong expressed that the meeting was pursuant to the decision of the ECOWAS Heads of State and Government in 2000. He urged participants to work closely towards the realization of the set objectives.

ECOWAS Commissioner for Economic Affairs and Agriculture, Massandje Toure-Litse welcomed participants on behalf of the President of the ECOWAS Commission, H.E. Dr. Omar Alieu TOURAY, and the new management. She reemphasized the commitment of ECOWAS Commission towards the actualization of ECOVISA which will boost tourism in the ECOWAS region as a major economic activity in terms of income generation, job creation, foreign exchange earnings and cultural exchange which cannot be overlooked. She also underlined the benefits the implementation of the ECOVISA will bring to the region in terms of foreign direct investment drive, strengthened private sector for industrialisation that can boost economic development. Finally, she stated that ECOVISA would play a vital role in the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) as a tool to allow citizens of third countries to focus on our region.

Dr. Yakubu Dadu, Head of ECOWAS National Office in Nigeria, recalled the details of the Experts meeting held in Accra, Ghana in April 2022 which sets the ball rolling. He reaffirmed Nigerias commitment and trust in the ECOVISA Taskforce in executing the assignment given to them effectively and efficiently. I have no doubt that the 3-day meeting would greatly enrich us further as we discuss other emerging issues related to the implementation of the ECOVISA in our region, he added.

Mr. Bakary Sanou, the ECOWAS Component Manager of the GIZ support to African Union Border Program (GIZ/AUBP), acknowledged the commitment the ECOWAS Commission has shown in the process. He expressed GIZ-AUBPs readiness to support the process for the implementation of free movement across the ECOWAS region for all. He called on participants to use the 3 days to ensure that the interest of the region is considered.

The ECOVISA Experts will also deliberate on the standardized cost of the ECOVISA, present a specimen design and features sample of the ECOVISA for validation and validate the terms of reference for the recruitment of competent local service providers to develop the technology to be used for the ECOVISA.

ECOVISA is sampled from the idea of the Schengen visa which will give non-member states citizens access to any of the 15 Member States with one visa.

The 3-day meeting brought together Experts in charge of issuance of visas, Experts in charge of control of visas at entry points as well as participants from the ECOWAS Commission and GIZ-AUBP.

For reference, the ECOWAS Heads of State and Government mandated the ECOWAS Commission to develop the modalities for the smooth implementation of the ECOVISA for Migrants of third countries. In realization of this mandate, the ECOWAS Commission in collaboration with GIZ-AUBP launched a study on the modalities for harmonization of Visa procedures and process in the ECOWAS region. An ECOVISA Task Force was set up and series of experts meetings held with Experts from Burkina Faso, Benin, Cote dIvoire, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Federal Republic of Nigeria and Senegal in April, 2022 to examine the findings of the study. This Experts meeting is therefore, to ensure the final validation to pave the way for the implementation of the ECOVISA.

Source: ECOWAS
In response to reports of the arrest of Somali press freedom advocate and freelance journalist Abdalle Ahmed Mumin, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement on Tuesday calling for his immediate release:

Abdalle Ahmed Mumin is a fearless and tireless advocate for the rights of Somali journalists to report the news freely and independently. His arrest is unacceptable aggression and is undoubtedly sending a ripple of fear through the Somali media community, said CPJ sub-Saharan Africa representative, Muthoki Mumo. Authorities should release Abdalle Ahmed Mumin immediately and unconditionally, and should instead work to create a climate in which Somali journalists can work without fear.

About 5 p.m. on Tuesday, October 11, intelligence personnel at Mogadishus Aden Adde International Airport arrested Abdalle, cofounder and secretary general of the Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS), according to the syndicates president and cofounder, Mohamed Ibrahim Isak, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app, and Twitter posts from Somali media outlets. Abdalle, who was traveling to Nairobi at the time of arrest, has since been transferred to a detention facility managed by Somalias National Intelligence and Security Agency, Mohamed said.

In a tweet published shortly before his arrest, Abdalle reported that intelligence officials had on Monday evening attempted to force entry into the syndicates office in Mogadishu, and harassed other tenants in the building. Mohamed said that he believed this raid and Abdalles arrest were connected to a Monday press conference, held at the syndicates Mogadishu office, in which a group of five local press rights groups condemned a recent government directive broadly banning intentional and unintentional dissemination of extremism ideology in the media and by the public.

Somalias deputy information minister Abdirahman Yusuf Omar, who also goes by Adala, told CPJ via messaging app that Abdalles arrest did not have to do with journalism or the journalists opinions. In response to a request to clarify why Abdalle had been arrested, he said he would share information once security agencies finalize (the) issue. Abdirahman said the ministrys directive on extremism ideology was targeted at propaganda by the militant group Al-Shabaab and that the government will not harm any freedom for its people.
MATSAPHA  Eswatini national courts have been accused of trying or hearing matters which they do not have jurisdiction over.

This was disclosed yesterday by Senior Government Counsellor Mbuso Dlamini, at Esibayeni Lodge, during the ongoing five-day Eswatini National Courts Employees Workshop. The legal expert was the facilitator and revealed this while he was educating Eswatini court employees on Eswatini national courts in the context of the judicial system. By their nature of existence, Eswatini national courts were designed to address matters or solve conflicts among Ewatini citizens. Dlamini highlighted that the influx of foreign nationals, particularly from neighbouring countries such as Mozambique, has been the cause of this problem where the Eswatini national courts presided over cases involving foreigners, yet this should not be the case.

The facilitator explained; The issue of foreign nationals influx has been seriously problematic. These people live among us in the communities and they do at times commit petty crimes. We have had instances of Mozambican nationals, for instance, being tried at the Eswatini national courts for committing petty crimes such as stealing a neighbours chickens. Such matters are dealt with at Eswatini courts yet the legislation stipulates that parties involved must be emaSwati. Dlamini noted that the foreigners were most of the time ignorant of the law, hence they did not challenge having the matters tried by a court that did not have jurisdiction to hear it, and a judgment was passed. He quoted the piece of legislation sections under the Establishment of Eswatini Courts and under sub-headings Civil jurisdiction and Criminal jurisdiction. The Eswatini Courts Act of 1950, Section 7(1) reads: Every Eswatini Court shall exercise civil jurisdiction, to the extent set out in its warrant and subject to the provisions of this Act, over cases and matters in which all the parties are members of the Eswatini nation and the defendant is ordinarily resident, or the cause of action shall have risen, within the area of jurisdiction of the Court.

Section

Section 8(2) reads; Such jurisdiction shall extend to the hearing, trial and determination of all criminal charges and matters in which the complainant and the accused are members of the Eswatini nation and the defendant is accused of having, wholly or in part within the jurisdiction of the court, committed or been accessory to the committing of an offence. Dlamini said court presidents should be grateful for the fact that no foreign national had yet challenged, under law, the jurisdiction of the Eswatini national courts, when their matters were tried there. He said if they could tell the presiding officer or court president that by law, they had no jurisdiction to listen to their matter due to the fact that he/she was a foreigner, the court president would have no other choice but to refer the matter to other courts.

Another issue the facilitator raised, was the fact that it could never happen that a matter was tried in two different courts simultaneously. This point was met with dissent from other participants. Mbabane National Court President Two Minutes Shongwe, argued that it was possible when a civil matter had evolved into a criminal matter. Zibonele Ginindza submitted: I heard that when cases start as civil matters and then evolve to criminal, in cases of land disputes for example, the Kings liason officer (bondabazabantu), then refers it to other courts. In some cases, we also witness parties insisting that their matter be heard at a certain court, despite that the court president wants to refer it to another. In response, the facilitator said it happened that civil matters evolved to criminal matters and in such instances, it was simple. If the matter is tried in criminal court, the civil court will wait
Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS), Somali Media Association (SOMA), Somalia Mechanism for Safety of Journalists (SMSJ) and Federation of Somali Journalists (FESOJ) vehemently condemn the arbitrary arrest of the Secretary General of Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) by the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) in Mogadishu.

On 11 October, 2022 at around 17:00hrs local time, officers from the Somali Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) arrested Abdalle Ahmed Mumin, the Secretary General of the Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) who was traveling to Nairobi at Aden Adde International Airport in Mogadishu. He was immediately transferred to Godka Jilacow, the notorious NISA detention facility near the Presidential Palace.

The arrest follows after Somali Media Fraternity among them SJS, FESOJ, SOMA and SMSG held a press conference at the SJS Headquarters in Mogadishu on October 10, 2022, where they expressed their concern about a new government directive that banned what was termed Spreading Al-Shabab propaganda. The media advocacy groups expressed concerns that they were not consulted and the directive might unduly restrict the legitimate freedom expression and press freedom in the country.

About 6:29 pm (local time) a group of armed NISA officers led by the commander of Hawl-wadag district Shakiib," raided SJS office, while the staff had already left the office. The officers threatened a neighbour and forced him to open the security of the office gate. A CCTV footage installed in the building shows NISA officers attempting to force open the office but could not manage it.

Somali Media fraternity who are united under the umbrella of Somalia Mechanism for Safety of Journalists (SMSJ) jointly condemns this arbitrary arrest of the Abdalle Ahmed Mumin, the SJS Secretary General, who was also the Secretary of the SMSG and express their solidarity with him. The Somali Media Fraternity also calls on the government to immediately and unconditionally release him. We also call on the authorities to immediately launch an investigation into the raid of SJS offices and to ensure the safety and security of all journalists.

*Signed by:

Somalia Mechanism for Safety of Journalists (SMSJ)

Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS)

Federation of Somali Journalists (FESOJ)

Somali Media Association (SOMA)
The NDC Professionals Forum in the United States of America (USA) has issued a release to congratulate former President John Dramani Maham for receiving the Global Leadership Award.

The leadership and members of the NDC Professionals Forum  USA extents heartfelt congratulations to H.E. John Dramani Mahama for receiving the honour of a Global Leadership and Economic Impact Award from the Liberty University, Virginia in the United States of America, part of the release from the NDC Professionals has said.

According to the NDC Proforum USA, the latest award and many others in the past stamps their trust in John Dramani Mahama to deliver Ghanaians from the present predicaments facing Ghanaians

The Forum adds that it hopes that the former president would explore his vast international network to court investors and friendly international bodies to be part of the rebuilding of Ghana when he takes over the ruins of the current administration after the 2024 general elections.

..the NDC Proforum believes that Ghana today needs a leader with a heart of compassion for citizens, trust to partner them to co-create solutions for transforming lives together, and ears to listen to ideas and solutions for equity growth and prosperity.

H.E John Mahama nurtures the individual ability to be courageous to remain loyal, faithful, and show integrity. Above all to build the nation with his most treasured people, women, and youth. This is the profound lesson of the transformational reflection that he will continue to offer as a citizen to his nation Ghana, the release signed by President Arnold Appiah reads.

Below is a copy of the release:

For Immediate Release

NDC PROFORUM USA CONGRATULATES H.E JOHN MAHAMA FOR GLOBAL LEADERSHIP AWARD

The leadership and members of the NDC Professionals Forum  USA extents heartfelt congratulations to H.E. John Dramani Mahama for receiving the honour of a Global Leadership and Economic Impact Award from the Liberty University, Virginia in the United States of America.

This award and many others in the past stamps our trust in Mr. John Mahama to deliver Ghanaians from our present predicaments in 2024. It is our hope that he would explore his vast international network to court investors and friendly international bodies to be part of the rebuilding of Ghana when he takes over the ruins of the current administration.

Ghanaians in the diaspora are aware and feel the current hardships brought to our families, friends, loved ones and the masses in general. The government seems not to have a clue and therefore no clear cut programs instituted to address the economic problems.

Families cannot afford two (2) square meals a day though they are striving hard to put body and soul together. The current hardship creates unrest and insecurity in the country and that the government must own up and be held responsible for the current state of affairs. Despite all the loans, grants and Covid relief funds running into billions of dollars given to the current NPP administration, there is untold hardship.

The Global Leadership and Economic Impact Award to President Mahama clearly stated his governing wisely, advocating and achieving a consistent track record on economic development, womens participation in education, and enhancing economic growth. As a professional organization, the NDC Proforum acknowledges the general world economic situation and its effect on countries. However, we trust in the comeback of H.E John Mahama to evolve smart economic policies and other forms of adjustment to propel Ghana for growth.

As a leader whose fondness have been towards transitions and transformation, the NDC Proforum believes that, Ghana today needs a leader with a heart of compassion for citizens, trust to partner them to co-create solutions for transforming lives together, ears to listen to ideas and solutions for equity growth and prosperity.

H.E John Mahama nurtures the individual ability to be courageous to remain loyal, faithful and show integrity. Above all to build the nation with his most treasured people, women and youth. This is the profound lesson of the transformational reflection that he will continue to offer as a citizen to his nation Ghana.

Signed

Arnold Appiah

President

Phone: +1 805 871 9281
Lawyer for embattled Chinese national Aisha Huang, Captain Nkrabea Effah Dartey (Rtd) has accused the presiding judge handling her clients case, Justice Lydia Osei Marfo of bias.

Attempts by the lawyer to file for Aisha Huangs bail application in court yesterday, October 10, 2022, was thwarted when the judge, Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, stated unequivocally, as follows: my mind has not changed, you can make the application, but I will refuse you.

This, according to Captain Nkrabea Effah Dartey (Rtd), is indicative of a pre-conceived mind, and described the judges posture as unfortunate.

Im surprised that a sitting High Court Judge can say that My mind has not yet changed. And, You can make application, and Ill dismiss it. I dont think its proper, the lawyer said.

I would have thought that the sitting judge would have had an open mind, receive the application, evaluate it on its merit and even dismiss it, if shes so minded, Mr Effah Dartey continued.

But, to say openly that My mind has not changed, creates an impression that she has a pre-conceived idea about the case, which is not the best for a sitting judge, he lamented.

The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, on Monday, October 10, 2022, told the Accra High Court presided over by Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, that the State will file eight witness statements in the trial of galamsey kingpin Aisha Huang.

According to the Attorney General, he initially filed four witness statements, but the state will withdraw same and file a fresh set of eight witness statements.

Mr. Dame subsequently prayed the court to adjourn sitting to allow his office, the needed time and space to file the documents as suggested.

The judge upheld his plea and adjourned hearing to October, 24th, 2022, to allow the state file the required documents.

Aisha Huang and three others are accused of engaging in illegal mining and the sale of minerals without license.
Behind their homes is an oil pipeline and above them are high-voltage cables suspended between pylons. A little further off is a flare tower, burning off excess gas 24 hours a day.

Yet these potent symbols of Congo's oil and gas bonanza mean little to the villagers who live in their shadow.

When darkness falls, they have to fire up a generator or light lamps. None of their homes has mains electricity.

"I'm 68 years old and I live in darkness," said Florent Makosso, seated beneath a giant banana tree.

"My parents and grandparents had a better quality of life when it (Congo) was French Equatorial Africa."

Makosso lives in Tchicanou, a small village 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Pointe-Noire -- the energy hub of the Republic of Congo, also called Congo-Brazzaville.

The former French colony gained independence in 1958 and became a major oil producer some two decades later.

It notched up sales last year averaging 344,000 barrels a day, making it the third biggest exporter south of the Sahara after Angola and Nigeria.

The country is sitting on 100 billion cubic metres (3,500 billion cubic feet) of natural gas -- more than the entire annual consumption of Germany, the world's fourth-largest economy.

Marginalised

But little of this wealth has translated into prosperity for the country's 5.5 million people -- around half live in extreme poverty, according to World Bank figures.

Tchicanou is emblematic of a community that suffers the downsides of fossil fuels but gets few of its benefits.

Surrounded by fruit trees, the village of 700 souls straddles Highway 1, the lifeline between the Atlantic port of Pointe-Noire and the capital Brazzaville.

Tchicanou and the neighbouring village Bondi host pipelines and pylons for carrying oil products and electricity.

But they find themselves in the same situation as communities in the remotest parts of the country -- they are still not hooked up to the national grid.

The village has no streetlights, and the biggest source of illumination comes from the flare tower at a nearby 487-megawatt gas-fired power plant, the country's largest.

"It's an ordeal living here," said Makosso.

"We have to buy generators, which are expensive, and running them is a challenge in itself."

Without power, "television and the other electrical appliances are just decoration," he said, pointing to the simple challenge of keeping food refrigerated.

A fellow resident, Flodem Tchicaya, said Tchicanou "is in a good location. But the only use of the gas that they burn here is to cause pollution and make us sick."

Inequality

Roger Dimina, 57, said that access to electricity in Congo was "unfair."

"Instead of it starting at the bottom and heading to the top, it starts at the top and the bottom has nothing," he said.

The Republic of Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville. By Aude GENET (AFP)

Across Congo, electrification in urban areas reaches less than 40 percent of homes, while in rural zones, it is less than one home in 10.

In a recent interview in the Depeches de Brazzaville, the capital's sole daily newspaper, Energy Minister Emile Ouosso said the goal was to reach 50 percent by 2030.

A group close to the Catholic church, the Justice and Peace Commission, has been running an "electricity for all" campaign, focussing especially on villages in the orbit of Pointe-Noire.

The group's deputy coordinator, Brice Makosso, said the government has declared a budget surplus of 700 billion CFA francs (more than a billion dollars) for 2022.

Just a small amount of this could hook villages up to the grid, he said, pointing to duties that oil companies in the area paid to the government.
France's Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has requisitioned staff at some petrol depots as it battles to secure petrol supplies following weeks of strikes. The move puts it on a collision course with the hardline CGT union as social tensions rise.

The government on Tuesday demanded an unblocking "without delay" of fuel depots, and threatened to "intervene", but strikers have renewed the movement, both at TotalEnergies and the Esso-ExxonMobil group".

"Social dialogue means moving forward, as soon as a majority has been reached," Borne told the National Assembly.

"These are not minimum agreements. [...] I have therefore asked the police chiefs to initiate, as permitted by law, the procedure for requisitioning the staff essential to the operation of the company's depots."

Esso has three depots in France, one in Toulouse (Haute-Garonne), which is not affected by the strike, in Fos-sur-Mer (Bouches-du-Rhone) and Notre-Dame-de-Gravenchon (Seine-Maritime).

The latter two depots, which are close to the company's two French refineries affected by strike action, are the ones concerned by the requisition.

Union won't back down

In the event of requisitioning, "we will go to court to have them annulled", said CGT union coordinator Eric Sellini, while the Esso-ExxonMobil CGT denounced "an attack on the right to strike".

Commenting on the situation at TotalEnergies, the other oil group also affected by strike action, Borne urged management and unions to engage in wage negotiations, threatening to do the same to "unblock the situation".

"It is important to know how to end a strike once satisfaction has been obtained," said Borne, questioned by leftwing LFI (France Unbowed) MP Mathilde Panot who asked her to "stop (the) anti-strike propaganda because the blockade is you" and to tax "super-profits".

The Prime Minister replied that she "shares this concern" about "windfall profits in certain sectors", referring to the government's proposals in the draft budget "for companies in the fossil fuel sector".

(with wires)
A Lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS), Professor Lord Mensah has said the time has come for the government to tell the people of Ghana that not all the initiatives that were promised can be delivered given the current economic conditions.

In his view, the challenges facing the economy make it impossible for the government to fulfil all its promises.

This is the time to tell the people that you promised them 111 hospitals and you can't deliver all, he said on the New Day show on TV3 Wednesday, October 12.

The Dean of the Business School at the University of Cape Coast, Professor John Gatsi called for the establishment of a long national development plan for the country.

In his view, the country lacks such a plan hence the development challenges facing the country.

Prof Gasti indicated that the current challenges facing the country are the result of leadership problems.

The point is about an inclusive long term national development plan. That is what we have failed to appreciate, he said on the same show.

Another Economist who also spoke on the same show, Dr Badu Sakordie indicated that this is the time President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has to take bold decisions because he has nothing to lose.

Now is the time that they should show leadership, they showed it during covid time and we appreciated it. They should engage stakeholders, GUTA and others, sit with them and

He added We must have a plan and execute the plan. we need a selfless leader to do that and I believe President Akufo-Addo can do that.

He can do it, this is the time to do it, this is the time to take some of the bold decisions because he has nothing to lose.

Regarding the ongoing engagement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) he said Ghana needs support from the Fund but beyond that, the country needs to undertake reforms.

We need the IMF programme. Beyond that we must be serious as a country, reform our policies, he said.

-3news.com
The Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, responsible for Lands and Forestry, Benito Owusu-Bio, has sounded a warning to illegal miners to stay off forest reserves as he stressed that regardless of positions, they will be driven out and sanctioned.

"No matter who you are, we don't care, if you enter the forest reserves we will drive you out and sanction you as well," he said.

He intimated that the forest reserves are not for mining but was quick to add that unless for exceptional cases like that of Chirano mines and Newmont who have been granted legal licences to operate "but that doesn't mean that anyone can just jump into the forest to mine and if we find you like that, we will deal with you".

The Deputy Minister said this when he paid a working visit to Tano Nimiri Forest Reserve to ascertain the veracity of news of Akonta Mining Company still operating in the forest even after the directive by the Lands Minister to the Forestry Commission to halt the company's operations in the forest through a press release on 30th September, 2022.

It will be recalled that the Ministrys Press statement pointed out that "while Akonta Mining Limited has a mining lease to undertake mining operations in some parts of Somreboi, outside the Forest Reserve, the company has no mineral rights to undertake mining operations in the Tano Nimiri Forest Reserve.

After an aerial view of the entire forest, Mr Owusu-Bio and his team spotted about three site in the forests with some equipment but no operations and immediately charged the forestry officers to burn and decommission everything on the site upon arrival.

The team also discovered a different group of illegal miners, working along the banks and edges of the river and a few in the forest. Per the map guiding that aerial view 98% of the miners were outside the restricted area, which are the banks and edges while the remaining 2% worked in the Forest reserves itself. It could, however, not be determined which mining company these miners belong to.

Addressing the issue of this new group of illegal miners found mining on the river he said "these are not small scale miners, these are obviously people who are just burnt on destroying our forests, waterbodies and the entire environment but I cannot tell whether that is Akonta or any other company because this is not organised so I can say it's purely illegal mining that is going on there!"

He assured the media that as a matter of urgency, the Ministry will unleash Operations halt II to the area who with speed boats and the right equipment will bring a halt to all activities ongoing in the river. "With what we have seen here, I will report to the Minister and we would immediately see how we can strategize and bring the operations halt with the speed boats recently procured to chase them out".

He also noted that together with the Forestry Commission and Samartex, a timber company in the enclave, they will soon beef up the number of forest guards who patrol the 300sq kilometer forest with support from the military.

The Deputy Lands Minister warned that with the help of the military, the Ministry and the Forestry Commission will embark on similar operations in all forest reserves across the country to ensure they rid all forests of illegalities of any sort.

"This will not stop here, we know this is not the only forest reserves under attack and so we will continue to ensure all forest with any illegal activity is brought under scrutiny," he added.

Mr Owusu-Bio called on the community members and traditional leaders of the Amenfi West Municipality of the Western Region to join in the fight against illegal mining for their own sake and for the betterment of the environment and the country.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Forestry Commission, Mr. John Allotey for his part gave details to the extent of the devastation saying out of a total area of 205sq kilometer, close to about 0.12sq kilometer of the Tano Nimiri Forest Reserve has been impacted by the illegal activities.

He noted that since August when the Commission started having the challenge of groups trooping into the forest to mine, the Commission have sent out the military to the area about eight times all in efforts to keep them out of the forest.

He assured that heeding to the directives of the Minister, the Commission is committed to ensuring that all those found culpable in this matter will be dealt with in accordance with the law.

Source: Classfmonline.com
The newly-renovated Ghana Embassy building in Paris has been inaugurated by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

It is located in the prime area of the 16th Arrondissement of Paris.

The Paris Mission has a unique address, located in the famous Villa Said.

The villa is named after Mohamed Said Pasha, a former Prime Minister of Egypt.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, Madam Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration congratulated President Akufo-Addo on the prestigious award of Doctor Honoris Causa conferred on him by the reputable Sorbonne University.

Mr President, your service and sacrifices to the nation and humanity will always be recognised and your example should spur us all on to do more for God and country, she said.

She thanked the President for his commitment and support ensuring that the Paris Mission was well-housed and in the best of conditions.

You insisted that we included Paris in the list of Ghana's Diplomatic Missions to benefit from the Societe Generale Bank credit facility acquired to purchase, construct, reconstruct and/or renovate Ghana Missions abroad, Madam Ayorkor Botchwey stated.

The Minister also congratulated Madam Anna Bossman, Ghanas Ambassador to France, for her spirit of importunity and determination that had seen the successful completion of the project.

Madam Ayorkor Botchwey said the President was right that the Paris Mission was significant and touched all aspects of diplomacy  bilateral, multilateral and economic diplomacy  in all its forms and expressions in the prosecution of Ghana's foreign policy agenda.

She said France was one of the first countries with, which Ghana established diplomatic relations immediately following its independence in 1957.

Our long-standing relations with France have since grown and blossomed into fruitful and mutually beneficial cooperation, in many aspects of our national development to the mutual benefit of our peoples, the Minister said.

To the Ghanaian community, this is your home.

She said the renovation meant the Government of Ghana was sending a strong message of the importance it attached to the interests of its citizens, which was the priority of diplomacy.

The Minister said the beautifully fitted consular section should complement the high-quality services it would provide for the publics satisfaction.

She urged the public to enjoy the facility and cooperate with the officers, who were ever ready to assist them in all that they needed; saying: Let us keep the flag of Ghana high. 

The Minister expressed gratitude to the staff of the Paris Mission for their dedication and hard work.

Our success requires that we meet the high expectations of our citizens and others who demand our services. Let us go over and above the call of duty, for the sake of our country, she said.

GNA
The New Juaben North Municipal Assembly and the Member of Parliament, Nana Adjei Boateng have made available some relief items to be distributed to victims of the heavy rainstorm on Sunday, October 2, 2022.

The relief items include bags of rice, soaps, mosquito coils, sardines, rubber bowls, blankets, plastic buckets, mosquito nets, cups, plastic plates and second hand clothes.

The MP

Presenting the items to the Assembly Members of the affected communities, the lawmaker for the New Juaben North Constituency, Hon. Nana Adjei Boateng urged Assembly members to evenly distribute the materials to affected persons.

He advised the citizenry to prevent flood by constructing buildings in appropriate areas and desist from putting up structures anyhow without a permit from authorities.

The MP stressed that the heavy rains Ghana is experiencing in recent times have generally had a negative impact on livelihood as many areas are flooded with properties also being destroyed.

"We know that the relief items will not take the victims to their normal life but it is purposely to relieve them from their current hard situations," the MP said.

He also called on traditional leaders, journalists, institutions, Assembly members and other relevant stakeholders to join the effort by President Akufo Addo to combat galamsey in various areas to end floods in the country.

The MCE

The Municipal Chief Executive for the area, Hon Comfort Asante on her part sympathised with all the victims who were affected by the downpour and the family of the deceased.

She disclosed that the Assembly is working hard with the Education Directorate to reopen schools which were closed as a result of the flood.

Appreciation

Also, Assembly Members expressed gratitude to the lawmaker and Assembly for assisting the electorates who are in such a difficult situation and promised to share the relief items accordingly with the affected people in the various communities.

Background

The MCE in a press conference last week disclosed that 203 households made up of 2,686 persons were displaced due to a heavy downpour on Sunday, October 2, 2022, resulting in the death of one person at Asokore Zongo.
12.10.2022 LISTEN

A popular Kumasi-based Journalist, Andrews Korankye Akuoko, affectionately called Captain Koda says the decision by the immediate past NPP National Chairman Frederick Worsemao Armah Blay to defend four accomplices of galamsey kingpin Aisha Huang in court is very strange.

According to Captain Koda, who is the host of OTEC FMS breakfast show dubbed Nyansapo, its only the acts of sheer greediness on the part of Mr. Freddie Blay who had benefited tremendously from the ruling NPP administration defeats his own party governments commitment to fighting galamsey.

"Already some government officials including Ashanti Region Chairman of the Party, Mr Bernard Antwi Boasiako, aka Chairman Wontumi have already been accused of engaging in illegal mining with Aisha Huang and her four accomplices. Hence, for a staunch member of the party in government to defend the accused persons, it sends a wrong signal about governments commitment to end the menace," furious Captain Koda stated.

Expressing his disappointment on Wednesday, October 12, 2022, the journalist noted, If Aisha Huang and her four accomplices are acquitted and discharged, then people will be making their deductions and may describe the trial as cover-up.

"It was revealed in court on Tuesday during proceedings regarding Aisha Huangs case that the Former Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, Freddie Blay will represent the four suspects.

"Gao Jin Cheng, Lu Qi Jun, Haibin Go and Zhang Zhipeng together with the galamsey queen, Aisha Huang are being held by the state for their involvement in illegal mining in the country.

What I am saying is Freddie Blay is very astute lawyer, very competent lawyer but he must think about morality first but not money because he has enjoyed so much in this NPP government, more so, President Akufo-Addo is his best friend so he should allow his conscience to guide him and for him to desist from greedy acts providing those services because it goes against their partys principles, he noted.

Meanwhile, Aisha Huang is being represented by NPP stalwart, a former Member of Parliament and also Deputy Minister of Interior, Nkrabea Effah Dartey.
MANZINI - The Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) says the lowly-ranked officers do not transact with orders when buying food and other items.

Secretary General (SG) of TUCOSWA Mduduzi Gina said the federation noted with interest the issues that had resulted in junior police officers and His Majestys Correctional Services personnel delivering a petition to the Office of the Prime Minister, Cleopas Sipho Dlamini. He said as a principle position of the federation, they remained in complete support and solidarity with the workers in these two institutions. Gina said the police and the Correctional officers were part of the broad working class and their work-related concerns remained the concern of TUCOSWA, like any other worker.

Gina said they noted that in their (junior police and Correctional officers) petitions, they pointed out some inconsistencies in the pronouncements by the Minister of Public Service, Mabulala Maseko and that of the Minister of Finance, Neal Rijkenberg. He said they were calling upon government to amicably sit down all the workers in the public sector, in all their sectoral groupings and agree to award them fairly for the services they were rendering.

Orders

They must be listened to whenever a grievance arises. They dont eat orders, as their superiors issue those (orders) for the juniors to execute. He said lowly-ranked officers should also be considered for their human nature and their needs. Gina said there was nothing out of the ordinary about having a protest by the State security forces. He said they were workers and had rights and those rights must be respected by their employer. Gina said the police and Correctional Services workers were part of the broad working class. He stated that the junior officers distress remained the concern of the federation, like any other worker. He said they had noted that in their concerns, the junior officers had pointed out some inconsistencies in the pronouncements by the Minister of Public Service and that of Finance. We have always been briefed by our public sector unions about the negativity by which the minister of Public Service handled matters of terms and conditions of public sector workers. He called upon government to amicably sit down with all workers in the public sector.
Former Ghana President, John Dramani Mahama has called for an enabling environment that will promote the development of talents.

According to the leading member of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), it is important that the youth are equipped with the necessary tools and skills needed to thrive in the fast-changing globalised world.

"We must collectively work to create an enabling environment for the optimal development of the talents of the youth; equip them with the tools and skills they need to thrive in this fast-changing globalised world, and to encourage them to take an active role in the governance of their countries, the former Ghana President said during an engagement in Lynchburg, VA, United States

He further admonished state institutions in African countries and developing countries to deliver their mandate in the spirit of fairness and justice.

The issues and challenges of conflict, unemployment, gender, corruption, education, health, poverty, hunger in Africa and many developing countries is well-documented.

What is relatively less discussed is the capacity of the institutions we have established and mandated to ensure that government fulfils its social contract to the people in the spirit of fairness, justice, inclusiveness, and absolute accountability, John Dramani Mahama said.

While away in the United States of America, the 2020 presidential candidate of the NDC has been honoured with the Global Leadership Award.
An Economist at the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS), Dr Badu Sakordie has asked President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to show leadership in dealing with the current economic challenges.

He indicated that the President has the ability to do that because he demonstrated the same zeal when Covid was confirmed in Ghana.

Speaking on the New Day show on TV3 Wednesday October 12, Dr Adu Sarkodie said Now is the time that they should show leadership, they showed it during covid time and we appreciated it. They should engage stakeholders, GUTA and others, sit with them.

He added We must have a plan and execute the plan. We need a selfless leader to do that and I believe President Akufo-Addo can do that.

He can do it, this is the time to do it, this is the time to take some of the bold decisions because he has nothing to lose.

Regarding the ongoing engagement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), he said Ghana needs support from the Fund but beyond that, the country needs to undertake reforms.

We need the IMF programme. Beyond that we must be serious as a country, reform our policies, he said.

The Dean of the Business School at the University of Cape Coast, Professor John Gatsi called for the establishment of a long term national development plan for the country.

In his view, the country lacks such a plan hence the development challenges.

Speaking on the same show Prof Gasti indicated that the current challenges facing the country are the results of leadership problems.

The point is about an inclusive long term national development plan. That is what we have failed to appreciate, he said.

-3news.com
An Economist at the University of Ghana Business School, Dr. Badu Sarkodie has expressed optimism in the abilities of President Nana Addo Dankwa AKufo-Addo to turn around the economic fortunes of the country.

In recent months, the state of the Ghanaian economy has deteriorated with several downgrades from various rating agencies.

The poor performance of the Ghanaian economy has been evident as the citizenry continues to suffer escalating prices of goods and services.

While some people call on President Akufo-Addo to resign, Dr. Badu Sarkodie believe the President can turn things around for the good of the country.

According to him, the President excelled during the Covid-19 pandemic and can show leadership once again to address current challenges.

Now is the time that they should show leadership, they showed it during Covid time and we appreciated it. They should engage stakeholders, GUTA, and others, sit with them.

We must have a plan and execute the plan. We need a selfless leader to do that and I believe President Akufo-Addo can do that, the Economist told TV3 during an interview on the New Day programme on Wednesday.

Dr. Badu Sarkodie further urged President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to take bold decisions without fear or favour.

In his view, the President who is serving his last term of office has nothing to lose and must not shy away from taking such decisions.

He can do it, this is the time to do it, this is the time to take some of the bold decisions because he has nothing to lose, Dr. Badu Sarkodie added.
IT IS trite knowledge that diseases and sicknesses are consequentially an integral part of our daily lives.

No matter how well we take good care of ourselves, we can never escape the scathing sword of sicknesses and diseases.

Indeed, diseases and sicknesses are no respecter of persons.

Diseases have no regard for gender, creed, race, ethnicity, religion, politics, or social standing.

For many of us, when the unfortunate happens and we fall sick or are bogged down by an ailment, our first point of call is a health facility.

Health facilities are ordinarily expected to be places of solace, tranquility, and healing.

Unfortunately, that is not the case. The work being done by some of both public and private health facilities across the length and breadth of this country leaves much to be desired.

I have had an excruciatingly unpleasant experience of losing two close relatives in recent times, one in February at a public facility and the other in August at a private facility.

This got me thinking deeply about how our very lives are virtually in the hands of health workers and how well they handle it determines our fate.

Quite often, we read in both mainstream and social media about the poor services rendered by some hospitals in the country.

And until you become a victim, you might not appreciate or fully grasp the gravity of the sad reality in a lot of our health facilities.

Some of our compatriots who have been at the receiving end of these poor services mostly complain about rude, uncaring, and unfriendly medical staff and how their negligence wreaks havoc on innocent patients.

Others also complain bitterly about substandard medical facilities as well as medical staff whose handling of patients begs the question of whether they are duly trained and certificated medical professionals or not!

The actions and inaction of medical staff in our medical facilities are partly to blame for the high mortality rates being recorded across the country.

The administration of wrong medications, wrong dosages and application rates as well as wrong surgical procedures, have killed and maimed too many of our people and we should all be concerned since we are all at risk of dying needlessly, from substandard medical facilities and incompetent medical staff.

Why on earth should one visit a health facility in times of sickness without returning home hale and hearty?

For me, the number of deaths being recorded in some of our health facilities in recent times is way too many and this calls for an urgent probe into the activities of our health facilities.

For instance, on February 18, this year a 40-year-old male relative of mine was suddenly taken ill and was admitted at a public health facility, and in less than 1

Around 11 pm a particular drug was administered to the patient whose breathing was being supported by oxygen only for his breathing to sharply and irregularly rise and fall and in less than a minute after that drug was administered, he was already gone and the usual we are sorry bla bla bla was re-echoed quite painfully.

As if that was not enough, just last month, my 44-year-old big sister walked into a private facility somewhere in Kumasi for a myomectomy (Fibroid surgery).

She was not 'sick', she was hale and hearty. The surgical process, I am told, was successfully done on Sunday only for her health to deteriorate afterward, and by Thursday, she was also gone painfully just like that.

In both of these scenarios from a layman's point of view, I could draw conclusions of ineptitude, coupled with negligence and of course lack of respect and responsibility for human lives, as the common risk factor that played out.

It is, therefore, not surprising to know that people travel outside the country just to access good quality medical care which involves huge sums of money.

But, the question is what about the masses who do not have the wherewithal to access quality health care outside the country?

Should we continue to die needlessly like some experimental guinea pigs?

What are we doing as a people to also create a congenial medical atmosphere for the good people of this country so we stop dying like chickens?

Most medical professionals have no sense of responsibility for human lives.

They kill patients needlessly in our medical facilities through their actions and inactions ostensibly, because they are sure to get away with it!

I believe that naming and shaming medical personnel and facilities who are negligent in the discharge of their duties as well as imposing stringent and punitive sanctions on culprits will go a long way to sanitise the system for better healthcare delivery.

As it stands now, fighting one's way through the justice delivery in case of medical negligence is an uphill task.

Special courts should be designated to handle cases of medical negligence and infractions for victims and their families to be able to seek redress.

To this end, I will like to urge the Ghana Health Service (GHS) which has the supervisory and regulatory authority over all health facilities in the country to intensify supervision, monitoring, and evaluation of all health facilities in the country and deal drastically with non-performing facilities.

The Ghana Medical Association (GMA), the Ghana Medical and Dental Council, Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) and all other professional bodies within Ghana's healthcare space should admonish their members to ensure the highest standards of ethics and professionalism for the betterment of healthcare.

It is my view that these professional bodies should endeavour to crack the whip and withdraw the license of members who breach their code of conduct and ethics.

I would like to urge the government to work hard to ensure our medical infrastructure are up to scratch whether in urban or rural areas for an efficient health administration system.

Also, government must work hard to ensure a proper and well-functioning and above all a sustainable National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to save more lives especially in low-income groups.

Remember, this is about human lives and we need to do everything within our power to make NHIS one of the best if not the best in the sub-region.

Again, government should ensure the availability of basic drugs in our health facilities.

It is sad to visit some facilities like Community Health and Planning Services (CHPS) compounds, health centers, clinics and even hospitals only to be given a prescription to buy your drugs from outside the facility.

Indeed, this situation makes a mockery of the emergency services being delivered by these facilities. What is the usefulness of the emergency unit of any medical facility without basic drugs to respond to cases?

The issue of fake drugs purchased by our central medical stores and supplied to health facilities especially, public health facilities, should also be looked at for the betterment of our health administration system.

The No Bed syndrome in our health facilities continues to be a blot on our collective conscience as a people and there should be a deliberate and well-calculated plan in place to ensure that going forward the No Bed syndrome would be a thing of the past.

Never again should any patient visit any facility and sleep on the floor, on a bench, or in a plastic chair. We have come too far as a nation to allow such avoidable and disgraceful incidents to be part of the narrative. Let us all tell ourselves Never Again!

Let me quickly add that there are some medical facilities and medical staff who are doing a great job and doing their best to save lives and we doff our hearts to them for saving lives to the best of their abilities.

Kudos to all those who are holding high the flag of the medical profession and placing our country on a pedestal despite the challenges.

We are grateful for the great job you guys are doing.

Let us all put our hands to the wheel and make our country a better place to live in.

God bless our homeland Ghana, and make her great and strong!

BY Felix Kwame Quainoo
North Tongu MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa

12.10.2022 LISTEN

Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has said he is not surprised former NPP Chairman Freddie Blay is the new lawyer for the accomplices of Aisha Huang.

On Tuesday, October 11, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame was in Court for the case of Chinese national, Aisha Huang who is accused of illegal mining (galamsey).

At the Accra High Court, it was communicated to the judge that Freddie Blay will now be the representative for the three other accomplices standing trial for illegal mining and trading of minerals without a license.

Reacting to the latest development, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa says it is an indication that the NPP government has a special interest in the Aisha Huang case.

According to him, the NPP government is concerned about managing sensitive information and containing the spread of dangerous secrets about the Aisha Huang debacle.

This government must really have such a special interest in the Aisha Huang affair that it always schemes under bizarre, nefarious, unpatriotic and destructive circumstances to ensure that only a certain calibre of trusted and preferred lawyers associate closely with the Aisha Huang case, Ablakwa has shared in a post on Facebook.

The North Tongu MP added, Instructively, it is clear to me government is more concerned about managing sensitive information and containing the spread of dangerous secrets about the Aisha Huang debacle even more than the damage negative public perception about an immediate past NPP Chairman defending Aisha Huangs accomplices can do to its already sordid image.

He is confident that the real judgment day is coming when trickery, political chicanery, and galamsey shenanigans will be exposed and totally defeated.
A: Introduction

A few weeks ago, I asked our office manager, Lebene, to do some research work for me. When she finished and presented her report, we had some discussions on it. In the course of our conversation, she intimated that whiles working on the assignment, she came across some interesting statistics online. She said she found out that the most popular query on Google relating to law in Ghana was private practice versus in- house. I found the information interesting and later in the day, I was wondering to myself what kind of answers such a query will elicit online. As it turned out, not much. Considering that the call to the Bar is almost upon us, and many of our fresh lawyers may be making the same enquiries on Lady Google, we decided to dedicate this special edition of The Okyerema to shed some light on the subject. It is our hope that our readers will find it helpful.

B: To practice or not to practice; that is the headache

For those who are about to be called to the Bar, the lifetime dream of becoming a lawyer is almost a reality now. There are those who knew from the time they were en ventre sa mere1 that they wanted to be lawyers. Some may even swear that their village legend has it that when they were born, strands of lawyers wig were found in their hair, signifying that their entry into the learned and noble profession had been ordained by the Omnipotent One himself. And there are those who have to become lawyers, not for purposes of their own self-actualisation but mainly to placate their parents whose own dream of becoming lawyers were cut short by their abysmal results at the much-missed GCE O and A Levels. Then there are those of us who veered into law because the Liberal Arts proved to be a more tolerable endeavour.

I recall when I was in Form 4 at St. Monicas Secondary School (Munche for life!), my late father visited me in school on one of his trips from the UK where he lived. After exchanging greetings, he excitedly asked about the subjects I was reading for my GCE O Levels. I also gleefully started blurting them out with all my might: I am studying English, Maths, General Science, Literature-in-English, History, Geography. Without wasting any more of his precious time to listen to whatever rubbish of other subjects I was studying, he cut in swiftly thus: Oh! Why didnt you choose Science subjects? For what seemed like a lifetime, I was dazed. Too many queries were forming in my head: What, in my ancestors name, is this man talking about? Does he know how much I struggled to grasp his beloved Science subjects? At least, Biology was fun; the reproductive system was there to lighten things up a bit and get our youthful imagination running wild. But Chemistry and Physics! In fact, I could only recite a couple of the chemical names of the elements only because I used the poetic sing-song version: Hi Hey Little Betty Brown Can Never Open Fanta Neither. Or words to that effect. Till date, I remember this poem but not the actual scientific names I was obligated to chew and pour when the time was right. Mathematics was none the more charitable to me. Sine, cosine and tangent - the three little devils. And the horrible ancient log book that one had to pretend to admire and understand. I was, and still am, truly convinced that some of my mates who did Science, such as my very own brilliant sisterhood  Gertrude Acquah-Hagan (Getty) a medical doctor, and Francisca Kagya-Agyemang (Fransey, I walk alone) an architect - understood Maths better than the Maths teachers the school foisted on us, the poor Arts students.

It is to Franseys eternal credit that, on my request, she generously took me through the Maths topics in two days! That ensured I passed O Level Maths by the skin of my teeth.

And my father wanted  indeed, expected - me to read Science and become a medical doctor like him. Folks, matters didnt end there.

To further press home his point, my father proclaimed in the course of our conversation that Physics was the easiest of all subjects. I nodded in agreement and abandoned the fine gentleman to his reprobate opinion. After all, who was I to challenge a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Ireland? I stuck with my unfancied Arts subjects and Ive lived well to tell my story.

No matter the reasons that brought one into law, as soon as the rigours of law school is over and the call to the Bar is done and dusted, the next dilemma is to decide what to do with ones life in the profession. All of a sudden, the lofty ideas about how one was going to use the law to change the world resolve themselves into one big debate: should I go into private law practice or seek employment as an in-house lawyer in a company? Torn between the thrills and treats of private law practice and the peace and pace of corporate life, the debate is not an easy one to settle.

C: Bursting the Myths

The debate between private law practice and in-house lawyers work is one that many lawyers have had to settle one way or the other in their legal journey. Many have ultimately taken a decision to take one or the other or neither of the two. There are many myths surrounding the debate. Lets look at a few of them.

Private law practice: Should I take a plunge?

There is the general perception that private law practice is difficult. Preparing to go to court to handle cases is no walk in the park. If, on any given day, you happen to appear before a Judge who woke up from the wrong side of their bed, you are done for. Handling clients and their varying emotions, temperaments and expectations is never taught in law school. One cannot have regular working hours like normal human beings do. If you are a female, being a lawyer in private practice will kill your chances of hopping into holy matrimony with your JHS sweetheart, Little Kofi or Colonel Pompidou you recently met on match.com. It can cause a state of atrophy in ones ovaries and deprive her of her destiny and mission to fulfil the noble and benign offices of wife and mother2.The myths go on and on.

If these myths were true, why will anyone, male or female, be a private practitioner?

In house or corporate lawyer: Is it easier?

There is another perception that working as a lawyer for a company, bank, university or any other institution is much easier. There are set times for work; typically, the proverbial 9 to 5. One is assured of consistent and regular income. Since the client is a company, there are no individual human clients to vex one with their conundrums. There is enough time to spend with family and friends and funerals. One is assured of SSNIT pension on retirement. And something from Tier 2 fund manager, too. If your employer is the traditional type, you will never go to court to handle a case. You can refer all cases to the companys external lawyers to worry about so you can sleep soundly at night. If you are smart, you can even get a cut on the legal fees on cases you refer to the external lawyers.

If these were not myths, I bet everyone will be an in- house lawyer.

D: Fifty shades of lawyers

So, what should I do as a fresh or young lawyer about to enter the noblest of all professions? I can imagine any young reader putting this question to me since I have not provided a straightforward, choose-one-and-not-the-other answer.

The reality is that, the best answer to the debate question - private practice versus in-house  can only be provided by you, the lawyer, and no one else. The reason is simply this: we are all different. We have different personalities, interests, aspirations, work ethics, expectations in life, personal and familial obligations, etc. Whiles some people have lived all their lives as lawyers in private practice, others get the chill just by the mere thought of doing so. Speaking for myself, apart from my one year National Service at CHRAJ3 (which I did alongside my pupillage at Hencil Chambers) and one years work with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering & Medicine4, I have been in private law practice for 24 years now. I once toyed with the idea of getting some public sector experience. After attending two interviews at Ghana Stock Exchange and Tema Oil Refinery in the early 2000s, I didnt need anyone to tell me to stop the foolishness and concentrate on my private practice. And I am very happy I did.

In the same vein, I know many lawyers who spent their entire careers as in-house lawyers till their retirement, with honours. They worked in institutions such as banks, insurance companies, Government ministries/departments/agencies, manufacturing companies, private companies, etc. There are many more lawyers who still work happily in these institutions. By all accounts, they enjoy what they do and they are happy.

So, as stated earlier, the choice of picking one (private practice versus in-house) over the other is personal. Once the choice made is personal, no matter what myths have been churned out about it  whether positively or negatively  one is most likely to enjoy the journey. If you get bored, you can always change over. In any event, there are so many other things one can do with law apart from the private practice versus in-house dichotomy. Teaching is a veritable alternative; there are about 14 institutions offering law courses in Ghana, to the best of my information. Joining the foreign service or other international organization is fine. The Attorney-Generals Department is an awesome place. The most important thing is to enter the profession with an open mind and follow your heart. Doing pupillage in a private law firm, a companys legal department, the Attorney-Generals Department, a Government ministry/department or agency is fine so far as you put in your maximum effort. It will help shape your interests and direct you as to where your strengths and best interests lie in the profession.

E: Conclusion

One major difficulty for a new lawyer is to decide whether to go into private practice or to work as an in-house lawyer. We usually search for answers from those already working as lawyers or we search online, in case a genie has dropped the magic answer on Lady Google. Unfortunately, the avenue for finding the answer to that question does not lie outside the new lawyer. The answer lies with him or her. It is for each one to start the journey in any sphere we prefer; private practice or in-house. With diligence, hard work and focus, one will know where their interest and strengths lie and pursue that course. Enjoy the journey.

Footnotes

1.) French expression meaning in the mothers womb

2.) See the opinion of Justice Bradley of the US Supreme Court in the old case of Bradwell v Illinois 83 U.S. (16 Wall.) 130, L.Ed. 442 (1872). In that case, Myra Bradwell, a woman, applied for a license to practice as a lawyer in Illinois. She was refused. She appealed to the U.S Supreme Court and she lost the case. The Courts reason was that, a married woman was incompetent to fully perform the duties and trusts that belong to the offices of an attorney and counsellor. Justice Bradley said: The paramount destiny and mission of women are to fulfil the noble and benign offices of wife and mother. This is the law of the Creator. As U.S. Supreme Court judges held such obnoxious views about women in the latter part of the 19th Century, Nana Yaa Asantewaa was leading men to war in the Gold Coast against the might of the British Imperial Army.

3.) Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, Head Office, Accra

4.) Washington, DC, United States
Chadian leader Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno's plans to stay in power beyond his initially-promised deadline have stirred anger at home and embarrassment for his backers abroad.

The 38-year-old five-star general took the helm in April 2021 after his father, Idriss Deby Itno, Chad's iron-fisted ruler for three decades, was killed during an operation against rebels.

The junta had originally declared it would restore civilian rule after 18 months in power, and Deby had at first promised he would not take part in the future elections.

It was partly on the strength of these commitments -- but also on Chad's status as an ally fighting jihadism -- that Deby was endorsed by the African Union (AU), European Union (EU) and former colonial power France.

But as the 18-month deadline neared, a nationwide forum staged by Deby chose to reset the clock.

Last weekend it approved a new 24-month timeframe for holding elections, named Deby "transitional president" for the interim and declared he could be a candidate in the poll.

The forum was "tailor-made... to legitimise the monarchical handover of power from father to son," an umbrella group of political figures and groups, including the opposition coalition Wakit Tamma, said in a statement.

It called for "civil disobedience" and "peaceful demonstrations" on October 20.

Among the armed rebels who are a persistent thorn in the government's side, a statement signed by 18 groups warned the regime would be held responsible "for all the consequences arising from its deception."

One of the signatories is the powerful Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT), which triggered the offensive in the northeast last year that ended in the elder Deby's death.

Vexation abroad

A semi-desert country located in the heart of central western Africa, Chad has been chronically unstable since it gained independence from France in 1960.

Foreign displeasure at Deby's push for power was visible at the ceremonies on Monday when he was sworn in as interim president.

Chad. By (AFP)

The AU snubbed the event, while France and the EU were notably represented only by their ambassadors.

Just three weeks earlier, the AU had appealed to the junta not to extend its stay in power beyond 18 months and "unequivocally" warned against any of its members taking part in the future elections.

With the exception of Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, no other African countries sent their heads of state. A handful of important neighbours -- Niger, the Central African Republic and Democratic Republic of Congo -- were represented by their ministers.

The AU and the West African bloc ECOWAS have been fierce critics of the string of coups that have swept the region in the past two years, with takeovers in Guinea, Burkina Faso and Mali as well as Chad.

'Pragmatism'

Enrica Picco of the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank said the junta had been formally dissolved as a result of the forum, which meant Deby's powers would be "widened and extended" as transitional president.

Allies: French President Emmanuel Macron, left, endorsed Mahamat Idriss Deby after last year's takeover in Chad. By Ludovic MARIN (AFP)

He is expected to name a new prime minister and "government of national union" in the next few days. His old premier, political veteran Albert Pahimi Padacke, who had served for 18 months, formally resigned on Tuesday along with his government.

Picco said the choice of the incoming government presented an opportunity for Deby, giving him the chance of building bridges in his divided country.

On the other hand, if the government is "totally closed off to the parties, armed groups and civil society who did not take part in the dialogue, everything is possible -- protests, or armed groups taking up their weapons again resuming attacks," she said.

Roland Marchal, an Africa specialist at the Sciences Po school in Paris, said the international community had been embarrassed by Deby, but -- in contrast with other coups in the region -- would probably not support sanctions against him.

"Pragmatism will prevail and we'll see a return to support for the regime along the lines that have existed since 1990," when the elder Deby took the reins, he predicted.
Mr. Moses Anim, Deputy Minister in Charge of Fishery says the Fisheries Ministry has advanced plans to train players in the fishery sector on alternative livelihood and ways to advance their already existing trade to generate decent wealth.

Mr. Anim who is a Member of Parliament for the Trobu Constituency noted that a Canoe frame survey has also been undertaken as well as face-to-face engagement with some fishermen across the country and assured the players in the fisheries sector that issues confronting stakeholders would soon be tackled by the government.

The Deputy Minister who was speaking at the national dialogue in Tema as monitored by the Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult) explained that the over-capacitated of marine resources has created the environment for violating the laid down procedures in ensuring responsible fishing at the various fishing communities in the country.

As part of the broader measures by the government in collaboration with the Ghana National Canoe Fishermen Council (GNCFC) a national dialogue with artisanal fishermen including some key stakeholders within the Aqua-culture and the marine fishing sector has started.

The Deputy Minister said the national dialogue focus on ensuring responsible fishing along the shores of Ghana including the open access which according to him has over-capacitated the Marine resources.

He said Ghana has upscale measures to ensure responsibly fishing along the countrys coastal areas in particular and the West African coastline in general.

Nana Jojo Solomon, Acting President GNCFC affirmed that some fishermen were seriously violating the fishing rules and regulations adding that some fisherfolks were embarking on Tuesday fishing which was a mandatory fishing holiday a situation he said was affecting the fishing sector.

He noted that the Fishery Ministry was working hard to rebrand the fishery sector stressing that it was the responsibility of the stakeholders to support the ministry to make the industry very attractive for both local and international investors.

The national dialogue was to ensure that policymakers are well informed about the activities of artisanal fisherfolks so as to formulate tailored policies to meet their needs and expectation within the country.

It was also to create a platform for all major stakeholders in the fishing sector across the country to come together to develop strategies for responsibly fishing.

The National Dialogue on artisanal fishing was attended by Fisherfolks from all the landing beaches in Ghana.
The Government of Ghana remains steadfast in its resolve to fastrack negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to strengthen post-covid-19 economic growth.

The Minister for Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, who was speaking at a ceremony on Sunday said the government remain committed to creating a stable and resilient macroeconomic environment, ensuring debt sustainability and maintaining social cohesion.

He commended the IMF for its support and called for the support of all Ghanaians to work together to bolster Ghanas build-back.

The IMF delegation concluded a two-week working visit to Accra after paying a courtesy call on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

They held high-level meetings with Vice President Mahamadu Bawumia, Finance Minister, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta and the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Ernest Addison.

Mr Ofori-Atta said the discussions with the Fund would continue earnestly in the coming weeks, during the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and the IMF, in Washington D.C.
The Alliance For Footsoldiers Advocacy (AFFA) has said it is scandalised and dumbfounded by the decision of the immediate past National Chairman of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Freddie Blay to provide legal representation for some suspected Chinese illegal miners currently standing trial.

AFFA is, therefore, calling on Mr Blay to discontinue his legal services to the Chinese galamseyers.

A statement issued by AFFA on Wednesday, 12 October 2022, noted: Freddie Blays political status vis-a-vis, former National Chairman of the ruling party and Board Chairman of GNPC imposes a tacit obligation of due diligence, moral reflection and principle of public perception on him, considering the level of public interest in the Aisha Huang case.

It further noted that the level of environmental degradation caused by activities of illegal mining, particularly foreign nationals who have no regard for the laws of Ghana on mining cannot be overemphasised.

It, therefore, called on Mr Blay to, as a matter of urgency, cease holding himself as the lawyer for the suspected Chinese illegal miners.

It further called on other lawyers and non-lawyers who identify themselves with the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), to be circumspect with their actions and inactions on the subject of galamsey, in order not to give credence to the perception that elements of government are the main architects behind the menace.

Three Chinese nationals arraigned in connection with the trial involving galamsey queen Aisha Huang, are being represented in court by Mr Blay.

A colleague Ekeleba Blay held brief for him in court on Tuesday, 11 October 2022.

The three were denied bail.

The accused persons have been remanded into the custody of the National Investigation Bureau.

The three are facing charges of engaging in illegal mining activities.

Mr Blay, however, said in a statement that his clients are not galamseyers as has been portrayed by the media.

The statement, issued by Blay & Associates said he is representing four clients: Shi Yang, Shi Meizhi, Le Wei Zuon and one other, who are also standing trial along with Aisha Huang but noted that they were not galamseyers.

The statement said: Our clients operate [a] supermarket business, stock regular goods and some specific Chinese groceries, making them a reliable shop for Chinese and Asian patronage.

Supermarket, no matter how vibrant it is, does not ripen into illegal mining activities, the statement said.

It added: Our clients have no relationship with Aisha Huang, except the fact of purchasing the supermarket from her in 2017, when she was first repatriated to China.

Aisha Huang has no business dealing with our clients upon her return to Ghana. For the avoidance of doubt, Aisha Huang was arrested at a different time and place than our clients who were minding their business at home when they were picked up in the early hours on 14 September 2022.

It appears that our clients are collateral victims of the pursuit for Aisha Huang and the campaign against illegal mining, the statement clarified.

We have no engagement with Gao Jin Sung, Lu Qi Jun, Haibin Go, or Zhang Zhipeng, who are noted to be Aisha Huang associates. We also do not have any engagement with Aisha Huang, the statement insisted.

Source: classfmonline.com
MANZINI  Over 200 police officers flooded the Matsapha Police Academy for a meeting with the National Commissioner (NATCOM) of Police, William Tsitsibala Dlamini.

The police officers, who packed the auditorium within the institutions Faculty of Management, were from all police bases countrywide. There are about 23 police stations, 22 police posts and 12 border posts, as well as one airport security monitoring post. These police posts and police stations are subordinated to the four regional headquarters and there is also a support unit and a police college subordinated to the executive command. The special briefing meeting by the NATCOM was a vusela and meant to encourage police officers to work selflessly while also reminding them of their oath, which is to protect and serve the nation, serve the authorities of the land and ensure peace and safety in the country. It was also to remind police officers to ensure that they respected human rights as they went about their duties. It was also emphasised that police officers should work hand-in-hand with the public as they had information regarding criminal investigation, because deviants resided within their communities.

Misunderstandings

During the meeting, Dlamini was said to have reminded police officers that even if there were misunderstandings within the organisation, these quarrels should not let the law enforcers deviate from their oath of service. The NATCOM reportedly informed the over 200 police officers that they were not like other civil servants who enjoyed the right to engage in industrial action. It was gathered that he said police officers did not engage in strikes or go-slows. Dlamini was said to have emphasised that whatever the law enforcers, were seeking should be sought through respect despite the responses that were being offered. In saying this, it was gathered that the NATCOM emphasised that it would also assist the police to gain public sympathy as it would be seen that in their endeavour, they were respectful and patient. The issue, which has brought an impasse between junior police officers and the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) management  Phase II of the salary restructuring exercise, was also part of the agenda. Dlamini reportedly reminded the law enforcers that the issue of the restructuring exercise began in 2005 and was partially implemented in 2014. It was gathered that he emphasised that there was no malice in the implementation of the exercise. He said this was an old issue and no officer wanted to suppress another and if it came across like that, police officers should have these discussions internally, a source said.

Grievances

The sources said Dlamini emphasised that even if the law enforcers had grievances, they should not be seen protesting and petitioning; but should deal with the issues in the designated structures. The NATCOM reportedly emphasised that there were policies within the REPS which guided how police officers should behave and it should not come to a point that it had to be waived. He said police officers should not be breaking the law and marching in town without a permit to do so. His concern was that who would listen to the police officers if they were the ones breaking the law, a source said.

According to the sources, it was gathered that the NATCOM emphasised that giant leaps had been taken in the Phase II salary restructuring exercise as the Minister of Public Service, Mabulala Maseko, had addressed them in various instances. The sources said the meeting also addressed the issue of some officers who were seemingly deviating from the expected behaviour within the REPS. It was said he emphasised that police officers should be putting an extra effort in uprooting crime as armed robberies, murder, rape and cases of narcotics were rife. He said police officers should be concentrating on the crimes and let the relevant authorities deal with their issues, the source said.

One of the resolutions of the meeting was that after the NATCOM had visited all regions, the associations looking into the welfare of the police would take the decisions to government.

The NATCOM confirmed that he had a meeting with police officers from the regions. He said it was not the first instance and a statement had already been issued relaying that he would be visiting all policing regions to deal with issues affecting them. Dlamini said this meeting was something that had been done before and the Chief Police Information and Communications Officer, Superintendent Phindile Vilakati, had issued a statement on the issue. Vilakati, when asked about the meeting in detail, said: It was an internal meeting.

Meeting

Meanwhile, when this publications reporters arrived at Matsapha Police Academy, the auditorium in which the police officers were meeting was filled to capacity, with a significant number of them standing. Leading to the meeting, the NATCOM, in a 204 words letter, requested the acting regional commissioner Police Academy to prepare a suitable venue with a sitting capacity of not less than 170 police officers. He had also listed the designations of the police officers he expected to attend the meeting. Dlamini said: Attending this important meeting shall be as follows: All regional commissioners, all station commanders, all members of the national executive committee (NEC) of the Police Staff Association, five police officers per regional headquarters drawn from all the ranks categories available, five officers from each police station drawn from all ranks available and five officers from all Operational Support Services Unit (OSSU) bases drawn from all the ranks.
The National Council of Parent-Teacher Associations has expressed worry about the kind of food being served students in Senior High Schools (SHS).

According to the association, the perennial shortage of food in the SHSs is causing worry for parents.

"At certain times, the kind of food served to these children is a major source of concern during times of food shortages," the association explained.

The association said it has written to the education minister for a meeting to deliberate on reviewing some aspects of the government's flagship programme, Free Senior High School (Free SHS).

The association said the purpose of the said meeting with the minister was to help address some of the thorny issues regarding the quality of food served to the students in school.

The association said the meeting has not been able to come off because the minister was always busy.

The National Administrator of the Association, Mr Charles Adjetey Sowah, expressed these worries in an interview on Accra100.5FM's morning show Ghana Yensom on Wednesday, 12 October 2022 while discussing the alleged shortage of food in some schools in the Volta region, which the Ghana Education Service has debunked.

He said: "In life, we progress and we do not retrogress, so, if there is a problem with the implementation of the policy it must be reviewed going forward."

"We want the programme reviewed to see where parents can help to make the programme successful," he told host Emmanuel Quartshie (Hitman).

Source: ClassFMonline.com
Paul Adom-Otchere, the host of Metro TVs "Good Evening Ghana" show has waded into the alleged money-doubling scam by Nana Agradaa, former fetish priest turned Evangelist called Patricia Asiedua aka Mama Pat on some members of her Heavenwave chapel church.

Though many did not expect her to return to her alleged tricks after being let off the hook for her alleged "Sika Gari" scam some months ago, some people claiming to be members of her church have lamented in several videos how they have been scammed by the "repented" priestess.

The Ghana Police Service quickly intervened and arrested the former fetish priestess on Sunday, October 9, and was arraigned before the court today, October 10.

She has been remanded for three days after pleading not guilty to the charges against her and is expected to reappear before an Accra High Court on Thursday, October 13.

Reacting to this, the popular journalist on Tuesday's, October 11 edition of his show, asserted that the police can't continue to protect people who have ignorantly and greedily fallen victim to Agradaa.

He explained that the greedy church members agreeing to pay the alleged amount was their own negligence which shouldn't be entertained by the Ghana Police.

According to him, the victims should be ignored to learn from their mistakes.

"There is freedom of worship. People can worship anything they want and anyhow they want. If your worship tenet requires you to pay money or succumb to money temptation, and you know that it will be doubled, and you do it and it goes bad, what should our state police do? We have gotten to the situation where we understand that indiscretion cannot be protected by the state police. You have to learn your lessons," he stated.
12.10.2022 LISTEN

Greater Accra Regional Chairmanship aspirant of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Hon Emmanuel Nii Ashie Moore has reiterated his commitment to ensuring that the party grassroots in the Region are given much-needed incentives and an atmosphere to thrive and attain a new level of social status if he is voted as Regional Chairman in the upcoming elections.

According to him, the grassroots are not just party-builders but also community builders, with fantastic managerial and leadership qualities which if well harnessed with resources will be vital tools for nation building.

Hon Ashie Moore, a former Member of Parliament (MP) for Adenta said this during an interview with Journalists in Accra after picking his nomination forms to contest for the Greater Accra Regional Chairmanship of the NDC.

He said, behind the political party is a strong force of the grassroots base, joining hands together and abilities to empower and liberate the youth wing of the NDC party as well as the nation.

In his medium to long-term vision when elected as the Regional Chairman, Hon Ashie Moore will build a strong disciplined and well resources grassroots base of the NDCs network across the branches and constituencies.

As part of what makes a political party appealing to the electorates, I will as a regional Chairman organize regular and periodic training and workshops for all party executives at all echelons of the party and most importantly, the polling agents. These exercises will be carried out by season political experts.

He added that having had an understanding that elections are won on concerted efforts; my leadership will design a comprehensive program to bring on board the seemingly neglected party food soldiers and cadres before the 2024 general elections.

Hon Ashie Moore who hinged his campaign with the promise to reorganize, rebrand, and resource the region to capture power also assured that his leadership as the Greater Accra Regional Chairman would design a promising programme that will enable NDC members from the Region but in the diasporas to participate vigorously in the regional party activities.

He admitted to the fact that the performance of the party in the 2020 elections has yielded dividends having recaptured some of the lost parliamentary seats. He added that his target is to silence the NPP in the region, stressing, I have the plans, the strategies to ensure that NDC make inroads in Greater Accra region which will ultimately be the victory for the party to form government in 2025.

He continued, In addition to that, I shall honour the foot soldiers and cadres of today and yesterday through symbolic activities and periodic programmes and also lobby the government to appoint young men and women from the region at all levels of the political spectrum, especially on committees, assembly and boards.

While articulating his long-held passion to help the party's grassroots young men and women, the former MP reassured the delegates that if given the opportunity to lead the NDC as Chairman of Greater Accra Region, he will ensure a holistic transformation of the grassroots welfare and advancement.

Hon Ashie Moore again promised to facilitate proper access to a quality healthcare system, incorporate more women into the fold, empower them to be self-sufficient, and also ensure they are well represented in the political cum leadership roles.

It is a passion that is driving me, I am not going there to advance my personal interest or seek personal glorification, all I want is an opportunity to impact lives and make a positive history for the NDC grassroots, the young and old, men and women, he added.

Hon Ashie Moore is in the contest with three other strong men including the incumbent regional Chairman, Joseph Kobina Ade-Coker.

The other two are Michael Kwettey Tettey, a former Constituency Chairman for Ningo-Prampram, and Thomas Mustapha Nii Ashong, the current regional Youth Organizer.

Nevertheless, he expressed optimistic about his victory to lead the NDC on the Regional front to total victory in the 2024 election.

He pledged to conduct a clean campaign devoid of personal attacks, stating, I am seeking election as a Regional Chairman to serve my party and to help recapture power in 2024.

Per the guidelines, the party will hold its Constituency elections between October 22 and 23, 2022, while the regional elections would be held between November 12 and 13, 2022.

The National Congress will be held on December 17, 2022.
H.E Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo

12.10.2022 LISTEN

Dr. Adu Owusu Sarkodie, an Economist at the University of Ghana Business School, has told President Nana Akufo-Addo not to accept defeat in his quest to restore the country's economy.

The expert told the President and his Economic Management Team to man up and do exactly as they did during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a discussion on Accra-based TV3s New Day show on Wednesday, October 12, Dr. Sarkodie further told the government to draw up an economic development plan to serve as a guide to secure a safe economy for the country.

Bringing on board significant unions and bodies like the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) and other stakeholders, according to the economic expert, will help the government come up with effective policies to solve the countrys economic situation.

"Now is the time that they should show leadership, they showed it during covid time and we appreciated it. They should engage stakeholders, GUTA and others, sit with them.

"He can do it, this is the time to do it, this is the time to take some of the bold decisions because he has nothing to lose, he said.

He advised we must have a plan and execute the plan. We need a selfless leader to do that and I believe President Akufo-Addo can do that.

Speaking about the ongoing IMF bailout negotiations, he suggested that we need the IMF programme. Beyond that we must be serious as a country, and reform our policies.

Ghana has also been recently classified by the World Bank as a high debt distress country as the nation's debt to gross domestic product (GDP), according to the rating, will reach 104.6% by the end of 2022.
The Tema Traditional Council has invoked Ga Ancestral norms and customs to commence activities for the funeral of the late Osaa Nii Adjei Kraku II, Tema Mantse.

Amidst artistic traditional display and chanting of war songs by the Osheboloi, amidst spectacular drumming antics put out by the Obonufoi drummers on the fontofrom, and obonu drums. The sound of gunshots filled the atmosphere and the scent of gunpowder and smoke engulfed Tema Manheans sacred durbar grounds.

The Kplejotsoshishi at Tema Manhean which is the sacred durbar grounds for traditional activities was drowned in a sea of red to signify the state of the Tema as they mourn the late Chief.

Traditional leaders, dignitaries, traditional priests, priestesses, residents, and others who thronged the Tema consecrated durbar ground to participate in the launch were mostly wrapped in red.

The sound of the musketry fired intermittently invokes some form of fear in the fainthearted but was mainly an ancestral traditional custom to honour Tema Mantse who reigned from 1992 to 2020. In Ghana, most traditional leaders serve as the warlord of the people.

Nii Tetteh Tsuru Orkoor III, Ashaman Akwashongtse, who performed the traditional rites to launch the funeral said Tema would experience total darkness on October 26th between 19:00 hours and 00:00 hours, residents are advised to stay indoors during the period classified as sacred night.

He added that as part of the Ga Traditional rites to honour departed chiefs, from October 26th to 30th there would be a ban on fishing for anchovies fishermen.

Nii Orkoor added that there would be a ban on fishing for other fishermen on October 28th to 29th, with a ban on trading. School activities would also be interrupted from October 27th and 28th for the children to stay indoors in honour of the memory of their grandfather and custodian of the Tema.

Touching on other activities for the funeral he said there will be special Zikr rites and Adua by the Muslim community on October 14th and 15th respectively as the late chief was a Muslim.

October 22nd will be observed as a day of tributes, while other rites would also be performed on ensuing days.

Paying of homage, sitting in the state for reposing, and thanksgiving would be held respectively on October 28th, 29th, and 30th.

He appealed to the residents and all visitors to observe and adhere to all directives, it would be dangerous for any individual or group of persons to attempt to go against the traditional norms.

Nii Orkoor said, these are sacred traditional norms embedded in ancestral spiritual powers, it would therefore be considered as an act of affront against the ancestral world if anyone attempts to challenge these rites as outlined, the consequences could be fatal.

Mr Ashong Narh, the Funeral Committee Chairman, welcoming the people said the chief passed away two and a half years ago occasioning the formation of the committee which has worked for the past one year.

Mr Narh said the launch forms part of the traditional norms to announce to the indigenes and residents of Tema arrangements for the funeral in accordance with the Ga customs and traditions to ensure that the chief was given a befitting funeral.
Every year between 20,000 and 32,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa die after being bitten by snakes . That's more than five times the number of deaths caused by hippos , crocodiles , elephants, lions and buffalo combined.

At least, that's what the available data suggests. But, the World Health Organization (WHO) acknowledges , that statistics  as well as figures related to non-fatal injury and disability caused by snakebites  are incomplete. Not all snakebite victims are treated in hospitals, especially in poorer countries and communities. Some may be treated by traditional doctors. Others may die before receiving any treatment.

But without accurate data, it is difficult to see how the WHO will meet its global target of reducing death and disability from snakebites by 50% by 2030. Without it, it's difficult to prioritise which countries or regions require financial resources or antivenom, for instance.

We wanted to find a different way to quantify snakebites. So my colleagues and I from Mozambique's Lurio University embarked on a household survey across nine rural villages in Cabo Delgado Northern Mozambique. Before this, the only existing snakebite data for Mozambique was extrapolated from incidents in other countries in sub-Saharan Africa. This suggested there were 6996 snakebite cases and 319 deaths annually in Mozambique.

Our results offer a very different and extremely worrying picture. From our data we extrapolated snakebite figures for the entire area and for Mozambique as a whole. Despite being an underestimation (since we favoured a conservative approach) they increase snakebite incidence levels ten-fold and the number of deaths by 30-fold.

Urgent and widespread surveys are needed to further assess the full extent of snakebites in sub-Saharan Africa, explore regional patterns and develop mitigation plans. Obtaining this sort of data is critical: the WHO has placed snakebite in category A (the most severe or urgent) of neglected tropical diseases. Its 2030 target underscores that this is a priority area. But how can this metric be checked without accurate data?

Gathering data

We gathered data from 1037 households. We asked about snakebite incidents in people's own homes and among their neighbours, as well as details about the species of snake, the symptoms, and what sort of treatment the victim received, if any.

Read more: Snakebites still exact a high toll in Africa. A shortage of antivenoms is to blame

There were 296 reported snakebites and most (60%) were treated exclusively by traditional doctors; 15% went to hospitals for treatment and 25% died before reaching any doctor.

Using a conservative estimation where we assume our results to be extrapolatable for the whole of rural Mozambique, but considering snakebites in urban areas to be inexistent, we propose that every year in Cabo Delgado, at least 6124 people are victims of snakebites. Of these at least 791 result in deaths.

In Mozambique, we extrapolated that every year at least 69,261 people are victims of snakebite; at least 8950 result in death, meaning that one in eight snakebites is fatal. For comparison , 37,000 people die in Mozambique (which is home to more than 30 million people) each year because of respiratory infections and tuberculosis while 21,000 die from malaria.

Most (68%) of the population live in rural areas and practice subsistence farming for a living. This means that millions of people are exposed to snakebites. The country is home to at least 14 snake species of medical importance  those whose bites can kill or lead to limb amputation. This is a fairly standard number of such snakes for the continent's less tropical regions.

The number of medically important snakes in the country, the percentage of people living in rural areas, and the total absence of snakebite incidence data, make Mozambique a good place to focus on when trying to quantify and model snakebite data.

Who gets bitten and where

Some of our other key findings included:

Most bites occurred on farms and during the rainy season (December to April).

The type of snake was important when people were choosing between hospitals or traditional doctors. Those bitten by dangerous species such as the Puff Adder were usually taken to hospitals. Bites from less dangerous species like the Stiletto Snake were taken to traditional doctors.

Read more: Finally, snakebite is getting more attention as a tropical health issue

One exception was made for victims of Black Mambas . This deadly snake has extremely fast-acting venom: its bite can kill in less than an hour. In the communities we surveyed, Black Mamba victims were usually taken to traditional doctors close to home, to avoid long trips to hospitals up to 20km away and queues at the facilities.

Figures may be higher

It is possible that our figures are too low. That's because we took a conservative approach when extrapolating data  and because we assumed that every interviewee had 100% recall, as well as assuming a 0% snakebite incidence in urban areas, which make up 30% of the country.

So, the figures for snakebite incidence are very likely still an underestimation of the true incidence in both Cabo Delgado and Mozambique more broadly.

Local universities should consider using our approach to engage with communities and retrieve household data. This will help researchers and health authorities to assess the full extent of snakebites in sub-Saharan Africa, explore regional patterns and develop mitigation plans.

Such mitigation might include training both traditional doctors and hospital staff in snakebite treatment; public education campaigns to encourage people to use hospitals for treating snakebites; and making antivenom widely available. It may also be useful to generate local literature to guide snake identification and share first-aid measures.

Harith Omar Morgadinho Farooq does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

By Harith Omar Morgadinho Farooq, Post-doc, University of Gothenburg
Bosaso has become a major export hub since security improved in Somalia's Puntland region. - Source:

12.10.2022 LISTEN

The port city of Bosaso, located at the north-eastern corner of Somalia, provides a striking example of the interlinkage between security and infrastructure. The city benefited from the civil war that ravaged the southern parts of Somalia in the 1990s and 2000s. It developed into a booming trade centre. But increased violence in Bosaso has negatively affected international trade in the last decade. Security improvements and the recovery of other ports in Somalia and Somaliland have provided alternatives.

In July 2022, the Emirates-based Dubai Ports World (DP World), a global operator of ports and logistics, returned to Bosaso. The company had signed a concession agreement with the government in Puntland, a federal member state of Somalia, in 2017. But the plans to modernise the port were never realised.

DP World's return has instigated optimism across the city, though numerous challenges still lie ahead.

Our research project is studying the Horn of Africa's emerging port infrastructures and their impact on the everyday lives of people in cities.

Bosaso's efforts to remain economically relevant will have implications for the relative independence that Puntland has achieved from the federal government in Mogadishu. An upgraded port could bolster citizens' trust in the semi-autonomous government.

A lifeline for Puntland

The port of Bosaso is located on the Red Sea. Its development was tied to the beginning of the civil war in Somalia in the 1980s. Siad Barre, the military dictator who ruled the country from 1969 to 1991, rehabilitated a highway between Bosaso and central Somalia, and allowed Bosaso to operate the port duty-free . This was to appease his opponents in the north-east and to economically harm rising opposition in the north-west (now Somaliland).

Trading activities and property investments in Bosaso increased significantly after the Somali state collapsed in 1991. Bosaso City grew considerably in the early 1990s when it evolved into a prime destination for people who fled from violence in the southern parts of Somalia.

Among the immigrants were former political and business elites with clan affiliations to the north-east. Others were from the politically marginalised and harassed clans and minority groups of southern Somalia.

The closeness and historic shipping links between Bosaso and Yemen additionally pulled people to the city. Younger people looking for an option to escape poverty and a life full of risks moved to Bosaso to embark on Tahriib, the undocumented and dangerous migration across the Red Sea to the Gulf states and from there, if possible, further to Europe.

During the early 1990s, Bosaso had the only relatively safe port in Somalia. It became a major trade hub for livestock exports and consumer goods imports. This integrated Bosaso into an international trade network and linked the port to central Somalia and eastern Ethiopia.

New livestock quarantine stations were established, financed by Saudi Arabia and managed by a highly skilled labour force (mainly from Egypt). This was to avoid economically damaging livestock bans from Saudi Arabia on the basis of animal health.

Income from the flourishing seaport supported the establishment of the semi-autonomous region of Puntland in 1998.

Port in decline

But Bosaso is currently struggling to maintain its economic relevance. This has political implications for the relative independence that Puntland has achieved from the Somali federal government.

International trade activities have been declining during the last decade. Since 2015, the war in Yemen has interrupted established trade routes. Additionally, the city has faced threats from Islamist insurgents, prominently Al-Shabaab and the Islamic State in Somalia.

The concession agreement with DP World's subsidiary P&O Ports in 2017 added further layers of insecurity. Local groups criticised the sell-out of the port to a foreign country, while business groups feared that a rise in port fees would have a negative impact on local trade.

Disputes among the Puntland leadership, and disagreements between Puntland and P&O Ports, delayed the planned modernisation. P&O eventually left Bosaso in 2019 after its port manager was killed by gunmen, an attack for which al-Shabaab claimed responsibility.

These developments stood in contrast to security improvements in southern Somalia. These were visible in the reopening of Mogadishu's seaport, which has been managed by a Turkish company since 2014. Competition increased further with the DP World-driven modernisation of the port in Berbera in Somaliland.

Bosaso is not able to compete with the much larger multi-purpose ports in Berbera and Mogadishu. The two ports are fitted with container terminals and furnished with modern equipment. Bosaso, instead, has had a crucial position in a more informal overseas trade.

The ongoing transformation of global supply chains, with circulation increasingly relying on cranes and containers, detaches Bosaso from important trade networks. For example, containerised ports import goods directly from producing countries like China, while Bosaso relies on transshipment through intermediary ports in Yemen, Oman or elsewhere.

These developments have political implications. Many Bosaso residents attribute the port's decline to leadership failure. A port official explained in an interview in August 2022:

The port has been neglected by all Puntland leaders. There was no investment provided to the port since 1991. The port is about to be relegated to irrelevance.

At a crossroads

The modernisation of the port is critical for Puntland. An upgraded port will ensure Puntland keeps a significant position within the fragmented political landscape of Somalia. It will also prevent traders from looking for alternative outlets.

Multiple challenges, among them security considerations, lie ahead. The relations between Puntland and the government in Mogadishu, as well as disagreements within the Puntland leadership, are crucial. In short, Bosaso is at a crossroads and faces a defining moment for its political and economic future.

Mohamed Hassan Ibrahim, a research consultant in the port infrastructure project , is a lead contributor and conducted most of the research for this article.

This research was made possible by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York. The statements made and views expressed are solely the responsibility of the authors. The research is part of the project: Port Infrastructure, International Politics, and Everyday Life in the Horn of Africa, http://portinfrastructure.org

By Jutta Bakonyi, Professor in Development and Conflict, Durham University And

May Darwich, Associate Professor of International Relations of the Middle East, University of Birmingham
Unemployment and the rising cost of living force many people to make a living in the informal economy, particularly street trading. While it is difficult to measure the size of the informal economy, some studies show that more than 60% of employed people in the world work in the informal economy . It's over 80% in Africa , and the trend is increasing.

But many governments discourage informal trading, considering it the antithesis of development . In their view, informal trading causes street congestion, contributes to crime and grime and threatens public order.

This is often the case in major cities, such as Johannesburg, South Africa's economic engine, which aspires to be a world-class city . World class is equated with formality and orderly streets. This aspiration, which is about maintaining an image of a city that is orderly and well managed to attract investments, is unsympathetic to street trading.

But the activity is burgeoning in Johannesburg. This poses urban management challenges for authorities. These challenges include overcrowding in busy streets, trading in non-demarcated spaces as well as the obstruction of foot and vehicular traffic and waste management.

The city's street trading management approach is mainly restrictive. This is manifest in the limiting of the number of legal trading spaces  through evictions, relocations, harassment of traders and confiscation of their stock.

The study

Some studies have found that there was a growing number of organisations that seek to represent the interests of street traders and influence policy and practice.

These organisations engage with the government at various spheres and participate in urban governance to influence the management of street trading. They employ a number of strategies to put pressure on the government to include them in decision making processes.

My recent PhD research focused on the role and influence of street trader leaders in urban governance in Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg and Tshwane, the three major metropolitan cities in Gauteng Province, the country's economic hub. I wanted to understand their role in urban governance.

Understanding the role street trader leaders play in street trading management is crucial to informing the development of appropriate, practical and inclusive management approaches.

Read more: A portal designed specially for informal businesses could be a game-changer

For my study, I reviewed media articles and government documents, and conducted in-depth interviews with city officials as well as street traders and their leaders.

In the case of Johannesburg  the metro least friendly to street trading  I interviewed one former city official, eight trader leaders and eight street traders between 2017 and 2018.

Respondents were asked about everyday management of street trading, the relationship between street trader leaders and authorities, and the extent to which the leaders participated in managing trading.

I found that leaders of street traders represented traders in different ways and interact with the government in various ways. There are leaders who operate on the margins, with no institutionalised relationship with authorities and quasi-state bureaucrats who have been formally included in the everyday management of street trade (they have the power to allocate trading spaces together with officials and manage waiting lists for spaces).

The leaders on the margins of the state that have been excluded from formal processes find other ways of inserting themselves into the management processes (allocating trading spaces in areas not demarcated for trade). These findings matter because they show what is really happening on the ground in terms of street trade management. Some of these practices can inform the adoption of an inclusive management approach.

Street trading policy and practice

Johannesburg's informal trading policy generally acknowledges street trading as a feature of the urban landscape  at least in rhetoric. This, amid the triple challenge of high poverty, unemployment and inequality. Over 50% of South Africans live in poverty, unemployment is over 30% . The country is one of the most unequal in the world .

Despite the inclusive nature of the city's informal trading policy, authorities tend to adopt restrictive and punitive approaches. The translation of the policy into technical tools such as bylaws and authorities' management practices create an environment that is inimical to street trading.

The restrictive management practices manifest in various ways. One is the creation of scarcity of trading spaces  by limiting the number of legal, demarcated spaces for street trading. This makes most traders in the inner city illegal. It criminalises them and fuels competition for lucrative trading spaces. (The city does not publicise information about the number of legal traders).

Read more: Informal economies are diverse: South African policies need to recognise this

Evictions and relocations of street traders from their sites are another manifestation of the city's restrictive management approach. For example, in 2013, thousands of street traders in the inner city were evicted in a large-scale operation, dubbed Operation Clean Sweep .

The street trading management approach in Johannesburg relies heavily on enforcing bylaws. This results in ongoing harassment of street traders considered non-compliant, and the (often unlawful) confiscation of their stock. Intimidation and harassment by city police occur daily.

Intimidation and corruption

The city's approach has opened space for abuse of power and corruption by the authorities. When law enforcement officers confiscate the traders' stock, they sometimes issue high fines , which are more than the value of the stock.

This is often a strategy to get the street traders to pay bribes to avoid their stock being confiscated. In other instances, city police do not issue confiscation receipts. So, traders have no way of claiming their stock back.

All this has given rise to alternative forms of management by street trader leaders .

For instance, the leaders have forged informal partnerships with authorities to manage trading. Some leaders assist authorities in the everyday management of street trading, such as maintaining order on the streets and allocating trading spaces. This alternative form of management strengthens the capacity of the state to govern street trading, and helps provide pragmatic solutions to complex issues.

Read more: Zimbabwe's informal sector plays a key role in skills development but gets no recognition

But, there is also a dark side to this alternative form of management. It has in some instances opened a window for extortion of fellow traders by the leaders.

There are instances where they collect protection fees from traders, promising to protect them from law enforcement officers who harass and confiscate their stock.

Some of the leaders even have the power to evict non-compliant traders and take away their officially allocated trading spaces.

Looking forward

The vicious cycle of street trading management in Johannesburg manifests in various ways, from evictions to limiting legal trading spaces. This is despite policies that acknowledge the role of street trading.

Such punitive practices criminalise the efforts of poor people to earn an honest living, and drives corruption. There is, therefore, an urgent need to find better approaches to street trading management that value the role the activity plays in job creation, poverty alleviation and mitigation of the high cost of living.

Mamokete Modiba previously received research support funding from NRF and TISO Foundation.

By Mamokete Modiba, Researcher, Gauteng City-Region Observatory
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday that clinical trials could start within weeks on vaccines to combat the strain of Ebola behind a deadly outbreak in Uganda.

Kampala last month announced Uganda's first fatality from the highly contagious disease since 2019, with Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng on Wednesday giving a death toll of "over 19" including several health workers.

There is currently no vaccine for the Sudan ebola virus circulating in the East African country.

"Unfortunately, the Ebola vaccines that have been so effective in controlling recent outbreaks in DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) are not effective against the type of ebola virus which is responsible for the current outbreak in Uganda," Tedros told a regional ministerial meeting to discuss the emergency response to the crisis.

"Several vaccines are in various stages of development against this virus, two of which could begin clinical trials in Uganda in the coming weeks, pending regulatory and ethics approvals from the Ugandan government."

Tedros, who spoke to the meeting from Geneva, reported 54 confirmed and 20 probable cases, while more than 660 contacts are currently under "active follow-up".

The initial outbreak, which was first reported on September 20, was discovered in Uganda's central district of Mubende, and infections have been found in four other areas.

"Our primary focus now is to support the government of Uganda to rapidly control and contain this outbreak, to stop it spreading to neighbouring districts, and neighbouring countries," Tedros told reporters.

A WHO assessment has found the risk of the Sudan ebola virus spreading to neighbouring countries was "high due to cross border movements between Uganda and other countries".

Ebola is an often-fatal viral haemorrhagic fever named after a river in DR Congo where it was discovered in 1976.

Human transmission is through bodily fluids, with common symptoms fever, vomiting, bleeding and diarrhoea. Outbreaks are difficult to contain, especially in urban environments.

People who are infected do not become contagious until symptoms appear, which is after an incubation period of between two and 21 days.

The worst epidemic in West Africa between 2013 and 2016 killed more than 11,300 people.

Uganda has experienced several Ebola outbreaks, most recently in 2019 when at least five people died. The neighbouring DRC has had more than a dozen epidemics, the deadliest killing 2,280 people in 2020.

Last week the United States announced tighter screening for people who had travelled to Uganda.
Henry Nana Boakye, affectionately known as Nana B, the National Organizer for the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has jabbed former President John Dramami Mahama for his frequent criticisms of state institutions.

In a social media post, the former President admonished the judiciary to be impartial and conduct thorough investigations on issues to provide good and impartial judgement. He also urged police to protect Ghanaians rather than inflict anguish on them.

"A judiciary owes it a duty to deliver impartial justice to the people; an Ombudsman owes a duty of care to the people to investigate all issues of malfeasance; a police force should exist to serve the people and not rein terror on them," portion of his post reads.

The former President also admonished the Electoral Commission not to do the bidding of the current government to disenfranchise citizens but to be fair and give every citizen the right to vote and be voted for in an election.

Mr. Mahama again told the media to be fair and keep the government on its toes.

"An electoral commission owes a sacred duty of care to the people by ensuring they are included in the electoral process & not excluded in the interest of the incumbent admin; an independent media owes it to the people to not only report facts without bias but to hold the govt of the day accountable," Mr. Mahama's post concluded.

In reaction, Nana B told the former President not to stand on his defeated 2020 election petition to downgrade the image of the judiciary since he once enjoyed same victory from the judiciary in 2012.

Speaking on Accra-based Okay FMs Adeakye Abia Morning show, he told Mr. Mahama to always protect the country's institutions by way of suggesting good policies to make them better without any criticism.

"As political parties, we may have our differences about the judiciary. My political party the NPP has had its own differences with the judiciary but that does mean the party or its leader should speak against them and make the world feel they are not a trustworthy institution in a country that is democratically independent.

"He should know that as a former president he owes it a duty to protect state institutions and help shape their activities without criticizing and condemning their work both locally and internationally," he added.
MBABANE  Junior officers from the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) and His Majestys Correctional Services (HMCS) who took part in the march to deliver petitions to the Cabinet Offices could be in trouble.

This follows a statement issued by the National Commissioner (NATCOM) of Police William Tsitsibala Dlamini and Commissioner General (COMGEN) Phindile Dlamini. In the statement, the NATCOM stated that the police service would ensure that those who were part of the march account for their actions by evoking the relevant organisational disciplinary regime and codes. He said the embarrassing conduct by the officers who were marching yesterday was a deviation that would not be tolerated. He noted that the actions of the few individuals had no reflection to the vast majority of their members who remained loyal, disciplined and true to their oath of office.

Ill-discipline

The NATCOM said as a police service, they bore witness to the shocking act of ill-discipline and defiance when a group of police and Correctional officers marched to deliver a petition to the Cabinet Offices on the now much-publicised matter of Phase II of the salary restructuring exercise. According to the NATCOM, this unfortunate act was despite the fact that the Minister of Public Service had held several meetings with the Police Staff Association (PSAs) and leadership on the matter. He said last Friday, he had issued a statement outlining progress and how the issue would be addressed going forward. As a police service, we would like to state that such behaviour goes against the set standards of acceptable code of conduct for its members, said the NATCOM. He condemned such an act in the strongest terms possible, adding that it undercut the integrity of the REPS and set a bad example.

Furthermore, he stated that the police service believed in discipline, respect and following proper structures and channels when dealing with issues pertaining to the welfare of its members. As such, he stated that he would be visiting the different policing regions to engage officers on issues affecting their conditions of service. Meanwhile, the COMGEN of HMCS, in her statement, stated that action would be taken against those who had violated their work ethics and oath of office. She stated that her office on Monday, through officers in charge, conveyed a message from the Minister of Public Service Mabulala Maseko, assuring officers through their staff associations of the commitment made by government to address the matter as a consultant had been engaged. The COMGEN assured the staff across all ranks that concerns affecting their work would always be given priority and that should there be any glitches, they should always engage the known and relevant structures to address those challenges as her office had an open door policy.

Condemned

She condemned in the strongest terms the behaviour of the officers, especially because HMCS was guided by a set of legislation and general orders, which distinctly relayed their operational procedures, both with internal and external structures. Meanwhile, the junior officers from REPS and HMCS rewrote history when they marched to deliver petitions to the Cabinet Offices. The officers gathered next to the Mbabane Government Hospital and marched without being escorted to the Cabinet Offices to deliver the petitions. They were clad in full uniform while others wore black as a sign of mourning and marched to the Cabinet Offices led by members of the staff associations. The petitions were directed to the Prime Minister, Cleopas Sipho Dlamini, who is the Minister of Police, the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and the Ministry of Public Service. Acting Principal Secretary (PS) at the Cabinet Offices Nhlanhla Mnisi received the petitions. Mnisi received the petitions on behalf of all the ministries they were directed to. Reading the petition before handing it over, Police Staff Association (PSA) Secretary General (SG) Sergeant Dumisile Khumalo noted that Circular No.2 of 2014 was in two phases but only phase was implemented. Khumalo said phase two was to be implemented subsequently.

Implementation

She stated that it was now the eighth year without the implementation of phase two. We are hungry and can no longer work and have come to make an appeal to our father, who is the Minister of Police, the Prime Minister, Cleopas Dlamini. Khumalo noted that they were also appealing to the minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs who was responsible for Correctional Services. Also, she mentioned that there was the minister of Public Service and the minister of Finance. In the petitions, she stated that they had tried to address the minister of Public Service in writing, where they successfully pleaded their case and hoped he would assist them. Khumalo said they were given hope by the minister, who told them that they would fix things where they went wrong.

The SG stated that they went as far as submitting the circulars, but were disappointed to learn from the police boss, who told them there would be no phase two. Khumalo noted that the police boss acknowledged that phase one was implemented from NATCOM, COMGEN up until the senior superintendents. However, she said they were told that when phase two was to be implemented, it was revoked following that there would be a review in 2016.

Restructuring

According to Khumalo, restructuring and review were different issues. She said there was ululations in their 2014 police parade when they were told by the King that they would be salaried parallel with the SADC region. This, she said was because they thought His Majestys utterances were law. Khumalo said it was for the above reason that they showed respect when coming to deliver the petition. She said they followed all structures, including addressing their superiors but they realised that there was no truth, hence their decision to appeal to Cabinet.

Khumalo said junior officers were killed tragically but had not complained and continued to work diligently without quitting. Meanwhile, she said while the circular was revoked, others were benefitting, which was very painful and hurting to them. Khumalo mentioned that when they addressed the matter with the minister of Public Service, where the circulars were issued they revisited them and found out that constables were awarded only five per cent, while other superior ranks received over 20 per cent and up to 30 per cent. This, she said, was in 2005, while in 2007 they were rewarded with only E1 000.
Government says it has improved its game regarding security issues at the borders of our country.

Recent developments of extremist activities in neighbouring countries have struck fear and panic across the country.

Speaking at the maiden edition of the International Defence Exhibition Conference at Burma Camp, Minister of Defence, Dominic Nitiwul stated the development of a legislation to regulate bilateral trade activities has improved national security and mitigated transnational organized crime in the sub-Saharan region.

The use of electronic surveillance, undercover operations and informants have proven effective and helped the investigative agencies to help combat crime.

In terms of developing and strengthening legislation on criminalizing the lumbering of proceeds from crimes, trained officials have increased the ability to identify cross border transportation of illegal cash or other negotiable instruments as a major step in curbing organized crime in the sub-region and world at large.

The inaugural International Defence Exhibition and Conference (IDEC) hosted by Ghana's Armed Forces in Accra was to build upon the endeavours of Africa's Armed Forces to enhance combined capabilities to counter the continent's leading security challenges.

The unprecedented event will showcase the importance of integrating strategies and solutions across land, sea and air to solve challenges such as extremism, cross-border crime and maritime security in this region.

The overarching objective is to improve regional development and security by promoting civil/defence partnership, both regionally and internationally.

Through a series of unique platforms, the two-day event aims to assemble Africa's Defence Chiefs of Staff and senior officers and executives from security agencies and global partners and advanced solution providers to improve combined combat operations and regional development initiatives.
Director of Election of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Elvis Afriyie Ankrah says the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has failed Ghanaians woefully.

He cited the galamsey menace as evidence of governments failure.

When we look at the status of water bodies, we see a total difference from what we saw during the NDC administration. The NPP has completely failed. The NPP as a party sees galamsey as an avenue to enrich themselves. The galamsey issue is more political than we see it. It is a party problem. The NPP is using it to raise money with the intention of buying its way through the elections. This government is the biggest failure in the history of this party, he said on Face to Face on Citi TV.

The NDC Director of Elections said the only way out for Ghanaians is to hand over power to the NDC in the next elections.

The situation we are facing now can be likened to a patient and a doctor. In this case, the NPP is the doctor whereas the country is the patient. This doctor keeps misapplying treatment and the patient is in a coma. We need to change the doctor. Once we do this, the new doctor will quickly come in and stop the bleeding. The country is bleeding profusely, he added.

---citinewsroom
A stores officer at the Metro Mass Transport Limited (MMTL), Ayim Francis Gyampioh, has been interdicted by management.

The Stores Officer was interdicted for allegedly holding a meeting with other members of the company in Kumasi without the consent and approval of management of the company.

A letter signed by the Human Resource Manager of the MMTL, Eric Otu, addressed to the stores officer dated Monday, 10 0ctober 2022, said: It is further alleged that you incited the workers to wear red arm bands, contrary to fair labour practice, and thus an illegal industrial action.

As you are aware your wilful disregard for authority in this regard contravenes the rules that regulate our labour relations in this company.

In view of the gravity of this allegation, you are interdicted from duty with immediate effect to allow further investigations into the matter. And in line with our interdiction regulations, you will receive half (1/2) salary and will be required to report twice weekly (i.e Tuesdays and Thursdays) to the Branch Manager, Kumasi until the matter is finally determined or otherwise directed.

The Senior and Junior staff of MMT Limited today embarked on a sit-down strike.

The workers are calling for the removal of Mr Albert Adu-Boahen and his two deputies over allegations of mismanagement.

However, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the company, George Asante, has said the MD is not to be blamed for the current situation of the company and blamed senior staff for orchestrating the strike.

Speaking on 12Live with Valentina Ofori-Afriyie, Wednesday, 12 October 2022, the PRO described the decision by the staff to embark on strike as unlawful.

He explained that: The decision by a section of the workers to actually undertake this unlawful exercise is quite disturbing and I call it unlawful because as a company, we have a policy that govern some of these activities, one cannot wake up and because the person feels there are few concerns, we can declare strike action or we can lay down our tools.

Theres history to this, the company appreciates the contribution of our workers union and that is why they have a mother union called the divisional union, that is the mother union and all of these unions are also under the Ghana Petroleum and chemical workers union. So if a worker feels that there are concerns, what he or she has to do is to write to their union or the branch union and the branch union will write to the divisional and the divisional will subsequently also report or write to the mother union at the national level for them to write to management and engage management on that.

He said the practice of calling for the removal of leaders has not yielded results.

They have continuously been practicing this system of always trying to use such industrial actions to get from office our managing directors or executives and until today, were still not getting solutions, so why do we continue to see strike action as the way to go?

The PRO, also noted that this is not the first time this is happening and indicated that the company needs to identify the problem and find a solution to it.

Were operating a transport company and you need buses to run to be able to mobilise enough revenue to make payment of certain obligations. As were speaking, nationwide, were running 187 buses. Youll bear with me that for the past two years, fuel prices have witnessed several increments, and the question is, Metro Mass as part of policy some of our fares are even 50 pesewas lesser compared to other transport operators, so were not competing.

Source: classfmonline.com
Dr Adwoa Kwegyiriba, Principal of the St. Francis College of Education (FRANCO), Hohoe, has urged fathers to be more committed and invest in the education of their girl child to enable them to have a bright future.

She said investment in the girl child involved building their confidence, providing security and resources to support them.

Dr Kwegyiriba during the 2022 International Day of the Girl Child held at Gbi Akplamafu, said fathers were the head of the home when it came to governance and as well, made policies that ensured the welfare of the home hence the need to prioritise the education of the girl child and formulate policies to guide the child.

She said the fathers must then see it to it that the mother and siblings of the girl child, implemented the policies that were tailored to the education of the girl child adding that a father's presence in the education of the girl child, boosted their confidence and help them progressed.

The event, organised by the St. Francis College of Education in collaboration with the Hohoe Municipal Education Directorate is themed: Our time is now, our rights, our future.

Mr Janet Valerie Datsa Agbotse, Hohoe Municipal Education Director, said parents must do away with the notion that the education of the girl child was not important, but be aware that girl child was a precious gift.

She said they must not relent in educating their girl child adding that the best way the girl child would excel was to encourage them and lead them towards a bright future.

Mrs Agbotse said parents must talk to their girl child and guide them to deal with their teenage and body changes, address their needs without anger and make them aware that their needs that could not be addressed immediately would be catered for later.

Ms Bertha Dogbeten, Headmistress of Gbi Akplamafu M/A Basic School, said one of the benefits of the girl child education was to help the girl child to be morally upright and enlighten the girl child on the importance of education was to enable attain their full potentials.

She said the most worrisome challenges facing the girl child in the school were teenage pregnancy and high-rate dropout.

Most of our girls are exposed to premarital sex at a very tender age, and as much, they find themselves involved in all sorts of sexual activities which in the long run leads to unwanted teenage pregnancy.

Mr Ben Kemkpor, a parent, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that the programme was educative especially the call on fathers to prioritise the education of the girl child and advised that parent must be willing to offer all they could to the ensure their better future.

GNA
Mr Isaac Kwadwo Buabeng, the Nsawam-Adoagyiri Municipal Chief Executive, has appealed to non-government organisations, companies and philanthropists for relief items for the victims of the floods in the area.

More than 1,500 people, including school children, have been rendered homeless following a downpour, which hit the municipality and caused the River Densu to overflow its banks on Monday.

Over 145 buildings and personal belongings were also destroyed.

Affected places include Ntoaso, Adoagyiri Shell, Aluta Zone, Nsawam Main Lorry Park, Adarkorgye, Oparekrom, Owuraku, Sakyikrom, Lantei and Soklo.

Mr Buabeng made the appeal in an interview with the Ghana News Agency when he led newsmen, security personnel and some officials of the Nsawam-Adoagyiri Municipal Assembly to inspect the extent of damage caused by the floods.

He said some of the victims were currently staying with friends and relatives while others were occupying some premises of churches and mosques.

Mr Joshua Krampah, one of the victims at the Nsawam Lorry Park, said all their personal belongings, including money, had been washed away by the floods while businesses such as chop bars stopped operation.

Mr Appiah Peter, the Nsawam-Adoagyiri Municipal Deputy Director of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), called for support for the flood victims.

GNA
The President of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), Dr. Frank Serebour has warned that the future looks darker for the country if illegal mining (galamsey) is not dealt with.

In his view, illegal mining at the moment poses more threats to Ghanaians than nuclear weapons.

Speaking at the ongoing 22nd West African Health Sector Unions Network (WAHSUN) Conference in Accra, Dr. Frank Serebour said if galamsey is not curbed, it will be the end of Ghana.

The health implications as a result of the use of chemicals such as mercury and cyanide will affect generations to come.

Ghana has to be afraid of these illegal mining and not the threats of nuclear weapons.

We will be wiped out with our generations before the nuclear weapons even fall, Dr. Frank Serebour said.

The GMA President added, Very soon, we will have no water to drink and we will be fighting all forms of cancer and congenital malformations.

It is time to stop the degradation of our environment and to stop as if we are the last generation of our time.

Despite various operations carried out by the military under President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo since becoming president, illegal mining remains a major cause of the destruction of Ghanas forests and water bodies.

Unhappy with the menace, the President early this month held a meeting with the National House of Chiefs and appealed to the traditional leaders to help him combat illegal mining.

Subsequently, at a meeting with MDDCEs, the President warned that anyone found to be complicit in illegal mining will not be spared by his government.
12.10.2022 LISTEN

The leadership of the Greater Accra Regional Branch of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) says adequate measures have been put in place to ensure that all processes for the regional executive elections are fair and transparent.

According to the party's regional secretary, Theophilus Tetteh Chaie, the NDC frowns on violence in any election process.

The NDC is expected to hold its regional executives on the 12th and 13th of November 2022.

Speaking to Citi News, Mr. Tetteh Chaie said the process will be free and fair.

He noted that the elections committee for the Greater Accra region led by Prof. Joshua Alabi has been inaugurated.

We just inaugurated the Regional election committee headed by Prof. Joshua Alabi. So when anyone comes for vetting, and it happens that you are taken out of the race, and you think that, you are not treated fairly, there is an avenue at the Appeals Committee to seek redress and the decision of that Committee is the final solution to the problem.

---citinewsroom
12.10.2022 LISTEN

Mohammed Sulemana, 27, unemployed, has been diagnosed with 'Valvar Pulmonary Stenosis' and appealing to philanthropists and charitable organisations to support him with US$9,000 to undergo surgery.

I'm dying slowly. It's extremely difficult because I sometimes feel agonizing pains in my chest area any moment I breath, Sulemana, a resident of New-Dormaa, a suburb of Sunyani, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on Tuesday.

The Sunyani Regional Hospital referred him to the National Cardiothoracic Centre (NCTC), Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, where he was diagnosed with 'Valvar Pulmonary Stenosis' , a congenital defect of one of his heart valves, which required surgery to repair.

My parents are struggling to raise this amount of money. The doctors told us to raise the money within three months for me to undergo the surgery. I need the support of Ghanaians to save my life, Sulemana said with pain.

A letter signed by Dr Lawrence A. Sereboe, the Director of the NCTC, said Sulemana was referred to the NCTC for evaluation and management on account of dyspnoea.

Clinical evaluation and investigations revealed that he suffers from a severe congenital defect. Further management will involve open heart surgery to repair the defective valve, a procedure termed; open pulmonary valvotomy.

The 9000 dollars would cater for the cost of further investigations, surgery anaesthesia, intensive care and boarding for a maximum period of two weeks, it said.

GNA
Mr Andrew Akoto, Partner and Head of Advisory, KPMG Ghana, has called for the inclusion of cyber security in the curriculum for basic schools to boost the awareness of pupils on cyber threats and enhance their security online.

Describing children as digital natives, Mr Akoto said the exposure of pupils to Information Communication Technology was a good step, adding that the introduction of cyber security education would inform children about the safe use of the internet.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency at the 2022 KMPG Global Cyber Day observed at the East Airport International School in Accra on Tuesday, Mr Akoto said the KPMG, as part of its commitment to investing in the next generation, was focusing on children because they were more vulnerable to cyber threats and manipulation.

It is important that while we focus on the opportunities that the internet presents, we also ensure that we include cyber security and awareness as part of the curriculum so that children will know very early that anything else there could be a good or bad side, Mr Akoto said.

The Global Cyber Day is an annual community initiative led by KPMG cyber security professionals and aims at educating young people about the importance of cyber security and internet risk, as part of the firms commitment to supporting the communities in which it operates.

During the month of October, KPMG cyber security professionals train students, teachers and parents on safe use of personal data, social media, cyber bullying, and online gaming among others.

According to the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) more than 175,000 children go online for the first time every day, tapping into great opportunities, but facing grave risks.

Unscrupulous persons online gain the attention of children with very exciting stuff. They pretend to be their best friends, give them a whole lot of juicy offers and thereby grab their attention, and only God knows what they would be hooked onto if they do not know some of these attacks, he said.

Ms Fabiola Amedo, Manager, Information Technology Advisory Team, KPMG, said many children were exposed to a lot threats online, including online grooming, and cyber bullying, which she said, had dire effects on their psychology.

She said the objective of the sensitisation was to empower young and enhance their awareness about dangers on the internet and encourage practices that would minimise their susceptibility to online attacks.

The key thing that we always encourage the children to do is to be a friend and not a bully. We also tell them not to click on phishing links, always review messages received and engage adults before they take any action, she said.

GNA
12.10.2022 LISTEN

Scores of people were stranded for hours at the Kobedi stretch of the Sunyani-Techiman highway on Wednesday after heavy rains cut off the road.

Several vehicles, including heavy-duty trucks, were stuck in traffic due to the deplorable condition of the road during a visit by the Ghana News Agency (GNA).

Some teachers and other public sector workers, including nurses who plied the highway from Sunyani to Chiraa for work, were stranded as well.

Speaking in an interview with the GNA, Charles Ollu, one of the teachers said the deplorable condition of the road was contributing to lateness and absenteeism among non-resident teachers at Chiraa.

Some of us have to walk about 20 minutes through the bush to the other end of the road before we could go to school. The situation now is very appalling and discouraging, he said and appealed to the government to reconstruct the road as a matter of urgency.

Another teacher, Evans Ameyaw noted accidents were prone at that particular stretch of the road due to its deplorable nature, and appealed to the Sunyani Municipal Assembly to re-gravel it and urged commercial drivers too to reduce speeding.

GNA
Bahrains Economic Development Board (EDB) attracted $98million (BHD37 million) worth of direct investments from 14 prominent international companies in its Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector in the first 3 quarters of 2022.

These investments will further economic growth and are expected to create over 770 jobs to help achieve the objectives of the Kingdom's Economic Recovery Plan.

Through the Economic Recovery Plan, Bahrain launched a 4-year Telecommunications, ICT, and Digital Economy Sector Strategy (2022-2026) earlier this year.The strategy has four main pillars, including the development of the telecommunications infrastructure, supporting the digital economy, enhancing e-governance, and developing digital capacity.

The strategy aims at improving the Kingdoms overall global position in the e-Participation index of the UN eGovernment Survey, establishing a world-class digital infrastructure, and increasing the efficiency of government services through e-transformation.

Musab Abdullah, Executive Director of Investment Development - ICT at the Bahrain Economic Development Board, said: We are pleased to see more and more ICT companies calling Bahrain home for their regional operations. The continuous development in the ICT sector is a strategic priority for the Kingdom. The Kingdoms highly qualified local talent, best-value operating costs, as well as its strategic location and connectivity to the entire region positions Bahrain as the destination of choice for global ICT companies.

Bahrain is ranked first in MENA for ICT readiness by the UN. The ICT sector is a major pillar in Bahrains economy. The sector generates large numbers of high-value jobs, of which 59 per cent of jobs are held by Bahraini nationals. According to statics released by the Ministry of Finance and National Economy, the ICT sector contributed 6.8 per cent to Bahrains real GDP at the end of Q4 2021.

Overall, Bahrain EDB attracted $921 million (BHD348 million) in direct investment from 66 companies during the first nine months of 2022. The investments are expected to generate over 4,700 jobs over the next three years in key sectors, including financial services, ICT, logistics, manufacturing, and tourism.-TradeArabia News Service
Mr Philip Samini, the Upper East Regional Director of Highways has decried the non-payment of road contractors, saying it is the major reason most road constructions in the region are not completed.

For example, the partial reconstruction and upgrading of the Sumbrungu through the Bolgatanga Technical University to Zokor and Namoog Highway have stalled because the first certificate raised by the contractor at GHC 8 million for 12-kilometre part of the road has not been paid.

Mr Samini said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Bolgatanga when he gave an update on road construction in the area.

He said some contractors were paid too little hence the difficulties and suggested that every contract be scrutinized by the engineers to meet the demands of the people and make room for adjustment, if one is running a contract and it is becoming more expensive, there should be room to relook its scope.

The Director said roads in some parts of 'Overseas' in the North East Region had been successfully completed and were serving the people.

From Yagba to Kunkua, Yagba to Kubore, Yagbon to Gasenkpa to Daboya now a thorough road and from Weisi to Yilzeisi to Anamalare- Kulun-Kpalwok Junction from Bulinga and Busa Wa is now a thorough road as well as Buligna to Busa towards Wa in the Upper West Region.

He also noted that from Chuchuliga to Weisi and Waiga to Sandema in the Builsa North Municipality were all on contract while the Bolgatanga to Naaga and the Navrongo road to Naaga had a twin bridge connecting them to Kadema in the Builsa North Municipality.

The shortest road to Upper West Region, he said was from Sandema to Sinensi through Santidjan to Wahabu junction where a location of a bridge across the Sicili River, with the longest span Bridge of 120 meters, had been completed for the benefit of the two regions.

On the Misiga-Kulungugu road in the Bawku area, he said the bridge had been replaced with a permanent one from its former bare bridge making travel there smooth and on the Tamne dam a twin bridge had been placed.

The roads have been thorough with the major Bridges expected on them and they are in their various stages of completion especially the launching of the beams currently being done.

He said three major bridges on the Red Volta at Tilli in the Bawku West District and Kubore Bridge on the White Volta, had relief culverts that were discharging the floods and the dual Bolga -Kolar Bridge were all completed and in use.

In response to what his expectations were, the Director said, seeing road line markings in the city is what will make me feel accomplished.

He said road markings were essential and called on contractors to think of the safety of the people and do what is right.

GNA
Former President John Mahama wants the Presidency to clean up its house first.

His comment follows the expected cuts in expenditure as Ghana seeks a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In an interview with VOA Africa, Mr. Mahama said the Presidency needed to show the way in this regard.

If the President himself is cutting the budget of government machinery, then everyone must be prepared to make a sacrifice.

The Akufo-Addo administration has been criticized in the past for what has been described as reckless spending and questionable appointments under the Presidency.

Ghana is expected to present its programme to the IMF as it seeks $3 billion in support funds.

With this being Ghanas 17th trip to the IMF, the Former President expressed hope that this will be the last time Ghana is seeking such support.

He stressed the importance of developing home-grown policies aimed at transforming the economy and equipping the youth.

But President Mahama also noted that IMF loans will not cure all economic ills because Ghana will still lack credibility on its own.

You can implement a home-grown fiscal consolidated policy, but unfortunately, a lot of local and foreign investors will probably doubt that you can live by the promises that you make unless you have an institution like the IMF working with you.

Officials of the IMF wrapped up the second visit to Ghana on Monday, following the conclusion of discussions on Fund support to the country.

Talks centred on economic growth and possible financial support for Ghana post-covid.

The IMF is now working towards assessing Ghana's debt sustainability.

The government intends to secure a deal with the IMF before the 2023 budget is prepared.

---citinewsroom
Lithium developer Lake Resources [ASX:LKE] signed a conditional framework agreement (CFA) with South Korean battery manufacturer SK O for the offtake of up to 25,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of lithium from LKEs Kachi Project in Argentina.

Lithium developer Lake Resources [ASX:LKE] signed a conditional framework agreement (CFA) with South Korean battery manufacturer SK O for the offtake of up to 25,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of lithium from LKEs Kachi Project in Argentina.

The CFA includes a 10% investment by SK On in LKE via the issue of new ordinary shares.

LKE shares were up 3% on the news in late afternoon trade.

LKE shares have been down 45% in the past six months.

Source: tradingview.com

LKE and SK Ons new offtake deal

The key terms of the conditional agreement with SK On include:

A strategic investment of a 10 percent stake in Lake (20 trading-day VWAP prior to 12/10/22)

Offtake of 50 percent of Kachi project lithium product up to 25,000dmt (LCE)

Initial five-year term plus option for a further five years

Offtake priced on an agreed market price formula based upon the average quoted price in the quotation period

Like LKEs recent CFA with WMC Energy, the conditional agreement hinges on LKEs Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS), Lilac demonstration plant results, financial due diligence, and Kachis product specifications.

SK On is an affiliate of SK Group. SK develops batteries for major automotive companies such as Ford, Hyundai, and Volkswagen.

LKEs Executive Chairman, Stu Crow, believes the agreement will strengthen LKEs longer-term shareholder base, adding equity to the companys debt facilities and development.

The CFA delivers a long-term strategic agreement with SK On, one of the worlds pre-eminent lithium-ion battery producers with a major growing presence in the North American market.

David Dickson, LKEs new CEO, expressed the belief that the CFA will enable Lake to expand its environmentally friendly production processes while also opening the door for SK On to participate in some of LKEs other projects.

Dickson hopes to work closely with SK On to ensure an ongoing supply of high-quality lithium can be used for SK Ons battery manufacturing for major EV vehicle producers.

Jinsuk Ryu, SK Ons Vice President, commented on the new agreement with Lake Resources:

SK On is very pleased to execute this CFA with Lake, a clean lithium developer, which can allow SK On to secure a stable lithium supplier for its U.S. supply chain. Lake fits particularly well with SK Ons ESG policy as it utilises environment-friendly direct lithium extraction technology for production of lithium. With this CFA, both Parties will strengthen mutual partnership to advance opportunities to secure sustainable sources of raw materials in the future.

LKEs offtakes exceed production capacity

If you were keeping tabs on the conditional offtakes Lake Resources has signed, youd notice that the lithium developer now has agreements for lithium exceeding its planned Kachi production capacity.

LKEs April 2020 pre-feasibility study results mentioned an annual production target of 25,000tpa at Kachi from 2024.

But over the past year, LKE has signed:

25,000tpa non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Ford

25,000tpa non-binding MoU with Hanwa

25,000tpa CFA with WMC Energy

25,000tpa CFA with SK On

In January this year, LKE announced that Kachis base production case would rise to 50,000tpa in the upcoming definitive feasibility study and the final investment decision.

LKE said the DFS would be expanded to 50,000tpa due to anticipated resource estimates increase.

So, under the initial PFS base case of 25,000tpa, LKEs recent agreements exceed production capacity by 300%.

Under the revamped 50,000tpa case, LKEs agreements still exceed production capacity by 100%.

How would this get resolved if LKE meets its conditions precedent and the offtake partners line up to receive Lakes lithium?

Lake does have an aspirational target of reaching 100,000tpa production by 2030.

But thats what the target is so far  aspirational.

Will the CFAs signed with WMC Energy and SK On take precedence over the MoUs signed with Ford and Hanwa?

Have the MoUs with Ford and Hanwa lost potency for LKEs management?

I guess we will have to wait and see how these matters unfold.

Lithium and the EV revolution

In 2021, lithium stocks dominated the ASX  eight of the 10 best-performing stocks on the All Ordinaries in 2021 were lithium stocks.

But lithium stocks havent fared as well in 2022, with many of last years high-flyers trading well below their 52-week highs.

Is it too late to tap into the lithium sector as we approach 2023?

Money Morning has recently published a research report which may answer such questions.

The research report also profiles three overlooked ASX lithium stocks.

Access the research report here.

Regards,

Kiryll Prakapenka,

For Money Morning
Wartsila, a global leader in innovative technologies and lifecycle solutions for the marine and energy markets, said it has extended the operations and maintenance (O&M) agreement with Oman's Musandam Power Company (MPC), for another three years.

A technology major headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, Wartsila had signed an O&M agreement five years ago with MPC.

A 15-year long-term service agreement was signed simultaneously with the engineering, procurement, and construction contract in 2014, which has been complemented with Wartsila taking responsibility for operating and maintaining the facility from 2017.

According to Wartsila, the extended O&M agreement is part of the two active Wartsila service agreements with MPC.

This extension will enable the Musandam Independent Power Plant (MIPP) to continue meeting all its obligations under the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) it has with the Musandam isolated grid authorities. It will also ensure a reliable electricity supply for local businesses.

The extension was signed and booked in Wartsilas order intake in Q2 2022, stated the Finnish group, adding that there is an option to further extend the agreement by two one-year extensions.

On its five years of O&M service, Wartsila said the plants exceptional reliability had enabled MPC to achieve 100% of the contracted performance guarantees under its PPA.

This reliability has been achieved despite the challenging ambient conditions with summer temperatures reaching 50 degrees C, when the demand for electricity is at its highest, it stated.

The 146 MW facility was delivered under a full engineering, procurement and construction contract by Wartsila in 2017. It operates with 15 Wartsila 34DF engines operating on natural gas as the primary fuel.

The Musandam isolated grid is entirely dependent on this one baseload plant. The local region is rapidly developing economically and is a popular tourist area with a high demand for electricity. The power plant is, therefore, required to be available on a 24/7 basis except for routine checks and inspections, it added.
October 12, 2022 Misguided Foreign Policies Against Russia And Others Damage The U.S. And Its 'Allies' Political corruption, a lack of knowledge, and irrational foreign policies have brought the U.S. to a point where it is losing its primacy in the world. In response to the 2014 U.S. coup in Kiev the Russian Federation supported ethnic Russian rebels in the Donbas region to resist that anti-Russian progroms with which the Nazi-controlled Kiev regime threatened them. This blocked U.S. plans to move Ukraine into NATO and to station U.S. missiles directly at the Russian border. In 2016 the Democrats sought revenge by pushing fake claims of Russian interference in U.S. elections. To justify her loss in the presidential election Hillary Clinton created 'Russiagate', the false claim the Trump was somehow directed by Russia. She was supported by high ranking officials throughout the deep state and especially within the FBI. In hindsight their behavior was beyond belief: An FBI supervisor repeatedly testified Tuesday that agents did not corroborate an explosive allegation from a former British spy of a well-developed conspiracy between the Kremlin and Donald Trumps first presidential campaign before citing the claim as a reason to initiate surveillance of a former Trump campaign official.

...

The FBI used the unconfirmed report, Auten testified, to seek court approval of a secret surveillance warrant to monitor Carter Page, a Trump campaign adviser, and then successfully got that warrant reauthorized on three occasions, based in part on the same, uncorroborated claim.

...

Auten told the jury that shortly after receiving the first batch of Steele documents in the fall of 2016, a group of FBI officials met with Steele and offered him anywhere up to $1 million for information that would corroborate the claims in his reports. But Steele never did provide corroboration, Auten said in response to Durham.

...

Steele had been hired to produce reports by research firm Fusion GPS, which had been retained by a law firm that represented Trumps opponent, Hillary Clinton, and the Democratic National Committee. 'Russiagate' created a feverish anti-Russian atmosphere especially within the Democrats and their followers. Adding to this was a serious ignorance of Russia economic and technological capabilities. U.S. politicians rely on biased media which created a false picture of Russia. I did my best to debunk that as often as I could: The rest of the NYT piece is not any better than its very first paragraph. It simply repeats false stereotypes about Putin as an "autocratic leader" or about the non-existing Russian influence on U.S. elections. Nearly thirty years ago when the Soviet Union broke apart Russia had a deep fall. The liberalization of its economy had catastrophic consequences. But it has since reformed itself. It is now back to its traditional position in the world. A large Eurasian power which is in nearly all aspects independent from the rest of the world and able to protect itself. It must therefore be taken into account when one thinks of global polices. That is simply a fact and not the effect of a "mindgame" that Russia allegedly plays with the "west". That the U.S. still has problems to understand that is not Russia's fault but the result of the skewed descriptions of it. I wrote the above in December 2019(!). Ten month later I revisited the issue: Over the last years the U.S. and its EU puppies have ratcheted up their pressure on Russia. They seem to believe that they can compel Russia to follow their diktat. They can't. But the illusion that Russia will finally snap, if only a few more sanctions ar applied or a few more houses in Russia's neighborhood are set on fire, never goes away.

...

Russia does not accept the fidgety 'rules of the liberal international order'. Russia sticks to the law which is, in my view, a much stronger position. Yes, international law often gets broken. But as Lavrov said elsewhere, one does not abandon traffic rules only because of road accidents. Russia stays calm, no matter what outrageous nonsense the U.S. and EU come up with. It can do that because it knows that it not only has moral superiority by sticking to the law but it also has the capability to win a fight.

...

Russia is militarily secure and the 'west' knows that. It is one reason for the anti-Russian frenzy. Russia does not need to bother with the unprecedented hostility coming from Brussels and Washington. It can ignore it while taking care of its interests. As this is so obvious one must ask what the real reason for the anti-Russian pressure campaign is. What do those who argue for it foresee as its endpoint? The answer to my question was revealed in mid of last year when the U.S. and the EU threatened Russia with 'crushing sanctions'. The idea was to destroy Russia's economy to then breakup the country. It was a very stupid one: Russia is the most autarkic country in the world. It produces nearly everything it needs and has highly desirable products that are in global demand and are especially needed in Europe. Russia also has huge financial reserves. A sanctions strategy against Russia can not work. To use the Ukraine to gaud Russia into some aggression to then apply sanctions was likewise a rather lunatic attempt.

...

Instead of splitting Russia from China the U.S. has unintentionally done its best to push them into a deeper alliance. It was the most severe strategic error the U.S. could make. Instead of a taking a new strategic posture that would support a pivot to Asia strategy the U.S. is now moving troops back to Europe. The narrow-minded bigotry of U.S. decision makers, fed by a belief in U.S. exceptionalism while lacking any conception of real power, has led to this defeat. The U.S., through NATO, had build up the Ukrainian army with the intent to use it against Russia. As NATO General Secretary Stoltenberg proudly claimed: As you know, NATO Allies provide unprecedented levels of military support to Ukraine. Actually NATO Allies and NATO have been there since 2014  trained, equipped and supported the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The recent war was launched by Ukraine on February 17 with artillery barrages against the Donbas republics. Massive sanctions against Russia were introduced. The Russia army finally marched into Ukraine. It took only a few weeks to recognize that the sanctions, as I had expected, utterly failed. In the first days the Rubel fell only to come back much stronger. There were no shortages for Russian consumers. Russia's industries kept buzzing along. But the sanctions did crush the 'west' and especially its consumers. Over the years the U.S. and the EU have held up sanctions against the oil producers Iran, Venezuela and Russia. They also destroyed parts of Libya's oil industry. In total the sanctions have kept some 20% of global oil production either off the markets or made them more difficult to buy and sell. On top of this U.S. relations with major Middle East producers, especially Saudi Arabia, have cooled down. In late 2021 consumer prices for hydrocarbon products exploded. When they threatened to derail the Democrat's chances in the mid terms President Biden used tax payer money, in form of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, to subsidize gasoline prices: The United States and five other world powers announced a coordinated effort to tap into their national oil stockpiles on Tuesday, attempting to drive down rising gas prices that have angered consumers around the world. The move appeared to underwhelm oil traders, who had been expecting President Biden to announce a larger release from Americas Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which is the biggest in the world with 620 million barrels.

...

The concerted effort, the largest ever for a release of strategic reserves across multiple countries, is meant to address fluctuations in supply and demand for oil, administration officials said. And it was a shot across the bow of OPEC Plus, the name for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries as well as Russia and other countries. Mr. Biden has pushed those countries to increase production, but has been rebuffed. The move could bring a response next week when the group holds its monthly meeting. While it could prompt those countries to increase production, it could just as easily push the cartel to restrict supply further and push global prices higher. The SPR voter bribe has since continued: Since 2021, the nations SPR has diminished by about 35%, with 2021 starting with 638 million barrels in inventory. By the end of the year, that figure had dropped to 594 million barrels. Today, there are 416 million barrelsand even more are set to be released. The U.S. has not only sanctioned major oil producers, it also instigated a war against the third largest (Russia) and pissed of the second largest one (Saudi Arabia). The peak of such stupidity was the idea to limit the price 'allowed' to be paid for Russian oil: A sane actor would conclude that the sanctions were a mistake and that lifting them would help Europe more than it would help Russia. But no, the U.S. and European pseudo elites are no longer able to act in a sane manner. They are instead doubling down with the most crazy sanction scheme one has ever heard of: [T]he European Union pushed ahead on Wednesday with an ambitious but untested plan to limit Russias oil revenue.

...

Under the plan, a committee including representatives of the European Union, the Group of 7 nations and others that agree to the price cap would meet regularly to decide on the price at which Russian oil should be sold, and that it would change based on the market price. How do you make a big producer of a rare commodity sell those goods below the general market price? Unless you have a very strong buyers cartel that can also buy the product from elsewhere you can not do this successfully. It is an economic impossibility.

...

Russia has declared that it will not sell any oil to any party that supports the G7 price fixing regime. That is why neither China nor India nor any other country besides the EU and U.S. will agree to adhere to it. A month ago OPEC+ finally fired back by decreasing its output aim by 2 million barrels per day. To some of them a price of oil around $80 per barrel is simply a budget requirement: The quiet understanding emerging from [Biden's] trip was that Saudi Arabia would increase its production by about 750,000 barrels a day, and that the United Arab Emirates would follow suit with an additional 500,000, pushing down gas prices and worsening President Vladimir V. Putins ability to fund a war that was stretching much longer  and with much higher casualties  than Mr. Biden had expected. But the production increases were fleeting. While Saudi Arabia boosted production significantly in July and August, it backed away from their promise to sustain those levels over the rest of 2022. Its leaders, and all of OPEC, worried that the specter of global recession was driving prices down, from $120 a barrel over the summer to below $80. Below that level, they fear, budgets have to be cut and social stability is threatened. So the Saudis decided they had to act. The sanctions and the bad relations with Saudi Arabia mark a major failure of U.S. foreign policy writes M. K. Bhadrakumar: The Biden Administration tempted Fate by underestimating the importance of oil in modern economic and political terms and ignoring that oil will remain the dominant energy source across the world for the foreseeable future, powering everything from cars and domestic heating to huge industry titans and manufacturing plants.

...

The Western powers are far too naive to think that an energy superpower like Russia can be simply erased from the ecosystem. In an energy war with Russia, they are doomed to end up as losers. Historically, Western nations understood the imperative to maintain good diplomatic relations with oil-producing countries. But Biden threw caution into the wind by insulting Saudi Arabia calling it a Pariah state. Any improvement in the US-Saudi relations is not to be expected under Bidens watch. The Saudis distrust American intentions. The congruence of interests on the part of the OPEC to keep the prices high is essentially because they need the extra income for their expenditure budget and to maintain a healthy investment level in the oil industry. The International Monetary Fund in April projected Saudi Arabias breakeven oil price  the oil price at which it would balance its budget  at $79.20 a barrel. The budget point is an obvious one. But more important is that all of OPEC+ recognize the new sanction scheme as a potential attack on each of them: Meanwhile, a systemic crisis is brewing. It is only natural that the OPEC views with scepticism the recent moves by the US and the EU to push back Russias oil exports. The West rationalises these moves as aimed at drastically reducing Russias income from oil exports (which translates as its resilience to fight the war in Ukraine.) The latest G7 move to put a cap on the prices at which Russia can sell its oil is taking matters to an extreme.

...

No doubt, the Wests move is precedent-setting  namely, to prescribe for geopolitical reasons the price at which an oil-producing country is entitled to export its oil. If it is Russia today, it can as well be Saudi Arabia or Iraq tomorrow. The G7 decision, if it gets implemented, will erode OPECs key role regulating the global oil market. Therefore, the OPEC is proactively pushing back. Its decision to cut down oil production by 2 million barrels per day and keep the oil price above $90 per barrel makes a mockery of the G7 decision. The OPEC estimates that Washingtons options to counter OPEC+ are limited. Unlike in the past energy history, the US does not have a single ally today inside the OPEC+ group. Due to rising domestic demands for oil and gas, it is entirely conceivable that the US exports of both items may be curtailed. If that happens, Europe will be the worst sufferer. In an interview with FT last week, Belgiums prime minister Alexander De Croo has warned that as winter approaches, if energy prices are not brought down, we are risking a massive deindustrialisation of the European continent and the long-term consequences of that might actually be very deep. All this is the consequence of U.S. 'Russiagate' phobia, originally raised for purely domestic policy reasons. It is a consequence of misrepresenting and misjudging the size and importance of Russia's economy. It is consequence of believing that Russian (and Saudi) interests can be ignored. Russia's aim is to de-NATO-size Europe. It will do this by using the sanctions against it to deprive Europe of cheap energy. Sustained over months or years it is all that is needed to make NATO fall apart. The sanctions will finally split Europe from the U.S. and its failed foreign policy. Some U.S. politicians still think they must continue to pile onto the mountain of failure that U.S. foreign policy has become: The congressional backlash against Saudi Arabia escalated sharply on Monday as a powerful Democratic senator threatened to freeze weapons sales and security cooperation with the kingdom after its decision to support Russia over the interests of the US. Washingtons anger with its Saudi allies has intensified since last weeks Opec+ decision to cut oil production by 2m barrels, which was seen as a slight to the Biden administration weeks ahead of critical midterm elections, and an important boost to Russia.

...

Hitting out at Mohammed bin Salmans decision to help underwrite Putins war through the OPEC+ cartel, Menendez said there was simply is no room to play both sides of this conflict. I will not green-light any cooperation with Riyadh until the Kingdom reassesses its position with respect to the war in Ukraine. Enough is enough, he said. Another Democratic senator and a member of Congress  Richard Blumenthal and Ro Khanna  expressed similar sentiments in an opinion piece for Politico that also accused Saudi Arabia of undermining US efforts and helping to boost Russian president Vladimir Putins invasion of Ukraine. The senators want to block weapon sales to Saudi Arabia. Mohammed bin Salman will rather happily buy Russian air defense system. In contrast to U.S. systems they have the advantage of actually functioning. Saudi Arabia's Intermediate Range Missiles are from China. It will be happy to add more of those too. Pissing off Russia, China and the whole Middle East - all at the same time - while condemning its 'allies' to a systemic economic crash and utter poverty, is the result of an irrational U.S. foreign policy. I find it unlikely that the Biden administration with its librul ideology will be able to correct its own errors. The failures and mistakes will stay uncorrected and their consequences will multiply. It will take a regime change in Washington, and a change in its deep state ideology, to find back to some realistic view on foreign policies. Posted by b on October 12, 2022 at 16:06 UTC | Permalink Comments next page  next page 
October 12, 2022 Ukraine Open Thread 2022-170 Only for news & views directly related to the Ukraine conflict. Please stick to the topic. The current open thread for other issues is here. Posted by b on October 12, 2022 at 16:16 UTC | Permalink Comments next page  next page 
Finland to accept 1,050 refugees under UN quota in 2023

HeIsinki, Oct 12 (UNI) Finland will receive 1,050 refugees under the United Nations quota in 2023, mainly from Syria, Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to a joint statement by the countrys interior and justice ministries.

"Finland will accept a total of 420 Syrian refugees from Lebanon and Turkey, 210 Afghan refugees from Iran and 160 Congolese refugees from Zambia under the 2023 refugee quota. In addition, Finland will accept 130 refugees evacuated from Libya to Rwanda and 130 stateless refugees," the statement read.

The refugee quota is based on Finlands proposal to the UN Refugee Agency. Finland will continue to accept the same categories of refugees, according to the statement.
Olympia Weekend: A Powerful New Vision

Written by Team MD

11 October 2022

Olympia Weekend: A Powerful New Vision

Nearly every part of the Olympia experience has received an infusion of energy, excitement and upgraded production value. Olympia Weekend has evolved into something not to be missed.

If youve been among the lucky fans who attended Olympia Weekend in recent years, youve likely noticed a new look to the event regarded as the Super Bowl of the fitness industry. Nearly every part of the Olympia experience has received an infusion of energy, excitement and upgraded production value.

Under the direction of Olympia President Dan Solomon and the ownership of Jake Wood, Olympia Weekend has overcome major obstacles, while testing new boundaries in stage production. Nearly every phase of the event has received a shot in the arm. Whether its a new Press Conference format, a more energized Meet the Olympians experience, or a complete overhaul to the staging technology, Olympia Weekend has evolved into something not to be missed.

The arrival of the popular Wellness Olympia division to the Friday evening Finals now means that there are 11 Olympia titles up for grabs this December as the event makes its highly anticipated return to the Las Vegas Strip.

When the new ownership group took over, the event had just spent 15 years at the Orleans Arena and the attached hotel, an off-the-strip location that often had fans seeking alternative places to stay. As part of an ambitious plan, organizers immediately identified new venues, giving away to a fresh look, a more exciting experience, while also solving challenges that accompanied a global pandemic.

This year the event will enjoy two host hotels. Planet Hollywood is home to the main stage production while The Venetian will serve as the official Expo hotel now that the Expo is being held at the beautiful Venetian Expo and Convention Center (formerly known as the Sands Convention Center) located inside The Venetian and connected to The Palazzo. Discounted room rates for both hotels can be accessed at MrOlympia.com

Solomon tells MD, The work never stops. The moment one Olympia ends, we begin planning for the next. We are constantly testing innovations in production and new ways to heighten the overall fan experience. Some ideas work, and some dont. But the goal is to constantly evolve.

With prize money at an all-time high, VIP tickets completely sold out, and record sponsorships, its safe to say that things are going well for the event that started 58 years ago. If youre looking for the perfect way to end 2022, make your way to Vegas the weekend of December 15-18th. Youll be glad you did.

For more information, visit mrolympia.com

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Aerial photo taken on Oct. 10, 2022 shows a view of the archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port along the Oujiang River in Wenzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province. The archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port was discovered at the end of 2021, with ruins of ancient buildings, shipwrecks, and porcelain pieces unearthed in the following archaeological excavations. According to the National Cultural Heritage Administration, the discovery is important to studies of the ancient Maritime Silk Road. (Xinhua/Weng Xinyang) Aerial photo taken on Oct. 10, 2022 shows the ruins of an ancient dock at the archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port in Wenzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province. The archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port was discovered at the end of 2021, with ruins of ancient buildings, shipwrecks, and porcelain pieces unearthed in the following archaeological excavations. According to the National Cultural Heritage Administration, the discovery is important to studies of the ancient Maritime Silk Road. (Xinhua/Weng Xinyang) Undated combo photo shows porcelain wares discovered at the archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port in Wenzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province. The archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port was discovered at the end of 2021, with ruins of ancient buildings, shipwrecks, and porcelain pieces unearthed in the following archaeological excavations. According to the National Cultural Heritage Administration, the discovery is important to studies of the ancient Maritime Silk Road. (Xinhua) Aerial photo taken on Oct. 10, 2022 shows part of the archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port in Wenzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province. The archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port was discovered at the end of 2021, with ruins of ancient buildings, shipwrecks, and porcelain pieces unearthed in the following archaeological excavations. According to the National Cultural Heritage Administration, the discovery is important to studies of the ancient Maritime Silk Road. (Xinhua/Weng Xinyang) Aerial photo taken on Oct. 10, 2022 shows the ruins of an ancient dock at the archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port in Wenzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province. The archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port was discovered at the end of 2021, with ruins of ancient buildings, shipwrecks, and porcelain pieces unearthed in the following archaeological excavations. According to the National Cultural Heritage Administration, the discovery is important to studies of the ancient Maritime Silk Road. (Xinhua/Weng Xinyang) Photo taken on Oct. 10, 2022 shows ruins of buildings from different periods discovered at the archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port in Wenzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province. The archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port was discovered at the end of 2021, with ruins of ancient buildings, shipwrecks, and porcelain pieces unearthed in the following archaeological excavations. According to the National Cultural Heritage Administration, the discovery is important to studies of the ancient Maritime Silk Road. (Xinhua/Weng Xinyang) A researcher checks the ceramics discovered at the archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port in Wenzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, Oct. 11, 2022. The archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port was discovered at the end of 2021, with ruins of ancient buildings, shipwrecks, and porcelain pieces unearthed in the following archaeological excavations. According to the National Cultural Heritage Administration, the discovery is important to studies of the ancient Maritime Silk Road. (Xinhua/Weng Xinyang) Undated combo photo shows porcelain wares discovered at the archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port in Wenzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province. The archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port was discovered at the end of 2021, with ruins of ancient buildings, shipwrecks, and porcelain pieces unearthed in the following archaeological excavations. According to the National Cultural Heritage Administration, the discovery is important to studies of the ancient Maritime Silk Road. (Xinhua) Aerial photo taken on Oct. 10, 2022 shows ancient ditches discovered at the archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port in Wenzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province. The archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port was discovered at the end of 2021, with ruins of ancient buildings, shipwrecks, and porcelain pieces unearthed in the following archaeological excavations. According to the National Cultural Heritage Administration, the discovery is important to studies of the ancient Maritime Silk Road. (Xinhua/Weng Xinyang) A staff member covers the foundation of an ancient building at the archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port in Wenzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, Oct. 10, 2022. The archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port was discovered at the end of 2021, with ruins of ancient buildings, shipwrecks, and porcelain pieces unearthed in the following archaeological excavations. According to the National Cultural Heritage Administration, the discovery is important to studies of the ancient Maritime Silk Road. (Xinhua/Weng Xinyang) A researcher checks a Longquan celadon ware discovered at the archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port in Wenzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, Oct. 11, 2022. The archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port was discovered at the end of 2021, with ruins of ancient buildings, shipwrecks, and porcelain pieces unearthed in the following archaeological excavations. According to the National Cultural Heritage Administration, the discovery is important to studies of the ancient Maritime Silk Road. (Xinhua/Weng Xinyang)
Musk denies speaking to Putin about Ukraine war

New York, Oct 12 (UNI) Tesla founder Elon Musk has denied reports he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin before posting a Twitter poll with his suggestions for ending Russia's invasion of Ukraine taht caused a lot of controversy.

Ian Bremmer, head of the Eurasia Group political risk consultancy, alleged that Musk had personally told him about the conversation with Putin. But Musk has now refuted this, the BBC reported.

In a newsletter, Bremmer wrote that Musk told him the Russian president was "prepared to negotiate", but only if Crimea remained under Russian control, if Ukraine accepted a form of permanent neutrality, and if Kyiv recognised Russia's annexation of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
In a hilarious twist, Lil Yachty's song "Poland," in which he sings "I took the Wock' to Poland," refers to Wockhardt Pharmaceutical and their promethazine-codeine syrup.

The song took off on TikTok, where it easily became a meme, as people started using the audio and tagged it under the hashtag "I took the Wock' To Poland," reports say.

As of this writing, the music video, directed by Cole Bennett, has garnered over two million views on YouTube with over 300 thousand likes and 22 thousand comments.

Invitation to Celebrate

The song's massive success was undeniable, and it even reached Poland's head of state, Mateusz Morawiecki.

On Oct. 12, Quality Control's CEO, Pierre Thomas, claimed that the Prime Minister of Poland is inviting the 25-year-old rapper to "celebrate."

"Thank you for the call. Let's make arrangements to get Mr. Yachty to [your] country to celebrate," he wrote.

"Will check the schedule and get back [to] you. Thank you for your time," replied Prime Minister Morawiecki.

The conversation between the two was screen captured by Thomas, which was sent to Yachty. His conversation with Yachty was also screen captured by Thomas and uploaded on social media, HipHop DX reports.

Lil Yachty gets invite from Polish prime minster thanks to viral "Poland" songhttps://t.co/FoC4kxW3kg pic.twitter.com/isAfcmgSle  HipHopDX (@HipHopDX) October 12, 2022

READ MORE: Ciara Looks Back At Debut For Upcoming Album: 'It's Closest To My First Album'

Fans React

Fans found the entire exchange hilarious, with some finding is ridiculous that Poland's Prime Minister would invite someone singing about bringing drugs into their country.

"Invited to meet the PM of the country about bringing drugs there," a fan tweeted, with a laughing emoji.

"[...] Probably the only artist in history to meet with a prime minister after making a song about promethazine-codeine," another wrote.

The entire situation seemed too good to be true as a fan tweeted: "the prime minister of Poland reaching out to Lil Yachty because of a song about taking the Wock' to Poland is the funniest s**t ever."

Meanwhile, other fans were not so enthusiastic, but more skeptical. "Ain't no way ima try to go back to a country when I made a song about sneaking a narcotic in," a Twitter user wrote.

"Wock' is blocked in Poland and our Prime Minister is inviting Lil Yachty that wrote a song about Poland with the main topic of Wock'," another tweeted.

The YouTube video's comments are no different as some fans pointed out that the drug is illegal in the country. "That fact that Wock' is banned in Poland and Sir Boat would go to prison for bringing it there, yet he pushed through and somehow managed to smuggle it in. Truly breathtaking and an incredible show of courage. Utmost respect to you Sir Boat."

Lil Yachty, born Miles Parks McCollum, got his start in music by releasing his songs on the Internet. He signed a joint venture record deal with Quality Control Records, Capitol Records, and Motown in 2016. He has also been nominated for Grammy Awards for "Broccoli" under Best Rap/Sung Collaboration in 2017 and as a featured artist in "Donda" for Album of the Year in 2022.

READ ALSO: Pusha T Hints At Reunion With Twin Brother No Malice: 'If I Had It My Way, It Would Be The Clipse'

 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A DoorDash delivery bag is seen in Brooklyn, New York City, May 9, 2022.
Kyiv, Oct 12 (UNI) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged countries to hit Russia with more sanctions in response to "a new wave of terror" after Monday's attacks on Ukraine.

At least 19 people were killed and scores more injured when Russian missiles hit regions across the country. At that point defiant, he said the attacks will only "delay our recovery a little".

Following more strikes on Tuesday, Zelensky called on the West to find new ways to apply political pressure to Russia and support Ukraine, the BBC reported.

Zelensky said: "For such a new wave of terror there must be a new wave of responsibility for Russia - new sanctions, new forms of political pressure and new forms of support for Ukraine."

"The terrorist state must be deprived of even the thought that any wave of terror can bring it anything."

The calls came after he met the G7 group of nations for emergency virtual talks on Tuesday.

The bloc - which consists of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and US - promised to continue providing "financial, humanitarian, military, diplomatic and legal" support to his country "for as long as it takes".

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the attacks were retaliation for Saturday's explosion on a key bridge linking Russia to Crimea.

Western countries have already placed widespread sanctions against Russian businesses as well as allies of Putin since the invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

This includes removing major Russian banks from the international financial messaging system Swift, and sanctioning more than 1,000 Russian individuals and businesses - including oligarchs.

While the US has banned all Russian oil and gas imports, the EU has been reluctant to do so because it relies on Russia for about 40% of its gas needs.

Monday's sudden barrage of missile strikes was the heaviest bombardment Ukraine has seen since the early days of the war. Several strikes hit Kyiv city centre in a first. The capital city has not been targeted in months, the BBC added.

On Tuesday, Zelensky said 28 more missiles were fired, 20 of which were shot down. These included Iranian combat drones, he claimed which the BBC said has not been verified.

"If it wasn't for today's strikes, we would have already restored the energy supply, water supply and communications that the terrorists damaged yesterday," the president said in his nightly address on Tuesday evening.

"Today, Russia will achieve only one additional thing: it will delay our recovery a little."

He added that restoration works were taking place "quickly and efficiently" throughout the country, and that electricity and communication had been restored to most cities and villages targeted in Monday's attacks.

"Where there was destruction, the infrastructure will be renewed everywhere. Where there were losses, there is already or will be construction," he said.

On Tuesday, reports also emerged of a mass grave being found in recently liberated Lyman, in the eastern Donetsk region.

UNI ING
Yves here. Some apparent train sabotageyet the German press seems remarkably uncurious.

By John Helmer, the longest continuously serving foreign correspondent in Russia, and the only western journalist to direct his own bureau independent of single national or commercial ties. Helmer has also been a professor of political science, and an advisor to government heads in Greece, the United States, and Asia. He is the first and only member of a US presidential administration (Jimmy Carter) to establish himself in Russia. Originally published at Dances with Bears

For the first time since the war against Russia began in the Ukraine eight years ago, the German government has not blamed Moscow (repeat not blamed Moscow) for coordinated acts of sabotage on Sunday, which the German secret services say they are investigating. The Germans also say they are investigating, and have yet to confirm the culprits responsible for the bomb attacks on the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea two weeks ago.

The Berlin Chancellor, the Bundeswehr, and the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) were never so silent for so long in blaming Russia with unequivocal evidence in writing of poisoning with a Novichok chemical warfare agent of Russian political opposition figure, Alexei Navalny, in 2020.

The official German silence follows the cut of Deutsche Bahn cable communication lines at 0640 on Sunday morning, halting all German trains in the north of country for several hours, stopping passenger trains moving westwards to Denmark and The Netherlands, and freight trains eastwards towards Poland and the Ukraine..

The German state propaganda agency Deutsche Welle (German Wave) announced: Sabotage to cables that were vital for train traffic meant Deutsche Bahn had to stop trains running in the north this morning for nearly three hours, Deutsche Bahn said. The German rail operator said security authorities had taken over the investigation. There was no immediate information on potential suspects. Investigators, however, said the communications cables were cut at one location outside Berlin and another in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia. German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said authorities have to assume intentional acts were behind the rail disruption as cables were severed at two locations. Transport Minister Volker Wissing added, It is clear that this was a targeted and malicious action.

The locations of the cable attacks identified by German police were in Hohenschonhausen, a district of Berlin, and in the Westphalian town of Herne. North Rhine-Westphalia is in the west of the country, on the Dutch border, with Dusseldorf and Cologne the major cities; the Berlin sabotage was 512 kilometres by road to the east.

Source: https://www.eurail.com/

German police told the DPA press agency the precise locations of the rail cable cuts were Hohenschonhausen, Berlin, and Herne, North Rhine-Westphalia, 512 kms away. Deutsche Bahn (DB) had earlier blamed the network disruption on a technical problem with radio communications. Spiegel magazine said the communications system was down at around 6:40 a.m. (0440 GMT). At 11:06 a.m, DB tweeted that traffic had been restored, but warned of continued train cancellations and delays. The disruption affected rail services through the states of Lower Saxony and Schlewsig-Holstein as well as the city states of Bremen and Hamburg, with a knock-on effect to international rail journeys to Denmark and the Netherlands.

The propaganda agency added: The latest disruption comes after reported acts of sabotage targeting the vital Nord Stream gas pipeline last month, which prompted NATO and the European Union to sound the alarm on protecting critical infrastructure.

That was a deliberate innuendo. Der Spiegel has already used the Poles to cast public blame on Russia for Nord Stream. The German intelligence outlet also aired a fabricated CIA report implying the same thing.

A Brookings think tank report in Washington has claimed that publication of evidence of US and Polish involvement in the Nord Stream attack was Russian state propaganda, preferred Kremlin narratives, and Kremlin backed accounts; Brookings also concluded that experts broadly agree that Russia is the key suspect. This research at Brookings has been paid for by the German government and a German corporate foundation. In fiscal year 2020, Brookings has reported the German Government was the single largest government donor to the think tank with an amount over $2 million. A German foundation called Robert Bosch Stiftung added another million dollars. The Bosch group doubled its donation to Brookings in 2021; it sponsors anti-Russian propaganda. Under Ukrainian pressure, in March Bosch stopped its consumer products and truck component manufacturing in Russia.

Source: https://www.brookings.edu

In Berlin, the German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has said nothing in her ministry press releases, public speeches, or Twitter stream on the Nord Stream case. Nor has her fellow Green Party minister for economics and climate, Robert Habeck. Both face a hostile reception when the Greens party holds public meetings later this month.

The North Rhine-Westphalia state, where the western rail cable cut occurred, is Christian Democratic Union (CDU) country, with declining Social Democratic Party (SPD) votes, and a minority Green representation which has been growing, as has the rightwing Alliance for Germany (AfD). The Mecklenberg-Western Pomerania state, part of the Democratic German Republic before reunification, is the northeast German state directly affected by the campaigns to stop Nord Stream gas coming ashore at Greifsvald; the state is dominated by a left-right coalition which is breaking apart.

Current opinion polls in both German states reveal the steady growth of the AfD; the party now draws one in four of the Mecklenberg-Western Pomerania voters.

Political weakness in the multi-party coalition in Berlin and personal greed and corruption are unprecedented since 1945, according to veteran German sources. The national voter polls show that since the Russian special military operation began in February, Baerbocks and Habecks Green voters have lost confidence, as have the SPD voters backing Chancellor Olaf Scholz. If a national election were called this month, they would be ousted from office.

Source: https://www.politico.eu/

German sources, who remember Scholz when he was mayor of Hamburg (2011-18), describe him as having reached the limit of his capability in the city then  also the strength of his backbone.

In an interview with the small northwestern newspaper Neue Osnabrucker Zeitung, Scholz said on September 28: Everything suggests that Germany will probably get through this winter, even though Russia has stopped its gas supplies for flimsy reasons. Scholz omitted to say  and the journalist failed to ask him  about the cause of the Nord Stream attacks two days earlier.

The co-leader of the German Greens, Omid Nouripour, an Iranian by origin, has been vociferous on his Twitter stream in support of political protests in Iran and in celebrating the Jewish New Year between September 25 and September 27. Nouripour had nothing to say about the Nord Stream bombings on the day in between. He has been much swifter to react to the rail line sabotage.

Source: https://twitter.com/

There are roughly twice as many Jews living in Iran as are living in Germany; Jewish voters in the last German election comprised less than 0.2%. More Russians live in Germany than Jews.

A German electronics engineer and IT specialist reports it is is normal to have serious incidents with Deutsche Bahn. I remember one when unknown people planted steel plates on to the rails and the high-speed train to and from Switzerland had to be stopped. Police helicopters followed to patrol the line for a week after that. From what has been reported publicly, and noting the coordination of the incidents far apart geographically, my conclusion is that due to the tight time difference [between the two cable cuts] only a secret service could plan this. Whether its our own secret service or the Polish, I dont say. I would exclude the Netherlands and France too. I also remember how the German government was and still is criticizedby [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky and [Ukrainian Ambassador to Berlin Andrei] Melnyk.

For the archive of investigations of how former Chancellor Angela Merkel and her intelligence and security men acted to blame the Kremlin for the Navalny Novichok affair of 2020, read this.
My job with the Post has evolved since October 2000, when I began work with The City Paper. In 2008, both publications became aligned via former owner SouthComm Inc. I have served as Post managing editor since 2011.

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(Natural News) The Russian State Duma has called the explosion at the Crimean Bridge a declaration of war without rules, warning that Moscow will almost certainly retaliate for the Wests attacks on vital civilian infrastructure.

On Oct. 8 at approximately 6 a.m. local time, a massive explosion was set off by a truck while it was on the Crimea Bridge, which set fire to seven fuel tanks of a train that was passing by and collapsing two sections of the motorway connecting Russian occupied Crimea to the Krasnodar Krai region. Three civilians who were in a nearby car when the truck blew up died in the explosion.

Vladimir Konstantinov, chairman of the State Council of Crimea, the leading body of the Russian-backed government of Crimea, blamed the explosion on Ukrainian vandals who have finally managed to reach their bloody hands to the Crimean Bridge. (Related: Ukraines Zelensky called for NATO strikes on Russia, raising new fears WWIII is on the horizon.)

Oleg Morozov, a member of the State Duma, in an interview with Russian news agency RIA Novosti, went even further and said that the attack on the Crimean Bridge was part of a blatant terrorist war being waged against us.

Morozov noted that Russia will be forced to give an adequate response to the attack because if not, such terrorist attacks will multiply.

These remarks were supported by Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russias security council and former president and prime minister. Medvedev said the only way Russia can respond is by targeting Ukrainian terrorists.

Russia can only respond to this crime by directly killing terrorists, as is the custom elsewhere in the world. This is what Russian citizens expect, he said in an interview. That was a terrorist act and sabotage committed by the criminal Kyiv regime. There never was any doubt about that. All reports were presented and conclusions made.

Putin calls attack on bridge a terrorist attack by Kyiv

During a meeting with the chairman of Russias Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, President Vladimir Putin directly blamed the Ukrainian government for the attack on the Crimean Bridge. He called it a terrorist act masterminded by Ukrainian special forces.

Theres no doubt it was a terrorist act directed at the destruction of critically important civilian infrastructure of the Russian Federation, said Putin. And the authors, perpetrators and those who ordered it are the special services of Ukraine.

Bastrykin said Ukrainian special forces, collaborators who are Russian citizens and several other countries took part in the attack and helped Kyiv plan it. Putin has ordered Bastrykin to create a commission to conduct a criminal investigation into the act of terror.

We have already established the route of the truck, said Bastrykin, who claimed that the truck had been to Bulgaria, Armenia and Georgia. It entered Russia through the North Ossetia region before heading to Krasnodar Krai.

Ukraine has not officially taken responsibility for the Crimean Bridge attack. Officials have pushed back against allegations that Ukraine is supporting terrorists by repeatedly accusing Russia of committing terrorist acts of its own.

For the latest news about the Russia-Ukraine conflict, visit WWIII.news.

Watch this video from New Patriot discussing the State Duma calling the Crimea Bridge explosion a declaration of war.

This video is from the channel NEW PATRIOT on Brighteon.com.

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(Natural News) Political cartoonist Ben Garrison urged the public to focus on exposing corruption and telling the truth about what is happening in America right now.

The focus should be exposing corruption and telling the truth about whats really going on, he told Dan Happel of Connecting the Dots during the Brighteon.TV programs Oct. 4 episode. I stand out because Im able [to], and [Im] one of the few cartoonists in the country thats able to speak out without fear of losing my job because theres nobody there to fire me.

Happel described Garrison as one of the most famous political cartoonists in the U.S., adding that his unique political cartoons are dynamite stuff that knows how to tell a story and say something in a very dour way against the most insane ideas in the world.

The political cartoonist recounted his beginnings, drawing his first editorial comic for a small newspaper in San Angelo, Texas in 1980. He later specialized in graphics and design, eventually having his own commercial art business with major corporations worldwide as his clients. Garrison eventually returned to the drawing board with his editorial cartoons in 2009 after learning of the bankers being bailed out following the Great Recession.

According to his website Grrr Graphics, he drew the cartoons to protest the central banker bailout, bloated government and the slide toward tyranny. Garrison is proud that he is not part of the mainstream media and editors do not tell him what he can and cannot draw.

The libertarian cartoonist got inspired to illustrate his thoughts after reading G. Edward Griffins book The Creature from Jekyll Island, which denounced the Federal Reserve. But his first cartoon, which lambasted the central bank, only got half a dozen views.

It started to snowball after a year following his March of Tyranny cartoon. I got emails from all around the world about it, [talking about] what a great cartoon it was, Garrison told Happel. It really encouraged me to draw more.

Garrisons political cartoons expose the Deep State

However, Garrison was almost brought to the point of giving up doing cartoons after trolls attacked one of his works and proceeded to smear his reputation. (Related: The purge of conservatives from social media continues as Instagram bans popular political cartoonist Ben Garrison for offensive content.)

In spite of this, his wife Tina encouraged him to continue his work. She also supported him by handling his social media presence and spreading his real cartoons. The Garrisons would ultimately beat the trolls and he started getting more supporters who bought his books, prints and original cartoons.

We ended up putting the trolls away because we outshouted them. We had people who knew where I really was and that was the start of Grrr Graphics and our success, he said.

According to Garrison, he did not start his cartoons to get famous or make money. He was also not interested in going after the Pulitzer Prize like his peers or the establishment cartoonists who cant wait to get a Pulitzer Prize to validate their life. Happel agreed, saying that Garrison is not like the 99 percent of political cartoonists in the U.S. that follow the status quo because they are getting paid to do it.

Moreover, Garrison said his political cartoons expose corrupt politicians alongside the Deep State and Americas shadow government. The cartoonist added that the Deep State swamp was a lot deeper and vast than the American people had imagined. Given that it wields way too much power, Garrison agreed that the Deep State swamp truly needs a draining.

Smeared.news has more stories about Americans such as Garrison who are being discredited on the internet and social media for speaking the truth.

Watch the Oct. 4 episode of Connecting The Dots below. Catch new episodes of Connecting The Dots with Dan Happel every Tuesday at 5-6 p.m. on Brighteon.TV.

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Connecting the Dots with Dan Happel: America is under attack and Americans must do something about it  Brighteon.TV.

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(Natural News) In another sign that our society is on the brink of total collapse, thanks to years of attacks by the Marxist Democratic left, a horrific scene unfolded in New York City in recent days.

According to the New York Post, as a man trapped underneath a tractor-trailer rig lay dead, a woman came up to the body and picked the dead mans pocket, even as ghoulish onlookers cheered. Because of the theft of his wallet, police were not immediately able to identify him or notify his next of kin, the report added.

The report added:

The gruesome crash occurred as the victim, who police said was believed to be in his 50s, was crossing Eighth Avenue at West 44th Street around 11:30 a.m. Thursday.

Video shows the thief, wearing white pants and a black jacket, shimmying under the truck toward the dead man and smoothly reaching for his wallet.

Giddy onlookers  seemingly unbothered by the sight of the dead man  egged her on.

Go ahead, gangsta! Go ahead! one man can be heard saying on the video as she moved in to pick the dead mans pocket.

Shaken witnesses called police on the brazen robbery, but so far, NYPD officers have yet to apprehend the alleged crook who is nevertheless wanted for grand larceny, police sources told The Post.

The devilish crime did succeed in dragging out the tragedy  without the victims wallet, cops dont know who he is and havent been able to reach his family, the report said. No charges have been filed against the driver, a police spokeswoman said on Saturday.

Several New Yorkers, however, did react with horror at the gruesome scene and thoughtless crime.

Its like the Gladiators. Nobody came in to stop? Thats even more disturbing, Elma Kanefield, 83, a therapist who lives on the Upper West Side of the city, told The Post.

Fifty-one-year-old security guard Marco Nieves, who works at the St. James Theater on West 44th Street, told The Post he was lost for words. He added: To see somebody dead under a truck and actually do that  thats horrible.

Fking New York, man, added another man named Tommy, who works in security.

Theo Cooper, 25, a tech support engineer who lived in Manhattan but moved to North Carolina when he turned 18, said the outrageous theft did not make him miss New York City one iota.

I am kinda disappointed, I didnt think New York was the kind of place where that would happen, Cooper said. Sure, were used to being all grumpy and frustrated at each other, but were also supposed to stick up for each other and not like convince each other to do terrible things.

Crime is up in New York City by double digits over last year, which was an increase over 2020, like most other major U.S. cities run by far-left soft on crime Democrats.

To that end, things have gotten so bad in California that residents there are moving to Mexico, which has its own problems with the deadly drug cartels.

According to a CNBC report, The California exodus continues as residents head south of the border, a rising number of former Californians are migrating out of the country altogether and are instead heading south of the border.

I would say at least half are coming down from California, Darrell Graham of Baja123 Real Estate Group told the outlet. Suddenly, the cost of taxes, the crime rates, the politics, all the things that people are unhappy with in California are coming down to Mexico.

Currently, as many as 200,000 Californians now commute between California and Mexico on a daily basis because many of them work in California and live just below the border in Baja California due to its proximity.

Sources include:

NaturalNews.com

CNBC.com
(Natural News) Filmmaker and producer Marcus Pittman remarked that conservatives and Christians have ignored Hollywood for too long.

I think for the most part, conservatives and Christians have neglected to get involved in Hollywood or the film industry at a pretty drastic scale, he told theologian Dr. John Diamond during the Oct. 5 episode of America Unhinged on Brighteon.TV.

Weve gone the route of talk radio and news and information, because thats how conservatives think. Mostly they are modernist in that sense, so they think in terms of facts and data and news.

According to the founder of the Loor streaming platform, liberals are good with thinking about stories and narratives to tug the emotional heartstrings of people.

Thus, Christians and conservatives must also do the same  aside from investing their capital into resources and building companies or organizations that challenge the woke agenda. Pittman cited Bible stories, such as Jesus parables and Moses receipt of the Ten Commandments, as examples of these entertaining and life-changing narratives.

Moreover, he remarked that liberals do not care about having their own media because they own Hollywood. They also have the money to advertise and pay other platforms to show their movies.

Ultimately, Pittman urged conservative investors to stop making terrible artistic decisions and start making movies with great stories that they want their families to watch, enjoy and pass down to the next generation.

Diamond: Hollywood is manipulating the American people

The America Unhinged host told his guest that people do not realize how bad Hollywood and the news media have become, with all the propaganda and lies coming out. (Related: New Out of Shadows documentary exposes the media and Hollywood for manipulating the masses with lies and propaganda.)

People dont understand how much Hollywood manipulates people, said Diamond. It is used to manipulate people because they want to control the narrative,

He cited two 1960s Hollywood movies  Elmer Gantry and Inherit The Wind  that were used to attack Christianity, the Word of God and religion.

Elmer Gantry involves the story of the titular character, a traveling salesman with a far-from-moral lifestyle who meets a preacher woman known for her fire-and-brimstone sermons. Inherit The Wind, meanwhile, centered around a teacher being tried in court for teaching the theory of evolution as espoused by Charles Darwin.

It made people really back off, kind of like the Jan. 6 things, when they knew the election was stolen. Everybody kind of backed off of Christianity in the schools, in the government and everything else, because these two propaganda pieces came out and really made Christians and Christianity look bad, Diamond explained.

The theologian added that there was not much pushback when the Supreme Court ruled on the separation of Church and State.

Diamond pointed out that people do not understand the influence that movies have. Ultimately, Diamond agreed with his guest that Christians must launch transformative documentaries and movies.

Follow HollywoodHater.com for more stories like this.

Watch the Oct. 5 episode of America Unhinged below. America Unhinged with Dr. John Diamond airs Monday to Friday at 9-10 a.m., Saturday at 8-9 a.m. and Sunday at 9-10 p.m. on Brighteon.TV.

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(Natural News) After Hurricane Ian battered Florida in late September 2022, firefighters in the Sunshine State now have to face a new disaster  electric vehicles (EVs) spontaneously combusting.

The hurricane caused massive flooding in the state, inundating many EVs. With Florida being the second largest EV marker in the U.S. after California with 95,000 registered vehicles, firefighters have to deal with an equally big disaster as Ian  if not more massive.

In an Oct. 6 tweet, Florida State Fire Marshal Jimmy Patronis Jr. warned of the risk of EVs spontaneously catching fire.

Theres a ton of EVs disabled from Ian, he tweeted. As those [EV] batteries corrode, fires start. Thats a new challenge that our firefighters havent faced before  at least on this kind of scale. Patronis added that it takes special training and understanding of EVs to ensure these fires are put out quickly and safely.

The state fire marshal, who also serves as Floridas chief financial officer, shared videos of firefighters in Naples, Florida trying to deal with a Tesla EV that spontaneously ignited. In one of the videos, bystanders can be overheard saying that the firemen had already used hundreds of gallons of water but to no avail.

Erich Wachsman, director of the Maryland Energy Innovation Institute, said the qualities that make lithium-ion battery cells powerful enough to move passenger vehicles can also make them vulnerable to catching fire. Closely-placed electrodes that increase the chance of a short circuit, coupled by a flammable liquid electrolyte that fills the battery cells, increase the risk of electric cars burning.

This flammable liquid could get into whats called a thermal runaway situation where it just starts sort of boiling, and that results in a fire, he elaborated.

Emma Sutcliffe, project director of Melbourne, Australia-based EV FireSafe, explained that EVs with lithium-ion batteries burn hotter and faster. They also require far more water to be fully extinguished. Sutcliffe warned that the batteries can re-ignite hours or even days after the fire is initially controlled.

EV batteries cause house fires in Maryland and Virginia

EV batteries can also start fire while charging. Defective battery cells that malfunction while charging were blamed for house fires that occurred in Maryland and Virginia. (Related: Electric vehicle charging causes house fires that result in substantial losses.)

An April 1 house fire in Damascus, Maryland caused by a charging EV resulted in $350,000 worth of damages. One person in the house had to be rescued during the blaze. While no injuries were reported, the fire displaced a family of four and their pets. Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service (MCFRS) spokesman Pete Piringer said the fire started in the houses garage near the front end of a Chevrolet Volt that was charging.

Four days later, a lithium battery inside an electric scooter that overheated while charging caused an apartment fire in Bethesda, Maryland. The conflagration resulting in about $150,000 worth of damages also displaced three people, with one resident suffering minor burns as a result.

According to Piringer, MCRFS firefighters responded to the scene after they saw smoke coming out of a unit on the third floor. They managed to extinguish the fire almost half an hour later.

An April 18 house fire in Ashburn, Virginia, meanwhile, started from the EV that was being charged in the garage. The Loudoun County fire marshal ruled the blaze accidental, pointing to the vehicles malfunctioning charging system as the culprit.

Firefighters from the Loudoun County Fire and Rescue Department responded to a 911 call for smoke visible from the garage. The blaze caused $15,400 in damages, but the home owner and other occupants managed to escape.

FlyingCars.news has more stories about the failures of EVs.

Watch this video of an electric bus in France spontaneously bursting into flames.

This video is from the FalconsCAFE Sharing is caring channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Op-ed: Increased lithium demand for electric vehicle batteries comes with a price.

Floridians would have faced nightmare scenario if electric vehicles were the norm: Analysis.

Electric vehicle market already imploding as manufacturers cut production goals, significantly raise prices.

Latest lithium-ion battery uses water-salt solution, reducing risk of fire and explosion in household electronics.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk

CNBC.com

WesternJournal.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Chinese law enforcement arrested almost 100 Falun Gong practitioners back in July 2022, according to a Sept. 26 report that was just recently made public. More than 20 of the arrested individuals were over 70 years old, with the oldest detainee being a 98-year-old woman.

According to the report released by U.S.-based nonprofit Minghui.org, 15 branches of the Daqing City Public Security Bureau in the northeastern Chinese province of Heilongjiang participated in the July 12 arrest. It added that the sweep was part of a provincial-level operation, citing police officers who participated in the campaign. Law enforcement simultaneously conducted the one-day operation across Daqing.

The nonprofit stated in its report that the police had been preparing for this operation for more than nine months. The Heilongjiang provincial police department distributed the names of Falun Gong practitioners in Daqing to each municipal police bureau. The names were then turned over to each municipal police branch, and then to individual police stations.

The police made the arrests in the early morning of July 12, taking almost 100 Falun Gong adherents into custody. The July 12 arrests were just a part of the 235 Falun Gong practitioners arrested and detained in July and August 2022.

Moreover, police took away the personal belongings of the Falun Gong detainees  including laptops, printers, mobile phones and books related to the movement. Zhao Li, one of the practitioners arrested and detained, even claimed that law enforcement stole cash and jewelry during the arrests.

According to Zhaos family members, a gold necklace and cash amounting to 9,000 Chinese yuan ($1,251) were missing after officers from the Lindian County police branch ransacked their home. She and her family suspect that the police were responsible.

Minghui: CCPs 610 Office behind Falun Gong arrests

The popularity of Falun Gong or Falun Dafa  a spiritual practice centering on truthfulness, compassion and forbearance  surged in the 1990s, with an estimated membership of between 70 million and 100 million by the end of the decade. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) under former paramount leader Jiang Zemin saw the movement as a threat. (Related: Communist China is the new Nazi Germany and poses a grave danger to humanity.)

The former Chinese leader described Falun Gong as an evil or heretical cult, denouncing its rising influence as something unprecedented in the country since its founding 50 years ago. Jiang then issued a circular on June 7, 1999 that ordered law enforcement to disintegrate the movement.

Three days after issuing the circular, he set up the 610 Office  formally the Office of the Central Leading Group for Preventing and Handling Evil Cult Issues  to address the Falun Gong problem. The extralegal groups informal name stems from the date of its establishment: June 10, 1999. It was reportedly dissolved in theory in March 2018, but appears to remain active.

According to Minghui, the 610 Office appeared to be responsible for the list of Falun Gong adherents forwarded to the Heilongjiang provincial public security bureau. The provincial bureau and its sub-bureaus also conducted the arrests at the behest of the central office.

The non-profit condemned Chinese law enforcement officers for their illegal action against Falun Gong practitioners, adding that the police feared Minghui for exposing their deeds.

Speaking to the Mandarin edition of the Epoch Times, an anonymous lawyer reiterated that the CCPs persecution of Falun Gong is illegal.

As long as you are a Falun Gong practitioner, no matter how senior your age may be, and whether your physical condition is suitable for detention  the CCP will still arrest, detain and put Falun Gong practitioners on trial, the lawyer said.

Visit CommunistChina.news for more stories about the CCPs persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.

Watch Health Ranger Mike Adams and investigative journalist Mitchell Nicholas Gerber discuss the CCPs organ harvesting operations that target Falun Gong adherents on the Health Ranger Report.

This video is from the BrighteonTV channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Mainstream media helping communist China justify the slaughter of Falun Gong practitioners.

Connecting the Dots: CCP leaders are making tons of money by harvesting organs of political enemies  Brighteon.TV.

Mike Adams and Mitchell Nicholas Gerber discuss communist Chinas organ harvesting of Falun Gong members  Brighteon.TV.

China declares all lives matter but fails to mention the mass murder of Falun Gong practitioners, or the secret organ harvesting operations by the CCP.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

FreedomHouse.org

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Remember when governments and the corporate-controlled media machine continually and repeatedly blasted the message to us all that getting vaccinated for the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) would help protect others, including grandma, against becoming infected? It turns out this was all a lie.

European Parliament Member (MP) Robert Roos of The Netherlands recently questioned a Pfizer representative by the name of J. Small about whether or not her employer conducted tests or trials to confirm this longtime claim. Her answer, though not exactly shocking, is a smoking gun.

If you dont get vaccinated, youre anti-social! This is what the Dutch prime minister and health minister told us, Roos said in a video presentation about the revelation, which includes video footage of Small admitting that Pfizer never even once tested covid jabs for stopping transmission  watch below:

You dont get vaccinated just for yourself, but also for others  you do it for all of society  thats what they said, Roos explains in the video about the types of propaganda we all heard throughout the scamdemic. (Related: Pfizer committed fraud with Fauci Flu shots and must be held accountable for all associated injuries and deaths.)

Today, this turns out to be complete nonsense. In a covid hearing in the European Parliament, one of the Pfizer directors just admitted to me: at the time of the introduction, the vaccine had never been tested on stopping the transmission of the virus.

Roos goes on to explain that this revelation removes the entire legal basis for the covid passport, which led to massive institutional discrimination as people lost access to essential parts of society.

I find this to be shocking  even criminal, he adds.

Everyone at Pfizer, including criminal CEO Albert Bourla, belongs in PRISON

As you will see, Roos asked a Ms. J. Small from Pfizer the following questions:

Was the Pfizer covid vaccine tested on stopping the transmission of the virus before it entered the market? If not, please say it clearly. If yes, are you willing to share the data with this committee? And I really want a straight answer  yes or no. Im looking forward to it.

Small then answered:

Regarding the question around whether we knew about stopping immunization before it entered the market  no, haha. These, emm, you know, we had to really move at the speed of science to really understand what is taking place in the market.

That Small just laughed out of her snaggle-toothed mouth is simply astounding. Roos calls it scandalous, mourning the millions of people worldwide who felt forced to get vaccinated because of the myth that you do it for others.'

Now, this turned out to be a cheap lie, Roos says. This should be exposed.

We are doing our part to expose it, and we encourage you to do the same. Smalls video, which is also shareable via a tweet Roos shared (see below), is well-put together and contains actual video footage from the incriminating hearing.

? BREAKING: In COVID hearing, #Pfizer director admits: #vaccine was never tested on preventing transmission. Get vaccinated for others was always a lie. The only purpose of the #COVID passport: forcing people to get vaccinated. The world needs to know. Share this video! ?? pic.twitter.com/su1WqgB4dO  Rob Roos MEP ?? (@Rob_Roos) October 11, 2022

We simply cannot allow Pfizer and the cronies who work for the company to get away with mass murder. These are serious crimes against humanity that were committed, and that desperately require justice  and sooner rather than later.

Frankly, I still dont directly know a person who died from actual covid, one commenter wrote. I sure do directly know some people who have had strokes, heart problems, shingles, tinnitus, Bells palsy, and death after the experimental injections.

The latest news about Pfizer and the drug industry can be found at BigPharmaNews.com.

Sources for this article include:

CitizenFreePress.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) What have they done? Government confirms COVID Vaccination INCREASES risk of Death in all Age-Groups  The Expose (expose-news.com)

(Article by Peter Halligan republished from PeterHalligan.Substack.com)

https://expose-news.com/2022/10/09/gov-confirms-covid-vaccination-increases-risk-death/

The inestimable team at the Expose have completed an analysis of official ONS data for age standardized mortality rates per 100,000 per age cohort for each of the unvaxxed and various dosages of the toxic injection.

As suspected, the cure is worse than the disease.

This data is all very alarming. A poorly functioning vaccine should still have at least a small positive effect. A non-functioning vaccine should have no effect. Yet we see a negative effect in all age groups for both 1 or 2 doses taken at least 21 days ago, and it is most cases the negative effect is quite large. The fact that the pattern is consistent and predictable, meaning it moves smoothly from month to month and age bracket to age bracket, gives even more credibility to the pattern.

This ONS data set covered a 13 month period as injections were steadily rolled-out to the most elderly and infirm, then to the next oldest age cohort and so on.

Another 8 months of data to end September 2022 is needed immediately.

It is still to better analyse, understand and factor in is the validity of:

the strategy of health authorities of every country in the world that deployed mRNA injections to NOT conduct independent clinical trials  before the deployment of EXPERIMENTAL injections of gene therapies on their unsuspecting and trusting populations  to verify US clinical trial (shoddy warp speed) results  this is possibly ILLEGAL, if not unethical and immoral

the Drosten RT-PCR test to designate C19 cases at 30-40 amplification cycles when more than 24 cycles is known to produce false positive results of presence of the SARS-COV2 virus, not its infectiousness

the impact such C19 case designations had on the duration of remaining life amongst 2-6 other co-morbidities (how much did the presence of SARS-COV2 actually shorten the lives of those infected when those that succumbed with C19 present had already lived 1-2 years longer than population life expectancy (see below also)

the extensive use of DNRs and Midazolam in the UK (and Remdesivir in the US) to terminate the lives (murder) those designated as suffering from C19 (practising of iatrogenic eugenics)

the denial of alternative treatment protocols that involved the use of appropriate dosages of IVM and HCQ by the WHO and the health regulator. This DENIAL of alternative, off label treatments by inserting government OPINION into the doctor-patient relationship is probably ILLEGAL  if not unethical and immoral

the role of politicians in interfering in doctor-patient relationships and the use of propaganda to divide the country, coerce experimental injections and justify the criminality of the Hippocratic Oath, the Nuremburg Code and Helsinki protocols enshrined in international law

the role of social media in enabling criminal government propaganda (by taking bribes), by denying free speech of the most qualified and experienced practitioners in the world on their platforms and the cost in human lives from such censorship

Tragically, even though all-cause mortality data ALREADY indicates the increased lethality of the injections compared to official C19 data THIS IS NOT THE END OF THE STORY.

Read more at: PeterHalligan.Substack.com
(Natural News) Professor Jeffrey Sachs stated Sunday that the U.S. should be demanding that Ukraine stops shelling the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and blaming it on Russia, otherwise the world will face a nuclear armageddon on two fronts.

(Article by Steve Watson republished from Summit.news)

Sachs, a prominent public policy analyst, made the comments on a recent podcast, noting Our media says they dont know who is shelling the plant. And they cant put one and one together to say that if Russia is in control of the plant, maybe theyre not shelling their own plant. Maybe its Ukraine who is shelling the plant.

The power plant in southeastern Ukraine has been under the control of the Russian military since early March, however, it has continued to be operated by Ukrainian staff.

The plant has come under sustained shelling in recent days, with the Ukrainian government blaming Russia.

It is almost surely Ukraine shelling the power plant and we cant bring ourselves to express a simple truth and that hurts because they continue to shell the power plant with impunity, Sachs further declared.

We dont know ever with our government what is really going on because they dont tell the truth, he further warned, adding That just goes with the business of government, the way that it is viewed in Washington.

Sachs urged that This country is a war machine, adding Eisenhower told us about it with the military-industrial complex speech.

The main job of the president of the United States is to stop the war machine from making wars. And we are now in an escalation, heading towards Armageddon, according to the president, Sachs further stated, referring to Joe Bidens much criticised comments last week.

Thats not a spectator sport, thats his job to keep us away from Armageddon, Sachs asserted.

Watch:

Sachs made headlines earlier this month when he said that in his opinion the U.S. was behind the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines:

Shocking moment of truth on Bloomberg when Professor Jeffrey Sachs says he believes the US was behind the Nord Stream pipelines destruction. The reporters start to lose it, of course. pic.twitter.com/CteWb7utcv  sarah (@sahouraxo) October 3, 2022

Read more at: Summit.news
(Natural News) The latest jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows that the Great Resignation is far from over, and millions of Americans are still voluntarily leaving their jobs.

According to the report, the number of unemployed Americans who quit or otherwise voluntarily left their jobs and immediately began looking for new employment rose to 15.9 percent in September. This is the highest recorded level of job leavers, as they are called, since 1990. (Related: Mass layoffs incoming: 50% of employers plan to cut jobs in the next 12 months.)

This trend has continued despite the worsening economic situation, which has led to companies laying off workers or announcing hiring freezes. This suggests that many Americans still feel they can get a better job if they leave their current one.

Survey data support the BLS latest report. Julia Pollak, chief economist at the employment website ZipRecruiter, said 25 percent of job seekers told the site last month that they feel so confident in the availability of jobs that theyre willing to quit their current work even without having another lined up.

Its really an indicator of how hot and how strong this labor market is, said Nick Bunker, the North America economic research director for employment website Indeed.

The jobs report shows that the overall unemployment rate is 3.5 percent, the same level as in 2019, showing that the countrys economy still has not recovered.

Employees who stay are affected by Great Resignation

The massive wave of people resigning from their posts is also affecting the people they leave behind at the offices. Data from the BLS show that the American workforce is not as productive as just a year ago.

Pollak noted that the economic ennui in the economy, as she called it, began in early 2020. This was when nearly 20 million people were laid off in a matter of weeks due to the economic restrictions placed due to the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

As millions of people resigned or were laid off, existing employees were often worked to the point of burnout by their bosses. New hires with significantly less experience were regularly brought on with higher wages. Workers who did not experience pay bumps came away from all of this feeling like they were no longer being rewarded for their hard work, noted Pollak.

Thats really discouraging to top performers, she added. The result of this economic ennui is a drop in productivity.

The report noted that productivity is down 4.1 percent on an annualized basis. This is the biggest decline in worker productivity since the government started keeping track of this statistic in 1948. Worker productivity never experienced massive decreases like this until now.

Pollak noted that other factors are likely contributing to the drop in productivity, but she is certain that burnout, frustration and ennui are significant parts of it. Productivity is the fuel of the economy, she said, and if it continues to decline, the U.S. economy will shrink, quality of life will go down, opportunities will dry up and innovation and ideas will go elsewhere.

Brian Bouser, 22, of Louisville, Kentucky, was one such worker affected by this growing despair in the workforce. His boss at the car rental company where he worked for $25 an hour informed him through text that his pay was going down to $13.50 an hour without any explanation.

Bouser noted that the pay of all of his co-workers was also cut in half, and this experience made him question whether all the time he spent working hard meant anything. I used to think that having a job would make me secure. I no longer think that, he said.

The job was, basically, you drive for six hours a day in a circle, he said. And at the end of it, youve just gotten nowhere.

Learn more about the state of Americas economy at EconomicRiot.com.

Watch this clip from InfoWars of Biden administration officials bragging about destroying energy sector jobs.

This video is from the InfoWars channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Bank of America: US unemployment will climb to 5.6% by end of 2023.

Survey: 63% of small business owners no longer hiring because they cannot afford added costs.

Initial unemployment claims remain high as recession fears affect labor market.

US unemployment claims rise to highest level in eight months.

Jobless claims surge to highest level in 6 months as employers cut jobs due to weakening economy.

Sources include:

Observer.com

NPR.org

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Despite making up just 13.6 percent of the general population, black people of African descent are responsible for 60.4 percent of all murders across America, the latest data shows.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) revealed this in its official Uniform Crime Reporting statistics for 2021, which reportedly took extra time to compile due to a huge decline in cooperation by local police departments.

In 2020, around 85 percent of local law enforcement agencies agreed to contribute data to the FBI for this report. In 2021, however, that figure dropped to around 64 percent, in some cases due to changes in formatting that are more complicated than they used to be.

Even so, it is clear that the number of murders caused by black people increased pretty dramatically from 2020 to 2021. In 2020, blacks accounted for 56.5 percent of murders. A year later, that figure ballooned to an astounding 60.4 percent.

One suspected reason for this increase is the racial reckoning promoted by the corporate-controlled media following the George Floyd false flag incident that occurred on May 25, 2020.

Keep in mind that murder investigation closure rates are lower in black communities due to snitches get stitches, so 60.4% might still be a modest understatement, one reported explains.

As always with FBI stats, unlike CDC stats, the white category includes a whole lot of Hispanics  Overall, America in the Current Year has a gigantic black gun murder problem.

Nearly 60 percent of all murder victims in America are also black

By far, the most common murder weapon used by murderers in America is a handgun, followed by a knife, a rifle, an automatic handgun, a shotgun, and an automatic rifle.

The most common murder victims are black people, the data further shows, giving weight to claims made by Jason D. Hill, a black professor at DePaul University in Chicago, that most black murders are committed by other blacks.

White or Hispanic people are the second-most common murderers and murder victims, with Hispanics still, for whatever reason, being lumped in with white people as the same demographic.

Looking at the data, it becomes undeniably clear that America has a serious black violence problem, a fact that might be politically incorrect to say out loud but that is factual nonetheless.

America also has an illegal handgun murder problem, which more gun control will not solve because criminals are not following laws in the first place  hence why they are criminals.

Why no separate category for Hispanic? asked a commenter about the problematic reporting method of lumping Hispanics in with whites. Is the FBI lumping Hispanic crime into the White category?

Another wrote that most black crime is presumably committed by younger black males, which make up an even smaller percentage of the overall 13.6 percent of black people that comprise the American population.

I am assuming black males between 14-49 are no more than 4% of the total population, this person added.

Police departments are dubious about the Hispanic category, wrote someone else.

Hispanic is not a category on the FBI fingerprint card, said someone else. Virtually all Hispanics, Middle Easterners, North Africans, and much the population of central Asia get listed as white on the fingerprint card.

As a reminder, when NYC reports that the schools are 15% white, that means that people from Turkey, Syria, and Iraq are being counted as white.

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and the New York Police Department (NYPD), two major departments that did not contribute to the FBI data, both also do not cooperate with the CDCs Abortion Surveillance annual data collection project, noted another.

Data about uncomfortable phenomena is getting harder and harder to come by, this person added.

More stories like this one can be found at Violence.news.

Sources for this article include:

Census.gov

UNZ.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) In order to expand its already obscene profit streams, New York-based pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb is partnering with Tsinghua University in communist China to develop new drugs for novel cancers and autoimmune diseases.

This is problematic because Tsinghua University has a clear connection to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The school has also launched cyberattacks against the United States, and thus represents a threat to national security, according to the U.S. Department of State. (Related: Tsinghua University is also a CCP propaganda training ground, we now know.)

Current CCP leader Xi Jinping claimed Tsinghua University as his alma mater, which in part explains the schools Marxist journalism school, which is training the next generation of Chinese-run state media propagandists on how to deceive Chinese people along with the rest of the world.

The New York Times, CNN and other corporate-controlled media outlets throughout the West reportedly assist Tsinghua Universitys journalism school with training propagandists, many of whom now work for these very same Western media outlets.

Big Pharma represents everything that is evil and wrong with the world

Because of the work it carries out for communist Chinas military, Tsinghua University has been flagged as a very high risk school that has no business working with Bristol-Myers Squibb or any other drug cartel player  although it makes perfect sense that the two are partners.

Pharmaceuticals are, of course, a Deep State tool for brainwashing and depopulation. Many pharmaceutical drugs are linked to brain damage and mind control, allowing those who use them to be influenced and even steered to behave and think according to the agenda of the powers that be.

According to the agreement that was forged, Tsinghua Universitys Innovation Center for Immune Therapy will develop therapeutics that Bristol-Myers Squibb will then have the option to license.

It turns out that Bristol-Myers Squibb partnered with Tsinghua University back in 2013 for autoimmune target discovery and structural biology, and this is just an expansion of that collaborative research effort.

In a press release, Carl Decicco, senior vice president and head of discovery at Bristol-Myers Squibb, praised Tsinghua University and the communist regime it represents, as well as celebrated what is soon to come for the two entities.

Tsinghua University is a highly respected research institution with leading capabilities and scientific talent focused on accelerating basic research into potential new therapies, Decicco said. We look forward to bringing projects forward that will benefit from their innovative research in immunology and autoimmune disease.

Shirley Zhao, general manager and president of Bristol-Myers Squibb in mainland China and Hong Kong, also issued a statement celebrating this strategic partnership, which has the potential to generate untold billions in new profits.

This collaboration with Tsinghua University is another proof of our strategic alignment with Chinas innovation-driven healthcare development, as well as our commitment to accelerate delivering of innovative treatment options to Chinese patients, she said.

The news is chilling in light of the fact that there is still considerable controversy over other ties between Big Pharma and communist China that many now believe is responsible for the unleashing of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19).

Tony Fauci and other criminal career politicians and establishment figures forged key partnership with various communist Chinese entities that then worked on producing bioweapons from bat coronaviruses and other pathogens.

Evidence is also emerging to suggest that Ukraine and its many U.S.-run biolabs were also involved, hence why the establishment is so upset that Vladimir Putin decided to launch his special operation in Ukraine, presumably to clean out the place of all that corrupt filth.

Want to keep up with the latest news about Big Pharmas treasonous partnership with communist China? You can do so at Treason.news.

Sources for this article include:

TheNationalPulse.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Newly obtained emails revealed that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lied about Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine safety monitoring in 2021.

The Epoch Times managed to obtain the aforementioned emails between CDC officials through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The exchanges took place months before the public health agency gave false statements on the matter to the publication. According to the messages, agency officials were considering to monitor cases of myocarditis  heart muscle inflammation  linked to the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines.

In 2021, CDC promised to perform proportional reporting ratio (PRR) analysis on adverse reactions submitted to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). This promise was even codified in an updated set of operating procedures, which was released in 2022.

In one exchange, NewsGuard editor John Gregory asked for the CDCs comment regarding a claim that PRR analysis cannot accurately identify when a vaccine causes adverse events. Martha Sharan, spokeswoman for the public health agency, forwarded the query to officials. The officials did reply, but their responses were redacted.

I spoke to this reporter and explained that CDC does not do PRR analysis, wrote Sharan. The reporter is not going to pursue this further.

However, her remarks contradicted the CDCs promise to perform PRR analysis of reports submitted to VAERS.

The CDC claims to be vigilantly and transparently monitoring the safety of COVID-19 vaccines. But when it comes to PRR analysis, the CDCs broken promises, inconsistent statements, stonewalling and double standards tell a different story, Childrens Health Defense (CHD) President and General Counsel Mary Holland told the Epoch Times in an email.

When confronted about the statements, the CDC claimed, essentially, that PRR analysis is not worth doing. And for the few months of PRR the CDC now says it has completed, the CDC has failed to make the results public, despite requests from multiple sources.

Sen. Ron Johnson: CDCs lack of transparency unacceptable

The Epoch Times noted the inconsistent statements by CDC officials over the matter of PRR analysis.

Program staff within the Immunization and Safety Office inform me that no PRRs were conducted by CDC. Furthermore, data mining is outside of the agencys purview, CDC public liaison Bruno Viana told the agencys FOIA officer Roger Andoh on June 30, 2022. Vianas response was then included in the CDCs response to the publications FOIA request.

However, subsequent remarks from the agency contradicted this. Dr. John Su of the CDCs Vaccine Safety Team said the agency has been performing [PRR analysis] since February 2021 and continues to do so to date. Sharan also issued an Aug. 8 statement to the Epoch Times claiming that the CDC performed [PRR analysis] from March 25, 2022 through July 31, 2022.

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky herself admitted in a Sept. 6 letter to Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) to deliberately misleading the public about the COVID-19 vaccine safety data to make sure Big Pharma is happy. She also confirmed Sharans Aug. 8 statement about PRRs, and clarified that no PRR analysis was conducted between Feb. 26, 2021 and Sept. 30, 2021.

Walenskys letter divulged that she was aware of her agency giving false information, but did not elaborate on why there was misinformation in the first place. (Related: Walensky admits CDC spread MISINFORMATION on COVID vaccine safety.)

But Johnson is firm that the public cannot verify Walenskys assertion because of their failure to provide these analyses to Congress and to the American people. He added that the CDCs overall lack of transparency is unacceptable, particularly in light of CDCs inconsistent statements on this matter.

Visit CDC.news for more stories about the public health agency.

Watch this video that talks about the CDCs V-Safe data showing the shocking adverse effects of COVID-19 shots.

This video is from the Chinese taking down EVIL CCP channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Lawsuit forces CDC to hand over V-safe data showing incriminating covid vaccine injuries.

CDC data & scientific study suggest 1.2 million Americans may already have died due to COVID vaccination.

CDC admits myocarditis being linked to COVID-19 vaccines is TRUE, not misinformation.

CDC admits KILLER BATCHES of COVID-19 shots are still given to the public.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

DocumentCloud.org

NewsPunch.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) The Biden regimes politicized Justice Department has obviously been given a mandate by the deep state running the current administration: Go after Trump supporters with a vengeance, even if it means lying, cheating, hiding evidence, and creating a wave of false narratives regarding the Jan. 6 riot that was actually a provable false flag event.

According to The Epoch Times, at the DOJs request, a federal court is keeping under wraps an FBI affidavit that completely undermines the regimes seditious conspiracy case against the patriot group Oath Keepers, which shows that members are not guilty and proves that the prosecution is lying to the jury, said an attorney for members of the group last week.

Jonathon Moseley, who previously represented Oath Keepers defendant Kelly Meggs before he had his license to practice law revoked, told the outlet that an FBI interview with a Capitol Police officer proves that in actuality, the Oath Keepers protected the officer from angry rioters near the Capitol Building Rotunda on Jan. 6, 2021.

This documenttogether with a photograph of the moment inside the U.S. Capitol on January 6proves that the prosecution is lying to the jury, Moseley said in the statement. No one who engages in seditious conspiracy or insurrection stops to come to the aid of the police against the mob.

If the Oath Keepers were involved in any way in any insurrection or conspiracy to obstruct the Joint Session of Congress on January 6, would they turn and stand between the U.S. Capitol Police against the mob? Moseley noted. This is not merely a good act. This is absolute proof that there never was any insurrection or seditious conspiracy. The prosecutions entire case is a fraud upon the American people.

The Epoch Times notes further:

The FBI document in question, a Form 302 summary of Capitol Police officer Harry Dunns interview with two special agents, came up in open court on Oct. 6 during the seditious-conspiracy trial of Oath Keepers founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes III and four co-defendants, Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins, and Thomas Caldwell.

Prosecutor Jeffrey Nestler informed Judge Amit Mehta that Moseley was threatening to release a sealed document. In response, Mehta took the unusual step of telling the news media covering the trial to post messages on social media to Moseley saying that he would be jailed if he released the document.

Judge Mehta says that if Mosely does he will be in contempt of court and he urges us (reporters) to tweet that out so Moseley will know that. Moseley claims the doc lost its protective order status; Mehta: i decide when somethings lost that status. /59  Roger Parloff (@rparloff) October 6, 2022

These public tweets from journalists reporting on Mehtas public warning are visible as an incredible event in the already farcical prosecution, Moseley said.

The two FBI agents who interviewed the Officer Dunn on May 18, 2021, asked about the incident in the rotunda. According to video footage taken by an independent journalist, as well as portions of Dunns interview with the agents that The Epoch Times obtained, a group of Oath Keepers came upon a volatile standoff in the Small House Rotunda at 2:48 p.m. on Jan. 6, the outlet reported. Dunn and at least two other agitated protesters were shouting at each other, the report added.

Its patently clear that this was not seditious conspiracy, but rather a concerted effort by the deep state to jam up then-President Donald Trump and demonize his supporters as domestic terrorists, as noted by a trained observer who was at the Capitol Building that day.

J. Michael Waller, who was at the Capitol that day, wrote about what he saw in a piece for The Federalist a week after the breach:

Plainclothes militants . Militant, aggressive men in Donald Trump and MAGA gear at a front police line at the base of the temporary presidential inaugural platform;

. Militant, aggressive men in Donald Trump and MAGA gear at a front police line at the base of the temporary presidential inaugural platform; Agents-provocateurs . Scattered groups of men exhorting the marchers to gather closely and tightly toward the center of the outside of the Capitol building and prevent them from leaving;

. Scattered groups of men exhorting the marchers to gather closely and tightly toward the center of the outside of the Capitol building and prevent them from leaving; Fake Trump protesters . A few young men wearing Trump or MAGA hats backwards and who did not fit in with the rest of the crowd in terms of their actions and demeanor, whom I presumed to be Antifa or other leftist agitators; and

. A few young men wearing Trump or MAGA hats backwards and who did not fit in with the rest of the crowd in terms of their actions and demeanor, whom I presumed to be Antifa or other leftist agitators; and Disciplined, uniformed column of attackers. A column of organized, disciplined men, wearing similar but not identical camouflage uniforms and black gear, some with helmets and GoPro cameras or wearing subdued Punisher skull patches.

Sources include:

NaturalNews.com

TheEpochTimes.com
(Natural News) Former French presidential candidate Jean Lassalle recently told NTD that Emmanuel Macron and other members of the French parliament are lying about their Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination status.

The accusation is that Macron and the others never got jabbed but continue to tell the world that they did  which is hardly a shock. Lassalle also said that he did, in fact, really get jabbed himself last year and that it nearly killed him.

I got the Johnson (& Johnson) vaccine that almost killed me, that warped my heart, said Lassalle, who represented the 4th constituency of the Pyrenees-Atlantiques department in the National Assembly from 2002 to June 21, 2022.

I have had four surgeries since January 3rd of this year. And then there, it is in the Ambroise Pare clinic that the surgeon who trained with another one in the besides, succeeded in putting me the auricles in place, except to make them function normally, he added in a rough English translation  you get the point.

Otherwise, I would certainly be dead.

COVID jabs are the biggest hoax perpetrated on the world, perhaps ever

When asked by NTD reporter Ying Huang why he agreed to take the COVID shot in the first place, Lassalle responded that he was just doing his job and believed that all of his fellow politicians, including Macron, did it as well because they all claimed they did.

Because I was an MP and I didnt want to give the feeling that I wasnt doing my job, is what Lassalle said.

But I did not know that Emmanuel Macron was not vaccinated. I did not know that most of the government members were not, and I did not know, as many of my fellow MPs were not either. I wanted to set an example.

Around that time, Macron, Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom and other puppet figure heads would not shut up about the alleged merits of getting injected for the Fauci Flu. They were aggressively pushing the world to get jabbed at warp speed, and many obeyed.

I got sick and I said so during the election campaign, nobody listened and they wanted to silence me, Lassalle further said  watch the video below:

The French are up in arms over politician John Lassalless bombshell claims that the inject which almost killed him was not taken by Macron and others. Many are demanding a full inquiry into the allegations. pic.twitter.com/inMPmyFBrU  Kat A ? (@SaiKate108) October 11, 2022

As you may recall from earlier in the year, Macron bragged on television about how he was proudly hoping to piss off the unvaccinated in France by making their lives as miserable as possible.

And were going to continue doing so until the end. Thats the strategy, Macron told Le Parisien reporters at the time.

I wont send (the unvaccinated) to prison, I wont vaccinate by force. So we need to tell them, from January 15, you wont be able to go to the restaurant anymore, you wont be able to down one, wont be able to have a coffee, go to the theatre, the cinema.

It turns out that Macron may very well be one of the unvaccinated if Lassalles account merits any truth. It makes sense, and many skeptics have wondered if Macron, Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Rochelle Walensky, and the many other politicians out there who claim they got injected really did.

Pure blood may be on the stock market someday, one commenter wrote.

The COVID scamdemic is long over, but not to the politicians who are still trying to push it. To keep up with the latest, visit Pandemic.news.

Sources for this article include:

TheGatewayPundit.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Globalists who claim they own the science admitted to collaborating with several Big Tech firms to fight disinformation, specifically about the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) and climate change,

Melissa Fleming, United Nations undersecretary-general for global communications, made this admission during the World Economic Forums (WEF) Tackling Disinformation at the Sustainable Development Impact Meetings held from Sept. 19 to 23. She bragged that the globalist-backed organization owns the science and called for that fact to be broadcast worldwide.

Were becoming much more proactive, admitted Fleming. We own the science and we think that the world should know it and the platforms themselves also do. (Related: We own the science, brags UN representative at World Economic Forum.)

She explained that the UN partnered with Big Tech companies such as Google and Tiktok to scrub information that goes against the organizations narratives on climate change and the pandemic.

For example, if you Google climate change, you will, at the top of your search, you will get all kinds of UN resources. We started this partnership when we were shocked to see that when we Googled climate change, we were getting incredibly distorted information right at the top.

Fleming also talked about the Team Halo initiative, which involved scientists and doctors being trained on the basics of the video-based social media platform. We had TikTok working with us, she highlighted.

Moreover, Fleming also boasted about working with influencers to push these narratives. She explained that influencers who were really keen, who have huge followings, but really keen to help carry messages that were going to serve their communities  were much more trusted than the UN telling them something from New York City headquarters.

Analysts worry that fake news reporting could proliferate by using the technocratic organizations on social media that can manipulate algorithms and censor content as well as influencers, who may be biased or paid.

The internet is a place for the people, like parks, libraries, museums and historic places. The globalist elite must be stopped in their mission to rob humanity of this valuable place, NewsPunchs writer Baxter Dmitry said.

Bill Gates owns the science and the MSM

With the UNs recent claim that they own the science, deep thinkers and logical ones can connect the dots as to who is funding the organizations directing and coordinating authority on international health  in the form of the World Health Organization (WHO). Major contributors to the WHO include Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).

WEF Managing Director Adrian Monck, who moderated the meeting where Fleming spoke, described fake news network CNN as part of the political war strategy to own the narrative. He said that CNN is both an organization thats trying to make sense of the world and trying to establish the facts.

According to a 2021 report, the BMGF has made over $300 million worth of donations to fund media projects. The fake news network is among the top recipients, receiving $3.6 million. Other U.S. news outlets that received money from the foundation include NBC, NPR, PBS and the Atlantic.

BMGF money also went into the accounts of several British media outlets such as the BBC, the Guardian, Daily Telegraph and Financial Times. Qatari news broadcaster Al Jazeera and European publications like Frances Le Monde, Germanys Der Spiegel and Spains El Pais also received funding from the foundation.

Writing for the Sociable website, Tim Hinchliffe remarked that by partnering with tech companies to gaslight and influence public opinion and pouring millions of dollars into media outlets, the unelected globalists are once again showing their true colors for all people to see.

He wrote: Owning the science leads to owning the narrative. Owning the narrative means controlling thought and speech. Controlling thought and speech mean the end of a free society. Welcome to the Great Reset.

Watch Fleming admit to working with Big Tech companies and owning the science below.

This video is from the Willow channel on Brighteon.com.

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Sources include:

Newspunch.com

WEForum.org

TheGatewayPundit.com

NationalReview.com

MintPressNews.com

Sociable.co

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) The arrest of Konnech CEO Eugene Yu could shed more light to the irregularities in the 2020 elections and ultimately prevent future election fraud.

Konnech is an East Lansing, Michigan-based company responsible for the software used in managing elections in several states that stored personal information of over 1.8 million Americans in its database. That database was reportedly left open, putting the lives of those Americans open to scrutiny and possible manipulation. Worse, all information is stored in servers in China. (Related: Authorities: CEO of election software company sent American poll workers data to China.).

According to its company profile, Konnech is the developer of PollChief, a software application capable of sending mass letters, emails and phone calls to polling locations and recording the responses of election workers. It is reportedly being used by thousands of election offices across North America.

When employed by unscrupulous individuals, PollChief can decide a tight fight for seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate in the coming midterm polls.

With the Joe Biden administration and the Democrats hard-pressed to keep the majority in both Houses, it isnt far-fetched that powerful individuals are trying to reach out or have made the proper connections with Konnech in preparation for the grand showdown next month.

PollChief software poses national security risk

True the Votes Gregg Phillips bared the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI ) has the China-born Yu on its radar for some time now.

These were legitimate people who believed that this software posed a national security risk to the United States of America, and they were working with us closely to try to stop this from being in place during the midterms, said Phillips, lead investigator of True the Votes, a conservative vote-monitoring organization based in Houston, Texas.

The focus point was always we needed to remove this software from the election, but taking a step further, there were a lot of other concerns that the bureau had. Meaning, how they exchange data between here and China, this same person built the entire app that runs all of these elections across the United States. This is a red Chinese communist op run against the United States by Chinese operatives and its a disaster.

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon said the 51-year-old Yu was nabbed for suspicion of theft of personal identity information.

The FBI also disclosed that Konnech has banking issues and problems involving the companys overseas operations in Australia and Canada.

Yu was supposed to remain in jail until an extradition hearing being asked by California state is held. A local judge, however, granted his release after paying a $1 million bond. Yu was ordered, to wear a GPS tether, give his passport to Michigan authorities and surrender to Los Angeles authorities by October 14. He was also put on the significant flight risk list.

Other than this incident, Yu has been known to be a Communist supporter since 2013.

Why many counties trust Konnech, which had built a communication platform for the Confucius Institute, touted to be an espionage arm of the CCP, to handle crucial matters such as the elections, remains a mystery.

Another point of concern is why the mainstream media, particularly the New York Times (NYT), always comes to his defense, even picturing him as the victim of the 2020 election deniers. In fact, on the day Yu got nabbed, the NYT came up with an article criticizing his captors and detractors.

Visit VoteFraud.news for more news related to election fraud.

Watch this video that tackles the arrest of Konnech CEO Eugene Yu for selling voter data to China.

More related stories:

Breaking: Election software CEO arrested for storing data in China is deemed significant flight risk caught with luggage on way to MI airport left his cell phone behind has substantial ties to China.

Election company Konnech that illegally stored election data in communist China EXPOSED for contributing all political cash to Biden and other Democrats.

Investigation finds NY Times lied to cover-up Chinese connection to U.S. election software firm.

Sources include:

100PercentFedUp.com

MSN.com 1

MSN.com 2

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Ukraines press office is blaming global mainstream media for creating nuclear hysteria for reporting President Volodymyr Zelenskys remarks wherein he asked the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to do preemptive strikes on Russia to avoid nuclear war.

Zelensky asserted that NATO had a responsibility to make it impossible for Russia to use nuclear weapons during a question and answer session with Australian think tank Lowy Institute.

Preemptive strikes are needed so that they know what awaits them if they use nuclear weapons. Not the other way around, waiting for Russias nuclear strikes and then saying, oh, youve done that, then get this,' he said, adding that NATO should reconsider how it uses its pressure. (Related: Ukraines Zelensky called for NATO strikes on Russia, raising new fears WWIII is on the horizon.)

This caused alarm worldwide, contributing to the growing panic over a looming nuclear war. Even President Joe Biden warned his fellow Democrats and the entire United States of an impending Armageddon. Russia also dubbed Zelensky a monster for the chaos his statements may cause.

Everyone on the planet must realize that Zelensky, a puppet pumped with weapons, has turned into a monster whose hands could destroy the planet, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a social media post.

Now, Kyiv is scrambling to take back Zelenskys comments. Zelenskys Press Secretary Serhii Nykyforov blamed the international media for reporting them, alleging media outlets had published incorrect interpretations of the presidents remarks.

Zelensky claimed to British broadcaster BBC that he said, You must use preventive kicks, not attacks  apparently referring to sanctions and suggesting a lost in translation incident.

The president spoke about the period before February 24. At that time, it was necessary to apply preventive measures to prevent Russia from starting a war. Let me remind you that the only measures that were discussed at that time were preemptive sanctions, Nykyforov posted on social media.

Critics are saying that Zelenskys comments are consistent with the way he deals with conflict generally in the past. He previously expressed outrage after Biden decided to lift sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, which would have greatly increased Russias ability to sell natural gas to Europe.

He made similar remarks back in June when asked about Chinas repeated threats to invade Taiwan. If there is a way out diplomatically, we need to use the diplomatic way. But it must be a preemptive way, not the one that comes after the war has started. Zelensky said.

Russian troops drop missiles across Ukraine in response to Crimean Bridge bombing

After the misquoted declaration last week, Zelensky made a declaration Monday, October 10, that Ukrainians cannot be intimidated by terrorists after 11 people were killed when Putins troops dropped missiles across the country.

The Russian army purposely struck these blows precisely during the morning rush hour. This is the typical tactic of terrorists. They wanted to instill more fear, he said.

The airstrikes came after the Crimean Bridge, a vital supply line for troops fighting to hold onto territory in Ukraines south, was damaged in a blast. Putin called the incident Ukraines act of terrorism and warned that he will react harshly to future Ukrainian attacks on Russian targets.

The recent missile strikes were the most widespread since the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Biden has offered advanced air defense systems in a call with Zelensky.

A White House statement was released saying Biden expressed his condemnation of the missile strikes and conveyed his condolences to the loved ones of those killed and injured in these senseless attacks. He pledged to continue providing Ukraine with the support needed to defend itself.

The statement did not specify which air defense systems were discussed, but the U.S. previously committed to providing Ukraine with National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems.

Visit WWIII.news for more news related to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine and a potential nuclear war.

Watch the below video where Zelensky backtracks his previous pre-emptive attacks request.

This video is from the High Hopes channel on Brighteon.com.

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Russia: Washington complicit in war crimes by supplying Ukraine with ammunition.

Sources include:

Breitbart.com

Ru.Interfax.com.ua

TheMoscowTimes.com

ANews.com.tr

Independent.co.uk

France24.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Mainstream media (MSM) network MSNBC painfully admitted that Hunter Biden will be charged for multiple felonies. The network had been shielding the presidential son from criticism, until now.

MSNBC made the admission in a breaking news report. Citing the Washington Post, the report mentioned that federal agents have gathered sufficient evidence to charge Hunter with tax and gun purchase crimes. The investigation on the presidential son had been going on since 2018, according to the Posts national security reporter Devlin Barrett.

Agents believe, and have believed for a number of months, they have a chargeable case against Hunter Biden, he said. According to Barrett, the tax charges against the presidential son stem from allegedly failing to report significant amounts of income. The gun purchase issues, meanwhile, stem from Hunter lying about details in a form he filled out in connection with a firearm purchase.

In 2018, when Hunter Biden bought a gun, he said he did not have a substance problem. He was not addicted to drugs when, in fact, in his own autobiography  he writes that he was using drugs quite significantly in that time period and since that, hes gotten clean and beaten that addiction.

Barrett, however, clarified that it remains unclear if the charges have anything to do with the controversial laptop from hell.

We cant tell at this point how important or unimportant the laptop has been to this federal investigation, Barrett said. Thats been the subject of a lot of political debate, and we know that the FBI has looked at that data. What we dont know yet is how important they think that data is to this case.

Chris Clark, an attorney for Hunter Biden, said in a statement: It is a federal felony for a federal agent to leak information about a grand jury investigation such as this one, referring to the Posts report.

MSNBC reporter defends Hunter taking money from foreign governments

Prior to the MSM network admitting that Hunter Biden can and will be charged for federal crimes, one of its reporters defended the presidential son taking money from foreign governments. According to MSNBC justice reporter Ken Dilanian, Hunter taking money from foreign governments was legal because he did not hold any office in the federal government. (Related: Theres a reason the media are suddenly reporting on Hunter Bidens corruption.)

In terms of corruption [or] conflict of interest, weve never heard a hint that there were potential criminal charges there because Hunter Biden wasnt an officeholder. It was perfectly legal for him to take money from foreign governments as long as he wasnt inappropriately giving them information from his family or something, Dilanian explained. Theres no hint of that.

Nevertheless, the MSNBC reporter recognized that as bad as it looks, we should all acknowledge [that] it looks terrible.

Former U.S. Attorney for the District of Utah Brett Tolman, however, is not buying any of it. He expressed skepticism over the charges, adding that the MSM was not looking at all the charges it could be looking at.

So much of it doesnt make sense. It is a very awkward, clumsy story. Some of this doesnt add up, Tolman told Fox News host Martha MacCallum.

The charges themselves, they talk about the lying and buying. Why would you bring that charge when you have him actually possessing the firearm? You would bring the possession of a firearm by a user of narcotics, instead of lying and buying, because it has a far greater punishment.

Head over to BidenCrimeFamily.news for more stories about Hunter Biden.

Watch this Newsmax report about federal prosecutors mulling potential charges against Hunter Biden.

This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com.

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(Natural News) For months Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been pining to get involved in the Ukraine war, and it now appears as though hell get his wish. But the escalation is not likely to end well, either for his country or for Russia.

According to the Washington Examiner, Russian troops are pouring into Belarus by the trainload, which likely means they will join forces with Belarussan forces in a new push to retake lost ground in neighboring Ukraine:

Tens of thousands of Russian troops used Belarus as the staging ground for their initial northern offensive into Ukraine in February but mostly withdrew by late March. Since then, a few hundred Russian troops have stayed behind, mostly air and missile troops that use the close Russian ally as a launching pad for missile strikes into Ukraine, but that now appears to be changing.

Russian soldiers are entering Belarus by the trainload. Theyre traveling in cattle cars  just a huge quantity. Just waves of trains arriving, a Belarusian source told Kyiv Post correspondent Jason Jay Smart.

Earlier this month, photos of Russian heavy artillery and armored vehicles moving into the territory of Moscows ally were posted to social media. The equipment was also moved into Belarus by train.

This wont be just a thousand troops, Lukashenko told his military high command during a meeting when he announced the large-scale arrival of Russian firces. Be ready to receive these people in the near future and place them where necessary, according to our plan, he added, according to the New York Times.

Lukashenko also claimed that NATO and the European Union were making plans to move against his country, thereby necessitating the deployment of Russian troops. But NATO has not made any threats against Belarus, except to say that the alliance will defend all territories if attacked.

Given the worsening of the situation on the western borders of the Union State, we agreed to deploy a regional group of forces of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus. This complies with our documents. It says that if the threat level reaches the level as it is now, we begin to use the Union State group of forces, Lukashenko said to military and security officials, according to Belarusian state outlet Balta.

Strikes on the territory of Belarus are not just being discussed in Ukraine today, but are also being planned, he claimed, according to Reuters. Their owners are pushing them to start a war against Belarus to drag us there. We have been preparing for this for decades. If necessary, we will respond.

Some believe that Putins latest move into Belarus may be part of a desperate effort to save face and his presidency.

As Russian defeats in Ukraine mounted over the last month, so has speculation about President Vladimir Putins survival in office, and talk in Washington and among Russian oppositionists of the need for the Biden administration to adopt regime change as an open U.S. strategy, noted Anatol Lieven for Responsible Statecraft. In its approach to this question, the Biden administration should concentrate above all on the question of the relationship between the composition of the Russian leadership and the search for an end to the war in Ukraine.

The analyst goes on to say that seeing Putin go would be a good thing, though it is also possible that his successor will be more of a hardliner willing to escalate the war in Ukraine and prosecute it even more ruthlessly, which likely means widescale attacks on civilians, which Putin is increasingly conducting as his army takes losses.

Its not clear what the next phase of the war will be, but it doesnt look like a peace deal is on the horizon, either.

Sources include:

ResponsibleStatecraft.org

Reuters.com

MSN.com
(Natural News) Ann Vandersteel, co-chair of the Zelenko Freedom Foundation (ZFF), said the supply cut announced by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was a political statement.

She made this claim during the Oct. 6 episode of The Zelenko Report on Brighteon.TV. A day before the episode aired, OPEC and its allies  under the OPEC+ banner  agreed to slash oil production by two million barrels per day (bpd).

The output reduction, set to begin in November 2022, was put in place to spur a recovery in crude prices. The move did not surprise energy market participants, which had been expecting OPEC+ to reduce oil output between 500,000 and two million bpd. It was, however, a nasty surprise for the U.S. as it was calling on oil giant Saudi Arabia to pump more oil.

OPEC+ had slashed its output by a record 10 million bpd in early 2020, during the early days of the pandemic. The oil cartel has since undone those supply cuts, though some member countries are still struggling to catch up.

Vandersteel quickly pointed to President Joe Bidens bad decisions for the supply cut and impending increase in pump prices. She zeroed in on edicts by the incumbent chief executive that crippled Americas energy independence.

Remember, by the way, folks, when it wasnt that long ago when the U.S. was actually an oil exporter and a natural gas exporter, and our price for gasoline was actually under $2.50 per gallon?

Biden reportedly disappointed by OPEC+ decision

As per reports, Biden was disappointed by the OPEC+ supply cut. The president had been pressuring the group  Saudi Arabia in particular  to increase supply to drive down prices ahead of the November midterm elections.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February, the price of crude soared to over $100 per barrel. This worried markets that global sanctions could lead to a shortage of Russian oil, potentially leading to European nations having their oil supplies significantly squeezed. Lithuania and Finland, for instance, imported about 80 percent of their oil from Russia in November last year.

In a statement, Biden said he directed the Department of Energy to release another 10 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve following the OPEC+ decision. The administration will also consult with Congress regarding additional tools and authorities to reduce the cartels control over energy prices, it added. (Related: Price of crude oil shoots above $120 per barrel during short squeeze; experts warn of even higher oil prices in coming months.)

Moreover, the statement added that the OPEC+ announcement served as a reminder of why it is critical that the U.S. reduce its reliance on foreign sources of fossil fuels. This, in essence, implied that the cartel is now aligning with Russia.

Even if it were based on technical reasons and purely supply and demand, that is not how its being interpreted by the United States. The perception is 90 percent of the law, and the perception is the Saudis are not holding up their end of the bargain, said Michael Stephens of the London-based think tank Royal United Services Institute.

The era were in clearly shows that even if the Saudis coordinate with Russia on oil prices, that is going to be viewed as overt support for Russia.

Visit FuelSupply.news for more stories about the repercussions of the OPEC+ supply cut.



Watch the full Oct. 6 episode of The Zelenko Report with Ann Vandersteel below. The Zelenko Report airs every Monday to Friday, 1-2 p.m. on Brighteon.TV.

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(Natural News) President Joe Biden warned against underestimating Russian President Vladimir Putins threat about using nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

He delivered this warning during a fundraising event for Democrats on Oct. 6 at the New York home of James Murdoch, son of media mogul Rupert. This contradicts current U.S. intelligence assessments as security officials continue to say they have no evidence that Putin has imminent plans for a nuclear strike.

Biden said Putin is backed into a corner and could use tactical nuclear weapons to stop Ukrainian troops from reclaiming their territories.

Weve got a guy I know fairly well, Biden said. He [Putin] is not joking when he talks about the potential use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons because his military is  you might say  significantly underperforming.

He added that the public must not be fooled by the idea that smaller, tactical weapons were not a major threat to the world.

I dont think theres any such thing as the ability to easily [use] a tactical nuclear weapon and not end up with Armageddon, the president continued while speaking at the reception for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. He noted that this is the first time since the Cuban missile crisis that we have the threat of a nuclear weapon if, in fact, things continue down the path they are going.

Putin last month reminded the world that Russia has various means of destruction. He said: When the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, to protect Russia and our people, we will certainly use all the means at our disposal. It is not a bluff.

According to the Associated Press, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre did not directly respond to a question about whether Biden had gone into the event intending to invoke Armageddon, as the White House sought to clarify the presidents off-the-cuff comments.

Russias talk of using nuclear weapons is irresponsible and theres no way to use them without unintended consequences. It cannot happen, Jean-Pierre said. If the Cuban missile crisis has taught us anything, it is the value of reducing nuclear risk and not brandishing it.

Mike Mullen: Bidens warning is concerning and counterproductive

Former United States Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Michael Mullen said on Sunday, Oct. 9, that Bidens warning was concerning and counterproductive.

In an interview on ABCs This Week to assess the nuclear risk from Russia, Mullen pointed out that Biden should be careful of his language as were about at the top of the language scale.

And I think we need to back off that a little bit and do everything we possibly can to try to get to the table to resolve this thing, he told the shows co-anchor Martha Raddatz.

He argued that diplomacy and international pressure on both Ukraine and Russia would ultimately be key. Its got to end and usually there are negotiations associated with that, he added. The sooner the better, as far as Im concerned.

However, the Biden regime seems not to be anywhere near diplomatic talks. And despite the White Houses statement that the president was not acting on new intelligence of looming danger, but was trying to underline the stakes given the current conflict in Ukraine, it is seemingly preparing should Moscow launch a nuclear attack and is spending more taxpayers money for anti-radiation medicines.

Biden recently tasked the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to purchase $290 million worth of radiation poisoning drugs as part of its long-standing, ongoing efforts to be better prepared to save lives following radiological and nuclear emergencies. (Related: HHS buys $290 million worth of radiation sickness drugs in preparation for nuclear emergencies.)

Repurposing drugs for acute radiation syndrome that also are approved for a commercial indication helps to sustain the availability of the product and improves healthcare provider familiarity with the drug, the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, an HHS agency tasked with preparing the nation for future disasters and public health emergencies, announced on October 4.

Visit NuclearWeapons.news for more news related to Russias massive nuclear arsenal.

Watch this video analyzing Bidens Armageddon warning.

This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com.

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Dozens of researchers from top US nuclear facility now working for Communist China, report claims.

Clear and present danger: Putin warns NUCLEAR WAR is definitely coming if NATO continues to attack.

Sources include:

Dailymail.co.uk

APNews.com

ABCNews.go.com

TheEpochTimes.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) The social media gods now think they hold more authority than actual public health authorities like Florida Attorney General Dr. Joseph A. Ladapo, who was suspended from Twitter for advising young men in the Sunshine State to avoid getting vaccinated for SARS-CoV-2.

Ladapo tweeted a link to a new guidance from the Florida Health Department warning that men between the ages of 18 and 39 have a high risk of developing heart problems should they opt to get injected for the Fauci Flu.

Today, we released an analysis on COVID-19 mRNA vaccines the public needs to be aware of, Ladapo wrote in the tweet that ultimately got him axed from the social media platform.

This analysis showed an increased risk of cardiac-related death among men 18-39. FL will not be silent on the truth. (Related: Gov. DeSantis has also spoken out against children getting jabbed for covid.)

Is there anything Twitter wont censor?

Not even 24 hours after Ladapo tweeted this, Twitter removed the tweet and suspended him from the platform, along with a message explaining that This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules.

A Learn more link was also provided with this message, though it remains unclear precisely which part of Ladapos message may contain disputed or misleading information.

To be fair, anything tweeted can be disputed by someone out there. If Twitter was really unbiased in the application of this particular standard, there would be no tweets on the platform at all.

But as we all know, Twitter only selectively applies its rules against accounts that tweet politically incorrect messaging. In this case, Ladapo cast serious doubt on the safety and effectiveness of covid shots, and that is a major no-no on Twitter no matter how substantiated it is.

Twitter censored @FLSurgeonGen for sharing FL Dept of Health study, part of which @LisaMarieBoothe highlighted below, tweeted Christina Pushaw, the Rapid Response Director under Gov. DeSantis. So, Twitter hall monitors know more than a Harvard MD / PhD?

Also, Dr. Ladapo is a STATE HEALTH OFFICIAL  an authoritative source by Twitters own definition, she added.

Boothes tweet, which you can read below, contains further details about how men 18-39 in age who get jabbed for Chinese Germs have an 84 percent increased risk of developing cardiovascular problems within the following month-or-so after injection.

At the time when Ladapos tweet was removed and his account censored, some 50,000 users had liked the tweet. Still to this day, Twitter has not given a clear indication as to why the tweet was removed.

Seems the truth cant be handled, wrote another user about Twitters arbitrary censorship standards.

You can delete tweets, you can burn books, but you will never be able to eliminate the truth! wrote another.

Israel physician Dr. Dror Mevorach tweeted a message of his own (see below) warning that the 18-39 male demographic is actually not large enough because myocarditis risk begins much younger at age 14:

Dr. Dror Mevorach, the Israeli doctor who reported on the first cases of Myocarditis, on Floridas new guidelines, recommending *not* to vaccinate men aged 18-39: Note that for myocarditis the risk begins in ages 14-16 and not 18. pic.twitter.com/DMWqGy0XRL  Yaffa Shir-Raz (@YaffaRaz) October 8, 2022

Would you consider Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo more educated and trustworthy than some remote worker, who may have a college degree, but just flags social media posts for a living? asked someone else in a tweet, along with a list of the qualifications required in order to become a surgeon general.

Ladapo specifically called out messenger RNA (mRNA) injections as being the big offender. These include the double-dose shots offered by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.

To learn more about why covid injections are not worth the risk, visit ChemicalViolence.com.

Sources for this article include:

ZeroHedge.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Believe it or not, evidence exists to suggest that the United States government  or at least those who have co-opted and now control it  has the ability to create and steer weather, including hurricanes.

Educator and activist Peggy Hall uploaded a video  watch below  discussing what she was able to uncover from government archives. Documents dating back 50 years or more point to technologies with the capacity to manipulate large storms.

The Department of the Navy, the Department of the Air Force and General Electric all have a hand in this, Hall says. A paper published by General Electric entitled History of Project Cirrus from 1947 to 1952 outlines how cloud particles and modifications are used to affect hurricanes.

Hall often talks about geoengineering and chemtrails on her channel, as well as about wildfires, some of which she claims are manipulated using directed energy weapons, or DEWs.

In this particular video, she explains that government weather manipulation is used to instill fear, uncertainty and hardship on people in order to put them under the control of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

In some cases, the government might even steer hurricanes towards certain areas as political retaliation. Could this be why Hurricane Ian struck Florida, a state that bucked the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) scamdemic, including the so-called vaccines?

Several additional links to more information about Project Cirrus and other government weather modification programs can be found at NeedToKnow.news.

Weather manipulation appears to be happening worldwide

Cloud seeding and the injection of aerosols into the sky is something that has increasingly taken center stage, even in official reporting from mainstream sources.

Just recently, we reported about how the World Economic Forum (WEF) was caught bragging about cloud-seeding chemtrail operations in communist China.

Earlier in the year, we reported about how domestic cloud seeding operations were being deployed in New Mexico to try to create more rain over dry land.

It is not out of the question to conclude that if the powers that be are capable of doing all this that they are also capable of strengthening or even weakening storms, or steering them to certain locations.

Perhaps there are even weather weapons being used by one country against another for warfare purposes. Instead of launching missiles or ground attacks like in the days of old, maybe the modern weaponry of today is used to deprive a target nation of rain for its crops and reservoirs  or maybe to blast it with too much rain to create flooding.

I am thinking they can steer a hurricane by tactically seeding certain quadrants of the storm, wrote a commenter in speculation. They can make it veer left or right and stall it to some degree.

Apparently the U.S. military was doing this to the Vietcong in monsoon season to dump ungodly amounts of rain on them over the trail. They could not create a monsoon but they could make it dump its rain where they wanted it.

Another wrote that there is the capacity to both steer and create storms using silver oxide, and that this has been possible for at least the past 50 years  this is all just speculation, of course.

Its an open secret: In 2005, Hurricane Katrina gained strength over cooler water, suggested someone else.

Most climate scientists know the technology exists to manipulate the weather, wrote another.

Not everyone believes that all of this is true, however. One person expressed skepticism about the governments seemingly all-powerful technologies, suggesting that it could just be a ruse to maintain control over the masses through the power of suggestion.

More related news about weather control can be found at Geoengineering.news.

Sources for this article include:

Newspunch.com

YouTube.com

NeedToKnow.news

NaturalNews.com

NaturalNews.com
Scuba divers swim through the man-made Neptune Memorial Reef, 3.25 miles (5.2 kms) off the coast of Key Biscayne, Florida, on May 14, 2022. - The memorial, which opened in 2007, is a columbarium 3.25 miles (5.2 km) off the coast of Key Biscayne, Florida, at a depth of 40 feet (12 meters.) The ashes of Chef Julia Child were interred in the reef upon her death in 2004. (Photo : Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)

The world has unfathomable depths that appear practically alien. Translucent fish flutter back and forth in the sea, whereas bizarre, flower-like fossilized coral wobble.

However, among all the submerged gorges and foxholes, which are the deepest and scariest within one of the world's five seas?

World's Deepest Spots in the Ocean

The Mariana Trench is the maximum depth in the Pacific Ocean.

Based on 2019 research released in the journal Earth-Science Reviews, the maximum depth of the rift is the Challenger Deep in the US territory of Guam, which is approximately 36,000 feet underneath the edge of the Pacific Ocean.

As reported by the British Geological Survey, the Five Deeps Expedition (FDE) in 2021 established the furthest portions of the Indian Ocean's Java Trench as well as the Antarctic Ocean's South Sandwich Trench.

The newly discovered creature was a hadal snailfish, called after the hadal domain, a region of the sea that is about 19,700 to 36,000 feet (6,000 to 10,970 m) shallow and exclusively present in coastal pits.

The Southern Ocean which is commonly referred as the Antarctic Ocean reaches a depth of 24,229 feet or about 7,385 in meters in the South Sandwich Trench, whereas the Arctic Ocean reaches a depth of 16,000 feet (4,877 meters) in the Fram Strait at Molloy Deep.

Furthermore, the single creature captured on video is a sort of hydrothermal vents cucumber identified as a sea pig.

Cusk eels, as well as rattail fish, swarmed amid decapod shrimp in the Southern Ocean, 16,000 feet below sea level.

Conforming to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a mud avalanche that exploded deeply below was discovered at the 26,000-foot threshold.

The Puerto Rico Trench, located off the seaboard of Puerto Rico and south of the peninsula of Florida, is indication of a historical tectonic occurrence, as are other deep-sea pits.

Scanners on the FDE landers captured images of hadal snailfish, sea cucumbers, even strange-looking living creatures like a sea squirt floating in the murky depths resembling a phantom balloon in the Java Trench.

Drazen and colleagues deployed sensors to the bottom of Sirena Trench throughout Gerringer's voyage and found a brand-new subspecies of Mariana snailfish.

A further FDE exploration emphasized the biodiversity in the South Sandwich Channel, which was featured in Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography.

Also read: The Shrinkage of the Salton Sea Is Caused by a Decrease in Colorado River Flow

What is in the Deepest Part of the Sea?

The Milwaukee Depth, located on the 27,585-foot-deep sector of the Puerto Rico Ridge, is the profoundest area in the Atlantic Ocean.

The researchers employed a Deep Submergence Vehicle and three more space probes - robotic systems that descend to the seabed and examine the subsurface with numerous devices including sensors.

It is basically a massive hole, and biological debris accumulates and cascades over the edges, yet research discovered that there are not much organisms that live this desolate location when they looked for larvae.

Together with Live Science news media, Mackenzie Gerringer, who traveled on a 2014 trip to the 34,448-foot-deep explained that almost all of these hadal environments are pits formed by convergence, where one continental crust slips beneath another, forming a deep valley.

Because of microplastics discovered in its stomach, an amphipod named Eurythenes plasticus was discovered in the Mariana Trench.

The Milwaukee Deep is the furthest portion of the channel, where archaeologist Victor Vescovo dove in a manned space vehicle in 2018.

Related article: Gray Whale Population Continue to Decline 38% From Its Peak
The beginning of October showed a rollercoaster temperature and widespread cooldown in Midwest and Northeast.

The latest forecast revealed that parts of the Northeast would feel summery to winter-like weather starting this week.

Residents are reminded to stay updated with the weather, especially since there is a potential to unleash severe thunderstorms.

What to expect

AccuWeather's recent weather update on October 11, noted a surge of cold air with a cold front is expected this week.

AccuWeather Meteorologist Brandon Buckingham noted that the cold front could cause severe thunderstorms in the Midwest to the Eastern portions of the U.S on Wednesday or Thursday.

Meanwhile, Julia is not expected to impact the United States.

Moreover, the report noted that cold air would be present this week in the eastern U.S.

AccuWeather said the following temperatures that residents could feel, noting that the temperatures could be short-lived. Also, the weather website said the following forecasts:

Same on Wednesday, the cold air breeze could be felt in the northern Plains, Great lakes, and Ohio Valley. Cleveland, Hartford, and Connecticut could expect from Wednesday to Thursday colder weather.

If you expect snowflakes, the report noted that parts of the Great Lakes region, Michigan, New York, Wisconsin, and Minnesota could witness snowflakes caused by cold air and moisture.

The report also said that localized rainfall could emerge from Wednesday to Friday in northeastern Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Illinois, and Michigan. Don't forget to bring an umbrella!

Meanwhile, New York, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and Detroit could feel mild conditions starting Tuesday and Wednesday.

AccuWeather said that the temperatures in the afternoon could reach 10 degrees high.

In addition, parts of the Eastern Seabord would feel the warmest weather; Boston could reach the 70s, while Richmond would peak in the mid-70s.

North Carolina could also expect up to 80 degrees in the afternoon.

Also Read: Scientists Reveal Influence of Climate Change on Extreme Weather Events

While the temperatures seem to be jumping from a warming feeling to a colder breeze of air, health-related risks can be associated with prolonged exposure to colder weather.

Cold weather preparations

The rollercoaster weather, from a summery feeling to a winter-life environment, is expected, based on the forecasts.

The continuing widespread cooldown helps to alleviate the warm weather.

However, the cold breeze of air to snow may cause cold-related health risks, including hypothermia and frostbite.

Knowing what you should do during or before it happens is crucial. Here are some important reminders.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explained that hypothermia is when a person experiences abnormally low body temperature.

Hypothermia and frostbite are considered dangerous conditions when the body is exposed to cold temperatures.

Furthermore, the CDC noted that prolonged exposure to extremely cold temperatures could cause the body to lose heat.

Low body temperature could affect the brain's thinking process.

Most at-risk individuals stay outdoors for prolonged periods and have inadequate clothing, heating equipment, and food nutrients.

On the other hand, frostbite refers to injuries due to freezing temperatures, and the CDC noted that people with poor blood circulation and inadequately dressed during the very cold weather are most at risk.

As a result, wearing layers of clothing can help to alleviate the extreme cold weather.

Staying indoors that can warm your body would be essential to prevent frostbite and hypothermia.

Most importantly, eating warm food is helpful too.

CDC reminded that if any family members show signs of hypothermia should immediately seek professional medical help.

Related Article: Hurricane Ian Devastates Citrus Grower's Florida, Causing Crop Losses

For more similar stories, don't forget to follow Nature World News.
The United Nations and Red Cross urged countries to implement aggressive environment-friendly steps to mitigate the deadly effects of extreme heat waves.

Human-caused activities have contributed to worsening climate change.

One of the effects of climate change is extreme heatwaves that affect communities, livelihoods, and animal kingdoms. Extreme heatwaves events are considered deadly weather-related impacts.

According to the United Nations (UN), heatwaves have killed many.

Records showed that the European heatwave in 2003 resulted in more than 70,000 deaths, while the Russian heatwaves in 2010 claimed over 55,000 lives.

The United Nations also said the most vulnerable are marginalized individuals and the poorest countries widely affected by climate change and extreme weather events, calling for immediate action to address the severe weather.

A coordinated response from developing countries and helping the poorest countries are essential to mitigate the impact of climate change.

Extreme heat waves

However, the United Nations and Red Cross reported that the effect of heatwaves could make regions within decades unsustainable to human life, noting that they predicted southwest Asia and parts of Africa to suffer from extreme weather events.

Based on the article, the report was released for the COP27 climate change summit in Egypt, which are from the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and International Federation of Red Cross, Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

The two organizations recognized the urgent need to act on mitigating heatwaves as records revealed that it would be catastrophic, making regions unhabitable.

IFRC secretary-general Jagan Chapagain explained that the data showed a bleak future, noting the importance of aggressive steps to prevent heat disasters.

The report raised concerns that extreme heat and humidity exposure could not survive, and societies could not deliver effective adaptations for excessive heat levels, noting that the heat waves would exceed the physiological and social limits within decades.

Also Read. New Report Reveals Declining Population of Gray Whale Off Western U.S

Furthermore, the impact could cause large-scale suffering and loss of life, explaining that the extreme heat moves like a silent killer.

On the other hand, UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths emphasized that most vulnerable people are hit worst by heatwaves and floods as the climate crisis becomes unchecked.

The report revealed that projected deaths from extreme heat would be higher than cancers and other infectious diseases.

The direct blow of extreme heat is the elderly, agricultural workers, farmers, and children.

Call to Action

The report projected that the extreme heat could be disastrous in the future. It would make communities unhabitable and claim many lives, especially the vulnerable sectors and countries.

The article noted that Chapagain urged countries attending the COP27 to help and invest in climate adaptation and mitigation.

Recognizing the impact of climate change on extreme weather events, the two organizations recommended steps to combat record-breaking intense heat waves.

The measures include thermally-appropriate emergency shelters, and cooling centers, providing information to people and authorities to develop decision solutions, and financing initiatives in local-level action.

The cost of air-conditioning for communities is costly, especially if their income is enough to meet their needs. The challenge comes to the local officials on how they employ environment-friend solutions.

Ultimately, developing countries must reduce carbon emissions that produce harmful greenhouse gases.

Related Article: Scientists Reveal Influence of Climate Change on Extreme Weather Events

For more similar stories, don't forget to follow Nature World News.
Coho salmon were discovered in a body of water in California for the first time following revitalization efforts for the endangered fish species known as Mill Creek.

A century-old dam was taken down from Mill Creek, a tributary that flows through Santa Cruz Mountains in Central California, just over a year ago.

Scientists now claimed that the creek is already displaying signs of revitalization, including an unexpected find.

Last month, aquatic ecologists with the Sempervirens Fund, one of several conservation organizations that share ownership of the 8,532-acre San Vicente Redwoods forest, discovered 15 coho salmon fry and 12 juvenile steelhead trout swimming in the creek.

Both species are federally endangered, with the latter species discovered there for the first time.

The abandoned dam had previously been impeding the migratory fish's ability to swim upstream. Additionally, it contained the granite sediment that served as salmon spawning grounds.

Unexpected Find

Ian Rowbotham, the senior land stewardship manager from Sempervirens Fund, said that the very first fish they discovered in Mill Creek that day was a coho, which they had not anticipated seeing there.

However, when it removed the dam in October of last year, the Sempervirens Fund considered the creek as promising ideal spawning habitat for coho salmon.

The length of time it took the salmon to arrive there surprised them.

Matthew Shaffer, a spokesperson for the Sempervirens Fund, said that the team has no way of knowing the amount of cobble that went downstream or whether it was caused by the presence of salmon in the creek and their accidental ascent upstream.

However, it is rather amazing that they discovered the fish species within a year after a year of unprecedented flooding and the work they had done over the previous ten years.

According to the Sempervirens Fund, the steelhead trout's presence was also unusual as it was the first time in more than a century that the endangered species had traveled upstream from the dam site.

Ecologists Mike Podlech and Jim Robins, along with the fund's field operations manager, Melisa Cambron Perez, and biologist Sean Cochran from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, confirmed sightings of both species.

The scientists were able to collect fin clip specimens from the salmon under Cochran's guidance for DNA testing, which can shed light on the fish's origins and reveal vital details about their migratory patterns.

Although the scientists said more proof is required, it is a likely sign that the dam removal is resulting in healthier conditions and better habitat for the fish to thrive.

Podlech said it is reassuring to know that the removal of the dam has made it possible to access additional habitat in case the species eventually extends its range upstream in Mill Creek.

The Serious Decline of Coho Salmon and Heavy Downpours

The coho salmon entered the list of endangered species in 2005.

According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the species has been in "serious decline" since the middle of the 20th century as a result of threats like habitat loss, overfishing, interactions with hatchery fish, and climatic factors like a lack of precipitation.

Overexploitation happens when fish are depleted beyond the capacity of the species to repopulate.

Due to the drought, sand bars have recently prevented coho salmon from reproducing in creeks between the Monterey and Golden Gate bays, where they usually spawn.

According to the Marin County-based Salmon Protection and Watershed Network, the species is "on the verge of extinction."

But in January, coho salmon made a historic comeback in the Bay Area, spawning for the first time in 18 years in the waters of Montezuma Creek, located in Forest Knolls, a small tributary of the San Geronimo Valley.

Eric Ettlinger, an ecologist from the Marin Municipal Water District, stated in June that the coho salmon population in Lagunitas Creek may have been boosted as a result of significant rainfall amounts in late 2021.

Fish surveyors found 330 coho egg nests, the second-highest number ever found in that period, during one of the biggest salmon runs the agency had seen in the previous ten years.

The fish were able to lay their eggs at California's Mill Creek thanks to the same run of intense rainstorms that started in October.

The storms contributed to broadening the creek bed and releasing sediment downstream just two weeks after the dam was taken down.

Read also: New Research Discovers Historical Data That Saved Pacific Salmon From Predators

Further Efforts

The Sempervirens Fund's scientists are hoping that ongoing actions, like getting rid of invasive plant species, such as Clematis vitalba and putting in more "large woody debris" (branches and trees that fall into the creek and lessen water flow), will help to enhance and foster a habitat in which the fish can eat, spawn, hide from predators, and find refuge.

Shaffer said that in addition to being critically endangered, coho salmon are also losing their ability to find healthy habitat due to climate change.

They are looking for locations where the fish species can spawn and also ultimately survive as a species because those conditions are constantly changing more quickly than ever.

It has been determined that this watershed is crucial. They think it may be a stronghold for the species because the body of water is at the southern end of their range, which increases the likelihood that they will visit year after year.

Shaffer said that the redwood forest canopy, which maintains cool conditions so that other plant and animal species can be preserved as well, is also being monitored and protected by the Sempervirens Fund.

He said that given the difficulties brought on by climate change, they believe their team can truly tip the scales in situations like this so that the habitat is flourishing, which is much tougher today than it was five years ago.

He continued that it is a race against time to reach these kinds of milestones, SFGate reported.

Related article: 'Extremely Exciting': Endangered Salmon Returns to California for the First Time Since 2004
A social media thread is gaining momentum as it paints nuclear war as a hero that can be the answer to climate change.

The validity of this claim was fact-checked by Newsweek.

International nuclear tensions have recently gotten more attention due to the ongoing war waged by Vladimir Putin in Ukraine. A small nuclear war's potential to cause a global cooling has been discussed.

Now questions are coming up if these claims are due any merit.

The Tweet

On October 6, the 2.4 million-follower World of Engineering, a popular Twitter account niching on science and engineering, tweeted about the potential consequences of a minor nuclear war.

The tweet went on to say that the planet is covered in a layer of soot that prevents the Sun's rays from reaching it because of smoke rising high into the atmosphere from the burning cities.

After a war, global temperatures drop by 2.25 degrees F for two to three years. Temperatures could drop from 5.4 to 7.2 degrees F in more tropical areas.

Over a thousand people liked the specific thread.

How a small nuclear war would transform the entire planet:



1/6



Smoke from the incinerated cities rises high into the atmosphere, wrapping the planet in a blanket of soot that blocks the Suns rays.



  World of Engineering (@engineers_feed) October 6, 2022

Ron Filipkowski, a former federal prosecutor, soon after uploaded a video of Donald Trump Jr., the son of the former president of the US, Donald Trump, to Twitter.

In it, Trump Jr. is seen speaking to the camera about nuclear war and claims to have read a news article the previous week that discussed how a minor nuclear conflict might help with global warming or perhaps the climate crisis.

Junior tonight says he read somewhere that Leftists want a nuclear war because it will help solve global warming. pic.twitter.com/V02OaLgozc  Ron Filipkowski  (@RonFilipkowski) October 7, 2022

Trump Jr. made no mention of the references that he claims made such a statement, nor did he provide any specific citations.

Technicalities and Fact Check

The terms "climate change" and "global warming" are neither equivalent, nor interchangeable.

Scientific consensus has phased out climate change in favor of global warming, with the latter deemed to be more accurate and comprehensive when describing the seismic shifts occurring in Earth's weather and temperature patterns.

Prior to analyzing some of these narratives, it is crucial to remember this.

Newsweek Fact Check investigated the scientific consensus on the subject to see if there was any research to support the underlying claim.

There is plenty of evidence that suggests that a nuclear war would temporarily reduce global temperatures, most probably only on land, but this does not solve the problem of global warming or the wider climate crisis.

Supporting Studies

Researchers from various institutions from around the world suggested in a study that was published in the journal Nature Food in August of this year that a nuclear war would eject significant amounts of soot into the planet's upper atmosphere.

This would then spread worldwide and "rapidly cool the planet."

The severity of the impacts would depend on the size of the nuclear war.

The study suggested that a hypothetical nuclear conflict between Pakistan and India could release five to 47 Tg of soot into space, whereas a more serious conflict between the US, its allied forces, and Russia could release over 150 Tg of soot.

One of the study's co-authors is distinguished professor of climate science Alan Robock from Rutgers University's Department of Environmental Sciences.

He claimed that World of Engineering's estimate of 2.25 degrees F for 2 to 3 years was "wrong" and that the effects on the climate would solely depend on the amount of smoke present.

He added that the duration of the possible impact does not rely on the volume of smoke to address the question of how long they would last.

The maximum effects will last for five years for each scenario.

Opposite of 'Solution'

Robock said that the effects of increased ultraviolet (UV) light on crop varieties, people, and ecosystems are one aspect that has not yet been thoroughly investigated.

The heating would destroy ozone in the stratosphere, allowing more UV radiation to reach the surface.

However, the impacts would be felt instantly for the smallest amount of smoke.

Before its effects could be felt at the surface, the excess UV would be absorbed by the large stratospheric smoke that has been stacking for years.

A nuclear war, according to Robock, would result in lower temperatures because the soot will indeed rise high enough in the atmosphere to prevent rain from washing it out.

The soot would then absorb sunlight, turning the Earth's surface dark and chilly.

The idea that a small nuclear war would stop global warming is untrue because these effects would only last a short time.

Read also: Nuclear Explosions Puts Soot in the Atmosphere, Resulting in Worldwide Famines, Study Warns

Warning, Not Suggesting

Whether accurate or not, it is noteworthy that the World of Engineering thread warned of the serious consequences of such an event rather than suggesting that the projected sharp decline in global temperatures would be highly beneficial to humanity.

A nuclear war would actually worsen the situation by sparking a brand-new climate crisis when considered in the larger context of climate change.

For instance, significant crop disparities in major exporters like the United States and Russia would result in export restrictions and have an impact on nations that rely heavily on imports.

According to the study, a war between the US and Russia could result in more than 5 billion deaths worldwide, while a war between Pakistan and India could result in more than 2 billion deaths worldwide.

Other studies also highlighted potential indirect effects of this kind of conflict, such as significant oceanic damage, which are likely to have further negative-and less predictable-effects on the environment.

The Verdict: FALSE.

Although just a small nuclear war might indeed have a temporary global cooling effect, it is incorrect to state that this would end the climate crisis, according to Newsweek's FACT CHECK.

This is due in part to the fact that the cooling effects would only last a short time and in part, because a nuclear winter would itself cause a climate crisis, leading to a global food crisis and perhaps billions of fatalities, Newsweek reported.

Related article: Advocates Claim that Nuclear Power May Help Cut Global Emissions in Half
This weekend, the UK and northern Europe are expected to have the highest wind speeds in the world.

On Friday, areas of low pressure will be brought in from the Atlantic by a stronger jet stream, with some of these storms likely to become named storms.

Windiest places on Earth

Gusts of up to 70 mph (112 km/h) are forecast to batter the west coasts of Ireland and the Faroe Islands, with severe winds also expected to pound Norway's western coast through Saturday, as per The Guardian.

More severe weather is anticipated the following week as bands of deep, low-pressure approach from the west.

Similarly, as cold air from Antarctica rushes north, a low-pressure system south of Australia is blowing up a last blast of winter across most of the country.

Temperatures in Western Australia, South Australia, and the Northern Territory are expected to be 10-15 degrees Celsius below average for this time of year on Tuesday.

Coastal areas are expected to be spared the worst of the chill. Daytime maxima in certain inland townships that normally receive warm temperatures in the low 30s at this time of year may struggle to reach the high teens, with the temperature drop occurring over the course of 24 hours on Wednesday and Thursday.

Along with cooler air, heavy downpours are forecast to lash central Victoria and southern New South Wales as unstable weather persists, with up to 125mm of rain anticipated to fall in 24 hours by 6 a.m. local time on Friday.

Meanwhile, Greenland may see another strong jump in temperatures this week, reaching more than 20 degrees Celsius above usual for the time of year.

Although temperatures will largely remain around zero degrees Celsius, certain patches of the ice sheet may climb beyond this level, triggering significant melting.

Greenland's temperatures exceeded records last month, climbing to 8 degrees Celsius over the September norm in certain spots, while Arctic sea ice extent was below average.

As the atmosphere continues to warm, the climate crisis is intensifying ice melt, with potentially disastrous implications.

Read more: Severe Weather and Flash Floods Wreak Havoc in the Southwestern United States Causing Massive Flight Delays

Cyclone to spark cold plunge with a week of wind and rain

A low-pressure system will remain to the north of Scotland towards the end of the week, but a front moving into the nation will draw cold air behind it, so we might see a chilly dip towards the end of the week, according to Jim Dale, meteorologist with British Weather Services, as per Express.

A secondary low-pressure system, a breakout low from the first, will arrive next weekend, bringing frigid northerly air with it.

This week will be generally unstable, with a greater danger of heavy rain and the possibility of severe winds.

It comes as experts warn that Britain may be in for a very harsh winter, with extended bouts of cold and snow.

The chilly weather will be driven by the 2018 Beast from the East, a La Nina cooling of the eastern Pacific paired with developing high pressure and a probable Sudden Stratospheric Warming.

According to the Met Office, 'global weather patterns will have an impact on the UK's weather in winter.

Long-term forecasts are dictated by global weather patterns, and even if these factors, for example, predict a higher-than-usual possibility of a mild winter, this does not rule out cold periods or even cold winters.

Freezing temperatures and snow may arrive before mid-October, kicking off bone-chilling autumn.

According to Exacta Weather forecaster James Madden, there is a chance of wintry cold weather at the end of October and into the beginning of next month.

This will be in stark contrast to recent years' milder weather at this time of year.

A vigorous jet stream traveling over the UK may cause unsettled weather in the coming days.

The quick ribbon of air high in the atmosphere that has broken into two different arms will aid in the direction of stormy weather in the nation.

Following an early rainfall that kicks off the week, the northern areas will be in the primary firing line, with a more stable picture for the south.

Stormy weather will return to the United States during the middle of the week as cold winds sweep in from the north.

Related article: Severe Weather Warnings Issued for New Zealand Due to Heavy Rain and Snowfall
Temperatures in Russia are rising quicker than in the rest of the globe, according to Russian climate scientists.

Climate change is well recognized to be raising global temperatures, with the pace of warming increasing over time.

Since 1880, the Earth's temperature has risen by 0.14 degrees Fahrenheit every decade, but since 1981, the rate has been increasing more.

Russia's Climate Is Heating Up Faster Than the Rest of the World

According to the United States, the nine years from 2013 to 2021 are among the ten hottest on record as per Newsweek.

Igor Shumakov, the head of Russia's Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring (ROSHYDROMET), told the Russian Daily Novye Izvestia on Monday that the last seven years had been the warmest in Russia's history.

According to Shumakov, the likelihood of at least one year in the following five years is warmer than the warmest year, 2016, surpasses 90%.

Russia's land is warming faster than the rest of the earth.

Temperatures in the arctic regions are increasing, sea ice is melting, permafrost is thawing, and climate change is accelerating.

According to Vladimir Kattsov, a climate scientist at the Voeikov Main Geophysical Observatory Russia, Russia is warming 2.5 times faster than the rest of the world.

In an email translated from Russian, Kattsov said that Russia's rapid warming was caused by two key elements.

The Arctic, which comprises a substantial percentage of Russian territory, is rising at an alarming rate "owing to positive feedbacks occurring in the climate system at high latitudes-the so-called 'polar amplification of global warming," Kattsov warned.

According to the Arctic Council, Russia controls about 53% of the Arctic Ocean's coastline.

This Arctic amplification is a well-documented phenomenon that causes the region to warm significantly quicker than the rest of the world.

One of the most commonly claimed causes for this is the loss of sea ice, which tends to reflect rather than absorb heat from the sun.

When sea ice melts, it exposes a darker ocean surface that absorbs more heat from the sun-and more heat equals more melting sea ice.

Also Read: Driftnets and Russia: Ban Starts 2016

Ukraine war may be a 'blessing' for climate

The United Nations Secretary-General According to the meteorological service, the war in Ukraine "may be considered as a godsend" from a climate standpoint since it is speeding the research and investment in green energy over the long term - even though fossil fuels are currently in high demand, as per The Washington Post.

Petteri Taalas, secretary-general of the Globe Meteorological Organization, made the remarks as the world faces an energy shortage, exacerbated in part by economic sanctions against important oil and natural gas exporter Russia, and fossil fuel prices have soared.

As a result, some governments have rushed to embrace alternatives such as coal.

However, growing prices for carbon-emitting fuels such as oil, gas, and coal have made higher-cost renewable energies such as solar, wind, and hydrothermal more competitive in the energy market.

The energy crisis has also prompted several large consuming countries in Europe and elsewhere to implement conservation measures, with some even discussing rationing.

Taalas recognized that the Ukraine conflict has been a "shock for the European energy sector," prompting an increase in the consumption of fossil fuels.

Taalas stated that the energy sector now accounts for around three-quarters of heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions, and he advocated for a "total reform" of the global energy system.

He cautioned that climate change is having an effect on power generation, and that it would have a greater influence in the future.

Among the dangers are nuclear power stations that rely on water for cooling, and some are located in coastal locations vulnerable to sea-level rise or floods.

WMO observed in its research that by 2020, 87% of worldwide power generated by thermal, nuclear, and hydroelectric systems - which emit less CO2 than fossil-fuel plants - will be dependent on water availability.



Related article: Ghost-Like Thick Fog Shrouds Russia, Disrupting Multiple Flights
Severe weather warnings have been issued for the Australian states of New South Wales, Tasmania, and Victoria throughout the remainder of the week, according to Australian weather authorities.

Heavy rainfall and floodwaters are the greatest risk from the current adverse weather.

As a result, further weather alerts are likely to be issued in the coming hours and days.

Evacuation orders are also possible in at risk areas.

Previous weather forecasts in the country suggested a renewed La Nina-triggered weather before the year ends.

In the first quarter of 2022, the same weather phenomenon was reportedly responsible for causing the massive flooding in Eastern Australia, resulting in large-scale catastrophic damage and disruption.

Severe Weather Warnings

The Australian Government's Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) at 2:15 p.m. AEDT (local time) on Wednesday, October 12, issued severe weather warnings for parts of Southeast Australia.

This is due to a cold front and trough carrying widespread heavy rain, scattered thunderstorms, and damaging winds for Wednesday and Thursday, October 13.

There is a potential risk of moderate to major flooding.

Communities in low-lying areas and near inland bodies of water like lakes, streams, and rivers are at risk of experiencing flash flooding.

In previous months this year, riverine flooding has become a commonplace for parts of New South Wales, since torrential rain can lead to the overflow of water levels in these natural water basins.

Also Read: Storm Alert: Heavy Rain and Thunderstorms Forecasted for Eastern Australia This Week

Affected States and Areas

The BoM outlined that the warning includes the following states and its areas:

New South Wales - heavy rain with a six-hour total of 30 to 50 millimeters overnight from Wednesday to Thursday for the southern inland parts of New South Wales. The Australia weather agency predicted damaging winds will be above 90 kilometers per hour in the Alpine areas from Thursday afternoon.

Tasmania - heavy rain with a six-hour total of 40 to 60 mm. across northern Tasmania, increasing to intense rain of up to 100 mm. across the Great Western Tiers, overnight from Wednesday and into Thursday.

Victoria - heavy rain with a six-hour total of 30 to 50 mm. overnight from Wednesday to Thursday in the central and northern parts of the state. The severe weather warning has expanded to include the city of Melbourne and northeast Victoria. Damaging winds above 90 kilometers per hour is possible for elevated terrain in central and eastern Victoria from Thursday morning.

Australia Cold Front

A slow-moving cold front and surface trough drags moisture down from the tropics charged with the La Nina weather event and the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD).

It is a double source of moisture converging above southeast Australia, which is triggering this tropical-sourced heavy rainfall, according to weather forecaster Jonathan How of the BoM, as cited by ABC News.

In similar previous weather events this year, La Nina and IOD has led to a series of inclement weather and storms across Australia, resulting in massive flooding and widespread disruption to travel.

Latest updates show the rain kicks off on Wednesday in outback South Australia before reaching its peak on Thursday over the southeast.

The main focus of the heavy showers is expected to be over Victoria and northern Tasmania.

Related Article: Torrential Rain and Thunderstorms Could Continue in Australia Until the Weekend
More than 11,000 personnel from NATO countries are participating in UK-led Exercise Joint Warrior. Taking place from 1 to 12 October, the biannual exercise includes defence against simulated attacks above, on, and below the water  extending from Cape Wrath and the Hebrides in the north, to the North Sea and the western Channel.

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The aim of Joint Warrior 22-2 is to provide a complex environment in which the participants can train together, honing tactics and skills in preparation for deployment as a Combined Joint Task Force (Picture source: MARCOM)

Joint Warrior is a UK-led biannual multinational joint and combined exercise that includes 45 ships, 30 aircraft, submarines, land forces, and more than 11,000 troops from the UK, NATO, and Allies. It runs from Oct. 1-12 off the coast of the British Isles.

The aim of Joint Warrior 22-2 is to provide a complex environment in which the participants can train together, honing tactics and skills in preparation for deployment as a Combined Joint Task Force. Participating nations include Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

"Joint Warrior is an excellent high-end training opportunity for NATOs Standing Naval Forces in all maritime warfare areas, Commander, SNMG1 Commodore Jeanette Morang said. "Im confident SNMG1 performance will add to the value of the exercise and improve their operational effectiveness as a force in a contested environment with a near-peer opponent.

SNMG1 and SNMCMG1 will participate in task group roles, building upon the solid foundation already achieved by continuous at-sea operations and multinational training exercises. The scenario for each Joint Warrior is designed to reflect contemporary political tensions to assure maximum preparedness in the face of any threat.

The exercise tests personnel at every level from the command group to each individual unit, while strengthening interoperability across the maritime, air, and land environments. Participants will train on a variety of competencies, including maritime task force training, anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare, air defence, maritime security operations, and media engagement.

SNMG1 currently comprises Royal Netherlands Navy flagship HNLMS Tromp, German Navy FGS Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Royal Norwegian Navy HNoMS Roald Amundsen and auxiliary vessel HNoMS Maud. French Navy FS Somme will also join SNMG1 to provide exercise support.

Joint Warrior is the second major exercise for SNMG1 since Morang took command of the group in July. It follows exercise Dynamic Messenger 22 held off the coast of Portugal, which focused on operational experimentation with Maritime Unmanned Systems. Joint Warrior will be more challenging from a command and control perspective, optimizing the deployment of the individual ship capabilities while synchronizing efforts across the force to achieve overall military objectives.

Joint Warrior offers SNMG1 a unique opportunity to train in a very realistic and up-to-date scenario, Morang said. Im looking forward to proving SMNG1 readiness and maritime capabilities to fight in a demanding multi-threat environment and to demonstrate NATO Standing Forces preparedness.

Commanded by Estonian Navy Commander Ott Laanemets, SNMCMG1 comprises flagship German Navy FGS Mosel, FGS Homburg, HMCS Kingston, HMCS Summerside, HMS Hurworth, LNS Kursis, FS Pegase and BNS Bellis. Most recently the staff of SNMCMG1 participated in operational experimentation exercise Dynamic Messenger 22 in Portugal.

After Dynamic Messenger, where our focus was purely on mine countermeasures, Joint Warrior allows us to train the supporting disciplines like force protection against air and surface threats, being protected by other ships, and close maneuvers with other ships and aircraft, Laanemets said. I am looking forward to integrating SNMCMG1 to wider maritime warfare, because no naval warfare can stand for itself.

Task groups will rehearse transition of authority to Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO (STRIKFORNATO) to enhance interoperability with NATO command structures.

SNMG1 and SNMCMG1 are multinational integrated task groups that project a constant and visible reminder of the Alliances solidarity and cohesion afloat and provide the Alliance with a continuous maritime capability to perform a wide range of tasks, including exercises and real-world operations in periods of crisis and conflict. They report to NATO Allied Maritime Command (MARCOM), located in Northwood, United Kingdom. MARCOM is the central command of all NATO maritime forces and the MARCOM Commander is the primary maritime advisor to the Alliance.
The Australian Government has signed a five-year contract with Raytheon Australia Pty Ltd to continue to invest in the capability of the Royal Australian Navys fleet of Collins class submarines.

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HMAS Collins was the first of the six Collins Class submarines to enter service in the Royal Australian Navy (Picture source: RAN)

The $322 million contract will provide in-service support for the Collins class submarine combat system during Australias transition to nuclear-powered submarines.

Deputy Secretary Naval Shipbuilding and Sustainment, Mr Tony Dalton said the support would include a life-of-type extension  commencing in 2026, ongoing sustainment, and selected capability enhancements.

The ongoing sustainment and upgrade of these boats will help maintain a capability advantage and ensure our fleet is ready to meet the challenges across our strategic environment, Mr Dalton said.

We are committed to working closely with industry to sustain our Collins class submarines, an important task that currently supports over 1600 jobs across South and West Australia.

Raytheon Australia has been providing a range of support services for the Collins class submarine combat system since its introduction into service, developing a highly skilled local workforce of approximately 133 people across Australia.

This contract is part of the Governments planned $200 billion investment in providing a secure, sustainable, competitive and continuous Australian naval shipbuilding and sustainment capability through the 2040s.

The Collins-class is a series of six Australian-built diesel-electric powered submarines in service with the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).

The first Collins-class submarine was launched on 28 August 1993 and commissioned in Adelaide on 27 July 1996. The submarine has been developed from five generations of submarines designed and built by the Swedish Navy.

In September 2021, Australia scraped its French contract of Barracuda-class submarines to sign a new alliance with the United Kingdom and the United States called AUKUS, aiming to make the Royal Australian Navy's next submarine fleet nuclear-powered.

The agreement covers key areas such as artificial intelligence, cyber warfare, underwater capabilities, and long-range strike capabilities.

The Attack-class design was based on a conventional version of the Barracuda SSN (or Suffren-class), which is powered by a nuclear propulsion system using a new hybrid design that provides electric propulsion for economical cruise speeds and turbo-mechanical propulsion for higher speeds. The submarine can reach a top speed of 25 knots (46 km/f; 29 mph) with an unlimited range of 10 years. It has a crew of 60 people including 12 officers and 48 sailors.
The 28th Meeting of the SAFE Working Group (SWG) was held in-person at WCO Headquarters, following more than 2 years of online only meetings. The in-person meeting was attended by approximately 100 participants drawn from Customs administrations, PSCG members and other international organizations.

The Meeting was opened by the Director of Compliance and Facilitation, Mr. Pranab Kumar Das, who reported that despite the disruption caused by the pandemic, a number of activities had been accomplished online and that the SAFE Review Cycle 2021 had been delivered successfully. He took the opportunity to praise the excellent collaboration between Customs and PSCG participants in the joint development of important instruments and tools in the SAFE and AEO areas, which provide constant support to Members for the implementation of the SAFE and AEO. In this connection, he noted that the online AEO Compendium and the AEO Validation e-learning course, among others, were highly appreciated.

The Meeting included fruitful discussions about the survey questionnaire on monitoring implementation of the SAFE FoS, and about the SAFE FoS review proposals. Thanks to the great work done intersessionally, the 28th SWG Meeting was able to finalize the draft survey questionnaire on monitoring the implementation of the SAFE FoS, and agree on the initiation of the survey process.

In addition, the SWG was informed of the outcomes of the WCO Council Sessions, held in June 2022, in respect of the WCO Data Strategy and Green Customs initiatives. Delegates highlighted the fact that the SWG has an important role to play in contributing to the implementation of these initiatives.

SWG delegates were also updated on the substantial work that has been done regarding Capacity Building activities, including the accreditation process, the development of the e-learning course and the conduct of technical assistance missions. The e-learning course on AEO Validation is being made available to Customs administrations on the CLiKC! Platform and to the private sector on the WCO Academy platform, thanks to the financial support of the United Kingdom through the WCO Accelerate Trade Facilitation Programme.

The Meeting endorsed a revised draft SWG Work Programme, and provided strategic guidance for the conduct of its work during the period 2022-2025. To achieve alignment between the SWG Work Programme and the three-year cycle of the WCO Strategic Plan, the SWG agreed to amend its Terms of Reference in this respect and extended the current review cycle of the SAFE FoS until 2025.

Regarding coordinated border management in the Customs - Aviation context, the SWG endorsed the draft third edition of the Joint ICAO  WCO Brochure on Moving Air Cargo Globally; with this, the ICAO-WCO joint action plan for the period from 2020-2022 has been accomplished. Delegates praised the ongoing work, by a mini-group led by the Secretariats of the WCO and the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH), on developing the Customs - Ports Cooperation Guidelines, and welcomed best practices shared by Customs administrations in this area.

The 29th Meeting of the SWG is scheduled to take place in the first week of April 2023.
From 20 to 22 September, within the framework of the SECO-WCO Global Trade Facilitation Programme (GTFP), the Customs Administration of Peru exchanged best practices with the Customs Administration of Bolivia on Risk Management (RM) and Customs Laboratory.

The Customs Director of SUNAT welcomed the study visit to Peru, bringing together twelve customs officials from Bolivia with their counterparts from Peru. Participants were highly engaged in strengthening their capacities regarding risk management and laboratory.

Bolivia requested the in-country visit to learn from the Peruvian experiences on establishing a risk-based selectivity. Among the outcomes were identified areas of opportunity in the current RM procedures and an enhanced understanding of challenges towards boosting testing procedures.

The WCO has highlighted sustainability as essential for its Programmes, and peer-to-peer collaboration among beneficiary countries is one of GTFPs strategies to ensure the continuity of the outcomes.

Bolivia and Peru are part of the four initial beneficiary countries of the GTFP in 2018, and the Global Trade Facilitation Programme (GTFP) currently supports fifteen countries, with funding from SECO.

For more information on the GTFP, please contact capacity.building@wcoomd.org
As part of the World Customs Organization (WCOs) continued commitment to the fight against environmental crime, the Environment Programme - Sida Project successfully conducted a Regional Multi-stakeholder Workshop on Illegal Wildlife Trade (IWT) for six member countries of South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Uganda, and Tanzania, in the East & Southern Africa region, from 26-30 September 2022, in South Africa.

The workshop aimed to:

Promote inter-agency cooperation and collaboration between law enforcement agencies - Customs administrations, Wildlife authorities, CITES Management authorities, Police and Prosecutors - in combatting environmental crime and in the enforcement of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Promote the existing law enforcement platforms (like the Regional Intelligence Liaison Office - RILO) as a platform for information sharing, and networking among law enforcement agencies to further enhance joint operations in combatting IWT. Strengthen Public-Private Partnerships between law enforcement agencies and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in combatting illegal wildlife trade at the national and regional levels. Foster institutionalization of inter-agency cooperation and collaboration, by encouraging and recommending the creation and/or operationalization of an informal or formal national anti-wildlife crime coordination task force.

Fifty participants from various law enforcement agencies - Customs administrations, Wildlife authorities, CITES management authorities, Police, Prosecutors - and selected private sector Civil Society organizations actively engaged in various thematic discussions and case studies, ranging from the rationale and added value of inter-agency cooperation, regional cooperation tools for IWT, case development, data and information sharing, Public-Private partnership enhancements and engagements, risk assessment, among other areas.

Participants acknowledged that the workshop had enhanced their awareness of the inter-linkages and the necessity of cooperation and collaboration in dismantling IWT criminal networks, through a combination of proactive, reactive and disruptive approaches, required from each stakeholder. Further, the forum provided a platform for common understanding and an opportunity to further strengthen responses to regional transnational wildlife and forest crimes. Informal networks were established to enhance intelligence, information and knowledge sharing, both nationally and regionally, as an initial step in addressing some of the identified gaps.

For more information, please contact the Compliance and Facilitation Directorate, Environment Programme via environmentprog@wcoomd.org.
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By Huoyuan Tongxin and Feng Songjiang

At the recent UN Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) meeting on norms of responsible behaviors in space, the American representative called upon other countries to follow its step in no longer conducting destructive direct-ascent anti-satellite missile testing and planned to submit a draft resolution to the UN.

Such a resounding rhetoric cannot cover up Americas spuriousness.

On the one hand, the US began to carry out direct-ascent anti-satellite weapon testing as early as in 1959, two years after the first manmade earth satellite was launched. Now that its anti-satellite means is fully developed and it has possessed real-combat anti-satellite capability using relevant devices, the US has no need for such testing anymore.

On the other hand, the draft resolution the US said it would submit to the UN only concerns testing without any mention of the R&D, production, deployment and use of anti-satellite weapons, which is downright evidence that its proposal is only restrictive to others but would not restrain itself in the least. Such a draft resolution has little meaning for arms control and almost zero value for promoting the process in the outer space.

Both in history and reality, the US has always viewed the space as a key domain for strategic competition. It has never stopped seeking unilateral strategic advantages in the outer space and its ambition for space domination has only swelled. From exiting the Treaty on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems (ABM) to strengthening multilateral cooperation with its allies in the space, from taking the space as a battlefield and actively forming the Space Force to developing space attack/defense weapons and holding space drills, the US has been taking faster steps to build its space military forces and committed to fostering a space order dominated by itself.

In its newly released Space Policy, the US DoD blatantly called the space a priority domain of national military power, and asked the US Space Force to operate in, from and to space in parallel in order to secure sustained strategic advantages and reinforce deterrence in space. The document also vowed to defend the use of space for U.S. national security purposes, the U.S. economy, and allies and partners of the United States, and to consolidate its own position as the absolute leader of space economy. Such unveiled wording clearly shows that the US is not only trying to fortify its space forces to suppress other countries for military hegemony in space, but also wants to use this hegemony as a leverage to secure absolute advantage in terms of space economy and order, and consequently control the space on all fronts.

In addition to strongly promoting its capability of space offensive/defensive operations and augmenting unilateral military advantages, the US has also issued the Combined Space Operations Vision 2031 together with Australia, Canada and other countries. That gave it an opportunity to further bind their interests together, integrate space forces available both at home and overseas, and enhance the ability of systematic space operations, so as to further ramp up its own edge in space.

As the acknowledged cornerstone for international law over the outer space, the UN Outer Space Treaty recognizes the common interest of all mankind in the progress of the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes, which, however, falls on deaf ears of the US. In 2017, the UN Group of Governmental Experts on the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space failed to present a report due to Americas unilateral objection, halting the efforts of the whole international community. Now it is the US again that is unilaterally cooking up the so-called tenets of responsible behavior  based on its own, selfish interests  to endorse its endeavor for military hegemony in space.

With the sustaining and deepening human exploration into the space and the rapid development of aerospace technologies, the space has become a key domain underpinning the production and life of modern society, and is seen as a strategic field concerning the country overall security and development. As the common asset of all mankind, it should be explored and used in peaceful ways and for peaceful purposes. Americas aggressive weaponization and militarization of the space, which is bound to make the space insecure, unstable, and uncontrollable, calls for high vigilance of the international community.

(The author is from the Space Security Research Center of Space Engineering University)
Fort Polk, LA (71446)

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Clear skies. Low 34F. N winds at 10 to 15 mph, decreasing to less than 5 mph.
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A team led by Scripps Research scientists has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) in support of one of the largest SARS-CoV-2 surveillance programs in the United States.

The two-year, $2.5 million contract will fund the large-scale, near real-time sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 isolates from hospitals and local public health agencies in San Diego and nearby northwestern Mexico, and the development of software for tracking the evolution and geographical spread of SARS-CoV-2 variants.

The contract, an extension of one originally awarded in 2020, will be carried out by the San Diego Epidemiology and Research for COVID Health (SEARCH) Alliance, which was co-founded by Scripps Research, the University of California San Diego (UC San Diego), and Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego.

CDC's support for SEARCH's genomic surveillance program has already led to significant COVID-19 public health advances as well as new science on SARS-CoV-2, and we expect much more progress in both areas as a result of this new award." Kristian Andersen, PhD, Principal Investigator, Professor, Department of Immunology and Microbiology at Scripps Research

Since the start of the pandemic, SEARCH has been conducting genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 using clinical samples collected at San Diego hospitals and from sources across the border in Baja California. SEARCH has also developed key protocols and analysis tools to track the emergence and spread of SARS-CoV-2 variants in wastewater. Moreover, SEARCH investigators are actively involved in understanding the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, and in several high-profile publications have found evidence for an initial spread from animals sold at the Huanan Market in Wuhan, China.

SEARCH's efforts involve multiple collaborations, including with the CDC, San Diego County's Health & Human Services Agency, the California Department of Public Health, Sharp Health, Scripps Health, the viral surveillance company Helix, and the Salud Digna healthcare network in Mexico. Since the start of the pandemic, these efforts have yielded publications and analyses of more than 70,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences.

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Under the new contract, SEARCH will accelerate its virus-sequencing workflow to produce more timely and actionable information on local virus spread and evolution-;including the emergence of new variants and subvariants of concern.

"The current process of sampling, sequencing and analyzing a batch of virus samples from local hospital cases and wastewater treatment plants can take several weeks," says Mark Zeller, PhD, project scientist in the Andersen lab. "We're aiming to get that down to a matter of days, which would enable us to monitor the transmission chains in local outbreaks in near real-time."

Working with the County of San Diego, the state of California and Mexican public health labs, the researchers will also continue to analyze the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 across the busy California-Baja border. Additionally, they'll expand their genomic surveillance efforts to additional Mexican border states and popular tourist destinations, including Puerto Vallarta. The team will continue to post their analyses on SEARCH's online dashboards.

The project includes the further development of open-source software tools to support the tracking of local SARS-CoV-2 evolution and transmission.

"The tools we've developed in recent years are already being used widely by the public health community for SARS-CoV-2 sequencing and analysis," says Joshua Levy, PhD, postdoctoral research associate in the Andersen lab. "Under this new contract, we will be developing the technology to permanently transform how genomic surveillance will be used to strengthen our public health response."

These open-source software tools are available at https://andersen-lab.com/secrets/code/. The SEARCH Alliance's SARS-CoV-2 surveillance dashboards are at https://searchcovid.info/Dashboards/.
In a long-term prospective study of more than 600 older participants, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers say they have evidence that higher levels of cell-free DNA circulating in the blood may signal increased risk of chronic inflammation associated with early signs of frailty and dementia.

The findings, published Oct. 11 in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, could advance the search for relatively simple blood tests that detect risk of Alzheimer's disease and other forms of cognitive decline.

Circulating cell-free genomic DNA, (ccf-gDNA) is a long identified product of natural cell death in the body. As cells die via apoptosis (programed cell death), the cells shrink, degrade their plasma membrane, and ultimately rupture and release their contents into the body, including DNA fragments. These fragments end up as free-range DNA in the bloodstream.

These ccf-gDNA fragments may trigger long-term chronic inflammatory reactions that have previously been linked to the premature destruction and aging of tissues and organs, including the brain. The body sees these ccf-gDNA fragments as something that needs to be removed, therefore the body's immune system is running at a higher rate than it should. Such immune system overdrive may be a factor in identifying the onset of dementia." Peter Abadir, M.D., Associate Professor of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

For the new study, the researchers tested the blood of 631 people with the average age of 79 who showed no cognitive impairment when the study began. Participants received yearly physical and cognitive testing, at the time of each blood draw. Researchers found that during the eight-year study period, higher levels of ccf-gDNA in the blood were associated with increased cognitive decline and worsening frailty.

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Alzheimer's disease affects an estimated 6.5 million people in the United States, according to the Alzheimer's Association, and there are no known cures or effective therapies. However, the potential of a blood test to identify those most at risk or in early stages could lead to supportive services and other interventions to plan for, compensate for or slow down worsening symptoms.

"Our world population is aging quickly. We have so many advances that have helped extend our life span, so the goal now is to live healthier as we age," says Lolita Nidadavolu, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of geriatric medicine and gerontology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "Dementia and frailty are increasing in frequency. Many people know someone affected by these conditions. With a single blood draw, we may have the potential to identify people who can benefit from early interventions."

Moving forward, researchers say they hope to learn more about the cellular origins of ccf-gDNA fragments. If researchers can identify that a large amount of these fragments are coming from a specific type of cell, it is hoped that they can advance the search for drugs that target the aging and dementia process.

Other scientists who contributed to this research are Danielle Feger, Yuqiong Wu, Alden Gross, Jeremy Walston and Esther Oh of Johns Hopkins, and David Bennett and Francine Grodstein of Rush University.
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is an inherited disorder that causes severe damage to the lungs and other organs in the body. Nearly 40,000 children and adults in the United States live with CF, an often difficult existence exacerbated by an opportunistic bacterium called Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which is a major cause of chronic, life-threatening lung infections.

P. aeruginosa infections are not easily treated. The pathogen can be resistant to most current antibiotics. However, an early-stage clinical trial led by scientists at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, with collaborators across the country, has launched to assess the safety and efficacy of treating P. aeruginosa lung infections in CF patients with a different biological weapon: bacteriophages.

Bacteriophages are viruses that have evolved to target and destroy specific bacterial species or strains. Phages are more abundant than all other life forms on Earth combined and are found wherever bacteria exist. Discovered in the early 20th century, they have long been investigated for their therapeutic potential, but increasingly so with the rise and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

In 2016, scientists and physicians at UC San Diego School of Medicine and UC San Diego Health used an experimental intravenous phage therapy to successfully treat and cure colleague Tom Patterson, PhD, who was near death from a multidrug-resistant bacterial infection. Patterson's was the first documented case in the U.S. to employ intravenous phages to eradicate a systemic bacterial infection. Subsequent successful cases helped lead to creation of the Center for Innovative Phage Applications and Therapeutics (IPATH) at UC San Diego, the first such center in North America.

In 2020, IPATH researchers published data from 10 cases of intravenous bacteriophage therapy to treat multidrug-resistant bacterial infections, all at UC San Diego. In 7 of 10 cases, there was a successful outcome.

The new phase 1b/2 clinical trial advances this work. The trial is co-led by Robert Schooley, MD, professor of medicine and an infectious disease expert at UC San Diego School of Medicine who is co-director of IPATH and helped lead the clinical team that treated and cured Patterson in 2016.

It will consist of three elements, all intended to assess the safety and microbiological activity of a single dose of intravenous phage therapy in males and non-pregnant females 18 years and older, all residing in the United States.

The dose is a cocktail of four phages that target P. aeruginosa, a bacterial species commonly found in the environment (soil and water) that can cause infections in the blood, lungs and other parts of the body after surgery.

For persons with CF, P. aeruginosa is a familiar and sometimes fatal foe. The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation estimates that roughly half of all people with CF are infected by Pseudomonas. Previous studies have indicated that chronic P. aeruginosa lung infections negatively impact life expectancy of CF patients, who currently live, on average, to approximately 44 years.

In the first stage of the trial, two "sentinel subjects" will receive one of three dosing strengths of the IV bacteriophage therapy. If, after 96 hours and no adverse effects, the second stage (2a) will enroll 32 participants into one of four arms: the three doses and a placebo.

After multiple follow-up visits over 30 days and an analysis of which dosing strength exhibited the most favorable safety and microbiologic activity, i.e. most effective at reducing P. aeruginosa, stage 2b will recruit up to 72 participants to either receive that IV dose or a placebo.

Enrollment will occur at 16 cystic fibrosis clinical research sites in the United States, including UC San Diego. It is randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled. The trial is being conducted through the Antibacterial Resistance Leadership Group and funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, with additional support for the UC San Diego trial site from the Mallory Smith Legacy Fund.

Mallory Smith was born with cystic fibrosis and died in 2017 at the age of 25 from a multidrug-resistant bacterial infection following a double lung transplant.

Mallory's death was a preventable tragedy. We are supporting the IPATH trial through Mallory's Legacy Fund because Mark and I deeply believe in the promise of phage therapy to save lives by combatting multidrug-resistant bacteria." Diane Shader Smith, Mother

In an article published in 2020 in Nature Microbiology, Schooley and Steffanie Strathdee, PhD, associate dean of global health sciences and Harold Simon Professor in the Department of Medicine and IPATH co-director, describe phages as "living antibiotics."

As such, said Schooley, researchers need to learn how to best use them to benefit patients through the same systematic clinical trials employed to evaluate traditional antibiotics.

The primary objectives of the new trial are first to determine the safety of a single IV phage dose in clinically stable patients with CF who are also infected with P. aeruginosa, said Schooley.

"Second, it's to describe the microbiological activity of a single IV dose and third, to assess the benefit-to-risk profile for CF patients with P. aeruginosa infections. This is one study, with a distinct patient cohort and carefully prescribed goals. It's a step, but an important one that can, if ultimately proven successful, help address the growing, global problem of antimicrobial resistance and measurably improve patients' lives."

Estimated study completion date is early 2025.
Medical insurance claims might do more than help pay for health concerns; they could help predict them, according to new findings from an interdisciplinary Penn State research team published in BMJ Health & Care Informatics. The researchers developed machine learning models that assess the connections among hundreds of clinical variables, including doctor visits and health care services for seemingly unrelated medical conditions, to predict the likelihood of autism spectrum disorder in young children.

Insurance claim data, which is de-identified and widely available in marketing scan datasets, provides thorough, longitudinal medical details about the patient. The scientific literature in the field suggests that kids with autism spectrum disorder also often have higher rates of clinical symptoms, such as different types of infections, gastrointestinal problems, seizures, as well as behavior indications. Those symptoms are not a cause of autism but are often manifested among kids with autism especially at young ages, so we were inspired to synthesize the medical information to quantify and predict that associated likelihood." Qiushi Chen, Corresponding Author, Assistant Professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Penn State College of Engineering

The researchers fed the data into machine learning models, training it to assess hundreds of variables to find correlations that are related to an increased likelihood for autism spectrum disorder.

"Autism spectrum disorder is a developmental disability," said co-author Guodong Liu, associate professor of public health sciences, of psychiatry and behavioral health and of pediatrics at Penn State College of Medicine. "It takes observation and several screenings for a clinician to make a diagnosis. The process is usually lengthy, and many kids miss the window for early interventions -; the most effective way to improve outcomes."

One of the commonly used screening tools to help identify young children with an elevated likelihood of autism spectrum disorder is called the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT), which is normally given at routine well-child visits at 18 and 24 months old. It consists of 20 questions focused on behaviors related to eye contact, social interactions and some physical milestones such as walking. Guardians answer based on their observations, but, according to Chen, development varies so significantly at these ages that the tool may misidentify children. As a result, children often are not officially diagnosed until they are four or five years old, meaning they miss years of potential early interventions.

"Our new model, which quantifies the sum of identified risk factors together to inform the likelihood level, is already comparable to -; and in some cases even slightly better than -; the existing screening tool," Chen said. "When we combine the model with the screening tool, we have a very promising approach for clinicians."

According to Liu, it would be practically feasible to integrate the model with the screening tool for clinical use.

"A unique strength of this work is that this clinical informatics approach can be easily incorporated into the clinical flow," Liu said. "The prediction model could be embedded in a hospital's Electronic Health Record system, which is used to chart patient health, as a clinical decision support tool to flag the high-risk children so that both clinicians and the families could take actions sooner."

This work, funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Penn State Social Science Research Institute and the Penn State College of Engineering, is the basis of a new $460,000 grant awarded to Chen and Whitney Guthrie, clinical psychologist at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Center for Autism Research and assistant professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, by the National Institute of Mental Health.

They are using the new grant to analyze precisely how well the combined hospital record data and screen results predict autism diagnoses, as well as exploring other potential screening tools that could better equip clinicians to help their patients.

"Not only is the current tool missing many children on the autism spectrum, but many children who are detected by our screening tools experience long waitlists because of our limited diagnosis capacity," Guthrie said. "Although it does detect many children, the M-CHAT also has very high rates of false positives and false negatives, which means that many autistic children are missed, and other children are referred for an autism evaluation when they may not need one. Both problems contribute to the long wait -; often many months or even years -; for further evaluation. The consequences for children who are missed by our current screening tools are particularly important because delayed diagnosis often means that children miss the window for early intervention entirely. Pediatricians need better screening tools to accurately identify all children who need an autism evaluation as early as possible."

Part of the problem is the limited number of psychologists, developmental pediatricians and other experts in pediatric development who can make an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis. According to Chen, the solution may exist in industrial engineering.

"The key idea is improving how we use resources," Chen said. "With Dr. Guthrie's clinical expertise and my group's modeling capabilities, we aim to develop a tool that primary care physicians without specialized training can apply to make confident assessments to diagnose children as early as possible in order to get the care they need as soon as possible."

Additional paper contributors include first author Yu-Hsin Chen, a graduate student pursuing her doctorate in industrial and manufacturing engineering who will also write her dissertation on the grant work; and co-author Lan Kong, professor of public health sciences, Penn State College of Medicine.
Thirdhand smoke, or THS, comprises the residual pollutants from tobacco smoke that remain on surfaces and in dust after tobacco has been smoked. It can remain on indoor surfaces indefinitely, causing potentially harmful exposure to both smokers and non-smokers.

A team led by researchers at the University of California, Riverside, has found that acute exposure of the skin to THS elevates biomarkers associated with the initiation of skin diseases, such as contact dermatitis and psoriasis.

"We found exposure of human skin to THS initiates mechanisms of inflammatory skin disease, and elevates urinary biomarkers of oxidative harm, which could lead to other diseases, such as cancer, heart disease, and atherosclerosis," said Shane Sakamaki-Ching, a former graduate student at UC Riverside who graduated with a doctoral degree in cell, molecular, and developmental biology in March 2022. "Alarmingly, acute dermal exposure to THS mimics the harmful effects of cigarette smoking."

The study, published in eBioMedicine of The Lancet family of journals, is the first to be performed on humans exposed dermally to THS.

The clinical investigation, which took place at UC San Francisco, involved the participation of 10 healthy, non-smokers who were 22 to 45 years old. For three hours, each participant wore clothing impregnated with THS and either walked or ran on a treadmill for at least 15 minutes each hour to induce perspiration and increase uptake of THS through the skin. The participants did not know the clothing had THS. Blood and urine samples were then collected from the participants at regular intervals to identify protein changes and markers of oxidative stress induced by the THS. Control exposure participants wore clean clothing.

"We found acute THS exposure caused elevation of urinary biomarkers of oxidative damage to DNA, lipids, and proteins, and these biomarkers remained high after the exposure stopped," said Sakamaki-Ching, now a research scientist at Kite Pharma in California, where he leads a stem cell team. "Cigarette smokers show the same elevation in these biomarkers. Our findings can help physicians in diagnosing patients exposed to THS and help develop regulatory policies dealing with remediation of indoor environments contaminated with THS."

Prue Talbot, a professor of cell biology in whose lab Sakamaki-Ching worked, explained that skin is the largest organ to contact THS and may thus receive the greatest exposure.

"There is a general lack of knowledge of human health responses to THS exposure," said Talbot, the paper's corresponding author. "If you buy a used car previously owned by a smoker, you are putting yourself at some health risk. If you go to a casino that allows smoking, you are exposing your skin to THS. The same applies to staying in a hotel room that was previously occupied by a smoker."

The THS exposures that the 10 participants were subjected to were relatively brief and did not cause visible changes in the skin. Nevertheless, the molecular biomarkers in blood that are associated with early-stage activation of contact dermatitis, psoriasis and other skin conditions were elevated.

This underscores the idea that dermal exposure to THS could lead to molecular initiation of inflammation-induced skin diseases." Shane Sakamaki-Ching, Former Graduate Student at UC Riverside

Next, the researchers plan to evaluate residues left by electronic cigarettes that can come into contact with human skin. They also plan to evaluate larger populations exposed to longer periods of dermal THS.

Sakamaki-Ching and Talbot were joined in the study by Jun Li of UCR, Suzaynn Schick of UC San Francisco, and Gabriela Grigorean of UC Davis.

The study was supported by grants to Talbot and Schick from the Tobacco Related Disease Research Program of California.
Two new discoveries led by Cedars-Sinai Cancer investigators help improve the understanding of what drives the development of ovarian cancer and why some women's tumors do not respond to therapy.

Understanding the relationship between molecular profiles and clinical presentation of ovarian cancer not only can help guide the development of personalized therapeutic approaches, but can also help us identify women who are at the highest risk so we can intervene before the cancer even develops." Simon Gayther, PhD, Professor of Biomedical Sciences, Director of the Center for Bioinformatics and Functional Genomics at Cedars-Sinai and senior author of both studies

Scientists identify mutations tied to increase risk of ovarian cancer

The first study, published today in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, identified four new regions of the human genome that harbor genetic variants or mutations that put women at an increased risk of developing epithelial ovarian cancer, the most common type of ovarian cancer.

"When it comes to ovarian cancer, prevention is how we're really going to impact mortality," said Michelle Jones, PhD, a research scientist in the Center for Bioinformatics and Functional Genomics and corresponding author of the study. "This study helps us accurately identify women who carry cancer-causing mutations, which can help physicians develop preventive strategies for these women."

To pinpoint the mutations, the team of investigators used new methods to analyze the structural variation of the genome, which is made up of 23 pairs of chromosomes where an individual's genetic code is stored.

While most research focuses on analyzing the change in the sequence of the gene, the team looked at the number of copies of the gene an individual has-;known as a copy number variant.

When the genome gets copied, structural variation can occur, and stretches of the genome can get deleted, duplicated or rearranged to another position. These changes can lead to diseases, like cancer.

The researchers collaborated with scientists at the University of Cambridge to specifically look at deletions and duplications in 13,000 women with ovarian cancer and compared them to 17,000 women without ovarian cancer from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium to identify copy number variants that were associated with ovarian cancer risk.

They found significant deletions and duplications in the BRCA1 gene, BRCA2 gene, and RAD51C gene, all of which are known to harbor changes in a patient's DNA sequence that increase risk for ovarian cancer. Also found: four new genes that have not been previously linked to an increased risk for ovarian cancer.

The study, which is the largest to date to evaluate the contribution of copy number variants to ovarian cancer risk, will likely lead to more accurate genetic testing for women.

"We have the technology that can pick up these deletions and duplications, but it's not always done consistently in clinical genetic testing," said Jones. "We hope these findings highlight the value of looking at copy number variants in clinical genetic testing."

Gene expression unlikely to drive chemotherapy resistance in ovarian cancer

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The second study, published in the Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research, gives investigators a deeper understanding as to how ovarian tumors develop resistance to chemotherapy, which occurs in about 80% of high-grade serous ovarian cancer patients and ultimately leads to their succumbing to the disease.

Previously, researchers believed that ovarian tumors evolve after they are exposed to chemotherapy, and that they change their gene expression to adapt and survive through the treatment.

However, using whole genome sequencing, they found for the first time that this is not the case. Instead, it seems more likely that most high-grade serous ovarian tumors have the capacity to survive chemotherapy from a very early stage, said Jones, who is also the co-first author on this study.

"This study has changed our understanding of how tumors respond to chemotherapy," Jones said. "Previously it was thought that we could probably find a way to treat chemo-resistant tumors with other drugs after they have been treated with the standard therapy, but this study suggests that may not be the best approach."

"By improving our understanding as to how tumors doing survive chemotherapy, and even continue growing throughout treatment, as well as finding vulnerabilities in the tumors, will give us an opportunity to design better drugs and save the lives of women with ovarian cancer," added Gayther.

Cedars-Sinai cancer high-risk BRCA clinic

As researchers at Cedars-Sinai Cancer explore how to more accurately identify women who carry cancer-causing mutations, clinicians are simultaneously working to monitor, and rapidly treat as needed, BRCA-positive patients.

Under the leadership of B.J. Rimel, MD, a gynecological oncologist and medical director of the Cedars-Sinai Cancer Clinical Trials Office, Cedars-Sinai recently launched a high-risk BRCA clinic-;known as a previvor clinic-;for BRCA1 and 2 carriers at high-risk for developing ovarian cancer.

The goal, Rimel says, is to arm BRCA-positive patients with regular screening and risk-reducing prevention strategies-;in a one-stop clinic setting.

"Our multidisciplinary care team, comprised of a reproductive and infertility physician, a gynecologist oncologist and a genetic counselor, spends time with each high-risk patient during the clinic visit," said Rimel. "We provide transvaginal screening onsite, review results from relevant lab work and ensure questions are addressed in real-time."

Modeled by an existing and highly successful high-risk BRCA breast cancer program, the ovarian cancer previvor clinic remains a significant focus at Cedars-Sinai.

"Alterations in genes such as BRCA in either the cancer or the patient's germline have profound implications for treatment and prevention," said Dan Theodorescu, MD, PhD, director of Cedars-Sinai Cancer and the PHASE ONE Foundation Distinguished Chair and professor of Surgery and Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. "As our research propels, so do our translational findings that impact and improve patient lives."
Smoke began billowing into the skies of northwestern Nevada in September, clouding the mountains, dimming the sun  and quashing residents' hopes that they would be spared from wildfires and the awful air quality the blazes produce.

The lung-irritating particles were blowing in from burning forests in California and settling in Douglas County, Nevada, home to nearly 50,000 people, prompting warnings that air quality had reached hazardous levels.

Those levels meant the air was very unhealthy, bad enough to raise alarms about people's immediate health care needs and questions about whether worsening pollution could result in long-term health issues. People could increasingly face such risks as climate change makes wildfires, drought, dust storms, and floods more frequent across the U.S. and the world.

Some people simply feel powerless.

"There's not much we could do about it," said Serrell Smokey, chairman of the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California. The tribe's land straddles the border between California and Nevada near Lake Tahoe and extends into Douglas County, about 60 miles south of Reno.

Tribe members and other area residents are among millions of people nationwide who this year will experience poor air quality because of wildfires. In September, as smoke settled over Nevada, fire-related air quality alerts were dispatched in six other states: California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming.

Yet, by one measure, people who live in Douglas County are better off than those in some other hard-hit areas. Douglas County residents must drive 30 minutes, on average, for medical care from lung specialists called pulmonologists. In other parts of the West and Upper Midwest, however, patients must drive an hour or more, according to data analyzed by GoodRx, a website that tracks prescription drug prices and conducts research.

Specifically, the research found that about 5.5 million Americans live in the 488 counties where drive times to pulmonologists are an hour or more. Much of Nevada and large parts of Montana fall into those gaps between specialists  places that have recently grappled with wildfires that fill the air with smoke and ash, which can cause lung problems or exacerbate existing ones.

Allergies, asthma, and similar issues are often handled by primary care physicians, but patients are sent to pulmonologists when problems escalate  think severe asthma; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD; or emphysema.

Data from the Association of American Medical Colleges shows the number of pulmonary disease specialists in the U.S. dropped nearly 11% from 2014 to 2019. The group, which is based in Washington, D.C., and represents the academic medicine community, noted that the decline might not be as high as it appears because some physicians are opting to practice pulmonary critical care rather than just pulmonology. Many of those types of pulmonologists work in hospital intensive care units.

About 15,000 pulmonologists are practicing in the U.S., according to the GoodRx report. Yet vast swaths of the country have few or none.

"New Mexico has one pulmonologist for the entire southeastern part of state, not counting Las Cruces, which is closer to El Paso," said Dr. Victor Test, a pulmonologist at Texas Tech Physicians.

Test, one of 13 pulmonologists in the Lubbock, Texas, region, said that his patients from within Texas sometimes drive four hours for an appointment and that other people travel from "New Mexico, Oklahoma, even far western Kansas."

Increases in wildfires and their intensity will likely expand the need for pulmonologists.

"Climate change is going to affect lung disease," said Dr. Nicholas Kenyon, a professor of pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine at the University of California-Davis School of Medicine in California, where he and several other researchers are tracking the effects of wildfires. At his Sacramento practice, Kenyon said, he sees patients from far northern parts of California, including Eureka, a five-hour drive from the state capital.

The short-term effects of breathing smoke are pretty well known. People show up in emergency rooms with asthma attacks, exacerbation of COPD, bronchitis, and even pneumonia, Kenyon said. Some have chest pain or other cardiac concerns.

"But we have very little understanding of what happens over the longer term," he said. "If people get two or three weeks of wildfire exposure for two or three years, does that lead to worsening of asthma or COPD? We just don't know."

Fires release multiple pollutants, including carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and chemicals like benzene. All fires send particles into the air. Health researchers and air quality experts are most concerned about tiny pieces referred to as particulate matter 2.5. Far smaller than a human hair, the particles can lodge deep in the lungs and have been linked to heart and lung conditions.

Increases in those tiny particles are associated with a greater risk of death from all causes, excluding accidents, homicides, and other non-accidental causes, for up to four days after a population is exposed, according to a 2020 New England Journal of Medicine overview.

The concentration of fine particulate matter is one of five gauges used to calculate the Air Quality Index, a numerical and color-coded index used to let the public know about local air pollution levels. Green denotes good air quality and is given if the total index is 50 or less. When the measurement exceeds 100, the air quality gets an orange label and may be bad for certain groups. Levels over 200 get a red label and are considered unhealthy for everyone.

Government agencies track those levels, as do people who use apps or websites to determine whether it's safe to go outside.

When the AQI rises above 150, Dr. Farah Madhani-Lovely, a pulmonologist, said Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno shuts its outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation clinic because it doesn't want to encourage patients to drive in. Some patients from Douglas County opt for care near home, about an hour away. "We dont want these patients exposed outside because just one minute of exposure to the smoke can trigger an exacerbation of their chronic disease," Madhani-Lovely said.

Smokey said connecting with pulmonologists can be difficult for Washoe Tribe members, particularly those who live on the California side of the reservation. "We cannot find providers for them," he said. "We end up referring them out and sending them hundreds of miles out of their way just to get care that we should be able to provide here."

Recruiting specialists to rural areas or smaller cities has long been difficult. For one thing, a specialist might be the only one for miles around, "so there's a tremendous burden in terms of coverage and days off," Test said.

Another concern is that physicians tend to train in larger cities and often want to practice in similar places. Even recruiting pulmonary physicians to Lubbock, a city of 260,000 in West Texas, is a challenge, Test said.

"I love Lubbock," he said. "But I tell people who have never been here, I say, 'It's really flat.' They don't understand flat until they get here."

In Nevada, on days when the air quality is bad, Washoe tribal members try to protect themselves with makeshift air purifiers created from fans, duct tape, and air filters, Smokey said.

Longer term, Smokey and other tribal leaders are pushing the Indian Health Service to establish a specialty care hospital in northern Nevada. The closest specialty care hospital for Washoe tribal members is more than 700 miles away, in Phoenix.

It's difficult because "there's a need we should be taking care of," Smokey said. "But we have to fight for it. And sometimes that fight takes years, years, and years to accomplish."
Households are settings that involve repeated and close contact between individuals of different generations. Such a setting could be useful to study the factors that contribute to the transmission of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

In a recent study posted to the medRxiv* preprint server, researchers analyze the risks of contracting SARS-CoV-2 from the household and community. Risks were categorized by familial relationships, age, socioeconomic factors, and living conditions.

Study: Risk factors for household transmission of SARS-Cov-2: a modelling study in the French national population-based EpiCov cohort. Image Credit: Studio Romantic / Shutterstock.com

Background

Monitoring households can provide important insights into the transmission of various pathogens. In the context of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), household studies have revealed that infection is less likely to occur among children than younger/middle-aged adults. Evidence is still scarce about the risk for young children, newborns, and adolescents because of their heterogeneous behavior.

Based on a population-based serosurvey in Switzerland, it was concluded that the risk of within-household infection among young children between the ages of five and eight, as well as young individuals between 10-19 years of age, was lower, relative to middle-aged adults between 20-49 years of age.

However, this study was conducted after a long duration of school closures and at a time of low COVID-19 prevalence among children. In fact, a separate Canadian study reported higher infectivity among children than adolescents.

About the study

Socioeconomic factors have rarely been evaluated at the household level. In France, the EpiCov cohort is a rich population-based serosurvey.

In the current study, data and mathematical modeling from the EpiCov cohort were used to assess the effects of living and socio-economic conditions, age, and family ties on the risk of contracting COVID-19 from both community and household exposure.

A positive Euroimmun anti-SARS-CoV-2 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) immunoglobulin G (IgG) result indicated SARS-CoV-2 infection. To estimate the competing risks of contracting COVID-19 from community and household exposures, stochastic chain binomial models were fitted to distribute infections across households.

Data on 17,983 individuals aged five years and older from 8,165 households were used in this study. Individuals residing in nursing homes were excluded from the EpiCov study.

Key findings

Simulations revealed that household transmission represented 25% of SARS-CoV-2 infections. The key factors for extra-household infection were age, as well as socioeconomic and demographic factors, while those for intra-household infections were age and family ties.

Young adults had the highest risk of extra-household infection, whereas 65-74-year-olds were at the highest risk of contracting COVID-19 from an infected person at home at a rate of 22.1%. Surprisingly, this high risk was not observed in family members aged more than 74 years.

Estimated probabilities (%) of extra and intra-household infection by age. Median, 95% credible interval.

With regards to family ties, the within-household transmission was highest between partners and from mother to child at a rate of 29.9% and 29.1%, respectively. Lower transmission rates from children to parents were observed.

The models also revealed that adults were more likely to be infected outside, relative to children. Subsequently, adults introduced the virus into the household, thus infecting the children.

Estimated probabilities (%) of person-to-person transmission according to (A) household size and (B) family ties. Median, 95% credible interval.

The probability of extra-household infections increased with population density and family income. This likelihood of infection was also higher among French regions that were most affected by COVID-19.

Strengths and limitations

The current study covered a period of interest when schools were open and children were more likely to be exposed to SARS-CoV-2. Additionally, factors associated with extra- and intra-household transmission were studied and longer transmission chains within households were considered.

A key limitation of the study was the lack of statistical power while analyzing specific interactions, such as grandchildren and grandparents. Furthermore, some infections in the first wave of the pandemic may have been excluded, as antibody responses typically wane off after the first four months following infection.

The lack of serological data in children younger than five years of age prevented analysis of the role played by very young children in SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Lastly, the possibility of re-infection was not discussed.

Conclusions

The present study analyzed the first two waves of SARS-CoV-2 infection in France in 2020 and provided estimates of the risk of contracting this virus within and outside households. The likelihood of person-to-person transmission within households varied depending on age and family ties of the individuals.

In November 2020, widespread vaccination was implemented. At the same time, SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern began to emerge, which altered the epidemiological context significantly.

The findings of the current study highlight the heterogeneity of the factors associated with SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Furthermore, the current study demonstrates the utility of population-based serosurveys, which could also be extended to other respiratory viruses in the future.

*Important notice

medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.
A global study into mucinous ovarian cancer could help oncologists recommend the best treatment for women who are diagnosed early with the condition.

By looking down a microscope for two different 'patterns of invasion'  the way that cancer cells invade ovarian tissue  oncologists can better predict which patients may have better or worse prognoses and can target treatment accordingly. The finding was reported in a paper published today in Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

"Mucinous ovarian cancer is a rare type of ovarian cancer. It actually has more in common with gastrointestinal cancers, and can be hard to diagnose and hard to treat once it has spread beyond the ovaries," says lead author Nicki Meagher, who has just completed her PhD in the Molecular Oncology group, UNSW School of Clinical Medicine.

She says that observing which of the two types of invasion patterns that the cancer cells form could help specialists decide on treatment strategies.

We've shown for the first time that women who have early-stage disease  meaning they have tumors that haven't spread beyond the ovary  have much poorer survival chances in the first two years from diagnosis if they have what we call an infiltrative pattern of invasion. Knowing this in the early stage of the disease means we can identify patients who could benefit from additional chemotherapy following surgery to remove their ovaries." Nicki Meagher, Lead Author

The two patterns of invasion are defined by the way the cancer cells organize themselves when viewed under a microscope. The infiltrative pattern of invasion associated with poorer health outcomes shows cancer cells spreading in an uneven, haphazard way through the ovarian tissue. The other pattern is known as expansile, where cells expand through tissue in a more orderly manner, and is associated with better prognoses.

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Up until now, other studies had suggested that the infiltrative pattern of invasion was associated with poorer patient outcomes, but no study had large enough numbers of patients with early-stage cancer to reach statistical significance.

But the current study, that involved more than 100 researchers in Australia, UK, Canada, Asia, Europe and the US, was able to test this hypothesis in much larger numbers by examining the tissue of 604 patients. The researchers also looked for the expression of 19 genes including THBS2 and TAGLN in addition to the patterns of invasion.

Professor Susan Ramus who oversaw the global study and heads the Ovarian Tumour Tissue Analysis consortium says that guidelines on how to treat women with early-stage mucinous ovarian cancer have differed around the world due to limited data on infiltrative patterns of invasion associated with survival rates.

"For example, in some parts of the world, an infiltrative pattern was acknowledged as an important feature and determined what treatment those women receive," Professor Ramus says.

"Whereas in others, all patients are recommended for the same pathway of treatment. We hope that after this large study treatment guidelines can be aligned and that we can target treatment for women who may have these more serious indicators, even if they are diagnosed in early stages."

The researchers also noted that women with higher expression of two genes, THBS2 and TAGLN in their tumors, had poorer overall survival.

"We're hoping that this may be able to help explain some of the biology potentially down the track," says Ms Meagher.

"Another avenue could be that knowledge of expression of these genes could assist in developing targeted drugs."

The researchers are part of a wide network of experts who plan to carry out a validation study to further investigate these genomic markers as the basis for a targeted treatment strategy.
In a recent study posted to the bioRxiv* preprint server, researchers from Ireland used human bronchial epithelium models to evaluate the ability of a novel proprietary formulation called ViruSAL to inhibit severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections.

Background

SARS-CoV-2 infections begin in the epithelia of the upper airways but can progress into the lower airways. A large portion of severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) morbidities and associated mortalities are due to interstitial pneumonia.

Ciliated bronchial epithelial cells in the upper airways express high levels of angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE-2) receptor and transmembrane serine protease 2 (TMPRSS2). SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins target the ACE-2 receptors to initiate viral entry, and cleavage of the spike protein by TMPRSS2 on the cell membrane further aids the process. Studies have shown that recent variants of concern, such as the Omicron variant, replicate faster in the ciliated epithelial cells than the earlier variants do.

Antivirals administered intranasally as prophylactics or to lower viral shedding have the potential to provide adjunct therapy along with vaccines and orally administered antivirals. Therefore, developing intranasally administered antivirals that inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infections in the ciliated bronchial epithelia could prevent infections from emergent variants.

About the study

The present study used VeroE6 cell lines and air-liquid interface (ALI) cultured human bronchial epithelial cells to assess the anti-viral efficacy of ViruSAL against SARS-CoV-2. They also used rat models to test whether ViruSAL interferes with the normal structure and function of mammalian cells in vitro and in vivo.

VeroE6 cells with SARS-CoV-2 infection were incubated in 0.5% to 3% ViruSAL to determine the concentration-dependent inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 by ViruSAL. Confocal imaging and transmission electron microscopy was used to examine the SARS-CoV-2 infected VeroE6 cells for viral presence and assembly.

Air-liquid interface cultured human bronchial epithelial cells were used to detect the inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the ciliated surface of the epithelial cells by different concentrations of ViruSAL. Additionally, the ability of ViruSAL to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 in pre- and post-infection ALI-cultured bronchial epithelial cells was also measured. Cell viability after ViruSAL treatment was assessed using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay.

The efficacy of ViruSAL against SARS-CoV-2 Alpha, Delta, and Omicron variants was measured using VeroE6 cells expressing TMPRSS2. Infectivity was quantified using 50% tissue culture infectious dose (TCID 50 ) assays and quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) to detect the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid (N) gene. The safety and toxicity of ViruSAL were tested by intranasally administering ViruSAL on rat models.

Results

The results reported a concentration-dependent inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 by ViruSAL, with 3% ViruSAL resulting in undetectable levels of infection. Confocal imaging revealed a reduction in the expression of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in infected VeroE6 cells treated with ViruSAL.

Transmission electron microscopy images showed no evidence of viral assembly in the endoplasmic reticulum Golgi intermediate compartments (ERGICs) of infected VeroE6 cells treated with 3% ViruSAL for two minutes while untreated and control-treated SARS-CoV-2 infected cells revealed virus-like particles in their ERGICs.

In ALI human bronchial epithelial cultures, ViruSAL displayed a time- and concentration-dependent reduction of infectivity, with 3% ViruSAL reducing SARS-CoV-2 infections to almost undetectable levels. ViruSAL also exhibited a concentration-dependent reduction of SARS-CoV-2 infections in post-infection ALI cultures of human bronchial epithelia.

ViruSAL was effective against all the tested variants of concern, with infections dropping to undetectable levels for SARS-CoV-2 Alpha and Omicron infections and very low levels of infectivity for Delta infection after treatment with 3% ViruSAL.

No adverse reactions or clinical signs of toxicity were reported in any rat models after the intranasal administration of ViruSAL. The body weights and appetites of all the animals were observed to be normal, and there was no difference in the lung weights of the euthanized test and control group animals.

Conclusions

Overall, the study revealed that ViruSAL effectively reduced SARS-CoV-2 infections in human bronchial epithelial cells cultured in ALI, in a concentration-dependent manner, with 3% ViruSAL completely inhibiting viral infection. ViruSAL was also effective in neutralizing infections in ALI-cultured cells post-infection.

Nasally administered ViruSAL displayed no evidence of toxicity in vitro, and no adverse reactions were seen in the rat models used to test the safety of ViruSAL in vivo. Furthermore, 3% ViruSAL effectively inhibited infections with SARS-CoV-2 Alpha, Delta, and Omicron variants, indicating its potential as a therapeutic agent against emergent variants.

*Important notice

bioRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.
In a recent study published in PLOS Global Public Health, researchers examined the prevalence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine hesitancy in the sub-Saharan adolescent population.

Background

COVID-19 morbidity and mortality have been lower in adolescents than in adults. Still, infected adolescents can spread severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) to others and may present with severe symptoms. Therefore, the vaccination of adolescents is necessary to limit SARS-CoV-2 transmission and COVID-19 morbidity/mortality. Adolescents (10  19 years) constitute 23% of the population of sub-Saharan Africa.

SARS-CoV-2 vaccines are effective and safe; nonetheless, studies from high-income countries report on the growing hesitancy among adolescents to vaccinate. A United States (US) study found that only 52% of the non-vaccinated adolescent population would probably or definitely be vaccinated. Vaccine hesitancy remains a critical challenge to global efforts to control the pandemic.

About the study

In the present study, researchers surveyed the prevalence of vaccine hesitancy among adolescents from five countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Computer-assisted telephonic interviews were conducted using a novel mobile platform. In a previous survey round, one urban and a rural area from Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, and Nigeria were included. In the current survey round, two rural areas from Tanzania and Ghana and one urban area from Tanzania were included.

Households were selected from sampling frames of national surveys or existing health and demographic surveillance systems. Approximately 300 families with adolescents were selected for the interview. The survey was conducted from July to December 2021. Participants from the first round of the survey (July  December 2020) were re-contacted for participation.

The survey comprised questions on willingness to vaccinate, awareness, perceptions, knowledge of vaccines, trusted information sources and expectations on COVID-19 vaccine programs, and potential determinants of vaccine hesitancy. The study outcome was vaccine hesitancy, a response of definitely unwilling to accept the vaccine and maybe unsure or undecided to vaccinate.

Potential determinants were age, country, sex, rural residence, perceived safety and effectiveness of vaccines, the impact of the pandemic on daily activities, psychological distress levels, and perceived risk of SARS-CoV-2 exposure, among others. Prevalence ratios (PRs) were computed using log-binomial models. In unadjusted models, crude associations were estimated between vaccine hesitancy and potential determinants. Adjusted PRs controlling for age, country, sex, and rural residence, were computed.

Findings

The research team interviewed 2,662 adolescents; sex distribution was balanced across all areas except for Ethiopian regions. More than 80% of adolescents heard about SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. Kersa, a rural area in Ethiopia, had the highest proportion of adolescents (86%) who would have accepted vaccines if available.

In contrast, a rural area in Tanzania, Dodoma, had the highest proportion of adolescents (79%) unwilling to be vaccinated. Dodoma also had the least proportion of participants (12%) willing to vaccinate. Similarly, Kersa had the lowest proportion of adolescents (10%) who would not have accepted vaccines. Nouna, the rural area of Burkina Faso, had the highest proportion of individuals (17%) undecided or unsure of vaccination.

Overall, there were 88% vaccine hesitant adolescents in Dodoma, 76% in Dar es Salaam (Tanzania urban), 65% in Lagos (Nigeria urban), 48% in Kintampo (Ghana rural), 37% in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia urban), 32% in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso urban), and 14% in Kersa. Low necessity and concerns about the safety and efficacy of vaccines were reasons cited for vaccine hesitancy.

Around 27% of adolescents believed there were no side effects of COVID-19 vaccines, and 46% could not identify any possible side effects. Overall, 30% of participants were more willing to vaccinate had the vaccine been developed/tested in Africa; 36% of participants were willing to accept vaccines developed in the US, 22% for Chinese vaccines, 11% for Indian vaccines, 15% for European vaccines, and 14% for Russian vaccines.

Television, newspaper, or radio were the most highly trusted information sources (85%), followed by medical professionals (83%) and government communications (73%). Overall, 41% of participants did not know when the vaccine would be available. Male adolescents had an 8% lower prevalence of vaccine hesitancy than females. There was a similar prevalence of vaccine hesitancy among adolescents in Ethiopia and Burkina Faso.

Conclusions

In summary, the study found a high prevalence of vaccine hesitancy across nine areas in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in Tanzania. Female sex and perceived lack of vaccine safety and efficacy were individual factors that increased vaccine hesitancy. COVID-19 vaccination programs must address the concerns of adolescents to minimize hesitancy and improve coverage.
Women in sub-Saharan Africa continue to have an elevated risk of death following childbirth long after the 42-day postpartum limit the WHO uses to define pregnancy-related deaths, a new analysis shows.

Researchers analyzed data from 12 sub-Saharan African countries to examine whether the 42-day definition accurately captures deaths following childbirth.

The analysis found that while the risk of death fell substantially throughout the 42-day postpartum period (relative to a comparison period of 12-17 months postpartum) the risk of death was still estimated to be 20% higher from 42 days to four months following childbirth. This has major policy implications for the improvement of maternal health in sub-Saharan Africa and other low- and middle-income countries.

The team included researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), the Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia at LSHTM and the Kenya Medical Research Institute-Center for Global Health Research. The research is published in The Lancet Global Health.

It's vital that we have up-to-date evidence and action to make childbirth safer for every woman. To measure pregnancy-related deaths, there must be a time limit on the definition but it is concerning that the risk of death remains 20% higher from 42 days until around four months after childbirth. In light of this, we are calling for the WHO to extend the 42-day postpartum limit currently used in the definition of pregnancy-related deaths. Our results also suggest that national and international guidelines for postpartum care should include visits beyond 42 days for women who experience chronic morbidity." Ursula Gazeley, Lead Author, LSHTM

Dr Momodou Jasseh, author from MRC Unit The Gambia at LSHTM, said: "This demonstration of an increased risk of death for mothers beyond 42 days postpartum in Sub-Saharan Africa suggests that the true burden of pregnancy-related mortality may be substantially underestimated in the region. Unless concerned governments commit to enhancing health management information systems that generate the requisite data on maternal outcomes after 42-days postpartum, the real burden will remain elusive."

Dr Sammy Khagayi, author from the Kenya Medical Research Institute, said: "Despite the reduction in mortality around childbirth for both mothers and babies in areas with limited resources like Western Kenya, it is vital to go a step further to provide quality care for the mothers beyond the recommended postpartum period. Ante- and post-partum pregnancy monitoring would go a long way in reducing late maternal deaths. This will be achieved if we invest in data collection platforms to monitor and track women from pregnancy to 6 months postpartum."

This large, multi-country study analyzed almost 30 years' worth of data from 1991-2020, from 30 Health and Demographic Surveillance Systems (HDSS), across 12 African countries. In total 647,104 births and 1,967 deaths within one year of giving birth were recorded in the HDSS.

This analysis was based on deaths after childbirth from any cause. To plan interventions and prevent deaths, the authors call for urgent further investigation on the causes of death after 42 days postpartum in low- and middle-income settings.

Limitations of the research include that HDSS data do not always include pregnancy reports and so the analysis did not include pregnancy-related deaths before childbirth, which is likely to underestimate maternal risk.

The research was funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

There is a need to promote the role of the media in serving the nation and raising public awareness by providing media materials characterised by credibility and professionalism.

This was emphasised by Information Minister Dr Ramzan bin Abdullah Alnoaimi during a meeting with the ministrys affiliates who are participating in the Outside the Box creativity initiative.

Dr Alnoaimi affirmed that developing the visual content on all platforms of the ministry constitutes a priority to provide a media service that is consistent with the international fast-paced developments in this field.

He commended the directives and unlimited support of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, to the media field, describing it as a strong incentive for more creativity and innovation.

The Minister expressed most sincere thanks and appreciation to the participants in the initiative for their visions and ideas, stressing keenness of the ministry to support all its creative employees and competencies.

Dr Alnoaimi pointed out that the initiative, since its announcement last September until the submission deadline, has received 192 ideas submitted by 92 employees in various media fields.

He noted that those ideas will be studied and evaluated in order to carry them out gradually in the future.

A committee will be formed for the evaluation and will comprise in its membership an elite of national experts from the media field.

He also noted that the ministry is currently working on the creation of the media creative ideas bank, in line with its goals set within the creators lab, to form a national creativity stockpile of visual ideas.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Staff Reporter

The upcoming visit of Vicar of Christ to Bahrain is in line with the Vaticans and Pope Francis aim to seek a war-free Middle East, Union of Catholic Asian News reported.

The Supreme Pontiff was supposed to visit Bahrain as early as 2014 after the first meeting at the Vatican between Pope Francis and King Hamad.

But the United Arab Emirates visit came first. The Pope signed the Declaration for Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together along with Shaikh Ahmed Al Tayeb in Abu Dhabi on Feb 4, 2019. His Majesty King Hamad has endorsed the Document on Human Fraternity as a major milestone to foster religious harmony, the report said.

The report also praises the Kingdom for being the greatest nation of tolerance in the whole region and world.

Pope Francis will travel to the Kingdom for a three-day visit in November - an occasion that is expected to attract tens of thousands of Catholics and other followers.

The pontiff, 85, will visit the Arabian Gulfs largest Roman Catholic Church in Awali.

This will be the second visit by the head of the church to the Arabian Gulf after Pope Francis's historic visit to the UAE in 2019.

Pope Francis will make the announced apostolic journey to Bahrain from November 3 to 6 this year, visiting the cities of Manama and Awali on the occasion of the Bahrain Forum for Dialogue: East and West for Human Coexistence, the Vatican has said.

A statement released by the Director of the Holy See Press Office said the Pope had accepted the invitation of the country's civil and ecclesial authorities.

During his Apostolic Journey, the Pope will visit the cities of Manama and Awali on the occasion of the Bahrain Forum for Dialogue: East and West for Human Coexistence. Pope Francis will be the first Pope to visit the Kingdom of Bahrain.

The Royal Court later confirmed the news, announcing that Pope Francis will pay a historic visit upon the invitation of His Majesty.

His Holiness will participate in the Bahrain Forum for Dialogue: East and West for Human Coexistence, to be held under the patronage of His Majesty the King, the Royal Court said.

The Royal Court looks forward to welcoming His Holiness the Pope to the Kingdom of Bahrain, acknowledging his sincere efforts to promote a culture of dialogue and peaceful coexistence, a statement issued said.

His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa met Pope Francis during His Majestys visit to the Vatican on May 19, 2014.

During the occasion, His Majesty also held talks with the Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and the former Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Dominique Mamberti.

According to a Holy See Press Office statement at the time, cordial discussions between the Bahraini King and the Pope focused on various themes of common interest, with particular reference to the commitment towards peace and stability in the Middle East, as well as the promotion of dialogue and peaceful co-existence among all members of society.

Mention was also made of the Christian communitys positive contribution to the country, and appreciation was expressed for His Majestys personal interest in the needs of the local Catholic community.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Industry and Commerce Minister Zayed bin Rashid Al Zayani has commended the influential part played by the Bahrain Aluminium Company (Alba) in boosting growth in the industrial sector, and increasing the demand for Bahraini aluminum globally.

Al Zayani highlighted the major contributions of national companies to the economy as he visited yesterday Alba, in the presence of its Chairman, Shaikh Daij bin Salman bin Daij Al Khalifa, and Chief Executive Officer, Ali Al Baqali.

The Minister stressed the governments commitment to continue supporting national companies to achieve the national economic development objectives.

During the visit, Al Zayani inspected the sixth smelting line expansion project and was briefed on the progress of operations.

He also toured the rest of the factory and listened to an explanation of all stages of manufacturing and production processes.

Shaikh Daij noted that this visit reflects the governments care to the industrial sector, in general, and to the aluminum one, in particular.

The Chairman affirmed that Alba constantly seeks to explore further expansion projects, upgrades and new facilities for the companys operations, thus enhancing its competitiveness in the global aluminum industry and achieving the objectives of Bahrains Economic Vision 2030.
In recent years, stink bugs, which can cause major damage to farm crops, have been appearing in alarming numbers in Japan.

By the end of August this year, 35 of the country's 47 prefectures had issued "stink bug warnings" to farmers, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

Global warming is likely behind the population rise of the insect, which feeds on plant fluids, experts say, warning that its numbers could keep growing.

Stink bugs produce a foul smell when threatened, a mechanism thought to help ward off predators. They are also called shield bugs.

"Damage this year is the worst ever," Toru Kawana, 47, a grower of high-quality Japanese pears in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, lamented as he held up unevenly shaped pears whose juices had been partially sucked out by stink bugs. "Stink bugs and other pests have increased because of temperature rises caused by climate change," he said.

Warnings have been issued against three kinds of stink bug -- those that suck nutrients from and discolor rice plants, bugs that pierce the skin of fruits and extract their juices, and bugs that attack soybean plants. ...continue reading
, Oct 12 ( Kyodo ) - An Israeli resident of Japan who was being held at a detention center near Tokyo after being charged in 2020 for smuggling drugs into the country has died, his lawyer said Tuesday.

The facility and the Yokohama District Court had refused to approve special treatment for Amnon Hanoh Tenenboim, 60, even though he was suspected of having a heart condition, lawyer Takashi Takano said.

But the Yokohama detention center said the same day that Tenenboim had been found lying on a bed in a solitary cell with an elastic hair band stretched from under his chin to the top of his head, suggesting that he may have committed suicide. ...continue reading
VANCOUVER, BC, Oct. 12, 2022 /CNW/ - Elevation Gold Mining Corporation (TSXV: ELVT) (OTCQX: EVGDF) (the "Company" or "Elevation Gold") is pleased to announce the production results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022 ("Q3 2022"), as well as provide an update on its diamond drilling program at Florence Hill. The Company expects to file its second quarter financial statements and management discussion and analysis in early November 2022.

Third Quarter 2022 Highlights

Elevation Gold produced 8,835 ounces of gold from 750,908 ore tonnes processed with average grades of 0.51 g/t, a 35% increase from Q3 2021 and a 30% increase from Q2 2022.





The Company sold 9,096 ounces of gold during Q3 2022, an increase of 46% from Q3 2021 and a 30% increase from Q2 2022.





Gold production and sales materially increased quarter over quarter, as the Company began mining higher-grade ore sourced from the East Pit at the end of June 2022. Average mined grade has increased from 0.35 g/t in Q1 2022 to 0.42 g/t in Q2 2022, to 0.51 g/t in Q3 2022.

Consolidated Operational Results Summary

The following table provides a summary of the Company's operational statistics for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022 and 2021.





Q3 2022 Q3 2021

YTD 2022 YTD 2021 Ore tonnes mined t 778,177 730,447

2,239,620 2,119,071 Ore tonnes stacked t 750,908 714,642

2,237,803 2,047,688 Contained gold ounces stacked oz 12,354 9,275

30,861 29,679 Gold grade g/t 0.51 0.40

0.43 0.45 Gold ounces produced oz 8,835 6,526

21,912 22,368 Gold ounces sold oz 9,096 6,214

22,606 22,380

Tim Swendseid, Elevation Gold President, stated "As communicated with our Q2 financials press release, we are now seeing the benefits from the East Pit advancement, which has significantly increased the overall mine grade in Q3 2022, and I remain extremely optimistic about our outlook for the remainder of 2022 and 2023. The Company is well positioned to deliver its full year guidance of between 32,000 to 34,000 ounces sold in 2022." Mr. Swendseid continued, "Our Moss Mine team remains focused on delivering higher grade ore from East Pit and increasing crusher throughput while taking advantage of previously completed capital projects."

Florence Hill Exploration Program

In July 2022, the Company commenced a planned 3,800-meter diamond core drilling program to test several high-priority targets at Florence Hill, Grapevine, Silver Creek Springs, eastern West Oatman, and the Hardy Vein. The initial hole, which was intended to test both the extension of the West Oatman and Gold Road epithermal vein structures in the Florence Hill area and as well as the cause of the extensive surface advanced argillic alteration in this area, has been completed at almost 1,100 m in total depth. The drill hole was terminated in promising highly altered rock due to drill rig limitations. Core from the initial drill hole is currently being analyzed and shipped to an independent assay lab, and once results are received and reviewed, the Company will release the results, expected to be in Q1 2023. Key information discovered from this drill hole will be used to target further drilling at Florence Hill and similar targets in the area.

Dr. Warwick Board, Vice President Exploration, commented: "The first diamond core drill hole at Florence Hill intersected multiple encouraging structural, vein, and alteration features throughout the length of the drill hole. Of particular note was the intersection of a significant structure along strike of both the West Oatman and Gold Road vein-hosting structures. Additional encouraging intersections included several vein-filled structures followed by a continuous intensification and up-temperature transition of the alteration assemblages with depth. We are in the process of planning further follow-up drilling, targeting the geophysical target towards which the alteration was vectoring with shorter drill holes. Additional information on Florence Hill and Moss Mine exploration will be provided in an upcoming news release later this month."

Qualified Persons

Unless otherwise indicated, all technical data contained in this press release that relates to geology, exploration and mineral resources has been reviewed and approved by Dr. Warwick Board, P.Geo, Vice President Exploration of Elevation Gold. Dr. Board is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument ("NI") 43-101 and is responsible for the Moss Regional and Hercules Exploration Projects.

Unless otherwise indicated, the technical disclosure contained within this press release that relates to the Company's operating mine has been reviewed and approved by Tim J. Swendseid, President of the Company and a Qualified Person for the purpose of NI 43-101.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF ELEVATION GOLD MINING CORPORATION

"Tim J. Swendseid"

Tim J. Swendseid, President of Elevation Gold Mining Corporation

About Elevation Gold Mining Corporation

Elevation Gold is a publicly listed gold and silver producer, engaged in the acquisition, exploration, development and operation of mineral properties located in the United States. Elevation Gold's common shares are listed on the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV") in Canada under the ticker symbol ELVT and on the OTCQX in the United States under the ticker symbol EVGDF. The Company's principal operation is the 100% owned Moss Mine in the Mohave County of Arizona. Elevation also holds the title to the Hercules exploration property, located in Lyon County, Nevada.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information

Certain of the statements made and information contained herein is "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this document constitute forward-looking information, including but not limited to statements regarding the Company's plans, prospects and business strategies; the Company's guidance on the timing and amount of future production and its expectations regarding the results of operations; expected costs; permitting requirements and timelines; timing and possible outcome of Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve estimations, life of mine estimates, and mine plans; anticipated exploration and development activities at the Company's projects; net present value; design parameters; economic potential; processing mineralized material; the potential of robust economic potential at the Moss Mine Project. Words such as "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "contemplate", "target", "plan", "goal", "aim", "intend", "continue", "budget", "estimate", "may", "will", "can", "could", "should", "schedule" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking information is necessarily based upon various estimates and assumptions including, without limitation, the expectations and beliefs of management, including that the Company can access financing, appropriate equipment and sufficient labour; assumed and future price of gold, silver and other metals; anticipated costs; ability to achieve goals; and assumptions related to the factors set forth below. While these factors and assumptions are considered reasonable by the Company as at the date of this document in light of management's experience and perception of current conditions and expected developments, these statements are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Known and unknown factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements and information. Such factors include, but are not limited to: risks inherent in mining, including, but not limited to risks to the environment, industrial accidents, catastrophic equipment failures, unusual or unexpected geological formations or unstable ground conditions, and natural phenomena such as earthquakes, flooding or unusually severe weather; uninsurable risks; global financial conditions and inflation; changes in the Company's share price, and volatility in the equity markets in general; volatility and fluctuations in metal and commodity prices; the threat associated with outbreaks of viruses and infectious diseases, including the COVID-19 virus; delays or the inability to obtain, retain or comply with permits; risks related to negative publicity with respect to the Company or the mining industry in general; health and safety risks; exploration, development or mining results not being consistent with the Company's expectations; unavailable or inaccessible infrastructure and risks related to ageing infrastructure; actual ore mined and/or metal recoveries varying from Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve estimates, estimates of grade, tonnage, dilution, mine plans and metallurgical and other characteristics; risks associated with the estimation of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves and the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits, including, but not limited to, models relating thereto; ore processing efficiency; information technology and cybersecurity risks; potential for the allegation of fraud and corruption involving the Company, its customers, suppliers or employees, or the allegation of improper or discriminatory employment practices; regulatory investigations, enforcement, sanctions and/or related or other litigation; estimates of future production and operations; estimates of operating cost estimates; the potential for and effects of labour disputes or other unanticipated difficulties with or shortages of labour or interruptions in production; risks related to the environmental regulation and environmental impact of the Company's operations and products and management thereof; exchange rate fluctuations; climate change; risks relating to attracting and retaining of highly skilled employees; compliance with environmental, health and safety laws; counterparty and credit risks and customer concentration; litigation; changes in laws, regulations or policies including, but not limited to, those related to mining regimes, permitting and approvals, environmental and tailings management, and labour; internal controls; challenges or defects in title; funding requirements and availability of financing; dilution; risks relating to dividends; risks associated with acquisitions and related integration efforts, including the ability to achieve anticipated benefits, unanticipated difficulties or expenditures relating to integration and diversion of management time on integration; uncertainties relating to interpretation of drill results and the geology, continuity and grade of mineral deposits; uncertainty of estimates of capital and operating costs, production estimates and estimated economic return; uncertainty of meeting anticipated program milestones; and other risks and uncertainties including but not limited to those described the Company's public disclosure documents which are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com under the Company's profile. All of the forward-looking statements made in this document are qualified by these cautionary 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, forecast or intended and readers are cautioned that the foregoing list is not exhaustive of all factors and assumptions which may have been used. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking information. Accordingly, there can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate and forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance. Readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The forward-looking information contained herein speaks only as of the date of this document. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise forwardlooking information or to explain any material difference between such and subsequent actual events, except as required by applicable law.

SOURCE Elevation Gold Mining Corp.

For further information: Tim J. Swendseid, President, Elevation Gold Mining Corporation, E: [email protected], W: www.elevationgold.com
OTTAWA, ON, Oct. 11, 2022 /CNW/ -

We, the leaders of the Group of Seven (G7), convened today with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy . Our meeting took place against the backdrop of the most recent missile attacks against civilian infrastructure and cities across Ukraine , leading to the death of innocent civilians. We condemn these attacks in the strongest possible terms and recall that indiscriminate attacks on innocent civilian populations constitute a war crime. We will hold President Putin and those responsible to account.



The G7 firmly condemn and unequivocally reject the illegal attempted annexation by Russia of Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya and Kherson regions in addition to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol. We solemnly reiterate that we will never recognise this illegal annexation or the sham referenda that Russia uses to justify it.



Russia has blatantly violated the principles enshrined in the UN Charter. They cannot and do not give Russia a legitimate basis to change Ukraine's borders. We call upon all countries to unequivocally reject these violations of international law and demand that Russia cease all hostilities and immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its troops and military equipment from Ukraine .



We have imposed and will continue to impose further economic costs on Russia , including on individuals and entities  inside and outside of Russia  providing political or economic support for Russia's illegal attempts to change the status of Ukrainian territory.



We deplore deliberate Russian escalatory steps, including the partial mobilisation of reservists and irresponsible nuclear rhetoric, which is putting global peace and security at risk. We reaffirm that any use of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons by Russia would be met with severe consequences.



We condemn Russia's actions at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant and the pressure exerted on the personnel of the facility. This is a further irresponsible escalation and we will hold Russia responsible for any incident caused by their actions. The safety, security and safeguards of the nuclear facility are paramount and we support the International Atomic Energy Agency's efforts in this regard.



We reiterate our call on the Belarusian authorities to stop enabling the Russian war of aggression by permitting Russian armed forces to use Belarusian territory and by providing support to the Russian military. The announcement of a joint military group with Russia constitutes the most recent example of the Belarusian regime's complicity with Russia . We renew our call on the Lukashenko regime to fully abide by its obligations under international law.



We reaffirm our full support to Ukraine's independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty in its internationally recognised borders. In line with international law, in particular the UN Charter, Ukraine has the legitimate right to defend itself against Russian aggression and to regain full control of its territory within its internationally recognised borders.



We reassured President Zelenskyy that we are undeterred and steadfast in our commitment to providing the support Ukraine needs to uphold its sovereignty and territorial integrity. We will continue to provide financial, humanitarian, military, diplomatic and legal support and will stand firmly with Ukraine for as long as it takes. We are committed to supporting Ukraine in meeting its winter preparedness needs.



With a view to a viable post-war peace settlement, we remain ready to reach arrangements together with interested countries and institutions and Ukraine on sustained security and other commitments to help Ukraine defend itself, secure its free and democratic future, and deter future Russian aggression. We will continue to coordinate efforts to meet Ukraine's urgent requirements for military and defense equipment. We look forward to the outcomes of the International Expert Conference on the Recovery, Reconstruction and Modernisation of Ukraine on October 25 .



No country wants peace more than Ukraine , whose people have suffered death, displacement and countless atrocities as the result of Russian aggression. In solidarity with Ukraine , the G7 Leaders welcome President Zelenskyy's readiness for a just peace. This should include the following elements: respecting the UN Charter's protection of territorial integrity and sovereignty; safeguarding Ukraine's ability to defend itself in the future; ensuring Ukraine's recovery and reconstruction, including exploring avenues to do so with funds from Russia ; pursuing accountability for Russian crimes committed during the war.



We are deeply troubled by the deliberate damage to the Nordstream pipelines in international waters in the Baltic Sea and strongly condemn any deliberate disruption of critical infrastructure. We welcome ongoing investigations.



We will act in solidarity and close coordination to address the negative impact of Russia's aggression for global economic stability, including by continuing to cooperate to ensure energy security and affordability across the G7 and beyond.

This document is also available at https://pm.gc.ca

SOURCE Prime Minister's Office

For further information: PMO Media Relations: [email protected]
OTTAWA, ON, Oct. 12, 2022 /CNW Telbec/ - As COVID-19 continues to circulate in Canada, it is important for everyone to stay up-to-date with their vaccination to strengthen their immune response and reduce their risk of severe illness.

Today, the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Health, announced an additional investment of $3,894,545 for nine existing Immunization Partnership Fund (IPF) projects to support their continued COVID-19 vaccination efforts. Investments through the IPF aim to support people in Canada in making informed COVID-19 vaccination choices through evidence-based, culturally relevant, and community-based interventions.

The organizations receiving additional funding have worked tirelessly and successfully to reduce access barriers and increase vaccine confidence and uptake in their communities. They have dispelled vaccine-related mis/disinformation; provided tools, training, and evidence-based information for health care providers; and developed culturally appropriate approaches to support equity-deserving, racialized, and vulnerable populations.

The IPF is a key element of the Government of Canada's multi-faceted approach to advance population health protection against infectious diseases, support vaccine equity and improve vaccine uptake and access through public outreach and community mobilization.

Quotes

"Vaccination remains one of the most effective ways to protect ourselves against COVID-19 and its impacts. Since our immunity against COVID-19 decreases over time, it's important to stay up to date with your vaccination. This funding is helping trusted partners across Canada share credible information on vaccines, and remove the barriers certain communities face in getting vaccinated so that everyone can get their booster."

The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos

Minister of Health

"Through the Immunization Partnership Fund, we are helping people make informed COVID-19 vaccination decisions. Increasing vaccination uptake and acceptance is how we can work together to protect the health of everyone in Canada and our healthcare system as a whole."

Dr. Theresa Tam, Chief Public Health Officer

Public Health Agency of Canada

Quick Facts

Launched in 2016, the Immunization Partnership Fund (IPF) is a key element of the Public Health Agency of Canada's vaccination initiatives. The IPF is an important lever to identify and help address gaps in vaccine acceptance and uptake and empower people in Canada to make informed vaccine choices during Canada's COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

vaccination initiatives. The IPF is an important lever to identify and help address gaps in vaccine acceptance and uptake and empower people in to make informed vaccine choices during COVID-19 vaccine rollout. In 2020 and 2021, as part of Canada's COVID-19 vaccination efforts, the Government of Canada invested $45.5 million for projects to support COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and uptake in Canada.

COVID-19 vaccination efforts, the Government of invested for projects to support COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and uptake in Canada. Vaccination is, and will continue to be, a critical public health measure. The Public Health Agency of Canada recommends that everyone stay up-to-date on their COVID-19 vaccinations by getting all recommended doses, including booster doses. If it's been longer than 6 months since your last dose, consider getting another dose by contacting your province or territory or health care provider.

Associated Links

Backgrounder: Government of Canada announces additional funding for nine projects through the Immunization Partnership Fund

Vaccination and Immunization

Immunization Partnership Fund

Canada.ca/Coronavirus

SOURCE Public Health Agency of Canada

For further information: Marie-France Proulx, Press Secretary, Office of the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Health, 613-957-0200; Media Relations, Public Health Agency of Canada, 613-957-2983, [email protected]; Public Inquiries: 613-957-2991, 1-866-225-0709
MONTREAL, Oct. 12, 2022 /CNW/ - Equality is achieved when organizations come together to strengthen collaboration, increase access to information, and implement change that benefits everyone.

Today, the Honourable Marci Ien, Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth, announced $40,000 to support Project 10 in building and strengthening its internal capacity and networks to advance gender equality. Project 10 will also enhance collaboration between organizations, improve access to information and knowledge sources, and implement new recruitment strategies.

Through this initiative, Project 10 will support 2SLGBTQI+ communities to address issues related to sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression. When every individual is able to live a life where they can be their true authentic self, all Canadians benefit.

Quotes

"After meeting and speaking with members of Project 10 this Pride season, I saw how its ongoing advocacy and programming have made intersectional 2SLGBTQI+ Montrealers feel supported and seen. Most importantly, it gives members of the community a space to be themselves and truly shine. I'm proud to be supporting its incredible work through this funding, and I know it will continue paving the way forward to create a more inclusive and progressive society."

The Honourable Marci Ien, Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth

"I am pleased that the funding provided to Project 10 through Women and Gender Equality Canada will enable 2SLGBTQI+ youth to access important resources and opportunities for their growth. The federal government is a proud ally of 2SLGBTQI+ communities, and Project 10's work is invaluable to the development and continued wellbeing of youth from these communities. The positive impacts of its efforts will benefit all of Canadian society."

The Honourable Melanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Member of Parliament for Ahuntsic-Cartierville.

"Being able to develop the community's collective ability to distribute gender-affirming materials will make a meaningful impact for 2SLGBTQIA+ youth, and we are tremendously excited to have the support of Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE). This work, in company with our efforts to bolster our understanding of the human resource challenges facing community organizations, particularly with respect to recruitment and retention strategies, will lead to healthier 2SLGBTQIA+ community organizations and, subsequently, more impactful 2SLGBTQIA+ community work."

Mitchell Rae, Executive Director of Project 10

Quick facts

WAGE has previously funded Project 10 for its project to strengthen organizational governance. This project received $100,000 in funding and had a duration of November 16, 2020 to March 31, 2022 .





in funding and had a duration of to . On May 17, 2022 , WAGE launched a call for proposals that addressed key challenges in order to advance equity for 2SLGBTQI+ communities.





, WAGE launched a call for proposals that addressed key challenges in order to advance equity for 2SLGBTQI+ communities. Since 2019, $20.2 million in funding has been delivered for over 70 projects under the Equality for Sex, Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression (SSOGIE) Program. Funding information for the program can be found here.





in funding has been delivered for over 70 projects under the Equality for Sex, Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression (SSOGIE) Program. Funding information for the program can be found here. Budget 2021 committed $14 million for a dedicated 2SLGBTQI+ secretariat and $11 million for gender-based violence research. The establishment of the secretariat will allow for the provision of strong evidence, knowledge mobilization, enhanced coordination and collaboration within and across jurisdictions, strengthened engagement with stakeholders, and shared accountability approaches. Community-based research will be undertaken collaboratively with community organizations representing those most at risk of gender-based violence, including Black and racialized women, Indigenous women, women with disabilities, and 2SLGBTQI+ women.





for a dedicated 2SLGBTQI+ secretariat and for gender-based violence research. The establishment of the secretariat will allow for the provision of strong evidence, knowledge mobilization, enhanced coordination and collaboration within and across jurisdictions, strengthened engagement with stakeholders, and shared accountability approaches. Community-based research will be undertaken collaboratively with community organizations representing those most at risk of gender-based violence, including Black and racialized women, Indigenous women, women with disabilities, and 2SLGBTQI+ women. In recent years, changes have been made to programming in order to enhance support for organizations. These changes include restoring the eligibility of advocacy activities; supporting longer-term, higher-value funding opportunities; and providing capacity funding to both women's organizations and 2SLGBTQI+ organizations.

Associated links

Follow Women and Gender Equality Canada:

SOURCE Women and Gender Equality Canada

For further information: Johise Namwira, Press Secretary and Issues Manager, Office of the Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth, 873-353-0985, [email protected]; Media Relations, Women and Gender Equality Canada, 819-420-6530, [email protected]
Sherbrooke coffee roaster will receive $2.5M in financial assistance from CED to help Quebec transition to a green economy.

SHERBROOKE, QC, Oct. 12, 2022 /CNW Telbec/ - Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions (CED)

SMEs have a key role to play in ensuring Quebec's economy makes the energy transition. They seek to innovate and grow by becoming more competitive in a greener world. That is why the Member of Parliament for BromeMissisquoi, Minister of Sport and Minister responsible for CED, the Honourable Pascale StOnge, and the Member of Parliament for Sherbrooke, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health, Elisabeth Briere, are today announcing a repayable contribution of $2.5M for Cafe William Spartivento inc. for its project to build a smart factory that will be LEED certified.

This CED support will enable the Sherbrooke coffee roaster to acquire new low-energy equipment, including a fully electric coffee roaster, considered oneofakind in the world. Through these purchases, the business will produce more quickly and in larger quantities, all while adopting a manufacturing process that is less energy intensive.

A sustainable, just, and more inclusive recovery will come, among other things, from businesses making the green shift. The Government of Canada supports SMEs by fostering sustainable development in all regions across Quebec. To achieve this, it leverages programs and services that are adapted to accelerate the launch of innovative projects, the adoption of clean technologies, and the development of greener products. In this way, CED is providing concrete assistance to Quebec's businesses, entrepreneurs, and workers so they can better position themselves and seize opportunities arising out of an economy in transition.

Quotes

"The climate crisis is the greatest challenge of our time, and we must help businesses develop more environmentally friendly processes and products. That is why our government is supporting Quebec business Cafe William Spartivento in its project to reduce its ecological footprint while enhancing its competitiveness. Congratulations to the entire Cafe William Spartivento team on this green shift, an effort that is helping to build a better future for coming generations. You are setting an example for us all!"

The Honourable Pascale StOnge, Member of Parliament for BromeMissisquoi, Minister of Sport and Minister responsible for CED

"Sherbrooke is humming with entrepreneurs who form the fabric of a dynamic economy. The contribution announced today for Cafe William Spartivento demonstrates how CED can support businesses interested in contributing to a sustainable economy for continuous growth in Sherbrooke and the region. By assisting Cafe William in acquiring this new equipment, we are helping it make the green shift while becoming more innovative and competitive."

Elisabeth Briere, Member of Parliament for Sherbrooke and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health

"In addition to doubling our production capacity, building the new plant enables us to acquire new, modern equipment that will make our employees' daily tasks easier. These improvements are possible thanks in part to CED's contribution."

Remi Tremblay, CEO, Cafe William Spartivento inc.

Quick facts

According to a survey conducted in 2022 by Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters, 90% of Canadian manufacturing SMEs have not yet begun their low-carbon transition, and yet, SMEs generate approximately 30% of Canada's total GHG emissions.

total GHG emissions. The 2021 Speech from the Throne confirms that the fight against climate change and the green shift are priorities for the Government of Canada .

. CED is a key federal partner in Quebec's regional economic development. With its 12 regional business offices, CED accompanies businesses, supporting organizations and all regions across Quebec into tomorrow's economy.

regional economic development. With its 12 regional business offices, CED accompanies businesses, supporting organizations and all regions across into tomorrow's economy. The funding announced today has been granted under the Jobs and Growth Fund (JGF) program. This program targets businesses and economic organizations to help them prepare local economies for long-term growth. It involves strategic investments in projects aimed at reducing Canada's environmental impact and fostering a green, resilient economy.

Associated links

Stay connected

Follow CED on social media

Consult CED's news

SOURCE Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions

For further information: Media Relations, Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions, [email protected]; Ariane Joazard-Belizaire, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Sport and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions, [email protected]
Mr. Ingalls and family founded Northern Harvest Sea Farms in 1985, which was acquired by Marine Harvest (later renamed Mowi), the largest aquaculture company in the world, in 2018 for CAD$315 million





Northern Harvest Sea Farms was awarded the first "Best Aquaculture Practices" (BAP) certified "three-star" salmon operation in North American in 2012

HALIFAX, NS, Oct. 11, 2022 /CNW/ - Ocean Trout Canada Inc. ("OTC" or the "Company") is pleased to welcome Larry Ingalls to its Board of Directors. Mr. Ingalls long standing reputation as a Salmon and Trout farmer will serve the Company well as it continues to ramp-up production from its fully licensed and permitted hatchery and marine sites across Atlantic Canada.

Mr. Ingalls, a graduate of the University of New Brunswick, founded Northern Harvest Sea Farms with his brothers in 1985. Under Mr. Ingalls guidance as Chief Executive Officer, Northern Harvest Sea Farms grew its operations in New Brunswick, Newfoundland, and Chile to become one of Canada's largest producers of Salmon and Trout with nearly 20,000MTs of annual production.

In 2018, Norther Harvest Sea Farms was acquired by Norway-based Marine Harvest (later renamed Mowi), the largest aquaculture company in the world, in a transaction valued at CAD$315 million.

Prior to selling, Northern Harvest was a fully integrated producer that operated its own broodstock, hatchery, farming, and processing operations throughout Atlantic Canada. This included 45 farming licenses in Newfoundland and New Brunswick, and more than 500 employees throughout Atlantic Canada. In 2012, Northern Harvest became the first salmon producer in North American to be awarded "three-stars" (the highest rating possible) by the independent Global Seafood Alliance "Best Aquaculture Practices" rating.

W.D. (Bill) Robertson, CEO of OTC commented: "The addition of Larry Ingalls to the Board significantly expands our depth and skillsets. Larry's past success, understanding of the industry, and knowledge of Atlantic Canada is an invaluable addition to our Board. He understands the opportunity in front of us better than anyone and has real world experience in growing an aquaculture company in Atlantic Canada."

About Ocean Trout Canada Inc.

Ocean Trout Canada Inc. is a leading Canadian aquaculture company focused on supplying premium steelhead products to North American seafood markets. OTC is dedicated to the responsible production of Steelhead in Canada with operations in Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland.

www.oceantroutcanada.com

Cautionary Statement on Forward Looking Information

This news release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws, including, but not limited to, statements with respect to Ocean Trout Canada's plans, financial performance and operating performance, anticipated growth in aquaculture, the estimation of revenue, the timing and targets of M&A activity, costs, future capital expenditures, and the success of integration. Forward-looking statements are based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive risks including but not limited to: risks related to the successful integration of acquisitions; risks related to operations; risks related to general economic conditions and credit availability, ability to obtain sufficient and suitable financing, actual results of current production and decorating, fluctuations in prices of aluminum; failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; accidents, labour disputes, title disputes, claims and limitations on insurance coverage and other risks of the aquaculture industry; delays in the completion of capex activities, changes in national and local government regulation of manufacturing operations and labour laws in light of the current COVID pandemic, tax rules and regulations, and political and economic developments where Ocean Trout Canada operates. These statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as "may", "should", "will", "could", "intend", "estimate", "plan", "anticipate", "expect", "believe" or "continue", or the negative thereof or similar variations. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause future results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from the estimated future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by those forward-looking statements and the forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. Forward-looking statements expressed or implied by Ocean Trout Canada are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, and conditions, many of which are outside of Ocean Trout Canada's control, and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. Although Ocean Trout Canada has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by the inherent risks and uncertainties related to Ocean Trout Canada's business, including that Ocean Trout Canada's assumptions in making forward-looking statements may prove to be incorrect; delays in filing of financial information; adverse market conditions; risks inherent in the aquaculture sector in general; that future results may vary from historical results; and competition in the markets where Ocean Trout Canada operates. Except as required by securities law, Ocean Trout Canada does not assume any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, events or otherwise.

SOURCE Ocean Trout Canada Inc.

For further information: Inquiries can be directed to: [email protected]
TORONTO, Oct. 12, 2022 /CNW/ - In celebration of World Mental Health Day, Scotiabank is proud to be recognized with the Gold Standard Award from Excellence Canada for creating a psychologically safe environment. Scotiabank is committed to being a workplace that promotes psychological well-being and actively works to prevent harm to employee's psychological health.

"World Mental Health Day provides an opportunity for us to listen and reflect on the importance of the mental health and wellbeing for all of our employees. The recognition from Excellence Canada is a proud moment for us as an employer, recognizing the culture we strive to create for employees," said Barb Mason, Group Head and Chief Human Resources Officer, Scotiabank. "By supporting and empowering employees to take care of their mental health and wellbeing, and speak up about how they're feeling, we're creating a workplace where everyone can thrive."

For World Mental Health Day, and every day of the year, Scotiabank is committed to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of employees through a number of resources and programs including:

Scotiabank has made significant strides to strengthen mental health services under the Canadian Benefits Plan , increasing fully Bank-paid coverage from $3,000 to $10,000 for employees in Canada , and their eligible dependents, this year.

, increasing fully Bank-paid coverage from to for employees in , and their eligible dependents, this year. Enhanced Support for Caregiving: Scotiabank has increased elder care support for employees in Canada who are caregiving for older family members knowing that this can be accompanied by a unique stress. Currently, employees have access to five back-up childcare days per child annually. This offering has been expanded allowing employees to also access five back-up days for elder care.

Scotiabank has increased elder care support for employees in who are caregiving for older family members knowing that this can be accompanied by a unique stress. Currently, employees have access to five back-up childcare days per child annually. This offering has been expanded allowing employees to also access five back-up days for elder care. Scotiabank is continually increasing the availability of psychological services , such as 24/7 helplines or individual consultations, at no cost for employees, through various channels, across the Bank's global footprint.

, such as 24/7 helplines or individual consultations, at no cost for employees, through various channels, across the Bank's global footprint. New Global Standard for Parental Leave : To give employees and their families more time together as they start or grow their families, Scotiabank announced a new global minimum standard for parental leave in early 2022. This includes eight fully paid weeks for all parents with a new child and eight additional fully paid weeks for parents who have given birth. The standard is being implemented across our footprint by 2025. Many countries have already begun implementing, and in Canada , this will go into effect in 2023.

: To give employees and their families more time together as they start or grow their families, Scotiabank announced a new global minimum standard for parental leave in early 2022. This includes eight fully paid weeks for all parents with a new child and eight additional fully paid weeks for parents who have given birth. The standard is being implemented across our footprint by 2025. Many countries have already begun implementing, and in , this will go into effect in 2023. Mental Health Courses, Webinars, and Workshops: Employees have access to a variety of educational opportunities aimed at improving their mental health and well-being. From emotional intelligence and resiliency to stress management and dealing with the new normality, thousands of employees globally have learned valuable tools from top experts in each of their countries. These learning opportunities are underpinned by a host of digital resources such as internal guides, newsletters, posters, and videos distributed regularly to employees.

About Scotiabank

Scotiabank is a leading bank in the Americas. Guided by our purpose: "for every future", we help our customers, their families and their communities achieve success through a broad range of advice, products and services, including personal and commercial banking, wealth management and private banking, corporate and investment banking, and capital markets. With a team of over 90,000 employees and assets of approximately $1.3 trillion (as at July 31, 2022), Scotiabank trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: BNS) and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BNS). For more information, please visit http://www.scotiabank.com and follow us on Twitter @ScotiabankViews.

SOURCE Scotiabank

For further information: For media inquiries: Ali Henwood, Scotiabank [email protected] 437-788-1620


More than 50 major restaurants, retailers, and brands ranked on corporate social responsibility metrics in new report from Mercy For Animals

TORONTO, Oct. 12, 2022 /CNW/ -- The second annual Canada Animal Welfare Scorecard , published today by Mercy For Animals, ranks 55 well-known brands on their animal welfare policies and performance and reveals a food industry falling behind that of other countries on key farmed animal treatment issues.

Loblaws, Tim Hortons, Sobeys, and Starbucks are among the household names rated and ranked in the 2022 Canada Animal Welfare Scorecard. Companies were awarded points for having public policies to transition to cage-free eggs, crate-free pork, and Better Chicken Commitment standards and for reporting implementation progress toward each of these goals.

Highlights from the 2022 Canada Animal Welfare Scorecard include the following:

Repeat top performers Chipotle and Whole Foods were joined in the gold tier by Panago and Unilever, among others.

Domino's Pizza, Mary Brown's , and Moxies ranked in the bottom tier, each receiving zero out of a possible 300 points.

, and Moxies ranked in the bottom tier, each receiving zero out of a possible 300 points. Metro recorded one of the largest improvements over last year's scorecard by becoming the first major Canadian retailer to demonstrate full transparency on phasing out gestation crates for pigs and cruel processing methods for chickens.

Tim Hortons , the country's highest-grossing restaurant chain, failed to publicly report any progress on its animal welfare commitments for a second consecutive year.

Despite meaningful progress reported by leading retailers, restaurants, and consumer packaged goods brands, the 2022 Canada Animal Welfare Scorecard also reveals troubling welfare trends among Canada's animal agriculture industries.

"Leading companies showing their progress is a good sign that they're listening to concerned Canadians who increasingly care about transparency," said PJ Nyman, senior corporate relations specialist at Mercy For Animals. "The report is a valuable accountability tool for Canadians to understand which companies are publicly prioritizing improvement of animal welfare, but there is still a lot of work to be done. This country is falling behind on critical animal welfare issues."

The percentage of laying hens in Canada cruelly confined in cages is higher than in the United States, European Union, and United Kingdom. And while more than 50 retailers across these same regions have published animal welfare policies aligned with Better Chicken Commitment standards, to date not a single Canadian retailer has worked successfully with a Canadian chicken producer to do the same.

"With oversight of animal welfare in this country concentrated in the hands of industry groups and the taxpayer-funded National Farm Animal Care Council made up of these same groups, Canada is falling behind," said Nyman. "This is a case of the fox guarding the hen house. Industry needs to catch up to meet Canadians' expectations and enable companies to accelerate animal welfare progress."

For more information or to schedule an interview with PJ Nyman, contact Jamie Evan Bichelman at [email protected] . Download the full rankings and report at CanadaScorecard.ca .

Mercy For Animals is a leading international nonprofit working to end industrial animal agriculture by constructing a just and sustainable food system. Active in Brazil, Canada, India, Mexico, and the United States, the organization has conducted more than 100 investigations of factory farms and slaughterhouses, moved more than 300 food companies to adopt animal welfare policies, and helped pass historic legislation to ban cages for farmed animals. Join us at MercyForAnimals.org .

SOURCE Mercy For Animals

For further information: Jamie Evan Bichelman, (617) 932-7979, [email protected]
Ahead of the 2023 general elections, an ex-presidential aspirant of the Young Progressives Party, YPP, and now a member of the All Progressi...





Ahead of the 2023 general elections, an ex-presidential aspirant of the Young Progressives Party, YPP, and now a member of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Adamu Garba, has cautioned his party not to underestimate the supporters of Peter Obi, popularly known as the Obedient.

He gave the warning via a tweet on his verified Twitter handle.

Relating to the recent experience in Lesotho, in which a party, RFP, founded in March 2022, won the Presidency due to young peoples votes, Garba said they should not be taken for granted.

He, however, advised APC to have a current strategic campaign if they are to secure victory.

He wrote: A party, RFP, founded by Sam in March 2022 in Lesotho, won the Presidency as a result of young peoples votes. A similar case happened in Kenya & Zambia, all in 2022.

That is why we shouldnt underestimate these obidients

APC must have a modern strategic campaign to secure victory.
A Lagos High Court sitting at Tafawa Balewa Square on Tuesday watched the video recording of the lifeless body of the Chief Executive Offi...





A Lagos High Court sitting at Tafawa Balewa Square on Tuesday watched the video recording of the lifeless body of the Chief Executive Officer of Super TV, Usifo Ataga, allegedly murdered on June 15, 2021.

An undergraduate, Chidinma Ojukwu, and one Adedapo Quadri are standing trial for Atagas murder.

They were arraigned alongside Ojukwus sister, Chioma Egbuchu, accused of stealing Atagas iPhone 7.

Atagas body was seen in the video lying on the ground facing up, with his hands spread.

He was wearing a white singlet and boxers pants stained with blood.

His head was close to a wall at the short-service apartment where he was allegedly murdered.

There was blood on the floor. Blood also stained the pillow and duvet on the bed in the room.

In the same Compact Disc, a video showing Ojukwu narrating how she murdered Ataga was played.

In the video, Ojukwu narrated that she met Ataga through a friend.

She said that, on June 13, 2021, the deceased called her and asked her to get a place for them to stay, and she got the short let service apartment where the deceased died.

She said: After I got the place on Sunday, we were smoking loud, drinking, watching movies

Then, I went to get food, the drug we were taking got finished and I ordered another one and went downstairs to get it from the delivery guy in the morning.

The first defendant said the above-mentioned incident occurred on June 14, 2021.

Then, on Tuesday, we drank, smoke loud and I added Rophynol to his drink. We had sex, and I was on the bed and he was on a chair.

Later, he started disturbing me for more sex. I was tired, and after struggling with him, he had his way and still wanted more.

He was no longer himself, and I thought he was no more interested in sex, only for him to return to the bed to ask for more.

I pushed him away which resulted in his hitting his head against a stool that had a glass, he had a cut on his leg and he became weak.

Ojukwu said that she then took a knife and stabbed Ataga on the neck, ribs and stomach, so he would not be able to harm her.

I tied his hands with a handkerchief. His blood was out and I was scared. I just packed everything, my clothes were also stained with blood, I just packed my things and left.

I took the knife and handkerchief, and when I got home, I threw the knife and handkerchief away.

Michael was a friend. I didnt know him that deeply, and we didnt talk regularly, she said in the video clip.

When she was asked in the video if she was assisted in killing the deceased, Ojukwu said, There was nobody that assisted me, I did it alone.

When asked why she didnt call for help, she said, Obviously I was scared, that was why I left.

She said that there was no motive for killing Ataga.

In the video, the ninth prosecution witness in the murder trial, DSP Olusegun Bamidele from the Intelligence and Tactical Unit of the State Criminal Investigating Department, Panti Yaba, was seen in interrogating Ojukwu at Panti.

He also asked her why she was using a foreign phone number and the motive behind her hiding her phone number.

Ojukwu said that she already had a foreign number registered on social media which she used to chat with people.

Asked why the owner of the service apartment didnt know her identity, she said, She didnt ask for my identification.

If she had said that the place was not available I would have left for another place.

Ojukwu responded to a question in the video about why she used Mary Johnson to open a bank account. She said that she was attempting to open an account number which got blocked.

On an Identification card she procured, Ojukwu said, It was someone that did it and you cant see his face.

I dont know the contact of the person. I was just going through the internet and I saw a contact to call.

She also said in the video that she opened a domiciliary account for depositing dollars.

At this point, prosecution counsel, Adenike Oluwafemi, reminded the witness of his evidence on May 10, when he said that he recovered some items from the defendants house.

Bamidele responded by listing the things he allegedly recovered from Ojukwus house.

He told Justice Yetunde Adesanya that he recovered a small pink purse containing two syringes, eight pieces of Rophynol tablets, two sanitary pads, a small perfume, jewelry, an iPhone belonging to first defendant, a notebook, a diary, and a HP laptop.
A Nollywood film-maker and producer, Olajide Kareem, alias Seun Egbegbe, has been freed by a Federal High court in Lagos, after after spendi...





A Nollywood film-maker and producer, Olajide Kareem, alias Seun Egbegbe, has been freed by a Federal High court in Lagos, after after spending six years and eight months in prison custody.

Egbegbe was remanded on February 10, 2017, after allegedly obtaining money by false pretence from no fewer than 40 Bureaus De Change operators in different parts of Lagos for over a period of two years between 2015 to 2017.

He was accused of swindling the BDC operators by claiming that he had naira to change into foreign currencies.

The 45-year-old controversial figure in the Yoruba movie industry, was arraigned by the police for alleged fraud involving N39m; $90,000 and 12,550, N39,098,100, respectively.

Egbegbe, who once managed Fuji artistes, Wale Ayinde, Tekoma and Pasuma, was accused of swindling BDC operators.

Unfortunately, the film-maker who financed the production of several Yoruba films under his Ebony Films Productions imprint, had been unable to fulfill the bail conditions more than three years after.

The ex-convict alongside one Oyekan Ayomide were first arraigned on February 10, 2017, before Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo, on 36 counts bordering on advance fee fraud.

The duo were later joined by Lawal Kareem, Olalekan Yusuf and Muyideen Shoyombo on a 44 count charge.

On Tuesday, however, the court found Egbegbe guilty of just one of the 44 count charges against him and set him free.

Justice Oguntoyinbo held that 43 of the 44 count charges were crumbled because of lack of witnesses to substantiate their claims.

In addition, the judge held that the prosecuting team failed in the responsibility to provide evidence to be backed with witnesses on Counts 4, 19 and 21.

The judge also said that police tampered with the money recovered from the suspects.

Justice Oguntoyinbo also ruled that all the money recovered from Egbegbe as evidence should be returned to him.
A family of six persons have drowned after flood overtook Anambra East Local Government Area of Anambra State. It was gathered that the inci...





A family of six persons have drowned after flood overtook Anambra East Local Government Area of Anambra State.





It was gathered that the incident happened in Nzam community on Tuesday. The family drowned after their house was submerged.





In a trending video, youths of the community were seen bringing out corpses from their house and depositing them in an upland area.





From the circulating video, the bodies consisted of a woman, her four children and her sister.





The family was reportedly preparing to leave for a safe place, before they were swept away by the flood.





Anambra and Kogi State have been described as the worse hit states in the recent flood.





About 81 people had lost their lives in two boat incidences in another part of Anambra; Ogbaru, just last week, while a man who had successfully evacuated his family from the flood and opted to stay back to take care of the vicinity was recently drowned in his sleep in the same Ogbaru.





The National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, in a press conference had said that it has commenced aerial surveillance, using helicopters to rescue trapped residents of flooded areas.
A former security adviser in Bayelsa State, Perekeme Kpodoh, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari, to stop releasing ecological funds to...





A former security adviser in Bayelsa State, Perekeme Kpodoh, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari, to stop releasing ecological funds to the governors, for failing to use the money allocated for projects required to mitigate flood disasters in their domains.





Kpodoh argued that the recurrent destructive effects of floods across the country were enough evidence that ecological funds were being diverted by governors.





Kpodoh in a statement, sent to newsmen, in Yenagoa on Tuesday, said the failures of the governors to plan against flood, had led to the loss of lives, destruction of properties, farmlands and displacement of millions from their homes because of unmitigated flood disasters.





Kpodoh lamented that the governors were hiding under the immunity cover provided in the constitution to recklessly divert ecological funds and perpetrate other financial misdeeds.





He said it was high time the Presidency, National Assembly and Civil Society Organisations worked together to shred the veil of immunity encouraging governors misdemeanours in governance, to enable the people hold them accountable.





He advised President Muhammadu Buhari to send ecological funds directly to flood-prone communities to help them embark on projects including the construction of high-rise assembly points in their areas to deal with the recurrent disaster.





The security expert called on Buhari to compel the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) to probe the governors diversion of the ecological funds.





Kpodoh said: The governors must be compelled to account for the ecological funds allocated to them by the Federal Government. These funds are supposed to be used for projects necessary to mitigate the negative effects of floods.





Despite collecting these billions of naira, we have not seen what these governors are doing with the money. Every year floods remain the same. Innocent people are swept away, properties are destroyed, houses are submerged and farmlands are wasted.





We cannot continue like this. It is high time the Presidency, the National Assembly and civil society groups worked together to remove the immunity clause covering these governors and making them unaccountable.





We are also calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to compel the EFCC and the ICPC to probe these governors and the diversion of funds allocated to them to solve ecological problems like flooding.
Olajide Jandor Adediran, governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos, has spoken on his plans for the state. T...





Olajide Jandor Adediran, governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos, has spoken on his plans for the state.

The governorship candidate said he will work on reforms in housing and road infrastructure, education, healthcare, and improve ease of doing business, among other issues.

Here is the full text of his speech.

Today marks a special point in our journey to the ballot and our resolve to offer ourselves for public service in the quest to create a Lagos state of our shared desire. Officially, the electoral umpire has signaled the commencement of political campaigns allowing us to formally seek your votes and support in the 2023 gubernatorial election.

We are not beckoned to serve or railroaded into a project of which we have little knowledge. This journey started exactly seven years ago, after a detailed appraisal of the performance of successive governments in the State of Lagos from 1999. We are convinced that our state will fair better when well-meaning stakeholders graduate from armchair criticism of the systemic decadence to becoming active players by throwing their hats into the ring to salvage the state.

The experience of an average resident of Lagos state across the 5 IBILE divisions in the 20 Local Governments since the beginning of our nascent democracy left much to be desired. We can have it better, our lives could be much easier when altruism, transparent honesty, accountability, and empathy govern the conduct of public officeholders.

We are set to make Lagos work better in the interest of all residents by decentralizing development to all parts of the state and ensuring that the flow of the wealth of the state is redirected from the pockets of an individual to the benefit of all.

We are very intentional about our vision of birthing a true Mega City led by a servant leader who is truly independent and will not need a second level of approval before taking decisions. The power will truly reside with the people and not an individual pretending to be a demi-god.

We will make Lagos truly WEALTHY by giving a breath of fresh air in the area of Works & Infrastructure, Education & Environment, Aquaculture & ease of doing business, Law & Order, Transportation & Traffic management, Health & Housing, Youth & Women empowerment, and other critical areas of governance.

It is public knowledge that endemic corruption is one of the biggest problems stagnating the development of our state, we will bring on financial re-engineering through critical reforms that will fast-track operational processes and plug financial leakages in the public service. We will hit the ground running.

We are bewildered that over 2 million of our children are out of school. We are pained to see our people suffer so much to access very basic healthcare services. We are ashamed of the poor state of infrastructure and the widening gap in infrastructure deficit. We are not comfortable that our States wealth is only on paper, nothing significant is on the ground to justify the humongous revenue generation, including our local and foreign borrowings to fund budget deficit, year on year.

Every time we think we have seen the worst, somehow, the ones we handed our dear state will always find a way to outdo themselves in how bad things can get.

For 23 years, they have rewarded the love of the people with so little. We are the wealthiest state in Nigeria, yet 66% of Lagos residents still live in slums.

It is better to imagine and never experience another four years of no real solution to waking up at 4am everyday because of the awful traffic across Lagos metropolis. Or four more years of being scared to stop at traffic lights for fear of traffic robbers?

I dont think we can continue with another four years of 2 million of our children still out of school.

The solution to the problem of Lagos is to make real change.

For too long we have paid lip service to seeking progress. The time to fight for our lives, our rights and our future, is now. Another four years is too long to waste!

So what exactly are we doing differently?

Our focus is to change the face of governance in Lagos and make it a WEALTHY State in truth as against it current status of being a wealthy state only on paper.

Our Agenda for a WEALTHY Lagos, is a TREAT everyone deserves. This agenda has been outlined as follows;

W  Works, Housing & Road Infrastructure

E  Education

A  Aquaculture & Ease of Doing Business

L  Law, Order & Security

T  Tourism, Transport & Traffic Management, H  Health & Environment

Y  Youth, Women & Social Development.

Blueprints are only as good as the excellence in implementation. As part of our plans to ensure that we deliver on the promise of a WEALTHY Lagos, we will be guided by the following pillars;

Tech-driven approach to governance;

Rule of Law;

Equity & Inclusiveness; Accountable Representation and;

Transparency.(TREAT)

The key to resolving the perennial traffic on our roads is to identify flash points, get root causes and be deliberate about resolving them, either by providing the necessary infrastructure such as expanding the roads or constructing bridges to free up intersections and more importantly, by instilling discipline on our roads. We will also lead by example and provide real leadership.

We will ensure that the acclaimed huge Lagos revenue that we only hear is no longer audio. It will now reflect in our daily living by using it to aggressively repair all existing state roads, building iconic bridges that will give Lagos the face lift as a mega city of repute. We will involve private sectors in project financing via Public-Private Partnership such as build operate and transfer (BOT) and other concessions, but with interest of Lagosians at the centre of it all.

Any serious government will take the education of our children very seriously.

Our solution to taking our children out of the streets and have them back in school would be to declare a state of emergency in our education sector and proceed to make primary and secondary education COMPLETELY free and compulsory. How? Our administration will provide free school uniforms and learning aids to all pupils in our primary and secondary schools. Majority of these children are out of school because their parents are unable to afford ancillary school requirements such as uniforms and learning aids that are presently not part of the free education scheme of this current administration. These uniforms will be produced by local tailors in all local governments. This means local tailors within Ikeja local government will sew uniforms for all pupils and students schooling within the confines of Ikeja local government. This way, we would also have succeeded in boosting the economy, especially the earning power of the locals all at a cost no more than N24b in a fiscal year.

Another reason for having over 2million out of school children in Lagos is lack of infrastructure and human resourcesour immediate plan would be to first go into partnership with private schools and ensure these children are admitted and spread across the over 18,000 private schools in Lagos, among which only 5,000 are registered, in exchange for tax incentives while we embark on infrastructural renewal and upgrades in our public schools.

We will address shortage of school teachers by being the first to implement the 65years retirement age and 40 years of service. We will also bring back those that have been retired since the signing of this law to complete their years of service.

Currently in our health facilities, epecially at the general hospitals, we are confronted by the unpalatable experience of patients littering the premises in the name of no hospital beds to accommodate them.

Pending when we will provide adequate infrastructure, we will embark on the automation of all health care facilities in Lagos, both public and private to ensure that no hospital transfers any patient to the general hospital until such facility has successfully secured a bed space for such patient and we will also eradicate reception areas at all Emergency Units.

This way, we would have succeeded in ridding the premises of our general hospitals of littering patients and save more lives. In addition to this, health insurances will be made compulsory and available to the less privileged and vulnerable for free, to improve access and affordability.

Our administration will create technovation hubs across the 5 divisions of Lagos state, namely, Ikeja, Badagry, Ikorodu, Lagos and Epe where youths will be trained to acquire digital skills while facilitating tech start-up support to leverage opportunities.

We will secure Lagos with native intelligential community policing in conjunction with the law enforcement agencies.

Our government will ensure that the rights of citizens are respected and protected.

On flooding, our administration will declare a state of emergency on our environment, with regular de-silting, clearing of collectors and primary channels in preparation for the rainy season and we will be bold to take tough decisions in the interest of generality of Lagosians by enforcing environmental sanitation laws.

We will work closely with the Metrological agency to plan ahead by giving utmost attention to areas that are prone to flood.

We will be deliberate about ease of doing business in Lagos by providing enabling environment to players in our economy both at the formal and informal sectors. We will restore hope of our market men and women to make sure no one harasses or extort them in the name of Mama loja (Market Leader) and we wont take away their means of livelihood for a day, by closing any market in Lagos under whatever guise.

We know that you, the good people of Lagos are just enduring the remaining days of the incumbent government. We are signing a social contract with you to serve you with the skillfulness of our hands and the integrity of our hearts. We will reach out to every Lagosian, and walk through each of the 245 political wards and 13,325 polling units across the 20 Local Government areas of the state to seek your vote and your support for Funke and I on March 11, 2023 date for the governorship election and all other candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party for the legislative offices.

We will continue to communicate our plans to you in the coming days as we solicit your feedback from time to time on this project of our mutual interest.

I am not here to make promises that are not achievable but with your mandate, our vision is to transform Lagos into a functional, prosperous and secure state that will deliver the promise of making Lagos work for all.

My name is Dr. Abdul-Azeez Olajide Adediran (Jandor) and I am running for the office of governor of Lagos State under the Peoples Democratic Party, the PDP.

Ja fun eko. Ja fun e to e

PDPPower!!!
The Nigerian music star cum politician, Bankole Wellington popularly known as Banky W, has said that his party, the Peoples Democratic Par...

The Nigerian music star cum politician, Bankole Wellington popularly known as Banky W, has said that his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is responsible for some of the challenges Nigerians are battling.





Banky W who is a House of Representatives candidate for Eti-Osa Federal Constituency in Lagos, stated this on Wednesday during an interview on Arise TV.

He said that he joined politics to contribute in proffering solutions to the problems of the country.





He said, In 2018, I started feeling like the problems in Nigeria is from top to bottom, while the solution is from the bottom up. So we have to start from the National Assembly, the Senate, the House of Representatives, the state houses of assembly. So when I talked to young people then, they didnt even know who were contesting for the seats.





And then I started thinking, I felt this burden that said, If you, with with your education and your success and your background and your following and your audience and your voice, and you cant stick your neck out and say I can be a part of this system and I can bring a solution to the table, then who am I waiting for? Politics will always be dirty and dangerous until good people start to be part of the system.





Wellington also said that he chose PDP because he considered it as the party that aligned with his principles, after a failed experiment with an unpopular party that was subsequently de-registered by INEC.





And concerning the choice of PDP: politics is local, and you need structure to win elections. We ran in 2019 on a party called MDP. But MDP was literally myself and my friend (called) BK. He was running in Ondo State and I was running in Lagos. We were just a bunch of young people.





After that election, INEC de-registered most of the political parties which I was fully in support of because they were 96. It didnt make sense. And if you look at any functioning democracy in the world, like if you want to get into any office in America, you have to be a Democrat or a Republican. So also in the UK, its between Labour and Conservative.





So, looking at both parties, I said where do I think that I can go into without losing my soul, where I will be able to stand on what I stand for, fight for what I want to fight for. And the PDP ticked those boxes for me. Its truly a democratic party, he said.





Banky W further stated that he is aware of the fact that the PDP had caused Nigerians some pains in the past and he could not defend it, adding that he is willing to be one of those who can reform the party.





But the truth of the matter is, we have to acknowledge the pains that a lot of young people feel, we have to acknowledge the frustration Nigerians feel, some of which were caused by people in the PDP, absolutely.





But the way I look at it is that a system is only as good as the people that are involved in it. A system is just a collection of people that are fighting for it, pushing for any kind of result. So, the longer we shun the process, the longer that the system will be bad.





The truth of the matter is that Im not here to defend anything everybody in the PDP has ever done. Thats not my job. Im here to reform it, he said.
Lagos has launched a health insurance scheme for veteran Nollywood actors and filmmakers. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the governor, announced ...

Lagos has launched a health insurance scheme for veteran Nollywood actors and filmmakers.

Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the governor, announced this on Twitter after hosting some veterans to dinner on Monday.

Nollywood veterans soliciting financial aid from citizens during the health crisis have been in public discourse.

Sanwo-Olu said the insurance scheme would ensure these actors and filmmakers are covered for medical care.

We realise that this industry is one of the highest employers of labour, the governor said.

The veterans and practitioners have continued to provide succour and a means of livelihood to a lot of citizens.

More importantly, they give freshness to our lives through their stories.

The health insurance scheme is part of our interventions to assist them with access to health care in public health facilities.

This scheme will be specially categorised for professionals in the film business and those who have shaped our society with their craft.

Among those who attended the dinner are Idowu Philips, Adebayo Salami, and a host of others.

Last March, the actresses Toyin Abraham and Mercy Aigbe sought support for Kemi Afolabi, an ailing actress.

Afolabi had revealed that she was diagnosed with lupus and that her doctor said she had five years to live.

Emeka Ani, an actor, sought financial aid in 2021 after undergoing what he described as a major surgery in Imo.

In mid-2020, the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) signed an MoU with a health services provider to end the practice of soliciting funds for medical emergencies among its members and other independent actors.

Asked about the status of the scheme, the AGN lamented the seeming disinterest of many actors.
The Supreme Court of Nigeria on Wednesday fixed October 21, for judgment in an appeal filed by the factional Delta State governorship candid...





The Supreme Court of Nigeria on Wednesday fixed October 21, for judgment in an appeal filed by the factional Delta State governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP in the 2023 governorship election, Mr. David Edevbie.





Edevbie is asking the Supreme Court to re-affirm his candidacy.





In a 23-ground of appeal, Edevbie faulted the entire unanimous decision of the three-man panel of the Court of Appeal led by Justice Peter Ige which set aside the judgment of the Federal High Court that proclaimed him PDP Governorship candidate.





The former Commissioner for Finance is asking the Apex Court to hold that he is the rightful candidate of the PDP in the Delta State governorship election slated for February next year.





The appeal filed by his lawyer, Mr. Eko Ejembi Eko (SAN), has Oborevwori Sheriff Francis Orohwedor, PDP and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as 1st, 2nd and 3rd respondents, respectively.





After the adoption of the final addresses, Justice Amina Adamu Augie fixed October 21 for the two contending parties to know their fates.
Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), says women of the party should tell Nigerians calling for a chan...





Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), says women of the party should tell Nigerians calling for a change of government to shut up.

Tinubu said this while speaking at the launch of the womens team of the APC presidential campaign on Monday.

He said Nigerians seeking a change of government have forgotten the situation of the country before Buhari assumed office, adding that he will put an end to banditry if elected president in 2023.

If they say they want a change of government, just tell them, we will like to be polite, but shut up your mouth, he said

To you, the people and particularly the women gathered here today, let me say one thing, hope is here, promise is here, prosperity is here, security is here, banditry has ended and hopelessness is not part of our dictionary.

In the last eight years, even a party that inherited a troublesome nation under the weight of uncertainty, then we preach change of government which God has changed.

Buhari took over, he took over the lowest production of 400,000 barrels of oil, the worst pricing, still the very determined and focused person was able to bail out even 36 states of this country who are not able to pay salary, people who are living in hunger  give him a bravo.
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.
Watertown, NY (13601)

Today

Partly cloudy skies. A shower of rain or wet snow possible. Low near 35F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. A shower of rain or wet snow possible. Low near 35F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.
By Sun Xingwei and Li Shaohua

BEIJING, Oct 12 -- Recently, a border defense company of the PLA Xinjiang Military Command on the Pamirs Plateau was connected to Chinas national grid, which solved the company's difficulty in electricity supply and served to improve the troops duty and living conditions.

On December 21, 2016, the National Energy Administration and the Logistic Support Department of China's Central Military Commission (CMC) jointly issued the Implementation Plan for Power Grid Construction for Border Defense Forces. The first batch of construction projects was completed by the end of 2018, with more than 220 posts or units at company level stationed on plateau or islands being connected to the national grid. And by the end of 2020, the second batch was completed, with more than 500 border posts being connected.

Today, most border posts in China, as well as naval and air force observation and communication radar stations, have access to national grid, ranging from Changbai Mountain in the north, Yongxing Island in the south, Dongfushan Island in the east, to Kashgar Prefecture in Xinjiang in the west. Both military and civilian units are currently accelerating the third-batch power grid construction projects to ensure that all tasks will be completed on schedule.

The power grid construction for border defense forces has been integrated into Chinas new-round rural power grid transformation and upgrading program, which effectively solved many problems facing the military including long construction cycle, and difficulty in coordination with multiple departments.

In addition, the training courses on construction and management of power grid and new energy, organized by the military in cooperation with the State Grid, China Southern Power Grid and Shanghai University of Electric Power, have also served to train more professionals in power maintenance for troops at all levels.
The Justice Department (DOJ) asked the Supreme Court on Oct. 11 to reject former President Donald Trumps bid to have the court intervene in a dispute over documents seized from his Mar-a-Lago resort two months ago.

The 45th president last week filed an emergency request asking the high court to lift an appeals court decision preventing a special master from reviewing 100 documents that were allegedly marked classified. Those documents were among some 11,000 records that FBI agents seized on Aug. 8.

While urging the Supreme Court to reject Trumps petition, DOJ officials wrote (pdf) the former president certainly cannot establish the clear error required to justify the relief he seeksparticularly because he does not acknowledge, much less attempt to rebut, the court of appeals conclusion that the district courts order was a serious and unwarranted intrusion on the Executive Branchs authority.

On Aug. 22, Trump filed a petition to restrict the DOJs access to the records as it pursues an investigation into whether he retained classified documents after departing the White House in January 2021. A federal judge in Florida sided with Trumps attorneys and appointed a special master, retired Judge Raymond Deare, to review the documents.

His lawyers previously told the Supreme Court that Dearie should be able to look into the records to see whether the FBI-seized materials bearing classification markings are in fact classified, and regardless of classification, whether those records are personal records or presidential records.

Further, they wrote that the DOJ is trying to criminalize a document management dispute and now vehemently objects to a transparent process that provides much-needed oversight, his lawyers added.

The former president has maintained on social media and in interviews that he declassified those documents and accused the FBI and DOJ of acting on Democrats behalf to target a political opponent and a possible 2024 presidential candidate. When he was president, he enjoyed broad powers of declassification that needed no formal process, Trump argued in a Fox News interview last month.

Different people say different things but as I understand it, if youre the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying its declassified, even by thinking about it, he said.

Because youre sending it to Mar-a-Lago or wherever youre sending it. There doesnt have to be a process. There can be a process, but there doesnt have to be, the former president asserted. Youre the president  you make that decision on whether to declassify, he said.

And a former aide, Kash Patel, who hosts Epoch TVs Kashs Corner, said that the documents likely pertained to the FBI Crossfire Hurricane investigation into whether Trump colluded with the Russian government. An FBI special counsel, Robert Mueller, found no collusion after a several-year-long investigation.

Appeals Court Ruling

The Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Sept. 21 put on hold a decision by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who is presiding over Trumps lawsuit. Cannon had temporarily barred the Justice Department from examining the seized documents until the special master she appointed, Judge Raymond Dearie, had identified any that could be considered privileged.

Cannon had tasked Dearie to review all of the seized records, including classified ones, to locate anything subject to attorney-client confidentiality or executive privilege, described legal doctrine that shields some White House communications from disclosure, making it off limits to investigators.

The three-judge 11th Circuit panel gave the department access to the documents marked as classified for its ongoing criminal investigation, and prevented Dearie from vetting those, noting the importance of limiting access to classified information and ensuring the departments probe would not be harmed.

Cannon also blocked the DOJ from reviewing all of the seized materials in connection to its criminal investigation, and she later named Dearie to review the records.

In February, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) said Trump took some government records with him to Mar-a-Lago. The agency spent months negotiating with the former president before Trump handed over 15 boxes of materials in early 2022.

The DOJ investigation was triggered after NARA staffers discovered presidential records in the boxes, according to then-Archivist David Ferriero in a letter to Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) in February. DOJ court filings indicated that other records were found when DOJ and FBI agents visited Trumps home in June.

Reuters contributed to this report.

From The Epoch Times
Women in Indiana can continue to access abortion care without having to leave the Hoosier State until at least next year.

The Indiana Supreme Court granted Wednesday a request by Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita, a Munster native, to bypass the Court of Appeals and have the state's highest court directly decide the validity of the near-total abortion ban enacted in August by the Republican-controlled General Assembly and Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb.

At the same time, the five Republican-appointed Supreme Court justices denied Rokita's plea to halt nearly all abortions in the state while it evaluates the Sept. 22 ruling by Republican Owen County Judge Kelsey Hanlon that deemed Senate Enrolled Act 1 unconstitutional.

As a result, abortion will remain available in Indiana as if the near-total abortion ban was not enacted at least until the Supreme Court issues its final decision sometime in 2023.

The high court order discharging the case from further consideration by the Court of Appeals does not specify why a majority of the justices agreed that this litigation warrants deviating from Indiana's usual appellate process and proceeding directly to the Supreme Court, as permitted by state law.

Likewise, Indiana Chief Justice Loretta Rush does not say in her two-page order granting transfer why the Supreme Court denied the attorney general's request for a stay of the trial court ruling.

The bulk of the order instead sets a briefing schedule: The attorney general is directed to file his written arguments to the court by Nov. 1; the Indiana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing several abortion providers, to submit its arguments by Dec. 1; and the attorney general is authorized to submit a reply brief before Dec. 16.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in the case Jan. 12 at a time and location to be determined later.

The Indiana General Assembly was first in the country to legislatively impose new abortion restrictions following the U.S. Supreme Court's June 24 Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision repealing the right to abortion it established in 1973 by Roe v. Wade.

The new abortion law, which briefly took effect Sept. 15, prohibits all abortions in Indiana from the moment of conception, except within 10 weeks of fertilization for pregnancies caused by rape or incest, or 20 weeks if necessary to prevent serious physical impairment or the death of a pregnant woman, or because of a lethal fetal anomaly.

The statute also would shut down abortion services at Planned Parenthood clinics by requiring every abortion be completed in a hospital or hospital-owned surgical center and put doctors at risk of losing their medical license if they fail to sufficiently justify the legal basis for an abortion.

Hanlon issued a preliminary injunction halting enforcement of the near-total abortion ban because she determined the law likely violates Hoosier liberties protected by the Indiana Constitution.

She said the declarations in Article I, Section 1 of the Constitution that all people have a right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," and government exists for the "peace, safety and well-being" of the people are judicially enforceable rights that state courts previously have recognized include the right to bodily autonomy.

Hanlon said it remains an open question whether a specific right to privacy exists under the Indiana Constitution, along with a corresponding right to abortion access.

But she noted that Indiana courts have long recognized the state Constitution provides greater protection than the U.S. Constitution in some privacy-related circumstances, such as the right to consult counsel prior to consenting to a police search, and that the U.S. Supreme Court's Dobbs decision does not limit the enhanced privacy protections guaranteed to Hoosiers.

"Regardless of whether the right is framed as a privacy right, a right to bodily autonomy, a right of self-determination, a bundle of liberty rights, or by some other appellation, there is a reasonable likelihood that decisions about family planning, including decisions about whether to carry a pregnancy to term  are included in Article I, Section 1's protections," Hanlon said.

The Supreme Court independently will determine whether it agrees with Hanlon's reasoning or interprets the Constitution differently.

The General Assembly separately is due to convene the first week in January and potentially could rewrite or repeal the abortion statute before the Supreme Court has a chance to act.

All 100 seats in the Indiana House and 25 of the 50 Senate seats are on the ballot at the Nov. 8 general election.

Two additional lawsuits are pending that challenge the near-total abortion ban on religious liberty grounds, including a state case filed by Hoosier Jews for Choice and other litigants and a federal challenge brought by The Satanic Temple.
HOBART  The United Steelworkers union crashed an appearance by U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt at Avalon Manor, rallying for a fair contract.

Hundreds of steelworkers lined an access road along U.S. 30 outside the banquet hall, calling for a contract with no concessions at a time when the company has been enjoying record profits.

"U.S. Steel is making record profits and our members are entitled to a fair contract," District 7 Rapid Response Coordinator Jerome Davidson said while rallying with steelworkers with a megaphone. "But David Burritt is trying to use profit sharing as a tool to not give you a raise. We are not going to get a concessionary contract. We are going to get a fair contract, one for all, one for our brothers and sisters. Solidarity forever."

U.S. Steel is offering employees a 15% raise over four years, compared to the 20% Cleveland-Cliffs offered in a proposal union members are now voting on. Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel is touting the $66,000 in profit-sharing bonuses it provided employees over the last 18 months, saying workers do well when the company does well. Burritt said in a letter to steelworkers the company is looking to steer itself through the steel industry's volatility.

"U. S. Steel is not the company we were five years ago. We are stronger and more competitive  and that is good for everyone," he said in the missive. "We have been transforming our business model so that we can better withstand the cyclical market."

Burritt was in town to give a talk to the Association for Iron and Steel Technology at Avalon Manor. The union shone a spotlight reading "fair contract now" on the side of the banquet hall while members chanted slogans like "one day longer, one day stronger" and "no contract, no peace."

"We're here to welcome him and let him know we want a fair contract that is competitive with the one we've seen at Cleveland-Cliffs," Davidson said. "We want a contract with fair compensation. They have record profits. The concession stand is not open. We're at the table in Pittsburgh ready to bargain and he's here. We're ready to bargain."

U.S. Steel employees work just as hard as Cleveland-Cliffs workers and deserve the same raise, Davidson said.

"They give their bodies and they give their minds to this mill," he said. "Dave Burritt is a flash in the pan. These people have put in hundreds of years of work inside this plant. These are the people who make this country, not some greedy CEO who thinks he can come into town for a dinner. We're here to get a fair contract for our community. This is our community. This is a steelworker region. We want a fair contract. These are the people who got the record profits."

Steelworkers waved signs like "fair contract" and "jobs worth fighting for."

USW District 7 Assistant Director Rick Bucher said the company has made billions in profits over the last few years and was still asking union steelworkers to make concessions.

"Their CEO is making $19 million a year. It's crazy," he said. "We're just asking for a fair contract. We're not trying to break them. That wouldn't be in our interests. We want a fair contract, and they are being very stubborn."

Union members repeatedly chanted "(expletive) Dave Burritt" at the rally Thursday. Many wore shirts or carried signs saying FDB, an acronym for "fair deal Burritt," "fight David Burritt" or a more profane variation thereof.

"I worked for U.S. Steel for 24 years and National Steel before that. We've had issues with U.S. Steel in the past, but nothing like what we're seeing under this leadership," USW Staff Representative for Northwest Indiana Mike Young said. "We've had pattern bargaining since the 1940s. This is not anything new for U.S. Steel. We've always followed the pattern. We are not going to give one company a labor cost advantage over the other. That's just not in the cards for us. It's extremely insulting when you have a way of doing things for the past 75 years and now they want to change it. This is the way it's always been done."

The union has made concessions when times were tough to ensure U.S. Steel would remain viable. The union, for instance, took no wage increases when U.S. Steel was struggling in 2015.

"The people here on the street saved this company," he said. "If it wasn't for these people, there wouldn't be a U.S. Steel today. It has nothing to do with management in Pittsburgh. Now it's time to pay up."

Several other local union leaders spoke at the rally to show solidarity, including Eric Schultz, the president of USW Local 7-1 that represents workers at the BP Whiting Refinery.

"Don't bring a fight to the lakeshore," he said. "You're not going to win."
More than 30 years ago, Lynn Hojnacki was one of 16 people who showed up at a Tinley Park-Park District meeting with the idea of forming a community band. Hojnacki and the band are still going strong.
A former deputy prosecutor and judicial assistant in Northwest Indiana no longer can practice law after being convicted in federal court of possession of child pornography.

The Indiana Supreme Court unanimously agreed last week to suspend the law license of Robert McMahon, 32, of Crown Point; the five justices were notified of McMahon's conviction by the high court's disciplinary commission.

According to court records, McMahon pleaded guilty to possessing several images of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct, including one child younger than 12, that he obtained between March 2019 and August 2021. He was sentenced to 24 months in prison and three years of supervised release.

The plea agreement also obligated McMahon to forfeit to government investigators a mobile phone associated with his crime, register as a sex offender and make restitution to his victims.

McMahon worked as a deputy prosecutor in Lake and Porter counties and a judicial commissioner at the Lake Superior Court from 2017 until his March 18 arrest.

His law license is suspended indefinitely while the Supreme Court, which oversees attorney discipline in Indiana, weighs other professional sanctions, records show.
PORTAGE  Police said a Portage man knowingly put a child in danger after initially telling police the child fell down the stairs, according to charges filed Friday.

Kyle Reyna, 32, of Portage, faces level one felony charges of neglect of a dependent after police said he put a child in a situation in which the health of the child was endangered and deprived the child of necessary care, resulting in catastrophic injury, according to court documents.

Arcane Cobb, 2, of Valparaiso, was pronounced dead at 6:17 p.m. Monday night, according to data from the Cook County medical examiner.

The Valparaiso Police Department responded around 7:25 p.m. Wednesday to the 1700 block of Tuckahoe Park Drive in Valparaiso to a report of a child not breathing.

Reyna initially told the 911 dispatcher he didn't know what happened but then stated the child fell down the stairs in the residence. He said Cobb had been unresponsive for 10 to 15 minutes.

The dispatcher asked Reyna for his name multiple times. The first time the dispatcher asked for the caller's name, Reyna told the dispatcher to "hold on." When the dispatcher asked for clarification on his name, Reyna said Cobb was not responding at all and that they were trying to do CPR. When asked for the third time for his name, Reyna told the dispatcher the name of the other individual who was in the house, records show.

Reyna told police he left Cobb unattended for 30 minutes. When Reyna found Cobb unresponsive, he tried to revive him by smacking him, according to court records. Reyna carried Cobb upstairs and put him in a bathtub and tried to dump cold water on him, which failed, so he carried him and yelled for the other resident to call 911.

Reyna stated multiple times he knew he was going to jail, court documents show.

Cobb was transported to Northwest Health Porter hospital and later transferred to Comer Children's Hospital in Chicago, according to court documents. Cobb suffered bruising, cervical spinal injury and persistent unconsciousness not consistent with a fall down the stairs but consistent with abuse, according to court records.

Reyna's relationship to Cobb is unclear. Reyna is incarcerated at the Porter County Jail, according to a court record filed Tuesday.
DECATUR  Two Decatur police officers were shot early Wednesday morning while conducting a traffic stop, Police Chief Shane Brandel said.

The officers, as well as the suspect who was also shot, were taken to the hospital for treatment, a news release said.

The incident occurred around 12:30 a.m. in the 1300 block of East Walnut Street.

During the course of the stop, shots were fired and two Decatur police officers were shot, the release said. The suspect was also shot during the incident.

Decatur Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe said the injuries to the officers are serious, but both are expected to recover.

No additional information was available. The investigation is ongoing.
Such insinuating rhetoric lets Republicans speak to antisemites and then take umbrage when other people notice. The umbrage itself then becomes part of the political message: Those people wont let you say anything anymore! Usually, this performance depends on language with at least a shred of ambiguity, allowing the speaker to adopt a posture of put-upon faux naivete. Apparently now its some kind of racist thing if I talk about the school, huffed Mastriano.

Ye, however, doesnt bother with ambiguity. Last week, after Sean Combs, the rapper known as Diddy, criticized him for his White lives matter T-shirts, Ye posted an exchange on Instagram accusing Combs of being controlled by Jews. That got Yes Instagram account frozen, so he went on Twitter, where he was welcomed back by the sites likely future owner, Elon Musk. There, after announcing his vendetta against the Jewish people, Ye addressed us directly: You guys have toyed with me and tried to blackball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.

If Republicans were capable of shame, they might have felt some. Ye, who long ago embraced Donald Trump, had just given an interview to Tucker Carlson in which he lambasted the medias godless agenda and railed against abortion. Always thirsty for celebrity validation, conservatives ate the interview up. The account for the Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee tweeted, Kanye. Elon. Trump. And now here was Ye showing, in a completely unvarnished way, just what his right-wing conversion entails. (As it turns out, Carlson already knew; Vice has since revealed that Yes most paranoid and unhinged comments were edited out.)

Its not surprising that few conservatives are rushing to distance themselves from Ye, committed as they are to defending their right to malign their enemies without consequence. Antisemites, after all, may be the original trolls. As Jean-Paul Sartre wrote in Anti-Semite and Jew, first published in English in 1948, antisemites know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. It was antisemites who perfected the pose of just asking questions; the Holocaust denier David Irving famously demanded that Deborah Lipstadt, a scholar of the Holocaust, debate him.

Criticizing Ye requires acknowledging that theres such a thing as going too far and that there are values higher than owning the libs. A few conservatives made the pivot; the hosts of Fox & Friends Weekend, who earlier condemned Yes Instagram suspension, called his tweets ugly and unfortunate. Others, however, stuck to the typical right-wing script.
When most of us think about furniture, our minds conjure the obvious: chairs, sofas, daybeds. But theres another option, and its one that is not only welcoming and enveloping, but also relatively compact: the built-in banquette.

A banquette can really ground a room and make it feel cozy and nurturing, said Nancy Ruddy, a founding principal of the New York-based architecture and design firm CetraRuddy. It can also be a design focal point, as a contrast to free-floating furniture. In our single-family work, were integrating more and more of them.

Although not as common in residential settings as sectional sofas, banquettes arent a new idea. The fireside inglenook  where built-in banquettes by a fireplace offered a place to warm up on chilly days  was a popular feature in homes more than a century ago, including some designed by the architect Frank Lloyd Wright, Ms. Ruddy noted.
Few people have had a red carpet run like Timothee Chalamet, the actor known for his roles in Dune, Call Me by Your Name and the upcoming Bones and All.

And if you believe the numerous best-dressed lists and the hundreds of Instagram fan pages dedicated to documenting what hes wearing, Mr. Chalamet, 26, is a style icon. Of course that comes with the help of a connected stylist (he has worked with stylist Erin Walsh, who also works with Anne Hathaway and Lana Condor) and a sprinkle of top designer endorsements (Louis Vuitton, for instance).

In the social media age, though, where a viral fashion moment makes a celebrity more bankable, red carpet moments matter  and Mr. Chalamet has had a few.

The latest? A custom red monochromatic look by Haider Ackermann. For the Venice Film Festival premiere of Bones and All, Mr. Chalamet wore a shimmering halter-top pantsuit with a matching skinny tie.
Image Nury Martinez resigned as president of the Los Angeles City Council on Monday. Credit... Al Seib/Los Angeles Times, via Getty Images

Nury Martinez: a City Council member who resigned as president of the Council after racist remarks she made during a meeting with other council members and a labor leader were made public. Ms. Martinez criticized Black council members and used racist slang in reference to the adopted Black son of a fellow council member. Ms. Martinez, a Democrat and the first Latina to become City Council president, has said that she is taking a leave of absence. She has not resigned her seat on the Council despite calls from many politicians and civic leaders for her to do so.

Image Los Angeles City Council members Gil Cedillo, left, and Kevin de Leon at the City Council meeting on Tuesday. Credit... Ringo H.W. Chiu/Associated Press

Gil Cedillo: a City Council member who represents parts of the citys East Side and longtime Democratic legislator in California.
Members of the Los Angeles City Council could censure their three colleagues who were heard in a leaked recording that included racist and disparaging remarks. But they almost certainly could not remove them from office.

Though some politicians and advocates have called for the three members  Nury Martinez, Gil Cedillo and Kevin de Leon  to resign, none of the three had stepped down as of Tuesday afternoon. Ms. Martinez, who is heard in the recording disparaging the Black child of a white fellow council member, as well as Indigenous immigrants in the citys Koreatown neighborhood, gave up her role as president of the Council and announced a leave of absence, but did not relinquish her seat. All three members apologized for their conduct.

If they do not resign, it is unlikely that other City Council members could expel them. The city charter allows the Council to force members out under limited circumstances, including if they are convicted of crimes or leave the city for an extended period. But none of those circumstances seemed likely to apply in this situation.

By a two-thirds vote, the City Council could censure  or, formally express its disapproval of  members whose actions the Council determined to be a gross failure to conform to the highest standards of personal and professional conduct. Separately, Los Angeles voters can recall members, but the process is not fast or easy: Forcing a recall election requires the support of at least 15 percent of the voters in the council members district.
*Key caveat: in a hypothetical world where Trump doesnt run.

The DeSantis buzz

On paper, DeSantis has a lot going for him.

He has amassed a campaign hoard worthy of Smaug, the dragon in The Hobbit. A stocky former college baseball player and officer with the Navy Judge Advocate Generals Corps, he projects the sort of strength that plays well in Republican politics. And he emerged from the pandemic bolstered, on the right at least, by the perception that he navigated the coronavirus relatively successfully in defiance of experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci.

In polls, DeSantis consistently rates as the second choice of Republican voters, behind Trump but well ahead of any putative rivals. And in focus groups, voters often describe him as Trump without the baggage, according to Sarah Longwell, a G.O.P. strategist who opposes Trump.

Like Walker, though, DeSantis risks peaking too early. Walkers operation made a strategic error early on by parking much of its cash in a 527 committee, a tax-exempt organization that was barred from certain campaign activities. When the money dried up in the summer of 2015, his official campaign had trouble paying for the extensive apparatus it had built in anticipation of better fund-raising success.

The early infatuation of Republican voters (and pundits!) with shiny objects is a timeworn tradition, too. Remember Marco Rubio, the Republican savior? Rand Paul, the most interesting man in politics? Rick Perry, the hot stuff of the early 2012 hustings? And it remains to be seen whether DeSantis, a wooden speaker with a reputation for burning through his staff, has the personal skills to go the distance.

In interviews, Republican strategists and donors said that DeSantis looked to be in a strong position for 2024. His home in Florida gives him access to a deep-pocketed donor community that Walker lacked, several noted. Hes won allies in the political influencer community on the right. And his ability to appeal to both the Trump and Mitch McConnell wings of the party affords him room for maneuver in a Republican Party divided between two mutually hostile camps.

But everyone I interviewed emphasized that anything could happen. Several mentioned that they expected Trump to avoid announcing a re-election run as long as possible  freezing the potential G.O.P. field in place and, possibly, crippling any nascent campaign organizations they hope to build.
A former rookie San Antonio police officer was arrested and charged Tuesday night in the shooting of a teenager who had been eating in a McDonalds parking lot and is now on life support.

The former officer, James Brennand, who was fired from the San Antonio Police Department on Oct. 2 because of the shooting, was charged with two felony counts of aggravated assault and could face two to 20 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine if convicted. It was unclear whether he had a lawyer.

Body camera footage showed the former officer abruptly opening the door of a car and opening fire moments later on the teenager, Erik Cantu, after he tried to drive away.

Mr. Cantu, 17, remains in critical condition and on life support, the familys lawyer, Brian Powers, told The Associated Press.
BRUSSELS  NATO is closely monitoring Russias nuclear forces and is not seeing any changes in Russias posture, Jens Stoltenberg, NATOs secretary-general, told a news conference on Tuesday. But he said that a planned NATO nuclear-deterrence exercise would go ahead next week, because to cancel it would be absolutely the wrong signal to send to Moscow.

After Russias missile barrage on Ukrainian cities on Monday, Mr. Stoltenberg urged allies to provide Ukraine with more weapons, including more air defense systems. He praised the United States and Germany for pledging in the last few days to provide more sophisticated air defense systems and more ammunition for them.

These air defense systems are making a difference because many of the incoming missiles were actually shot down by Ukrainian air defense systems provided by NATO allies, he said. We need also more ammunition to these systems and I welcome that allies are doing that.

Ukraines military said that Russian forces had fired 28 cruise missiles at Ukrainian territory by midday on Tuesday and that Ukraines air defenses had shot down 20 of them. A day earlier, Ukraine claimed to have shot down roughly half of more than 90 Russian missiles launched at its territory.
BRUSSELS  NATOs top official on Tuesday called on allies to step up arms supplies to the Ukrainians, especially sophisticated air-defense systems, a day after Russia rained rocket fire on 19 cities across Ukraine in a marked escalation of its assault on civilians.

As missiles and rockets continued to strike Ukraine, though in smaller numbers than on Monday, Jens Stoltenberg, NATOs secretary general, said that Moscows aerial attacks on civilian targets were a sign of weakness and that Ukraine would be better able to deter them if its existing weaponry was expanded.

These air-defense systems are making a difference because many of the incoming missiles were actually shot down by Ukrainian air-defense systems provided by NATO allies, he said.

Mr. Stoltenbergs comments came as Western leaders, outraged by the escalation of Russian hostilities in Ukraine, held a virtual emergency meeting of the Group of 7 industrialized nations. They pledged undeterred and steadfast financial and military support for Ukraine. The White House also said it would expedite delivery of an advanced air-defense system.
Fingerprints on a Donald Judd sculpture that caused permanent and irreversible damage, according to a lawsuit, have already resulted in an insurance payout of $680,000.

The untitled 1991 work, part of the artists Menziken series of boxes, features a transparent green acrylic sheet inside an aluminum and plexiglass container. It was consigned to two galleries, which are being sued by the Judd Foundation for an additional $270,000 in damages plus lawyers fees.

Donald Judd was famous for his exacting fabrication standards and for the ongoing physical integrity of his works of art, the complaint noted. It added that any fingerprints on the anodized aluminum surface must be removed quickly or over time the oils in the fingerprints can react with the surface and leave permanent, disfiguring, irreversible marks.

Judd, who died in 1994, often described his sculptures in philosophical terms, writing that Menziken boxes were an attempt to make a definitive second surface.
The 2022 MacArthur fellows include a sociologist working to understand what drives people to own guns; an astrodynamicist trying to manage space traffic and ensure that satellites dont crash into each other in Earths orbit; and a lawyer seeking to expose inequities in the patent system that stifle access to affordable medications.

The 25 winners of the fellowship, announced on Wednesday, study things as small as molecular materials and as vast as outer space. They are esteemed in their fields, if not yet all household names. And now, in addition to being publicly celebrated for their work, they will have more funding to keep it going.

Known colloquially as the genius award  to the sometime annoyance of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation  the MacArthur Fellowship comes with a no-strings-attached grant of $800,000 to be awarded over five years. (Program officials noted that the size of the stipend has increased for the new group of fellows, from $625,000.)

The class includes scholars tackling some particularly timely topics. Jennifer Carlson, 40, investigates the motivations and assumptions that shape gun culture in America. The longtime activist Loretta J. Ross teaches a class that works to combat so-called cancel culture. And some of Yejin Chois work involves using computational linguistics to help detect everything from fake consumer reviews to fake news.
And to the public. You were founders of the group Korvat Auki.

SALONEN We had a group of composing students and also instrumental students who were interested in contemporary music, who felt that we needed something new in Finnish music life and to open the windows to the newest things in Europe. So together with other friends and fellow students we started Korvat Auki. Thats how we met Kaija Saariaho, in the first meeting of the society. The first meeting, in fact, took place in Kaijas then-boyfriends apartment. He was a painter, so he brought in his visual arts friends, and there was cross-pollination.

The idea was to bring new music to people. So we did concerts in schools and hospitals and so on  outside gas stations in the middle of nowhere, in snow banks. I organized one concert in my old school, which was totally faultlessly executed except that I had forgotten to announce it. Nobody knew that this concert had happened. I started studying conducting as well, mainly because no one seemed interested, so we had to bring someone from our own ranks.

LINDBERG We founded a group called Toimii, and that definitely came out of an enormous respect for what Stockhausen was doing. Aside from playing written music, we also did a lot of improvisation. We thought that should be a natural way of expressing musical thoughts.

SALONEN That was the group that once performed music at Ojai in bunny suits. That was a childrens concert; the kids seemed to like it.

Children have the most open ears.

SALONEN Exactly. They are the best audience, no question.

How have those years influenced your careers?

SALONEN In terms of Magnus and me, the cross-influence has been massive. We have spent countless hours talking about orchestration, notation, form, this and that. Its been a lifelong school, in a way, and its still ongoing. Now Im getting ready to rehearse his piano concerto tomorrow morning, and its a style that I know very well. But the delight here is for me to see, Oh thats new; that chord you havent used before.
Its an easy enough argument to make in Vaughan Williamss case, and he does repay another listen. An excellent new biography by the musicologist Eric Saylor makes clear that the composer  who was born in Gloucestershire on Oct. 12, 1872, wrote his first piece at 6, the year of the Brahms Violin Concerto, and his last at 85, in that of Stockhausens Gruppen  was not, or at least not entirely, the parochial reactionary that he has sometime appeared to be, the comforting nostalgist and purveyor of rustic folksiness who dressed like a gentleman farmer, as Copland called him, and composed like one, too.

Especially in the 1920s and 30s, Vaughan Williams was amply capable of wielding ferocious, dissonant violence, most sardonically in his Fourth Symphony; Bartok admired his percussive Piano Concerto. His modal vocabulary, flecked with pentatonic and other outre accents, could be profoundly ambiguous  sometimes stark, as in Job, a ballet in all but name, and sometimes discomforting, as in the otherworldly Sixth. Even the Lark, for all its pastoral popularity, has an indeterminate form and a sense of sonic freedom, Saylor writes.

Nor did Vaughan Williams, a student socialist who remained left-leaning, always flee the present into an Arcadian past, despite the wistfulness of works like his Oboe Concerto. He confronted a broken world in A Pastoral Symphony, which despite its title reflects on World War I, in which he witnessed death as a medical orderly and artilleryman, and in Dona Nobis Pacem, a pleading antiwar testament from 1936 that anticipates Brittens War Requiem.

In truth, though, it is hard to tell any sort of simple story about Vaughan Williams. He cared not at all for trends, making sure he knew what was going on elsewhere in contemporary music  he did, after all, study with Ravel  but remaining indifferent to much of it. Schoenberg meant nothing to me, he wrote after the serialists death in 1951, but as he apparently meant a lot to a lot of other people I dare say it is all my fault. Michael Kennedy, a biographer and friend, recalled that he liked to pronounce tone row, impishly, as if it rhymed with cow.

Why should music be original? Vaughan Williams grumbled in 1950. The object of art is to stretch out to the ultimate realities through the medium of beauty. The duty of the composer is to find the mot juste. It does not matter if this word has been said a thousand times before as long as it is the right thing to say at that moment.

He was therefore a pragmatist, with an independent streak as strong as his patriotism. He was not beholden to English music as he found it  neither Elgars imperial grandeur nor the examples of his tutors, Parry and Stanford  but sought through folk songs and hymnals to refine a national style that he could preserve, and through which he could prosper. Oxymorons work better for him than simplistic categories; he was a conservative iconoclast, an unconventional traditionalist.
Finally, for insight into teenagers in London, read Hannah Lowes poetry collection The Kids, inspired by the youngsters she taught in an inner city London school for 10 years.

What books can show me other facets of the city?

The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper, by Hallie Rubenhold, offers just what it says on the cover. Its quite shocking to read how egregiously these women have been misrepresented since their murders in the 19th century. Rubenhold untangles the myths of history-making and writes with great empathy about the hardships the women endured when alive and the rampant misogyny they faced when dead.

Roger Robinson, who is originally from Trinidad, has a poetry collection, A Portable Paradise, that should be read for its emotional honesty and vulnerability, and for a sequence of poems about the Grenfell Tower fire, in which a public housing block in west London caught fire in 2017, killing 72 people and injuring hundreds more. It was an avoidable tragedy: The fire spread because of cladding that defied building regulations, due to government neglect. The building still stands, wrapped in protective scaffolding with green love hearts and the words Forever in Our Hearts at the top. Take Robinsons book to the site and read his poems about it.

Set in south London, Ordinary People, a soulful novel by Diana Evans, subtly explores the web of desires and disappointments around Black British relationships, family, work and parenting. Evanss first novel, 26a, centers on twins from an interracial British-Nigerian family living in northwest London.

Queer City: Gay London from the Romans to the Present Day, by Peter Ackroyd, again, is an important and entertaining corrective to the overwhelmingly heteronormative recording of British history. And in Night Haunts: A Journey Through the London Night, by Sukhdev Sandhu, youll discover the urban dwellers who work in the dark, from the avian police to the cleaners to the Thames bargers and flushers.

What writer is everyone talking about?

Isabel Waidner, and deservedly so. A German-British Londoner, they published two novels before winning the Goldsmiths Prize for experimental fiction in 2022 with Sterling Karat Gold. They write about the politics of state oppression, the politics of rebellion, the politics of the imagination. Their explosive sensibility and style are as far removed from mediocre prose and middle-class manners as you can imagine. This alone is reason to read them.

If I have no time for day trips, what books could take me there instead?

There arent enough writers from working-class backgrounds writing novels about people from working-class backgrounds, but two outstanding Scottish storytellers have made names for themselves in recent years doing just that: Douglas Stuart, whose novels, Shuggie Bain and Young Mungo, feature young, gay, Glaswegian protagonists, and Kerry Hudson, novelist and memoirist, whose first novel, Tony Hogan Bought Me an Ice-Cream Float Before He Stole My Ma, centers on a young girl born in Aberdeen and the women in her family. These two writers will wring out your emotions: Their writing is heartbreaking and heartwarming in equal measure.
Chinas troubled Covid testing strategy

Testing every citizen for the coronavirus several times a week became central to Chinas zero-Covid strategy earlier this year, when a stubborn strain of the coronavirus rippled through the country.

But that approach has failed to slow some of Chinas biggest outbreaks, and the program appears to be foundering as the country prepares for a politically important Communist Party congress.

Nearly 200 million people are in some form of lockdown in China, and the punishment for failing to comply with burdensome testing requirements has grown more severe. The police have detained people, sometimes for more than a week, for skipping mandated tests.

The testing program has also created great financial strain. The Bank of China Research Institute estimated that regular mass testing would cost nearly $100 billion a year if 900 million people were tested every three days. And the government, which funds most of the testing, has shown signs that it is struggling to pay for it.
China is already turning Beijing into a kind of Covid island for the party congress. In the last week, it has become extraordinarily difficult to enter the city. China tracks residents P.C.R. tests and other health indicators with an app on residents smartphones, and getting into any building or traveling requires showing that your health code is still green. But recently, residents of a very wide range of cities across the country have found that their health codes turn red or they receive a pop-up warning if they try to take a train or plane to Beijing.

How will they be framing the Covid question at the Congress?

Xi Jinping has framed the Covid question as a story of China putting its peoples health first ahead of anything else, including sometimes even economic growth. The Communist Party is presenting itself as one of the few organizations on Earth that have managed to shield a countrys people from widespread illness and deaths during the pandemic. And that portrayal of Chinas Covid-zero policies as a success is likely to endure at the party congress.

Also important is that China has very little to worry about so far regarding long Covid. The U.S. has many millions of people who face lasting health problems, and that is an important cause of human suffering, as well as high costs for the health care system and lost productivity for the economy for a long time to come. In China, you scarcely hear of long Covid because few people have been infected yet.

Will the congress give us any hints about what comes next for Chinas Covid policy?

The drumbeat of statements in state media this week, reaffirming Chinas response to Covid, makes it unlikely the policy will change quickly. We are much more likely to hear of Covid zero as a success story with only the vaguest of mentions that there may be efforts to further improve the handling in the months to come.

Party congresses are not an occasion for specific health policies. They are an occasion for the broadest of ideological statements, as well as for chest-thumping affirmations of national strength. We might eventually see incremental changes, however.
Local authorities in provinces such as Shanxi and Jiangxi have already diverted money from public projects in order to fund pandemic monitoring and control. In some cities, civil servants have faced pay cuts. In others, bonuses for officials have been frozen to help prop up testing.

And yet there are signs from some of Chinas biggest testing companies that there is a cash shortfall.

Dian Diagnostics said this summer that the amount of money it was still owed in payments had nearly doubled over the past year and warned of the risk of bad debts. Shanghai Runda Medical Technology recently said unpaid bills had increased by a quarter over the same period. Guangzhou Kingmed Diagnostics warned that delays in payments could raise its risk profile.

There is a serious imbalance between local government revenue and expenditure, analysts at the Bank of China Research Institute wrote in a note to clients in late September. They estimated that regular mass testing would cost nearly $100 billion a year if 900 million people were tested every three days.

Cases continue to rise as these financial pressures mount. Last week, a top official in the Xinjiang region, Liu Sushe, made a rare admission of defeat when he said, We have not been able to achieve dynamic zero Covid for more than two months, citing the ineffectiveness of our control measures.

While the testing measures are proving to be less effective, the industry continues to make huge profits. Bigger companies like Dian Diagnostics have reported revenues that more than doubled over the first six months of this year, said Jialin Zhang, head of China health care research at the Japanese bank Nomura.
This article is part of Upstart, a series about companies harnessing new science and technology to solve challenges in their industries.

Sometimes the barrier to medical advancement isnt in the science. Its the money.

In 2003 the first full sequencing of the human genome  an extensive and highly accurate sequence of the 3.1 billion units of DNA of the human genome, as The Times put it  was completed; the project had started with a projected cost of roughly $3 billion (the eventual cost was deemed impossible to calculate). Even then, the idea that sequencing could be used to spot and prevent disease was raised  albeit not without skepticism. But with the monumental price of tests, few could afford them.

Over the years, as the underlying technology progressed, the price dropped, but not enough to deliver on the promise of so-called precision medicine, with drugs and treatments tailored to maximize effectiveness for each individual patient. With the price of a partial but useful genome scan hovering around $1,000, scientists believed big breakthroughs would only come when the whole genome sequencing cost sunk to around $100.

One hundred dollars is the kind of money we are looking for, said Dr. Bruce D. Gelb, a professor of genetics and genomic sciences at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.
Art Laboe, the disc jockey who as a mainstay of the West Coast airwaves for decades bridged racial divides through his music selections and live shows, reached listeners in a new way by allowing on-air dedications and helped make the phrase oldies but goodies ubiquitous, died on Friday at his home in Palm Springs, Calif. He was 97.

An announcement on his Facebook page said the cause was pneumonia.

Mr. Laboe worked in radio for almost 80 years. In 1973, The San Francisco Examiner was already calling him the dean of Los Angeles rock n roll broadcasting, and he would be on the air for almost a half-century more after that.

He started in the business as a teenager during World War II, working at a San Francisco station, KSAN, before gravitating to KPMO in Pomona and KCMJ in Palm Springs. The idea of a disc jockey with a distinctive personality had not yet become the norm in radio  at KCMJ, a CBS affiliate, he was mostly an announcer doing station identifications and such between radio soap operas  but for an hour late at night he was allowed to play music.

He featured big bands, crooners and other sounds of the day. But as tastes changed, his selections changed, and sometimes he was at the front edge of the evolution. In 1954, by then working in Los Angeles, Mr. Laboe was largely responsible for making the Chords Sh-Boom (sometimes cited as the first rock n roll record) an L.A. No. 1, Barney Hoskyns wrote in Waiting for the Sun: Strange Days, Weird Scenes, and the Sound of Los Angeles (1996).
Its clear that wildlife is suffering mightily on our planet, but scientists dont know exactly how much. A comprehensive figure is exceedingly hard to determine. Counting wild animals  on land and at sea, from gnats to whales  is no small feat. Most countries lack national monitoring systems.

One of the most ambitious efforts to fill this void is published every two years. Known as the Living Planet Index, its a collaboration between two major conservation organizations, the World Wide Fund for Nature, widely known as the WWF, and the Zoological Society of London. But the report has repeatedly resulted in inaccurate headlines when journalists misinterpreted or overstated its results.

The assessments latest number, issued Wednesday by 89 authors from around the world, is its most alarming yet: From 1970 to 2018, monitored populations of vertebrates declined an average of 69 percent. Thats more than two-thirds in only 48 years. Its a staggering figure with serious implications, especially as nations prepare to meet in Montreal this December in an effort to agree on a new global plan to protect biodiversity. But does it mean what you think?

What the data does, and doesnt, mean

Remember that this number is only about vertebrates: mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish. Absent are creatures without spines, even though they make up the vast majority of animal species (scientists have even less data on them).
Granit  thats his code name  is a righteous ass-kicker. He is in Mozambique to help train the countrys armed forces as they combat indistinct ISIS-backing bandits, but he is not there to fight heroically alongside them; his boss even says, I warn you  no fighting and no heroics. But Granit cannot help himself. He and his fellow mercenaries whip the Mozambican forces into shape, then shoot it out with the bandits. He also finds time to look out for a local kid who, inevitably, learns to say spasibo, or thank you.

As a movie, Granit is bad in predictable ways, echoing your lesser dumb-fun Steven Seagal flicks. Oleg Chernov, the lead actor, has a natural world-weariness, a catlike grace and the kind of nice, big head of which Josh Brolin might approve. Occasionally he makes the insane dialogue work. (In war, its not the guns that decide, but balls, he says at one point. The one with the stronger balls wins.) It is in its hints of explicit politicization, though, that Granit sings. For a Russian, an idea is more important than money, says one villain. If you give a Russian an idea, hell work for free. When someone suggests that the Russian fighters are out of their depth in Mozambique, this same villain  now clearly enthralled by the Russians  counters that the Maputo street on which theyre speaking is called Av. Vladimir Lenine. Presumably Granit is not carrying the torch for Marxism-Leninism. The street is meant to represent the power and historical significance of Russia in general.

The messaging in this film is so scattered that you may be left seeing signs everywhere. At one point, Granit and the crew smash glass Coca-Cola bottles to build a makeshift booby trap. Clever knock of American imperialism, or a nod to Home Alone? In the end, Granit dies on his back, smiling up at birds. According to recovered Wagner documents, a Russian code-named Granit really did die in Mozambique in 2019. But reporting indicates that Wagner soldiers bumbled their way through the mission in a manner nearly the complete opposite of whats seen in the movie. The undergrowth is so thick there that all the high-tech equipment Wagner brought ceases to be effective, a Mozambican intelligence specialist told The Moscow Times. The Russians arrived with drones, but they cant actually use them. In Granit, of course, the drones work fine.

The action movie, as a format, has always been great at presenting a worldview. As an explicit recruitment vehicle, the Wagner movies closest American analogue might be Frank Capras World War II series, Why We Fight. But their inspiration definitely comes from the Cold War 1980s, when America was churning out nationalistic stuff like Red Dawn, Invasion U.S.A. and Rambo III  films with an obvious, unexamined arrangement of global good guys and bad guys. More recent American propaganda is known for a neutered abstractness  this years Top Gun: Maverick is deliberately vague about the identity of its foreign enemy, and while the Transformers movies pan droolingly over expensive Pentagon-provided hardware, the soldiers in those movies are fighting space robots. Movies in which Americans save the planet from evil may be part and parcel of a political reality in which cutting the Pentagon budget is a nonstarter, but at their inception, the point of these films is to make money.

For an American, it can be easy to forget how much ideology is packed into the genre  until you watch a film from elsewhere, and are confronted with the cartoonish heroes and villains of other cultures. The Wagner movies dont ever actually say the name Wagner, and Prigozhin only recently admitted that he is the groups founder. But in September a video surfaced in which a man assumed to be Prigozhin stands in the yard of a Russian penal colony and explicitly recruits for Wagner by offering sentence-reduction in exchange for service. Just as in the Wagner movies, the inevitability of death is front of mind. Do you have anyone who can get you out of prison alive? he asks. There are two, Allah and God. I am taking you out of here alive. But its not always that I bring you back alive. In another portion of his speech, he is more specific. The first convicts who fought with me, that was at the Vuhlehirsk power station, with 40 people, he says, referring to an actual battle in Ukraine. Out of the three dead, one was 52 years old. He served 30 years in prison. He died a hero.
Oldss artistic signature  what really makes Sharon Olds Sharon Olds  is a kind of aggressive intimacy: a willingness to write, with stunning lack of restraint or shame or embarrassment, about the most private aspects of human experience. She is our great translator of what she has called all the eloquence of the body. Over the decades, as Olds has aged, her poetry has not flinched. If anything, it has grown more free. Her collection Odes, published when she was 73, began with an Ode to the Hymen and went on to include odes to the clitoris, penis, condom, tampon, douche bag, menstrual blood, stretch marks and testicles. There is a Hip Replacement Ode and an Ode to My Whiteness and an Ode to the Last Thirty-Eight Trees in New York City Visible From This Window. There is also  classic Olds  a Blow Job Ode.

Olds is every bit as sexually frank as any of her 20th-century male near-peers (Roth and Updike come swaggering to mind), but she also adds something new. She is ravenously interested, always, in what it means to be deeply embedded in a family  not just alienated from it, or limited by it, but part of it, in the most intimate and integrated and vulnerable ways. She has described, in astonishing detail, all the urgent minutiae of ordinary family life: breastfeeding, cleaning up spills, sending kids off to camp and college. This careful chronicling has produced the story, transformed through poetry, of an entire life, daily and monumental: sex, birth, parenthood, divorce, illness, abuse; dead gerbils and dead parents and the perpetually dying human body. She is our poet laureate of the beauty and wreckage of domestic life.

Oldss work has had a huge influence, for generations now, on other writers. As a young female poet, I remember almost a fear of the intensity, of the honesty, says Deborah Garrison, who now works as Oldss editor at Knopf. I was fascinated and terrified. But Oldss boldness, Garrison says, opened up a radical new space. Its like she gave us a framework for understanding structures of love in a family. Shes put a road map there for, never mind being a poet, but just being a woman whos an adult. Its almost like we can feel that we lived Sharons life, if thats not a bizarre thing to say.

Ocean Vuong, who teaches alongside Olds at N.Y.U., first discovered her work as a student, roaming the library, pulling out books by authors he had vaguely heard of. He calls Oldss poetry foundational to his career. Her writing opened doors for so many people, he told me. Whether you read her or not, if you write about the bodys position against pleasure, and the profound and the profane, youre writing in the shadow of Sharon Olds.

Olds was born in San Francisco in 1942. Her childhood, she has said, was hellfire Calvinist. Her father was a steel salesman  in the poetry, he is portrayed as silent, cold, drunk, casually misogynistic. Her mother was a housewife who, in the poems, sometimes wields a tortoiseshell hairbrush as a weapon of punishment. The atmosphere was severe and repressed, pure sepia midcentury American. If you didnt finish your dinner, it would be served to you again, cold, the following night.

From the beginning, young Sharon felt that she didnt fit in. I would put it this way, she told me. I dont mind talking this way  I know it seems so dumb  but: I was born a pagan. There is no question in my mind that when I was born, I was not a Calvinist. At all. I had no interest in Calvinism when I was born. I was a little human animal. I danced a lot, from when I could stand up. I loved flowers. I was sentimental, emotional  not in a sick way. I was happy. I was a goofy little kid.

She says that her older sister, recognizing this, tried to protect her. (I dont know if she was a pagan, Olds says. She was more thoughtful than I. And beautiful.) But the parents were too powerful. Olds has written, extensively and obsessively, with sorrow and anger and empathy, about her parents. She has described, for instance, in multiple poems, a day her parents tied her to a chair, hostage-style, for spilling a bottle of ink on their bed. I was strangely happy, she writes in one version. I would never say I was sorry, I had left that life behind.
The ruling came a month after the The New York Times reported that more than 100 Hasidic boys schools in Brooklyn and the lower Hudson Valley have collected at least $1 billion in taxpayer money in the past four years, but many have denied students secular instruction.

Timeline: New Yorks Oversight of Hasidic Schools Card 1 of 7 State law requires all private schools to provide an education comparable to what is in public schools. In 2015, New York Citys education department said it would investigate complaints about the quality of secular education in schools in the Hasidic Jewish community. Heres a timeline of the investigation: July 2015: Graduates of Hasidic religious schools, known as yeshivas, wrote a complaint about the poor secular education they received. Then-Mayor Bill de Blasios administration opened an investigation into the schools, but it soon stalled, plagued by delays and a lack of cooperation from the yeshivas. November 2018: The state released updated rules outlining what nonpublic schools like yeshivas must teach and for how long  with consequences for schools that did not comply. Hasidic leaders sued, and the rules were thrown out in court in 2019. December 2019: The city Department of Investigation found the de Blasio administration delayed a report on the schools. A few days later, the city finally released findings: only two of 28 yeshivas that officials visited were offering a basic secular education. The investigation has not concluded, and the city has done little to follow up. Sept. 11, 2022: A New York Times investigation found scores of schools are systematically denying children a basic education, a violation of state law that has trapped generations of students in a cycle of joblessness and destitution. Even so, The Times found, these institutions have collected more than $1 billion from city, state and federal sources in the past four years alone. Sept. 13, 2022: The State Board of Regents voted unanimously to approve rules that would force Hasidic yeshivas and other private schools to prove they are offering basic secular instruction. The vote came after four years of tumultuous debate about how the government should regulate the schools. October 2022: The New York education commissioner ruled that a large boys' yeshiva in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is violating state law by failing to provide a basic secular education. This is the first time the state has taken action against a Hasidic boys' school. New York City had earlier recommended the school be found in compliance with the law.













The Times found that Hasidic boys yeshivas that administer state standardized tests perform worse than any other schools in New York State, and that religion teachers in many of the schools have frequently used corporal punishment to enforce order, hindering learning.

Ms. Rosas decision will also provide the first test of a new set of state rules aimed at regulating private schools, which have largely been allowed to operate without oversight for decades. Those regulations, which went into effect two weeks ago, hold that schools that do not follow state law could lose their public funding.

Hasidic leaders fought to block the new rules before they were approved by the State Board of Regents last month, casting them as a dire threat to the community. Earlier this week, a group of yeshivas and their supporters sued New York education officials over the rules in state court. Many of the plaintiffs in the suit were non-Hasidic yeshivas that provide extensive secular education and would likely not be affected by the regulations.

Yeshivas are the central and irreplaceable pillar of the Orthodox Jewish life in New York, reads the lawsuit, which seeks to have the regulations overturned.

On Wednesday, a spokesman for one of the groups that filed the lawsuit, the Parents for Educational and Religious Liberty in Schools, defended Yeshiva Mesivta Arugath Habosem.

Educators from the citys Department of Education visited the school several times and determined that it met the substantial equivalence standard, said the spokesman, Richard Bamberger, referring to the state law. It is disappointing that political appointees at the state education department wont accept the citys findings.
Other ways of helping have been more practical, like sharing tips on how to work with insurance companies or procure quality contractors. Some have even visited Florida to roll up their sleeves.

Joanne Fogarty, who lives in Breezy Point, Queens, almost traveled to Florida after Ian. I just wanted to help, she said. But then she figured out a better way to contribute, based on her own hurricane experience.

When Sandy hit, Ms. Fogarty slept in a parking lot with her mother after trying to evacuate at the last minute and finding the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge closed. While they huddled in their car overnight, a fire destroyed 126 homes in Ms. Fogartys neighborhood. It looked like a bomb had gone off, she said upon seeing the destruction the next day.

Her house was spared, but a wave overwhelmed the front door, flooding everything. The watermark was higher than the kitchen counters, she said. I remember seeing parts of my deck all over the beach. Its this distinctive green color so I knew it was mine.

Two volunteer organizations helped to get Ms. Fogarty back on her feet. Team Rubicon, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit led by military veterans, helped people remove muck and debris from their houses, she said. They saw me using this ladder to get in and out of my house, so they were like, Why dont we build you a staircase? Operation Blessing, a faith-based humanitarian nonprofit, organized teams of volunteers to do everything from plumbing work to throwing Halloween parties for children. They didnt leave the Rockaways until January. (Both groups are now on the ground in Florida.)

Recalling the monumental assistance she had received from these groups, Ms. Fogarty opted to stay put in New York after Hurricane Ian, and to donate money to both nonprofits instead. I decided they didnt need an almost 60-year-old to show up, she said. These were the people who were the most helpful and who were here the longest.
A federal appeals court on Wednesday allowed a New York law barring the carrying of guns in some public places to stay in effect, granting a request from the states attorney general, who is fighting to keep the law in place a week after a judge blocked large portions of it.

The decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit allows the state more time to enforce a measure intended to limit the carrying of guns in public places, as a three-judge panel weighs a request to keep the law in place for a longer time.

The decision continues what will likely be a lengthy series of tests for the measure, which was put into place in July in response to a Supreme Court decision the previous month. The law is already being defended in two federal courts, even as several other suits against it progress.

There is going to be so much litigation on the Second Amendment over the coming months, said Eric Ruben, a law professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas who specializes in gun regulation. In New York and across the country.
As a child growing up in East New York, Brooklyn, at the height of the war on drugs, Dasheeda Dawson became convinced that she wanted nothing to do with weed.

She was 10 when transit police officers began searching her backpack for drugs while she was on her way to school, Ms. Dawson said in an interview. As a teenager, she said she saw officers slam her friends to the ground over small amounts of cannabis.

She changed course completely in 2016 after the sudden death of her mother, a longtime cannabis user who had encouraged her to try the drug to treat health issues that left Ms. Dawson tired and in pain. Ms. Dawson left a corporate career and dove into the cannabis industry, enrolling first in a medical marijuana program in Arizona before eventually overseeing the industry in Portland, Ore., which included medicinal and recreational use.

Now, Ms. Dawson, 43, has returned home to lead Cannabis NYC, the citys effort to support entrepreneurs and workers seeking entry into the sector. As the founding director, she will head a small team charged with corralling city services to help build sustainable cannabis businesses, including helping entrepreneurs to apply for licenses, access financing opportunities and navigate municipal regulations.
Sterling Johnson Jr., a former police detective who as a federal judge in Brooklyn ordered the closing of a Guantanamo Bay detention facility, which he deemed an H.I.V. prison camp for Haitian refugees, and who later ruled that New York City had failed to adequately assist poor residents with AIDS, died on Monday in Queens. He was 88.

His daughter Jennifer Johnson confirmed his death, at Long Island Jewish Medical Center.

Judge Johnson was the states special narcotics prosecutor for New York City in 1991 when President George H.W. Bush nominated him for the United States Court for the Eastern District of New York, which covers Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and Long Island. He served on that bench for 31 years.

In 1993, Judge Johnson ordered the government to immediately close the detention facility that it had set up at the American naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to hold Haitian refugees who were barred from entering the United States because they had AIDS or the virus causing it.

The 150 detainees had been among thousands of Haitian boat people who were intercepted at sea starting in late 1991 and who were found eligible to apply for political asylum in the United States. But while those free of AIDS or its virus were admitted to the country to pursue their asylum applications, those infected were languishing in limbo at the Guantanamo site for up to 19 months.
This isnt a truculent or reactionary analysis. The Second Vatican Council failed on the terms its own supporters set. It was supposed to make the church more dynamic, more attractive to modern people, more evangelistic, less closed off and stale and self-referential. It did none of these things. The church declined everywhere in the developed world after Vatican II, under conservative and liberal popes alike  but the decline was swiftest where the councils influence was strongest.

The new liturgy was supposed to make the faithful more engaged with the Mass; instead, the faithful began sleeping in on Sunday and giving up Catholicism for Lent. The church lost much of Europe to secularism and much of Latin America to Pentecostalism  very different contexts and challengers, yet strikingly similar results.

And if anything, post-1960s Catholicism became more inward-looking than before, more consumed with its endless right-versus-left battles, and to the extent it engaged with the secular world, it was in paltry imitation  via middling guitar music or political theories that were just dressed-up versions of left-wing or right-wing partisanship or ugly modern churches that were outdated 10 years after they were built and empty soon thereafter.

There is no clever rationalization, no intellectual schematic, no sententious Vatican propaganda  a typical recent document refers to the life-giving sustenance provided by the council, as though it were the eucharist itself  that can evade this cold reality.

But neither can anyone evade the third reality: The council cannot be undone.

By this I dont mean that the Mass can never return to Latin or that various manifestations of post-conciliar Catholicism are inevitable and eternal or that cardinals in the 23rd century will still be issuing Soviet-style praise for the council and its works.

I just mean that there is no simple path back. Not back to the style of papal authority that both John Paul II and Francis have tried to exercise  the former to restore tradition, the latter to suppress it  only to find themselves frustrated by the ungovernability of the modern church. Not to the kind of thick inherited Catholic cultures that still existed down to the middle of the 20th century, and whose subsequent unraveling, while inevitable to some extent, was clearly accelerated by the churchs own internal iconoclasm. Not to the moral and doctrinal synthesis, stamped with the promise of infallibility and consistency, that the churchs conservatives have spent the last two generations insisting still exists, but that in the Francis era has proved so unstable that those same conservatives have ended up feuding with the pope himself.
In another place, a leader like Aristide could have served out his terms in office, faced defeat and then nursed his political grudges and meddled with his enemies from the sidelines. What is self-rule other than the right to choose your own disappointment? But this is Haiti, a country where all but a handful of leaders have left office one of two ways: in exile or in a coffin.

Standing on the tarmac at the airport here on Feb. 29, 2004, watching the American plane that carried Aristide into exile, I could not help but feel something irretrievable was lost. The best of what he represented  a demand for just redistribution, from without and within, as a route to true democracy and equity, was gone. What remained was his worst impulse: the gangs that had helped secure his presidency. It was a trauma from which Haiti has never really recovered, leaving it a broken nation living in the shadow of the most powerful country in the world  a boogeyman, a headache, a pawn.

What does the world owe Haiti today? First and foremost to leave it alone. To give Haitians the time, space and support to imagine a different future for their own country.

Dan Foote, a former U.S. special envoy to Haiti, has since become an exceptionally blunt critic of Washingtons policy. He told me that American foreign policy still believes subconsciously that Haiti is a bunch of dumb Black people who cant organize themselves and we need to tell them what to do or its going to get really bad. But the internationals have messed Haiti up every time we have intervened. It is time to give the Haitians a chance. Whats the worst that can happen? They make it worse than we have?

Haiti has been used and abused by more powerful nations since Christopher Columbus landed on the north coast of the island in 1492. The United States has seesawed between shunning and smothering Haiti, initially refusing to recognize the country, then invading it in 1915, turning it into a quasi-colony for 19 years. Cold War calculations ensured that the United States retained deep influence over Haitis politics and economy, sometimes uneasily, throughout the brutal regimes, from 1957 to 1986, of the Duvaliers, father and son.

Over the past dozen years, Haitian politics has grown ever more fractured as the country has been battered by a shattering earthquake and a series of storms and hurricanes. The political scene has been dominated by American-backed center-right leaders credibly accused of corruption and connections to criminal networks.

Between the isolation and foreign meddling, the countrys political culture curdled into a noxious stew of fratricidal paranoia. In the absence of a modern industrial economy, the country quickly stratified. There is a mercantile class that makes most of its money importing goods and selling them to everybody else  desperately poor people surviving on subsistence wages and remittances from a thriving diaspora in the United States, Canada, France and beyond.
The statement by Martinez, who resigned from the Council on Wednesday amid a national uproar over her remarks, invoked yet another popular but debatable idea, which is that women in general and women leaders in particular arent as reflexively and gratuitously divisive as men. That theyre more instinctive uniters, more natural nurturers  and as such, demonstrate greater concern for the welfare of future generations.

Martinez, after all, didnt say as a parent. She specified her gender and, in doing so, promoted a gendered if women-flattering conceit. Its a conceit that, I admit, I buy into. I indeed think that wed be well served with more women in leadership roles, in both the public and the private sectors, and not just as a matter of representation.

But I also think that our discussions about this can be softheaded and our analysis of the evidence selective. When we in the media admire a prime minister whos a woman (Jacinda Ardern in New Zealand, Sanna Marin in Finland), we often cast her as a parable of womens untapped potential. When we dont (Liz Truss in Britain, Giorgia Meloni in Italy), we tend to shy away from such grand generalizations.

Martinezs racist remarks occurred in a meeting last year with three men: Gil Cedillo and Kevin de Leon, who served with her on the City Council, and Ron Herrera, who was the head of a powerful local labor organization. Its not yet known who made and released the recording, but after The Los Angeles Times published an article about it on Sunday, Martinez stepped down as Council president  though not as a Council member  and then announced a leave of absence. That did little to quell public rage, which led to her quitting the Council altogether. Herrera also resigned from his post. There are widespread calls, including from President Biden, for Cedillo and de Leon to resign from theirs as well.

The whole sordid episode speaks to the prevalence and perniciousness of racism, even among people of color  Martinez was the first Latina Council president  and even among members of the same ethnic group. In the recording, Martinez referred to Oaxacan immigrants from Mexico as little short dark people.
In December 2003 I received an assignment that would change my life. I was a young reporter for The New York Times, detailed to the papers sleepy Westchester bureau but dreaming of a career as a foreign correspondent. Haiti was scheduled to celebrate the bicentennial of its independence on New Years Day. Was I interested in covering it, my editor asked?

Was I ever. Haiti had loomed large in my imagination since I was a child. I grew up mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, in Kenya and Ghana, in a house infused with an ethos of pan-African liberation. I had been raised on the thrilling tale of the formerly enslaved Haitian generals who defeated the armies of Napoleon.

Throughout their history as an independent nation, Haitians paid dearly, literally and figuratively, for their temerity, first with brutal isolation and later with incessant foreign meddling. When I arrived in Haiti to cover its bicentennial, it was roiling with protests. I ended up spending a couple of months there covering the unfolding crisis that ended with Haitis first truly democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, being forced from office by armed groups and the tacit support of major Western powers.

Bearing witness to these events shaped much of the rest of my career. I became obsessed with the central questions that formerly colonized peoples have faced for decades: how to govern themselves, how to avoid the hegemony of their former colonial overlords, how to escape the neocolonial traps of the post-Cold War era  how to achieve true sovereignty and real democracy in a world order rife with domination.
In their July 2022 paper Reversion to the Mean, or Their Version of the Dream? An Analysis of Latino Voting in 2020, Bernard L. Fraga, Yamil R. Velez and Emily A. West, political scientists at Emory, Columbia and the University of Pittsburgh, write that there is

an increasing alignment between issue positions and vote choice among Latinos. Moreover, we observe significant pro-Trump shifts among working-class Latinos and modest evidence of a pro-Trump shift among newly engaged U.S.-born Latino children of immigrants and Catholic Latinos. The results point to a more durable Republican shift than currently assumed.

That is, the more Hispanic voters subordinate traditional party and ethnic solidarity in favor of voting based on conservative or moderate policy preferences, the more likely they are to defect to the Republican Party.

The authors caution, however, that nothing is fixed in stone:

On the one hand, there is evidence that working-class Latino voters became more supportive of Trump in 2020, mirroring increases in educational polarization among the mass public. If similar processes are at play for Latinos  and if such polarization is not Trump-specific  then this could mean a durable change in partisan loyalties.

On the other hand, they continue:

Historical voting patterns among Latinos reveal natural ebbs and flows. Using exit poll data from 1984-2020, political scientist Alan Abramowitz finds that the pro-Democratic margin among Latinos ranges from +9 in 2004 to +51 in 1996, with an average margin of +35 points. Instead of reflecting a durable shift, 2020 could be a reversion to the mean, with 2016 serving as a recent high-water mark for the Democrats.

In an email responding to my inquiry about future trends, Fraga wrote:

My sense is that most of the Latinos who shifted to the Republican Party in 2020 have not returned to the Democratic Party. Many of these new Republican converts were ideologically conservative pre-2020, so Republicans didnt have to shift their policy message very much to win them over.

Portrait of a Persuadable Latino  an April 2021 study by the nonprofit Equis Research of Hispanic defections from the Democratic Party  found similar overall trends to those reported in the Fraga-Velez-West paper but revealed slightly different demographic patterns.

The Equis survey found that the largest percentage tilt toward Trump was among women, at plus 8 percent, compared with men, at 3 percent; among non-college Latinos, plus 6, compared with just 1 percent among the college educated; among Protestants, plus 7 compared with plus 5 among Catholics and plus 15 percent among conservative Hispanics. There was no tilt among liberals and a plus 4 percent tilt among moderates.

Carlos Odio, a co-founder and the senior vice president at Equis Labs, a nonprofit committed to massively increase civic participation among Latinos in this country, emailed a response to my query about Hispanic voter trends:

While Latinos shifted toward Republicans between 2016 and 2020, an 8-point swing toward Trump, we do not see evidence of a further decrease in Democratic support since Bidens win. In most states, things do not look worse for Dems with Latinos than they did in the last election, nor do they look better.

But, Odio pointedly cautioned,

the political environment has the potential to lead to further erosion of Democratic support among Latinos. A meaningful share of Latino voters remain on the fence, having not firmly chosen a side in the election. These late breakers could move toward either party, or toward the couch, before the midterms are over.

Odio sent me a September 2022 Equis report, Latino Voters in Limbo  A Midterm Update, which found:

Young Latinos (18-34), Latino men and self-identified conservatives are overrepresented among the 2020 Biden voters who today disapprove of the presidents job performance. Among the most likely to be undecided today are ideological holdouts: conservative and moderate Latinos who have held back from Republicans, despite seeming to share some characteristics with their G.O.P.-supporting white counterparts. Notably Republicans have not increased support among these Latinos in the last year in almost any state  likely because a large majority of conservative or moderate Latinos who dont yet vote Republican believe Democrats care more about people like them.

Today, the report continues, what keeps many Latinos on the fence is again concerns about the economy and fears that Democrats dont consistently prioritize the economy, handle it as decisively as business-obsessed Republicans or value hard work.

A separate Equis study, 2020 Post-Mortem: The American Dream Voter, found that a negative attitude toward socialism was a factor among Hispanics nationwide, especially among those who stress the importance of working hard to get ahead:



There isnt one overriding concern about socialism  but a package of complaints usually rises to the top around government control over peoples lives, raising taxes and money going to undeserving recipients. If a through line exists, it is a worry over people becoming lazy and dependent on government by those who highly value hard work.

The American Dream Voter study found that the declining salience of immigration in 2020 compared with 2016 or 2018, combined with the debate in 2020 over Covid lockdowns versus reopening the economy, diminished ethnic solidarity in 2020, allowing conservative Hispanics to shift their allegiance to the Republican Party. According to the reports authors, The economy unlocked a door: The issue landscape shifted to more favorable ground for Trump, opening a way for some Latinos who found it unacceptable to vote for him in 2016 and then the socialism attack broke through: It created a space for defection.
My mom and I were incredibly close for most of my life. She is an out and proud lesbian. She raised me on her own and in a pretty unconventional way, but she was also a traditional mom in a lot of senses. She worked  thats traditional to me and my family and my experience. But she was also the mom who would run the Girl Scouts troop.

The unconventional part is that she felt like if shes going somewhere, anywhere she was was home. And we didnt necessarily have to be settled and rooted. When we lived on Catalina [Santa Catalina Island, near Los Angeles], it seemed like I was the only Black kid on that whole island. But my mom was always invested in my Black identity and me knowing that I was a Black girl and how special that was. She took parenting extremely seriously, and even though she didnt have a lot of quote-unquote financial means, everything else that was available to her, she used. So I think a large part of my mothering identity is rooted in that.

But weve split in a lot of ideological ways. Right now my mother lives on St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Why? Because she went one time and thought it was cool and then just moved there. That is my moms personality.

I have gone the opposite way. Im an Ivy League graduate. I have a masters degree. I have a job that Ive had for 10 years. I am married. I have two children. Its very traditional. And I think that is a direct response to how I was raised.

My mother and I dont clash, but were not as close now. And I think the girls have brought us closer because shes obsessed with her granddaughters. She lived with us for a year, but I think during that year is when we really rubbed up against one another and who we are now as women and how we connect now as women, which is separate.

And then also we went through this traumatic thing where she got really sick, and that fundamentally changed our relationship. Ive talked to other women whove gone through something similar with their moms, where your responsibility to your parent changes and you start taking on a parenting role. I felt wholly unprepared for it. I was mad about it. I was really upset. I felt like she put me in this position by being sick. And I wanted to write about that really honestly in the book, because we have these fantasies about ourselves that well just step up to the plate in those situations.

I didnt do the best at that; I did what I had to do because Im her daughter. Im also her only daughter. That was another reason I had more than one kid. All these things are direct responses to my own childhood trauma, even though I think she was an incredible mother.
[MUSIC]

jane coaston

Its The Argument. Im Jane Coaston.

archived recording The great divide in American politics shows no sign of closing. We are a very divided, polarized country right now. archived recording (joe biden) We must be honest with each other and with ourselves. Too much of whats happening in our country today is not normal.

jane coaston

I dont know if you know this, but America and Americans feel pretty divided right now over our politics, over our culture, over what we eat and how we worship and what we do in our free time and even what we watch on TV. And according to some people, all that division might lead to a new, quote, unquote, civil war. But whenever we use terms like that, terms that have meant something very specific in the past, Im curious about what we actually mean. And in the wake of January 6, should we really be worried about just how far political violence is going to go? One of my guests today thinks theres fire behind the rhetorical smoke. Tim Alberta is a staff writer at The Atlantic. And in August, he made the case that the F.B.I. raid on Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate was a tipping point. He argues that if some MAGA Republicans are looking for reasons to rise up against the government, the raid might just give them one.

tim alberta

Not only are there no guardrails to disincentivize the bad behavior, but there is every incentive, every reward, pointing towards extremism.

jane coaston

But Times Opinion Columnist, Jamelle Bouie has argued that no, theres no Gettysburg part two on the horizon. Jamelles a historian of the actual American Civil War. And hes written that were not really in the same moment we were in 160 years ago.

jamelle bouie

I do not like the presence of far-right politics in the mainstream. But is it just part of ordinary politics at this point? Or does it represent something like being qualitatively different? And Im not sure that it represents something qualitatively different.

jane coaston

Hi, Jamelle.

jamelle bouie

Hi, Jane.

jane coaston

Hi, Tim.

tim alberta

Hello, Jane.

jane coaston

Thank you so much for joining me to talk about the civil war, but not the Civil War, because when were talking about civil war, I think most Americans think of the American Civil War. Or they think of Civil War as in the state against the state, bayonets, muskets, a conflict that killed more Americans than any other conflict thus far. That, to me, is a universal way from what war and what this countrys politics look like today. So Tim, before we get into the specifics about what you were talking about in your piece, when you say civil war, what do you mean?

tim alberta

Yeah, I think thats the right place to start. I think we probably start with what civil war is not, in this context, armies of red and blue, fighting another battle of Antietam. Were not talking about the forces of Charlie Kirk clashing in the streets with the forces of Keith Olbermann, or pick your figurehead. Were not talking about something anywhere near, I think, the scale or anywhere resembling the organization of what we saw in the mid-19th century. What we are discussing is some significant scale of semi-organized, lethal, civil conflict that is organized around not just political and ideological disputes, but perceived threats to economies, livelihoods. And I dont know that we would recognize it in the U.S., but it would follow something of a pattern that I think weve seen in other parts of the world, where have some sort of sectarian violence, not necessarily confined to anything resembling symmetrical warfare between citizens. But also, local governments, regional governments, clashing with federal government, or even, perhaps, at the local level, sheriffs refusing to enforce state laws and potential outgrowth of violence from there that could reach a scale that we havent seen in a very long time in this country.

jane coaston

Jamelle, when you write that we are not heading towards civil war, what is the civil war that you have in mind?

jamelle bouie

So I think that if were going to define civil war as basically being low-intensity civil conflict, then that we shouldnt refer to it as civil war because I think that when you look at what civil wars generally look like, they do involve sort of organized factions or organized  if not armies, then military forces. They may not necessarily involve entities trying to, themselves, become like states. It may be a struggle for control of the existing state. But there are organized armed forces. There are organized political entities. And theyre vying, through armed conflict, for control of the state. And that is, I think, I dont see happening in the United States anytime soon. But I do think Tim is right to say that we look like we are in the range of low-intensity civil conflict. And Im not sure we should think of that as an exceptional state in American history, that when you look at the broad sweep of the United States since 1865, what youll see is that we are probably living through an unusual period where violence between citizens over political issues is kind of at an all-time low. Im extremely skeptical that we are in for anything other than what weve seen in the past, which is small bands of individuals, maybe with a tacit endorsement of actual, legitimate political leaders, or at least legitimate political leaders looking the other way, committing acts of violence. But at that point, again, we are looking at stuff that is actually pretty common throughout American history.

jane coaston

Jamelle, youre saying that we are not in a unique moment of exceptional violence and democracy destruction. And its not a matter of who is fighting whom, but also what your goal is when youre talking about civil war.

jamelle bouie

Right. The language of civil war is a very scary kind of language. And it implies the dissolution of the country in really important ways, like the dissolution of civil order. And I think the thing I want to emphasize is that you can have elevated levels of political violence, even quite dramatic rates of political violence. Im thinking here of the late-reconstruction South where political mob violence, organized political violence, was just like a common feature of political life in those years. And overall, civil society still is pretty normal. It still is pretty much the same. And thats just a qualitatively different thing than what life looks like under conditions of civil war.

jane coaston

I want to get Tim in here because I think youd differ with Jamelle about the moment that were in. And youve cited your experience in specific spaces like gun shows and Trump rallies and Trump-leaning churches as the reason you think America is tracking towards a new scale of political violence. So what makes you think that this is a new era of civic cataclysm?

tim alberta

Yeah, well theres a lot to unpack there. I would start by saying that I broadly agree with Jamelles definition as far as what civil war is and again, what it isnt. As recently as four or five years ago, I probably would have been quite dismissive of my own fears, here, of the idea that we could be heading towards a meaningful scale of civic violence. But I will tell you that what really changed my perception on all of this was the coronavirus. And I spent a lot of 2020 just talking with individuals, not just the small-town diner thing, but bigger cities, trying to absorb as much as I could of this moment in American life. And what was so unique about the pandemic was how it validated, it sort of fulfilled the prophecy for so many on the right, of a hostile, weaponized, big government that was coming for them. And of course, Donald Trump was fabulously successful in spearheading that message. And of course, you fast forward all the way to August 8, the search at Mar-a-Lago, what was the message coming from all of these Republican members of Congress, Republican governors, prominent, influential people in the G.O.P.? It was that same message. And it was a haunting, threatening message, saying this is just the tip of the iceberg. What do you think these 87,000 new I.R.S. agents are for? Theyre coming after you. And I think the biggest change for me, Jane, was going to state capitals where you had people walking around with a AR-15s strapped around their shoulders, and talking to these people, and hearing time and time and time again that civil war was imminent and that they were actively preparing for it. You can only hear that so many times, and get into detailed conversations with individuals about what theyre doing to prepare for that conflict, before you start to take it a little bit more seriously. And so to the extent that Im now perhaps bed wetting over it, its very much informed by that experience.

jane coaston

Yeah, Jamelle, I am curious about this because I do think that is an important shift. I did a lot of writing and research about white separatist movements, white nationalist movements in the 1990s and 2000s. And what you saw was some occasional winking and nodding at those groups. But generally, that was perceived to be a bad thing. But now youre seeing people in the very highest echelons of power who believe that, because Donald Trump is not president, the government doesnt count.

jamelle bouie

Right. Im always unsure of how to calibrate my perception of these things, in part because theyre never dissimilar to stuff that occurred earlier  and earlier meaning quite recently. So you mentioned the 1990s. 1990s is when you see the explosion of the militia movement. And although the militia movement is less mainstream than some of the talk were seeing today, it also wasnt that far from the mainstream right. And so you had sitting Congress people expressing their sympathy with the militia movement, maybe not national leaders. And that might be an important, meaningful difference. But were not only talking about fringe figures here when were talking about the 1990s. I think it matters, right, that up until the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, there is a willingness among conservative Republicans, among the right-wing of the Republican Party, to express sympathy with these groups.

jane coaston

Describing the F.B.I. as jackbooted thugs and you do see a lot of that.

jamelle bouie

New world order conspiracies. I mean, these things are part of the fervent of conservative politics in the 1990s. And so the Covid-related right-wing conspiracies, the I.R.S. stuff that weve seen recently, its like in some sense, because its coming from maybe a larger number of mainstream Republicans, mainstream political figures, its more worrisome. But its also, to my mind, exactly in the same lane as the stuff we saw 30 years earlier, as stuff that is just part of far-right politics in the United States. And so is the mainstreaming of far-right politics itself some indication for increased civil violence? Maybe. I dont think I necessarily disagree with that. But Im not certain how much we should take that to mean an impending shift in overall levels of political violence in the United States.

jane coaston

I think, Tim, when Im thinking about todays political violence, Im concerned about the so-called lone wolves that arent lone, whether thats the shooting in Buffalo or in Charleston. And obviously I think about January 6. But if Jamelles point is that this type of violence, or the type of violent rhetoric is not unusual in our politics, and that there has been a longer history of winking and nodding at it in specifically right-wing circles, what do you think has changed? Attitudinally, what is different from the moments that we were having after Oklahoma City or in a time where militia movements were extremely active and continue to be?

tim alberta

Yeah, I think that were probably not yet addressing  maybe not the elephant in the room but certainly an elephant in the room, which is, to me, what makes this moment feel extraordinarily unique and exceptionally dangerous is, you mentioned a couple of those shootings that were directly tied into not just racial animus, but more broadly, notions of a Great Replacement Theory, of a weaponized demographic change in the country, and its roots in a strategic, big-government, deep-state, secularist takeover of the country, and sort of a purging of anyone on the right. And I think its hard to overstate the threat of that particular conspiracy theory to these individuals, and also to overstate just how many of these individuals no longer perceive the U.S. as  if they ever did in some cases  as some sort of pluralistic shining city on a hill, but rather as an ethno state under siege. And I remember sitting with Nikki Haley in the weeks after Donald Trump had lost the election and pressing her on the presidents statements repeatedly, and asking her, isnt this dangerous? Arent people going to get hurt? Arent people going to get killed? Because this is not just some internet troll. This is the President of the United States. These are governors. These are U.S. senators telling people that this election has been stolen from them, that everything as they have known it is no longer legitimate. And I think what we saw on January 6 was not even remotely the worst-case scenario. I do think that had members of the Capitol Police opened fire, as frankly, I think many authorities on the subject believe that they were well within their right to do, then we could have seen something of an even bloodier aftermath that we might still be spiraling from. In other words, I think there is an inclination for many of us to view January 6 as the culmination of this thing that had been building for such a long time when in fact, Im personally more inclined to view it as really the spark of something new, that in fact, this is just the beginning, and that it will be continually building towards something much worse.

jamelle bouie

So I dont disagree with that. I do see the whole Stop the Steal, January 6 thing as sort of the beginning of a shift in American politics. But I dont necessarily see it strictly in terms of more political violence. I think  my view  and I kind of alluded to this before  my view of this is very heavily influenced by the ways that violence and ordinary politics and constitutional politics interacted with each other in the 1870s and the 1880s, that these things existed on a continuum with each other. They were various tactics to an overall, larger strategy. And I think thats the way we should understand January 6 and whatever might follow, that these are all a set of tactics to secure enduring control, by this right-wing fringe, this MAGA fringe, over American political institutions. And to my mind, what January 6 reveals is less about the violence part of it and more that there are actual mechanisms within the system that one can leverage to secure minority control, to consolidate minority rule and should you do it, and that January 6 reveals the possibilities of that. The attempt to storm the Capitol failed. But the attempt to subvert the electoral college, although it also failed, it did reveal important things about the weakness of the entire system and you capture a state house or you hold a state house. And then you systematically make it impossible for your opponents to dislodge you through normal means. And so for me  and Ive written about this  the danger lies less in an attempt to storm the Capitol again, which Im not sure its going to happen, even on a state level, and more in an attempt to capture those institutional positions through something that looks like normal and ordinary politics, and then use that power to then consolidate ones control, right?

tim alberta

Whats interesting, though, is that for all of our talk in this conversation about the political legitimizing of what would once have been considered fringe ideologies, is that taking it outside of the political arena is where Ive probably been the most troubled. I did a great deal of reporting over the last year and a half on sort of the turmoil in the white evangelical church in America. And this is another instance, Jane, and I cant underscore this one enough because Ive spent a lot of time talking with leading religious figures, scholars, academics, people who know this world inside and out. And they have all agreed with me on this point. Ive sort of been hoping that somebody would disagree with the point that there was once a time in this country, not very long ago at all, where yes, you had ideologically far right-wing churches that would traffic in overt racism, or if not overt racism, then certainly some of the more veiled arguments around states rights or whatever it may be. But there would not have been any sort of legitimizing or mainstream recognition of a church wherein hundreds of members, on a weekly basis, while passing the offering plates, were carrying loaded weapons. That was not a thing. It would have been the fever dream of an Indeed documentary filmmaker. And so what feels somewhat different about the moment to me, is not just that there is this sort of religious fervor, but that it is a violent religious fervor. And it certainly feels as though you have a moment in American life right now where you have more and more people than at any time in recent memory who are addicted to both guns and to grievance. And when you incorporate some of the religious fervor into that, and again, some of the doomsday prophesying about that imminent day when the government is coming for you, and you had better be ready, all of it, in combination, is, to me, what feels uniquely dangerous about this moment. [MUSIC]

jane coaston

After the break, we have to talk about Trump. I know. But before that, a request for the youths. If youre a Gen Z voter born after 1996, Id like to hear from you, especially if this is your first time voting in an election. Leave me a voicemail with your name, where you live and why youre voting in the midterms this year. The show number is 347-915-4324. Leave me your number too. I might call you back. I know, phone calls. So we were just talking about religion and Id argue its not just the religiosity. Its the religiosity surrounding a specific person, which Ill never move on. I will never move on from the fact that this is all about Donald Trump, like this its all about the guy from Home Alone 2 because I dont think Trump really cares about a civil war. I think he cares a lot about making money and ideally, not going to prison. And at a certain point, a civil war or increased conflict, it will require that type of violent religiosity. But it also will require that from a very large number of people across a very wide spectrum. And thinking about trying to put this in some context, where does Trump play into this? Because I think it doesnt seem like it could happen with somebody who wasnt him. There arent people like, I will die for Ron DeSantis, not yet.

jamelle bouie

I mean, I think with Trump and his audience, his crowd, the supporters, I think what were kind of witnessing is like a dialectical process, sort of like the  there are pre existing in the electorate, anxieties, fears, anger, resentment, rage, about changing cultural and demographic facts about the country. Its not just that the country is becoming less white, though thats a part of it. But its also that the country is becoming less explicitly Christian, less explicitly deferential to Christian belief. Its becoming more open and tolerant of different sexualities, different gender identities, different religions. And so you have real  many negative feelings about that. And Trump, as a candidate, both appeals to that, but also reflects that stuff back on to the audience and allows an audience to invest him with their hopes about beating this back. And then this creates this cult of personality around Trump, or at least around what Trump appears to represent. I think thats sort of whats happening with Trump. Ive been thinking, through this conversation, about  this is ostensibly about the prospect of civil war or what not. And Ive been thinking about what  trying to crystallize exactly my disagreement with the civil-war framing. What I think my exact disagreement is, and this connects to Trump and connects to his relationship to his supporters, is that I think that when were envisioning what is the most catastrophic thing that can happen in the United States, were envisioning the end of American democracy if there are some sort of conflict. Were envisioning authoritarianism. Were envisioning all these terrible things. And we assume  I think theres a common assumption that if it happens, its going to be a thing that  from outside the system, imposing onto it, or something that erupts from within the system that tears it apart and then creates this new status quo. And I think my view is that the system itself facilitates all this stuff, right, that its not actually coming from outside the system. Its not a break from within the system. It actually represents aspects of the system asserting themselves in ways that they havent before. The Constitution creates a system of  an interlocking system of counter-majoritarian institutions that are explicitly designed to tamp down on popular government. And so because that is so incongruous with our sense of what the American political system is, I think we imagine it or we perceive it or we feel it to be like an assault on the Constitution, an assault on the system. But I think its probably better to understand it as the  to use the word dialectical again, as the counter majoritarian part of the American political system coming into direct conflict with the Democratic assumptions of the American people. And in the absence of any kind of countervailing force to change the system, what we get is something much less Democratic than what we had before.

jane coaston

Tim, what do you think?

tim alberta

Well, theres a lot to the point that Jamelle is making. And I want to get specifically to what he said near the end there. But before I do, I want to tie it back to something that hed said earlier about Trump. Part of the Trump phenomenon, at least through my eyes, has been and continues to be, the degree to which your average, on-fire Trump supporter, somebody who really defends him, somebody who defends their vote for him, the degree to which those individuals perceive an attack on Trump as an attack on them. An attack on Trumps character is therefore an attack on their character because they voted for him in the first place. I think what that relationship between so many of these people and Trump has essentially distilled down into now, is what continues to breathe life into Trump, and part of what I do worry about in the wake of the August 8 Mar-a-Lago episode, is this martyrdom complex that is so unique. In the days after the 2020 election and leading up to January 6, of course, you had the Arizona State Republican Party, tweeting out, endorsing martyrdom, like literal martyrdom. You had Eric Metaxas, a very prominent and very influential voice in the evangelical world talking to Trump on his radio show about the court challenges and saying, Im willing to die in this fight, God is with us, God is on our side. Its so tempting, I think, to want to sweep these things to the fringe, to the periphery of our politics and say, well, sure, youre always going to have some nutcase muttering to himself here or there. But in fact, this martyrdom complex became, in many ways, central to the psychology of the Trump voter, that he was being righteously persecuted on their behalf. I think whats so interesting is that you joked, Jane, about nobodys willing to die for Ron DeSantis yet, right? But the meaningful difference to me, between Trump and DeSantis, is that DeSantis has already shown an ability to wield the administrative state against his enemies. And this gets to Jamelles point about the system itself. And to me, as unique as the threat has been and continues to be with Donald Trump in the picture, Im not sure that another Republican could not, at some point, attempt to wield the administrative state and exploit some of the loopholes in our system in a way that could be contributing to a far-greater threat of civil violence at a mass scale, whether we want to call it Civil War or not. So thats just the way I view Trump is like, yes, this has been a threat. Yes, he is the dominant figure in all of this. And yet, as we look forward, Im not at all convinced that he represents the ultimate threat.

jane coaston

Yeah, I think that what you see now, from DeSantis and from those who wish to be like him, is this idea of, well, the problem was that Trump didnt go far enough. They are justifying the wielding of the administrative state against their enemies, even if it wont hold up in court. There are people who should know better who would think of themselves as being conservatives, small-C conservatives, who are applauding that use of force because the threat is too great, that were in a war. Theres a trans kid out there somewhere. Thus I am justified to use the state against them and to threaten them with Child Protective Services. But so much of this seems to be coming from people who are wielding Trump for either reasons of economics or reasons of just wanting to have power. The economics are on the side of extremism. But when we started talking about civil-war rhetoric, a way that I get frustrated  and admittedly, Tim, I was a little frustrated with your piece because it can feel like catering to the hostage taker. Like, I read your argument in The Atlantic. And I thought it was well-reasoned. But part of my takeaway seemed to be that we shouldnt, perhaps, pursue justice or  and just at a baseline level  this person may have committed a crime. And we shouldnt prosecute that crime because it could provoke the people who believe a conspiracy about our democracy. If Donald Trump did what the Department of Justice appears to, as far as we know, think that he did, which seems to be the answer is yes, yes he did, and then he will continue to talk about it in interviews, what is the action that you want the country, the government, the Department of Justice to take instead? Because using the rhetoric of a foreboding civil war feels like its asking me to cater to the hostage takers who want to foment a civil war because were afraid of what they might do.

tim alberta

Thats completely fair. And I want to be clear, and I tried to be in the article, although based on some reader feedback and on your feedback right now, I probably wasnt clear enough. I stated in the piece that I believe Trump has committed crimes and should be prosecuted because no one is above the law. I think what I wanted to express in the piece is just a warning to what I perceive to be a rather-complacent America that is somewhat blissfully detached from the reality of these threats. I think theres a real danger here. And at the end of the day, I dont know that its at all avoidable. And I certainly dont think its avoidable by, as you say, Jane, catering to the bad actors, the criminals. We have a system. We have laws and they need to be enforced. But I think  Ive got a piece coming in the next issue of The Atlantic, where I talk with an individual whos one of the long-time leading authorities on an election administration in the country. Hes a non partisan, somebody who for decades and decades has been held up as the guy. And he was brought out of retirement in 2020 to run the election-day operations in the city of Detroit. And so he had a front-row seat for what was perhaps the ugliest, single most chaotic election-day activity in the entire country, back in 2020. And despite everything he saw, people signing affidavits claiming they saw things that they didnt see, ugly, horrible, racist rhetoric, despite seeing all of this and this brazen attempt by Republican elected officials on the ground to try and overturn an election that was decided by 154,000 votes, despite seeing all of that, he tells me that, you know what? I think this is going to be all right. I really do. I think this is going to be fine and heres why. And I said to him at some point, I said, youre just like us. Youre just like the rest of us who just  we all want to tell ourselves a story that weve been through tough times before and this is just another case where were going to have to buckle up. And well survive it because thats what we do. And whether or not thats true, it just feels disingenuous to pretend like there is not something unique about this threat. And at the risk of going along with my answer, Ill just add, Jane, that  you mentioned gun shows earlier. For over a decade, Ive gone to gun shows just as a matter of routine. And I will say, even during the height of the Obama-era hysteria, not just about the birtherism and all that stuff, but like hes going to come take our guns, particularly after Sandy Hook and youre seeing gun sales through the roof, the thing that I saw then was very narrow in terms of its purpose. The people who were coming, theyre stocking up on guns and ammo because, well, the big, bad government is going to put us on registries. And ultimately theyre going to come and try to confiscate our weapons. When I go to gun shows today, you talk to people there, and the rhetoric and the purpose of them being there is completely different. It almost entirely, in so many conversations, revolves around these notions of an imminent mass conflict and that they need to be ready for it. And by the way, its not just MAGA-loving Trump supporters who are there, loading up on AR-15s. I have been consistently stunned at the number of individuals who will very quietly whisper to you that they are Democrats. And these are Asian Americans. These are Black Americans. These are Hispanics. These are women, suburban moms. And they are buying guns because they believe that something is about to go down. And I just I cant really quantify what a sea change that feels like, at least to me. And so I guess when I write a piece like the one that you are registering some frustration with  and I dont blame you for a minute for registering that frustration  I guess what Im really trying to do is say, listen, yes, prosecute him. Yes, treat him like anybody else. Yes, this is what we ought to do. Just be forewarned that this is all probably heading in a very dark and dangerous direction. And we all should just be prepared for it.

jane coaston

Jamelle, if these issues are structural, which is something youve pointed out, but the threats are moving faster than the structures can change, or even that it seems like itll take, at this rate, like 30 years for someone to admit that we have a problem, what do we do? Should there be more speeches, more people talking about it? To me, that just seems almost useless when you have the  any effort to call attention to this becomes spin that says that youre trying to make it happen. So I know that you are not actually in charge of everything. But Jamelle, what do we do?

jamelle bouie

Great question. And I have no idea. I mean, the only actors on this stage who have the agency to do something are Republican politicians, at this point. They are the ones who have the ability to keep these things from spiraling out of control. The problem is that doing so would probably doom them in the next election cycles, right? And on the one hand, you dont want to say, well, obviously if theyre not going to do that, well, theyre making a choice not to do it. Theyre making a choice not to exercise their agency in this particular way. And thats important. I think that has moral weight. But thinking practically, like, yeah, of course theyre not. People who want to win office are not going to do things that would cause them to lose office. And so if you grant that, its hard for me to think of what to do in the immediate term to marginalize this political movement, to weaken it. Tim has said that he supports holding Trump to account legally, and that just everyone should be aware that this could spark some pretty ugly stuff. I dont think thats wrong. But I do think theres another possibility. And this kind of gets to one of my  my grand narrative of the Trump era, which is, I think the Trump era, and the political-systems relationship to Trump, has generally been one of avoidance. At critical stages, critical actors essentially said, this guy isnt going to last. Hes not going to win. Hes not going to succeed. So we can kind of let the system deal with him. We dont have to actually do anything. So during the Republican primary, it was very clear that Republican elites were like, were just going to worry about whos going to win after Trump inevitably collapses. And there was very clearly no plan for what might happen if that didnt occur, if Trump actually was a viable candidate. By the time he wins the nomination, and you have another opportunity to stop him by Republican elites publicly saying, were just not going to support this guy, but of course, by then, its like, we want to win office. And we want to shape policy. We want to do these things. So of course, were going to support him. And you see this pattern happen again and again and again, that there are actors who can do something to push back on him and push back on his movement. And they dont because they think that this will happen of its own accord. But when there has been push back, what we see is he loses support. And I kind of think that theres one possibility in terms of what do we do. One possibility in terms of really treating Trump like any other citizen under the law, is that if he does get entangled in a criminal investigation, if he does have to face those kind of consequences, then instead of energizing his strongest supporters, it might actually peel people off. I think Trump really benefits from an illusion of dominance. But if, in a confrontation, he essentially backs down, I think that does harm him. At the same time that we recognize the danger of a cult of personality around this guy, we should also remember this cult of personality may not be as tightly-wound and tightly tied as it appears to be because were not sure how its going to react when subjected to real, serious pressure beyond just losing an election.

jane coaston

Thank you guys so much for being here.

jamelle bouie

Oh, thank you for having us.

tim alberta

Yeah, this was great. Thank you. [MUSIC]

jane coaston
KYIV, Ukraine  If you want to imagine how it felt being in Kyiv on Monday, it isnt hard.

You wake up at 6.49 a.m. to the sound of air sirens. Or maybe you sleep through the sirens  after all, youre used to them  but the explosions, shuddering the walls, shake you awake. Hurriedly, you decide to move to a safe place, a subway station or a friends house with thick walls. You grab your go bag, which since February has been by your front door, complete with your laptop, chargers and documents.

Or perhaps you decide not to leave. You make yourself some coffee and do chores while listening to the explosions, careful to keep away from the windows. You call the school to ask when to bring in your child (once the air raid is over, they tell you). When it is, you go to the supermarket to get a new pack of coffee, you drop by the post office to pick up some parcels. Amid the confusion and clatter, you continue to live.

Thats not because its not scary anymore  it is. Its terrifying not to hear from loved ones you called hours ago, not to know if they cant call you back because the power is down or because of reasons you dont even want to start imagining. Its devastating to count the dead and to guess whether those you know are among them. Its exhausting to wonder whether the next house to be hit will be yours.

But something is very different now. While its clear that Vladimir Putin wanted to threaten Ukrainians and send a message of power with the bombings of Kyiv and Lviv, Kharkiv and Dnipro  at the cost of at least 19 lives  the attack in fact shows just one thing: how weak Mr. Putin is. Among Ukrainians, there is an almost palpable feeling that Russia is losing the war.
In 1998, a team of researchers made the three-and-a-half day trek to the isolated Antipodes Islands in the South Pacific to study one of its few residents: the enigmatic and endangered erect-crested penguin.

These are really the forgotten penguins, said Lloyd Davis, a biologist and science communicator at the University of Otago in New Zealand, who led the team almost 25 years ago. No one knows virtually anything about them.

The modern plight of these birds inspired Dr. Davis, after decades of working in science communication, to revisit the data he and colleagues gathered in 1998. The results of their research were published on Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE, chronicling the birds demographics and unique parenting style  including neglecting, and in some cases killing, potential chicks.

To describe the penguins native Antipodes Islands and nearby Bounty Islands as harsh would be an understatement almost as severe as the landscape itself. Known in the Maori language as Moutere Mahue (Abandoned Island) and Moutere Hauriri (Island of Angry Wind), they are technically part of New Zealand, though they sit hundreds of miles off its southern coast.
In an expensive hotel room touched with old-fashioned elegance, a husband and wife growing ever antsier in each others company keep the floor-length drapes drawn against the City of Light. It is the tail end of August 2022, they are New Yorkers spending just three days in Paris, but the astrologer who prescribed the trip has ordered them to remain inside.

Stay in the room with the curtains shut until Jupiter completes its transit, he told them. No communication with the outside world. No email. No phones. No TV.

Jason, an investment banker with a disciples faith in his planetary adviser, is anxiously eager to follow the instructions, though he makes an exception for chatting up the bellhop, who hes hoping will bring him some drugs. Samira, Jasons actor wife, is semi-willing to obey the rules, but not to the extent of ignoring her phone, which she uses on the sly, trading messages with her rep about a career-changing new screen role.

She is understandably skeptical of the notion that she and Jason are the astrological doubles of Diana Spencer and Dodi Fayed  though that is apparently why they have been sent to the Ritz Paris, where they are awaiting a convergence in the 72 hours before the 25th anniversary of the Paris car crash that killed the Princess of Wales and her boyfriend, the son of the hotels owner.
In the United States, that was confirmed by the Federal Aviation Administration and the Transportation Security Administration. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency said that its regulation did not in itself ban or allow the trackers, but that operators had the right to determine which devices were safe to use in flight.

It appears Lufthansa sought advice from German aviation authorities. Martin Leutke, a spokesman for the airline, said Wednesday that he had no further comment about the companys statement, first released on Twitter.

Lufthansa found its policy under fire when reports surfaced in the German news media that it had prohibited the devices, amid speculation that the airline had been embarrassed by reports of passengers using the devices to find baggage it had lost.

Lufthansa had confirmed Sunday on Twitter that it believed the trackers must be deactivated in checked baggage on its flights, citing the International Civil Aviation Organizations guidelines for dangerous goods as well as the trackers transmission function. Shutting off the trackers renders them useless.

On Tuesday, it tried to clarify its position, with Mr. Leutke saying the airline had not banned the devices and believed they were safe but that it is on the authorities to adapt regulations, that right now limit the use of these devices for airline passengers in checked luggage.
With about 130,000 subscribers, Mr. Detwilers YouTube channel, Harmless Farmer, belongs to the upper tier of farming channels on YouTube across the English-speaking world, according to several rankings.

In his videos, Mr. Detwiler performs farm chores with striking resourcefulness and dexterity.

In one, of him feeding goats, he approaches a stack of feed bags and says, I dont advise this to anybody, then bites one of the bags, lifts it upright, unties the string around the top with his teeth, spits the string out, cranes his neck so that his chin and shoulder surround the bag and grasps it, narrating his technique along the way. He carries the bag to a barrel, drops it inside, picks it up again with his teeth and smoothly pours the contents inside.

He then scoops up some feed with his right foot, raises his foot to the camera, creating a close-up, and lectures about the feed (theres oats in it, and cracked corn), standing on one foot all the while.

Mr. Detwiler became an expert in devising workarounds for basic tasks. He worked outdoors in the winter barefoot. While driving his tractor, he filmed himself by attaching his camera to magnets. To film himself while moving about, he built a custom wooden mount for his GoPro camera that allowed the device to fit snugly and stably in his breast pocket.

He discussed his accident with relatives while cracking jokes, and he felt at ease with grain augers, showing in one video how he retrofitted parts from two different augers to create one extra-long tool.
When the Council tried to meet on Tuesday for the first time since the audio surfaced, dozens of outraged residents, many of them members of local far-left organizations, packed into City Hall.

No resignation, no meeting! dozens chanted, waving signs and pounding on the back of the wooden benches.

When the Council tried again to convene on Wednesday, Mitch OFarrell, a council member who is acting as president of the body, tried to restore order in the soaring hall, lined by colorful tiles and ornate columns. Later, he added that none of the three council members under fire  Ms. Martinez, Mr. Cedillo or Mr. de Leon  were present. After a little more than an hour of intense protest, the meeting was adjourned without any official actions or discussion having taken place.

The Council had been set to discuss a proposal on Wednesday to ask voters to change the city charter so that the City Council would no longer be in charge of its own redistricting  a measure put forth this week by Nithya Raman, a council member who was mentioned on the recording as not an ally of the three. After the recorded meeting took place, Ms. Ramans district was significantly redrawn to be less favorable to her re-election.

Last year, after the redistricting process, California Common Cause, a group that advocates for open government, and members of the city panel that makes redistricting recommendations to the City Council, similarly recommended that the redistricting commission be replaced with a fully independent body, charging that the current system had led to extreme political interference in the mapmaking.

Im glad to hear that an investigation is being launched, Ms. Raman said in a statement after Mr. Bonta announced his investigation. As the representative of the district that was most changed by this redistricting process, my priority right now is to reform the system to ensure this never happens again.
LOS ANGELES  The former president of the Los Angeles City Council resigned from elective office on Wednesday amid national outrage over racist remarks in a leaked recording, hours after the state attorney general announced an investigation into the redistricting process during which the comments were made.

The decision by the former Council leader, Nury Martinez, who had risen to one of the most powerful posts in the nations second-largest city, came three days after a year-old audio recording surfaced of her disparaging colleagues, constituencies and even the child of a fellow council member while discussing ways to change political boundaries to benefit Latino representatives.

Caught on tape with her were two other council members, Gil Cedillo and Kevin de Leon, as well as Ron Herrera, president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. The men, all well-known members of the Latino political establishment in California, did not confront Ms. Martinez and at times kept the conversation going with derogatory comments of their own, according to the recording obtained by The New York Times.

Politicians all the way up to President Biden called for the three council members, all Democrats, to resign immediately. Mr. Herrera stepped down on Monday and Ms. Martinez initially relinquished her Council leadership post. She then announced that she was emotionally exhausted and taking a leave of absence from the Council.
Hudspeth County, which sprawls over an area nearly the size of Connecticut, has faced a larger number of migrants trying to cross through the dangerous desert terrain, as the number of people seeking refuge in the United States has climbed sharply over the past few years. Weve had a lot of serious problems with the illegals coming across getting lost and dying in the desert, said Thomas Neely, 95, the Hudspeth County judge.

Joanna Mackenzie, the county administrator and also its emergency manager, said officials found more than 15 bodies of migrants in the desert last year, an increase from two or three a year in previous years. Weve gone from you see a few a week to hundreds crossing property  it is like nothing anyone has ever seen, she said.

On the evening of the killing, both Michael and Mark Sheppard attended a meeting of the local water board. They arrived around 7:30 p.m., roughly 30 minutes after the shooting. Sheriff West was there, too.

I saw them that same night at the water board, nothing out of the ordinary, the sheriff said. We were finishing the meeting when the call came in, he added, speaking of the 911 call about the killing. And I didnt see their demeanor change.

Word of the shooting spread rapidly through Sierra Blanca, a pit stop for truck traffic along Interstate 10. The sprawling surrounding county, home to some 3,200 people, is more than three-quarters Hispanic. Some people in town have expressed shock, saying the brothers had never displayed any sort of racial animus.

I have a Mexican-Native American background, but Mike was never ugly to me, said Paula Barrios, 39, who lived near the two brothers. Once you get to know them, they are nice people.

Others recalled interactions that seemed to take on new meaning in the wake of the arrests.

We were speaking Spanish, and Mark said, Dont speak Spanish around me, said Bill Addington, 65, a longtime resident who volunteered at a local food bank where Mr. Sheppard would supervise county inmates on work detail in striped uniforms. Waitresses in town also remembered Mr. Sheppard objecting to hearing Spanish spoken in his presence while eating.
WASHINGTON  Federal regulators broadened access to updated coronavirus booster shots on Wednesday to include children as young as 5, hoping to bolster protection against the now-dominant version of the Omicron variant that accounts for a vast majority of cases in the United States.

The revised shot developed by Pfizer-BioNTech previously had been cleared for those 12 and older, while Modernas updated booster was available to those 18 and older. The action by the Food and Drug Administration expands eligibility for Pfizers shot to children as young as 5 and makes available Modernas shot to children 6 and older.

Since children have gone back to school in person and people are resuming prepandemic behaviors and activities, there is the potential for increased risk of exposure to the virus, said Dr. Peter Marks, the agencys top vaccine regulator. While Covid-19 is typically less severe in children than adults, he said, more children have gotten sick with the disease and have been hospitalized as the pandemic has progressed.

Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, quickly signed off on the new booster shots, the final step to making them available to young children around the country.
It is not illegal for states to pay for the travel of immigrants who have been released from federal custody. The maneuver by Mr. DeSantis raised questions about the funds that Florida was using, though Treasury guidance suggests the state may be on firm legal footing.

Watchdogs across the federal government have been tracking the use of stimulus funds to root out cases of fraud and improper spending. Despite the Biden administrations efforts to encourage states to use aid money in ways that are in line with its economic agenda, many used the funds to subsidize tax cuts or other projects unrelated to the pandemic.

Inspectors general and other federal investigators have been scrambling to keep track of the $5 trillion in aid that has been deployed to prop up the economy since the pandemic emerged in 2020. Billions of dollars have been stolen or misused, and states and cities have found ways to work around restrictions that were supposed to be embedded in the law.

The Florida legislature this year set aside $12 million for a state program to transport undocumented immigrants to so-called sanctuary destinations. The program was funded with interest generated from the $8.8 billion in aid that the state had been given through the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan of 2021.

In a letter to the lawmakers, Richard K. Delmar, the Treasury deputy inspector general, confirmed that his office would look into how the money had been deployed and said he hoped to quickly start work on the matter.
Follow live updates on the House committee hearing on the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

WASHINGTON  The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack is planning on Thursday to present a sweeping summation of its case against former President Donald J. Trump at what could be its final public hearing, seeking to reveal damning new evidence about Mr. Trumps state of mind and his central role in the effort to overturn the 2020 election.

Armed with new witness interviews and unreleased footage of the violence of Jan. 6, 2021, the panel is planning to argue that Mr. Trumps lies about widespread voter fraud inspired far-right extremists and election deniers who present a continuing threat to American democracy.

Unlike previous hearings, which focused on specific aspects of Mr. Trumps attempts to overturn the election, members will attempt to portray the entire arc of the plan, demonstrating Mr. Trumps involvement in every step  even before Election Day.

The hearing comes at a pivotal moment, weeks before midterm elections in which control of Congress is at stake and as time is running out for the panel to complete its work, including an extensive report on its findings. Should Republicans succeed in their drive to win the House majority, they would be all but certain to disband the committee in January and shut down any official accounting by Congress for the largest attack on the Capitol in centuries.
The request was organized by Lawyers Defending American Democracy; a similar request by the group helped lead to the suspension of Mr. Giulianis law license in June 2021 and to a continuing investigation by the State Bar of California into Mr. Eastman. The complaint against Mr. Chesebro did not explicitly call for him to lose his license but asked for an investigation and appropriate sanctions.

Adam S. Kaufmann, a lawyer for Mr. Chesebro, condemned the complaint against his client, warning that it was dangerous to attack lawyers for providing legal theories to political candidates. Drawing on a 1960 precedent involving a close vote in Hawaii, he said Mr. Chesebro was offering the Trump campaign advice for keeping its options open through Jan. 6 as a contingency in case the courts found electoral fraud in any of the swing states where Mr. Trumps team was disputing the outcome.

The idea that Mr. Pence could delay or block the electoral vote count on Jan. 6 was a key part of the events leading to the attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters. Some of those supporters chanted Hang Mike Pence because the vice president  whose lawyers told him there was no legal basis for him to delay or discard the official state-certified votes for Mr. Biden  rejected Mr. Trumps pressure to do so anyway.

On Nov. 18, 2020, Mr. Chesebro wrote the earliest known memo putting forward a proposal for having a slate of Trump supporters purport to be electors, in that case for Wisconsin. He expanded the proposal for other states, including in a letter to Mr. Giuliani on Dec. 13, 2020.
Adam Laxalt, the Republican running for Senate in Nevada, built a political career on his family name, casting himself as the heir to his grandfather, a towering figure in the state who served as governor and one of its senators.

Now 14 of his relatives are trying to put an end to that career.

On Wednesday, they endorsed Mr. Laxalts rival, Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, the Democratic incumbent, saying that she possesses a set of qualities that clearly speak of what we like to call Nevada grit.

She has always put Nevada first  even when it meant working against her own partys policies, they wrote, praising the senator for fighting off a Biden administration proposal to impose taxes that would have hit local ranchers and the states mining industry.

The race is tight, with most of the latest polls showing Mr. Laxalt up by a sliver. Without mentioning him by name, Mr. Laxalts family members argued that Ms. Cortez Masto would serve Nevada far better than their relative, who has emerged in recent years as a die-hard Trump loyalist eager to push the former presidents stolen-election lies.
While his efforts to put conservatives on the courts found a powerful ally in President Donald J. Trump, Mr. Leo, an Ivy League-educated lawyer, has steered clear of the most virulent strains of Mr. Trumps right-wing populism, as well as his baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him, and he has navigated past most of the fissures in the Republican Party.

Among leading political figures, Mr. Leo is more aligned with Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who as Republican leader in the Senate has worked with him closely on judicial nominations and shares an animus for laws restricting the flow of money into politics.

Mr. Leos approach blends cutting-edge political financing techniques  some of which he says are copied from the left  with deep connections to the Republican establishment and a willingness to harness some of the culture-war issues animating the base.

Mr. Leo had begun quietly building the new operation in 2016, but its scope and intensity ramped up substantially when he stepped down in January 2020 from day-to-day leadership of the Federalist Society and shifted his attention to building the conservative advocacy and donor network full time.

The network is made up of a loosely affiliated and evolving set of nonprofit and for-profit entities, through which Mr. Leo helps raise huge sums of money from donors, steers the cash to groups promoting issues he supports and then shapes the resulting initiatives.

To help administer the enterprise, the networks nonprofits, including the 85 Fund and Concord Fund, have paid millions of dollars in consulting fees to private firms in which he has a financial interest, like CRC Advisors and the BH Group, enriching Mr. Leo in the process.

The networks nine core groups have spent nearly $504 million on policy and political fights, including grants to about 150 allied groups, between mid-2015 and last year, with roughly half of that spending since mid-2019, according to an analysis by The Times of dozens of tax filings. And his efforts have been turbocharged by an unusual $1.6 billion infusion from a Chicago electronics manufacturing magnate in late 2020 that was revealed by The Times this year, giving Mr. Leo the cash to match his ambitions going forward.
They played a decisive role in kicking off Donald Trumps first impeachment. Theyve pushed hard for centrist foreign policy goals, working with Republicans whenever the stars aligned. And theyve been persistent critics of their own team, taking calculated potshots at President Biden and Speaker Nancy Pelosi as they try to cast themselves as pillars of political independence.

Now, with the midterm elections less than a month away, as many as half a dozen of the moderate national security Democrats in the House are in peril, and maybe more.

Many of them were elected amid the anti-Trump blue wave of 2018, in districts that Democrats might otherwise have struggled to win.

Representative Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, a former C.I.A. analyst who is fluent in Arabic and Swahili, has established herself as one of the top intelligence experts on Capitol Hill. Republicans have identified Slotkin as a top target this year.

Representative Elaine Luria of Virginia still speaks in the argot of a former Navy commander and decorates her House office with photographs of the submarines and cruisers that populate the countrys largest naval base, in nearby Norfolk. During last years race for governor of Virginia, the winner, Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, would have won Lurias district by double digits. Her opponent, State Senator Jen Kiggans, is another Navy veteran and could easily unseat her.

Representative Jared Golden of Maine, a retired Marine, is clinging to the most pro-Trump district held by a Democrat anywhere in the country. Golden squeaked into office in part because his Republican opponent, Bruce Poliquin, misplayed the states ranked-choice voting system, a mistake Poliquin seems to be rectifying during this years rematch.

Representative Abigail Spanberger of Virginia is a former C.I.A. officer who has supplied some of the most memorable lines criticizing her partys perceived leftward lurch. Although Spanbergers seat in suburban Northern Virginia is now considered safer after Virginias redistricting cycle, her team says it is taking no chances.

And Representative Tom Malinowski of New Jersey, a puckish former State Department official and human rights expert, has nudged the Biden administration to welcome more Afghan refugees, provide more help to Ukraine and seize the yachts of Russian oligarchs. Malinowski, whose Trump-leaning district grew slightly redder after New Jersey redid its maps, faces a stiff challenge from Thomas Kean Jr., who nearly defeated him in 2020.

Together, they represent a fading tradition: the quaint notion that politics stops at the waters edge. And all of them are vulnerable to being washed out in a red tide this fall. Their potential ousters, as well as a number of key retirements, threaten to hollow out decades of national experience in Congress at a time of great turmoil abroad.

They bring a lot of expertise to the table, which is really useful to have in-house on oversight committees rather than having to rely on the agencies all the time, said Representative Ruben Gallego, a Democrat from Arizona who fought in the Iraq war.
PROVIDENCE, R.I.  Cristina Ramsey, frail but defiant, arrived at the headquarters of Project Weber/Renew to say her goodbyes to people who had watched out for her for nearly two decades.

She embraced staff members at the group, which helps drug users in one of this citys poorest neighborhoods, convinced they had prolonged her life with clean needles, treatment, housing and friendship. She told them that she was going into hospice care and that the organization really did help me  a lot.

Ten days later, she was dead, a victim of multiple drug-related illnesses. Ms. Ramsey, 50, a longtime drug user, was infected with H.I.V. and had liver disease and heart problems, a complicated case that left Project Webers staff wondering what else could have been done to save her.

By the middle of next year, the group hopes to have at least a part of the answer. It is preparing to open the first supervised drug consumption site legalized by a state  one of the most daring experiments in harm reduction in America to date.
Some justices suggested that Warhols work had cleared that bar.

Its not just that Warhol has a different style, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said. Its that, unlike Goldsmiths photograph, Warhol sends a message about the depersonalization of modern culture and celebrity status.

He added: One is the commentary on modern society. The other is to show what Prince looks like.

Justice Kagan said Warhols success was evidence that his work added to the meaning of his source materials.

Why do museums show Andy Warhol? she asked. They show Andy Warhol because he was a transformative artist, because he took a bunch of photographs and he made them mean something completely different. And people look at Elvis and people look at Marilyn Monroe or Elizabeth Taylor and Prince, and they say this has an entirely different message from the thing that started it all off.

But Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. said judges might not make good art critics.

How is a court to determine the purpose of meaning, the message or meaning of works of art like a photograph or a painting? he asked Roman Martinez, a lawyer for the Warhol foundation, adding: You make it sound simple, but maybe its not so simple.

Other justices peppered Mr. Martinez with skeptical questions.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the photographer and the artist had competed in the same market.

They both sell photographs to magazines, she said, and they both sell photographs to magazines to display Princes vision or Princes look.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett questioned whether Warhol had to use Ms. Goldsmiths image of Prince.

Warhol didnt need Goldsmiths particular photo, right? she asked. I mean, it could have been a different photo of Prince.
After the massacre in Uvalde, Texas, in May, a simple account of the police response took hold: A school police chief misread the threat and scores of officers from over a dozen federal, state and local agencies, following his command, idly stood by, waiting for equipment and SWAT teams while children trapped in classrooms with the gunman called 911 for help.

This shocking scene was described by the agency leading the criminal investigation of the mass shooting, the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Nearly five months later, despite questions raised by other government reviews and journalists, D.P.S. continues to claim that the evidence supports this version of events and the public understanding it fueled.

But an analysis of footage by The New York Times found major gaps and contradictions in the D.P.S. findings.

Visual evidence from the scene, while limited, indicates the problem was not simply one incompetent school police chief, or officers who knew better, but failed to take action. The available footage shows high-ranking officers, experienced state troopers, police academy instructors  even federal SWAT specialists  came to the same conclusions and were detoured by the same delays the school police chief has been condemned for causing.

Three days after the shooting, D.P.S.s director, Steven McCraw, announced his investigative team had identified why the police took 77 minutes to kill the gunman. Mr. McCraw said every officer was trained to immediately neutralize active shooters, but they were hamstrung when the incident commander, Pete Arredondo, wrongly determined the gunman was a so-called barricaded subject, which calls for a slower, more deliberate response.

Mr. McCraw was more pointed during a State Senate hearing in June.

The only thing stopping the hallway of dedicated officers from entering Room 111 and 112 was the on-scene commander who decided to place the lives of officers before the lives of children, Mr. McCraw testified.
The crush of migration at the southern border and the energy war against Russia has created renewed urgency within the Biden administration to reshape the relationship with oil-rich Venezuela.

The discussions, which U.S. officials say revolve around restarting oil exports from Venezuela to the United States if the country takes steps to restore democracy, could spur a major diplomatic shift with Washingtons staunchest adversary in South America.

Since President Biden took office, the administration has signaled an openness to rapprochement with Venezuela in exchange for a democratic opening, partly because some U.S. officials believe that a purely hard line approach has failed to push the government of President Nicolas Maduro away from autocracy.

But there is increasing pressure on the administration to work toward a deal, analysts say, after the worlds biggest oil producers decided to cut production this month and with Venezuelan migration to the United States soaring. Now, U.S. officials within the State Department and the White House are exploring specific ideas for when and how to ease sanctions in response to concrete actions by the Maduro government.
The 15-year-old reporter deleted the data from her phone and packed up her guitar as she set out to meet a guerrilla fighter in Myanmar. The instrument was mostly a decoy, there to disguise her work as a journalist. She cleared the data from her phone to protect her sources in the event of an arrest.

Greeting the fighter, she took out the guitar and strummed an old Burmese tune, The Sound of the Crane.

When she felt safe, she started her interview, quickly stashing the recording in a hidden folder on her phone after she was done. Every time I go out to report, I always think that I might get arrested, said Khaung, who works for the Burmese literary magazine Oway. Like the other journalists in Myanmar interviewed for this article, Khaung agreed to be interviewed only if her pen name was used, fearing repercussions from the military government.

Myanmar is now one of the worlds most dangerous places for journalists. For the first time, it is on track to be the top jailer of reporters, surpassing China this year. Fifty-seven reporters are in prison there, according to the Detained Myanmar Journalists Group, an advocacy organization. At least 51 journalists are imprisoned in China, according to tallies from various rights groups.
KYIV, Ukraine  Russias domestic intelligence service announced the arrest of eight people on Wednesday in connection with the weekend bombing of the bridge linking Russia to the occupied Crimean Peninsula. Five are citizens of Russia, according to the agency, the F.S.B., and the others are Ukrainian and Armenian.

President Vladimir V. Putin has blamed Ukraine for the blast, which he called a terrorist attack, and retaliated with a barrage of missile strikes against civilian targets in Ukraine this week, killing more than 20 people.

In a statement, the F.S.B. offered Russias first detailed version of how it contends the blast took place. It said that the bomb had contained 22 tons of explosives that were shipped out of a port in Odesa, in southern Ukraine, in August. The explosives made their way to southern Russia, where they were loaded onto a truck that was driven onto the bridge and detonated, it said.

The details could not be independently confirmed. Russia maintains an effective blockade on the ports of Odesa, permitting only grain ships, inspected by international monitors, to leave under a deal brokered this summer by the United Nations.
PARIS  For more than a century, the Sacre-Coeur Basilica has been towering over Paris, welcoming millions of visitors every year, but even with its undeniable popularity it has not been afforded the substantial funding and protection normally given to such a landmark.

On Tuesday, Pariss City Council finally voted to classify the Sacre-Coeur as a historical monument, giving it the highest level of protection long granted to other sites such as the Louvre Museum and Notre-Dame Cathedral.

Though it might seem to be an easy decision, it was not.

The classification had long been delayed partly because of Sacre-Coeurs history. The building was erected in the late 19th century at the behest of conservative political forces, on the spot where they had previously crushed in blood the Paris Commune revolution of 1871.

Since then, the Basilicas egg-shaped domes and Romanesque-Byzantine architecture have symbolized to the left the repression of the Commune, a short-lived revolution that shook Paris from March to May 1871 before being suppressed by the French Army. Its building has regularly been the subject of controversies and heated debates, which continued even on Tuesday.
The Polish authorities said on Wednesday that an oil leak had been discovered on part of the Druzhba pipeline that ships crude oil to Europe from Russia. The cause was probably an accident, Reuters reported, quoting a Polish energy official.

PERN, the Polish pipeline operator, said it had detected a leak on a section of the pipeline west of Warsaw, about 40 miles from the central Polish city of Plock, late Tuesday.

Until recently, the pipeline, whose name is Russian for friendship, had pumped oil to German refineries from Russia. Those flows have been curtailed, but the pipeline also serves as a conduit for oil shipped to Polish seaports from other countries and then sent on to Germany.

Those flows were undisturbed, PERN said. News of the episode raised energy security concerns, but a Polish energy official said there was no reason to suspect sabotage, Reuters reported. The Polish company said that emergency services had secured the scene.
Ukraines government said on Wednesday that it had received from Germany the first of four newly developed IRIS-T air-defense systems, with a somewhat shorter range, which even Germany does not have yet. The first example had been promised to Egypt, with Ukraine scheduled to receive one next month, but the government in Cairo agreed to trade its place in line with Kyiv, the German government said.

All the reports point to it being an effective system, said Thomas Wiegold, a journalist who specializes in German military matters, but it has never been tested under actual enemy fire.

In his nightly address, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said, The more audacious and cruel Russian terror becomes, the more obvious it is to the world that helping Ukraine to protect the sky is one of the most important humanitarian tasks for Europe of our time.

General Milley said, What Ukraine is asking for, and what we think can be provided, is an integrated air missile defense system consisting of different weapons for short, medium and long range.

But the result will be a hodgepodge of Western-supplied systems and the Soviet- and Russian-made batteries Ukraine already has, and it will be some time before they can become a functioning whole, General Milley said.

The task will be to bring those together, get them deployed, get them trained because each of these systems is different, make sure they can link together with the command and control and communication systems, and make sure they have radars that can talk to each other so that they can acquire targets on the inbound flights, he said. So its quite complicated from a technical standpoint.

Richard Perez-Pena contributed reporting from New York, Christopher F. Schuetze from Berlin and Matthew Mpoke Bigg from London.
KYIV, Ukraine  Six and a half feet down a ladder inside a small shed at the back of Oleksandr Kadets home is an underground room with a cement hatch that he hopes he never has to use.

For the past two weeks, Mr. Kadet, 32, said that he and his wife, who live outside the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, had been preparing for the possibility of a nuclear attack by stocking the room  an old well that they converted into a bunker  with bottled water, canned food, radios and power banks.

We are more anxious now, especially after yesterdays attacks, Mr. Kadet said on Tuesday, a day after a series of Russian missile attacks across Ukraine. But we do think that in case of a nuclear explosion, we will be able to survive if we stay in the shelter for some time.

Image A ladder to an underground shelter at the back of Oleksandr Kadets home, outside the capital, Kyiv. Credit... Oleksandr Kadet

The fears of escalation rose on Saturday after an attack on the 12-mile Kerch Strait Bridge connecting Russia to the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014. Initially, Ukrainians celebrated, but that quickly gave way to worry that such a brazen assault on a symbol of President Vladimir V. Putins rule could prompt a severe retaliation.
KYIV, Ukraine  In just two days this week, Russian forces fired more than 100 cruise missiles and dozens of exploding drones at cities across Ukraine, far more than the nations aging air defenses were ever expected to encounter. And yet fewer than half made it to their targets, Ukrainian officials say.

Ukraines success in knocking down those projectiles, and the death and destruction caused wherever missiles slipped through, has reinvigorated calls by officials in Kyiv for Western countries to provide more sophisticated defensive weapons systems. At a meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday, the United States and other allies readily agreed, pledging to rapidly provide the weaponry.

Germany began delivery of four units of a missile defense system so advanced even its own forces have yet to use it. The Netherlands promised millions of dollars in air-defense missiles, and President Emmanuel Macron of France said his country would send radars, systems and anti-air missiles.

And a day after the Biden administration said it was working to speed up delivery of two advanced missile systems, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said, The systems will be provided as fast as we can physically get them there.
Running from the scene of a Russian bombing in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Monday. Moscow responded to the assault on the Kerch Strait Bridge with a series of missile attacks across Ukraine.

KYIV, Ukraine  Six and a half feet down a ladder inside a small shed at the back of Oleksandr Kadets home is an underground room with a cement hatch that he hopes he never has to use.

For the past two weeks, Mr. Kadet, 32, said that he and his wife, who live outside the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, had been preparing for the possibility of a nuclear attack by stocking the room  an old well that they converted into a bunker  with bottled water, canned food, radios and power banks.

We are more anxious now, especially after yesterdays attacks, Mr. Kadet said on Tuesday, a day after a series of Russian missile attacks across Ukraine. But we do think that in case of a nuclear explosion, we will be able to survive if we stay in the shelter for some time.

Image A ladder to an underground shelter at the back of Oleksandr Kadets home, outside the capital, Kyiv. Credit... Oleksandr Kadet

The fears of escalation rose on Saturday after an attack on the 12-mile Kerch Strait Bridge connecting Russia to the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014. Initially, Ukrainians celebrated, but that quickly gave way to worry that such a brazen assault on a symbol of President Vladimir V. Putins rule could prompt a severe retaliation.

Even before these recent events, though, concerns about the potential for a nuclear disaster had increasingly been making their way into Ukraines national psyche. The fear is that Russia could either use tactical nuclear arms or launch a conventional attack on one of Ukraines nuclear power plants.

U.S. officials have said they think the chances of Russias using nuclear weapons are low, and senior American officials say they have seen no evidence that Mr. Putin is moving any of his nuclear assets.

On Sunday, Mr. Putin called the assault on the bridge a terrorist attack aimed at destroying the critically important civilian infrastructure of the Russian Federation.

But his spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, appeared to tamp down fears of a nuclear reprisal, saying that the attack on the bridge did not fall within the category under Russias defense doctrine that allowed for such a response.

Last month, Mr. Putin raised fears that he could resort to nuclear weapons when he warned that he would use all the means at our disposal to protect Russia and our people, if Russian-controlled territory was threatened.

This is not a bluff, he said.

Days later, Russia illegally annexed four Ukrainian territories.

Mr. Kadet, who noted that he had begun preparing two weeks ago, said it felt better to have an action plan.

Its psychologically easier because you know you are at least somehow prepared for it, he said. Its not a guarantee it will save you, but at least youre ready.

Residents of Kyiv said that they had felt wary even before the most recent missile strikes there on Monday.

Image Surveying the damage on Tuesday after a bombardment in Kyiv. The capital had for months been spared the worst of the Russian onslaught. Credit... Finbarr O'Reilly for The New York Times

Immediately after the bridge attack, many Ukrainians had shared their glee on social media. They toasted triumphantly in the capitals bars over the weekend, and posed for selfies in front of posters of the burning bridge.

But the worry soon set in.

I feel this real fear about how the Russians will answer this, said Krystina Gevorkova, 30, who was shopping with her friend in Kyiv on Sunday. Earlier it had felt safer here, she added. Now, I have this feeling like something is going to happen.

Kyiv has for months been spared the worst of the Russian onslaught while Moscow focused its attention instead on southeastern Ukraine. But on Monday, a Russian missile struck just blocks away from where Ms. Gevorkova had spoken.

She said that she had been reading up on how to stay safe during a nuclear war, but that she was skeptical that it would help.

We cant really do anything, she said.

The war has felt far from Kyiv in recent months, as lifes rhythms return to a semblance of normalcy after Russian forces were ousted from parts of northeastern Ukraine. Nevertheless, the city has also been slowly preparing for a potential nuclear attack.

The Kyiv City Council said on Friday that potassium iodide pills would be distributed to residents in case of a nuclear incident based on medical recommendations, adding that the pills were also available in city pharmacies.

Potassium iodide is used to saturate a persons thyroid with iodine so that radioactive iodine inhaled or ingested after exposure will not be retained by the gland.

Alina Bozhedomova, 23, a pharmacist in Kyiv, said that customers were coming in daily looking for the pills, but added, I havent seen people panicking about it.

Some elementary schools have advised parents to prepare emergency packs for their children to keep with them at school.

Nadiia Stelmakh, 50, who works in a market selling home goods, said that one mother had come to her with a list from the school that included latex gloves, a poncho, boot covers, tissues, wet wipes and a flashlight.

Image Nadiia Stelmakh in Kyiv on Sunday looking over a list of emergency supplies used to prepare for a potential nuclear attack. People are really concerned right now, she said. Credit... Finbarr O'Reilly for The New York Times

People are really concerned right now, she said. Her husband, Volodymyr Stelmakh, who has another stall nearby, agreed.

I have an emergency bag packed, he said, but I think if the nuclear threat is imminent, you will have no time to run away.

After worries grew about the security of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the countrys southeast in recent weeks, Ukraines Ministry of Health issued guidance about how to respond to a nuclear incident.

The risk of nuclear fallout can feel very real in Ukraine, a country that still bears the scars of the Chernobyl accident in 1986, one of the worst nuclear disasters in history. Chernobyl is only about 60 miles north of Kyiv.

And some who experienced the life-threatening fallout firsthand say that they, possibly more than anyone, understand the full risk of nuclear exposure. Oleksandr, 55, who asked that his last name not be used, said that he and his family had fled Chernobyl for Kyiv immediately after the meltdown, when he was just 18.

His family closely followed guidance to move south, as winds were pushing radioactive materials north, and he said that was the only reason they escaped unscathed.

Now, people here are really not ready. People dont know what to do, he said. There is not enough information.

He owns a market stand that sells household necessities and said that more people had come in during the past two weeks preparing for a nuclear disaster, buying flashlights, batteries, knives, radios and small camp stoves.

Image Visiting damaged Russian military vehicles at an open air exhibition in Kyiv on Sunday. Credit... Finbarr O'Reilly for The New York Times

While some were preparing for the worst, others remained optimistic that Russia would never carry out such an extreme attack, which would draw international outrage.

Dmytro Yastrub, 31, said he felt more concerned about Mr. Putin using conventional weapons to target Kyiv.

I presume something will happen after the bridge attack, he said, standing outside a bar in the Kyiv city center on Sunday evening with a group of friends. But, he added, the risk of a nuclear attack was not weighing heavy on his mind.

Svetlana Zozulia, 47, and her husband, Vladyslav Zozulia, 37, were walking in central Kyiv with their daughter, Anastasiia, 11, on Sunday night. Ms. Zozulia said she tried to remain optimistic and did not believe that Mr. Putin would launch a nuclear attack on Ukraine.

But she did buy potassium iodide tablets just in case, she said.

I think our success disturbs him, Ms. Zozulia said. But there is also a threat for him if he chooses a nuclear attack.

Oleksandra Mykolyshyn contributed reporting
Defying a lethal crackdown in cities across Iran, protesters demanding the ouster of Irans Islamic Republic have driven their uprising into a fourth week, with workers from the countrys vital oil sector going on strike this week and activists calling for further work stoppages and protests on Wednesday.

Despite efforts by Irans security forces, including the feared plainclothes Basij militias, to crush the protests, they have only widened. Some have turned into chaotic street battles, with the security forces opening fire and protesters fighting back and refusing to give ground, according to witnesses, rights groups and videos of the clashes on social media.

The internet and popular communications applications in Iran have been disrupted for weeks, making it difficult to confirm the true toll of the governments crackdown on the protests, which have been led and inspired by women from their start in mid-September. But human rights groups said Tuesday that at least 185 people had been killed, including 28 children, with thousands injured or arrested so far. The government said that 24 of its security forces had been killed and about 2,000 wounded.

The protests were sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of the morality police after they arrested her under the countrys rule requiring women to wear dress modestly and cover their hair in public. Irans security forces claimed she died of a heart attack, but her family said she had been killed by blows to her head and was healthy at the time of her arrest.
A California ophthalmologist recently shocked the internet by posting a video of herself extracting 23 forgotten contact lenses from a patients eye.

Last month, Katerina Kurteeva, an eye doctor out of Newport Beach, California, posted an Instagram video of herself carefully removing a few contact lenses from a patients eye. A few maybe isnt the right word to use in this context, seeing as Kurteeva claims to have removed no less than 23 old contact lenses that her patient, an elderly woman, had forgotten in her eye for months, maybe even years. The video went viral a few days ago, leaving millions scratching their heads about someone could simply forget that many contact lenses in their eye.

Photo: Adrian Gordon/Unsplash

The video, captioned with Dont sleep in your contact lenses! shows Dr. Kurteeva using a q-tip to carefully remove dozens of old contact lenses from behind an elderly womans eye. Some of them appeared to have turned green after being in there for a long period of time.

I have carefully separated all the contact lenses and counted a total of 23. I had to use a very fine surgical instrument, a jeweler forceps to separate the contact lenses, the ophthalmologist wrote on her Instagram. They were essentially glued together after sitting under the eyelid for a month.

Most people were shocked about how someone could live with so many contact lenses in their eye and not feel that something was wrong, while others wondered how they all ended up in there. Kurteeva explained that her patient always forgot that she had contact lenses on when she went to bed, and kept adding new ones.

A rare occasion when someone forgot to remove contact lenses at night and kept on putting a new one in every morning. 23 days in a row!!! Dr. Kurteeva wrote.

Believe it or not, 23 contact lenses in one eye isnt even a record. A few years ago, we wrote about a 67-year-old woman from the UK who had forgotten a whopping 27 contact lenses in her eye over 35 years.
Elon Musk

Zuck loves Elon.You can bet Meta/Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg is praying that Elon Musk pulls off his $44B shotgun marriage with Twitter. A judge set Oct. 28 as the deadline to close the deal.

With Musk at the helm at Twitter, Zuckerberg will no longer be the No. 1 target of Congressional reformers eager to reel in the power of Big Tech.

Musks foolish outreach to Kanye West (aka Ye) after his anti-Semitic spiel sets the stage for more social media shenanigans.

His tweet indicates that Musk is ready to junk Twitters moderation policies. Welcome back to Twitter, my friend, tweeted Musk to Ye after Twitter locked the rappers account.

But Musks cozy relationships with Russia and China loom as the biggest reasons for Congress to clip his Twitter wings.

Musk reportedly disabled Ukrainian access to his Starlink satellites while they were in Crimea, since he feared Vladimir Putin would go nuclear if he lost control of the peninsula.

He told Eurasia Group head Ian Bremmer that he met with Putin to discuss his own peace plan to end the Russian invasion. That plan featured Ukraine accepting Russias illegal annexation of Crimea, which is something that president Volodymyr Zelinsky will never do.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Musk argued that China should take over Taiwan and govern it as it does Hong Kong.

Chinas ambassador to the US tweeted his thanks to Musk for his idea of creating a special administrative zone for Taiwan. China is Teslas No. 2 market.

Congress may want to dust off the 1799 Logan Act, which bans unauthorized private citizens from negotiating with foreign governments having a dispute with the US.

Musk also may be required to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. He may rue the day that he got the impulse to buy Twitter.

He should just focus on electric cars, satellite communications and rocket ships. Twitter is a waste of his time.

Sign of our violent times. There is a big upswing in demand for childrens books that deal with violence and trauma in the wake of high-profile school shootings.

NFD BookScan reports that the sales of books for young readers about dealing with trauma have doubled since 2012.

After the massacre at Uvaldes Robb Elementary School, the book I'm Not ScaredIm Prepared was reprinted several times to meet demand.

The book is about a teacher who tells her students what they should do if something dangerous is in their school.

Another book in demand, A Gun is Not Fun aims to raise the awareness of gun violence, especially in communities of color.

PR goes back to school. American Universitys School of Communications has launched a PR firm to provide students real-life experience in working with clients on ESG and social corporate responsibility issues.

MikeWorldWide founder/CEO Michael Kempner made the SOC Communication Collaborative for Change possible.

The AU trustee and alumnus donated $500K to get SOC3 off the ground. His shop is committed to providing in-kind support (media relations, creative design, program guidance) to SOC3.

Kempner said SOC3 will give students the professional experiences they would normally only receive in external settings by working side by side with practicing branding and communications professionals.

SOCs initial client is DC Central Kitchens Healthy Corners, which delivers fresh and frozen produce, as well as healthy snacks, to corner stores in D.C.s low-income communities at wholesale prices.

The firm will use video, infographics and social media posts to create storytelling from a Gen Z perspective to increase awareness of and participation in DC Centrals program.

Boom time for management consultants. McKinsey & Co., Bain & Co. and Boston Consulting Group are expected to chalk up revenues of $30B in 2022. That works out to about $400K revenues per employee.

That haul towers over the $140K revenue per employee that the Big Four accounting firms (Deloitte, PWC, EY and KPMG) will record.

The Securities and Exchange Commission requires firms to disclose the annual fees paid to auditors.

Companies should also be required to disclose the amount that they paid to management consultants.

Greater transparency could help management consultants shed their snake-oil salesman image.

At the very least, it couldn't hurt.
Elizabeth Strouts much-loved saga continues with Lucy By The Sea

Fiction

1. Lucy By The Sea by Elizabeth Strout is published in hardback by Viking, priced 14.99 (ebook 9.99). Available now

Fans of Pulitzer prize-winning and Booker-shortlisted author of My Name is Lucy Barton will be eager to read the next in the series  which more or less runs on from where Oh William! ends. Its March 2020 and Lucy reluctantly goes with ex-husband William to Maine, expecting it to be a brief stay. But the pandemic that made William want to flee New York keeps them in their cliff-side retreat for far longer than anticipated. Lucy, still grieving the loss of her beloved second husband and fearful for her daughters, has to find a new equilibrium. This book is different from others in the series as it is more rooted in a particular time with Covid, Black Lives Matter and the storming of the Capitol acting as a backdrop, and bringing back sharp reminders of what lockdowns really felt like  which could be triggering for some. Even with this more concrete framework, Strouts spare and elliptical writing concentrates deliciously more on character than plot  you need to read closely between the lines. The book is peopled with familiar characters from her universe  if you love that world, youll doubtless love this latest novel too.

9/10

(Review by Bridie Pritchard)

2. The Romantic by William Boyd is published in hardback by Viking, priced 20 (ebook 9.99). Available now

Signed copies of #TheRomantic by William Boyd, spanning the 19th Century it follows the many lives of one man. Support your local indie bookshop this Saturday for #BookshopDay & pick up your copy! @VikingBooksUK @booksaremybag pic.twitter.com/nW7of2dUIX  Nantwich Bookshop (@NantwichBook) October 7, 2022

This latest work from the immensely readable William Boyd is nothing if not ambitious. Its protagonist, Cashel Ross, adventurer, explorer, lover, father, and more, represents a thread which spans the whole of the 19th century, linking as many famous dates, epic events, and well-known characters as would fill an entire illustrated history of the time. One of the things which makes Boyds works so accessible is his use of familiar and often anachronistic language. Due to the scale of this task, and the vivid historical scenery, this can contribute to a sense of a greatest hits version of this extraordinary century. However, what stays with the reader is the likeability of this true Romantic, and the way in which everything can happen to you  if you simply open yourself up to opportunity.

8/10

(Review by Victoria Barry)

3. House Of Hunger by Alexis Henderson is published in hardback by Bantam Press, priced 16.99 (ebook 7.99). Available now

HOUSE OF HUNGER is out in the UK today! Incredibly excited and humbled to be sharing this twisted little nightmare of a novel with readers around the world. Order your copy here: https://t.co/L9c9NZffFy pic.twitter.com/wcG1ndgwal  Alexis Henderson (@alexhwrites) October 6, 2022

This gritty, Sapphic, Gothic novel is a window to a fantasy world of bloodmaids and the wealthy overlords who own them. Dracula combined with The Handmaids Tale, this is a dystopian Victorian tale  we join Marion on her journey from slums to splendour as a bloodmaid, but all is not as it seems in this seductive new world of gluttony and mystery. Rich with suspense and intrigue, the novel is equal measures addictive and haunting. Although often too cliche and simplistic in its exploration of class and wealth, it is made up for in vivid imagery and engaging storytelling. Could a neo-Gothic literary era be upon us once again? Well, if Hendersons efforts are replicated elsewhere, we certainly expect so.

8/10

(Review by Imy Brighty-Potts)

Non-fiction

4. What Just Happened?! Dispatches From Turbulent Times by Marina Hyde is published in hardback by Guardian Faber Publishing, priced 20 (ebook 12.99). Available now

Should you be passing a bookshop today and find yourself suddenly  urgently  in need of an immersive and horrifyingly lifelike reminder of the past few years of pure chaos  then may I cordially remind you that this is lurking inside, just waiting to steal your heart pic.twitter.com/8Bp8VK4MDv  Marina Hyde (@MarinaHyde) October 8, 2022

Guardian columnist Marina Hydes dispatches from turbulent times chronicle seven years of British life, from the run-up to the Brexit vote to Boris Johnsons fall from power. For many of those who prefer to laugh than cry, Hydes hugely entertaining commentaries have been a lifeline. Every page is packed with extremely funny, quotable lines as Hyde mercilessly pokes fun at the political elite. It is perhaps also tinged with bittersweet to revisit old hard-fought battles, knowing now how the story ends. This book can be consumed in small chunks over a cup of tea or all in one go with something stronger. A remarkable record of our interesting times which  unlike a newspaper  fully deserves to be more than just tomorrows fish and chip paper.

10/10

(Review by Emily Pennink)

Childrens book of the week

5. The Boy Who Lost His Spark by Maggie OFarrell, illustrated by Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini, is published in hardback by Walker Books, priced 14.99. Available now

We were delighted to reveal the cover of The Boy Who Lost His Spark by Maggie O'Farrell, illustrated by @DJTerrazzini, at #LBF22 this afternoon! Publishing October 2022. #TheBoyWhoLostHisSpark pic.twitter.com/X5YLVMOPyZ  Walker Books (@WalkerBooksUK) April 5, 2022

Womens Prize-winning author Maggie OFarrell once again turns her imagination towards childrens fiction with The Boy Who Lost His Spark. Young Jem has just moved to a new town, and is struggling to settle in  he misses his old home, and doesnt find as much joy in life any more. He doesnt play with his younger sister, Verity, and yells at her when she talks about a mythical, small furry creature called the nouka. Jem doesnt believe the nouka exists  but when things start going wrong around him, he comes face to face with a mischief-maker who lives underneath the mountain. The magical elements of the story pair beautifully with the ethereal illustrations of Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini, making for an entrancing tale  and one many children who have moved somewhere new will relate to.

8/10

(Review by Prudence Wade)

BOOK CHARTS FOR THE WEEK ENDING OCTOBER 8

HARDBACK (FICTION)

1. The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman

2. Love Untold by Ruth Jones

3. Kingdom Of The Feared by Kerri Maniscalco

4. Lucy By The Sea by Elizabeth Strout

5. Fairy Tale by Stephen King

6. Babel by R.F. Kuang

7. Shrines Of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson

8. Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes

9. Act Of Oblivion by Robert Harris

10. Lessons by Ian McEwan

(Compiled by Waterstones)

HARDBACK (NON-FICTION)

1. A Pocketful Of Happiness by Richard E. Grant

2. Madly, Deeply by Alan Rickman

3. One by Jamie Oliver

4. Fresh Mob: Over 100 Tasty Healthy-ish Recipes

5. Calling The Shots by Sue Barker

6. Diddly Squat by Jeremy Clarkson

7. Guinness World Records 2023 by Guinness World Records

8. Black Holes by Professor Brian Cox & Professor Jeff Forshaw

9. Terry Pratchett by Rob Wilkins

10. What Just Happened?! by Marina Hyde

(Compiled by Waterstones)

AUDIOBOOKS (FICTION AND NON-FICTION)

1. The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman

2. From The Oasthouse by Alan Partridge

3. Forever Home by Graham Norton

4. Menopausing by Davina McCall & Dr Naomi Potter

5. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

6. I May Be Wrong by Bjorn Natthiko Lindeblad

7. 12 Rules For Life by Jordan B. Peterson

8. Courtiers by Valentine Low

9. The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith

10. Atomic Habits by James Clear

(Compiled by Audible)
A potentially serious fire was averted at refugees' apartments in Borrisokane recently thanks to the quick action of the local fire services.

Cllr Michael O'Meara told the recent meeting of Nenagh Municipal District that a fire broke out on a balcony in one of the seventeen apartments at Riverside Apartments, Borrisokane a few weeks ago.

This fire was taking hold and was on the cusp of becoming very serious when it was thankfully put out, remarked the councillor. He paid tribute to the fire services for arriving so quickly at the scene and dealing with it so effectively.

The 17 apartments are lived in by refugees from Syria, Georgia and a number of Eastern European countries. The staff at Riverside Apartments were excellent and got everyone out as quickly as possible. Smoke and water damage was caused to four of the apartments.

Cllr O'Meara said the families who lived in the four damaged apartments were housed temporarily elsewhere but are now back in the apartments, following repair work.

The councillor said the refugees have blended very well into the local community since they arrived in Ireland a few years ago, having fled dangerous and difficult situations. The children are attending school locally. They have assimilated well. It's a happy situation."
With their heads bowed in respect, the communities of Creeslough and Derrybeg came together to line the roadside and honour the final journeys of James OFlaherty, Catherine ODonnell and James Monaghan.

A grey sky hung over the hills surrounding the Donegal parishes as mourners said a painful goodbye to three more victim of Fridays explosion.

On Wednesday, hundreds came to remember Mr OFlaherty, 48, Ms ODonnell, 39, and her 13-year-old son James.

Two funerals held in villages some 20 miles apart, but people now forever part of a tragedy that will send ripples through generations to come.

The family and friends of Mr OFlaherty, Ms ODonnell and James were joined by work colleagues, school friends and members of their local communities, united in their grief as they sent their loved ones to their final resting place.

On Wednesday morning, in the Gaeltacht region of Derrybeg, locals gathered in hushed silence outside St Marys Church for the funeral of Mr OFlaherty.

A guard of honour was provided by the school which his 12-year-old son, Hamish, had attended.

His wife, Tracey, along with Hamish, sat in the hearse as it made its way to and from the chapel. It was an opportunity for the family to spend their last few precious moments together before their goodbye.

Hamish held a large cross tightly as he waited for his fathers coffin to be taken out of the hearse, and carried it again when he walked behind his fathers coffin as it made it way out of the church.

The family wrapped comforting arms around Mrs OFlaherty as she kept a watchful eye over her son.

Inside the chapel, Mr OFlahertys service was delivered as Gaeilge (in Irish) and in English by parish priest Brian O Fearraigh.

Mourners were told that Mr OFlaherty, a Sydney native, was learning Irish and had been a lover of nature.

They also heard that Mr OFlaherty lived with his wife, the love of his life, and their brave, talented and kind son at the edge of the village of Dunfanaghy, with their house looking out over New Lake where the Atlantic Ocean could be seen in the distance.

The funeral service heard that Mr OFlaherty was a man of faith, and that faith had been source of comfort and a secure anchor for Tracey and Hamish and the wider family.

They were given a glimpse into the life shared between Mr OFlaherty, his wife and son, and how he showered them in kisses and hugs every day.

Hamish, flanked by his mother, then made his way to the altar, stood on a foot stool and looked down at the hundreds of mourners in front of him.

In his short but poignant speech, he told mourners that they should cherish life and family.

I would also like to say something I have learnt in the past week or so, he added.

We should be grateful. For your families, cherish them, be grateful for they wont be there forever.

Use the time you have wisely. Also, be grateful for your life because that too will not last forever.

Be grateful, for you will be able to rest after your hard work.

His words were met by a round of applause and standing ovation from the congregation.

Fr O Fearraigh also told those present and the many watching it online that Mr OFlaherty read to his son every night, and the last book that was read to him was Going Solo by Roald Dahl.

The book was brought to the altar as a symbol of their close relationship.

Outside the church, Irish president Michael D Higgins embraced Mrs OFlaherty and Hamish, a sign of the grief that has engulfed and touched the Irish nation.

A short time later, in the village of Creeslough, just a few hundred yards from the scene of the tragedy, the heartbroken family of Ms ODonnell and James gathered for their joint funeral.

A silence fell over the assembled mourners when the garda escort came in to view.

The first hearse to arrive at St Michaels Church carried the remains of Ms ODonnell and was followed closely by her son.

The crowd blessed themselves twice as the coffins slowly passed them by.

In the church, just like in life, Ms ODonnell and her son were placed side by side.

Moments before the funeral service began, President Higgins shook the hands of family members who were gathered tightly in the first pew.

Members of the emergency services, including the Irish police, firemen and paramedics  who played a central role in the recovery efforts, sat a few rows behind the family.

Parish priest Fr John Joe Duffy said items to do with wrestling, that James loved so much, were brought to the front alongside a watch and necklace to represent the style that was so important to Catherine.

In a reminder of James young age, the priest told the congregation that he was a child about to launch into life.

He likened his life to a plane slowly taxiing down a runway and about to take off, such was the potential in his stolen years ahead.

It is no wonder under such circumstances, that words fail us this afternoon, Fr Duffy added.

Addressing James classmates, Fr Duffy said he was full of devilment, life and joy.

He urged them to do well in life and work hard, and pointed to the courageous work carried by the emergency responders.

James might have tried to sneak out of work at school but I encourage you to work hard, he added.

Despite the waves grief that has consumed Creeslough, they were reminded of Ms ODonnells bubbly side and how she was full of life.

She was very intelligent, and she loved parties, Fr Duffy told mourners. She loved organising parties.

She was a loving mother, a loving partner, a loving daughter and one who was much, much loved.

The weight of the anguish at attending a joint funeral mass for a mother and son was felt throughout the small white chapel.

In the days that have followed the tragedy, it is the support and words that has carried the families through their wave of grief.

Like Fr Duffy told the congregation, it has been a hard blow for the families and the community.

In a community, county and country that knows how to band together in a time of death and tragedy, Creeslough and its residents were showing a great example of solidarity.

Speaking following the funeral of James OFlaherty, Mr Higgins said: I think it is very important what is being revealed now, in the response of the public, the response of the people of Creeslough and the great example they are giving, President Higgins said on Wednesday.

They have a very heavy burden of grief to carry.

The way they are holding together is a great example. I think it is inspirational, the way people, not just in Donegal, but all over Ireland, have all been responding and being able to reveal their feelings and how their heart has been breaking.
South Africa: President Ramaphosa to address Agri SA Congress 2022

President Cyril Ramaphosa will on Thursday address the Agri SA Congress 2022 at the Maslow Time Square Hotel in Pretoria.

The Agri SA Congress will be held under the theme: 'Growing Local'.



Agri SA was established in 1904 and has become the biggest group of agricultural organisations in South Africa with membership, including provincial affiliates, commodity organisations and corporate members.



The agriculture sector is seeking to address threats to the countrys food security, including persistent supply chain constraints from the COVID-19 pandemic, increases in fuel, shipping and fertiliser costs.

The congress will also deliberate on disruptions to electricity supply, rural safety, market access and the impact of natural disasters, among other challenges.



The 2022 Congress is an opportunity for the agriculture industry to deliberate on the challenges it faces and to showcase achievements, opportunities for growth and solutions that will foster food security and contribute to broader economic development.

Congress delegates will engage on such issues as making agriculture masterplans work for local growers; sustainable infrastructure for locally grown food; making the local environment sustainable for local food production into the future, and strengthening food producers capacity to process locally grown produce, the Presidency said in a statement.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2022-10-12. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
By Li Weixin and Wu Xu

BEIJING, Oct 12 -- A workshop on the trial implementation of the China's new-generation military training outline was recently held at a PLA Air Force's unit.

The new-generation military training outline is characterized by various detailed lists. Seven divisions or brigades from the PLA Army, Navy, Air Force, Rocket Force, Strategic Support Force, Joint Logistic Support Force, and Armed Police Force had began to perform training in accordance with it on a trial basis since the beginning of this year.

The outline explores a task-oriented training model based on detailed operation missions, procedures and scenarios. According to an official at the Training and Administration Department of the Central Military Commission (CMC), the list-formatted military training outline is an important means to transform and upgrade China's military training, and also a major project in establishing a new type of military training system. To ensure its practicality and effectiveness, the CMC organs have organized pilot units to implement and verify it for the purpose of gathering hands-on experience and data for revision and improvement, and of setting an example for exploring and promoting the new training model.

It is learnt that the trial will last till the end of this year. At that time, these pilot units will compile their lists of pilot tasks, questions, and deliverables, as well as data on subject training and opinions on revisions. All services and the Armed Police Force of the Chinese military will summarize the results of the trial training and come up with their guidance methods.
Moscow has repeatedly made threats that the war in Ukraine could escalate to a nuclear conflict. But is the Russian president really prepared to deploy nuclear weapons? DW spoke to a number of experts about the issue.
U.S. President Joe Biden says he'll grant automatic pardons to all Americans convicted on federal charges of simple possession of marijuana. Some Canadian legal experts say that's the approach Canada should have followed. Instead, Ottawa puts the onus on the applicant  and has granted far fewer pardons than the government hoped.
Jerusalem Post 12 Oct 2022

When examining the track record of the new commander, nicknamed The Butcher of Syria for his part in Russian operations in..
Newsy 12 Oct 2022

Watch VideoUkrainians refer to the newest Russian weapon on the battlefield  and the sound they make  as "flying lawnmowers..
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King Charles III will be crowned at Westminster Abbey on May 6 in a ceremony that will embrace the past but look to the modern world after the 70-year reign of the late Queen Elizabeth II.Tuesday's announcement from Buckingham Palace...
The Russian embassy in New Zealand has taken to Twitter today to mock the sanctions announced against its nation yesterday. The sanctions, revealed by Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta and Trade and Export Growth Minister Damien O'Connor,...
The foreign and defense ministers of Japan and Germany plan to hold a second round of security talks in early November in Germany, Japanese government sources said Wednesday.
Berlin (AFP) Oct 11, 2022



Climate activist Greta Thunberg on Tuesday said it was a "mistake" for Germany to shut down existing nuclear power plants while ramping up coal usage to tackle an energy crisis. Germany has been forced to restart mothballed coal plants after Russia curtailed its energy supplies to the country in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine. Its decision to extend the lifetime of two but not a thi
Energy bosses have expressed concern that the Governments proposal to cap revenues from renewable generators and nuclear power plants could put off investors.
Mum said: 'Were so grateful for everything the NHS has done to enable this to happen and the incredible genomic testing we have..

Gloucestershire Echo 15 Oct 2022
Protests in Iran over the death of a 22-year-old woman have spread to workers in the oil and gas sector, online videos appear to..

Eurasia Review 10 Oct 2022
WEDNESDAY, 12 OCTOBER 2022, 13:30 On the morning of 12 October, units of the Ukrainian Air Force shot down at least four Russian attack helicopters in 18 minutes. Source: press service of the Air...



#troops #airforce #ukraines #south #russian #attackhelicopters #ground #ukrainianairforce
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she didn't mean to trivialize prejudice faced by minority communities when she suggested unvaccinated people have experienced the most discrimination she has ever seen in her lifetime.
Deutsche Welle 13 Oct 2022

In their struggle for self-determination, Iranians are displaying a level of courage and cohesion we have not seen before. This is..
The Papua New Guinea's National Finance and Tax offices were locked up by the landlord Nambawan Super. Officers from the nation's tax office were locked out of the Revenue Haus building in downtown Port Moresby this morning by the landlord Nambawan Super Limited (NSL).

This also includes the doors to Vulupindi Haus at Waigani, which houses the National Department of Finance.

Both the Revenue Haus and Vulupindi Haus are owned by Nambawan Super Limited (NSL).

The Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Commission (IRC) Sam Koim told the media this morning that as a lawyer, he understands the landlord for exercising their right over non-payment of rental arrears by the Government.

He clarified that if IRC was responsible for its own debts, it would have cleared its rental arrears totaling K12 million.

However, this responsibility has been centralised to the Department of Finance.

The IRC Commissioner is unsure at this stage when the office will be reopened for normal business.





NBC News/One PNG News





Next: PNG Minister for Finance and Implementation responds to Government being locked out
Beware of Illegal Online Gaming Sites, Says MGA

Published October 12, 2022 by Brett C

The MGA has uncovered at least 18 sites operating illegally in the country. Now it has gone full-throttle to raise public awareness about these illegal sites.

The MGA (Malta Gaming Authority) is one of the world's leading authorities for licensing and regulating operators. The Malta Gaming Authority has a multi-purpose set of objectives, notably:

Protecting the rights of players

The prevention of criminal activity in gaming

Maintaining the integrity of casino games and gaming devices

The protection of vulnerable individuals and minors from gambling

The promotion of responsible gaming practices in a secure environment

As an official government-approved licensing regulator, the MGA features a licensee register and an enforcement register. Parliament empowers this regulatory body to regulate all gaming activities in Malta. It is also regarded as a highly respected licensing authority around the world.

Caution Is Advised After Illegal Gaming Sites Reported

The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) recently issued a warning notice about 18 domains, several of which are owned by the same online gaming operators. The list of companies includes 4 Crowns Casino of the Netherlands and 24Pokies (an Australian iGaming operator). The MGA warning was prominently displayed on its website, cautioning against using these websites for iGaming purposes.

These operators and their subordinates are knowingly offering gaming services to customers illegally. The notice was posted on Friday, 7 October 2022. According to the details of the notice, none of these 18 websites has been approved by a licensing authority to offer gambling services to players in Malta. Therefore, they are in breach of existing gambling legislation.

The regulator explained its position as follows:

The MGA would like to remind consumers not to utilise services provided by an entity unless they have ascertained that the entity in question is authorised to provide such services by the MGA. The gaming regulatory framework obliges authorised persons to comply with strict legal requirements in the interest of consumers,

The list of illegally operating websites includes the following:

24casino1.bet

24pokies.com

24pokies1.com

24pokies2.com

24pokies3.com

24pokies4.com

24pokies5.com

24pokies6.com

4crownscasino.com

4crownscasino1.com

Casinowin.bet

Maximalwins.com

Olympusplay.com

Thepokies.net

Jbgame-99.com

Jba001.org

Jbag888.com

Blogjb3919.com

Stern Warning from the MGA

The Authority advises members of the public that the MGA has not duly authorised the entities to provide gaming services to anyone in Malta as required by Regulation 3 [Gaming Authorisations Regulations. (S.L. 583.05)]. Therefore, the companies that operate the websites referred to above violate the regulation mentioned above and in Article 13 of the Gaming Act (enshrined in Chapter 583, under the Laws of Malta).

The MGA advises players not to use services offered by sites unless these sites are verified, and the MGA authorises such services. The gaming framework requires that authorised persons comply with all legal requirements. Unlicensed entities' activities are unregulated. Additionally, they don't provide the requisite safety nets, making it risky for players to transact with them. Any online gaming operator found in contravention of the regulatory framework directly infringes on article 14 of the Malta Gaming Act.

A brand-new set of player protections was announced last week, detailing guidelines for licensees. The matter was discussed as a close consultation hearing after the MGA launched a weeks-long enquiry.
Director of Content and Operations

Spencer McKee is OutThere Colorado's Director of Content and Operations. In his spare time, Spencer loves to hike, rock climb, and trail run. He's on a mission to summit all 58 of Colorado's fourteeners and has already climbed more than half.
Geneva, Switzerland (PANA) - The UN weather agency issued an urgent appeal on Tuesday for governments everywhere to switch to cleaner forms of energy, such as solar, wind and hydro-electric power
Photo: (Photo : Pexel/ RF Studio)

It was a victory for life over euthanasia at the European Court of Human Rights Tuesday.

The court ruled that Belgium violated the "right to life" expressed and protected in Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights in the case of the euthanasia of Godelieva de Troyer in 2012 without ruling against Belgium's euthanasia law.

Sixty-four years old De Troyer died in euthanasia through legal injection. She was physically well, yet her euthanasia was propelled because her diagnosis stated she had "incurable depression."

However, her family did not know anything about the procedure. De Troyer's son, Tom Mortier, received a call from the hospital one day instructing him to collect his mother's belongings. He had no idea that his mother had died because she was euthanized.

Mortier then decided to file a case to Europe's highest human rights court to give his mother's death justice.

Legalized euthanasia is never safe

In the case of Mortier vs. Belgium, the human rights court ruled "that Belgium's euthanasia commission lacked the requisite independence to offer real oversight," resulting in a violation of the right of life of De Troyer.

The court's ruling highlighted the problems of the euthanasia commission as the basis for the right-to-life violation. It was said that "legal safeguards" can never make euthanasia safe, even if they did not directly rule against euthanasia in Belgium as a whole.

Nevertheless, the human rights court stood in favor of more "safeguards" for the improvement of the euthanasia practice. Yet, in the case of Mortier vs. Belgium, the legal protections were insufficient to protect the right to life.

Thus, the ruling is clear enough, the mother of Mortier's right to life was violated, and that, according to journalist Elyssa Koren, no rules and regulations, even agreements, that can ever make legalized euthanasia "safe."

Read Also: Belgian Man Seeks Euthanasia Because He Cannot Accept His Homosexuality

People have lost the meaning of 'taking care of each other'

Allegedly, De Troyer went to Belgium's leading euthanasia advocate, also a cancer specialist, who agreed to euthanize her.

Within months, she was said to provide financial payments to his organization. This leading advocate then referred her to see other specialists who were members of the same organization, when supposedly the requirement for the valid procedure was to have independent opinions in cases of people who are not expected to die soon.

Mortier said in an interview that a serious problem with society is that people have lost the meaning of "taking care of each other."

The law of Belgium about euthanasia states that an individual, to be qualified for the procedure, must be in a medical condition of perpetual and unendurable suffering, physically or mentally, which cannot be alleviated that it results in an incurable disorder due to illness or accident.

Depression, in the case of De Troyer, was not "medically futile" and should not have been a valid reason for death. The latter's longtime doctor said she did not meet the legal criteria.

Data from the Federal Commission for the Control and Evaluation of Euthanasia revealed that there are already 30,000 deaths through euthanasia in the past two decades, and this count is more than likely underreported. The procedure is now said to be the reason for 1 in 50 deaths in the country. As of 2021, 1 out of 5 deaths by euthanasia was not expected to die naturally in the near future. In 2014, Belgium also leagalized euthanasia for children.

In an article with the Daily Signal, Koren boldly expressed to Americans, "We must stand firm against a culture of death that denies the truth of what it means to accompany someone in their suffering. A society that encourages the vulnerable to end their lives never can be truly progressive."

Related Article: 'Assisted Suicide' Law In California Is Now In Effect; Hospitals and Doctors Divided If They Will Comply
Photo: (Photo : Petra from Pixabay )

A woman finally met her long-lost father, a man who did not even know she existed, thanks to an amateur detective she met on the social media platform Facebook, Yahoo reported.

Adrieanna Tyler thought she knew her dad until age 13 when she overheard him calling her his stepdaughter.

She wanted to know who her biological dad was since then, but she could never find out anything about him. The 33-year-old mom, now married to a truck driver in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, recalled that she was desperate to find her real dad, and it always mattered to her.

Tyler finds aunt and dad after doing a DNA test

She began searching again for her real dad this year by ordering a DNA test kit and asking for help from strangers running a Facebook group where they help people unite with their long-lost relatives.

Tyler said that this wonderful lady called Suzanne in the group helped her build her family tree, and after doing another DNA test, they found her aunt. They were able to track down her 47-year-old aunt, Kathie Johnson, according to Good News Network. From there, they were able to find her biological dad, a police officer who lived 1,000 miles away in the state of Florida.

Johnson told Tyler that she would put her in touch with her dad, which made her so nervous. Adrieanna told SWNS that her dad Joseph Frank had no idea she had ever been born. He was thrilled to learn that he not only had another daughter in Tyler but also two young grandchildren.

Adrieanna said that when her dad found out about her, he was so excited, and it relieved her. She added that she felt so vulnerable before, in case her dad wanted nothing to do with her.

After spending the next month video calling and texting daily, Frank decided to travel from Florida to Pennsylvania so they could meet in person for the first time and get to know each other better.

Read Also: Connecticut Mom Gives Birth to Son on American Airlines Plane Mid-flight

Joseph and Adrieanna already planning a family holiday

She said they spent some time getting to know each other before finally meeting, and it was perfect. Adrieanna added that it felt like a dream. Johnson and Tyler met last week at a local festival near her home, and they are already planning a holiday for their family, according to Metro.

They enjoyed pizza during their emotional meeting, and she also discovered that she has two half-sisters around her age. She said they bonded right away, and she finally feels she can start to heal now. She added that everything ended exactly how it was supposed to.

Dad Joseph echoed his daughter's sentiment, saying that it has been pretty amazing and God works in mysterious ways. He said he was going through a tough break-up when his daughter came into his life, and he needed that.

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Photo: (Photo : PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)

Military officials said in a weekend statement that an 18-year-old Marine recruit died last month after collapsing during training at Camp Pendleton in Southern California.

According to a Marine Corps statement released on Saturday, October 8, Pfc. Javier Pong was conducting scheduled training on September 27 at the base near San Diego when he suddenly became unconscious and unresponsive. Pong was rushed to Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton, where he later died.

Brig. Gen. Jason Morris, Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego's commanding general, said in a statement that the Marines are investigating the death of Pong. Morris said they are greatly saddened by the untimely passing of Pong, who was just starting his journey to become a United States Marine.

New Mexico native Pong graduated high school just last May

He added that they are committed to honoring his memory, supporting those he served, and investigating the cause of his death to ensure they can safely transform civilians into Marines and retain the American people's trust.

Pong hailed from Las Cruses, New Mexico, and he graduated from high school just last May, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. The paper asked the Marines what type of training Pong and the other recruits were engaged in when he collapsed, but they did not immediately respond to those questions.

Marine officials also did not explain why they decided to wait 11 days before announcing the death of Pong. According to the newspaper, in in-service military training, deaths are routinely announced within about a day.

Capt. Joshua Collins, a Marine spokesperson at MCRD San Diego, said that the unit of Pong was in its eighth week of training. The victim was attached to Echo Company, 2nd Recruit Training Battalion.

Read Also: Search Goes on for Missing Georgia Toddler Four Days After Quinton Simon's Disappearance

Pong doing Basic Warrior Training with Marines in Week 8 before his death

According to the Marines' recruit training matrix, recruits who trained at MCRD San Diego spend five weeks at the depot before moving to Camp Pendleton for another five weeks of field training. According to the matrix, Week 8 is "Basic Warrior Training," which includes survival combat skills such as land navigation, maneuvering under enemy fire, and marksmanship.

Deaths during in-service military training are usually announced within a day, and the name or names of service members killed are then released after another day, pending notification of next-of-kin.

When Seaman Kyle Mullen, 24, died during SEAL training in Coronado on February 4, the Navy announced his death in a news release the following day. They named Mullen in a separate release the next day on February 6.

According to Collins, the Marines delayed releasing information about Pong's death out of a desire to provide his family with time to grieve. The Marine Corps did not release his service information or home of record. The Marine Corps also did not release his service photo, NBC News reported.

Related Article: State Stimulus Checks Arriving to Americans in October 2022: Which States Are Sending Payments?
Photo: (Photo : WOJTEK RADWANSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

The COVID pandemic has been difficult, but the return to in-person schooling has also been emotionally tough for the 12-year-old daughter of Mary Norris, CNN reported.

According to Norris, her daughter was relentlessly bullied last year at the school she attended in Fresno, California, near where her dad lives. So she decided to transfer her child to a school in Madera, where she currently lives. Norris said this year is going better, but her daughter is still struggling emotionally.

Norris recently got a call from a school staff member who said that her daughter had written something disturbing in her journal. Norris said that her daughter wrote in her book that she wished she were dead and wanted to kill herself. That was a shock for Norris as her daughter is always very happy and a really smiley kid.

COVID pandemic has a negative effect on the mental health of children

Norris is one of more than 2,000 adults surveyed this summer by the Kaiser Family Foundation and CNN about mental health issues in the United States. The nationally representative sample included more than 500 American parents.

Nearly half of those parents (47 percent) said that the COVID pandemic has negatively affected their children's mental health, with 17 percent saying it had a major negative impact.

More than 8 out of 10 parents said they are at least somewhat worried about anxiety, depression, alcohol, and drug use negatively affecting the lives of American teens. In contrast, roughly three-quarters said they worried about pandemic-related loneliness and isolation or self-harm.

More than 4 out of 10 parents said they worried about anxiety, depression, alcohol, and drug use affecting teens. Lower-income parents, who make less than $40,000 a year, were more likely than those in higher-income households to say they are apprehensive about eating disorders, alcohol, drug use, depression, and self-harm.

Read Also: Mother and Daughter Team Up To Tackle Lack Of Affordable Housing For Senior Citizens in Nashville

Mental health services for kids and teens hard to get in the U.S

More than half of Americans (55 percent) think most kids and teens in the United States are not able to get the mental health services they need, according to the survey.

Norris was one of several parents who answered in the survey that they could not get mental health services for their kids because they could not find a provider. Norris estimates that she has called more than 20 therapists in Fresno and Madera, looking for someone who can see her child out of school. She said her daughter is covered by insurance, but she can't find anyone willing to take it.

Unfortunately, her situation is common. The American Psychological Association (APA) estimates that half of the children in the country with mental health disorders do not receive the treatment they need. It is a circumstance that experts say has only gotten worse during the COVID pandemic.

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Photo: (Photo : PRAKASH SINGH/AFP via Getty Images)

Today is a Good Day is a non-profit that supports American families who experience the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

Martha Sharkey, who founded the organization alongside her husband Paul back in 2014, said that the NICU journey is a roller coaster as it is full of ups and downs, and you don't know what your future is going to look like, so they live by the motto one day at a time.

That is how they got through their own three-month journey in the NICU at Abington Hospital. The Wyndmoor couple discovered they were expecting back in July 2010, with their twin girls due the following March.

Sharkey twins born at just 23 weeks gestation

Martha told WHYY she did not feel quite right in November, so she went to get checked out that month. She was soon admitted to the hospital with Martha giving birth five days later, on November 14, 2010, to Claire Josephine and Mary Gladys.

The twins arrived at just 23 weeks gestation. Mary weighed one pound four ounces, and Claire weighed one pound two ounces. Martha recalled that her husband looked at her and said they would leave the hospital with two, one, or none, and they would be okay with whichever path was chosen for them.

The twin girls were so fragile, but the babies were fighters. Martha said that each day was different, and they had to make medical decisions, with both praying for the best outcome. The most difficult part was that they had to go home every night without their babies.

Martha said they had many difficult moments at the beginning and difficult days. She added that you have got to keep taking it one day, one minute, one moment at a time. The couple got some unfortunate news, though, as Mary passed away two weeks after she was born.

She said Mary's death rocked their world as she was their stronger twin at birth. Martha and Paul said goodbye to their daughter and worked hard to help Claire continue her fight to stay alive.

Read Also: Daughter Who Saves Father's Life During His 70th Birthday Encourages Others to Learn CPR

Sharkey pays it forward with "Today is a Good Day"

The family kept track of the good days with the help of daily journaling, and they would rejoice at the small wins. The couple learned how to bond with their baby girl by creating bonding squares for scent. They used that to read to Claire and be active in her care. That worked wonders as Claire finally came home after more than 100 days in the NICU.

Martha recalled that it was such a big day and milestone for them. The friendships that they made and the gratitude for all the support they got pulled the Sharkeys back to Abington Hospital. They would take Claire to the NICU to provide inspiration to other parents who were still on their journey.

The Penn State grads soon decided to start "Today is a Good Day," which provides hope to NICU families. The non-profit started in Abington Hospital and now services 17 hospitals across six states.

Related Article: Utah Mom of 6 Shares What She Hopes Children Know Before They Leave Home
Photo: (Photo : Robert E. Klein/Getty Images)

Mark Wahlberg was emotional when talking about his late mom, Alma, during an appearance on TODAY's 3rd hour on Monday, October 10.

The beloved matriarch of the Wahlberg family died in April 2021, and the 51-year-old Hollywood star revealed that he keeps the memory of his mother alive by regularly listening to her old voicemails and other recordings.

The "Boogie Nights" actor told Sheinelle Jones, who interviewed Alma Wahlberg in a 2018 episode of "Through Mom's Eyes," that his mother touched everybody she met.

Alma was the true meaning of the word matriarch

Jones echoed Mark's sentiment, saying that she changed her life when recalling her experience with her. She said that the interview with Alma, which was only supposed to last for just 20 to 30 minutes, ended up lasting for hours.

Jones, who has three children of her own, said in the TODAY interview that for her, she was the true meaning of the word matriarch. She noted that Alma always talked about how her son Mark would call her every day. Jones added that Alma would then say, "Call your mother. I can't do her accent."

Wahlberg was impressed when hearing that, saying that it was pretty good and better than most of the people in "The Departed" that were not from Boston. He, of course, was referring to the Oscar-winning 2006 movie that Martin Scorsese directed.

Wahlberg said that his mother was the true definition of hard work, explaining that she did what she had to do to provide for her nine children. He said that his mom was truly an inspiration.

He told Jones that she caught her off guard by pulling out that one, and he would watch that interview just so he could see her face. He explained that all he has now is the recordings and voicemails she left him, and he often listens to them.

Read Also: Aurora First Responders Get Recognition for Helping Mother Resuscitate Toddler in Colorado

Wahlberg churning out hits on Netflix

Wahlberg shared the advice he now tells everybody he knows whose parents are still alive. He said that he reminds them to call their parents every day, tell them how much they love them, and be there and connect with them as much as possible.

Wahlberg has been in three films so far this year, and all of them have proven to be huge hits on streaming giant Netflix, according to ComicBook.com. Sony's "Uncharted," which starred Tom Holland and Wahlberg, was a mainstay on the Netflix Top 10 for several weeks after the movie was added to the roster of the streamer.

Wahlberg's other 2022 movies can be found on the Netflix Top 10 this week, one of which is now occupying the top spot. "Father Stu" sits at No. 1 while "Me Time" is ranked No. 9, weeks after its debut.

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Photo: (Photo : Pexel/Tatiana Syrikova)

Children are most affected when their parents go through a divorce.

It is not only a pivotal experience for children but also can hugely affect the trajectory of their lives. From a child's perspective, divorce signifies loss of stability and, more importantly, loss of their united family. It causes a range of emotional responses in children, from anger to frustration to anxiety and depression. It also has a negative impact on children's physical, psychological, and academic well-being.

This is why it is of utmost importance that the parents, though not together anymore, should ensure that kids and their happiness and welfare are their topmost priority.

What is co-parenting?

Divorced parents will always desire to give their kids a normal way of living, and though this can be pretty difficult, it can be done through co-parenting.

Co-parenting is having both parents play an active role in their kids' daily lives. This is said to be the best way to ensure that children's needs are met and, simultaneously, allow them to preserve and even deepen their close relationship with their separated parents.

Still being in contact with each other, making shared decisions, interacting at drop-offs, or simply conversing with a person one would rather forget about can all seem like impossible tasks. However, for the sake of the kids, parents should be able to conquer co-parenting challenges and develop an amicable working relationship with one another.

As parents, they don't have a choice but to make co-parenting work.

"Your marriage may be over, but your family is not; acting in your kids' best interest is your most important priority. The first step to being a mature, responsible co-parent is to always put your children's needs ahead of your own," Help Guide emphasized.

Separating the personal relationship from co-parenting is the key to successful co-parenting. Both must start thinking that their relationship with each other is now a completely new one, a selfless relationship that is entirely about the well-being of the children.

Read Also: The Possible Consequences for Children Whose Parents Got Divorced

10 Tips to make children happy even with divorced parents

Karen Stewart, founder of Fairway Divorce Solutions and author of several books about divorce, has been through the struggles of divorce and co-parenting and has learned a lot from them.

Now, she gets to offer "sage parenting advice" on how to raise confident, happy, and well-adapted children despite experiencing divorce through co-parenting, like how she has gotten to transition 5,200 Canadian families from navigating divorce to a life of new beginnings.

Create a detailed schedule and communication plan. "Fail to plan, plan to fail," as they say. Thus, make sure that both have a clear plan and schedule regarding the drop-offs, parenting, communication methods, and finances so that both can have more freedom, in the end, to focus on other things in their lives. Avoid giving the children their overnight bags to take to school. Make this a part of the "clear plan." Do not embarrass or traumatize the kids because they have to carry big overnight bags to school. Ensure both parents are included in all school correspondence. This is a part of responsible parenting. Never badmouth the other parent ever. When children hear one parent badmouthing the other, it seems they are being told that half of them is not okay. It is that simple, yet it is that dangerous. Do not sweat the small stuff. And never allow small matters to escalate into huge, towering problems. Remember to let it go. At the end of the day, what truly matters is the kid's happiness. Encourage involvement of extended family, even if one parent does not like the other's family. Remember that each parent needs all the help they can get. Let go of what goes on at the house of the other parent. Of course, except if the child is in danger. Stop taking everything under one's control. Lay out the finances early in the school year. Who will pay for what and what activities the children will do should always need to be discussed and agreed upon. Children need to know as well in advance the plan for school so that they can look forward to it, focus on having good grades and have fun at the same time. Children thrive with routine while failing in chaos. Place the school year rotation schedule on the fridge or where everyone can see it. Always be kind and ready to apologize when unkind. Kindness is the foundation for a happy life; model that to the children.

Related Article: Kelly Clarkson Opens up About Motherhood and What She Learned in Therapy After Divorce
Photo: (Photo : LARS HAGBERG/AFP via Getty Images)

A Black teen in the state of Mississippi has died days after police shot him in the head outside a discount store, and his relatives are questioning the actions of the police officers.

Police shot 15-year-old Jaheim McMillan in the parking lot of a Family Dollar store in Gulfport on Thursday, October 6. Gulfport is Mississippi's second-most-populous city after Jackson, which is located about 160 miles to the north.

Harrison County Coroner Brian Switzer said that McMillan died shortly before 5 p.m. on Saturday after the teen was taken off life support at USA Health University Hospital in Mobile, Alabama. Switzer confirmed the death to the Sun Herald newspaper of Biloxi.

Shots fired after police engaged McMillan

Gulfport police issued a news release, saying that the shooting happened around 2:30 p.m. after they responded to a 911 call about several minors threatening other motorists by waving guns at them.

According to the release, the minors fled the vehicle when cops arrived at the scene. According to Gulfport Police Chief Adam Cooper, an officer engaged an armed suspect, who was since identified as McMillan, resulting in shots being fired.

Police said the suspect was transported to a local hospital after suffering from a single gunshot wound. The police department has not released the race of the officer who shot the victim, according to Revolt. The statement said that the officer had been placed on non-enforcement duties in accordance with their procedures.

McMillan could be seen in a video recorded by a bystander after the shots were fired. He was on the ground in front of the door to the store. A witness said cops handcuffed McMillan after he had been shot. According to Cooper, police took four other suspects into custody, all believed to be minors. Several firearms were recovered in those arrests.

The family of McMillan does not believe he was armed, though, and their supporters called for the release of video of the teen's shooting.

Read Also: Mark Wahlberg Still Listens to Old Voicemails From His Late Mom

McMillan's grandma says pain is indescribable

According to NBC News, community members released balloons on Sunday in McMillan's memory. They also staged a protest in front of the Gulfport Police Department.

McMillan's grandmother Michelle Warren said that the pain is indescribable and it is just like a hole in her heart. She added that they just snatched a part of her heart out, and she is still trying to process what happened to her grandson, getting shot in the head.

McMillan is survived by his mom, Katrina Mateen, and other relatives. Sandy East, a spokesperson for the school district, confirmed that McMillan studied at Gulfport High School, where he was a ninth-grade student.

East said that they are very sad about the situation, and they are offering all of their students counseling and support if they need it.

Related Article: Aurora First Responders Get Recognition for Helping Mother Resuscitate Toddler in Colorado
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Microsofts Surface Pro 9 is noteworthy in one particular aspect: You now have a choice between an always-connected version with an Arm processor, or a more powerful 12th-gen Core chip for more traditional use.

Essentially, the single Surface Pro 9 represents the merging of two product lines, with the traditional Surface Pro tablet and the Surface Pro X now transformed as the Surface Pro 9 and Surface Pro 9 with 5G, respectively. And thats interesting, since the Surface Pro 9s two different versions continue to significantly differ in both their capabilities and even their feature sets: one for performance, and one for connectivity.

Both versions of the Surface Pro 9 will begin shipping on October 25, starting at $999.99 for the 12th-gen Core (Alder Lake) and $1,299.99 for the Surface Pro 9 with 5G (Arm) version, which uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 chip designed to Microsofts specifications, known as the SQ3. The Surface Pro 9 for Business will use even more powerful 12th-gen Core options. Preorders begin today.

Its fair to say that that the Surface Pro 9 is essentially identical to its predecessor, the Surface Pro 8, with exactly the same physical dimensions (11.3 x 8.2 x 0.37 inches). Microsoft shaved 0.02 pounds off of the chassis weight, however, so both the SQ3 and Core versions weigh in at 1.94 pounds, with a slight variation for the SQ3s WWAN options. Granted, this makes the Arm-powered version slightly thicker than Microsofts Arm-powered Surface Pro X.

A key feature of the Snapdragon architecture is the neural processing unit (NPU). Recall that Microsoft took advantage of this capability in enabling Eye Contact, an AI-powered feature that makes it appear as if your gaze never wavers from the camera during a Teams call. Microsoft implemented this inside the Surface Pro X, and a more full-featured version, known as Windows Studio, ships with the Surface Pro 9s SQ3 variant.

The default Surface Pro Signature keyboard will continue the Surface Pro Xs design, with a Surface Slim Pen 2 tucked into the keyboards charging cradle. The keyboards as well as the Surface Pro 9 chassis will be available in two new colors: Sapphire (blue) and Forest (green) color, as well as traditional Graphite. Platinum will be exclusive to the Surface Pro 9 with 5G. Microsoft didnt disclose the price of the new keyboards, however.

The Microsoft Surface Pro 9 features a variety of color options, including Sapphire and Forest. Microsoft

The new Signature keyboards are made with partially biobased Alcantara material containing at least 12 percent renewable content that is derived from sugarcane waste, Microsoft said. The tablet will also be compatible with with the existing Surface Pro, Surface Pro Signature, Surface Pro X, and Surface Pro X Signature keyboards.

Theres something special, too: To help us celebrate 10 years of Surface, weve partnered with London-based global design house Liberty to bring art and technology together to create a special-edition Surface Pro keyboard and laser-etched Surface Pro 9 with an exclusive pattern in a vibrant blue floral inspired by the Windows 11 Bloomavailable in select markets, only at Liberty and Microsoft Stores while supplies last, Microsofts chief product officer, Panos Panay, wrote in a blog post.

The Surface Pro 9 and its Liberty color variant. Microsoft

Internally, Microsoft is now using LPDDR5X (versus the SP8s LPDDR4X) memory and making all of the SSD options removeable. The Surface Pro 9 with 5G, however, doesnt quite offer all the same goodies as its Core cousin, with older memory technologies and smaller storage options. It appears Microsoft also finally did away with the 3.5mm headphone jack, replacing it with an external Audio Dock instead.

Surface Pro 9 basic features

Display: 13-inch PixelSense Flow (28801920, 267 PPI) up to 120Hz with dynamic refresh rate

13-inch PixelSense Flow (28801920, 267 PPI) up to 120Hz with dynamic refresh rate Processor: Surface Pro 9 (consumer): 12th-gen Core i5-1235U, Core i7-1255U; Surface Pro 9 for Business: Core i5-1245U, Core i7-1265U; Surface Pro 9 with 5G: Microsoft SQ3

Surface Pro 9 (consumer): 12th-gen Core i5-1235U, Core i7-1255U; Surface Pro 9 for Business: Core i5-1245U, Core i7-1265U; Surface Pro 9 with 5G: Microsoft SQ3 Graphics: Surface Pro 9: Iris Xe (Core i5, i7); Surface Pro 9 with 5G: SQ3 Adreno 8CX Gen 3

Surface Pro 9: Iris Xe (Core i5, i7); Surface Pro 9 with 5G: SQ3 Adreno 8CX Gen 3 Memory: Surface Pro 9: 8/16/32GB LPDDR5 RAM; Surface Pro 9 with 5G: 8/16GB LPDDR4X RAM

Surface Pro 9: 8/16/32GB LPDDR5 RAM; Surface Pro 9 with 5G: 8/16GB LPDDR4X RAM Storage: 128GB/256GB/512GB/1TB removable SSD; Surface Pro 9 with 5G: 128GB/256GB/512GB removeable SSD

128GB/256GB/512GB/1TB removable SSD; Surface Pro 9 with 5G: 128GB/256GB/512GB removeable SSD Ports: 2 USB-C (USB 4.0/Thunderbolt 4), 1 Surface Connect port, Surface Keyboard Port

2 USB-C (USB 4.0/Thunderbolt 4), 1 Surface Connect port, Surface Keyboard Port Security: Camera (Windows Hello)

Camera (Windows Hello) Camera: Surface Pro 9: undisclosed/1080p (user-facing), 10MP/1080p and 4K video (rear-facing); Surface Pro 9 with 5G: same, but with Windows Studio Effects

Surface Pro 9: undisclosed/1080p (user-facing), 10MP/1080p and 4K video (rear-facing); Surface Pro 9 with 5G: same, but with Windows Studio Effects Battery: Surface Pro 9: 15.5 hours; Surface Pro 9 with 5G: 19 hours

Surface Pro 9: 15.5 hours; Surface Pro 9 with 5G: 19 hours Wireless: Both: Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.1; Surface Pro 9 with 5G: see below

Both: Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.1; Surface Pro 9 with 5G: see below Operating system: Consumer, both Surface Pro 9 versions: Windows 11 Home; Business, Surface Pro 9: Windows 10 Pro or Windows 11 Pro; Surface Pro 9 with 5G: Windows 11 Pro

Consumer, both Surface Pro 9 versions: Windows 11 Home; Business, Surface Pro 9: Windows 10 Pro or Windows 11 Pro; Surface Pro 9 with 5G: Windows 11 Pro Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.2 x 0.37 inches

11.3 x 8.2 x 0.37 inches Weight: Surface Pro 9: 1.94 pounds; Surface Pro 9 with 5G: 1.95 pounds (mmWave); 1.94 pounds (Sub6)

Surface Pro 9: 1.94 pounds; Surface Pro 9 with 5G: 1.95 pounds (mmWave); 1.94 pounds (Sub6) Color: Platinum, Graphite, Sapphire, Forest, Liberty (limited supplies)

Platinum, Graphite, Sapphire, Forest, Liberty (limited supplies) Price: Surface Pro 9 (consumer): $999 to $2,599.99, depending on configuration; Surface Pro 9 with 5G (consumer): $1,299.99 to $1,899.99; Surface Pro 9 for Business: $1,099.99 to $2,699.99; Surface Pro 9 with 5G for Business: $1,399.99 to undisclosed

Surface Pro 9 (consumer): $999 to $2,599.99, depending on configuration; Surface Pro 9 with 5G (consumer): $1,299.99 to $1,899.99; Surface Pro 9 for Business: $1,099.99 to $2,699.99; Surface Pro 9 with 5G for Business: $1,399.99 to undisclosed Optional accessories: Surface Slim Pen 2: $97 on sale at Amazon; Surface Pro Signature Keyboard: on sale at Amazon for $149.99

How to choose which Surface Pro 9 to buy

The Surface Pro 9 variants do have a few tradeoffs. For one, Intels new 12th-gen Alder Lake chips dramatically outperform their predecessors, the 11th-gen Core chips, while a footnote attached to the Surface Pro 9 with 5G notes that the tablet will not install some games and CAD software, and some third-party drivers or antivirus software, due to the Arm chip insidegames with OpenGL 1.2 or above or with anti-cheat software, essentially. Remember, too, that the Thread Director software included in Windows 11 (not Windows 10, commercial users) has been tuned for Intels Alder Lake architecture.

If it matters, the Core version is an Intel Evo design; the Arm version, not surprisingly, is not. The Surface Pro 9 also supports Dolby Vision IQ, an HDR technology; the Surface Pro 9 with 5G does not. While both devices are secured-core PCs for protection against firmware attacks, only the Surface Pro 9 with 5G uses Microsofts Pluton security block. (We discussed the likely reasons for this disparate approach in a previous article.)

Still, the Surface Pro 9 with 5G is the only Surface Pro 9 that offers 5G, and it also offers a moderate improvement in battery life. There are quite a number of different LTE and 5G options that Microsoft will offer, which weve included below for those who are interested.

The Surface Pro 9 with 5G can access a variety of LTE and 5G bands. Microsoft

Also, while Microsoft touted its Windows Studio effects as a feature for Windows 11s 2022 Update (22H2), that feature never showed up in the real world. Now we know why: It will depend on the SQ3s NPU. It looks like the Surface Pro 9 with 5G will offer Automatic Framing (a software-based zoom to frame your face in the center of the screen, if possible; the aforementioned Eye Contact feature; Voice Focus, which uses AI to filter out background noise; and Portrait Background Blur. The latter, of course, is used within Zoom and Microsoft Teams already, though its a feature of the app, not Windows.

Interestingly, Microsoft tells PCWorld that these features require 15 TOPS, or trillions of operations per second. Only the SQ3 or the related Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 can deliver this AI performance, Microsoft says.

Microsoft showed off Portrait Background Blur earlier this year, which is an app-agnostic way of putting you in focus, rather than whats behind you. Microsoft

Microsoft is also saying that the new camera includes a 4-degree tilt, but its not quite clear whether this is a physical feature or the leeway the camera has with Automatic Framing.

Microsoft also included a lengthy list of the various pricing options associated with the various Surface Pro 9 modelswhich, when you start factoring in the various options for the consumer models versus the Surface Pro 9 for Business, as well as the SQ3 versus Core, can get quite lengthy. It appears that Microsoft hasnt settled on a few of its high-end prices, either.

In an email, Microsoft representatives sent PCWorld a list of prices for the Surface Pro 9. Microsoft

Well have more on the Surface Pro 9 when and if we can get our hands on a review unit.
Microsoft said it will soon bring DALL-E 2-powered AI art to Windows with a new Microsoft Designer app and a separate, related Microsoft Image Creator toolset to Bing and Microsoft Edge.

AI art is all the rage right now, with various tools such as Craiyon providing basic ways of creating AI art. Midjourney is a more advanced AI art service that provides a step up in functionality. Meanwhile, the godfather of AI art, DALL-E, is now free to try as well.

Whats interesting, though, is that OpenAI, the developers of DALL-E, have moved on to the more sophisticated DALL-E 2 algorithm, which is locked behind beta access right now. Its this algorithm that Microsoft is promising access to, via the Microsoft Designer app. DALL-E, like other AI art engines, generates images based on text prompts you write, so that a text prompt like a sunrise over an alien world, populated with dinosaurs can give you a custom, potentially unique illustration.

DreamStudio.AI, with the prompt: a sunrise over an alien world, populated with dinosaurs. Mark Hachman / IDG via DreamStudio

Designer helps you create from your own content or ideas and makes it easy to design social media posts, invitations, and much more, fast, chief product officer Panos Panay wrote in a blog post, while announcing new Surface hardware like the Surface Pro 9, Surface Laptop 5, and the Surface Studio 2+. It also automatically helps you get a variety of unique images and designs that are generated just for you. Im so excited for this app, its going to be a game changer for me personally.

That Microsoft joined the AI art revolution isnt surprising in the least. AI art demands substantial computational power and memory, whether it be on your own PC via tools like Stable Diffusion, or in the cloud. Most cloud services either charge for membership or use a credit-based system. Unsurprisingly, Microsoft Designer will be part of Microsoft 365, which is paid for by an annual subscription, anyway. Tapping into Microsofts Azure cloud as a part of the Microsoft 365 subscription seems like a natural fit.

Microsoft hasnt said whether it will make Designer available on an a la carte basis, or whether it will allow unlimited Microsoft Designer creations as part of the Microsoft 365 subscription. Its also unclear how Designer will interact with Image Creator, and whether Microsoft will require a Microsoft 365 subscription for that, too. We also dont know what size of the finished images Microsoft will allow, whether it provide suggested prompts or styles, or allows for outpainting (editing part of an image), image-to-image prompts, and more.

Still, Microsoft seems to understand that AI art is a viable creative pursuit, and the wave of the future. The integration of Microsoft AI and DALLE 2 in our new Microsoft Designer app is an amazing example of AI assistance blurring the lines between the platform, the device, and the cloud, all so you can express yourself even better, Panay wrote. Saving time and improving creative outcomes, regardless of your level of expertise.

We didnt have immediate access to what Microsoft Designer looks like, so we just asked an AI (DreamStudio) what it might look like. Well have to see how it did!
Looking to increase those frame rates? Graphics card pricing is finally getting reasonable again, and Amazons Prime Early Access Sale, colloquially known as Prime Day 2 or October Prime Day, starts Oct 11 and through Oct 12hopefully to the benefit of desktop gamers looking to score a deal.



For almost two years, the quadruple-action combo of pandemic gaming demand, worldwide chip shortages, cryptocurrency boom, and scalpers trying to get rich on all three at once kept graphics card prices sky high. But now were finally seeing them drop down to more sane levels, with a 50% dive this calendar year alone. And now that new cards from Nvidia and AMD are on the horizon, and with Intel coming in to compete directly on price, its a great time to hunt for deals on cards from the last generation.

Amazon is being pretty cheeky trying to squeeze in a second Prime Day sale in the same year, especially just a month before the consumer spending mania that is Black Friday. But since so much has changed in the GPU market since this years first Prime Day in July, were happy to get a second chance at some low prices. Of course youll need to be an Amazon Prime subscriber to take advantage of the dealsheres how you can score a subscription for free.

Best Nvidia graphics card deals

Best AMD graphics card deals

With stocks of graphics cards high and new models ready to hit shelves, Amazons competitors wont be sitting on their hands during the sale. Well be scouring the web for the best deals on GPUs from other major sellers too, like Best Buy, Newegg, Walmart, and eBay. And most of the time, theyll let you score a deal without needing to buy a subscription first.
Ministers responsible for Trade in 16 African countries are meeting in Accra to conclude outstanding issues to pave way for the full commencement of commercial trading under the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).



The two-day meeting will feature the presentation of the AfCFTA facilitated and guided trade initiative and the way forward.



It is a follow-up on the Ministerial Directive of the seventh Meeting of the AfCFTA Council of Ministers in October 2021 that provided a legal basis for the countries that had submitted their tariff schedules in accordance with the agreed modalities to trade preferentially among themselves.



Rapid ratification



The Champion of AfCFTA, Mahamadou Issoufou, addressing the trade ministers and other representatives at the opening of the meeting yesterday, called for a rapid ratification of the AfCFTA Agreement for a smooth commencement of commercial trading.



He recommended that the ministers accelerated the implementation of the AfCFTA by forming implementation committees at the national level.



The ministers, he said, were also to assist the AfCFTA Secretariat to ensure the successful hosting of a Summit on Industrialisation and the Extraordinary Session of the AfCFTA.



The Summit on Africas Industrialisation and Economic Diversity with the focus of implementing AfCFTA and the Extraordinary Session of the Assembly was scheduled to be held in Niamey, Niger, from November 20-25, 2022 during the Africa Industrialisation week.



As a step towards a meaningful trade under the agreement, Mr Issoufou said the guided traded initiative had also been launched, describing it as another milestone.



Today marks a time of yet another additional milestone to be recorded in the history of Africas economic integration.



As a step towards commencing commercially meaningful trade under the AfCFTA, the Secretariat has set this day to launch the AfCFTA Guided Trade Initiative.



The objective of the initiative is to provide a proof of concept, highlighting the readiness of an interested group of State Parties to start trading under the preferences of the AfCFTA Agreement, he explained.



Steady development



Mr Issoufou noted that there had been a steady development regarding the ratification of the AfCFTA Agreement with 54 signatories.



Also, 44 ratifications had been recorded with Guinea-Bissau being the latest country to deposit its instrument of ratification.



He was certain more ratifications would be reported before the end of the year, and called on heads of States, ministers and partners to help increase the number of ratification to achieve the formation of the single African market.



Implementing recommendations



The AfCFTA Champion mentioned that the AfCFTA Secretary-General had taken steps to implement some recommendations by signing a memorandum of understanding with Equity Group to deepen the economic integration of the African continent.



The partnership, Mr Issoufou indicated, would seek to implement the AfCFTA Agreement and the AfCFTA Private Sector Strategy through the `Africa Recovery and Resilience Plan, which would focus on acceleration of economic recovery and resilience in Africa in a post-COVID-19 environment.



He further explained that two institutions were to work on the private sector economic recovery and resilience stimulus plan, which Equity Group had seeded with a $6billion fund, focusing on the primary sectors of food and agriculture, extractives, manufacturing and logistics, trade and investments, social impact, health and environmental investments, as well as a technology enabled economy to accelerate economic recovery and resilience of the African continent.



The partnership will, among others, support the creation of 50 million jobs by 2025 and five million small medium enterprises (SMEs) will receive loans to scale and grow, utilising tools of the AfCFTA Agreement and create additional private sector lending with an envisaged loan book to be directed to agriculture (30 per cent), manufacturing (15 per cent) and MSMEs (65 per cent), he said.

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Ghanas Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta is in Washington, DC, to attend the 2022 IMF and World Bank Annual meetings and advance negotiations with the IMF on a Programme that addresses Ghana's macroeconomic and structural challenges.



As part of the Annual Meetings Programme, the Finance Minister, on October 11th, 2022, attended the 108th Meeting of Ministers and Governors of the Group of 24 on the theme "Securing a Sustained Post-Pandemic Recovery".



The meeting provided a platform to discuss critical areas where the international community and international financial institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank Group could scale up their support for emerging economies.



This forum comes against the backdrop of a confluence of external shocks - in particular, the covid pandemic, the continuing consequences of the Russia-Ukraine war and deepening concern about the imminent impact of climate change.



There is the need to put a spotlight on the economic consequences of climate change, particularly as it relates to developing countries who are the least contributors to climate change, Mr. Ofori-Atta told the G-24 Ministers and Governors meeting.



Climate change has wiped out a fifth of the wealth of climate vulnerable countries over the last two decades alone, meaning that vulnerable countries have lost approximately US$525 billion because of global warming induced by human - or anthropogenic - activity, as opposed to the natural climate cycle.

This has horrific effects on lives and livelihoods. The time to act is now. Mr. Ofori-Atta said.



The Finance Minister subsequently met with the Director for the Africa Department of the IMF, Abebe Aemro Selassie, to press on with negotiations with the IMF.



Formal negotiations will continue after the Annual Meetings, between the Government of Ghana team, led by Mr. Ofori-Atta; and the IMF team, led by the IMF Mission Chief, Stephane Roudet.



The negotiations will prioritize the implementation of policies that create the conditions for a stable macroeconomic environment, sustainable growth and debt sustainability.



Mr. Ofori-Atta told the G-24 to champion the rollout of more debt for climate swaps in order to address the dual crisis of climate change and rising debt in order to build economic resilience amongst climate vulnerable countries.



Debt for Climate (DFC) swaps enable countries to make external debt payments in local currency instead of a foreign one, to finance climate projects domestically on agreed terms. DFC swaps can reduce the level of indebtedness as well as free up fiscal resources to be spent on green investments.

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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Shoe Fabriek, the only and largest safety boots manufacturer in Ghana, is celebrating its 1st Anniversary after its new factory in Akropong-Akuapem was commissioned by the President of Ghana, H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on October 6, 2021.



The company has a factory equipped with ultramodern machinery, making it the largest safety boots manufacturer in Ghana and West Africa. The factory can produce 32,000 pairs of different models of shoes a month, including security boots, safety boots, and school and casual shoes,

using state-of-the-art technology and full-fledged infrastructure.



Moreover, Shoe Fabriek has trained over 60 individuals to develop and perfect shoe-making skills on the Akuapem Ridge this past year; in our quest to transform the shoe-making landscape in Ghana and West Africa. In the subsequent years, we anticipate training a minimum of 300 more young people in our catchment area by 2025.



Furthermore, we delight our clients by making high-quality shoes and apparel for men, women, and children. Due to this, this past year, we have been privileged to work with local and international companies; to produce various kinds of high-quality shoes within our portfolio, from factory workers to students.



Shoe Fabriek, therefore, urges all manufacturing, construction and Security companies to source their security boots, safety boots and PPEs from us. Our strategic location, an hours drive from Accra, facilitates short production lead times and ease of delivery, ensuring cost-effectiveness and timeliness.



Commenting on the occasion, the General Manager of Shoe Fabriek, Beauty Larbi, mentioned that we are committed to transforming the African shoe-making industry. The quality and delivery of the shoes we make is strong evidence of our commitment.

As a people-focused, socially inclusive, and sustainable business, over 70% of our staff are women aged below 35 years. This is a deliberate move to ensure that women in the Akropong Akuapem enclave are empowered.



Additionally, the company has since donated security boots to cadets of six Senior High Schools on the Akuapem Ridge, and school sandals to students of the Akropong School for the Blind. Regarding our commitment to the environment, Shoe Fabriek uses efficient technology and processes that enable us to recycle and upcycle our raw materials. Doing these protects the environment and enhances economic development for all.



Combining local craftsmanship with international precision, the company produces the best quality footwear, according to partner specifications, for the highest functionality and performance. This is attested to by brands that have worked with Shoe Fabriek for private-label projects, giving us many exciting collaborations in the pipeline that we look forward to sharing with the world soon.



With the slogan Every Step Counts, Shoe Fabriek has, without a doubt, made a huge impact and will continue to do so whilst flying high the flag of Ghana - on the continent and globally.



Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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FanMilk PLC, a Danone Company, has today inaugurated three (3) green projects at its North Industrial Area Plant in Accra in line with global efforts to accelerate to net zero carbon emissions.



Built at a total cost of seven million Euros, the projects, a Wastewater Treatment Plant, Biomass Boiler and Solar Power Installation are a demonstration of Danones One Planet One Health vision and reinforces the companys leadership in sustainability in Ghana and globally.



Speaking at the launch of the Green Projects, Christian Stammkoetter, Danones Africa, Asia, and Middle East Presidentsaid: we are all witnessing the unprecedented effects of climate change all over the globe. It has become critical for us all in the world to join hands and protect planet earth and achieve sustainability through the right policies and technological innovations, both in the private and public sector. At Danone, we believe that we can have a collective impact by working together to ensure that any economic rebound after the pandemic is both planet-friendly and socially inclusive; and by encouraging everyone to contribute to sustainable performance and impact. These green projects we unveil today are our contribution to protecting the environment and the planet.



Launching the Green Projects, The Minister of Environment, Science, Technology, Innovation, Dr Kwaku Afriyie said: FanMilk Ghana has lived to its promise of providing improved lives for the people of Ghana by not only producing nutritional products for Ghanaians but also, directly and indirectly, employing thousands of Ghanaians and helping to alleviate unemployment in this country. Government is pleased with your effort in this regard, and we are hopeful that by the establishment of these new sustainable environment projects, you will continue to do even more in the area of environment and technology for the country at large. He ended by commending FanMilk and encouraging other organizations to follow FanMilks good example.







The investments are in line with Danones expansion drive and the companys One Planet, One Health vision. The Wastewater treatment plant will ensure that only clean water from the factory is discharged into the environment. The quality of the final discharge will accelerate the regeneration and sustenance of the Odaw River to promote other forms of life for river bodies. Also, the solid waste generated from the plant can be used as manure thereby improving agricultural ecosystem in support of a broader objective of encouraging regenerative agriculture. The discharge effluents will also comply with Danones strict clean water standards.



The Solar Power Installation at both the Industrial area factory, offices and the various regional distribution centers, is in pursuance of the companys global strategy of reducing dependency on conventional energy sources and increasing the use of renewable energies.



With the new biomass boiler, FanMilk will now switch from using diesel as its fuel source to a multi-fuel system that uses palm kernel shell or wooden chips to cater for the factorys steaming requirement of 1,800kg/h. With this move, the company is making significant steps to saving the environment by turning waste material to an effective fuel for the biomass boiler.



The General Manager of FanMilk West Africa, Ziobeieton Yeo, spoke at the event saying, For more than 60 years, our company has been led by our belief in this dual mission that economic progress and social progress go hand in hand. As a purpose-led organization, we champion a more emotionally balanced, healthier, socially progressive society, while protecting the environment. Todays commissioning is a demonstration of our deep level of commitment to the cause of saving the earth while creating jobs through our unique business model. All of these Green Projects will go a long way to help our pursuit.



This is not the first time that FanMilk Danone has made investments into the country. In June 2021, the company opened a new multipurpose head office at the Industrial Area in Accra. Earlier this year the company also invested in vehicles and logistics for its trade partners, while launching the 2022 edition of the flagship FanMilk school caravan, the educational programme that trains school children on good sanitation and healthy snacking.



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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Ghana's National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) Chief Executive, Dr. Bernard Okoe Boye was Africa's exclusive representative at the 14th Global Health Insurance Conference held in Praque, Czech Republic.



From 6th to 7th October, 2022, the gathering brought together industry experts to proffer in-depth knowledge about the latest challenges and innovations the industry is facing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.



Delivering his speech on the theme "Ghana's National Health Insurance, the journey so far, " the NHIA Chief Executive made a case for foreign direct investment in the medical insurance sector in Ghana.



He gave an overview of Ghana's Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) journey so far and the health insurance space in Africa.



The NHIA Boss disclosed the huge opportunity for private investors to inject capital into the private health insurance industry.



"Investment in health insurance will not only provide access to healthcare but also create jobs for the youth."



He said available records Indicated that a little over 500,000 residents were registered by Ghanas private health insurance companies and underscored the need for more investors.



"The National Health Insurance Authority, as the regulator of the private health insurance space is more than willing to facilitate the participation of private partners."



"We at the National Health Insurance Authority are not in competition with the private insurers. Our objective is to ensure that every Ghanaian is on health insurance, be it private or public."



Dr. Okoe Boye unearthed that close to 10 million people in Ghana are without any form of health insurance.



He said, "Most of these people are in the middle and upper class and do pay for care out of pocket with the assumption that they can afford healthcare any time they are sick."



He said the NHIS remained Ghana's leading vehicle to attain Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by the year 2030.



The 14th edition of Global Health Insurance Conference sought to better equip insurers and healthcare providers with answers of how to thrive amid this constantly evolving and changing landscape.



It aimed to answer the question of how to develop a healthcare ecosystem that is beneficial for everyone while acknowledging the new data-sharing regulations, and how to incorporate digital solutions in a convenient way that enables long-term engagement with customers, therefore helping to transform the healthcare system into a fully integrated customer-centric model.

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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An Accra Circuit Court on Monday remanded the Founder of the Heaven Way Champion International Ministry at Weija in Accra, Patricia Asiedua, aka Nana Agradaa, for three days over an alleged money-doubling scam.

She was charged with one count of charlatanic advertisement and six counts of defrauding by false pretence when she appeared before the court, presided over by Samuel Bright Acquah.



The accused has, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.



The prosecutor, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Maxwell Oppong, said the accused, in her quest to deceive members of the public that she could double any amount given to her, advertised the money-doubling scam on Today Television and some social media platforms.



Six complainants, according to the prosecution, gave amounts ranging from GH230 to GH760 to Nana Agradaa under the pretext of having the money doubled.



ASP Oppong said the police were authenticating over 50 complainants against the accused.



Bail application



Counsel for Nana Agradaa, Randolph Twumasi, in his bail application, argued that in spite of the public uproar, his client was innocent until proven guilty.



He further told the court that his client had a fixed place of abode and people of good substance to stand as sureties for her when granted bail.



Counsel added that the suspect was not arrested but drove herself to the police regional office.



The prosecution could not even establish if the complainants are, indeed, church members, he said.



Bail opposed



ASP Oppong rebutted claims that the accused voluntarily turned herself to the police.



He said contrary to the account given by counsel, the police blocked all access to her hideout after intelligence disclosed that the accused intended to travel.



The accused, he said, had no option but to report herself to the police.



The prosecutor further told the court that Nana Agradaa had no fixed place of abode and would not be available to stand trial when granted bail.



For her own safety and public interest, he prayed the court to remand the suspect to keep her away from angry church members.



The judge remanded the accused and ordered her to reappear on October 13, 2022.



Prosecution's facts



The facts, as presented by ASP Oppong, were that on October 5, 2022, the accused advertised and invited on Today's TV and some social media platforms that she was able to double any amount of money an individual gave her.



In the advert, the prosecutor said, the accused invited members of the public to attend all-night service at her church to have their money doubled.



The complainants and over 1,000 others attended the said all-night service, and upon the request of the accused person, handed over huge sums of money to the accused but failed to double the money, as alleged, the prosecutor told the court.



ASP Oppong told the court that the police commenced investigations into the matter and arrested the accused person on October 9, 2022.



He further told the court that the accused, during interrogations, admitted the story of the complainants.



Police investigations have established that on 5th October, 2022, the accused, by a self-made video, advertised on Today TV and some social media platforms that she (accused) was able to double any amount of money an individual gave her (accused).



Further investigations established that the accused person, per the said charlatanic advert, invited the public to attend an all-night church service at Heaven Way Champion International Ministry, Weija, a suburb of Accra, for their money to be doubled, he said.



He said pursuant to the said adverts by the accused on social media, the complainants came from far and near to attend an all-night service at Heaven Way Champion International Ministry, Weija to get their money doubled by the accused.



Then accused successfully demanded and received huge sums of money from some members of the public who attended the said all-night service at Heaven Way Champion International Ministry, Weija, including complainants in this matter, as indicated on the face of the charge sheet, he said.



Further investigations, according to the prosecutor, revealed that the accused undertook the charlatanic advertisement and subsequent money collection with other persons for the purported money doubling.



He said efforts were underway to identify and arrest such persons to assist in investigations.

Source: graphiconline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Rwandan President Paul Kagame, has urged Parliaments worldwide to work together to combat the growing ideology of dehumanisation, genocide and racism, which according to him threatened peace and democracy.



He said genocide, denial and reversionism were fast becoming a growing threat to peace and security globally and blamed social media for being partly responsible for all those forms of threats, adding that hate speech and misinformation, which nohad existed for a long time, played a major role.



Collaboration between Parliaments is needed to work on all these challenges to criminalise all forms of dehumanisation and racism worldwide, he stated.



President Kagame was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the 145TH Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) assembly in Kigali on Tuesday (Oct 11)



He said When we think that all the problems of dehumanisation, genocide and reversion are confined to Africa, we immediately realise that other parts of the world are going through similar challenges that affect peace and democracy".

What a better way then can we think of to find solutions than through cooperation. and I think we need to work together more and more, he said.



The six-day event is being held on the theme Gender equality and gender-sensitive parliaments as drivers of change for a more resilient and peaceful world.



It is being attended by about 1,200 delegates, including some 60 Speakers and deputy Speakers of Parliaments from 120 Parliament across the world.



The participants include the Speaker of Ghanas Parliament Rt Hon Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin, and five MPs from the country.



The assembly will facilitate the exchange of ideas on good practices to make Parliaments more gender-sensitive, encouraging the legislature to spearhead transformative actions and curb the proliferation of terrorism, the impact of war and atrocity on civilian populations.



The Rwandan President said there was no individual country or region in the world that could have all the solutions to the diverse threats against global peace and security.

He, therefore, emphasised the need for Parliaments and nations to work together to improve democracy and peace, saying that if we do not do it through cooperation, I do not think we can achieve anything, he stated.



President Kagame also said no country or people could assume that they had it all and they could tell others what they should be doing.

It does not work like that and it is not the reality of the world that we live in.



It is about recognition of our shared humanity for the betterment of our societies and the protection of future generations, he said.



Mr Kagame noted that all over the world Parliaments existed to protect the interests of citizens ; an objective that could not be met without the full and active participation of women in Parliaments, especially in leadership positions.



Despite the study gains made over the years, President Kagame said inequality between women and men continued to be widespread.

He explained how certain cultures took us a step close to equal representation but did not address the full spectrum of inequalities in Parliaments and in society at large.



Gender equality is better achieved when we acknowledge that it is a right for everyone everywhere.

Women are the backbone of resilient and peaceful societies; we need strong legal and policy frameworks in place with an emphasis on implementation and results, he said.



Citing the important roles women played in Rwandas liberation struggle, he said women remained a fundamental part of Rwandas transformation journey, with women participation in peacekeeping missions across the African continent.



The President of IPU, Duarte Pacheco, also reiterated the urgent need for Parliament to work together to solve problems facing humanity much the same way the world worked together to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic.



The Speaker of Deputies of Parliament of Rwanda, Donatille Mukabalisa, said in Rwanda promoting gender and women in leadership was a constitutional imperative.

She was happy that today there was astrong political commitment at the highest level and adequate measures were taken to boost gender equality and women in political participation and empowerment.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Central Regional Minister, Justina Marigold Assan, has commended Madam Christiana Tamakloe, CEO of DAAVI BLESSED Enterprise for single handedly putting up a modern Police Station for the Gomoa Akraman Community in the Gomoa East District of the Central Region.



The Police station which is under the new Central East Regional Police command of the Ghana Police Service will help the Service in ensuring the security of the residents in the area.



Speaking at the commissioning of the station, Marigold Assan noted that the development of the country cannot be the sole responsibility of the government and that corporate Ghana need to support the developmental agenda drive.



She was therefore grateful to Daavi Blessed Enterprise for the beautiful edifice for the people of Gomoa Akraman.



I believe this Police station will help reduce robbery activities on the Gomoa Akotsi-Agona Kwanyarko Road, she said.



During the handing over ceremony and commissioning of the station, CEO of Daavi Blessed Enterprise, Madam Christiana Tamakloe explained that, the gesture is to help the Police service boost security of the community.



She was grateful to God for the vision to help the community and pledged her continuous support to the development of Ghana.



The Director of Sales and Marketing, CIMAF Cement Ghana, Mr. Joseph Kobina Aboo praised the Distributor, Daavi Bless for the kind gesture and urged indigenes to patronize her business to enable her have the resources to provide more for the community and the country at large.



Present at the event were the District Chief Executive of Gomoa East, Hon Solomon Darko Quarm; MP, Hon Desmond Degraft Paitoo; Central East Police commander, DCOP David Eklu, some senior officers of the Police Service; Nana Nyarko Atta Kakrah, Gomoa Akramang Chief and his sub Chiefs as well as the Elders.

Source: Isaac Kwame Owusu/Peacefmonline/[email protected]









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George Mireku Duker, a deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources has reacted to allegations leveled against him that he was involved in illegal mining in the Western Region.

Nana Nyonwah Panyin IV, the Dompim-Pepesa Chief in the Western Region had accused some top officials of the government including Mr Duker of being behind the illegal mining menace in the country.



He alleged that he has evidence to the effect that Duker and other officials are involved.



He claimed to have received several death threats in relation to the activities of illegal miners and said he would do whatever was within his power to ensure the canker was stopped within his jurisdiction.



But reacting in a radio interview monitored on Accra based Citi FM, Mr Duker said, "I will entreat Ghanaians to treat this statement with a pinch of salt.



"I will not lose focus, I will concentrate on my job as the deputy Minister responsible for mining. I know it is also an effort just to derail me, it is a strategy that, galamseyers when they see that you are coming after them, they create a situation where you will lose focus so that they will have their field day. But, we will not relent, we will push forward to ensure that the right things are done."







Source: graphiconline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Attorney-General (A-G) is set to call eight witnesses to make its case against alleged illegal mining kingpin, En Huang aka Aisha Huang.

The A-G and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, today told the Accra High Court that his outfit had filed four witness statements and 18 pieces of evidence.



He therefore asked the court to adjourn the case for a week to enable the prosecution to file the rest of the documents.



Mr Dame also prayed the court, presided over by Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, to allow for expeditious trial and to hear the case on a daily basis.



Justice Marfo adjourned the case to October 24, 2022 to give the A-G ample time to file all the documents.



Meanwhile, in another case, four other accused persons said to be alleged accomplices of Aisha Huang had been denied bail and remanded into police custody.







Source: graphiconline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) is in the final stages of integrating its database with the National Identification Authority (NIA).

The DVLA has already connected its technology infrastructure with the NIA database while working on applications that would ensure that national identification cards (Ghana Cards) are integrated into the system.



The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the DVLA, Kwasi Agyeman Busia, told the Daily Graphic that full integration with the NIA would be completed by the first quarter of 2023.



The technology infrastructure is ready, tried and tested. What needs to happen now is the application that we need to work. We have to do some coding on the application part to make sure that the systems are feeding into each other or handshaking so that once a person comes to DVLA and gives us their Ghana Card, we get every information about them, he said.



Mr Busia said a seamless integration between the DVLA and the NIA would also facilitate business with other stakeholder agencies such as the National Insurance Commission, the Motor Traffic and Transport Division and the National Road Safety Authority.



He added many user agencies were negotiating with the DVLA to hook up to their database for ease of doing business, stressing also that the integration with the NIA would help to create a good data warehouse for real time information on drivers and vehicles.





With the integration, when you are trying to apply for drivers license, there is no need sitting in our office for two hours to fill forms. Once you give us your Ghana Card, we should be able to pull your data and make use of it, he said.



Digitisation



Mr Busia said the authority had already digitised documents from 1995 to 2021 and was currently working on the 2022 records.



We are more than 95 per cent through with the digitisation process, and we will be done by the end of the year so that when you come to us from the first quarter of 2023, we do not have to do any manual process.



Mr Busia said apart from the efficiency and reliability that came with it, digitised records were authentic and fast to work with.



He added that digitisation would facilitate the DVLAs goal to have vehicles registered within one hour.



He explained that the digitisation of records would ensure that before any person visited the DVLA for any service, about 90 per cent of the processes would have been completed online.



It means that we could just type a person's name and every vehicle you have owned and the history will be there, he added.



Plugging leakages



Mr Busia said although the DVLA had not fully digitised its entire chain of operations, positive results had already been achieved.



For instance, he said, when the authority digitised the DV plates for vehicles in 2018, it plugged revenue leakages through that channel.



If you compare the revenue with the previous years, the whole of 2017 was GH3 million, but in one month (January 2018), we recorded GH6 million. What that means is that a lot of revenue was going into private pockets, he said.



AfCFTA



The DVLA CEO said the authority was putting its act together to take advantage of the huge market that the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) provided for the transport sector.



He said the authority was working to increase presence across the countrys land borders where the money will come from.



He explained that synonymous with what was done at the ports, payment of duty to get a DP plate would be done at the land borders such as Elubo, Aflao and Paga.



That is why we are increasing presence at the land borders and leveraging technology so that we can collect the needed revenue and let the National Security know what is happening in the county from our sector, he added.

















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The Chief of Osino in the Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Area of the Eastern Region, Osabarima Otu Darko IV, has suggested to the government to fully involve traditional rulers in mining communities in the fight against illegal mining popularly called galamsey.



Any other measures without chiefs, he indicated, would be a total failure.



Osabarima Darko said this when the Deputy Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Amidu Issahaku Chinnia, called on him at his Palace at Osino last Friday.



The deputy minister was on a one-day working visit to the area to acquaint himself with the level of environmental degradation and pollution of water bodies due to the effects of illegal mining.



He visited the Osino Water Treatment Plant in the Fanteakwa South District and the Grunwater Fos System at Abomosu in the Atiwa West District where it provides water to 300 households.



He was accompanied by the Managing Director of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), Clifford Braimah, the Chief Executive Officer of the Community Water and Sanitation Agency, Dr Worlanyo Kwadjo Siabi, the Executive Director of Water Resources Commission, Adjoa Painstsil and the Chief Executives for Fanteakwa South and Atiwa West, Ernest Ofosu and Seth Asante respectively.



According to Osabarima Darko, although the government had taken various measures such as the involvement of the security agencies to fight the illegal miners, that could not hold water because traditional rulers, the custodians of the land, had not been actively involved.



Chiefs knew illegal miners



He explained that it was the chiefs in the mining areas who knew the illegal miners staying among other people in the mining towns, communities, villages and even hamlet deep in the forest.



Such chiefs, Osabarima Darko stressed, could point out the illegal miners without fear for them to be apprehended to face the full rigours of the law.



He pointed out that even the chiefs were not contacted when mining licences were given to miners to operate in their communities and that had made the illegal miners to operate with impunity.



Miners not covering pits



What was sad, he stated, was illegal miners not covering pits left behind resulting in innocent deaths.



"Although the government has all the resources and personnel such as the police and military to keep the illegal miners at bay, it never succeeded, but if chiefs are actively involved, the problem will be resolved", Osabarima Darko stated.



The Deputy Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Amidu Issahaku Chinnia, who expressed disgust at the level of environmental degradation and the pollution of water bodies said although they had been receiving reports about the situation, they had to visit the devastated areas for first hand information to see how best to collaborate with all relevant stakeholders to reverse the situation.



Water treatment rise



According to him, the level of pollution of water had made treatment to go up six times and the cost could not be passed on to consumers.



That, Mr Chinnia indicated, had financially affected GWCL as such it could not properly play its role by providing safe drinking water to other communities.



Collaboration

The deputy minister, therefore, said it was in that direction that the ministry had to collaborate with the chiefs and the security agencies to minimise the effects of the galamsey activities in order to protect water bodies.

He therefore appealed to traditional rulers, the people in the mining communities and security services to support government to fight illegal mining and eliminate illegal miners in those areas.

The Managing Director of GWCL, Clifford Braimah, said the current situation had made it necessary for the review of the cost of water treatment but that had to be put on hold for years and that had negatively affected GWCL.













Source: graphiconline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Ghana Water Company Limited has said that the continuous destruction of water bodies through illegal mining was increasing the cost of water due to the rising cost of aluminum sulphate used for the treatment.



According to the Managing Director of the Company, Clifford Braimah, the volume of water supply to the people has reduced because about 50 per cent of the water is thrown out for high level of salinity instead of the usual 5 per cent.



He mentioned that managing their machines has also become a problem which has always compelled them to stop and maintain them regularly.



The cost of treatment, he noted, was affecting them to reduce production, because anytime the machines were stopped for maintenance, people would not have water to drink, causing the cost to multiply, and for that matter cannot treat illegal mining as a joke.



Mr Braimah was speaking to the Ghanaian Times during a tour with the Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Ms Cecilia Abena Dapaah, along some water bodies at the mining communities in the Atwima Mponua District of Ashanti region.



It offered the Minister the opportunity to have firsthand information on the state of river offin and to ascertain the level of destruction caused by illegal mining in the surrounding areas.



The visit took the team to Abompe and Bedabuo, near Nyinahini in the district.



Referring to a $1billion secured by the government for water projects mentioned by the Minster at a mini durbar, Mr Briamah indicated the money was being used to provide water in eight towns, including Sunyani, Takoradi, Wenchi, Keta, Yendi, Damongo, and Upper East.



At a mini durbar at Bedabuo, the Minister gave a strong caution to those engaged in illegal mining activities on river bodies to shun the act in order to save the waters and environment or face a punitive punishment in line with the laws of the country.



Ms Dapaah said mining along the river banks was an evil act and a threat to the lives and the future of the citizenry, hence must stop as a matter of urgency.



The Minister said the President, and for that matter government, was the only custodian of the mineral resources, and it was important every patriotic citizen help protect the heritage, which are the forest environment and water bodies.



She hinted that there would be a taskforce in every town and villages because the inhabitants were very well aware of the whereabouts of the illegal miners, and could lead the various security agencies, including the Police, Military and National Security to arrest anyone found culpable irrespective of their status, being a foreigner or citizen of the country.



The Minister was of the view that in protecting the water bodies, the government would be able to provide clean water and environment to the citizenry, thereby on the path to achieving SDG goal six.



Ms Dapaah appealed to the inhabitants to expose any foreigner engaged in illegal mining in the area to face the law, and also cautioned Ghanaians assisting foreigners to mine in rivers.



Chief of Ntobroso, Nana Atakora Mensah, said river Offin, which stretches from Kyenkyenta through Afepaye, is polluted by the illegal activities within AtwimaNwabiagya South, Ntabano and AhafoAno South, where such activities were ongoing in river Makran, and called for taskforce to monitor the activities in every community in the district.

Source: ghanaiantimes.com.gh









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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.
A woman claims her employer forced her to breastfeed his dogs and filmed her carrying out the task.



The mother had left Kenya, where she's from, and had gone to work in Saudi Arabia, where the alleged incident took place.



Francis Atwoli, Kenya's Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU) Secretary General, has now called on President William Rutos government to ban employment agencies overseeing migration of Kenyan workers to Saudi Arabia.



Atwoli said on Saturday, October 8, that he received a disturbing video from a woman in Saudia Arabia, who alleged that her employer forced her to breastfeed their dogs.



"She left her husband and children in Kenya two months after giving birth," Atwoli told NTV as he displayed a video of the woman breastfeeding.



"When they realised she can breastfeed, the employer gave her a job of breastfeeding puppies."



The COTU boss called for intergovernmental diplomacy to address the plight of Kenyans in Saudi Arabia and other gulf countries.



Atwoli said: "This is indirect slavery, I want to appeal to our government to go the way President Kibakis government under Phylis Kandie did.



"She banned all employment agencies in Kenya.



"Let this issue be a government-to-government.



"Let Kenya negotiate with Saudi Arabia on terms and conditions of service so that our people can do decent jobs and not a job of breastfeeding dogs."



Atwoli said the inhumane actions being witnessed in Saudi Arabia are denying Kenyans dignity and respect.



He added: "It denies us our own citizenship as Kenyans who are from a free and independent country.



"I want to appeal to government to ban all employment agencies and review issues related to outside employment as advocated for by the International Labour Organization."



See the video below.









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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Human rights activists have expressed alarm after Security forces fired live rounds indiscriminately at protesters in a violent crackdown in Iran, increasing the death toll in protests that has killed 185 people, including 19 children so far.



According to Amnesty International, security forces had used firearms indiscriminately in Sanandaj and videos posted by Kurdish human rights group Hengaw show police shooting at homes.





Hengaw reported that at least five civilians had been killed and 400 injured across the region since Sunday, October 9 and warned that the death toll might be higher because authorities were disrupting local internet and mobile networks.





Hengaw reported on Tuesday October 11, that over the past three days, protests had taken place in 10 areas of Kurdistan, Kermanshah and West Azerbaijan provinces, with Sanandaj the epicentre of the unrest and the crackdown by authorities.



Videos showed intense clashes between protesters and security forces in the city on Monday night. Repeated gunfire can be heard in the footage, as well as cries and shouts.





Protests against Iran's Islamic leadership have swept across Iran since the death three weeks ago of Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish woman from the western city of Saqqez who fell into a coma after being detained by morality police in Tehran for allegedly violating the strict hijab law.



The protests are now considered the most serious challenge to the Islamic Republic since its inception in 1979.



Meanwhile Iranian leadership have accused foreign enemies and exiled opposition groups of fomenting "riots" that they will not tolerate.



Watch video below

















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The immediate past national chairman of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Freddie Blay, has expressed shock at the backlash he and his firm haS received because of their decision to defend some foreign nationals standing trial for alleged illegal mining offences.



Law firm Blay and Associates is the law firm defending the four accomplices of En Huang, popularly known as Aisha Huang, who has been charged with the others for engaging in illegal mining activities in Ghana.



The decision of Mr Blay's firm to defend these foreign nationals, when his party and government is battling an ongoing galamsey menace has raised eyebrows but the astute lawyer in a radio interview said every accused person is entitled to legal representation.



Mr Blay who is a stalwart of the NPP due to his immediate past position says it is rather unfortunate that he has been subjected to attacks.



Speaking to Joy FM on Wednesday, October 12, Mr Blay said, "My clients are not guilty; weve sworn an oath to defend them.



They came to instruct us and we as professionals, we have sworn an oath to defend our clients to the best of our knowledge and ability and that is exactly what we are doing in accordance with the Constitution of this country.



They are not guilty. Theyve been brought before the court, theyve pleaded not guilty and are being defended, Mr Blay said as quoted by Graphiconline.



According to him, the four accused persons may have a relationship with Aisha Huang because in 2017 they bought a supermarket from her.



Meanwhile, the Attorney-General, Godfred Dame has assured Ghanaians that his outfit will not relent in its effort to prosecute all illegal miners in the country, adding that, for Aisha Huang, who has gained notoriety for the galamsey trade she will pay for both her past and present offences.



Godfred Dame was speaking to the press after the now-famous galamsey kingpin Aisha Huang was denied bail on Tuesday, October 11.



"In respect of Aisha Huang, we have filed most of the documents we will rely on. We have filed witness statements with four witnesses, we need about four more. But the Judge in her discretion decided to adjourn to 24th October for us to come and conduct the case management conference and we are ready to conduct the trial on a day by day basis and the Judge has also indicated the inclination to conduct the trial in that manner. So we are happy with the progress of the matter. And it is important to indicate to the world our full commitment to prosecute all these illegal mining offences. It is something that is of utmost importance to the nation."



Aisha Huang, a Chinese national, previously deported/repatriated for dealing in illegal mining in 2018 was re-arrested this year.



She is currently standing trial with three other Chinese nationals for mining without a license and engaging in the sale and purchase of minerals.



All three were remanded into the custody of the National Investigation Bureau pending the final determination of their case.







Source: ghanaweb.com









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Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia says the newly created Savannah Region has witnessed much development under the New Patriotic Party government.



According to him, the creation of the region by the Akufo-Addo led administration was the strongest indication that the growth and development of the region was at the heart of government.



As one of the newly created regions, several projects including the construction of roads, health facilities, water projects, infrastructure for state institutions amongst others, being at various levels of completion. There is no district in Savannah that can demonstrate more projects by any other government in the fourth republic than the NPP government under Nana Akuo-Addo he stated emphatically.



As part of his working visit to the region, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia indicated that all projects started in the region will be completed.



Speaking at the Kpembewuras palace in Kpembe, he assured that he will take the necessary steps to see to the realisation of all projects that are underway.



I want to let you know that we are not sleeping as far as the development challenges of Savannah and the Salaga area in particular are concerned. In me, you have a son who will follow up on all of these issues you have raised and you have other very strong children who are also here. Im going to work with all my brothers and sisters so that we can deliver on the development for Salaga and Savannah, Dr Bawumia told the Kpembewura.



The Vice President disclosed that the Kpembe Nursing Training College has been given the approval by Ministry of Health to run BSc in Nursing and BSc in Public Health and approval by The Ghana Tertiary Education Council should enable the courses to start next year.



Dr Bawumia added that the construction of the 71km Fufulso-Bunjai Road which was commenced after the creation of the region, is at 68% complete. When completed, the road will connect the East Gonja to the West Gonja areas without the need to go through Tamale and therefore cut travel time dramatically.

Source: dailyguidenetwork.com









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Two big names for a big party position, is the kind of story headline that is fit for this kind of political race that is expected in Ghanas current, biggest opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC).



On either side, both Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, and Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo have credits of giant political achievements to ride on, but now, the two men have to face it off for the top position of Chairman of the NDC.



While there is no official final list from the party, it already looks like there is going to be a straight fight between the two personalities: Asiedu Nketiah as the longest-serving General Secretary of the NDC, and Ofosu-Ampofo as the one-term Chairman seeking re-election.



In this political pedigree article by GhanaWeb, we take a look at all of the things that put either of these two candidates ahead of each other, as well as what NDC delegates might be looking out for when they go to the polls in November 2022.



Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo:



Currently the Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo has declared his intention for re-election.



This is due to the fact that his election as chairman in November 2018 comes to an end soon and he would need a reaffirmation of his performance through another endorsement from his party members.



But it has been a long political career for him, starting off in this trade in 1994, when he was appointed as the District Chief Executive for the Fanteakwa North District of the Eastern Region, by Jerry John Rawlings.



In 1996, he run for parliament on the ticket of the NDC in the same district and won, representing the people of the constituency until he lost his third re-election bid in 2004 to the New Patriotic Partys candidate, Kwadwo Agyei Addo.



Having served in the second and third parliaments of the fourth republic of Ghana, Ofosu-Ampofo again tried his shot at the parliamentary seat in 2008 but got unlucky once more.



His next political job came when he won the National Organiser position of the NDC but on the assumption of power in 2009, John Evans Atta Mills appointed him the Regional Minister for the Eastern Region.



Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo then moved on from there to serve as Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, his last political portfolio before he was elected as the NDCs National Chairman in 2018.



Under his tenure, he was unsuccessful in helping the party and John Dramani Mahama in wrestling power from the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government in the 2020 general elections.



But that loss gave the country a historic win: the first time parliament is hung, with a split of a perfect number of Members of Parliament, as well as the Speaker of Parliament being a member of the opposition for the first time ever.



Speaking in a Ghanaian Times report, Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo stated that one of his achievements is that that the party had become more attractive under his leadership.



He has also likened himself to the biblical Jesus Christ.



The delegates must look no further than Ofosu-Ampofo as I am prepared to take the NDC to the Promised Land because you do not change the team that turned around the fortunes of the party after it suffered a humiliating defeat in 2016 and I liken myself to Christ when he was asked by the disciples if he is the Messiah.



Jesus said to them, the blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, what more do you want to see? I am the National Chairman of NDC and the party was in disarray due to our humiliating defeat in 2016 since it was not attractive at the time but I played key roles together with my team to turn the around fortunes of the party during the 2020 elections, he said.



He has also stated that but for the use of state-sponsored security personnel, the NDC would have won more parliamentary seats in the 2020 elections, including Techiman South, Tarkwa Nsuaem, Zabzugu, Essikado-Ketan, and others.



I have what it takes to bring the NDC back to power again however, I believe together with my team, we also managed to snatch seats that have never been won by the party in a long time, including Tema East, Ayensuano, among others, which demonstrates our competence and I am hopeful members, supporters, sympathisers, faithful and well-wishers of the party to renew my mandate to serve for another four-year term, he appealed.



Johnson Asiedu Nketiah:



Asiedu Nketiah, the man popularly known as General Mosquito, is the face of the other main contender for the National Chairman position of the party.



As the current General Secretary of the NDC, he is one of the most powerful people in the party, having served in the role since 2005.



Born on December 24, 1956, at Seikwa in the Brong Ahafo Region, he trained in petty trading, Akpeteshie distilling, palm wine tapping, and a drinking bar.



After educating himself at the University of Ghana, he practiced as a banker before entering into politics.



His entrance onto the political scene came when he contested and won the Wenchi District Assembly elections of 1989, following which he was elected to the Consultative Assembly in 1992.



He held that position for 12 years, being part of the team that drafted Ghanas current constitution  the 1992 constitution.



In 1992, he entered parliament as the Member of Parliament for the Wenchi West constituency and served for 12 years.



During his time in parliament, he served on several committees such as the Appointments Committee, Finance Committee, Public Accounts Committee, Chairman Mines and Energy Committee, and Minority spokesperson on Food, Agriculture, and Cocoa Affairs.



From 1997 to 2001, Asiedu Nketiah served as a Deputy Minister for Food and Agriculture (Crops).



After he decided to say goodbye to parliamentary work, he stood for the General Secretary position of the NDC and won overwhelming in the 2005 party elections.



As the third General Secretary of the party, he led the party to win the 2008 and 2012 elections, giving the country presidents John Evans Atta Mills and John Dramani Mahama.



There have been several achievements accorded to his credit, including the same glory his other contender, Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo boasts of: giving Ghana its first hung parliament and first Speaker of Parliament from the opposition party.



After serving as General Secretary of the NDC for 17 years, he had announced the hanging of those boots and the desire to continue to lead the party, but this time as the National Chairman.



The pedigrees of both Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo and Johnson Asiedu Nketiah would play massive roles in the decisions of National Democratic Congress delegates when the party goes to the polls later this year.















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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Seasoned Journalist, Kwesi Pratt Jnr. has fulminated against the Special Prosecutor's plan to investigate former Secretary to the dissolved Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM), Charles Bissue, for allegedly using his public office for profit.



In a footage replayed by investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas and his Tiger Eye P.I on social media, Mr. Charles Bissue was captured receiving money to facilitate process for a mining company to engage in illegal mining (galamsey).



The mining company was a setup by the Journalist in his investigative documentary titled Galamsey Fraud Part I to expose the officials sabotaging President Nana Addo's fight against galamsey.



In a press release issued on Monday, October 10, the Office of the Special Prosecutor said there is an "ongoing enquiry into allegations of use of public office for profit against Charles Bissue, during his tenure as secretary to the IMCIM".



The investigation further targets "activities of Akonta Mining Limited and other companies; nationals of foreign countries allegedly involved in illegal mining and allegations of corruption and corruption-related offences against some Municipal and District Chief Executives and political party officials".



Expressing his concerns over the investigations, Kwesi Pratt wondered why the SP is revisiting the Charles Bissue case when he has already been investigated and cleared by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service when the issue was first brought up by Tiger Eye P.I.



To him, the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng launching his investigation into the matter may set a bad precedent in the country.



" . . I'm worried about the same investigation being carried out by several investigative agencies . . . I won't say that Mr. Charles Bissue is innocent. I don't know. I won't say the investigations that the CID did were not good and I'm not also saying the Special Prosecutor doesn't have the authority to look into it but for future purposes, let's be very careful about this and ensure the mandate given to the investigative agencies is divided, so that when one concludes, the other cannot redo it or it may not augur well for us in the future," he dreaded.



Mr. Pratt made these comments on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" discussion programme Tuesday morning.





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 National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Freddie W. Blay has clarified that he is serving as the defense counsel for only four other accused persons standing trial in the En Huang, also known as Aisha Huang Galamsey case.



He pointed out that he is not representing Aisha Huang in court as being speculated but representing Shi Yang, Shi Meizhi, Le Wei Zuon and another.



According to him, his decision to serve as defence counsel for the four accused persons stemmed from the fact that they are not illegal miners and must be protected.



He strongly pointed out that his clients are just a collateral victims of the illegal mining case which is of great concern to the citizenry and they are innocent of the charges preferred agaisnt them.



Giving details of the fact of the case in a statement issued by Blay and Associate on Wednesday 12, 2022, it stated that the first to third accused persons legally residents, law abiding persons in Ghana.



"Our clients operate supermarket business stock regular goods and some specific Chinese groceries, making them a reliable shop for Chinese and Asian patronage.



Supermarket, no matter how vibrant it is does not ripen into illegal mining activities, the statement said touching on charge of illegal mining against the accused.



On the part of accomplice of Aisha Huang, the statement refuted such allegation, saying that Our clients have no relationship with Aisha Huang, except the fact that purchasing the supermarket from her in 2017 when she was first repatriated to China. Aisha Huang have no business dealing with our clients upon her return to Ghana. For the avoidance of doubt, Aisha Huang was arrested at different time and place to our clients who were minding their business at home when they were picked up in the early hours on 14 September, 2022. It appears that our clients are collateral victims of the pursuit for Aisha Huang and the campaign against illegal mining.



The statement denied media reports that his law firm represents some of the names being mentioned in the media, saying that we have no engagement with Gao Jin Sung, Lu Qi Jun, Haibin Go, or Zhang Zhipeng who are noted to be Aisha Huang associates. We also do not have any engagement with Aisha Huang.



Blay and Associates indicated that it is very conscious of the sensitive nature of the Aisha Huang matter and the current devastating effect of illegal mining on the environment.



Three other Chinese nationals standing trial with Aisha Huang have been remanded into the custody of the National Investigations Bureau (NIB) pending the final determination of their case.



The three are facing charges of engaging in illegal mining activities.



According to the facts of the case as read by Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, receipts of purchase of mining concessions were found in their possession at the time of their arrest and WhatsApp conversations amongst them are said to point to their involvement in illegal mining activities.



The three persons, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.



The plea of one other accused person who is a Vietnamese national was postponed as the court had no interpreter on standby.



Meanwhile, the prosecution is expected to present eight witness statements and 18 other documents by October 24 where case management conference for the Aisha Huang case is expected to begin.



She is expected to remain in NIB custody even though her lawyers attempted applying for bail.



Mr. Blay was not in court but his daughter, Ekeleba Blay, held brief for him in court during proceedings on Tuesday, October 11, 2022.



Already, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources Samuel Abdulai Jinapor indicated that the state was unperturbed that the NPPs former Chairman was representing the alleged illegal miners.

Source: dailyguidenetwork.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The political parties without representation in Parliament have appealed to the members of the House to visit the Constitutional Instrument (CI) that backs the Electoral Commission to introduce Ghana Card as a form of voter identification for the 2024 elections.



The parties condemned attempts by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and other opposition parties to bastardize the Commission's motive to conduct a more fair, transparent and credible elections.



"It is very interesting to note that all political parties have had the opportunity to participate in all processes leading to the drafting of the new CI and various changes that accompanied the process. It is sad that our brothers from the NDC who abandoned their duty to participate at IPAC have taken a contrary stance on the new CI. Unfortunately, ever since this information by the EC came out, there have been a lot of allegations and even Honourable members of Parliament who can easily read this new CI joined as the source of falsity just to score cheap political points", the parties which call themselves 'Political Parties Outside Parliament' (PPOP) said at a press conference in Accra.



They bemoaned the opposition saying "since the inception of the 4th Republic, there have been various reforms to our electoral process which have helped us chalk several successes and our Electoral Commission of Ghana has become an institution several countries especially within Africa have learnt from and continue to do so.



"Unfortunately, within our own Country, we continue to drag them into the mud by levelling all sort of unfounded allegations, and suspicions that cause mistrust and go a long way not to only affect the cost of our Elections but also the credibility of it in the minds of the people."



They asked the Members of Parliament to "lay the new CI so that we can carry on with the modalities in ensuring a smooth continuous registration process to enable new voters to register".



They also encouraged the "media to play a critical role by checking political interest groups to conform with the norm and reality, and to do away with self-centred position that could destroy this country on the altar of winning political power".



Read statement below:

Your browser does not support iframes.

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 Yukon provincial flag flies on a flag pole in Ottawa, Monday July 6, 2020. A northern Yukon community of less than 300 people has used a law created during the COVID-19 pandemic to stop a convicted sex offender from being sent to its community with less than 24-hour notice. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
A seagull stands atop a statue of Captain George Vancouver outside Vancouver City Hall, on Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021. Statistics Canada data published last month confirmed that B.C. leads the country as the province with the highest rate of unaffordable homes, due largely to the number of people paying high rents to live in downtown Vancouver. Voters in Vancouver's municipal election have been met with an array of proposed solutions. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
A radiologist uses a magnifying glass to check mammograms for breast cancer in Los Angeles, May 6, 2010. The Ontario Medical Association says about 400,000 fewer mammograms to screen for breast cancer were performed in the province during the pandemic than forecasted. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Damian Dovarganes
Plenum makes full preparation for 20th CPC National Congress

EditorChen Zhuo Time2022-10-13 00:50:08

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, makes an important speech at the seventh plenary session of the 19th Central Committee of the CPC, in Beijing, capital of China. The plenary session was held from Oct. 9 to 12 in Beijing. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

BEIJING, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- The 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) concluded its seventh plenary session in Beijing on Wednesday with a communique issued.

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, made an important speech at the four-day session, which was presided over by the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.

It was decided at the plenary session that the 20th CPC National Congress will open on Oct. 16 in Beijing, according to the communique.

Entrusted by the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, Xi delivered a work report to the plenum.

The plenary session also discussed and adopted a report to be made by the 19th CPC Central Committee to the 20th CPC National Congress, a work report of the 19th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) to the congress, and an amendment to the CPC Constitution.

The three documents will be submitted to the upcoming congress for examination and deliberation, read the communique.

During the session, Xi delivered explanatory remarks on the draft report by the 19th CPC Central Committee to the 20th CPC National Congress. Wang Huning made explanations on the draft amendment to the CPC Constitution.

It was noted at the session that over the past year, confronted with a complex and challenging international situation and demanding tasks of advancing reform, promoting development, and maintaining stability at home, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee has fully implemented Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and united and led the whole Party, the armed forces and the people of all ethnic groups in securing new and major achievements in the undertakings of the Party and the state, creating favorable conditions for convening the 20th CPC National Congress.

The past five years since the 19th CPC National Congress have been unusual and extraordinary, said the communique.

Over the past five years, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has held high the banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and united and led the whole Party, the armed forces and the people of all ethnic groups in completing the historic mission of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and thus realizing the first centenary goal, and in embarking on a new journey toward building a modern socialist country in all respects and advancing toward the second centenary goal, the communique said.

Over the past five years, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has united and led the whole Party, the armed forces and the people of all ethnic groups in effectively coping with the grave and complex international situation and a series of major risks and challenges, and pushing forward socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era in an energetic manner, according to the communique.

Many tough problems that remained unsolved for a long time have been solved, many things of vital importance and long-term significance have been accomplished, and major achievements that captured the attention of the world have been scored in the cause of the Party and the country, the communique said.

The communique noted that these major achievements have been the result of concerted efforts of all Party members and all Chinese people under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, and the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.

It emphasized that, the Party has established Comrade Xi Jinping's core position on the Party Central Committee and in the Party as a whole, and has defined the guiding role of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. This reflects the common will of the Party, the armed forces, and the Chinese people of all ethnic groups, and is of decisive significance for advancing the cause of the Party and the country in the new era and for driving forward the historic process of great national rejuvenation.

The session took stock of the work of the 19th CPC CCDI, noting that discipline inspection commissions at all levels, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, had resolutely implemented the Party's strategic decisions of self-reform and full, rigorous self-governance.

An overwhelming victory has been achieved in the fight against corruption, and this has been consolidated across the board, it read.

The session analyzed the current situation and the tasks, and hosted in-depth discussion on major issues including upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics on the new journey in the new era, and building a modern socialist country in all respects. It made full preparation for the upcoming 20th CPC National Congress, the communique said.

The seventh plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Committee opened in Beijing on Oct. 9, with 199 full members and 159 alternate members present. Members of the CCDI and leading officials of related departments were also present in a non-voting capacity.

In accordance with the CPC Constitution, the session decided to admit Ma Guoqiang, Wang Ning and Wang Weizhong as full members to the 19th CPC Central Committee. They had been alternate members of the committee.

The session also endorsed the expulsion of Fu Zhenghua, Shen Deyong and Zhang Jinghua from the CPC, as was decided by the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, as well as the punishment on Li Jia, who was removed from his post in the Party. 

The seventh plenary session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is presided over by the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, in Beijing, capital of China. The plenary session was held from Oct. 9 to 12 in Beijing. (Xinhua/Yan Yan)

Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji and Han Zheng attend the seventh plenary session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), in Beijing, capital of China. The plenary session was held from Oct. 9 to 12 in Beijing. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)
888poker Celebrates 20th Anniversary with Busy LIVE Madrid Festival

October 12, 2022 Matthew Pitt Editor

888poker is heading to the Spanish capital city of Madrid as part of the online poker site's 20th anniversary celebrations. 888LIVE Madrid takes place at the Casino Gran Madrid in Torrelodones from November 10-20, and everything points towards it being a massive hit with everyone that jets off to Spain.

The Madrid stop marks the second time 888LIVE has called off in Spain, following the successful 888LIVE Barcelona festival in May. The Main Event there was a 1,100 buy-in affair that drew in 334 entrants. Italian Sandro Hauser came out on top and returned home with 56,800 for his efforts.

888 dropped anchor in Madrid in February 2020, and the Main Event was huge. It cost 888 in 2020, and some 1,067 players exchanged that sum for the chance to become a poker champion. Marco Biavaschi of Italy emerged victoriously with a monster-sized 150,000 top prize.

Sandro Hauser Wins 2022 888poker LIVE Barcelona 1,100 Main Event (56,800)

Full 888LIVE Madrid Festival Schedule

This year's 888LIVE Madrid festival runs from November 10-20, and features tournaments with buy-ins ranging from 150 to 2,20, the latter being reserved for the High Roller event that kicks off on November 19.

The 1,100 buy-in Main Event, known as the 888LIVE 20th Anniversary Edition, features two starting flights. Players receive 50,000 chips on Day 1, and it is possible to buy into Day 2 for 1,100 and receive 80,000 chips.

Date Time Tournament Buy-in Thu 10 Nov 5:00 p.m. Opening Tournament Day 1a 150 Fri 11 Nov 5:00 p.m. Opening Tournament Day 1b 150 Sat 12 Nov 5:00 p.m. Opening Tournament Day 1c 150 Sun 13 Nov 4:00 p.m. Opening Tournament Day 2 6:00 p.m. Win the Button 110 8:00 p.m. Satellite 888LIVE Event Day 1a 150 Mon 14 Nov 5:00 p.m. 888LIVE 20th Anniversary Edition Day 1a 1,100 6:00 p.m. Mystery Bounty Day 1 225 8:00 p.m. Satellite 888LIVE Event Day 1b 150 Tue 15 Nov 5:00 p.m. 888LIVE 20th Anniversary Edition Day 1b 1,100 6:00 p.m. Mystery Bounty Day 2 6:00 p.m. Crazy Pineapple 110 8:00 p.m. Satellite to Day 1a of the Main Event 80 Wed 16 Nov 4:00 p.m. CNP888 Main Event Day 1a 550 4:00 p.m. 888LIVE 20th Anniversary Edition Day 2 1,100 6:00 p.m. Two Lives NLH 110 8:00 p.m. Satellite to Day 1b of the Main Event 80 Thu 17 Nov 12:00 p.m. 888LIVE 20th Anniversary Edition Day 2 4:00 p.m. CNP888 Main Event Day 1b 550 7:00 p.m. Pot Limit Omaha 200 Fri 18 Nov 12:00 p.m. CPN888 Main Event Day 1c 550 5:00 p.m. CPN888 Main Event Day 1c 550 7:00 p.m. The Hunter 185 Sat 19 Nov 12:00 p.m. CPN888 Main Event Day 1e 550 5:00 p.m. CPN888 Main Event Day 2 550 6:00 p.m. Mini CPN888 Day 1 250 7:00 p.m. High Roller Day 1 2,000 Sun 20 Nov 12:00 p.m. CPN888 Main Event Day 3 12:00 p.m. Mini CPN888 Day 2 12:00 p.m. High Roller Day 2 6:00 p.m. Closing Tournament 110

Marco Biavaschi Turns 100 Satellite into 150,000 Payday at 888poker LIVE Madrid

Win Your Way to Madrid For Only $0.01

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Denis Gergoc Wins the 2022 WSOP International Circuit Autumn Edition 1,700 Main Event

October 12, 2022 Christian Zetzsche Contributor

The third and final edition of the 2022 World Series of Poker International Circuit at the King's Resort in Rozvadov for the current year has crowned a winner. Out of a field of 748 entries in the WSOPC 1,700 Main Event Autumn Edition, it was Switzerland's Denis Gergoc who took home the biggest slice of the 1,101,430 prize pool after defeating Lars Kamphues in a brief heads-up encounter.

It was the first WSOP Circuit ring for Gergoc, who was railed by fellow countryman Emil Bise en route to victory. For his efforts, he took home a cash prize of 189,650 while runner-up Kamphues was denied a third gold ring. The German had to settle for 119,500 and the pay jump between first and second place was larger than the cash prize for fourth-placed Alireza Keyvar. It came as no surprise that Gergoc and Kamphues battled for the victory on the live stream feature table as both were near the top of the leaderboard all day long.

Italy's Natale Allegra finished in third place while the final table also included the former WSOP Main Event finalist Vojtech Ruzicka and current ring event winner Dorian Melchers. Ruzicka's run ended in sixth place while Melchers was denied a second triumph during the same WSOP Circuit stop when he was knocked out by Kamphues in seventh place.

Final Result 2022 WSOP International Circuit 1,700 Main Event Autumn Edition

Place Winner Country Prize (in EUR) 1 Denis Gergoc Switzerland 189,650* 2 Lars Kamphues Germany 119,500 3 Natale Allegra Italy 83,900 4 Alireza Keyvar Iran 65,500 5 Frans Van Staalduinen Netherlands 51,400 6 Vojtech Ruzicka Czech Republic 40,300 7 Dorian Melchers France 30,100 8 Alessandro Pagliuso Italy 20,850 9 Samir Boudeliou France 16,465

* the top 12 finishers also received an entry to the 2022 WSOP Europe 10,350 Main Event ticket

Only ten players returned to their seats, all of which had already locked up a five-figure cash prize and the entry to the upcoming 2022 World Series of Poker Europe 10,350 Main Event. More than 200 players have already qualified for the tournament highlight of the year at King's Resort thanks to the qualifying scheme in all major live poker festivals at the venue. The chase for the 15 WSOP gold bracelets is just around the corner and takes place from October 26 until November 16, 2022.

Two short stacks were under immediate pressure with just five big blinds at their disposal and it was Germany's Berkan Munar who had to settle for a payout of 13,525. On the main feature table, he called all-in with king-seven when Ruzicka pushed out of the small blind with eight-five suited and the Czech made two pair.

Samir Boudeliou

Once the last nine contenders combined to one table, it didn't take long for the second short stack Samir Boudeliou to depart. One of the key hands of the day followed when Gergoc turned a set of sevens to eliminate Alessandro Pagliuso and cement his top spot.

From there on, the action became tenser again, and Melchers fell behind after losing several pots and then doubling Allegra in a flip. The end came in a battle of the blinds with Kamphues when the big stack jammed jack eight and got there to beat the king-nine of the Frenchman.

Down to the final six players, Kamphues assumed control and stayed in the top spot for an extended period. Gergoc lost a lot of ground during a period in which he seemed bewildered but things started to look a lot better after the next break. Four short stacks were fighting for their survival and two bowed out in quick succession.

Frans Van Staalduinen

The first one was none other than Ruzicka, who was unable to come back from a single chip. Frans Van Staalduinen followed to the rail only a few minutes later after his ace-king was cracked by the ace-ten suited of Gergoc.

Nearly one hour passed until the roller coaster ride of Keyvar came to an end, courtesy of another blow by Kamphues with a four-card straight. By then, Allegra was the shortest stack and couldn't bounce back from that despite one double through Gergoc. The Italian was knocked out by Kamphues when both players had a piece on a king-high board and that set up a nearly even-stacked heads-up duel.

Gergoc quickly pulled away but needed lady luck on his side to emerge victoriously. Both having flopped top pair, the Swiss was undeterred by an overcard on the turn and moved all-in with the inferior kicker. However, a jack on the river improved Gergoc to two pair and Kamphues was denied a third WSOP Circuit ring.

Lars Kamphues

That wraps up the PokerNews coverage from the King's Resort in Rozvadov for the time being, but the next international poker tournaments are just around the corner.

Winner pictures courtesy of Maryna Kravchenko / King's Resort
Mikolaitis Wins Battle of the Lithuanians; Takes Down GGPoker Super MILLION$

October 12, 2022 Matthew Pitt Editor

There was a Lithuanian one-two in this week's GGPoker Super MILLION$, with Dominykas Mikolaitis and Gediminas Uselis navigating their way through a 197-player strong field and finding themselves heads-up for the lion's share of the $1,970,000 top prize.

When the dust settled after an intense two hours of final table action, it was Mikolaitis who emerged victoriously, doing so with a cool $400,423 in prize money and what is his second GGPoker Super MILLION$ title.

GGPoker Super MILLION$ Final Table Results

Place Player Country Prize 1 Dominykas Mikolaitis Poland $400,423 2 Gediminas Uselis Mexico $313,965 3 LJoseph62 Canada $246,175 4 Simon Mattsson Norway $193,022 5 Wiktor Malinowski Macau $151,346 6 Niklas Astedt Norway $118,667 7 Mario "[email protected]" Navarro Andorra $93,045 8 William "COL_Moutarde" Blais Canada $72,955 9 Yuri Dzivielevski Brazil $57,203

It took almost three-quarters of an hour before the final table lost its first player, and Brazilian superstar Yuri Dzivielevski was that player. The Brazilian min-raised to 120,000 with ace-jack in the cutoff, Simon Mattsson three-bet to 298,000 with pocket tens from the button, then called when Dzivielevski ripped it in for 1,044,809. It was one of tournament poker's many coinflip scenarios, and it went Mattsson's way courtesy of a king-high board.

William "COL_Moutarde" Blais joined Dzivielevski on the rail ten minutes later. "LJoseph62" min-raised to 140,000 from middle position with jack-nine, and Blais called from the big blind with king-queen. A ten-queen-ten flop with two clubs saw Blais check-raised a 70,000-continuation bet to 242,590, and LJoseph62 called. The turn brought the king of diamonds into play, improving Blais to two pair but LJoseph62 to a straight. Both players checked, and the river was the three of diamonds. Blais has less than a pot-sized bet in his stack, but he checked. LJoseph62 bet enough to set Blais all-in, and Blais called off his 714,488 stack, only to discover two pair was no good.

Mario Navarro

The final seven became six with the untimely demise of Mario "[email protected]" Navarro, who had been nursing a short stack for some time. Everyone folded to Navarro in the small blind, and he open-shoved for a shade over six big blinds with ace-trey. Mattsson called with pocket eights in the big blind, and sent Navarro to the showers when the board ran out ten-high.

All six active players were now guaranteed a six-figure score for their efforts, and Niklas Astedt got his hands on the first such payout. Astedt, a five-time Super MILLION$ champion, sat down at the final table eighth in chips, but crashed out in sixth. Uselis min-raised to 160,000 from the hijack with a pair of tens in the hole, and Astedt defended his big blind with ace-deuce. The seven-trey-four flop saw Astedt initially check, Uselis bet 80,000, and Astedt check-raise all-in for 496,178 with his overcard and gutshot straight draw. Uselis called, and his tens held through both the turn and river.

It did not take too long for the final table to lose another player because Wiktor Malinowski bowed out. Malinowski never managed to get going after sitting down at the final table with the shortest stack, then being unable to find any spots to commit his chips. A spot finally appeared during the 100,000/200,000/12,500a when mikolaitis jammed from the small blind, and Malinowski called off his 4.2 big blinds with queen-trey. Unfortunately for the three-time Super MILLION$ champion, Mikolaitis had made his move with pocket aces, and Malinowski was drawing dead by the turn.

Simon Mattsson

Mattsson's latest Super MILLION$ deep run ended in fourth place. The reigning WSOP Online Main Event champion called off his 778,946 chips from the big blind with king-six after Mikolaitis open-shoved from the small blind with what turned out to be jack-four; of course, jack-four has been in the headlines for the past fortnight! A jack on the flop sent Mattsson to the sidelines.

Heads-up was set when LJoseph62's tournament ended at the hands of Uselis. Mikolaitis min-raised to 240,000 with ten-nine on the button, Uselis called with pocket eights in the small blind, only for LJoseph to jam for 2,180,563 with queen-jack. Mikolaitis ducked out of the way, but Uselis called, and it was off to the races. Uselis flopped a set before improving to a boat on the river, leaving two Lithuanian stars heads-up for the title.

Mikolaitis held a more than two-to-one chip lead over Uselis, and Uselis never managed to claw his way back into the battle. The final hand saw Mikolaitis open to 350,000 with eight-seven, Uselis call with king-ten, the flop fall four-six-king, and both players check. The five of hearts on the turn improved Mikolaitis to a straight, and his job was to now extract as many chips as possible from his fellow countryman. Uselis made that task easier by leading for 770,000 then calling Mikolaitis' raise to 1,680,000. The river brought the nine of spades into view, putting three spades on the board. Uselis checked, Mikolaitis put his opponent to the test for all of his chips, like he had done on countless occasions throughout the final table, and Uselis tank-called off his 5,380,135 stack only to be shown his top pair was an expensive second-best hand.
RGPS Council Bluffs Main Event Taking Place Oct. 21-23 w/ $200K Guarantee

October 12, 2022 Connor Richards Editor & Live Reporter U.S.

Once the RunGood Poker Series (RGPS) wraps up its stop at Hard Rock Casino Tulsa, it will be off to Iowa for RGPS Council Bluffs, which will feature a $200,000 guaranteed $600 buy-in Main Event taking place Oct. 21-23.

The RGPS Council Bluffs stop at Horseshoe Council Bluffs Casino will also feature a handful of Ring Events, including a $50,000 guaranteed Studio Ticket Ring Event.

Read about Derk Bowers' recent victory in the RGPS JACK Cleveland Main Event!

$200K Up for Grabs

The $200,000 guaranteed Main Event will feature three starting flights, the first two of which will get underway on Oct. 21. The third starting flight will take place on Oct. 22 and the three flights will combine for Day 2 on Oct. 23, which will play down to a winner.

Those looking for a cheap way to play the RGPS Council Bluffs Main Event will have the opportunity through a number of $100 satellites awarding seats into the $600 buy-in event.

Horseshoe Council Bluffs

The PokerNews live reporting team will be on-site to report on the action in the RGPS Council Bluffs Main Event, so be sure to check back in for that coverage.

Other Events

In addition to the $200,000 guaranteed Main Event, RGPS Council Bluffs will feature side events such as a $250 buy-in Seniors Ring Event that will kick off the series on Oct. 18, as well as a $200 buy-in Guest Bounty Ring Event the same day, which should feature plenty of RunGood ambassadors with bounties on their heads.

RGPS Council Bluffs

On Oct. 19, two flights of the $250 buy-in DeepStack Ring Event will play out, the winner of which will receive a seat to the 2022 All-Stars ProAM Event at the PokerGO Studio in December. Day 2 of the DeepStack Ring Event will take place on Oct. 20.

Other events on the schedule include a $250 buy-in Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Ring Event, a $200 buy-in Green Chip Bounty Ring Event and a $200 buy-in Turbo Closer Ring Event that will close on the stop on Oct. 23.

Previous Winner

Back in November 2021, the RGPS Horseshoe Council Bluffs $420 Golden Ticket Main Event attracted 505 entrants to generate a prize pool of $181,800. Nathan Steuer, a roofing industry project manager, took down the event outright for $39,085 after defeating heads-up opponent Cody Bartlett.

Others who made deep runs in the event include Jose Bermudes (3rd - $17,655), Shawn Stevenson (4th - $13,088) and Robbie Kent (5th - $9,843).

Nathan Steuer

2021 RGPS Council Bluffs Main Event Final Table Results

Place Player Prize 1 Nathan Steuer $39,085 2 Cody Bartlett $24,167 3 Jose Bermudes $17,655 4 Shawn Stevenson $13,088 5 Robbie Kent $9,843 6 Kent Battles $7,508 7 Nick Barksdale $5,809 8 Kerry Hildebrand $4,558 9 Seth Gutz $3,627 10 Zach Davidson $2,925

After RGPS Council Bluffs, the RunGood crew will be hitting the Southern Caribbean for the Cardplayer Cruises: Royal Caribbean, which will feature a $600 Studio Ticket Main Event.

2022 RGPS Council Bluffs Schedule

DATE TIME EVENT Oct. 18, 2022 10:00 AM RGPS Seniors Ring Event (Buy-In: $250) Oct. 18, 2022 2:00 PM Main Event Satellite (Buy-In: $100) Oct. 18, 2022 7:00 PM RGPS Guest Bounty Ring Event (Buy-In: $200) Oct. 19, 2022 10:00 AM RGPS DeepStack Ring Event w/ added PokerGO Studio Ticket FLT A (Buy-in: $250) Oct. 19, 2022 2:00 PM Main Event Satellite (Buy-In: $100) Oct. 19, 2022 6:00 PM RGPS DeepStack Ring Event w/ added PokerGO Studio Ticket FLT B (Buy-in: $250) Oct. 20, 2022 10:00 AM RGPS NLH One Day Ring Event (Buy-in: $200) Oct. 20, 2022 12:00 PM RGPS PokerGO Studio Ticket Day 2 Restart Oct. 20, 2022 2:00 PM RGPS Omaha 8/O Ring Event (Buy-in: $250) Oct. 20, 2022 6:00 PM RGPS Black Chip Bounty Ring Event (Buy-in: $250) Oct. 21, 2022 10:00 AM RGPS $200,000 GTD Main Event FLT A (Buy-in: $600) Oct. 21, 2022 2:00 PM Main Event Satellite (Buy-in: $100) Oct. 21, 2022 6:00 PM RGPS $200,000 GTD Main Event FLT B (Buy-in: $600) Oct. 22, 2022 10:00 AM RGPS $200,000 GTD Main Event FLT C (Buy-in: $600) Oct. 22, 2022 2:00 PM Main Event Satellite (Buy-in: $100) Oct. 22, 2022 6:00 PM RGPS $200,000 GTD Main Event FLT D (Buy-in: $600) Oct. 23, 2022 10:00 AM RGPS Double Green Chip Bounty Ring Event (Buy-in: $200) Oct. 23, 2022 12:00 PM Main Event Day 2 Restart Oct. 23, 2022 4:00 PM RGPS NLH Turbo Closer Ring Event (Buy-in: $200)

Check out the RGPS Hub on PokerNews here!
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White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that the difference between Democrats and MAGA Republicans is that Democrats hold racists accountable and MAGA Republicans celebrate them.

Video:

Jean-Pierre said at the White House Daily Briefing:

Here is the difference between Democrats and MAGA Republicans. When a Democrat says somethings racist or antiSemitic, we would, we hold them, we hold Democrats accountable when a MAGA Republican says something racist or antisemitic, they are embraced by cheering crowds.

They become celebrated and sought after four endorsements. Senator Tuberville, lets not forget this just happened, saying black people commit crimes. Doug Mastriano attacking his opponent and Pennsylvania for sending his children to a Jewish day school. The president used to say, I will quote the president, Hate never goes away. It only hides. Lately, it is just one of the open  it is just out in the open at these extreme MAGA rallies.

The shorter version of this answer is that Democrats reject racists, while Republicans hold them up as heroes.

Racism has gone from a dark corner of the Republican Party to its primary feature over the last few decades. The rise of Barack Obama and the 2008 campaign transitioned racism into an open Republican political tool. Donald Trump made racism a principle of the Republican Party.

There is no comparison between how Republicans and Democrats handle racism in their ranks. Republicans elevate racists, while Democrats show them the door.
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Perhaps no senator has been more in Trumps pocket and flirted with propaganda on behalf of Russia than Ron Johnson. Oddly, a state that, until perhaps eight years ago under the dangerous Scott Walker leadership, was renowned for its common sense and enlightened public school and university system has fallen so far, so fast, down the MAGA hole, even though Joe Biden narrowly won the state in 2020. Now Ron Johnson faces the voters again in the mid-terms. It is a close race, though leaning right. But the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel recommends that voters give Johnson the boot.

Hes an election falsifier who recklessly promoted lies about the 2020 presidential race long after it was clear Donald Trump lost.

Hes a science fabulist who suggested, without evidence, that the COVID-19 vaccines could make the pandemic worse and who repeatedly touted unproven remedies for the disease  from Ivermectin to mouthwash.

Hes tried to rewrite the sordid history of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, claiming the attackers were people that love this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break the law.

For years, Ron Johnson has demonstrated that he should be retired to his familys seaside Florida home  and not representing Wisconsin in the U.S. Senate. Voters should send him packing this November.

Though it was fantastic to set out each failure, they could have simply said that no one so obviously in Trumps pocket as a Russophile should serve another dangerous term in the U.S. Senate. Of course, editorials are only as strong as the underlying rationale, and thats a good one. The recommendation was likely expected, given the more enlightened Editorial Board in Wisconsins biggest city, but it could persuade .5-1.0% of Independents, which was all Biden needed to take the state.

Every little thing helps in a close race.
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A federal judge has ruled that Trump must be deposed in a week in E. Jean Carrolls defamation lawsuit.

Bloomberg reported:

US District Judge Lewis Kaplan wrote that he believed Trump ultimately would lose his appeal, and that allowing long-delayed depositions and the exchange of evidence in the meantime would not create an undue burden on Trump. He said further delays were a serious concern given how long the case had already been pending and how long the next round of the appeal could take.

Kaplan also criticized the former president for pursuing dilatory litigation tactics and said he should not be permitted to run the clock out on plaintiffs attempt to gain a remedy for what allegedly was a serious wrong.

In other words, the judge is on to all of Trumps games and is not about to let him stall. Trump has spent his entire adult life trying to wait out legal action and wear down the people who sue him with endless delays, but it is not going to work in this case.

Judge Kaplans rebuke of Trump was strong.

E. Jean Carroll has been trying to get justice for years. Trump used the platform of the presidency to defame and smear her. No matter what Trump argues, his comments were not part of his official presidential duties, so he should not be immune from litigation.

Thanks to a change in New York law, he will also likely be facing a rape lawsuit from Carroll this fall.

Trumps lifetime of criminal behavior is finally catching up to him as justice is finally coming for him.
In mid-December of 1989, years of tensions between the United States and Panama reached a peak when military dictator Manuel Noriega asked lawmakers to declare a state of war, and an off-duty U.S. Marine was shot and killed by Panama Defense Forces (PDF).

In response, then-U.S. President George H. W. Bush authorized Operation Just Cause, sending additional troops to the Panama Canal Zone to arrest Noriega on drug trafficking charges.

Thirty-three years later, Russias top diplomat cited the U.S. action in Panama as justification for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, including widespread bombardments of non-military targets, the deaths of thousands of civilians and the illegal annexation of Ukrainian territory.

On October 3, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov addressed Russian lawmakers as they took up treaties to absorb parts of Ukraine in violation of international law:

Washington has never hesitated to use force under fabricated pretexts anywhere in the world, using false claims to justify its actions such as the need to protect the lives and well-being of U.S. citizens ...

Before the occupation of Panama, then U.S. President George H.W. Bush  told the dramatic story about one fatally shot American soldier, another one arrested, and yet another one beaten, whose wife, allegedly, underwent rough interrogation and was threatened with rape.

This was enough to invade these countries and install governments that suited Washington.

That effectively fictionalizes the Noriega story by omission and oversimplification, while extending a line of Soviet disinformation hatched in the Cold War climate of the time.

References to false precedents are a favorite tool of Russian propaganda. Polygraph.info previously debunked Moscows comparison between this war and the NATO-United Nations intervention in Kosovo in 1998-99 to stop the Serbian attacks on Albanian Muslims.

Lavrovs version of the Panama conflict is another flawed example.

Start with Noriega, an iron-fisted, corrupt general who ruled Panama like a mob boss from 1983 until U.S. troops captured him. From the 1950s, Noriega had collaborated with U.S. diplomats and intelligence agencies. Over time, the relationship deteriorated as he dealt with other spy agencies and drug cartels.

In February 1988, U.S. grand juries in Miami and Tampa charged Noriega with racketeering, smuggling cocaine and marijuana, money laundering and taking some $5 million in bribes from the Medillin cartel in Columbia.

Prosecutors said Noriega allowed the cartel to run operations out of Panama after U.S. authorities had cracked down.

In April of 1988, Noriega infamously waved a machete over his head at a rally and vowed never to buckle to U.S. pressure to remove him.

After the indictments, Noriegas downfall played over a matter of months. As Britannica.com recounts, hed been no paragon of democracy, either:

Despite the presence of international observers (including former U.S. president Jimmy Carter), Noriega annulled the results of the May 1989 Panamanian presidential election when it appeared that it had been won by a wide margin by Guillermo Endara, the opposition civilian candidate. In addition to overturning the results of the election and installing a former classmate, Francisco Rodriguez, as a puppet president, Noriega had Endara and his supporters beaten in the streets.

The Organization of American States (OAS) responded by calling for a peaceful transfer of power to an elected government, and U.S. Pres. George Bush dispatched 2,000 troops to U.S. bases in the Panama Canal Zone. In the meantime, having survived a coup attempt in October, Noriega persuaded the Panamanian National Assembly to name him maximum leader on December 15, 1989.

At his behest the Assembly also declared that a state of war existed between Panama and the United States.

That appeared to put the safety of approximately 35,000 American citizens in Panama at risk.

That risk was real. Here is what happened the next day, according to an official U.S. military history:

During the evening, four U.S. officers, apparently on a Saturday night outing, took a wrong turn and approached a PDF checkpoint at the Comandancia. At about [9 p.m.], guards from the Panama Defense Force stopped the car and tried to force the officers outside.

When the Americans refused to leave their vehicle, a PDF soldier loaded a magazine into his AK-47; the car pulled away. As the guard fired, the car sped off, only to approach another PDF guard post. The soldiers there also began firing. Their bullets wounded three of the officers in the car; one of them, Marine First Lieutenant Robert Paz, died of his wounds in the Gorgas Military Hospital.

While the U.S. officers were trying to escape, a U.S. couple who witnessed the incident, a junior U.S. naval officer and his wife, were brought to a police station for questioning. Interrogators kicked the officer in the groin, hit him in the mouth, and pointed a gun at his head. Other PDF members forced his wife to stand against a wall while they groped her; she collapsed.

Valid treaty obligations also were at stake regarding the U.S.-built Panama Canal.

In 1903, the United States and Panama signed a treaty granting the U.S. exclusive canal rights and establishing the Panama Canal Zone. The canal was completed in August 1914, and the U.S. eventually established bases and a garrison to protect the zone and ensure free travel of ships.

In 1977, U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Gen. Omar Torrijos, who preceded Noriega, signed treaties under which the canal was to revert to Panamanian control by 2000. Bush cited the need to make good on those treaties when announcing the plan to go after Noriega in December 1989.

By comparison, Russias invasion of Ukraine and annexations of Crimea and other areas arguably violate treaties in which the Kremlin pledged to respect Ukraines boundaries.

So, Lavrovs allegations of fabricated pretexts and false claims are both bogus and hypocritical.

After ousting Noriega, the U.S. didn't annex Panama. In 1999, it handed over the canal as promised.

Noriega was captured and taken to the United States, where he was tried and sentenced to decades years in prison. In 2010, Noriega was extradited to France and sentenced to even more time in a conviction for money laundering.

In 2011, France extradited him to Panama, where he was sentenced to 60 years for crimes committed during his reign. Noriega asked Panamanians for forgiveness in 2015, then died two years later at age 83 after a brain tumor.

We presume Lavrov is not defending a special Russian prerogative to launch invasions based on fabrications. Except that is exactly what Russia has done in service of Putins aims against Ukraine.

Here are some prior Polygraph.info fact checks on Russias pretexts for invasion:

Putins False Claim of Self-Defense While Starting a War on Ukraine

Putins False Claim That Ukraine Invasion Conforms With U.N. Charter

If Russia is Saving Europe From Fascists, Why is Putin Acting Like One?

Putin is Wrong. Ukraines Donbas is Not Like Kosovo

False: Russias Denial of Military Expansion

Russian Spy Chief Falsely Claims Poland Wants Ukraine Territory
A local woman was arrested and charged with attempted murder and arson stemming from a fire in Windsor.

Debra Annette Cushman, 60, of Windsor was arrested and charged Oct. 8 with two counts of attempted murder and one count of arson , according to jail records.

Police responded to a Windsor residence on the 400 block of Wren Road in reference to an arson that took place around 10:15 a.m. , according to an incident report from the Aiken County Sheriffs Office.

Deputies made contact with a woman at the scene and she was detained, the report said.

Police also observed a home engulfed in flames and saw a local fire department at the scene.

Police also made contact with a male complainant, who was in the area and called 911 after seeing a home on fire, the report said.

Police said the complainant went into the home to see if there were any victims inside the home.

The complainant on the scene directed police toward two victims and identified Cushman as the suspect, the report said.

One of the victims said the suspect lit a pair of underwear on fire and tried to start a fire in the house, the report said.

A male victim said he put the fire out, but the suspect went back inside the residence and locked it, the report said.

The male victim told police he was inside the home with a female victim while the house was on fire.

The male victim told police the suspect then left the residence and didn't know were the suspect went, the report said.

A female victim told police the suspect was dealing with some issues and set the house on fire, the report said.

Police obtained written statements from the victims before making contact with another person who said the owner of the property was the father of a female victim, the report said.

Cushman was booked into the Aiken County detention center and has a $15,000 bond.

As of Tuesday, Cushman was listed as an inmate at the detention center.
The Winchester Museum in Edgefield has for decades celebrated the wild turkey and its preservation, but the collections there are soon to be packed up, shipped out and installed at the Wonders of Wildlife National Museum and Aquarium in Springfield, Missouri.

The National Wild Turkey Federation, whose collection is at the Winchester, announced the news first in an email to members and then publicly on Sept. 27.

"There are so many stories there. Theres so much information there to tell about the wild turkey restoration," NWTF spokesperson Pete Muller told Post and Courier North Augusta.

The Federation will also close its warehouse here, outsourcing its merchandise fulfillment and shipping to a third-party, and move its headquarters from the current museum location on Augusta Road in Edgefield to a new location (as yet unknown) in the area.

+9 Gallery: The NWTF's Winchester Museum The National Wild Turkey Federation announced Sept. 27 that its collections at Edgefield's Winchester Museum will be relocated to Johnny Morri

No definite timeline has yet been set for any of the changes. Muller said that even the shipment of collections to the museum in Springfield is still being finalized and that talks are ongoing with Johnny Morris, that museums founder and also CEO of Bass Pro Shops.

In one way, it will be like the collections are going home: Morris had contributed to the Winchester's exhibits and has been described as a "longtime friend" of the NWTF.

Such a move to Springfield will greatly expand the collections' exposure. Muller estimated the Winchester Museum's "pre-pandemic peak" at 10,000 visitors a year versus the 1 million annual patrons who flock to Morris' museum.

The decisions around the Winchester Museum, the warehouse and the headquarters location were made by the NWTFs board of directors this August as part of a strategic facilities plan that Muller said would enable the Federation to better focus on its main purpose of conservation and to remain a viable institution for another 50 years.

Were not looking to abandon Edgefield, assured Muller. There isnt going to be a loss of headquarters. Theres just going to be the idea of moving to something that better fits what were promoting, which is wildlife conservation and habitat enhancements."

The NWTF as recently as 2015 was still investing heavily in its physical presence here in Edgefield, pouring $18 million into the development and construction of the Palmetto Shooting Complex as well as the main campus Hunting Heritage Center and Outdoor Education Center.

But the Federation began tightening its capital outlay in 2017 when Becky Humphries first came to the helm as the NWTFs new chief executive officer.

That summer, the NWTF closed its Turkey Shoppe on Main, a retail outlet for surplus merchandise, and laid off 17 employees.

The reasoning then (We are financially sound, and the intent was to keep us sound, Humphries had told Aiken Standard reporter Dede Biles) was the same as it is now, assured Muller: the new changes are happening as part of a forward-thinking plan. Not because they have to, he said, but so as to thrive for an additional 50 years.

Were trying to position the organization to withstand any future things that come up, said Muller.

The changes this time also wont cause any loss of jobs, he said  the Federation simply doesnt need all that square footage for what has become a largely remote workforce. Right now, we have a building that is being utilized by very few of our workforce," said Muller.

The Federation is also only using a fraction of the space at its local warehouse compared to what it had needed a decade ago, according to the email sent out to NWTF members.

More efficient merchandising among the NWTFs chapters and the option to tailor merchandise to a particular event by turning directly to preferred vendors has greatly reduced that reliance on in-house warehousing, NWTF co-CEO Jason Burckhalter explained.

By moving to a third-party vendor for shipping and warehousing, we can further capitalize on merchandise options, [and] efficiencies and provide the most cost-effective solution to our chapters," he said.

Warehouse employees will be offered other available positions within the NWTF or severance packages as we phase out warehouse operations in Edgefield over the next year, the member email reads.

Eventually, the warehouse and its adjoining land will be put on the market.

The NWTFs Muller said that property sales, for either the warehouse or the headquarters, would not take place until after the museum collections are safely installed in their new home. Proceeds from the sales will also be reinvested in the organization nationwide.

Muller also confirmed that the Federation would retain ownership of its 300-acre Palmetto Shooting Complex, a key aspect of the NWTFs footprint here and part of a total 700 acres that includes hiking trails and an outdoor education center.

But, Muller added, whether or not the remaining 400 acres [adjacent to the Shooting Complex] stays a part of things, that will be determinate on when the time comes to market headquarters, whether or not that will make it more attractive to potential buyers.

Relinquishing the existing "Wild Turkey Center and its nearby warehouse could bring in new businesses to Edgefield that can better utilize the space, said Muller.

Tiffani Ireland, Edgefield County Council member for District 2, said that she, too, is confident that once the properties are on the market that theyll be scooped up by someone else who will add to the economic engine of Edgefield.

This is a loss, but I do believe that our Economic Development Partnership will be working diligently to find another business to setup shop here, she said. The Federation's campus is absolutely beautiful, and Edgefield  the town and the county  has so much to offer potential businesses.
ST. LOUIS  A federal judge in St. Louis is weighing the fate of the Biden administration's plan to forgive student loan debt for tens of millions of Americans following a court hearing on Wednesday.

It's unclear when U.S. District Judge Henry Autrey will rule on the lawsuit filed by six Republican-led states that seeks an injunction to halt the student loan forgiveness plan. Whatever he decides, an appeal is likely.

Democratic President Joe Biden announced in August that his administration would cancel up to $20,000 in education debt for huge numbers of borrowers. The announcement immediately became a major political issue ahead of the November midterms.

The proposal prompted a lawsuit filed in September by Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and South Carolina. Other lawsuits followed, including one filed Monday by the Job Creators Network Foundation alleging that the administration violated federal procedures by failing to seek public input on the program.

In the lawsuit brought by the states, a court filing on behalf of the administration said the Department of Education has "broad authority to manage the federal student financial aid programs." It stated that the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003, or HEROES Act, allows the secretary of education to waive or modify terms of federal student loans in times of war or national emergency.

"COVID-19 is such an emergency," the filing stated.

The Congressional Budget Office has said the program will cost about $400 billion over the next three decades. James Campbell, an attorney for the Nebraska attorney general's office, told Autrey that the administration is acting outside its authorities in a way that will costs states millions of dollars.

"What they're trying to do is go around Congress, and this they cannot do," Campbell said.

The plan would 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 faced threats of legal challenges to its plans almost immediately. Conservative attorneys, Republican lawmakers and business-oriented groups asserted that Biden was overstepping his authority in taking such sweeping action without the assent of Congress. They called it an unfair government giveaway for relatively affluent people at the expense of taxpayers who didn't pursue higher education.

Meanwhile, many Democratic lawmakers facing tough reelection contests distanced themselves from the student loan plan.

The HEROES Act is a post-Sept. 11, 2001, law meant to help members of the military. The Justice Department says the law allows Biden to reduce or erase student loan debt during a national emergency. Republicans argue the administration is misinterpreting the law because, in part, the pandemic no longer qualifies as a national emergency.

But attorney Brian Netter of the U.S. Department of Justice said the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic is still rippling. He said student loan defaults have skyrocketed over the past two-and-a-half years.

"This (the HEROES Act) is a statute about emergencies  about national emergencies," Netter said.

The cancellation applies to federal student loans used to attend undergraduate and graduate school, along with Parent Plus loans. Current college students qualify if their loans were disbursed before July 1. Administration officials said applications for debt relief will be available in October.

The plan makes 43 million borrowers eligible for some debt forgiveness, with 20 million who could get their debt erased entirely, according to the administration.

Autrey did not give an indication when he will rule on the injunction request.

___

Binkley reported from Washington, D.C.
Kalyn Oyer is a Charleston native who covers arts & entertainment and food & bev for The Post and Courier. She's a music festival & concert photographer and used to write about music for the Charleston City Paper, among other publications.
Lowcountry nonprofit We Are Family is combatting bullying with art for its upcoming Spirit Week.

Since 2010, the organization has hosted a Spirit Day event to support LGBTQ+ youth in the Lowcountry and take a stand against bullying. It's held on the third Thursday in October.

This year it will be a weeklong endeavor from Oct. 16-22 to support the 52 percent of students who have reported being bullied in person or virtually this year, according to a national survey by The Trevor Project.

"School should be a safe space of learning for all students," said Jonatan Guerrero Ramirez, community events director of We Are Family. "It's disheartening when students say negative things to their other peers when they should be celebrating them for being their authentic selves."

Ramirez said We Are Family saw a jump in cyberbullying when students were in e-learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, as students have made their way back into the classrooms, he said they are facing those bullies in person. It can be hard for anyone, especially students who identify as LGBTQ+, he said.

We hope after attending our Spirit Week events, folks will be empowered to make a change, take a stand and stop bullying in its tracks," said Ramirez. "There is no room for bullying in our world."

This year for Spirit Week, We Are Family is specifically highlighting visual and performing artists who use their talents as a way to celebrate their identity, unique perspective and artistic freedom.

The events begin with a drag brunch at Edmund's Oast Brewing Co., 1505 King St., at 2 p.m. Oct. 16. Next will be a youth virtual art and open mic showcase at 7 p.m. Oct. 18. An International Pronouns Day social will be held at the Closet Case Thrift Store, 1801 Reynolds Ave., from 5-8 p.m. Oct. 19.

The main event will take place at the College of Charleston School of Education Alumni Center, 86 Wentworth St., from 6-8 p.m. on Spirit Day, Oct. 20, featuring Miss Coco Peru and a local youth artist. Miss Coco Peru is a keynote speaker, actress, activist and drag legend.

A family game night and zine making party will then be held at Game Night Charleston, 1044 E. Montague Ave., from 5-8 p.m. Oct. 21. Closing out the week will be The Rainbow Market at Closet Case Thrift Store from noon-5 p.m. Oct. 22. There will be 20 unique vendors, youth-run businesses and a clothing swap.

Spirit Week is promoted by GLAAD, the national LGBTQ+ media organization, with a pledge to "go purple" on Spirit Day as a way for global leaders, companies, celebrities, parents, classmates and others to visibly show solidarity with LGBTQ+ youth. The anti-bullying campaign also seeks to honor LGBTQ+ victims of suicide.

We Are Familys Spirit Week events are free to attend, open to the public and family-friendly. For more information, visit waf.org/spiritweek.
Over the last two years, the South Carolina State Fair has battled the COVID-19 pandemic in different ways.

In 2020, the fair, which is the largest event in the state, debuted a free drive-through version of the fair, with vendors slinging food and a small bit of agricultural offerings on display. The next year, they returned in earnest, but the reality of COVID-19s ongoing effects weighed on the fair, with some possible attendees opting out.

The effect seemed predictable: the State Fair drew 348,701 attendees in 2021. That was a considerable drop from 2019, when it brought in 416,326  a roughly 60,000 attendee difference.

Along with the pandemic came difficult financial times, leading to layoffs and pay cuts. The manager said the fair is a nonprofit and doesnt receive state funding.

We've all been working smarter and harder in the years afterwards, said Nancy Smith, the general manager of the fair. Some of that has been rectified.

And while the fair leaders posit that, of course, they still want the fair to grow, they reasoned that the COVID-19 pandemic was an opportunity to look past raw attendance numbers as a barometer of success.

We do need to always be cognizant of our attendance, and we do have to be growing, Smith said. I think it's more of an industry thing  we just need to back up, look at the big picture of what were doing here and concentrate on the inside part and working on that.

This year's fair runs from Oct. 12-23 and has brought other changes as well.

The events Pepsi Place Stage, which has past hosted big name folk and hip-hop bands, is almost solely littered with smaller, local or regional acts this year.

Among those is Columbias rock and roll band Villa*Nova, Atlantas R&B group The Tams and a duo of cover bands from the Southeast, touching on Lynyrd Skynyrd and Elvis Presley. Other, non-local acts include the well-received and Grammy-nominated bluegrass outfit Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen and Texas-based country artist Jess Kellie Adams.

Meanwhile, a years-in-the-making debut of Museum of the Moon, which is an international traveling exhibition on the moon, is set to finally hit the fair, too, Smith said.

And now, while the fair is still doing some increased health protocols from last year, Smith said it does feel like that for many potential attendees the COVID-19 pandemic is less of a concern.

She said they dont project out the fairs attendance, but after looking at other fairs around the country  noting that a fair in Massachusetts had a record year  she did believe the attendance could be looking up.

Because of the nature of our industry, we have no control over something called weather and theres only one person who can control that  called Jesus himself," Smith said. "I feel like if we have good weather, then we are on track to have a successful fair.
Georgetown, SC (29440)

Today

Clear skies. Low around 40F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Clear skies. Low around 40F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph.
John Martin's love of boats began when he was around eight years old and he watched his dad build a Sparkman and Stevens Blue Jay. Provided.
Dozens of boats and thousands of visitors come to Georgetown each year for the Wooden Boat Show.
SPARTANBURG COUNTY  Clothes put up to dry still hang from a line outside the small house off a sleepy country road south of Inman. Plywood blocks a broken window, and tools lie scattered on the porch.

Neon yellow police tape peeking out from a stuffed trash bag on the front lawn is the only outward sign that remains of the violence that unfolded inside just two days earlier.

On Oct. 9, a Sunday, the home became the scene of what law enforcement described as the largest single murder weve had in Spartanburg County, after authorities said a man shot and killed five people.

James Douglas Drayton, 24, now faces five counts of murder and four counts of possession of a weapon during a violent crime in relation to those killings.

Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright said forensic evidence indicates the shooting happened at about 9 a.m. Oct. 9, though deputies werent called to the scene until about 7:45 p.m. When they arrived, officers found four men dead inside the residence  Adam Morley, 32; Thomas Anderson, 37; James Derek Baldwin, 49; and Mark Hewitt, 59.

An ambulance transported Roman Christean Megeal Rocha, 19, to Spartanburg Regional Medical Center where he died during surgery.

Anderson and Morley both lived at the Bobo Drive home while Hewitt, Baldwin and Rocha were staying there temporarily, Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger said. Drayton also lived at the house.

During an Oct. 11 news conference, Wright told reporters Drayton was arrested in Burke County, Ga., less than 24 hours following the shooting after committing an armed robbery. According to Augusta-based TV station WRDW, Drayton is accused of robbing a restaurant at gunpoint before leading Burke County deputies on a car chase then crashing his vehicle and fleeing on foot.

He was driving a car that belonged to one of the men killed during the Inman shooting, Wright said, and had a gun that investigators believe was used in the killings. The Sheriffs Office is awaiting ballistic results from the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) to determine if the firearm was the murder weapon.

Drayton confessed to the crime, Wright said, and told investigators that he was under the influence of methamphetamine at the time of the shooting and had been up for four days. Wright did not provide a motive for the killings.

During the Oct. 11 media briefing, Wright described the house where the shooting took place as an illicit haven where people suffering from addiction believed they could use narcotics in relative safety.

These were sons, they were friends, they were brothers, they were dads and they were unjustly taken from us, Wright said.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, the mass shooting marked the deadliest incident of gun violence in South Carolina since 2015, when a white supremacist shot and killed nine black parishioners at Charlestons Mother Emanuel AME Church.

Wright was sheriff in 2016 when serial killer Todd Kohlhepp was arrested and charged with seven counts of murder for a series of killings including a 2003 quadruple homicide at Superbike Motorsports in Chesnee, also in Spartanburg County.

Wright said the Inman shooting was the single deadliest homicide incident he was aware of in Spartanburg County.

"Putting this guy in jail doesn't make everything better for these families," he said. "It just means they don't have to wonder, so I'd like to thank God for answering my prayer very quickly. I don't know why some cases are solved so fast. I don't know why some take 20 years. But I know that when I was praying, the good Lord answered my prayer."
Kingstree, SC (29556)

Today

A clear sky. Low around 35F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A clear sky. Low around 35F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph.
The Holy City Oyster Maven, Shucker Queen and Master Shucker at NICO in Mount Pleasant is looking to add a new title to her list of nicknames: National Champion Oyster Shucker. Isabella Macbeth won the womens division at last years competition, but is returning this year with her eyes set on the national title.

On Oct. 15, Macbeth will face off against the top oyster shuckers in the country at the U.S. Oyster Festival in St. Marys County, Maryland. The competitors quickly shuck 24 oysters while creating a clean presentation and preventing penalties.

Macbeth hopes to keep her time at two minutes, which is about ten seconds slower than last year. She wants to use that extra time to make sure her presentation is pristine. She repeats the motto in her head: slow is smooth, smooth is fast.

Ive been trying to really work on  my ability to control my emotions and everything while I'm up on stage and not let my excitement run away, so I can stay calm and just work on my breathing, said Macbeth.

As a Charleston native, Macbeth remembers big holidays and events from autumn to early spring surrounded by oysters.

Growing up in Charleston, oysters are a big part of our lives around here, said Macbeth. She tasted her first oyster at age five and it quickly became her favorite food. However, pursuing a career surrounded by oysters wasnt on her radar until she needed a job after college and started working at her uncles raw bar in Charleston. This is when she discovered opening raw oysters is not an easy task.

That first month was so painful. My wrist and hand and forearm hurt so much and were constantly getting little cuts from the side of the oysters, said Macbeth. As her oyster shucking skills grew, she also started becoming an expert of oysters themselves  recognizing the different flavors from various oyster types. At the time, she didnt see a future career at a raw bar, so she worked in the corporate world before coming back to her true passion.

Macbeth has been competing since 2016  she's won the Lowcountry Oyster Festival six times in a row and garnered other state and national finishes. Her experience gives her an edge at the competitions. She said her greatest strength lies in knowing what to expect, such as choosing the best knife to use for different types of oysters.

Speed is a crucial component of the competition. Not only do the oysters have to be shucked, but they also have to be displayed on a tray. She said many competitors place their oysters on the tray without looking because the valuable seconds it takes to look wastes time.

Inevitably, the tight competitions come down to penalties. Each penalty add seconds to the final time  the more severe the penalty, the more time added. Some penalties include improperly placed oysters where part of the oyster hangs off the side of the shell or the oyster is entirely out of the shell, not removing the adductor muscle that connects the oyster to the shell, puncturing the oyster with the knife or not removing the grit and grime from the shell.

The winners of the mens and womens divisions compete against each other during the weekend-long festival to crown the national champion. The national champion gets a spot at the world competition in Ireland.

Last year, Macbeth faced off against four-time national champion Honor Allen from Panama City, Florida for the national title. She was two oysters ahead when it came to shucking time. As the judges reviewed the final presentations, Macbeth said the crowd eagerly awaited the final results thinking a new national champion would be crowned.

Everyone thought I had won and the crowd was kind of going crazy, said Macbeth.

While Macbeths final score did not beat the reigning champions due to penalties, she said it was an exciting ten minutes thinking she might win.

I just went all out and gave it everything I could, said Macbeth. Im a little bit more planned this year going in with my strategy.

Its likely the two will battle it out again this year for the national title.
CONWAY  After a contentious few weeks, the Horry County Republican Party elected three new leaders  chairman, vice chairman and state executive committeeman  in a special-called meeting Oct. 11.

The newly elected leaders promised to support and promote more unity for the party moving forward while the state GOP also stated it will recognize and accept the new slate.

The meeting offered a glimpse of a more unified front for the Horry party, contradicting last month's meeting that featured near-fights, bickering, disorder and early adjournment.

Mike Connett, local party's provisional chairman, called the Oct. 11 meeting to fill the three of the five total positions left open by the party's former five-person administration after they abruptly resigned last month.

Connett emphasized to the committee how he wanted them to "follow the rules to the letter," claiming the previous administration led by former chairman Roger Slagle did not do that.

"We're not going to have anything like some of the freak shows we've been dealing with in the past," Connett said. "We're going to take care of business and get things done."

There were 47 Horry County GOP Executive Committee members present at the meeting, enough for a quorum. There are 80 total organized precincts within the Horry party.

First, the Executive Committee chose its new chairman. Executive Committeeman Reese Boyd III, of Murrells Inlet, was elected to the position after being the sole nominee.

Boyd had previously served as the party's vice chairman and state executive committeeman. Boyd is an attorney at the Myrtle Beach law firm Davis & Boyd LLC.

Boyd emphasized how he wanted to move past the distractions that he said have driven the division within the county party for nearly two years.

"There are so many things that matter to us, that matter to our kids, that matter to our grandkids, that we're all in 100 percent agreement about," Boyd said. "It's time to get on with it, and quit wasting time with the stupidity and the negativity."

Three candidates were nominated for vice chairman, including Executive Committeeman Ken Coleman, Executive Committeeman John Brees and Executive Committeeman Robert Visconti.

Visconti received 23 votes, out of a total of 46 votes tallied. Before a run-off could be called between Visconti and Brees, who received 15 votes, Brees conceded, allowing Visconti to become the new vice chairman.

During the party's Sept. 26 meeting, Visconti nearly came to blows with Executive Committeeman Chad Caton after Visconti allegedly insulted Caton's wife  the boiling point of tension that has existed between factions of the party for nearly two years.

These factions mainly include those who support former Chairman Roger Slagle and those who disagree with his leadership.

At the October meeting, three candidates were also nominated for the position of state executive committeeman, including Executive Committeeman Tom Wallace, now-former Provisional Chairman Mike Connett and Executive Committeewoman Kelly LaPietre. Connett was elected to the position with 35 votes.

The Oct. 11 meeting set a different tone for the party than the one that took place on Sept. 26, which was led by then-Chairman Roger Slagle, then-State Executive Committeewoman Tracy Diaz and then-Secretary Barb Treacy.

Slagle had called the September meeting as a step toward replacing him and his entire five-person leadership team, who all abruptly resigned earlier this month.

But once Slagle had announced near the start of that meeting that he suddenly wanted to rescind his resignation, the night descended into chaos, as his supporters clashed with those who opposed him.

Many committee and party members questioned whether Slagle could rescind his resignation, given that the S.C. Republican Party had already received and confirmed his resignation on Sept. 15, some nine days before the meeting. They argued that he would now need to be reappointed to the position.

Claire Brady, communications director for the S.C. Republican Party, confirmed that Slagle cannot now rescind his resignation. She also issued a statement Oct. 11 regarding the newly elected Horry County party leaders.

"The state party will recognize whoever is duly and appropriately elected at tonights meeting," the statement read. "Election Day is less than a month away, and were focused on electing Republicans up and down the ballot across the state. We hope all Republicans, including those in Horry County, will focus on helping us beat Democrats in November. Anything else is a distraction."

Members of Slagle's former administration did not respond to a request for comment.

Slagle has called for another Horry County GOP-related meeting to take place on Nov. 7, the day before Election Day. However, this is not an official Horry County GOP meeting, as Slagle is no longer chairman.
NORTH CHARLESTON  The S.C. Highway Patrol is investigating an auto-pedestrian crash that left a convicted sex offender dead.

North Charleston resident Daniel Paul Hanf, 39, died from injuries suffered in the Oct. 11 crash, Dorchester County Coroner Paul Brouthers said.

Hanf's criminal record includes convictions for assaulting three women in the tri-county area over a three-year span dating to 2008, court records show.

Authorities responded around 8:30 p.m. to Ashley Phosphate Road for a reported collision. A Dodge Durango was traveling east on the major road when it struck Hanf, said Highway Patrol Cpl. David Jones.

Hanf died at the scene. The SUV driver wasn't injured, Jones said.

The Highway Patrol did not specify where on Ashley Phosphate Road the crash occurred. The agency did not respond to follow-up questions. It continues to investigate the crash. It is unclear whether criminal charges will be filed against the driver, who hasn't been publicly identified.

Hanf gained notoriety in 2006 after cutting off his electronic-monitoring bracelet in an attempt to elude authorities trying to arrest him for the assault of a Mount Pleasant woman.

The construction worker was out on bail awaiting trial for a 2005 case in which he was accused of raping a 16-year-old girl he met at a party on Folly Beach. He was 22 at the time.

Hanf surrendered to authorities after more than a week on the run. He struck a deal with prosecutors in 2007, pleading to a lesser charge in the Folly Beach case.

In the Mount Pleasant case, Hanf entered an Alford plea, in which he claimed innocence but conceded there was sufficient evidence that he would likely be convicted at trial.

A judge sentenced Hanf to 10 years in prison, suspended to three years behind bars and three years on probation. He also had to register as a sex offender.

Hanf was released in 2008 after serving five months. He had received credit for time served, a circuit judge said at the time.

North Charleston police arrested him less than two weeks later on allegations he raped a 17-year-old girl.

Hanf's case drew criticism from local officials. They pointed to it as an example of a broken court system in which a violent felon was allowed back on the streets to prey on more victims.

Hanf was convicted in the North Charleston case and sentenced to another decade behind bars.

State attorneys successfully argued in 2014 to commit Hanf under the S.C. Sexually Violent Predator Act, allowing authorities to keep him locked up for the purpose of alternative care.

The act, passed in 1998, requires a court proceeding to decide whether a person suffers a mental or personality disorder making them likely to commit sexually violent acts. Once confined, offenders receive mental health treatment, drug and alcohol counseling and other services aimed at helping them control their behaviors.

Hanf was released from custody in February 2020 shortly after his annual evaluation, court records show.
There's something strangely reassuring about the likelihood that the rash of hoax threats to S.C. schools last week was part of a nationwide attack, possibly from a single individual. The FBI can bring better resources to the investigation than any state or local agencies and therefore is more likely to be able to track down the person or people behind the calls.

And tracking down and prosecuting the criminals is our best defense against more calls designed to terrorize students, teachers and parents, divert police from their work protecting our communities and potentially even result in a tragedy if nervous police misperceive a threat.

While state and local police need to follow up on local leads and work with the FBI to identify suspects, their primary concern has to be guarding against copycat attacks of the sort we saw in Richland District 1 on Monday. After all, criminals are no better at coming up with original ideas than most non-criminals.

As The Post and Couriers Steve Garrison reports, last Wednesdays calls targeting at least 17 South Carolina schools follow a pattern seen since Sept. 9 of false reports of active shooters at schools in at least 19 states and the District of Columbia.

S.C. officials havent released the calls, but NPR reported Friday that audio from calls targeting schools in Virginia, Minnesota and Ohio sounded similar: the same language, the same adult man with a heavy accent, breathing heavily and claiming to be a student at the school supposedly under attack.

The calls seemed to come from Africa, but they were made over the internet, which makes it easy for callers to disguise their phone number and locations  you know, like all those bogus calls you get from people wanting to sell you an extended car warranty or warning that youve just made a huge Amazon purchase. Indeed, the ability of the school hoax caller (or callers) to act so anonymously and deceptively is reminiscent not only of internet and phone scams but also of the social disruption that internet trolls have created on social media  sowing division that can weaken us as a nation or simply bolster a particular political candidate or cause.

Unlike social media scams and other threats to schools, though, officials so far have no idea what the motive is in the active-shooter calls, although the executive director of the National Association of School Resource Officers told NPR it could be someone potentially trying to test our systems to see how we respond to those types of events." It's imperative that local officials not assume that future calls claiming theres a shooter on campus are part of the hoax. "If we hesitate, it can cost lives," he said. "So unfortunately, we have to continue to proceed in an emergency manner ... until we know for a fact that it's not a real incident."

All the unknowns make it important for police to assess their responses last week to make sure theyre ready for the copycats, as S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster has asked SLED Chief Mark Keel to do. By most accounts police responded quickly and well, and they didnt overreact and end up hurting anyone accidentally. But some agencies did a better job than others, and frankly, what looks like a good response can be deceptive when there was no actual threat.

The good thing about the absence of a clear motive is that it makes it harder to point to a scapegoat on the other side of the political divide. That could make it easier to remember, as the Palmetto State Teachers Associations Patrick Kelly wrote in a guest column on Sunday, that our children face much larger threats in school than the type that's feeding the culture wars. And that we all want to keep them safe.

Thats a lesson for parents who are convinced that woke school officials are determined to indoctrinate their kids with a liberal mindset, and for school officials who are convinced that parents who question their decisions are determined to undermine our schools.
COLUMBIA  South Carolina's candidates for lieutenant governor spoke in support of their respective running-mates' policies on abortion, education and health care at an Oct. 11 debate.

Republican Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and Democrat Tally Parham Casey took the stage for an evening debate hosted by South Carolina ETV, The Post and Courier and S.C. Public Radio.

Evette, a businesswoman from Greenville County who has been lieutenant governor under Gov. Henry McMaster for the past four years, emphasized South Carolina's economy and helping business.

Casey, running alongside former congressman Joe Cunningham, is S.C. National Guard's first female fighter pilot and a leader of the Wyche Law Firm in Columbia. Her priorities center around veterans' and women's rights.

The Nov. 8 election will be only the second time South Carolina voters select a joint ticket with both governor and lieutenant governor. The lieutenant governor's race was separate until 2018, when a voter referendum approved in 2012 went into place.

The lieutenant governor is primarily a ceremonial role, taking on whatever the governor assigns. That often includes representing the governor at events around the state.

Abortion

State legislators have been discussing whether to create a stricter ban on abortions in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court overruling Roe v. Wade. The debate returned several times to the issue, including when the candidates were responding to questions on education and domestic violence.

Cunningham tapped Casey in part to act as a champion for reproductive rights, he previously told The Post and Courier. She said her ideal legislation would return the state's policy to what it was under Roe v. Wade, which protected the right to abortions.

"We don't think it's the government's job, or the government's business, to tell women what to do with their bodies or to tell doctors how to treat their patients," Casey said.

Evette, like McMaster has in the past, supported restricting abortion. She said she supported the state's so-called heartbeat law, which prevents abortions after a fetus' heartbeat is detectable, usually around six weeks of pregnancy.

The state Supreme Court is set to hear arguments next week concerning whether the law, which McMaster signed last year, violates South Carolina's privacy rights.

"That bill is something I stand behind," Evette said. "I think that works well for the people of South Carolina."

Casey said many women don't even realize they're pregnant until after six weeks, herself included. Even with exceptions for rape and incest, it's too restrictive, she said.

Education

The conversation around education touched on school choice, critical race theory and student-loan forgiveness.

Evette said she wanted the money to follow the students, a saying that means public education funds could go wherever a student enrolled, whether in a public, private or charter school.

"Coming out of business and business being my background, I feel very strongly that when you have a lot of options, the whole ship rises," Evette said.

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Casey called for the state to fully fund its public schools and increase teacher pay.

"Since my first child was born  he's now in high school  we haven't had public schools that are fully funded," Casey said.

When it came to critical race theory, Casey pointed out that the concept isn't even being taught in grade schools. However, Evette said she had heard reports from parents who thought what the schools were teaching was critical race theory.

They also addressed higher education in the case of President Joe Biden forgiving up to $10,000 of people's student loans. South Carolina has filed a lawsuit against Biden to halt this.

Casey called student loans a serious issue in South Carolina and said she and Cunningham would work to reform the state's financial aid requirements to make more students eligible for scholarships and able to keep them.

"We want our students here in South Carolina to have successful careers in their higher education, and we want to make it easier for them to get there, to pay for it, and then when they leave, to not have to be burdened by excessive amounts of student debt," Casey said.

Wiping student loan debt isn't fair to people who didn't go to college, Evette contended.

"As a parent, responsibility is something I've taught my kids from a very young age," Evette said. "When you put your name on a document and you give your word that you're going to pay it back, that's exactly what you should do."

Health

Casey called repeatedly for the state to expand Medicaid. From domestic violence to the opioid crisis to abortion, getting more people covered by the insurance could help save lives, she said.

"It's time for us to expand Medicaid and to offer South Carolinians more freedom to keep themselves healthy," Casey said, "whether it's physical health or mental health."

Evette said expanding Medicaid would take funding from other essential state operations.

Casey said she and Cunningham would work to legalize marijuana, both medically and recreationally, and expunge the records of people arrested for possessing it.

A bill to legalize medical marijuana died in the last few days of the 2022 Legislative session over a taxing technicality that House leadership ruled made the proposal unconstitutional.

Evette said McMaster would be willing to hear out the benefits of medical marijuana, as long as he also talked to law enforcement officers who would be enforcing the rule. Legalizing recreational marijuana, on the other hand, she said would result in homelessness and depression.

"This is not something we need to be cutting-edge on," Evette said. "I think this is something we have to look and see what other states have done well, what other states regret that they've done."

The Post and Courier will host a debate between Cunningham and McMaster at 7 p.m. Oct. 26 on SCETV.

The candidates for education superintendent, Democrat Lisa Ellis and Republican Ellen Weaver, will debate at 7 p.m. Nov. 2.

Click here for more news from Columbia, S.C.
SPARTANBURG  As temperatures drop in the fall and winter seasons, students at the South Carolina School for the Deaf and the Blind will be able to stay warm with a handmade, cozy gift made from the heart.

The students received over 170 crocheted hats from 82-year-old Judy Pitts. Some of the brightly colored pom-pom hats were adorned with patches of pizzas, scooters, hamburgers, words and dogs. There were hats crocheted into the shapes of frogs, pigs, foxes and bears. Some hats were a solid color.

Pitts delivered the hats on Oct. 3.

I love to see the kids, Pitts said. This makes my heart happy.

Pitts has been crocheting for over 50 years and donates her creations to organizations or institutions that cater to children.

Shes donated to a childrens cancer center in Greenville, an orphanage in South Dakota and Connie Maxwell Childrens Ministries in Greenwood. In addition to hats, Pitts likes to create afghans, stuffed toys, bags, clothes baskets and cellphone holders.

Everybody has talents, Pitts said. Its just about putting them out there and going forward.

Pitts also does embroidery and cross-stitch.

All the hats are also really soft, said Logen Belmont, director of communications and marketing for the school. Especially in the blind school, feeling is the sense that they really depend on, and that was just a unique experience to be able to see.

The South Carolina School for the Deaf and the Blind serves as the states specialized school for students who are deaf or blind. The school offers educational programs for those in pre-K through 12th grade at its main campus in Spartanburg at 355 Cedar Springs Road.
Yes, at the GEC voting center at the Westin.

Yes, at one of the satellite voting centers open on Saturdays.

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The richest counties in America are the ones that surround Washington, D.C. The high-income people who live in those suburbs are mostly lobbyists, lawyers, consultants, and others who profit from trillions in government spending. But an investigation by the Wall Street Journal suggests that plenty of high-level bureaucrats are also profiting improperly from their government jobs.

Thousands of officials across the governments executive branch reported owning or trading stocks that stood to rise or fall with decisions their agencies made, a Wall Street Journal investigation has found. More than 2,600 officials at agencies from the Commerce Department to the Treasury Department, during both Republican and Democratic administrations

Sure, but the overwhelming majority of senior career bureaucrats are Democrats.

disclosed stock investments in companies while those same companies were lobbying their agencies for favorable policies. That amounts to more than one in five senior federal employees across 50 federal agencies reviewed by the Journal. A top official at the Environmental Protection Agency reported purchases of oil and gas stocks. The Food and Drug Administration improperly let an official own dozens of food and drug stocks on its no-buy list. A Defense Department official bought stock in a defense company five times before it won new business from the Pentagon.

The potential for such conflicts of interest on the part of senior agency employees is obvious. A Defense Department official knows that a contractor is likely to be awarded a big contractor, worse, is the person who decides on the contractand buys its stock. An FDA employee knows that the agencys staff is critical of an important new pharmaceutical product and shorts that companys stock. An EPA official is being heavily lobbied for a permit. He buys the companys stock and then approves the permit.

 More than five dozen officials at five agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department, reported trading stock in companies shortly before their departments announced enforcement actions, such as charges and settlements, against those companies.  More than 200 senior EPA officials, nearly one in three, reported investments in companies that were lobbying the agency. EPA employees and their family members collectively owned between $400,000 and nearly $2 million in shares of oil and gas companies on average each year between 2016 and 2021.  At the Defense Department, officials in the office of the secretary reported collectively owning between $1.2 million and $3.4 million of stock in aerospace and defense companies on average each year examined by the Journal. Some held stock in Chinese companies while the U.S. was considering blacklisting the companies.  About 70 federal officials reported using riskier financial techniques such as short selling and options trading, with some individual trades valued at between $5 million and $25 million. In all, the forms revealed more than 90,000 trades of stocks during the six-year period reviewed.

It appears that little attention is paid to financial conflicts:

Within federal agencies, ethics officials generally dont consider it their job to investigate whether employees are making stock trades based on information they glean from their government jobs. Ethics officials ability to spot potential conflicts is limited because they usually dont know what employees are working on. When ethics officials do see a potential violation, they can refer it to their agencies inspectors general, who refer cases on to the Justice Department if they find evidence of wrongdoing. A Journal review of inspector general reports showed that the offices rarely investigated financial conflicts. As more federal officials invest in the stock market, ethics officials say they have less time to look into possible wrongdoing. When findings have been referred to the Justice Department, prosecutors in most cases have declined to open an investigation.

Much more at the link, including a number of individual cases.

It has come to light that Anthony Fauci has become a rich man despite working for the government since the Lyndon Johnson administration. Evidently he is not the only one who has found federal service to be more lucrative than one might assume.
Good heavens, the CDC better check the water supply at the New York Times. First, as noted here over the weekend, the Times discovered the farce of Californias high speed rail. Now theyve discovered (also decades later than sensate people, but still) that Joe Biden makes things up.

Biden, Storyteller in Chief, Spins Yarns That Often Unravel The exaggerated biography that Mr. Biden tells includes having been a fierce civil rights activist who was repeatedly arrested. He has claimed to have been an award-winning student who earned three degrees. And last week, speaking on the hurricane-devastated island of Puerto Rico, he said he had been raised in the Puerto Rican community at home, politically. For more than four decades, Mr. Biden has embraced storytelling as a way of connecting with his audience, often emphasizing the truth of his account by adding, Not a joke! in the middle of a story. But Mr. Bidens folksiness can veer into folklore, with dates that dont quite add up and details that are exaggerated or wrong, the factual edges shaved off to make them more powerful for audiences.

Of course the Times labors mightily to reassure its tender readers that Trump was worse, and place it in the context that all presidents lie, and maybe Biden isnt really any worse than others, like Bill Clinton. (Let us be thankful that Biden doesnt lie about sex. I can only imagine. . .)

But this attempt let Biden off the hook cant be sustained very long amidst the barrage of Bidens fabulism about himself:

[A]s he campaigned for the presidency in 2019, Mr. Biden described how he had traveled to Afghanistan to pin a Silver Star on a Navy captain for retrieving the body of a fellow American from a 60-foot ravine. This is the Gods truth, he said, repeating a story he had told many times, my word as a Biden. But as The Washington Post pointed out, it was an Army specialist, not a Navy captain, who had rescued his comrade. Former President Barack Obama, not Mr. Biden, awarded that soldier the Presidential Medal of Honor, not the Silver Star. And the ceremony took place at the White House, not in Afghanistan. . . At least four times, Mr. Biden has described a ride on Amtrak to visit his sick mother in 2015 or 2016, recalling a conversation with a friendly train conductor. But Mr. Bidens mother died in 2010. The conductor also had been dead for several years by 2015. Last year, Mr. Biden said he remembered spending time at and going to the Tree of Life Synagogue, where 11 people were massacred in 2018. The White House later admitted he had never visited, but had talked to the rabbi on the phone. The most curious stories that Mr. Biden continues to tell may be the ones about his interactions with the law. Earlier this year, Mr. Biden suggested during a speech in Atlanta on voting rights that he had been arrested while protesting for civil rights. Because Im so damn old, I was there as well, he said. You think Im kidding, man. It seems like yesterday the first time I got arrested. There is no evidence he was ever arrested during a civil-rights protest. During the 2020 campaign, he said he had been arrested while visiting Nelson Mandela in South Africa. He later admitted he had been blocked from moving by police, but not arrested. In 2008, he said he had been arrested as a college student following a group of women into an all-female dorm. He hadnt, as he conceded years later. In 2007, he recounted being arrested by a Capitol Police officer as a 21-year-old student in 1963. But in his memoir, he writes that the officer didnt arrest me or anything.

It is clear that there was something wrong with Biden even before senility overtook him.
Olajide Kareem, aka Seun Egbegbe, the embattled Lagos socialite known for his lavish lifestyle, has finally regained freedom after spending 68 months in prison.

Mr Egbegbe, 44, was incarcerated on 10 February 2017 for fraud involving N39m; $90,000 and 12,550.

The police alleged that he fraudulently obtained the money from no fewer than 40 Bureau De Change operators in Lagos from 2015 to 2017.

Mr Egbegbe, who once managed Fuji artists Wale Ayinde Tekoma and Pasuma, was said to have defrauded the BDC operators.

He had told them he had naira to change into foreign currencies and vice versa.

The erstwhile Lagos socialite pleaded not guilty and was remanded in prison custody pending when he would satisfy the jail terms as his friends, family, and colleagues deserted him.

The charge sheet was subsequently amended twice, with the counts eventually increased to 44 and three other defendants added  Lawal Kareem, Olalekan Yusuf and Muyideen Shoyombo.

The five defendants pleaded not guilty to the 1st and 2nd counts while Kareem, the 1st defendant, pleaded not guilty to the remaining 38 counts.

The trial began on 10 May 2017, with over 30 BDC operators storming the court to testify against him.

Free at last

The Federal High Court in Lagos initially sentenced him to seven years imprisonment with hard labour for fraud.

Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo sentenced Mr Kareem after convicting him of one of the 44-count charges filed against him by the police.

Justice Oguntoyinbo declared that 43 of the 44 counts crumbled because of lack of witnesses to substantiate their claims.

She also found that the prosecuting team failed in the responsibility to produce evidence, to be backed with witnesses in counts 4, 19 and 21.

The judge also said that police tampered with the money recovered from the suspects and also ruled that they should return all the money recovered from Egbegbe back to him.

However, on Tuesday, a Federal High Court, Ikoyi in Lagos, found Mr Egbegbe guilty of just one of the 44 counts charges against him and set him free.

She also decried that the prosecuting team failed in the responsibility to produce evidence, to be backed with witnesses on counts 4, 19 and 21.

The spokesperson of the Lagos NCoS, Rotimi Oladokun, also confirmed his release in an interview with PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday.

The court last heard his case on November 2020.

Background

The police arraigned the controversial figure in the Yoruba movie industry for alleged fraud involving N39 million, $90,000, and 12,550.

The police alleged that he fraudulently obtained the money from no fewer than 40 Bureau De Change operators in Lagos from 2015 to 2017.

Unfortunately, the filmmaker who financed the production of several Yoruba films under his Ebony Films Productions imprint could not fulfil the bail conditions more than three years later.

Egbegbe, whose publicised affair with Nollywood actress, Toyin Abraham, shot him into the limelight a few years ago, had been abandoned by his colleagues & proteges alike.
It didnt take long for prosecutors to catch Kunti Kamara in multiple traps on day two of his war crimes trial Tuesday.

The former colonel with the United Liberation Movement of Liberia insisted repeatedly that he had not been trying to flee Europe when he was arrested in January 2020 carrying a falsified Guinean identity card and a bus ticket to Portugal from where, prosecutors alleged, he intended to get a flight to Guinea.

But police had gone to the house of the community leader where Mr Kamara was supposed to be living under strict observation while on bail and found him missing. Mr Kamaras cell phone location showed that he was already fleeing. He had a new phone registered in a womans name  clear evidence prosecutors said that he was organising his escape.

Mr Kamara immediately confessed.

I do not deny that. I was afraid. I wanted to escape, the 47-year-old told the Paris Court hearing the case against him. He also confessed to obtaining the fake Guinean identity card.

I ran the process by myself, Mr Kamara said. Because when youre afraid you can do anything. I knew my passport is already in the system. So that is why I took the laissez-passer (travel document). If I could get into Portugal to go to Guinea is very cheap.

Mr Kamara had been released to the care of Liberian community leader Mohamed Kennehs care in 2019 a few months after he was first arrested on charges of crimes against humanity, torture and other acts of barbarism in September 2018.

At the time of his 2018 arrest, Mr Kamara was well aware that investigators were closing in on him. His former Ulimo ally Alieu Kosiah had visited him in the Netherlands and called him in Belgium before Mr Kosiah was arrested on war crimes charges in Switzerland in 2016. Mr Kamara had also known Mohamed Jabateh, the Ulimo leader who was convicted of criminal immigration fraud in the United States in 2017.

In phone calls recorded by French police, Mr Kamara revealed a deep sense of grievance over Mr Kosiahs arrest.

Bad people put him in prison, Mr Kamara told one confidante. I have to liberate him.

Throughout the day Mr Kamara refuted suggestions that he had left the Netherlands in 2016 out of fear of arrest.

He had been granted asylum in the country in 2004 and had gained citizenship, qualifications as an electrician and 12 years of peace and relative fortune.

Mr Kamara claimed to have moved to Belgium in 2016 because a language barrier had made him unable to secure a long-term work contract in the Netherlands. Dutch authorities had made it clear he would not be able to bring Liberian family members to join him without permanent employment. In Belgium, and later France, Mr Kamara claimed, his employment chances would be better.

In truth, said the presiding judge, Mr Kamara knew that Dutch authorities were adding more and more information about his wartime activities to his file. That was making it more difficult for him to get work. In another recorded phone call, Mr Kamara confessed that he had left the Netherlands because he felt investigators were closing in.

Alieu Kosiah was in jail and I need to leave the place, he said in a recorded call, according to prosecutors. I have a Holland passport and I am a Holland citizen. I was there. I worked there and they made me leave the place. So I came here to France.

In court, Mr Kamara expressed disbelief that he had ever said that in a call. I dont understand

that, he said. Im confused. Nobody made me leave Holland.

Prosecutors spent most of the day attacking Mr Kamaras integrity, even without raising the war crimes of which he is accused. They highlighted the lies he told Dutch authorities when applying for asylum in the Netherlands.

He had told them, untruthfully, that he was living in a refugee camp in Guinea when in fact he lived with a relative. He had denied any role in Ulimo knowing that would have ended any chance of asylum.

They made much of the fact that he had fathered two children by different mothers with whom he was no longer in contact. He also had no contact with one of the two children, a son. In 2014, Mr Kamara had married a Liberian woman he had never met and in fact, didnt meet until two years later when he travelled to Liberia for a religious ceremony in 2016.

Prosecutors pointed to a Facebook page that had a fake name, profile picture and fake email address. Multiple phones and sim cards were found at one of the homes where he was living.

Mr Kamara appeared to sense that the day had gone badly. He was impassioned in his delivery, holding onto the panes of the window that separated him from his lawyers and reaching his hands out beyond the glass box that held him.

He proclaimed his innocence repeatedly and blamed a discredited conspiracy to target people from the Mandingo ethnic group for his prosecution.

You know the trial is not a fair trial, he said. They already arrest people and put them in jail and when they arrest Charles Taylors people they release them. Why you people cannot be released?

In fact, people from Ulimo, dominated by Mandingo ethnic group, have made up less than half of those arrested for war crimes in Liberia. Only three Liberians have been convicted of war crimes committed in Liberias civil war so far  Kosiah and Jabateh from Ulimo  and Tom Woewiyu of Taylors National Patriotic Front for Liberia. A fourth man, former Armed Forces of Liberia commander Moses Thomas, was found liable for the Lutheran Church massacre and ordered to pay $US84m in damages in a US civil court.

Much of the day had been devoted to Mr Kamaras early life. He had a peaceful childhood in Karnplay in Nimba until his father died in 1994 and then, in 1989, when he was 15, Charles Taylors rebels invaded Liberia and shot his mother dead. She had been inside their house when bullets came through the door and killed her.

After Taylors ally Prince Johnson killed President Samuel Doe the remaining Kamara family fled to Guinea where they fought hunger and ethnic tension. When Alhaji Kromah, head of ULIMO, came recruiting fighters in 1992 a 17-year-old Kamara readily signed up. Kamaras alleged wartime activities were not on the agenda today.

Prosecutors will begin to reveal their evidence Wednesday.

During the trial Tuesday the Mandingo community in France faced scrutiny for their role in helping Kamara evade justice. Mohamed Kenneh of the Association of Liberians in France had signed an agreement with the court assuring that Kamara would live at his house and observe a strict curfew and other rules while released on bail.

In court, Kenneh conceded that he had not taken that agreement seriously and had only signed it as a favour to Kamara. He had not objected to Kamara moving out of his house in breach of that agreement.

Mr Kamara also claimed that Kenneh had urged him to testify on behalf of Alieu Kosiah during his trial in Switzerland but Mr Kamara said he refused.

Layee Bamba, the head of the Mandingo Association in France, conceded that Mr Kamara had told him police had seized his documents and were looking for him when Bamba bought Mr Kamara a bus ticket to Portugal.

The trial continues Wednesday.

This story is a collaboration with New Narratives as part of the West Africa Justice Reporting Project.
Drones have for some time been used by regular armed forces on Africas battlefields, such as in Ethiopia and Mali. But now they are increasingly being deployed by terrorists  sparking a global sense of urgency.

At the end of October, the United Nations (UN) Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee will host a special meeting in India on countering the use of new technologies for terrorism. Drones or unmanned aerial systems (UAS) have been identified as one of the key terrorist threats by the meetings organisers. Other risks are disinformation, the misuse of social media, and new payment technologies used by violent extremists.

Drones are by and large a force for good, for example in delivering medicines to hard-to-reach parts of Africa. But their widespread availability, increased range and growing sophistication in terms of payload (what they can carry) have seen an expansion in their applications.

The hobbyist drone market has grown rapidly, with global sales increasing from $14 billion in 2018 to a projected $43 billion in 2024, according to Drone Industry Insights. South Africa represents the biggest market in Africa, particularly for aerial technology used in the mining and agricultural sectors. This democratisation of relatively affordable technology means that UAS can be used for nefarious ends both in wartime and peace.

The Ukraine-Russian war has underscored the significance of the new drone battlespace with an arms race in production and acquisition underway. But drones can also be bought, adapted and used to disrupt critical infrastructure such as airports, energy plants and communications networks.

As African governments assess the risks of cyber attacks on critical infrastructure such as on Transnet in South Africa in 2021, they should also consider the unintended consequences of drone proliferation.

The continent has yet to witness a major installation being targeted by a UAS. But there is growing evidence of drones being weaponised by violent extremists and transnational criminal networks, either as a surveillance tool or as part of their intelligence and reconnaissance operations. As ISS Today has previously reported, armed groups such as al-Shabaab in Somalia and insurgents in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mozambique are applying the technology in combat.

UN Security Council Resolution 2617 recognises the increasing misuse of UAS globally, including the misuse of unmanned aerial systems by terrorists to conduct attacks against, and incursions into, restricted commercial and government infrastructure and public places. Council members have been urged to balance fostering innovation while preventing the misuse of UAS. But how can this be achieved in practice?

For a start, research is being done to understand how terrorists use drones. A joint UN Office of Counter-Terrorism, and Conflict Armament Research project is underway to assess global trends. The next steps will be to classify types of UAS (hobbyist, commercial, military, etc.) and establish a registration system so they can be tracked.

The UN Office of Counter-Terrorism has developed a good practice guide on protecting vulnerable targets from drone attacks, knowing that commercial or hobbyist drones are being shaped into weapons. 3D printing technology also opens up the prospect of spare parts being rapidly manufactured by extremists.

While countries such as South Africa may not consider themselves at risk of an imminent terrorist attack, industry insiders worry about economic terrorism  the destabilisation of essential utilities or other state services.

Kim James, an executive member of the Commercial Unmanned Aircraft Association of Southern Africa, confirms that crime syndicates use narco drones in South Africa for basic reconnaissance and to distribute drugs. A similar tactic is seen in Colombia to evade border security measures. The prospect of drones being used to target, for example, cash-in-transit vehicles is a possibility.

While tighter regulations wont necessarily prevent the nefarious uses of drone technology, they can provide early warning signs. They could, for example, locate suspect drones or flag the delivery of bulk purchases of hobbyist drones close to potential targets. This was seen in Iraq and Syria in 2016 when large consignments of hobbyist drones were delivered to Turkey and then driven across the border.

As Audrey Kurth Cronin observed in her book Power to the People: How Open Technological Innovation is Arming Tomorrows Terrorists, the most common type of drone used by Islamic State was the DJI phantom, purchasable on Amazon.com for as little as 450 USD. Export controls for such dual use technologies may also be an avenue for policymakers to consider.

Regulations require enforcement. Given the broad applications of drones, it will need an approach in which government departments coordinate their responses. In South Africa, the Commercial Unmanned Aircraft Association of Southern Africa is drawing up proposals with the Department for Economic Development for a registration and accreditation process that protects the public but doesnt harm business.

Technical fixes and alerts including how to identify potentially dangerous drones, are also being developed by the private sector with a focus on big installations such as mines, pipelines, prisons, airports etc. This raises questions of who is legally permitted to intercept a drone, and of state sovereignty and international law.

This months UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee meeting will have to tread carefully so as not to hamper the legitimate use of drones which is transforming business, agriculture, humanitarian relief and medicine in Africa. At the same time, the continent presents a vulnerable environment where weaponised drones may be tested and used by militaries and insurgents alike.

Karen Allen, Consultant, Institute for Security Studies (ISS) Pretoria

(This article was first published by ISS Today, a Premium Times syndication partner. We have their permission to republish).
President Muhammadu Buhari has sworn in Olukayode Ariwoola as substantive Chief Justice of Nigeria at the Council chamber of the State House, Abuja, on Wednesday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the swearing in of Mr Ariwoola followed his confirmation by the Senate on 21 September three months after his appointment by the president.

Mr Ariwoola took the judicial oath of office In a brief ceremony shortly before the commencement of the weekly virtual meeting of Federal Executive Council (FEC), chaired by the president.

NAN reports that the event was witnessed by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, some cabinet Ministers, other justices of the Supreme Court, the governors of Oyo and Ondo States, Seyi Makinde and Rotimi Akeredolu respectively.

Mr Ariwoola was appointed as acting CJN on 27 June, following the resignation of Justice Tanko Muhammad, on health grounds.

Mr Ariwoola was appointed a justice of the Supreme Court on 22 November, 2011 by President Goodluck Jonathan.

He is an indigene of Iseyin in Oyo State.

Speaking to State House correspondents after the swearing in, the CJN appealed to politicians in the country to allow the judiciary function properly as the 2023 elections approach while promising reforms at the apex court.

Mr Makinde, who also spoke to the correspondents, expressed gratitude on behalf of the people and government of Oyo state to the president.

Meanwhile, the council observed a minute silence in honour of a former Minister for Special Duties and Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Vincent Ogbulafor, who died recently.

(NAN)
The National Working Committee of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), its presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, the partys governors and members of the Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) are currently meeting in Abuja.

The closed-door meeting, which started at noon, is holding at the Transcorp Hilton in the federal capital.

Some of the persons at the meeting are the chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum and Governor of Kebbi State, Abubakar Bagudu; the National Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Adamu and the Director General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council and Governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong, and others.

Although the items on the agenda of the meeting could not be immediately ascertained, sources said it is connected with the composition of the PCC.

PREMIUM TIMES had reported the crisis in the party over the composition of the campaign council headed Mr Lalong.

The governors had raised alarm on the composition of the council, prompting the party to postpone the inauguration of the council while Messrs Lalong and Bagudu are working to expand the list.

The absence of Mr Tinubu, who recently returned from the UK, stalled the campaign process of the party. The PCC has yet to be inaugurated because of the problems arising from the composition.

Other parties like Labour Party and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have since commenced their campaigns.

Details to follow
For the first time in the history of health funding in Nigeria, over a trillion Naira was allocated to the sector in the proposed 2023 budget.

An analysis of the proposed budget presented by President Muhammadu Buhari last week shows that N1.17 trillion was allocated to the health sector out of the total of N20.5 trillion for the 2023 fiscal year.

The amount comprises of N404.08 billion for capital expenditure and N580.82 for recurrent expenditure. It also includes N2.5 billion for Aid & Grants and a provision of N62 billion for retained independent revenue which could help the health agencies execute their other activities.

The health sector also gets N81.47 billion under the service-wide vote. This includes N69.57 billion for GAVI/immunisation; N7.4 billion for counterpart funding including global fund, health refund to GAVI and N4.4 billion for military retirees under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

The 2023 budget shows a significant increase from the N826.9 billion allocated to the health sector in 2022 and the N547 billion allocated in 2021.

While the capital expenditure increased by 94.83 per cent from the 2022 budget, the recurrent health budget also increased by 25.54 per cent.

An analysis by PACFaH@Scale, a coalition anchored under the development Research and Projects Centre (dRPC), shows that there has been a 323.68 per cent increase in the health budget in the last eight years.

The health budget significantly increased from N278.31 billion in 2015 to N1.17 trillion in the 2023 proposed budget.

The health recurrent budget also increased from N237.31 billion in 2015 to N580.82 billion in 2023 while the health capital expenditure increased from N22.68 billion in 2015 to N404.08 billion in 2023.

However, despite the increase, only 5.75 per cent of the 2023 total budget is allocated to health, sustaining the countrys refusal to meet the commitment made by African leaders under the Abuja Declaration to allocate at least 15 per cent of their annual spending to the sector.

15 per cent commitment

It was the reality of the deficiencies in their health systems that made African heads of states and governments under the African Union (AU) commit in April 2001 to dedicate at least 15 per cent of their annual budgets to the health sector in what is now known as the Abuja Declaration.

While countries like Rwanda and South Africa have met the commitment by allocating at least 15 per cent of their total budgets to health, Nigeria has not found the way or the will to do so.

A review of the budgetary allocation to the health sector in the last 21 years revealed that Nigeria has never met the 15 per cent target agreed upon in the Abuja Declaration.

Although the 5.75 per cent allocated to health in the proposed budget is an increase from the 4.7 per cent allocated in 2022, health experts say more advocacy is needed to ensure the government meets and surpasses the 15 per cent agreed.

The National Coordinator of Africa Health Budget Network (AHBN), Aminu Magashi, said the budget seems high but it is still very low in terms of percentage.

Mr Magashi said until the health sector gets 15 per cent of the national budget, the country still has a long way to go.

We need to look at the figure from the percentage angle. If you compare the health sector budget with the overall national budget, you will realise its still far below 10 per cent, he told PREMIUM TIMES.

He said although the funding allocated is a welcome development for the health sector, more work needs to be done.

He said more advocacy is also needed to ensure the timely release of allocated funds.

Government must release money in time to all sectors regarding immunisation, health security, essential drugs, ambulance services and also addressing health workforce, he said.

In its analysis of the budget, PACFaH@Scale said the Nigerian government has been making efforts since 2015 to meet the health funding target but the efforts are not enough.

The group said although the sector got over a trillion Naira for the first time ever, there is still a huge gap to fill for the country to meet the 15 per cent agreed on with other African countries.

It said there is a need to revisit the plan proposed for the sector in the National Development Plan as it is counterproductive to the health budget estimates.

The group also urged the National Assembly to increase funding for the sector from their annual N100 billion zonal intervention fund.
The All Progressives Congress (APC), on Wednesday, reviewed and approved the draft manifesto of its presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.

Spokesperson of the APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), Festus Keyamo, disclosed this to journalists after a meeting of the council, the Progressive Governors Forum and the National Working Committee (NWC) of the ruling party in Abuja.

He said the draft manifesto was presented by Mr Tinubu to the organs of the party and that it got 90 per cent pass from most of the people that attended the closed-door meeting.

Mr Keyamo also said a committee has been set up to reduce the document to a simple presentation that everyone, irrespective of educational background, could relate with.

He did not, however, disclose the date for the release of the manifesto. He said Mr Tinubu would be the one to release the manifesto.

What we did today was to review the draft of our manifesto. Our candidate is not a candidate that operates on his own. He tries to carry everybody along. He presented a draft of the manifesto to all the stakeholders of the party. We looked at it. Almost all the stakeholders gave the draft a 90 per cent pass mark.

We are not going to take away the thunder from our candidate. He is going to present the manifesto on a particular day, at a particular occasion.

After that, a small committee has been set up to reduce the document to highlights major highlights. We want to deliver and sell the manifesto to even market women, to the street traders in the most simple language. We dont want to present a very complicated document they cannot understand, he said.

Delay in kick off of campaign

Mr Keyamo also spoke on the delay of the commencement of the flag-off of the campaign of the party.

He said the commencement of the presidential campaign would be determined by the availability of President Muhammadu Buhari, who is the Chairman of the PCC. He said the presidents diary would be checked for the purpose.

He likened the APC campaign to the manoeuvring of a 50 tonnes trailer which cannot be compared to the campaigns of the other parties, which he said are like kick-and-start cars.

Our campaign is like manoeuvring a 50 tonnes trailer into the highway. Once we hit the highway, we hit the highway. The president is the chairman of the campaign council.

We are going to take his diary into consideration in picking the date. We have agreed on the region we are going to start from but I am not going to say that now. We have agreed on all the issues. We just want to carry the leader of the party, President Muhammadu Buhari, along, he said.

Adamu missing at the meeting

Meanwhile, the National Chairman of the party, Abdullahi Adamu, was conspicuously missing at the meeting, though, the Deputy National Chairman, (North), Suleiman Kyari, and the Deputy National Chairman (South), Emma Eneukwu, were in attendance.

Explaining Mr Adamus absence, the spokesperson of the party, Felix Morka, said the national chairman informed the relevant persons that he was not going to be in attendance at the meeting.

The National chairman was not missing, he was adequately represented by the deputy national chairman, North and the deputy national chairman, South and he was in touch with every stakeholder who was here. The candidate, he did inform them of his inability to be here, but he was effectively represented, he said.

Mr Morka said the party is united and in sync to prosecute the 2023 campaigns.

Plot to stop BVAS

PCCs Director of New Media, Femi Fani-Kayode, while addressing journalists, also spoke on the allegation by a group that the ruling party is pressuring the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to drop the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in the coming general elections.

PREMIUM TIMES had reported that a group, the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) raised the alarm over alleged plots to compromise the INEC voters register.

Mr Fani-Kayode described the allegation as nonsense, and added that the ruling party is above board.

He said, We are above board. We are serious about what we are trying to do. We are going to achieve our objective and we are going to win this election fair and square.

Mr Fani-Kayode stated that the party is gradually coming together ahead of the commencement of the campaigns.
Speakers at a panel discussion in the ongoing Gulf Information Technology Exhibition, GITEX 2022, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, have commended the Nigerian government for its interventions towards the rapid development of digital economy infrastructure, in the country.

According to them, the Nigerian governments efforts have significantly transformed the countrys Information Communication Technology, (ICT) ecosystem, while also providing an enabling environment for brilliant tech innovations.

Their commendations were made after a presentation by the Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa-Abdullahi, who joined the panel in discussing Fintech Surge.

One of the discussants in the session, and the Chief Finance/Digital Officer of Mobilink Microfinance Bank, Sardar Abubakr, expressed delight over Nigerias effort in supporting and promoting technological advancement in Africa.

Guys, you need to look at what is happening in Nigeria. The government over there is walking its talk. In just few years, the Nigerian FinTech ecosystem maintained its growth trajectory within the African continent with three more unicorns. This is very encouraging and inspiring, Mr Abubakr noted.

Another panel member and the host of Be Mobile Africa, Cedric Jeannot, described Nigeria as proactive in providing necessary infrastructure for development of home-grown technology, through effective regulatory frameworks.

Earlier, Mr Inuwa-Abdullahi, told the session that after realising the importance of technology for national development, President Muhammadu Buhari, renamed Nigerias Ministry of Communication to cover Digital Economy, and appointed Isa Pantami, a professor, and renowned ICT expert, as Minister.

And so far, the minister has been transforming Nigerias digital economy sub-sector, he said.

He also informed the participants that lawmakers have passed a Startup Bill with a clear regulatory framework to operate confidently within the boundaries of the law.

The Bill, according to him, would also build and foster a climate that is favourable for the establishment of technology-enabled start-ups in Nigeria.

Currently, our startups are doing fantastically well as the government provides conducive environment for the growth of the economy through coherent foundation policies for digital economy.

The current administration in the country makes three main thrust to drive its agenda: that is digital identity, the payment system and connectivity. We have other noble policies including the Nigerian broadband plan, digital identity policy and national financial inclusion policy among others.

Our regulations are to safeguard the providers as well as consumers. Without providing the enabling environment, sometimes the ESG can be seen as selfcentric.

Recently, the Central Bank of Nigeria became the first in Africa to come up with a digital currency known as E-Naira after its consultations and collaborations with the ecosystem towards ensuring a safer and secured innovative drives, he said.

The panelists noted that corporate organisations performance on environmental, social and governance (ESG) parameters has become increasingly critical because reputable investors and customers are scrutinising the record and initiatives taken by the management in these areas.

On ESG, they agreed that businesses should focus on three core essentials: people, process, and product.
An Ikeja Domestic Violence and Sexual Offences Court on Wednesday sentenced a man, Chinaza Abazienu, to 21 years imprisonment for indecent treatment and attempting to rape a 10-year-old girl.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Justice Abiola Soladoye sentenced Mr Abazienu following his plea bargain agreement to a two-count charge of attempted sexual assault by penetration and indecent treatment of a child.

Mrs Soladoye sentenced the convict to 14 years for attempted sexual assault by penetration and seven years for indecent treatment of a child.

She added that the sentencing should run consecutively.

The state prosecutor, Abimbola Abolade, had earlier informed the court of a plea bargain application made by the defence, dated 20 June which proposed 21 years jail term.

The defence counsel, Donatus Egbe, also confirmed the acceptance of the plea bargain on behalf of the defendant.

The prosecution submitted that the defendant committed the offences on 3 August on Yusuf Sanusi Street, Off Adeniran Ogunsanya, Surulere, Lagos.

The offence, the prosecution said contravenes the provisions of sections 135 and 262 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015. (NAN)
Health ministers from 11 African countries are meeting in Uganda on Wednesday over the recent outbreak of the Ebola virus disease in the East African country.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) Country Office in Uganda, the ministers are discussing cross-border collaboration for preparedness and response to the Ebola disease.

Ugandas Ministry of Health, which is a co-host with the African Union, Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the WHO, said the meeting will strengthen and enhance collaboration in response to the hemorrhagic fever and other public health emergencies.

Senior WHO officials, headed by Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHOs Health Emergencies Programme are attending the meeting.

Uganda is grappling with the outbreak of the rare Sudan strain of Ebola virus disease, which was first announced on September 20 in the central region of the country.

Ugandan Health Ministry data as of October 9 showed that the country has registered 48 confirmed cases of Ebola and 17 deaths.

(Xinhua/NAN)
An Ikeja Domestic Violence and Sexual Offences Court on Wednesday sentenced a man, Isiaka Adeoye, to life imprisonment for raping a 17-year-old on a farm.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Justice Abiola Soladoye held that the prosecution proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

Ms Soladoye said that the testimony of the survivor corroborated the evidence of the investigative police officer and medical reports tendered in evidence.

The judge held that the testimonies of prosecution witnesses were coherent, adding that there was no substantial contradiction to raise reasonable doubt.

The judge said: I believe the testimony of the survivor in total, as she eloquently and brilliantly told the court that the defendant had a condom on before he had sex with her.

The survivor told the court that her aunt sent her to do some work for her at her farm where the defendant works and that the defendant sent her to fetch water. When she came back, she met the defendant drunk and he asked her if she wanted to have fun and he ended up having sex with her.

She said it was the farm manager that reported the case to the survivors sister when she narrated her ordeal in the hands of the defendant.

Evidence of the three prosecution witnesses have sufficient proof that the defendant had sexual intercourse with the survivor.

She said the final address of the defence, no matter how beautifully written, could not amount to vindicating the charge of defilement against Adeoye.

Evidence before this court shows that the defendant forcefully had sex with the survivor as this is corroborated in the medical report that there were bruises in her vagina, which can be as a result of struggle between her and the defendant.

This should serve as deterrent to others; adults should not take undue advantage of children and defile their purity.

The defendant was busy telling lies before this court but the court is not fooled.

The defendant is hereby found guilty as charged and hereby sentenced to life imprisonment.

He should have his name written in the Lagos State Sexual Offenders Register.

Mr Soladoye advised the survivor to be sensitive, adding that there was a need for sex education, moral re-awakening and training of underaged people in order to maintain sexual purity in society.

Lessons to the young ones here is that it is not good not to run errands for elderly ones, but the younger ones must be very careful not to fall prey in the hands of sexual predators.

The survivor, in this case, was insensitive; as a 17-year-old, she ought to be proactive and run for her life when she saw condom on the penis of the defendant.

Instead, she waited until the defendant forcefully had his way and had sex with her.

There is need to educate our children more on sex, as we now have more sexual predators in our society, she said.

NAN reports that the prosecution team, Olusola Soneye and Abimbola Abolade, presented three witnesses during the trial.

The prosecution said that the convict committed the offence on 22 January 2020 at Graceland Estate, Idimu, Lagos, in violation of Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

(NAN)
Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has requested to be joined in a suit challenging the Nigerian governments proscription of IPOB, his special counsel, Aloy Ejimakor, said on Wednesday.

IPOB is a separatist group agitating for an independent state of Biafra.

A Federal High Court, Abuja, on 18 January 2017 proscribed the group and tagged it a terrorist organisation.

The lawsuit, which Mr Kanu has shown interest in, was reportedly filed at the Court of Appeal, Abuja, against the proscription order.

It was filed by IPOB against the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, according to the information posted on Twitter by Mr Ejimakor.

It is not clear if the case is part of a fundamental rights suit instituted by Mr Kanu against the government. The exact date the suit was filed is unclear.

Mr Ejimakor did not respond to PREMIUM TIMES enquiries seeking clarifications on the lawsuit.

The lawyer, this newspaper learnt, had, on 5 September, filed a notice at the court, on behalf of the IPOB leader, seeking to be joined as an interested party in the suit.

Today, I will lead a team of lawyers to the Court of Appeal, Abuja to make a case for Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to be joined as a named party in the appeal against the proscription of the IPOB, Mr Ejimakor tweeted Wednesday morning.

I will also be in tag-team with SAN Machukwu Ume, who is leading in the mother case against the proscription, he added.

In a notice and grounds of appeal made available to Vanguard newspaper, Mr Ejimakor said the IPOB leader was dissatisfied with the ruling of the Federal High Court which proscribed IPOB.

In the notice and grounds of appeal, Mr Kanu claimed that the proscription of IPOB and its listing as a terrorist organisation based on the courts ex parte order was unconstitutional.

Mr Kanu also argued that his arrest, charge, and prosecution which were predicated on the said ex parte court order which was without his notice, violated his constitutional rights, particularly the right to a fair hearing.

He said the trial court misdirected itself in law and thus occasioned a grave miscarriage of justice that has adversely affected him by using the phrase in the ruling, the judge in chambers may on application made by the Attorney-General

Mr Kanu said the phrase presupposes that the application was to be made as an ex parte application.

The trial judge lifted the words in small close quotes from Section 2 (1) (c) of the Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Act, 2013 which had used, judge in chambers, not ex parte in enacting the procedure for obtaining an order of proscription and declaration of an entity as a terrorist organization, he said, stressing that ex parte is different from judge in chambers.

Justices absent

Mr Ejimakor would later announce that justices of the court failed to come to the court for the hearing of the appeal, despite being scheduled to hold on Wednesday.

Today, the 3-member court of appeal justices failed to come to court to hear the appeal against the proscription of IPOB and my motion for leave to join Mazi Nnamdi Kanu as a beneficial party in the appeal, he tweeted Wednesday afternoon.

The case was later adjourned until 7 March 2023, the lawyer said.

It is unacceptable to me and SAN Ume, Mr Ejimakor said of the adjournment.

Mr Kanu was previously arrested and released on bail. He had jumped bail in 2017.

He was intercepted in Kenya in June, last year, by Nigerian security agents and brought back to Abuja.

The IPOB leader, who standing trial for terrorism at the Federal High Court, Abuja, is being detained by Nigerias secret police, SSS.
Teachers in Ebonyi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, under the Universal Basic Education Board (UBEB), are yet to receive their August salary.

The Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs in the state, Donatus Njoku, who reacted to the development, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abakaliki, that the teachers will soon be paid.

Mr Njoku said it was regrettable that that category of teachers had not been paid, and pleaded with them to be patient.

We are doing everything possible to ensure that whatever might have led to such a delay in payment is addressed.

We are in contact with all those concerned over the payment and all issues would be sorted soon, he said.

He said August was a transition month in the local government leadership of the state, being the end of the past chairpersons tenure and the inauguration of new ones on 1 September.

It is a fact that teachers are not owed in the state and this particular situation is peculiar, he said.

Chairperson of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) in Ebonyi, Francis Egwu, said he was not happy to hear of the development in Ebonyi Local Government, while teachers in other local government areas had received their August salary.

I contacted the past and present chairmen of the council and no cogent reason was given for the delay.

They, however, promised to expedite action in resolving issues concerning the payment.

I will not rest until the matter is resolved as teachers in the council, among other areas, deserve their due wages, he said.

NAN could not get the former chairperson of the council, Chinyere Nwogbagas comment on the matter, as she did not respond to calls and text messages sent to her phone.

The Chairperson of UBEB in the state, Hycinth Ikpor, did not also pick up his calls or reply to the text messages sent to him.

(NAN)
The National Assembly will consider the 2023 budget proposal and pass it by December, Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, has said.

He said the lawmakers are purposeful, focused and determined to accelerate the passage.

He made this known on Tuesday at a dinner organised in his honour as a recipient of the national honour award of Grand Commander of the Order of Niger (GCON).

Mr Lawan was one of the 450 recipients of the national honours conferred by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The president had, on Friday, presented the 2023 budget of N20.5 trillion before a joint session of the National Assembly  the budget he tagged Budget of Fiscal Sustainability and Transition.

Total expenditure for the 2023 budget was put at N20.5 trillion. This includes N8.27 trillion for (non-debt) recurrent costs, N5.35 trillion for capital expenditure and N1.1 trillion for overhead costs. While N744.11 billion was earmarked for statutory transfers.

In his speech, Mr Lawan said by Wednesday, the Senate would begin debate on the bill.

Tomorrow we will start the debate on the 2023 appropriation bill. Like we did before for the three previous sessions, we are going to pass it before the end of December, he said. We are purposeful and we are focused. Its not for nothing that the presidency decided to give us 12 honours.

He said he believes that the ninth assembly has provided so much input into political stability in Nigeria because our records are there.

The lawmaker also hoped that the next assembly would produce more female senators. He said, it is only logical to get more or half of the population than we have today.

On the national honour, he said the number of recipients from the Senate this time is the highest and every senator deserves the award.

Another recipient of the award, Sani Musa (APC, Niger), said the honour came at the right time under the tutelage of the senate president.

He added that Mr Lawan has taught his colleagues to be dedicated to the job and the award will spur them to do more.
A former deputy governor of Sokoto State, Muktar Shagari, has said the vice presidential ticket of the Labour Party (LP) was offered to him, but he declined.

Mr Shagari, who served as the deputy governor from 2011-2015, said he turned down the offer because he believes that LP lacks the spread to win a presidential election.

He stated this on Tuesday while appearing on Politics Today, a political programme on Channels TV.

Mr Shagari stated that he was approached by some leaders of the party to serve as running mate to Peter Obi, its presidential candidate, but that he could not leave the PDP for the new party.

The LP currently has Datti Ahmed, from Kaduna State, as its vice presidential candidate.

Despite the popularity of Mr Obi and with several polls having him ahead of the other candidates, Mr Shagari said it is impossible for the former Anambra State governor to emerge as the winner in 2023.

The Labour party contacted me and requested if I would like to be the vice presidential candidate to Peter Obi.

And I looked at the political scenario, what the Labour Party is, and decided that I cannot be the vice presidential candidate to Peter Obi. I do not see the path through which Peter Obi will win the election in this country, he said.

Mr Shagari stressed that the LP remains a social media frenzy, adding that the race is between the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the PDP.

It is so clear that in areas in the South-east, and young people are shouting about him on social media  yes, its politics.

But the truth of the matter is that there are two dominant parties in this country  APC and PDP. If you want to become president, I think you must belong to one of them, Mr Shagari, a former water resources minister said.

Bloomberg news in a survey conducted by Premise Data Corp. put Mr Obi ahead of the other candidates in the presidential race to replace President Muhammadu Buhari next year.

Another poll, commissioned by ANAP Foundation, was conducted last month and suggested a three-horse presidential race between Mr Obi, Bola Tinubu of the APC and Atiku Abubakar of the PDP. The poll predicted Mr Obi as a possible winner.

However, despite the polls and the popularity of the candidate among youth on social media, many have dismissed Mr Obi and the LP for lacking the needed spread to win the 25 February election.
Set to take over as governor of Ekiti State, Biodun Oyebanji has said funding is not his major worry as he assumes office on Sunday.

He said instead, his major task would be how to secure the state.

Ekiti currently receives between N3 billion to N4 billion monthly from the federal allocation and collects less that N1 billion as IGR, which is grossly inadequate to cater for the needed funds to offset expenditures.

It is currently owing workers several months of salaries and pensions including tax deductions and those for cooperatives.

We can do N1.2 billion monthly IGR without necessarily putting pressure on our people, he said on Wednesday while briefing journalists in Ado- Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, in preparation for his assumption of office as governor.

If those not captured or not paying taxes are convinced to pay or brought to the tax dragnet, our IGR will increase and we will spend it judiciously on areas of priorities.

The governor-elect noted that he would be banking on strong partnerships the state had built with local and international development partners to survive the economic challenges.

I will learn from Governor Kayode Fayemi, who has sustained the partnerships and relationships with development partners to make more monies for our state, he said.

He said besides securing the citizenry, he would also be tasked with building enduring Infrastructure and solving the perennial epileptic power supply to the state.

Describing the nature of his proposed cabinet, Mr Oyebanji hinted that he would be working with competent, committed, courageous, transparent, and God- fearing people.

My government will be all- inclusive. We are bringing those that will add value to our dear state and our party, APC, he said.

Whoever I will bring on board, we are going to monitor their activities and ensure that they relate with the locals, people at the grassroots. That is why I want to live in my village at Ikogosi to encourage other appointees to live in their localities.

He said his government would will help to increase investment drives that would create wealth, and ignite human capital development, through job provision and revenue earnings.

My vision is to have a society where everyone will feel secured and prosper. If the state is not secured, have the right Infrastructure, investors wont come. We know that we cant control or command the security forces as a state , but we can support them to deliver, he further said.

The state presently enjoys just 20kw of electricity daily. But we will tap into the transmission line being built from Osogbo to Akure. So, power, security and access to Ekiti will be utmost on my priority list.

I will have to strike a balance between growth and development. Our development plan will be such that it will improve the peoples living standards.

You may build Infrastructure, yet the people will remain poor. We should all know that knowledge and talents development create wealth, that was what Chief Obafemi Awolowo did in the old Western Region.

Maintaining that he was not rattled by paucity of funds, Mr Oyebanji added, We will be transparent and work hard to build strong institutions, rather than strong men to help our people.
The House of Representatives has passed for second reading the N20.5 trillion Appropriation Bill for 2023.

The bill scaled the second reading on Wednesday after members debated the general principle of the bill.

Deputy Speaker, Idris Wase (APC, Plateau), who presided over the plenary had earlier stated that the House had agreed to debate the bill for two days. He, however, appealed to members to allow the debate to be done within a single legislative day.

He stated that some members had signified to speak on Wednesday but that the leadership resolved that the debate should be done within a day.

PREMIUM TIMES had reported the presentation of the proposed estimates by President Muhammadu Buhari last Friday.

Several members who spoke on the budget expressed concern over the parameters of the budget, the surging debt profile, recurrent components of the proposed estimates and fuel subsidy provision.

The Deputy Minority Leader, Toby Okechukwu, condemned the current administration for lacking the political will to remove the subsidy now.

He wondered why the government is planning to fund subsidy till June 2023, thereby, leaving it for the incoming administration to face.

This government has no courage to undertake that enterprise, it has been political. It is not driven by patriotism. I think this House should be courageous, we should face our reality and ensure we retool the budget so that it can be effective for Nigerians, he said.

Also speaking on the parameters, Leke Abejide (ADC, Kogi) said the projected daily oil production of 1.68 million barrels per day is too ambitious.

Mr Abejide also raised concern on the exchange rate of N435.37 to a dollar rate.

Last year, we had N400.15 to a dollar, this year (it) is N435.37 to a dollar and when theres too much gap between the exchange rate at the autonomous market (official rate) then you are ruined for capital flight within, he said.

When the bill was put to vote by Mr Wase, majority of the members voted in support.

It was subsequently referred to the Committee on Appropriations for further legislative action.
The presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso, on Wednesday, commissioned the partys office in Lagos State, South-west, Nigeria.

At the commissioning ceremony of the office which is on Ikorodu Road, Mr Kwankwaso told supporters of the party including new decampees, that the party has grown stronger since he joined it and can now compete with the two main parties  the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The former two-term governor defected to the NNPP from the Peoples Democratic Party in March after he lost control of the party in Kano State.

Mr Kwankwasos media aide, Saifullahi Hassan, said at the event in Lagos, the former Kano governor pledged to prioritise education and youth development if elected president in the February election in 2023.

Kwankwaso, who was accompanied at the event by his partys leaders in the South-west and a large crowd of party members and supporters, added that the NNPP is already in the same class as other major political parties in the country within a few months of coming to the limelight.

Kwankwaso described the large followership as a sign that people have fully accepted the message of his presidential bid and that things are going to turn out in his favour in 2023.

Taking pride in his track record, Kwankwaso also promised to carry the youths along by providing access to education for all at all levels, while also emphasising his vision to empower the youths in different ways in his bid to end the insecurity that has bedevilled the country.
The Lagos State PDP Governorship candidate, Abdul-Azeez Adediran, (popularly called Jandor), on Wednesday, unveiled a seven-point programme of action for the state if elected governor in 2023.

The programme tagged: WEALTHY comprised: Works, Housing & Road Infrastructure; Education; Aquaculture & Ease of Doing Business; Law, Order & Security; Tourism, Transport & Traffic Management; Health & Environment; and Youth, Women and Social Development.

Mr Adediran disclosed the agenda in a statement on Wednesday titled: My Vision for Lagos, as the governorship and House of Assembly campaigns officially kicked off ahead of the 2023 general elections.

Today marks a special point in our journey to the ballot and our resolve to offer ourselves for public service in the quest to create a Lagos State of our shared desire.

We were not beckoned on to serve or railroaded into a project of which we have little knowledge.

This journey started exactly seven years ago, after a detailed appraisal of the performance of successive governments in Lagos state from 1999.

We are convinced that our state will fare better when well-meaning stakeholders graduate from armchair criticism of the systemic decadence to becoming active players by throwing their hats into the ring to salvage the state.

We are signing a social contract with you to serve you with the skillfulness of our hands and the integrity of our hearts.

I am not here to make promises that are not achievable but with your mandate, our vision is to transform Lagos into a functional, prosperous, and secure state that will deliver the promise of making Lagos work for all, he said.

Mr Adediran said that alongside his running mate, actress Funke Akindele, they would make Lagos state work for its residents.

According to him, the team will make Lagos truly wealthy by giving a breath of fresh air in the seven areas the word denotes, and other critical areas of governance.

Our focus is to change the face of governance in Lagos state and make it a wealthy state in truth as against its current status of being a wealthy state only on paper. Our agenda for a wealthy Lagos is a treat everyone deserves.

We can have it better; our lives can be much easier when altruism, transparent honesty, accountability, and empathy govern the conduct of public officeholders.

We are set to make Lagos State work better in the interest of all residents by decentralising development to all parts of the state and ensuring that the flow of the wealth of the state is redirected from the pockets of an individual to the benefit of all.

We are very intentional about our vision of birthing a true Mega City led by a servant leader who is truly independent and will not need a second level of approval before taking decisions.

The power will truly reside with the people and not an individual pretending to be a demi-god.

As part of their plans to deliver a wealthy Lagos, Mr Adediran said his team would be guided by: Technology-driven approach to governance; Rule of Law; Equity & Inclusiveness; Accountable Representation, and Transparency (TREAT).

The candidate noted that corruption was one of the biggest problems stagnating the development of the state.

He promised to ensure financial re-engineering through critical reforms that would fast-track operational processes and plug financial leakages in the public service.

Works, infrastructure

On works and infrastructure, Mr Adediran said the financial muscle of the state would be deployed to provide necessary road infrastructure and bridges to resolve perennial traffic gridlock in some flashpoints while also instilling discipline among road users.

We will ensure that the acclaimed huge Lagos State revenue will now reflect in our daily living by using it to aggressively repair all existing state roads, building iconic bridges that will give Lagos a facelift as a mega city of repute.

We will involve private sectors in project financing via Public-Private Partnership such as Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) and other concessions, but with the interest of Lagos residents at the centre of it all, he said.

On education, Adediran said that serious government would take education very seriously, promising to take out-of-school children off the streets and put them in school.

The candidate said that he would declare a state of emergency in the education sector and proceed to make primary and secondary education completely free and compulsory.

He added that he would also provide free school uniforms and learning aids in both primary and secondary schools.

We shall embark on infrastructural renewal and upgrades in our public schools.

We will address shortage of school teachers by being the first to implement the 65 years retirement age and 40 years of service.

We will also bring back those that have been retired since the signing of this law to complete their years of service.

On healthcare, the governorship hopeful decried how patients roamed about premises of general hospitals because of lack of hospital beds, saying that pending when adequate infrastructure would be provided, his team would embark on automation of health facilities.

In addition to this, health insurance will be made compulsory and available to the less-privileged and vulnerable for free, to improve access and affordability, he added.

Technovation#

Mr Adediran assured that his administration would create technovation hubs across the five divisions of Lagos state, namely, Ikeja, Badagry, Ikorodu, Lagos and Epe.

He said that youths would be trained at the hubs to acquire digital skills while facilitating tech start-up support to leverage opportunities.

Mr Adediran promised to invest heavily in security using technology, address perennial flooding, respect the rights of citizens, and restore the hope of market men and women.

He added that he would be deliberate about the ease of doing business in Lagos state by providing enabling environment to players in our economy, both at the formal and informal sectors

Mr Adediran said all PDP candidates for legislative offices would reach out to every Lagos State resident and walk through each of the 245 political wards and 13,325 polling units across the 20 local government areas of the state to seek votes and support.

The PDP candidate, who said that his team would continue to communicate plans in the coming days, solicited feedback from time to time on their project of mutual interest.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that INEC lifted the ban on campaigns for Presidential and National Assembly elections on 28 September while that of governorship and state house of assembly was lifted on 12 October. (NAN)
The police in Zamfara State have arrested a truck loaded with foodstuff being conveyed to bandits operating in Dangulbi area of Maru local government.

In a statement signed by the spokesperson of the Zamfara State police command, Mohammed Shehu on Wednesday, the police also arrested eight informants for bandits and recovered four rifles, 250 rounds of AK 47 live ammunition and nine rustled cattle.

The driver of the truck was arrested while he was conveying foodstuff to bandits operating in the Maru, Anka and Gusau areas of the Dangulbi  Magami forest.

Hard drugs that include, Penta injection, tramadol tabs, chloroquine injection, exzol tabs, and cartons of beer were also found in the truck. There were also two sets of wrappers, the police spokesperson said.

Mr Shehu said the informants were arrested in separate operations across the state.

Two persons, Hauwa Usman and Aliyu Mamuda, were arrested in Munhaye forest in Tsafe. They allegedly confessed to providing food stuff to bandits operating in Munhaye forest.

The police spokesperson said the remaining informants were arrested in communities in Gusau and Maru Local Government areas.

Two suspects, Musa Umar and Idris Yaro, were arrested with nine rustled cows along Magami and Wanke roads in Gusau area.

On 10th October 2022 Police Detectives attached to Anti Violence Section Zamfara State Command while on patrol along Gusau  Wanke, road acted on intelligence information and arrested the above-named suspects while conveying nine rustled cows in a truck. In the course of interrogation, the suspects could not give satisfactory account of the cows; or presented documents that will legitimize their ownership of the cows. Discreet investigation is in progress, he said.

The police also said their personnel repelled an attack by bandits in Tsafe, Bukkuyum and Shinkafi local government areas of the state.

Police Tactical Operatives of the Command while on rigorous patrol in some trouble locations in Tsafe, Bukkuyum and Shinkafi LGAs received a series of distress calls from communities on plan by bandits to attack their villages. In response to the distress calls, the operatives succeeded in repelling most of the planned attacks where a serious exchange of fire between the bandits and the Police operatives ensued, forcing the bandits to flee with possible gunshot wounds sustained. In the course of the search at the scene, the above-mentioned arms and other exhibits belonging to the bandits were recovered.

Exhibits recovered were one (1) AK 49 rifle, two (2) AK47 rifles, one (1) lar rifle, one (1) cutlass & bunch of charms. Normalcy had since been restored in the areas, while confidence building patrol is being sustained, Mr Shehu added.
A former security adviser to the Bayelsa State Government, Perekeme Kpodoh, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to stop releasing ecological funds to the governors.

Mr Kpodoh said the recurrent destructive effects of floods across the country were enough evidence that ecological funds were being diverted by governors.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that data from the National Emergency Management Agency show that the death toll from flooding in the 2022 flood season has so far reached 500.

Mr Kpodoh said in a statement in Yenagoa on Wednesday that the governors had completely failed to use ecological funds allocated to them for projects required to mitigate flood disasters in their domains.

He said the failures of the governors had led to a loss of lives, destruction of properties, farmlands and displacement of millions from their homes because of unmitigated flood disasters.

Mr Kpodoh lamented the governors were hiding under the immunity cover provided in the constitution to recklessly divert ecological funds and perpetrate other financial misdeeds.

He said it was high time the Presidency, National Assembly and civil organisations worked together to shred the veil of immunity, encouraging governors misdemeanours, to enable the people to hold them accountable.

He advised President Muhammadu Buhari to send ecological funds directly to flood-prone communities to help them embark on projects, including the construction of high-rise assembly points in their areas to deal with the recurrent disaster.

The security expert called on Mr Buhari to compel the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) to probe the governors diversion of the ecological funds.

Mr Kpodoh said: The governors must be compelled to account for the ecological funds allocated to them by the Federal Government. These funds are supposed to be used for projects necessary to mitigate the negative effects of floods.

Despite collecting these billions of naira, we have not seen what these governors are doing with the money. Every year, the flood story remains the same. Innocent people are swept away, properties are destroyed, houses are submerged and farmlands are wasted.

We cannot continue like this. It is high time the Presidency, the National Assembly and civil society groups worked together to remove the immunity clause covering these governors and making them unaccountable.

We are also calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to compel the EFCC and the ICPC to probe these governors and the diversion of funds allocated to them to solve ecological problems like flood.

(NAN)
Its the climate! The responsibility to respond to climate shocks and their impact remains one for global conversations. The UN Climate Change Conference 2022 (UNFCCC COP 27) in Egypt is in November but the pessimism remains largely to be seen, especially as little to no progress has been made since COP22. However, Nigeria should lead the Global South coalition efforts to demand accountability from the global community, especially the developed countries regarding their climate commitments.

There is a pulse article that explains why a dam in Cameroon causes devastating floods almost yearly since 2012. The question should really not be why the flood is happening, but why the floods continue to be more devastating since 2012. This article explains the why in five points and puts things in a sharper perspective, emphasising the relevant areas of responsibility for government stakeholders and citizens.

First, Nigerians living in flood-prone areas are not aware that they should organise better and respond to these disasters, while all Nigerians should demand for better crisis management of natural disasters: The state governments continue to earn revenue from the flood-affected areas, and state governors and federal agencies will never be questioned over their handling of the flood crisis. State governors are not even questioned over their inability to pay salaries, which are already covered by federal allocations in some states, talk less of flooding, for which a convenient excuse is the lack of funding, the structure of response to natural disasters or blame-shifting to either the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) or a dam in Cameroon.

In 2012 and 2013, there were no tenement waivers or tax rebates for the thousands of Nigerian properties or businesses affected by the 2012 floods. The states earned revenue from the flooded locations. Ordinary Nigerians are obviously the biggest losers. Also, the burden of this loss is not evenly distributed among the state governments or federal agencies who neither receive reprimand nor evaluation for their action or inaction. The Nigerians in flood-affected areas are not even entitled to any disaster recovery financial package. In 2012, Nigeria lost N2.6 trillion to the flood disaster, seven million people were displaced, 597,476 houses were damaged and 363 were killed, with these numbers expected to increase by at least 45% this year, going by current indicators. This episode will surely repeat itself after the 2022 floods, with Nigerians to be charged tenements for the same property after the floods recede in 2023. Nigerians living in the flood affected areas should secure their properties by investing in joint storage facilities to keep their property ahead of flood incidents, while cooperatives and businesses should obtain insurance against force majeure. Not all Nigerians can simply move out of the affected areas.

Secondly, states should be prevailed upon to stop allocating land in designated flood plains, to maintain dredging and waste management efforts, and rethink incentives to invest more in flood mitigation efforts: Land allocation is clearly a state governments responsibility, and the periodic nature of the floods (before the 2012 floods, the last massive flooding was over 40 years ago) should not be an excuse for the greed by these administrators, who choose revenue over the safety of their citizens. Citizens, who despite being informed and warned early, also choose to remain in the flood affected areas till the very last minute and by then it is too late. The reasons often cited for this include the security of their property and lack of clarity regarding where to go. Conditions in the designated relief camps and coordination plans are not firmed up, leaving citizens to ignore camps and opt instead for living with families and friends in areas not affected by the flooding, further exacerbating the vulnerability limits of the entire population in the affected states.

The Federal Government can do more to protect lives and property by declaring a State of Emergency, including using military reserves or paramilitary formations to support and enforce evacuations. Such evacuation measures could include temporary warehousing or mobile storage units to preserve infrastructure and could be funded by charging a percentage of the value of the commodity being stored. The Federal Government should also explore its constitutional powers to address the ever-recurrent challenges of construction in floodplains and flood-prone areas, to prevent land allocation by state governments. The Attorney General should consider available legal options and advise accordingly.

states should be prevailed upon to stop allocating land in designated flood plains, to maintain dredging and waste management efforts, and rethink incentives to invest more in flood mitigation efforts: Land allocation is clearly a state governments responsibility, and the periodic nature of the floods (before the 2012 floods, the last massive flooding was over 40 years ago) should not be an excuse for the greed by these administrators, who choose revenue over the safety of their citizens.

Flood resilience programmes have substantial cost implications, and there is yet to be a proper discussion on how best to fund them. In Ekiti, it cost billions of naira to protect three of the local government areas at risk, which moderated the impact of the recent flooding. However, such funding models are not sustainable. The current emphasis on state and local response to such disasters need to change and this change should be championed by the Federal Government.

Thirdly, the Federal Government bears a large portion of the responsibility to mitigate and respond to the national disaster, and should really just do so. The following practical measures need to be taken:

(a.) The funding for natural disaster mitigation and response needs to change from its flawed approach: Under the prevailing revenue allocation formula, 2.32% of derivation funds is set aside for ecology and disaster management, and out of this amount a paltry sum of N336 billion was for the first half of 2022, which was not even up to 1.6% of the N2.6 trillion damage caused by the 2012 floods. The 36 states and the FCT get 0.72%, and the 774 local governments get 0.6%, adding to 1.32%, and leaving a balance of 1% to the government of the federation. NEMA takes 20% of the amount allocated to the Federal Government. The North East Development Commission (NEDC) collects 10%, the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA) gets 10%, and the National Agency for the Great Green Wall (GGW) 0.5%, leaving 0.55 of 1% to the government at the centre for ecological protection and disaster management. Herein lies the issue. Natural disaster management should be based on efficiency, and it would be dubious, for instance, to ask that the Green Wall Initiative, Nigerias line of defence against desert encroachment in the Sahara, to be funded by all 36 states. The same principle needs to be applied to flood management and national disaster management planning. A federal relief assistance fund mechanism jointly managed by the federal and state governments, with a funding formula, should be put in place. This is not to be confused with ecological funds.

(b.) States should be allowed to build, manage and benefit from physical flood prevention and mitigation infrastructure: The Federal Government still maintains the responsibility and bulk of the decisions regarding the provision and management of critical infrastructure, including dams, waterways, power generation, and distribution. The legal framework for independent power projects is here. The downstream flood-affected states will definitely be incentivised to build a dam if they benefit from the power generation, job opportunities, and others that accrue from this. The climate impact is debatable, given that the areas affected by flooding receive significant rainfall. However, the other range of issues associated with dam construction, in general, will remain. A dam directly funded by the states could generate power, support irrigation and create jobs and earn revenue for the states.

Cameroon should be left out of the current conversation regarding the present flooding, as advance notice was sent regarding the pending release of the floodwaters. Cameroon should not have built the dam, and thats the only part where the Cameroonians take the blame. Nigeria implied that it was able to handle the flooding situation at its end but did not fulfill its own end of the bargain by building the dam.

(c.) NEMA and the national disaster response and recovery mechanism is restructured along national disaster response priorities, rather than geography, and should be properly decentralised. NEMA, as it is currently constituted, remains ineffective, likewise the State Emergency Management Authorities (SEMAs). The funding for relief efforts is a recipe for disaster itself, especially where such funds could be put to adequate use before disasters occur. The concept of a federally supported, state managed, locally executed disaster response and recovery is desirable but not yet feasible. An interim action plan to coordinate these efforts around federal and state priorities should be developed with a transition plan of support to local governments. Alternatively, pilot programmes targeting funding for local governments with clear performance indicators demonstrate how local actions can work to improve resilience to flooding and coastal erosion, similar to the State Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability Programme for Result (SFTAS). This could be explored.

Fourthly, Cameroon should be left out of the current conversation regarding the present flooding, as advance notice was sent regarding the pending release of the floodwaters. Cameroon should not have built the dam, and thats the only part where the Cameroonians take the blame. Nigeria implied that it was able to handle the flooding situation at its end but did not fulfill its own end of the bargain by building the dam. The Nigerian government also receives an adequate warning about the dam being filled, save for 2018, when there was no early notice.

Why didnt Cameroon close the dam for longer?

The worst case scenario will have been a dam failure, which Nigerians will surely wish never happened, as it will surpass the largest dam disaster in recorded history. To compare, the failure of the Banqiao dam on the Ru River in Chinas Zhumadian City in 1974, led to over 492 million cubic meters of water being emptied out in massive volumes and this resulted in over 171,000 deaths. The Cameroon Lagdo dam reservoir is 7,800 million, and cubic metres that are 63 times larger than the Banqiao dam.

Fifth, Its the climate! Annual estimates by the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) of expected floods using previous data and accounting for percentages, remain insufficient for the type of climate change impact event, which saw one-third of Pakistan under water this year. Hence, the best estimates will have still fallen short of whatever response was planned. At the point of impact, NIWA gauge readers in Lokoja confirmed that the 2012 flood level was 12.84 meters, whereas that of 2022 is reading 13.22 meters, a 44% increase from the 2012 floods. The responsibility to respond to climate shocks and their impact remains one for global conversations. The UN Climate Change Conference 2022 (UNFCCC COP 27) in Egypt is in November but the pessimism remains largely to be seen, especially as little to no progress has been made since COP22. However, Nigeria should lead the Global South coalition efforts to demand accountability from the global community, especially the developed countries regarding their climate commitments.

Jubril Shittu is CEO of the Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC) in Abuja.
Thisis not to inform you of what you already know, but to see to it that if not all of us, majority of us are on the same page as we address the issue of gender inequality in this very last decade of the SDGs, with the right mindset Not until we see it this way, we will keep moving in a cycle with a cap on the socio-economic development of our nation.

The Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG 5) of gender equality comes with many controversies; from the elites and the dregs, resulting in misconceptions around the subject. As the world is becoming more aware of human rights, and how it concerns females, we need to pass on the message that female right isnt about their gender but about the fact that they are human and also members of the society who shouldnt be sidelined by the virtue of difference in morphology and physiology. Even though we cannot deny the rapid rate of increase in knowledge due to technology, which puts more than enough information on our palms through a few clicks; as we can access beyond the world around us, it is imperative that we understand the core of gender equality advocacy and not get the message twisted from the many jargons that we see and read on the internet.

Gender equality goes beyond who pays the bills at home or who bathes the kids. It is an abuse of the highest order to hinge gender equality only on what happens in marriages. This abuse is ruining/has ruined many homes in Africa and seemingly knowledgeable women arent wise enough to escape the venom of the misconceptions around gender equality. I have read so many comments and articles on social media relating to gender equality and how the home front is supposed to be managed, most of which are caricatures of the gender equality goal. Who does what and who gives what in running the affairs of the home should simply be based on mutual understanding  and in fact, with a sense of being humane, logical and reasonable. Even though this is not the subject matter of this article, this message cant but come up when gender equality is discussed, as many now want to successfully run their homes using the social media family-life template.

As it relates to the family, gender equality advocacy isnt a goal to ruin homes and disunite families, it is rather a goal to make every member of a family as important as they really are; equally important and useful! Not until gender equality is practiced at the family level (which is practically the backbone of the society), where the discipline that is good for the girls is also good for the boys, the comfort that is healthy for the boys is also healthy for the girls, and the opportunities that the boys must have does not negate the girls, we would continue to be far from reaching the gender equality goal, because every society is made up of families. Although as male and female, we are different in our morphological and physiological make ups but we are all HUMAN with emotion, intellect and will. We all crave for excellence and our society isnt supposed to limit us!

Also, this gender equality thing is neither a goal of competition nor a game to approve gender superiority as its been presumed by many. Rather, it is to admit that our competence isnt determined by our sex.

What do we say of homes (particularly in Africa) that are now broken because the man of the house and/or in-laws blame the woman for not giving them a male child? Ironically, science tells us that the sperm from the man is what determines the sex of a baby. Women are XX chromosome carriers and can contribute only chromosome X during mating, while the men as XY Chromosome carriers have a 50% chance of contributing either the chromosome X or Y. When the sperm contributes a X chromosome, this leads to the matching of XX chromosomes ( to give a girl-child), however when the sperm contributes a Y chromosome, it produces an XY combination of chromosomes (to give a male child). Unfortunately, the woman who carries the fetus in her womb is usually blamed. How many homes would have been rescued from chaos if we would all accept that the girl-child is as important as the boy-child and that girls arent limited in their achievement, if given equal access to opportunities like their male counterparts.

I love to see gender equality advocacy as gender equity; give every human equal rights, share available resources on the basis of needs  education, good health care, right to leadership, right to live as humans that we all are. These in themselves arent to be demanded or fought for but in a situation where some sets of people are left out in a society where they belong, and even decisions that affect them are being made behind their backs because they are seen as unfit, it is then expedient that equity is demanded and a fair world is achieved.

For instance, human rights demands that all children of school age are in school (access to quality education), unfortunately statistics provide that about 60% of out-of-school children are girls. This implies that in many societies, the education of girls isnt seen as important as that of boys.

Gender equality advocacy says that the girl-child education is as equally important as that of the boy-child.

In agriculture, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development reveals that women account for 75% of the farming population in Nigeria. The World Economic Forum also recorded that 70% of Africas foods are grown by women but that women have few rights over the land they tend.

Gender equality says: do not deny women of their rights, as you wouldnt deny men.

What about womens right to fully participate in politics, not just as it is in the law but also as it is viewed, practiced and perceived?

Do I need to remind you here that majority of the worlds poor are women! Yes. The reason isnt far-fetched; gender inequality!

I must not forget to mention child marriages: many teenage girls are forced to marry while their male counterparts are either going to school or learning a skill. While serving as a youth corps member in my country, Nigeria, one of my students came to me and said: aunty help me, my father wants me to marry my cousin after secondary school but I want to further my education. There was another case of a man who married out her teenage daughter for N70,000! In most of these cases, the girls mothers have no say over their daughters, in fact majority of the mothers were also victims of such. There are many life-threatening and destiny-truncating cases associated with gender inequality and we cannot afford to remain silent, as this goal is being trivialised by some social media feminist and the anti-gender equality advocates.

This article is not to inform you of what you already know, but to see to it that if not all of us, majority of us are on the same page as we address the issue of gender inequality in this very last decade of the SDGs, with the right mindset. Not neglecting the message for a mess and ruining the concept. The goal of gender equality isnt just for the benefit of any gender but for the benefit of all. Not until we see it this way, we will keep moving in a cycle with a cap on the socio-economic development of our nation.

Here is your role,

Treat a girl as fairly as you would treat a boy.

Give her a platform

Give her good education

Give her the skills

Open her to opportunities

Let it be that that the undoing of any human is not associated to their sex!

Happy International Day of the Girl Child.

Madeshola Adeduro is a gender equality advocate. She writes from Abuja, Nigeria.
As I was concluding this article, I read of the killing of one of the 23 rescued persons while on his way home to Kebbi, during another kidnap attack. What does that tell us? The battle is not over yet. So, beyond symbolism, what was the jamboree about? What about the traumatised victims whose families had earlier paid ransom to secure their release? Any psychological follow up on the victims and compensation over resources lost, considering that many borrowed and sold property to raise those monies?

Nigerians do not have faith in government and did not believe when it claimed that it did not pay ransom for the release of the last 23 abductees of the Abuja-Kaduna train attack. Neither are they convinced there was no form of swap of terrorists in detention for those train attack victims. Notwithstanding the doubts, our armed forces, who we were told planned and executed the release, deserve commendation and should be given credit for their relentless efforts and sacrifices in minimising insecurity, despite the many criticisms of sloppiness in counterterrorism operations, alleged corruption and compromise of their renegade members.

While the country rejoiced with the families of the last 23 victims, coming shortly after all hopes seemed lost with the threat of the terrorists to kill them all for not being able to pay for their freedom, and the arrest of erstwhile negotiator/mediator Tukur Mamu, the release and related issues deserve interrogation.

The way the authorities, led by President Buhari, created a fanfare around this rescue, their visit to the hospital, whilst generally patting themselves on the back, youd be forgiven to think government was actually proactive, had acted timely on intelligence, and that the bombing and abduction were thwarted before execution; or that the rescue took place almost immediately after the incident and no life was lost at all. Then, their celebration would have been understandable. For a government that has plunged us deeper into insurgency and failed on most indices, rescuing 23 people out of over 70 kidnapped and killed is barely a pass mark.

According to a report by SBM Intelligence, a Lagos-based security and political risk research firm, in a report published in August, there have been about 500 incidents in the country; 3,420 cases of abduction and the payment of N653.7 million in ransom within one year in Nigeria. 564 persons were also killed in other forms of violence. The ransom figure excludes that paid by the Kaduna train attack hostages, which is reportedly close to a billion naira. For the president to celebrate the release of 23 victims out of this lot, in such an elaborate display, in the face of massive insecurity, insurgency and banditry, is to say the least tragic, shameful and ironic.

As germane as the rescue was, it should not amount to gloating on the part of government, when hundreds of citizens are still in captivity, kidnapping is still ongoing, many more are getting missing and insecurity still pervades the land. How then can we jubilate over the rescue of 23 persons (I reckon one life means a lot) in an incident in which eight souls perished and not a word has been mentioned about them now that the gory tale is deemed over?

When the bomb attack took place on 28 March, eight people were killed and 62 herded to the bush without being confronted by any security outfit, in one of the high-profile hostage hijacks that have taken place in Nigeria. For over six months of their travails in the jungle, more than 40 of them were released in a piecemeal manner, until last week when troops of the Nigerian military led by CDS General L.E.O Irabor rescued the last batch of 23 holed up in the dungeon of the unmanned forests controlled by evil men described as terrorists/bandits.

Probably angered by the intervention of a non-state actor, who appointed himself as a mediator in the previous release of some victims, the military stepped up their rescue campaign. I once asked General Irabor how an individual could take up such a sensitive role and seemed to be succeeding at it. I recall that CDS Irabors response suggested that the military hierarchy was not taking this lightly. That middleman is Tukur Mamu, and Im not surprised at his eventual arrest. With the benefit of hindsight, it does appear the CDS knew more than he was ready to divulge at that time.

As germane as the rescue was, it should not amount to gloating on the part of government, when hundreds of citizens are still in captivity, kidnapping is still ongoing, many more are getting missing and insecurity still pervades the land. How then can we jubilate over the rescue of 23 persons (I reckon one life means a lot) in an incident in which eight souls perished and not a word has been mentioned about them now that the gory tale is deemed over?

As I was concluding this article, I read of the killing of one of the 23 rescued persons while on his way home to Kebbi, during another kidnap attack. What does that tell us? The battle is not over yet. So, beyond symbolism, what was the jamboree about? What about the traumatised victims whose families had earlier paid ransom to secure their release? Any psychological follow up on the victims and compensation over resources lost, considering that many borrowed and sold property to raise those monies?

The fact that it took over six months for the governments role to be felt in the whole saga raises questions about its readiness, capacity and efficiency in policing and protecting the country as a whole. We also want to know more about the Kuje prison attack and the nexus between inmates forcefully released and the train attack. How true was it that those released paid N100 million each?

Issues have been raised on the approach of elites to matters of insecurity in Nigeria. Until the attack on the train, the rail transport on the Abuja-Kaduna route had become a VIP thing, as the affluent and influential abandoned the Abuja-Kaduna Road and opted for the train for fear of being kidnapped. Thus, instead of the mass transport system it should be, the train was soon turned into something else.

This was the situation until the attack, which trapped many of such people. Therefore, when shortly after the repair of the trains and rail tracks, the Nigeria Railway Corporation called the bluff of captives and agonising families and announced the resumption of the rail service, it was vehemently condemned and then rebuffed. Justifiably, families organised themselves to stop the NRC resuming services until the release of their relatives. They were able to do so because most of them belong to the higher echelon of the society, and government had no choice than work toward a rescue first before the thought of reopening the rail tracks.

Therefore, in Nigeria, government is about the elite and the highly placed class that have the capacity to pull the strings and raise their voices to be echoed by the global community. This is most unfortunate. Nigeria should be about everybody and not a few well-placed individuals.

The fact that it took over six months for the governments role to be felt in the whole saga raises questions about its readiness, capacity and efficiency in policing and protecting the country as a whole. We also want to know more about the Kuje prison attack and the nexus between inmates forcefully released and the train attack. How true was it that those released paid N100 million each? What about the hostage takers? Were they arrested before or after the rescue or they were left off the hook to go and sin no more.

Weaning the legislature from the executive feeding bottle

Not even a general can fight on all fronts and hope to will all. Wike is advised to selectively choose the right battle to fight before he loses all. Seriously, Nigeria needs to restructure and make changes to our constitution for the true independence of each arm of government. This, hopefully, will stop the executive excesses, recklessness and gangsterism of governors.

One sore point of our experimental democracy is the role of legislatures. In theory it is said to be independent, but in practical terms one is an appendage of the other.

Our all-powerful governors, with a dictatorial streak in a supposed democracy, have turned state legislatures into tools for manipulation, despite constitutional provisions and court pronouncements to attest to their independence. The legislators only make laws that please their masters  governors. It is a shame that such a political vendetta which took place at the Rivers State House of Assembly last week was orchestrated by these pawns called legislators.

Since 2007 when Celestine Omehia was sacked by the Supreme Court to make way for Rotimi Amaechi as the duly elected governor of Rivers State, the man (Omehia) was quietly nursing his wounds until 2015, when Governor Wike emerged as governor. He supposedly honoured Omehia and restored him as ex-governor and paid his entitlements using the same Rivers State House of Assembly to pass a law to that effect (against the ruling of the Supreme Court).

Although everyone knew that the governors motive was to spite his former friend turned foe (Amaechi), nobody in his wildest imagination ever thought that Wike would turn around to dishonour Omehia. That he did so last week when he used the same House of Assembly to remove him as ex-governor just because he (Wike) fell out with him (Omehia), over support or otherwise for Atiku Abubakar. And in a swift manner, the governor assented to that obnoxious action of the so-called lawmakers.

For the governor, it is all about loyalty to him without regards for the moral or legal implications of his actions. So embarrassing. When Omehia was in his good book, it was all rosy, but when he listened to his heart and decided to throw his weight behind Atiku, he became an outlaw.

Not even a general can fight on all fronts and hope to will all. Wike is advised to selectively choose the right battle to fight before he loses all. Seriously, Nigeria needs to restructure and make changes to our constitution for the true independence of each arm of government. This, hopefully, will stop the executive excesses, recklessness and gangsterism of governors.

Zainab Suleiman Okino is chair, Editorial Board of Blueprint newspaper. She can be reached through zainabokino@gmail.com
The Kogi Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says it has seized 57 vehicles, valued at about N238 million, in different parts of Kogi and Niger states.

The command also said that it collected about N50.8 million as internally-generated revenue (IGR) in September.

The Comptroller of Customs in charge of the command, Busayo Kadejo, disclosed this while addressing journalists in Minna on Wednesday.

He said that the command was putting measures in place to step up security at the border posts to curtail illegal trade and prevent contraband from coming into the country.

The comptroller explained that the command would also carry out a 100 per cent physical examination to prevent offensive goods from being smuggled into the country through the borders of the area.

He said that the command also discovered five illegal routes being exploited by smugglers in its area of supervision.

We have deployed competent officers to manage our border posts to prevent smuggled goods coming into our country.

We also seized 21 bales of second-hand clothing, 90 bags of fertilizer, 2,900 litres of PMS (petrol) and 36 bags of foreign rice, he said.

Mr Kadejo further stated that already, the area command had issued an effective operational order to its field officers at the border posts on how to tackle the menace of smuggling.

He said that the command was also partnering with other security agencies in the state to ensure the arrest and prosecution of smugglers.

The comptroller expressed optimism that the security measures in place would prevent smuggling business in whatever form.

We have also reached out to traditional rulers, especially those at the border posts to assist our field officers with reliable information on movement of smugglers.

We are battle ready to prevent all prohibited items from coming into our area of supervision through well-coordinated security approaches, he said.

(NAN)

AAG/WAS
Motorists in Katsina State say the scarcity of petrol across the state is taking a negative turn on their businesses.

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) attributed the situation to the delay in the transportation of the commodity due to recent flooding that affected major roads in the northern parts of the country.

A statement by the IPMAN Chairman, Northern Nigeria, Bashir Danmalam, said trucks loaded with the products were expected to supply products in Abuja and other parts of the country soon.

The statement, therefore, urged Nigerians to exercise patience as measures were being intensified to restore normal supply across the country.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that only the NNPC Mega station on Kano road and Jibiya road are selling the product at the approved price while others sell from N185 and above.

The filling stations were characterised by long queues, where motorists passed the night there or spent several hours before refilling their vehicles.

NAN also observed that most of the gas stations in the state capital remained closed, with the exception of a few ones selling the product at exorbitant prices amidst long queues.

Other filling stations outside the state capital sold the product at N240 per litre and above, depending on the area.

The situation gave black marketers an opportunity of having a field day where a four-litre gallon of petrol cost N2,000 and above even in the Katsina metropolis.

Aliyu Mustapha, a motorist, complained about how the situation had affected the socioeconomic activities in the state.

Mr Mustapha, therefore, urged the government and relevant authorities to hasten taking measures that would address the problem.

Tukur Abdullahi said that he parked his car because of the problem as he could not afford to buy fuel at over N2,000 per four litres gallon.

Whenever there is such problem, masses are at the receiving end; it is not that most of these filling stations dont have petroleum in their stock.

Some of the marketers are using the situation to maximise profit at the detriment of the masses, which is very unfortunate.

Government should sanction such filling stations found wanting, to serve as deterrent to others, he said.

(NAN)
The Supreme Court on Wednesday fixed October 21 for judgment in an appeal filed by David Edevbie, Delta governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party for the 2023 governorship election.

Mr Edevbie is urging the Supreme Court to uphold the judgment of the Federal High Court which declared him the PDP candidate.

Francis Oborevwori, on his part, is pleading with the apex court to endorse the ruling of the Court of Appeal which voided the decision of the high court.

Mr Edevbie, on 23 grounds of appeal, faulted the entire unanimous decision of the three-member panel of the Court of Appeal led by Justice Peter Ige and asked the apex court to hold that he is the rightful candidate of the PDP in the Delta State governorship election slated for February 2023.

The appeal filed by his lawyer, Eko Ejembi, has Mr Orohwedor, PDP and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as 1st, 2nd and 3rd respondents, respectively.

The Court of Appeal, Abuja Division had restored the Speaker of Delta State House of Assembly, Mr Oborevwori, as the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 governorship election in the state.

The judgment of the court voided and set aside the judgment of the Federal High Court which had, on 7 July 2022, nullified his nomination on grounds of certificate forgery and perjury.

Justice Ige, who delivered the judgment of the appellate court, held that claims against the Speaker were criminal in nature and must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

The appellate court also held that Mr Edevbie, who filed the suit at the Federal High Court, ought to have approached the court via Writ of Summons to enable the resolution of disputes and not by originating summons where only affidavit evidence is required.

The judge said the allegations of certificate forgery and faking of documents against the Speaker were such that required witnesses from those who issued the certificates and the alleged fake documents.

The court, therefore, upheld the victory of the Speaker at the 25 May 25 primary election where he polled 590 votes to defeat Mr Edevbie who polled only 113 votes to come second.

Justice Ige held that Justice Taiwo Taiwos judgment, which upheld certificate forgery against the Speaker, was a miscarriage of justice because the criminal allegations were not established as required by law.

(NAN)
The alliance aims to combine forces of healthcare specialist investor TVM Capital Healthcare and leading Medtech company Siemens Healthineers, to ensure patients' improved access to quality and affordable healthcare services and accelerate sustainable growth for healthcare providers across Southeast Asia.

SINGAPORE, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- TVM Capital Healthcare, an emerging-markets focused healthcare private equity firm headquartered in Singapore and Dubai, with presence in Boston and Munich, and Siemens Healthineers announced a landmark cooperation to support and accelerate the growth of innovative healthcare companies in Southeast Asia. Under the agreement, TVM Capital Healthcare's portfolio companies in SEA will be able to leverage Siemens Healthineers' expertise in the medical technology industry, and its strong global as well as significant regional presence in Southeast Asia.

[Left to right] Present at the TVM Healthcare Institute event were Siemens Healthineers Managing Board Member and Head of Asia- Pacific Elisabeth Staudinger, Siemens Healthineers Managing Director for Southeast Asia Fabrice Leguet, TVM Capital Healthcare Founding Partner and Managing Director for Southeast Asia Hoda Abou-Jamra, TVM Capital Healthcares Chairman and CEO Dr. Helmut Schuehsler as well as the firms CFO, Flora Zhang TVM_Capital_Healthcare

Through its exclusive "Value Partnership" model, Siemens Healthineers enables healthcare providers to optimize business processes, expand capabilities and advance innovation. This partnership model goes beyond the entire Siemens Healthineers portfolio to generate added value above and beyond the medical technology itself.

Siemens Healthineers will also provide access to its Consulting Hub in Singapore to provide consulting on healthcare strategy, development of "Centers of Excellence" in key areas such as Oncology, Cardiology and Neurology, digitalization and operational improvement. This hub is a part of the global Siemens Healthineers consulting network with Consulting Hubs located in the United States, Europe, and Singapore.

TVM Capital Healthcare portfolio companies will benefit from these capacities of Siemens Healthineers, additionally to the firm's dedicated investment, operations, and ESG management capacities. TVM Capital Healthcare focuses on investments in the localization of manufacturing and de-risking of medical supply chains, as well as ex-hospital care, mostly highly specialized clinics, clinic chains in fields such as oncology, cardiology, diagnostics and imaging, long-term care, post-acute care and rehabilitation, as well as home care and disease management. Above all, a substantial effort will be put on sourcing enabling platform technologies that can help the portfolio to improve access to care and enhance quality as well as sustainability performance.

Hoda Abou-Jamra, Founding Partner of TVM Capital Healthcare and Managing Director of the firm's Southeast Asian Operations: "There is a lot of work to do to grow a sustainable healthcare infrastructure in SEA, and provide access to affordable and quality care. By combining our experience as a dedicated emerging markets healthcare investor/operator, with Siemens Healthineers' global expertise in healthcare technology and operations and large local teams with experience on the ground in countries like Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines, we will be in a unique position to do exactly that. We will co-create novel and innovative business models in healthcare with a focus on improving access to care at all levels across Southeast Asia. I look forward to our cooperation and growing impactful healthcare companies together."

Fabrice Leguet, President & Managing Director, Southeast Asia, Siemens Healthineers: "Access to basic medical care continues to be a growing concern for many countries in Southeast Asia. It's both a privilege and an obligation for us, as one of the drivers of innovation in medical technology, to make healthcare accessible for everyone, everywhere. The strategic collaboration with TVM Capital Healthcare will enable local healthcare entrepreneurs to have access to the capital needed for them to drive growth, supported with relevant technical, clinical and managerial knowledge, and the latest medical technologies from Siemens Healthineers."

This partnership between Siemens Healthineers and TVM Capital Healthcare will allow local entrepreneurs to achieve success in a sustainable manner and thereby improve access to care in Southeast Asia. Through its value partnership model, Siemens Healthineers will provide healthcare management consulting and education services to support local healthcare entrepreneurs in developing and commissioning new projects like greenfield hospitals or clinical centers of excellence, in optimizing operations or in digitalising their operations and access to the most relevant technological innovations from diagnostic imaging, in-vitro diagnostics, therapy and digital health solutions.

The alliance was announced at the inaugural TVM Healthcare Institute event in Singapore, on September 23, 2022. The TVM Healthcare Institute is a think tank network of top executives, key influencers, and other visionaries in the healthcare industry who shape the future of this sector. TVM Healthcare Institute's primary mission is to drive the transformation of the healthcare industry towards innovation, sustainability, and increased access to quality care by keeping the cost of healthcare provision manageable. TVM Capital Healthcare founded the Institute, Siemens Healthineers is a Technology Partner of the Institute.

About TVM Capital Healthcare

TVM Capital Healthcare is an emerging markets-focused healthcare private equity investment firm. The organization invests growth capital and focuses on specialized healthcare services, digital health solutions, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and diagnostics. Investment and operating partners have strong track records in international healthcare M&A and operations. Headquartered in Singapore and Dubai, with representative offices in Munich and Boston, the firm partners with Southeast Asian management teams to build sector champions. TVM Capital Healthcare's investment approach combines strong commercial value creation and returns with responsible investing.

The firm's comprehensive ESG framework contributes to the creation of impactful, sustainable, and well-governed companies that deliver excellent healthcare services, continued growth, and create high-quality jobs for healthcare professionals in a fair and diverse workplace. TVM Capital Healthcare is a UN PRI signatory since 2015 and a long-standing member of GPCA and recently EPiHC (Ethical Principles in healthcare) an IFC (International Finance Corporation) Initiative, as well as the 2X challenge.

TVM Capital Healthcare is a member of the NUS Medicine International Council (NIC) and supports the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine in its effort to continuously improve educational and research excellence and "inspiring health for all" as the top medical school in Asia.

www.tvmcapitalhealthcare.com

About Siemens Healthineers

Siemens Healthineers AG (listed in Frankfurt, Germany: SHL) pioneers breakthroughs in healthcare. For everyone. Everywhere. As a leading medical technology company headquartered in Erlangen, Germany, Siemens Healthineers and its regional companies is continuously developing its product and service portfolio, with AI-supported applications and digital offerings that play an increasingly important role in the next generation of medical technology. These new applications will enhance the company's foundation in in-vitro diagnostics, image-guided therapy, in-vivo diagnostics, and innovative cancer care. Siemens Healthineers also provides a range of services and solutions to enhance healthcare providers' ability to provide high-quality, efficient care. In fiscal 2021, which ended on September 30, 2021, Siemens Healthineers, which has approximately 66,000 employees worldwide, generated revenue of 18.0 billion and adjusted EBIT of 3.1 billion. Further information is available at www.siemens-healthineers.com.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1918341/Left_right__Present_TVM_Healthcare_Institute_event_Siemens_Healthineers_Managing.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1918448/TVM_Capital_Healthcare.jpg

SOURCE TVM Capital Healthcare
GUANGZHOU, China, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The 132nd Canton Fair, set to open online on October 15, is launching more than 40 "Trade Bridge" one-on-one trade matchmaking events. The 3-day long Vehicles & Spare Parts Matchmaking for Latin American Countries has wrapped up recently. 50 professional buyers from 8 Latin American countries such as Peru, Columbia and Mexico met with nearly 100 Chinese auto parts suppliers from 8 provinces and cities virtually, and some of them have signed intended orders after the event.

Carlos Andres Pineda, presidente of Asopartes in Columbia, Huo Rukun, director of Guangdong Zhaoqing auto parts base and other guests attended and addressed the event. "China's auto parts industry has grown very mature. Boasting a vast number of products, the auto parts industry has won a high international reputation", said Carlos Pineda. According to Huo Rukun, Zhaoqing auto parts industrial cluster is the supplier for many world-famous car manufacturers at home and abroad. Its die casting auto parts enjoys a 70% market penetration rate.

Peru's largest truck and trailer parts distributor IMPLEMENTOS PERU, Peru's largest manufacturer of electric cars SINO MAQUINARIAS Y TECNOLOGIA, among other buyers, discussed with multiple Chinese suppliers in the event and found their intended trade partners. The targeted and productive trade matchmaking also garnered positive feedback from the suppliers. Many attendees expressed their gratitude and recognition for Canton Fair to serve as the bridge connecting suppliers and buyers and its tailored and considerate services.

China Foreign Trade Centre, Canton Fair's organizer, had gone through meticulous preparations prior to the event, in particular, collecting buyers' demand, selecting quality companies by working with commerce departments of different localities and following up with results achieved after the event.

The Canton Fair "Trade Bridge" Global Promotion events connect international companies and industry buyers with Chinese manufacturers, aiming to facilitate trade cooperation and boost business efficiency. In October, more events, positioned to target specific markets such as Central Asia, RCEP countries and so on, will continue to introduce China's key industrial clusters, leading enterprises and innovative products to global audiences.

For more information and opportunities, please visit https://www.cantonfair.org.cn/en-US/register/index?utm_source=rwyx#/foreign-email

SOURCE Canton Fair
PSAs highlight how getting an annual flu shot is the best way to reduce your risk from flu and its potentially serious complications, protect your loved ones, and enjoy the holiday season

NEW YORK, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Ad Council, American Medical Association (AMA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and CDC Foundation today launched their annual campaign to motivate more people to get vaccinated against seasonal influenza (flu) to protect themselves and their loved ones.

As the holidays approach, the organizations are reissuing their Get My Flu Shot campaign PSAs nationwide to reach people with the message that a flu shot can help you stay healthy, reduce your risk of severe outcomes, such as hospitalization and death, and avoid missing work, school, or special moments with family and friends. The campaign ads direct audiences to GetMyFluShot.org for more information, including where to get a flu vaccine in their area.

During a severe season, flu has resulted in as many as 41 million illnesses and 710,000 hospitalizations among the U.S. population. The past two flu seasons have seen historically low levels of flupossibly due in part to public health interventions aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19, such as mask-wearing and physical distancing, that also helped reduce the spread of flu. It is possible that the U.S. population currently has lower levels of immunity against the flu due to less flu activity the past two years, along with recent drops in flu vaccine coverage. While we do not know what will happen during the upcoming flu season, flu vaccination remains the best way to protect yourself and your loved ones against flu and its potentially serious complications.

At a time when Americans are generally feeling insecure about the economy, getting a flu shot can also help prevent lost earnings and added medical costs1.

CDC Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Jose R. Romero, MD, said:

"Flu can be very serious, especially for those people who are at higher risk of getting very sick with flu, like young children, older adults, pregnant people, and people with chronic health conditions. Certain racial and ethnic minority groups also bear an unequal burden of flu hospitalizations and are also less likely to be vaccinated. While we don't know what will happen this flu season, we know that flu vaccination is the most important tool we have to prevent severe flu outcomes. CDC remains committed to emphasizing the benefits of flu vaccination, especially among those groups of people who are disproportionately impacted."

AMA Board of Trustees Chair-elect Willie Underwood, M.D., MSc, MPH, said:

"The flu vaccine is safe, effective, and can be taken in tandem with the COVID-19 vaccine and booster doses. We encourage everyone 6 months and older to get vaccinated against the flu, including people who are pregnant and immunocompromised. As part of our continued efforts to ensure optimal health for all people and address health inequities, we're continuing to focus our flu campaign on reaching Black and LatinX communities."

The Get My Flu Shot campaign will also offer new FAQ videos featuring medical professionals and other trusted messengers to help address questions and concerns about flu shots and provide fact-based messaging and resources.

The campaign ads (titled #FluFOMO and "No Time for Flu") and FAQ videos will be distributed nationwide with a continued emphasis on reaching Black and Hispanic communities due to longstanding health care inequities that have created undue burden and barriers in their communities. These groups remain at a higher risk of severe illness from the flu, and less likely to be vaccinated against flu.2

Ad Council President and CEO Lisa Sherman said:

"Our Get My Flu Shot campaign is back with new tools and resources to help motivate Americans to get vaccinated against flu this season. We're honored to continue our work with AMA and CDC to share this important annual message with all audiences, especially people who are at an increased risk for severe complications from flu. Getting a flu shot is the most effective way to protect ourselves, our loved ones, and avoid missing out on special moments this holiday season."

The Get My Flu Shot ads were created pro bono by advertising agency fluent360 and will appear in print, TV, radio, social media, out-of-home, and digital formats nationwide in time and space donated by the media. Inspired by the insight that people are motivated by caring for their loved ones, and that many are juggling more responsibilities than ever this year, the campaign illustrates how getting sick with flu doesn't just mean feeling illit could significantly disrupt the lives of individuals and their families.

CDC recommends that everyone six months and older (with rare medical exceptions) get a flu vaccine each year. For people 65 years and older, three influenza vaccines (Fluzone High-Dose Quadrivalent, Flublok Quadrivalent, and Fluad Quadrivalent) have been preferentially recommended for the 2022-2023 season3. Flu vaccines and COVID-19 vaccines can be given at the same time if you are eligible for both and the timing coincides. Each year, CDC and AMA undertake a range of efforts to increase the number of people who receive a flu vaccine. This season those efforts include working with doctor's offices and pharmacies to provide guidance on giving flu and COVID-19 vaccines at the same time and supporting community-based efforts to increase vaccination among racial and ethnic minority groups in the United States.

About the AMA

The American Medical Association is the physicians' powerful ally in patient care. As the only medical association that convenes 190+ state and specialty medical societies and other critical stakeholders, the AMA represents physicians with a unified voice to all key players in health care. The AMA leverages its strength by removing the obstacles that interfere with patient care, leading the charge to prevent chronic disease and confront public health crises, and driving the future of medicine to tackle the biggest challenges in health care. For more information, visit ama-assn.org.

About CDC

CDC works 24/7 protecting America's health, safety and security. Whether disease start at home or abroad, are curable or preventable, chronic or acute, or from human activity or deliberate attack, CDC responds to America's most pressing health threats. CDC is headquartered in Atlanta and has experts located throughout the United States and the world.

About the Ad Council

The Ad Council has a long history of creating life-saving public service communications in times of national crisis, starting in the organization's earliest days during World War II to September 11th and natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy. Its deep relationships with media outlets, the creative community, issue experts and government leaders make the organization uniquely poised to quickly distribute life-saving information to millions of Americans.

The Ad Council is where creativity and causes converge. The non-profit organization brings together the most creative minds in advertising, media, technology and marketing to address many of the nation's most important causes. The Ad Council has created many of the most iconic campaigns in advertising history. Friends Don't Let Friends Drive Drunk. Smokey Bear. Love Has No Labels.

The Ad Council's innovative social good campaigns raise awareness, inspire action and save lives. To learn more, visit AdCouncil.org, follow the Ad Council's communities on Facebook and Twitter and view the creative on YouTube.

This project is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $1,000,000.00 with 83% percentage funded by CDC/HHS and $200,000.00 and 17% percentage funded by non-government source(s). The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by CDC/HHS, or the U.S. Government.

1 https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/30/the-flu-costs-the-us-economy-10-point-4-billion.html

2 https://www.cdc.gov/flu/fluvaxview/coverage-2021estimates.htm

3 https://www.cdc.gov/flu/season/faq-flu-season-2022-2023.htm

SOURCE The Ad Council
HONOLULU, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Alexander & Baldwin, Inc. (NYSE: ALEX) (A&B) will report results for the third quarter 2022, after the market closes, on Thursday, November 3, 2022. In connection with this announcement, A&B will host a conference call and webcast on Thursday, November 3, 2022, at 5:00 p.m. ET.

The call and webcast will feature a presentation on operating and financial performance, followed by questions from sell-side research analysts participating in the interactive portion of the discussion. Parties listening via the webcast will be in a listen-only mode.

Company participants on the call and webcast will be Chris Benjamin, president and chief executive officer, Lance Parker, executive vice president and chief operating officer, and Brett Brown, executive vice president and chief financial officer, along with other members of senior management.

To listen to the conference call, please dial in at least 5 minutes prior to start time.

Domestic: 1-877-870-4263

International: 1-412-317-0790

Please instruct the operator to connect you to the Alexander & Baldwin call.

Access to the webcast will be via a link on the Investors page of A&B's website at www.alexanderbaldwin.com. Presentation slides will be available for download from A&B's website after the market closes on November 3, 2022.

About Alexander & Baldwin, Inc.

Alexander & Baldwin, Inc. (NYSE: ALEX) (A&B) is the only publicly-traded real estate investment trust to focus exclusively on Hawai'i commercial real estate and is the state's largest owner of grocery-anchored, neighborhood shopping centers. A&B owns, operates and manages approximately 3.9 million square feet of commercial space in Hawai'i, including 22 retail centers, 12 industrial assets and four office properties, as well as 141 acres of ground leases. A&B is expanding and strengthening its Hawai'i CRE portfolio and achieving its strategic focus on commercial real estate by monetizing its remaining non-core assets. Over its 152-year history, A&B has evolved with the state's economy and played a leadership role in the development of the agricultural, transportation, tourism, construction, residential and commercial real estate industries. Learn more about A&B at www.alexanderbaldwin.com.

Contact:

A&B Investor Relations

(808) 525-8475

[email protected]

SOURCE Alexander & Baldwin, Inc.
DALLAS, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Ashland Greene Capital, a Dallas-based multifamily real estate investment firm, announced its Parkwyn Townhomes exit today with twice the projected average annual return (AAR) within a shorter hold period than anticipated (42 months versus projected 60 months).

Notably, Parkwyn represents one of Ashland Greene's properties that prompted the firm's launch of its own property management company  AG Living. Propelled in part by the pandemic and then the Texas freeze, leadership realized it needed to take on direct control of Parkwyn as well as other properties to secure the quality experience it desired for residents and the level of return it desired for investors.

"We knew Parkwyn had tons of potential," said Shakti C'Ganti, CEO and Founder. "We stepped into the property management role after having to change management companies twice. When we took over Parkwyn, we inherited over $300k in unpaid A/P, lots of deferred maintenance, and 75% occupancy."

With AG Living at the property management helm, occupancy increased and at exit sits at 99%. Projected AAR was 14.80 percent, and at exit, actual AAR is 30.60 percent, with internal rate of return (IRR) at 23.54 percent, from a projected 12.80 percent.

Investor Relations Vice President Aalok Parikh credits the AG Living team with being a driving force behind the deal's success.

"We knew we had to act quickly to ensure we stayed true to our commitment to our investors," Parikh said. "Using our own property management division enables us to better control expenses, and more importantly, the quality of the resident experience. The challenges we faced over the last few years with the pandemic and then the Texas freeze taught us that it's best to be able to directly control our product, which means we're better able to manage quality and drive and increase occupancy."

Ashland Greene now operates a full vertical integration model through multiple divisions: Ashland Greene Capital, Construction and AG Living. According to Parikh, operations benefit greatly from resulting economies of scale, translating into an ability to produce higher returns for investors.

Ashland Greene is a fast-growing multifamily real estate investment firm with a primary focus on the DFW metroplex. It receives an average annual return of approximately 25 percent on their exits where the typical hold period is 2.8 years and averages 95 percent depreciation on Year One investments. In 2022, Ashland Greene plans to return about $90 million to investors.

ABOUT ASHLAND GREENE

Ashland Greene is a vertically integrated real estate company which identifies and repositions undervalued multifamily investments in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Our local focus, dedication to trustworthy, long-term relationship building, and commitment to community, enable Ashland Greene to create a unique investment experience which delivers long-term value for its investors, residents, and communities. For more information, visit ashlandgreenecapital.com/ .

Past performance is not indicative of comparable future results. Market and economic conditions may change in the future producing materially different results than those shown here. All investments have inherent risks. Targeted returns are based on five-year hold for Class A & B Limited Partner Investment.

SOURCE Ashland Greene Capital
Forbes Technology Council Is an Invitation-Only Community for World-Class CIOs, CTOs, and Technology Executives

AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Aurigo Software , North America's leading capital planning and construction management software company, announced Balaji Sreenivasan, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Aurigo, has been accepted into Forbes Technology Council, an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs, and technology executives.

Sreenivasan was vetted and selected by a review committee based on the depth and diversity of his experience. Criteria for acceptance include a track record of successfully impacting business growth metrics, as well as personal and professional achievements and honors.

"We are honored to welcome Balaji Sreenivasan into the community," said Scott Gerber, founder of Forbes Councils, the collective that includes Forbes Technology Council. "Our mission with Forbes Councils is to bring together proven leaders from every industry, creating a curated, social capital-driven network that helps every member grow professionally and make an even greater impact on the business world."

As an accepted member of the Council, Sreenivasan has access to a variety of exclusive opportunities designed to help him reach peak professional influence. He will connect and collaborate with other respected local leaders in a private forum. Sreenivasan will also be invited to work with a professional editorial team to share his expert insights in original business articles on Forbes.com, and to contribute to published Q&A panels alongside other experts.

Finally, Sreenivasan will benefit from exclusive access to vetted business service partners and the high-touch support of the Forbes Councils member concierge team.

"This recognition by Forbes validates the importance of Aurigo's mission to build modern, cloud-based solutions for the leading infrastructure and facility owners across North America," said Balaji Sreenivasan. "Being part of the Forbes community expands professional networking opportunities for our customers, employees, and partners."

To read Balaji's first contribution to Forbes, please visit the following link:

Transforming Capital Infrastructure To Build A Better Tomorrow

About Forbes Councils

Forbes Councils is a collective of invitation-only communities created in partnership with Forbes and the expert community builders who founded Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC). In Forbes Councils, exceptional business owners and leaders come together with the people and resources that can help them thrive.

For more information about Forbes Technology Council, visit forbestechcouncil.com . To learn more about Forbes Councils, visit forbescouncils.com .

About Aurigo Software

Aurigo builds software that helps build the world. Aurigo provides modern, cloud-based solutions for capital infrastructure and private owners to help them plan with confidence and build with quality. With more than $300 billion of capital programs under management, Aurigo's solutions are trusted by over 300 customers in transportation, water and utilities, healthcare, higher education, and the government with over 40,000 projects across North America. Aurigo helps capital program executives make better decisions based on proprietary artificial intelligence and machine learning technology. Aurigo is a privately held U.S. corporation headquartered in Austin, Texas, with global offices in Canada and India. Learn more at www.aurigo.com .

SOURCE Aurigo Software Technologies
Merged 40-year benefit administration technology company offers unparalleled expertise

BALTIMORE, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Following the merger of basys LLC and Innovative Software Solutions Inc. ("ISSI") earlier this year the combined entity, offering specialized multiemployer benefits administration solutions, today announced its new name: Bridgeway Benefit Technologies LLC ("Bridgeway"). Now with more than 300 employees and 40+ years of experience, Bridgeway facilitates benefits administration for millions of members in thousands of benefit plans across the U.S. and Canada through the combined capabilities of two of the industry's most stable and enduring technology providers.

"We're proud to bring our superior Taft-Hartley expertise to those in the multiemployer industry so customers of all sizes can gain advantages from the deep capabilities and synergies achieved through the basys and ISSI merger," said Jenny Morgan, president and CEO of Bridgeway Benefit Technologies. "As the technology leader in the multiemployer benefits industry, Bridgeway is now more strongly positioned to provide our customers with enhanced platform capabilities, a dedicated focus on security and regulatory compliance and the most experienced staff in the industry."

Under the Bridgeway umbrella, the well-established basys and ISSI customer technology platforms will retain the names of the former companies and continue to be offered and maintained by the larger, combined staff of experts and led by an established executive leadership team. The merger has also expanded the need to fill a number of long-term positions including those in technology and professional services to support its more than 300 customers.

With the new company name comes the revitalization of its much-anticipated annual Users Group Conference in 2023, which will feature both technology platforms, customer focus groups and unveil the company's plans for the year. With an expected 200 attendees from fund offices and third-party administrators across the U.S. and Canada, this event is specifically designed for administrators, IT professionals and department managers.

"The core purpose of the Users Group Conference is for our customers to learn and network with each other and to give an active voice to how we shape our products and services," said Jeff Herman, executive vice president of Bridgeway Benefit Technologies. "Attending this conference presents a great opportunity for customers to provide valuable input directly to our leadership team regarding Bridgeway's future company direction. We are here to help customers improve, and we want to develop solutions that fit their needs best."

According to Morgan, in line with the company's customer-centric values, the name "Bridgeway" represents the organization's commitment to creating a bridge and a way forward that brings together the legacy of two great companies, makes vital connections between its customers' administrators and members and spans across the benefits administration marketplace with innovative approaches. Its mission is to continue to be a trusted partner to customers, providing advanced products and services coupled with decades of experience in navigating the complexities of the Taft-Hartley industry.

The company's first in-person brand debut will take place at the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans' 68th Annual Employee Benefits Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada from October 23 - 26 at booths 223/225 and 222/224.

For more information about the company and job opportunities, visit Bridgeway's new website at bridgewaybentech.com and click CAREERS to apply for open positions.

About Bridgeway Benefit Technologies:

Bridgeway Benefit Technologies is the foremost provider for multiemployer benefits administration technology solutions. With the strength of our BASYS and ISSI platforms, we offer greater choice, enhanced capabilities and unmatched service delivery built for data security, regulatory compliance and a lower cost of ownership. Our software suites, web-based portals and hosting solutions serve the Taft-Hartley community and its millions of union members in the United States and Canada. The company provides trust fund offices, multiemployer plans and third-party administrators with a robust product suite for managing contributions, eligibility, claims processing, retirement plan administration and more. For more information, visit bridgewaybentech.com.

Media Contact:

Andrea Lynn

[email protected]

443.995.3989

SOURCE Bridgeway Benefit Technologies LLC
Bloomberg New Economy, IDA Ireland partner to convene leaders from private and public sectors to focus on Europe's role in the Global Economy

DUBLIN and NEW YORK, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Bloomberg Media today announced that the Bloomberg New Economy Gateway Europe will be held in Ireland on April 18-19, 2023. This conference, Bloomberg New Economy's first in Europe, is being convened in partnership with IDA Ireland, a world leader in investment promotion and development.

The New Economy Gateway series, launched in Panama in May 2022, brings together leaders from the private and public sectors to discuss, analyze and propose solutions to the economy's most pressing problems. It's informed by Bloomberg New Economy's five editorial pillars -- Finance, Commerce, Sustainability, Resilience, Security -- and expands on conversations at the flagship Bloomberg New Economy Forum, held annually in November.

In Ireland, the Gateway editorial program will be built around the theme of "Reglobalization": In spite of geopolitical stresses, supply-chain bottlenecks and the persistence of Covid-19, trade is as essential as ever. There's no going back to the old globalization. This new globalization -- or reglobalization -- will be different.

"Ireland is a perfect host for Europe's first Bloomberg New Economy convening," said Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies. "Ireland is a growing commercial capital that plays a critical role in transatlantic business and in helping to shape the EU's post-Brexit relationship with the UK. As we expand our New Economy platform, we look forward to hosting conversations in Ireland with business and government leaders who are building a more sustainable European  and global  economy."

The Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Leo Varadkar T.D. said: "This is a fantastic opportunity for Ireland to showcase the pro-business, welcoming environment we have worked so hard to create. The fact that Bloomberg has chosen Ireland to host its first Europe-based event is a testament to our position at the heart of the EU. Speakers will discuss the big challenges facing economies around the world, such as the future of trade and how to break the link between fossil fuels and economic prosperity. Some of the world's most distinguished leaders will be visiting our shores to take part and I look forward to hearing their contributions."

IDA Ireland will again be a Spotlight Economy Partner for the fifth annual Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore on November 14-17, 2022. Since its inception in 2018, the Forum has served as an essential platform for policy makers, top investors and influential thinkers to have an open dialogue, unencumbered by cultural differences, trade tensions or commercial rivalries.

Martin D. Shanahan, CEO of IDA said: "Ireland is one of the most globalized economies in the world. Creating a platform, with Bloomberg, to facilitate discussions on Europe's and Ireland's role in the global economy is a natural extension of our work in creating a welcoming, stable and secure environment for investors. The first European Bloomberg New Economy Forum will be an opportunity to showcase what Europe and Ireland have to offer, within a very challenging, uncertain and competitive global environment."

About Bloomberg

Bloomberg is a global leader in business and financial information, delivering trusted data, news, and insights that bring transparency, efficiency, and fairness to markets. The company helps connect influential communities across the global financial ecosystem via reliable technology solutions that enable our customers to make more informed decisions and foster better collaboration. For more information, visit Bloomberg.com/company or request a demo.

About Bloomberg Media

Bloomberg Media is the world's leading multi-platform media company for business and finance, which draws on the editorial resources of more than 2,700 editorial professionals globally in more than 120 countries. Bloomberg Media is the consumer-facing media organization of Bloomberg LP.

SOURCE Bloomberg Media
NEW YORK, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- BNY Mellon announces it has successfully facilitated the first-of-its-kind, fully-transparent payment transaction between Egypt and China. Previously, low-value international payments experienced limited cost transparency and uncertainty over settlement timelines. Leveraging the new SWIFT Go service, BNY Mellon acted as an intermediary for a payment between QNB Al Ahli Egypt, the remitting bank, and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, the beneficiary bank. Delivery of funds to the beneficiary and confirmation to the originating bank were achieved in less than three hours. A cross-border transaction between Egypt and China had previously taken over two days.

Businesses and consumers around the world have faced challenges when making smaller international payments, which include limited transparency over costs and uncertainty over when the funds will be delivered. In July 2021, BNY Mellon announced it was the first US bank to support SWIFT Go, a new service that allows financial institutions to facilitate efficient and reliable cross-border payments between consumers or small- and medium-sized companies.

"We're thrilled to introduce cost-effective solutions for a better payment experience," said Isabel Schmidt, Co-Head of Global Payments Products at BNY Mellon. "Thanks to this collaboration, our clients in the region will see a wide range of benefits, including faster speeds, more predictable fees, and greater security."

"QNB AlAhli is pleased to be the first bank in Egypt to participate in this innovative initiative to introduce a better cross-border payment experience for our clients," said Mohamed Bedeir, CEO of QNB AlAhli. "With this successful collaboration, we are not only facilitating and enhancing the payment industry, but also supporting financial inclusion."

The payment from Egypt to China is the latest milestone in BNY Mellon's commitment to streamline and transform global payments. In May 2021, BNY Mellon launched the first-of-its-kind real-time electronic bill (e-bill) and payment solution. BNY Mellon was also the first bank to provide Request for Payment (RFP) messaging capabilities.

About BNY Mellon

BNY Mellon is a global investments company dedicated to helping its clients manage and service their financial assets throughout the investment lifecycle. Whether providing financial services for institutions, corporations or individual investors, BNY Mellon delivers informed investment and wealth management and investment services in 35 countries. As of June 30, 2022, BNY Mellon had $43.0 trillion in assets under custody and/or administration, and $1.9 trillion in assets under management. BNY Mellon can act as a single point of contact for clients looking to create, trade, hold, manage, service, distribute or restructure investments. BNY Mellon is the corporate brand of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE: BK). Additional information is available on www.bnymellon.com. Follow us on Twitter @BNYMellon or visit our newsroom at www.bnymellon.com/newsroom for the latest company news.

Contact:

Steve LaMarca

[email protected]

+1 908 581 8292

SOURCE BNY Mellon
Clearwater Recognized by Chartis Research for its Exceptional Investment Management Technology

BOISE, Idaho, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Clearwater Analytics (NYSE: CWAN), a leading provider of SaaS-based investment accounting, reporting, and analytics solutions, today announced that Chartis Research has named Clearwater Analytics the winner of the Buyside50 Award in the Investment Lifecycle  Insurance/Pension Funds category.

Clearwater Analytics wins the RiskTech Buyside50 2022 Award in the Investment Lifecycle  Insurance/Pension Funds category.

The RiskTech Buyside50 rankings highlight the top financial technology vendors in the investment management industry. The awards recognize vendors like Clearwater Analytics who help investors drive efficiency, analytical superiority, and reliability across the investment management lifecycle. Chartis Research announced Clearwater Analytics as the first-place winner after it received the highest score based on breadth of coverage, depth of functionality, technology and techniques, strategy and innovation, and market presence.

"As insurance companies continue to invest more resources in alternative assets, their portfolios are growing increasingly complex. They have to navigate a constantly shifting landscape of compliance regulations," said Jay Wolstenholme, Research Director at Chartis Research. "Clearwater's solution provides automated investment data management, accounting, and reporting that are essential for any insurance company looking to manage their global portfolio in today's environment. Investors need an updated, transparent, and comprehensive view of their portfolio every day, and that's exactly what sets Clearwater apart."

"We are honored Clearwater has been recognized once again as a market leader in investment accounting and reporting," said Sandeep Sahai, Chief Executive Officer at Clearwater Analytics. "With our award-winning solutions, insurance companies of all sizes are a click away from transforming their business. Clearwater does the heavy lifting of aggregating and reconciling sophisticated data so insurance teams can focus on increasing transparency and visibility into alternative investments, thereby managing their risk more effectively."

The Clearwater SaaS solution is trusted by investors around the world to automatically aggregate multi-asset portfolio data across sources and provide automated accounting and reporting. Insurers make use of Clearwater's best-in-class data aggregation, validation, and reconciliation software to increase data quality, reduce costs of data management, and eliminate time-consuming manual reconciliation processes. With complete coverage of all private asset classes, the Clearwater solution gives users a comprehensive view of their portfolio holdings and compliance data from a single dashboard.

To learn more about how Clearwater is leading investment accounting, visit the Clearwater Analytics website.

About Chartis Research

Chartis Research is the leading provider of research and analysis on the global market for risk technology. Our goal is to support companies as they drive business performance through improved risk management, corporate governance, and compliance, and to help clients make informed technology and business decisions by providing in-depth analysis and advice on virtually all aspects of risk technology. Chartis is focused solely on risk and compliance technology, giving us a significant advantage over other market analysts. Our analysts and advisors have decades of hands-on experience of implementing and developing risk management systems and programs for Fortune 500 companies and leading consulting houses. Visit www.chartis-research.com for more information.

About Clearwater Analytics

Clearwater Analytics is a global industry-leading SaaS solution for automated investment data aggregation, reconciliation, accounting, compliance, risk, performance, and reporting. Each day, the Clearwater solution reports on more than $5.9 trillion in assets for clients that include leading insurers, asset managers, corporations, pension plans, governments, and nonprofit organizations  helping them make the most of their investment portfolio data with a world-class product and client-centric servicing. Investment professionals around the globe trust Clearwater to deliver timely, validated investment data and analytics. Additional information about Clearwater can be found at clearwateranalytics.com , LinkedIn , and Twitter .

SOURCE Clearwater Analytics
COVINGTON, Ky., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Commonwealth Hotels announced today that Amber Das has been appointed the general manager of the Candlewood Suites Indianapolis South. Ms. Das brings over 10 years of hospitality experience to her new role as general manager having previously served as the food service director for Quest Food Management.

As general manager, Das is responsible for overseeing and executing the hotel and property operations, including staff management, guest satisfaction, and community relations.

Newly Appointed General Manager at Candlewood Suites Indianapolis South

Prior to joining Das served in various leadership roles in diverse markets. In addition to her most recent role, Das served as general manager for the Fairfield Inn and the Holiday Inn Express both in Anderson, Indiana. Das holds a Bachelor's Degree from Columbia Southern University in Orange Beach, Alabama.

About Commonwealth Hotels, LLC

Commonwealth Hotels, LLC was founded in 1986 and is a proven partner in providing hotel management services with superior financial results. The company has extensive experience managing premium branded full service and select service hotels. Commonwealth Hotels currently manages 61 properties with nearly 7,600 rooms. Additional information may be found at www.commonwealthhotels.com.

Contact

Barbara E. Willen Commonwealth Hotels, LLC

[email protected]

859.392-2254

SOURCE Commonwealth Hotels, Inc.
Findings reveal that customer excellence is a crucial focus throughout the industry

VANCOUVER, BC, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Conexiom, the only platform that delivers 100% data accuracy from the most complex business documents, today released its special edition report on the electrical distribution industry. Key findings reveal that 75% of electrical distributor decision-makers reported that more than half of their company processes documents manually, despite 100% reporting they have invested in digital transformation and automation for front and back-office processes.

The electrical distribution industry is highly competitive and complex. The pain-point for many electrical distributors is that their customer service representatives (CSRs) are spending time manually entering purchase orders and not meeting their service level agreements for same-day quote response. Additionally, this industry has a unique challenge around contractors' requests for special pricing agreements, as these require manual processing of hundreds of lines of data, which unfortunately takes time away from the CSRs to focus on their customers. 100% of electrical industry CSRs reported, in Conexiom's Special Report, the ability to provide prompt and accurate customer service is their biggest pain point in the next 12 months.

Over two decades, 80% of the Top 20 distributors in North America process orders with Conexiom Tweet this

Conexiom customer, Rexel Canada, leveraged the Conexiom Platform for Sales Order Automation and saw immediate ROI by simply automating its documents. "We started out by automating the orders of 20 of our customers, then made jumps to 100 and 250. Now, we're at 600. I receive a monthly report that shows how many hours of time we save through order automation. It makes me feel good because we are now in the range of thousands of hours saved that can be reallocated. It has allowed us to do tons of other things that help generate money for the company," said Rick Pozniak, Rexel's Director of Digital Solutions.

According to the Special Report customer excellence was a top priority:

50% of IT decision makers in the electrical distribution industry reported the ability to fill customer orders or stock products and raw materials as their biggest pain point in the next 12 months.

33% of company owners in the electrical distribution industry reported the ability to provide prompt and accurate customer service as a current or anticipated pain point related to hiring for their company.

50% of decision makers in the electrical distribution industry said working alongside digital technology, like automation, has made their job more interesting while 25% said it has improved customer experience.

The World Economic Forum reports that digital transformation could unlock $1.3 Trillion of value for the electricity sector. As the leader in electrical distribution automation, Conexiom's proven technology has been a value-add for electrical distributors by reducing the cost to serve while also freeing up resources to provide superior customer experience, which in turn helps strengthen customer relationships and increase market share.

"In today's complex business environment, you can't afford to stay stagnant. Instead, you need to embrace agility, accelerate digital transformation, and automate manual document processes to remain competitive," said Ray Grady, CEO and President of Conexiom. "The results of our special edition report for electrical distributors prove that this industry needs to free up employees' time by eliminating manual data entry so they can focus on what matters most  serving their customers."

Over two decades, 80% of the Top 20 distributors in North America process orders with Conexiom because it is the only platform that leverages proprietary Touchless Automation technology. A detailed summary of the results of the survey can be found at Conexiom.

About Conexiom

Conexiom is the only platform that leverages proprietary Touchless Automation technology to ensure that it delivers automation with 100% accuracy, transformed with predetermined business rules and logic, and delivered directly to any ERP. Conexiom streamlines the processing of emailed purchase orders, AP invoices, and order acknowledge. Manufacturers and distributors across the globe, such as Genpak, Rexel Canada, and Werner Electric, trust Conexiom to create resilient operations that scale, drive growth, reduce costs, and build frictionless relationships with their customers and suppliers.

Conexiom is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, and has offices in Kitchener, Ontario; London, England; Munich, Germany; and Chicago, Illinois. Visit Conexiom.com.

Contact:

Korina Kennedy

925-348-7333

[email protected]

SOURCE Conexiom Inc
Collaboration will bolster visitor experiences by enabling advanced IoT connectivity to Peachtree Corners, one of the nation's first smart cities



PEACHTREE CORNERS, Ga., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Cradlepoint, the global leader in cloud-delivered LTE and 5G wireless network edge solutions, has today announced a collaboration with T-Mobile and the Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners to enable advanced IoT connectivity solutions, such as autonomous vehicles, robotics and AR/VR, using 5G Wireless WAN technology. The solution, developed by Bosch and Cradlepoint, leverages the high performance of T-Mobile's industry leading 5G network  America's largest, fastest and most reliable 5G network  with Cradlepoint's purpose-built wideband adapters and routers to facilitate near real-time parking and safety monitoring at Peachtree Corners, Georgia, one of the nation's first smart cities.

Cradlepoint, the global leader in cloud-delivered LTE and 5G wireless network edge solutions, has today announced a collaboration with T-Mobile and the Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners to enable advanced IoT connectivity solutions, such as autonomous vehicles, robotics and AR/VR, using 5G Wireless WAN technology. The solution, developed by Bosch and Cradlepoint, leverages the high performance of T-Mobiles industry leading 5G network  Americas largest, fastest and most reliable 5G network 

Companies and public sector entities are well positioned on the value of 5G cellular IoT connectivity, particularly when it comes to securing, managing and enhancing smart cities. Unlike traditional fiber connections that take months to deploy, cost thousands of dollars and have long-term commitment contracts, Cradlepoint's 5G Wireless WAN solutions enable an entire ecosystem of IoT partners to immediately deploy solutions with the security and remote management capabilities needed to support IoT deployments at scale.

"Real-world deployments of IoT are challenging the status quo of existing solutions. Couple that with the trend of businesses leveraging 5G technology to transform, and you'll see how this advanced connectivity is remodeling the enterprise," said Todd Krautkremer, Chief Marketing Officer, Cradlepoint. "Cradlepoint, T-Mobile and Bosch are at the forefront of this evolution, furthering IoT and 5G deployments for projects of all sizes."

"Improving safety, efficiencies and anticipating the needs of customers is what best-in-class smart cities can accomplish when powered by 5G and with innovators like Cradlepoint," said Chris Melus, Vice President of Product Management with T-Mobile for Business. "It's rewarding to see concepts from the Curiosity Lab, leveraging our 5G Advanced Network Solutions suite prove true value in the real world."

The solution uses near real-time IoT technology developed by Bosch in conjunction with T-Mobile's Ultra Capacity 5G network and Cradlepoint 5G hardware to assist Peachtree Corners shoppers and visitors in finding open parking as well as available charging stations for electric vehicles.

"In collaboration with T-Mobile and Cradlepoint, and our continued joint effort with the Curiosity Lab in the City of Peachtree Corners, we are demonstrating a scalable, affordable, adroit AIoT solution to serve the community," said Lewis Stallworth, Business Development, Bosch Security Systems, LLC. "The flexibility of this solution was only possible with this technology-forward collaboration and is changing the conversation of what is possible when there is a need for parking management, retail management, community safety and true community operational analytics."

In addition to improving the Peachtree Corners visitor experience, the technology also enables city planners to make real-time informed decisions on parking capacity, infrastructure planning, traffic management and security safeguards based on data around events happening throughout the city.

"Through our work with Cradlepoint, Bosch and T-Mobile, we are now able to better manage our public spaces. Cradlepoint devices having high-speed connectivity through T-Mobile's 5G is key  these devices now allow us to use smart parking applications through the Bosch cameras in our Town Center, while also providing a safety and security layer for our police department." said Brandon Branham, CTO and Asst. City Manager, Peachtree Corners. "The analytics these devices provide help us to better communicate with our residents about parking and safety in our downtown area."

To learn more about Cradlepoint's work with T-Mobile, Bosch and the Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners, please visit: https://resources.cradlepoint.com/success-stories/smart-city-uses-5G-for-connected-intersections-and-innovative-parking.

See 5G device, coverage, & access details at T-Mobile.com. Fastest: Based on median, overall combined 5G speeds according to analysis by Ookla of Speedtest Intelligence data 5G download speeds for Q2 2022. Ookla trademarks used under license and reprinted with permission. Most Reliable: According to an audit report conducted by independent third-party umlaut containing crowdsourced data for user experience including task completion collected from November 2021 to May 2022. Full details at: www.umlaut.com/en/benchmarking/USA.

About Cradlepoint

Cradlepoint enables the freedom to connect people, places, and things that drive more experiences, more ways to work, and better business results  anywhere. The company is a pioneer in Wireless WAN, offering advanced 4G and 5G routers and adapters  controlled through Cradlepoint NetCloud. Enterprise businesses and public sector agencies rely on Cradlepoint and its Cellular Intelligence to build a reliable, secure network wherever they need it, connecting fixed and temporary sites, vehicles, IoT devices, and remote employees. Headquartered in Boise, Idaho, Cradlepoint is a subsidiary of Ericsson's Business Area Enterprise Wireless Solutions division. It has international offices in Asia Pacific, Canada, Europe, India, and Latin America. www.cradlepoint.com

About the City of Peachtree Corners, Georgia

As the heart of what is being called #SiliconOrchard in the metro-Atlanta region, Peachtree Corners is a vibrant municipality that's home to more than 45,000 residents, 45,000 jobs and an innovation hub that houses some of the world's most disruptive technology companies. As the United States' premier smart city powered by real-world connected infrastructure and 5G, Peachtree Corners serves as the model for how government and private industry can better collaborate to create a better future for society and business. From the world's first deployment of teleoperated e-scooters to fully autonomous shuttles being utilized by actual residents, and from a solar roadway to the largest electric vehicle fast-charging hub in the region, Peachtree Corners is where the most future-forward Internet of Things (IoT) and sustainable technologies come to life for the benefit of its citizens, and the world. For more information, visit http://www.peachtreecornersga.gov.

About Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners

Curiosity Lab is a 5G-enabled intelligent mobility and smart city living laboratory located in the southeastern United States near Atlanta, Georgia. Designed as a proving ground for IoT, mobility and smart city emerging technologies, the centerpiece of the lab is a three-mile public autonomous vehicle roadway leveraging cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) technologies. Additional infrastructure includes intelligent traffic cameras and traffic signals, smart streetlights, the country's first "IoT Central Control Room" implemented in a city and a 25,000 square foot innovation center. Owned and operated by the City of Peachtree Corners, Curiosity Lab is one of North America's only real-world testing environments and is available for use free of charge. Additional information can be found at www.curiositylabptc.com.

SOURCE Peachtree Corners
Leaders of the Group of Seven wealthiest nations, meeting Tuesday in a crisis video conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, pledged Tuesday they "will stand firmly with Ukraine for as long as it takes" after Russia continued its barrage of missile attacks on Ukrainian cities.

The G7 leaders said in a statement after the virtual meeting that they had reassured Zelenskyy they are "undeterred and steadfast in our commitment to providing the support Ukraine needs to uphold its sovereignty and territorial integrity." They said Moscow's "indiscriminate attacks on innocent civilian populations constitute a war crime."

"We will hold President [Vladimir] Putin and those responsible to account," the G7 leaders said. The G7 comprises U.S., Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Canada and Japan.

Amid Putin's ongoing threats to use nuclear weapons, the G7 reiterated it would direct "severe consequences" should Moscow use weapons of mass destruction but did not imply direct military involvement in Ukraine. U.S. officials have said they have not seen indications that Putin has decided to use nuclear weapons and underscored there is no change in U.S. nuclear posture.

John Kirby, the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, told VOA in a briefing to reporters Tuesday that the U.S. is not considering deploying tactical nuclear weapons -- smaller and less destructive than strategic nuclear weapons -- in Ukraine. "There's absolutely zero interest from our side and from our allies and partners to see this war escalate into the use of the weapons of mass destruction at all," he said.

Russia is estimated to have 2,000 of these tactical nuclear weapons, including some so small and portable that they are referred to as "suitcase bombs."

"It's unclear whether we have the ability to track how Russia is moving or not moving their tactical nuclear weapons," Luke Coffey, a senior fellow at Hudson Institute, told VOA. "We have to plan for all contingencies."

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to comment on reports that President Andrzej Duda of Poland has offered to participate in a nuclear-sharing agreement in which his country would host nuclear arsenals.
The Ethereum universe gathers at least 6,000 visitors from around the world at the Agora Convention Center in Bogota to strengthen and educate its community of users.

BOGOTA, Colombia, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- After competing among capitals from countries in the region that already have a strong market in the crypto industry, the VI edition of DEVCON, the world's most important global event in the cryptocurrency and blockchain segment, arrives in Bogota. During this week, the Colombian capital will welcome thousands of fans, users and builders of the Etherium ecosystem, the technology that powers the cryptocurrency 'ether' (ETH).

Definitely, this city continues to be a nest of opportunities for investment and growth of the technology industry. In this regard, Isabella Munoz, executive director of Invest in Bogota comments, "Bogota as the first Latin American city to host DEVCON speaks of an imminent economic recovery of the city in the MICE sector. In addition, our city is consolidating itself nationally as the capital of entrepreneurship and the development of the IT industry in the country, hosting 65.5% of the companies in this sector. This is not surprising, since Bogota also concentrates 35.4% of the talent in computer science and related fields available in Colombia."

This event that brings together enthusiasts of the cryptocurrency world promises to make an intensive introduction for new Ethereum explorers, as well as to form a global meeting for those who are already part of its ecosystem and trade with 'ETH'.

"Being on the radar of organizations with the relevance of Etherium, reaffirms the reasons why the most recent Destination Performance Index of the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) named Colombia as a South American leader in reactivation of events and meetings in the post-pandemic"; Munoz states.

"From the city of Bogota we celebrate that our city is hosting Devcon. It reflects how dynamic our city is in terms of innovation and technological developments and the relevance of the commitment to training and higher education around digital skills and programming issues. Bogota, with its diversity and dynamism, is and will continue to be the most favorable city for the development of these new businesses and professional development opportunities," said Alfredo Bateman, Secretary of Economic Development.

To enhance the impact of DEVCON, the Secreatry of Economic Development has implemented the Hub Blockchain Bogota program; an initiative that aims 200 companies in the city benefiting from Blockchain technology. These companies will increase their general knowledge of business practices in Blockchain and will have the opportunity to interact with government entities, organizations, CTeI instruments and companies related to the local, national and Latin American Blockchain ecosystem.

SOURCE Invest in Bogota
Serial entrepreneur's latest innovation poised to lead the way in nasal hygiene

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Gail Lebovic, MA, MD, FACS, CEO and founder of Silicon Valley Innovations, Inc., is a Finalist in the Consumer Products category for small businesses in the 19th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business. She is being recognized for her latest innovation, NasoClenz  an antiseptic cleansing kit designed to thoroughly cleanse and moisturize the nose.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business honor women executives, entrepreneurs, employees and the companies they run  worldwide. The Stevie Awards have been hailed as the world's premier business awards.

"I'm humbled and honored to be recognized by the Stevie Awards for our team's work in bringing this innovative product to market," said Dr. Lebovic. "By encouraging better nasal hygiene  a critically overlooked aspect of our personal health  we believe our technology will change the world forever."

A world-renowned oncoplastic surgeon, Dr. Lebovic is one of Silicon Valley's most successful female entrepreneurs, having founded or co-founded multiple medical technology companies whose innovations have gone on to become standard of care and are currently marketed by leading healthcare companies.

With NasoClenz, Dr. Lebovic is on a mission to help educate people about the importance of "keeping their noses clean." The kit includes anatomically designed, soft nasal applicators used in conjunction with a specially formulated proprietary antiseptic gel. The cleansing kits provide a simple, comfortable and convenient way to clean and moisturize the nose.

"Our respiratory systems are increasingly exposed to harmful materials in the air including smog, smoke from wildfires, allergens and of course germs. The nose plays a central role in our health and, in my opinion, has been underestimated in its importance as a direct gateway into our bodies," said Dr. Lebovic, who envisions a world where everyone incorporates nasal hygiene into their daily personal hygiene routine  just like brushing their teeth or washing their hands.

Thomas J. Fogarty, MD, an internationally recognized cardiovascular surgeon and premier med-tech inventor/entrepreneur, shares Dr. Lebovic's passion for nasal hygiene, calling the NasoClenz device a "game-changer."

"It's a no-brainer that we should be cleaning our noses," says Fogarty, who feels NasoClenz is a big step forward in making it easier for people to incorporate nasal hygiene as a normal part of their daily cleansing habits.

Dr. Fogarty joined SVI's Medical Advisory Board in February 2022, having previously partnered with Dr. Lebovic on a variety of products that have transformed the standard of care and improved lives, particularly in the field of women's health.

"With any start-up it's not just the product, it's the people behind the product that gives me confidence in the company  and Dr. Lebovic and her team have a track record that is second to none in the industry," Dr. Fogarty said. "Their inventions have always been breakthrough technologies and being a finalist for such a prestigious award is just the latest recognition of what she has accomplished in various areas of healthcare."

More than 1,500 entries were submitted this year for consideration in more than 100 categories, including Executive of the Year, Entrepreneur of the Year, Company of the Year, Startup of the Year, Women Helping Women, and Women Run Workplace of the Year.

Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners will be announced during a gala event at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on Friday, November 11. Nominated women executives and entrepreneurs from the U.S.A and several other countries are expected to attend. The event will be broadcast on Livestream.

Details about the Stevie Awards for Women in Business and the list of Finalists in all categories are available at www.StevieAwards.com/Women .

About Silicon Valley Innovations, Inc.

Silicon Valley Innovations is a company founded with clinical principles in mind to help solve everyday problems with creative technology  ultimately, to help people lead healthier, happier lives. By combining exceptional engineering talent with world-class clinical experience, SVI is committed to creating unique medical devices that solve significant health problems. Learn more at svi-inc.com .

About The Stevie Awards

Stevie Awards are conferred in eight programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Middle East & North Africa Stevie Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 12,000 nominations each year from organizations in more than 70 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at www.StevieAwards.com .

Contact: Liz Dowling, (415) 388-2794

Dowling & Dennis PR

[email protected]

SOURCE Silicon Valley Innovations
Emmersion was also honored as an "Emerging Elite" business after a half-decade of remarkable growth in the state

LEHI, Utah , Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Emmersion , the leader in certifying language ability through artificial intelligence, has been selected to MountainWest Capital Network's (MWCN) annual list of the 100 fastest-growing companies in Utah. Based in Lehi, Emmersion was also recognized as an "Emerging Elite" business, which is an organization that is less than five years old and shows the most promise of future growth. The Utah 100 Awards are presented annually by MWCN and have recognized entrepreneurial success in the state since 1994.

The recognition is the latest in a series of recent accolades for Emmersion: It has been named among the best companies to work for in Utah, one of the fastest-growing businesses of 2021 and a top workplace in the state by local media outlets.

"We are honored to be recognized as one of the fastest-growing businesses in the state where we first researched and developed the foundation of our products," said Dr. Jacob Burdis, co-founder of Emmersion. "It is also incredibly fulfilling to see how Emmersion has positively impacted learners' lives and helped unlock economic opportunities for professionals around the world. These stories motivate us to continue building innovative solutions that close the global communications gap, and to maintain a vibrant workplace where people can make a difference."

Emmersion started in Rexbxurg, Idaho, as an online English tutoring company, but the underlying concept for its current products grew out of Dr. Burdis' doctoral studies at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. Dr. Burdis leveraged his research from BYU alongside Emmersion co-founder, Brigham Tomco, to create an automated and less expensive approach for evaluating language speaking ability.

Emmersion later created its first automated language speaking assessment, which quickly grew in popularity in academia and corporate HR settings. Emmersion returned to Utah in 2017 where it has continued perfecting its products and growing its business. Its upward trajectory was recognized by IXL Learning , which acquired the assessment developer in September 2022 with plans to make meaningful investments in Emmersion to expand its capabilities.

Emmersion's state-of-the-art assessments

Emmersion's platform has conducted millions of automated assessments for corporate and educational institutions, including The World Bank, Randstad, Columbia University, Brown University and the University of Pennsylvania, providing valuable data insights into language proficiency scores.

Its AI-powered Speaking and Writing Assessments conduct reliable, pre-employment language screenings in 15 minutes so that companies can hire the perfect candidates for the right roles. The verbal exam is the world's first fully adaptive speaking assessment and covers nine languages, including English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Mandarin, Portuguese and Tagalog. Educational institutions use WebCAPE , Emmersion's adaptive placement exam, to measure learners' reading, grammar and listening skills in seven languages: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Mandarin and Russian.

About Emmersion

Founded in 2015, Emmersion is a rapidly growing technology company located in Lehi, Utah. With a mission to close the global communication gap, the company focuses on helping organizations be smarter with their global language strategy. It has developed AI-driven, fully automated language assessments that provide accurate and immediate reports in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Mandarin, Japanese, Russian and Tagalog. With over 700 customers around the world, Emmersion's cloud-based, AI technology automates assessment processes and provides the most accurate results. Emmersion joined the IXL Learning family in 2022. Learn more at www.emmersion.ai.

Press Contact

Eric Bates

IXL Learning

[email protected]

SOURCE IXL Learning
Woodford Car Hire to operate the Enterprise Rent-A-Car, National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car brands

ST. LOUIS, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Enterprise Holdings, the world's largest vehicle rental business, today announced the addition of new franchise locations featuring car rental options from Enterprise Rent-A-Car, National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car through the Woodford Group in South Africa. This marks the first time Enterprise Holdings brands will be available in South Africa.

The Woodford Group offers a range of product offerings within the automotive industry including comprehensive logistic solutions, an online vehicle auction platform and Woodford Car Hire, South Africa's largest independent car rental company and the mainstay of the brand. The company has invested heavily in technology to automate and simplify customer interactions and has earned a reputation in the market for innovation and disruption. Woodford has also become synonymous with excellent customer service and is the highest-rated car rental company in the country across review platforms.

"At Enterprise, we aim to partner with local providers that have a strong reputation for customer service excellence," said Enterprise Holdings Assistant Vice President of Global Franchising  EMEA, Jon Flansburg. "Our new partner in South Africa has always put an emphasis on bringing a personal touch to its service, and its investment in technology and wide selection of vehicles will ensure the best possible experience for our customers."

Woodford Group will serve the Enterprise Holdings brands at key locations in South Africa including Cape Town International Airport, OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, King Shaka International Airport in Durban, and four inner-city branches at key locations across the country.

"The Woodford Group has been considered a trailblazer in the local car rental business, so we're proud to align ourselves with a global pioneer like Enterprise, who we know share common goals and values that will take us into a new era," said Group CEO, Mohamed Owais Suleman.

Woodford Group, a family-owned company, is recognized as a leading provider of mobility solutions within the South African marketplace, which complements Enterprise's company vision to be the world's best and most trusted mobility solutions provider. The company began in 1991 with a mission of providing dependable and affordable car rental to everyday South Africans.

Established in 1957, Enterprise Holdings operates a network of nearly 10,000 neighborhood and airport rental locations in more than 90 countries and territories across the globe. Since 2012 Enterprise has pursued an aggressive global growth strategy dramatically expanding its international footprint through franchise partners.

The company has experienced massive growth in Europe, the Middle East and Africa over the past 10 years with operations in 51 countries and territories, up from just three 10 years ago. Enterprise expanded to Africa for the first time in 2019 with operations in Egypt and announced plans for expansion into Morocco earlier this year.

In addition to strong international growth, Enterprise has demonstrated sustained success by maintaining a focus on exceptional customer service and developing a range of high-performing business lines and mobility solutions for its customers.

For more information about Enterprise Holdings, visit www.enterpriseholdings.com.

About Enterprise Holdings

Enterprise Holdings is a leading provider of mobility solutions, owning and operating the Enterprise Rent-A-Car, National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car brands through its integrated global network of independent regional subsidiaries. Enterprise Holdings and its affiliates offer extensive car rental, carsharing, truck rental, fleet management, retail car sales, as well as travel management and other transportation services, to make travel easier and more convenient for customers. Privately held by the Taylor family of St. Louis, Mo., Enterprise Holdings manages a diverse fleet of more than 1.85 million vehicles through a network of nearly 10,000 fully staffed neighborhood and airport rental locations in more than 90 countries and territories.

SOURCE Enterprise Holdings
Integration with The Work Number Extends Verifications to Additional MeridianLink Customers Including Credit Unions and Banks

ATLANTA and COSTA MESA, Calif., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Equifax (NYSE: EFX) is expanding its integration of The Work Number with MeridianLink (NYSE: MLNK) to now deliver instant verifications of employment and income to credit unions, banks and other lenders through the MeridianLink Consumer Loan Origination System (LOS) . This builds upon the existing integration serving MeridianLink Mortgage customers, all in support of a streamlined lending experience across the MeridianLink One platform.

MeridianLink logo

"Our new integration helps MeridianLink customers - such as credit unions and banks - make faster, data-driven decisions," said Shelly Nischbach, Vice President of Verification Services at Equifax Workforce Solutions. "Importantly, it also helps MeridianLink customers deliver the type of low-friction lending experience that consumers have come to expect, from auto loans to personal loans and beyond."

The Work Number is the industry-leading, centralized commercial repository of income and employment data in the United States, offering credentialed verifiers with permissible purpose access to 573 million records from 2.5 million employers. Powered by the Equifax Cloud, its streamlined process provides the highest-class customer experience, quality, security and privacy. Through MeridianLink Consumer, lenders can now instantly leverage verifications via The Work Number to help improve both the lender and borrower experiences.

"We bring added value to our customers through our extensive partner marketplace, and our long-standing relationship with Equifax plays a vital role in our efforts to make the digital lending process as seamless as possible," commented Devesh Khare, Chief Product Officer at MeridianLink. "By providing more of our customers with timely, tailored data from The Work Number through our MeridianLink One platform, we are delivering on our promise to help lenders deliver loans faster."

To learn more about verifications of income and employment from The Work Number service, visit the link here . Additional information on MeridianLink and its products can be found here .

ABOUT EQUIFAX INC.

At Equifax (NYSE: EFX), we believe knowledge drives progress. As a global data, analytics, and technology company, we play an essential role in the global economy by helping financial institutions, companies, employers, and government agencies make critical decisions with greater confidence. Our unique blend of differentiated data, analytics, and cloud technology drives insights to power decisions to move people forward. Headquartered in Atlanta and supported by more than 13,000 employees worldwide, Equifax operates or has investments in 25 countries in North America, Central and South America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific region. For more information, visit Equifax.com

ABOUT MERIDIANLINK

MeridianLink, Inc.  (NYSE: MLNK) is a leading provider of cloud-based software solutions for financial institutions, including banks, credit unions, mortgage lenders, specialty lending providers, and consumer reporting agencies. Headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, MeridianLink provides services to more than 1,900 customers, including a majority of the financial institutions on Forbes' 2021 lists of America's Best Credit Unions and Banks. Further information can be found at www.meridianlink.com .

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Daniel Jenkins for Equifax Workforce Solutions

[email protected]

Becky Frost for MeridianLink

[email protected]

SOURCE Equifax Inc.
NEW YORK, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Wells Fargo Advisors announced Senior Portfolio Manager, Evan Savarick, has been promoted to Managing Director  Investments. This prestigious distinction is in recognition of his decade long experience and performance in the financial services industry, including his practice's impressive 300%+ growth across The Savarick Group's New York City & South Florida offices over the past 3 years.

Evan's team employs a client centric approach - providing white glove wealth management services, while always prioritizing their clients' best interest. The team gets to know each of their clients personally, then builds and executes comprehensive investment strategies founded on each client's specific financial goals and needs. Their holistic approach empowers clients to achieve financial prosperity and feel more confident.

The Savarick Group, of Wells Fargo Advisors, partners with high-net-worth families and business owners with diverse backgrounds across the country. Additionally, Evan specializes in investment planning for healthcare professionals. He works directly with physicians and other medical professionals to create investment, planning, and business strategies unique to their field.

"Our team's growth and success is a direct result of referrals from our happy clients," said Roy Savarick, Evan's father and Senior Vice President - Investments. "Our clients are multi-generational and put a lot of trust in our team. They value our comprehensive approach in analyzing their finances, and also in our in-depth understanding of their unique investment plans, often involving estate planning strategies, business planning, tax planning and more."

Evan Savarick holds a master's degree in Finance from Vanderbilt University and graduated valedictorian with a bachelor's degree in Finance from the Burnett Honors College of the University of Central Florida. His studying of the financial markets began at a very young age, learning how to analyze companies from his father. His love of helping people and finance are what led him to join Roy and his brother, Matthew, at The Savarick Group more than a decade ago.

Investment and Insurance Products are: Not Insured by the FDIC or Any Federal Government Agency

Not a Deposit or Other Obligation of, or Guaranteed by, the Bank or Any Bank Affiliate

Subject to Investment Risks, Including Possible Loss of the Principal Amount Invested

The Savarick Group focuses on asset management, wealth planning and succession planning, in addition to retirement planning, philanthropy and more.



The Savarick Group team also includes Associate Financial Advisor, Molly Pacheco and Senior Client Associate, Jennifer Harley. The Savarick Group of Wells Fargo Advisors offices are located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida at 350 East Las Olas Blvd. & New York City at 280 Park Ave. TheSavarickGroup.com

About Wells Fargo Advisors

With $1.88 trillion in client assets as of March 31, 2022, Wells Fargo Advisors provides advice and guidance to help clients maximize all aspects of their financial lives. Our vast network of financial advisors, one of the nation's largest, serves investors through locations in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Wells Fargo Advisors is a part of Wells Fargo Wealth & Investment Management (WIM), a division within Wells Fargo & Company and one of the largest wealth managers in the U.S. WIM provides financial products and services through various bank and brokerage affiliates of Wells Fargo & Company. Wells Fargo Advisors is a trade name used by Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC and Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, LLC, Members SIPC, separate registered broker-dealers and non-bank affiliates of Wells Fargo & Company. All data includes Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC and Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, LLC, as of March 31, 2022. www.wellsfargoadvisors.com

About Wells Fargo



Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a leading financial services company that has approximately $1.9 trillion in assets, proudly serves one in three U.S. households and more than 10% of small businesses in the U.S., and is the leading middle market banking provider in the U.S. We provide a diversified set of banking, investment and mortgage products and services, as well as consumer and commercial finance, through our four reportable operating segments: Consumer Banking and Lending, Commercial Banking, Corporate and Investment Banking, and Wealth & Investment Management. Wells Fargo ranked No. 37 on Fortune's 2021 rankings of America's largest corporations. In the communities we serve, the company focuses its social impact on building a sustainable, inclusive future for all by supporting housing affordability, small business growth, financial health, and a low-carbon economy. News, insights, and perspectives from Wells Fargo are also available at Wells Fargo Stories.

Additional information may be found at www.wellsfargo.com | Twitter: @WellsFargo

Investment products and services are offered through Wells Fargo Advisors, a trade name used by Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC, Member SIPC, a registered broker-dealer and non-bank affiliate of Wells Fargo & Company.

Wells Fargo Advisors associates referenced, when registered, are registered with Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC.

2022 Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC. All rights reserved.

Contact Information

Shea Leordeanu

Wells Fargo Advisors

[email protected]

SOURCE Wells Fargo Advisors
More vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options in all cabins including Brusselin' Vegan Salad; plus West Coast Muffuletta sandwich, new First Class meals, Oregon-based Aviation Gin

SEATTLE, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Fall brings crisp evenings, amazing color changes  and, starting today, a new lineup of menu options to enjoy on board your next Alaska Airlines flight. We continue to offer fresh, healthy choices for our guests in all our cabins, including a variety of entrees that are vegetarian, vegan and made without gluten. Half of our meals in First Class are now made without gluten ingredients.

The new Brusselin' Vegan Salad by Evergreens. The West Coast Muffuletta sandwich. The new Wheels Up cocktail made with Aviation Gin.

One of our newest options is the Brusselin' Vegan Salad developed in partnership with Evergreens, a West Coast-based company that makes gourmet, freshly chopped salads. It's also gluten free. We're also serving a tasty sandwich with a fun name  the West Coast Muffuletta. Plus, we've welcomed Oregon-based Aviation Gin to our spirit selections. It's all part of the most comprehensive domestic food and beverage program in the industry.

"We take a lot of pride creating new seasonal food options that taste great and that are good for you," said Todd Traynor-Corey, managing director of guest products at Alaska Airlines. "Many of our guests tell us they love the bright, West Coast flavors that use real, healthy ingredients. For our fall menu, we continue to focus on plant-based, vegan and gluten-free options."

In the main cabin, Alaska continues to offer fan favorites like the Signature Fruit & Cheese Platter and the Charcuterie Platter. We're also introducing new seasonal offerings in the main cabin available for pre-order only on most flights longer than 1,100 miles:

Brusselin' Vegan Salad: Designed in partnership with Evergreens, a bed of Tuscan kale and crisp romaine lettuce, topped with roasted shaved Brussels sprouts, red quinoa, fresh red peppers, golden raisins, capers and roasted almond slices, served with an agave and apple cider dressing.

Designed in partnership with Evergreens, a bed of Tuscan kale and crisp romaine lettuce, topped with roasted shaved sprouts, red quinoa, fresh red peppers, golden raisins, capers and roasted almond slices, served with an agave and apple cider dressing. West Coast Muffuletta: Our take on the popular New Orleans classic: thinly sliced cured ham, prosciutto and Soppressata on a sesame-crusted ciabatta roll with mozzarella cheese, fresh arugula, and an avocado and olive pesto.

In First Class, we have a variety of new meals on flights longer than 1,100 miles for both breakfast and lunch/dinner. Some highlights:

Apple, Pumpkin and Pork Shoulder Breakfast Hash (GF)

(GF) Scrambled Egg Breakfast Crepes (V)

(V) Caramelized Onion and Potato Frittata (GF, V)

(GF, V) Asparagus and Shitake Mushroom Risotto (GF, V)

(GF, V) Sous-Vide Kalbi Beef (GF)

(GF) Brick Spiced Chicken (GF)

(GF) Chickpea Teriyaki (Ve)

(Foods are made in an establishment that may contain gluten or other allergens. GF = Made without Gluten Ingredients; V = Vegetarian; Ve = Vegan.)

While most US airlines do not offer fresh food items unless flights are longer than 900 miles, Alaska continues to offer freshly prepared meals in First Class on flights as short as 550 miles. For flights under 1,100 miles, we have new First Class choices including a Ham and Gouda Breakfast Sandwich, Smoked Brisket Torta, and a Vegan Quinoa and Roasted Carrot Salad to name a few.

We're proudly serving a selection of new and returning beverages from West Coast companies:

Aviation Gin. Handcrafted in Portland, Oregon since 2006, this is a smooth, balanced gin. It's the foundation for our new onboard cocktail, Wheels Up, our take on a refreshing grapefruit gin fizz. We use True Grapefruit for a flavor kick  it now joins True Lemon and True Lime on our flights.

Handcrafted in since 2006, this is a smooth, balanced gin. It's the foundation for our new onboard cocktail, Wheels Up, our take on a refreshing grapefruit gin fizz. We use True Grapefruit for a flavor kick  it now joins True Lemon and True Lime on our flights. Crater Lake Hazelnut Espresso Vodka. A guest favorite that's now back on board. Made and bottled in Bend, Oregon .

A guest favorite that's now back on board. Made and bottled in . Dark Harvest Wine. Available in First class and from Washington State's Chateau Ste. Michelle Estates Collection. We're featuring Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay.

Available in First class and from Chateau Ste. Michelle Estates Collection. We're featuring Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay. Anchor Brewing West Coast IPA. From San Francisco .

From . Fremont Brewing Golden Pilsner. From Seattle .

We know convenience matters. Our industry-leading pre-order program makes it easy for our guests to order their favorites up to two weeks before their flight and up to 20 hours prior to departure in all cabins. Our Signature Fruit and Cheese Platter is always available for all classes of service. Fresh food in the main cabin is available only by pre-ordering it, so make sure you stake claim to what looks good before you fly. Snacks and Picnic Packs do not require pre-ordering; they're available on board most flights longer than two hours.

Don't forget: Mileage Plan members can store a method of payment in their account for touch-free inflight purchases, including food and beverages.

For the latest on what we're offering on board, check out the food and beverage section on alaskaair.com.

About Alaska Airlines

Alaska Airlines and our regional partners serve more than 120 destinations across the United States, Belize, Canada, Costa Rica and Mexico. We emphasize low fares and award-winning customer service. Alaska is a member of the oneworld global alliance. With the alliance and our additional airline partners, our guests can travel to more than 900 destinations on more than 20 airlines while earning and redeeming miles on flights to locations around the world. Learn more about Alaska at news.alaskaair.com. Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air are subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group.

SOURCE Alaska Airlines
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- October marks the start of college application submissions, yet who gets in and how remains a mystery to many families. Jeff Selingo brings his two decades of higher education experience front and center for a live webinar next week about the college admission process, particularly in a landscape altered by COVID.

"Most of us don't buy a car without kicking the tires ... choosing a college is no different," Jeff Selingo said. Tweet this Jeff Selingo will join Fusion Education Group for its annual Fall College Week. Selingo will help parents unravel the mysteries around the college admission process during a live webinar on October 19. Selingo is a New York Times bestselling author of three books on higher education and the job market. Fusion Education Group's Annual Fall Virtual College Week is free and open to all high school families across the country. Students do not need to attend a FEG school to attend. Students can learn about mission-driven colleges known for changing students lives, attend a virtual college fair, prepare for the admission process with New York Times best-selling author Jeff Selingos webinar, and get help deciphering the standardized testing landscape.

Selingo, author of Who Gets In & Why: A Year Inside College Admissions, will join Fusion Education Group (FEG) for a conversation about the current college admissions landscape and provide a generous question and answer session, as part of weeks' worth of events hosted by Fusion Education Group (FEG) October 17  20.

"Most of us don't buy a car without kicking the tires or a home without checking the pipes; choosing a college is no different  families need to do their homework," Selingo said. "A college education is one of the most significant investments we ever make, and I hope to help families identify the right schools for their children and also learn how to approach the process less emotionally."

Selingo has written about higher education extensively. His latest book, Who Gets In & Why: A Year Inside College Admissions, was published in September 2020 and was named among the 100 Notable Books of the year by the New York Times.

"As educators we work to empower our families the same way we do our students," said Stafford Slick, FEG Director of Post-Secondary Counseling. "College week is one way that we can help families navigate the complicated road to higher education."

Stafford added that FEG continues to open this up to all families because COVID limited plans to visit campuses and many parents have more questions than they can readily access answers. Research this past year found high school students were unable to take part in college preparation activities during the pandemic.

FEG's Fall Virtual College Week is free and open to all high school families across the country, and students do not need to attend a FEG school to attend. Students can learn about mission-driven colleges known for changing students' lives, attend a virtual college fair, prepare for the admission process with Selingo's webinar, and get help deciphering the standardized testing landscape.

Registration for events during FEG Fall College Week can be found here and include: (all times are EDT US and Canada):

Monday, October 17, 7 p.m. Colleges That Change Lives and Liberal Arts: Debunking the Myths. Colleges that Change Lives is a non-profit organization committed to a student-centered college search process. Speakers will present the benefits of a Liberal Arts Education including myths, what is it, how it prepares students for the future.

Tuesday, October 18, at 12:30 p.m. Understanding the College Admissions Landscape Post-Pandemic and Who Gets into College and Why. Jeff Selingo has written about higher education for more than two decades and is a New York Times bestselling author of three books. Jeff will take questions about the current college admissions landscape.

Wednesday, October 19, Virtual College Fair. Students can connect with a nationwide sampling of college, gap year, and post-secondary programs. Students can hear from multiple programs and ask questions. Advance registration required .

Thursday, October 20, at 7 p.m. Standardized Testing (SAT/ACT) and the College Admissions Landscape: The Rise of Test-Optional Admissions. The pandemic fundamentally shifted the conversation surrounding standardized testing within the context of college admissions. Matt McCorkle, of Clear Choice Test Prep, and Neill Seltzer, of Mindprint Learning will offer insights into navigating the Test-Optional landscape, and the continued significance of SAT/ACT Testing in College Admissions.

Friday, October 21, Meet With a Post-Secondary Counselor. FEG has a national team of post-secondary counselors who support 80 Fusion Academy campuses and Fusion Global Academy. The team is enthusiastic about helping students find and follow their post-high school path. They work with students one-to-one and personalize sessions for each student's goals. Services are open to all high school students, regardless of FEG enrollment status. Advance registration is required. Families can learn more here.

All webinar details can be found here. Attendees must register for each program individually.

About Fusion Education Group: Fusion Education Group (FEG) is an innovator of personalized education. FEG provides accredited personalized education for than 5,000 middle and high school students at Fusion Academy, with 80 campuses that offer one-to-one instruction; Barnstable Academy, which offers traditional college-prep in a small school setting in New Jersey; and Fusion Global Academy, which offers one-to-one personalized education through a completely virtual campus that currently serves students in all 50 states and 35 additional countries. Attend an upcoming Open House or learn more about FEG events here.

SOURCE Fusion Education Group
National contest to reward inspiring tweens with $50,000 in prize money

LINCOLNSHIRE, Ill., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Launching today and running through Dec. 9, 2022, Frigo Cheese Heads is giving away $50,000 in prize money through its Build a Bright Future contest to help inspiring tweens take their talents and dreams to the next level.

Nominate your tween in the Frigo Cheese Heads Build a Bright Future contest. Share their story for the chance to help them win cash to take their dreams to the next level. One grand prize of $10,000 will go to the winner, and 20 runners up will receive $2,000 each.

"As a brand that supports creativity and self-expression, we wanted to find a way to recognize and reward the next generation of kids who are already doing amazing things and making their mark at a young age," said David Cherrie, Saputo Dairy USA vice president, marketing and innovation. "Whether they're the lead in a budding garage band, an entrepreneurial young baker, a social justice innovator or the next video game developer, our Build a Bright Future contest aims to provide a platform to showcase and support their efforts."

How to Enter

If you are the parent or legal guardian of the next tween rock star, fashion designer, rocket scientist, climate-saver, entrepreneur, philanthropist or someone who is simply crushing it, go to BuildABrightFuture.com, share a photo or video of your nominee and tell us why they deserve a chance to win one of 21 prizes. Entries will be featured on an online gallery and judged based on creativity, uniqueness and need. One $10,000 grand prizewinner and 20 runners-up prizes of $2,000 each will be announced in early 2023.

Official rules for the contest can be found at BuildABrightFuture.com. Follow along for updates on Facebook and Instagram @FrigoCheeseHeads and #BuildABrightFutureContest.

About Frigo Cheese Heads

The Frigo Cheese Heads brand features a variety of delicious, fun on-the-go snacks that encourage creative snacking and self-expression. Chomp, peel, twist, rip, nibble or tie into a braid; the only wrong way to eat Frigo Cheese Heads is to not eat them at all. With everyday snacking options like regular or light string cheese, as well as cheese and meat combo packs, Frigo Cheese Heads are a good source of calcium and protein in a convenient individually wrapped, tasty snack. Learn more at FrigoCheeseHeads.com.

About Saputo Dairy USA

Saputo Dairy USA is part of Saputo Inc., one of the top ten dairy processors in the world. Through the Dairy Division (USA), Saputo produces, markets and distributes a vast assortment of cheeses. Furthermore, the Company converts, markets and sells a broad range of specialty cheeses and holds an important portfolio of import licenses for specialty cheeses manufactured abroad. Saputo Dairy USA also produces a variety of dairy and non-dairy extended shelf-life products. Additionally, Saputo produces, markets and distributes dairy ingredients in the USA and on the international market. Products are sold under a variety of the Company's brand names, as well as under customer brand names.

Saputo Dairy USA is among the top mozzarella, string cheese, and domestic blue and goat cheese producers and is one of the largest producers of extended shelf-life and cultured dairy products in this region.

Media contact:

Jenna Greene

612-375-8597

[email protected]

SOURCE Saputo Dairy USA
Just 7% of government leaders feel their organization has met its digital transformation goals

Digitalization is being held back by a lack of capabilities and outmoded ways of working

Struggle to retain existing digital talent is among the top three barriers to delivering better public services

LONDON, Oct. 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Governments around the world are at risk of failing citizens through lack of digitalization, according to EY research presented in a new report: "How can government workers and technology align to serve future citizens?". Less than one in ten (7%) government leader respondents believe that their organization has achieved their digital transformation goals; and the momentum for digitalization that built up during the pandemic is in danger of being lost.

The new report indicates that responding government workforces are ill-prepared to capitalize on the enormous potential benefits of digitalization. This includes improving access to digital services; using data analytics to predict when vulnerable people will need more assistance; and increasing efficiency across the board.

Many respondents find themselves constrained by a combination of issues including a lack of digitally aware leaders; a lack of digital and data skills and the training to access them; and an organizational culture that is reactive and uninspiring, hampering the efforts to attract the best digital talent. Coupled with the fact that 38% of Gen Z government worker respondents say they plan to leave their jobs in the next 12 months, governments must also meet the challenge of retaining the digitally literate talent they already possess, as an aging public sector workforce nears retirement.

While several global trends are converging to disrupt governments, these present challenges and also significant opportunities for the digital transformation of the public sector. In order to tackle these issues, the report recommends a framework of four key actions for governments to follow when looking to create a workforce equipped for the future:

Adopt dynamic workforce planning. Take a longer-term view of capacity and capability needs and creating strategies to access skills. Scale digital capabilities. Upskilling or reskill existing employees, sourcing fresh talent and emphasize purposeful careers to rebrand the public sector to make it more attractive. Foster digital leadership and culture. Managing digital transformation requires leaders who can challenge the status quo, articulating a compelling vision for change while reassuring and educating employees on a digital mindset. Reimagine the employee experience. Create tailored employee experience that treats every worker as a unique individual, offering structured career paths to help workers progress and fulfil their career ambitions.

Arnauld Bertrand, EY Global Government Consulting Leader, says:

"During the pandemic we were offered a glimpse of the potential of the digital state and how it could deliver for citizens. Working from home became the norm and more services were moved online. In a post-pandemic world, we must not allow this momentum to be lost. The data shows that governments understand there is more to be done, but there remain many barriers to success.



"To truly embrace a digital government and deliver for citizens we collectively must continue to help build future-fit public sector organizations with digitally aware leaders and a plan for building the right capacity, skills, culture and employee experience. These will need to be encouraged and developed across the public services with new ways of working and new systems. If they don't, opportunities to improve services through harnessing data and technology will be lost. The chance to individualize and target services will be squandered  and with it the ability to better allocate taxpayer resources and deliver maximum benefits as and where needed. Most concerningly, society's most vulnerable people will suffer if public services deteriorate due to inadequate capacity or skill levels. It all hinges on getting in the right people with the right skills."

EY analysis shows that citizens now expect levels of quality, speed and convenience on a par with the private sector, with immediate, seamless access to services through a variety of channels. Citizens expect digital to improve the way they conduct many aspects of their lives  and they expect governments to keep up.

Governments are responding by trying to become more focused on the needs of citizens. According to EY research, 43% of government respondents rank a focus on the customer/citizen experience as one of the top three factors driving successful transformation. This calls for better use of technology and data to understand people's needs and circumstances, as well as new skills such as user experience research and design.

Employees also want a digital workplace that keeps pace with their personal experience and feel that governments are not doing enough. The 2022 EY Work Reimagined Survey shows 63% of respondents believe extensive or moderate changes are needed to enhance their workplace digital tools and technologies.

Shalinder Bakshi, EY Global People Advisory Services Leader, Government & Infrastructure, says:

"The opportunity here is massive and if governments get it right they will be rewarded with a more efficient state, slicker services and most importantly, happier citizens. That being the case, the stakes are high. Governments need to urgently seize the opportunity to reconfigure the workforce to attract, retain and motivate the skilled employees they need. It is also essential that they put human skills at the center of their digital transformation. Data and technology do not get you very far without the buy-in and skills to go alongside them.

"Our framework outlines vital areas for transformation, but it is important to realize that these actions are not linear. They work together holistically  all at once and one at a time. While it is of utmost importance governments make these changes, there are examples of governments a step ahead of their peers, excelling in their digital transformation providing opportunities to learn from their progress."

Millennials and Gen Z are more likely to favor shorter job tenures and to seek greater purpose and fulfillment, with 63% of Gen Z public sector employee respondents saying they value a clear connection between their job and the overall purpose of the organization above monetary compensation. Meanwhile, people of all ages want a healthier work/life balance. Attracting and retaining younger workers is especially important given that many public workers are approaching retirement (nearly one-third of central government workers in the OECD are over 55) and the 2022 EY Work Reimagined Survey shows that 29% of government worker respondents will likely leave their job in the next 12 months, rising to 38% for those in Gen Z.

Bertrand says: "When it comes to offering a job with purpose, governments are at a distinct advantage; and it is an opportunity they can seize. The job of the public sector is to provide better lives for citizens. In the ongoing quest for talent across all sectors, this is a unique element to civil servant roles, which governments should be putting front and center when it comes to recruitment. However, without using technology to offer a strong work/life balance, a compelling career path and clear pathways to train their workforce to become more technologically literate, they run the risk of failing to retain recruits who want to deliver the best for citizens."

Notes to editors

About EY

EY exists to build a better working world, helping create long-term value for clients, people and society and build trust in the capital markets.

Enabled by data and technology, diverse EY teams in over 150 countries provide trust through assurance and help clients grow, transform and operate.

Working across assurance, consulting, law, strategy, tax and transactions, EY teams ask better questions to find new answers for the complex issues facing our world today.

EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. Information about how EY collects and uses personal data and a description of the rights individuals have under data protection legislation are available via ey.com/privacy. EY member firms do not practice law where prohibited by local laws. For more information about our organization, please visit ey.com.

This news release has been issued by EYGM Limited, a member of the global EY organization that also does not provide any services to clients.

How EY's Global Government & Public Sector can help your organization

Around the world, governments and not-for-profit organizations are continually seeking innovative answers to complex challenges. They are striving to provide better services at lower costs and to create sustainable economic development, a safe environment, more transparency and increased accountability. EY combines private sector leading practices with an understanding of the public sector's diverse needs, focusing on building organizations' capabilities to deliver improved public services. Drawing on many years of experience, we can work with you to help strengthen your organization and achieve lasting improvements. Our Global Government & Public Sector brings together teams of highly skilled professionals from our assurance, consulting, strategy, tax and transaction services. We are inspired by a deep commitment to help you meet your goals and enhance public value, for today and tomorrow.

SOURCE EY Global
$1 of every Hooters Calendar sold supports Breast Cancer Research

CLEARWATER, Fla., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2023 Hooters Calendar is now available at all Hooters locations. The calendar featuring beautiful world-famous Hooters Girls is celebrating Hooters' 40th Anniversary in 2023. All of the 200 ladies in the calendar work at Hooters restaurants across the country and were selected from thousands of candidates.

The 2023 Hooters Calendar is celebrating Hooters 40th Anniversary in 2023. The calendar is now available at all Hooters locations nationwide.

Making her first appearance in the calendar is 2023 Hooters Calendar cover girl Karter Higgins from Humble, Texas. Higgins is studying political science and pre law and plans to attend law school after graduation. Raising money for breast cancer research is near and dear to the heart of Higgins. "Supporting and giving back to breast cancer research is a huge part of my life and I will do all I can to help. My grandma is currently fighting her second round of breast cancer. "I was speechless when I found out I made the cover. I am so grateful and honored to be the cover girl during its 40th anniversary year," said Higgins.

$1 of every Hooters Calendar sold supports the Kelly Jo Dowd Breast Cancer Research Fund as part of the "Give a Hoot" fundraising efforts in October. Kelly Jo Dowd, an original Hooters girl, the 1995 Hooters Calendar Cover Girl and Hooters first General Manager in Palm Harbor succumbed to breast cancer in 2007. The calendar has raised over one million dollars.

Additional ladies featured in the calendar include centerfold and 2022 Miss Hooters International Madison Novo from Hialeah, Florida. "Growing up, Hooters has been the center of my world, especially the Hooters Calendar. My sister was a six-time Hooters calendar girl and the calendar tour was always something my family looked forward to. I'm so thankful to be a part of a brand that empowers me and constantly pushes me to be the best version of myself. Shooting for the 2023 Hooters Calendar and being rewarded with the centerfold has inspired me to continue my career in the modeling and fashion industry," said Novo.

"Miss December" Lindsay Lynch from Merrillville, Indiana has been with Hooters for nine years and this is also her first time as a feature month in the calendar. "My first three years I did not make the calendar. I made a bucket list and every year it was my goal to be featured in the calendar. The effort I put in was noticed. I want to show that if you don't give up and keep trying it will happen, be patient," said Lynch.

The first Hooters Calendar was released fall 1985, two years after the first Hooters opened. "We are proud of the history and tradition of the Hooters Calendar as it continues to be one of America's top selling calendars and is a cornerstone of the Hooters brand. Hooters will celebrate 40 years in 2023 and the celebration started with the release of the 2023 Hooters Calendar," said Chuck Melcher, owner and publisher of the Hooters Calendar.

For more information about the Hooter Calendar, please visit hooterscalendar.com Twitter.com/HootersCalendar, Facebook.com/HootersCalendar, Instagram.com/HootersCalendar.

Ilona Wolpin, Anoli Management/Hooters Calendar

(954) 298-8784

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Hooters Calendar
Investment and programming highlights HORIBA's commitment to the alternative and new energy fields, building partnerships between industry and academia

HORIBA gifted $9 million to establish and support HIMaC 2

to establish and support HIMaC Grand opening event was held Oct. 11, 2022

IRVINE, Calif., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- HORIBA Group, a leading global provider of analytical and measurement systems, officially announced and celebrated the grand opening of the HORIBA Institute for Mobility and Connectivity2 (HIMaC2) research facility, located at the University of California, Irvine (UCI).

This new institute is a part of the Advanced Power and Energy Program (APEP) at UCI, which will focus on the future of zero-emission vehicles, connected and autonomous vehicle technology and the integration of the energy and transportation sectors to improve both the environment and people's lives.

"I'm very pleased to announce that this innovative and world-leading research institute has been completed under a longstanding cooperative relationship between UCI and HORIBA. I'm also honored that HORIBA's analysis and measurement expertise will contribute to groundbreaking research results from this HIMaC2," said Mr. Atsushi Horiba, Chairman & Group CEO, HORIBA, Ltd. "HORIBA is convinced that HIMaC2 will contribute to realizing the new energy society and be an outstanding research institute to make our future society much more sustainable. As interest in electrification and hydrogen increases, the world is anxiously waiting for HIMaC2's outcomes."

In 2018, HORIBA pledged a $9 million donation to establish and support the HIMaC2. The institute, which is housed in a state-of-the-art facility within UCI's Engineering Gateway building, bridges the partnership between the industry and academia to bring forth new technology and solutions to solve our society's toughest and most demanding energy challenges.

The grand opening, held on Oct. 11, featured a reception for the 145 attendees, facility tours, as well as keynote speeches made by HORIBA and UCI executives.

"HIMaC2 represents a collection of state-of-the-art research laboratories for conducting crucially important and highly innovative research in the future of transportation, energy, and their interconnections. It puts UCI in the forefront of this emerging field leading to breakthrough discoveries, inventions and their translation for benefits to society," said Pramod Khargonekar, UCI Vice Chancellor for Research. "We are grateful to HORIBA for their philanthropic gifts to UCI and for their collaboration to advance new technologies toward a shared vision for the future of sustainable transportation and energy systems."

Since its inauguration on July 6, 2021, the HIMaC2 has been hard at work, actively addressing the challenges of sustainable energy through numerous projects and research initiatives. The progress being made at the institute has drawn significant attention and praise from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) as the organization has awarded a $6 million grant to establish a Public Road Network Platform for future connected and autonomous vehicle technologies.

Current active projects in the facility include research in partnership with the California Air Resources Board focusing on regulatory initiatives to enable market readiness for zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. Several other future projects are under discussion which will continue to build the growing reputation of HIMaC2 as it makes positive contributions to the mobility and energy field.

To view and download photos from the event, click here.

About HORIBA

Founded in 1953, HORIBA has explored a wide range of unique measurement and analysis technologies to meet global customer needs from group companies and local sites spread across 28 counties and regions. Under the corporate motto Joy and Fun, the company has expanded and refined its core technologies to solve society's energy issues of today and tomorrow. Our unique measurement and analysis technologies are valued in various fields of society including the three megatrend business fields of Energy & Environment, Biology & Healthcare and Materials & Semiconductor. For more information on HORIBA, visit https://www.horiba.com/int/company/about-horiba/home/

About The HORIBA Institute of Mobility and Connectivity2 (HIMaC2)

A new institute within the Advanced Power and Energy Program (APEP) at the UCI Samueli School of Engineering. HIMaC is focused on the future of zero-emission vehicles, the integration of the energy and transportation sectors through electricity and hydrogen, and the emerging connected and autonomous vehicle technologies. The facilities encompass the Vehicle Evolution Laboratory, the Grid Evolution Laboratory, the Connected and Autonomous Mobility Laboratory, and the Analytic Laboratory.

About the University of California, Irvine

Founded in 1965, UCI is the youngest member of the prestigious Association of American Universities and is ranked among the nation's top 10 public universities by U.S. News & World Report. The campus has produced five Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Howard Gillman, UCI has more than 36,000 students and offers 224 degree programs. It's located in one of the world's safest and most economically vibrant communities and is Orange County's second-largest employer, contributing $7 billion annually to the local economy and $8 billion statewide. For more on UCI, visit www.uci.edu.

Media Contacts

Rachael (Waynick) Clemence

MBE Group on behalf of HORIBA

Account Executive

[email protected] | +248 563 3111

Jeff Hunter

HORIBA

[email protected] | +949 299 7467

Brian Bell

University of California, Irvine

[email protected] | +949-565-5533

SOURCE HORIBA
Limerick Launch now gives our clients global access to a leading resource in staffing solutions, change management, and business consulting.

LIMERICK, Ireland, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Regarded as one of Canada's leading and trusted organizations for staffing solutions, Infinite Outsourcing Solutions is now strengthening its global presence with the launch of its new office in Limerick, Ireland.

Sharing his thoughts on this global milestone, Ragavan Baladurai, CEO of Infinite Outsourcing Solutions, commented : "We're now a global go-to for clients not only for top talent acquisition but also for IT consulting and change management guidance. As industries become more global, our clients are continually evaluating how they work, and we are there to help them evolve and thrive."

In today's world, organizations need to be dynamic enough to adapt quickly to market changes without sacrificing their standards. With our proficiency in guiding clients through change-related ambiguity, Infinite Outsourcing Solutions is committed to ensuring both job seekers and employers are always ready for what's coming next.

Robert Freeman, Director of Operations of Infinite Outsourcing Solutions - Ireland, was glad to be a part of this new beginning. "It's exciting to be up and running after a few months of working in the background, establishing a team and office space here in Limerick. Our European hub is an innovation engine for our company across Europe". He also shared that the team in Ireland is geared up and has already gotten a head start, "We have started servicing and supporting some multinationals here in Limerick, helping with top talent acquisitions and we look forward to expanding and growing here.''

About Infinite Outsourcing Solutions:

Infinite Outsourcing Solutions is a leading provider of global staffing, business automation consulting, logistics, and warehousing solutions, operating partly through its subsidiaries KN Logistics Solutions, Toro Warehousing Solutions, and EMC Global Consulting. With decades of experience serving companies in sectors ranging from manufacturing and IT to healthcare and energy, we help clients overcome the HR, change and risk challenges driven by today's fast-paced, ever-changing marketplace. Visit us online at infiniteos.com. Find us on social @infiniteosteam.

For further information:

Robert Freeman, Director of Operations Ireland

Phone: +35361539330

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Infinite Outsourcing Solutions
ARLINGTON, Va., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- IntraFi announced today it has added to its board Brian Argrett, CEO of City First, and Erica Bovenzi, a former deputy counsel at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and former Chief Administrative Officer at Promontory Financial Group.

"I am proud of the addition of these two individuals to our board," said Mark Jacobsen, Cofounder and CEO of IntraFi, a leading fintech that specializes in liquidity management solutions for thousands of financial services firms. "I've known and worked with both for many years and admire the depth and richness of their expertise in banking."

Argrett and Bovenzi join a board that includes several other financial industry experts, such as Camden Fine, the former CEO of the Independent Community Bankers of America, and Edward Yingling, the former CEO of the American Bankers Association.

Argrett is currently president and CEO of both City First Bank, the largest Black-led minority depository institution in the U.S., and its parent company, Broadway Financial Corp. Argrett also serves as chairman of City First Enterprises, a nonprofit bank holding company and incubator of social finance solutions in Washington D.C., and City First Foundation. Additionally, he serves on the board of the Western Bankers Association.

"City First has been a longtime user of IntraFi's services, so we know firsthand what an outstanding firm it is and what great services it offers to banks," said Argrett. "I also appreciate its long-standing support for CDFIs and MDIs over the years."

Bovenzi is cofounder of The Bovenzi Group, a boutique consulting firm serving banks, regulatory agencies, and fintechs. She enjoyed a distinguished 15-year career as deputy general counsel of the FDIC and previously worked at the Resolution Trust Corporation. In her FDIC role, she provided legal support for all aspects of the agency's operations, including statutory compliance, governance, and ethics. Additionally, Bovenzi previously served as Chief Administrative Officer for Promontory Financial Group, a global financial services consulting group.

"IntraFi is a special company, providing valuable products for large and small financial institutions and their customers," said Bovenzi. "Over the past two decades, I have observed a consistent focus on innovation and service to meet the needs of an evolving industry. I am excited to be joining the team."

About IntraFi

As a trusted partner chosen by more than 3,000 financial services companies, we define success not by the volume of transactions we enable, but by the quality of relationships we form. Our network, established over 20 years ago, connects institutions of all sizes to help participants build stronger relationships with their customers, fund more loans, seamlessly manage their liquidity needs, and earn fee income. The network brings scale, giving each participant access to tens of billions of dollars in funding, the highest per-depositor and per-bank capacity, and the peace of mind of being able to make large-dollar placements.

SOURCE IntraFi
A new paradigm in technology and native ecosystem integration to ensure the success of modern data teams

DENVER and MANCHESTER, England, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Matillion Data Unlocked - Matillion , the leader in data productivity, today announced a platform and ecosystem designed to get data business-ready, faster - The Data Productivity Cloud.

The Data Productivity Cloud from Matillion: A platform and ecosystem designed to get data business-ready, faster

As cloud data grows, organizations must adopt fresh approaches to achieve a greater level of data productivity. In parallel, the pace of change is faster than ever, and businesses must be ready to navigate unprecedented, disruptive moments like pandemics, severe weather, and supply chain issues more frequently. Overburdened data teams are hampered by brittle data infrastructure resulting from antiquated data integration methods, legacy ETL, or point solution ELT technology.

Matillion's Data Productivity Cloud helps teams get data business-ready, faster, accelerating time-to-value and increasing the impact data can have. Users load, transform, synchronize, and orchestrate data on an integrated platform. These workloads improve productivity and efficiency for data teams.

"Pacific Life uses Matillion to break down the barriers and limitations involved in getting our data business-ready at scale," said Manzoor Mohideen, assistant vice president, data management at Pacific Life. "Modernizing and orchestrating our data pipelines with Matillion helps our data team build data integrations more quickly and be more productive, ensuring we're well on the way to delivering trustable data to our business and creating a world-class, data-driven culture at Pacific Life."

Bridging the gap between data expectations and data productivity

The Data Productivity Cloud is the only solution designed to ensure success for the modern data team. Matillion's platform is:

Everyone-ready: Ready for any user to connect data and put it to work. Matillion is the only platform with a wizard-based approach to building custom connectors for loading data, providing universal connectivity to any source with no coding necessary. The Data Productivity Cloud enables unprecedented access to an organization's data, allowing users of all skill levels to glean insights from all over the business.

New: Enterprise application connectors for SAP, Workday, and Anaplan to provide simple access to these complex, dynamic sources.

to provide simple access to these complex, dynamic sources. Now available: Code orchestration written in dbt, working alongside all other low-code or high-code jobs in Matillion. Data engineers can now execute code from tools such as dbt in Matillion ETL for Snowflake.

Stack-ready: Open and extensible to work with bespoke and leading cloud solutions. The Data Productivity Cloud provides native integrations to cloud data platforms to keep environments running efficiently. Users can build their transformation and orchestration jobs via a low-code UI or their preferred coding method.

Now available: Matillion is among the first platforms to support Snowflake Zero Copy Clone to test against a clone of live data without incurring additional risk or costs. This feature lets teams establish DataOps best practices and have greater confidence that their jobs run correctly.

Matillion is among the first platforms to to test against a clone of live data without incurring additional risk or costs. This feature lets teams establish DataOps best practices and have greater confidence that their jobs run correctly. Coming soon: Code orchestration written in Spark notebooks for Databricks. Data scientists can orchestrate machine learning models inside Matillion ETL for Databricks from their preferred notebooks.

Future-ready: Secure, scalable, and serverless for tomorrow's data projects. The Data Productivity Cloud helps teams to efficiently and quickly scale data integration efforts, deploy from anywhere and keep compliance management simple.

Matillion is the first platform to deliver Unlimited Scale with full control. Secure, serverless remote runners scale every aspect of data workflows. With, Unlimited Scale teams can collect, enrich, and recirculate data without boundaries, right inside their cloud environment, with governance and sovereignty built in.

"Data productivity is an important factor for driving a modern business. Enterprises need to harness the power of their data, or they risk losing their competitive edge," said Ciaran Dynes, chief product officer at Matillion. "Matillion puts data teams at the center of driving competitive advantage by helping them to deliver business-ready data, faster. The Data Productivity Cloud is designed to meet data practitioners wherever they are  at their skill level, for their data stack, and to suit their current and future ambitions."

"This is an exciting time to work with data in the cloud, as organizations continue to look for more efficient ways to put their data to work," said Christian Klienerman, SVP of Product at Snowflake. "The power of the Snowflake Data Cloud and Matillion Data Productivity Cloud can help teams meet the increasing demands for data and push their businesses forward for new growth and exciting opportunities."

For more information about the Matillion Data Productivity Cloud, visit: https://www.matillion.com/resources/data-productivity-cloud-success-center .

About Matillion

Matillion helps teams get data business-ready, faster  accelerating time-to-value and increasing the impact data can have.

Thousands of enterprises including Cisco , DocuSign , Pacific Life , Slack , and TUI trust Matillion to load, transform, sync, and orchestrate their data for a wide range of use cases from insights and operational analytics, to data science, machine learning, and AI.

Native integration with popular cloud data platforms lets data teams at every skill level automate management, refinement, and data delivery for every data integration need.

See Matillion for yourself , and follow us on Linkedin or Twitter

Media Contact:

Inkhouse (for Matillion)

[email protected]

SOURCE Matillion
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A federal judge overseeing the Gardasil MDL (multidistrict litigation) appointed four attorneys to serve on the litigation leadership for plaintiffs who allege the Gardasil HPV vaccine caused them severe side effects.

Gardasil lawyer Bijan Esfandiari, a senior shareholder at Baum Hedlund Aristei & Goldman, will serve as co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs alongside Rachel Lanier of the Lanier Law Firm and Paul Pennock of Morgan & Morgan. Allison Mullins of Turning Point Litigation will serve as liaison counsel for the plaintiffs.

Judge Appoints Alliance of Litigators to Lead Gardasil MDL

"We are pleased that the judge appointed an alliance of proven litigators to represent Gardasil survivors," attorney Bijan Esfandiari said. "We look forward to giving our clients the chance to finally be heard in court backed by a group of lawyers with proven success in high-stakes litigation. We will work together to seek justice for people who have seen their lives destroyed by a defective and dangerous product."

In August, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) issued an order to consolidate dozens of Gardasil lawsuits filed in federal court before U.S. District Judge Robert J. Conrad in the Western District of North Carolina. Lawyers representing the plaintiffs filed a position statement in September outlining claims against Gardasil manufacturer, Merck & Co.

Per the position statement, "Plaintiffs allege Merck failed to warn of Gardasil's risks of inducing certain autoimmune and neurological injuries; Merck took steps to mask and downplay these risks; and Merck was also negligent in the way it conducted its clinical trials and post-marketing pharmacovigilance. Plaintiffs further allege that, in its direct-to-consumer advertising to patients and parents, Merck misrepresented and overemphasized Gardasil's efficacy while concealing Gardasil's serious risks."

Judge Conrad held a status conference on October 11 where he issued a verbal order confirming the appointments of the plaintiffs' leadership. Attorneys for the plaintiffs estimate that hundreds of claims will soon be filed in the MDL based on the following Gardasil side effects:

Autonomic Dysfunction (Dysautonomia)

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS)

Premature Ovarian Failure (POF)

Fibromyalgia

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS)

Orthostatic Intolerance (OI)

Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS)

According to co-lead counsel Bijan Esfandiari, cases in the MDL have moved into coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings with the first Gardasil trial likely to take place in 2023. The Gardasil MDL is captioned In Re: Gardasil Products Liability Litigation MDL No. 3036.

Media Contact: Robin McCall | [email protected]

SOURCE Baum Hedlund Aristei & Goldman
NEEDHAM, Mass., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Needham Bank announced that Kathleen Heroux joined the Information Technology department as Vice President IT Operations Manager. Reporting to James Gordon, Senior Vice PresidentInformation Technology, Ms. Heroux is responsible for managing the day-to-day coordination of IT systems and staff.

Ms. Heroux most recently served as the IT Service Center Manager for Arbella Insurance. While she was there, she managed a team of 10 analysts to provide IT support and resolution. Prior to that, she was the IT Director for John Hancock/Manulife where she managed eight engineers to provide superior videoconferencing and event management support to over 400 conference rooms globally.

"I could not be more pleased to take on this new role," commented Ms. Heroux. "Needham Bank's IT department has an excellent reputation and I look forward to working with the team to ensure all technology needs are being met."

"Kathleen is an experienced leader who has a track record of driving results and creating value," said Mr. Gordon. "I am pleased to be welcoming her to the IT team and can't wait to see the impact she will have at Needham Bank."

MS. Heroux received her Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from Suffolk University. She has also continued her professional development and received multiple industry certifications, including Project Management (PMP), Cisco, Microsoft and ITILv3 Foundations, Strategy Design and Delivery.

About Needham Bank:

Needham Bank offers an array of tech-forward products and services that businesses and consumers use to manage their financial needs. We have the financial expertise typically found at much larger institutions and the local knowledge and commitment you can only find at a community bank. Known as the "Builder's Bank," Needham Bank has been helping individuals, businesses and non-profits build for their futures since 1892. For more information, please visit https://NeedhamBank.com. Needham Bank is a member of FDIC and DIF.

SOURCE Needham Bank
MIAMI, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Office Edge and Legal Edge Services are pleased to announce that Kelly Ramsden, Managing Partner, has been selected for inclusion in the 2022 Women of Distinction Honors Edition. Published by Nationwide Registries, Women of Distinction recognizes accomplished women who excel in their fields and are equally admired by colleagues and peers. Ms. Ramsden is recognized for her leadership, professionalism, management talent, and dedication to excellence in client service.

"I am humbled to be included in the 2022 Women of Distinction with these impressive professional women," said Ms. Ramsden. "And I'm very proud of my team. The past few years have reminded us how important it is to work together to achieve our goals, continue to reinvest in our business, and never lapse in our commitment to our clients and employees."

In 2021, Ms. Ramsden was recognized with a Customer Sales & Service Gold Award for transformational leadership in maintaining five-star client service in a challenging year. In 2020, she won a Gold Award for creativity in executive leadership, guiding her company to meet the challenges of the pandemic by developing new virtual office services and work-at-home solutions. A skillful and dedicated mentor, she has succeeded in maintaining outstanding client service by teaching, demonstrating, and inspiring her employees to adapt to a changing work environment and evolving client needs.

"Kelly brings compassion, honesty, and integrity to the office every day, and sets that standard," said a colleague. "She has a steady focus on quality and the ability to find creative solutions to problems. She deserves every bit of recognition that comes her way."

About Office Edge & Legal Edge Services

Office Edge and Legal Edge Services are the foremost providers of boutique office space and business services in South Florida. Office solutions include fully furnished private offices and turn-key law offices, conference rooms, deposition and mediation rooms, day office space, and virtual offices. Business services include a full range of law office support, administrative assistance, and live receptionist services in English and Spanish. Woman-owned and operated since 2000, Office Edge and Legal Edge Services have been featured in the South Florida Business Journal and Miami Herald and have won numerous awards. Learn more at OfficeEdge.com and LegalEdgeServices.com.

About Nationwide Registries

With members representing every major industry, Nationwide Registries Women of Distinction Honors Edition is a trusted resource dedicated to highlighting the professional accomplishments of today's best and brightest women in business. The talented women profiled in this historic registry share such virtues as determination, courage, leadership, and discipline. Now, more than ever, these extraordinary women serve as role models to upcoming generations and offer tangible evidence of the value of hard work, goal setting, and passion.

Learn more at NationwideRegistries.com.

SOURCE Office Edge
From a single lamp to an array of reading and writing tools, founders Steve and Lori Leveen look back on the company's impressive journey since 1987

DELRAY BEACH, Fla., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Thirty-five years after launching the company with a single item in its inventory, Levenger is marking its evolution as a leading provider of tools designed to be both useful and aesthetically pleasing. From fine writing implements to home and office furnishings and accessories, Levenger is now one of the industry's most successful lifestyle brands.

"Levenger's success is not that hard to explain," said Steve Leveen, who co-founded the company with his wife, Lori Leveen, in 1987. "We listened to our customers, who were telling us they didn't just want tools for productivity. They wanted well-designed pieces to help them be more productive and express their creativity."

They began their journey by listening to themselves first. After trying almost in vain to find a good reading light for their new home, they realized others might have the same problem. They scraped together every penny they could and founded Levenger (a combination of Leveen and Granger, Lori's maiden name), and began building the new company with a lamp powered by then-revolutionary halogen technology.

Levenger experienced challenges as a company, until the Leveens bought an ad in The New Yorker announcing, "Serious Lighting for Serious Readers." It reached exactly the market they were seeking: an educated, upscale audience of dedicated readers whose needs had rarely been met.

Since then, Levenger has enjoyed remarkable growth and many accomplishments, being named number 8 among America's fastest-growing privately held companies by Inc. magazine after moving its headquarters to South Florida and expanding its merchandise assortment. In November 2020, Levenger appointed its first female CEO, Margaret Moraskie, who implemented several strategic initiatives to drive the company's continued success. This October, Levenger kicked off the beginning of its digital transformation strategy debuting a newly designed website, along with a complete enterprise resource planning (ERP) replacement that will integrate the company's internal systems and position it for further growth.

"It's important to evolve," said Margaret Moraskie, "We sell heritage technologies and products designed to last a lifetime, but we recognize that by melding our imperatives of innovation and quality with modern technology, we can deliver the best experience to our dear customers."

Levenger is a celebration of creativity and achievement, from its engaging catalog to Steve Leveen's blog, Well-Read Life, Levenger offers affordable luxury to complement daily life with thoughtful aesthetics and ergonomics. Over 35 years of evolution, one thing remains  every decision Levenger makes starts and ends with the customer.

"The satisfaction of our customers is paramount," said Steve Leveen. "We believe in building a legacy of quality and excellence through our unmatched commitment to our customers."

"We're so proud of what the Levenger team has created with the support of a community that shares our love of the written word," added Lori Leveen.

For more information visit www.levenger.com

About Levenger

Founded in 1987 by Steve and Lori Leveen, Levenger creates thoughtfully designed and beautifully crafted products for home and office that artfully merge heritage and digital technologies. The iconic Levenger name stands behind a legacy of quality and excellence, encompassing items ranging from fine pens, stationery, and notebooks to solution-based furniture, leather accessories and the company's award-winning Circa notebook system for organizing work, home and studies. Driving creative expression and productivity, each product inspires and delights, helping writers, executives, creators, and lifelong learners pursue their passions and achieve their goals. Levenger's design headquarters are in Delray Beach, Fla., and its fulfillment center is in Memphis, Tenn. For more information, visit http://www.levenger.com

Media Contact:

Britney Mumford

[email protected]

561-998-1995

SOURCE Levenger
LONDON, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Lockton, the world's largest independent insurance brokerage, is announcing the creation of a new, industry-leading custody insurance facility available exclusively to its digital asset clients.

Developed by Lockton's Emerging Asset Protection (LEAP) team in collaboration with leading global custody insurers, the facility is supported by Lloyd's syndicates, together with highly rated insurance companies. This provides Lockton clients with market-leading policy wording and full access to London market capacity, estimated today to be in excess of $850 million for custody coverage.

Key benefits of Lockton's new facility include:

Efficiency , including access to full market capacity for custody coverage, without the need for third-party surveys.

, including access to full market capacity for custody coverage, without the need for third-party surveys. Flexibility , including the ability to secure bespoke programs, incorporating various limits and cost structures, designed to work alongside an insured's existing and future risk management planning as it onboards custody of digital assets.

, including the ability to secure bespoke programs, incorporating various limits and cost structures, designed to work alongside an insured's existing and future risk management planning as it onboards custody of digital assets. A clear route to entry via a streamlined custody insurance underwriting process, managed by Lockton's experienced LEAP team members.

Traditionally available through the London market, custody insurance (sometimes called "cold storage" coverage) provides indemnity in relation to private keys stored in secure locations, including those that are part of a multiparty computation (MPC) solution or entirely "offline." In addition to providing coverage for the loss of assets, custody insurance plays a sizable role in risk mitigation by adding an extra layer of protection beyond technical and physical security for companies involved in the care, custody and control of digital assets or those providing technology to support custody solutions.

"Custody insurance plays a vital role in protecting consumer assets stored by third-party custodians and is an essential tool in the successful operation of many digital asset companies. Historically, securing that coverage has been difficult, often requiring complicated underwriting processes and the involvement of third-party surveys," said Neil Daly, head of Lockton UK's LEAP team. "Our new custody insurance facility makes it easier for companies operating in the digital asset ecosystem to build robust custody insurance programs, enabling them to better protect valuable digital assets and effectively serve their customers," he said.

"This facility represents a step forward in insurance coverage for businesses in the digital asset custody space," said Sarah Downey, head of Lockton's global LEAP team. "Our LEAP team's deep partnerships with both insurers and clients and our continued investment in and focus on innovation in this space, further exemplifies Lockton's long-term commitment to helping the digital asset ecosystem continue to grow.

About LEAP

Lockton's Emerging Asset Protection (LEAP) team is a specialized, global group of more than 35 Lockton Associates with a deep understanding of companies operating in the blockchain and digital asset space. LEAP team members around the world  including in the U.S., U.K., Bermuda, Asia and Australia  have insurance brokerage and claims expertise spanning all financial and management liability lines of coverage, including directors and officers liability, crime, specie, cyber, employment practices liability and errors and omissions, among others.

About Lockton

What makes Lockton stand apart is also what makes us better: independence. Lockton's private ownership empowers its 9,500+ Associates doing business in over 125 countries to focus solely on clients' risk, insurance and people needs. With expertise that reaches around the globe, Lockton delivers the deep understanding needed to accomplish remarkable results.

For 14 consecutive years, Business Insurance magazine has recognized Lockton as a "Best Place to Work in Insurance." Lockton was named among the 2021 Best Managed Companies by Deloitte and the Wall Street Journal, a program that recognizes excellence and honors private companies for their strategy, execution, culture, and financials. For more information, visit www.lockton.com.

SOURCE Lockton
DUBLIN, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Marine Engines Global Market Report 2022" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This report provides strategists, marketers and senior management with the critical information they need to assess the global marine engines market.



The global marine engines market is expected to grow from $8.76 billion in 2021 to $9.38 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.06%. The marine engines market is expected to grow to $11.10 billion in 2026 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.32%.

Reasons to Purchase

Gain a truly global perspective with the most comprehensive report available on this market covering 12+ geographies.

Understand how the market is being affected by the coronavirus and how it is likely to emerge and grow as the impact of the virus abates.

Create regional and country strategies on the basis of local data and analysis.

Identify growth segments for investment.

Outperform competitors using forecast data and the drivers and trends shaping the market.

Understand customers based on the latest market research findings.

Benchmark performance against key competitors.

Utilize the relationships between key data sets for superior strategizing.

Suitable for supporting your internal and external presentations with reliable high quality data and analysis

Major players in the marine engines market are Cummins Inc, Caterpillar, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd, Volvo Penta, Yanmar Holdings Co Ltd, Wartsila, Hyundai Heavy Industries Co Ltd, Daihatsu Diesel Mfg Co Ltd, MAN Energy Solutions, Volkswagen Group, WinGD, Siemens Energy, Wabtec, Isotta Fraschini Motori, CNPC Jichai Power Company Limited, Bergen Engines, Rolls-Royce Holdings and Bergen Engines.



The marine engines market consists of sales of marine engines by entities (organizations, sole traders, partnerships) that refer to a heat engines used to transform heat energy into mechanical energy by burning fuel to propel a ship. It is installed or planned to be installed on a marine vessel. Marine engines are categorized as propulsion marine engine, propels or guides the movement of a ship through the sea, and auxiliary marine engine refers to a propulsion-less marine engine.



The main types of marine engines are diesel engine, gas turbine, natural engine, and other engine types. The gas turbine can convert natural gas or other liquid fuels to mechanical energy. These marine engines are used ships like oil tankers, bulk carriers, general cargo ships, and container ship. The fuel used to power the marine engines categorized as heavy fuel oil, intermediate fuel oil, marine diesel oil, marine gas oil, LNG, and other fuel types. The marine engines are categorized as four stroke, and two stroke with power ranging from up to 1,000 HP, 1,001-5,000 HP, 5,001-10,000 HP, 10,001-20,000 HP, and above 20,000 HP.



Asia Pacific was the largest region in the marine engines market in 2021. The regions covered in the marine engines market report are Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Middle East and Africa.



The marine engines market research report is one of a series of new reports that provides marine engines market statistics, including marine engines industry global market size, regional shares, competitors with a marine engines market share, detailed marine engines market segments, market trends and opportunities, and any further data you may need to thrive in the marine engines industry. This marine engines 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.



Growth in international marine freight transport is expected to drive the marine engine market. Marine freight transport refers to ships or cargo used to move goods from one location to another. Marine transport is cheaper and more feasible than railroad and air transportation for international transport. According to an article published by World Economic Forum, in 2021, approximately 90% of the world's products were transported by water transport. Further, in the last 20 years, the average size of a container ship has doubled, with the most prominent ships capable of transporting 24,000 containers. Thus, an increase in international marine freight transport will increase the demand for marine engines.



Cloud-based technology to monitor marine engines is the key trend gaining popularity in the marine engines market. Cloud monitoring is a technique for examining, evaluating, and regulating the operational workflow of a cloud-based IT infrastructure. Increasing efforts toward expanding engine capacities have further led to the development initiatives for designing reliably advanced systems.

For instance, in April 2021, Cummins Inc. introduced PrevenTech Marine, an advanced remote monitoring solution for marine vessels. PrevenTech Marine monitors Cummins powered assets remotely, using connectivity, big data, advanced analytics, and IoT and boosts uptime, reduces maintenance costs, and improve the service experience.



In January 2022, Langley Holdings, a UK-based engineering and industrial manufacturing group, acquired Bergen Engines AS from Rolls-Royce, for $103 million (91 million). Through this acquisition, Langley Holdings will accomplish its net-zero goals and long-term environmental objectives through the developing microgrid industry. Bergen Engines is a Norway-based company that manufactures gas and diesel engines for land based, commercial marine and naval.



The countries covered in the marine engines market report are Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Russia, South Korea, UK and USA.

Key Topics Covered:



1. Executive Summary



2. Marine Engines Market Characteristics



3. Marine Engines Market Trends And Strategies



4. Impact Of COVID-19 On Marine Engines



5. Marine Engines Market Size And Growth

5.1. Global Marine Engines Historic Market, 2016-2021, $ Billion

5.1.1. Drivers Of The Market

5.1.2. Restraints On The Market

5.2. Global Marine Engines Forecast Market, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion

5.2.1. Drivers Of The Market

5.2.2. Restraints On the Market



6. Marine Engines Market Segmentation

6.1. Global Marine Engines Market, Segmentation By Engine Type, Historic and Forecast, 2016-2021, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion

Diesel Engine

Gas Turbine

Natural Engine

Other Engine Types

6.2. Global Marine Engines Market, Segmentation By Ship Type, Historic and Forecast, 2016-2021, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion

Oil Tankers

Bulk Carriers

General Cargo Ships

Container Ship

Gas Carriers

Chemical Tankers

Support Vessel

Ferriers And Passenger Ships

6.3. Global Marine Engines Market, Segmentation By Fuel Type, Historic and Forecast, 2016-2021, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion

Heavy Fuel Oil

Intermediate Fuel Oil

Marine Diesel Oil

Marine Gas Oil

LNG

Others

6.4. Global Marine Engines Market, Segmentation By Stroke, Historic and Forecast, 2016-2021, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion

Four Stroke

Two Stroke

6.5. Global Marine Engines Market, Segmentation By Power Range, Historic and Forecast, 2016-2021, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion

Up to 1,000 HP

1,001-5,000 HP

5,001-10,000 HP

10,001-20,000 HP

Above 20,000 HP

7. Marine Engines Market Regional And Country Analysis

7.1. Global Marine Engines Market, Split By Region, Historic and Forecast, 2016-2021, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion

7.2. Global Marine Engines Market, Split By Country, Historic and Forecast, 2016-2021, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/twq5o3

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]

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SOURCE Research and Markets
CLEVELAND, Oct. 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- John Polinko has rejoined the Cleveland office of McDonald Hopkins LLC as Counsel in the Business Department, where he will add his experience to the firm's Commercial Finance and Real Estate teams. Polinko previously worked in the Strategic Advisory and Restructuring Department at McDonald Hopkins.

Polinko represents both borrowers and lenders in commercial finance and real estate lending transactions, as well as in restructuring transactions. He has additional experience representing debtors, creditors, liquidating trustees, and court-appointed receivers in strategic advisory and restructuring matters, including out-of-court work-outs, and receiverships. Polinko has also represented both debtors and creditors' committees in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings and has extensive experience in representing banks and lending institutions in all aspects of commercial and bankruptcy litigation.

Polinko earned his J.D. from The University of Akron School of Law and his Bachelor of Arts from The Ohio State University.

He can be reached at 216.348.5817 and [email protected].

A bout McDonald Hopkins

Founded in 1930, McDonald Hopkins is a business advisory and advocacy law firm with locations in Baltimore/Annapolis, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, and West Palm Beach. With more than 50 service and industry teams, the firm has the expertise and knowledge to meet the growing number of legal and business challenges our clients face. For more information about McDonald Hopkins, visit mcdonaldhopkins.com .

CONTACT:

Cynthia Stewart

McDonald Hopkins LLC

600 Superior Avenue, East, Suite 2100

Cleveland, Ohio 44114

Phone: 216.348.5733

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE McDonald Hopkins
BOSTON, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Metalenz, the market leader for metasurface optics for high-performance 3D sensing solutions, today announced the closing of a $30M Series B, led by Neotribe Ventures. The funding will be used to meet the growing demand for the company's existing 3D Sensor metasurface optics while simultaneously accelerating the market introduction of its revolutionary new polarization sensing solution, PolarEyes. The round also saw participation from Foothill Ventures, M Ventures, Intel Capital, Osage University Partners, TDK Ventures, 3M Ventures, Global Brains, SG Innovate, Baidu Ventures, Hegemon Capital, and Braemar Ventures.

A 12-inch wafer made using standard semiconductor processes contains thousands of metasurface optics.

"When we launched our first products as the key enabler for simpler, next generation 3D ToF products earlier this year, we proved that the performance of our metasurface optics is unparalleled in the 3D sensing market, and that our new technology can reach end-users at a massive scale," said Metalenz co-founder and CEO Rob Devlin. "Since then, demand has dramatically increased, and the oversubscribed round is a testament to how our metasurface optics can completely transform the way people and machines interact with and understand the world around them. Going forward we are particularly excited to benefit from the deep knowledge and vast network of our lead investor in the Series B, Neotribe Ventures."

"At Neotribe we are focused on investing in companies that are solving really hard technical problems that disrupt non-traditional industry sectors," said Kittu Kolluri, Founder and Managing Director of Neotribe Ventures. "Metalenz represents the perfect blend of a disruptive deep tech solution being applied to a large and innovation-starved market, optics. We look forward to supporting Rob and his team as they scale the company and product roadmap to address this multi-billion-dollar opportunity."

About Metalenz

Founded in 2016 and the first to commercialize meta-optics, Metalenz is enabling the next generation of 3D sensing in consumer electronics, automotive and industrial robotics markets. Built on research from the Capasso Lab at Harvard University, with exclusive worldwide license to foundational IP relating to metasurfaces, Metalenz has 20+ patents on innovations that simplify and improve optical devices. Unlike traditional optics, the company's metasurface technology provides complex, multifunctional optical performance in a single semiconductor layer, relocating large-scale production of optics to semiconductor foundriesprinting lenses like computer chips. Metalenz launched out of stealth in 2021 with funding from leading investors including 3M Ventures, Applied Ventures LLC, Intel Capital, M Ventures, TDK Ventures, and Foothill Ventures. Now in market, Metalenz metasurface optics will be in millions of consumer devices this year.

To learn more about how Metalenz is revolutionizing optical sensing in consumer electronics and beyond, contact [email protected]

About Neotribe Ventures

Neotribe Ventures focuses on strategic investments in early to growth-stage companies developing breakthrough technologies that stretch the imagination. Founded in 2017, the firm manages nearly $450 million in assets across three funds and has invested in a diverse set of companies including computational biology, enterprise security and infrastructure, robotics and AI, blockchain technologies, cleantech, and more. Just as tribes represent small, protective, and caring groups, Neotribe believes that startups with innovative and aspirational teams thrive if provided the security and backing to be unafraid in the pursuit of new ideas, excellence, and success.

To learn more about how Neotribe is partnering with entrepreneurs in the U.S., Europe, Israel, India, and Australia in their quest to solve complex and deeply impactful problems to create lasting change, visit neotribe.vc.

Carly Glovinski

Marketing Manager

Metalenz

[email protected]

This release was issued through WebWire. For more information, visit http://www.webwire.com.

SOURCE Metalenz
RICHARDSON, Texas , Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- National Partners in Healthcare (NPH), a national healthcare organization delivering best-in-class anesthesiology services, announced today that Western Oklahoma Anesthesia Consultants has joined NPH.

"Over the years our company was approached multiple times for various partnerships. NPH was the first patient, hospital, and provider centric company we felt comfortable with bringing into our family. Their attention to detail will enable Western Oklahoma Anesthesia Consultants to help maintain solid hospital relationships, continue to provide quality patient care, and sustain a cohesiveness with our anesthesia providers. We are very excited for what the future holds going forward with Western Oklahoma Anesthesia Consultants and National Partners in Healthcare," Brian Blick, MD, President/CEO of Western Oklahoma Anesthesia Consultants.

National Partners in Healthcare expands in Elk City, Oklahoma with Western Oklahoma Anesthesia Consultants Tweet this

"We continue to establish mutually beneficial partnerships by collaborating with high quality anesthesia groups like Western Oklahoma Anesthesia Consultants," said Mike Saunders, CEO of NPH. "Their dedication to clinical excellence blended with NPH's management and operational expertise is the ideal combination. Gaining the support of NPH will afford the group greater opportunities to maximize efficiencies and streamline operations while retaining 100% clinical autonomy."

About National Partners in Healthcare:

NPH is a national healthcare organization delivering best-in-class anesthesiology services. NPH is dedicated to partnering with high quality anesthesiologists and CRNAs providing the expertise, resources, and long-term sustainable solutions to their medical practices. NPH's anesthesiology partners retain autonomy of their practice while collaborating with each NPH clinical team to achieve and deliver the highest quality patient care. For more information, www.nphllc.com .

NPH is a joint venture between Archimedes Health Investors LLC, a healthcare-focused private equity firm, and Assured Healthcare Partners (AHP), a private equity firm providing growth, consolidation, and repositioning capital solutions in the healthcare services industry. For more information about AHP, please visit www.ahpartners.com.

Rebecca Brophy, Holly Buckley and Thomas Zahn, of McGuireWoods LLP, provided legal counsel to National Partners in Healthcare. Christopher Jahnle, Managing Director of Haverford Healthcare Advisors of Radnor, Pennsylvania provided financial advisory services to Western Oklahoma Anesthesia Consultants in this transaction. John M. Hogan of Saxton & Stump, LLC of Malvern, Pennsylvania served as legal advisor to Western Oklahoma Anesthesia Consultants.

SOURCE National Partners in Healthcare
Examples of emerging practice include unlikely pathways straddling very different industries  e.g. Walmart providing f ront line store associates with cybersecurity training opportunities

 The recommendations follow observations of a pandemic-related mass exodus across the global workforce, where 45% of people who took up new jobs moved to other industries

From teaching to hospitality to transportation, employers must now think laterally about where future talent will come from

OAKLAND, Calif., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Josh Bersin Company, a research and advisory company focused on HR and workforce strategies, has issued timely new advice to employers on the criticality of developing new, non-linear career pathways for their staffeven if that's via partnership with a completely different industry.

The guidance arrives at a complex time for the U.S. labor market where entire industries admit to increasingly pivotal gaps in the workforce that are widening rapidly, and seem impossible to fill.

For employers with pronounced talent issues, this is an opportunity to really think outside the box Tweet this

The new strategy, published in the report, Career Pathways: Building Tomorrow's Workforce Today, from The Josh Bersin Company, is geared to helping employers recognize that point when staff start to feel burnt out, jaded or restless, and begin to question their job and their career path.

If companies fail to spot this critical inflexion point, they risk losing that individualand to a different industry altogether. Such losses are already happening at scale in multiple sectors, including education, medicine, hospitality, and transportation. Data shows that during the pandemic, 45% of those individuals who changed jobs moved into other industries.

Employers have historically faced challenges in reversing these trends. To replenish their pipelines, says the study, they need to get ahead of the curve by identifying and training people now to fill those roles in the future. According to The Josh Bersin Company, this requires new creativity in matching disaffected employees with a different career path internally. And that path may not be immediately obvious to the employee, to HR, or to the relevant line managers or function leaders.

To join the dots, smart employers are starting to restructure their HR organization, and build Talent Intelligence resourcing which they can interrogate with the aid of AI to detect emerging skills patterns and intervene pre-emptively with optimal suggestions.

Some visionary employers are going further stillforming highly diverse partnerships with companies in other, often radically different, industries, to open up new learning and development options while offering critical sectors such as retail a new source of talent to tap into and cultivate. In one of the highest profile examples of the trend, Walmart, through their Live Better U program and company-sponsored training, rotation, and educational assistance, is helping front line store associates develop into cyber-security roles.

The new report, available to Bersin Company members, also calls out the relative low cost of reskilling existing talent (which is exponentially more than the cost of hiring new employees), further enhanced by tax breaks for both employer and employee in some countries, including the U.S.

Supported by numerous case studies showcasing emerging best practice, the report sets out 5 strategic steps for constructing modern career pathways, incorporating critical concepts such as talent intelligence, talent mobility processes, and upskilling programs.

This study delves deeper into the recently-released findings of two Bersin Company research initiatives: the major real-world "Global Workforce Intelligence" (GWI) research project and the comprehensive Definitive Guide to Learning. In the learning study, the world-class Bersin team found that organizations today need to facilitate employee growth through career pathways to engage and retain their employees while also building the workforce their business will need for the future.

Josh Bersin, global HR research analyst and CEO of The Josh Bersin Company, said:

"The message we're sharing is not what many employers might expect. Companies have this idea of building a career pathway, but we don't see that as linear anymore; now the onus is on creating new crossways trajectories.

"HR's mission now must be about spotting and creating opportunities for individuals to develop a different part of themselves in a completely different role, or to apply the skills and knowledge they've gained in a new context (a marketing analyst evolving into a data science role, for instance).

"The benefits could be off the scaleboth for the employee who can't see a future in what they currently do, and for the employer who is concerned about filling talent gaps or succession planning in a whole other part of the organization where growth in demand is outstripping the current capacity to deliver.

"For employers with pronounced talent issues, this is an opportunity to really think outside the box. If you've got thousands of people working in jobs that naturally have a short shelf life, and meanwhile there are thousands of jobs in another industry with no one to fill them, this is a chance for everyone to winwith the right partnerships in place to provide the career pathways.

Expect to hear a lot more on this theme of people moving from role to role, across domains and across industries. And this will be especially among younger generations who are more open to portfolio careers and side hustles."

Nehal Nangia, Director, Research L&D, and Lead Analyst in the Career Pathways guidance at The Josh Bersin Company, said:

"Career pathways are not just theoretical. This is about developing programs that can be implemented practically, that empower organizations to adjust existing benefits for greater usability, for instance by shifting from tuition reimbursement to tuition assistance. In our huge global study recently, of the current state of L&D practices, the single most impactful practice for driving talent, business and innovation outcomes was creating extensive opportunities for career growth.

"We know that if your employees don't find opportunities inside your business, they will look for them outside. Among U.S. workers who left their current employment in 2021, 63% left because there were no opportunities for advancement. HR needs to craft real career pathways in terms of a series of career steps designed to harness adjacent skills that reassure an individual how to move to a more valued, in-demand, career with you."

The new report, The Josh Bersin Company, Career Pathways: Building Tomorrow's Workforce Today, is sponsored by Guild Education and available exclusively to subscribing members.

About the Global Workforce Intelligence (GWI) Project

Where most other HR research draws on limited payroll, job postings and/or small survey samples, the Global Workforce Intelligence (GWI) Project uses eightfold.ai's extensive talent intelligence database combined with The Josh Bersin Company's comprehensive global HR leadership insights to understand jobs, job roles, skills, and career pathways, as well as organizational data. Combined, the data reflects the real workforce and HR practices actively in use today, across tens of thousands of companies around the world.

About The Josh Bersin Company

The Josh Bersin Company provides a wide range of research and advisory services, including a corporate membership program, to help HR leaders and professionals tackle the ever-evolving challenges and needs of today's workforce. The firm's research team covers all topics in HR, talent, and L&D, including diversity, equity, and inclusion; employee experience; remote and hybrid work; wellbeing; HR strategy and capabilities; learning and career mobility; HR technology; organization design and development; and talent acquisition and mobility. With the Global Workforce Intelligence (GWI) Project, The Josh Bersin Company also serves to expand its support of market-leading businesses by helping them navigate the challenges of industry convergence while remaining future-focused.

Under the company's umbrella is the Josh Bersin Academy, the world's first global development academy for HR and talent professionals and a transformation agent for HR organizations. The Academy, which has seen more than 50,000 program enrollments since its 2019 launch, offers content-rich online courses, a carefully curated library of tools and resources, and a global community that helps HR and talent professionals stay current on the trends and practices needed to drive organizational success in the modern world of work. Visit www.joshbersin.com or email [email protected].

SOURCE The Josh Bersin Company
NEW YORK, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the latest market research study published by P&S Intelligence, in 2021, the global non-invasive prenatal testing market was worth around $3,987.1 million, which is predicted to touch $9,229.2 million at a 9.8% CAGR from 2021 to 2030. This is due to the growing cases of chromosomal abnormalities and surging requirement for early detection techniques.

Segmentation Analysis

Trisomy holds the largest share, based on application, and it is predicted to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. This is owing to the growing count of females becoming pregnant at a later age, which significantly increases the danger of chromosomal abnormalities.

The consumables category holds the biggest share, of over 60%, owing to the presence of a large number of suppliers of reagents, assay kits, and disposables. The biggest share can also be attributed to the advancements in NIPT tests and a significant number of assay approvals.

Get the sample pages of this report at: https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/non-invasive-prenatal-testing-market/report-sample

Adoption and Awareness of NIPT Are Growing in North America

North America holds an around 45% share, and it is predicted to maintain its position in the coming years. This is due to the growing acceptance of this approach among the population, high success rates of NIPT, as well as the technological advancements and strong diagnostics infrastructure.

holds an around 45% share, and it is predicted to maintain its position in the coming years. This is due to the growing acceptance of this approach among the population, high success rates of NIPT, as well as the technological advancements and strong diagnostics infrastructure. In addition, the U.S. accounts for the leading position in North America , and it will advance at a rate of 8% in the future. The need for prenatal testing continues to increase due to the rising prevalence of chromosomal disorders in the U.S.

, and it will advance at a rate of 8% in the future. The need for prenatal testing continues to increase due to the rising prevalence of chromosomal disorders in the U.S. The APAC non-invasive prenatal testing market is predicted to have considerable growth as a result of the rising need for chromosomal abnormality treatment in developing countries, such as India and China .

Increasing Use of Various Screening Techniques

Cell-free DNA in maternal plasma tests are performed the most, as this technology is highly effective in detecting the likelihood of a faulty gene. As per government sources, among the over 15,000 expecting mothers who have tested positive for genetic malformations in the fetus using NIPT, this approach has been used in almost 80%.

This technology is followed by ultrasound detection, which is often employed as complementary. While cell-free DNA in maternal plasma tests indicate the presence or likelihood of a genetic disorder, a sonograph helps gynecologists and obstetricians actually see its physical manifestation.

Browse detailed report on Global Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing Market Size, Trends and Demand Forecast Report, 2030

Rising Risk of Genetic Disorders with Increasing Maternal Age

As a woman becomes older, she may develop several medical conditions, including hypertension, reduced fertility, premature labor, stillbirths, maternal mortality, and a higher chance of miscarriage.

Hence, the number of prenatal tests is driven by the mother's advancing age, which increases the risk of genetic diseases. It is known that if the first child is born with a genetic condition, the risk rises for the second. This is because one parent serves as the carrier of the faulty gene.

Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing Market Report Coverage

By Product

Consumables

Assay kits & reagents



Disposables

Instruments

NGS systems



PCR instruments



Microarrays



Ultrasound devices



Other instruments

By Method

Ultrasound Detection

Biochemical Screening

Cell-Free DNA in Maternal Plasma Tests

By Application

Trisomy

Microdeletion Syndrome

By End User

Diagnostic Laboratories

Hospitals

Research Institutes

Regional Analysis

North America

U.S.



Canada

Europe

Germany



U.K.



France



Italy



Spain

Asia-Pacific

Japan



China



India



South Korea



Australia

Latin America

Brazil



Mexico

Middle East and Africa

and Saudi Arabia



South Africa



U.A.E

Browse More Reports Published by P&S

Medical Device Analytical Testing Outsourcing Market Size, Top Trends, Drivers, and Growth Forecast to 2030

IVF Devices and Consumables Market Size, Top Trends, Drivers, and Forecast Report

In Vitro Diagnostic Market Size, Top Trends, Drivers, and Growth Forecast to 2030

Genetic Testing Market Size, Top Trends, Drivers, and Growth Forecast to 2030

About P&S Intelligence

P&S Intelligence provides market research and consulting services to a vast array of industries across the world. As an enterprising research and consulting company, P&S believes in providing thorough insights on the ever-changing market scenario, to empower companies to make informed decisions and base their business strategies with astuteness. P&S keeps the interest of its clients at heart, which is why the insights we provide are both honest and accurate. Our long list of satisfied clients includes entry-level firms as well as multi-million-dollar businesses and government agencies.

Contact:

Prajneesh Kumar

P&S Intelligence

Phone: +1-347-960-6455

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.psmarketresearch.com

Follow Us: LinkedIn Twitter

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1224988/P_and_S_Intelligence_Logo.jpg

SOURCE P&S Intelligence
By combining solar-powered microcurrent technology with the proven benefits of Gua Sha in a compact tool fitting in the palm of your hand, Omni Hiraya is giving beauty minimalists a sustainable solution for everyday wellness.

NEW YORK, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Omni Hiraya, the world's first Filipina-owned lifestyle brand currently focuses on minimalist yet luxurious skincare solutions announces its launch. By debuting with its initial product this season with the GINTO 24-Karat gold facial gua sha and microcurrent tool that's both solar powered and compact, the company hopes to "elevate routines by providing luxurious yet efficient products that seamlessly fit into your lifestyle". The word Ginto is a Tagalog word that means Gold which truly represents the tool's beauty.

GINTO 24 K Gold facial tool

This comes at a time when the global skin care devices market is expected to more than double by 2028 with a market cap of over $23 million USD , as consumers are spending more money on at-home treatments and multifunctional tools. In addition, the rise of minimalist skincare trends such as Gua Sha and microcurrent, along with the consumer focus on sustainable beauty is further fueled by TikTok and influencer marketing. On TikTok alone, the #microcurrent and #guasha hashtag content has been viewed nearly 2 billion times combined.

"We know that the busy consumer does not want to add yet another product into an already overwhelming skincare routine. With so many new products and information overload, consumers are now looking for multifunctional tools that enhance the products they already trust and love. That's why we've launched a simple and luxurious skincare device to help consumers incorporate proven techniques into their busy routines", says Omni Hiraya founder and CEO, Janina Leprozo.

Why it's different:

The GINTO tool is designed to reduce puffiness and muscle tension, increase blood circulation, while promoting healthy blood flow. The 8uA-20uA (data based on light) microcamp of the GINTO facial sculpting tool delivers a more subtle current which reduces the risk of dizziness and rashes associated with stronger currents, while eliminating the need for special activation serums. This makes the tool truly travel-friendly and easy to incorporate into anyone's pre-existing skincare regime.

Unlike some skincare tools that are made of less durable materials such as plastic or glass that shatters easily and is slippery to hold, this ergonomically designed tool is contoured to target multiple areas of the face in one compact and beautifully designed device. Most importantly, the GINTO tool has sustainability built into its design, as it is 100% solar powered and PETA-certified.

Skincare and beauty enthusiasts can now get the new 24-Karat gold plated GINTO facial sculpting tool at www.omnihiraya.com for $230 with free shipping to the U.S. Omni Hiraya remains committed to sustainability efforts as a portion of proceeds from every product will go to supporting The Rainforest Trust.

About Omni Hiraya

Omni Hiraya is the World's First Filipina-owned skincare tool brand to make minimal, yet luxurious skincare routines accessible. The name "Omni" comes from the Latin word for "all", and "Hiraya" is the Tagalog word for "fruit of one's hopes, dreams, and aspirations." By combining form and function into luxuriously designed everyday products, Omni Hiraya is at the intersection of skincare, lifestyle, and wellness.

Media Contact

[email protected]

646-770-1298

Janina Leprozo, Founder and CEO

Follow us on social media: @omnihiraya

SOURCE Omni Hiraya
Leading the offshore outsourced finance and accounting services industry is IBN Technologies, a USA based company with a global delivery center in India.

PUNE, India, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- "Accounting is the most outsourced industry sector" reads a Clutch research data that says 37% of US small businesses outsource finance and accounting. Outsourcing finance and accounting services has a lot of proven advantages. Most arise from firms striving to increase the accuracy, agility, and usefulness of their bookkeeping and accounting procedures without incurring significant overhead expenses. The administration of every firm relies heavily on finance and accounting. Money is the lifeblood of businesses, and controlling it translates to control on the direction of business by keeping accurate records of a company's income and spending.

Outsource Bookkeeping Services

Although many business owners are unaware of how finance and accounting outsourcing might benefit their company, these services help in expanding their business. A lot of decision makers all too frequently believe that finance and accounting can only help in conventional ways, such as with bookkeeping, record keeping, as well as account payables and receivables. Even though those are very important tasks that must be completed precisely, this way of thinking restricts the actual range of what outsourced accounting and financial services may offer. A critical component of expanding one's business is using outsourced finance, accounting and fractional CFO services that assist businesses in thinking strategically and connecting their plan to KPIs.

Explore Outsourced Finance and Accounting Services by IBN Technologies

IBN Technologies is an established provider of outsourced bookkeeping, finance and accounting services via a team of highly competent and devoted offshore bookkeepers. With an aim to help their clients increase their core business capacity, IBN Technologies offers significant cost reductions on operational costs of bookkeeping, finance and accounting services. And all these adds to client benefits of not worrying about the talent crisis afflicting the accounting sector.

"Businesses today are aware that finance and accounting services require unique and specialized expertise. Not all businesses have the scope of having an in-house bookkeeper or accountant / financial expert," says Ajay Mehta, CEO and Founder of IBN Technologies. "That's why business owners should look to outsource this key function to a leading-edge firm that offers focused, accurate and value-added services that are forward looking for a business."

A benefit of good accounting procedures is that they maintain a business in legal compliance. It is easy for owners / founders to break a lot of rules, such as not paying the correct amount of taxes, without competent accounting. Poor accounting can also result in ignorance of several small aspects that together maintain a business on the straight and narrow, such as making facility changes to meet safety regulations. Having bad financial records can also cause a lot of unneeded problems if a business is ever under legal investigation, which happens to many firms, eventually.

Another major reason that organizations outsource accounting services is that they require both  'advice' and 'task fulfillment'. These companies are aware that they require direction, and that sometimes this means bringing in specialists to evaluate and pinpoint areas for improvement. When it comes to financial and accounting assistance, outsourcing is extremely helpful.

The team of IBN bookkeepers come with numerous years of US bookkeeping experience, and a strong, certified competence. Despite being viewed as a collection of compliance obligations, bookkeeping is the foundation of the accounting process. Accurate accounting and management of financial transactions are required. This covers payments for bills, costs, and deposits. IBN offers expertise in multiple accounting software via their offshore bookkeeping team that works across industries and segments. Free up internal staff to concentrate on strategic business activities or save up to 50% on cost of local US bookkeeping services by partnering with IBN Tech for any finance and accounting services. With IBN Tech, one gets:

A US Based Company with Global Delivery Center in India

More than 22 years of rich experience in Finance and Accounting giving the best service that there is.

ISO 9001:2015 & ISO 27001:2013 and CMMI-5 surety of utmost security, quality, compliance, and optimization of one's work.

of work. A proven work record of serving more than 250 clients in the US.

Cost-saving opportunities for one's business of up to 50%.

business of up to 50%. A team having work expertise in multiple software and tools such as Quickbooks, Xero, Sage, Microsoft Dynamics, NetSuite, Oracle, SAP etc.

Expertise of a Virtual CFO for one's business.

business. And Much More .

Read More at https://www.ibntech.com/bookkeeping-services/ .

About IBN Tech

IBN Technologies Limited ( https://www.ibntech.com/ ) is an outsourcing specialist company with clients in the United States, the United Kingdom, the Middle East, and India. The quality of IBN Tech procedures is guaranteed by ISO 9001:2015, 27001:2013 as well as a CMMI-5 certification. In its more than 22 years of existence, IBN has become a leading IT, KPO and BPO outsourcing specialized company in various industries including Finance & Accounting, CPAs, Hedge Fund & Other Alternative Investment business, Banking, Travel, Human Resource, Retail and more.

Contact Details:

Pradip Gore

[email protected]

+1  844  644  8440

USA:

IBN TECH LLC

1314 E. Las Olas Blvd #1104, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301

India: Global Delivery Center

IBN Technologies Limited

42, Electronic Co-Operative

Estate Limited Satara Road, Parvati, Pune, Maharashtra 411009

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1919376/IBN_Logo.jpg

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1919377/Outsource_Bookkeeping.jpg

SOURCE IBN Technologies
OCALA, Fla., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- HiBid.com facilitated the sale of over $39.4 million (gross auction proceeds) in assets in auctions running from October 3rd through 9th. In 1,516 online-only and webcast auctions held throughout the week, HiBid.com averaged 1.55 million bids per day on the site, with over half a million lots sold.

Among the hundreds of auctions currently active on the site, there are many events featuring vintage and antique cars and motorcycles, classic hot rods, and other vehicles. Noteworthy lots include trucks manufactured in the 1920s, 30s, 40s, and 50s, including a 1948 Marine "Willys" Jeep, a 1955 Ford Thunderbird, and a 1920 Dodge Sedan.

HiBid.com brings buyers and sellers together every day with a wide-ranging selection of items across hundreds of categories that appeal to bidders worldwide. HiBid is fully integrated with Auction Flex 360, providing auctioneers with a comprehensive auction management solution that supports internet-only auctions, webcast auctions, and absentee bidding.

October 3rd-9th, 2022 , HiBid.com Highlights

GAP: $39.4 Million

Lots Sold: 583,891

Online-Only Auctions: 1,417

Webcast Auctions: 99

Average Bidders Per Day: 972,000

Average Bids Per Day: 1.55 Million

Current Auctions

The following list includes a small sample from the hundreds of auctions currently open for bidding on HiBid.com. Site visitors can click the Find Auctions menu at the top of the HiBid.com homepage for links to the Featured and Hot auctions, such as those listed below, or use the search box to find auctions nearby.

Vintage & Antique Cars

Auction Type: Online-Only

Dates: September 29th-October 13th

Seller: Joe Ollis Auction Service LLC

View Auction Items

Big Boy Toys Antique Hot Rods, Motorcycles, & Collector Vehicles

Auction Type: Online-Only

Dates: September 15th-October 20th

Seller: Bill Anderson Auctioneers LLC

View Auction Items

Rob Van Vleet's Nebraska Truck Hoard Auction

Auction Type: Online-Only

Dates: July 14th-October 26th

Seller: Kraupie's Real Estate & Auctioneers

View Auction Items

If you're looking to sell through HiBid.com, click here to describe what you wish to sell, and a local HiBid auctioneer will help you get started.

Interested in receiving updates from HiBid? Sign up to receive newsletter emails, and follow HiBid Auctions on Facebook and LinkedIn.

About HiBid and Auction Flex 360

HiBid is an online auction platform supporting webcast auctions, internet-only auctions, and internet absentee bidding. It is also available as a private-label solution. HiBid is integrated with Auction Flex 360, the market leader in auction software for live and online auctions, with capabilities that include cataloging, clerking, cashiering, accounting, mailing list management, inventory management, and multi-parcel. HiBid and Auction Flex 360 were built from the ground up to function together seamlessly.

SOURCE Hibid-AuctionFlex
Nonprofit Meets Goal of Distributing One Million Free Vaccines;

Recommits One Million More to End Deadly Preventable Diseases

SAN ANTONIO, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Petco Love, a national nonprofit spearheading positive change for pets, celebrates reaching its one-millionth free pet vaccine distribution for family pets. Today, due to the overwhelming need, Petco Love re-commits another million free vaccines through its Vaccinated and Loved initiative to help end life-threatening pet diseases.

Petco Love celebrates reaching its one-millionth free pet vaccine distribution for family pets. Due to the overwhelming need, Petco Love re-commits another million free vaccines through its Vaccinated and Loved initiative to help end life-threatening pet diseases.

Petco Love is on a mission to protect pets from deadly diseases. The Vaccinated and Loved campaign, launched in August 2021, encourages Petco Love animal welfare partners to host free vaccine clinics, particularly targeting high-impact areas where fatal pet diseases (parvovirus and distemper in dogs, and panleukopenia in cats) are prevalent. Petco Love surveyed pet parents1 attending the free clinics to assess whether the initiative met its goal to reach pets most in need. Despite veterinarian recommendations requiring periodic vaccinations for these diseases, surveyed pet parents indicated only 37% of pets were previously vaccinated, and 42% had never seen a private vet.

"Clearly this free vaccine initiative is making a difference for many pet parents and their pets. These vaccines prevent diseases that are not only extremely costly to treat but result in pets needlessly suffering and often dying. Proactively vaccinating vulnerable pets saves lives," said Susanne Kogut, Petco Love president. "Based on our survey results, we estimate this initiative reduced veterinary treatment costs by potentially $100 million, at a time when there is a veterinary shortage, and when treatment for pets is prohibitively expensive for some."

"My pets are vaccinated and loved. Thank you, Petco Love!" said Debra Simms whose dog, Bella, received the millionth vaccination at a vaccine clinic held September 25 in partnership with El Paso Animal Services. Simms also vaccinated three other pets and expressed gratitude for the access to care. "It's an honor [to be the millionth recipient]. Everybody needs to get their animals vaccinated."

Petco Love cautions pet parents that pets in certain states might be more at risk. Survey results showed that despite slightly higher average vaccination rates in the south (42%), parvovirus and distemper were still reported highest in this region, with Texas disproportionately holding the most count of both diseases. Panleukopenia was most reported in the West, with California accounting for the highest diagnosis.

"This year, we provided over 7,000 vaccines to our community pets," said Terry Kebschull, Director of Petco Love partner, El Paso Animal Services. "Our partnership with Petco Love to provide those vaccines is very important. These diseases are prevalent here in the community and if a pet encounters another pet that has those diseases, it protects them. Healthy pets make healthy and happy families, so it's vital for our community and communities across the nation."

Free vaccine clinics constitute one part of Petco Love's broader initiative to make access to veterinary care available to pet households where cost remains a barrier to care. Petco Love also announced more than $1.6 million in Access to Care investment grants to nearly 170 partners across the U.S. These investments support vulnerable families and their pets by funding animal welfare organizations that provide vital community services. Services consist of veterinary care including preventatives and wellness, treatment for illness and injury, and spay/neuter services.

"We are proud to partner with Petco Love to increase access to care and important vaccines for pets, and we congratulate them on this important milestone," said Dr. Joseph Hahn, Executive Director of U.S. Companion Animal and Equine Professional Services at Merck Animal Health. "Together we are bringing unconditional care to animals who could otherwise be at risk."

Pet parents in need of free pet vaccinations can visit freepetvaccines.org to find a participating clinic. Some clinics may permit advance registration and provide additional offerings such as discounted microchips and rabies vaccines, although quantities may be limited. Vaccines distributed under this initiative are DAPPv Canine and HCP Feline vaccines in partnership with Merck Animal Health. To learn more about Petco Love, visit petcolove.org.

About Petco Love

Petco Love is a life-changing nonprofit organization that makes communities and pet families closer, stronger, and healthier. Since our founding in 1999 as the Petco Foundation, we've empowered animal welfare organizations by investing $330 million in adoption and other lifesaving efforts. We've helped find loving homes for more than 6.5 million pets in partnership with Petco and organizations nationwide. Our love for pets drives us to lead with innovation, creating tools animal lovers need to reunite lost pets, and lead with passion, inspiring and mobilizing communities and our more than 4,000 animal welfare partners to drive lifesaving change alongside us. Is love calling you? Join us. Visit petcolove.org or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn to be part of the lifesaving work we lead every day.

About Merck

At Merck, known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, we are unified around our purpose: We use the power of leading-edge science to save and improve lives around the world. For more than a century, we've been at the forefront of research, bringing forward medicines, vaccines and innovative health solutions for the world's most challenging diseases. Merck Animal Health, a division of Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, N.J., USA, is the global animal health business of Merck. Through its commitment to The Science of Healthier Animals, Merck Animal Health offers veterinarians, farmers, pet owners and governments one of the widest ranges of veterinary pharmaceuticals, vaccines and health management solutions and services as well as an extensive suite of connected technology that includes identification, traceability and monitoring products. Merck Animal Health is dedicated to preserving and improving the health, well-being and performance of animals and the people who care for them. It invests extensively in dynamic and comprehensive R&D resources and a modern, global supply chain. Merck Animal Health is present in more than 50 countries, while its products are available in some 150 markets. For more information, visit www.merck-animal-health.com and connect with us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

1 Petco Love surveyed pet parents attending these free clinics across 38 states. The respondents answered three primary questions: whether (including the reasons for) their pet had visited a private vet office; whether they had previously received the offered vaccines, and whether a pet in their household had ever been diagnosed with these diseases. Regions were determined in accordance with U.S. census designations. Petco Love plans to continue these surveys with the intention of publishing a white paper with detailed survey results.

Contact: Petco Love, [email protected]

SOURCE Petco Love
SAN DIEGO, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- As the veil between worlds thins during this time of year, we get unprecedented access to the unseen realm. But most people don't realize that there is also access granted to something else the unseen realm WITHIN. The Halloween season is the best time of year for self-development and discovering the limitations in the subconscious mind. But how does one capitalize on this auspicious time for their own deep personal transformation and growth?

Shadow Work Oracle Deck and Guidebook Shadow Work Oracle Deck and Guidebook

The launch of a new oracle deck, Journey into the Underworld, is the answer! This beautifully designed, high-quality, 40-card deck acts like a personal guide to help you see where you are stuck and the 300-page guidebook teaches you how to transform your blocks with meditations, rituals, journal prompts, and insights.

Creator Alexandria Moran explains, "Most oracle decks can only show you the problem, but they can't help you figure out how to fix it. That frustrated me, so I created a deck and guidebook to create real change. This deck gives you the full roadmap towards transformation."

Using the ancient Babylonian concept of the "Underworld" as a symbol for the most hidden parts of the Self, each card compassionately guides you through the three phases of subconscious healing: The Descent (creating awareness of the block), the Reclamation (claiming personal responsibility as to why the block is there) and the Return (integrating a new way of being without the block). This three-part process is particularly successful during this time of year when we can't help but look within.

Outside of traditional therapy, there are very few resources available to do this kind of work on one's own. "Shadow Work" ( the process of exploring the subconscious)  can seem just as mysterious and unknown as the subconscious mind to most people. This deck is a revolutionary step toward empowering you to take ownership of your own healing process as you look at your subconscious lies, pain, habits, and traumas that keep you in a rut.

Whether you're someone who is looking to start their healing journey or you want to ignite a deeper sense of self-discovery, working with the Journey Into the Underworld deck and guidebook during this Halloween time can open portals to true miracles. Try it risk free! The brand offers a 30-day money-back guarantee if you don't love it.

For a limited time only, this deck and course can be purchased online at journeyintotheunderworld.com for a reduced price.

Media Contact:

Alexandria Moran

858-243-3038

[email protected]

SOURCE Alexandria Moran
SAUSALITO, Calif., Oct. 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- October 14-16, the Sausalito Art Festival Foundation presents Art Weekend Sausalito, a juried, benefit art sale with proceeds donated to the newly remodeled Sausalito Center For The Arts.

The Sausalito Art Festival Foundation (SAFF), producer of the famed Sausalito Art Festival, has assembled a group of talented artists to exhibit in downtown Sausalito. Art Weekend Sausalito will be the inaugural exhibition at the newly remodeled Sausalito Center For The Arts. The event will highlight over 150 pieces of original art from an exceptional group of artists, while offering the public an impressive assortment of creative expression.

Proceeds from this juried, benefit art sale will be donated to SCA to help fund its Phase I Buildout. "The Mission of the Sausalito Art Festival Foundation is to encourage, promote and support the arts for the community, and SCA falls squarely within our Mission," stated Sausalito Art Festival Foundation Board of Trustees Chair, Louis Briones.

The Sausalito Center For The Arts (SCA), a non profit organization, was formed in 2022 in response to a Request for Ideas process run by the Sausalito City Council. The Council asked for recommendations for the best use of the former Bank of America Building in downtown Sausalito. The building had been previously purchased by the City of Sausalito without a clear idea for its use.

A task force of citizens and existing art-related organizations including SAFF, developed the winning proposal to use the building for the creation of a vibrant and active arts association supporting a variety of artistic programs for artists, residents, and visitors to Sausalito.

SCA has completed its Phase 1 Buildout of the venue which included the removal of all previous bank teller stations, offices, equipment, repairs, etc. In the process, the venue was transformed into a modular, flexible, open-floor layout capable of hosting a variety of artistic and community events.

Art Weekend Sausalito will bring artists and patrons alike to downtown Sausalito as the inaugural art event at SCA. Through the sale of art, proceeds will be raised to help fund SCA's Phase 1 Buildout and support future artistic events.

"We're excited and eager to open our doors to these wonderful artists and patrons," stated Sausalito Center For The Arts, Co-Board Chair Monica Finnegan. "For the past few months we've been busy getting to this point, and we're confident that this weekend will mark the beginning of a resurgence of art in this town. A town with a rich history of the arts."

For more information visit: www.sausalitoartfestival.org

Art Weekend Sausalito

October 14-16, 2022

10:00AM - 6:00PM

750 Bridgeway, Sausalito CA

The Sausalito Art Festival is produced by the Sausalito Art Festival Foundation, a non-profit 501(c)(3) whose mission is to support the arts for the community.

Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE Sausalito Art Festival Foundation
Jean-Pascal Tricoire , Chairman & CEO, Schneider Electric , delivered a keynote on how software technologies are making the digital, electric world a reality across homes, buildings, data centers, industry, and infrastructure

, Chairman & CEO, , delivered a keynote on how software technologies are making the digital, electric world a reality across homes, buildings, data centers, industry, and infrastructure Aamir Paul , President, Schneider Electric North America, followed with a conversation with decarbonization leaders on motivations and partnerships fueling progress.

LAS VEGAS, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Schneider Electric , the leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, today kicked off its Innovation Summit Las Vegas with a passionate call to address the triple crisis  energy, economic and climate  facing governments, businesses and consumers around the globe, and outlining its approach and solutions to achieve this.

"In a time of global crisis, we must have complete clarity on our journey and destination. The current energy crisis is only the tip of the iceberg," said Jean-Pascal Tricoire, Chairman and CEO of Schneider Electric. "With energy demand globally anticipated to grow three-fold in the next 30 years, it's vital that we deploy all the technologies that are already available now to accelerate electrification, digitization, and sustainability."

Tricoire addressed Innovation Summit Las Vegas attendees as part of a joint keynote with Aamir Paul, President, Schneider Electric North America. They highlighted the urgent need for action as this is a pivotal moment when sustainable commitments can become a reality now that technology has aligned with intention.

Key topics discussed by Tricoire and Paul included:

Using digitization to unlock the full capacity of efficiency: The future of sustainability depends on interoperability and breaking down siloes across value chain partners. Through digital twin interfaces, online exchanges and marketplaces and other digital tools, Schneider's customers can optimize the entire lifecycle of a commercial building, as an example, throughout the Design, Build, Operate, and Maintain phases, with the potential to realize a 30% efficiency impact.

The future of sustainability depends on interoperability and breaking down siloes across value chain partners. Through digital twin interfaces, online exchanges and marketplaces and other digital tools, Schneider's customers can optimize the entire lifecycle of a commercial building, as an example, throughout the Design, Build, Operate, and Maintain phases, with the potential to realize a 30% efficiency impact. Electricity is the most efficient form of energy and the best vector for decarbonization: As it is cleaner than burning fossil fuels, it has advantages for electrifying homes, buildings, and transportation. Together, electrification and digitization are key to doing more with less energy and with fewer resources.

As it is cleaner than burning fossil fuels, it has advantages for electrifying homes, buildings, and transportation. Together, electrification and digitization are key to doing more with less energy and with fewer resources. Today's available technology can reduce carbon emissions: The pair also discussed recent findings from Schneider Electric's Research Institute which issued a first-of-its-kind quantitative study demonstrating the potential of available technologies, which, if combined and deployed at scale has the potential to lower carbon emissions by two-thirds by 2030, while generating massive savings on energy spend for building dwellers (up to 70%).

To further support customers in their sustainability goals, Schneider Electric also debuted seven new product, software, and service offerings that address the pressing environmental and social issues arising from the energy crisis and climate change.

The company also announced a $46M investment to modernize manufacturing plants in Kentucky and Nebraska to increase circuit breaker and related electrical products for customers in the U.S. and Canada. This follows the more than $100 million investment in 2021 to expedite the reshoring of its manufacturing capability in the North American region which saw organic growth of +12.6% in fiscal year 2021.

"Ours is the first generation to understand the reality of our climate challenges, and the last one that can do something about it. We're at a pivotal moment to lead in the journey to net zero and the key to reaching our sustainability goals is embracing a digital and electric-first future," said Aamir Paul, President, Schneider Electric North America. "In today's competitive business environment, creating a more sustainable world involves going all-in on digitization, and the time to act on this movement is now. We're looking forward to discussing with leaders and executives across industries at our Innovation Summit this week to move beyond strategy and to act on ideas."

Following the keynote address, Paul hosted a panel discussion with executives who've implemented sustainability practices to address the reality of climate challenges, featuring Deborah Donovan, Senior Vice President, Environment, Health and Safety at Moderna; and Paul Gordon, Senior Vice President at EQ Office. The leaders discussed how they navigated short and long-term priorities, personal and business responsibilities, fears, surprises, and partnerships to create a net-zero future.

Schneider Electric has long advocated for urgent, concerted action to reduce energy waste, invest in renewables, electrify and digitalize energy ecosystems, and ensure that all this is done with economic and people welfare in mind. The company is widely recognized as a leader on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, and its products, services and other activities help customers, suppliers, business partners and communities further their own progress on those fronts.

About Schneider Electric

Schneider's purpose is to empower all to make the most of our energy and resources, bridging progress and sustainability for all. We call this Life Is On.

Our mission is to be your digital partner for Sustainability and Efficiency.

We drive digital transformation by integrating world-leading process and energy technologies, end-point to cloud connecting products, controls, software and services, across the entire lifecycle, enabling integrated company management, for homes, buildings, data centers, infrastructure and industries.

We are the most local of global companies. We are advocates of open standards and partnership ecosystems that are passionate about our shared Meaningful Purpose, Inclusive and Empowered values.

www.se.com

Discover Life Is On Follow us on Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram | Blog

Hashtags: #LifeIsOn #SchneiderElectric #InnovationSummit

SOURCE Schneider Electric
LAS VEGAS , Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Schneider Electric, the leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, today announced it will invest about $46 million in its Lexington, KY and Lincoln, NE manufacturing plants to modernize their operations and increase circuit breaker and related electrical product output for its customers in the U.S. and Canada. The new investment augments the more than $100 million the company earmarked in 2021 to strengthen regional capability and increase manufacturing capacity in the North American region which saw organic growth of +12.6% in fiscal year 2021.

The modernization efforts in the 65-year-old Lexington plant and 50-year-old Lincoln plant will include installing new equipment and machinery with the most current and connected technology and automation. The newer technology, coupled with using an architecture optimized for digitization, will help increase the plants' quality and capacity and make their operations more energy efficient.

Further, these upgraded manufacturing facilities enabled by digitization and connectivity will improve operational efficiency and mean time between failures, or the average time between repairable failures of a technology product. Since the new, advanced equipment will be connected, employees will be able to monitor and adjust energy usage and perform online diagnostics and predictive maintenance tasks remotely.

"To keep pace with the near and long-term demand for our products and to plan for the future, we must invest in our supply chain capabilities," said Ken Engel, senior vice president, Global Supply Chain, North America. "Our duty always, and particularly in the context of the current economic and energy environment, is to serve the needs of our customers and partners across our manufacturing and distribution network. These investments are proof of that commitment."

In addition, company officials said:

Construction of its El Paso, TX manufacturing plant is progressing on schedule. The 160,000-square-foot plant is projected to be operational by the end of 2022. Hiring for select engineering positions has started, and additional hires will be made through early 2023. The plant will employ about 400 workers.

manufacturing plant is progressing on schedule. The 160,000-square-foot plant is projected to be operational by the end of 2022. Hiring for select engineering positions has started, and additional hires will be made through early 2023. The plant will employ about 400 workers. Expansion of Schneider's Tlaxcala , MX operation continues as the company seeks to meet demand for the circuit breakers and electrical panel boards produced there. The 150,000-square-foot operation will employ about 600 workers and will provide the company with the capability to manufacture and ship products in-region should the need arise. The plant is expected to be operational in early 2023.

, MX operation continues as the company seeks to meet demand for the circuit breakers and electrical panel boards produced there. The 150,000-square-foot operation will employ about 600 workers and will provide the company with the capability to manufacture and ship products in-region should the need arise. The plant is expected to be operational in early 2023. Schneider will expand its manufacturing operation in Monterrey , MX with a 185,000-square-foot manufacturing plant that will build and ship customized switchgear products used to transmit power most often in commercial buildings. The company expects to employ about 325 workers and begin shipping products before the end of 2023.

The Lexington, KY plant is recognized by the World Economic Forum as both an Advanced Lighthouse and a Sustainability Lighthouse for its adoption and use of 4IR technologies and for achieving sustainability and productivity breakthroughs, respectively. Schneider Electric was ranked No. 2 in the Gartner Supply Chain Top 25 for 2022. It recently ranked eighth on the 2022 Best Workplaces in Manufacturing & Production list by Fortune magazine.

About Schneider Electric

Schneider's purpose is to empower all to make the most of our energy and resources, bridging progress and sustainability for all. We call this Life Is On.

Our mission is to be your digital partner for Sustainability and Efficiency.

We drive digital transformation by integrating world-leading process and energy technologies, end-point to cloud connecting products, controls, software and services, across the entire lifecycle, enabling integrated company management, for homes, buildings, data centers, infrastructure and industries.

We are the most local of global companies. We are advocates of open standards and partnership ecosystems that are passionate about our shared Meaningful Purpose, Inclusive and Empowered values.

www.se.com

Discover Life Is On

Follow us on:

Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram | Blog

Discover the newest perspectives shaping sustainability, electricity 4.0, and next generation automation on Schneider Electric Insights

Hashtags: #LifeIsOn #SchneiderElectric #SEGreatPeople #Manufacturing #SupplyChain #IT #OT

SOURCE Schneider Electric
OTCQX: SHWZ

NEO: SHWZ



DENVER, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Medicine Man Technologies operating as Schwazze, (OTCQX: SHWZ) (NEO: SHWZ) ("Schwazze" or the "Company"), announces the following leadership changes within the Company's team:

President

Nirup Krishnamurthy, Chief Operating Officer, will become President of Schwazze effective immediately. Nirup will assume oversight and responsibility for strategic planning, growth initiatives in core markets, and operational execution. He will work with the Executive Leadership Team ("ELT") to accelerate innovation, growth, and performance. The ELT will report directly to him. Nirup will continue to report directly to Justin Dye, Chairman and CEO of Schwazze.

Nirup joined Schwazze in 2020, bringing more than 25 years of experience in innovation, technology, retail operations and M&A at Fortune 500 companies. Nirup has played an integral role in building the Company and growing revenue from $9 million to a run-rate of $176 million and run-rate EBITDA of $60 million. Under his leadership, Schwazze has grown from less than 20 employees to over 725 today. Prior to joining the Company, he held C-level roles with United Airlines, Northern Trust Bank and former national grocery retailer A&P. He earned a bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering and a doctorate in Industrial Engineering from State University of New York, Buffalo.

Chief Financial Officer

Nancy Huber, Chief Financial Officer, has announced that she will be retiring from Schwazze due to personal reasons. Nancy will remain with the Company as CFO for an indefinite period of time while an active search for her replacement is being conducted and to ensure an orderly transition of responsibilities.

Nancy was appointed to the position of CFO in 2019 and her breadth and depth of experience in financial oversight of publicly held companies has been instrumental in helping Schwazze grow into the multi-faceted, vertical operator that it is today; from less than 20 employees in 2019 to over 725 in two states today.

Nancy's background includes 30+ years in multifunctional management, strategic planning, IPOs, mergers and acquisitions, SEC reporting, investor relations, intellectual property and systems implementation. Nancy earned her bachelor's in chemical engineering from Purdue University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management.

The Board of Directors thanks Nancy for her important contributions to the Company and wishes her well in her future endeavors. Effective immediately, a search for a CFO has been initiated by the Board.

Justin Dye, Chairman stated: "I am very pleased to announce Nirup's promotion to President of Schwazze. Nirup has delivered results and been a strong leader for the Company. There will be continuity of strategy under Nirup's leadership, which I am confident will lead to Company growth. On behalf of Schwazze's Board of Directors, we look forward to his expanded leadership role within the Company supporting our continued development into the most Admired Cannabis Companies in the industry. I will continue my role as CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors providing strategic direction and oversight." Justin continued; "I would also like to acknowledge the hard work, dedication, and leadership that Nancy has brought to the Company as CFO. We are sad to see her leave her position as a key member of our leadership team. I would like to thank her personally, for her time here at Schwazze and on behalf of the Board, we wish her the very best in her future."

About Schwazze

Schwazze (OTCQX: SHWZ) (NEO: SHWZ) is building a premier vertically integrated regional cannabis company with assets in Colorado and New Mexico and will continue to take its operating system to other states where it can develop a differentiated regional leadership position. Schwazze is the parent company of a portfolio of leading cannabis businesses and brands spanning seed to sale. The Company is committed to unlocking the full potential of the cannabis plant to improve the human condition. Schwazze is anchored by a high-performance culture that combines customer-centric thinking and data science to test, measure, and drive decisions and outcomes. The Company's leadership team has deep expertise in retailing, wholesaling, and building consumer brands at Fortune 500 companies as well as in the cannabis sector. Schwazze is passionate about making a difference in our communities, promoting diversity and inclusion, and doing our part to incorporate climate-conscious best practices. Medicine Man Technologies, Inc. was Schwazze's former operating trade name. The corporate entity continues to be named Medicine Man Technologies, Inc.

Schwazze derives its name from the pruning technique of a cannabis plant to enhance plant structure and promote healthy growth.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements." Such statements may be preceded by the words "plan," "will," "may,", "predicts," or similar words. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future events or performance, are based on certain assumptions, and are subject to various known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's control and cannot be predicted or quantified. Consequently, actual events and results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, risks and uncertainties associated with (i) our inability to manufacture our products and product candidates on a commercial scale on our own or in collaboration with third parties; (ii) difficulties in obtaining financing on commercially reasonable terms; (iii) changes in the size and nature of our competition; (iv) loss of one or more key executives or scientists; (v) difficulties in securing regulatory approval to market our products and product candidates; (vi) our ability to successfully execute our growth strategy in Colorado and outside the state, (vii) our ability to consummate the acquisition described in this press release or to identify and consummate future acquisitions that meet our criteria, (viii) our ability to successfully integrate acquired businesses and realize synergies therefrom, (ix) the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, * the timing and extent of governmental stimulus programs, (xi) the uncertainty in the application of federal, state and local laws to our business, and any changes in such laws, and * out ability to satisfy the closing conditions for the private finding described in this press release. More detailed information about the Company and the risk factors that may affect the realization of forward-looking statements is set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Investors and security holders are urged to read these documents free of charge on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov. The Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise its forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise except as required by law.

SOURCE Medicine Man Technologies, Inc.
Bank of hot cells manufactured by Von Gahlen will play critical role in production of important medical isotopes

BARCELONA, Spain, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- SHINE Technologies and Von Gahlen International today announced that SHINE's supercell has passed factory acceptance testing. Completion of that testing means the supercell, a bank of 10 hot cells, is now being prepared for final shipment to The Chrysalis, SHINE's large-scale medical isotope production facility in Janesville, Wisconsin.

The supercell will house key processes of medical isotope production, including the extraction, purification and packaging of molybdenum-99 (Mo-99). The medical isotope is relied on for more than 40 million patient procedures per year globally, and the supercell will play a vital role in SHINE's ability to produce up to 20 million doses of Mo-99 each year. Von Gahlen was awarded the contract for the supercell based on its expertise in manufacturing critical solutions for nuclear medicine and radiopharmacy, commitment to the SHINE project, and its alignment with SHINE's core values.

"We're thankful to have been chosen to partner on this project and cherished the challenge of producing something so unique," said Jaap Duiker, Managing Director from Von Gahlen. "To know that this work could help up to 20 million patients potentially facing cancer or heart disease makes this project particularly special. We look forward to continuing to work with SHINE and share in their vision for a safer, healthier, and cleaner world."

Installation of the supercell is also critical to SHINE achieving substantial completion of construction, a key milestone on the way to receiving an operating license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. SHINE anticipates receipt of that operating license in 2023.

"After seeing the supercell progress during recent trips to Europe, I am excited that it has passed testing and is on its way to Wisconsin. This marks another big step forward for the world's first fusion facility dedicated solely to producing medical isotopes, and toward much-improved patient care in the United States and around the world," said Greg Piefer, SHINE founder and CEO. "I've been very impressed with Von Gahlen's ability to execute this complex, first-of-a-kind project, and am grateful for our continuing partnership. They've set a new standard for excellence in hot cell construction, and we're excited to put this system to work in the Chrysalis where it will produce up to a billion doses of medicine over its lifetime."

SHINE also intends to utilize learning and expertise gained from building the medical isotope facility in Wisconsin to expedite construction of a sister facility in Veendam, the Netherlands.

"With this milestone, we are more confident about a timely completion of SHINE Europe's production facility in Veendam, the Netherlands," said Harrie Buurlage, general manager of SHINE Europe. "The sooner our facility in Veendam is ready, the sooner we can help millions of patients in Europe and the rest of the world."

About SHINE

SHINE is a next-generation nuclear technology company, deploying state-of-the-art fusion technology to create a scalable path toward fusion energy. Based in southern Wisconsin, with headquarters in Janesville, and with a future site in development in Europe, SHINE deploys its safe, cost-effective and environmentally friendly technology in a step-wise approach. Our systems are used for industrial imaging of components in aerospace, defense, transportation, energy and other sectors. And SHINE's proprietary isotope production processes create molybdenum-99 and non-carrier-added lutetium-177 used in tens of thousands of daily procedures to diagnose and treat heart disease and late-stage cancer. For more information, follow SHINE on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

About Von Gahlen

Von Gahlen is a state-of-the-art manufacturer of shielding solutions for nuclear medicine and radiopharmacy. Based in the Netherlands, with sales offices also in the United States and Germany, Von Gahlen offers standard or custom-built hot cells along with a wide range of auxiliary equipment for hot labs, as well as radiation-safe radiopharmaceutical packaging, and more. For more information, follow Von Gahlen on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAcUSp1x_zQ

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1797570/SHINE_Email_Footer_Logo_2022_Logo.jpg

SOURCE SHINE Technologies, LLC
SPICEWOOD, Texas, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- EKC PR client Paul Chambers is once again shattering the car industry with an exclusive, one-of-a-kind way to shop for the world's most hard to find supercars. Silicon Auto Group 's The World of Supercars, scheduled to open in 2024 on the private 6000-foot jet center runway at Horseshoe Bay Resort in Horseshoe Bay, Texas, will be the world's most pioneering exotic car destination in the country.

"People will be able to experience the thrill of landing their private jet and immediately pulling up to Silicon Auto Group where they can test drive the fastest cars in the world right on the runway!" explains Paul Chambers, Founder & COO of Silicon Auto Group. "They will then have the option to be driven like a movie star in a Mercedes-Maybach and stay at the luxurious Horseshoe Bay Resort."

Utilizing an exclusive VIP status method of connecting buyers (a new VIP status client must be referred by another), Silicon Auto Group's The World of Supercars is a game changer where perfection is perfected, allowing elite from all over the world to shop at the high-security, state-of-the-art Horseshoe Bay Resort airport to take in the ambiance of a rare supercar.

"My business has always clearly lent itself in a different direction than traditional brick-and-mortar companies, as we have a consistent emphasis on creating an unparalleled buyer experience over profit," Paul says. "Basically, you send money and I do the rest."

With an impressive, decades-long track record in the exotic car buying industry, Paul Chambers has worked with clients from all over the world, including professional athletes Austin Rivers, Matt Turk, and Kevin Walter, as well as American game show host legend Chuck Woolery, all of whom have put trust into Silicon Auto Group's ability to procure any supercar found on the globe. Paul himself has consistently proven to be a well-connected innovator internationally, including within the Formula 1 circle located in Monaco.

Silicon's online inventory includes exceptional models such as the Bugatti Divo, the Ferrari F40 LM, the original LaFerrari Aperta, the McLaren Senna & P1, the unique Ferrari SP2 Monza, vintage Ferrari 250 GTO race cars, Lamborghinis, and much more.

All supercar transactions are handled by Spagnoletti Law Firm in Houston.

To interview Paul Chambers, contact Eileen Koch of EKC PR at 310-441-1000 or [email protected]

SOURCE Silicon Auto Group
MIAMI, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Spanish Broadcasting System, Inc, (SBS) (OTC Pink: SBSAA), names Dara Kalvort as the VP of Digital Sales and Strategy for the new Pure Play Digital Department, Digidea. Last month, SBS announced its entrance into the world of digital marketing solutions with the launch of its newly created pure-play digital marketing department, DigIdea, Digital Marketing Solutions.

Dara is a 20-year+ media and sales industry veteran  spending the past decade dedicated to helping both media organizations and their clients grow and learn in the world of digital marketing.

Dara Kalvort - Vice President of Digital Sales and Strategy for Digidea

"I am beyond grateful for this opportunity to build out the pure play digital department, Digidea Digital Marketing Solutions for Spanish Broadcast Systems. My passion for digital marketing took hold several years ago when I witnessed the tremendous results advertisers garnered. Today, technology continues to become more sophisticated, and we can meet consumers during every part of their ever-changing purchase journey. As I have said for years, technology has changed the way consumers make purchase decisions, and as marketers we have had to adapt to meet consumers where, when, and how they want to be met. This coupled with SBS' remarkable client relationships, and the massive growth in the U.S. Hispanic population - Hispanics now account for over half of the nation's population growth in the last decade. This is the perfect time to offer our valued clients the full-service marketing experience they expect, and with the quality and customer service they deserve and are accustomed to," said Dara.

"I'm very excited for what's to come with the great addition of Dara Kalvort, a professional who will lead us to incredible success," said Albert Rodriguez, President and COO.

DigIdea is slated to launch in the 4th quarter of 2022 and continue market launches throughout early 2023. Additional details on DigIdea Digital Marketing Solutions will be released in the coming weeks.

About Spanish Broadcasting System, Inc.

Spanish Broadcasting System, Inc. (SBS) owns and operates radio stations located in the top U.S. Hispanic markets of Los Angeles, New York, Puerto Rico, Chicago, Miami, San Francisco, Orlando, and Tampa, airing the Tropical, Regional Mexican, Spanish Adult Contemporary, Top 40 and Urbano format genres. SBS also operates AIRE Radio Networks, a national radio platform of over 290 affiliated stations reaching 95% of the U.S. Hispanic audience. SBS also owns MegaTV, a network television operation with over-the-air, cable, and satellite distribution and affiliates throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico, produces a nationwide roster of live concerts and events, and owns a stable of digital properties, including LaMusica, a mobile app providing Latino-focused audio and video streaming content and HitzMaker, a new-talent destination for aspiring artists. For more information, visit us online at www.spanishbroadcasting.com.

Contacts:

Conchita Oliva Brad Edwards Latin Iconos The Plunkett Group (305) 970-7589 (212) 739-6740

SOURCE Spanish Broadcasting System, Inc.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Department of Homeland Security announced plans to release 64,716 additional H-2B for the fiscal year 2023, with 20,000 of these visas set aside for workers from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Haiti.

We are grateful to the Departments of Homeland Security and Labor for recognizing the significant labor shortages faced by seasonal businesses across the country. Today's announcement will provide some relief for seasonal businesses that continue to struggle with filling temporary positions with American workers but cannot hire H-2B workers due to an outdated Congressionally mandated 66,000 annual visa cap. We urge the Department to quickly promulgate rules that allow employers who need workers this fall to apply for these supplemental visas.

The H-2B Workforce Coalition applauds DHS and DOL for releasing 64,716 additional H-2B visas for FY 2023. Tweet this

"AmericanHort thanks both DHS Secretary Mayorkas and DOL Secretary Walsh for recognizing the urgent situation confronting seasonal employers by releasing an additional 64,716 H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker visas," said Ken Fisher, AmericanHort CEO. "These visas will benefit many U.S. employers in the green industry with DOL-approved labor certifications and urgent seasonal labor needs at hand, right now and next spring."

The Department's announcement will not only help seasonal businesses meet their labor needs, but it will also provide additional jobs and promotion opportunities for U.S. workers and allow companies to continue to provide important goods and services to their communities. Reserving a portion of these visas for workers from the Northern Triangle Countries and Haiti will contribute to the economies of those countries and could lessen illegal migration.

"We commend Secretary Mayorkas and the Biden Administration for taking this proactive step to release the maximum amount of supplemental H-2B visas available under the law," said Britt Wood, CEO of the National Association of Landscape Professionals. "The landscape industry is the largest user of the H-2B visa program, and this announcement reflects the understanding by the Biden Administration of how temporary guest workers play an integral role in boosting the U.S. economy. We look forward to working with Secretary Mayorkas on implementing this in a timely manner."

The H-2B program is expensive and requires employers to undertake extensive recruitment of American workers, offer employment to any qualified American worker, gain approval from four government agencies, and pay a premium wage. H-2B workers allow U.S. businesses to operate at a greater capacity, retain their full-time workers and contribute to their local economies. This program serves as a critical safety valve for companies to address seasonal labor needs when there are not a sufficient number of available American workers to meet the demand for these short-term jobs.

"Hotels continue to compete for workers in one of the toughest labor markets in decades, and this announcement is great news for the lodging industry," said Chip Rogers, President and CEO of the American Hotel & Lodging Association. "While AHLA members always look first to the U.S. workforce to fill critical job functions during peak seasons, the H-2B visa program is a vital tool that helps hotels and other industries with strong seasonal business needs meet demand."

"On behalf of our nearly 2,500 members, the Outdoor Amusement Business Association would like to applaud DHS for announcing the release of nearly 65,000 additional H-2B for fiscal year 2023," said Greg Chiecko, President & CEO of the Outdoor Amusement Business Association. "The industry continues to struggle with finding a U.S. workforce to fill critical job functions during peak seasons, particularly given the unique nature of our mobile business, and we encourage the Administration to quickly promulgate rules that allow employers who need workers this fall to apply for these supplemental visas."

While today's announcement will provide some much-needed relief to businesses that continue to struggle with vacant positions due to the lack of American workers willing to fill these temporary jobs, the economic demand for H-2B workers is well above the number of supplemental visas that DHS is authorized to release under the law. The continued shortage of domestic workers in seasonal industries underscores the need for Congress to address the arbitrary and outdated H-2B cap once and for all. We urge Congress to swiftly pass an H-2B returning worker exemption or other meaningful cap relief.

About the H-2B Workforce Coalition

The H-2B Workforce Coalition is a consortium of industry associations throughout the United States that have joined together to protect American workers by ensuring American small and seasonal employers have access to legal short-term temporary workers during peak business periods.

SOURCE H-2B Workforce Coalition
The Charlotte-based organization has already brought meaningful employment to 159 graduates, teaching new skills in technology, and offering a substantial talent pipeline for corporations

Charlotte, N.C., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Stiegler EdTech, a mission-driven organization that provides training, upskilling, and career advancement, has announced a national expansion effort with new operations now active in Detroit. In partnership with local sponsors, including Ally Financial and others, the company plans to build on its successful 24-week program, providing necessary technology skills that are crucial for long-term employment.

Upon completion of the program, graduates of Stiegler's Career Technology Apprenticeship Cohort (CTAC) are matched with jobs at one or more of the company's 13 corporate sponsors. This is a notably distinct and different approach, compared to what is typically experienced in the education and career advancement industries. Rather than issue a certificate that is backed only by the provider's reputation, Stiegler ensures that CTAC participants learn marketable skills  while earning a $17,500 stipend during training  and then immediately matches them with an open position at a nationally recognized company. While this solution is life-changing for graduates, it also provides a much-needed talent pipeline for corporations seeking a diverse, qualified, and available workforce.

"We are incredibly proud of what we've already accomplished in Charlotte and are ecstatic to take our program national," noted Pasha Maher, founding partner and COO of Stiegler. "Education is a critical component of upward mobility but that doesn't mean that everyone has to climb the same ladder or has to have the same narrative. At CTAC we provide not just a credential or a piece of paper, but the actual skills needed for graduates to be as successfully employed as those who were able to take the traditional path."

"Since beginning our work with Stiegler EdTech in 2017, we have seen dozens of highly skilled, passionate graduates of the CTAC program contribute immediately to Ally's technology team," said Dan Lemont, executive director of tech strategy at Ally. "The CTAC program will be a valuable workforce development initiative for the Detroit region  it will allow Ally and other organizations to bring diverse voices and new ideas to the table, and it provides us with an opportunity to include the Detroit community in our work to bridge the digital divide, just as we've done in Charlotte."

Potential participants in Detroit are now able to begin enrolling for the 2023 CTAC cohort. Current corporate sponsors of Stiegler that offer employment to CTAC graduates include, Ally Financial, Truist, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, US Bank, Lowe's, and more. Once participants are enrolled in the program, Stiegler also assists with resource constraints (such as childcare, clothing, transportation, and more) while paying a $17,500 stipend during training. Candidates who successfully graduate from the CTAC program transition into full-time roles at hiring partner institutions and attain starting salaries averaging $55,000. The average candidate typically achieves a six-figure salary within 18 to 36 months.

"Thanks to the training I received from CTAC, I was able to make a fresh start in my career. I had previously felt 'locked out' of the professional world, but now I have the skills and training to succeed in ways that I didn't think were possible at this time last year," said Elizabeth Karogi, a recent CTAC graduate who is now employed by Barings.

To learn more about Stiegler EdTech, and about our new programs now active nationally, please visit www.stiegleredtech.org.

About Stiegler EdTech

Stiegler EdTech is a mission-driven organization dedicated to transforming technology education while providing people in underserved communities with a pathway to success. Additionally, corporations who partner with Stiegler gain access to a significant and untapped talent pool. The company is named in honor of the late Rick Stiegler, former CTO of Lending Tree who was committed to supporting career advancement for underserved communities.

Contacts:



Armand Brown (for CTAC participants and corporate sponsors)

Stiegler EdTech Founding Partner & Director of Marketing

704-778-6472

[email protected]

Ryan J. Walker (for press inquiries)

President, R. J. Walker & Co.

860-930-3611

[email protected]

SOURCE Stiegler EdTech
TAMPA, Fla., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Consuming alcohol affects vision, slows processing, and results in uncoordinated reactions. And the evidence of these impairments reveals itself in over 10,000 fatalities in the U.S. annually.

Alcohol-related crashes comprise 28% of the total crashes in the United States each year, and there's no doubt that drinking and driving puts the driver and others at increased risk of injury or death. BuyAutoInsurance.com analysis shows that Las Vegas is the worst state for drunk driving, but four Texas cities  Austin, El Paso, San Antonio, and Houston  follow.

The following are some key impacts of drunk driving:

Over 10,000 people die each year in crashes related to drunk driving

Drunk driving is the leading cause of traffic fatalities in America

The economic cost of drunk driving is $132 billion per year

Many of the 10 worst cities for drunk driving are located in the country's south and west. BuyAutoInsurance.com points out that infrastructure and urban sprawl may play a role in these large cities' propensities for drunk driving.

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, comes in at number ten with 646 DUI arrests per 100K residents, while Las Vegas reported three times that number with 1,986 arrests per 100K residents.

Melanie Musson, nationally recognized auto insurance expert with BuyAutoInsurance.com, explains a DUI's impact on insurance: "Drivers with a DUI on their record should expect to pay far higher insurance rates. In some states, they might pay 30% more, while in others, they could face premiums twice as high as before they were convicted of a DUI."

Las Vegas drivers pay an average of 50% higher insurance rates following a DUI. In contrast, Austin, El Paso, San Antonio, and Houston drivers can expect to pay about 34% more for auto insurance premiums. So perhaps the minimal insurance impact in the Texas cities doesn't serve as a deterrent for drunk driving.

Musson reminds drivers that while an insurance premium increase is an unpleasant effect of a DUI conviction, it shouldn't be the primary reason to avoid driving under the influence. Instead, public safety is the most critical factor to consider before starting the engine after drinking.

Read the full analysis here: 10 Worst Cities for Drunk Driving (2022) Report .

SOURCE BuyAutoInsurance.com
As over-the-counter hearing aids become publicly available, Tuned and Soundly's partnership allows consumers to consult virtually with a credentialed audiologist for unbiased, personalized hearing product advice and guidance

Many consumers rely on credentialed audiologists for counsel and guidance; this partnership builds a playbook for the way consumers access care in a post OTC environment

Telehealth-powered partnership is another step forward in decoupling audiology and consumer choice from device sales

NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Tuned, a hearing health company focused on providing hearing care for all, and Soundly , the first-ever hearing health marketplace, today announced a partnership to bring medically-credentialed audiology consultation and advice to any consumer looking to purchase hearing aid products on Soundly. Tuned and Soundly will partner to create rich content experiences on Soundly.com and virtually match Soundly users with Tuned audiologists to receive a medically accurate, unbiased assessment to guide them in identifying the appropriate product for their hearing needs.

Tuned x Soundly

A recent FDA ruling now makes over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aid products available for consumers across all price ranges. The first ever OTC hearing aids will become publicly available on October 17. The move will increase access for consumers, but will also create an even more confusing landscape with more options and less built-in care.

Tuned is focused on building a new model for hearing care that doesn't rely on device sales from the largest manufacturers. The company's telehealth platform has signed on more than 180 audiologists who provide unbiased support to consumers. Soundly is a hearing health marketplace focused on building online tools and experiences that help consumers compare a growing number of hearing aid options side-by-side. Together, Tuned and Soundly are creating a new model for pairing quality audiological care with modern digital access.

New approaches to hearing healthcare are especially important as GenZ and Millennials suffer from hearing damage related to extensive headphone usage and a new work-from-home dynamic.

"Our partnership with Soundly is such an amazing way to help those in need of hearing care and contributes to Tuned's goal of bringing hearing health to everyone," said Danny Aronson, Tuned's CEO and co-founder. "For too long, hearing care has been almost non-existent, limited to only those with serious impairments. With employers beginning to add hearing care as a benefit and recent shifts in policy, public awareness of hearing health is beginning to change."

Soundly users will receive a 10% discount on Tuned's consultation fee. Tuned's audiologists are device and software agnostic and are compensated only for their time. Consumers meet virtually with the audiologists who provide recommendations that range from something as simple as noise management advice or earplugs, to suggestions on software or devices, including OTC or prescription hearing aids.

"Soundly was founded as a modern front-door to the hearing health space. Our goal is to make the first hours of hearing health research less confusing as options increase," said Blake Cadwell, CEO and Founder of Soundly. "In our work with Tuned, we're excited to bolster Soundly's modern shopping tools with the expertise of Tuned's 150+ licensed audiologists."

About Tuned

Tuned is a digital-first hearing care company. Available as a standalone and an employer-sponsored benefit, Tuned offers the only lifelong hearing benefit for patients of all ages. The company supports care with comprehensive product options for hearing health, freeing employers from the need to evaluate thousands of practice groups, headsets, and software combinations. Today, 5.1 million people can access Tuned through employer benefits and marketplaces. Tuned is a private company headquartered in New York City, with audiologists across the United States and worldwide. For more information visit: https://www.tunedcare.com

About Soundly

Soundly is the first-ever hearing healthcare marketplace that helps consumers find products, compare prices, test their hearing and connect to care. Soundly is the only online marketplace that allows consumers to compare OTC and prescription products side-by-side.

For Assets, please click here . For more, visit: https://www.soundly.com/

Media contacts:

Tuned

[email protected]

Soundly

Ally Feinsot

[email protected]

SOURCE TunedCare
UEC to Acquire Roughrider from Rio Tinto for Total Consideration of $150 million comprised of $80 million in Cash and $70 million in UEC Stock

Cash Portion of the Consideration is Fully Funded with UEC's $173 million of Cash and Liquid Assets on the Balance Sheet

UEC Welcomes Rio Tinto as a New Shareholder

Roughrider Acquisition Rationale and Highlights:

World-class Project in a Premier Uranium Mining Jurisdiction: Development-stage Roughrider Project has a non-current, historic resource of 58 million lbs at an average grade of 4.73% U 3 O 8 situated in the eastern Athabasca Basin of Canada , where 10% of global uranium production was sourced in 2021. (1)(2)

Development-stage Roughrider Project has a non-current, historic resource of 58 million lbs at an average grade of 4.73% U O situated in the eastern Basin of , where 10% of global uranium production was sourced in 2021. Unlocking Value and Immediate Synergies with Recent UEX Acquisition: Roughrider will be a 100% owned cornerstone asset that when combined with recently acquired UEX Corporation (" UEX ") projects in the eastern Athabasca , positions UEC with a critical mass of resources to enhance future production plans. Recently acquired and nearby UEC projects to Roughrider include Raven-Horseshoe, Hidden Bay and Christie Lake .

Roughrider will be a 100% owned cornerstone asset that when combined with recently acquired UEX Corporation (" ") projects in the eastern , positions UEC with a critical mass of resources to enhance future production plans. Recently acquired and nearby UEC projects to Roughrider include Raven-Horseshoe, Hidden Bay and . Scaling up in Canada's High-Grade Athabasca Basin: After Cameco and Orano, UEC now controls the largest diversified resource base, hosted in multiple assets in Canada's Athabasca Basin.

After Cameco and Orano, UEC now controls the largest diversified resource base, hosted in multiple assets in Basin. Infrastructure, Nearby Operations and Long-Standing Uranium History: There are over 20 uranium deposits, five current and historically producing mines, and two uranium mills within a 100 km distance from Roughrider, providing excellent infrastructure for future development, including all-weather road infrastructure, an all-weather airstrip within seven km and robust electrical grid access, primarily generated from renewable hydroelectric sources. (3)

There are over 20 uranium deposits, five current and historically producing mines, and two uranium mills within a 100 km distance from Roughrider, providing excellent infrastructure for future development, including all-weather road infrastructure, an all-weather airstrip within seven km and robust electrical grid access, primarily generated from renewable hydroelectric sources. Leveraging a Decade of Development Work on Path to Production: Since acquiring Roughrider in 2012, Rio Tinto, one of the world's largest and most experienced mine builders, advanced substantial pre-production and environmental baseline work including completion of dedicated geotechnical drilling, shaft vs. decline modelling, establishment of hydrogeological monitor wells, terrestrial and aquatic environmental assessments, heritage assessments, species at risk, and conceptual reclamation plan. This provides a strong foundation and substantial value for completion of upcoming technical reports, efficiently moving the Project forward to a production decision. (4)

Since acquiring Roughrider in 2012, Rio Tinto, one of the world's largest and most experienced mine builders, advanced substantial pre-production and environmental baseline work including completion of dedicated geotechnical drilling, shaft vs. decline modelling, establishment of hydrogeological monitor wells, terrestrial and aquatic environmental assessments, heritage assessments, species at risk, and conceptual reclamation plan. This provides a strong foundation and substantial value for completion of upcoming technical reports, efficiently moving the Project forward to a production decision. Strong ESG Foundation: Starting from the environmental baseline work and ESG initiatives established by Rio Tinto, UEC intends to continue to develop and apply high industry standards in stakeholder engagement, safety, and environmental stewardship. UEC looks forward to engaging with local communities and other stakeholders in the Athabasca Basin in developing this Project for the benefit of future generations.

Starting from the environmental baseline work and ESG initiatives established by Rio Tinto, UEC intends to continue to develop and apply high industry standards in stakeholder engagement, safety, and environmental stewardship. UEC looks forward to engaging with local communities and other stakeholders in the Basin in developing this Project for the benefit of future generations. Fastest Growing Uranium Company in the World: UEC will have invested $570 million with the acquisitions of Uranium One Americas, Inc., UEX and Rio Tinto's Roughrider to build the largest diversified North American focused uranium company.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Uranium Energy Corp (NYSE American: UEC) (the "Company" or "UEC") is pleased to announce that it has entered into a definitive agreement with a subsidiary of Rio Tinto plc ("Rio Tinto") pursuant to which UEC will acquire 100% of Rio Tinto's wholly-owned Roughrider uranium development project ("Roughrider" or the "Project") located in the Athabasca Basin in Saskatchewan, Canada (the "Transaction").

Under the terms of the Transaction, upon close, Rio Tinto will receive $80 million in cash and 17,805,815 UEC common shares, valued at $70 million based on the 5-day VWAP of $3.93 per share as of October 7, 2022. The cash component of the Transaction will be fully funded using UEC's existing balance sheet, which as of October 10, 2022 was over $173 million in cash and liquid assets.

Amir Adnani, President and CEO of UEC, stated: "With this accretive fully funded acquisition of the Roughrider Project, we're able to achieve multiple objectives: 1) 100% owned, development-stage assets are rare in Canada's Athabasca basin, and we're adding a world-class project to anchor our Canadian high-grade conventional business; 2) unlock value from the recently acquired UEX portfolio in the eastern Athabasca Basin as we now have critical mass to advance our production plans; and 3) accelerate production plans for our Canadian high-grade conventional business given the advanced stage of Roughrider and the first-tier ESG, geotechnical and permitting work completed by Rio Tinto since 2012. We thank Rio Tinto for entrusting UEC with the Roughrider Project and welcome them as our new shareholder."

Mr. Adnani concluded: "Our next steps for Roughrider will be to first complete an updated S-K 1300 technical report summary based on over 650 diamond drillholes already completed for a total of approximately 225,000 meters of drilling on the Project. UEC is currently engaging with consultants to develop a technical report update in the next few months. Second, UEC intends to progress permitting and a production study of Roughrider and optimize its integration with UEC's existing Canadian platform. The acquisition builds on our strategic objective to create the leading Western supplier of secure and 100% unhedged uranium with a two-pronged platform: 1) near-term, fully permitted and low-cost US ISR production; and 2) a Canadian high-grade conventional pipeline."

Notes :

1. Subject to the completion of an S-K 1300 technical report summary by UEC after closing. 2. World Nuclear Association  World Uranium Mining Production and Largest Producing Uranium Mines in 2021. 3. Cameco Corporation 2021 ESG Report, SaskPower System Map accessible at https://www.saskpower.com 4. Saskatchewan Environment Publication 2013-014, "Rio Tinto  Roughrider Advanced Exploration Program", accessible at http://www.environment.gov.sk.ca/2013-014EISMainDoc

About the Roughrider Uranium Project

The Roughrider Project is a development stage, conventional uranium project located in the eastern Athabasca Basin of northern Saskatchewan, Canada; one of the world's premier uranium mining jurisdictions. The Project is located approximately 13 km west of Orano's McClean Lake Mill, in close proximity to UEC's existing Athabasca Basin properties, and covers an area of 597 hectares. The Roughrider West Zone was discovered by Hathor Exploration Ltd. ("Hathor") during the winter drilling program in February 2008.

The Project's geology is well understood due to the extensive study and drilling campaigns completed by Rio Tinto and Hathor. Hathor completed a Preliminary Economic Assessment, effective September 13, 2011 (the "Historic Roughrider Technical Report")(1), which included the Roughrider East Zone and Roughrider West Zone and contemplated a conventional mining method. The Historic Roughrider Technical Report is not being treated as current by the Company.

The Historic Roughrider Technical Report included the following historic NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimates:

(a) for the Roughrider West Zone, an indicated resource of 17.21 Mlbs of U 3 O 8 (0.39 million tonnes at an average grade of 1.98% U 3 O 8 ) and an inferred resource of 10.60 Mlbs of U 3 O 8 (0.04 million tonnes at an average grade of 11.03% U 3 O 8 ); and



(b) for the Roughrider East Zone, an inferred resource of 30.13 Mlbs of U 3 O 8 (0.12 million tonnes at an average grade of 11.58% U 3 O 8 ).



The 2011 Historic Roughrider Technical Report resource statement did not include the Far East Zone of the deposit, which may represent additional geological upside. Rio Tinto has not disclosed any updated resource or reserve estimates for the Project.

The Company is treating the Historic Roughrider Technical Report and the mineral resource estimate therein as historical in nature and notes that a Qualified Person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimates as current mineral resources. There are no other recent estimates or data available for the Roughrider Project. The Company is disclosing the estimates contained in the Historic Roughrider Technical Report for illustrative purposes and to provide readers with relevant information regarding the Roughrider Project. There are numerous uncertainties inherent in historical estimates, which are subject to all the assumptions, parameters and methods used to prepare such estimates, and while the reliability of the historical estimates is considered reasonable, a Qualified Person has not done sufficient work to allow UEC to classify the historical estimates as a current mineral resource.

Rio Tinto continued to advance the Project after its acquisition of Hathor. In July 2013, Rio Tinto submitted a 101-page Advanced Exploration Program proposal for consideration to the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment.(2) The program was intended to initiate an Environmental Impact Assessment ("EIA") review of the program, with the program intended to provide direct data related to the ore and mine development design. The proposal involved establishment of an upgraded access road, development of an exploration shaft, exploration drifts, operation of a water treatment facility, additional surface support structures and temporary surface storage of both development rock and low-grade waste. A substantial amount of EIA baseline work and community engagement were included in the work submission. The application was accepted, and the project was approved to begin the EIA review process, but no official determination was completed. Rio Tinto subsequently upgraded the access road but did not proceed with the remainder of the proposed program.

Notes :

1. NI 43-101 Preliminary Economic Assessment Technical Report on the East and West Zones Roughrider Uranium Project, Saskatchewan (effective date of September 13, 2011); a copy of which is available under Hathor's profile on SEDAR. These resources are reported in accordance with the CIM Definition Standards. 2. Saskatchewan Environment Publication 2013-2014, "Rio Tinto  Roughrider Advanced Exploration Program", accessible at http://www.environment.gov.sk.ca/2013-014EISMainDoc.



The technical information in this news release has been reviewed by Clyde L. Yancey, P.G., Vice President-Exploration for the Company, being a Qualified Person under Item 1302 of Regulation S-K.

Transaction Conditions & Timing

The Transaction is subject to closing conditions customary for a transaction of this nature, with closing expected to occur before month end.

Advisors and Counsel

Rothschild & Co and BMO Capital Markets are acting as financial advisor to UEC in connection with the Transaction. McMillan LLP is acting as legal advisor to UEC.

About Uranium Energy Corp

Uranium Energy Corp is the fastest growing supplier of the fuel for green energy transition to a low carbon future. UEC is the largest, diversified North American focused uranium company, advancing the next generation of low-cost, environmentally friendly In-Situ Recovery (ISR) mining uranium projects in the United States and high-grade conventional projects in Canada. The Company has two production-ready ISR hub and spoke platforms in South Texas and Wyoming, anchored by fully licensed and operational central processing plants. UEC also has seven U.S. ISR uranium projects with all their major permits in place. Additionally, the Company has diversified uranium holdings including: (1) one of the largest physical uranium portfolios of U.S. warehoused U 3 O 8 ; (2) a major equity stake in Uranium Royalty Corp., the only royalty company in the sector; and (3) a pipeline of resource stage uranium projects. The Company's operations are managed by professionals with decades of hands-on experience in the key facets of uranium exploration, development, and mining.

Stock Exchange Information:

NYSE American: UEC

WKN: AJDRR

ISN: US916896103

Notices to U.S. Investors

UEC is now subject to the requirements of Regulation S-K (subpart) 1300  Disclosure by Registrants Engaged in Mining Operations with respect to disclosure of mining operations that are material to it. UEC can only rely on technical information contained in a technical report summary prepared in accordance with Regulation S-K (subpart) 1300.

Safe Harbor Statement

Except for the statements of historical fact contained herein, the information presented in this news release constitutes "forward-looking statements" as such term is used in applicable United States and Canadian securities laws. These statements relate to analyses and other information that are based on forecasts of future results, estimates of amounts not yet determinable and assumptions of management. Any other statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans, "estimates" or "intends", or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and should be viewed as "forward-looking statements". Such forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and other factors include, among others, the actual results of exploration activities, variations in the underlying assumptions associated with the estimation or realization of mineral resources, the availability of capital to fund programs and the resulting dilution caused by the raising of capital through the sale of shares, accidents, labor disputes and other risks of the mining industry including, without limitation, those associated with the environment, delays in obtaining governmental approvals, permits or financing or in the completion of development or construction activities, title disputes or claims limitations on insurance coverage. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Many of these factors are beyond the Company's ability to control or predict. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements contained in this news release and in any document referred to in this news release. Important factors that may cause actual results to differ materially and that could impact the Company and the statements contained in this news release can be found in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. For forward-looking statements in this news release, the Company claims the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company assumes no obligation to update or supplement any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities.

SOURCE Uranium Energy Corp
Visit Venator at Messe Munich, Germany from October 24- 30, 2022

WYNYARD, United Kingdom, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Venator is returning to Bauma this October where it will highlight its expertise in the manufacture of pigment dosing machines designed specifically for the construction industry and for coloring concrete. Known worldwide for its extensive range of inorganic pigments and functional additives, Venator has also developed a leading portfolio of pigment dosing systems that can be used in conjunction with specialist pigment preparations to transform grey concrete into any shade in the color spectrum.

Visitors to Bauma will be able to see one of Venator's GRANUMAT automatic dosing systems up close  the GRANUMAT Microsmarty. GRANUMAT is a range of modular machines that can be configured to match the manufacturing demands, color complexity and location constraints of concrete production. Capable of storing more than 1,000 color recipes, GRANUMAT machines make the production of colored concrete cleaner and more economical, automatically weighing and transporting pigment from bulk storage containers directly into a concrete mixer in a completely enclosed automated batching operation. To work alongside its GRANUMAT systems, Venator offers a range of GRANUFIN micro granules. These high quality, spray-dried, color pigment granules are virtually dust-free and optimized for stability and dispersibility, enabling ready mix and block paving manufacturers to create streak-free mixtures.

For the ready-mix market, Venator offers the CHAMELEON color dosing equipment range. These small but sturdy, PC-operated machines can make the production of colored ready-mix concrete cleaner, more consistent and, in some cases, twice as quick. The CHAMELEON is designed to work in conjunction with Venator's Davis Colors range  which has been helping to bring architecturally stunning designs to life since 1952. Popular with architects, building specifiers, and construction material manufacturers, the Davis Colors range is widely used across North America and Canada.

Alongside its expertise in dosing machines, Venator will also use Bauma to promote its:

HYDROTINT liquid pigment slurries  a range of highly concentrated liquid iron oxide pigments available in red, yellow, brown and black for concrete manufacturing

FERROXIDE pigments  synthetic, non-toxic, red, yellow, orange, brown and black iron oxides for integration into concrete coatings.

Dr. Jorg Zimmer, Head of Application Technology Construction at Venator said: "Whether you are a concrete paving producer looking to achieve an authentic natural look for your building materials, or a ready-mix producer supplying a customer that wants to make a bold color statement, our palette of pigment dosing machines and pigments can deliver what's required. We're excited to be heading back to Bauma after three years. With top of the range color dosing equipment at our disposal; off-the shelf pigment options; plus the ability to develop custom colours for specific projects, we're looking forward to getting face-to-face again with customers and discussing all the very latest concrete color trends."

Visit Venator at Bauma in Hall B1 stand 224 from October 24  30, 2022 or alternatively, email the team at: [email protected]

As a responsible global chemical company and a signatory of the UN Global Compact, Venator is actively increasing its sustainability efforts. In August, Venator published its second sustainability report. The document outlines Venator's commitment to enhancing lives and protecting our planet through every aspect of its work  from the products it makes and the manufacturing methods it employs, to its sourcing decisions and supply chain relationships. Click here to read a copy of Venator's second Sustainability Report.

About Venator

Venator is a global manufacturer and marketer of chemical products that comprise a broad range of pigments and additives that bring color and vibrancy to buildings, protect and extend product life, and reduce energy consumption. We market our products globally to a diversified group of industrial customers through two segments: Titanium Dioxide, which consists of our TiO 2 business, and Performance Additives, which consists of our functional additives, color pigments and timber treatment businesses. Based in Wynyard, U.K., Venator employs approximately 3,500 associates and sells its products in more than 110 countries.

Social Media:

Twitter: www.twitter.com/VenatorCorp

Facebook: www.facebook.com/venatorcorp

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/venator-corp

SOURCE Venator Materials PLC
NEW YORK, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Insight Partners published latest research study on "Virtual Pipeline Systems Market Size, Share, Revenue, Growth Strategy, Industry Trends and Forecast to 2028  COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis  by Type, Gas, Pressure Rating, Application, and Geography," the global virtual pipeline systems market size is projected to reach USD 1,886.83 million by 2028 from USD 1,191.59 million in 2022; it is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 9.2% from 2022 to 2028.

Download Sample PDF Brochure of Virtual Pipeline Systems Market Size - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis with Strategic Insights at: https://www.theinsightpartners.com/sample/TIPRE00011605/

Global Virtual Pipeline Systems Market Report Scope, Segmentations, Regional & Country Scope:

Report Coverage Details Market Size Value in USD 1,191.59 Million in 2022 Market Size Value by USD 1,886.83 Million by 2028 Growth rate CAGR of 9.2% from 2022 to 2028 Forecast Period 2022-2028 Base Year 2022 No. of Pages 181 No. of Tables 115 No. of Charts & Figures 89 Historical data available Yes Segments covered Type, Gas, Pressure Rating, and Application Regional scope North America; Europe; Asia Pacific; Latin America; MEA Country scope US, UK, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Australia, Russia, China, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Argentina Report coverage Revenue forecast, company ranking, competitive landscape, growth factors, and trends Companies Covered Bayotech, Inc; CNG Services Ltd; Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS); RAG Austria AG; Quantum Fuel Systems LLC; Galileo Technologies S.A.; Chart Industries, Inc.; SHIJIAZHUANG ENRIC GAS EQUIPMENT CO., LTD; Fiba Technologies Inc; Hexagon Agility; Composite Advanced Technologies, LLC Key Research Capabilities Global Market Assessment, Business Development Strategies, Competitive Landscape, Opportunity Analysis, Regional and Country Level Market Analysis, Market Entry Strategies, Market Dynamics, Risk and Return Assessments, Pricing Analysis, Market Size and Forecasting, Company Profiling, Value Chain Analysis, Expansion Strategies, SWOT Analysis, New Product Development Global Virtual Pipeline Systems Market Forecast to 2028 - Latest COVID-19 Analysis https://www.theinsightpartners.com/covid-analysis-sample/TIPRE00011605/

Browse key market insights spread across 181 pages with 115 list of tables & 89 list of figures from the report, "Virtual Pipeline Systems Market Forecast to 2028  COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis  by Type (Standard Trailer and Towable Trailer), Gas (CNG, Hydrogen, and Others), Pressure Rating (Less Than 3000 Psi, 3001 to 5000 Psi, and More Than 5000 Psi), and Application (Industrial, Transportation, Commercial, and Residential)" in detail along with the table of contents: https://www.theinsightpartners.com/reports/virtual-pipeline-systems-market

Global Virtual Pipeline Systems Market: Competitive Landscape and Key Developments

Baker Hughes, Certarus Ltd., CNG Services Ltd., Exxon Mobil Corporation, Galileo Technologies S.A., Hexagon Composites ASA, Luxfer Holdings PLC, Pentagon Energy LLC, Throttle Energy Inc., and Xpress Natural Gas LLC are among the key players in the virtual pipeline systems market. The leading companies are focusing on expanding and diversifying their market presence and acquiring a new customer base, thereby tapping prevailing business opportunities.

In January 2021, Edge LLC commissioned liquefied natural gas (LNG) virtual pipelines to connect shale gas-producing fields to consumers of high horsepower equipment without the need to lay pipes. The company intends to distribute natural gas more competitively and efficiently than conventional pipelines in the Marcellus shale region.

The virtual pipeline system helps transfer natural gas, liquefied natural gas, and other gases through truck trailers. The main benefit of a virtual pipeline system is it provides gas supply to remote locations. Pipeline systems are essential in transporting liquid fuel and natural gas for consumer and industrial uses. However, supply-chain bottlenecks during the COVID-19 pandemic hindered the long-term recovery of the virtual pipeline systems market. Rebound in trade activities and increase in logistics operations post-pandemic are expected to accelerate the Virtual Pipeline Systems market growth in the coming years.

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Favorable government initiatives to bolster the demand for natural gas supply in industrial and commercial areas are boosting the Virtual Pipeline Systems market growth. In the US, the rising government spending on the oil & gas industry with expansion of exploration and production activities is anticipated to positively impact the Virtual Pipeline Systems market. The Permian Basin's new project developments and significant shale gas production will enhance North America's overall development. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), in 2021, the US natural gas production increased by 2% and reached 118.8 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in December 2021, the highest on record. The US leads in the use of feedstock for CNG and methanol. In addition, the virtual pipeline system developers have been attracted by low gas prices in the US, following the country's rapid increase in production. Further, aging pipeline infrastructure and stringent environmental emission rules are two significant factors that primarily drive the virtual pipeline system market. The rising consumption of energy is creating significant opportunities for the market. For instance, by 2050, Asia Pacific's energy consumption is anticipated to rise by up to 48%. According to the IEA, China will significantly contribute to global energy consumption by 2025.

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Global Virtual Pipeline Systems Market:

In Europe, Russia's export of gas was drastically affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Major European countries such as Germany, France, the UK, and Italy rely heavily on gas imports from Russia. In Europe, Brent crude oil prices fell by 75.0% in April 2020, mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic-led supply chain bottleneck. Thus, reduced gas imports through the pipeline decreased gas production in producing countries such as Russia and Norway. According to the EIA data, Europe's capacity topped 150 million tons per anum (MTPA) since 2013; however, until 2019, imports of natural gas remained below 60 million tons as new natural gas supply volumes were pulled to higher-priced markets in Asia.

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Most European Union countries have substantial within EU cross-border pipeline capacity that is not linked to Russia. For example, Germany has a total of 114 Bcm of capacity, while total annual consumption is 94 Bcm, according to the European Network of Transmission System Operators.

Growing Investment in VPS Technologies:

The advancement in technology is reducing the oil & gas industry's environmental impact substantially, from increased efficiency to reduced safety risk and travel. Oil and gas firms are paying attention to new emerging technologies because they can help them save energy, avoid oil spills and other catastrophes, and emit less carbon. For instance, Malaysian oil and gas company Petronas has launched a virtual LNG pipeline system, the "VPS"; solution via its refill terminal in Pengerang, Johor. The introduction of the VPS solution is part of Petronas' commitment to environmental sustainability and growth in natural gas use in Malaysia. By creating an ecosystem and establishing the necessary infrastructure, the company aims to deliver a cleaner, more competitive form of energy to power its businesses. Similarly, Galileo Technologies S.A., an Argentina-based company, introduced MAT technology for flexible storage and gas transportation. The MAT, Cryo-MAT, and MAT-B containers are at the heart of the system, and they help establish a flexible range of services for different types of consumers, whether their needs are characterized by volume, gas, logistics, or consumption locations. Their safety mechanisms meet the highest global standards for natural gas transport and storage equipment

Global Virtual Pipeline Systems Market: Type Overview

Based on type, the virtual pipeline systems market is segmented into below standard trailer and towable trailer. The below standard trailer segment accounted for a larger share of the virtual pipeline systems market in 2021, owing to an increase in demand for large-capacity gas carrier solutions. Moreover, the towable trailer segment is projected to grow at a faster pace during the forecast period, owing to small-scale projects requiring natural gas at peak times.

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Showcasing France at the heart of NYC's biggest culinary festival.



NEW YORK, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- From October 13-16, 2022, France will be showcased at the heart of NYC's largest culinary festival: The New York City Wine & Food Festival (NYCWFF).

Taking place at the newly renovated Pier 76, along the Hudson River, NYCWFF is the city's premier event celebrating food - with more than 45,000 visitors and 80 events over the course of four days.

This star-studded festival will gather top culinary players, including some of the world's most renowned chefs, wine and spirit producers, culinary personalities, lifestyle experts and, of course, many of Food Network's beloved television hosts. Together with this robust and exclusive food community, Taste France will bring a delicious touch through French products and savoir-faire in a truly French environment!

The French Market

At the heart of the 15th edition of the New York Food and Wine Festival, you will find the French Market, an inevitable hotspot for foodies and lovers of the French art-de-vivre. The space will foster a convergence of all things delicieux and is designed to be reminiscent of the traditional French market, complete with large wooden stalls, deck chairs to enjoy the French spirits, beautiful lavenders, and of course delectable sweets, food, and wines.

Throughout the days of the event, several demonstrations and tastings will take place. Consumers will be invited to sit down and samples wines, spirits, nonalcoholic beverages, cheeses, specialty foods, and enjoy collaborations with chefs, sommeliers, and mixologists who will be putting forward French specialty products and ingredients.

Stop by for a glass of wine, or to hear from a Baker locally based in New York! Our co-sponsors include Gerard Bertrand, Cuisinery Food, OCabanon, Michel & Augustin and L'Appartment 4F.

A bientot at the French Market!

About Taste France

The French Ministry of Agriculture/Taste France's campaign goal is to promote French Food and Beverages. Through engaging content, Taste France Magazine aims to make French gastronomy more accessible to US consumers. Both experienced and casual food lovers will find helpful information on the products they love developed by food professionals, including specialized journalists, chefs, influencers, and sommeliers.

Visit Taste France Magazine at TasteFrance.com and on Facebook.

Follow Taste France Magazine on Instagram @TasteFranceMagazine | #TasteFrance.

SOURCE The French Ministry of Agriculture and Food
NEW YORK, Oct. 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- World Science Scholars (WSS) is an initiative of the World Science Festival that selects a small number of gifted high school students from around the world to explore disciplines at the forefront of science through online courses taught by experts in those fields. To celebrate the fifth year of the program and to provide an opportunity for the scholars to meet each other and some of the program's instructors, WSS hosted an in-person festival from September 28 to October 2, 2022.

World Science Scholars Hosts Science Festival for Gifted Students From 15 Countries and 6 Continents Tweet this World Science Scholars Logo

Scholars from the 2020 and 2021 cohorts, along with a family member, were invited to attend an all-inclusive trip to New York City to participate in the festival. A total of thirty three scholars and respective family members participated in a variety of activities, exploring both academics and cultural aspects of New York City. The festival included a series of talks from eminent scientists, many of whom have taught WSS courses, lab tours at the CUNY Advanced Science Research Center and New York University, and a student panel at Columbia University. Cultural activities included visits to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, the American Museum of Natural History, and sightseeing from the Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center. During these activities, scholars engaged in discussions around new and exciting scientific fields. They also bonded with their peers over their shared love of math and science, and formed what promise to be lasting friendships.

The festival helped realize a major goal of the WSS program: to bring together some of the brightest and most ambitious young minds from across the world, and expose them to scientific fields, opportunities, and renowned scientists who can help broaden their outlook on how they can engage in science to change the world.

World Science Scholars

World Science Scholars (WSS), a program of the World Science Festival, selects a small group of high school students from around the world with extraordinary mathematical talent and provides them with an unparalleled opportunity to apply their abilities to unexplored disciplines. Guided by world-renowned experts, scholars examine ways that advanced mathematics skills can be applied to solve complex challenges in a wide range of scientific fields.

Participants in the WSS program currently hail from across the United States and 30 additional countries across six continents. In addition to their passion for mathematics, scholars' interests range from astrophysics and quantum physics to bioinformatics and combinatorics to climate change and neuroscience. They are able to expand their knowledge in these areas through participation in the program.

Thanks to the close interaction between scholars and professors, the WSS program has served as a stepping stone for scholars to obtain opportunities that often are only available to college students:

Kayla (2020 cohort) is a high school student in New York High who spent a summer as a researcher with the Professor Uljin CUNY Advanced Science Research Center after taking Ulijn's WSS course.

Emma (2019 cohort), now a student at Harvard University , is the Founder & Academic Director of the Wolfram Middle School Summer Camp , which she created after taking a WSS course with Stephen Wolfram .

, is the Founder & Academic Director of the Wolfram Middle School , which she created after taking a WSS course with . Pritivik (2018 cohort), a Dubai high school student, works as a student researcher at Arizona State University's Beyond Center under the mentorship of Professor Sara Walker after taking her WSS course.

World Science Festival

The World Science Festival (WSF) produces original live and digital content that brings scientific discovery, insight and perspective to a broad general audience.

Our flagship live event, the World Science Festival, is an unprecedented annual tribute to imagination, ingenuity and inventiveness. Through programming that spans a broad rangefrom vibrant discussions and debates to works of theater and filmworld-class scientists, leading thinkers, and renowned artists take science out of the laboratory and into the streets, theaters, museums, and public halls of New York City, making the esoteric understandable and the familiar fascinating. In March 2016, WSF launched the World Science Festival Brisbane, bringing its distinctive programming to new audiences and establishing the first annual Festival outside of New York. The Festival's live events have attracted over 3.3 million people worldwide, and millions more have viewed our programs online.

World Science U is WSF's online education platform, offering multi-layered, in-depth master classes in science, guided by renowned scientists, for students and lifelong learners around the world.

SOURCE World Science Foundation
Individual investors can still buy shares in construction technology leader Apis Cor for as little as $250

MELBOURNE, Fla., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Apis Cor, the construction technology company known for its World Record building in Dubai, today announces a critical milestone in its crowdfunding campaign on StartEngine: over $200,000 raised within less than a week. (The round is still open; click here to invest today !)

With its vision to build homes that are accessible, affordable and durable, and through the strength of its founding team and technology, Apis Cor is already backed by At One Ventures and has raised over $1.1M from retail investors as part of its Reg A+ as of September 1, 2022.

Venture capital funding for 3D printing startups that aim to disrupt industries such as aerospace, healthcare and housing reached $1.5 billion in just the first six months of 2022. But those benefiting from these early-stage opportunities have been limited to accredited investors and institutions.

Recently, however, there have been several 3D-printed housing companies that have opened up the door to funding from outside sources through equity crowdfunding platforms like StartEngine and Republic .

And while not in 3D-printing specifically, the modular home company Boxabl saw a massive response from interested investors and raised over $3.5M this summer.

Unlike many of its competitors, Apis Cor is already established in the market, with completed projects in Texas and Missouri and MOU pre-contracts with two companies to develop and 3D print affordable houses in New Orleans, Louisiana and Wilmington, North Carolina.

In addition, Apis Cor has 117 Letters of Intent from construction companies across the country who are eager to start using the Apis Cor robotics system for construction.

Apis Cor is also the only construction company that has designed 3D-printed walls that comply with international building codes and has recently received broad regulatory approval for its method and material in Montana, the first state to do so.

Retail investors who are interested capitalizing on Apis Cor's investment opportunity should consider:

Extremely High Market Demand

The construction industry is facing a massive human labor and material shortage. Apis Cor's robotic technology solves this problem by reducing the amount of human labor required and leverages concrete vs. hard-to-get lumber.

The world needs more than two billion new homes over the next 80 years, and at the going rate, that demand will go unmet. Apis Cor's primary addressable market is low-rising residential construction including affordable housing and both high-end and average-priced new residential single-family houses, the areas that need the highest volume.

over the next 80 years, and at the going rate, that demand will go unmet. Apis Cor's primary addressable market is low-rising residential construction including affordable housing and both high-end and average-priced new residential single-family houses, the areas that need the highest volume. The global market for the residential building construction industry is estimated to reach $6.8 billion by 2022 , growing at a CAGR of 10.3%. Construction 3D printing is expected to hit $40 billion by 2027 .

, growing at a CAGR of 10.3%. Construction 3D printing is expected to hit . Investment in the construction technology ecosystem reached a record level of US $4.5 billion in 2021, triple the amount of money invested in 2020, according to information released from Cemex Ventures. According to a McKinsey report, the largest construction industry clusters of use cases include 3D Printing, modularization and robotics. The same report shows that venture capital investment growth in construction tech has far outpaced the overall venture capital space.

Product-Market Fit

Apis Cor creates value for an underserved market  building developers who must build quality, durable, homes at an affordable price in a short period of time, with materials that are readily available.

Using precision through concrete 3D printing technology, developers will be able to build concrete, durable houses within 2-3 months, compared to 7-12 months that it takes currently with traditional construction.

Apis Cor's business model is to lease out the printers to construction companies and exclusively sell our 3D print material as a B2B.

The targeted monthly lease of the equipment is $9,000 , the material price is $7 per sq.ft of the wall which is about $8,400 for a single-family house of 1,200 sq.ft.

, the material price is per sq.ft of the wall which is about for a single-family house of 1,200 sq.ft.

A subcontractor using this technology may be able to 3D print walls of four houses, totaling to 1,200 sq.ft each per month, resulting in profits of approximately $13,500 /month.

/month.

The company has received 183 inquiries to reserve its 3D houses and 3D printers as of December 2021 .

.

Apis Cor's mission is to empower home builders with the tools and technology to increase productivity in order to increase inventory on the market and thus battle the housing crisis.

Competitors' 3D equipment is huge and bulky, which limits the size of the 3D-printed buildings they may produce. Apis Cor robots feature compact dimensions, which we believe can work for any size building and are also easy to transport, making deployment costs almost to zero.

Long-term Outlook for Investors

While the company's primary focus is on the low-rising residential housing market, there are more market segments available due to the capability of Apis Cor technology to construct wall structures of a building of almost any footprint (sq. footage) and up to three floors.

This could include commercial and industrial buildings, storage, warehouses, distribution centers and structures, elements, walls, fences, and retaining walls for large-scale industrial infrastructure construction projects.

"This is the way the construction industry is going," said Apis Cor co-founder and CEO Anna Cheniuntai. "Based on our momentum, we think much of the industry will switch to robotic or automated builders in the next 5 to 10 years. Apis Cor's houses are durable (hurricane and earthquake resistant) and affordable  a finished house can be up to 30% less expensive than a traditionally built house.Our world needs more hard technologies that create tangible products especially like housing and real estate assets."

Become an Owner in Apis Cor for as little as $250! Invest Now on StartEngine.

About Apis Cor

Founded in 2016 by Nikita and Anna Cheniuntai, Apis Cor is an American technology corporation headquartered in Melbourne, Florida that develops advanced technologies and materials for construction 3D-printing. The company holds the Guinness Book World Record for the Largest 3D-Printed Building on Earth and is proud to be a resident of the Autodesk Technology Centers Outsight Network. A successful participant in NASA's " 3D Printed Habitat Challenge "  Apis Cor was awarded top honors in several categories. Apis Cor is backed by Alchemist Accelerator, the premier accelerator for Enterprise startups, and At One Ventures, a VC and private equity firm which supports deep tech ventures that are a net positive to nature and the planet. Learn more about 3D-printing construction technology at: www.Apis-Cor.com .

SOURCE Apis Cor
"There are so many stories within the walls of this incredible home, most notably the invaluable role it has played as a needed sanctuary and exceptional ideation space for Steven Loyd and Franck Ford," said Stewart Smith, Realtor with PS Properties, representing the sellers. "This home, and the property that surrounds it, have actually served as inspiration for a number of Loyd/Ford's pieces."

Loyd and Ford, longtime collaborators and dress designers who also earned recognition as celebrity stylists for the likes of Gwen Stefani and Angelina Jolie, strategically sought creative rejuvenation in Palm Springs  removed just enough from the hectic energy they'd come to keep pace within Los Angeles. The tranquility offered at the Desert Boulders property proved inspirational for the professional pair, who intentionally stepped away from what was expected and decided to blaze their own sequined and beaded design trail.

The Desert Boulders property, which stretches two-thirds of an acre across two lots, is set against a mountain backdrop and features dozens of sizable boulders. With four bedrooms, four bathrooms and just over 4,000 square feet, the home still features one wall that remains of a 1950s-era bomb shelter and includes a bonus outdoor room that could be used as an artist studio, a yoga or meditation retreat or a space for games.

Its Brutalist architecture, featured throughout the home's interior, punctuates its minimalist aesthetic  from its concrete floors to its uncomplicated, if bare, surfaces. And its master suite embraces desirable indulgences, from its cozy sitting area to its fireplace and spa featuring an infrared sauna.

"It's exciting to imagine the creative potential this home could offer its next owner, considering the artistic refuge it provided to Loyd and Ford," said Patrick Jordan, Realtor with PS Properties, representing the sellers. "Beyond the stunning minimalist design, the outdoor space alone is absolutely captivating."

Beyond the home's walls of glass is a manicured outdoor living space that includes a welcoming fire pit, low-maintenance and eco-friendly desert landscaping, a stunning 60-foot lap pool with a sunbathing shelf, and an outdoor shower. The resort-style outdoor area is at once secluded and open, offering elevated privacy and inspired views of the Palm Spring desert.

SOURCE PS Properties
Red Eight Gallery and Data Vault Holdings, Inc Collaborate and The Royal Exchange of London to Host 1571 Exchange Launching November 9, 2022

NEW YORK and LONDON, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Datavault and Red8 Digital, the subsidiaries of Data Vault Holdings and Red Eight Gallery, announced today that they will combine their patented pricing, yield management, NFT minting, and crypto anchor technologies into a single platform called 1571. Initially, the exchange will be available worldwide on 1571.io for mobile web, and later this year on both Apple and Google app platforms. The exchange aims to help artists and galleries unlock the full value of their digital art among a wider and emerging new audience. The launch of 1571 will provide a long-awaited digital exchange platform for emerging artists that takes into account leading cyber security, scalable network infrastructure, complete Web3.0 crypto integrations, as well as financial and regulatory practices that provide compliance, transparency, and analytics.

"Red Eight is excited to partner with Datavault and bring our artworks into the digital realm through NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens). In addition, the ADIO crypto anchor technology will enable us to present our art collection in a whole new dimension and allow buyers, from around the world, to acquire more information about each piece and verify authenticity while engaging with artists, their galleries, and creative works. In our partnership with Datavault, we look forward to helping artists and galleries globally, granting them the ability to create additional income through digital sales, while also bringing new and exciting artworks to a wider audience," revealed Julian Usher, CEO of Red Eight Gallery.

"The exchange will provide a display of market conditions, including pricing and the historical performance of digital art, both whole and fractional. The ability to convert gallery-displayed art in London to NFTs, manage and promote the inventory securely, and digitally market and promote the inventory assists in maximising the financial yield for artists and their galleries. Our patented ADIO crypto anchors offer unique, physical, and digital security as well as revolutionary Web3.0 anchors. In addition to preserving creation details and blockchain ownership details, they also enable artists and galleries to sell their work within their private and e-commerce networks. "We hope to foster growth within this crucial sector of our communities and economy - the arts," said Nathaniel Bradley, co-founder and CEO of Datavault.

The joint venture between Datavault and Red8 Digital is based out of the Red Eight Gallery in London's historic Royal Exchange, which was established in 1571. Apart from using Datavault's patented ADIO crypto anchors for security and marketing, 1571.io will utilise the Datavault Information Data Exchange (IDE) to showcase the dynamic pricing of NFTs in real-time. The NFTs themselves will be created using the Datavault platform and will use the Datavault patented blockchain technology to protect further both the artists and buyers involved in sales transactions.

Datavault's ADIO audio packet technology will be used to direct potential clients of NFTs to landing pages with additional information about the piece or artist, therein creating an immersive experience for its audience whilst providing a route for Red Eight, to sell their artworks online. Red Eight will implement this technology for the first time at the upcoming Boogie Moli show hosted at the Red Eight Gallery in the Royal Exchange on Wednesday, November 9th.

The partnership between Datavault and Red Eight Gallery will ultimately tap into the power of both companies' platforms to mint meaningful digital artwork that can then be sold online. The initiative offers great potential for both companies as well as artists looking to raise the value and visibility of their digital art - helping to bring blockchain and NFTs into mainstream art.

The platform 1571.io will be open to galleries and their artists as a white-labelled API. Red8 Digital will be presenting this platform at the upcoming William Fortescue exhibition and book launch at Red Eight Gallery on Thursday 27th October.

About Red Eight Gallery

Red Eight Gallery is a private art gallery located in The Royal Exchange, London. The company features artwork from some of today's leading artists, including Banksy and Peter Blake among many others. Since its establishment in 2013 by Julian Usher, Red Eight has become one of Europe's top pop-up galleries for selling original works created by world-renown modern artists - both established names and up-and-comers alike. Learn more about Red Eight here .

About Data Vault Holdings Inc.

Data Vault Holdings Inc. is a technology holding company that provides a proprietary, cloud-based platform, Datavault, for the delivery of branded data-backed cryptocurrencies. Data Vault Holdings Inc. provides businesses with the tools to monetize data assets securely over its Information Data Exchange (IDE). The company is in the process of finalising the consolidation of its affiliates Data Donate Technologies, Inc., ADIO LLC, and Datavault Inc. as wholly owned subsidiaries under one corporate structure. Learn more about Data Vault Holdings Inc. here .

Company Contact:

Data Vault Holdings Inc.

48 Wall Street, Floor 11

New York, NY 10005

1-844-DATA-400

www.datavaultholdings.com

Media Contact:

Angry Apples Marketing

1-844-GO-ANGRY

[email protected]

www.goangry.com

SOURCE Data Vault Holdings Inc.
The Central Asian carrier now has powerful international ticketing and revenue-generating capabilities to enter new markets using WorldTicket's distribution technology

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Air Astana, the national carrier of Kazakhstan, has partnered with WorldTicket to increase its international coverage into over 190 markets. WorldTicket (W2) is a travel distribution technology company that helps airlines efficiently grow their global sales reach and will provide Air Astana with global ticketing and GDS distribution solutions to help the carrier scale its international presence.

Air Astana is restoring its international flight network to pre-pandemic levels and plans to add 24 new aircraft to its fleet. WorldTicket will support the carrier's expansion plans with connectivity into key European cities, smaller markets, and underserved regions.

"As markets reopen and we resume international flights and regain 2019 demand levels, our partnership with WorldTicket will help us expand to new destinations," said Adel Dauletbek, Vice-President Marketing and Sales of Air Astana. "Working with WorldTicket allows us to grow our passenger base, access a wider array of travel options for customers, and generate additional revenue."

Immediate access to an expansive distribution network of airlines and agents

While Air Astana already connects to top European hubs like London (LHR), Amsterdam (AMS), Istanbul (IST), and Frankfurt (FRA), the airline can now easily tap into new and niche travel markets using the company's W2 Ticketing solution for an expanded distribution network; travel agents worldwide can book Air Astana flights in all the major Global Distribution Systems (GDSs) including Amadeus, Sabre, and Travelport.

"Air Astana joins our fast-growing airline network at a pivotal time for airlines as they look to rebuild capacity and revenue," said Peer Winter, VP of Commercial Business Development at WorldTicket. "Through our combined W2 Aggregation and Ticketing solutions, Air Astana can grow its international network and sales reach at speed and scale, both of which are vital for improving load factors and driving much-needed revenues."

Increased travel options for passengers

With passenger demand in Europe during June 2022 enjoying a 25% share of worldwide traffic, according to IATA data, Air Astana passengers flying into the region can optimize their booking and travel experience with air and rail provided on the same itinerary using WorldTicket's technology. Travelers flying into Frankfurt, Hanover, or Amsterdam can now book onward connections with Europe's largest railway operator, Deutsche Bahn (DB), either directly with the airline or through traditional and online travel agencies.

As regional and global travel demand levels return, the company's W2 Aggregation and Ticketing solutions provide airlines with the most cost-effective technology to quickly expand their distribution and reach in response to market needs without adding IT complexity or lengthy implementation times.

Travel agents also benefit from both W2 solutions by processing more itineraries at scale and providing customers with more travel options that improve agents' revenue and profitability.

For more information about WorldTicket's partnership with Air Astana to speak with company executives, please get in touch with Vanessa Horwell at [email protected].

About Air Astana

Established in 2001 and operating regular flights since May 15, 2002, Air Astana is Kazakhstan's national airline based in Almaty. Air Astana is a joint venture between Kazakhstan's national wealth fund, Samruk Kazyna (51%) and BAE Systems (49%). From its main bases at Astana and Almaty airports, the carrier operates scheduled domestic service and service to international destinations in Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

About World Ticket

WorldTicket (IATA Codes W1/W2) is a leading provider of sophisticated global ticketing and distribution services to more than 75 airlines across the globe. WorldTicket has its own AOC holding airline, FlexFlight, operating under the IATA code W2, enabling airlines to easily outsource their distribution and ticketing functions to WorldTicket. WorldTicket solutions are NDC Level 4 certified by IATA. Founded in 2002, WorldTicket is headquartered in Copenhagen, with offices in Miami, Bangkok, Warsaw, Kyiv and Beijing, and is a subsidiary of US investment firm 777 Partners. Visit www.worldticket.com to learn more.

CONTACT: Vanessa Horwell at [email protected]

SOURCE WorldTicket
Increase in operations in commercial aviation and surge in demand from emerging countries have boosted the growth of the global aircraft refurbishing market.

PORTLAND, Ore., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research recently published a report, titled, "Aircraft Refurbishing Market by Refurbishing Service (Interior, Exterior), by Aircraft Type (Very light aircraft, Wide body aircraft, Narrow body aircraft, Large body aircraft, VIP aircraft), by Type (Passenger to freighter, Commercial Aircraft Cabin, VIP Cabin Refurbishing), by End Use (Government, Commercial): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2021-2031". As per the report, the global aircraft refurbishing industry was pegged at $456.7 million in 2021, and is expected to reach $932.5 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 7.2% from 2022 to 2031.

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Major determinants of the market growth

Increase in operations in commercial aviation and surge in demand from emerging countries have boosted the growth of the global aircraft refurbishing market. However, increase in production and deliveries of new aircraft and high maintenance cost of refurbishing hinder the market growth. On the contrary, increase in air travel activities & air traffic and surge in demand for premium cabins would open lucrative opportunities in the future.

Covid-19 Scenario:

The Covid-19 outbreak forced governments to impose strict lockdowns across the countries and restrictions on import-expert of non-essential materials.

Governments across the globe implemented social distancing regulations to curb the spread of the virus. This led to decline in global demand for traveling and negatively affected the aviation industry.

The demand for air travel post-pandemic is expected to increase, which is expected to create immense opportunities in the aircraft refurbishing market.

The exterior segment to manifest the highest CAGR through 2031

By refurbishing service, the exterior segment is estimated to portray the highest CAGR of 7.6% during the forecast period, due to increase in investment for technological advancements in aircraft systems and lightweight & fuel-efficient aircraft. However, the interior segment held the largest share in 2021, accounting for more than three-fifths of the global aircraft refurbishing market, owing to increase in demand for refurbishment of interior parts to enhance the aesthetics and provide better safety, and optimize the space.

The wide body aircraft segment dominated the market

By aircraft type, the wide body aircraft segment held the largest share in 2021, contributing to more than two-fifths of the global aircraft refurbishing market. In addition, the segment is projected to manifest the highest CAGR of 7.8% during the forecast period, owing to rise in use of wide-body aircraft for passenger transport. The report includes an analysis of the very light aircraft, narrow body aircraft, large body aircraft, and VIP aircraft segments.

The passenger to freighter segment held the largest share

By type, the passenger to freighter segment dominated the market in 2021 in terms of revenue, accounting for more than two-fifths of the global aircraft refurbishing market, due to increase in use of P2F conversions to extend the lifespan of passenger jets. However, the VIP cabin refurbishing segment is expected to showcase the highest CAGR of 8.0% during the forecast period, owing to increase in demand for aircraft refurbishment of the cabin including luxurious bedrooms, bathroom, private offices, lounge, and surge in need for maintenance & repair of aircraft.

The commercial segment to showcase the highest CAGR through 2031

By end use, the commercial segment is expected to register the highest CAGR of 7.6% during the forecast period. In addition, the segment held the largest share in 2021, contributing to more than half of the global aircraft refurbishing market, due to surge in investment in high-performing aircraft and increase in demand for safety, & comfort for customers.

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Asia-Pacific held the lion's share

By region, the market Asia-Pacific held the largest share in 2021, accounting for more than one-third of the market. In addition, the region is expected to register the highest CAGR of 7.9% during the forecast period, owing to supportive government initiatives in the aviation sector, rise in commercial aircraft fleet & air traffic. The report includes an analysis of the global aircraft refurbishing market across North America, LAMEA, and Europe.

Major market player

AFI KLM E&M

B/E Aerospace

Diehl Shiftung & Co. KG

Gulfstream Aerospace Ltd.

Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Co. Ltd.

Jamco America Inc.

Jet Aviation AG

Lufthansa Technik

Nextant Aerospace

Raytheon Technologies

Rose Aircraft Services

Sabreliner Aviation LLC

Safran SA

SIA Engineering Co. Ltd.

Timco Aviation Services

Zodiac Aerospace, Inc.

The report analyzes these key players in the global aircraft refurbishing 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.

Similar Reports We Have on Aircraft Industry:

Aircraft Maintenance Market by Application, Type, and Aircraft Type, and End User, Research Report 2021-2031

Aircraft Leasing & Rental Market by Service, by Aircraft Type, and by Service Type, Research Report 20202031

Aircraft Line Maintenance Market by Type, Application, Service, and Technology, Research Report, 20202031

Non-destructive Testing (NDT) in the Aerospace and Defense Market by Type, Technology, and Technique, Research Report 20212031

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We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Allied Market Research CEO Pawan Kumar is instrumental in inspiring and encouraging everyone associated with the company to maintain high quality of data and help clients in every way possible to achieve success. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry.

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SOURCE Allied Market Research
Alberta Premium Cask Strength Rye returns for a limited time starting in October

TORONTO, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Alberta Distillers Ltd, makers of the No. 1 selling 100% rye whisky in the world1, Alberta Premium, is proud to announce the return of its highly coveted Alberta Premium Cask Strength Rye. The 2022 release of the award-winning* 100% Canadian rye whisky marks the third installment since its introduction to the U.S. in 2020, which is once again available for a limited time starting this month.

Alberta Distillers Announces Return of 100% Rye Canadian Whisky, Alberta Premium Cask Strength, from the Award-Winning* Series

Crafted and distilled in Calgary, Alberta, Alberta Premium Cask Strength Rye is made from 100% Canadian Prairie rye grains grown by local farmers and distilled with nutrient-dense, glacier fed spring water from the surrounding Rocky Mountains. The liquid is 100% pot distilled and aged in new white oak barrels. The resulting liquid is balanced with unique flavor nuances, including smooth vanilla, black currant, and spice.

"Our cask strength release has continued to capture the attention of whisky enthusiasts globally and is something we're delighted to bring back this year," said George Teichroeb, General Manager of Alberta Distillers. "For distillers like myself, cask strength whiskies are where we get to demonstrate our skill and craftsmanship, as the final product is completely unadulterated. This liquid is a product of that craftsmanship and our ongoing commitment to delivering world-class 100% rye whisky."

The Alberta Premium Cask Strength Rye series has won numerous awards* including Double Gold at the 2020 and 2021 San Francisco World Spirits Competitions, Double Gold at the 2021 and 2022 SIP Awards, Best All Rye Whisky at the 2021 Canadian Whisky Awards and 1st Place Best Canadian Whisky at the 2021 International Whisky Competition, cementing itself as a leader in the rye whisky subcategory and highlighting superior craftsmanship.

Packaged in eye-catching, faceted glass bottles, Alberta Premium Cask Strength Rye will be available in limited quantities in select U.S. markets beginning this month for an SRP of $79.99 for a 750ml bottle. Alberta Premium Cask Strength is best enjoyed neat with a drop of water, on the rocks, and features the following characteristics:

Alberta Premium Cask Strength Rye

Proof 63.5%

Taste: Exceptionally smooth with notes of caramel, vanilla and a hint of chocolate balanced with the spiciness of rye and black currant

Finish: Smooth and lingering with the complexity of spice, warm vanilla and dark fruit

Earlier this year, the brand introduced its award-winning core expression, Alberta Premium to the U.S. market for the first time. Alberta Premium continues to set the standard for Canadian whiskies, showcasing exactly how great a true 100% Canadian rye whisky can be.

For more information and to keep up to date on the latest news, follow Alberta Premium on Instagram and Facebook, or visit our websites at www.albertadistillers.com and adl75.ca , and visit us on social media at our Instagram and Facebook .

About Alberta Distillers

Founded in 1946, Alberta Distillers continually sets the gold standard for Canadian spirits, offering distinguished quality. Pure Rocky Mountain water and rich prairie grainsgrown by farmers who have worked with us for decadescreate the hearty foundation of the liquid we make. We're proud to be using only the finest ingredients. Those in the U.S. can now experience the bold flavor that can only be found in our award-winning products. Visit www.albertadistillers.com for more information.

About Beam Suntory

As a world leader in premium spirits, Beam Suntory inspires human connections. Consumers from all corners of the globe call for the company's brands, including the iconic Jim Beam and Maker's Mark bourbon brands and Courvoisier cognac, as well as world renowned premium brands including Basil Hayden, Knob Creek, and Legent bourbon; Yamazaki, Hakushu, Hibiki and Toki Japanese whisky; Teacher's, Laphroaig and Bowmore Scotch whisky; Canadian Club whisky; Hornitos and Sauza tequila; EFFEN, Haku and Pinnacle vodka; Sipsmith and Roku gin; and On The Rocks Premium Cocktails.

Beam Suntory was created in 2014 by combining the world leader in bourbon and the pioneer in Japanese whisky to form a new company with a deep heritage, passion for quality, innovative spirit and vision of Growing for Good, which now includes its transformative sustainability strategy, Proof Positive. Headquartered in New York City, Beam Suntory is a subsidiary of Suntory Holdings Limited of Japan. For more information on Beam Suntory, its brands, and its commitment to social responsibility, please visit www.beamsuntory.com and www.drinksmart.com .

SOURCE Alberta Premium
As the alts industry continues its upward climb, AltsDb remains a leading voice covering private equity, real estate, and alternative investments.

FORT WORTH, Texas, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- AltsDb has announced the company's participation as an Official Media Partner for the seventh annual Real Estate Family Office and Private Wealth Management Forum (East). The conference is being produced by IMN, a leading organizer of institutional finance and investment conferences.

The event follows a series of successful conferences across the country (in Miami, California and Chicago), and will be held on October 18-19, in Miami, FL.

With the average family office now allocating about 15% of their portfolio to real estate direct investments, IMN's Real Estate Family Office Forum is well-timed for the industry to discuss the opportunities in this asset class.

Family office executives and industry professionals can join AltsDb at the event in October, and directly participate in the valuable conversations taking place.

"This is an important event for family offices to consider attending, especially if they place a lot of capital in alternatives," said Andy Hagans, co-founder of AltsDb. "We're excited to be participating as an official media partner of IMN, and for the opportunity to connect in person with so many leaders in the family office space."

For the full event agenda and registration information, please visit https://events.imn.org/event/95f0d1eb-8118-4342-bf38-fef81a545639/summary .

About AltsDb

AltsDb produces content and events for High Net Worth investors, family offices and financial advisors who place capital in alternative investments. AltsDb is also the exclusive publisher of The Alternative Investment Podcast, a leading voice in the alternatives industry covering private equity, venture capital, and real estate. Visit https://altsdb.com to learn more.

SOURCE AltsDb
PRESS RSVP

WASHINGTON, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- On Friday, October 14th, Minnesota USA Expo 2027, the non-profit dedicated to bringing the World's Fair to American soil for the first time in over 40 years, will host a panel at the Press Club featuring U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Travel and Tourism in the International Trade Administration Mark Keam, and President of Minnesota USA Expo 2027 John Stanoch. On this final day of a five-day Bureau of International Expositions (BIE) Enquiry Mission to the U.S. to determine the 2027 Expo site, panelists will advocate for Minnesota to be selected as host.

The panel is the capstone event for the BIE international delegation, an Intergovernmental Organization in charge of international exhibitions. BIE representatives are finishing visiting Minnesota and Washington D.C. to evaluate the Expo site and gauge support from local and national leaders.

As the official bid of the US, the Minnesota Expo has earned the support of Presidents Obama, Trump and Biden and enjoys bipartisan congressional support.

The theme of the Expo is "Healthy People, Healthy Planet." On the heels of a global pandemic, this would be the first-ever Expo focused on global health and wellness issues. Minnesota is known for its public health leadership, health research institutions, and corporate leaders in medicine. It's home to the world-renowned Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota, whose researchers are at the forefront of global fights against HIV/AIDS, Ebola and Zika.

Panelists will present their case to the BIE and take questions from press.

Panelists :



Date : Friday, October 14th, 2022; 10:00am - 10:30am ET

Location : National Press Club, 529 14th St NW, Washington, DC 20045

Fourth Estate Room

Contact: [email protected] (417-380-3921)

SOURCE National Press Club
Master Franchise Owner, Matt Sole of Anago Northern California, Expands Commercial Cleaning Small Business Ownership Opportunities throughout Arizona

PHOENIX, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Anago Cleaning Systems, an industry-leading commercial cleaning franchise with over 45 territories and 1,700 Unit Franchises throughout the U.S. and Canada, announced its newest Master Franchise expansion in the great state of Arizona. Matt Sole, who owns and operates Anago's Master Franchise operations in Northern California, expands his commercial cleaning operations in the Grand Canyon state, bringing small business ownership opportunities to a larger population in the western United States.

"We are excited to take control of the Master Franchise territory of Arizona," said Matt. "Our success in Northern California has taught us a great deal, and we look forward to working toward creating small business ownership pathways for Arizona's community of interested entrepreneurs." "Anago Cleaning Systems is a pioneer of the master franchise system, allowing successful professionals to operate their regional franchises while allowing small businesses to invest in their success," added Povlitz. "Both levels simply focus on running their business while we provide the marketing technologies, sales support, and critical tools to grow. We expect continued growth and expansion in 2022 and beyond, as an industry."

Matt's story started in 2005 when his father purchased the Master Franchise operations in the San Francisco Bay Area. Matt's career with a public accounting firm ended when he decided to buy out his father, who was ready to retire. Matt expanded Anago of the Bay Area into Sacramento and renamed his company Anago of Northern California while setting sights on further expansion. After several years at the helm and successfully navigating his company through some of the strictest COVID mandates, Matt capitalized on the opportunity to purchase the Master Franchise operations in Arizona with a strong focus on expanding throughout the Phoenix Valley into other parts of the state.

"We are excited to take control of the Master Franchise territory of Arizona," said Matt. "Our success in Northern California has taught us a great deal, and we look forward to working toward creating small business ownership pathways for Arizona's community of interested entrepreneurs."

In a recent American Legislative Exchange Council analysis, Arizona ranked No. 1 for economic performance based on the state's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), population, and job growth. Its low tax rates, business credits, limited regulations, sunny weather, and low cost of living have made it a draw for businesses. These healthy indicators encourage small business owners across the state, ready to seize new opportunities and pursue economic growth.

Recently, Anago Cleaning Systems was recognized by Franchise Business Review as a leading, recession-resistant franchise for its strength, viability, and profitability during strained economic times. Additionally, Anago Cleaning Systems topped the list of best franchises for minority entrepreneurs and was recently featured by Black Enterprise Magazine as the #1 Franchise for Black Entrepreneurs.

"Matt is an exemplary Master Franchise owner, bringing institutional knowledge of commercial cleaning franchise operations along with the business, finance, and leadership qualities that made him successful in Northern California," said Adam Povlitz, CEO & President of Anago Cleaning Systems. "We're excited to support his expansion into Arizona and the continuance of building opportunities for people interested in launching their own small business through the Anago Unit Franchise model."

Because of this strong business ethic, history of growth, and business-friendly franchise program, Anago is consistently recognized by industry peers, including its regular inclusion within Entrepreneur's suite of ranking systems. Anago has earned top positions for several years in the magazine's main rankings. These include Franchise 500, Fastest Growing Franchise, Top-Ranked Franchises Under $50K, Top Home-Based Franchise, and Top Global Franchise. Anago Cleaning Systems' continued inclusion within these rankings demonstrates the brand's rising popularity with franchisees and clients.

"Anago Cleaning Systems is a pioneer of the master franchise system, allowing successful professionals to operate their regional franchises while allowing small businesses to invest in their success," added Povlitz. "Both levels simply focus on running their business while we provide the marketing technologies, sales support, and critical tools to grow. We expect continued growth and expansion in 2022 and beyond, as an industry."

The Anago of Phoenix office is located at 1225 S. 48th Street, Suite 2, Tempe, AZ 85281. To explore unit franchise opportunities with Anago of Phoenix, contact Matt Sole at 480-771-2703 or email [email protected].

About Anago Cleaning Systems

Anago Cleaning Systems is an international commercial cleaning franchise brand. Founded in 1989, Anago has set the worldwide standard in business support and structure for local and regional companies to provide unparalleled cleaning services to businesses. Utilizing the Master Franchise System, Anago supports over 45+ Master Franchisees and 1,700 Unit Franchisees. Anago was ranked #34 overall by Entrepreneur Magazine in its latest Franchise 500 ranking. For further information, visit www.AnagoCleaning.com.

Press Contact: Perry Athanason/TopFireMedia/[email protected]/917-319-2126.

SOURCE Anago Cleaning Systems
Summary: Nachawati Law Group is excited to announce its updated name, mission, and website.

DALLAS, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Nachawati Law Group, formerly Fears Nachawati Law Firm, announced today that it has completed a major rebranding in response to company changes and growth as well as to renew its mission and core values.

Nationally, Nachawati Law Group leads the charge in complex cases such as pharmaceutical litigation and defective medical devices, catastrophic personal injury, asbestos, water pollution, environmental damage claims, and more. The firm's renewed mission emphasizes its passion to fight corporate injustices for its clients by delivering persistent, professional, and trustworthy representation.

The rebranding includes a new logo, website, social media channels, mission statement and messaging.

"This company rebranding ushers in a new and elevated mission statement and design that matches our firm's dedication to serving our clients' needs," said Majed Nachawati, founder of the law firm. "Most people fall victim to corporate negligence because they think they don't have a passionate voice to fight injustice. We wanted a new website and mission statement that made it clear we are here to balance the scales of justice by giving each client that voice to fight."

Visit www.ntrial.com to explore the new website, brand, and messaging.

Dallas-based Nachawati Law Group represents individuals and businesses in cases involving mass torts, personal injury, environmental and water contamination litigation, public entities, and products liability.

SOURCE Nachawati Law Group
PHOENIX, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- anthym , a pioneer in the Connection category and which helps organizations inspire their people to bring their whole selves to the workplace and beyond, today announced a key addition to its Scientific Advisory Council in Dr. Elizabeth Margulis. Dr. Margulis will advise the company as it continues to innovate around its proprietary connection framework, which leverages inspirational media like music to evoke memories and help people reflect on and catalog those memories on the way to sharing their authentic life stories.

anthym - Our stories connect us.

"Music, by far, has been the most powerful stimuli for anthym participants to evoke rich memories because of its time-machine-like qualities," said Brian Mohr, Co-founder & CEO of anthym. "The research and science on music's ability to connect people is undeniable. We're thrilled to have one of the foremost authorities on music cognition, Dr. Elizabeth Margulis, join anthym's Scientific Advisory Council to guide us as we continue to explore the science behind music in memory recall."

"Research in music cognition often explores the relationship between music and social bonding," said Dr. Margulis. "It's exciting to link these ideas with real-world applications, such as anthym's aspiration to foster connections in the workplace."

Dr. Margulis is currently a Professor at Princeton University, where she directs the Music Cognition Lab. Her book On Repeat: How Music Plays the Mind received the 2014 Wallace Berry Award from the Society for Music Theory, and the 2015 ASCAP Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Award. Her latest book The Psychology of Music: A Very Short Introduction, was published in 2018. Her co-edited book The Science-Music Borderlands: Reckoning with the Past and Imagining the Future, is forthcoming with MIT Press. Her cross-cultural research on narrative perceptions of music is supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation. She has been a Kavli Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences as well as a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Scholar.

Dr. Margulis has a B.M. in piano performance from the Peabody Conservatory of Music and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. Before coming to Princeton, she was Distinguished Professor at the University of Arkansas. She has also served as a Visiting Fellow at the University of Cambridge and as a faculty member at Northwestern University.

About anthym

anthym is pioneering the Connection category, helping organizations inspire their people to bring their whole selves to the workplace and beyond.

Media contact:

Jules Galindo

[email protected]

310-293-8670

SOURCE anthym
CHICAGO, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The global Automation COE Market size to grow from USD 0.3 billion in 2022 to USD 1.5 billion by 2027, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 36.9% during the forecast period, according to a new report by MarketsandMarkets. The Automation COE Market is expected to grow at a significant rate in coming years owing to the need to enhance ROI and reduce overall operational costs. Some factors driving the growth of the Automation COE Market are significant improvements in ROIs across businesses, reduced data entry errors, and improved quality with reduced risk. Furthermore, automation CoEs enable companies to develop an organization-wide automation strategy as well as scale and standardize automated related solutions.

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93 - Tables

37 - Figures

171 - Pages

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An automation center of excellence (COE) includes the people, processes, and technologies that help improve overall automation process. An automation COE is an internal business unit dedicated to implementing automation initiatives across the entire organization and coordinates automation projects across various business units and identifies and approves reusable components that can be utilized in future automation projects. Effective COEs can differ from organization to organization, depending on the size of the company or the scale of automation.

Governance Services to witness the highest CAGR during the forecast period

Based on service, the Automation COE Market is segmented into technology assessment & consulting, design & testing, governance, and implementation support services. Automation COE combines multiple technologies to automate complex end-to-end business processes that involve decision-making and continuous learning. Businesses leverage this opportunity by automating small rule-based tasks to complex business processes. To respond to this dynamic trend, organizations need superior automation capabilities. With the growing adoption of technology-based software solutions, the demand for advisory services is likely to rise. Non-IT organizations require advisory services because they lack the skills to comprehend the complexity involved in establishing advanced automation technologies.

Large Enterprises to register for the largest market size during the forecast period

Based on organization size, the Automation COE Market has been segmented into SMEs and large enterprises. SMEs are enterprises with an employee strength of 11,000, while large enterprises have an employee strength of more than 1,000. With globalization, organizations have recognized the need to train the internal staff, as well as customers, to attain their business goals. Companies require technologies that can assist them in improving their profit margins and operational efficiencies. Large enterprises are expected to rapidly adopt automation solution to build COE in the coming years due to their complex network of channel partners present across the globe.

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North America to hold largest market size during the forecast period

Based on regions, the Automation COE Market is segmented into North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Rest of the World (RoW). The RoW covers the Middle East & Africa and Latin America. North America is expected to dominate the market during the forecast period. The growth of the North American market can be attributed to the presence of leading service providers for automation COE and increasing investments in R&D in this region.

Enterprises across all regions are increasingly opting for integration and automation technologies for various business operations, such as finance, HR, sales & marketing, and supply chain. The Work Automation Index 2022 found that 66% of organizations in North America now use COE platforms in five or more departments, and the number of organizations with seven automated departments has almost tripled since 2019. North America and Europe are expected to hold relatively larger shares of the market, as companies in these regions are early adopters of trending technologies.

Some major players in the Automation COE Market include SS&C Blue Prism (UK), UiPath (US), Automation Anywhere (US), NICE (Israel), Digital Workforce (Finland), HelpSystems (US), Ctrl365 (Argentina), FASTPATH (Netherlands), ElectroNeek (US), AnyRobot (US), Roboyo (Germany), Nintex (US), Chazey Partners (US), Smartbridge (US), Blueprint (US), Robocloud (UK), Verint (US), Appian (US), Cigniti (India), Innominds (US), TestingXperts (US), KiwiQA (Australia), Calidad Infotech (India), CIGNEX (US), ChoiceWORX (US), and XenonStack (US).

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Risk Analytics Market - Global Forecast to 2026

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MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 7500 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions.

Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model  GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve.

MarketsandMarkets's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "Knowledge Store" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets.

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Investment will create the world's largest specialty hemp fibre processing and purification company

VICTORIA, BC, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Bast Fibre Technologies Inc. (BFT), the makers of sero hemp fibre, announced today that it has closed a major strategic financing with Ahlstrom Capital of Finland. BFT will immediately begin work to expand fibre manufacturing capacity at its US-flagship facility in Lumberton (NC) and its EU-facility near Dusseldorf (NRW).

This financing will enable BFT to produce over 10,000 metric tons of sero hemp fibre per year by 2023 and up to 50,000 metric tons per year by 2026.

"Nonwoven companies, converters, and leading consumer goods companies are looking for viable natural fibre options to achieve their corporate sustainability initiatives as they move away from synthetics," said Jim Posa, CEO of BFT. "The market for natural fibres is set for rapid growth, and this highly strategic funding will help BFT to solidify its position and further accelerate its expansion to meet the increasing demand for tree-free, plastic-free fibres."

"As the nonwoven industry transitions away from plastics, we believe there will be exponential growth in the natural fibres market. As a responsible investor with a strategic, long-term mindset, we seek to invest in companies focused on solutions that help drive sustainable development. With a strong and experienced management team, BFT is well positioned to become a global leader in the production of sustainable bast fibres. We see sustainable value-creating opportunities in the company," comments Lasse Heinonen, President and CEO of Ahlstrom Capital.

"Ahlstrom Capital has an excellent reputation for investing in cleantech companies offering sustainable solutions," said Noel Hall, BFT's Executive Board Chair. "It is important for us to work with an investor that shares our values and our vision of moving away from synthetic materials in nonwoven applications. Ahlstrom Capital has several complementary portfolio holdings in the nonwoven and sustainable fibre industries, making it both a natural fit and value-added investor for BFT. We are pleased to welcome Ahlstrom Capital's Investment Director, Andreas Ahlstrom, to BFT's board of directors."

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ABOUT BAST FIBRE TECHNOLOGIES INC. - www.bastfibretech.com

Bast Fibre Technologies Inc. (BFT) is a triple-bottom-line cleantech fibre engineering firm that places equal emphasis on social, environmental, and fiscal responsibility. Using advanced fibre processing technology, BFT transforms raw fibres from cotton, hemp, and flax plants to meet the exacting standards required by nonwoven customers.

ABOUT AHLSTROM CAPITAL - www.ahlstromcapital.com

Ahlstrom Capital is one of Finland's largest investment companies with a long history of 170 years. It is a family-owned investment company that creates value for its owners by investing in industrial companies, real estate and forest. In 2021, the annual net sales of its portfolio companies was approximately EUR 4.4 billion and they employed almost 13,500 people in 33 countries. Its current portfolio includes significant holdings in the listed companies Detection Technology Plc, Glaston Corporation, and Suominen Corporation. In addition, the portfolio includes Ahlstrom Invest B.V. (including a significant ownership in Ahlstrom-Munksjo Holding), Munksjo AB, M&J Recycling A/S and GPV Group A/S. Its portfolio also includes major real estate and forest holdings.

SOURCE Bast Fibre Technologies Inc.
Centrifugal Pumps Market size is predicted to be valued at US$ 47.56 Billion by 2032. Monobloc pump Industry is expected to grow rapidly in below 30 Hp centrifugal water pump market

NEWARK, Del., Oct. 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The below 30Hp centrifugal water pump market is expected to witness a healthy CAGR of 5.3% over the course of the projection period from 2022 to 2032. The global market expected to reach US$ 37.1 million in 2022 to US$ 68.95 million in 2032. Sales of 30Hp centrifugal water pumps are increasing due to their high efficiency, which helps in cost cutting in agriculture both immediately and over the course of each unit's lifetime.

As a matter of fact, the largest portion of water consumption which is considered to be more than four-fifths of the Nile River is consumed by the agriculture sector. In the year 2016, there were around 3.8 million hectares of cultivable land available. Over 14% of the nation's GDP, or 256.9 billion Egyptian pounds, comes from agriculture. In addition to that, the rise in the population pool has increased the amount of water used for domestic purposes, which leads to higher sales of below 30 Hp centrifugal water pump market

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The below 30Hp centrifugal water pump market is predicted to expand owing to the surging investments in infrastructure and increased construction activities. Owing to the expansion of the water supply network and a surge in agriculture initiative operations, there is a rising demand for these water pumps. Over the assessment period, a phenomenal rise in demand for cost-effective and energy-efficient centrifugal water pumps can be seen attributing to the rising energy costs and increasing environmental consciousness among end users.

Key Takeaways

With the help of technological advancements, the performance of a below 30 Hp centrifugal water pump in the market is anticipated to bolster, making it efficiently usable in several downstream applications. Furthermore, they save a chunk of money by not put hefty investments and setting up supplementary equipment like pulsation dampeners.

Attributing to its corrosion-resistant design, the below 30Hp centrifugal water pumps efficiently operate in environments where conventional pumps degrade rapidly. Over the assessment period, the demand for below 30Hp centrifugal water pumps is likely to increase due to rising energy costs and increasing environmental consciousness among end users.

These pumps are massively used in several end-use industries that allow producers, distributors, and users of chemicals to transport a wide range of fluids under diverse conditions, including ones that would quickly destroy other pumps.

More than 50% of all the pumps sold around the globe are below 30 Hp centrifugal water pumps. These pumps are majorly utilized in both small as well as large-scale industrial applications including power, wastewater treatment , and chemicals.

and chemicals. Over the projection period, a reasonable surge in the sales of below 30 Hp centrifugal water pumps witnessed owing to their efficiency, which is ideal for home and agricultural applications. This is resulting in a surging need for new water sources all over the world.

As compared to various other pumping methods, below 30 Hp centrifugal chemical pumps have a good energy efficiency rating. Due to this, they have a big advantage over other pump designs in the market.

Competitive Landscape

The below 30 Hp centrifugal water pump market is massively consolidated, as prominent regional and local players account for a collective revenue share of around 70% of the total centrifugal water pump market in the country.

Key Players in Below 30 Hp Centrifugal Water Pump Market are Grundfos, KSB Pumps Ltd., Xylem Inc, Wilo SE, Flowserve Corporation, Calpeda S.p.A, Omega Egypt Co.

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More Insights into the Below 30 Hp Centrifugal Water Pump Market

The below 30 Hp centrifugal water pumps are mostly used in irrigation, according to the estimations, the expanding agricultural sector along with the surging amount of fertile land in nations such as Morocco, India Thailand, and Egypt, offer sizable prospects for the market since these countries have a strong agricultural economic background.

Sales of below 30 Hp centrifugal water pump is increasing owing to their robust construction endures throughout time. A variety of businesses turns to this kind of fluid transfer pump as their preferred option.

Key segments

By Application:

Industrial

Agriculture

Domestic

By Product:

Mini Pumps (0.5-30 HP)

Monobloc Pumps (0.5-30 HP)

Submersible Pumps (0.5-30 HP)

By Capacity:

0.5 Hp (minimum)

30 Hp (maximum)

By Region:

North America

Latin America

Europe

East Asia

South Asia & Pacific

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Table of Content

1. Executive Summary

1.1. Global Market Outlook

1.2. Demand-side Trends

1.3. Supply-side Trends

1.4. Technology Roadmap Analysis

1.5. Analysis and Recommendations

2. Market Overview

2.1. Market Coverage / Taxonomy

2.2. Market Definition / Scope / Limitations

3. Market Background

3.1. Market Dynamics

3.1.1. Drivers

3.1.2. Restraints

3.1.3. Opportunity

3.1.4. Trends

Explore FMI's related ongoing Coverage on Industrial Automation Domain

Centrifugal Pumps Market Size: Future Market Insights (FMI) projects centrifugal pumps market sales to increase at 4.6% CAGR between 2021 and 2031.

Self-Priming Centrifugal Pump Market Share: Volume Sales Of Self-Priming Centrifugal Pumps To Driven By Demand From Developed & Developing Regions Inclined Towards Waste And Water Management.

Sea Water Pumps Market Analysis: Sea Water Pumps Market anticipated growing at a moderate CAGR of 4.3% between 2022 and 2028, totaling a valuation of over US$ 1.6 Bn by 2028.

Dewatering Pumps Market Demand: The dewatering pumps market expected to grow at year-on-year rate of 5.3%, reaching a value of about US$ 6.9 Bn by 2022.

Sea Water Injection Pumps Market Trends: Sea Water Injection Pumps Market: COVID-19 Impact Assessment and Global Industry Analysis 2020-2030.

About Future Market Insights, Inc.

Future Market Insights, Inc. is an ESOMAR-certified business consulting & market research firm, a member of the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce and is headquartered in Delaware, USA. A recipient of Clutch Leaders Award 2022 on account of high client score (4.9/5), we have been collaborating with global enterprises in their business transformation journey and helping them deliver on their business ambitions. 80% of the largest Forbes 1000 enterprises are our clients. We serve global clients across all leading & niche market segments across all major industries.

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SOURCE Future Market Insights, Inc.
BEIJING, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- From the number of participants to the extensive list of participating companies, BEYOND Expo 2022 has made history by hosting the largest international tech expo in the metaverse.

BEYOND Expo 2022 Closing Remarks BEYOND Expo 2022 Opening

From September 21st  27th, BEYOND Expo 2022 brought together over 35,000 participants, exhibitors, media representatives, enterprises, and government agencies from more than 120 countries into the metaverse to create a brand-new interactive conference experience. The conference brought together 300+ leaders in science and technological innovation, industry experts, entrepreneurs, and 150+ investment institutions in attendance.

The Organizing Committee hosted 150+ networking events across BEYOND's Opening Ceremony, 5 key summits, Innovation Roadshow, and Award Ceremonies. 500+ exhibitors showcased virtual product demos in the 3 Exhibition Areas, and live conference views surpassed 6 million. 300 media representatives from around the world covered BEYOND Expo 2022, and published media views have exceeded 100 million.

Gathering of top leaders investing in the future of global technological innovation!

On Wednesday, BEYOND Expo 2022, opened online in the BEYOND Metaverse. The Expo ran until September 27th, this year's focus was on healthcare tech, sustainability tech, consumer tech, global investment, and Web3. The opening speeches featured seven top tech leaders and investors, sharing insights on the future focal points of China's tech sector in climate tech, health tech, and the nurturing of top talents.

Speakers included the following luminaries:

Dr. Roger Kornberg -Nobel Prize in Chemistry;

-Nobel Prize in Chemistry; Zheng Xuexuan - Chairman and Secretary of the Party Leadership Group of China State Construction, the Chairman of China State Construction Engineering Corporation Limited;

Yigong Shi - President of Westlake University, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences;

- President of Westlake University, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; Robin Zeng - Founder, Chairman and CEO of CATL;

- Founder, Chairman and CEO of CATL; Lei Zhang - Founder of Hillhouse;

Allan Gabor - President of Merck China, and Executive Vice President of Merck's Electronics business sector in China ;

- President of Merck China, and Executive Vice President of Merck's Electronics business sector in ; Charles Li -Founder and Chairman of Micro Connect.

Each of the speakers shared their insights on the latest trends in their respective industries, with an emphasis on the influence of cutting-edge technological innovation.

This year's Expo organized summits around five topics: consumer tech, global investment, healthcare tech, sustainability tech, and Web3. Leaders from leading companies such as SenseTime, Animoca, Gobi Partners, and XTalPi shared their insights on key topics.

The BEYOND Expo 2022 attracted nearly 500 companies across the globe to exhibit their product and services in the BEYOND Metaverse in three special exhibition areas: BEYOND Healthcare, BEYOND Sustainability, and BEYOND ConsumerTech.

Some renowned names include (in no particular order): Anker, BYD, Cowa, DJI, NBA, Nreal, OPPO, Pico, Macau Pass, Chimelong Resort, Ant Bank, Jidu, XGIMI, SenseTime, Xpeng Motors, Mindfulness Capital, Alibaba Group, Australia Qin Technology Cooperation Demonstration Zone, Brazil-Portugal Pavilion, Deloitte, Guangzhou High-Tech Industrial Development Zone Private Technology Park Management Committee, Huawei, China Taiping, among many others.

We hope to see you again at the BEYOND Expo 2023 in Macao!

SOURCE BEYOND Expo
The tech start-up implemented the 4-day working week model

The restructure will be continually monitored, with its results published in a quarterly report

Bizay.co.uk intends to pioneer the way we work, with greater harmony between work and personal life for its 180 employees

LISBON , Portugal, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/-- Bizay.co.uk , the tech platform offering customisable products for more than 1.5M clients across Europe - has today announced it will be adopting a four-day working week for all employees, commencing mid-October 2022. The move to a shortened working week follows the company's decision to close all offices and become a 100 percent remote company.

The four-day working week model, comprising 36 standard working hours, will be implemented on a trial basis with an initial two-year experimental pilot period. In practice, the new approach will lead to a 17% reduction of the working days per year - down to 186 days - and a reduction in the working hours by 7%, down to 1672 hours. Together with Deloitte, the strategic partner that designed the four-day model, Bizay.co.uk will monitor the impact of these measures on a quarterly basis.

This continual monitoring will allow Bizay.co.uk to adequately assess the impact of the four-day working week, and analyse the effects of the approach within a wider business context. Insights will demonstrate how the move affects business decision-makers and employees in areas such as: well-being, employee satisfaction, productivity, talent retention and attraction. These metrics will be published quarterly in the form of a detailed and transparent barometer, with insights which will enable other businesses to assess the impact of the approach.

With this new and radical working structure model, Bizay.co.uk is uniquely positioned as a future of work pioneer adopting a bold and progressive approach to remote working structures. The insights from the pilot period will be particularly useful to other companies considering a similar change for their organisations.

"Bizay.co.uk's decision to move to a 100 percent remote form of working last September, coupled with the implementation of a four-day working week from October, demonstrates our commitment to employee wellbeing. We believe the benefits of both policies will lead to supe-rcharged employee productivity, wellbeing, and happiness, without compromising on our productivity and company goals.

This decision comes after months of careful analysis, resulting in a meticulously-designed approach which will ensure all parties' interests are upheld. We believe that transparently sharing information on how Bizay.co.uk's four-day working model is working each quarter will help other managers and employees to accelerate what we believe to be the future model of work," says Sergio Vieira, CEO of Bizay.co.uk.

About Bizay Group

The technology firm, established in 2014, was created with the aim of democratising access to PMEs and Individuals to any personalised product. The group that is in 21 markets, holds the largest online catalogue for customised products, calling itself the "Amazon for personalised products". Bizay.co.uk is one of the most promising European technologies, growing 60% over the previous year and with an annual turnover of more than 40 million euros.

SOURCE Bizay
Capital One Selected as New Exclusive Issuing Partner for the BJ's Mastercard Program

MARLBOROUGH, Mass., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- BJ's Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ), a leading membership warehouse club operator, and Capital One Financial (NYSE: COF), a leading bank and credit card company, announced today that they have entered into a strategic program agreement for Capital One to become the exclusive issuing partner for BJ's co-brand Mastercard program. The new program is expected to launch in early 2023.

With the new BJ's Mastercard program, Capital One has also entered into an agreement to acquire the existing portfolio of BJ's credit card accounts. Over the coming months, more details will be provided to existing cardmembers on the transition to the new card program, which will continue to run exclusively on the Mastercard network.

"When we can deliver incredible value with a partner who is the absolute best at what they do, our members win," said Bill Werner, Executive Vice President of Strategy and Development at BJ's Wholesale Club. "Capital One's customer service and digital experience are unmatched in the card space, and we are so excited to pair this first-class offering with the power of Mastercard's network and an upgraded value proposition as we continue to deliver to our members what we believe is the best program in retail."

"We're proud to enter into a strategic partnership with BJ's to further accelerate their growth and support their commitment to deliver significant value to their members," said Buck Stinson, Senior Vice President, Head of U.S. Card Partnerships at Capital One. "We look forward to working together to offer BJ's Mastercard cardmembers unique value and convenience."

"We've been proud to bring the power of our network to support BJ's Mastercard cardmembers since 2014," said Bunita Sawhney, Executive Vice President, U.S. Financial Institutions at Mastercard. "With the addition of Capital One as the exclusive issuing partner for this program, we will be able to further deliver industry-leading everyday rewards and benefits to BJ's members."

BJ's Wholesale Club delivers value, convenience and assortment through incredible savings at an unbeatable value, helping members save up to 25% off grocery store prices on national brands. BJ's is proud to offer a wide assortment of fresh foods, produce, household essentials, gas, tires and much more. As an easy one-stop shop, members can enjoy a differentiated shopping experience enhanced by omnichannel capabilities, including same-day delivery, in-club pickup and ship-to-home.

Capital One has a superb track record of working with partners to deliver industry-leading payment products and digital capabilities that drive partner growth and deepen customer loyalty.

About BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc.

Headquartered in Marlborough, Massachusetts, BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: BJ) is a leading operator of membership warehouse clubs in the Eastern United States focused on delivering significant value to its members. The Company provides a curated assortment of grocery, general merchandise, gasoline and other ancillary services to offer a differentiated shopping experience that is further enhanced by its omnichannel capabilities. Since pioneering the warehouse club model in New England in 1984, the Company currently operates 232 clubs and 162 BJ's Gas locations in 18 states. For more information, please visit us at www.bjs.com or on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

About Capital One

Capital One Financial Corporation (www.capitalone.com) is a financial holding company whose subsidiaries, which include Capital One, N.A., and Capital One Bank (USA), N.A., had $307.9 billion in deposits and $440.3 billion in total assets as of June 30, 2022. Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, Capital One offers a broad spectrum of financial products and services to consumers, small businesses and commercial clients through a variety of channels. Capital One, N.A. has branches located primarily in New York, Louisiana, Texas, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey and the District of Columbia. A Fortune 500 company, Capital One trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "COF" and is included in the S&P 100 index. Visit Capital One About for more information.

About Mastercard

Mastercard is a global technology company in the payments industry. Our mission is to connect and power an inclusive, digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere by making transactions safe, simple, smart and accessible. Using secure data and networks, partnerships and passion, our innovations and solutions help individuals, financial institutions, governments and businesses realize their greatest potential. Our decency quotient, or DQ, drives our culture and everything we do inside and outside of our company. With connections across more than 210 countries and territories, we are building a sustainable world that unlocks priceless possibilities for all. www.mastercard.com

SOURCE BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc.; Capital One Financial Corporation; Mastercard
In his role as Creative Director of the campaign, Luhrmann said "I truly believe that everyone is inherently creative, no matter who you are, where you come from or what you do. You don't have to be labeled an artist to be considered a creative. If you just give yourself permission to see the world as a gallery of inspiration and reframe how you think about things, you'll unlock a part of yourself you didn't know existed. By partnering with BOMBAY SAPPHIRE, I want to encourage people everywhere to think about how they can turn the ordinary into the extraordinary and share this inspiration to make the world a more creatively nurturing place"

The campaign invites people to capture and share on social media what they see in the world that creatively inspires them, and what they have subsequently made, using #SawThisMadeThis. Through collaboration with hundreds of artists and creators from a variety of disciplines, the campaign will feature before-and-after 'Saw This, Made This' videos and photos, demonstrating how people can reframe the world around them and turn that inspiration into creative expression. The launch aims to encourage everyone  from creative novices to creative leaders - to join the movement and unlock their creative talents.

In a short film featuring never-seen-before footage from Luhrmann's personal archive, he talks candidly about how his life experience has shaped his own creative process and shares his philosophy with viewers, inviting them to see the creativity that exists in the everyday. Throughout the campaign, Baz Luhrmann will share on social media the #SawThisMadeThis submissions he finds most creatively inspiring. Submissions will also be celebrated in an evolving online gallery at www.BombaySapphire.com/SawThisMadeThis .

The campaign will culminate in 2023 in an awe-inspiring showcase of the world's creativity, in partnership with global arts organizations in London and New York, including the Design Museum in London, UK, an industry-leading institution renowned for its support of the creative community. People are invited to join the movement on social media using @BombaySapphire #SawThisMadeThis, with the chance of their creations becoming part of a global showcase of creative inspiration at the Design Museum and other leading creative institutions around the world.

Luhrmann said "With the support of BOMBAY SAPPHIRE, we will celebrate the culmination of the #SawThisMadeThis campaign during World Creativity Day in April. There's no limit to what you can contribute to the initiative and I'm so excited to help inspire this next generation of creatives."

Tim Marlow, Chief Executive and Director at the Design Museum said; "BOMBAY SAPPHIRE is shining a light on the role that art plays in helping us make sense of our place in the world and the latest 'Saw This, Made This' campaign aims to encourage people to reconnect with their creative side. From a 'Saw This Made This' cocktail to the incredible inspiration shared by artists around the world, we can all be creatively stirred and turn something seemingly ordinary into our own potential masterpiece."

Mixologists from all around the world have turned 'Saw This' inspiration from their resident cities, into unique BOMBAY SAPPHIRE 'Made This' cocktails. Julia Momose of Kumiko in Chicago has taken creativity from organic details in the trees in Chicago, and Valentino Longo of Shoshin Art Club in Miami from the city's iconic Art Deco architecture, to create unique, mouthwatering drinks.

The multi-million-dollar, integrated global campaign from Bombay Sapphire, 'Saw This, Made This', launches today with Baz Luhrmann at the helm as Creative Director, and rolls out across ten markets including the US, UK, Spain, Italy, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Greece and the Netherlands.

It's the next installment of Stir Creativity, the brand platform for BOMBAY SAPPHIRE, and aims to show how creativity can be found everywhere. As part of the campaign, a short film has been created, directed by award-winning advertising Director Juan Cabral. The breath-taking advert is Cabral's own poetic expression of Saw This, Made This. The film uncovers the limitless beauty in everyday scenes to inspire others to view the world as a gallery. Shot amongst the streets of Buenos Aires, Cabral's home city and a place cited as a source of his creative inspiration, the film takes the audience on a walk of discovery, inviting viewers to step outside, look around and see the world differently.

Inspired by a famous short story from 1945 'The Aleph' by the Argentine writer and poet Jorge Luis Borges, Juan uses a poetic extract as the voiceover narration for the film and the music "Arabesque" by Claude Debussy, to take the audience on an exquisite visual journey, aiming to stir creativity in the viewer and invite discovery of the extraordinary in the world around them. Cabral said: "Working with Bombay Sapphire on Saw This Made This alongside Baz Luhrmann has been an incredible journey. With our collective passion for storytelling and turning everyday moments into something extraordinary, we hope to inspire people to reframe the way we see the world."

Natasha Curtin, Global Vice President, BOMBAY SAPPHIRE said; "We are thrilled to be collaborating with incredible, visionary creative champions on our latest mission to stir creativity in people around the world. For over thirty years BOMBAY SAPPHIRE has collaborated with creators and artists with the purpose of giving support to and building a platform for creative self-expression. Like Baz and Juan, we believe in the importance of creativity - it is an essential part of what makes us human. With this campaign, we set out to show that creative inspiration is everywhere and to encourage people to reconnect with their own creative side."

The global through-the-line campaign, developed in partnership with AMV BBDO, Ogilvy PR and OMD over the last two years, launches today across TV, Film, VOD, OOH, Social and PR.

Visit www.BombaySapphire.com/sawthismadethis to watch, listen, and share your creative inspiration today.

For more information, please contact [email protected].

BOMBAY SAPPHIRE | THE WORLD IS A GALLERY SPOT: See HERE

BOMBAY SAPPHIRE x BAZ LUHRMANN LAUNCH 'SAW THIS, MADE THIS': See HERE

NOTES TO EDITORS

#SAWTHISMADETHIS COCKTAIL BARS:



Kumiko, Chicago, Illinois



Shoshin Arts Club, Miami, Florida

ABOUT BOMBAY SAPPHIRE:

Based on a 1761 recipe, BOMBAY SAPPHIRE gin is created by perfectly balancing a unique combination of 10 hand-selected exotic botanicals from around the world. The design of the BOMBAY SAPPHIRE distillery at Laverstoke Mill has won a BREEAM award for sustainability and is the home of the unique Vapor Infusion process, where the natural flavors of the botanicals are skillfully captured, resulting in the fresh and vibrant taste with which BOMBAY SAPPHIRE is synonymous. BOMBAY SAPPHIRE is on a mission to be the world's most sustainable gin, with all 10 botanicals being certified sustainably sourced, by the For Life certification from Ecocert S.A. The BOMBAY SAPPHIRE brand is part of the portfolio of Bacardi Limited, headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda. Bacardi Limited refers to the Bacardi group of companies, including Bacardi International Limited.

ABOUT BOMBAY SAPPHIRE AND CREATIVITY:

With its 'Stir Creativity' campaign, launched in 2018, BOMBAY SAPPHIRE is leading a global mission - a call to arms for everyone to engage with their creativity and unlock their creative potential. From advocacy programs including the World's Most Imaginative Bartender competition, which has run in the US for over a decade, to hosting The Glasshouse Project, which brings together the world's top bartenders in a series of creative workshops designed to push the boundaries of cocktail creativity. For eight years, BOMBAY SAPPHIRE ran The Artisan Series, an art competition created by the brand to provide emerging artists with an international platform.

www.bombaysapphire.com

www.instagram.com/bombaysapphire

www.facebook.com/BombaySapphire

ENJOY RESPONSIBLY. BOMBAY SAPPHIRE IS A TRADEMARK

SOURCE BOMBAY SAPPHIRE
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The 6th Filipino American International Book Festival on October 15-16, 2022 will feature Liza Gino's award-winning novel, IMELDA'S SECRET. They will hold this special event at the San Francisco Main Library, 100 Larkin Street in San Francisco, California. The festival is free for the public.

Filipino American International Book Festival Imelda's Secret

Open from 10:00 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. on October 15 and from 12:00 noon to 5:15 p.m. on October 16, the "Festival Marketplace" at the Latino/Hispanic Community Rooms will be the venue for interested buyers, collectors, and advocates who are interested in purchasing "Imelda's Secret" and meeting the author.

On Sunday, October 16, 2022, Liza Gino will read excerpts from her novel at 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. during the "Inkstorm 3: Authors Read Freshly Inked Work" session at the Koret Auditorium, basement level.

Liza Gino's novel, "Imelda's Secret", weaves a tapestry of authentic accounts about comfort women's experiences during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines in World War II into one story. Relatives and friends provided the inspiration for Liza to research deeply into the hushed past of these victims of rape, sexual trafficking, and trauma. Along the way, Gino met key stakeholders in the comfort women's fight for justice: women activists, thought leaders, and mental health professionals who gave voice to their hopes, aspirations, and disappointment in her tale of love, redemption, and advocacy.

What is Imelda's secret? Two cousins, Imelda and Gloria, have differing attitudes about revealing their shared experiences as comfort women. Whereas Gloria casually mentions that she was a comfort woman to acquaintances at her sons' school, Imelda denies her past. Gloria and Imelda's only daughter, Adele, are the lead advocates in getting these victims of war, among their demands, a public apology and renumeration from Japan. Yet, buried secrets surface in the most serendipitous ways 40 years later. The novel also chronicles a passionate love story.

How does the history of comfort women impact the present and the future? Sexual trafficking continues to be a dominant player in war zones. While comfort women of World War II assuaged the sexual needs of Japanese soldiers, today's predators are manipulative slave traders, paid handsomely for their exported refugees. "Imelda's Secret" allows the readers to empathize with the struggles of victims of war and sexual slavery, to appreciate diverse cultures and traditions, and to empower women and girls to take control of their lives.

Gino's literary accolades include: First Place for Historical Fiction at the 2020 Royal Dragonfly Book Awards; Pinnacle Book Achievement Award for Women's Interest Category (Fall 2020); Literary Titan Book Awards (2021); Award-winning author for Historical at the 2021 International Impact Book Awards; Award winner for Military Fiction at the Firebird Book Awards (2021); Print Journalism Award for Best Book (Fiction) from the Commission of Filipinos Overseas Migration Advocacy Media Awards (2022); and a 2nd place award for Women's Historical Fiction at the Bookfest Book Award (2022).

Liza Gino also garnered laurels at the Outstanding Creator Awards (Winter 2021-2022) with first place honors for Romance, Historical Fiction, Women's Issues, third place for Best Fiction Book, its Special Awards for Best Book Cover and Best Couple, and honorable mentions for the Special Awards for Best Character, Best Supporting Character, and Best Villain.

Other noteworthy recognitions of Liza Gino's gift for storytelling are: Finalist for Best Adult Book Award at the Readers' Choice Book Awards (2022), Honorable Mention for History at the San Francisco Book Festival Awards (2022), Finalist at the 2022 Feathered Quill Book Awards, and Honorable Mention for General Fiction at the Southern California Book Festival (2022).

Go to https://www.filbookfestival.org/ for more information about the book festival.

"Imelda's Secret" is available at https://imeldassecret.com/.

Media contact:

Liza Gino

[email protected]

415-684-8114

SOURCE Liza Gino
JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- For more than 50 years, Brooks Rehabilitation has been providing world-class physical rehabilitation to patients nationally and internationally. They are honored that their high-quality care was recognized on Newsweek's "America's Best Physical Rehabilitation Centers 2022" list. Brooks Rehabilitation Hospital was ranked the number one facility in Florida. Brooks was given additional recognition for having a "standout program" for stroke care.

Brooks Rehabilitation, Headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla., Ranked Number One in Florida on Newsweeks America's Best Physical Rehabilitation Centers 2022 List

"At Brooks, our expertise is caring for the most complex injuries and illnesses, such as stroke, spinal cord injury, brain injury and multiple traumas. Brooks treats approximately 4,000 patients in our hospitals each year that are in the top 1% in complexity in the nation," said Trevor Paris, MD, Brooks Rehabilitation System Chief Medical Officer. "Despite these unique challenges, Brooks is committed to ensuring exceptional outcomes that exceed national averages. Patients agree and have ranked us at 94.5% for overall care with 95.6% likely to recommend our services. We are honored to provide the highest level of care to empower their highest level of recovery."

Newsweek's ranking methodology included data from three sources: a nationwide survey of more than 4,400 experts; key performance indicator (KPI) data as published by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS); and accreditation data provided by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) and the Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center (MSKTC).

Newsweek awarded 255 inpatient rehabilitation facilities on a state basis. Survey participants were asked to rank the top 10 physical rehabilitation centers from their respective states. Recommendations for their own employers were not allowed. For each recommended physical rehabilitation facility, participants also were asked to assess the quality of care, service, follow-up care and accommodation and amenities. Participants were also able to specify a standout program (amputation, brain injury, cancer rehabilitation, spinal cord injury, stroke) for the recommended physical rehabilitation center. Rehabilitation centers that received several recommendations for one of the standout programs receive this additional designation.

Doug Baer, Brooks Rehabilitation President & CEO, said, "Brooks is known for our exceptional patient outcomes, cutting-edge technology and world-class clinical research. We provide a continuum of care for patients to ensure they have the right level of care at the right time for the best outcomes. We're thrilled to be recognized by Newsweek, and we'll continue our hard work to keep Brooks as the top rehabilitation center in Florida."

About Brooks Rehabilitation

For more than 50 years, the nonprofit Brooks Rehabilitation has been a comprehensive, complete system of care for physical rehabilitation. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla., Brooks operates two inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, including the nation's largest with 160 beds; one of the region's largest home healthcare agencies; more than 40 outpatient therapy clinics; the Brooks Rehabilitation Medical Group; two skilled nursing facilities; assisted living; memory care; and a Center for Inpatient Rehabilitation in partnership with Halifax Health (Daytona Beach). Brooks operates the Clinical Research Center, which specializes in advanced research to further the science of rehabilitation. Brooks also provides many low- or no-cost community programs and services to improve the quality of life for people living with physical disabilities. For more information, visit BrooksRehab.org.

Contact:

Jill Matejcek

Manager, Public & Community Relations

(904) 345-7718 phone

(904) 328-9531 mobile

[email protected]

SOURCE Brooks Rehabilitation
CHICAGO, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Cardiac Marker Testing Market is projected to grow from USD 5.0 billion in 2022 to USD 7.7 billion by 2027, at a CAGR of 8.7% from 2022 to 2027, according to a new report by MarketsandMarkets. Factors such as increasing incidence of cardiovascular diseases, increasing demand for early diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases, growing public-private investments to support for the clinical research of novel cardiac biomarkers, and rising geriatric patient population are anticipated to fuel the growth of the market during the forecast period.

However, technical challenges related to the collection and storage of biomarkers, limited reimbursements, and regulatory changes are expected to restrain the market growth during the forecast period.

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Based on products, kits and reagent segment accounted for the largest share of the cardiac marker testing market in 2021.

On the basis of product, the cardiac marker testing market is segmented into kit & reagents and Instruments. In 2021, the kit & reagents segment accounted for the largest share of the market. Rising prevalence of cardiovascular diseases and increasing demand for rapid diagnosis of heart conditions have enhanced the usage of reagents and kits in diagnostic laboratories, academic institutes, and POC facilities. Moreover, rising volume of cardiac marker testing procedures and increase availability of different cardiac biomarker kits and reagents are contributing towards the largest share of the segment.

Based on biomarker type, Troponin I and T segment accounted for the largest share of the cardiac marker testing market in 2021.

Due to the high sensitivity and specificity are marking troponin choice of biomarker among lab professional for the detection of cardiac injury. Moreover, the growing focus of players in introducing higher sensitivity troponin with capability of detection of lower level of concentration of troponin in blood samples are expected to support the growth of the segment.

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North America to command the largest share of the cardiac marker testing market in 2021

Based on region, the cardiac marker testing market is segmented into North America, Europe, the Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America accounted for the largest share of the market in 2021. The growth of the North American market is primarily driven by the increasing geriatric population, high incidence/prevalence of cardiovascular diseases, increasing number of cardiac marker testing procedures, and strong foothold of well-established players with strong cardiac biomarker testing product portfolio. Moreover, the rising support from the government to support the discovery of new cardiac biomarker is likely to boost the market in North America.

Prominent players in the cardiac marker testing market include F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG (Switzerland), Abbott Laboratories (US), Danaher Corporation (US), Siemens Healthineers AG (Germany), PerkinElmer, Inc. (US), bioMerieux SA (France), Becton, Dickinson and Company (US), Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (US), Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (US), DiaSorin (Italy), and Tosoh Corporation (Japan), LSI Medience Corporation (Japan), Quidel Corporation (US), Randox Laboratories (UK), Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech Co., Ltd. (China), Boditech Med Inc. (South Korea), Tulip Diagnostics (P) Ltd (India), BTNX Inc. (Canada), Response Biomedical (Canada), Alfa Scientific Designs, Inc. (US), CTK Biotech, Inc. (US), Creative Diagnostics (US), LifeSign LLC. (US), CardioGenics Holdings Inc (Canada), and Atlas Medical GmbH (Germany).

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MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 7500 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions.

Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model  GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve.

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MarketsandMarkets INC.

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SOURCE MarketsandMarkets
Emma Chamberlain's Gen-Z coffee brand is launching a festive flavor in celebration of the brand's second anniversary

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Chamberlain Coffee , the leading coffee lifestyle brand and brainchild of Emma Chamberlain , announced today the launch of their Sweet Otter Cake Batter Blend, which will be available for a limited time only on the brand's website. The cake batter-flavored blend releases in celebration of the coffee brand's second anniversary, following their expansive relaunch in 2020 where the brand went from one coffee blend to over 20 and unveiled a rebrand.

Chamberlain Coffee Launches Limited-Edition, Sweet Otter Cake Batter Blend

Available in whole bean and ground, this USDA organic, medium roast blend features creamy tasting notes of vanilla and buttercream frosting throughout with a 4/5 caffeine strength. With flavored blends being top-sellers for Chamberlain Coffee, adding Cake Batter to the lineup was a perfect fit for the brand to celebrate this milestone. Earlier this year, Chamberlain Coffee expanded their line of products with the launch of two flavored blends - Witty Fox Hazelnut and Fluffy Lamb Vanilla , followed by the launch of their Sneaky Bat Pumpkin Spice Blend last month as a nod to fall and Halloween.

"We're so grateful for the amazing two years we've had thus far at Chamberlain Coffee," said Chamberlain Coffee CEO Christopher Gallant. "We wanted to create a fun flavor to show appreciation for our customers and are thrilled to celebrate our second anniversary together!"

Since the brand's inception in 2020, Chamberlain Coffee has built up a cult-following that has propelled the brand's sales. The brand offers a variety of lifestyle products (from branded merchandise to custom coffee accessories) and several different coffee blends (available in single-serve bags and whole and ground beans) to help tap new audiences and appeal to the masses.

"I have always loved cake batter flavored everything, so developing this flavor was extra fun. I love experimenting with playful flavors, and I'm excited to continue to develop more," said Chamberlain Coffee founder Emma Chamberlain. "Creating Chamberlain Coffee has been such a dream of mine and our gratitude to our customers is beyond words. We hope they love the new blend!"

In addition to Chamberlain Coffee's unprecedented product growth, the brand has also seen success through retail expansion and brand partnerships. The product has recently launched in LA hot-spot Erewhon, national grocer Sprouts and digital delivery market Gopuff  while releasing a steady cadence of product collaborations with brands like Levi's, OffLimits Cereal, Nutpods, and most recently Swoon, to create a Matcha Lemonade.

Consumers can find Chamberlain Coffee's Cake Batter blend on ChamberlainCoffee.com for $16. For more information on Chamberlain Coffee, and to stay up to date on the latest product launches, follow on Instagram at @chamberlaincoffee .

ABOUT CHAMBERLAIN COFFEE

Founded by YouTube phenomenon Emma Chamberlain, Chamberlain Coffee is high-quality, sustainably sourced organic coffee roasted in California, so you can feel good about the coffee you're sipping on. No pesticides, no BS. Available in single-serve bags, instant sticks, ground and whole bean options, Chamberlain Coffee is symbolized by different characters to encapsulate the different coffee drinker in all of us. The brand also has various other delicious offerings, including their 5x sold-out Matcha, Cocoa Grizzly Hot Chocolate, and Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans. Supporting coffee-farming communities in Latin America, Chamberlain Coffee works with Food4Farmers to ensure long-term food security for coffee-farming families.

SOURCE Chamberlain Coffee
LA CROSSE, Wis., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Caravel Autism Health, a leader in the diagnosis and treatment of young children on the autism spectrum, has announced plans to open another children's autism therapy clinic in western Wisconsin. The new Caravel clinic at 3936 Circle Drive in Holmen, WI will offer local families a comprehensive range of services including diagnosis, evaluation, therapy, family support, and counseling. It is slated to open in November.

Caravel has been serving Wisconsin families living with autism since 2009 when the company opened its first clinic in Green Bay. Caravel's expert clinicians help children with autism develop skills, create connections with others, and gain confidence. They specialize in Applied Behavior Analysis therapy, which uses positive reinforcement to help young children build language and communication skills and improve focus. The effectiveness of ABA therapy is recognized by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Our mission is to change lives," explained Caravel CEO Mike Miller. "Giving children access to ABA therapy at a young age ensures they will reach their greatest potential. Unfortunately, there is a shortage of ABA providers in many communities. We are working to identify those regions and making the investment in new clinics. Each time we open the doors to a new clinic, we know we're bringing more resources and greater hope for families touched by autism."

"Caravel has served communities across Wisconsin for more than a decade," said Caravel Regional Director Alia McCann, MA, BCBA. "We've continued our efforts to bring ABA therapy to more families by opening clinics in eastern Minnesota recently, and we're thrilled to be adding another location for children in the La Crosse region."

Caravel is scheduling appointments for children and families in the La Crosse region. Parents of young children and others with questions about autism diagnosis and ABA therapy are invited to call 608-470-6434 or visit caravelautism.com.

About Caravel Autism Health

Since 2009, Caravel Autism Health has been devoted to helping families navigate the challenges of childhood autism. Our team of clinical experts specializes in the evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of children on the autism spectrum. Caravel's research-based and data-driven programs are designed to provide better outcomes that help children with autism reshape their development and embrace new ways of interacting with the world.

SOURCE Caravel Autism Health
BEIJING, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Spallation Neutron Source, or SNS, in Dongguan works by using neutron beams which are able to penetrate materials with ease and provide a clear view of the inside structure.

Dongguan's SNS is essentially a super microscope which allow scientists to examine materials on a deeper level, like subatomic particles, without damaging their structure.

Diving Deeper With the Super Microscope in Dongguan

But building a SNS is no cheap endeavor, so it is safe to say that these super microscopes are few and far between. Currently, there are only four spallation neutron sources in the world.

In this video, two scientists, Tong Xin and Matthew Musgrave are working together to promote the scientific research of polarization spallation neutron. Tong and Matthew were colleagues at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the US for years, but recently moved to Dongguan to join the research team on the spallation neutron source.

Working on the newest SNS team means that Tong and Matthew are using some of the latest tech, but it also means they are overcoming a lot of the challenges in the early stages. And for Matthew, he is not just dealing with a new job, but also a new culture, language, and lifestyle. What does this super microscope mean for the future of research? How are scientists like Matthew from the United States adjusting to a new life in Dongguan? The video produced by China Matters will offer an insight into the questions.

Contact: Zeng Wei

Tel008610-68996075

E-mail[email protected]

Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbN8FEvyUQE

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1847047/China_Matters_Logo.jpg

SOURCE China Matters
Cherry Hill location is Monte Nido & Affiliates' first program in the state of New Jersey

CHERRY HILL, N.J., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Monte Nido & Affiliates, one of the largest and leading eating disorder treatment providers in the country, today announces the opening of Clementine Cherry Hill located in Cherry Hill, N.J. The company's newest residential eating disorder center will provide care for adolescents of all genders with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder and/or exercise addiction. Expanding to its 15th state, Clementine Cherry Hill is the provider's first program in the state of New Jersey.

The new Cherry Hill facility will allow more teens in New Jersey to get the help they need and become fully recovered. Tweet this Clementine Cherry Hill, a new residential eating disorder treatment program for adolescents in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

"At Clementine, our goal is to help make treatment accessible and we are committed to expanding care for even more people in pursuit of recovery," said Candy Henderson, MS, Chief Executive Officer of Monte Nido & Affiliates. "With eating disorders on the rise among adolescents, the new Cherry Hill facility will allow more teens in New Jersey to get the help they need and become fully recovered."

In the comfort of a home-like setting, Clementine Cherry Hill provides the highest level of medical and psychiatric care outside of a hospital, incorporating family and academic support, 24-hour nursing and mindful eating practices. The residential program offers individualized, evidence-based treatment that focuses on restoring physiological and nutritional balance.

"We are always sensitive to the developmental needs of this younger population, so the Clementine model of care was created using evidence-based modalities backed by research outcomes that demonstrate the efficacy of our care," said Melissa Spann, PhD, LMHC, CEDS-S, Chief Clinical Officer of Monte Nido & Affiliates. "Adolescents are particularly susceptible to eating disorders due to the developmental stages they are at in their lives, so early intervention is essential  and recovery is possible with the right tools and support."

Eating disorders have the second highest mortality rate of any mental health illness and can affect adolescents of all ages, genders and body types. Expanding access to care is an important part of early intervention and treatment, which offers adolescents with an eating disorder a greater chance of recovery.

For more information, or to inquire about treatment at Clementine Cherry Hill, please go to www.clementineprograms.com or call 855-900-2221.

About Monte Nido & Affiliates

Monte Nido & Affiliates is one of the country's largest and leading eating disorder platforms, offering inpatient, residential, and day treatment programs for eating disorders. Founded in 1996, Monte Nido & Affiliates currently operates forty-nine programs in fifteen states, with residential programs being Joint Commission accredited. Monte Nido & Affiliates includes five distinct eating disorder program brands: Monte Nido, Walden Behavioral Care, Rosewood Centers, Oliver-Pyatt Centers, and Clementine.

Contact: Claire Vartabedian or Abigail Cox

L.C. Williams & Associates

312-565-3900

[email protected]

SOURCE Monte Nido & Affiliates
The premier SaaS platform for compliance program management also sets new industry bar with Catalyst Reveal for access to analytics and benchmarking

NEW YORK,, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- LRN Corporation, the leader in ethics and compliance solutions for global business, today announces the latest release of LRN Catalyst, its integrated SaaS platform for organizations to deliver customizable training courses, track disclosures, and analyze compliance program performance. LRN Catalyst is the compliance management platform that helps legal, HR, and compliance leaders create ethical cultures, comply with regulations, and inspire principled performance.

Closing the Gap Between Compliance and Corporate Culture Just Got Easier with Latest Release of LRN Catalyst

Of significant value to compliance program managers is Catalyst Reveal. This new solution, available as an upgrade to LRN Catalyst, eliminates the need for tracking data on spreadsheets or downloading and manually manipulating data from basic learning management systems. The insights accessible in Catalyst Reveal go beyond simple course completion metrics inside an organization by providing access to aggregated data that is not available anywhere else. Catalyst Reveal makes use of artificial intelligence to analyze more than 16 million anonymized data points across 2 million learners in areas like course ratings, culture feedback, learning effectiveness, and learning relevance to help organizations benchmark key learner sentiment metrics against industry norms. Visual dashboards provide a powerful view into results in real time with filters for data analysis over regions, populations, languages, courses, curriculums, and time for greater insights about performance internally and benchmarked against industry peers.

"Our commitment to continuous innovation for our clients has netted our most brilliant release yet," said Parijat Jauhari, LRN chief product and technology officer. "We have united features and functionalities for a more seamless experience that offers greater access, utility, and insight for delivering, measuring, and optimizing an effective ethics and compliance program."

This is vital in an era of increasing government scrutiny of E&C program effectiveness worldwide and in the United States with recent guidance from the Department of Justice. Real-time data that demonstrates program impact with employees and the ability to adapt programs to deal with new risks or red flags are invaluable in meeting regulators expectations. Further, fostering a strong ethical culture helps the company as a whole adapt to evolving operating environments. Recent research confirms adaptability is a trait of the most ethical companies; those that evolve and build strong ethical cultures outperform others by up to 40% across key business metrics including employee loyalty, customer satisfaction, innovation, and growth.

The latest release of LRN Catalyst supports the goals of corporate leadership including chief compliance officers, board directors, and audit managers in reducing risk, while at the same time prioritizing the learner experience and equipping people with the knowledge and tools to do the right thing.

Highlights of the LRN Catalyst release:

Catalyst Reveal

New analytics and benchmarking option to enhance insights and transform reporting.

This new offering provides actionable data insights and reveals industry benchmarks to help program managers understand, improve, support, and defend their E&C program. Benchmarking data sits right inside the platforman industry first.

Catalyst Design

Intuitive customization and content management for more seamless course deployment.

An expanded set of self-editing capabilities that provide the flexibility to customize library courses to align with the needs of the organizationnot just from a brand perspective, but also from a learning content perspective.

Inspire Library

Enhanced learner experience that adapts for both accessibility and training needs.

Re-imagined not just for the engaging "Learn It - Work It - Prove It" instructional design model, but also for adaptive learning to adjust to the learner's role and test-out status.

Catalyst Reach

Breaking down the barriers to learning.

A user console that supports accessibilitynow WCAG 2.1 AA compliantis foundational to the new architecture that enhances performance, simplicity, and usability. To help foster ethical culture and meet employees wherever and whenever, the solution is 99% compatible with Apple and Android mobile platforms.

Catalyst Disclosures

Increase accuracy, efficiency, and transparency of disclosure tracking and reporting.

Foster organizational trust by creating an auditable single source of truth where program managers can easily assign, embed in course, or collect on demand key disclosure data. This saves timeand money.

"I am thrilled by the work our team is doing with our most collaborative clients to build best-in-class solutions for ethics and compliance professionals around the world," said LRN CEO Kevin Michielsen. "LRN Catalyst is the compliance management platform purpose-built for the practice, for our award-winning course content, and with the guidance of our Advisory team to streamline processes, save time, deliver exceptional insights, and create the kind of company culture leaders can be proud of."

About LRN Corporation

LRN's mission and purpose is to inspire principled performance and help people around the world do the right thing. Since 1994, LRN has worked to propel organizations forward with the partnership, knowledge, and tools to build ethical culture. More than 1,000 companies and 30 million learners worldwide utilize LRN services and take LRN e-learning courses to help navigate complex regulatory environments and foster ethical, responsible, and inclusive cultures. In partnership with LRN, companies translate their values into concrete corporate practices and leadership behaviors that create sustainable competitive advantage. By acting upon shared values, companies and their people find the means to outbehave and outperform. Learn more at LRN.com and follow on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

For more insights from LRN on ethics, compliance, corporate culture, and reputation subscribe to our newsletter.

Media contact:

Kayla Thompson

[email protected]

773.453.2444

SOURCE LRN Corporation
Coming October 12, 2022: New Legal Intelligence Service for Telecom, Tech and Media Professionals.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The editors of the leading telecommunications news service, Communications Daily, announce the launch of Communications Litigation Today, a new information service that will deliver comprehensive coverage of the fast-moving communications legal environment to help professionals in telecom, tech and media understand legal impacts on their organizations.

State and federal regulators and lawmakers have struggled to keep pace with innovation in the telecom, media and tech industries. As a result, regulators and telecom companies frequently take legal action to clarify significant issues such as regulatory jurisdiction, funding for infrastructure development, content liability, consumer protection, and more. The resulting decisions, and legal challenges to those decisions, affect billions in industry revenue and billions more in taxpayer funding for infrastructure. But following these complex legal developments across the national landscape is challenging, and many communications litigators lack a reliable source of timely news on telecom, tech and media litigation.

Communications Litigation Today fills this need with authoritative daily coverage of significant telecom cases, plus detailed reporting, context, newsmaker interviews, and links to source documents related to legal proceedings and decisions with national implications. Coverage areas will include evolving developments of interest to litigators, corporate counsels, regulators and other legal professionals in the telecom, tech and media industries, such as:

Disputes arising from section 332 of the Federal Telecommunications Act

Legal developments affecting infrastructure development and funding, such as national broadband and 5G rollouts

Robocall enforcement activities under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act

Challenges to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act governing social media companies' liability for third party content

State AG and DOJ investigations, legal actions and enforcement related to telecom, privacy, social media and more.

Federal litigation involving the FCC

"Telecom litigators have to follow simultaneous developments on dozens of hugely influential state and federal cases," explained Tim Warren, Communications Litigation Today's Executive Managing Editor. "These decisions affect billions in revenue and taxpayer dollars, millions of consumers and thousands of workers. In order to keep up with developments and strike the right balance between innovation and consumer protection, telecom, tech and media professionals need to know the issues these cases will impact and how their business will be affected. Communications Litigation Today was developed with their feedback to deliver that information more quickly and concisely than anyone else."

The service will be delivered via a daily email summary, in-depth PDF edition and access to a centralized library of related source documents at communicationslitigationtoday.com.

Starting 12 October, select telecom, tech and media professionals will begin receiving Communications Litigation Today by email on a complimentary basis during a limited preview period. Paid annual subscriptions will be made available at introductory rates during the preview period. Call 202-872-9200 or email [email protected] for additional information.

Contact: Tim Warren, Executive Managing Editor, 202-872-9200.

About Communications Daily

Dubbed "the bible of the telecom industry" by the Washington Post, Communications Daily is the authoritative source for telecom regulation, legislation and policy development news and is provided by the Federal Communications Commission to all its employees. Renowned for its objective and independent coverage of the telecom regulatory landscape, Communications Daily helps executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies make informed decisions. To subscribe or learn more, visit communicationsdaily.com.

About Communications Litigation Today

Communications Litigation Today provides litigators, corporate counsels, regulators and other communications law professionals with daily coverage of impactful court activity in the telecom, tech and media industries to help them stay informed on and respond to the changing legal environment. To begin a complimentary preview or learn more, visit communicationslitigationtoday.com.

About Warren Communications News:

Founded in 1945, Warren Communications News, Inc. is the leading publisher of hard news, analysis and research covering the international trade, telecommunications, consumer electronics and broadcasting industries. Learn more at warren-news.com.

SOURCE Warren Communications News
Seniors Can Learn About their Medicare Options from Home

TOLEDO, Ohio, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Baby boomers who are aging into Medicare or want to explore their options can attend a virtual seminar from the comfort of their own homes. The Toledo Clinic and Wood County Hospital are offering a Virtual Medicare Shop & Compare Expo, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Monday, Oct. 17, 2022.

The webinar is a great opportunity for seniors to learn more about their Medicare options. Registration is desired, but not required. To register visit IndependenceHealthSeniorCareAdvantage.com.

The webinar will include several sessions, including a physician panel entitled: "The Benefits of Value-Based Healthcare", Medicare 101 sessions by independent, licensed brokers, as well as insurance company presentations. The event is hosted by Independence Senior Care Advantage, a program offered by The Toledo Clinic and Wood County Hospital.

Don't worry if you miss the webinar. You can still watch the Medicare information program online at IndependenceHealthSeniorCareAdvantage.com.

About Independence Senior Care Advantage

Independence Senior Care Advantage program is not a new Medicare Advantage plan. Rather, it is a collaborative approach to care delivery that focuses on preventive care and providing care coordination resources. This program is open to senior patients of The Toledo Clinic and Wood Health Company physician group. More information about Independence Senior Care Advantage and Medicare informational resources are available at IndependenceSeniorCareAdvantage.com.

SOURCE Independence Health Senior Care Advantage
Disruptive electrification startup adds industry veteran to its growing team

FALLS CHURCH, Va., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ConnectDER , a company enabling consumers to decarbonize their homes by unlocking the maximum capacity from their existing electric service, announced today that it has appointed Edison Almeida as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO). In his new role, Edison will have overall responsibility for strategic business development, market intelligence, policy affairs, and corporate marketing.

"Edison's just an amazing pickup for our team," said Whit Fulton, chief executive officer at ConnectDER. "And this is the perfect moment for him to be joining us  ConnectDER is well positioned to play a pivotal role in expanding affordable access to electrification. We just needed an all-star to bring it to market faster."

"ConnectDER is a disruptive company with the potential to transform our multi-billion-dollar industry," said Almeida. "Our proprietary plug-in electric meter collar adapter enables customers to electrify their homes for a fraction of the cost of alternative solutions. ConnectDER's innovation allows for a simple, 15-minute install, eliminating the need for complex and prohibitively expensive installations. I am excited to join the team to help the company scale."

With over 20 years of experience working in energy, enterprise software, internet infrastructure and telecommunications, Mr. Almeida joins ConnectDER as the company is poised for rapid growth. Prior to ConnectDER, Almeida was Schneider Electric Ventures ' business incubation director in Boston, supporting disruptive innovation through funding, incubation, and partnerships. Prior to SE Ventures, Edison founded DemandQ (Formerly eCurv, Inc ), and is currently a member of its board. DemandQ is a software start-up delivering electric power demand management services to major Fortune 500 companies. As CEO, Edison was responsible for the company's day-to-day operations including product development and innovation as well as recruitment for and marketing of the firm.

ConnectDER recently announced a commercial partnership with Siemens to offer a plug-in home electric vehicle (EV) charging solution. The new device will enable EV owners to charge their vehicles directly through the meter socket, a convenient and efficient location available on every home. By bypassing a home's electric service panel, the adapter will save an estimated 60 to 80 percent of the charger installation cost by avoiding the need for electric panel upgrades.

Contact: Colin Mahoney

212-220-6045

[email protected]

About ConnectDER [ kuh-nek-ter ]

ConnectDER's mission is to accelerate society's clean energy transition through the electrification of everything. ConnectDER's innovative products enable consumers to decarbonize their homes by easily getting maximum usable capacity from their existing electric service. The company's products are used by the largest electric power utilities and solar installers throughout the United States, simplifying and accelerating the integration of distributed energy resources with the grid. For more information, check out www.connectder.com

SOURCE ConnectDER
Robert Attai Joins Deer Park from Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Deer Park Road Management Company ("Deer Park"), an alternative investment management firm, today announced the addition of Robert (Rob) Attai as General Counsel. Rob and Deer Park's current General Counsel, Robert Schwartz, will work closely together to transition responsibilities over the coming year.

"Rob brings more than two decades of legal experience across multiple sectors both domestically and internationally. We are very pleased to welcome Rob to Deer Park and look forward to relying upon his strong business acumen and legal knowledge to help drive our growth and development," said Brad Craig, Deer Park's Chief Operating Officer and Managing Partner.

Rob is an accomplished legal strategist who joins Deer Park from Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP in Denver, CO where he was an Equity Shareholder advising clients on a wide range of matters, including debt and equity financings, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, entity governance, and disputes. He has supported negotiations with foreign governments, joint venture participants, partners, service providers and financing sources across the world. Rob received his Juris Doctor degree with honors from The George Washington University Law School. Rob has been recognized in Chambers USA's ranking of top lawyers, Best Lawyers in America, and Colorado Super Lawyers, and was Law Week Colorado's "People's Choice for Best Corporate Attorney" in 2012.

About Deer Park Road Management Company:

Deer Park Road Investment Management Company is an alternative investment management firm based in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Deer Park Road manages investments primarily in distressed assets, including mortgage-backed securities, asset-backed securities, corporate debt and other credit investments. Deer Park was founded by Michael Craig-Scheckman in 2003, who was joined by Scott Burg, Chief Investment Officer and Managing Partner, in 2010. Deer Park currently has approximately $4.5 billion of assets under management. The Firm offers investors from around the globe a range of investment funds to meet their specific needs and objectives. including its flagship STS Master Fund, the Deer Park Total Return Credit Fund (a daily liquidity mutual fund) and customized, separately managed accounts (SMAs). For more information visit www.deerparkrd.com

SOURCE Deer Park Road Management Company
TSX.V: DME

U.S. OTC: DMEHF

Frankfurt: QM01

VANCOUVER, BC, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - DESERT MOUNTAIN ENERGY CORP. (the "Company") (TSXV: DME) (OTC: DMEHF) (Frankfurt: QM01) From the President of the Company.

GUNNAR DOME WELL

The workover rig and the required associated equipment are scheduled to arrive next week upon being released from their current work. We will be conducting a cement squeeze operation on both sets of current perforations in order to isolate them. Once completed, perforation into a different zone where well logs and instrumentation indicated helium, will be performed. As previously stated in the last press release, the chemical composition (slightly elevated levels of CO 2 ) of the gas was not compatible with the currently planned processing facility. It is anticipated the required workover, gas flow and composition tests will take between 14 to 21 days.

The zones that are to be isolated are being protected for future possible production combined with the Rohlfing Field wells.

McCAULEY HELIUM PROCESSING FACILITY

Trenching for flow lines is complete with final tie-ins to be completed after the processing facility has been delivered. The fence posts are currently being installed and wire mesh and razor wire are scheduled for next week. The solar panels will be delivered once the processing site is secure. Specific component containers will be trucked to the site shortly after their initial runup test is complete so that mechanical and electrical installation can commence.

FUTURE DRILLING PLANS

The Company is continuing with previously ordered additional independent archeological and native plant field studies, which are required in advance of permitting with the Arizona Oil & Gas Conservation Commission. These studies take many months and numerous agencies are required to review and approve the results of those studies. In order to remain efficient, the Company keeps a number of those studies underway. DME's geological team continues to review the findings of our latest well and apply those findings to enhance the previous geophysical and geological modelling.

The Company's decision to work with Beam Earth Ltd. is designed in a manner by which we can continue to focus on helium whilst using their hydrogen expertise for future possible joint operations. Therefore, a joint venture limits the Company's downside exposure as we prove-up this portion of our findings. We have a joint technology committee that will work together for planning a three-well drill program to commence around June of 2023. In addition, other helium encounters made by Beam Earth Ltd., internationally or domestically, will become an opportunity for Desert Mountain Energy to participate in. DME currently has sufficient multiple casing strings by which to drill additional wells as studies are completed and permits are filed and approved.

GENERAL FINANCIAL NOTE

The Company is situated in a strong financial position and has sufficient cash to undertake advantageous advancements. Casing availability continues to be an industry-wide issue and the Company has taken a proactive stance in ordering for future needs. Some of these commitments have been pre-paid, with additional orders placed with the supplier and mills.

ABOUT DESERT MOUNTAIN ENERGY

Desert Mountain Energy Corp. is a publicly traded resource company primarily focused on exploration, development and production of helium, hydrogen and noble gases. The Company is primarily looking for elements deemed critical to the renewable energy and high technology industries.

We seek safe harbor

"Robert Rohlfing"

Robert Rohlfing

Exec Chairman & CEO

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in polices of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. The statements made in this press release may contain certain forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual events or results may differ from the Company's expectations.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Such forward looking statements and information herein include but are not limited to statements regarding the Company's anticipated performance in the future the planned exploration activities, receipt of positive results from drilling, the completion of further drilling and exploration work, and the timing and results of various activities.

Forward-looking statements or information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company and its operations to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such statements. Such factors include, among others, changes in national and local governments, legislation, taxation, controls, regulations and political or economic developments in Canada and the United States; financial risks due to helium prices, operating or technical difficulties in exploration and development activities; risks and hazards and the speculative nature of resource exploration and related development; risks in obtaining necessary licenses and permits, and challenges to the Company's title to properties.

Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions management believes to be reasonable, including but not limited to the continued operation of the Company's exploration operations, no material adverse change in the market price of commodities, and such other assumptions and factors as set out herein. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or information, there may be other factors that cause results to be materially different from those anticipated, described, estimated, assessed or intended. There can be no assurance that any forward-looking statements or information will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements or information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. The Company does not intend to, and nor does not assume any obligation to update such forward-looking statements or information, other than as required by applicable law.

SOURCE Desert Mountain Energy Corp.
DOWNERS GROVE, Ill., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Dover Fueling Solutions ("DFS"), a part of Dover (NYSE: DOV) and a leading global provider of advanced customer-focused technologies, services and solutions in the fuel and convenience retail industries, is looking forward to welcoming customers and industry partners to the 2022 Hydrogen Technology Expo at Messe Bremen, Germany from 19th  20th October. At this clean energy tradeshow, DFS will showcase its innovative DFS Hydrogen dispenser  an advanced hydrogen technology that has a digital, easy-to-use interface that helps guide the user through the refueling experience safely and efficiently. This brand-new product is part of DFS' turn-key solutions offering.

The DFS Hydrogen dispenser has been expertly designed for reliable performance by leveraging decades of hydraulic innovation to help make the refueling process safe and dependable at a lower total cost of ownership. The DFS Hydrogen dispenser contains multiple configuration possibilities and a broad range of options, incorporating technology from DFS Hydrogen's recent acquisition of LIQAL B.V. The DFS Hydrogen dispenser facilitates the simultaneous filling of two nozzles in any combination of H35 and H70 dispensing pressures.

With countries around the world implementing legislation to encourage the use of, and investment in, clean energy, it is now time to diversify forecourt offerings across the globe. As such, DFS is planning to address several key challenges and opportunities created by this energy transformation to further enhance clean energy solutions, specifically hydrogen, within the fuel and convenience retail industries.

"At DFS, we consider hydrogen an essential part of the decarbonized energy mix and predict it will become one of the mainstream fuels for heavy-duty transport, as well as light vehicle passenger cars, next to electricity in years to come," said Soren Powell-Holse, Director of Product Marketing, DFS EMEA. "We are excited to be a part of ongoing energy diversification discussions within the industry and we're committed to supporting this effort through our portfolio of clean energy solutions, including our hydrogen technology."

Domenico Sicilia, DFS Sales Director, Alternative Fuels LNG, Hydrogen & CNG, added, "DFS is a reliable and leading fuel dispenser manufacturer within the European market, and has been for decades. The Hydrogen Technology Expo presents a unique opportunity for DFS to showcase our hydrogen technology in the form of the brand-new DFS Hydrogen dispenser."

For those attending the 2022 Hydrogen Technology Expo, please join DFS for live demonstrations and in-depth product discussions at booth 413, in hub 27, where visitors will have the opportunity to experience the future of clean energy.

For more information visit, www.doverfs-events.com/hydrogen-technology-expo

About Dover Fueling Solutions:

Dover Fueling Solutions , part of Dover Corporation, comprises the product brands of Wayne Fueling Systems, OPW Fuel Management Systems, ClearView, Tokheim, ProGauge, Fairbanks, AvaLAN Networks and LIQAL, delivers advanced fuel dispensing equipment, electronic systems and payment, automatic tank gauging and wetstock management solutions to customers worldwide. Headquartered in Austin, TX, DFS has a significant manufacturing and technology development presence around the world, including facilities in Brazil, China, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States. For more information about DFS, visit www.doverfuelingsolutions.com .

About Dover:

Dover is a diversified global manufacturer and solutions provider with annual revenue of approximately $8 billion. We deliver innovative equipment and components, consumable supplies, aftermarket parts, software and digital solutions, and support services through five operating segments: Engineered Products, Clean Energy & Fueling, Imaging & Identification, Pumps & Process Solutions and Climate & Sustainability Technologies. Dover combines global scale with operational agility to lead the markets we serve. Recognized for our entrepreneurial approach for over 65 years, our team of over 25,000 employees takes an ownership mindset, collaborating with customers to redefine what's possible. Headquartered in Downers Grove, Illinois, Dover trades on the New York Stock Exchange under "DOV." Additional information is available at dovercorporation.com .

Dover Fueling Solutions Contact:

Amy Cearley

(512) 484-4259

[email protected]

Dover Media Contact:

Adrian Sakowicz, VP, Communications

(630) 743-5039

[email protected]

Dover Investor Contact:

Jack Dickens, Senior Director, Investor Relations

(630) 743-2566

[email protected]

SOURCE Dover
Award-winning DXC Dandelion Program expanded across Europe and APAC

LONDON, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - DXC Technology (NYSE: DXC) a leading Fortune 500 global technology services provider, is expanding the DXC Dandelion Program which helps neurodivergent individuals with autism, ADHD, dyslexia and other neurological conditions to build careers in the IT industry.

Following the success of the program in Australia and New Zealand, DXC is now launching the initiative across European and Asia Pacific countries. The United Kingdom will be first to launch, building on a 12-month pilot, with Bulgaria, Poland and the Philippines to follow.

DXC Dandelion Program Co-ordinator, Felicia Vozza working with Daniel, a DXC Dandelion participant (Credit: DXC) (CNW Group/DXC Technology Company)

Recruitment is now open across the new locations with employment opportunities in various fields including data analytics, software automation, user experience and cybersecurity.

The DXC Dandelion Program was launched in 2014 in Australia with a focus on creating employment pathways and careers for neurodivergent individuals within the IT industry. With no prior professional experience required to participate, DXC has made the program available to individuals of all abilities with the motivation to work in technology. In addition to offering employment, DXC provides participants with technical and vocational training plus professional support by specialised consultants.

Michael Fieldhouse, Social Impact Practice Leader at DXC Technology APAC, who is responsible for the DXC Dandelion Program, emphasizes that "neurodivergent individuals often have an extraordinary ability to think visually and to care for details. These are valuable skills, especially in areas of IT such as cybersecurity and data analytics. By creating an equitable and positive working environment, and by providing the right support framework, we are giving participants of DXC Dandelion the best chance to succeed."

DXC Dandelion Program in Numbers:

Employment opportunities created for more than 200 individuals to date

92% employment retention rate

30-40% increase in the overall productivity of teams which participate in the program

Recognized by industry organizations globally, winning 17 international awards for its contribution to the development of socially beneficial initiatives

Recognized in the Top-Scoring Companies list by the Global Disability Equality Index, achieving a score of 100% for the company's disability and inclusion achievements in the last three years

A pilot of the program began in UK in 2021, providing 15 neurodivergent individuals with employment opportunities

Participants have the opportunity to work on customer projects. For example, the UK's Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), where 4 individuals are working on software testing and User Experience (UX) as part of DXC's contract to support the Information Management Services 4 (IMS4) program.

Chris Halbard, President of DXC Technology, EMEA, added "As we continue to grow, it's important that we invest in the communities where we do business and recognize the positive impact of diversity in the workplace. That's why we are extending DXC Dandelion across Europe and worldwide, helping neurodivergent individuals unlock their unique talents and bring success to themselves, DXC and our customers."

Cooperation with NGOs

DXC Technology cooperates with non-governmental organizations, foundations and educational institutions which help to expand the reach and impact of the DXC Dandelion Program and supports identifying and selecting participants who could benefit.

"Disparities in employment participation rates for neurodivergent individuals is a global issue that merits our concerted attention," said Professor of Disability Studies, Academic Director, Susanne Bruyere, Yang-Tan Institute on Employment and Disability, Cornell University ILR School. "Cornell University is pleased to partner with DXC Technology as it further moves the DXC Dandelion Program globally to make information about these targeted neurodiversity hiring initiatives more broadly available through a partnership for an online portal that shares related program information."

To find out more and watch a video about the DXC Dandelion program including the views of participants, please visit:

https://dxc.com/uk/en/about-us/social-values/dxc-dandelion-program

About the DXC Dandelion Program

The DXC Dandelion Program provides an environment that supports and celebrates the talents and skills of neurodivergent individuals such as those with Autism, ADHD or Dyslexia  and helps them build valuable skills to pursue a career in information technology. Learn more about how we are supporting neurodiversity in the workforce at DXC.com

About DXC Technology

DXC Technology (NYSE: DXC) helps global companies run their mission-critical systems and operations while modernizing IT, optimizing data architectures, and ensuring security and scalability across public, private and hybrid clouds. The world's largest companies and public sector organizations trust DXC to deploy services to drive new levels of performance, competitiveness, and customer experience across their IT estates. Learn more about how we deliver excellence for our customers and colleagues at DXC.com

SOURCE DXC Technology Company
With the world's first Carbon-Backed NFT, Company to enable consumers to collect nature-based carbon removal credits and inspire their peers to join through the ease of one-click climate action.

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Ecosapiens, a Climaverse PBC company, announced the largest ever consumer-driven climate action through its Web3 platform that enables anyone to take real, verifiable, and rewarding climate-corrective measures. The company's ambitious maiden project will introduce the first carbon-backed NFT, which includes ownership of 20 metric tons of naturally sequestered carbon  offsetting significantly more than the average American's yearly emissions. Utilizing Ethereum's recently upgraded ultra-low energy network, the collection will be released in small batches, eventually numbering 10,000. When complete, the collection will have proactively captured at least 200,000 metric tons of atmospheric carbon, equivalent to reforesting landmass the size of San Francisco and Oakland.

"Our vision for Ecosapiens is to enable anyone to have a measurable and meaningful individual impact on returning atmospheric carbon to the earth, where it belongs," said Nihar Neelakanti, Co-Founder and CEO of Ecosapiens. "We have been hard at work to develop technology that makes an Ecosapien a one-click easy answer to 'What can I do?' when thinking about ways to personally contribute to a restorative solution."

The first offering of the company's Ecogenesis Collection will begin in December with the sale of an extremely limited number of NFTs, followed by subsequent editions in 2023. The effort serves as a cornerstone upon which the Company will build an "Ecoverse"  a full-stack platform that will help consumers align themselves with sustainability, and seamlessly integrate eco-friendliness into everyday life. The Company's audacious goals have captured the attention of eco-conscious Web3 participants, quickly becoming the number one climate community on Discord.

The nature-based carbon credits contained within each Ecosapien are verified by market-leading rating agency Sylvera, offering full transparency into the attributes and location of the associated projects. Owners will have the option of adding up to 320 tons of carbon to their Ecosapien NFT, causing it to grow in rarity and evolve dramatically as it levels up at each carbon-capture milestone.

Leading Ecosapiens are co-founders Nihar Neelakanti and Garret Kane, who serve as chief executive and chief creative officer, respectively. Mr. Neelakanti was previously at Menlo Ventures, where his work concentrated on climate and consumer research, and Kauffman Fellows, the premier venture capital leadership organization. Mr. Kane is an award-winning sculptor, animator, and writer whose work fuses nature and technology. Before exhibiting to acclaim at shows such as Art Basel, Mr. Kane worked at advertising firms Grey and Saatchi & Saatchi.

"Each Ecosapien grows and evolves in harmony with the owner's commitment, and reflects the restoration of life it has sponsored in the real world," said Garret Kane, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer. "While we are creating something uniquely beautiful, we are also reimagining the avatar as a symbol of leadership and responsible action toward improving the health of our planet."

Ecosapiens has already garnered support from high-profile blockchain, consumer, and climate investors. Their seed round was led by Boost VC, with participation from Slow Ventures, Menlo Ventures, CRV, Alumni Ventures Blockchain Fund, Climate Capital, Chaos Ventures, UpHonest Capital, Ben Taft's Genius Ventures, and Ovo Fund.

Ecosapiens will launch with an exclusive carbon-backed NFT limited to just 250 Ecosapien avatars in December 2022. To become a member of the community, and register for early access, please visit www.ecosapiens.xyz, follow @ecosapiensxyz on Twitter, and join the community on Discord https://discord.com/invite/57AszRvpFj?utm_source=Ecosapiens+Website.

About Ecosapiens

Ecosapiens is building a Web3 platform that enables anyone to take meaningful and measurable climate action through the ease of a one-click solution. The company's ambitious maiden project will introduce the world's first carbon-backed NFT, which includes ownership of 20 metric tons of naturally sequestered carbon, and will offset more than the average American's yearly emissions. The first collection of 10,000 will remove at least 200,000 metric tons of atmospheric carbon, equivalent to reforesting landmass the size of San Francisco and Oakland. The company is backed by leading blockchain and climate investors including Boost VC, Menlo Ventures, Slow Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Climate Capital, and more.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

WHITEPAPER | TWITTER | DISCORD | INSTAGRAM

SOURCE ECOSAPIENS
Leading global energy developer making major investments in U.S. market; new projects will accelerate the transition to clean energy and provide solutions to decarbonize hardest-to-abate sectors.

AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- EE North America, a subsidiary of the Danish renewable energy company European Energy, today announced its ambition to develop 10 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy in the United States by 2026. Currently active in 26 markets globally, European Energy is a recognized market leader in the development of solar, wind and Power-to-X projects, which can produce green hydrogen, e-methanol and jet fuel.

"We are excited to expand our renewable energy project development expertise into the United States. European Energy views the U.S. as a critical market for solar and wind power, as well as technologies like Power-to-X that will be essential solutions in decarbonizing the hardest-to-abate sectors of the economy," said Knud Erik Andersen, CEO of European Energy. "Our vision is to enable the transition to clean energy, and our ambitious investment plans for the U.S. are an essential part of that journey."

EE North America recently opened a new office in Austin, Tex., to support its U.S. development pipeline. The company has purchased over 7,000 acres of land to develop its first U.S. solar projects, including 1 GW of solar capacity in Texas and additional projects in the Western United States. EE North America is also exploring investments in green hydrogen and e-methanol, which have applications in transportation, home heating, and heavy industry.

European Energy  EE North America's parent company  recently completed the largest electrolyzer order in the world (50 megawatts) with Siemens to develop the world's first commercial large-scale e-methanol project and recently signed an agreement with the world's largest shipping company A.P. Moller - Maersk to offtake up to 300,000 tons of e-methanol by 2025. The company is partnering with multiple ports in Europe to produce green hydrogen.

"We have the expertise, partnerships, and global track record to deliver fully integrated clean energy systems that enable cross-sectoral decarbonization, while also creating new American jobs and ensuring local communities benefit for generations to come. EE North America's energy solutions are commercially mature and financially viable today, and we look forward to additional partnerships as we make the U.S. a core part of our future growth story," said Lorena Ciciriello, CEO of EE North America.

About EE North America:

EE North America develops, finances, builds, and operates wind and solar farms and was one of the first companies in the world to introduce Power-to-X technology. Its parent company, European Energy A/S, is based in Copenhagen, Denmark, and has significant and in-depth experience in the development and deployment of renewable energy in four continents. European Energy was founded in 2004 and has a current project pipeline of 40 GW in markets across the world.

Contact

Lorena Ciciriello

CEO, EE North America

+1 917 900 8115

[email protected]

Ming Ou Lu

PR Manager

(+45) 31 26 93 76

[email protected]

SOURCE EE North America
Reinforcing EMX's commitment to transparency, efficiency, and the decrease of carbon emissions

NEW YORK, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- EMX by Big Village , the leading Premium SSP and end-to-end programmatic technology focused on the planning, buying, and measurement of CTV and omnichannel media, today announced it is partnering with Scope3, the source of truth for digital supply chain emissions data, to bring the first ever green media product to open exchange programmatic media buying. EMX's Open Exchange GMP (Green Media Product) is a carbon-neutral media product powered by Scope3, offering media buyers the opportunity to measure and compensate for the carbon emissions of their advertising campaigns.

EMX by Big Village Partners with Scope3 to Introduce the Industry's First Open Exchange Green Media Product Tweet this EMX by Big Village today announced it is partnering with Scope3 to bring the first ever green media product to open exchange programmatic media buying. EMXs Open Exchange GMP (Green Media Product) is a carbon-neutral media product powered by Scope3, offering media buyers the opportunity to measure and compensate for the carbon emissions of their advertising campaigns.

"Advertising has a surprising carbon footprint with most emissions coming from indirect supply chain sources," said Michael Zacharski, CEO, EMX by Big Village. "By moving to premium direct supply, advertisers increase transparency and have the ability to customize deal structures which have a more efficient tech stackproviding greener and more environmentally conscious options for the industry. This partnership with Scope3 combines EMX's premium inventory with Scope3's GMP reporting capabilities to allow advertisers the opportunity to make a positive impact, taking a step forward to reduce tech's carbon footprint. It's a win for advertising and it's a win for the greater good."

Scope3 has developed a standardized dataset that enables brands, agencies, publishers, and platforms to take positive steps towards optimizing the media supply chain for emissions. Scope3 empowers brands and agencies to allocate ad budgets to Green Media Products, encouraging publishers and platforms to actively and thoughtfully optimize their ad tech stack to minimize carbon emissions. Optimization of the supply-side ad tech stack removes waste and increases efficiency while brands and agencies achieve better campaign performance across all indicators, including carbon.

With EMX's Open GMP, media buyers can now benefit with the scale and ease of open media buying coupled with the ability to compensate for carbon emissions typically only available on private marketplaces (PMPs). Scope3 measures total emissions generated from the campaign and facilitates the contribution towards a portfolio of high-quality carbon removal projects scientifically vetted and managed by the experts at Carbon Direct.

"It's more critical now than ever that companies take a hard look at their tech stacks and determine how they can decrease their carbon footprint," said Harvin Gupta, head of commercial partnerships at Scope3. "With GMPs we are holding both the buyer and seller accountable for the carbon emissions the advertising industry contributes. As a result, the seller reduces their carbon footprint to lower total compensation costs and the buyer can track GMP delivery in reporting and use that as an indicator to track towards net zero goals. Partnering with EMX has enabled advertisers to use GMP while having access to direct premium inventory from EMX's Open Exchange with over 1,400 direct publishers."

With this partnership, EMX is furthering its commitment to transforming programmatic for the better, creating a greener, more efficient advertising industry.

For more information on EMX's partnership with Scope3 and EMX products and solutions, please visit https://big-village.com/emx/

About EMX by Big Village

EMX is a leading end-to-end programmatic technology group focused on the planning, buying, and measurement of CTV and omnichannel media. As a premium global direct to publisher supply side platform (SSP), data platform, media trading desk, and local marketing cloud, EMX is the fully owned technology that powers Big Village's programmatic media business. Big Village is a global advertising, technology, and data company. Find out more at https://big-village.com/emx/

About Scope3

Scope3 is the source of truth for supply chain emissions data. For organizations seeking to make carbon-aware business decisions, Scope3 is the standard that delivers an accurate, comprehensive, and independent emissions model for every company in the digital ecosystem. Scope3 enables the industry-wide usage of Green Media Products (GMPs), or carbon-neutral media, by measuring emissions and managing the purchase of high-quality carbon removal contributions.

Contacts:

Big Village:

Laura Czaja, Director, Corporate Communications

[email protected]

Scope3:

Jason Throckmorton, Head of Marketing and Communications

[email protected]

SOURCE Big Village
Coercive Jet Bridge Stops Violate Airline Passengers' Rights

ATLANTA, Oct. 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Actors and comedians Eric Andre and Clayton English filed a lawsuit today against Clayton County for its police department's program of racial profiling and coercive stops in jet bridges at Hartfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL). The lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of these stops under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments. The Policing Project at NYU School of Law and pro bono counsel from the law firms of Jones Day and Lawrence & Bundy represent Andre and English.

Press conference video link

Filing link

Andre and English, both Black men, were profiled and illegally stopped in nearly identical situations several months apart. On April 21, 2021, Andre was traveling from Atlanta to Los Angeles. As he walked through the jet bridge to board the plane, two Clayton County police officers intercepted him and immediately asked if he was carrying illegal drugs. After approximately five minutes of questioning and reviewing Andre's ticket and IDduring which other passengers squeezed by and gawked at the scenethe officers allowed him to board his flight. Clayton English, a stand-up comedian and actor based in Atlanta, had a very similar experience traveling from Atlanta to Los Angeles on October 30, 2020. The Clayton County Police Department ("CCPD") has defended these coercive jet bridge stops as "consensual encounters" and tell those who are stopped that they were selected at "random."

"I was blocked in a jet bridge by two police officers who interrogated me about drugs," said Andre. "I didn't see any other Black people boarding at the time. It's hard to believe I was selected at 'random' for questioning. It was a humiliating and degrading experience."

As today's lawsuit explains, the inherently coercive nature of these stops violate the Fourth Amendment. From the legal filing: "By ambushing passengers in this manner, the Unit's officers compound the enormous, preexisting compulsion to cooperate with airport law enforcement by exploiting the passengers' fear they will create an untoward scene or will appear guilty, subversive, or dangerous to their fellow passengers. By design, all of these factors exert tremendous coercive pressure on an individual passenger on the jet bridge to acquiesce to the officers' wishes. Those pressures are even greater for persons of color, given the history of racial profiling by airport security officers."

In addition, data obtained through an Open Records Act request filed by the Policing Project reveals that in the eight months preceding Andre's stop, 56% of the hundreds of passengers stopped by CCPD in ATL jet bridges whose races were recorded were Black. But overall, only 8% of airline passengers in the U.S. are Black, making the odds that Black travelers were "randomly" selected for these stops less than one in 100 trillion.

"These are cases of flying while Black, plain and simple," said Barry Friedman, co-founder of the Policing Project at NYU School of Law and the Jacob D. Fuchsberg Professor of Law. "Every day in America, people of color are unjustly stopped on the pretense that these encounters are consensual. It is humiliating, it is deeply inappropriate, it is unconstitutional, and it must stop."

The open records request also revealed that these jet bridge stops are ineffective at confiscating drugs or arresting drug smugglers. The stop program is, however, an effective civil asset forfeiture operation, in which money is seized from travelers based on the slightest suspicion that the funds are connected to criminal activity. In the eight months preceding Andre's stop, CCPD made 402 stops; only two resulted in charges (of a passenger traveling with 10 grams of marijuana and mushrooms and another with six prescription pills for which no valid prescription allegedly existed). However, in that same period, officers seized close to $1 million in cash and money orders from passengers against whom no related charges were ever filed.

"Neither Georgia residents nor travelers are safer because of these unlawful, discriminatory stops," said Richard Deane, Of Counsel at Jones Day and former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. "What CCPD appears to have created is a cash-grab scheme operated out of the busiest airport in the world."

"No matter where you've come from or where you're going, everyone has the right to be free of discrimination and harassment by Clayton County law enforcement," said Allegra Lawrence-Hardy, Co-Founder, Lawrence & Bundy. "We urge the court to shut down CCPD's airport stop program immediately."

Andre and English are asking the federal court to declare the CCPD's jet bridge stop program at the Atlanta airport unconstitutional. The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

The Policing Project at NYU School of Law promotes public safety through transparency, equity, and democratic engagement. Learn about the Policing Project at www.policingproject.org .

Jones Day is a global law firm with more than 2,400 lawyers in 42 offices across five continents. The Firm is distinguished by: a singular tradition of client service; the mutual commitment to, and the seamless collaboration of, a true partnership; formidable legal talent across multiple disciplines and jurisdictions; and shared professional values that focus on client needs.

Lawrence & Bundy is a nationally recognized boutique commercial litigation firm. The Firm partners with clients, delivering superior legal services, providing knowledge and strategic legal counsel of uncompromising quality, and anticipating the needs of each client to help position them for success. Learn about Lawrence & Bundy at www.lawrencebundy.com.

Contact: Joshua Manson, [email protected], 914.357.0000

SOURCE The Policing Project at NYU School of Law; Jones Day
Names First Chief People Officer, Anna Meyer;

Promotes Shana Simmons to Chief Legal Officer;

Grows Employees by 76% Since November 2021; and

Unveils 'Truth Transforms,' a New Brand Identity to Define Legal Tech's Future

OAKLAND, Calif., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Everlaw, the cloud-native investigation and litigation platform, announced today major milestones in employee growth and operations: two C-level appointments, new offices in New York City and Washington, D.C., a new partner program and the unveiling of a new brand identity  to fuel its mission to transform the legal industry.

Everlaw's First Chief People Officer, Anna Meyer

Shana Simmons Anna Meyer

Everlaw announced the appointment of tech veteran Anna Meyer to the new position of chief people officer, effective October 11, reporting directly to Everlaw CEO and Founder AJ Shankar.

As chief people officer, Meyer will lead all aspects of Everlaw's employee success function including talent strategy, employee experience, rewards, attraction, retention, development and diversity, inclusion and belonging. She is a seasoned people leader building world-class organizations within the technology industry. Most recently, Meyer served as chief people officer at PerimeterX and has held senior human resources roles at Intuit, AppDirect and SmartThings.

"Talent is the core of every great company, and in tech, it's arguably the business itself," Meyer said. "I'm thrilled to join AJ and the team as we strive to ensure Everlaw is a world-class platform supported by a world-class employee experience."

"As our CPO, Anna will be an incredible asset in our continued pursuit of building a strong, diverse culture that helps our employees succeed," Shankar said.

Everlaw's First Chief Legal Officer, Shana Simmons

Shana Simmons has been promoted from Everlaw's general counsel to its chief legal officer, effective immediately. Since joining Everlaw in August 2020, Simmons has led a team that's responsible for a range of legal, regulatory and governance, risk and compliance, commercial and privacy matters. Prior to Everlaw, Shana was at Google, guiding teams that supported Google Cloud's growth and success in new markets around the world. In her new chief legal officer role, Simmons will continue to focus Everlaw's legal team on value creation, mitigating risk, optimizing efficiency and delivering strategic insights.

"Shana is operating at the highest, most impactful level for our company," Shankar said. "Her legal and business acumen, and customer insights are critically important as we continue on our path to transform the legal industry's approach to discovery and litigation."

Meyer and Simmons join Chief Revenue Officer Rich Liu, who was hired in March 2022, in the C-suite.

Company Expansion

Since the company's Series D funding of $202 million in November 2021, Everlaw has grown its global employee base by 76% to reach 500+ employees, and has doubled employees on the East Coast. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Everlaw runs European operations from its London office.

New Midtown Manhattan Office Serves Am Law 200, Corporate Clients, Among Others

Everlaw has opened its first New York City office, located in Rockefeller Plaza to serve the company's growing customer base in the New York metropolitan area with sales, customer success and support teams.

Expanded Work for Federal Agencies Spurs Washington, D.C. Office Growth

One of the few legal tech companies with a FedRAMP-certified platform, Everlaw is used by federal agencies, including the Department of Justice, for work around Freedom of Information Act requests, litigation support and congressional inquiries. The Washington, D.C. office is a growing hub for the Everlaw public sector teams, including customer experience, sales enablement, sales and operations, and is conveniently located in the Washington Post building downtown.

"Today marks a milestone for us as a company," Shankar said. "Fueled by last year's funding round, we're building out an organization that values big thinking, diversity and integrity to take on a grand challenge  transforming the way legal teams pursue the truth."

Truth Transforms: New Brand Identity Reflects Our Future

The debut of Everlaw's new branding reflects the company's belief that truth is the ultimate destination for legal teams. Getting there requires navigating exploding sources of data, tight collaboration, finite resources and tight deadlines. Everlaw's new brand identity comprises an ediscovery experience created for this complex journey: powerful technology built to effortlessly manage massive amounts of information, combined with proactive partnership that keeps teams one step ahead.

"We know that ediscovery is too often a challenging journey, but we see a brighter future," said Everlaw VP of Marketing Joshua Schnoll. "Our customers choose Everlaw because of our thoughtfulness and our humanity  we look to delight users with our technology and our people. Everlaw helps legal teams chart a straighter course to the truthtransforming their ediscovery journey."

Everlaw Summit Draws World-Class Ediscovery Experts and Practitioners

The breadth and depth of the company's transformational work will be on display for its customers, partners and the greater ediscovery community at the in-person Everlaw Summit from Nov. 2 to 4, 2022 at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. The event will feature live programming with powerful insights for legal teams to "lead through change" with 26 sessions and six networking events, including Women in Ediscovery, as well as the Everlaw Summit Awards.

To learn more about Everlaw's new brand identity, read our blog.

To learn more about the new partner program, read our press release.

To learn more about Anna Meyer, read our Q&A with her.

About Everlaw

Everlaw helps legal teams navigate the increasingly complex ediscovery landscape to chart a straighter path to the truth. Trusted by Fortune 100 corporate counsel, 91 of the Am Law 200, and all 50 state attorneys general, Everlaw's combination of intuitive experience, advanced technology, and partnership with customers empowers organizations to tackle the most pressing technological challengesand transform their approach to discovery and litigation in the process. Founded in 2010 and based in Oakland, Calif., Everlaw is funded by top-tier investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, CapitalG, HIG Growth Partners, K9 Ventures, Menlo Ventures, and TPG Growth.

Learn more at https://www.everlaw.com.

Media Contact:

Colleen Haikes

[email protected]

SOURCE Everlaw
San Mateo Award Program Honors Achievement in Community and Business Categories

SAN MATEO, Calif., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Evisort , the no-code contract intelligence platform loved by legal, procurement, and sales operation teams worldwide, has been selected for the 2022 Best of San Mateo Award in the Software Company category by the San Mateo Award Program.

Each year, the San Mateo Award Program identifies companies that have achieved exceptional marketing and success in their business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community. These exceptional companies help make the San Mateo area a great place to live, work and play.

"Recognition by the San Mateo Award Program is an honor and a privilege," said Jake Sussman, co-founder and COO of Evisort. "This win is a testament to the hard work and dedication our team has put into building Evisort over the years. We're looking forward to continuing to provide great service to our customers through increased product advancement and customer experience efforts."

Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2022 San Mateo Award Program focuses on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the San Mateo Award Program and data provided by third parties.

In addition to this latest achievement, Evisort will be hosting a webinar with Travelzoo general counsel and head of global functions, Christina Sindoni Ciocca, called "New procurement playbook: Leveraging AI across procurement contracts." The webinar will take place on Thursday, October 13, at 11:00 AM Eastern Time / 8:00 AM Pacific Time. Register now !

For more information about Evisort, visit www.evisort.com , call (888) 384-7678, email [email protected] , or connect with us on LinkedIn or Twitter .

About Evisort

Evisort is the leading transformative business solution for contract management and analysis. Powered by proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) trained on 10M+ contracts and billions of data points, Evisort's technology parses the nuanced context and meaning of legal language and helps teams protect, scale, and accelerate their businesses. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, the company serves legal, IT, finance, and procurement organizations around the world.

About San Mateo Award Program

The San Mateo Award Program is an annual awards program honoring the achievements and accomplishments of local businesses throughout the San Mateo area. Recognition is given to those companies that have shown the ability to use their best practices and implemented programs to generate competitive advantages and long-term value.

The San Mateo Award Program was established to recognize the best of local businesses in our community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to recognize the small business community's contributions to the U.S. economy.

Media Contact

Raven Carpenter

BLASTmedia for Evisort

[email protected]

317-806-1900 ext. 171

SOURCE Evisort
COSTA MESA, Calif., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Foodja, the country's leading workplace restaurant delivery and catering platform, is excited to announce a partnership with Rubio's Coastal Grill surrounding their newest Foodja Cafe product. Rubio's Coastal Grill operates 154 restaurants throughout the United States, and its collaboration with Foodja Cafe will enable Rubio's to provide thousands of fresh individual meals to employees throughout Foodja's markets.

"Our Foodja Cafe service is the hottest workplace meal delivery offering on the market right now, so it only makes sense to partner with a top fast-casual restaurant like Rubio's," said Steve Sprinkle, founder and CEO of Foodja. "With Rubio's ever-growing popularity, we know our devoted customer base will be delighted to choose from many of their fresh, coastal-inspired, Mexican favorites while at the office."

Through its partnership with Foodja Cafe, Rubio's Coastal Grill is able to offer businesses fresh, quality lunches that employees can look forward to when working in the office. With companies nationwide navigating the challenges of talent acquisition and retention as they transition from remote to hybrid and in-person work models, many companies are turning to Foodja to provide an exciting workplace benefit that motivates employees to collaborate in-person again.

"When it comes to lunchtime at the office, there's nothing more exciting than looking through all of the great local restaurants you can order from and planning your week around what to eat," commented Sprinkle. "Rubio's Coastal Grill has always been a popular selection among our catering customers. Now that they are available through Foodja Cafe, their fresh and healthy meals can be customized on an individual basis to address the needs of the modern workplace."

Foodja Cafe's innovative algorithm predicts what employees would like to eat based on what they've ordered previously. Built with restaurants in mind, Foodja Cafe offers the unique ability for orders to be scheduled up to two weeks in advance, allowing restaurants greater control over procuring supplies for the orders and scheduling staff to fulfill those ordershuge benefits as supply chain and labor challenges loom.

"While Rubio's is best-known for popularizing the Baja-inspired Original Fish Taco, we pride ourselves on 40 years of seafood mastery, offering healthy, grilled seafood dishes without compromising flavor," said Rubio's Co-Founder, Ralph Rubio. "We're committed to sustainability, and are thrilled to partner with Foodja to offer Rubio's favorite dishes to employees at participating companies directly, without the need to drive to grab lunch."

Conscious of labor shortages, Foodja ensures that restaurant partners are able to fulfill orders by load balancing the restaurants and turning off availability once their predetermined order capacity is reached. Foodja also helps local restaurants by introducing their food to new customers. Rather than converting the restaurant's existing customers to delivery customers, as is typical of other restaurant delivery platforms, Foodja aims to garner in-store traffic by exposing new customers to participating restaurants and encouraging them to visit in-store in their free time with bounce back offers.

To learn more about Foodja or the Foodja Cafe visit Foodja.com

About Foodja

Foodja is the industry leading restaurant delivery platform for work.

Foodja's innovative platform allows employers and employees to receive professional, contact-free delivery at work from their favorite local restaurants.

Thousands of companies, including Sony, Activision Blizzard, YouTube, and Amazon trust the Foodja platform to provide workplace meals to their employees.

In addition to modernizing the way people order food at work, Foodja also believes in giving back to the community. Foodja donates a portion of profits to fight food and housing instability so vulnerable populations have access to nutritious food and reliable shelter.

Foodja currently serves modern workplaces throughout California, Arizona, and Texas - and will be expanding to additional markets throughout the United States.

Website: www.foodja.com

Corporate Address: 3193 Red Hill Ave, Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Linkedin: linkedin.com/company/foodja

About Rubio's Restaurants:

Rubio's first opened in 1983 in the San Diego neighborhood of Mission Bay. Today, Rubio's uses responsibly sourced seafood and continues to expand its menu with innovative recipes ranging from seafood tacos and burritos to California Bowls and crisp, fresh salads. In addition, Rubio's offers all-natural chicken, raised without antibiotics, and all-natural USDA Choice steak, "no fried" pinto beans, handmade guacamole, a variety of proprietary salsas, and craft beer and hard seltzer beverage options. The award-winning restaurant regularly receives accolades for its famous Original Fish Taco. Rubio's is headquartered in Carlsbad, Calif., has over 3,000 employees and currently operates over 150 restaurants.

SOURCE Foodja
La Verne Mayor Tim Hepburn is sworn in for a four-year term

MONROVIA, Calif., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- At their October meeting today, the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority (Construction Authority) Board of Directors welcomed its newest member  La Verne Mayor Tim Hepburn. Appointed by the city of Pasadena for a four-year term, Mayor Hepburn joined the nine-member board as its newest member following his swearing in at the beginning of the monthly board meeting. Montclair Mayor Pro Tem Bill Ruh was appointed as the Alternate member.

"We are happy to welcome Mayor Hepburn to our board," said Construction Authority Board Chair and Claremont Mayor Pro Tem Ed Reece. "While we are more than halfway through with construction on the nine-mile extension of the project to Pomona, there is still a lot of work ahead, including securing the funding needed to complete the project to Claremont and Montclair. Mayor Hepburn brings years of local and regional leadership experience to the board, which will be helpful as he gets quickly up to speed on the project during this very busy period."

Major construction activities are now underway throughout the 9.1-mile project segment from Glendora to Pomona that will add four new stations to the Metro rail system (one in each of the following cities: Glendora, San Dimas, La Verne, and Pomona). The fully funded four-station project segment is nearly 60% complete and is on schedule to be turned over to LA Metro for pre-revenue operations in early-January 2025. The Construction Authority continues to seek $748 million to fund completion of the project, which includes two more stations - Claremont and Montclair.

"I am honored to be serving on this board with such an accomplished group of leaders," stated Mayor Tim Hepburn about his swearing in. "Completing the project to not only Pomona, but to Claremont and Montclair, is a critical step to improving mobility and the quality of life for all of our corridor cities and the region. I look forward to helping support that effort and being part of this important project in the coming years."

The Foothill Gold Line board is made up of elected and appointed representatives from throughout the project corridor. The board is currently made up of Claremont Mayor Pro Tem Ed Reece (Chair), Pomona Mayor Tim Sandoval, Glendora Council Member Mendell Thompson, Los Angeles City representative Melchor Ilomin, Ontario Council Member Alan Wapner (non-voting), Pasadena Council Member Gene Masuda (non-voting), and South Pasadena representative Dan Evans (non-voting). The governor's appointee is currently vacant.

About the Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority  The Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority is an independent transportation planning and construction agency created in 1998 by the California State Legislature to plan, design and build the Metro Gold Line (currently called the L Line) light rail system from Union Station to Montclair. The agency completed the first segment from Union Station to Pasadena in 2003 and the Pasadena to Azusa segment in 2015; both on time and under budget. The agency began work on the Glendora to Montclair segment in 2003. When completed, the extension will add new light rail stations in the cities of Glendora, San Dimas, La Verne, Pomona, Claremont and Montclair. The project will be built in phases, due to funding constraints. The current 9.1-mile construction segment is funded mostly by Measure M, along with residual funds from Measure R not used to complete the Pasadena to Azusa segment. The project is also utilizing a State of California TIRCP (greenhouse gas reduction) grant.

SOURCE Foothill Gold Line Construction Authority
RICHMOND, Va., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Williams Mullen is pleased to announce that Brian Ball, former secretary of commerce and trade for Virginia, has been named of counsel to the firm. He will rejoin the Corporate Section to support and serve the firm's Economic Development Team.

Hon. R. Brian Ball

Ball was appointed secretary by Gov. Ralph Northam in 2018 and played an instrumental role in the administration's economic development success, which included $81 billion in economic investment, 103,000 jobs, and, most notably, the state's successful bid for Amazon's second headquarters in Arlington. Other economic development successes during Ball's tenure include a major expansion of Micron's semiconductor manufacturing facility in Manassas, Merck's expansion in Rockingham County and Morgan Olson's new manufacturing facility in Danville, Pittsylvania.

As Virginia's chief economic officer under Northam, Ball oversaw 10 commerce and trade agencies, including the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, the Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority, Virginia Housing, the Department of Housing and Community Development and Virginia Tourism. He worked with the state's executive branch, the General Assembly, private companies, local governments, economic development officials, site consultants and other key stakeholders.

Before serving as secretary, Ball was with the firm for almost 30 years, where he was a partner, served as general counsel and was a member of the firm's board of directors. In his new role, Ball will assist clients and their consultants with business expansion and related needs, working with Williams Mullen's Economic Development Team.

"We are thrilled to have Brian return to us in a new capacity," said Woody Fowler, president and CEO of Williams Mullen. "His knowledge of our firm and its resources, combined with his insight in working effectively with the governor's office and cabinet secretaries, make him an incredibly valuable asset to clients looking to locate and grow their businesses in the commonwealth and beyond."

"I look forward to leveraging my experience and resources to help clients achieve their business objectives," said Ball. "I am also pleased to once again work with top-notch team members here at Williams Mullen."

Ball graduated with high distinction from the University of Virginia where he was an Echols Scholar and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia. He is admitted to practice in Virginia, the District of Columbia and California. He served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California from 1981 to 1982.

Williams Mullen is a regional full-service law firm with approximately 240 attorneys in offices across North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. Since our firm began in 1909, our goal has been to provide business and legal solutions to help our clients' businesses thrive. Visit us at www.williamsmullen.com.

SOURCE Williams Mullen
GENEVE, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Contemporary French multimedia artist and composer, Patrick Mimran, is selling his latest artwork called "The Blue Ghost" for US$156 million, the most expensive piece of art ever available from a living artist.

In this day and age, it is not surprising to see the paintings of Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Gergard Richter among other familiar names dominating auctions and private sales.

The Blue Ghost - latest painting the most expensive piece of art ever available from a living artist

Until several decades ago, artists who were most active between the 14th and 18th centuries was all anyone could talk about! Rembrandt, Raphael, Peter Paul Rubens, and others have grabbed headlines with their works often selling for a lot of money

The Blue Ghost was painted by Mr. Mimran during his stay in Monte Carlo in the summer of 2021. "I used a very special and unique mixture of blue pigments just for The Blue Ghost, which makes this painting absolutely unique and the best example of my current work. I am honored to allow a distinguished art collector to be the first one to purchase the most expensive piece of art ever available from a living artist," shares Mr. Mimran.

The artist is known for his artwork ranging across various mediums, including digital art and video, electronic music, abstract art, and figurative language.

Each medium is chosen by Mr. Mimran as per its ability to best express the visions and the ideas that he wants to share. A brilliant example of the same is "The Billboard Project," which ran from 2000 to 2012 in Miami, New York, Tokyo, and Venice.

You can check out the pics of the painting and get more information by visiting The Blue Ghost's exclusive website.

Contact details:

Mrs. Ghogha Mirashrafi

+41792104056

Chemin Rieu 15A

1208 Geneve, Switzerland

SOURCE Patrick Mimran
Jean Baptiste Succeeds Denis Heraud who has Held the Position Since 2011

VIRIAT, France, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- After a decade of successfully leading FX as the Sales Director-France, Denis Heraud has decided to step down from his position and transition into a different role with FX. Denis has been integral in the sales growth that led to FX becoming #1 in Francea monumental achievement. The entire FX family is grateful for the many contributions Denis has made throughout his time with FX. Denis will remain an important asset in FX by continuing to support Jean Baptiste in his new role.

FX Announces Promotion of Jean Baptiste Plas to Sales Director of France (PRNewsfoto/FX Solutions)

Jean Baptiste Plas has been tapped to take over and continue the growing FX's market presence in France. Jean Baptiste currently is the Regional Sales Director for Paris, North France, and Eastern France and has been leading in this capacity for the last three years.

"After the last three years as Regional Sales Director for Paris, North France, and Eastern France with FX, it is a real honor to assume the position of Sales Director-France. I will be surrounded by an amazing sales team that is efficient and extremely capable of meeting all challenges with their passion for service and shoulder. Our successes would be impossible without our colleagues at the headquarters in Viriat who always meet our needs and are indispensable to us in our daily lives. I would like to thank Denis Heraud who has trusted me from the first day of our collaborative efforts together and who knew how to mentor and train me. I would like to thank our CEO, Baptiste Martin, who has entrusted me to continue the success that Denis has put in place and grow the FX portfolio even further. I can assure everyone that they have my full commitment to tackle and overcome all the challenges that await us," Jean Baptiste said. He went on to quote Paul Eluard as saying, "There is no chance, there are only appointments."

Congratulations, Jean Baptiste.



FX has a US Headquarters in Dallas, Texas and a Global Headquarters in Viriat, France.

For further information, please contact [email protected] or [email protected].

Global Headquarters

1663 rue de Majornas

01449 Viriat  France

Tel +33 4 74 55 35 55

Fax +33 4 74 52 44 01

[email protected]

US Headquarters

13465 Midway Road, Suite 101

Dallas, TX 75244

Tel 1-800-280-0775

Fax 1-800-429-8965

[email protected]

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1919641/FX_Solutions_Jean_Baptiste_Plas.jpg

SOURCE FX Solutions
DALLAS, Oct. 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Gardner Capital , a private equity firm specializing in multi-family housing and solar energy development and investment, announced its new multi-family housing complex in Melissa, Gala at Melissa, has received a funding commitment from the GCRE Impact Fund to install an on-site solar energy system as part of its sustainable energy commitment. The GCRE Impact Fund is part of Gardner Capital's Alternative Investments Platform, which provides funding for projects promoting clean energy for multi-family housing or upward social mobility.

Gardner Capital Annouces Solar Installation Funded by GCRE Impact Fund on a Multi-Family Housing Complex in Melissa, Texas

Solar energy is the fastest-growing energy source in the United States, according to the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions. However, its use in multi-family housing generally remains low. With its Alternative Investments Fund, Gardner Capital aims to change that with plans to deploy up to $500,000 annually to expand access to clean energy with grants and soft loans to both individuals and businesses submitting innovative proposals.

"This funding commitment is a benefit for everyone involved. It will expand clean energy access for residents and the local community while reducing energy bills," said Mike Koehler, Vice President of Solar Business Development at Gardner Capital. "We are thrilled to contribute to greater solar use across Texas."

Applicants can apply for funding from the GCRE Impact Fund through the Alternative Investments Fund on Gardner Capital's website ; funding is capped at $25,000 for any one specific proposal (subject to waiver for special considerations). All proposals that focus on increasing access to, or adoption of, renewable energy (or related projects) will be considered with a preference for proposals that are also focused on serving low to moderate-income families or other underserved populations and communities

Located at 2480 E. Melissa Rd. in Melissa, Gala at Melissa is a multi-family community, which will offer 93 units. In addition to the solar energy system, other property amenities include an arts & crafts studio, beauty salon and a resort-style pool. Construction is expected to be complete by year-end.

About Gardner Capital

Gardner Capital is a private equity firm and alternative investment platform with multiple operating businesses focused on affordable housing and renewable energy development, tax credit syndication, as well as real estate-related investments, joint ventures and capital partner relationships. The firm has offices in St. Louis, Dallas, Houston and Orlando. Since 1992, Gardner Capital has placed more than $3 billion of equity in affordable housing and related investments. In recent years, Gardner Capital added a rapidly growing national platform for solar development and investments, expanding its commitment to renewable energy and sustainability across its investment platform. Additionally, the firm launched multiple alternative investment funds focused on renewable energy and EV adoption, upward mobility and investments in underserved markets. We are committed to investing in communities, supporting upward mobility, and improving the wellbeing of families by developing, investing and increasing access to capital for affordable housing, clean energy and entrepreneurs. For more information, visit www.gardnercapital.com

About GCRE Impact Fund

Launched in 2020, the GCRE Impact Fund provides low interest soft loans, grants and other equityinvesting in neighborhoods, people and businesses with innovative small business concepts or investments with notable local and neighborhood impact. The Fund is expected to commit more than $500,000 annually for programs that align with the Fund's investment goals and guidelines. The Fund is one of multiple socially focused Funds managed within the Alternative Investments Platform of Gardner Capital  focusing on upward mobility, renewable energy, EV adoption, or initiatives focused on investment in otherwise underserved markets. For more information or to inquire about funding opportunities, please visit GCRE Impact  Funding Page

For additional information, please contact:

Chief of Staff, Gardner Capital Corporate, Mike Koehler

314-561-6065

[email protected]

SOURCE Gardner Capital
Heat pumps are all the rage in Germany  and now the government is offering millions in research grants for projects aimed at decarbonizing heating and cooling.

BERLIN, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- (GTAI)  Germany's Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action has issued a call for proposals for research and pilot projects to accelerate the transition to heat pumps and other climate-neutral forms of heating and cooling.

There is no fixed amount for the program, which runs until February 28, 2023, but it will be funded from its annual EUR 600 million budget for energy research. Focuses will include heat pump production, climate-friendly coolants and construction materials, and district heating, industrial-scale heat pumps, seasonal heat storage and new control concepts.

"By supporting heating research, we are investing today in the energy system of tomorrow," said Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Robert Habeck. "I invite all creative minds from research and industry to contribute their know-how, ideas and efforts."

The initiative comes at an exciting time for heat pumps in Germany. On October 10, the Fraunhofer Institute of Solar Energy Systems ISE announced that it had set a new record for efficiency in heat pump refrigeration cycles using propane. The German government hopes augmented state support will lead to more such technological breakthroughs.

The potential for heat pumps in home heating in the most populous member state of the EU is immense. The independent energy research institution FfE Munich estimates that heat pumps could be used in some 17 million of the 19 million German residential buildings.

Consumers are enthusiastic. Sales of heat pumps in Germany increased by 28 percent year-on-year in 2022 according to industry organization bwp, and expected growth in 2022 far exceeds that. All the major manufacturers of heat pumps in Germany have announced expansions  the latest being Daikin, which says it is tripling capacity at its plant in the town of Guglingen.

"Heating and cooling accounts for more than half of the energy consumed in Germany, and the government is throwing its weight behind key technologies like heating pumps," says Robert Hermann, CEO of Germany Grade & Invest. "That's only going to accelerate what's already a record-setting boom in this sector. This is a major opportunity for international companies on the ground in Germany."

Germany Trade & Invest (GTAI) is the economic promotion agency of the Federal Republic of Germany. GTAI supports German companies setting up in foreign markets, promotes Germany as a business location and assists foreign companies setting up shop in Germany.

Contact:

Jefferson Chase

Senior Manager, Communications

Germany Trade & Invest

Friedrichstrae 60

10117 Berlin

+49 30200099170

[email protected]

SOURCE Germany Trade & Invest
CEO and Founder Dan Michaeli Among the Most Exceptional Entrepreneurs at 2022 Builders and Innovators Summit

NEW YORK, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) is recognizing Glia's CEO and Co-Founder Dan Michaeli as one of the Most Exceptional Entrepreneurs of 2022 at its Builders and Innovators Summit in Healdsburg, California.

Goldman Sachs selected Michaeli from multiple industries to be honored at the two-day event. He launched Glia with co-founders Justin DiPietro and Carlos Paniagua 10 years ago to help businesses reinvent how they support customers in a digital-first world. A growing list of financial institutions have adopted Glia's Digital Customer Service (DCS) platform to improve the customer experience and accelerate value through seamless on-screen support.

"We're delighted to recognize Glia CEO and Co-Founder Dan Michaeli as one of the most exceptional entrepreneurs of 2022," said David M. Solomon, Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs. "They have made extraordinary contributions to a wide range of fields, and all of us are looking forward to meeting with these innovative thinkers."

In addition to honoring the most exceptional entrepreneurs, the Summit consists of general sessions and clinics led by seasoned entrepreneurs, academics and business leaders as well as resident scholars.

About Glia

Glia is reinventing how businesses support their customers in a digital world. Glia's Digital Customer Service (DCS) solution enriches web and mobile experiences with digital communication choices, on-screen collaboration, and AI-enabled assistance. Glia has partnered with over 300 banks, credit unions, insurance companies and other financial institutions worldwide to improve the customer experience and drive business results. Named both a Deloitte Technology Fast 500 company and a Great Place to Work (with a 97% employee satisfaction rating) for a second year in a row, Glia continues to achieve broad industry recognition and customer service thought leadership including publishing the definitive book on DCS with Wiley. The company has raised over $150 million in funding from top investors. To learn more, visit glia.com.

Contact:

[email protected]

SOURCE Glia
DUBLIN, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Aspirin Market - Forecasts from 2022 to 2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global aspirin market size is estimated to augment at a CAGR of 2.40%, increasing from US$2.167 billion in 2020 to reach US$2.558 billion by 2027.

The growing active pharmaceutical ingredient industry, will contribute to propelling the market growth of acetylsalicylic acid as an active ingredient in drug formulations. China, from the APAC region, is estimated to hold a significant market share in the global API industry. The augmenting retail industry, along with booming e-commerce sales, is propagating market growth during the forecast period.



The presence of companies offering acetylsalicylic acid products is propagating market growth during the forecast period.



Bayer Aspirin has been an essential medicine for over 100 years. It helps alleviate pain and cardiovascular events prevention and has stood the test of time. In the form of a brand, AspirinT is among the highly trusted products by a range of customers worldwide compared to any other over-the-counter medicine for reducing pain. Based on its pain relief and anti-platelet effects, aspirin is listed as one of the essential medications by the World Health Organization.

The company's product portfolio includes Aspirin and Aspirin Cardio as its products. AspirinT falls under the category of consumer health and pharmaceuticals. Aspirin Cardio is designed explicitly for cardiology applications. With the growing number of cardiovascular diseases, aspirin is prescribed for blood thinning applications. A physician may prescribe a low-dose aspirin for the prevention of blood clots. This further aids in the reduction of stroke and heart attack risks. A patient who underwent surgery for the treatment of clogged arteries, including a bypass surgery or surgery for a stenting procedure, is mostly prescribed aspirin in the form of blood thinners for preventing blood clots. On the other hand, aspirin for consumer health includes the following applications namely headache, body pain, muscle pain, and fever.



The growing demand for branded generics will continue to propagate market growth during the forecast period.



The global branded generics market is projected to grow in the forecast period with the marketing approval by the FDA for several generic drug products in 2019. Hence, this will continue to strengthen the market growth during the forecast period. Generic drugs are comparatively cheaper than branded products; hence, poorer countries where people are unable to afford costly medical treatments are not capable of buying branded medicines that come under treatment costs post-treatment. Thus, the generic versions of aspirin will continue to soar the market growth in the forecast period. As per the USFDA, generic medicines are around 80 to 85% cheaper than branded versions.

Therefore, these medicines play an important role in offering cost-effective health care, further contributing to surging their use with time worldwide. As per the prescription audits statistics, generic medicines account for holding more than 80% share of the total medicines prescribed in the United States, the United Kingdom, China, and Australia (source: NIH, 2018).



The prevalence of headaches worldwide will fuel the market demand for analgesics, further augmenting the market growth during the forecast period.



As per the World Health Organization, headaches constitute the most common disorders of the nervous system. Most adults suffer from headaches frequently. One of the major reasons today can be attributed to the changing living conditions where there a high competition among people in every part of their life, be it child upbringing, choosing a career, and efforts to excel in every field they choose. Hence, this has created more tension, thus, soaring the stress level.

The demand for analgesics is gaining momentum with the evolving consumer lifestyle, further offering strong market growth prospects during the forecast period for immediate pain relief. One of the most consumed drugs containing aspirin as an active ingredient is disprin. The product is now available in different new variants also, one of them includes Disprin Direct.



Segmentation:By Product

Prescription

OTC

By Application

Cardiovascular Disease

Pain/Fever/Inflammation

By Distribution Channel

Hospital and Retail Pharmacies

Online Channels

By Geography

North America

USA

Canada

Mexico

South America

Brazil

Argentina

Europe

UK

Germany

France

Middle East and Africa

and UAE

Israel

Saudi Arabia

Asia Pacific

Japan

China

India

South Korea

Vietnam

Indonesia

Australia

Key Topics Covered:



1. Introduction



2. Research Methodology



3. Executive Summary



4. Market Dynamics



5. Global Aspirin Market Analysis, by Product



6. Global Aspirin Market Analysis, by Application



7. Global Aspirin Market Analysis, by Distribution Channel



8. Global Aspirin Market Analysis, by Geography



9. Competitive Environment and Analysis



10. Company Profiles



Companies Mentioned

Bayer AG

Hebei Jingye Chemical Co., Ltd.

JQC (Huayin) Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.

Perrigo Company plc

L.N.K. International Inc.

Thermo Fisher Scientefic

Taj Pharmaceuticals Limited

Advance Pharmaceutical Inc.

Allegiant Health

KE

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DUBLIN, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Aviation Fuel Market - Forecasts from 2022 to 2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The global aviation fuel market was valued at US$79.729 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 17.45% over the forecast period to reach a total market size of US$ 245.771 billion in 2027.



The booming travel and tourism industry is one of the primary drivers of the global aviation fuel market. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), international tourist arrivals grew 5 percent in 2018, reaching a figure of 1.4 billion, which was reached two years ahead of the UNWTO forecast.

In conjunction with this, export earnings generated by tourism also increased to US$1.7 trillion in 2018, thus making the sector a truly global force for economic growth and development by way of creating more and more employment. With a growing number of air travel passengers worldwide, the demand for commercial aircraft is also rising among different airlines. According to the World Bank Group, the number of air passengers carried globally has surged from 2.787 billion in 2011 to 4.233 billion in 2018.

With the rising number of aircraft on duty, the demand for aviation fuel is also escalating, fuelling market growth at a substantial rate. New flight routes and a heavy flow of investments in new airports worldwide is also contributing factor to the global aviation fuel market growth.

Rise in military budget across different countries

The rising focus of governments on the military sector is another factor spurring the growth of the aviation fuel market. This continuous increase in military and defence budget is majorly attributed to political tensions among different nations and rising cases of terrorist attacks worldwide. According to the latest report of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), global military expenditure totalled $1,917 billion in 2019, which was the highest level since 1988. Also, the global military burden (global military expenditure as a share of GDP) increased from $243 in 2018 to $249 in 2019.

Continuous focus on reducing the carbon footprint

As the global aircraft industry is expanding at a decent pace, competition among aircraft fuel production in all sectors is also getting intense. Stringent regulations regarding the sustainability of aviation fuel are further boosting the competition among aviation fuel manufacturers, positively impacting the overall growth of the global aviation fuel market. As such, biofuels that can significantly reduce carbon emissions and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), which are still under research and development, offer lucrative opportunities for the growth of the aviation fuel industry shortly.

Recently in July 2020, the operator of the Gazprom Neft aviation refuelling business, Gazpromneft-Aero, launched an integrated laboratory information system (LIS) for analyzing both qualitative and quantitative characteristics of aviation fuel. The commercial aviation industry is also moving towards sustainable environmental practices and gradually increasing the use of sustainable aviation biofuel (SAF). United Airlines was the first U.S. airline to begin using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for regularly scheduled flights, with the departure of United Flight 708 from Los Angeles International Airport.

The Asia Pacific region offers good growth opportunities

North America accounts for a substantial share in the global aviation fuel market owing to the continuous rise in demand for different types of aircraft, including military, commercial, and private. Europe is also a leading aviation fuel market on account of the well-established aviation industry coupled with the presence of major aircraft manufacturers in the region. However, Asia Pacific (APAC) is projected to witness a substantial compound annual growth rate during the forecast period. This growth is majorly attributed to the rapidly growing travel and tourism industry across APAC countries.

There has been a rise in investments in the tourism sector by India, China, and Southeast Asian economies in the past few years. The number of both international and domestic tourists is continuously rising in this region. Increasing disposable incomes and living standards with a hectic work lifestyle encourages people to take vacations regularly.

Furthermore, the increased rate of globalization has also led to a rise in business air travel trips across the region as well as the globe. Thus, the burgeoning rise in air travel passengers, both international and domestic, is supporting the growth of the aviation fuel market in the Asia Pacific. Supportive government policies to construct new airports to manage this rising influx of tourists are also driving factors for the growth of this regional market.

Segmentation

By Fuel Type

Jet Fuel

Biofuel

By Aircraft Type

Fixed Wing

Rotorcraft

By End-User

Military

Commercial

Private

By Geography

Key Topics Covered:



1. Introduction



2. Research Methodology



3. Executive Summary



4. Market Dynamics



5. Global Aviation Fuel Market Analysis, By Fuel Type



6. Global Aviation Fuel Market Analysis, By Aircraft Type



7. Global Aviation Fuel Market Analysis, By End User



8. Global Aviation Fuel Market Analysis, By Geography



9. Competitive Environment and Analysis



10. Company Profiles

Companies Mentioned

Shell Plc

Neste Corporation

Total Energies

BP LPC

Chevron Corporation

Exxon Mobil Corporation

PJSC Gazprom

LUKOIL

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras)

Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.

Global Partners LP

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DUBLIN, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Surveillance Camera Market: Analysis By System Type (Analog, IP Commercial, IP Consumer & Other Surveillance Camera), By Technology (Image Signal Processor, Vision Processor, Vision Processor + AI) By Region Size and Trends with Impact of COVID-19 and Forecast up to 2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global surveillance camera market in 2021 was valued at US$28.02 billion. The market is expected to reach US$45.54 billion by 2027.

Furthermore, the global surveillance camera market volume is expected to reach 524.75 million units in 2027, increasing from 214.30 million units in 2021.

Surveillance camera are video cameras used for the purpose of observing an area. They are often connected to a recording device or IP network, and maybe watched by a security guard or law enforcement officer. Surveillance camera can protect individuals or businesses from theft, fire, flood, or intrusion.

Due to the rise in urban population, increasing criminal threats, growth in traffic management, technological improvements, and rising number of ATMs, would propel the market growth in the forthcoming years. The market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.38% during the forecast period of 2022-2027.

Within North America, the US held the dominant share. The US is one of the most surveilled countries in the world, with CCTV cameras installed in most public and private places. However, the retail and commercial end-user markets are estimated to have the largest number of cameras installed in the country.

Whereas, in the Asia Pacific region, Japan and China held a significant share in the market as public safety agencies are heavily investing in emerging technologies for providing efficient safety solutions in Japan.

Market Dynamics:

Growth Drivers

There is a rapid growth of surveillance cameras in recent years for the purpose of reducing and preventing criminal activities. Criminal cases are decreasing proportionately as more of the cameras came into existence. Surveillance cameras can also deter crime by increasing the probabilities of arrest and punishment.

Alarm notification is the best way that the security cameras can function in prevention and reduction of crime Furthermore, the market has been growing over the past few years, due to factors such as rapid urbanization, rising number of ATMs, growth in traffic management, technological improvement and development in surveillance camera industry, and many other factors.

Challenges:

However, the market has been confronted with some challenges specifically, increase in privacy concern, high investment cost, etc.

Trends:

The market is projected to grow at a fast pace during the forecast period, due to various latest trends such as integration of artificial intelligence systems in surveillance camera, adoption of IoT based surveillance systems, emergence of video surveillance as a service (VSaaS), etc.

IoT systems are deployed in sectors including automotive, transportation, smart homes, energy, utility, security, surveillance, public safety, financial services, retail, healthcare, industrial, warehousing, and distribution. The growing adoption of IoT based surveillance systems is providing an overall growth opportunity to the global surveillance camera market.

Impact Analysis of COVID-19 and Way Forward:

The global surveillance camera market was impacted in many ways by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, a wide range of surveillance cameras are turning out to be an effective way to serve the purpose of social distancing and other purposes. To keep a check on COVID patients, the surveillance camera were used in COVID wards. Also, thermal surveillance was initiated to check the temperatures to avoid the spread of COVID infections at crowded areas.

Competitive Landscape:

Some of the strategies among key players in the market for surveillance cameras are product launches, mergers, acquisitions, and collaborations.

For instance, in 2021, Hikvision announced the launch of its new DeepinView bullet network cameras with TandemVu technology, expanding the reach of TandemVu technology from PTZ units to bullet-styled models. Whereas, Dahua Technology announced that the company's network camera and video recorder products have passed ETSI EN 303 645 standard.

The global surveillance camera market is dominated primarily by Chinese companies, Hikvision and Dahua control about 60% of the total surveillance camera market.

Market Segmentation Analysis:

In 2021, IP surveillance camera held a major share of 65% in the market.

In 2021, IP Commercial surveillance camera held a major share of more than 40% in the market. On the other hand, the analog segment is expected to witness decline in the forthcoming years owing to the emergence of IP cameras, with a number of advantages.

The image signal processor held more than 70% of the share in the market. The market's expansion is aided by the rising sales of home security systems, integration of artificial intelligence systems in surveillance camera and adoption of IoT based surveillance systems. The vision processor + AI surveillance camera segment is projected to grow at the highest CAGR.

Surveillance cameras manufacturers are shifting from basic image processing to AI processing, which is likely to help in the growth of the global vision processor (+AI) camera market. The importance of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, during the COVID-19 pandemic has increased considerably, which helped various sectors, particularly healthcare, in providing real-time monitoring solutions.

Asia Pacific held the major share of above 40% in the market owing to the rising criminal activities and enhancing the security of the population in the country.

The key players in the global surveillance camera market are:

Robert Bosch GmbH

Panasonic Corporation

Honeywell International Inc.

Cisco Systems, Inc.

Sony Group Corporation

LG Electronics Inc.

Hikvision

Dahua Technology

Axis Communications AB

Teledyne Technologies Incorporated

Hanwha Group

Motorola Solutions (Avigilon)

Uniview

Key Topics Covered:

1. Executive Summary

2. Introduction

2.1 Surveillance Camera: An Overview

2.1.1 Definition of Surveillance Camera

2.1.2 Applications of Surveillance Cameras

2.2 Surveillance Camera Segmentation: An Overview

2.2.1 Surveillance Camera Segmentation

3. Global Market Analysis

3.1 Global Surveillance Camera Market: An Analysis

3.2 Global Surveillance Camera Market: System Type Analysis

3.3 Global Surveillance Camera Market Volume: An Analysis

3.4 Global Surveillance Camera Market Volume: System Type Analysis

3.5 Global Surveillance Camera Market Volume: Technology Analysis

4. Regional Market Analysis

4.1 Asia Pacific Surveillance Camera Market: An Analysis

4.2 North America Surveillance Camera Market: An Analysis

4.3 Europe Surveillance Camera Market: An Analysis

4.4 Rest of the World (ROW) Surveillance Camera Market: An Analysis

5. Impact of COVID-19

5.1 Impact of COVID-19

5.1.1 Impact of COVID-19 on Surveillance Camera Market

5.1.2 Impact of COVID-19 on Video Analytics

5.1.3 Impact of COVID-19 on Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS)

5.1.4 Need for Surveillance in COVID-19 Wards

5.1.5 Impact of COVID-19 on Thermal Imaging Systems

6. Market Dynamics

6.1 Growth Drivers

6.1.1 Growing Number of ATMs

6.1.2 Increase in Crime Rate and Threats

6.1.3 Rise in Infrastructure Developments

6.1.4 Rapid Urbanization

6.1.5 Rising Sales of Home Security Systems

6.1.6 Escalating Demand for Big Data

6.1.7 Growth in Traffic Management

6.1.8 Growing Adoption of IP Cameras

6.2 Challenges

6.2.1 Increase in Privacy Concern

6.2.2 High Investment Cost

6.3 Market Trends

6.3.1 Integration of Artificial Intelligence Systems in Surveillance Camera

6.3.2 Adoption of IoT based Surveillance Systems

6.3.3 Emergence of Video Surveillance as a Service (VSaaS)

6.3.4 Increase in Adoption of Spy and Hidden Cameras

6.3.5 Growth in Transition from Analog Surveillance to IP Cameras

7. Competitive Landscape

7.1 Global Surveillance Camera Players by Market Share

8. Company Profiles

8.1 Business Overview

8.2 Operating Segment

8.3 Business Strategy

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NEW YORK, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Global X ETFs, the New York-based provider of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), today announced that the firm will be offering its Equity Thematic Disruptors ETF Model Portfolio through LPL Financial's Model Wealth Portfolios (MWP) platform.

Global X's ETF model portfolios provide advisors with insight into the vast landscape of ETFs to achieve specific outcomes or risk targets for their clients. The Equity Thematic Disruptors ETF Model Portfolio targets structural and long-term trends that transcend traditional sector investing and provides investors with access to potential growth opportunities.

"Global X's Equity Thematic Disruptors ETF Model Portfolio is a clear representation of our firm's commitment to providing investors with intelligent and unexplored solutions, and today's announcement helps us to deliver on that commitment," said Jon Maier, Chief Investment Officer. "By partnering with LPL's flexible and industry-leading MWP platform, we are providing financial advisors with an enhanced ability to meet the unique needs of their clients."

LPL Financial was founded on the principle that the firm should work for the advisor, and not the other way around. Today, LPL is a leader in the markets it serves*, supporting nearly 21,000 financial advisors, and approximately 1,100 institution-based investment programs and 500 independent RIA firms nationwide.

About Global X ETFs

Global X ETFs was founded in 2008. For more than a decade, our mission has been empowering investors with unexplored and intelligent solutions. Our product lineup features over 90 ETF strategies and approximately $36 billion in assets under management.i While we are distinguished for our Thematic Growth, Income and International Access ETFs, we also offer Core, Commodity, and Alpha funds to suit a wide range of investment objectives. Explore our ETFs, research and insights, and more at www.globalxetfs.com.

Global X is a member of Mirae Asset Financial Group, a global leader in financial services, with more than $545 billion in assets under management worldwide.ii Mirae Asset has an extensive global ETF platform ranging across the US, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Europe, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam with over $80bn in assets under management.iii

*Top RIA custodian (Cerulli Associates, 2020 U.S. RIA Marketplace Report); No. 1 Independent Broker-Dealer in the U.S. (Based on total revenues, Financial Planning magazine 1996-2022); among third-party providers of brokerage services to banks and credit unions, No. 1 in AUM Growth from Financial Institutions; No. 1 in Market Share of AUM from Financial Institutions; No. 1 in Market Share of Revenue from Financial Institutions; No. 1 on Financial Institution Market Share; No. 1 on Share of Advisors. (2021-2022 Kehrer Bielan Research & Consulting Annual TPM Report). Fortune 500 as of June 2021.

Media Contact:

Frank Taylor / Stephanie Dressler

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Risk Information

This information is not intended to be individual or personalized investment or tax advice and should not be used for trading purposes. Please consult a financial advisor or tax professional for more information regarding your investment and/or tax situation.

Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal.

Information provided by Global X Management Company LLC (Global X ETFs or Global X).

i Source: Global X, as of 10/10/22

ii Mirae Asset, as of September 2022

iii Mirae Asset, as of September 2022

SOURCE Global X Management Company LLC
Acknowledging Helio's potential to revolutionize liver cancer early detection.

IRVINE, Calif., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Helio Genomics, the company behind the HelioLiver Test, has been awarded "North American Company of the Year in Liver Cancer Early Detection with Liquid Biopsy" by Frost and Sullivan.

Frost & Sullivan's Company of the Year Award is its top honor. It recognizes the market participant that exemplifies innovation, performance, and unrivaled customer care. Before giving the award, Frost & Sullivan analysts assess:

How the company addresses unmet needs

Visionary scenarios through megatrends

Leadership focus

Financial performance

Best practices implementation

Price/performance value

Brand equity

And more

Helio's vision centers on detecting cancer early to save lives and improve treatment options. It connects domain and operational knowledge with technology to help individuals check for cancer quickly, early, and often - giving them the best chance at not only survival, but access to curative treatment options.

The company's scientific team employs a multi-dimensional approach, leveraging AI and machine learning to recognize distinctive and proprietary DNA signatures. They then combine these signatures with protein biomarkers to predict cancer presence as early as Stage I, where patients still have access to curative treatment options..

Helio Genomic's unique integration of multi-modal and multi-omics data generates deeper and richer biological insights. This can provide essential knowledge on how cancer exists and evolves, advancing precision medicine to guide diagnosis, treatment guidance, and disease monitoring.

The flagship product, HelioLiver, is a multi-analyte blood test for the early detection of liver cancer. It leverages the company's novel technology platform for analyzing cell-free DNA methylation patterns and serum protein markers to detect early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) from a simple blood draw. By being easy to use, accessible, more sensitive than traditional blood tests that only use a single marker, HelioLiver can change the dynamic of the liver cancer landscape and flip the scales from late to early diagnosis.

"Detecting cancer early is the key to defeating it," says Helio Genomics CEO, Justin Li. "Many screening methods are inconvenient, expensive, and unclear. Our goal is to make finding cancer as easy as a simple blood draw. Every patient deserves the best possible chance at beating their disease  and that's what we're giving them."

Frost & Sullivan believes Helio is in a prime position to drive liver cancer early detection with liquid biopsy and become a leader in the LBx (liquid biopsy) market in the coming years.

"HelioLiver provides richer biological data than competing technologies, delivering greater test sensitivity and specificity," Says Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Research Analyst, Supriya Lala. "Simultaneously, by enabling early cancer detection, the test eliminates the potential need for expensive therapies and diagnostics (at late-stage detection), lowering the overall cost burden of the healthcare economy."

About Helio Genomics

Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Irvine, California, Helio Genomics is a cancer diagnostics technology and tests developer. The company focuses on developing and advancing cutting-edge AI-enabled technologies to detect and screen cancer at its earliest stage. To learn more, please visit https://heliogenomics.com/ .

Contact Information:

Shaye McClory

[email protected]

SOURCE Helio Genomics
NEW YORK, Oct. 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The global home fitness equipment market size is expected to grow by USD 2.01 billion, accelerating at a CAGR of 7.73% between 2021 and 2026. The report identifies North America as the key market for home fitness equipment. The presence of a large population that is health-conscious and able to afford home fitness equipment is creating significant growth opportunities for vendors operating in the region. The report provides a detailed analysis of the competitive scenario, the pre- and post-COVID-19 impact on businesses, and the market growth across various regions. Download Sample PDF Report Now

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Home Fitness Equipment Market 2022-2026

Market Dynamics

The market is primarily driven by the increased demand for home fitness equipment. The demand for home fitness equipment has been increasing across the world, especially among millennials. In addition, the consistent issue of time constraints, especially among working professionals, is encouraging people to purchase home fitness equipment to undertake workouts without stepping out of their houses. Also, the increasing awareness about the importance of a healthy lifestyle has led to a rise in the demand for home fitness equipment. All these factors are contributing to the growth of the market.

In addition, the rising obese population and product innovation leading to portfolio extension and product premiumization are expected to further drive the growth of the market. However, the rising popularity of other forms of workouts will reduce the growth momentum in the market.

Company Profiles

The home fitness equipment market report includes information on the product launches, sustainability, and prospects of leading vendors including:

Dyaco International Inc.: The company offers rowing machines such Concept2 RowErg.

The company offers rowing machines such Concept2 RowErg. Fitness At Home: The company offers realistic commercial-grade water rowing machines, upper body ergometers, and cycle cross trainers in the market.

The company offers realistic commercial-grade water rowing machines, upper body ergometers, and cycle cross trainers in the market. HOIST Fitness Systems Inc: The company offers rowing machines such as Newport plus Red, Newport plus reserve, and Viking 2 plus reserve.

The company offers rowing machines such as plus Red, plus reserve, and Viking 2 plus reserve. Icon Health and Fitness Inc: The company offers indoor rowing machines designed for full-body workouts.

The company offers indoor rowing machines designed for full-body workouts. Impulse Qingdao Health Tech Co. Ltd.: The company offers rowing machines such as hydrow rower and foam roller.

The company offers rowing machines such as hydrow rower and foam roller. Core Health and Fitness LLC

Johnson Health Tech

Life fitness

Nautilus Inc

Origin Fitness Ltd

Paradigm Health and Wellness Inc.

RFE International

TECHNOGYM SpA

Torque Fitness

True Fitness Technology Inc.

Tunturi New Fitness BV

Wattbike Ltd

WOODWAY Inc

XMark Fitness

Competitive Analysis

The competitive scenario provided in the home fitness equipment 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. Request Sample Report Here

Market Segmentation by Distribution Channel

By distribution channel, the market is classified into offline and online segments.

The steady rise in the number of stores that offer home fitness equipment is driving the growth of the segment. Also, the increased availability of home fitness equipment in retail outlets to meet the growing demand will fuel the growth of the segment.

Market Segmentation by Region

By geography, the market is classified as North America , Europe , APAC, South America , and the Middle East and Africa .

, , APAC, , and the and . North America will have the largest share of the market. About 39% of the market growth will come from North America during the forecast period. Factors such as the rise in health consciousness and government initiatives to encourage fitness activities are driving the growth of the regional market.

Related Reports:

Home Fitness Equipment Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 7.73% Market growth 2022-2026 USD 2.01 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 6.97 Regional analysis North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution North America at 39% Key consumer countries US, China, Germany, Italy, and France Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Companies profiled Core Health and Fitness LLC, Dyaco International Inc., Fitness At Home, HOIST Fitness Systems Inc, Icon Health and Fitness Inc, Impulse Qingdao Health Tech Co. Ltd., Johnson Health Tech, Life fitness, Nautilus Inc, Origin Fitness Ltd, Paradigm Health and Wellness Inc., RFE International, TECHNOGYM SpA, Torque Fitness, True Fitness Technology Inc., Tunturi New Fitness BV, Wattbike Ltd, WOODWAY Inc, and XMark Fitness 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 North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 42: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 43: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 44: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 45: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.4 Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 46: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 47: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 48: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 49: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.5 APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 50: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 51: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 52: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 53: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.6 South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 54: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 55: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 56: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 57: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.7 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 58: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 59: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 60: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 61: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.8 US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 62: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 63: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 64: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 65: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.9 China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 66: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 67: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 68: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 69: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.10 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 Italy - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 78: Chart on Italy - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 79: Data Table on Italy - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 80: Chart on Italy - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 81: Data Table on Italy - 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 Core Health and Fitness LLC

Exhibit 89: Core Health and Fitness LLC - Overview



Exhibit 90: Core Health and Fitness LLC - Product / Service



Exhibit 91: Core Health and Fitness LLC - Key offerings

10.4 Dyaco International Inc.

Exhibit 92: Dyaco International Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 93: Dyaco International Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 94: Dyaco International Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 95: Dyaco International Inc. - Segment focus

10.5 Icon Health and Fitness Inc

Exhibit 96: Icon Health and Fitness Inc - Overview



Exhibit 97: Icon Health and Fitness Inc - Product / Service



Exhibit 98: Icon Health and Fitness Inc - Key offerings

10.6 Impulse Qingdao Health Tech Co. Ltd.

Exhibit 99: Impulse Qingdao Health Tech Co. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 100: Impulse Qingdao Health Tech Co. Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 101: Impulse Qingdao Health Tech Co. Ltd. - Key offerings

10.7 Johnson Health Tech

Exhibit 102: Johnson Health Tech - Overview



Exhibit 103: Johnson Health Tech - Product / Service



Exhibit 104: Johnson Health Tech - Key offerings

10.8 Life fitness

Exhibit 105: Life fitness - Overview



Exhibit 106: Life fitness - Product / Service



Exhibit 107: Life fitness - Key offerings

10.9 Nautilus Inc

Exhibit 108: Nautilus Inc - Overview



Exhibit 109: Nautilus Inc - Business segments



Exhibit 110: Nautilus Inc - Key news



Exhibit 111: Nautilus Inc - Key offerings



Exhibit 112: Nautilus Inc - Segment focus

10.10 Origin Fitness Ltd

Exhibit 113: Origin Fitness Ltd - Overview



Exhibit 114: Origin Fitness Ltd - Product / Service



Exhibit 115: Origin Fitness Ltd - Key offerings

10.11 TECHNOGYM SpA

Exhibit 116: TECHNOGYM SpA - Overview



Exhibit 117: TECHNOGYM SpA - Product / Service



Exhibit 118: TECHNOGYM SpA - Key offerings

10.12 Tunturi New Fitness BV

Exhibit 119: Tunturi New Fitness BV - Overview



Exhibit 120: Tunturi New Fitness BV - Product / Service



Exhibit 121: Tunturi New Fitness BV - Key offerings

11 Appendix

11.1 Scope of the report

11.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 122: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 123: Exclusions checklist

11.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 124: Currency conversion rates for US$

11.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 125: Research methodology



Exhibit 126: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 127: Information sources

11.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 128: List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis 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
Hormel Foods Establishing New Brand Fuel Center of Excellence to Support Iconic and Emerging Portfolio of Brands

Aakre Continues to Lead Global Innovation and Insights

AUSTIN, Minn., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE: HRL), a Fortune 500 global branded food company, today announced the appointment of Scott Aakre as senior vice president of Brand Fuel, the company's newest center of excellence focused on consumer insights and innovation for its portfolio of more than 30 leading brands.

Scott Aakre

Aakre's appointment follows the company's recent announcement of an operating model evolution that includes a new Retail segment, powered by a Brand Fuel center of excellence. Brand Fuel will be the hub for innovation, consumer and shopper insights, brand diagnostics and supporting technology to enable connections with consumers where and how they shop and eat. This center will also house the Digital Experience Group, the e-commerce and digital content team that supports the company's brands and businesses in the virtual marketplace.

"Our iconic and industry-leading brands will continue to require a strategic focus and investment," said Jim Snee, chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer of Hormel Foods. "Scott is an incredibly talented leader who understands the importance of our brands and products and how they meet the needs of today's, and tomorrow's, consumers. Scott's experience gained over the past 30 years with Hormel Foods will be invaluable as we continue to support our portfolio of brands to ensure their relevance for decades to come."

Under Aakre's leadership, Hormel Foods has become well known for innovation in the food industry and has received numerous awards and accolades for its innovation efforts including industry, consumer and media awards for new product innovation.

Aakre joined Hormel Foods in 1990 and held a variety of management positions for the company before being named group product manager of Grocery Products in 2003 and director of marketing for Grocery Products later that year. In 2005, he was promoted to vice president of marketing for Grocery Products. He assumed his current position as vice president of corporate innovation and new product development in 2011.

Aakre earned a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in business administration from the University of Minnesota. He is involved in numerous industry groups and donates his time to several nonprofit organizations including the Salvation Army and the United Way.

ABOUT HORMEL FOODS  Inspired People. Inspired Food.

Hormel Foods Corporation, based in Austin, Minn., is a global branded food company with over $11 billion in annual revenue across more than 80 countries worldwide. Its brands include Planters, SKIPPY, SPAM, Hormel Natural Choice, Applegate, Justin's, WHOLLY, Hormel Black Label, Columbus, Jennie-O and more than 30 other beloved brands. The company is a member of the S&P 500 Index and the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats, was named on the "Global 2000 World's Best Employers" list by Forbes magazine for three years, is one of Fortune magazine's most admired companies, has appeared on the "100 Best Corporate Citizens" list by 3BL Media 13 times, and has received numerous other awards and accolades for its corporate responsibility and community service efforts. The company lives by its purpose statement  Inspired People. Inspired Food.  to bring some of the world's most trusted and iconic brands to tables across the globe. For more information, visit www.hormelfoods.com and http://csr.hormelfoods.com/.

Contact: Media Relations

Hormel Foods

507-434-6352

[email protected]

SOURCE Hormel Foods Corporation
HUAI'AN, China, Oct. 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A news report from CRI Online:

The Grand Canal is regarded as the "mother river" of Huai'an, East China's Jiangsu Province. The Grand Canal and the people of Huai'an have been interdependent to each other for over two thousand years. The Grand Canal not only provides water to irrigate farmlands, serves as an important waterway connecting the south and north of the country, but also decorates the beautiful landscape of Huai'an with its lucid water.

As an important part of the Grand Canal Cultural Belt, Huai'an is home to more than 100 cultural relics, including Huai'an Water Interchange Junction. Located at the intersection of the Grand Canal and Huai River, Huai'an Water Interchange Junction is the biggest water interchange junction in Asia. This cable-stayed overpass is a perfect combination of modern engineering and ancient canal culture. Standing on the head of the interchange, you can see ships sailing on the clear water and both banks of the canal covered by greenery, which is truly enjoyable.

When the night falls with different lights on, the banks of the Li Canal Cultural Corridor will be full of tourists. They go down the river, accompanied by quite a few tourist attractions and ancient relics along the way, among which are famous historical sites like the Qingjiangpu Building, the Ciyun Temple and the Royal Wharf. History is met here with beautiful scenery as the background.

Huai'an, a city that was born and nourished by water, is the birthplace of Huaiyang cuisine, one of the four great traditional Chinese cuisines. Huaiyang cuisine, which usually takes life in lakes or rivers as ingredients, requires top cooking skills, pursues authentic taste of food, aims at catering to all kinds of dinners. Huaiyang cuisine suits both refined and popular taste without losing its elegance. Soft Cloth Long Fish, Steamed Cattail with Dried Shrimp Meat and Pingqiao Tofu are the most representative dishes.

Huai'an people inherit traditional recipes of Huaiyang Cuisine and make innovation in them at the same time. Xuyi, small county in the south of Huai'an, is known as the "Hometown of Crayfishes in China". At present, the brand "Xuyi Crayfishes" is worth more than over 20 billion yuan, ranking first among all the regional brands for aquatic products in China for six consecutive years, which laid solid foundation for people here to develop the industry.

Huai'an integrates different cultures and embraces diversity. The city is presenting its inclusiveness and prosperity to the world as the hometown of a great man, the city of canals, the city of gastronomy, and a city with abundant cultural connotations. Huai'an welcomes visitors worldwide to come here to view beautiful scenery along the canal, taste delicious food, appreciate water transport culture and experience local customs.

SOURCE CRI Online
Full renovation of Community Meadows, formerly known as Crestbury Apartments, provides quality housing to residents

CAMDEN, N.J., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Hudson Valley Property Group (HVPG) , a leading, national affordable housing preservation company, announced that it has finalized an $85 million preservation and renovation project at the Community Meadows apartments (formerly known as Crestbury Apartments), a 391-unit, 21.5 acre complex located in Camden's Morgan Village.

Community Meadows in Camden

HVPG was joined earlier today by City of Camden Mayor Vic Carstarphen, U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (NJHMFA) officials to celebrate the completion of renovations to the Community Meadows complex.

The upgrades to Community Meadows encompass a variety of wholistic improvements including complete apartment revitalization, rebuilt site infrastructure and upgrades, and the addition of an enhanced, high-definition monitoring system providing site wide security coverage and ensuring adherence to HVPG's community standards.

"We are thrilled to celebrate the transformation of Community Meadows in partnership with the City of Camden, HUD and NJHMFA and provide renovated apartments and upgraded complex amenities with continued affordability for residents of Camden," said Jason Bordainick, co-founder and managing partner of Hudson Valley Property Group. "When HVPG came into ownership we made a commitment to turn the community around and make it a safe place to live and raise a family. We are very proud to show what our investment and capable team can do."

"This is an exciting announcement for the City of Camden and for the residents at the Community Meadows Apartments," said Camden Mayor Victor Carstarphen. "This is a $85 million investment in new infrastructure, substantial upgrades to the interior of each units, enhancements to the exteriors spaces, new playgrounds and common areas, high quality security, among other improvements. These renovations allow for the preservation of quality affordable housing within Camden. I commend Hudson Valley Property Group for being responsible, accountable and community conscious property owners."

"NJHMFA is proud to support and finance the revitalization of Community Meadows, a community that will provide nearly 400 Camden families a long-term, affordable place to call home," said NJHMFA Chief Financial Officer John Murray. "The improvements, made in partnership by NJHMFA, HUD, the City of Camden, PNC Bank and Hudson Valley Property Group, represent a significant investment that will provide Camden residents a thriving, healthy community for years to come."

The acquisition and substantial rehabilitation of the Community Meadows Apartments was financed with tax exempt conduit bonds through the NJHMFA, 4% Low Income Housing Credits purchased by PNC, debt financing provided by R4 and bridge equity from PNC. The City of Camden also supported the project with a long-term PILOT Agreement that was implemental to the project's success.

All apartment units at the property received a subsidy through a HUD project-based Section 8 Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) contract. To ensure the long-term affordability of the property, HVPG secured a long-term HUD HAP contract and no residents were displaced as a result of this transaction. The property is subject to LIHTC income restrictions through a thirty-year compliance period, and tenants must qualify at 60% of Area Median Income (AMI) to reside at the property.

The renovations within the 391-unit complex totaled ~$25 million ($64,000 per unit unit) and included dark wood kitchen cabinetry and new countertops, new high-efficiency, stainless steel appliances, high output lighting and water conserving fixtures and the creation of fully compliant ADA and H/V units. Interior Upgrades also included new flooring with subfloor repairs and wall patching and painting. Site Upgrades were substantial and included storm and sanitary line replacement, sidewalk repairs, installation of new trash enclosures, and fresh asphalt across common parking areas, as well as a new playground and the addition of a new play area with playground for resident families, all with the goal of modernizing the property for sustainable long-term operations and improving residents' quality of life. As part of the turnaround plan for the site, HVPG brought in a new property management partner, Community Realty Management, based in Pleasantville, NJ.

The project follows Hudson Valley Property Group's recent completion of a $57 million renovation project at Corinthian Towers, a 221-unit housing complex in the 4th Ward of East Orange, New Jersey. As the need for affordable housing continues to grow, HVPG plans to continue expanding its portfolio and provide even more quality affordable housing across the U.S. HVPG currently owns over 4,500 units of affordable housing across 27 properties throughout the state of New Jersey.

Hudson Valley Property Group also recently closed its second fund , raising $292 million in capital commitments from a broad range of institutional investors. HVPG anticipates preserving more than 10,000 homes with the latest investment fund and continuing to expand its portfolio to provide quality affordable housing across the U.S.

About Hudson Valley Property Group (HVPG)

Hudson Valley Property Group (HVPG) preserves and elevates the quality of affordable housing in the United States. HVPG acquires existing affordable, multifamily properties and strategically invests capital to improve the physical, financial, and social vitality of each home. With improved operations and enhanced service offerings, HVPG properties deliver a better standard of living for its residents and stable investment assets. To date, HVPG has preserved over 9,500 units across more than 50 properties, serving more than 20,000 residents. For more information, visit: https://hudsonvalleypropertygroup.com/ .

About New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (NJHMFA)

The New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (NJHMFA) advances the quality of life for residents of and communities throughout New Jersey by investing in, financing, and facilitating access to affordable rental housing and homeownership opportunities for low and moderate-income families, older adults, and individuals with specialized housing needs. To learn more about NJHMFA, visit: https://NJHousing.gov/

Contact:

Meredith Bishop

Prosek Partners for Hudson Valley Property Group

[email protected]

SOURCE Hudson Valley Property Group
Patent License Agreements Allow Increase Speed to Market for Commercializing Technology

TITUSVILLE, Fla., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- GenH2, a premier provider of hydrogen infrastructure solutions, officially confirmed today that it now holds the most active NASA patent license agreements by any private company, procured through NASA's Technology Transfer Program. NASA's goal is to ensure that innovations developed for exploration and discovery are broadly available to the public, maximizing the benefit to the nation.

GenH2 currently holds a record twenty NASA license agreements, specifically from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), `the John H. Glenn Research Center (GRC) and the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). GenH2 also has a record number of patents licensed by private companies at two of those centers, KSC and GRC. The diverse and noteworthy portfolio list of NASA technologies licensed includes focus areas in cryogenic testing, simulation instrumentation and feedthrough systems; cryogenic solid storage, nozzle and valve technologies; advanced thermal insulation management systems; hydrogen and carbon dioxide monitoring technologies, leak detection systems; and solar and renewable energy technologies that is enabling to the hydrogen full-cycle value chain.

"The benefit of NASA license agreements is that they allow us to deploy proven technology to our hydrogen solutions that give us a pathway to commercializing our technology as well as reduce the time to market," said Cody Bateman, Founder and CEO of GenH2. "Even though our company is only two years old, we've already accrued a historical amount of intellectual property through these license agreements."

GenH2 has already commercialized two of its NASA patent license agreements. The company is the first and only company currently manufacturing and distributing a new Macroflash test instrument under its technology transfer license from NASA KSC. The compact instrument measures the thermal conductivity of materials or complex composites at below-ambient temperatures or subjected to a large temperature difference. The South Dakota School of Mines & Technology (South Dakota Mines), a science and engineering university in Rapid City, South Dakota, is the first to receive the commercialized version of the Macroflash. GenH2 has also successfully commercialized its NASA LCX license agreement which supports the commercial application of a layered composite insulation system for nonvacuum applications and extreme environmental exposure conditions. This type of valuable cryogenic heat management system will help provide infrastructure and practical solutions as GenH2 continues the management and control of heat in hydrogen liquefaction, storage, and transfer in meeting the needs required to ensure the hydrogen economy thrives.

GenH2 innovative, technology-driven vision and mission approach include bringing together these multiple NASA-developed technologies while also developing its own new and game-changing intellectual property. The company already has outstanding inherent inventorship leadership through key members of the GenH2 leadership team, Chief Architect James Fesmire, and Senior Technical Advisor Dr. Martha Williams, who are NASA retirees and two NASA Hall of Fame Inductees.

In addition to being a NASA Hall of Fame Inventor, James Fesmire also founded the NASA Cryogenics Lab. Advanced cryogenic technologies are essential to the creation and storage of liquid hydrogen. "GenH2 is distinguishable in its diversity of technology focus areas patents licenses that will enable the hydrogen full-cycle value chain," said Fesmire. "The NASA Technology Transfer Program aligns with GenH2's mission to provide Hydrogen Liquid-Based Servicing solutions as a core business to continually advance a clean energy future and meet evolving electric energy demands," said Williams. "We are bringing together multiple NASA-developed technologies to achieve our objectives."

GenH2 was recently invited to participate in Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex's Annual Space Week, recognizing the company's leadership in safety-focused hydrogen technology and the mark it is making in Brevard County where both organizations are located. GenH2 was also invited to participate in the upcoming World Hydrogen Conference, to demonstrate how it is setting the standard for liquid hydrogen as the solution for a clean energy environment and to showcase how it is purposing NASA technologies to increase speed-to-market.

For more information, please visit www.DiscoverHydrogen.com.

About GenH2

GenH2 is an industry leader in hydrogen infrastructure solutions. The Titusville, Florida-headquartered technology company includes former NASA researchers and developers who possess decades of experience researching, engineering, and producing hydrogen solutions. GenH2 is focused on the mass production of infrastructure equipment necessary for the transition to a clean energy economy. GenH2 technology will allow safe onsite production, storage, and distribution of liquid or gaseous hydrogen, making the product accessible for everyday use; the company has plans to deliver its product to hundreds of locations across the country in the coming years. Learn more about GenH2 at www.DiscoverHydrogen.com

CONTACT:

Melissa Perlman

561-310-9921

[email protected]

SOURCE GenH2
Purpose-Built Solution Delivers Quick Time to Value with Intelligent Intuitive Contracting Platform to Help Ensure the Intent of Every Contract is Fully Realized

LONDON, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Icertis, the contract intelligence company that pushes the boundaries of what's possible with contract lifecycle management (CLM), today announced the launch of Icertis Contract Intelligence (ICI) for Banking and Financial Services. The CLM solution is packaged with out-of-the-box functionality that includes a range of contract types, rules to identify obligations, and workflow and reporting to support specific challenges in business processes across front, middle, and corporate offices of Banking and Financial Services organizations. The solution will help teams increase business velocity while managing risk and improving regulatory compliance to obligation areas like AML, ISDA credit support, and credit risk reviews. ICI for Banking and Financial Services joins the growing list of industry-leading vertical solutions from Icertis, including Consulting & IT Services, Healthcare, Medical Technology, Technology, and Wholesale & Distribution.

Banking and Financial Services Agreements with Regulatory and Compliance Obligations.

The functionality in ICI for Banking and Financial Services reflects deep learnings and best practices gleaned from Icertis' leading customer footprint in the industry. The new solution helps banks and financial services institutions to better author and manage complex contracts like treasury management, repo loan contracts, and custody agreements to power all aspects of their business through improved efficiency, visibility across business units and third-party suppliers, and control to manage risk and adhere to regulatory requirements.

"Top banks and financial institutions are thinking differently about how contracts impact their businesses in every way. They are navigating evolving competition, heightened oversight and increasing regulations, complex investments, and operational efficiencies," said Niranjan Umarane, Executive Vice President of Product Management, Icertis. "Contract intelligence plays an important role across these trends; powering, protecting, and accelerating business. Icertis recognized the need to address the many contracting pain points central to banking and financial services and have taken our core ICI platform to create a comprehensive solution for quick deployment and adoption without trade-offs on risk and compliance. The solution accelerates contracting processes, improves client onboarding, reduces risk, improves regulatory and reporting compliance, and increases revenue growth."

The Banking and Financial Services Solution, built on the end-to-end ICI CLM platform, meets needs across banking and capital markets with a package of attributes, clauses, templates, associated documents, obligation management, and reporting. While business operations-related contracts provide agility, efficiency, and assurance and compliance to business teams, common contract types, such as NDA, MSA, SaaS agreements, real estate services, and termination letters, enable corporate functions like procurement to manage the complexity related to the high volume of third-party suppliers. Deep insights from existing banking and financial services clients have led to several packaged banking and capital markets agreements; a sample includes:

Blocked account management to support the complexity of managing non-performing assets.

Treasury management to facilitate the creation of treasury management services.

The creation of engagement and reservation of rights letters for mergers and acquisitions.

Global custody management to generate custody agreements to meet the specific needs of each relationship and streamline negotiations and approvals.

Trading agreements, including ISDA master agreements, schedules, credit support annexes, and repurchase loan agreements.

"According to our research, the total addressable market (TAM) for cloud-based Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) software will expand rapidly from over $4.1 billion in 2022 to over $8 billion in 2026, representing a Cumulative Aggregate Growth Rate (CAGR) of 19.4% and totaling close to $30 billion over the five years," said Igor Stenmark, Managing Director, MGI Research. "Financial services organizations of all stripes  from retail and commercial banks to insurance providers and capital market participants stand to benefit significantly from modern CLM solutions that can help accelerate their digital transformation, optimize costs, and improve client engagement and service. Leading financial services providers seek to take advantage of out-of-box CLM capabilities to remove friction from key business processes  from loan origination to M&A to compliance management, among others. With a focus on contract intelligence, Icertis is well-positioned to address numerous contractual management pain points of global and regional financial institutions."

Many of the world's leading banking and financial institutions, such as Allianz, DenizBank, Jefferies, and Wex, use the AI-powered Icertis Contract Intelligence platform for insights and automation that increase revenue, reduce fee leakage, maximize contract spend, mitigate risk, and ensure compliance. The new industry-specific solution is available globally to banking and financial services institutions.

Icertis delivers the announcement from Forrester Technology and Innovation EMEA conference in London, Booth 26, where Icertians are showcasing the Icertis Contract Intelligence solution, Oct 13-14, 2022.

For more information about ICI for Banking and Financial Services, visit: www.icertis.com/bfsi

About Icertis

With unmatched technology and category-defining innovation, Icertis pushes the boundaries of what's possible with contract lifecycle management (CLM). The AI-powered, analyst-validated Icertis Contract Intelligence (ICI) platform turns contracts from static documents into strategic advantage by structuring and connecting the critical contract information that defines how an organization runs. Today, the world's most iconic brands and disruptive innovators trust Icertis to govern the rights and commitments in their 10 million+ contracts worth more than $1 trillion, in 40+ languages and 93+ countries.

Media Contact:

Michelle Rodriguez

Senior Manager, Corporate Communications

[email protected]

SOURCE Icertis
The First in a Series of CISO Perspectives Research Shares Candid Opinions and Tangible Examples from Leading CISOs Representing Several Industries on What They Report to the Board and Why

BOSTON, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- RSA Conference, the world's leading information security conferences and expositions, released research today that provides an in-depth look into how Fortune 1000 CISOs report to boards of directors on cyber risk management. Due to the threats present in today's global landscape, cyber risk is now a priority concern at the executive governance level and above as it is considered strategic risk that could significantly impact the business.

This unique report is the work of the RSA Conference Executive Security Action Forum (ESAF), a community of Fortune 1000 CISOs. The research was steered by the ESAF Program Committee, a group of 15 CISOs from global companies, including Bayer, Capital One, Cisco, Evernorth (Cigna), HCA Healthcare, Infosys, Leidos, Liberty Mutual, McKesson, Meta Platforms, Procter & Gamble, Sony, Vodafone, and Walmart, which highlight the top-priority topics that CISOs want to discuss with their peers. RSAC ESAF, an invitation-only community for confidential information sharing, has met regularly behind closed doors for nearly 20 years. For the first time, ESAF is sharing the knowledge of its members with the wider community.

"To be good at the job, a CISO must be good in front of the board. Even if a CISO is already okay in front of the board, they all want to get better. It makes a huge difference in their careers", said Brad Arkin, Senior Vice President, Chief Security and Trust Officer of Cisco and ESAF Program Committee Member. "This is great research that gives CISOs plenty of ideas."

The research addresses pressing issues such as how to convey cyber risks to the board and what metrics to share with them to address their concerns and meet board objectives. Boards need visibility into the right information to maintain a legally defensible position that they are providing effective oversight of.

"This RSAC ESAF research was led by some of the foremost CISOs in the industry, to meet the needs of the larger CISO community," said Britta Glade, Senior Director of Content and Curation for RSA Conference. "Even the most experienced CISOs are looking for ways to improve their updates. This report shares practical examples that they can immediately use."

Highlights of the report include:

How CISOs gauge the board's appetite for cyber risk

Ways to convey the top risks and how they are being prioritized

Views on how to select and present metrics, and what metrics to leave out

Why boards want to see maturity scores

The report includes actual examples from board updates such as:

8 examples of how board updates are organized (tables of contents)

15 examples of charts, diagrams, and metrics dashboards from actual presentations and memos

30 examples of metrics used in board updates

This report and a conversation with ESAF CISO program committee members Arkin, Emma Smith, Chief Information Security Officer at Vodafone, and JR Williamson, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer at Leidos will be the focus of a webcast on October 25, 2022. To register for this event, please click here.

Click to download a copy of the report.

About RSA Conference

RSA Conference is the premier series of global events and year-round learning for the cybersecurity community. RSAC is where the security industry converges to discuss current and future concerns and have access to the experts, unbiased content and ideas that help enable individuals and companies to advance their cybersecurity posture and build stronger and smarter teams. Both in-person and online, RSAC brings the cybersecurity industry together and empowers the collective "we" to stand against cyberthreats around the world. RSAC is the ultimate marketplace for the latest technologies and hands-on educational opportunities that help industry professionals discover how to make their companies more secure while showcasing the most enterprising, influential, and thought-provoking thinkers and leaders in cybersecurity today. For the most up-to-date news pertaining to the cybersecurity industry visit www.rsaconference.com. Where the world talks security.

About RSAC ESAF

The Executive Security Action Forum (ESAF), an RSA Conference (RSAC) community, has been a trusted forum for Fortune 1000 security executives since 2003. Led by a program committee, the community shares information at confidential sessions throughout the year and at our annual meeting at RSA Conference, enabling security leaders at some of the world's largest enterprises to collaborate and find actionable solutions to common challenges.

SOURCE RSA Conference
GURUGRAM, India, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --

Zero Liquidation Discharge: ZLD is fast gaining prominence in Indonesia and many companies are opting for this technology to reduce their water footprint as well as to cope up with the water scarcity. Many industries have voluntarily adopted for ZLD technology. Treated water help in sustaining the water level as well as maintaining the quality of surrounding water bodies.

Adoption of New Technologies: The demand for process equipment in the Indonesia Industrial water and water treatment Market is on constant rise due to adoption of latest technologies and upgradation of efficiency and treatment capacity of equipment. Efficient systems can be designed to ensure that secondary and tertiary treatment equipment are chosen suitable to treat specific pollutant. It will help in improving faster and efficient treatment. It may cost a little more but in the long run efficiency and higher performance is expected to compensate.

Growing Demand for Water Treatment and Importance of New Efficient Equipments: Pumps and other energy guzzling equipment with better energy efficiency are gaining importance as focus is shifting on reducing the carbon and energy footprint. This has created a market for which the EPC contractors have to pay premium. Pumps and other energy guzzling equipments with better energy efficiency are gaining importance as focus is shifting on reducing the carbon and energy footprint. This has created a market for which the EPC contractors have to pay premium.

Increase Awareness about Benefits of Utilizing Treated Water: Treated water helps in sustaining the water level as well as maintaining the quality of surrounding water bodies. It ensures longer and constant supply of water. Costs of using the treated water leads to increase in costs which can be transferred to customers or a lobby can be created to ensure that violators are strictly and aptly punished.

Analysts at Ken Research in their latest publication "Indonesia Industrial Waste Water Treatment Market Outlook 2027F  Driven By Rising Industrialization, Depletion of Resources and Government's Strong Initiatives in Waste Water Treatment by Ken Research observed that Waste Water Treatment market is an emergent market in Indonesia at a rebounding stage from the economic crisis after pandemic. The rising industrialization and pollution in the rivers, along with the growing awareness and Government initiatives, is expected to contribute to the market growth over the forecast period. The Indonesia Waste Water Treatment Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.9% over the forecasted period 2022-2027F.

Key Segments Covered:-

Indonesia Waste Water Treatment Market

By Region

Jakarta & Java

& Java Sulawesi

Sumatra

Kalimantan

Maluku

Iranian Java

By Type of Companies

EPC

O&M

By Industries

Power plants

Paper

Textiles

Palm Oil

F&B

Others

Key Target Audience:-

Waste Water Treatment Service Providers

Water Treatment Equipment Distributors

Water Treatment Equipment Manufacturers

FMCG Companies

Waste Water Treatment Companies

Palm Oil Manufactures

Paper Manufactures

Government Bodies & Regulating Authorities

Time Period Captured in the Report:-

Historical Period: 2017-2022

2017-2022 Base Year: 2022

2022 Forecast Period: 2022 2027F

Request for Free Sample Report @ https://www.kenresearch.com/sample-report.php?Frmdetails=NTk2MDA3

Companies Covered:-

PT Beta Pramesti

Kurita Water Industries

Metito

Envitech Perkasa

PT. Padi Hijau Buana

PT Amanaid

PT Eswareco Tama

PT Kohken WaterTech

Biosystem Limited

PT Hydromaster Harmoni Nusantara

PT Lautan Organo Water

PT Harum Tirta Jaya

PT Adika Tirta Daya

PJL Enviro/ Surya Cipta Waste Water

Key Topics Covered in the Report:-

Indonesia Waste Water Overview

Indonesia Industrial Waste Water Market Overview

Ecosystem of Indonesia Industrial Waste Water Market

Business Cycle and Genesis of Indonesia Industrial Waste Water Treatment Markets

Business Model in Indonesia Waste Water Treatment System

Waste Water Treatment System Value Chains of Indonesia Waste Water Treatment System

End User Analysis of Indonesia Industrial Waste Water Treatment Market

Industry Analysis of Indonesia Industrial Waste Water Treatment Market

SWOT Analysis of Indonesia Industrial Waste Water Treatment Market

Key Growth Drivers in Industrial Waste Water Treatment Market in Indonesia

Major Challenges and Issues in Indonesia Industrial Waste Water Treatment Market

Industrial Waste Water Treatment Market Competition Framework in Indonesia Industrial Waste Water Treatment Market

Industrial Waste Water Treatment Market Detailed Analysis on Indonesia Industrial Waste Water Treatment Market (Market Size and Segmentation, 2017-2022; Future Market Size and Segmentation, 2022-2027F)

Market Opportunity and Analyst Recommendations

For more information on the research report, refer to below link:-

Indonesia Industrial Waste Water Treatment Market

Related Reports by Ken Research:-

Vietnam Industrial Water and Waste Water Treatment Market Outlook To 2022 - By Region (North, South And Central) And By Industry (Food Processing, Textile, Chemical, Power, Oil And Gas, Fertilizers And Others)

Industrial water and waste water treatment industry in Vietnam registered a positive five year CAGR during 2012-2017. The market size grew constantly in terms of order intake during the period 2012-2017. The growth was mainly driven by rapid industrialization of Vietnam which leads to high level of pollution in the water bodies, strict implementation of regulatory norms and scarcity of water promoting the industries to use recycled water. Increased demand for energy and rise in manufacturing industries has promoted the development of water treatment industry.

Malaysia Industrial Water And Waste Water Treatment Market Outlook To 2022 - By Region (North, Kuala Lumpur, South And East, And Sabah And Sarawak) And By Industry (Agriculture And Food, Palm Oil, Oil And Gas, Electronics, And Others)

Industrial water and waste water treatment industry in Malaysia registered a positive five year CAGR during 2012-2017. The growth was mainly driven by strict implementation of regulatory norms and scarcity of water promoting the industries to use recycled water. Increased demand for energy and rise in manufacturing industries has promoted the development of water treatment industry.

Philippines Industrial Water And Waste Water Treatment Market Outlook To 2022 - By Region (Luzon, Visayas And Mindanao) And By Industry (Electronics-Semiconductors, Agriculture-Food Processing, Chemicals-Pharmaceuticals-Fertilizers, Power And Others)

Industrial water and waste water treatment industry in Philippines registered a five year CAGR of ~% during 2012-2017. The growth was mainly driven by strict implementation of regulatory norms by the DENR and scarcity of water promoting the industries to use recycled water. Increased demand for energy and rise in manufacturing industries has promoted the development of water treatment industry.

India Industrial Water and Waste Water Treatment Market Outlook to 2022 - By Region (North, South, East, and West) and By Industry (Power, Steel, Textile tannery and Paper and Pulp, Oil and Gas, Pharma and Others

Industrial water and waste water treatment industry in India registered a five year CAGR of ~% during 2012-2017. The market size increased from INR ~ billion in 2012 to INR ~ billion in 2017. The growth was mainly driven by strict implementation of regulatory norms and scarcity of water promoting the industries to use recycled water. Increased demand for energy and rise in manufacturing industries has promoted the development of water treatment industry.

About US:-

Ken Research is a research based management consulting company. We provide strategic consultancy to aid clients on critical business perspective: strategy, marketing, organization, operations and technology transformation, advanced analytics, corporate finance, mergers & acquisitions and sustainability across all industries and geographies. We provide business intelligence and operational advisory across 300+ verticals underscoring disruptive technologies, emerging business models with precedent analysis and success case studies. Some of top consulting companies and Market leaders seek our intelligence to identify new revenue streams, customer/ vendor paradigm and pain points and due diligence on competition.

We currently cater to 300+ sectors with 150,000+ research repository across 196+ countries serving 1000+ clients and have partnered with almost 25+ content aggregators. With a network panel list of 5000+ Industry Veterans and experienced 100+ analysts, consultants and research publishers across the globe, Ken Research aid clients in identifying the demandsupply gap, niche segments and challenges in the ecosystem. We currently caters to clients in verticals such as Education, Automotive, Agriculture, Banking, Financial Services & Insurance (BFSI), Healthcare, Consumer Products, Retail and others segments.

Follow Us  LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube

Contact Us:-

Ken Research

Ankur Gupta, Head Marketing & Communications

[email protected]

+91-9015378249

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/661352/Ken_Research_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Ken Research
TORONTO, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Global IT research and advisory firm Info-Tech Research Group has named Tom Zehren as Chief Product Officer. This appointment follows other recent significant changes in Info-Tech's executive leadership team. The addition of a new CPO marks another milestone in the 25-year history of the rapidly growing IT research and advisory firm.

Tom Zehren, Chief Product Officer at Info-Tech Research Group. (CNW Group/Info-Tech Research Group)

Tom Zehren joins Info-Tech from McKinsey & Company, where he was an Associate Partner specializing in digital product management, growth strategies, and digital transformations. His clients included leading technology organizations, financial service providers, and not-for-profit universities across North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia.

"As Info-Tech continues to grow and innovate in the research and advisory space, we are focused on evolving our global product offering to meet emerging needs," says David Godfrey, the firm's recently appointed CEO. "Info-Tech's robust and quality-focused approach to its research creation sets us apart from others. I know Tom has the strategic foresight to uncover new, interesting, and impactful trends and topics for our members."

A seasoned veteran with a finger on the pulse of the future of technology and its impact on the IT function across all industry segments, Zehren will be working with analysts, directors, and VPs to execute the research process and generate over 100 research blueprints each quarter.

"Info-Tech has built an impressive product portfolio over the last 25 years," says Zehren, the new CPO at Info-Tech. "I'm excited to spearhead new product development and management, driving innovation to meet the evolving needs of our members for today and into the future."

With a commitment to providing the best research through transformational insights, groundbreaking, data-driven frameworks, and easy-to-use, consulting-quality deliverables, Info-Tech has nearly 1,300 employees, over 200 open career opportunities, and offices in Canada, the US, and Australia.

To learn more about Info-Tech Research Group and to download the latest research, visit infotech.com and connect via LinkedIn and Twitter.

About Info-Tech Research Group

Info-Tech Research Group is one of the world's leading information technology research and advisory firms, proudly serving over 30,000 IT professionals. The company produces unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. For 25 years, Info-Tech has partnered closely with IT teams to provide them with everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.

Media professionals can register for unrestricted access to research across IT, HR, and software and over 200 IT and Industry analysts through the ITRG Media Insiders Program. To gain access, contact [email protected].

SOURCE Info-Tech Research Group
DUBLIN, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Online Lottery Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global online lottery market reached a value of US$ 9.61 Billion in 2021. Looking forward, the publisher expects the market to reach a value of US$ 14.35 Billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 6.91% during 2021-2027.

Keeping in mind the uncertainties of COVID-19, we are continuously tracking and evaluating the direct as well as the indirect influence of the pandemic on different end use sectors. These insights are included in the report as a major market contributor.



Online lottery refers to a system of gambling that involves acquiring money by selling numbered tickets and randomly drawing numbers to provide prizes to holders of selected numbers. These games are linked to a central computer, which is further connected to a telecommunication network.

Online lottery applications can be downloaded on the desktop and smartphones or can be played through a website. The sessions are moderated by computer programs, thus eliminating all forms of physical contact and interactions. Apart from this, online lottery solutions offer multiple benefits, such as real-time experience, convenience, secure payments, easy accessibility, cashless transactions, and a safe environment.



The rising availability of high-speed internet connectivity and the inflating sales of smartphones across the globe represent some of the key factors creating a positive outlook for the market. Consumers are widely adopting online lottery methods due to their enhanced accessibility on mobile phones and personal computers (PCs), provision of digital and mobile payments for online players, and improved betting processes, security, and reliability.

Additionally, the shifting inclination of users from traditional draw-based games to online lotteries due to a higher amount of return on lower investments is favoring the market growth. Apart from this, various advancements in technology, such as the integration of virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR), along with the introduction of connected wearables for providing an immersive gaming experience while ensuring transparency, are providing a considerable boost to the market growth.

Moreover, the increasing utilization of online payment channels that offer encryption security for protecting data related to online transactions is positively impacting the market growth. Other factors, including various promotional activities on social media, rising expenditure capacities of consumers, and the implementation of various government initiatives promoting safe practices and legalization of online lottery services, are anticipated to drive the market further toward growth.

Competitive Landscape:

The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined along with the profiles of the key players being Camelot Group, International Game Technology PLC, Jackpot.com, Lotto Agent, Lotto Direct Limited, Lotto247, Lottoland Limited, LottosOnline, MultiLotto, OneLotto.com, Play UK Internet N.V and ZEAL Network SE.



Key Questions Answered in This Report:

How has the global online lottery market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?

What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global online lottery market?

What are the key regional markets?

What is the breakup of the market based on the product type?

What is the breakup of the market based on the platform?

What are the various stages in the value chain of the industry?

What are the key driving factors and challenges in the industry?

What is the structure of the global online lottery market and who are the key players?

What is the degree of competition in the industry?

Key Topics Covered:



1 Preface



2 Scope and Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Introduction

4.1 Overview

4.2 Key Industry Trends



5 Global Online Lottery Market

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Market Performance

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Market Forecast



6 Market Breakup by Product Type

6.1 The Lotto

6.1.1 Market Trends

6.1.2 Market Forecast

6.2 Quizzes Type Lottery

6.2.1 Market Trends

6.2.2 Market Forecast

6.3 Numbers Game

6.3.1 Market Trends

6.3.2 Market Forecast

6.4 Scratch-off Instant Games

6.4.1 Market Trends

6.4.2 Market Forecast

6.5 Others

6.5.1 Market Trends

6.5.2 Market Forecast



7 Market Breakup by Platform

7.1 Desktop

7.1.1 Market Trends

7.1.2 Market Forecast

7.2 Mobile/App-based

7.2.1 Market Trends

7.2.2 Market Forecast



8 Market Breakup by Region



9 SWOT Analysis

10 Value Chain Analysis



11 Porters Five Forces Analysis



12 Price Analysis



13 Competitive Landscape

13.1 Market Structure

13.2 Key Players

13.3 Profiles of Key Players

13.3.1 Camelot Group

13.3.1.1 Company Overview

13.3.1.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.2 International Game Technology PLC

13.3.2.1 Company Overview

13.3.2.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.2.3 Financials

13.3.3 Jackpot.com

13.3.3.1 Company Overview

13.3.3.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.4 Lotto Agent

13.3.4.1 Company Overview

13.3.4.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.5 Lotto Direct Limited

13.3.5.1 Company Overview

13.3.5.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.6 Lotto247

13.3.6.1 Company Overview

13.3.6.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.7 Lottoland Limited

13.3.7.1 Company Overview

13.3.7.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.8 LottosOnline

13.3.8.1 Company Overview

13.3.8.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.9 MultiLotto

13.3.9.1 Company Overview

13.3.9.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.10 OneLotto.com

13.3.10.1 Company Overview

13.3.10.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.11 Play UK Internet N.V

13.3.11.1 Company Overview

13.3.11.2 Product Portfolio

13.3.12 ZEAL Network SE

13.3.12.1 Company Overview

13.3.12.2 Product Portfolio

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/rmzd32

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

U.S. Fax: 646-607-1904

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/539438/Research_and_Markets_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Research and Markets
DUBLIN , Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Insurance (Providers, Brokers and Re-Insurers" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The global insurance (providers, brokers and re-insurers) market is expected to grow from $6,008.64 billion in 2021 to $6,440.96 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.2%. The market is expected to grow to $8,036.89 billion in 2026 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.7%.



The insurance market consists of sales of insurance by entities (organizations, sole traders, and partnerships) that engage in insurance and related activities such as underwriting (assuming the risk and assigning premiums) policies, insurance brokerage, and reinsurance. The insurance industry is categorized based on the business model of the firms present in the industry. Some insurance firms may offer other services financial or otherwise. Contributions and premiums are set based on actuarial calculations of probable payouts based on risk factors from experience tables and expected investment returns on reserves. The value of the market is based on the premiums paid by those insured, both commercial and personal as well as the fees or commissions paid to brokers.



The main types of insurance (providers, brokers, and re-insurers) are insurance providers, insurance brokers, and agents, reinsurance providers. Reinsurance providers are businesses that provide insurance to other businesses. In other words, reinsurance companies are businesses that accept insurance liabilities from other businesses. The services are provided through online and offline modes and are used by corporate and individual end-users.



The global payments industry has witnessed a rapid increase in the adoption of EMV technology. This growth is driven by a higher level of data security offered by EMV chips and PIN cards as compared to traditional magnetic stripe cards. EMV is a security standard for various payment cards including debit, credit, charge, and prepaid cards. The chip carries data of the cardholder and the account, which is protected using both hardware and software security measures. According to Thales Group, a France-based manufacturer of electrical systems, in 2020, 66.4% of all payment cards issued worldwide were EMV chip-based. From June 2019 to June 2021, MV card-present transactions climbed by 14.2%, from 67.84% to 77.52%.



North America was the largest region in the insurance (providers, brokers, and re-insurers) market in 2021. Asia Pacific was the second largest region in the global insurance (providers, brokers, and re-insurers) market. The regions covered in this report are Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Middle East, and Africa.

Scope

Markets Covered:1) By Type: Insurance Providers; Insurance Brokers And Agents; Reinsurance Providers

2) By Mode: Online; Offline

3) By End User: Corporate; Individual

Subsegments Covered: Life Insurance Providers; Property & Casualty Insurance Providers; Health & Medical Insurance Providers; Insurance Agencies; Insurance Brokers; Bancassurance; Other Intermediaries; Property & Casualty Reinsurance Providers; Life & Health Reinsurance Providers

Key Topics Covered:



1. Executive Summary



2. Report Structure



3. Insurance (Providers, Brokers and Re-Insurers) Market Characteristics



4. Insurance (Providers, Brokers and Re-Insurers) Market Product Analysis



5. Insurance (Providers, Brokers and Re-Insurers) Market Supply Chain



6. Insurance (Providers, Brokers and Re-Insurers) Market Customer Information



7. Insurance (Providers, Brokers and Re-Insurers) Market Trends And Strategies



8. Insurance (Providers, Brokers and Re-Insurers) Market Size And Growth



9. Insurance (Providers, Brokers and Re-Insurers) Market Regional Analysis



10. Insurance (Providers, Brokers and Re-Insurers) Market Segmentation

11. Insurance (Providers, Brokers and Re-Insurers) Market Segments



12. Insurance (Providers, Brokers and Re-Insurers) Market Metrics



13. Asia-Pacific Insurance (Providers, Brokers and Re-Insurers) Market



14. Western Europe Insurance (Providers, Brokers and Re-Insurers) Market



15. Eastern Europe Insurance (Providers, Brokers and Re-Insurers) Market



16. North America Insurance (Providers, Brokers and Re-Insurers) Market



17. South America Insurance (Providers, Brokers and Re-Insurers) Market



18. Middle East Insurance (Providers, Brokers and Re-Insurers) Market



19. Africa Insurance (Providers, Brokers and Re-Insurers) Market



20. Insurance (Providers, Brokers and Re-Insurers) Market Competitive Landscape



21. Key Mergers And Acquisitions In The Insurance (Providers, Brokers and Re-Insurers) Market



22. Market Background: Financial Services Market



23. Recommendations



24. Appendix



25. Copyright And Disclaimer

Companies Mentioned

Unitedhealth Group

AXA

Munich Re

Allianz

Generali

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/jo9fm3

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/539438/Research_and_Markets_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Research and Markets
ATLANTA, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Invesco Ltd. (NYSE: IVZ) will release its third quarter 2022 results on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022. The earnings release and presentation materials are scheduled to be released and posted to the Investor Relations section of the Company's website, www.invesco.com/corporate, at approximately 7 a.m. ET. A conference call to discuss Invesco's results will be held at 9 a.m. ET on that day; the live audio webcast and replay can be accessed through the same website under Events and Earnings Releases.

Those wishing to participate should call:

US & Canada Toll Free: 866-803-2143 International: 1-210-795-1098



Passcode: Invesco

The presentation will be made available via a simultaneous webcast at www.invesco.com/corporate.

An audio replay will be available approximately one hour after the call:

U.S. & Canada: 888-566-0411 International: 1-203-369-3041

The replay will be removed after Nov. 8, 2022.

About Invesco Ltd.

Invesco Ltd. is a global independent investment management firm dedicated to delivering an investment experience that helps people get more out of life. With offices in more than 20 countries, our distinctive investment teams deliver a comprehensive range of active, passive and alternative investment capabilities. For more information, visit www.invesco.com.

Investor Relations Contacts: Greg Ketron 404-724-4299

Matt Seitz 404-439-4853 Media Relations Contact: Graham Galt 404-439-3070

SOURCE Invesco Ltd.
REDDITCH, England, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Concentric's Interim Report for Q3 January-September 2022, will be published on 3 November 2022, at 08.00 CET. At 10.00 CET media, investors and analysts are invited to Tandstickspalatset, Vastra Tradgardsgatan 15 in Stockholm, for a presentation of the report. There will also be an opportunity to participate via webcast/telephone conference.

President & CEO Martin Kunz and CFO Marcus Whitehouse will host the presentation, which will be held in English and is followed by a Q&A-session. We look forward to your participation. See below detailed information:

Press and analysts conference at 10.00 CET.

Access the webcast:

To join the press conference via phone, please pre-register to receive dial-in details to easily and quickly access the call. On the conference call you can also participate on the Q&A-session.

Access the pre-register.

For further information, please contact Gregory Asante, +44 (0)7977 149 348

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/concentric-ab/r/invitation-to-a-press-and-analyst-conference-in-stockholm-for-presentation-of-concentrics--third-qua,c3646181

The following files are available for download:

SOURCE Concentric AB
MUMBAI, India, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Isthara, India's premium co-living brand and Smart Food Court pioneer, has raised fresh funding of $10 million led by Dubai-based Eagle Investments. The current funding round brings Isthara's total fund-raise to about $21 million.

Gilbert James (Centre)- Co-founder and Managing Director, Isthara, and Krishna Kumar (second from left)- Co-founder, Isthara, along with the senior leadership team.

Isthara, which currently operates in the co-living and institutional smart food court space, will deploy the new funds to foray into the B2C retail food court space and expand its presence in the co-living sector. While Isthara has witnessed immense growth in the B2B institutional cafeteria segment, the company aims to replicate this business success in the B2C space by launching smart food courts across retail locations such as malls, with an aim to become the pan-India market leader in the food court segment. Additionally, with the company's foray in to the B2C food retail segment, it will also be able to widen the customer base potential and not be limited by a captive audience as is the case with institutional cafeterias. Isthara aims to scale the food court business by 10X to 500 food courts across 30 cities in the next 3 years, catering to a million people on a monthly basis. Additionally, the funding will also be utilized to double bed capacity in the company's co-living and student accommodation segments to around 50,000 beds by 2025, and the company aims to achieve a 10X revenue growth in the next 3 years.

Founded in 2017, Isthara, placing tech at the core of its business, has been revolutionizing the co-living segment by providing fully-furnished shared-living accommodation for working professionals and students, with a host of amenities paired with premium features. In 2020, the company ventured into a new segment by pioneering the digitized smart food court business, and transforming conventional institutional food courts across educational institutes and corporates.

Speaking about the new funding round, Gilbert James, Promoter and Managing Director of Isthara stated, "We are delighted to raise a fresh round of funding as we continue our endeavour to revolutionize the highly fragmented co-living and food court segment. The funding that we have raised will enable us to build on our B2C portfolio, aggressively scale our operations across the retail food court market, and be a market leader in the segment. We will also look to strategically expand our co-living presence across the country, and continue to disrupt the space by enhancing our tech-enabled co-living solutions."

Commenting on the investment, Elias Kawar, Managing Director of Eagle Investments said, "We are delighted to have led this latest round of funding for Isthara as it continues its incredible growth trajectory while solving the challenges faced by the rising urban millennial population in India. With a rise in safety and hygiene concerns since the pandemic, we are seeing a fundamental shift as customers across the spectrum are increasingly opting for tech-enabled and safety focused co-living and food options. With its unique business model, tech-focused solutions, and strong scalability potential, Isthara is poised to disrupt the co-living and retail food court segment, and we are excited to support the company's next growth phase as it continues to make new strides in the Liv-Tech segment."

In September 2021, Isthara raised funding from existing investors JM Financial Private Equity, along with Dubai-based Eagle Proprietary Investments. Recently, the company acquired software product engineering firm, 'Letsmobility', to introduce advanced tech solutions in the co-living and institutional cafeteria sectors.

About Eagle Investments

Eagle Investments is a globally diversified private investment company focused on investing in early stage companies that are disrupting their respective industries. Our team seeks out and invests alongside high integrity and high functioning management teams. We seek to be a value-add investor by devoting a significant amount of time understanding the needs of our portfolio companies and working closely alongside management teams to drive strategic, operational and financial growth. Eagle was founded in 2008 and is based in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), Dubai, UAE.

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1919249/Isthara.jpg

SOURCE Isthara
NEW YORK, Oct. 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The IT market size in Oman is expected to grow by USD 2.21 billion between 2021 and 2026, according to the latest market research report by Technavio. The report expects the market to observe a YOY growth of 6.84% in 2022 and accelerate at a CAGR of 8.27% during the forecast period. Technavio has considered various factors including the number of major IT consulting deals signed worldwide, revenue generated by vendors, budgets allocated by central and state governments across major markets, and GDP growth among others. Understand the scope of our research report. Download Sample PDF Report Now

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled IT Market in Oman 2022-2026

Increased adoption of mobility solutions has been instrumental in driving the growth of the market. However, data privacy and security concerns might hamper the market growth. Technavio presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources. The IT market in Oman report covers the following areas:

The market is fragmented, and the degree of fragmentation will accelerate during the forecast period. Competitors have to focus on differentiating their product offerings with unique value propositions to strengthen their foothold in the market. Market vendors also have to leverage the existing growth prospects in the fast-growing segments, while maintaining their positions in the slow-growing segments.

The report identifies the following as the dominant players in the market.

Capgemini Service SAS: The company offers IT solutions such as business services, cloud services, cybersecurity and risk, and cloud services.

The company offers IT solutions such as business services, cloud services, cybersecurity and risk, and cloud services. Cisco Systems Inc.: The company offers IT solutions such as packaged solutions, advisory services, solution consulting, and software support.

The company offers IT solutions such as packaged solutions, advisory services, solution consulting, and software support. Crimsonlogic PTE LTD: The company offers IT services such as Strategic review, security posture assessment, managed security services, and cyber threat.

The company offers IT services such as Strategic review, security posture assessment, managed security services, and cyber threat. Dell Inc.: The company offers IT solutions such as VMware solutions, validated designs, analytics, and artificial intelligence.

The company offers IT solutions such as VMware solutions, validated designs, analytics, and artificial intelligence. Fujitsu Ltd.: The company offers IT solutions such as network and communications services, enterprise and cyber security systems, and digital workforce.

The company offers IT solutions such as network and communications services, enterprise and cyber security systems, and digital workforce. ACS Services Inc.

Broadcom Inc.

Fortinet Inc.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co.

Hitachi Ltd.

Infosys Ltd.

International Business Machines Corp.

Juniper Networks Inc.

Lenovo Group Ltd.

Muse Technologies Inc.

Oracle Corp.

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd.

TOSHIBA CORP

IT market in Oman 2022-2026: Segmentation

The IT market in Oman is segmented as below:

Type

Hardware



Software



IT Services

The hardware segment accounted for the largest share of the market in 2021. The increasing demand for virtualization is driving the growth of the segment. The market growth in the segment will be significant over the forecast period.

End-user

BFSI



Telecommunication



Industrial



Others

BFSI companies are the prime end-users in the market. These companies are undertaking digital transformation initiatives, offering good potential for software and IT service providers. In addition, the enhancement of banking operations is expected to boost the adoption of new IT applications, services, and solutions among BFSI companies in Oman over the forecast period.

Identify potential segments to invest in over the forecast period. Request Sample PDF Report Here

IT market in Oman 2022-2026: Key Highlights

CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2022-2026

Detailed information on factors that will assist IT market growth in Oman during the next five years

during the next five years Estimation of the IT market size in Oman and its contribution to the parent market

and its contribution to the parent market Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

The growth of the IT market in Oman

Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors

Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of IT market vendors in Oman

Related Reports:

IT market In Oman Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 8.27% Market growth 2022-2026 USD 2.21 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 6.84 Key consumer countries Oman Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Companies profiled ACS Services Inc., Broadcom Inc., Capgemini Service SAS, Cisco Systems Inc., Crimsonlogic PTE LTD, Dell Inc., Fortinet Inc., Fujitsu Ltd., Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co., Hitachi Ltd., Infosys Ltd., International Business Machines Corp., Juniper Networks Inc., Lenovo Group Ltd., Muse technologies Inc., Oracle Corp., Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., and TOSHIBA CORP 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 Country Market Characteristics



Exhibit 04: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Type



Exhibit 05: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by End-user



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Vendor Market Positioning

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 07: Parent market



Exhibit 08: Market Characteristics

3 Market Sizing

3.1 Market definition

Exhibit 09: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

3.2 Market segment analysis

Exhibit 10: Market segments

3.3 Market size 2021

3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2021-2026

Exhibit 11: Chart on Oman - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 12: Data Table on Oman - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)

Exhibit 13: Chart on Oman : Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 14: Data Table on Oman : Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

4 Five Forces Analysis

4.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 15: Five forces analysis - Comparison between 2021 and 2026

4.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 16: Chart on Bargaining power of buyers  Impact of key factors 2021 and 2026

4.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 17: Bargaining power of suppliers  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 18: Threat of new entrants  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 19: Threat of substitutes  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 20: Threat of rivalry  Impact of key factors in 2021 and 2026

4.7 Market condition

Exhibit 21: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2021 and 2026

5 Market Segmentation by Type

5.1 Market segments

Exhibit 22: Chart on Type - Market share 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 23: Data Table on Type - Market share 2021-2026 (%)

5.2 Comparison by Type

Exhibit 24: Chart on Comparison by Type



Exhibit 25: Data Table on Comparison by Type

5.3 Hardware - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 26: Chart on Hardware - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 27: Data Table on Hardware - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 28: Chart on Hardware - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 29: Data Table on Hardware - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.4 Software - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 30: Chart on Software - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Software - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 32: Chart on Software - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Software - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.5 IT services - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 34: Chart on IT services - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on IT services - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 36: Chart on IT services - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 37: Data Table on IT services - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.6 Market opportunity by Type

Exhibit 38: Market opportunity by Type ($ billion)

6 Market Segmentation by End-user

6.1 Market segments

Exhibit 39: Chart on End-user - Market share 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 40: Data Table on End-user - Market share 2021-2026 (%)

6.2 Comparison by End-user

Exhibit 41: Chart on Comparison by End-user



Exhibit 42: Data Table on Comparison by End-user

6.3 BFSI - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 43: Chart on BFSI - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 44: Data Table on BFSI - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 45: Chart on BFSI - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 46: Data Table on BFSI - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

6.4 Telecommunication - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 47: Chart on Telecommunication - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 48: Data Table on Telecommunication - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 49: Chart on Telecommunication - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 50: Data Table on Telecommunication - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

6.5 Industrial - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 51: Chart on Industrial - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 52: Data Table on Industrial - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 53: Chart on Industrial - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 54: Data Table on Industrial - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

6.6 Others - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 55: Chart on Others - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 56: Data Table on Others - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ billion)



Exhibit 57: Chart on Others - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 58: Data Table on Others - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

6.7 Market opportunity by End-user

Exhibit 59: Market opportunity by End-user ($ billion)

7 Customer Landscape

7.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 60: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

8 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

8.1 Market drivers

8.2 Market challenges

8.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

Exhibit 61: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2021 and 2026

8.4 Market trends

9 Vendor Landscape

9.1 Overview

9.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 62: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

9.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 63: Overview on factors of disruption

9.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 64: Impact of key risks on business

10 Vendor Analysis

10.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 65: Vendors covered

10.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 66: Matrix on vendor position and classification

10.3 Capgemini Service SAS

Exhibit 67: Capgemini Service SAS - Overview



Exhibit 68: Capgemini Service SAS - Business segments



Exhibit 69: Capgemini Service SAS - Key news



Exhibit 70: Capgemini Service SAS - Key offerings



Exhibit 71: Capgemini Service SAS - Segment focus

10.4 Cisco Systems Inc.

Exhibit 72: Cisco Systems Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 73: Cisco Systems Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 74: Cisco Systems Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 75: Cisco Systems Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 76: Cisco Systems Inc. - Segment focus

10.5 Crimsonlogic PTE LTD

Exhibit 77: Crimsonlogic PTE LTD - Overview



Exhibit 78: Crimsonlogic PTE LTD - Product / Service



Exhibit 79: Crimsonlogic PTE LTD - Key offerings

10.6 Dell Inc.

Exhibit 80: Dell Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 81: Dell Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 82: Dell Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 83: Dell Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 84: Dell Inc. - Segment focus

10.7 Fujitsu Ltd.

Exhibit 85: Fujitsu Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 86: Fujitsu Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 87: Fujitsu Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 88: Fujitsu Ltd. - Segment focus

10.8 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co.

Exhibit 89: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. - Overview



Exhibit 90: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. - Business segments



Exhibit 91: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. - Key news



Exhibit 92: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. - Key offerings



Exhibit 93: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. - Segment focus

10.9 Infosys Ltd.

Exhibit 94: Infosys Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 95: Infosys Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 96: Infosys Ltd. - Key news



Exhibit 97: Infosys Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 98: Infosys Ltd. - Segment focus

10.10 International Business Machines Corp.

Exhibit 99: International Business Machines Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 100: International Business Machines Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 101: International Business Machines Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 102: International Business Machines Corp. - Segment focus

10.11 Oracle Corp.

Exhibit 103: Oracle Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 104: Oracle Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 105: Oracle Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 106: Oracle Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 107: Oracle Corp. - Segment focus

10.12 TOSHIBA CORP

Exhibit 108: TOSHIBA CORP - Overview



Exhibit 109: TOSHIBA CORP - Business segments



Exhibit 110: TOSHIBA CORP - Key offerings



Exhibit 111: TOSHIBA CORP - Segment focus

11 Appendix

11.1 Scope of the report

11.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 112: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 113: Exclusions checklist

11.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 114: Currency conversion rates for US$

11.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 115: Research methodology



Exhibit 116: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 117: Information sources

11.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 118: 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
SMITHTOWN, N.Y., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- John J. Rush, MD, MBA, MHA, is being recognized by Continental Who's Who as a Distinguished Healthcare Professional in the Medical field and in acknowledgment of his excellence with Arthritis Knee Pain Centers.

John J. Rush

Well-established as a physician and entrepreneur, Dr. Rush is the owner, CEO, and Chief Medical Officer of Arthritis Knee Pain Centers (AKPC), a nationwide network of medical practices focused on advanced therapies to treat osteoarthritis of the knee. The practices offer state-of-the-art digital imaging to precision-guide knee joint injections of a visco-supplement. This FDA-approved injection of "visco" cushioning gels provides pain relief and improves mobility for patients without the use of opioids or surgery. The practices also offer knee bracing and lifestyle counseling.

Arthritis Knee Pain Centers have locations in New York, New Jersey, Kentucky, Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Arizona. In addition, Dr. Rush plans on opening three new medical practice locations in Georgia in the cities of Marietta, Alpharetta, and Lilburn.

As part of his work, Dr. Rush provides training to new AKPC physicians and covers clinically, when needed. He and his team of highly trained medical professionals are committed to providing the highest quality of care to their patients and making them feel welcome and cared for during their treatments. He states, "I am honored to be part of the hard-working Arthritis Knee Pain Centers family. People all over the country look to us to relieve them of the debilitating pain caused by osteoarthritis."

In pursuit of his higher education, Dr. Rush first obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Integrated Life Sciences from Kent State University. He went on to earn his Medical Degree from the Northeast Ohio Medical University and completed his Emergency Medicine Residency at Loma Linda Medical Center. Dr. Rush additionally holds Master of Business Administration and Master of Health Administration degrees, both received from Pfeiffer University in Charlotte, NC.

Dr. Rush has also formed the Arthritis Knee Center Political Action Committee. The AKPC PAC contributes to legislators on both sides of the aisle to raise awareness and seek legislative support for cost-effective pain relief treatment protocols for osteoarthritis.

Dr. Rush's latest venture is the Arthritis Knee Pain Centers Foundation, an idea that sprang from AKPC employees. The Foundation's mission is to give back to the communities served by Arthritis Knee Pain Centers. The Foundation raised $200,000 in its first year, 2020. The Foundation has contributed to YMCAs and food banks in all the communities served by AKPC. The Foundation also recently gave a $25,000 minority scholarship award to Dr. Rush's alma mater, Northeast Ohio Medical University. AKPC employees want to give back and believe that business can be a positive force for the social change that is needed in the country.

If you would like to learn more information about AKPC or the Arthritis Knee Pain Centers Foundation, please visit their website at www.arthritiskneepain.com

Contact: Katherine Green, 516-825-5634, [email protected]

SOURCE Continental Who's Who
CLEVELAND, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- KeyBank (NYSE: KEY) today announced it extended 803 loans for a total of $314 million during the SBA's FY 2022. The volume secured KeyBank a top 10 position out of over 1,600 participating lenders. KeyBank has been a top performing SBA Preferred Lender for over two decades, helping countless small businesses obtain access to capital through the SBA lending programs.

"I am very proud of our consistency in supporting thousands of individual businesses through the uncertainty and challenges of the past few years. During turbulent economic times, we take great pride in being there for our clients - listening to their evolving needs and developing comprehensive financial solutions that help both businesses and communities to thrive," said Jim Fliss, National Manager of KeyBank's SBA Program.

Since 2015, KeyBank has provided more than $2 billion in SBA-guaranteed financing to thousands of small business owners with more than $1 billion of that funding in the last three years. Last year, KeyBank doubled in SBA 7(a) loan units and followed up that volume with another top performance this year despite an overall slowdown in the industry.

The KeyBank SBA lending team has seen changes in 2022 with resources shifted towards helping clients in new ways. "We've strategically created new positions to support our teams that help streamline the process towards quicker results. We are laser focused on the client experience. We believe that if we can get small business owners faster access to capital it is going to improve that experience," said Fliss. The KeyBank SBA lending team has made new hires to handle increasing volumes and added additional SBA Relationship Managers to provide specialized expertise for growing companies with more complex transactions.

For dollars, KeyBank earned a top 5 ranking in SBA districts of Cleveland, Buffalo, Seattle, Portland, Syracuse, Columbus and Pittsburgh. For units, KeyBank earned a top 5 ranking in the districts of Cleveland, Buffalo, Seattle, Portland, Syracuse, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Colorado, Philadelphia, Maine, Connecticut, and Alaska.

All credit products are subject to collateral and/or credit approval, terms, conditions, availability and are subject to change. SBA loans subject to SBA eligibility.

About KeyCorp

KeyCorp's roots trace back nearly 200 years to Albany, New York. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Key is one of the nation's largest bank-based financial services companies, with assets of approximately $187.0 billion at June 30, 2022. Key provides deposit, lending, cash management, and investment services to individuals and businesses in 15 states under the name KeyBank National Association through a network of approximately 1,000 branches and approximately 1,300 ATMs. Key also provides a broad range of sophisticated corporate and investment banking products, such as merger and acquisition advice, public and private debt and equity, syndications and derivatives to middle market companies in selected industries throughout the United States under the KeyBanc Capital Markets trade name. For more information, visit https://www.key.com/. KeyBank is Member FDIC. CFMA #221003-1748539

KEY MEDIA

NEWSROOM: www.Key.com/newsroom

SOURCE KeyCorp
New fire safety campaign launches in Bronx, New York, with unveiling of Cey Adams' mural; actor Jesse Williams lends his voice in support of this important cause

MEBANE, N.C., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A trusted leader in fire safety for more than 100 years, Kidde today announced its new campaign, Cause For Alarm , a fire safety awareness initiative addressing gaps in education and access to fire safety measures. The campaign launched in the Bronx, New York, with the unveiling of a thought-provoking mural by renowned New York City-based visual artist, Cey Adams. Kidde is a part of Carrier Global Corporation (NYSE: CARR), the leading global provider of healthy, safe, sustainable and intelligent building and cold chain solutions.

Jesse Williams, center, is joined by his brothers, Matt Williams, right, and Coire Williams, a firefighter, at the launch of Kiddes new fire safety campaign, Cause For Alarm, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022, in the Bronx borough of New York. The campaign is informing communities on the need to have life-saving smoke alarms and a fire escape plan to protect yourself, your neighbors and firefighters from the devastating effects of a fire. To learn more about the campaign and how you can get involved, visit CauseForAlarm.org. (Photo by Jason DeCrow/Invision for Kidde/AP Images) Jesse Williams joins Kidde to launch the Cause For Alarm campaign, unveiling a powerful mural by famed NYC-artist, Cey Adams, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022, in the Bronx borough of New York. Cause For Alarm is a new fire safety awareness-building initiative that addresses gaps in education and access to fire safety measures. To learn more about the campaign and how you can get involved, visit CauseForAlarm.org. (Photo by Jason DeCrow/Invision for Kidde/AP Images) Kidde partners with Jesse Williams and artist Cey Adams to unveil a thought-provoking mural, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022, in the Bronx borough of New York. The mural is part of Kiddes new fire safety campaign, Cause For Alarm, and shines a light on the statistic that fatal residential fires disproportionately affect Black communities. To learn more about the campaign and how you can get involved, visit CauseForAlarm.org. (Photo by Jason DeCrow/Invision for Kidde/AP Images) Renowned NYC artist Cey Adams unveils a new mural, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022, in the Bronx borough of New York. The mural was created to launch Cause For Alarm, Kiddes new fire safety program shining the light on fire safety inequity. To learn more about the campaign and how you can get involved, visit CauseForAlarm.org. (Photo by Jason DeCrow/Invision for Kidde/AP Images)

Kidde created Cause For Alarm in response to the statistics that fatal residential fires disproportionately affect some communities more than others. In fact, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Research found African Americans face nearly two times the risk of house fire deaths.1

As part of Cause For Alarm efforts, Kidde has also teamed up with The Home Depot and other businesses to donate fire safety products to the FDNY Foundation and Habitat for Humanity to help ensure these life-saving products get into the hands of those who need them most. For every Kidde alarm purchased at participating businesses through November 2022, a $1 contribution will be made toward donated smoke alarms, up to a total retail value of $1 million.

"Fatal house fires disproportionately impact the Black community, my community, and it's vital to get behind campaigns such as Cause For Alarm so we can help avoid major, catastrophic events," said Jesse Williams, actor and activist. "This campaign is also personal to me because my brother is a firefighter and risks his life daily. By supporting Cause For Alarm, I hope to help educate on how our communities can help protect themselves, and their firefighters, from deadly fires."

To help draw awareness to this important campaign, the mural by Adams will be on display through Oct. 31 at the corner of Jerome Avenue and West 169th Street in the Bronx. It was created to prompt conversation and ultimately inspire change in a community that has been impacted by fire safety inequity first-hand. The mural is infused with story, meaning and purpose to put an issue that is often out of sight and out of mind on full display.

"The work I create always tells a deeper story about the cultural and community issues of my subjects," said Cey Adams, artist. "This piece tells the story about how residents in the Bronx can work together to help ensure a devastating fire does not occur again. Working with Kidde on Cause For Alarm is my small way of helping residents learn they can protect themselves and live safely and securely in their own homes."

A $1 contribution toward donated smoke alarms will be made to the Bronx Community Foundation, up to a $100,000 retail value, for every post of the mural on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter tagging @KiddeFireSafety and the hashtag #CauseForAlarm or on TikTok tagging #KiddeFireSafety and #CauseForAlarm throughout the end of the month. An additional monetary donation was presented to the Foundation from iHeartIMPACT through the collaboration with Kidde.

"Access is the cornerstone to fire safety, prevention and protection," said Isis Wu, Vice President & General Manager, Residential Fire and Healthy Homes, Carrier Fire & Security. "Everyone deserves to feel safe and protected in their homes, yet some people are more at risk for fatal residential fires, and this is cause for alarm. Our new Cause For Alarm initiative was created to raise awareness of the importance of fire safety education and products in keeping all communities safe. Kidde wants to empower residents with fire safety awareness that can help keep them and their loved ones safe."

Visual and multilingual fire safety resources are available on CauseForAlarm.org for distribution among local fire departments and other partners. Through the Cause For Alarm initiative, Kidde will continue working with consumers, community members and partners to address fire safety gaps and ensure everyone's home is a safe and healthy one. To learn how you can protect your family, visit CauseForAlarm.org.

1. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Oct. 4, 2021

About Kidde

Kidde, a leading manufacturer of residential smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarms, fire extinguishers, and safety accessories, has been keeping the world a safer place for over 100 years. Kidde produced the first integrated smoke detection system a century ago and continues its legacy today by delivering advanced fire-safety technology. Kidde is a part of Carrier Global Corporation, the leading global provider of healthy, safe, sustainable and intelligent building and cold chain solutions. For more information, visit kidde.com or follow @KiddeFireSafety on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn.

SOURCE Kidde
DUBAI, UAE, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- HUAWEI CONNECT 2022, themed "Unleash Digital", kicks off in Dubai today. Industry leaders, experts, partners, and guests from the Middle East and Africa gather to share their thoughts on technological innovation, ecosystem collaboration, and digital transformation. Ken Hu, Rotating Chairman of Huawei, delivered a keynote speech under the conference theme and called for enterprises to "embrace cloud for leapfrog development" for digital transformation. Joy Huang, President of Huawei Cloud Computing Strategy & Industry Development, delivered a speech "Unleash Digital with Everything as a Service".

Joy Huang, President of Strategy & Industry Development, Huawei Cloud Jacqueline Shi, President of Global Marketing and Sales Service, Huawei Cloud Frank Dai, President of Huawei Cloud Middle East Dr. Tian Qi, Chief AI Scientist of Huawei Cloud William Dong, President of Huawei Cloud Marketing

Mr. Huang said that greener infrastructure, continuous innovation, and shared experience are the paths to digital transformation.

Huawei Cloud marks its presence with innovations in native technologies. At this event, three cloud native products are released globally: CCE Turbo for container engine and UCS for ubiquitous cloud native. CCE Turbo accelerates computing, networking, and scheduling to achieve ultimate scalability. For example, it helps Sina Weibo easily cope with traffic bursts by scaling out 3,000 pods in just one minute. UCS enables users to manage cloud native applications across clouds and regions with one consistent experience. GuassDB has been re-architected to become serverless, and now you can scale your GaussDB automatically in seconds. It's part of our Backend as a Service plan.

Many enterprise applications have to process hybrid requests. For example, a financial application may need to process loans and analyze transaction data as well.

To unleash the real-world potential of AI, Huawei Cloud focuses on three core AI technologies: foundation models, solvers, and knowledge computing. Huawei Cloud worked with partners to develop the Pangu NLP model for the Arabic language that supports hundreds of billions of parameters. The semantic understanding accuracy reached 95%. The OptVerse AI Solver combines operations research and AI, improving the solution speed by 100 times and modeling efficiency by 30 times. The upgraded knowledge computing provides a faster path to combine industry knowledge with AI, and integrates knowledge acquisition, modeling, management, and application all in one place, greatly improving the efficiency of using AI.

Application modernization is a must for digitalization. To ease this process, Huawei Cloud launches four pipelines for software development, data governance, AI development, and digital content production. Huawei Cloud also dives deep into digital technologies and distills them into aPaaS services to customers. At this event, two new core aPaaS services are released: KooMessage and KooSearch.

As a constant innovator, Huawei Cloud hopes to support customer growth with the cutting-edge technologies.

Unleash Digital Productivity and Embrace Cloud

At the Huawei Cloud TechWave Summit held on the same day, Jacqueline Shi, President of Marketing and Sales Service of Huawei Cloud, delivered an opening speech. She pointed out that the key to unleashing digital is to embrace the cloud, and cloud native is the way to realize digital transformation.

Following the "Everything as a Service" strategy, Huawei Cloud builds full-stack cloud native services covering Infrastructure as a Service, Technology as a Service, and Expertise as a Service. Huawei Cloud shares localization experience gained from global services, as well as the insights into businesses and industries in major regions, all of which constitute advanced technologies and solutions to serve more customers in a wider range of industries. "The key to making the most of cloud is to think cloud native, act cloud native. Cloud native has the path to agile and modern applications." said Jacqueline. To provide better local support, Huawei Cloud has built 70 AZs in 27 Regions around the world and rolled out 92 cloud services in the Middle East. Huawei Cloud is launching new Regions in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, another effort of Huawei Cloud to enlarge its global network and provide customers in the Middle East and Africa with more secure, stable, and low-latency networks.

Cloud Native 2.0 Architecture White Paper: https://www.huaweicloud.com/intl/en-us/about/cloudnative2_0/whitepaper.html

Drive Productivity with Digital Technologies

Human society is becoming digital and intelligent, presenting both challenges and opportunities. Frank Dai, President of Huawei Cloud Middle East, delivered a keynote speech "Inspire Innovation with Everything as a Service", introducing Huawei Cloud's approach to help customers in the Middle East make the most of cloud, improve digital resilience, and go further in digital transformation.

Cloud features efficiency, convenience, and scalability, much beneficial to digital transformation for enterprises. Frank said that countries in the Middle East have realized the value of cloud to digital economy. Building a digital infrastructure is essentially to make the most of cloud. Cloud once meant elastic computing resources to enterprises, who used IaaS services mostly. Now, cloud capabilities branch out to emerging fields such as AI, application development, and big data, with integrated development tools and consulting services accessible whenever needed. Huawei has shifted from helping you "migrate to a good cloud" to "make the most of cloud".

The local ecosystem is an indispensable force to digital transformation. According to Mr. Dai, in the Middle East, Huawei Cloud will work with stakeholders to develop the local digital ecosystem in three aspects, including building industry-specific digital capabilities, cultivating digital talent, and providing support for SMEs.

Dr. Tian Qi, academician of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences, IEEE Fellow, and chief AI scientist of Huawei Cloud, introduced Huawei Cloud's innovations in Enterprise Intelligence (EI) services and described the value and potential of AI for scientific research, production, and daily life. Dr. Tian said, "AI for Science brings not only tech breakthroughs, but a total changeover in scientific research methods. It will help scientists overcome bottlenecks and leapfrog the technical gap."

Full-Stack Architecture Innovation and Ubiquitous Cloud Native

Cloud native is becoming the preferred choice for enterprises to move to the cloud, previously by Internet companies and now enterprises in traditional industries. Cloud native is poised for full-fledged development.

William Dong, President of Huawei Cloud Marketing, pointed out that in the future, applications, data, AI models, and digital content will become the core assets of a digital and intelligent enterprise. Enterprises will develop, run, and manage these resources in a converged pipeline, and cloud native will be the technology to help businesses navigate uncertainty.

Based on its own technical innovations and practices, Huawei Cloud believes that enterprises are not just migrating to the cloud, but also building on the cloud. Therefore, cloud native covers not only microservices, Kubernetes, and containers, but also big data, AI, and media services. This is called Cloud Native 2.0. Huawei Cloud provides a full-stack cloud native solution with leading capabilities.

Mr. Dong said that Huawei Cloud will dive deeper into cloud native and stay open to enrich its cloud native service portfolio. Huawei Cloud not only provides high-performance, stable, and reliable cloud native infrastructure, but also provides easy-to-use tools and pipelines easily accessible for application development, AI, big data, and digital content production during digital transformation. Huawei Cloud plays an active role in open source for cloud native development. In 2015, Huawei became the only CNCF founding member from Asia. Huawei keeps contributing to the community, ranking No. 1 in Asia and No. 6 in the world by committed code.

To extend cloud native to wherever customers run their services, Huawei Cloud, with its global layout and software-hardware synergy, overcomes geographical restrictions, abstracts away the differences of underlying IT resources, and eases global service deployment and management for customers. Cloud native is the path Huawei Cloud takes to realize Everything as a Service.

At the event, Huawei Cloud released the Cloud Native 2.0 Architecture White Paper, aiming to enable local customers with full-stack cloud native capabilities to take a quantum leap to the future.

By Local, For Local

In 2020, Huawei Cloud was launched in the Middle East. In 2021, Huawei Cloud launched a Region in Abu Dhabi. Huawei Cloud can now provide local support to quickly respond to customer needs. Currently, more than 50 governments and enterprises in the region are using Huawei Cloud services.

Huawei Cloud aims to build the cloud foundation for an intelligent world with ubiquitous cloud and pervasive intelligence. Empowering customers, partners, and developers with cloud native, Huawei Cloud stands ready to drive digital transformation for the local economy.

SOURCE Huawei
RESTON, Va., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Leidos (NYSE: LDOS), a FORTUNE 500 science and technology leader, was recently awarded a prime task order to support the Department of Defense.

The task order holds a ceiling value of approximately $1.5 billion if all options are exercised. It includes a one-year base period of performance with four additional one-year option periods. Work will be performed worldwide.

"In today's battlefield, the command who has actionable multi and cross domain data fastest is the one with the high ground," said Gerry Fasano, Leidos Defense Group President. "Leidos has finely tuned our portfolio of expertise and developed a dynamic enterprise suite of C5ISR solutions, including Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) tools to ensure our warfighters exploit state-of-the-art technology to maintain their decisive advantage and enable joint synergy for operational superiority. We are honored to support this critical mission, providing readiness against evolving global threats."

Through this contract, Leidos will utilize Command, Control, Computers, Communications, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) capabilities to enhance technological innovation with a focus on rapid insertion of technologies across the mission spectrum, for multiple services, and integrating new technology with existing and legacy systems for enhanced effectiveness.

Leidos will support the government with rapid technology insertion to enhance C5ISR missions at global scale. This award enables Leidos to expand upon its extensive C5ISR support to the warfighter as well as deliver a critical capability towards improved warfighter support.

About Leidos

Leidos is a Fortune 500 technology, engineering, and science solutions and services leader working to solve the world's toughest challenges in the defense, intelligence, civil and health markets. Leidos' 44,000 employees support vital missions for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Reston, Va., Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $13.7 billion for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021. For more information, visit www.leidos.com.

Certain statements in this announcement constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the rules and regulations of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These statements are based on management's current beliefs and expectations and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. These statements are not guarantees of future results or occurrences. A number of factors could cause our actual results, performance, achievements, or industry results to be different from the results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, the "Risk Factors" set forth in Leidos' Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, and other such filings that Leidos makes with the SEC from time to time. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. Leidos does not undertake to update forward-looking statements to reflect the impact of circumstances or events that arise after the date the forward-looking statements were made.

Contact:

Melissa Duenas

(571) 526-6850

[email protected]

Thomas Doheny

(571) 474-4735

[email protected]

Brandon VerVelde

(571) 526-6257

[email protected]

SOURCE Leidos Holdings, Inc.
BETHESDA, Md., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) announced today that Michael Williamson will be the new senior vice president of Global Business Development & Strategy. The appointment is effective Nov. 1.

Michael Williamson

"The focus on deterrence internationally is greater than even before, and Lockheed Martin brings unrivaled capability to replenish and upgrade the defense of nations around the world from emerging threats. As we develop the 21st Century Security technologies and capabilities to ensure our customers remain ahead of ready, I can't think of a better leader than Michael Williamson to grow our business worldwide and support our international priorities," said Lockheed Martin Chief Operating Officer Frank St. John. "Michael is an accomplished leader and is an example of the deep bench of talent at our corporation."

Williamson is currently vice president and general manager for Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control (MFC), where he leads operational excellence, a diverse portfolio of products and business enabling initiatives. He also provides strategic oversight of technical, cost and schedule performance execution for the MFC lines of business and enterprise performance.

"I'm so honored and pleased to be part of a great company and team during a unique time in history," said Williamson. "Our 21st Century Security offerings and portfolio will help our global customers deter future conflict and keep their citizens safe."

Williamson joined the company in 2017 following a distinguished career as a lieutenant general with the U.S. Army. He served as the principal military deputy to the assistant secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology and director of Acquisition Career Management. He also served as a congressional fellow on Capitol Hill.

Williamson holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from Husson University, a master's in systems management from the Naval Postgraduate School, and a Ph.D. in business administration from Madison University. He is also a graduate of the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School. Williamson also serves as the chairman for the Army's Science Board.

He will replace Tim Cahill who was appointed as the new executive vice president of the company's MFC business area.

About Lockheed Martin

Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin Corporation is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 114,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services.

Please follow @LMNews on Twitter for the latest announcements and news across the company.

SOURCE Lockheed Martin
Convergence 2022 Features Respected Keynotes Including Gartner Market Outlook, Customer Stories, a Partner Track, Networking Opportunities, and More

PORTSMOUTH, N.H., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Loftware, the global leader in Enterprise Labeling and Artwork Management solutions, today announced that its annual Convergence event will take place between November 8-10, 2022. This year's virtual conference, which is free to attend and open to the public, is expected to attract over 2,000 attendees.

The industry's largest labeling and Artwork Management event offers attendees the opportunity to reimagine how labeling can transform their business and supply chain to offer new efficiencies and real ROI. It will highlight the latest thought leadership and emerging technologies focusing on forward-thinking and cutting-edge labeling solutions.

The three-day conference will feature a keynote presentation from John Blake, Senior Research Director at industry analyst Gartner, addressing Gartner's Labeling and Artwork Management Guide, the benefits of the cloud, and key insights from recent Gartner research. Additional keynotes include a fireside chat with industry-leading executives that will explore the hottest supply chain and business trends impacting organizations globally, as well as a Loftware global leadership panel discussion led by Loftware CEO & President Bob O'Connor.

Other confirmed speakers include representatives from GS1, SAP, VDC Research, Epson, Videojet, Zebra, Domino, Ping, Illumina, B. Braun, SATO, and ReaJet, with more to be announced.

Convergence 2022 will host a variety of sessions for both end-users and Loftware channel and alliance partners highlighting industry trends, customer stories, product innovations, and the Loftware Training Academy. Furthermore, attendees will have access to Loftware Spectrum, Loftware NiceLabel, Loftware Smartflow, and Loftware Prisym 360 product demos and be able to participate in guided solution tours. They will also have the chance to schedule one-on-one meetings with Loftware labeling experts to address any specific questions or requirements.

The event will deliver over 40 sessions covering the topics that matter most to labeling, packaging artwork, and supply chain professionals. These include:

Supply chain visibility with GS1.

SAP Presents: Labeling with SAP S/4HANA for product compliance.

The convergence of labeling, marking, and coding panel discussion with VDC Research, Videojet, Domino, and ReaJet.

How to future-proof your business with labeling in the cloud.

A life science labeling and best practices panel discussion.

How printing labels in color reduces costs, eliminates human error, and speeds up labeling processes with Epson.

Loftware Print Server migration: the benefits and options available for customers who migrate to our new future-proof solutions.

Embracing agile production methodologies and decentralization in clinical trials.

How a centralized labeling solution contributes to achieving your corporate sustainability goals.

"We're really excited with the quality and breadth of this year's conference, which comes at the perfect time as companies navigate many global issues including supply chain disruption, geopolitical uncertainty, energy shortages, and more," said Bob O'Connor, Loftware President & CEO. "Convergence 2022 takes the conference to the next level and provides us with a great opportunity to hear directly from our customers and other industry professionals about their experiences and learnings. Attendees will gain access to the industry's most talented people, an impressive array of expert speakers, and our complete portfolio of labeling and packaging artwork solutions, enabling them to develop the strategies, new relationships, and tools needed to secure their operations both now and in the future."

Sign up for Convergence 2022 for free here.

About Loftware:

Loftware is the world's largest cloud-based Enterprise Labeling and Artwork Management provider, offering an end-to-end labeling solution platform for companies of all sizes. Maintaining a global presence with offices in the US, UK, Germany, Slovenia, China, and Singapore, Loftware boasts over 35 years of expertise in solving labeling challenges. We help companies improve accuracy, traceability and compliance while improving the quality, speed, and efficiency of their labeling. As the leading global provider of Enterprise Labeling and Artwork Management, along with Clinical Trials Labeling and Content Management, Loftware enables supply chain agility, supports evolving regulations, and optimizes business operations for a wide range of industries. These include automotive, chemicals, consumer products, electronics, food & beverage, manufacturing, medical device, pharmaceuticals, retail and apparel.

Media contacts:

Laura Hindley, Senior PR & Communications Manager, [email protected]

SOURCE Loftware, Inc.
SHANGHAI, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- LovelyWholesale ("LW" or the Company), an international online e-commerce clothing brand, recently announced the launch of "LW From Outer To Inner" fashion collection. This fashion collection is presented by Jackie Nina, a famous model, as well as an inspiring woman who created the podcast "She Walks By Faith 101". Jackie Nina is committed to inspiring women to overcome hardships, pursue their dreams, accomplish their goals, live in their purpose, and walk by faith in God. Jackie Nina's own belief is highly consistent with the message that this new collection hopes to deliver to every woman. This new fashion collection will be available online at lovelywholesale.com and its App LovelyWholesale on October 13, 2022.

"The future might not feel certain and optimistic in the energy and climate crisis situation, but there can be positive and confidence in the beauty of what we choose to dress up ourselves. In a chaotic world, from outer to an inner consistency is key, and refined, feminine power in the face of apocalypse is more than welcome." Jane Moore, the head of LW marketing department, explained the meaning of the name - "LW From Outer To Inner".

Before deciding on launching a new garment collection with Nina, Jane learned the stories shared on Nina's podcast and was very touched. "Whether it's the founder of an independent record label, the 17-year-old artist, or the volleyball player who has to quit her career because of the injury, " Jane said, " They all have one thing in common, that is, they are all trying their best to manifest the life they have envisioned. This is much like the vision of LovelyWholesale business."

This new fashion collection is divided into two parts, the "Runway Freedom" part and the "Denim Delicacy" part, including dresses, matching sets, jumpsuits and denim tops. These two parts tell a story of an intellectual, sensual and delicate woman, who can also be modern, independent, and even be powerful.

Part one: Runway Freedom - Improve Your Outer Confidence

This part includes eight pieces of runway style outfits, like a lightweight pufer metallic shiny mini skirt presented on an all-pink background. These outfits hadn't been shooted in a functional way. It was mainly focused on showing the modern attractiveness of women in varying ways.

Part two: Denim Delicacy - The Power Of Inner Softness

This part includes denim matching sets, denim crop tops and some other denim accessories. "Denim is not only functional and durable, but also can be delicate and feminine. Nina styled this butterfly shape backless denim top against a white door, which showed a soft beauty to us." Said Monica, the designer of this collection.

LovelyWholesale always believes that clothing is the most common way for every individual to express themselves aesthetically.By wearing clothes they love, they can feel confident in themselves and towards life. LovelyWholesale hopes that every woman can always find something for themselves in this new collection. For more details about this new fashion collection, please check our page.

About LovelyWholesale:

Founded in 2010, LovelyWholesale supplies more than 10 thousands types of fashionable clothing, shoes, jewels, sexy lingerie and accessories. The company focuses on providing higher quality products with competitive prices to customers all over the world. LovelyWholesale customers know they can trust in us for everything they need from the latest trend led pieces to celebrity inspired looks, to the everyday wardrobe staples and that ultimate party piece. LovelyWholesale expects that every customer can find their loved style and enjoy shopping here.

LovelyWholesale has factories and warehouses all around the world. With the great advantage of fabric resources and hundreds of fashion buyers, LovelyWholesale can provide customers with the latest fashion trends and affordable prices at first time. Over the past 11 years of operation, LovelyWholesale has become one of the most popular online fashion stores in North America.

To learn more about LovelyWholesale, follow us at lovelywholesale.com and instagram.com/lovelywholesale_online.

SOURCE Lovelywholesale
Luxer One smart lockers can work towards LEED credits in the Energy and Atmosphere (EA), Materials and Resources (MR), and Indoor Environmental Quality (EQ) categories.

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Luxer One, the nation's leading manufacturer of smart lockers and developer of superior package delivery technology, announced that its products can officially be specified to assist architects and designers seeking LEED certification for projects. As recognized by the U.S. Green Building Council, Luxer One smart lockers now contribute towards EA and MR credits for LEED EB: O&M certification, as well as EA, MR, and EQ credits for LEED: BD+C certification. This recognition extends to all Luxer One lockers, including the Luxer kiosk and True Residential refrigerated units.

"We believe in building a product that is sustainable and eco-friendly," says Ethan Dempsey, director of engineering at Luxer One. "We pursued our LEED credits to prove that Luxer One smart lockers stand above the competition. LEED certification means less stress on the environment, and creates healthier places to live, learn, and play."

Luxer One's smart lockers achieved this recognition due to the company's considered materials specification, partnerships with sustainability-minded manufacturers, and energy-efficient design. According to the report issued by Assa Abloy, Luxer One's parent company, the smart lockers:

Use less energy than comparable systems. After testing the energy usage of a building with Luxer One smart lockers in place, it was found that the indoor lockers use 224.48 kWh of power per year, and outdoor lockers use only 131.40 kWh annually.

Contain large amounts of recycled steel. Luxer One partners with steel suppliers who certify that, on average, 70.90% of their products contain recycled material.

Low-lead electronics. The lead content in Luxer One lockers' electrical wiring and cabling measures less than 300 ppm.

Emit no VOCs. The lockers contain no binders, coatings, or sealants that include organic compounds.

Founded in 2013, Luxer One is a technology company specializing in contactless pick-up and drop-off for packages and goods. The company has positioned itself as the go-to smart locker brand for multi-family residential, retail, corporate, and academic spaces in the U.S. and Canada. Through its superior technology, craftsmanship, and service, Luxer One promises 100% package acceptance, and its lockers have received more than 200 million US packages  more than any other smart locker company. In addition to indoor, outdoor, and refrigerated lockers, Luxer One offers package room management technology. All Luxer One products are manufactured in the United States in LEED-certified factories that meet OSHA and ISO 9001 standards.

Luxer One is now the only company of its kind to be aligned with LEED and UL requirements.

To learn more about how to integrate or customize a Luxer One lockers into your next project, visit the Luxer One Architects page here .

About Luxer One

Luxer One is a technology company specializing in contactless pick-up and drop-off for packages and goods. The company's smart package lockers are used in multifamily residential, retail, commercial, and higher education. Luxer One has performed more locker deliveries through its advanced technology platform than any other smart locker company. More than 200 million U.S. packages have been delivered to Luxer One lockers. To learn more, please visit luxerone.com.

PRESS CONTACT

Scott E. Rupp

941-448-7566

https://millerrupp.com/

SOURCE Luxer One
Call Scheduled for 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time on Friday, November 4, 2022

HOUSTON, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Main Street Capital Corporation (NYSE: MAIN) ("Main Street") is pleased to announce that it will release its third quarter 2022 results on Thursday, November 3, 2022, after the financial markets close. In conjunction with the release, Main Street has scheduled a conference call, which will be broadcast live via phone and over the Internet, on Friday, November 4, 2022, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time. Investors may participate either by phone or audio webcast.

By Phone: Dial 412-902-0030 at least 10 minutes before the call. A replay will be available through November 11, 2022 by dialing 201-612-7415 and using the access code 13733711#.



By Webcast: Connect to the webcast via the Investor Relations section of Main Street's website at www.mainstcapital.com. Please log in at least 10 minutes in advance to register and download any necessary software. A replay of the conference call will be available on Main Street's website shortly after the call and will be accessible for approximately 90 days.

ABOUT MAIN STREET CAPITAL CORPORATION

Main Street (www.mainstcapital.com) is a principal investment firm that primarily provides long-term debt and equity capital to lower middle market companies and debt capital to middle market companies. Main Street's portfolio investments are typically made to support management buyouts, recapitalizations, growth financings, refinancings and acquisitions of companies that operate in diverse industry sectors. Main Street seeks to partner with entrepreneurs, business owners and management teams and generally provides "one stop" financing alternatives within its lower middle market investment strategy. Main Street's lower middle market companies generally have annual revenues between $10 million and $150 million. Main Street's middle market debt investments are made in businesses that are generally larger in size than its lower middle market portfolio companies.

Main Street, through its wholly owned portfolio company MSC Adviser I, LLC ("MSC Adviser"), also maintains an asset management business through which it manages investments for external parties. MSC Adviser is registered as an investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended.

Contacts:

Main Street Capital Corporation

Dwayne L. Hyzak, CEO, [email protected]

Jesse E. Morris, CFO and COO, [email protected]

713-350-6000

Dennard Lascar Investor Relations

Ken Dennard | [email protected]

Zach Vaughan | [email protected]

713-529-6600

SOURCE Main Street Capital Corporation
MAIRE ALSO HOLDS THE TITLE OF VP GENERAL MANAGER OF NEW YORK PROPERTIES, WSKQ-FM & WPAT FM

MIAMI, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Spanish Broadcasting System, Inc. today announced that Maire Mason, VP General Manager of New York properties, WSKQ-FM & WPAT FM was named VP General Manager of Chicago's WLEY-FM. In this additional role, Maire will be responsible for leading a team of sales managers and salespeople, overseeing all operations, and developing an infrastructure that will support & optimize revenue.

Maire Mason

Maire joined SBS in February 2018 as VP General Manager of New York from Cumulus Media where she launched NASH-FM, the first country music station in the market. During the past four years at SBS, she has led the New York team to unprecedented triumphs and has exceeded all revenue goals. In 2021 her extraordinary talent as a leader enabled SBS-NY to be consistently ranked #1 in local sales throughout the entire market as measured by Miller Kaplan.

"It's an honor to expand my role and contribute to revenue growth for SBS in Chicago, a market that has such a welcoming and inclusive spirit. In 2023 the fastest growing segment of the population in Chicago will be Hispanics. As the largest minority owned and certified multi-media company, Spanish Broadcasting System continues to be the number one destination for connecting with Hispanic communities by offering exclusive, original, and culturally immersive content. I look forward to advocating for and reinforcing the value of Hispanic audiences among advertisers, while elevating our Chicago operation to greater heights," said Maire.

"Maire Mason is an extraordinary executive that has proven time and time again to be one of the top players in the audio market. Her ability to adapt to any market and situation is just one of the reasons we offered her the position in Chicago. We have seen a huge change in our New York SBS stations, since her arrival," commented Albert Rodriguez (President & COO of Spanish Broadcasting System, Inc.).

Maire is extensively known in the New York market and throughout the country for her outstanding leadership skills, relationships with key decision makers, problem solving through innovation and her ability to navigate programming & sales to win in all business climates. With over 30+ years of management experience, Maire's early background includes a twenty-year tenure at CBS, Radio as VP General Manager of WCBS-FM, WXRK-FM & WNEW-FM. From 2010-2012, she was the Director of Sales for Univision-New York, WAD0-AM, WXNY-FM and WQBU-FM. In 2012 she launched the first ever FM news station, WEMP-FM and in 2013 launched the first ever country music station in New York, WNSH-FM.

Other prominent accomplishments include

Winner of the 2022 Medallas De Cortez-General Market Manager of the Year

Voted Most Influential Women in Radio 2022

Radio Inks 2021 Best Manager

About Spanish Broadcasting System, Inc

Spanish Broadcasting System, Inc. (SBS) owns and operates radio stations located in the top U.S. Hispanic markets of Los Angeles, New York, Puerto Rico, Chicago, Miami, San Francisco, Orlando, and Tampa, airing the Tropical, Regional Mexican, Spanish Adult Contemporary, Top 40 and Urbano format genres. SBS also operates AIRE Radio Networks, a national radio platform of over 290 affiliated stations reaching 95% of the U.S. Hispanic audience. SBS also owns MegaTV, a network television operation with over-the-air, cable, and satellite distribution and affiliates throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico, produces a nationwide roster of live concerts and events, and owns a stable of digital properties, including LaMusica, a mobile app providing Latino-focused audio and video streaming content and HitzMaker, a new-talent destination for aspiring artists. For more information, visit us online at www.spanishbroadcasting.com.

Contact: Vladimir Gomez, 786-805-2545, [email protected]

SOURCE Spanish Broadcasting System, Inc.
TAMPA, Fla., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- MarcoPolo Learning today announced that it has opened an office in Tampa, becoming its third office joining other offices located in New York and London. MarcoPolo Learning develops award-winning educational resources and technology for early childhood schools and families that help elevate classroom instruction and promote engagement between school and home.

In addition to working with the Early Learning Coalition of Seminole County, the Redlands Christian Migrant Association (RCMA), and the Early Learning Coalition of Pasco and Hernando Counties, several more Florida Early Learning Coalitions are actively working with MarcoPolo Learning to adopt its solution for educators. MarcoPolo Learning provides developmentally appropriate educational resources for teachers and children, as well as customizable professional development and materials for teachers. By making teachers' jobs easier, it supports teacher retention at a time when teacher burnout is high.

Early Learning Coalitions are using MarcoPolo for Educators to provide teachers with access to curriculum-aligned resources to elevate teacher-child interactions and concept development, consistent with the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) domains. The platform, designed specifically for early education, houses digital and print resources, including: educator guides, family engagement tools, and activities that promote teacher-child conversation and interactions.

MarcoPolo Learning recently hired Megan Folts to serve as the Director of Programs and Policy, and she leads the Tampa office. Folts has a decade of experience in early childhood education administration, programmatic design and quality improvement systems. She has worked at the Florida Department of Education's Division of Early Learning, as well as at a Florida Early Learning Coalition as the Director of State Policy and Analysis. She earned her M.P.A. and B.S. in International Affairs & Political Science from Florida State University.

"I am passionate about early childhood education and am thrilled to join MarcoPolo Learning. MarcoPolo for Educators platform not only engages children and supports educators, but it also bridges the school-to-home gap so learning can continue at home. I look forward to working with Florida's early childhood education community to support quality classroom experiences and at-home learning across the state with this educational technology solution," said Megan Folts.

"MarcoPolo Learning is committed to providing Florida's early childhood educators with the educational tools necessary to help children, educators and families thrive during children's early years. We're delighted to expand our operations to include a Florida office in Tampa. We look forward to continuing to work with our Florida partners to help young children thrive," said Justin Hsu, CEO and Founder of MarcoPolo Learning.

MarcoPolo Learning provides a holistic solution for schools that includes professional development, an award-winning library of English, Spanish, and Modified/ELL learning videos and educator resources. MarcoPolo's video library is the most comprehensive for early childhood educators, with over 1,200 videos, educator guides, and other classroom materials that bring curriculum to life.

About MarcoPolo Learning

Based in New York with offices in London and Tampa, MarcoPolo Learning is an award-winning developer of early childhood resources and technology for schools and homes. MarcoPolo serves both schools and families with high quality, curriculum-aligned content that drives curiosity and wonder about the world around them. MarcoPolo is Emmy-nominated for its highly engaging content that features a mix of real footage, 2D and 3D animation that brings curriculum to life. It is also the creator of The Polos, an animated STEM-learning preschool TV series that reaches over 150 million households globally. For more information, visit MarcoPoloLearning.com .

Media contact:

[email protected]

SOURCE MarcoPolo Learning
CAESAREA, Israel, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Max Stock Limited (TASE: MAXO) (the "Company") today reported the below holdings of interested parties and senior officers

A. Company's interested parties (including the CEO and directors, and including any other employee holding 5% or more of the Company's issued share capital or voting rights):

Holder no. Holder's Name Name, class and series of security Updated no. of securities % holdings % equity % voting % holdings (on a fully diluted basis) % equity % voting 1 Moose Holdco Ltd. Max Stock Ordinary Share 39,350,594 27.92 27.92 27.44 27.44 2 Evan Charles Neumann Max Stock Ordinary Share 81,784 0.06 0.06 0.06 0.06 3 Ori Max Max Stock Ordinary Share 24,981,492 17.73 17.73 17.42 17.42 4 Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management, LLC Max Stock Ordinary Share 10,827,877 7.68 7.68 7.55 7.55 5 The Phoenix Holdings Ltd. - Nostro Max Stock Ordinary Share 830,000 0.59 0.59 0.58 0.58 6 The Phoenix Holdings Ltd. - Provident funds and provident fund management companies Max Stock Ordinary Share 21,601,821 15.33 15.33 15.06 15.06 7 Excellence Investments Ltd. - Mutual funds management companies Max Stock Ordinary Share 213,041 0.15 0.15 0.15 0.15 8 Excellence Investments Ltd. - Market maker Max Stock Ordinary Share 7.34 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 9 Shlomo Zohar Max Stock UP2020 share options 46,706 0.00 0.00 0.03 0.03 10 Max Stock Ltd. Max Stock Ordinary Share 1,512,956 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

% holdings % equity % voting % holdings (on a fully diluted basis) % equity % voting 69.46 69.46 68.29 68.29

B. Company's senior officers (excluding the CEO and directors, and excluding any other employee holding 5% or more of the Company's issued share capital or voting rights):

Presented below is a summary table of the holdings of the Company's senior officers:

Holder no. Holder's Name Name, class and series of security Updated no. of securities % holdings % equity % voting % holdings (on a fully diluted basis) % equity % voting 11 Shlomo Cohen Max Stock UP2020 share options 235,813 0 0 0.16 0.16 12 Nir Dagan Max Stock UP2020 share options 235,813 0 0 0.16 0.16 13 Oz Corsia Max Stock UP2020 share options 235,813 0 0 0.16 0.16 14 Roy Ben Nun Max Stock UP2020 share options 235,813 0 0 0.16 0.16 15 Ifat Nir-Katz Max Stock UP2020 share options 141,517 0 0 0.10 0.10 16 Paz Oz Max Stock UP2020 share options 9,015 0 0 0.01 0.01 17 Talia Sessler Max Stock UP2020 share options 235,813 0 0 0.16 0.16 18 Eran Tsairi Max Stock UP2020 share options 45,072 0 0 0.03 0.03

% holdings % equity % voting % holdings (on a fully diluted basis) % equity % voting 0 0 0.94 0.94

The summary table below includes an overview of interested party holdings which were subject to a change in the reporting period:

Name Updated holdings (12-Oct-2022) Change (+/-) Updated holdings (%) (12-10-2022) Maximal holding in period (%) Minimal holding in period (%) Comments Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management, LLC 10,827,877 -527,240 7.68 % 8.05 % 7.65 % (*) Interested party is a registered investment advisor with the SEC with discretionary voting power over its clients' shares, which directly and cumulatively exceed 5% of the Company's shares. It should be noted that one of the accounts managed by the interested party includes shares exceeding 5% of the Company's shares. Interested party holds other Company shares on behalf of other clients, but does not have discretionary voting power in such respect. Such shares are therefore excluded from the total used to calculated interested party holdings. The Phoenix Holdings Ltd - Provident Funds & Provident Fund Management Companies 21,601,821 + 383,078 15.33 % 15.51 % 14.70 % Holdings include those of other entities which are part of the interested party's corporate group (under management or nostro). (**) Excellence Investments Ltd.  Mutual funds management companies 213,041 - 1,629,631 0.15 % 1.32 % 0.14 % (*) Interested party is part of The Phoenix corporate group. (**) Excellence Investments Ltd.  Market maker 7.34 - 42,858.4 0 % 0.13 % -0.29 % (*) Interested party is part of The Phoenix corporate group. (**) Max Stock Ltd. 1,512,956 +1,144,720 - - - Treasury stock Paz Oz 9,015 -36,058 - - - Employee options Eran Tsairi 45,072 +45,072 - - - Employee options

(*) As notified to the Company by the interested party.

(**) For a detailed description of which corporate entities are included as part of the interested party's reported holdings  please see the full text of the report dated October 12, 2022 published on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange distribution website (MAYA).

About Max Stock

Max Stock is Israel's leading extreme value retailer, currently present in 55 locations throughout Israel. We offer a broad assortment of quality products for customers' everyday needs at affordable prices, helping customers "Dream Big, Pay Small". For more information, please visit https://ir.maxstock.co.il

This is an English translation of a Hebrew immediate report that was published on October 12, 2022 (Ref. No: 2022-01-126010 (hereinafter: the "Hebrew Version")). This English version is only for convenience purposes. This is not an official translation and has no binding force. Whilst reasonable care and skill have been exercised in the preparation hereof, no translation can ever perfectly reflect the Hebrew Version. In the event of any discrepancy between the Hebrew Version and this translation, the Hebrew Version shall prevail.

Company Contacts:

Talia Sessler,

Chief Corporate Development and IR Officer

[email protected]

SOURCE Max Stock Limited
CLEVELAND, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Julie Toth has joined the Cleveland office of McDonald Hopkins LLC as Counsel in the Business Department, where she will add her experience to the firm's Executive Compensation and Governance team.

Toth's practice focuses primarily on working with small and medium sized businesses, helping them with executive compensation and governance issues related to business transactions, including mergers and acquisitions and stock and asset purchases. As a former general counsel to a national technology distributor, Toth also has extensive experience with vendor and supply contracts and offers unique perspective and experienced insight serving as a trusted advisor to her clients on corporate and business law matters.

"I am excited to join the talented team of attorneys at McDonald Hopkins and broaden the scope of representation for my business clients to include executive compensation and governance," said Toth.

While her clients include companies, compensation committees and senior executives in a broad range of industries, Toth has specific experience working with public companies and private manufacturing clients, construction-related industry clients, and technology and cloud-service providers. She has helped build cloud-based programs from the ground up, giving her additional experience and expertise on the issues and clients in that sector face.

In addition to her experience as in-house counsel and in private practice, Toth spent several years in public government, working as an attorney for Cuyahoga County.

Toth earned her J.D. from Cleveland-Marshall School of Law and her Bachelor of Arts in political science from Buffalo State College.

She can be reached at 216.348.5469 and [email protected]

About McDonald Hopkins

Founded in 1930, McDonald Hopkins is a business advisory and advocacy law firm with locations in Baltimore/Annapolis, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, and West Palm Beach. With more than 50 service and industry teams, the firm has the expertise and knowledge to meet the growing number of legal and business challenges our clients face. For more information about McDonald Hopkins, visit mcdonaldhopkins.com .

CONTACT:

Cynthia Stewart

McDonald Hopkins LLC

600 Superior Avenue, East, Suite 2100

Cleveland, Ohio 44114

Phone: 216.348.5733

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE McDonald Hopkins
SINGAPORE, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- XT.COM, one of the leading global trading exchanges and the world's first socially infused trading platform, is thrilled to announce that MFET is being listed in the Main Zone of the platform. With this collaboration, the XT community would get an exposure to high-profile tokens like MFET, and this also helps in taking the MFET token to a wide user base of XT.COM.

MFET is a green blockchain that cooperates with every company that wants to be positioned as an environmentally friendly company, and develops and funds new-generation projects in order to provide a better city life.

As a green token based on the environment, biodiversity and sustainable economy, MFET make every action contribute to nature. As a natural extension of its ideology, it strives to lower its carbon footprint, which is defined as the carbon dioxide equivalent of greenhouse gases put into the atmosphere as a result of an individual's, a country's, or an organization's activities. MFET develops a solid infrastructure to engage individuals and businesses in their projects, particularly in this area, and to provide consulting services.

The users can now buy, sell and trade MFET tokens seamlessly on the platform. MFET is listed in the main zone, providing traders with exciting projects to trade with. By trading the token, users can also be a part of the mission to reduce the harmful effects of globalization.

About MFET

MFET, a green blockchain company, aims at improving urban life with the awareness of individuals. Positioned as an environmentally friendly company, MFET contributes in creating a global ecosystem that offers a better city life in an energy-efficient manner.

The MFET ecosystem aims to reduce the environmental risks that prevail today, and overcome the effects of the destruction caused by globalization that include the effects of climate change, decrease in underground water and natural imbalance.

MFET works using the DPOS (Delegated Proof Of Stake) consensus mechanism, which adheres to the BEP20 network features and is also an accepted version of proof-of-share due to its efficiency.

Website: https://mfet.earth/

Telegram: https://t.me/MFETOfficial

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MfetOfficial

About XT.COM

By consistently expanding its ecosystem, XT.COM is dedicated to providing users with the most secure, trusted, and hassle-free digital asset trading services. Our exchange is built from a desire to give everyone access to digital assets regardless where you are.

Founded in 2018, XT.COM now serves more than 6 million registered users, over 500,000+ monthly active users and 40+ million users in the ecosystem. Covering a rich variety of trading categories together with an NFT aggregated marketplace, our platform strives to cater to its large user base by providing a secure, trusted and intuitive trading experience.

As the world's first social-infused digital assets trading platform, XT.COM also supports social networking platform based transactions to make our crypto services more accessible to users all over the world. Furthermore, to ensure optimal data integrity and security, we see user security as our top priority at XT.COM.

Website: https://www.xt.com/

Telegram: https://t.me/XTsupport_EN

Twitter: https://twitter.com/XTexchange

SOURCE XT.com
Minds Matter San Francisco Now Called Minds Matter Bay Area to Reflect Growth as Impact Increases Across the Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Effective now, as announced tonight at their annual "School Night Dinner Fundraiser " on October 11, Minds Matter San Francisco is now called Minds Matter Bay Area (MMBay) . The organizational nonprofit name change reflects an expanded geographical footprint that will increase college access for motivated students from low-income families across the Bay Area. Beginning with Oakland and San Jose, the expansion will ultimately encompass additional cities around the Bay Area.

"We are not changing who we are as an organization, but where we operate," said Irene Shih, CEO of Minds Matter Bay Area. "Our mission remains the same: connecting driven and determined students from low-income families with the people, preparation, and possibilities to succeed in college, create their future, and change the world. We are building upon our past successes by bringing what works in San Francisco and around the country to students living in the Bay Area, starting with opening new sites in Oakland and San Jose. By investing in our students today, we unlock their potential for tomorrow."

The nonprofit name change comes after 12 years of success in San Francisco and opportunities to expand impact. The growth will equip students across the Bay Area to be prepared for, and accepted into, selective colleges nationwide.

The expansion beyond San Francisco will begin in Oakland and San Jose. Eventually, MMBay's services will cover these counties: Sonoma, Napa, Solano, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, Alameda, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Sacramento, Placer, San Joaquin, and Fresno.

Minds Matter Bay Area will focus expansion efforts on key school districts in San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose, with special attention given to underserved students at schools with higher poverty rates. In these schools, motivated and hard-working students nevertheless experience lower graduation rates and higher instances of college undermatching. MMBay is uniquely positioned to make a difference for these students. As a volunteer driven organization, MMBay is actively searching for volunteer leaders in Oakland and San Jose to spearhead these new sites and to serve in this role as Founding Volunteer Site Directors.

Founded in 2010, 100% of MMBay alumni have been accepted to 4-year colleges, 78% attend some of the most selective schools in the country, and 100% are on track to graduate from college within 4 years. Compared with similar peers, Minds Matter Bay Area students are 23X more likely to graduate from a selective college that prepares them for successful careers and beyond. Many of MMBay's graduates are attending a Tier 1 most competitive private school (e.g. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Middlebury, USC) or University of California public school system (UC Berkeley, UCLA).

Since 2010, Minds Matter Bay Area (MMBay) has focused on breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty by solving for "college undermatching": the underrepresentation of high-achieving, low-income students at selective colleges across the country. MMBay is a mentorship-focused nonprofit that connects driven and determined high school students from low-income families with the people, preparation, and possibilities to succeed in college, create their future, and change the world.

MMBay is a regional chapter of the national Minds Matter organization. Since its founding in New York City in 1991, the effectiveness of Minds Matter has been affirmed  100% of its students have been accepted into a four-year college. The organization has expanded to twelve cities nationwide, including Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, the Twin Cities and Washington D.C.

Our students participate in a rich set of programs including young professional mentorship, academic planning programs, MMBay-supported summer college programs for high school students and SAT and ACT instruction. Our volunteers, alumni, and staff collaborate to bring consistent care, deep learning opportunities, and sustainable resources that expand our mentees' options, help them believe in their own potential, and model for them the quality of service that they should pay forward to others.

To learn more, visit: mindsmatterbay.org

SOURCE Minds Matter Bay Area
Coulombe joins Miro's leadership team to scale business model and lead global finance organization

SAN FRANCISCO and AMSTERDAM, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Miro, the online platform accelerating innovation through visual collaboration, today announced the appointment of Justin Coulombe as its first Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Coulombe brings more than 15 years of experience to Miro, having led strategic financial and planning operations in his previous roles at Momentive Global (previously SurveyMonkey), Box, Autodesk, and others. As a key member of Miro's leadership team, Coulombe will report directly to Miro co-founder and CEO Andrey Khusid, and join the company's New York City hub.

"Over the past 10 years, the Miro team has done an incredible job of building and scaling our business, enabling us to effectively respond to the market and turn opportunity into success. One of the keys to our success is bringing in leaders with a strong vision and desire to help us help our customers build the next big thing with Miro," said Khusid. "As we look to our future, I believe that Justin's experience, energy and passion for building strong teams and company culture will help us to further mature as an organization and continue driving profitable growth."

Coulombe's experience spans roles in technology investment banking and public accounting, to strategy and finance leadership roles in public software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies. Prior to joining Miro, Coulombe was CFO of Momentive Global, helping scale the company's operations post-IPO. Prior to that, Coulombe spent four years at Box in various finance leadership roles as the company transitioned from a single to multi-product business. Before Box, Coulombe held various leadership roles in corporate development and finance at Autodesk as the company navigated a business model transformation at multi-billion dollar revenue scale. Coulombe earned a Masters of Business Administration from University of California, Berkeley, and a Bachelor of Science from University of Maryland, College Park. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder.

"Before joining Miro as an employee, I was a customer and learned first hand how valuable the product can be for teams of all sizes. I simply loved it and it's now become an important element in how I work every day," said Coulombe. "It is rare to find a company with this mix of opportunity, product, team, and culture that's also ready to meet the moment. I believe we are uniquely suited to build a generational platform - and an exceptional business. I look forward to building on the success of this talented team and working with them on what's to come."

About Miro

Miro is an online, visual collaboration platform designed to unlock creativity and accelerate innovation among teams of all kinds. The platform's infinite canvas enables teams to lead engaging workshops and meetings, design products, brainstorm ideas, and more. Miro, co-headquartered in San Francisco and Amsterdam, serves more than 35M users worldwide, including 99% of the Fortune 100. Miro was founded in 2011 and currently has more than 1,500 employees in 12 hubs around the world. To learn more, please visit: https://miro.com.

SOURCE Miro
WASHINGTON, Oct. 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA will provide live coverage of the upcoming return activities for the agency's SpaceX Crew-4 mission to the International Space Station.

NASA and SpaceX are targeting 5:41 p.m. EDT Thursday, Oct. 13, for the splashdown and conclusion of the Crew-4 flight, wrapping up a nearly six-month science mission for NASA astronauts Bob Hines, Kjell Lindgren, and Jessica Watkins, as well as ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti. Their SpaceX Dragon spacecraft is scheduled to undock from the space station at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 12, to begin the journey home.

Weather remains a watch item as teams track the progress of a cold front forecast to pass over the splashdown areas off the Gulf and Atlantic coasts of Florida. Mission teams will continue to monitor splashdown and recovery conditions with another weather review at six hours prior to undocking. Additional undocking opportunities also are available Thursday, Oct. 13.

The Crew-4 farewell remarks, change of command, hatch closing, undocking, and splashdown coverage will air live on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency's website. NASA also will host an audio only post-splashdown news teleconference. Follow all live events at:

https://www.nasa.gov/live

On Wednesday, Oct. 12, the Crew-4 astronauts will share farewell remarks, and station Commander Samantha Cristoforetti will hand over command of the station to Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev. The Dragon spacecraft, named Freedom by the crew, will autonomously undock, depart the space station, and splash down Thursday, Oct. 13, at one of seven targeted landing zones in the Atlantic Ocean or Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida. Freedom also will return important and time-sensitive research to Earth.

NASA's SpaceX Crew-4 return coverage is as follows (all times Eastern):

Wednesday, Oct. 12

10:05 a.m.  Crew-4 farewell remarks and change of command ceremony aboard the space station.

5 p.m.  Hatch closure coverage begins for 5:20 p.m. hatch closing

6:45 p.m.  Undocking coverage begins for 7:05 p.m. undocking with a Thursday splashdown

Thursday, Oct. 13

5:41 p.m.  Splashdown off the coast of Florida

7 p.m.  Return to Earth media teleconference call from NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston with:

Steve Stich , manager, Commercial Crew Program, NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida

, manager, Commercial Crew Program, NASA's in Joel Montalbano , manger, International Space Station, NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston

, manger, International Space Station, NASA's Johnson Space Center in SpaceX Representative

Media may ask questions via phone only. For the dial-in number and passcode, media must contact the NASA Johnson newsroom at: [email protected] or 281-483-5111 by 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 13.

See full mission coverage, NASA's commercial crew blog, and more information about the mission at:

https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew

SOURCE NASA
PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Fund for Sacred Places , a program of Partners for Sacred Places in collaboration with the National Trust for Historic Preservation , is pleased to announce its 2022 grantees, totaling $2,165,000 in funds awarded. Sixteen historically significant congregations have been admitted into the prestigious program, which provides capital grants of up to $250,000 and hands-on technical assistance to congregations undertaking significant preservation projects.

National Fund for Sacred Places

The only initiative of its kind in the U.S., the National Fund for Sacred Places is a highly competitive program that supports vibrant congregations that have buildings of historical significance and architectural character, and that play an essential role in meeting the larger spiritual, social, and economic needs of the communities they serve. This year's grantees represent some of the most important and impactful congregations in the country. With these grants, the National Fund recognizes their contributions and seeks to support their efforts.

"The 16 sacred places selected to join our Fund this year are, yes, beautiful and historic buildings, but they are also irreplaceable assets that support the life and work of congregations and provide invaluable resources to their communities," said Bob Jaeger, President of Partners for Sacred Places. "I am so pleased that we have robust programs such as the National Fund that support the health of congregations and their towns or neighborhoods. Over the next few years, the team at Partners for Sacred Places will work closely and collaboratively with the National Trust for Historic Preservation to help awardees to repair and renovate their buildings so they can grow their ministries and thrive for many years to come."

"The National Fund for Sacred Places highlights both the tremendous value and the stewardship needs of historic houses of worship across the United States," said Paul Edmondson, President and CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. "We are honored to support these congregations as they advance important preservation projects at places such as Civil Rights landmark Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta; the 250-year-old Church of St. Francis of Assisi in Puerto Rico; and Arch Street Meeting House in Philadelphia, which blends Georgian architecture with a simple Quaker design."

Now in its seventh year, The National Fund for Sacred Places is made possible thanks to the generosity of Lilly Endowment Inc.

The National Fund 2022 grantees are:

Arch Street Meeting House ( Philadelphia, PA )

) Boynton Chapel United Methodist Church ( Houston, TX )

) Calvary Baptist Church ( Minneapolis, MN )

( ) Christ Church Detroit ( Detroit, MI )

) Church of St. Francis of Assisi ( San Juan , PR)

of Assisi ( , PR) Crossnore Presbyterian Church ( Crossnore, NC )

) Dover Friends Meetinghouse ( Dover, NH )

) East Mount Zion Baptist Church ( Cleveland, OH )

) Ebenezer Baptist Church ( Atlanta, GA )

( ) First Presbyterian Church of Wilkes-Barre ( Wilkes-Barre, PA )

( ) Greenstone United Methodist Church ( Chicago, IL )

) Immanuel Presbyterian Church ( Albuquerque, NM )

) Saint Mark's Church ( Philadelphia, PA )

) St. Rita Catholic Church ( Indianapolis, IN )

) Union United Methodist Church ( Boston, MA )

) Wicker Park Lutheran Church ( Chicago, IL )

Please visit the National Fund for Sacred Places' website to learn more about the program, eligibility, participants, and the value of sacred places in communities across the country. Now in its seventh year, the National Fund has awarded or pledged over $18 million to 97 community-serving congregations representing different faith traditions in 36 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. www.fundforsacredplaces.org

About Partners for Sacred Places

Partners for Sacred Places helps congregations and others with a stake in older religious properties make the most of them as civic assets that serve the broader community. www.sacredplaces.org/

About the National Trust for Historic Preservation

The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a privately funded nonprofit organization, protects significant places representing our diverse cultural experience by taking direct action and inspiring broad public support. www.savingplaces.org

About Lilly Endowment Inc.

Lilly Endowment Inc. is a national private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by J. K. Lilly Sr. and sons Eli and J.K. Jr. In keeping with the founders' wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education, and religion and maintains a special commitment to its hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana. The principal aim of the Endowment's grantmaking in religion is to deepen and enrich the lives of American Christians, primarily by seeking out and supporting efforts that enhance the vitality of congregations and strengthen the pastoral and lay leadership of Christian communities. The Endowment also seeks to improve public understanding of diverse religious traditions by supporting fair and accurate portrayals of the role religion plays in the United States and across the globe www.lillyendowment.org

Contact: Emily Sajdak

Phone: 215-567-3234 ext. 17

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Partners for Sacred Places
Purchase proceeds fund free eyeglasses for low-income individuals

SHORT HILLS, N.J., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- New Eyes, a 90-year-old non-profit that provides new, no-cost eyeglasses to children and adults facing financial hardship, launched Azimuth Eyewear on Wednesday, a new line of premium prescription eyeglasses. With every Azimuth purchase, New Eyes will provide two new prescription eyeglasses to financially struggling individuals in the United States. Azimuth's inaugural fall collection is eco-friendly and manufactured domestically, offering 15 different styles that ensure a frame for everyone.

"Our new initiative is in homage to our innovative founder, Julia Lawrence Terry, who created New Eyes in 1932 by melting gold frames and using the proceeds to buy eyeglasses for individuals with limited financial resources. Azimuth by New Eyes is inspired by her ingenuity and creativity to fund our mission. Our Azimuth customers will be making purposeful purchases, and together we will impact the lives of low-income families across the United States through the simple, yet critical, tool of eyeglasses," said New Eyes' Executive Director Jean Gajano.

Eyeglasses are a transformative tool that enables children to learn and increases the quality of life for adults personally and professionally. According to a recent John Hopkins study, approximately 95 percent of first-grade non-readers were found to have significant vision problems. In 2020, the CDC documented that vision loss is one of the top 10 disabilities among adults and one of the most prevalent disabling conditions among children. The annual economic impact of major vision problems among the adult population 40 years and older is more than $145 billion.

"Being able to fully participate in school, work or leisure activities has such a profound impact upon an individual, regardless of age. New Eyes provides a catalyst  a pair of eyeglasses  that allows young and old to see better and hopefully fulfill their own potential. New Eyes will continue to sound the clarion call for those in need of clear vision until the need no longer exists," said Board of Trustee Chair Kristine Van Amsterdam.

Every Azimuth purchaser receives the first names, states, and ages of individuals who were provided free new eyeglasses by New Eyes. In this way, New Eyes creates a unique giving circle. Through its new Azimuth line, New Eyes continues to provide eyeglasses to those in need, thereby advancing its mission that started 90 years ago.

For more information, please visit azimutheyewear.org

SOURCE Azimuth by New Eyes
Nearly 25,000 teenagers ages 13-17 share how they view, engage with, and apply scripture.

DALLAS, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Barna Group has released the second volume of The Open Generation , a first-of-its-kind international research study to understand the identity, values, and views of teenagers around the world. The second volume, titled "How Teens Around the World View the Bible," reveals teens' opinions of the Bible and how interested teens are in learning more about the Bible. It explores how this generation engages with and applies scripture to their lives, and how it impacts those who read it.

The Open Generation includes responses from nearly 25,000 teens ages 13-17 across 26 countries. The survey was sent to a cross section of teens, nationally representative of each country, regardless of their faith background or leaning. The study was developed and conducted by Barna Group in 2021, in partnership with Alpha, Biblica, and World Vision, with additional support from Christian Vision, Bible Study Fellowship, Christ In Youth, and the Association of Christian Schools International.

"Our research shows that teens generally have positive opinions of the Bible, and they're curious about it," said David Kinnaman, CEO of Barna Group. "Despite these high views, engagement with the Bible remains low, and we see many teens express uncertainty about how scripture can influence their lives and the world around them. Globally, our research shows that teens are motivated to make an impact with their lives, are looking for community and fulfilling relationships, and seeking purpose and direction for their lives. This research presents areas of opportunity for church leaders to help teens connect their questions to the Bible and the answers it provides."

Key research findings in Volume 2

Three-fifths of teens around the world (59%) say there is a Christian Bible in their home. Among teens who own a Bible, 88% say it is in a language and version they can understand.

in their home. Among teens who own a Bible, 88% say it is in a language and version they can understand. Many teens recognize that the Bible is holy (44%), inspired by God (41%), good (40%), and meaningful (39%). However, 22% of teens who own or read the Bible say they don't fully understand the Bible while reading it.

Bible reading is not the norm for today's teens. One in five teens uses a Bible at least weekly. Forty-one percent of all teens never use a Bible.

Parents and church leaders play a prominent role in supporting a teen's knowledge of the Bible. Many Bible-engaged teens have had a parent or guardian (56%) or pastor, priest, or minister (54%) teach them how to read and study the Bible.

Nearly three in five teens are very motivated (35%) or somewhat motivated (21%) to continue learning about the Bible. This motivation increases with Bible engagement.

The more teens engage with the Bible, the more they seem to act on Jesus' teachings and encounter God's love. Two in five teens say reading the Bible motivates them (39%) or makes them feel loved (38%).

Bible engagement correlates with a strong desire and empowerment to make a difference. Though 43% of Christian teens want others to see Jesus reflected through them in their words and actions, that number jumps to 81% among Bible-engaged teens.

Barna Group will release three volumes as a part of The Open Generation study on the following dates:

October 5, 2022 : How Teens Around the World Relate to Jesus

: How Teens Around the World Relate to Jesus October 12, 2022 : How Teens Around the World View the Bible

: How Teens Around the World View the Bible October 19, 2022 : How Teens Around the World Can Make an Impact

Learn more about the study by visiting barna.com/the-open-generation. If you are a reporter seeking access to the full version of Volume 2, contact [email protected].



Barna Group is a visionary research and resource company based in Dallas, Texas. Started in 1984, the firm is widely considered to be a leading research organization focused on the intersection of faith and culture. Conducting more than two million interviews over the course of thousands of studies, Barna has become a go-to source for insights about faith and culture, leadership and vocation and generations. Barna has worked with thousands of businesses, nonprofit organizations and churches across the U.S. and around the world. Barna is an independent, privately-held, nonpartisan organization based in Dallas, Texas, with offices in Nashville, Tennessee, Ventura, California, and Atlanta, Georgia.

SOURCE Barna Group
Nathan Golik will lead development, sourcing & acquisitions as new executive vice president real estate development

DENVER, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- With over 20 years of experience in commercial real estate finance, with a specialization in health care, and more than $300 million in projects completed to date, Nathan Golik has recently been promoted to executive vice president real estate development at NexCore Group, a national health care real estate (HRE) developer.

Nathan Golik will lead development, sourcing & acquisitions as new executive vice president real estate development. Tweet this Nathan Golik has been promoted to executive vice president real estate development at NexCore Group.

In this new role, Golik will be responsible for developing and sourcing opportunities for NexCore's medical office, life sciences, science and tech, and senior housing platforms as well as seeking acquisition opportunities to accelerate growth for the Denver-based business. Recent projects have included two regional cancer centers, a new on-campus medical office building for Renown Health and three projects for Northwest Healthcare in Tucson, Ariz.

Golik joined NexCore in 2016 as the managing director for business development and was most recently the senior vice president business development. Throughout his career, he has been responsible for the development and financing of acute-care hospitals, inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, micro-hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, cancer treatment centers and medical office buildings throughout the nation.

"Nathan has proven himself to be a critical team member at NexCore Group," Todd Varney, NexCore chief development officer and managing partner said. "This promotion recognizes his innovative approach to financial solutions, the depth of his relationships within the industry and his multidimensional skill set."

Golik has a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree in finance from Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He is a member of The Salesmanship Club of Dallas, serves as a reading buddy at the Momentous Institute and is a committee member on the masterplan committee for The Covenant School.

For more information about the growing team at NexCore, visit NexCoreGroup.com.

About NexCore Group LLC

NexCore Group is a national healthcare real estate investment and development company that focuses on acquiring, developing, owning, and managing healthcare facilities including medical office buildings, wellness facilities, ambulatory surgery centers, single and multi-specialty physician buildings, life sciences facilities, seniors housing communities and transitional rehabilitation centers. NexCore partners with top healthcare systems, hospitals, physician groups, and assisted living, memory care and post-acute care operators, and reputable institutional and high net worth investors to develop, acquire and own high quality assets that serve their communities through significant job creation and the provision of quality healthcare services. NexCore is unique in the healthcare development field, specifically with a regard to a singular focus on project strategy and planning. Since 2004, the NexCore team has completed $4.7 billion in healthcare real estate transactions throughout 29 states, developed and acquired over 14.3 million square feet of healthcare properties across the country and currently manages over $2.9 billion of healthcare facilities spanning 6.8 million square feet. The company has been recognized repeatedly as one of the Top Healthcare Real Estate Developers in the U.S. by Modern Healthcare and HREI. NexCore is headquartered in Denver, with regional offices in Bethesda, Md.; Charlotte N.C.; Dallas; Detroit; Houston; Indianapolis; Los Angeles; Orlando, Fla.; Phoenix; and Seattle.

News Media Contact:

Kirstin Barbour

303.293.0693

[email protected]

SOURCE NexCore Group
Pelaez to focus on mitigating executive risk exposure for the mid-market segment

TORONTO, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- NFP, a leading property and casualty broker, benefits consultant, wealth manager and retirement plan advisor, today announced it has hired Juliana Pelaez as mid-market leader for its Management and Professional Liability practice in Canada. Pelaez will be responsible for building out NFP's advisory and insurance broking services model to help mitigate executive risk exposure for clients in the mid-market segment including, directors and officers (D&O), employment practices, fiduciary, cyber, and crime liability risk management programs. She will report to Imran Pira, senior vice president, Head of Management and Professional Liability, NFP in Canada.

"Juliana is an experienced subject matter expert with technical underwriting experience which will make her a valuable risk advisor," said Pira. "Her focus on the mid-market segment with respect to management liability will include privately held and non-profit organizations across a broad range of industries including, but not limited to, manufacturing, real estate, transportation, natural resources, technology and construction."

Prior to joining NFP, Pelaez served as an account executive officer at Travelers and as the executive liability senior underwriter for AIG. In all, she brings more than 14 years of international underwriting and product development experience to NFP. Fluent in English, French and Spanish, Pelaez is a graduate of EAFIT University in Medellin, Colombia, and earned a specialization in International Business from McGill University.

"I'm excited to join NFP's growing Management and Professional Liability team and continue helping clients navigate a dynamic risk environment," said Pelaez. "With support from a team that has diverse broker and underwriting experience, this career move aligns with my passion for D&O and advising C-Suite clients on their potential exposures and creating solutions for their specific needs."

About NFP

NFP is a leading property and casualty broker, benefits consultant, wealth manager, and retirement plan advisor. The company provides solutions enabling client success through the expertise of 1,000 employees based in Canada, more than 7,000 global employees, investments in innovative technologies, and enduring relationships with highly rated insurers, vendors, and financial institutions. NFP is the 9th best place to work for large employers in insurance, 7th largest privately-owned broker, 5th largest benefits broker by global revenue and 13th largest broker of US business (all rankings according to Business Insurance).

Visit NFP.ca to discover how NFP empowers clients to meet their goals.

SOURCE NFP Corp.
NEW YORK, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- In honor of the brave women in Iran who are fighting for their basic human rights, the largest Iranian women's nonprofit in the United States, IAWF, has sponsored a billboard at 1500 Broadway & West 43rd in the heart of Times Square, in front of one of the busiest subway entrances in the country. IAWF has been able to sponsor this billboard and other billboards in Los Angeles because of the generous contribution of its supporters, with the goal of bringing awareness to the plight of the women in Iran.

IAWF Announces Billboard in Times Square Honoring the Brave Women that Sacrificed Their Lives for Freedom in Iran Tweet this IAWF Announces Billboard in Times Square Honoring the Brave Women that Sacrificed Their Lives for Freedom in Iran

The billboard names Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who reportedly died in police custody, and many others who have lost their lives in their fight for freedom. The digital billboard can be viewed HERE or at the location listed above. The billboard will be on display now until December 31st, 2022, airing approximately every 15 minutes from 6am to 2am.

"It is devastating to see women in Iran losing their lives in their fight for their basic human rights," says Mariam Khosravani, the CEO and founder of IAWF and a philanthropist with years of experience in humanitarian aid. "As the largest Iranian women's organization outside of Iran, our responsibility is to amplify women's voices. We are using billboards in New York City and Los Angeles to increase national and international attention and to keep the story alive, front and center."

IAWF is an educational nonprofit organization based in Irvine, Cali. with chapters in Northern California, New York, Los Angeles, and Orange County.

About Iranian American Women Foundation (IAWF):

The mission of the Iranian American Women Foundation is to provide a platform for empowerment and networking among Iranian American women and to provide mentorship to younger generations of Iranians locally and globally. Since its inception in Orange County, CA in 2012, the organization has empowered, inspired and connected thousands of women nationwide and globally. It has served as a home away from home; a community that celebrates creative, innovative, tenacious, and competitive women who are problem solvers and a force for the greater good. With more than 6,000 members nationwide, the organization showcases the diversity of America, celebrates the confluence of the American fabric and Iranian heritage, and propels women forward into new, dynamic professional leadership arenas. Website: https://www.iawfoundation.org Instagram: @iawfoundation

Media Contact:

Roxie Sarhangi

[email protected]

[email protected]

SOURCE IAW Foundation
DETROIT, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Samaritas, one of Michigan's largest health and human service organizations, will host The Ripples Gala presented by Huntington Bank on Friday, Nov. 4, at the Westin Book Cadillac Detroit hotel. The gala will feature an inspiring keynote speech by Olympic gold medalist, best-selling author, and adoptive father Scott Hamilton. This fundraiser will raise critical funds for Samaritas programs that help Michigan's most vulnerable people.

"We're so grateful to have Scott Hamilton back as a keynote speaker for The Ripples Gala," said Sam Beals, CEO at Samaritas. "Scott's inspiring words about his personal adoption journey and experience as a father of four with two adopted children are encouraging. We hope it will touch the hearts of the people on the fence about adopting or fostering."

Samaritas is one of the best-known foster care agencies in Michigan. Its staff is working to find safe havens for the 231 foster children waiting for adults to care for them. Generally, these foster kids are in permanent or long-term foster care because their parents have lost custodial rights due to severe neglect or abuse.

Adults willing to take in children six years old and up are desperately needed by Samaritas. It's a sobering fact that these older kids will never find a forever home. Statistics show that foster kids who can't find a permanent home are more likely to become homeless, misuse substances, have an unwanted pregnancy, or become impoverished. Loving families willing to adopt or foster older children can break this cycle of instability and provide a place for them to heal and flourish. Samaritas Foster Care orientations are available for prospective parents to learn about the process.

Michele Calloway is a veteran foster parent who will be honored for fostering children through Samaritas for nearly 40 years. She will be honored alongside Dr. Sonia Hassan, First Lady of Detroit, for spearheading the Detroit Refugee Network (DRN) and Rocket Companies for serving as a critical partner with boots-on-the-ground support and innovative and generous philanthropy.

Samaritas serves thousands throughout Michigan, including refugees, children in foster care, adults with developmental disabilities, people struggling with addiction, and those in need of affordable housing.

Visit samaritas.org/RipplesGala for Ripples Gala ticket information, including a special VIP reception with Scott Hamilton.

SOURCE Samaritas
From Modest Beginnings To Thriving International Company

FAIRFAX, Va., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Omega has undoubtedly come a long way since its early days in 1972 as a humble one-person office in Fredericksburg, Virginia. With CEO and President Gloria Bohan at the helm, Omega has grown into a global full-service travel management company and the largest woman-owned travel agency in the US.

Always at the forefront of new developments in travel, Ms. Bohan and Omega have received numerous prestigious awards. These include being featured in Travel Weekly's September 2022 Special Commemorative Issue and receiving Travel Weekly's 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award. Gloria attributes Omega's success to its enterprising and close-knit staff. In fact, the Omega family has impressive longevity, with 96 of its 253-member US staff having worked there for 15 or more years.

In addition to her role as an entrepreneur, Gloria has maintained a commitment to our community and the education of young entrepreneurs. As a former educator, she supports the volunteer-based Junior Achievement program which pairs participating youth with business mentors. Gloria says "We want to share as much as we can. It's important to realize that you are in a community. We want to be good citizens." Gloria also oversees the Gloria and Dan Bohan Foundation which promotes entrepreneurship through funding business school scholarships and ASTA's Entrepreneur of the Year award.

Over the past several decades, Omega has charted new territory for technological advances in travel. In the late 90s, Gloria established Omega's two sister companies: Cruise.com and TravTech. TravTech offers state-of-the-art travel software and solutions for the travel business. Cruise.com is currently one of the largest online cruise sellers. Cruise.com has been named Agency of the Year by Royal Caribbean Cruise Line and Carnival Cruises as well as Online Partner of the Year by MSC Cruises.

With these types of exceptional services, Omega will continue to offer new means of exciting and customized travel, remaining on the cutting edge of travel business innovation.

Omega World Travel is a Woman Owned travel management company, a full-service travel agency, and a leader in the internet retail travel marketplace. Omega is the largest woman-owned travel management company in the U.S., with more than $1 billion in sales. Omega designs customized travel management programs for corporate, government, and nonprofit clients. Omega's travel service offerings include its wholly-owned meeting, conference, and event management services.

For additional information about Omega World Travel please visit: www.owt.net

This press release was issued through 24-7PressRelease.com. For further information, visit http://www.24-7pressrelease.com.

SOURCE Omega World Travel
Increase in prevalence of malocclusion, surge in number of product launches and product approvals, and rise in government expenditure to develop the healthcare infrastructure drive the growth of the global orthodontic headgear market.

PORTLAND, Ore., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research published a report, titled, "Orthodontic Headgear Market by Type (Cervical Pull, High Pull, Reverse Pull and Facemask), by Application (Overbite, Overjet, Other alignment disorder), by End User (Hospital, Dental Clinic): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2021-2031." According to the report, the global orthodontic headgear industry generated $1.24 billion in 2021, and is estimated to reach $2.09 billion by 2031, witnessing a CAGR of 5.4% from 2022 to 2031.

Download Free Sample Report (235 Pages PDF with Insights, Charts, Tables, Figures): https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/15289

Prime determinants of growth

Increase in prevalence of malocclusion, surge in number of product launches and product approvals, and rise in government expenditure to develop the healthcare infrastructure drive the growth of the global orthodontic headgear market. However, high cost of dental treatment and limited reimbursements for provided by insurers for dental procedures hinder the market growth. On the other hand, increase in awareness regarding open bite, overbite, underbite, crossbite, and crowded teeth present new opportunities in the coming years.

Covid-19 Scenario

The Covid-19 pandemic impacted the growth of the global orthodontic headgear market negatively. Hospitals postponed or canceled non-urgent and minor procedures for dental care to take care of Covid-infected patients. This, in turn, reduced the demand for orthodontic headgears.

In addition, dental clinics were closed during the pandemic to avoid the possibility of cross-contamination. This, in turn, led to lowered usage of orthodontic headgears for dental procedures. Consequently, the demand reduced considerably.

Opening of new dental clinics or expansion of existing ones was postponed as there were lockdown restrictions. This also impacted the market revenue negatively.

The cervical pull segment to maintain its leadership position throughout the forecast period

Based on type, the cervical pull segment accounted for the largest market share in 2021, contributing to more than half of the global orthodontic headgear market, and is estimated to maintain its leadership position throughout the forecast period. Moreover, this segment is expected to manifest the largest CAGR of 5.6% from 2022 to 2031. This is due to rise in prevalence of malocclusion and increase in number of product launches for cervical-pull headgear. The report also analyzes the segments including high pull, reverse pull, and facemask.

Purchase Inquiry:

https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/15289

The overbite segment continue its leadership in terms of revenue throughout the forecast period

Based on application, the overbite segment contributed to the highest market share in 2021, accounting for nearly half of the global orthodontic headgear market, and will continue its leadership in terms of revenue throughout the forecast period. Moreover, this segment is estimated to manifest the largest CAGR of 5.8% from 2022 to 2031. This is attributed to rise in prevalence of overbite and increase in awareness among people regarding availability of treatment options for overbite. The research also analyzes the segments including overjet and other alignment disorder.

The hospital segment to continue its highest contribution throughout the forecast period

Based on end user, the hospital segment accounted for the largest market share in 2021, holding more than two-thirds of the global orthodontic headgear market, and is estimated to continue its highest contribution throughout the forecast period. In addition, this segment is projected to grow at the fastest CAGR of 5.5% from 2022 to 2031. This is due to increase in the number of hospitals and rise in the expenditure by government to develop healthcare infrastructure. The report also analyzes the dental clinic segment.

North America to continue its dominant share throughout the forecast period

Based on region, North America held the largest market share in 2021, accounting for more than half of the global orthodontic headgear market, and is projected to continue its dominant share throughout the forecast period. This is attributed to rise in number of product launch and product approval, increase in number of key players, and developed healthcare infrastructure. However, Asia-Pacific is estimated to witness at the fastest CAGR of 6.8% from 2022 to 2031. This is due to rise in expenditure by government organization to develop the healthcare sector and increase in awareness among people regarding malocclusion and its treatment. The report also discusses the regions such as LAMEA and Europe.

Leading Market Players

3M Company

Adenta GmbH

American Orthodontics

DB Orthodontics

Dentaurum Inc.

Dentsply Sirona

G&H Orthodontics

Great Lakes Dental Technologies

Henry Schein , Inc.

, Inc. Ortho Kinetics Corporation

Plaza Orthodontics

Rocky Mountain Orthodontics

TP Orthodontics, Inc.

Ortho Technology

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We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Allied Market Research CEO Pawan Kumar is instrumental in inspiring and encouraging everyone associated with the company to maintain high quality of data and help clients in every way possible to achieve success. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry.

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SOURCE Allied Market Research
St. Polten UAS Project among Best Inventions and Discoveries in "100 Years of Lower Austria"

The province of Lower Austria presented the best inventions and discoveries by Lower Austrian researchers during a celebration of the province's 100th anniversary. One of these was a patent filed for satellite cryptography. The technology behind this innovation was developed by Univ.-Doz. Ernst Piller who headed the Institute of IT Security Research at the St. Polten University of Applied Sciences for many years.

ST. POLTEN, Austria, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Digitalisation and globalisation require secure communication. Existing cryptography procedures make use of a highly secure mathematical method to encrypt data. As computer performance is increasing, however, these methods are becoming more and more insecure  the more so with a view to high-performance quantum computers in future.



For this reason, scientists have been trying for decades to find physical methods of encryption. They started out with "quantum cryptography", which is unfortunately very expensive and therefore cannot be used worldwide on a large scale, especially when it comes to greater distances.

Secure Data Transfer Using Radio Signals and Satellites

For approximately 15 years now, researchers have been working on a new method based on measuring radio channel properties, which is both inexpensive and suitable for mass use. However, it can be used for short distances of up to roughly 20 kilometres only.

"In a research project, we managed to make the technology applicable for greater distances  worldwide, to be precise  using satellites. This is why we call it satellite cryptography. As there is not a single publication or patent worldwide for this method, we have secured comprehensive protection for our research results by filing an international patent application", says Ernst Piller.

"The technology's commercial use will become viable only in the next decade because we have no high-performance quantum computers yet. That being said, we absolutely strive for its worldwide commercial use", explains Piller.

Research project "KIF  Kryptografie fur kabellose Kommunikation" (cryptography for wireless communication):

https://research.fhstp.ac.at/projekte/kif-kryptografie-fuer-kabellose-kommunikation

The project titled "Hochsichere, langzeitige Kryptografie fur kabellose Kommunikation mit Integration von Funkmessdaten" (high-security, long-term cryptography for wireless communication using radio measuring data) was funded by the Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology within the framework of the Austrian Security Research Programme KIRAS between 2017 and 2019.

About the St. Polten University of Applied Sciences

The St. Polten UAS is a provider of performance-oriented higher education with a strong practical relevance in the areas of Media, Communications, Management, Digital Technologies, Computer Science, Security, Rail Technology, Health Sciences, and Social Sciences. As a European University, the St. Polten UAS manages the European university alliance EUDRES (Engaged  European  Entrepreneurial University as Driver for European Smart and Sustainable Regions) and works on the development of smart and sustainable regions together with partner universities in seven countries.

For information and inquiries:

Mag. Mark Hammer

Section Head Press

Marketing and Communications

T: +43/2742/313 228 269

M: +43/676/847 228 269

E: [email protected]

I: https://www.fhstp.ac.at/de/presse

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SOURCE St. Polten University of Applied Sciences
ADCelerate delivers Phase I appropriate antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) drug substance and drug product for Investigational New Drug (IND) submission

Accelerates timelines, enabling faster delivery to patients in the clinic

From project initiation to GMP drug product in as few as 12 months

MUMBAI, India, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Piramal Pharma Solutions, a market-leading, patient-centric Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO), announced the launch of ADCelerate, a new, branded solution for antibody-drug conjugate drug development that accelerates timelines for developing the initial clinical supply of both drug substance and drug product.

ADCelerate Logo Peter DeYoung, Chief Executive Officer, Piramal Pharma Solutions

With ADCelerate, Piramal Pharma Solutions (PPS) delivers fully developed manufacturing processes for antibody-drug conjugate drug substance and lyophilized drug product, all within as few as twelve months. The program includes qualified, Phase I appropriate analytical methods to support batch release and stability studies for both drug substance and drug product, as well as initial stability data on drug substance (six months) and drug product (one month).

Peter DeYoung, Chief Executive Officer, Piramal Pharma Solutions said, "As a CDMO serving the biopharma industry, we recognize that speed matters. Getting our clients into the clinic as quickly as possible without compromising quality supports our ethos of patient centricity. ADCelerate is a strong example of this principle brought to life. By leveraging our capabilities and expertise in ADCs and sterile fill/finish, we are able to shorten timelines while maintaining the highest standards of quality."

The accelerated timelines that ADCelerate delivers are made possible by PPS's vast experience in antibody-drug conjugate problem solving, as well as the company's expertise in manufacturing lyophilized drug product. While based on a standard process, all ADCelerate programs are customized to the scope of each client's project.

To learn more about ADCelerate, reach out to our antibody-drug conjugation experts directly at [email protected].

About Piramal Pharma Solutions:

Piramal Pharma Solutions (PPS) is a Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) offering end-to-end development and manufacturing solutions across the drug life cycle. We serve our customers through a globally integrated network of facilities in North America, Europe, and Asia. This enables us to offer a comprehensive range of services including drug discovery solutions, process & pharmaceutical development services, clinical trial supplies, commercial supply of APIs, and finished dosage forms. We also offer specialized services such as the development and manufacture of highly potent APIs, antibody-drug conjugations, sterile fill/finish, peptide products & services, and potent solid oral drug product. PPS also offers development and manufacturing services for biologics including vaccines, gene therapies, and monoclonal antibodies, made possible through Piramal Pharma Limited's investment in Yapan Bio Private Limited. Our track record as a trusted service provider with experience across varied technologies makes us a partner of choice for innovator and generic companies worldwide.

For more information please visit: www.piramalpharmasolutions.com | Twitter | LinkedIn

About Piramal Pharma Ltd.

Piramal Pharma Limited (PPL) offers a portfolio of differentiated products and services through end-to-end manufacturing capabilities across 15 global facilities and a global distribution network of over 100 countries. PPL includes: Piramal Pharma Solutions (PPS), an integrated Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization; Piramal Critical Care (PCC), a Complex Hospital Generics business, and the India Consumer Healthcare business, selling over-the counter products. PPS offers end-to-end development and manufacturing solutions through a globally integrated network of facilities across the drug life cycle to innovator and generic companies. PCC's complex hospital product portfolio includes inhalation anaesthetics, intrathecal therapies for spasticity and pain management, injectable pain and anaesthetics, injectable anti-infectives, and other therapies. The Indian Consumer Healthcare business is among the leading players in India in the self-care space, with established brands in the Indian consumer healthcare market. In addition, PPL has a joint venture with Allergan, a leader in ophthalmology in the Indian formulations market. In October 2020, the company received growth equity investment from the Carlyle Group.

For more information visit: www.piramal.com/pharma | Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn

For Media Queries: For Investors: Rajiv Banerjee | Corporate Communications Gagan Borana | Investor Relations and Sustainability [email protected] [email protected]

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SOURCE Piramal Pharma Solutions
New features available in Pluralsight Flow reduce developer friction and non-essential effort

SILICON SLOPES, Utah, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Pluralsight, the technology workforce development company, today launched two new capabilities for its software development intelligence platform, Pluralsight Flow, which helps engineering teams accelerate software delivery. The new features include Investment Profile which is designed to help engineering leaders align engineering efforts to company priorities, justify investments, and accurately capitalize R&D expenses. The company is also incorporporating industry-standard DORA (DevOps Research and Assessment) metrics reporting into Pluralsight Flow to assist in measuring DevOps performance.

"DevOps teams strive to deliver stable, reliable software continuously to customers, but in order to optimize and allocate resources properly, they need visibility into what teams are spending time on, and where they need help," said Greg Ceccarelli, General Manager at Pluralsight Flow. "By incorporating Investment Profile and DORA Metrics into Pluralsight Flow, customers can better understand team constraints, align engineering efforts to priorities, and ultimately deliver more value to their business faster."

Investment Profile

Engineering organizations have to balance high-level strategic initiatives with day-to-day maintenance and codebase health, but it is often an insurmountable task to understand exactly where engineering team effort is being spent.

With Investment Profile, software engineering organizations can visualize where their resources and time are going. By understanding engineers' capacity and focus, leaders and teams can better allocate and distribute work by visualizing the balance between new features and necessary maintenance. Investment Profile can be fully customized for the requirements of the organization, but also comes auto-configured out-of-the box so that leaders can immediately analyze historical data to understand prior investments and plan for future investments.

Engineering leaders find the Investment Layers function of Investment Profile particularly valuable because the report can be customized with existing investment categories.

"My team is in the middle of annual planning and Investment Layers is the key component  everyone from the Chief Product Officer to tech leads are all looking at it regularly to determine where our capacity went this year," said Nicholas Blair, Director of Engineering at Sonatype. "It's been critical for planning next year's projects and resources. Outside of annual planning, I check Investment Layers bi-weekly to report to my executive stakeholders on our progress and timing for our initiatives. It's a whole new level of visibility that makes allocating work, planning resources, and reporting progress so much easier."

DORA Metrics

Industry-standard DORA Metrics are designed to help engineering teams see how well they deliver value to customers while also ensuring they're not sacrificing quality and product stability for speed. With information and data sourced from CI/CD, incident management, and issue tracking systems, teams have newfound visibility into the health of their delivery pipelines as expressed by the core four metrics: lead time for change, deployment frequency, change failure rate and time to restore service.

With Pluralsight Flow, customers have these lagging metrics at their fingertips. When paired with Flow's leading measures, customers can understand what processes and operations are slowing their development teams while ensuring they're not sacrificing stability for throughput. Through Flow reports like Retrospective, Sprint Movement, and now Investment Profile, customers will have the business context needed to contextualize DORA Metrics and provide complete understanding of what decisions are influencing engineering teams' outcomes.

To learn more about how Pluralsight Flow gives engineering leaders visibility into the workflows and health of their team, visit www.pluralsight.com .

About Pluralsight

Pluralsight is the leading technology workforce development organization that helps companies and teams build better products by developing critical skills, improving processes and gaining insights through data, and providing strategic skills consulting. Trusted by forward-thinking companies of every size in every industry, Pluralsight helps individuals and businesses transform with technology. Pluralsight Skills helps enterprises build technology skills at scale with expert-authored courses on today's most important technologies, including cloud, artificial intelligence and machine learning, data science, and security, among others. Skills also includes tools to align skill development with business objectives, virtual instructor-led training, hands-on labs, skill assessments and one-of-a-kind analytics. Flow complements Skills by providing engineering teams with actionable data and visibility into workflow patterns to accelerate the delivery of products and services. For more information about Pluralsight, visit pluralsight.com .

Media Contact

Ryan Sins

Public Relations Manager

[email protected]

SOURCE Pluralsight
TAMPA, Fla., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Primo Water Corporation (NYSE: PRMW) (TSX: PRMW) (the "Company" or "Primo"), a leading provider of sustainable drinking water solutions in North America and Europe, today announced that Primo Water North America ("PWNA"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Primo, has acquired substantially all the assets of Crystal Spring Water Company, a bottled water company based in Rhode Island.

Crystal Spring Water Company manufactures and distributes spring water to customers in Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts. The company was founded in 1907 in Middletown Rhode Island. The acquisition will add approximately 2,500 customers to PWNA, strengthening its footprint in the Northeast region.

"Crystal Spring Water Company offers high-quality spring water solutions and delivers superior customer service that aligns with our mission of inspiring healthier lives through water your way," said Tom Harrington, CEO of Primo. "We are excited to welcome these customers and associates to our Primo family."

For more information on the hydration solutions Primo offers, please visit www.water.com.

ABOUT PRIMO WATER CORPORATION

Primo Water Corporation is a leading pure-play water solutions provider in North America and Europe and generates approximately $2.1 billion in annual revenue. Primo operates largely under a recurring razor/razorblade revenue model. The razor in Primo's revenue model is its industry leading line-up of sleek and innovative water dispensers, which are sold through retailers and online at various price points. The dispensers help increase household penetration which drives recurring purchases of Primo's razorblade offering. Primo's razorblade offering is comprised of Water Direct, Water Exchange, and Water Refill. Through its Water Direct business, Primo delivers sustainable hydration solutions across its 21-country footprint direct to the customer's door, whether at home or to businesses. Through its Water Exchange and Water Refill businesses, Primo offers pre-filled and reusable containers at approximately 14,000 locations, water dispenser sales at approximately 9,000 locations and water refill units at approximately 24,000 locations, respectively. Primo also offers water filtration units across its 21-country footprint.

Primo's water solutions expand consumer access to purified, spring, and mineral water to promote a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle while simultaneously reducing plastic waste and pollution. Primo is committed to its water stewardship standards and is proud to partner with the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) in North America as well as with Watercoolers Europe (WE), which ensure strict adherence to safety, quality, sanitation and regulatory standards for the benefit of consumer protection.

Primo is headquartered in Tampa, Florida (USA). For more information, visit www.primowatercorp.com .

SOURCE Primo Water Corporation
Company Veteran Brings 26 Years of Experience to Role

Firm's First Woman President will Continue as Chief Operating Officer

DALLAS, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Prospera Financial Services, Inc. ("Prospera"), a boutique wealth management firm supporting a nationwide network of independent advisors, today announced that Tarah Williams has been named its President. She will report directly to Co-CEOs and Managing Partners Tim Edwards and David Stringer.

In her new role, Ms. Williams will lead day-to-day operations, work with the existing leadership team to help the firm achieve its ambitious strategic growth objectives, and ensure Prospera stays true to its mission of allowing advisors to experience "Success Your Way."

"Tarah's unparalleled insights will amplify the strong momentum we have built in the marketplace and drive further growth for advisors and the firm," said Mr. Edwards. "Tarah unquestionably has the experience, knowledge, and leadership abilities to guide Prospera, and David and I couldn't be happier to have her take on this new role. With her at the helm, Prospera has a very bright future."

Ms. Williams is a 26-year industry veteran and has been a member of the Prospera family since 2007. Before her promotion to President, she served as the firm's Chief Operating Officer, a role she will continue to hold. Throughout her long career, she has held management positions across multiple financial services business divisions, including operations, finance, risk management, recruiting, and marketing.

"I'm honored, humbled and excited to assume this new position," Ms. Williams said. "As we work to cement our reputation as the best-in-class for boutique independent firms, our leadership team will never lose sight of what makes Prospera so special, our community of advisors and employees. Being charged with maintaining and building upon the unique culture they have created is a huge responsibility  and one I welcome with open arms. I look forward to our future."

Throughout her 15 years at Prospera, a central focus of Ms. Williams has been shaping and enhancing the advisor experience with innovative systems and programs. She has implemented gold-standard service training for all employees, developed firm-wide processes and procedures to help provide operational consistency and accuracy for advisors, and implemented the framework to track and improve advisor satisfaction through net promoter scores and client experience surveys. Her innovation has helped create award-winning programs, such as Launch Your Way, a turnkey onboarding process for new advisors, which was named WealthManagement.com Industry Award winner in 2015. Ms. Williams has also played an integral part in expanding and deepening industry partnerships and relationships with Prospera.

Mr. Stringer added, "Prospera is committed to building its next generation of leaders as we position the firm as a long-term player in the wealth management industry. In Tarah, we've found the right person to build our expanded senior leadership team around. As a woman who is tenured in this competitive business, she brings unique insights and a valued voice to the running of our business. We are proud to add to the diversity of the industry's senior executive ranks with such an outstanding and deserving individual."

About Prospera Financial Services

Founded in 1982, Prospera Financial Services, Member FINRA, SIPC and a registered investment advisory, offers the flexibility and resources only found at some of the nation's largest broker-dealers. Headquartered in Dallas, TX, Prospera was named Broker-Dealer of the Year by Investment Advisor Magazine in 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2018 and 2019. Prospera is a 5-time winner and 7-time finalist for WealthManagement.com's Industry Awards as well as a ThinkAdvisor Luminaries award winner in its inaugural year. The firm supports independent financial advisors nationwide. For more information about Prospera, visit www.joinprospera.com.

Media Contacts

Michael Dugan or Joseph Kuo

Haven Tower Group LLC

424 317 4852 or 424 317 4851

[email protected] or [email protected]

SOURCE Prospera Financial Services
TAMPA, Fla., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Economic development, nonprofit organization Prospera has received a generous, unrestricted donation from CITY Furniture to support Hispanic entrepreneurs in the greater Tampa area. All Prospera servicesincluding individual consulting and technical assistance, business training in Spanish, and access to capitalare offered to clients at no charge, thanks to funds raised from public and private funders.

"City Furniture does not have stores in the Tampa Bay area yet, so this is the first time they make a donation to our organization, and we were pleasantly surprised by the generous amount," said Prospera Regional Vice President Fabian Yepez. "We're fortunate to have been selected as the beneficiaries of their recent in-store Test Rest campaign and will use the contribution to provide top quality services to more local Hispanic entrepreneurs who need our support."

"As CITY Furniture expands into the Tampa Bay community with the opening of our Plant City showroom and warehouse this November, we are proud to support Prospera and the important work they do to empower Hispanic entrepreneurs," said Andrew Koenig, CEO of CITY Furniture. "Giving back is at the core of what we do, and our Test Rest campaign gives customers the opportunity to support and strengthen the communities where they live, work, and play."

With each mattress test rest completed in showrooms, CITY Furniture donates $25 to a community partner plus gives the customer a $25 gift card. As part of its 5% Giving Pledge, CITY is committed to giving back a minimum of 5 percent of their annual profits back to the community.

There are an estimated 631,000 Hispanics in the Tampa Bay region, equivalent to 20 percent of its population. Prospera offers bilingual, culturally sensitive services to established and aspiring Hispanic entrepreneurs. The funding from CITY Furniture will enable Prospera to provide training, individual handholding, and personalized resources to local Hispanics who want assistance to start, sustain, or grow their businesses.

Since Prospera was established in Tampa in 1991, it has provided individual consulting services to more than 7,700 local Hispanic entrepreneurs and marketed more than $66 million in loans for them. Individuals interested in Prospera's assistance for their businesses or new startup ideas can call (813) 634-6246 or email [email protected].

Prospera currently serves Florida, North Carolina, and Georgia. In the last five years alone, it has facilitated over $61 million in loans, trained over 18,000 entrepreneurs, and helped consulting clients create or retain over 16,000 jobs. For more information, visit prosperausa.org or call (888) PROSPERA.

About CITY Furniture

CITY Furniture, a South-Florida based, family-owned American furniture and mattress retailer and fine upholstery manufacturer, and one of America's Top 20 furniture retailers, operates over 22 showrooms from Miami through Vero Beach, and in Southwest and Central Florida, as well as 14 Ashley Home Store showrooms as the brand's Southeast and Southwest Florida licensee. Their newest showroom and warehouse in Plant City opens November 2022. For more information, please visit www.cityfurniture.com.

Media Contacts:

Fabian Yepez, [email protected]

Caitlin Maribona, [email protected]

SOURCE Prospera
Collaboration brings deep data analytics to Advantest's semiconductor testers and empowers engineers with real-time insights to optimize yield and quality

HAIFA, Israel, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- proteanTecs, a global leader of deep data analytics for electronics health and performance monitoring, today announced the addition of proteanTecs Edge applications to the Advantest ACS Solution Store. Deployed in the tester, the apps enable mutual customers to discover real-time insights around key metrics, including per-die silicon grading, latent defects, power trade-offs, and 2.5D/3D interconnects. Newly launched, the ACS Solution Store is an online portal to discover, purchase and deploy Advantest-certified solutions from ecosystem partners.

proteanTecs Edge applications are now available on the Advantest ACS Solution Store.

The four new appsproteanTecs Edge Per-Die Silicon Grading, proteanTecs Edge Personalized Defect Detection, proteanTecs Edge Power Reduction and proteanTecs Edge 2.5D/3D Interconnect Monitoringprovide a detailed assessment of each die, aggregate measurements into understandable metrics and offer insights at both the product and sub-product levels. Available on the ACS Solution Store, the applications will bring deep data analytics to the production test environment.

"Semiconductor manufacturers cannot afford any delay in their data workflows and analytics; they need real-time insights to remain competitive and efficient," said Michael Chang, vice president and general manager of ACS at Advantest. "Using our ACS platform as the backbone, proteanTecs developed a set of applications to drive and foster innovation around deep data analytics at the edge. Our partnership and collaboration will afford engineers powerful insights within their test program, which leads to better decision making."

"Advantest has created a scalable infrastructure platform that advances and modernizes semiconductor testing," said Uzi Baruch, chief strategy officer at proteanTecs. "Together, we are giving engineers adaptive testing capabilities, which are a data-driven and proven path to improving semiconductor yield, quality, overall equipment effectiveness and time to market."

The proteanTecs Edge apps deploy personalized, machine-learning decision models in the tester via a container. Automated software distribution is enabled via the ACS Container Hub, which ensures an easy, secure and reliable deployment of the apps in the test fleets.

For more information on how proteanTecs and Advantest are "Elevating Production Testing with Deep Data Analytics and ACS at the Edge and Cloud," download this white paper.

About Advantest Corporation

Advantest (TSE: 6857) is the leading manufacturer of automatic test and measurement equipment used in the design and production of semiconductors for applications including 5G communications, the Internet of Things (IoT), autonomous vehicles, high-performance computing (HPC) including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, and more. Its leading-edge systems and products are integrated into the most advanced semiconductor production lines in the world. The company also conducts R&D to address emerging testing challenges and applications; develops advanced test-interface solutions for wafer sort and final test; produces scanning electron microscopes essential to photomask manufacturing; and offers system-level test solutions and other test-related accessories. Founded in Tokyo in 1954, Advantest is a global company with facilities around the world and an international commitment to sustainable practices and social responsibility. More information is available at www.advantest.com .

About proteanTecs

proteanTecs is a leading provider of deep data monitoring solutions for advanced electronics in the Datacenter, Automotive, Communications and Mobile markets. Based on Universal Chip Telemetry (UCT), the company provides system health and performance monitoring, from production to the field. By applying machine learning to novel data created by on-chip UCT agents, the company's analytics platform delivers predictive insights and visibility, leading to new levels of quality, reliability and scale. Founded in 2017, the company is headquartered in Israel with offices in the United States, India and Taiwan. For more information, visit: www.proteanTecs.com.

SOURCE proteanTecs
Digital health veteran to lead the company's corporate communications and investor relations to help expand brand awareness of the industry's leading navigation and consumer experience platform

DUBLIN, Ohio, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Quantum Health, the industry's leading healthcare navigation and care coordination company, announced today that John Hallock is joining its leadership team as Chief Communications Officer. In his new role, Hallock will lead the company's corporate communications function, including external and internal communications and investor relations.

John Hallock Chief Communications Officer Quantum Health

"John is a forward-thinking, compelling communications and investor relations leader. He has an impressive background helping to build some of the strongest and most innovative brands in the healthcare technology and digital health industries," said Zane Burke, Chief Executive Officer of Quantum Health. "Quantum Health consistently achieves some of the industry's highest Net Promoter Scores from our millions of members while helping our 500 employer clients achieve consistent cost savings and more productive and healthier employees. John's experience will immediately help Quantum Health elevate our brand awareness as the leading healthcare consumer navigation platform and underscore the significant impact of The Quantum Health Effect."

Hallock brings over two decades of experience designing and executing global communication programs for some of the nation's leading digital health and healthcare technology companies. He most recently served as Chief Communications Officer at Transcarent. Before that, he was Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications at Livongo Health. In this role Hallock directed communications and investor relations through Livongo's 2019 IPO, which was the largest in consumer digital health industry history. He also spearheaded Livongo's communications efforts for the company's $18.5 billion-dollar merger with Teladoc Health in 2020.

Prior to Livongo, Hallock led corporate communications for athenahealth, Imprivata, and CareCloud. At athenahealth, he architected all facets of the company's communications programs, including its IPO, M&A activity, and industry-leading media relations program. At Imprivata, he helped execute the company's post-IPO national awareness programs and market repositioning as a leading healthcare security and patient identification company and led communications through the eventual acquisition by private equity firm Thoma Bravo.

"Quantum Health has established itself as the clear leader in the healthcare consumer navigation experience market," said Hallock. "Since its inception over two decades ago, the company has consistently delivered industry-leading clinical and financial results for self-insured employers and allowed them to customize their benefit offerings to meet the unique needs of their changing workforces and new employee experience expectations. I am excited to join this impressive team to help expand and differentiate Quantum's brand with industry media, investors and other key stakeholders."

About Quantum Health

Quantum Health is the industry-leading consumer healthcare navigation and care coordination company that delivers an unparalleled consumer experience to its members, as well as validated claims savings and high satisfaction rates for its self-insured employer clients. Quantum Health's proprietary Real-Time Intercept model identifies opportunities for early intervention in a member's healthcare journey, resulting in better engagement, outcomes and cost efficiencies.

The company was founded in 1999 and is based in Dublin, Ohio. Since its inception, Quantum Health has earned numerous awards and honors, including the Fastest-Growing Private Companies by Inc. 5000, the MedTech Breakthrough Award for technology innovation, the Gold Stevie for Front-Line Customer Service Team of the Year and a Great Place to Work by FORTUNE Magazine and Entrepreneur Magazine. The Women Presidents' Organization has ranked Quantum Health as one of the 50 Fastest-Growing Women-Owned/Led Companies, and Columbus Business First has honored Quantum Health as a Best Place to Work.

To learn more about the company, visit quantum-health.com, and connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Media Contact:

Susan Simkins

Quantum Health, Corporate Communications

[email protected]

800-257-2038 x 13494

SOURCE Quantum Health
Join RainFocus in Salt Lake City from January 30 - February 1 and learn best practices for unifying event experiences

LEHI, Utah, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- RainFocus , provider of the next-generation enterprise event marketing platform, today announced that registration for RainFocus INSIGHT 2023 is live. The program will bring together individuals from events, marketing, and technology to discover how to power today's event experiences. INSIGHT 2023 kicks off in December with a series of virtual events. It culminates with the annual INSIGHT conference from January 30 to February 1 at the Hyatt Regency in Salt Lake City, and online.

Key Dates:

INSIGHT Premiere: Dec. 7, 2022 (VIRTUAL) - Get a guided tour of the INSIGHT event portal, ask questions, access a sneak peek at sessions, and get involved in the RainFocus event game.

Get a guided tour of the INSIGHT event portal, ask questions, access a sneak peek at sessions, and get involved in the RainFocus event game. INSIGHT Preparation: Jan. 18, 2023 (VIRTUAL) - Watch on-demand session previews, schedule meetings, and chat with exhibitors ahead of the conference.

Watch on-demand session previews, schedule meetings, and chat with exhibitors ahead of the conference. INSIGHT Conference: Jan. 30  Feb. 1, 2023 (HYBRID) - Join RainFocus in Salt Lake City to watch inspiring keynotes, attend sessions, network, and more. If you can't attend in person, RainFocus offers a digital experience.

Join RainFocus in to watch inspiring keynotes, attend sessions, network, and more. If you can't attend in person, RainFocus offers a digital experience. INSIGHT Encore: Feb. 15, 2023 (VIRTUAL) - Get more out of the INSIGHT experience with Q&As, session recaps, event metrics, and product certification.

"Our annual INSIGHT program embodies what RainFocus is about: unifying events and marketing," said JR Sherman, CEO of RainFocus. "INSIGHT 2023 brings together trusted thought leaders and experts who will discuss robust solutions for event delivery and ways to accelerate innovation for event and marketing practitioners. Attendees will also learn the latest strategies to enhance event delivery and the customer experience. We hope that you'll join us in Salt Lake City!"

INSIGHT attendees can customize their experience with RainFocus' role-based agendas, listen to powerful keynote presentations, attend breakout sessions tailored to specific roles, participate in workshops, network, attend the annual Innovation Awards ( nominate your team today), and more.

RainFocus is currently accepting speaker and exhibitor submissions for the 2023 event. If you're interested in sharing industry best practices, new concepts, and exceptional use cases of the RainFocus platform, learn more about speaking and exhibiting at INSIGHT 2023.

Early bird pricing closes on Dec. 9, 2022 . Register today.

About RainFocus

RainFocus is the next-generation event marketing platform built from the ground up to capture, analyze, and harness an unprecedented amount of data for significantly better events and conferences. As a true SaaS platform, RainFocus simplifies event registration, content management, and exhibitor activation seamlessly across in-person, virtual, and hybrid experiences, all from a single dashboard. For more information, visit www.rainfocus.com .

Additional Resources

Join the conversation with RainFocus on Facebook , Twitter , LinkedIn , and Instagram .

, , , and . Visit RainFocus.com to learn more about our event marketing and management platform. If you're ready to get started, request a demo .

. Discover RainFocus On Demand, the go-to learning destination for event industry leaders to discover the latest trends, thought leadership, and best practices, delivered on demand  any time, anywhere. Learn more .

. Are you interested in joining the RainFocus Partner Program? Apply today .

. Grow your career and help reshape the events industry at RainFocus. Apply here .

Media Contact

Jessica Johnson

[email protected]

SOURCE RainFocus
$2.0 Million Grant from the New York State Biodefense Commercialization Fund

Approximately $1.0 Million Received as Sub-Awardee of Vanderbilt University Under DARPA's Pandemic Prevention Platform (P3) Program

NEW YORK, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- RenBio, a privately-held, preclinical biotechnology company leveraging its novel, proprietary MYO (Make Your Own) Technology platform to deliver next-generation antibody and protein medicines in the form of DNA therapeutics, today announced that it has received a $2.0 million grant from the Empire State Development's (ESD) New York State Biodefense Commercialization Fund for its proposal, "Rapid Delivery of Monoclonal Antibodies for the Prevention of Future Infectious Disease Outbreaks," and approximately $1.0 million (with an option for an additional $3.6 million), as a sub-awardee of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, under the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)'s Pandemic Prevention Platform (P3) program.

Created in 2021, the goal of the $40.0 million New York State Biodefense Commercialization Fund is to accelerate the development and commercialization of innovations targeting infectious disease threats while fostering new life science businesses and industry growth within the State. The goal of DARPA's P3 program, founded in 2017, is to support military readiness and global stability through the pursuit of novel methods to dramatically accelerate discovery, integration, preclinical testing, and manufacturing of medical countermeasures against infectious diseases.

"The New York State Biodefense Commercialization Fund is an important source of capital for the industry, and we are proud to be one of just eight biotechnology companies selected as an inaugural awardee out of over 100 companies that applied," said Neal N. Padte, Ph.D., Chief Operating Officer and Chief Development Officer of RenBio. "Likewise, we are honored to collaborate with Vanderbilt University Medical Center as part of the DARPA P3 program, leveraging our disruptive MYO Technology to halt the spread of infectious disease outbreaks before they can escalate into pandemics.

Rachel A. Liberatore, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of RenBio added, "Frequent dosing regimens, specialized manufacturing, and inconvenient cold-chain requirements are limiting factors for the advancement and use of antibody and protein therapeutics, globally. The work funded by these grants will help us advance our platform validation and IND-enabling studies, and will provide further demonstration of the broad applicability of our MYO Technology platform for the delivery of next-generation medicines in the form of DNA therapeutics."

Empire State Development President, CEO and Commissioner, Hope Knight, noted, "New York State's Biodefense Commercialization Fund highlights how we are strategically investing in life science R&D and manufacturing to fuel cutting-edge healthcare solutions that will both save lives and grow jobs. We are proud to support the development of RenBio's MYO Technology DNA therapeutics platform to help pinpoint and prevent serious infectious disease threats, while also growing industry innovation."

"The rise of COVID-19 has served as a wake-up call for the need to rapidly respond to infectious disease outbreaks globally," said James E. Crowe, Jr., MD, Ann Scott Professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Center, and Principal Investigator of the DARPA P3 award. "RenBio's platform has potential to deploy gene-encoded antibodies against future infectious disease outbreaks. We plan to use this approach as part of our DARPA P3 program in order to create an end-to-end pandemic response platform."

Additional information regarding the New York State Biodefense Commercialization Fund and DARPA's P3 program can be found by visiting the following links: https://esd.ny.gov/biodefensefund and https://www.darpa.mil/program/pandemic-prevention-platform.

About MYO Technology

The MYO Technology platform is built to overcome the challenges inherent in typical antibody and protein therapeutic development, manufacturing, and delivery, by providing patients with a DNA "bioblueprint" that empowers them to produce their own therapeutic antibodies or proteins. The technology utilizes muscle cells (myocytes), converting them into in vivo bioreactors to effectively produce the desired therapeutic within the patient's own body, potentially leading to radically new, longer lasting therapies, negating the need for cold-chain storage and resulting in shorter manufacturing times.

About RenBio

RenBio is a privately-held, preclinical biotechnology company founded by Columbia University Professors David D. Ho, M.D. and Yaoxing Huang, Ph.D. The Company's novel, next-generation, proprietary nucleic acid therapeutics platform, called MYO (Make Your Own) Technology, is designed to deliver DNA medicines encoding for antibody and protein therapeutics. The rapid plug-and-play features of the MYO Technology are intended to overcome antibody and protein therapeutic limitations in administration, duration of efficacy, dosing frequency, and cold-chain restrictions, and can rapidly flex to prevent or treat a broad range of diseases. To date, the company has raised $28.0 million in Seed and Series A financing and has received non-dilutive funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. For more information, visit: https://www.renbio.com/.

Contact:

Paula Schwartz

Rx Communications Group, LLC

917-322-2216

[email protected]

SOURCE RenBio
O'FALLON, Ill., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Revela at O'Fallon, a senior living community, located at 1022 East Wesley Drive in O'Fallon, Illinois, off of Seven Hills Rd, near the O'Fallon Public Safety Office and YMCA, will celebrate a grand opening event on October 18, 2022, starting at 3:00 PM Central Time.

Revela at O'Fallon Revela at O'Fallon Dining

Residents, families, and citizens of the surrounding communities are invited to enjoy a Fall Festival and Ribbon Cutting with face painting, balloon artist, inflatables, great food and performances by the OTHS Drumline. Many local leaders and business representatives will be in attendance. Oh, and while you are enjoying the fun, make sure you enter for your chance to be the lucky winner of a Caribbean cruise!

Take a personalized tour and learn about special grand opening move-in opportunities. Suites, one-bedroom and two-bedroom options are available. New residents are moving in daily, so make your selection soon.

Revela at O'Fallon is a new 92-unit, 89,000 square foot senior living community offering, independent living, assisted living and memory support. The community was designed by St. Louis Design Alliance and built by Poettker Construction. Management company, Premier Senior Living, is proud to provide lifestyles that are empowering, encouraging, and engaging for our resident's family and staff. Our mission is to create communities that change minds about what senior living communities should be. We are determined as ever to cultivate a better way of living for all those that walk through our doors.

Revela at O'Fallon looks forward to serving O'Fallon, and surrounding areas, for years to come. All are welcome to join our Fall Festival and Ribbon Cutting on October 18, 2022, starting at 3 PM Central Time at Revela at O'Fallon. Oh, and again, while you are enjoying the fun, make sure you enter for your chance to be the lucky winner of a Caribbean cruise!

Contact: Kimberly Greene

Telephone: 843-790-8819

Email: [email protected]

Website: premierseniorliving.com

SOURCE Revela at O'Fallon and Premier Senior Living
DALLAS FORT WORTH, Texas, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Royal House Partners ("RHP") a leading provider of residential and commercial HVAC, plumbing and electrical services in Texas, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma welcomes the addition of Integrity Heat & Air based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to their family of businesses.

RHP was founded in 2021 by CPS Capital, a Toronto-based investment firm, and 1801 Holdings, a Dallas-based group of seasoned home services professionals, who have spent a considerable amount of time developing a residential and light commercial HVAC, plumbing and electrical roll-up strategy.

As a leadership team, we continue to acquire strong legacy businesses in the HVAC, Plumbing, Electrical & Home Services space. The addition of Integrity allows Royal House Partners to further expand its footprint north to Guthrie which marks our sixth acquisition in Oklahoma in the last eleven months.

Integrity's team consists of 8 experienced, licensed mechanical journeyman, 4 residential journeyman and 12 licensed mechanical apprentices. Integrity serves thousands of loyal customers across the greater OKC metropolitan area and has received many awards of different kinds for its outstanding business practices.

Paul Adams, Chief Growth Officer & Founder of RHP, notes "We are super excited to welcome the Integrity team. Gary Doolittle has built Integrity into one of the most reputable HVAC operations in OKC."

Gary Doolittle, Owner, notes, "Since we started in 2005 our name Integrity has been much more than just a name. It is doing business every time the way that we would like to be treated. "More than just a name" is our slogan! Our commitment to treat people right every time has led to ongoing growth year after year. Our partnership with RHP will allow our company to grow more than it ever has and will help us reach even more customers."

Jeremy Swanson, Regional Vice President Oklahoma, notes, "We are excited to add Integrity to our home services family. This addition will strengthen our HVAC division and give us a stronger reach in the Oklahoma City Metro area."

HVAC businesses interested in joining the RHP team should contact Paul Adams [email protected] For more information about RHP, visit https://www.royalhousepartners.com/home

About CPS Capital:

CPS Capital is a lower middle market private equity firm, based in Toronto, founded by owner-operators who look to partner with business owners to realize their growth and transition goals. CPS Capital is focused on North American opportunities to invest in exceptional businesses in growing industries with attractive characteristics. We look to become value-added partners with every business we work with. We bring significant capability, expertise, and capital to provide business owners with an attractive option compared to traditional financial or strategic buyers.

For more information, please visit us at https://cpscapital.com/

SOURCE Royal House Partners
Released During Liver Health Awareness Month and Based Primarily on HCP-Market Research, Salix Pharmaceuticals' Liver Health Annual Trends Report Finds More than One-Third of Gastroenterologists Surveyed Have Seen an Increase in Patient Hospitalizations Due to Cirrhosis Over the Past Year

Report Points to Reimbursement Challenges as Negatively Affecting Management of Chronic Liver Disease, as Reported by Survey Respondents

LAVAL, QC, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Salix Pharmaceuticals ("Salix"), the gastroenterology business of Bausch Health Companies Inc. (NYSE/TSX: BHC) ("Bausch Health"), today released the Salix Liver Health Annual Trends Report, Second Edition with the latest information on chronic liver disease (CLD) care and findings that include a continued rise in hospitalizations and mortality from CLD and cirrhosis, as well as gaps in care and knowledge that may prevent early diagnosis and optimal management of CLD, cirrhosis and its complications.

The trends report, which is based on a survey of 400 health care providers (HCPs) who treat patients with CLD, qualitative interviews with HCPs, and secondary research from peer-reviewed publications, reveals shortfalls in the adoption of national treatment guidelines, particularly among primary care physicians (PCPs). Perceived issues with payer coverage (due to prior authorization complexity/rejections) and high out-of-pocket costs/inability to afford treatment were found to be the leading factors negatively impacting treatment initiation or causing treatment disruptions.

"Salix is committed to delivering resources that inform, educate and help health care providers improve the care of people living with chronic liver disease, cirrhosis, and complications such as hepatic encephalopathy," said Nicola Kayel, vice president, GI Marketing, Salix. "This year's report points to a continued rise in mortality from chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, now outpacing diabetes or stroke among those 25-54 years old1. It's clear from both patient and provider research that there's a real need for more education and engagement resources to support the management of CLD. It is our hope the Salix Liver Health Annual Trends Report will increase awareness of this growing public health concern, help bridge the knowledge gap, and provide tools for health care providers that may improve identification and management of the disease."

The Salix Liver Health Annual Trends Report is being released in October during Liver Health Awareness Month as part of an effort to equip health care providers with the most current information on liver disease.

"The Global Liver Institute applauds the publication of this year's Liver Health Annual Trends Report which will help bring better understanding of the personal and societal impact of chronic liver disease and potentially help address its under-diagnosis and under-treatment among the approximately 4.5 million adults in the U.S. living with the disease2," said Donna R. Cryer, JD, founder and CEO, Global Liver Institute.

Complete findings from Salix's Liver Health Annual Trends Report as well as health care provider resources to help identify and manage patients with CLD and cirrhosis can be viewed at LiverHEalthNow.com.

Select findings from the report include:

34% of gastroenterologists surveyed report seeing increases in patient hospitalizations due to alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver during the past year

38% of the respondents were unaware of and/or could not name national guidelines for the management of CLD

55% of PCPs and 49% of nurse practitioners/physician assistants in the survey are not comfortable treating overt hepatic encephalopathy (OHE) and seek a consult

50% of providers surveyed report a patient's ability to pay out-of-pocket expenses is very or extremely important to CLD patient outcomes

About the Methodology Behind Liver Health Annual Trends Report

The Liver Health Annual Trends Report on chronic liver disease (CLD) includes information collected from an online survey, qualitative telephone interviews, and secondary research from peer-reviewed publications. An independent third-party recruiting firm invited over 400 health care providers to participate in this research project during May 2022. Provider participation (N=400) in the survey required individuals to be active in clinical practice and treat more than 4 CLD patients annually and were comprised of the following subgroups: 100 community-based gastroenterologists, 100 institution-based specialists, 100 primary care physicians (PCPs), and 100 nurse practitioners/physician assistants (NPs/PAs). In addition to completing the online survey, 15 physicians and 5 NPs/PAs also completed in-depth telephone interviews (Table 1). Quotes from the in-depth interviews throughout this report represent the opinions of those responders. As it pertains to the online survey, analysis of the data was conducted by utilizing QPSMR data analysis software.

The report strives to be representative of all physician segments' lived experience and the diversity that exists within the United States with respect to patient management and the economic and social factors that impact the management of CLD patients. Due to the limitations of this report, not all findings may be generalizable to the larger CLD provider and patient populations. In addition, this report does not contain all questions asked in the survey and in-depth interviews.

Secondary Research of Peer-Reviewed Publications

Secondary research was conducted utilizing Google and PubMed searches to identify relevant peer-reviewed publications and sources as noted in the report. Furthermore, treatment utilization and claims data were sourced from IQVIA. Secondary research may not reflect all published data. A systematic review was not performed. While included publications are peer reviewed, this secondary research as a whole was not.

To raise awareness and knowledge of CLD and HE, Salix also offers other online resources including:

UnderstandingHE.com: offering patients/caregivers HE information and resources on how to work with their health care provider to help manage the disease, a complication of cirrhosis

UnseenEpisodes.com: offering health care providers information about the unseen aspects and considerations in managing patients with HE

About Salix

Salix Pharmaceuticals is one of the largest specialty pharmaceutical companies in the world committed to the prevention and treatment of gastrointestinal diseases. For more than 30 years, Salix has licensed, developed and marketed innovative products to improve patients' lives and arm health care providers with life-changing solutions for many chronic and debilitating conditions. Salix currently markets its product line to U.S. health care providers through an expanded sales force that focuses on gastroenterology, hepatology, pain specialists and primary care. Salix is headquartered in Bridgewater, New Jersey. For more information about Salix, visit www.Salix.com and connect with us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

About Bausch Health

Bausch Health Companies Inc. (NYSE/TSX: BHC) is a global diversified pharmaceutical company whose mission is to improve people's lives with our health care products. We develop, manufacture and market a range of products primarily in gastroenterology, hepatology, neurology, dermatology, international pharmaceuticals and eye health, through our controlling ownership interest in Bausch + Lomb. With our leading durable brands, we are delivering on our commitments as we build an innovative company dedicated to advancing global health.

Forward-looking Statements

This news release may contain forward-looking statements about the future performance of the Company, which may generally be identified by the use of the words "anticipates," "hopes," "expects," "intends," "plans," "should," "could," "would," "may," "believes," "subject to" and variations or similar expressions. These statements are based upon the current expectations and beliefs of management and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. Actual results are subject to other risks and uncertainties that relate more broadly to the Company's overall business, including those more fully described in the Company's most recent annual report on Form 10-K and detailed from time to time in the Company's other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Canadian securities administrators, which factors are incorporated herein by reference.

2022 Salix Pharmaceuticals or its affiliates.

SAL.0112.USA.22

1 Xu JQ, Murphy SL, Kochanek KD, Arias E. Deaths: final data for 2019. Natl Vital Stat Rep. 70(8). Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2021.

2 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis. Accessed September 9, 2022. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/liver-disease.htm

Gianna Scalera

[email protected]

(908) 541-2110

SOURCE Bausch Health Companies Inc.
EcoStruxure  Energy Hub features simple-to-use, cloud-based software to address challenges faced by commercial and industrial building professionals

Energy Hub features simple-to-use, cloud-based software to address challenges faced by commercial and industrial building professionals Solution simplifies building management by providing a complete view of building energy use

RUEIL-MALMAISON, France, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Schneider Electric, the leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, today announced enhancements to EcoStruxure Energy Hub, a secure, easy-to-use IoT software-as-a-service solution that simplifies energy management and analysis for intelligent buildings and facilities.

With buildings responsible for 40% of global CO 2 emissions, it's vital that facility managers are empowered to monitor energy usage and emissions in real-time. Yet, the vast majority of electrical assets are not digitally connected in buildings, limiting visibility of energy usage and compliance. This, plus a lack of skilled personnel, means that organizations are struggling to create a plan and take appropriate actions to achieve net zero goals. zero goals.

EcoStruxure Energy Hub solves this issue by providing visibility into energy usage, costs and performance, and energy-saving recommendations - all in an intuitively-designed package that is simple to install, configure and use. It makes managing energy as easy and secure as managing personal finances via a smartphone app.

"EcoStruxure Energy Hub simplifies energy management by letting facility managers automatically collect, store, visualize and report on energy data -- whether they manage a single building, a campus, or a portfolio of buildings," said Sophie Borgne, Senior Vice President of Digital Power Line of Business at Schneider Electric. "It empowers customers to change the way they manage their energy - which is more crucial than ever given the current energy crisis and accelerating climate change."

The Burwell Student Center at the University of Denver currently uses the EcoStruxure Energy Hub to provide simple energy management tools and sustainability standards. Aligned with LEED Platinum requirements, the solution provides the university with an easily accessible view into the energy and occupancy needs of the student center, and strengthens the university's ability to capture, react to, and resolve immediate issues or make any necessary changes in the system's overall energy usage.

"We were able to combine simplicity and productivity with effective net zero strategy execution and fair price expectations, which made the solution perfect for our energy needs here at the university. In fact, we are considering expanding the Energy Hub system to other buildings on our campus," said Lynn Bailey, P.E., Director Energy & Sustainability at the University of Denver.

EcoStruxure Energy Hub  Future vision for sustainability

EcoStruxure Energy Hub was designed with Schneider Electric's vision for sustainability and Buildings of the Future in mind, featuring three phases of building energy management maturity:

Energy Compliance and Basic Awareness, helps building owners comply with building energy codes and create transparency to help drive energy-efficient and sustainable behavior. In addition to energy compliance data and electrical distribution monitoring and alarming, new enhancements allow users to allocate energy usage and costs to building tenants, driving energy usage accountability and savings.

helps building owners comply with building energy codes and create transparency to help drive energy-efficient and sustainable behavior. In addition to energy compliance data and electrical distribution monitoring and alarming, new enhancements allow users to allocate energy usage and costs to building tenants, driving energy usage accountability and savings. Energy Performance, leverage analytics to develop deep insights into waste reduction, operational improvements and performance tracking, including energy savings tips, a new feature.

leverage analytics to develop deep insights into waste reduction, operational improvements and performance tracking, including energy savings tips, a new feature. Energy Optimization, helps organizations drive continuous energy improvement in building operations without needing to invest in expensive and sophisticated on-premise automation systems.

For more information on Schneider Electric and its EcoStruxure products, click here. Following the initial launch in the United States, EcoStruxure Energy Hub will be available in select countries in 2022 and globally in 2023. To learn more about EcoStruxure Energy Hub, click here.

About Schneider Electric

Schneider's purpose is to empower all to make the most of our energy and resources, bridging progress and sustainability for all. We call this Life Is On.

Our mission is to be your digital partner for Sustainability and Efficiency.

We drive digital transformation by integrating world-leading process and energy technologies, end-point to cloud connecting products, controls, software and services, across the entire lifecycle, enabling integrated company management, for homes, buildings, data centers, infrastructure and industries.

We are the most local of global companies. We are advocates of open standards and partnership ecosystems that are passionate about our shared Meaningful Purpose, Inclusive and Empowered values.

www.se.com

Discover Life Is On

Follow us on:

https://twitter.com/SchneiderElec

https://www.facebook.com/SchneiderElectric?brandloc=DISABLE

https://www.linkedin.com/company/schneider-electric

https://www.youtube.com/user/SchneiderCorporate

https://www.instagram.com/schneiderelectric/

http://blog.se.com/

Hashtags: #EcoStruxure #LifeIsOn #SchneiderElectric #PowerDigitalization

Resources:

White paper: Power Digitalization: Understand and Achieve Active Energy Management in Buildings

White paper: Do more with less: Moving power and building management to the cloud

SOURCE Schneider Electric
Bank of hot cells manufactured by Von Gahlen will play critical role in production of important medical isotopes

BARCELONA, Spain, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- SHINE Technologies and Von Gahlen International today announced that SHINE's supercell has passed factory acceptance testing. Completion of that testing means the supercell, a bank of 10 hot cells, is now being prepared for final shipment to The Chrysalis, SHINE's large-scale medical isotope production facility in Janesville, Wisconsin.

This marks a big step forward for the world's first fusion facility dedicated solely to producing medical isotopes. Tweet this

The supercell will house key processes of medical isotope production, including the extraction, purification and packaging of molybdenum-99 (Mo-99). The medical isotope is relied on for more than 40 million patient procedures per year globally, and the supercell will play a vital role in SHINE's ability to produce up to 20 million doses of Mo-99 each year. Von Gahlen was awarded the contract for the supercell based on its expertise in manufacturing critical solutions for nuclear medicine and radiopharmacy, commitment to the SHINE project, and its alignment with SHINE's core values.

"We're thankful to have been chosen to partner on this project and cherished the challenge of producing something so unique," said Jaap Duiker, Managing Director from Von Gahlen. "To know that this work could help up to 20 million patients potentially facing cancer or heart disease makes this project particularly special. We look forward to continuing to work with SHINE and share in their vision for a safer, healthier, and cleaner world."

Installation of the supercell is also critical to SHINE achieving substantial completion of construction, a key milestone on the way to receiving an operating license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. SHINE anticipates receipt of that operating license in 2023.

"After seeing the supercell progress during recent trips to Europe, I am excited that it has passed testing and is on its way to Wisconsin. This marks another big step forward for the world's first fusion facility dedicated solely to producing medical isotopes, and toward much-improved patient care in the United States and around the world," said Greg Piefer, SHINE founder and CEO. "I've been very impressed with Von Gahlen's ability to execute this complex, first-of-a-kind project, and am grateful for our continuing partnership. They've set a new standard for excellence in hot cell construction, and we're excited to put this system to work in the Chrysalis where it will produce up to a billion doses of medicine over its lifetime."

SHINE also intends to utilize learning and expertise gained from building the medical isotope facility in Wisconsin to expedite construction of a sister facility in Veendam, the Netherlands.

"With this milestone, we are more confident about a timely completion of SHINE Europe's production facility in Veendam, the Netherlands," said Harrie Buurlage, general manager of SHINE Europe. "The sooner our facility in Veendam is ready, the sooner we can help millions of patients in Europe and the rest of the world."

About SHINE

SHINE is a next-generation nuclear technology company, deploying state-of-the-art fusion technology to create a scalable path toward fusion energy. Based in southern Wisconsin, with headquarters in Janesville, and with a future site in development in Europe, SHINE deploys its safe, cost-effective and environmentally friendly technology in a step-wise approach. Our systems are used for industrial imaging of components in aerospace, defense, transportation, energy and other sectors. And SHINE's proprietary isotope production processes create molybdenum-99 and non-carrier-added lutetium-177 used in tens of thousands of daily procedures to diagnose and treat heart disease and late-stage cancer. For more information, follow SHINE on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

About Von Gahlen

Von Gahlen is a state-of-the-art manufacturer of shielding solutions for nuclear medicine and radiopharmacy. Based in the Netherlands, with sales offices also in the United States and Germany, Von Gahlen offers standard or custom-built hot cells along with a wide range of auxiliary equipment for hot labs, as well as radiation-safe radiopharmaceutical packaging, and more. For more information, follow Von Gahlen on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

SOURCE SHINE Technologies, LLC
STOCKHOLM, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Skanska has signed a contract with the New York City Department of Transportation to reconstruct and rehabilitate the Williamsburg Bridge in New York, New York, USA. The contract is worth USD 150M, about SEK 1.5B, which will be included in the US order bookings for the third quarter of 2022.

The project includes structural steel repairs throughout the bridge superstructure, inclusive of floor beam repairs, a transit hanger retrofit and temporary jacking system, gusset plate repairs, truss bottom chord repairs, top and bottom lateral bracing strengthening, overhead truss diagonal replacements, intermediate towers repairs and transit stringer repairs.

Work will begin October 2022 and expected completion is December 2025.

For further information please contact:

Maritza Ferreira, VP Communications, Skanska USA, tel +1 (678) 492 2003

Jacob Birkeland, Head of Media Relations and Public Affairs, Skanska AB, tel +46 (0)10 449 19 57

Direct line for media, tel +46 (0)10 448 88 99

This and previous releases can also be found at www.skanska.com.

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/skanska/r/skanska-reconstructs-the-williamsburg-bridge-in-new-york--usa--for-usd-150m--about-sek-1-5b,c3646600

The following files are available for download:

https://mb.cision.com/Main/95/3646600/1637365.pdf 20221012 US Williamsburg Bridge

SOURCE Skanska
Sonata is supporting eir evo's business growth through the standardization of their CRM platform, migrating from Salesforce to Microsoft Dynamics

BANGALORE, India, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Sonata Software, a global IT services and technology solutions company, has announced that it has signed an agreement with eir evo, Ireland's leading Telecommunications and ICT Solutions Provider, to support the standardization of their CRM platform, migrating them from Salesforce to Microsoft Dynamics.

In addition to the above agreement, Sonata Software and eir evo also plan to implement a long-term strategy for growing Microsoft Dynamics within the Irish market, by co-creating engagement models for a cohesive approach.

Back in March 2021, eir Business and Evros Technology Group, announced the completion of their merger, enabling the organization  the newly named eir evo  to offer an unrivalled portfolio of services across cyber security, cloud, networking, app development, 24x7x365 managed support and more, to the whole of Ireland. Since then, the company has been working on the standardization of their platforms across both entities for a fully integrated and optimized way of working.

Sonata Software's unique platform migration process, will empower operational efficiency across eir evo, supporting them in delivering their business objectives. The migration will also enable seamless collaboration across their business functions, while delivering visibility across all of their IT systems. This internal optimization will also support productivity and customer-centric efficiencies.

Sonata's experience of the Microsoft Dynamics Platform, provides customers with end-to-end service expertise so that they can make their CRM future-ready, thereby gaining the right level of visibility and insights to enhance their customer service experience.

"We look forward to our collaboration with Sonata to optimize our IT landscape, helping us to deliver a Dynamics solution and partnership for the Irish market, accelerating our journey towards a great user experience, delivered with agility and operational excellence, all backed by eir evo's expertise and emphasis on innovation," said Joe Brady CIO at eir evo.

"At Sonata, we believe in providing solutions that help our customers achieve their goals effectively and efficiently. Our collaboration with eir evo will enable them to provide superior customer service through streamlined collaboration across their groups, along with an enhanced digital experience and optimized operational capabilities. The values we share will help eir evo provide their distinctive set of innovative solutions to their customers," said Roshan Shetty, Chief Revenue Officer, Sonata Software.

About Sonata Software

For more information, press only:

Nandita Venkatesh,

Sonata Software Limited

CIN- L72200MH1994PLC082110

A.P.S. Trust Building,

Bull Temple Road, N.R. Colony

Bangalore 560004, India

Tel:+91806778199

[email protected]

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/689012/Sonata_Software_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Sonata Software
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- St. Petersburg-based travel insurtech company, Squaremouth.com , recently received recognition by Florida Trend and the International Best In Biz Awards, for their culture and post-pandemic resiliency. The awards come two years after the company's business declined by over 90% as a result of COVID-19.

Despite the downturn, Squaremouth pledged to keep all employees at full pay. The company, which has always operated with transparency, would share financials every week during all-hands team calls.

"It was an uncertain time, but it ultimately brought us closer together," said CMO Megan Moncrief. "Pre-pandemic, we were averaging hundreds of sales per day. By April 2020 our business came to a standstill, bottoming out at 12 sales one day."

That would become the worst day in Squaremouth's history since their inception in 2003. This year, the company mailed 12 checks for $1,200 to those customers as a thank you for their business.

Squaremouth cut costs where it could, short of salaries. By remaining fully staffed, they were able to pivot priorities, focusing on serving their new customer-base, and preparing for the future of travel in a post-pandemic world.

This year, Squaremouth is leading their industry, with sales projected to supersede 2019 by over 200%, earning Gold as the Most Resilient Company of the Year by the International Best In Biz Awards as a result.

Simultaneously, Florida Trend ranked Squaremouth the Fourth Best Small Company to work for in Florida. While this marked Squaremouth's seventh consecutive year on the list, it is their highest ranking on the list to date. The award was a result of surveys sent to all employees, most of which had been with the company throughout the pandemic, a testament to their dedication to their employees and their customers, especially during the worst of times.

Since the pandemic, Squaremouth has doubled its customer service and claims teams, and continues to hire in a number of roles, including marketing, development, and product.

About Squaremouth

Squaremouth is a travel insurance comparison company that helps customers instantly search, compare, and buy travel insurance policies online.

Squaremouth.com hosts the most intuitive travel insurance quoting and comparison engine on the market today. Coupled with over 100,000 verified customer reviews and the largest portfolio of products, Squaremouth allows customers to purchase a travel insurance policy from every major provider in the US.

As a company, we prioritize reputation over profits, with a core goal of helping every customer find the coverage they need for the lowest possible price. Founded in 2003, Squaremouth.com - and our multi-award-winning customer service team - has helped more than 2 million travelers find the best travel insurance policy for their trip.

Media Contact:

[email protected]

SOURCE Squaremouth
PITTSBURGH, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The United Steelworkers (USW) today said that workers have overwhelmingly voted to ratify a new, four-year contract covering roughly 12,000 members at thirteen Cleveland-Cliffs Steel locations in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, West Virginia and Minnesota.

USW International Vice President (Administration) David McCall, who chaired the negotiations, said that union members won major wage and benefit improvements through hard work and solidarity.

"Throughout the pandemic and every other challenge that faces the industry, Steelworkers perform the work essential to keep our plants running safely and productively," McCall said. "Thanks to the solidarity of USW members, activists and local union leaders, our work will be safer and pay more without sacrificing security of our jobs."

The new contract raises base wages by 20 percent, improves insurance benefits for active and retired workers, increases pensions, improves vacation provisions, an additional holiday and includes new provisions of parental paid leave and for employees who are victims of domestic violence.

"Our negotiating committee is proud that we won a fair contract that improves the standard of living for thousands of USW members and their families now and in the future," said International President Tom Conway. "Cliffs' commitment to lead the steel industry and partner with the USW includes a plan to invest $4 billion in its USW facilities during the contract term that will improve production, create sustainable jobs for future generations of Steelworkers and ensure success for the company."

The USW (on the web at www.usw.org) represents 850,000 workers employed in manufacturing, metals, mining, pulp and paper, rubber, chemicals, glass, auto supply and the energy-producing industries, along with a growing number in public sector, service, tech and academic occupations.

More information, contact: Tony Montana  412-562-2592 or [email protected]

SOURCE United Steelworkers (USW)
Digital storytelling requires flexible technology: New data shows only 13% of APAC companies are happy with their monolithic CMSs, and 46% are considering moving to a headless CMS

LINZ, Austria, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Storyblok , the content management system (CMS) category leader for 2022 that empowers both developers and content teams to create better content experiences across all digital channels, today announced its expansion to APAC (Asia-Pacific).

Brands across APAC such as Pizza Hut Australia, FC Sydney, Liberty Finance Australia, Vicinity Centres, Treasury Wine Estates, Crimson Education, Octopus Deploy, and Akasa Air already use Storyblok as the content engine for their digital experiences.

In recognition of the massive growth potential throughout APAC, Storyblok hired Marcus Paterson as its APAC Sales Manager. Marcus has held leadership roles at National Australia Bank, Fuji Xerox, and Leidos Australia. He's now based in Thailand to support customers across the region and is actively growing a sales team and related support roles.

"After working throughout APAC for over 20 years, I've come to understand the unique challenges that companies face in this part of the world," said Marcus Paterson, APAC Sales Manager at Storyblok. "Agile and secure content management continues to be something that all sorts of businesses struggle with. With Storyblok, your marketing and content teams have a future-proof CMS that enhances content experiences at any scale."

To understand more about content management in APAC, Storyblok surveyed 301 professionals who use a CMS in Australia and Singapore.

The survey revealed the following key insights:

Only 13% of APAC companies are happy with their monolithic CMSs

46% are considering moving to a headless CMS

The CMS features that are most important: #1 Security, #2 Website speed, #3 Easy to use for content creators

61% are worried about the security of their CMS

67% use 2 or more CMSs

68% deliver content in more than one language

12% are using their CMS to deliver content in virtual reality, and 9% in augmented reality

"Based on our great success so far in APAC, we knew now was the right time to invest more heavily in the region," said Sascha Ploebst, VP of Sales at Storyblok. "The data shows us that local companies are ready to move to headless CMS solutions to improve their digital storytelling."

"Our expansion into APAC is an important milestone in the global growth of Storyblok," said Dominik Angerer, Co-Founder and CEO of Storyblok. "Audiences all over the world demand better content experiences that traditional CMS platforms were never built for. Storyblok already offers a cloud-native CMS to manage all content in one place with data centers in the US, Europe, and a dedicated instance in China. I'm also proud to announce that we are planning to offer a locally hosted option in Australia soon for organizations that need this."

Resources

Download The State of Content Management in APAC report to see the full survey results: https://www.storyblok.com/lp/state-of-cms-apac

report to see the full survey results: Learn more about Storyblok: https://www.storyblok.com

View Storyblok's press kit: https://www.storyblok.com/press

See case studies: https://www.storyblok.com/case-studies

About Storyblok

Storyblok, the content management system (CMS) category leader for 2022, empowers both developers and content teams to create better content experiences across any digital channel.

Storyblok enhances audience experiences with best-in-breed performance, security, optimized omnichannel storytelling, and robust personalization. Enable content teams to create and manage content intuitively and independently with drag and drop visual editing, custom collaboration workflows, and a world-class digital asset manager. Empower developers to build anything, integrate with everything, and publish everywhere with Storyblok's headless CMS architecture.

Leading brands such as Adidas, T-Mobile, Renault, and Marc O'Polo use Storyblok to shape their digital storytelling.

See why Storyblok was named the #1 CMS for 2022 by G2 at www.storyblok.com and follow Storyblok on LinkedIn and Twitter .

Press Contact

Brandon Watts

[email protected]

SOURCE Storyblok
NOIDA, India, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new report published by UnivDatos Markets Insights, the Food Automation Market was valued at more than USD 10 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 6% from 2022-2028. The analysis has been segmented into Type (Motor Controls, Discrete controllers & visualization, Rotary products, Others); Application (Processing, Packaging & Repackaging, Palletizing, Sorting & Grading, Others); End-User (Dairy, Bakery, Confectionery, Fruits and Beverage, Meat-Poultry & Sea-Food, Others); Region/Country.

Click here to view the Report Description & TOC

https://univdatos.com/report/food-automation-market/

The Food Automation market report has been aggregated by collecting informative data on various dynamics such as market drivers, restraints, and opportunities. This innovative report makes use of several analyses to get a closer outlook on the Food Automation market. The Food Automation market report offers a detailed analysis of the latest industry developments and trending factors in the market that are influencing the market growth. Furthermore, this statistical market research repository examines and estimates the Food Automation market at the global and regional levels.

Request for Sample Pages

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Market Overview

Rising disposable income, surging demand for processed food, etc., are some of the key factors that are contributing to the growth of food automation. Also, the decreasing labor productivity, labor working hours, and the total output as well. Deployment of robotics helps in increasing output, time-saving, smooth, and efficient operations as well. As per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, food manufacturing employs around 1.6 million workers. Furthermore, with surging mishappening during food processing and other operations, there is a greater demand for food robots. In 2018, the incident rate for food manufacturing workers in the U.S. was 4.2%. Burns, cuts, and slips are among the most common types of injuries in food processing plants.

COVID-19 Impact

The COVID19 pandemic has negatively impacted several industries, including industries engaged in food and beverages manufacturing. Due to the social distancing norms and regulations by the government. Many F&B industries were operating below capacity. Furthermore, in April and May 2020, worker illnesses from COVID-19 led to the shutdown of several large beef and pork packing plants, as roughly 40% of processing capacity was brought offline in the United States. Also, the shortages of food items and price hikes were registered. As per Brain Corp, a firm that designs software used in automated floor cleaners, autonomous floor care robot usage has risen in recent months to about 8,000 hours of daily work, a 13% increase from pre-pandemic use.

However, with the stabilization in the economy, the demand for robots in the food sector is also started uplifting. As per Association for Advancing Automation, robot orders increase 67% in q2 2021 over the same period in 2020, showing a return to pre-pandemic demand for automation.

Click here to view the Report Description & TOC

https://univdatos.com/report/food-automation-market/

The global Food Automation market report is studied thoroughly with several aspects that would help stakeholders in making their decisions more curated.

The palletizing segment grabbed the major market share and dominated the market in 2020. however, the packaging & repackaging segment would witness an astronomical CAGR during the forthcoming years. as per the association for packaging and processing technologies, around 33% of the food processing and 94% of packaging operations are using robotics.

The meat-poultry & seafood segment grabbed majority market share in 2020. As per Food and Agriculture Organizations in the United States , World total meat production is estimated at 337.2 million tonnes (in carcass weight equivalent) in 2020. However, the growing demand for dairy products by consumers is contributing to the growing share of this segment.

Have a Look at the Chapters - https://univdatos.com/report/food-automation-market/

Food Automation Market Geographical Segmentation Includes:

North America ( United States , Canada , and Rest of North America )

( , , and Rest of ) Europe ( Germany , United Kingdom , Spain , Italy , France , and the Rest of Europe )

( , , , , , and the Rest of ) Asia-Pacific ( China , Japan , India , Australia , and the Rest of Asia-Pacific )

( , , , , and the Rest of ) Rest of the World

Based on the estimation, the Asia-Pacific to witness significant share growth in the market. Surging disposable income coupled with the rising number of working parents across the globe is contributing to the growth of the demand for ready-to-eat food products, therefore, the demand for food automation is also rising. However, the North America region would witness considerable growth in the forthcoming years.

The major players targeting the market include

Rockwell Automation, Inc.

Siemens AG

ABB Ltd

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation

Schneider Electric SE

Yokogawa Electric Corporation

GEA Group

Fortive Corporation

Yaskawa Electric Corporation

 Rexnord Corporation.

Competitive Landscape

The degree of competition among prominent global companies has been elaborated by analyzing several leading key players operating worldwide. The specialist team of research analysts sheds light on various traits such as global market competition, market share, most recent industry advancements, innovative product launches, partnerships, mergers, or acquisitions by leading companies in the Food Automation market. The major players have been analyzed by using research methodologies for getting insight views on global competition.

Key questions resolved through this analytical market research report include:

What are the latest trends, new patterns, and technological advancements in the Food Automation market?

Which factors are influencing the Food Automation market over the forecast period?

What are the global challenges, threats, and risks in the Food Automation market?

Which factors are propelling and restraining the Food Automation market?

What are the demanding global regions of the Food Automation market?

What will be the global market size in the upcoming years?

What are the crucial market acquisition strategies and policies applied by global companies?

We understand the requirement of different businesses, regions, and countries, we offer customized reports as per your requirements of business nature and geography. Please let us know If you have any custom needs.

Browse Other Related Research Reports from UnivDatos Market Insights

Food Automation Market Report Coverage

Report Attribute Details Base year 2020 Forecast period 2021-2027 Growth momentum Accelerate at a CAGR of over 6% Market size 2020 USD 10 billion Regional analysis North America, Europe, APAC, Rest of World Major contributing region APAC to Dominate the Global Food Automation Market Key countries covered United States, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, France, China, Japan, India, and Australia Companies profiled Rockwell Automation, Inc., Siemens AG, ABB Ltd, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Schneider Electric SE, Yokogawa Electric Corporation, GEA Group, Fortive Corporation, Yaskawa Electric Corporation, Rexnord Corporation. Report Scope Market Trends, Drivers, and Restraints; Revenue Estimation and Forecast; Segmentation Analysis; Impact of COVID-19; Demand and Supply Side Analysis; Competitive Landscape; Company Profiling Segments Covered By Type; By Application; By End-Users; By Region/Country

About UnivDatos Market Insights (UMI)

UnivDatos Market Insights (UMI) is a passionate market research firm and a subsidiary of Universal Data Solutions. We believe in delivering insights through Market Intelligence Reports, Customized Business Research, and Primary Research. Our research studies are spread across topics across the world, we cover markets in over 100 countries using smart research techniques and agile methodologies. We offer in-depth studies, detailed analysis, and customized reports that help shape winning business strategies for our clients.

Contact

UnivDatos Market Insights

Ankita Gupta

Director Operations

Ph: +91-7838604911

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://univdatos.com/

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1225049/UnivDatos_Logo.jpg

SOURCE UnivDatos Market Insights Pvt. Ltd.
NOIDA, India, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new report published by UnivDatos Markets Insights, the Stevia Market was valued at more than USD 650 million in 2020 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 8% from 2022-2028. The analysis has been segmented into Filtration Type (Whole Leaf, Powder, Liquid, Others); Application (Food, Beverage, Dairy & Frozen Desserts, Bakery & Confectionery, And Tabletop Sweeteners); Region/Country.

Click here to view the Report Description & TOC

https://univdatos.com/report/stevia-market/

The Stevia market report has been aggregated by collecting informative data on various dynamics such as market drivers, restraints, and opportunities. This innovative report makes use of several analyses to get a closer outlook on the Stevia market. The Stevia market report offers a detailed analysis of the latest industry developments and trending factors in the market that are influencing the market growth. Furthermore, this statistical market research repository examines and estimates the Stevia market at the global and regional levels.

Request for Sample Pages

https://univdatos.com/get-a-free-sample-form-php/?product_id=26003

Market Overview

The global consumption of sugar amounted to 172.6 in 2018/2019 and is projected to increase to about 171.8 million metric tons by 2020/2021. With the increase in world trade, better agricultural technology, among other reasons, sugar is cheaper and more widely available than ever. In 2018/2019, about 188.25 million metric tons of sugar was produced worldwide, up from 164.7 million metric tons of sugar in 2015/2016. India consumes the most sugar of any country, followed by the European Union and China. In the ten years between 2016 and 2026, the global price of sugar is expected to decrease from 0.17 U.S. dollars per pound to 0.14 U.S. dollars per pound. Though this means that sugar might be even more readily accessible and affordable in the future, this could lead to further global health problems associated with excess sugar consumption. Owing to these facts, there is a surge in no. of people inclining towards the adoption of a healthy lifestyle which further boosts the growth of the stevia market globally.

COVID-19 Impact

The recent covid-19 pandemic has disrupted the world and has brought a state of shock to the global economy. All industries have suffered some form of loss due to the pandemic and the stevia industry has not been left untouched by this unprecedented crisis of modern times. This industry has its share of challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic as the lockdown restrictions have resulted in the widespread closure of many production and manufacturing functions. Also, there has been a decline in trade and transportation which has disrupted the supply chains of stevia because of which its market has witnessed shortfalls. However, there has been an increase in the number of people adopting a healthy lifestyle which has led to increased demand for natural sweeteners such as stevia among the consumers.

Click here to view the Report Description & TOC

https://univdatos.com/report/stevia-market/

The global Stevia market report is studied thoroughly with several aspects that would help stakeholders in making their decisions more curated.

Based on type, the market is segmented into whole leaf, powder, liquid, and others. The powdered segment dominated the stevia market and is expected to grow at a considerable CAGR during the upcoming years as it is one of the most popular and widely available types of stevia in the market all over the world. Furthermore, the highly purified form of stevia powder and enhanced sweetness potency is gaining more traction among the consumers as it can be widely utilized for various applications such as in making beverages, baked foodstuff, desserts, sauces, and many more.

Based on the application, the market is fragmented into food, beverage, dairy & frozen desserts, bakery & confectionery, and tabletop sweeteners. The beverage segment accounted for the highest revenue share in 2020 and is expected to grow with a substantial CAGR during the projected timeframe as there is a growing utilization of stevia while formulating different types of beverages. Also, the increased focus of many industry players to incorporate stevia as an ingredient has led to a rise in the number of beverage launches with stevia. For example, in 2018, Coca-Cola has launched a new Coke product that is sweetened entirely from stevia (Stevia rebaudiana).

Have a Look at the Chapters - https://univdatos.com/report/stevia-market/

Stevia Market Geographical Segmentation Includes:

North America ( United States , Canada , and Rest of North America )

( , , and Rest of ) Europe ( Germany , United Kingdom , Spain , Italy , France , and the Rest of Europe )

( , , , , , and the Rest of ) Asia-Pacific ( China , Japan , India , Australia , and the Rest of Asia-Pacific )

( , , , , and the Rest of ) Rest of the World

Geographically, the Asia-pacific region dominated the stevia market owing to changes in lifestyle and the prevalence of lifestyle diseases such as cardiovascular disease, obesity, and Diabetes. The demand for stevia has been on surge across the globe owing to the growing inclinations of consumers towards natural sweeteners and increase in awareness regarding the health benefits among the consumers. Due to this, there has been a mounting sales volume of stevia globally as many industry players in the food & beverage sector are focusing on launching products containing stevia. Thereby, boosting the growth of the stevia market. For instance, As per a release by PureCircle, newly introduced foods & beverages using stevia sweetener grew by 31% in 2018, up from an 11% growth rate in 2017.

The major players targeting the market include

Ingredion Incorporated

Cargill

Tate & Lyle Plc

Archer Daniels Midland Company

Sunwin Stevia International Inc.

S&W Seed Company

Stevia Corp

PureCircle Limited

Evolva Holdings SA

GLG Life Tech Corp.

Competitive Landscape

The degree of competition among prominent global companies has been elaborated by analyzing several leading key players operating worldwide. The specialist team of research analysts sheds light on various traits such as global market competition, market share, most recent industry advancements, innovative product launches, partnerships, mergers, or acquisitions by leading companies in the Stevia market. The major players have been analyzed by using research methodologies for getting insight views on global competition.

Key questions resolved through this analytical market research report include:

What are the latest trends, new patterns, and technological advancements in the Stevia market?

Which factors are influencing the Stevia market over the forecast period?

What are the global challenges, threats, and risks in the Stevia market?

Which factors are propelling and restraining the Stevia market?

What are the demanding global regions of the Stevia market?

What will be the global market size in the upcoming years?

What are the crucial market acquisition strategies and policies applied by global companies?

We understand the requirement of different businesses, regions, and countries, we offer customized reports as per your requirements of business nature and geography. Please let us know If you have any custom needs.

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Stevia Market Report Coverage

Report Attribute Details Base year 2020 Forecast period 2021-2027 Growth momentum Accelerate at a CAGR of over 8% Market size 2020 USD 650 million Regional analysis North America, Europe, APAC, Rest of World Major contributing region APAC to Dominate the Global Stevia Market Key countries covered United States, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, France, China, Japan, India, and Australia Companies profiled Ingredion Incorporated, Cargill, Tate & Lyle Plc, Archer Daniels Midland Company, Sunwin Stevia International Inc., S&W Seed Company, Stevia Corp, PureCircle Limited, Evolva Holdings SA, GLG Life Tech Corp. Report Scope Market Trends, Drivers, and Restraints; Revenue Estimation and Forecast; Segmentation Analysis; Impact of COVID-19; Demand and Supply Side Analysis; Competitive Landscape; Company Profiling Segments Covered By Filtration Type; By Application; By Region/Country

About UnivDatos Market Insights (UMI)

UnivDatos Market Insights (UMI) is a passionate market research firm and a subsidiary of Universal Data Solutions. We believe in delivering insights through Market Intelligence Reports, Customized Business Research, and Primary Research. Our research studies are spread across topics across the world, we cover markets in over 100 countries using smart research techniques and agile methodologies. We offer in-depth studies, detailed analysis, and customized reports that help shape winning business strategies for our clients.

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SOURCE UnivDatos Market Insights Pvt. Ltd.
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The global surgical microscopes market size is expected to reach USD 2.9 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 11.37% from 2022 to 2030, based on a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. With the advent of surgical microscopes, it became easier for surgeons to perform such procedures more accurately in less time.

Key Industry Insights & Findings from the report:

On casters was the largest type segment in 2021 due to the high portability & flexibility and low maintenance requirements of these tools. Moreover, the segment is expected to register the fastest growth over the forecast period due to the high use of casters microscope in various surgical fields.

The ophthalmology application segment accounted for the maximum revenue share in 2021. However, the ENT surgery segment is expected to register the fastest CAGR from 2022 to 2030. According to data published by The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia , tympanostomy tube insertion surgery, also known as ear tube surgery, is the most commonly performed surgery in children in the U.S. More than 4,000 ear tube surgeries are performed each year at the hospital. Thus, an increasing number of ENT procedures is likely to favor segment growth.

, tympanostomy tube insertion surgery, also known as ear tube surgery, is the most commonly performed surgery in children in the U.S. More than 4,000 ear tube surgeries are performed each year at the hospital. Thus, an increasing number of ENT procedures is likely to favor segment growth. Carl Zeiss Meditec AG and Leica Microsystems (Danaher Corporation) are the major players in the surgical microscopes market. Launch of new products, acquisitions, and geographic expansion are some of the strategies being adopted by key players in the market. In February 2019 , Danaher Corporation acquired the Biopharma business of GE Healthcare, which also includes microscopy products the company.

, Danaher Corporation acquired the Biopharma business of GE Healthcare, which also includes microscopy products the company. Manufacturers such as Alcon, Nikon, and Carl Zeiss reported the decreases in the revenue in the second quarter of the year 2020 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic which affected the supply chain of most of the companies. Currently, most of the companies have resumed their business and are delivering orders within the given guidelines pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Browse Life Science Microscopes Industry Data Book - Surgical, In-vitro Fertilization, Super Resolution And Scanning Electron Microscopes Market Size, Share, Trends Analysis And Segment Forecasts, 2022  2030

Surgical Microscopes Market Growth & Trends

In addition, the introduction of technologically advanced products is driving the demand for surgical microscopes as they are more precise, offer better illumination sources, and provide options for customization and technology integration based on the complexity of the procedures.

Emerging technologies such as wide-angle illumination, Red Reflex illumination, automation and augmented reality microscopy are expected to boost the market growth. International players like Carl Zeiss Meditec AG and Leica Microsystems are contributing to the market by providing highly advanced, automated, and robotic surgical microscopes for more precision.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals decided to suspend all the elective and non-urgent surgeries, which has negatively impacted the market. However, with the ease of restrictions, treatments are resuming in many countries, including developing nations. Also, many companies, such as Alcon and Carl Zeiss, have resumed their business operations with the given government guidelines to deliver their orders.

Surgical Microscopes Market Segmentation

Grand View Research has segmented the global surgical microscopes market based on type, application, end-use, and region:

Surgical Microscopes Market - Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2017 - 2030)

On Casters

Wall Mounted

Tabletop

Ceiling Mounted

Surgical Microscopes Market - Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2017 - 2030)

Neurosurgery and Spine Surgery

ENT Surgery

Dentistry

Gynecology

Urology

Ophthalmology

Plastic & Reconstructive Surgeries

Other Surgeries

Surgical Microscopes Market - End-use Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2017 - 2030)

Hospital

Physician Clinics and Other Settings

Surgical Microscopes Market - Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2017 - 2030)

North America

U.S.



Canada

Europe

UK



Germany



France



Italy



Spain

Asia Pacific

Japan



China



India



Australia



South Korea

Latin America

Brazil



Mexico



Argentina

Middle East & Africa (MEA)

& (MEA) South Africa



Saudi Arabia



UAE

List of Key Players of the Surgical Microscopes Market

Carl Zeiss Meditec AG

Olympus Corporation

Leica Microsystems

Alcon, Inc.

Takagi Seiko Co., Ltd.

Topcon Corporation

Seiler Instrument, Inc.

Haag-Streit Surgical Gmbh

ARI Medical Technology Co., Ltd.

Synaptive Medical

Chammed Co, Ltd.

Check out more related studies published by Grand View Research:

Microscope Market - The global microscope market size is expected to reach USD 20.4 billion by 2030, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc., expanding at a CAGR of 7.97% over the forecast period. High demand from the healthcare sector and the rapidly growing semiconductor industry are among the key factors boosting the market growth.

The global microscope market size is expected to reach by 2030, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc., expanding at a CAGR of 7.97% over the forecast period. High demand from the healthcare sector and the rapidly growing semiconductor industry are among the key factors boosting the market growth. Scanning Electron Microscopes Market - The global scanning electron microscopes market size is expected to reach USD 6.5 billion by 2028, registering a CAGR of 8.52% over the forecast period, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Rising demand for nanotechnology-based research and growing R&D innovation in application areas are anticipated to serve as key growth drivers.

- The global scanning electron microscopes market size is expected to reach by 2028, registering a CAGR of 8.52% over the forecast period, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Rising demand for nanotechnology-based research and growing R&D innovation in application areas are anticipated to serve as key growth drivers. Super-resolution Microscopes Market - The global super-resolution microscopes market size is expected to reach USD 6.6 billion by 2030, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 9.01% from 2022 to 2030. Increasing application in cell biology and biomedical imaging is a key factor expected to drive the market over the forecast period.

GVR has curated a list of micro markets to provide a holistic view of industry performance. We focus on critical applications and end-use to give all stakeholders a detailed perspective. The data books are available in interactive dashboards and services start at US$ 500 per month.

Browse Micro-Markets & Industry Data Books from Grand View Research

About Grand View Research

Grand View Research, U.S.-based market research and consulting company, provides syndicated as well as customized research reports and consulting services. Registered in California and headquartered in San Francisco, the company comprises over 425 analysts and consultants, adding more than 1200 market research reports to its vast database each year. These reports offer in-depth analysis on 46 industries across 25 major countries worldwide. With the help of an interactive market intelligence platform, Grand View Research Helps Fortune 500 companies and renowned academic institutes understand the global and regional business environment and gauge the opportunities that lie ahead.

Contact:

Sherry James

Corporate Sales Specialist, USA

Grand View Research, Inc.

Phone: 1-415-349-0058

Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.grandviewresearch.com

Grand View Compass | Astra ESG Solutions

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SOURCE Grand View Research, Inc.
Writer of smash hits "If I Could Turn Back Time," "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing," "Un-Break My Heart" and more partners with SX Works on MLC claiming and non-MLC related licensing for her entire catalog of songs



TORONTO, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- SX Works Global Publisher Services (SX Works) today announced a new partnership with Realsongs, an independently owned and operated music publishing company, to ensure accurate compensation for all compositions in the extensive catalog of musical works of acclaimed songwriter Diane Warren in the United States and Canada.

In her extraordinary songwriting career, Warren has written chart-topping hits for Aerosmith, Beyonce, Paloma Faith, Toni Braxton, Christina Aguilera, Cher, Celine Dion, and others. Among her many accomplishments, Warren will be the first songwriter to receive an Honorary Oscar to be presented at the Academy's 13th Governors Awards in November. She has received 13 Academy Award nominations, a Grammy, two Golden Globe Awards, and the prestigious 2020 Polar Music Prize. She was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001.

SX Works will conduct a comprehensive review of The MLC data related to unmatched sound recordings and unclaimed musical work shares for both historical and ongoing (post-January 2021) periods to identify and link to the Realsongs musical works catalog. SX Works will also mine The MLC data sets for royalties owed to Realsongs and handle end-to-end claiming processing on behalf of the publisher.

"As music consumption moves from product driven to streaming, metadata and the exchange of information between eco-systems has become paramount," said Realsongs Senior Vice President Bill Preciado. "SX Works has the unique ability of cross-referencing an extensive ISRC database through SoundExchange with one of the finest musical works databases in North America through CMRRA. We are happy to announce this partnership and are thankful for the royalty collection support."

"Diane Warren is a colossal figure in music and her exceptional songwriting has left an indelible mark on the industry. We are truly honored that Diane Warren's Realsongs has entrusted SX Works to support their digital administration efforts in the U.S.," said CMRRA and SX Works President Paul Shaver. "We have enjoyed our long-standing relationship with Diane's team through our work in Canada and look forward to expanding our partnership. A sincere thank-you to Diane Warren, Linda Gallico, and Bill Preciado for selecting SX Works as their partner."

SX Works is SoundExchange's integrated global publisher services administration and licensing division and Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency's (CMRRA) parent company and provides back-office administration for music publishers and their representatives. The partnership gives Realsongs access to best-in-class data and administration services for the U.S. by leveraging SoundExchange's authoritative ISRC and sound recording data, CMRRA's extensive musical works database, and the market-leading licensing and administration capabilities of SoundExchange and CMRRA.

Artists across all genres and generations are finding virality on new platforms and getting accurately compensated for their work is often the missing ingredient. SX Works provides administration solutions to enable music publishers and self-published songwriters to manage their repertoire and musical works across the music ecosystem.

About Realsongs:

Realsongs, was established in 1987, and is solely owned by Diane Warren. Realsongs is the most successful female owned and operated music publishing company in the music business. For more information, please visit www.realsongs.com

About SX Works:

SX Works Global Publisher Services (SX Works), which originated with SoundExchange's acquisition of the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency Ltd. (CMRRA), provides administration solutions to enable music publishers and self-published songwriters to manage their repertoire and musical works across the music ecosystem. For more information, please visit https://www.sx-works.com/ .

About CMRRA:

The Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency Ltd. (CMRRA) represents the vast majority of music publishers doing business in Canada. CMRRA licenses, collects, and distributes royalties for the majority of songs recorded, sold and broadcast in Canada. The market-leading licensing and royalty collection body provides licenses to dozens of digital services, including all the major online music services operating in Canada as well as YouTube, the Meta platforms, TikTok and more. CMRRA is a SoundExchange company. For more information, please visit cmrra.ca .

About SoundExchange:

SoundExchange is the premier music tech organization on a mission to power the future of music. It was independently formed in 2003 to build a fairer, simpler, and more efficient music industry through technology, data, and advocacy. The only organization designated by the U.S. government to administer the Section 114 sound recording license, SoundExchange collects and distributes digital performance royalties on behalf of 570,000 music creators and growing. Through proprietary music tech solutions that turn data into accurate revenue, SoundExchange has paid more than $9 billion in distributions to date. For more information, visit soundexchange.com.

SOURCE SoundExchange
Tatum Reduces Blockchain Complexity and Development

from Months or Years of Technical Time to Days

LONDON and MIAMI, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Tatum, the company drastically simplifying blockchain applications development, today announced it has received $41.5 million in funding to accelerate marketing, educational efforts and community building for slashing the complexity and time-to-market of creating blockchain-based applications critical to digital finance and Web 3.0. The investment augments the company's previous financing, and includes Evolution Equity Partners as lead, as well as Octopus Ventures, 3VC, Tensor Ventures, Depo Ventures, Leadblock Fund, Circle Holdings, and founders of Bitpanda.

"Blockchain has proven essential to the explosive growth and broad innovation of digital finance and Web 3.0," said Jiri Kobelka, co-founder and chief executive officer, Tatum. "Tatum is the first company to squarely address the complexities, necessary technological expertise and lengthy development times that blockchain applications require. We have revolutionized blockchain application creation by slashing development times from months or years of engineering time down to just days."

Tatum, founded in 2018, is a global company, based in the UK and the US, and the product is already mature. The company has over 90,000 customers, with many blockchain applications live and in production environments today.

After initial investments totaling around $8 million, the company quickly developed the complete platform and began to attract customers, ranging from Fortune 500 companies to new technology start-ups. Tatum also joined Berkeley SkyDeck in 2021 as one of 16 companies worldwide accepted from thousands of applicants and received some funding as a result. The company already has considerable momentum, currently welcoming over 7,000 new customers per month. The new funding is intended to accelerate its growth and global reach by investing in marketing, educational efforts and community building.

The global blockchain technology market was valued at 592 billion US dollars in 2021 and is forecast to have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of nearly 86% from 2022 to 2030, finally reaching 1.43 trillion US dollars, according to a report from Grand View Research. Blockchain has been a featured topic at Davos, and a 2015 World Economic Forum survey estimated that 10% of global GDP will be stored in blockchain by 2027.

The Tatum platform simplifies the creation of complex blockchain operations into single lines of application code, streamlining the entire Web 3.0 development process. From common blockchain operations to ones with powerful pre-built features such as smart contracts, fee and payment solutions, real-time alerts, virtual accounts, out-of-the-box crypto-exchange functions and an unbreakable key management system, Tatum's comprehensive and easy-to-use features can reduce development time by as much as 95%.

"By speeding the development process, Tatum is enabling companies to bring finished blockchain applications into production with an immensely faster time to market," said Samuel Sramko, co-founder and chief technology officer, Tatum. "The role of blockchain to Web 3.0 and its future cannot be understated, and Tatum is fundamentally changing not only the velocity of development but also the robustness, so that more complex functionality can be more readily accomplished even without the highly technical expertise."

"Tatum stood out to Evolution based on its founders and their unique and highly disruptive technology platform," said J.R. Smith, partner, Evolution Equity Partners. "The company enables developers and large enterprises to leverage the blockchain to grow their business easier and exponentially faster. Tatum is driven by a world-class team, has a highly effective developer-driven acquisition model and has a proven ability to attract new logos and to expand existing customer revenue. We are very excited to join this team."

About Tatum

Tatum provides the world's first blockchain development platform to speed the creation of blockchain applications and enable greater functionality and higher quality. The framework incorporates 42 different protocols and integrates the use of APIs to fit into existing development processes. Tatum has over 90,000 customers and adds over 7,000 new ones per month. Created as a global company, Tatum was founded in Czech Republic and has its official headquarters in the UK, with a corporate center located in Miami, Florida and offices around the world. For more information: https://tatum.io/

About Evolution Equity Partners

Evolution Equity Partners, based in New York City, Palo Alto, London and Zurich invests in fast growing technology companies helping exceptional entrepreneurs develop market leading companies. The firm has a focus on cybersecurity and enterprise software markets where technology is safeguarding our digital world.

The Evolution partners have been founders, investors and senior operating executives in leading software companies around the world. Learn more at www.evolutionequity.com and follow us at LinkedIn and Twitter.

Media Contact:

Ben Merritt

Merritt Public Relations

[email protected]

(561) 715-9228

SOURCE Tatum Technology LLC
John Armstrong joins Tequity with over 30 years of experience in the Financial IT Market

TORONTO, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Tequity Advisors, a leading North American M&A Advisory firm specializing in global Enterprise B2B SaaS, Cloud, and IT company transactions, welcomes John Armstrong (LinkedIn profile) as Strategic Advisor with a focus on the Financial IT market.

"I've had the pleasure of knowing John for several decades since he was at Accenture, and I was at SAP. He is a great talent addition to Tequity's reach in FinTech," shared Alex MacKay, President & Cofounder at Tequity.

John Armstrong

"After decades consulting in the fintech sector, I'm looking forward to applying that knowledge to help fintech entrepreneurs achieve success in M&A," said John.

John is a highly respected senior leader in the BFSI market and recently served as National Industry Lead for Financial Services at KPMG Canada where he was accountable for industry leadership in Canada of all services - audit, tax and advisory - across all segments - Banking & Capital Markets, Insurance, Asset Management, Private Equity and Pensions. Since he assumed this role in 2016, John oversaw strong revenue growth with Canada being the fastest growing geography in KPMG's global FS business.

John also served on KPMG's Global Financial Services Leadership Team as well as the Global Banking and Capital Markets Leadership Team. He was a member of the Global Fintech leadership group and one of the authors of KPMG's highly regarded, semi-annual, Pulse of Fintech publication.

John has worked as an advisor and consultant to the financial services industry in Canada and globally for over thirty years. His focus during that time has been in the Banking sector, with experience also in Insurance, Wealth Management and Capital Markets.

John's expertise includes enterprise and business unit strategy, including pre- and post-deal M&A support. John has deep experience in technology development and implementation and has led numerous major technology programs for his banking clients. He is also very experienced in cost transformation and customer analytics.

John also has deep experience in competitiveness and innovation and recently served on the Ontario Panel on Economic Growth and Prosperity. The Panel focused on issues of competitiveness in Ontario, including innovation and policy-related analysis and recommendations.

Prior to joining KPMG, John served as Canadian CEO of Capco and prior to that, as Managing Director of Financial Services at Accenture Canada. In both of these roles, John drove significant growth in revenues relative to both the Canadian market and his global peers.

While Canadian Managing Director of Monitor Company, John co-led, with Professor Michael E. Porter of Harvard Business School, Canada at the Crossroads, a comprehensive study of Canada's competitiveness, co-sponsored by the Government of Canada and the Canadian Council of CEOs. This was one of the first studies of the role of clusters in Canada and the opportunity to drive innovation and productivity growth by strengthening them.

John has served on several NFP boards including the United Way of Oakville (where he was Chair for three years and spear-headed the amalgamation of four United Ways into the United Way of Halton and Hamilton), Oakville Galleries, and the Audit Committee of the University of Toronto.

John earned his Master of Business Administration from Harvard University with High Distinction, graduating as a Baker Scholar and earned his Bachelor of Commerce, with Distinction from the University of Toronto. He also holds the ICD.D designation.

About Tequity

Tequity assists Enterprise B2B SaaS, Cloud, and IT companies with business growth and exit strategies. Our mission is simple: achieve the best outcome for our clients. With decades of combined experience as executives, consultants, and owners of software and technology companies, we leverage our deep industry knowledge across tech ecosystems and our relationships with strategic, growth-focused buyers around the globe to drive successful M&A transactions. Learn more at www.tequityadvisors.com .

Contact

Diane Horton, Managing Partner

Tequity Advisors

T: +1 905.581.7424 | [email protected]

SOURCE Tequity
WILLMAR, Minn., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Makers of the Jennie-O turkey brand  the category leader and trusted brand for turkey products  announced today a partnership with esteemed chef, cookbook author and beloved TV personality Carla Hall to honor school cafeteria staff throughout the country by hosting School Cafeteria Takeovers in select cities over the next several months.

The Makers of the Jennie-O turkey brand announced today a partnership with esteemed chef, cookbook author and beloved TV personality Carla Hall to honor school cafeteria staff throughout the country.

"This partnership with the Jennie-O brand is very special to me and really hits close to home because we are recognizing some of the hardest working people in school districts  those who prepare school breakfasts, lunches and after-school meals for kids  and are an essential part of the school day. I know how incredibly hard they work and I'm excited to let them kick up their feet for once, as we cook for them and provide a time of rest and relaxation," Hall said. "Our children need proper nutrition to focus, learn and play, and I'm so grateful that school cafeteria staff and Jennie-O products provide the protein and nourishment that kids need to succeed."

As part of School Cafeteria Takeovers, Hall and members of the Jennie-O brand team will make four school visits between October 2022 and May 2023:

Oct. 28, 2022 : Knoxville, Tenn.

: Nov. 17, 2022 : Los Angeles, Calif.

: February 2023 : Houston, Texas

: May 2023 : Detroit, Mich.

Hall and the Jennie-O brand team worked together to develop a delicious menu featuring Jennie-O turkey for the school cafeteria staff. During the School Cafeteria Takeovers, Hall will lead a baking tutorial of her famous biscuits with school cafeteria staff and treat the lunchroom staff to a fabulous meal. Additionally, the brand will bring in local businesses to offer refreshments and other relaxing amenities to school cafeteria heroes, and finally, staff will receive heartfelt notes of gratitude from the student body.

"We are so thankful to work with Carla Hall to celebrate the unsung heroes of every school  the school cafeteria staff," said Renee Cool, brand manager at Jennie-O Turkey Store. "They work tirelessly and take such amazing care of children, so, for one day, we want to pamper them and show our appreciation for all they do with a delicious Jennie-O turkey meal and relaxation."

As part of the School Cafeteria Takeovers program with Hall, the makers of the Jennie-O brand will provide $25,000 to four additional schools throughout the year to help fulfill wish lists for cafeterias in need of new equipment and supplies.

Jennie-O Turkey Store is the leading turkey provider to school districts in the United States.

Jennie-O is the leading turkey provider in 9 of the top 10 school districts in the nation.

Jennie-O serves more than 5,000 school districts in the U.S.

Jennie-O has the largest variety of K-12 turkey products in America.

The Jennie-O sales team has more than 100 years of combined experience in servicing K-12.

90 percent of USDA-donated turkey is processed by Jennie-O.

For more information about Jennie-O turkey products, including recipes, nutritional information and where to buy, visit JennieO.com or follow the brand on social media at Facebook.com/JennieOTurkey, Instagram.com/JennieO , TikTok.com/@ jennieobrand and Twitter.com/JennieO.

ABOUT JENNIE-O TURKEY STORE

For over 80 years, the Jennie-O brand has been helping consumers live well by eating well. As the category leader, Jennie-O turkey is the trusted brand for quality turkey and a source of expertise. We provide a full portfolio of delicious, nutritious turkey proteins and inspiration for everyday meals or special occasions. Known for our bright green awning evoking the nostalgia of a local farmer stand, our round logo with a touch of yellow and our distinct name from our founders' daughter Jennifer, the Jennie-O turkey brand has the right amount of small-town friendliness paired with leading company expertise and quality. For more information, visit JennieO.com.

ABOUT HORMEL FOODS  INSPIRED PEOPLE. INSPIRED FOOD.

Hormel Foods Corporation, based in Austin, Minn., is a global branded food company with over $11 billion in annual revenue across more than 80 countries worldwide. Its brands include Planters, SKIPPY, SPAM, Hormel Natural Choice, Applegate, Justin's, Wholly, Hormel Black Label, Columbus, Jennie-O and more than 30 other beloved brands. The company is a member of the S&P 500 Index and the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats, was named on the "Global 2000 World's Best Employers" list by Forbes magazine for three years, is one of Fortune magazine's most admired companies, has appeared on the "100 Best Corporate Citizens" list by 3BL Media 13 times, and has received numerous other awards and accolades for its corporate responsibility and community service efforts. The company lives by its purpose statement  Inspired People. Inspired Food.  to bring some of the world's most trusted and iconic brands to tables across the globe. For more information, visit www.hormelfoods.com and https://csr.hormelfoods.com/.

Contact:

Media Relations

507-437-5345

[email protected]

SOURCE Jennie-O Turkey Store
TOKYO, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Government of Japan publishes new articles every month in an official e-magazine, "KIZUNA." This month, the president of Keio University, one of Japan's top private schools, and the promising young CEO of an AI startup discuss the role of world-class research universities in innovation, rural revitalization, and more. Other articles are about an international conference on Africa's development and on splendid and tasty autumn in Japan.

Logo:

https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M107127/202210047651/_prw_PI1fl_aqETrwy5.jpg

Photo:

https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M107127/202210047651/_prw_PI2fl_2OwLc9aQ.jpg

Research Universities Seek to be Competitive and Collaborative The president of Keio University and a promising CEO of an AI startup discuss what it takes to be a world-class research university.

https://www.japan.go.jp/kizuna/2022/09/research_universities.html?utm_source=pressrelease&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=09_2022

Fostering a Sustainable Japan-Africa Partnership

At TICAD 8 in Tunisia, Japan announced that it will invest $30 billion to support Africa's development.

https://www.japan.go.jp/kizuna/2022/09/japan-africa_partnership.html?utm_source=pressrelease&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=09_2022

Colors and Savors of Autumn Reflect Japan

Autumn's colors of graceful Himeji Castle and the mysterious Goshikinuma ponds are set off by the savor of fleshy oysters.

https://www.japan.go.jp/kizuna/2022/09/colors_and_savors.html?utm_source=pressrelease&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=09_2022

About "KIZUNA"

Kizuna means the enduring bonds between people -- close relationships forged through mutual trust and support. The kizuna cultivated among countries of the world has the power to deepen cooperation for a better future. By reporting on a wide variety of topics concerning Japan, "KIZUNA" hopes that this publication will provide opportunities for Japan and the rest of the world to connect and build strong kizuna. https://www.japan.go.jp/kizuna/index.html?utm_source=pressrelease&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=09_2022

SOURCE Cabinet Public Affairs Office, Cabinet Secretariat, Government of Japan
The alliance aims to combine forces of healthcare specialist investor TVM Capital Healthcare and leading Medtech company Siemens Healthineers, to ensure patients' improved access to quality and affordable healthcare services and accelerate sustainable growth for healthcare providers across Southeast Asia.

SINGAPORE, Oct. 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- TVM Capital Healthcare, an emerging-markets focused healthcare private equity firm headquartered in Singapore and Dubai, with presence in Boston and Munich, and Siemens Healthineers announced a landmark cooperation to support and accelerate the growth of innovative healthcare companies in Southeast Asia. Under the agreement, TVM Capital Healthcare's portfolio companies in SEA will be able to leverage Siemens Healthineers' expertise in the medical technology industry, and its strong global as well as significant regional presence in Southeast Asia.

[Left to right] Present at the TVM Healthcare Institute event were Siemens Healthineers Managing Board Member and Head of Asia- Pacific Elisabeth Staudinger, Siemens Healthineers Managing Director for Southeast Asia Fabrice Leguet, TVM Capital Healthcare Founding Partner and Managing Director for Southeast Asia Hoda Abou-Jamra, TVM Capital Healthcares Chairman and CEO Dr. Helmut Schuehsler as well as the firms CFO, Flora Zhang

Through its exclusive "Value Partnership" model, Siemens Healthineers enables healthcare providers to optimize business processes, expand capabilities and advance innovation. This partnership model goes beyond the entire Siemens Healthineers portfolio to generate added value above and beyond the medical technology itself.

Siemens Healthineers will also provide access to its Consulting Hub in Singapore to provide consulting on healthcare strategy, development of "Centers of Excellence" in key areas such as Oncology, Cardiology and Neurology, digitalization and operational improvement. This hub is a part of the global Siemens Healthineers consulting network with Consulting Hubs located in the United States, Europe, and Singapore.

TVM Capital Healthcare portfolio companies will benefit from these capacities of Siemens Healthineers, additionally to the firm's dedicated investment, operations, and ESG management capacities. TVM Capital Healthcare focuses on investments in the localization of manufacturing and de-risking of medical supply chains, as well as ex-hospital care, mostly highly specialized clinics, clinic chains in fields such as oncology, cardiology, diagnostics and imaging, long-term care, post-acute care and rehabilitation, as well as home care and disease management. Above all, a substantial effort will be put on sourcing enabling platform technologies that can help the portfolio to improve access to care and enhance quality as well as sustainability performance.

Hoda Abou-Jamra, Founding Partner of TVM Capital Healthcare and Managing Director of the firm's Southeast Asian Operations: "There is a lot of work to do to grow a sustainable healthcare infrastructure in SEA, and provide access to affordable and quality care. By combining our experience as a dedicated emerging markets healthcare investor/operator, with Siemens Healthineers' global expertise in healthcare technology and operations and large local teams with experience on the ground in countries like Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines, we will be in a unique position to do exactly that. We will co-create novel and innovative business models in healthcare with a focus on improving access to care at all levels across Southeast Asia. I look forward to our cooperation and growing impactful healthcare companies together."

Fabrice Leguet, President & Managing Director, Southeast Asia, Siemens Healthineers: "Access to basic medical care continues to be a growing concern for many countries in Southeast Asia. It's both a privilege and an obligation for us, as one of the drivers of innovation in medical technology, to make healthcare accessible for everyone, everywhere. The strategic collaboration with TVM Capital Healthcare will enable local healthcare entrepreneurs to have access to the capital needed for them to drive growth, supported with relevant technical, clinical and managerial knowledge, and the latest medical technologies from Siemens Healthineers."

This partnership between Siemens Healthineers and TVM Capital Healthcare will allow local entrepreneurs to achieve success in a sustainable manner and thereby improve access to care in Southeast Asia. Through its value partnership model, Siemens Healthineers will provide healthcare management consulting and education services to support local healthcare entrepreneurs in developing and commissioning new projects like greenfield hospitals or clinical centers of excellence, in optimizing operations or in digitalising their operations and access to the most relevant technological innovations from diagnostic imaging, in-vitro diagnostics, therapy and digital health solutions.

The alliance was announced at the inaugural TVM Healthcare Institute event in Singapore, on September 23, 2022. The TVM Healthcare Institute is a think tank network of top executives, key influencers, and other visionaries in the healthcare industry who shape the future of this sector. TVM Healthcare Institute's primary mission is to drive the transformation of the healthcare industry towards innovation, sustainability, and increased access to quality care by keeping the cost of healthcare provision manageable. TVM Capital Healthcare founded the Institute, Siemens Healthineers is a Technology Partner of the Institute.

About TVM Capital Healthcare

TVM Capital Healthcare is an emerging markets-focused healthcare private equity investment firm. The organization invests growth capital and focuses on specialized healthcare services, digital health solutions, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and diagnostics. Investment and operating partners have strong track records in international healthcare M&A and operations. Headquartered in Singapore and Dubai, with representative offices in Munich and Boston, the firm partners with Southeast Asian management teams to build sector champions. TVM Capital Healthcare's investment approach combines strong commercial value creation and returns with responsible investing.

The firm's comprehensive ESG framework contributes to the creation of impactful, sustainable, and well-governed companies that deliver excellent healthcare services, continued growth, and create high-quality jobs for healthcare professionals in a fair and diverse workplace. TVM Capital Healthcare is a UN PRI signatory since 2015 and a long-standing member of GPCA and recently EPiHC (Ethical Principles in healthcare) an IFC (International Finance Corporation) Initiative, as well as the 2X challenge.

TVM Capital Healthcare is a member of the NUS Medicine International Council (NIC) and supports the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine in its effort to continuously improve educational and research excellence and "inspiring health for all" as the top medical school in Asia.

www.tvmcapitalhealthcare.com

About Siemens Healthineers

Siemens Healthineers AG (listed in Frankfurt, Germany: SHL) pioneers breakthroughs in healthcare. For everyone. Everywhere. As a leading medical technology company headquartered in Erlangen, Germany, Siemens Healthineers and its regional companies is continuously developing its product and service portfolio, with AI-supported applications and digital offerings that play an increasingly important role in the next generation of medical technology. These new applications will enhance the company's foundation in in-vitro diagnostics, image-guided therapy, in-vivo diagnostics, and innovative cancer care. Siemens Healthineers also provides a range of services and solutions to enhance healthcare providers' ability to provide high-quality, efficient care. In fiscal 2021, which ended on September 30, 2021, Siemens Healthineers, which has approximately 66,000 employees worldwide, generated revenue of 18.0 billion and adjusted EBIT of 3.1 billion. Further information is available at www.siemens-healthineers.com.

SOURCE TVM Capital Healthcare
Next generation rocket to transform the future of space launch

CENTENNIAL, Colo., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- United Launch Alliance (ULA) is nearing completion of the development of the next-generation Vulcan Centaur launch vehicle and sets path for its first launch early next year.

"We could not be more excited to be this close to seeing Vulcan lift off on its inaugural flight," said Tory Bruno, ULA's president and CEO. "Vulcan's high energy design coupled with innovative technology provides one scalable system for all missions and will transform the future of space launch.

"ULA is proceeding to a first flight of Vulcan 1st quarter 2023 to align with a request from its payload customer Astrobotic, who will be flying its Peregrine lunar lander to the Moon for NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.

This commercial mission is part of ULA's requirement to meet the U.S. Space Force certification of its new launch vehicle. Mark Peller, vice president of Major Development, stated "We are committed to ensuring we fly the first certification mission and stay on schedule to achieve U.S. Space Force certification of Vulcan in advance of our first national security space mission in 4th quarter 2023."

In addition to the Astrobotic and Celestis payloads, Vulcan will carry two demonstration satellites for Amazon as part of its Project Kuiper.

The first Vulcan launch vehicle is nearing completion in ULA's factory in Decatur, Alabama and is awaiting installation of its BE-4 engines. We expect to ship the completed vehicle to the launch site in November.

Once at the Cape Vulcan will undergo a final series of tests to verify it readiness for flight consisting of multiple tanking tests and a wet dress rehearsal, culminating in flight readiness firing in December, which will be the final step prior to launch. Following the successful final testing, Astrobotic and the other payloads will be installed on the launch vehicle.

"This has been an incredible journey to get to this point and I am so proud of the development team," said Bruno. "We look forward to the first flight as Vulcan offers all customers higher performance and greater affordability while continuing to deliver our unmatched reliability."

Leveraging a legacy of 100 percent mission success launching more than 150 missions to explore, protect and enhance our world, ULA is the nation's most experienced and reliable launch service provider with world-leading reliability, schedule confidence, and mission optimization. We deliver value unmatched by any launch services company in the industry, a tireless drive to improve, and commitment to the extraordinary.

For more information on ULA, visit the ULA website at www.ulalaunch.com, or call the ULA Launch Hotline at 1-877-ULA-4321 (852-4321).

SOURCE United Launch Alliance (ULA)
HILVERSUM, Netherlands, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Universal Music Group N.V. (EURONEXT: UMG) will release its financial results for the third quarter of 2022 on 27 October 2022 after that day's close of the Euronext market.

The company will host a conference call to discuss these results on Thursday, 27 October 2022, at 6:15PM CEST. A link to the live audio webcast will be available on investors.universalmusic.com and a link to the replay will be available after the call.

While listeners may use the webcast, a dial-in telephone number is required for investors and analysts to ask questions. Investors and analysts interested in asking questions can pre-register for a dial-in line at investors.universalmusic.com under the "Financial Reports" tab.

About Universal Music Group

At Universal Music Group, we exist to shape culture through the power of artistry. UMG is the world leader in music-based entertainment, with a broad array of businesses engaged in recorded music, music publishing, merchandising, and audiovisual content. Featuring the most comprehensive catalogue of recordings and songs across every musical genre, UMG identifies and develops artists and produces and distributes the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful music in the world. Committed to artistry, innovation, and entrepreneurship, UMG fosters the development of services, platforms, and business models in order to broaden artistic and commercial opportunities for our artists and create new experiences for fans. For more information, visit www.universalmusic.com.

SOURCE Universal Music Group N.V.
Framework agreement signed between QUANTRON and TMP Logistics Group Ltd. for an order of up to 500 Class 8 trucks with FCEV drive system for delivery by 2024.

Immense market potential in the US: The total market for Class 8 vehicles by 2030 is around 280,000 to 300,000 vehicles, a large proportion of which will be fully electric and powered by hydrogen fuel cells in future

Strong support for the collaboration from the German delegation alongside Hubert Aiwanger, Deputy Minister President of Bavaria and Bavarian Minister of Economic affairs

AUGSBURG, Germany, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- German e-mobility specialist QUANTRON has signed a framework agreement with TMP Logistics Group Ltd. for an order of up to 500 Class 8 trucks with FCEV drive system. The contract signing took place in a dedicated ceremony after the Hydrogen Americas Summit 2022 on October 12 at the Delegation of German Industry and Commerce (DGIC). The event was supported by the German Embassy in Washington D.C.

QUANTRON USA Class 8 FCEV Truck Teaser Decarbonization of Trucking Summit in the US Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs (Hubert Aiwanger Deputy Minister President of Bavaria and Bavarian Minister of Economic affairs, Dr. Emily Haber  German Ambassador and Andreas Haller  QUANTRON Founder and Chairman of the Board) Signature process for 500 units of FCEV Class 8 trucks (Michael Perschke CEO QUANTRON, Michael Watts  Strategic Partnerships TMP Logistics Group, Dr. Sunita Satyapal  US Department of Energy Hydrogen Program Coordinator, Hubert Aiwanger - Deputy Minister President of Bavaria and Bavarian Minister of Economic affairs, and Andreas Haller, Founder and Chairman of the Board of QUANTRON)

The vehicles, which will be operated via Quantron-as-a-Service (QaaS), are scheduled for delivery by 2024. It is also intended to integrate zero-emission vehicles from third-party suppliers into the QaaS platform and offer zero-emission solutions to customers on a per-mile basis based on total cost of ownership (TCO). QUANTRON is the preferred supplier of FCEV-powered Class 8 trucks to TMP Logistics.

The framework agreement was signed by Andreas Haller, founder and Chairman of the Board of QUANTRON, and on behalf of TMP Logistics by Michael Watts (Business Development & Strategic Partnerships) representing Raymond F. Staples,Esq.

Staples, a pioneering entrepreneur and investor in the emerging market of central and eastern Europe, is the Founder and Chairman of the global investment firm TMP Holdings Inc., as well as Chairman and CEO of the TMP Logistics Group, an integrated group of more than a dozen trucking, logistics and logistics related software companies in the USA, including the National Freight group of companies. National Freight is the largest linehaul contractor in the USA for FedEx Ground.

QUANTRON is a platform provider and specialist for sustainable mobility for people and goods and offers with Quantron-as-a-Service (QaaS) a 360-degree OEM-open ecosystem. In addition to zero-emission BEV and FCEV vehicles and the corresponding customer care, the associated infrastructure from H2 generation to refueling is also encompassed.

The signing of the framework agreement took place with the support of the German Embassy and the Chamber of Foreign Trade during a delegation trip led by Hubert Aiwanger. The Deputy Minister President of the Free State of Bavaria and Bavarian Minister of Economic Affairs promotes and supports regional development as well as the development of the energy industry in the field of green transport and hydrogen in Bavaria.

"Bavaria backed the right horse early on with hydrogen," says Hubert Aiwanger. "The decarbonization of truck transport is a central task in the energy transition. The current energy crisis is calling even louder for solutions without fossil fuels, and the trend toward the use of hydrogen has been accelerated. In the US alone, the demand for heavy-duty fuel cell trucks is estimated at up to 300,000 vehicles by 2030. This Bavarian-American framework agreement marks the start of close transatlantic cooperation in the promising market for climate-neutral mobility. In Europe, too, hydrogen trucks must achieve a breakthrough in the next few years."

The contract signing followed the Hydrogen Americas Summit, where QUANTRON CEO Michael Perschke highlighted the formation of Quantron USA Inc. This was launched with the aim of further expanding activities in the North American market. The American subsidiary is headed by Raymond F. Staples and Andreas Haller as co-founders of Quantron US and Richard Haas as CEO.

Green hydrogen vehicles for transportation of goods have an immense market potential in the US. The total market for Class 8 vehicles to be electrified and equipped with fuel cell drives is around 280,000 to 300,000 vehicles in the USA by 2030. This means enormous growth potential of alternative powertrains with hydrogen and all-electric drive from around 2,000 units in 2022 to over 35,000 in 2034.

"We are proud that QUANTRON, with the support of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Ambassador Dr. Emily Haber, and Bavarian Minister of of Economic Affairs Hubert Aiwanger, is able to help advance the hydrogen economy in the heavy Class 8 commercial vehicle sector in the U.S.," emphasized Michael Perschke, CEO of Quantron AG. "With our contribution of 500 heavy-duty FCEV trucks, we support the $8 billion hydrogen program funded by President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and are pleased to spearhead the effort to help businesses and communities across the country benefit from clean energy and hydrogen investments."

About Quantron AG

Quantron AG is a platform provider and specialist for sustainable mobility for people and goods; in particular for trucks, buses and vans with fully electric powertrains and H 2 fuel cell technology. As a high-tech spinoff of the renowned Haller KG, the German company from Augsburg in Bavaria combines over 140 years of commercial vehicle experience with state-of-the-art e-mobility know-how and positions itself globally as a partner to existing OEMs.

With the Quantron-as-a-Service Ecosystem (QaaS), QUANTRON offers an overall concept that covers all facets of the mobility value chain: QUANTRON INSIDE includes a wide range of both new vehicles and conversions for existing and used vehicles from diesel to battery and hydrogen electric powertrains using the highly innovative QUANTRON INSIDE technology. In addition, Quantron AG sells batteries and integrated customized electrification concepts. QUANTRON CUSTOMER CARE ensures digital and physical aftersales solutions with a Europe-wide network of 700 service partners, as well as a service offering for maintenance, repair and spare parts, telematics and in-cloud solutions for remote diagnostics and fleet management. Customers receive individual solutions: rental, financing and leasing offers such as training courses and workshops at the QUANTRON Academy. In the future, QUANTRON ENERGY will realize the production of green hydrogen and electricity as a platform. To this end, Quantron AG has joined forces with strong global partners. This Hydrogen Alliance also forms an important building block for QUANTRON POWER STATION, the supply of vehicles with the necessary green charging and H 2 refueling infrastructure.

QUANTRON stands for the core values Reliable, Energetic, Brave. The team of experts at the innovation driver for e-mobility is making a significant contribution to sustainable, environmentally friendly passenger and freight transport. You can find more information at www.quantron.net

Visit the Quantron AG on its social media channels on LinkedIn and YouTube .

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1919590/Quantron_US_Class8_Teaser.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1919756/QUANTRON_Decarbonization.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1919757/QUANTRON_Signature_process.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1919591/Quantron_Logo.jpg

You can find the original images in low and high resolution here: Press releases from Quantron AG (https://www.quantron.net/en/q-news/press-releases/)

SOURCE Quantron AG
WASHINGTON, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The problems linked to homelessness, including substance abuse, mental illness, and crime, are increasing in America despite untold sums of government money spent to address this complex problem.

A new report from Discovery Institute, says Congress and Executive Branch need to focus more on untreated mental illness and substance abuse to reduce homelessness, drug overdoses, jail overcrowding, and misuse of emergency rooms.

The Institute's report recommends that Congress:

eliminate the Housing First policy and adopt the Housing PLUS Act;

require that supportive services such as addiction treatment and job counseling services be combined with housing initiatives;

revise the "IMD Exclusion" policy of Medicaid that limits care for mental illness and is responsible for much suffering on urban streets.

"The housing first policy often results in a housing only policy in many cases," says Dr. Robert Marbut, a Discovery Institute senior fellow and former Director of the Federal Interagency Task Force on Homelessness. "A more diverse policy should include treatment for mental illness and drug addiction."

"Congress should be measuring how many lives are improved and how many people exit homelessness, rather than promoting "harm reduction" initiatives," adds Marbut

According to HUD's five categories of homelessness, there are almost 1.2 million adults experiencing homelessness today. Additionally, the Department of Education reports another 1.5 million children experiencing homelessness.

The Discovery Institute report asserts that the policy preference for "Housing First" has made matters worse, contributing to rising numbers of families, children and adults experiencing homelessness.

"In essence," says Marbut, "we have created an enormous federal homeless assistance program that is functionally equivalent to HUD Section 8 housingbut with no rules."

"The success of federal programs should not be measured by amounts of inputssuch as numbers of housing vouchers deliveredbut by the number of persons recovered from homelessness," says Marbut

"Only a few Republicans and almost no Democrats in Congress so far have been willing to confront the reality of failed federal policy on homelessness and the need for reform," according to Bruce Chapman, Discovery Institute founder and Director of the White House Office of Planning and Evaluation under President Reagan. "We are hoping for change in the coming Session."

SOURCE Discovery Institute
Award winning mineral rights management company continues on its path of growth

FORT WORTH, Texas, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Valor , a professional service provider specializing in mineral rights management and software-based business solutions, has announced the hiring of two new employees, welcoming Josiah "Si" Exum, as a staff accountant, and Camille Werstak as an administrative executive assistant. Bringing Valor's full-time employee count to over 30, these new additions reflect the company's impressive growth figures and strategic plans for expansion.

Camille Werstak Josiah Exum

"Each member of the Valor team wholeheartedly represents our core values, and our new hires are no exception," says Joseph DeWoody, CEO of Valor. "We're confident that Si's experience will further support the accuracy of our mineral management accounting and we're thrilled to have Camille play an integral role in our administrative department."

Si Exum has more than three years of banking experience, gaining valuable critical-thinking, detail-oriented, and time-efficiency skills. An accounting specialist with a meticulous nature and analytical skills, Exum will work to ensure clients' data is transferred and accurately reflected on Valor's mineral management software, mineral.tech . Exum earned a bachelor's degree in accounting and mathematics from Western Governors University.

Camille Werstak, a recent graduate of Texas Christian University, will serve as Valor's latest addition to its administrative department. Before attending TCU, Werstak lived in Switzerland, where she acquired an international education at TASIS-Switzerland. Werstak went on to a bachelor's in communication at TCU, where her demonstrated excellence in education resulted in receiving an award for excellence in Spanish, placement on the dean's honor list and membership in the Lambda Pi Eta Communication Studies Honor Society. Her prior experience in mineral rights and employment with a law firm has equipped Werstak with fundamental skills to assist in the seamless execution of operations at Valor.

As one of the region's leading mineral management companies, Valor has oversight and management of 8.4 million gross acres and 450,000 net royalty acres of mineral and property rights in 32 states. Valor's business solutions help manage more than 100,000 interests, which generate over $150 million in annual revenue for Valor's clients. The company's professional services scope also extends beyond the energy sector to include Valor Ignite - an on-demand outsourcing services solution for accounting, business processes, contract C-suite engagements and back-office support . Valor manages assets for a wide range of client profiles, including individuals, families, partnerships, trusts, non-profits, universities, institutions, investment funds, and family offices.

For more information on the company, please visit www.onevalor.com .

About Valor:

Valor is a comprehensive professional services provider that uses technology and innovation to ease the burdens of asset management in the oil and gas industry. We place the client first, providing flexible solutions, and leveraging our team of experts to maintain the security, clarity, and optimization of privately owned assets. Valor's professional services scope also extends beyond the energy sector with Valor Ignite - an on-demand outsourcing solution for accounting, business processes, contract C-suite engagements, and back-office support. Explore the benefits of partnering with Valor to streamline your business operations by visiting www.onevalor.com .

Media Contact:

Jeff Cheatham

Senior Strategist/Publicist

The Power Group

(972) 961-6171

[email protected]

SOURCE Valor
Representing the future of performance marketing with world-class creative and data-driven insights, Union joins business transformation company Valtech to deliver innovative end-to-end customer experiences for enterprise clients across the North American region and wider group.

NEW YORK, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- In an industry peppered with big-bang campaigns that often fail to drive revenue or impact market share, the transformative combination of data and creative has never been more important.

While marketing services is a core tenant of the Valtech offering, this announcement - following the addition of creative agency RADON in 2021 and Headways Media in 2020 - is a testament to Valtech's dedication to ensure that creativity and data-driven insight can work hand in hand to deliver meaningful results for customers across all industries.

"We are delighted to be welcoming Union into the Valtech fold in a time where our clients are increasingly demanding services that support the entire customer experience journey. Together we will transform how our clients build relationships with their customers by providing end-to-end technology and marketing services with measurable impact," said Olivier Padiou, CEO Valtech.

Relentless creativity fueled by data is the mainstay of the award-winning American agency, Union has invested heavily in elevating their creative and data capabilities in recent years. Those new capabilities are now integrated with the rest of the agency and help it deliver omni-channel campaigns that produce memorable, measurable and repeatable results for its customers.

"For over 20 years Union has been on a mission to deliver great work for our clients and to create an amazing place where talented and passionate people can thrive. By joining Valtech, we take a big step forward in achieving this mission as we enter our next exciting chapter. We are thrilled to become part of a group with such great and diverse talent," Banks Wilson, President Union.

ABOUT UNION

Earlier this year, Union celebrated its 20 year anniversary. The agency was formed as a web design firm, later pivoting to a digital marketing agency and then evolved again into a creative and performance marketing agency. Today the agency creates omni-channel campaigns, unleashing creativity on a data-driven world, helping brands produce memorable, measurable and repeatable results. The agency specializes in travel & tourism, health & wellness, and food & beverage brands. Obsessed with data-driven performance, Union believes every marketing dollar should be viewed as an investment and they prove the ROI of their work with quantifiable data.

ABOUT VALTECH

Valtech is a global business transformation company that delivers innovation with purpose. We enable our clients to anticipate tomorrow's trends and connect more directly with consumers in their digital and physical spaces, optimizing time to market and return on investment.

Valtech is the preferred strategic business transformation partner for many of the world's best-known brands, including Dolby, L'Oreal, Philips, P&G, Toyota, Volkswagen, and many others.

Established in 1993, we currently employ more than 5,000 professionals, including experienced designers, marketers, data scientists, creatives, and software engineers across five continents, with more than 50 offices in 22 countries.

With strong experience in design, technology and marketing, our passion is to address our clients' transformational business challenges. We reimagine the customer journey and build new connected experiences, put data to work for businesses in this new era, and help our clients transform their operations.

Our services include strategic consulting, service design, technology services and optimization of essential digital platforms for omni-channel marketing and merchandising.

For more information, visit VALTECH.COM.

CONTACT:

For Further Contact:

Rebecca Pilkjaer

Global PR Lead

+45 40 22 93 75

[email protected]

The following files are available for download:

SOURCE Valtech
Veriff's identity verification platform enables quick, accurate driver documentation verification for Bolt's car-sharing service

NEW YORK, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Veriff , an industry leader in online identity verification, announced an expanded partnership with Bolt , the European super-app seeking to accelerate the transition from owned cars to shared mobility. Through the partnership, Veriff will help Bolt identify fraudulent behavior.

A mobility company in more than 45 countries, Bolt required a partner who could verify customer documentation quickly and accurately in accordance with various local regulations. Veriff's AI-based driver's license verification ensures the driver is using a valid license, is the actual owner of the documents, and extracts the document data for seamless onboarding, all within seconds.

Lukas Yla, Director of Carsharing Operations at Bolt: "Properly onboarding our users is a key component in offering a safe and reliable service. Veriff is helping us verify users in a quick and efficient way, making Bolt Drive safer for our customers, other traffic participants and pedestrians."

Bolt Drive gives customers access to free-floating shared vehicles without the cost burden of owning and maintaining a car. Bolt Drive customers must be over 20 years old, have a category B driver's license, and at least 12 months of driving experience. Veriff has helped Bolt prevent the rate of driver fraud and confirm suspicious behavior through real-time identity verification methods, ensuring the safety of all customers, drivers and third party road users.

Kaarel Kotkas, founder and CEO of Veriff: "Mobility operations should be a seamless experience without the need to sacrifice the safety of the drivers or riders. At Veriff, as drivers and consumers ourselves, we understand that. Our intuitive user experience makes onboarding simple, providing users real-time feedback to get verified on the first try, without sacrificing accuracy in identity fraud prevention. We are proud to continue our partnership with a fellow Estonian-led company, and to support Bolt in its next phase of global growth."

About Bolt

Bolt is the European super-app that has over 100 million customers in over 45 countries and over 500 cities across Europe and Africa. The company seeks to accelerate the transition from owned cars to shared mobility, offering better alternatives for every use case, including ride-hailing, shared cars and scooters, and food and grocery delivery. To learn more, visit www.bolt.eu .

About Veriff

Veriff is an industry leader in online identity verification, helping businesses to build trust with their customers. Veriff's intelligent decision engine analyzes thousands of technological and behavioral variables in seconds, matching people to more than 11,000 government-issued IDs from over 190 countries. Founded in 2015, Veriff serves a global portfolio of organizations across financial services, crypto, gaming and mobility sectors. To learn more, visit www.veriff.com .

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SOURCE Veriff
MCKINNEY, Texas, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Following its top ranking from last year, leading telehealth platform MyTelemedicine earned another top spot in the J.D. Power 2022 U.S. Telehealth Satisfaction Study for direct-to-consumer telehealth providers.

"We're excited to be a part of such a prestigious group of providers and part of a growing demand that is making a real difference in the lives of patients," said Rey Colon, founder and CEO of MyTelemedicine.

Lyric Health | Virtual Primary Care | Behavioral Health Virtual Primary Care

MyTelemedicine tied for third place among other leading providers. The 2022 J.D. Power study, based on the survey results of 4,306 healthcare customers, measures customer satisfaction with telehealth service experience based on four factors: customer service, consultation, enrollment, and billing. The study capitalizes on a few key findings in the telehealth space, from its convenience and adoption by patients to becoming a preferred channel for routine medical care.

Moving the primary care relationship to a virtual-first model is becoming a trend in the healthcare industry. "By offering a robust suite of healthcare services all integrated in one member experience virtually and allowing providers to manage patients with real-time data from integrated devices, we deliver measurably better outcomes for our patients and their families," said Colon. "This data can be utilized for preventative programs to get in front of diseases. This is where you see the healthcare claims savings and more important the actionable outcomes that saves lives and keeps members healthier.

Recently rebranding its service arm as Lyric Health, MyTelemedicine originally launched in 2016. MyTelemedicine is the presence and resource for the technology stack that powers Lyric Health, enabling hospital systems, health carriers, and healthcare providers across the United States to create their own seamless, branded virtual care solutions with custom workflows.

Lyric Health's virtual suite of CARE programs include:

Urgent care

Primary care

Behavioral Health

Virtual MSK (Musculoskeletal Care)

Care Navigation & Coordination

COVID Testing

Labs  Annual Wellness Tests

Its Nationwide network of providers consists of licensed & board-certified physicians, counselors, psychologists, psychiatrists, and dermatologists and provides award-winning services to over five million members nationwide.

Click here for more information about the J.D. Power study.

About MyTelemedicine

MyTelemedicine is an award-winning provider of API technology enabling third-party parties to integrate and offer customized telehealth services. It is built on a full-stack virtual care platform allowing healthcare providers to consult with patients remotely. Physicians can perform consultations with members via telephone or video and have prescriptions delivered to their home or pharmacy. More than five million members have used the MyTelemedicine platform through their brands Lyric Health, Access a Doctor, and GoLexi Pet Telehealth. It was ranked on the Inc. 5000 list in 2020 and 2021 as one of the fastest-growing companies in America. For more information, visit www.mytelemedicine.com .

Media Contact:

Jazmin Baltazar

469.927.8592

[email protected]

SOURCE MyTelemedicine Inc
SALT LAKE CITY, Oct. 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Wildbird, the makers of luxury linen baby slings and baby products, announced today their brand-new baby carrier, The Aerial Buckle Carrier.

Created to carry babies from newborn to 45 lbs, the Aerial Carrier has been innovatively designed in two sizes: XS-XL and L-4XL. Every detail of the carrier, from shoulder straps to waist belt, has been engineered for comfort and aesthetic, honoring the diverse body shapes of parents and caregivers.

WildBird's Aerial carrier embraces you and your baby in ultimate comfort and style.

For their first structured carrier, Wildbird wanted a product that would expand upon their founding mission: to design and develop babywearing products that nurture the bond between caregiver and baby. So founders Tayler and Nate Gunn brought together a team of designers to create an innovative carrier defined by both function and style.

"We didn't want to compromise comfort for fashion, or fashion for comfort," said Tayler Gunn, Wildbird co-founder. "So we brought in veteran experts in both technical product engineering and design, to develop a timeless carrier built to last."

Artist Joe Bowers and bag equipment developer Damien Kelly worked together with Wildbird on the Aerial Carrier's design. The debut collection includes seven beautiful colors and patterns, all made from eco-friendly European linen. The Aerial Carrier is constructed in Vietnam's first and only fair-trade factory.

Detailed benefits include:

Superior size inclusivity with two size options for caregivers.

Beautiful modern design combined with technical features for maximum support.

One-of-a-kind lumbar support system designed to better distribute baby's weight.

The seamless padded waist belt looks streamlined and stylish while maximizing comfort: unlike the traditional 'cummerbund' belt of other carriers, this design is ideally suited for c-section recovery and comfortable sitting.

Easy-to-use seat adjustment feature so the carrier can grow with baby.

Designed for front carry (facing inwards) and back carry.

The Wildbird Aerial Carrier is available for $178 - $224 (depending on style) and is exclusively available for purchase at www.Wildbird.co.

About Wildbird

In 2014, Wildbird sold its first linen ring sling, which became a catalyst to connect a community of caregivers. Now a leading baby brand, Wildbird has diversified its line of baby products and baby carriers with a focus on balancing aesthetic and functionality. Wildbird's mission is to bring you closer to your little ones, both physically and emotionally, while giving you the freedom to take on the day.

Visit us at Wildbird.co or connect with us @wildbird on social.

SOURCE Wildbird
SEOUL, South Korea, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Willog, a leading cold chain monitoring solution provider, announced a strategic partnership with GBD Chile , a solution distributor in the agricultural and fruit sector in Chile. This new partnership will help organizations in South America improve efficiency within its field operations.

"We're very excited to partner with GBD Chile in delivering innovative cold chain solutions to the South American market." said Willog CEO and Founder Jihyun Yoon. "By combining GBD Chile's expertise in market intelligence, networked with Willog's innovative technology, and in-transit and item-level visibility data, customers in South America will get true insights on what is happening with their shipments."

We're very excited to partner with GBD Chile in delivering innovative cold chain solutions to the South American market. Tweet this

Willog leverages a QR-code based monitoring device called OTQ (One Time QR-code) . OTQ, with its cloud-based management console, helps companies gain end-to-end visibility throughout the cold chain. With customized visibility by shipping unit, this flexible integration helps companies gain insightful business insights and data, creating a reliable logistics environment.

Willogs monitoring solution enables businesses to seamlessly identify areas with repetitive issues and devise preventive measures to save time and money. "We were able to improve productivity by 200% and get rid of the time-consuming logistics process with Willog's solution." said Chong Kun Dang, a leading pharmaceutical company in Korea.

As of May 2021, Willog acquired 25 enterprise customers including MNCs like Hyundai Motor Group and DHL Express within a year. Willog is expanding its presence in various industries including bio-pharmaceutical and special logistics, where condition monitoring is key to business continuity. Strengthening its leadership position in Korea, Willog will accelerate global expansion with partnerships in America, Kazakhstan, and Malaysia.

Visit: https://willog.io and www.gbdchile.com .

About Willog

As a fast-growing startup, Willog provides a "cold chain data monitoring solution" that innovates the cold chain area, and its efforts are to create a transparent logistics flow. Willog owns 37 IPs including design and technology patents, PCTs, and copyrights.

Willog raised a series of funding last year, led by Hanwha Investment Securities with participation from IGIS Investment Partners, Shinhan Capital, and Aju IB Investment. Willog is currently preparing for the next round of investments to bolster its growth and accelerate next-generation solutions. Willog plans to meet global investors at TechCrunch Disrupt 2022 in San Francisco, California.

Media Contact:

Mia Choi

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE KIC Silicon Valley
Event focused on the exchange of ideas to strengthen global value chains in foreign trade

NEW YORK, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The World Trade Centers Association (WTCA)  a global network connecting over 300 World Trade Center (WTC) locations in nearly 100 countries  hosted World Trade Center businesses across Latin America for the "Point WTC Guadalajara 2022: Logistics Challenges in Latin America / WTCA Latin America Regional Meeting" on September 22-23, 2022 to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing logistics operations in the Americas.

A total of 30 WTCA Member representatives from 25 WTC locations in Latin America gathered in person in Guadalajara, Mexico  home to WTC Guadalajara, an important logistics hub for the movement of goods in Latin America  for the first time in nearly three years to attend the seminar on the challenges and opportunities facing logistics operations. WTCA Members across Latin America also showcased their developments and business models; introduced new topics around free trade agreements and the financing of WTC-branded projects; and shared best practices on how to work efficiently in a virtual environment and how to become B Corp certified. The seminar was also livestreamed for those unable to attend in person.

Panel discussions focused on topics such as challenges in the post-COVID era for maritime and air cargo industries, logistics challenges deriving from cross-border e-commerce, how to rebuild disrupted global supply chains and the opportunities for U.S. and Latin American companies with nearshoring as an option to reconfigure Global Value Chains (GVCs). Expert speakers included Jorge Acevedo, President and CEO of WTC Nuevo Laredo and WTC Guanajuato; Jimmy Avendano, Fulfillment Officer at Amazon-USA; Luis Aviles, Senior Executive at the Air Service Development Houston Airport System; Jaime Granados, Head of Trade and Investment Division of the Integration and Trade Sector of the Inter-American Development Bank; Federico Lepe, General Manager at WTC Guadalajara; Jorge Morones, CEO of WeCargo Technologies; Edgar Patino, former Chairman of the Peruvian National Port Authority; Michelle Porrino, Executive Director at WTC San Luis Potosi; Yiovan Reynoso, Director of the Logistics Committee at Index Guanajuato; Xavier Rius, Executive Chairman of the Institute for Careers and Innovation in Logistics Spain; Aurelio Lopez Rocha, Chairman of WTC Guadalajara; Carlos Ronderos, Regional Director-Latin America at the WTCA; Augusto Solano, Chairman of the Association of Colombian Flower Exporters (Asocolflores); Javier Solis, Managing Director of WTC Nuevo Laredo; and Robin van Puyenbroeck, Executive Director-Business Development of the WTCA.

"There is a revolution in the world of e-commerce that has no limit. It is a situation that all companies must take advantage of, but especially small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are the largest generators of employment in Latin America. There is a golden opportunity for them to enter international markets and being a part of the WTCA can open many doors," reflected Carlos Ronderos, Regional Director-Latin America at the WTCA.

During the event, Jaime Granados, Head of Trade and Investment Division of the Integration and Trade Sector of the Inter-American Development Bank, stressed that, "Cross-border e-commerce in Latin America grew by 40% from 2020 to 2021. However, this growth is low compared to other regions worldwide, which demonstrates that the region still has great opportunities to continue promoting its growth in the international market, including nearshoring."

The event follows the recent Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) the WTCA signed with the U.S. Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration (ITA) to formalize its cooperation in facilitating and promoting global trade by combining the strengths of the ITA's and the WTCA's global networks. This partnership will help further drive corporate investment and trade opportunities for U.S. companies seeking to increase exports and imports.

"The WTCA, along with WTC Guadalajara, is proud to have hosted leaders from Latin America for an insightful exchange of ideas that will benefit businesses in the Americas," said Robin van Puyenbroeck, WTCA Executive Director-Business Development, who also moderated a discussion on logistics with WTC businesses serving as first-class logistical hubs. "This seminar furthered the WTCA's goal to help local economies across the globe and greatly amplified our WTC brand value proposition in the world of logistics."

MEDIA CONTACTS:

World Trade Centers Association (WTCA)

Chanelle Kasik

Phone: +1 212 432 2644

Email: [email protected]

Violet PR

David Margolis

Phone: +1 917 331 4855

Email: [email protected]

About World Trade Centers Association (WTCA)

The World Trade Centers Association (WTCA) is a network of more than 300 highly connected, mutually supporting businesses and organizations in 92 countries. As the owner of the "World Trade Center" and "WTC" trademarks, the WTCA licenses exclusive rights to these brands for Members to use in conjunction with their independently-owned, iconic properties, facilities and trade services offerings. Through a robust portfolio of events, programming and resources that it offers its Members, the goal of the WTCA is to help local economies thrive by encouraging and facilitating trade and investment across the globe through Member engagement. To learn more, visit www.wtca.org.

SOURCE World Trade Centers Association
BEIJING, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Chinese Baijiu brand Red Xifeng, which belongs to one of China's reputed Baijiu brands - Xifeng Liquor, was broadly welcomed by the attendees of the NEXT Summit (Bali 2022) held recently.

Themed on "Global Change and Rebuilding Collaboration", the summit attracted dozens of politicians, scholars, business leaders, and startup entrepreneurs from many countries to share insight on development of multiple industries.

Photo shows the certificate issued by the presidential museum in Indonesia to include Xifeng Liquor into its permanent collections. Photo shows Oka Artha Ardhana Sukawati, deputy governor of Bali Province, Indonesia jointly holding a bottle of Red Xifeng with Guo for photo taking. Photo shows the Xifeng Liquor tasting during the NEXT Summit (Singapore 2021) held at the Palm Beach Seafood Restaurant.

Xifeng Liquor, which has already won nine global gold awards, participated in this year's NEXT Summit and carried forward the Chinese Baijiu culture in a way that better adapts to trends of the era.

Xifeng Liquor is made from five types of grains and stored in Jiuhai, its unique large liquor containers made of rattans and other natural materials. Produced with its time-honored liquor-making technique dating from over 3,000 years ago, Xifeng Liquor has been one of the symbols for Chinese Baijiu culture.

Guo said in a keynote speech delivered at the summit that Xifeng Liquor would seize the strategic opportunities in the new round of sci-tech and industrial revolution to integrate excellent resources worldwide, promote product quality and technology innovation and deepen international trade cooperation to further expand its global presence.

As early as more than 2,000 years ago, Xifeng Liquor has been brought and sold to dozens of countries and regions in the world by travelling merchants along the ancient Silk Road.

In recent years, Xifeng Liquor has further cranked up its efforts to enhance products, brands and cultural influences, with output value increasing on and on.

As a Chinese Baijiu producer that always values technique innovation and product quality inheritance, it also sharpened product flavors by improving ingredients and further optimizing liquor-making technique to better satisfy flavors of customers at home and abroad.

With exports to more and more countries, Xifeng Liquor is demonstrating its unique potential for development as one of the choicest Chinese goods on international market.

See the original link: https://en.imsilkroad.com/p/330470.html

SOURCE Xinhua Silk Road
World's leading open source network security monitoring platform now deployed on more than one billion global endpoints

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Corelight, the leader in open network detection and response (NDR), today announced the integration of Zeek, the world's most popular open source network security monitoring platform, as a component of Microsoft Windows and Defender for Endpoint. The integration will help security teams respond to the most challenging attacks by providing "richer signals for advanced threat hunting, complete and accurate discovery of IoT devices, and more powerful detection and response capabilities."

Originally created by Corelight co-founder and chief scientist Dr. Vern Paxson while at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), Zeek transforms network traffic into compact and high-fidelity logs, file content, and behavioral analytics to accelerate security operations. Vital funding for Zeek came initially from the National Science Foundation and the US Department of Energy's Office of Science.

As adoption increased, Corelight was founded to provide a financial model and corporate sponsor for the project. This week in Austin TX, Corelight hosts the annual ZeekWeek user conference, where the community will gather and where Microsoft speakers will describe the new integration.

"Microsoft is strongly committed to supporting open source projects and ecosystems," said Rob Lefferts, corporate vice president for Microsoft. "We're proud to be working with Zeek and are thrilled to bring this level of network intelligence and monitoring to our customers."

"This is an amazing development for Zeek and its community of contributors and users," said Paxson. "I never imagined that the tool I developed for network monitoring would find broader application in defending endpoints - but that's part of the creative magic of open source development. We are grateful for Microsoft's contributions and support, and we are excited that the project's impact, and that of the community of contributors, will increase so dramatically."

About Corelight

Corelight transforms network and cloud activity into evidence that security teams use to proactively hunt for threats, accelerate response to incidents, gain complete network visibility and create powerful analytics. Corelight's global customers include Fortune 500 companies, major government agencies, and large research universities. Based in San Francisco, Corelight is an open-core security company founded by the creators of Zeek, the widely-used network security technology. For more information, visit https://corelight.com or follow @corelight_inc.

About Zeek

Zeek is the world's most popular network security monitoring platform, providing compact, high-fidelity transaction logs, file content, and behavioral analytics - all fully customizable for analysts. Adopted in environments of all types and sizes, Zeek helps organizations understand how their networks are being used, supporting security, performance, audit, and capacity workflows. As an open source technology, Zeek is licensed under the permissive BSD-license and is headquartered at the International Computer Science Institute (ICSI) in Berkeley, CA. ICSI is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

SOURCE Corelight, Inc.
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Zerion, the leading wallet for the most active web3 users, today announced the closing of a $12.3M Series B funding round led by Wintermute Ventures, the investment arm of an algorithmic liquidity provider for digital assets, Wintermute. The company plans to use this financing to advance the company's mission of building the best wallet for Web3 citizens by leveraging advanced data and an intuitive design.

CEO and co-founder of Zerion, Evgeny Yurtaev, commented on today's news, "Wallets are a core part of the Web3 experience, but the tools have not evolved for the challenges and complexity of the space and modern use cases. As the number of decentralized applications increases, it becomes more difficult for users to follow their footprint across chains, NFT collections, and DeFi protocols. We believe that in an increasingly disparate Web3 space, wallets will become a dynamic place to track and manage it all, and Zerion's industry-leading wallet will set the standard."

For more than 5 years, Zerion has enabled DeFi investors, NFT collectors and Web3 builders to track their portfolios and trade hundreds of assets at the best rates. Since adding swaps to their web and mobile apps, trading volume through Zerion has grown from $47M in 2019 to more than $1.5B today. After raising $8.2M in July of 2021 , the Zerion team has been working on turning its wallet product into the primary interface for Web3. The wallet launch in last May was accompanied by the first-of-its-kind generative NFT that evolves as users make transactions in their wallet. Zerion's wallet empowers the Web3 citizens by allowing them to take control of their digital assets, identities and data. Over 60k Zerion wallets holding more than $100M have been created in less than six months since the launch of the wallet.

"In Zerion, we see the next generation of Web3 applications. The next frontier of blockchain is the user layer, and Zerion's cross-chain compatible, mobile-focused wallet enables users to easily participate in this ecosystem. Zerion is backed by a strong team with experience operating in DeFi, which is why we are confident in their vision and ability to deliver on integrations and functions behind the user layer, all while abstracting away, the often overwhelming, blockchain complexity," said Evgeny Gaevoy, CEO and founder of Wintermute.

"With a holistic experience in mind, Zerion is embarking on an ambitious plan to cover the entire user journey by providing untapped alpha opportunities while ensuring transaction security through dapp connectivity and safety checks before signatures," said Zerion's Head of Product Andrey Balyasnikov.

The round saw additional participation from Placeholder, Mosaic, Polymorphic Capital, Coinbase Ventures and Alchemy Ventures. 1inch Network's Sergej Kunz, Anton Bukov and Orest Gavryliak also participated alongside Yunt Capital & Gregoire Le Jeune.

web3 Studios served as the financial advisor.

About Zerion

Zerion is a smart Web3 wallet and investing tool that enables anyone with a mobile phone to manage their DeFi and NFT portfolios. With a relentless focus on user-centered design and a technology stack that aggregates across every major wallet, network and decentralized exchange, users are offered a single point of entry for managing their digital assets, including NFTs. Zerion is non-custodial, which means users never delegate their funds to the platform. This agile approach mitigates centralization risk and has allowed Zerion to operate globally since inception.

The company was founded in 2016 by Evgeny Yurtaev (CEO), Alexey Bashlykov (CTO) and Vadim Koleoshkin (COO) with the mission to empower Web3 citizens with the most user-friendly and intelligent products. Since then, Zerion has built an award-winning interface that serves 400K monthly active wallets from over 150 countries. Zerion was recently named one of the 50 most promising startups in 2022 by The Information.

To learn more, visit their website or follow the company on Twitter .

Check out the company media kit for more information

Media contact:

Alexander Guy

Head of Marketing & Growth, Zerion

[email protected]

+3362658573

SOURCE Zerion
New Delhi, Oct 12 : The Centre has extended by more two years, the Leave Travel Concession (LTC) facility available to its employees who visit to Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Northeast.

The Personnel Ministry has issued an order stating that the LTC scheme has been extended for a period of two years from September 26, 2022 to September 25, 2024.

Under the scheme, the eligible central government employees get reimbursement of tickets for to and fro journeys, besides paid leave, when they avail LTC.

Not only this, those government employees who are not eligible for air travel have also been allowed to travel by air to these states. They can travel in economy class by any airline directly from their headquarters to Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Northeast.

At the same time, the employees have also been warned that any misuse of LTC will be taken seriously and appropriate action will be taken under the Employees Rules. It is worth noting that in the year 2020 also, the central government had extended the period of this facility for two years.
United Nations, Oct 12 : Lauding the collaboration between the United Nations (UN) and the African Union (AU) as the best ever, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned major challenges lie ahead.

Guterres told a Security Council meeting on cooperation between the UN and the AU that in the 20 years since its creation, the African Union has shown its determination to work towards integration, peace and prosperity on the continent, Xinhua news agency reported.

He said that collaboration between the United Nations and the African Union has never been stronger, but major challenges remain, including conflicts and unconstitutional government changes.

The secretary-general said that for many Africans, climate change is not a distant threat but a daily reality even though Africa barely contributes to global greenhouse gas emissions.

"As we prepare for COP27 in Egypt next month, I urge leaders, especially from G20 countries, which are responsible for 80 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, to finally take the urgent action needed," he said. "Developed countries must also make good on their commitments, starting with their pledge to provide $100 billion a year for developing countries, and double funding for adaptation." The UN chief said the climate conference must also deliver concrete action on loss and damage. "This is not just a matter of trust between developed and developing countries. For many countries, and particularly in Africa, it is a question of survival."
New Delhi, Oct 12 : Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in Washington D.C., during which she invited the latter to visit India next month.

During their meeting on Tuesday, Sitharaman and Yellen discussed current global macroeconomic situation among other issues of mutual interest, the Finance Ministry said in a tweet.

"The two Ministers also discussed various issues of significance with a view towards India's upcoming G20 Presidency," it said.

After the meeting, Sitharaman invited Yellen to India in November to attend the US-India Economic and Financial Partnership meeting, the Ministry added.

This will be Yellen's first visit to India as Treasury Secretary.

Also taking to Twitter, the Treasury Secretary said: "I was pleased to welcome Minister Sitharaman back to US Treasury today to discuss deepening economic bonds between the U.S. and India, avoiding costly supply chain disruptions, and addressing global shocks." Sitharaman is currently on a five-day visit to the US.
New York, Oct 12 : Six Indian-American Malayalees will be honored in New York for their outstanding achievements in their field of specialization and for their service to the society by a community organisation, which represents the Kerala diaspora.

The Indian American Kerala Cultural and Civic Center will present its 30th Annual Awards Banquet on October 22 in Elmont, which will be attended by India's Consul General Randhir Jaiswal and New York Senators Kevin Thomas and Anna Kaplan.

Javad Hassan, Chairman of NeST Group, will be awarded for corporate leadership. He has been striving to bring premier US universities to the Indian shores, so that Indian companies could gain from a global standard of education.

Thomas Joy, Suffolk County police officer will be awarded for Public Service. Joy was honored in 2020 by the India Association of Long Island for his service to the community during Covid-19 pandemic.

In the Performing Arts category, Bindiya Sabarinath, founder of Mayura School of Arts, has been named.

Sabarinath, trained in Bharatnatyam, Mohiniyattam and Kuchipudi, is an alumni of Kalakshetra Chennai, and has been making principal styles of Indian Dance accessible to US residents.

She received a Presidential Award for representing Mohiniyattam from Kerala on Republic Day in 1998, and has dedicated herself to teaching and performing Indian Classical Dance for the past twenty years.

Bindiya established the Mayura school of Arts in 2000 in the US. She has over 1,000 students and many branches in the New York and New Jersey area, according to her website.

Silvester Noronha, who will be awarded under the Applied Science category, hails from Kollam district in Kerala. He is currently a visiting faculty of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

He was among a team of scientists from MIT who jointly invented a large high-temperature superconducting electromagnet, a step towards realizing the dream of the much-awaited nuclear power fusion meant for revolutionizing the world's energy sector.

P.T. Paulose has been recognised for contributions to Pravasi Malayalam Literature, and Jose Kaniyaly, Executive Editor and Partner of Kerala Express weekly newspaper, for his contributions to Malayalam Media and Journalism.

"Kerala Center has been honoring outstanding achievers since 1991. Every year we invite nominations and the committee has to make a unanimous choice for a candidate in a category to receive the award and this year is no different from previous years in terms of their achievements," Thomas Abraham, Kerala Center's Trustee Board Chairman and Award Committee Member, said in a press release.

Though the exact number of Keralites in the US is unknown, Thiruvananthapuram-based International Institute of Migration and Development (IIMD) reckons that there are at least 40 lakh Keralites abroad, of which at least 20 per cent or even higher number are now settled in the US, Canada, the UK, Germany, Australia and New Zealand.

Kerala is officially preparing a data bank of Keralites, a move that will help the state find the number of Malayalis working abroad, especially in the US, Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
Chennai, Oct 12 : With the winter session of the Tamil Nadu Assembly to commence on October 17, a new war has emerged in the AIADMK over the post of Deputy leader of opposition.

The post of Deputy leader of opposition was held by former Chief Minister, O. Panneerselvam (OPS) and the leader of opposition in the state Assembly is former Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, who is also the interim general secretary of the AIADMK.

OPS and those close to him were expelled from the AIADMK on July 11, during the party general council meeting held in the outskirts of Chennai and Palaniswami emerged as the interim general secretary of the party.

While the expulsion of OPS is still in the Supreme Court after the deposed leader filed a petition against the Madras High Court division bench order justifying the expulsion, the EPS faction has petitioned the Assembly Speaker M. Appavu to allow party legislator, R.B. Udhayakumar to take part in the Business advisory committee meetings. Palaniswami sent the letter to the Speaker through the Deputy Whip of the AIADMK, S. Ravi on Tuesday.

Former Chief Minister and deposed leader of the AIADMK, Panneerselvam has already petitioned the Speaker that he was still the Deputy Leader of the Opposition.

A leader close to OPS while speaking to IANS said, "OPS was expelled by the July 11 general council meeting of the party. The Supreme Court of India is to hear a petition filed by O. Panneerselvam and without a verdict from the court, you can't say that he is not with the party. Let the order come and then we can decide." With the 2024 general elections almost around the corner, the factional feud in the AIADMK is creating major heart burns for the prospects of the NDA from Tamil heartland even though the BJP has gained some ground at the grassroots level after K. Annamalai, the former IPS officer became the president of the state unit. Sources in the BJP told IANS that the party is for a grand alliance between OPS, EPS, V.K. Sasikala, and T.T.V. Dhinakaran.
Addis Ababa, Oct 12 : The International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced that this year's first voluntary humanitarian return flight has departed from Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, with 129 Ethiopian migrants on board.

"The movement to Addis Ababa is an important lifeline for stranded migrants seeking a safe and dignified way to return home from Yemen," the UN migration agency said in a statement on Tuesday.

According to the IOM, the flight is carrying migrants, including unaccompanied minors and those with medical conditions and other specific needs, who were left stranded as a result of insecurity and restrictions on their movement, reports Xinhua news agency.

"Migrants stranded in Sanaa have been left destitute and without food, shelter and other basic needs. Some have been waiting for an opportunity to return home for over a year," the statement quoted Matt Huber, IOM Yemen's acting chief of Mission, as saying.

"We hope we can continue to ensure that migrants who would like to go home can do so in the months ahead." According to figures from IOM, more than 1,800 migrants stranded in Aden and Marib have departed on voluntary humanitarian return flights so far this year.

The IOM aims to support approximately 5,000 additional stranded migrants to voluntarily return home from the three locations in the coming months.

The UN agency estimated that 43,800 migrants are currently stranded throughout Yemen, many are held under the control of dangerous smuggling networks.

The vast majority hope to reach Saudi Arabia but are unable to continue their journeys.

Estimates suggest that thousands of Ethiopians are trafficked every year who hope to reach the Arabian Peninsula via Djibouti and Yemen and look for better economic opportunities in major Middle Eastern countries' informal job markets, mainly with an aim to find informal jobs in Yemen's northern neighbour Saudi Arabia.

Desperate Ethiopian migrants, who often attempt to cross the dangerous Red Sea route via the neighbouring nation Djibouti, regularly endure deadly incidents along the Red Sea as well as imprisonment and killings in the war-torn Yemen.
New Delhi, Oct 12 : No matter how many digital platforms we create, art festivals are uniquely appealing due to the experience of actually being there, visually relishing artworks hanging on the walls, enjoying a chat with the artists, mingling with friends and enjoying a cup of coffee in a makeshift cafeteria! The India Art Festival, is a contemporary art fair hosted from 13th to 16th October 2022 at Constitution Club of India, Rafi Marg, New Delhi.

Rajendra Patil, founder, and Managing Director, of the India Art festival, is all set to welcome and host the coming Art festival with full zeal and enthusiasm. He says that India Art Festival pays attention to improving the quality of art displayed at the art festival; though our directive principles germinated from our institutional backgrounds appeal to our conscience to be balanced and accommodative towards unrepresented sections like independent artists while judging their work on a set benchmark.

Quality and trust are not only the keys to building an art gallery brand, but they ensure continual reputation and credibility among art buyers. The Curators Art, Pichwai by Beyond Square-Udaipur, Rhythm Art Gallery, Rabi Art Gallery, Gallery Pioneer, Pastel Tales, Artecious- New Delhi, and Artvista- Mumbai are some of the galleries that take meticulous care to create inspiring viewing ambiance in their booths forcing visitors to enter it.

In this edition of IAF, 25 Art Galleries and 450 artists are displaying over 4500 artworks in 110 booths. IAF, known for its democratic presentation of art offers emerging, independent artists the opportunity to exhibit along with major and mid-level art galleries presenting established and master artists with thousands of innovative artworks.

The India Art Festival, New Delhi Edition program begins on Thursday, 13th October 2022 from 11:00 am to 8:00 pm at Constitution Club of India.

(IANSlife can be contacted at ianslife@ians.in)
San Francisco, Oct 12 : Tech tycoon Elon Musk has refuted a claim made by political scientist and founder of Eurasia Group Ian Bremmer that he recently discussed "the minimum the Russian President would require to end the war" with Vladimir Putin.

According to CNBC, Bremmer's note went out earlier this week to clients.

Investor Sven Henrich asked Musk, via his Twitter account "@northmantrader," if the report was accurate.

"No, it is not. I have spoken to Putin only once and that was about 18 months ago. The subject matter was space," the Tesla and SpaceX CEO tweeted.

Later on Tuesday, Bremmer doubled down, writing that Musk had told him that he spoke directly with Putin and the Kremlin about Ukraine.

As per the report, Musk posted a series of tweets on October 3 seeking support for his opinion on the best outcome for Russia's war on Ukraine.

Musk proposed UN-supervised votes in Ukraine about whether certain regions of the nation under siege should join Russia.

He also said Ukraine should hand Crimea over to Russia and that the nation should remain "neutral" rather than aligning with either NATO or Russia.

Since those tweets, Musk has continued to promote the idea on Twitter that some Ukraine citizens would prefer to, and vote too, join Russia.
Hyderabad, Oct 12 : The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has strongly opposed the recommendation of a Parliamentary committee that the medium of instruction in technical and non-technical higher educational institutes such as IITs should be Hindi.

TRS working president K. T. Rama Rao said on Wednesday that his party is against any move to impose Hindi.

He said that India does not have a national language and Hindi is one among the many official languages.

"To impose Hindi by way of mandating in IIITs and central government recruitments, NDA government is flouting the federal spirit Indians should have a choice of language and we say no to Hindi imposition," tweeted Rama Rao.

The parliamentary committee headed by Home Minister Amit Shah has recommended that the medium of instruction in technical and non-technical higher education institutes such as IITs in Hindi-speaking states should be Hindi and in other parts of India their respective local language. It said the use of English should be made optional.

The end of compulsory English language question paper in the recruitment examinations and adequate arrangement for Hindi translation in the orders of the high courts in Hindi-speaking states are among over 100 recommendations made by the committee in its latest report.

Former member of Legislative Council Professor K. Nageshwar also said that the move is against federalism and national unity.

"Amit Shah led panel recommends mandatory Hindi medium in IITs and compulsory test in Hindi in lieu of English in central government recruitment. Should we, who speak Telugu and other Indian languages not oppose this Hindi hegemony? The move is against federalism, national unity," said Nageshwar Rao.
New Delhi, Oct 12 : Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra is yielding the desired results for the party in Karnataka, which goes to polls next year, where bete noirs former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and D.K. Shivakumar are sharing the stage and walking side by side in the Yatra.

Congress General Secretary in-charge of the state Randeep Singh Surjewala shared pictures of both the leaders sitting together and wrote, "The bonhomie & camaraderie".

Both the leaders do not share a good relationship as both are claimants for the top post in the state. Siddaramaiah was seen running with Rahul Gandhi a few days ago and Shivakumar has been walking by Gandhi's side since the Yatra entered Karnataka.

The Congress wants to connect with the voters and after completing its Kerala leg, the Bharat Jodo Yatra has traversed Gundlupet town in Chamarajanagar district of Karnataka. Rallies have been held in Gundlupet, Mandya, Mysuru, Chitradurga and lastly will be in Bellary on October 15. The yatra will enter neighbouring Andhra Pradesh through the state's Raichur district.

Shivakumar, the Congress state president along with other leaders, have been putting in special efforts to make the yatra a huge success, which is drawing huge crowds. Earlier, he had toured all across the state and entrusted the leaders with specific responsibilities of gathering party workers and the common people to walk with Rahul Gandhi.
Hyderabad, Oct 12 : Facing allegations of switching loyalties to the BJP after bagging Rs 18,000 crore contract from the Centre, party candidate in Munugode by-election Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy has hit back at Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and his family.

Rajagopal Reddy has alleged that CM KCR's family has encroached lands worth Rs 18 lakh crore around Hyderabad by bringing Dharani portal.

Rajagopal Reddy, who has already filed nomination for November 3 by-election, claimed that it is the biggest land scam in the country. He demanded that the Telangana government issue a white paper on Dharani portal.

The state government had launched Dharani portal in 2020 for online registration of properties in Telangana. The portal is billed as a one-stop source for all revenue records.

Rajagopal Reddy's counter allegation came after Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) launched a bitter attack on him for resigning from the Congress party and joining the BJP after his company was awarded Rs 18,000 crore by the BJP-led government at the Centre.

Rajagopal Reddy had quit the Congress and resigned from the Assembly in July. He subsequently joined the BJP at a public meeting addressed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Munugode constituency.

Both TRS and Congress have been slamming him for what they call "selling himself" to the BJP and imposing a by-election on the people of Munugode for the sake of contract.

Posters have appeared in the constituency targeting Rajagopal Reddy over the contract. The rival parties also alleged that he has assured the BJP that he would spend Rs 500 crore to win the bypoll.

The TRS has also offered to withdraw from the contest if the BJP announces Rs 18,000 crore for the development of Nalgonda district. TRS working president K.T. Rama Rao said that since winning a seat makes no difference to the TRS, which has 105 seats in 119-Assembly seat, it was ready to pull out its candidate from the contest if the BJP announced the package for the development of Nalgonda.

Rama Rao said the BJP government ignored the recommendation of Niti Aayog to provide Rs 19,000 crore for Mission Bhagiratha to overcome the problem of fluorosis, but it gave Rs 18,000 crore to one person for political gain.

He took to Twitter again on Wednesday to make the offer that TRS is ready to withdraw from the contest if the Modi government declares a Rs 18,000 crore package for Nalgonda.

KTR wrote that if one person makes one the wealthiest people in the world, it does not add to the country's wealth and that if one person is awarded the contract, it does no good to a district.

He said the Modi government gave Rs 80,000 crore package to Gujarat in the last five years. "Can't you give Rs 18,000 crore to Telangana," he asked.
Jaipur, Oct 12 : Rajasthan police have arrested a man who had chopped off the feet of an 108-year-old woman to rob her silver anklets, police officials said on Wednesday.

Accused Prakash Prajapat, who was the old lady's tenant and had moved out some years back, committed the crime to repay a debt of Rs 4 lakh incurred due to his travel hobby.

The looted anklets have been seized from the accused's possession.

A seriously injured Jamuna Devi succumbed to her injuries on Tuesday, police said.

Additional Commissioner of Police Ajaypal Lamba said that Prakash Prajapat lived on rent in Jamuna Devi's house three-four years ago. He had complete information about Jamuna Devi's jewellery and her family.

On October 9, when Jamuna Devi's daughter left for a temple, Prajapat reached the house on his scooty. He then carried the elderly woman to the washroom where he severed the legs to rob the silver anklets. To prevent the elderly woman from screaming, the accused slit her throat with a knife. He then fled the crime scene.

An investigation was launched after the incident. The suspects were interrogated. Meanwhile, the constable of the special police team spotted the accused's scooty in the CCTV footage. On this basis, the police caught Prakash Prajapat, a resident of Raisar village in Jaipur rural area.

Prakash was living in the neighborhood of Jamuna Devi's house in a rented accomodation. During interrogation, he confessed to having murdered the old woman to pay off his debt.

The accused had incurred a huge debt as he had travelled a lot which was his hobby. To clear his debts, he hatched a conspiracy to rob the jewellery by killing his old landlady.

Jamuna Devi was rushed to SMS Hospital where died on Tuesday.

DGP ML Lather has announced out-of-turn gallantry promotion to constable Pradhan, who gathered clues of scooty rider Prakash Prajapat, seen in the CCTV footage.
Chamba, Oct 12 : In the run up to the Assembly polls in the BJP-ruled Himachal Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be formally inaugurating the 180 megawatts (MW) Bajoli Holi hydropower project on Thursday that has been facing dissent from the Gaddi community as they fear the project is posing threat to their houses and fields owing to cracks and seepage in private and public land.

They fear evacuation of their village, leaving behind their ancestral land and houses.

The locals, who grow apples and prized rajma (kidney beans) with traditional agriculture practices, besides raising livestock, have been demanding a geological survey.

"For the past 10 months we have been demanding a geological survey of the area that falls close to the pressure shaft of the project," local resident Anoop Jhadota, a resident of Jharauta village, told IANS over phone.

Haunted by horrifying memories of the land sinking last December that damaged three village houses owing to high seepage from the dam, he said nearly 200 villagers have been living in constant fear of threat to life.

"Still people cannot sleep peacefully fearing what will happen to them if yet another disaster hit the village." Besides opening the Bajoli Holi hydropower project, Modi will be laying the foundation of two other hydropower projects, to be executed by state-run Himachal Pradesh Power Corp Ltd (HPPCL), and will address a public meeting at the famous Chowgan, or the public promenade in this historic town, to reiterate benefits of the adouble engine' government for investment-led growth and delivery of social reforms.

Jhadota, who is a teacher in a government school, said the Bajoli Holi hydropower project is affecting the local ecology too with the axing of nearly 4,000 trees for its construction. Another 1,000 trees were damaged naturally in the December landslide. "For this the project authorities are to be held accountable." According to GE Renewable Energy's Hydropower business, part of GE Power India Limited (GEPIL) that has commissioned the Bajoli Holi Project, three units of 60 MW each have been generating electricity since the project was connected to the grid in March 2022.

This power facility, which generates 94 per cent of energy required by the Delhi International Airport Ltd, has a head race tunnel of more than 16 km and has been constructed on the Ravi river.

The project is located some 70 km in Holi tehsil of Bharmour sub-division in Chamba, which ranks 95th in the Centre's list of country's 115 backward districts.

It faced a public outcry in March 2014 as Jharauta villagers demanding the shifting of the project. Twenty-five women were arrested on charges of forcibly stopping the project authorities to carry out construction activity.

At that they said the project had secured forest clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests without the consent of the local gram sabhas that was in violation of the Forest Rights Act of 2006.

The state had awarded the project to GMR Hydro Power on build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) basis for 40 years from the date of commissioning. As per the initial timeline, it was be commissioned by January 2018.

A team of Himdhara, an environment action group that has been documenting the environmental impacts of mega development projects, had visited Jharauta village after the December landslide.

"Water was seeping from above and the land could be seen sliding down, stones rolling downaanother family vacated their house as the landslide kept growing," said Vivek Negi, a member of the fact-finding team.

"Right where the seepage started first is the same area wherein 2014 women of the Holi panchayat organized a month-long sit-in," Manshi Asher of Himdhara Collective told IANS.

"They were protesting the unscientific and fallacious shift in the tunnel site from the barren right bank to the forested and heavily populated left bank of the Ravi. People had warned the administration and authorities exactly of this, that the area had very fragile geology and there would be a tremendous threat to life and property but it all fell on deaf ears," added Asher.

Anguish over the red-tapism, gram panchayat ward member Kavita Devi, 41, told IANS that despite so many representations, even to the Governor, no one seems concerned over threat of not only displacement but also to human and livestock lives.

"We have not been demanding individual compensation. We have been asking the government to provide benefits of rehabilitation and resettlement package under LADA (Local Area Development Authority)," she said, adding: "We are hopeful the Prime Minister during his visit will direct the project and local authorities to ensure public safety due to continuous water seepage and debris falling in the gram panchayat of Holi".

In a latest missive to Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, Himdhara demanded a comprehensive scientific study for effective decision making and avoid life threatening near future hazards in the area. Also it sought the Himachal Pradesh State Dam Safety Organization intervention and investigation relating to safety of the 40-odd families.

The hills of Himachal Pradesh are alive with the sounds of villagers voicing their protest against the numerous hydropower projects that they say will further compromise their water and forest rights.

The upcoming projects will not only damage natural resources and affect livelihoods but also use up a considerable chunk of forest and agricultural land, argue locals and environment activists.

(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)
Gurugram, Oct 12 : In order to curb the stubble burning incidents in Gurugram, the district administration has decided to fine farmers for burning stubble in the district.

A fine of Rs 2,500 per acre will be levied on the farmers involved in the stubble burning.

Deputy Commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav said that the district administration is fully prepared to stop the menace.

"Teams have been formed by the district administration at the district level, sub-divisional level, block level and village level to monitor stubble burning in their concerned areas," Yadav said.

The administration officials also said that necessary instructions have been given to the Environment Control Department for this.

"We appealed to all the farmers of the district not to burn stubble after harvesting paddy. It not only harms the environment, but also harms animals, birds and plants," said the DC.

He informed that for the convenience of the farmers in the district, a 50 per cent discount on taking equipment related to stubble management and custom hiring centers, which have been made available to any registered farmer group or panchayat on an 80 percent grant.

"We appeal to the farmers to perform their ethical responsibility in environmental protection by using stubble management equipment such as Super Seeder, Zero Tillage Machine, Straw Reaper, Straw Mulcher, Reaper Binder, Mbiplo, etc.," Yadav added.
Mumbai, Oct 12 : As the mythological horror film 'Tumbbad' celebrates its fourth anniversary on Wednesday, actor-producer Sohum Shah, who starred in the lead role in the film, shared that the film will always remain one of his proudest accomplishments.

Sohum was recently seen in the second season of the political drama 'Maharani' and has been enjoying the positive response to his work since its release.

Opening up on the response that he receives till date for the film , the actor said, "'Tumbbad' is, and will remain one of my proudest accomplishments! Not just because of the love and critical appreciation it received from across the globe, but also because of the literal sweat, blood, tears and effort that went into making it. As the film completes 4 years today, I am filled with nothing but gratitude." Made on a production budget of Rs 5 crore, the film was shot at a location that people had not visited for 100 years. The aSarkar's Wada' mentioned in the film, where the treasure is hidden, is said to be located in Tumbbad, but the actual mansion is located in Saswad, near Pune. The movie took six years to make.

He further mentioned how the film served as a learning curve for him, "I was always very particular about every aspect of this film- from shooting important sequences during the monsoons to getting every aspect of my character right. This film journey taught me the immense value of teamwork. It took us six whole years to bring the vision to life. But I firmly believe that we've made a piece of art which will withstand the test of time." Meanwhile, on the work front, Sohum has an interesting lineup of 'Sanaa' with Radhika Madan and 'Dahaad'.
New Delhi, Oct 12 : Two members of the Lawrence Bishnoi- Sampat Nehra- Tinu Bhiwani gang have been arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police following a brief encounter.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) of Special Cell, Jasmeet Singh said that the arrested gangsters, identified as Deepak Arora alias Deepa alias Popat and Gulshan Kumar alias Gulia, were arrested from the Lado Sarai area in the national capital.

The DCP said that a team of Inspector Shiv Kumar and Jitender Mawi under the supervision of ACP Attar Singh was working on an input to arrest them. Following the input the team was able to nab both the criminals.

"We had tip off about their movement in South Delhi. Technical surveillance proved that the accused were active. During the raid Deepak opened one fire at the police team. Police launched a counter attack and nabbed them," the official said.

During probe, accused Deepak Arora disclosed that he along with Sampat Nehra and other associates had waylaid a cashier of a petrol pump and robbed him off Rs 29 lakh in 2018 when he was going to deposit the cash in the SBI bank in Pooth Kalan in the area of police station Sultanpuri, Delhi. Arora fled and could not be arrested in the case.

Further probe in the matter is on.
Badaun, Oct 12 : A woman who was eight months pregnant and her minor sister were axed to death in Sheikhupur village in Uttar Pradesh's Badaun district.

The incident took place late on Tuesday night.

As her husband Kamal Singh was away working in Haryana, Lajwati, the 22-year-old pregnant woman, had called her seven-year-old sister Manju to stay with her.

Lajwati and her sister were sleeping in the courtyard when the incident took place.

Police sources said that as per initial investigations, the two brothers of Kamal Singh committed the crime and are absconding.

According to reports, the two brothers used to beat their wives who had complained to the police and the brothers were detained on Tuesday at the police station.

They were later released with a warning.

Their wives were not at home when they returned.

The brothers, sources said, believed that Lajwati was instigating their wives to lodge complaints with the police and decided to teach her and her sister a lesson.

They killed Lajwati and her sister with an axe and fled. They were found dead on Wednesday morning.

Kamal Singh has been informed of the incident and is on his way home from Haryana.

No complaint has yet been field in the case.

Police have sent both the bodies for post-mortem.
New York, Oct 12 : Shares in some of the world's largest "gig" economy companies have fallen after the US government outlined a plan to change the way workers are treated.

Under the US Labor Department's proposal, workers would be more likely to be classified as employees instead of independent contractors, the BBC reported.

Shares in firms including Uber and Lyft fell by more than 10 per cent on the news.

Tens of millions of people work in the global gig economy across services like food delivery and transport.

Labor Secretary Marty Walsh said the rule would aim to stop companies from misclassifying workers as independent contractors.

Walsh said his department had seen many cases where "employers misclassify their employees as independent contractors, particularly among our nation's most vulnerable workers." "Misclassification deprives workers of their federal labour protections, including their right to be paid their full, legally earned wages," the BBC quoted the Labor Secretary as saying.

Public consultations for the proposal begin on Thursday and are scheduled to run for 45 days.

Uber shares closed 10.4 per cent lower in New York on Tuesday, while Lyft lost 12 per cent and DoorDash ended down by 6 per cent.

Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, said the plan was "a clear blow to the gig economy and a near-term concern for the likes of Uber and Lyft".

"With ride sharing and other gig economy players depending on the contractor business model, a classification to employees would essentially throw the business model upside down and cause some major structural changes," Ives said in a note.

Gig economy firms have come under increased scrutiny as the industry grows in size, the BBC reported.

Payments firm Mastercard has estimated that 78 million people will be employed in the gig economy by next year.

Gig workers are paid for individual tasks, such as a food delivery or a car journey, rather than getting a regular wage.
San Francisco, Oct 12 : Apple has signed up with Taiwan Surface Mounting Technology (SMT), which could lead to the tech giant using hybrid OLED displays in the iPad Pro by 2024.

According to AppleInsider, the iPad and iPad Pro's display is a key component of the user experience, therefore, supplier changes may indicate upcoming design modifications. In the event of one supply chain disruption, Apple might be getting ready for a significant iPad upgrade.

Taiwan SMT is to become a supplier, handling SMT processes for mini LED backlighting for the iPad Pro and MacBook Pro lines, according to a report by DigiTimes.

If accurate, this will be Taiwan SMT's first time in the Apple supplier ecosystem, the report said.

Furthermore, the report claims that Apple is assisting with the expansion of its production lines using dedicated hardware for mini LED deposition.

The addition of Taiwan SMT could be significant for Apple as it could allow the company to improve its mini LED-based hardware until it can adopt hybrid OLED.

At first, this could be a much thinner display, which can make the iPad Pro even slimmer, but there are other applications on the way.
Patna, Oct 12 : Hitting back at Home Minister Amit Shah's "CM sitting in Congress lap for power" remark, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah of being ignorant about the freedom struggle and the JP movement.

Upon returning from Nagaland late on Tuesday night, , Nitish Kumar retorted to Home Minister Shah saying, "I don't give any importance to the outbursts of Narendra Modi or Amit Shah. Have they contributed to the JP movement in any way? Sadly, people who have nothing to do with the freedom struggle are talking about the JP movement. Who knew Modi before 2002," Kumar said while pointing towards Gujarat riots of 2002. It was in the light of these riots that Modi made headlines.

"During the JP movement, I went to jail for which Jayaprakash Babu appreciated me," he said.

Kumar was responding to Amit Shah's statement made earlier in the day at Sitab Diara on the occasion of 120th anniversary of socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan, that the Bihar chief minister is sitting on Congress's lap which had imprisoned independence activist Narayan.

He also reacted to tweets of BJP leader Sushil Modi, saying, "He is giving statements every day against an idea to get some post in his party. I heard that he tweets 10 to 15 times daily. Is he achieving anything from it? He is also saying that Amit Shah will go everywhere. I want to tell him who is stopping him and his party's leaders. They are free to go anywhere," Kumar said.
New Delhi, Oct 12 : Samsung India on Wednesday said it will roll out the software update for its vast portfolio of 5G devices in the country by the end of next month.

The company said in a statement to IANS that it is currently working with operator partners for a seamless roll-out of 5G experience for users.

"We are working closely with our operator partners and are committed to rolling out OTA updates across all our 5G devices by end of November 2022, enabling Indian consumers to experience 5G seamlessly," a Samsung India spokesperson told IANS.

"Samsung has pioneered 5G technology development since 2009 and took the leading role in standardising 5G technology globally," the company spokesperson added.

In India, Samsung has the widest portfolio of 5G devices.

The announcement came as the government convened a meeting of handset manufacturers and telecom service providers on Wednesday to ensure a smooth transition towards the new technology.

Prioritising software upgrade would enable early adoption of 5G in India.

Airtel and Jio have rolled out their 5G services in key metros in a phased manner. There are no 5G roll out plans from Vodafone-Idea yet.

India is home to more than 500 million smartphone users and over 100 million users with 5G-ready smartphones wish to upgrade to a 5G subscription in 2023, according to a latest Ericsson report.

The study said that the Indian smartphone users are willing to pay a 45 per cent premium for a plan bundled with novel experiences, which could be a delight for Internet service providers ready with 5G.

However, there are multiple challenges ahead for telecom service providers to meet the roll-out deadlines.
Kanpur, Oct 12 : The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur is organising Akshar - a first of its kind literary festival from October 14 to 16.

It is being jointly organised by the Rajbhasha Prakoshth, the Shivani Centre for the Nurture and Re-Integration of Hindi & Other Indian Languages, and Gaatha - an audio - hosting platform and an SIIC, IIT Kanpur incubated company.

In its first iteration, Akshar is celebrating the commencement of the centenary year celebrations of the life and works of pre-eminent Hindi novelist Gaura Pant better-known by her pen name 'Shivani'.

She was one of the most famous Hindi novelists whose novels were read ardently by scores of readers throughout the country and also translated in other languages. Shivani was also one of the pioneers of women-centric fiction novels who presented the women in her novels as very strong and rooted characters.

The three-day event will be marked by a celebration of the life and works of Shivani.

According to an official release, eminent literary personalities like Dr Pushpesh Pant, Dr Mrinal Pande, Prof Shambhunath Tiwari, and many noted poets and performers like Veeru Sonker, Pankaj Chaturvedi, Dr Naresh Saxena, Praveen Shukla, Shlesh Gautam, are expected to participate in the event.

A book fair with some leading publishers would also be organised alongside the event.

Few highlights from the event schedule include a discussion on the literary works of Shivani, a poetry discussion, a panel discussion on "Aaj ke Daur Mein Sahitya ki Praasangikta" and a Kavi Sammelan.

Besides these, there will be a story recital of Shivani's most famous stories by Katharang - A Storytelling Group and an enactment of Shivani story 'Apradhini' by 'Nisha' - a Theatre Group.
Lucknow, Oct 12 : The Uttar Pradesh government has asked all District Magistrates and police chiefs to impose fines on those found burning stubble in fields.

As per the directives issued by the state's Chief Secretary Durga Shankar Mishra, anyone caught burning agriculture residue or waste in their fields, the fine is Rs 2,500 if the field is less than 2 acres, Rs 5,000 of the field is 2 to 5 acres and Rs 15,000 if the size of the field is above 5 acres.

Mishra has asked concerned officials to ensure that no agricultural waste is burnt in fields.

He said a campaign should be organised to sensitise farmers against the ill effects of crop burning but if anyone is caught burning waste, then action should be initiated against them.

A government spokesman said: "The Chief Secretary has said that 14 instruments and machines have been identified for dealing with agricultural waste. It has been directed that farm banks, where common use instruments and machinery can be kept, should be set up and equipment given to individual farmers as per need. Individual farmers will get 50 per cent subsidy while Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), cooperatives and panchayats will get 80 per cent subsidy for establishment of machinery banks." The purchase of instruments and machinery should be completed by October 15.

As per the directives, agricultural waste from fields of those farmers who burnt this waste last year, should be collected and stored in cow shelters.

Of the farm residue so collected, 25 per cent should be used for mixing in the odder for cattle.

At least 20,000 tonnes of agricultural waste should be sent to cow shelters during this financial year and a scheme started by the government earlier, 'Parali do Khad lo' should be promoted extensively.

The official said that a penalty on farmers should be the last resort and an extensive sensitisation programme should be carried out first where farmers are told about the ill effects of burning agricultural waste and its impact on air, soil and water pollution.

Interactive sessions should be organised between farmers and agriculture experts.

In addition to this, nodal officers should be appointed for every revenue village and it will be the responsibility of revenue officials (lekhpals) to ensure that no farm fires take place.
Chennai, Oct 12 : Popular actor and music director Vijay Antony has urged families not to take their disputes to a third person and instead look to resolve it themselves.

Taking to Twitter, the actor wrote in Tamil, "If you have a problem in your family, as far as possible, look to keep the fight amongst yourselves. If not, leave and depart.

"Or else, fall at their feet and somehow convince them and live together. Don't ever call a third person at any cost to resolve the issue. They will complicate things and finish the story." This is not the first time that Vijay Antony has made such a suggestion.

On Gandhi Jayanti this year, the actor had urged his followers not to give up hard work.

He had then said, "Don't stop working. Difficulties don't last for the ones who work." On the work front, Vijay Antony has a series of films waiting to hit screens. He has the investigative thriller 'Kolai', being directed by Balaji Kumar, and director Suseenthiran's 'Valli Mayil', a period film. He also has director C S Amudhan's action thriller 'Ratham' coming up.
Agartala : President Droupadi Murmu was accorded an all women Guard of Honour by Tripura Police on her arrival in Agartala on Wednesday, October 12, 2022. (Photo:IANS/Twitter) Image Source: IANS News

Agartala : President Droupadi Murmu was accorded an all women Guard of Honour by Tripura Police on her arrival in Agartala on Wednesday, October 12, 2022. (Photo:IANS/Twitter) Image Source: IANS News

Agartala, Oct 12 : President Droupadi Murmu, who arrived in Tripura on Wednesday, inaugurated a Judicial Academy and laid the foundation stone of the National Law University at Narsingarh, on the outskirts of the Agartala city.

This was her first visit to the northeastern region after assuming the highest office on July 25.

According to the officials, National Law University, Tripura under the Higher Education Department of the state government, would now function from the Tripura Judicial Academy as both are adjacent places.

Prof. (Dr.) Yogesh Pratap Singh has recently been appointed as first Vice-Chancellor of National Law University, Tripura, for which the state government has allotted 9.23 acres of land at Narsingarh for setting up of a permanent campus of the varsity.

Officials said that students from the northeastern and other states of India would be able to take higher studies on law in the University, first of its kind in the northeastern region. They said that in the Tripura Judicial Academy training would be provided to the judicial officers and officers of other departments of Tripura government, who are discharging judicial, quasi-judicial or administrative functions related to law.

In the academy, constructed on five acres of land and at a cost of Rs 23.33 crore, training would also be provided to the ministerial officers of the Tripura High Court, district judiciary and also to hold and conduct law lectures, conferences, seminars and competition in the field of law.

Later in the day, the President would inaugurate the newly constructed MLA hostel at Capital Complex in Agartala and lay the foundation stone of seven other projects.

Murmu on Thursday would flag off a new passenger train between Agartala and Kolkata.

The Tripura government would also accord a civic reception to the President on Wednesday evening.
Seoul, Oct 12 : North Korean Ambassador to the UN Kim Song on Wednesday lashed out at the US, arguing it is aggravating tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Addressing a session of the first committee of the UN General Assembly held in New York, Kim urged the US to refrain from providing a nuclear umbrella and to suspend joint exercises with South Korea, reports Yonhap News Agency.

He claimed that the "stakes are running high" on the Korean Peninsula more than ever before due to the "dangerously growing hostility" and nuclear threat of Washington.

The envoy called on the US to take the lead in nuclear disarmament and to refrain from providing a nuclear umbrella or transferring nuclear technology.

Kim also took issue with the recent joint exercises between Washington and Seoul, including the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise in August and maritime exercises involving the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan last month.

He then defended the North's arms build-up as a basic right stipulated in the UN charter and a self-defensive means to counter the "heinous hostility of the US".

The comments came as the North has been sharply ratcheting up tensions on the peninsula in recent weeks, staging seven rounds of provocative ballistic missile launches over the past two weeks.

The North also said it staged large-scale air-attack drills on October 8, involving the simultaneous mobilization of around 150 warplanes "for the first time in history".
New Delhi, Oct 12 : Corporate profitability is seen declining 300 basis points (bps) due to elevated commodity prices, Crisil said in a report.

On its part, corporate profitability -- or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) margin -- contracted 300 basis points (bps) on-year in the second quarter, marking the fourth consecutive quarter of on-year decline.

The margin contracted sequentially as well, albeit slightly.

Ebitda margins of 70 per cent of the 47 sectors tracked by CRISIL Research shrunk on-year. The sharpest reduction was in construction-linked sectors, at over 1,000 bps on-year, largely due to high input costs and delay in passing those on to customers.

Among these sectors, Ebitda margin in steel products is likely to have contracted 1,500 bps on-year due to elevated coking coal prices and lower realisations amid drop in flat steel prices and sales to the lucrative export segment being limited.

Says Sehul Bhatt, Associate Director, CRISIL Research, "Rising revenue momentum is not translating into profit margin proportionately. Although key commodity prices such as coking coal and crude oil have cooled sequentially, they remain elevated on-year, eating into corporate profits, with absolute Ebitda profit remaining flattish during the quarter, both on-year as well sequentially. Sustenance of commodity prices at current levels is crucial to limit further margin contraction." A combination of factors such as moderate price hikes and steadily rising volumes is expected to lift corporate revenue 15 per cent on-year to Rs 10.2 lakh crore in the second quarter of this fiscal.

CRISIL's analysis of over 300 companies (excluding those in the financial services, and oil and gas sectors) indicates as much.

Of the total 47 sectors tracked by CRISIL Research, nearly half are estimated to have outpaced overall revenue growth during the quarter, with key sectors within consumer discretionary services logging maximum on-year growth.

The underperformance of the remaining sectors compared with overall growth was largely broad-based across the construction-linked, consumer staples, and industrial commodities verticals.
New Delhi, Oct 12 : iPhone users will have to wait till end of December to use 5G services while Samsung will roll out over the air (OTA) facility by November-end.

This was announced by the two major mobile phone makers on Wednesday after a meeting was convened jointly by Telecom and Electronics departments with mobile handset makers and mobile service providers to discuss issues related to 5G rollout.

An OTA update is the wireless delivery of new software, firmware, or other data to mobile devices. Wireless carriers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) typically use over-the-air updates to deploy firmware and configure phones for use on their networks over Wi-Fi or mobile broadband.

Government had rolled out 5G services on October 1 and Wednesday's meeting was called to discuss modalities of making mobile handsets compatible with the new technology, so that users can avail 5G benefits at the earliest.

Samsung, Apple and Xiaomi were among the major mobile phone makers present in the meeting, which was presided over by Telecom as well as IT secretaries.

"We are working with our carrier partners in India to bring the best 5G experience to iPhone users as soon as network validation and testing for quality and performance is completed. 5G will be enabled via a software update and will start rolling out to iPhone users in December," iPhone maker Apple said in statement after the meeting.

Samsung also issued a statement after the meeting, saying that it will roll out OTA updates across all its 5G devices by end of November.

"Samsung has pioneered 5G technology development since 2009 and took the leading role in standardizing 5G technology globally. In India, Samsung has the widest portfolio of 5G devices. We are working closely with our operator partners and are committed to rolling out OTA updates across all our 5G devices by end of November 2022, enabling Indian consumers to experience 5G seamlessly," said a Samsung India spokesperson.
Amaravati, Oct 12 : Andhra Pradesh High Court on Wednesday dismissed the bail petition of Member of Legislative Council (MLC) Anantha Uday Bhaskar alias Ananta Babu in the murder case of his former car driver.

The legislator, who was suspended by the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) after his arrest in May, sought bail on the grounds that the police failed to file the chargesheet even after 90 days after his arrest.

The prosecution, however, argued that the police filed the chargesheet within the stipulated time but the same was sent back by the court on technical grounds. After hearing both sides, a division bench dismissed the bail petition.

A single judge of the High Court had last month refused default bail to the MLC. The accused had approached the high court after a lower court had rejected his bail petitions thrice.

He is currently lodged in Rajamahendravaram Jail. A SC,ST special court had recently extended his judicial custody.

In August, he was granted bail for three days to enable him to perform last rites of his mother.

Anantha Babu, as the MLC is popularly known, was arrested in May for the murder of his former driver V. Subrahmanyam. He had pushed the deceased during an argument resulting in his fall and death on the night of May 19.

The MLC also told police that he inflicted injuries on Subrahmanyam's body to present it as a death in a road accident. However, the driver's family refused to believe his version and lodged a complaint with the police.

After Anantha Babu's arrest, the YSRCP had suspended him from the party.
Washington, Oct 12 : Ned Price, spokesman of the US State Department, has said that the civilian government of Pakistan is the "primary interlocutor" in bilateral ties between Islamabad and Washington as he answered questions related to the country and the army chief's recent visit.

Referring to Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa's trip, Price said: "The Deputy Secretary Wendy Sherman did have an opportunity to meet with the chief of the army staff Mr Bajwa," The Express Tribune reported.

Addressing a press conference Washington D.C., he added that "we value our longstanding cooperation with Pakistan".

"There are a number of areas where our interests are aligned. Of course, the stability and the future of Afghanistan, of the Afghan people, the security challenges that the region and potentially beyond face there always are on the agenda when we have high-level engagements with our Pakistani counterparts," The Express Tribune quoted the spokesman as saying.

"We meet with and speak with them regularly on a range of issues," Price noted but also stated that "as is standard practice, we don't delve into the details of those engagements always".

Earlier this month, Gen Bajwa was in the US on a five-day trip in yet another sign of stepped-up efforts by both sides to improve their fraught and difficult relations.

During the press briefing in Washington, journalists probed for further details of the visit and asked if Gen Bajwa had also met with US Secretary Blinken.

However, Price brushed off the questions saying "we do not have any meetings to read out".

"The meeting I referred to was between Deputy Secretary Sherman and the chief of the army staff," he clarified.
Kochi, Oct 12 : The Kerala Police probing the suspected human sacrifice case in Pathanamthitta district who arrested three persons in connection with the death of two women, has identified the prime accused Mohammed Shafi as a "psychopath" and a "pervert".

The couple which committed the heinous act have been identified as Bhagaval Singh and his wife Laila, who used to run a massage centre near Aranmula in Pathanamthitta district at their house Shafi brought the two women to the couple's home in June and September, and they were brutally murdered by the couple.

Shafi has been named as the prime accused along with Singh and Laila.

Addressing the media in Kochi after the accused trio were produced before the city court which sent them to two weeks judicial custody, Kochi Police Commissioner C.H. Nagaraju said Shafi is a history-sheeter and is involved in a dozen cases registered against him in the past 15 years.

"Shafi has studied only up to Class 6 and did all menial jobs right from a driver to a mechanic to the one who runs a hotel. A rape case has been registered against him in the past when he raped a 75-year-old woman and also used a knife to make wounds in the private parts. We have found out that the same places were injured in the two women who were murdered apparently as a human sacrifice," Nagaraju added.

"It has now been proved that he (Shafi) is a psychopath and a sexual pervert, and the one who derives sexual pleasure and will go to any extent even to kill for it. He has been using a fake Facebook account and it says that if anyone has financial problems to contact him. That's how he befriended Singh and it took three years for him to win their confidence and trap them and the crime took place," the Commissioner said.

Responding to questions after reports emerged that the couple after murdering the two women as part of black magic had cooked and eaten their body parts, Nagaraju said for this to be proved there has to be a proper scientific examination as at the moment there is no evidence of it.

He added that the police have now constituted a special team and will seek the custody of the accused to ensure that the probe is completed.
Bengaluru, Oct 12 : Amid the anti-encroachment drive, a couple on Wednesday threatened to set themselves ablaze in a bid to prevent the BBMP authorities from demolishing their house here.

The BBMP has been carrying out the drive against properties encroaching stormwater drains (SWDs) in Bengaluru.

According to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials, the house had been identified as encroaching upon the SWD during the recent survey and a notice had been served to its owners.

The incident took place in the KR Puram locality where the couple, Sunil and Sona Singh, reside.

The couple, who are private firm employees in the city, poured petrol on themselves and threatened to set themselves ablaze when the BBMP officials reached their house which allegedly encroached a SWD by two metres.

The police and the BBMP officials splashed the couple with buckets of water and also used water hoses to spray water at high pressure. The couple were detained by the KR Puram police for a brief period of time.

According to the local police officials, the couple were distraught as they had constructed the house by availing a loan and were in the process of repaying it.

Ever since heavy rainfall resulted in massive flooding in some parts of the city in September, the authorities have been following up with anti-encroachment drives against constructions blocking the SWDs.
New York, Oct 12 : Traumatic experiences are associated with a number of adverse mental and physical health outcomes, finds a new study.

The study, to be presented during The North American Menopause Society (NAMS) Annual Meeting in Atlanta, suggests that they may also be linked with lower concentrations of sex hormones in midlife women -- especially women with shorter sleep.

"This work highlights the importance of trauma in relation to health at midlife, particularly given the sensitivity of women's health to hormones," says lead author Mary CarsonAfrom the University of Pittsburgh.

Previous research has shown that psychological trauma can potentially suppress ovarian function and reduce ovarian estrogen secretion. However, the relationship between trauma and sex hormones in midlife women remains largely unknown.A For this study, the team involved 260 postmenopausal women. It evaluated whether traumatic experiences are associated with levels of estrogens (estradiol, estrone) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and whether this association is affected by sleep duration.

The researchers found that women with a history of trauma had lower levels of estrogens, including estradiol and estrone than women without such history.

There was no relationship between trauma and FSH levels. Findings were not accounted for by depressive or posttraumatic stress symptoms, vasomotor symptoms, or how long a woman had been post-menopausal.

The relationship between trauma and hormones depended on how much women were sleeping -- women with a history of trauma who slept fewer than six hours per night had particularly low levels of estrogens.
Hyderabad, Oct 12 : AIMIM floor leader in Telangana State Legislative Assembly Akbaruddin Owaisi on Wednesday urged Hyderabad Metro Rail to take up construction of Metro Rail in the old city at the earliest.

Akbaruddin Owaisi met Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (HMRL) managing director N. V. S. Reddy and urged him to undertake construction of the Metro corridor from Imlibun Bus Station to Falaknuama. He pointed out that the state government has already allocated Rs 500 crore for Metro connectivity to the old city.

Following repeated requests and representations by the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), the state government allocated Rs 500 crore to Hyderabad Metro Rail for taking up works on the long pending connectivity to the old city from MGBS, Imlibun to Falaknuma under Corridor-II of 5.5 km in the current financial year 2022-23, said Owaisi.

The MLA from Chandrayangutta constituency recalled that he has requested the state government to fix the timeline for taking up and completing the Metro Rail works on the old city stretch. "I have been pleading with the government to expeditiously complete the works on the Metro Rail in the old city but no progress is seen till now. It is strange but true that there is undue delay in extending HMR connectivity in the old city, even after budgetary allocation is made," he wrote to Reddy.

During the meeting, Reddy and other HMR officials explained to Owaisi the proposed alignment of HMR in the old city.

HMR received allocations of Rs 2,377.35 crore in the state budget for 2022-23. This includes Rs 500 crore for connectivity to the old city.

L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad (L&TMRH) has completed the first phase of the Metro Rail project across three corridors to a total length of 69.2 km. While L. B. Nagar to Miyapur and Nagole to Raidurg corridors have been completed, Jubilee Bus Station (JBS) to Falaknuma is yet to be completed. On the third corridor, connectivity has been provided from JBS to Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station (MGBS) also called Imlibun.

The developer has not taken up expansion in the old city due to lack of permission. Religious and heritage structures along the proposed route in the old city and financial losses suffered by the developer and operator due to Covid-19 pandemic are cited as the reasons for the delay in construction of Metro works on the 5.5 km stretch.

The state government has still not made clear if it will fund the work in the old city on its own. The concessionaire is unlikely to fund the works as the project cost has already escalated substantially for property acquisition, shift of utilities like electricity lines, water pipelines and the construction of elevated viaduct as well as stations.

Last year, L&TMRHL sought the state government's help to overcome the losses it incurred due to the pandemic.

The 73-km elevated metro is the biggest metro project in the world in public private partnership (PPP) model built at a total cost of Rs 20,000 crore.

Hyderabad Metro operates 55 trains. Before Covid broke out, it was carrying about 4.5 lakh passengers every day.

According to officials, the average daily ridership is now 3.78 lakh.
New Delhi, Oct 12 : Adding to its acoustic portfolio, Japanese consumer durable brand AIWA on Wednesday launched its latest portable Bluetooth speaker for Rs 34,990 in India.

The 'Meteor MI-X330' speaker is equipped with high-power rechargeable batteries and strong build quality.

The portable Bluetooth speaker is available at AIWA India's official website and key retail stores, said the company.

"The 'Luxury Acoustics Speaker' range has been the most successful range of products for AIWA in the past year and the brand has been able to compete and establish its footing into the elite high-end speaker bracket that comprises iconic global brands," said Ajay Mehta, MD, AIWA India.

"We hope to continue building the number of AIWA users further with exciting products over next year. Meteor is just a start and we are confident that the product will deliver stunning performance," he added.

The speaker comes equipped with multiple features such as 24-bit music quality audio over Bluetooth 5.0, two passive bass radiators for even distribution of sound, two 40 mm active audio drivers and a Type-C charging point, that enables 6-7 hours of charging time and playback time of 6-10 hours.

Moreover, the speaker is powered by a 5000mAh battery which delivers a 60W of powerful sound and is also equipped with a circular LED display, a control panel, and a 3.5mm AUX-IN, said the company.
Chandigarh, Oct 12 : In a major reprieve to Delhi-based BJP leader Tejinder Singh Bagga, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday quashed an FIR against him, asserting the continuation of criminal proceedings would amount to an abuse of the process of law.

Also the same court quashed the FIR in a separate case against former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Kumar Vishwas.

BJP leader Bagga had moved the High Court while challenging the non-bailable arrest warrant issued against him by a Mohali Court in May.

While pronouncing the judgment in Bagga case, Justice Anoop Chitkara said the court had seen all the tweets and posts placed on record by the parties.

"There is no allegation that the petitioner had posted such tweets by entering the state of Punjab, or any incident had taken place within its territories due to such tweet. Every post of the petitioner will not give territorial jurisdiction to the state of Punjab to investigate in the guise of the present FIR.

"Had the investigating agency of another state been given that much leverage, it would impact the federal structure under the Indian Constitution, where every state has the right to maintain law and order within its territorial boundaries," Justice Chitkara observed.

Senior advocates Chetan Mittal and R.S. Rai with advocates Mayank Aggarwal and Gautam Dutt, appearing for Bagga, had contended that the registration of the FIR was wholly mala fide.

Punjab Police, while taking Bagga to Mohali from Delhi in May, was stopped midway by the Haryana Police after Delhi Police registered a kidnapping case on the complaint of father of the BJP leader.

"Even otherwise, a perusal of such tweets show that same are part of a political campaign. There is nothing in the investigation that the petitioner's statement created or would have created any communal hatred.

"Thus, even if all the allegations made in the complaint and subsequent investigation from social media posts, are true and correct at face value, they would not amount to a hate speech, and no case against the petitioner is made out," Justice Chitkara said.

"In the peculiar facts and circumstances, it is a fit case where the continuation of criminal proceedings shall amount to an abuse of the process of law, and the court invokes its inherent jurisdiction under Section 482 CrPC and quashes the FIR," said the judge.

As per the response filed by the police in the court, Bagga had a criminal history, which he had declared while submitting his application form for the Delhi Assembly elections.

The Punjab government, in its habeas plea, had moved two applications -- one for making the Centre a party to the case and the second for direction to Delhi and Haryana Police to preserve the CCTV cameras.

The state had filed a habeas corpus petition against the Haryana government, alleging that 12 Punjab Police officers involved in the arrest of Bagga had been detained by the Haryana Police in Kurukshetra. Also Punjab sought the custody of Bagga, the national secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, who was held in connection with a case registered against him in Mohali in April.

In its plea, the Punjab government had alleged that when Punjab Police were taking Bagga to SAS Nagar (Mohali) to produce him before the area magistrate, the Haryana Police stopped them midway and brought them to the Kurukshetra where his custody was given to the Delhi Police.

Delhi Police, which reports to the Union Home Ministry, took Bagga's custody and later released him after a legal process. It also lodged two cases against Punjab Police in connection with Bagga's arrest.

In a separate petition, the former AAP leader had moved the high court on April 26 seeking to quash the FIR registered against him by the Punjab Police for allegedly giving inflammatory statements against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

On April 12, the Rupnagar police booked Vishwas under sections of the Indian Penal Code pertaining to promoting enmity between groups, criminal conspiracy, publishing or circulating news with intent to create enmity on the grounds of religion or race, etc. on the complaint of Narinder Singh.

Earlier, the High court had stayed the arrest of Vishwas, terming it a fit case to prevent the "abuse of the process of law".
Chennai, Oct 12 : AIADMK interim general secretary and opposition leader, Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS) has questioned the effectiveness of the much-flaunted project of the state police 'Operation Minnal', a lighting drive against rowdies and history-sheeters in the state.

The former Chief Minister in a statement on Wednesday said that the state government has let off 2,390 history-sheeters from prisons across the state after taking an undertaking from them. He asked whether the state police were monitoring these people after getting discharged from jail.

He also referred to the robbery at the ancestral home of an Inspector General of Police in Uthukottai, Tiruvallur district, and wondered whether the police were effective in nabbing the rowdies under Operation Minnal programme.

Palaniswami also referred to the Director General of Police, C. Sylendra Babu's statement that in 72 hours the state police have arrested 3,905 rowdies under the 'Operation Minnal', and of the arrested, 705 were jailed. The AIADMK leader wondered how the theft had taken place in the residence of an Inspector General if these many rowdies were rounded up.

He called upon the state government to keep a tab on the history-sheeters who were released and the growing crime reported from various districts of the state.
Chennai, Oct 12 : Zoho Corporation on Wednesday said that its integrated platform Zoho One now supports 50,000 organisations across more than 160 countries and in India, Zoho One has seen 64 per cent growth in the last two years.

In India, over 45 per cent of the demand was driven by tier 2 and tier 3 cities, indicating the increase in digitisation of businesses in non-metros.

The key sectors contributing to the growth are IT and professional services, BFSI, retail and wholesale, education, and real estate and construction, according to the company.

"Siloed systems cause business silos. An integrated organisation, therefore, is typically a reflection of integrated systems underneath. This is what we see with our own customers," said Hariharan Muralimanohar, Head of Marketing, Zoho One.

Nearly half of Zoho One customers use 20 or more apps across functions, integrating their organisation and reporting higher returns.

Over the past two years, the platform has grown 150 per cent, with 37.5 per cent of new Zoho One customers coming from mid-market and enterprise businesses.

According to the company, license upgrades by customers who adopted Zoho One five years ago have increased 92 per cent.

Launched in 2017 as a first-of-its-kind suite including 35 integrated applications, Zoho One is the operating system for business - a comprehensive, scalable platform comprised of 45 unified applications along with end-to-end services from sales and marketing to finance, HR, and analytics.

Zoho One pricing starts at Rs 1,800 per employee per month, billed annually, said the company.

Customers like IIFL, Meril Life Sciences, Tata Play Fiber, FynDNA TechCorp, and Fyers have added more licenses and increased the usage of apps and services.

Headquartered in Chennai, Zoho is profitable with over 11,000 employees.
San Francisco, Oct 12 : A number of Meta-owned Facebook users, including the company's CEO Mark Zuckerberg, have lost most of their following for unknown reasons, media reports said.

Zuckerberg's follower count is below 10,000 after losing over 119 million followers.

Several users took microblogging platform Twitter to complain about the issue.

"Facebook created a tsunami that wiped away my almost 900,000 followers and left only 9000 something on the shore. I kind of like Facebook's comedy," popular author Taslima Nasreen tweeted.

"Even Mark Zuckerberg's followers on Facebook are now 9000 something," she wrote.

According to media reports, a technological error caused an unexpected dip in followers.

"It is a technical glitch. Nothing to worry about. Just click on the number of followers on your profile. You will see the actual number," another user wrote.

The company has not issued any statement on the matter till now.

Meanwhile, last week, Meta warned at least 1 million Facebook users about more than 400 malicious Android and iOS apps targeting them to steal their login information and compromise their accounts.

According to the company, it reported its findings to Apple and Google and is helping potentially impacted people to learn more about how to stay safe and secure their accounts.
Chennai, Oct 12 : Megastar Chiranjeevi and Superstar Salman Khan's latest movie 'GodFather' has breached the 1.1 million dollar mark in the US and still going strong.

The movie that was released for Dussehra received an amazing response from the audience on its opening day. Since then, it is continuing to post impressive numbers every day.

'GodFather' happens to be the third million-dollar movie for Chiranjeevi. While his comeback film 'Khaidi No 150' was the first movie to enter the million-dollar club, 'Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy' was the second movie.

'GodFather' has already grossed Rs 100 crore worldwide and is continuing its good run on weekdays as well.

Sources close to the unit say that there will be no big movie releasing this week and therefore the makers are hopeful that the film will continue its domination for a few more days.
An Iranian Navy officer who suffered a hearty attack on a ship off Mumbai, was given a medical evacuation by the Indian Navy and admitted to the INHS Ashvini for treatment. Image Source: IANS News

An Iranian Navy officer who suffered a hearty attack on a ship off Mumbai, was given a medical evacuation by the Indian Navy and admitted to the INHS Ashvini for treatment. Image Source: IANS News

An Iranian Navy officer who suffered a hearty attack on a ship off Mumbai, was given a medical evacuation by the Indian Navy and admitted to the INHS Ashvini for treatment. Image Source: IANS News

An Iranian Navy officer who suffered a hearty attack on a ship off Mumbai, was given a medical evacuation by the Indian Navy and admitted to the INHS Ashvini for treatment. Image Source: IANS News

Mumbai, Oct 12 : An Indian Navy ALH helicopter was despatched to help an Iranian Navy officer who had suffered a heart attack on a ship sailing off Mumbai, officials said on Wednesday.

At around 8.30 a.m., the Iranian Navy requested medical evacuation of its Navy officer who had suffered a cardiac arrest onboard IRI Ship Makaran, off the Mumbai coast.

The Indian Navy helicopter from INS Shikra flew to the vessel and evacuated the patient alongwith two attendants.

They were directly airlifted to the Navy hospital, INHS Asvini by 9.50 a.m., in less than 90 minutes, and the officer admitted for treatment.
Bhopal, Oct 12 : Veteran Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Mallikarjun Kharge said on Wednesday that after becoming the Congress national president, his prime responsibility would be to implement declarations made during the party's meeting held in Rajasthan's Udaipur.

Kharge, who is one of the candidates for the Congress president, was in Bhopal to seek support for his candidature.

Addressing a press conference at the Congress headquarters in Bhopal, the Congress Rajya Sabha MP said that all the declarations made during the Udaipur conclave were finalised after long discussions and they are the need of the hour.

He said that all decisions would be taken by the collective leadership of the Congress.

Kharge added that he was selected as a candidate for the Congress presidential poll by the collective leadership of the party.

"There are different committees which are assigned a specific role to play, and all those decisions are taken in a collective way," he said.

Kharge slammed the BJP, saying that all institutions have been destroyed in the last few years and the democratic process of the country has been jeopardised.

"I am contesting elections after it was decided that no one from the Gandhi family is ready to run for the party president's post," Kharge added.

The veteran leader, who was accompanied by senior party leaders Pramod Tiwari and Gaurav Ballabh, made it clear that Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi will be the prominent leaders in the Congress.

"Congress has won six states under Rahul Gandhi's leadership, but the BJP's horse trading policy and undemocratic policy wrested power from us in several states, including Madhya Pradesh and the fresh example in Maharashtra," Kharge said.
New Delhi, Oct 12: Hindus in the UK are gearing up once again to hold a protest, this time against the BBC for allegedly peddling an anti-Hindu agenda and for being "Hinduphobic".

The protest to be held on October 29 will take place in front of the BBC Broadcasting House, Portland, in London. A Twitter campaign has been launched by Hindus in the UK to gather larger number of people for the protest.

British Hindu organisations have alleged that targeted misinformation on social media platforms was amplified by mainstream British media -- The Guardian and the BBC, that fueled violence against the Hindu community in Leicester -- a city long known for its multi-cultural harmony over decades.

India Narrative spoke with people in the UK about the planned protest. They are hoping it will be bigger as compared to the earlier one as more people are expected to join.

"The BBC has a history of portraying India and the Hindus in a negative way so this will be much bigger as students, the working class and Indian community groups have combined to stage this protest," said one of the organisers.

He said Indians will carry out the protest against the BBC's "Hinduphobia and anti-Hindu agenda", adding that the Hindus want to send out a strong message that media in the UK are not portraying the correct picture of what happened in Leicester and Birmingham.

The planned protest against the BBC follows a similar protest against The Guardian newspaper in late September, in which Indians held placards outside the newspaper's office over publishing "articles on India and Hindus which depict them as intolerant and extremists". The protesters even alleged that biased coverage against Hindus is now leading to attacks on the Hindu community.

The community even submitted a memorandum to The Guardian's editor, Katharine Viner, how the Indian community has sheltered persecuted minorities from different parts of the world for over 2,000 years. The memorandum said: "Most of the articles do not even try to hide their extreme targeting of Hindus. There are outright lies and innuendos written by your correspondents. There is scant respect for journalistic standards. This hate is now spilling over in the UK and Hindus and their places of worship are being targeted." The pushback by the Hindus in the UK began after the community was attacked in nearly three weeks of continuous but sporadic incidents of violence in Leicester, in which a temple flag was burnt, Hindu houses were damaged and people threatened. Investigations have revealed that the attacks on the Hindus were part of a strategy in which fake posts about Muslims being assaulted were shared on social media. Hindu groups in both Leicester and London said that this misinformation was published by the British media without verifying, therefore, giving credence to lies.

The unprecedented violence was also targeted at local police personnel, scores of whom were injured. After investigations, the Leicester Police also debunked a number of lies that were used to fan violence against the Hindus. The police has arrested and is investigating a total of 61 people for the violence.

Some Hindu activists have said that radical Muslims who had been brought into Leicester from as far as London and also Birmingham threatened to cleanse Hindus from the city in the same manner in which the community had been pushed out of Kashmir by terrorists and their sympathisers in the 1990s.

The unabated tensions and repeated violence even brought the newly-appointed UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman to Leicester to interact with the police and the various communities. Stern action by the police, which had to bring in reinforcements from outside Leicester, brought calm to the city.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative
New Delhi, Oct 12 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Centre and the RBI to file comprehensive affidavits on the 2016 demonetisation decision and also keep the files ready in connection with Centre's letter to the RBI, the decision of the RBI Board, and the demonetisation announcement.

During the hearing, a five-judge bench, headed by Justice S.A. Nazeer, noted that the court is aware of its 'Lakshman Rekha' on judicial review of government policy.

The bench - also comprising Justices B.R. Gavai, A.S. Bopanna, V. Ramasubramanian, and B.V. Nagarathna -- said the petitioners' main argument is Section 26 of the RBI Act does not authorise the Centre to completely cancel the currency notes of particular denomination. Therefore, the main question is whether the government had powers under Section 26 to demonetise all notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 denomination, noted the bench.

The top court is hearing over 50 petitions challenging the Centre's 2016 demonetisation decision.

On September 28, the Supreme Court had asked the petitioners challenging Centre's decision to demonetise currency notes of Rs 500, and Rs 1,000, in November 2016, if the the issue survives now? Attorney General R. Venkataramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted that the issue has become an academic exercise now. Senior advocate P. Chidambaram, representing a petitioner, submitted that validity of the government's decision is still open to challenge. The petitioners' lawyer insisted that the government did not have power to cancel the currency notes through an executive order and stressed that for future, the issue is still relevant.

The bench noted that when issues of constitutional importance are referred, it is the duty of the court to answer them. However, it asked in this case, has the issue not become fait accompli? Chidambaram said the issue is very much alive. The AG said when the Act is not challenged, the notifications cannot be challenged and the issues are academic.

Chidambaram said that the demonetisation carried out in 1978 was through a separate Act of the Parliament unlike the 2016 decision. He queried whether the demonetisation of this kind -- withdrawing 86 percent of currency notes -- in circulation requires a separate law by the Parliament.

On the aspect whether the exercise is academic or infructuous, the bench said it needs to examine the matter since both sides do not agree. It said it knows where the 'Lakshman Rekha' is, but the manner in which this action was done has to be examined and it has to hear the counsel to decide that.

Mehta said the court's time should not be wasted on academic issues. Senior advocate Shyam Divan, representing petitioner Vivek Narayan Sharma, said he was surprised at Mehta's comments, as the earlier bench had said these cases must be placed before a constitution bench.

Divan read out the issues formulated in the reference order for the bench and added that the Supreme Court had barred other courts from entertaining petitions on this subject.

The top court asked the Centre and the RBI to file comprehensive affidavits on the 2016 demonetisation decision and also keep the files ready in connection with Centre's letter to the RBI, the decision of the RBI Board, and the demonetisation announcement. The bench has scheduled the matter for further hearing on November 9.
New Delhi, Oct 12 : India has been extremely keen on adopting digital payment system fully and has been making giant leaps towards it.

During the last three years, digital payment transactions have registered unprecedented growth in India. Easy and convenient modes of digital payment, such as Bharat Interface for Money-Unified Payments Interface (BHIM-UPI); Immediate Payment Service (IMPS); pre-paid payment instruments (PPIs) and National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) system have registered substantial growth and have transformed digital payment ecosystem by increasing Person-to- Person (P2P) as well as Person-to-Merchant (P2M) payments.

At the same time, pre-existing payment modes such as debit cards, credit cards, National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) and Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) have also grown at a fast pace.

BHIM-UPI has emerged as the preferred payment mode of users. The Government of India also launched the digital payment solution e-RUPI, a cashless and contactless instrument for digital payment, which is expected to play a huge role in making Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) more effective in digital transactions in the country. All these facilities together have created a robust ecosystem for a digital finance economy.

Getting a whopping over 1.3 billion people under the ambit of digital payment solutions is not an easy task but the Indian government is not leaving any stone unturned to achieve that milestone.

One of the major objectives of Digital India is to achieve "Faceless, Paperless, Cashless" status. The promotion of digital payments has been accorded the highest priority by the Government of India to bring each and every segment of our country under the formal fold of digital payment services.

UPI has been termed a revolutionary product in the payment ecosystem. Launched in 2016, it has emerged as one of the most popular tools in the country for carrying out digital transactions. UPI is an instant payment system developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). It powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application, merging several banking features, seamless fund routing and merchant payments into one hood.

UPI has gone a long way in making digital payments a habit, and in firmly placing India on the track toward a cashless economy. In the month of August 2022 alone, 346 banks were live on the UPI interface, with 6.58 billion financial transactions being carried out for a total value of nearly Rs 10.73 lakh crore.

UPI currently constitutes well over 40 per cent of all digital transactions taking place in India. It has given a boost to small businesses and street vendors as it enables fast and secure bank-to-bank transactions even for considerably small amounts. It also facilitates quick money transfers for migrant workers. The technology is convenient to use as it requires minimum physical intervention, making it possible to transfer money simply by scanning a QR code. UPI has also been a savior during the Covid-19 pandemic, with its adoption expanding rapidly due to its ability to allow easy, contactless transactions.

There is no doubt that the digital payment landscape in India has been transformed. Complementing the efforts of the Government, the people of India have also displayed a great affinity for embracing new technologies. While some of the developed countries are facing problems due to inadequate digital infrastructure for transferring money to the accounts of their citizens, India has emerged as a leader in the creation of digital assets, which can serve as an example to many other nations.

Further, the Government of India is leaving no stone unturned to make India a global leader in the arena of digital payment systems and help it attain the status of one of the most efficient payments markets in the world.

Going forward, the emerging Fin-Techs will play a key role in the further growth of digital transactions by enabling transparent, secure, swift and cost-effective mechanisms benefiting the entire digital payments ecosystem.
New Delhi, Oct 12 : The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill, 2022 which seeks to amend the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002.

It will also incorporate the provisions of the 97th Constitutional Amendment, official sources said.

It will help in setting up of cooperative election authority, information officer and ombudsman.

The election authority will ensure that elections are held cooperative societies in a free, fair and timely manner.

The cooperative information officer will enhance transparency.

Also representation of women and SC, ST members would be ensured in cooperative societies, to promote equity sources said.
New Delhi, Oct 12 : The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a new scheme, the Prime Minister's Development Initiative for North East Region (PM-DevINE) for the remaining four years of the 15th Finance Commission from 2022-23 to 2025-26.

PM-DevINE is a central sector scheme with 100% central funding and will be implemented by the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER). It will have an outlay of Rs 6,600 crore for the four year period.

The Centre on Wednesday said that efforts will be made to complete the PM-DevINE projects by 2025-26 so that there are no committed liabilities beyond this year. This implies front-loading of the sanction projects under the scheme in 2022-23 and 2023-24 primarily. While expenditure would continue to be incurred during 2024-25 and 2025-26, focused attention will be given to complete the sanctioned PM-DevINE projects.

PM-DevINE will lead to creation of infrastructure, support industries, social development projects and create livelihood activities for youth and women.

It will be implemented by the Ministry of DoNER through the North Eastern Council or the central ministries/agencies. Measures would be taken to ensure adequate operation and maintenance of the projects sanctioned under PM-DevINE so that they are sustainable. To limit construction risks of time and cost overrun, the projects would be implemented on an Engineering-Procurement-Construction basis, to the extent possible.

The objectives of PM-DevINE include supporting social development projects based on felt needs of the NER, enable livelihood activities for youth and women and fill the development gaps in various sectors among others.

PM-DevINE will provide support to infrastructure and social development projects which may be larger in size and will also provide an end-to-end development solution instead of isolated projects. It will ensure that there is no duplication of project support under PM-DevINE with any of the other schemes of MDoNER or those of any other ministry/department.
Chennai, Oct 12 : After a roaring response on the film festival circuit, Mahesh Narayanan's Malayalam film, 'Ariyippu', is all set to stream on the OTT platform Netflix! The film made history as the first Indian film in 17 years to compete at the Locarno Film Festival in the international competition section.

'Ariyippu' has also been nominated for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2022 and will premiere at the Busan International Film Festival on October 12.

'Ariyippu' centres around the lives of a struggling Malayali couple who dream of migrating out of the country for a better life. The film also explores emotional, social, and marital imbalances in their relationship.

'Ariyippu' is being screened at the BFI London Film Festival, Marrakech International Film Festival and the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival.

Sharing his excitement about the film releasing on Netflix, director and producer Mahesh Narayanan says, "With the ongoing recognition and love for our film, we are extremely honoured that Netflix is bringing the film as a direct to digital globally which will always help cinephiles across the world to experience the film very soon." Monika Shergill, Vice President, Content, Netflix India commented, "At Netflix, we are constantly working towards bringing the most entertaining and compelling stories. We are excited to bring 'Ariyippu' ( Declaration) , a powerful film on the complex theme of a man-woman relationship told by acclaimed director and producer Mahesh Narayanan through the stellar performances of Divya Prabha and Kunchacko Boban. Just like 'Minnal Murali' won immense love across the world, we want our members to be won over by the dramatic universe of 'Ariyippu' on Netflix."
Mumbai, Oct 12 : Actress and celebrity Sherlyn Chopra recalled the harrowing incident when filmmaker-show host Sajid Khan flashed his part at her, back in 2005.

Sajid is currently a contestant on the reality television show 'Bigg Boss' and this has angered Chopra over how the makers could invite him to be a part of the show when no legal process has been followed to bring Sajid to justice.

While talking to the media at her Juhu residence in Mumbai, Sherlyn said, "It was distressing to know that the show makers invited Sajid Khan to the 'Bigg Boss' house." She went on to recall the disturbing incident that occurred back in 2005. She alleged Sajid of sexual misconduct and flashing his private part at her during the initial phase of her career when she was called by Khan to his house for a narration.

Chopra further mentioned, "In 2005, my father passed away. During that time, Sajid called me to his house for a story narration. I didn't know that he was a molester because remember we are talking about 2005 when the Internet and the smartphones weren't even there in the picture." She continued, "I went to his house with big dreams. During the narration, he flashed his private part, and asked me, 'You want to touch it? Feel it? You want to rate it?'".

The incident left her "completely shaken".

"At such a young age, instead of sympathising with me over the unfortunate departure of my father, he was molesting me. I was confused as to whom shall I go and share my ordeal with." "Should I go to his sister Farah Khan, the same Farah Khan, who is a good friend of Shah Rukh Khan who is known to be very humble towards women? My mind was overwhelmed because of such behaviour by Sajid", she added.

For a long time, Chopra blamed but things changed during the India part of the #MeToo campaign, "As #MeToo unfolded, I understood that he had molested several other women as well."Targeting the makers of aBigg Boss', the actress said, "If it's a reality show then let the reality come out, why are you keeping it under the wraps. If you can't then call us, we will uncover the truth." Currently, Chopra is seeking legal help from her team, "My legal representatives Saif and Sohail, they said they will send over a notice to the makers of 'Bigg Boss'", she concluded.
Chennai, Oct 12 : Union Minister of State for Jal Shakti and Tribal Affairs, Bhisweswar Tudu, has charged that he has received complaints that many officers in Tamil Nadu are taking bribes for providing water connections under the Jal Jeevan mission. He asked the state government to look into the matter and ensure that connections under the Jal Jeevan mission are provided free of cost.

He was speaking to media persons at Salem on Wednesday after inspecting the projects of the Jal Shakti mission.

He said that the maximum funds were alloted to the states and that the delay in the submission of reports by some departments has led to the delay in the release of funds by the central government.

The minister alleged that the Tamil Nadu government was implementing most of the central schemes in the districts as state government schemes. He charged that except at two places, there is no photograph of the Prime Minister at the central scheme locations but that of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, late M. Karunanidhi, and that of the present Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin.

He said that the details of schemes presented in Salem district were good but in practice it was not properly done and he was not satisfied.

Tudu claimed that the central government has released Rs 6281.24 crore between 2019-22 to Tamil Nadu.
Mumbai, Oct 12 : Actress and celebrity Sherlyn Chopra is miffed with the makers of the reality television show 'Bigg Boss' for including film director Sajid Khan, who was embroiled in the #MeToo controversy in India, back in 2018.

However, she has clarified that she just wants to make her voice heard along with several other women, who are the victims to Sajid's sexual misconduct.

During a media interaction at her Juhu home in Mumbai, Sherlyn told reporters, "I'm not looking to settle the scores with Sajid, I just want to make sure that no other woman falls victim to a molester like Sajid Khan." She further mentioned that she would like to go to the 'Bigg Boss' house not as a contestant but just for a day to have a face off with Sajid Khan so that she could bring the truth to light on national television.

"I'm waiting for 'Bigg Boss' makers to call me and women who are Sajid's victims, to the reality show just for just one day. I'll come on national television and face him and ask him to flash his private parts for the camera, we will then give a rating to him on national television, as he requested me for the same several years back when I went to his place for a narration", she added.
New Delhi, Oct 12 : Cyber-security researchers on Wednesday said they have discovered a massive leak involving over nine million cardholders' financial data that includes customers of the State Bank of India (SBI).

The threat intelligence team of AI-driven Singapore-headquartered CloudSEK discovered a threat actor advertising a database of 1.2 million cards for free on a Russian-speaking Dark Web cybercrime forum.

This followed another incident of 7.9 million cardholder data advertised on the BidenCash website.

Unlike previous records, this time, the hackers released sensitive Personal Identifiable Information (PII) information such as SSN, card details and CVV, the team revealed.

"State Bank of India, Fiserv Solutions LLC, American Express were some of the top banking institutions which were affected. There were approximately 508,000 debit cards breached with 414,000 records of Visa payment network followed by Mastercard," the security researchers said.

The majority of personal emails associated with the card details were exposed. Other official emails records were found to be exposed associated with SoftBank, Bank of Singapore, and World Bank from the previous data breach by BidenCash.

"Marketplaces like BidenCash emerge frequently where the threat actors trade-sensitive card data for carding and cloning services. While the modern day security mechanisms are able to minimise the impact, threat actors regularly check deploy new methods to bypass them," said Rishika Desai, Cyber Threat Researcher- CloudSEK.

Leaked PII could enable threat actors to orchestrate social engineering schemes, phishing attacks, and even identity theft.

"Exposed card details might be used by them to carry out attacks such as card trafficking, card cloning, and unauthenticated transactions to facilitate illegal purchases," said researchers.

The motivation behind these data leaks was to gain more traffic to their website and establish a reputation.

BidenCash forum became active in early February 2022. Post that the threat actor resorted to various ways to gain traffic to his website such as spamming comments on websites.

"On a personal level, trying to track your card transactions, being aware of malicious sites luring off a great deal can help prevent to a greater extent. With the BidenCash group trying to gain popularity through various measures, leaking card data motivates other groups to follow the same steps," Desai noted.
New Delhi, Oct 12 : In an interaction with Indian medical students at Tbilisi in Georgia, visiting Minister of State for External Affairs and Culture Meenakashi Lekhi reassured them of India's efforts to ensure their well-being.

Lekhi is currently on a three-day visit to Georgia and Kazakhstan to celebrate India's 30th anniversary of its diplomatic ties with both countries.

"Glad to interact with Indian medical students at Tbilisi State Medical University. Reassured them of the Government of India's efforts to ensure their well-being," Lekhi said on her Twitter handle.

The minister also met Chancellor and acting Rector of the university Prof Zurab Orjonikidze and thanked him for taking care of the students.

Indian medical students constitute a large part of the international student body in Georgia. In Tbilisi State Medical University alone, about 26 per cent of the student body consists of international students.

According to recent estimates, around 2,000 Indian citizens reside in Georgia, almost half of whom are students at the Tbilisi State Medical University. About 200 citizens are employed by Indian companies involved in the infrastructure sector in Georgia, while others are businessmen, agricultural farmers and workers.

Indian students in Georgia have repeatedly called for a resident mission in the country. At present, there is no Indian Resident Mission in Georgia and the ambassador to Armenia with residence in Yerevan is concurrently accredited to Georgia.

Addressing Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Sumanth Reddy, an Indian student from Georgia tweeted this month: "Hello sir, we are medical students from Tbilisi, Georgia... requesting for an Indian embassy here in Georgia, as we are facing many problems, don't know where to go".

"I got to know that you have arrived in Tbilisi, since we students have some issues we would (want) to meet you," Nitish Babu, an Indian citizen studying in Tbilisi State Medical University, had tweeted to External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar during his visit to Georgia in July this year.

Indian students have been making a beeline to Georgian universities because of quality education, low tuition fees, and reasonable cost of living.

A second-year Indian medical student who wishes to remain anonymous said that he picked Tbilisi State Medical University because it is cheaper and is on the list of Indian medical council-approved universities.

According to reports, Indian students also faced Covid-based discrimination when the pandemic broke out with many bearing brunt of travel restrictions.

The Tbilisi-based Tolerance and Diversity Institute said in a statement that "covid regulations enacted by the Georgian government against Indian students are discriminatory and contain signs of corruption as well".

"Indian students studying in Tbilisi, Georgia are experiencing selective discrimination guidelines. We've been told to undergo paid hotel quarantine for 14 days irrespective of vaccination status. This rule only targets Indians and not other students," Mariam Ansara, a student from Kerala, had tweeted addressing Jaishankar in 2021.

Lekhi also met Georgian Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili and the two officials welcomed the existing partnership in culture and education, with a number of Indian students receiving higher education in Georgian universities.
New Delhi, Oct 12 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday took a serious view of people still being prosecuted under Section 66A of the IT Act 2000, and directed that no citizen should be prosecuted under the provision, which was struck down as unconstitutional by it in 2015 in the Shreya Singhal case.

A bench, headed by Chief Justice U.U. Lalit and comprising Justices S. Ravindra Bhat and Ajay Rastogi, said it needs no reiteration that Section 66A is found to be in violation of the Constitution and as such, no citizen can be prosecuted for violation of alleged offences under it.

Passing a slew of directions, the top court directed the Director General of Police (DGPs) and Home Secretaries of all state governments and competent officers in union territories to direct the police force not to register any complaint with respect to violation of Section 66A.

Centre's counsel submitted a pan-India status report in connection with complaints under Section 66A. The bench said this suggested that despite the issue regarding the validity of Section 66A being dealt with in Shreya Singhal vs Union of India, a number of crimes and criminal proceedings still reflected the provision of Section 66A and citizens were still facing prosecution under the same.

It emphasised that after the Shreya Singhal verdict, there can be no prosecution in violation of Section 66A and if reliance is placed on Section 66A, the same should stand deleted. It added that police should not incorporate Section 66A in any crime and it should be ensured by DGPs.

And, in any government document if Section 66A is included, it has to be mentioned that it has been deleted, it added.

The top court added that this direction should apply only with reference to Section 66A and if the crime has other facets, where other offences are also alleged, those should not be deleted.

Senior advocate Sanjay Parikh, representing the NGO People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), said that there are cases which are pending. The bench replied it can say that Section 66A should be removed.

The top court was hearing a writ petition filed by PUCL citing the issue of Section 66A IT Act being invoked despite the top court's judgment in Shreya Singhal case.

The NGO submitted cases were still being registered across the country under draconian Section 66A, which gave permission to police to make "arbitrary arrests" and prosecute for what the police felt was "offending and offensive" online posts, even after the provision was declared violative of both Articles 19 (free speech) and 21 (right to life) of the Constitution.

Disposing of the application filed by the PUCL, the bench added that whenever any publication, whether government, semi-government or private, about IT Act is published and Section 66A is quoted, readers must be adequately informed that these provisions have been pronounced to be violative of Constitution by the apex court.
Guwahati, Oct 12 : Assam Congress President Bhupen Kumar Borah has been in the midst of controversy with an illegal construction at his house in Guwahati city. Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) served Borah a notice regarding this on Wednesday, officials said.

The notice was served after two citizens complained to the GMC about an unauthorised construction at the Assam Congress President's house.

A GMC official informed that a complaint was received from Bhaskarjyoti Kumar and Hiran Bhatta, residents of Bhetapara area in the city regarding a building constructed at Borah's house in Niribili Path area in Guwahati.

The Congress leader has been asked to produce a copy of the no objection certificate (NOC) and the approved plan for his building within three days.

In the last couple of days, the state Congress chief was attacked on social media for describing late Assamese playwright, songwriter, poet, writer and filmmaker Jyoti Prasad Agarwala as 'Kalaguru'. The netizens slammed Borah and accused him of having a lack of knowledge about Assam's history and culture.
Chennai, Oct 12 : Powerloom workers in Tamil Nadu are facing a bleak Diwali this year as there are no orders from the master weavers due to the high yarn prices. There are 2.5 lakh powerlooms in Tiruppur district alone which is the textile capital of South India with export orders to various European countries as well as the US.

The sector employs two lakh workers directly and 4 lakh workers indirectly, but with the high yarn prices there is much less work compared to earlier years.

Sundar Rajan, a powerloom employee at Tiruppur, told IANS that "The owners of the looms told us that there is no work due to high yarn prices and that they won't be able to pay us the bonus during Diwali. We regularly get around 10-12% of our salary as bonus but this year the owner told me that even he is finding it difficult to make ends meet and the bonus won't be paid." He said that he could understand the difficulties faced by the owner with no work and maintaining the unit that includes power charges, salaries to existing employees, and other incidental expenses.

In Pallapalayam village near Coimbatore, around 1500 powerlooms are idle due to the reduction in work.

Somasundaram Raja, a powerloom owner in Tiruppur, told IANS that "The high price of cotton is responsible for the plight of the sector. In July, the price of cotton went up to Rs 1.15 lakh per candy which was earlier available at Rs 50,000. Even though the price has now come down to Rs 70,000, master weavers are apprehensive and orders are not being placed. We are ourselves struggling so how can we pay the workers the Diwali bonus." The powerloom owners and workers said that the central government must immediately intervene to regulate cotton prices. Somasundaram said that if there is no intervention, then the Tiruppur powerloom industry would not survive.

He said that the recent hike in power tariff has also affected the powerloom industry and asked Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to reduce the tariff.

With the powerloom sector facing a crisis, many workers have commenced shifting to other industries. Most of the women workers have started working in the garment industry, even though at reduced pay.
Moscow, Oct 12 : In his address to the Russian Energy Week International Forum, President Vladimir Putin said Russia is ready to resume gas supplies via one link of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that remains operational, local media reported.

The Russian leader said gas could still be supplied by one remaining intact part of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The ball was in the EU's court on whether it wanted gas supplied via the pipeline, he said.

Putin said, "Russia is ready to start such supplies. The ball is in the court of the EU. If they want, they can just open the tap." He went on to say that Russia has nothing to do with the sky-high energy prices that Europeans are facing this winter, instead blaming the West for stoking a global energy crisis, The Guardian reported.

It was the poorest countries that would pay the highest price in terms of rising energy costs, Putin added.

Those who benefit the most from the damage caused to the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea are the ones responsible for it, Russian President Vladmir Putin has said, RT reported.

"Everybody understands who is behind this and who is the beneficiary. One can now force the liquefied natural gas from the US on to European countries on a much larger scale," Putin said in a speech at the Russian Energy Week forum in Moscow on Wednesday.

The President pointed out that US liquefied natural gas (LNG) is "definitely less competitive than Russian pipeline gas" due its higher price.

"Who stands behind the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines? Obviously, those who are looking to completely sever the ties between Russia and the EU, undermine Europe's political sovereignty, weaken its industrial capacity and gain control of its markets," the President said, RT reported.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 12 : Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee President K. Sudhakaran on Wednesday said that if allegations against his party MLA Eldhose Kunnappilly are proved, he will be immediately expelled from the party.

"At present the probe is underway and let the report come. We have asked for an explanation from him (Kunnappilly) in this regard," said Sudhakaran to the media in Thiruvananthapuram.

Kunnappilly, a two-time Congress MLA from Ernakulam's Perumbavoor Assembly constituency, is now in a fix after a female school teacher in the state capital levelled serious allegations against him, including assault and sexual harassment.

Last week the teacher approached the Thiruvanthapuram Police Commissioner and complained that she was assaulted by the Congress MLA from Eranakulam at the famous tourist destination at Kovalam near Thiruvananthapuram.

The teacher alleged that she was also assaulted while travelling in a car with Kunnappilly. The woman on Wednesday appeared before the media and said for the past few months they were allegedly in a close relationship.

"When the assault at Kovalam took place on September 14, locals present at the tourist site informed the local police. The Congress MLA and I left the tourist site and the former said that I am his wife. Later he himself took me to the hospital for the injuries I suffered due to his assault and there, too, he said that I am his wife," said the woman.

THe woman then alleged that the legislator had offered her Rs 30 lakh to settle the case.

"After the incident, lot of people are getting in touch with me to settle the case. I was too dejected and I decided to end my life by jumping into the sea at Kanyakumari. I reached there and when I was about to jump in the water, the police came there and took me away and handed me over to the Kerala police. When I realised that the legislator was not a good person, I tried to distance myself away from him, but he continued to harass me," said the woman.

Kunnappilly's anticipatory bail plea will be heard in a local court in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday.

He won a second time from the Perumbavoor Assembly constituency in Ernakulam district in the 2021 state Assembly polls and was the Ernakulam district panchayat President from 2010 to 2015.

Kunnappilly has been working actively in the state Assembly and in his own Assembly constituency but has preferred to remain silent on the allegations which are now coming thick and fast.

With grave allegations, which include non-bailable charges too, the young Congress legislator might land in serious trouble and may be arrested if his anticipatory bail plea is rejected.
New Delhi, Oct 12: Family members of Faisal Basheer, have urged the Pakistan government to speak with the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) for his release. Last week, the BLA had said that it wants to swap the two kidnapped officials, JCO Kaleem Ullah and military intelligence officer Mohammad Faisal, with Baloch political prisoners but there was no reaction from the Pakistan government.

The Balochistan Port reports that intelligence officer Faisal Basheer's family "took to the streets in their native hometown of Pattoki, Punjab, and demanded that the state would negotiate with BLA for his release".

In a daring operation, the BLA had captured JCO Kaleem Ullah and military intelligence officer Mohammad Faisal in Harnai, Balochistan, on September 25 and also shot down a Pakistani helicopter gunship.

Neither the Pakistan government headed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif nor the Pakistani army have commented on the abduction of the two officers or about negotiations with the BLA. Pakistan's Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) issued a press statement about the helicopter crash and the death of its six personnel but did not comment on how it crashed. It also did not issue a statement on the abduction of two of its personnel by the Baloch separatist group.

In a press release, Jeeyand Baloch, Spokesperson for the BLA threatened to "deliver immediate sentence to both detainees awarded by the Baloch national court", if the Pakistani forces tried to show any aggression towards the rebel group. The statement also said that the BLA has spared the lives of the two men in keeping with international standards of human rights.

The BLA has also interrogated the two army men. In another statement the rebel group said: "Both enemy personnel are going through the interrogation process under BLA's custody. After investigation they will be produced before the Baloch national court, which will decide their fate. The court's decision will be communicated to the media too." This is the second time in recent months that Baloch separatists have captured Pakistani army personnel. In a previous incident in July this year, the BLA had kidnapped Lt. Col. Laiq Baig Mirza along with his cousin while he was travelling from Ziarat to Quetta. He was later found dead while his cousin's body was discovered in a different place. In revenge, the Pakistani establishment killed a number of Baloch people in custody -- people who had been illegally kidnapped earlier and kept in unlawful detention.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative
New Delhi : Germany Ambassador to India Philipp Ackermann called on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at Delhi Secretariat in New Delhi on Wednesday, October 12, 2022. (Photo:IANS/Twitter) Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi : Germany Ambassador to India Philipp Ackermann called on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at Delhi Secretariat in New Delhi on Wednesday, October 12, 2022. (Photo:IANS/Twitter) Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi : Germany Ambassador to India Philipp Ackermann called on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at Delhi Secretariat in New Delhi on Wednesday, October 12, 2022. (Photo:IANS/Twitter) Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi : Germany Ambassador to India Philipp Ackermann called on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at Delhi Secretariat in New Delhi on Wednesday, October 12, 2022. (Photo:IANS/Twitter) Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, Oct 12 : German Ambassador to India Philipp Ackermann met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at Delhi Secretariat on Wednesday. The two leaders deliberated upon exploring avenues of collaboration to further drive ahead the progress of Delhi.

"I had a great exchange with Delhi CM @ArvindKejriwal and Deputy CM @msisodia on governance in Delhi, including the Delhi school system and opportunities for cooperation on infrastructure development, waste management and energy," German Ambassador said in a tweet.

"It was astonishing to see government schools become world-class in just four to five years; keen to visit government schools myself. We are ready to provide expertise to the Delhi Government on various issues; can also work together in reducing air pollution," he said while visiting.

Kejriwal said, "To improve our education system, we built state-of-the-art government school infrastructure, trained teachers & principals; we are spending 25 per cent of our budget on education. Our government is being praised across the country and the world because of the good work done in the field of education, healthcare electricity and water." On the occasion, Kejriwal said that the government is promoting e-buses and two-three wheeler electric vehicles under various initiatives to reduce air pollution. "Our target is to add 80 per cent electric buses in our bus fleet by 2025," he added.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was also present on the occasion.

While informing about Delhi education system, he said the government has started happiness classes in government schools, which are being appreciated in other countries of the world.

"We want to enhance the roads of Delhi, we want to give world class training to our engineers like we did to our teachers to make it possible. This can happen if any expert from Germany can come to Delhi and give training or if we can send our engineers to Germany for training," Sisodia stated.
Kochi, Oct 12 : The Kerala High Court on Wednesday ruled that the religion of parties is not a relevant ground to be considered when marriages are registered, reminded the registrars in charge of marriages that India is a secular country and that Kerala has been home to many reformers, such as Ayyankali and Sree Narayana Guru.

In its directive, the court observed that "the respondents, while registering the marriage as per the Rules 2008, should remember that our country is a secular country giving liberty to all citizens to adopt their own religion and to follow their own rites, customs, and ceremonies. Kerala is a state, where the great reformers like Sree Narayana Guru and Ayyankali lived and they propagated the principle of secularism." The court pointed out that some caste groups have been attempting to hijack the names of such reformers, and "this should not be permitted as they are leaders of for all citizens, irrespective or religion and caste".

"It is unfortunate that nowadays there is an attempt to hijack the names of these legends by certain caste groups as if they are their caste leaders. That should not be permitted. They are the reformers of our country. They are the leaders of all citizens of this country irrespective of the religion and caste. Social reformers of different religions should not be caged in their religion or caste at the instance of certain groups. If it happens, we will be insulting those legends," the judgment read.

The court told the registrars for marriages not to raise hyper technical defects while entertaining applications for registration of marriages.

"The registration of marriage as per the Rules, 2008 will not prove a valid marriage, and it is only to protect the rights of the women and the children born in that marriage. Therefore, hyper technical defects shall not be raised by the Marriage Officers." The court also directed the Secretary, Local Self Government Department, to issue a circular mentioning the dictum laid down in its judgment

The court passed the order on a plea moved by a Hindu man and a Muslim woman who got married as per Hindu rites and continued to follow the Hindu religion.

However, the local Registrar refused to register the marriage solemnized between the petitioners, as per the Kerala Registration of Marriages (Common) Rules, 2008, on the ground that the registration of marriage is possible only if it is solemnised as per the marriage laws in force.
Mumbai: Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray meets the family members of party leader Sanjay Raut as he was detained by the ED in connection with Patra Chawl land case, in Mumbai on Monday, August 1, 2022. (Photo: Qamar Sibtain/IANS) Image Source: IANS News

Mumbai: Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray meets the family members of party leader Sanjay Raut as he was detained by the ED in connection with Patra Chawl land case, in Mumbai on Monday, August 1, 2022. (Photo: Qamar Sibtain/IANS) Image Source: IANS News

Mumbai, Oct 12 : Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut -- currently in custody -- recently penned a moving letter to his "Priy Aai" (Dear Mother), vowing never to 'betray Shiv Sena or desert Uddhav Thackeray', displaying his fighter spirit and making a promise to 'return' and re-unite with her.

The letter, shared on social media, was hand-penned by him on August 8, sitting on a bench outside the court after he got judicial custody -- a week after his arrest on August 1 by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

He recalled how his mother -- Savita R. Raut -- had sat stoically near a photo of the Shiv Sena founder, the late Balasaheb Thackeray at their home, when the ED team raided their home (July 31), and how she finally lost composure and broke down when the sleuths took him away that evening.

"You gently rebuked me... started crying... I heard your cries above the roar of hundreds of Shiv Sainiks raising slogans outside, came outside and waved to them, told me to 'come back soon', and kept your hand raised till the (ED) car went out," Raut said.

Promising to come back, he said that thousands of jawans guard the borders for months before going home, some never return... but wars are 'like this'.

"Even I am fighting against injustice, I will never bow before the enemies of Shiv Sena, meaning Maharashtra, that's why I must remain away from you... Haven't I learnt this from you," Raut asked.

The Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader referred to the revolts and exits of Chhagan Bhujbal and later Narayan Rane, and four months ago Eknath Shinde, and said "you wondered why these people left, what did they not get (in Shiv Sena)a and urged me to do anything to save the party".

Raut said that in order to save the party, a struggle was necessary and as ingrained by Mom, he committed himself to "never deceive the Shiv Sena or Balasaheb Thackeray".

"Uddhav Thackeray is my dearest friend and my 'Senapati' (commander). The party is facing a major crisis... If I betray him at such a critical juncture, what face will I show to Balasaheb?" he wondered.

Raut said this is no time to lose morale, or surrender, or, how would he step outside in the people, and as taught by his Mom, he would "never go on the knees due to the fear of the ED, IT, etc, which rattled many MPs, MLAs and they abandoned the party".

"I don't want my name in the list of 'cheats'. Someone has to remain firm. I have the courage, given to me by Balasaheb and You," he said.

Saying everybody knows the charges against him are fake and cases are false, Raut alleged that "many were terrorized or threatened at 'gun-point' to make bogus statements against me", and he was even advised to dump the Thackerays.

"Such things even Lokmanya Tilak and Veer Savarkar and many others had undergone. Many Shiv Sainiks sacrificed themselves for the party. Now, when the same Shiv Sena is facing trouble, how can I quit the battlefield like the other leaders?" Raut asked.

He rued how Maharashtra has gone to the hands of wrong people who want to destroy the state's pride and existence, and much is going on behind the scenes, "but how can we afford to bend our heads or tie our hands like slaves".

Raut said he had just heard that even Congress leaders like Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi or Nationalist Congress Party's Rohit Pawar, are being similarly targeted, "but all this will spark a new revolution and Democracy will take a re-birth".

"Just as you are my Mom, the Shiv Sena is the mother of all, I was under pressure to betray her, warned not to speak against the government or face consequences. But I was not cowed down by such threats and pressures, which resulted in our separation. Don't worry, I will come back. Till then, Uddhav and other Shiv Sainiks shall be your sons. Take care!" Raut signed off.

The Sena MP was nabbed in an alleged money-laundering case in the Patra Chawl redevelopment case, and his custody has been extended till October 17, even as the party got a new name and symbol (Flaming Torch).

(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at: q.najmi@ians.in)
Hyderabad, Oct 12 : Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Wednesday inspected the construction of his Telangana Rashtra Samithi's (TRS) office in New Delhi.

A week after the TRS decided to go national by changing its name to the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), party President KCR, as he is popularly known, inspected the construction of the party office at Vasant Vihar.

Accompanied by Roads and Buildings Minister V. Prashanth Reddy and other TRS leaders, KCR went around the construction site and enquired about the progress of the work.

KCR, who had attended Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav's last rites on Tuesday, is currently campaigning in the national capital.

He is likely to meet leaders of various parties and people from various walks of life to seek their support for the BRS ahead of the formal launch of the party.

It was on September 2 last year KCR had laid the foundation stone for TRS office in the presence of his cabinet colleagues, MPs, state legislators and several party leaders. The TRS claimed to be the first political party from south India to open its office in Delhi.

The TRS is building a three-storeyed building which will have a conference hall, library, and audio-visual theatre.

The Centre had allotted land for the TRS office in 2020 but the foundation stone laying was delayed due to Covid-19 pandemic.

The land allotment was made as per the rules, which prescribe that all political parties with a minimum of seven members in Parliament are eligible for allotment of land for their party office in Delhi.

The TRS, which has 16 members in Parliament, was allotted two plots measuring 550 square metres by the land and development office of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

It was announced then that the TRS office coming up on 1,100 square meters of land will be called Telangana Bhavan, like its state headquarters in Hyderabad. It is not immediately known if there will be change in the name of the office consequent to TRS adopting a new name.

A general body meeting of the TRS presided over by KCR on October 5 unanimously passed a resolution changing the name of the party to BRS to expand its activities nation-wide. The meeting also amended the party Constitution in this regard.

The next day, the TRS informed the Election Commission of its decision to change its name to the BRS and sought its nod for the same.

The party is reported to have taken a building on rent in Delhi to commence its activities pending completion of the permanent building. This building is near Sardar Patel Marg.
New Delhi, Oct 12 : The International Forum for Environment, Sustainability and Technology (iFOREST) on Wednesday released its latest report that assesses the adequacy of existing environmental, land and labour laws in India to deal with the decommissioning of a coal-based thermal power plant (TPP) and other industries.

Titled 'Just Transition of coal-based power plants in India: A policy and regulatory review', the report was released at a webinar attended by representatives of pollution control boards, the thermal power industry, labour unions, researchers and NGOs.

At the webinar, Chandra Bhushan, President and CEO, iFOREST said, "If the Ministry of Power's advisory to retire coal-based generation units of over 25 years of age is implemented, then as much as 50,000-60,000 MW capacity will have to retire by 2030. Therefore, it is important to ask if the country is prepared to decommission such large capacities and ensure a just outcome for the environment, labour and dependent communities." The report finds that there are no laws in India that mandate decommissioning, remediation and repurposing of a coal TPP after its retirement.

"A power plant site can remain 'as-it-is', as there are no laws that can force a plant owner to dismantle the plant, clean up the site and set up a new facility. Unlike the mining sector, power plants and industries are not required to prepare decommissioning plans," explained Mandvi Singh, Programme Lead, iFOREST and the lead writer of the report.

"The existing laws and regulations related to the environment, labour, land and finance are either ambiguous or are silent on decommissioning, leaving enough space for nonstandard approaches." Speaking on the occasion, D.V. Lakshmipathy, CGM (Badarpur), NTPC Limited, shared the experience of the Badarpur thermal power station closure, and stated, "As the retirement of power plants are likely to increase in the future, clear guidance on financial aspect is needed.

"Financing is a concern as power purchase agreements do not have provisions for decommissioning costs. A clear directive from CERC in this context is needed." Also speaking at the release, Nazimuddin, Scientist F at the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), said, "CPCB is working towards finalizing the draft environmental guidelines on the closure of thermal power plant as per the directions of the National Green Tribunal (NGT)." On land issues, Namita Wahi, Founding Director, Land Rights Initiative/Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research, highlighted the importance of involving communities in deciding the fate of the land after closure.

"It is important to engage local community in the land repurposing decision, especially in context of forest land. They must be included in any formal mechanism developed for deciding on the fate of the decommissioned power plant land, because these lands were initially taken away from them." Subhagya Pradhan, General Secretary, Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), Odisha, highlighted the plight of informal and sub-contract workers during plant closures.
Shimla, Oct 12 : A new fruit fly (Tephritidae) species, earlier confused with Bactrocera nigrofemoralis, was found during survey studies conducted for fruit flies in Himachal Pradesh by researchers of Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry in Nauni, it was announced on Wednesday.

The discovery was made during the doctoral research of Maneesh Pal Singh, who was working under the guidance of Divender Gupta, Professor and Head of the Department of Entomology.

After characterisation and consultation with UK-based fruit fly taxonomy expert David Lawrence Hancock, the species was characterized based on morphological characters as well molecular analysis based on cytochrome oxidase and was named this species as Bactrocera divenderi.

Gupta said earlier this species was confused with Bactrocera nigrofemoralis. Maneesh Pal Singh during his research described it as a new species i.e. B. divenderi separating it from B. nigrofemoralis, mainly on the characters present on thorax and genitalia along with molecular characterisation.

This species is mainly prevalent in mid hills -- parts of Solan, Sirmaur, Mandi, Shimla and Kangra districts -- of the state, infesting peaches and nectarines.

Higher diversity of fruit flies existed in the state in comparison to other north Indian states as revealed from the findings of the research work carried out by Singh. The research findings on this aspect have been published in the July issue of 'Zootaxa' Journal published from New Zealand.

The type specimens of the same have been deposited at the High Altitude Regional Centre of Zoological Survey of India in Solan for reference record.

According to Gupta, the fruit flies as a group are pests of international importance and quarantine significance.

These are direct pests and cause damage to a number of fruits like peaches, guava, mango and vegetables, mainly the cucurbits. They adapt to new environments and keep on increasing host range.

Recently, kiwi has been recorded as a new host for fruit flies from Himachal Pradesh.

University Vice Chancellor Rajeshwar Singh Chandel said the detailed work on this species will help to devise formal management programmes against this species infecting peaches and nectarines.
New Delhi, Oct 12 : A gang of women thieves, who used to target women commuters in the Delhi Metro, have been arrested by the Metro Police, officials said.

Four women of the gang, who were involved in a dozen cases of theft, have been arrested.

Jitendra Mani, Delhi Metro Deputy Commissioner of Police, said that the accused women gang members used to steal valuable articles from the handbags of women commuters. The Metro Police had been receiving constant complaints in this regard.

The accused women were identified as Laxmi, Shashi, Sarita and Reshma. An FIR against them was lodged with the Kashmere Gate police station.

"One Rahul had reported one of the cases to us. He told us that his uncle and aunt came to Delhi from Patna. They boarded the Delhi Metro from Kashmere Gate station. They got off at the New Delhi Railway Metro station. As they were exiting the Metro using an escalator, the bag of his aunt containing valuables, cash and gold jewellery was stolen," the official said.

The Metro Police which was already getting a number of complaints decided to examine the CCTV of all the Metro stations. They scanned more than a thousand CCTV footages to get a clue about the accused.

The Metro Police official said that the accused Laxmi was identified and seen in the footage standing along with her three accomplices. The police checked the records and came to know that Laxmi had a previous criminal record.

The police said that they raided the house of Laxmi in Delhi's Anand Parbat area and she was arrested from there.

During questioning, she broke down and confessed that she and her accomplices were involved in several theft cases as well as targeting women commuters on the Delhi Metro.

Later, at her instance, her three accomplices were also arrested.
Chandigarh, Oct 12: A meeting with a group of senior high court lawyers was held at the Sangrur residence of Simranjit Singh Mann, Member of Parliament and president of Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), recently to take advice on, among other things, regarding the "fiery" anti-India speeches of Amritpal Singh, president of Waris Punjab De.

According to highly-placed Punjab police sources, the lawyers were shown videos of Amritpal's speeches allegedly spreading hatred and inciting youths to get armed for a struggle to get "azaadi" to know if these could invite legal action against him.

It is learnt that the lawyers after watching the videos of the speeches, advised Mann to convey to Amritpal to tone down his speeches or else he would have to face action under stringent provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). They pointed out that action in similar cases was being taken in Uttar Pradesh by the Yogi Adityanath government. The accused jailed under UAPA do not easily get bail.

However, a police officer who is keeping a watch on the activities of Amritpal said that the religious leader, to date, did not advocate armed struggle against the state nor was personally involved in any act of violence.

After examining the latest speech of Amritpal given in Mehraj village in support of gangster-turned-social activist Lakha Sidhana, the police felt that he had now softened his tone and tenor for good.

Advocate Ranjan Lakhanpal, associated with Simranjit Mann for a long time, however said that the lawyers had met the MP primarily to discuss the defamation case that was to be filed against the Punjab government.

Panchayat Minister Kuldip Singh Dhaliwal had claimed that Mann was an illegal occupant of about 100 acres of panchayat land in a village near Mohali. Mann contested the claim saying he legally owned only 5 acres.

Iqbal Singh Tiwana, secretary to Mann, told indianarrative.com that a defamation suit had been filed last week in the court of District and Sessions Judge, Chandigarh. It was also decided to take all legal steps possible to seek early elections to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, due for the last over 11 years.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative
Kolkata, Oct 12 : First the division bench of Calcutta High Court and then Supreme Court on Tuesday quashed appointment of Sonali Chakraborti Banerjee as the vice-chancellor of the prestigious University of Calcutta.

Legal experts feel that the manner in which the state government applied the "removal of difficulties" under Section 60 of the Calcutta University Act, 1979 ultimately made the re-appointment 'unconstitutional and illegal'.

According to counsel of the Calcutta High Court, Jyoti Prakash Khan, the state government could apply the "removal of difficulties" Clause only in case of emergency situations.

"The post of the vice-chancellor becomes vacant suddenly either because of his or her sudden resignation or any reason which is beyond human control. In that case the state government could have applied the 'removal of difficulties' clause for appointment of someone as a working vice-chancellor temporarily till the time a fresh appointment for the chair is made," Khan explained.

However, he added, in case of an appointment of a full-time vice-chancellor the state government concerned will have to abide by the University Grants Commission, 1956 and in that case the consent of the state Governor concerned is mandatory.

"The same thing is applicable in case of re-appointment of a vice-chancellor, where the Governor's consent is necessary and sheer application of 'removal of difficulties' clause is not enough for that re-appointment. In this case, the state government exactly made the legal error in its hurry to give Sonali Chakraborti Banerjee the re-appointment," Khan explained.

Explaining further, senior counsel of the Calcutta High Court, Kaushik Gupta said a subject like education, which is in the concurrent list, the state government cannot take any decision that goes against the Central Act in the matter.

"If any state Act or amendment in the Act has a factor of tussle with a Central Act in a matter related to any concurrent list subject, the clause of the Central Act will be supreme in the matter," he said.

However, state's educationists feel that in the entire process Sonali Chakraborti Banerjee is one who had a public loss of face.

"She is at no fault. I cannot imagine the manner in which the higher education system in West Bengal had a loss of face in the entire nation because of such whimsical steps of the current state government," said former principal of the-then Presidency College, Amal Kumar Mukhopadhyay.
Mumbai, Oct 12 : Actor Manuj Sharma, who was recently seen in Hrithik Roshan and Saif Ali Khan-starrer 'Vikram Vedha', is gearing up for release of 'Phone Bhoot', where for the first time he has used prosthetics to suit his part in the film.

'Phone Bhoot' stars Katrina Kaif along with Ishaan Khatter and Siddhant Chaturvedi in lead parts.

Talking about the same, Sharma said in a statement: "It is an incredibly exciting time for me on the work front. All the work that I had invested so much in is finally coming out in quick succession.

"You can never plan the range that everyone can see of mine in the drastically different films I have done. In 'Phone Bhoot', I play Rahu. I am using prosthetics for the first time in my career. I was quite excited to do it, and was equally nervous." The film serves as a departure for its director Gurmeet Singh, who is known for his work on the streaming series, 'Mirzapur'.

Sharing his experience of working with Gurmeet, he said: "Gurmeet got me to relax when it came to the scenes. Most of my scenes are with Jaggu Dada (Jackie Shroff) and he is such an exuberant co-actor. He makes you so comfortable that you forget the enigma of the superstar that he is.

"I had forgotten who he is because he is so much of the character he plays and so little of the star. He and I would improvise a lot on set. The chemistry played out beautifully on screen." In this film, Sharma has reunited with Siddhant Chaturvedi, with whom he has earlier worked in the streaming sports-drama series, 'Inside Edge'.

"There was a pre-existing chemistry with him. All of these elements make this an incredibly special project for me. People will see me in a whole new light this time. There hasn't been a mad comedy in a while and the film will tickle your funny bones with ease," the actor concluded.
Kolkata, Oct 12 : The West Bengal government on Wednesday handed over the letter of intent (LoI) to Adani Port & SEZ Ltd for setting up and developing a deep-sea port at Tajpur in East Midnapore district.

The LOI was handed over to Karan Adani, the CEO of Adani Port & SEZ Ltd and son of Adani Group's founder-Chairman, Gautam Adani by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, during a Vijaya Sanmilani gathering at New Town, a state government statement said.

According to the press statement, the total investment behind the project will be Rs 25,000 crore, out of which Rs 15,000 crore will be for the main port and the remaining Rs 10,000 crore would be for related development.

On September 20, the West Bengal cabinet approved the proposal for issuing the LoI to Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone for development of the greenfield deep sea port. The project will entail a direct employment potential for 25,000 individuals, the state government has claimed.

Tajpur port development was under discussion since the time of Bengal Global Business Summit-2022, the annual event of the state government to showcase the state as an ideal business destination, which was conducted early this year.

The major contender in the bidding for the project was Adani Port & SEZ Ltd and JSW Infrastructure. After the bid was opened on March 23 this year, Adani Port emerged as the highest bidder. The land for the project is being provided by the state government.

--IANS src/vd

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Ahmedabad, Oct 12 : Congress presidential candidate Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday said that he strongly believes that internal elections within the party makes the party strong, and that a strong Congress will make the country strong.

On a day's visit to Ahmedabad to campaign, Tharoor, after addressing party delegates and appealing them to vote for him, interacted with media persons, where he said the party needs to be strengthened at the block level. He said that he hopes that the Congress becomes the party of young India.

He said that he aims to bring those voters, who had deserted the party in 2014, back to the Congress fold in 2024. He also said that he wished that women get more weightage in the party.

Tharoor said he has no difference with his rival Mallikarjun Kharge, and once the elections are over and results are out, he will work with Kharge without any hesitation.

Whoever wins the elections, it will be victory of Congress, he added.
Patna, Oct 12 : Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has slammed Union Home Minister Amit Shah and said that the latter has been in politics only for the last few years, therefore he does not have any knowledge about Jayaprakash Narayan (JP) movement or socialist leaders like Ram Manohar Lohia.

He added that people like Shah do not know about the history of the country.

"People like him (Amit Shah) do not have any contribution in the country. He does not know the history of the country. They do not have knowledge about Jayaprakash Narayan ji. They get the opportunity to stay in the government. Hence, they are giving statements against me," Kumar said while offering tributes to socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia at his statue in Patna on his death anniversary.

"I went to Nagaland on the invitation of the people of that state. It was a grand event. People of Nagaland have great respect for Jayaprakash Narayan ji. He stayed there for three years from 1964 to 1967 and addressed the issues at that time," he added.

The Chief Minister on Tuesday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union Home Minister have no knowledge about the freedom struggle and the JP movement.

Modi gained prominence as a politician only after 2002, Kumar added.

Shah came to Sitab Diara, the birthplace of Jayaprakash Narayan in Bihar's Saran district, on Tuesday.

The Union Home Minister said that the Bihar Chief Minister is sitting in the lap of the Congress which had sent Jayaprakash Narayan to jail only to retain power in Bihar.
New Delhi, Oct 12 : The India-UK free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations may get delayed and are unlikely to be finalised by Diwali, owing to concerns over it fuelling increased immigration to the UK.

According to sources, UK's new Home Secretary Suella Braverman recently raised concerns over the deal, saying that she wouldn't support it if it leads to increased immigration from India to the UK.

Braverman's comments came close on the heels of UK's new International Trade Secretary Kemi Badernoch also raising concerns over the deal.

The UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson had set the Diwali (October 24) deadline for finalising the FTA.

The Indian government is bullish on the FTA agreement and it is also equally significant for the new UK Prime Minister Liz Truss, as her country is dealing with an economic crisis.

Interestingly Truss had conducted the initial trade talks for the pact last year.

Latest updates on Diwali Festival 2022
Jaipur, Oct 12 : Rajasthan BJP has formed a committee to take a decision over former BJP leaders' 'ghar wapsi' (homecoming) to the party after former party leader Devi Singh Bhati triggered a controversy by announcing on his own about joining the saffron party.

The committee will decide on who should join the party as many former leaders are now keen to return to the party fold ahead of the 2023 state Assembly polls.

Bhati had left the saffron party against the decision of the BJP high command for giving a ticket to Union Minister Arjun Meghwal right before the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

Now before the 2023 Assembly elections, Bhati was reportedly planning to return to the BJP with the help of former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje.

Before Raje's visit and meeting in Bikaner on October 9-10, Bhati himself had made an announcement to join the BJP on October 8 but could not join the party.

On Tuesday, state party in-charge Arun Singh announced the floating of a party which would look into the matter of former leaders' homecoming to the party.

He also said that any leader wanting to join the BJP again must seek the consent of the state party President.

Apart from Meghwal, MLA Vasudev Devnani has been included in the BJP joining committee, which will decide whether any leader will join the BJP or not.
New Delhi, Oct 12 : In his address to the Indian community in Australia, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said that he has been assured that the problem of visa backlog, particularly in respect to students, would be solved by the end of the year.

The visa backlog issue is of utmost concern to the Indian students who are trying to return to educational institutions in Australia following the Covid pandemic.

"And I want to tell you that it was something that I took up with different ministers when I was in Canberra. We have a particular problem that students are facing," Jaishankar, who is on a two-day visit to Australia, said.

Jaishankar, who is on his second visit to Australia, said he was assured that the situation has improved and about 77,000 Indian students are back in Australia.

"But you all know that the numbers should be and could be much higher and I was assured that by the end of the year the visa backlog, particularly in respect to students, would be cleared," he said.

The minister also said that it's not just a problem for students but also for many other Indians who want to travel due to family reasons. He also applauded the resumption of tourism in Australia and other countries of the world post-Covid pandemic.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2021 census, Australia's Indian diaspora numbers approximately 700,000, and Indians are expected to outnumber Chinese-born Australians over the next decade.

Significantly, it is the second-highest taxpaying diaspora after the British, making it clear that it is a group making significant contributions to Australia's economy.

The minister emphasised that there will be a legal framework for talented Indians to move to another country for work.

"Indian skills and talents that are in demand in Australia will have a legal framework, an agreed methodology by which they move from one country to another," Jaishankar said.

He also underlined the new areas of focus in our partnership, including education, technology, resources and mobility.

"I think what is really exciting about our relationship today are the enormous possibilities that we are now looking at, and foremost among them is education," Jaishankar said, adding that education can be the avenue by which India Australia relationship could advance in a much more expansive manner.

"We want our students to understand the world better, and we want our students to be prepared for a global workplace... in this we regard Australia as a particularly important partner," he added.

Roughly, 105,000 students study in Australian universities at the moment. According to Bengaluru-based RedSeer Strategy, the total number of Indian students studying abroad will stand at around 1.8 million by 2024.

The report further added that Indian students would be spending $75-85 billion annually on higher education abroad by 2024.
New Delhi, Oct 12 : Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday interacted with her Japanese counterpart Shunichi Suzuki on the sidelines of the IMF-WB annual meeting in Washington DC.

She told Suzuki that this year is special for India-Japan bilateral relations as both nations are celebrating the 70th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations and India is celebrating 75 years of Independence.

Sitharaman also said during the interaction that 2023 brings greater responsibilities for India and Japan on the world stage as both the countries take over Presidencies of the G20 and G7, respectively.

The two ministers also discussed key agenda pertaining to Indo-Pacific economic cooperation, the Finance Ministry tweeted.
Bengaluru, Oct 12 : Bengal Warriors picked up their second consecutive victory after registering a comprehensive 42-33 win over Bengaluru Bulls in the Pro Kabaddi League Season 9 at the Shree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium here on Wednesday.

Captain Maninder Singh was the star performer for the Warriors with 11 points, while raider Shrikant Jadhav contributed with 6 points.

Girish Maruti Ernak pulled off a couple of brilliant tackles as Bengal Warriors inched ahead at 3-1. However, Aman tackled Shrikant Jadhav and moments later, Bharat effected a raid to help the Bulls gain the lead at 5-4 in the 10th minute.

The Bengaluru defense unit led by Aman showcased top form and reduced the Warriors to just two players on the mat in the 12th minute. Thereafter, the Bulls inflicted an ALL-OUT in the 17th minute and took a massive lead at 14-9. But, the Warriors came roaring back through stupendous raids by Maninder Singh and regained the lead at 15-14 at the end of the first half.

The Bengal team rode on the momentum and inflicted an ALL-OUT in the opening minutes of the second half to widen their lead to 20-17. Maninder continued to chip in with raid points as the Warriors earned a 9-point lead at 27-18 in the 28th minute.

Moments later, Bengal inflicted another ALL OUT to take complete control of the match. Vikash Kandola effected a couple of raids in the last few minutes of the match, but Bengaluru couldn't catch up with the Warriors. The Bengal team held on to their lead and closed out a clinical victory in the end.
New Delhi, Oct 12 : The Interpol has rejected the request of the Indian agencies regarding issuance of a Red Corner Notice against Khalistani leader -- the Canada-based founder of Sikh for Justice (SFJ) Gurpatwant Singh Pannu.

The Interpol had put the request of issuing Red Corner Notice on hold for six months before cancelling it.

Pannu has been named as an accused in terror and riot cases by a number of agencies in India. He has been accused of provoking Khalistani movements in India.

It was the second time when the request of the Indian agencies have been turned down.

Around six to seven months ago, the request of issuing a red corner notice was put on hold by the Interpol.

Indian agencies maintained that Pannu had tried to create unrest in India and was accused of Unlawful Activities.

However, the Interpol was not convinced by this and after putting on hold the request of agencies, they have finally cancelled it. Interpol has demanded more proof against Pannu.

Pannu has been continuously sending video message through social media regarding Khalistani movements.

During farmers' agitation, he had provoked the farmers to attack the Red Fort and had also released a video in this respect.

Pannu has threatened the government on a number of occasions and had indicated in the videos that they could attack the Prime Minister.

He founded the SFJ in 2007 with an intention to give relief to the 1984 victims.

However, he has been using this against India and to create Khalistan. He said that he would break India into several parts and one of them would be Khalistan.

The agencies have learnt that he has no concern with the common Sikhs.

He has allegedly been working at the behest of "agents of enemy states".

The MHA had in 2019 declared SFJ as "unlawful association" under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 In most of the videos, Pannu could be heard talking about referendum regarding Khalistan.
Silchar, Oct 12 : Two oil tankers were impounded on Wednesday from Cachar district along Assam-Mizoram border, while four people including two drivers and two sailors of the tankers have been arrested, a police officer informed.

Oil tankers carrying fuel to Mizoram are smuggling Myanmar-origin betel nuts on way back to Assam, officials said.

Betel nuts are usually smuggled from Myanmar to Mizoram by trucks. However, due to an increase in police vigil, the smugglers changed their strategy and now using oil tankers to do the same.

Earlier, liquor was smuggled in tankers, but this is the first time that betel nut smuggling has been unearted in oil tankers.

A police officer informed that one oil tanker illegally carrying Myanmar-origin betel nuts was detained at the Dhwaraband area in Cachar. It was coming from Mizoram via Hailakandi-Bilaipur road. The driver of the tanker, Kamrul Hossain Laskar, and his associate Akbar Hossain Majumdar alias Raju Pal were arrested. One-hundred-seventy sacks of betel nuts were seized from the tanker. Each bag contains about 18 kg. In all, the amount of betel nut seized is 30 quintals and 60 kg.

Police claimed that Kamrul and Raju admitted during the interrogation that they were returning from Mizoram after unloading fuel there. A few people in the Kolashiv area in that state talked to them and loaded the sacks of betel nuts. They had to deliver the betel nuts to somewhere in Silchar, but they were caught on their way.

Another oil tanker trying to smuggle betel nuts was caught in the Lailapur area of the district in the morning. The driver Babul Hossain Laskar and helper Badrul Haque Laskar were arrested. Around 10 tons of Burmese betel nuts were seized from this tanker.

According to police sources, the smugglers lured the drivers of the tanker by promising them to pay handsome money for carrying the betel nuts.
New Delhi, Oct 12 : Seven years ago, the Supreme Court struck down Section 66A of the IT Act 2000. Ironically, law enforcement agencies and judicial officers were oblivious to this significant ruling and as a consequence, several hundred cases were registered under the Section even after the apex court declared it unconstitutional. Moreover, the trials in some of these are under progress.

The Centre submitted an all-India status report on pending cases under Section 66A in the Supreme Court - which provided data on the number of cases and their status in various states and Union Territories. It had prepared the report in response to the court's direction on September 6.

According to data provided by some states, more than 900 cases were registered under Section 66A after the apex court declared it unconstitutional on March 24, 2015, and trials are in progress in some cases.

After going through the report, a bench headed by Chief Justice U U Lalit said: "Such criminal proceedings, in our view, are directly in the teeth of the directions issued by this court in Shreya Singhal versus Union of India (2015)." Registration of cases and prosecution in court under Section 66A shows that the law enforcement agencies and judicial officers, who are responsible for upholding the rule of law, were unaware of the apex court judgment and the common man had to bear the brunt of this lack of awareness.

For example, in Karnataka a total of 247 cases were registered after March 24, 2015 till 2018, and all of them were withdrawn at various stages, as per the letter dated May 27, 2019, from the office of the Director General of Police, Karnataka. In Odisha, 170 cases are pending in different courts as on August 6, 2021. And, in Madhya Pradesh, cognizance was taken in 145 cases after March 24, 2015, and 113 cases are pending after March 24, 2015.

On Wednesday, the apex court reiterated its 2015 ruling that Section 66A was unconstitutional and no citizen could be prosecuted for its alleged violation.

On September 6, senior advocate Sanjay Parikh, representing the petitioner, NGO People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), had submitted that there was a judgment given in Shreya Singhal in 2015, which struck down Section 66A, however still there are many public prosecutors and police officers charging people under it and that is why this application was filed.

Section 66A made sending of offensive messages through a computer device for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience, danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred or ill will etc as punishable offence up to three years of jail and with fine.

The top court had then said it is a matter of serious concern that despite the judgment, cases are still being registered under Section 66A.

It issued notice to all state governments and the high courts, and asked the Central government to tell Chief Secretaries to take remedial measures as soon as possible. The NGO had moved the top court seeking direction to Centre to advise all police stations against registering FIRs under Section 66A.
New Delhi, Oct 12 : National Highways Infra Trust (NHAI InvIT), the infrastructure investment trust sponsored by National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to support the Central government's National Monetization Pipeline, has raised a sum of Rs 1,430 crore from domestic and international investors through placement of its units, for part funding its acquisition of three additional road projects from NHAI.

The placement of units with institutional investors, witnessed strong demand from both existing investors, who reposed their commitment by participating in the process, as well as new investors.

The units have been subscribed by a gamut of institutional investors including Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board, State Bank of India, SBI Pension Fund, SBI Mutual Fund, IOCL Employee Provident Fund, L&T Staff Provident Fund, Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Karamchari Pension Fund, TATA AIG and Star Union Daiichi Life Insurance. NHAI subscribed to the units through preferential allotment to maintain its unitholding of at least 15 per cent.

The units were subscribed through a book build process at Rs 109 per unit, at a premium over floor price of Rs 107.12 per unit.

In addition to the above, NHAI InvIT has also filed a prospectus with SEBI for issuance of Non-Convertible Debentures (NCDs) to raise Rs 1,500 crore.

The NCDs would carry a coupon of 7.90 per cent payable semi-annually and would be available for subscription by both retail and institutional investors.
Guwahati, Oct 12 : Trinamool Congress' Assam state Secretary Abhijit Karmakar, who is ab accused in a fake lottery scam, was arrested on Wednesday night, police said.

Karmakar was arrested from Baksa district, but further details were not revealed yet.

Police were searching for him for the last month, as he was on the run and probably went to Kolkata to avert arrest, a police officer said.

It has been alleged that Karmakar duped many people of at least Rs 6-7 lakh.

Police earlier arrested six accused in this case, and upon interrogating them, found the involvement of Karmakar in this scam.
Kolkata, Oct 12 : A scuffle broke out on Wednesday between the police and the representatives of the transgender community near the residence of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee while the members of the community tried to stage a protest demonstration against the denial of the state government's donation of Rs 60,000 to the sole Durga Puja in the state organised by the transgenders.

Despite getting the donation last year, the name of Garima Griho (the home of pride), a shelter for homeless from the community which organises the Durga Puja, was delisted from the list of recipients of the state government donation.

The call for the protest was given by city-based LGBTQ rights activist, Ranjita Sinha, who is a former member of the West Bengal Transgender Development Board.

Accordingly, activists from the community started assembling at the Kalighat crossing which at stone throw's distance from the chief minister's residence.

However, before they could start their protest demonstration, the huge police contingent present there resisted them which led to a scuffle between the cops and the protesters. Many activists including Sinha were arrested.

Alleging that she was kicked by the police at her private part wherein she had undergone an operation, Sinha said that they wanted to stage the protest to draw the attention of the chief minister.

"We do not know why the name of our Puja committee was de-listed from the donation recipients. When big community Puja committees that can run their show without the state government's donation were offered assistance then what was the reason behind de-listing our Puja which is unique in itself," Sinha said.

City-based LGBTQ rights activist, Debangshi Biswas said that people from different parts of the country and even from abroad visit Puja, where Goddess Durga is worshipped as 'Ardhanariswara', who is the combination of the strengths of Goddess Durga and Lord Shiva.

"It is unfortunate that people from the community including Ranjita Sinha were heckled just because they were protesting against the denial of the donation. Rather, I feel that the state government that is keen to promote Durga Puja to tourists should promote this Puja as well, because of its uniqueness," she said.
Patna, Oct 12 : A man of Bihar's Buxar district was acquitted in a case of physical assault and firing, in which he was named when he was 10 years old, over four decades back.

The matter dates back to September 1979 when a group of people were allegedly involved in assault and attempt to murder of a local trader of Chaugai village under Murar police station. Munna Singh was just 10 years and 5 months old when the trader had given the name of Munna Singh in the FIR as well.

The trial of the case was underway before the juvenile justice board of district court Buxar since 2012, and before that in the district court. Munna Singh was booked under Sections of 148 and 307 of the Indian Penal Code.

During the hearing of the case, Dr Rajesh Singh, who was the presiding officer of the juvenile justice board, repeatedly issued notices to the complainant and the witnesses but none of them appeared before it, and in their absence, Munna Singh was acquitted.

Munna Singh, now 53, expressed satisfaction over the decision, but rued the long pendency of the case, saying that it was akin to justice delayed is justice denied for him.
Udham Singh Nagar : , Oct 13 (IANS) A raid by the Uttar Pradesh Police at the residence of a local BJP leader in Uttarakhand's Udham Singh Nagar district went tragically wrong after his wife was shot dead, allegedly by a police bullet, leading to villagers confining and thrashing the police team.

The incident was reported on Wednesday from Bharatpur village in Kashipur area of Udham Singh Nagar.

According to the information, a team of Uttar Pradesh Police in plain clothes arrived here for a raid at the residence of Gurtaj Bhullar, a BJP's local area Block President, in Bharatpur village under the Kunda police station area on Wednesday evening.

The raid was to nab a wanted dumper driver from Thakurdwara in Uttar Pradesh, who was allegedly hiding at Bhullar's house.

The family of Bhullar opposed the police action and allegedly clashed with them.

Their argument went on for half an hour, before it turned violent and saw firing from both the sides.

It was alleged that a bullet shot by the Uttar Pradesh Police personnel hit Bhullar's wife Gurpreet Kaur, who died on the spot.

A large number of villagers then assembled at the spot, restrained the Uttar Pradesh Police personnel hostage, and badly thrashed them, leaving them seriously injured.

Following this, a team of the Uttarakhand Police from the local police station reached the spot along with extra force to control the situation.

Udham Singh Nagar SSP Manjunath T.C. said that in view of the deteriorating situation, forces from other districts have been called.

There has been firing from both the sides, in which the woman has died and three constables of the Uttar Pradesh Police have also been injured, the SSP added.
Chennai, Oct 13 : Congress president post candidate and veteran leader Mallikarjun Kharge will be given a rousing reception by the party's state unit on his arrival to Tamil Nadu on October 14, sources said.

Tamil Nadu Congress chief K.S. Alagiri said on Wendesday that he will remain present when Kharge will reach Chennai for campaigning.

It may be noted that no prominent party leader was present at Satyamoorthy Bhavan, the TNCC headquarters, when Shashi Tharoor, who is also contesting the party president post election, reached Chennai for his election campaign.

Alagiri, however, told IANS that there was no direction from the high command to support any candidate. He also said that it was not mandatory to be present when the candidates reach the city for campaigning.

He further said that he was not in the city when Tharoor had arrived.
Digital Promotion Member In support of the Digital Agencys initiative, transcosmos has run a Digital Promotion Member posting, targeting a wide audience. 1,422 employees from all over Japan applied for the post, and received an appointment letter from the Digital Minister on September, 30, 2022.

transcosmos inc. is proud to announce that as many as 1,422 company employees have been appointed Digital Promotion Members by the Digital Agency.

With the aim of creating a People-Friendly Digital Society where no one will be left behind, the Digital Agency has been carrying out initiatives to create an environment where every member of Japanese society can enjoy the benefits of a digital society, and has been providing meticulous support for people who are not used to digital equipment and services. In collaboration with the national and local governments, as well as private businesses and organizations, the agency has positioned persons who engage in digital-related businesses and initiatives Digital Promotion Members, and has been recruiting up to 20,000 members from a diverse range of fields across Japan.

In support of the agency's initiative, transcosmos has run a Digital Promotion Member posting, targeting a wide audience. 1,422 employees from all over Japan applied for the post, and received an appointment letter from the Digital Minister on September 30, 2022.

As a Global Digital Transformation Partner, transcosmos has been assisting both businesses and governments in boosting customer experience (CX) at ever-diversifying touchpoints with customers and citizens via digital technology. In addition, as an outsourcing services player, transcosmos has been executing initiatives using its service models powered by digital technology. Highly regarded for its contribution to Japanese society in driving digital transformation, transcosmos was named a Noteworthy Digital Transformation (DX) Company 2022 by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in June 2022. With the aim of enhancing the well-being of Japanese society, transcosmos will help Japan become a people-friendly digital society where no one will be left behind as a company where Digital Promotion Members propose and offer services.

Digital Agency website (https://www.digital.go.jp/en/) - Digital Promotion Member initiative: https://www.digital.go.jp/policies/digital_promotion_staff/ (no translation available)

Digital Agency website (https://www.digital.go.jp/en/) - Digital Promotion Member partner companies/organizations: https://www.digital.go.jp/policies/digital_promotion_staff/cooperation/ (no translation available)

2022.06.08 transcosmos press release: transcosmos named a Noteworthy DX Company 2022 by METI/TSE

https://www.trans-cosmos.co.jp/english/company/news/220608.html



transcosmos is a trademark or registered trademark of transcosmos inc. in Japan and other countries.

Other company names and product or service names used here are trademarks or registered trademarks of respective companies.

About transcosmos inc.

transcosmos launched its operations in 1966. Since then, we have combined superior "people" with up-to-date "technology" to enhance the competitive strength of our clients by providing them with superior and valuable services. transcosmos currently offers services that support clients' business processes focusing on both sales expansion and cost optimization through our 173 bases across 28 countries/regions with a focus on Asia, while continuously pursuing Operational Excellence. Furthermore, following the expansion of e-commerce market on a global scale, transcosmos provides a comprehensive One-Stop Global E-Commerce Services to deliver our clients' excellent products and services to consumers in 46 countries/regions around the globe. transcosmos aims to be the "Global Digital Transformation Partner" of our clients, supporting the clients' transformation by leveraging digital technology, and responding to the ever-changing business environment. Visit us here https://www.trans-cosmos.co.jp/english/
Empathia, Inc. Empathia, Inc. partners with Togetherall to offer its leading peer-to-peer virtual support platform to members of its LifeMatters Employee Assistance Program, Black Swan Solutions Crisis Management Service and StudentLife Student Support Program.

Empathia, Inc. has partnered with Togetherall to increase the mental health offerings available for its members. Togetherall is a leading virtual platform providing safe, clinician-monitored communities for peers to share mental health struggles while receiving and offering support. Championing security, anonymity, and clinical oversight, Togetheralls technology is a valuable addition for many organizations.

Empathia is constantly looking for new ways to engage those we serve, and to offer innovative ways to provide support, said Empathias Chief Growth Officer, Brian Summers. We are excited about our relationship with Togetherall, as they expand our services and align with our culture of, and commitment to, clinical wellbeing. Through Togetherall, were able to provide a safe online community thats accessible 24/7.

Togetheralls peer-to-peer model supports over 20 million people worldwide across a variety of employer, health, union, association and student markets. With Togetheralls capabilities, organizations can engage populations that have been traditionally underserved, create safe discussion spaces within industries where mental health may be stigmatized, and provide access to 24/7 support moderated by licensed clinicians. From small communities to large  such as student, healthcare, BIPOC and nationwide populations  individuals can connect to others with similar situations and struggles to find comfort and support. Togetherall also offers additional resources, courses, goal-setting tools and self-assessments that help individuals monitor and develop proactive mental health skills. With Empathias dedicated 24/7 clinical call center and digital services, members can seamlessly connect to other support resources when needed.

"Togetherall is passionate about the role that peer-to-peer support plays in mental health, ensuring that individuals and whole populations can connect safely with the resource that's right for them, said Togetherall President Matthew McEvoy. Every day we see the power of people helping each other by sharing their thoughts, feelings, stories and encouragement. We are looking forward to extending our 24/7 service to Empathia and their broad portfolio of clients, integrating into their core offerings to provide appropriate pathways and a seamless member experience.

Ben Locke, Ph.D., Chief Clinical Officer at Togetherall added, Traditional treatments will always play a critical role in supporting people struggling with mental health concerns, but we must also realize that these services are simply not designed to scale and therefore cannot meet the demand alone. And, those who are most in need and at risk often suffer alone, afraid or unable to navigate traditional treatment systems. Togetheralls model of peer support is accessible 24/7 and is always moderated by licensed clinicians, both to ensure a safe, supportive space and to provide members with more intensive support or safeguarding when needed. The clinical and technological integration with Empathias 24/7 clinical call center is an important part of our partnership as we put the member first, whatever their level of need.

Empathias clients may now add Togetherall as a valuable resource to their existing plan. Together, Empathia and Togetherall are committed to expanding the reach of mental health services and ensuring individuals have access to reliable, convenient support.

About Togetherall

Togetherall is the leading peer-to-peer online mental health service that provides millions of people throughout North America and Europe with access to a safe community moderated by licensed clinicians, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Harnessing the protective and therapeutic effects of connectedness and healthy social networks in its unique community where people share with and support each other, Togetherall has supported over 350,000 members with their mental health in partnership with organizations in the corporate, education, health and charity sectors as well as the Armed Forces. A social impact organization guided by three core principles of inclusive access, measurable impact and financial self-sufficiency and stainability. Visit our website at: togetherall.com.

About Empathia, Inc.

Empathia is an industry-leading, full-service global provider of Employee Assistance Programs (EAP), Student & Family Assistance Programs (SFAP) and Crisis Management Services. For over 35 years, Empathia has delivered reliable, quality-driven services to organizations ranging from Fortune 500 companies to small, locally-owned businesses. For more information, visit empathia.com.
Congratulations to the 5th Annual IoT Innovator award recipients! 2022 has remained a growth year for innovation in IoT and we have witnessed a deeper dive into positive outcomes and strategic applications across industry specific to industrial and enterprise. Every fall, Compass Intelligence honors and recognizes the best of the best IoT innovative companies, organizations, products, platforms, and solutions. Compass Intelligence recognizes 21 companies in distinct IoT categories specific to industry and key applications. In addition, this year Compass Intelligence recognizes and honors 7 additional companies for unique innovation and excellence in IoT solutions, products, and services.

The 2022 IoT Innovator award recipients include the following companies and organizations (in order of the award listings): Siemens, WaterX Technologies Inc, AGCO Corporation, Forescout Technologies Inc, Beep, Inc., Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., Cintra's AIVIA, PCTEL, Exeger and Atmosic Technologies, Inseego, LG Electronics, Fleetio, Spireon, Airgain, Aabey LLC, Quectel, Intel, KORE, OnAsset Intelligence, Aruba, Telit, ClearBlade, Wipelot Industrial RTLS & IIoT Systems, Adversa AI, Telli Health, Eseye, Crosser, Elipsa, and Pedigree Technologies.

We are sitting in the midst of a prime opportunity for innovation in IoT driven by the need to automate, connect, and bring intelligent resources to enterprise and industrial applications, says Stephanie Atkinson, CEO of Compass Intelligence. The IoT Innovator Awards program builds on existing research, market studies, custom advisory, and insight reports made available on CompassIntel.com. Congratulations to these 28 innovative companies and organizations who are continuing to drive advancement, scale, and real-world intelligence to businesses around the globe.

The 2022 CompassIntel IoT Innovator Award recipients are as follows:



Utility & Water Metering: Siemens

Facilities/Building Management: WaterX Technologies Inc

Agriculture & Farming: AGCO Corporation

IoT Device Security: Forescout Continuum Platform

Driverless Vehicles: Beep, Inc.

Retail & Customer Experiences: Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

Smart Roads: Cintra's AIVIA

Intelligent Transportation: PCTEL

Energy Management: Exeger and Atmosic Technologies

Public Safety: Inseego

Home Automation: LG Electronics' ThinQ smart home platform

Agriculture Fleet Management: Fleetio

Auto Dealership Management: GoldStar Enterprise by Spireon

Trucking Fleet Management: Airgain

IoT for Good: Aabey LLC

Machine Vision Technologies: Quectels SC680A module

IoT Chipset Technologies: Intel

Medical Devices: KORE Connected Health Data Telemetry Solutions

Aviation/Airport: OnAsset Intelligence's Sentry FlightSafe

Colleges/Universities: Aruba Wi-Fi 6E

Asset Monitoring: Telit

Compass Intelligence Selected:



Enterprise Scale Execution: ClearBlade

Port Area Automation: Wipelot Industrial RTLS & IIoT Systems

AI Cybersecurity: Adversa AI

Remote Patient Monitoring: Telli Health's Medical IoT RPM Devices Powered by Eseye

Industrial Edge Intelligence: Crosser

Predictive Maintenance: Elipsa

Fleet Compliance: Pedigree Technologies

For more information about Compass Intelligence, please visit iotinnovatorawards.com

~~~

About The CompassIntel IoT Innovator Awards

The 5th Annual CompassIntel IoT Innovator Awards honors companies and vendors demonstrating innovation in Internet of Things solutions, products, applications, and technology. Compass Intelligence has been recognizing companies for more than 10 years, after initially launching the A-List in M2M Awards back in 2012. The Innovator award categories run across 21 IoT innovation categories. In addition, Compass Intelligence also recognizes startups, stand-out products, and emerging and established IoT companies annually that have made an impact to the market and demonstrate superior innovation to elevate IoT.

Note: Brand or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

Media Contact:

awards@compassintelligence.com
"In a world where feed based news is overwhelming verified news, we must rise to this challenge and support the professional news industry."

Allen & Gerritsen (A&G), an independent, creative-led advertising agency, today announced the next phase of its signature Protect Our Press (POP), initiative launched in 2021 to combat the widespread decrease in local, professional journalism by galvanizing the advertising industry to prioritize and reinvest ad spending with local news outlets.

A&G is implementing the next phase of the initiative with Zeta Global, its partner for marketing activation within the Zeta Marketing Platform, which will launch the Protect Our Press product that will include hundreds of professional news websites and apps that would often not be included in general programmatic buying schedules. This Private Marketplace or Inclusion List has been hand-vetted for brand safety, and to ensure that recognizable news outlets are included. This product will give customers freedom over investment choices, and can be added to their digital buying mix to be able to tap into these valuable local news reading audiences.

A&G conducted further national outreach to encourage publishers to join and become eligible for the additional associated revenue. Participants include ownership groups like Gannett and Hearst, major regional newspapers like The Boston Globe and The Star Tribune, along with hundreds of smaller outlets that might otherwise fail to receive programmatic revenues from national marketing campaigns.

Protect Our Press was founded with the belief that without the Fourth Estate, there is no check or balance on truth. In a world where feed based news is overwhelming verified news, we must rise to this challenge and support the professional news industry. The good news is that there is no question that news-literate audiences add value to a marketing plan by offering scale and diversity to help brands improve performance on important KPIs such as site visitation from news adjacent paid media units, said Will Phipps, senior vice president of Media at Allen & Gerritsen.

Since its launch, Protect Our Press has received 3,038 pledges as well as approval from The Ground Truth Project, Report for America, The 4As, The Association of National Advertisers, as well as support from agencies and publishers including Havas Worldwide and the Association of Alternative News Media. A&G, alongside their clients, have moved the percentage of investment into news adjacency from 13% to 20%, and continue to encourage other agencies and brands to consider making the same impact.

While we created the infrastructure to support this pledge, our entire industry needs to work together to protect the free press in this country, said Andrew Graff, chief executive officer of A&G. We are asking other agencies, brands, publishers and individuals to join this initiative with us through a range of actions from a 20% pledge in favor of news environments, to an individual subscription, to a local publisher. Every action contributes to more free and independent journalism, one of the core hallmarks of democracy.

# # #

About Allen & Gerritsen

Allen & Gerritsen (A&G) is an independent, integrated, creative-led agency that is driven by strategy, data and humanity to generate sustainable results for modern brands. Our agency brings out a brands best self through strategies that truly understand people and the ideas that connect to them. Our headquarters are located in Boston and Philadelphia and our clients include Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Citrix Sharefile, Comcast, Fresenius Medical Care North America, National Organization on Disability, Philadelphia Flyers, The TJX Companies and more. A&G builds our own best self by embracing the diversity of our talent and taking pride in creating a warm, curious, genuine, thoughtful culture. A&G was ranked twice by Advertising Age as the #1 Best Place to Work in Marketing & Media. To learn more, check out http://www.a-g.com and follow the agency on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Spider Impact has long been the leader in strategy execution, but its new Business Intelligence back-end truly transforms data into actionable insights. Spider Impact is the only strategy execution software powered by BI, and is the only BI software focused on executing strategy.

Spider Strategies today introduced Spider Impact 5.5, which brings exciting new data visualization and data import capabilities to the industrys leading strategy execution software. Spider Impact 5.5 features new ways for organizations to visualize their progress toward meeting strategic goals, including interactive geographic maps and reports with heatmap-style coloring. With new customizable scoring, organizations have complete control over how they measure their performance. Version 5.5 adds even more ways of importing data into Spider Impact, including user-built forms and integrations with thousands of apps through Zapier. These groundbreaking advancements make Spider Impact even more indispensable for companies, governments, and nonprofits.

What were most proud of in this release are all of the new ways to import and visualize data, said Scott OReilly, Cofounder of Spider Strategies. Spider Impact has long been the leader in strategy execution, but its new Business Intelligence back-end truly transforms data into actionable insights. Spider Impact is the only strategy execution software powered by BI, and is the only BI software focused on executing strategy.

*A New Class of Data Visualization*

New interactive maps in Spider Impact allow levels of data visualization previously unseen in strategy execution software. Regions on geographic maps show colors based on their performance, and users click or tap on regions to drill down to the next level of detail. Clicking on a country zooms to states or provinces. Clicking again smoothly zooms to counties, postal codes, or cities. For data spanning across multiple countries, users have the ability to visualize geographic performance through either two dimensional maps or a new, three dimensional spinning globe view.

Newly designed reports allow users to create heatmap-style coloring, instantly conveying data values visually. For example, darker shades of blue in a sales report column could represent higher values, allowing a sales manager to instantly see their top performers. Users can choose from a wide range of color palettes, including light-to-dark shades of a single color, or a scoring-style palette of reds, yellows, and greens.

*Complete Scoring Flexibility*

Spider Impact 5.5 introduces flexible new scoring options that allow organizations to view performance data in the way that best matches their culture. Instead of 0 to 10 scores, organizations can now choose any minimum and maximum value. They have the ability to view scores as either a number or a percentage. They can even allow scores to go outside the minimum and maximum values, with a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) that doubles its goal receiving a score of 200%.

The new Text scoring types in version 5.5 allow users to measure text-based values in KPIs. For example, instead of requiring a numerical input of 0 to 5 for a satisfaction survey, the KPI update form can now have a dropdown with options like Not Satisfied, Indifferent, and Very Satisfied. Each possible value has a unique score, allowing it to be compared with traditional numerical KPIs.

*Pull Data from Virtually Anywhere*

Spider Impact 5.5 features the ability to import data from over 5,000 new applications through Zapier. These new Software-as-as-Service (SaaS) tool integrations dramatically increase the ability of Spider Impacts customers to manage all of their data on a single platform.

Sometimes, however, the data that organizations need does not exist digitally. To address this, the new Forms section in Spider Impact 5.5 allows organizations to easily build and share data collection forms. The layout and flow is completely open-ended, allowing organizations to create surveys and mini-apps that supplement existing data sources or collect entirely new information.

These new data import features all harness Spider Impacts powerful data transformations for cleaning and combining data, and they work in concert with existing spreadsheet and database imports. Combined, this data import functionality gives organizations the ability to manage all of their performance data on a single platform.

*About Spider Impact*

Spider Impact has five key advantages for businesses, governments, and nonprofits.



Strategy Execution. Get everyone on the same page, working towards a shared strategic vision. Spider Impact helps you set aggressive goals, and then breaks that strategy into things you can actually measure.

Strategic Initiatives. Discover the effect your strategic initiatives are having on business performance. Identify underperforming initiatives quickly, and rapidly shift budget to initiatives that actually accomplish your goals.

Meetings Reinvented. With Spider Impact Briefings, turn every meeting into a data-driven, decision-making interaction without the need for time-consuming prep or costly paper reporting.

Business Intelligence. Spider Impact is a single platform that combines strategy execution with data visualization and analytics. Spider Impacts dashboards, reports, and ad-hoc analysis uncover insights and improve decision-making.

Data Governance & Security. Spider Impacts industry-leading data governance and security lets you customize access to performance data, with tailored views for everyone in your organization.

*About Spider Strategies*

Spider Strategies focus is simple: helping organizations reach their strategic goals. Spider Strategies customers achieve their best strategic performance through powerful, intuitive strategy execution software. Spider Strategies is a privately held U.S. corporation incorporated in Minnesota, and supported by a network of partners and resellers across the world.

For more information about Spider Impact or Spider Strategies, visit https://www.spiderstrategies.com
Dr. Jeff Grosskopf "It's exciting to see people get their lives back. That's priceless"

Milwaukee-based chiropractor Dr. Jeff Grosskopf is helping patients with a revolutionary approach to health care. He calls it "treating dis-ease."

While mainstream medicine focuses on treating disease, Dr. Grosskopf believes in identifying the root causes of illness. He refers to these causes as dis-ease.

"We have all experienced our body at ease," Dr. Grosskopf explains. "Simply put, that's when you're able to adapt to stress and thrive. Think about how your body continually adapts to your environment internally and externally. When you're hot, you sweat; when you're cold, you shiver. When you eat food, your digestion goes into action. With every movement, your brain assesses your body and environment and makes millions of signals per second that connect to every part of your body."

Not Just a Play on Words

Though it may sound like a play on words, the doctor says, "a body not at ease will eventually disease." Dr. Grosskopf explains that 90% of all disease results from stress, lifestyle choices, and the environments we encounter. He also teaches how a person's brain and nervous system are the master coordinators of the body. Your brain extends to become your spinal cord and has millions of nervous connecting your brain to your body through the spinal cord.

"When your nervous system cannot efficiently manage the function of your body, it will be dysfunctional. Patients come in with various health concerns, and what they are experiencing is the effects (not the cause) of their body not being able to function properly. If the root cause isn't corrected, the patient never is truly better. It's sad how many people go through our medical system never getting better and sometimes ending up much worse."

At Dr. Grosskopf's office, Epic Life Chiropractic in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin (a Milwaukee suburb), patients experience life-changing results. And it's all happening naturally without drugs or surgery. He is treating patients by very precisely adjusting his patients' spines to cause an immediate change in how their nervous system works.

It's Exciting to See Lives Changed

"I love the process of treating patients because we see an immediate change and improvement. Each patient receives a treatment plan based on their body's needs. Our care removes those areas of tension and dysfunction in the patient's spine and nervous system, and they begin to heal. Over time they can live and function at ease, take on the stresses of life, whether physical or mental and thrive. Our chiropractic care facilitates healing and restoration."

Instead of treating the disease, Dr. Grosskopf focuses on adjusting the spine and nervous system to eliminate the root cause of the dis-ease. He believes the results speak for themselves, and he's helped in a wide variety of conditions.

"Just read our testimonials. We've helped adults and children. I've helped patients with severe back pain, herniated discs, headaches, and migraines. Patients recover from conditions most people don't even know chiropractic can help. We help newborns with their digestion and immune system, adults with frozen shoulders, knee pain, digestive issues, and much more. I can't list it all."

At Epic Life Chiropractic, they emphasize the value of health. They believe poor health doesn't just result in medical bills, but it costs you loss of work and experiences with family and friends and inhibits you from enjoying life to its fullest.

"If we are talking about spinal care in America, the average back surgery is $30,000. Most are more expensive than that," Dr. Grosskopf explains. "But you also need to consider the cost of not working, ongoing prescription costs, lost sleep, and the overall effects of poor quality of life. You can't put a price on that, and it's priceless."

Want to Meet with Dr. Grosskopf?

You can go on Dr. Grosskopf's website to schedule a consultation to meet with him and learn more. Go to http://www.epiclifechiropractic.com
For a third consecutive year, Argentum has been named to Inc.s list of Founder-Friendly Investors, an annual roundup honoring the private equity and venture capital firms with the best track records of success backing entrepreneurs

Argentum is pleased to announce that it has been named to Inc.s 2022 list of Founder-Friendly Investors, an annual roundup honoring the private equity and venture capital firms with the best track records of success backing entrepreneurs. For a third consecutive year, founders have recognized Argentum as a trusted, supportive, and collaborative partner that helps drive growth.

Speaking with other CEOs, I most often hear of investors who push them to just grow indiscriminately. Instead, Argentum has jumped in and pulled with us, acting as an experienced extension of our team as weve navigated growth, market expansion, and acquisitions. Partnering with Argentum has been one of our smartest growth decisions  while we of course deeply value the investment they have made, their most valuable contributions have been their partnership, support and guidance, commented Jennifer Silverberg, Founder and CEO of SmartCommerce, an Argentum portfolio company, and recognized by Comparably as one of the Best CEOs for Women.

Were grateful for the ongoing recognition of our founder-friendly and partnership-oriented approach by Inc. and entrepreneurs for another consecutive year, said Daniel Raynor, Managing Partner and Co-founder of Argentum. For over three decades, Argentum has remained laser focused on providing founders and bootstrap entrepreneurs with the optimal amount of growth capital they need to scale their businesses, alongside a supportive and experienced partner that aims to add more value than whats typically expected from a minority investor.

Argentum has had the privilege of partnering with over 90 companies, supporting over 200 add-on acquisitions by our portfolio companies, and realizing over 70 exits, added Walter Barandiaran, Managing Partner and Co-founder of Argentum. Were proud of our strong track-record of creating value by actively helping our entrepreneurs build market leading B2B software, tech-enabled and business services companies, and achieve success.

Argentum continues to be one of the only firms on Incs Founder-Friendly Investors lists that focuses on investing $5 million to $15 million for minority stakes.

Additional CEO testimonials can be found at https://argentumgroup.com/testimonials/

About Inc.

The worlds most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections, and community they need to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month across a variety of channels including websites, newsletters, social media, podcasts, and print. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers, and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent. The associated Inc. 5000 Conference is part of a highly acclaimed portfolio of bespoke events produced by Inc. For more information, visit http://www.inc.com.

About Argentum

Argentum is a New York-based growth equity firm that helps scale bootstrapped B2B software, technology-enabled and business services companies. The firm invests in companies with revenues of $5 million to $25 million, providing capital to accelerate growth, fund acquisitions and / or generate shareholder liquidity. Over its 30-year history, Argentum has invested in over 90 companies and supported more than 200 add-on acquisitions. Argentum fills the growing gap between early-stage venture capital investors and later stage growth equity firms by targeting bootstrapped companies seeking $5 million to $15 million of equity capital.
KEB F6 and S6 Drives are PROFIsafe Certified The PROFIsafe communication in KEB drives speeds up the commissioning time, reduces wiring, requires a smaller footprint, and comes with cost savings for machine builders.

KEB America, Inc., a subsidiary of KEB Automation and a provider of industrial automation solutions in North America, today announces its F6 VFD and S6 Servo Drive is PROFIsafe certified. The PROFIsafe certification by TUV Rheinland ensures KEB drives deliver functional safety over the bus to industrial machinery requiring PROFINET communication.

Functional safety is an integral component of KEB drives. The F6 VFD and S6 Servo Drive come standard with SIL3 Safe Torque Off (STO) and Safe Brake Control (SBC). Extra safety functionality such as Failsafe over EtherCAT (FSoE), SS1, SS2, SOS, SLS, SLP, SLI, SDI, and SSM is available.

The certified PROFIsafe communication in our drives is a huge win for machine builders, said Jonathan Bullick, sales manager at KEB America. It speeds up the commissioning time, reduces wiring, requires a smaller footprint, and comes with cost savings.

KEBs COMBIVIS 6 commissioning and diagnostic software supports the F6 and S6 drive controllers to deliver exceptional speed and position control. These drives operate induction and AC permanent magnet servo motors with speeds up to 45,000 rpm. They feature flexible heatsinks, a dual-channel encoder card, power ranges from 0.75 kW to 450 kW, and internal positioning capability for motion control applications.

Visit KEB America's website for more information and video demonstrations on its motion control and industrial automation solutions suite.

About KEB America, Inc.

KEB America, Inc. is a North American manufacturer of industrial automation products for applications in the elevator, medical, packaging, and plastics industries. KEB America manufactures, assembles, and supports its suite of German-engineered controls, drives, motors, brakes, and clutches at its ISO 9001:2015 certified 150,000 sq. ft. facility in Shakopee, Minnesota. For more information, please visit http://www.kebamerica.com.

KEB America is a wholly owned subsidiary of KEB Automation KG, a global provider of complete automation system solutions headquartered in Barntrup, Germany. KEB Automation KG has four global production sites, ten subsidiaries, 30 sales and service centers, and 1,500+ employees worldwide.
Launching MyExpatFBAR allows any US citizen living abroad to file their FBAR via MyExpatTaxes, whether they are required to file a US tax return or not.

MyExpatTaxes announces the release of their new standalone FBAR filing service, MyExpatFBAR. Thousands of US Citizens living outside of the United States already use MyExpatTaxes to file their US Tax returns and FBARs each year. Those not required to file a tax return now also have the opportunity to file their FBAR through their platform.

Filing an FBAR - or Foreign Bank Account Report is required for any US citizen who lives outside the United States and holds a combined total of $10,000 or more in foreign accounts at any time during the calendar year.

FBAR filing is always included with all of MyExpatTaxes Tax Return packages. Now, MyExpatTaxes expands the opportunity to Americans who may not be required to file a US Tax Return or who have filed their US Tax Return by another means to file their FBAR via MyExpatFBAR.

The price for standalone FBAR filing with MyExpatTaxes new product, MyExpatFBAR, is 49 per FBAR. Users can file both current and past FBARs via FBAR.MyExpatTaxes.com.

The launch is aptly timed because the automatic extension deadline for Americans abroad is approaching. The FBAR (for 2021) is due by October 17th, 2022.

Filing an FBAR Without Filing US Taxes

Due to the USs citizen-based taxation policy, Americans abroad whose income reaches the annual minimum income threshold must file a US tax return. The FBAR, or Foreign Bank Account Report as its known, must be filed anytime a US Citizen abroad has an accumulative sum of $10,000 in any number of foreign accounts at one time.

Users could include unemployed Americans who have money in savings or spouses of non-US citizens whose names appear on foreign accounts.
Our commitment to safeguard communities while honoring all aspects of a fair and reasonable regulatory process, together with our active participation in the National Association of Utility Regulators, is what led to our membership with CPU.

Central States Water Resources (CSWR), one of the 12 largest investor-owned water and wastewater utilities in the United States, today announced that it has become a member of the Center for Public Utilities (CPU) located in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

The CPU has been an integral part of the New Mexico State Universitys College of Business since the late 70s, providing training programs and policy conferences for federal and state commissions and utility companies. University faculty working in the CPU have vast experience in the regulatory realm including policy rulemaking proceedings, rate cases, and other federal and state commission related matters.

We are grateful that our mission and outreach is supported by companies like Central States Water Resources, said Cindy Blume, Director of CPU. Our pledge to serve the public interest by ensuring the efficacy of public utility regulation is the basis of CPUs programs, and our goal is to bring together utility companies and policy makers in an effort to define the conditions and services that best serve all stakeholders.

Our commitment to safeguard communities while honoring all aspects of a fair and reasonable regulatory process, together with our active participation in the National Association of Utility Regulators, is what led to our membership with CPU, observed CSWR president Josiah Cox. We believe in and support the need for public oversight and regulation, and programs like the ones offered by CPU are crucial in allowing us to fulfill our mission to bring safe, reliable and environmentally responsible water to every community in the United States."

For more information on CPU, visit https://cpu.nmsu.edu.

ABOUT CENTRAL STATES WATER RESOURCES

Founded in 2014, Central States Water Resources (CSWR) is one of the 12 largest investor-owned utilities in the United States. Since 2018, CSWR has invested more than $200 million to acquire and transform critical water infrastructure using technology and innovation to bring safe, reliable, and environmentally responsible water resources to nearly 200,000 customers across Arizona, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Florida. Learn more about CSWR at CentralStatesWaterResources.com.
Woodbridge International Our clients put their business in our hands and we must reward that trust with an all-in determination and worth ethic. Most of all, we must reward that trust with results."

Woodbridge International, a leading global mergers and acquisition firm, today announces the appointment of Stryker-Munley Group (SMG) as its public relations and communications agency of record.

Celebrating its 30th year helping businesses looking to sell and connect with the right buyer, Woodbridge International has developed a proprietary marketing-centered approach to selling businesses in up and down markets. Having created a global auction through its innovative marketing approach, Woodbridge reaches thousands of potential buyers around the globe resulting in more bids, more sales and the best fit between seller and buyer.

Selling your business is personal, states Robert Koenig, Woodbridge Internationals founder. Our clients put their business in our hands and we must reward that trust with an all-in determination and worth ethic. Most of all, we must reward that trust with results. In interviewing potential PR agencies, we found that David Thalberg and SMG share the same work-product ethic we do, making them the right partner in helping us build our brand awareness.

While the pandemic laid havoc on global economies, Woodbridge Internationals system still were able to successfully close on a record number of deals, growing from 13 businesses sold in 2020 to 27 business sold in 2021, with 2022 looking to be a record-breaking year.

Its exciting to work with a company with so much grit and determination to make the selling process not only profitable for its clients, but who also takes the time to insure it is the right culturally fit partner, states Stryker-Munley Group President, David Thalberg. Robert and his team understand the importance of marketing, which is a huge plus, as we reach out to media and content creators. We will be able to offer client success case studies along with timely research and data about M & A that makes a mark in this competitive industry.

SMG will manage all public relations, outside communications and media relations, develop content for trade media and social media channels, and work with related associations and organizations to share additional content and manage speaking opportunities.

With offices in the United States and Cape Town South Africa, Woodbridge International has set the gold-standard for lower, middle market M & A firms and for those companies looking to sell their most valuable and personal asset to the right organization.

Woodbridge Internationals ground-breaking approach to marketing a company globally has transformed the way the sell-side M&A industry does business.

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Mercantile Founding Team. Photo credit: Francois Ubald Brien Weve spent an incredible amount of time interviewing business owners within the industries we serve to understand exactly what their financial needs are and built a modern card platform to help them succeed.

Mercantile, the industry-specific credit card platform designed to meet the unique needs of small businesses, publicly launched today to help SMBs succeed in an increasingly tough environment. By creating customized credit card programs based on industry-specific needs and partnering with leading industry organizations, the company returns more relevant benefits and rewards to cardholders than any other card out there. Mercantile is starting in the healthcare sector and will soon expand to other markets. Initial partners include the American Optometric Association, the Opticians Association of America, the Academy of Doctors of Audiology, and the Medical Group Management Association.

Mercantile is launching with $22 million in total funding, including a $15 million Series A led by Index Ventures, with participation from seed investors First Round Capital, General Catalyst, SV Angel, Operator Partners, Box Group, and others. With this capital, Mercantile plans to further invest in product development, as well as build out its partnership and go-to-market teams

Mercantile is applying the latest in fintech to small business markets that have been grossly underserved, said Mark Fiorentino, Partner at Index Ventures and new Mercantile board member. Hundreds of billions of dollars in total payments flow through small businesses each year, but it can be very difficult to tap in if not approached correctly. Creating co-branded card programs with industry-specific players allows for scalable distribution while the SMBs benefit from amassing the purchasing power of an enterprise sized customer.

A New Model for Industry Leaders

Mercantile partners with industry-specific software providers and associations to distribute custom-built cards as an added benefit to their members and customers. By working with these organizations, Mercantile is able to unify the purchasing power of SMBs within a given industry to negotiate with suppliers and deliver 5-20% discounts on the items most impactful to their business.

With Mercantile, distribution partners benefit from:



Reduced churn and increased engagement: Mercantile gives partners the ability to offer a superior credit card product built around their industrys specific needs. Mercantiles white-label cards become an important piece of the partner organizations services.

Additional revenue: Mercantile delivers money straight to each partners bottom line through interchange revenue sharing opportunities.

Co-marketed products: The Mercantile team works with partners to develop co-marketing campaigns and acts as an extension of each partners team to ensure program success developing content, sending strategic emails, participating in webinars, and more.

Fast and simple onboarding: Its less than 30 days from when a Mercantile contract is signed to when branded cards reach customers hands, exponentially faster than other options.

We worked closely with the Mercantile team and were delighted by the card program they designed for our members. This is the first time anything of this nature has been created that truly maps to our members needs, said Bob Kehm, Managing Director of the American Optometric Association. The response from our members so far has been incredible, as Mercantile has delivered exactly what was promised.

Card Programs With Purpose

Small businesses have always been vital to the U.S. economy. Today, SMBs generate 44% of economic activity, yet they pay more than large corporations for the items needed to run their businesses. Large corporations have access to far greater rewards, points, and working capital float whereas small businesses have been limited to cards that are essentially dressed up consumer versions designed to treat every small business the same.

Mercantile gives small businesses the cost-saving benefits and rewards they deserve, including:

Vendor discounts: Mercantile negotiates with key suppliers to deliver discounts of 5-20% on top vendors.

Cash back: Cardholders receive 1.5% cash back on all purchases.

Relevant bonuses: Sign-up bonuses of up to $1000 go directly to dues, membership fees, or other professional costs cardholders are already paying.

And just as importantly, small businesses dont have to pay annual or hidden fees, Mercantile doesnt impact personal credit, and the cards dont require a personal guarantee.

The AOA Business credit card has already been a positive in my practice, said Dr. Matt Jones of Family Eye Care. The initial bonus of my AOA dues rebate was a nice perk, and the subsequent cash back rewards have been really helpful to us. On top of this, supporting the AOA has always been a priority in my career. Being able to do that while my practice also benefits makes me feel great about using this card.

With early and enthusiastic feedback like this from cardholders and distribution partners alike, its clear that small business owners finally have a card built for them and their industry.

We succeed by helping small businesses better compete in an environment thats increasingly dominated by the big guys, said Sam Poirier, co-founder and CEO of Mercantile and recipient of the Peter Thiel Fellowship as well as the Goldman Sachs Most Intriguing Entrepreneur Award. Weve spent an incredible amount of time interviewing business owners within the industries we serve to understand exactly what their financial needs are and built a modern card platform to help them succeed.

To learn more about how Mercantile is different from any card on the market today, please visit http://www.getmercantile.com.

About Mercantile

Mercantile builds industry-specific credit cards that help small business owners succeed. By creating customized card programs based on industry-specific needs, Mercantile allows leading industry organizations  like the American Optometric Association and the Academy of Doctors of Audiology  to offer a modern, branded credit card to their customers. Mercantile negotiates on behalf of cardholders to deliver meaningful discounts on industry essential items and cover relevant association dues or monthly subscriptions. Learn more at http://www.getmercantile.com.
NFW (Natural Fiber Welding, Inc.) is teaming up with Stella McCartney, Allbirds, Reformation and Pangaia to produce the most traceable and low-carbon MIRUM, a plant-based plastic-free leather alternative, ever made. This MIRUM will use Climate Beneficial cotton from C4, a project of Fibershed. LCA data indicates that MIRUMs carbon footprint is already up to 10x lower than that of conventional leathers and plastic-based alternatives. However, the fabric backer on MIRUM offers an opportunity to drive its carbon footprint lower still. By using cotton grown with practices regenerating soil health for this fabric backer, NFW sets an even higher standard of sustainability for leather-like materials. As a member of C4, NFW is working directly with farmers in California and supporting their transition to agricultural practices that regenerate soil health and draw down carbon. The collaboration with sustainability leaders like Stella McCartney, Allbirds, Reformation and Pangaia--some of whom will bring MIRUM made with Climate Beneficial cotton to life in their product lines--is essential to seeding and growing this radical change.

NFWs plants, not plastics approach to material science and commitment to developing a regenerative supply chain helps catalyze critical shifts in land stewardship, labor transparency and the industry's role in the climate crisis. Stakeholders along with the whole cotton supply chain (from farmers, spinners, mills, to brands) are normally not in communication as textile development traditionally happens, with brands purchasing fabric from a contract manufacturer who has purchased yarn from a spinner (another contract manufacturer) who has purchased cotton from a merchant, which allows for little-to-no transparency back to the farm, agricultural practices and labor conditions. C4 works in the opposite direction: farm-forward. We partnered with C4 to work side by side with leaders who are making the transition to regenerative agriculture in the textile industry and fashion space possible, said NFW Vice President and MIRUM General Manager Oihana Elizalde. The partnership allows NFW to deliver a product that sets a new sustainability standard towards reversing climate change and were so appreciative of our brand partners who make this all possible.

Stella McCartney is leading the change in fashion through her use of innovative, sustainable materials. Since I launched Stella in 2001, I have dreamed of a plant-based alternative to leather created in harmony with nature. MIRUM is that vegan vision brought to life  so realistic without any plastic, on a regenerative cotton backing that helps to improve biodiversity and soil health while sequestering carbon to fight climate change, said Stella McCartney. In collaboration with SOS Fund, my hope is we can bring this incredible material innovation to an industry-wide scale and inspire other fashion houses to join our conscious movement; one that crafts uncompromising, desirable products that do not harm animals and give back to Mother Earth.

Allbirds is an early NFW investor and released the Plant Pacer made with MIRUM in September. By collaborating with NFW to bring MIRUM made with Climate Beneficial cotton to market, they are deepening their commitment to driving the footwear industry toward sustainable, natural solutions. Allbirds has bold ambitions to reduce per-unit emissions to near zero by the year 2030, with regenerative agriculture being one of our strategic levers to get there, said Jad Finck, Vice President of Innovation at Allbirds. Were excited to once again be an early partner to NFW and continue stretching the known limits of the natural world.

Reformation's mission is to bring sustainable fashion to everyone, through this collaboration we hope to make sustainable fashion widely attainable. Reformation is thrilled to continue investing in more sustainable materials at the farm and fiber level alongside C4 and NFW. It's an important step as we work towards achieving climate positivity and reaching our goal to have 100% of our fabrics be from recycled, regenerative or renewable materials. We're excited to work alongside like-minded brands to demonstrate the importance of collective action" said Kathleen Talbot, Reformation's Chief Sustainability Officer and VP of Operations.

Partnering with sustainability-conscious brands like Allbirds, Pangaia, Reformation and Stella McCartney, together we will create products that help usher in a materials revolution that is both circular and regenerative. Consumers will now understand where their cotton products originate from, putting transparency at the forefront of textile purchasing," said NFW CEO Luke Haverhals. Working directly with C4 and Fibershed to secure cotton that is both Climate Beneficial and farm-forward, we are collaboratively creating a new model of production that helps regenerate soil health, build relationships with farmers, balance the carbon cycle and transform the material economy to work in harmony with Earths biological systems.

About NFW

Natural Fiber Welding (NFW) is a material science innovation company giving industries categorically new material solutions to create responsibly. NFW invents and manufactures shockingly sustainable products from plants. Beginning with naturally circular, biobased ingredients, NFW is making a material-rich, plastic-free future possible. NFW was founded in 2015 and is based in Peoria, Illinois.

About MIRUM

MIRUM is a categorically new, zero plastic, plant-based material that is perfect for footwear, fashion, automotive, and accessories. MIRUMs miraculous customizability means it can look like leather or carbon fiber  you decide. MIRUM is a high-performance solution for designers and brands looking to shrink their footprint and expand their creative palettes. At the end of its life, MIRUM can be recycled into new MIRUM or ground up and returned to the earth: At last, a climate-friendly, plastic-free option.

About Stella McCartney

Stella McCartney is a luxury lifestyle brand that was launched under the designers name in 2001. It emboldens confident femininity with elevated yet effortless, conscious fashion. The brand is committed to being an ethical and modern company, believing it is responsible for the resources it uses and the impact it has on the environment. It is therefore constantly innovating new ways to become more sustainable, from designing to store practices and product manufacturing. As a lifelong vegetarian, Stella McCartney never uses any leather, feathers, fur or skins in any products for both ethical and environmental reasons  pioneering a movement for the use of alternative materials. Supporting regenerative agriculture and circularity, the brand is embracing new business models that will transform how clothes are sourced, produced, sold, shared, repaired and reused, promoting long-lasting products to reduce environmental impact.

Today, Stella McCartney spans womens ready to wear, menswear, kids clothing, accessories, swimwear, lingerie, a performance wear collaboration with adidas, STELLA skincare and more  with 47 directly owned stores and 24 franchise stores across New York City, London, Paris, Milan, Tokyo, Shanghai and Beijing. Our collections are now sold in 77 nations through 863 specialty shops and department stores, and ship to 100 countries via online.

About Allbirds

Headquartered in San Francisco, Allbirds is a global lifestyle brand that innovates with naturally derived materials to make better footwear and apparel products in a better way, while treading lighter on the planet. The Allbirds story began with superfine New Zealand merino wool and has since evolved to include eucalyptus tree fiber knit fabric, sugarcane-based EVA SweetFoam, castor bean oil-based SwiftFoam, and Plant Leather. Allbirds serves customers across 36 countries through 55 Allbirds stores and its e-commerce website, http://www.allbirds.com.

About PANGAIA

PANGAIA is a materials science company on a mission to save our environment. We are a global collective of one heart and many hands  scientists, technologists, designers  creating essential products from innovative tech and bio-engineered materials.

About Reformation

Founded in 2009, Reformation is a revolutionary lifestyle brand that proves fashion and sustainability can coexist. Reformation combines stylish, vintage-inspired designs with sustainable practices, releasing limited-edition collections for individuals who want to look beautiful and live sustainably. Reformation infuses green measures into every aspect of the business. Setting an example for the industry, Reformation remains at the forefront of innovation in sustainable fashionrunning the first sustainable factory in Los Angeles, using deadstock and eco fabrics, tracking and sharing the environmental impact of every product, and investing in the people who make this revolution possible.

About C4

The California Cotton & Climate Coalition is a relationship building project in which stakeholders across the textile supply chain work together to bring a new agronomic and textile development system forward that is generating natural material goods for the marketplace. By working together, risk is shared by all partners, which is critical to implementing innovative practices on-farm, in the mill, and in the development of new goods. The Coalition aims to build capacity within all stakeholders to grow, source, and develop climate beneficial, farm-forward textiles and supply chains in the future without the help of the coalition. Led by Fibershed in partnership with White Buffalo Land Trust, Torus, Materevolve, Chico State University, Agri Technovation, Carbon Cycle Institute, Bowles Farming Company and Stone Land Company.
Lumen Freedom, a world leading manufacturer of wireless electric vehicle charging (WEVC) systems, announce that as of 27th September 2022 the Wireless Charging of Electric Taxis (WiCET) project went live using Lumen Freedom WEVC technology.

WiCET is a project funded by the UKs Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) and delivered through Innovate UK, to assess the commercial and technical viability of deploying wireless charging for electric Hackney Carriages, with the potential to enable further electrification of transport that reduces emissions and improves air quality.

Five wireless ground assembly systems have been installed at the main city centre taxi rank in Nottingham (UK), and nine electric hackney carriages have been retrofitted with wireless vehicle assembly systems  five LEVC TX Taxis, and four Nissan Dynamo taxis.

Lumen Freedom have been working closely with the WiCET Project Team since the beginning of 2021 on the development of WiCETs technical requirements, whilst providing evaluation and development wireless charging hardware for the successful first phase of the project.

Electrification of taxi fleets in congested city areas is a crucial step in the reduction of transport emissions and improving air quality. The time taken for taxi drivers to recharge can reduce the drivers earning potential - cable charging is inconvenient and impractical at a taxi rank. Wireless charging provides drivers with the opportunity to recharge their vehicles whilst waiting for their next passengers.

Lumen Freedoms General Manager Rod Wilson said, "Were delighted to have been nominated as the wireless charger hardware supplier for the WiCET project and look forward to seeing wireless charging deployed across a wide range of applications from passenger cars to public transport and emergency vehicles.

Richard Sander, WiCET Project Manager and Technical Specialist at Cenex, said, We are extremely proud to be starting the first public trial of wireless charging of taxis in the UK. This is a big step in understanding and demonstrating the potential of wireless charging as a core technology in the electric vehicle transition.

Wireless electric vehicle charging is a simple solution for charging electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles, without the fuss of having to plug-in. The efficiency levels of the Lumen Freedom WEVC systems are comparable to plug-in or conductive charging systems.

To learn more about Lumen Freedom, visit https://www.lumenfreedom.com/

To learn more about WiCET, visit https://wicet.co.uk/

About the Lumen Group and Lumen Freedom

The Lumen Group is a leading integrator of automotive systems. Lumen offers a full-service supply capability from design, through to manufacturing on a global basis. With over 30 years of experience in the automotive industry, Lumen is known for being highly efficient and flexible in meeting customers needs.

Lumen Freedom, a member of The Lumen Group of companies, is dedicated to the design, manufacture, and integration of Wireless Electric Vehicle Charging (WEVC) systems. Lumen Freedom holds a license from WiTricity for the development and commercialisation of WEVC.

Follow Lumen Freedom on LinkedIn
"I told you, these people are [obscenity], man, their campaign managers raise all this money and lose. Obama and Trump had the two best digital campaigns of our lifetimes."

The hotly contested Pennsylvania senate race between incumbent John Fetterman and challenger Dr. Oz has taken an interesting turn, with SEO expert Lance Bachmann weighing in on Google's involvement.

Philadelphia Magazine recently interviewed Bachmann, the former CEO and Founder of 1SEO Digital Agency, about John Fetterman's campaign and their domination of digital search results. A Google search for Oz will display a multitude of Fetterman paid advertisements commandeering the top spots.

Bachmann didn't hold back when asked for his opinion on the matter. "You just have to max-bid your own name to make sure it always shows up in the top position," he said. "It just shows you how behind the times some people are and how [obscenity] some of these campaigns are at doing their job."

Bachmann went on to say that he believes modern political campaigns aren't capitalizing on the digital sector's power to influence the outcome of a race. "I told you, these people are [obscenity], man," says Bachmann. "Their campaign managers raise all this money and lose. Obama and Trump had the two best digital campaigns of our lifetimes."

Bachmann's comments come after a report from Philadelphia Magazine that (depending on your Google search history, ad blockers, and personal device) show a slew of anti Dr. Oz ads directing users to John Fetterman's campaign website. These ads appear in an overwhelming number of highly contested top search result spots.

On the contrary, had Dr. Oz's campaign spent more of its campaign funds to bid on certain keywords, they could see those negative ads buried deeper in the search results. "The second page of Google is the best place to hide a dead body," jokes Bachmann. "I did that for a famous rapper. And I also did it for a certain Philadelphia restaurateur who had lots of negative information out there about him."

For more information on digital marketing, contact 1SEO Digital Agency at 1SEO.com
Partnering with MCOs empowers us to deliver our home modification program to many new clients, helping to reduce falls, hospitalizations and overall insurance costs. said Ed Gasiewski, PT & co-owner of Therapy Choice.

Therapy Choice, a Medicare Part B provider that specializes in in-home physical and occupational therapy, has enhanced its personalized home modification program through new partnerships with leading Managed Care Organizations (MCOs). Over the past 20 years, Therapy Choice has been a provider for the Veterans Administration providing veterans with home modification recommendations in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and now adds MCOs to its resume.

Therapy Choices experienced, certified and trained clinicians have worked with elderly and disabled clients making home modification recommendations since the companys beginning. The therapists have a strong understanding of disease processes and the functional limitations of their clients, therefore, making the best individualized recommendations to overcome barriers. The outcome of this comprehensive home modification program allows the client to make the recommended changes to their home to help overcome barriers, increase safety, and reduce the risk of falling, while also improving overall function at home.

Under the new partnerships, Therapy Choice now works with MCOs in Pennsylvania on delivering home evaluations in a timely and thorough manner. The program makes a difference. Our client reported outcomes are more than 95% positive for helping to improve safety and independence, said Michael Gasiewski, OT & co-owner of Therapy Choice. In addition, partnering with leading health care providers that have a broad adult community brings Therapy Choice new opportunities to provide the best value to our new clients.

Partnering with MCOs empowers us to deliver our home modification program to many new clients, helping to reduce falls, hospitalizations and overall insurance costs. said Ed Gasiewski, PT & co-owner of Therapy Choice. MCOs bring innovation, quality, and excellence, and were proud to be working with them on this very important aspect of our business.

According to the CDC, 70% of home care patients are aged 65 and older. Further, with more people wanting to stay at home since the pandemic, the demand for in-home care and home modifications within the adult community is expected to remain high. A provider such as Therapy Choice brings personalized care directly to the client in their home environment.

Therapy Choice continues to meet the growing demand, throughout the country, for seniors who want to remain safely in their homes.

About Therapy Choice

Therapy Choice is a Medicare Part B provider serving residents of PA, NJ, and DE with specialized services in in-home physical, occupational therapy and home safety assessments. For more information, visit therapychoice.com.

Contact

Beth Amorosi

beth@fastlane.co

917-208-7489
Chronfest is a forum for higher-ed professionals and key thought leaders to connect and engage in meaningful ways to shape the next generation of education innovation.

The Chronicle of Higher Education today announced its second annual Chronicle Ideas Festival, known as Chronfest, bringing together some of Americas most innovative thinkers and thought leaders to discuss the ideas shaping the future of higher education. Speakers include New York Times best-selling author Malcom Gladwell; Cathy N. Davidson, co-author of The New College Classroom; and Michael Crow, president of Arizona State University. The festival begins with two days of free, virtual programming on Monday, October 31 and Tuesday, November 1, 2022, which will be followed up on November 3, 2022, with an exclusive, in-person gathering of senior higher-ed leaders in Washington D.C.

With higher education facing increased skepticism among students and the public, the program will focus on what colleges and universities can do to respond to societal and community needs, addressing topics such as how to improve the student experience, understanding the challenges of diverse student populations, and the future of learning.

Were excited to convene leading thinkers on some of the most critical topics of our time which have an impact on the way people learn and how our society functions, said Michael Riley, Editor-in-Chief, Chronicle of Higher Education. Chronfest is a forum for higher-ed professionals and key thought leaders to connect and engage in meaningful ways to shape the next generation of education innovation. With dozens of insightful experts in the room, we aim to inspire our audience to look beyond the current landscape, question its assumptions, and rethink conventional wisdom.

The Chronicle Ideas Festival extends the Chronicles journalism beyond the written word, with the first day of programming designed to address student needs in conversations about revamping college campuses, updating the curriculum, and redesigning university classrooms to help students succeed in a rapidly evolving world. The Day One Agenda includes sessions featuring Jason Wingard, President of Temple University, on Why Colleges Must Change; The Classroom, Reinvented with Cathy N. Davidson and Christina Katopodis, of the City University of New York; and The Student View, a panel of students candidly discussing what more they want of out of higher ed.

The Day Two Agenda focuses on what colleges can do to connect with and support communities in a post-pandemic America. Malcolm Gladwell, the five-time New York Times best-selling author, co-founder of Pushkin Industries, and host of I Hate the Ivy League: Riffs and Rants on Elite Education, kicks the day off with Whats Wrong  and Right  With American Higher Ed. Michael Crow, President, Arizona State University, author of The Evolving University, will address how universities can reinvent themselves in a time of rapid societal and economic change. In addition, a panel of experts will discuss Communicating Science in a Climate of Mistrust, and Will Bunch, author of After the Ivory Tower Falls: How College Broke the American Dream and Blew Up Our Politicsand How to Fix It, will present a session on Reconnecting a Divided America.

To view the full schedule of events and to register for free access to all virtual programming, please visit https://connect.chronicle.com/chronfest-2022-home.html. Journalists can directly submit questions for discussion during the virtual event. Attendees can connect socially using #CHRONFEST. Partners and supporting sponsors include Adobe, Pushkin, and Workday.

About the Chronicle of Higher Education:

The Chronicle of Higher Education provides more than 1.7 million professionals across higher education the right information to make the best decisions for their students, their institutions, and their careers. For 56 years, The Chronicle has been the unrivaled leader in higher-ed journalism, providing award-winning news and information, deep insights, trenchant analysis, and robust opportunities for professional growth to those who shape and influence higher education. It is owned by The Chronicle of Higher Education Inc., which publishes The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Arts & Letters Daily, and The Chronicle Review.
Olga Granaturova, Chief Operating Officer, Parthenon Therapeutics Parthenon has achieved impressive results since its founding in 2019. Weve built a pipeline of first-in-class therapeutics & a platform designed to generate a sustained cadence of novel therapeutics & have already enabled the discovery & development of therapies heading into the clinic in 2023.

Female Founders 100 recognition highlights Parthenon Co-Founder as an entrepreneur with a world-changing company

Parthenon Therapeutics today announced that its Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, Olga Granaturova, was named to Inc.'s fifth annual Female Founders 100 list, honoring women whose innovations and ideas are changing the world.

Parthenon is paving the way for a new generation of cancer treatments and has already enabled the discovery and development of first-in-class therapeutics. Founded by four people who believe cancer therapies should be developed differently, the company is addressing a reality that despite enormous advances, cancer treatments are effective only for a small population of patients. Parthenons novel class of anti-cancer therapies breaks down the protective barrier that surrounds cancer cells, creating a path for immune cells to infiltrate and kill tumors.

As a co-founder, Granaturova beat the odds to build a high-performance diverse scientific team including renowned scientific advisors who are united by a compelling purpose: to bend the survival curve for cancer patients. Her dedication to addressing meaningful gaps extends beyond health to inspire and support women in their entrepreneurial pursuits both within Parthenon and beyond. Granaturova also elevates and supports women-led startups through Brighter Ventures, an organization she co-founded to empower, educate and support female entrepreneurs.

Inc. editors reviewed thousands of applications highlighting female founders who are challenging the status quo and tackling some of the worlds biggest problems. The list features women who have overcome challenges and lifted those around them, while leading impactful organizations across the country.

These 100 female founders have identified solutions to difficult problems and created valuable, industry-changing companies out of them. We congratulate this years list on their achievements and look forward to their continued success, says Inc. editor-in-chief Scott Omelianuk.

Parthenon Therapeutics has achieved impressive results since its founding in 2019. Weve built a pipeline of first-in-class therapeutics and a platform designed to generate a sustained cadence of novel therapeutics over the long arc of the company and have already enabled the discovery and development of a first-in-class therapeutic heading into the clinic in 2023, said Olga Granaturova. But what Im equally proud of is the inclusive culture weve built. That diversity is a key ingredient of our success.

To see the recognition visit https://www.inc.com/profile/olga-granaturova or pick up the October 2022 issue on newsstands beginning October 4.

About Parthenon Therapeutics

Parthenon Therapeutics is inventing a novel class of anti-cancer therapies that reprogram the tumor microenvironment (TME). The interplay between cancer cells and their surrounding microenvironment is relevant in drug development as many cancers use the TME to build barriers that shield immune system attack. One approach, PRTH-101, breaks these barriers to overcome recalcitrant cancers. Based on rigorous, groundbreaking research, we are designing a portfolio of drug candidates to treat the right patients at the right time. For more information visit parthenontx.com and LinkedIn.

About Inc.

The worlds most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections, and community to build great companies. Its award-winning, multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month across a variety of channels, including websites, newsletters, social media, podcasts, and print. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion among the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers, and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent. The associated Inc. 5000 Conference is part of a highly acclaimed portfolio of bespoke events produced by Inc. For more information, visit http://www.inc.com.
Fast Company launched a multimedia package, Ambition Diaries, in partnership with the journalism non-profit, Economic Hardship Reporting Project. Ambition Diaries features candid conversations between 14 mothers and daughters about the changing landscape of womens progress in the workforce and the pandemics impact on our relationship with work.

Ambition Diaries features seven as-told-to articles with accompanying original photography and audio clips. The project includes a special four-episode mini-series on Fast Companys The New Way We Work podcast around themes of economic mobility, discrimination, work-life balance, and the recalibration of ambition. The episodes will air each Monday in October, beginning October 3rd.

Over the course of several months, seven reporters from across the country recorded intimate conversations between mothers and daughters about issues like unpaid labor, discrimination, pay gap, career advancement, work-life balance, and how the pandemic has changed our relationship to work. The 14 mothers and daughters profiled in Ambition Diaries range from 27-81 years old, come from a variety of ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, and work across various industries.

Many media outlets have reported on the historic decline in womens workforce participation and the corporate reckoning over equality, but we wanted to understand how these shifts have changed in the last generation and how they play out in personal and professional choices today, says Fast Company Deputy Editor, Kathleen Davis, who led the project. Ambition Diaries is a rare and touching glimpse inside the lives of women across demographics.

Ambition Diaries hits on the very issue that motivated the late Barbara Ehrenreich to establish Economic Hardship Reporting Project in 2012. These poignant conversations between mothers and daughters give us an inside look into the lives of these women and highlights how widespread inequality impacts American workers, says David Wallis, Managing Director, Economic Hardship Reporting Project.

Ambition Diaries is available now on https://www.fastcompany.com/ambition-diaries, and the first two episodes are available on Fast Companys The New Way We Work podcast.

Check out the artwork here

About Fast Company

Fast Company is the only media brand fully dedicated to the vital intersection of business, innovation, and design, engaging the most influential leaders, companies, and thinkers on the future of business. Headquartered in New York City, Fast Company is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with our sister publication, Inc., and can be found online at fastcompany.com.

About Economic Hardship Reporting Project

Economic Hardship Reporting Project is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization producing journalism to help raise awareness about economic unfairness and income inequality in America.
Engel & Volkers St. Augustine Beach Grand Opening A common theme for Engel & Volkers Florida the past three years has been to take advantage of market conditions for exponential growth

Engel & Volkers Florida today announced its latest franchise expansion in St. Augustine Beach and Palm Coast, marking the brands sixth and seventh locations in northeast Florida. Local market expert, Jenn Bryndal will lead the new brokerages as part of her regional expansion; she already owns Engel & Volkers St. Augustine.

The impetus for opening Engel & Volkers St. Augustine Beach was recruiting Team Carr, said Bryndal. Doug and Donia Carr have been a powerhouse husband and wife team for over 25 years. They have been successfully working out of this location with Coldwell Banker since 2007, but wanted to affiliate with a better brand that had more to offer them and their clients. An additional shop, located in the heart of St. Augustine Beach, offers our advisors the opportunity to network amongst local business owners and service the growing number of vacationers to our seaside town.

Team Carr consists of husband and wife Doug and Donia. Prior to relocating to Florida in 2007, they were the broker/owners of Chalet Realty in Breckenridge, Colorado. Most recently, they were a top-producing team with Coldwell Banker. The duo will primarily work out of Engel & Volkers St. Augustine Beach, located at 11 14th Lane; a grand opening event was held at this shop on September 22, 2022. Engel & Volkers Palm Coast is located at 213 S Second St Unit 6A.

Palm Coast is an international market with a high volume of overseas travelers, said Bryndal. Engel & Volkers unmatched European heritage and global presence is a natural fit. Our expansion into Palm Coast allows agents looking to grow their business and elevate the level of service they provide the opportunity to align themselves with our international network. Our new shop in Palm Coast is centrally located by the Flagler Beach Pier amongst local businesses, restaurants, and hotels.

Bryndal partnered with Engel & Volkers in 2019 to open her first brokerage with the franchise company, Engel & Volkers St. Augustine. She was previously affiliated with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Realty and Coldwell Banker Premier Properties where she was a top-producing sales associate that consistently ranked among the top 10 agents in St. Johns County. Since joining forces with Engel & Volkers, she has represented several record-breaking listings and sales. A third brokerage location is also in the works. In Bryndals first year and a half with Engel & Volkers, she saw a staggering growth of 146% in average sales price and a 171% increase in total sales volume.

A common theme for Engel & Volkers Florida the past three years has been to take advantage of market conditions for exponential growth, said Peter Giese, CEO of Engel & Volkers Florida. We are continuing with this aggressive growth plan, now in a changing market where our competitors, by contrast, are reducing their locations. We are very pleased to support our franchisee, Jenn, in her efforts to expand the brand's presence in St. Augustine and Palm Coast. She is on track to become the top real estate firm servicing the luxury market in her territory.

St. Augustine Beach is a small city on Anastasia Island known for its wide, Atlantic Ocean-facing beaches that draw visitors from around the world. The typical value of homes in St. Augustine Beach has risen nearly 37-percent over the past year to $637,594. Incorporated in 1999, Palm Coast is one of Florida's newest cities. Located between St. Augustine and Daytona Beach, Palm Coast is situated on 70 miles of saltwater and freshwater canals, the Intracoastal Waterway, and is just minutes from pristine Atlantic Ocean beaches.

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Press contact:

Linzee Werkmeister, Junior Vice President, Marketing & Franchise Support

Email: Linzee.Werkmeister(at)evrealestate.com

Tel: (239) 348-9000

About Engel & Volkers:

Engel & Volkers is a global luxury real estate brand. Founded in Hamburg, Germany in 1977, Engel & Volkers draws on its rich European history to deliver a fresh approach to luxury real estate in the Americas with a focus on creating a personalized client experience at every stage of the home buying or selling process for today's savvy homeowner. Engel & Volkers currently operates approximately 263 shop locations with 5,000 real estate advisors in the Americas, contributing to the brand's global network of over 15,000 real estate professionals in more than 30 countries, offering both private and institutional clients a professionally tailored range of luxury services, including real estate, yachting and aviation. Committed to exceptional service, Engel & Volkers supports its advisors with an array of premium quality business services; marketing programs and platforms; as well as access to its global network of real estate professionals, property listings and market data. Each brokerage is independently owned and operated. For more information, visit http://www.evrealestate.com.

About Engel & Volkers Florida:

Engel & Volkers Florida is the Master License Partner of the global luxury real estate brand Engel & Volkers in the state of Florida. Recognized for uniquely recruiting, training and equipping some of the top professionals in the real estate industry, Engel & Volkers Floridas exclusive business model positions its franchisees at the top of the premium market to gain market share and support their bottom line. The company represents franchise locations in 42 markets: 30A Beaches, Amelia Island, Belleair, Boca Raton, Bonita Springs-Estero, Cape Coral, Clermont, Delray Beach, Destin, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers Downtown, Gainesville, Islamorada, Jacksonville, Jacksonville Beach, Jupiter, Madeira Beach, Marco Island, Melbourne Beachside, Melbourne Central, Melbourne Downtown, Miami Coconut Grove, Neptune Beach, Ocala, Olde Naples, Orlando, Orlando-Winter Park, Palm Beach, Palm Coast, Pompano Beach, Sarasota, South Tampa, St. Augustine, St. Pete, St. Pete Beach, Stuart, Tampa Water Street, Venice Downtown, Vero Beach, Wellington, and Windermere.

Engel & Volkers Florida is continuing to strategically strengthen and expand its presence in premium real estate markets across the state of Florida. If you would like to know more about the Engel & Volkers brand or how to join its global networkwhich is known for demonstrating competence, exclusivity and passion, feel free to call our corporate office, located at 633 Tamiami Trl N, Suite 201, Naples, FL 34102 USA. Tel: +1 239-348-9000.

For more information about Engel & Volkers Florida, please visit http://www.florida.evrealestate.com
Mployer Advisor announces the 2022 winners of the "Top Employee Benefits Consultant Awards" for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We scored these brokerages utilizing sophisticated, industry-first algorithms, and we applaud the winners demonstrated commitment to service, quality, and positive employer feedback.

Mployer Advisor, the leading independent platform for employers to research, review, and evaluate insurance brokers is pleased to announce the winners of its Top Employee Benefits Consultant Awards based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Mployer Advisor has named more than 600 winners in over 50 regions as part of its second annual 2022 awards. The class of 2022 winners account for less than 5% of all brokerages nationwide.

Mployer Advisors Top Employee Benefits Consultant Awards Program evaluates brokerages based on the breadth and depth of their experience across employer industries, sizes, insurance products, and employer reviews. We recognize esteemed brokers that demonstrate market-leading competencies and a proven track record of success among employers, insurance providers, and peers.

The team at Mployer Advisor is proud to honor this group of top insurance consultants as part of the 2022 class for our second annual Top Employee Benefits Consultant Awards, said Brian Freeman, the Founder and CEO of Mployer Advisor. Employer-sponsored healthcare and benefits cover over 150M Americans. Who an employer selects as their benefits advisor has more impact on cost and quality than who they choose as the insurance carrier. We scored these brokerages utilizing sophisticated, industry-first algorithms, and we applaud the winners demonstrated commitment to service, quality, and positive employer feedback.

Mployer Advisor determined the winners of the second annual Top Employee Benefits Consultant Awards by analyzing each brokerage based on historical data, online reviews, their M Score rating, and demonstrated business experience.

The Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania job market is one of the most competitive in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region, employing over 1.1 million people. Offering competitive employee benefits is a critical factor in hiring top talent for the regions employers. Finding and partnering with a highly rated insurance consultant is imperative to retaining talent in any market.

The recipients of the 2022 Top Employee Benefits Consultant Awards for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania are as follows:



The above winners are a snapshot of Mployer Advisors matrices and proprietary M Score on June 1, 2022. To view a full list of consultants in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, visit MployerAdvisor.com.

To view a complete list of the 2022 recipients of Mployer Advisors Top Employee Benefits Consultant Awards, visit https://mployeradvisor.com/best-insurance-brokers.

About Mployer Advisor:

Mployer Advisor is changing the way employers search, evaluate, and select insurance advisors. The intuitive platform connects employers and employees to great benefits and insurance plans by providing employers with actionable data to easily evaluate and select the best advisor for a companys specific needs. Most brokerages have a profile on Mployer Advisor, which provides independent ratings of insurance advisors to support employers. Insurance brokers cannot pay to influence their Mployer Advisor rating. Only highly rated brokerages are allowed to advertise on the platform. To learn more about Mployer Advisor, visit https://mployeradvisor.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

Disclaimer: Rankings are dynamic, and this report may not reflect the rankings currently listed on Mployer Advisors website. Because Mployer Advisors research is ongoing, interested companies that want to join next years list are encouraged to claim their free profile on Mployer Advisor.

Media Contact:

Abbey Dean (Director of Content)

Abbey.dean@mployeradvisor.com

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Its a great honor to be included among such an inspiring and diverse group of entrepreneurs, and an opportunity that is entirely attributable to our team at Assembly, said Kella.

Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) is recognizing Assembly Co-Founder and CEO Sandeep Kella as one of the Most Exceptional Entrepreneurs of 2022 at its Builders and Innovators Summit in Healdsburg, California.

Goldman Sachs selected Kella from multiple industries to be honored at the two-day event. Assembly helps entrepreneurs start, SMBs scale and Enterprises succeed through its two-suite approach, offering a software suite and community for both SMBs and Enterprises. Prior to Assembly, Kella co-founded Metric Collective, a holding company of software and services brands that catered to SMB customers. Before founding Metric Collective, Kella was on the founding team of Oracle Partners, a $200M middle-market private equity firm. He graduated from The University of Michigan School of Engineering with a B.S.E. in Industrial & Operations Engineering and a minor in Economics.

Its a great honor to be included among such an inspiring and diverse group of entrepreneurs, and an opportunity that is entirely attributable to our team at Assembly, said Kella. I am grateful to Goldman Sachs for recognizing our teams hard work, and Im excited to continue executing our vision of helping every e-commerce business in the world succeed through a combination of software, education, and community.

Were delighted to recognize Assembly as one of the most exceptional entrepreneurs of 2022, said David M. Solomon, Chairman, and CEO of Goldman Sachs. They have made extraordinary contributions to a wide range of fields, and all of us are looking forward to meeting with these innovative thinkers.

In addition to honoring the most exceptional entrepreneurs, the Summit consists of general sessions and clinics led by seasoned entrepreneurs, academics, and business leaders as well as resident scholars.

About Assembly:

Headquartered in Los Angeles, Assembly is a global e-commerce platform bringing best-in-breed software, content, and community across platforms including Amazon, Walmart, Instacart, and Shopify, helping businesses of all sizes and kinds simplify and scale their business.

Website: http://www.withassembly.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/withassembly/
Gregory Quinn, a Kansas City, Missouri native and avid drag racing enthusiast who founded a successful construction company specializing in fire and water damage restoration, restored a dilapidated bowling center and turned it into a successful business, and painted his super pro 67 Camaro race car pink and raised thousands of dollars doing fundraisers for families that have been affected by cancer, has completed his new book 13 Forgotten: an evocative work that keeps the pages turning until its satisfying conclusion.

Thirteen Jews, stowaways, made it to the coast of America only to be caught. They sat together on the deck of the old ship, land of the free in sight, knowing they would be sent back to communist Russia.

What would be waiting for them there? If they were lucky, a quick execution, probably ending up in a gulag, and working to the death.

Maybe, possibly, they could escape again. What would be the outcome? Execution? Drowning, prison? Nobody knew. One thing is for sure, they were not about to give up.

Two choicesescape or death!

Published by Page Publishing, Gregory Quinns engrossing book is a riveting choice for avid realistic non-fiction readers.

Readers who wish to experience this engaging work can purchase 13 Forgotten at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes Store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708.

About Page Publishing:

Page Publishing is a traditional, full-service publishing house that handles all the intricacies involved in publishing its authors books, including distribution in the worlds largest retail outlets and royalty generation. Page Publishing understands that authors should be free to create, not mired in logistics like eBook conversion, establishing wholesale accounts, insurance, shipping, taxes, and so on. Pages accomplished writers and publishing professionals allow authors to leave behind these complex and time-consuming issues and focus on their passion: writing and creating. Learn more at http://www.pagepublishing.com.


Boucher Hyundai of Waukesha Offers Online Pre-Approval for Auto Loans in Waukesha, Wisconsin

Getting pre-approved for an auto loan might not be as easy as it sounds for everyone. The applicants credit will always have an impact on the approval of auto loan applications. Customers near the Waukesha area in Wisconsin can now get pre-approval for auto loans at Boucher Hyundai of Waukesha, irrespective of their credit scores.

The experienced finance specialists at Boucher Hyundai of Waukesha can help tailor a finance package to fit the needs of the customer. They have partnerships with a wide variety of financial institutions and lenders, which helps them provide financing for most credit levels. To get started with the process, prospective buyers are requested to complete a simple and secure online credit application form available on the dealerships website. After entering basic personal details, employment information and details of the desired vehicle, the applicant can submit the application. A member of the finance team will reach out to the customer and guide them through the remainder of the process.

Drivers around the Waukesha area in Wisconsin are recommended to visit Boucher Hyundai of Waukesha, located at 1583 East, Moreland Boulevard, Waukesha, Wisconsin, 53186. Customers can also schedule a test drive online by visiting the dealership website. For any further information or inquiries, drivers can reach out to the dealerships customer support team by dialing 262-254-6918.
Cal Maritime cadets Danny Gonzalez and Jack Reasoner have been awarded Crowley's memorial scholarship.

Crowley has awarded California State University Maritime Academy cadets Danny Gonzalez and Jack Reasoner with its Thomas B. Crowley Sr. Memorial Scholarship in recognition of their success and pursuit of maritime careers. Each recipient exemplifies the companys values of integrity, sustainability and drive through their work at the academy and time spent on Crowley-managed vessels.

A junior from Inglewood, California, Gonzalez is studying for a bachelors degree in mechanical engineering with a U.S. Coast Guard Third Assistant Engineer license. Gonzalez has served as the squad leader and officer for the academys Corps of Cadets Second Engineering Division. Recently completing his cadet shipping term aboard the Crowley-managed tanker MV American Liberty, Gonzalez looks forward to sailing with Crowley once he graduates and continues to fulfill his commitment with the U.S. Navy Reserves as a part of the academys Strategic Sealift Midshipmen Program.

Reasoner, a junior from Jacksonville, Florida, is pursuing a bachelors degree in marine transportation with a U.S. Coast Guard Third Mate license. Reasoner volunteers with the Cadet Boat Program, training fellow cadets on small boat handling and volunteers as the Oakland Seaman Center to provide COVID-19 vaccines to mariners aboard foreign-flagged vessels. Completing his cadet shipping term aboard the Crowley-managed tanker MV Golden State, Reasoner looks forward to sailing with Crowleys tanker fleet once he graduates.

Since 1984, Crowley has provided more than $3 million dollars in financial assistance to more than 1,000 students studying at maritime academies and other select schools in the United States mainland, Puerto Rico and Central America.

About Crowley

Crowley is a privately held, U.S.-owned and -operated maritime, energy and logistics solutions company serving commercial and government sectors with more than $2.9 billion in annual revenues, over 170 vessels mostly in the Jones Act fleet and approximately 7,000 employees around the world  employing more U.S. mariners than any other company. The Crowley enterprise has invested more than $3 billion in maritime transport, which is the backbone of global trade and the global economy. As a global ship owner-operator and services provider with nearly 130 years of innovation and a commitment to sustainability, the company serves customers in 35 nations and island territories through five business units: Crowley Logistics, Crowley Shipping, Crowley Solutions, Crowley Wind Services and Crowley Fuels. Additional information about Crowley, its business units and subsidiaries can be found at http://www.crowley.com.


Dr. Lozada Shares Expertise as Invited Faculty at The Penn International Rhinoplasty Course The Penn International Rhinoplasty Course brings together some of the best and brightest in rhinoplasty from around the world. I was honored to be an invited speaker to share my knowledge with my colleagues and learned a lot as well!

Dr. Kirk Lozada of Lozada Facial Plastic Surgery recently participated in the Penn International Rhinoplasty Course on September 9th, 2022, as an invited faculty member. This was an excellent opportunity for Dr. Lozada to share his expertise on liquid rhinoplasty, filler emergencies, and social media as it pertains to medical practices.

The Penn International Rhinoplasty Course brought together some of the top facial plastic surgeons in the country to cover valuable topics, including functional and aesthetic nasal surgery, safety in septorhinoplasty, and tips on the latest concepts and techniques in rhinoplasty procedures.

Dr. Lozada is one of Philadelphias leading facial plastic surgeons and rhinoplasty experts. He specializes in liquid rhinoplasty, which is a quick in-office procedure that can change the shape of the nose without surgery. He shared his techniques with the audience for safe and effective results.

Social media is always a hot topic at meetings, and Dr. Lozada is frequently requested to share his knowledge on the topic. Dr. Lozada discussed his use of platforms such as Instagram and Tiktok and how that fits into an overall marketing strategy to grow a business.

Dr. Lozada also lectured on filler complications and management. Dr. Lozada sees many patients in his office who have suboptimal results from filler. He is an expert in managing filler complications and giving patients a natural-looking outcome they are happy with.

The course was a resounding success with an excellent turnout of attendees, including general otorhinolaryngologists as well as medical professionals focusing their practice on rhinology and facial plastic surgery. Attendees were able to earn CME credit while engaging with distinguished faculty.

About Dr. Kirk Lozada

Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, Dr. Kirkland N. Lozada is a second-generation Facial Plastic Surgeon and rhinoplasty expert. He is renowned for his new and innovative techniques that provide beautiful, balanced, and natural-looking results.

Dr. Lozada earned his Bachelor of Science in biology at the University of Pennsylvania and completed medical school at Jefferson Medical College. He completed his residency training in Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery at the New York Eye & Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai and returned to the University of Pennsylvania for his facial plastic surgery training.

Throughout his career, Dr. Lozada has worked with some of the top facial plastic surgeons in Philadelphia, New York, and New Jersey. He is currently a member of the American Academy of Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery and is faculty for the Penn Facial Plastic Fellowship program.

Dr. Lozada has numerous publications in the field of facial plastic surgery. He is the editor of two international textbooks on rhinoplasty and non-surgical rejuvenation. He also lectures and frequently presents on topics relating to otolaryngology and facial plastic surgery.

By employing cutting-edge techniques performed by only a few surgeons in the country, Dr. Lozada is able to achieve safe and natural results. His specialties include rhinoplasty, facelifts, and eyelid (blepharoplasty) surgery. Dr. Lozada provides a personalized experience for each and every patient based on their unique needs and goals.

About the Penn International Rhinoplasty Course

The Penn International Rhinoplasty Course provides valuable information for practicing clinicians, scientists, residents with an interest in rhinology and rhinoplasty, and nursing staff who care for patients with nasal problems. Experts cover common conditions as well as difficult problems in rhinoplasty and facial surgery.

The comprehensive program includes discussion panels with distinguished faculty who speak on a wide range of topics. Material covered includes evaluation and analysis of the nose, basic and advanced nasal anatomy, treatment of surgical failures, prevention and management of rhinoplasty complications, and much more.

Attendees have the opportunity to learn from and engage with experts in the fields of rhinoplasty and facial plastic surgery. Lectures include audience participation and discussion. Attendees can also participate in a laboratory dissection session and earn CME credit.

Upon completion of the course, participants should be able to analyze the face and nose and consider aesthetic ideals, develop a rationale for surgical treatment of nasal deformity and nasal obstruction, assess deformities of the nasal valve and prescribe surgical corrections, and be aware of how to avoid complications in rhinoplasty.

About the Lozada Facial Plastic Surgery

Lozada Facial Plastic Surgery is Philadelphias premier rhinoplasty and facial plastic surgery practice. Headed by Dr. Kirk Lozada, the practice employs modern-day techniques to achieve beautiful, balanced results. Treatment options include surgical and non-surgical procedures.

Unbalanced facial features can be a source of insecurity. The experts at Lozada Facial Plastic Surgery have a deep understanding of facial proportions and the artistic interplay of shadows and light. Using cutting-edge technology and techniques, Dr. Kirk Lozada helps patients gain confidence and promote their natural beauty.

At Lozada Facial Plastic Surgery, personalized treatment plans are essential. Consultations are scheduled with sufficient time to fully develop a unique understanding of each patients needs and aesthetic goals. Each patient receives a comprehensive, individualized treatment plan that is effective and natural.

Surgical procedures include rhinoplasty, facial reconstructive surgery, eyelid surgery and much more. Non-surgical procedures include, but are not limited to, Botox, dermal fillers, Kybella, and Sculptra. Dr. Lozada will advise you on which procedure is right for you and give you detailed information about what the procedure involves.

If youre interested in learning more about cutting-edge rhinoplasty procedures such as scarless rhinoplasty and revision rhinoplasty, as well as other aesthetic surgical and non-surgical procedures, contact Lozada Facial Plastic Surgery today.
Financial Executives International (FEI), the association of choice for finance leaders, announced today that it will hold its annual Corporate Financial Reporting Insights (CFRI) Conference on November 7 and 8. The hybrid event will be hosted in person at the Sheraton New York Times Square, and available virtually. This years themeLeading Beyond the Numbersaims to aid financial professionals in gaining the knowledge necessary to help their organizations reframe their societal roles. Attendees can earn up to 18 CPE credits and are encouraged to join the conversation on Twitter by using #FEIcfri2022. Visit here to register.

Linda Zukauckas, Chief Financial Officer of Nielsen, joins CFRI as this years keynote speaker and will discuss how her leadership style encompasses innovation, wellness, sustainability, diversity, and more. Attendees will also learn about U.S. SEC agenda updates during a fireside chat with U.S. SEC Acting Chief Accountant, Office of the Chief Accountant, Paul Munter, and Jeff Karbowski, CAO of PayPal Holdings.

Sessions from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (U.S. SEC), Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB)

Members of the key financial and regulatory oversight organizations will join panels to discuss the latest developments in rulemaking and standard setting.



U.S. SEC: The Deputy Chief Accountants from the Office of the Chief Accountant, Diana Stoltzfus and Kevin Vaughn, will share their thoughts and perspectives on recent U.S. SEC developments, including issues facing the preparer community and the accounting profession. Chief Accountant Lindsay McCord and Deputy Chief Accountants from The Division of Corporation Finance, Sarah Lowe and Melissa Rocha, will discuss major trends, rulemaking efforts, and current and future priorities to facilitate the disclosure of material information. They will provide relevant recommendations on new or existing rules, interpretive guidance, and monitoring the filings of public companies.

FASB: FASB Chair Rich Jones and Technical Director Hillary Salo will discuss current priorities of the FASB technical agenda, specifically focused on how key standards are evolving and what FASB is doing to adapt to changes in the current environment. Investor perspectives will be provided by David Gonzales, VP Senior Accounting Analyst at Moodys, and the panel will be moderated by Holly Grennan, Senior Director, Global Technical Accounting & Policy at Nike.

PCAOB: Attendees can join PCAOB Board members Duane DesParte and Christina Ho for a panel discussion moderated by Brian Croteau, Partner at PwC, to discuss the Boards priorities as well as current developments in the areas of standard setting, inspections, and enforcement.

Agenda and Registration Details

The complete 2022 CFRI agenda can be found here, and includes other sessions covering additional topics such as:

Carbon reporting

Demystifying digital assets

Understanding potential updates to segment and income statement disaggregation guidance

Best practices and experiences in cybersecurity incident reporting

Economic update and practical implications and considerations for finance leaders and corporations

Preparing for the SEC Climate Rule

We are very excited to produce this years CFRI Conference as the first truly hybrid event for FEI, said Steve Rivera, Vice President, Global Technical Accounting Advisory Services & Policy at Johnson & Johnson and Chair of the CFRI Conference Planning Committee. The agenda was curated by the Planning Committee after carefully considering the evolving finance and accounting landscape and the importance of representation and being an authentic leader. Bringing these vital, robust topics and respected expert presenters to a wider audience of finance leaders allows corporations to professionally develop and advance their finance functions, as attendees gain insight into the unique challenges finance and accounting leaders are facing today.

We understand that organizations are continuing to adjust to the new normal workspace and business frontiers, said Andrej Suskavcevic, CAE, President, and CEO of FEI and FERF. The financial professional plays a crucial role in evolving the corporate infrastructures and processesfrom modernizing financial-specific functions to developing and driving ESG initiatives. This years agenda is designed to help financial leaders learn from each other how best to support these new objectives.

FEIs CFRI Conference is made possible through the support of the Financial Education & Research Foundation (FERF) and event sponsors including Diamond Sponsor Microsoft; Platinum Sponsors Crowe, Deloitte, EY, KPMG, Persefoni, PwC, Workiva; and Silver Sponsor, Kroll.

90th Anniversary

FEI was initially formed in 1931 as the Controllers Institute of America. Today, the organization continues to educate, shape, and influence the finance function in corporate America. A special reception will be held on November 7 to celebrate FEIs 90th Anniversary. FEIs 90th Anniversary Reception is made possible by supporter Robert Half Protiviti.

About FEI

Financial Executives International (FEI) is the leading association and advocate for the views of corporate financial management. Its members hold policy-making positions as chief financial officers, chief accounting officers, controllers, treasurers, and tax executives at companies in every major industry. FEI enhances Member professional development through peer networking, career management services, conferences, research, and publications. Members participate in the activities of local Chapters in the U.S. FEI is located in Morristown, NJ. Visit http://www.financialexecutives.org for more information.
"The impact these individuals are making on the industry is profound, and we are thrilled that the Geo Week Awards ceremony puts a spotlight on their accomplishments.

Geo Week, the premier event that champions the coming together of geospatial technologies and the built world, is accepting nominations to celebrate excellence in the geospatial market. The 2023 Geo Week Awards Ceremony includes the LIDAR Leader Awards, Younger Geospatial Professional of the Year Award, and the ASPRS Awards, all of which honor the achievements of individuals and organizations working in geospatial technology. The ceremony will take place during Geo Week in Denver, Colorado, on February 14, 2023. Additional information on the awards can be found here.

We are thrilled to honor distinguished professionals and organizations for their achievements in the geospatial arena, said Lee Corkhill, Group Director at Diversified Communications, organizer of the event. "The impact these individuals are making on the industry is profound, and we are thrilled that the Geo Week Awards ceremony puts a spotlight on their accomplishments.

LIDAR Leader Awards, in its fourth iteration in partnership with LIDAR Magazine, is seeking nominations in five distinct categories:



Outstanding Personal Achievement in LIDAR

Outstanding Enterprise Achievement in LIDAR

Outstanding Team Achievement in LIDAR

Outstanding Innovation in LIDAR

Outstanding University Achievement in LIDAR

Spatial Medias LIDAR Magazine will assist the program by encouraging nominations and publishing pre- and post-event show analyses of finalists. Managing Editing, Dr. Stewart Walker, will assemble a distinguished panel that will review and judge submissions.

The recipients of the 2022 LIDAR Leader Awards included Dr. Ezra Che, Oregon State University; Sean Vaughn, Coin Lee, and Dr. Jennifer Corcoran, 3D Geomatics Committee of the Minnesota Geospatial Advisory Council; Augmented Lidar Box from Outsight; Hovermap from Emesent; and Dr. Martin Isenburg, who was awarded the Outstanding Personal Achievement in LIDAR Award posthumously.

Dr. Walker remarked: We launched the LIDAR Leader Awards in 2017. We are absolutely delighted that these awards have become part of the Geo Week tradition and have earned a place in the hearts of the lidar community. The enthusiastic participation of nominators and reviewers is astounding. LIDAR Magazine is honored to be associated with the 2023 awards. Click here to submit a LIDAR Leader Award nomination.

The Younger Geospatial Professional of the Year Award, in partnership with Lidar News, recognizes outstanding accomplishments and leadership by an exceptional member of the worldwide, geospatial community, 35 years of age or younger. Nominations are accepted in the form of a short video explaining how nominees encourage others to pursue excellence and leadership in their geospatial careers, and an overview of a 10-minutes presentation that, if chosen, would be presented at Geo Week.

Nominees are given suggested topics, including:



The challenge of advancing your career during a pandemic

Innovative uses of drone lidar

What can one person do about sustainability?

What will be the next geo-technology game changer?

How 3D technology is going to be used in smart cities of the future

The Younger Geospatial Professional of the Year Award is awarded in partnership with Lidar News. Gene Roe, Founder and Managing Editor of Lidar News, remarked, The Younger Geospatial Professional of the Year Award recognizes the early-stage accomplishments of a YGP and provides that person with an opportunity to demonstrate their professional leadership.

Rami Tamimi of GEOICS was the winner of the Younger Geospatial Professional of the Year Award for 2022. Click here to submit a Younger Geospatial Professional Award nomination.

In addition to the LIDAR Leader Awards and the Younger Geospatial Professional of the Year Award, ASPRS will be presenting its own awards including:



Lifetime Achievement Award

Outstanding Technical Achievement Award

Estes Teaching Award

The Photogrammetric Fairchild Award

Winners will be recognized during a ceremony on Tuesday, February 14, at Geo Week 2023. Learn more about the awards and submit nominations by December 2, 2022.

Geo Week also features a powerful conference program that details practical applications, best practices, and innovative approaches to complex projects, and an exhibit floor with more than 180 solutions providers showcasing the latest technology across the disciplines under the Geo Week conference umbrella  AEC, 3D technology and geospatial/lidar. Register now for early bird pricing.

About Geo Week

Geo Week is part of a network of events and media for the global geospatial and built markets organized by Diversified Communications, a leading organizer of conferences, trade shows, and online media with 16 years in the technology arena. Geo Week, taking place February 13-15, 2023, reflects the increased integration between the built environment, advanced airborne/terrestrial technologies, and commercial 3D technologies. Powerful partnership events will also take place at Geo Week, including ASPRS (American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing) Annual Conference, MAPPS, USIBD (U.S. Institute of Building Documentation), and WGIC (World Geospatial Industry Council).

Diversified Communications also produces Lidar & Geospatial Newsletter, 3D Technology Newsletter, AEC Innovations Newsletter, GeoBusiness Show (UK), Digital Construction Week (UK), Commercial UAV Expo and Commercial UAV News. For more information, visit http://www.geo-week.com.

Contact:

Lora Burns

Geo Week Marketing Manager

LBurns@divcom.com
Producing a global gathering centered around wellness, at a time in the world when thats needed more than ever, is an honor and a responsibility.

The Global Wellness Summit (GWS), the most prestigious conference on the $4.4 trillion business of wellness, today unveiled the full, three-day agendaand 30-plus new keynotes and panelsfor its conference being held in Tel Aviv from October 31 to November 3.

This years Summit will bring together a historic number of luminaries from the wellness, medical, scientific, tech, academic and investment worlds to explore the dramatically different and bright future for wellness and preventative health that lies ahead after the shocks of the pandemic. The agenda clearly illustrates a wellness industry with unprecedented momentum, and with a future that is more serious and science-backed, as well as more innovative and authentic. 350-plus high-level entrepreneurs and leaders in wellness from 50 nations have already registered.

VIEW THE FULL AGENDA HERE.

REGISTER HERE.

Third times the charm! This journey to bring the GWS to Tel Aviv began in 2020 but the world had other ideas. It took chutzpah to bring this Summit to life, and the caliber and variety of speakers, the soulfulness and creativity, and the sheer breadth of content, confirm that we have delivered a powerful agenda, said Nancy Davis, GWS chief creative officer and executive director. Getting to know the country, the people and the palpable energy that courses through Tel Aviv is something I want every delegate to feel. Producing a global gathering centered around wellness, at a time in the world when thats needed more than ever, is an honor and a responsibility.

Topics and Speakers Announced Today:

Future of Longevity:

Longevity science is the buzzed-about topic in both medicine and wellness, and keynotes include: Tzipora Strauss, MD, Sheba Medical Center-Israel, on the medical science for longevity; Shai Efrati, MD, associate professor, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, and co-founder of Aviv Clinics, on how unique protocols for hyperbaric oxygen therapy can actually reverse the biology of aging: Blue Zones discoverer, Dan Buettner, on how the worlds longest lived eat; Richard Carmona, MD, 17th US Surgeon General, on the epigenetics of wellness; Naveen Jain, CEO, Viome, on making illness irrelevant; Anna Bjurstam, wellness pioneer, Six Senses, on curiositys role in longevity; and a panel on the future of functional medicine, including Bill Kapp, MD, CEO of Fountain Life, and Michael Roizen, MD, Emeritus Chief Wellness Officer at the Cleveland Clinic.

Future of Travel, Hospitality & Spa:

With wellness travel the big tourism gainer post-pandemic, travel leaders will predict the future, including: Neil Jacobs, CEO, Six Senses, on the future of hospitality; Tal Danai, founder of Artlink, on how to disrupt hospitality; Sue Harmsworth, MBE, founder of ESPA, on Spa and Wellness Under Threat; and Omer Isvan, president, Servotel, on what customers want and what were not delivering. A panel with top execs from Accor, Six Senses and Chiva-Som will explore the future of wellness travel, while another panel on the booming business of thermal parks features leaders from Peninsula Hot Springs, Danubius Hotel Group, Therme Group and Castle Hot Springs. Cathy Feliciano-Chon, founder of CatchOn  A Finn Partners Company, will present critical new research from the Mabrian Institute: the first big data study that identifies the wellness travel activities most in demand today, the wellness destinations with the most future potential, and emerging trends.

Future of health and wellness technology:

With Israel the global hotbed for health and wellness tech innovation, the conference has the biggest focus on digital health in its history, with Israeli disruptors on full display. Keynotes include: Noam Gabison, industry manager for digital health at Meta, on how the future of wellbeing is in the metaverse; Mickey Beyer-Clausen, co-founder, Timeshifter, on the future of circadian solutions; Ilan Samish, founder and CEO, Amai Proteins, on how they cracked the sugar code; Sharon Handelman-Gotlib of Sompo Digital Lab on how multi-national insurance giants are using tech to innovate wellness; Aradhana Khowala, founder, Aptamind Partners, and chair of the advisory board for Saudi Arabias Red Sea Project, on the future of femtech and wellness; and Varda Shalev, MD, co-founder of Alike.Health, on how crowdsourcing is the future of health and wellness. Amir Alroy, co-founder of Welltech Ventures, will present From Start-Up to Scale-up: A Lightning Round of Israeli Innovation, a panel of of high-profile founders of Israeli health and wellness startups, including Ben Enosh, co-founder of Antidote Health; Avishai Ben-Tovim, CEO and co-founder of MDI Health; Ziv Pereman, CEO of X-trodes; and Racheli Vizman, founder of Savor Eat. A Welltech Ventures-sponsored Tech Pavilion will immerse delegates in innovations from around the world.

Future of wellness real estate and communities:

Keynotes and panels include: Marian Herman, CEO of the global real estate developer HB Reavis Group, on Wellness Real Estate: In Pursuit of Office Wellbeing; Robbie Hammond, president of Therme Group US and co-founder of New York Citys High Line, on the future of public spaces in urban settings; and a high-powered panel on the evolving, explosive wellness real estate market, including Ricky Burdett, CBE, director, LSE Cities and Professor of Urban Studies, London School of Economics and Political Science, and John Fitzgerald, CEO and founder of Australias JLF Group.

Future of beauty and wellness:

Talks include: Zarina Kanji, TMall Business Development, Alibaba Group, on Beauty and Wellness: Unpacking the Young Chinese Consumers Quest and an expert-packed panel exploring why beauty doesnt get the respect it deserves in the wellness industry, featuring Rupert Schmid, co-president and co-chairman, Biologique Recherche; Anna Bjurstam, Six Senses; Sarah Camilleri, editorial director, European Spa magazine; Chunxia Gao, Minor Hotel Group; and Jessica Smith, senior analyst at The Future Laboratory.

Future of wellness, governments and policy: The Global Wellness Institute will release the first study to define wellness policy and argue for why it its so desperately needed at the government leveland how it can complement public health policy and happiness/well-being policy efforts. Using quantitative analysis, its the first research to provide answers to these questions: Does spending on wellness actually lead to better health and happiness outcomes and greater longevity?

Future of faith:

An extraordinary panel on how faith increasingly impacts business, moderated by Jean Sung, head of Philanthropy Centre, Asia, J.P. Morgan Private Bank, includes Brian Grim, founding president of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation in the US; Judith Richter, MD, founder of Medinol Ltd. and The NIR School of the Heart in Israel; and Isaac (Yitz) Applbaum, chair of The Western Wall (Kotel). Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswatiji, president of the Indias Divine Shakti Foundation, will keynote on From I to We: The Power of Spirituality in Moving from Illness to Wellness.

Future of Sustainability:

Planetary wellness is a key topic, and keynotes include Itay Zetelny, groups leader of Innovation, Global Incentives & Cleantech at Ernst & Young, on the future of sustainability and Oded Rahav, Business & Strategy, Dead Sea Guardians, on their incredible sustainability project to save the Dead Sea.

Future of investment and the wellness economy:

With the wellness market estimated to grow from $4.4 trillion to $7 trillion by 2025, the conference will explore where investment and the wellness economy are headed. Thierry Malleret, global economist and founder of the Monthly Barometer, will analyze the triumphs and future challenges for the wellness economy. To provide a window into what global wellness investors are seeking today, the Reverse Pitch will have major investorsincluding Nichol Bradford, executive director and co-founder of Transformative Technology; Nimrod Cohen, managing partner of TAU Ventures of Tel Aviv University; Dr. Modi, founder and chairman of Indias Modi Holdings; Rick Stollmeyer, founder of Mindbody and CEO of Inspired Flight Technologies, Inc., David Stoup, chairman and CEO of Healthy Lifestyle Brands; Yoriko Soma, CEO, Conceptasia, Inc.; Amir Alroy, co-founder, Welltech Ventures; and Alejandro Weinstein, co-founder, WM Partnerspitching delegates on what theyre looking to invest in in wellness and why. A new feature, Whats Bubbling Up in the Wellness Economy?, will have delegates contributing the new ideas and trends they see emerging across every wellness sector.

Amazing networking and partiesand musical, cinematic and wellness experiencesevery day:

The Summit is renowned not only for its future-focused content but for its networking opportunities, social events, and creative wellness experiences. Each day, delegates will be immersed in incredible music, film, art and wellness experiences. Myndstream is bringing stunning musical performances; Louie Schwartzberg, director of the blockbuster film Fantastic Fungi, will debut healing films, and BBC StoryWorks will premiere its groundbreaking, awe-inspiring new series, In Pursuit of Wellness: The Art & Science of Living Well. One night, delegates will dine at authentic restaurants in historic Jaffa, another evening they will dance the night away at the Gala.

Media: To apply to attend as press, please fill out the media accreditation form.

About the Global Wellness Summit The Global Wellness Summit is the premier organization that brings together leaders and visionaries to positively shape the future of the $4.4 trillion global wellness economy. Its future-focused conference is held at a different global location each year and has traveled to the United States, Switzerland, Turkey, Bali, India, Morocco, Mexico, Austria, Italy and Singapore. GWS also hosts other virtual and in-person gatherings, including Wellness Master Classes, Wellness Sector Spotlights, Investor Reverse Pitch events and Global Wellness Symposiums. The organizations annual Global Wellness Trends Report offers expert-based predictions on the future of wellness. The 2022 Summit will be held in Tel Aviv, Israel from October 31 to November 3.
Housing Resources of Western Colorado joins the Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System Registered vendors can access bids, related documents, addendum and award information.

Housing Resources of Western Colorado (HRWC) announced it has joined the Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System and will be utilizing the system to publish and track their bid opportunities. Bidnet Directs Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System provides a centralized location for bidding and connects over 350 participating agencies from across Colorado and Wyoming to a large vendor pool and helps to streamline the bid process, vendors can receive notifications of any new opportunities, as well as any addenda and award information available. HRWC invites all potential vendors to register online at http://www.bidnetdirect.com/colorado/hrwco.

Before joining the system, HRWC was distributing bids and managing the procurement process manually by handing out paper copies and requiring vendors to submit their proposals the same way. By distributing bids this way, local government agencies are not able to reach as many vendors as they would like, which doesnt allow for a high level of vendor competition. This competition is something HRWC aims for and requires in order to award a contract. By joining the Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System, expands an agencys vendor pool and enhances vendor competition without increasing distribution costs.

This system allows our agency to not only save on time, money, and effort, but it allows us to reach more qualified vendors across the state and gives them an opportunity to find more bids and decrease their costs by allowing them to submit their bid proposals online directly through the system, says Marcy Child, Weatherization Program Director of HRWC.

HRWC encourages all vendors looking to do business with them to register online at: http://www.bidnetdirect.com/colorado/hrwco. Registered vendors can receive access to all open bids, related documents and addendums, and award information. In addition, vendors can upgrade their service to receive notifications of new bids targeted to their industry, which includes advance notification of expiring term contracts. Registered vendors will also have access to not only HRWC bid opportunities, but all bids posted by participating agency within the Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System.

Vendors who require help registering on the Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System: http://www.bidnetdirect.com/colorado/hrwco, may contact Bidnet Directs vendor support team, who is available to answer any questions regarding the registration process or the bid system at 800-835-4603 option 2.

Other local Colorado and Wyoming government agencies looking to switch from a manual bid process, please contact the Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System for a demonstration of the no-cost sourcing solution.

About Housing Resources of Western Colorado (HRWC):

Housing Resources of Western Colorado (HRWC) is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization with an organizational mission to advance equitable housing and healthy communities by educating & empowering people and creating & preserving homes. Our vision is that every western Coloradan thrives in a quality, safe and healthy home. Housing Resources builds stronger communities by providing housing, energy efficiency, education, community building, and renovation programs to the residents of Western Colorado.

About Bidnet Direct:

Bidnet Direct, powered by mdf commerce, is a sourcing solution of regional purchasing groups available at no cost to local government agencies throughout the country. Bidnet Direct runs regional purchasing groups, including the Rocky Mountain E-Purchasing System, across all 50 states that are used by over 1,600 local governments. To learn more and have your government agency gain better transparency and efficiency in purchasing, please visit https://www.bidnetdirect.com/buyers
Every organization has a core set of tools essential to business survival. For most companies, Microsoft products rank high on that list. With world class productivity apps, email, an integrated workspace and more, the Microsoft 365 for Business cost is well worth it.

A NYC area Microsoft 365 expert examines the Microsoft 365 for Business cost in a new article on the eMazzanti Technologies website. The informative article first relates how Microsoft 365 enables todays hybrid work environment with improved collaboration and the ability for teams and individuals to work from anywhere.

The author then provides a features overview of four different Microsoft 365 for Business plans with the associated cost per user. She concludes by explaining where business leaders can purchase Microsoft 365 for Business subscriptions, Including directly from Microsoft online or through a Microsoft Gold Partner. She cautions that purchasing directly from Microsoft means taking full responsibility for all aspects of the Microsoft 365 implementation.

Every organization has a core set of tools essential to business survival, stated Jennifer Mazzanti, CEO, eMazzanti Technologies. For most companies, Microsoft products rank high on that list. With world class productivity apps, email, an integrated workspace and more, the Microsoft 365 for Business cost is well worth it.

Below are a few excerpts from the article, How Much Does Microsoft 365 for Business Cost and is it Worth the Expense?

Microsoft 365 for Business Cost Enables Hybrid Work

Microsoft 365 for Business anticipates the challenges of a hybrid work environment with thousands of security and privacy controls. Depending on the subscription plan, these include options such as endpoint security, cloud-based email filtering, encryption and the ability to define password policies.

How Much Does Microsoft 365 for Business Cost?

When deciding on a Microsoft 365 subscription plan, businesses have multiple options to choose from. Small businesses with 300 users or less will likely opt for one of the Microsoft 365 for Business packages outlined below, ranging from $6 to $22 per user per month.

Determine Where to Purchase Microsoft Subscriptions

On the other hand, purchasing through a Microsoft partner opens customers up to additional benefits. For instance, through the eMazzanti Cloud Marketplace, customers benefit from flexible payment and reporting options not available through Microsoft.

They also gain a dedicated account manager to help them navigate the Microsoft environment. And a single support call provides access to a team of Microsoft experts. eMazzanti consultants work with organizations to sort through the maze of options and controls to determine optimal settings to meet business needs.

Get the Most from Microsoft 365 for Business

Whether business leaders purchase Microsoft 365 through a Microsoft Gold Partner like eMazzanti Technologies or directly from Microsoft, they should plan the implementation carefully. Configured properly, Microsoft 365 for Business can support business goals while delivering significant ROI.

Have you read?

Microsoft 365 Security Features Protect Business Data from Evolving Threats

Cyber Security for Business is Critical, Regardless of Business Size

About eMazzanti Technologies

eMazzantis team of trained, certified IT experts rapidly deliver increased revenue growth, data security and productivity for clients ranging from law firms to high-end global retailers, expertly providing advanced retail and payment technology, digital marketing services, cloud and mobile solutions, multi-site implementations, 247 outsourced network management, remote monitoring, and support.

eMazzanti has made the Inc. 5000 list 9X, is a 4X Microsoft Partner of the Year, the #1 ranked NYC area MSP, NJ Business of the Year and 5X WatchGuard Partner of the Year! Contact: 1-866-362-9926, info@emazzanti.net or http://www.emazzanti.net Twitter: @emazzanti Facebook: Facebook.com/emazzantitechnologies.


The number of victims jumped 210 percent in Q3 2022 over Q2 2022, partly due to an AT&T-related breach (23M victims) and a Neopets data compromise (69M victims) "In 2019, the ITRC only recorded 19 data breach notices where there was no information about the cause of the cyberattack. From Q4 of 2021 to Q3 of 2022, that number has grown to 617, 37 percent of all cyberattack-related data breaches reported in the period," noted Velasqez.

Today, the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), a nationally recognized nonprofit organization established to support victims of identity crime, released its U.S. data breach findings for the third quarter (Q3) of 2022. According to the Q3 2022 Data Breach Report analysis, there were 474 publicly-reported data compromises in the Quarter, a 15 percent increase compared to Q2 this year. However, the year-to-date (YTD) number of compromises (1,291) is only 69 percent of the year-end total in 2021, making a record-high number of compromises in 2022 unlikely.

The number of victims jumped 210 percent in Q3 2022 over Q2 2022, partly due to an AT&T-related breach (23M victims) and a Neopets data compromise (69M victims), which account for more than half of the YTD victim count. Also, the number of data breach notices with no information about the root cause of the compromise increased for the fourth consecutive quarter to 199 of the 419 breaches reported in Q3. Concern continues to grow that this trend will move into 2023.

Download the ITRCs Q3 2022 Data Breach Report Analysis and Key Takeaways

The findings in the Q3 2022 Data Breach Report analysis reveal a lot of interesting information, said Eva Velasquez, President and CEO of the Identity Theft Resource Center. Most notably is the continued increase in data breach notices that lack information about the cause of cyberattacks that result in data breaches. In 2019, the ITRC only recorded 19 data breach notices where there was no information about the cause of the cyberattack. From Q4 of 2021 to Q3 of 2022, that number has grown to 617, 37 percent of all cyberattack-related data breaches reported in the period. The ITRC will continue to closely monitor this trend because businesses and consumers are at a higher risk of a cybercrime when important information is left out of data breach notices.

Other findings in the Q3 2022 Data Breach Report analysis include:



Q3 2022 saw a 250 percent increase in supply chain attacks (1,280 entities impacted by 48 supply chain attacks) compared to H1 2022 (367 organizations affected by 44 attacks).

Cyberattacks (419) made up 88 percent of data breaches in Q3. Phishing attacks (124) remained the primary attack vector for the 15th consecutive quarter. Also, with non-Russian affiliated ransomware groups emerging and cryptocurrency markets less volatile, ransomware attacks rebounded slightly in Q3.

Malware-based attacks (13 in Q3) dropped to the lowest number in 3.75 years. They have become increasingly rare as the number of related attacks has fallen steadily from a recent high of 39 attacks in Q2 2021.

Earlier this year, the ITRC launched a free alert service for consumers where individuals can register to receive an alert if a company with which they do business is added to the ITRCs notified data compromise database. To learn more, click here. For more information on recent data breaches, consumers and businesses should visit the ITRCs improved data breach tracking tool, notified, Powered by the ITRC.

Anyone can receive free support and guidance from a knowledgeable live advisor by calling 888.400.5530 or visiting idtheftcenter.org to live-chat.

About the Identity Theft Resource Center

Founded in 1999, the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) is a national nonprofit organization established to empower and guide consumers, victims, business and government to minimize risk and mitigate the impact of identity compromise and crime. Through public and private support, the ITRC provides no-cost victim assistance and consumer education through its website live-chat idtheftcenter.org and toll-free phone number 888.400.5530. The ITRC also equips consumers and businesses with information about recent data breaches through its data breach tracking tool, notified. The ITRC offers help to specific populations, including the deaf/hard of hearing and blind/low vision communities.

Media Contact

Identity Theft Resource Center

Alex Achten

Head of Earned & Owned Media Relations

888.400.5530 Ext. 3611

media@idtheftcenter.org
Shelly Irvines emphasis on IP-centric consulting bolsters her testifying practice by giving her practical in the trenches experience across many industries and technologies.

Ocean Tomo, a part of J.S. Held, welcomes intellectual property (IP) expert Shelly Irvine. Ms. Irvine will lead the San Francisco office, expanding financial expert opinion, strategy consulting, and transaction advisory client service on matters involving intellectual property and other intangible assets.

Ocean Tomo Founder and Senior Managing Director James E. Malackowski identifies significant synergies between Shellys client work across the firm. Ms. Irvine shares, I truly believe that having a practice that balances hands-on IP strategy consulting, licensing, and valuation with testifying on IP damages makes for a more credible and well-rounded witness.

Ms. Irvine has testified in federal and state court related to claimed damages for patent, copyright, and trademark infringement actions on many occasions. Ms. Irvine is skilled at navigating current and evolving case law when evaluating economic damages, including the lost profits framework/ Panduit analyses, apportionment, the analytical approach, comparable licenses, and issues related to extraterritorial damages.

Ms. Irvines emphasis on IP-centric consulting bolsters her testifying practice by giving her practical in the trenches experience across many industries and technologies. Situated near Silicon Valley, Ms. Irvine has advised dozens of companies and private equity/VCs in IP strategy, valuation, and protection. Her work includes preparing business plans, benchmarking and best practices, valuation for the purposes of a buy/sell or financing event, commercialization/value extraction strategies (including through partnerships and joint ventures). Ms. Irvine has been retained in numerous consulting engagements to develop FRAND rates for their standards-essential patent portfolios and negotiate license agreement terms.

Ms. Irvine is a member of the USC Intellectual Property Institute, ChIPs, and the Licensing Executives Society USA/Canada, where she co-chairs the Internet of Things (IoT) committee. She will attend the LES USA/Canada Annual meeting in San Francisco from October 16-19, 2022 and, the ChIPs Annual Global Summit taking place on October 26-28, 2022.

Later this month, Ms. Irvine will moderate a panel discussion during the 2022 Global FRAND & SEP Symposium. Judges, government officials, and leading professionals from three continents will explore this high-stakes topic under one roof to help participants sharpen their skills and understanding of SEP and FRAND-related issues. On October 21, 2022, at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, Shellys panel will discuss and debate whether traditional models for licensing standards-essential patents apply in the Internet of Things era. Learn more about the event by visiting: https://globalfrand.com/. The conference will be recorded for on-demand viewing from October 22-30, 2022.

About Ocean Tomo

Ocean Tomo, a part of J.S. Held, provides Expert Opinion, Management Consulting, and Advisory services focused on matters involving intellectual property (IP) and other intangible assets. Practice offerings address economic damage calculations and testimony; business licensing strategy and contract interpretation; trade secret reasonable measures; asset and business valuation; strategy and risk management consulting; merger and acquisition advisory; debt and equity private placement; and IP brokerage.

Ocean Tomo experts are routinely qualified in U.S. courts, international courts, and arbitration tribunals on questions relating to intellectual property economics. The firm's professionals have provided expert opinions on IP valuation, reasonable royalty, lost profits, price erosion, commercial success, corrective advertising, creditor allocations, business licensing terms including RAND obligations, venture financing, and equities of a potential injunction. The firm's experience extends to commercial disputes, domestic and foreign, as well as policy issues affecting international technology transfer and economic matters before the International Trade Commission.

Intangible assets comprise 90 percent of business value but are subject to significant impairment due to enterprise and regulatory compliance risk. Our services are built upon more than three decades of experience assessing intellectual property in the most rigorous of venues.

Subsidiaries of the firm include Ocean Tomo Investments Group, LLC, a registered broker-dealer. As a part of J.S. Held, Ocean Tomo works alongside more than 1500 professionals globally and assists clients  corporations, insurers, law firms, governments, and institutional investors  on complex technical, scientific, and financial matters across all assets and value at risk.
"Intellitec looks forward to learning more about how our customers priorities have evolved and showcasing our ERP solutions designed for the industry.

Intellitec Solutions, based in Newark, DE, will showcase their proven integrated accounting solutions at the 2022 LeadingAge Annual Meeting, Oct. 17-19, 2021 in Denver. As an exhibitor, Intellitec Solutions will join thousands of leaders in aging services and community-based care for conversations focused on elevating care in a sector that continues to be transformed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Intellitec implements financial and accounting systems for the Senior Living industry. Working with Sage Intacct and Microsoft Dynamics, they have successfully worked with over 800 facilities, and have the experience to ensure their clients Financials are set-up correctly from the start. They also have built proprietary tools to integrate with leading EMR packages, and help clients get the reports and metrics they need. We help accounting teams increase productivity and efficiency. 2022 will represent the 11th year they have showcased their solutions at LeadingAge.

" The LeadingAge Annual Meeting + EXPO is an ideal opportunity to demonstrate our support for aging services," says Rick Sommer, President of Intellitec Solutions. "Intellitec looks forward to learning more about how our customers priorities have evolved and showcasing our ERP solutions designed for the industry.

Collaboration is at the heart of aging services and essential to our ability to harness the opportunities that will propel us forward, said Katie Smith Sloan, president and CEO of LeadingAge. Were excited to join our community as they connect face-to-face, discuss current challenges with trusted partners, and explore technology and products that offer potential solutions for their organizations to advance in this ever-changing environment.

The LeadingAge Annual Meeting & Expo features expert led education sessions, forums on topics key to the long term care industry, and networking with thousands of aging services professionals from across the country. Attendees evaluating a new accounting solution or interested in learning how to integrate their clinical package with Sage Intacct or Microsoft Dynamics should visit Intellitec Solutions at Booth 1313, or contact them at 866-504-4357.

About Intellitec Solutions:

As a leading provider of General Ledger/ERP accounting software, Intellitec delivers in-house Senior Care expertise for over 800 locations across the United States. The 30-year-old company is certified in Sage Intacct and Microsoft Dynamics and has optimized these solutions for the Senior Living Care Industry. In addition, they have developed automated integrations with leading clinical management packages to share financial and non-financial data. For more information or to schedule a demo, please visit http://www.intellitecsolutions.com or call 866-504-4357.

About LeadingAge:

LeadingAge represents more than 5,000 aging-focused organizations that touch millions of lives every day. Alongside its members and 38 state partners, LeadingAge addresses critical issues by blending applied research, advocacy, education, and community-building. LeadingAge brings together the most inventive minds in the nonprofit aging services field to support older adults as they age wherever they call home. LeadingAge makes America a better place to grow old. For more information: leadingage.org.

# # # #

All products mentioned in this release are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
Lemonade for the Soul: Poems: an enjoyable and lighthearted anthology. Lemonade for the Soul: Poems is the creation of published author Jane Phells.

Phells shares, Our soul is a special part of our being and our life, and it does exist within every one of us. It is something God has given to all. Although you cant see your soul, a situation or perhaps an act of kindness can touch your soul. To me, its an experience, not just a feeling. I believe something like lemonade is an example of how a small bitter fruit like a lemon can be changed into something sweet, delightful, and refreshing that reaches deep within my soul. Lemonade, on a hot sunny day, can taste so good, it will even brighten your day. It may also make you smile and want more. I believe when something seems to reach deep within your soul, it can cause either a good or bad reaction. A poem, a song, a picture, so many things in life can reach deep within our souls, an event or perhaps pain. It may linger in your thoughts as time goes by.

You can choose how you want your lemonade to taste when you create your own recipe. Just like in life, God gives us a choice in everything, and we have a chance each day knowing that in living life, some wonderful things can reach deep within our souls and bless us in many wayseven something as special as lemonade.

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Jane Phellss new book will entertain while encouraging the spirit as readers reflect on the carefully crafted verse within.

Phells shares in hopes of encouraging readers to seek out the joy and comfort that God offers.

Consumers can purchase Lemonade for the Soul: Poems at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about Lemonade for the Soul: Poems, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.
"This is a gratifying and exciting moment for our company," said Caleb Brown, CEO of JS Computek. "Becoming a part of The 20 MSP is going to elevate our services and give us new capabilities to help our clients flourish in their respective industries."

JS Computek today announced its acquisition by The 20 MSP, a leading managed service provider with offices nationwide.

JS Computek is a managed service provider based out of Columbia, MO. The organization has experienced steady growth over the past several years, and boasts a proven track record of helping small and mid-sized firms gain a competitive edge through better technology.

As a member of The 20's growth platform, JS Computek has benefitted from The 20's business model, leveraging it to drive growth and achieve success across a variety of industry verticals.

With this acquisition, The 20 MSP and JS Computek seek to build on their preexisting relationship, elevate service offerings to keep pace with clients' ever-evolving business needs, and sustain growth in an increasingly competitive industry.

"We're thrilled to be joining forces with JS Computek, a company with stellar talent, a broad and loyal client base, and huge growth potential," said Tim Conkle, CEO of The 20 MSP. "This acquisition isn't just about getting bigger; it's about adding quality  the right people and the right processes. JS Computek has a top-notch team and an excellent company culture, and it's my pleasure to welcome them to The 20," Conkle added.

"This is a gratifying and exciting moment for our company," said Caleb Brown, CEO of JS Computek. "For years, our team has worked hard to turn JS Computek into a leading MSP in the Mid-Missouri area, and we're now ready for the next challenge  scaling up to a national level. Becoming a part of The 20 MSP is going to elevate our services and give us new capabilities to help our clients flourish in their respective industries," added Brown.

This acquisition by The 20 MSP expands the company's national footprint and continues an aggressive growth plan that reflects the vigorous consolidation activity across the MSP industry. The 20 MSP has more acquisitions lined up in the coming months. "This is an exciting step forward in our growth journey, but it's one of many we plan on taking," said Conkle.

About The 20 MSP

The 20 MSP has been helping businesses succeed through better technology since 1986. As a leading provider of managed IT services, The 20 MSP serves hundreds of businesses nationwide, providing each one with white glove service, secure and streamlined IT infrastructure, and 24/7/365 support. We believe in building lasting relationships with clients founded on trust, communication, and the delivery of high-value services for a fair and predictable price. Our clients' success is our success, and we are committed to helping each and every organization we serve leverage technology to secure a competitive advantage and achieve new growth.

About JS Computek

JS Computek is managed services partner located in Columbia, Missouri. We offer Network Consulting Services as well as 24-hour tech support for businesses and individuals. We bring together the best hardware and software solutions for each client, follow industry best practices, and apply a professional, process-oriented methodology to network management. Our commitment to quality, reliability and long-term value makes us a Consulting Company of choice. If you are looking for a long-term partner in the implementation and maintenance of technology to support your mission critical processes, we can help. We offer customized support options, onsite and remote access, scheduled maintenance, contracted administration, and phone support options to help you meet your business needs.
Letter of Recognition from President Biden designating October 12th as National Loggers Day "Loggers work hard day in and day out to supply every American with products that they need to live safe and productive lives. Its important to not only honor this heritage industry but also to be sure that every American recognizes the importance of their contribution now and in the future."

The American Loggers Council announces the introduction of a Senate Resolution, House Resolution of Support, and Letter of Recognition from President Biden designating October 12th as National Loggers Day.

Loggers were a part of carving out a new life in America 400 years ago and they continue to build America every day. Loggers today carry on the proud tradition that has been a part of the American fabric since the beginning and will continue to be in the future. The proud timber industry heritage depicted by the iconic Paul Bunyan lives on in todays loggers. They are an American legacy.

Our forest products industry has supported good-paying jobs, driven local economies, strengthened rural communities, and protected our natural environment. I come from a six-generation forest-products family and know of no other enterprise that requires more faith in the future and respect for the past, said Senator Collins. I am proud to join Senator Baldwin in honoring the skilled and resilient loggers in Maine and across the country. I have strongly supported these hardworking men and women by advocating for workforce development programs and securing financial assistance during the pandemic, and I look forward to continuing to be a strong partner on issues to protect this resilient industry and its talented employees.

Im proud to lead this bipartisan effort with Senator Collins to spotlight the importance of logging businesses and workers who keep our forests healthy and support our Made in America forest products supply chain, said Senator Baldwin. Wisconsins logging economy provides good-paying jobs and revenue for rural communities and the National Park System. Healthy forest management also provides public recreational opportunities that make the Wisconsin way of life a national treasure. With this bipartisan Senate Resolution, we are showing our commitment to the loggers who work hard to advance what has been a cultural tradition in the United States for centuries.

The significance of this proclamation for loggers across the United States cannot be overstated, Dana Doran, Executive Director of the Professional Logging Contractors of Maine, said. At no prior time in our nations history have loggers been recognized for their selfless and heroic efforts by our nations government, and we especially want to thank U.S. Senator Susan Collins for leading the effort to honor their contribution to our nations economy on behalf of the hard-working small family businesses in the industry. Loggers work hard day in and day out to supply every American with products that they need to live safe and productive lives. Its important to not only honor this heritage industry but also to be sure that every American recognizes the importance of their contribution now and in the future.

Loggers supply the renewable resources that the forest products industry (paper, lumber, biomass, etc.) requires to produce the products that people need, use, and depend on. That is why they were deemed essential and continued working through the pandemic.

American forests are healthy and sustainable due to the services that loggers provide to the public and private forest managers which allows them to meet their sustainable forest management objectives.

The American logger contributes to improving rural communities, forest health, animal habitat, wildfire mitigation, carbon sequestration, and renewable energy development. Without loggers, these public economic and environmental benefits would not be possible.

Congressman Good (VA) plans to introduce the Resolution of Support this week and is anticipated to pass out of the Senate and officially recognize October 12th as National Loggers Day.

The American Loggers Council appreciates the Congressional and Presidential recognition of the American Logger and the contribution that they have made for generations in building America.
The de Konings are a 6th-generation mussel farming family based in Trenton, Maine. Their company, Hollander & de Koning, farms dutch-style mussels, oysters, and scallops in Downeast Maine. Maine aquaculture promotes responsible growth, fosters economic sustainability, and diversifies the economic base of Maines coastal communities, said Sebastian Belle, Executive Director, Maine Aquaculture Association. We firmly believe thats worth celebrating.

The Maine Aquaculture Association (MAA) today announced plans to observe National Seafood Month by celebrating the diversity in Maine seafood and honoring generations of sea farming families who produce it.

Maines cold, clean waters are ideal for farming some of the freshest and most sustainable food in the world, said Sebastian Belle, Executive Director, Maine Aquaculture Association.

This October, were proud to celebrate National Seafood Month by honoring generations of Maines sea farmers who produce it. Now, more than ever, Maines working waterfront needs to unite; lets all come together to celebrate seafood, continued Belle.

U.S. aquaculture works hand in hand with commercial fishing and produces 7 percent of the nations seafood, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Globally, aquaculture is growing at a rate of 8 percent according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The U.S. is steadily developing its aquaculture sector, but is behind every other country at a rate of 1 percent. Maine aquaculture has enjoyed responsible growth over the last 20 years at an average rate of 2 percent. Aquaculture in Maine is among the most diverse sea farming sectors in the nation, producing more species of edible fish than any other U.S. state.

As a global leader and pioneer in aquaculture, Maine has developed best practices and established strict standards, many of which are now used throughout the U.S. and around the world.

Maine Aquaculture by the Numbers

-More than 25 diverse species of finfish, shellfish and sea vegetables are farmed in Maine.

-Maine aquaculture represents $85-$110 million a year in sales.

-Maine aquaculture provides jobs for more than 700 year-round employees across 200 farms (source: [2017 Maine Aquaculture Economic Impact Report)

-More than 99% of Maine sea farms are family-owned

-One in six Maine sea farmers holds a commercial fishing license. Aquaculture supplements fishing income that may continue to slip away due to climate change and regulations.

-Maine aquaculture has enjoyed responsible growth over the last 20 years at an average rate of 2%. Globally, aquaculture is growing at 8% per year..

-Less than 1% of Maines coastal waters are used for aquaculture.

-Pound per pound, Maine aquaculture produces among the lowest carbon footprints of any animal protein.

Source: Maine Aquaculture Association

Maine Aquaculture: Pioneers and Innovators in Seafood

Maine Aquaculture builds resilience for generations of Maines fishing families and strengthens the working waterfront. Pioneers and innovators in the sector include:

Pemaquid Oyster Company in Bristol was founded in 1986 as one of the original pioneers of Maines thriving oyster farming sector. Today, people travel to Maine from around the world in search of the renowned Pemaquid oysters, and the founding members of Pemaquid are actively engaged in training new growers, conducting research, and advancing sustainable practices in the sector.

Cooke Aquaculture was started by the Cooke family of New Brunswick in 1985 with one cage and a few thousand fish. Today, the company is still family-owned and has grown to acquire operations around the world, including salmon farms in Eastport, Machias, and Bass Harbor.

For Hollander & de Koning in Trenton, mussel farming has been a family tradition for six generations. When the family immigrated to Maine in 2004, they brought authentic Dutch style mussels with them, started their own company, and have since diversified into oyster and scallop aquaculture.

Atlantic Sea Farms in Biddeford works with Maines fishing families to diversify into kelp farming, and drives a national market on their behalf with value added products. Their 27 partner farmers representing 9 Maine harbors are pioneering a new industry for the coast of Maine, and building resilience in the face of climate change and regulatory uncertainty. Atlantic Sea Farms partner fishermen farmers represent over 80% of the cultivated seaweed in the U.S.

National Campaign, Local Flavor

The Maine Aquaculture Association joins the Seafood Nutrition Partnership, National Seafood Council Task Force, and the Seafood4Health Action Coalition this October in encouraging more Americans to eat and celebrate our delicious, healthy bounty of seafood. Visit our website at http://www.maineaqua.org/recipes/ for easy, delicious recipe inspiration and preparation tips. Oyster lovers should visit http://www.maineoystertrail.com to find locally farmed oysters near them. Social media hashtags for both national and local campaigns include #CelebrateSeafood and #EatMaineSeafood.

Maine aquaculture promotes responsible growth, fosters economic sustainability, and diversifies the economic base of Maines coastal communities, continued Belle. We firmly believe thats worth celebrating.

About the Maine Aquaculture Association

The Maine Aquaculture Association (MAA) est. 1978, is a nonprofit trade association that advocates for and unites Maines finfish, shellfish, and sea vegetable farmers in collaboration with commercial fishing colleagues. MAAs mission is to support the states aquatic growers in developing economically and environmentally sustainable business practices, to promote the benefits of aquaculture in the local food system, and to preserve Maines heritage of a vibrant working waterfront.
This is a great opportunity to help the SBA quickly respond to the evolving needs of the small business community, said Tariq Islam, Director of Technology at Makpar.

MakNuAx, an experienced solutions-oriented SBA-approved Joint Venture between https://www.makpar.com/ [Makpar and NuAxis Innovations __title__ ] focused on modernizing federal IT infrastructure by combining the discipline of Customer Experience (CX) with an iterative, streamlined Development, Security, and Operations (DevSecOps) approach, today announced that it has been awarded a spot on a $200M Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) contract to provide the Small Business Administration (SBA) with Enterprise Agile Delivery Services (EADS).

MakNuAx will integrate essential Customer Experience (CX), Human Centered Design (HCD), and Agile Methodology best practices to enhance our solutions for these businesses.

The purpose of SBA EADS is to ease the burden on the small business community in regards to their engagement and interaction with the SBA. The pandemic highlighted the importance of small businesses as the backbone of our economy and the impending need for the SBA to provide more personalized, timely support for their operations.

This is a great opportunity to help the SBA quickly respond to the evolving needs of the small business community, said Tariq Islam, Director of Technology at Makpar. We strongly believe building an automated CI/CD pipeline, while using other fail-fast methodology, will help SBA stakeholders deliver solutions faster that better serve small businesses.

"SBA's mission is essential since small businesses are truly the foundation of the American Dream. I'm so excited to support this mission using CX and HCD tools to help small businesses better access these critical services, said Amanda Chavez, V.P. of Customer Experience (CX) at NuAxis.

About MakNuAx

MakNuAx is an SBA-approved joint venture between SBA mentor-protege firms NuAxis and Makpar. We work together to offer Federal agencies full-spectrum services for IT modernization. Our work is proven with award-winning experience and a strong partnership built on integrity and trust. MakNuax is an 8(a)/WOSB/EDWOSB certified company. With over 30 years of combined experience in delivering the future of Federal IT, we combine a focus on customer experience with a passion for new and emerging technologies to deliver the exact solution to meet Federal agencies most pressing challenges today. For more information, visit http://www.maknuax.com.

About Makpar

Makpar has over a decade of experience providing high-level strategic and project management services, focused on cybersecurity and cutting-edge technologies. Theyve won awards for their work implementing the largest external user verification system within the Federal Government with over 120M users. Makpar maintains core capabilities across emerging and existing technologies applied to modernize Federal IT and improve servicing the American people. Learn more at http://www.makpar.com.

About NuAxis

NuAxis Innovations is an IT company helping Federal agencies modernize through a focus on customer experience. We work with federal leaders to reimagine government services by pairing innovative technology with human-centered design. For the past 20 years, our customers from the Department of Labor to Capitol Hill trust us to listen more, build faster, and create products that citizens and staff love to use. Headquartered in Northern Virginia, we provide mission systems, platform, enterprise operations, and CX services that help the government create lasting change. Learn more at http://www.nuaxis.com.
This new location will feature a state-of-the-art slab area with a variety of natural stone materials, including marble, granite, quartzite and more.



M S International, Inc. (MSI), the leading supplier of flooring, countertops, wall tile, and hardscaping products in North America, is celebrating the Grand Opening of its latest showroom and distribution center in the greater New Haven, CT area on Thursday, October 13. Located at 4 Laser Lane, Wallingford, CT 06492, this showroom spans approximately 70,000 sq-ft featuring a complete offering of MSIs product lineup from flooring and countertops to natural stone, hardscaping materials and much more for residential and commercial markets alike.

With well-lit, climate-controlled areas throughout the showroom, consumers and trade professionals can choose from the best products on the market to help better facilitate design decisions. From traditional to contemporary, this showroom features products for a diverse customer base to accommodate a variety of trends, lifestyles and budgets. In the showroom, visitors can browse the company's best-selling products such as Everlife Luxury Vinyl Flooring, stacked stone wall tiles, turf, pavers and much more.

This new location will feature a state-of-the-art slab area with a variety of natural stone materials, including marble, granite, quartzite and more. It will also include a Q Premium Natural Quartz gallery showcasing over 100 colors in the Q Collection lineup, including popular natural stone looks like marble, limestone and concrete.

With the vast MSI product lineup, this location is a trade resource center for a variety of business mediums, such as architecture, interior design, remodeling, landscaping and more. Plus, MSIs company-owned delivery truck fleet can provide reduced lead times and superior customer assistance with its exclusive express delivery service.

Open six days a week, the New Haven showroom hours are Monday through Friday from 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM and Saturday from 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM.

To learn more about MSIs complete product assortment, visit https://www.msisurfaces.com.

About M S International, Inc. (MSI)

Founded in 1975, MSI is a leading supplier of flooring, countertop, wall tile, and hardscaping products in North America. Headquartered in Orange, California, MSI maintains over 40 state-of-the-art showrooms and distribution centers across the U.S. and Canada, with domestic manufacturing facilities for Q Premium Natural Quartz in Latta, South Carolina, and Premium LVT in Cartersville, Georgia. MSI's product assortment includes an extensive offering of quartz, LVT, tile, natural stone, and glass products imported from over 37 countries on six continents.
There are barriers standing between jobs and those who want to work. All of us need to understand these barriers so we can eliminate or overcome them as a society. - Express Employment International CEO Bill Stoller

Express Employment Professionals is announcing the release of a new white paper today focusing on the disconnect between job seekers and employers who are desperate for workers to come off the sidelines.

With long wait times at restaurants, major shipping delays on products and staffing shortages affecting businesses at every turn, how can the 11.6 million people in the U.S. who currently want a job struggle to find a placement?

Part of the answer lies in the labor force participation rate, which only takes into account those who are actively looking for work. This statistic is a better metric for assessing the health of the labor market and the size of the active workforce.

After peaking at 67.3% in 2000, the labor force participation rate has steadily declined, landing at 62.4% in August 2022. In February 2020, pre-pandemic, labor force participation stood only a point higher at 63.4%.

Roughly 11.2 million jobs are open today, revealing something, or a multitude of factors, is clearly standing in their way. Jobs are not in short supply, and companies desperately need people to fill them.

The new white paper, titled The Great Divide: The Chasm Standing Between Job Seekers and Employers, explores 10 of these common barriers:

1. Child care

2. Elder care

3. Unpredictable business needs

4. Job training and skills

5. Work history and criminal history

6. Transportation and geography

7. Health issues and concerns

8. Communication issues

9. Workplace culture expectations

10. Wage expectations

Drawing from the real-life experiences of Express Employment Professionals franchise owners and the companies they serve, as well as exclusive survey data prepared by The Harris Poll for Express and recent economic data, this paper examines who is struggling to rejoin the labor force and why.

It is often assumed that people who arent working cant find an open job. But in an economy where there are far more available jobs than people counted as unemployed, we know the situation is far more complicated, Express Employment International CEO Bill Stoller said. There are barriers standing between jobs and those who want to work. All of us need to understand these barriers so we can eliminate or overcome them as a society.

***

If you would like to arrange for an interview with Bill Stoller to discuss this topic, please contact Sheena Hollander, Director of Corporate Communications and PR, at (405) 717-5966.

About Bill Stoller

William H. "Bill" Stoller is chairman and chief executive officer of Express Employment

International. Founded in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the international staffing franchisor

supports the Express Employment Professionals franchise and related brands. The Express franchise brand is an industry-leading, international staffing company with franchise locations in the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

About Express Employment Professionals

At Express Employment Professionals, were in the business of people. From job seekers to client companies, Express helps people thrive and businesses grow. Our international network of franchises offers localized staffing solutions to the communities they serve across the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, employing 586,000 people globally in 2021 and 10 million since its inception. For more information, visit ExpressPros.com, and find more employment insights at ExpressPros.com/AmericaEmployed.


We are excited to return to Munich once again and meet with both established and potential customers to showcase the ways Smith can support them and strengthen their supply chains.

Smith, a leading independent distributor of electronic components and semiconductors, today announces its exhibition at Electronica Munich 2022. The company most recently exhibited at the German trade fair and conference in 2018 and at Electronica India in September of this year.

Electronica Munich has long been known as a leading, international industry gathering, where companies across industries and verticals can discuss the current state of the electronics sector, said Mark Bollinger, Chief Globalization Officer at Smith. We are excited to return to Munich once again and meet with both established and potential customers to showcase the ways Smith can support them and strengthen their supply chains.

Smith representatives will be available in hall C2, booth 139 to demonstrate the companys comprehensive supply chain solutions, including shortage sourcing and lifecycle management, as well as its best-in-class, systems-based quality program.

The ongoing semiconductor shortages continue to make headlines around the world, but Smith has built our Intelligent Distribution model to thrive in the face of supply chain disruptions, said Mark. For nearly 40 years, Smith has been there to connect our global partners to the electronic components they need, and we look forward to sharing our market expertise, industry insights, and unmatched quality excellence with our customers at Electronica Munich.

WHAT: Electronica Munich 2022

WHEN: Tuesday, November 15  Friday, November 18, 2022

WHERE: Smith Exhibition Showcase  Hall C2, Booth 139

Messe Munchen

Messegelande, 81823 Munich, Germany

Meetings with Smith personnel can be requested via Smiths Electronica page.

About Smith

Founded in 1984, Smith sources, manages, and distributes the electronic components that go into everything from mobile phones and computers to appliances and directional drilling systems. In 17 cities around the world, Smiths legion of employees communicates in 50 languages and dialects and buys and sells components 24 hours per day, generating global annual sales in excess of $3.4 billion in 2021. Smith is always moving: helping manufacturers navigate market shifts; customizing supply chain solutions; testing components using cutting-edge technology. The support of Smiths flexible Intelligent DistributionTM model optimizes customers supply chains from beginning to end, including offering customized options for IT asset disposition that deliver maximum ROI, sustainability, and security. Smiths testing and logistics hubs in Houston, Hong Kong, and Amsterdam cover critical areas like quality management, counterfeit prevention, and environmental safety. Smiths operations, purchasing, and sales worldwide are seamlessly integrated with the companys global IT infrastructure, offering real-time, global inventory and logistics visibility. Smith is the leading independent distributor of electronic components and ranks number seven among all global distributors. For more information, please visit http://www.smithweb.com or reach out to a Smith representative any time of day at +1 713.430.3000.

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The First Digital Operations & BPO Management Forum transcosmos China has an ample operations experience in the contact center and BPO industries. Highly regarded for its success stories in business intelligence (BI) and digital solutions, it once again was named a Top 10 Recommended Customer Center Professional Outsourcing Brands in China.

transcosmos inc. is proud to announce that Shanghai transcosmos Marketing Services Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Shanghai, China; CEO: Eijiro Yamashita; transcosmos China), its wholly-owned subsidiary, was named one of the "2022 Top 10 Recommended Customer Center Professional Outsourcing Brands in China" at "The First Digital Operations & BPO Management Forum" held on September 22, 2022, by the Customer Care & Management World Group (CCMWorld Group; Headquarters: Beijing, China; CEO: Zhao Xi; Website: http://www.ccmw.net/).

The "CCMWorld Editor's Choice" is an annual event where brands are evaluated and awarded recommended brand status by a prestigious independent third party platform in the customer services industry. This year marks the seventh anniversary of the "CCMWorld Editor's Choice of the Year" that began in 2016. As a barometer of the progress achieved by the customer services industry, the award is aimed at contributing to the advancement of China's customer services and related industries, and promoting and sharing success stories achieved in the industries. After going through a three-phase process - namely information gathering, recommendation and screening - the organizing committee and the expert judge panel, which is composed of 10 experts, assessed the nominated brands based on eight criteria, namely, their business management skills, operational management skills, human resources management skills, digital business management skills, business size and coverage, brand awareness, customer value, and innovation management skills, and then finally decided the award winners.

transcosmos China has an ample operations experience in the contact center and BPO industries. Highly regarded for its success stories in business intelligence (BI) and digital solutions, transcosmos China once again was named a Top 10 Recommended Customer Center Professional Outsourcing Brands in China. This marks a third consecutive win since 2020.

transcosmos China is one of the first TMALL Partners (TP) who helps brands build smart contact center solutions on the TMALL platform, leveraging the power of humans and AI robots. In addition, its home-based, remote cloud contact centers ensured stable contact center operations for its clients under the COVID-19 crisis. With such services, transcosmos China has been highly valued by clients.

What's more, transcosmos China has the ability to offer the 5A Loyalty Diagnostics service. As customer touchpoints continue to diversify in this digital age, transcosmos China accurately profiles consumer behavior, placing customer experience (CX) at the core, and helps clients boost their customer loyalty while maximizing revenues through increasing customer lifetime value (LTV). In addition, as a Microsoft Power BI Partner, the company also helps clients get customer insights from visualized data, which ultimately develops new business opportunities.

As a client's global digital transformation (DX) partner, transcosmos will continue to drive its initiative to further enhance its digital contact center services powered by high-quality, high-value services.

 About "Customer Care & Management World (CCMWorld)" magazine

CCMWorld is a members-only industry-specific magazine issued by CCMWorld Group. The monthly magazine contains theoretical studies and the latest trends in the contact center, customer management, data-driven marketing and service outsourcing industries. First issued in 2003, CCMWorld magazine has issued more than 200 volumes.

 About CCMWorld Group

Founded in 2002, CCMWorld Group has been driving the progress of the Chinese contact center industry as a third party industrial research and development organization. CCMWorld Group puts particular focus on customer management research and offers omni-directional, multidimensional and integrated services including media, publishing, authentication, research, training, meeting and screening. Based on such services, CCMWorld Group provides the latest information about the related industries and services that support such industries.

Visit here for more information: http://www.ccmw.net/

 About transcosmos China

transcosmos entered the Chinese market and launched its offshore services business in 1995. In 2006, the company opened its first call center in Shanghai and started to provide call center services for the Chinese market. Today, transcosmos has its bases and subsidiaries across 22 cities in China including Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Hefei, Xi'an, Changsha, Wuhan, Neijiang, Suzhou, Taipei and more. The company offers extensive services such as business process outsourcing (BPO) including contact centers, e-commerce one-stop, customer experience and digital marketing for both Chinese and global brands.



transcosmos is a trademark or registered trademark of transcosmos inc. in Japan and other countries.

Other company names and product or service names used here are trademarks or registered trademarks of respective companies.

About transcosmos inc.

transcosmos launched its operations in 1966. Since then, we have combined superior "people" with up-to-date "technology" to enhance the competitive strength of our clients by providing them with superior and valuable services. transcosmos currently offers services that support clients' business processes focusing on both sales expansion and cost optimization through our 173 bases across 28 countries/regions with a focus on Asia, while continuously pursuing Operational Excellence. Furthermore, following the expansion of e-commerce market on the global scale, transcosmos provides a comprehensive One-Stop Global E-Commerce Services to deliver our clients' excellent products and services to consumers in 46 countries/regions around the globe. transcosmos aims to be the "Global Digital Transformation Partner" of our clients, supporting the clients' transformation by leveraging digital technology, responding to the ever-changing business environment. Visit us here https://www.trans-cosmos.co.jp/english/
UPSTACK Appoints Technology Industry Veteran Rick Dellar to Board of Directors "...Rick (Dellar) and his founding team successfully pioneered a new distribution model for telecom and digital infrastructure services  a model that UPSTACK aspires to transform as it enhances the way businesses of all sizes design and source digital infrastructure."

UPSTACK, the fastest-growing advisory platform for digital infrastructure, announced today that it named channel veteran Rick Dellar to its board of directors. Dellar also will serve as Senior Advisor to UPSTACK Founder and CEO Christopher Trapp.

"Rick Dellar is a true visionary and one of the most highly respected executives in the digital infrastructure industry," said Trapp. "Twenty-five years ago, Rick and his founding team successfully pioneered a new distribution model for telecom and digital infrastructure services  a model that UPSTACK aspires to transform as it enhances the way businesses of all sizes design and source digital infrastructure. Furthermore, Rick's ability to cultivate a culture and community across thousands of entrepreneurs that transcends their competitive natures aligns perfectly with our aspirations of building an ambitious yet highly inclusive and supportive culture across our entire organization. Rick's guidance, experience and support for our vision will be invaluable to UPSTACK's future success."

Dellar is well known in the telecom and IT channel as a co-founder and CEO of Intelisys, the industry's largest technology services distributor (TSD) of business telecommunications and cloud services. Dellar was instrumental in building the TSD from a startup in 1994 to a record-setting $120 million in gross commissions in 2015. In 2016, Intelisys sold to ScanSource Inc. in the industry's first union of major telecom and IT distributors. The watershed deal put the telecom services channel on the radars of Wall Street and private equity investors.

Following the transaction, Dellar served on Intelisys' leadership team until July 2020. For the last two years, Dellar has been the founder and managing partner at Nacimiento Building Partners, a high-end residential real estate developer. He plans to continue his real estate business and other entrepreneurial endeavors.

"The motivation for me at this point in my career is to be part of something impactful," said Dellar. "The channel community is evolving and consolidating in meaningful ways. I want to work with an organization that's making an impact and leading the market. UPSTACK is disrupting the channel, gaining momentum and attracting the finest talent. The people who've joined the UPSTACK family are partners that have become my friends over 25 years. Working with them again and having a continued impact is a huge bonus."

For more information about UPSTACK's agency investment program, contact partners@upstack.com.

About UPSTACK

Launched in 2017 in New York, N.Y., UPSTACK is transforming the way digital infrastructure is sourced and sold. Through a powerful combination of the industry's leading advisory partners, advanced technology and dedicated customer experience resources, UPSTACK uses actionable business intelligence to architect and source customized technology solutions for businesses of all sizes. With UPSTACK, businesses of all sizes streamline IT architecture, procurement and ongoing management by tapping into a single source for mission-critical technology advisory services. UPSTACK's expertise includes colocation and data center, network connectivity, SD-WAN, unified communications, cloud contact center, private and public cloud, security, mobile, business continuity and IoT. For more information, visit us at upstack.com.
"Students are not bound by semester and school-year start dates and can use VHS Learning Flexible courses to adjust their academic schedules to suit their own unique needs.

As students work to get back on track after the tumult of the past two years, they need as many options as possible for learning. VHS Learning is expanding those options by increasing the frequency with which it offers its Flexibly Paced courses. Now students can start a Flexible course on any Monday through the first week of December (for AP courses) or through February (for non-AP courses).

These new options give students the flexibility to enroll in essential AP and other core courses at the time thats best for them, said Carol DeFuria, President & CEO of VHS Learning. Students are not bound by semester and school-year start dates and can use VHS Learning Flexible courses to adjust their academic schedules to suit their own unique needs.

The Flexible course model is available for 16 courses in the current academic year:



Algebra 1 Flexible

AP Calculus AB Flexible

AP Calculus BC Flexible

AP Computer Science Principles Flexible

AP Environmental Science Flexible

AP Macroeconomics Flexible

AP Microeconomics Flexible

AP Music Theory Flexible

AP Physics 1 Flexible

AP Spanish Language and Culture Flexible

AP Statistics Flexible

AP United States Government Flexible

AP United States History Flexible

English 9 Flexible

English 11 Flexible

Spanish 1 Flexible

As with traditional VHS Learning courses, Flexible courses are paced with due dates and include asynchronous discussions with the teacher and classmates. VHS Learning teachers also host weekly office hours and invite students to monthly one-on-one progress meetings. The courses will end at the completion of the school year, so later enrollees will progress through course materials at a faster pace.

DeFuria continued. These additional start dates for our Flexible course model will help schools meet scheduling challenges. We are dedicated to ensuring that schools and students have the options they need to take advantage of our expansive selection of quality courses.

VHS Learning has a 26-year reputation for educational quality, including comprehensive professional development for the certified teachers who provide course instruction. All VHS Learning teachers complete graduate-level Online Teaching Methodologies (OTM) training to learn best practices for online teaching and learning, and 81% of VHS Learning teachers possess a masters degree or higher. The nonprofits vision is to prepare students for college, careers, and life and well-trained teachers are an essential part of the equation.

About VHS Learning

VHS Learning is a nonprofit organization with over 26 years of experience providing world-class online programs to students and schools everywhere. Offering more than 300 unique online courses for high school credit, including 26 AP courses, credit recovery, and enrichment courses, VHS Learning is accredited by Middle States Association Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools (MSA-CESS), Accrediting Commission for Schools, Western Association of Schools and Colleges (ACS WASC), and Cognia. Courses are approved for initial eligibility by NCAA. For more information about VHS Learning please visit https://www.vhslearning.org/ and follow on Twitter at @VHSLearning.

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Moment by Moment I Pray: Volume IV: a potent reminder of Gods grace. Moment by Moment I Pray: Volume IV is the creation of published author Warren S. Banks.

Banks shares, This is part 4 of Moment by Moment, I Pray, which deals with my praying life from January 1, 2018September 12, 2018. The story behind part 4 is the same as that of parts 1, 2, and 3, which deal with my prayer life from February 10, 2016, and ends on August 31, 2016. I found myself alone after the funeral of my beloved wife, Annie Jewel Chief Banks. We had been together almost fifty years. The funeral was held on Monday, January 5, 2015, at Ben Hill UMC, located in the heart of the Ben Hill community.

After a forty-plus-mile drive to our birth home of Griffin, Georgia, she was laid to rest. Three days after her funeral, I took my original manuscript from a storage area in the house that we had made our home and had raised our family and went out into the backyard and destroyed all twenty-six thousand handwritten pages. I did not see the need to continue writing or to live. But that was January 8, 2015.

I looked up into the heavens and asked the Lord what he wanted me to do. I said, Lord, I have pulled myself up from a small town in the state of Georgia named Griffin, Georgia. I had completed Fairmont High School, entered Clark College (now known as Clark Atlanta University), with the completion date of May 1970, and I completed Woodrow Wilson College of Law, Georgia State University Schools of Education, for my first teachers certification to teach school and the school of management.

From 1966 to 1970, I completed my degree in sociology and psychology. During my senior year at Clark, I married the love of my life, Ms. Annie Jewel Hosely, my high school sweetheart, also from Griffin, Georgia. We set up housekeeping in Atlanta, Georgia. But in January 1971, I was drafted into the army and was shipped to the Republic of South Vietnam to serve a tour of duty as a squad leader in a military police unit. I worked very hard, and I was promoted to the rank of Sergeant E5. I survived Vietnam and many other situations, but Chiefs death took a toll upon the very essence of my soul.

On February 12, 2016, I started back writing, and after a talk with the Lord on September 17, 2018, I had handwritten about three thousand pages. At this point, I asked the Lord, Lord, what do you want me to do?

A soft but firm voice came to me, Warren, my son, I want you to publish your story, which you have written in the form of a continued prayer.

Well, looking back upon my life, the Lord has always been there for me, even when I thought my life was over.

About seven days later, I was listening to my favorite gospel radio station. I heard his message: If you are considering publishing your manuscript, call this number or go to this website.

I was not quick enough to get the information down. Therefore, I missed out on getting the information that I needed to make my contact. But a few days later, while I was again listening to the same radio station, that same message came again. This time, I was able to get the information that I needed, and I made contact. Within the next few minutes, I received a phone call. The person on the other end of the line said that she had been assigned from the Christian Faith Publishing Company to serve as my literary agent. I was told that she would be my guide throughout the production process.

I was given information where I needed to mail my manuscript to. I mailed my manuscript off to the address that was given to me. Within a few days, I got a call from my agent indicating that my manuscript had been accepted for publication. I was really beside myself. I have been in constant prayer with my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He saw so much more in me than I saw in myself. He said that he would never leave me nor forsake me, and he never has.

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Warren S. Bankss new book will resonate with many who have faced loss, challenge, and uncertainty.

Banks shares in hopes of reaching others in need of Gods grace in the face of lifes challenges.

Consumers can purchase Moment by Moment I Pray: Volume IV at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about Moment by Moment I Pray: Volume IV, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.
Click here for old website
Childrens comics were a muted presence at NYCC, compared to a few years ago, but the children themselves were out in force throughout the four days of the show and particularly for Sunday, which is traditionally kids day.

On the exhibit floor, publishers were promoting a diverse array of books, and children dressed as Spider-Man and Disney Princesses were learning lightsaber techniques at Padawan Academy, tracing manhwa on handheld light tables in the Korean comics booth, and taking drawing workshops with artists Tana Ford and Erin Lefler.

Traditional book publishers, including Hachette, Simon & Schuster, and Macmillan, were front and center on the show floor and featured a mix of graphic novels and prose works. Con-goers who happened along at the right time could score a galley of The Moth Keeper by Katie ONeill (The Tea Dragon Society; Princess Princess); Random House Graphic will publish the middle grade fantasy graphic novel in March 2023. Abrams had a display that ranged from Marvel board books to Nathan Hales new how-to book, Lets Make History. (Hales humorous-but-accurate Nathan Hales Hazardous Tales series is a top seller in the nonfiction childrens graphic novel category.)

First Second had a healthy stack of John Patrick Greens InvestiGators books; the series, one of First Seconds bestsellers, features a pair of alligator secret agents who continually find themselves in preposterous circumstances (think Dog Man meets Get Smart). And Simon & Schuster was giving out ARCs of Roan Blacks Guardians of Horsa: Legend of the Yearling, a middle-grade fantasy graphic novel with horses as the lead characters (think Warriors meets My Little Pony).

One particularly noticeable phenomenon was the popularity of graphic novels based on the chapter books of an earlier generation. James Howe (Bunnicula), R.L. Stine (Goosebumps) and Mary Pope Osborne (Magic Tree House) were all at the show. Howe and Stine did a panel together on scary books, and all three were signing books for fans of all ages. In a slightly different vein, Storm King, which publishes horror comics based on the movies of John Carpenter (Halloween) and Sandy King (They Live), was displaying comics from their childrens imprint Storm Kids, including The Grimms Town Terror Tales: Rise of the Candy Creeper.

Mad Cave Studios didnt waste any time: the Florida-based publisher acquired Papercutz in August and already had a rack of Papercutz graphic novels at its booth, as well as ashcans of Art Baltazars upcoming graphic novel Yahgz, which Papercutz will publish in August 2023. (Baltazar, half of the team that created DCs Tiny Titans, is also the creator of Gillbert the Little Merman, another Papercutz title.) Mad Cave also had a selection of titles from its Maverick young adult imprint, including early copies of Kate Sheridan and Gaia Cardinalis In the Shadow of the Throne, in which a visit to a museum transports the teen hero to a fantasy world of knights and magic. The book will be released on October 25.

Elsewhere, Dani Coleman was signing copies of her graphic novel The Unfinished Corner, a fantasy-adventure based on Jewish mythology, and at the IDW booth, Sonic the Hedgehog contributors Jennifer Hernandez and Jamal Peppers were autographing comics.

And Rocketship, which publishes print editions of webtoons and webcomics, usually funding the production costs via Kickstarter, had writer Justin Jordan on hand to sign copies of his YA graphic novel Urban Animal (done with artist John Amor).

If there seemed to be fewer childrens comics and announcements this year, it was partly because comics themselves were a smaller presence. The floor was dominated by media properties, including such kid-friendly ones as Monster High, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Moon Girl, starring Lunella Lafayette, the girl genius from the Marvel universe who will soon star in her own animated series on the Disney Channel (the character was created by Amy Reed, Brandon Montclare, and Natacha Bustos). The comics cross over into other media, and the other media cross over into comics, but having a Moon Girl comic and a Moon Girl cartoon just means theres twice as much Moon Girl for the youngest fans to enjoy.
A couple thousand years ago, a trial was held at night during Passover. That was highly irregular. The defendant was Jesus, and the hearing was conducted by a minority sect within Judaism, one that did not believe in a messiahany messiah. So, the conviction of Jesus was a foregone conclusion, and the rest is history.

But what if the Phariseeswho represented the majority of the Jewish populationhad conducted the trial instead of Sadduceeswho intentionally held the trial knowing the Pharisees would be preoccupied? History might have gone very differently.

This is the basic idea behind Israeli biblical scholar Israel Knohls book The Messiah Confrontation: Pharisees Versus Sadducees and the Death of Jesus (Jewish Publication Society, Nov. 1), which the author hopes will aid in Jewish-Christian reconciliation over the issue of who was responsible for the execution of Jesus. The book presents an evidence-based case that Jesus was the victim not of Christian-Jewish conflict, but rather an internal Jewish one. Surprisingly, Knohl says, there was very little gap between Jesus, His followers beliefs, and that of most Jews.

The Pharisees, the main Jewish group of this time, was messianic in the same way Jesus was messianic, Knohl tells PW. Basically, they agreed with Jesus on the expectation for a messianic king who was to be elevated. They didn't accept Jesus as the messiah, but they accepted the messianic idea. In other words, they believed that a messiah would come, but it wasnt necessarily Jesus. So, actually, they represented the majority of the Jewish people in this period, who had the same view. Thus, Jesus was convicted by a minority group.

Its an important distinction, Knohl believes, because it further absolves the Jewish people from collective guilt over the death of Jesus. Granted, he says, that guilt had already been absolved during Vatican II in 1965. Thats when the Catholic Church announced its Nostra Aetate, which said that the Jews should not be held collectively accountable for the death of Jesus. But Knohl said his research gives that conclusion a scholarly imprint.

Vatican II is important, Knohl says. But, you know, it is a general statement. No scholar entered the discussion of the details and the disagreements and the debates within the Hebrew Bible about the messianic idea. And the detailed claims that I'm making in my book are new. I'm giving Vatican II detailed support based on a close reading of the text.

This is necessary because, he says, the Jews killed Jesus accusation is still accepted by many Christians. Knohl is heavily involved in Jewish-Christian education and dialogue. Every year, he goes to the Pontifical University of St. Thomas AquinasAngelicum in Rome to teach and conduct dialogues with Christian students and scholars.

I can tell, in my discussions with the students, there is still work to be done with regard to this issue of blaming the Jewish people, the entire Jewish people, for crucifying Jesus. If my book can improve that in some way, I would be happy.

The Messiah Confrontation was originally released three years ago in Hebrew and only in Israel after a peer review process, and it was met with a positive reception. Barry Schwartz, director of the Jewish Publication Society, tells PW he decided to publish an English translation of the book because it is a thought-provoking book of Jewish history and theology based on close readings of biblical and rabbinic texts. He adds: The work has important implications for both Jewish self-understanding and Jewish-Christian relations.

And improving those relations is very important to the author, who has focused on it for much of his career. Knohl has been involved with interfaith dialogues at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem for many years and has taught classes on the books of Genesis and Leviticus and on the history of the messianic idea at Harvard University, Stanford University, the University of CaliforniaBerkeley, and the Chicago Divinity School, in addition to Angelicum in Rome.

He notes, This is one of the aims of my new bookthe issue of reconciliation and better mutual understanding between Jews and Christians.
Jonathan Cahn takes over the top spot on PW's Religion Nonfiction list with The Return of the Gods (Frontline), which continues his custom of revealing ancient mysteries that allegedly lie behind current events, this time focusing on the United States. The author has made multiple media appearances, including television programs such as CBNs 700 Club, TBNs Praise, and Family Talk with Dr. James Dobson.

Cahn is joined by other debuts including Max Lucados Help is Here: Finding Fresh Strength and Purpose in the Power of the Holy Spirit, which comes in at #3. The book describes Lucados relationship with the Holy Spirit and how supernatural help is available to help Christians get through challenging and stressful circumstances, according to the publisher. Lucado, the teaching minister at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Tex., is the author of over 30 books with more than 145 million products in print.

Letters to the American Church by Eric Metaxas takes #4 in Religion Nonfiction. The author of Bonhoeffer summons the Christian Church to battle and urges Christians to repent of their silence in the face of cultural Marxism and globalist tyranny, according to the publisher. Metaxas is promoting the title across his many platforms including website, blog, newsletter, and speaking engagements.

David Limbaughs The Resurrected Jesus: The Church in the New Testament also debuts on our list, taking the #5 spot. Limbaugh is a social commentator and the younger brother of the late radio host Rush Limbaugh. The nonfiction list is rounded out by familiar names: Sarah Young, Jennie Allen, Lysa TerKeurst, and Priscilla Shirer.

In Religion Fiction, The Stranger in the Lifeboat by Mitch Albom maintains its months-long #1 perch, while Harvest Moon, the final in the Riverbend Romance series by Denise Hunter, debuts on our list at #10. Marketing and publicity for the book included book club giveaways and promotions on the publisher and authors social media outlets.

Following the release of his new nonfiction work, Cahn shows up once again on PWs Religion Fiction list; The Harbinger takes #3 and The Harbinger II: The Return lands at #7.
In Does Scripture Speak for Itself? The Museum of the Bible and the Politics of Interpretation (Cambridge, out now), Jill Hicks-Keeton and Cavan Concannon present the MOTB as a five-story brick-and-mortar bible (written intentionally with a lowercase b), one that stands mere blocks from the U.S. Capitol and the National Mall. The authors contend that it is designed to establish the word of God, as mediated by a particular wing of Christianity conservative white evangelicals at the center of American power.

In their interpretation, the MOTB, a $50 million edifice that opened in 2017, may not be the Bible but it is a bible nonetheless, because, like all versions of Scripture, it has been shaped to suit the times, politics, and cultures of the people who claim it. One chapter is devoted to the birth of the MOTB, founded through the fortune, connections, and views of Steve Green and his family, the Hobby Lobby craft store chain billionaires. Hicks-Keeton (who co-edited a 2019 title, The Museum of the Bible: A Critical Introduction for Lexington Books/Fortress Academic) and Concannon walk readers through the museum's Gutenberg Gates entry and discuss the place floor by floor. Displays range from ancient-looking scraps of text (some actually ancient, some facsimiles installed after revelations that thousands of the museum's artifacts were either looted or forged) to a theme-park-style virtual reality flight over D.C. It highlights biblical verses and imagery on national monuments, presenting the capital as a Christian heritage tourism site and MOTB visitors as pilgrims.

PW spoke with the authorsHicks-Keeton, associate professor of Religious Studies at the University of Oklahoma, and Concannon, associate professor of religion at the University of Southern Californiaabout their goal for the book and their controversial, on-every-page, use of the term "white evangelicalism." The authors say they don't use this phrase with the intent to slander. Rather, they write in the book that they seek to highlight the ways in which, "the bible produced by the museum forges a path of redemption for white evangelicals that simultaneously works to excuse racist pasts, resist critique of the present, and ground a future in which white evangelicals can be moral authorities."

Your book situates the MOBT within a web of contemporary white conservative Christian social, political, economic, and educational institutions which, you write, "are producing, consuming, and marketing a bibleand why that matters." Why does this matter?

Concannon: We are talking about a sect within the larger umbrella of American institutions, linked by their theological and political commitments. It is a broad view of "whiteness." Not all evangelicals are white but many who are have forged their Christianity with a particular view, and they have a lot of power. It is beneficial to us as a democratic society to understand how their beliefs are created, internalized, and sustained by these powerful and wealthy institutions and the Museum is among them.

Hicks-Keeton: We are living in a particular moment when those of us who are white are reckoning with systemic racism and sexism. It is important for us to be analyzing what is authoritative in the MOTB, and how it impacts us. We are not interested in presenting the museum as a problem. We are more interested in how it projects a white evangelical version of a bible. If the Bible is popularly known as 'the Good Book; we have to ask, "Who is this book 'good' for?"

On the subject of slavery, the MOTB presents the abolitionists as "devotees" who followed God's word, while the enslavers are presented as victims of faulty interpretations of Scripture. Hence, you write, "White evangelicals can find salvation from the sins of the past by shifting their group affinity to join the victims rather than the villains of history." Why is this particularly "good" for white evangelicals?

Hicks-Keeton: This protects white evangelicals by placing the MOTB version of the Bible on the right side of history. It works by cutting out the possibility of viewing the past with moral doubt because if you are the victim, you're not the perpetrator.

The book mentions your hope that "mixing of American religious history with the cultural history of biblical literature will have something to say to our political present, particularly during a time in which our nation is wrestling with who belongs, who has access to resources, whose ideologies are normalized and celebrated, and whose are marginalized." What does it say to "our political present?"

Concannon: It says that we need to have public discourse where it is clear what motivates people to do what they do in the public square. We want people to pay attention, to know that their beliefs have a history, but that history is also entangled with money and institutions that shape these beliefs for their own ends.
In November 2021, BARB introduced what it called a once-in-a-generation upgrade of its daily audience reporting allowing streaming services to be an integral part of its reporting of what people watch across linear and on-demand services. Daily reporting includes aggregate-level viewing to SVOD, advertising VOD and video-sharing platforms, as well as content ratings for shows on the leading SVOD services.BARB says this innovation, underpinned by technology developed by Kantar, reinforces its longstanding commitment to track the latest developments in how media companies are distributing television shows across different platforms and devices.Looking at the market as a whole, BARB noted that while Netflix and other streaming services have clearly established themselves within the television-viewing ecosystem, broadcasters continue to account for the lions share of viewing in the UK. it added that across 2022, broadcasters linear channels and on-demand services have accounted for around two-thirds of all identified viewing, while advertising/subscription video-on-demand (AVOD/SVOD) services comprise about a sixth of all viewing. The average daily viewing time to broadcasters services was 159 minutes in September 2022, and the average for SVOD/AVOD services was 36 minutes per day.From the second week of November 2022, BARB will publicly report the monthly reach and share of viewing for broadcaster groups and SVOD/AVOD services which currently account for more than 0.5% of total identified viewing. For viewing from 1 November, BARB will report Netflix viewing every day at both a service and a programme level to its clients. This will be in the same way it reports viewing for over 300 other subscribing broadcast channels, broadcast video-on-demand (BVOD) and AVOD/SVOD services. Netflix viewing data will be available to all BARB clients on the morning of 2 November through existing viewing analysis software and data-processing bureaux.Commenting on becoming part of the BARB ecosystem , Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings said: Back in 2019, at the RTS conference in Cambridge, I welcomed the idea of Netflix audiences being measured independently. Weve kept in touch with BARB since then and are pleased to make a commitment to its trusted measurement of how people watch television in the UK.BARB chief executive Justin Sampson added; Our audience measurement continuously adapts to accommodate the new platforms and devices that are being used by people to watch their favourite television shows. We took a big step forward last year when we started reporting audiences to streaming services. Netflixs commitment to BARB sends a clear signal that what were doing is valuable to new and established players in the market.
By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 10/12/2022



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[ Spoiler Warning: This report contains spoilers revealing what happened between Ed and Liz after viewers last saw them and if the couple is married and together now].

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So was this the end of Liz and Ed's relationship or is the couple still together now?

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Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

: Happily Ever After? has featured Ed Brown calling off his wedding to Liz Woods because of their fight at their engagement party, so what is the status of their relationship now? Did Ed and Liz really break up for good or did the couple reconcile and get married -- and if so, are they still together now?Liz, a 29-year-old from San Diego, CA, and Ed, a 56-year-old professional photographer from San Diego, CA, previously appeared on Seasons 1 and 2 of 90 Day: The Single Life on discovery+.During an April 2021 episode of 90 Day: The Single Life, Ed asked Liz -- a restaurant employee whom Ed had been crushing on and previously took out on a couple of dates -- to be his girlfriend.After Ed said he and Liz "made love all night" in a hotel room, Liz agreed to be Ed's official girlfriend as long as he wouldn't rush things. Liz also acknowledged she wasn't ready to meet Ed's adult daughter Tiffany yet."Liz lights up my world and I'm realizing that she's whom I want to be with forever... I never thought I would find love again. I just hope I don't blow it!" Ed said on the show at the time.On 90 Day: The Single Life's Tell-All that aired in May 2021, Ed and Liz weren't in a good place, and Liz said they had broken up."Ed loves to rush our relationship," Liz revealed as her explanation for the breakup."When we finally became a couple, the next week I was meeting his daughter and then the next week I was meeting his sister and his brother. I was thrown in multiple situations I was not prepared for."Ed attempted to explain that he didn't want to get hurt, but then Liz countered, "I got hurt. You hurt me. You just completely left me and you promised me you wouldn't leave me. This month has been hell!"Liz went on to claim Ed had blocked her and then traveled to Las Vegas, where he allegedly "ranted about [his] sugarbabies."Liz confirmed she and Ed fought all the time over their different love languages. For instance, Liz said she's not very affectionate and she and Ed would often drink too much alcohol and then get into arguments.Ed told Us Weekly in May 2021 that he "definitely" wanted to make his relationship with Liz work."We have a lot to work on. We talked about getting counseling, we've talked a lot about going to church. Yeah, so I'm very optimistic and I want to give this a chance and see it through," Ed shared. "I do [feel like Liz is in it as well]."Us then reported in September 2021 that Ed and Liz were engaged, a few weeks after Ed allegedly popped the question on August 28, 2021.On : Happily Ever After's seventh season, Ed and Live said they had grown a lot and learned to overcome adversity together."We're no success story yet, but I definitely didn't see us being where we are today," Liz said.Liz's friends advised her not to rush into marriage given Ed is so much older than her and the pair had broken up eight times before, but Liz wanted to follow her heart.While Ed and Liz were convinced love would conquer all, they continued to fight.Liz thought Ed was trying to show off when he was supposed to teach her some photography, and Ed also accused Liz of critiquing his work and being wrong in her opinions."I'm so embarrassed to be fighting in front of my friend [Alex]. Ed really pisses me off," Liz lamented.Ed pointed out how he and Liz can both be "headstrong" and "stubborn," which often resulted in conflict in their relationship. He also admitted their age difference was apparent at times. suggesting Liz isn't very mature.Ed eventually found Liz crying, and he apologized for snapping at her. However, he acknowledged they were both wrong because Liz had corrected him in front of a client.Liz said she had broken up with Ed in the past because he was so controlling, and she told the cameras, "I'm feeling dad come out in tonight's altercation, which has been a problem in the past. No one wants to screw their dad at night."Liz said she felt like Ed didn't want to see her to succeed and he liked it when she needed him. She also felt judged and criticized."He will look through photos and be like, 'Oh, do you ever think about being back to that size?'" Liz revealed."It's kind of insulting. I don't feel pretty, and that's kind of why I started dance classes when we broke up before, because I'd see the kind of girls he was hanging out with. I would hope Ed would love me no matter what. I've loved him at his heaviest and his smallest since I've been with him. Never thought I'd feel so insecure about myself the way that I do now."Liz said Ed wanted her to be at the weight she was at when they broke up, which Alex didn't think was healthy physically or emotionally for Liz.Liz added how Ed didn't like her having "girl time" and constantly asked her questions about who she's with. Liz thought Ed projected his insecurities onto her and was scared to be loved and get hurt."When Ed has insecurities. There are some control issues that can come up, that can make me question if I can see a future with him," Liz explained in a confessional.Ed and Liz later enjoyed a romantic date night and dinner out, and she said she really loved Ed and thought they brought out the best in each other.And Ed appeared thankful for Liz because he said he couldn't imagine dating himself -- and probably never would. Ed noted how his heart was invested in Liz and they didn't have anything to prove to anybody.Liz had been divorced twice, and so she was hoping Ed would be her happily ever after.When Ed met Liz's beloved grandparents, he insisted he wasn't marrying Liz because she made him feel young. He noted how he was "really, really" in love with Liz and couldn't live without her.Liz's grandparents wished Liz and Ed would give their relationship more time before tying the knot, but the couple ultimately gave their blessing since Liz appeared happy."I'm really nervous about my third marriage ending up in a divorce," Liz shared with the cameras."I do worry about the one day after getting married where we get into an argument because of insecurity and Ed will want to take a break. But if Ed takes a break, I'll never get back together with him again."It then became time for Ed and Liz's big engagement party. Liz said she was excited to meet people on Ed's side whom she had never met before and she was looking forward to a great night.Liz said her second marriage was "a joke" because they had wed in Las Vegas and she and Ed had made sacrifices for each other."I really feel like I have met my true love," Liz gushed in a confessional, adding how her romance with Ed was "the real deal."While Ed's mother and daughter didn't show up to the party, Liz received her mother's approval to marry Ed, which meant the world to her and brought her to tears.Suddenly, an onscreen graphic read that Liz got into a fight with one of her guests at the party that night and Liz had the woman removed by security. Liz called the situation "f-cked up," but she assured Ed that everything was okay.Ed apparently watched a woman -- Liz's ex-coworker whom he claimed is a lesbian -- grab Liz's arm and have an emotional fight with her, and Ed said it looked like an "intimate" moment.Ed therefore asked Liz if she was ever in a relationship with the woman, and Liz snapped, "Seriously?! Go f-ck yourself. Go have fun if that's what you're going to think!"Liz complained to the cameras how her relationship was "done" because Ed thought she was going to sleep with a woman and she couldn't even stay out until past 11PM without his permission.Liz ran across the street barefoot in a white dress and called Ed "the most pathetic piece of sh-t" she's ever known. She cried about how Ed was extremely insecure.Ed accused Liz of being drunk and embarrassing herself, and he said they had too many unresolved issues that needed to be fixed before getting married.Ed then called Liz on the phone, who yelled about how Ed was jealous because a woman was attracted to her. She also said Ed had asked her to lose weight, which really angered him."Liz, leave your ring and pack your stuff and move out. You're not ready to get married. You're not mature enough," Ed said."You don't f-cking know what marriage is, Ed," Liz replied."Until I know everything about you, Liz, we can't get married. That would be foolish and you're hiding something, and I'm going to find out about it," Ed said, adding how Liz and the woman had acted like former girlfriends.Liz then hung up the phone and stormed away in tears.Liz and Ed clearly aren't trying to hide what's going on between them.Liz just posted a funny video on September 7, 2022 in which she had bought Ed dissolvable shorts and asked him to go swimming with her in a pool."'Hey babe, can we get a cute video and some photos of us together?' love that we can be silly together #[dissolvable] @thisisbiged," Liz captioned the video.Ed commented on the video with crying-laughing emoticons and multiple red heart emojis.And on September 4, Liz posted a video of herself dancing with Ed in a club."He is my goof, I am the ball! #goofball #ballandchain," Liz said.Liz's "ball and chain" reference would appear to suggest the couple is married.That same day, Liz posted sweet family photos including her daughter Ryleigh."I still don't understand this but if your happy, like truly happy who am I to judge," Liz wrote alongside the images.And going back to August 15, Liz uploaded a funny video on Instagram in which she and Ed were doing a "Tortilla Challenge." The lovebirds both took a big sip of beer and tried to make each other laugh. The video ended with Ed spitting out his beer first and cracking up.Liz added "all is fair in love and war" to her caption, and going back to August 5, she wrote a beautiful tribute to Ed.Ed has also been vocal about his love for Liz on Instagram and has fueled speculation that the pair got married.On September 22, Ed posted a photo of Liz kissing him, and he revealed that the pair had a date night before he went in for a shoulder surgery.Ed also posted photos with Liz around that time from a trip they had taken to Palm Springs.Ed often uses the hashtags "engaged" and "getting married" in the captions of his posts.And going back to September 8, Ed posted the same funny video Liz had posted of the dissolvable swim trunks and he wrote, "She got me this time..! LOL."Ed added the hashtags "husband and wife pranks" and "husband pranks," once again suggesting they got married.Want more spoilers or couples updates? Click here to visit our homepage!
Maya Jama will host Love Island U.K.

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ITV2 announced in a press release Wednesday that Jama, a TV and radio personality, will replace Laura Whitmore as host on the reality dating series.

Jama, a former Loose Women panelist who now hosts Glow Up: Britain's Next Make-Up Star, will make her debut as host in Season 9.

Love Island U.K. follows a group of singles, known as Islanders, as the live in isolation together at a remote villa. Contestants must couple up with each other to remain in the competition.

The new season will take place in South Africa and premiere in early 2023.

"I've always been such a massive Love Island fan and I'm so excited to be hosting one of the nation's favorite shows! I can't wait to get into the Villa to meet all of the Islanders," Jama said.

Whitmore announced her exit from the show in August in after three seasons as host.

"Finding a new host to follow the wonderful Laura Whitmore was never going to be easy. In Maya Jama though, we have another high profile fan of the show who'll be a great addition to the Love Island family. Cool, charming and charismatic, I speak for us all when I say Maya will also bring a unique presenting style to the show, as did Laura and, of course, the very much missed Caroline Flack. We're very pleased to have her on board," ITV2 director of reality programming and acquisitions Paul Mortimer said.

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Love Island U.K. has inspired several spinoffs, including a U.S. version of the show that streams on Peacock.
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The Georgia midterm elections take place on Tuesday, Nov. 8. All polling locations will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. that day. Early voting begins on Monday, Oct. 17 at 8 a.m and closes on Friday, Nov. 4 at 5 p.m., although times may vary depending on polling location.
Ticket scams have begun to frequently appear in the ticket swap GroupMe chat and other online groups for things related to Athens and UGA. On Sept. 1, the University of Georgia Police Department was contacted by a student who was scammed when trying to purchase tickets for the UGA-Oregon football game, according to a report from UGAPD.
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
Kak Sovannchhay will be haunted by his conviction for the rest of his life, his mother said.

Kak Sovannchhay with his mother Prum Chantha at the Supreme Court in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, following the court's ruling that his case be retried, Oct. 12 , 2022.

Cambodias Supreme Court ordered the Court of Appeals to retry the case of Kak Sovanchhay, the autistic teenage son of opposition activists, who was last year sentenced to eight months in prison for incitement and insulting public officials.

Kak Sovannchhay, 17, is the son of Kak Komphear, a jailed senior official of the banned opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP).

He was arrested at his home in Phnom Penh on June 24, 2021, over a Facebook post and voice messages in which he was critical of the government in response to someone calling his father a traitor.

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court sentenced him on Nov. 1, but credited him four-and-a-half months for time served and commuted the remainder of his sentence, thereby allowing his release a little more than a week later. Additionally the court ordered he remain under judicial supervision for two years.

He appealed the conviction but it was upheld on March 14, 2022.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday accepted the facts from the appellate trial but rejected the conviction and six conditions set on Kak Sovannchhay while under judicial supervision.

Prum Chantha, Kak Sovannchhays mother, told RFAs Khmer Service that her sons imprisonment was a threat from the government because her family continues to promote democracy.

She said the Court of Appeals should drop the sentence because her son, who was only 16 at the time of his arrest, was a child. Additionally the sentence leaves a mark on his record that could seriously affect his future.

First, it affects his opportunities to learn, second he gets discrimination, and third, when he goes to find work, his name will be associated with the conviction, so it is a very serious punishment, said Prum Chantha.

He is just a minor and he has a disability, she said, referring to his autism. He is very young.

Kak Sovannchhays lawyer Sam Sokong told RFA he believes the verdict is a violation of his clients human rights.

I urge the authorities as well as the Royal Government to consider the case of this child and to consider the interests of the child as enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other rights related to children's rights, he said.

Based on Cambodias Penal Code and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Cambodia is a party, judges should be highly considerate and refrain from convicting children, opting for rehabilitation or education instead of imprisonment, Sam Sokong said.

Am Sam Ath of the local Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (Licadho), a local NGO, told RFA that he believes the Supreme Court handed the case back to the appellate court because it is skeptical about certain aspects of the law and how they were applied in Kak Sovannchhays case.

He urged the Court of Appeals to retry the case as soon as possible and drop all charges.

We look at first the interests of the child, he said. Secondly, this child has a chronic disability called autism, and thirdly, if we look at the dialogue in social media used to convict him was a private conversation, he said.

Kak Sovannchhay had been previously arrested in October 2020, then in April 2021, two men attacked him with bricks while he was driving a motorbike, leaving him with a fractured skull. Police never found either attacker.

The conviction and sentence of an autisitic child was neither necessary nor proportionate, a May 2022 report on the trial by the American Bar Association said.

Sovannchhays conviction further shows the lengths to which the Cambodian government will go to silence dissenting voices as well as the urgent need to reform Cambodias incitement law, which has been a crucial tool in the authorities crackdown on civil society, the report said.

Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
A health worker waits for people to be tested for COVID-19 at a swab collection site in Beijing, May 19, 2022.

The ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has doubled down on its leader Xi Jinping's zero-COVID policy, with a key political communique ahead of the 20th party congress saying it must become "normalized."

The final plenary session of the CCP Central Committee, which typically sets the tone for the party congress that follows, said the government had persevered with rolling lockdowns, mass testing and a health code app that controls people's movements and successfully "normalized" the anti-COVID measures.

Meanwhile, the CCP's official newspaper, the People's Daily, ran two front page op-ed articles supporting zero-COVID.

"We can't lie down on the job, because it's impossible to win that way," read the headline of one article on the front page on Wednesday, while an article dated Oct. 10 called for public patience with the measures, which have seen millions sealed into their homes, often without enough to eat or access to medical treatment, resulting in reports of deaths from suicide, starvation and untreated medical emergencies across the country.

The first article said governments around the country must "stick unswervingly to the zero-COVID policy, successfully normalize disease control and prevention measures, and never lose sight of the fundamental aim, which is to prevent large-scale outbreaks."

"People on a 100-mile journey can't stop after 95 miles and call it success," the second article said. "In the fight against the pandemic, confidence is more precious than gold."

"Some countries choose to lie down on the job, adopting the 'living with COVID' strategy," it said. "This isn't because they don't want to control the pandemic, but because they are unable to."

Chinese political commentator Wei Xin said the communique shows that Xi's zero-COVID policy is now a main plank of the official party line.

"Sticking with zero-COVID means ... maintaining the authority of CCP Central Committee with Xi Jinping at the core," Wei said. "I believe that zero-COVID will continue for a long time after the 20th National Congress is over."

"It has become part of China's national governance now, and even part of the 20th party congress," he said.

Former Chinese Red Cross official Ren Ruihong said the repeated praise for zero-COVID in the People's Daily means that Xi Jinping is firmly in charge, on the eve of a congress at which he will seek an unprecedented third term in office.

"One faction has always hoped that there might be some relaxation of the policy, so they can start to see some economic recovery," Ren told RFA. "For the People's Daily to insist on zero-COVID at this time ... means that zero-COVID will be with us for some time to come."

"It is also telling people who has the upper hand in politics, and that there won't be any leeway [for those who oppose zero-COVID], that this is just wishful thinking," Ren said. "All the power is still in the hands of the Xi faction."

Workers erect fencing around a neighborhood in lockdown in Shanghai's Changning district, after new COVID-19 cases were reported, Oct. 7, 2022. Credit: AFP School closures

The articles and communique came as authorities in the northern city of Xi'an closed schools, colleges and other public places in a notice dated Oct. 11.

A resident of the city surnamed Ma said children are continuing to take their classes online.

"All classes have been suspended today," Ma said. "My kids are [grown] now, but my grandson's school is making arrangements online."

"Every class in their school has its own WeChat group, where a teacher sets homework for them at a set time," he said.

Tourist attractions, museums, movie theaters and other public venues have also been closed since Oct. 11, after a handful of local COVID-19 cases were detected, bringing the total number of confirmed cases since Oct. 1 to 12, with 52 asymptomatic infections.

"Places needed to support life haven't been closed ... supermarkets are still open," Ma said. "But every time there is an outbreak, prices rise: [the government's attempts at] price-monitoring are ineffective."

Zheng Yun, California-based director of the Chinese Democracy Education Foundation, hails from Xi'an and has been in touch with family members back home.

She said most people are now "numb" to the continual lockdowns and disruptions to daily life.

"They said they were pretty numb to it now," Zheng said. "It's scary that it has just become the norm now."

"Some places may [handle it in a way that] makes some people resist, but they are quickly suppressed," she said.

Students from Lanzhou College of Arts and Sciences in the far-western province of Gansu were among those criticizing the zero-COVID policy on their campus on Tuesday, after thousands of students contracted COVID-19 after being forced to quarantine together in close quarters.

"Don't just sit there and ignore this; do something to save us," wrote one desperate student in a school WeChat group. "I've been begging for help for a whole day now, but no-one has come."

"Why are they doing this? Why don't they value students' lives as their own?"

The student said he had called emergency services repeatedly, but that they never answered the phone.

A passenger undergoes a test for COVID-19 as she arrives at the Nanjing Railway Station during the National Day holidays in Nanjing in China's eastern Jiangsu province, Oct. 6, 2022. Credit: AFP Coverup in Lanzhou

An employee of a Lanzhou university who gave only the surname Zhao said the mass infections at the Lanzhou arts university were initially covered up by the authorities, who hoped that sending students to quarantine camps would mean the rest of the world never found out about the local outbreak.

He said a young man in the city was recently held in administrative detention and fined 2,000 yuan for claiming there would be a lockdown in the city.

"If you're not an official, then everything you say is a rumor," Zhao said. "You can't tell the truth."

The zero-COVID policy has also seen authorities in the southwestern province of Yunnan tell tourists stranded by a lockdown to consider taking jobs in the Xishuangbanna region, where they will be forced to remain for some time.

And Zhang Hai, a resident of the southern city of Shenzhen, said many districts there remain under lockdown.

"Yesterday, there were 33 more cases in Shenzhen, and many venues were shut down again," he said.

"They now found another mutation of COVID-19; its lethality is weakening, but the government still torments ordinary people," Zhang said. "Everyone is really sick of doing constant PCR tests, but there's nothing we can do about it."

By Oct. 11, authorities in Guangdong, Shaanxi, Shandong and Inner Mongolia had reported finding the Omicron BF.7 variant, the first time the mutation had been detected in the country.

Meanwhile, residents of Shanghai began panic-buying bottled water earlier this week, amid reports that the city's drinking water supply has been jeopardized by salinization of local rivers following the summer's disastrous drought in the Yangtze river basin.

Shanghai resident Zhu Jinhua said news of a possible water shortage in Shanghai's reservoirs.

"Shanghai hasn't had much rain this year," Zhu said. "When it did rain, it was just a drizzle, not a downpour."

"This year was a little worse compared with previous years, so now I have to order bottled water."

The Caixin news site said the drought had meant that less fresh water from the river is entering the brackish areas at the river's mouth, with salt water entering reservoirs at Chenhang and Qingcaosha earlier this month, forcing them to shut their sluice gates.

Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Beijing's aggressive foreign policy stance has resulted in a tarnished public image for China around the world.

The 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which convenes in Beijing on Oct. 16, is expected to grant an unprecedented third five-year term to Xi Jinping, the CCP general secretary and state president. In the run up to the congress, RFA Cantonese and Mandarin examined the 69-year-old Xi's decade at the helm of the world's most populous nation in a series of reports on Hong Kong, foreign policy, Chinese intellectuals, civil society and rural poverty.

A more assertive approach to foreign policy has come at a price for ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping, who has shown signs of backing away from the aggressive, "wolf warrior" diplomacy seen from Beijing in recent years.

Wolf warrior diplomacy first grabbed international media attention on social media, with state-run media figures like former Global Times editor Hu Xijin, foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian and Chinese ambassadors around the world all taking to Twitter to push the CCP's line overseas.

In March 2020, at the Carnegie Moscow Center, a U.S. think tank, a young scholar named Temur Umarov published his first article on China's expansion into Central Asia, exploring how Beijing's influence deeply pervaded the region via cultural soft power exchanges, trade, military cooperation and infrastructure investment in recent years.

Umarov's article also looked at the regional anxieties sparked by growing Chinese influence in Central Asia.

It was quickly forwarded among scholars of Chinese foreign policy, before coming to the attention of Jiao Huaixin, a senior diplomat at the Chinese embassy in Kazakhstan.

Jiao commented on the article: "What kind of retard analysis is this? The academics here are just idiots."

Umarov said he was terrified for the first time in his career.

"The language he used was so weird and aggressive. It surprised me," he told RFA. "Actually, it was around that time that the wolf warrior diplomatic operation was being activated all over the world."

The roots of the campaign can be traced to comments by Xi as vice president, who once described foreigners who criticized China as having full bellies and nothing to do.

China's foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian took these four prize-winning images by photojournalist Ali Haj Suleiman of Syrian children scavenging for metal shells in war rubble and presented them as victims of U.S. military actions in Afghanistan on Twitter, Jan. 24, 2022. Scredit: RFA screenshot 'Chinese Dream'

By the time Xi took the helm of the CCP in 2012, he had openly rejected the diplomatic policy pursued by China since 1979, summarized as "hiding our strengths and biding our time."

For Xi, the time had now come for China to become more than just an economic powerhouse: he wanted it to be a major global power as part of his vision for the "Chinese Dream of the Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation."

"The most obvious example is that time when Obama visited China shortly after Xi took office," U.S.-based political commentator Xi Yeliang told RFA.

"Xi Jinping invited Obama for an evening chat in Zhongnanhai [the headquarters of the Chinese leadership]. What did he want to talk about? How glorious China's ancient history was, and to say that China was the most powerful country in the world a few thousand years ago," he said.

"The point he was making was that the future world order would need to be negotiated between the U.S. and China."

By 2013, Xi was ordering diplomats, state journalists and officials at all levels: to tell good stories about China, and to amplify Chinese voices.

"Contemporary China has no professional diplomats," Xia said. "They are all of them political voices."

And Xi backed up that order with plenty of funding. A 2015 study found that China spends an estimated U.S.$10 billion a year on propaganda activities.

Government censorship moved from directing traditional media on what not to report and deleting troublesome social media posts to a far more ambitious approach: that of orchestrating public opinion.

The operation succeeded in creating a far more homogenous pool of content on social media, with scant room for voices who diverged even slightly from the party line.

U.S. President Barack Obama walks with China's President Xi Jinping at the Zongnanhai leaders compound ahead of a dinner, Nov. 11, 2014 in Beijing, China. Credit: Associated Press Overseas opinion targeted

It then set its sights on the management of public opinion overseas, picking hot topics like the international financial crisis, racism in the U.S. and the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan as grist to the propaganda mill that had now spread to overseas platforms like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

The aim of most of the comments and posts was similar, according to New Zealand China expert Anne-Marie Brady: to portray China's authoritarian political system as inherently more stable than Western-style democracies.

The rhetoric was ramped up further as the trade war with the U.S. began to bite in 2018, with foreign spokespeople digging up U.S. social problems and historical events as a way to fight back against sanctions over its human rights record.

When the U.S. Senate passed the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act in 2019, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying hit back with the U.S.' treatment of Native Americans and the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.

"On the issue of ethnic minorities, U.S. congressmen and politicians are ignorant, shameless and hypocritical," Hua said. "It's not been that long since 9/11."

But Chinas global image also took a precipitously more negative turn after President Xi Jinping took office in 2013, with Beijing taking the blame for the COVID-19 pandemic while also facing criticism for its human rights record, military posture and economic policies, research data from the Pew Research Center showed.

Chinas perceived mishandling of the pandemic affected global opinion, but negative feelings toward China were already on the rise prior to 2020, it said.

When Xi took office during President Obamas second term, roughly four in 10 in the U.S. had a favorable view toward China, while between 30-40 percent of respondents held an unfavorable view of the country, the report found.

A man looks on from a shop in a neighborhood in lockdown as a worker erects fencing Shanghai's Changning district after new COVID-19 cases were reported, October 7, 2022. Credit: AFP Deteriorating image

But as friction in the bilateral relationship grew due to Chinese land reclamation efforts in the South China Sea and the U.S.s negotiation of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the percentage of Americans who looked at China unfavorably rose to more than half.

Opinion of China showed slight improvement during the first half of the Trump presidency but quickly turned sour as the trade war began in 2018. Among Republicans alone, negative views of China increased by 20 percent between 2018 and 2019.

Joshua Kurlantzick, a senior fellow on Southeast Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a U.S. think tank, said China's image had taken a battering due in part to the rise of authoritarianism, but also its initial cover-up of the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic, and its brutal repression in Hong Kong and .

China's ongoing zero-COVID policy had also isolated it from the rest of the world, he said.

By 2021, Xi was calling on people to work hard to forge an international image for China that is "credible, lovely and worthy of respect."

But the 'wolves' may not prove so easy to rein in, as their momentum has been fueled by China's growing military capabilities, Lin Yingyou, assistant professor of international affairs at Taiwan's Tamkang University, told RFA.

"They are extending their capabilities through all of these exercises," he said.

"China is a huge political organization. When a train has gathered huge forward momentum, it will take more time to slow it down, especially if you're only doing it with a horse's bridle," he said.

Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Britain's GCHQ director Jeremy Fleming says Beijing is trying to dominate strategic technologies

China has rejected warnings from Britain's cyber spy chief that Beijings exploitation of important technologies is threatening global security, with a Chinese media outlet claiming GCHQ director Jeremy Fleming talked rubbish.

GCHQ or the Government Communications Headquarters is the British governments cyber intelligence agency.

During an annual security lecture at the RUSI defense and security think tank on Tuesday, Fleming said Chinas leadership is using its financial and scientific muscle in a bid to dominate strategically important technologies, from digital currencies to satellite technology.

Yet the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) fear of its own citizens and the international rules-based system, combined with the countrys great strength is driving China into actions that could represent a huge threat to us all, he warned.

And were seeing that fear play out through the manipulation of the technological ecosystems which underpin our everyday lives  from monitoring its own citizens and restricting free speech to influencing financial systems and new domains, Fleming said.

The U.K. spy chief gave several examples, such as Central Bank Digital Currencies, which could allow the state to monitor transactions of its citizens and companies, and the BeiDou satellite system that could be used to track individuals.

Even before the GCHQ head delivered his speech, Beijing already rejected his remarks, saying they have no factual basis at all.

Chinas technological development is aimed at making lives better for the Chinese people, Chinas Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters at a regular briefing.

It does not target anyone, still less pose any threat. Subscribing to the so-called China threat and stoking confrontation benefits no one and will eventually backfire, she added.

A model of the BeiDou navigation satellite system is seen at an exhibition to mark China's Space Day 2019 in Hunan province, Apr. 23, 2019. CREDIT: Aly Song/Reuters

China designated a threat to Britain

Fleming also warned that China is seeking to create client economies and governments around the world.

He said some countries risk mortgaging the future by buying-in Chinese technology.

Spokeswoman Mao Ning hit back saying that is also a baseless allegation.

China does not force anyone into anything, she said.

An opinion piece in the Global Times, sister publication of the CCP mouthpiece People's Daily, said Flemings warnings about China were utter nonsense.

The U.K. spy chief and people like him, as they desperately badmouthed China's use of technology, were losing their dignity and revealing their true hooligan nature, the paper said.

Meanwhile Britains Guardian newspaper reported that a special China strategy review by Liz Trusss government, which is now being brought forward, would formally designate China as a threat to Britain, a notch up from a systemic competitor under Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

This would see the U.K.s official position towards China close to its stance on Russia. Moscow is currently classed as the most acute threat to Britain.

The Guardian quoted an unnamed source as saying that the change could come within days.

In July, the heads of U.S. and U.K. security agencies together warned about Chinas hacking and economic espionage, which they called the most game-changing challenge we face.

FBI director Christopher Wray said Beijing was set on stealing your technology, whatever it is that makes your industry tick, and using it to undercut your business and dominate your market.

MI5 Director General Ken McCallum meanwhile disclosed that his agency has already more than doubled the effort against Chinese activity of concern in the last three years.

China retaliated by saying that concocting China technological threat theory has become one of the priorities of British and U.S. intelligence agencies in order to secure funding and obtain private interests.
The students failed to show up to the mandatory event, with some reportedly still eating breakfast.

Educators in Hong Kong have called for clarification of rules around flag-raising ceremonies after 14 secondary school students were suspended for failing to show up to one at a school in Tsuen Wan district.

St Francis Xavier's School said it had suspended the students for three days for "committing disrespectful acts" in not showing up for the nationalistic ritual, which has been mandated in government-funded schools in Hong Kong since Jan. 1, 2022.

The ceremonies are aimed at promoting national education and "affection for the Chinese people," according to officials, and come amid a citywide crackdown on any form of public criticism of the government.

All primary and secondary schools must now also display the national flag on every school day, as well as on Jan. 1, the July 1 handover anniversary and on China's Oct. 1 National Day.

Local media reported that some of the students were still eating breakfast in a covered playground when the national anthem began to play.

The government passed a law in June 2020 making it illegal for anyone to disrespect the Chinese national anthem, and legislated in October 2021 to ban disrespect to the national flag or emblems of the People's Republic of China.

However, the Hong Kong education bureau's handbook for schools states that suspension should only be used as a punishment for students who repeatedly break the rules despite warnings.

"Suspension is not an appropriate way to deal with students who break the rules," a copy of the handbook published on the bureau's official website states.

It says schools should only suspend students if they fail to improve their behavior after "repeated admonitions and notification of the student's parents or guardians."

'Drastic' move

Mervyn Cheung, the chairman of the Hong Kong Education Policy Concern Organization, told government broadcaster RTHK that the punishment imposed by St Francis Xavier's School was "drastic," and said suspending pupils should be a last resort.

"I think the EDB (Education Bureau) should consider revising the circular that it issued last year and be more specific with the penalties for non-compliance," he told the station.

He said that the severity of any punishment could be based on factors such as whether the pupils were being negligent or whether their actions were deliberate.

The Education Bureau said on Monday that there are clear rules governing etiquette during the national anthem and flag-raising ceremony, and that it had requested a detailed report from the school, RTHK said.

Some of the students gave interviews to local media criticizing the suspension, especially in the wake of recent school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A parent of a secondary school student who gave only the surname Chiu said the punishment was too harsh.

"A lot of people are demonstrating their loyalty these days, letting those in power know that they are abiding strictly by the law, and will discipline their students," Chiu told RFA.

"There is a real issue with this in Hong Kong," she said. "It's not healthy when some people distort the law and create a situation that could put everyone at risk."

A freelance illustrator and former secondary school teacher who goes by the nickname Vawongsir said suspension is generally reserved for serious mistakes.

'White terror'

He said students who risk violating the draconian national security law, which was imposed on Hong Kong by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from July 1, 2020, should be taught the right way to behave, rather than being instantly punished.

"There has been less and less freedom in schools since the national security law took effect," vawongsir said. "A lot of schools are already censoring themselves, punishing their students even if the government doesn't pursue them for it."

"It's a kind of white terror, and it's very unhealthy, and yet it's becoming the norm," he said. "I think a lot of schools are now going to copy [St Francis Xavier's], which leads to an even greater sense of fear in schools."

Social media comments in Hong Kong hit out at the punishment, saying the Hong Kong school was holding its pupils to higher standards than that achieved by most people in mainland China during the Oct. 1 National Day celebrations.

But on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, comments were different, largely supporting a heavy hand to exert greater control on Hong Kong in the wake of the 2019 protests.

Current affairs commentator Sang Pu said the incident was all about demonstrating loyalty and political correctness, and noted that some Hong Kong students had come out in support of the school's action.

"Some students actually supported this, saying the three-day suspension was absolutely the right thing to do, and what's wrong with being patriotic," Sang said. "The school's handling of this is similar to inciting students to engage in political struggle with each other [similar to the Cultural Revolution of 1966-1976 in mainland China]."

"It's a hateful way to behave, and it shows how sad things have gotten in Hong Kong today," he said.

He said the students couldn't have been accused of failing to stand for the flag, because they weren't even present at the ceremony.

According to recent laws governing China's national emblems and anthem, the national flag must be displayed in a position of prominence where it appears alongside the bauhinia flag of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

"The national flag, when raised and carried in a procession with the regional flag, shall be in front of the regional flag," the guidelines state, while organizers must take care to retrieve flags used in ceremonies, and return any damaged flags or emblems to the government.

"They must not be displayed upside down, and must not be displayed or used in any way that undermines their dignity," the guidelines state.

Recent legislation has criminalized any burning, soiling or trampling of the Chinese flag in Hong Kong, as well as the posting or publication of images of such actions.

The directive comes amid a city-wide crackdown on public criticism of the Hong Kong government and the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that has seen dozens of pro-democracy politicians and activists arrested for "subversion" after taking part in a democratic primary that was deemed a bid to undermine the government by voting against it in the Legislative Council (LegCo).

Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
A cartoon by political satirist Zun Zi published in Hong Kong's Ming Pao newspaper on Oct. 11, 2022, that prompted a note of concern from the city's police that it damaged the image of the force.

Hong Kong police have expressed strong concerns to the citys Ming Pao newspaper over what a spokesman called a misleading cartoon by political satirist Zun Zi that lampooned authoritarian education policies, media in the city reported.

Zun Zis cartoon, published on Tuesday, shows a police officer fully-clad in riot gear at a school asking ``What have the students done today, headteacher Chan?

The teacher lists the students various offenses including losing erasers and talking back to teachers.

The cartoon was published in the wake of A widely-publicized case in which 14 secondary school students were suspended for three days for failing to show up to a flag-raising ceremony at St Francis Xavier's School in Tsuen Wan district.

Under a national security law imposed by Beijing in mid-2020, authorities in Hong Kong have conducted a wide-ranging crackdown on pro-democracy activists, many of whom are students at universities and other educational institutions.

Students are among the dozens of activists arrested, campus activism has been banned, and schools are under pressure to adjust their curriculum to inculcate nationalism and fealty to the ruling Chinese Communist Party.

Zun Zis cartoon could give readers the misleading impression that Hong Kong police would be deployed to handle small campus issues, police spokesman Joe Chan wrote to Lau Chung Yeung, Ming Paos executive chief editor, reports in the city said.

The false descriptions in [the cartoon] might make the public misunderstand police work. They not only damage the Forces image, but also harm the cooperation between the police and the public, as well as our effectiveness on cracking down crimes, said Chans letter, quoted in the Hong Kong Free Press.

The cartoon remained on Ming Paos website on Wednesday, while Ming Paos editorial board issued a statement saying that the paper would "continue to provide accurate and credible news content to readers in a professional spirit and support columnists in providing professional work.

Hong Kong has plummeted in global press freedom rankings following a citywide crackdown on dissent under the national security law.

Speaking to RFA Cantonese when Hong Kongs national security law was first enacted in 2020, Zun Zi said that the local Hong Kong government cooperated with Beijing to pass the national security law, which had a chilling effect on society.

Now we have to be careful when we laugh. We need to be skillful when laughing. We cant draw fists or point fingers everyday, he said.

Only when you integrate politics, incidents, with peoples life stories and the culture of the society, can you create top-rated and inspiring works of art, Zun Zi said, vowing to keep drawing despite the crackdown.

As to when is the time to stop, if someone holds a knife, and puts my hand on the chopping board and tells me that he will cut off my hand if I continue to draw. If this happens, I will stop. This is the only way (to stop me).

Zun Zi is the pen name of Wong Kee-kwan, a 40-year veteran cartoonist who initially contributed to the pro-Beijing New Evening Post and Takungpao publications before moving to Ming Pao.

His cartoons have also appeared in the pro-democracy Apple Daily, which has been shut down by national security police since the passage of Hong Kongs national security law. At least three Hong Kong cartoonists who published their work in Ming Pao, Hong Kong Worker, vawongsir and Ah To, have announced their plans to leave the city amid the crackdown.

Translated by RFA Mandarin. Written by Nawar Nemeh.
President Joe Bidens national security strategy states that In the competition with the PRC, as in other arenas, it is clear that the next ten years will be the decisive decade.

The world is at an inflection point as China seeks to rewrite the rules of the global order, and the next decade will prove decisive for the rivalry between Beijing and Washington, U.S. President Joe Biden says in a new national security strategy released by the White House on Wednesday.

The 48-page strategy, which was delayed due to the Ukraine war, outlines Bidens national security priorities and describes China as the only competitor with both the intent to reshape the international order and, increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power to do it.

In the competition with the PRC, as in other arenas, it is clear that the next ten years will be the decisive decade, it says, using an acronym for the Peoples Republic of China. We stand now at the inflection point, where the choices we make and the priorities we pursue today will set us on a course that determines our competitive position long into the future.

The documents release comes ahead of the Chinese Communist Partys National Congress this weekend, which is expected to anoint President Xi Jinping to a norm-shattering third term and cement a policy program meant to usher in the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation by 2049.

Beijings increasingly assertive foreign policy under Xi led earlier this year to the announcement of a no limits relationship with Moscow prior to its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, as well as pledges to rewrite global rules of governance.

Bidens national security document notes that while Russia and China are increasingly aligned with each other, the challenges that they present to the United States are distinct, with Beijing the more important long-term focus as it moves to layer authoritarian governance with a revisionist foreign policy.

We will prioritize maintaining an enduring competitive edge over the PRC while constraining a still profoundly dangerous Russia, it says, noting that Beijing has clear ambitions to become the worlds leading power.

At the same time, the PRC is also central to the global economy and has a significant impact on shared challenges, particularly climate change and global public health, it says. It is possible for the United States and the PRC to coexist peacefully, and share in and contribute to human progress together.

Amphibious armored vehicles under Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theatre Command take part in an assault wave formation training exercise in Zhangzhou, Fujian province, China, Aug. 14, 2022. Credit: cnsphoto via Reuters

But the strategy document also reiterates U.S. government support for the idea of one China and rejects any support for Taiwanese independence.

We have an abiding interest in maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, which is critical to regional and global security, it says, noting U.S pledges to defend Taiwan. We oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side, and do not support Taiwan independence.

At an event to launch the strategy at Georgetown University on Wednesday, Bidens national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said that the strategy was not an ideological manifesto for a free world against a rising tide of authoritarianism.

Sullivan said the United States was building the broadest possible coalition of nations to leverage our collective interests in defending a rules-based order, whether or not all involved are democracies, or agree with U.S. policies.

Even if our democratic partners and allies don't agree on everything, they are aligned with us  and so are many countries that do not embrace democratic institutions, but nevertheless depend upon and help sustain a rules-based international system, Sullivan said. They dont want to see it vanish.
The highly-publicized exercise was for propaganda, but it used precious jet fuel during a shortage.

This undated photo released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Feb. 21, 2016 shows North Korean MiG-29 fighter aircraft flying past during a drill by the Korean People's Army Air and Anti-Air Force at an undisclosed location.

With leader Kim Jong Un looking on, North Koreas air force launched 150 planes in a rare drill over the weekend that required a months worth of intensive pilot training and burned through precious jet fuel that has been in short supply since the 1990s, military sources in the country told RFA.

Saturdays exercise appeared to be largely meant for propaganda purposes, as state TV and radio carried repeated programs about the event since Monday, a national holiday marking the founding of the ruling Korean Workers Party, according to a military source from the northern province of Ryanggang, who asked not to be identified.

For this training exercise, the entire air force has made a fuss and conducted intensive training since last month, said the source. Despite the shortage of jet fuel these days, many aircraft participated in the drill. The drill was directly observed by Kim Jong Un and the air force command officials came to each division to supervise practice for over two weeks.

The state-run Korea Central News Agency praised the gallant combat pilots, who showed the might of the people's air force and creditably carried out the Party's order of training by displaying matchless bravery and indomitable fighting spirit in the large-scale air attack combined drill unprecedented in the army-building history.

The Rodong Sinmun newspaper meanwhile cited the return of the USS Ronald Reagan to the region as the reason for the drill. The aircraft carrier participated in naval exercises with the South Korean navy on Friday in response to North Korea launching a missile over Japan earlier in the week.

The North Koreas aging air force has a fleet of 572 front-line warplanes, many of which were manufactured in the 1950s and 60s, according to a 2021 Forbes report, including hundreds of Soviet-era MiG-17s, MiG-19s and MiG-21s, or Chinese copies of them.

The exercise was an attempt to downplay the shabbiness of the North Korean air force, according to another source, a resident of Orang county in the northeastern province of North Hamgyong, who once served as an air force officer. The public is aware of the poor condition of our air force, including the outdated airplanes and lack of jet fuel, the source said.

The pilots participating in the exercise had to live away from their families for a month to train, according to the source. The reason pilots did not go to their homes and lived as a group is because of the lack of nutritious food, the first source said.

In North Korea, on-duty pilots receive the highest level of monthly rations, which include luxuries like meat, cooking oil, eggs, butter, chocolate, beer, and cigarettes.

Those resources are also in short supply after two years without imports from China due to the coronavirus pandemic between 2020 and 2021, and only spotty rail freight from China in 2022.

Pilots often share their rations with their families because there are nationwide food shortages, the source said. The family can also sell some of the rations on the market, such as the cigarettes and beer.

The attack drill was the first in years, the second source, the former air force officer, said.

Residents became worried when they saw the MiGs training and heard their loud roar every day at Orang airport, he said. Media reports yesterday showed that the flight practice was for the big drill that Kim Jong Un attended.

Pilots rarely train these days due to a lack of fuel dating back to the Arduous March in the mid-1990s, said the source, referring to the 1994-1998 North Korean famine which killed millions, as much as 10 percent of the population by some estimates.

There is only a little flight training when the pilots first learn to fly, and then the regular flight training that is supposed to happen every quarter, but has not always been done properly, he said. Tactical training is often done using toy airplanes on the ground.

Translated by Claire Shinyoung Oh Lee. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
UPDATED AT 05:54 P.M ET ON 10-12-22

Detained State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to three years in prison by the military court in Naypydaw Prison on Wednesday, for two corruption cases involving charges of accepting money from businessman Maung Weik, according to sources close to the court who requested anonymity for security reasons.

Under Section 55 of the Anti-Corruption Law, she was sentenced to three years each for the two cases by Mandalay region judge Myint San. The sentences will be served concurrently.

Suu Kyi was previously sentenced to 23 years in prison for 12 cases, so she will now serve a total of 26 years in prison.

The trial was to hear a lawsuit, filed by the State Administration Council's (SAC) Anti-Corruption Commission Inspector Ye Htet, in which the State Administration Council (SAC) alleged that Suu Kyi accepted U.S.$ 500,000 in four installments as a donation to the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation to facilitate Maung Weiks business operations.

When Suu Kyis lawyers gave her final plea at the trial on Oct.4 they said the money was donated by Maung Weik to the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation, which supports education, healthcare and rural investment.

They argued that Suu Kyi was innocent of corruption because the money that Maung Weik gave was found in the foundations bank account.

Aung San Suu Kyi testified at the trial on Sept. 20, saying that she was not guilty. When Maung Weik testified as a witness for the prosecution at the trial on May 31, he said he had donated the money solely to be used for the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation. He kneeled down and paid respect to Suu Kyi at the trial according to sources close to the court, who declined to be named for safety reasons.

Lawyer Kyee Myint told RFA the courts decision to impose prison sentences is not in accordance with the law because Maung Weik testified in court about where the money went.

The main thing that Maung Weik said is that he is donating to the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation, he said.

Aung San Suu Kyi cannot be punished with this since he did not give [the money] to Aung San Suu Kyi. There is no rule of law in Myanmar because [the junta] are punishing [her] even though [she] cannot be punished like that. It is proof that the judiciary is doing what the dictator asks.

SAC Spokesman Major Gen. Zaw Min Tun previously told RFA that Suu Kyi would be judged for cases that are legally valid and that no one is above the law.

On Sept. 2, Suu Kyi was sentenced to three years in prison with hard labor for election fraud.

On Sept. 29, she was sentenced to three years in prison under Section-3 (1) (c) of the Myanmar Government Secrecy Act, along with Sean Turnell, an Australian citizen who served as an economic adviser during the National League for Democracy-led government, and three NLD ministers, who also received three-year sentences.

Motivation behind sentences

The fact that Suu Kyis cases are being ordered continuously is because of the personal hatred felt by SAC Chairman, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing and is being carried out in response to opposition from domestic and overseas groups, Bo Bo Oo, the NLDs MP for Dala township in Yangon region told RFA.

At present, all the people around the world are against them [the military regime] succeeding in diplomacy, in international relations, in building the administration, both on the international and on the domestic page. And all the governments of the world are against him [Min Aung Hlaing] because of this, he said.

If a bad guy doesnt get what he wants, it is natural to take a hostage and moan louder, and thats it.

He added that since the SAC illegally seized power on Feb. 1, 2021, the current court cases are also illegal.

Speaking to RFA after the sentencing, Kyaw Zaw, the spokesman for the shadow National Unity Government (NUG) President Duwa Lashi La, decried the lack of independence of Myanmar's judicial system under military rule.

"The court is just a normal office handing down orders directly given by the junta. The judges are simply following the orders, and have no legal authority," he said.

"The punishments imposed on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi are completely inconsistent with the law and are illegal.

Political analyst Sai Kyi Zin Soe said that the junta is heaping sentences on Suu Kyi so that "if they release her in the future, the public will see them as reasonable and kind."

"Additionally, she might be released and used as a bargaining chip to legitimize elections under the junta," he said.

"On the other hand, the military junta may be trying to wipe out her influence and presence in Myanmar politics completely through these heavy punishments. It could be aimed at completely removing her influence from political affairs."

78-year-old Suu Kyi faced trial in 19 cases after the military coup and has been sentenced to a total of 26 years in prison for 14 of the cases. The rest of the cases have yet to come to trial at the Naypyidaw Prison Court.

The cases that are still pending include the purchase and leasing of a helicopter from the Natural Disaster Management Fund to carry out disaster prevention activities under the NLD Government. There are still five corruption cases filed by the SAC.

Murray Hiebert, a senior associate of the Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C., told RFA it's unclear why the junta thinks that it can convince a skeptical population of Suu Kyi's guilt by simply piling on convictions, because "nobody is buying it."

But he suggested that in doing so, the military regime "hopes to send a signal to the international community that Aung San Suu Kyi is politically finished once and for all and that their critics should stop hoping for her to be restored to the post from which she was ousted 20 months ago."

Billy Ford, Burma program officer at Washington's United States Institute of Peace, said that while the new sentence is "yet another tragedy" in post-coup Myanmar, it was "predictable" and unlikely to have much of an effect on the broader resistance movement.

"Unless the junta is forced out of power or she is pardoned, she will likely spend the rest of her life in prison regardless of how many of these fabricated charges she is convicted of," he added.

Sources close to the court, who also requested anonymity, said an appeal to the High Court against Wednesdays sentence will continue. They added that Suu Kyi appeared to be in good health during the trial.

Activists hold placards of Japanese journalist Toru Kubota, who is detained in Myanmar, during a rally in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tokyo, July 31, 2022. Credit: AFP Japanese filmmaker

Meanwhile, Japanese documentary filmmaker Toru Kubota, who was sentenced by a court in Myanmar to seven years in prison on two counts last week, was sentenced to an additional three years on Wednesday for violating the country's immigration law, according to a report by Reuters news agency. He will now be required to serve 10 years behind bars.

Kubota, 26, was arrested in July while filming a protest in Yangon and found guilty on Oct. 5 of defaming the state and violating the Electronic Communication Act by a military court at Yangons Insein prison. He was sentenced to three years for the first charge and seven years for the second but the sentences will be served concurrently.

On Wednesday, Reuters quoted a Japanese foreign ministry official as saying that Tokyo is actively monitoring his case.

"The Japanese government will keep on asking the Myanmar side for an early release of Mr Kubota," the official said.

Calls seeking comment from junta Deputy Information Minister Major General Zaw Min Tun went unanswered Wednesday.

Kubota is the fifth foreign journalist to be detained since the Feb. 1, 2021 coup, according to the AP news agency. It said Nathan Maung and Danny Fenster from the U.S., who worked for local organizations, and Polish freelancer Robert Bociaga were all deported before the end of their sentences. Japanese freelancer Yuki Kitazumi was freed before his trial, after a month of detention.

This story has been updated to add details of the lawsuit in paragraph four; comments from NUG spokesman Kyaw Zaw, political analyst Sai Kyi Zin Soe, CSIS's Murray Hiebert, and USIP's Billy Ford; and the sentencing of Japanese filmmaker Toru Kubota.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misspelled the name of the businessman involved in Aung San Suu Kyi's case as Maung Weit and Suu Kyi's lawyer as Gyi Myint.
UPDATED at 3:30 P.M. EDT on 2022-10-12

A Kazakh former internment camp inmate is suing the United Kingdoms trade secretary for allowing imports of cotton he believes were obtained through forced labor in northwestern Chinas Xinjiang region.

Erbakit Otarbay was arrested in Xinjiang in 2017 for watching illegal videos on Islam and installing the WhatsApp instant messaging service on his cell phone, amid a crackdown there by the Chinese government on Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities.

The next year, Otarbay was detained in an internment camp, where he was tortured and forced to work in an apparel factory, he said.

There was an auto repair shop, a bakery, a sweet shop and a barber shop, he told Radio Free Asia. I told them I was not good at baking, and that I liked sewing.

Otarbay joined a group of mostly women at the garment factory, who included not only Uyghurs, but also other ethnic minorities such as Kazakhs, Uzbeks and Kyrgyz. He produced cloth loops for belt buckles.

After he was released in 2019, Otarbay wanted to call attention to the suffering of detainees and those being forced to work, he said.

If you ever get out, go as far as you can to every country and call for our release and tell them what the Chinese government is doing to us, he said.

As many as 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Muslims are believe to be held in network of internment camps that China has set up to prevent purported religious extremism and terrorism. Inmates have been subjected to torture, rape, forced sterilizations of female detainees and forced labor.

Beijing has insisted that the camps were vocational training facilities and that they are now closed.

The United States and nine Western parliaments have declared that the repression of predominantly Muslim groups in Xinjiang amounts to genocide and crimes against humanity.

Call for import restrictions

In a pre-action letter to Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch, Otarbay called on the U.K. government to address an ongoing failure to impose any restrictions on cotton imports from Xinjiang, the U.Ks Sky News reported on Oct. 9.

China is a major cotton producer, with most of it coming from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

The U.N.s Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights issued a report at the end of August saying that Chinas repression of Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities in Xinjiang province may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.

But China has vowed to fight any U.N. action on human rights abuses against Uyghurs in Xinjiang cited in the OHCHR report.

In December 2021, an independent tribunal in London found that China committed genocide against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, based on testimony from dozens of witnesses, including formerly jailed Uyghurs and legal and academic experts on Chinas actions in the region.

Otarbay also testified at the tribunal about his detention, saying that authorities confined him to a metal tiger chair, used to immobilize suspects during interrogations, for hours.

Otarbay emigrated from Chinas Xinjiang to Kazakhstan with his family in 2014, but returned three years later. He was arrested and sent to a re-education camp. After a year, he was taken to another detention center where he was forced to work without pay in a clothes factory inside the facility, until he was released in May 2019.

What I tell the U.K. government is ban all the goods from Xinjiang, Otarbay told RFA. They have to take measures. They should globally expose the genocide that China is committing.

They have to inspect all the imported goods from China, where they were manufactured, who made them and so on, and they should take actions to stop the forced labor, he said.

Though the U.K. government has measures in place to ensure that its companies are not complicit in alleged forced labor practices in Xinjiang or involved in the regions supply chain, but critics say enforcement is lax.

It is very disappointing that the British government have not taken a lead in this issue, said Otarbays attorney, Paul Conrathe. But he said he is hopeful that the court will recognize that the governments actions are unlawful.

14 days to respond

The trade secretary now has 14 days to respond, he said. Their next steps will depend on the reply.

Rahima Mahmut, U.K. director of the World Uyghur Congress, or the WUC, said the British government has not gone far enough to stop goods made with Uyghur forced labor from entering the U.K.

Even though the U.K. government openly and loudly criticized Chinas horrific treatment of the Uyghurs, so far it has not taken any meaningful actions in terms of ending Uyghur forced labor, she told RFA. It has not stopped the flow of products [made with forced labor] into [the UK].

Otarbay is the best plaintiff to pursue this case against the U.K. trade secretary, and WUC is working closely with him, she added.

To address concerns about Uyghur forced labor, the United States enacted the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act in 2021, which assumes goods made in Xinjiang are produced with forced labor and thus banned under the U.S. 1930 Tariff Act. The law requires U.S. companies that import products from the region to prove that they have not been manufactured at any stage with Uyghur forced labor.

The European Union has proposed a total ban on all goods produced using forced labor at any stage of production, harvest or extraction, including clothing, cotton and commodities, irrespective of where they have been made.

It is very commendable that the American government has taken a lead in effectively banning imports that derive from Xinjiang, and also that the European Commission is looking at doing something similar, Conrathe said. This is a very important case dealing with one of the most appalling situations in terms of human rights abuses in the world today.

Translated by Mamatjan Juma and Alim Seytoff. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

The story was updated to say that the U.S. and some Western parliaments have determined that the abuses constitute genocide and crimes against humanity.
Drivers report many gas stations with nothing to sell and others severely rationing supplies.

Drivers line up to refuel their vehicles in this file photograph from 2012.

Residents of Ho Chi Minh City say their travel plans and their lives have been seriously affected by the citys gas stations stopping or limiting gasoline sales.

From Saturday, people in many of Vietnams southern provinces started struggling to buy fuel for their vehicles. As of Monday evening, Ho Chi Minh City alone had more than 100 closed petrol stations bearing "out of gas" signs, while others rationed their meager supplies.

Motorcyclists faced long lines and could only buy gasoline valued at between VND20,000 and VND50,000 (U.S.$ 0.90-U.S.$ 2.20) with prices at around VND22,000 per liter (U.S.$ 0.92).

People wanting to purchase gasoline have to wait in line, said Cao Ha Truc, who drives a taxi for the Gojek delivery service. The gas stations don't sell much and it may take a half an hour of waiting. If you are lucky, you can get it after 15-20 minutes.

Truc said the lack of petrol in Ho Chi Minh City seriously disrupted his life as he had to line up for a long time, often in bad weather.

A telecommunications worker, who spoke to RFA on condition of anonymity, said he found it very difficult to refuel for about two days.

"I ran through five or six gas stations before I pulled over to [one] and started filling. Waiting for nearly 20 minutes was very lucky, the worker said.

Fortunately, I'm young, so it's okay to run to find it, but I think it's very difficult for older people to get gas because it's very complicated.

Teacher Nguyen Dai Loc said although gasoline shortages only started two days ago, some gas stations were closed because they had sold out or were refueling, while others were crowded.

Yesterday [Oct, 10] I poured [into my tank] VND30,000-worth (U.S.$ 1.25) in the morning. Then I started driving and felt that I didn't have enough gas, so on the way home, I saw another gas station, jumped in and waited to add for another VND30,000. Yesterday's two pours took about 10-15 minutes each. This morning it took longer, he said.

Loc said because his work is not very busy, waiting to buy gas does not affect his schedule too badly.

When asked if he had followed the state medias reasons why gas stations in Ho Chi Minh City stopped or reduced sales, Loc said he had not read the state press for many years because the information was incorrect.

Loc said he believes the global price of gasoline will drop because Russia will have to cut prices even though OPEC has reduced production.

Researcher Dinh Kim Phuc told RFA he didnt go out for three days because his motorbike was out of gas

Gas stations in the area of Thu Duc city where I live have signs saying they are out of gas and people cant buy gas, even though some brick gas stations have people selling petrol by bottles for VND30,000 per liter.

A "brick gasoline station" refers to roadside sellers who often leave a brick and attach a paper funnel above it as a sign for passersby to know where to buy petrol.

Phuc accused the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Industry and Trade of allowing gasoline shortages in Ho Chi Minh City even though it contributes the highest tax in the country.

It is the irresponsible work of both the Ministry of Finance and Industry and Trade, he said. Many economic experts point out that the mistake in the formula for calculating petrol prices by the Ministry of Finance leads to the loss of retail businesses. The more the [gas stations] sell the more they lose and are forced to close their stations and leave people with no gas.

Phuc said instead of blaming each other, the two ministries should sit down together to find out the causes of gas shortages and urgently come up with solutions.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell issued a stinging critique this week of European foreign policy in a world of "radical uncertainty" as unimaginable events "are happening one after the other."

In an annual speech to EU diplomats reportedly intended to "shake up the house," Borrell singled out some of Europe's most urgent democratic and diplomatic vulnerabilities. He also explicitly praised Olivier Schmitt, a professor at the Center for War Studies at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU), for identifying a European dependency on Russia and China for prosperity and the United States for security as part of the problem.

In his only interview since the surprise EU shout-out, Schmitt, author of books including Allies That Count: Junior Partners In Coalition Warfare, talked to RFE/RL correspondent Andy Heil via e-mail about an eroding international order, threats emanating from Russia and China, and threats to democracy from inside Europe.

RFE/RL: In one of his bluntest public assessments of the state of European and global affairs, Borrell on October 10 described a "process...in which we have decoupled the sources of our prosperity from the sources of our security" and said you had best articulated this trend. For those who aren't familiar with your writings, can you describe your central arguments in simple terms?

Olivier Schmitt: It is mainly an empirical observation: If I paint the picture with a broad brush, European prosperity has been based since the end of the Cold War on benefiting from American protection, Russian oil and gas, and trade with China.

This is a difference from the Cold War era, when the U.S. was both the security provider and the main trade partner for Western Europe (while energy sources were always diverse).

The decoupling of the sources of security and the sources of prosperity, and making prosperity depend upon actors with (potentially) hostile political agendas, has contributed to Europe's geopolitical vulnerabilities.

RFE/RL: Has the course you're talking about contributed to the likelihood of events like Russia's invasion of Ukraine?

Schmitt: To some degree. I believe that Mr. Putin has learnt from his interactions with Western leaders that once he used force, they would rush for a settlement, and that it was comparatively easy to influence former high-level policymakers (such as German chancellors or French prime ministers) through lucrative positions. He also certainly believed that Europe's dependence upon Russian oil and gas would lead European leaders to abandon Ukraine (and he probably still believes that it will happen at some point this winter).

It is, of course, far from being the only explanation for Russia's invasion, which also has a lot to do with its neo-imperial ideology, but it certainly led Mr. Putin to believe that he had a strong strategic hand.

RFE/RL: Could the Western responses to Russia's war in Ukraine and a renewed push to counter Chinese influence accelerate or otherwise influence what you're talking about, for instance reversing it in any way? Just when the postwar order looked irrevocably frayed, arguably, here are these impulses for Western unity and, for lack of a better term, U.S. protection.

Schmitt: I do believe that the war in Ukraine and a gradual acknowledgement that trade with China is not benign and has geopolitical consequences could alter this process. But it has created deeply vested business interests which will resist it as much as they can.

RFE/RL: Borrell warned that "more and more, the rest of the world is not ready to follow our...model." Staying in Europe, are there regions where this is obviously happening -- for instance, Hungary under Prime Minister Viktor Orban? Or where effects are mitigated by lesser degrees of integration with Western structures to begin with -- say, the Balkans or the Caucasus? Are those regions at equal risk of the effects of what you're talking about?

Schmitt: Hungary is a clear case of a country opposing the EU on ideological grounds (and compromising with Russia and China), while being more than happy to benefit from European money to fund its crony system. The [center-right European People's Party group in the European Parliament] (and German conservatives in particular) have been more than happy to tolerate such behaviors since it benefitted German industry.

It is a clear example of business interests overriding security interests, in this case the liberal foundations of the European order. Generally, the tension between security and prosperity is heightened by the process of globalization, so many countries experience it to various degrees.

RFE/RL: What's the great danger if this "decoupling" continues, to the West and to the world? You warned in your piece The Recomposition of Alliances in the 21st Century of the "erosion" of opportunities for alliance and "interaction and arbitrariness of political leaders between security and autonomy." What kind of international architecture do you expect to emerge for the 21st century?

Schmitt: The greatest danger is obviously that this decoupling grants external, and potentially hostile, actors many opportunities to shape and influence the security and political life of European countries. It allows them to get their interests promoted by specific lobbies, it provides them with opportunities for economic coercion, etc.

Overall, there is a need to reconcile the mindset of the business community and of the security specialists; these two communities are too distant from each other.

RFE/RL: This week, Russia declared Facebook owner Meta an "extremist" organization while Tesla, SpaceX, and Starlink's Elon Musk weighed in considerably and controversially on the Ukraine war and the China-Taiwan dispute. Meta's influence is obvious, and Musk is a visionary but with clear business interests. What role do business and industry play in your equation, bridging or widening the "decoupling" that you're talking about?

Schmitt: Clearly widening the decoupling. Business is, understandably, led by profit: Politics always gets in the way, from their perspective. But this is the responsibility of political leaders to balance the needs of prosperity and the needs of security for their political communities, sometimes reining in business interests when it is necessary.

RFE/RL: Did you have any idea Borrell was so familiar with your work and planned to cite it explicitly to EU ambassadors, and what would you hope it accomplishes?

Schmitt: I had absolutely no idea, since I have not been in touch with Borrell or his team, but I am certainly flattered.
The European Commission has recommended candidacy status for Bosnia-Herzegovina but attached a long list of conditions designed to bolster democracy in the Balkan country.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi on October 12 told a European Parliament committee that the commission "recommends that candidate status be granted" to Bosnia by the member states pending eight conditions.

"We are doing this for the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina. But it also comes with great expectations. It is up to the elite to make it a reality," Varhelyi said.

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the EU's executive arm, said a "wind of change is once again blowing through Europe" and the EU must "capture this momentum."

She reiterated the commission's position that the Western Balkans belong in the EU, which has noted that Russia and China are vying for clout in the region.

Von der Leyen said the EU's opponents look at the Balkans as "a geopolitical chessboard," seeking to "drive a wedge between the region and the rest of Europe."

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Russia's invasion of Ukraine had underlined the importance of EU enlargement and its geopolitical significance.

"It is a long-term investment into peace, prosperity and stability for our continent," he said.

Bosnias foreign minister welcomed the decision, which came more than six years after Bosnia formally applied to join the EU.

"This sends a strong message to the citizens [of Bosnia], one we have been hoping to get even earlier, that our future is as a member of the [EU] family," Bisera Turkovic said on Twitter.

"The reviving of this process is of vital importance for the citizens and the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the stabilization of the whole region," Turkovic added.

The eight conditions include steps to fight corruption and organized crime, judicial and immigration reforms, and guarantees of freedom of expression and the protection of journalists.

Varhelyi warned Bosnia's leaders to move swiftly, saying that with elections now over, institutions are expected to be formed quickly so that they can focus on the conditions.

"On our side, we made now a leap, a leap of faith," he said. "Now the leadership must be there to deliver."

Varhelyi announced the possibility of the European Commission deciding on candidate status for Bosnia at an EU summit in December.

The commission can only advise which countries should become EU candidates. The final decision lies with member states, and they must agree unanimously.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, and dpa
Welcome back to The Farda Briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter that tracks the key issues in Iran and explains why they matter.

I'm RFE/RL correspondent Golnaz Esfandiari. Here's what Ive been following during the past week and what Im watching for in the days ahead.

The Big Issue

As Iranian authorities crack down on nationwide anti-government protests, photos have appeared on social media that purportedly show children and adolescent boys wearing unforms and holding batons.

They appear to be wearing the uniforms of the Basij paramilitary forces, a branch of Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

The photos have led to accusations that the authorities are using minors to help crush the demonstrations.

Protest rallies erupted soon after the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini, who died days after she was detained by Irans morality police. Irans Society for the Protection of Childrens Rights expressed concern over the photos, noting that the use of child soldiers was against international law.

Last week, over 500 members and supporters of the Imam Ali Society, a local charity, said the authorities had recruited children from impoverished families to help suppress the ongoing street protests. In exchange, the minors received a few bags of food, the charity said.

Hadi Ghaemi, the executive director of the New York-based Center for Human Rights In Iran, told me that the desperate and morally bankrupt government in Iran has no regard for its own people and its only concern is brutal self-preservation.

Why It Matters: Iran has a record of using children as combatants, including during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. More recently, Tehran has been accused of recruiting Afghan refugee children living in Iran to fight in the conflict in Syria. There were also reports that the authorities had recruited minors to suppress protests in 2011.

Journalist Roza Mohtasab from the fact-checking site Factnameh.com said the recent photos, believed to have been taken in Tehran, appear to be genuine. She said the children in the photos appear to be wearing the uniforms of the Student Basij, a subgrouping of the Basij.

"These images have not been manipulated, they're new, Mohtasab said. From the evidence that emerged online, we can say that children have been employed in the current round of protests."

Mohtasab said it was not clear what role the minors were playing in the government crackdown. "It could be that this was part of a maneuver for them to become familiar with the situation," she said.

Whats Next: Tehran could employ a greater number of minors to help control the angry protests. There have been mounting reports of security forces becoming exhausted from quelling rallies across the country for nearly four weeks.

Distributing all your special police forces becomes challenging when the protests are spread out throughout [the country], analyst Saeid Golkar, who has authored a book on the Basij, told me.

Stories You Might Have Missed

 Sixteen-year-old Nika Shakarami left to join ongoing anti-government protests in Tehran on September 20. She was never seen alive by her family again.

In an exclusive video shared with RFE/RL's Radio Farda, Nika's mother said the family is now being pressured to echo the official account of her daughter's death, and accused the authorities of "lying" in an attempt to "exempt themselves."

 Iran has arrested several digital rights and Internet freedom activists, including Amir Mirmirani who has previously publicly criticized Tehrans attempts to intensify online censorship.

Mirmirani had accused IT companies SahabPardaz and ArvanCloud of being involved in cutting off Internet access in order to facilitate the suppression of the protests. Dozens of journalists and activists have been arrested since the protests erupted.

What We're Watching

More than 1,000 workers at Irans Bushehr and Damavand petrochemical plants joined the protests on October 10. According to RFE/RL's Radio Farda, the oil workers blocked access roads and chanted slogans such as "Death to the dictator!" as they gathered with a heavy security presence nearby.

Some reports suggested that the strikers were contract workers who had also gone on strike last year to demand higher wages and better working conditions. In recent days, there have been reports of sporadic strikes by traders and shop owners in several cities.

Why It Matters: It marks the first time workers in the crucial oil industry have gone on strike. It is unclear if more workers will follow suit.

If more oil workers go on strike, it could have significant ramifications. Major strikes by public employees preceded the Islamic Revolution in 1979, bringing large parts of the economy to a halt.

Thats all from me for now. Dont forget to send me any questions, comments, or tips that you have.

Until next time,

Golnaz Esfandiari

If you enjoyed this briefing and don't want to miss the next edition, subscribe here. It will be sent to your inbox every Wednesday.
An Iranian official has confirmed that several high school students arrested during the protests have been sent to reeducation camps to "educate and amend" their behavior after they were detained during anti-government demonstrations sparked by the death of a young woman in custody for allegedly wearing a headscarf incorrectly.

Education Minister Yousef Nouri told the Shargh daily on October 11 that the pupils had been sent to the camps, which he referred to as "psychological centers," to prevent them from turning into "anti-social people."

"We dont have any students in prison, and if they are detained, they are sent to psychological centers where experts are doing their work so the students can return to the school environment after they have been reformed," he was quoted as saying.

The death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini came while she was in custody after being detained by the so-called morality police.

Eyewitnesses say Amini was beaten, while officials have said she died of illness, though they have not provided any evidence to back up their claim.

Amini's death on September 16 has sparked nationwide anti-government protests, with many videos showing teenage students across the country waving their headscarves in the air and shouting defiant anti-government slogans.

In recent days, reports have surfaced of students being arrested in schools and videos on social media appeared to show some teenage protesters being assaulted by security forces.

Protests were reported again on October 12 in the cities of Tehran, Karaj, Mashhad, Isfahan, Shiraz and Rasht.

WATCH: Iranian security forces have intensified their crackdown on anti-government protesters in Iran's Kurdistan Province.

A large number of protesters have gathered in Valiasr Street, one of Tehran's main thoroughfares, chanting "Death to the dictator," a reference to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who referred to the protests as "scattered riots" engineered by the West.

"These scattered riots are the passive and clumsy design of the enemy against the great and innovative developments and movements of the Iranian nation," Khamenei said on October 12.

He asked the judicial and security officials of the Islamic Republic to "do their duty" regarding the protesters.

Iran Human Rights (IHR) said on October 12 that at least 201 people, including 23 children, have been killed in the protests that have rocked Iran, and the Oslo-based group warned that more fatalities are likely in a continued "bloody crackdown."

The Iranian government has imposed a near-total Internet shutdown to try and quell the protests.

Netblocks, a London-based Internet observatory group, reported another "major disruption" to Internet traffic in Iran on October 12.

NetBlocks said Iran's Internet traffic dropped to some 25 percent compared to the peak, even during a working day in which students were in class across the country.

"The incident is likely to further limit the free flow of information amid protests," NetBlocks said.

Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda
Iran Human Rights (IHR) says that at least 201 people, including 23 children, have been killed in nationwide protests that have rocked Iran, and the Oslo-based group warned that more fatalities are likely as a "bloody crackdown" against protesters angry over the death of a 22-year-old woman for allegedly wearing a head scarf, or hijab, improperly continues.

IHR said on October 12 that at least 108 people have been killed in protests over the past three weeks since Mahsa Amini died while in police custody, with at least 93 more dead during separate clashes in the city of Zahedan, in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, after the reported rape of a teenage girl by a police commander in the region.

Many of the 108 deaths have occurred in Kurdistan in the western part of Iran, where Amini lived before her death in Tehran while on a trip.

The country's notorious Morality Police arrested Amini on September 13 saying she was not adhering to the strict mandatory hijab law that forces women to cover their hair while in public. Three days later she died in hospital amid claims by eyewitnesses and her family that Amini had been beaten.

Officials have denied the accusations saying she died of "underlying diseases." Her family says she was in good health before being arrested.

The international community must prevent further killings in Kurdistan by issuing an immediate response, IHR Director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said.

Iran's judiciary said on October 12 that more than 100 protesters have been arrested in the provinces of Tehran and Hormozgan alone while lauding prosecutors for carrying out "swift investigations."

The protests quickly spread across the country after officials denied that the dress-code enforcers were responsible before any investigations were done, and senior leaders, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have since suggested that foreign elements are behind the unrest.

Hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi has made similar charges, including at a ceremony on October 8 at Tehran University to mark the start of the new academic year.

After Raisi addressed professors and students at the female-only Alzahra University in Tehran, women students were seen on video posted on social media chanting "Raisi get lost" and "Mullahs get lost."

The current protests follow a summer of unrest across Iran over poor living conditions, water shortages, and economic difficulties resulting from crippling sanctions that the United States has imposed on Iran over its nuclear program.
Iranian political reformist Mostafa Tajzadeh has been found guilty of three charges related to his repeated calls for structural changes in the country and sentenced to five years in prison.

Houshang Pourbabai, a lawyer for Tajzadeh, said in a tweet on October 11 that his client has been handed sentences for conspiracy to act against the country's security, publishing falsehoods to disturb the public, and publishing propaganda against the system.

My client Mostafa Tajzadeh was sentenced to five years for plotting against state security, two years for publishing lies and one year for propaganda against the system, Pourbabai said, adding that the sentences would run concurrently.

Tajzadeh was the deputy interior minister in the government of former President Mohammad Khatami and one of the most prominent reformist figures in the Islamic republic. He was arrested on July 8 and has been in custody since.



Tajzadeh won't appeal the verdict as at the beginning of the trial he refused to acknowledge the court, which then denied him permission to consult privately with his lawyer.



Tajzadeh was previously arrested in 2009 during mass protests disputing the reelection of then President Mahmud Ahmadinejad that was contested by opposition reformist candidates Mehdi Karrubi and Mir Hossein Musavi.



In 2010, Tajzadeh was convicted of harming national security and propaganda against the state. He was released in 2016 after serving a seven-year sentence.

Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda
Russia's use of Iranian-made drones to attack Ukraine shows that Russia is both politically and militarily bankrupt, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on October 18 after saying that Russian air strikes in the past week had destroyed almost one-third of Ukraine's power stations.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's ongoing invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, Russian protests, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.

Zelenskiy said for decades Russia spent billions of dollars on its military-industrial complex, "and in the end they bowed to Tehran to get rather simple drones and missiles."



Speaking in his nightly address, he said strategically, this will not help Russia in any way.



"It only additionally proves to the world that Russia is on a losing path and is trying to draw someone else into its accomplices," he said. "We will definitely ensure an appropriate international reaction to this."



Iran denies supplying drones to Russia, and the Kremlin said it had no information about whether Iranian kamikaze drones were used.



But British intelligence early on October 18 identified the drones used by Russia as being Iranian-made, and the U.S. State Department assessed that Iranian drones were used on October 17 in an attack on Kyiv.



White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre accused Tehran of lying when it said Iranian drones were not being used by Russia in Ukraine.

Jean-Pierre on October 17 told reporters that the White House strongly condemns Russias missile strikes and said the attacks continue "to demonstrate Putins brutality.

The U.S. State Department, meanwhile, said Washington would "not hesitate to use sanctions or take actions" against companies and countries working with Iran's drone program.

State Department spokesman Vedant Patel also said a deepening alliance between Russia and Iran "is something the whole world -- especially those in the region and across the world, frankly -- should be seeing as a profound threat."

Moscow began the recent wave of air attacks last week, hitting residential areas in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities.

Zelenskiy tweeted early on October 18 that the attacks had caused massive blackouts across Ukraine and that there was "no space left for negotiations" with Russian President Vladimir Putin.



Kyiv's prosecutor office said two people were killed in the October 18 strikes in Kyiv after five others lost their lives in the drone attacks of the previous day in the capital.



NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance will deliver air-defense systems to Ukraine in the coming days. Speaking at a security conference in Berlin, Stoltenberg said the systems would help Ukraine defend itself against attacks, including by drones made in Iran.

Earlier on October 18, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of Ukraine's presidential office, said there had been three Russian strikes on an unspecified energy facility in northern Kyiv.

"The situation is critical now across the country. It's necessary for the whole country to prepare for electricity, water, and heating outages," Tymoshenko told Ukrainian television.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the attack was on "critical infrastructure."

The northern Ukrainian city of Zhytomyr was left without water and electricity supply after Russian air strikes, but its mayor told RFE/RL that the services had been largely restored.

"Around noon, we connected the main sewage plant, and the water supply was more or less operational. Currently, approximately 80 percent of the city has electricity, but the central part of the city remains without it," he said.

Russian troops also shelled energy facilities in Dnipro and blasts were reported in Kharkiv.



Explosions also shook the cities of Kriviy Rih and Mykolayiv, local officials said, a day after Russia launched waves of kamikaze drone strikes that killed at least seven people, four of them in Kyiv, and damaged infrastructure in the Ukrainian capital and several other cities across the country.

"Kriviy Rih. Explosions in the northern part of the city. We are in shelters," Oleksandr Vilkul the head of the central Ukrainian city's military administration said on social media, adding that so far there were no reports of casualties or damage.

In the southern port of Mykolayiv overnight shelling killed at least one person, Mayor Oleksandr Sienkovych said early on October 18.

The Russian-appointed head of the Kherson region announced on October 18 that the civilian population will be evacuated from part of the region as he warned of an expected escalation of hostilities.



Vladimir Saldo on October 18 announced an "organized, gradual displacement" of civilians from four towns on the right bank of the Dnieper River.



The new commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, Sergei Surovikin, said the situation in Kherson "is difficult," telling state-owned Rossia-24 television news channel in an interview, "The enemy is deliberately striking infrastructure and residential buildings in Kherson."

With reporting by Reuters, AP, dpa, and AFP
ALMATY -- The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) started the year with a spring in its step.



The six-nation, Moscow-led security bloc's deployment of troops under Russian command to Kazakhstan helped quell unprecedented political unrest in which more than 200 people were killed.



Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev requested the January intervention to counter what he controversially described as a coup attempt backed by "foreign terrorists."



It marked the first time in the CSTO's history that the bloc had exercised its collective defense mechanism and fueled speculation about how -- and where -- the alliance might intervene next.



Less than a year later though, and against the background of Russia's disastrous invasion of Ukraine, the bloc once promoted as the Eurasian answer to NATO is facing one of its toughest moments.



Of the Kremlin's five partners in the bloc, only Belarus has provided support for Russia's unprovoked invasion that began on February 24, in a move that triggered a fresh wave of Western sanctions against Minsk.



Meanwhile, two of the CSTO's most Russia-dependent members, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia, have barely hidden their irritation at the bloc's inaction during deadly border violence with fellow member Tajikistan and former member Azerbaijan, respectively.



Bishkek Balks At Tajikistan Award



The latest blow to the bloc's cohesion came last week when Kyrgyzstan abruptly canceled CSTO training drills under the title "Indestructible Brotherhood" that were due to take place in its territory from October 10 to 14.



The decision followed Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov's surprise no-show at a gathering of the Russia-led Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in St. Petersburg on the day of President Vladimir Putin's 70th birthday, with Japarov congratulating the Kremlin chief by telephone instead.

Addressing the cancellation of the exercises in an interview with Russian media, hawkish Russian lawmaker Konstantin Zatulin accused Kyrgyzstan of indulging in a "game" and wishing "not to fall under any spread of Western sanctions."

Russia's neighbors, Zatulin said, were now weighing up their options as they observed "how strong we are and how we will achieve victory in the fight against Ukraine."



"Since this has not been going well lately, a number of events have been taking place," observed the lawmaker, who serves as first deputy chairman of the State Duma's committee for the CIS and has a reputation for lashing out at neighbors over perceived disloyalty toward Moscow.



But Zatulin will have been well aware that Kyrgyzstan's behavior had little to do with either sanctions or Russia's military setbacks in Ukraine.



Around 100 people were killed in the armed clashes between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan last month, with major private news agencies in Kyrgyzstan's capital, Bishkek, framing Dushanbe's actions as an "invasion."

Sections of Kyrgyz social media, meanwhile, suggested Moscow was complicit in the border clashes -- a sentiment Japarov criticized harshly at the time.

But Bishkek was quick to react when Tajik President Emomali Rahmon earned a prestigious award from Putin "for provision of regional stability and security" on October 4, the day before Rahmon celebrated his own 70th birthday.



"It is interesting what kind of regional security one can talk about when year to year the actions of the leadership of Tajikistanundermine peace and harmony between the peoples of the countries of Central Asia," fumed Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry spokesman Chingiz Kustebaev on Facebook.



Kustebaev also noted Rahmon had earned an award from Putin last year after another bout of deadly border clashes that disproportionately affected the Kyrgyz population.

Aijan Sharshenova, a postdoctoral researcher at the OSCE Academy in Bishkek, told RFE/RL that Putin's most recent award for Rahmon constituted "bad optics" for many Kyrgyz and fueled perceptions that the Kremlin is "playing favorites" in the conflict.



Deputy Prime Minister Edil Baisalov said in turn on October 10 that Kyrgyz public opinion would not accept military exercises with Tajik troops on Kyrgyz soil, in the first explanation of the cancellation by a Kyrgyz official.



Still, Bishkek's membership in the CSTO was "absolutely indestructible," Baisalov pledged, in an apparent reference to the name of the canceled exercises.



Sense Of Threat For Kazakhstan



The CSTO has its roots in the Collective Security Treaty (CST) of the early 1990s, which included Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Uzbekistan, as well as the bloc's current six members. But none of that trio was a member when the CST became the CSTO in 2002.

Uzbekistan, home to Central Asia's largest standing army, rejoined the group in 2005 but quit again seven years later. Only last week, Tashkent said it had no intention to revisit membership.



Speculation that the bloc might soon shed members has focused largely on Armenia and Kazakhstan.



Despite benefiting from a CSTO military intervention in January, Astana has watched events in Ukraine with particular alarm.

The sense of threat for a country that shares a 7,644-kilometer border with Moscow has only been heightened by a chorus of threats from Russian politicians including Zatulin who have not hidden their anger at their southern neighbor's neutral stance in the war.



As Moscow declared a military mobilization last month amid a Kyiv counteroffensive, Astana even held its own defense exercises close to the border with Russia.



But Kazakh officials have confirmed their intention to stay in the bloc, with Defense Minister Ruslan Zhaksylykov denying there was a CSTO "crisis" in comments to journalists on October 12.



Putin was expected in the Kazakh capital on October 13 for a series of bilateral and multilateral meetings -- his first foreign trip since Moscow bombarded civilian targets in cities across Ukraine in apparent retaliation for an October 8 attack on the bridge over the Kerch Strait that links Russia to Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula.



Armenia Losing The CSTO Or CSTO Losing Armenia?



Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has perhaps the most cause to be disillusioned with the CSTO.



Yerevan last month invoked Article 4 of the bloc's treaty -- which governs collective defense -- during fierce clashes with Azerbaijan. It was the deadliest fighting between the two Caucasus neighbors since the end of a 2020 war over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.



That war lasted six weeks before a Russia-brokered cease-fire, which resulted in Armenia losing control over parts of the region and seven adjacent districts.

The clashes on September 13-14 and September 28 killed more than 200 soldiers in total from both sides, and saw cities in Armenia proper -- rather than only Nagorno-Karabakh -- face heavy shelling.



But Armenia's request for help fell on deaf ears. The CSTO's response was limited to sending a fact-finding mission to the region, with the bloc effectively ruling out sending troops.



After the second bout of fighting in late September, Pashinian acknowledged he was fielding questions from some in the bloc about whether Armenia -- under pressure from an angry public -- might consider leaving the alliance.



"I said the opposite: that there are fears the CSTO will withdraw from Armenia," Pashinian said in an interview with Armenian public television on September 30.

Leonid Nersisyan, an Armenian security analyst, told RFE/RL that Yerevan is unlikely to quit Moscow's security umbrella without "a real alternative for balancing out the negative consequences of that decision."



Such consequences, he said, would include the threat of "full-scale invasion" by an emboldened Azerbaijan and its staunch ally Turkey, for whom Armenia's CSTO membership is still a deterrent, as well as the very real prospect of retribution from Russia.



"Russia is not providing help to Armenia," Nersisyan told RFE/RL. "But it can still do a lot of harm if Yerevan leaves the CSTO."
Iranian security forces have intensified their crackdown on anti-government protesters in Iran's Kurdistan Province. Social-media video from Sanandaj, capital of the province, shows protesters hurling rocks at police and security forces allegedly using firearms, tear gas, and firing directly into residential homes. Nationwide protests were sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was detained over an alleged Islamic dress-code violation and died in custody.
Rashid is among the hundreds of thousands of Tajik nationals who have obtained dual Russian citizenship in recent years.

Like many conscript-age dual citizens, he faces a dilemma after Russia announced a military mobilization amid Moscow's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Rashid can either stay in Russia and risk being sent to fight in Ukraine or go back to his native Tajikistan where he faces grinding poverty.

"We have a relatively comfortable life here," says Rashid, who only gave his first name. "If I go back to Tajikistan, I'd have to live with my parents and sell mobile phones again. But I'm afraid of being sent to war, honestly. I don't know what to do."

Rashid has lived with his wife and newborn son in Kazan, the capital of Russia's Republic of Tatarstan, since 2019. Two years earlier, he graduated from the Kazan Federal University with a decree in information technology and obtained a Russian passport.

Upon graduating, Rashid returned to Tajikistan, where he was unable to find a job in his field. Instead, he worked at a mobile phone store for 18 months, making around $90 per month.

Like many other Tajiks, Rashid says he has had to deal with widespread racism and corruption in Russia. But he insists that "life in Russia is much better than Tajikistan."

Ticket Out Of Poverty

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a mobilization last month in a bid to bolster the ranks of Moscow's depleted military forces in Ukraine. The move has prompted thousands of conscript-age Russians to flee abroad.

The exact number of dual Tajik-Russian citizens drafted in the war is unknown. Tajikistan has warned its citizens against participating in foreign military conflicts. But Tajik lawyers have said such warnings do not apply to dual citizens.

Russia and Tajikistan signed an agreement on dual nationality in the mid-1990s. Facing a declining population and workforce, Russia has eased citizenship requirements in recent years.

According to official Russian figures, more than 103,000 Tajik nationals obtained Russian citizenship in 2021. It marked a significant uptick from five years ago when only around 30,000 Tajiks received Russian passports.

Tajikistan is the poorest country among the former Soviet republics, and many Tajiks have sought Russian citizenship in the hope of better economic opportunities.

The average salary is about $150 to $200 per month in the pre-dominantly Muslim nation of around 10 million. Tajikistan is also plagued by chronic unemployment and endemic corruption.

According to Russian Interior Ministry figures, more than 3 million Tajik citizens were officially registered in Russia in 2021, with the vast majority stating "work" as their reason for entering Russia.

'Don't Want To Be Killed'

As many Tajiks with dual Russian citizenship weigh up their options, some have already decided to head back to Tajikistan.

RFE/RL spoke to one of the men, who arrived in Tajikistan through Russia's land border with Kazakhstan soon after he was called up to serve in the Russian military.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the 28-year-old said he had to make a tough choice between "the prospect of possibly dying in the war [in Ukraine] and facing poverty and other hardships again" in his poverty-stricken homeland.

He now fears he might lose his Russian citizenship and along with it any chance of building a "better future."

Some Russian politicians have called on their government to revoke the Russian passports of naturalized citizens who refuse to serve in the military. Those who desert or refuse to fight after joining the army can face up to 10 years in prison under a new law approved in September.

"Unlike Tajikistan, there are many jobs in Russia with decent salaries, better health care, better living conditions, running water, and natural gas, [and] it's much easier in Russia to build or buy your own home," the man said.

"I left all of that and it hurts," he added. "But I was too afraid of going to war. I don't want to get killed. I also don't want to kill others."

The man said he hastily packed his belongings the day he received his summons. At around 2 a.m. the following morning, he and several other dual Tajik-Russian citizens set off for Tajikistan.

But others like Furqat Aminjonov are taking a more cautious approach.

The Tajik national received his Russian residency permit, which paves the way for applying for Russian citizenship, just last month.

It was a moment that the 34-year-old road worker from the northern Tajik province of Sughd and his family of four had long waited for. But that joy has now given way to uncertainty.

"On the one hand, I want to get a Russian passport that is very important for my family, especially our children," Aminjonov said. "But on the other hand, I fear that I'll be sent to the war in Ukraine if I become a citizen."
Residents of the Ukrainian village of Moskali, in the Chernihiv region, are worried there could be a new attack from Belarus after reports of a buildup of Russian troops near the border.The village was occupied for more than a month when Russian forces invaded on February 24.
Ukraine's recent military victories against the Russian invaders have been "extraordinary" and influenced the course of the war despite the "malice and cruelty" of Moscow's latest missile strikes, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has told a meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

Austin was speaking to the Ukraine Contact Group, a gathering of the more than 50 countries on the sidelines of a NATO defense ministers meeting on October 12 to discuss bolstering Ukraine's air defenses amid continuing Russian missile attacks across the country, including the capital, Kyiv.

On October 12, the attacks continued, with at least seven people killed and eight wounded in a Russian strike on a crowded market in the town of Avdiyivka, the governor of the eastern Donetsk region said.

"The Russians struck the central market where many people were at that time," Pavlo Kyrylenko said in a statement, adding that there was "no military logic" for such an attack.

Austin said Russia's actions had further united the international community to support Ukraine's military efforts to defend itself.

"The whole world has just seen yet again the malice and cruelty of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's war of choice -- rooted in aggression, and waged with deep contempt for the rules of war," he said.



"Ukraine has made extraordinary gains on the battlefield," Austin said.

"Despite Putin's new assaults, Ukrainian forces have changed the dynamics of this war. They've liberated hundreds of towns from Russian occupation. And they've retaken thousands of square kilometers of their land," he said, but added that Western support remained critical.

"The Contact Group's security assistance, training, and sustainment efforts have been vital," Austin said.

Speaking ahead of the meeting in Brussels, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said on October 12 that providing Ukraine with more air defenses was the "top priority" of the meeting, which will also be attended by representatives from other countries.



"We will address how to ramp up support for Ukraine and the top priority will be more air defense for Ukraine," Stoltenberg said at the start of a two-day meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on October 11 urged a summit of the Group of Seven (G7) to block Russia's energy sector with further sanctions to disrupt Russian revenues from oil and gas and asked for more air defense capabilities to neutralize aerial attacks, saying that when Ukraine receives such systems, "the key element of Russias terror, rocket strikes, will cease to work."

"Russia must be completely isolated and punished. Punished both politically and in terms of sanctions," he said.

"Such steps can bring peace closer -- they will encourage the terrorist state to think about peace, about the unprofitability of war," Zelenskiy told the leaders of the United States, Canada, Germany, Britain, Japan, France, and Italy.

U.S. President Joe Biden, meanwhile, said he did not believe Moscow would use a tactical nuclear weapon against Ukraine despite recent thinly veiled threats to employ his atomic arsenal.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's ongoing invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, Russian protests, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.

In recent weeks, Russia moved to seize four partially occupied regions of Ukraine after referendums widely denounced as illegal, mobilized hundreds of thousands of Russians, and repeatedly alluded to the use of nuclear arms, stoking alarm in the West.

Biden said Putin had completely misjudged Russia's capacity to invade Ukraine, but said he believes the Russian leader is acting rationally although his objectives in Ukraine "were not rational."

"If you listen to the speech he made after when that decision was being made [to invade Ukraine], he talked about the whole idea of -- he was needed to be the leader of Russia that united all of Russian speakers," Biden said in a October 11 interview with CNN. "I just think it's irrational."

Russia launched its fresh wave of missile strikes on several regions of Ukraine a day after bombing multiple cities, including Kyiv, as a reprisal for a blast on October 8 that damaged the only bridge between Moscow-annexed Crimea and mainland Russia.

Biden last week warned that the world risks "Armageddon" in unusually direct remarks following Putin's threats to use atomic weapons amid a faltering military campaign in Ukraine.

Putin's intentions and his mental state have been the subject of much debate after the Russian military suffered a series of setbacks in Ukraine.

But Biden said that Putin was "rational" despite the mistakes he has made.

"I think [Putin] is a rational actor who has miscalculated significantly," Biden said.

In reaction, the Kremlin said on October 12 that rhetoric from Western leaders on the potential use of nuclear weapons was harmful and provocative.

"We express our daily regret that Western heads of state engage in nuclear rhetoric every day," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding that such a practice was "provocative."

Peskov also denied that more men were being drafted into the army, despite some regional officials reporting they were stepping up mobilization efforts this week.

"There is no new wave," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, telling reporters to check with individual governors to see what they meant.

The G7 leaders in a statement condemned Russia's recent missile attacks and said they would hold Putin and those responsible to account but did not say how.

The White House later pledged to speed up shipments of air defenses to Ukraine, while Germany promised delivery to Ukraine "in the coming days" of the first of four IRIS-T SLM air defense systems capable of protecting a city.

Zelenskiy thanked all the countries that have already helped Ukraine secure its air defense systems, particularly the United States and Germany, but said according to Ukrainian intelligence, Russia has ordered 2,400 drones from Iran.

In addition, Zelenskiy asked the G7 countries to back his initiative for an international observer mission on Ukraine's border with Belarus to monitor the security situation.

With reporting by AFP, AP, BBC, CNN, and Reuters
(jckonline.com) - Belarus, the country known for its fealty to Russian president Vladimir Putin and terrible human rights record, has asked to be approved as the 2023 Kimberley Process (KP) vice chair, according to documents seen by JCK. The vice chair is the traditional stepping stone to becoming the chair of the certification scheme, which aims to stop conflict diamonds from reaching world markets. If Belarus becomes the vice chair in 2023, it will be first in line to become the KP chair in 2024.
The triple star system LTT 1445, at a distance of 22.5 light-years, hosts some of the nearest rocky planets.

Understanding what happens to rocky planets and their atmospheres in the habitable zones of low mass stars is currently one of the greatest astronomical challenges, said University of Colorados Dr. Alexander Brown and colleagues.

The nearest Earth-mass planets in the habitable zones orbit red dwarf stars (M dwarfs), and these are prime targets for spectroscopic atmospheric characterization in the next decade.

M dwarfs are the most common type of star in the Milky Way, and over 25% of them have planets orbiting in their habitable zones.

Theoretical work shows that planets around M dwarfs could be habitable despite their phase-locked orbits and dynamic modeling of transiting systems reveals that most systems permit stable orbits of Earth-mass planets long enough for the development of life, i.e. over 1.7 billion years.

Over the past several years, the exoplanet community has recognized the importance of obtaining ultraviolet and X-ray spectroscopy and time-series monitoring of M dwarfs to provide a comprehensive picture of their energetic radiation environments.

In their study, Dr. Brown and co-authors focused on LTT 1445, a hierarchical trio of M dwarfs.

Also known as TIC 98796344, TOI 455, L 730-18 or BD-17 588, the system consists of the brighter star LTT 1445A and the fainter visual binary LTT 1445BC.

LTT 1445A hosts two terrestrial exoplanets with Earth-like compositions: LTT 1445Ab and LTT 1445Ac.

First discovered in 2018, LTT 1445Ab is about 1.3 times bigger than Earth, 2.9 times more massive, and has an orbital period of 5.36 days.

LTT 1445Ac, spotted earlier this year, has a mass of 1.54 Earth masses, a radius of 1.15 Earth radii, and an orbital period of 3.12 days.

These planets lie interior to the habitable zone around the star with the cooler LTT 1445Ab having an equilibrium temperature of 424 K, which is intermediate to other rocky planets such as Gliese 1132b and TRAPPIST-1b, the astronomers said.

Although LTT 1445Ab and LTT 1445Ac are likely not habitable, they remain excellent targets for detailed atmospheric studies with Webb.

Using NASAs Chandra X-ray Observatory, they detected the coronal X-ray emission from all three stars in the LTT 1445 system, including from the exoplanet-hosting star LTT 1445A.

They also found that the lowest mass star LTT 1445C is the dominant X-ray emitter in the system.

Chandra observations of LTT 1445A provide further evidence that the coronal emission of older, slowly-rotating M dwarfs can be highly variable and the coronal emission already seen from LTT 1445A suggests that this star may have interesting influences on the atmospheres of its exoplanets, they said.

During the observed flare the X-ray luminosity is only a factor of 10 below the saturated activity level expected from young, very active stars, even though LTT 1445A is thought to be slowly rotating.

More extensive studies of its X-ray activity should provide a clearer picture of the range of coronal emission from all three mid-M dwarfs in the LTT 1445 system.

The teams work will appear in the Astronomical Journal.

_____

Alexander Brown et al. 2022. X-ray Emission from the Exoplanet Hosting LTT 1445 Triple Star System. AJ, in press; arXiv: 2209.11314
Tom Cruise is a well-known Hollywood actor for his incredible stunts in his movies. Now, he is set to make history by making a film on the International Space Station (ISS). He and his film will take a rocket to the ISS to shoot parts of the movie in the space station.

Science Times reported last year that Russian actress Yulia Peresild, 37, and Klim Shipenko, 38, filmed a movie on the ISS and stayed there for 12 days, beating Cruise in making the first film shot in space. They successfully returned to Earth aboard Soyuz MS-18.





First Civilian to Do a Spacewalk

Universal Pictures boss Donna Langley confirmed in a BBC interview that Cruise would be taking the world to space. "We have a great project in development with Tom, that does contemplate him doing just that. Taking a rocket up to the space station and shooting and hopefully being the first civilian to do a spacewalk outside of the space station."

According to Variety, Universal Pictures is backing the Cruise space project that is reported to have a budget of $200 million. She further revealed that while the movie will send Cruise to space, most scenes are shot on Earth, and then Cruise's character would need to go up to space to save the day.

She described the character as a "down-on-his-luck guy who founds himself as the only person who could save Earth." Doug Liman, who will be directing the movie, has previously worked with Cruise in other films, like "Edge of Tomorrow" (2014) and "American Made" (2017).

Further details of the movie are kept secret, although it has been announced that the film crew is working with NASA and SpaceX to complete this project. This will be the first Hollywood film ever to film in space.

Liman told Thrillist last year about being part of the project that "When a producer proposes something crazy to you, like, let's try to shoot a movie in outer space, and NASA and SpaceX sign on, and Tom Cruise signs on... you're just a little bit more receptive."

READ ALSO: First Movie in Space: Russia Racing to Beat Tom Cruise and NASA Movie As It Starts to Cast Stars

First Private Astronaut Crew on ISS

Aside from movie stars, the ISS also opened its doors to the first private astronaut crew earlier this year, Gizmodo reports. The four spent 15 days in the orbiting laboratory, living and working in a microgravity environment as part of the Ax-1 mission of Axiom Spac.

Like the other astronauts on board, the crew logged in some hours during their stay in the ISS. They admitted in a press conference that they tried to fit too much into their schedules, putting a strain on them and the astronaut crew already abroad at the station.

NASA is already planning for the second private crew to board the ISS in the second quarter of 2023 and has sent out a call for proposals for two more private astronaut missions that could fly as early as late next year. But they stipulated that any missions involving a spacewalk would not be accepted.

On the other hand, Gizmodo also reported the all-private Polaris Dawn crew is scheduled for a spacewalk this December as part of their mission itinerary. That means it is not yet sure that Cruise will get the title of being the first civilian to do a spacewalk, as the crew has been training for their trip since May.



RELATED ARTICLE: Russian Actress Yulia Peresild Returns Safely Aboard Soyuz MS-18 After Shooting First Movie in Space

Check out more news and information on Space in Science Times.
The NASA Dart operation involved ramming a spacecraft into an asteroid to divert it. It had a more significant impact than most scientists had anticipated.

The orbital period of asteroid Dimorphos around its bigger companion Didymos was reduced by 32 minutes due to a head-on collision with the Dart probe on Sept. 26. This information was released on Tuesday by the US space agency.

With this achievement, humans successfully altered a celestial object's course for the first time. Deflection technology that might shift an asteroid's course to avoid a catastrophic collision with Earth was also shown for the first time.

"Well, well - that meeting between Dimorphos & the #DARTmission turned out to be a much more moving experience for the little asteroid than anticipated," said Mark McCaughrean, senior science adviser for the European Space Agency, NASA's partner in the project on Twitter.

Well, well  that meeting between Dimorphos & the #DARTmission turned out to be a much more moving experience for the little asteroid than anticipated  https://t.co/z5Qdm2e8g8  Mark McCaughrean (@markmccaughrean) October 11, 2022

How NASA's Dart Impact Changed Planetary Defense Test

The Didymos Reconnaissance and Asteroid Camera for Optical Navigation camera was the only instrument on board the DART spacecraft, which launched in November 2021 and cost roughly $314 million (DRACO). The spacecraft then traveled to Dimorphos, an asteroid that orbited a bigger asteroid called Didymos once every 11 hours and 55 minutes and was thought to be around 525 feet (160 meters) broad by astronomers.

DART made a dramatic entry into the solar system on Sept. 26. It traveled at 14,760 mph (23,760 kph) and sent one photograph to Earth every second until it collided with Dimorphos at a distance of 11 million miles (7 million kilometers).

That was the mission's first accomplishment on its own. Still, the evening also indicated that it might be beyond all expectations.

ALSO READ: NASA's DART Spacecraft Worked! Asteroid Killer Changed the Harmless Space Rock's Orbit More Than Expected

Scientists received their first excellent look at Dimorphos when DART sent images back to Earth in the waning minutes because from Earth, the small moon and the bigger Didymos seem like a single dot in a field of stars. The photographs first revealed a rock formation that resembled an egg, then a field of stones, gravel, and dust.

Tom Statler, the DART program scientist, could gauge the mission's success based only on that information.

"When I saw Dimorphos come into view and when I saw there was not a single crater on it and there were a lot of what appeared to be loose rocks - and this was a non-scientific, by-eye measurement - I looked at it, and I said, 'This is not going to be 73 seconds,' he said (via Space.com).

What's Next for DART Mission

The mission scientists will examine more telescopic observations and images taken by Dart's camera shortly before impact and by LiciaCube. This Italian satellite traveled with Dart to the pair of asteroids 11 million kilometers from Earth in the coming weeks.

The European Space Agency will launch the Hera mission in 2024 to conduct a thorough post-impact study of Dimorphos and Didymos. According to experts, there is no chance that the collision with the Earth will push the asteroid.

Following the findings of the deflection, NASA posted the following on Twitter: "Remember: DART is a test and there are no known asteroid threats to Earth."

RELATED ARTICLE: James Webb, Hubble Telescopes Reveal First Images of DART's Impact on Dimorphos

Check out more news and information on Space in Science Times.
Debate on Climate and Security in Africa

Tomorrow morning (12 October), the Security Council will hold a debate on Climate and security in Africa, under the Threats to international peace and security agenda item. This is one of the signature events of Gabons Council presidency. Gabons Foreign Minister Michael Moussa-Adamo is expected to chair the meeting. The anticipated briefers are Assistant Secretary-General for Africa in the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations (DPPA-DPO) Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee; Tanguy Gahouma-Bekale, Permanent Secretary of the National Climate Council of Gabon and former Chair of the Africa Group of Negotiators on Climate Change; and Patrick Youssef, ICRC Regional Director for Africa. At the time of writing, several member statesincluding Egypt, Italy, Germany (on behalf of the Group of Friends on Climate and Security), Morocco, Ukraine, Namibia, Niger, and Polandwere expected to make interventions under rule 37 of the Councils provisional rules of procedure.

Tomorrows debate will be the first formal Security Council meeting on climate change and security in 2022, whereas there were three Council open debates on this issue in 2021. The links between climate change and security have been discussed, however, in the informal Arria-formula format this year. On 9 March, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) convened a ministerial-level Arria-formula meeting on climate finance (that is, the local, national or transnational financing of initiatives aimed at addressing climate change and its effects) as a means to build and sustain peace in conflict, post-conflict and crisis situations. The UAEs Special Envoy for Climate Change and Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber chaired that meeting.

Gabon has circulated a concept note in preparation for tomorrows meeting. It observes that while Africa accounts for only about four percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, it is among the regions most vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. Climate change has negatively affected migration patterns, disrupted livelihoods, and contributed to resource scarcity in Africa. The scarcity of and challenges in accessing resources are factors likely to generate social tensions, even violent conflicts, between populations at the local or transnational level, for example between farmers and herders, according to the note.

The concept note lists three objectives for the meeting:

to analyse the links between climate change and peace and security in Africa;

to examine Africas tools to address the threats of climate change to peace and security and to mobilise them for sustainable peace on the continent; and

to explore ways to optimise the international communitys support for Africa in order to minimise the effects of climate change on peace and security.

The note also outlines questions to help guide the discussion:

What are the implications of climate change on peace and security in Africa?

How can the international community, including members of the Security Council, better support Africa in formulating appropriate responses to the effects of climate change on peace and security?

What kind of partnership can be established between the UN Security Council and the African Union Peace and Security Council, in the framework of the climate, peace and security nexus?

How can sustainable peace be promoted on the continent in the context of climate change?

Pobee might describe ways that UN peace operations in Africa are responding to climate-related factors that exacerbate insecurity. Youssef may elaborate on how climate change worsens humanitarian problems and undermines human security in Africa. He might talk about the ICRCs efforts to address these challenges. Gahouma-Bekale may discuss efforts by African countries to adapt to the security risks related to climate change, while emphasising the need for enhanced climate financing for developing countries.

Strong divisions persist among Security Council members over whether the Council is an appropriate forum to address climate change. Eleven membersAlbania, France, Gabon, Ghana, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico, Norway, the UAE, the UK, and the USsupport a more systematic integration of climate-related security risks into the Councils work, with varying degrees of commitment. Several of these members tend to emphasise that factors such as drought, water scarcity, food insecurity, and desertification that are caused or exacerbated by climate change, are risk multipliers for conflict, in addition to having devastating effects on human security. They may reiterate these views at tomorrows meeting. Some developing countries, including those that support a role for the Council on climate and security matters, may also underscore the commitments that the developed world has made to contribute more to climate financing.

Gabon is not seeking an outcome in connection with tomorrows debate. This may be in large part because of the difficult dynamics in the Council on this issue, which have prevented agreement on including references to climate change in some Council products. These dynamics were reflected in December 2021, when Russia vetoed an Irish-Nigerien draft resolution that sought to integrate climate change and security matters more systematically into the Councils work. India also voted against the draft resolution, while China abstained. The drafts co-sponsorship by 113 member states demonstrated the traction that climate change as a security issue is gaining among the wider UN membership.

A consistent proponent of Council engagement on climate change and security, Gabon hosted an event titled Africa Climate Week 2022 in Libreville from 29 August to 2 September. Over 2,300 stakeholders participated in the event, which focused on the following issues: resilience to climate risks, transition to a low-emission economy, and partnership to address climate-related challenges.

Brazil, India and Russia are especially sceptical of Council engagement on this issue, especially at the thematic level. At tomorrows meeting, they may reiterate their position that climate change is fundamentally a sustainable development issue that is more appropriately addressed by other parts of the UN system, including the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). They may also express the view that there is no clear connection between climate change and conflict, and that discussing this issue distracts the Council from addressing security matters that are more firmly within its remit. Although China has expressed similar reservations about the Councils role on this issue, the presidential statement adopted by the Council on 31 August, which was initiated by China, included climate change language. China apparently worked closely with the African members of the Council (Gabon, Ghana, and Kenya) on the text.

Tomorrows meeting takes place less than a month before the start of the 2022 UN Climate Change Conference (COP 27), which will be held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, from 6 to 18 November.
Minister of National Defence Gen. Phan Van Giang (right) receives Canadian Ambassador to Vietnam Shawn Steil. (Source: qdnd.vn)

Congratulating the new Canadian ambassador on his appointment, Giang said he believes that the Ambassador will have a successful term in Vietnam, contributing to the further development of the Vietnam - Canada comprehensive partnership and the defence cooperation relationship between the two countries.

Affirming that Vietnam attaches importance to developing ties with Canada, the Defence Minister emphasised that both defence ministries pay attention to promoting defence cooperation in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on military training and cooperation programme signed in 2018, the MoU on defence cooperation signed in 2019 and the defence cooperation plan for 2021-2023 signed in 2021.

He said bilateral cooperation in defence has produced positive results in a number of areas including exchange of delegations, training, United Nations peacekeeping and maritime security.

Minister Giang wished that the Ambassador will pay attention to promoting defence cooperation in existing fields, and at the same time consider expanding into other potential areas which suit the interests and needs of each country.

He suggested strengthening the exchange of delegations at all levels, maintaining dialogue and consultations, with priority given to training and peacekeeping missions.

Giang hopes that the two sides will have many meaningful cooperation activities to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations next year.

VNA
The poster of the 12th ASEAN Education Ministers Meeting

The Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam in collaboration with the ASEAN Secretariat, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) identified the main themes for the 2022-2023 term being Joint efforts to reimagine learning and building resilience of education systems in ASEAN and beyond in the new context.

The 17th ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting on Education will be organized on October 11.

The series of important meetings of ASEAN Education included the 17th ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting on Education, the 12th ASEAN+3 Senior Officials Meeting on Education, the seventh ASEAN-EAS Senior Officials Meeting on Education, the 12th ASEAN Education Ministers Meeting, the sixth ASEAN+3 Education Ministers Meeting (with partners from the Republic of Korea, Japan, China) and the sixth ASEAN-EAS East Asian Education Ministers Summit.

Vietnamese Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son



The 12th ASEAN Education Ministers Meeting will be opened on October 13 under the chairmanship of Vietnamese Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son along with the participation and directions of the Government leaders.

Vietnam will join ASEAN member countries and at the meetings, Vietnam will join hands with ASEAN countries and relevant partner countries to update the implementation of activities within the framework of the ASEAN Work Plan on Education from 2021 through 2025, discuss and review the organization for the Education Ministers Meetings of ASEAN, ASEAN+3 and ASEAN-EAS in the next days including the agenda as well as expected approved documents.Besides, the sixth ASEAN+3 Education Ministers Meeting and the sixth East Asia Summit Education Ministers Meeting will be organized in both offline and online forms on October 14.On the occasion, the meetings are expected to release joint statements of the 12th ASEAN Education Ministers Meeting, the 6th ASEAN+3 Education Ministers Meeting and the sixth East Asia Summit Education Ministers Meeting.The bilateral meetings shall be also held during the framework of the special important series of events.

By Phan Thao- Translated by Huyen Huong
Page Content

Although the vast majority of companies work from Monday to Friday, Belgian labor law still attaches great importance to Saturdays. When the Employment Contracts Act refers to "working days" (e.g., the three-work day period for a dismissal for just cause or the registered letter serving notice that takes effect on the third workday after it is sent), Saturdays must always be taken into account as such. However, the new Book I of the Civil Code will change this situation, effective Jan. 1, 2023, as a result of which employers will in all likelihood have to observe other legal deadlines in the event of, for example, an employee dismissal.

The Employment Contracts Act Does Not Define a Workday

There are many provisions in the Employment Contracts Act that refer to "working days." In this respect, (i) Article 31 states that the employee must submit his or her medical certificate to his or her employer within two workdays from the start of the work incapacity, unless the work rules provide otherwise; (ii) Article 35 stipulates that a dismissal for just cause must take place within three workdays from the day that the employer knows the facts and that the written explanation of the reason(s) for the dismissal for just cause must be given within three workdays following the dismissal; and (iii) Article 37 stipulates that a registered letter giving notice takes effect on the third workday following the date that the letter was sent.

However, the Employment Contracts Act does not further specify what exactly is to be understood by "working day." Referring to a comment in the Explanatory Memorandum to the Employment Contracts Act and to the Act on Annual Holiday, it has so far been generally accepted that workdays are all the days of the week except for Sundays and public holidaysthat is, including Saturdays. This means, for example, that:

If the employer becomes aware of serious acts committed by an employee, Caro, on Wednesday, it must dismiss her for just cause on Saturday at the latest, and the HR manager must go to the post office on Saturday to have the dismissal letter sent by registered mail.

The letter giving notice to an employee, Vince, must be sent on Wednesday at the latest for the notice period to start on the following Monday.

If an employee, Camille, becomes ill on Friday, she has to send her medical certificate to her employer on Saturday at the latest, even though her company operates only from Monday to Friday.

However, as of next year, these situations will change.

Saturday Is No Longer a Workday in the Civil Code

Article I.7, 3 of the new Civil Code contains the following (emphasis added): "Working days are all days other than public holidays, Sundays and Saturdays." This new rule applies on the condition that no other specific law derogates from it. Since the Employment Contracts Act still does not explicitly state what exactly is to be considered as a "working day," one has to refer back to the new Civil Code, unless the legislator would introduce a different definition of "working days" in the Employment Contracts Act. This new rule will take effect on Jan. 1, 2023.

In practice, this will mean in the examples above that:

If Caro's employer becomes aware of the facts justifying a dismissal for just cause on Wednesday, then from Jan. 1, 2023, Caro will only have to be dismissed on Monday at the latest instead of Saturday, which means that the employer has an extra weekend to think about this dismissal.

The letter giving notice to Vince has to be sent on Tuesday instead of Wednesday, which means that the employer has to send the letter giving notice a day earlier than usual for the notice period to start on the following Monday.

Camille, who fell ill on Friday, only has to send her medical certificate to her employer on Monday instead of Saturday.

Better Safe than Sorry

Until the end of Dec. 31, everything will remain the same. Saturday is, unfortunately for many, a workday in the current state of labor law and must therefore be taken into account to calculate legal deadlines under the Employment Contracts Act.

As of Jan. 1, 2023, the new rules included in the new Civil Code will apply. However, the new Civil Code stipulates that Saturday is not a workday "unless another specific law would stipulate otherwise." There is yet no definite answer as to what should be considered as "another specific law." As noted above, the Employment Contracts Act does not explicitly define what should be considered as a workday. Yet, the Explanatory Memorandum of the Employment Contracts Act states that Saturday is a workday, and there are other legal texts within the field of labor law that implicitly refer to Saturday as a workday (for example, the Annual Holiday Act). Although unlikely, it cannot be entirely excluded that the labor courts would qualify this as "another specific law" and still consider Saturday as a workday.

Since the new regulations have not yet taken effect, the labor courts have not been able to rule on the exact interpretation of the new Civil Code. Therefore, as long as there is no final decision on the matter by the labor courts, we recommend being cautious and to always apply the most advantageous option for the employee. In practice, this means that from Jan. 1, 2023:

In the case of a dismissal for just cause, Saturday is still to be considered as a workday and should therefore be taken into account for the calculation of the double three-day period.

The letter giving notice must be sent at the latest on Tuesday instead of Wednesday for the notice period to start on the following Monday.

No immediate penalty should be given to employees who do not take the Saturday into account for submitting their medical certificate.

Esther Soetens and Mieke D'Hanis are attorneys with ALTIUS in Brussels.  2022 ALTIUS. All rights reserved. Reposted with permission of Lexology.
Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian on Tuesday revealed company's plans for metaverse and Web 3.0, including a new partnership with leading cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase which has selected Google Cloud to build advanced exchange and data services.

Google last year announced Project Starline, a technology project that enables coworkers to feel like they are together, even when they are cities apart.

It creates a 3D model of a person, making it feel like you are sitting with someone in the same room -- not at the other end of a video call.

Kurian said during the 'Google Cloud Next 2022' event that after thousands of hours of testing in own offices, including demos with enterprise partners, "we're seeing promising results".

"Today, we're announcing our next phase of testing with an early access program with enterprise partners such as Salesforce, T-Mobile, and others. Starting this year, we'll be deploying units in select partner offices for regular testing," Kurian informed.

Google is also helping Web 3.0 founders and developers with scalability, reliability, security, and data, so they can spend the bulk of their time on innovation.

"We're announcing a new partnership with Coinbase, who has selected Google Cloud to build advanced exchange and data services. We will also enable select customers to pay for cloud services via select cryptocurrencies by using Coinbase Commerce," said Google Cloud CEO.

The company also announced new innovations in Google Workspace.

In Google Meet, "we're taking it a step further with new capabilities, including adaptive framing with AI-powered cameras from Huddly and Logitech that lets everyone in a conference room be seen clearly, and speaker spotlight, which enables presenters to better engage their audience by embedding their video directly in Google Slides," Kurian announced.

"Beyond meetings, we're helping teams have more authentic and expressive communications with custom emojis and inline threaded conversations for Google Chat," he added.

Google said the smart canvas experience is also getting richer with custom building blocks in Google Docs, enabling companies to build their own templates that can be easily accessed by all users.
The government is likely to extend the deadline for complying with its cyber security directives by three months.

This will apply to micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) as well as small and medium enterprises (SMEs), Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said.

We are very clear. We will not make SMEs or MSMEs bear the burden of this additional compliance until they are ready, Chandrasekhar said.

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (Cert-In)s April 28 guidelines required all companies, intermediaries, data centres and government organisations to report any data breach to the government within six hours of becoming aware of it.

The guidelines had also mandated Virtual Private Network (VPN) service providers to maintain all the information they had gathered as part of know-your-customer (KYC) rules and hand it over to the government as and when required.

The directive has led to several VPN providers exiting India.

On May 18, during a press conference to explain the FAQs on the Cert-In guidelines, Chandrasekhar said VPN service providers that did not want to adhere to the guidelines were free to leave India.

The government is, however, more flexible to the needs of the SMEs in adhering to the new directive. This is the second extension in the compliance deadline for SMEs and MSMEs by the ministry.

In June, the ministry decided to provide a breather of 90 days, or until September 25, to all companies after it received representations from SMEs, MSMEs, data centres, VPS, VPN, and cloud service providers that they needed more time to build capacity.

Sources in the IT ministry said that though larger companies and VPN providers have complied with the directive, some SMEs and MSMEs have cited a lack of adequate human resources to comply with the cybersecurity norms.

One problem that we have been made aware of several times is that there is a lack of cost-effective human resources in the country, a senior government official said. Some of the other requirements, such as maintaining data for three years, is also adding to their operational cost. While it is difficult to relax these norms, we have given additional time and will meet them to figure out a solution.

On May 18, the IT ministry came out with a set of FAQs on the Cert-In guidelines, during which it clarified certain aspects of how the six-hour norm would work, along with the details that the VPN service providers would have to keep for five years.
SAP Concur, the worlds leading brand for integrated travel, expense, and invoice management solutions, has appointed Kumar Gaurav Gupta as VP & Country Manager for the Indian subcontinent. Kumar, who has more than 20 years experience, will lead the business with responsibility for strategic planning, development, and execution with a customer-first approach.

SAP Concur serves more than 52,000 customers in over 150 countries, including over 75% of Fortune 100 and 500 companies, helping more than 81 million end-users to book travel and process expenses.

With more than a decade of experience with SAP in various roles, Kumar will now focus on collaborating with SAP Concurs customer base to drive their digital transformation journeys across expense, travel, and invoicing. Prior to SAP, Kumar was a business consultant advising customers on strategic priorities and has been an entrepreneur himself in the field of education.

Excited about his new role, Kumar said, I feel honoured to take this role at such an exciting time, with buoyant economic conditions and positive sentiments around business travel. We at SAP Concur are confident that India has the strong fundamentals to continue our growth trajectory. Our focus is to address our customers business challenges in the most sustainable and innovative ways. I am proud and grateful to the SAP Concur team for this consideration.

On the appointment, Matt Goss, SVP and GM APJ & Greater China SAP Concur, said: We believe Kumar has extensive experience working with our customers, partners, and ecosystem to lead SAP Concurs business in India. We at SAP Concur are committed to sustainability led growth across our portfolio and, as we support our customers digital transformation, Kumars leadership will be pivotal to our continued growth. He brings strong operational rigour, strategic competence, and a proven track record of bringing together diverse teams towards our larger business goals. He will help us to continue to deliver in India, which is one of the most diverse and exciting markets for us.

Kumar, who assumed the role on October 3, holds an undergraduate degree from Delhi College of Engineering and postgraduate degree from Indian Institute of Management, Indore. He is known for his authentic and transparent leadership style and is well respected in the industry for leading innovation in technology and next generation businesses.
India has pitched for a new engagement group to fuel the growth of startups across the G-20 countries.

A top government official believes that the growth of startups, globally, is curtailed due to several challenges including availability of funds, proper guidance and policy support.

''To deliberate on such issues, India has proposed a new engagement group...Startup-20 under India's G-20 presidency,'' Secretary of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Anurag Jain said.

India has also called for G-20 countries to adopt open source and inter-operable platforms like UPI and Aadhaar to promote inclusive digitisation across the world.

Jain said knowledge, innovation, and sustainability have emerged as the new age drivers of economic growth.

India has created a host of open-source public digital infrastructure such as CoWIN platform, Aadhaar, financial inclusion programmes, and UPI interface.

''G-20 should work towards creating and adopting guiding principles for such open source and inter-operable platforms and standards to promote inclusive digitisation across the world,'' he said.

Jain was addressing B20 Indonesia Global Dialogue, organised by industry chamber CII.

Indonesia assumed the presidency of the Group of Twenty (G20) this year. It also chairs the Business 20 or B20 forum. It is G-20's primary engagement group comprising business sectors from around the member countries. India will hold the presidency of the G20 in 2023.

Jain added that India has created GIS (geographic information system) based PM GatiShakti planning and decision support system for integrated infrastructure development.

''This has more than 1,500 layers providing details of land, forest, mines and existing and planned infrastructure like roads. This has completely changed the way the infrastructure projects are planned and implemented in India,'' he said.

Speaking at the event, India's G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant said the forum should drive economic growth and financial progress across the world.

The world is facing several challenges due the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine and it has deep implications on food and energy security, he said adding the G-20 members must discuss all these issues irrespective of the conflict and arrive at certain principles to take the world forward.

''It is important because by the time India takes over the presidency of G-20, global growth will be impacted and there is no other forum other than G-20 to drive the global growth,'' Kant said.

G-20 is a grouping of developed and developing nations which accounts for 85 per cent of global GDP, 78 per cent of global trade, and two-thirds of global population.

''So to my mind, there is no other grouping in the world other than G-20 which can actually take on progressive decision making for the global economy and for the crisis that we are in,'' he said.

He added that the grouping needs to talk about sustainable growth for all.

Kant also regretted that the developed world is not living up to its commitment of providing climate finance.

Timely, fair and adequate finance by the developed world is key and commitments made by them should be fulfilled, he added.

Further, Kant advocated for reforms in global institutions like the World Bank and IMF.

Such institutions ''need to be the institutions for climate finance...They do not provide blended finance,'' he said adding ''they need to be restructured''.
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Welcome to your five-minute recap of the trading day, and how the experts saw it.

The numbers: The Australian sharemarket finished flat on Thursday, erasing the mornings gains to end 4.9 points, or 0.07 per cent, down to 6642.6.

Financial stocks again lifted the market, adding another 1.4 per cent to Wednesdays gains. Consumer discretionary was the only other sector to finish higher, with real estate the biggest drag, falling 1.9 per cent.

The lifters: Qantas shares soared 8.7 per cent after the airline flagged it would return to profit by years end; transport operator Kelsian Group up 6.3 per cent; and Westpac up 2.95 per cent as the big four banks rallied.

The laggards: Health insurer NIB shed 12 per cent after completing a $135 million institutional placement; GrainCorp down 6.3 per cent; and lithium player Allkem down 4.1 per cent.

The lowdown: A rally from the banks helped limit losses on the ASX on Thursday as investors await CPI data from the US. The big four banks all gained ground again.

Financial stocks were helping lift the ASX on Thursday. Credit:Nick Moir

Craig Sidney, senior investment adviser at Shaw and Partners, said there was renewed interest in the banks after BoQs results, while the broader market was awaiting US CPI data overnight and US quarterly results, which will begin to filter through this week.

The markets really waiting for the CPI read out of the US tonight, he said. Thatll set the scene for tomorrow, those figures and how the market reacts to them.

Qantas shares soared by 8.7 per cent after the airline revealed in a trading update it expected to be back in profit by the end of the year.

Read more here.
Bali bombing survivor appalled by memorial

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My phone pings. A friend request from the guy I went on a date with. I feel a sense of dread as I flick through his photos. My shoulders tense and rise to my ears before I let out a sigh of relief  he has friends of colour.

The older I get, the more I find myself scanning the crowd to find faces like mine. Children of immigrants, those with a mixed heritage and third culture kids. We gravitate towards each other with a sense of solidarity, even if our cultures are vastly different. It feels good to know we have shared experiences, from being familiar with the feeling that you have to assimilate to whiteness, to knowing to remove your shoes before you enter a house.

In a multicultural society, why is it that large social groups are made up of white people only. Credit:Michael Mucci

Being half white and growing up in a very Anglo-Saxon suburb, this hasnt always been the case. In high school, I clung to my white privilege as it allowed me to laugh off comments like youre not really Asian or you dont count.

In an attempt to show us what other cultures looked like, our school even took a busload of teenage girls to Footscray to see how refugees and migrants live. I remember the squeals and grimaces at the markets as we walked past skinned ducks and ox tongue. Tiny noses being turned up at the sight of lunch.
If you were a British TV broadcaster, who would you choose to do a piece on recycled fishing nets? asks Allan Gibson of Cherrybrook. According to a package aired on ABC News on Tuesday, the reporter who netted the gig was none other than one Jonah Fisher.

There may be two Seppo Rankis (C8) in the world, but I believe my daughter is the only Myf Saboisky, contests Robyn Lewis of Raglan. And then there is the authorship debate over Shakespeares plays and the compelling theory that they were not, in fact, written by William Shakespeare, but by someone with the same name, adds David Grant of Ballina.

Jock Brodie of Port Macquarie also continues to play the name game: To all those train commuters who received unsolicited caricatures from me with the comment, If you keep this until I am famous it could be worth millions, I regret that a mention in C8 does not seem to have resulted in a significant increase in the value. I am sorry you have been waiting so long.

Having worked with Julian Neylan (C8) for many years, I can vouch for the fact that our PM two back did bear an uncanny resemblance to him, attests Robert Silvestrini of Fairfield West. The only marked difference was that Julian held his job much longer than said PM.

Andy and Kirsty Spate of Kingston (Tas) were driving down the east coast of Tasmania last week, and we encountered a sign saying Wye River on a bridge with a handwritten sign underneath that said, Coz its Bigger Than a Creek. It would appear the bridge is a target for wordy wisenheimers. In 2013, Barbara Curtis of Manly told us that the amendment to the Wye Creek bridge read Because its Not a River! and in 2016, John Ellis of Westleigh reported it as saying Because its Smaller than a River.
The Ruby Princess did not implement obvious health precautions such as mask-wearing or social distancing on its ill-fated cruise in March 2020 despite hundreds of people testing positive for COVID-19 on other cruises, a barrister has told the Federal Court.

Susan Karpik and her husband, Henry, were among 2600 passengers who boarded the cruise on March 8 when it departed Sydney for a voyage to New Zealand. The trip was cut short when Australia announced pandemic restrictions, with the vessel arriving back in Sydney on March 19.

The Ruby Princess pictured on arrival in Circular Quay on March 19, 2020. Credit:Kate Geraghty

Henry Karpik began to feel unwell on the ship and was admitted to intensive care at Wollongong Hospital on March 21 with COVID-19. He was intubated, ventilated and placed in a medically induced coma.

Doctors initially estimated that Karpik had one to three days to live, while his wife of 50 years was unable to visit him because she was required to isolate. He survived after being in a coma for about four weeks.
The brother of NSW Deputy Premier and Police Minister Paul Toole has been arrested and charged in Newcastle for his alleged role in a drug supply syndicate operating across the Central Coast and Hunter regions.

Joshua Toole, 38, was one of four people arrested on Wednesday morning after a six-month investigation into the supply of methylamphetamine, known as ice, by the drug and firearms squad.

Joshua Toole, brother of NSW Deputy Premier Paul Toole. Credit:Facebook

He has been charged with supplying a large commercial quantity of a prohibited drug; knowingly directing activities of a criminal group; participating in a criminal group and contributing to criminal activity, and five counts of supply prohibited drugs on an ongoing basis.

He was refused bail and will appear at Newcastle Local Court on Thursday.
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton, having served for nearly three years as the public face and key adviser to Victorias response to COVID-19, was not consulted on the decision to lift the states pandemic declaration.

At 11.59pm on Wednesday the current pandemic declaration expires, signalling the end of Victorias emergency response to the virus. Government sources confirmed that advice prepared by the states public health team to inform this decision was neither sought nor considered by Premier Daniel Andrews.

Victorian Chief Heath Officer Brett Sutton was not consulted on the decision to lift the pandemic declaration. Credit:Simon Schluter

In response to questions from The Age about the premiers decision not to seek Suttons advice, a government spokesman referred to a separate decision agreed to by national cabinet to end mandatory isolation for COVID cases.

That decision, based on the advice of Australias Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly, removed one of the few remaining public health orders in Victoria which requires a pandemic declaration to have legal force.
A former police prosecutor has appeared in court charged with secretly recording a 13-year-old girl and a woman undressing, and distributing videos of the woman to other men.

Simon Luebbers, 44, is alleged to have secretly filmed the woman on seven occasions over a five-year period, hiding recording devices in two locations where she was showering.

He is also accused of secretly filming the teen undressing and producing three videos that he allegedly stored on his mobile phone.

Flanked by his parents and a number of supporters, Luebbers wept on Wednesday as Magistrate Luisa Bazzani noted he had lost his job and damaged his reputation as a result of the allegations.
A Perth man has been charged with manslaughter over a bush fire explosion which killed a 23-year-old man who had gone to inspect the blaze while four-wheel-driving with friends.

Father-to-be Jack Kinneen, of Heathridge, was killed on September 22 while driving on dirt tracks with a group of friends near Pinjar shortly after midnight.

WA Police deputy commissioner Allan Adams said the victim did not know the person who lit the fire, and that it was just tragic happenstance that he went to inspect it.

As Jack was walking towards it, the gas cylinder exploded and a fragment of that has hit him and hes passed away, he told Radio 6PR.
Mechanics biggest selling drink is the Tommys Margarita, a take on the classic without triple sec and sugar and with the addition of agave as the sweetener. Mezcal has already overtaken tequila in terms of sales as customers try it and love it, Walsh said. Other trends on their way to WA this year include fresh juice-based cocktails. Barmen are juicing everything they can lay their hands on at the moment and producing fresh, vibrant cocktails, Walsh says. I dont really know why, but post-COVID, customers have become more interested and adventurous in the cocktails they order. Its a great time to be making drinks. Lachlan Howarth, the general manager (and a damn fine cocktail maker) of the Sneakers and Jeans hospitality group agrees.

Our guests are more experimental now. Theyre trying spirits they may have previously shied away from, Howarth said. Lachlan Howarth knows how to mix a magnificent drink. Credit:Rob Broadfield And yes, spritzes are big this year. Howarth, who looks after some of the citys top bars including the Flour Factory, Varnish On King, Pirate Life, Crush bar, Honey and Hadiqa, says people want more fun with their drinks, but theyre very attuned to quality ingredients. Theyre engaging more with sour, salty savoury flavours and fresh fruit juices. Were using syrups now which are not the sugar bombs they used to be. Theyre lean and fruity and aromatic with good botanicals.

A case in point is one of the finest cocktails being made in Perth, the Daisys Delight at Honey bar. Its bittersweet and sour, fairly jumping out of its skin with fresh lemon, pisco, Aperol and apricot cinnamon liquor shaken with egg whites. Howarth says the classics are still in vogue this year, despite punters searching out new flavours and spirits they may not have approached before. At his Varnish Bar the whisky sour is still our number one seller. Howarth, who made arguably the finest Sazerac in town back when he was shaking the tins for a living, says theres a big demand for the classics at the King Street whisky bar, the first of its kind in Perth. He says Perth drinkers have never been more willing to go out on a limb and try new drinks. The classics with a twist are increasingly popular. Credit:Rob Broadfield

This summer, thanks largely to a more adventurous customer base keen to try new things, sours, spritzes, fresh fruit, bold aromatics, acidic and very savoury cocktails will be in huge demand. Our Top Five cocktails in Perth Sazerac. Varnish On King, Perth. When you order ask for the half-and-half version which uses half a measure each of rye whisky and cognac rather than the more common, all rye version most bar tenders will make. East Eight Holdup. Mechanics Institute, Northbridge. A boldly flavoured, well-balanced blend of Aperol, lime juice, vanilla and vodka. A proper modern classic. The Night Bazaar, Long Chim, Perth. Something so simple has no right to be this delicious. A blend of pineapple, lemongrass, coconut and agave, the Night Bazaar is puckeringly sour, but with good sweetness and subtle flavour. Long Chim has one of the most inventive bars in Perth. Daisys Delight. Honey Bar, Perth. This is a classic shaken sour. It uses pisco, the South American rocket fuel, instead of whisky. Perfection. Espresso Martini, Nieuw Ruin, Fremantle. No, its not the hens night drink you may be used to. Its the real deal with a slight undercurrent of amaro to make it righteous and very adult. How to get your cocktail on: Rob Broadfield explains Australia is punching above its weight in terms of cocktail consumption and first-rate cocktail makers. And thats not hyperbole. Americans have been drinking cocktails in even the most divey of dive bars for well over a century, while just 20 years ago in Australia, anyone who drank a cocktail was seen as effete, a bit suss or someone who loved show tunes and wallpaper catalogues. Our enthusiastic embrace of cocktail culture in the past two decades has been nothing short of remarkable. Weve gone from watery pub gin and tonics to the modern classic Penicillin in less than a generation.

Loading Heres your basic guide to cocktail drinking. Rule number one: any bar that can produce a classic three ingredient cocktail and do it well, is a place to start your drinking adventures. The classics may be scant on ingredients, but they are notoriously difficult to get right. So, any bar that can crank out a respectable classic, is going to be good at just about any drink they shake or stir. In Perth that means Varnish on King, Mechanics Institute, Bobeche, Foxtrot Unicorn, Songbird, Sneaky Tonys, Nieuw Ruin and 399 Small Bar. Then there are restaurant bars like Wildflower, Long Chim, Santini and Rockpool which also hit it out of the park. For serious drinkers, the go-to three ingredient old timers include Manhattan, Negroni, Sazerac, Gimlet, Martini, Whisky Sour and the Old Fashioned. Most of these were designed in the mid-1800s and early 1900s by bitters manufacturers like Peychaud, Angostura and Bokers as a marketing tool to sell their health enhancing tinctures.

And then theres the spinoffs: drinks like our favourite martini, the Gibson, any number of bourbon and rye-based variants of the Old Fashioned and, late to the cocktail party, 1800s British and European drinks like the Pimms Cup, Vesper, Collins and Pink Gin. In more recent times sours (any cocktail with egg white) and spritzes, have taken off in Perth. The Spritz to look out for this year is the Select Spritz which replaces Aperol with Select, a fruit and herb-based liquor from Venice with a flavour somewhere between the lolly-pop scent of Aperol and the bitter, herbal Campari. Venetians will tell you it pre-dates Aperol Spritz by several decades. It is, in our estimation, the best Spritz you can drink. Fixing drinks at Merchanics Institute. Credit:Jessica Wyld Then there are the modern classics, the serious drinks for serious drinkers which utilise house-made syrups and bitters, teamed with fruit and spice syrups and shrubs (a reduced fruit, sugar and vinegar syrup). Tequila and gin are leading the charge in this new space, but dark spirits drinkers are not left out with rum cocktails like the Jolly Roger and the coffee-scented Nightcap. Speaking of coffee, one final thought. Is the espresso martini, a martini? Or a coffee flavoured vodka drink? Whatever your view, its a fast track to pants-down table dancing and lascivious behaviour. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but you have been warned.
Western Australias nurses union has voted to support industrial action and increased its pay demands in the latest escalation of its dispute with the state government.

Busloads of nurses and midwives from as far afield as Bunbury poured in to almost fill the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centres 2500-capacity Riverside Theatre on Wednesday for the Australian Nursing Federations mass meeting of members.

Nurses and midwives arrive at the Perth Convention Centre on Wednesday. Credit:Cameron Myles

On the agenda was a list of resolutions including pay rises of 5 per cent a year, plus top-up payments to account for inflation, and an immediate $3000 cost of living payment to public sector nurses and midwives.

This was increased to 10 per cent yearly pay rises and a $4500 payment following presentations from members, who argued the workers gathered deserved more given the lack of staffing and ongoing strain on the states healthcare system.
The length of the Bruce Lehrmann trial is slated to halve after the prosecution told the ACT Supreme Court judge hearing the case they were running much ahead of schedule.

Former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins, who has accused Lehrmann of raping her, will return to court on Friday after she was unavailable to continue her evidence on Monday.

Brittany Higgins will return to court on Friday. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Crown prosecutor Shane Drumgold told Chief Justice Lucy McCallum in front of the jury on Wednesday the case was moving much ahead of schedule, I expect that we will close our case in the first half of next week.

He said the prosecution expected to bring on more witnesses on Monday and Tuesday. McCallum then told the jury the trial had likely moved from an estimated four to six weeks, to three.
Why not Ruby the Koala or Ruby the Wombat to sell Australia to international tourists? Because a kangaroo is the most Australian thing you could use, a former Tourism Australia boss says.

Ruby the Kangaroo was launched in Japan on Tuesday, part of Tourism Australias new Come and Say GDay campaign to entice international visitors back after two years of pandemic travel disruptions.

Trade Minister Don Farrell launched the new Tourism Australia campaign in Japan on Wednesday. Credit:Christopher Jue

John OSullivan, former managing director of Tourism Australia, said the organisation would have done plenty of research that pointed to a kangaroo being the most iconic emblem of our country.

The koala is obviously native as well, but the kangaroo is universally known, he said.
Power prices are set to keep rising to a point where market intervention against gas companies will become inevitable, an energy expert is warning, as one union official called the Labor governments recent attempt to alleviate the gas crunch plaguing eastern Australia a dud deal.

Australian Workers Union national secretary Dan Walton said Labors heads of agreement deal, where gas producers promised to fill a forecast shortfall in the local market, would do nothing to reduce sky high prices charged by gas production companies currently making insane super profits.

Pressure is mounting on the Albanese government to intervene in the gas market and lower energy prices for companies and households. Credit:Reuters

Higher energy costs loom as a major political risk for the government, which has promised to cut power bills by $275 by 2025 and to grow manufacturing with a $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund.

But a global energy crunch has driven up sharply the cost of natural gas, which has a significant influence on electricity bills that have risen on average $300, or 25 per cent since April and are set to keep rising well into next year.
Internal conflict has erupted at one of the states biggest hospitals after doctors penned a damning letter describing deteriorating care, which they say has reached a crisis point.

The letter from 12 specialists at Newcastles John Hunter Hospital to management last month said resourcing was so bad clinicians were being forced to make daily decisions that seriously compromised patient care.

John Hunter Hospital is the next biggest hospital between Sydney and Queensland. Credit:Kate Geraghty

There is grossly inadequate bed capacity, dangerously inadequate critical care capacity and inadequate urgent theatre access, said the letter, seen by the Herald. The compromise to clinical care is now in a state that we can no longer ignore it, and it would be ethically wrong for us to stay silent.

This has reached a crisis point ... we now are obliged to act.
They cannot actually vote, but they can vote with their feet, says Alfred Wu a professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore and an expert on the political economy of Greater China. The middle class that can is quietly starting to leave or planning to leave. In Japan, British schools Malvern College, Rugby, and Harrow, famed for educating royals and members of parliament, are setting up campuses to cater to high-end Chinese demand. In Malaysia, the number of Chinese student applications has doubled. In Europe, there has been a rush on Chinese applications, to Greece, after the government announced it would double the cost of an investment visa from $380,000 to $760,000. Across Southeast Asia, but particularly in Singapore, Chinese buyers are dominating the market for properties worth more than $5 million - making up 20 per cent of sales so far in 2022. International schools in Singapore are receiving a lot of inquiries, not just from Hong Kong, but from the mainland, Wu said. In some cases, Chinese parents are enrolling their children in Singaporean schools and pay tens of thousands of dollars in fees to secure a place before getting out of the country. More than 100,000 Hong Kong residents applied for a British National Overseas visa in 2021 and China remains Canadas second-largest source of permanent migrants.

Joe Jin, who owned a baby product online shop in China says he had been considering migrating to Canada for the past decade but circumstances this year forced his hand. What made me actually take action is the further education of my elder son who will enter high school this year and the bleak prospects of my own business, says the 45-year-old, who has moved on a student visa and begun work as a courier. He misses home but does not regret his decision. Immigration brings a huge change in lifestyle and sometimes loneliness, he says. In Australia, the most recent set of Department of Home Affairs data shows that China once again became Australias largest source of permanent migrants in 2020-21, topping India for the first time in the past five years with 22,207 places.

Zheng Guo, an international steel trader, is now considering a move to Australia despite the ongoing geopolitical tensions between the two countries and his concerns about COVID-fuelled racial discrimination in Australia. Doing international trade requires lots of travel and visas. However, as foreign countries do not recognise the Chinese vaccine, I have to take prolonged quarantine, at my own expense, says Zheng. Another reason is to provide a better educational environment for my son, who will enter middle school this year. Educational opportunities have always been a key reason for middle-class and wealthy Chinese families to go abroad to both give their kids a better chance at attending prestigious universities and minimise the pressures of gaokao - Chinas high-stakes university entrance exams. But under COVID-19 they have also become an excuse to get out of a country that has maintained strict control over passports throughout the pandemic. China has not opened yet and many people are hoping to go out, but the Chinese government has been issuing few passports, says Jack Zhang an immigration consultant based in Shenzhen.

Zhang says the number of passports issued in China in the first half of 2021 was only 2 per cent of the same period in 2019. Today, its almost impossible to get a passport for visiting family or tourism but studying abroad or doing business is relatively easy, he says. Chinese people living overseas live a free life, like many of my friends who live abroad. However, inside China, we are in a closed state, not that free, such as in Shenzhen, as soon as there was an outbreak, it was locked down. Outside the Canadian visa centre in Beijing in September more than a dozen people were standing in a queue waiting to see if they would be allowed to leave.

Im planning to visit family members in Canada, says one woman who asks to be identified due to the political sensitivities of travel. The most difficult part of international travel is to get a Chinese passport because it is not issued regularly in recent years due to COVID-19. Getting money out of the country is also tricky. Chinese migrants have to establish bank accounts overseas, and then transfer their Chinese yuan into an exchange account run by another company. The exchange company then holds the yuan and transfers the equivalent foreign currency from a foreign exchange bank account to get around Chinese government restrictions on transferring money across borders. Xi Jinping is expected to be awarded an historic third term. Credit:AP On Chinese social media services Weibo and WeChat run xue or run philosophy went viral in May, as residents in Shanghai grappled with food shortages and millions were sealed in their apartment blocks. But even as some of those pressures have eased, immigration agents say demand for a way out has continued to grow. Some are resorting to extreme measures. In August, CNN followed 33-year-old Wang Qun as he made his way to the United States. The bubble tea shop owner got his passport by applying for a language school in Ecuador, flew to the capital Quito, caught a bus for 1600 kilometres to Colombia, took a boat across to Panama, spent three days hiking through the Panamanian jungle, made it through Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Guatemala before scrambling across the US-Mexico border. He was one of the dozens following instructions in an online forum on how to immigrate illegally from China to America.

In the years after Xi Jinping came to power, Chinas policies have become tighter and tighter, the economy is not doing great  and (his) dictatorship is only getting worse, Wang told CNN. More than 2000 Chinese Communist Party members will gather for a week from Sunday to anoint Xi as General Secretary for a third term where they could also name him as either Chairman or Peoples Leader and elevate him alongside Mao Zedong in the pantheon of Chinese leaders. Xi has ruthlessly pursued COVID-zero more than any other world leader, turning an impossible task into a personal test for both him and the Chinese people. Loading Fences once again encircled neighbourhoods in Shanghai on Monday and staff were locked inside restaurants. Mobile units have been installed on sidewalks to carry away close contacts to quarantine, dashing hopes of any real easing of restrictions before the end of this year. We must remain vigilant against the spread of the epidemic, increase our confidence and patience in our countrys epidemic prevention and control policies, Chinese government-controlled media outlet Peoples Daily said in an editorial on Tuesday.
Australia should not hesitate to increase its support for Ukraine after Russian President Vladimir Putin raised the stakes in his war with missile attacks on playgrounds, parks, power stations and other civilian targets.

As French President Emmanuel Macron noted, Mondays attacks on Ukrainian cities marked a turning point  a profound change  in the nature of Russias war on Ukraine. The cruel murder of civilians in the streets is deplorable. Putins escalation of merciless attacks on civilians has further deepened Ukraines need for Australian military aid.

Crowds rallied in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Hobart on Tuesday in solidarity with Ukraine and its President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has called for an increase in international support.

In a tweet sent on Tuesday night (AEST) Zelensky said he had informed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese about Russias missile terror, noting the importance of Australias security assistance and calling for it to be strengthened.

In July, the Australian government announced it would provide an extra $100 million for military assistance to Ukraine, including 20 more Bushmaster vehicles, taking Australias military assistance to more than $385 million. While the assistance is welcome, this commitment is far less than Australias annual help for Afghanistan.
The person most likely to own Twitter next month has proposed solving the war in Ukraine by letting Russia keep territory, won praise from a top Chinese diplomat for suggesting China take control of Taiwan, and welcomed a widely followed celebrity back to Twitter who had just had his Instagram account suspended for threatening Jews - all within the past week.

Billionaire industrialist Elon Musks moves have heightened alarm about what he will do with Twitter, which he has faulted for being too restrictive about legal but false or hateful speech.

Elon Musk: in touch with Vladimir Putin. Credit:AP

Since autocrats already use the platform to spread lies about opponents and whip up violence and mayhem, Musks pursuit of approval from two of the most powerful is especially unnerving.

Its a very good illustration as to why it would be a disaster if Musk does come to own Twitter, said Paul Barrett, deputy director of New York Universitys Stern Centre for Business and Human Rights. You could have provocations, whether engineered by Musk himself or by others, that could have global implications.
PHILIPSBURG:--- The Department of Legal Affairs & Legislation hosted lectures and workshops on the topic of Mediation, focusing on such mediation skills as active listening, asking open questions, questioning, and postponing your judgment.

The workshop was held on Thursday, October 6, 2022, in Conference room 1 of the Government Administration Building, where there were attendants from different areas of the Government and the High Councils of State.

Pien Hoogenboom, Head of Mediation & Training, at The Lime Tree, gave the workshops.

Hoogenboom pointed out that Every working place, and therefore everyone working with people, has conflicts. And even though we see encounters/engagements as part of life, it can benefit employees greatly if they have a certain skillset to address particular situations at hand. Instead of seeking legal advice, many situations can be resolved or at least greatly improved by using mediation skills, which can be seen as a set of communication skills specifically designed to solve mutually agreeable outcomes.

In addition, there are the benefits for the Government organization, according to the organizer, Ramona Ismail, LL.M, of the Department Legal Affairs & Legislation.

Government employees have to deal with a wide range of issues. With mediation skills, they can handle certain situations more confidently, efficiently, and effectively when facing situations that could be ambiguous, questionable, or tricky. Civil servants can use these mediation skills in encounters that will result in better outcomes said Ramona, Legal Policy Advisor.

Mediation in general is about in the end coming to a solution that is sustainable, regarding mundane to crisis or conflict situations. There is a process and building up of the communication relationship in order to arrive at a situation where progress can be made that is ultimately beneficial to the most degree to both or all parties.

The Department JZ&W is thankful that Mrs. Pien Hoogenboom have given the workshops on the Legal Platform.
Osisko Announces Record Preliminary Q3 2022 Deliveries, Revenues and Cash Margin

Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd (the aCorporationa or aOsiskoa) (OR: TSX & NYSE  https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/osisko-gold-royalties-ltd/ ) is pleased to provide an update on its third quarter 2022 deliveries, revenues, cash margin and recent asset advancements for its royalty and stream segment.

PRELIMINARY Q3 2022 RESULTS

Osisko earned approximately 23,850 attributable gold equivalent ounces1 (aGEOsa) in the third quarter of 2022, record deliveries for the Corporation since inception in 2014. Osisko recorded preliminary revenues from royalties and streams of C$53.7 million during the third quarter and preliminary cost of sales (excluding depletion) of C$4.4A million, resulting in a record quarterly cash margin2 of approximately C$49.3 million (or 92%).

During the third quarter, Osisko purchased for cancellation a total of 1.3 million common shares for C$16.5 million (average acquisition price per share of C$12.77) under its NCIB program.

Sandeep Singh, President and CEO of Osisko, commented: aWe are delighted to have experienced another quarter of record deliveries, revenues and cash margin in Q3. These records were achieved despite the Eagle mine still working towards steady-state production, the gold price averaging US$142 per ounce lower quarter over quarter, and a meaningfully higher gold-silver price ratio used to convert silver deliveries into GEOs. The higher gold-silver price ratio, which has since subsided somewhat, decreased GEOs earned by approximately 850 ounces in the third quarter versus expectations. We believe our assets have the ability to end the year on a continued upswing and meet the low end of our guidance, with further increases from core assets expected in 2023.

Further, we are pleased to welcome Mr. Rob Krcmarov to our Board of Directors. This is in keeping with our board renewal process, with six new additions to the board since the start of 2020. Rob adds unparalleled expertise in geology and mining transactions with relationships and asset knowledge around the globe. He will be an invaluable asset to the Corporation.a

Osisko will provide full production and financial details with the release of its third quarter 2022 results after market close on Wednesday, November 9th, 2022 followed by a conference call on Thursday, November 10th at 10am ET. More details are provided at the end of this release.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS APPOINTMENT

Osisko is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Rob Krcmarov to its Board of Directors. Mr.A Krcmarov is a renowned international mining executive with over 32 years of experience in the natural resources sector.A Mr.A Krcmarov recently retired as Executive Vice President of Exploration and Growth for Barrick Gold Corporation (aBarricka). During his tenure at Barrick, he progressed through several senior positions from 1988 to 2021, and built an exceptional skillset in global exploration spanning across five continents and more than 20 countries.

Mr.A Krcmarov holds a Bachelor of Science, University of Adelaide (1986), an Honours Degree, University of Adelaide (1987) and a Master of Economic Geology, University of Tasmania (1995). He was co-recipient of the PDACa?s Thayer Lindsley award for International Mineral Discovery of the year in 2014.

PORTFOLIO UPDATE

Canadian Malartic Update

On July 27th, Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (aAgnico Eaglea) reported that underground development and surface construction activities were progressing on schedule, with initial pre-commercial production at Odyssey expected near the end of the first quarter of 2023. On August 11th, Agnico Eagle reported that during the first half of 2022, 685 meters of underground development and 2,622 meters of lateral development had been completed. The ramp has now reached a depth of 380 meters below surface.

The Canadian Malartic Partnership has budgeted $23.8 million for 136,800 meters of exploration and conversion drilling in 2022.A Twenty drills are active, with four underground drills completing infill drilling on the Odyssey South deposit, twelve surface drills focused on infilling and expanding the East Gouldie deposit and four drills active in regional exploration. Recent drilling has extended the East Gouldie deposit to the west by approximately 225A meters and to the east at depth by approximately 500 meters to more than 1,700 meters from the current mineral resources outline.

A recent exploration highlight is hole MEX22-231, which returned 1.8 g/t gold over 62.9 meters at 1,580 meters depth in the western extension of the East Gouldie deposit approximately 225 meters west of the current mineral resources outline. This intercept is approximately halfway between the East Gouldie deposit and the Norrie Zone to the west and shows the potential for East Gouldie to connect with other mineral inventories in the Norrie and South Sladen mineralized zones that are not yet classified as mineral resources (Figure 1).

During a recent mining conference in Colorado, Yamana Gold Inc.a?s Executive Chairman expressed the belief that the Odyssey Mine has the strategic potential to produce 1 million ounces of gold per year with a mine life that is expected to continue into the 2040a?s and beyond, establishing it as one of the top precious metals mines globally.

Mantos Blancos Update (100% Silver Stream)

In August, Capstone Copper Corp. (aCapstonea) announced that it had committed to the Copper Mark at its Mantos Blancos mine in Chile.A The Copper Mark is an assurance framework to promote responsible production practices and demonstrate the industrya?s commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The Mantos Blancos Concentrator Debottlenecking Project is ramping up to design capacity and expected to achieve targeted throughput rates and recoveries in Q3 2022.A A feasibility study analyzing the potential to expand throughput from 7.3M tpa to 10.0M tpa is expected to be completed in Q4 2022.A

Victoria Gold Updates (5% NSR Royalty)

On October 4th, Victoria Gold Corp. (aVictoriaa) reported lower than expected Q3 production of 50,028 gold ounces as Victoria continues to work towards steady state throughput levels. On September 29th, the 1.5 kilometers overland conveyor that delivers ore from the crushing plant to the heap leach facility experienced a failure whichA requires replacement of the belt. Victoria anticipates that crushing, conveying and stacking operations will be down between 2 to 3 weeks. If not for the conveyor belt failure, the mine was on track to meet the lower end of its guidance.

On September 7th, Victoria reported drill results expanding the Eagle deposit to the west of the existing pit. Highlights included 72.3 meters of 1.14A g/t gold and 240.3 meters of 0.63A g/t gold. The meaningful intervals of continuous Eagle-style gold mineralization along strike of the Eagle deposit have added over 500 meters of mineralized strike length from the Eagle pit boundary. This yeara?s drill results are expected to be included in an updated Eagle Gold Mineral Resource in Q1 2023.

On September 15th, Victoria reported a maiden resource on the Raven deposit located 15 kilometers from the Eagle Gold Mine. The Inferred resource includes 20 million tonnes of 1.67 g/t gold for 1.07 million ounces defined within an open pit scenario (Figure 2). Victoria initiated its 2022 Dublin Gulch exploration program in late May and currently has four drills on site with over 20,000 meters of drilling in 76 holes completed. This campaign is heavily focused on Raven where the footprint of mineralized intercepts has been extended approximately 325 meters east of the extents defined by the 2021 drilling.

Lamaque (1% NSR Royalty)

On October 3rd, Eldorado Gold Corporation (aEldoradoa) released an exploration update, including results at Lamaque. Resource expansion drilling at Ormaque has totaled over 16 kilometers this year. Drilling has identified both extensions to known mineralized zones and new zones outside the current resources. Notable results include 2.0 meters at 30.6 g/t gold, corresponding to a 50 meter step-out from the current resource, 1.75 meters at 16.8A g/t gold, a 270 meter step out to the west of the current resources and 4.0 meters at 13.2 g/t gold, representing a new mineralized lens approximately 180 meters below the current resource.

The Ormaque exploration drift project was completed on schedule in early July, providing underground platforms for further drilling of the deposit. Resource conversion drilling from the drift commenced in June and is expected to include approximately 28 kilometers of drilling to be completed during the remainder of 2022 and 2023, targeting the upper two-thirds of the Ormaque deposit. Partial results will be incorporated in the companya?s 2023 Mineral Reserve and Mineral Resource update.

CSA Transaction Update

On September 6th, Metals Acquisition Corp. (aMACa) announced that it had received approval from the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board (aFIRBa) of its proposed acquisition of the CSA Copper Mine in New South Wales, Australia. MAC is in the process of completing the necessary regulatory reporting requirements and associated financing arrangements to conclude the acquisition.

Osisko Bermuda Limited (aOBLa), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Corporation, has entered into an agreement with MAC with respect to a silver stream to facilitate MACa?s acquisition of the CSA mine. Closing of the silver stream is subject to, among other things, MAC securing sufficient financing to close the acquisition.

Osisko Development Corp. Updates

Osisko Development Corp. (aODVa) started an Environmental Assessment Process in the spring of 2019 for the Cariboo Gold Project (aCaribooa). Cariboo has completed several milestones with regards to permitting and receipt of the EA Certificate is anticipated in the first quarter of 2023. A feasibility study for the project is due for completion by the end of 2022.

Test mining continues at the Trixie mine in Utah, with 703 samples collected this year within the T2 and T4 structures across a combined strike length of 200 meters. Some of the high grade highlights include 2,724 g/t Au and 215 g/t Ag over 1.68 meters including 14,883 g/t Au and 1,153 g/t Ag over 0.30 meter. Exploration in 2022 will target potential on T2, T4 structures and stockwork zones. Phase 2 exploration will continue drilling and drifting east of the Trixie mine along T2 structure over a 1-kilometer strike length and extending down to 300 meters of depth.

ODV is targeting an initial resource on Trixie by the end of 2022. The surface decline is expected to be completed by Q2 2023. All permitting is in place and surface access roads and portal face excavation has been completed. The decline will allow mining of T4 material at higher tonnages and continued development of the lower levels of the Trixie mine.

While ODV expects final permits for full scale operation at San Antonio to be granted in the near-term, small-scale gold production from leaching the surface stockpile continues at the project.A On June 30, 2022, ODV announced an initial resource estimate at San Antonio comprising 14.9 million tonnes grading 1.2 g/t gold for 576,000 ounces of gold in the Indicated resource category plus 16.6 million tonnes grading 1.0 g/t gold for 544,000 ounces of gold in the Inferred resource category.A San Antonio has the potential to host an open pit heap leach gold project with low strip; ODV drilled 27,000 meters at the project in 2021 and has identified mineralization over a 10 kilometers strike.

Windfall Resource Update (2-3% NSR Royalty)

On August 30th, Osisko Mining Inc. reported an updated mineral resource estimate. Measured and Indicated resources contained 11.1 million tonnes of 11.4 g/t gold for 4.2 million ounces and Inferred resources of 12.3 million tonnes of 8.4A g/t gold for 3.3 million ounces. Measured and Indicated ounces increased by 26% since the previous estimate and the Lynx deposit now contains 65% of the mineral resources. The third bulk sample has been extracted and transported for testing and results are expected in October. A feasibility study on the Windfall project is expected by year end.

AK Deposit (2% NSR Royalty)

On July 27th, Agnico Eagle reported that an assessment is underway to evaluate the AK deposit as a potential ore source for the Macassa mine. Subject to the study outcome, AK ore could complement the mill feed at Macassa as early as 2024.

The underground ramp at Macassa has been extended by 615 meters year-to-date (of a planned 984 meters exploration drift). Two drills have been active underground with 3,068 meters completed in 24 holes. This drilling was focused on infill drilling of the higher-grade portions of the deposit. Significant intersections returned to date include 14.1 g/t gold over 6.5 meters and 23.9 g/t gold over 2 meters.A A surface drill program is also underway at AK, and two drill rigs completed 10,136 meters in the second quarter of 2022. Results to date have confirmed grade thicknesses in the core of the zone. Drill highlights include 9.0 g/t gold over 9.2 meters and 8.7 g/t gold over 7.6 meters. The surface drilling program is expected to total approximately 17,000 meters and was completed in September 2022.A Agnico Eagle published sections illustrating the location and potential of the AK Zone (FigureA 3 and Figure 4).

Upper Beaver (2% NSR Royalty)

On August 11th, Agnico Eagle reported that the conversion drilling program at Upper Beaver achieved multiple objectives that will benefit the technical evaluation and mineral reserve and resource update expected in 2023.A Among them, the recent drilling filled in gaps in the eastern portion of the Footwall Zone mineralized corridor, located between 800 and 1,000 meters below surface.A Highlight intercepts include 16.7 g/t gold over 7A meters and 12.4 g/t gold over 9 meters. An increase in mineral resources is expected from this newly drilled gap area where no information was previously available. In addition, all drill holes targeting the gap areas of the Footwall Zone provided the opportunity to add drilling intercepts in the main Porphyry Zone highlighted by 5.0 g/t gold over 14.1 meters.

With the resource conversion drilling completed, the focus of drilling at Upper Beaver has shifted outside of the mineral resources footprint to identify areas of potential future growth with two areas already delivering promising results. Approximately 500 meters east of the main Upper Beaver deposit, veining and alteration typical of the mineralization observed at Upper Beaver was intersected and assays returned 3.6 g/t gold and 1.1% copper over 1.2 meters. Follow-up drilling returned 11.3 g/t gold and 0.1% copper over 0.7 meter, and further drilling is underway to assess this new discovery.

New mineralization was also intersected 800 meters north-west of the main Upper Beaver deposit, including 11.5A g/t gold over 5.5 meters and 51.5 g/t gold over 5.2 meters. This mineralization is interpreted as the possible faulted and offset extension of the known North Basalt zone. Exploration drilling is ongoing to define the geometry of this new mineralization (Figure 5).A

Casino (2.75% NSR Royalty)

Western Copper and Gold Corporation (aWRNa) has been active on multiple fronts on the Casino project. A portion of the existing access road is being upgraded with funding of C$130 million from the Federal and Yukon governments. In partnership with Rio Tinto, WRN has completed metallurgical and geotechnical drilling, resource confirmation drilling, soil sampling east and south of the main deposit and 1,600 meters of exploration drilling on new targets. WRN continues to engage with First Nations and community stakeholders to advance Casino towards the submission of an Environmental and Socio-Economic statement in 2023.

Wharekirauponga (WKP) (2% NSR Royalty)

OceanaGold Corporation (aOceanaa) is investing US$10 million in exploration drilling on its highly prospective WKP project and believes the project has the potential to be a Tier 1 asset. WKP currently hosts an Indicated resource of 640koz gold at 13.5 g/t and Inferred resources of 700koz gold at 9.5 g/t. Oceana is aiming to increaseA

kilometers decline to the center of the deposit, enabling mineralized material to be transported to their existing Waihi processing plant 10 kilometers away.

Hermosa Budget Expanded (1% NSR Royalty)

In its 2022 Annual Report, South32 Limited (aSouth32a) highlighted that growth expenditure is expected to increase by US$193 million to US$290 million at the Hermosa project in Arizona. The investment in infrastructure will support critical path dewatering and progress study work for the Taylor Deposit, ahead of a planned final investment decision expected in mid-2023. Following the decision by the United States Government to invoke the Defense Production Act, supporting the production of critical metals including manganese, South32 is looking at options to potentially accelerate the pre-feasibility study for the Clark Deposit.

Patriot Battery Metals (2% NSR Royalty on Lithium)

On August 31st, Patriot Battery Metals (aPatriota) announced some of the strongest lithium mineralized intervals of its drill campaign to date, at the Corvette property in the James Bay Region of QuAbec. Results included 1.65% Li2O over 159.7 meters in hole CV22-042, including 4.12% Li2O over 9.0 meters and 3.07% Li2O over 18 meters. As of August 24th, a total of 15,497 meters over 53 holes had been completed from the 2022 drill campaign and 19 holes are pending assays. The deposit remains open to the east, west and to depth.

ADDITIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

Calibre Mining reported results from their 50 kilometers drill program at the Pan mine including 3.35A g/t gold over 18 meters at the Black Stallion Target and 0.8A g/t gold over 47 meters at the Pegasus target (4% NSR royalty).

Group 6 Metals announced construction is advancing on schedule for first production in Q1 2023 at its Dolphin Tungsten project (1.5% GRR Royalty).

O3 Mining Inc. reported results of a PFS on the Marban project highlighting average annual production of 161koz of gold over a ~10 year mine life starting in 2026 (0.435% to 2% NSR royalty).

Osisko Metals released results of an updated PEA on Pine Point which outlined average annual production of 329Mlb of zinc and 141Mlb of lead over a 12-year mine life (3% NSR royalty).

G Mining Ventures secured financing enabling construction to commence in Q3 2022 at its Tocantinzinho project and announced a formal construction decision (0.75% NSR Royalty).

Agnico Eagle announced they will start construction of the Akasaba West open pit mine this year, producing 115,000 ounces of gold and 21,000 tonnes of copper (2% NSR Royalty).

Talisker Resources intersected 41.93 g/t gold over 1.25 meters within the Bralorne East Block (1.7% NSR Royalty).

Shanta Gold intersected 47 g/t gold over 1.6 meters at Bushiangala and 65.2 g/t gold over 0.7 meter at Isulu (2% NSR Royalty).

Westhaven Gold intersected 1.84 g/t gold over 21.9 meters on the FMN Zone at Shovelnose (2% NSR royalty on Shovelnose).

Eagle Mountain Mining intersected 1.68% copper, 14.68 g/t silver and 0.37 g/t gold over 24.5 meters at Talon (3% NSR royalty).

Argonaut Gold reported 8.33 g/t gold over 11 meters and 7.4 g/t gold over 13 meters at depth on the Magino Project (3% NSR Royalty on eastern claims).

Aldebaran Resources announced a drill intersection of 0.33% Cu over 1,059.5 meters on the Altar Project (1% NSR Royalty).

NorthWest Copper announced a resource estimation including Indicated resources of 13 million tonnes of 0.55% Cu and Inferred resources of 45 million tonnes of 0.4% Cu at Lorraine, and have initiated a 5,000 meter drill campaign (2% NSR Royalty on certain claims).

Cornish Metals intersected 3.7% tin and 9.09% zinc over 2.42 meters at United Downs (0.5% NSR Royalty).

Q3 2022 RESULTS AND CONFERENCE CALL DETAILS

Osisko provides notice of the third quarter 2022 results and conference call details.

Q3 2022 Results Release:

Wednesday, November 9th, 2022 after market close

Conference Call:

Thursday, November 10th, 2022 at 10:00 am ET

Dial-in Numbers:

North American Toll-Free:A 1 (888) 886 7786

Local and International: 1 (416) 764 8658

Conference ID: 52047754

Replay (available until November 24th at 11:59 pm ET):

North American Toll-Free: 1 (877) 674 7070

Local and International: 1 (416) 764 8692

Playback Passcode: 047754#

Replay also available on our website at www.osiskogr.com

Notes:

The figures presented in this press release, including revenues and costs of sales, have not been audited and are subject to change. As the Corporation has not yet finished its quarter-end procedures, the anticipated financial information presented in this press release is preliminary, subject to quarter-end adjustments, and may change materially.

Gold Equivalent Ounces

GEOs are calculated on a quarterly basis and include royalties, streams and offtakes. Silver earned from royalty and stream agreements are converted to gold equivalent ounces by multiplying the silver ounces earned by the average silver price for the period and dividing by the average gold price for the period. Diamonds, other metals and cash royalties are converted into gold equivalent ounces by dividing the associated revenue earned by the average gold price for the period. Offtake agreements are converted using the financial settlement equivalent divided by the average gold price for the period.

Non-IFRS Measures

The Corporation has included certain performance measures in this press release that do not have any standardized meaning prescribed by International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) including cash margin in dollars and in percentage. The presentation of these non-IFRS measures is intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. These measures are not necessarily indicative of operating profit or cash flow from operations as determined under IFRS. As Osiskoa?s operations are primarily focused on precious metals, the Corporation presents cash margins as it believes that certain investors use this information, together with measures determined in accordance with IFRS, to evaluate the Corporationa?s performance in comparison to other companies in the precious metals mining industry who present results on a similar basis. However, other companies may calculate these non-IFRS measures differently.

Cash margin (in dollars) represents revenues less cost of sales (excluding depletion). Cash margin (in percentage) represents the cash margin (in dollars) divided by revenues.

Qualified Person

The scientific and technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Guy Desharnais, Ph.D., P.Geo., Vice President, Project Evaluation at Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd, who is a aqualified persona as defined by National Instrument 43-101 a Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (aNI 43-101a).

In this press release, Osisko relies on information publicly disclosed by other issuers and third parties pertaining to its assets and, therefore, assumes no liability for such third-party public disclosure.

About Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd

Osisko is an intermediate precious metal royalty company focused on the Americas that commenced activities in June 2014. Osisko holds a North American focused portfolio of over 165 royalties, streams and precious metal offtakes. Osiskoa?s portfolio is anchored by its cornerstone asset, a 5% net smelter return royalty on the Canadian Malartic mine, which is the largest gold mine in Canada.

Osiskoa?s head office is located at 1100 Avenue des Canadiens-de-MontrAal, Suite 300, MontrAal, QuAbec, H3BA 2S2.

Forward-looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release may be deemed aforward?looking statementsa within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and aforward-looking informationa within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. These forward?looking statements, by their nature, require Osisko to make certain assumptions and necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these forward?looking statements. Forward?looking statements are not guarantees of performance.A These forward?looking statements, may involve, but are not limited to, statements with respect to future events or future performance, the realization of the anticipated benefits deriving from Osiskoa?s investments, the general performance of the assets of Osisko, and the results of exploration, development and production activities as well as expansions projects relating to the properties in which Osisko holds a royalty, stream or other interest. Words such as amaya, awilla, awoulda, acoulda, aexpecta, asuggesta, aappeara, abelievea, aplana, aanticipatea, aintenda, atargeta, aestimatea, acontinuea, or the negative or comparable terminology, as well as terms usually used in the future and the conditional, are intended to identify forward?looking statements. Information contained in forward?looking statements is based upon certain material assumptions that were applied in drawing a conclusion or making a forecast or projection, including, without limitation, managementa?s perceptions of historical trends; current conditions; expected future developments; the ongoing operation of the properties in which Osisko holds a royalty, stream or other interest by the operators of such properties in a manner consistent with past practice; the accuracy of public statements and disclosures made by the operators of such underlying properties; no material adverse change in the market price of the commodities that underlie the asset portfolio; no adverse development in respect of any significant property in which Osisko holds a royalty, stream or other interest; the accuracy of publicly disclosed expectations for the development of underlying properties that are not yet in production; and the absence of any other factors that could cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Osisko considers its assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available, but cautions the reader that their assumptions regarding future events, many of which are beyond the control of Osisko, may ultimately prove to be incorrect since they are subject to risks and uncertainties that affect Osisko and its business. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, that the financial information presented in this press release is preliminary and could be subject to adjustments, the successful continuation of operations underlying the Corporationa?s assets, the performance of the assets of Osisko, the growth and the benefits deriving from its portfolio of investments, risks related to the operators of the properties in which Osisko holds a royalty, stream or other interest, including changes in the ownership and control of such operators; risks related to development, permitting, infrastructure, operating or technical difficulties on any of the properties in which Osisko holds a royalty, stream or other interest, the influence of macroeconomic developments as well as the impact of and the responses of relevant governments to the COVID-19 outbreak and the effectiveness of such responses. In this press release, Osisko relies on information publicly disclosed by other issuers and third parties pertaining to its assets and, therefore, assumes no liability for such third party public disclosure.

For additional information with respect to these and other factors and assumptions underlying the forward?looking statements made in this press release, see the section entitled aRisk Factorsa in the most recent Annual Information Form of Osisko which is filed with the Canadian securities commissions and available electronically under Osiskoa?s issuer profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and available electronically under Osiskoa?s issuer profile on EDGAR at www.sec.gov. The forward?A looking statements set forth herein reflect Osiskoa?s expectations as at the date of this press release and are subject to change after such date. Osisko disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward?looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law.
Future of Money Governance & the Law New Podcast Host

Washington, DC, Oct 11, 2022  (ACN Newswire)  The Government Blockchain Association (GBA) announces that Ms. Jacqueline Cooper has been named the new host for \-The Future of Money Governance & the Law\- podcast.

Ms. Cooper\-s background is a Who\-s Who of success, therefore, GBA has decided to interview her.

GBA: What news or secrets are you hoping to uncover with this podcast?

JC: Our blockchain community is huge, and GBA has a diverse membership. I hope those being interviewed will share behind-the-scenes knowledge of upcoming trends in the technology, legislation, and use applications.

GBA: What are some of the biggest challenges facing the adoption of blockchain right now?

JC: Ignorance is one of the biggest challenges facing blockchain adoption. That, and media feeding the glamour and celebrity hype. Additionally, there are differing philosophies of decentralized versus centralized, challenging the economic structure within the global community of financial markets.

GBA: Where do you predict blockchain is headed?

JC: Blockchain is a tool that will be integrated into document collection, identity protection, finances, healthcare, and more. The friction experienced in cross communication between different blockchains will be resolved. Just like cars traveling from one highway to another, we will be able to transfer information across blockchain platforms around the world with privacy and speed.

GBA: Who would you most like to interview and why?

JC: GBA members that are blockchain notables, and \thought leaders,\ as well as individuals who don\-t believe they are making an impact but truly are. Also, individuals from different countries, to discuss how blockchain is benefiting their citizens. Finally, I would love to interview Governors, Mayors, and legislators to discuss how blockchain can support elections, commerce, and careers.

GBA: How will blockchain tech impact the common citizen?

JC: In finances, health, education, art, music, and commerce, the common citizen will enjoy the developments created by blockchain. I am excited to be part of this journey and sharing the story as it develops.

Be sure to catch Jacqueline on GBA\-s \-The Future of Money, Governance, & the Law\- https://gbaglobal.org/podcast expose how blockchain is disrupting the world through technology.

The Government Blockchain Association (GBA), www.gbablobal.org is a non-profit, business-league organization, helping the public and private sectors connect, communicate, and collaborate over everything blockchain.

To book a complimentary blockchain consultation with Ms. Cooper, Email cryptomom2consulting@gmail.com.
ECOC Exhibition 2023 gearing up for Glasgow

11 October 2022 a Europea?s largest exhibition for the optical communications industry will take place in Glasgow next year, it has been announced.

Following the success of this yeara?s event, the best attended since 2019, the 2022 event will be held at the SEC in Scotland\-s largest city from the 2-4th October.

ECOC Exhibitiona?s 2022 Basel event was attended by more than 6200 executives and senior professionals from the industrya?s largest and most influential companies and 290 exhibitors.

aThe bounce back in exhibitor and visitor numbers after the last couple of years was great to see and is a testament to the eventa?s pedigree and popularity as the leading optical communications event in the continenta, said ECOC Exhibitiona?s Commercial Director, Emma Harvey. aWe anticipate welcoming even more of the worlda?s top names in the telecoms market to share their knowledge and present on the latest industry topics, even more exhibitors for attendees to meet and talk about their latest products, and even more visitors to network together in Glasgow next yeara.

34 industry leaders presented at a packed-out Market Focus theatre and 19 presentations took place in the Product Focus theatre across the three days. Those presentations, as well as the chance to network with the exhibitors, is available at the Virtual Catch-up currently taking place this week. For more information and to take part, visit: https://www.ecocexhibition.com/virtual/

Participants in the virtual event will also get the chance to watch the ECOC Exhibition Industry Awards ceremony. The winners of the 2022 awards are Lumentum for the Data Centre Innovation Best Product award; Lumensity Limited for the Best Fibre or Fibre Component; Ciena for Most Innovative Product; Coherent for the Optical Integration (SiPh and/or other); and Source Photonics for both Optical Transport and Innovative FTTx Product.

The awards celebrate and recognise technology and product commercialisation, and highlight significant achievements in advancing the business of optical communications, transport, networking, fibre-based products and photonic integration circuits. They will return next year for Glasgow 2023.

In addition, exhibitor booths, face-to-face networking, live Market Focus presentations, product demonstrations and an award ceremony will return for the thousands of attendees.

Visit https://www.ecocexhibition.com/ for more information. Pre-reg is now open at: https://ecocexhibition.us14.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=f5f9eef053c791c0b4b86e508&id=7416165083
Copper Mountain Mining Announces Q3 2022 Results Conference Call Date

Copper Mountain Mining Corporation (TSX:CMMC | ASX:C6C) (the aCompanya or aCopper Mountaina  https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/copper-mountain-mining-corp/ ) will be hosting a conference call on Wednesday, November 9, 2022 at 7:30 am (Pacific Time) for senior management to discuss its third quarter 2022 results. The Company will be releasing its third quarter 2022 financial and operating results before markets open on Wednesday, November 9, 2022.

Dial-in information:

Toronto and international: 1 (416) 764 8650

North America (toll-free): 1 (888) 664 6383

Webcast: https://app.webinar.net/o02KkbQGrNJ

Replay information:

Toronto and international: 1 (416) 764 8677, Passcode: 740492#

North America (toll-free): 1 (888) 390 0541, Passcode: 740492#

The conference call replay will be available until 8:59 pm (Pacific Time) on November 16, 2022. An archive of the audio webcast will also be available on the companya?s website at http://www.cumtn.com.

About Copper Mountain Mining Corporation

Copper Mountaina?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 100 million pounds of copper equivalent per year.A 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 aCMMCa and Australian Stock Exchange under the symbol aC6Ca.

Additional information is available on the Companya?s web page at www.CuMtn.com.

On behalf of the Board of

COPPER MOUNTAIN MINING CORPORATION

aGil ClausenaA A A A

Gil Clausen

President and Chief Executive Officer

For further information, please contact:

Tom Halton

Director, Investor Relations & Corporate Communications

Telephone: 604-682-2992

Email: Tom.Halton@CuMtn.com

Website: www.CuMtn.com

In Europe:

Swiss Resource Capital AG

Jochen Staiger

info@resource-capital.ch

www.resource-capital.ch

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release may contain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (together, aforward-looking statementsa) within the meaning of applicable securities laws.A All statements, other than statements of historical facts, are forward-looking statements.A Generally, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of terminology such as aplansa, aexpectsa, aestimatesa, aintendsa, aanticipatesa, abelievesa or variations of such words, or statements that certain actions, events or results amaya, acoulda, awoulda, amighta, aoccura or abe achieveda. 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.A Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements include the risks set out in Copper Mountaina?s public documents, including in each managementa?s discussion and analysis, filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.A 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.A 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.
Hannan exploration update on the Belen Cu-Au porphyry discovery in Peru

Hannan Metals Limited (aHannana or the aCompanya  https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/mawson-gold-ltd/ ) (TSXV: HAN) (OTCPK: HANNF) is pleased to provide an update at the Belen copper-gold porphyry prospect at the 100%-owned Valiente project in central Peru.

The Belen Cu-Au porphyry is located 19 km east from the township of Tingo Maria in central Peru, within a previously unknown Miocene-age porphyry-epithermal copper-gold mineralized belt. The project is contained within a 140 km by 50 km area where Hannana?s exploration team has identified at least seven intrusion related porphyry/epithermal/skarn targets, of which Belen is the most advanced and described here in more detail (Figure 1).

Highlights:

First outcrop recognition of a linked porphyry copper-gold and epithermal gold mineral system at Belen within an 8 km by 2 km trend (Figures 2-4) across three prospect areas (Ricardo Herrera, Vista Alegre and Sortilegio).

Detailed field work has been ongoing at the Belen prospect, which represents a small proportion (4%) of Hannana?s total landholding at the Valiente project. Hannan has six geologists and support team working full time on the project.A Field work has focused on detailed mapping, channel and systematic soil sampling to cover the entire 8 km intrusive trend at the Belen porphyry target (Figure 1). A Soil sampling to date covers about 50% of the 8 km Belen trend on a grid spacing of 100 m x 100 m. A total of 1,630 samples have been taken.

The Company has also completed a successful 4,880 line km aeromagnetic survey across all of its 100% owned mining concessions at Valiente.A Results from this survey will be provided post processing in the coming month.

Ricardo Herrera

Field work has identified a leached copper-gold porphyry coincident with soil anomalies, with well-developed quartz veining at upper topographic levels and evidence for an enriched chalcocite blanket sampled over 1 km within lower lying creeks at the Ricardo Herrera Copper-Gold Porphyry Target.A

Detailed 1:2,500 mapping has revealed an early hornblende feldspar porphyry of andesitic composition with phyllic alteration, intermediate argillic alteration, relics of potassic alteration with veins of early biotite (EB), M-type and A-type.

 The alteration zone extends for 850 m x 250 m within a broad footprint of a copper anomalous and altered zone of intermineral hornblende feldspar porphyry stock of andesitic composition that extends over 1,600 m x 800 m (Figure 2).

A detailed pole-dipole induced polarization geophysical survey over the Ricardo Herrera target is planned in the coming month and the initial stages of drill permitting are being undertaken.

Vista Alegre

A 1.8 km long gold-bearing epithermal target area identified by large gold mineralized boulders of quartz-pyrite and iron oxides as well as strongly gold anomalous soil samples has been discovered 2.5 km NW of Ricardo Herrera, where systematic 100 m x 100 m soil sampling has identified two strong gold anomalous trends that extend for 1,800 m and 970 m respectively. Infill sampling at 25 m x 25 m has been initiated.

Sortilegio

Earlier stage work (soil sampling and prospecting) at the Sortilegio porphyry target have indicated the presence of a second copper-gold porphyry at Belen located 7 km northwest of Ricardo Herrera.A

Michael Hudson, CEO, states: aWe are now starting to unlock the potential of our first mover-advantage at the new Miocene-age copper-gold mineral camp within a 140 km by 50 km area at Valiente. At Belen we see extensive and systematic soil and rock geochemical anomalies over >8 km with the emergence of two copper-gold porphyry targets separated by an epithermal gold target area. What is most encouraging is that more detailed work at Ricardo Herrera has highlighted the presence of outcropping leached copper-gold porphyry mineralization with well-developed porphyry-style alteration and quartz veining at upper topographic levels with evidence of an enriched chalcocite blanket within lower lying creeks. This is the first bone fide bedrock find at the Valiente project. Additionally, the completion of the extensive airborne magnetic survey is a step change for the project.A The Company is also initiating work to commence drill permitting.a

The Belen prospect, 100% owned and explored by Hannan Metals Ltd, is located 19 km east of the city of Tingo Maria, in central Peru (Figure 1). The deposit site is characterized by steep topography on the eastern flank of the Central Cordillera with elevations between 800 and 2000 m above sea level (a.s.l.). The project was discovered in 2021 during an extensive greenfields exploration program initiated by Hannan.

Peru has been a major copper and gold producer since precolonial times. Currently known gold deposits include orogenic gold, porphyry Cu-Au, porphyry Au, transitional porphyry-epithermal, epithermal, and placer gold. The Belen project may represent a transitional porphyry-epithermal style within the newly discovered Valiente metallogenic belt of the central eastern Andes. The Valiente project is located further east than most of the conventional Andean porphyry settings and shows regional similarities to deposits such as the large Bajo de Alumbrera copper-gold porphyry in Argentina. It is interpreted that Valiente was formed in a tectonically favourable area associated with an arc-oblique wrench fault system, that may have aided the ascent of oceanic arc-related magmas into the transfer zone so far inboard from the magmatic arc.

Ricardo Herrera Copper-Gold Porphyry Target

A linked porphyry copper-gold and epithermal gold mineral system has been identified at Belen within an 8 km by 2 km trend (Figures 2-4). Recent detailed field work has identified a leached copper-gold porphyry with well-developed quartz veining at upper topographic levels and evidence for an enriched chalcocite blanket sampled over 1 km within lower lying creeks at the Ricardo Herrera Copper-Gold Porphyry Target.A This coincides with a highly anomalous Cu-Au-Mo soil anomaly, initially reported here, over a 1,600 m by 800 m area above a mapped and radiometrically dated Miocene-age porphyry intrusion.

The Ricardo Herrera porphyry stock was intruded in several stages, broadly termed early, intermineral, and late, all interpreted within a relatively short time interval. The early stages are hornblende feldspar porphyries of andesitic composition, whereas the late stages consist of unaltered feldspar porphyries of andesitic composition. The intrusions caused contact metamorphism and hydrothermal alteration that partially obliterated the original texture and composition of the sedimentary country rocks. Two early porphyries are identified.A The first being an intermediate argillic (chlorite from secondary biotite-white micas) with relicts of potassic alteration (secondary biotite-magnetite) with aEBa type veinlets (early biotite), M-type (magnetite) veinlets and few A-type veinlets (quartz). The second early porphyry intrusion is characterized by A-type veinlets, jarosite-goethite iron oxide veinlets with phyllic alteration (quartz-white sericite), argillic alteration (kaolinite). The intermineral stock is dominated by supergene argillic alteration and propylitic alteration (chlorite, epidote).

In porphyry copper systems, the area with the highest copper grade often corresponds to the early porphyries. The focus of the detailed geological mapping has therefore been to identify this area and to sample it with systematic rock sampling. Assays from this work are pending.

At Ricardo Herrera the combined early hornblende feldspar porphyry is at least covering an area of 850 m x 250 m on the surface. But limited exposures, that are mostly constrained to creeks and rare outcrops, make it difficult to define the true area. Observed copper minerals include pyrite, chalcopyrite, chalcocite, molybdenite, neotocite and chrysocolla mineralization. The intermineral hornblende feldspar porphyry contains supergene argillic alteration and minor neotocite. Moderate to pervasive secondary biotite alteration is common throughout the host rock. Strong chloritization and pyritization is observed replacing the secondary biotite.

At this initial stage of exploration at the Ricardo Herrera porphyry target, the early porphyry occupies a surface area of 0.21 km2 which is comparable to the 22.37 Moz gold La Colosa deposit in Colombia where the early diorite porphyry occupies a surface area of 0.35km2.

Channel sampling at Ricardo Herrera has been focused on creeks where outcrop exposures are good. In many places access is a limiting factor of what can be sampled. Most channels have to date been taken from zones peripheral to what is interpreted to be the core of the system (Figure 3). The results are summarized in Table 1. Results from 34 individual channels include 5 m @ 0.11% Cu and 5 ppm Mo. This channel is open to either side and is from the strongly leached and weathered exposure of the early diorite porphyry. Fractures are rich in jarosite and goethite after pyrite and chalcopyrite (Figure 3). Importantly, the best and highest-grade results have been achieved from the leached early porphyry. The results are also low in manganese therefore interpreted to be representative of a leached porphyry system. Channel sampling continues.

Vista Alegre Epithermal gold target

Vista Alegre consists of a gold-bearing epithermal target identified by large gold mineralized boulders of quartz-pyrite and iron oxides. Strongly gold anomalous soil samples have been discovered 2.5 km NW of Ricardo Herrera (initially reported here). Infill sampling at 25 m x 25 m on the target has now been initiated.

Previous work has also included:

Systematic 100 m x 100 m soil sampling program. Two strong gold anomalous trends that extend for 1,800 m and 970 m respectively have been identified. Assays have been received to date from 376 samples covering an area of 2 km x 1.7 km. Values range from <0.001 ppm to 0.094 ppm, average 0.0056 g/t in soil. The gold anomaly correlates very well with several elements including arsenic. (Figures 2 and 4). Soil anomalies are coincident with gold found in quartz-iron oxide boulders (reported here). To date 19 boulders >0.1 ppm Au have been sampled over a trend of 1.6 km that is parallel to the main gold anomaly. A total 43 rock samples from boulders average 0.48 g/t Au, 6 g/t Te and range from below detection limit to 2.69 g/t Au and
Maple Gold secures third drill rig to commence phase III drilling at Eagle and remains on track to complete 30,000 metres across its Quebec project portfolio by year-end

Maple Gold Mines Ltd. (TSX-V: MGM) (OTCQB: MGMLF) (FSE: M3G)A (\Maple Gold\ or the \Company\  https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/maple-gold-mines-ltd/ ) is pleased to announce that a third drill rig has been secured to commence a 5,000 metre (\m\) Phase III drill program at its 100%-controlled Eagle Mine Property (\Eagle\). The third rig is expected to arrive at site by mid-October, keeping the Company on track to complete approximately 30,000 m across its district-scale 400 km2 property package in QuAbec, Canada by year-end. Further to the Companya?s news release on August 3, 2022, two (2) rigs are now turning on deep drill holes beneath and adjacent to the historical underground mine workings in the Telbel mine area (\Telbel\) at the Joutel Project (\Joutel\), which is held by a 50/50 joint venture (\JV\) between Maple Gold and Agnico Eagle Mines Limited. In addition, the Company expects to secure a fourth drill rig in November to commence deep drilling at the JVa?s Douay Project (\Douay\).

The Company is also pleased to announce that it has resolved the electrical issues at site that affected its core saws, effectively removing its core cutting backlog and enabling several large batches of samples from previously completed drilling to be sent to the assay labs.

aWe are excited to commence Phase III drilling at Eagle that will follow up on the best results of the first two drilling phases and test additional targets while we are also ramping up the pace of our supplemental C$4.8M deep drilling program at Douay and Joutel,a stated Matthew Hornor, President and CEO of Maple Gold. aWith normal site operations now restored, our backlog of core splitting and sample shipments has been effectively eliminated and we anticipate additional assay results throughout Q4 2022. The Company expects to be continuously drilling more aggressive step-out and deep drill holes at Douay, Joutel and Eagle with at least three rigs from mid-October through the end of Q1 2023.a

Deep Drilling Progress

Deep drilling at Telbel is progressing steadily with two (2) drill rigs actively testing the down-plunge continuity of gold mineralization in this area. Drill hole TB-22-001 (drilled from south to north) is approaching 1,500 m downhole and has encountered a broad near-surface zone of felsic-pyroclastic-hosted pyrite mineralization enroute to a planned total downhole depth of 2,000 m (see Figure 1 for all drill hole locations). Initial samples from TB-22-001 have already been shipped to the assay lab. Drill hole TB-22-002 (drilled from north to south) is collared 2.4 km to the east of TB-22-001 and is currently nearing 900 m downhole.

In addition, the Company anticipates commencing a ~10,000 m deep drilling program at Douay with a fourth drill rig in November. The JV has approved a combined ~16,000 m of deep drilling at Douay and Telbel under the previously announced C$4.8M increase to its Year Two exploration budget (see news from May 18, 2022).

New Exploration Drillhole Completed at Douay

The Company has also recently completed a new 534 m exploration drill hole at Douay (DO-22-330) collared approximately four (4) km south of the 531 Zone along the regional Casa Berardi South Fault, locally known as the Joutel Deformation Zone (\JDZ\) (see Figure 1). The JDZ has seen very limited drilling to-date in this area, with only a single historical drill hole over a nine (9) km segment of this structural corridor. The Companya?s recently completed airborne magnetic and electromagnetic (\Mag-EM\) survey identified several conductive targets along trend to the southwest on the Joutel property (see news from July 19, 2022) providing further support for the JDZ as a favourable structural corridor for hosting gold mineralization. Initial drill core observations from DO-22-330 highlight the potential for Casa-Berardi style gold mineralization associated with brecciated and pyritic quartz veins in graphitic fault zones.

Qualified Person

The scientific and technical data contained in this press release was reviewed and prepared under the supervision of Fred Speidel, M. Sc., P. Geo., Vice-President Exploration of Maple Gold. Mr. Speidel is a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Mr. Speidel has verified the data related to the exploration information disclosed in this press release through his direct participation in the work.

About Maple Gold

Maple Gold Mines Ltd. is a Canadian advanced exploration company in a 50/50 joint venture with Agnico Eagle Mines Limited to jointly advance the district-scale Douay and Joutel gold projects located in QuAbec\-s prolific Abitibi Greenstone Gold Belt. The projects benefit from exceptional infrastructure access and boast ~400 km2 of highly prospective ground including an established gold resource at Douay (SLR 2022) that holds significant expansion potential as well as the past-producing Eagle, Telbel and Eagle West mines at Joutel. In addition, the Company holds an exclusive option to acquire 100% of the Eagle Mine Property.

The district-scale property package also hosts a significant number of regional exploration targets along a 55 km strike length of the Casa Berardi Deformation Zone that have yet to be tested through drilling, making the project ripe for new gold and polymetallic discoveries. The Company is well capitalized and is currently focused on carrying out exploration and drill programs to grow resources and make new discoveries to establish an exciting new gold district in the heart of the Abitibi. For more information, please visit www.maplegoldmines.com.

ON BEHALF OF MAPLE GOLD MINES LTD.

\Matthew Hornor\

B. Matthew Hornor, President & CEO

For Further Information Please Contact:

Mr. Joness Lang

Executive Vice-President

Cell: 778.686.6836 Email: jlang@maplegoldmines.com

In Europe:

Swiss Resource Capital AG

Jochen Staiger

info@resource-capital.ch

www.resource-capital.ch

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.

Forward Looking Statements:

This press release contains \forward-looking information\ and \forward-looking statements\ (collectively referred to as \forward-looking statements\) within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation in Canada, including statements about exploration work and results from current and future work programs. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions, uncertainties and management\-s best estimate of future events. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company\-s expectations and projections. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. For a more detailed discussion of such risks and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, refer to Maple Gold Mines Ltd.\-s filings with Canadian securities regulators available on www.sedar.com or the Company\-s website at www.maplegoldmines.com. The Company does not intend, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to, update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
Optimistic investors in demand

Gold and silver fought against the downward trend of the summer. Both metals have now recovered.

Recently, the gold price even reached a good US$1,730 per troy ounce. The 1,700 U.S. dollars per ounce of gold is a support point that you should keep an eye on. Currently, gold is trading at slightly less than 1,700 US dollars. Despite this rally in the gold price, something still seems to be missing, namely optimistic investors. Only then can a sustained rally be assumed. Because still the Fed and the U.S. dollar are the dominant forces in the market. Currently, the Fed\-s aggressive rate hikes are responsible for the U.S. dollar being strong and bond yields being at near twelve-year highs. This is not doing the gold price so well.

Investors should not be discouraged by the headwinds for gold. Market analysts repeatedly point out that investors need to overcome the current volatility and keep an eye on the bigger picture. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development just lowered its economic growth forecasts. It now expects global GDP growth of 2.5 percent this year and 2.2 percent in 2023. The IFO Institute is also predicting a sharp slowdown in the German economy. Real incomes among private households are falling and savings are losing value. To counter the melting purchasing power, investments in gold and gold companies should be considered. This is because gold, unlike paper currencies, retains its value and maintains purchasing power. Investors should also own stocks of gold companies, such as Tudor Gold or Revival.

Tudor Gold  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_kqNjeK0qc  focuses on precious and base metals in the Golden Triangle in British Columbia. The main project is the Treaty Creek project.

Revival Gold  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ILnR9Y6Vfc  is conducting drilling at its Beartrack-Arnett gold project in Idaho. The results are very encouraging (for example, twelve grams of gold per ton of rock).

In accordance with A34 WpHG I would like to point out that partners, authors and employees may hold shares in the respective companies addressed and thus a possible conflict of interest exists. No guarantee for the translation into English. Only the German version of this news is valid.

Disclaimer: The information provided does not represent any form of recommendation or advice. Express reference is made to the risks in securities trading. No liability can be accepted for any damage arising from the use of this blog. I would like to point out that shares and especially warrant investments are always associated with risk. The total loss of the invested capital cannot be excluded. All information and sources are carefully researched. However, no guarantee is given for the correctness of all contents. Despite the greatest care, I expressly reserve the right to make errors, especially with regard to figures and prices. The information contained herein is taken from sources believed to be reliable, but in no way claims to be accurate or complete. Due to court decisions, the contents of linked external sites are also co-responsible (e.g. Landgericht Hamburg, in the decision of 12.05.1998  312 O 85/98), as long as there is no explicit dissociation from them. Despite careful control of the content, I do not assume liability for the content of linked external pages. The respective operators are exclusively responsible for their content. The disclaimer of Swiss Resource Capital AG also applies: https://www.resource-capital.ch/en/disclaimer/
New York (United Nations) 12 October 2022 (SPS)- Ambassador of Kenya to the UN, Jean Kimani, stated that her country supports the holding of a UN supervised referendum on self-determination to resolve the conflict in Western Sahara, last 10th October before the UN 4th Committee on decolonization.

Kenya fully supports processes that will enable the implementation of the relevant United Nations resolutions, particularly the holding of the referendum in Western Sahara. These efforts should concentrate on a solution that aligns with the principles of international law, the UN Charter, and regional efforts on this issue, including the important role of the AU, she said.

She further added that Kenya abides by and stands guided by the Summit Decisions of the African Union (AU) and its predecessor, the Organization of African Unity (OAU), on the issue of self-determination of the peoples in Non-Self Governing territories, including the People of Western Sahara.

In this regards she recalled of Security Council resolution 690 (1991), which established the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), to implement the UN- OAU Settlement Plan.

She regretted however that to date, the people of Saharawi are yet to be afforded the opportunity to exercise their right to self-determination by way of a referendum that MINURSO was created for. (SPS)

090/500/60 (SPS)
New York (United Nations) 12 October 2022 (SPS)- The Permanent Representative of South Africa to the UN, Mathu Joyini, affirmed that the right of the people of Western Sahara to self-determination and independence is not negotiable, in her statement yesterday before the UN 4th Committee on Decolonisation.

We are concerned that in our own continent, Africa, the Saharawi people still cannot exercise their right to self-determination, which is guaranteed under the Charter of the United Nations. South Africa stands by the African Union's consistent position that the inalienable right of the people of Western Sahara to self-determination and independence is not negotiable, she said.

She recalled that the International Court of Justice has given credence to this position when it stated in its advisory opinion on 16 October 1975 that there were no links of territorial sovereignty between Morocco and the Western Sahara prior to the Spanish colonization of the Territory.

On another note, she recalled the Committee that the Moroccan violation of the ceasefire last Novmber 13th 2020, resulted in the resumption of hostilities between the two sides, a major setback towards a negotiated settlement, which is of grave concern to us.

She urged the parties to abide by the terms of the ceasefire agreements and avoid any acts that could lead to a further rise in tensions and hostilities in the territory, and further welcomed the efforts of the Personal Envoy for Western Sahara, Mr. Staffan de Mistura, to resuscitate the political dialogue amongst the parties, paving the way towards a just, lasting and mutually acceptable negotiated political solution. (SPS)

090/500/60 (SPS)
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As many as 64,905 people, including 7,505 Ukrainian citizens, up 0.4% on a daily basis, entered Romania on Tuesday, October 11, the General Border Police Inspectorate (IGPF) reported on Wednesday, told Agerpres.

According to IGPF, at the border points nationwide on Tuesday, approximately 134,200 people, Romanian and foreign citizens, were checked both on the way in and on the way out of Romania, as well as more than 40,600 means of transport.

Starting February 10, 2022 (pre-conflict time) 2,556,675 Ukrainian citizens entered Romania.

The border police detected 37 illegal acts (21 crimes and 16 misdemeanors) in the areas under their jurisdiction - the crossing points and the green border - committed by both Romanian and foreign citizens, levying 4,800 lei in fines in the process.

Twenty-two foreign citizens who did not meet the conditions provided by the law were denied entry.

Also on Thursday, 18 Romanian citizens were not allowed to leave for various legal reasons.
The Bucharest University of Economic Studies (ASE ) is for the fourth consecutive time first in Romania according to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, 2023 edition, and it is the only Romanian university for the second consecutive year in the top 600 worldwide, told Agerpres.

According to ASE, it is ranked among the best 600 of the 1,799 universities in the world assessed for the 2023 edition and it also ranks 48th in terms of citations, worldwide.

"ASE thus continues its upward trajectory in the academic ranking of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2023 (THE WUR), a performance that honours its academic community. The international results of ASE are the outcome of notable efforts of all members of the academic community," says ASE.

Produced by the British magazine Times Higher Education (THE) since 2004, the ranking focuses on research excellence on a global scale, evaluating universities in terms of tracking 13 performance indicators, grouped in four areas: teaching activity, research activity, transfer of knowledge towards the socio-economic environment and the international perspective.

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2023 include 1,799 universities across 104 countries and regions, based on 13 carefully calibrated performance indicators that measure an institution's performance across four areas: teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.

Out on October 12, this year's edition is available on https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2023/world-ranking.
The profession of sustainable development expert, which was just recently introduced in Romania, will be promoted as an example of best practice among the member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), state counsellor Laszlo Borbely, responsible for the coordination of the Department for Sustainable Development, said on the occasion of the workshops organized in Bucharest these days on the sidelines of the OECD working mission to Romania.

OECD experts looked at the progress made by the Romanian government, from an institutional perspective, in the implementation of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda, particularly through the use of instruments related to the coherence of public policies for sustainable development, Agerpres informs.

The report "Taking stock of progress in enhancing PCSD: Opportunities and challenges in implementing Romania's National Action Plan (NAP) for the NSDS 2030" was presented and validated at one of the seminars organized by the Department for Sustainable Development together with OECD representatives.

The conclusions of the report highlight both the prevailing positive results and the existing challenges accentuated by the multiple major crises in the recent years. A first analysis was carried out by OECD experts in 2020, and its results were published in the reports "Romania: OECD Scan of Institutional Mechanisms to Deliver on the SDGs" and "SDG Budgeting in Romania".

Together with institutions from the government's working apparatus, OECD experts are organizing during the week of October 10-14 workshops and events in Bucharest as part of a project aimed at improving the capacity of the central public administration in areas such as sustainable development, digitalization and governance.

The Department for Sustainable Development of the government's Secretariat General has an important role in these activities, as the coordinator of the implementation of the National Sustainable Development Strategy 2030.

OECD experts held on Wednesday interviews with representatives of the government's Secretariat General, the ministries, the Presidential Administration and other relevant public central institutions.
Bucharest General Mayor Nicusor Dan told a press conference on Wednesday that construction in Bucharest has gotten "out of control" because the local authorities did not pay heed to how permits were issued and recklessly violated the law, and the institutions with control responsibilities also didn't do their job.

"On the one hand, the General City Hall and the sector mayor's offices did not pay heed to how they issued building permits and very often violated the law. On the other hand, control institutions such as the State Construction Inspectorate, the Prefect's Office and the Prosecutor's Office didn't do their job," Nicusor Dan argued, Agerpres informs.

He stressed that it is not normal that the approximately 10,000 building permits issued every year should be checked by just a few officers from the State Construction Inspectorate in Bucharest.

According to the Bucharest Mayor's estimations, thousands of illegal permits were issued. "When a building permit is issued, one must make sure that the respective building will work from all perspectives, and that requirements regarding traffic, fire security, the population's health are all met. (...) Thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of illegal permits have been issued that were not corrected for compliance by the body that was supposed to do so," added the General Mayor.
National Defence Minister Vasile Dincu is to attend, Wednesday and Thursday, the meeting of the NATO defence ministers, which is carried out at the NATO Headquarters, in Brussels, told Agerpres.

The meeting's agenda includes talks regarding the decisions adopted at the NATO Summit in Madrid and the prospect of the preparation for the future high level meeting, a National Defence Ministry (MApN) release mentioned on Wednesday.

The meeting is divided in three working session and it will start with an informal dinner of NATO Defence Ministers, with the attendance of Defence Ministers of Sweden, Finland and Ukraine.

The three working sessions, at the level of defence ministers, will be carried out Thursday and they will tackle aspects of interest for the allies such as: the nuclear deterrence posture of the Alliance and relevant aspects to the nuclear area in the current security context, collective efforts to the long-term adaptation of the deterrence and defence posture, through the lens of the aggression war raged by the Federation Russia in Ukraine, as well as the stage of NATO operations and missions in Kosovo and Iraq.

The last working session will focus on the issues of operations and missions, with the participation of the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, who will provide information regarding the ongoing missions at the European Union level.

Defence Minister Dincu will attend on Wednesday the discussions within the Framework Nations Concept - FNC, coordinated by Germany.

On the sidelines of the NATO defence ministers' meeting, Dincu will participate, on Wednesday, in the meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, and Thursday, he is to attend the meeting of the defence ministers in the Bucharest 9 Format (B9), the quoted source mentions.
Romania's Defence Minister Vasile Dincu said on Wednesday that the ongoing war in Ukraine has fundamentally and in the long term changed the security paradigm in Europe, being a "strategic shock" to European stability.

"Russia's brutal war on Ukraine has fundamentally and long-term changed the security paradigm in Europe. This war is a strategic shock to European security and stability, but especially at a regional level. In the current security context, more than ever before, alliances, structured networks, become relevant. Just as NATO has proven its importance and relevance in the last nine months, I believe that bodies such as the Black Sea University Network and the Association of Balkan Universities are extremely important to our regions' ecosystem. The Black Sea region has become, with the war in Ukraine, an area of maximum attention to NATO and not only, so it benefits from consistent security measures," Dincu told an international congress in Bucharest that looks at cooperation in the regions of the Black Sea and the Balkans, told Agerpres.

He added that the war started by Russia against Ukraine is also a lesson that must be learned in order not to repeat the mistakes of the past, pointing to strengthening co-operation within NATO.

"As time goes by, this war is a lesson that must be learned in order not to repeat the mistakes of the past, and one of the major lessons of this war regards strengthening dialogue and practical co-operation with partners in an alliance (. ..) I want to emphasise that, in the current context, collaboration between universities and military and civilian academic establishments is becoming increasingly more relevant. The prerequisites for co-operation between the military and civilian educational and research environments were created at NATO level, where this year, a fund for research and innovation was established - the DIANA Fund - in which all NATO members participate, and it mainly pursues the identification, development and implementation of technologies of dual military and civilian use."

October 12-15, the University of Bucharest is the host of one of the most important events in the area of inter-university collaboration and co-operation in the Black Sea and Balkan regions, namely the BSUN-BUA International Congress, entitled "Dialogue and Cooperation in the Sea Regions Blacks and the Balkans".

Organised by the Black Sea Universities Network (BSUN) and the Balkan Universities Association (BUA), the congress brings together in Bucharest more than 100 global experts in subjects of strategic interest, Romanian Government officials, rectors, representatives of the academia and public institutions as well as privately-owned companies in the field.
Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte is paying a visit to Romania on Wednesday.

PM Mark Rutte will be accompanied by President Klaus Iohannis and Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca at the "Getica" National Joint Training Centre at Cincu, Brasov County, told Agerpres.

The three officials are scheduled to carry out meetings and talks in the plenary of the official delegations.

Also scheduled are discussions with the servicemen deployed at the training centre and joint press statements.
Prime Minister of the Government of the Netherlands Mark Rutte said on Wednesday, that the allied countries "stand together, against Putin's war of aggression", and the attempts to divide NATO have actually made this alliance stronger.

On Wednesday, Rutte is visiting the Getica National Joint Training Centre in Cincu, central Brasov County, alongside President Klaus Iohannis and Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca.

It is an honor to be here, in front of this special group. When I was young, this kind of military cooperation would have been unimaginable, said the Dutch prime minister.

He also addressed the soldiers of the NATO Battle Group: "Together we stand next to each other against Putin's war of aggression. The more he tries to separate us, the closer he draws us."

The Dutch Prime Minister also spoke about how the Romanian Battle Group was formed, Agerpres informs.

"Each of you is prepared to deter and, if necessary, defend. You are all an important link of NATO on the Eastern Flank, which stretches from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. As a single entity, we, NATO, stand by our Ukrainian friends and defend democracy and freedom, values that we will never abandon. I am proud of the speed with which this Battle Group was formed," he said.

Mark Rutte thanked President Klaus Iohannis and Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca in Romanian.

According to the Ministry of National Defence, the Netherlands has 195 soldiers stationed in Cincu, France - 313, Belgium - 64 and Romania - 57.

In total, there are 629 soldiers stationed in the Getica National Joint Training Centre.
The construction of European universities requires higher education institutions to fully assume their position as vectors of progress and transformation of society for the future, Minister of Education Ligia Deca stated on Wednesday, told Agerpres.

Minister Ligia Deca stated that Romania supported the initiative of the European Universities from the beginning, as well as the principles which they are based on.

"I strongly believe that any new pillar in the promotion of regional and transnational cooperation is crucial," Education Minister Deca stated, at the BSUN - BUA International Congress on "Dialogue and Cooperation in the Black Sea and Balkan Regions," organized by the Black Sea Universities Network (BSUN) and the Balkan University Association (BUA).

The Minister believes that European universities represent "a shift of paradigm" in terms of transnational cooperation in higher education.

"They allow the experimentation of new initiatives, such as institutional cooperation tools such as legal status, microcredits, more flexible mobility formats, synergies between education, research, innovation and the involvement of university communities. European universities also have a constant influence over the legislative reforms at the European and national level," the Romanian official said.

According to the Education Minister, European universities also have a constant influence on legislative reforms at the European and national level. She said that the new draft law on higher education includes provisions on microcredits and supports the development of joint degrees.

Furthermore, transnational cooperation between European higher education institutions increases their attractiveness for international studies and increases the quality of educational offers and the potential for research and innovation.

"I strongly believe that together we can transform education at all levels and that dialogue and cooperation are essential in this endeavor. For more than 20 years, the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) has been an engine for reform in higher education," Minister Deca said.

She brought to mind the fact that Romanian universities provided both shelter, to those fleeing the military invasion of Ukraine, and opportunities for young Ukrainians to continue their studies.

"This thing proved that solidarity remains a basic value and that universities promote human rights and fundamental democratic values.
Ukraine requires a certain type of tanks that can be quickly re-equipped, and the member states have those tanks, so the EU should provide them, the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, said in an interview for a group of journalists from Romania, Poland and Lithuania.

She said that after what happened on Monday, namely the Russian shelling of several cities following the attack on the bridge connecting Russia to Crimea, Ukraine added to its list requests for air defense systems, and that is now being discussed, Agerpres informs.

Asked about Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's statement that Russia is willing to negotiate but has not received any proposal to do so, Metsola said: For me, a negotiation is one that brings peace and is not forced by blackmail.

Regarding the fears of the outbreak of a third world war, Roberta Metsola said that under no circumstances do I want to see calls to calm us down, adding that we must ensure that Ukraine wins the war. This is our ultimate goal and it must be our ultimate goal, Metsola added.

She acknowledged that she is aware that not all EU states are on the same footing in terms of position vis-r-vis Russia.

Metsola also said that populist and extremist rhetoric is on the rise everywhere and that Russian propaganda has often come to the forefront, while EU states do not have enough tools to counter it.
The Republic of Moldova requires special attention not only because of its vulnerability due to the border with Ukraine and the problems with the electricity supply but also because it is facing a situation in which a very hostile opposition can step forward, President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola told an interview on Wednesday, in Brussels, with a group of journalists from Romania, Poland and Lithuania.

On the same occasion, the EP president also said that she will pay a visit to the Republic of Moldova in the next two weeks.

From my point of view, the Republic of Moldova requires special attention (...) Not only because it is at the most vulnerable moment due to the border with Ukraine (...), but also because it can no longer rely, for obvious reasons, on electricity from Ukraine, so now it relies on electricity from Romania and pays for it at the market price. It is a situation where at any time another very hostile opposition can step forward, and we are very proud of our decision on 23 June to grant Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova the status of EU candidate countries, said Roberta Metsola, Agerpres informs.

She added that the leadership demonstrated by countries such as Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary showed us that solidarity really works in Europe.

Roberta Metsola also stated that, from her perspective, the EP has always been at the forefront in terms of advancing the accession of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova from day one, increasing sanctions and visibility for what is happening with Ukraine from a financial and military point of view.

Asked if she agrees with the proposals advanced by some MEPs, including Romanian ones, to grant Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova access to benefits that go beyond the EU association agreements, such as membership of the EU single market, Metsola replied that expanding roaming would be something that could be addressed.

The EP president said she has seen from experience the transformative effect that the accession process can have on a country, as well as the speed with which Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova have adapted to the legislative acquis compared to a normal enlargement process. Without calling this acceleration, she argued (that it is about) adapting the EU's speed to that of those countries, Metsola also declared.
The Black Sea region is used by Russia as "a platform from which to project its power in other areas", the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu said on Wednesday, told Agerpres.

"Russia's aggression against Ukraine is the biggest and most direct threat to peace and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area. Obviously, there are consequences related to regional security, especially in the Black Sea region, which is used by Russia as a platform from which to it projects its power in other areas. Therefore, we need comprehensive answers", the head of Romanian diplomacy said at the opening ceremony of the BSUN-BUA International Congress - "Dialogue and Cooperation in the Black Sea and Balkan Regions".

Russia's aggression, he also pointed out, "underlined, once again, the need for ever closer cooperation between actors who have the same perspective, in these regions, be it political decision-makers, businesses, representatives of civil society or members of the academic environment".

Aurescu spoke about the situation in the Black Sea region and the Balkans.

"The Black Sea and Balkan regions are also affected by a lack of economic development, limited connectivity, weak and vulnerable economic exchange flows and an urgent need for pragmatic joint investments and projects. These are the reasons that make regional cooperation on our side of the world more important than ever," said Bogdan Aurescu.
A company of armored personnel carriers and one of Leclerc tanks of the French Army will arrive in Romania at the end of October, to complete the technical means of the NATO Battle Group Forward Presence (BGFP) deployed in Cincu, the Romanian Defense Ministry (MApN) informs, told Agerpres.

Their deployment will be made to Cincu both by rail and on wheels, and the Military Police will order measures to ensure traffic flow and inform drivers of possible traffic restrictions, the quoted source shows.

The NATO Battle Group (BGFP) in Romania has been established since May by transforming the allied multinational elements within the NATO Response Force, deployed in our country.

Upon France's proposal to take over the role of framework nation, the French battalion deployed in Romania, considered the spearhead of NATO's Very High Readiness Joint Task Force, forms the BGFP on the national territory, integrating, on a rotational basis, troops from Belgium and the Netherlands.

BGFP contributes to the increase in Romania's military cooperation with France, and, implicitly, to the consolidation of the security of the Euro-Atlantic space on the Eastern Flank. Cooperation with strategic partners and the existence of relevant combat structures on the national territory contribute to increasing the defense and deterrence capacity in the context of the war in Ukraine and the crisis in the Black Sea region, states the Ministry of Defense.
In the past five years, the Institute for the Investigation of the Crimes of Communism and the Memory of the Romanian Exile (IICCMER) has investigated the death of 2,207 children caused by starvation, improper living conditions and lack of medical assistance in four of the 26 shelter hospitals and children's neuropsychiatric hospitals that were active in former communist Romania until 1990, the institute announced in a release on Wednesday, told Agerpres.

According to IICCMER estimations, more than 15,000 children kept in the 26 facilities have died between 1967 and 1990, with the Cighid shelter hospital standing out with the highest mortality rate: 160 deaths out of a total of 183 children put into this facility since its establishment on October 1, 1987 until April 30, 1990.

In 2017 and 2018 IICCMER filed criminal complaints with the Prosecutor's Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice over non-humane treatments applied during the communist regime to the children kept in the shelter hospitals in Cighid (between 1987 - 1990), Pastraveni (1966 - 1990), Sighetu Marmatiei (1973 - 1991) and at the Hospital for Children with Chronic Neuropsychiatric Diseases in Siret (1980 - 1989).

The investigations were based on solid archival documentation, the identification of witnesses, victims and possible perpetrators, the release states.

The institute came out with this information following the initiative announced on Tuesday in the European Parliament that brings together 19 countries in efforts to stop, recognize and prevent child abuse across the continent.

IICCMER said it will continue its special investigations into the activity of the communist-era shelter-hospitals of death and inhumane treatment.
Romania's President Klaus Iohannis has welcomed President Emmanuel Macron's decision to step up the French military presence in Romania, told Agerpres.

According to a Twitter message posted on Tuesday by Iohannis, France is considering deploying a company of armoured vehicles and a squadron of Leclerc tanks.

"An important gesture for NATO's Eastern Flank, a sign of Allied solidarity," said Iohannis.

France will step up its military presence in Romania, with plans to deploy additional armoured vehicles and tanks in Romania, according to French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu, the AFP and Reuters news agencies report.

Lecornu said at a parliamentary hearing that this decision by President Emmanuel Macron to increase France's defensive posture on the eastern flank of Europe takes into account the situation on the eastern flank of NATO and the violence of the fighting in Ukraine.
President Klaus Iohannis said, on Wednesday, that he discussed with the Prime Minister of the Government of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, about Romania's accession to Schengen, voicing the hope that the political conditions for our country's entry in the space of free movement will be met as soon as possible.

"I discussed with Mr. Prime Minister Rutte about the legitimate expectation of Romania and of our citizens to join the Schengen area. I reiterated all the arguments that support the fact that our accession as soon as possible is not only necessary, but also extremely opportune," said Klaus Iohannis at Cincu, at the Getica National Joint Training Centre, Agerpres informs.

He reiterated that Romania meets the technical requirements regarding its Schengen membership and already acts as a de facto member of this space for the protection of the Union and its external borders in the full spirit of European solidarity.

"We are an integral part of the reform of the Schengen area and we are actively involved in efforts to modernize and make it more efficient. Romania's accession will contribute to the security and consolidation of the Schengen area, as we have proven, among other things, through the extensive effort of our country to manage to the Schengen standard of the over 2.5 million Ukrainian citizens who have already crossed our borders. We hope that the political conditions for Romania's accession to the Schengen area will be met as soon as possible in a European context in which the consolidation of the Union's resilience as a whole and I repeat, unity of action and solidarity, are particularly important," said the head of state.

Iohannis is visiting the Getica National Joint Training Centre together with Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca and the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
President Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday thanked the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, for the presence of the Dutch military in Romania, pointing out that these, together with the other allied military, make a safer Europe and protect Euro-Atlantic values.

"Mr. Prime Minister, dear Mark, I thank you for the presence in Romania of the military from the Netherlands! Romania, the entire Eastern Flank, as well as the entire Alliance and the international community fully feel these unprecedented security threats generated by the brutal war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine. Dear Dutch soldiers, I thank you for the efforts you make together with your French, Belgian and Romanian colleagues in the Allied Battle Group which you are a part of, for our defense, for Europe's Europe. I also thank the other allied soldiers in Romania who contribute to the strengthening of NATO's deterrence and defense posture on the Eastern Flank. Your presence here demonstrates the unity, coherence and high responsiveness that define NATO - the most powerful political-military Alliance in history - and us as allies. Together with the Romanian soldiers, make Europe safer and protect Euro-Atlantic values: democracy, human rights, the rule of law and the right of each nation to choose its own foreign and security policy," said the President at Cincu, central Brasov County, where he is visiting the Getica National Center of Combined Training.

President Iohannis is making this visit together with the Prime Minister of the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, and the Romanian Prime Minister, Nicolae Ciuca.

The president wished success to the Dutch military in the training activities, as well as in the missions they will carry out together with the Romanian soldiers, Agerpres informs.

"Together we are more credible, more efficient and more determined in ensuring a stable security environment, necessary for the development of our democratic societies," Klaus Iohannis added.

He pointed out that the Dutch Prime Minister's visit to Cincu takes place at an important, but also difficult moment for European and Euro-Atlantic security.

"Romania and the Netherlands are friendly states, partners and allies within the European Union and NATO. Our countries share the same democratic values and have common interests in security, peace and prosperity. Your visit to Romania, Mr. Prime Minister, represents the expression of the in-depth cooperation relations that Romania has with the Netherlands, especially in the field of security and defense," the president also said.
Margareta, Custodian of the Romanian Crown, on Wednesday was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine (USAMV) of Cluj-Napoca, told Agerpres.

"I am glad to accept the title of Doctor Honoris Causa awarded by the University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Cluj-Napoca. I want to thank you for the honour you do to my family and me. I see your generous gesture as a tribute to my predecessors, me and the Romanian Crown. The royal family has seen education as one of its constant duties. Throughout our modern and contemporary history, my family has helped each generation getting to know, study, believe in education and culture, dignity and competence, cultivate patriotism and devotion to the nation. Today, I am addressing you with gratitude for everything that has been achieved in this university, with the conviction that your students will carry on the responsibility for Romania's present and future. So help us God!," Margareta said at the award ceremony.

USAMV Rector Cornel Catoi said that it is a special privilege for USMV to be able to honour Margareta.

"USAMV has the privilege to honour today Her Majesty Margareta, Custodian of the Romanian Crown, as a sign of deep gratitude for the contribution of the Royal House of Romania to the independence, integration and modernisation of the country, as well as of special appreciation for the assiduous continuation of this noble, hope-giving mission as the current sovereign of the House of Romania. (...) 90 years ago, also in October, October 27, 1932, King Carol II together with the future King Mihai I of Romania ennobled the opening of this building and this hall," said Catoi.
The Netherlands is not against Romania's accession to Schengen, in principle, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Wednesday.

He paid a visit to the Getica National Joint Training Center in Cincu, central Brasov County, together with President Klaus Iohannis and Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca.

Romania has taken many steps in the right direction in recent years. At the same time, we say that we can talk about accession to Schengen when all the conditions are met. We also have a monitoring mechanism, we also have a Cooperation and Verification Mechanism. The next steps will come, we have to see what follows in this procedure and, after that, we will talk further, but the Netherlands is not in principle against Romania's accession to Schengen, said the Prime Minister of the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, according to the official translation Agerpres informs.

He spoke about the importance of a "structurally better" rule of law in this process.

The Netherlands is not opposed to Romania's accession to Schengen, but we must do it in a transparent and fair manner, that's why I mentioned CVM, we must have enough positive steps and we must have a better structural rule of law. Many steps were being made. What needs to be established now, within the CVM (is, ed. n.) about corruption, about organized crime," Rutte said.

He gave assurances that the procedures in this context will not take "longer than necessary".

We are working, from my point of view, in connection with Schengen, the Schengen information system. The European Commission has started the procedures regarding this. I think that the mission could be wider, the evaluation mission could be deeper, but there too we are waiting for the results and I don't know when they will come. We have to ask and after that we can only give an answer, so I can't give you a deadline, said the Dutch Prime Minister.
Deputy Secretary General of NATO, Mircea Geoana, on Wednesday said that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization regards the Black Sea and Balkan regions as being of "strategic relevance."

He sent a video message for the opening ceremony of the BSUN-BUA International Congress - "Dialogue and Cooperation in the Black Sea and Balkan Regions."

"We are at a moment of reflection in history - Russia's war against Ukraine. The implications of this war on the European and international order systems have not yet been fully assessed. But in Europe, things will not be the same as in the last decades. That's why here, at NATO, we look at the Black Sea and Balkan regions as areas of strategic relevance, in terms of security and for the future European architecture," Mircea Geoana pointed out, told Agerpres.

He said that the participants in the congress are "the intellectual elite of some regions that have often been punished by geography and that have often been victims of history."

"Now maybe the time has come for our region to play its true role, as a co-contributor and co-author of a new European and international system that is under construction," said the Deputy Secretary General of NATO.

He underscored that political consensus is also needed in this approach and appreciated that "this is an opportunity that should not be missed."

Speaking about the war in Ukraine, Mircea Geoana said that "Ukraine is fighting bravely for us as well."
The Ministry of European Investments and Projects received the official approval from the European Commission of a new Regional Program related to the 2021-2027 programming period, the Northwest Regional Programme, informs MIPE.

At this moment, three Regional Programmes are approved by the European Executive, after on Tuesday MIPE received a positive opinion for PR West and PR South-Muntenia.

The 8 Regional Programmes related to the period 2021-2027 have a total allocation of over 11 billion euros and were developed in such a way as to allow the transfer of administrative and financial competence from the level of the central public administration to the level of the public administration of the administrative-territorial units, together with the financial resources necessary for their exercise, Agerpres informs.

"In retrospect, the previous mandate was mainly under the sign of negotiations for the first versions of the 2021-2027 programmes. Now, after signing the Partnership Agreement, I am glad that, one by one, the merits of the work are being rewarded, by approving these Regional Programmes which, without exaggerating, will give a different face to Romania. Only the three programs approved yesterday and today mean 4 billion euros for interventions that bring energy performance, the valorization of degraded spaces at the level of cities, sustainable urban mobility, investments in the network of county roads and in the educational infrastructure. The objective is that by the end of the year, the announcement that a new Programme has been approved will be a recurrent one, so that all 16 receive positive approval in 2022 and to expedite the launch of calls for projects," said minister Marcel Bolos.

The Northwest Regional Programme benefits from a total allocation of approximately 1.44 billion euros and supports, through specific funding priorities, the transformation of the region into a competitive region through innovation, digitization and dynamic enterprises (allocation of 327.90 million euros), with Smart localities (60.33 million euros) and environmentally friendly localities (total allocation 210.66 million euros), with sustainable multimodal urban mobility (total allocation 305.15 million euros) and accessible urban mobility (total allocation 184.97 million euros), an educated region (total allocation 77.38 million euros) and an attractive region (total allocation 210.36 million euros). A financial allocation of 60.46 million euros is foreseen for the interventions dedicated to technical assistance.

The Northwest Regional Programme was approved by the European Commission through Implementation Decision no. C(2022) 7386/11.10.2022. The decision was issued on October 11 and communicated through the computer system that ensures the interface between the European Commission and Romania on October 12.

Last week, the signing event of the Partnership Agreement between the Government of Romania and the European Commission took place, the strategic document that covers the funds of the Cohesion Policy and that of the Maritime and Fisheries Policy for the Programming period 2021 - 2027.

Thus, in the third financial exercise through which the Romanian state will benefit from European funds, 16 Programmes will be implemented, through which Romania will be allocated over 31 billion euros.

The first Programme approved by the European Executive from the 2021-2027 Cohesion Policy was the Technical Assistance Programme, on August 23, with an allocation of 0.96 billion euros.

Next, the Ministry of Investments and European Projects aims to complete the process of formal negotiation and approval of all programmes related to the period 2021-2027 until the end of the current year, the press release states.

At the end of June, the Government approved an Emergency Ordinance that completes the legal framework necessary for the exercise by the Regional Development Agencies (ADR) of the powers deriving from fulfilling the quality of management authority in the field of regional development as well as in the field of prevention, finding and sanctioning irregularities.

The piece of legislation envisages that ADRs should be fully functional in the shortest possible time, in order to avoid possible delays in starting the implementation of regional programmes and, at the same time, the risk of disengagement of non-reimbursable external funds for this purpose.

Through the provided legislative solutions, the ordinance allows the decisions made by ADR in the process of managing and controlling regional programmes to have binding legal force for applicants, beneficiaries or other entities which they enter into legal relations with, in the exercise of their functions.
The Parliamentary Committee for Justice Laws finalised, on Wednesday, the debate on the judicial organization draft law and the amendments submitted by the senators.

The head of the Committee, Gabriel Andronache, informed that the vote on the draft law's report will be given next Monday.

The Committee adopted only a few "correlation" amendments, and the draft law did not undergo significant changes compared to the form adopted in the plenary session of the Chamber of Deputies, Agerpres informs.

After finalising the debate on the draft law on judicial organization, the parliamentarians in the Committee started the discussions on the draft law on the status of judges and prosecutors.

The Committee will formulate the reports on the three laws of Justice regarding the Superior Council of the Magistracy, the judicial organization and the status of judges and prosecutors in a separate meeting, after finalising the debates for each of the normative acts, in order to allow correlations between them, informed Andronache, at the beginning this week.

After the adoption of the reports, the draft laws will enter the Senate plenary debate, the legislative decision-making body in this case.
Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca states that the Black Sea region presents risks, but also opportunities, being an area where people's aspirations are closely linked to the Euro-Atlantic values of freedom and prosperity.

"It is not the first time that a Romanian dignitary talks about the importance of the Balkans and the Black Sea region. I definitely support the work and the effort to make the whole world pay attention to these regions again. All the arguments for placing these regions at the core of world's attention must be formulated repeatedly in public worldwide. There are still many things to be said and done for these two regions," said Ciuca, on Wednesday, at the international congress "Dialogue and Cooperation in the Black Sea and Balkan Regions," organized by the Network of Black Sea Universities (BSUN) and by the Association of Balkan Universities (BUA), at the University of Bucharest, told Agerpres.

The Prime Minister showed that the Black Sea area is the most "diverse and challenging" of all the regions close to the European Union, but also the most "promising." According to him, cooperation and coordination, along with forward-looking strategies and visionary projects, can bring more stability and prosperity to the extended Black Sea region.

"In recent years, Romania has permanently put the risks and opportunities in the Black Sea region on the agenda: the risk represented by the frozen conflicts, alternative energy solutions for Europe, the need to implement some environmental programmes for this region or the need to integrate its precious cultural heritage. It is an area where people's aspirations are closely related to our Euro-Atlantic values of freedom, prosperity for a safe and peaceful future," added Nicolae Ciuca.
Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca declared on Wednesday, while on a visit to the "Getica" National Joint Training Center in Cincu - Brasov County, that the "unprovoked, illegal and premeditated" war of aggression against Ukraine is the most important threat to the allies since World War II, and emphasized the need for unity and solidarity in supporting Ukraine and preventing the expansion of the war.

"First of all, allow me to express my country's gratitude for the presence in Romania of the nearly 200 Dutch servicemen. Their efforts, together with their French, Belgian and Romanian colleagues, for building and operating the allied battle group are highly appreciated by Romanians. This contribution to NATO's deterrence and defense posture in Romania is extremely important, because it represents a clear proof to Russia that our alliance is solid, united and capable of defending its territory and values. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has irreversibly changed our relationship with Russia," Ciuca declared in front of the Romanian, Dutch, Belgian and French troops deployed to the "Getica" National Joint Training Center, Agerpres informs.

The Romanian Prime Minister said that the effects of Russia's war extend both to neighboring allied countries and to vulnerable states and that the lesson learned is that aggression has significant negative effects on the European Union and NATO.

"We adopted a firm and determined position towards Russia, aiming to internationally isolate it by supporting tough sanctions and ensuring that they are implemented, advocating wider support from democracies worldwide. Romania supported all the EU sanction packages, including the most recent one, the eighth," Nicolae Ionel Ciuca said.

Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca visited on Wednesday the "Getica" National Joint Training Center in Cincu together with President of Romania Klaus Iohannis and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca welcomed France's decision to strengthen its military presence in Romania with a new battle group with Leclerc tanks, underlining French President Emmanuel Macron's commitment to the strategic partnership between the two countries, told Agerpres.

''Excellent news from France through reinforcement of its presence in Romania with a new Leclerc tanks fighting group. We appreciate President Emmanuel Macron's commitment to our Strategic Partnership,'' Nicolae Ciuca tweeted on the Government's Twitter page.
As many as 811 new cases of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 were recorded in the last 24 hours in Romania, down 189 from the previous day, with over 15,000 RT-PCR and rapid antigenic tests performed, the Health Ministry informed on Wednesday, told Agerpres.

Of the new cases, 189 were in re-infected patients, who tested positive more than 90 days after the first time they recovered from the disease.

Most of the newly confirmed COVID-19 cases in Romania since the previous reporting were recorded in Bucharest City - 188, Constanta County - 44, and Timis County - 43.

The highest 14-day notification rate is in Bucharest City - 1.21, followed by Cluj County - 1.18, and Timis County- 1.03.

As of Wednesday, 3,277,831 cases of people infected with the novel coronavirus were confirmed in Romania.

- Hospitalisations -

As many as 1,000 people with COVID-19, down 15 from the previous reporting, including 58 minors, are hospitalised in Romania at specialist care facilities.

Out of the total number of hospitalised patients, 95 are in intensive care, down 13, including one minor.

Of the 95 patients admitted to ICU, 82 are unvaccinated against COVID-19.

- Deaths -

According to the ministry, six Romanians, three men and three women, are reported dead in the last 24 hours.

Of the six deaths, one was recorded in the age group 60-69 years, three in the age group 70-79 years, and two in the age group over 80 years.

All deaths were in patients with comorbidities, and three deaths were in vaccinated patients.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 67,103 people diagnosed with the SARS-CoV-2 infection have died in Romania.
The Secretary of State for Global Affairs, Traian Hristea, had a meeting with General Philippe Lavigne, the commander of the Supreme Allied Command for Transformation (SACT) of NATO, on Wednesday, who is visiting Romania, at the invitation of the Chief of the Defense Staff, according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE), sent to AGERPRES.

During the discussions, the Romanian official highlighted the worrying developments in the security environment in NATO's Eastern Neighborhood and in the Black Sea region, underlining the importance of continuing, in a sustained manner, the process of full implementation of the measures decided during the Madrid Summit, in June, for strengthening the allied deterrence and defense posture. He mentioned, in the context, the significance of the robust allied presence in 2022, through the takeover by France, as coordinator of the Romanian Battle Group, and the US decision to increase the military presence in our country, appreciating that this ensures the effective strengthening of the advanced defence in the Black Sea region, Agerpres informs.

Hristea emphasized that, in parallel, NATO must continue to provide the necessary support and assistance to Ukraine, to increase the resilience of this state in the face of the security threats it faces. Considering the direct coordination responsibilities of SACT in the field of research and innovation, the Secretary of State in the Romanian MAE emphasized the support given by our country in maintaining the efforts to keeping the technological advance and mentioned Romania's contribution with two test centers for the NATO Accelerator in the field of innovation (DIANA).

In turn, General Philippe Lavigne appreciated Romania's active role within NATO, both in the framework of conceptual discussions and through concrete contributions in support of Euro-Atlantic security, MAE said. General Lavigne also mentioned the importance of continuing to ensure NATO's technological advance, pointing out that the Madrid Summit marked important steps in this area by launching the Innovation Fund and approving the Defense Accelerator Charter (DIANA).
Australian coal miner Coronado Global Resources confirmed on Wednesday it was in confidential discussions with Peabody Energy Corp regarding a potential "combination transaction."

The Australian, citing sources, reported on Tuesday that discussions were happening in New York, but said there was no clarity on the nature of these talks.

As of Tuesday's close, Coronado had a market capitalization of A$3.26 billion ($2.05 billion), while U.S.-based Peabody was valued at $3.80 billion.

Stocks of both coal miners have sharply rallied this year, as customers from Europe to Asia scramble for alternative sources of fuel in the aftermath of the European Union's sanctions on gas-rich Russia.

Coronado had held merger talks with U.S.-based peer Arch Resources Inc. earlier this year, but that didn't materialize into a deal.

Coronado, which owns coal mining facilities in Virginia and West Virginia state, said no agreement had been reached with Peabody and it did not divulge any details on a potential deal.

Peabody told the Post-Dispatch late Wednesday that it had no comment, while acknowledging that "the company considers business opportunities from time to time."

Bryce Gray from the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
FERGUSON  Residents warned the City Council during Tuesdays meeting to let the city manager do his job after he announced a way forward had been found since his temporary resignation last month.

Resident Cassandra Butler, a frequent critic of the councils decisions, told the council it was their reputation on the line.

Learn your lane and stay in it, said Butler. I strongly suggest you manage yourselves as a group and guide your one employee.

The city manager thanked residents and some of the council for their support, and he noted that him effectively being able to do his job in managing personnel and the day-to-day functions of the city overall helps the city.

The only thing Ive really done since I come to the city is put the staff in a position where they can do their jobs, said Osterberg.

Osterberg also acknowledged the loss of revenue in the city as an effect of a Department of Justice investigation and the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown in 2014. He said he and the council were actively working on ways to sustainably increase the citys revenue, outside of a new tax via Proposition U, which residents approved in the Aug. 2 primary election.

On Sept. 27, Osterberg resigned as city manager during a city council meeting after a heated exchange with council member Toni Burrow, who told her critics during Tuesdays meeting without all the facts though, you can be led astray.

Last week, Osterberg accused Burrow of discriminating against him because he is gay, which Burrow denied.

Some members of the council have been supportive of him as city manager, Osterberg said, but other council members have interfered with his ability to reorganize departments and promote and hire employees.

Some other examples of that obstruction that Osterberg gave were council members trying to assign city employees new responsibilities behind his back.

Osterberg took over as city manager last August, hailing from Oregon, where he was assistant city manager for Klamath Falls.

State Rep. Raychel Proudie is one of five people who submitted a notarized affidavit to form a petitioners committee to start collecting signatures to remove Burrow from office, which some residents said Tuesday they supported.
Q  Ive become a big fan of Union Loafers beet sandwich and would love to have the recipe.  Joe Sedey, St. Louis

A  The beet sandwich at Union Loafers is a vegetarian sandwich even a carnivore can love. It features slabs of beets piled high on a Union Loafers split hoagie roll, topped with house-made thousand island dressing, Gruyere cheese and a house-made sauerkraut. Its been a customer favorite for years for good reason.

RECIPE HERE: Union Loafers Roasted Beet Sandwich Yield: 4 sandwiches

Its a unique vegetarian take on a Reuben with beets standing in for the meat, says chef Brian Moxey. The flavors clean, and direct. We call our house-made dressing for it 100K island sauce because its so much better than regular thousand island dressing, Moxey says.

Although Union Loafers makes the sauerkraut it uses in-house, Moxey suggested the Brinery sauerkraut as an alternative. It is available at Union Loafers, Edibles & Essentials and Whole Foods.

The sandwich is easy to make at home. The 100K island dressing can easily be made a day before you plan to make the sandwich. The surest way to make it go smoothly is to have all ingredients pre-measured and ready to go before starting the food processor. The sauce keeps five days in the refrigerator.

Wrapping the beets in foil for roasting turned out to be a great method. The skins slip beautifully when theyve cooled down enough to handle and clean-up is simple, too. You may want to serve this sandwich with a small Little Gem salad, a recipe Union Loafers shared with the Post in February 2020.

Moxey joined Union Loafers six months ago. This job has been super-rewarding, he says. Ive been a fan of Union Loafers for years and used their bread in the different restaurants Ive worked in, he says. People love the classic things on the menu and come back over and over for them, like the beet sandwich.

Moxey has run some seasonal specials in the six months hes been there, such as the ramp pizza in the spring. Hes also added panna cotta desserts to the menu, served with a seasonal fruit compote. We had a brown butter peaches compote this summer. Now were moving into apple season. New sandwich specials included a mortadella sandwich and a roasted zucchini sandwich. Were staying true to form with the Loafers identity and having fun inside it, he says.

Union Loafers is now open for inside and patio dining for lunch and dinner. The restaurant takes a break between lunch and dinner, when pizzas are served. It still offers online ordering for food, breads and baked goods for pickup or delivery.

Union Loafers 1629 Tower Grove Avenue 314-833-6111; unionloafers.com

To request a recipe Would you like to request a recipe from a restaurant that is still open in the St. Louis area? Send your request along with your full name and the city you live in to reciperequest@post-dispatch.com.
PHOENIX (AP)  Scores on the ACT college admissions test by this year's high school graduates hit their lowest point in more than 30 years  the latest evidence of the enormity of learning disruption during the pandemic.

The class of 2022's average ACT composite score was 19.8 out of 36, marking the first time since 1991 that the average score was below 20. What's more, an increasing number of high school students failed to meet any of the subject-area benchmarks set by the ACT  showing a decline in preparedness for college-level coursework.

The test scores, made public in a report Wednesday, show 42% of ACT-tested graduates in the class of 2022 met none of the subject benchmarks in English, reading, science and math, which are indicators of how well students are expected to perform in corresponding college courses.

In comparison, 38% of test takers in 2021 failed to meet any of the benchmarks.

Academic preparedness is where we are seeing the decline," said Rose Babington, senior director for state partnerships for the ACT. Every time we see ACT test scores, we are talking about skills and standards, and the prediction of students to be successful and to know the really important information to succeed and persist through their first year of college courses.

ACT scores have declined steadily in recent years. Still, the magnitude of the declines this year is particularly alarming," ACT CEO Janet Godwin said in a statement. "We see rapidly growing numbers of seniors leaving high school without meeting college-readiness benchmarks in any of the subjects we measure.

The results offer a lens into systemic inequities in education, in place well before the pandemic shuttered schools and colleges temporarily waived testing requirements. For example, students without access to rigorous high school curriculum suffered more setbacks during pandemic disruptions, Babington said. Those students are from rural areas, come from low-income families and are often students of color.

The number of students taking the ACT has declined 30% since 2018, as graduates increasingly forgo college and some universities no longer require admissions tests. But participation plunged 37% among Black students, with 154,000 taking the test this year.

Standardized tests such as the ACT have faced growing concerns that they're unfair to minority and low-income students, as students with access to expensive test prep or advanced courses often perform better.

Babington defended the test as a measure of college readiness. Now more than ever, the last few years have shown us the importance of having high-quality data to help inform how we support students, Babington said.

Test scores now are optional for first-year student admission at many institutions. Some colleges, such as the University of California system, even opt for a test-blind policy, where scores are not considered even if submitted.

But many students still take the tests, hoping to get an edge in admissions by submitting their scores. Tyrone Jordan, a freshman at test-optional Arizona State University, said he took the ACT and the SAT to get ahead of other students and help him receive scholarships.

Jordan, who wants to pursue mechanical engineering, said he thinks his rigorous schedule at Tempe Preparatory Academy prepared him for college, and the standardized tests helped support him and his family financially.

All the test did for me was give me extra financial money, Jordan said.

While Jordan was always planning to take the test, many students struggle with access or choose not to take the test since their universities of choice no longer require it. In Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Tennessee and Wyoming, everyone is tested.

The Associated Press education team receives support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
TUESDAY, Oct. 11, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Early use of steroids seems not to reduce hospital length of stay (LOS) for non-multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) COVID-19 in children, according to a study published online Oct. 3 in JAMA Pediatrics.

Sandeep Tripathi, M.D., from the Children's Hospital of Illinois in Peoria, and colleagues examined whether use of steroids within two days of admission for non-MIS-C COVID-19 in children is associated with hospital LOS in a cohort study. Data were provided by 58 hospitals in seven countries from March 2020 through September 2021; 1,163 patients met the inclusion criteria.

The researchers found that 15.8 percent of the study population received steroids within two days of admission and 84.2 percent did not. Overall, 56.5 percent of the patients required respiratory support during hospitalization. In the steroids group, patients were older, with greater severity of illness overall; a greater proportion required respiratory and vasoactive support. Early steroid treatment was not significantly associated with hospital LOS on multivariable linear regression adjusted for multiple confounding variables (exponentiated coefficient, 0.94; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.81 to 1.09; P = 0.42). No significant association was seen between steroids and LOS in separate analyses for patients with an LOS of two days or longer, those receiving respiratory support at admission, and propensity score-matched patients.

"The definitive determination of the potential benefit or harm from early steroid therapy for children with COVID-19 cannot be made from retrospective data," the authors write.

Several authors disclosed financial ties to pharmaceutical and medical technology companies, including Janssen Research & Development, which partially funded the study.
SAN DIEGO (AP)  The Biden administration agreed to accept up to 24,000 Venezuelan migrants at U.S. airports, similar to how Ukrainians have been admitted since Russias invasion, while Mexico has agreed to take back Venezuelans who come to the U.S. illegally over land, the U.S. and Mexico said Wednesday.

Effective immediately, Venezuelans who walk or swim across the border will be immediately returned to Mexico under a pandemic rule known as Title 42 authority, which suspends rights to seek asylum under U.S. and international law on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19.

Any Venezuelan who illegally enters Mexico or Panama after Wednesday will also be ineligible to come to the U.S. under the offer.

The U.S. offer of parole for up to 24,000 Venezuelans is modeled on a similar program for Ukrainians who fled Russia's invasion and will hinge on Mexico keeping in place its independent but parallel effort to take back Venezuelans who come illegally, the Department of Homeland Security said.

The moves are a response to a dramatic increase in migration from Venezuela, which leapfrogged over Guatemala and Honduras in August to become the second largest nationality arriving at the U.S. border after Mexico.

"These actions make clear that there is a lawful and orderly way for Venezuelans to enter the United States, and lawful entry is the only way, said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Those who attempt to cross the southern border of the United States illegally will be returned to Mexico and will be ineligible for this process in the future. Those who follow the lawful process will have the opportunity to travel safely to the United States and become eligible to work here.

Mexico's Foreign Affairs Secretary said in a statement that those who seek to enter the United States will be able to do so in a more orderly, safe, regular and humane manner. The program discourages undocumented crossings that put migrants safety at risk.

In a related announcement, Homeland Security said it will make available nearly 65,000 temporary work visas for lower-skilled industries, roughly double the current annual allotment. At least 20,000 of those temporary visas will be reserved for Haiti and northern Central American countries.

Until now, Mexico has agreed to accept migrants expelled under Title 42 only if they are from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, in addition to Mexico, resulting in highly uneven enforcement. The U.S. struggles to expel other nationalities due to costs, strained diplomatic relations and other considerations.

Poor relations with the Venezuelan government have made it nearly impossible to apply Title 42. The pandemic rule has been used 2.3 million times since March 2020 but applied only 2,453 times on Venezuelans.

In August, Venezuelans were stopped 25,349 times, up 43% from 17,652 in July and four times the 6,301 encounters in August 2021, signaling a remarkably sudden demographic shift.

The announcement amounts to a potentially major expansion of Title 42 even though the administration recently sought to end it. Senior officials told reporters they are bound by a federal judge's decision in May to keep Title 42 in place.

Venezuelans who successfully apply online will come to the United States through an airport, similar to an effort that began in April to admit up to 100,000 Ukrainians fleeing war for stays of up two years. The U.S. has admitted tens of thousands of Ukrainians since then, including including nearly 17,000 in August.

Venezuelans, like Ukrainians, must have a financial sponsor in the United States.

They also must figure out how to reach the U.S. There are currently no flights allowed from Venezuela due to U.S. concerns about the safety of Venezuelas aviation industry. The restriction applies to charter and commercial flights.

Venezuelans do not have to be in Venezuela to be eligible and may come from other countries, administration officials said.

It also remains to be seen if Mexico has limits to how many Venezuelans it will accept from the United States. Mexico said in its statement that it will temporarily allow some Venezuelan citizens to be returned. The 24,000 slots that the U.S. is offering is less than the number of Venezuelans that crossed the border illegally from Mexico in August alone.

An estimated 6.8 million Venezuelans have fled their country since the economy tanked in 2014, mostly to Latin America and Caribbean countries. But the U.S. economys relative strength since the COVID-19 pandemic has caused Venezuelan migrants to look north. The Biden administration's inability to apply Title 42 has provided more incentive.

Mexico, under pressure from the U.S. administration, introduced restrictions on air travel to limit Venezuelan migration to the United States in January, but many then shifted to a dangerous route over land that includes Panama's notorious Darien Gap.

The surge in Venezuelan migration has emerged as a major challenge to authorities in the U.S., Mexico and Central America and a test of a hemispheric agreement reached in June in Los Angeles for countries that host migrants to confront issues together.

Associated Press writers Joshua Goodman in Miami and Maria Verza in Mexico City contributed to this report.








In the article " The friendliest countries in the world: 2022 Readers' Choice Awards " published on October 4, Conde Nast Traveller highlights that its readers voted for the most welcoming destinations from all four corners of the globe.





"We asked our readers to vote for the countries they consider to be home to the friendliest people in our 2022 Readers' Choice Awards," the publication reads.





Conde Nast Traveller states that Peru brings together all landscapes one could experience in the world, due to the number of climates that it is home to, and refers to Machu Picchu as the country's most famous landmark.





"Home to no less than 28 of the world's 32 climates, Peru is a country that seems to band together every landscape you could experience. From the jagged Andes (the longest continental mountain range in the world) to the tropical Amazon basin and fringing the outskirts, some pretty exquisite - if a-typical  coastline," the magazine said in the article.









"The 15th-century Inca citadel of Machu Picchu is perhaps the country's most famous landmark, though locals will tell you that the Lost City of Choquequirao is much more extensive (though harder to reach on foot)," it added.









The prestigious list of the friendliest and most welcoming countries in the world also includes Colombia, Costa Rica, the Philippines, French Polynesia, New Zealand, Thailand, Botswana, Belize, and Sri Lanka.









It should be noted that Peru's status as a world-class tourist destination has been recognized not only by prestigious international publications on travel and tourism, such as the National Geographic, Travel + Leisure, Wanderlust, among others, but also at important tourism competitions worldwide in which the country took the first place.





(END) LZD/MAO/RMB/MVB
Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect that the woman is still alive. Police initially said she had died.

A woman suffered life-threatening injuries Monday night after being struck by a car in Jennings.

Police said the woman was found lying in the street just before 7:30 p.m. Monday at Jennings Station Road and Florence Place.

The woman was struck in the same block as the building that houses the St. Louis County Police Department's police precinct in Jennings.

The man whose car hit the woman stayed at the scene and tried to help her until paramedics arrived, said Sgt. Tracy Panus of the St. Louis County Police Department. Panus said the driver was cooperating with investigators.

No officers were involved and no officers witnessed the accident, Panus said.
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

Lawyers cant lie.

That was the verbal punch to the gut that Missouri Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Wilson delivered last month to an annual gathering of judges and lawyers in the state. This is a time in history, Wilson said, when democracy is in danger, and members of the legal profession have to play a role in protecting it.

The public square is increasingly filled with those  including, to my great shame, more than a few lawyers  who are willing to lie to the public, to pour gas on their lack of trust, simply to gain a little short-term popularity, Wilson said.

Missouris chief justice didnt name names, but he didnt have to. He was talking, at least in part, about those attorneys who have used their profession and the courts to advance the false premise that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump. He didnt name Rudi Giuliani, Sidney Powell, John Eastman ... or Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt.

But a week after Wilsons speech, a new national nonprofit that has been filing ethics complaints against attorneys who fueled the Jan. 6 insurrection filed one against Schmitt. The attorney general used his support of Trumps Big Lie to help kickstart his campaign for U.S. Senate.

Although many attorneys participated in this scheme, Mr. Schmitt played an important role  lending the legal professions credibility to the destructive cause and using public office to amplify false assertions and frivolous claims that lacked any basis in law or fact, reads the complaint, filed with the chief disciplinary counsel in Missouri on Sept. 21. A full investigation by your office will demonstrate the egregious nature of Mr. Schmitts actions, especially when considered in light of his purposes and the direct and possible consequences of his behavior.

As Ive previously reported, Schmitt was a ringleader among Republican attorneys general who falsely questioned the Pennsylvania results in the presidential election. He was also part of a group that encouraged the rallies around Jan. 6 that eventually led to the violent assault on the Capitol.

Schmitt, the complaint argues, violated multiple ethics rules  the ones cited by Wilson that bring honor and credibility to the legal profession  by signing legal documents he reasonably had to know were false and frivolous claims.

Mr. Schmitt chose to offer his professional license to Mr. Trumps arsenal during the latters assault on our democracy, the complaint alleges. He cannot be shielded from the consequences of that decision simply because he holds high public office.

The 65 Project, which is bipartisan and named after the 65 lawsuits Trump-aligned attorneys brought to overturn the election, has filed more than 50 complaints against attorneys involved in some way in the insurrection or who pushed the legal case that Trump won the election. Several of the complaints are advancing through various states disciplinary processes, which could result in attorneys losing their licenses or other forms of punishment.

Michael Teter, the managing director of The 65 Project, said the organization got started for the same reasons Wilson cited in his speech. Protecting the independence and ethics of the judiciary, and the legal profession in general, is necessary to preserving American democracy. Lawyers who use the courts to lie in order to advance a political agenda must face consequences.

We thought that the abuse of the legal system was becoming a political tool, and there needed to be a deterrent from that continuing, Teter says. Lawyers are responsible for democracy just as much as politicians are. Without the rule of law there is no democracy. We agree as lawyers to abide by a certain set of standards. If you dont discipline lawyers who violate those rules, then theres no purpose of having those rules.

Schmitt is heavily favored in his Senate race against Democrat Trudy Busch Valentine. But that potential electoral victory will have been built partly on a foundation of dishonesty that could cause long-term damage to the country.

Its why Teters group will press forward with its ethics complaint, as will a group of St. Louis attorneys who filed a similar complaint against U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley for his role in pushing Trumps Big Lie. Their original complaint was denied by Missouris chief disciplinary counsel, but they have filed an appeal. Teters group has not filed a complaint against Hawley, in part because the ethics rules are stronger when an attorney is acting on behalf of a client, as Schmitt was, as compared to purely political action.

In the end, both complaints could come before Wilsons court. Hed have an opportunity to test the theme of his recent speech, in which he warned of another time in history, when a push toward authoritarianism devastated the courts in another country.

In 1930s Germany, the judiciary failed in its duty, Wilson said. They were told to render decisions more in keeping with the prevailing will, rather than the law ... and they did. So, bit by bit, German judges and German lawyers followed the mob down into the worst hell anyone has ever imagined. It took a decade and tens of millions of lives to pick up the pieces when an independent judiciary stopped being independent  and stopped being judicial. I hope and pray we are never tested like the lawyers and judges in Germany or Ukraine but, if we are, which path will we choose?
ST. LOUIS  A federal judge in St. Louis is weighing the fate of the Biden administrations plan to forgive student loan debt for tens of millions of Americans following a court hearing on Wednesday.

Its unclear when U.S. District Judge Henry Autrey will rule on the lawsuit filed by Missouri and five other Republican-led states that seeks an injunction to halt the student loan forgiveness plan. Whatever he decides, an appeal is likely.

Democratic President Joe Biden announced in August that his administration would cancel up to $20,000 in education debt for huge numbers of borrowers. The announcement immediately became a major political issue ahead of the November midterms.

In addition to Missouri, other states that filed suit in September to block Bidens plan are Nebraska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and South Carolina. Other lawsuits followed, including one filed Monday by the Job Creators Network Foundation alleging that the administration violated federal procedures by failing to seek public input on the program.

In the lawsuit brought by the states, a court filing on behalf of the administration said the Department of Education has broad authority to manage the federal student financial aid programs. It stated that the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003, or HEROES Act, allows the secretary of education to waive or modify terms of federal student loans in times of war or national emergency.

COVID-19 is such an emergency, the filing stated.

The Congressional Budget Office has said the program will cost about $400 billion over the next three decades. James Campbell, an attorney for the Nebraska attorney generals office, told Autrey that the administration is acting outside its authorities in a way that will costs states millions of dollars.

What theyre trying to do is go around Congress, and this they cannot do, Campbell said.

The plan would 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 faced threats of legal challenges to its plans almost immediately. Conservative attorneys, Republican lawmakers and business-oriented groups asserted that Biden was overstepping his authority in taking such sweeping action without the assent of Congress. They called it an unfair government giveaway for relatively affluent people at the expense of taxpayers who didnt pursue higher education.

Meanwhile, many Democratic lawmakers facing tough reelection contests distanced themselves from the student loan plan.

The HEROES Act is a post-Sept. 11, 2001, law meant to help members of the military. The Justice Department says the law allows Biden to reduce or erase student loan debt during a national emergency. Republicans argue the administration is misinterpreting the law because, in part, the pandemic no longer qualifies as a national emergency.

But attorney Brian Netter of the U.S. Department of Justice said the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic is still rippling. He said student loan defaults have skyrocketed over the past two-and-a-half years.

This (the HEROES Act) is a statute about emergencies  about national emergencies, Netter said.

The cancellation applies to federal student loans used to attend undergraduate and graduate school, along with Parent Plus loans. Current college students qualify if their loans were disbursed before July 1. Administration officials said applications for debt relief will be available in October.

The plan makes 43 million borrowers eligible for some debt forgiveness, with 20 million who could get their debt erased entirely, according to the administration.

Autrey did not give an indication when he will rule on the injunction request.

Binkley reported from Washington, D.C.
CHESTERFIELD  A former massage therapist at a Chesterfield Pilates studio accused of sexual abuse has been convicted of assault and endangerment of a child.

The trial of Michael Nobs, 72, of Creve Coeur, scheduled for this week was canceled after Nobs entered an Alford plea on Sept. 27 to two counts of assault and one count of felony child endangerment.

The Alford plea means Nobs agreed prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him but did not admit guilt.

He is convicted of groping two clients: A woman assaulted during a January 2019 massage at Performance Pilates on North Outer Forty Road in Chesterfield and a child younger than 12 during a massage between 2004 and 2005.

Nobs was sentenced to five years probation that includes requirements that he get counseling and refrain from any work as a trainer or massage therapist.

He is also forbidden from contacting victims in the case. Should he violate probation, he will face four years in prison.

Before the plea, Nobs faced more serious charges of second-degree sodomy, second-degree sexual abuse and first-degree child molestation.

The adult client in the case and her husband filed a civil suit under the pseudonyms Jane and John Doe against Nobs in 2021, alleging he promised to help ease the woman's back pain, then sexually assaulted her during a massage.

She was "frozen with fear and humiliation, the suit claims.

At no point did plaintiff consent to being touched in the manner that (Nobs) touched her," the suit says.

Attorney for the plaintiffs, James Leightner, said in an email to the Post-Dispatch Wednesday that his clients are appreciative of St. Louis County prosecutors' work in the case.

"As my clients cope with the horrible grief and pain from the breach of trust which occurred, they also want the other victims to know their hearts go out to them as well," Leightner said. "Now that the criminal matter is over, they look forward to the opportunity to pursue a remedy in their own civil action."

The civil suit is ongoing. Attorneys for Nobs in the civil and criminal cases did not immediately reply to a request for comment Wednesday.
ST. LOUIS  A former Catholic priest admitted Wednesday to possessing thousands of images and dozens of videos of child pornography and spending years compiling two PowerPoints of the images.

Father James Beighlie, 72, was a Vincentian priest who most recently served as an associate pastor at St. Vincent de Paul Parish in St. Louis. Previously, he served on the faculty at St. Thomas Aquinas/Mercy High School in St. Louis, at Vincent Gray Academy in East St. Louis and later as associate pastor at Our Lady Queen of Peace parish in House Springs, according to the Congregation of the Mission.

Beighlie was investigated beginning in May 2021 when office staff at the Congregation of the Mission in St. Louis found nude images of him on an office printer. The church seized his electronics and found at least a dozen videos appearing to depict minors engaged in sex acts, according to a plea agreement. Beighlie was removed from ministry and monitored by the Congregation of the Mission Western Province, a spokesman said Wednesday.

The FBI then reviewed 10 devices and found more than 6,200 images of child pornography. Officials also found two PowerPoint presentations, one of which contained nearly 3,000 slides of minors and another that contained roughly 2,800 slides. They were both created in 2009 and had been revised dozens of times, the plea agreement states.

The FBI also found that Beighlie had accessed several thumb drives from hard drives and computers that hadnt been turned over to authorities. He later turned over 18 thumb drives, some of which contained images of child pornography.

On Wednesday, Beighlie pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of child pornography.

Federal sentencing guidelines recommend he receive 6  to 8 years in prison, but Beighlies attorney and prosecutors can argue for a different sentence. He is set to be sentenced on Jan. 10.

A Congregation of the Mission spokesman said there are no other known allegations of sexual abuse of a minor involving Beighlie.

We are deeply saddened and disappointed, said the Rev. Patrick McDevitt, provincial superior for the Congregation of the Missions western province. The behavior for which Fr. Beighlie is accused runs contrary to the Vincentian charism, our mission and everything we stand for. Exploitation of children through pornography is a grave sin and has no place in society.

But advocates for those abused by priests encouraged further investigation, saying that possessing pornographic images can lead to physical abuse.

"Given the age of this priest, his long career and his predilection, we believe there may be victims who don't even know they were harmed," the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests said in a statement.

Beighlie and his attorney declined comment Wednesday.

Updated at 10:30 a.m. Thursday with a statement from SNAP.
ST. LOUIS  A police officer with the citys bike patrol unit shot and injured a man who pointed a gun at the officer Tuesday night in an alley in downtown St. Louis, authorities said.

The 31-year-old man was hit in the shoulder and suffered a graze wound, said St. Louis police Lt. John Green. The shooting happened about 11 p.m. Tuesday in an alley in the 900 block of Locust Street.

No police officers were hurt.

Officers from the 4th District had gone to the area to investigate reports of gunshots near Tucker Boulevard and Washington Avenue. Callers from different parts of the Downtown area gave a description of the suspect, who Green said might be homeless.

Bike patrol officers spotted a man who fit that description near North 10th Street and Washington Avenue, and they chased him into the north alley of the 900 block of Locust Street.

Another officer drove west down the alley in a marked police SUV and saw the suspect behind a dumpster.

He came up from behind a dumpster and pointed a weapon at the officer, Green said in a briefing about 1 a.m. Wednesday that was broadcast by the St. Louis Police Department.

The officer fired three shots at the man, Green said. Green said officers recovered a pistol.

We do have witnesses that saw him in the same alley earlier this evening armed with a gun, waving it around and walking up and down the alley, Green said.

The man was treated at a hospital, then released. He was arrested for unlawful use of a weapon.

The officer who shot the man is 38 and has been with the police department 13 years. Even though the officer was in an SUV, he was a member of the bike patrol unit. Sometimes, officers with that unit patrol in a car and not on a bike.

A 911 call log shows an officer in need of aid call at 10:58 p.m. at North 10th and Locust streets, then a report of shots fired at 11:01 p.m. at North 13th Street and Washington Avenue, followed by a request less than a minute later for evidence technicians at 10th and Locust.

Interim police Chief Michael Sack said the bike squad wears body cameras. Police declined to release the footage to the Post-Dispatch on Wednesday, citing the ongoing investigation. Video from the incident will be uploaded and examined by the investigators with the Force Investigation Unit.

Green is commander of the Force Investigation Unit.

Sack said the Investigation Unit is competent, theyre highly trained, theyve got a history of conducting objective investigations.

Representatives from the St. Louis circuit attorneys office showed up at the scene and talked with investigators, Sack said.

Sack said police have heard complaints from residents across the city about gun violence and about people carrying weapons openly throughout neighborhoods.

This certainly makes residents and businesses concerned about their safety and the safety of their patrons, so its important to us that were present in the neighborhoods, Sack said. Im proud of the downtown bike unit. They were right there on the spot when the calls were coming out.

Sack added, Unfortunately, its not uncommon for us to have calls for service for individuals carrying firearms. This is Missouri. The gun laws are such that anybody can carry a firearm. But once they begin waving it around and discharging that weapon, the city becomes very dangerous for anybody, not just in the immediate area but some distance away.

Dana Rieck of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
JEFFERSON CITY  One of the signature accomplishments of the Republican-controlled Legislature this year was the passage of a law barring hospitals from prohibiting visitors during emergencies.

The so-called No Patients Left Alone Act, which requires medical facilities to allow at least two visitors to be able to see a patient during visiting hours, was inspired by stories of critically ill Missourians who were prevented from seeing loved ones during the pandemic.

When the measure moved through the House and Senate in May, the price tag was set at an estimated $1.9 million by nonpartisan legislative researchers.

But a new analysis this week by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services bumped that figure up $20.9 million as part of the rollout of the rules for the law. The majority of the cost are associated with the distribution of gowns, masks and gloves to the essential caregivers.

There is, however, a major caveat in the latest projection.

(T)his fiscal note attempts to estimate a worst case scenario, the analysis says.

Under the new law, the regulations would kick in if a state of emergency related to infectious diseases such as COVID-19 has been declared.

In calculating the new figure, analysts assumed that every licensed bed for each private hospital is at full capacity for the duration of the emergency declaration, which could last as long as six months.

A hospital, may, in actual practice utilize less beds to address the state of emergency, DHSS officials said.

The new law was among a number of legislative responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Republicans who control state government chafed at federal guidelines that sought to slow or stop the spread of a disease that has killed more than 21,000 Missourians since 2020.

An early version of the legislation, for example, would have banned health care facilities from requiring vaccinations against any disease in order to receive treatment. That provision was later removed from the proposal.

Incoming Missouri House Speaker Dean Plocher, R-Des Peres, made the caregiver legislation a priority, praising the law as a way to help vulnerable citizens.

In signing the legislation, Gov. Mike Parson did not mention the potential cost of the law to public and private medical providers.

No individual should ever be isolated when in critical care at hospitals or care facilities, and we are happy to sign this legislation to ensure that they wont be, the governor said in a statement.

The new figures were put together with the help of information from the Missouri Hospital Association, said MHA spokesman Dave Dillon. He said the numbers could go up or down.

For example, the costs could be reduced if hospitals arent required to provide personal protective materials, Dillon said.

There are a lot of variables, he said. This was our best guess.

Under the law, medical providers would still be allowed to place restrictions on visitors if, for example, the person was showing symptoms of an infection.

The law allows two designated essential caregivers to be with a patient during an emergency.

Facilities also may limit access to essential caregivers if the person fails to follow certain health protocols.

In its analysis, DHSS said there are an estimated 21,600 beds in Missouri private hospitals and those owned by state and local governments.

Dillon said the added costs for hospitals are unlikely to interfere with the rollout of the program. Plus, he said, the federal government could provide additional funding to offset costs to medical providers.
WASHINGTON  President Joe Biden is launching a review of the U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia after OPEC+ announced last week that it would cut oil production over U.S. objections, officials said on Tuesday.

The announcement came a day after powerful Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the United States must immediately freeze all aspects of U.S. cooperation with Saudi Arabia, including arms sales.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said a review will be forthcoming but gave no timeline for action or information on who would lead the reevaluation. The United States will be watching the situation closely over the coming weeks and months, she said.

OPEC+ announced plans for an oil production cut last week after weeks of lobbying against one by U.S. officials. The United States accused Saudi Arabia of kowtowing to Russia, which objects to a Western cap on the price of Russian oil spurred by the Ukraine invasion.

U.S. officials had been quietly trying to persuade its biggest Arab partner to nix the idea of a production cut, but Saudi Arabias de factor ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was not swayed.

Bin Salman and Biden had clashed during Bidens visit to Jeddah in July over the death in 2018 of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to a source familiar with the situation.

U.S. intelligence says the crown prince approved an operation to capture or kill Khashoggi, a Saudi insider-turned-critic, who was murdered and dismembered by Saudi agents inside the kingdoms consulate in Istanbul.

The prince, son of King Salman, 86, has denied ordering the killing but acknowledged it took place under my watch. Biden said in July he told the prince he thought he was responsible.

John Kirby, the White House national security spokesperson, said Biden would work with Congress to think through what that relationship ought to look like going forward.

And I think hes going to be willing to start to have those conversations right away. I dont think this is anything thats going to have to wait or should wait, quite frankly, for much longer, Kirby added.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price also said on Tuesday the Biden administration would not overlook Iran, a U.S. adversary and a bitter regional rival of Saudi Arabia, in the review.

Much of U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia have been made with Irans threat in the region in mind.

There are security challenges, some of which emanate from Iran. Certainly, we wont take our eye off the threat that Iran poses not only to the region, but in some ways beyond, Price said.
Desde la Plaza Mayor de Cangallo, el presidente @PedroCastilloTe se dirigio a cientos de ciudadanos en el marco de la ceremonia de conmemoracion por el 208 Aniversario de la Primera Jura de la Independencia de Cangallo. pic.twitter.com/RaDiJEIC4c
Following the second rainout of the series, the Cleveland Guardians and New York Yankees are set to finally settle their American League playoff in the Bronx. After that, a most unexpected National League Championship Series matching the Philadelphia Phillies and San Diego Padres gets underway at Petco Park. After fans waited through a 2 1/2-hour rain delay, the decisive Game 5 of the Division Series between the Guardians and Yankees was postponed Monday night and rescheduled for Tuesday at 4:07 p.m. That gives New York a chance to start All-Star lefty Nestor Cortes on three days rest instead of Jameson Taillon. Cleveland is expected to stick with right-hander Aaron Civale. The winner faces Houston in the AL Championship Series.
VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP)  For years, a congressional seat in a Republican district in southwest Washington has evaded Democrats. Now, with the incumbent congresswoman ousted over her vote to impeach former President Donald Trump, they have a slim chance in a race that has pitted an America First Republican against a rural Democrat.

The tough battle in the 3rd Congressional District is a key race for both parties as the House is up for grabs amid an environment of increasing polarization.

Long-time Republican U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. She finished third in the August primary, where the top two finishers win a chance to face off in the general election, regardless of party.

Now Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Trump-endorsed Republican Joe Kent are fighting for the seat. Herrera Beutler has not endorsed a candidate and has not said how she plans to vote.

Herrera Buetler took 22% percent of the vote in the primary. Which candidate her supporters opt for next month will be key in determining whether Republicans retain the seat or Democrats score an upset, said Mark Stephan, an associate professor of political science at Washington State University-Vancouver.

Even though Republicans continue to dominate the 3rd District, they are split in their perspectives, he said. This is a Republican district, and it will be for a while. But theres this small sliver of chance for the Democrats now.

The former president garnered just 38% of the statewide vote in 2020 but narrowly won the 3rd District with 50.6% of the vote. In comparison, Herrera Beutler captured more than 56% in her race that year.

Stephan said the polarization of the rest of the country can be visualized in the 3rd District."

A recent debate in Vancouver, the largest city in the district, showed the vast difference between the two candidates, with Gluesenkamp Perez saying Kent is too extreme and Kent countering that she would be a rubber stamp vote for Democrats.

Kent, a former Green Beret who is a regular on conservative cable and podcasts, has called for the impeachment of President Joe Biden and an investigation into the 2020 election. Hes also called to defund the FBI after the search on Trumps Mar-a-Lago home for classified documents.

He railed against COVID shutdowns and vaccine mandates at the debate, calling the vaccine experimental gene therapy and saying Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nations top infectious disease expert, must be held accountable.

Does anyone else here feel like they just spent a month on YouTube? Gluesenkamp Perez asked the crowd, saying that Kent's comments are "doing nothing to heal our country.

Kent responded that the loss of his wife, a Navy cryptologist who was killed by a suicide bomber in Syria during a mission to fight the Islamic State in 2019, was "because our ruling class, Republicans and Democrats, consistently lied to the American people to keep us engaged in wars abroad.

"That is why I have a skepticism of our federal government, he said.

Gluesenkamp Perez  who co-owns an auto shop with her husband just across the border in Portland, Oregon  said that as a small business owner who lives in a rural part of the district, she is more in line with voters. She supports abortion access and policies to counter climate change, but also is a gun owner who said she opposes an assault rifle ban, though she does support raising the age of purchase for such guns to 21.

I am not your typical Democrat, she told the crowd. We have got to get people in Congress who fix things again, not people that are out starting flame wars.

Kent said Gluesenkamp Perez will vote in lock step with Democrats.

Hows your 401k doing right now, hows your future look for your kids? Very bleak, he said. We cannot have two more years of the Democrats at the helm. Im going there to be a check and a balance on Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden.

Kent has had to address connections to right-wing extremists throughout his campaign, something Gluesenkamp Perez pointed to during the debate, saying that he wanted to ban immigration to ensure a white majority.

This nonsense about me being a white nationalist is absolutely despicable, Kent countered. I fought for this country for over 20 years, I placed my life in the hands of minorities and people of every single race and creed and sexuality, and theyve placed their lives in my hands.

Ron Moon, 79, attended the debate wearing a red Fire Pelosi hat with a Joe Kent button attached. Moon said he had voted for Herrera Beutler in previous elections, calling her the lesser of two evils.

Her impeachment vote following the attack on the U.S. Capitol was the last straw: That was the end, he said. I never again thought about supporting her.

Nearby, 70-year-old Nancy Everly was wearing a shirt supporting Gluesenkamp Perez and a necklace of Scrabble tiles that spelled out Vote.

I have to support a candidate who is pro-choice, she said. We cant go backwards.

Ballots will be mailed by Oct. 21 to the states nearly 4.8 million registered voters, including the more than 499,000 in the 3rd Congressional District. Because Washington is a vote-by-mail state and ballots just need to be in by Election Day, it often takes days to learn final results in close races as ballots arrive at county election offices throughout the week.
AUSTIN, TX / ACCESSWIRE / October 12, 2022 / Xtra Energy Corp. (OTC Markets:XTPT) is excited to announce the completed filing and recording of a 495 acre, 24 lode claim expansion onto the company's flagship project "American Antimony". Located approximately 31 miles northeast of Eastgate, Nevada. Xtra Energy now holds a 100% ownership in a 64 lode claim, 1320 acre antimony project surrounding the historical Antimony King Mine and covering several documented antimony producers. As a result of a very successful mapping program carried out over the last three months on the first 825 acres see : 10/3/2022 Company News. Management knew the right move was to first further increase our land holdings in the Bernice Mining District. Intent on targeting more historically documented high grade antimony deposits that encompassed the production from this district. The aerial map attached below shows in detail the progression the company has made.

The XTPT Chairman Mac J. Shahsavar, P. Eng. commented "this expansion is proof to our investors that this is another endeavor we are determined to succeed at. Antimony is critical for its uses in not only defense and military applications but rapidly advancing battery technology. Technology that will be both safer and cheaper than its counterpart the lithium ion battery see : Antimony-Based Battery News. In the weeks ahead Xtra Energy will continue to prove up the tremendous value of this Antimony district as we move forward on discussions with the appropriate parties for partnership on development and the supply of Antimony ore."

*aerial view of Xtra Energy's 1320 acre, 64 lode claim "American Antimony" project.

Contact & Learn More:

Xtra Energy Corporation

Phone: 512-412-3636

Corporate Website: https://americanantimony.com/

Corporate Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/xtra-energy-corp/

Corporate Twitter: https://twitter.com/xtra_corp

Corporate Instagram :https://www.instagram.com/xtraenergycorp/

About Xtra Energy Corp.

Xtra Energy Corp. is an antimony exploration company focused on developing its flagship project "American Antimony". Known in historical records as the "Antimony King Mine" located approximately 31 miles northeast of Eastgate, Nevada. Xtra Energy Corp. holds a 100% ownership in a 64 lode claim, 1320 acre antimony project surrounding the historical Antimony King and covering several documented antimony producers. The Company is seeking to develop this portfolio of potentially antimony-rich assets to become a major supplier of antimony based products.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS:

This press release contains forward-looking statements as defined within Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These statements relate to future events, including our ability to raise capital, or to our future financial performance, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond our control and which could, and likely will, materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Any forward-looking statement reflects our current views with respect to future events and is subject to these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to our operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity. We assume no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.

For a discussion of these risks and uncertainties, please see our filings with the OTC Markets Group Inc. Our public filings with the OTC Markets Group Inc are available from commercial document retrieval services and at the website maintained by the OTC Markets at https://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/XTPT/disclosure.

SOURCE: Xtra Energy Corp.

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OXFORD, England & BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Preservica, a global leader in Active Digital Preservation archiving, is pleased to announce that 11 regional government archives across the Netherlands have now selected Preservicas cloud-hosted e-Depot software to deliver sustainable preservation and public access to digital records over decades.

Regional Archives who have been using Preservicas cloud-hosted software since 2019 include Erfgoed Leiden, West-Brabants Archief, Noord-Hollands Archief, Erfgoed s-Hertogenbosch, Drents Archief, Brabant Historical Information Center (BHIC), Groninger Archieven and Gelders Archief. In the last couple of months alone, the Dutch community has grown by a further 3 to 11 e-Depots including Haags Gemeentearchief (The Hague Municipal Archives), Tresoar Fryslan, and Zeeuws Archief. Preservica has also been the partner of choice for a number of years at the Nationaal Archief (the National Archives) and Stadsarchief Rotterdam.

Our archival experts find Preservica easy to use, said Mirjam Bakker, Noord-Hollands Archief, Haarlem. Preservica enables them to focus on their core tasks and essential preservation work, without the concern about insufficient in-depth specialist skills.

Operating in alignment with the Dutch Public Records Act of 1995 and other local regulations, regional e-Depots play a pivotal role in the development of open government in the Netherlands by safeguarding and improving access to digital records and cultural material from the present, the past, and into the future.

As a trusted digital repository for its region, each e-Depot also receives and preserves digital records and content from local provinces, municipalities, water boards as well as private archives such as associations, foundations, companies, and personal collections.

Preservicas cloud-based e-Depot software uses Active Digital Preservation to ensure government records remain accessible and readable over decades  no matter what file format they were created in. The software also includes a secure public access portal to simplify the challenge of delivering on open government.

In Leiden, the e-depot safeguards digital and digitized archives of councils and other local government organizations, individuals or non-governmental organizations, such as churches and societies. At the moment this includes: building permits, websites, digital maps and video recordings of council meetings.

Open government has created new demands on the way that long-term digital information is captured, protected and made accessible, especially as public sector institutions around the world switch to digital working, said Mike Quinn, CEO, Preservica. The need to digitally preserve information in a sustainable way is increasing each year and it is exciting to see how this is growing across the Netherlands. We are excited to work together with all these institutions to help protect and future-proof digital public records & cultural heritage for generations to come.

John Jansen, Director at Nova et Vetera, Preservicas lead partner in the Netherlands, adds We are proud to have worked with so many e-Depots to deliver sustainable preservation and greater access to digital government records for their regions. We look forward to working with the rapidly growing community of institutions across the country that are choosing Preservicas trusted digital preservation software.

Learn more about Preservicas cloud-hosted eDepot software or preservica.com to explore how Preservica is being used to protect valuable digital content at businesses and academic institutions.

About Preservica

Preservica is transforming the way organizations around the world protect and future-proof critical long-term digital information. Available in the cloud (SaaS) or on-premise, our award-winning Active Digital Preservation archiving software has been designed from the ground up to tackle the unique challenges of ensuring digital information remains accessible and trustworthy over decades.

Its a proven solution thats trusted by thousands of businesses, archives, libraries, museums and government organizations around the world, including the UK National Archives, Transport for London (TfL), Amnesty International and HSBC.

Click here to read the above press release in English.

preservica.com

Twitter: @Preservica

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221003005942/en/

Media

Aleeza Goodman

York IE

[email protected]

Source: Preservica
TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- ABC Technologies Inc. (TSX: ABCT), a leading manufacturer and supplier of custom, highly engineered, technical plastics and lightweighting innovations to the North American light vehicle industry, announced that it will release its Fiscal First Quarter 2023 financial results on Friday, November 11th before the market opens. The Company will host a conference call for the investment community at 8:30am ET to discuss the results. The call will also be available to the general public via a live audio webcast.

The dial-in number to participate in the call is:

Toll Free: 1-855-327-6837

Toll/International: 1-631-891-4304

Participants may listen to the call via audio streaming at www.abctechnologies.com/investors

A telephonic replay will be available approximately two hours after the call. The replay will be available until 11:59pm ET on Friday, November 25th, 2022.

Replay Information

Toll Free: 1-844-512-2921

Toll/International: 1-412-317-6671

Replay Pin Number: 10020435

A webcast replay will be available approximately one hour after the conclusion of the call at www.abctechnologies.com/investors under the Events & Presentations section.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221012005969/en/

Nathan Barton

ABC Technologies Investor Relations

[email protected]

Source: ABC Technologies Inc.
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today announced the opening of the Dissolution Center of Excellence (CoE) facility in Craven Arms, United Kingdom. The newly modernized premises will house the core of Agilents dissolution business, including research and development, quality, support, applications, marketing, and more. This investment allows all Agilent dissolution activities to be consolidated under one roof, facilitating the cooperation of all business segments and driving the mission of innovation for the next generation of dissolution products and services.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for improving virtual connectivity, with many companies seeking new ways to strengthen contact with customers. This expanded site will serve as a hub for Agilents dissolution customers around the world, providing education, training, application development, and both on-site and virtual demonstrations. These enhanced capabilities demonstrate Agilents adaptation to this new model of doing business while providing a channel for customers to easily access expertise and support.

Steve ODonohue, director at the Craven Arms site, discussed the importance of the new center for Agilent's continuing commitment to dissolution. The growth in our dissolution business has really driven the need for this larger facility, he said. Our new flagship site will enable us to develop a truly unified approach to dissolution for the future. The location will also facilitate greater innovation and manufacturing capabilities to support Agilents digital lab initiatives.

This investment by Agilent also provides immediate value to their global dissolution customer base; Dan Spisak, dissolution marketing manager at Agilent, explained. "By centering all dissolution activities in the UK, customers from all time zones will have improved access to our team of experts, with the latest technology to virtually connect for education, training, troubleshooting, and all other types of dissolution testing assistance.

Agilent have a comprehensive portfolio of dissolution testing technology and software meeting pharmaceutical industry requirements. For more information about Agilents dissolution testing portfolio, visit: agilent.com/en/product/dissolution-testing

About Agilent Technologies

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) is a global leader in the life sciences, diagnostics, and applied chemical markets, delivering insight and innovation that advance the quality of life. Agilents full range of solutions includes instruments, software, services, and expertise that provide trusted answers to our customers' most challenging questions. The company generated revenue of $6.32 billion in fiscal 2021 and employs 17,000 people worldwide. Information about Agilent is available at www.agilent.com. To receive the latest Agilent news, please subscribe to the Agilent Newsroom. Follow Agilent on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221012005089/en/

Catherine Kaye

Agilent Technologies

07775 410632

[email protected]

Source: Agilent Technologies Inc.
CINCINNATI--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- American Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: AFG) expects to release its 2022 third quarter results after 5:00 p.m. (ET) on Wednesday, November 2, 2022. The release will be available shortly thereafter on AFGs website at www.AFGinc.com.

In conjunction with its release, AFG will hold a conference call to discuss 2022 third quarter results at 11:30 a.m. (ET) on Thursday, November 3, 2022. New, simplified event registration and access provides two ways to access the call.

By Telephone

Participants may register for the call here now or any time up to and during the time of the call, and will immediately receive the dial-in number and a unique pin to access the call. Registration details are also available by visiting https://www.AFGinc.com/news-and-events/event-calendar.

While you may register at any time up to and during the time of the call, you are encouraged to join the call 10 minutes prior to the start of the event.

Via the Internet

The conference call and accompanying webcast slides will also be broadcast live over the internet. To access the event, click the following link: https://www.AFGinc.com/news-and-events/event-calendar. A replay of the webcast will be available via the same link on our website approximately two hours after the completion of the call.

About American Financial Group, Inc.

American Financial Group is an insurance holding company, based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Through the operations of Great American Insurance Group, AFG is engaged primarily in property and casualty insurance, focusing on specialized commercial products for businesses. Great American Insurance Groups roots go back to 1872 with the founding of its flagship company, Great American Insurance Company.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221012006034/en/

Diane P. Weidner, IRC

Vice President - Investor & Media Relations

513-369-5713



Websites:

www.AFGinc.com

www.GreatAmericanInsuranceGroup.com

Source: American Financial Group, Inc.








In this regard, it states that the Peruvian government official will sign two documents with European Union High Representative Josep Borrell, within the framework of a working visit to Brussels, Kingdom of Belgium, from October 12 to 14.





One of the documents to be signed is a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to invigorate political dialogue, as well as to expand and diversify the areas of cooperation with the EU bloc.





Minister Landa will also sign the Framework Agreement for Peru's participation in EU crisis management operations, which will provide legal framework for the country to contribute to international peace and security missions organized by the EU.





Likewise, he will meet with senior authorities of the European Union and the Kingdom of Belgium, in order to address the common agenda with the European bloc and the aforementioned country.









Meanwhile, from October 15 to 16, Minister Landa will travel to Paris, France, to hold working meetings at the Peruvian Embassy regarding Peru's accession to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) , and to participate in a meeting with representatives of the Peruvian community residing in said French city.





On the other hand, from October 16 to 18, the Cabinet member will hold a meeting with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of the Holy See, at the Holy See, which will be also attended by the Secretary for Relations with States of the Holy See Monsignor Paul Richard Gallagher.





During said visit, they will sign a certificate of delivery and repatriation of three pre-Columbian Peruvian mummies that are currently held in the Vatican museums.





Moreover, while in Rome, Italy, the Peruvian minister will participate in the events to take place within the framework of the 2022 World Food Forum, organized by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), as well as in high-level meetings. He will also meet with representatives of the Peruvian community residing in said city.





Afterwards, from October 19 to 21, the high-ranking official will travel to Mexico City in order to take part in the activities organized within the framework of the meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Pacific Alliance convened by the United Mexican States, in its capacity as holder of the Pro-Tempore Presidency.





According to the aforementioned resolution, the Foreign Affairs sector is entrusted to Justice and Human Rights Minister Felix Chero as of October 12 and for as long as Minister Landa's absence lasts.





(END) JCC/CVC/RMB/MVB

The Executive Branch has authorized Foreign Affairs Minister Cesar Landa to travel on official duty outside Peru with the aim of visiting Belgium, France, Vatican City, and Italy, as well as Mexico, from October 12 to 21. Supreme Resolution 244-2022-PCM , published in the Official Gazette El Peruano , details the activities that the minister will carry out in Europe and in North America.Publicado: 12/10/2022
FORT WORTH, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- BAE Systems has released the Viper Memory Loader Verifier II (MLV II), a new version of a world-leading maintenance capability that will reduce vulnerability to cyber-attacks for F-16 aircraft.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221012005742/en/

BAE Systems has released the Viper Memory Loader Verifier II, a new version of a world-leading maintenance capability that will reduce vulnerability to cyber-attacks for F-16 aircraft. (Credit: BAE Systems)

Our first generation Viper MLV has 20 years of proven reliability and durability in challenging flight line environments, said Carl Huncharek, F-16 product line director for BAE Systems. This new version of the product will include cyber-hardened aircraft mission capabilities, with an open system architecture that reduces lifecycle costs.

In addition to the flight-critical ability to load and verify software onto the aircraft, the Viper MLV II supports mission data file loads, flight and fault data downloading, and third-party application software.

Viper MLV II supports more than 100 onboard systems for the F-16, including mission and flight critical systems, such as the radar, electronic warfare, mission and flight control computers, crash survivable data recorders, engine control systems, navigation, and communications systems.

Two countries are fielding the Viper MLV II via Foreign Military Sales for the F-16 Block 70/72 aircraft, ordering six systems with potential follow-on for 15 additional systems. The system is fully compatible with the entire F-16 fleet and will use existing interface cables. While the Viper MLV II will be positioned for all new F-16 deployments, BAE Systems also continues to support the current equipment.

The system is field-proven, with more than 700 systems in use by the U.S. Air Force and more than 25 allied nations. The Viper MLV II will be developed and produced at BAE Systems Fort Worth, Texas site.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221012005742/en/

For more information:

Shelby Cohen, BAE Systems

Mobile: 607-658-6687

[email protected]

www.baesystems.com/US

@BAESystemsInc

Source: BAE Systems
$70 million investment makes Statesville the companys largest manufacturing facility in North America and will create up to 250 additional jobs in Iredell County

STATESVILLE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Bobcat Company, a global leader in the compact equipment industry, today celebrated the completion of its Statesville manufacturing facility expansion with a ceremonial ribbon cutting attended by company leaders, employees and community members. The $70 million investment makes the location the companys largest manufacturing facility in North America and will add hundreds more jobs in Iredell County over the next five years.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221011006208/en/

$70 million investment makes Statesville the companys largest manufacturing facility in North America and will create up to 250 additional jobs (Photo: Business Wire)

The 600,000-square-foot expansion increased the footprint to more than 1 million square feet on a more than 150-acre campus, located at 1293 Glenway Drive, Statesville, north of Charlotte, North Carolina. This investment enables the Statesville operation to also serve as a key manufacturing hub to help meet a growing demand for Bobcat products by increasing production capabilities and efficiency.

This is a significant day for Bobcat, the Statesville community and our customers as we grow our presence in North Carolina and expand our manufacturing capabilities in the U.S., said Mike Ballweber, president of Doosan Bobcat North America. This investment will not only position us to meet growing customer demand, but it also adds significant job opportunities to benefit the community.

Construction on the project began in July 2021 and took roughly fourteen months to complete.

Thanks to this expansion, up to 250 jobs will be added in the next five years. Since the start of this year, more than one third of these new positions have already been filled, increasing Statesvilles current team to nearly 600.

As one of our communitys largest manufacturing companies, we are proud of the commitment Bobcat Company has made not only in its facility growth and job creation, but also in its commitment to economic impact, charitable giving, educational support and community involvement, said City of Statesville Mayor Costi Kutteh, who attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony along with other community leaders. Bobcat is an inspiration and catalyst to each of us as Statesville continues to grow and flourish.

The expansion adds space for manufacturing and warehousing; research and development; an automated paint line; parts control and storage; shipping and receiving docks; open air space for product testing and quality control; additional parking; shipping and delivery entrance; and finished goods inventory storage.

The manufacturing space includes new state-of-the-art technology to improve production efficiencies and streamline operations across Bobcat's North American locations.

New factory technology and systems are consistent across the company's North American facilities improving process and design collaboration, as well as simplifying transfer of information.

It has been exciting to see these additions and enhancements to our facility take shape, and we greatly appreciate the support of our employees, partners, officials and the community during this process, said Doosan Bobcat Portable Power Global Vice President Lance Mathern. We are ready for the future and look forward to the benefits this expansion brings.

Production of the Bobcat mini track loader (MTL) will shift from the Bismarck, N.D., facility to Statesville by late 2022. The new MTL production lines are designed to produce 35 units per shift, which will mean a new Bobcat MT100 will finish production every 10.8 minutes.

Additionally, the Bobcat compact tractor line has been assembled in Statesville since its launch in 2019, and will continue to be assembled in this facility, thus growing the companys grounds maintenance equipment production at this site. The Statesville location also produces generators, light towers and air compressors.

In addition to its operations in Statesville, Bobcat has an extensive presence throughout the U.S. The company employs nearly 5,000 people at 13 facilities in seven states. Among its other facilities, Bobcat has engineering, research and development centers in North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Arizona; a training facility in Colorado; and manufacturing facilities in North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Carolina.

Our growth is rooted in our legacy as the inventor of the compact equipment industry and fueled by our drive to continue redefining the industry through groundbreaking innovation and a focus on customer experience, Ballweber added.

For more information on Bobcat, please visit bobcat.com. For career opportunities, please visit bobcat.com/careers.

Media Resources: High-resolution photos of the new manufacturing facility, Statesville campus and the grand opening celebration event, as well as leader bios are available to download and publish at this Dropbox link.

About Doosan Bobcat North America

Doosan Bobcat North America, headquartered in West Fargo, North Dakota, is a leading global manufacturer of construction, agriculture, landscaping and grounds maintenance equipment, attachments, and services. Committed to empowering people to accomplish more, Doosan Bobcat North America is home to world-renowned brands, including Bobcat compact equipment, Doosan portable power products, and Ryan and Steiner grounds maintenance equipment. Doosan Bobcat North America is a tradename of Clark Equipment Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Doosan Bobcat Inc.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221011006208/en/

Media Contact:

Nadine Erckenbrack, Bobcat Company Public Relations Manager

Mobile: 701-205-9207

Email: [email protected]

Source: Doosan Bobcat North America
LYNCHBURG, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- BWX Technologies, Inc. (BWXT) (NYSE: BWXT) will issue a press release detailing third quarter 2022 results on Monday, November 7, 2022, after market close and will host a conference call at 5:00 p.m. EST.

Listen-only participants are encouraged to participate and view the supporting presentation via the Internet at www.bwxt.com/investors. The dial-in numbers for participants are (U.S.) 1-844-200-6205, (Canada) 1-833-950-0062 and (International) +1-929-526-1599; access code: 461827. A replay of the call will remain available on the BWXT website for a limited time.

About BWXT

At BWX Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: BWXT), we are People Strong, Innovation Driven. Headquartered in Lynchburg, Virginia, BWXT is a Fortune 1000 and Defense News Top 100 manufacturing and engineering innovator that provides safe and effective nuclear solutions for global security, clean energy, environmental remediation, nuclear medicine and space exploration. With approximately 6,700 employees, BWXT has 14 major operating sites in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. In addition, BWXT joint ventures provide management and operations at more than a dozen U.S. Department of Energy and NASA facilities. Follow us on Twitter at @BWXT and learn more at www.bwxt.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221011006004/en/

Media Contact

Jud Simmons

Director, Media and Public Relations

434.522.6462

[email protected]

Investor Contact

Mark Kratz

Vice President, Investor Relations

980.365.4300

[email protected]

Source: BWX Technologies, Inc.
TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Cellusion Inc. (CEO: Shin Hatou, M.D. Ph.D., Cellusion), a Japanese regenerative medicine startup aiming to solve the global corneal transplant waiting list problem with a unique differentiation induction method from iPS cells to Corneal Endothelial Cell Substitute from iPS Cells (CECSi Cells) for bullous keratopathy novel treatment (PJ code: CLS001), and Minaris Regenerative Medicine, LLC (CEO: Hiroto Bando, Ph.D. MBA, Minaris), a leading global contract and development manufacturing organization (CDMO) and a member of Showa Denko Materials Co., Ltd. (CEO: Hidehito Takahashi, Showa Denko Materials), today announced Letter of Intent (LOI) of the Manufacturing of CLS001 for a Corneal Endothelial Cell Regenerative therapy in the United States.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220929006030/en/

Under the LOI, Cellusion and Minaris will develop the manufacturing process of Cellusions leading program, CLS001, a novel regenerative medicine product for bullous keratopathy treatment. Minaris Allendale, New Jersey team will perform process optimization to meet requirements from the FDA.

We are very enthusiastic to have the partnership with Minaris, a well-established regenerative medicine partner with over 20 years experiences including the predecessor companies, Progenitor Cell Therapy and Hitachi Chemical, and one of the leading CDMOs in the U.S. since the dawn of the field, said Shin Hatou, M.D. Ph.D., CEO of Cellusion. Together, we make our best efforts to develop the robust manufacturing process of CLS001 for patients suffering from bullous keratopathy due to the cornea donor shortage all over the world.

Hiroto Bando, Ph.D. MBA, CEO of Minaris said It is exciting for Minaris Regenerative Medicine to be part of advancing a potential solution to corneal blindness, a widespread need, and we look forward to leveraging our extensive development resources to support Cellusion. We hope to position Cellusion well for its next clinical trial and potentially further support them in their manufacturing needs.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) report, in 2021, at least 1 billion near or distant vision impairment cases could have been prevented or has yet to be addressed globally. Blindness of the cornea is the fourth leading cause of blindness, and is one of the major causes of visual deficiency after cataract, glaucoma, and age-related macular degeneration. Most of the patients with corneal blindness need corneal transplantation to restore their sight, but only 180,000 corneal transplants are conducted every year due to severe donor cornea shortage issues. Cellusion is striving to solve this problem, and by doing so support the UNs Sustainable Development Goals 3 to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all ages.

Cellusion has announced that patient recruitment began for the Investigator-Initiated Study first-in-human study of CLS001 to initiate in 2022 at the Keio University Hospital. Cellusion has been preparing to start its clinical trial in Japan within a few years followed by global studies in the US and EU region.

[About CLS001]

In spite of the fact that more than 13 million waiting patients for potential blinding diseases such as Bullous Keratopathy, which can only be prevented by corneal transplantation, only about 180,000 corneal transplants are performed annually worldwide. The reason for such a large medical supply-demand gap generated is because current treatments require donor corneas, skilled corneal transplant ophthalmologists, and Eye Banks.

Cellusion is developing CLS001, CECSi cells for Corneal Endothelial regeneration to cure Bullous Keratopathy which is applied to more than half of all cases of corneal transplantation. CLS001 is expected to replace the current supply limitations by combining CECSi Cells made from iPS cells with excellent proliferative properties and a simple injection cell delivery procedure without needs of human expertise.

[About Minaris]

Minaris is a global CDMO for cell and gene therapies as a member of Showa Denko Materials group. Minaris offers their clients high value clinical and commercial manufacturing services, development solutions, and technologies. Minaris is a pioneer in the field with more than 20 years experience providing high quality and reliability. The facilities in the US, Europe, and Asia allow Minaris to supply patients worldwide with life-changing therapies.

For more information, please visit www.rm.minaris.com

Connect with Minaris: Twitter: https://twitter.com/MinarisRM

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/minaris-regenerative-medicine

[About Cellusion]

Cellusion is a regenerative medicine startup born from the Department of Ophthalmology, Keio University School of Medicine in 2015. Cellusion aims to contribute to the improvement of health and well-being around the world by solving unmet medical needs in medicine with its cutting-edge cell therapy technologies, including a unique differentiation induction method from iPS cells to CECSi endothelial cells. Cellusions mission is to give the worldwide community a clear vision of the future with the cellular technology breakthrough.

Company: Cellusion Inc.

CEO: Shin Hatou, M.D., Ph.D.

Headquarters: 8-6 Nihonbashi-Kobuna, Chuo, Tokyo 103-0024, JAPAN

Founded: January 2015

URL: https://cellusion.jp/en/

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220929006030/en/

Noriko Takada

Cellusion Inc.

[email protected]

+81-3-5843-1785

Luc St-Onge, Ph.D.

Global Head of Sales and Marketing

Minaris Regenerative Medicine GmbH

[email protected]

+49-89-700-9608-0

For further information: please ask us through the contact form on our website.

Source: Cellusion Inc.
Code42 Incydr and Tines partnership offers no-code automation of security response to employee-driven data exposure, leak and theft

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Code42 Software, Inc., the Insider Risk Management (IRM) leader, today announced that it is working with Tines, a no-code automation platform for security teams. Through a new partnership between Code42 and Tines, mutual customers gain the speed and scale to accelerate response to data leaks from insiders. Using the powerful automation capabilities of Tines, customers can triage, contain and escalate high-risk file activities detected by the Code42 Incydr product. Templated Incydr and Tines Stories give security teams a repeatable way to protect their valued corporate data from employee-driven exposure, leak and theft, and improve their organizations Insider Risk posture.

To effectively protect valuable IP, like source code, product plans and personnel data, security teams must do two things well. They have to react quickly to high-priority Insider Risk alerts, and use effective, repeatable processes to deliver the most appropriate response. Speed and scalability are especially crucial when 83% of security teams are overwhelmed with the volume of alerts and complexity of tools, said Ananth Appathurai, senior vice president of strategic partnerships and ecosystem for Code42. The Incydr and Tines partnership will benefit over-capacity security teams, and save valuable time and resources when addressing high-volume data exposure, loss and leak events.

The integration allows security teams to:

Automate the triage and containment of data risk events with response controls that correspond to the severity of an event.

Speed time-to-respond to data risk events without expanding the size of teams or overloading security analysts.

Get more from their tech stack by ensuring their Incydr and Tines environments work seamlessly together to speed detection and response of data exfiltration events.

Use and customize pre-built Incydr and Tines Stories to elevate scalability, automatically open tickets, take predefined response actions based on event severity, and export Incydr data to document investigations.

Take advantage of extensible automation options and connect Tines via API, allowing organizations to easily maintain or evolve their security processes for Insider Risk response.

Industry research estimates that the number of unfilled cybersecurity jobs worldwide grew 350% between 2013 and 2021, from one million to 3.5 million, a trend that is expected to continue unabated for the next half decade. For under-resourced security teams, no-code automation is integral to their ability to meet their organizations security expectations, said Eoin Hinchy, co-founder and CEO of Tines. This partnership offers tangible benefits that help elevate data protection programs, keep trade secrets, IP, and other valued corporate data secure, and helps organizations improve their security postures without needing to rely on developers.

Learn more about the Incydr and Tines partnership.

Code42 Incydr: The Industrys Leading Data Security Product for Exfiltration Detection

Incydr is an Insider Risk Management solution that provides the visibility, context and controls needed to stop data leak and IP theft. Organizations use Incydr to detect and respond to data exposure and exfiltration from corporate computer, cloud and email systems. It deploys in hours so security teams can address material risk to the business in a matter of days and drive the secure work habits needed to decrease how often employees put data at risk in the future.

Availability

This connection is available at no additional cost to joint Code42 and Tines customers. Learn more about the integration on the Code42 site.

About Tines

Tines is no-code automation for security teams. Its the only platform that bypasses the need for programming skills, delivering powerful automation straight into the hands of front-line analysts and operators. Tines brings an impact-first approach to all teams, securely automating thousands of mission-critical workflows per day across a diverse range of customers, including Coinbase, Sophos, Kayak, Databricks, McKesson, and Canva. The company was founded in 2018 in Dublin, Ireland, by former security practitioners Eoin Hinchy and Thomas Kinsella, and has offices in Dublin, Boston, and Sydney.

About Code42

Code42 is the leader in Insider Risk Management (IRM), offering end-to-end data loss detection and response solutions. The Code42 Incydr product is native to the cloud and rapidly detects data exposure, loss, leak and theft as well as speeds incident response  all without lengthy deployments, complex policy management or blocking employee productivity. Accelerating the effectiveness of Insider Risk programs are the Code42 Instructor microlearning solution, and Code42s full suite of expert services.

With Code42, security professionals can protect corporate data and reduce insider risk while fostering an open and collaborative culture for employees. Designed to meet regulatory control requirements, Code42s IRM solution is FEDRAMP authorized and can be configured for GDPR, HIPAA, PCI and other compliance frameworks. Innovative organizations, including the fastest-growing security companies, rely on Code42 to safeguard their ideas. Founded in 2001, the company is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and backed by Accel Partners, JMI Equity, NewView and Split Rock Partners. Code42 has played a defining role in developing a vision and requirements for the IRM category  now recognized by Gartner, IDC and Forrester  and is a founding member of the annual Insider Risk Summit and Insider Risk Community.

The Company has several offices across the United States and its clients include large multinational organizations, such as CrowdStrike, Exabeam, BAYADA Home Health Care, Lending Club, MacDonald-Miller, MACOM, North Highland, Ping Identity, Shape Technologies, Snowflake, University of Georgia, User Testing, UTEX and Xactly.

 2022 Code42 Software, Inc. All rights reserved. Code42, the Code42 logo, Incydr and Instructor are registered trademarks or trademarks of Code42 Software, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. All other marks are properties of their respective owners.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221012005494/en/

Press Contact:

Kristin McKenzie

Public Relations Principal, Code42

[email protected]

844-333-4242

Aoife Anderson

[email protected]

415-261-7869

Source: Code42 Software, Inc.,
FRANKLIN, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Community Health Systems, Inc. (NYSE: CYH) today announced that it will webcast its third quarter 2022 conference call.

The Company will issue a press release announcing its results on Wednesday, October 26, 2022, after the regular close of trading. The conference call is scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. Central time, 11:00 a.m. Eastern time, on Thursday, October 27, 2022. A live webcast of the conference call will be available online at www.chs.net. The online replay will follow shortly after the call and continue for approximately 30 days.

During this call, Community Health Systems will review the Companys financial and operating results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2022.

About Community Health Systems, Inc.

Community Health Systems, Inc. is one of the nations largest healthcare companies. The Company's affiliates are leading providers of healthcare services, developing and operating healthcare delivery systems in 48 distinct markets across 16 states. CHS subsidiaries own or lease 83 affiliated hospitals with 13,000 beds and operate more than 1,000 sites of care, including physician practices, urgent care centers, freestanding emergency departments, occupational medicine clinics, imaging centers, cancer centers and ambulatory surgery centers. Shares in Community Health Systems, Inc. are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CYH. The Companys headquarters are located in Franklin, Tennessee, a suburb south of Nashville. More information about the Company can be found on its website at www.chs.net.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221012005359/en/

Investor Contacts:

Kevin J. Hammons

President and Chief Financial Officer

615-465-7000

or

Ross W. Comeaux

Vice President  Investor Relations

615-465-7012

Source: Community Health Systems, Inc.
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Second paragraph, second sentence of release dated September 27, 2022, should read: A $6 million pre-seed round was led by Polychain and joined by Tribe Capital, Tabiya, Galileo, Polygon Ventures, and Accel.

The updated release reads:

ECLIPSE RAISES $15M FOR CUSTOMIZABLE SOLANA VIRTUAL MACHINE LAYER 2 TECHNOLOGY

Eclipse, a customizable modular rollup provider, announced today that it has raised $15 million in pre-seed and seed funding. Eclipse maximizes throughput, while also providing developers with the flexibility to customize their own balance of speed, decentralization, and cost. With Eclipse, applications can build their own trust-minimized app chains, powered by the Solana virtual machine.

Eclipses $9 million seed round was co-led by Tribe Capital and Tabiya, which were joined by Infinity Ventures Crypto, Soma Capital, Struck Crypto, and CoinList among others. A $6 million pre-seed round was led by Polychain and joined by Tribe Capital, Tabiya, Galileo, Polygon Ventures, and Accel.

Eclipse solves a major pain point in the Web3 development ecosystem. With recent enterprise interest in Web3 use cases, applications are still forced to share the same throughput as other applications building on the same blockchain, with no option to leave if the application faces downtime or high transaction costs. Going beyond traditional alternatives such as Aptos and Starkware, Eclipse enables developers to deploy their own rollup powered by the Solana virtual machine, using any chain for security or data storage. Down the line, Eclipse will support the Move language, too.

Eclipse has already partnered with a series of major ecosystems including Celestia, EigenLayer, Oasis Labs, Polygon, Cosmos, and NEAR. It has also received a development grant from the Solana Foundation to support the development of rollups powered by the Solana virtual machine.

"Eclipse has the potential to bring more people to the Sealevel VM," says Anatoly Yakovenko, Solana co-founder and angel investor in Eclipse. "Eclipse paves the path for Solana's runtime to communicate with Cosmos chains through IBC."

Eclipse was launched as a portfolio company of Anagram, a venture capital fund founded by Lily Liu. The team consists of Neel Somani, ex-Citadel quantitative researcher, ex-Airbnb software engineer and Sam Thapaliya, founder of Zebec protocol, one of the most widely adopted applications on Solana. Zebec will create its own rollup chain using Eclipses technology, which will serve as a lighthouse use case for the Eclipse architecture.

"As major corporations and governments begin entering the blockchain space, Eclipse is essential infrastructure to facilitate their use cases, such as Web2-scale consumer and financial applications," said Niraj Pant, General Partner of Polychain Capital.

The Eclipse technology will set the stage for a new type of rollup that may render many other rollups antiquated. The value proposition of the new rollup technology has already captured the interest of more than 50 protocols, including Zebec, Notifi, and Friktion.

The tooling that Eclipse will provide to developers will easily enable customizable blockchains where each developer team will not have to become their own protocol designer.

The funds Eclipse has raised will be used to grow the Eclipse ecosystem and to further promote technical development, especially by attracting Rust engineers and expanding the business development team.

The team anticipates a public testnet to go live in early 2023. The network will be launched with support from the Celestia ecosystem; the team has already joined Celestias Modular Fellows program and entered a token swap with Celestias foundation.

"We're excited to support Eclipse as a data availability solution for their Solana VM rollup," says Mustafa Al-Bassam, CEO at Celestia Labs. "Modularity will enable developers using Eclipse to deploy code as a customizable rollup, saving significant development cost and time."

"Eclipse is building the next generation of infrastructure for the upcoming wave of decentralized applications. As a protocol, if you want throughput at scale, you should consider using Eclipse. This is exactly the type of opportunity set, growth trajectory, and network effect we look for in Tribe Capitals crypto incubator program," says Boris Resvin, Managing Partner of Tribe Capital.

"While web services were originally monolithic, they eventually de-coupled into microservices where you could swap out each of the pieces," elaborated Neel Somani, co-founder of Eclipse. "A blockchain architecture like Eclipse is a natural progression in the history of technology."

About Eclipse:

Eclipse is a San Francisco-based technology company founded in 2022 by Neel Somani and Sam Thapaliya. Eclipse enables developers to deploy their own customizable rollups using the Solana virtual machine, using any chain for security or data storage. Their public testnet will go live in 2023 in the Celestia ecosystem, and will be rolled out across blockchain ecosystems thereafter. Developers who are interested in Eclipse's technology can sign up for the mailing list on Eclipse's website and follow Eclipse's Twitter.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220927005510/en/

MEDIA:

Wachsman

Ethan Lyle

[email protected]

Source: Eclipse
QUEBEC CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Devonian Health Group Inc. (Devonian or the Corporation) (TSXv: GSD; OTCQB: DVHGF), a clinical stage botanical pharmaceutical corporation, focused on developing a unique portfolio of botanical pharmaceutical and cosmeceutical products, announced today its presence at the upcoming 6th Annual Dermatology Drug Development Summit for Inflammatory Skin Diseases (ADDDS) held on November 1-3, 2022, in Boston, MA, USA.

During this summit, the Corporation will present Thykamines Phase 2 clinical trial results in Atopic dermatitis and other targeted skin inflammatory therapeutic applications.

Details of the Oral presentation are as follows:

Title: Thykamine A New Botanical Drug: A Serious Candidate for the treatment of Atopic dermatitis & Beyond.

Session: Emerging Clinical Candidates & Therapeutic Options

Date/Time: Thursday, November 3rd , 2022, 13:40pm-14:10pm (EST)

Additional information, including the ADDDS full event guide, can be found at https://dermatology-drugdevelopment.com/

About Thykamine

Thykamine, the first pharmaceutical product issued from Devonians SUPREX platform, is a highly innovative product for the prevention and treatment of health conditions related to inflammation and oxidative stress including ulcerative colitis, atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, and other autoimmune disorders. The anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative and immunomodulatory properties of Thykamine have been demonstrated by a considerable number of in vitro and in vivo studies as well as in a Phase IIa clinical study in patients with mild-to-moderate distal ulcerative colitis and in a phase II clinical study in patients with mild-to-moderate atopic dermatitis. Both Thykamine and SUPREX platform are protected by several patents in North America, Europe and Asia.

About Devonian

Devonian Health Group Inc. (Devonian) is a late-stage botanical pharmaceutical corporation with novel therapeutic approaches to targeting unmet medical needs. Devonian's core strategy is to develop prescription botanical drugs from plant materials and algae for the treatment of inflammatory-autoimmune diseases including but not limited to ulcerative colitis and atopic dermatitis. Based on a foundation of over 15 years of research, Devonians focus is further supported by a US-FDA set of regulatory guidelines favouring a more efficient drug development pathway for prescription botanical drug products over those of traditional prescription medicines. Devonians flagship product, Thykamine, the first pharmaceutical product issued from Devonians SUPREX platform, is a highly innovative product for the prevention and treatment of health conditions related to inflammation and oxidative stress. The anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative and immunomodulatory properties of Thykamine have been demonstrated by a considerable number of in vitro and in vivo studies as well as in a Phase IIa clinical study in patients with Mild-to-Moderate distal Ulcerative Colitis and in a large phase 2 clinical trial in adult patients with Mild-to-Moderate Atopic Dermatitis.

Devonian is also involved in the development of high-value cosmeceutical products leveraging the same proprietary approach employed with their pharmaceutical offerings. Devonian Health Group Inc. was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in Quebec, Canada where it owns a state-of-the art extraction facility with full traceability from the seed to the pill. Acquired in 2018, Altius Healthcare Inc., its commercialization subsidiary, brings opportunities for further diversification and growth potential. Devonian is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV:GSD) as well as the OTCQB Venture Exchange (OTCQB:DVHGF)

For more information, visit www.groupedevonian.com

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements about Devonians objectives, strategies and businesses that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements are forward-looking because they are based on our current expectations about the markets we operate in and on various estimates and assumptions. Actual events or results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements if known or unknown risks affect our business, or if our estimates or assumptions turn out to be inaccurate. Such risks and assumptions include, but are not limited to, the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange in connection with the issuance of the Units, Devonians ability to develop, manufacture, and successfully commercialize value-added pharmaceutical and dermo-cosmeceutical products, the availability of funds and resources to pursue R&D projects, the successful and timely completion of clinical studies, the ability of Devonian to take advantage of business opportunities in the pharmaceutical and dermo-cosmeceutical industries, uncertainties related to the regulatory process and general changes in economic conditions. You will find a more detailed assessment of the risks that could cause actual events or results to materially differ from our current expectations in Devonians prospectus dated April 21st, 2017, under the heading Risk Factors related to Devonians business. As a result, we cannot guarantee that any forward-looking statement will materialize. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statement even if new information becomes available, as a result of future events or for any other reason, unless required by applicable securities laws and regulations.

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.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221012005103/en/

Dr Andre P. Boulet, PhD

Chief Scientific Officer

Devonian Health Group Inc.

Telephone: (514) 248-7509

Email: [email protected]

Source: Devonian Health Group Inc.
BRYN MAWR, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Essential Utilities Senior Vice President of Business Transformation Whitney Kellett received the Philadelphia CIO of the Year ORBIE Award from the Philly CIO Leadership Association, which recognizes executives who have demonstrated excellence in technology leadership.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221012005959/en/

Essential Utilities Senior Vice President of Business Transformation Whitney Kellett Wins 2022 Philadelphia CIO of the Year Enterprise ORBIE Awards (Photo: Business Wire)

Kellett, who was a finalist for the CIO of the Year ORBIE Award each year since 2018, is responsible for Essentials technology strategies, decisions, policies and procedures as well as information security strategy, including all cyber security, customer protection and risk management programs. In August 2022, Kellett was appointed to lead the companys $143 million service improvement project, with a focus on building feature-rich and secure platforms on both the administrative and operations sides of the business.

Whitney is a strategic leader who has a longstanding history of leading transformational IT projects that successfully result in increased efficiency, enhanced integration and system improvements, said Essential Utilities Chairman and CEO Christopher Franklin. Sound IT infrastructure and security is as important as our operations infrastructure, and Whitney excels in her accountability. We are proud of all that she and her team have accomplished and continue to advance across the enterprise.

Kellett, who joined Essential Utilities in 2016, is a veteran IT executive who specializes in strategic planning and execution. She has held technology positions in a variety of industries including financial services, global transportation, manufacturing, clinical research, commercial real estate, insurance, private equity, energy and utilities. Kellett earned her B.A. in economics at the University of Virginia. She is currently pursuing an Executive MBA at Villanova University with an anticipated May 2023 graduation. Essential announced in August that Kellett will also assume the role of chief administrative officer following the planned retirement of Sue Haindl, who currently holds the position, in 2023.

In addition to her exemplary career, Kellett is an active community member and a vocal proponent of women pursuing careers in technical fields. She has spoken at a number of technology conferences including the 2022 SAP for Utilities Conference, ARI Women in Technology Conference, the Villanova University Women in Technology Conference, the Villanova University MBA Program, the Society for Information Management Philadelphia CIO Conference and the National Association of Water Companies Southeast Infrastructure Summit. She is also a member of the Forum of Executive Women and a mentor to women in technology.

This award is meaningful to receive on multiple levels. It is a true testament to the team of IT professionals at Essential that I am privileged to work alongside. There is no me in IT and this award represents all the collective successes our IT team has had over the years. I could not have received this without them. Kellett said. I am also an advocate for women in technology. I hope this type of recognition will encourage women to consider opportunities in technology and other STEM industries.

About Essential

Essential is one of the largest publicly traded water, wastewater service and natural gas providers in the U.S., serving approximately 5.5 million people across 10 states under the Aqua and Peoples brands. Essential is committed to excellence in proactive infrastructure investment, regulatory expertise, operational efficiency and environmental stewardship. The company recognizes the importance water and natural gas play in everyday life and is proud to deliver safe, reliable services that contribute to the quality of life in the communities it serves. For more information, visit http://www.essential.co.

WTRGG

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221012005959/en/

Sarah Courtright

Communications and Marketing

Media Hotline: 1.877.325.3477

[email protected]

Source: Essential Utilities
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Selina (the Company or Selina), the fast-growing lifestyle and experiential hotel company targeting Millennial and Gen Z travelers, today announced that it will host a series of retail investor focused roadshows and fireside chats live on the Twitter Spaces platform ahead of the Special Meeting of stockholders to be held by BOA Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: BOAS) on October 21, 2022 to seek approvals relating to the Business Combination with Selina, which if approved would result in Selina becoming publicly traded, subject to the completion of the remaining closing conditions.

Selinas use of Twitter Spaces is being facilitated by Equity Animal, an investor relations firm based in New York, NY. What follows are details for the Twitter Spaces events.

Twitter Spaces Details

Monday, October 17th, 4:15pm - 5:00pm EDT Fireside Chat with Rafael Museri, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Selina and Mark Moran, CEO of Equity Animal. RSVP: https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1rmxPkdpOwdJN



Tuesday, October 18th from 4:30pm - 5:30pm EDT Investor Roadshow Presentation hosted by Barbara Zubiria, Selinas Chief Financial Officer, Steven O'Hayon, Head of Strategy and Mark Moran, CEO of Equity Animal. RSVP: https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1mnGeRBDLyvJX



Thursday, October 20th from 4:00pm - 5:00pm EDT Investor Roadshow Presentation hosted by Selinas Chief Financial Officer, Barbara Zubiria, Steven O'Hayon, Head of Strategy and Mark Moran, CEO of Equity Animal. A Q&A will follow the presentation. To ask questions during the Q&A, participants must join the Twitter Space using a mobile device. RSVP: https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1zqKVPvpMDWJB



To participate in the Twitter Spaces, please follow @SelinaHotels and @EquityAnimal.

To listen only, participants can access the Twitter Spaces from a computer.

About Selina

Selina is one of the world's largest lifestyle and experiential hotel companies built to address the needs and desires of millennial and Gen Z travelers, blending beautifully designed accommodation with coworking, recreation, wellness, and local experiences. Custom-built for today's nomadic traveler, Selina provides guests with a global infrastructure to seamlessly travel, work and play. Founded in 2014, each Selina property is designed in partnership with local artists, creators, and tastemakers, breathing new life into existing buildings in interesting locations around the world  from urban cities to remote beaches and jungles. Selina's portfolio includes over 163 open or secured properties across 25 countries and 6 continents. On December 2, 2021, Selina entered into a definitive merger agreement with BOA Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: BOAS), the closing of which, which is subject to customary conditions, will result in Selina becoming a publicly listed company. For further information on Selina, visit www.selina.com or check out @selina on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook. To explore Selina real estate partnership opportunities, please contact [email protected].

About Equity Animal

Equity Animal is an Investor Relations firm based in New York, NY, focused on helping public and private companies reach both institutional and retail investors using the next generation of tools and communications.

Additional Information and Where to Find It

This document does not contain all the information that should be considered concerning the proposed business combination between BOA Acquisition Corp. (BOA) and Selina. In connection with the proposed business combination, Selina has filed with the SEC a registration statement on Form F-4. Additionally, BOA has filed with the SEC a definitive proxy statement in respect of the business combination. The definitive proxy statement and other relevant documents were mailed to those stockholders of BOA as of August 18, 2022 for voting on the business combination, among other matters. Stockholders of BOA and other interested persons are advised to read the definitive proxy statement and any amendments thereto because such documents contain important information about BOA, Selina, and the proposed transactions. Stockholders will also be able to obtain copies of the definitive proxy statement without charge, by directing a request to: BOA Acquisition Corp., 2600 Virginia Ave NW, Suite T23 Management Office, Washington, D.C. 20037. These documents and BOAs and Selinas other filings and reports filed with the SEC can also be obtained, without charge, at the SEC's internet site (http://www.sec.gov).

INVESTMENT IN ANY SECURITIES DESCRIBED HEREIN HAS NOT BEEN APPROVED OR DISAPPROVED BY THE SEC OR ANY OTHER REGULATORY AUTHORITY NOR HAS ANY AUTHORITY PASSED UPON OR ENDORSED THE MERITS OF THE OFFERING OR THE ACCURACY OR ADEQUACY OF THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN. ANY REPRESENTATION TO THE CONTRARY IS A CRIMINAL OFFENSE.

No Offer or Solicitation

This communication is for informational purpose only and not a proxy statement or solicitation of a proxy, consent, or authorization with respect to any securities or in respect of the potential transaction and shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of any securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such state or jurisdiction.

Participants in Solicitation

BOA, Selina, and their respective directors and executive officers, other members of management and employees may be considered participants in the solicitation of proxies with respect to the potential transaction described in this communication under the rules of the SEC. Information about the directors and executive officers of BOA is set forth in BOAs filings with the SEC and information about the directors and executive officers of Selina is set forth in Selinas filing with the SEC . Information regarding other persons who may, under the rules of the SEC, be deemed participants in the solicitation of the stockholders in connection with the potential transaction and a description of their direct and indirect interests are set forth in the definitive proxy statement and other relevant documents. These documents can be obtained free of charge from the SEC as indicated above.

Forward-Looking Statements

This communication includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally relate to future events, including, without limitation, statements regarding the Business Combination and expectations or plans of Selinas management. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as may, should, expect, intend, will, estimate, anticipate, believe, predict, potential, or continue, or the negatives of these terms or variations of them or similar terminology. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond the control of Selina), and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based upon estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by Selina and its management, are inherently uncertain. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, without limitation: (1) the occurrence of any event, change, or other circumstances that could give rise to the termination of the definitive agreements respecting the Business Combination; (2) the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against BOA, Selina, or others following the announcement of the Business Combination; (3) the inability to complete the Business Combination due to the failure to obtain approval of the stockholders of BOA or to satisfy other conditions to closing; (4) changes to the proposed structure of the Business Combination that may be required or appropriate as a result of applicable laws or regulations; (5) the ability of Selina to meet applicable listing standards following the consummation of the Business Combination; (6) the risk that the Business Combination disrupts current plans and operations of Selina as a result of the announcement and consummation of the Business Combination; (7) the ability to recognize the anticipated benefits of the Business Combination, which may be affected by, among other things, competition, the ability of the combined company to grow and manage growth profitably, maintain relationships with customers and suppliers, and retain its management and key employees; (8) costs related to the Business Combination; (9) changes in applicable laws or regulations; (10) the possibility that Selina may be adversely affected by other economic, business, and/or competitive factors; (11) the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Selinas business and/or the ability of the parties to complete the Business Combination; (12) our future financial business performance; and (13) other risks and uncertainties to be contained in the Registration Statement and the definitive proxy statement included therein. In addition, there may be additional risks that Selina does not presently know, or that Selina currently believes are immaterial, that could also cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Nothing in this communication should be regarded as a representation by any person that the forward-looking statements set forth herein will be achieved or that any of the contemplated results of such forward-looking statements will be achieved. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. Except as may be required by law, Selina does not undertake any duty to update these forward-looking statements.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221012005768/en/

Media & Investor Relations Contact:

Equity Animal

Mark Moran, CEO

(646) 363-6567

[email protected]

Source: Selina








In this regard, it states that the Peruvian government official will sign two documents with European Union High Representative Josep Borrell, within the framework of a working visit to Brussels, Kingdom of Belgium, from October 12 to 14.





One of the documents to be signed is a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to invigorate political dialogue, as well as to expand and diversify the areas of cooperation with the EU bloc.





Minister Landa will also sign the Framework Agreement for Peru's participation in EU crisis management operations, which will provide legal framework for the country to contribute to international peace and security missions organized by the EU.





Likewise, he will meet with senior authorities of the European Union and the Kingdom of Belgium, in order to address the common agenda with the European bloc and the aforementioned country.









Meanwhile, from October 15 to 16, Minister Landa will travel to Paris, France, to hold working meetings at the Peruvian Embassy regarding Peru's accession to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) , and to participate in a meeting with representatives of the Peruvian community residing in said French city.





On the other hand, from October 16 to 18, the Cabinet member will hold a meeting with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of the Holy See, at the Holy See, which will be also attended by the Secretary for Relations with States of the Holy See Monsignor Paul Richard Gallagher.





During said visit, they will sign a certificate of delivery and repatriation of three pre-Columbian Peruvian mummies that are currently held in the Vatican museums.





Moreover, while in Rome, Italy, the Peruvian minister will participate in the events to take place within the framework of the 2022 World Food Forum, organized by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), as well as in high-level meetings. He will also meet with representatives of the Peruvian community residing in said city.





Afterwards, from October 19 to 21, the high-ranking official will travel to Mexico City in order to take part in the activities organized within the framework of the meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Pacific Alliance convened by the United Mexican States, in its capacity as holder of the Pro-Tempore Presidency.





According to the aforementioned resolution, the Foreign Affairs sector is entrusted to Justice and Human Rights Minister Felix Chero as of October 12 and for as long as Minister Landa's absence lasts.





(END) JCC/CVC/RMB/MVB

The Executive Branch has authorized Foreign Affairs Minister Cesar Landa to travel on official duty outside Peru with the aim of visiting Belgium, France, Vatican City, and Italy, as well as Mexico, from October 12 to 21. Supreme Resolution 244-2022-PCM , published in the Official Gazette El Peruano , details the activities that the minister will carry out in Europe and in North America.Published: 10/12/2022
This new, improved capability unifies sales channels by boosting programmatic demand to compete with guaranteed placements, all without risking delivery on ad commitments

Key benefits include greater revenue maximization for publishers while unlocking previously inaccessible premium inventory for advertisers.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- FreeWheel today announced an important enhancement to its premium programmatic industry suite of offerings, namely a new, unified yield set of capabilities for publishers.

One noteworthy distinction of this newly improved offering is its ability to give non-guaranteed, programmatic demand the opportunity to compete with healthy, direct sold guaranteed deals.

This enhancement is timely for several reasons. Per the latest and inaugural Comcast Advertising report, programmatic ad growth has risen 80% year over year as marketers increasingly adopt the medium as a way to reach specific audiences more efficiently. As such, publishers need tools that can help them better incorporate non-guaranteed, programmatic demand into their monetization strategy. The challenge, however, is that they also need to be to do this by honoring guaranteed advertisers commitments, such as upfront buys.

As such, FreeWheel created this new, enhanced offering to address many of these industry trends and needs. Premium video, in particular, provides high value audiences for advertisers, but currently exists in a limited supply. Additionally, balancing yield management across guaranteed and programmatic demand channels is currently a manual and cumbersome process. Case in point: Publishers need a way to maximize the value of each impression, without putting their guaranteed business at risk.

FreeWheels enhanced, unified yield capability protects the value of high quality, premium video while automating yield optimization. As a result, publishers have greater control over which types of demand are opted in, while providing full transparency and reporting to revenue opportunities.

Another core and valuable feature of this new tool is its ability to give publishers another way to access premium, hard-to-obtain inventory that is normally unavailable due to direct sales commitments. While advertisers may have been previously challenged in accessing this inventory, by boosting programmatic demand, FreeWheel provides marketers with additional opportunities to reach their target audiences at scale.

We developed this new, improved industry solution to help solve for and reduce some of the friction and inefficiencies in the TV ad buying process across sales channels, said Katy Loria, Chief Revenue Officer, FreeWheel. FreeWheels new unified yield capability provides smarter demand decisioning so that we can help deliver better results for marketers and publishers, while honoring guaranteed commitments.

A+E Networks is one media leader that has adopted FreeWheels unified yield solution and seen positive results, including a +35% increase in cost per thousand (CPM) across replaced impressions, while all guaranteed deals still delivered in full during this period.

One of the beneficial features about FreeWheels new unified yield offering is the technologys ability to balance an increasing demand for non-guaranteed, programmatic while fully delivering on our commitments to our advertiser partners, said Tyler Denicola, Vice President, Programmatic Revenue & Partnerships, A+E Networks. In doing so, weve been able to create more flexible opportunities for our advertisers to unlock new audiences across our premium video portfolio.

About FreeWheel

FreeWheel empowers all segments of The New TV Ecosystem. We are structured to provide the full breadth of solutions the advertising industry needs to achieve their goals. We provide the technology, data enablement and convergent marketplaces required to ensure buyers and sellers can transact across all screens, across all data types, and all sales channels, in order to ensure the ultimate goal  results for marketers. With offices in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, London, Paris, Beijing, and across the globe, FreeWheel, A Comcast Company, stands to advocate for the entire industry through the FreeWheel Council for Premium Video. For more information, please visit freewheel.com, and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221012005867/en/

Media:

FreeWheel

Elaine Wong

[email protected]

Source: FreeWheel
The HCP Studio Fund will capitalize on Hackman Capital Partnerss and the MBS Groups (an HCP affiliate) global leading and best in class studio platform.

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Hackman Capital Partners (HCP), a privately held, real estate investment and operating company focused on acquiring and actively managing studio, media and commercial real estate properties, announced today the final close of HCP Studio Fund (the Fund). The Fund closed on $1.4 billion of commitments, exceeding its initial target of $1 billion and its initial cap of $1.25 billion. HCP also closed on the Funds co-investment commitments of $200 million in equity capital bringing the total committed equity capital to $1.6 billion. Investors in the Fund comprise a diverse mix of global institutions including sovereign wealth funds, public and corporate pensions, insurance companies, endowments, foundations, and family offices, among others.

The Fund is focused on acquiring studio and media assets with attractive in-place income and growth potential in top production markets across the world. The Fund will leverage Hackmans 35-year track record, deep industry relationships and operational expertise to source investment opportunities and create value through property performance optimization and strategic studio developments. In addition, HCPs ownership of affiliate The MBS Group, a global leading and best in class studio advisory and production and equipment services company, will generate long-term cash flow through the provision of production services and studio-based equipment rentals.

We are pleased to have completed this institutional capital raise for the studio and media strategy and are grateful for the strong support from our new investment partners, said Michael Hackman, CEO of Hackman Capital Partners. We have built a unique and highly differentiated platform that has established Hackman as the premier owner and operator of independent film and television studios. Combined with our longstanding industry relationships, we provide a sustainable competitive advantage, and are well capitalized to execute on a strong pipeline of investment opportunities.

HCP is established as the preeminent independent owner and operator of studio and media assets, having invested over $8 billion since inception, including marquee studios such as The Culver Studios, Silvercup Studios, Kaufman Astoria Studios, Radford Studio Center and Television City Studios. HCP has created a powerful platform that provides production real estate and studio services to many of the worlds most prominent media companies including Amazon, Apple, ABC, CBS, Disney, HBO, Marvel, Netflix, Sony, Showtime and Warner Brothers.

As of Q2 2022, the Fund is approximately 50% invested and committed and has made seven investments to a total of $488 million of Fund equity capital. Select Fund investments include:

Eastbrook & The Wharf Studios in London: Eastbrook Studios London is a 21.5-acre fully entitled development site that Hackman will transform into a production facility with 12 soundstages and 240,000 square feet of production support and office space. Located four miles from Eastbrook, Hackman also redeveloped The Wharf Studios London, into a production facility with 7 sound stages that were pre-leased. Together, the campuses will total approximately 679,993 square feet.

Kaufman Astoria Studios in New York: The iconic studio facility in Queens comprises 11 production stages totaling approximately 147,000 square feet, in addition to 207,000 square feet of office, 35,000 square feet of backlot, and 126,000 square feet of support space. The purchase also included a 52,000-square-foot commercial property across the street, which will be redeveloped into a 12,000-square-foot stage and 8,000-square-foot support space.

Radford Studio Center in Los Angeles: The property sits on a 55-acre site in Studio City and consists of over 1 million square feet of space, including 22 stages, production office and support buildings, third-party tenant offices, a purpose-built broadcast center and filmable backlot locations. Known as hit city for its long history of highly successful production clientele, past tenants include well-known and beloved productions like Gilligans Island, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Seinfeld and Big Brother, currently in production.

Other assets in the Fund include the Raleigh & Saticoy Studios in Los Angeles; Ardmore & Troy Studios in Limerick and Bray, Ireland; Wardpark Studios in Cumbernauld, Scotland; and the Greystones Media Campus in Greystones, Ireland. HCP acquired each of these assets with its joint venture partner Square Mile Capital Management.

Hodes Weill Securities, LLC, a global real estate advisory firm, acted as the exclusive financial advisor and global placement agent to Hackman.

About Hackman Capital Partners and The MBS Group

Hackman Capital and The MBS Group have developed a global leading and best in class film and television studio platform. In addition to owning, operating, and developing its own studio assets, the platform manages studios for other studio owners and provides global content creators with comprehensive production services and studio-based equipment rentals.

Hackman Capital Partners unrivaled portfolio of 18 studio assets includes 120 active sound stages, plus another 90 in development, and totals over 10 million square feet across North America, the UK and Scotland. These include The Culver Studios, Radford Studio Center, Television City Studios, MBS Media Campus, Raleigh Studios, Saticoy Studios, Sony Pictures Animation Studios in Los Angeles; Silvercup Studios and Kaufman Astoria Studios in New York; Second Line Stages in New Orleans; Wardpark Studios in Scotland; Ardmore Studios, Troy Studios in Ireland; The Wharf London in the UKand in development, Eastbrook Studios London in the UK, Greystones Media Campus in Ireland, and Basin Media Studios and Downsview Studios in Toronto.

The MBS Group is the industrys preeminent studio operating and production services company. The company exclusively supports more than 550 existing sound stages and more than 450 productions per year from its network of 100 locations across seven countries. Its leadership team has designed and constructed more than 25 studios with 115 sound stages and ancillary facilities, totaling over 3,500,000 square feet.

For more information about Hackman Capital, please visit: www.hackmancapital.com

For more information about The MBS Group, please visit: the-mbsgroup.com

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Media:

ICR on behalf of Hackman:

[email protected]

Source: Hackman Capital Partners
New Raise Led by Ten Eleven Ventures, with Participation from Existing Venture Investors, Strengthens Immersive Labs Leadership Position in the Cyber Workforce Resilience Category

Cybersecurity Leader Appoints Sandra McDevitt, Chief Human Resources Officer, and Lucian Lui, Chief Marketing Officer; Ten Eleven General Partner Dave Palmer to Join its Board of Directors

BRISTOL, United Kingdom & BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Immersive Labs today announced it has raised $66 million in capital to continue its growth and investment in its Cyber Workforce Resilience platform. Ten Eleven Ventures led the latest raise supporting the companys efforts to help organizations around the world assess, build, and prove their resilience to cyber threats of all kinds. Existing investors Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Summit Partners, Insight Partners, Menlo Ventures, and Citi Ventures all participated in the round.

The company also announced new strategic additions to its executive leadership team, including Sandra McDevitt as Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) and Lucian Lui as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). Ten Eleven General Partner and Darktrace Founder and former Chief Product Officer Dave Palmer will join the companys Board of Directors, while Jack Huffard, Tenable Co-Founder and current Non-Executive Director of Immersive has become Chair of the Board.

Accelerating Growth and Enterprise Adoption

Immersive Labs, which provides realistic simulations and hands-on cybersecurity labs to evaluate individual and team capabilities, will use the additional capital to accelerate its growth in the Cyber Workforce Resilience category and deliver solutions that give enterprise customers innovative ways to prove their cyber capabilities across the business, from executive decision making to hands-on cyber defense teams. Today, enterprise and government customers like Citi, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Pfizer, Daimler, Humana, Atos, and the UK National Health Service rely on Immersive Labs to demonstrate their cyber resilience by measuring their cyber defense and crisis management capabilities compared to industry benchmarks, building rapid team collaboration, and showing risk reduction and compliance with data-backed evidence.

Attracting new investment during a difficult time overall for the tech sector underscores the incredible demand for Immersive Labs disruptive, people-centric approach to cybersecurity, said James Hadley, CEO, Immersive Labs. Proving cyber resilience has increasingly become a Board and C-level consideration. Our customers rely on us because we offer a trusted and effective approach to upskilling and measuring team and individual cyber defense capabilities.

As we see more focus on proving cyber resilience across public and private sectors, Immersive Labs stands to play a key role in the future of cybersecurity, said David Palmer, General Partner, Ten Eleven Ventures. The companys product innovation and strategic leadership hires further secure the companys top position in the Cyber Workforce Resilience category.

Additions to Immersive Labs Executive Leadership Team

Immersive Labs expanded its management team with strategic hires and additions, including a new CMO and CHRO, as well as a new member of its Board of Directors. The latest additions provide the company with valuable expertise, insights, and experience to usher the company into its next phase of rapid growth.

 Sandra McDevitt, CHRO: McDevitt oversees all people-related operations globally. Prior to joining Immersive Labs, she served as Chief People Officer at Quantcast and Patreon and held several people operations leadership roles at Google in Europe and US. Prior to Google, she served as a Group General Manager at Irish Life Financial Services and as Director of Human Resources for Ireland and Online Sales for EMEA at Oracle.

 Lucian Lui, CMO: Lui joins the company overseeing its marketing efforts globally. He is a commercial business leader with over 25 years of experience growing publicly traded and Forbes-ranked commercial companies for world class brands like Microsoft, Iron Mountain and Rapid7. Throughout his career, he has led a broad set of commercial disciplines including branding, product marketing, enterprise sales, demand generation, customer experience, corporate communications, and emerging markets strategy.

 Dave Palmer, Non-Executive Director: Palmer is a General Partner of Ten Eleven Ventures. Prior to joining Ten Eleven, he was the Chief Product Officer at Darktrace, overseeing the mathematics and engineering teams. Palmer has also worked across UK intelligence agencies GCHQ and MI5, where he was responsible for delivering mission-critical infrastructure services, including replacing and securing entire global networks, the developing of operational internet capabilities, and the management of critical disaster recovery incidents.

About Immersive Labs

Immersive Labs is the leader in people-centric cyber resilience. We help organizations continuously assess, build, and prove their cyber workforce resilience for teams across the entire organization, from front-line cybersecurity and development teams to Board-level executives. We provide realistic simulations and hands-on cybersecurity labs to evaluate individual and team capabilities and decision-making against the latest threats. Organizations can now prove their cyber resilience by measuring their readiness compared to industry benchmarks, building team capabilities, and demonstrating risk reduction and compliance with data-backed evidence.

Immersive Labs is trusted by the worlds largest organizations and governments, including Citi, Pfizer, Daimler, Humana, Atos, HSBC, and the UK National Health Service. We are backed by Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Summit Partners, Insight Partners, Citi Ventures, and Menlo Ventures. Learn more at: https://www.immersivelabs.com/

About Ten Eleven Ventures

Ten Eleven Ventures is the original cybersecurity-focused, global, stage agnostic investment firm. The firm finds, invests, and helps grow top cybersecurity companies addressing critical digital security needs, tapping its team, network, and experience to help build successful businesses. Since its founding, Ten Eleven Ventures has raised over $US 1 billion and made over 40 cybersecurity investments across stages worldwide, including KnowBe4, Darktrace, Twistlock, Verodin, Cylance, and Ping Identity. For more information, please visit www.1011vc.com or follow us on Twitter @1011vc.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221007005544/en/

Jill Creelman

[email protected]

Source: Immersive Labs
DOWNERS GROVE, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- InvenTrust Properties Corp. (InvenTrust IVT or the Company) (NYSE: IVT) announced, effective immediately, the appointment of Smita N. Shah to the InvenTrust Board of Directors. Ms. Shah currently serves as President and CEO of SPAAN Tech, Inc., a Chicago-based public and private economic development firm, which she founded. Ms. Shah brings considerable business and management experience to the InvenTrust Board as well as a unique insight to governmental civic and environmental programs. Ms. Shah will join the Board as an independent director and a member of the Audit Committee.

Smitas appointment furthers InvenTrusts commitment to finding high-caliber professionals across all levels of the Company, while enhancing our governance and management oversight efforts, said Paula J. Saban, Chairperson of the Board of InvenTrust. Smita brings a new perspective as well as an impressive array of leadership and civic service to our company. I look forward to working with her in our goal to maximize shareholder value.

Ms. Shah commented, I am excited and honored to join the InvenTrust Board. In just one short year as a publicly traded company, InvenTrust has differentiated themselves through its dedication to a focused Sun Belt, grocery-anchored portfolio. This strategy and InvenTrusts strong balance sheet have positioned InvenTrust to produce strong results despite potential volatility in the markets. I look forward to sharing my experience and insights to contribute to the Companys future success.

Ms. Shah serves on several civic boards and commissions, including Commissioner for the White House Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders, Co Chairperson the Council of Regents for Loyola University of Chicago, and Member of the M.I.T. Corporation Visiting Committee for Civil and Environmental Engineering. Additionally, she serves as Co- Chair of YPO Chicago and on the Board of MacLean-Fogg Companies as a member of the Finance and Audit Committee. She received a B.S. from Northwestern University, an M.S. from MIT, and a Postgraduate Certificate in Management Studies from Oxford University.

Daniel (DJ) Busch, President and CEO of InvenTrust added, We are pleased to welcome Smita to the InvenTrust Board. Her understanding of complex, global infrastructure and environmental solutions will provide invaluable vision to the InvenTrust team as we continue to execute on our portfolio and investment strategy.

About InvenTrust Properties Corp.

InvenTrust Properties Corp. (we, the Company, our, us, "IVT" or "InvenTrust") is a premier Sun Belt, multi-tenant essential retail REIT that owns, leases, redevelops, acquires and manages grocery anchored neighborhood and community centers as well as high-quality power centers that often have a grocery component. We pursue our business strategy by acquiring retail properties in Sun Belt markets, opportunistically disposing of retail properties, maintaining a flexible capital structure, and enhancing environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices and standards. A trusted, local operator bringing real estate expertise to its tenant relationships, IVT has built a strong reputation with market participants across its portfolio. IVT is committed to leadership in ESG practices and has been a Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) member since 2013. As of June 30, 2022, the Company is an owner and manager of 62 retail properties, representing 10.5 million square feet of retail space. For more information, please visit www.inventrustproperties.com.

Availability of Information on InvenTrust Properties Corp.'s Website and Social Media Channels

Investors and others should note that InvenTrust routinely announces material information to investors and the marketplace using U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings, press releases, public conference calls, webcasts and the InvenTrust investor relations website. The Company uses these channels as well as social media channels (e.g., the InvenTrust Twitter account (twitter.com/inventrustprop); and the InvenTrust LinkedIn account (linkedin.com/company/inventrustproperties) as a means of disclosing information about the Company's business to our colleagues, investors, and the public. While not all of the information that the Company posts to the InvenTrust investor relations website or on the Companys social media channels is of a material nature, some information could be deemed to be material. Accordingly, the Company encourages investors, the media and others interested in InvenTrust to review the information that it shares on www.inventrustproperties.com/investor-relations and on the Companys social media channels.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221012005708/en/

Dan Lombardo

Vice President of Investor Relations

630-570-0605

[email protected]

Source: InvenTrust Properties Corp
NASHVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Brown Water Spirits LLC, the maker of the O.H. Ingram River Aged series, today announced the promotion of Scott Beyer to Master Blender. Beyer previously served as Director of Sales and Operations for Ingram River Aged and brings his unique background to the position.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221012005809/en/

Ingram River Aged is proud to announce Scott Beyer as Master Blender. (Photo: Business Wire)

Beyer holds a marketing degree from Belmont University in Nashville. His prior experience includes Greenbrier Distillery, where he was involved in the process to create Belle Meade Bourbon. Beyer joined Brown Water Spirits in 2020 as its first Director of Sales and Operations and has been involved in all aspects of the business since.

From racking barrels on the barge to selling the finished product, Scott has always been up to the task, said Founder Hank Ingram. Behind the scenes, he has also been involved in crafting each of the various blends of our products. His new title is a recognition of the work he has already been doing, and I look forward to seeing him flourish.

Inside our floating barrelhouses, O.H. Ingram River Ageds barrels of whiskey spend their years exposed to the climate and constant motion of the Mississippi River. This unique aging environment combines heritage with innovation. The motion of the river ensures that the whiskey never stops working, creating an extraordinary spirit with a taste mature beyond its years. We call it Mellowed on the Mississippi. You can see full details about the unique aging here.

Beyers promotion to Master Blender is another step for the company as it matures into its own, scaling up operations to meet a growing consumer demand. Ingram River Aged recently released its second-ever Flagship Bourbon  the brands premier spirit bottled at 100 proof  and has won multiple awards this year, including a Double Gold Medal at the 2022 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, among many others.

To learn more about the Ingram River Aged Series and sign up for updates, please visit IngramWhiskey.com and use the Ingram River Aged Brand Finder to see where its available near you. Note that there may be a delay in adding sales locations to the map. Customers are encouraged to call their local store or neighborhood bar.

You can also follow Ingram River Aged on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

ABOUT BROWN WATER SPIRITS

Brown Water Spirits LLC was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Nashville, TN. With whiskey aging operations in Ballard County, Kentucky, Brown Water Spirits pioneered the first patent-pending floating barrelhouse on the Mississippi River. The result is the award-winning O.H. Ingram River Aged Series.

O.H. Ingram River Aged is presently available on shelves in Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Tennessee, and Wisconsin, as well as online via Seelbachs. Additional markets will come as inventory allows through R.S. Lipman and Vintage Point, the National Sales Agent.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221012005809/en/

Thomas Mulgrew

[email protected]

855-498-7417

Source: Brown Water Spirits LLC
Dr. Bille will oversee manufacturing scale-up for broad-spectrum influenza vaccine candidate OVX836 currently in Phase 2 clinical testing

Company achieved accreditation from Belgian authorities for OVX836 batch quality control laboratory in Liege Science Park

LYON, France--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Osivax, a biopharmaceutical company developing vaccines to provide broad-spectrum protection against highly mutating infectious viruses and diseases, today announced the expansion of its leadership team with the appointment of Dr. Vincent Bille as Chief Manufacturing Officer (CMO). His years of experience and in-depth knowledge of Chemistry, Manufacturing and Control (CMC) will be instrumental for the scale-up of the manufacturing process for its lead program, OVX836, a broad-spectrum influenza vaccine candidate currently in Phase 2 clinical evaluation. Dr. Bille has already contributed to Osivax manufacturing strategy through the certification of his quality-control lab, located at the heart of the Liege Science Park, that will enable the release of OVX836 batches for use in clinical trials.

Vincent has amassed an impressive track record as a process development expert for several pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies developing innovative medicines, commented Alexandre Le Vert, CEO and Co-Founder of Osivax. His leadership and deep understanding of manufacturing and quality control operations will be important as we move OVX836 toward late-stage clinical development.

Before joining Osivax, Dr. Bille spent 15 years as an independent consultant for biotech and pharmaceutical companies, providing support in a range of areas including externalized operations relationship management, process development and scale-up, manufacturing, and technology transfer management of complex therapeutic biomolecules. Prior to starting his consultancy, Dr. Bille served as Director of Sales at Lonza for the European and North American markets. He also initiated the commercial operations of UCB-Bioproducts US affiliate, where he held several senior leadership positions, most notably as the Head of Technical Operations between 1990 and 2000. Dr. Bille holds a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Namur and an executive MBA from the Louvain School of Management.

Parallel to Dr. Billes appointment, the Federal Agency for Medicines and Health Products (FAMHP) has accredited Osivax quality control laboratory in Liege. This regulatory milestone is the result of an extensive quality management system which demonstrates Osivax adherence to rigorous international standards. Osivax quality control lab is now certified to provide analytical certification for releasing vaccine batches manufactured by industrial partners for use in in-human clinical trials. The roll-out of a quality control capability, operating in accordance with the Good Manufacturing and Distribution Practices (GM(D)P) guidance set forth by the FAMHP, is an essential element of Osivax manufacturing strategy to ensure the highest quality standards of the lead program and all future broad-spectrum candidates.

I am very proud and honored to join Osivax at this exciting phase in the companys journey, commented Dr. Vincent Bille, Chief Manufacturing Officer of Osivax. The recent accreditation from FAMHP of our quality control lab in Belgium is the cornerstone of our strategy to meet the required level of integration between industrial and analytical development activities together with quality control analysis to support the ongoing and future production of OVX836.

About OVX836

Osivax influenza vaccine, OVX836 targets the nucleoprotein (NP), a highly conserved internal antigen. Unlike surface antigens, NP is much less likely to mutate, providing a broader and more universal immune response. Osivax oligoDOM technology enables the design and production of recombinant version of the NP which self-assembles into a nanoparticle, thus triggering powerful T-and B-cell immune responses. OVX836 has shown promising safety, immunogenicity, and efficacy in preclinical and clinical trials (Phase 1 and Phase 2a) and continues to be evaluated in additional studies.

About Osivax

Osivax is a biopharmaceutical company leveraging its novel, self-assembling nanoparticle platform technology, oligoDOM, to transform current and new vaccines by generating superior T-cell responses in addition to strong and sustained B cell responses against highly mutating viruses. The company is establishing proof of concept with its highly validated lead influenza candidate, OVX836, which is currently in Phase 2 testing with over 800 subjects tested. Osivax is also exploring the broader application of its technology in a variety of indications. The company will expand into other infectious disease indications through combinations and collaborations worldwide.

For further information: www.osivax.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221012005088/en/

Alexandre Le Vert, CEO

[email protected]

+33 (0)9 70 30 13 80

For Media Inquiries

Trophic Communications

Valeria Fisher or Desmond James

[email protected]

+49 (0) 175 804 1816

+49 (0) 151 678 59086

Source: Osivax
Jean-Pascal Tricoire, Chairman & CEO, Schneider Electric, delivered a keynote on how software technologies are making the digital, electric world a reality across homes, buildings, data centers, industry, and infrastructure

Aamir Paul, President, Schneider Electric North America, followed with a conversation with decarbonization leaders on motivations and partnerships fueling progress.

MISSISSAUGA, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Schneider Electric, the leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, today kicked off its Innovation Summit Las Vegas with a passionate call to address the triple crisis  energy, economic and climate  facing governments, businesses and consumers around the globe, and outlining its approach and solutions to achieve this.

In a time of global crisis, we must have complete clarity on our journey and destination. The current energy crisis is only the tip of the iceberg, said Jean-Pascal Tricoire, Chairman and CEO of Schneider Electric. With energy demand globally anticipated to grow three-fold in the next 30 years, its vital that we deploy all the technologies that are already available now to accelerate electrification, digitization, and sustainability.

Tricoire addressed Innovation Summit Las Vegas attendees as part of a joint keynote with Aamir Paul, President, Schneider Electric North America. They highlighted the urgent need for action as this is a pivotal moment when sustainable commitments can become a reality now that technology has aligned with intention.

Key topics discussed by Tricoire and Paul included:

Using digitization to unlock the full capacity of efficiency: The future of sustainability depends on interoperability and breaking down siloes across value chain partners. Through digital twin interfaces, online exchanges and marketplaces and other digital tools, Schneiders customers can optimize the entire lifecycle of a commercial building, as an example, throughout the Design, Build, Operate, and Maintain phases, with the potential to realize a 30 efficiency impact.

The future of sustainability depends on interoperability and breaking down siloes across value chain partners. Through digital twin interfaces, online exchanges and marketplaces and other digital tools, Schneiders customers can optimize the entire lifecycle of a commercial building, as an example, throughout the Design, Build, Operate, and Maintain phases, with the potential to realize a 30 efficiency impact. Electricity is the most efficient form of energy and the best vector for decarbonization: As it is cleaner than burning fossil fuels, it has advantages for electrifying homes, buildings, and transportation. Together, electrification and digitization are key to doing more with less energy and with fewer resources.

Todays available technology can reduce carbon emissions: The pair also discussed recent findings from Schneider Electrics Research Institute which issued a first of its kind quantitative study demonstrating the potential of available technologies, which, if combined and deployed at scale has the potential to lower carbon emissions by two-thirds by 2030, while generating massive savings on energy spend for building dwellers (up to 70 per cent).

To further support customers in their sustainability goals, Schneider Electric also debuted seven new product, software, and service offerings that address the pressing environmental and social issues arising from the energy crisis and climate change.

The company also announced a $46M investment to modernize manufacturing plants in Kentucky and Nebraska to increase circuit breaker and related electrical products for customers in the U.S. and Canada. This follows the more than $100 million investment in 2021 to expedite the reshoring of its manufacturing capability in the North American region which saw organic growth of +12.6 per cent in fiscal year 2021.

Ours is the first generation to understand the reality of our climate challenges, and the last one that can do something about it. Were at a pivotal moment to lead in the journey to net zero and the key to reaching our sustainability goals is embracing a digital and electric-first future, said Aamir Paul, President, Schneider Electric North America. In todays competitive business environment, creating a more sustainable world involves going all-in on digitization, and the time to act on this movement is now. Were looking forward to discussing with leaders and executives across industries at our Innovation Summit this week to move beyond strategy and to act on ideas.

Following the keynote address, Paul hosted a panel discussion with executives who've implemented sustainability practices to address the reality of climate challenges, featuring Deborah Donovan, Senior Vice President, Environment, Health and Safety at Moderna; and Paul Gordon, Senior Vice President at EQ Office. The leaders discussed how they navigated short and long-term priorities, personal and business responsibilities, fears, surprises, and partnerships to create a net-zero future.

Schneider Electric has long advocated for urgent, concerted action to reduce energy waste, invest in renewables, electrify and digitalize energy ecosystems, and ensure that all this is done with economic and people welfare in mind. The company is widely recognized as a leader on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, and its products, services and other activities help customers, suppliers, business partners and communities further their own progress on those fronts.

About Schneider Electric

Schneiders purpose is to empower all to make the most of our energy and resources, bridging progress and sustainability for all. We call this Life Is On.

Our mission is to be your digital partner for Sustainability and Efficiency.

We drive digital transformation by integrating world-leading process and energy technologies, end-point to cloud connecting products, controls, software and services, across the entire lifecycle, enabling integrated company management, for homes, buildings, data centers, infrastructure and industries.

We are the most local of global companies. We are advocates of open standards and partnership ecosystems that are passionate about our shared Meaningful Purpose, Inclusive and Empowered values.

Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram | Blog

https://www.se.com/ca/en/

Discover Life Is On

Follow us on:

Hashtags: #LifeIsOn #SchneiderElectric #InnovationSummit

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221012005427/en/

Media:

Media Relations - Edelman on behalf of Schneider Electric, Juan Pablo Guerrero

Phone: +1 416 875 7173, Email: [email protected]

Source: Schneider Electric
Omise integrates the EMV 3DS 2.2 protocol using Netceteras 3DS Server

SINGAPORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The payment service provider Omise has implemented the Netcetera 3-D Secure Server to secure online payment transactions in the APAC region. Netcetera, a market leader for digital payment solutions, offers certified products for 3DS payment processing, and promotes secure and frictionless authentication so consumers can shop online with ease. Omise is among the first PSP customers to implement the EMV 3DS 2.2 protocol, enabling them to increase transaction approval rates and reduce fraud.

PSPs, merchants and acquirers need to reduce the risk for non-authenticated transactions, associated refunds and lost revenue, while at the same time establishing a frictionless flow and improving the cardholder experience during online shopping. Finding the right balance of serving both security and convenience is a challenge.

To successfully address this challenge, Omise decided to implement the network-certified and PCI-ready Netcetera 3-D Secure Server on premise solution. They are among the first PSPs to implement the 3DS server with the latest protocol EMV 3DS 2.2. Jatuporn Pinnuvat, Head of Product Innovation at Omise, says: After a thorough evaluation and investigation of different suppliers and products, we decided on Netcetera with their flexible, agile and independent payment offering. We consider their 3DS server as the most reliable and viable product to support secure and convenient transactions. The implementation was smooth and efficient, and we were able to save a lot of time and effort thanks to the comprehensive technical documentation, educational webinars and Netceteras professional support.

With their strong presence, providing service to thousands of merchants in the APAC region, Omise is a major player in the payment industry, and drives security and convenience of online payments together with Netcetera. Kiril Milev, Managing Director of Netceteras location in Singapore, says: We are convinced that we can bring value to the payment industry with our certified and state-of-the-art products, driving e-commerce payment forward. With this implementation at Omise, we are able to strengthen our presence in the APAC region.

Netcetera and Omise continue to work together to ensure Asian online payments are processed according to the latest security standards and to explore the newest payment technologies.

Note:

EMV is a registered trademark in the U.S. and other countries and an unregistered trademark elsewhere. The EMV trademark is owned by EMVCo, LLC.

About Netcetera

Netcetera is a global software company with cutting-edge IT products and individual digital solutions in the areas of secure digital payment, financial technologies, media, transport, healthcare and insurance. More than 2,000 banks and issuers, and 150,000 merchants rely on the digital payment solutions and globally certified 3-D Secure products of the market leader for payment security. The owner-managed company covers the entire IT lifecycle, from ideation and strategy to implementation and operation. The balanced combination of the latest technologies and proven standards ensures investment security, from large-scale projects to innovative start-ups. Founded in 1996, Netcetera is a holding company with 700 employees and is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, with additional locations across Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Further information: netcetera.com

About Omise

Established in 2013, Omise is a payments platform which provides businesses with a modern end-to-end infrastructure to accept, process and disburse payments online. Working with Omise, merchants have access to powerful payment tools, comprehensive risk management solutions, as well as connection to card networks and consumers preferred payment methods. Omise enables revenue growth and seamless payment experiences across online, in-store and in-app.

Omise is present in Thailand, Japan and Singapore. The company is the payments platform of choice for thousands of brands today.

Further information: omise.co

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221011006169/en/

Media contact

Netcetera

Angelika Seiler

Head of Content

[email protected]

+41 44 297 58 09

Source: Netcetera
MEMPHIS, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- SRM (Strategic Resource Management), an independent advisory firm serving financial institutions and other industries across North America and Europe, announced the appointment of Michael Vath and Hans Winterhoff as members of the companys International Advisory Board.

SRM specializes in identifying previously undiscovered opportunities for growth or savings, aligning expenses with industry benchmarks, and fostering supplier partnerships with a focus on quality and long-term stability. The firms advisory services include payments, operations, technology, and the ever-evolving digital assets space.

Adding Vath and Winterhoff to SRMs Board is a signal of intent for the company, as it continues to expand its presence in the UK and Europe and better understand the needs of financial institutions in those markets. The addition of two influential German consultants underscores the commitment SRM has made to become a global leader in its space.

Michael Vath, of Frankfurt, Germany, is a former Senior Vice President & General Manager of the Hitachi Data Systems business in EMEA, a board member for private equity firms, angel investor and mentor to startups, and a founder of his own firm. Vath brings 30 years of global sales, marketing, and digital business perspectives to this non-executive board role at SRM.

Vath shared: Its an honor to join the SRM International Advisory Board. Im impressed with SRMs leadership, business culture, and wide range of experience. I believe their services and ability to improve business efficiency will resonate in Germany and beyond.

Hans Winterhoff, of Hannover, Germany, a senior executive who spent 25 years with KPMG, is also the founder and CEO of two startups focused on innovation and consulting. His unique understanding of business operations as a Certified Public Accountant & Tax Advisor, as well as his innovation experience, will further elevate SRMs advisory collective.

SRM has impressed me with its dedication to researching our market and seeking out German perspectives to better understand how their services can benefit businesses here, noted Winterhoff. Im thrilled to share my knowledge and help SRM expand into new markets.

Vath and Winterhoff join an already strong International Advisory Board, which recently announced the addition of Marion King, former Director of Payments at NatWest in the UK. Other board members include Manolo Sanchez, former CEO of BBVA Compass; Steven VanBelleghem, renowned customer experience innovator; Reed Deupree, public markets and private equity investing expert; David Bailey, M & A specialist and financial services consultant; Stan Viner, longtime financial services sales professional and fintech advisor; and Robert Messer, community banking CFO based in the U.S.

Neil Whittaker, SRMs Chief Executive in Europe, shared this about the addition of Vath and Winterhoff: Were thrilled to have Michael and Hans on our International Advisory Board. Their deep understanding of the European  and specifically German  markets and their entrepreneurial expertise will be an immense asset as our company looks to expand its presence and take on a global leadership role in our space.

About SRM

SRM (Strategic Resource Management) has helped 1,000+ financial institutions add more than $5 billion of value to their bottom line in areas such as payments, digital transformation, core processing, artificial intelligence, digital assets, and overall operating efficiency. SRM has lowered costs, created revenue opportunities, increased productivity, and provided a competitive edge for clients in an environment of constant and accelerating change. Visit www.srmcorp.com for more information, and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter for timely and relevant insights.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221012005936/en/

Neil Dougherty

VP, Marketing & Communications

484.354.6465

[email protected]

Source: SRM (Strategic Resource Management)
Newly Launched Q Guidance System with Spine Guidance Software Receives 2022 Spine Technology Award

KALAMAZOO, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Stryker (NYSE: SYK), one of the worlds leading medical technology companies, will feature its suite of procedural solutions for spinal surgery, including its award-winning Q Guidance System with Spine Guidance Software, during the North American Spine Society (NASS) annual meeting in Chicago, Oct. 1215 (booth #4211).

Our expanding portfolio of differentiated spinal procedural innovations demonstrates our commitment to bringing state-of-the-art technology to surgeons and their patients, said Robbie Robinson, President of the Spine division, Stryker. This has been an exciting year with several new products launched, signifying the continued growth of our Spine business. We are thrilled to reconnect with current and make the acquaintance of future customers as well as showcase our newest additions at NASS.

The Company will highlight legacy solutions along with several newly launched products, which include:

Stryker will showcase its portfolio of spine solutions at NASS (booth #4211), including a chance to experience the technologies hands-on during a Surgical Stadium event taking place Friday, October 14, from 10:45 a.m.12:00 p.m. in the Technical Exhibition McCormick Place, West Building, with proctors Drs. Shah Dodwad and Griffin R. Baum.

*Cranial Guidance Software has not yet received 510(k) clearance to market.

**Mako for spine applications is not available for sale.

About Stryker

Stryker is one of the worlds leading medical technology companies and, together with its customers, is driven to make healthcare better. The company offers innovative products and services in Medical and Surgical, Neurotechnology, and Orthopaedics and Spine that help improve patient and hospital outcomes. Alongside its customers around the world, Stryker impacts more than 100 million patients annually. More information is available at www.stryker.com.

References:

1. Stryker data on file; RD 62430 Tritanium hMSC osteogenic differentiation.

2. Reza, A. et al. "Randomized porous titanium impacts cell morphology and induces stem cell differentiation in vitro." Orthopaedic Research Society 5th International Spine Research Symposium, 2019, 5: 83.

3. Stryker data on file (10-minute Bone Mill+ cycle vs 10 minutes of manual soft tissue removal)

4. Stryker data on file (Based on fill volume)

CONTENT ID: QGS-MM-2_3426

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221012005482/en/

Andrea Sampson, Sampson Public Relations Group

562.304.0301

[email protected]

Source: Stryker
?? En vivo | El premier Anibal Torres, acompanado de ministros de Estado, informa a la ciudadania sobre las ultimas decisiones adoptadas durante la sesion del Consejo de Ministros. https://t.co/AhTo2Is4VQ
Tevogen Bio and Founding CEO are nominated for the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize by Curtis Patton, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Yale School of Public Health, Yale University

WARREN, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Tevogen Bio, is a late-stage clinical biotechnology company specializing in the development of cellular immunotherapies in virology, neurology, and oncology. The company and its founding CEO, Dr. Ryan Saadi, were nominated for the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize by Dr. Curtis Patton, Professor Emeritus, Yale School of Public Health, Yale University for their work towards alleviating health inequality.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221012005798/en/

Curtis Patton, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Yale School of Public Health, nominates Tevogen Bio and Founding CEO, Dr. Ryan Saadi, for 2023 Nobel Peace Prize. (Photo: Business Wire)

After submitting the letter to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Dr. Patton informed Dr. Saadi and select U.S. and international news outlets of the nomination. Its been a pleasure to observe Dr. Saadi over the years and especially the realization of his vision for greater health equity. Furthermore, I am pleased that my nomination has garnered so much well-deserved media focus on health equity and sustainable business models for the medical innovation industry, stated Dr. Patton.

The honorable Dr. Dipu Moni, former Foreign Minister and current Minister of Education of Bangladesh also issued a public congratulations to Dr. Saadi who was born in Bangladesh and was her classmate at Dhaka Medical College, sharing We are proud. Hearty congratulations and best wishes to Saadi.

We are honored and humbled by the news that Tevogen Bio has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, Saadi said. The distinction reinforces our guiding principle that sustainable business success can be an unattainable concept unless the success also contributes to societal prosperity, health, and well-being of all people and, ultimately, a peaceful existence of all humanity. I am thankful for every single colleague at Tevogen Bio, my family who supported me, and for the many who have commended us for the success, including especially, the Minister of Education of the Government of Bangladesh, Dr. Dipu Moni, and the Leadership of Warren Township, in which Tevogen Bio is headquartered.

About Tevogens Next Generation Precision T Cell Platform

Tevogens next generation precision T cell platform is designed to provide increased immunologic specificity to eliminate malignant and virally infected cells, while allowing healthy cells to remain intact. Multiple targets are selected in advance with the goal of overcoming the mutational capacity of cancer cells and viruses which can otherwise allow for escape from immunologic targeting.

Tevogen is investigating its technologys potential to overcome the primary barriers to the broad application of personalized T cell therapies: potency, purity, production-at-scale, and patient-pairing, without the limitations of current approaches. Tevogens goal is to open the vast and unprecedented potential of developing personalized immunotherapies for large patient populations impacted by common cancers and viral infections.

In August 2022, Tevogen announced the completion of patient enrollment in the Proof-of-Concept clinical trial of its lead product, TVGN-489, for ambulatory, severe-risk COVID-19 patients, with no dose-limiting toxicities or significant treatment-related adverse events observed for any patient at any dose level.

TVGN-489 is a genetically unmodified, off-the-shelf, allogeneic cytotoxic CD8+ T lymphocyte (CTL) product with activity against multiple, precise targets across the SARS-CoV-2 genome.

About Tevogen Bio

Tevogen Bio is driven by a team of distinguished scientists and highly experienced biopharmaceutical leaders who have successfully developed and commercialized multiple franchises. Tevogens leadership believes that accessible personalized immunotherapies are the next frontier of medicine, and that disruptive business models are required to sustain medical innovation in the post-pandemic world.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements relating to Tevogen Bio Inc (the Company) and its business. These statements are based on managements current expectations and beliefs as of the date of this release and are subject to several factors which involve known and unknown risks, delays, uncertainties, and other factors not under the Companys control that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or other expectations implied by these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements can sometimes be identified by terminology such as may, will, should, intend, expect, believe, potential, and possible, or their negatives or comparable terminology, as well as other words and expressions referencing future events, conditions, or circumstances. In any forward-looking statement in which the Company expresses an expectation or belief as to future results, there can be no assurance that the statement or expectation or belief will be achieved. Various factors may cause differences between the Companys expectations and actual results, including, among others: the Companys limited operating history; uncertainties inherent in the execution, cost, and completion of preclinical studies and clinical trials; risks related to regulatory review, and approval and commercial development; risks associated with intellectual property protection; and risks related to matters that could affect the Companys future financial results, including the commercial potential, sales, and pricing of the Companys products. Except as required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements or any of the information in this release, or provide additional information, and expressly disclaims any and all liability and makes no representations or warranties in connection herewith or with respect to any omissions therefrom.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221012005798/en/

Media Contact:

Katelyn Joyce

Corporate Communications Lead

T: 1 877 TEVOGEN, Ext 709

[email protected]

Source: Tevogen Bio
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Watts Water Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: WTS), will hold a live webcast of its conference call to discuss Third Quarter 2022 results on Thursday, November 3, 2022, at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Watts Water Technologies, Inc. will announce its financial results for this period in a press release to be issued after market close on Wednesday, November 2, 2022.

This call can be accessed by visiting the Investor Relations section of the Companys website at www.watts.com. Following the webcast, an archived version of the call will be available at the same address until November 3, 2023.

Watts Water Technologies, Inc., through its family of companies, is a global manufacturer headquartered in the USA that provides one of the broadest plumbing, heating, and water quality product lines in the world. Watts Water companies and brands offer innovative plumbing, heating, and water quality solutions for commercial, residential, and industrial applications. For more information visit www.watts.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221012005134/en/

Watts Water Technologies, Inc.

Diane McClintock

Senior Vice President, FP&A and Investor Relations

Phone: 978-689-6153

Source: Watts Water Technologies, Inc
PITTSBURGH--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Wesco International (NYSE: WCC) will hold its third quarter 2022 earnings conference call on Thursday, November 3, at 10:00 a.m. ET. Dial-in details are below. The live audio webcast and presentation slides of the earnings call will be accessible on the investor relations section of Wescos website, along with webcast replays following the call.

Wesco will also be participating in the Baird Global Industrial Conference as well as the Stephens Annual Investment Conference in November.

Third Quarter 2022 Earnings Call Dial-In Access Live Access Replay Access North American: 1-877-317-6789 International: 1-412-317-6789 Access code: Wesco A recording will be available beginning 11/3/2022 at 12:00pm ET until 11/10/2022 at 12:00pm ET US Toll Free: 1-877-344-7529 CanadaToll Free: 855-669-9658 International: 1-412-317-0088 Access Code: 4687677

About Wesco International

Wesco International (NYSE: WCC) builds, connects, powers and protects the world. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Wesco is a FORTUNE 500 company with more than $18 billion in annual sales and a leading provider of business-to-business distribution, logistics services and supply chain solutions. Wesco offers a best-in-class product and services portfolio of Electrical and Electronic Solutions, Communications and Security Solutions, and Utility and Broadband Solutions. The Company employs approximately 18,000 people, partners with the industrys premier suppliers, and serves thousands of customers around the world, including more than 90% of FORTUNE 100 companies. With nearly 1,500,000 products, end-to-end supply chain services, and leading digital capabilities, Wesco provides innovative solutions to meet customer needs across commercial and industrial businesses, contractors, government agencies, institutions, telecommunications providers, and utilities. Wesco operates approximately 800 branches, warehouses and sales offices in more than 50 countries, providing a local presence for customers and a global network to serve multi-location businesses and multi-national corporations.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221012006058/en/

Investor Relations

Will Ruthrauff

Director, Investor Relations

484-885-5648

Corporate Communications

Jennifer Sniderman

Sr. Director, Corporate Communications

717-579-6603

Source: Wesco International
The Campus houses more than 2,000 of Canadas best, brightest and most creative minds

NEW YORK & TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- WPP (NYSE: WPP) today celebrates the opening of its new Toronto Campus, a creative hub bringing together 2,000 people across multiple WPP agencies. The Campus opening marks an important milestone in WPPs vision of making Toronto one of its leading creative centres of excellence in North America.

Designed by WPP company BDG Architecture + Design, the 250,000 square foot Campus located at the Waterfront Innovation Centre was built with flexibility and collaboration in mind, allowing for greater interconnectivity and creativity amongst WPP companies including GroupM (and its agencies Wavemaker, Mindshare and EssenceMediacom), Ogilvy, Wunderman Thompson, Hill+Knowlton Strategies, Grey, TAXI, Hogarth Worldwide, Landor & Fitch and more. The Campus, which sits on the shores of Lake Ontario, is equipped with the latest, fully integrated technology, has a range of on-site amenities and hosts a variety of different working spaces.

WPP Campuses reflect the companys wider culture and strategy, bringing people and agencies together in world-class, inclusive, creative workspaces while giving clients access to the breadth and depth of WPP talent from a single location. The new Toronto Campus is the latest to be created around the world, joining those recently opened in Prague, Milan, Detroit and London. In keeping with WPPs commitment to achieve net zero across its operations by 2025, the building is currently in the process of obtaining Platinum LEED Certification.

Arthur Fleischmann, WPP Country Manager for Canada, said: Toronto is a vibrant city known globally for top creative talent and work. The new WPP Toronto Campus represents the best this city has to offer in digital, advertising, media, communications, and PR all under one roof, helping to inspire creativity and co-creation each and every day. And while our agency brands have their own distinct culture and talent, our Campus also enables our teams to come together to collaborate on extraordinary work for clients.

Mark Read, CEO of WPP, said: Toronto has long been an important global centre for creative talent, and were delighted to make our own contribution to that by investing in a fantastic new Campus in the city. Bringing together a community of more than 2,000 of our people under one roof will mean greater collaboration between our agencies, more integrated solutions, and even better work for our clients in Canada and beyond.

About WPP

WPP is the creative transformation company. We use the power of creativity to build better futures for our people, planet, clients and communities. For more information, visit www.wpp.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221012005675/en/

Further information

Alex Davis-Isaac, WPP

+1 646 531 7724

[email protected]

Source: WPP
SULAIMANIYA, Iraq (Reuters) -At least eight Katyusha rockets were fired at the Khor Mor gas field in Iraq's Kurdistan region on Wednesday, but the attack did not result in casualties or affect the operations, sources said.

The rockets fell in the vicinity of the field, security and local Kurdish sources said. Khor Mor is in the Sulaimaniya region of northern Iraq and was attacked previously.

The Pearl Consortium, United Arab Emirates energy firm Dana Gas and its affiliate, Crescent Petroleum, have the rights to exploit Khor Mor and Chemchemal, two of the biggest gas fields in Iraq.

The attack didnt result in any casualties, and operation is normal within the field. Investigations are ongoing by security forces at the moment, Lawk Ghafuri, Head of Foreign Media Affairs for the Kurdistan regional government said on Twitter.

A local commander from Hashid Shaabi, a state-run umbrella that includes Shiite militias, said they found a rocket launcher with a timer fixed on top of a mini-truck in a rural area around 20 km (15 miles) to the southwest of Khor Mor.

At least eight Katyusha rounds were fired from the launcher, which carried 12 rockets. Four unfired rockets had been found inside the launcher, said the local commander.

While no group has claimed responsibility for the previous series of attacks on Khor Mor, Kurdish officials said publicly they believed they were carried out by Iranian-backed militias.

(Reporting by Ali Sultan and Ahmed Rasheed; Additional reportong by Maha El-Dahan and Amina Ismail; Writing by Mahmoud Mourad; Editing by Lisa Shumaker, Grant McCool and Lincoln Feast)
A worker stores aluminium ingots at the foundry shop of the Rusal Krasnoyarsk aluminium smelter in Krasnoyarsk, Russia October 3, 2018. REUTERS/Ilya Naymushin

By Trevor Hunnicutt

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Biden administration is weighing restricting imports of Russian aluminum as it charts possible responses to Moscow's military escalation in Ukraine, a person briefed on the conversations told Reuters.

Such a move, which has not been finalized, would likely boost global prices for the metal used in a wide range of consumer products and could reverse a previous White House stance that such sanctions could wreak havoc on global markets.

"We're always considering all options," said a White House official. "There is no movement on this as of now."

The Treasury and Commerce departments did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters.

The administration's choices include an outright ban, raising tariffs to levels so punitive they would constitute an effective ban, or sanctioning United Co Rusal International PJSC, the company also known as Rusal that produces Russia's metal, according to Bloomberg, which first reported the conversations about an aluminum ban earlier on Wednesday.

Rusal, the world's largest aluminum producer outside China, did not immediately reply to a Reuters' request for comment.

Russian attacks using more than 100 missiles have killed at least 26 people across Ukraine since Monday, when Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered what he called retaliatory strikes against Ukraine for an explosion on a bridge.

"It's brutal, it's beyond the pale," President Joe Biden said on Wednesday, a day after he pledged ongoing assistance to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Shares of U.S.-based aluminum producer Alcoa Corp were last trading up 5.1% in New York, following the report. Shares of Rio Tinto Plc , which produces aluminum as well as iron ore, copper and other metals, fell about 1% on Wednesday in London.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Additional reporting by Ernest Scheyder, Katharine Jackson, Chris Gallagher and Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Tim Ahmann, Nick Macfie, Mark Porter and Deepa Babington)
International Game Technology PLC ("IGT") (NYSE: IGT) announced today that its subsidiary, IGT Global Solutions Corporation, signed a seven-year contract extension with the Georgia Lottery Corporation ("Georgia Lottery") to deploy its world-class lottery and iLottery products and technology, enhancing the modernization of the Georgia Lottery's offerings. The contract extension will run through September 2032.

"IGT has been a trusted growth partner with the Georgia Lottery since our inception in 1993, helping us proudly transfer more than $25 billion to the Georgia Treasury's Lottery for Education account," said Gretchen Corbin, Georgia Lottery Corporation President and CEO. "The added technology and functionality IGT is providing will not only enhance the player experience, but will drive significant, incremental value for our state and the beneficiary programs the Georgia Lottery supports."

"As one of the most successful lotteries in the U.S., the Georgia Lottery has relied on IGT to deliver growth-driving lottery products for nearly 30 years," said Jay Gendron, IGT Chief Operating Officer, Global Lottery. "The Georgia Lottery has consistently embraced the evolving lottery landscape with ease, seeing the many benefits of IGT's innovative solutions. The deployment of IGT's industry-leading cashless technologies, advanced lottery and iLottery system upgrades and new retail hardware as part of this contract extension will support the Lottery's plans for future growth."

As part of the contract extension, IGT will install cashless functionality on more than 10,000 point-of-sale retail terminals, enabling players to purchase lottery with a debit card. Customer-facing ticket scanners will also be implemented on more than 10,000 retail terminals to support player-initiated transactions including QR codes, digital playslips and other digital offers.

IGT will also install more than 4,400 new high-performing Retailer Pro lottery terminals and related equipment in retail locations. In addition, IGT will replace 600 self-service vending machines currently in the field with its GameTouch 28 self-service vending machine, a trusted solution for high-volume retailers that provides a dynamic user experience and increased flexibility for players.

Additionally, IGT will deliver upgrades to the Georgia Lottery's lottery and iLottery central system. These upgrades would include the ability to migrate components of each system to the cloud. Among many benefits, cloud technology would offer the Georgia Lottery dynamic scalability and a reduced time to market for system enhancements. It also facilitates faster and easier integration of data and insights as a further enrichment to the overall player experience.

As the global lottery market leader, IGT is the primary technology provider to eight of the world's largest 10 lotteries and 16 of the world's top 25 lotteries. For more information, visit IGT.com and follow us on Facebook and LinkedIn.
The Jeep brand confirmed that they will showcase their all-new fully electric Jeep Avenger, the brands first-ever BEV, at the 2022 Paris Motor Show during a press conference hosted by Christian Meunier, the Jeep Brand CEO, at 1p.m. BST on October 17th.

The Jeep Avenger will join the UK line-up which includes the Wrangler and 4xe versions of the Jeep Compass, and Renegade. It will also be followed early next year by the launch of the 4xe version of the all-new Jeep Grand Cherokee.

The new Jeep Avenger spearheads the introduction of a portfolio of all-new Jeep BEVs in Europe. said Christian Meunier, Jeep brand CEO. It offers Jeep brand capability that is rightsized for the market and during its introduction at the Paris Motor Show, well showcase why it is a great all-electric Jeep brand alternative to current players in the segment. The Jeep Avenger is a milestone for our growth plans in key European markets, such as France, and on our path to becoming the leading zero-emission SUV brand in the world.

Jeep says that the Avenger is "rightsized" for the European market. Produced at Stellantis' (NYSE: STLA) plant in Tychy, Poland, the Jeep Avengers target range is estimated at 400 km (250 miles) on the WLTP test cycle, and 550 km (342 miles) in the urban cycle.

Shares of STLA are up 0.55% in mid-day trading Wednesday.

By Michael Elkins | [email protected]
Victorias Secret & Co. (Victorias Secret or the Company) (NYSE: VSCO) will be hosting a meeting for investors and analysts tomorrow to share the Companys strategic vision for the future while also reflecting on the successes of its first year as an independent, publicly-traded company.

Chief Executive Officer Martin Waters commented, We have been looking forward to tomorrows event and the opportunity to present our strategy and outlook for the future to the investor community. Led by our two category-defining brands and a global business positioned to increase market share, our goal is clear  to be the worlds leading fashion retailer of intimate apparel. Our market position atop the domestic intimates category is a key strength and growth opportunity for our business. We are energized by our customers response to our brand transformation and remain committed to becoming the Victorias Secret our customers and associates deserve.

Martin continued, We have created a solid financial platform during the last 15 months as a public company. With our new operating structure in place, we now have even greater agility and an aligned focus on our customer and our strategic priorities. We are positioned to deliver sustainable long-term sales growth and mid-teens operating margin rates over time, and we expect the power of our model will generate significant cash flow to invest in growth and also return value to shareholders through our capital allocation strategy.

At its Investor Day, members of the senior leadership team will discuss the Companys long-term strategic growth plan which is guided by the following three principles:

Strengthen the core  growing market share in our key categories of bras, intimates and beauty, while evolving our brand positioning to be more inclusive and attracting a broader more loyal customer base with more compelling story telling in stores and on our digital platforms;

 growing market share in our key categories of bras, intimates and beauty, while evolving our brand positioning to be more inclusive and attracting a broader more loyal customer base with more compelling story telling in stores and on our digital platforms; Ignite growth  building our global footprint primarily through our international partners, while adding new brands to our portfolio, organically or through investments, with a focus on categories and customer groups where we are underrepresented to enhance our brand position; and

 building our global footprint primarily through our international partners, while adding new brands to our portfolio, organically or through investments, with a focus on categories and customer groups where we are underrepresented to enhance our brand position; and Transform the foundation  building a modern, high performing, agile, empowered, enabled organization to deliver efficiencies and to invest in our people and culture.

Third Quarter 2022 Financial Guidance Update Based on quarter to date trends and expectations for the balance of the quarter, the Company now estimates third quarter 2022 operating income to be towards the high end of its previously communicated guidance range of $10 million to $40 million, and earnings are estimated to be towards the high end of the previously communicated guidance range of $0.00 to $0.25 per diluted share. The updated operating income and earnings per diluted share guidance is based on a net sales decline in the high single digit range compared to last year, which is consistent with the Companys previously communicated guidance.

Investor Day Event DetailsThe event will be hosted tomorrow at The Drake Oakbrook in Chicago, Illinois and will be broadcast live via webcast on the Investors section of the Companys website beginning at 10:00 a.m. Eastern / 9:00 a.m. Central. Speaking to investors tomorrow will be Martin Waters, Chief Executive Officer  VS&Co; Timothy Johnson, Chief Financial and Administrative Officer; Amy Hauk, Chief Executive Officer  Victorias Secret & PINK; Greg Unis, Chief Growth Officer; and Christine Rupp, Chief Customer Officer. A replay of the webcast and presentation materials will be available on the Investors section of the Companys website following the event.
By Jeffrey Dastin and Dawn Chmielewski

AUSTIN (Reuters) - For companies playing with virtual reality as disparate as plane-maker Boeing Co and online-gaming platform Roblox Corp, forays into the so-called "metaverse" have come with equal parts promise and peril.

The U.S. aviation giant is looking to digital technology to accelerate production of new aircraft, said Susan Doniz, Boeing's chief information officer, at the Reuters Momentum conference in Austin on Tuesday. She cited how Boeing cut the development time of the T-7 trainer jet by 80% to three years as an example of what might be possible for commercial airplanes.

Still, Doniz declined to offer a target date for when Boeing will design its next major plane digitally, a goal the company has discussed for years. Boeing has a commercial-order backlog of 4,354 aircraft.

Some employees expressed reluctance over tools Boeing offered to help them, too. The company deployed the HoloLens, mixed-reality headsets from Microsoft Corp, so staff could wire aircraft with manuals before them digitally. The first-generation goggles had trouble with certain lighting conditions, and they were an adjustment for some, she said.

"There's a bit of a learning curve," she said.

Virtual reality is still nascent. The metaverse, not just a place where Boeing may one day build its planes, is a concept where people can have an avatar in vast virtual lands. There even is discussion about creating "digital twins" of the real world -- and its problems, said Morgan McGuire, Roblox's chief scientist.

"There's a lot of things in the real world that are really serious and are really bad," McGuire said at the conference. "I don't want the haves and have nots. I don't want -- what's the digital equivalent of homelessness?"

Roblox's success attracting nearly 60 million daily users to play and build games on its site has not found a match however in Tinder, the Match Group Inc dating app that's taking a wait-and-see approach to the metaverse.

"We arent doing anything explicitly in the metaverse today, but we want to be the place you go when you want to meet somebody new, whether that is in the real world or the virtual world," Tinder Chief Operating Officer Faye Iosotaluno said at the conference.

Part of the challenge may be the technology is rudimentary. In the view of Renji Bijoy, chief executive of the virtual office company Immersed speaking at the Reuters conference Wednesday, "this is more (like) Windows 95," he said.

(Reporting By Dawn Chmielewski and Jeffrey Dastin in Austin; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
FILE PHOTO: Microsoft logo is seen on a smartphone placed on displayed Activision Blizzard logo in this illustration taken January 18, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo/File Photo

LONDON (Reuters) - Microsoft said Britain's competition regulator had relied on objections from its rival Sony in referring its $69 billion Activision Blizzard deal to an in-depth inquiry, in particular "misplaced" concerns about 'Call of Duty'.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said last month that the acquisition could harm competition and needed to be investigated in depth.

Microsoft could use its control over popular games to harm rivals, including those operating in multi-game subscription services and cloud gaming, it said.

It was a "game-changing merger", it said in its full decision on Wednesday, which would give Microsoft best selling franchises including 'Call of Duty', 'World of Warcraft' and 'Candy Crush'.

"The CMA is concerned that having full control over this powerful catalogue (...) could result in Microsoft harming consumers by impairing Sony's  Microsoft's closest gaming rival ability to compete," it said.

Microsoft said the CMA had adopted Sony's complaints without the "appropriate level of critical review".

In its submission, it said Sony's PlayStation had been the largest console platform for more than 20 years, and it was not credible to suggest its dominance would be challenged by losing access to one title.

"The Referral Decision incorrectly relies on self-serving statements by Sony which significantly exaggerate the importance of 'Call of Duty' to it and neglect to account for Sony's clear ability to competitively respond," Microsoft said.

It added that it had committed to keeping 'Call of Duty' on PlayStation.

"Our inquiry is about protecting competition in the interests of UK gamers and businesses. The Phase 1 decision identified three areas where the deal could cause harm: gaming consoles, multi-game subscription services and cloud gaming services," a CMA spokesperson said in a statement.

"We have now launched an in-depth investigation and our findings will be published in the New Year."

A spokesperson for Microsoft said: "This deal will benefit gamers, developers, and the industry as we seek to bring more games to more people."

A spokesperson for Sony PlayStation reiterated its view that the deal was "bad for competition, bad for the gaming industry and bad for gamers themselves".

"This deal would give Microsoft's Xbox ecosystem a unique combination of tech and content, and hence a dominant position in gaming, with devastating consequences for consumers, independent developers, and Sony itself," he said.

The deal, which was announced in January, will require approval in the United States as well as other major jurisdictions including the European Union and China.

(Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise, Kirsten Donovan)
AU ZH, Switzerland, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Araris Biotech AG, a company pioneering a proprietary antibody-drug conjugate (ADC)-linker technology, is pleased to announce the appointment of Filippo Mulinacci, Ph.D., MBA as chief business officer.

We are thrilled to welcome Filippo to our executive team, said Philipp Spycher, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Araris Biotech. Filippos extensive experience in identifying business development and licensing opportunities in the biotech space will be extremely valuable as we continue to develop our proprietary linker technology and build strategic partnerships globally.

Mr. Mulinacci added, I look forward to working with the team at Araris to expand on its business development efforts as they further advance their oncology pipeline of next-generation antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) into the clinic. Araris stands to make an impact in the ADC space and I am honored to be a part of the company.

Mr. Mulinacci brings a strong background in business development, strategic partnering activities involving technology platforms and clinical and preclinical stage oncology products, contract negotiation and alliance management experience to the team. Filippo joins us from Basilea Pharmaceutica International Ltd in Allschwil, Switzerland, where he was responsible for partnering activities in the oncology space, including the recent strategic divestment of Basileas early-stage oncology portfolio. Prior to this role, his experience included serving as Head of Business Development and Licensing at Philochem AG, a subsidiary of Philogen S.p.A. (BIT:PHIL), Global Business Development Manager at F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG in the Roche Partnering Venture & Innovation team and previous pharmaceutical research experience at Serono SA. Mr. Mulinacci holds an M.Sc. in Chemistry from Universita degli Studi di Torino in Turin, Italy, a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Universite de Geneve (EPGL) in Geneva, Switzerland and an MBA in General Management and Business Administration from the University of St. Gallen (HSG) in St. Gallen, Switzerland.

About Araris Biotech AGAraris Biotech AG is pioneering the development of its novel antibody-drug conjugate (ADC)-linker technology to enable efficient and precise production of ADCs. Its linker platform enables the attachment of any drug payload to off the shelf antibodies, without the need for prior antibody engineering. The resulting ADCs have shown very high activity at low doses and an improved therapeutic index compared to multiple FDA-approved ADCs. Araris is a spin-off company from the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) and ETH Zurich.

For more information, please visit www.ararisbiotech.com or follow Araris on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Corporate Contact:Philipp Spycher, PhDChief Executive Officer [email protected] www.ararisbiotech.com

Media Contact:Veronica EamesLifeSci Communications, LLC [email protected]646-970-4682

Source: Araris Biotech AG
VERO BEACH, Florida, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. (NYSE: ARR and ARR-PRC) (ARMOUR or the Company) today announced preliminary estimated financial information as of September 30, 2022 and for the three-month period then ended.

ARMOURs Q3 2022 Preliminary Estimates

Book value per common share at September 30, 2022 was between $5.79 and $5.83 compared to $7.25 per common share at June 30, 2022.

Securities portfolio included approximately $7.4 billion of agency mortgage-backed securities ("Agency MBS") (net of short to-be-announced ("TBA") securities positions) and U.S. Treasury securities.

Debt to equity ratio (based on repurchase agreements divided by total stockholders' equity) was approximately 8.8 to 1. Leverage, net of short TBA securities positions, was approximately 7.7 to 1 at September 30, 2022. For comparison, debt to equity ratio was 6.9 to 1 (based on repurchase agreements divided by total stockholders equity) and leverage, including net long TBA securities positions, was 7.6 to 1 at June 30, 2022.

Liquidity position consisted of cash and unencumbered Agency MBS of approximately $469 million, as of September 30, 2022.

Monthly cash dividends totaled $0.30 per common share for the third quarter. Estimated distributable earnings (a non-GAAP measure) for the quarter exceeded that amount per share. Our final report of distributable earnings for the third quarter 2022, when available, will include a reconciliation of distributable earnings to the most directly comparable GAAP measure.

Per share amounts at September 30, 2022 are based on approximately 132,590,000 common shares issued and outstanding on that date. During the quarter ended September 30, 2022, the Company issued approximately 22,733,043 common shares for average net proceeds of $7.36 per share under its "at the market" offering program and repurchased approximately 780,000 common shares at an average net cost of $4.96 under its stock repurchase program.

The Companys financial reporting closing procedures for the three-month period ended September 30, 2022 are still in process and, as a result, the Companys preliminary estimates of the financial information above is based on information currently available to management, including a number of assumptions. Also, these estimates are not comprehensive statements of the Companys financial position and results as of and for the quarter ended September 30, 2022. The Companys actual financial position and results as of and for the quarter ended September 30, 2022 may differ materially from these estimates. Accordingly, investors should not place undue reliance on this preliminary information. These estimates are the responsibility of the Companys management, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update this information prior to the filing of the Companys next Form 10-Q. These estimates are unaudited and have not been reviewed by the Companys independent public accountants.

Certain Tax Matters

ARMOUR has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust (REIT) for U.S. Federal income tax purposes. In order to maintain this tax status, ARMOUR is required to timely distribute substantially all of its ordinary REIT taxable income. Dividends paid in excess of current tax earnings and profits for the year will generally not be taxable to common stockholders. Actual dividends are determined at the discretion of the Companys board of directors, which may consider additional factors including the Companys results of operations, cash flows, financial condition and capital requirements as well as current market conditions, expected opportunities and other relevant factors.

About ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc.

ARMOUR invests primarily in fixed rate residential, adjustable rate and hybrid adjustable rate residential mortgage-backed securities issued or guaranteed by U.S. Government-sponsored enterprises or guaranteed by the Government National Mortgage Association. ARMOUR is externally managed and advised by ARMOUR Capital Management LP, an investment advisor registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Additional Information and Where to Find It

Investors, security holders and other interested persons may find additional information regarding the Company at the SECs internet site at www.sec.gov, or the Company website at www.armourreit.com, or by directing requests to: ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc., 3001 Ocean Drive, Suite 201, Vero Beach, Florida 32963, Attention: Investor Relations.

Investor Contact:

James R. MountainChief Financial OfficerARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc.(772) 617-4340

Source: ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc.
CALGARY, Alberta, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Biosenta Inc. (the Company or Biosenta) (CSE: ZRO) has signed a milestone Memorandum of Understanding dated October 5, 2022, with VORAN GROUP VENTURES Ltd. (Voran) which will lead the way for the commercialization of Biosentas Tri-Filler antimicrobial products in Canadian markets and worldwide.

The patented new material science Tri-Filler products could set the new standard in antimicrobial materials as a safe and proactive option against biological and ecological threats.

Tri-Filler has the potential to make a positive impact to the antimicrobial properties of everyday surfaces, said Am Gill, President and CEO of Biosenta Inc. We are thrilled to be working with Voran to bring Tri-Filler to the world marketplace.

Chelsey Reschke, President and CEO of Voran Group, commented, Establishing this MOU is the first milestone in our collaboration with Biosenta and we are delighted to be selected as a commercialization partner. The tremendous versatility of the Tri-Filler products has the potential to revolutionize manufactured building materials and replace existing GHG-intensive commercial fillers. We are especially pleased to work with an impact-driven company like Biosenta.

Biosentas Tri-Filler is currently being tested at the University of Calgary with very encouraging results (please refer to News Release dated May 25, 2022). Additional updates will be provided in coming weeks.

About Biosenta Inc.

Biosenta is a Canadian-based company that develops and manufactures a range of safe and environmentally sound chemical compounds for household and industrial applications.

About Voran: Based in Sherwood Park, Alberta, Voran Group is a leader in the development, commercialization, and distribution of advanced antimicrobial solutions. Vorans pipeline of new products is driven by the demand of its customers, industry, and communities for safer, future-focused solutions. Vorans capabilities in obtaining market authorizations under the most rigorous global regulatory requirements is the key differentiator in delivering results for its partners and customers.

Disclaimer

The CSE has in no way passed upon the contents of this news release and further, has neither approved nor disapproved of the contents of this news release. Neither the CSE nor its Regulation Services Provider (as such term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws (forward-looking statements), including forward-looking statements relating the completion of the Transaction. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements or developments expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. If any such risks actually occur, they could impact the potential for discussion, agreement or completion of the Transaction and/or materially adversely affect the Companys business, financial condition or results of operations. In that case, the trading price of the Companys common shares could decline, perhaps materially. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. Forward-looking statements are provided for the purposes of providing information about managements current expectations and plans relating to the future. Readers are cautioned that such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. The Company does not undertake or accept any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect any change in the Companys expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based, except as required by law.

For Further Information please contact:

Am Gill, President and CEO of Biosenta Inc.[email protected] orChelsey Reschke, President and CEO of Voran Group Ventures Ltd. [email protected]

Source: Biosenta Inc
RAPID CITY, S.D., Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Black Hills Corp. (NYSE: BKH) today announced that its Wyoming electric utility subsidiary, Cheyenne Light, Fuel and Power Company, doing business as Black Hills Energy, received a bench decision from the Wyoming Public Service Commission approving a certificate of public convenience and necessity to construct an estimated $260 million transmission expansion project.

The approximately 260-mile transmission project, known as Ready Wyoming, will help meet current and growing energy needs of customers in Wyoming. The expansion project will provide customers long-term price stability while enhancing the resiliency of the electric system and expanding access to power markets and renewable energy resources.

Were pleased with the Wyoming commissions unanimous approval of a settlement agreement to proceed with the project and appreciate the collaboration with the parties in the process, said Linn Evans, president and CEO of Black Hills Corp. We look forward to ongoing engagement with landowners and other stakeholders for Ready Wyoming, a vital project that will provide long-term benefits to our Wyoming customers and communities.

Construction of the transmission expansion project is expected to commence in 2023 and be completed in multiple phases through 2025. The project is expected to contribute more than $100 million of economic benefit to the Wyoming economy and employ up to 1,400 construction jobs.

Black Hills Corp. Black Hills Corp. (NYSE: BKH) is a customer focused, growth-oriented utility company with a tradition of improving life with energy and a vision to be the energy partner of choice. Based in Rapid City, South Dakota, the company serves 1.3 million natural gas and electric utility customers in eight states: Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming. More information is available at www.blackhillsenergy.com.

Investor RelationsJerome E. Nichols605-721-1171[email protected]

24-Hour Media Relations Line888-242-3969

Caution Regarding Forward Looking StatementThis news release includes forward-looking statements as defined by the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC. We make these forward-looking statements in reliance on the safe harbor protections provided under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this news release that address activities, events or developments that we expect, believe or anticipate will or may occur in the future are forward looking statements, including the miles and cost of the transmission expansion project. These forward-looking statements are based on assumptions which we believe are reasonable based on current expectations and projections about future events and industry conditions and trends affecting our business. However, whether actual results and developments will conform to our expectations and predictions is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that, among other things, could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements, the risk factors described in Item 1A of Part I of our 2021 Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC, and other reports that we file with the SEC from time to time.

New factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in forward looking statements emerge from time-to-time, and it is not possible for us to predict all such factors, or the extent to which any such factor or combination of factors may cause actual results to differ from those contained in any forward-looking statement. We assume no obligation to update publicly any such forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Source: Black Hills Service Company, LLC
BROOKFIELD, News, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Brookfield Renewable (NYSE: BEP, BEPC; TSX: BEP.UN, BEPC) will hold its Third Quarter 2022 Conference Call and Webcast on Friday, November 4, 2022 at 8:30 a.m. ET to discuss results and business initiatives.

Results will be released on Friday, November 4, 2022 at approximately 7:00 a.m. ET and will be available on our website at http://bep.brookfield.com under Press Releases.

Participants can join by conference call or webcast:

Conference Call

Please pre-register by conference call: https://register.vevent.com/register/BI35e73eb9c5cf4a6eba89ea4d279c6746

Upon registering, you will be emailed a dial-in number, direct passcode and unique PIN. This process will bypass the operator and avoid the queue.

Webcast

Please join and register by webcast: https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/mxzjpn2f

About Brookfield Renewable

Brookfield Renewable operates one of the worlds largest publicly traded, pure-play renewable power platforms. Its portfolio consists of hydroelectric, wind, solar and storage facilities in North America, South America, Europe and Asia, and totals approximately 24,000 MW of installed capacity and an approximately 100,000 MW development pipeline. Investors can access its portfolio either through Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. (NYSE: BEP; TSX: BEP.UN), or Brookfield Renewable Corporation (NYSE, TSX: BEPC), a Canadian corporation.

Brookfield Renewable is the flagship listed renewable power company of Brookfield Asset Management, a leading global alternative asset manager with approximately $750 billion of assets under management.

Source: Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P.
11:30 | New York (U.S.), Oct. 12.

He recalled that Peru had first provided the United Nations with peacekeeping forces personnel when it deployed troops to Lebanon back in 1958, and has been a constant contributor ever since.





Currently, Peru provides 270 uniformed personnel, including 38 women, to five UN peacekeeping operations. It makes the South American country the 48th largest contributor of personnel to peacekeeping operations.





The largest contribution of peacekeepers from Peru is to the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) , where 255 Blue Helmets serve including women and men. The vast majority work for the Peruvian Engineering Company, which performs construction and maintenance works.





"The invaluable work of engineers to repair and build roads, as well as bridges, not only allows the mission to perform entrusted activities, but also has a tangible impact on the lives of local communities by boosting trade and allowing people from remote locations to access health care (services) and build relationships among them," the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations specified.









"The United Nations appreciates the service and sacrifice of Peruvian men and women who have served in dangerous and difficult environments. Members of Peruvian peacekeeping forces have proven a high level of professionalism and dedication wherever they serve. We are deeply grateful for their continued service," Lacroix expressed.





"The United Nations will never forget the sacrifice of eight Peruvian peacekeepers who lost their lives while serving under the UN flag since 1958," he added.




Manassas, Virginia, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cape Fox Corporation (CFC) is pleased to announce that Harold Mitchell, JD, MS, has been named the new Chief Operations Officer (COO). CFC is looking forward to working closely with Harold in the future to increase and grow our operations and continue our standing as an industry leader.

Harold Mitchell first joined CFC in 2012 as a Vice President of Business Development. Harold has proven himself to be an innovative senior executive experienced at identifying new customers, developing approaches to the market, driving prospects through to contract award, and facilitating profitable business growth with a passion for convening and motivating interdisciplinary teams. CFC is an Alaska Native Corporation that employs staff worldwide and is principally engaged in information technology and cybersecurity, professional services, healthcare, and construction. As COO, Harold will oversee and manage the Presidents and leaders of Cape Fox Federal Contracting Groups (FCGs) multiple Federal subsidiaries while working closely with the Chief Executive Officer and Board of Directors to design and implement business operation systems, optimize operational capabilities, establish plans that promote company culture and vision, and employ strategies to maximize customer satisfaction. Harold will play a key role in managing the companys relationships with customers, partners, subcontractors, and vendors. Concurrent with his role as COO, Harold will continue to be the President of Eagle Health, Concentric Methods, and Wolf Lake Services, three of Cape Fox FCG subsidiaries.

In discussing his new position, Harold stated, I am incredibly excited to assume this new role. It is a privilege to be part of an organization with an exceptionally talented team that delivers high-quality services and innovative solutions. My strategic approach will be threefold: 1. Complement our tailored, integrated expertise with a strong corporate culture and talented employees to deliver better, faster, and more enduring customer outcomes; 2. Create a company culture where we attract top talent, retain great employees, and ensure operations are always performing at their best; and 3. Continue to align our companies and leaders to position the corporation for extraordinary results and future growth.

Harold started his career with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), receiving the DEA Administrator's Award. Then, he became a partner with Newman & Mitchell LLC, practicing in the firm's business and litigation departments. Earlier in his career, he worked with Lawrence Executive Alliance of Professionals, LLC, as a Chief of Staff and Legal Counsel and Legal Counsel for LEAP DC. Harold holds a bachelor's degree and master's degree from Howard University and a Juris Doctor degree from Florida Coastal.

CFC recognizes Harolds expertise, drive, and talent for leading teams and producing results. Chris Luchtefeld, CEO of CFC, recently commented, Congratulations to Harold for taking another big step in his very successful career at Cape Fox. Harold is a strong leader with an incredible work ethic, a laser focus on customer satisfaction, and a track record of successful new business development. Harold will advance the companys mission and objectives with his strategic goals and ideas, and everyone at CFC is looking forward to working with Harold.

For additional information, email Heather Kaiser at [email protected] or call (703) 749-3045.

About Cape Fox Corporation

Cape Fox Corporation (CFC) was formed as part of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) of 1971. Cape Fox Corporation is the Alaska Native Corporation for the village of Saxman.

Today, Cape Fox Corporation is comprised of a family of businesses divided between two distinct groups: The Federal Contracting Group and The Commercial (Tourism) Group. Collectively, CFC and its subsidiaries specialize in tourism, information technology and cybersecurity; professional services; health care services; marketing; training services, and logistical services.

Visit Cape Fox Corporation to learn more.

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Vilniaus Baldai

General meeting of shareholders

Convocation of the general shareholders meeting of VILNIAUS BALDAI AB and draft resolutions

On the initiative and decision of the Company's Management Board the General Shareholders Meeting of VILNIAUS BALDAI AB (identification code 121922783, address Savanoriu ave. 178B, Vilnius, LT-03154) is to be held on 3 November 2022 at 10:00 a. m. in Pramones st. 23, Guopstu vil., Traku district.



Registration of the shareholders will start at 9:30 a. m. Only the persons who are the shareholders of the Company at the end of the accounting day of the General Shareholders Meeting (25 October 2022) are entitled to participate and to vote at the General Shareholders meeting.

Agenda includes:



1. Changing registered address of the Company

2. Elections of the Audit Company and establishment of conditions for payment for audit services.

Draft Resolution:



1. To change the registered address of the Company to Pramones st. 23, Guopstu vil., Traku district, LT-21148

2. 1.1. To select the Limited Liability Company Grant Thornton Baltic, the companys code 300056169, headquarter address Municipality of Vilnius city, Vilnius, Upes st. 21, , to perform the audit of Annual Financial Statements for the period of 2022-2023.

1.2. To determine the following payment conditions for performed audit:

Remuneration for audit of the set of the Annual Financial Statement for the year 2022  23 500 EUR, for the year 2023  25 850 EUR, excluding the value added tax. The value added tax shall be calculated and paid additionally under procedure provided by laws.

1.3. In the event of additional services under the audit agreement, the audit company shall be paid additional remuneration. The amount of it shall be determined based on hourly rates of employees of the Private Liability Company Grant Thornton Baltic taking part in performance of additional services.

1.4. Additional remuneration shall be paid after completion of additional services.



The documents related to the agenda, draft resolutions on every item of agenda, documents what have to be submitted to the General Shareholders Meeting and other information related to realization of shareholders rights are available at the office of VILNIAUS BALDAI (Savanoriu ave 178 B, Vilnius) during working hours.



The shareholders are entitled: (i) to propose to supplement the agenda of the General Shareholders Meeting submitting draft resolution on every additional item of agenda or, than there is no need to make a decision - explanation of the shareholder (this right is granted to shareholders who hold shares carrying at least 1/20 of all the votes). Proposal to supplement the agenda is submitted in writing by registered mail or delivered in person against signature. The agenda is supplemented if the proposal is received no later than 14 before the General Shareholders Meeting; (ii) to propose draft resolutions on the issues already included or to be included in the agenda of the General Shareholders Meeting at any time prior to the date of the General Shareholders meeting (in writing, by registered mail or delivered in person against signature) or in writing during the General Shareholders Meeting (this right is granted to shareholders who hold shares carrying at least 1/20 of all the votes); (iii) to submit questions to the Company related to the issues of agenda of the General Shareholders Meeting in advance but no later than 3 business days prior to the General Shareholders Meeting in writing by registered mail or delivered in person against signature.



Shareholder participating at the General Shareholders Meeting and having the right to vote must submit documents confirming personal identity. Each shareholder may authorize either a natural or a legal person to participate and to vote on the shareholder's behalf at the General Shareholders Meeting. The representative has the same rights as his represented shareholder at the General Shareholders Meeting. The authorized persons must have documents confirming their personal identity and power of attorney approved in the manner specified by law which must be submitted to the Company no later than before the commencement of registration for the General Shareholders Meeting.



Shareholder is entitled to issue power of attorney by means of electronic communications for legal or natural persons to participate and to vote on its behalf at the General Shareholders Meeting. The shareholders must inform the Company about power of attorney issued by means of electronic communications no later than before the commencement of registration for the General Shareholders Meeting. The shareholders must inform the Company about power of attorney issued by means of electronic communications no later than before the commencement of registration for the General Shareholders Meeting. The power of attorney issued by means of electronic communications and notice about it must be written and submitted to the Company by means of electronic communications.



Shareholder or its representative may vote in writing by filling general voting bulletin, in such a case the requirement to deliver a personal identity document does not apply. The form of general voting bulletin is presented at the Companys webpage. If shareholder requests, the Company shall send the general voting bulletin to the requesting shareholder by registered mail or shall deliver it in person against signature no later than 10 days prior to the General Shareholders Meeting free of charge. The filled general voting bulletin must be signed by the shareholder or its authorized representative. Document confirming the right to vote must be added to the general voting bulletin if authorized person is voting. The filled general voting bulletin must be delivered to VILNIAUS BALDAI, AB by registered mail (address Pramones st. 23, Guopstu vil., Traku district, LT-21148, Lithuania) or in person against signature no later than before the day of the General Shareholders Meeting.



Information related with the convened General Shareholders Meeting (notice on convocation of General Shareholders Meeting, information about Companys shares, draft resolution, etc.) are available at VILNIAUS BALDAI AB webpage http://www.vilniausbaldai.lt. For further information please contact + 370 5 2525700.

Additional information:

Chief Financial Office

Edgaras Kabecius

Phone No.: +370 (5) 252 57 00

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Singapore, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Recently, Singapore-based Web3 Security company Numen Cyber Technology disclosed a critical vulnerability on the much-anticipated public blockchain - Aptos.

Through Numens Web3 security vulnerability detection product, a critical security vulnerability in Aptos MoveVM was discovered. Attackers are able to execute specific codes in the Aptos MoveVM, causing a crash in the Aptos blockchain nodes. Numen have also stated that this vulnerability made Aptos susceptible to Denial of Service (DoS) attacks. Aptos Labs has confirmed the existence of this vulnerability and Numen Cyber Labs has assisted their team in rectifying it.

Public blockchain is the infrastructure that supports cryptocurrency transactions. Investors need to pay close attention to the security risks when investing in cryptocurrency. Numen Cyber Labs has conducted a technical analysis with solutions for this critical vulnerability found within the Aptos MoveVM, For the detailed analysis, please refer to the following link: https://medium.com/@numencyberlabs/analysis-of-the-first-critical-0-day-vulnerability-of-aptos-move-vm-8c1fd6c2b98e

About AptosAptos is a Layer one blockchain. The project aims to deliver the safest and most production-ready blockchain in the world. Aptos was a start-up that rose from the scraps of META(Facebook)s failed Web3 ambitions. After Diem was sold by META, several core members left to form a team and utilised Diems open-source code to develop the Aptos public blockchain.

On March 15, Aptos managed to raise $200M via a strategic investment led by a16z, participating investors include Tiger Global, Katie Haun, PayPal Ventures, Multicoin Capital, Three Arrows Capital, FTX Ventures and Coinbase Ventures.

On July 25, Aptos raised another $150M in s Series A funding round that was led by FTX ventures.

On September 15, Binance Labs made a strategic investment in Aptos Labs for industry adoption acceleration.

About Numen Cyber Technology Numen Cyber Technology is a cybersecurity solution provider based in Singapore. They dedicate themselves in cyberthreat detection & response for Web3 business. Numen Cyber Labs is composed of experienced security experts from all over the world. The technical teams have disclosed many critical vulnerabilities of famous public blockchains (EOS, Ripple, TRON, Augur, Aptos, etc.), Web3 projects and Microsoft, Google, Apple products. Its industry leading Web3 security solutions fully cover the cyber security requirements of various Web3 application scenarios. Numen provides security capabilities on every stage of Web3 project lifecycle through the Web3 security audit for smart contract, public blockchain, wallet and exchange, and products such as on-chain smart contract threat detection and response, Web3 security situational awareness, cryptocurrency tracing and Web3 threat intelligence to protect the digital asset security of Web3 projects and users.

For more information, please visit website: https://www.numencyber.com, or social media channel: https://twitter.com/numencyber.

MEDIA CONTACTName: Joanna ZhangPhone: +65- 68544462E-mail : [email protected]

The views, suggestions, and opinions expressed here are the sole responsibility of the experts. Do your own research before making a financial decision related to any crypto company or asset.

Source: Numen Cyber Technology
Singapore, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As of 22 September 2022, CScalp, a professional day trading software platform has officially released new updates to their platform. These updates include a new connection to Phemex, as well as expansions to the Watchlist and charts.

Scalping trading is the type of trading, and has three main characteristics. The first being all of your trading takes place within one session, thats why its called day trading crypto. This means you start the day with no open positions, and end the day with no open positions. The second characteristic is that order books play the main role in how traders make decisions, but they also use market trades history as well as clusters and charts. Finally, scalping includes a daily drawdown, which is a limit set on how much money you can lose before your trading session is ended and is the main risk control mechanism for scalpers.

CScalp is a professional trading software terminal that allows traders to access all exchanges in one place, plug in multiple exchange accounts, and hedge the risk of poor internet connection with proxy servers. The platform has over 12,000 daily users from over 50 countries.

CScalp is available to download on Windows x64, but can also be run on macOS and Linux using the Windows emulator. You can connect your CScalp account to your accounts on exchanges via API.

With the recent updates, the biggest news is the addition of connectivity to Phemex exchange. Via this connection, you can trade two types of Phemex tools. The first one is USD Perpetual, which are the usual perpetual futures. The second is COIN-M Perpetual, which is the inverse to the usual perpetual futures.

The watchlist is an important tool for traders as it allows you to keep an eye on different cryptos that you will need to have information on in order to make the best trades. This update expands the Watchlist functionality within CScalp. Scalpers can now add up to 40 instruments. Previously, you could only add up to 14 instruments.

With the expanded Watchlist, there have also been two linking groups set up as default settings for the Watchlist. The first group is the linking of the order book, chart, and Watchlist, and the second group is the linking of the order book and chart. This allows the trader to quickly track potential opportunities or monitor their performance by saving space on the screen..

Keeping an eye on charts wont necessarily help a scalper in the moment, but charts play an important role in how they make future decisions on which cryptos to buy and sell. Thanks to an update to the charts, traders now have access to more charts. They can now simultaneously open 40 order books and 40 charts. This is a massive amount of information available at the scalpers fingertips via CScalp.

In order to help scalpers make the most informed trades, beyond the 40 instruments, order books, and charts, CScalp offers other tools like a free crypto screener, which shows the dynamics of market prices and allows scalpers to find entry points faster. The screener lets scalpers track up to 10 of the most volatile tickers on the Binance and FTX futures market.

If youve yet to learn scalp in trading, CScalp is a universal platform that offers a free course on how to trade that allows crypto users of any age and experience to learn the ins and outs of trading before they dive into it fully. Throughout the course, traders will also be immersed in CScalp software and can thus learn it in conjunction with actual trading for a fuller experience.

CScalp is a universal tool designed to make trading easier for scalpers in order to maximize their profits. With this new set of updates, CScalp is able to provide a smoother, more immersive experience as well as expand the list of exchanges it can be used with. This is exciting news for the CScalp team, and points to a bright future in the world of scalping.

RAGHAV SAWHNEY Outreach Consultant CSCALP BlockchainPrBuzz.com contact (at) blockchainprbuzz.com

Source: CScalp
Washington, D.C., Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

The leading source of cultural intelligence, Collage Group, announced today that Gregory Cypes has joined the team as Chief Product and Technology Officer, a new leadership role. With more than 20 years of experience in the tech sector, Cypes is expected to shape the future of the companys cultural intelligence platform, and data & technology offerings, which are currently used to guide over 250 of Americas iconic brands partnered with Collage Group.

Cypes is a proven expert with an impressive history of building and optimizing products that bridge the gap between brands and consumers. He now embarks on a plan to reimagine Collages platform experience with a new focus on the intersection between software, data science, and insights generation. His goal is to generate unparalleled proprietary consumer insights products in support of Collages brand partners efforts to achieve Cultural Fluency.

With Collage Group only a few months removed from securing $25 million in growth capital, Cypes will staff a team of engineers and product managers tasked with producing new offerings, and building upon the already data rich consumer insights that guide and educate Collage Group members.

Were incredibly excited to welcome Greg to our team, as he will launch a new phase of product and technological innovation in our diverse consumer insights products, said Collage Group CEO and Co-Founder, David Wellisch. This addition marks a crucial step in Collage Groups journey as a leading-edge SaaS enterprise, and enhances our capacity to support Americas iconic brands in authentically engaging and winning diverse consumers.

Prior to Collage Group, Cypes most recently concentrated on building platforms within complex data systems, which helped brands connect with consumers in a more precise manner. He has effectively led product and engineering teams at three venture-backed, high-growth companies, working on the product and engineering teams.

I am excited by the opportunity to apply leading edge software and data science to impact how iconic consumer brands use culture to better connect with consumers, said Cypes. I especially look forward to continue Collages innovation journey and take it to new heights.

ABOUT COLLAGE GROUP

Collage Group is the leading source of cultural intelligence about diverse consumers to more than 250 of Americas iconic brands across 15 industries. For more than 10 years, Collage Group has developed consumer insights across race and ethnicity, generation, sexual identity, gender and parent-child relationships with a focus on high-growth consumer segments. Members of the Collage Group Cultural Intelligence ProgramsMulticultural, Generations, LGBTQ+ & Gender and Parents & Kidshave access to 10+ years of consumer insights and 350+ studies with new data unveiled weekly. Learn more about why Americas iconic brands turn to Collage Group for diverse consumer insights and best practices.

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Dallas, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- More than eight decades have passed since the first Dickeys Barbecue Pit opened its doors in Dallas, Texas back in 1941. Over the years, the brands Legit. Texas. Barbecue. has made it as an international hit as Dickeys has spread its signature cue-sine across the globe .

And it aint slowing down anytime soon!

In July, August, and September, the worlds largest barbecue concept opened multiple new franchise locations from coast to coast, and even across the northern border:

Alberta, Canada : Opened August 12, operated by Zainab Abba Aji and Sukhwinder Benipal.

: Opened August 12, operated by Zainab Abba Aji and Sukhwinder Benipal. Los Angeles, California : Opened August 18, operated by Vandad Shemaran and Jesse Park.

: Opened August 18, operated by Vandad Shemaran and Jesse Park. Portales, New Mexico : Opened September 16, operated by Bruce Nixon.

: Opened September 16, operated by Bruce Nixon. Sewell, New Jersey : Opened September 14, operated by Christopher Bruno.

: Opened September 14, operated by Christopher Bruno. Norwich, New York : Opened July 7, operated by David Cirello.

: Opened July 7, operated by David Cirello. Canton, North Carolina : Opened August 5, operated by Joshua Cowan.

: Opened August 5, operated by Joshua Cowan. Waynesburg, Pennsylvania : Opened August 22, operated by Cyndi Yorio.

: Opened August 22, operated by Cyndi Yorio. Aubrey, Texas : Opened July 28, operated by Jean Guillory.

: Opened July 28, operated by Jean Guillory. Gainesville, Florida: Opened September 1th, operated by Jose Camblor

Opened September 1th, operated by Jose Camblor Wesley Chapel, Florida: Opened September 9th, operated by Bruce Nixon

Were thrilled to experience so much momentum for our brand across the country and even beyond, said Laura Rea Dickey, CEO of Dickeys Barbecue Restaurants, Inc. The Dickeys family just continues to grow, and were incredibly grateful for each one of our franchise operators that makes it possible. And whats even better is that we have many more awesome franchisees coming on board who will be keeping that growth smokin in the months and years ahead!

To learn more about Dickeys, follow Dickeys Barbecue Pit on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Download the Dickeys Barbecue Pit app from the Apple App Store or Google Play.

To learn more about Dickeys Virtual Concepts follow Wing Boss on Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok; Trailer Birds on Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok; and Big Deal Burger on Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok.

About Dickeys Barbecue Restaurants, Inc.

Dickey's Barbecue Restaurants, Inc., the worlds largest barbecue concept, was founded in 1941 by the Dickey family. For the past 80 years, Dickeys Barbecue Pit has served millions of guests in 44 states Legit. Texas. Barbecue. At Dickeys, all our barbecued meats are smoked onsite in a hickory wood burning pit. Dickeys proudly believes theres no shortcut to true barbecue and its why our name isnt BBQ. The Dallas-based, family-run barbecue franchise offers eight slow-smoked meats and 12 wholesome sides with 'No B.S. (Bad Stuff)' included. Dickeys Barbecue has 550 locations across the United States and eight other countries.

Dickeys was named to Newsweeks 2022 Americas Favorite Restaurant Chains list and USA Today 2021 readers choice awards. Dickeys won first place on Fast Casuals Top 100 Movers and Shakers list, been named a Top 500 Franchise by Entrepreneur and named to Hospitality Technologys Industry Heroes list. Led by CEO Laura Rea Dickey, who was named among the countrys 50 most influential women in foodservice in Nations Restaurant News, was recognized by Fast Casuals Top 100 Movers and Shakers list and honored by Dallas Business Journal. Dickey's Barbecue Pit has also been recognized by Fox News, Forbes Magazine, Franchise Times, The Dallas Morning News, The Wall Street Journal, People Magazine and QSR Magazine. Dickeys Barbecue is part of Dickeys Restaurant Brands which has more than 700 restaurants nationwide including brands Wing Boss, Trailer Birds, Big Deal Burger and bbqathome.com. DRB is led by CEO Roland Dickey Jr. For more information, visit www.dickeys.com.

# # #

Attachment

Shannon Santos Dickey's Barbecue Pit [email protected]

Source: Dickeys Barbecue Restaurants
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco announced that, in partnership with participating member financial institutions, more than $2.2 million has been donated to HUD-approved housing counseling agencies through the Banks Empowering Black Homeownership matching grant program. This funding has been distributed to 22 HUD-approved housing counseling agencies so that they can better serve homebuyers and homeowners in communities of color.

The Empowering Black Homeownership matching grant program is a key component of FHLBank San Franciscos commitment to working to narrow the Black homeownership gap and reduce racial wealth disparities, said Teresa Bryce Bazemore, president and CEO of FHLBank San Francisco. We are grateful for the member financial institutions that have partnered with us to advance racial equity by providing financial support for housing counseling agencies directly serving populations that have been historically disadvantaged when it comes to building wealth through homeownership.

The Empowering Black Homeownership grant program, which launched in March 2022, made $1 million available for the Banks member financial institutions to request dollar-for-dollar matching grants of up to $125,000. FHLBank San Francisco is grateful to each of the following Bank members for delivering generous donations along with our matching grant funds to 22 local housing counseling agencies for HUD-eligible activities, which include capacity building, operations, and pre-and post-purchase homeownership counseling.

Bank of the West

Citizens Business Bank

City National Bank

Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach

First Republic Bank

Luther Burbank Savings

Mechanics Bank

MUFG Union Bank

Pacific Premier Bank

Pacific Western Bank

Silicon Valley Bank

Toyota Financial Savings Bank

Tri Counties Bank

Western Alliance Bank

Several FHLBank San Francisco member institutions shared their thoughts on the impact that FHLBank San Franciscos Empowering Black Homeownership matching grant program will have on homebuyers and homeowners of color in communities where they do business:

Thank you to our partners at FHLBank San Francisco for making this important grant matching program available via its member banks, said Cheryl Ryman, Farmers & Merchants Bank vice president, community reinvestment act officer. We applaud Neighborhood Housing Services of Los Angeles, NeighborWorks OC, and Affordable Housing Clearinghouse for the valuable work they do in our community, and we are grateful for the opportunity to assist in achieving their mission.

City National Bank is proud to support Neighborhood Housing Services of Los Angeles County and its mission of helping more families realize the American dream of homeownership, said Sal Mendoza, City National Bank senior vice president, community reinvestment act manager, We want to also thank FHLBank San Francisco for matching our grant and helping us make a difference in the communities where we live and work.

The racial homeownership gap is persistent and pervasive in the Bay Area, so we thank FHLBank San Francisco for making this funding available to partners doing critical work to make homeownership more attainable for Black families, said Bobbie Salgado, Silicon Valley Banks senior director, community reinvestment act and community affairs manager. We are proud to work with FHLBank San Francisco and our local housing services partners to put these funds to work in our communities.

More information on FHLBank San Franciscos Empowering Black Homeownership matching grant program and the Banks other Community Programs, is available at fhlbsf.com.

About F&M BankFounded in Long Beach in 1907 by C.J. Walker, F&M Bank provides white-glove service to clients at 25 branches from San Clemente to Santa Barbara, as well as through Online and Mobile Banking platforms. The Bank offers commercial and small business banking, business loan programs, home loans, and a robust offering of consumer retail banking products, including checking, savings and youth accounts. F&M Bank is a California state-chartered bank with deposits insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (Member FDIC) and an Equal Housing Lender. NMLS #537388. For more information about F&M, please visit the website, www.FMB.com.

About City National BankWith $91.2 billion in assets, City National Bank provides banking, investment and trust services through 68 branches, including 22 full-service regional centers, in Southern California, the San Francisco Bay Area, Nevada, New York City, Nashville, Atlanta, Washington, D.C. and Miami*. In addition, the company and its investment affiliates manage or administer $83.0 billion in client investment assets.

City National is a subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), one of the worlds leading diversified financial services companies. RBC serves more than 17 million personal, business, public sector and institutional clients through offices in Canada, the United States and 27 other countries. For more information about City National, visit the companys website at cnb.com.

*City National Bank does business in Miami and the state of Florida as CN Bank.

About Silicon Valley BankSilicon Valley Bank, the bank of the world's most innovative companies and investors, provides commercial banking services, expertise and insights to the technology, life science and healthcare, private equity, venture capital and premium wine industries. Silicon Valley Bank operates in centers of innovation around the world and is one of SVB's core businesses with SVB Capital, SVB Private and SVB Securities. With global commercial banking services, Silicon Valley Bank helps address the unique needs of its dynamic, fast-growing, innovative clients. Learn more at www.svb.com.

About the Federal Home Loan Bank of San FranciscoThe Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco is a member-driven cooperative helping local lenders in Arizona, California, and Nevada build strong communities, create opportunity, and change lives for the better. The tools and resources we provide to our member financial institutionscommercial banks, credit unions, industrial loan companies, savings institutions, insurance companies, and community development financial institutionsfoster homeownership, expand access to quality housing, seed or sustain small businesses, and revitalize whole neighborhoods. Together with our members and other partners, we are making the communities we serve more vibrant, equitable, and resilient. Learn more at www.fhlbsf.com.

Media Contact: Mary Long Senior Director, Marketing Communications [email protected] 415.616.2556

Source: Federal Home Loan Bank Of San Francisco
Relocation joins Hyloris with other businesses in the life sciences ecosystem that are at the cutting edge of health and well-being

Liege, Belgium  12 October 2022  Hyloris Pharmaceuticals SA (Euronext Brussels: HYL), a specialty biopharma company committed to addressing unmet medical needs through reinventing existing medications, today announced it has moved its headquartered operations to LegiaPark, in the heart of the life sciences industry ecosystem of Liege, within the Wallonia region. LegiaPark is a new modern complex operating with environmental responsibility and hosts life science companies.

Stijn Van Rompay, Chief Executive Officer of Hyloris, commented, At Hyloris, we take pride in our entrepreneurial culture and believe that the successful growth of the Company lies within the success of our employees. Our new location is expected to benefit our employees well-being with better working conditions and a more entrepreneurial culture. The move supports Hyloris commitment to sustainable growth, which we are currently defining in our 2030 ES&G Roadmap. As we expand our pipeline, we also plan to move into an additional 236 square meters of laboratory space to the complex next year. This should enable Hyloris to perform drug formulation and analytical activities, further streamline processes and more effectively capitalise on internal resources. Our move brings us close to CHC MontLegia patients and is aligned with our corporate ambition to become a leader in value-added medicines

Hyloris took part in a press conference today, which unveiled its new location along with other participating companies.

About LegiaPark and Noshaq

LegiaPark is dedicated to hosting businesses that operate in life sciences and is located ten minutes from the city centre of Liege, in the heart of Wallonias biotech ecosystem. The treescaped complex, located opposite the MontLegia Hospital, offers 30.000 m of space for offices, cleanrooms and other use.

Legiapark has been developed and is managed by the Noshaq group, the lead funding partner for the creation and development of SMEs in the region of Liege with a participation in 474 companies.

About Hyloris Pharmaceuticals

Hyloris is a specialty biopharma company focused on innovating, reinventing, and optimizing existing medications to address important healthcare needs and deliver relevant improvements for patients, healthcare professionals and payors. Hyloris has built a broad, patented portfolio of 14 reformulated and repurposed value-added medicines that have the potential to offer significant advantages over available alternatives. Outside of its core strategic focus, the Company also has four high barrier generic products in development. Two products are currently in initial phases of commercialization with partners: Sotalol IV for the treatment of atrial fibrillation, and Maxigesic IV, a non-opioid post-operative pain treatment. The Companys development strategy primarily focuses on the FDAs 505(b)2 regulatory pathway, which is specifically designed for pharmaceuticals for which safety and efficacy of the molecule have already been established. This pathway can reduce the clinical burden required to bring a product to market, and significantly shorten the development timelines and reduce costs and risks. Hyloris is based in Liege, Belgium. For more information, visit www.hyloris.com and follow-us on LinkedIn.

For more information contact: Hyloris Pharmaceuticals, Investors and Media[email protected] Disclaimer and forward-looking statementsHyloris means high yield, lower risk, which relates to the 505(b)(2) regulatory pathway for product approval on which the Issuer focuses, but in no way relates or applies to an investment in the Shares. Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements can be identified using forward-looking terminology, including the words "believes", "estimates," "anticipates", "expects", "intends", "may", "will", "plans", "continue", "ongoing", "potential", "predict", "project", "target", "seek" or "should", and include statements the Company makes concerning the intended results of its strategy. These statements relate to future events or the Companys future financial performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond the Companys control, that may cause the actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements of the Company or its industry to be materially different from those expressed or implied by any forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking statements, except as may be required by law.

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Source: Hyloris Pharmaceuticals SA
Numerous metabolic biomarkers identified in AAMBI study confirmed in BANON cohort

Panel sensitivities of up to 89% at specificities of up to 93% in blinded validation study

Formal IVD development of HypoxE Test progressing on schedule

Cologne/Berlin, Germany, and Boston, MA, USA, October 12, 2022  InfanDx AG, a privately held diagnostics company focusing on the development and commercialization of novel diagnostic solutions for newborns, today announced that it successfully completed the validation of metabolic biomarker panels for the early detection of Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE) in newborns. The validated biomarkers of such panels will be the target of the Companys HypoxE blood test for the early detection of HIE.

InfanDx, in collaboration with the groups of Prof. Hans-Peter Deigner and Prof. Matthias Kohl at Furtwangen University, had previously identified a number of metabolites that are associated with HIE by comparing metabolite profiles in the blood of newborns with and without HIE in the multicenter AAMBI study with a total of 155 study subjects. Numerous of these individual metabolic biomarkers have now independently been confirmed to distinguish between children with and without HIE enrolled in the BANON study using blood samples taken at birth or shortly thereafter.

The multicenter BANON study with a total of 553 study subjects enrolled at 13 sites predominantly in Germany was closed in May 2022 and focused on studying the population of newborns that are at high risk to develop HIE as indicated by clinical and/or routine blood parameters. The newborns enrolled in BANON were confirmed to either suffer from HIE or not. Such confirmation was based on neurological assessment, amplitude-integrated electroencephalography (aEEG), and/or Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) within days of birth (short-term outcome) and neurodevelopmental assessment at two years of age or older (long-term outcome).

Based on the validated biomarkers, InfanDx designed panels combining top performing biomarkers with the APGAR score at 5 min after birth, a quick test done on every newborn to assess the need for extra medical care. These panels and their interpretive algorithms were optimized by InfanDx on a set of data not part of the validation data set of the BANON study. Algorithms were designed for either umbilical cord blood samples taken at birth or peripheral blood samples taken about two hours after birth in combination with short- and long-term outcome, respectively. In a blinded evaluation, the optimized panels were then validated by Prof. Axel Franz, Principal Investigator and Coordinator of the BANON study, and his group at the University Hospital of Tubingen in collaboration with Prof. Kohl in the independent validation data set of the BANON cohort.

In the blinded validation, the best performing panel demonstrated a sensitivity of 89% at a specificity of 93% for detecting HIE cases as defined by short-term outcome using umbilical cord blood samples. When using long-term outcome as an endpoint, the same algorithm detected HIE cases with a sensitivity of 74% at a specificity of 93%. In both settings, the biomarkers added significantly to the performance of the combined algorithm including the APGAR score. This, on the one hand, reflects the consensus among clinicians that the APGAR score alone is inadequate for detecting HIE, and, on the other hand, confirms research by other groups that it can nevertheless complement biomarker for HIE.

On the back of these results InfanDx will now enter the formal development phase of its HypoxE Test. The test will be intended as an aid in the early detection and diagnosis of HIE in newborns supporting clinicians in the timely decision to initiate neuroprotective therapies.

To this end, prototype assays for most of the panel biomarkers have already been developed for the Selectra proM Clinical Chemistry Analyzer commercialized by InfanDx strategic partner ELITechGroup. Once developed, the HypoxE Test for Selectra proM will be subjected to a performance evaluation as required by European IVD Regulations (IVD-R) and submitted to a notified body for clearance. The Company expects such submission for the end of 2023. In parallel, InfanDx will work on a version of the HypoxE Test for point-of-care testing and progress its preparations to perform a study in the US as a basis for a submission for clearance by the US FDA.

With these data of the BANON study, our efforts to identify novel early biomarkers for HIE yielded first top-line results, said Prof. Dr. Axel Franz, coordinating Principal Investigator of the BANON study. It confirms the concept that clinical parameters such as the APGAR score and biomarker information are complementary in a complex condition like HIE. This observation has also been made by other research groups. We expect that the wealth of data provided by AAMBI and BANON will provide us with further important insights into the molecular pathology and clinical dynamics of HIE.

I would like to thank our tremendously committed collaborators in Tubingen and Furtwangen and at all the clinical study sites that made these strong results possible, commented Dr. Achim Plum, CEO of InfanDx. We will continue working with the scientific and clinical community in HIE to turn these results into a diagnostic product that can aid clinicians in the timely and accurate diagnosis of HIE in newborns that may benefit from neuroprotective therapies.

With the biomarkers validated in the BANON cohort, there is now a clear path forward turning these significant results into an IVD product in 2023, said Dr. Gunter Weiss, COO of InfanDx. We have the technical expertise in the team, have implemented the required Quality Management System, and with the ELITechGroup a very supportive partner on board to reach this goal in the original timeframe we communicated in early 2021.

Based on this success in HIE, InfanDx intends to leverage its biomarker and IVD development expertise and capabilities to broaden its pipeline of innovative diagnostic products with the aim of ultimately improving outcomes in neonatal acute and critical care.

###

About InfanDx

InfanDx AG is a privately held company focusing on the development and commercialization of novel diagnostic solutions for acute and critical care conditions in newborns.

The Companys proprietary lead product in clinical development is the InfanDx HypoxE Test designed for the reliable identification of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) within the first hours of life. HIE as a consequence of perinatal asphyxia (oxygen deficit during birth) can result in life-long disabilities. The long-term detrimental effects of HIE can be mitigated and even prevented by neuroprotective hypothermia treatment. However, this therapy must be initiated within six hours after birth to be effective, requiring suitable diagnostic methods to reliably and timely identify the affected newborns. While standard-of-care diagnostic methods cannot deliver a conclusive diagnosis of HIE within this time frame, the rapid InfanDx HypoxE Test is designed to support clinicians in the timely decision whether newborns require neuroprotective hypothermia treatment.

The Company is headquartered in Cologne, Germany, with a branch office in Berlin, Germany, and a wholly owned subsidiary in Boston, MA, USA.

For more information, please visit: http://www.infandx.com/

For further information on InfanDx, please contact:

InfanDx AG Nathaly Schaefer, Corporate Affairs Manager P: +49 (0) 30 556 535 81[email protected]

InfanDx USA, Inc.Jordan deVos (VP Operations)[email protected]

Media contact akampionDr. Ludger Wess / Ines-Regina Buth Managing Partners

[email protected]Tel. +49 40 88 16 59 64 /Tel. +49 30 23 63 27 68

Source: AKAMPION
REGINA, Saskatchewan, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Information Services Corporation (TSX: ISV) (ISC or the Company) advises that it will release its financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2022 on Wednesday, November 2, 2022 after market close. ISCs Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Interim Financial Statements and Notes and Managements Discussion and Analysis for the third quarter ended September 30, 2022 will be available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and our website at www.company.isc.ca.

An investor conference call will be held on Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 11:00 a.m. EDT to discuss the results. Those joining the call on a listen-only basis are encouraged to join the live audio webcast, which will be available on ISCs website at www.company.isc.ca/investor-relations/events.

Participants who wish to ask a question on the live call may do so through the ISC website, or by registering at:

https://register.vevent.com/register/BIef88965de5fc456480dfc24ec102ae78

Once registered, participants will receive the dial-in numbers and their unique PIN number. When dialing in, participants will input their PIN and be placed into the call.

While not required, it is recommended that participants join 10 minutes before the start time. A replay of the webcast will be available approximately 24 hours after the event on ISCs website at www.company.isc.ca. Media are invited to attend on a listen-only basis.

About ISCHeadquartered in Canada, ISC is the leading provider of registry and information management services for public data and records. Throughout our history, we have delivered value to our clients by providing solutions to manage, secure and administer information through our Registry Operations, Services and Technology Solutions segments. ISC is focused on sustaining its core business while pursuing new growth opportunities. The Class A Shares of ISC trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol ISV.

Investor Contact

Jonathan HackshawSenior Director, Investor Relations & Capital MarketsToll Free: 1-855-341-8363 in North America or 1-306-798-1137[email protected]

Media Contact

Jodi BosnjakExternal Communications SpecialistToll Free: 1-855-341-8363 in North America or 1-306-798-1137[email protected]

Source: Information Services Corporation
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 12, ARMENPRESS. On October 12, at 00:20, the units of Azerbaijani armed forces opened fire from various caliber firearms at Armenian military positions located in the eastern direction of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, the Defense Ministry of Armenia said.

The Azerbaijani fire was suppressed with countermeasures.

There are no casualties on the Armenian side.

At the moment the situation is relatively stable.
BENSALEM, Pa., Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- StoneMor Inc. (NYSE: STON) (StoneMor or the Company), a leading owner and operator of cemeteries and funeral homes, today announced that leading independent proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services, Inc. (ISS) has recommended that stockholders vote FOR the pending transaction with a subsidiary of Axar Capital Management, LP (Axar) at the Companys upcoming Special Meeting of Stockholders (the Special Meeting) scheduled for November 1, 2022.

In its October 10, 2022 report, ISS noted1:

The merger consideration is above the estimated values of the fairness opinion.The merger consideration represents a 67.5 percent premium over the price on the unaffected date and a 54.2 percent premium over the price on the day prior to the announcement

Shareholders are receiving a premium, there is a downside risk of non-approval, and the cash consideration provides liquidity and certainty of value. In light of these factors, support for the proposed transaction is warranted.

The Company is pleased that ISS shares its belief that the transaction with Axar is in the best interests of all StoneMor stockholders and supports the Boards recommendation that stockholders vote FOR the transaction, said Joe Redling, StoneMors President and Chief Executive Officer. The transaction with Axar delivers significant, immediate and certain value to our public stockholders, eliminating their exposure to the execution risks and significant macroeconomic headwinds associated with continuing as a standalone company. The Company strongly urges all of its stockholders to follow the recommendation of ISS by voting FOR this value-maximizing transaction.

The Special Meeting will be held virtually at 4:00 p.m., Eastern time, on Tuesday, November 1, 2022. Stockholders will be able to attend the Special Meeting, vote and submit questions during the Special Meeting via live webcast by visiting www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/STON2022SM. To attend the Special Meeting via live webcast, stockholders must have their sixteen-digit control number that is shown on the proxy card accompanying the proxy statement that was sent to them starting on September 23, 2022. Stockholders will not be able to attend the Special Meeting in person.

Subject to satisfaction of the conditions to closing, the transaction is currently expected to close in the fall of 2022. The transaction requires the approval by holders of a majority of the outstanding common stock of StoneMor and by the holders of a majority of the outstanding common stock of StoneMor not owned by Axar or any of StoneMors directors or executive officers or members of their immediate families.

About StoneMor Inc.

StoneMor Inc., headquartered in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, is an owner and operator of cemeteries and funeral homes in the United States, with 302 cemeteries and 74 funeral homes in 23 states and Puerto Rico. StoneMors cemetery products and services, which are sold on both a pre-need (before death) and at-need (at death) basis, include: burial lots, lawn and mausoleum crypts, burial vaults, caskets, memorials, and all services which provide for the installation of this merchandise. For additional information about StoneMor Inc. please visit StoneMors website, and the investors section, at http://www.stonemor.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release, including, but not limited to, the anticipated closing time frame and the effects of the merger on the Company, are forward-looking statements. Generally, the words believe, may, will, would, estimate, continue, anticipate, intend, project, expect, predict and similar expressions identify these forward-looking statements. These statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on managements current beliefs, expectations, plans, assumptions and objectives of the Company and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date as of which they are made. These statements are not guarantees and involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions concerning future events that are difficult to predict. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, but are not limited to, the risk that the proposed transaction may not occur, the risk of unexpected costs or liabilities, the risk that certain closing conditions may not be timely satisfied or waived, the risk of litigation, the risk that any announcements relating to the proposed transaction could have adverse effects on the market price of the Companys common stock, and the risk that general and business conditions may change. When considering forward-looking statements, you should keep in mind the risk factors and other cautionary statements set forth in StoneMors Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and the other reports that StoneMor files with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC, from time to time. Except as required under applicable law, StoneMor assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements made herein or any other forward-looking statements made by it, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Additional Information and Where to Find It

Information regarding the ownership of the Companys directors and executive officers in the Companys common stock is included in their SEC filings on Forms 3, 4, and 5, which can be found through the Companys website (http://www.stonemor.com), or through the SECs website at www.sec.gov. Information can also be found in the Companys other SEC filings, including the Companys Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021. More detailed and updated information regarding the identity of potential participants, and their direct or indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, is set forth in the Proxy Statement and other materials filed or to be filed with the SEC in connection with the proposed transaction. Stockholders can obtain the Proxy Statement, any amendments or supplements to the Proxy Statement and other documents filed by the Company with the SEC for no charge at the SECs website at www.sec.gov. Copies are also available at no charge at the Companys website at http://www.stonemor.com or by writing to StoneMor at StoneMor Inc., 3331 Street Road, Suite 200, Bensalem, PA 19020.

Participants in the Solicitation

The Company and certain of its directors and executive officers may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from the Companys stockholders in respect of the proposed transaction and any other matters to be voted on at the Special Meeting. Information regarding the Companys directors and executive officers, including a description of their direct interests, by security holdings or otherwise, is contained in the Companys Proxy Statement dated September 20, 2022 for the Special Meeting, which was filed with the SEC on September 20, 2022. Company stockholders may obtain additional information regarding the direct and indirect interests of the participants in the solicitation of proxies in connection with the proposed transaction, including the interests of Company directors and executive officers in the proposed transaction, which may be different than those of Company stockholders generally, by reading the Proxy Statement and any other relevant documents that are filed or will be filed with the SEC relating to the proposed transaction. Stockholders may obtain free copies of these documents using the sources indicated above.

CONTACTInvestor RelationsStoneMor Inc.(215) 826-4438

___________________1 Permission to use quotes neither sought nor obtained.

Source: StoneMor Partners L.P.
SUNNYVALE, Calif., Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Proofpoint Inc., a leading cybersecurity and compliance company, today announced integration with Microsoft Defender to provide organizations with advanced threat protection across email and endpoints. Announced during Microsofts 2022 Ignite conference, Proofpoints Targeted Attack Protection (TAP) will share intelligence on email threats between Proofpoint and Microsoft Defender to enhance device security and thwart attackers. Integration is expected to be available early 2023.

As security teams have grappled with enabling remote and hybrid workforces while combatting skyrocketing advanced threats, more than half of global CISOs indicate they have experienced an increase in targeted attacks over the past 12 months. Proofpoints annual Voice of the CISO report, which surveys 1,400 global CISOs, also revealed that 50 percent confess their organization is not ready to detect, deter and recover from a cyber attack, with many admitting that they lack visibility into the kinds of threats they face.

Whether it is ransomware, cyber-enabled financial fraud, or cloud account compromise, more than 90 percent of cyber attacks start with email, and thats why protecting the inbox is always the best place to start with Microsoft 365 security, said Ryan Kalember, executive vice president, cybersecurity strategy, Proofpoint. With these new integrations between Microsoft and Proofpoint, security teams are equipped with enhanced visibility across email and endpoints, while automated threat prioritization alleviates significant time spent by incident responders on investigating, triaging, and remediating threats.

The new integrations can be deployed in a matter of minutes via cloud-to-cloud APIs, ensuring mutual customers can utilize their detection engines in concert to stop attacks. Proofpoint Targeted Attack Protection (TAP) will receive visibility on email threats via Microsoft Defender API. In addition, the integration will add unique new hashes to the customers Microsoft Defender custom intelligence. Once the Proofpoint IOC details are added to Microsoft Defender, an alert will then be created by Microsoft Defender if related malicious content tries to execute on the device.

Joint customers look to Proofpoint Targeted Attack Protections threat intelligence to help security teams stay ahead of attackers by detecting, analyzing, and blocking advanced threats. This includes advanced email threats delivered through malicious attachments and URLs, zero-day threats, polymorphic malware, fileless malware, weaponized documents, and phishing attacks. These capabilities complement Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, which delivers preventative protection, post-breach detection, automated investigation, and response.

More than 80 percent of the Fortune 100 bolster their Microsoft 365 security with Proofpoints technology, and were proud to collaborate with Microsoft to keep people and corporate data safe through our integrations, said Darren Lee, executive vice president and general manager, security products and services group, Proofpoint.

To learn more about Proofpoints Targeted Attack and Email Security Protections, please visit:https://www.proofpoint.com/us/products/advanced-threat-protection/targeted-attack-protection https://www.proofpoint.com/us/products/email-security-and-protection/email-protection

About Proofpoint, Inc.Proofpoint, Inc. is a leading cybersecurity and compliance company that protects organizations greatest assets and biggest risks: their people. With an integrated suite of cloud-based solutions, Proofpoint helps companies around the world stop targeted threats, safeguard their data, and make their users more resilient against cyber attacks. Leading organizations of all sizes, including 75 percent of the Fortune 100, rely on Proofpoint for people-centric security and compliance solutions that mitigate their most critical risks across email, the cloud, social media, and the web. More information is available at www.proofpoint.com.

Connect with Proofpoint: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | YouTube

Proofpoint is a registered trademark or tradename of Proofpoint, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

PROOFPOINT MEDIA CONTACT:Estelle DerouetProofpoint, Inc.[email protected]

Source: Proofpoint, Inc.
TOPEKA, Kansas, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Motient, a pioneer in patient movement solutions, announced today that Rice County District Hospital (RCDH), a critical access hospital in rural Kansas, has reached a two-year milestone using its Mission Control platform. For the past two years, RCDH has relied on the patient movement and communications platform to broaden its reach and secure appropriate care for critical patients. RCDH has a track record of success using Mission Control to expedite emergent patient transfers, secure specialist consultations, and coordinate interfacility transport across a large geographical region.

As a 25-bed critical access hospital, RCDH provides emergency services to residents of Rice County and the surrounding areas, with a lean staff of 160. The facility is a designated Level IV Trauma Center, and acts quickly to stabilize critically ill or injured patients before transferring them to a higher level of care at a larger hospital. Without a surgeon in-house, approximately 40% of RCDHs patients require a higher level of care facility transfer.

In May 2020, RCDH implemented Motients Mission Control platform as part of the companys partnership with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) to manage emergent patient transfers. All state hospitals had access to Motients patient movement software and services to find available beds, arrange appropriate transportation, and streamline the patient transfer process.

Implementing Mission Control was like gaining another two team members. The system performs all the patient transfer-related administrative tasks that our physicians and RNs previously did, said Bonnie Goans, RN, trauma/emergency preparedness coordinator at Rice County District Hospital. Now we can quickly coordinate transfer and transport across greater distances, making our world smaller and giving patients more and better options for care.

When COVID-19 surges strained hospital capacity across the state, the two Level 1 trauma centers that normally received RCDHs transfer patients were routinely on diversion, with no available beds. The team would spend hours calling potential receiving facilities in search of an available placement, starting with the ones closest to RCDH and working their way out. With just a few clinicians working each shift, this time-consuming process had a negative impact on patient care at the bedside. During the pandemic, Mission Control helped RCDH transfer patients to facilities in seven states, including Oklahoma, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri.

Implementing Mission Control has broadened RCDHs patient transport reach, expedited patient transfers, and improved inpatient care. As soon as the team receives a patient report from its Emergency Medical Services (EMS) agency, they assess the acuity of the patients condition in Mission Control. The Motient team handles the search for an appropriate bed placement, and coordinates with hospital administrators to authorize and confirm transfer and transport.

If the RCDH team requires additional expertise while patients are awaiting transfer, Motient quickly connects them with cardiology, neurology, pulmonology, and other specialists for immediate telemedicine consultations.

When the transfer distance is greater than 90 miles, RCDHs local EMS agency cannot take the patient, as the trip would leave the community without ambulance care. Motient then works with multiple ambulance services and flight companies to identify the fastest, safest method of patient transport, whether it be ground, helicopter, or fixed-wing aircraft.

Its amazing how fast we can get transportation to our hospital using Mission Control, said Goans. Our new ability to coordinate transport to facilities that are farther away and even out of state has given our patients transfer options they would never have received otherwise, which truly saves lives.

For the 20% of Americas population that lives in rural areas of the country, accessing emergent care can be challenging. Due to financial constraints and thin margins, more than 130 rural hospitals have closed within the past decade, and 30% of the remaining rural hospitals are at imminent risk of closing.

Motients patient movement platform helps critical access facilities like RCDH establish universal workflows and standardized acuity assessments for emergent patient movement, which enables more effective care management. Facilities are often able to keep more of their lower-acuity acute care patients, which helps provide needed revenue.

Our nations rural healthcare system depends upon strong collaboration between facilities, as weve seen firsthand during the pandemic. But without common infrastructure or shared patient movement data, it becomes difficult to match the right patients with the right system resources, said Dallan Huff, president of Motient. Were proud to help vital critical access hospitals like Rice County access specialist care for their patients in need. Mission Control helps to ease the logistical burden of care coordination, which is essential for keeping emergent care available to rural Americans.

To hear Bonnie Goans discuss RCDHs patient transfer process in detail, listen to her interview with Sue Schade, principal at StarBridge Advisors, on ThisWeek Healths Town Hall podcast.

# # # #

About Motient

Motient, a pioneer in patient movement solutions, equips hospitals, hospital systems, healthcare networks, and ACOs with the tools and data required to ensure quality care and value in patient transfers. In 2021, Motient facilitated more than 4,500 patient transfers from 120 hospitals to more than 190 destinations. Led by seasoned healthcare experts and emergency physicians, our team understands the patient transfer pain points, enabling Motient to transform information into relevant insights, actionable data, and enhanced workflows. For more information, visit our website or follow us on LinkedIn.

Denisse Coffman Motient 720-666-8499 [email protected]

Source: Motient
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- QuadReal Property Group (QuadReal) welcomes Rita Achrekar to its Board of Directors.

Rita brings to the organization over 30 years of experience in global capital markets, risk management, governance and business transformation. She currently serves on the boards of ICICI Bank Canada, Farm Credit Canada and Canadian Investor Protection Fund.

In addition to Ritas extensive board experience, she is an Executive in Residence at the Global Risk Institute in Financial Services. Previously, Rita was Senior Vice President, Global Risk Management at Scotiabank, one of Canadas leading banks, where she led global teams in market risk, credit risk and compliance transformation. She volunteers her time as a mentor with Women in Capital Markets and Neythri in addition to frequently speaking at industry events on the topics of risk management and environmental, social and governance (ESG).

We are pleased to have Rita on board. Her impressive experience in financial services, including the important areas of risk management and governance best practices, will enhance our global execution capabilities, said Thomas Garbutt, Board Chair.

QuadReal is at the forefront of prudent real estate investing and has an impressive track record of delivering strong returns and growth to its clients. I look forward to working with the team and fellow board members to help further QuadReals strategic goals and commitment to community building, said Rita.

Ritas appointment brings the membership of QuadReals Board to eight members. QuadReal's Board is appointed by the CEO/CIO of British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI). In addition to now six independent real estate professionals, the Board includes BCIs Executive Vice President and Global Head, Public Markets, Daniel Garant and Chief Operating Officer, Shauna Lukaitis. BCI established QuadReal in 2016 to manage its real estate debt and equity programs. With $221.1 billion of managed assets as at March 31, 2022, BCI is one of the largest asset managers in Canada.

For information about QuadReals Board of Directors visit: https://www.quadreal.com/team/governance/

About QuadReal Property Group

QuadReal Property Group is a global real estate investment, operating and development company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. Its assets under management total $67.1 billion. From its foundation in Canada as a full-service real estate operating company, QuadReal has expanded its capabilities to invest in equity and debt in both the public and private markets. QuadReal invests directly, via programmatic partnerships and through operating companies in which it holds an ownership interest.

QuadReal seeks to deliver strong investment returns while creating sustainable environments that bring value to the people and communities it serves. Now and for generations to come.

QuadReal: Excellence lives here.

www.quadreal.com

Media Contact

[email protected]604-975-9501

Source: QuadReal
Denver, Colorado, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TextUs is proud to announce its completed integration with Microsoft Dynamics, bringing its leading text messaging platform to Microsofts collection of intelligent business applications.

Together, TextUs + Microsoft Dynamics enables sales and customer service teams to send and receive real-time, two-way text messages from Microsoft Dynamics to enhance communication workflows and boost response rates. Text conversations are logged back into Microsoft Dynamics, making SMS a seamless extension of current business systems, and streamlining data into one system of record. Further, TextUs keeps teams informed so they can engage prospects and customers more effectively.

Key Features of TextUs + Microsoft Dynamics:

Conversational Texting. Increase prospect and customer engagement by adding two-way texting to Microsoft Dynamics, and use built-in quick text features for a fully integrated experience.

Increase prospect and customer engagement by adding two-way texting to Microsoft Dynamics, and use built-in quick text features for a fully integrated experience. Rich Texting Capabilities. Increase sales engagement and efficiency with message templates, rich media, link tracking, and more.

Increase sales engagement and efficiency with message templates, rich media, link tracking, and more. Seamless Contact Import. Save time by seamlessly importing contact numbers from Microsoft Dynamics into TextUs.

Save time by seamlessly importing contact numbers from Microsoft Dynamics into TextUs. Conversation Logging. Keep your team on the same page by auto-logging text communications back into Microsoft Dynamics for a single system of record.

Texting has become an integral part of sales communication strategy, notes Doug Render, SVP of Product at TextUs. We are excited to deliver this integration to the many teams using Microsoft Dynamics to better enhance their workflows and reach more prospects and customers more effectively through two way SMS. This integration will provide Dynamics users with an integrated, native feel texting solution that will enhance overall communication and productivity.

More information about the TextUs + Microsoft Dynamics integration can be found at https://textus.com/integrations/microsoft-dynamics.

About TextUsTextUs is the leading conversational texting platform that enables organizations to have engaging real-time conversations with customers, candidates, leads and employees. TextUs integrates with several applicant tracking systems (ATS) and customer relationship management (CRM) platforms, making texting an easy and seamless extension of current business systems. The company serves many different verticals such as sales, staffing and recruiting, SaaS, higher education, corporate human resources, healthcare, property management, financial services, nonprofits, and more. With a 98% read rate and up to 45% response rates, TextUs delivers business-class text messaging combined with automated campaign features to connect businesses with their customers in real time. To learn more, visit www.textus.com.

Attachments

Source: www.textus.com
TORONTO, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Alan Cross is joining Widex Canada as the hearing aid manufacturers Sound Ambassador in Canada. The new partnership will tap into Cross radio and music industry expertise and his status as one of Canadas most recognized voices in radio.

Cross has been referred to as Canadas resident rock music expert after a career dating back more than 40 years as radio host, writer, reporter and interviewer. Cross career began in 1980 at the University of Winnipegs campus radio station, CKUW. He is currently the station voice for Torontos legendary rock station Q107.

I have always been deeply obsessed with good audio, partly because Im a music fan and partly because Im a radio person who makes his living through sound, says Cross. I was really surprised to learn that on average, going from recognizing that you dont hear so well anymore, to getting help, and to getting hearing aids, takes seven years. Thats a long time from the perspective of someone like me whose life is so connected to music and sound.

Based in Toronto, Cross is best known as host of the syndicated radio series The Ongoing History of New Music, Canadas longest running radio documentary. He has also served as host of the radio series The Secret History of Rock, and ExploreMusic, and as the creator and writer of the blog A Journal of Musical Things.

Alan brings a unique perspective from his craft as a broadcaster whose life revolves around sound, says Brian Beatty, Vice President of Marketing for Widex and WSAudiology in Canada. He will be a valuable asset to Widex as we continue to bring attention to hearing health and developing solutions for better hearing.

According to Statistics Canada, as many as 54 per cent of Canadians over the age of 40 have some sort of hearing loss. However, stigma surrounding the use of hearing aids often prevents a large number of them from wearing them. Part of the Sound Ambassador partnership will focus on making hearing aids more appealing as a way to normalize hearing loss and empower people to seek a solution for their hearing issues.

Not hearing as well as you used to it can cause strain on relationships, stress, and frustration, says Cross. One thing that Ive learned since signing on as a Widex Sound Ambassador is that hearing aids can be life changing. Its like putting on glasses for the first time  suddenly everything is so much more vivid and clear.

Alan Cross joins three others in the Widex Sound Ambassador project: Award winning cellist and composer Ida Riegels, legendary composer, flutist and pianist Brian Jackson, and renowned composer and classical guitarist Dominique Le Gendre.

Widex is officially announcing his Sound Ambassador role at the Canadian Academy of Audiology Conference taking place in Niagara Falls this week.

About Widex

At Widex we believe in a world where there are no barriers to communication; a world where people interact freely, effortlessly and confidently. With 60 years experience developing state-of-the-art technology, we provide hearing solutions that are easy to use, seamlessly integrated in daily life and enable people to hear naturally. As one of the worlds leading hearing aid producers, our products are sold in more than one hundred countries, and we employ 4,000 people worldwide.

For more information or to arrange an interview please contact:Angela PinzonPilot PMR[email protected] 647-295-0517

Source: Widex
By Ludwig Burger and Patricia Weiss

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - BASF is to reduce annual costs by 500 million euros ($485 million) in Europe up to 2024, including job cuts, as the German chemicals group took a 740 million euro writedown linked to the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.

The company said in an unscheduled statement on Wednesday it would also look into restructuring its chemical sites further in the region over the longer term after being hit by high energy prices.

BASF cited significantly weaker earnings in Europe due to "deteriorating framework conditions" and a loss in Germany in the third quarter as reasons for the cutbacks.

The group said its third-quarter net income was below market expectations due to the 740 million euro writedown linked to the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline.

Quarterly net income was 909 million euros, down from 1.25 billion euros a year earlier and considerably below the average analyst estimate of 1.105 billion,

The writedown relates to BASF's shareholding in oil and gas business Wintershall Dea and its participation in the operator of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, BASF said.

Germany's heavy industry has been hit hard by surging energy costs due to the war in Ukraine and the reduced deliveries of Russian gas to Europe in the wake of the conflict, putting overseas rivals at a cost advantage.

German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on Wednesday that the nation's economy would shrink 0.4% in 2023 compared with the 2.5% growth previously forecast, blaming an economic war waged by Russia's President Vladimir Putin.

BASF, which is due to publish detailed results on Oct. 26, said global third-quarter sales and operating income before special items came in slightly higher than analysts had expected, buoyed by a strong U.S. dollar.

More than half of BASF's near-term cost cuts will be carried out at its Ludwigshafen headquarters, hitting non-production areas such as services, research and development as well as the corporate centre.

A BASF spokesperson said job cuts would be part of the efficiency drive, declining to give a number. Forced redundancies are ruled out at Ludwigshafen until the end of 2025 due to an existing agreement with shop stewards, the spokesperson added.

The company said in its statement that employee representatives would be involved in the measures.

($1 = 1.0320 euros)

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger and Patricia Weiss, Editing by Miranda Murray and Jane Merriman)
Gratomic (TSX.V: GRAT) (OTCQX: CBULF) (FSE: CB82) has announced that the first 2,600 tons have been extracted from its Aukam Graphite Project in Namibia; the announcement is the fifth progress update on the companys bench-mining program at the Namibia project. According to the announcement, the benching process often includes cutting berms alongside the mountain edge in order to expose underground material while at the same time ensuring the stability of the mountain structure. Using this process, Gratomic has been able to collect graphite in stages as the platforms are constructed on the mountain. So far, an estimated 1,000 tons of graphite have been transferred from the mountain to the Run of Mine (ROM) pad, where it will be prepared for processing; another 1,600 tons of mineral have been extracted. Total for the project so far has reached 2,600 tons. A company official noted that throughout the process, ensuring safety has been a fundamental value at Gratomic while the company is also always looking for ways to improve productivity and yield the results that we need. The company also noted that currently no preliminary economic analysis, preliminary feasibility study or feasibility study has been completed for the project, although it is in the process of completing a feasibility study. That study will provide valuable information, conclusions and recommendations regarding the potential scale up of the existing processing plant to a commercial-scale processing facility. One of the main foundational pillars at Gratomic is to build a sustainable operation in an environmentally friendly, people-centric manner, so that we can leave a lasting legacy for future generations, said Gratomic president and CEO Arno Brand in the press release.

To view the full press release, visit https://ibn.fm/qXqGI

About Gratomic Inc.

Gratomic is a multinational company with projects in Namibia, Brazil and Canada. The company is focused on becoming a leading global graphite supplier and aims to secure a strong position in the EV battery supply chain. With the continued development of its flagship Aukam project and further exploration on its Capim Grosso property, Gratomic sets itself apart by seeking out unique top-quality assets around the world. True to its roots, the company will continue to explore graphite opportunities displaying potential for development. Gratomic ranked third place in the top-10 preforming mining stocks on the 2022 TSX Venture 50(TM). Large quantities of high-quality vein graphite have been shipped for testing to confirm its viability as an anode material. Gratomic is confident that the test results will provide a unique competitive advantage in its desired target markets. The company has formed a collaboration agreement with Forge Nano. This cooperation with Forge Nano is a key element to support Gratomics strategies toward the value-added phases of production of graphite for anode applications, namely micronization, spheronization and coating, making Gratomic graphite a preferred choice for use in lithium-ion batteries. For more information about the company, visit www.Gratomic.ca

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In response to the latest announcement by Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), Toronto lawyer Ivan Steele launches an awareness drive.

Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - October 12, 2022) - Ivan Steele Law, which specializes in immigration law, has announced a new education drive covering the latest updates to Canada's permanent residence application process.







As CA Announces Online PR Applications, Ivan Steele Law Launches Education Drive

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8814/140245_494c1086949e0a61_001full.jpg

More details can be found at https://www.ivansteelelaw.com.

In September 2022, Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced that it will be transitioning to online applications for permanent residence. In a bid to raise awareness about the latest changes and assist candidates in navigating the new process, Ivan Steele Law is dispensing essential information in this new education campaign.

"A big shift was recently announced by the government of Canada in how permanent residence applications are processed and how international students are allowed to function in Canada," explains Ivan Steele. "These are huge changes that will have an immediate impact on Canadian immigration."

The education campaign explains that IRCC's transition to online applications for permanent residence has far greater implications than a mere format change. This modernization of the Canadian immigration system is intended to improve client service, as paper applications have often led to mail issues, processing delays, and ultimately loss of status. Through the new online application system, applicants will have more flexibility and will be able to receive immediate confirmation, says Ivan Steele.

His latest educational effort aims to simplify the transition to the online application system, which is currently underway, with the first batch of categories already using the new system since September 23, 2022. "This includes provincial nominee programs, spousal and partner sponsorships, and child sponsorship," explained Ivan Steele. "In October, start-up visa applicants and temporary resident permit holders applying for permanent residence will also transition to online applications," he added.

In the new awareness drive, Ivan Steele Law also addressed the second part of IRCC's announcement, which pertains to the removal of limits on off-campus work hours for international students. The decision comes as IRCC strives to address Canada's labour shortage - and, according to Ivan Steele Law, will provide international students with greater opportunities to gain work experience in Canada.

With the latest announcement, Ivan Steele Law aims to make the transition to online applications easier for immigrants. Based in Toronto, Ivan Steele has years of experience in the area of immigration law and a proven track record in handling spousal/partner sponsorship, Express Entry, and provincial nominee program cases.

Interested parties can learn more at https://www.ivansteelelaw.com

Contact Info:

Name: Ivan Steele

Email: [email protected]

Organization: Ivan Steele Law

Address: 176 Yonge Street, 6th Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5B 1M4, Canada

Phone: +1-647-342-0568

Website: https://www.ivansteelelaw.com/

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/140245
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - October 12, 2022) - Idaho Champion (CSE: ITKO)(OTCQB: GLDRF)(FSE: 1QB1) ("Idaho Champion" or the "Company") today announces that the Company has closed the final tranche of its private placement offering. As part of the closing of the third tranche, the Company issued 3,900,000 shares for gross proceeds of $195,000. This brings the total proceeds raised over the three tranches to $1,240,000.

Jonathan Buick, President and CEO, said: "There is no denying that navigating the current market conditions has been tough for every issuer, but especially for junior resource companies. We are grateful for the support our Company has received since announcing our pivot to the battery metals space. We are finalizing the previously announced acquisition of the highly prospective lithium projects in Quebec and are working on the exploration program for our cobalt projects in the Idaho Cobalt Belt, where our neighbour Jervois Global has just commissioned the only primary cobalt mine in the US to-date. This will be an exciting time for Idaho Champion, and we look forward to updating shareholders on our progress."

On September 19, 2022, Idaho Champion opened a non-brokered private placement of up to 20,000,000 shares at a price of $0.05 per share for gross proceeds of up to $1,000,000.

As part of the third and final tranche, the Company paid a cash finders' fee of $4,750. Completion of the private placement and payment of any finders' fees remain subject to the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, including approval of the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE").

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

ALL AMOUNTS EXPRESSED ARE IN CANADIAN DOLLARS

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/140316
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 12, ARMENPRESS. Fly Arna, Armenias national airline and a joint venture company between the Armenian National Interests Fund (ANIF) and Air Arabia Group, has launched new direct service connecting Armenia with Georgia, the airlines press service told Armenpress.

The new flights between Zvartnots International Airport and Tbilisi International Airport will run with a frequency of three direct weekly flights starting from October 30th, 2022.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 12, 2022) - The BC Bud Corporation (CSE: BCBC) (OTCQB: BCBCF) ("The BC Bud Co" or the "Company"), a house of high-quality cannabis brands based out of British Columbia, Canada, is pleased to announce the launch of its two live resin vape cartridges into one of the largest cannabis markets in Canada - Alberta. This marks the 6th province that carries The BC Bud Co's products.

"Entering Alberta, the third largest cannabis market in Canada, is key to The BC Bud Co's growth. Over time, we aim to bring additional products from our portfolio to the consumers of Alberta and let them experience the heritage and quality The BC Bud Co is known for," remarked Josh Taylor, President.

About The BC Bud Co

The BC Bud Co is a house of brands created by industry professionals who are passionate about the user experience and the ever-changing consumer experience. Founder-led and based in British Columbia; we take the heritage of BC Bud seriously.

Investor Relations

Phone: 1-(778)-656-0377

Email: [email protected]

Web: www.thebcbc.com

Disclaimer

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements included in this press release constitute forward-looking information or statements (collectively, "forward-looking statements"), including those identified by the expressions "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "may", "should" and similar expressions to the extent they relate to the Company or its management. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts but reflect current expectations regarding future results or events. This press release contains forward looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and various estimates, factors and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors.

Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions which are difficult to predict. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include failure to obtain regulatory approval, the continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions, including the effects of COVID-19. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. These statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those implied by such statements. Although such statements are based on management's reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that the statements will prove to be accurate or that management's expectations or estimates of future developments, circumstances or results will materialize. The Company assumes no responsibility to update or revise forward-looking information to reflect new events or circumstances unless required by law. Readers should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE") nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/140167
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - October 11, 2022) - West Red Lake Gold Mines Inc. (CSE: RLG) ("RLG" or the "Company") announces the filing of its Management Information Circular (the "Circular") in connection with its special meeting of shareholders (the "Special Meeting") to consider and if thought advisable approve the previously announced amalgamation of the Company with DLV Resources Ltd. ("DLV"). A copy of the Circular can be downloaded from the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com and is also available at the Company's website. The details of the proposed amalgamation transaction (the "Amalgamation") were announced in prior news releases on August 16, 2022 and September 15, 2022. The Amalgamation will be by way of a three-cornered amalgamation whereby the Company will amalgamate with a wholly owned subsidiary of DLV and shareholders of the Company will receive 0.1215 common shares of DLV in exchange for each common share of the Company held. The completion of the Amalgamation remains subject to customary closing conditions, including approval of the shareholders of the Company by special resolution. The Amalgamation is expected to be completed in November, 2022.

The Special Meeting will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, November 10, 2022 at 25 Adelaide Street East, Suite 1301, Toronto, Ontario, M5C 3A1. The record date for the Special Meeting has been set by the Board of Directors as October 3, 2022.

The Company is using Notice and Access which allows the Company to deliver the Circular to registered shareholders and beneficial holders by posting it and other related materials online, instead of mailing the documents. Notice and Access is an environmentally friendly and cost-effective way to distribute the circular because it reduces printing, paper and postage.

Shareholders may access the Circular and other meeting materials under RLG's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and at www.westredlakegold.com.

Registered holders or beneficial owners may request that paper copies of the meeting materials be sent to them by postal delivery at no cost to them. Requests may be made up to one year from the date the meeting materials are posted on the website referenced above. In order to receive a paper copy of the meeting materials or if you have any questions concerning notice-and-access, please call toll free at 1-888-970-5388 or 416-203-9181ext:4600 or email [email protected]. Requests for paper materials should be received by November 1, 2022 in order to receive the meeting materials in advance of the Special Meeting.

The Company also announces that it has filed on SEDAR a Technical Report (the "Technical Report") prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 for its West Red Lake Gold Project in Northern Ontario.

The Technical Report titled "Technical Report on The West Red Lake Project, Todd, Hammell Lake, and Fairlie Townships, Red Lake Mining Division, Ontario" is dated October 7, 2022 with an effective date of September 30, 2022. The Technical Report updates property exploration work since the date of the previous technical report and can be found under the Corporation's profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) and on the Corporation's website (www.westredlakegold.com).

ON BEHALF OF WEST RED LAKE GOLD MINES LTD.

"John Kontak"

John Kontak

President

For further information, please contact:

John Kontak

President

Tel: (416) 203-9181

The Canadian Securities Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release. Certain statements contained in this news release constitute "forward-looking statements". When used in this document, the words "anticipated", "expect", "estimated", "forecast", "planned", and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements or information. These statements are based on current expectations of management, however, they are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this news release. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these statements. West Red Lake Gold does not undertake any obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise after the date hereof, except as required by securities laws.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OR TO A U.S. PERSON

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/140229
FILE PHOTO: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks after the primary election for the midterms during the "Keep Florida Free Tour" at Pepins Hospitality Centre in Tampa, Florida, U.S., August 24, 2022. REUTERS/Octavio Jones/File Photo

By Moira Warburton

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury is investigating whether Florida Governor Ron DeSantis improperly used federal funds to pay for flights transporting migrants from Texas to Massachusetts, the department confirmed in a letter to U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday.

The Republican governor took credit for flying about 50 migrants last month to the island of Martha's Vineyard, off the coast of Massachusetts, in a move intended to draw more attention to the rise in crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border ahead of the Nov. 8 midterm elections.

Democrats and migrant rights advocates decried the move, as well as a campaign by Texas and Arizona that bused thousands of migrants to cities, including Washington, New York and Chicago, as using people as "political pawns."

DeSantis, who is up for re-election in November and is also seen as a potential 2024 White House contender, said the flights were organized to call attention to Democratic President Joe Biden's immigration policies.

Democratic Senator Ed Markey and other federal lawmakers from Massachusetts sent a letter to the Treasury shortly after the flights, asking it to examine whether DeSantis used interest from federal COVID-19 loans to pay for the flights.

The Treasury has asked for more details on how Florida used money obtained or derived from a fund intended to support states during the COVID-19 outbreak, according to a response to the lawmakers from Richard K. Delmar, deputy inspector general for the department.

Investigators will rule on whether Florida used interest from the fund for the flights and whether this is permitted, Delmar said, adding they "will get this work underway as quickly as possible."

DeSantis' office did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment.

In a statement on Wednesday, Markey said he applauded the department's swift response.

"For the sake of the migrants who were lured onto charter planes under false pretenses, and for the commendable Commonwealth residents who rallied together to offer support, I hope that this investigation sheds light on whether Governor DeSantis misused funds that were intended for COVID relief for Floridians," he said.

A Texas county sheriff last month opened a criminal investigation into the flights.

(Reporting by Moira Warburton in Washington; Editing by Scott Malone and Aurora Ellis)
Since launching in 2018, Erica has helped nearly 32 million Bank of America clients manage their financial lives

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Erica, the most advanced and first widely available virtual financial assistant, has surpassed 1 billion interactions with Bank of America clients. The award-winning technology, powered by artificial intelligence (AI), officially launched in 2018 and has since helped nearly 32 million clients with their everyday financial needs.

"Erica is the definition of how Bank of America is delivering personalization and individualization at scale to our clients," said David Tyrie, Chief Digital Officer and Head of Global Marketing at Bank of America. "We expect the second billion to come even more quickly as we continue to evolve Erica's capabilities, providing clients with the shortest route to the answers they need about their financial lives."

Since its launch, Erica has expanded to include new features and functionality:

Clients viewed 37 million proactive insights to help them review their finances and cut recurring subscription charges that may have increased unexpectedly, know when they've received a merchant refund, or have duplicate charges.

More than 4 million proactive notifications about eligibility for Preferred Rewards have helped clients enroll in the program and enjoy the benefits.

60 million Spend Path insights have helped clients understand their finances with a weekly snapshot of spending.

More than 98% of clients get the answers they need using Erica. In September 2022, the bank launched Mobile Servicing Chat by Erica to connect clients for a live chat with representatives to answer more complex servicing questions, with more than 170,000 chats having already taken place

Coming in the first half of 2023, Erica will connect clients to financial specialists when they have questions about new products and services, such as a mortgage, credit card or deposit account.

"Bank of America has invested $3 billion or more on new technology initiatives each year for over a decade, including significant investments in AI that allow us to deliver a seamless user experience and industry-leading personalization for our clients banking online or on their mobile devices," explains Aditya Bhasin, Chief Technology & Information Officer. "Our continued investment in Erica's AI-powered capabilities enables us to quickly respond to voice, text chat or on-screen interactions from clients who need assistance with financial transactions, and to proactively deliver personalized insights and advice at key moments."

As Erica's capabilities have grown, so has its ability to help clients across their entire banking, lending and investing relationship with Bank of America, including Merrill Edge, Bank of America Private Bank and Benefits Online. Erica also supports Merrill clients through insights on portfolio performance, trading, investment balances, quotes and holdings and can help connect clients to a Merrill advisor. Additionally, bankers who support business clients at Bank of America use BankerAssist, an AI virtual assistant leveraging the underlying technology of Erica, to identify and close new opportunities, manage exposure and use real-time data to further client conversations.

Download the Bank of America app or visit bankofamerica.com.

Bank of America

Bank of America is one of the world's leading financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving approximately 67 million consumer and small business clients with approximately 4,000 retail financial centers, approximately 16,000 ATMs and award-winning digital banking with approximately 55 million verified digital users. Bank of America is a global leader in wealth management, corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes, serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the world. Bank of America offers industry-leading support to approximately 3 million small business households through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients through operations across the United States, its territories and approximately 35 countries. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE: BAC) is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

For more Bank of America news, including dividend announcements and other important information, visit the Bank of America newsroom and register for news email alerts.

Investing involves risk. There is always the potential of losing money when you invest in securities.

Bank of America, Merrill, its affiliates, and financial advisors do not provide legal, tax, or accounting advice. You should consult your legal and/or tax advisors before making any financial decisions.

Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated (also referred to as "MLPF&S" or "Merrill"), makes available certain investment products sponsored, managed, distributed or provided by companies that are affiliates of Bank of America Corporation ("BofA Corp."). MLPF&S is a registered broker-dealer, registered investment adviser, Member SIPC and a wholly owned subsidiary of BofA Corp.

Investment products:

Are Not FDIC Insured Are Not Bank Guaranteed May Lose Value

Reporters May Contact:

Andy Aldridge, Bank of AmericaPhone: 1.980.387.0514 [email protected]

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bank-of-americas-erica-tops-1-billion-client-interactions-now-nearly-1-5-million-per-day-301646975.html

SOURCE Bank of America Corporation
Emma Chamberlain's Gen-Z coffee brand is launching a festive flavor in celebration of the brand's second anniversary

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Chamberlain Coffee, the leading coffee lifestyle brand and brainchild of Emma Chamberlain, announced today the launch of their Sweet Otter Cake Batter Blend, which will be available for a limited time only on the brand's website. The cake batter-flavored blend releases in celebration of the coffee brand's second anniversary, following their expansive relaunch in 2020 where the brand went from one coffee blend to over 20 and unveiled a rebrand.

Available in whole bean and ground, this USDA organic, medium roast blend features creamy tasting notes of vanilla and buttercream frosting throughout with a 4/5 caffeine strength. With flavored blends being top-sellers for Chamberlain Coffee, adding Cake Batter to the lineup was a perfect fit for the brand to celebrate this milestone. Earlier this year, Chamberlain Coffee expanded their line of products with the launch of two flavored blends - Witty Fox Hazelnut and Fluffy Lamb Vanilla, followed by the launch of their Sneaky Bat Pumpkin Spice Blend last month as a nod to fall and Halloween.

"We're so grateful for the amazing two years we've had thus far at Chamberlain Coffee," said Chamberlain Coffee CEO Christopher Gallant. "We wanted to create a fun flavor to show appreciation for our customers and are thrilled to celebrate our second anniversary together!"

Since the brand's inception in 2020, Chamberlain Coffee has built up a cult-following that has propelled the brand's sales. The brand offers a variety of lifestyle products (from branded merchandise to custom coffee accessories) and several different coffee blends (available in single-serve bags and whole and ground beans) to help tap new audiences and appeal to the masses.

"I have always loved cake batter flavored everything, so developing this flavor was extra fun. I love experimenting with playful flavors, and I'm excited to continue to develop more," said Chamberlain Coffee founder Emma Chamberlain. "Creating Chamberlain Coffee has been such a dream of mine and our gratitude to our customers is beyond words. We hope they love the new blend!"

In addition to Chamberlain Coffee's unprecedented product growth, the brand has also seen success through retail expansion and brand partnerships. The product has recently launched in LA hot-spot Erewhon, national grocer Sprouts and digital delivery market Gopuff  while releasing a steady cadence of product collaborations with brands like Levi's, OffLimits Cereal, Nutpods, and most recently Swoon, to create a Matcha Lemonade.

Consumers can find Chamberlain Coffee's Cake Batter blend on ChamberlainCoffee.com for $16. For more information on Chamberlain Coffee, and to stay up to date on the latest product launches, follow on Instagram at @chamberlaincoffee.

ABOUT CHAMBERLAIN COFFEEFounded by YouTube phenomenon Emma Chamberlain, Chamberlain Coffee is high-quality, sustainably sourced organic coffee roasted in California, so you can feel good about the coffee you're sipping on. No pesticides, no BS. Available in single-serve bags, instant sticks, ground and whole bean options, Chamberlain Coffee is symbolized by different characters to encapsulate the different coffee drinker in all of us. The brand also has various other delicious offerings, including their 5x sold-out Matcha, Cocoa Grizzly Hot Chocolate, and Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans. Supporting coffee-farming communities in Latin America, Chamberlain Coffee works with Food4Farmers to ensure long-term food security for coffee-farming families.

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SOURCE Chamberlain Coffee
ARCHES is California's public-private consortium seeking funds from the Department of Energy Regional Hydrogen Hub Program.

LONG BEACH, Calif., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The City of Lancaster joined with industry, government and academic stakeholders from across California to launch the Alliance for Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems (ARCHES), the state's public-private hydrogen (H2) hub consortium to accelerate the development and deployment of clean, renewable H2 projects and infrastructure. The Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development and the University of California will lead the development of ARCHES proposal for the Department of Energy (DOE) Regional Hydrogen Hubs (H2Hubs) Program, which was passed by the federal government under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) of 2021.

"The City of Lancaster is excited to join the ARCHES H2Hubs collaboration and partner to bring federal funding to accelerate the role hydrogen will play in decarbonizing California's economy," said R. Rex Parris, mayor of the City of Lancaster. "Lancaster has long recognized the immense potential hydrogen has to reduce emissions and combat climate change. As the nation's first hydrogen city, we have already started developing cutting-edge hydrogen projects across the city. Our early adoption of hydrogen as a key zero-emission energy solution will help the city connect to the broader hydrogen ecosystem the state government is seeking to create through H2Hubs funding."

The DOE H2Hubs Program seeks to demonstrate the production, distribution and end uses of hydrogen across the United States. DOE anticipates 6-10 hubs to be funded under the program, demonstrating different production methods and uses, including transportation, power generation, heating and industrial. The ARCHES hub plans to demonstrate renewable hydrogen production for multiple uses across the economy. In addition to the technical requirements under the H2Hubs program, each proposal must demonstrate collaboration and engagement within communities, labor and environmental justice.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/city-of-lancaster-first-city-to-join-arches-301647594.html

SOURCE City of Lancaster, California
Cornbread Plans Expansion Throughout NYC and Surrounding Areas

IRVINGTON, N.J., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- While frequent restaurant goers might be satisfied with time-tested menu items such as the hamburger or pizza, there is an emerging demand for something new that could truly satisfy their changing tastebuds. Cornbread Farm to Soul  the fast-casual restaurant focusing on savory soul food and family-friendly experiences looks to meet this demand through the creation of a new franchise opportunity. The brand now plans on opening more locations in the next few years. They have three locations in the NYC/NJ area with the latest one opening in Brooklyn.

Cornbread specializes in mouthwatering soul food creations such as baked mac & cheese, collard greens, yams, chicken and of course the signature cornbread. The brand obsesses over every detail of each meal. From the first ingredient, to the right combination of seasoning, to the final product, Cornbread has worked hard to develop flavor profiles of every single dish. Some other Cornbread menu items include soul food classics such as catfish, cabbage, and savory peach cobbler.

Cornbread was created by co-founders Adenah Bayoh and Elzadie Smith. Smith, a native of Tifton, GA, has a background in culinary arts as well as a family history of being in the kitchen. Her grandmother was a farmer and restaurant owner in the South, where she would learn some of her skills. Her entrepreneurial spirit and passion for cooking connected her with Bayoh to create the Cornbread chain. Smith's recipes are healthy, savory and are responsibly sourced. The two set out to become pioneers as the first successful soul food chain. Bayoh, a first-generation immigrant, managed to escape the civil war in her native country of Liberia at age 13. When she first arrived in the U.S., she dreamt of becoming one of the most successful entrepreneurs in her new home. Bayoh worked hard to become the owner of 8 restaurants, which include 4 IHOP franchises in northern New Jersey. She opened her first IHOP at the age of 27, making her one of the youngest franchisees in the country at that time.

As Bayoh and Smith set out to open their own fast-casual restaurant business, they set their hearts on soul food. Soul food is a category of food that has the power to bring people together and lacks representation in most communities and within the franchise industry. The duo now aims to distinguish and establish their franchise system through Cornbread's unique company goals, values and its promise to continually service local residents in communities where they operate and help more women and minorities become successful franchisees.

"Cornbread prides itself on building excellent teams that help serve the community. We work to connect with communities and learn what they need," Bayoh said. "Whether through donating meals or partnering with local organizations, Cornbread wants to show the world that we truly encourage positive change."

The brand is a franchise that truly believes in second-chances and a renewed sense of community. It exemplifies this through its efforts to provide employment and advancement opportunities for formerly incarcerated individuals and other types of marginalized populations. Their ideas are centered around a positive energy that fuels the brand's integrity and promise to serve great food.

"I want to bring a franchise opportunity to everyone, especially to give the change for minorities and women to run a restaurant they will be proud of. We are dedicated to helping future franchisees feel the love customers give us every day as we prepare our chicken, fish and amazing turkey wings from our heart and soul," Bayoh said.

With three locations currently open and operating in New York and New Jersey, Cornbread is now looking to rapidly expand throughout the East Coast focusing on New Jersey and the New York City area.

For more information on Cornbread, or its franchising opportunities, please visit https://cornbreadsoul.com/franchise-opportunity/.

About Cornbread

Founded in 2017 by Co-Founders, Adenah Bayoh and Elzadie "Zadie" Smith, Cornbread specializes in mouthwatering, soul food creations such as baked mac & cheese, collard greens, yams, chicken, signature cornbread and other specialty menu items. Cornbread is based in New Jersey and currently has three locations open and operating in the NYC/NJ area. For more information, or if interested in Cornbread franchising opportunities, please visit https://cornbreadsoul.com/franchise-opportunity/.

Contact: Raylin Taylor, Franchise Elevator PR, [email protected], (847) 945-1300 X 251

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SOURCE Cornbread
SAN ANTONIO, Oct. 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE: CFR) will host a conference call on Thursday October 27, 2022 to discuss third quarter 2022 earnings.

Earnings Release: The earnings release for Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. will be available at approximately 8:00 a.m. Central Time (CT) on the internet at https://investor.frostbank.com/.

Conference Call and Live Webcast: The conference call will begin at 1:00 p.m. CT (2:00 p.m. Eastern) and will be hosted by Phil Green, Chairman and CEO, Jerry Salinas, Group Executive Vice President and CFO and A.B. Mendez, Senior Vice President and Director of Investor Relations.

Following the prepared remarks there will be a question and answer session for the analyst community. Media and other interested individuals are invited to listen to the call at the following number:

Telephone NumberDomestic: 877-709-8150

There will also be a live webcast of the call. To access the webcast, go to https://investor.frostbank.com/.

The webcast will be archived and available for playback after 5:00 p.m. CT on the day of the call, and can be accessed on our investor relations website.

It is recommended that those wishing to dial into the conference call do so approximately 5 to 10 minutes prior to the call to ensure a more efficient registration process. For further information contact Investor Relations at (210) 220-5234.

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SOURCE Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc.
New Partner Program will Bridge the Skills Gap in Legal Industry

OAKLAND, Calif., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Everlaw, the cloud-native investigation and litigation platform, today unveiled its new partner ecosystem program based on technology-industry best practices. With more than a dozen services partners, Everlaw will bring its modern, cloud-based ediscovery platform to customers across the globe to drive the digital transformation for the legal industry.

A recent survey shows that 96% of legal professionals deem the shift to the cloud as inevitable by 2024. Professional services are critical to expedite this digital transformation in providing expert staffing, technical skills and project management to the legal industry.

The new partner program delivers Everlaw-specific expertise  especially for the complex operations of the Am Law 200 and the growing needs of corporate in-house counsel  to tie together the value and business outcomes customers receive with the Everlaw platform.

"We pledge to co-sell, collaborate and go-to market with our partners  and not to compete against them," said Everlaw Founder and CEO AJ Shankar. "We are a software company delivering the world's most advanced ediscovery, looking to partner with world-class service providers to both scale our reach and help deliver the best customer outcomes for legal teams."

Most notably, Epiq, a global technology-enabled services leader to the legal industry and corporations, with more than 8,000 employees in 19 countries, leverages Everlaw. Epiq has handled some of the world's most high-profile and complex cases. Epiq's inclusion of the Everlaw platform in its Epiq Choice offering allows leaders in corporations and law firms the ability to take advantage of multiple ediscovery tools in one place with easy access and with a predictable monthly fee.

"The technology within our industry is rapidly evolving, and Epiq is focused on leveraging leading technology to drive better outcomes for our clients," said Epiq Senior Vice President of eDiscovery Services Scott Berger. "Adding Everlaw's advanced ediscovery platform to Epiq Choice, which as a part of the Epiq Service Cloud, supports our goal to offer our clients a combination of proprietary and other leading industry tools, infrastructure, and security that drives legal innovation and addresses a spectrum of client needs. With Epiq's depth of industry expertise, technology capability, and focus on service delivery quality, Epiq is positioned well to provide our clients with exceptional service around the Everlaw platform."

Everlaw partners deliver professional services to advance the use of its industry-leading artificial intelligence, automate legal workflows and integrate ancillary services such as information governance and preservation with ediscovery, for example. Specifically, Everlaw is expanding its partner footprint:

Horizontally across legal services that span the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM)

Vertically with specialization in navigating industries such as the public-sector

Geographically with new partners in the U.K. and Australia New Zealand

Strategic global service partners are choosing Everlaw as a cloud-native, award-winning company with a transparent pricing model and state-of-the-art platform, equipped with leading privacy, security and compliance certifications such as FedRAMP, HIPAA, GDPR and SOC Type 2.

"Over the past decades we've seen how cloud has transformed IT, sales, finance and HR, and now the time is ripe for legal departments and law firms," said Ryan O'Leary, research manager, privacy and legal technology, IDC. "The legal industry's digital shift is opening up a new world of strategic transformation services, like the ones in Everlaw partner program."

About Everlaw

Everlaw helps legal teams navigate the increasingly complex ediscovery landscape to chart a straighter path to the truth. Trusted by Fortune 100 corporate counsel, 91 of the Am Law 200, and all 50 state attorneys general, Everlaw's combination of intuitive experience, advanced technology, and partnership with customers empowers organizations to tackle the most pressing technological challengesand transform their approach to discovery and litigation in the process. Founded in 2010 and based in Oakland, Calif., Everlaw is funded by top-tier investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, CapitalG, HIG Growth Partners, K9 Ventures, Menlo Ventures, and TPG Growth.

Learn more at https://www.everlaw.com.

Media Contact:Colleen Haikes[email protected]

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SOURCE Everlaw
Broadridge whitepaper finds organic growth across the global asset management industry expected to slow into 2031, but identifies new standards of differentiation to help firms win

NEW YORK and LONDON, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Organic growth across the global asset management industry, measured on a total net asset flows basis, is expected to slow from a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.9% over the last decade to 1.7% from 2021 to 2031 as competition heats up between both challengers and incumbents alike, according to a newly released whitepaper, The New Competitive Calculus: Winning with Data-Driven Strategy by global Fintech and asset management advisory leader Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: BR).

Despite this, Broadridge forecasts that net asset inflows will still expand by a healthy US$18T over the next decade, helping to push total assets under management (AUM) to a record of more than USD$170T unlocking exciting new avenues for growth and challenges to overcome for those that can adapt to change.

Stiffer competition

Competition, however, will be more fierce as growth slows. Broadridge's research reveals three increasingly distinct classes of industry competitors, two of which - expanding incumbents and innovative challengers - dominate the industry's organic growth. Already less than 100 asset management firms globally accounted for nearly 64% of the industry's $14.4 trillion-plus in net new flows gathered since 2016, according to Broadridge's research.

"Opportunities will be driven by different capabilities and clients  from institutions to individuals, and from the US and Europe towards Asia, especially China," said Ben Phillips, head of Asset Management Global Advisory Services, Broadridge. "While secular changes manifest in different ways, there are still primary drivers that asset managers need to look out for to maximize their growth. The reality is that these changes are creating unmet needs, all of which are opportunities to innovate and reposition themselves for growth."

Broadridge expects significant opportunities to be had aligning business strategies to meet shifting secular trends, many of which, if missed, will increasingly bifurcate the market between winners and losers.

The study predicts that individual investors will drive 69% of net flows in the coming decade significantly overtaking institutional investors, while private markets will shift from driving 16% of net flows between 2011 to 2021 to 32% of net flows between 2021 to 2031. In terms of regions, The New Competitive Calculus outlines net investment flows shifting from the US and Europe toward Asia Pacific, especially China. APAC will drive 42% of net flows between 2022 to 2031, from just 26% between 2012 to 2021.

As individual investors seek to use their portfolios to address a wider array of financial and non-financial objectives, thematic investing is expected to rise. One example is the momentum in ESG and impact-oriented investing, which will account for 27% of net flows during the next decade.

New standards of differentiation

The above trends are dramatically changing the competitive forces facing asset managers today. Strong investment performance has long been regarded by the industry as the primary differentiator to win market share. However, with the shifts in opportunities identified in the whitepaper, performance is not enough to stand out. Today, competitive differentiation is being defined across four major dimensions:

Faster product innovation  Quick and effective innovation is key. Successful asset managers have adopted an innovation- and product-focused strategy where product development is a central role supported by data and propelled by a flexible distribution network.

Stronger distribution  Successful asset managers are set apart by their ability to scale. This means multiplying points of influence, strengthening relationships beyond value intermediaries, and building exclusive distribution relationships as a protected channel against rivals. A data-driven approach to segmentation helps maximize resource efficiencies and create leverage to better monetize distribution advantages.

More flexible delivery  Competitive asset managers have recognised the need to customise access for end-investors, becoming increasingly flexible with delivery models, especially for priority products and markets where such changes contribute to divisive market leadership. In determining which delivery models are worth pursuing, successful asset managers are focused on implementation cost, technologies that allow customization and portfolio personalization, and delivery capabilities that allow operational efficiency.

Better brand building  A competitive brand will set asset managers apart against the noise of new product capabilities and products, striking a balance between regional norms and global positioning. Strategic decisions include linking brand attributes to clear competitive advantages and embedding innovation and change as brand attributes.

Learn more about these trends shaping the global asset management industry from Broadridge's whitepaper. Click here to access The New Competitive Calculus: Winning with Data-Driven Strategy.

About Broadridge

Broadridge Financial Solutions (NYSE: BR), a global Fintech leader with $5 billion in revenues, provides the critical infrastructure that powers investing, corporate governance, and communications to enable better financial lives. We deliver technology-driven solutions that drive business transformation for banks, broker-dealers, asset and wealth managers and public companies. Broadridge's infrastructure serves as a global communications hub enabling corporate governance by linking thousands of public companies and mutual funds to tens of millions of individual and institutional investors around the world. Our technology and operations platforms underpin the daily trading of more than U.S. $9 trillion in equities, fixed income, and other securities globally. A certified Great Place to Work, Broadridge is part of the S&P 500 Index, employing over 14,000 associates in 21 countries.

For more information about Broadridge, please visit www.broadridge.com.

Media Contacts:

North AmericaMatthew LuongoProsek Partners+1 646-818-9279[email protected]

EuropeRuby YeomansCognito+44 (0) 7463730043[email protected]

Asia PacificKainoa BlaisdellTeneo+65 6955 8874[email protected]

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SOURCE Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc.
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 12, ARMENPRESS. Telcell, representing the largest system in the payment industry of Armenia, reports that after 15 years of leadership, Aram Azatyan resigns from his position as the Chief Executive Officer at Telcell.

Telcell team organized a unique event to summarize the achievements the Company has had during those 15 years and to expressgratitude to their leader, whohas guided them on that journey. The event was attended by the Telcell team led by Artashes Avetisyan, the Chairman of the board of the Company. As Aram Azatyan mentioned in his speech, the team set quite ambitious goals for the time when starting Telcell.

Being in charge of the Companys development was a great honor and responsibility for me, and I am thankful for that. Today, Telcell celebrates its 15th anniversary by positioning itself as the national payment system operator. The company's network of more than 4,500 terminals serves the entire territory of Armenia and Artsakh. Telcell provides a wide range of services, including a wide variety of financial products to the approximately 700,000 identified users of Telcell Wallet. The annual turnover of the company exceeds 700 billion drams. Based on the data of the first half of 2022, Telcell ranks 72nd among the 1000 largest taxpayers in Armenia. These indicators are a reason to be proud, said Aram Azatyan, at the same time emphasizing that the biggest achievement of the 15 years is the Telcell team, with whom he went through many challenges and celebrated the Company's successes.

Telcell is about people: those people, who are not only colleagues, but also friends and dear ones. Resigning from the position of the CEO at Telcell does not mean I am saying goodbye to my beloved team. Regardless of our working relationship we will always be dear to each other, assured Aram Azatyan.

It should be noted, that Hambardzum Danelyan has been appointed the CEO of Telcell.

From now on I am assuming the position of the CEO, which is a great responsibility and an opportunity to implement new ideas. I had the honor to work with the former CEO, Aram Azatyan. We thank Aram for leaving behind a mature management system and a united team of professionals.

We will make our services even more convenient, fast and affordable for the population and guests of the republic, we will expand digital services, create new and useful payment tools", said the new CEO of Telcell.
VANCOUVER, BC, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Fineqia International Inc. (the "Company" or "Fineqia") (CSE: FNQ) (OTC: FNQQF) (Frankfurt: FNQA) announces the second tranche (the "Second Tranche") of its non-brokered private placement (the "Offering"), for a cumulative raise of C$4,546,224, with participation by the Wavemaker Genesis Master Fund Ltd.

Investors include the Wavemaker Genesis Master Fund Ltd, a fund managed by Wave Financial, LLC, one of the top regulated crypto asset managers worldwide, which subscribed to 15% of the second tranche. The Company has issued 420,122,400 Units to raise gross proceeds of C$4,201,224 in this tranche. Fineqia is also a minority shareholder in Wave Financial, LLC.

"We're delighted to have exceeded our initial target and very excited to have important and relevant shareholders on board," said Fineqia CEO Bundeep Singh Rangar. "This paves the way for growth with the right people batting on our side and our interests aligned."

The closing of the second tranche follows the upsize of the Offering to C$5 million from $4 million announced on Aug. 4, 2022, when the Company closed the first tranche with proceeds of C$345,000.

Each Unit sold or to be sold in the Offering consists of one common share of the Company and one share purchase warrant (a "Warrant") exercisable for three years at a price of C$0.05 per share. The Company may, at its option, accelerate the expiry date of the Warrants, provided that closing price of the common shares is at or above C$0.15 per share for any 20 consecutive trading day period at any time after four months and one day after the issuance of the Warrants.

The proceeds from the Offering will be used to enhance the Company's working capital as well as pare down debt.

These securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act"). Accordingly, these securities may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, a U.S. person or person in the United States (as such terms are defined in regulations under the 1933 Act), absent an exemption from the registration requirements of the 1933 Act and applicable state laws. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in the United States or in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

About Fineqia International Inc.

Fineqia is a listed entity in the Canada (CSE: FNQ), US (OTC: FNQQF) and Europe (Frankfurt: FNQA). Fineqia's strategic focus has been to provide a platform and associated services to support securities issuances and manage administration of debt securities. Fineqia is currently building out its alternative finance business and it currently holds a growing portfolio of blockchain, fintech and cryptocurrency technology companies worldwide.

For more information, visit www.fineqia.com

About Wave Financial, LLC

Wave Financial, LLC (Wave) is a Los Angeles based investment management company that provides institutional and private wealth digital asset solutions. Led by a team of highly experienced financial services professionals, Wave provides investable funds via their diverse investment strategies applied to digital assets and tokenized real assets. Wave also offers managed accounts for HNWIs and family offices seeking tailored digital asset exposure, bespoke treasury management services, and early-stage venture capital and strategic consultation to the digital asset ecosystem. Wave is federally regulated by the US Securities & Exchange Commission as an investment adviser.

ON BEHALF OF THE FINEQIA BOARD

Bundeep Singh Rangar CEO and Director

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Some statements in this release may contain forward-looking information (as defined under applicable Canadian securities laws) ("forward-looking statements"). All statements, other than of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that Fineqia (the "Company") believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future (including, without limitation, statements regarding potential acquisitions and financings) are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by use of the words "may", "will", "should", "continue", "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "believe", "intend", "plan" or "project" or the negative of these words or other variations on these words or comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's ability to control or predict, that may cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things, without limitation, the failure to obtain sufficient financing, and other risks disclosed in the Company's public disclosure record on file with the relevant securities regulatory authorities. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made except as may be required by applicable securities laws. The Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement except to the extent required by applicable securities laws.

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SOURCE Fineqia International Inc.
Jean Baptiste Succeeds Denis Heraud who has Held the Position Since 2011

VIRIAT, France, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- After a decade of successfully leading FX as the Sales Director-France, Denis Heraud has decided to step down from his position and transition into a different role with FX. Denis has been integral in the sales growth that led to FX becoming #1 in Francea monumental achievement. The entire FX family is grateful for the many contributions Denis has made throughout his time with FX. Denis will remain an important asset in FX by continuing to support Jean Baptiste in his new role.

Jean Baptiste Plas has been tapped to take over and continue the growing FX's market presence in France. Jean Baptiste currently is the Regional Sales Director for Paris, North France, and Eastern France and has been leading in this capacity for the last three years.

"After the last three years as Regional Sales Director for Paris, North France, and Eastern France with FX, it is a real honor to assume the position of Sales Director-France. I will be surrounded by an amazing sales team that is efficient and extremely capable of meeting all challenges with their passion for service and shoulder. Our successes would be impossible without our colleagues at the headquarters in Viriat who always meet our needs and are indispensable to us in our daily lives. I would like to thank Denis Heraud who has trusted me from the first day of our collaborative efforts together and who knew how to mentor and train me. I would like to thank our CEO, Baptiste Martin, who has entrusted me to continue the success that Denis has put in place and grow the FX portfolio even further. I can assure everyone that they have my full commitment to tackle and overcome all the challenges that await us," Jean Baptiste said. He went on to quote Paul Eluard as saying, "There is no chance, there are only appointments."

Congratulations, Jean Baptiste.FX has a US Headquarters in Dallas, Texas and a Global Headquarters in Viriat, France. For further information, please contact [email protected] or [email protected].

Global Headquarters1663 rue de Majornas01449 Viriat  FranceTel +33 4 74 55 35 55Fax +33 4 74 52 44 01[email protected]

US Headquarters13465 Midway Road, Suite 101Dallas, TX 75244Tel 1-800-280-0775Fax 1-800-429-8965[email protected]

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1919641/FX_Solutions_Jean_Baptiste_Plas.jpg

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SOURCE FX Solutions
SEOUL, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- VisualCamp, a leading AI-based eye-tracking technology startup from South Korea, provides eye-tracking software to various industries including education, digital healthcare, and UI/UX testing. With successful use cases in Korea, VisualCamp is looking to expand their eye-tracking solutions to the U.S. VisualCamp will participate in TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco.

"The scope of application for eye-tracking technology is limitless."

With the increasing demand for contactless and remote services, eye-tracking is being utilized to understand users' focuses and monitoring functions to prevent fraud in mobile apps/web. Using gaze data, end users can control apps with their eyes by where they are looking. VisualCamp's success is from making eye tracking more accessible, mobile optimized, and eye-tracking in "natural" environments.

SeeSo, a mobile eye-tracking SDK (Software Development Kit) is a software solution for mobile app developers. Without using extra hardware, this is the first eye-tracking software solution that can utilize front-facing cameras with the highest levels of accuracy. SeeSo has its own software licensing, is easily integratable, and can be used at any time with a mobile device or PC. This makes eye-tracking technology available for everyone at an affordable price. SeeSo's innovation has been recognized by clients and prestigious awards, including the CES Innovation Award in 2022.

Currently, VisualCamp has been working with medical experts to research and develop eye tracking healthcare solutions, which includes diagnosing myopia, dyslexia, ADHD, and cognitive ability in advance. It will first be provided to education companies and the Department of Education in Korea. VisualCamp will eventually expand business into overseas markets.

"The scope of application for eye-tracking technology is limitless." Said Yunchan Suk, CEO of VisualCamp. "After strengthening the business through R&D with experts in each field, we aim to become the No.1 eye-tracking company recognized not only within Korea, but also abroad."

SeeSo 2.0: https://seeso.io/.Testimonial: https://youtu.be/7TDAvaEeIw4.

About VisualCamp

Providing eye-tracking technology solutions that are easily accessible, reasonably priced, and scalable, VisualCamp's goal is to make eye-tracking solutions available for all, as it can be a useful tool in anyone's daily life. VisualCamp owns 24 IPs, including 5 in the U.S., with 42 on file, and 18 PCTs pending. VisualCamp is also looking for new investments to help grow and expand their solutions.

Media Contact:Joy Lim[email protected]

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SOURCE KIC Silicon Valley
SEOUL, South Korea, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- LionRocket to attend GITEX Global in Dubai from October 10 to 13; company targets customers in the Middle East, India, and Africa with its virtual face app "VeryMe".

The AI startup LionRocket (CEO Seung Hwan Jeong) is launching into the global market using the Middle Eastern market as its bridgehead.

LionRocket, a member of the Born2Global Centre (CEO Kim Jong-kap), announced that it will be attending the "2022 Gulf Information Technology Exhibition" (GITEX Global 2022), scheduled to be held at the Dubai World Trade Center from October 10 to 13.

GITEX is the largest technology exhibition in the Asia, Middle East, and Africa region and is considered by global venture capitalists (VCs) and enterprises as one of the world's top three technology exhibitions along with the CES (US Consumer Electronics Show) and MWC (Mobile World Congress). Of the five different events that make up GITEXattended by over 700 startups and 400 investors from all around the worldLionRocket will be participating in North Star Dubai 2022, an event especially designed for startups.

While at GITEX, LionRocket will be sharing its corporate vision and goal of "providing a never-before-seen immersive experience that gives people happiness" and hopes to find new global partners that will help the company realize its vision.

At the event, the company will officially introduce the world's first virtual face app, "VeryMe," created using LionRocket's independently developed technology. VeryMe is an app that allows users to create a new virtual version of their own face to more freely express themselves. App users can create their own "VeryMe Face" in just a few seconds through the app's "Face Forming" function, which designs a one-of-a-kind virtual face based on the user's actual facial features, rather than creating a simple composite.

GITEX Global 2022 marks the first time that LionRocket will showcase "VeryMe" using its newly developed in-house technology "Live Swap," which allows the "VeryMe" app to complete its face swapping processes in real time. Normally, face swapping requires large amounts of data and model learning. The "VeryMe" app, however, uses AI to instantly create a virtual face based on a single photograph of the user without prior learning. This means that users can experience real-time virtual face conversion technology and live streaming technology simply by putting their face up to their phone's camera.

Using GITEX Global as a springboard, LionRocket hopes to develop a new content market and consumption culture in the Middle East, while also making inroads into emerging countries, such as India and those in Africa. This plan is part of LionRocket's larger strategy to promote various cultural exchanges and expand its influence in the Middle East and North Africa, which are now rapidly adopting new industries and technologies.

LionRocket's CEO Seung Hwan Jeong remarked, "VeryMe will provide various experiences and opportunities for users in the current creator economy. We will use GITEX as a stepping stone to enter the Middle Eastern market and to further advance into the global market."

LionRocket unveiled VeryMe for the first time at IFA 2022, Europe's largest consumer electronics expo, held in Berlin, Germany early last month. At the IFA 2022, "VeryMe" was well received by audiences for its ability to create natural VeryMe faces regardless of user race.

About Born2Global Centre

The Born2Global Centre, operated by Born2Global, is a full-cycle service platform that supports the global expansion of promising companies. Established in 2013 under the Ministry of Science and ICT, Born2Global has been setting the standards for a successful startup ecosystem in Korea and continues to expand and transform startups so that they are engaged, well equipped, and connected with the global market.

For more information, please visit born2global.com

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SOURCE Born2Global Centre
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Bensamochan Firm announces a mass arbitration initiative against PayPal Holdings Inc. and Amazon.com together with Schreiber & Schreiber Inc. and certain other law firms. In those arbitrations, the firms will seek to represent those individuals, small companies, and sellers whose accounts with PayPal Holdings, Inc. or Amazon.com were frozen or limited after an alleged violation of their internal policies. The practice of dominating digital platforms to unilaterally seize users' money due to an alleged policy violation without due process has been going on for years. Despite the mounting complaints, those platforms have been maintaining the practice, partially due to the cost and difficulty for any small balance users to initiate an arbitration proceeding against those platforms.

The Bensamochan Firm announces a mass arbitration initiative against PayPal Holdings Inc. and Amazon.com

If you have had funds seized from PayPal or Amazon for an alleged violation of their internal policies, you may be eligible to join the mass arbitration. Mass arbitration members may be able to join regardless of the amount seized from PayPal, Amazon or geographical location. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to visit www.paypalclassaction.net or Justitiadao.com, and follow the instructions there to complete the process. By completing the Contribution Agreement on either site, you will become a holder of certain governance DAO to participate in the group legal action against the platforms, subject to certain terms and conditions in the agreement. As of today, over four thousand people have opted to join with an aggregate claim amount in excess of Seven Million Dollars. In 2021, Liti Capital SA, a Swiss blockchain-based litigation funding provider, started a class action against Binance. This group arbitration is another indication that blockchain technology might be changing class action and mass arbitration arena going forward as the technology is making it easier to group global claimants and attorneys alike to join force in massive legal undertakings against dominant digital platforms.

Media Contact: Christian Colmenares, [email protected]

SOURCE The Bensamochan Law Firm
BOSTON, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Metalenz, the market leader for metasurface optics for high-performance 3D sensing solutions, today announced the closing of a $30M Series B, led by Neotribe Ventures. The funding will be used to meet the growing demand for the company's existing 3D Sensor metasurface optics while simultaneously accelerating the market introduction of its revolutionary new polarization sensing solution, PolarEyes. The round also saw participation from Foothill Ventures, M Ventures, Intel Capital, Osage University Partners, TDK Ventures, 3M Ventures, Global Brains, SG Innovate, Baidu Ventures, Hegemon Capital, and Braemar Ventures.

"When we launched our first products as the key enabler for simpler, next generation 3D ToF products earlier this year, we proved that the performance of our metasurface optics is unparalleled in the 3D sensing market, and that our new technology can reach end-users at a massive scale," said Metalenz co-founder and CEO Rob Devlin. "Since then, demand has dramatically increased, and the oversubscribed round is a testament to how our metasurface optics can completely transform the way people and machines interact with and understand the world around them. Going forward we are particularly excited to benefit from the deep knowledge and vast network of our lead investor in the Series B, Neotribe Ventures."

"At Neotribe we are focused on investing in companies that are solving really hard technical problems that disrupt non-traditional industry sectors," said Kittu Kolluri, Founder and Managing Director of Neotribe Ventures. "Metalenz represents the perfect blend of a disruptive deep tech solution being applied to a large and innovation-starved market, optics. We look forward to supporting Rob and his team as they scale the company and product roadmap to address this multi-billion-dollar opportunity."

About MetalenzFounded in 2016 and the first to commercialize meta-optics, Metalenz is enabling the next generation of 3D sensing in consumer electronics, automotive and industrial robotics markets. Built on research from the Capasso Lab at Harvard University, with exclusive worldwide license to foundational IP relating to metasurfaces, Metalenz has 20+ patents on innovations that simplify and improve optical devices. Unlike traditional optics, the company's metasurface technology provides complex, multifunctional optical performance in a single semiconductor layer, relocating large-scale production of optics to semiconductor foundriesprinting lenses like computer chips. Metalenz launched out of stealth in 2021 with funding from leading investors including 3M Ventures, Applied Ventures LLC, Intel Capital, M Ventures, TDK Ventures, and Foothill Ventures. Now in market, Metalenz metasurface optics will be in millions of consumer devices this year.

To learn more about how Metalenz is revolutionizing optical sensing in consumer electronics and beyond, contact [email protected]

About Neotribe VenturesNeotribe Ventures focuses on strategic investments in early to growth-stage companies developing breakthrough technologies that stretch the imagination. Founded in 2017, the firm manages nearly $450 million in assets across three funds and has invested in a diverse set of companies including computational biology, enterprise security and infrastructure, robotics and AI, blockchain technologies, cleantech, and more. Just as tribes represent small, protective, and caring groups, Neotribe believes that startups with innovative and aspirational teams thrive if provided the security and backing to be unafraid in the pursuit of new ideas, excellence, and success.

To learn more about how Neotribe is partnering with entrepreneurs in the U.S., Europe, Israel, India, and Australia in their quest to solve complex and deeply impactful problems to create lasting change, visit neotribe.vc.

Carly GlovinskiMarketing ManagerMetalenz[email protected]

This release was issued through WebWire. For more information, visit http://www.webwire.com.

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SOURCE Metalenz
AUBURN HILLS, Mich., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Mopar released concept sketches in advance of the upcoming 2022 SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) Show in Las Vegas (Nov. 1-4). Mopar will showcase customized vehicles and hundreds of quality-tested, factory-backed performance parts and accessories in its 15,345-square-foot exhibit in the South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Mopar

This year marks the 85th anniversary of Mopar.

A simple combination of the words MOtor and PARts, Mopar offers exceptional service, parts and customer-care. Born in 1937 as the name of a line of antifreeze products, Mopar has evolved over 85 years to represent both complete vehicle care and authentic performance for owners and enthusiasts worldwide.

Mopar made its mark in the 1960s during the muscle-car era with performance parts to enhance speed and handling for both on-road and racing use. Later, Mopar expanded to include technical service and customer support, and today integrates service, parts and customer-care operations in order to enhance customer and dealer support worldwide.

Complete information on Mopar is available at www.mopar.com and the newly redesigned Mopar blog at www.blog.mopar.com. For more information regarding Stellantis (NYSE: STLA), please visit www.stellantis.com.

Follow Mopar and company news and video on:Company blog: blog.stellantisnorthamerica.comMedia website: media.stellantisnorthamerica.comMopar brand: www.mopar.com/NEW Mopar blog: blog.mopar.com/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/moparInstagram: www.instagram.com/officialmoparTwitter: twitter.com/OfficialMOPARYouTube: www.youtube.com/c/mopar or www.youtube.com/StellantisNA

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SOURCE Stellantis
Charmaine Morales, RN, will be the first woman of color to serve as the union's president

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- At the 40th biennial convention celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of their founding in 1972, UNAC/UHCP delegates elected Charmaine Morales, RN, to serve as the union's president. Morales has served as UNAC/UHCP's Executive Vice President since 2016 and will be the first woman of color to serve as president. She will also be the first Mexican-American and Filipina president, while nearly a quarter of nurses in California are Filipino or of Filipino heritage.

UNAC/UHCP was founded in 1972 when RNs weren't even allowed to form unions, by a diverse group of nurses working out of their kitchens and garages with the principle of nurses representing nurses. In fifty years, it has added multiple other health care professions to its membership and grown into one of the foremost RN and health care professional unions, representing 32,000 members in California and Hawaii.

"Times have changed. This decade has changed us. And the pandemic has changed us," said Morales. "No one more so than all those working in health care. Those who have put their lives on the line so selflessly. And through these times of change, my commitment has not swayed. It has only grown because of our members, RNs and health care professionals who have risked everything and given everything. We have work to do, work that needs to be done together."

First elected as UNAC/UHCP Secretary in 2013, Morales made community service and union growth a cornerstone of her work. She served on the bargaining team that negotiated the union's contract with Kaiser Permanente in 2021, which nearly went to a strike before beating back the employer's proposals for two-tiered wages. Morales took the lead on an innovative member engagement program called Membership Matters, modeled on AFSCME Strong, a program of AFSCME International. She spearheaded efforts to build UNAC/UHCP's first Hawaii chapter. UNAC/UHCP now has three chapters and affiliates in Hawaii.

After the Black Lives Matter protests erupted across the country in 2021, Morales sponsored a new racial and social justice committee for UNAC/UHCP, which led to the creation of the union's Alexis G. Philius Scholarship for students of Black/African descent pursuing careers in health care. She serves as a vice president of the Los Angeles Labor Council and is also a vice president of the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees (NUHHCE).

Morales succeeds Denise Duncan, RN, who retired after serving six years as the President of UNAC/UHCP, and 30 years altogether with the union. "Today, I'm proud to pass the presidency of this great union to Charmaine Morales, RN. She will take UNAC/UHCP into its next chapter. She understands that each generation of leaders brings new opportunities for growth, engagement, and activism to our work."

Morales took the oath of office this afternoon and her term began immediately.

United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals (UNAC/UHCP) represents more than 32,000 registered nurses and other health care professionals in California and Hawaii, including optometrists; pharmacists; physical, occupational and speech therapists; case managers; nurse midwives; social workers; clinical lab scientists; physician assistants and nurse practitioners. UNAC/UHCP is affiliated with the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO.

CONTACTS:Jeff Rogers | [email protected] | (909) 263-7230Anjetta Thackeray | [email protected] | (909) 455-5146[email protected]

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SOURCE United Nurses Associations of California / Union of Health Care Professionals
Collaboration brings deep data analytics to Advantest's semiconductor testers and empowers engineers with real-time insights to optimize yield and quality

HAIFA, Israel, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- proteanTecs, a global leader of deep data analytics for electronics health and performance monitoring, today announced the addition of proteanTecs Edge applications to the Advantest ACS Solution Store. Deployed in the tester, the apps enable mutual customers to discover real-time insights around key metrics, including per-die silicon grading, latent defects, power trade-offs, and 2.5D/3D interconnects. Newly launched, the ACS Solution Store is an online portal to discover, purchase and deploy Advantest-certified solutions from ecosystem partners.

The four new appsproteanTecs Edge Per-Die Silicon Grading, proteanTecs Edge Personalized Defect Detection, proteanTecs Edge Power Reduction and proteanTecs Edge 2.5D/3D Interconnect Monitoringprovide a detailed assessment of each die, aggregate measurements into understandable metrics and offer insights at both the product and sub-product levels. Available on the ACS Solution Store, the applications will bring deep data analytics to the production test environment.

"Semiconductor manufacturers cannot afford any delay in their data workflows and analytics; they need real-time insights to remain competitive and efficient," said Michael Chang, vice president and general manager of ACS at Advantest. "Using our ACS platform as the backbone, proteanTecs developed a set of applications to drive and foster innovation around deep data analytics at the edge. Our partnership and collaboration will afford engineers powerful insights within their test program, which leads to better decision making."

"Advantest has created a scalable infrastructure platform that advances and modernizes semiconductor testing," said Uzi Baruch, chief strategy officer at proteanTecs. "Together, we are giving engineers adaptive testing capabilities, which are a data-driven and proven path to improving semiconductor yield, quality, overall equipment effectiveness and time to market."

The proteanTecs Edge apps deploy personalized, machine-learning decision models in the tester via a container. Automated software distribution is enabled via the ACS Container Hub, which ensures an easy, secure and reliable deployment of the apps in the test fleets.

For more information on how proteanTecs and Advantest are "Elevating Production Testing with Deep Data Analytics and ACS at the Edge and Cloud," download this white paper.

About Advantest Corporation

Advantest (TSE: 6857) is the leading manufacturer of automatic test and measurement equipment used in the design and production of semiconductors for applications including 5G communications, the Internet of Things (IoT), autonomous vehicles, high-performance computing (HPC) including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, and more. Its leading-edge systems and products are integrated into the most advanced semiconductor production lines in the world. The company also conducts R&D to address emerging testing challenges and applications; develops advanced test-interface solutions for wafer sort and final test; produces scanning electron microscopes essential to photomask manufacturing; and offers system-level test solutions and other test-related accessories. Founded in Tokyo in 1954, Advantest is a global company with facilities around the world and an international commitment to sustainable practices and social responsibility. More information is available at www.advantest.com.

About proteanTecs

proteanTecs is a leading provider of deep data monitoring solutions for advanced electronics in the Datacenter, Automotive, Communications and Mobile markets. Based on Universal Chip Telemetry (UCT), the company provides system health and performance monitoring, from production to the field. By applying machine learning to novel data created by on-chip UCT agents, the company's analytics platform delivers predictive insights and visibility, leading to new levels of quality, reliability and scale. Founded in 2017, the company is headquartered in Israel with offices in the United States, India and Taiwan. For more information, visit: www.proteanTecs.com.

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SOURCE proteanTecs
INTEGRATED HEALTH SOLUTIONS DELIVERED THROUGH CARELOGIC AND INSYNC EHR PLATFORMS

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Qualifacts, a leading provider of electronic health record (EHR) platforms for behavioral health, rehabilitative, and human services organizations, today announced an enhanced partnership with current customer Woods System of Care to meet their expanding care needs.

"Over the past several years, Woods and its affiliate network partners have been building a system of care that integrates primary healthcare, specialty care, and behavioral healthcare along with residential and community-based care and services. What has been lacking is software that supports our model of integrated care that would enable us, and other providers, to better support the people we serve who have very complex issues. We are excited to work with Qualifacts to create a new electronic record that coordinates across systems and services, including external referrals," said Woods' CEO Tine Hansen-Turton.

To support Woods' integrated care model, Qualifacts will bring the power of its InSync platform primary care workflows together with its CareLogic platform leading behavioral health clinical engine to allow clinicians across disciplines to have the information they need at their fingertips to provide comprehensive care effectively and efficiently.

"It is an honor to be Woods' technology and innovation partner and help them in their mission to support those with disabilities or challenges to achieve their highest potential and independence," said Paul Ricci, Chief Executive Officer at Qualifacts.

Roy Leitstein, the CEO of Legacy Treatment Services, a key affiliate with Woods noted, "This is a transformative moment of innovation born of a true partnership between our organizations and businesses that will provide universal capability for both traditional medical care and behavioral healthcare for people needing all levels of care from the most intensive to a simple primary care visit. This product will ultimately change lives."

This project has already begun and will be fully delivered and available to all Qualifacts customers and the market in 2023.

ABOUT QUALIFACTS

Qualifacts is a leading provider of behavioral health software and SaaS solutions for clinical productivity, compliance and state reporting, billing, and business intelligence. Its mission is to be an innovative and trusted technology and solutions partner, enabling exceptional outcomes for its customers and those they serve. Qualifacts' comprehensive portfolio, including the CareLogic, Credible, and InSync platforms, spans and serves the entire behavioral health, rehabilitative and human services market supporting non-profit Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHC) as well as for-profit large enterprise and small business providers. Qualifacts has a loyal customer base, with more than 2,400 customers representing 75,000 providers serving more than 6 million patients. Qualifacts was recognized in the 2022 Best in KLAS: Software and Services report as having the #1 and #2 ranked Behavioral Health EHR solutions, with its Credible and CareLogic platforms, respectively.

ABOUT WOODS SERVICES

Woods System of Care/ Woods Services is a nonprofit, life cycle care management and advocacy organization that, along with six affiliate organizations located in Pennsylvania and New Jersey  Abilities of Northwest Jersey; Allies, Inc.; Archway Programs; Legacy Treatment Services; Tabor Services; and Woods Community at Brian's House - provides innovative, comprehensive, and integrated health, education, housing, workforce, behavioral health, and case management services to more than 22,000 children and adults in the intellectual and developmental disability, behavioral, child welfare, and brain trauma public health sectors who have complex medical and behavioral healthcare needs.

Founded in 1913 by Philadelphia schoolteacher Mollie Woods with two simple goals  to advance quality of life and standard of care for individuals with disabilities  Woods Services continues its mission today by helping children and adults with disabilities and challenges to achieve their highest potential. Among the ways Woods does this is through its population health management strategy, which includes the integration of primary and specialty medical care with behavioral health. For more information, visit woods.org.

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SOURCE Woods Services
On October 12, at 00:20, the units of Azerbaijani armed forces opened fire from various caliber firearms at Armenian military positions located in the eastern direction of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, the Defense Ministry of Armenia said.

October 12, 2022, 09:55 Azerbaijani forces open fire at Armenian military positions

STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 12, ARTSAKHPRESS: The Azerbaijani fire was suppressed with countermeasures.

There are no casualties on the Armenian side.

At the moment the situation is relatively stable.
TORONTO, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Scryb Inc. ("Scryb'' or the "Company") (CSE: SCYB) (OTCQB: SCYRF) (Frankfurt: EIY), is pleased to announce that further to its press release of August 15, 2022, Pima Zinc Corp. ("Pima") has received conditional approval to list its common shares on the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE"), subject to Pima fulfilling all of the requirements of the CSE on or before February 15, 2023. Pursuant to an amalgamation agreement (the "Amalgamation Agreement") with Pima, 2635212 Ontario Inc. ("Pima Subco"), a subsidiary of Pima, and Cybeats Technologies Inc. ("Cybeats") dated August 11, 2022, Pima will acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares and preferred shares of Cybeats pursuant to a three-cornered amalgamation in accordance with Section 174 of the Business Corporations Act (Ontario) (the "Proposed Transaction"). Pima and Pima Subco are working diligently to complete the Financing (as such term is defined in the Amalgamation Agreement and the Company's press release dated August 15, 2022) and intends to close the Financing in the coming weeks.

"We are very pleased with the progress of the financing in spite of difficult markfet conditions, and look forward to closing the transaction in the coming week or two. As we near completion, we would like to thank shareholders for their patience and support during these processes and given the activity in the cybersecurity market we are more confident than ever that a dedicated listing will showcase the substantial value Scryb has created in such a relatively short time. Cybeats continues to scale its commercial operations to drive and support commercial demand of our SBOM Studio solution and we look forward to providing further disclosure on the impact of the innovative solutions in the marketplace," said Yoav Raiter, CEO, Scryb.

RECENT NEWS: Scryb Announces Partnership Between Cybeats and Veracode, an Industry-Leading Application Security Firm. Read more at https://bit.ly/3EyORB2

SUBSCRIBE: For more information, or to subscribe to the Company's mail list, visit: https://www.scryb.ai

About Cybeats

Cybeats is a leading software supply chain intelligence technology provider, helping organizations manage risk, meet compliance and secure software from procurement, development through operation. Our platform provides customers with deep visibility and universal transparency into their software supply chain, as a result enables them to increase operational efficiencies and revenue. Cybeats. Software made certain. Website: www.cybeats.com

About Scryb

Scryb is a platform that powers businesses and technologies with applied intelligence, real-time analytics, and actionable insights. The platform boasts proven adaptability across diverse markets, from digital health and diagnostics to cybersecurity and manufacturing. The cloud-based platform is composed of crucial elements including sensor technology, IoT, predictive analytics, and computer vision.

For more information, please visit our website at: http://scryb.ai

Forward-looking Information Cautionary Statement

Except for statements of historic fact, this news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements including, but not limited to delays or uncertainties with regulatory approvals, including that of the CSE. There are uncertainties inherent in forward-looking information, including factors beyond the Company's control. There are no assurances that the commercialization plans for the technology described in this news release will come into effect on the terms or time frame described herein. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change except as required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties that could affect financial results is contained in the Company's filings with Canadian securities regulators, which filings are available at www.sedar.com

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SOURCE Scryb Inc.
BANGKOK, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Thailand has been given the immense honor of hosting the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, in November 2022. The role comes with major opportunities and equally significant duties for Thailand due to APEC's long-standing importance as well as the unique context of the year.

APEC was established in 1989 with Thailand as a co-founding member. The important forum for economic cooperation has since come to comprise 21 leading economies in the Asia-Pacific region.

Throughout the decades, APEC's core value has remained promoting regional economic integration. At present, APEC is home to over 2.8 billion people with a combined GDP of more than 53 trillion US dollars, more than half of the world's GDP and global trade.

Hosting the meeting in the first year following alleviation of the COVID-19 pandemic, Thailand's theme for APEC in 2022, "Open. Connect. Balance." indicates the key deliverables it envisions namely; opening the region to opportunities, connecting across all dimensions, and helping achieve balance in all aspects.

The 21 economies of APEC, utilize the meeting annually to discuss avenues for facilitating trade and economic progress in a range of dimensions, stand to especially benefit this year due to their need to reconnect, uncover new opportunities for growth and build resilience against emerging challenges.

Initiatives spearheaded by Thailand in accordance with these objectives include; refreshing the dialogue on the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) through a post-COVID-19 lens, forming the Safe Passage Taskforce to coordinate safe and seamless resumption of cross-border travel and securing endorsement for the Bangkok Goals on the Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) Economy as a leader-level document committing APEC to environmentally-conscious economics.

Furthermore, Thailand has devoted attention during its year as host to supporting digital technology and innovation to develop human capacity, promoting access to funding for Micro, Small, and Medium sized Enterprises (MSMEs), empowering women through more inclusive economic participation, and supporting sustainable tourism.

From the doldrums brought on by COVID-19, APEC poises itself in 2022 to not only revitalize its economies, but to emerge stronger and better equipped to achieve long-term prosperity. Thailand, in the host role, will be able to showcase its capabilities as one of the founding members of the forum.

The APEC Economic Leaders' Week will run from 14 to 19 November 2022, while the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting will take place on 18 - 19 November in Bangkok. Prior to the main meeting, there will be a series of gatherings, including the final APEC Senior Officials' Meeting, as well as the APEC Ministerial Meeting, which is attended by trade ministers and foreign affairs ministers.

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SOURCE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kingdom of Thailand
MEDFORD, Ore., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Human Bean will hold its 17th annual breast cancer giveback event, Coffee for a Cure, on Friday, October 21st. All food and beverage sales on this day  from all The Human Bean locations throughout the United States  will be donated to local breast cancer foundations.

This is the drive-thru coffee company's largest nationwide fundraiser of the year, held annually during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. In 2019, the latest year with complete statistics available, there were 264,121 new cases of female breast cancer reported in the United States, resulting in 42,280 deaths (according to CDC data).

"Since we started this giveback program in 2005, The Human Bean family has lost a barista, a franchise owner, and family members and friends to breast cancer. With each year's Coffee for a Cure event, the aim is to help reduce these numbers in local communities," stated Rhonda Hawkins, Co-Founder of The Human Bean.

To date, The Human Bean's Coffee for a Cure giveback program has raised over $2.6 million. Each The Human Bean location will donate 100% of food and beverage sales to local foundations that a drive-thru owner has partnered with locally. These funds can be used to help with preventive scans, education, and patient support while going through treatment.

The Human Bean drive-thrus are adding flavor to the cause this year with two new specialty drinks:

Vanilla Cold Brew with Cherry Blossom Foam

Bold and robust slow-brewed coffee, flavored with vanilla, then poured over ice and topped with a mellowing layer of cherry blossom foam. The perfect drink when you're thinking pink!

Shortbread Latte with Cinnamon Sprinkles

A classic latte flavored with shortbread and topped with cinnamon sprinkles. Indulge in autumn with this limited-time only drink  a cozy, buttery, warming hug in a cup.

There will be limited edition mugs, bracelets, apparel, and other merchandise available for sale at drive-thru stands with the Coffee for a Cure logo. Customers are invited to spread awareness by tagging #CoffeeForACure on Instagram while sharing their own stories and photos.

About The Human Bean

With a passion for creating happy 'Human Beans', the company's drive-thrus around the U.S. have established a reputation for friendly baristas, high-quality coffee, and innovative flavors. The Human Bean opened its first drive-thru espresso stand in Ashland, Oregon in 1998, and currently supports over 300 locations open or under development in 25 states.

Learn more at thehumanbean.com.

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SOURCE The Human Bean
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Vivera is pleased to welcome Dr. Geetha Rao to the Company's Advisory Board as its Regulatory Advisor. Dr. Rao will guide Vivera through its regulatory pathway for its medical device and technology products, ZICOH and MDZone.

Dr. Rao is an entrepreneur, executive, and strategic advisor on medical devices, health information technology, and connected health systems. Her primary focus is on compliance strategy for rapid commercialization, technology safety, and mitigating operational risk for digital health solutions. Dr. Rao's expertise in bringing FDA-regulated products to the market and ensuring compliance beyond commercialization will be particularly instrumental as Vivera moves through the regulatory process, ensuring its products are safe and effective.

"Since my first interaction with Dr. Rao, it was apparent that she would be a great addition to our Advisory Board," said Paul Edalat, Chairman and CEO of Vivera. "She is well-versed in the regulatory process and knows the documentation and evidence required to ensure our products get to market smoothly."

As an internationally-recognized regulatory leader, Dr. Rao has addressed numerous industry forums and the press on issues of emerging health technologies and innovation trends for connected medical technologies. Currently, she is the CEO of Silicon Valley-based Springborne Life Sciences, where she helped the firm establish, audit, remediate, and maintain quality system processes and documentation for its clients. Dr. Rao will be able to support Vivera with regulatory and legal challenges related to submissions, audit findings, quality and risk contractual issues, and other adverse events.

"Vivera is working on projects that will enhance the lives of many patients," said Dr. Rao. "I look forward to guiding them through the regulatory process to ensure their products make it to those who need them most."

Dr. Rao holds a Master of Business Management degree from Stanford University Graduate School of Business and a Ph.D. in Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

About Vivera Pharmaceuticals

Vivera Pharmaceuticals is an innovative, science-driven pharmaceutical company located in Southern California. The Company has global exclusivity to license the patented and patent-pending TABMELT sublingual drug delivery system for pharmaceutical use and holds its own issued patents on ZICOH, a smart dose-controlled electronic medical device. The Company has also received a Notice of Allowance for its portable telemedicine station, MDZone. With multiple divisions, including its pharmaceutical, neurosciences, medical technology, biosciences, and advanced diagnostics divisions, Vivera Pharmaceuticals is vertically integrated with patented technology, manufacturing capabilities, and distribution for its products.

For more information, please visit viverapharmaceuticals.com or connect with us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

Contact:Ashley LeVine[email protected]

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vivera-appoints-world-renowned-regulatory-leader-dr-geetha-rao-to-advisory-board-301647844.html

SOURCE Vivera Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
NEW YORK, Oct. 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- World Science Scholars (WSS) is an initiative of the World Science Festival that selects a small number of gifted high school students from around the world to explore disciplines at the forefront of science through online courses taught by experts in those fields. To celebrate the fifth year of the program and to provide an opportunity for the scholars to meet each other and some of the program's instructors, WSS hosted an in-person festival from September 28 to October 2, 2022.

World Science Scholars Hosts Science Festival for Gifted Students From 15 Countries and 6 Continents

Scholars from the 2020 and 2021 cohorts, along with a family member, were invited to attend an all-inclusive trip to New York City to participate in the festival. A total of thirty three scholars and respective family members participated in a variety of activities, exploring both academics and cultural aspects of New York City. The festival included a series of talks from eminent scientists, many of whom have taught WSS courses, lab tours at the CUNY Advanced Science Research Center and New York University, and a student panel at Columbia University. Cultural activities included visits to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, the American Museum of Natural History, and sightseeing from the Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center. During these activities, scholars engaged in discussions around new and exciting scientific fields. They also bonded with their peers over their shared love of math and science, and formed what promise to be lasting friendships.

The festival helped realize a major goal of the WSS program: to bring together some of the brightest and most ambitious young minds from across the world, and expose them to scientific fields, opportunities, and renowned scientists who can help broaden their outlook on how they can engage in science to change the world.

World Science Scholars

World Science Scholars (WSS), a program of the World Science Festival, selects a small group of high school students from around the world with extraordinary mathematical talent and provides them with an unparalleled opportunity to apply their abilities to unexplored disciplines. Guided by world-renowned experts, scholars examine ways that advanced mathematics skills can be applied to solve complex challenges in a wide range of scientific fields.

Participants in the WSS program currently hail from across the United States and 30 additional countries across six continents. In addition to their passion for mathematics, scholars' interests range from astrophysics and quantum physics to bioinformatics and combinatorics to climate change and neuroscience. They are able to expand their knowledge in these areas through participation in the program.

Thanks to the close interaction between scholars and professors, the WSS program has served as a stepping stone for scholars to obtain opportunities that often are only available to college students:

Kayla (2020 cohort) is a high school student in New York High who spent a summer as a researcher with the Professor Uljin CUNY Advanced Science Research Center after taking Ulijn's WSS course.

Emma (2019 cohort), now a student at Harvard University, is the Founder & Academic Director of the Wolfram Middle School Summer Camp, which she created after taking a WSS course with Stephen Wolfram.

Pritivik (2018 cohort), a Dubai high school student, works as a student researcher at Arizona State University's Beyond Center under the mentorship of Professor Sara Walker after taking her WSS course.

World Science Festival

The World Science Festival (WSF) produces original live and digital content that brings scientific discovery, insight and perspective to a broad general audience.

Our flagship live event, the World Science Festival, is an unprecedented annual tribute to imagination, ingenuity and inventiveness. Through programming that spans a broad rangefrom vibrant discussions and debates to works of theater and filmworld-class scientists, leading thinkers, and renowned artists take science out of the laboratory and into the streets, theaters, museums, and public halls of New York City, making the esoteric understandable and the familiar fascinating. In March 2016, WSF launched the World Science Festival Brisbane, bringing its distinctive programming to new audiences and establishing the first annual Festival outside of New York. The Festival's live events have attracted over 3.3 million people worldwide, and millions more have viewed our programs online.

World Science U is WSF's online education platform, offering multi-layered, in-depth master classes in science, guided by renowned scientists, for students and lifelong learners around the world.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/world-science-scholars-hosts-science-festival-for-gifted-students-from-15-countries-and-6-continents-301646709.html

SOURCE World Science Foundation
FILE PHOTO: The Truth social network logo is seen on a smartphone in front of a display of former U.S. President Donald Trump in this picture illustration taken February 21, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

By Helen Coster

(Reuters) -Alphabet Inc's Google has approved former U.S. President Donald Trump's social media app Truth Social for distribution in the Google Play Store, a company spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), which operates Truth Social, is expected to make the app available in the Play Store shortly, Google said.

"It's been a pleasure to work with Google, and we're glad they helped us to finally bring Truth Social to all Americans, regardless of what device they use," TMTG's Chief Executive Officer Devin Nunes said in a statement.

Truth Social, which launched in the United States in the Apple App Store in February, had not previously been available in the Play Store due to insufficient content moderation, according to a Google spokesperson in August. Google had expressed concerns to Truth Social about violations of its Play Store policies prohibiting content like physical threats and incitement to violence.

Without Google and Apple stores, there is no easy way for most smartphone users to download Truth Social.

Google's Play Store is the main way users of Android phones in the United States download apps. Android users can get apps through competing stores or download them directly from a website, though it often requires extra steps and security permissions. Truth Social has been available through those means even as Google blocked it from the Play Store.

Android phones comprise about 40% of the U.S. smartphone market.

Truth Social restored Trump's presence on social media more than a year after he was banned from Twitter Inc, Facebook and Alphabet Inc's YouTube following the Jan. 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol riots, after he was accused of posting messages inciting violence.

TMTG has pledged to deliver an "engaging and censorship-free experience" on Truth Social, appealing to a base that feels its views around such hot-button topics such as the outcome of the 2020 presidential election have been scrubbed from mainstream tech platforms.

News of Google's approval was first reported by Axios.

(Reporting by Helen Coster in New York; Additional reporting by Paresh Dave in Oakland, Anirudh Saligrama and Bhanvi Satija in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta, Deepa Babington, Marguerita Choy and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
Form FWP CITIGROUP INC Filed by: CITIGROUP INC

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Citigroup Global Markets Holdings Inc. Free Writing Prospectus to Pricing Supplement No. 2022-USNCH14410 Registration Statement Nos. 333-255302; 333-255302-03 Dated October 11, 2022; Filed pursuant to Rule 433

Contingent Income Auto-Callable Securities Due October , 2024 Based on the Performance of the S&P 500 Index

Principal at Risk Securities

This document provides a summary of the terms of the securities. Investors must carefully review the accompanying preliminary pricing supplement referenced below, product supplement, underlying supplement, prospectus supplement and prospectus, and the Risk Considerations on the following page, prior to making an investment decision.

Summary Terms Issuer: Citigroup Global Markets Holdings Inc. Guarantor: Citigroup Inc. Underlying index: The S&P 500 Index (ticker symbol: SPX) Stated principal amount: $1,000 per security Strike date: October 10, 2022 Pricing date: October 11, 2022 Issue date: October 14, 2022 Valuation dates, potential redemption dates and The valuation dates, potential redemption dates and contingent coupon payment dates are set forth below: contingent coupon payment dates: Valuation dates* Potential redemption dates* Contingent coupon payment dates** January 11, 2023 N/A January 17, 2023 April 11, 2023 April 11, 2023 April 14, 2023 July 11, 2023 July 11, 2023 July 14, 2023 October 11, 2023 October 11, 2023 October 16, 2023 January 11, 2024 January 11, 2024 January 17, 2024 April 11, 2024 April 11, 2024 April 16, 2024 July 11, 2024 July 11, 2024 July 16, 2024 October 11, 2024 (the final valuation date) N/A October 17, 2024 (the maturity date) * Each valuation date is subject to postponement if such date is not a scheduled trading day or certain market disruption events occur, as described in the accompanying product supplement. Each potential redemption date is subject to postponement on the same basis as a valuation date. ** If the potential redemption date immediately preceding any contingent coupon payment date is postponed, that contingent coupon payment date will also be postponed so that it falls on the third business day after such potential redemption date, as postponed. Maturity date: Unless earlier automatically redeemed, October 17, 2024 Contingent coupon: On each quarterly contingent coupon payment date, unless previously redeemed, the securities will pay a contingent coupon equal to 2.40% of the stated principal amount of the securities (approximately 9.60% per annum) if and only if the closing level of the underlying index on the related valuation date is greater than or equal to the downside threshold level. If the closing level of the underlying index on any quarterly valuation date is less than the downside threshold level, you will not receive any contingent coupon payment on the related contingent coupon payment date. Payment at maturity1: If the securities are not automatically redeemed prior to maturity, for each $1,000 stated principal amount security you hold at maturity, you will receive cash in an amount determined as follows:  If the final index level is greater than or equal to the downside threshold level: $1,000 + the contingent coupon payment due at maturity  If the final index level is less than the downside threshold level: $1,000 + ($1,000  the index return) If the final index level is less than the downside threshold level, you will receive less, and possibly significantly less, than 70.00% of the stated principal amount of your securities at maturity, and you will not receive any contingent coupon payment at maturity.

Automatic early redemption: If, on any potential redemption date, the closing level of the underlying index is greater than or equal to the initial index level, each security you then hold will be automatically redeemed on the related contingent coupon payment date for an amount in cash equal to the early redemption payment. If the securities are redeemed, no further payments will be made. Early redemption payment: The stated principal amount of $1,000 per security plus the related contingent coupon payment Initial index level: 3,612.39, the closing level of the underlying index on the strike date Final index level: The closing level of the underlying index on the final valuation date Downside threshold level: 2,528.673, 70.00% of the initial index level Index return: (i) The final index level minus the initial index level, divided by (ii) the initial index level CUSIP/ISIN: 17330Y2V1 / US17330Y2V12 Preliminary pricing supplement: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/200245/

000095010322017563/dp182287_424b2-us2206771.htm Hypothetical Payout at Maturity1 (if the securities have not previously been redeemed) Index Return of Underlying Index on the Final Valuation Date Payment at Maturity (excluding any coupon payable at maturity) +40% $1,000.00 +30% $1,000.00 +20% $1,000.00 +10% $1,000.00 0% $1,000.00 -10% $1,000.00 -20% $1,000.00 -30% $1,000.00 -31% $690.00 -40% $600.00 -50% $500.00 -60% $400.00 -70% $300.00 -80% $200.00 -90% $100.00 -100% $0 1All payments are subject to our credit risk

On the date of the accompanying preliminary pricing supplement, Citigroup Global Markets Holdings Inc. expects that the estimated value of the securities on the pricing date will be at least $921.50 per security, which will be less than the public offering price. The estimated value of the securities is based on Citigroup Global Markets Inc.s (CGMI) proprietary pricing models and Citigroup Global Markets Holdings Inc.s internal funding rate. It is not an indication of actual profit to CGMI or other of Citigroup Global Markets Holdings Inc.s affiliates, nor is it an indication of the price, if any, at which CGMI or any other person may be willing to buy the securities from you at any time after issuance. See Valuation of the Securities in the accompanying preliminary pricing supplement.

Citigroup Global Markets Holdings Inc. and Citigroup Inc. have filed registration statements (including the accompanying preliminary pricing supplement, product supplement, underlying supplement, prospectus supplement and prospectus) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the offering to which this communication relates. Before you invest, you should read the accompanying preliminary pricing supplement, product supplement, underlying supplement, prospectus supplement and prospectus in those registration statements (File Nos. 333-255302 and 333-255302-03) and the other documents Citigroup Global Markets Holdings Inc. and Citigroup Inc. have filed with the SEC for more complete information about Citigroup Global Markets Holdings Inc., Citigroup Inc. and this offering. You may obtain these documents without cost by visiting EDGAR on the SEC website at www.sec.gov. Alternatively, you can request these documents by calling toll-free 1-800-831-9146.

Underlying Index

For more information about the underlying index, including historical performance information, see the accompanying preliminary pricing supplement.

Risk Considerations

The risks set forth below are discussed in more detail in the Summary Risk Factors section in the accompanying preliminary pricing supplement. Please review those risk factors carefully prior to making an investment decision.

 You may lose a significant portion or all of your investment.

 You will not receive any contingent coupon payment for any quarter in which the closing level of the underlying index is less than the downside threshold level on the related valuation date.

 The initial index level, which has been set on the strike date, may be higher than the closing level of the underlying index on the pricing date.

 Higher contingent coupon rates are associated with greater risk.

 You may not be adequately compensated for assuming the downside risk of the underlying index.

 The securities may be automatically called prior to maturity, limiting your opportunity to receive contingent coupon payments.

 The securities offer downside exposure to the underlying index, but no upside exposure to the underlying index.

 The performance of the securities will depend on the closing level of the underlying index solely on the relevant valuation dates, which makes the securities particularly sensitive to the volatility of the underlying index.

 The securities are subject to the credit risk of Citigroup Global Markets Holdings Inc. and Citigroup Inc.

 The securities will not be listed on any securities exchange and you may not be able to sell them prior to maturity.

 The estimated value of the securities on the pricing date, based on CGMIs proprietary pricing models and Citigroup Global Markets Holdings Inc.s internal funding rate, will be less than the issue price.

 The estimated value of the securities would be lower if it were calculated based on Citigroup Global Market Holdings Inc.s secondary market rate.

 The estimated value of the securities is not an indication of the price, if any, at which Citigroup Global Market Inc. or any other person may be willing to buy the securities from you in the secondary market.

 The value of the securities prior to maturity will fluctuate based on many unpredictable factors.

 Immediately following issuance, any secondary market bid price provided by Citigroup Global Market Inc., and the value that will be indicated on any brokerage account statements prepared by Citigroup Global Market Inc. or its affiliates, will reflect a temporary upward adjustment.

 Citigroup Global Market Holdings Inc.s offering of the securities does not constitute a recommendation of the underlying index.

 Governmental regulatory actions, such as sanctions, could adversely affect your investment in the securities.

 The level of the underlying index may be adversely affected by Citigroup Global Market Holdings Inc.s or its affiliates hedging and other trading activities.

 Citigroup Global Market Holdings Inc. and its affiliates may have economic interests that are adverse to yours as a result of the business activities of Citigroup Global Market Holdings Inc.s affiliates.

 The calculation agent, which is an affiliate of Citigroup Global Market Holdings Inc., will make important determinations with respect to the securities.

 Adjustments to the underlying index may affect the value of your securities.

 The U.S. federal tax consequences of an investment in the securities are unclear.

Tax Considerations

You should review carefully the discussion in the accompanying preliminary pricing supplement under the heading United States Federal Tax Considerations concerning the U.S. federal tax consequences of an investment in the securities, and you should consult your tax adviser.
UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

SCHEDULE 13D

Under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

INFORMATION TO BE INCLUDED IN STATEMENTS FILED PURSUANT

TO RULE 13d-1(a) AND AMENDMENTS THERETO FILED PURSUANT TO

RULE 13d-2(a)

JEFFS BRANDS LTD

(Name of Issuer)

ORDINARY SHARES, NO PAR VALUE PER SHARE

(Title of Class of Securities)

M61472102

(CUSIP Number)

Viki Hakmon

3 Hanechoshet Street Tel Aviv, 6971068, Israel

+972-3-6899124

(Name, Address and Telephone Number of Person Authorized to Receive Notices and Communications)

August 30, 2022

(Date of Event which Requires Filing of this Statement)

If the filing person has previously filed a statement on Schedule 13G to report the acquisition that is the subject of this Schedule 13D, and is filing this schedule because of 240.13d-1(e), 240.13d-1(f) or 240.13d-1(g), check the following box. 

Note: Schedules filed in paper format shall include a signed original and five copies of the schedule, including all exhibits. See 240.13d-7 for other parties to whom copies are to be sent.

*The remainder of this cover page shall be filled out for a reporting persons initial filing on this form with respect to the subject class of securities, and for any subsequent amendment containing information which would alter disclosures provided in a prior cover page.

The information required on the remainder of this cover page shall not be deemed to be filed for the purpose of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Act) or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section of the Act but shall be subject to all other provisions of the Act (however, see the Notes).

Page 2 of 6

CUSIP No. M61472102 Schedule 13D

1 NAMES OF REPORTING PERSONS Viki Hakmon 2 CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP (a)  (b)  3 SEC USE ONLY 4 SOURCE OF FUNDS PF, OO 5 CHECK BOX IF DISCLOSURE OF LEGAL PROCEEDINGS IS REQUIRED PURSUANT TO ITEM 2(e) or 2(f)  6 CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION Israel

NUMBER OF SHARES BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON WITH: 7 SOLE VOTING POWER 1,461,078* 8 SHARED VOTING POWER 0 9 SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER 1,461,078* 10 SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER 0

11 AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON 1,461,078 12 CHECK BOX IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (11) EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES  13 PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (11) 18.09%* 14 TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON IN

* Based on a total of 8,074,217 ordinary shares, no par value per share, outstanding as of October 12, 2022, as reported by the Issuer to the Reporting Person.

Page 3 of 6

Item 1. Security and Issuer.

This Statement on Schedule 13 D relates to the ordinary shares, no par value per share (the Ordinary Shares), of Jeffs Brands Ltd, an Israeli company (the Issuer).

The principal executive offices of the Issuer are located at 3 Hanechoshet Street Tel Aviv, 6971068, Israel.

Item 2. Identity and Background.

Viki Hakmon (the Reporting Person) is an Israeli citizen.

The Reporting Persons business address is 3 Hanechoshet Street Tel Aviv, 6971068, Israel.

The principal occupation of the Reporting Person is serving as the Chief Executive Officer and Director of the Issuer, the business address of which is 3 Hanechoshet Street Tel Aviv, 6971068, Israel. The principal business of the Issuer is an e-commerce consumer products goods company, operating primarily on the Amazon.com platform.

During the last five years, the Reporting Person has not been convicted in a criminal proceeding (excluding traffic violations or similar misdemeanors), and he has not been a party to a civil proceeding of a judicial or administrative body of competent jurisdiction such that, as a result of such proceeding, he is or has been subject to a judgment, decree or final order enjoining future violations of, or prohibiting or mandating activities subject to, federal or state securities laws or finding any violation with respect to such laws.

Item 3. Source and Amount of Funds or Other Consideration.

On May 10, 2021, pursuant to a Stock Exchange and Plan of Restructuring Agreement, the Reporting Person contributed to the Issuer all of the equity interests he owned in Smart Repair Pro, a California corporation, and purex Corp., a California corporation, which became wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Issuer, in exchange for 4,997 newly-issued Ordinary Shares.

On February 17, 2022, the Issuer effected a bonus shares issuance (equivalent to a stock dividend) of 664.0547 Ordinary Shares for each Ordinary Share issued and outstanding as of such date, pursuant to which the Reporting Person received 3,313,284 Ordinary Shares.

On May 3, 2022, the Issuer effected a .806-for-1 reverse split of its issued and outstanding Ordinary Shares, pursuant to which holders of Ordinary Shares received ..806 of an Ordinary Share for every one Ordinary Share held as of such date. As a result of such reverse split, the Reporting Person owned 2,674,535 Ordinary Shares.

On June 16, 2022, Issuer effected a 1-for-1.85 reverse split of its issued and outstanding Ordinary Shares, pursuant to which holders of Ordinary Shares received one Ordinary Share for every 1.85 Ordinary Shares held as of such date. As a result of such reverse split, the Reporting Person owned 1,445,695 Ordinary Shares.

On May 23, 2019, Smart Repair Pro, a now subsidiary of the Issuer, entered into loan agreements with the Reporting Person and a third party. During July and August 2019 and April and May 2020, Smart Repair Pro entered into additional loan agreements with the Reporting Person and certain other parties. On May 3, 2022, the Issuer entered into Assignments of Loan Agreements with Smart Repair Pro, the Reporting Person and such other parties, including L.I.A. Pure Capital Ltd. (Pure Capital), pursuant to which the Issuer assumed Smart Repair Pros obligations under the outstanding loans and the Issuer agreed that unless earlier repaid pursuant to the terms of the respective loan agreements with such parties, upon the consummation of the Issuers initial public offering (the IPO), all outstanding principal due to each such party shall be automatically converted into a number of Ordinary Shares equal to the quotient obtained by dividing the outstanding principal amount due to such party, by the per Ordinary Share price of $3.46 per share, obtained by dividing $10,000,000 by the issued and outstanding Ordinary Shares immediately prior to the closing of the IPO. The Issuer completed the IPO on August 30, 2022. As of such date, Smart Repair Pro had outstanding loans to the Reporting Person of $940,000. In accordance with the Reporting Persons assignment agreement, on August 30, 2022, the outstanding principal amount of the loans due to the Reporting Person automatically converted into 271,951 Ordinary Shares and the Issuer issued 15,383 Ordinary Shares to the Reporting Person and the remaining 256,568 Ordinary Shares to Pure Capital at the Reporting Persons instruction pursuant to that certain Call Option Agreement, dated November 14, 2021, between the Reporting Person and Pure Capital.

Page 4 of 6

Item 4. Purpose of Transaction.

All of the Issuers securities owned by the Reporting Person were acquired for investment purposes only.

The Reporting Person may from time to time engage in discussions with the Issuer, its directors and officers, other shareholders of the Issuer and other persons on matters that relate to the management, operations, business, assets, capitalization, financial condition, strategic plans, governance and the future of the Issuer and/or its subsidiaries. Although the Reporting Person has no present intention to do so, he may purchase of Ordinary Shares or other securities of the Issuer from time to time, in the open market or in private transactions depending on his analysis of the Issuers business, prospects and financial condition, the market for such securities, other investment and business opportunities available to him, general economic and stock market conditions, proposals from time to time sought by or presented to him and other factors. The Reporting Person intends to monitor his investments closely and may take advantage of opportunities offered to him from time to time. The Reporting Person may also formulate plans or proposals regarding the Issuer, including possible future plans or proposals concerning events or transactions of the kind described in paragraphs (a) through (j) of Item 4 of Schedule 13D. Depending upon the Reporting Persons continuing review of his investments and various other factors, including those mentioned above, the Reporting Person may (subject to any applicable securities laws and lock-up arrangements) decide to sell all or any part of the Ordinary Shares or other securities owned by him from time to time. However, he has no current plans to do so. Except as set forth above, the Reporting Person has no present plans or proposals that relate to or would result in any of the actions required to be described in subsections (a) through (j) of Item 4 of Schedule 13D. However, the Reporting Person specifically reserves the right to adopt and pursue one or more such plans, and to make such proposals, at any time and from time to time in the future.

Item 5. Interest in Securities of the Issuer.

The information provided herein is based upon 8,074,217 Ordinary Shares issued and outstanding as of October 12, 2022 as reported by the Issuer to the Reporting Person.

(a) The Reporting Person beneficially owns 1,461,078 Ordinary Shares, representing approximately 18.09% of the outstanding Ordinary Shares.

(b) The Reporting Person may be deemed to hold sole voting and dispositive power over 1,461,078 Ordinary Shares of the Issuer .

(c) The Reporting Person has not effected any transactions in the Ordinary Shares in the past 60 days, except as set forth in Item 4, which is incorporated by reference herein.

(d) No other person is known to have the right to receive or the power to direct the receipt of dividends from, or the proceeds from the sale of, the securities beneficially owned by the Reporting Person.

(e) Not applicable.

Item 6. Contracts, Arrangements, Understandings or Relationships with Respect to Securities of the Issuer.

See Item 4 above, which is incorporated by reference herein.

Page 5 of 6

Except as set forth below, there are no present contracts, arrangements, understandings or relationships (legal or otherwise) between the Reporting Person, and any other person with respect to the securities of the Issuer, including, but not limited to, transfer or voting of any of the securities, finders fees, joint ventures, loan or option arrangement, puts or calls, guarantees of profits, division of profits or loss, or the giving or withholding of proxies:

Call Option Agreement

On November 14, 2021, the Reporting Person entered into a Call Option Agreement with Pure Capital pursuant to which the Reporting Person granted to Pure Capital the right to purchase up to 858,823 Ordinary Shares of the Issuer held or acquired or to be acquired by the Reporting Person for an aggregate purchase price of $10,000 (the Call Option). Pure Capital may exercise the Call Option at any time until the earlier of: (i) such time where Pure Capital provides a waiver of its rights under the Call Option; and (ii) when Pure Capital has exercised the Call Option in its entirety. On August 30, 2022, Pure Capital exercised its Call Option with respect to 256,568 Ordinary Shares.

Lock-Up Agreement

On August 25, 2022, in connection with the IPO, the Reporting Person entered into a standard form of Lock-up Agreement with the underwriter of the IPO which closed on August 30, 2022 (the Lock-up Agreement), pursuant to which the Reporting Person agreed that for a period of 180 days from August 26, 2022, subject to certain exceptions, he will not (i) offer, pledge, sell, contract to sell, grant, lend, or otherwise transfer or dispose of, directly or indirectly any Ordinary Shares or any securities convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for Ordinary Shares, (ii) enter into any swap or other arrangement that transfers to another, in whole or in part, any of the economic consequences of ownership of the Ordinary Shares, (iii) make any demand for or exercise any right with respect to the registration of any Ordinary Shares, or (iv) publicly disclose the intention to make any offer, sale, pledge, disposition, or enter into any swap or other agreement that transfers, in whole or in part, any of the economic consequences of ownership of the Ordinary Shares or any such other securities.

Item 7. Material to Be Filed as Exhibits.

Page 6 of 6

SIGNATURE

After a reasonable inquiry and to the best knowledge and belief of the undersigned, the undersigned hereby certifies that the information set forth in this statement is true, complete and correct.

Dated: October 12, 2022

/s/ Viki Hakmon Viki Hakmon

ATTACHMENTS / EXHIBITS

CALL OPTION AGREEMENT, DATED NOVEMBER 14, 2021, BY AND BETWEEN VIKI HAKMON AND L. I. A. PURE CAPITAL LTD
INTRODUCTION

This Amendment No. 1 to Schedule 13E-3 (together with the exhibits hereto, this  Amended Schedule 13E-3  or  Amended Transaction Statement ), which amends and supplements the Rule 13e-3 Transaction Statement on Schedule 13E-3 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the  SEC ) on September 29, 2022 (the  Initial Schedule 13E-3 ), is being filed with the SEC pursuant to Section 13(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (together with the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder, the  Exchange Act ), jointly by the following persons (each, a  Filing Person , and collectively, the  Filing Persons ): (i) Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. (formerly Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.), a corporation continued under the laws of Yukon, Canada and the issuer of the common shares, no par value (the  Shares ) that is subject to the Rule 13e-3 transaction ( Turquoise Hill  or the  Corporation ); (ii) Rio Tinto plc, a public limited company incorporated under the laws of England and Wales (the  Parent ); (iii) Rio Tinto International Holdings Limited, a company incorporated under the laws of England and Wales ( RTIH  or the  Purchaser ); (iv) 7999674 Canada Inc., a company incorporated under the federal laws of Canada ( 7999674 Inc. ); (v) 46117 Yukon Inc., a company incorporated under the laws of Yukon, Canada ( 46117 Inc. ); and (vi) 535630 Yukon Inc., a company incorporated under the laws of Yukon, Canada ( 535630 Inc.  and, together with the Parent, the Purchaser, 7999674 Inc. and 46117 Inc., the  Rio Tinto Filers ).

On September 5, 2022 the Corporation, the Purchaser and the Parent entered into an Arrangement Agreement (as amended, restated, supplemented or otherwise modified from time to time in accordance with its terms, the  Arrangement Agreement ), which provides for, among other things, the acquisition by the Purchaser, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Parent, of all of the issued and outstanding Shares of the Corporation that the Parent or its affiliates do not directly or indirectly own (the  Minority Shares ) through a Plan of Arrangement (the  Plan of Arrangement ) pursuant to Section 195 of the Business Corporations Act (Yukon) ( YBCA ), pursuant to which the Corporation would become an indirectly wholly owned subsidiary of the Parent (the Arrangement). A copy of the Plan of Arrangement is included as Appendix B to the Management Proxy Circular, which is attached as Exhibit (a)(2)(i) hereto (the  Circular ). A special meeting of the Corporations shareholders has been called for November 1, 2022 (the  Meeting ) to consider and, if thought advisable, pass a special resolution approving the Arrangement in the form attached as Appendix A to the Circular (the  Arrangement Resolution ). The Circular has been provided to the Corporations shareholders pursuant to applicable Canadian law. Capitalized terms used but not expressly defined in this Amended Schedule 13E-3 are given the respective meanings given to them in the Circular.

All information set forth in this Amended Transaction Statement should be read in conjunction with the information contained or incorporated by reference in the Initial Schedule 13E-3.

All information contained in, or incorporated by reference to, this Amended Transaction Statement concerning each Filing Person has been supplied by such Filing Person.

-1-
If filing as a non-U.S. institution in accordance with  240.13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(J), please specify the type of institution:

Item 4. Ownership.

Provide the following information regarding the aggregate number and percentage of the class of securities of the issuer identified in Item 1.

(a) Amount beneficially owned:

304,485

(b) Percent of class:

4.1% of the 7,435,586 shares outstanding as reported in the Issuers Registration Statement on Form S-3 filed on August 15, 2022.

(c) Number of shares as to which the person has:

(i) Sole power to vote or to direct the vote:

304,485

(ii) Shared power to vote or to direct the vote:

0

(iii) Sole power to dispose or to direct the disposition of:

304,485

(iv) Shared power to dispose or to direct the disposition of:

0

Item 5. Ownership of Five Percent or Less of a Class.

If this statement is being filed to report the fact that as of the date hereof the reporting person has ceased to be the beneficial owner of more than five percent of the class of securities, check the following .

Item 6. Ownership of More than Five Percent on Behalf of Another Person.

Not Applicable

Item 7. Identification and Classification of the Subsidiary Which Acquired the Security Being Reported on By the Parent Holding Company or Control Person.

Not Applicable

Item 8. Identification and Classification of Members of the Group.

Not Applicable

Item 9. Notice of Dissolution of Group.

Not Applicable
Advisor to the Supreme Leader of Iran on international affairs, former foreign minister of Iran Ali Akbar Velayati said that Tehran is ready to act as a mediator in the relations between Yerevan and Baku.

October 12, 2022, 15:16 Tehran ready to act as mediator between Yerevan and Baku

STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 12, ARTSAKHPRESS: When asked whether Iran is ready to act as a mediator in the relations between neighbor Armenia and Azerbaijan, he told RIA Novosti: Yes, of course.

Ali Akbar Velayati said that among various regions close to Iran, the region of South Caucasus is of special significance to Tehran. In this respect, we show more sensitivity and attention to our neighbors (Armenia and Azerbaijan), he said.

According to him, one of the highly important factors for the establishment of peace between the countries is the maintenance of the known historical borders.
(Tribune News Service)  Jondanae Garza was in elementary school when the first cut of steel for the USS Gerald R. Ford was made in 2005. Now 17 years later, she shares a milestone with the Navys newest and most technologically advanced warship  both are deploying for the first time.

The Ford departed Oct. 4 from Naval Station Norfolk, embarking on a two-month-long deployment to train with North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies. During the special deployment, which comes after nearly two decades of construction, the crew will hone the capabilities of the warships 23 new technologies.

One of those technologies is the advanced damage control system  a unique system Garza has learned as part of her duties as a second class hull maintenance technician for the ship. She is one of 26, among a crew of approximately 4,000 sailors, who work with this new technology.

Some of my friends  other sailors  are jealous that I am on this carrier, 25-year-old Garza said with a laugh. Being on this ship, with it being a brand new classification, there is a lot of cool stuff on here.

The Ford is the first new class of aircraft carrier designed in over four decades, ushering in a new generation of warships outfitted with never-before-seen technologies intended to boost the Navys striking power for at least the next 50 years. The Navy invited reporters aboard the $13 billion carrier two days after it deployed to see some of the technology in action, which includes new aircraft-launching technology, electromagnetic weapons elevators and dual-band radar.

The warship is carrying the Navy into the 21st century, said Capt. Paul Lanzilotta.

I dont like buzzwords, so Im not gonna say game changer or transformational, but its the now, Lanzilotta said of the Ford.

The new technology extends beyond the warships defensive capabilities.

Below deck, the advanced damage control system allows Garzas team to easily plot the location of fires and flooding  or anything that would threaten the survivability of the more than 1,100-foot-long carrier. That enables the Fords Damage Control Division to quickly dispatch sailors, whether they be hull technicians like Garza or firefighting damage control members, to the incident.

You type it in to the advanced damage control system, then boom, its right there. You are able to think faster about what is needed to respond and you know exactly where you are going, Garza said.

The easy-to-use touchscreen program replaces paper plotting across several pages of the ships blueprints with a grease pencil, cutting the divisions response time down by about 10 valuable minutes, Garza said. The system also allows for quick searches of necessary equipment and parts to make repairs, rather than manual searches through drawers.

Garza, who is a Norfolk transplant from Las Vegas, reported to the Ford in 2020. While she has spent the past two years learning the ins and outs of the ship, the past two months have been dedicated to mastering the advanced damage control system.

Just days into the first deployment, the system, Garza said, has already reduced vulnerabilities caused by human error and communication breaks. When someone called in a potential issue over radio, damage control members were dispatched to the wrong location on the ship.

When they caught it from central control, plotting from the advanced damage control system, they got the right location and called us on our radios, so we were able to correct ourselves quickly, Garza said.

Garza also works with the machinery control and monitoring system, another technology that is unique to the Ford. The system features sensors that detect flooding and when the sprinklers have been activated, and immediately alerts watchstanders.

As soon as those sensors kick off, we are able to go do our task, Garza said.

The Ford is the first of a series of new carriers to be completed that will replace the current Nimitz class. It will be joined by the John F. Kennedy in 2024. The Enterprise is scheduled to join the fleet in 2028 and the Doris Miller in 2032.

Cmdr. Jim Gun Boss Fish said the Fords sailors will be instrumental in training future generations of service members for this new generation of carriers.

There are sailors on board here who are learning about this ship. And theyre going to do and teach things about the ship that their grandkids are going to carry with them when theyre on the Doris Miller, Fish said.

In the meantime, some of the technology that makes the Ford-class carriers so unique will be implemented in the Nimitz class warships to improve the capabilities of the Navys older warships. For Garza, this means she will have the opportunity to step up as a leader when she is transferred to another carrier in the coming years.

When I go to a different type of ship I can help junior sailors. I can try to summarize (the new methods) so they understand it and I can go on to the advanced damage control system and show them how to use it, Garza said.

According to Garza, fresh sailors will adjust quickly to the high-tech carrier because the digital systems throughout the warship replaces dated methods with a technology they are familiar with  touchscreens. At the Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center in Norfolk, where Garza was previously assigned, everything was keyboard-centric.

When I got here, it was way easier. (The touchscreens) and how to actually use (the advanced damage control system) are super easy to understand, Garza said.

Garza will be attached to the Ford until 2025. She said she hopes her next carrier will be a Nimitz class  for the experience.

But I am so used to the Ford and the new tech, maybe I need to try for the USS John F. Kennedy, she said.

caitlyn.burchett@virginiamedia.com

2022 The Virginian-Pilot.

Visit pilotonline.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
DAKAR, Senegal  A new liquefied natural gas project off Africa's western coast may only be 80% complete, but already the prospect of a new energy supplier has drawn visits from the leaders of Poland and Germany.

The initial field near Senegal and Mauritania's coastlines is expected to contain about 15 trillion cubic feet (425 billion cubic meters) of gas, five times more than what gas-dependent Germany used in all of 2019. But production isn't expected to start until the end of next year.

That won't help solve Europe's energy crisis triggered by Russia's war in Ukraine. Still, Gordon Birrell, an executive for project co-developer BP, says the development "could not be more timely" as Europe seeks to reduce its reliance on Russian natural gas to power factories, generate electricity and heat homes.

"Current world events are demonstrating the vital role that (liquid gas) can play in underpinning the energy security of nations and regions," he told an energy industry meeting in West Africa last month.

While Africa's natural gas reserves are vast and North African countries like Algeria have pipelines already linked to Europe, a lack of infrastructure and security challenges have long stymied producers in other parts of the continent from scaling up exports. Established African producers are cutting deals or reducing energy use so they have more to sell to boost their finances, but some leaders warn that hundreds of millions of Africans lack electricity and supplies are needed at home.

Nigeria has Africa's largest natural gas reserves, said Horatius Egua, a spokesman for the petroleum minister, though it accounts for only 14% of the European Union's imports of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, that comes by ship. Projects face the risk of energy thefts and high costs. Other promising countries like Mozambique have discovered large gas reserves only to see projects delayed by violence from Islamic militants.

Europe has been scrambling to secure alternative sources as Moscow has reduced natural gas flows to EU countries, triggering soaring energy prices and growing expectations of a recession. The 27-nation EU, whose energy ministers are meeting this week to discuss a gas price cap, is bracing for the possibility of a complete Russian cutoff but has still managed to fill gas reserves to 90%.

European leaders have flocked to countries like Norway, Qatar, Azerbaijan and especially those in North Africa, where Algeria has a pipeline running to Italy and another to Spain.

Italy signed a $4 billion gas deal with Algeria in July, a month after Egypt reached an agreement with the European Union and Israel to boost sales of LNG. Angola also has signed a gas deal with Italy.

While an earlier agreement allowed Italy's biggest energy company to start production at two Algerian gas fields this week, it wasn't clear when flows would start from the July deal because it lacked specifics, analysts said.

African leaders like Senegalese President Macky Sall want their countries to cash in on these projects even as they're dissuaded from pursuing fossil fuels. They don't want to export it all either  an estimated 600 million Africans lack access to electricity.

"It is legitimate, fair and equitable that Africa, the continent that pollutes the least and lags furthest behind in the industrialization process should exploit its available resources to provide basic energy, improve the competitiveness of its economy and achieve universal access to electricity," Sall told the U.N. General Assembly last month.

Algeria is a major supplier  it and Egypt accounted for 60% of the natural gas production in Africa in 2020  but it can't offset Russian gas to Europe at this stage, said Mahfoud Kaoubi, professor of economics and specialist in energy issues at the University of Algiers.

"Russia has an annual production of 270 billion cubic meters  it's huge," Kaoubi said. "Algeria is 120 billion cubic meters, of which 70.50% is intended for consumption on the internal market."

This year, Algeria is forecast to have piped exports of 31.8 billion cubic meters, according to Tom Purdie, a Europe, Middle East and Africa gas analyst with S&P Global Commodity Insights.

"The key concern here surrounds the level of production step-up that can be achieved, and the impact domestic demand could have" given how much gas Algeria uses at home, Purdie said.

Cash-strapped Egypt also is looking to export more natural gas to Europe, even regulating air conditioning in shopping malls and lights on streets to save energy and sell it instead.

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly says Egypt hopes to bring in an additional $450 million a month in foreign currency by rerouting 15% of its domestic gas usage for export, state media reported.

More than 60% of Egypt's natural gas consumption still is used by power stations to keep the country running. Most of its LNG goes to Asian markets.

A new, three-party deal will see Israel send more gas to Europe via Egypt, which has facilities to liquefy it for export by sea. The EU says it will help the two countries increase gas production and exploration.

In Nigeria, ambitious plans have yet to yield results despite years of planning. The country exported less than 1% of its vast natural gas reserves last year.

A proposed 2,734-mile-long pipeline that would take Nigerian gas to Algeria through Niger has been stalled since 2009, mainly because of its estimated cost of $13 billion.

Many fear that even if completed, the Trans-Sahara Gas Pipeline would face security risks like Nigeria's oil pipelines, which have come under frequent attacks from militants and vandals.

The same challenges would hinder increased gas exports to Europe, said Olufola Wusu, a Lagos-based oil and gas expert.

"If you look at the realities on ground  issues that have to do with crude oil theft  and others begin to question our ability to supply gas to Europe," he said.

Wusu urged pursuing LNG, calling it the "most profitable" gas strategy so far.

Even that isn't without issues: In July, the head of Nigeria LNG Limited, the country's largest natural gas firm, said its plant was producing at just 68% of capacity, mainly because its operations and earnings have been stifled by oil theft.

In the south, Mozambique is slated to become a major exporter of LNG after significant deposits were found along its Indian Ocean coast in 2010. France's TotalEnergies invested $20 billion and started work to extract gas that would be liquefied in a plant it was building in Palma, in the northern Cabo Delgado province.

But Islamic extremist violence forced TotalEnergies to indefinitely scupper the project last year. Mozambican officials have pledged to secure the Palma area to allow work to resume.

Italian firm Eni, meanwhile, pressed ahead with plans to pump and liquefy some of its gas deposits discovered in Mozambique in 2011 and 2014. Eni established a platform in the Indian Ocean 50 miles (80 kilometers) offshore, away from the violence in Cabo Delgado.

It's the first floating LNG facility in the deep waters off Africa, Eni says, with gas liquefaction capacity of 3.4 million tons per year.

The platform liquefied its first gas on Oct. 2, according to Africa Energy, and the first shipment is expected to depart for Europe in mid-October.

AP reporters Chinedu Asadu in Abuja, Nigeria; Aya Batrawy in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Samy Magdy in Cairo; Andrew Meldrum in Johannesburg; and Colleen Barry in Milan contributed.
WARSAW, Poland  Canada will deploy approximately 40 combat engineers to NATO ally Poland to train Ukrainian sappers in de-mining, engineer reconnaissance and explosives, the Canadian defense minister said Tuesday.

Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand made the announcement during a visit to Warsaw. At a briefing alongside her Polish counterpart, Mariusz Blaszczak, Anand said Canadian combat engineers would begin helping Polish forces train Ukrainian sappers in the coming weeks.

She said the training would complement training that Canada is already giving to Ukrainians in the U.K.

Anand also signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen defense cooperation between Poland and Canada.

She visited Warsaw a day after Russia unleashed dozens of missiles on cities across Ukraine, a move she strongly criticized.

"Canada wholeheartedly condemns those brutal strikes against civilian targets and infrastructure," she told reporters at a later briefing in front of the Canadian Embassy. "Those strikes constitute a war crime and Canada and I in particular find that conduct completely reprehensible, unjustified and illegal."

She said she would be announcing further military aid to Ukraine in Brussels, where she was headed next for meetings, including with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico  The U.S. government will pull visas belonging to current and former Haitian government officials involved with gangs and other criminal organizations as well as provide security and humanitarian assistance to Haiti, senior U.S. officials said Wednesday.

The officials spoke to reporters by telephone on condition of anonymity as a U.S. delegation was arriving in the Caribbean country that has been paralyzed by gangs and antigovernment protests and is facing severe shortages of water, fuel and other basic supplies.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement Wednesday that the U.S. will increase security assistance to Haitis National Police to strengthen their capacity to counter gangs and reestablish a stable security environment.

The U.S. officials who briefed reporters declined to name which Haitian officials would see their visas revoked or how many would be affected, adding only that the measure also applies to their immediate family members.

The U.S. officials also said the government is working with Mexico on a U.N. resolution proposing specific sanctions and additional measures to address the many challenges Haiti faces.

The officials declined to say how the upcoming aid would be distributed, although they noted that the U.S. Coast Guard deployed a major cutter at the request of local officials. The agency said it diverted a 270-foot (82-meter) cutter to patrol waters near the capital of Port-au-Prince.

Officials also declined to say when, how and what kind of security and humanitarian assistance will be deployed, adding only that supplies such as bleach, water jugs and oral rehydration salts will be distributed amid the cholera outbreak.

As of Sunday, authorities in Haiti had reported 18 deaths and more than 260 suspected cases of cholera in Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas.

Cholera has arrived amid serious ongoing social and political unrest, said Dr. Carissa Etienne, director of the Pan American Health Organization, adding that the situation complicates "efforts to provide humanitarian assistance and to respond the outbreak.

Etienne warned on Wednesday that cases are likely significantly higher than what's being reported because they are concentrated in areas affected by escalating street violence and gang activity.

Brian Nichols, U.S. assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, flew to Haiti on Wednesday for meetings with politicians and civil society leaders, including Prime Minister Ariel Henry and a prominent group that has pushed to lead a two-year transitional government and opposed Henry's petition for foreign troops.

Nichols was accompanied by the military deputy commander of the Defense Department's Southern Command, White House senior advisers and other officials.

The trip comes just days after Henry requested the immediate deployment of foreign troops to help with security. Gangs have blockaded a major fuel depot and protests against Henry have added to the problems.

The delegation will assess how the U.S. government can continue to provide various forms of assistance and promote accountability for those responsible for criminal acts, the U.S. State Department said.

Since last year, the U.S. has provided Haiti with more than $170 million in humanitarian assistance and another $90 million to strengthen Haiti's National Police. But the department remains understaffed and has limited resources, with only about a third of some 13,000 officers operational in a country of more than 11 million people where gangs have grown more powerful since President Jovenel Moise was assassinated in July 2021.

The United Nations Security Council is scheduled to discuss Henry's request later this month. In a letter sent to the council Sunday that was viewed by The Associated Press, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres offered several options, including a rapid action force.

It was not clear whether the U.N. or individual countries or both would send troops under such a plan.

One senior official said it was premature to talk solely about a U.S. security presence, adding that the government was exploring a number of options with the international community and that it doesn't have to be limited to boots on the ground.

One month has passed since one of Haitis most powerful gangs surrounded a key fuel terminal in the capital of Port-au-Prince, preventing the distribution of some 10 million gallons of gasoline and diesel and more than 800,000 gallons of kerosene stored on site.

In addition, protesters have blocked streets in the capital and other major cities to demand Henrys resignation. Prices have soared since the prime minister last month announced that his administration could no longer afford to subsidize fuel.

On Monday, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said that the U.S. government wants to be prudent and responsible in terms of what any such action might look like."

Associated Press writer Gisela Salomon in Miami contributed to this report.
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan  Civilian employees of the Defense Department in Japan are petitioning Congress to stop the Pentagon from moving their health care from military medical facilities to local, civilian providers.

A group of DOD civilians launched the drive Monday on their Facebook page, the Japan Civilian Medical Forum. The petition, DOD Civilian Families in a Healthcare Crisis, asks lawmakers to preserve civilians access to routine health care at military hospitals and protect them from denials by off-base providers.

The forum believes that DOD will sever medical care for many of its civilian employees in Japan completely by 2024.

Defense Health Agency spokeswoman Whitney Trimble said Wednesday that much of what the forum has said is false. In particular, a document called the Civilian Advocacy Package that supports claims made in the petition, while well-intentioned,  is rife with incorrect information, she told Stars and Stripes in an email Tuesday.

Service members and Tricare Prime beneficiaries have priority at military treatment facilities, she wrote. Tricare is the militarys health care system for service members, dependents and retirees.

Others, however, including those covered by Tricare for Life, Tricare Select and other insurance plans, are seen on a space-available basis, Trimble wrote.

Many DOD civilians are not covered by Tricare. Employees of the Department of Defense Education Activity, the DOD schools for military families, for example, are insured by the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, according to the DODEA website.

Other civilian jobs, including those in military commissaries, are also covered by the federal program; some civilian jobs come with health insurance from contracted private insurers like Aetna International.

No space available

Those employees are vulnerable if space becomes scarce at U.S. military hospitals in Japan, as it did in September at Naval Hospital Yokosuka. Trimble said the decision to send those patients off base came after an assessment discovered the hospital did not have space available to see non-Tricare Prime eligible beneficiaries.

DOD civilians may still be treated for medical emergencies and fill their prescriptions at the base hospital.

About 4,000 of the 27,000 people attached to the base are not covered by any Tricare program, the hospitals executive officer, Capt. Jenny Burkett, said in September. The Japan Civilian Medical Forum says DOD civilian employees and their families number more than 10,000 in Japan.

The forum claims to represent groups of DOD civilians and their families at bases around Japan, including Yokota Air Base, the home of U.S. Forces Japan in western Tokyo; Camp Zama, headquarters of U.S. Army Japan just outside Tokyo; Yokosuka Naval Base, homeport of the U.S. 7th Fleet south of Yokohama; and U.S. bases on Okinawa.

Access to health care for DOD civilians at bases where they live and work was stripped away without warning in the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, according to the forums petition.

More than 350 people had signed the petition by noon Wednesday.

The forum claims DHA has staffed U.S. military treatment facilities in Japan only to the extent that they can treat active-duty service members and their families and is moving to restrict all medical care access for civilians by 2024.

Trimble rebutted that and said DHA has made no staffing changes at overseas or stateside treatment facilities.

Quality medical care

According to the petition, civilians will be forced to seek care from Japanese medical professionals in opposition to DHAs caveat that resource changes be made contingent on availability of quality medical care in the local community.

In August, the 374th Medical Group at Yokota began limiting its routine pediatric services and management of chronic medical conditions to Tricare Prime enrollees.

Connie Wood, 57, a DODEA teacher at Yokota Middle School, said she signed the petition because foreigners have difficulty finding medical care in Japan, even in emergency situations.

Last year I had what I and the base urgent care believed at the time to be a heart attack, she told Stars and Stripes over Facebook Messenger on Tuesday. As I lay in the emergency bay being cared for by base physicians, they had to call around to multiple places to find a hospital that would take me. If I had to do that on my own my outcome could have been much worse. I couldnt call hospitals or drive on my own. This is a problem unique to Japan.

Japanese facilities by law may turn away civilian patients it does not have sufficient resources to treat, including language support, according to the petition.

English-speaking physicians and medical facilities that cater to U.S. citizens expectations are expensive and not widely available, the petition claims, citing information from the U.S. Embassy in Japan. The petition says medical caregivers in Japan require payment in full at the time of treatment or concrete proof of ability to pay before they will treat a foreigner.

Japanese standards sometimes differ from U.S. standards and some types of care and prescription medicine can be difficult to obtain, according to the petition.

One of the things that frustrates me is that this issue has been framed as if civilians are taking medical care from active duty and that is the wrong attitude, forum member Alexandra Cummings, a DOD civilian spouse at Yokosuka, told Stars and Stripes by phone Tuesday.

We have a group of mission-critical people who are doing their darndest to support the base, she said. We are your teachers, we are your engineers, we are your lawyers, we are your law enforcement.
The Marine Corps is pairing long-range rocket systems that have proved their worth in Ukraine with stealth fighters for training in Japan and the Philippines, a tactic that experts claim may help deter Chinese aggression.

F-35B Lightning IIs and High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, are in drills with 3,000 Marines on Japans northern island of Hokkaido and on the Philippines main island of Luzon. The two exercises  Kamandag in the Philippines and Resolute Dragon in Japan - began early this month and conclude Friday.

Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger touted the exercises in a series of tweets Friday and Saturday that noted the allies involved, which include South Korea, and the impressive weapon systems deployed in a geographically distributed environment.

The stealth jets in the Philippines, from Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121 of Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, will support ground troops during live-fire training Thursday, said 3rd Marine Division operations officer Col. Darryl Ayers.

For the Marines on the ground, all they know is that theyre getting support from an aircraft, he told Stars and Stripes by phone Tuesday from Fort Bonifacio in Manila. The F-35 is a highly capable aircraft but, on the ground, as long as theyre getting the support that they requested they dont really care whats up there.

The Marines variant of the joint strike fighter can take off from short runways and hover to land vertically. The jets stealth capabilities make it hard for the enemy to detect, and its computers can share targeting data with other aircraft and weapons.

Two HIMARS units from 3rd Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment out of Camp Hansen, Okinawa, will also conduct live-fire in support of U.S. and Philippine troops at Crow Valley Military Reservation north of Clark Air Base, Ayers said.

The truck-mounted HIMARS can strike targets 50 miles away and rapidly move around the battlefield making it tough for the enemy to pinpoint. The Defense Department, which has sent 20 HIMARS launchers to Ukraine to help battle Russian invaders, announced the shipment of four more of the weapons Oct. 4.

F-35Bs from Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 242, also based at Iwakuni, and four more HIMARS from 3rd Battalion are on Hokkaido for a live-fire event scheduled Friday, 3rd Marine Division spokesman Lt. Col. Kurt Stahl said in an email Wednesday.

The ability to operate the stealth jets and long-range rocket systems from the Philippines gives the U.S. more options in a Taiwan contingency and could complicate Chinese calculations, Ian Chong, an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, said in an email Wednesday.

Chinese efforts to reunify Taiwan, a thriving democracy that the communists regard as a rebellious province, are a potential source of conflict.

President Joe Biden said in a CBS "60 Minutes" interview aired Sept. 18 that U.S. troops would defend Taiwan if China invaded, although the White House later walked back those comments. It did the same after the president made a similar statement while visiting Japan in May.

The stealth jets and artillery that the Marines are training with this month could be used to thwart an adversarys amphibious assault in the Indo-Pacific, or launch their own, New Zealand-based U.S. security expert Paul Buchanan said in an email Wednesday.

This months training in the Philippines also involves Japanese and South Korean troops. U.S., Philippine and South Korean marines stormed a Luzon beach on Friday, Ayers said.

The US Marines have been looking at HIMARS in an anti-ship role, and the northern Philippines is very near Taiwan, Chong said. Of course, such capabilities are equally applicable to a South China Sea contingency. Such cooperation could make the Philippines a potential target for [Peoples Republic of China] pressure, or even strikes in an emergency, however.
TAIPEI, Taiwan (Tribune News Service)  As the Taiwanese government seeks to respond to Chinas unification pressure campaign, a significant impediment is the self-governing islands own political polarization  which, in some respects, is worsening.

Taiwan is a young democracy, having only held its first direct presidential election in 1996. For much of Taiwans history, it was under one-party authoritarian rule by the Kuomintang (KMT), now the main opposition party.

This recent history, as well as an identity crisis KMT is going through over its own long-term policy platform on relations with Beijing, have combined to make it more difficult for the government of President Tsai Ing-wen of the center-left Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to push through reforms aimed at curbing Chinese influence in Taiwanese society.

Local disinformation experts and democracy advocates say Beijings actions are aimed at spreading discord and dissent among Taiwanese society, as well as suspicion of the United States and other Asian democracies such as Japan.

The challenge we are facing now is Taiwan is a democracy, its very transparent, its open, and China has been using our openness, our transparency, and our freedom to weaken and undermine our democracy, said Chih-Cheng Lo, a Taiwanese lawmaker with the governing DPP and a primary advocate of legislation that would limit Chinas influence operations via the media and political campaigns inside Taiwan.

There is some divergence in Taiwanese polling  depending on the polling firm and how the question is framed  around public sentiments about formally declaring independence from China versus maintaining the status quo of de facto sovereignty without announcing independence. But it is clear that the vast majority of Taiwanese increasingly favor one of those two positions rather than the long-standing position of KMT; the party has advocated for eventual unification with China, with the important caveat of the island being under Taiwanese rule.

Taiwanese support for unification has gradually declined since the 1990s and Taiwans transition into a full democracy. Only a combined 6.5 percent of the public supports either immediate unification or maintaining the status quo while moving towards unification with Beijing, according to June polling by the Election Study Center of National Chengchi University.

Meanwhile, the pro-independence camp, whether it is declared immediately or at some future date, saw support from 30.3 percent of those surveyed. Support for maintaining the status quo had the most support, at 56.9 percent.

In August, China retaliated against Taiwan for House Speaker Nancy Pelosis visit to the island with military exercises that practiced encirclement tactics that could be used in a blockade attempt. After those drills, support among surveyed Taiwanese for full-blown independence stood at 50 percent, with 25.7 percent supporting maintaining the status quo, according to August polling by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation.

The same survey found that the center-left DPP had the highest party affiliation at 30.2 percent with the center-right KMT a distant second with 16.5 percent. Self-described independents were 33.9 percent of those polled.

Unique fault lines

In an important way, Taiwans political system is different than the democratic systems in other countries, where fault lines may exist over differences of ideology, religion or political party affiliation.

Taiwan is very special. It is an outlier in global comparative politics because the main fault line is in voters outlook on the future of Taiwans relationship with China, said Marcin Jerzewski, who leads the Taiwan Office of the European Values Center, a pro-liberal democracy nongovernmental organization founded in the Czech Republic.

In this way, because the vast majority of Taiwanese voters appear to have irrevocably turned against unification with China  due to a combination of aversion to Chinas increasing authoritarian turn under President Xi Jinping as well as their own pride in their hard-fought democratic freedoms  KMT is at an inflection point if it wants to be able to compete in national elections, according to experts.

Jerzewski said KMT, which last won the presidency in 2012, is going through an identity crisis. Its party leaders understand that it must adopt policies that are less accommodating of Beijing if it wishes to take back power from the DPP. But a strong and politically engaged rump of the party consistently pulls the leadership back every time they try to toughen their stance toward China, including through supporting closer alignment with the United States.

Those traditional fault lines are changing, and the KMT doesnt really have a good idea for how to craft their own China policy because, yes, there are some deep blue people who want the KMT to be the party that pushes for unification, but at the end of day they are fringe elements within the party, Jerzewski said, referring to the hardcore supporters of KMT, whose official party color is blue.

And because KMT has no long-term answer yet for how it resolves the competing wishes of its older, more pro-China voters and the younger generations of pro-democracy voters it is trying to win over, party leaders have resorted to focusing on attacking DPP to inflame partisan sentiments and distract voters from their own internal discord over their China policy, said Jerzewski, whose office has a close relationship with the Taiwan NextGen Foundation think tank, which has ties with the DPP.

I think that this identity crisis for the main opposition party is turning politics to be more partisan, its making cross-partisanship more difficult, and it is changing the debate where those short-term issues, those short-term scandals are what the parties capitalize on, because it is easier than the long-term debate, he said.

Nearly 60 percent of KMT supporters opposed Pelosis visit to Taiwan this summer, according to the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation survey.

KMT party officials defended their China policy, noted that they have backed policies to boost Taiwans defense capabilities toward China and played down reports of internal tensions over the future direction of their party.

We wont give up dialogue with mainland China. But in the meantime, we support strengthening our national defense power in every dimension, whether thats arm sales or our [mandatory military] service time or to expanding military training. This is our new policy, said Alfred Chia Hsing Lin, a deputy communications director of KMT.

He said large majorities of surveyed Taiwanese support KMTs focus on dialogue and keeping lines of communication open with Beijing, which he argued DPP has only given lip service toward while actually pursuing policies of provoking China.

Countering China

The high degree of political polarization inside Taiwan has some Taiwanese democracy activists, experts and DPP lawmakers worried that they are losing valuable time to push through parliament what they argue are needed regulatory reforms to reduce Chinas ability to influence Taiwans democracy.

In 2020, Taiwans parliament passed the Anti-Infiltration Act, which Lo of the DPP was a sponsor of. The law prohibits Taiwanese entities from accepting funding from hostile foreign sources in order to influence elections and referendums. The KMT strongly opposed the measure and accused the DPP of moving toward authoritarianism.

Lo acknowledged that those types of accusations are very politically sensitive for the DPP because of how deeply the partys supporters value liberal democratic values, especially freedom of speech.

Thats the burden we are carrying right now, especially for our party, who have been fighting for democracy, freedom and so on, he said in an interview in his parliament office here. So anything that has to do with censoring speech or trying to expand the role of the state in regulating the society, some people in our party and outside our party are saying, No, thats not the values that we embrace.

Still, Lo wants to pursue additional legislative regulatory changes to reduce Chinas influence operations inside Taiwan, which he said have become more sophisticated and subtle.

After the 2014 Sunflower Movement  a Taiwanese student-led protest movement against a trade pact with China pushed by the former KMT government that opponents felt would give the Chinese government too much influence over Taiwans economy  Beijing began to shift its influence operations strategy for Taiwan, said Puma Shen, the chairperson of DoubleThink Lab.

They kind of changed their strategy after that, thinking that they can only spread pro-China messages for the elderly in Taiwan.  But for the younger generation, lots of them just do not believe in China, so if you spread a pro-China argument it could backfire. So they decided to spread other conspiracy theories to our younger generations, said Shen, whose Taipei-based research organization seeks to document and expose Chinese disinformation not only in Taiwan but around the world.

Rather than promoting Chinese policies, Beijings disinformation aimed at Taiwans younger generation, most frequently through the social media platforms that are popular in Taiwan, like LINE. The efforts are often focused on attacking and lowering public opinion of the United States and Japan, said Shen.

That could include, for example, the promotion of arguments that Washington is behaving hypocritically in accusing Beijing of human rights violations for its treatment of ethnic Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang region when the United States own mass incarceration policies have had a disproportionate impact on Black Americans.

So even if they [young Taiwanese] do not believe in China, they do not believe in the U.S. and Japan also, said Shen, who last year conducted a small survey of roughly 200 Taiwanese college students that found significant numbers of them had been exposed to negative online opinions about the United States and Japan. Thats a problem because in the long-run they might say, U.S. is the devil and maybe China is not that bad. Thats the ideology that China wants to spread.

Chinese misinformation and disinformation operations are taking place every day inside Taiwan through both mainstream media outlets controlled by Pan Blue-aligned Taiwanese conglomerates  which have become both more vulnerable and sympathetic toward Beijing because of their extensive business investments inside China  as well as through social media, according to experts.

Billion Lee, the co-founder of the CoFacts website, a community-run collaboration for fact-checking stories and rumors circulating online in Taiwan, said she is seeing a lot of disinformation in the form of images, photos, short videos and audio clips as well as content farm articles coming into Taiwan from abroad, though identifying the exact origination point can be difficult due to widespread usage of virtual private networks, or VPNs.

The disinformation is often pushed through the social media messaging app LINE, which is used by an estimated 90 percent of the Taiwanese population, as well as WeChat, the Chinese instant messaging app, Lee said.

Facebook and TikTok, which is owned by a Chinese company, also play a role in spreading disinformation.

But it is LINE, which is also massively popular in Japan and Thailand, that is the most worrisome due to its ubiquity in Taiwanese society, as well as the closed chat rooms the app is modeled around, she said. Those make it difficult to know how far disinformation is spreading among Taiwanese users and what its impact is on them.

Annabelle Chih, a local journalist, contributed to this report. Reporting for this article was made possible by a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

2022 CQ-Roll Call, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

Visit cqrollcall.com.

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American suppliers are beginning to withdraw staff from one of Chinas leading chip companies in the wake of new U.S. regulations, a blow to Communist Party efforts to build a vibrant domestic technology industry.

Applied Materials Inc., KLA Corp. and Lam Research Corp. have started or are preparing to pull employees from Yangtze Memory Technologies Co., the countrys most advanced maker of memory chips, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because the moves are private. The withdrawals are coming this week, the people said, following new regulations from the Biden administration last week that ban Chinese companies from buying advanced chip-making equipment or employing American citizens without a license.

Yangtze Memory was also among more than 30 organizations that the U.S. Commerce Department put on its so-called unverified list, which restricts their ability to buy American technology.

Companies like Applied Materials that produce chip-making machines often send employees to customer facilities to help them fine-tune the manufacturing processes. Its not clear whether the companies are pulling staff because of Yangtze Memorys placement on the unverified list or because of other restrictions. The U.S. companies need to assess their constraints under the Biden administrations rules.

Yangtze Memory will likely be able keep operating some production lines on stockpiled components, one of the people said.

The company didnt immediately respond to requests for comment. The Wall Street Journal reported some details of the Yangtze supplier moves earlier.

The severity of the U.S. regulations stunned many in the chip industry, potentially jeopardizing the operations for hundreds of Chinese semiconductor companies. The Biden administration argued the regulations are necessary to prevent the Communist Party from becoming more of an economic and military threat.

China has ambitious goals to develop its supercomputers and become a leader in artificial intelligence, said Thea D. Rozman Kendler, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration. It is using these capabilities to monitor, track and surveil their own citizens, and fuel its military modernization.

The Chinese government has made it a national priority to build a domestic semiconductor industry, pouring tens of billions of dollars into the effort. This year, President Xi Jinping renewed calls for the country to develop the technologies critical for national security, invoking the so-called whole nation system that propelled Chinas space and nuclear weapons programs

The Biden rules dealt a serious setback to that effort. Chip stocks and related companies tumbled across the country. Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. fell 9.3% over three days, as as Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Charles Shum slashed his estimate on 2023 growth by 50%. Naura Technology Group Co., a leading chip equipment maker, fell by its daily limit for two days in a row.

Applied Materials shares were up less than 1% in New York on Wednesday morning, while Lam Research gained about 1%. KLA was little changed.
(Tribune News Service)  Russias plunder of the biggest nuclear power plant in Europe risks undercutting efforts to establish a security zone around the reactors and has narrowed the room for diplomacy with international monitors, according to analysts.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi met Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday in St. Petersburg to discuss nuclear safety concerns around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, according to the Kremlin.

Russia claimed ownership over the plant  home to six reactors built to supply a fifth of Ukraines electricity  last week as part of a wider annexation of occupied territory in Ukraine in a move condemned by the United Nations. Moscow also told the plants Ukrainian staff to reapply with Russian state-owned atomic energy company Rosatom to keep their jobs.

The theft of the site is complicating IAEA talks to create a safety zone around the plant after repeated attacks cut power and water supplies, forcing the reactors to shut down.

The risk is that if the IAEA makes a deal with Russia that enables improvement of security and safety around the plant, the agency could appear to be legitimizing Russian claims of sovereignty over the territory, said the Berlin-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace analysts Mark Hibbs.

Grossi has been shuttling between European capitals in an attempt to advance his agencys proposed security zone around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, known as ZNPP.

Putin told Grossi that Russia is open to dialog and seeks to tone down dangerous nuclear rhetoric, according to the Kremlin.

A protection zone must be established, Grossi said in a statement. We cant afford to lose any more time. We must do everything in our power to help ensure that a nuclear accident does not happen during this tragic conflict, as it could cause even more hardship and suffering in Ukraine and beyond.

Russian forces captured the plant during the first week of the war and have been there ever since. Attacks against the station have increased since July, with both sides blaming each other.

Hes right asking both sides to exercise restraint, said Tariq Rauf, a former policy director at the agency. But ultimately nuclear safety and security are the sole responsibility of states, and the IAEAs rulebook doesnt give Grossi the power to impose a demilitarized area around the plant, he said.

IAEA guidelines recommend a 30-kilometer (18.6-mile) perimeter to separate military activities from nuclear power plants in times of peace. But with modern rockets and artillery capable of hitting targets potentially much farther away, those standards are insufficient in the context of Ukraine, Rauf said.

Ukraines nuclear utility also accused Russias military of kidnapping the plants human resources director, Valeriy Martyniuk, with the goal of pressuring him for information about Ukrainian employees and getting them back to work.

We appeal to the IAEA Director General Raphael Grossi and the entire world community to take all possible measures for the immediate release of Valeriy Martyniuk, the utility, Energoatom, said in a statement. The arbitrariness of the invaders at Zaporizhzhya NPP must be stopped as soon as possible.

Allowing Russia to retain ownership of Zaporizhzhia would represent the biggest nuclear heist in history. The plant would cost at least $40 billion to replicate.

We call on the member states of the IAEA to restrict cooperation in the framework of any projects with Russia that resorts to undisguised nuclear blackmail, Ukraine said in an Oct. 7 diplomatic note circulated in Vienna. We expect a clear position and proactive role in these issues of the IAEA Director General.

Grossi, who met with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week, is expected to return to Kyiv for more negotiations after meeting Putin.

2022 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Raymond Haddock, a former Army general who oversaw the missile system that protected Europe against Cold War Soviet threats and who was also the last U.S. military commander in West Berlin, died at age 86.

A resident of Spotsylvania, Va., Haddock was battling a serious illness at the time of his death on Oct. 3, which Germans observe as the holiday celebrating the reunification of the country.

The news of his death prompted sympathy and grateful memories in Germany, where he had maintained friendly contact over the decades.

Ralf Stumpf, who in 2014 created a small Cold War museum in the rooms of the old command post at the former Bismarck Kaserne in Schwaebisch-Gmuend, called Haddock a true gentleman. Haddocks uniform is a centerpiece in the collection, Stumpf told Stars and Stripes.

Gmuend was once a garrison town and home to 4,000 American soldiers and their families. Haddock is remembered fondly by the townsfolk.

He was the reason the German-American friendship existed here, Stumpf said. He truly cared about the people.

An online memorial page in Haddocks name drew more than 400 comments and reactions from family members, friends and former colleagues.

Great man and great leader, wrote Dale Nye, who served under Haddock in Schwaebisch-Gmuend. I met him in the field and he made it known he had our back!

As a major general, Haddock was part of the successful fielding of Pershing II missiles in Germany while serving as commander of the 56th Field Artillery Command, the garrison in Schwaebisch-Gemuend and its associated missile stations in Germany from 1984 through 1987.

Haddock was in charge of the intermediate range nuclear force at the height of tensions with the Soviet Union. The SS-20 missiles the Kremlin deployed had Europe in their crosshairs.

The deployment of heavy American weaponry wasnt popular in war-weary Germany and received pushback from peace movement activists and local politicians.

For years, protests and road blockades made front-page news in Germany. Additionally, the program incurred setbacks when accidents called public safety into question.

Led by the German-speaking Haddock, the command employed a public engagement policy to win support for his soldiers and Europes defense against a Soviet nuclear threat in Europe.

The Soviet Union had always believed that they would be able to eject the system by popular opposition, Haddock recalled in 1992. However, they didnt count on our ability to get out and win support of the people. But when we had won what I call the battle in the streets, the Soviets decided to change their tactics.

A ban on intermediate-range nuclear weapons was signed by the U.S. and the Soviet Union in 1988, and all Pershing II and SS-20 missiles were destroyed by May 1991.

Clearly, and perhaps more than any other single missile system, the successful deployment of Pershing II served to maintain for Europe the nuclear protection offered by the American strategic umbrella, strengthened NATO, united the political will of the United States and Germany, Haddock wrote online in 2009.

Haddocks skills were also relied upon during his tenure as the U.S. commander in Berlin from 1988 through the reunification of Germany in 1990.

At a time when a so-called death strip still separated East and West, Haddock commanded up to 12,000 U.S. and allied service members as the first line of defense for West Berlin.

But as the senior American military official, Haddock also served a diplomatic role.

When demonstrations started to ramp up and East German border guards ceased to enforce emigration rules in 1989, Haddock and his wife were among the first to greet East Germans coming across to West Berlin.

There was such a tremendous outpouring of enthusiasm on the western side as brothers and sisters, countrymen on the West went to greet their fellow citizens coming from the East, Haddock recalled in 1992 on WTIX radio in New Orleans. It was a wonderful experience.

Under his watch, the U.S. closed one of the Cold Wars most famous frontline postings, Checkpoint Charlie. It was the only legal crossing point for U.S. service members and civilians traveling between East and West Berlin.

For 45 years we stood firm on the front lines in Berlin, Haddock said in 1992. For 45 years there was one policy that said, This we will defend. Berlin will be free and one day Germany would be united. We stood firm there  And we won. We won because of that long string of doing the right thing.

Years later, Haddock said witnessing German reunification was one of the happiest days of his life.

Maj. Gen. Stephen Maranian, the current commanding general of the 56th Artillery Command, joined in the online tributes to Haddock.

His legacy is intertwined with ours and Im glad that he lived to see the day when the unit that he so loved was brought back into active duty in the U. S. Army, Maranian wrote Oct. 7.

The command was reactivated Nov. 8, 2021, at Clay Kaserne in Wiesbaden amid renewed tension between Moscow and the West.

After launching his military career as the battalion commander of his ROTC unit at West Texas State University, Haddock went on to serve 34 years in the Army.

He is survived by Brunhilde Haddock, his wife of 62 years; a daughter; two sons and eight grandchildren. He will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery.
AKRON, Ohio, Oct. 10, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) today issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) to purchase Ohio-compliant Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) for its Ohio utilities  Ohio Edison, The Illuminating Company and Toledo Edison. The purchases will help meet the companies' 2022 renewable energy targets established under Ohio's alternative energy law.

FirstEnergy Corp. Logo (PRNewsfoto/FirstEnergy Corp.)

RECs sought in this RFP must be eligible for compliance with the companies' 2022 renewable energy obligations, be sourced from generating facilities certified in accordance with rules and procedures put forth by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO), be deliverable through PJM Environmental Information System Generation Attribute Tracking System (EIS GATS), and generated between Jan. 1, 2020, and Dec. 31, 2022. The companies plan to purchase 470,000 RECs, which can include solar renewable energy credits.

One REC represents the environmental attributes of one megawatt hour of generation from a PUCO-qualified renewable generating facility. The cost of the RECs is recovered from the utility's standard service offer customers through a monthly charge filed quarterly with the PUCO.

No energy or capacity will be purchased under the RFP. The number of individual bidders is not limited. Participants in the RFP must meet and maintain specific credit and security qualifications and must be able to prove their REC generating facilities are certified or in the process of becoming certified by the PUCO.

The RFP is a competitive process managed by Guidehouse Inc., an independent evaluator and a global consulting firm with expertise in energy markets, renewables and competitive procurements. Based on the RFP results, the Ohio utilities will enter into agreement(s) with winning suppliers to purchase the necessary quantities of RECs.

FirstEnergy's Ohio utilities have a website, http://www.FEOhioRECRFP.com, to provide bidders with a central source of documents, data and other information for the RFP process.

Story continues

On Oct. 17, 2022, at 11 a.m. EPT, the FirstEnergy Ohio utilities and their consultant, Guidehouse, will conduct a webinar to outline the RFP process and the terms of the agreement, as well as to provide a forum to submit any questions. Questions also may be submitted during the RFP process directly through the RFP website.

To participate in the RFP, potential bidders are encouraged to submit credit applications by Nov. 1, 2022, and proposals are due Nov. 9, 2022 by 5 p.m. EPT.

The RFP Manager is Dan Bradley, Partner at Guidehouse. He can be reached via e-mail at manager@FEOhioRECRFP.com.

FirstEnergy is dedicated to integrity, safety, reliability and operational excellence. Its 10 electric distribution companies form one of the nation's largest investor-owned electric systems, serving customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia, Maryland and New York. The company's transmission subsidiaries operate approximately 24,500 miles of transmission lines that connect the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions. Follow FirstEnergy on Twitter @FirstEnergyCorp or online at www.firstenergycorp.com.

Cision

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SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.
COPENHAGEN, Denmark  Sweden's prime minister says that her country cannot share with Russia details from its probe into last month's underwater explosions that ruptured two key gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea, citing confidentiality surrounding the investigation.

"In Sweden there is secrecy around preliminary investigation and that also applies in this case," Magdalena Andersson said of the blast and ruptures that happened in international waters off Sweden's Baltic coastline but within the country's exclusive economic zone.

The explosions ruptured the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which until Russia cut off supplies at the end of August was its main gas supply route to Germany. They also damaged the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which never entered service as Germany suspended its certification process shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine in February. The damaged pipelines discharged huge amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into the air.

Russia formally asked Sweden's government to be part of the Swedish investigation in a letter dated Oct. 6.

"We're still working on how we exactly formulate the answer," Andersson said Monday at a naval base in southern Sweden.

In its preliminary investigation, Sweden's domestic security agency said last week that its probe "has strengthened the suspicions of serious sabotage" as the cause of the blasts. Sweden's prosecutor in charge of the investigation said evidence at the site has been seized.

The Swedish Security Service said the probe confirmed that "detonations" caused extensive damage to the pipelines. Authorities had said when the four leaks off Sweden and Denmark first surfaced that explosions were recorded in the area.

In a separate statement, Swedish prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist said "seizures have been made at the crime scene and these will now be investigated." Ljungqvist, who led the preliminary investigation, did not identify the seized evidence.

In Denmark, authorities remained tight-lipped about its investigation. Denmark broadcaster TV2 reported from the site that ships with the Danish and German navy ships were in the area.

German federal prosecutors, who investigate national security cases, also have opened an investigation against persons unknown on suspicion of deliberately causing an explosion and anti-constitutional sabotage.

The German investigation comes on top of the Danish and Swedish probes but are carried out with the European Union framework.

German federal prosecutors said the reason for them getting involved as well is that an attack on energy supplies could affect Germany's external and domestic security. On Sunday, authorities said that two German boats had set off for the area where the leaks occurred to look into what happened.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused the West of attacking the pipelines, which the United States and its allies vehemently denied.
The U.S. and its allies are aiming to provide Ukraine with an integrated air defense system that will give enhanced protection to high-priority parts of the country, the top American military officer said Wednesday.

The system, to be built from a range of assets from multiple countries, will involve everything from short-range, low altitude systems to medium, long and high-altitude systems, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley told reporters.

So its quite complicated from a technical standpoint, said Milley, who did not detail what the timeline is for putting such a system into action. (But) it is achievable, and thats what were aiming at.

Milley and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin led a meeting in Brussels of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a collection of some 50 allies and partner states involved in the effort to get more weapons into Ukraine.

Allied defense ministers are gathered this week at NATO headquarters for two days of talks, which began Wednesday.

The main focus was how to get more air defense weapons into Ukraine, which in recent days has been hit with a Russian missile barrage in numerous cities.

The salvos are seen as President Vladimir Putins retaliation for an explosion that severely damaged a bridge the Kremlin built over the Kerch Strait after it illegally annexed Crimea in 2014.

Those attacks are hitting targets with no discernable military value, killing civilians and destroying nonmilitary infrastructure, Austin said.

The malice and cruelty of Putins war of choice rooted in aggression and waged with deep contempt for the rules of war, Austin said.

Russias missile attacks appear to have added urgency to the arming effort. On Wednesday, Germany confirmed that the first of four state-of-the-art air defense systems it pledged had arrived in Ukraine.

Artillery, infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers were other needs brought up by Ukraine during the meeting in Brussels.

Despite the Russian missile attacks, Ukrainian forces have changed the dynamics of the war, Austin said.

Theyve liberated hundreds of towns from Russian occupation. And theyve retaken thousands of square kilometers of their land, Austin said.

Austin said the U.S. is committed to providing Ukraine with military support over the long term.

A key part of Ukraines ability to shift the momentum in the war, now in its eighth month, has been the billions of dollars in weaponry that has poured into the country from the West.

Since Russias invasion began in late February, the U.S. alone has provided more than $16 billion in military support to Ukraine, coming in the form of howitzers, javelins and mobile precision artillery systems known as HIMARS.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said securing more air defense capabilities for delivery to Ukraine is the top priority of the two-day NATO ministerial in Brussels.

In addition, allies also deliberated on plans for ramping up weapons production in general to meet Ukraines needs and ensure that their own stocks dont become depleted.
KYIV, Ukraine  Russian missile attacks caused a crippled nuclear plant in Ukraine to lose all external power for the second time in five days, increasing the risk of a radiation disaster because critical safety systems need electricity to operate, Ukraine's state nuclear operator said Wednesday.

On-site monitors from the U.N.'s atomic energy watchdog reported the last remaining outside line to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was restored about eight hours later. The war-related interruption nonetheless highlighted "how precarious the situation is" at Europe's largest nuclear plant, International Atomic Energy Agency Director Rafael Grossi said.

The nuclear scare came amid a flurry of developments in Russia's 7 1/2-month invasion of Ukraine. Russia's main domestic security agency said eight people were arrested over an explosion on a bridge that links Russia to the Crimean Peninsula.

The Ukrainian president's office said strikes Moscow ordered in retaliation for the bridge attack killed at least 14 people and wounded 34 in the last day. Western officials meeting in Brussels discussed their plans to maintain winter weapon and aid deliveries to Ukraine.

Ukrainian nuclear power operator Energoatom said the Zaporizhzhia plant suffered a "blackout" Wednesday morning when a missile damaged an electrical substation, leading to the emergency shutdown of the plant's last external power source.

All six of the reactors were stopped earlier due to the war. But they still require electricity to prevent them from overheating to the point of a meltdown that could cause radiation to pour from Europe's largest nuclear plant. Energoatom said diesel generators were supplying the plant but Russian troops blocked a convoy carrying additional fuel for the back-up equipment.

"Basically what we've got here is the weaponization of civil nuclear, perhaps for the first time," Paul Dorfman, a nuclear expert at England's University of Sussex said. "And in an increasingly unstable world, it's important to understand this and what this implies for nuclear worldwide."

Ukrainian workers later found a way to repair the line and connected the plant to the Ukrainian power grid, the company said. The chief of Energoatom, Petro Kotin, told The Associated Press last month the plant typically had enough diesel on hand to run the generators - "the station's last defense before a radiation accident" for 10 days.

Western governments, in the wake of the punishing missile and drone strikes Russia carried out across Ukraine this week, were shipping new weapons systems to Ukraine or gearing up to provide more help: The U.S.-led Ukraine Defense Contact Group and NATO defense ministers held meetings in Brussels on Wednesday.

Russia's Federal Security Service, known by the Russian acronym FSB, said it arrested five Russians and three citizens of Ukraine and Armenia in the attack on the Kerch Bridge. A truck loaded with explosives blew up while driving across the bridge Saturday, killing four people and causing sections of road to collapse.

The span opened four years after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, serving as a symbol of Moscow's regional dominance as well as a crucial route for getting military supplies to Ukraine and Russian travelers to a popular vacation destination.

The FSB alleged the detained suspects acted on orders of Ukraine's military intelligence to secretly move the explosives by a convoluted route into Russia and forge accompanying documents.

The Russian security services have pointed the finger at Ukraine's intelligence directorate and its head, Kyrylo Budanov. Ukraine's Defense Ministry on Wednesday dismissed accusations of Ukrainian involvement.

"The entire activity of the FSB and the Investigative Committee is nonsense," Defense Ministry spokesman Andriy Yusov told reporters.

Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to the blast by ordering missile strikes across Ukraine, where his forces over the last month lost ground in the east and south as Ukraine's military waged a counteroffensive. Ukrainian authorities said Russian missiles killed 19 people on Monday, including five in Kyiv, the capital.

The bombardment targeted power plants and also hit civilian buildings. Over the past two days, Russian strikes damaged about 1/3 of the country's energy infrastructure, Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko said Wednesday.

Ukraine's presidential office said in a morning update that eight Ukrainian regions in southeast were affected by Russian shelling and attacks involving drones, heavy artillery and missiles in the previous 24 hours, while strikes on central and western parts of Ukraine had ceased.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office, said Russian shelling left at least 14 people dead in the Zaporizhzhia region and the Donetsk region to the east. At least 34 people were wounded in five regions, he wrote on Telegram.

More than a dozen missiles were fired at the city of Zaporizhzhia and its suburbs, damaging residential buildings. While part of a larger eponymous region that Moscow has claimed as its own in violation of international law, the city remains in Ukrainian hands. Russian forces control the area about 33 miles away by air where the nuclear plant is located.

In Nikopol, a city across the Dnieper River, three people were wounded, including a 6-year-old girl; medical workers say they were in grave condition. Over 30 multi-story residential buildings were damaged in the city of 104,000, as well as private houses, kindergartens, a school, two plants and several shops, authorities said.

In the Donetsk region, Russian forces used tanks to shell the city of Avdiivka, damaging residential buildings and a market. Seven people were killed and eight wounded, Tymoshenko posted on Telegram along with photos showing bodies on the ground by a kiosk with potatoes and bread on the counter.

Near the southern city of Mykolaiv, Ukrainian forces shot down nine Iranian Shahed-136 drones and destroyed eight Kalibr cruise missiles, the presidential office said.

"Russian shelling intensifies and subsides, but doesn't stop, not for a day -- the city lives in tension, and the Russians' main goal appears to be keeping us in fear," Mykolaiv regional governor Vitali Kim said.

Earlier Wednesday, Ukraine's southern command said its forces recaptured five settlements in the southern Kherson region, on the western fringe of an arc of Russian-controlled territory in eastern and southern Ukraine.

Kherson, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Luhansk are four regions recently annexed by Russia, a move condemned as illegal under international law by many countries and the U.N. secretary-general.

Despite the advance, Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said Ukrainian forces' counteroffensive in the south was losing pace, while regrouping in the east to deliver a "powerful blow" on the front line between the cities of Svatove and Kreminna in Luhansk region.

Yuras Karmanau in Tallinn, Estonia, contributed to this report.
The United States newly released national security strategy calls for restrained use of the American military in the Middle East.

Instead, it prioritizes out-competing China and constraining Russia while criticizing the expanded missions of U.S. wars in recent decades.

We will not use our military to change regimes or remake societies, the document says. We have too often defaulted to military-centric policies underpinned by an unrealistic faith in force and regime change to deliver sustainable outcomes.

The strategy includes plans to continue partnerships with Middle Eastern countries and to help protect their security, patrol waterways, integrate defense networks and support human rights.

Much of the document concerns competition with Russia and China. Russia is mentioned 71 times in the document, and China is mentioned 55 times. The Middle East is written only 11 times, Afghanistan is said four times, and Iraq and Saudi Arabia go unmentioned.

Devoting fewer resources to the Middle East would allow the Pentagon to concentrate on deterring China from attacking Taiwan or other territories in Asia and to keep focusing on Russia, which is waging an unprovoked war in Ukraine.

Security analysts say President Joe Bidens strategy continues efforts by the Obama and Trump administrations to redirect focus to China and Russia.

I see more continuity than change, said Michael Eisenstadt, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. They're further providing affirmation of a policy we've been attempting for a decade.

Bidens national security strategy will prioritize defensive alliances and says the U.S. will deepen Israels growing ties to its neighbors and other Arab states.

Israel was absorbed into U.S. Central Commands area of responsibility last year. The realignment came after Israel signed the Trump administration-backed Abraham Accords with leaders of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates on Sept. 15, 2020.

Our hope is the Abraham Accords create a way to advance our interests without having as big of a presence in the past, Eisenstadt said.

Israel and the Gulf countries share concerns about Iran, a regional rival that supports militant groups around the Middle East.

Defensive alliances of countries in the region could lessen the need for U.S. troops, but the U.S. pivot away from the Middle East is already straining relations with countries that have grown accustomed to American protection and high-level diplomatic attention, said Katherine Zimmerman, a fellow at the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute.

Weve been working side by side with these partners for a long time in their defense for our own interests, and now were asking them to defend themselves, Zimmerman said. Thats generating some of the tension.

A 2021 federal review of troop deployments directed the Pentagon to assess its enduring posture requirements in the Middle East.

Although the U.S. ended combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, winding down its presence in the Middle East has been a difficult process and will continue to be so, experts said.

The real question, as always, is how the Biden team deals with unforeseen events in the Middle East, said Stephen Sestanovich, ambassador at large for the former Soviet Union under President Bill Clinton.

An Iranian crisis over nuclear weapons or protests calling for regime change may bring U.S. attention back to the region, analysts said.
JERUSALEM  Israeli troops on Wednesday shot and killed a Palestinian teenager during clashes that erupted in a refugee camp in the West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said, the latest deadly incident as violence surges in the occupied territory.

The ministry identified the Palestinian as 18-year-old Osama Adawi. He was among the more than 100 Palestinians killed in the West Bank so far in 2022, the worst spasm of violence in seven years.

The Palestinian health ministry said Adawi was struck in the abdomen by a bullet in the Al-Aroub refugee camp in the southern West Bank. The Israeli army said troops opened fire at a group of Palestinians who were hurling rocks at Israeli motorists on Route 60, the territory's main north-south artery.

Tensions have surged across the West Bank and east Jerusalem as Israeli forces continue to search for Palestinian gunmen who carried out two recent shooting attacks against soldiers. Thousands of Jewish worshippers are also flocking to Jerusalem to mark the weeklong holiday of Sukkot, putting the city on edge.

As night fell Wednesday, clashes erupted in the Shuafat refugee camp in east Jerusalem, as Palestinians violently protested the heavy Israeli police presence.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for the Palestinian Authority, said President Mahmoud Abbas continued intensive contacts to deescalate the situation and warned that Israeli provocations will bring the region to the brink of an explosion.

In east Jerusalem, Palestinian shops and businesses shut down to protest Israeli police raids in the area that have prompted fierce clashes between police and Palestinian protesters.

Police have been combing Shuafat, a hardscrabble camp for Palestinian refugees on the outskirts of Jerusalem, for a suspect in a deadly shooting attack at a checkpoint on Saturday that killed a soldier. For days, officers have set up checkpoints and deployed groups of armed officers to question residents. The checkpoints have choked off entry and exit points out of the area, disturbing daily life for residents.

The general strike was called to protest the crackdown. Schools and shops closed across east Jerusalem, including in the Old City, whose colorful stores catering to tourists and locals alike are usually abuzz with activity.

Showing solidarity with Shuafat means more than a days income, said Anan Sabah, a butcher in the Old City. The camp has been closed and surrounded for days. We are closed to say thats collective punishment.

Fueling the tensions are monthslong, nightly raids conducted by the Israeli military in the occupied West Bank, which began after a spate of attacks against Israelis earlier this year. More than 100 Palestinians have been killed in the violence, making this year the deadliest since 2015. Most of those killed have been militants, according to Israel, but some local youth protesting the raids as well as civilians have also been killed in the violence.

The raids have sparked a series of shooting attacks in recent weeks against Israelis in the West Bank, including one near the Palestinian city of Nablus Tuesday that killed an Israeli soldier.

The Israeli military said it had closed some roads leading in and out of the city and set up roadblocks in its search for the gunmen. Despite the tensions, it said it would still allow and escort Jewish worshippers to visit a Jewish shrine in Nablus that has been a flashpoint for violence.

Israel captured the West Bank, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek those territories for a future independent state.

Associated Press writer Isabel DeBre in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
A decision by Saudi Arabia that indirectly will help Russia fund its war in Ukraine has the U.S. weighing whether to scale back ties with a Middle East ally that houses thousands of U.S. troops and buys more American arms than any other nation.

The Saudi-backed move by the OPEC+ cartel to slash oil production has led President Joe Biden to review U.S.-Saudi ties amid calls by lawmakers to withdraw troops and missile defense batteries deployed there.

Biden is analyzing whether the relationship with Saudi Arabia still serves U.S. interests, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Tuesday in a conference call.

U.S. officials asked their Saudi counterparts to delay a decision on oil production for a month, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. Saudi officials dismissed the request, saying their decision was purely economic and had no political dimensions, the report said.

But Russia, a member of OPEC+, stands to take in greater oil revenues if a more limited supply results in higher prices, as expected.

We thought it was a shortsighted decision and that it benefited Russia, said Kirby, who declined to give further details on the review.

Any change in the relationship will have to balance the desire to sending a message to Riyadh with the value the Saudis provide in advancing U.S. security goals.

The country offers stable staging points for a range of operations, including protecting interests in the region against hostile action by Iran and Iran-backed groups, a White House statement in June said.

The roughly 3,000 U.S. service members there maintain aircraft and provide air and missile defense in coordination with the Saudi government.

Other U.S. troops and contractors work on defense and security cooperation programs. Riyadh is Washingtons largest foreign military sales customer, with more than $100 billion in contracts supporting the countrys security ministries, according to a State Department fact sheet.

But Bidens recent remarks that U.S.-Saudi ties need to be reconsidered are a strong signal that the relationship is in trouble, said Jeff Colgan, a professor of political science at Brown University in Rhode Island.

The president told CNNs Jake Tapper that Saudi Arabia should expect some consequences for what theyve done with Russia," but he declined to give specifics.

Oil has always glued the two countries together, Colgan said. Lately, however, the relationship seems to be under as much strain as ever.

A bill introduced by three congressional Democrats last week would withdraw troops as well as Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense anti-missile interceptors from Saudi Arabia.

The legislation seeks to give Biden tools to recalibrate these relationships so theyre more in our interest, one of the lawmakers, Rep. Tom Malinowski, D-N.J., said on CNN last week.

While most modern presidents have claimed broad powers to wage war, some legal scholars think Congress is constitutionally authorized to regulate military activity, such as by setting funding constraints and time limits on the deployment of troops, a Lawfare Institute blog post said in 2019.

The U.S. has shifted military assets out of Saudi Arabia before, noted Bilal Saab, senior fellow and director of the defense and security program at the Washington-based Middle East Institute.

The U.S. removed advanced missile defense systems and Patriot batteries from Saudi Arabia in 2021, only to return them about six months later.

Relations between Saudi Arabia and the U.S. are at a lower point than they were after the 9/11 attacks, in which 15 of the 19 terrorists were Saudis, Saab said.

Logistically, pulling out the relatively small number of troops from Saudi Arabia to somewhere else in the Middle East would be easy and take days, not weeks, he said.

But the geopolitical costs of such a move could be immense, he added, even as the U.S. attempts to pivot away from the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia is the third-leading source of imported oil for the United States, providing about half a million barrels per day to the U.S. market, according to a Congressional Research Service report published in February.

And spurning Saudi Arabia, a codified security partner of the U.S. since 1951, could create a narrative of abandonment that leads countries in the region to turn to Russia or China, other analysts have said.

Our footprint in Saudi Arabia serves U.S. interests first and foremost, said Saab, who has written about the importance of a stable global oil market. We would be shooting ourselves in the foot if we pulled out.
JERUSALEM  Moscows deadly air assault on Ukrainian cities that continued Wednesday has ramped up pressure on Western nations to rush air defense systems to the embattled country, but it is still unlikely to receive one of the worlds most effective tools against incoming projectiles.

Israels Iron Dome air defense, which boasts a 90 percent success rate against rockets fired against it, will stay out of Ukraines reach, experts said, as Jerusalem seeks to maintain strategic relations with Russia in Syria and other hot spots.

Israels Defense and Foreign ministries and the prime ministers office uniformly declined to comment Wednesday on long-standing requests from Ukraine and its supporters for it to give, sell or loan Ukraine the system, including calls made since Mondays barrage.

Israel has great experience with air defense and Iron Dome, and we need exactly the same system in our city, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in an interview Tuesday, a day after six residents were killed in the strikes. We have been talking with them a long time about it. Those discussions have not been successful.

Iron Dome uses radar-directed interceptors to blow hostile projectiles from the sky. Israel depends on it to shield civilians from rockets fired by militants in the Gaza Strip, with striking success. The system took down more than 97 percent of 470 rockets fired by Islamic Jihad forces in Gaza during a three-day escalation in August, according to the Israeli military.

Iron Dome is not designed to intercept the type of large, guided missile used in most of the barrages that killed at least 20 people in Kyiv, Lviv, Dnipro and other cities Monday, according to military experts in Israel and Washington.

But Ukrainians say the network could help shield residents from Grad and other smaller rockets that have destroyed apartment buildings, shopping centers and train stations along the shifting front.

It will definitely be helpful because the Russians also send the drones, they send different kinds of rockets, Klitchko said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Tuesday that Moscow was deploying almost 2,500 attack drones purchased from Iran.

The strikes pushed Ukraines air defense to the top of the agenda at meetings of NATO defense ministers this week in Brussels. Warding off Russian strikes, they said, will require a patchwork of systems targeting different scales of weaponry provided by multiple countries.

Since Monday, Kyiv has redoubled its requests for nations to respond. Air defense is currently the No. 1 priority in our defense cooperation, Zelenskyy said in a tweet.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg beseeched member states to get more air defense capacity into Ukraine, and several said they are looking for ways to comply. Washington will send Ukraine two advanced surface-to-air missile systems within the next several weeks, a U.S. defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said Monday.

Israeli officials declined to say whether the new initiatives will change the countrys stance on Iron Dome. Jerusalems reluctance, which has not shifted since the war erupted in February, has drawn the ire of Ukrainian officials, including its ambassador to Israel and, repeatedly, Zelenskyy.

Everybody knows that your missile defense systems are the best, Zelenskyy said while pleading with the Israeli parliament for aid in the spring.

I dont know what happened to Israel, he said in an interview with French TV5 channel on Sept. 23. I am in shock, because I dont understand why they couldnt give us air defenses.

Israeli officials are largely mum, and reports have variously attributed their refusal to a lack of inventory and the systems shortcomings against cruise missiles. But most analysts say the decision is driven by a perception that Israel cannot arm Ukraine directly without shattering its strategic cooperation with Russia in Syria and other hot spots that are a top priority for Israel.

In Syria, Russian President Vladimir Putin has largely allowed Israeli war planes a free hand in attacking Iranian-backed militants Israel accuses of moving arms to allies in Syria and Lebanon.

Its just fear of Putin, said Yossi Melman, a longtime intelligence analyst and commentator who has denounced Israels refusal to provide Iron Dome and other material aid as morally oblivious.

Its a shame, Melman said. We preach to the world about humanity and right and wrong but when it comes to our international positions its only our narrowest security concerns that are considered.

Israel has come under fire for its response to Russias invasion from the beginning, when then-Prime Minister Naftali Bennett stood aside from the global condemnation showering down on Putin and instead put himself forward, briefly, as a neutral mediator.

Since then, Israeli officials point to the nonmilitary aid they have provided, including expediting the arrival of thousands of Jewish refugees from Ukraine, supplying noncombatants with body armor and operating a field hospital near the Ukraine-Poland border. And the country has become more critical of Russian actions, particularly since Prime Minister Yair Lapid assumed the top job.

I strongly condemn the Russian attacks on the civilian population in Kyiv and other cities across Ukraine, Lapid tweeted after Mondays attacks. I send our sincere condolences to the families of the victims and the Ukrainian people.

U.S. officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Israels Iron Dome stance, and whether they would agree to a transfer. The system was developed with funding help from Washington and both governments have veto power over proposals to share it.

A congressional aide familiar with the issue said the administration apparently has not directly requested Israel to change its position, despite a general recognition that Iron Dome is the kind of close-in system that could be effective there.

Ukraine has asked Israel, and Israel has refused to supply, the aide said. Whenever Congress has asked [the administration] on this they artfully dodge and say something like, We appreciate any and all states willing to provide assistance. 

Missy Ryan and Kostiantyn Khudov in Kyiv and John Hudson in Washington contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON (Tribune News Service)  The Biden administration has released its vision for U.S. strategy in the Arctic in a new document that underscores competition with Russia and China over the next decade.

The 15-page document, titled "National Strategy for the Arctic Region," is intended to set the U.S. agenda for the Arctic until 2032. The strategy is focused on security, climate mitigation, economic development and international cooperation in the region.

The Arctic "possesses considerable economic potential, from tourism to vast natural resources," said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, calling the document "an important step towards shaping the future of the region."

The strategy comes as tensions have ramped up in the Arctic. Russia, the largest of the eight Arctic nations, has built up military infrastructure in the region and is conducting military exercises. The Kremlin is also seeking to up Russia's economic activity in the region through tax incentives for energy companies to invest in the Arctic. Also, China declared itself a "near-Arctic state" in 2018, signaling interest in the region. Russia and China have been collaborating on development in the Arctic, raising U.S. and NATO concerns.

The Biden administration's strategy includes investing in tracking capabilities to monitor threats and activity in the region. The document outlines regular Arctic military trainings and exercises, as well as a plan to expand the Coast Guard icebreaker fleet and support a deep-water draft harbor in Nome.

The strategy also outlines the administration's climate mitigation goals in the region.

Sherri Goodman, a senior fellow at the Wilson Center's Environmental Change and Security Program and the Polar Institute, said the focus on security and climate distinguishes the report from past Arctic strategic documents.

"We're an Arctic nation because of Alaska, but our interests, of course, as the United States are global," said Goodman. "What stands out to me is this strategy elevates attention both to climate change and to security."

An August study found that the Arctic is warming four times faster than the planet. The White House strategy mentions the administration's broad goals to reduce carbon dioxide, methane, and black carbon emissions, and also clean up contaminated Alaskan lands.

The strategy acknowledges that rising temperatures and melting ice in the Arctic could spur new economic opportunity by opening up shipping routes and shifting fish migration patterns. The document states that federal agencies will support sustainable development in Alaska renewable energy, critical minerals production, tourism and research. The strategy also includes investing in Alaskan infrastructure like broadband, ports, and airfields.

The strategy does not explicitly mention investments in natural gas or oil, but discusses supporting a "just energy transition."

That disappointed Alaska Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan. Sullivan said in a statement that the strategy's "excessive focus on climate change" sends a "troubling message" about resource development in the region.

Sullivan said he worries that "despite America's increasing national economic and security interests in the Arctic that are being directly challenged by Russia, and increasingly challenged by China, the administration will continue to focus on shutting down responsible resource development."

"This strategy very clearly falls short when it comes to our Arctic resources," Murkowski said in a statement. "It gives very little attention to the opportunity and necessity of domestic production of the vast resources in our Arctic."

The Obama administration released a strategy for the Arctic in 2013, and since then, all five branches of the military have released similar documents. Sullivan called the Biden administration's strategic plan a more detailed "improvement" from the 2013 document and Murkowski called it "an important message to the American people that the United States must continue to advance Arctic priorities."

The document makes several mentions of working with Alaska state and local officials as well as Alaska Native communities in executing the Arctic strategy.

The White House released the strategy days after two Russians fled to St. Lawrence Island and requested asylum to avoid mandatory military service, according to Murkowski's office. Murkowski said the nearest federal agencies who could process the Russians were 700 miles away.

"What this incident makes clear is that even as Putin undertakes rapid military and industrial development in Russia's Arctic, the United States is behind in its Arctic initiatives," she said in a statement.

A spokesman for Rep. Mary Sattler Peltola, a Democrat, said in a statement the congresswoman is "happy to see the administration putting a focus on the region but believes the U.S. is far behind in prioritizing the area" and that Peltola was "thrilled to hear the desire to have a greater relationship with Alaska Native Tribes and the push for an Arctic Ambassador."

Goodman said the strategic document opens the door to increased federal funding to the Arctic.

"The Arctic should be getting increased attention within agency budgets as a result of this strategy," she said. "That's something that we're going to need to look at when the President's budget is released next year."

Also, in August, the State Department announced plans to appoint an Arctic Ambassador and the Department of Defense opened the Ted Stevens Center for Arctic Security Studies in Anchorage to facilitate research on Arctic security.

2022 Anchorage Daily News. Visit at adn.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Several Benin bronzes that have been in Washington museums for decades are finally headed home to Nigeria  125 years after British troops plundered them from present-day Nigeria, 62 years after Nigerian independence brought calls for their return, and two years after a nationwide reckoning with institutional racism gave renewed attention to those calls.

At a ceremony Tuesday at the Smithsonians National Museum of African Art, officials of the museum, which has held 29 bronzes, and the National Gallery of Art, which has had one, handed the artifacts over to representatives of Nigerias National Commission for Museums and Monuments. Nine will remain in Washington on long-term loan.

The Smithsonian is humbled and quite honored to play a small part by transferring ownership to helping to bring long-delayed justice, long-delayed visibility, long-delayed objects brought back to Nigeria, Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III said at the ceremony. We realize as an institution that we are shared stewards of these collections. We are not owners.

Bunch highlighted the Smithsonians new collection policy, which authorizes repatriation of objects for ethical reasons  the first significant update to the 176-year-old institutions collections management since 2001. We hope that todays ceremony sets an example for all cultural institutions, he said.

Ngaire Blankenberg, director of the National Museum of African Art, which removed the Benin bronzes from view last fall, said the moment reflects a shift in the museums practices. This return sparks the beginning of a new era in our relationship with the royal court, with Nigeria and with Africa and Africans writ large, she said, calling it one of many steps toward creating more equal power dynamics concerning who owns and who interprets.

Lai Mohammed, Nigerias minister of information and culture, praised the move. By returning the artifacts, he said, these institutions are together writing new pages in history. Their brave decision to return the timeless artworks is worth emulating.

The Benin bronzes have become an international symbol of the fraught, colonialist histories of Western cultural institutions  from Boston to Berlin. They are at the center of a worldwide movement calling for the return of looted and dubiously acquired artifacts  the Elgin marbles, the Gilgamesh tablet, the Easter Island Moai statute and others  to their places of origin. Tuesdays ceremony echoed similar ones in Europe in 2021, when Cambridge University and the Quai Branly museum gave up their bronzes. With this latest move, the high-profile Smithsonian  the largest museum system of its kind in the world  hopes to inspire other museums to follow suit.

Tuesdays ceremony was just one step on a long, complicated journey  the Smithsonians Museum of Natural History still has 20 Benin bronzes, which have been placed under review, and the institution has many other objects with controversial origins, including thousands of human remains. Bunch says there are no plans for a comprehensive review of the full collection of 155 million objects. Blankenberg said that her museum is working through a list of objects but declined to give specifics.

Bunch said in an interview after the ceremony that he envisions the return encouraging international accountability.

It allows us to be more global, and it allows us to make sure that people in Nigeria understand that the Smithsonian is doing work that helps them, he said. And as were now much more tied through technology, I think thats going to be a really important part. People around the world are going to say, These are the institutions that have treated us fairly, and these are the ones that have not. 

National Gallery Director Kaywin Feldman also emphasized how the repatriation will create trust.

Audiences are really interested in how objects come to museums. Thats a question we get asked all the time, she said after the ceremony. Being more transparent about provenance and the history of an object, I think, really appeals to our audiences and makes the institution more accessible.

Benin bronzes is a catchall term for a wide body of artifacts that date to at least the 16th century. It includes thousands of items made of different materials and depicting various subject matter  for example, commemorative busts of kings and animals from folklore. It is estimated that between 3,000 and 10,000 such objects were stolen by the British, many ransacked from the Kingdom of Benin (present-day Nigeria) in 1897 during a retaliatory, deadly British invasion now known as the Punitive Expedition. The largest group of stolen works  about 900  remain in the British Museum.

A recent Washington Post review of 70 museums found that of the 56 that have Benin pieces, 16 are engaged in a repatriation process. Critics of the repatriation movement have questioned how far museums will go and raised concerns about the care of objects once returned. Speaking at Tuesdays ceremony on behalf of the oba (ruler) of the Kingdom of Benin, Prince Aghatise Erediauwa called such criticisms archaic.

The truth is that no argument can change looted works into unlooted works or stolen works into unstolen works. There is simply no moral or legal basis for persistently retaining cultural property which was looted during military expeditions or in unequal negotiations, for that matter. This demand by a few art historians and curators serves no purpose other than their own self-interest, he said. We are grateful to you and others who are on the side of truth and acknowledge where these works truly belong.

Blankenberg echoed this sentiment after the ceremony.

Were not the guardians of the world. Western museums are not the custodians of all things of the world, she said. Theres so many false premises around the debate. People are like, Oh, no, if you give everything back, therell be nothing in this museum. Honestly, we have 12,000 [objects in our] collections. And if our whole museum is based on stolen objects, then frankly we shouldnt exist.

Blankenberg declined to comment on other museums progress in ethical collecting but said the process to return the artifacts was smooth. You dont deaccession anything in a museum easily, nor should you. And the process is a pain. But there was no resistance or debate, she said. Its the entire institution that is really committed to figuring out what the right thing is.

The bronzes will head back to Africa in the coming weeks. Their final destination is expected to be the new Edo Museum of West African Art in Benin City, Nigeria, which is set to open in 2025. And here in Washington, Blankenberg is dreaming up an exhibition to familiarize visitors with the history of the bronzes.

I dont want to dwell too much that the whole story of these amazing artworks is this one moment of colonial violence, she said. We have to be able to understand that these artworks were created within an incredible context and artistry that exists today.
A new contract from prescription-drug benefit manager Express Scripts will force nearly 15,000 pharmacies out of the Tricare network by the end of this month, according to a spokeswoman for a small pharmacies association.

The new contract will remove 14,963 pharmacies from the network by Oct. 24, leaving approximately 41,000 pharmacies.

A proposed contract Express Scripts sent to participating pharmacies in August lowered their reimbursement rates below even their own costs, Anne Cassity, vice president of federal and state government affairs at the National Community Pharmacists Association, told Stars and Stripes by phone Sept. 22. She said association members had never before seen anything like it.

We saw a massive reduction in reimbursements to the tune of far below even acquisition price for our pharmacies, Cassity said. So, they would be underwater on every prescription that they dispense for a Tricare beneficiary.

Many small, local pharmacies had to refuse the new contract, she said.

This is going to have a huge effect, especially in rural areas where its generally independent pharmacies, Cassity said.

Express Scripts, a pharmacy benefit management company based in St. Louis, handles annual pharmacy contract negotiations on behalf of Tricare. It also provides a mail order prescription service for Tricare beneficiaries. The company has 27,000 employees and annual revenue of over $100 billion, according to job-search website Zippia.

In August 2021 the Department of Defense awarded a $4.3 billion contract to Express Scripts that incentivized the company to reduce the size of the Tricare retail pharmacy network, according to email and phone conversations with National Community Pharmacists Association spokeswoman Andie Pivarunas.

Express Scripts began notifying impacted beneficiaries in mid-September 2022, Tricare spokesman Peter Graves told Stars and Stripes by email Sept. 30.

Anyone with a prescription at a pharmacy that is transitioning out of the network should transfer it to a new network pharmacy to avoid paying the full cost of the prescription up front or having to file a claim for reimbursement, Graves said.

Doris Parker, 66, of Alexandria, Va., the wife of a retired service member, used to receive Kisqali, a cancer medication, through the Express Scripts mail-order service, she told Stars and Stripes by phone on Sept. 26.

About three or four months after I started taking it, they decided they arent going to send it to me anymore, she said.

Parker turned instead to a local pharmacy, but in September was told by Express Scripts that the pharmacy would be dropped from the Tricare network, she said.

Tricare denies its new contract will have a huge, negative impact on beneficiaries living in rural areas.

The Tricare retail network will continue to meet or exceed Tricares standard for pharmacy access, Graves said. [Defense Health Agency] expects nearly 95% of beneficiaries will maintain access to at least two network pharmacies within 15 minutes from their home, and over 99% will have access within 30 minutes.
A Jetstar passenger was out of pocket thousands after being wrongly charged for check-in luggage.

Jannine Meyers was flying from Auckland to Christchurch last month and when checking in her bag, her credit card was charged $4500 instead of the significantly smaller $45.

What followed was a "comedy of errors," she said and a month-long battle with the airline.

The woman was charged $4500 by Jetstar staff for her check in luggage. Source: Getty

Almost a month after the incident, which occurred on September 15, Jetstar confirmed to Yahoo News Australia that the refund has been processed.

But Ms Meyers said if it hadn't been for her continuous calls, "my refund was not coming to me".

"It was an extremely frustrating experience. A $4455 discrepancy is no small error," she told New Zealand publication Stuff.

Multiple calls to Jetstar

Detailing the ordeal, Ms Meyers said she didn't realise she'd been wrongly charged until a supervisor approached her before boarding her flight at Auckland airport.

But when attempting to process the refund, check-in staff "seemed unsure of what they were doing".

After an hour of trying, Ms Meyers was reportedly told the money would appear in her account within 10 to 15 business days, but they were unable to provide any form of proof, she claimed.

The traveller was out of pocket by $4455 for a month before the issue was rectified. Source: Getty/File

"By this time my father and I needed to go to the boarding gate and all we could do was simply have faith that they had successfully processed the refund; however, my gut instinct told me otherwise," she said. And she was right.

Multiple calls to Jetstar customer services ensued and she was allegedly told to be patient and that it was on its way.

At one point she claimed she was told there was no refund owed and that the case had been closed.

A Jetstar spokesperson said the airline sincerely apologised to Meyers for the delay in refunding her money.

"Our finance team processed the reimbursement yesterday (Tuesday) and as a gesture of goodwill, we have offered her a travel voucher," a spokesperson told Yahoo News Australia.

Story continues

Yahoo News Australia was unable to confirm if Ms Meyers had received the refund.

Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play.
DENVER  A former National Security Agency employee from Colorado accused of trying to sell classified information to Russia will remain behind bars while he is prosecuted, a magistrate judge ruled Tuesday.

Jareh Sebastian Dalke, 30, is facing a possible life sentence for allegedly giving the information to an undercover FBI agent whom prosecutors say he believed was a person working for the Russian Federation. He pleaded not guilty through his lawyer during a hearing in Denver federal court before a hearing to determine if he should be released from jail.

Dalke was arrested Sept. 28 after authorities say he arrived at Denver's downtown train station with a laptop and used a secure connection set up by investigators to transfer some classified documents.

Magistrate Judge S. Kato Crews said Tuesday the stiff penalty Dalke could face makes him a flight risk along with the sympathies he has allegedly expressed for Russia. Crews also said he was not sure that Dalke, who is accused of sharing the documents after promising not to disclose information he obtained while working at the NSA, would honor any conditions he could impose that would allow Dalke to live with his wife and grandmother in Colorado Springs while the case proceeds. He was also concerned about authentic-looking but counterfeit badges for government agencies, including the NSA, allegedly found during a search of Dalke's home.

Dalke's lawyers had proposed that his wife, who was in court for the hearing, could supervise the Army veteran and report any violations of his bond. However, Crews was concerned whether she would be able to do that, describing Dalke as her "caretaker."

One of Dalke's federal public defenders, David Kraut, said Dalke supported the household with Veterans Administration benefits and had been "supportive" of his wife in difficulties in her life. He said Dalke would not want to put her at risk by not complying with bond conditions. However, Assistant U.S. Attorney Julia K. Martinez said he already had by taking her with him when he went to scout out a public location to transmit the documents.

Public defender, Kraut, downplayed Dalke's access to classified information since he only worked at the NSA for less than a month this summer.

Shortly after he left the agency, citing a family illness, and signed the non-disclosure agreement, he allegedly began talking with the undercover agent using encrypted email.

Martinez argued that the government does not know whether Dalke obtained more information from the NSA that is stored somewhere else or possibly memorized. She said he has the motivation to sell more secrets if he were to be released.

"He knows how to make money. Sell secrets to Russia," said Martinez, who alleged Dalke took the job at the NSA with the intent of selling secrets.

The information Dalke is accused of providing includes a threat assessment of the military offensive capabilities of a foreign country which is not named. It also includes a description of sensitive U.S. defense capabilities, a portion of which relates to that same foreign country, according to his indictment.

The Army veteran allegedly told the undercover agent that he had $237,000 in debts and that he had decided to work with Russia because his heritage "ties back to your country."

Before Dalke transfered the classified documents, he first sent a thank you letter, which opened and closed in Russian, in which he said he looked "forward to our friendship and shared benefit," according to court filings.

Dalke worked for the NSA, the U.S. intelligence agency that collects and analyzes signals from foreign and domestic sources for the purpose of intelligence and counterintelligence, as an information systems security designer. After he left and allegedly provided documents with the undercover agent, prosecutors say he re-applied to work there.
WASHINGTON - A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed a Justice Department lawsuit to compel casino mogul and Republican megadonor Steve Wynn to register as an agent of China, handing a setback to the U.S. governments intensifying efforts to police foreign influence in American politics.

U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg of Washington, D.C., in a 20-page opinion, made no determination about whether Wynn, former chief executive of Wynn Resorts, in fact acted as an agent of Beijing in advancing its interests in 2017 through his relationship with President Donald Trump and members of his administration.

But the judge said despite his reservations, the government had no legal authority to force Wynn to register retroactively after his alleged relationship with Chinese authorities ended under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). The Justice Department brought the first lawsuit to compel registration under FARA in more than 30 years against Wynn last May in a sign of stepped-up enforcement of the 1938 law, which was originally enacted to target Nazi propaganda.

Boasberg said he agreed that compelling disclosure by Wynn was plainly consistent with the central goal of FARA, and did not dispute that even retroactive disclosure by former agents would reveal information that [FARA] says the public needs. Nevertheless, the judge concluded, While the goals of FARA are laudable, this Court is bound to apply the statute as interpreted by the D.C. Circuit. And that requires dismissal.

Wynn, a former finance chairman of the Republican National Committee, was accused of relaying a request from senior Chinese official Guo Wengui asking that the Trump administration remove a Chinese national who had sought asylum in the United States. Wynns activities from at least June 2017 through August 2017, prosecutors asserted, included discussing Beijings interests directly with Trump during a dinner in June 2017 and providing Guos passport photos to the presidents secretary. Wynn, the government argues, was acting at the behest of the Chinese official, Sun Lijun, then-vice minister for public security, as well as of the Chinese government itself.

Wynn at the time acted out of a desire to protect significant business interests involving casinos he owned and operated in Macao, a part of China, the Justice Department alleged, and the department had ordered Wynn to register three times without success.

In a written statement, Wynn attorneys Reid Weingarten and Robert Luskin said: We are delighted that the District Court today dismissed the governments ill-conceived lawsuit against Steve Wynn. Mr. Wynn never acted as an agent of the Chinese government and never lobbied on its behalf. This is a claim that should never have been filed, and the Court agreed.

Guo, who left China in 2014 and was later charged with corruption, was not named in the complaint but has previously been identified by prosecutors.

A Justice Department spokesman did not immediately comment.

In a news release last May, Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen said that the suit demonstrated the departments commitment to ensuring transparency in our democratic system.

Where a foreign government uses an American as its agent to influence policy decisions in the United States, FARA gives the American people a right to know, Olsen said at the time.

Wynn stepped down as RNC finance chairman in January 2018 and as CEO of Wynn Resorts the following month in the face of allegations of sexual misconduct, which he has denied. He and his wife have remained prolific political donors, contributing about $2.5 million to Republican candidates and committees in the first three months of this year, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.
all i want is u(k) | Bono says we really need the UK to go back to leading the world
Michaela Coel (Dave Benett)

Michaela Coel has revealed plans to build a house in her fathers ancestral village in Ghana.

The award-winning writer, who was born in London to Ghanaian parents, first visited the country in 2018 for a television shoot and felt an immediate affinity for the country.

Recalling her trip, the 35-year-old told American Vogue: Id been to Africa before - Kenya and Uganda - but when I came here I was really seeing people who looked like me.

A friend of mine was with me, and he remembers us getting off the plane and me walking around as if I knew where I was going.

I remember looking at all the kids playing and it hit me, like, Wow, this couldve been me and I think I would have really enjoyed that.

Yes, there are a lot of sad things; poverty, unemployment, struggle. Theres also a lot of peace, friendliness. Theres a lack of anxiety.

Michaela Coel appears on the front cover of American Vogue (Malick Bodian/Vogue)

Coel also revealed that she was considering buying an apartment in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, where she lived for six months last year.

Aside from her property plans, the British star spoke about her upcoming role in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in which she plays Aneka, a combat instructor for the Dora Milaje.

Cinema-goers will see her character, who protects the kingdom of Wakanda alongside her all-female warriors, fall for her colleague Ayo, played by Florence Kasumba.

When asked about playing a queer character in a movie set in Africa, where there are strict anti-gay policies, Coel said: That sold me on the role, the fact that my characters queer.

I thought: I like that, I want to show that to Ghana... People say, Oh, its fine, its just politics. But I dont think it is just politics when it affects how people get to live their daily lives.

She plays Aneka, a combat instructor for the Dora Milaje, in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Disney)

Thats why it felt important for me to step in and do that role because I know just by my being Ghanaian, Ghanaians will come, the LGBTQ+ advocate added.

Coel, who appears alongside her father, Derek Kwesi Coel, and grandmother Jemima Andam for the cover shoot, also spoke of her experience filming the superhero sequel following the death of the films star Chadwick Boseman.

Story continues

The actor tragically passed away from a secret battle with colon cancer in August 2020. Following his death, it was confirmed that the late actors role would not be recast.

She said of her experience on set: It felt like the entire cast was processing grief. There was a sense that we have to bring this baby home in the name of Chadwick.

American Vogues November 2022 issue is available nationwide from October 18.
The school was at a loss financially, but the court heard there was no reality to Daniel Dolan paying for the damage caused

An intruder who broke into a primary school, vandalised a classroom and caused more than 2,500 worth of damage was drinking heavily and on crack cocaine at the time, a court heard.

Daniel Dolan (21) could not remember causing the damage, and was identified from CCTV footage.

Judge Dermot Dempsey jailed Dolan for six months when he appeared in Swords District Court.

The defendant, with a previous address at Castlegrange Avenue in Swords, and Ellis Quay Hostel, Dublin 7, admitted counts of criminal damage at St Cronans National School in Swords.

The court heard that gardai were on mobile patrol at around 3am on October 5, 2019, when an intruder alarm went off at St Cronans School.

Gda Duffy said Dolan got into the senior school by shattering a glass door, and then got into the junior school, vandalising one of the classrooms.

Gda Duffy told Judge Dempsey that Dolan caused 1,117 worth of damage to St Cronans junior school and damage valued at 1,447 to the senior school.

Defence lawyer Gerard Kennedy said in mitigation Dolan has had a difficult life, and was homeless and living in tents in the city centre until recently, when he moved into hostel accommodation.

Mr Kennedy said his client had struggled with addictions to tablets, crack cocaine and alcohol but was detoxing, and knew he could no longer live the way he had been.

Dolan also suffered from depression and schizophrenia, the court heard.

The defendant had no family support, Mr Kennedy added. His father was dying and he did not speak to his mother.

Dolan had two sisters who died as children, and the defendant believed his family was broken before he was even born, Mr Kennedy added.

The defendant also had no recollection of his behaviour, and it was likely he was under the influence of drugs mixed with alcohol, the court heard.

Mr Kennedy asked the judge to be as lenient as he could.

Judge Dempsey said the school was at a loss financially, but he was told there was no reality to Dolan, who was unemployed, paying for the damage he had caused.

Judge Dempsey imposed a six-month sentence. The judge also requested that Dolan receive medical assistance while in prison.
Lawlor (56) and Hanway (32) were paid wages of up to 5,000 a month for laundering cash for 12m crime gang

L-R: Patrick and Ian Lawlor, pictured at the Criminal Courts of Justice   Paddy Cummins - PCPhoto.ie

Two men who received monthly wages for their roles in a money laundering operation for a criminal gang which had an income of almost 12 million during 2019 have been handed lengthy prison sentences.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that just under 900,000 was seized by gardai following a surveillance operation at the home of Patrick Lawlor (56).

Lawlor (56) and Ross Hanway (32) were on Wednesday handed prison sentences of seven years and four years respectively for their roles working for an organised crime gang.

The court heard the men were only involved in money laundering and not in drugs. Lawlor received monthly cash payments of 5,000 while Hanway was initially paid 1,250, which rose to 4,000 by 2019.

When gardai searched the Lawlor family home, a small amount of drugs and cash was found in the bedroom of Lawlor's son, Ian Lawlor (24). Gardai believe this was a sole enterprise unconnected to his father's offences and separate to the garda investigation.

Hanway of The Beeches, Archerstown Demense, Ashbourne, Co Meath, pleaded guilty to possessing 412,000 on May 26, 2020, which was the proceeds of crime.

Patrick Lawlor of Collins Avenue West, Whitehall, Dublin 9 pleaded guilty to possessing 412,000 on May 26, 2020 which was the proceeds of crime.

He also pleaded guilty to possession of 477,370 in cash, 6,920 Sterling, 1,940 Romanian Lei (approximately 400), 187 Ukrainian Hryvnia Lei (approximately 5) and $3,295 US Dollars.

Lawlor Sr further pleaded guilty to possession of an encrypted mobile phone.

Ian Lawlor also of Collins Avenue West pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine, ketamine, MDMA valued at 18,000 and 12,000 in cash on the same date.

L-R: Patrick and Ian Lawlor, pictured at the Criminal Courts of Justice   Paddy Cummins - PCPhoto.ie

The three men have no previous convictions and have not come to garda attention since this offending.

Judge Melanie Greally said it does not take any leap of imagination to infer that money seized by gardai had originated from serious criminal activity.

Judge Greally noted that all three defendants had entered early guilty pleas, co-operated with gardai, and had no previous convictions.

She said both Hanway and Lawlor Sr received financial rewards for their roles in the money laundering operation. She said Hanway was transporting 412,000 in cash to a truck driver, who would then have taken this money outside the jurisdiction.

Judge Greally said it was an aggravating factor that Hanway was a taxi driver at the time, and had acted as a courier for the criminal group on a number of occasions.

Judge Greally said Hanway would have enjoyed the trust of those higher up the organisation and set a headline sentence of 110 months.

After considering the mitigating factors, she imposed a custodial sentence of four years, with the final two years suspended on strict conditions.

Judge Greally said Lawlor Snr played a central role which would have been of critical importance to the criminal organisation over a period of several years.

She said Lawlor Sr had received substantial amounts of money for his role, and had accumulated money, which was part of the cash seized by gardai during the search.

Judge Greally acknowledged that Lawlor Sr had a modest family home, but he also had a significant amount of cash in a frozen bank account and a luxury vehicle.

She set a headline sentence of 12 years for each count of money laundering and four years for the count of possession of an encrypted phone.

Having considered the mitigating factors, Judge Greally imposed a sentence of eight years with the final 12 months suspended on strict conditions.

Judge Greally said Ian Lawlor 's offending was detected during the course of a search of the family home. Lawlor Jr told gardai he was holding the drugs to reduce a drugs debt and was involved in small scale drugs dealing.

She said Lawlor Jr was a young man from a respectable background, who suffered with mental health difficulties. Lawlor Jr had also taken steps to address his addiction and had strong family support.

Judge Greally set a headline sentence of 54 months. She said the nature of the offending necessitated the imposition of a custodial sentence, though she would give significant credit for the mitigating factors and positive steps taken by Lawlor Jr.

She handed Lawlor Jr a three year prison sentence with the final 12 months suspended on strict conditions.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court was previously told by Detective Garda Ronan Doolan that ledgers seized by investigating gardai showed Hanway and Patrick Lawlor were both working for an organised crime gang which had an income of over 12 million during 2019.

The gang, which has operations within and outside the State, spent over 98,000 on encrypted mobile phone devices during the same year, the court heard.

Dt Doolan told Kieran Kelly BL, prosecuting, that members of the Garda National Drugs and Organised Bureau mounted a surveillance operation of Lawlor's family home following a confidential tip-off.

On the day in question, gardai saw Lawlor Sr leave his Dublin home carrying a heavy rucksack on his back. He then got into a taxi which pulled up beside him, without being flagged and driven by Hanway.

Gardai stopped the taxi, arrested both men and seized the rucksack, containing 412,000 in cash. Both Hanway and Lawlor had Android mobile phones and also dual-partition encrypted phones.

Det Doolan said that these encrypted phones are used by criminal gangs to communicate with each other.

He said such phones have a dummy screen which looks like an ordinary phone, until the user opens a certain app, for example the calculator, then a different screen loads once a code is entered.

When Lawlor was searched, the encryption app on the phone was open, allowing gardai to take screenshots of messages sent and received over the previous week including some between Hanway and Lawlor.

Det Doolan said that on encrypted phones, the messages burn off every seven days, so that even as they were taking screenshots, messages from the previous week were being wiped.

Gardai searched Lawlor's house on foot of a warrant and found a further sum of over 470,000 in cash, including sterling and some Romanian currency.

The court was told that both Hanway and Lawlor Sr were only involved in the laundering of money, not with drugs.

The court heard that in the course of their investigation, gardai found ledgers which gave a window into the wage structure and scale of operation within the crime gang.

Hanway, whose name was entered in the ledgers under a pseudonym, was being paid around 1,250 monthly at first, rising to an average of 4,000 by 2019. Lawlor Sr was being paid an average of 5,000 monthly.

During the search of the Lawlor home, gardai found drugs valued at 18,045 and cash in Ian Lawlors bedroom. Gardai believe this was a sole enterprise on Ian Lawlors part and unconnected with what was going on in the house.

When interviewed Lawlor Sr told gardai that he had fears for his and his familys safety and had been under pressure. He said he was shocked and surprised to learn of the drugs in his sons room.

Gardai agreed with Patrick Lawlors defence counsel Oisin Clarke BL that Lawlor accepted his own role and told gardai his family had nothing to do with the offences. They accepted he was put under pressure to become involved and that he expressed relief during interview that it was over.

Counsel said his client had found himself in extreme financial difficulty and facing the risk of losing the family home.

Judge Greally noted that Lawlor Sr was receiving monthly cash payments of 5,000 for his role.

Mr Clarke said the considerable amount of cash seized by gardai from the shed at Lawlor's home included some cash which his client had put aside.

Lawlor did not want to accept the cash, but his debts did not reduce as the criminal gang found it useful to keep him in his role.

Mr Clarke said his client was a family man who started working at an early age. He worked in construction as a sole trader and was doing extremely well during the 1990s and early 2000s.

The financial crash of 2008 was a devastating blow to Lawlor, as he became unemployed and depleted the family's savings due to financial pressures.

While Lawlor returned to work, he found himself in debt to certain individuals and became involved in a criminal enterprise.

Mr Clarke said his client has an overzealous drive to provide and protect family and had built a rental property, which would provide an income to his wife in the coming years. A number of references from friends and family were handed into the court on Lawlor's behalf.

Mr Clarke said his client did not display any visible trappings of wealth and designer watches found at the property were fake.

Dt Doolan said bank accounts, containing around 100,00 belonging to Lawlor Snr and his wife, had been frozen and Lawlor Sr also had a 191 Mercedes E-class vehicle.

Dominic McGinn SC, for Ian Lawlor, said his client is an apprentice electrician, whose training was interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

He acknowledged that while the Probation Service consider Lawlor Jnr to be at moderate risk of re-offending, his client is now drug-free and has become involved in charitable works.

A number of testimonials were handed to the court on behalf of Lawlor Jnr. Mr McGinn also noted that the likely imprisonment of Lawlor Sr would have a devastating impact on the family and asked the court to consider a non-custodial sentence for Ian Lawlor.
Autism and anti-far-right campaigner Fiona OLeary confronted Deegan as two gardai escorted him to a waiting patrol car

A victim of internet troll Eamon Deegan shouted monster at him as he was led away from court to begin an eight-month sentence for harassment on Thursday.

Autism and anti-far-right campaigner Fiona OLeary confronted Deegan as two gardai escorted him to a waiting patrol car outside Cork Circuit Court sitting in Clonakilty.

A distraught Fiona can be heard on video calling out to the 55-year-old: Enjoy jail Eamon  what you did to my family  monster!

Deegan (55) with an address at Springfield Court, Celbridge, Co Kildare, had appeared in court earlier on Thursday to appeal a 10-month sentence imposed on him in the District Court in July this year for harassing Ms OLeary.

At his original court hearing, details of his harassment of Ms OLeary, a mother of five children, four of whom have autism, was heard.

The harassment took place between June 3 and June 7, 2019, Deegan beginning with silent phone calls in the middle of the night before then sending direct messages through the Messenger app.

Mum Fiona OLeary

In the messages  the first batch of which Ms OLeary did not respond to  he called her f***ing vile and said you are a big bag of suicide waiting to happen.

He said Ms OLeary was f***ed up and referring to one of her sons, who is also autistic, said: Would you not focus on that f*** up you raised?.

In another message he said: You are not autistic. Bitch, Im talking to you.

In another he said: There is no such thing as autism, you are just a bad mother.

Again, referring to Ms OLearys son he said: I am willing to experiment on him.

In another he said: I want to experiment on your child, I am a Mensa level polymath.

Details of Deegans previous convictions were also heard at the July hearing, including five for misuse of drugs, one for the sale and supply of drugs, and six for possession of knives.

Jailing Deegan for 10 months, Judge James McNulty said Deegans fondness for knives and his history of drug use would give the injured party genuine cause for concern, he said.

Deegan subsequently appealed the severity of the sentence and was released on bail  but breached the terms of his bail in August by abusing another woman whose child had recently taken her own life.

At Thursdays sitting, Judge Helen Boyle affirmed the 10-month prison sentence before suspending the last two months.

Deegan was also bound to the peace for a period of two years and barred from having any contact with Ms OLeary or her family for a period of five years.

He was also barred from setting up anonymous online accounts and from coming within 200 meters of Ms. OLeary.

Speaking afterwards, Ms OLeary said: Knowing that I can have a Christmas where I wont be threatened or harassed by him is a huge relief.
Investigators are not looking for anybody else in connection with the deaths.

A baby found dead alongside his mother at the weekend may have died from an insulin overdose, gardai believe.

The bodies of Vincent Donohoe (11 months) and his mother Kate (44) were discovered together on a bed in an upstairs bedroom of their home on Saturday.

Emergency services rushed to the house in Clonee, Co Dublin after being contacted by a neighbour.

However, it is believed that the mother and child may have been deceased for up to 48 hours at that stage.

It is understood a detailed note was recovered by gardai.

This note has led to the tragedy being classified as a criminal investigation but investigators are not looking for anybody else in connection with the deaths.

A candlelight vigil was held on Monday night for Ms Donohoe and Vincent at a church in Clonee where members of the community are shocked by the tragedy.

Ms Donohoe has been described as a dog-lover, a champion of animal welfare and a well-respected woman who had never before come to the attention of gardai.

She was described as the only dog groomer in Ireland who specialised in grooming sight hounds such as greyhounds and whippets. Valerie Power, a dog groomer based in Dungarvan, Co Waterford said Ms Donohoe was well known among the dog grooming community.

She said Ms Donohoe lived alone with her son and two greyhounds.

She gave up her dog grooming business called For Dogs Sake after the birth of her son.

She adored that baby, Ms Power told the Irish Independent.

She had an overwhelming love for him.

And they had very happy times together.

She described her as the most warm and giving person and her death has caused shockwaves among her many friends.

We became good friends, she said, adding she only just saw Ms Donohue last Monday and she seemed in good form.

I was very shocked by what happened, she said.

Paul ORiordan, founder of the Great Hounds in Need charity based in Co Tipperary described Ms Donohue as a nice, friendly, happy and bubbly person.
I always said from the get-go that my attacker was a German with piercing blue eyes and a voice I would recognise immediately

An Irishwoman allegedly raped by Madeleine McCann murder suspect Christian Brueckner 18 years ago has spoken of her delight after he was charged.

Brueckner, who German prosecutors believe abducted Maddie in May 2007, has now been charged with the rape of Hazel Behan and four other sex crimes carried out in the same area between 2000 and 2017.

Ms Behan, who was aged 20 and working as a holiday rep at the time of the assault, was attacked inside a holiday apartment in Praia da Rocha - 10 miles from Praia da Luz, where Maddie vanished - in June 2004.

She said a mask-wearing attacker scaled the outside of her apartment as she slept and climbed in through the balcony.

She awoke to find herself being held at knifepoint. She says the man then beat her, tied her up and raped her while filming the attack.

Behan, who is now 39, describer her assailant as a German man with piercing blue eyes.

Behan, who had previously waived her right to anonymity to speak about her ordeal, said she was delighted that she may finally see justice.

I am delighted that after many hours and days of interviews in Ireland and Germany I am finally going to see justice, she said. It was the most horrific attack.

Speaking to Olive Press, she added: It was very hard and gruelling going back over the attack, having to spend over 20 hours with detectives in Ireland and then three days with police in Germany.

But the specific dedicated teams in both countries were so sensitive and good at taking me back to my room that night.

I always said from the get-go that my attacker was a German with piercing blue eyes and a voice I would recognise immediately.

When Brueckners name was released in connection to the Madeleine case, I knew it was him. It made me sick to the core.

I knew I had zero chance of justice, but thanks to all of the campaigning and the perseverance of Madeleines amazing parents, today, 18 long years after my rape, I have an opportunity to see my attacker behind bars.

Brueckner was also charged with two rapes said to have taken place some time between 2000 and 2006 - one on a 14-year-old girl and another on a woman aged between 70 and 80 years old - both at his apartment in Praia da Luz.

He is also accused of ambushing a 10-year-old German girl playing on the beach at Salema in April 2007 - close to where Madeleine vanished just a month later - in the district of Faro in Portugal, wearing only shoes and otherwise naked.

He allegedly forced her to watch him perform a sex act.

Ten years later, he is said to have carried out a similar crime against a girl at a playground at Bartolomeu de Messines in Portugal.

Prosecutors say the girl ran to her father for help and the suspect was arrested by Portuguese police at the scene.

Brueckner's lawyer Friedrich Fulscher said the new charges had come as a complete surprise to him and his client.

He said they were based on dubious witnesses and on video evidence that no one has been able to find.

Under German law, German nationals accused of crimes in other countries can be tried in their home country.

Investigators believe the 45-year-old also killed Madeleine, then three, after abducting her from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3, 2007.

However, he has not been charged with her disappearance.

Brueckner, who has denied any involvement in the case, was identified as a suspect in the McCann case by Portuguese officials in June 2020.

The Braunschweig prosecutor's office said in a statement that the accused was the same person under investigation in connection with Madeleine's disappearance.

Specifically, the accused is charged with three offences of aggravated rape and two offences of sexual abuse of children, the prosecutor's office added. The investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann continues.

The case against Brueckner is expected to start next spring.

Brueckner is currently in Oldenburg jail serving seven years for the rape of an elderly American woman in her home in Praia da Luz in 2005.

He was convicted after DNA from a hair in her bed was matched to him. Brueckner and his lawyer Fulscher have denied his involvement and insisted he was convicted after a bungled investigation.

He claims evidence in the new cases being investigated prove Brueckner could not have raped the pensioner as German authorities say that attack and the one on Behan were carried out by the same tattooed man.

Speaking on the 15th anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance Earlier this year, her parents said it is essential to learn the truth of what happened to their daughter.

On the same day, the Metropolitan Police, which continues to treat the case as a missing persons inquiry, said it is committed to finding the truth.

In July 2013, Scotland Yard launched its own investigation, Operation Grange, into Madeleine's disappearance.
At least 24 people have been scammed out of a holiday home in Portrush, County Antrim, police believe.

At least 24 people have been scammed out of a holiday home in Portrush, County Antrim, police believe.

Fake advertisements for a house allegedly in Northern Ireland were posted on social media complete with photos.

The PSNI say the house is real, but its actual owners had no idea it was being used to fuel fraud.

Victims of the scam put down deposits for the accommodation but never heard from the poster again, the PSNI say..

The victims used PayPal to pay sizeable deposits of several hundred pounds, the suspect always requesting they do so through the friends and family payment function, PSNI Detective Sergeant Gardiner told BBC Northern Ireland.

"However after payment, the victims did not receive any further information and in many cases were blocked by the profile."

One victim was left out of pocket and their hopes of a summer getaway dashed, BBC NI reports.

A 23-year-old woman has been arrested in Belfast on suspicion of multiple counts of fraud by false representation.

The PSNI fear there may be more victims who havent yet come forward.

"We would ask that they contact us on 101 so that we have a fuller picture of the extent of this scam," said Det Sgt Gardiner.

A PSNI spokesperson said detectives investigating the scam falsely advertising a holiday home in Portrush have charged the woman.

"The woman, charged with 24 counts of fraud by false representation, is due to appear before Belfast Magistrates' Court on 9th November, they said.

As is usual procedure, all charges will be reviewed by the Public Prosecution Service.
Five men have been shot to death while out alone at night in recent months. All within a few miles of each other

An image of a person of interest linked the fatal shootings of six men and the wounding of one woman in California (Stockton Police Department via AP)

A series of random attacks have led Californian police to fear a serial killer may be on the loose in the state.

Five men have been shot to death while out alone at night in recent months. All within a few miles of each other.

The random shootings have led authorities to believe they may have a serial killer on their hands.

Police released a grainy image of their person of interest on Monday, an individual dressed completely in black with a black cap.

Homicide Series Update: Today Chief McFadden released a video of the "Person of Interest" in regards to this series. If you have any info, please call 209-937-8167. There is a $125,000 reward for info that leads to an arrest. pic.twitter.com/QLhcobVFJZ  Stockton Police Dept (@StocktonPolice) October 5, 2022

This person was spotted in video captured at several of the crime scenes. Police are offering a $125,000 reward for information on the suspect.

Stockton Police say the string of shootings began last April and fear there could be more in the future.

Authorities across the state are examining old cases for matches with the mysterious killer who has been linked with seven shootings, six being fatal.

Five men were killed this year, with police matching two attacks that happened last year with the shooter.

We dont know what the motive is. What we do believe is that its mission-oriented, Stockton Police Chief Stanley McFadden said on Tuesday according to the Associated Press.

This persons on a mission."

Although police would not say whether all seven shootings are linked to the same gun, Mr McFadden referenced a single pistol during a news conference, the Associate Press said.

Mr McFadden has absolutely no answer as to why that pistol went dormant for over 400 days between the shootings in April and the first case this summer.

Police say there is no order to the attacks, that most of the victims have been male and Hispanic but it is unclear whether those details are coincidental.

A homeless woman reported a man shot her multiple times in April 2021, a case police have now linked with the same person one year later.

She said the attacker wore a dark hoodie, dark pants and a black facemask.

Police have stated the investigation into the potential serial killer is ongoing.

Last year, the FBI revealed there may be up to 4,000 unidentified serial killers in the US, with as many as 50 active at any one time.
It was reported that they were being moved from Hotel Killarney to accommodate almost 200 male asylum seekers

Alina Maslak had earlier spoken of her upset over the move. Pic from Radio Kerry

A decision to transfer Ukrainian refugees from their home in a Kerry hotel is to be reversed, it has emerged.

The Government is set to announce the sudden u-turn after discussions between Kerry TD and Education Minister Norma Foley and Minister for Children and Equality Roderic OGorman who has responsibility for the accommodation of refugees.

Residents living at Hotel Killarney received a letter from the Department of Children and Equality on Monday afternoon saying that they are to be moved to a new location.

It was reported that they were being moved from Hotel Killarney on Park Road to accommodate almost 200 male asylum seekers seeking international protection in Ireland.

This is despite the fact that their children have now settled in school in Killarney and that many of them have jobs.

Earlier, one of the more than 100 Ukrainian refugees who had been ordered to move to Mayo from their accommodation in Kerry pleaded with authorities to be allowed to stay.

Alina Maslak, who has lived in Killarney since March, revealed how she had recently started a course in personal training and nutrition in Kerry College in Tralee.

Alina, who was a professional dancer and choreographer in Ukraine, was looking forward to beginning a lifeguard course.

But she revealed how a letter from IPAS, the International Protection Accommodation Services, said she and other Ukrainians were being moved to Mayo and that a bus would collect them on Wednesday morning.

And that letter was like, you must do it, and if you say no, we cant give you any protection, if was something like that.

And its so hard because I have a life here, she told Radio Kerry.

I found my course that I really like and I like my college, I like my group, and I like my teacher. Its so hard when you must finish and (must) begin again.

And I dont understand, when we get to Westport, maybe it may happen (being moved) again.

Every person in Ukraine, like me now, we had our lives, we had our plans, we had our homes. Its very hard.

The Ukrainian community of 135 people, including up to 40 school-going children, had reportedly received less than 48 hours notice they are to be bussed to Westport.

The children attend St Olivers National School nearby and several of the women have jobs in the town.

Some 16 nationalities are among the 192 males who are seeking international protection, including from Libya, Algeria, Iran and Georgia. They were bussed to Hotel Killarney on Saturday from City West.

It is understood 192 refugees from up to 16 countries including Libya and Georgia were brought to the Kerry hotel on Saturday from CityWest in Dublin while the Ukrainians were due to be sent to Westport today.

Moving asylum seekers into a hotel and moving out Ukrainian refugees whove been there since March does not make any sense, the mayor of Killarney, Niall Kelleher, said.

An emergency meeting which was held on Monday was attended by Fine Gael TD Brendan Griffin, the Killarney Immigrant Support Centre, and school principal along with Ukrainian representatives.

Speaking at the meeting, Mayor Kelleher said: We want that decision reversed. How does it make sense we would remove people here since March in order to install others?

Meanwhile, Fine Gael TD Brendan Griffin called the move inhumane.

Childrens Minister Roderic OGorman said the decision was made because of very significant pressure on the State.

He told RTE Radio: We find it particularly hard to find accommodation for those in the international protection process, and the hotel that is in question here in Killarney is one that we can use for international protection.

I understand that these families have become integrated in the communities, and what we are looking to do in terms of pleaded accommodation and pledged properties in the area, we will look to see if we can link some of these families in pledged properties.

The Department of Children and Equality said in a statement to independent.ie that the accommodation in Killarney is required in order to prevent International Applicants from entering homelessness.

However, the Government is now set to announce a reversal in the decision.
What happens if you give oestrogen to male birds? What if foxes eat the birds when they die? What happens if rats eat the grain?

A Dublin councillor has called for seagulls to be fed contraceptive pills in a bid to control their numbers and stop the growing incidents of attacks on people.

Aoibhinn Tormey, a Fine Gael member of Fingal County Council, believes this is a huge issue that goes beyond signage and bins.

Representing Howth and Malahide, she wants to introduce a method, used elsewhere in Europe, to minimise the number of seagull attacks along Dublins coastline.

Ms Tormey previously wrote to the Department of Housing explaining how R-12 pigeon pills dispensed from corn seed feeders in Belgium have successfully reduced the pigeon population there.

She told theIrish Independent: The birds are aggressive, particularly during nesting season when theyre all spread around the coastal areas. In Howth, theyll attack people for food.

R-12 pigeon pills dispensed from corn seed feeders in Belgium have successfully reduced the pigeon population.   Stock

The problem is that people will feed them but then theyll come back and grab the food.

There have been instances where people get hurt and bleed. Its a situation that needs to be dealt with. If what theyre doing in Belgium works, we should try it here. In Balbriggan, they remove some of the eggs: that hasnt been done in Howth.

There can be different things that can be done, particularly when its a public safety issue. Its going to keep happening every single year.

Fingal County Council looked at the provision of public bins and a number of compressor bins were installed. Signs were also put up telling the public to stop feeding the seagulls.

Ms Tormey said: Were working with local businesses to ensure that their bins are secure so the seagulls cant get it.

Aoibhinn Tormey of Fingal County Council

I think the department has to look at this and start exploring next-level interventions, particularly in Howth where it hasnt been done before. Whether its removing eggs or if the contraceptive thing works, but I think we need to be looking beyond signage and bins because the problem is much worse than that.

Meanwhile, Gillian Bird from the DSPCA said there are ethical problems that come with the proposal of giving contraceptive pills to birds.

She said: This is not going to happen for simple reasons. Number one, there are ethical problems: how do we know its just going to be wild seagulls eating the corn? What if native Irish birds or endangered birds eat them? What will be the knock-on effects? Is it aimed at sterilising the males or as birth control for the females?

What happens if you give oestrogen to male birds? What if foxes eat the birds when they die? What happens if rats eat the grain? Will it be like an episode of The Simpsons where we end up with three-eyed animals?

Its very unethical to do, there would be risks to animals because we dont know the knock-on effect.

She said population control is based on the food sources available to the seagulls.

Its the same with foxes: its about rubbish and litter at the end of the day. Animals will reproduce based on the amount of food we give them.

The wheelie bins did a huge thing for the urban fox population. We should look at our waste system, how our bins work, and how industrial and food waste works instead.

Last year, Finglas-Ballymun Councillor Keith Connolly asked Dublin City Council to look at the possibility of culling seagulls. He told Newstalk: This issues around litter, picking at bags, noise pollution, weve had seagulls attacking people for food in outdoor areas. We need to start looking at what can be done to either cull or to stop these ruining our city at the moment.
A man is in critical condition at a Syracuse hospital following a crash involving a tractor-trailer in Moravia Wednesday morning, the Cayuga County Sheriff's Office said.

Sheriff Brian Schenck told The Citizen that a call came in around 5:59 a.m. about a tractor trailer going off the roadway at Tollgate Hill Road between Route 90 and Route 38 and over a small embankment. The male driver, who was the only person involved in the incident, was removed from the vehicle and flown by a LifeNet of New York helicopter to Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse with serious injuries. Schenck said the driver was in critical condition.

Although the truck had been removed from the scene as of Wednesday afternoon, Schenck said Tollgate Hill Road from Route 90 to Route 38 was still closed in order for the Cayuga Count Highway Department to clean up the scene, including fixing a guardrail damaged in the incident.

The sheriff's office was still investigating what caused the driver to go off the roadway.

The Moravia Fire Department and the Locke Volunteer Fire Department were also at the scene, Schenck said, adding the state Department of Environmental Conservation Police responded. Schenck believes some fuel from the truck spilled. Four Town Ambulance also responded.
The Donegal man was one of 10 who tragically lost their lives at Creeslough.

Heartbreaking tributes have been paid to the oldest victim of the Creeslough tragedy, Hugh Kelly (59).

He is sadly missed, his family say, by his partner Linda, her daughter Mary and grandchild, Rosey as well as his sisters, brother and all his family and friends.

His funeral will be held in St Michaels Church, Creeslough on Friday at 11am, followed by a burial in his local Doe Point  a scenic area just a few kilometres from the village.

Hugh was described as popular and a cheery man by one heartbroken friend speaking to The Sunday World.

"Always a smile to greet you with.

The man was one of ten killed in the tragic blast in the small Donegal village that has shocked the nation.

The ten people who lost their lives in the explosion have been named as: James O Flaherty (48); Jessica Gallagher, (24); Martin McGill (49); Catherine O Donnell (39) and her son James Monaghan (13); Hugh Kelly (59); Martina Martin (49); Robert Garwe (50) and his daughter Shauna Flanagan Garwe (5) and Leona Harper (14).

Funerals have taken place this week and over the next few days for each of the victims.

Father John Joe Duffy rold the Irish Independent that the outpouring of support for Creeslough is "like a tidal wave lifting us and trying to float us out of the tsunami of grief".

"We appreciate that so very much," he added.

Condolences and tributes have been paid by President Michael D Higgins, King Charles and stars like Daniel ODonnell and Paul McGrath.

"However inadequate this may be under such shattering circumstances, President Higgins said, we wanted you to know that our most heartfelt sympathy and deepest condolences are with those families and friends who have lost their loved ones in this devastating tragedy, together with yourself and the people of Ireland.
The DUPs refusal to nominate a Deputy First Minister in protest over the Protocol has blocked any attempt to form an Executive

Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris is playing hard ball over the prospect of a pre-Christmas election.

The Sunday World understands the newly-appointed Cabinet minister is resisting calls from political leaders to reconsider his intention to call a fresh poll on October 28.

Thats the date that marks six months since the last poll which saw Sinn Fein take over as the Assemblys largest party.

But the DUPs refusal to nominate a Deputy First Minister in protest over the Protocol has blocked any attempt to form an Executive.

Party chiefs have viewed the prospect of winter election campaign with alarm, particularly in the teeth of an economic crisis.

But Mr Heaton-Harris has so far resisted calls for him to reconsider.

Sinn Feins First Minister designate Michelle ONeill said people should not be made to go to the polls before Christmas.

She repeated he calls for the restoration of power sharing as she prepared to meet a senior US government official.

Derek Chollet, counsellor with the US Department of State, met with political leaders at Stormont on Monday.

But DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has reiterated his warning that his party will not return to the Assembly or Executive until his demands are met on the Northern Ireland Protocol.

And at his party conference at the weekend he said his party was prepared for an election campaign and was hopeful they would retake their position as the largest party.

He also repeated calls for unionist unity with agreed candidates to stand in marginal constituencies.

The UK Government has vowed to secure changes to the protocol, either by way of a negotiated compromise with the EU or through proposed domestic legislation that would empower ministers to scrap the arrangements without the approval of Brussels.

Relations between the UK and EU appear to have improved since Liz Truss became Prime Minister and London and Brussels have been talking up the potential for a deal through fresh negotiations.

Current legislation says that unless Stormont is restored by October 28, Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has to call fresh assembly elections, something he has said he is prepared to do.

He's (Derek Chollet) coming at a time where we're obviously hurtling towards the October 28 deadline and we have to have an Executive formed by that time, said Ms ONeill..

I very much welcome the part the United States has always played and being a big supporter and aid to our peace process.

We need to get around the Executive table today, no more delays. Particularly whenever you see the scale of challenges that we have to tackle as an executive, not least fixing our health service.

Asked about the potential for an election before Christmas, Ms O'Neill said: We shouldn't have to have an election. We had an election back in May.

The people spoke, and the people asked for a functioning executive, they asked for us to make politics work.

And they asked for us to work together to deliver for them. That's where I remain committed. That's where I want to be.

Ms O'Neill encouraged the UK Government and the EU to come to an agreement within the framework of the protocol.
We need everybody, working together, planning strategically, maintaining standards and never forgetting the people at the centre of this war whose world has been upended.

Anthonina Khrystieva from Nikolaev, Ukraine, pictured with her baby Platon after the decision to move 135 Ukrainian women and children from Hotel Killarney to Mayo today has been reversed.

The Ukraine Civil Society Forum has thanked the people of Killarney following the Governments reversal of a decision to relocate refugees from Kerry to Mayo.

Residents living at Hotel Killarney received a letter from the Department of Children and Equality on Monday afternoon saying that they were to be moved to a new location in Westport, Co Mayo.

It was reported that they were being moved from Hotel Killarney to accommodate almost 200 male asylum seekers seeking international protection in Ireland.

However, it emerged today that the 135 Ukrainian refugees in question  mainly women and children - will remain in Killarney and have moved to The Towers Hotel in the town.

This decision has been welcomed by the Ukraine Civil Society Forum, a coalition of civil society groups including the Irish Refugee Council and the Immigrant Council of Ireland, who said that Killarney residents saved the day by standing up for asylum seekers.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the initiative said: For the families who have made Killarney a home for the past six months we offer our support and welcome today's announcement of a resolution.

They said that the original decision to relocate refugees to Westport with less than 48 hours notice failed to consider the impact on vulnerable women and children and a wider policy in relation to refugees.

Such a proposed move is retraumatising and would cause untold damage to the children. We need to ensure that this does not happen again.

We must learn from Killarney. This is unfortunately not an isolated incident, and it should not be repeated. The people of Killarney and their representatives saved the day. We need that spirit.

The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth is doing herculean work trying to find shelter for so many.

We need everybody, working together, planning strategically, maintaining standards and never forgetting the people at the centre of this war whose world has been upended.

The spokesperson added that long-term plans to accommodate refugees must be put in place as hotel rooms are simply not suitable for families.

As a nation we can provide stable shelter so children can go to school and parents can work if we have medium term planning, humane systems and we support and resource local communities, they said.
A star-studded Late Late Show line-up is set for this Friday.

A star-studded Late Late Show line-up is set for this Friday, including Irish icons like Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Barry Keoghan and Paul Galvin.

Brendan OCarroll will also sit down with host Ryan Tubridy on this weeks show alongside GAA historian Dr Siobhan Doyle.

Moya Brennan and Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh will perform a special musical tribute to victims of the Creeslough tragedy in Donegal.

The trio of actors  Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and Barry Keoghan  star in the highly anticipated The Banshees of Inisherin and will talk behind-the-scenes and share whether they think an Oscar will go to an Irishman this year.

Mrs Browns Boys star Brendan OCarroll will join Ryan on the sofa to chat about his new autobiography and his own mother Maureen, who became Irelands first female Labour TD.

Kerryman Paul Galvin opens up about his mens clothing designs and taking inspiration form the GAA pitch for his next collection.

The GAA theme is continued with a dive into the past with historian Dr Siobhan Doyle, who will explore how the sport has turned into a global success.

Toy Show The Musical is coming to the stage this winter, with Ryan talking to three performers who are set to bring the story to life.

They will perform a special musical number during the show, so will artists Moya Brennan and Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh.

The pair will perform a musical tribute for the victims of the tragedy in the village of Creeslough, Co. Donegal.
ITV confirmed today that Jama (28) would take over from the Irish presenter for the next series of the hit reality show

Laura Whitmore has responded to news that Maya Jama will replace her as Love Island host.

ITV confirmed today that Jama (28) would take over from the Irish presenter for the next series of the hit reality show just weeks after Whitmore announced that she was stepping down from the role.

Love Islands official Instagram account announced the news earlier today with a clip of Jama showing off her branded water bottle and suitcase, writing: Okay, the rumours are true. Say hey to your brand-new Love Island host Maya Jama!

And ex-host Whitmore shared her love in the comments section, leaving a red heart emoji accompanied by the words: Yes girl!! So delighted for you! Youre gonna be fab xx

The Bray native announced in August that she was hanging up her boots as Love Island host after three seasons.

She took over presenting duties from the late Caroline Flack in 2020 for the series first ever Winter Love Island.

Sharing news of her departure on Instagram, the 37-year-old wrote: Some news! I wont be hosting the next series of Love island.

There are certain elements of the show Ive found very difficult that cannot be changed some due to the format, including the flying back and forth to South Africa along with my new conflicting projects.

I wish it was still possible but know youll be in safe hands. I was only planning to fill in for Caroline for a series and it turned into three series. I hope I did you proud Caroline.

Following the announcement, an ITV spokesperson said: Laura has been a fantastic host across the last three series of the show.

We are so grateful for everything she has brought to the programme but understand and respect her decision, and we look forward to working with her on upcoming ITV projects.
Fans say its the news weve all been waiting for.

Fan favourite Maya Jama (28) is officially set to take over from Laura Whitmore as host of Love Island.

ITV bosses confirmed the news today, weeks after Laura announced she was parting ways with the show.

"Okay, the rumours are true, Love Island revealed on the official Instagram page for the show.

"Say hey to your brand-new Love Island host Maya Jama!

A video posted with the announcement shows Maya scrolling through headlines betting on the new Love Island host.

A zoom-out shows the presenter with her branded water bottle and suitcase, set to take on villa-life in the next series.

With a red heart emoji, ex-host Laura Whitmore, who quit the role due to the difficult format commented: Yes girl!! So delighted for you! Youre gonna be fab.

Mayas first time on set will be for the upcoming winter season, returning to screens in January from South Africa.

She has long been a fan favourite to host the show.

"Maya Jama confirmed as Love Island host is the news weve all been waiting for, one fan said on Twitter. Might have a cocktail or something, it feels right.

"Love Island is about to become a whole lot better with Maya Jama,another said.

One Twitter user said they are looking forward to recording the show and skip the bits shes not in.

Finding a new host to follow the wonderful Laura Whitmore was never going to be easy, Paul Mortimer, Director of Reality Programming at ITV told The Irish Sun.

"In Maya Jama though, we have another high profile fan of the show wholl be a great addition to the Love Island family. Cool, charming and charismatic, I speak for us all when I say Maya will also bring a unique presenting style to the show, as did Laura and, of course, the very much missed Caroline Flack. Were very pleased to have her on board.

The star is rumoured to have a net worth of about 2.5 million and found her way to fame through presenting and DJ-ing.
The star passed away yesterday at the age of 96, prompting fans to remember her run in with cult leader Charles Manson and her familys escape to Cork.

In this 1969 file photo, Charles Manson is escorted to his arraignment on conspiracy-murder charges in connection with the Sharon Tate murder case in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/File)

The story of how Angela Lansbury saved her young daughter from the clutches of Charles Manson has been making waves online in the aftermath of her death.

The star passed away yesterday at her Los Angeles Home, just days away from her 97th birthday.

In 2014, she shared her familys close-call with cult leader and convicted murderer Charles Manson  and how they ran away to Cork to escape.

Her then-teenage daughter Diedre had been taken in by Mansons followers in the 1960s, Lansbury told DailyMail.com.

"It pains me to say it but, at one stafe, Deidre was in a crowd led by Charles Manson.

In this 1969 file photo, Charles Manson is escorted to his arraignment on conspiracy-murder charges in connection with the Sharon Tate murder case in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/File)

"She was one of many youngsters who knew him  and they were fascinated, Lansbury said. He was an extraordinary character, charismatic in many ways, no question about it.

Deidre, now 69, has been using drugs at the time along with her brother Andrew.

"It started with cannabis but moved on to heroin.

"There were factions up in the hills above Malibu that were dedicated to deadly pursuits.

The teens fell down a slippery path, Lansbury explained, and the brush with Manson is a chilling reminder of where the story could have ended.

Read more Actress Angela Lansbury dies aged 96

Instead, Lansbury said she upped sticks and moved the family to a house I found in County Cork in a bid to escape Mansons clutches.

"I was drawn to Ireland because it was the birthplace of my mother and it was also somewhere my children wouldn't be exposed to any more bad influences.

She described the period as a wonderful time in her life that pulled her children out of trouble.

"Anthony pulled right out of his bad habits quite quickly, she said. It took Deidre a little longer, but she finally got married and she and her husband now live in Los Angeles, where they run their own Italian restaurant.

The star said the damage that would have come to her kids if they had stayed in LA is unimaginable.

"It fills me with dread.

"Certainly, I have no doubt we would have lost one or both of our two if they hadn't been removed to a completely different milieu, the simplicity of life in Ireland.

Writer Jeff Guinn revealed in 2014 that Diedre became wrapped up in the Manson movement and would go stock up on clothes or car parts without a concern for cost, because Didi paid for everything with her mother's credit cards.

In his book Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson he said the teen never moved in with the members, but was useful to them before she left LA with her family.

The notorious killers group would go on to commit the infamous Tate-LaBianca murders in 1969. Pregnant actress and wife of director Roman Polanski, Sharon Tate was killed by Manson cult members alongside friends Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski and Steven Parent.

The following evening, supermarket executive Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary were targeted and killed by cult members under Mansons direction.

Manson was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in 1971.

Although it is believed he did not outright order the killings, a jury was convinced his behaviour made him responsible.

He died in 2017 after spending 47 years on death row at the age of 83.
Tauranga's TECT Rescue Helicopter carried out 30 missions over the month of September.

These included 18 inter-hospital transfers, five medical events, five rural or farm related incidents and two motor-vehicle accidents.

"Your TECT Rescue Helicopter crew was spotted in the likes of Tauranga, with eight missions taking place, and Te Kaha, with two missions taking place," says a spokesperson for the rescue chopper.

"The month commenced with the TECT Rescue Helicopter being tasked to Te Kaha Medical Centre for a teenage girl suffering from an asthma attack.

"The patient was transported to Whakatane Hospital for further treatment."

On Wednesday night, September 7, the TECT Rescue Helicopter was dispatched to Gisborne Hospital for a woman in her 50s suffering from a serious stroke.

The patient was transported to Auckland Hospital for further treatment.

On September 13, a young boy suffering from a serious medical condition needed to be transported from Whakatane Hospital.

The TECT Rescue Helicopter flew the patient to Starship Hospital for further treatment.

On Wednesday night, September 14, the TECT Rescue Helicopter was dispatched to Tauranga Hospital for a male in his 70s who was suffering from a critical medical event, says a chooper spokesperson.

The patient was transported to Waikato Hospital for further treatment.

"That weekend the TECT Rescue Helicopter was dispatched to a rural property north of Matamata for a male in his 50s who had sustained serious injuries after falling off his roof.

"The patient was flown to Waikato Hospital for further treatment."

On Sunday afternoon, the TECT Rescue Helicopter was dispatched to a town west of Whakatane for a young girl who had sustained multiple injuries after falling off her motorbike. The patient was flown to Starship Hospital for further treatment.

The TECT Rescue Helicopter was called out on September 27 to transport a teenage girl from Taumarunui Hospital who was experiencing pregnancy difficulties.

The patient was transported to Waikato Hospital for further treatment, says a rescue chopper spokesperson.

"Support your rescue crew and help them continue to carry out life-saving missions like these. Head to give.rescue.org.nz to donate today."
Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay has not represented any part of Cayuga County before, but a couple of former colleagues educated him about the issues affecting the county.

Barclay, R-Pulaski, will have a few Cayuga County towns in his new district beginning in January. The towns of Ira, Sterling and Victory are in the 120th Assembly District which includes all of Oswego County and a portion of Jefferson County.

"I'm excited about the new district that I have," Barclay told The Citizen in an interview Tuesday. "I think I was fortunate in redistricting because I'm from Oswego County. I ended up getting all of Oswego County ... This district, it all fits together pretty well."

What Cayuga County voters should know about new NY state Assembly districts The redistricting process led to the addition of a third state Assembly district in Cayuga County.

Barclay was first elected to the state Assembly 20 years ago and Republicans named him minority leader in 2020. In addition to his state government service, he is a partner at the Barclay Damon law firm in Syracuse.

His familiarity with Cayuga County is due to two former neighbors he sat next to on the Assembly floor. Gary Finch and Bob Oaks, two longtime state assemblymen who represented parts of Cayuga County, informed Barclay about what was happening in their areas.

"I think the issues in Sterling, Victory and Ira are not that dissimilar than what the issues are for the district as a whole," Barclay said. "The rural nature of those towns matches a lot of my district."

As an upstate legislator, one of Barclay's priorities is to ensure that rural areas are not overlooked in state government. He said that there is a lot of attention on urban areas, particularly New York City, so he does not want rural counties to be left out of the legislative process.

Infrastructure funding and school aid are among the top issues on his agenda. He wants fair funding for low-wealth school districts and the Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program, which supports local road repairs.

Agriculture is important for the 120th district. Barclay is hoping that enough Democrats will support legislation to reverse the state's plan to lower the overtime threshold for farmworkers.

He is concerned about how the state's climate change policies may affect energy costs for consumers. And he wants to make funding for the P-TECH program permanent. He believes that's important for manufacturing companies that need skilled workers.

Barclay is running unopposed this year. He called it an honor to "represent the area as I have and I look forward to representing this new district."

While he won't have competition, it doesn't mean it will be a stress-free election night for him. As minority leader, he is hoping for Republicans to pick up seats across New York. Democrats hold 107 of the 150 seats in the state Assembly.

"I do feel very invested in this campaign," he said. "I'm out traveling the state trying to help our candidates win."

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 8. Early voting begins Saturday, Oct. 29 and runs through Sunday, Nov. 6.
The Royal New Zealand Air Force is testing its ability to operate in austere environments by returning to an annual United States Air Force exercise in the skies above Alaska this month.

RNZAF No. 40 Squadron personnel and their C-130H Hercules are attending Exercise Red Flag-Alaska 23-1, which is being held at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, just outside of Anchorage.

The exercise is designed to develop crews proficiency in conducting advanced tactical flying missions in austere environments in preparation for operations.

Exercise Red Flag aims to maximise combat readiness, capability and survivability by providing aircrews with realistic training in a combined air and ground threat environment, says Detachment Commander Squadron Leader Kendall Dooley.

RNZAF Sergeant Darren Matheson, right, and Flight Lieutenant Andrew Sledger, aircrew on a C-130 Hercules, conduct a familiarisation flight over the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex, during Exercise Red Flag.

Training will include threat evasion, airdrops, landing and taking off from semi-prepared strips, escort co-ordination, air combat and Airborne Early Warning and Control integration.

It is the first time since 2018 that the RNZAF has been able to attend the exercise because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Its great to be back working with our partners on high-quality training. It really helps increase our readiness and response capabilities. The training also helps us build interoperability and execute complex and realistic operations with our military partners.

RNZAF Flight Sergeant Nathan Hodges, a loadmaster, conducts a pre-flight inspection before a familiarisation flight on a C-130 Hercules, during Exercise Red Flag at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.

RNZAF Sergeant Dion Joblin, a loadmaster, hangs a New Zealand flag before a familiarisation flight on a C-130 Hercules, during Exercise Red Flag at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.
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South Africa: Have your say on Code of Conduct for Councillors Regulations

The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) has invited the public to comment on the recently gazetted Code of Conduct for Councillors Regulations.

The Department on Tuesday said the Regulations are made in accordance with Section 92 of the Municipal Structures Amendment Act No. 3 of 2021, which empowers the Minister of CoGTA to make Regulations not inconsistent with the Act prescribing any matter that may or must be prescribed in terms of the Act and to facilitate the application thereof.



The draft Regulations, said CoGTA, were aimed at facilitating the application of Schedule 7 of the Structures Act which provides for the Code of Conduct for Councillors.



The draft Regulations are aligned to the Regulations that were issued in 2001, but have been further expanded to deal with the following other matters:



i. Prohibition of walk-outs during council meetings;

ii. Introduction of a requirement for designated councils gifts register;

iii. Unruly behaviour of councillors to maintain decorum in the municipal councils;

iv. Obligation to municipalities to provide adequate support to cater for councillors living with disabilities to participate effectively in council proceedings;

v. Requirement for councillors to settle municipal accounts (no longer than 3 months) due for rates and services in accordance with the credit control policy of the municipality; and

vi. Requirement for reporting on a biannual basis by the municipality to the MEC and the Minister on compliance to the Code.

A copy of the draft Regulations for public comments can be accessed on the following website link: https://www.cogta.gov.za/index.php/docs-category/regulations/



Members of the public are invited to submit written comments before 25 October 2022, to the following address:



By post to: Director-General



For attention: Dr Kevin Naidoo

Department of Cooperative Governance Private Bag X804

PRETORIA

0001

- SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2022-10-12. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
A union has endorsed in the 24th Congressional District race, while the independent mayor of Syracuse is taking sides in the 48th state Senate District contest.

IBEW for Tenney

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 97 is supporting Republican U.S. Rep. Claudia Tenney over Democratic challenger Steven Holden in the 24th Congressional District race.

Michael Shelby, the president and business manager of IBEW Local 97, explained why the union endorsed Tenney, R-Canandaigua, for reelection.

"IBEW Local 97 feels very strongly that the United States Congress needs more level-headed and informed representatives such as Ms. Tenney," Shelby said. "Every aspect of our country relies on energy. Attacking the energy sector will have dire consequences not only for IBEW Local 97 but for the entire state of New York as well as the nation as a whole."

Tenney, Shelby continued, "will fight to protect our state and our country by supporting legislation that invests in our energy infrastructure and responsibly diversifies the energy sector."

The union represents about 4,700 members in upstate New York. The membership includes workers at nuclear power plants in Oswego County, which is in the 24th district.

Syracuse mayor endorses May

The mayor of the largest city in the new 48th state Senate District has endorsed Democratic state Sen. Rachel May for reelection.

Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh, an independent, cited May's work on issues important to the city, which is in the 48th district.

"In the past four years, (May's) leadership in the New York State Senate has delivered real results for our city," Walsh said. "She secured state support for the state-of-the-art, county-wide STEAM school and has advocated relentlessly for a neighborhood-friendly redesign of the I-81 corridor, for bus rapid transit, for affordable housing and safe streets."

Walsh also highlighted May's support of Syracuse Build, the city's I-81 workforce program.

"Her forward-looking vision and effective advocacy have been invaluable and I look forward to working with her in the future to continue advancing our goal for a growing city that embraces diversity and creates opportunity," he added.

May is seeking a third term in the state Senate. Her opponents are Onondaga County Legislator Julie Abbott, a Republican, and Conservative candidate Justin Coretti, an Owasco attorney.

Cayuga County sheriff's deputies endorse in local races

The Cayuga County Deputy Sheriff's Police Association is backing candidates running in a few local races.

The group is supporting Tenney in the 24th Congressional District, Assemblyman John Lemondes in the 126th Assembly District and Yates County Judge Jason Cook for state Supreme Court in the 7th Judicial District, which includes Cayuga County.

New York State Young Republicans for Abbott

The New York State Young Republicans have endorsed Onondaga County Legislator Julie Abbott in the 48th Senate District race. Abbott is challenging Democratic state Sen. Rachel May.

Peter Giunta, who chairs the state Young Republicans, called May "an Albany swamp monster" and criticized her positions on crime issues and other policies he said are "gutting central New York."

"Julie Abbott, on the other hand, is an accomplished county legislator and school board member whose past record speaks for itself," Giunta said. "As senator, Julie will stand up to defend the values that central New York holds dear  and that's why she has our total support!"
BSM celebrates 50 years of third-party ship management

Fifty years ago, the foundation was laid for the development of today's BSM, which is now one of the largest ship management companies in the world.

More than 600 invited guests gathered yesterday at Limassol Marina, Cyprus, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM). Customers and partners, representatives from business and politics as well as employees, paid tribute to BSM as a first mover in third-party ship management. Fifty years ago, the foundation was laid for the development of today's BSM, which is now one of the largest ship management companies in the world. Furthermore, it was the beginning of the unparalleled development of Cyprus into one of the worlds most important shipping locations. The name Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement has a firm place in Cyprus shipping history. The decision of the companys management at the time to choose Limassol as the location for the start-up has had a significant impact on the development of our country as a maritime hub of global importance, said Vassilios Demetriades, Shipping Deputy Minister of Cyprus, ahead of the event. With foresight and entrepreneurial courage, an entirely new business segment was founded, which is now firmly established worldwide. Fifty years of BSM  thats really something special, said Dr Heinrich Schulte, Chairman of the Schulte Group and founder of BSM, in his address to the guests. This anniversary fills us all with joy and with great pride. What started in 1972 with a handful of employees became the blueprint for an entire industry. I would like to thank all customers and partners who have accompanied us on this journey and for the trust they have placed with our company. But my special thanks go above all to our employees worldwide for their great commitment, who have made this success story possible. In his speech, Schulte Groups CEO Ian Beveridge considered the companys strategy for continued success: This anniversary highlights our company as an established and trustworthy partner in the maritime industry. We look forward to continuing this legacy for the long term under the stable shareholding structure of the Schulte family ownership, now in its fifth generation. As a company, we have to decide today on large investments, the success of which we can often only see after a decade or even later. That's why we need stability and a clear course, but also the flexibility to hold our own in a very volatile market. Of central importance are well-trained committed employees at sea and onshore who continue to be at the cornerstone of our future journey.




The number hasn't changed but Cayuga County's congressional district has.

Instead of a central New York district with Syracuse at the center, the county is now part of the sprawling 24th Congressional District that stretches from eastern Niagara County in western New York to Jefferson County in the North Country. In between is the Finger Lakes region and Cayuga County.

None of the major upstate cities  Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse  are in the district. But there are several small cities, such as Auburn, Batavia (Genesee County), Canandaigua (Ontario County) and Watertown (Jefferson County).

One significant change for Cayuga County: It will no longer be part of a highly competitive district. That was the case for the last 10 years when the district had a slight Democratic enrollment advantage. Now, the district will likely be a Republican stronghold for the next decade. Republicans outnumber Democrats by nearly 74,000 in the new district.

There are two candidates on the ballot this year. U.S. Rep. Claudia Tenney, a Republican, is seeking reelection in the new district. She chose to run in the 24th after the new maps were drawn by a court-appointed special master. She has represented parts of central New York and the Mohawk Valley for two nonconsecutive terms in Congress.

Tenney is not a stranger to the Finger Lakes region. After law school, she lived in Canandaigua. Before the Republican primary in August, she moved into the district and calls Canandaigua home again.

Her Democratic opponent is Steven Holden, a Camillus resident and U.S. Army veteran who served in Afghanistan and Iraq. He initially sought to challenge GOP U.S. Rep. John Katko in the Syracuse-area district, but Katko decided to retire and there was a crowded Democratic primary field. With Democrats needing a candidate in the neighboring district, Holden changed course and became the party's nominee in the 24th.

Holden does not live in the district, but says he will move into it if he is elected to Congress.

Absentee ballots have already been sent to voters. Early voting runs from Oct. 29 through Nov. 6. Election Day is Nov. 8.
In brief: Elon Musk has denied claims that he spoke to Russian president Vladimir Putin before posting a controversial tweet about how to end the war in Ukraine. The report claims that the pair discussed Russia's potential use of a nuclear weapon if Ukraine retook territory in Crimea.

Ian Bremmer, political scientist and president of political risk research firm Eurasia Group, said in his newsletter that Musk had a "direct conversation" with Putin about the war. Bremmer said it was Musk himself who told him about the conversation.

According to Bremmer's letter, Putin told Musk he was prepared to negotiate an end to hostilities but only if certain conditions were met: Crimea, which was annexed in 2014, remained Russian; Ukraine recognized Russia's annexation of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia; and Ukraine remained neutral.

Putin allegedly told Musk that these goals would be achieved "no matter what," even if it means the use of a nuclear strike if Ukraine tried to take back Crimea. Bremmer wrote that Musk told him "everything needed to be done to avoid that outcome."

Musk tweeted a poll last week to gauge reaction to his Ukraine peace plan that essentially covered all of Putin's requirements, adding that the sham referendums in the annexed regions be redone under UN supervision. Just under 60% of the 2.7 million votes disagreed with the proposal. The Tesla boss later warned of the danger of Russia using nuclear weapons.

Ukraine-Russia Peace:



- Redo elections of annexed regions under UN supervision. Russia leaves if that is will of the people.



- Crimea formally part of Russia, as it has been since 1783 (until Khrushchev's mistake).



- Water supply to Crimea assured.



- Ukraine remains neutral.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 3, 2022

Musk has denied Bremmer's claims. He says the last time he spoke to Putin was 18 months ago, and the only thing they talked about was space.

Following the denial, Bremmer wrote: "Elon Musk told me he had spoken with Putin and the Kremlin directly about Ukraine. he also told me what the kremlin's red lines were."

"I have been writing my weekly newsletter on geopolitics for 24 yrs. I write honestly without fear or favor and this week's update was no different [] i've long admired musk as a unique and world-changing entrepreneur, which i've said publicly. he's not a geopolitics expert."

i have been writing my weekly newsletter on geopolitics for 24 yrs.



i write honestly without fear or favor and this week's update was no different.  ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) October 11, 2022

Musk's proposal was welcomed by the Kremlin but criticized by Ukraine and several politicians. Ukraine's outgoing ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, replied with "F**k off is my very diplomatic reply to you." He noted that no Ukrainian will ever buy "your fing tesla crap."

A few days after tweeting his Ukraine peace plan, Musk suggested a way to solve the Taiwan/China crisis through a "reasonably palatable" arrangement between the two nations. It was praised by Beijing but, unsurprisingly, slammed by the island country.
In context: Once again, rising tensions between China and the US have put the spotlight on Taiwan and what would happen to TSMC, which manufactures more than half the world's semiconductors, in the event of an invasion. One proposal is to destroy the company's facilities, but the island's security chief said such a move is unnecessary.

Chen Ming-tong, director-general of Taiwan's National Security Bureau, told lawmakers (via Bloomberg) that TSMC's reliance on overseas companies and supplies for its operations means the facilities would be useless if China took over Taiwan.

"If you understand the ecosystem of TSMC, the comments out there are unrealistic," Chen said. "TSMC needs to integrate global elements before producing high-end chips. Without components or equipment like ASML's lithography equipment, without any key components, there is no way TSMC can continue its production."

The Biden administration is reportedly making more contingency plans for a hypothetical invasion of Taiwan by China and the potential impact on the world's chip supply. In July, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo warned that the US would face a "deep and immediate recession" if it were ever cut off from the Taiwanese chip manufacturing industry.

The US is said to be considering the evacuation of TSMC chip engineers in the event of a Chinese invasion, something the US National Security Council estimates would impact the world economy by more than $1 trillion. Former US officials have suggested making it clear to China that the semiconductor giant's facilities would be destroyed by the US if the attack occurred, thereby prevented TSMC from falling into Chinese hands.

When asked about the prospect of China taking over TSMC, Chen said, "Those war-gaming plans are just scenarios [] If they understood TSMC's ecosystem better, they would realize that it's not as simple as they think. That's why Intel can't catch up with TSMC."

"Even if China got a hold of the golden hen, it won't be able to lay golden eggs," he added.

This isn't the first time the prospect of TSMC being taken over by China has been addressed. Chairman Mark Liu said in August that the company's sophisticated manufacturing facilities depended on a real-time connection with the outside world, making TSMC useless in China's hands.

June brought news of a top Chinese economist urging China to seize TSMC if the US tightened sanctions, something it has done in the months since then; they include prohibiting Nvidia and AMD from selling high-end accelerators to Chinese customers. The restrictions, which the White House says are in place to prevent China from producing military systems including weapons of mass destruction, contributed to the Chinese semiconductor industry's largest-ever production decline in August.
Look for anything other than just the moon and stars when you're out stargazing. You will be completely captivated by the night sky if there are no ominous clouds to obscure your view of the starry expanse. And if you ever get the chance to witness the Northern Lights or Auroras, you will have a magical experience!

Geomagnetic storms can cause various problems for Earth, but on the bright side, they're the only reason we get to see these incredible storms in the first place.

A stunning photograph of aurora borealis taken over the night sky in northern Canada has been made public by NASA. This photograph was chosen to represent "Astronomy Image of the Day" and was published online.

Read Also: NASA Earth Observatory's 'Most Breathtaking Photos' of June 2022!

The World at Night

As part of The World At Night (TWAN) project, the photograph was taken by the astrophotographer Kwon O Chul, who lives and works in Korea. TWAN is a worldwide effort that exhibits breathtaking nighttime photos and time-lapse recordings of iconic landmarks across the world against the backdrop of cosmic wonders.

An explanation for the shot was supplied by Kwon O Chul, who stated that "gushing solar winds and bursts of charged particles from the Sun resulted in multiple rewarding evenings of auroras back in 2014 December, close to the top of the past 11-year solar cycle."

The Northern Lights: A Violent Event

The aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, is one of the most breathtaking natural phenomena that can be observed in the sky of Scandinavian nations.

However, despite its stunning appearance, this amazing light show is also quite a dangerous event, as how Space.Com called it.

Energized particles from the sun crash into Earth's upper atmosphere at speeds of up to 72 million kilometers per hour (45 million miles per hour), yet our planet's magnetic field shields us from the onslaught of these particles.

This dramatic process evolves into a cinematic, atmospheric phenomenon that dazzles and amazes scientists and skywatchers alike.

Background

Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei invented the name "aurora borealis" in 1619, after the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora, and the Greek god of the north wind, Boreas. The earliest known record of the northern lights is a 30,000-year-old cave painting in France.

Since then, cultures worldwide have marveled at the dancing lights and given them origin myths. One Inuit tradition says the northern lights are ghosts playing ball with a walrus head, while the Vikings thought it was light reflecting from the Valkyrie's armor.

The science behind northern lights was not theorized until the 1900s. Norwegian physicist Kristian Birkeland suggested sunspot electrons steered by Earth's magnetic field produced atmospheric lights. Birkeland's theory was proved right after his 1917 death.

Another aurora-like event on Earth is called STEVE ("Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement"). Like the northern and southern lights, STEVE is a bright, atmospheric phenomenon, but it's not flowing. Steven Petrinec, a magnetospheric and heliospheric physicist at Lockheed Martin Steven, described the emissions look "like a thin, purple arc and often include a green picket-fence structure."

Read Also: Northern Lights 2021: When, Where to go, and What Camera You Should Have to Catch the Aurora Borealis This Year

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NASA finally gave the updates for its recent DART mission. On Tuesday, Oct. 11, the international space union had a conference where officials shared the results of the space activity.

(Photo : Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

A television at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, captures the final images from the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) as it approaches asteroid Dimorphos (R), past asteroid Didymos (L), on September 26, 2022.

The press conference started at 2:00 p.m. EDT. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and Italian Space Agency President Giorgio Saccoccia both hosted the event.

On the other hand, the panel consisted of the following experts and officials, as reported by Spectrum News 13:

Tom Scatler (NASA Headquarters DART program scientist)

Nancy Chalbot (DART coordination lead)

Lori Glaze (NASA Planetary Division director)

NASA Shares DART Mission Results

According to PBS News Hour's latest report, the NASA DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) mission was just a rehearsal for the day a potentially destructive asteroid nears Earth.

(Photo : Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

A placard hangs on the wall during the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) Technology Media Workshop Telecon Briefing and tour at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, on September 12, 2022, ahead of the September 26th project test mission.

Also Read: NASA's InSight Mars Lander Pushes Through Dust Storm and Continues Operation

Thanks to the efforts of NASA, the DART mission was successful.

"NASA is trying to be ready for whatever the universe throws at us. We showed the world that NASA is serious as a defender of this planet," said Bill Nelson during the conference.

He added that the mission was a watershed moment for planetary defense. Nelson also shared that the DART mission is a historical change for humanity.The NASA chief further stated that the DART mission was the first space activity to alter a heavenly body's motion.

If you want to know more about the updates provided by Bill Nelson and other space experts who attended the press conference, you can watch the YouTube video below.



DART Mission's Drawback

National Geographic explained that the DART mission has a drawback.

Since the DART spacecraft crashed into the Dimorphos asteroid, its dust is now swaddling across the asteroid system.

Because of this, experts believe that the particles could affect other rockets visiting Dimorphos' location.

Aside from this, they added that if more than one impact is needed to alter the motion of an asteroid, problems could also occur.

Previously, we reported that the NASA Jupiter moon image revealed that Europa could be habitable.

Meanwhile, the NASA nuclear-powered Dragonfly helicopter would soon explore Titan, Saturn's largest moon.

For more news updates about the DART mission and other activities of NASA, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: NASA DART's Mission Left a 6,000 Mile Trail After Dimorphos Impact [PHOTOS]

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A big thanks to whoever edited the M3gan trailer for sharing footage of some choreography that the robot Renesmee did with us. Her dance moves may now be used in memes.

Background

According to Forbes, this is the same trailer Universal showed for the attendees at CinemaCon in April in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The strange pre-teen girl doll who is killing left and right to defend her human charge is supposed to attract lots of social media admiration. Forbes described it as a combination of three masterpieces - Child's Play, Ron's Gone Wrong, and Orphan with at least some of the go-for-broke madness of Malignant.

Gerard Johnstone directed the movie. It was written by Akela Cooper and produced by James Wan, both of whom contributed to the plot. Since Jason Blum is also a producer on this project, you may think of it as a sort of schlocky early-year horror version of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

On January 13, next year, horror movie buffs will be able to see this film in theaters. Apparently, this is the first new big movie coming in 2023.

Also Read: Tesla AI Day 2022 Unveils Optimus Unit 1 - Humanoid Robots for Mass Production!

Movie Synopsis

Even if Vulture feels that the greatest statement to explain the movie is "creepy robot Renesmee must do [an] acrobatic dance before murdering her creators," there ought to be a better way to define the plot line for those who like watching horror films.

After the death of her parent, eight-year-old Cady, played by Violet McGraw, relocates to live with her aunt Gemma, played by Get Out's Allison Williams.

Gemma comes up with the brilliant plan to use M3gan, a Model Three Generative Android whose appearance is similar to that of Bella Swan's firstborn child, in order to prevent Cady from experiencing feelings of loneliness or sadness. Later on, the mechanical doll takes her role as guardian much too seriously.

She begins questioning Gemma's judgment, but she quickly spirals into a more violent kind of companionship. From disobeying commands to turn herself off and assaulting Cady's peers to blowing things up and slicing people open, it's clear that the bot will stop at nothing when she perceives a threat to her safety.

This involves engaging in the customary dance move of the jig before launching an attack on her creators inside the premises of their own workplace.

More AI/Bot Movies

There have been other films released in cinemas before M3gan that include robots or artificial intelligence (AI) as a significant component of the primary cast.

Who could forget about everyone's all-time favorite film series, The Matrix, and Terminator? In addition to these older movies, we may now see more contemporary films on artificial intelligence and robots in various genres, such as I, Robot, Finch, Ex Machina, Chappie, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Alita: Battle Angel, I Am Mother, Archive, Mother/Android, and Outside the Wire.

Also Read: AI Might Cause Nuclear War-Like Catastrophic Events? 36% of Artificial Intelligence Scientists Expect It

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 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Hyundai Motor Group aims to redefine its cars as software-defined vehicles or SDVs by the middle of the decade. The Hyundai, Kia and Genesis cars are slated to receive over-the-air (OTA) software update capability by 2025 as part of the strategy. The automobile manufacturing group claims that this strategy will bring better connectivity, convenience and security for the Hyundai, Kia and Genesis cars.

(Also Read: Brezza to Scorpio: Top 10 SUVs that found most takers this festive season)

The electric vehicles come with a wide range of software onboard. This makes electric vehicles majorly software driven as compared to internal combustion engine-powered vehicles. Hyundai Motor Group plans to introduce its software focussed strategy to not only electric vehicles but to internal combustion engine-powered vehicles as well.

The South Korean auto major has claimed that every new product launching from 2023 onwards will be equipped with the necessary hardware and software to receive OTA software updates remotely. These vehicles will not require visiting dealerships for software updates. Hyundai Motor Group introduced its OTA software update service programme back in 221 and now plans to extend it across the portfolios of all three brands within the next three years.

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Besides this, Hyundai is also focusing on enhancing its consumer benefits by introducing the Feature on Demand (FoD) service. This will allow the vehicle owners to add goodies after buying the car. It is not confirmed whether Hyundai will offer the add-on services and features outright or as a subscription. However, some luxury car manufacturers across the world have already been offering similar services as outright purchases and subscriptions as well. The South Korean automaker is considering the Level 3 autonomous driving system as an FoD. In the meantime, the Genesis G90 will receive the technology as a standalone option before the end of the year 2022. Initially, it will receive the option in South Korea and later in the US, Europe and China as well.

Hyundai has announced that it will spend nearly $13 billion by the end of this decade on R&D to prepare for a software-driven future.

First Published Date:
DoorDash, Uber, and other ride-hailing gig workers are expected to benefit from the new rule proposed by the U.S. Department of Labor.

(Photo : Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

A Doordash sticker is seen on a window at Mallenche Mexican Grill in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn on December 04, 2020 in New York City. Food delivery startup DoorDash Inc is expected to raise its U.S. initial public offering up to $3.14 billion.

For the past years, these mobility service providers have been relying on contractual drivers to keep their businesses alive.

Since they are considered contractors, they are not entitled to the benefits provided by these companies to regular employees.

But, the Biden Labor Department seeks to change this situation so that drivers can also receive benefits and better salaries.

DoorDash, Uber Gig Workers to Benefit From New DOL's Proposal

According to Reuters' latest report, if the new rule proposed by DOL is approved, it could drastically change household incomes, life quality, as well as how ride-hailing companies hire and profit.





(Photo : Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

An Uber driver arrives to pick up a passenger at Midway International Airport on May 09, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois. Uber plans to cut spending and hiring in an attempt slow the company's plummeting stock price, which is down nearly 50 percent for the year.

Also Read: Federal Judge Says Uber Doesn't Need to Provide Wheelchair-Accessible Service to its Users

U.S. officials are expected to implement the new rule as early as 2023.

"Misclassification deprives workers of their federal labor protections, including their right to be paid their full, legally earned wages," explained U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh.

On the other hand, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler explained that the latest proposal would allow the U.S. government to ensure that ride-hailing workers are protected from misclassification.

Uber, Doordash Negatively Affected

While gig workers are expected to benefit from the proposal of the Biden Labor Department, Uber, DoorDash, Lyft, and other mobility service companies, are experiencing negative effects.

CNBC reported that after the new rule was confirmed, companies' stocks suddenly plunged on Tuesday, Oct. 11.

Uber's stocks decreased by 8%, and DoorDash's shares dropped by 6%. Aside from them, Lyft also fell around 10%.

Of course, ride-hailing companies defended their business setups, saying that their contractual model offers flexible schedules, which are quite attractive to workers.

But, labor experts disagreed with their statements, saying that Uber and other ride-hailing companies only use this business model to reduce costs.

In other stories, the company has confirmed the DoorDash data breach.

Meanwhile, the Uber Rewards recently ended, allowing the app to focus on subscriptions for perks.

For more news updates about Uber, DoorDash, and other ride-hailing apps, keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: Starbucks Team Up with DoorDash, Unveils Plan to Expand the Service Nationwide in 2023

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Google vows Wear OS updates on a yearly basis like how mobile phones receive annual Android releases.

The search engine giant explained why it suddenly plans to dish out more Wear OS updates.

On top of that, Google also confirmed that it is gearing up to push new updates to older smartwatches before the year ends.

(Photo : by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA - MAY 08: Android smart watches are displayed at the Google I/O 2018 Conference at Shoreline Amphitheater on May 8, 2018 in Mountain View, California. Google's two day developer conference runs through Wednesday May 9.

Google is Pushing Wear OS Updates Yearly

As per the latest report by 9to5 Google, the new Wear OS was made possible in partnership with the giant South Korean phone maker Samsung. It is worth noting that the debut of the first-ever Pixel Watch puts the shimmer of the spotlight on the wearable operating system.

And now, the folks behind Wear OS have vowed to release more frequent updates for it.

The Director of Product Management for Wear OS, Bjorn Kilburn, had a conversation with Wired, disclosing their plans for the wearable software.

In his interview with the online tech news site, the Product Management Director reveals that they plan to push more updates for the wearable OS. He says that the goal of the tech giant is actually to "release a new version of Wear generally every year."

In turn, Kilburn specifically points out that the plan of Google is similar to how its mobile OS, Android, is rolling out annually to millions of smartphone users.

But it remains to be seen if the tech behemoth is looking to release the Wear OS update, alongside new Android versions. What is only clear for now is that smartwatch users could also expect yearly refinements and feature drops every year.

According to a news story by Android Authority, the revelation of the Google exec goes against the tide of how the search giant handles its wearable platform. It now seems that the tech juggernaut is looking to focus more on its smartwatches.

Read Also: Google Wear OS to be Upgraded with Apple Watch Feature Allowing Users to Unlock Chromebook and Android Device

Why is Wear OS Getting Yearly Updates?

Kilburn went on to explain in his interview why the tech giant suddenly wants to push for more Wear OS updates.



(Photo : David Becker/Getty Images)

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JANUARY 08: A Google sign is seen next to a Samsung banner during CES 2019 at the Las Vegas Convention Center on January 8, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. CES, the world's largest annual consumer technology trade show, runs through January 11 and features about 4,500 exhibitors showing off their latest products and services to more than 180,000 attendees.

9to5 Google notes in its report that the motivation for a yearly release is to allow new Android features for both "watches and wearables" to roll out support right away.

Besides the yearly release of new versions, the Google exec also mentions that smartwatch users are getting their hands on "quarterly Wear updates to bring 'new experiences throughout the year."

Related Article: Google Wear OS Update Includes Offline Maps, Support for Streaming Apps, and More

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There are many claims regarding Elon Musk's recent conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding the Ukraine Peace Plan, acting as the bridge between the two countries, but the tech CEO denied it. Musk claimed that the information circulating now is not true, but the top billionaire was able to speak to Putin more than one and a half years ago, and it was about space.

It seems that Musk and Putin discussed further development in space ventures, one that involves SpaceX and Roscosmos for a possible project together.

(Photo : Maja Hitij/Getty Images)

Elon Musk Denies Putin's Conversation on Ukraine

A Twitter user quoted an article from Vice, which claimed that Musk recently talked to Russian President Vladimir Putin about Ukraine Peace Talks, a topic that is widely spreading now.

However, the tech CEO denied the information here, saying that he did not talk with Putin in any way regarding a peace talk for Ukraine.

Furthermore, Musk added that his last conversation with Russia's Putin was approximately in the last 18 months, or one and a half years ago, and their conversation was about space.

It seems like this was one of the supposed commission projects between Russia and SpaceX to deliver goods to orbit, possibly involving Roscosmos or the Russian space agency.

Read Also: Elon Musk Increases Support for Ukraine by Sending Solar Battery System 'Tesla Powerwalls'

No, it is not. I have spoken to Putin only once and that was about 18 months ago. The subject matter was space.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 11, 2022

Musk and Putin to Continue Space Talks?

Now, a question Tesla fans asked the tech CEO about further talks with the Russian President about space, something that might take place in the future.

Yes, back to regularly scheduled programming  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 11, 2022



Here, Musk confirmed that he would be open to talking about space, an event that is possible and might take place in the future, allowing both entities to discuss any missions or ventures toward the cosmos.

Elon Musk and Helping Ukraine

Musk recently joined the conversation to stop the Russia-Ukraine conflict with his tweets, several of which presented a four-point plan for peace, but it includes Kyiv conceding to Moscow and remaining neutral. While many, unfamiliar with Ukraine's struggles, welcome this, those familiar with it, like Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, did not agree with it.

The Ukrainian President also made a poll, something which Musk has done in the past, and it presented two options with the question about which Musk they want more, one that supports Ukraine or one that supports Russia.

The poll was in favor of Ukrainian support.

However, in Musk's four-point plan, it sounded somehow favorable to Russia as one of the country's political figures quoted his tweet in a Telegram channel and agreed with it. Here, he compared the famous CEO to a known undercover spy known in fictional literature.

Musk previously helped Ukraine by solidifying Starlink's presence in the country for its internet access, with the tech CEO adding more terminals and directing the company to add Ukraine to its satellite services. In the most recent developments, Musk denied his talks with the Russian President about Ukraine but is open to space talks in the future.

Related Article: Elon Musk: Starlink Terminals May Provide Internet Uplink via Cell Towers for More to Connect in Ukraine

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Urban air mobility (UAM) business AeroHT, owned by XPeng, has publicly taken off, flown, and successfully landed its fifth-generation X2 "flying car" at a demonstration in Dubai, as reported first by electrek.

The business also provided an update on its sixth-generation flying car, an actual vehicle with wheels that can drive, take off, and fly.

AeroHT has completed more than 15,000 safely manned flights since its founding in 2013 with the aim of fusing automotive and aerospace technology to create secure, domestic electric flying vehicles at scale.

The T1 in 2019 and the X1 in 2020 were previous eVTOL prototypes. AeroHT refers to the X2, the company's fifth-generation "flying car," even though it lacks wheels since it has a lot in common with the P7 sedan from XPeng Motors in terms of design.

Aerial video of the X2 being tested in harsh conditions and at great heights had already been posted by XPeng AeroHT, but it was only conducted in China.

XPeng AeroHT has demonstrated its fifth-generation flying car's capabilities in public in Dubai as it advances toward producing its sixth-generation model, an actual flying car introduced last October.

But now, the public can watch the unedited video of the eVTOL's takeoff, flight, and landing for the first time!

Read Also: SkyFly's Electric Aircraft Axe Can Fly With a 100 mph Top Speed - Pre-Orders Are Now Available!





First Public Flight

After the live demonstration in Dubai, XPeng AeroHT released a thorough press release detailing the occasion, the business's development, and its future.

The Dubai International Chamber of Commerce, which was heavily involved in the entire process and provided consulting to XPeng AeroHT, supported this first public flight, which was attended by more than 150 individuals.

This week, the X2 flying car is on display at Gitex Global, one of the biggest technology shows ever held in the Dubai World Trade Center.

(Photo : XPeng)

The XPeng X2 was relocated off-site to Skydive Dubai, where it successfully finished the specific operations risk evaluations stipulated with the DCAA. As a result, it was permitted to conduct its first public flight outside of China.

"XPENG X2's public display in Dubai represents a significant milestone for XPENG AEROHT and the international achievement of flying cars," Brian Gu, Vice Chairman and President of XPENG, said in a press release statement.

"Dubai is a world-renowned 'City of Innovation', which is the reason we decided to hold the X2 first public flight event here. Today's flight is a major step in XPENG's exploration of future mobility."

In a teaser video posted from Dubai, XPeng AeroHT promises to reveal important R&D advancements in the configuration, exterior design, and air driving technique for this flying automobile.

This year's 1024 Tech Day on October 24 will make such details available. There will be more specifics revealed later this month, as per electrek.

Related Article: 'Hyundai's Flying Electric Car': Supernal eVTOL Will Soon Fly For Commercial Use!

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Written by Joaquin Victor Tacla

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The famed humanoid robot, Ai-Da, reached greater heights as she was able to address the United Kingdom's House of Lords in a parliamentary meeting of the Communications and Digital Committee. The robot talked about AI, both as a "threat and opportunity" in the art industry present now, as she is an artist, known for her work on the late Queen Elizabeth II.

However, it was not such a smooth performance for the robot as she experienced a glitch and shutdown mid-speech, where her creator, Aidan Miller, has to reboot her.

Ai-Da Robot Addressed the UK's House of Lords

(Photo : Ai-Da Robot Website)

Ai-Da is the world's first ultra-humanistic robotic artist present in the world, with many pieces and works that back up her credentials to regard her as an expert, especially for a House of Lords meeting. She is fit to represent the robot and AI-kind to the Communications and Digital Committee, especially as their topic is AI art.

According to Reuters, the robot was given a chance to present her views and opinions regarding AI art in the present, a growing trend from developers that feature the self-learning tech for generating art pieces.

However, there has been a glitch in her systems where she seemingly fell asleep as she was delivering her sentiments, but was immediately sorted out by Miller.

Read Also: Is Tesla Optimus Robot the Real Deal? Here's an Explainer Why or Why Not

Ai-Da Thinks AI is a 'Threat and Opportunity'

The humanoid robotic artist's testament is about her views on AI creating art, with the robot claiming that it is both a "threat and opportunity" to the industry and many artists in the present. Moreover, according to Politics Home, Ai-Da claimed that her art is different from humans which have consciousness, and these have subjective references to their experiences in life.

"How [my art] differs to humans is consciousness, I do not have subjective experiences."



Humanoid AI robot Ai-Da (@aidarobot) gave evidence to a House of Lords committee this afternoon, alongside its creator Aidan Meller, on its work as an artist pic.twitter.com/7dGOh2UBzQ  PoliticsHome (@politicshome) October 11, 2022

Robots and AI in the World

If a robot can be appointed as a CEO for a Chinese company known as NetDragon Websoft in Hong Kong, why should it not be able to address a parliamentary?

Yes, that is right, robots did both of these already, and future creations would be looking for something new to beat or achieve for their function in the coming time, with more roles to fill. Developments and creations are getting more advanced as we speak, and the robotic future powered by AI and technology would soon be a reality for all.

Another humanoid robot named Erica is also a famous one, particularly as it was taught to laugh at jokes it finds funny using artificial intelligence to get the sense of humor to recognize the antics. And this is a testament to robotic advancements in the present, with more functions and features soon available to their existence.

While robots do not have consciousness, as what Ai-Da said in the parliamentary meeting, they have awareness using their AI, where they can respond and react to their environment autonomously. Ai-Da's testament to the House of Lords brings a unique point-of-view of an AI-powered robot on AI art, especially as it is a field that is growing now.

Related Article: Why Boston Dynamics' No-Weaponized Robot Promise Won't Stop Military From Using Armed Machines

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Written by Isaiah Richard

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Android's "Always-On VPN" feature reportedly leaks some data and traffic each time its users connect their smartphones to a Wi-Fi internet connection.

Mullvad VPN has discovered a flaw in the two VPN options of Android, including "Block connections without VPN" and "Always-on VPN."

(Photo : GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP via Getty Images )

A guest takes a selfie with her smartphone during the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in Madrid on April 8, 2021.

Android 'Always-On VPN' Reportedly Leaks Some Data, Traffic

As per the latest report by Bleeping Computer, Mullvad VPN discovered that the "VPN Lockdown" features of the mobile operating system of Google, Android, is apparently leaking some traffic.

The Swedish-based VPN service learned about the built-in issue on Android in a recent security audit, which has yet to be publicly published.

But despite that, Mullvad swiftly issued a warning regarding the issue. It should not only make Android users aware of it. Instead, the VPN service notes that it is also meant to pressure the search engine giant, Bleeping Computer notes in its report.

The Swedish VPN services disclosed that Android VPN features are leaking some traffic of its users when they connect to a Wi-Fi connection.

Mullvad notes that even if users have already turned on the "Always-On VPN'' and "Block connections with VPN" features on their Android devices, it still leaks some traffic.

Read Also: Microsoft Windows 11 Officially Adds Android App Support to 21 Countries: Android Apps Now Installable Through APK Format

What Exactly is Potentially Being Leaked?

Bleeping Computer states in the same report that the leaked traffic and data include the source IP address and DNS lookup of Android users. Not to mention that it could potentially leak some HTTPS traffic and NTP traffic as well.

(Photo : GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP via Getty Images)

Visitors walk past the Android stand at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona on February 25, 2019. - Phone makers will focus on foldable screens and the introduction of blazing fast 5G wireless networks at the world's biggest mobile fair starting February 25 in Spain as they try to reverse a decline in sales of smartphones.

And it turns out that the leaked traffic is not occurring accidentally, Mullvad VPN reveals. Instead, the VPN service claims that Google designed Android that way.

However, Mullvad says that Android phone users might not be aware of this built-in design, wherein some of their traffic is being leaked.

The VPN platform says that Google provides what looks to be an "inaccurate description" of its VPN Lockdown feature for Android users.

The complaint of Mullvad to Google states that the "documentation regarding "Block connections without VPN" (from now on lockdown) is incorrect." It comes as "connectivity check traffic intentionally leaks (sent outside the VPN tunnel) while establishing network connectivity, even though lockdown is activated for a VPN app."

The current documentation by the renowned tech giant says that "the system blocks any network traffic that [does not] use the VPN." But Mullvad VPN believes that it is inaccurate as some traffic is being leaked when connecting to a Wi-Fi connection.

Related Article: Google Play Store Kicks Out Ad-Free Instagram, OG App, for Android Users After Apple's Move

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Written by Teejay Boris

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A man allegedly scammed a Japanese woman into paying for his return flight to Earth while pretending to be a Russian astronaut in orbit and promising to marry her when he returned, as reported first by Vice and Interesting Engineering.

In June, the man discovered the 65-year-old unidentified victim on Instagram. He claimed to work at the International Space Station, where astronauts have limited access to phone service, and posted random photographs of space in his account.

Their romance developed swiftly. He proposed marriage to her on the Japanese messaging service LINE several times.

(Photo : NASA)

Astronaut Tamara Jernigan, backdropped against the earth , totes part of a Russian-built crane, called Strela May 30, 1999. Jernigan's feet are anchored on a mobile foot restraint connected to Discovery's remote manipulator sytsem (RMS). Astronauts Jernigan and Daniel T. Barry went on to spend over seven hours on the space walk. Discovery is carrying out maintenance and construction on the new International Space Station.

The man sent her messages such as "saying this 1,000 times won't be enough, but I'll keep saying. I love you," and "I want to start my life in Japan," according to Japanese news outlet TV Asahi.

But he claimed that in order to get married, he would need money to fly back to Earth. He said that in addition to the cost of a rocket to get there, there were landing fees he had to pay in Japan.

Hopeful that the so-called astronaut will be her future fiance, the woman transferred five installments totaling 4.4 million yen ( $30,000) for less than a month to cover his supposed costs to return to Earth.

However, when his requests persisted, the woman got wary of his motives and reported him to the police, who are now looking into the incident as a romance scam, according to local media.

It's interesting to note that this is not the first instance of a con artist exploiting someone's interest in astronauts.

Another Japanese woman in her 40s was being followed on Instagram by a user posing as a Russian astronaut stationed at the International Space Station, according to the local news outlet Asahi.

The pair communicated over the two days using the app's direct communications function, Asahi noted that the astronaut is likely to have used an app to translate texts into Russian while the woman spoke to him in Japanese.

The woman became suspicious when the man asked to switch to another app, so she immediately ended the chat.

Read Also: Romance Scam: Eight Nigerian Men Charged Victimized American Women in Dating Sites





Romance Scams

Vice claimed that there are likely more cases of romance scams like this that are yet to be reported to the police. Although the Japanese authorities do not keep separate statistics of romance scams like this one, they have seen a substantial increase in online scams over the last ten years.

The number of fraud cases, which includes romance scams, increased from 8,693 in 2012 to 14,498 last year, a roughly 67 percent increase over the previous ten years.

After reaching a peak of 18,212 incidents in 2017, the number of complaints appeared to be declining, but the police have been reporting an uprise since 2020.

Related Article: FBI Says Online Dating App Scams Now Results in More Than $133 Million Losses! How To Identify, Avoid, and Report Them

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Written by Joaquin Victor Tacla

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
NASA's DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) team has successfully changed the motion of the asteroid in its orbit. For the first time, humans could disrupt a planetary object's movement in space.

NASA DART Mission is a Success

(Photo : Viktor Talashuk from Unsplash)

NASA confirms that the DART Mission was a huge success by reducing the orbit time of Dimorphos by 73 seconds.

As NASA confirms in its release on Tuesday, Oct. 12, the investigation for the asteroid Dimorphos was successfully carried out.

According to the space agency, it took more than 11 hours for the asteroid to orbit a bigger celestial body. The team aims to reduce this time by 73 seconds before considering it done.

The crucial part here is if it goes less than the target time, it might fail eventually. If NASA misses some aspects, even at the slightest level, it will affect its progress.

NASA saw that Dimorphos is now capable of orbiting Didymos in just 11 hours and 23 minutes, a very little improvement compared to its previous orbiting duration.

"This result is one important step toward understanding the full effect of DART's impact with its target asteroid. As new data come in each day, astronomers will be able to better assess whether, and how, a mission like DART could be used in the future to help protect Earth from a collision with an asteroid if we ever discover one headed our way," NASA's Dr. Lori Glaze announced in a statement.

Per Bill Nelson, the current NASA Administrator, the space agency has acknowledged itself as a "serious" defender of the Earth by showing the potential solution to drive away dangerous asteroids from the planet.

Related Article: NASA Shares DART Mission Results; How Successful is It? Here's What Bill Nelson, Other Officials Say

How Large is Dimorphos?

IFL Science reports that Dimorphos, unlike any other astronomical asteroid, is just a small planetary rock. The news outlet cites that it only measures 170 meters or 560 feet across.

Although the DART mission was a huge breakthrough for NASA, this does not mean that this project will now solve the entire threats involving the impacts of the asteroids on the planet.

For reference, the asteroid which killed the dinosaurs thousands of years ago is estimated to be 60 times wider than Dimorphos. The "dino killer" is said to be 200,000 times bigger than the asteroid that NASA encountered recently.

Asteroids have various compositions when it comes to their structures. This is something that scientists should always check whenever they see an approaching body from the atmosphere. Its size is a good indicator of the damage that it can cause to the Earth.

NASA will conduct more studies about the DART mission, including research about the ejecta. As stated in Newton's law, there's a chance that some of the remnants of the Dimorphos could recoil, which might immensely affect its current direction and movement.

Meanwhile, the European Space Agency or ESA will conduct the HERA mission in 2026 to study the impact of the Dimorphos system.

Read Also: NASA Will Livestream SpaceX Crew-4 Astronauts' Return to Earth on Wednesday

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Written by Joseph Henry

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
For the second time in five days, the largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine-which is encircled by Russian troops-has lost all external power required for critical safety systems, according to a report by the AP.

The chief of the UN's nuclear watchdog described it as a "deeply worrying development" on Wednesday.

Rafael Grossi, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, issued the warning amid a frenzy of tensions between Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine.

In the southern Kherson region, Ukraine's military leadership reported that its forces had retaken five settlements, and Russia's top domestic security organization reported that eight persons had been detained in connection with the weekend explosion on the Crimean bridge, as per AP.

Europe's Largest Nuclear Facility

The IAEA monitors at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe's largest nuclear power facility, reported the loss of external power.

According to Grossi, who met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, backup diesel generators were maintaining nuclear safety and security equipment functional.

On the social media platform Telegram, Ukraine's state nuclear operator Energoatom reported that a Russian missile attack on the substation "Dniprovska" in the adjacent Dnipropetrovsk region to the north damaged it.

The attack shut down a crucial communication line to the plant and caused the diesel generators to turn on automatically.

In an interview with the AP last month, Energoatom CEO Petro Kotin stated that, on average, the Zaporizhzhia plant only had enough fuel to run the diesel generators for 10 days. The station's last line of defense against a radiation accident, according to him, were those generators.

Growing worries regarding the nuclear plant coincide with a flare-up in fighting in southern Ukraine and a recent onslaught of Russian airstrikes all over the nation.

At least 14 people have died as a result of Russian bombardment in the eastern Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, according to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy director of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's administration.

He posted on Telegram that there were at least 34 injuries across five areas.

Read also: Russia-Ukraine Fighting Raises A 'Suicidal Nuclear Plant Explosion' Alarm After Hitting Europe's Largest Nuclear Facility

Massive Explosion

This development comes at the heels of the Kerch Bridge, which connects Russia to Crimea to supply their forces with weaponry, which was damaged on Saturday.

Four people were killed when a vehicle carrying explosives blew up as it crossed the bridge, and two portions of one of the two car links also collapsed as a result, according to the AP.

In response, Putin ordered missile attacks across Ukraine, alleging that Ukrainian special services were responsible for the explosion and referring to it as "an act of terrorism."

Zaporizhzhia, which is close to the front line of fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces, has recently been the target of several devastating attacks.

It is a portion of a wider region that includes the largest nuclear power plant in Europe that is currently under Russian control. However, the city is still under the control of Ukrainian forces.

Related Article: IAEF Chief Announces Mission to Ukraine After A 'Suicidal Nuclear Plant Explosion' Alarm Was Raised at Europe's Largest Nuclear Facility

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Written by Joaquin Victor Tacla

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Beijing (Gasgoo)- Chinese computer giant Lenovos affiliated R&D and manufacturing base, LCFC (Hefei) Electronics Technology (LCFC) launched its proprietary automotive domain controller, EA-R600.

Photo credit: Lenovo

According to LCFC, as autonomous driving and AI technology ushering in a new era, the company developed the super-high computing power AMR autonomous driving domain controller as a part of its strategic layout in the AMR (autonomous mobile robots) field. Notably, the product launch came months after Lenovo officially emphasized in August its plan to not make cars.

The EA-R600 is embedded with two NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin modules, offering a maximum edge computing power of 550TOPS. LCFC said that the product can fully meet the requirements of various autonomous driving scenarios, including environmental sanitation, delivery, package sorting, freight, and logistics. It can provide safer and more efficient service on arterial roads and in mid-to-short distance distribution open areas such as mines, ports, parks, and other closed areas.

Moreover, Lenovo previously disclosed that the company has already established a laboratory for automotive computing, working on smart cockpits, autonomous driving, and central computing platform.
Jair Bolsonaro's supporters have been constantly spreading fake news with religious content to discredit the Workers' Party presidential candidate Lula da Silva.

Through an open letter released on Tuesday, the Episcopate of Brazil "vehemently" condemned the use of religion as a weapon in the electoral campaign prior to the second presidential round to be held on October 30.

These statements appeared a day before the visit of the far-right President Jair Bolsonaro to the Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida.

The Catholic Church leadership lamented the "intensification of the exploitation of faith and religion as a way to capture votes," adding that "specifically religious moments cannot be used by candidates to present their campaign proposals and other election-related matters."

Religion in Brazil has been consolidated into a political instrument, mainly due to the proselytizing acts that Bolsonaro has carried out among evangelical churches, where he tries to find sympathizers through conservative proposals such as the rejection of gender rights.

Bolsonaro e vaiado por fazer "barqueada" em evento religioso, p Cirio Fluvial. pic.twitter.com/252qCoLqJT  Milton Ribeiro (@ribeirotrilhas) October 9, 2022

The tweet reads, "Bolsonaro is booed for putting on 'a jet ski show' during a religious event, Cirio Fluvial."

In that sense, during the first electoral round, Bolsonaro unfoundedly said that the Workers' Party presidential candidate Lula da Silva would close the churches if he wins the elections.

Through social media, supporters of the far-right president have been also also permanently deploying fake news campaigns related to religious issues. Recently, Bolsonarist groups have accused Lula da Silva of signing pacts with Satan to reach the Presidency of the Republic.

Among such messages is a video recently posted by former artist Cassia Kis who invites Brazilians to wear clothes with the colors of the country's flag and pray the rosary on Our Lady of Aparecida's day so as to prevent the advent of communism prophesied in the scriptures.
The four leaks occurred within a short distance from each other and within a short time, sparking suspicions of sabotage

Sweden will not share the findings of the crime scene investigation with Russia following the blasts that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipes two weeks ago, Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said on Monday, citing confidentiality.

"In Sweden, we have pre-trial confidentiality. We are working on exactly how we formulate our answer," Swedish Television (SVT) quoted Andersson as responding to the Russian request.

"This is an exceptional event," Andersson told journalists on one of the Swedish Coast Guard's vessels in the port of Karlskrona not far from the leak sites.

Last week, the Coast Guard cordoned off an area surrounding two of the leaks for a crime scene investigation and the Navy dispatched at least one vessel capable of conducting underwater probes.

Nord Stream pipelines exploded consecutively in the end of September. Europe may face a rather cold winter 2022 without Nord Stream gas from Russia. With evidences of the sabotage emerging, we may have a clue of the culprit.https://t.co/Q6OhaKel8c   (@kpFWWXsIMPhNHlC) October 11, 2022

The four leaks -- two in Sweden's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and two in the Denmark's EEZ -- had occurred within a short distance from each other and within a short time, sparking suspicions of sabotage.

An analysis of seismic activity in the area also revealed a seismic signature corresponding to explosions. On Thursday, the Swedish Secret Service said that the investigation had strengthened the suspicion that it was an act of gross sabotage.

The pipelines were built to transport gas from Russia to Germany, and Russia has expressed interest in participating in the investigations concerning the leaks.
The Spanish fan who traveled on foot to Qatar to watch the World Cup has disappeared: "We fear that he is being held in Iran due to the political situation"
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- In Sept. 2022, China's power battery output reached 59.1GWh, soaring 155.2% year on year, while also jumping 18.1% month on month, according to the China Automotive Power Battery Industry Innovation Alliance (CAPBIIA).

Of the power batteries produced last month, 24.3GWh and 34.8GWh were ternary-lithium batteries and lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, up 152.1% and 157.4% from the year-ago period, respectively.

BYD Blade Battery; photo credit: BYD

For the first nine months of 2022, there were a total of 372.1GWh power batteries produced in China, representing a 176.2% year-on-year spike. The year-to-date output of ternary-lithium batteries and LFP batteries reached 150.2GWh (+139% YoY) and 221.3GWh (+209% YoY), respectively.

Data by the CAPBIIA show that the country's power battery installed capacity amounted to 31.6GWh in Sept., zooming up 101.6% from the previous year, while also rising 14% from the previous month.

To be specific, the installed capacity of ternary-lithium batteries and LFP batteries reached 11.2GWh and 20.4GWh last month, zooming up 82.6% and 113.8%, respectively, compared to the year-ago period.

The cumulative power battery installed capacity in the Jan.-Sept. period shot up 110.5% year over year to 193.7GWh. Notably, the year-to-date capacity of LFP batteries rocketed 159.8% over the previous year to 116.3GWh.

Moreover, there were 6.8GWh made-in-China power batteries exported to overseas markets in Sept., 4.6GWh of which were ternary-lithium batteries. For the first nine months of the year, the export volume summed up to 90.6GWh.

Regarding the Sept. power battery installed capacity, CATL, FinDreams Battery (the EV battery unit of BYD), CALB, and Gotion High-Tech were still the top 4 among China's EV battery players, accounting for 80.73% of the country's total capacity. Compared to the previous month, LG Energy Solution moved up six spots to the fifth place, while SVOLT dropped three spots to rank ninth.

With regard to Jan.-Sept. power battery installed capacity, the top 10 battery makers made up 94.42% of the country's total volume. Of them, CATL, FinDreams Battery, CALB, and Gotion High-Tech still topped others by holding a combined market share of 81.45%.
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- By the end of Sept. 2022, there had been 4.488 million charging piles deployed across China, up 101.9% compared to the cumulative volume reached by the same period of last year, according to the China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance (EVCIPA).

For the first nine months of 2022, around 1.871 million charging piles (+245% YoY) were newly built in the country, including 489,000 public piles (+106.3% YoY) and 1.382 million private ones (+352.6% YoY).

Photo credit: Star Charge

Last month, around 12,000 public charging piles were newly deployed in China, representing a 56.6% year-on-year leap.

As of Sept. 2022, the volume of public charging piles in China had added up to 1.636 million units, including 704,000 DC piles and 931,000 AC piles, the EVCIPA reported after summarizing the data provided by members of the alliance.

There were around 49,000 public charging piles built per month on average within a year ended Sept. 2022.

In terms of the charging station volume by Sept. 2022, the top 10 provinces or direct-administered municipalities hold a total of 69,253 stations. Guangdong took a significant lead by building 19,116 charging stations across the province, while both Jiangsu and Zhejiang had over 7,000 stations deployed.

Regarding the amount of charging stations by Sept. 2022, the top three operators were still TELD, State Grid, and Star Charge. TELD ranked highest as the only operator to own over 20,000 charging stations.

As of Sept. 2022, China had deployed a total of 1,762 battery swap stations, 77 of which were newly built last month.

Regarding the volume of battery swap stations as of Sept., the top five provinces or direct-administered municipalities in China accounted for 55.79% of the country's total volume.
Northern Arizona Healthcare (NAH) hosted a third public meeting Monday to discuss plans for the new Flagstaff Medical Center (FMC) campus.

After a presenting a project overview, NAH leaders spent over an hour answering a total of 86 audience questions and comments on the plan. Topics brought up in the public question section included impacts to nearby neighborhoods, traffic changes throughout the city and how NAH will staff the new campus.

We feel we have gone well above and beyond what you typically see from a detail and design perspective through what is just a zoning process, said Steve Eiss, NAH vice president for construction and real estate development. We are well into the design process to make sure we can answer some of these more detailed questions, but we also know that between now and the hospital opening in 2027, we need to continue, from an engineering perspective, to utilize whatever emerging technologies come out.

Plans for the new FMC center to be located on an 180-acre parcel of land near Fort Tuthill have been underway since the project, which features a hospital and ambulatory care center (ACC) surrounded by a larger health and wellness village, was first announced in April 2021. Most recently there was a discussion at a Flagstaff City Council retreat.

NAH is hoping to receive Council approval of the plan by the end of 2022 and will be moving through its review process in the coming months. The plan will be addressed again at a city planning and zoning work session set for Wednesday, Oct. 26.

NAH currently estimates the hospital and ACC will be finished by 2027 and 2025, respectively, and will be funded by a capital investment of around $800 million from the organization. Construction is currently expected to begin in quarter two of 2023, should the plans be approved according to the current timeline.

According to Eiss, FMC had deferred more than 5,600 patients due to lack of capacity in the last year, an average of 15 patients a day.

The land and the buildings have really served a great purpose here within the community, but as the region has grown, as technology has changed, as acuity of care has changed, and in some cases as codes have changed, the existing campus has become this impediment to our growth and ability to respond to the regions health, Eiss said.

Additional space would benefit patients, he said, bringing rooms to the capacity standard in modern hospitals, including all single-occupancy rooms -- 66 beds in the current hospital are in double-occupancy rooms.

FMCs current campus is over 25% smaller than a modern healthcare setting, according to the presentation, with 1,700 square feet per bed compared to the 2,300-2,400 recommended.

Services Eiss listed as benefits from moving the hospital campus (which there would not be room for with a remodel) included outpatient imaging, a more expansive oncology program, additional therapy and rehab options, and a wound-healing program with hyperbaric chambers.

The emergency department (ED) is planned to grow from 19,000 square feet to 33,000 square feet, with a fast-track area allowing low-acuity patients to be seen quickly and a dedicated area for treating intoxicated patients.

Our ED right now is undersized for the current demand it needs to meet, Eiss said. In addition to that, because we don't have room in the actual hospital itself from an inpatient perspective, we do struggle to get patients out the back door of the ED into the hospital to free up space. Its something that we're taking into account in the design process, so we've taken a lot of effort through this design to make sure were really modeling out an ED that can keep up with the community.

The new hospital has a vertical approach. It will be as tall as 142 feet in one section -- over the current zoning restrictions (65 feet) that it is asking for a waiver on.

When asked for a comparison point during the question-and-answer segment, Whitney Cunningham referenced Sechrist Hall at Northern Arizona University, an eight-story building that is 109-feet tall.

Hospital floors are slightly taller than in other buildings, Eiss explained, as they need extra room for ductwork and other infrastructure needed in the ceiling for diagnostic and treatment areas. The tallest point of the new hospital would be the six-story bed tower (at 142 feet, measured from grade to the top of structures on the building's roof), about 15% of the buildings total footprint.

It is very typical to see hospitals be built in this tower layout and it is because it has been proven from a clinical perspective to be the best, most efficient and quality way to be able to provide care to patients, Eiss said.  ... One of our limiting factors on the existing campus is how far we go in a horizontal fashion. In some cases, we have patients who have to be pushed 900 feet from one side of the building to the other just to get to an elevator to get down to imaging or the ED or a trauma unit."

The presentation also included conceptual images showing how much of the hospital would be visible from surrounding locations.

From the majority of vantage points around the building, you will not be able to see much or any of the building, Eiss said.

The plans also give FMC room to grow in the future, he said, with shell space for another 44 beds and plans to support future growth in the ED, surgery, imaging, back of house operations, pharmacy and more.

Construction of the hospital and ACC will be the first of four phases planned for this development. While NAH will design, build, develop and fund the phase, it plans to partner with third-party developers to complete the other three.

NAH will not be using their capital for retail and housing; we will be finding partners for that, Eiss said.  ... All of our capital is focused on the future of healthcare for the region.

Redevelopment of the hospital's current campus is in very early stages of planning, with NAH hiring urban management company PUMA to help with a community engagement process and creating stakeholder advisory committees to better understand community needs.

At the meeting, Eiss said the current plan is to begin redeveloping the space in 2028 at the earliest, meaning it will take effort to determine what might be needed in the area at that time.

Assuming well call it a two-year-long redevelopment project, not knowing exactly what it is, were trying to understand what the needs of the community in this location would be in 2030, he said. With it being only 2022, it's hard to project out eight years for what good community-based development is going to be.

Kate Morley, Mountain Lines deputy general manager, spoke briefly at the meeting, saying her organization was working with NAH to plan for providing transit to the new location.

I think we all see the vision for providing equitable access to the site, she said, adding that meetings were planned for the next couple weeks to come to an agreement about what a plan would look like.

Campus plans are already drawing new hires to the company.

"That's a question every hospital across the country is asking right now as we went through staffing shortages," Eiss said. "... From a front-line perspective, we're already seeing the benefit of the concept: we're recruiting more providers to the area."

Sustainability and environmental impacts, including fire, were also discussed at the meeting.

Acting CEO Josh Tinkle said NAH had been meeting with the fire department to respond to concerns and was confident it could have a plan by the end of the year. An expanded report on the citys fire department coverage will be complete in the next 30 to 45 days, and Tinkle said the money coming to the city as a result of the new campus could be used to respond to this need.

In addition to the economic development component, there is a large up-front balloon of money coming to the City of Flagstaff from a construction tax perspective and from a fire development fee perspective, he said. All in all, across the entire development, I believe it's about $6.7 million of money that will go directly to the City of Flagstaff -- which we feel is significant funding that they can use to help support the fire department before the hospital doors even open in 2027. We approximate about $4.8 million between construction sales tax and direct development fees directly related to fire that will come from NAH to the city for them to be able to further support the fire department.

Among the energy plans for the new campus are an all-electric outpatient building, a vacuum waste system (expected to save over 10 million gallons of water) and an energy recovery system.

Plans for the new campus are using Energy Star 75 as a baseline, Eiss said, with the current documents showing the site will be around the 80th percentile in terms of energy efficiency.

NAH anticipates an energy reduction by about half from that used by the current campus. NAH plans to meet or outperform dark sky ordinances and has been working with the U.S. Naval Observatory to have all lighting in buildings and parking lots meet the ordinance requirements while also working to provide safe and adequate lighting at the hospital.

For example, the entrances will have recessed lighting under a canopy, directed downward, but the building will not have decorative up-lighting in its plans.

Eiss said the first round of feedback the observatory gave the hospital in February had included specific concerns about the view to the west -- which NAH is addressing through its design of the building itself and automated blackout curtains on that side of the building.

The meeting is viewable at nah.com/expansion.
WASHINGTON  U.S. Senate Democrats said Tuesday that they remained hopeful Congress could create a legal pathway to citizenship before the end of the year for the more than 600,000 undocumented people enrolled in a program that is at risk of being deemed illegal by a lower court.

Immigration rights advocates held a press call including Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois and Robert Menendez of New Jersey to stress the need for legislative action, following a recent 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that upheld a lower court decision in the Southern District of Texas.

That decision determined the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to be unlawfulthough current recipients are not yet affectedand blocked the government from accepting new applications.

The writing is on the wall, Greisa Martinez, who leads United We Dream Action, the largest youth immigration advocacy group, said.

Martinez, who is a DACA recipient herself, told Durbin and Menendez that Congress needs to move quickly, because we are closer than we have ever been to the possible end of DACA.

Created a decade ago

DACA was created a decade ago to provide temporary relief for children who were brought into the country unlawfully, allowing them to obtain drivers licenses and work permits and protecting them from deportation.

Durbin, who chairs the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, said Congress realistically will not be able to pass any DACA legislation before the midterm elections. Republicans will not want to vote for immigration reform during their reelection campaigns, he said.

The Republican election strategy is to attack immigration, he said. We will do everything in our power to get the 10 Republican votes to make this a reality, either at the end of this year into this session, or with a better majority in the next session.

Durbin stressed that Americans need to get out to the polls in November to step up and vote for those who are willing to enter into an honest dialogue about immigration.

Democrats are projected to lose the House, but could possibly pick up a couple seats in the Senate.

Although Democrats control the White House and Congress, an evenly divided Senate has meant that any immigration reform has languished.

Durbin said Senate Democrats do not have the 10 votes needed to meet the 60-vote threshold to overcome a filibuster, and have tried to pass legislation protecting Dreamers at least five times.

We fell short, he said. And thats where we stand today.

Durbin added that four or five Republicans would be willing to vote on DACA-related immigration reform, but did not name those senators.

Hope for narrow legislation

Menendez, who also chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he remained confident that Democrats could pass a narrow piece of immigration legislation by the end of the year that would provide a pathway to citizenship for the more than 600,000 undocumented people in the program.

If we could just center on the question of Dreamers and DACA in and of itself, I think a  legitimate issue can be resolved, he said.

Menendez noted that in the past, when it comes to trying to pass immigration policy, Republicans have tried to attach onerous conditions such as tighter restrictions on asylum.

Im not personally willing to give away the fundamental rights that America has had on the question of asylum in a way that basically guts asylum, he said.

Menendez added that Democrats would also like to see the Biden administration prioritize immigration.

He said that he would like to see the White House allow those undocumented people who could not apply to DACA, due to a pause ordered by the Texas court, to instead apply under Temporary Protected Status and Deferred Enforced Departure.

TPS is granted to those who are already residing in the U.S., but whose home country is deemed unsafe for return, and allows those recipients to stay in the U.S. temporarily. DED is not a specific immigration status, but allows those covered to be exempt from deportation for a certain period of time.

Texas U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen prevented the government from accepting new DACA applications, but has allowed the program to remain for current participants. He ruled in July 2021 that because DACA was not subject to public comment or notice, it violated the Administrative Procedure Act.

A three-judge panel from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, headquartered in New Orleans agreed with Hanen, a President Donald Trump appointee, but asked the Texas judge to look at the new version of a rule on the program issued by the Biden administration in August, which is set to take effect Oct. 31.
Mayor LaToya Cantrell says she is moving forward to do that in reference to a question on whether she will repay the city for her first-class flights in New Orleans, Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2022. (Photo by Sophia Germer, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
Ingrid Jolley and her family were lucky: when their ageing gas hot water tank started to fail, they had a short grace period to research the electric alternatives. And it ended up saving them money.

In an emergency, they might have panic-bought another gas heater. But with time on their side, they decided to install an electric heat pump and 3.7 kilowatt rooftop solar panel system for their Northcote home.

Ingrid Jolley, pictured with her daughter Hazel, has converted all of her homes households gas appliances to electric. Credit:Chris Hopkins

We were aware of the climate and environmental concerns associated with domestic gas, and it felt like the perfect opportunity to switch to something cleaner, said Jolley.

Home owners in Australias capitals could save between $500 and $1900 a year on their electricity bills by replacing gas heating, cooking and hot water appliances with electric alternatives, according to analysis from the Climate Council.
A county jail is a pivotal component of the criminal justice system. In Coconino County, the jail is not just a place where we put people who break the law. Our jail is a modern facility where people can get the help they need. They can learn how to heal from a difficult past, enroll in programs to find a way out of the cycle of drug and alcohol addiction and get a glimpse of what life away from jail can look like.

Our jail offers hope and sets people up for a better future through programs and facilities funded through the Jail District Sales Tax.

Coconino County is focused on healing and equipping inmates  members of our community  with tools to help them recover from unhealthy habits, cope with anger, communicate more effectively, become better parents and find positive ways to express themselves. We also offer job training and education, making valuable use of time spent in custody.

In addition, many people find comfort and guidance through spiritual practices. We believe its critically important and grounding for people to have access to their traditional and religious practices. We have chaplain visits and hold bible study classes. We have built a hogan for important cultural rituals, and a sweat lodge, which many Native cultures use for cleansing ceremonies.

A shining example of the difference in-jail programs can make is EXODUS, a multi-faceted substance abuse program. Jail participants have been enrolling in EXODUS since 2007. More than 1,600 people have experienced it and the success is measurable. Goals of the program are to:

 Reduce the impact of substance abuse on the community.

 Enhance inmates ability to facilitate change in their lives.

 Reduce recidivism and jail crowding.

 Provide educational services to inmates to help them maintain a life of recovery from addiction.

We have witnessed great progress through jail programs and the financially secure, safe and effective County Jail. Since the half-cent Jail District Sales Tax has been in effect, there has been a decrease in the impact of substance-abuse related crime on county communities, numerous inmate success stories, an overall reduction in the jail population and a decline in the number of people returning to jail.

Those of us in the County Criminal Justice System believe a major contributing factor to the decline in recidivism  the number of inmates returning to jail  is the continued success of EXODUS. National statistics report that 70% of those in jail return to jail in places where there is no in-custody drug and alcohol abuse program. However, EXODUS has been a game-changer. In Coconino County, only 30% or fewer of those who have participated in the program return to jail.

Also, funds generated from the Jail Sales Tax have been paying most of the jail operating expenses, about 86%, which includes maintenance, renovations, food, medical care and staffing. Without the financial support of the tax, paid by both visitors and residents, the county would have to find $22 million a year to cover the jail costs and the powerful programs we have now. This could mean a decrease in budgets for other county programs such as those that support public safety and health, and most likely would mean fewer jail programs. In addition, our cities and towns would probably have to raise taxes to cover their portion.

Proposition 445 on the General Election ballot will ask voters to extend the half-cent Jail District Sales Tax by 25 years. Thats 50 cents on $100 purchases of goods and services. The question is:

Shall the Coconino County Jail District Board of Directors be authorized to extend the term of the existing County Jail District Excise Tax (sales tax), of one half-cent ($.005) by twenty-five years?

The Jail District Sales Tax Publicity Pamphlet, which is arriving in the mail, includes letters from county residents, Frequently Asked Questions and locations for assigned polling places. Information about the Jail District Sales Tax Extension, Proposition 445, also can be found at www.coconino.az.gov/jailtax.

Early voting begins Wednesday, Oct. 12. And, the polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 8. For more information, contact the Coconino County Elections Office at (928) 679-7860 or visit www.coconino.az.gov/elections.

Please be sure to vote!
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Every time a Queensland police officer has fired a weapon, coroners found they acted lawfully, the president of the police union insists. But a day after a man was shot by two officers in a suburban Brisbane street, his death has raised familiar questions over police policy and whether death is always necessary. Police Union president Ian Leavers stands by their decision to pull the trigger. Police never want to use their firearm as it is always an absolute last resort, he says. The mans body was outside the Greek Club in South Brisbane. Credit:Brisbane Times On a South Brisbane footpath on Tuesday, outside the citys popular Greek Club and metres from a high school, two officers shot a man who was allegedly armed with a metal rod and advanced towards them in an aggressive manner. After an officers taser failed, three bullets were fired. The man, understood to be intoxicated, died at the scene.

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A few hours earlier, NSW police shot a man who was allegedly wielding two knives and confronted officers outside Lithgow Hospital, west of Sydney. Hit in the abdomen, the 34-year-old was taken to Westmead Hospital in Sydney in a critical but stable condition. But what thresholds need to be met for police to make this decision to use their firearms? Officers have the power under state legislation to use lethal force. Griffith Criminology Institutes deputy director Louise Porter says this is used typically where its necessary to protect life, or stop people from being harmed. In Queensland, the police are trained under their Operational Procedures Manual, which details how officers can use force. POLICE POWERS AND RESPONSIBILITIES ACT 2000 - SECT 616 Power to use force against individuals in critical situations 616 Power to use force against individuals in critical situations (1) This section applies if a police officer reasonably suspects a person (a) has committed, is committing, or is about to commit an offence punishable by life imprisonment; or (b) has committed an offence punishable by life imprisonment and is attempting to escape arrest or has escaped from arrest or custody.

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They are supposed to give a warning, Porter says. Basically, tell someone what theyre doing before they use lethal force. She says there might be times when police do not have the option to give that warning. And in harrowing scenarios, armed people told to drop their weapon do not comply. Do police shoot to kill? Theyre [officers] not shooting to kill, theyre trying to stop the threat, Porter says.

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Obviously, going for the centre mass [the middle of the body, rather than limbs] is likely to do the most damage, but that is most likely to stop the person doing what it is theyre doing. Porter says shooting someones hand or leg might not stop a potential attack. People arent usually standing still when theyre shot, theyre struggling and moving around. If you miss, then you havent stopped the threat, someones still getting hurt, and if you miss, wheres that bullet going and what have you hit, a bystander? What other options do police have? Porter says while officers can use tasers or pepper spray, sometimes those devices fail. At the end of the day, it comes down to the officer having to assess the risk and the situation and the likely effectiveness, she says.

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Leavers says every police officer is trained in a range of scenarios to respond when threatened by an armed offender. Its a hierarchical approach that includes tactics such as distancing from the offender, using closed and open-hand tactics, to other techniques including deploying capsicum spray, or using a taser and, as a last resort, a firearm, he says. If anyone threatens the life of a police officer or a member of the community we will use our training and resources to protect lives. Recent police shootings October 11: A man in his 30s, allegedly approaching police in an aggressive manner with a metal rod, is shot outside the Greek Club in South Brisbane.

October 1: A man in his 20s, allegedly armed with a knife, is fatally shot in Airlie Beach.

September 8: A 38-year-old man charged with attempted murder of a police officer at Kangaroo Point in Brisbane is shot after he stabbed male officers in the chin.

August 21: A 29-year-old Coomera man who allegedly advanced at officers is shot, but survives.

August 21: A 43-year-old man allegedly advanced towards officers with an edged weapon. He is shot but survives and is due to front court in November.

May 15: A 27-year-old man is fatally shot at One Mile, Ipswich, following reports he was armed with a gun. Interstate: October 11: A man is shot outside Lithgow Hospital, west of Sydney, left in a critical but stable condition.

July 12: A man is shot after driving at police in Sydneys inner west, but survives.

July 9: A man is shot dead in Nowra, in the NSW South Coast, after a double stabbing domestic violence incident.

May 31: A man is shot after confronting officers with a machete in Grafton. He survives.

April 28: A man is shot dead on Sydneys northern beaches after he lunges at police with a knife.

As of September 4, this year there have been 10 fatal shootings and 15 non-fatal ones across Victoria. Are all police shootings reviewed? In late November 2014, former police commissioner Ian Stewart announced a review of policy, procedures and training involving incidents that may lead to a violent confrontation between police and people. During that time, the Queensland police Ethical Standards Command was investigating five fatal shootings from 2013 and 2014.

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Melbourne is home to two of the worlds 50 top-ranked universities for the first time, after Monash surged into second place in Australia behind the University of Melbourne.

Melbourne has held its spot as Australias highest-ranked university in the Times Higher Education world university rankings for 2023, but slid one place on last years ranking, from 33rd to 34th.

Monash University has risen from 57th to 44th in the Times Higher Education world university rankings. Credit:Wayne Taylor

Monash was among the biggest improvers in the nation, leaping from 57th to 44th place, and from fifth to second among Australian institutions, overtaking the University of Queensland, the University of Sydney and the Australian National University compared with last years rankings.

Melbourne and Monash are the only two Australian universities to finish in the top 50, among 10 that finished in the top 200 this year, down from 12 last year.
A Perth man has narrowly escaped death after shooting himself in the head during a game of Russian roulette.

The incident occurred at a house in Westminster on September 18 where a group of reckless young fellas, reportedly with bikie links, were gathered.

WA Police deputy commissioner Allan Adams said it was fortunate the man, 31, was not fatally wounded.

One of [the group] produced a Smith and Wesson revolver, placed a round in, rotated the barrel ... placed it to his head and pulled the trigger, he told Radio 6PR.

Unfortunately, the round aligned with the hammer of the revolver and he suffered serious, catastrophic head injuries.
Australians fled Sydney and Melbourne to escape the harsh reality of COVID lockdowns but most drew the line at departing their home state as they sought out a safe place to ride out the pandemic.

Data from the 2021 census, released on Wednesday, showed substantial levels of intra and interstate movement out of the nations two largest cities as people headed for the regions.

Over five years, almost 41 per cent of people changed their address, the census shows. Credit:Natalie Boog

To gauge how often and how far Australians move homes, the census  conducted in August last year as most of the east coast was in COVID lockdown  asked people if they were living in the same place as they were in August 2020 and in August 2016.

Just over 79 per cent of residents, or 19.9 million people, lived at the same address as a year earlier. There were 55,130 Australian-born people who moved back from overseas, a sharp fall on previous censuses due to the effective shutdown of the international border.
The legitimacy of Victorias next anti-corruption commissioner is in doubt after the opposition questioned the governments right to begin searching for the outgoing bosss replacement before next months election.

Michael OBrien, the shadow attorney-general and former opposition leader, argues the government must delay any moves to replace Robert Redlich, KC, whose term as head of the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission ends on December 31.

Shadow attorney-general Michael OBrien. Credit:Justin McManus

Nothing substantive should be done without absolute bipartisanship, OBrien told The Age. Preferably, this should be a decision entirely for the government Victorians choose on November 26.

Any steps in the recruitment process taken before the election, OBrien said, would be tainted unless the opposition was involved and Redlichs replacement had support across the political spectrum.
Denpasar: Sean Garlick counts himself as one of the fortunate ones.

On the night of October 12, 2002, the former rugby league player was out to dinner in Bali with his ex-Sydney Roosters teammate Craig Salvatori, their wives and a group of 18 others. Most kicked on to the Sari Club, at the heart of the Kuta tourist precinct. Eleven of them would never make it back.

Sean and Samantha Garlick in front of the Bali bombings memorial on Wednesday. Credit:Chris Barrett

Out of our group, all but Craig Salvatori, myself and a few of the men, and my wife [Samantha], went to the Sari Club, Garlick said.

She was supposed to catch up later with her best friend, Salvos wife Kathy, and the bomb went off before she got back.
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg says it is better for Germany to keep using nuclear power than restart coal plants.

Thunbergs comments on German television signal an about-turn on the subject of nuclear energy. The 19-year-old previously attacked nuclear energy and gas as greenwashing and false solutions to cutting emissions.

Greta Thunberg stands onstage during a Fridays for Future global climate strike in Berlin. Credit:AP

Germanys former chancellor Angela Merkel has previously credited Thunberg with inspiring her government to move faster towards carbon neutrality.

Merkel immediately shut down eight of Germany's 17 nuclear reactors following the Fukushima disaster on Japan in 2011 and ramped up its reliance on Russian gas instead.
My vantage point on Russia is different from what you would hear from 90 per cent of what I call the experts, the political scientists, he says. Browder predicts it could be a long, drawn-out conflict, which he says finishes one of two ways - either Ukraine wins or Russia wins. Thats it. There is no middle ground. I know Putin - he doesnt negotiate. Russian President Vladimir Putin. Credit:AP The political scientists are all in the business of agreements, negotiations, summits but this is all based on their dealings with countries that play by some set of rules. They [the experts] say that he is upset about NATO expansion or that he is trying to build a legacy for himself by stretching the Russian empire, says Browder, who describes these views as nonsense.

As he sees it, the experts are addicted to the notion this conflict can be negotiated to a close. Loading If we give him some promise about NATO, we give him some piece of territory then all problems will be solved, is how the experts see the resolution, according to Browder. What I have learned about Vladimir Putin in my own personal struggle with him is that his motivations are so different than what others could imagine. He doesnt play by any set of rules. Browder believes that for Putin, the war is an existential bet.

The reason he is at war in Ukraine - and it is not well accepted as a reason - is he is scared of his own people because he has stolen too much money from them over a long period of time. He is doing this because he wants a war of distraction, this is all for internal consumption; it is a war designed to ensure that his people are not mad at him, that they are mad at a foreign enemy. Vladimir Putins end game is war, says Bill Browder, formerly Russias largest foreign investor. Credit:AP Browder describes Putin as a psychopath: Someone who doesnt have any boundaries, any conscience or any empathy. All he cares about is his own well-being, his own survival. He is not like some raving lunatic who is behaving irrationally. He is rational. Everything he does is for his own set of really twisted goals. His goal is to stay alive, and in order to stay alive hes got to stay in power, and in order to stay in power he has to ensure the Russian people dont rise against him.

Thus Putins end game is war, according to Browder who has firsthand knowledge of being in his own battle with Putin. Loading I bring a personal perspective of what its like to have a personal conflict with Putin for the past 13 years and I know how he behaves. He never negotiates, he never shows any weakness, he never compromises. All he knows how to do is escalate. Based on these insights, Browder suspects Russia will continue to throw everything it has at the war. But contrary to much commentary he doesnt believe that either side has an overwhelming military advantage sufficient to win. I think the Ukrainians are doing a good job of preventing themselves from losing the war and they are pushing Russia back in certain places, but they dont have the overwhelming military advantage to win the war. And on the other side, Putin doesnt have the overwhelming military advantage either.
Moscow: Russias Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Wednesday that it had detained five Russians and three citizens of Ukraine and Armenia over the explosion that damaged the Crimea bridge last Saturday, Interfax reported.

The FSB said the explosion was organised by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry and its director Kyrylo Budanov.

Flames and smoke rise from the Kerch bridge, linking Crimea to the Russian mainland. Credit:AP

President Vladimir Putin has blamed Ukraine for the blast, which he called a terrorist attack, and retaliated with a barrage of missile strikes against civilian targets in Ukraine this week, killing more than 20 people.

Ukraine has not officially confirmed its involvement in the blast, but some Ukrainian officials have celebrated the damage. The explosive device was moved from Ukraine to Russia via Bulgaria, Georgia and Armenia, the FSB said.
London: A neonatal nurse charged with murdering seven babies and attempting to kill 10 others was accused in court of injecting newborns with air and feeding them insulin at a hospital in the United Kingdom.

Prosecutors accused Lucy Letby, 32, of being a constant malevolent presence at the hospital in northwest England in a years-long case that has sparked horror and fascination in the country. She has pleaded not guilty.

Lucy Letby has been charged with murdering seven babies and attempting to kill 10 others. Credit:Facebook

Prosecutor Nick Johnson told jurors that Countess of Chester Hospital, where Letby worked, saw a significant rise in deaths and catastrophic collapses in its neonatal unit during 2015 and 2016, according to the Associated Press.

Babies who had not been unstable at all suddenly deteriorated. Sometimes babies who had been sick but then been on the mend suddenly deteriorated for no apparent reason, he said.
While Joe Biden is not on the ballot until the presidential election in 2024, the midterm elections generally represent the first electoral chance Americans have to express their approval or displeasure with the president of the day.

September 2, 2022

by Farrah Tomazin
Press Release

October 12, 2022 CNN THE SOURCE INTERVIEW OF SEN. WIN GATCHALIAN WITH RIA TRILLO ON POGO HEARING, SIM REGISTRATION AND OIL PRICE HIKE Q: All right, let's get right to it. Now, the Chinese Embassy on Tuesday night clarified that it has not not placed the Philippines under the tourism blacklist due to POGO activities and I believe you were present during the meeting with Chinese ambassador Wang Jin Yan and senate president Migz Zubiri. Can you tell us what you remember about this part of the conversation? SEN. WIN: Definitely it's a simple case of misinterpretation of the statements of the ambassador, but what's definite here is China through its laws, don't allow their citizens to gamble online, to invest in online businesses such as POGO, and also to work in online gaming businesses such as POGO. So these are very clear messages from the ambassador when we talked to them. In fact, the Ambassador repeatedly said that they would advise our country not to allow POGO operations here in our country because it also creates a lot of social problems such as crime and other things related to POGO. So they can also I think, what's through that conversation, what we gathered, is that they can employ blacklisting mechanisms to countries that have online gambling or POGO activities. And through our research through the internet, we found out that there are such moves from China to blacklist these countries and to not allow their citizens to go to countries to engage in online gambling. That's quite clear. Q: All right, so it's also clear that the Philippines right now is not yet blacklisted. But what were to happen or how much tourism would be at stake if ever we did get on some kind of tourism blacklist. SEN. WIN: So it's quite clear now that the country is not yet blacklisted, but that potential is there. That's very clear from the Chinese ambassador. What I understand from the Chinese ambassador is this blacklisting mechanism can happen because he also shared a story that some of their citizens committed suicide because there were so indebted with online gambling. And that's also becoming a social problem in China. So to address that problem, they want to prevent their citizens from going into countries who engage in online gambling which includes countries like the Philippines, Cambodia, Myanmar and other non ASEAN countries as well. This is to prevent their citizens from participating in online gambling, whether they are investing, whether they are gambling, betting or working in online gambling companies. So in terms of tourism, because if they do implement the blacklisting mechanism, 20% of our tourists come from China during the pandemic days, out of the eight million tourists that come to the Philippines, almost close to about 1.8 million come from China, and that contributes to about 140 billion pesos to our tourism revenue. So it's a significant amount. And if for example, China pursues blacklisting our country, that can definitely impact our tourism revenues. Q: Right, Senator? Did they give a specific deadline as to when they might possibly impose the blacklisting and what factors or actions are they expecting from us in order to prevent this? SEN. WIN: It's an open ended conversation, as regards to POGOs, there's no timetable. There's no specific action but definitely, they are contemplating on doing that. And we also have to remember that 50% of POGO revenues come from China. This is from the hearing yesterday, PAGCOR disclosed that the bulk of their revenue is almost 50%. That's a very significant amount that comes from China. So for example, if China will have a crackdown on POGO gambling, that will also affect the revenues being derived from China. Q: So I know it's not a simple question to answer, Senator, but do we stand to gain more if we keep the POGOs and lose the Chinese tourists market, which according to the embassy is the second largest source of tourists, because it seems that we lose either way whether we keep the POGOs or we ban them. Can we say at this point, what scenario do we stand to gain more economically, not considering the social costs? SEN. WIN: Well, I think the DFA and the tourism department should engage China in this respect. In regard to blacklisting we have to get more details. It's a topic that came out of our courtesy call. It wasn't a formal sit down meeting regarding tourism and regarding POGOs, it was just one of the topics that we discussed during the courtesy call, so it's important to get the details first. If China plans to blacklist us in the future, we have to get more details, but this is just an assumption. Tourism is a very big economic driver of our country as a whole and China is our neighbor, they are just a stone's away from the Philippines. And it's very convenient to attract Chinese tourists to our country as evidenced by the 1.8 million Chinese tourists that came during the pre-pandemic time. So if ever tourism will be affected, we stand to lose a lot because tourism is one of those economic drivers that has a trickle down effect on our countryside. Q: Right now, you of course conducted the probes on POGO contributions to the economy. What have you discovered so far? I mean, has the promised revenue materialized? Or did they fail to meet the targets? SEN. WIN: POGO pre-pandemic time and POGO now are vastly different. During the pre-pandemic time, we were earning, in terms of contribution to our economy, close to about 100 billion pesos. In terms of revenue coming to PAGCOR in particular, is close to about 30 million pesos during the heyday of POGOs but right now because of the pandemic, because of the crackdown in China, and because of the crimes happening here in the Philippines, they have created uncertainty to the POGO industry. It dwindled down to about seven billion pesos, both from PAGCOR and BIR. On top of that, the contribution to our economy is about 50 billion pesos. If you relate that to our GDP that's about close to about 1% of our GDP. It's definitely not as big compared to our overall economy but also not so small. What I can foresee in order to mitigate the effects of potential ban of POGOs is to lure our BPO industry and to increase the size of our BPO industry. We have to also remember that the BPO takes up a lot of our office spaces. So if they leave, the potential or the natural business that can take over those sites are the BPO industry and the BPO industry has proven a great employment contributor. It employs about 1.5 million Filipinos, so it's a good business to cultivate, to help replace a potential ban on POGOs. Q: Yes Sir, I think one of your resource people spoke out about that and said that, you know, if we were to ban POGOs, you know, funds could be found elsewhere from perhaps other tourism markets and also for the country to invite more BPOs to come in the country and cover that gap should the POGOs be banned. What's your thoughts on that? SEN. WIN: Yes, definitely. The BPO industry has been here for a very long time. It is a great employment generator. Again, it employs about 1.5 million Filipinos, and it contributes close to about $30 billion to our revenue. So that's an industry that has proven its track record and it's growing at an 8% clip per annum. So, again, if we harness the potential of BPOs, especially value added business process outsourcing, that can potentially replace the ban on POGOs. During the hearing, we also looked at other issues that are plaguing the POGO industry. For example, in the past, it was said that enforcement is the key to reduce or to eliminate crimes related to POGO. But we also found out that we're losing the war against crimes related to POGOs. Out of the 99 cases that were investigated by our PNP, by our police force, only one of those cases were actually convicted. So that's only one percent conviction rate. So if you gauge the wire against POGOs on the number of cases that we have convicted and the number of people that we have put in jail because of those crimes, it's only 1%. So in other words, these criminal syndicates are emboldened because they know that our conviction rates are very low and we're not putting these syndicates behind bars. Q: Right, that being the case, Senator, what would your recommendation be to President Marcos and how quickly should the government decide on the fate of POGOs? As we said, it's not a simple matter, but what kind of tack would be the most cost-efficient? Is it outright deportation or cancellation of visas? That might make POGO workers just go underground? SEN. WIN: Actually, I asked PAGCOR what is the future of POGOs and if there is a roadmap for POGOs. In any business, there's a roadmap, there's a future, there's a path to growth, and we asked PAGCOR that because PAGCOR is the sole gaming regulator in our country. And they've been in this POGO business for the last, almost seven years, or even more. And we asked them, what is the future of POGO? And they couldn't provide us with a roadmap. Just like any legitimate business, there's always a roadmap, you always know where you're going. But in this particular case, there is no roadmap. And the reason for that is because of uncertainty. China can one day say that okay, we'll blacklist every country that has POGOs and that creates an uncertain environment for this business. And we don't want to attract businesses that are uncertain and that are plagued with this type of policy changes externally. What we want is a sustainable business that creates trickle down employment. So that's also another angle that we have to look at because of external policy changes, the business of POGO becomes unstable and if it becomes unstable, the revenue generation becomes unstable, employment generation becomes unstable, the whole business model becomes unstable. Q: Senator, welcome back to the program. Now let's continue our conversation regarding the POGOs. Now, the Association of Service Providers and POGO has said that some 23,000 workers might lose their jobs if we completely banned POGO. What's your response to that? And again how significant is POGO contribution to the Filipino workforce? SEN. WIN: We also asked about the kind of work that these 23 million Filipinos are doing in POGOs. And the feedback is that a lot of them work in the technical aspect, for example IT, networking, computers. Some of them also work in marketing. So these are skilled personnel that worked in the service providers. So their skills will not be put to waste. I also know that they gained a lot of experience from working with POGOs. And again these 23,000 Filipinos or POGO workers can be absorbed by the BPOs because they also need the same set of skills in their companies. Q: Again, if we were to ban POGOs logistically, how would we deport all the POGO workers? Because the DOJ previously said that it would actually be a challenge to deport thousands of POGO workers? SEN. WIN: We have to transition out of POGOs. We also have to transition the 23,000 Filipinos working in POGOs because they also need time to get employment in other companies. So transition is important. We also have approximately 20,000 plus foreign national working in the POGO industry that should also be looked into because they will also need time to be able to leave the country, if they do want to leave the country. If they choose to stay and they're actually technically capable, then they would need to renew their permits and look for another job. So a transition phase is important. Considering that there are 34 POGO licensees and 100 plus service providers here in the Philippines, transition is important. I don't advise that it should be abrupt because there are a lot of employment considerations that we have to look into. Q: Alright, so our transition period should be there. Now, Senator, let me ask you one last question regarding the POGOs. What would be the best alternative if there were no no POGOs? We talked about BPOs earlier, what replacement or substitute would you propose to offset the economic consequences of a possible POGO ban? SEN. WIN: Well three things, so number one let's grow our BPO industry. I'm very optimistic with our BPO industry. I've met them a few times. They have a clear roadmap on where they want to be in the next 10 years. They project to grow at about 10% per annum. So it's important that we remove the roadblocks, the barriers for them to grow easily. We can increase employment there from 1.5 million to about two million on just the BPO industry alone. Number two is tourism. Tourism is a low hanging fruit that we need to tap and it has a trickle down effect all the way to the countryside. And that's why, again to juxtapose to what the Chinese embassy has said, it's important that we maintain our tourism lines with China open. We have to remember China is just an hour and a half away from us, from Hong Kong and three hours and a half away from Beijing. So it's a huge market that we can tap to grow our tourism. Number three, we have already adapted to so many liberalization laws; the Retail Liberalization Law, the Foreign Investment Act, the Public Services Act, all of which are designed to attract foreign investors, the right type of foreign investors. Foreign investors that will generate jobs that will bring hard capital investments in our country, and most importantly, investors who don't bring crimes or any crimes associated with those sectors. So we need industries that are crime-free in other words. Q: Definitely. Okay, Senator, let's just shoot the top now to the SIM Registration Act. So we have this important tool now against tech scammers. How do we respond to concerns regarding the safety of data collection and storage of information now that people will have to give their personal information every time they purchase a SIM? SEN. WIN: Well Ria, we have one of the strictest data privacy laws in the world. In fact, we're one of the few countries which have a sole commission dedicated to protect data privacy. We have the National Privacy Commission created by law and the aim of this commission is to come up with guidelines and standards that companies and organizations will use to protect our data. So this commission has only one purpose; to protect our data and to make sure that information is not passed around. So having said that, we have embedded laws that will protect our information in our data. I'm very confident because we have this commission to make sure that data collected by the PTEs and the telecommunication companies will be protected. On top of that, there are hefty fines in the prepaid SIM card registration, PTEs will be fined if there will be problems in terms of protecting our data. So those are also embedded in the law. Q: All right now Senator may mga concerns din ang mga Filipinos abroad, o mga OFWs, some of them actually bring a Philippine SIM with them because they use it for roaming or Philippine transactions. What happens to them if they are not able to come home in time for the registration period? SEN. WIN: Okay, what we envision as a process for registration is online. If you open an e-wallet account, either through G-cash or Paymaya or Shoppe, you don't go to the Shoppe office and register, you do it online. You talk to an online agent, you show your card, you participate by proving that you are the one applying for that e-wallet account. So what we are envisioning here is the registration process will be done through the internet. So there will probably be an online customer service and they will require your national ID, that will be the registration process. We don't envision that when you buy your prepaid SIM card you will fill up a form in the sari-sari store. Or if you're an OFW you have to come back and fill up a form, you can do that through the internet. Q: Let's talk about the LEDAC meeting held earlier this week, among the priority bills set by President Bongbong Marcos which among these are the most crucial ones you think? SEN. WIN: Well in my opinion in response to the pandemic, the health related bills are very important. For example, establishing the medical corps is very important. I think what we learned from the pandemic, if you have a pandemic that's widespread, there's no barangay or committee that is spared. So we need everyone on deck. And creating that medical corp is important so that we have feet on the ground in terms of responding to medical crises. And another very important response to the pandemic is the creation of the virology institute that will continue to research on the different types of viruses, continue to research on vaccines that will stop those viruses, that is also very important because we don't have such an institution here in our country. Another one is the Centers for Disease Control Bill that will create a US style CDC in our country. Again, in response to the pandemic, and that type of institution will be the institution that will respond to a pandemic-like occurence in our country. Q: Alright now Senator, let's now go to oil price hike. There was another big time oil price hike this week, pretty much erasing any rollbacks from the few weeks before it. Are you renewing your call to institutionalize fuel subsidies? SEN. WIN: Well, Ria as long as we import 99% of our fuel, we need to have a shock absorbing mechanism. And the most efficient shock absorbing mechanism in our country is the Pantawid Pasada. It's the only one we have. And if that is executed properly, in my opinion, that will be a very good shock absorbing mechanism for our PUV drivers and also our commuters. Since in the near future, I don't think we will be reducing our dependence to foreign oil. We need to institutionalize the Pantawid Pasada already to make sure that the database is always on time, to make sure that the mechanisms to distribute the aid is real-time, right now the aid distribution takes about two months. So by the time the drivers get their Pantawid Pasada fuel subsidy, fuel prices have already gone down. But the aim of this Pantawid Pasada is to help them buy fuel in cases of abrupt fuel spikes. Q: Yeah, either way that assistance would be needed. Senator, how long do you think it will take for that bill to be passed? And also some transport groups are saying that, you know, with the recent fare hike and the assistance that has been given, it's just not enough. SEN. WIN: Alright, so the problem is the uncertainty brought about by the grim incidents which is creating this high priced environment in our country. The reason for this is, OPEC has cut down two million barrels per day in terms of output. That's why we are seeing this spike here in our country. And that's why we have to be ready. The Pantawid Pasada should have a budget year in and year out. And we also have to calculate the historical fluctuations in terms of oil prices. Right now we allocate close to 2.5 to 3 billion per year, but in my opinion we have to raise that to five billion to about five to six billion a year because the price increases are so sharp and the increases are also quite high compared to previous occurrences. The previous occurrences will go up but it will take about five to six months, now in a matter of days prices can go up as high as P6 to P10 per liter.
October 12 in Spain is called the Fiesta Nacional de Espana. Cut-and-pasting from Wikipedia:

The National Day of Spain is the day of celebration on which the Spanish people commemorate the country's history, recognize and appreciate achievements, reconfirm their commitment to the nation's future. The day celebrates unity and fraternity, and also shows Spain's ties with the international community....

National Day of Spain commemorates the discovery of the Americas by Christopher Columbus for Spain on October 12, 1492. The date is a key point for Spain's overseas influence and legacy to the world and to the Americas in particular. It symbolizes Spain's vast, common heritage with today's American countries, which made up the Spanish Empire, the first global power in world history.

I am from Berkeley, where, in 1992, Indigenous People's Day was instituted as a counter to the celebration of Columbus. So today, I am in a country that still celebrates Columbus every year, and in a couple of weeks, I'll be back in a city that has a different celebration. I don't know what any of this means.
A legislative candidates 2005 arrest for impersonating a police officer has surfaced in the race to represent north Billings.

Candidate Thomas Madigan, a Republican running in House District 47, was charged in 2005 after showing law enforcement identification to a Billings area campground host as he attempted to locate a man suspected of domestic abuse. Problem was, Madigans law enforcement credentials, stemming from a stint as reserve deputy in Golden Valley County, were no longer good and wouldnt have been valid in Yellowstone County even if they hadnt expired.

The Montana Democratic Party picked up on the incident and Madigans sentencing, both reported in the Billings Gazette 17 years ago, realizing the Democrat in the race, Denise Baum, has been a Billings Police officer for 19 years, including 14 as a detective.

Montana voters deserve integrity and a strong commitment to public service from their elected officials, Sheila Hogan, executive director of the Montana Democratic Party, said in a press release. For voters in HD 47, the choice this November could not be more clear.

Madigan told The Gazette on Tuesday that he regretted the 2005 incident which he said stemmed from a neighbor being assaulted by the boyfriend of a female family member. The boyfriend was on parole and staying at Yellowstone River Campground.

I was mowing the grass and I said, well, I know where this guy is at. So I shut things off, took care of (the neighbor) and jumped in the pickup to run down. I thought maybe I could take some pictures of this guy violating his parole, Madigan said, repeating the same account he offered to Judge Susan Watters in February 2006.

Watters noted the Madigan had no prior convictions. She concluded he wasnt likely to reoffend, and he had apologized for the incident. But impersonating an officer is a felony. The judge sentenced Madigan to a two-year deferred prison sentence, meaning that if Madigan didnt break the law again during that time, he would not only avoid incarceration, but the conviction would be removed from his criminal record, which it was.

There were differences between Madigans version of what took place at Yellowstone River Campground and the version offered by the campground host. The host told the police that Madigan smelled of alcohol and more importantly, presented a deputys badge while identifying himself as law enforcement to gain information.

Madigan said Tuesday the badge and expired reserve deputy identification card were part of the same wallet. He said he showed the ID because the campground attendant asked him to identify himself. It was all the identification he had in his truck, Madigan said.

I guess I screwed up. I owned up to it. I said, If youre going to dance, you got to pay the band, Madigan said.

House District 47 runs for several miles along the Billings Rims from Fairway Place in the west to just west of the Yellowstone County Fairgrounds. It includes the hospital district, and has been a reliable win for Democrats since it was first put into use in 2014. But there has always been enough turnout by Republican-leaning voters in HD 47 to keep the Yellowstone GOP interested.

Madigan said he would support Baum if she won the race.
Billings elementary and middle school students have taken steps both forward and backward, according to new test results released from the spring semester.

After a significant slump in scores widely attributed to remote-learning adjustments from the COVID-19 pandemic in Fall 2020, test results since then across School District 2 show reading and math proficiency slowly trending upward while still falling short of target goals.

[Were] still experiencing some impacts of COVID and some of the other things happening in our school system thats going to take quite a bit of time before we start to see some recovery, District Director of Assessment Roger Dereszynski said. Thats evident in all the data we look at K-12.

Results for kindergarten and second-grade classes reading and math readiness along with improved math proficiencies in fourth and fifth grade classes were singled out by Dereszynski during a presentation to the districts performance monitoring committee. K-2 grade students take place in FastBridge assessments while 3-8 grade students take NWEA MAPS tests.

Kindergarten reading scores improved from 44% to 46% and math from 59% to 62% while second grade reading improved to 48% from 44% and math to 62% from 59%. First grade reading levels dipped slightly from 40% to 38% while math readiness maintained a 65% readiness.

The NWEA tests measures results as either novice, nearing proficient, proficient and advanced proficiency.

With the exception of third grade, math proficiency scores either improved slightly or were consistent with last fall while every grade 3-8 scored lower reading proficiency scores than last year.

As NWEAs national benchmark averages compared with SD2s averages, little change was reported with reading proficiency still meeting or exceeding percentile scores despite the drops and math proficiency still lagging behind despite improvements.

One notable drop in test scores that was also discussed was third grade reading readiness which held steady at 44% proficiency  well below the cut score of 56%. District Superintendent Greg Upham said this metric along with transitions from fifth and eighth grade are critical metrics to improve going forward to ensure their access to advanced placement courses.

Trends that negatively affect scores consistently have held true in recent years. Mentioned during the meeting were socioeconomic disparities between schools with those receiving Title 1 funding generally ranking near the bottom in test results. Additionally, student attendance was reported by individual school principals as the biggest single factor affecting student success.

A newer trend noticed by Upham during school visits was a decline in cognitive endurance. Specifically, students who spend more time in front of screens at and away from school now struggle to focus in class for an entire school day. School Leadership Support Executive Director Brenda Koch added that recent faculty vacancies for positions including teachers and interventionists across the district have likely played an impact on educational quality.

She added that the vacancies follow a nationwide trend that should be anticipated in years to come and not be used as an excuse for declining test results.

Its pretty remarkable, the successes that we are seeing [here], she said.

When asked whats currently being done to improve scores, Koch said she and fellow Executive Director Randy Russell have met with schools to reassess current programs to see what is currently working and what could be implemented into other schools. Additionally, she mentioned consolidating local teaching resources and programs into a single document for all district schools to access was being discussed. At one point during the data overview, district board member Russ Hall highlighted Newman Elementarys pre-kindergarten programs as a solution for increasing student readiness across the district.

An idea previously presented to the board was a balanced calendar school schedule versus its current standard calendar. Rather than the current calendar year of nine months in school and three months out, a balanced calendar would divide time in and out more regularly throughout the year to avoid any "summer slide" in student proficiency.

Regarding a solution, Upham said there isnt an easy, single solution to these problems and that continuing to assess the testing data regularly is the correct approach. Along with making gradual improvements since the pandemic, he said that this approach has prevented any negative trends from continuing.

The datas not meant to beat someone up, he said. But at the same time, it can create some uncomfortable conversations and those uncomfortable conversations can lead to growth.

The district will review future test results in the winter and spring over the school year. With the districts goals set at 80% for low risk, 15% some risk and 5% of a high risk of falling behind for its K-2 students and exceeding national percentiles across the board, its understood that it will likely take years before they're met.

They are lofty targets, we know that, Dereszynski said. But we know by research showing that if we stretch ourselves and try to hit an ambitious goal, well definitely grow more and show higher achievement.
Working Together to Help Save Native Plant Communities in Wyoming

For over a century, cheatgrass has plagued native wildlife across the western United States. The invasive weed poses many threats; the most concerning is that it fuels wildfires. And unfortunately, Wyoming is not immune to the weeds spread.

According to the Institute of Managing Annual Grasses Invading Natural Ecosystems (IMAGINE), cheatgrass impacts all 23 counties in Wyoming. There are an estimated 20 million acres with more than 10 percent of annual grasses, including cheatgrass. Thats about 2 million acres of only annual grass in the state.

Invasive annual grasses, such as cheatgrass, are detrimental to native plants and wildlife. Cheatgrass provides fine dry fuels that increase fire frequency and severity. It also decreases forage quantity and quality for livestock and wildlife, alters habitat, changes soil health, and decreases biodiversity.

Jaycie Arndt, a coordinator for IMAGINE, grew up on a ranch in Wyoming and came to dislike cheatgrass and other invasive plants. Thats why shes dedicated to helping manage invasive weeds and annual grasses.

Ive seen the detrimental effects that invasive species have on our landscapes, our economy, and our wellbeing overall, Arndt said. We have to manage annual grasses, not only to improve our rangelands but also to prevent further degradation or complete loss of function of our landscapes.

To combat the growing problem, IMAGINE was created in 2020 to foster a collaborative, statewide approach to managing annual grasses in the Cowboy State. The organization partners with the Wyoming Weed and Pest Council (WWPC), among others, to research the best treatment options for controlling annual grasses.

Managing annual grasses is vital to keep Wyoming wild and beautiful, said Larry Smith, president of WWPC. And doing so requires collaboration across the state. Thats why the Wyoming Weed and Pest Council supports IMAGINE and its mission.

The public can help defend against invasive weeds by implementing PlayCleanGo in their adventures. Make sure to clean equipment, shoes, clothes, and vehicles before leaving an area with annual grasses.

IMAGINE also hosts workshops and summits geared towards public education. To learn more about IMAGINE and upcoming events, visit wyagresearch.org/imagine/.

For information about Wyoming Weed and Pest Council, visit wyoweed.org and follow on Facebook and Twitter.

About the Wyoming Weed and Pest Council

Wyoming Weed and Pest Council (WWPC) is comprised of 23 Weed and Pest Districts in the state of Wyoming. The Council works closely with the Wyoming Department of Agriculture and the University of Wyoming to keep current with the latest technology and research available in the ongoing management of noxious weeds and pests. The overall mission is to provide unified support and leadership for integrated management of noxious weeds and pests to protect economic and ecological resources in the state.

About IMAGINE

The Institute of Managing Annual Grasses Invading Natural Ecosystems (IMAGINE) is centered at the University of Wyoming and provides science driven solutions for a landscape scale challenge. Building upon existing world-class partnerships and the research, outreach, and teaching foundation at the University of Wyoming, IMAGINE offers a new model of engaged research and outreach to make a lasting difference against expanding infestations of annual grasses in Wyoming while integrating the socioeconomic drivers necessary for success.
A Billings attorney believes the process used by Yellowstone County commissioners to explore privatizing management at MetraPark has been so corrupted that it should be stopped entirely.

Gene Jarussi has asked Yellowstone County District Court to place a temporary restraining order against county commissioners to halt the privatization bid process currently underway.

"The process employed by the board (of county commissioners) to do so has been tainted by violations of the Montana Constitution and law, misrepresentations and collusion," Jarussi wrote in the request. "This faulty and unreliable process should be halted immediately, pending a resolution of Plaintiff's claims on the merits."

OVG and ASM Global, both L.A.-based events and venue management companies, have submitted bids. Earlier this year, the two companies submitted a less formal package of qualifications to the county.

Last month, Jarussi filed a complaint with District Court, asking that the entire bid process be declared invalid and that OVG be disqualified from participating.

"The county is aware of the request filed by the plaintiff and is in the process of reviewing its allegations," said Jeana Lervick, chief in-house deputy county attorney. "We remain hopeful that any concerns Mr. Jarussi may have regarding the processes used by the County can be worked out without need for further court intervention."

Jarussi has argued in his court filings that at least two of the county commissioners violated the "no contact" clause in the contracts governing the county's requests for qualifications and bids from potential private management companies.

Earlier this summer Jarussi filed a Freedom of Information Act records request with the county to get phone and email records from the three commissioners.

Using those records, he specifically accuses Chairman Don Jones and Commissioner Denis Pitman of being in contact with OVG throughout the bid process, violating the "no contact" clause. He also argues that the two had decided before starting the process that OVG should be the company to get the management contract.

Both Pitman and Jones have denied any wrongdoing in the process and have said they won't sign a deal with either company if they can't negotiate a contract with a company that's beneficial to the county.

Jarussi argues that the process has been damaged enough that it should be stopped altogether.

"Public interest demands that such an important and potentially costly decision should be the result of an honest and straightforward process, and not one based on constitutional violations, misrepresentations, collusion, and predetermined outcomes," Jarussi wrote.
Batavia, NY (14020)

Today

Mostly cloudy. Rain and snow showers this evening. A few rain showers overnight. Low near 35F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of precip 30%..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy. Rain and snow showers this evening. A few rain showers overnight. Low near 35F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of precip 30%.
Batavia, NY (14020)

Today

Clear skies early then becoming cloudy with periods of rain late. Low around 35F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Clear skies early then becoming cloudy with periods of rain late. Low around 35F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
A Nevada woman was sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court to eight years in prison for bringing an underage girl to Billings to engage in commercial sex.

Ashley Michael Stella, 29, is the most recent person federally prosecuted for a sex trafficking crime in the Billings area, with two other men sentenced over the summer to decades in prison for sex trafficking by force.

Im not a creep, or a mean or evil person. I just made a bad call, Stella said moments before District Judge Susan P. Watters issued her sentence.

Billings police officers knocked on a hotel room door in April 2021, according to court documents, responding to a tip of possible commercial sex activity. Three people came out of the room: Stella, a 65-year-old man and a 16-year-old girl.

Federal indictments followed an investigation conducted by the FBI, the Montana Department of Justice and the Billings Police Department. Stella admitted to police she met the 16-year-old in Las Vegas, Nevada and introduced her to the commercial sex trade. She traveled with the girl in April 2021 from Nevada, into Idaho and eventually Montana, making stops to engage in commercial sex. In December 2021, Stella pleaded guilty to one count of transportation of a minor to engage in prostitution.

Two others were indicted in connection to trafficking the 16-year-old girl. Those include Mark Jay Albrecht, the 65-year-old man who was allegedly with Stella and the girl at the Billings hotel room, and Cecile Jerome Hatchett. Hatchett is charged with conspiring with Stella to have the 16-year-old engage in sex for money, along with allegedly threatening a witness in the investigation. Prosecutors are alleging Albrecht lied to investigators about his intentions in meeting with Stella and the girl.

Stella herself suffered as a teenager, Federal Defender Evangelo Arvanetes said in court Wednesday. She entered into prostitution at 16, and was subjected to mental, physical and sexual abuse from pimps and members of her own family. During her late teens, she became addicted to heroin. While she managed to quit heroin and free herself from pimps, Stella still relied on prostitution for income.

Stellas early life skewed her judgement to the point she thought she was helping the 16-year-old girl after they met in the fall of 2020, Arvanetes said. The girl was destitute, and Stella thought she could rescue her. Arvanetes argued in court for a sentence of four years.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Zeno Baucus said Stellas intentions were far from altruistic. In teaching the girl how to post commercial sex ads online and how the two could pool their money, Stella knew that as a minor the girl would generate more money. She was not being a caregiver, he said, but a predator.

When given the chance to speak, Stella apologized but reiterated she thought she was protecting the girl. Stella had no support when she was 16, she said, and wanted to offer that to the girl.

I know that was wrong, and I will be paying for that, she said.

Stella may have thought she was rescuing the girl, Judge Watters said before sentencing, but she was really perpetuating abuse. Young women, like the 16-year-old and Stella earlier in her life, need protection and not to be preyed upon, Watters said.

Following her prison sentence, Watters ordered Stella be under federal supervision for five years. She also ordered Stella to pay $2,500 in restitution.

In August, a local network of law enforcement officials and advocates joined a nationwide effort to identify possible victims of sex trafficking. They reached four women in Billings, the Gazette previously reported.

If you believe that you or someone you know may be a victim of human trafficking, please contact the National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline at 1-888-373-7888, or Text 233733.
Casper City Council candidate Eric Paulson accused a substitute teacher of being a "pedophile" at the Natrona County school board meeting on Monday after the teacher argued in favor of the Kelly Walsh High School library keeping a book that explores gender identity and sexuality.

Midway through Paulson's comment, school board Chairman Ray Catellier asked for Paulson's microphone to be cut as the council hopeful continued to make accusations against the teacher.

The incident came after the substitute teacher, who said he was a conservative, spoke against banning the graphic novel "Gender Queer."

A committee separate from the school board voted early last month to keep the book at the school library, along with another, "Trans Bodies, Trans Selves," a resource guide for people who are transgender and gender-expansive. The books are at the Kelly Walsh High School library.

Some people in the school district -- primarily a group of parents -- have called the books "pornographic" for their depictions of sexuality.

After the committee made its decision, the group of parents and other community members came to the school board to speak against it. Since then, they've continued coming to meetings to argue in favor of removing the books, while other community members have also showed up to speak in favor of keeping them.

If community members ask for an appeal of the committee's decision, the school board itself would then have to vote on whether or not to keep the books. The school district's spokesperson, Tanya Southerland, said that she isn't aware of there being an appeal right now.

At the meeting on Monday, the substitute teacher questioned the characterization of "Gender Queer" as "pornographic."

"I don't know what people are saying is pornographic about it," he said, adding that he was "ashamed to say" he had seen real pornography when he was a "young man."

"We talk about all of the students, but we want to marginalize students that are questioning," he continued.

Paulson took the chair for public comment right after.

"You literally just had a pedophile come and talk to you who told us he's a substitute teacher," Paulson told the school board members.

The substitute teacher moved toward the front of the room, asking with a raised voice what Paulson had just called him. A police officer stepped between him and Paulson. Officers have been at meetings since 2021.

Several people in the audience protested Paulson's statements.

"He just openly told you that he wants younger children discovering who they are right now," Paulson continued.

"Officer, stop this!" the teacher said.

Catellier asked that the microphone be removed as Paulson continued to call the teacher a "groomer." Paulson then left the public comment table but was allowed to stay in the building.

"We don't want to, but we can stop the public comment," Catellier said.

Some in the audience asked that the public comment stop, but it continued for about another 45 minutes, primarily on the topic of the books.

Paulson won 25% of the vote for the Ward 2 city council seat in the August primaries, second to Michael Bond's 29.5%. The two will go head-to-head in the general election for the Ward 2 seat in November.

Paulson told the Star-Tribune Tuesday that he "definitely didn't mean the textbook definition" -- or the legal definition -- when he accused the substitute teacher of being a "pedophile."

What he did mean, however, seems to still be damning.

"From my personal opinion, the guy's grooming children," he said. "That may be a better term, maybe that's the one I should have used."

When the Star-Tribune asked Paulson if he had any concerns that his use of the word "pedophile" at the public meeting could result in the term being casually thrown around in the future, he responded saying that there is "cause for concerns."

"Here's the thing, if you're somebody who advocates for talking about sexual identity behind the parents' back, maybe we need to look at what the textbook definition of pedophile is," he said.

The substitute teacher didn't say he advocated for talking about sexual identity without informing parents, but Paulson interpreted his statements as so.

Paulson's accusation reflects a climate in Natrona County's school board meetings that has become increasingly contentious; police officers are now regularly staffed at the public meetings, the last couple of which have seen a packed audience, with dozens of community members waiting in line to give passionate public comment about the books. The topic came to Natrona County in December of last year, following an outcry over books in Campbell County.

Southerland told the Star-Tribune that Monday's meeting was the first occurrence she could recall where a police officer had to actually intervene.
By Matt Pawlik

From Los Angeles Times

Los AngelesI recently ventured to Californias most-visited national parkYosemitefor a whirlwind 48-hour tour. Turns out, theres a lot you can do and see in the land of the Ahwahneechee over a couple days.

If you want to meet people, come to Yosemite, says Ken Yager, founder of Yosemite Facelift, Yosemite Valleys largest clean-up event, happening now through Sunday. Everyone comes to Yosemite. And for good reason.

Heres my suggested itinerary, if you decide to make a quick weekend trip to see Yosemites wonders. Note: If youre visiting prior to Sept. 30, youll need park reservations during peak hours. But booking a spot in Yosemite Valley (I recommend Housekeeping Camp) allows you to enter the park automatically. Also, although Half Dome is certainly a bucket-list hike, I nixed it on this itinerary because of the challenge of getting a permit.

Friday

3 p.m.: Arrive at Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias. Enter the park via the south entrance off California Highway 41 to reach a beautiful pitstop on your way to the valley. Reopened in early August after a fire scare, Mariposa Grove is home to 500 giant sequoias and a few hiking loops. Opt for the gentle two-mile Grizzly Giant Loop Trail, which features notable arbors like the 3,000-year-old namesake tree and the photo-friendly California Tunnel Tree.

6:30 p.m.: Check out Tunnel View. The overlook provides one of the most iconic views within any national park, and its best experienced at sunset. That golden-hour lighting showcases the sheer granite cliffs of El Capitan and Half Dome over the Yosemite Valley.

8 p.m.: Picnic at El Capitan Meadow. If youre staying overnight in the valley, check in, grab some food at your spot (I always bring my own grub, but there are also plenty of dining options), and head straight for El Capitan Meadow. Its a fabulous nighttime picnic spotyoull see the dim glow of climbers scaling El Capitans massive rock face under the stars and Milky Way.

Saturday

6 a.m.: Hike the Four Mile Trail to Glacier Point. With Glacier Point Road closed for the remainder of 2022, the only way to get to the epic Glacier Point overlook is via a 4.8-mile trail that gains 3,200 feet from the valley floor. The 9.6-mile roundtrip is strenuous and will take six to eight hours with rest stops, so plan accordingly. The good news? Due to the road closures, you will be one of the few hikers at this usually crowded spot, which is an incredible gift. Leave early to beat the heat and enjoy the sunrise as you grind up the switchbacks. Pro tip: Dont forget to look downthe vistas of the valley and granite formations are truly jaw-dropping.

1 p.m.: Hike to Vernal Fall. If youre looking for lunch, a tasty and efficient spot is Curry Village Pizza Deck, which has solid pies, local brews, and views of Half Dome (just watch out for the voyeuristic crows and opportunistic squirrels!). Plus, your next venture is on the Mist Trail from nearby Happy Isles for a quick 1.6-mile roundtrip visit to Vernal Fall. Its a nice cooldown hike after your morning workout and offers easy access to year-round falls (unlike the grandiose Yosemite Falls, which dry up in fall).

4 p.m.: Learn some history at Yosemite Valley Visitor Center. Every national park visit requires a stop at the visitor center to learn about the parks history and main features. Here, you can check out the Yosemite Village as well (I like the restored post office and the Miwok village), but the real secret is Yosemite Conservancys free bike share program. Download the app and grab a pair of wheels here for your evening exploration. Note: If youre driving, consider a stop at the Ahwahnee hotel, commissioned in the 1920s, to wander the grounds and enjoy the stunning architecture.

5 p.m.: Ride through nature on a Yosemite Valley bike tour. After plenty of walking, spend your final hours of sunlight on a 12-mile bike ride along paved paths in Yosemite Valley. Even in fall when the cascade is a mere trickle, its worth a short pit stop at the very accessible Yosemite Falls. Otherwise, wander through the valley and alongside the Merced River as you enjoy different perspectives of the surrounding granite monoliths.

Sunday

6 a.m.: Drive up the picturesque Tioga Road. While your feet are recovering from yesterdays mileage, take a leisurely (and extremely picturesque) drive up Tioga Road. Along the 45 miles to serene Tenaya Lake, snap photos at the many viewpoints, but especially at Olmsted Point, which has a less-visited but very cool perspective on Half Dome. Have breakfast or lunch alongside the blue waters of Yosemites largest lake, named for the last chief of the Yosemite Indigenous people, before heading back toward the valley.

3 p.m.: Cap off your trip with a visit to Yosemite Climbing Museum in Mariposa. As a last stop, visit the charming historical town of Mariposa to check out the long-overdue Yosemite Climbing Museum, which opened in 2021. Its a fitting tribute to Yosemites storied climbing history and was carefully curated by Ken Yager (who has climbed El Capitan more than 60 times). Hes often there, so ask for him. Hearing his stories gave me a new appreciation for Yosemite, a place I cant wait to return to.

2022 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
InfoWars founder Alex Jones speaks to the media outside Waterbury Superior Court during his trial in Waterbury, Conn., on Sept. 21, 2022. (Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images)

Alex Jones Must Pay Sandy Hook Families Nearly $1 Billion for Claims About Massacre: Jury

Alex Jones must pay nearly $1 billion to families of victims of a mass shooting in Connecticut, a jury in the state said on Oct. 12.

The jury said Jones, the InfoWars host, must pay the money for defamation, slander, and emotional damages.

Jurors said the plaintiffs should also be awarded attorneys fees, which are set to be determined in November.

Jones for years claimed that family members of victims were actors who faked the tragedy and described the shooting as being staged as part of a government plot to take away Americans guns.

The plaintiffs in the case were relatives of 20 children and six staff members who were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012.

Adam Lanza, 20, shot his mother at their home and then went to the school, where he opened fire, according to authorities.

The verdict, which came after three weeks of testimony in a state court in Waterbury, Connecticut, far outstripped the $49 million Jones was ordered to pay by a Texas jury in a similar case earlier this year. Joness lawyers have said theyll appeal that amount.

Lawyers for families of eight Sandy Hook victims during closing arguments in Connecticut said Jones cashed in for years on lies about the shooting, which drove traffic to his InfoWars website and boosted sales of various products promoted there.

The families suffered a decade-long campaign of harassment and death threats driven by Jones, attorney Chris Mattei said. Every single one of these families drowning in grief, and Alex Jones put his foot right on top of them, Mattei told jurors.

Some of the family members testified during the trial.

After the shock of Bens murder, we were  I felt like I was underwater. And I didnt know which way was up, David Wheeler, father of Benjamin Wheeler, 6, one of the Sandy Hook victims. Youre grasping with that, youre trying to get your head around that, and to have someone publicly telling the world that it didnt happen and that youre a fraud and a phony is incredibly disorienting.

Joness lawyer said during his closing arguments that the plaintiffs had shown scant evidence of quantifiable losses. The attorney, Norman Pattis, urged jurors to ignore the political undercurrents in the case. This is not a case about politics, Pattis said. Its about how much to compensate the plaintiffs.

Jones, who has since acknowledged that the shooting occurred, testified and railed against his liberal critics.

During a press conference outside the courthouse in Waterbury, Jones said he has apologized repeatedly for his remarks.

I have apologized for six years for anything that I did wrong questioning Sandy Hook. I didnt question Sandy Hook to be mean, I wasnt the leader in questioning Sandy Hook, but I did say things that were hurtful and not true. But I did not do it on purpose, Jones said.

He also said, I have a right to question something.

Reuters contributed to this report.
After the Oct. 9, 2022, leak of a racially charged conversation between council President Nury Martinez and three other local officials, protesters flooded the Los Angeles City Hall during the City Council's regular meeting in Los Angeles on Oct. 11, 2022. (Screenshot via YouTube/LACityClerk)

Angry Protesters Interrupt LA City Council Meeting After Audio Leak

Protesters flooded the Oct. 11 Los Angeles City Council meeting after council President Nury Martinez stepped down over a leaked conversationwith two other councilors and a labor union presidentthat contained racially disparaging comments about Councilman Mike Bonins adopted black son and other ethnic groups.

The audio recording sparked outrage, with President Joe Biden joining a group of California politiciansincluding Gov. Gavin Newsom, Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), LA mayoral candidates Karen Bass and Rick Caruso, and several councilmembersin condemning the officials involved.

[Biden] believes that they should all resign, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Oct. 11. The language that was used and tolerated during that conversation was unacceptable and it was appallingthey should all step down.

The audio recordingdated October 2021 and surfaced on Oct. 9included Councilmen Gil Cedillo and Kevin de Leon, and Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera.

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Nury Martinez attends the LA Promise Funds Girls Build Leadership Summit at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Dec. 15, 2017. (Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)

At the time, the group was discussing the highly controversial redistricting process, which happens once every 10 years, and the need to keep Latino councilors in the office so that those districts would not lose important financial assets, including USC and Exposition Park, once the maps were redrawn.

At the Oct. 11 meetingthe first time councilors convened after the leakangry protesters packed into the City Hall chamber, calling for the resignation of all three officials.

Martinez, 49, announced that she would be taking a leave of absence, without giving up her seat, shortly before the meeting, which she didnt attend.

This has been one of the most difficult times of my life and I recognize this is entirely of my own making, Martinez said in a statement. At this moment, I need to take a leave of absence and take some time to have an honest and heartfelt conversation with my family, my constituents, and community leaders. I am so sorry to the residents of Council District 6, my colleagues, and the city of Los Angeles.

During the meeting, Councilman Mitch OFarrell, serving as interim president, called for a 2024 ballot measure that would increase the number of city council districts to more than the current 15, he said, to ensure the council can reflect and represent the residents that we serve. OFarrells motion included a provision for a new redistricting process if such an expansion were approved by voters.

Los Angeles City Councilman Mitch OFarrell speaks during a council meeting in Los Angeles on Oct. 11, 2022. (Screenshot via YouTube/LACityClerk)

Los Angeles is at a crisis moment and Angelenos confidence in the structure of their government has been shaken, OFarrell said.  [W]e must not lose sight of the fact that the leaked conversation revolved around the redistricting process. Ensuring fair, equitable, accountable representation in Los Angeles is a must, now more than ever.

OFarrells motion instructs the citys staff to prepare a report on the steps needed for creating the ballot measure.

The meeting was scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., but OFarrell had to call a brief recess after a half-an-hour delay because of chanting protesters. Cedillo and de Leon soon left the chamber.

Protesters shouted Were with the blacksa reference to a comment Martinez had made in the recording about her perceived notion that Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon was more an ally of the Black community over LatinosResignations now, Shut it down, and Black lives matter here.

After nearly an hour of disruption, Bonin addressed the crowd through a tearful speech.

I take a lot of hits, and I know I practically invite a bunch of thembut my son? It makes my soul bleed, Bonin said. Asking for forgiveness is a good first step. Well, its a second step, because first you must resign and then ask for forgiveness.

Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin speaks during a council meeting in Los Angeles on Oct. 11, 2022. (Screenshot via YouTube/LACityClerk)

In the recording, Martinez spoke about Bonins black son as Parece changuitoor like a little monkeywhile recalling seeing the boy misbehaving on a float during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade. She also said Bonin treated the child as an accessory.

California Assemblymember Isaac Bryan (D-Los Angeles) was among those giving public comments.

The reason this is a hard meeting to conduct is because we heard an hour of some of the most hateful things the city has ever heard from four people in some of the most powerful positions in Los Angeles, he said.

The leaked conversation prompted a group of California politicians including Gov. Gavin Newsom, Rep. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), LA mayoral candidates Karen Bass and Rick Caruso, and several councilmembers to condemn the officials involved.

Herrera resigned from his position Oct. 10 while none of the involved councilors had done so as of the evening of Oct. 11.

Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera in Long Beach, Calif., on Jan. 12, 2022. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Herrera, Cedillo, and de Leon also issued statements of apology on Oct. 9.

There were comments made in the context of this meeting that are wholly inappropriate, and I regret appearing to condone and even contribute to certain insensitive comments made about a colleague and his family in private, de Leon said. On that day, I fell short of the expectations we set for our leadersand I will hold myself to a higher standard.

Herrera said [t]here is no justification and no excuse for the vile remarks made in that room. Period.

I apologize to all of you, Mike Bonin and his family, the affiliates and community members, specifically those in the Black and Oaxacan community, Herrera said.

Cedillo said it is his instinct to hold others accountable when they use derogatory or racially divisive language.

I want to start by apologizing. While I did not engage in the conversation in question, I was present at times during this meeting last year.  Clearly, I should have intervened, Cedillo said.

Los Angeles City Councilman Gil Cedillo (L) speaks about the US Citizenship Act of 2021 and urges action on US President Bidens immigration reform plan outside of City Hall in Los Angeles on April 29, 2021. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

Currently, it is unclear who recorded the conversation, which reportedly took place at a Federation of Labor office, and who leaked it on Reddit.

The federation referred to the recording as illegal and is investigating the source of the leak, which was a serious security and privacy breach at its offices, according to an email sent to some of its affiliates and first reported by the Los Angeles Times.

Since 2013, Martinez served on the LA City Council and represented the 6th District in the San Fernando Valley. Six years later, she became the first Latina to become president of the council, replacing long-time President Herb Wesson.
Whoever hid the gold coins between the stones of the wall probably fled the city, fearing invasion. Perhaps they planned to retrieve their treasure laterbut it seems they were unsuccessful.

Some 1,400 years ago, the ancient city of Paneas (later called Banias), located near Israels northern border, was beset by Muslim conquest during the establishment and expansion of the Umayyad Caliphate. Now, with new artifacts emerging from the ruins, archeologists are bringing more of that history to light.

A recent excavation at Banias, in Hermon Stream Nature Reserve, produced 44 Byzantine-age pure gold coins from a stone structure in a project conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). This was initiated before the connecting of the adjacent Druze holy site Maqam Nabi Khadr with the Israeli national electricity grid, the IAA stated in a press release.

Anticipating Muslim raiders, a local resident during the early seventh century might have stashed their savings here to keep them safe before taking flight, archaeologists from the IAA believe. For whatever reason, they would never reclaim the coins.

The coin hoard, weighing about 170 g, was concealed within the base of an ashlar stone wall at the time of the Muslim conquest, said Dr. Yoav Lerer, director of the excavation with the IAA. The discovery reflects a specific moment in time when we can imagine the owner concealing his fortune in the threat of war, hoping to return one day to retrieve his property. In retrospect, we know that he was less fortunate.

The discovery of the coin hoard may also shed light on the economy of the city of Banias during the last 40 years of Byzantine rule.

Experts determined that the treasure consists entirely of gold solidus coins, some bearing the likeness of Emperor Phocas (602 to 610); others were minted by Emperor Heraclius (610 to 641), dating the hoard to the time of the Muslim conquest of Byzantine Palestine in 635, according to Dr. Gabriela Bijovsky, an IAA numismatic expert.

Most of the coins are of the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius, Dr. Bijovsky said. And what is particularly interesting is that in his early years as emperor, only his portrait was depicted on the coin, whereas after a short time, the images of his sons also appear. One can actually follow his sons growing upfrom childhood until their image appears the same size as their father, who is depicted with a long beard.

The dig site, located in a northwestern residential quarter of the ancient city, has yielded the remains of buildings, water channels, pipes, and a Byzantine church (possibly of St. Peter). From this, researchers have exhumed a pottery kiln, bronze coins, fragments of pottery and glass, and metal artifactsall of which date from late Byzantium to the early Middle Ages.

The ancient city was first settled surrounding a large spring by the Canaanites where they erected a shrine to the god Baal; while in Hellenistic times, Banias was devoted to the god Pan (hence Paneas). During Roman times, at the citys height, Herod the Great and his son Philip II rebuilt the city and renamed it Caesarea Philippi, in honor of the Roman Emperor Augustus.

Christian tradition holds that the area of Banias is where the Apostle Peter proclaimed Jesus to be the Christ, and where Jesus then gave Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven. During the Byzantine era, a church was built beside the spring. Later, in 1129 crusaders fortified the city and established a staging point to invade Damascus, but this was short-lived for Muslims took the city in 1132.

Recently, the remains of a mosaic floor and a stone engraved with several crosses were unearthed from the church. This may indicate that Banias became a Christian pilgrim site at some point, said Raya Shurky, director of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.

Now, both the IAA and Israel Nature and Parks Authority are cooperating to open the ruins and exhibit the gold hoard to park visitors. The coins in particular offer fresh insight into this transitional period in history, said Eli Escusido, director of the IAA, not only in Banias but across the entire region of the Levant.

Share your stories with us at emg.inspired@epochtimes.com, and continue to get your daily dose of inspiration by signing up for the Inspired newsletter at TheEpochTimes.com/newsletter
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz sits at the defense table for closing arguments in the penalty phase of Cruz's trial at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Oct. 11, 2022. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)

Attorneys Argue Over Parkland Shooter Nikolas Cruzs Fate: Death or Prison

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.The prosecutor and defense attorney for Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz agreed Tuesday that his 2018 attack that killed 17 people was horrible, but disagreed in their closing arguments on whether it was an act of evil worthy of execution or one of a broken person who should be imprisoned for life.

Lead prosecutor Mike Satz and his defense counterpart, Melisa McNeill, painted for the 12 jurors competing pictures of what drove Cruzs attack at Parklands Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentines Day.

For Satz, Cruz was driven by antisocial personality disorderin lay terms, hes a sociopath. He deserves a death sentence because he was hunting his victims as he stalked a three-story classroom building for seven minutes. He fired his rifle into some victims at close range and returned to wounded victims as they lay helpless to finish them off.

Satz pointed to Cruzs internet writings and videos, where he talked about his murderous desires such as when he wrote, No mercy, no questions, double tap. I am going to kill a  ton of people and children.

It is said that what one writes and says is a window into their soul, Satz said as the three-month trial neared its conclusion. The killings, he said, were unrelentlessly heinous, atrocious, and cruel.

McNeill said neither Cruz nor herself has ever denied what he did and that he knew right from wrong and he chose wrong. But she said the former Stoneman Douglas student is a broken, brain-damaged, mentally ill young man, doomed from conception by the heavy drinking and drug use of his birth mother during pregnancy. She argued for a sentence of life without parole, assuring them he will never walk free again.

Its the right thing to do. Mercy is what makes us civilized. Giving mercy to Nikolas will say more about who you are than it will ever say about him, McNeill told the jury.

Cruz, 24, pleaded guilty a year ago to murdering 14 students and three staff members and wounding 17 others.

The jury will only decide his sentence, and a unanimous vote is required for death. Jurors can vote for death if they believe the prosecutions aggravating factors such as the multiple deaths and the planning outweigh the defenses mitigating circumstances such as his birth mothers drinking. They can also vote for life out of mercy for Cruz. Deliberations are expected to begin Wednesday.

Cruz, dressed in an off-white sweater, sat impassively during the presentations, occasionally exchanging notes with his attorneys. A large number of the victims parents, wives, and family members packed their section of the courtroom, many of them weeping during Satzs presentation. The mother of a murdered 14-year-old girl fled the courtroom before bursting into loud sobs in the hallway. Just minutes earlier, the families had greeted each other with smiles, handshakes, and hugs.

Satz meticulously went through the murders, reminding the jurors how each victim died and how Cruz looked some in the eye before he shot them multiple times.

They all knew what was going on, what was going to happen, Satz said.

Assistant State Attorney Mike Satz gestures as if he is holding a rifle while giving his closing argument in the penalty phase of the trial of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Oct. 11, 2022. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel via AP)

As he had during the trial, Satz played security videos of the shooting and showed photos. He talked about the death of one 14-year-old girl. Cruz shot her and then went back to shoot her again, putting his gun against her chest.

Right on her skin. She was shot four times and she died, Satz said. He then noted a YouTube comment, which jurors saw during the trial, in which Cruz said: I dont mind shooting a girl in the chest.

Thats exactly what he did, Satz said.

His voice breaking, Satz concluded his two-hour presentation by reciting the victims names, then saying that for their murders the appropriate sentence for Nikolas Cruz is the death penalty.

McNeill during her presentation acknowledged the horror Cruz inflicted and said jurors have every right to be angry, but how many times have we made decisions based solely on anger and regretted it?

She focused on her belief that heavy drinking by his birth mother, Brenda Woodard, during pregnancy left him with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. She said that accounts for his bizarre, troubling, and sometimes violent behavior starting at age 2.

There is no time in our lives when we are more vulnerable to the will and the whims of another human being than when we are growing and developing in the wombs of our mothers, McNeill said. Woodard poisoned him in the womb. He was doomed in the womb.

Assistant Public Defender Melisa McNeill enters a courtroom at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Oct. 11, 2022. (Marta Lavandier/Pool via AP)

She said Cruzs increasingly erratic personality left his widowed adoptive mother, Lynda Cruz, overwhelmed. He punched holes in walls when he lost video games, destroyed furniture and killed animals. Visitors described the home as a war zone, McNeill said.

She pleaded with the jurors to give Cruz a life sentence, telling them that even if they are the only holdout they shouldnt fear what the reaction will be from the families or the community.

Gesturing toward the victims families, she said, There is no punishment you could ever give Nikolas Cruz that would ever make him suffer as much as those people have and as much as they will continue to suffer every single day.

Sentencing Nikolas to death will not change that. It will not bring back those 17 dead people. Sentencing Nikolas to death will literally serve no purpose other than vengeance, she said. Instead, she said, Look into your heart. Look into your soul. The right thing here, not the popular thing, is a life sentence.

Cruzs massacre is the deadliest mass shooting that has ever gone to trial in the United States. Nine other people in the United States who fatally shot at least 17 people died during or immediately after their attacks by suicide or police gunfire. The suspect in the 2019 massacre of 23 at an El Paso, Texas, Walmart is awaiting trial.

By Terry Spencer
A lawsuit filed against Lake County and the Montana governor will proceed as a class action case on behalf of all current and future inmates of the county jail, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday.

The lawsuit aimed at improving conditions at the jail began gathering steam earlier this year, when 38 inmates saw their complaints  hanging largely on dangerous and unsanitary conditions, lack of health care access and refusal of religious practices  consolidated into one case. The case now bears 54 individual plaintiffs, several of them members of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, whose reservation overlaps with much of Lake County.

Constance Van Kley, one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs, said the class certification ensures any benefit awarded in the lawsuit will benefit all inmates.

"If the plaintiffs succeed on their constitutional claims, all inmates will be entitled to constitutionally adequate conditions of confinement," Van Kley said in an email Wednesday. "And if the plaintiffs succeed but the conditions at the Lake County Jail do not improve, all inmates will be able to enforce the judgment."

Lake County meanwhile is playing both offense and defense in the legal arena over the conditions at its jail.

Just because the inmates' case took hold, Lake County made its own public plea to the state for funding toward a 60-year-old arrangement called Public Law 280, in which tribal police coordinate with state and local law enforcement in their jurisdiction, rather than federal law enforcement.

The state, the county argues, has not paid into the resources for that arrangement, leaving Lake County on the $4 million hook for expenses outside its taxable population and pushing conditions at the jail to what local officials described as a "breaking point."

In that dispute, Lake County first sought to negotiate funding from the state. After that approach met an impasse, the county sued the state in July in District Court to recover the costs going back to 1963, when Public Law 280 was enacted.

In the case at hand, Lake County also filed a crossclaim against Gov. Greg Gianforte, arguing he is responsible for the ultimate funding and administration of the costs associated with Public Law 280.

U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy noted Tuesday the defense argument that many of the inmates who had filed complaints were no longer housed at the jail, and that some of those complaints had been varied. However, the judge noted the conditions at the jail are suffered equally by those currently incarcerated there, as well as those who will be housed there in the future.

"Each inmate might have a slightly different concern on a different day, but they are all subject to living in the same conditions and suffering the same harms," Molloy wrote.
Iranian, Russia, and Chinese warships during a joint military drill in the Indian ocean. Iran, Russia and China will began today joint naval drills for three days in the Indian Ocean, seeking to reinforce "common security", an Iranian naval official said on Jan. 21 2022. (Iranian Army office/AFP via Getty Images)

Australia, India Look to Deepen Ties as Beijing Continues Push Into Indian Ocean

Australia and India will look to deepen diplomatic ties as both countries move to establish a network of stability and security in the Indo-Pacific.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar spoke at a joint press conference on Oct. 11.

Weve got a shared interest, and we share an ambition, and that is our region being stable, prosperous and respectful of sovereignty, where countries are not required to choose sides but make their own sovereign choices, Wong said.

We dont want to see any one country dominating or any country being dominated. We both recognise our region is being reshaped economically and strategically, and I think our partnership is a demonstration that we understand that this period of change is best navigated together.

She said the Australian government said working with others, including partnerships with India, was the only way to ensure the countrys national interest was supported.

We agree that we have to continue to deepen our relationship, and Im pleased to flag with you that Dr. Jaishankar and I have agreed that we will keep working to expand our relationship, including our diplomatic footprint in each others countries, she said.

Echoing Wongs sentiments, Jaishankar said that India saw the bilateral relationship as a key component in shaping a better region for both countries.

I think the underpinning of that really is that as liberal democracies, we both believe in a rulesbased international order; in freedom of navigation in international waters; in promoting connectivity, growth and security for all; and, as Minister Wong said, in ensuring that countries make sovereign choices on matters that are important to them, he said.

Beijing Sees Indian Ocean as Critical to Strategic Operations

The comments from the two ministers come as China moves to expand naval operations in the Indian Ocean, traditionally the geo-strategic zone of India.

Sameer Lalwani, a senior fellow for Asia strategy at the Stimson Center, wrote in Politico in August that Beijings ambitions in the Indian Ocean have previously not attracted much attention but noted the Chinese regime had built dozens of advanced warships, which seemed to be destined for the region80 percent of global sea trade transits the area.

Chinese leaders have already laid the groundwork for a military presence in this region, as well as diplomatic relationships with key countries. Within a decade, China could position itself as the dominant naval power in the critical space stretching from the Malacca Strait to the Bab-el-Mandeb strait, Lalwani wrote.

Beijings Naval Build-up Concerning For Western Allies

A 2021 report (pdf) by the U.S. government estimated that China could build as many as 67 new major surface combatants vessels and 12 new nuclear-powered submarines by 2030.

This is concerning to the U.S. and its allies, with another Pentagon report (pdf) arguing that if China did establish military superiority in the Indian Ocean, it could allow Beijing to threaten maritime trade routes and even stop the U.S. military from moving through the region if there was a conflict in Asia.

With an unchecked fleet able to exercise control in the Indian Oceaneven if for legitimate purposes to protect trade and investmentsChina could intimidate states militarily and economically, just as it has done in the South China Sea for years, and more recently with Bangladesh, the Maldives and Indonesia, Lalwani wrote. It could engage in unsafe conduct close to ships and planes, harass commercial or naval vessels, and enter other countries waters and airspace.

Lalwani argues this could leave many smaller Indo-Pacific states vulnerable to coercion from the Chinese regime and force them to align with Beijing.

Commenting on the growing threat, Jaishankar told journalists on Oct. 10 that he believed a naval presence that strengthens and provides security in the region would contribute to prosperity.

He also noted that it was important for countries to consider the intent and behaviour of the military forces of other nations.

When I look at my own navy, other than securing our national security, we have over some years now developed a reputation, rightly, of being a first responder. We have been available when natural disasters strike, when COVID problems happened; when different countries got into difficulties of various kinds, he said.

So, I think a lot of it is reallywhat is the intent, what is the messaging, what are the behavioural characteristics, how transparent you have been? I think these are all factors when any country assesses the presence of any other countrys naval forces.
ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb speaks to media during a press conference at the ACCC Office in Sydney, Australia, on June 8, 2022. (AAP Image/Bianca De Marchi)

Australian Electricity Prices Surge by 25 Percent Since April

The Australian consumer watchdog has stated that electricity bills for households across the country soared by $300 (US$187) on average in the past six months.

Speaking to a parliamentary committee, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) chairwoman Gina Cass-Gottlieb said this amount equalled a 25 percent increase in electricity prices for an average household.

The rise was much larger for small businesses, with the chairwoman estimating a price difference of $1,500.

During the hearing, members of the economics committee questioned the ACCC about where there was price-gouging in the energy sector.

In response, Cass-Gottlieb said the steep price increases were caused by several factors, including the war in Ukraine, unexplained generator outages, and flooding affecting coal mines and coal-fired generators.

As such, she said the rise in electricity bills was not necessarily an indicator of anti-competitive behaviour.

Nevertheless, the chairwoman noted that the ACCC was closely monitoring gas and electricity companies and would report to the treasurer every six months.

A general view of the Loy Yang power plants in Traralgon, Australia, on Aug. 17, 2022. (Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images)

For Australian consumers, the price hikes in the past six months are likely not the last, as Alinta Energy CEO Jeff Dimery warned that retail electricity prices could skyrocket by another 35 percent in 2023.

Meanwhile, the Labor government said it would reduce energy prices over time and deliver its election promise to lower electricity bills by $275 by 2025.

Liberal MP and economics committee deputy chairman Garth Hamilton said Australian households were having a hard time with rising living costs.

Households could really use the governments promised $275 reduction in energy prices, he said in comments obtained by AAP.

This coming budget must deliver those energy cost reductions.

ACCC Found No Evidence of Unreasonable Petrol Price Hikes

On another topic, Cass-Gottlieb told the economics committee that the ACCC had not discovered evidence of abnormally high petrol prices after the federal government reinstated the full fuel excise tax in late September.

Prior to the reinstatement, the treasurer had tasked the consumer watchdog with monitoring retailers for signs of unreasonable price hikes.

According to the Australian Institute of Petrolium, the average retail petrol prices across major capital cities dipped 2.9 cents to $1.83 a litre in the week ending Oct. 9.

However, wholesale prices jumped to $1.70 a litre, up more than 13 cents from the previous week.

CommSec economist Craig James said petrol prices could go up to $2.15 a litre in the coming weeks due to the reinstatement of the fuel excise tax and capital cities returning to the top of their fuel cycles.
TikTok app is seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken on July 13, 2021. (Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters)

Australians Worry About CCP Access to TikTok Data: Poll

An overwhelming majority of respondents are concerned about Beijing being able to access Australian users personal information through TikTok, a poll has found.

Victorian Liberal Senator James Paterson commissioned pollster Tele Town Hall last week to survey attitudes toward TikTok among nearly 630 people in the northern Melbourne constituency of McEwen and over 1,200 people in the inner city of Kooyong.

The respondents were asked, Are you concerned about the ability for the Chinese Communist Party to access Australians personal information on social media platforms such as TikTok?

Almost four-fifths of respondents in McEwan and three-quarters in Kooyong expressed concerns about the security of personal information stored on TikTok.

A symbol of TikTok (Douyin) is pictured at The Place shopping mall at dusk in Beijing, China, on Aug. 22, 2020. (VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

TikTok is a hugely popular short-format video platform that allows users to create, share, and view 15-second videos, often featuring singing, dancing, or comedy.

The app attracted 100 million Chinese users within a year of its September 2016 start in China as Douyin, and was relaunched as TikTok internationally in September 2017, attracting dozens of A-list celebrity users and partnerships with the NBA, NFL, and Comedy Central.

By 2020, less than four years after its founding, TikTok reported nearly a billion active users worldwide.

However, the China-based social media platform has drawn scrutiny because of censorship, its ownership by the Chinese company ByteDance, and a reported link to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which can make a direct request for access to user data under the 2017 National Intelligence Law.

TikTok has about seven million users in Australia. Despite repeated promises that it would never hand over Australian users data to the CCP, TikTok admitted in July that it could access Australian users data in mainland China.

Senator James Paterson of the centre-right Liberal Party before a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia on Sept. 5, 2022. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)

Australians are miles ahead of the government in recognising the threats associated with social media apps that are subject to the dictates of an authoritarian regimen, Paterson, the shadow minister for cybersecurity and countering foreign interference, told Herald Sun.

The Albanese government must resist the PR, advertising and lobbying blitz launched by TikTok seeing to protect their unregulated access to Australians private data.

Reports Reveal TikToks Security Risks

A white paper on TikTok investigations published in July by Internet 2.0, an Australian cybersecurity firm, reported that TikTok tracked GPS location on Android devices at least once an hour and kept asking for contact information until it was granted after users had initially denied access to their contacts.

After that, the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), an intelligence and cybersecurity agency, advised Australian lawmakers and their staff to get two phones to keep work and private information separate.

In August, Felix Krause, a researcher and developer formerly employed by Google, published a report on the risks associated with some iOS apps injecting JavaScript code into third-party browsers.

He found that TikTok monitors keystrokes and touchscreen activities when users open any link within the app, which could include passwords, credit card information, or other sensitive information entered by the user.

Home Affairs Minister Orders Review of TikToks Data Collection

Patterson called on the Albanese government not to rule out banning TikTok in Australia when Home Affairs Minister Clare ONeil ordered an investigation in September into the data security risks of certain social media companies, including TikTok.

The security review will consider options to address data security risks as well as other national security concerns as they relate to social media companies, a spokesperson for the Department previously told The Epoch Times.

The outcomes of the security review will be provided to the Minister for Home Affairs in early 2023.

Daniel Teng contributed to this report.
A worker puts Vanadium in a kiln at Canadian based Strategic Mineral Company Largo Resources' Vanadium plant, near Maracas, in Bahia state, Brazil, on June 15, 2016. Vanadium is primarily used as an alloy to strengthen steel for construction, automobile and aerospace industries. (Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP via Getty Images)

Barrasso, Ernst Say Energy Watchdog to Probe Battery Technology Transfer to Chinese

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) officials may soon have to explain the governments illicit transfer of a $15 million, taxpayer-funded advanced battery technology developed by a U.S. laboratory to a Chinese firm.

Teri Donaldson, the DOEs inspector general, confirmed to Sens. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) in an Oct. 5 letter that the apparent transfer of vanadium redox battery technology to China authorized by DOE officials is being investigated.

Barrasso is the ranking Republican member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, while Ernst serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Vanadium redox batteriesoriginally developed in 2006 by the U.S. Pacific Northwest National Laboratoryare rechargeable, hold energy longer, and could soon replace lithium-ion devices, according to the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

Taxpayers spent millions of dollars to develop cutting-edge technology that the DOE then gave to communist China. This was a major breach of national security by the federal government, Ernst told The Epoch Times.

I look forward to answers on how and why this unlawful transfer occurred. We have to ensure this never happens again.

The senators had requested the investigation in a Sept. 14 letter to Donaldson that was prompted by an Aug. 3 NPR report titled The U.S. made a breakthrough battery discoverythen gave the technology to China.

The Chinese received the technology via two separate transfers.

The Department of Energy, in this case, twice handed over vanadium redox battery technology created by scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The first recipient of this technology, a Chinese company by the name of Dalian Rongke Power Co. Ltd., received a sublicense from DoE in 2017 to manufacture the batteries in China, Barrasso and Ernst wrote to Donaldson.

The second recipient, Vanadis Power, a Dutch company, received a full license in 2021. However, Vanadis plainly stated on their official website that they planned to manufacture the batteries in China. These transfers occurred while several U.S. companies, according to the NPR report, simultaneously sought the same license from DoE.

Furthermore, the original licensee failed to adhere to DoE stipulations associated with the license and strengthened Chinas technological standing as a result. These stipulations included a quota for domestic battery sales, as well as a requirement that the batteries be substantially manufactured in the United States.

As these stipulations were continuously violated, DoE never raised any concerns.

We are concerned that this is an overt dereliction of duty by DoE, and that this case may be emblematic of a department that routinely and flippantly permits government-funded technology to be transferred to China, Barrasso and Ernst wrote.

As a result of DOEs illicit transfer, Dalian Rongke Power was enabled to become the global leader in the manufacture of vanadium redox flow batteries.

After NPR pressured DOE for answers to written questions on the transfer, the government withdrew the license it had previously and illicitly given to Dalian. An internal review also was launched by DOE.

But the Chinese are notorious for stealing U.S. technology and the DOEs actions enabled China to gain a valuable head start on adapting the new energy technology to powering residential homes and commercial businesses.

Dr. Gary Yang, who received the first DOE license and then sub-licensed it to Dalian, told NPR that the Chinese firm stepped up after no U.S. banks or investors were willing to fund the development of the technology.

The Chinese government in Beijing has since also funded additional demonstration projects that have further advanced the technology.

Yang was born in China but is a U.S. citizen and got his Ph.D. at the University of Connecticut. He said he wanted to manufacture the entire battery in the United States, but that the United States does not have the supply chain he required. He said China is more advanced when it comes to manufacturing and engineering utility-scale batteries, NPR reported.

In this fieldmanufacturing, engineeringChina is ahead of the United States, Yang said. Many wouldnt believe [it],' according to NPR.

Multiple U.S. firms have sought to obtain licenses to develop the technology, including Bellevue, Washington-based Forever Energy.

This is technology made from taxpayer dollars, Forever Energy Chief Financial Officer Joanne Skievaski told NPR.

It was invented in a national lab. [Now] its deployed in China, and its held in China. To say it is frustrating is an understatement.

A spokesman for the DOE inspector general couldnt be reached for comment.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko walk during a meeting in Sochi, Russia, on May 23, 2022. (Sputnik/Ramil Sitdikov/Kremlin via Reuters)

Belarus Insists Troop Deployment With Russia Is Purely Defensive

Belarus decision to deploy its forces alongside Russian troops is solely for defensive purposes to protect its borders, the country announced.

Earlier this week, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said the two nations had deployed forces together. However, he did not reveal where the military was deployed. His statement came as a bridge linking Russia to Crimea was bombed, with Moscow blaming the blast on Ukraine.

The news of deployment raised concerns that Belarusian troops could aid Russia in capturing and occupying Ukraines eastern territories. Belarus has rejected these speculations.

We emphasize once again that the tasks of the Regional Grouping of Forces are purely defensive. And all activities carried out at the moment are aimed at providing a sufficient response to actions near our borders, Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said in a statement, according to The Moscow Times.

The head of Belarus security council, Alexander Volfovich, blamed Western nations for spreading propaganda that his country might carry out a special military operation in Ukraine, he was cited as saying by the defense ministry.

Volfovich insisted that European nations are openly considering possible options for aggression against Belarus. Ukraine is also discussing the possibility of striking Belarus, he said.

Just months before Russia invaded Ukraine in February, Belarus allowed Russian forces into its territory using a similar pretext. At the time, the presence of Russian troops in Belarus was attributed to military exercises between the two nations.

BelarusUkraine Conflict

The attack on the bridge linking Russia and Crimea was used as a pretext by Moscow to fire cruise missiles on Ukrainian cities on Monday. Putin had called the bridge destruction a terrorist attack on Russian soil.

Later, Lukashenko claimed that he had received warnings through unofficial channels about Ukraine planning to strike Belarusian territory.

On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country has no intention to attack Belarus. He asked G-7 nations to support his call for deploying international observers on the UkraineBelarus border to monitor the security situation, according to Reuters.

Though the Belarusian president is indicating a potential war with Ukraine, many experts are doubtful whether he would push ahead with it.

In an interview with The Guardian, Artyom Shraibman, a Belarusian political analyst and nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, pointed out that although Putin has a lot of leverage, he cannot compel Lukashenko to commit political suicide.

That is why I think Lukashenko will definitely try to resist any push into a full war, he said. On the other hand, I cannot bet that he will be successful in this forever.  There are ways that Russia can act that would provoke Belarus into the fighting.
President Joe Biden delivers remarks at the IBM facility in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., on Oct. 6, 2022. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

Biden Calls for LA City Councilors to Resign Over Audio Leak

President Joe Biden joined a group of officials calling for three Los Angeles City Councilors who took part in a racially charged conversation to resign, according to the White House press secretary Oct. 11.

I spoke to him about it yesterday [Oct. 10], Karine Jean-Pierre said at a White House briefing. He believes that they all should resign. The language that was used and tolerated during that conversation was unacceptable, she said. It was appalling. They should all step down.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre speaks to reporters in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 6, 2022. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

After a torrent of criticisms from politicians and community groups, Nury Martinez resigned as the councils president on Oct. 10 after audio recordings of her racist conversation last year with three other local officialsCouncilmen Kevin de Leon and Gil Cedillo and Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrerawere leaked over the weekend.

A wave of officials and political candidates condemned the remarks and called for all the involved officials to resign from their posts.

Hallie Balch, regional director of communications for the Republican National Committee, issued a statement criticizing the comments made during the taped conversation.

Balch criticized Martinez for issuing a classically lukewarm apology that we have come to expect from Democrats who get caught, and de Leon and Cedillo for failing to stop Martinez from making her vile comments, while they chimed in with their own jokes and commentary.

Though Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera has since resigned, none of the three councilors involved in the conversation have stepped down as of the afternoon of Oct. 11. Earlier in the day, Martinez announced she is taking a leave of absence from the council.

Nury Martinez attends Womens March Action: March 4 Reproductive Rights at Pershing Square in Los Angeles on Oct. 2, 2021. (Amy Sussman/Getty Images)

This has been one of the most difficult times of my life and I recognize this is entirely of my own making, Martinez said in a statement. At this moment, I need to take a leave of absence and take some time to have an honest and heartfelt conversation with my family, my constituents, and community leaders. I am so sorry to the residents of Council District 6, my colleagues, and the city of Los Angeles.

On Oct. 10, a group of elected officials including Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson and Assembly members Isaac Bryan (D-Los Angeles) and Tina McKinnor (D-Inglewood) also held a news conference calling on the three councilors to immediately resign their council seats.

(L) Karen Bass in Los Angeles on April 14, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Leon Bennett/Getty Images)

(R) Rick Caruso in Los Angeles on Aug. 12, 2019. (Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Caruso)

LA Mayoral candidates Rick Caruso and Rep. Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) both called for the trio to resign.

I do believe that in their hearts they are better people than the vile comments we heard on that tape, Caruso said in a statement. But they also know they are role models and they have let our city down. Being a leader means taking full responsibility for your actions. In this important moment for our city, anything short of resignation completely fails that test.

Bass said the city must move in a new direction, and that is not possible unless the four individuals caught on that tape resign from their offices immediately.

Councilors Mike Bonin, Curren Price, Nithya Raman, and Heather Hutt also called for the resignations, as did Mayor Eric Garcetti, City Attorney Mike Feuer, Controller Ron Galperin, U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), local Reps. Tony Cardenas, Adam Schiff, and Ted Lieu, and an array of community and political organizations, including the Los Angeles County Democratic Party and county Supervisors Sheila Kuehl and Hilda Solis.

Gov. Gavin Newsom condemned the remarks without calling for resignations.

Councilman Mike Bonin attends the Palisades Village grand opening private ribbon-cutting ceremony at Palisades Village in Los Angeles on Sept. 22, 2018. (Amanda Edwards/Getty Images)

In the recorded conversationwhich originally was posted on Reddit before being removed Oct. 9Martinez made disparaging comments aimed at Bonins 2-year-old Black adopted son and at other ethnic groups while the group discussed the politically sensitive process of redrawing council district boundaries.

Martinez spoke about Councilman Mike Bonins black son as Parece changuitowhich is translated to like a little monkeywhile recalling seeing Bonins son on a float during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade, where she said the child was like an accessory.

De Leon chimed in and said Bonin treats his child the same way as when Nury brings her Goyard bag or the Louis Vuitton bag.

Martinez appeared to suggest Bonins son was misbehaving on the float, and if she and another woman didnt step in to parent his kid the float may have tumbled over.

Theyre raising him like a little white kid, Martinez was heard saying. I was like, this kid needs a beatdown, let me take him around the corner, and then Ill bring him back.

During the conversation, Martinez used multiple slurs in Spanish to describe Bonins son.

The Epoch Times obtained and reviewed a copy of the recording, but it was unclear who taped the conversation and released it. The meeting reportedly occurred at an office of the Federation of Labor, which is investigating the source of what it said to be the illegal recording.

City News Service contributed to this report.
US President Joe Biden disembarks Air Force One at Eagle County Regional Airport in Gypsum, Colorado, on October 12, 2022, as he travels to designate nearby Camp Hale as a National Monument. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

Biden Set to Visit Los Angeles and Orange County

LOS ANGELESPresident Joe Biden will travel to Los Angeles Oct. 12 for a pair of Southland appearances and a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) fundraiser.

Biden is expected to arrive at Los Angeles International Airport on Wednesday afternoon from Colorado to begin his roughly two-day Southland visit. According to the White House, the president will make an appearance Oct. 13 to discuss historic investments in our nations infrastructure.

He will also will attend the DCCC fundraiser later Thursday, then travel to Orange County on Friday to discuss lowering costs for American families, according to the White House.

The president will leave the area Friday, bound for Portland, Oregon.

According to Deadline, the Thursday fundraiser will be held in Brentwood and will feature an appearance by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. It was unclear who is hosting the event.

Deadline reported that tickets for the event start at $5,000 per person, ranging up to $50,000 for a couple to be labeled as hosts, which also includes a photo opportunity and attendance at the reception.

Biden was last in Los Angeles in June, serving as a host of the Summit of the Americas. He also spoke at two Democratic National Committee fundraisers during that visit.

President Biden visiting California means he knows what Republicans have known for months: Democrats are in trouble, said Hallie Balch, spokesperson for the Republican National Committee.

From sky-high gas prices to rising crime, California Democrats have hitched their wagons to the wrong agenda. Californians are tired of the Biden agenda and the many consequences it has brought to the Golden State, she said.
Russia continues with its missile strikes on Tuesday after killing 19 in Ukraine Monday. What is the Group of Seven nations vowing to do, and what does the White House say about Russias nuclear threats?

Grim economic forecasts are coming from the International Monetary Fund and Bank of America. The U.S. job market could be slashed in half.

The Biden administrations Labor Department proposes new labor rules to make it harder for companies to classify workers as independent contractors.

A 20-year Democrat leaves the party: former 2020 presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard.

The battle for the ballot inches closermidterms are just four weeks away. What kinds of social and cultural issues are influencing voters this year? Well hear from Matt Peterson.

Colorado encouraged 30,000 non-citizens to vote. The state secretarys office said it was a mistake. What does it mean for the upcoming midterms?

BUY Jan 6 DVD: The Real Story of Jan. 6 Documentary102 Minutes, Color), Promo Code [Steve] for 20% off.

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Chinese leader Xi Jinping is seen during the Second Plenary Session of the Fifth Session of the 13th National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing, China on March 8, 2022. (Andrea Verdelli/Getty Images)

CCP Congress Outcome May Lead China on War Path Against Taiwan: Analysts

Chinese leader Xi Jinpings expected securing of an unprecedented third term in power during next weeks Chinese Communist Party Congress increases the likelihood of war over Taiwan and will accelerate the regimes actions against the United States, according to analysts and a former U.S. official.

The Partys 20th National Congressa twice-in-a-decade eventis scheduled to begin on Oct. 16 and will result in a reshuffle of the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) top leadership. Key priorities for the next five years also will be set.

All eyes will be focused on the composition of the Politburo and its Standing Committeethe Partys highest decision-making bodyand whether it will be filled by Xi loyalists or those from other political factions.

Someone will be appointed to take over as premier when Li Keqiang steps down next spring. The Partys top leadership councilsespecially the Politburo and the Central Committeewill see significant turnover, Michael Cunningham, a visiting fellow at the Asia Study Center of The Heritage Foundation, told The Epoch Times in an email.

All of the newly appointed leaders will have important responsibilities, and who gets in these positions will help determine how powerful Xi is.

If Xi, 69, manages to fill these bodies with his loyal proteges, hell be in a strong position to push his agenda, according to Cunningham.

The appointments will determine the intensity with which policies are implemented domestically and abroad, said Rahul Karan Reddy, a researcher with the New Delhi-based Organization for Research on China and Asia.

The leaders chosen at the congress will shape policy implementation on things like pandemic prevention, supply chains, financial and monetary policy, wolf warrior diplomacy, and so on, Reddy said, noting that the past two years have been a testament to how policies in China have massive implications for countries around the world.

Cunningham noted that the CCPs constitutionas opposed to Chinas constitutionwill be amended at the congress, noting that he expects amendments that will further cement Xis authority over the Party.

Taiwan

Xis expected consolidation of power at the congress will have a far-reaching effect on Taiwan, according to some observers.

Xi wants to be remembered as Chinas greatest leader since Mao, perhaps even greater than Mao. That path leads to Taiwan, former Undersecretary of State Keith Krach, known for his efforts to block CCP attempts to dominate global 5G communications, told The Epoch Times in an email.

According to one analyst, the Chinese regime is in a position to make a move against Taiwan, the self-ruled democratic island that Beijing sees as part of its territory and has vowed to take it by force, if necessary.

This is the first CCP Congress in living memory that will solidify the position of a Chinese leader since Mao who can take China to warand who probably will do so if current trends remain as they are, Grant Newsham, a former U.S. diplomat and a senior research fellow at the Center for Security Policy and The Japan Forum for Strategic Studies, told The Epoch Times in an email. Newsham also is a contributor to The Epoch Times.

PLA [Peoples Liberation Army] capabilities have developed to the point the CCP leaders (and Xi in particular) believe that China can conduct a short, sharp war (or even a long, sharp war) near its borders and succeed.

During Xis 10 years as paramount leader, he has emphasized Chinas national rejuvenation, which analysts say indicates the regimes intention of supplanting the United States as the worlds sole superpower by mid-century. Seizing Taiwan is a key component of such plans, according to experts.

Xi appears to see himself as the one destined to restore China to its former glory, and hes even ready to go to war for it, Newsham said.

Taiwan is his most likely target, but a war will not be a tidy four-day affair, and the effects will be felt worldwide. This Congress is putting China on the path to war, he said.

But other analysts believe that things wont be so easy for Xi.

Claude Arpi, a French-born historian and author of multiple books on Tibet and China, says that the CCP doesnt currently have the ability to successfully invade Taiwan.

It is his [Xis] dream, but all dreams dont come true. If the economy goes bad, Heaven may withdraw its mandate at one point in time. Today, the PLA has not the capacity to take Taiwan, said Arpi, whos based in India.

Xis woeful performance at home, with his insistence on zero-COVID policies leading to on-again, off-again lockdowns across China and the countrys crumbling economy, has also limited the leaders freedom of movement, according to Krach.

Xis alliance with his totalitarian twin, Vladimir Putin, has also damaged the CCPs ability to project influence worldwide and has likely forced Xi to recalibrate his plans for Taiwan, he said. Though Xi is likely to gain another term, hell emerge on shaky ground.

While some analysts believe that a third term of Xi in power would lead to the CCP deescalating its hostilities against Taiwan and the West, Newsham isnt buying it.

To him, Xis policy decisions at home indicate that hes preparing the country for a war, sooner or later.

More likely, he sees his opportunity to push, and he will take it. Hes been going about sanctions proofing Chinas economy and financial system and also exerting total control over the population via the zero COVID crackdowns. Or in effect, conditioning the public to hardships. China has been stockpiling food and fueland building coal-fired power plants at breathtaking speed, he said.

While the PLA build-up continues unabated, CCP officials have also been ordered to sell their own and their relatives overseas holdings and bring their cash back to China, Newsham said, referring to a Wall Street Journal report.

Impact on USChina Relations

The results of the congress are unlikely to lead to any easing of the confrontation between the Chinese regime and the United States, analysts say, pointing to Xis ambition of leading China to global supremacy by 2049.

The U.S. is intent on retaining its position at the top of the world order, and the free world is counting on it to do so. China will continue to be confrontational toward the U.S., but Beijing knows it is currently weaker than the U.S., and the last thing it wants is a major war it is not sure it can win, Cunningham said.

Nevertheless, the mutual sense of hostility will continue to heighten the risk of escalation or miscalculation on either side.

Krach said ancient Chinese military strategy has dictated that the regime hide its strength and bide its timewhich is exactly what CCP leaders since Mao have been doing.

But in Xi, the CCP has had a coming-out party. Communist China is playing a four-dimensional game of military, cultural, political, and economic chess against not only the United States, but all freedom-loving nations, and the main battleground is technology, he said.

If Xi takes China on a war path against Taiwan or others such as India during his unprecedented third term, the U.S.China relationship will revert back to what it was in 1970 during the Cold War, when Washington and Beijing saw each other as enemies and had no formal bilateral relations, according to Newsham.

If any American lives are lost in a Taiwan invasion scenario, expect the relationship to collapse entirely.

Normal relations just are not possible once this happens, Newsham said.

He believes that because of Xis expansionist agendas, in recent years the United Statesand even the Europeans and the Japanesehave woken up to the CCP threat and have started taking measures to defend themselves.

Unless the Americans and the free nations simply roll over and let China have its way, one expects the world to break up into two main blocsthe free world and the unfree world, Newsham said. It will look like the old Cold War erabut with actual fighting for some length of time. Global institutions will either collapse or be irrelevantalthough that isnt necessarily a bad thing.
CCP Reaffirms Xi Jinping as Partys Core Ahead of Key Congress

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) reaffirmed Chinese leader Xi Jinping as the Partys core on Oct. 12, days before Xi is expected to secure an unprecedented third term in power at the twice-in-decade CCP Congress due to kick off on Sunday.

The Partys Central Committee, in a communique issued on the final day of its four-day plenum, repeatedly emphasized the purported achievements of the CCP with Xi at its core, according to state-run news agency Xinhua.

Observers say such messaging is a clear sign that Xi, 69, is poised to continue his rule over the Party, a decision to be made at the Party Congress.

Frank Lehberger, a Europe based-sinologist, said the references to Xis status as the core of the Party and toXi Jinping Thought, the leaders own brand of dogma that was enshrined in the CCPs constitution in 2017, signal that Xi Jinping will become the uncontested leader after [this] coming Sunday.

The phrase comrade Xi at the core was already used in an official communication after the previous plenum last November, Lehberger told The Epoch Times in an email.

Xi at the core means that he will have the glory to be the Chairman,' said Claude Arpi, a French-born historian and author of multiple books on Tibet and China, in a reference to the CCPs most powerful leader Mao Zedong, who was referred to as Chairman Mao.

The communique also said the Party in the past five years has prioritized national interests and put internal politics first and displayed fighting spirit, [and] fought to safeguard national dignity and core interests.

According to Xinhua, the Party counts among its achievements its proper management of the risks and challenges brought about by the Ukraine crisis, and tight implementation of COVID curbs. The CCPs draconian zero-COVID policies have led to on-and-off-again lockdowns affecting hundreds of millions that have ravaged the economy.

The Central Committee, consisting of about 360 top party officials, voted by a show of hands to approve a report Xi will make at the Congress and a draft for the party constitution amendment. Changes will be unveiled at the Congress.

While the communique took a mostly celebratory tone regarding the Partys accomplishments and its future, experts said things dont look to be evolving towards a bright future.

According to Arpi, along with increasing his power within the Party, Xi will still face resistance from many elements in the CCP, especially when the country is beset with an array of domestic problems, including a lagging economy, zero-COVID policies, draught and the regimes repression of ethnic minorities.

This will only make governance more difficult for Xi, Arpi noted.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Montana is well-known for open lands, world-class hunting opportunities, and strong leadership in wildlife management. Unfortunately, Montana has been discovered by the rest of the world and things are changing fast.

You see it everywhere, but especially here in Fergus County. The ultra-rich continue to purchase large blocks of land and block access to the public including hunters. Hunters are experiencing lower hunting success rates and less interest in the pastime as elk and other species migrate to private lands where the public cannot go.

The Montana Land Board has an important and rare opportunity to buck this trend. They will soon vote whether to purchase a 5,677-acre property at the base of the Big Snowy Mountains and establish Montanas newest wildlife management area for public use. This is an important vote for public access, common-sense elk management, and Montanas hunting legacy.

High-value property

The property in question is about 20 miles south of Lewistown in the heart of Montanas elk country. It is adjacent to the BLM Twin Coulee Wilderness Study Area, which is adjacent to the Forest Services Big Snowy Mountains Wilderness Study Area. The States acquisition would provide permanent access to public recreation opportunities and unlock public access to over 10,000 acres of scenic wild lands for future generations.

But thats not all. Simultaneously, the proceeds of the sale would benefit the propertys current owner, Shodair Childrens Hospital in Helena. The land sale will help Shodair fund the construction of a new childrens hospital. In keeping with wishes of the original donor of the property, the Allen Family, Shodair wants this wildlife-rich property to be enjoyed by future generations. They have worked in good faith for two-years with Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to get it done.

The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission has already recognized this hard work. In August they showcased their leadership by voting unanimously to endorse the purchase. The Commission called it a glowing example of collaboration and an appropriate use of state conservation funds.

Seventy-five percent of the $8.22 million purchase price would come from federal Pittman Robertson Wildlife Restoration funds. The remainder would come from the Habitat Montana program, which raises money through hunting license sales and taxes on recreational marijuana. These funding programs have been helping landowners create new public access and protect habitat-rich lands for decades.

A vote for wildlife

If you are a hunter, this is an important vote to get engaged with. The Big Snowy Mountains are a poster child for what happens when hunters can't participate in the management of public wildlife. The lack of access in and around the Big Snowy Mountains is the largest contributing factor to an elk population that is now 900% over objective. Hunters require reasonable access to wildlife for elk management to work as intended. Hunters require reasonable access to wildlife if we want to pass on our outdoor traditions.

The Montana Land Board will now make the final decision whether to purchase this strategic property for public benefit. We hope the Land Board will unanimously approve the project, but nonetheless, lets urge them to make the right choice. Please take a few minutes to reach out to the Land Board members at landboard@mt.gov and personally express your support for the Big Snowies project. If the state fails to act, a private buyer will not hesitate, and we will lose another opportunity to pass on the Montana we all love.
High voltage relay towers are seen in front of the Wujing coal-electricity power station in the Minhang district of Shanghai on Aug. 22, 2022. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)

China Accelerates Nuclear Power Construction to Foster State-Owned Industry Giants

China's pools its national economic power to back the CCP's global political ambitions: expert

On the eve of the twentieth Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Congress, authorities accelerated the construction of nuclear power stations, the energy base to support CCP-controlled mega corporations intended to outcompete their global peers.

It is an attempt of the CCP to create industry giants through state monopoly, and to participate in global competition, Shi Shan, a U.S.-based Chinese political and economic affairs expert, told the Hong Kong edition of The Epoch Times.

The CCPs desire to control Chinas major industrial enterprises was articulated in the Three-Year Action Plan for the Reform of State-owned Enterprises, adopted on June 30, 2020. The action plan aimed to promote the restructuring of state-owned assets and enhance CCP control.

This action plan was scheduled to complete most of its so-called reforms by the first half of this year, before the twentieth CCPs congress, according to Weng Jiming, deputy director of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC) in a Jan. 17 interview with official media.

Weng emphasized that the ideal pattern is sole enterprise for one industry, unique enterprise for the whole industry, saying that central enterprises and local state-owned enterprises should be integrated across enterprises, levels, and regions.

Notably, power grids and railway and airport transportation are key priorities for the CCP, as stressed in a central economic work conference that took place in December 2021 that emphasized the importance of reforming state-owned enterprises.

China Boasts It Has Worlds Largest Power System

On Sept. 26, mouthpiece China National Radio reported that the Liaoning Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Station in Wafangdian City, Dalian, was fully commissioned with six units and that it has the largest installed capacity in China and is the third largest nuclear power plant in the world.

The same day, Song Wen, deputy director of the Planning Department of the State Energy Administration, claimed at a press conference that China has built the largest power system in the world, with an installed power generation capacity of 2.47 billion kilowatts.

However, according to Li Yunqing, director of the Economic Operation and Adjustment Bureau of the Development and Reform Commission, who spoke at a press conference on Jan. 18 that Chinas maximum electricity load was about 1.2 billion kilowatts in 2021, and it was expected that electricity consumption and maximum electricity load would increase by about 10 percent in 2022.

The contradiction between the official media reports has led to public skepticism. Online comments expressed doubt: The worlds largest installed capacity and power grid, why has China failed to meet the demand for electricity for years, resulting in widespread power cuts and power shortages? and Why is it difficult to maintain a load of 1.2 billion kilowatts despite the installation of 2.4 billion kilowatts, and why is it impossible to maintain electricity for peoples livelihood?

In August, power shortages in China made headlines for the third consecutive year.

A worker rides past coal-fueled cooling towers at a power plant in Guangan, in southwest Chinas Sichuan province, on Aug. 22, 2004. (Frederic Brown/AFP via Getty Images)

Electricity Crisis

Chinas energy policymakers are eager to construct nuclear power stations, linking the goal to a crisis in hydroelectric power generation that happened this summer.

From June to August, many places in China encountered record-high temperatures. At the same time, rainfall in the Yangtze River basin decreased significantly, resulting in a serious shortage of reservoir water storage.

Chinas energy system, which relies on hydroelectric power generation, is facing serious challenges, and Sichuan Province was in the worst situation.

As a base for the eastward transmission of electricity from the west, Sichuans electricity must reach provinces including Hunan, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang, and the municipality of Shanghai. In addition, Sichuans ultra-high voltage grid can handle a maximum of 500 kV power transmission, which makes it impossible for the province to expand power transmission capacity from other provinces or cities.

Due to the crisis, an emergency notice issued by the Sichuan Economic and Information Department and the Sichuan Electric Power Company shut down all industrial power users of the Sichuan power grid from Aug. 15 to 20, according to Chinese internet portal Sohu, on Aug. 14.

On Aug. 15, Chinese battery manufacturer CATL announced it would suspend production at its Yibin plant in Sichuan, and Toyotas joint venture factory in Sichuan Provinces Chengdu city suspended operation from Aug. 16Aug. 20. Local auto factories of FAW-Volkswagen, Dongfeng Peugeot-Citroen, Geely, Changan, and Livan were all affected to varying degrees, according to a Chinese auto industry information website.

Power restrictions have affected many integrated circuit semiconductor companies, including chip packaging and testing companies such as SK Hynix, chip design companies such as Mixic, and semiconductor manufacturing companies such as Tsinghua Unigroup.

Current affairs commentator Wang He said in an Aug. 21 commentary for The Epoch Times that the high temperature led to a rapid increase in demand for electricity, while the drought caused a dramatic reduction in hydropower supply, contributing to the power shortage.

However, the root cause is the rigidity of the CCPs power system, lack of early warning capability, and lack of emergency preventive measures, Wang said.

Since 2018, Chinas power system has struggled with sufficient installed capacity but insufficient effective capacity, and surplus generatable power but insufficient available power, according to a WeChat post by Yue Hao of the Jibei Electric Power Economic and Technical Research Institute.

Wang believes problems in the Chinese power system may be traced to a bottleneck caused by the CCPs state-owned enterprises reform. In 2020, the CCP began pushing the fast-forward button toward mega-scale consolidation and restructuring, while ignoring the efficiency and flexibility deficiencies of the industry.

An image of Chinese leader Xi Jinping is seen at an exhibition about the history of the Chinese Communist Party, at Peking Universitys Red Building in Beijing, on Oct. 7, 2022. (Jade Gao/AFP via Getty Images)

Centralized Economic Power Fuels CCPs Global Political Influence

Ji Da, a U.S.-based China expert, said sources close to Beijings top officials indicate that the CCP plans to take total control of Chinas economy. That plan includes a monopoly of state-owned enterprises in various industries. In other words, the CCP intends to use pandemic lockdowns and restrictions to strengthen centralized power, which current leader Xi Jinping deems was lost when Deng Xiaoping began his reform and opening up policy.

Reform and opening up, a political reform from a planned economy to a socialist market economy in China, was first proposed on Dec. 18, 1978, by Deng, the CCPs second-generation leader.

Nearly 100 such mega-state enterprises, in a bid to make them bigger, stronger, and more sophisticated, will be headed by senior officials at the vice-ministerial or ministerial level, appointed directly by Xi Jinping, according to the anonymous source, Da told The Epoch Times.

By consolidating the economic powers of industry giants, the CCP seeks to maintain control and seize global bargaining power, to further influence and put pressure on the international community, Da said.

However, it wont be as easy as the CCP would like, added Ji, as systemic problems will ultimately intensify conflicts in various areas and plunge Chinese society into chaos.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping gives a speech at a press conference after the Belt and Road Forum at the China National Convention Center in Beijing, China, on April 27, 2019. (Wang Zhao/Getty Images)

Chinas Latest Grift: The Global Development Initiative

Commentary

Unless you happen to live under a rock on a distant planet, youre no doubt familiar with Chinas Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), an infrastructure development strategy introduced in 2013. Fast forward to 2022, and 146 of the 195 countries in the world have signed up for the risky initiative.

The BRI has been a failure for broader humanity, but it has been a big win for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

But the BRI isnt the only CCP initiative that poses a threat to humanity. Theres also the Global Development Initiative (GDI), a shady venture thats big on impossible promises.

In September 2021, Xi Jinping, Chinas dictator-in-chief, established the GDI. According to the Atlantic Council, the CCP created the initiative to break Western hegemony over global human-rights governance. Yes, China, a country where organ harvesting and modern-day slavery occurs, wants to oversee human-rights governance.

Wang Yi, the Chinese minister of foreign affairs, insists that the GDI aims to establish a global community of development that puts development first and the people at the center, and seeks to expedite the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. This agenda, were told, will see the CCP eliminate poverty and hunger, and achieve gender equality by the end of the decade.

Considering that 200 million of its citizens still live below the poverty line and millions of Chinese women suffer physical and sexual abuse on a regular basis, the CCP has quite a mountain to climb.

Worryingly, as its name suggests, the GDI isnt a national agenda; its a global one. The CCP isnt just trying to sell its dangerous lies to its own people; its trying to sell them to the world.

Unfortunately, some countries are only too willing to buy them. One of those countries is Nepal.

Chinas Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) and Nepals Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka wave before their meeting at Singhadurbar in Kathmandu, Nepal, on March 26, 2022. (Prakash Mathema/AFP via Getty Images)

As The Kathmandu Posts Anil Giri recently noted, although not a single project under the Beijing-led Belt and Road Initiative has commenced in Nepal, the Nepali government is only too eager to participate in the GDI. And the CCP is only too willing to assist.

Beijing has promised to launch not one but two projects in the landlocked country. The first is called the Nepal Smiling Children Project. According to Giri, the China Foundation for Rural Development will provide food for 3,600 children from poor communities in Kathmandu. This sounds wonderful until you realize that the CCP never offers anything without demanding something in return. With the CCP, theres no such thing as a free mealliterally, in this case. Theres reason to believe that Beijing is using a form of soft power to target the youth of Nepal. Perhaps, this explains the second project, which promises to offer support to schoolchildren outside Kathmandu, Nepals capital.

As someone who visits Nepal regularly, Im not exaggerating when I say the following: The CCP has infiltrated this beautiful country. Beijing is actively working to destabilize Nepals relations with other countries, including India, its neighbor, and the United States, once a staunch ally. Sadly, the CCP is succeeding in its efforts. The GDI could be the final nail in the Nepali coffin.

Rather astonishingly, Chinas GDI was established a little more than a year ago. Yet, as the aforementioned Wang is eager to remind us, the initiative has received the support of over 100 countries and many international organizations, including the United Nations. In addition, more than 60 countries have joined the Group of Friends of the GDI. Friends include Burma (commonly known as Myanmar), Iran, Cambodia, Pakistan, Thailand, at least 19 African countries, Fiji, Bolivia, and, of course, Nepal.

The GDI, which calls on governments around the world to strengthen their commitment to sustainable development goals (SDGs) and the spirit of openness and inclusiveness, is nothing but a shama dangerous initiative masquerading as a decent one. After all, SDGs include climate action and the creation of peaceful societies, as well as the earlier-mentioned commitments to reducing poverty, hunger, and inequality. The CCP routinely locks up and starves its own citizens amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Moreover, China is the worlds biggest polluter. To put the countrys pollution in perspective, China emits more carbon emissions than the United States, India, and Russia combined. As other powerful countries strive to go green, China produces more coal. This isnt a knock on coal, one of the most important fossil fuels. This is a knock on the CCP, a tyrannical regime that never adopts the policies that it encourages other governments to embrace (respect the environment, respect human rights, and so on). This is also a knock on the dozens of countries around the world only too willing to swallow the CCPs unfair demands and shameless lies.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Civil Liberties Group to Challenge Constitutionality of Ottawas Use of Emergencies Act in Upcoming Hearing

A civil liberties group says the fact that the federal government has yet to prove that the legal threshold to invoke the Emergencies Act earlier this year to address the Freedom Convoy protests was met will be the groups focus in an upcoming public hearing.

The Public Order Emergency Commission is scheduled to begin on Oct. 13 to examine the events that led to the declaration of the public emergency on Feb. 14. The hearing in Ottawa will run until Nov. 25, the commission said in a news release issued on Oct. 11. A final report is to be published in February 2023.

Cara Zwibel, director of the fundamental freedoms program at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA), said her group will participate in the hearing with an open mind, but noted that the commission needs to scrutinize the constitutionality of Ottawas decision to invoke the Act.

The protests needed to be addressed but the government also had an obligation to comply with the law and use emergency powers as a truly last resort. That was not the case, and it is our opinion that their actions were unlawful and unconstitutional, Zwibel said at a press conference on Oct. 12.

In our view, the government has yet to prove that the legal threshold to invoke the act was met, and the burden is on them, not the other way around.

Apart from the question of meeting the legal threshold to invoke the Act, Zwibel also listed several questions that she said the inquiry should address, including whether there were genuine concerns about threats to national security, what was the evidence supporting the governments belief that there was a threat to security or a serious threat to the lives, health, or safety of Canadians, and whether the government considered any alternatives to tackle the situation.

How did the protests and blockades impact the rights and freedoms of people in Canada? And perhaps more significantly, how did the emergency orders that were put in place impact the rights and freedoms of people in Canada? she said.

The CCLA and the Canadian Constitution Foundation launched legal challenges against the federal government later in the week after the declaration of the emergency orders.

Accountability

The Freedom Convoy protest began in late January to protest the federal governments COVID-19 restrictions and the mandatory vaccination mandate. While refusing to meet with the protesters, Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus government invoked the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14, for the first time since the act replaced the War Measures Act in 1988, which had been invoked three times: during the two World Wars and the 1970 FLQ crisis in Quebec.

The Act gave the police additional powers to remove demonstrators from downtown Ottawa, as well as at several Canada-U.S. border crossings where protesters had set up blockades to show solidarity with those at the national capital. Most of the blockades had cleared by the time the act was invoked. Over the weekend of Feb. 18, thousands of law enforcement officers conducted operations to clear trucks and protesters, while hundreds of financial accounts belonging to convoy supporters were frozen without a court warrant under the acts financial measures.

When the Emergencies Act was first proposed as a bill, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association advocated for meaningful oversight and accountability mechanisms to ensure that the gross violations of civil liberties that had taken place under the War Measures Act would not be repeated, Zwibel said.

Alain Bartleman, the CCLAs special adviser on indigenous issues, noted that the act is meant to address issues of greater significance than a civil protest.

This law has to be implemented by the federal government to face different emergency situations that are of such proportion or nature as to exceed the capacity of a democratic process to resort to its power, necessitate a reasonable base so that we can settle any matter threatening the safety in Canada, and such that it is a national emergency, Bartleman said at the Oct. 12 press conference.

It has to be demonstrated that the lives and safety of Canadians have been seriously endangered and that provinces did not have the measures to face this kind of measures.

On Oct. 11, the Commission released a list of 65 witnesses to appear for the hearing, including Trudeau, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, Attorney General David Lametti, along with convoy organizers Tamara Lich, Benjamin Dichter, and Chris Barber.

Andrew Chen Follow Andrew Chen is an Epoch Times reporter based in Toronto.
Workers at an office in a stock photo. (Monkey Business Images via Shutterstock)

Corporate Regulator ASIC Accused of Weak Punishments for White Collar Crimes

A new report has raised questions about the efficiency of how corporate watchdog Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) used its powers to investigate and prosecute white-collar crime.

Written by economist John Adams, the report shows that only 0.7 percent of suspected offences reported to ASIC were investigated in 2020, compared to two percent five years ago.

Only one in 50 of these investigations resulted in prosecution. Meanwhile, an overwhelming ninety-one percent of reports by corporate whistleblowers resulted in no action being taken.

According to a report by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Adams previously told former Liberal senator Arthur Sinodinos that potential predators in the market have more confidence to actually engage in illegal activity.

Because obviously, the view would be: Well, the chances of getting investigated by ASIC is less than one percent, he said.

Responding to the allegations, ASIC said complaints are examined individually, either for further investigation, for consideration by a more appropriate agency or not warranting further action.

In a statement to the ABC, the spokesman said 65 percent of complaints were examined, and no further action was taken, while 35 percent of cases were referred for action, resolved or beyond its jurisdiction.

Every year, ASIC receives more than 10,000 separate reports of misconduct and possible breaches, the spokesman said.

These outcomes, year by year, are publicly available on our website and published in our Annual Report.

ASICs Effectiveness Under Question

One Nation Senator for Queensland, Malcolm Roberts, said the effectiveness of ASIC has already been in question after it failed to prevent the Sterling First managed investment fund scandal in Western Australia.

ASIC provided incorrect guidance on the security of Sterling First to potential investors. Many investors lost their life savings as a result, he said in a press release on Oct. 11.

I note Liberal Senator Bragg and Labor Senator Pratt have both confirmed the need for an inquiry into the performance of ASIC.

I join in calling for an inquiry and look forward to a start date before the end of the year.
A Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) chemist checks confiscated powder containing fentanyl at the DEA Northeast Regional Laboratory in New York, on Oct. 8, 2019. (Don Emmert/AFP via Getty Images)

SD County Approves Required Fentanyl Education, Narcan Distribution

SAN DIEGOThe San Diego County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a proposal to require fentanyl awareness education in the countys classrooms as well as distribute naloxone to parents and students and train them on how to use the medication.

The proposal, sponsored by Supervisors Jim Desmond and Terra Lawson-Remer and District Attorney Summer Stephan, also seeks funding to support on-campus drug and alcohol awareness programs.

Accidental death caused by fentanyl is the leading killer of people between the ages of 18 and 45, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Controlfar exceeding the number of deaths caused by car accidents, COVID-19, heart disease, and gun violence within that age group.

Fentanyl is a poison, and we need to start treating it like a weapon. One pill can kill, Desmond said. Its time we confront the realities of fentanyl in our communities. Its killing our youth and causing extreme harm to our county. We must address this head-on, by talking to our kids and understanding the risks of illicit fentanyl.

On June 28, the supervisors directed the countys chief administrative officer to work with the Health and Human Services Agency to develop recommendations and implementation plans to declare illicit fentanyl as a public health crisis, a statement from the supervisors reads.

We cannot stand by as young people across our county die tragic deaths from fentanyl, Lawson-Remer said. With this vote, the county is advancing best practices in harm reduction and redoubling our commitment to keeping San Diegans safe from dangerous drug overdoses.

CDC data released earlier this year found overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids such as fentanyl increased from an estimated 57,834 in 2020 to 71,238 in 2021. Fentanyl is 100 times more potent than morphine, officials said.

Todays board action can be transformational in saving the lives of our children and youth from the deadly threat of illegal fentanyl, Stephan said. Unfortunately, key mandates and funding for drug prevention were removed in our state in 2009. Today brings renewed hope that we can empower our students and parents with the knowledge to prevent fentanyl overdoses, which killed 12 children in San Diego County last year.

In 2009, the states Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communitiespart of President George W. Bushs No Child Left Behind Actwas eliminated and the mandate for school districts to use prevention curriculum was removed and defunded.

Too many families have lost loved ones that could have been saved if they were armed with the necessary information to make the right choices or the single tool needed to reverse one costly mistake, San Diego County Superintendent of Schools Paul Gothold said. Even one death is too many, which is why all of us at the San Diego County Office of Education and the San Diego County Board of Education are committed to addressing this epidemic.
Brooks-Medicine Hat Byelection Set for Nov. 8, Smith to Run in Bid for Seat in Legislature

Danielle Smith, who has just been sworn in as Albertas premier, will prepare to run in a byelection in Brooks-Medicine Hat, which has now been scheduled for Nov. 8.

On Oct. 11, Albertas Chief Electoral Officer Glen Resler announced the byelection would take place on Nov. 8 to elect a member to the Legislative Assembly.

Appointments have been made for the returning officer and election clerk in Brooks-Medicine Hat and they are ready to conduct voting in the electoral division, said Resler.

Candidate nominations are open until Oct. 21 at 2 p.m.

UCP MLA in the riding Michaela Frey resigned on Oct. 7.

Frey is backing Smith to run for her seat, posting on Twitter: Brooks-Medicine Hat deserves a leader with principle and someone who will always fight to make our voices heard. Danielle Smith will bring profile to an area of the province, and its people, that deserve a spotlight. I couldnt be more honoured to support her.

For most of her leadership race, Smith maintained that she would run in her home riding of Livingstone-Macleod, a district held by UCP MLA Roger Reid, who won in 2019 with 70 percent of the vote.

Smith had said she wouldnt call a byelection in Calgary-Elbow.

Opposition NDP leader Rachel Notley said on Twitter on Oct. 11, The new Premier can make all the lame procedural arguments she wants  I believe the reason she refuses to call a byelection in Calgary-Elbow is because she fears NDP candidate Samir Kayande will win there and give the constituents there the representation they deserve!

During an Oct. 8 press conference in Brooks-Medicine Hat, when Smith announced she would be running in the by-election, she explained why she did not want to run in Calgary-Elbow, saying, Rather than have a rolling series of byelections, we may as well just stick with the convention of having the adjacent MLA take care of the issues in the riding and well stick with the fixed election date of May 29.

When questioned about running in a riding so far away from where she lives, Smith responded, People will have seen from when I was leader beforeas well as the kind of campaign that I have runIm prepared to travel a lot, and be in communities a lot, and do town halls a lot, and reach out a lot  I have that work ethic that people will be able to have full access to me. I will be advocating for their issues.

Smith said she plans to spend lots of time in Brooks-Medicine Hat, and her first priority is fixing Highway 3.

Its quite dangerous. When you look at the amount of traffic that we have on therewith big industrial developments, as well as manufactured homes, trying to compete with farmer equipment and farm machinery, especially in harvestit has caused tragedies, and we have to make sure that that is corrected.

As premier, Smith will have to try and unify her party and deliver on campaign promises like her sovereignty act before the provincial election in May 2023.

The sovereignty act she proposes will give Alberta the same type of autonomy as Quebec, governing as a nation within a nation.

Some areas Smith says need improvement under the sovereignty act are enabling the province to circumvent Bill C-69, termed by conservative parties as the no new pipelines law, and opposing federal cuts to fertilizer use, federal mandatory vaccination policies, and federal firearms ownership regulations.

Rachel Emmanuel and Lee Harding contributed to this article.
Minister of National Defence Anita Anand speaks during a press conference in Toronto, on Aug. 4, 2022. (The Canadian Press/ Tijana Martin)

Defence Minister Talks With NATO Allies About Strengthening Latvian Battlegroup

Defence Minister Anita Anand met with allies on Wednesday to discuss reinforcing a Canadian-led battlegroup in Latvia with thousands more soldiers, even as uncertainty swirled around what this country canand willprovide.

Anand revealed the discussions while attending a NATO defence ministers meeting in Brussels, where she announced another $47-million worth of military aid for Ukraine, including winter clothing, artillery shells and specialized drone cameras.

We are making sure that all allies are on board with committing additional resources and personnel as we surge to brigade level, she said about the Latvia talks. Canada will continue to be there in support of defence and deterrence on NATOs eastern flank.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau first announced an agreement with Latvia in June to essentially double the size of the 2,000-soldier battlegroup that Canada has been leading since 2016 by turning it into a brigade.

The deal followed similar arrangements involving seven other eastern European countries where NATO has battlegroups designed to deter the threat of a Russian attack.

Canada contributes about 700 troops to the force in Latvia, which also includes soldiers and equipment from 10 other NATO members. That is up from about 600 before Russias invasion of Ukraine in February.

Latvian Ambassador to Canada Kaspars Ozolins said talks are still early but will ramp up in the coming months as Canada and its partners iron out who will contribute what, and where.

Its not like a sprint, he said in an interview Wednesday. This will take time.

Even basic details such as the size and structure of the planned brigade remain up in the air, though the agreement between Ottawa and Riga does include some specific commitments by both sides.

For Canada, that includes acquiring and deploying anti-tank weapons, counter-drone and air defence systems, ammunition and explosives while positioning troops, equipment and ammunition to quickly surge into Latvia in the event of a Russian attack.

Canada only has light anti-tank weapons and doesnt currently have any air defence systems, which has been identified as a critical gap in the Canadian Armed Forces inventory.

More importantly, the military is facing a shortage of personnel so severe that defence chief Gen. Wayne Eyre issued a sweeping order last week making recruitment and retention the organizations top priorities.

Underscoring the importance of reinforcing NATOs forces in Latvia, Ozolins said he has not heard any specific concerns from Canadian officials about the personnel shortage.

Yet he also acknowledged the many questions that continue to surround the planned brigade, which includes allies such as Denmark, Italy and Spain.

The agreement does not say everything will be covered by or done by the Canadians, Ozolins said. But we will want to see the Canadians leading efforts toward implementation of the declaration, and lets see what is the division of labour within the battlegroup.

Another outstanding question is how many additional NATO troops will be deployed to Latvia on a permanent basis.

While Latvia has asked for permanent forces, Germany has set a precedent by putting a brigade on high alert in the event of a Russian attack on neighbouring Lithuania, but keeping it at home in the meantime.

Even without a personnel shortage, such an approach would appear impossible for Canada given its distance from Latviameaning more Canadians troops or a heavy reliance on its other allies to step up.

By Lee Berthiaume
A sign is pictured at the main entrance of the Central Criminal Court, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey, in central London on Aug. 21, 2016. (Niklas Halle'n/AFP/Getty Images)

Woman Decapitated Friend After Falling out Over Money, UK Jury Told

Family on holiday made 'gruesome discovery' of headless body

LONDONA woman described by a prosecutor as a devout Christian murdered her friend, decapitated her, and dumped her headless body on a public footpath 200 miles away, where a family stumbled across it while on a holiday stroll, a jury in London has heard.

Jemma Mitchell, 38, denies murdering Mee Kuen Chong, 67, and depositing her body and head near Salcombe in south Devon in June 2021.

A jury at the Old Bailey in London heard on Tuesday how Charlotte Rollings and her family made the gruesome discovery as they took a walk near their holiday cottage on June 27, 2021.

Prosecutor Deanna Heer, KC, said the head was found three days later and she said: There were signs of an assault. The skull was fractured above the right eye socket. The pattern of the fracture suggests that it was the result of a significant impact by a blunt object very shortly before death.

Chong, who was born in Malaysia and was known to friends as Deborah, suffered from schizophrenia and had been injected with anti-psychotic medication in May 2021, after she repeatedly wrote bizarre letters to Prince Charles and former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Heer said she was last seen on June 10, 2021.

Heer told the jury Mitchell visited Chong at her home in Wembley, London, on June 11, 2021 and was last seen on a CCTV camera nearby hauling two suitcases, one of which was described as very heavy and hard to manouevre.

The prosecution claim the suitcase contained Chongs body and they claim Mitchell transported it to Devon in a rented Volvo car and was spotted on CCTV driving towards the area where the body, and later the head, were discovered.

Heer said Mitchell, a trained osteopath who had won a prize at university for her anatomical knowledge, lived with her mother, Hilary Pollard, who used to work at the Foreign Office.

The prosecutor said Pollard had decided to construct a third floor on their home in Brondesbury Park but the project ran into problems when a builder went bankrupt.

Heer said in June 2021 the house had no proper roof and was covered with scaffolding.

Victim Offered 200,000 but Changed Her Mind

She said Chong and Mitchell were both devout Christians and Chong had offered 200,000 ($220,000) of her own money to complete the building work on condition that the house was used for Christian worship.

But she changed her mind on June 7, 2021, four days before she went missing, the jury was told.

The trial was told that Mitchell had tried to persuade Chong to set up a charity and then give her house to it in order to avoid inheritance taxes.

Heer said Mitchell had a science degree from Kings College, London, and she had undertaken a course in which she had learned how to dissect bodies.

The prosecutor said Mitchell even bragged on the website of her osteopathy website how she was an expert in dissecting human cadavers.

On Wednesday Heer told the jury Chongs lodger, David Klein, had texted the defendant on June 12, 2021 and said she had gone missing.

Mitchell replied: Hey David. She said on Monday she was going to stay with family friends for a year to clear her head  somewhere close to the ocean, she said she felt depressed about the home visit by the mental team.

The prosecutor said Mitchell stayed at home for the next two weeks but on June 26, 2021 she rented a Volvo and transported Chongs body, in the blue suitcase, to Devon.

Heer said at one point the cars wheel got damaged and a mechanic at a garage near Salcombe told the woman driver to ring the AA.

When an AA man, Lee Gardin, arrived and changed the spare wheel the suitcase was no longer in the car but the driver told him she planned to watch the sunrise before she returned to London.

But by 6:44 a.m. Mitchell was back home and, after a change of clothes, she returned the Volvo to the car rental firm and refused to pay for the damaged wheel, saying, Its not my fault.

The prosecutor alleged Mitchell had faked Chongs will, using the signature of a neighbour who had died in March 2021, in which 95 percent of her estate was left to Mitchell and the other five percent to her mother.

The trial is due to last for three weeks.
A bathroom is set aside for transgender students at the University of California Irvine, in Irvine, Calif., on September 25, 2020. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Dispute Over Correcting Sex on Transgender Birth Record Heads to Ohio Supreme Court

Applicant with male anatomy says female mental state was not considered

Some Ohio counties would have rubber-stamped Hailey Adelaides request to change an official birth record sex marker from male to female.

But Adelaide, who was born with obvious male anatomy but has lived as a female, lodged the request in a county where officials believe state law gives them no authority to alter that aspect of a birth certificate.

Now Adelaides dispute is heading to the states highest court amid national debates over a flurry of transgender issues, including pending lawsuits attacking transgender birth certificate policies in Montana and Tennessee.

The Ohio Supreme Court agreed to accept Adelaides case on Oct. 11. Coincidentally, on that date, the national LGBT community was marking National Coming Out Day to encourage and support people who openly declare they are transgender, like Adelaide, or consider themselves lesbian, gay, or bisexual.

The Ohio Supreme Court, in Columbus, Ohio. (Courtesy of OhioState.gov)

Case Clears Hurdle

Although some appeals to Ohios highest court are automatic, Adelaides case did not fall into that category.

The court could have rejected it, which is what happens with 93 percent of discretionary appeals, according to a law firms analysis of the courts data.

But Adelaides lawyers persuaded the court to accept the case, so the justices can resolve substantial constitutional questions and issues of public and great general interest, they wrote in court records.

Attorneys representing Adelaide are asking the court to reverse lower court rulings and order officials to prepare a new, revised birth certificate declaring that their client is officially female.

They also want the Supreme Court to address the states inconsistent handling of other requests to change sex markers on birth certificates.

Came Out In Late 40s Court records show that Adelaide was born in 1973 in Clark County, Ohio. Adelaide had been living as a female since age 4, and came out as transgender in July 2020, while still legally named Brian Deboard. In 2021, a judge approved Adelaides new name, but refused to order the Ohio Department of Health to reissue a birth certificate listing a female designation under that name.

Adelaide testified that the original birth certificate was issued with an error, the male sex marker, because that notation was based on physical attributes, without regard to mental state, a court record says.

However, the Ohio 2nd District Court of Appeals in Dayton found that the initial birth certificate for Adelaide correctly recorded male based on observed anatomy. Thus, there was nothing to be corrected, the appeals court said in its August ruling.

Law Unclear

Ohio law distinguishes between corrections and amendments on birth certificates. Corrections are allowed only to fix errors at the time of recordation, the court said.

Amendments are permitted under specific circumstances, such as adoptions, but there is no provision for amending the sex marker on a birth record, the court said.

That ruling, issued in August, effectively bars probate courts from granting such requests, Adelaides lawyers said.

The appeals courts rulings apply to six counties under its jurisdiction: Champaign, Clark, Darke, Greene, Miami, and Montgomery.

While probate courts in some of Ohios remaining 82 counties have been approving transgender birth certificate changes, a handful of others have been turning them down, court records say. The denials are based on a narrow interpretation of state law, Adelaides lawyers say.

Ohio An Outlier

Ohios transgender birth certificate dilemma is unusual.

Nearly all U.S. states allow transgender people to obtain birth certificates with a sex marker revised to match their declared gender, regardless of anatomy or biology.

About a dozen states allow a gender-neutral or gender X designation on birth certificates.

Restrictions are in place or in flux in only three states: Ohio, Montana and Tennessee.

Demonstrators gather on the steps of the Montana State Capitol protesting anti-LGBT legislation in Helena, Montana on March 15, 2021. (Thom Bridge/Independent Record via AP)

For some period before 2015, Ohio had allowed sex to be amended on birth certificates. That year, state officials re-evaluated the practice and stopped it in 2016, citing a lack of legal authority under Ohio law.

In 2018, several transgender people sued, seeking to force the state to allow sex-marker charges on birth certificates.

Two years later, a federal judge ruled it was unconstitutional for the Ohio Department of Health to refuse to process transgender Court-Ordered Correction of Birth forms from probate courts.

However, the ruling doesnt explicitly require probate courts to issue those orders in response to every requestand the 2nd Districts recent ruling in Adelaides case has further clouded the birth-certificate correction process, Adelaides lawyers said.

They called upon the Supreme Court to shed guiding light on the issues.

Chad Eggspuehler, a Cleveland lawyer, represents Adelaide, along with attorney Maya Simek of the Equality Ohio Legal Clinic, which specializes in LGBT issues.
Haitians wait to cross the border between Dominican Republic and Haiti in Dajabon, Dominican Republic, on Nov. 19, 2021. (Matias Delacroix/AP Photo)

Dominican Republic Cracks Down at Border Amid Haiti Chaos

HAVANAAs a mass number of migrants flee Haiti, the Dominican Republicits island neighborhas responded with stronger border policies and a military buildup the government claims will guarantee border security.

On Sunday, Dominican President Luis Abinader announced the countrys biggest purchase of military gear since 1961six helicopters, ten aircraft, 21 armored vehicles, and four anti-riot trucks.

If international troops are sent in response to an appeal by Haitis government for help against gangs, We would close and block the border  Its very dangerous for the integrity of the Dominican Republic to receive asylum seekers in the country, Abinader said in a press conference.

Dominican officials also announced that they would consider even greater migratory controls on the Haitian border in the future.

Tensions have long simmered between the two nations, which share a more than 240-mile border on the island of Hispaniola.

Haitis crisis has been exacerbated by the 2021 assassination of ex-Haitian President Jovenel Moise and gangs have gained increasing power in confronting a weak government. That has spurred a massive flight of migrants and the Dominican Republic has gradually grown more hardline with its migratory and border policies.

Dominican Republic has also begun construction of a Trump-style wall along the border.

Dominican Republic soldiers close a border gate on a Haitian man who was hoping to cross into Dajabon, Dominican Republic, on Nov. 19, 2021. (Matias Delacroix/AP Photo)

One of Haitis most powerful gangsas well as anti-government protestershave laid siege to key fuel supplies in Port-au-Prince, causing shortages not just of fuel, but water and other basic supplies. Abinader previously described Haitis turmoil as a low-intensity civil war.

As a result, the UN Security Council is considering a request by Haitis government to send foreign troops to pacify the gangs, or at least alleviate the blockade.

The disorder has amplified fears by many Dominicans like Paterno Valenzuela that gang violence could trickle into their own country.

Valenzuela, 56, is a farmer along the border town of Elias Pina, and said while he hasnt seen an uptick in violence in his area, he is preparing because this crisis in Haiti is really bad.

The Dominican farmer described seeing large groups of migrants climbing through the mountains fleeing the country and expressed concern about rising contraband like gasoline flowing across the border. He said he would support a foreign intervention if it were to come to that.

Soldiers patrol the border in Elias Pina, Dominican Republic, on the border with Belladere, Haiti, on March 5, 2021. (Dieu Nalio Chery/AP Photo)
You cant make this stuff up, you want to mutter in disbelief as you read the summary of witness testimony in Judge Mosess recent order prohibiting Montanas Republican leaders from disenfranchising certain voters. Clearly, though, those leaders can make stuff up  and do.

Lets start with the expert they hired on our dime to explain our fictional election integrity problem. By way of comparison, the multiple parties suing us brought in four experts, all with PhDs, acknowledged scholarship, original research, and peer-reviewed publications related to it. Our expert? No doctorate, no peer-reviewed publications, no original research. Just a job as analyst with the conservative news outlet RealClearPolitics.

It was RealClearPronto that his lack of expertise should disqualify him, but Judge Moses allowed him to testify. After making a wafer-thin case for research from other states, our expert conceded he hadnt done any analysis on Montanas situation and agreed Montana doesnt have a voter fraud problem. Money for nothing. Checks for fee.

Secretary of State Jacobsens representative was  well, mercurial. The judge finally had to admonish him to answer yes or no when a question called for it. The rep conceded that, although the entire case resulted from Jacobsens campaign promises to prevent voter fraud, her office had never researched voter fraud until he didin preparation for the trial. He found two cases. Both occurred over 100 years ago. Neither would have been prevented by Jacobsens legislation.

It was no problem pinning down the former elections administrator from Broadwater County. He made it clear hes never approved of Election Day Registration, even though Montana voters did overwhelmingly in 2014. He claimed it caused long lines in 2020 that put a financial burden on his office, but he couldnt document the lines and his budget belied the burden.

Was he concerned about the hardship early registration might impose? Heck, no. Not even for the disabled? Did they finally become disabled on Election Day? he responded. [They had] 364 days to come in and register. Why did they wait until the last day? (Ah, the milk of human kindness. Sometimes it just curdles.)

Enter the good senator from Polson, the only legislator called to defend the three bills. Even answering the simplest question  Has so-and-so repeatedly claimed Trumps election was stolen?  elicited a tap dance that finally decoded as Yes. As Judge Moses pointed out, although the senator testified that the best legislation is thought out, vetted and has input from all stakeholders, several tap dances ultimately revealed that this senator didnt do any of those things on these bills. After trotting out several assumptions that proved to be contrary to fact, he conceded he based his vote on just my feelings.

Why this brazen careening between bombast and baloney? Because the truth doesnt bear scrutiny. In 2021 Montana Republicans won an unprecedented breadth of power at the legislative and executive levels. Theyre determined to entrench it and expand it, and theyll move mountains  and morals  to do so.

In 2021, they usurped local control from cities, counties, health boards, and school boards. They tried to bribe the Board of Regents to relinquish their constitutional authority over the university system. They reversed the expressed will of local and state voters on various issues. They used administrative access to seize the emails of the Montana Supreme Court without a privacy review and then had the chutzpah to set up a star chamber (on your dime and mine) on the Courts integrity. Physician, heal thyself.

And they intentionally complicated voting for minorities that dont typically vote for them. Only one Republican legislator, Geraldine Custer of Forsyth, had the courage to intervene. She knew more about voting rights than the rest of them tripled, and she worked hard to use her expertise in service to her party. In response, they manipulated, deceived, betrayed and ridiculed her during the session and primaried her afterwards.

Thats no way to treat a lady. Not the statewoman from Rosebud County. And not the goddess depicted throughout this land holding the scales of justice. Yes, shes blindfolded. But as Judge Moses documented meticulously in his 199-page ruling last week, she hears just fine.

Do you?
Sebastian Cortez, owner of the downtown Vancouver butcher shop Sebastian & Co, is seen in his store on Oct. 12, 2022. The store has been subjected to repeated acts of vandalism since opening a year and half ago. (Courtesy of Sebastian Cortez)

Downtown Vancouver Store Hit by Repeated Vandalism, Owner Blames Surge in Drug-Related Crime

In the past year and a half since Sebastian & Co Fine Meats opened for business in downtown Vancouver, the butcher shop has been hit by severe vandalism five times.

Owner Sebastian Cortez says businesses like his are becoming increasingly troubled by surging crime rates in the city, which he attributes to the burgeoning drug crisis.

Its not like spray paintits like big, massive shattered windows and people coming in here robbing, looting, Cortez told The Epoch Times. Weve been dealing with all of that for a while now.

In a recent incident on Oct. 3, at around 4:30 a.m., two men smashed the shops front window and fled with the cash register, Cortez said.

Just a week later on Oct. 10, at around 5 a.m., a glass door at the shop was smashed in. Cortez said one male suspect caught on the security camera seemed to be looking for the cash register, which had yet to be replaced after the previous theft. Failing to find what he was looking for, the suspect instead took two office printers but dropped them after exiting the shop when someone appeared to have spooked him, according to Cortez.

Before Cortez could make his way to the shop after being alerted by police about the Oct. 10 break-in, police detained another woman who strolled in past the broken glass and started hurriedly putting products into her bag.

Of course, she got arrested. The police were right there, Cortez said.

The window at Sebastian & Co is boarded up after being smashed in an act of vandalism on Oct. 3, 2022. (Screenshot via The Epoch Times/Courtesy of Sebastian Cortez via Instagram)

He said his is not the only downtown business troubled by rising crime, pointing to a recent incident on Sept. 30 where a man and a woman robbed a clothing store, using bear spray to attack store employees in the process. The store is about a four-minute walk from Cortezs shop on the corner of Howe St. and Drake St.

Every single day theres something going on, around even our area, he said, noting his store is in a relatively more upscale neighbourhood than other parts of downtown where the crime situation is a disaster.

Cortez said the five vandalism incidents have amounted to an estimated $40,000 in financial losses, though he said the costs were mostly related to repairing property damage.

Vancouver is among 38 Canadian cities ranked on Numbeos global crime index of 434 cities worldwide. The citys problem of people using or dealing drugs is rated high on the index, with a value of 72.31 on a scale of 100. Property crimes like vandalism and theft were given a value of 51.57 out of 100.

Vancouver Police Department data show that the city had a total of 1,172 theft cases in August 2022, an increase from 1,047 cases in July and 928 in June.

Drug Crisis

Cortez contributes the surge in crime to the citys illicit drug crisis and the increasing lack of penalties for drug offences.

The city of Vancouver, its honestly like a zombie land, he said, noting substance abusers used to congregate in the notorious Downtown Eastside, but now theyre spread out all over the city.

And thats contributing to a lot of crime happening in the citybusinesses have been getting attacked, he said. Most of it is not even robberies, its just more vandalism.

Cortez said police officers hes spoken with are also getting frustrated with the municipalitys approach to drug abuse and drug-related crime.

The police are getting super frustrated. They told me they are getting frustrated with the City of Vancouver because [police are] working so hard, theyre catching a lot of people, theyre enforcing their authority, but the city is just releasing everyone back out on the streets, he said.

While some candidates in Vancouvers upcoming civic election on Oct. 15 have suggested a bigger budget allowance for new officers be added to the citys police force in order to address the rise in crime, Cortez argues thats not going to help unless we change the system.

The main problem that I think the city of Vancouver has is that [drug offences are] not being punished.

Cortez said after he spoke to media about his experience, he heard from many others upset and angry with Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart, whose government has been pushing policies that provide a so-called safe supply of drugs.

Many people came up to me, so upset and angry at the mayor, because everyone is just extremely frustrated. No one wants to live here anymore, he said.

In July 2019, Vancouver City Council approved a safe supply statement, calling on the government to fund the prescription of substances for illicit drug users, saying overdose deaths could be prevented if people could access a regulated safe supply. An Enhanced Access program launched in April 2022 is also prescribing fentanyl.

British Columbia also announced in May that residents will not be arrested or charged for possession of small amounts of illicit drugs for personal use, with the exemption taking effect between Jan. 31, 2023, and Jan. 31, 2026. This applies to all B.C. residents aged 18 and older who are in possession of up to 2.5 grams of certain hard drugs, including heroin, morphine, cocaine, methamphetamine, and MDMA.

The Epoch Times reached out to Mayor Stewart and the Vancouver Police Department for comment but didnt hear back.
This picture taken from the sea of Dubai on March 3, 2021 shows the skyline of the Gulf emirate with Burj Khalifa in the centre. (Photo by GIUSEPPE CACACE / AFP) (Photo by GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP via Getty Images)

Dubai to Introduce Visa Applications Via Facial Recognition

Dubai is preparing to allow its residents to apply for government documents like visas directly from their smartphones through the use of facial recognition technology.

The General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) is working fast to ensure it launches the service as soon as possible, Fatima Salem Al Mazroui, director of the project management office at GDRFA, said to Khaleej Times. However, it will take a while for the GDRFA to implement the facial recognition project as every service has a different procedure, she said while admitting that a timeframe of when such services would be launched is difficult to estimate.

We aim to have all of GDRFA services and transactions processed through facial biometrics. All GDRFA services such as applying for residency, visa, or any other services will be accessible and verified with facial biometrics. Dubai residents will not be required to use a passport or any other document to verify themselves, Al Mazroui said.

GDRFA is currently tasked with offering entry permits, visas, residency services, etc. Dubai is no stranger to widespread camera surveillance. One of the airports in the city already has a facial biometric system installed.

Dubai utilizes the Oyoon security system to analyze data and track people through a network of 300,000 cameras throughout the city. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has also incorporated predictive policing practices that use predictive analysis and mathematics to identify potential criminal activity.

In March 2020, Abu Dhabi, the capital of UAE, implemented a live biometric facial recognition system in their patrol cars.

Other gulf states in the region like Bahrain and Qatar are also increasingly incorporating facial recognition tech into their governance, raising concerns about digital authoritarianism.

Facial Recognition Dangers

Technologies like facial surveillance can potentially increase government monitoring, tracking, and control over people. The technology has raised dire concerns over freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. But unlike the United States where these freedoms are ensured under the constitution, most other countries do not have similar statutes.

If you have a surveillance state thats capable of tracking your face wherever you are, its capable of tracking your location wherever you are, which means its capable of tracking every association you have, from the political protest organization to deeply intimate associations, Margot Kaminski, associate professor at CU Law, said to Law Week Colorado.

Nowhere is the threat of facial surveillance more explicit than in communist China. Documents obtained by the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times show that rural areas in the Shandong Province have installed hundreds of thousands of surveillance cameras since 2013 as part of a massive monitoring system, with the main targets being rights defenders and adherents of Falun Gong.

In the United States, the IRS attempted to make taxpayers upload selfies for an identity verification program that used a third-party to verify accounts.

The proposal was met with huge backlash and the IRS was forced to dump the project. Several privacy advocates have pushed for other government agencies to end similar facial recognition programs.
U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) speaks with a law enforcement officer in an undated photo. (Courtesy of Ron Johnson for Senate)

Election Reform a Top Issue in Wisconsin Governor, Senate Races

Democrats and the legacy media call it the Big Lie.

Former President Donald Trump, America First advocates, and select conservative media columnists call it the Steal.

Opinions on the subject vary, but one point is certainthe outcome of the 2020 presidential election and the topic of election integrity are widely discussed issues as the midterm election races reach their final stretch.

This is especially true in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a member of Wisconsins Electoral College, casts his vote at the state Capitol in Madison, Wis., on Dec. 14, 2020. (Morry Gash/AP Photo)

A Sept. 22 poll from Marquette University Law School in Wisconsin illustrates how divided the election integrity topic is between the two parties.

Among likely voters surveyed, 86 percent of Democrats and 12 percent of Republicans are very confident that votes in Wisconsins 2020 presidential election were accurately cast and counted.

Those figures include independent voters who lean Democratic or Republican.

The poll also revealed that 62 percent of Republicans werent too confident or werent confident at all in the results of Wisconsins 2020 presidential election while 6 percent of Democrats feel that way.

Republican Robin Vos is Wisconsins General Assembly speaker. He has raised questions about the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, but he has refused to decertify the results. Vos won a closely contested Republican primary on Aug. 9 over Trump-endorsed Adam Steen.

In July, the Wisconsin Supreme Court banned the use of absentee ballot drop boxes in the state. Only the voter can return a ballot in person, the conservative-led body determined.

A federal judge later ruled that voters with disabilities are allowed to obtain third-party assistance for mailing ballots or delivering them to a clerk.

Wisconsin Republican gubernatorial nominee Tim Michels and incumbent U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) believe in election reform.

Neither candidate will commit to accepting the outcome of their elections when the results are certified. Their opponents, incumbent Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, have said that theyll accept the Nov. 8 results, win or lose.

Michels would accept the election results provided the election is conducted fairly and securely, a spokesperson recently said.

When asked if Johnson would concede if he loses on Nov. 8, Johnson campaign spokesperson Alec Zimmerman said that it is certainly his hope that he can.

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 said. That said, we are doing everything we can to ensure guidances and election procedures comply with state law. We will be monitoring everything closely.

Wisconsins Republican-led state legislature said it wanted to restore confidence in the states elections, which is why it has passed several voting measures in 2022.

In 2021, the states Legislative Audit Bureau announced that it didnt uncover evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election, but it did issue multiple recommendations for improvements.

Evers vetoed all of them and noted that he wouldnt sign any measure that he believes would make voting more difficult.

One vetoed piece of legislation would have authorized the Republican-controlled budget committee to enforce staffing cuts or decrease funding at state agencies if the committee determined that the departments didnt follow election laws.

He also refused to sign a measure that would have required the Elections Commission to first provide any guidance sent to elections officials to the legislatures rules committee.

In most cases, citizens who cant visit the polls and request absentee ballots can do that without submitting a photo ID. The legislature passed legislation that would have limited who could claim indefinitely confined status. Evers rejected the measure.

The legislature passed legislation that would have prevented election clerks from filling in missing details on absentee ballot envelopes and banned any person other than a voter, designated individual, guardian, or immediate family member from returning an absentee ballot. Evers vetoed that measure, too.

In early October, a Waukesha County judge ruled that the elections commission wasnt permitted to allow clerks to fill in missing information on the envelopes. The agency has instructed clerks that they cant correct mistakes 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, Michels spokesperson Anna Kelly told Madison.com.

Tim Michels and his family greet supporters after winning the Aug. 9 Wisconsin Republican gubernatorial primary. (Courtesy of Tim Michels for Congress)

The 60-year-old Michels is co-owner of Michels Corp., an energy and infrastructure contracting business thats regarded as one of the worlds top petroleum contractors.

He entered the Republican primary in the later stages and defeated his main challenger, Rebecca Kleefisch, in the Republican primary with a boost from Trumps endorsement.

Michels said he would consider decertifying the 2020 presidential elections results if hes elected. He also believes that the Wisconsin Elections Commission should be banned and that all rules the commission establishes for local commissions to administer elections should be eliminated.

If he defeats Evers on Nov. 8, Michels said hell work with the state legislature to repair the big problems from 2020, referencing the use of ballot drop boxes and private grant funding to spearhead elections.

No one knows what the extent of the election fraud was, and thats the problem, Michels told the Wisconsin State Journal. A lot of people have questions about the 2020 election, as do I. Heres what is very concerning to me; we are 18 months now from the 2020 election. And were still having a conversation here in Wisconsin, here in America, about the election in 2020. That is absolutely insane.

We are not a Third World country. We are not a banana republic. This is the United States of America. People should not have questions about the integrity, the transparency, and the honesty of an election.

Earlier this year, Johnson was behind in the polls, but he has surged in recent months.

In August, Johnson trailed Barnes by 7 points in a Marquette University Law School poll. On Sept. 14, Marquette released a new survey showing that Johnson has taken a 49 percent to 48 percent lead over Barnes.

An AARP survey showed that Johnson leads Barnes 51 percent to 46 percent. The survey, which was conducted from Sept. 18 to Sept. 25 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points, also discovered that Johnson has a 10-point advantage over Barnes among likely independent voters.

Johnson leads Barnes by 1 percentage point49 percent to 48 percentaccording to a CBS News-YouGov poll conducted last week.

The up-to-date FiveThirtyEight forecast shows that Johnson has a 66 percent likely chance of defeating Barnes. In late September, the figure was 51 percent.

Michels leads Evers, 50 percent to 47 percent, according to the same poll. He carries a 7-percentage-point edge over Barnes among likely independent voters.

Crime and abortion are hot-button topics in both races, but election reform remains a prominent subject in the state.

On Oct. 5, Waukesha County Circuit Judge Brad Schimel ruled that Wisconsin voters cant cancel their ballot and cast a new one once a vote has been cast.

Schimel granted a request for a temporary injunction against the practice, which is known as ballot spoiling and was encouraged by the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) at offices throughout the state.

Wisconsin voter Nancy Kormanik sued the WEC over its guidance that states that clerks can give completed and submitted absentee ballots to voters. Doing so violates a Wisconsin law that states that the clerk shall not return the ballot to the elector once submitted, according to the lawsuit.

The guidance was issued after multiple candidates dropped out of high-profile races, including Democratic candidates for the U.S. Senate.

A Republican and former Wisconsin attorney general, Schimel sided with Kormanik and ordered an injunction effective Oct. 7.

Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections is representing Kormanik.

Todays ruling is another major victory for Wisconsin voters. WECs unlawful guidance destroys voter confidence and taints the integrity of Wisconsins elections. Once a vote is cast, it is cast. Period, Derek Lyons, president and CEO of Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections, said in a statement.

The Democratic National Committee is siding with the WEC.

We disagree with this decision to restrict voting access in Wisconsin, particularly as voters in the state have already begun to cast their ballots, a committee spokeswoman told media outlets in a statement.
Elon Musk Launches Burnt Hair Scented Perfume, Sells 10,000 Bottles

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has turned perfume salesman after unveiling his new fragrance: Burnt Hair.

The billionaire businessman took to Twitter on Oct. 9 where he revealed that the new perfume from his Boring Company would be coming to markets soon, adding that it could be purchased using the Dogecoin cryptocurrency.

Musk described the scent, which comes in a red bottle with a gemstone lid, as an omnigender product and the essence of repugnant desire.

The new product will set buyers back $100, although they wont get their hands on the perfume until the first quarter of 2023.

A pseudo-review published on the Boring Companys official website, which also sells other novelty items such as the Not-a-Flamethrower flamethrower, claims it smells just like leaning over a candle at the dinner table, but without all the hard work.

Stand out in a crowd! Get noticed as you walk through the airport another review reads.

After Musk declared that sales of the perfume topped 10,000, the businessman pondered, With a name like mine, getting into the fragrance business was inevitable  why did I even fight it for so long!?

Twitter Deal Forging Ahead

The Tesla CEO has since changed his Twitter biography to Perfume Salesman.

Musks latest foray into the fragrance world comes shortly after he confirmed his plans to forge ahead with his $44 billion purchase of social media platform, Twitter, amid his ongoing legal battle with company executives over the actual number of automated bots and fake accounts that are present on the platform.

Both Musk and Twitter had been scheduled to appear before a Delaware Chancery Court beginning on Oct. 17 as part of a five-day trial over the issue, but a judge on Oct. 6 delayed the trial, stating that the deal needs to be finalized by Oct. 28, otherwise it will go to trial in November.

Text messages between Musk and American entrepreneur Jason Calacanis that were made public last week show the two stating that Twitters revenue per employee was low when compared to other tech giants like Google, suggesting potential layoffs may be on the table if Musks deal goes through.

The text message exchanges also appear to show a strained relationship between Musk and Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal after the latter said that Musks social media posts questioning whether the platform was dying 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, to which Musk responded: What did you get done this week? Im not joining the board. This is a waste of time.
Because Cornish hens are so petite, it means they are the perfect bird to air-fry whole. Thanks to the short cooking time (a smaller size hen will only take around 35 minutes!), the meat stays juicy while the skin gets nice and crispy. Each serving is one whole hen per person, which means its perfect for dinner parties. Its also a quick and easy Thanksgiving turkey substitute if youre thinking of a low-key celebration. Bonus for any scenario: No carving required!

What are Cornish Hens?

Cornish hens, also known as Rock Cornish game hens or Cornish game hens, are not actually game birds, nor are they all females! The name is given to a chicken that has been slaughtered at a younger age than the average chicken, which means they can weigh as little as one pound and are usually never more than about two pounds.

A Few Tips

Heat your air fryer for 10 minutes. After experimenting with different temperatures, I found air frying at 380 F in a preheated air fryer gave the best results, turning the skin a deep golden-brown without drying out the interior.

Adjust the cook time according to size. As the sizes of Cornish hens can differ from 1 to 2 pounds, the smaller size hen will only take around 35 minutes to air fry. If you air-fry a 2-pound Cornish hen, it can take up to 40 minutes. For larger hens, start checking the internal temperature at 35 minutes in the thickest part of the thigh.

A hack for repairing a tear in the skin covering the breast

Some Cornish hens are sold frozen or defrosted, which can damage the delicate breast skin. Some are even sold with tears. To fix this, thereby preventing the meat from drying out, pull the skin over the exposed area and use a toothpick to secure the skin in place. Or pull the skin over the exposed area and then cover the hen with a slice of bacon, securing the bacon in place with a toothpick under the hen. No tear? This recipe gives you the option to add the bacon regardless. Because, why not?

Air Fryer Cornish Hen

Serves 2 to 4

2 (1 to 1 1/4-pound) Cornish hens

1/2 small lemon

2 large sprigs fresh rosemary

1 teaspoon kosher salt

3/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning, or 1/2 teaspoon ground sage plus 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

3/4 teaspoon garlic powder

3/4 teaspoon onion powder

3/4 teaspoon sweet paprika

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon granulated sugar

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided

2 slices bacon (optional)

1. Pat two Cornish hens dry with paper towels, including behind the wings, legs, and inside the cavity. Place on a wire rack fitted over a large plate. Refrigerate uncovered for at least 1 hour, or up to overnight to dry the exterior and help create crispy skin.

2. Heat an air fryer to 380 F for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the following: Cut 1/2 small lemon in half again to create 2 quarters and remove any visible seeds. Cut 1 of the large rosemary sprigs in half crosswise. Place 1 teaspoon kosher salt, 3/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning, 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder, 3/4 teaspoon onion powder, 3/4 teaspoon paprika, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon granulated sugar in a small bowl and stir to combine.

3. Pat the Cornish hens dry again with paper towels. Rub 1 tablespoon of the olive oil on each hen, including the underside, wings, and thighs. Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon of the spice mixture inside each the cavity of each hen. Sprinkle the outside of the hens with the remaining spice mixture, liberally rubbing the spices into the oil to create an even coating so that there are no spice clumps, which will burn in the air fryer. Place 1 lemon quarter and half a rosemary sprig inside each cavity. Wrap 1 slice bacon lengthwise over the center of each hen, and secure with a toothpick underneath, if using.

4. Brush the air fryer basket with a very thin layer of the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil, reserving the rest. Carefully place both hens in the air fryer basket breast-side down. If you have a small basket, alternate the direction of the hens, so they face each other to ensure they snugly fit in the basket. You may need to use tongs to arrange the hens in the basket. Drizzle any remaining olive oil over both hens.

5. Air fry for 20 minutes. Flip the hens and continue air frying until an instant-read thermometer registers 165 F in the thickest part of the thigh, 15 to 20 minutes more. Meanwhile, pick the leaves from the remaining large rosemary sprig and finely chop until you have about 1 teaspoon.

6. Transfer the Cornish hens from the air fryer with tongs to a large plate or clean cutting board. Let rest for 10 minutes. Discard any toothpicks and garnish with the chopped rosemary. Remove the lemon wedge from the cavity with a fork and carefully squeeze the juice over the Cornish hen if desired.

Recipe notes
Epoch Cinema Documentary Review: One of Many

A moving cinematic portrait of a World War II hero

Commentary

Ive seen my fair share of World War II filmssome of the newer movies, but mainly the older ones from the Golden Age of Hollywood. The narrative feature films with stars like John Wayne, William Holden, and Burt Lancaster.

However, every so often I am treated to World War II documentaries, which to me, hold a special place in cinema. They are the real dealthat is to say, they are about the men who actually fought in the Second World War. Hearing them recount their incredible experiences is, to me, something much more intimate and fascinating.

My latest discovery, a documentary titled One of Many, is one such film. It is about a World War II veteran named George Merz, and his unique experiences during that terrible conflict.

The film begins with a sobering message that reads, Of the 70 million people who served during the Second World War, 16 million were citizens of the United States of America. Less than 250,000 are alive today. Private First Class George Merz  is one of these veterans.

George Merz was born on Feb. 23, 1925, to a German family in Schnitzelburg, a working-class community in Louisville, Kentucky. His family was of German descent and his father eked out a living as a carpenter during the Great Depression (19291939).

On Dec. 7, 1941, after the surprise attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor, Merz, like so many other young men, wanted to join the military to serve his country. He didnt have to wait long since he was soon drafted as an Army MP (Military Police) and shipped overseas to take back France (and other European countries) from the Germans.

He was told that the Army Airborne divisions would be leading the initial assault on the Germans, and the consensus was that he and the other regular troops would merely go in after them to clean and mop up everything. He soon realized how difficult that would be.

As an MP, Merz wasnt assigned to a combat unit. Instead, he was stationed at various intersections in order to help direct traffic for civilian as well as military vehiclessometimes even on the front lines.

Soon after arriving in Europe, Merz and another soldier overheard some girls speaking French. Curious about the language and people, they managed to learn a good deal of itenough to start a small cigarette business on the side, where theyd make enormous profits marking up prices for cartons of cigarettes.

One day, his MP unit was ordered to travel from Bastogne, Belgium, to a small town to the northeast called Gouvy. They were to help control the railroads there. His unit was set up in a large hotel but had run out of room, so Merz was assigned to stay with a local Belgian familythe Lallemand family.

Merz recalls how much he enjoyed staying with the family, despite being in the middle of a raging war. One of the Lallemands, a girl around Merzs age (18) named Gabriel, would frequently take him out to local gatherings involving other youths who wanted to enjoy themselves and destress from the dangers they faced daily.

But soon, all of the music and smiles faded as Hitler decided to make a last-ditch effort to reclaim Belgium. Merz talks about how the famous Battle of the Bulge first beganthe Allies had liberated all of the cities and towns of Belgium and were on the border with Germany. Then the Germans began the offensive by sending some of their most powerful tanks into Belgium by railroad.

Merz recounts that as the Germans crossed the Belgian border, they eventually pushed into Gouvy and he recalls seeing them unload their equipment and massive tanks off the trains. But he stood his post, despite the danger to himself, directing traffic, which later earned him a Bronze Star. But the danger was far from over.

What I most enjoyed about this fascinating EpochTV documentary were the interviews with George Merz himself. For a man now nearing 100 years of age, he has a clear recollection of his experiences, including the locations of where specific events happened, and the names of people he met while in Europe.

He also has a wicked sense of humor, and it was so funny to see the mischievous twinkle in his eye when he talked about his aforementioned cigarette side business.

Through the interviews with Merz and others, there is a lot of history to be learnedabout things you wont find in any school books or Hollywood films. Its a short, yet profoundly informative and uplifting film that is sure to inspire those who watch it.

Watch One of Many on Epoch Cinema here.

One of Many

Director: Brian George Randles

Running Time: 41 minutes

MPAA Rating: Not Rated

Release Date: Mar. 21, 2017

Rated: 4.5 stars out of 5

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
A sign from Haringey Council reminds people to stay at home near Alexandra Palace in London, on April 26, 2020. (Edward Smith/Getty Images)

Man Convicted of Attempting to Murder UK Social Worker

He was also found guilty of wounding 2 police officers

A man who stabbed a social worker who was conducting welfare checks on three children has been convicted of attempted murder.

Sulai Man, 34, accepted he had stabbed Themba Nkomo, 61, who was attacked in the hallway outside the flat in Wood Green, north London, on Aug. 6, 2021.

But he denied he was intending to murder the social worker, who was employed by Haringey Council.

Man was also convicted of wounding police constables David Turpin and Luke Smith with intent. They had gone to the aid of Nkomo, who was stabbed eight times.

Nkomo was in court when the verdicts were read out on Wednesday.

Sentencing was adjourned for psychiatric reports, but Judge Michael Topolski KC praised Nkomo for the enormous dignity he had conducted himself with during the trial.

Grave Crimes

Topolski went on to tell the defendant, Be in no doubt you now face a very significant period in custody, namely many years, and that will be determined by me after I have considered all the reports.

The judge also praised social workers who he said were often vilified, and he went on to thank Nkomo for his distinguished career, which was ended by the attack because it had left him too frightened.

The trial at the Old Bailey heard Man, who is also known as Sulai Bukhari, had a long-running dispute with Haringey Councils social services department, which had repeatedly sought to gain access to the flat to check on the children.

The trial heard there had been hundreds of emails between Man and social services about the issue of them conducting welfare checks on the children.

Man told the trial that because the children were autistic he feared they would be classed as Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) in the event of them catching COVID-19.

Man said he had read a BBC article in March 2021 which suggested there was an NHS policy in place during the pandemic which classed people with special needs as being DNR.

Man said of the flat: It was a bubble. Everything they needed was in that bubble and that included love and care.

Children Didnt Go Outside for a Year

But he refused to let the children go outside, even for a walk in the park or to get some sunshine in the height of summer.

The jury was shown body camera footage from police officers as they forced entry into the flat after failing to persuade a woman to open the door.

Man had gone outside before the police arrived and was lurking in a communal area, wearing a mask and a black hoodie, and clutching a Swiss army-style knife in his hand.

Suddenly, after the police gained entry to the flat using bolt cutters to cut a chain on the door, Man attacked Nkomo, who had been left in the hallway by the front door.

The defendant described the attack on Nkomo and the police officers as a moment of desperation.

The children in the case cannot be identified for legal reasons.
Members of the Oath Keepers walk from President Donald Trump's speech to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (Luke Coffee/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

FBI Agent: No Direct Communications to Prove Oath Keepers Alleged Seditious Conspiracy

WASHINGTONAn FBI agent testified on Oct. 11 that he was not aware of any direct communications involving the Oath Keepers that would directly show that they planned to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6 and interfere with the certification of the Electoral College vote.

FBI Special Agent Justin Eller testified as part of the seditious conspiracy trial against four Oath Keepers members in a federal court in Washington. A defense lawyer asked Eller if, from all the Oath Keepers members and affiliates communications he reviewed, there were any that specifically read that the Oath Keepers were going to storm the Capitol.

No, Eller said.

The defense attorney then asked if there were any communications to prove that the Oath Keepers planned to stop the certification of electoral votes on January 6, 2021.

No, Eller said, and, after a pause, added, directly.

Eller was initially assigned to investigate defendant Jessica Watkins in January 2021. He said he interviewed about 20 to 30 individuals during his investigation.

Defense attorney David Fischer asked Eller if he preferred to spend a substantial amount of time before charging someone or do a quick investigation to arrest. Eller said he has no preference.

I only gather the information, facts, and evidence and turn it to my supervisor, Eller said.

The defense attorney asked Eller if he asked the people he interviewed if the Oath Keepers conspired to storm the Capitol on January 6. Eller responded, yes.

The attorney then asked, Did you ask if they stopped the certification of the electoral votes? Eller responded, Yes, possibly.

Prosecutor Kathryn Rakoczy showed the jury messages from Watkins from the Parler social media app. In those messages, Watkinss appears to try to recruiting people with a military background to train with her. Eller said he obtained the messages from Parler through a search warrant.

The government showed the jury items the FBI found in Watkins house and car on Jan. 17, 2021, including a helmet with goggles, a bulletproof tactical vest, pepper spray, gloves, and a radio.

The prosecutors also showed pictures of rifles found on Watkins property. In one photo of Watkins on Jan. 6, she was seen wearing the items shown to the jury. Eller confirmed that Watkins was not armed on Jan. 6.

Like other FBI special agents who testified at the Oath Keepers trial, Eller doesnt recall seeing evidence of military training equipment on the property of Thomas Caldwell, another defendant.

Defense lawyer Juli Haller asked another FBI agent if the bureau ignored the tip they received on Nov. 25, 2020, from a former Oath Keeper member, Abdullah Rasheed. Earlier that month, Rasheed secretly videotaped a post-election meeting with Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes, one of the defendants in the trial. On the conference call, the participants allegedly discussed their strategy to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.

The special said, Ignored? No, but filed away for future reference, explaining that the FBI receives dozens of tips daily.

At the prosecutors request earlier in the morning, FBI Special Agent Byron Cody read various text messages between defendants and others whom the agent confirmed he had investigated. He agreed with the defense attorney that the government presented text messages in an inconsistent chronological order.

The defense attorney also asked Cody if he used the search feature when investigating the Oath Keepers communications to find out which text message was more relevant to his investigation. The agent denied it, not that I can remember.

The defense attorney asked Cody if he reviewed Rhodes Dec. 24, 2020, messages about craving for peace and other messages related to security from Nov. 20, a month prior. The prosecutors objected to the questions, and after a sidebar with the judge, Cody did not respond to the query.

Rhodes, Watkins, Caldwell, Kelly Meggs, and Kenneth Harrelson are charged with seditious conspiracy, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, aiding and abetting, conspiracy to prevent an officer from discharging any duties, destruction of government property, civil disorder, and tampering with documents.

Caldwell was an affiliate of the Oath Keepers, while the other defendants were members of the organization on Jan. 6.
FBI Agents Involved in Facebooks Suppression of Hunter Biden Laptop Story Were Democrat Donors: Records

Two FBI agents whose communications with Meta resulted in the social media companys suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story were donors of the Democrat Party, records show.

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, told Joe Rogan in late August that the company actively reduced the reach of social media posts about the laptop of Hunter Biden, President Joe Bidens son, in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election, adding that the move was in response to a general advisory from the FBI for Facebook staffers to be vigilant for Russian propaganda before the election.

Laura Dehmlow and Elvis Chan were later identified by Meta as the FBI officials who were involved in the communications between the FBI and Meta that led to Facebooks suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story, according to an amended complaint (pdf) filed on Oct. 6. Dehmlow serves as the unit chief for the FBIs Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF), and Chan is the head of the FBIs San Francisco cyber division.

Campaign finance records on the Federal Election Commission website show that both Dehmlow and Chan have contributed to the Democrat Party. In particular, Dehmlow donated a total of $60 to the Democratic National Committee in 2020, and Chan donated $50 each to Sens. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) and Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) ahead of their runoff election in November 2020.

News of the FBI agents donations to the Democrats comes amid longstanding concerns of political bias in the domestic security service. GOP lawmakers have previously alleged that the FBI shut down an investigation into alleged crimes by Hunter Biden over allegations of disinformation by Democrat lawmakers.

Missouri Attorney General and Republican Senate candidate Eric Schmitt speaks to supporters at Coltons Annex in Poplar Bluff, Mo., on July 30, 2022. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Lawsuit Alleges GovernmentBig Tech Collusion

The Oct. 6 complaint, filed by Missouri and Louisiana Attorneys General Eric Schmitt and Jeff Landry comes in a First Amendment lawsuit alleging that Biden administration officials have been deeply involved in censoring users across Big Tech platforms on various topics, including about Hunter Bidens laptop.

The amended complaint notes that on March 1, Dehmlow delivered a presentation to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)s Cybersecurity Advisory Committee where she indicated that the FBIs FITF engages  with appropriate partners for information exchange.' The complaint states that, On information and belief, this information exchange includes communications with social-media platforms about censorship and/or suppression of social-media speech.

Minutes of the March 1 meeting (pdf), produced by the government as part of discovery in the case, show Dehmlow saying that the FITF started in 2016 and has since grown to 80 workers.

The complaint also notes that major social media companies are headquartered in the geographical area of FBIs San Francisco Division, and Elvis Chan is in charge of cyber related issues for that division. As such, Chan has performed a critical role in communicating with social media platforms on behalf of the FBI relating to censorship and suppression of speech on social media, the complaint reads.

Chan himself said on a recent podcast that the San Francisco office was very involved in helping to protect the U.S. elections in 2020 by working with private companies and election officials. He said he works closely with CISA Director Jen Easterly, who has been revealed to have taken part in pressuring Big Tech companies to clamp down on alleged misinformation.

We talked with all of these entities I mentioned regularly, at least on a monthly basis, he added. And right before the election, probably on a weekly basis. If they were seeing anything unusual, if we were seeing anything unusual, sharing intelligence with technology companies, with social media companies, so that they could protect their own platforms. Thats where the FBI and the US government can actually help companies.

The complaint also noted that Chan repeatedly organizing meetings with representatives of LinkedIn from 2020 through 2022 (the present), and that based on the agendas of the meetings, it appears that these meetings included discussions of election-related content and suppression of election-related speech on social media.

On information and belief, Chan organized similar meetings with other major social-media platforms, as in one instance, he notified LinkedIn about a particular proposed time slot for a meeting that another company had already taken that time slot. Dehmlow was routinely included in these meetings as well, the complaint states.

Hunter Biden

Hunter Biden is currently under federal investigation for alleged tax fraud, lobbying crimes, and money laundering. He confirmed in December 2020 that his business deals were being investigated.

Hunter Biden had given his laptop to a Delaware computer repair shop in April 2019 and never retrieved it. The FBI took possession of the laptop in December 2019. The laptop became a topic of national discussion in October 2020 after the New York Post broke the story on the contents of its hard drive, which contained records of various business deals, pornographic images, and illegal content. The outlet recently reported that records of the Hunter Bidens business deals and overseas exploits found on the laptop could possibly be used by prosecutors in their reported tax crimes case against him.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who in late March entered into congressional record content from, files from, and copies from the infamous laptop, has said that Republicans in Congress must focus on investigating the laptop if they win control of the House in the November 2022 midterms.

Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.
FBI Offered Christopher Steele $1 Million to Prove Dossier Allegations Against Trump: FBI Analyst

The FBI offered former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele $1 million as an incentive if he could prove the allegations made in his infamous dossier against former President Donald Trump, a senior FBI analyst revealed on Oct. 11.

FBI supervisory counterintelligence analyst Brian Auten revealed the offer while testifying at the criminal trial of Igor Danchenko, a key source who supplied information for the anti-Trump dossier, which was commissioned by Democrats during the 2016 presidential campaign.

The trial is part of special counsel John Durhams criminal probe reviewing the origins of the 20162017 FBI investigation of the now disproved TrumpRussia collusion narrative.

Danchenko, a Russian national, is facing five counts of making false statements to the FBI during interviews with agents and faces up to 25 years behind bars if convicted. He has pleaded not guilty.

According to Auten, the $1 million offer was made when he and Steele met with a group of top FBI agents overseas in October 2016. At the time of the meeting, the agents were trying to corroborate claims Steele had made that Trumps campaign was colluding with Russia in order to win the election.

Yes, it did, Auten told Durham when asked if the FBI offered Steele any incentive to provide evidence to back up his claims.

Special counsel John Durham arrives at federal court in Washington on May 18, 2022. (Teng Chen/The Epoch Times)

FBI Offered Anywhere up to a Million Dollars

Mr. Steele was offered anywhere up to a million dollars for any information  which could help prove the allegations, Auten added.

However, Auten said that the FBI ultimately never paid the money to Steele because he was unable to substantiate the claims made in his dossier. He also noted that Danchenko did not identify the dossiers sources.

The sourcing is important because the reports have significant allegations, individuals who are mentioned in the reports, and the key to be able to track back exactly whether or not the information is accurate, true, whether or not the individuals who are mentioned in the reports have the accesses to actually have the information, whether it is in the reports, etc., Auten said.

The FBI analyst also testified that other U.S. intelligence agencies looked into the claims made in the Steele dossier but were also unable to confirm the specific claims that were made.

Despite the FBIs failure to corroborate any evidence, Auten confirmed the agency used that information in its initial Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant to surveil informal Trump campaign aide Carter Page.

A federal judge in September dismissed a $75 million lawsuit bought by Page against the FBI, the Justice Department, and multiple former FBI officials over its controversial surveillance of him as part of its probe into the Trump campaign.

In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich acknowledged that the FBIs conduct in preparing the FISA warrant applications to electronically surveil Page was deeply troubling and that the government itself has conceded that it lacked probable cause for two of the warrants.

Former Trump campaign associate Carter Page participates in a discussion in Washington in a May 2019 file photograph. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Carter Page Lawsuit Thrown Out

However, the judge ultimately ruled that the lawsuit be thrown out because Page had brought no actionable claim against any individual defendant or against the United States.

The research in the Steele dossier was paid for by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee and commissioned by Washington-based private intelligence firm Fusion GPS.

The dossier has been widely discredited and many of the unsubstantiated accusations made within it have been branded inaccurate or outright false by a number of investigators, including the Department of Justices Office of the Inspector General.

Auten said during his testimony on Tuesday that information from the discredited Steele dossier was also used in three subsequent FISA application renewals.

Elsewhere on Tuesday, Auten also testified that FBI agents had weighed up submitting FISA applications against Trump former campaign aide George Papadopoulos but that the agency ultimately decided against doing so.

Papadopoulos was pardoned by Trump in December 2020 after he pleaded guilty as part of the probe into Russian meddling in the election.

Danchenkos trial is expected to be the last one in Durhams investigation into the origins of the TrumpRussia collusion narrative. The first trial, for Democrat lawyer Michael Sussmann who was accused of lying to the FBI, resulted in his acquittal in May.

The Epoch Times has contacted the FBI for comment.

John Haughey contributed to this report.

Correction: A previous version of this article misstated the date of the meeting involving FBI personnel and Steele. It was in October 2016. The Epoch Times regrets the error.
Dorset, Vt. -- The latest U.S. census figures show that 94 percent of the population of Vermont identifies racially as white.

But history shows that when it comes to race, Vermont has been no brutal Mississippi, no vicious Alabama -- and especially when it comes to the promotion of marriage for all who want it. In fact, Vermont was one of only nine states that never had anti-miscegenation laws (forbidding interracial marriage).

Vermont was a pioneer in 1999 when it created the nation's first civil union law that allowed gay couples to join together legally in something that at least approached marriage.

And Vermont regularly has sponsored "Loving Day," named for Richard and Mildred Loving, the lead couple in a 1967 case that resulted in the U.S. Supreme Court declaring anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional. (If you are under, say 50, it may shock you to realize that when the state of Virginia's appellate courts upheld the law forbidding interracial marriage, it did so by insisting that the law's legitimate purpose was to prevent "the corruption of blood," a "mongrel breed of citizens" and "the obliteration of racial pride." Imagine that.)

So Vermont knows about love.

Perhaps, then, I should not have been overwhelmed to be part of an interracial family wedding here recently. One of my wife's nephews married a beautiful-inside-and-out woman with Haitian roots. In fact, they asked me to perform the ceremony, and I did (as authorized by the state of Vermont even though I'm not clergy).

But the whole experience was both deeply satisfying and profoundly jarring -- for reasons I will try to explain.

The satisfying part was due to the joy everyone at the wedding felt when the couple confirmed their vows at an outdoor ceremony under early autumn blue skies in the hills of Vermont, which were just beginning to show off their autumn wardrobe of reds and oranges, yellows, browns and purples. The ceremony, at the request of the couple, didn't last long and didn't need to.

But when I pronounced them legally husband and wife, the bride threw her arms up into the fall air and the whole place joined her in a cheer. Then it was on to a great dinner and lively dancing through the cooling evening in an old gray barn (pictured above) that had been repurposed as an event space. (The other photo here shows a horse-drawn cart used to bring the wedding party to the site of the ceremony.)

The jarring part of all this had to do with the fact that in recent months I've finally been reading Taylor Branch's magnificent three-volume history of the Civil Rights Movement, the beginning of which many historians date to the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. helped to lead in the mid-1950s.

It's a distressing, violent, detailed story of many efforts to overcome the kind of racial hatred that never left the U.S. after the Civil War ended slavery. Bitter words, bitter actions, bitter thoughts filled those deeply committed to racial segregation and white supremacy. The violence seemed to be everywhere, both South and North. The refusal of segregationists to see Black people as fully human was formidable and ugly.

And, of course, there still is resistance to justice, equality and equity today, even as finally more and more Americans are coming to understand that the racial issues in this country go much deeper than personal prejudice or bigotry. Rather, the issues are of a systemic nature, and we won't be able to achieve racial equity and justice until we find ways to undo old unjust systems (educational, financial, criminal justice, environmental) and replace them with systems that value the humanity of every person.

So as all that was in my head, I looked out at a wedding crowd that was roughly half white and half Black. And I know that we haven't achieved, even on this day, anything like racial Nirvana, but what I saw in front of me was beautiful. And whites didn't stick just with whites and Blacks with Blacks. No, there was lots of conversation and interaction across racial lines.

I found it all celebratory, even as I recognized that there no doubt were individual stories among those attending and participating in the wedding that would reflect the continuing disease of racism in America.

The only thing I heard that came even close to a problematic racial remark was when a groomsman at the rehearsal dinner noted that there would be a lot of dancing after the wedding and that, comparatively, a lot of white people aren't very good dancers. Well, it was said in jest and seemed to be taken that way by all who heard it, Black and white. No one got offended enough to speak up, no doubt because it was said in a good-natured, self-deprecating way.

But the roots of the remark, if traced deeply enough, have to do with the false and destructive image of happy slaves dancing around the plantation, an image that many pro-slavery people, including many Christians, tried to pass off as reality.

So even in light interracial moments, history lurks. And history ignored is history freed to do damage.

This marriage reminded me of several weddings on my side of the family, starting with my youngest sister, who married a Japanese-American. Their daughter then married a Korean-American. The daughter of another sister married an African-American. And a daughter of another sister married a Filipino-American, while her sister married a Chinese-American.

What all of them -- including the newlyweds -- had in common was that love and their common humanity were stronger cohesive forces than the degenerating force of bigotry and racism. When the newlyweds stood in front of me at this wedding to make their vows, they looked into each other's eyes, and it was clear that what they saw was someone to love and someone to love them back. Period.

There's an aspirational hymn we sometimes sing in my congregation, "O for a World," written by Miriam Therese Winter and Carl Gotthelf Glaser. Here's the first verse:

O for a world where everyone

respects each other's ways,

where love is lived and all is done

with justice and with praise.

That's the vision I saw at this marvelous wedding. May that world come soon.

* * *

LOOKING LOCALLY FOR GRAVES OF INDIGENOUS CHILDREN

In the sad, distressing ongoing saga of federally sponsored, church-run boarding schools for Indigenous children, it now turns out that the Kansas Historical Society plans to investigate the grounds of the Shawnee Indian Mission in suburban Fairway, Kan., to see whether -- like elsewhere -- Indigenous children are buried there in unmarked graves. (I wrote about the mission site earlier this year here. And in May I wrote about the new federal report on this subject here.) It seems unlikely that children were buried in mass or unmarked graves at the Shawnee site, given that most of the children who attended the school lived with their families in nearby homes at the time. But let's see what turns up. What does seem true is that current Shawnee tribe members have some issues with what's happening now in this investigation. It's not clear why all this is proceeding without everyone agreeing on how and why to do it.
Pictures shows green tea being picked and bees in a honeycomb. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images) (Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images)

Fears Varroa Here to Stay but Hope Remains

New South Wales (NSW) authorities have told a Senate inquiry into Australias biosecurity preparedness they remain confident they have contained the varroa mite.

It comes after earlier evidence from the head of NSW beekeepers, who are worried the deadly parasite cant be eradicated.

The Department of Primary Industrys Dr John Tracey told the inquiry almost 14,000 hives had been euthanised so far, with more than 75 percent of hives in the eradication zone destroyed.

We are confident, based on the information that we have, that we have successfully delimited the infestation, and were continuing to work in from the edges of those areas as we euthanise the hives, he said.

Department head Scott Hansen told the inquiry he was convinced the right areas have been contained.

After more than almost 100,000 tests across hives, we still dont have any positives outside of our currently identified eradication zones, he said.

Its still unclear how the varroa destructor mite arrived in Australia.

Department officials say the origin might never be determined, although genetic sequencing has shown it is only one outbreak.

The inquiry was told permits had been granted for 333,000 hives to be moved since a permit system was introduced in June when the mite was first detected around Newcastle.

One-third of those hives were moved for pollination.

The inquiry was told the baiting of wild bees using the insecticide Fipronil, which began in October, had been a critical step.

Tracey said the program showed very promising results in terms of  not only the attraction of honey bees in these areas but also the impact of Fipronil baiting, in terms of dead bees.

The baits have been laid out around infected premises at Jerrys Plains, west of Newcastle and will be extended to other eradication zones across the state, with additional staff to be recruited.

The head of the NSW Apiarists Association gave evidence that he doesnt think the eradication program will work partly because of feral hives.

Steve Fuller said a program to eradicate varroa had been hurt by feral hives and people illegally moving hives.

Asked whether the governments eradication program would be successful, he said personally  Im going to say no.

I doubt if we can track all these feral hives, Fuller said on Wednesday.

He told the inquiry the penalties for beekeepers were significant but needed to be enforced.

Beekeepers illegally moving hives can be fined as much as $1.1 million for individuals and $2.2 million for businesses.

The inquiry was told there had been 31 infringement notices but no fines issued for the illegal movement of hives.

The head of Amateur Beekeepers Australia, Sheila Stokes, believes authorities arent willing to prosecute beekeepers doing the wrong thing.

I dont have a high level of confidence that the DPI (NSW Department of Primary Industries) compliance are following up on all of those, she told the inquiry.

Department head Mr Hansen said officials would be following through on those who broke the rules.

The inquiry was told a lack of key personnel to inspect hives had slowed down the eradication program.

Definitely, a lack of trained personnel has slowed things down, Stokes said.

Mr Hansen said the department had the workforce to operate effectively in the face of a large-scale incursion.

A standstill of movement of beehives remains in place in NSW, although some registered commercial beekeepers can move hives in low-risk areas.

The inquiry was also told by the research development corporation Hort Innovation that they were exploring technology that detects and controls varroa mites.

That includes lasers, artificial intelligence and gas sensors which limit the spread of varroa, some of which are already in use overseas.
Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos makes an announcement on ending vaccine mandates for domestic travellers, transportation workers, and federal employees, in Ottawa on June 14, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Patrick Doyle)

Federal Health Minister Contemplates School COVID-19 Vaccination to Drive Uptake

The federal government is not satisfied with COVID-19 booster vaccination uptake and is contemplating going mobile to bring the shots to people, including into schools, according to Canadian Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos.

These vaccines have to be easily accessible, families dont have a lot of time, so do we go into schools, into long term healthcare facilities, do we have mobile clinics, do we go into businesses, these would be ways to facilitate vaccinations and protect everyone in the coming weeks, Duclos said during a COVID-19 update press conference on Oct. 7.

Were going to have to accelerate, in every province, the access to this information on the importance [of getting boosted], but also actually access to the vaccine itself. Its not only a matter of information: we have to simplify peoples lives.

The federal government doesnt have jurisdiction over health care, hence any mobile scheme would need to get buy-in from provinces and territories.

Ottawa announced on that same day that it had authorized use of the Pfizer bivalent booster shot which targets the Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

This followed approving Modernas bivalent booster which targets the BA.1 subvariant in September.

Neither product underwent clinical trials.

While over 80 percent of Canadas population has completed a primary series of COVID-19 injections, uptake for extra doses is lagging.

As of Sept. 11, 49 percent of Canadians had received a booster, according to Health Canada. Rates are lowest in Nuvavut (37.3 percent) and Alberta (38.3 percent), and highest in Newfoundland and Labrador (57.6) and Nova Scotia (53 percent).

Uptake for the primary series was driven in part by mandates at every level of government and by some businesses.

Provinces started dropping vaccine passports in February and Ottawa suspended most of its vaccine mandates in June.

A partly declassified briefing provided to the Liberal government cabinet before it took that decision said the federal and provincial mandates led to an increase of 5 to 8 percent in first-dose uptake.

Lagging Behind

Health Minister Duclos said during the press conference Canada is lagging behind for booster shots compared to other countries.

He did not provide a direct comparison, but for example Canada is ahead of the U.S., the U.K., France, and Denmark in booster coverage, according to Our World in Data. It is trailing countries like Italy, Singapore, and Japan.

Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam was sitting alongside Duclos and said Canada has a great foundation of primary series vaccination to become a world leader for up-to-date coverage.

The federal governments desire to be a world leader in vaccination was a feature of its vaccine mandate for domestic travel.

In a briefing prepared for Transport Minister Omar Alghabra before the mandate came into force in late October 2021, the policy was presented as a world-leading vaccination requirement for travel.

As Canada still promotes COVID-19 injections for the general population without age or risk stratification, other jurisdictions have changed their recommendations in recent weeks.

The latest to do so was Florida on Oct. 7, with its surgeon general recommending against COVID-19 mRNA vaccination for males aged 18 to 39.

The states health department said in a statement its study found there is an 84% increase in the relative incidence of cardiac-related death among males 18-39 years old within 28 days following mRNA vaccination.
A lot of this actually happened.

So opens the elaborate screwball mystery Amsterdam, from director David O. Russell who brought us American Hustle, The Fighter, and Silver Linings Playbook.

Which is to say, its an overlong but also sometimes hilariously quirky riff on 1933s little-known White House putsch, wherein a cabal of wealthy American businessmen conspired to overthrow President Franklin D. Roosevelt, hoping to dupe one retired U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Smedley Darlington Butler into leading their fascist veterans organization.

The jokes are mild but funny and the cast is great, but most audiences will be bored. It moves too slowly. Some audiences will love it. I, for one, just enjoyed watching A-list actors dress up in period costumes and deliver oddball comedy with deadpan deliveries.

AnnndAmsterdam Synopsis!

The setting is New York City, 1933. Dr. Burt Berendsen (Christian Bale) is a World War I vet, who served in the same regiment as attorney Harold Woodman (John David Washington).

The two, one white, one black, are best friends, having bonded for life as blood brothers, gripping each others bloody hands in the ER, to get themselves through all manner of excruciating shrapnel extractions.

(LR) Burt Berendsen (Christian Bale), Valerie Voze (Margot Robbie), and Harold Woodman (John David Washington), in Amsterdam. (20th Century Studios)

After the war and before returning to Manhattan, they both spend time carousing in Amsterdam with the nurse who removed their shrapnel and bonded with them in the process, like a sister.

Shes free-spirited artist Valerie Voze (Margot Robbie), who makes art out of her wounded-soldier shrapnel collection. Such as a functional tea set. Some people are horrified and aghast by this. The three laugh, drink, dance a tremendous amount, and sing made-up nonsensical songs. Life is grand!

And then  they all go their separate ways, even though Valerie and Harold are in love (she wishes to return to America) and they lose track of her.

Doctor Burt eventually marries wealthy Beatrice (Andrea Riseborough) but her snooty Park Avenue family boot him out of the house when he didnt come home a war hero. He begins practicing clinical trial medicine in dank, dreary alleyways, treating fellow vets with self-concocted pain pills.

By the way, Burts got a glass eye (after The Big Short, this is Bales second glass eye role). Bale is also one of the few British actors who call pull off an old school, just-shy-of-Brooklynese-caricature, New Yawk accent. Which makes Bales Burt, with the roving eyesince hes also trying to get to the bottom of a bunch of mysteriesa lot like a 1930s version of Peter Falks Columbo. The eye also occasionally pops outBoingk! Clink-clink-clinkand hilarity ensues.

More Synopsis!

The two men eventually meet mysterious Liz Meekins (Taylor Swift) whose father Bill (Ed Begley, Jr.) was their commanding officer. In fact, Bill was to give a speech at Burts annual N.Y. Veterans Reunion Show.

But suddenly Bills dead! In a pine box. Which allows their friend Milton (Chris Rock) an excellent speech (as only Rock can deliver it) about what will happen if he and attorney Harold (two black men) get caught in the near vicinity of a dead white man in a box.

Liz Meekins begs Burt to perform an autopsy, fearing her dad died under mysterious circumstances. But then she, herself, gets squashed by a motor vehicle before Burt and Harolds very eyes! And now someones trying to pin it all on them and turn them into patsies!

(LR) Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, and John David Washington in Amsterdam. (20th Century Studios)

Meanwhile, a couple of secret agent men (Mike Meyers and Michael Shannon), pretending to be avid birdwatchers, have taken an interest in the proceedings. Please note: They are controversial birdwatchers; they have theories about the cuckoo birds nasty tendencies to take over other birds nests, which may or may not be a metaphor for the above-mentioned political putsch. Remember the political putsch? This is a movie about a political putsch.

Retired Gen. Gil Dillenbeck (Robert De Niro) in Amsterdam. (20th Century Studios)

Which brings us to Americas premiere retired general, Gil Dillenbeck (Robert De Niro), who is being courted by a secret organization, to lead said putsch.

And There You Have it

Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, and John David Washington bring laughs to a exhaustingly wacky riff on a real-life fascist conspiracy in 1930s New York, in Amsterdam. (20th Century Studios)

As mentioned, Bale gives a fabulously cracked performance. With the accent and a slightly toned-down Kramer-from-Seinfeld hairdo, his good doctor consistently leans forward and enters spaces headfirstyoure constantly worried hes on the verge of toppling over. Which occasionally he does. Its a very ambitious physical-comedy undertaking. Bale doesnt have fellow Brit comedy specialists Peter Sellerss, Rowan Atkinsons, or John Cleeses knack for physical comedy, but he can definitely pull off a joke.

Rami Malek is quietly funny as Valeries wealthy, velvet-y-voiced brother Tom, charming and insinuating (and part of the putsch). Mike Myers is fun as MI6 operative Paul Canterbury, and Matthias Schoenaerts and Alessandro Nivola are snicker-worthy as two lumpen-proletariat cops.

The big-name supporting cast of Amsterdam includes Rami Malek and Anya Taylor-Joy as a grating husband and wife, in Amsterdam. (20th Century Studios)

With so many great actors its difficult to single out one performance, and Ive talked a lot about Christian Bale, but ultimately its Margot Robbies vivacious Valerie that injects some vim, vigor, and vitality into Russells story on sheer star wattage alone. And it needs that.

Ultimately

Also as mentioned, Amsterdam is too long and moves too slowly. One finds oneself wishing Christopher Walken would suddenly cameo as his Saturday Night Live music producer, suggesting, It needs more cowbell! Or more action, or slapstick, or something. Plus a hefty script cut.

The dialogue is funny, for sure, and Amsterdam shows great support for Americas veterans, which is nice. The trio of protagonists are very close to being something out of a Coen brothers or a Wes Anderson comedy; its got that circus-y touch. The cast is fun to be around. And yet 

(LR, foreground, starting second from left) John David Washington, Margot Robbie, and Chris Rock boo a small faction of proto-Nazis at a function for veterans in 1930s New York, in Amsterdam. (20th Century Studios)

The whole underlying putsch business works against the breeziness and nimbleness needed for this kind of caper: The grim fact that that historical instance of American proto-fascism existed, means the comedy isnt going to be too lighthearted.

But more than that, its a bit of a heavy-handed message from the director, suggesting that this early example of fascism taking root in America is history currently repeating itself. Which half the country agrees with, but the remaining half dont. The Democrats feel the Republican party is trying to ignite a forest fire of fascism in America, and conservatives see liberals and socialists as allowing Communism to blossom. Both are definitely bad outcomes, but the latter is a far worse possibility, as history has shown. With the plethora of nasty isms headed our way, we should choose our isms carefully.

Overall, amusing, but I wouldnt watch it again. And if I hadnt been trapped in a movie theater I would have hit pause and started looking for something more stimulating.

Movie poster for Amsterdam. (20th Century Studios)

Amsterdam

Director: David O. Russell

Starring: Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, Robert De Niro, Chris Rock, Rami Malek, Zoe Saldana, Timothy Olyphant, Taylor Swift, John David Washington, Anya Taylor-Joy, Mike Myeres, Michael Shannon, Alessandro Nivola, Andrea Riseborough

MPAA Rating: R

Running Time: 2 hours, 14 minutes

Release Date: Oct. 7, 2022

Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5
Fountain Valley Bans Wildlife Feeding to Reduce Coyote Attacks

The Fountain Valley City Council has banned feeding or disturbing wildlife on city property to protect residents and their pets from interactions with coyotesfollowing an incident in June when a 2-year-old girl was attacked by a coyote at a local park.

The ordinance was unanimously approved 50 Oct 4.

The ban states that unless specifically authorized by the director of community services in writing, no person shall feed, disturb or have physical contact with wildlife on city property, said City Attorney Colin Burns during a previous council meeting on the issue. Feeding wildlife in general attracts coyotes.

A dried pond sits on the outskirts of Mile Square Park in Fountain Valley, Calif., on May 21, 2022. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

According to city officials, the presence of coyotes has grown over the past few years in the city and is a threat to the safety and welfare of people and their pets.

The police previously created a coyote management plan (pdf), which explains how the city and residents can handle coyote populations and incidents.

The plan instructs residents to avoid attracting coyotes with pet food left outside, leaving fallen fruit on the ground, or failing to secure trash and compost bags. The plan also requests that shelter opportunities for coyotessuch as empty piles of boards or empty sheds that offer cover and a hiding spaceare taken down, and pets are not left unattended outside where they could be attacked.

According to the plan, the state of California already bans feeding, sheltering, or interacting with wildlife, but only pertaining to feeding ducks.

Signs regarding the new ordinance will be posted on city public property, and violations will be enforced.

According to the Fountain Valley Police Department, coyotes are euthanized when they have attacked a human, whether provoked or not. When in an encounter, residents are encouraged to haze coyotes, which includes creating loud noise and trying to physically appear larger and more threatening. Using tools to scare off a coyote, such as a hose, sticks, small rocks, and other projectiles, is permitted as well.

Fountain Valley, Calif., on Aug. 27, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

In the June incident that spurred the new ordinance, a two-year-old girl was attacked at the citys Mile Square Regional Park by a coyote. She was transported to a hospital and recovered from her injuries, according to a Fountain Valley Police Department press release at the time.

The incident was not immediately reported. However, police found the coyote based on DNA evidence and euthanized it shortly after.

Other recent area attacks include another 2-year-old-girl bitten by a coyote in Huntington Beach in April. The childs mother announced plans last month to sue the city for failures to address coyotesaccording to local media reportsof which residents have been complaining.

The City of Fountain Valley and its police department did not respond to The Epoch Times for comment.
Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel speaks at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos on May 23, 2022. (Fabrice Coffrini/Getty Images)

Moderna CEO Confirms New mRNA Injection to Repair Heart Muscles After Heart Attack

The CEO of Moderna announced his company has a program that involves injecting messenger RNA (mRNA) into peoples hearts following a heart attack.

We are now in a super exciting program where we inject mRNA in peoples hearts after a heart attack to grow back new blood vessels and re-vascularize the heart, Stephane Bancel, the CEO, told Sky News in a recent interview.

Bancel did not elaborate on the nature of the program. His company produced one of the worlds most-used mRNA vaccines for COVID-19as did pharmaceutical giant Pfizer.

When the reporter suggested that there is an irony within the COVID-19 pandemic that it allowed companies like Moderna to develop these other areas because of the revenues that came through the door, Bancel agreed. Youre 100 percent right, he said.

In August, Moderna reported second-quarter 2022 revenue of $4.7 billion, up $300 million from the second quarter of 2021. For the first half of this year, its total revenue stood at $10.8 billion, or a growth from $6.3 billion in the same period last year.

The company attributed the significant spike in its revenue growth to the rise in sales of the companys COVID-19 vaccine.

Before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) handed down emergency use authorizations for the Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines in 2020, no mRNA products received full FDA approval within the United States.

Research

Meanwhile, an Australian government agency last month granted $1.1 million to target three major cardiovascular diseases using mRNA technology, with officials claiming that mRNA-based therapies will reduce inflammation in connection to three major heart diseases including atherosclerosis, pulmonary hypertension, and abdominal aortic aneurysm.

The mRNA-based targeted strategies that we are investigating can stop the progression of inflammation, providing the opportunities of preventing cardiovascular disease events like heart attack, stroke, and heart failure without the unwanted side effects, one researcher, Baker Institutes head of molecular imaging and theranostics Xiaowei Wang, said in a statement after the grant.

Wang said that for the three cardiovascular diseases, researchers will create a unique delivery system using novel nanoparticles to trigger the release of the mRNA.

However, a pre-print study released in August suggested that nanoparticles that are used to transport mRNA in COVID-19 vaccines inhibited and altered the immune response.

At the same time, earlier this week, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo issued a warning about the use of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, saying that males between the ages of 18 and 39 should not receive them. He cited a state analysis that discovered an 84 percent increase in the relative incidence of cardiac-related deaths among men in that age group 28 days after they got an mRNA vaccine.
A mass of protesters march through Hong Kong's streets in support of universal suffrage on July 1, 2003. The march had become a tradition since 2003, when communist authorities in China attempted to pass a controversial anti-sedition law, until the enactment of the NSL in 2020. (Song Xianglong/The Epoch Times)

Hong Kong Government Puts on Hold Article 23 Security Law Legislation

Scholar: a strong indication of Hong Kong's recent economic failure

The National Security (Legislative Provisions) Bill of Hong Kong the Basic Law Article 23, which caused 500,000 Hongkongers to march on the street against legislation in 2003, was recently removed from the legislative agenda for the 2022 Legislative Council.

This means the bill will not be submitted to the Legislative Council for registration in the second half of 2022. Some Legislative Council members from the pro-Beijing camp expressed their disappointment, while others said it was expected because the situation is different from before.

Scholars said that Hong Kongs economy has worsened, and the government needs relief (by shelving the bill) from the worries of investors, to achieve a short-term visible economic improvement.

Early this January 20, The Administration Wing, Chief Secretary for Administrations Office submitted the 2022 Legislative Agenda to the Legislative Council, which includes 37 major pieces of legislation for deliberation. The National Security (Legislative Provisions) Bill was one of the items.

However, on Oct. 7, only 16 major pieces of legislation are submitted. The National Security (Legislative Provisions) Bill of Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23 has been deleted.

Opinions Within Pro-Beijing Camp Much Divided

Pro-Beijing Legislative Council member Junius Ho Kwan-yiu expressed disappointment and criticized the government for stalling. He urged the legislative work to be moved forward as soon as possible. It had been 25 years and the legislation was not able to be completed  why we are still just thinking about it and still hesitating?

Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, convener of the Executive Council and chairperson of the New Peoples Party, believed that Article 23 was withheld because the relevant policy research had not been completed and the time is not right yet.

Doreen Kong Yuk-foon, the pro-Beijing Legislative Council member, said that the government wanted to focus first on housing issues, and set aside enough time to do a good job in explaining the legislation of Article 23 of the Basic Law to reduce disputes within the society.

Another pro-Beijing Legislative Council member Lai Tung-kwok, who was a former Secretary for Security, said it is expected Article 23 of the Basic Law will not be enacted in this legislative year, because the Security Bureau had dispatched a lot of manpower and time during the fifth wave of the pandemic, coupled with the wars in the world recently, the situation is quite different from before. He described withholding Article 23 as having little impact because there is still the Hong Kong National Security Law (NSL), as well as other local laws in place.

However, Lai declared on Sept. 27 that the priority is to hand over the bill enacting Article 23 of the Basic Law to the Legislative Council as soon as possible, which is part of the constitutional responsibilities of the Legislative Council.

Scholar: All Related to Hong Kongs Economic Failure

Scholar Dr. Chung Kim-wah told the Epoch Times, that the Hong Kong National Security Law (NSL) has been enacted, so the legislation of Article 23 of the Basic Law has no real urgency at all.

Regarding the holdup of Article 23 legislation in this legislative year, Chung speculated that it is related to the obvious failure of Hong Kongs economic situation. In doing so, the government would like to temporarily relieve the concerns of investors and hopes to achieve some short-term visible economic improvement.

Chung also recalled the speech made by China leader Xi Jinping when he attended the Hong Kong handover event in July, and the subsequent video speech of Han Zheng, a member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party Politburo at the Belt and Road Forum. All those speeches showed that the Communist Party (CCP) was worried about Hong Kong continuously losing ground in its status as a financial centre. And they hoped that Hong Kong, by retaining that status, can continue to play its role as the white gloves (middleman) to benefit the CCP.

Furthermore, Chung pointed out that the NSL and various sub-laws have already exceeded the sufficiency level for the government, and Article 23 can be kept as a reserve for the time being. The regime can wait and see for a better time in the future, it can always reintroduce Article 23 in a much more stringent and widespread manner.

Secretary for Security Emphasized Urgency of Legislation

Chris Tang Ping-keung, the Secretary for Security, emphasized in an exclusive interview with the CCP media Wen Wei Po on Sept. 30, that in addition to the NSL, the legislation of Article 23 of the Basic Law, apart from being part of constitutional responsibility, has also its practical needs. He claimed that the NSL covers only 4 broad types of crime, but Article 23 of the Basic Law has 7, within which 5 items are not yet served by the NSL. They are treason, sedition, theft of state secrets, foreign political group involvement in political activities in Hong Kong, and links between Hong Kong political groups and foreign political organisations.

In addition, when Tang attended a lecture on the national security briefing of civil servants on Sept. 24, he declared that as Western countries continue to recruit agents to spy on Chinas intelligence, it is necessary to have a properly legislated Article 23 of the Basic Law to target espionage activities here.

Draft Withdrawn Once in 2003 and Stalled Since Then

Article 23 of the Basic Law states: Hong Kong shall enact laws on its own to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the Central Peoples Government, or theft of state secrets, to prohibit foreign political organisations or bodies from conducting political activities in the Region, and to prohibit political organisations or bodies of the Region from establishing ties with foreign political organisations or bodies.

On July 1, 2003, 500,000 Hong Kong citizens took to the streets under the scorching sun to protest against the then Tung Chee-hwa governments forcible introduction of Article 23 of the Basic Law, fearing that it would become a tool to suppress democrats and opposition voices. On Sept.5, 2003, the government announced the withdrawal of the draft.
U.S. President Joe Biden (L) waves alongside his son Hunter Biden after attending mass at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Johns Island, South Carolina, on Aug. 13, 2022. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images)

I Have Great Confidence in My Son: Biden Defends Hunter on Possible Criminal Charges

President Joe Biden on Oct. 11 said he has great confidence in his son, downplaying reports that federal investigators have enough evidence to charge Hunter Biden with tax crimes and a false statement on a gun purchase.

Biden made the remark during an interview with CNN, when the president was asked to comment about an Oct. 6 article by The Washington Post, which cited anonymous sources who said that federal agents had determined months ago that they had put together a viable criminal case against Hunter Biden.

Personally and politically, how do you react to that? CNN host Jake Tapper asked the president.

Well, first of all, Im proud of my son, Biden said in response. This is a kid who got, not a kidhes a grown man. He got hooked onlike many families have had happenhooked on drugs. Hes overcome that. Hes established a new life.

Biden added that he is confident that what his son says and does are consistent with what happens. To provide an example, he pointed to his sons memoir Beautiful Things and said Hunter Biden was straightforward in his book.

Hunter Biden walks to Marine One on the Ellipse outside the White House in Washington on May 22, 2021. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

The president defended his son over allegations that Hunter Biden lied on a background check before buying a handgun in October 2018.

This thing about a gunI didnt know anything about it, Biden said. But turns out that when he made an application to purchase a gun, what happened was  you get asked a question, are you on drugs, or do use drugs? He said no. And he wrote about saying no in his book.

According to the Post, Hunter Biden answered no to the question of whether he was an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance? The question appears on the Firearms Transaction Record (Form 4473), a six-page form (pdf) prescribed by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives that is filled out when purchasing a firearm.

Lying on Form 4473 is a federal violation punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Hunter Biden wrote in his memoir that he was battling addiction in 2018.

So, I have great confidence in my son, Biden continued. I love him and hes on the straight and narrow, and he has been for a couple years now. And Im just so proud of him.

In response to the Posts report, Hunter Bidens lawyer, Chris Clark, didnt say whether he believes his client will be charged. In a statement, Clark said: That is the job of the prosecutors. They should not be pressured, rushed, or criticized for doing their job.

The decision of whether to charge Hunter Biden rests with U.S. Attorney David Weiss, a holdover from the Trump administration who is overseeing the investigation of the presidents son.

Tip of the Iceberg

Republicans on the House Oversight Committee took to Twitter on Oct. 6 to say that Hunter Bidens alleged tax and gun-purchase crimes as reported by the Post are just the tip of the iceberg.

Hunter & the Biden family have peddled access to enrich themselves, racking up 150 SARs for shady deals, the lawmakers wrote. Even worse, we know Joe was involved in selling U.S. natural gas to China. Well keep pushing for transparency & accountability.

U.S. banks are required by law to flag cash transactions exceeding $10,000 per day and automatically file Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) in an effort to prevent criminal activities, such as money laundering and tax evasion.

Ranking member Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) speaks at a hearing with the House Committee on Oversight and Reform in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington on Nov. 16, 2021. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Text messages show that Hunter Biden was aware of these SARs and took steps to avoid detection in his financial dealings, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) wrote in a letter to Hunter Bidens financial adviser in July, pointing to 150 SARS flagged by 13 banks including Bank of America, Citi Bank, and Bank of China.

Comer, the top Republican on the House Oversight Committee, revealed in September that the Biden family was selling U.S. natural gas to China in 2017. At the time, Biden was aware of how his son was making the sale possible.

On Oct. 8, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) took to Twitter to list what he said are facts about the Biden family.

Joe Bidens family members profited in foreign regions where he had influence as vice president. Hunter Biden sat on the board of a Ukrainian company in an industry in which he had no experience, he wrote. The Biden family targeted foreign venturesincluding deals with the Chinese Communist Party.

Contrary to Joe Bidens statement that he never spoke to Hunter about his foreign business dealings, there is evidence of a direct sum of money set aside for the Big Guywho witnesses have identified as Joe Bidenfrom foreign nationals, McCarthy added.

House Republicans have said that theyll open an investigation into Hunter Biden if they regain a majority in the chamber in November.

Hunter Biden has gotten away with too much for too long, Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, wrote on Twitter on Oct. 6. Its time for him to be CHARGED! No more delays!!
Igor Danchenko outside the U.S. courthouse in Alexandria, Va., on Oct. 11, 2022. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Igor Danchenko Had an Immunity Agreement and Other Takeaways From Day 1 of His Trial

ALEXANDRIA, Va.The primary source for the anti-Donald Trump dossier struck an immunity agreement with the government that he breached by not fully disclosing information, special counsel John Durham said on Oct. 11.

Igor Danchenko, who fed information to dossier author Christopher Steele, was employed by the FBI for years, Durham previously revealed. During that time, Danchenko had an immunity agreement, Durham said during the first day of Danchenkos trial in federal court in Virginia.

Prosecutors introduced an immunity agreement that was entered into by the defendant with the government in which he was told specifically that he agreed to make full and complete disclosure of information, Durham said.

The agreement was presented to Danchenko in January 2017, when the FBI interviewed him about his role in the dossier.

The only requirements of that agreement, the only requirements [were] that the defendant provide complete and truthful information, that he not withhold any information, and that he not attempt to protect any person through false information or omission, Michael Keilty, an assistant special counsel, told jurors.

Danny Onorato, a lawyer representing Danchenko, later pointed at Durham and told the jury that the prosecution was lying about the agreement.

Durham objected, noting that the agreement has been entered as an exhibit.

So for the defense counsel to stand here and tell this jury that the government lied is highly inappropriate, he said.

U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga, a George W. Bush appointee overseeing the case, struck Onoratos comments from the record.

Danchenko is charged with five counts of lying to the FBI. Hes accused of falsely saying that he didnt source information he later provided to Steele from Dolan, a longtime Clinton family associate. Hillary Clinton helped pay for the dossier. Danchenko also lied when he said he thought he spoke with Sergei Millian, a pro-Trump businessman, and that he had plans to meet with Millian in New York, according to prosecutors.

Danchenko has pleaded not guilty, and the defense says he told the truth in interviews, blaming FBI agents for not asking follow-up questions.

Here are other takeaways from day one of the trial.

Jurors Picked

Jury selection was finished by lunch break with 12 jurors and four alternates being chosen.

Trenga struck a number of jurors after objections from Stuart Sears, another defense lawyer, and Durham.

Sears objected to Joseph Messina, who told the court in a questionnaire that he was involved in politics but only said he was involved in campaigns for Rick Santorum and George Allen in the distant past.

Social media posts show Messina was a campaign manager for a Republican in Virginia just recently, which gives us concerns about whether or not he maybe misrepresented that information in order to not be struck for cause, Sears said.

He also raised concerns about a potential juror who struggles with English and a potential juror who was wearing hearing aids.

Durham noted that some of the potential jurors mentioned deadlines or medications that could challenge their ability to concentrate. He also said one potential juror, Adrienne Edmond, said in the questionnaire that I hold biases against Donald Trump, his administration, that may influence my decision-making.

And he pointed to another potential juror who indicated that she would have trouble staying off of social media.

Your Honor was good enough to include in the questionnaire questions related to use of social media. Some people, arguably, are addicted to it at this point, Durham said.

Trenga struck all of the potential jurors who were brought up by the defense and prosecution, as well as others who said they had conflicts, such as one saying his wife has cancer and that hes her caregiver.

Steele Was Offered Payment

Brian Auten, a senior FBI analyst who took the stand, revealed that the bureau offered Steele $1 million if he could prove the allegations in the dossier.

Yes, it did, Auten told Durham when asked if the FBI offered Steele any incentive to provide evidence to back up his claims.

Auten said he was offered the money for any information, documentary, or of that sort, that could confirm the allegations.

Steele declined, Auten testified.

Steele said no and would only discuss source characterizations but not source names, Auten said.

The exchange took place during a meeting with top FBI agents outside the United States in October 2016.

Former UK intelligence officer Christopher Steele in London, UK, on July 24, 2020. (Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images)

Identities Revealed

Danchenko was already known to Auten, Durham told the court.

Danchenko was investigated by the FBI in 2009 and 2010 for allegedly offering to connect colleagues with money in exchange for classified information. The probe was closed in 2010 because agents thought that Danchenko had left the country.

In 2012, Auten was emailing agents in Baltimore, where the investigation was based, according to Durham.

Mr. Auten himself was inquiring about Mr. Danchenko with the Baltimore office, who had opened the file on Mr. Danchenko in 2012. So when Mr. Danchenkos name came up in December of 2016, he was a person that was known to the FBI, Durham said.

The special counsel also identified Danchenkos handling agent as Kevin Helson.

We believe that the testimony from Mr. Danchenkos handling agent, Special Agent Helson, will be that he also talked to Mr. Danchenko about the information contained in this report, and Mr. Danchenko attributed it to Sergei Millian. I dont want to overstate that. Well have to see what the testimony is.

Millian Was FBI Source

Auten told Durham that Millian was an FBI source for some time.

Millian provided information to the bureaus Atlanta Field Office, Auten said.

Millians status as a source was closed because he moved out of the area for which the office is responsible, according to the analyst.

Asked if Autens comments were accurate, Millian told The Epoch Times in a message, No comments.

Auten said the only people who tried linking Millian to the dossiers information were Steele and Danchenko.

The FBI opened a file on Millian, but that was closed without charges and without any sign of wrongdoing, Auten said.

Was there any wrongdoing in terms of him assisting in the interference in some way with the 2016 presidential election? Durham asked.

No, Auten said.

Opening Arguments

In opening arguments, prosecutors told jurors that the FBIs conduct during Crossfire Hurricane, the counterintelligence probe into Trump, was caused in part by Danchenkos alleged lies.

The evidence in this trial will show that the Steele dossier would cause the FBI to engage in troubling conduct that would ultimately result in the extended surveillance of the United States citizens. And the defendants lies played a role in that surveillance, Keilty said.

The FBI relied on Danchenkos lies when it investigated alleged collusion between Trump and his campaign and Russia, according to Keilty.

You see, the FBI needed to know where the defendant was getting his information. They needed to know so they could evaluate that information and vet that information. So agents asked him questions about his sources. And in two important respects, instead of telling the agents the truth about that information and those sources, the defendant lied, he said.

Onorato told jurors that Danchenkos statements were truthful.

The evidence is going to establish that Igor Danchenko told government agents the truth when he was asked about two simple things about the Steele dossier. The first is whether he had talked, talkedso listen to that word talkedto a man named Charles Dolan about anything in the Steele dossier. He told the truth, Onorato said.

Second, he was truthful when he said that he received an anonymous phone call in July of 2016, and he formed the subjective belief that it could have been from a person named Sergei Millian, who, in context, thats who he concluded it could have been. The facts will show, not only were his conclusions reasonable, but they are actually probably correct.

Correction: A previous version of this article misstated the date of the meeting involving FBI personnel and Steele. It was in October 2016. The Epoch Times regrets the error.

John Haughey Follow John Haughey has been a working journalist since 1978 with an extensive background in local government, state legislatures, and growth and development. A graduate of the University of Wyoming, he is a Navy veteran who fought fires at sea during three deployments aboard USS Constellation. Hes been a reporter for daily newspapers in California, Washington, Wyoming, New York, and Florida; a staff writer for Manhattan-based business trade publications.
Roundup weed killer products sit on a shelf, in the documentary "Children of the Vine." (Courtesy of Brian Lilla)

Immoral and Corrupt: New Documentary Sheds Light on Alleged Dangers of Roundup Weed Killer

With thousands of consumers alleging their cancer and other diseases were caused by Roundup weed killer, a new documentary is shining light on the issue with testimony from experts and witnesses.

The documentary, titled Children of The Vine, by filmmaker Brian Lilla is currently being screened across the country in hopes of sparking further dialogue on the alleged harm caused by the herbicide product. Groups, farms, and universities can view the film by making a donation on the films website for access.

During the 1.5-hour film, which can be viewed exclusively through screenings held by Lillas nonprofit dedicated to the issue, numerous experts claim the dangers of Roundup, specifically one of its ingredients, called Glyphosate. The experts said the product causes cancer, chronic health issues, and other deadly diseases, and that it has been found in breast milk.

A film still from the documentary Children of the Vine of a tractor spraying chemical pesticides on a large green agricultural field in spring. (bilanol/Children of the Vine)

According to the filmmaker, he had trouble getting some farmers to speak on camera, because of the benefits, they said, of using the product.

As more farmers are diagnosed with cancer, however, concerns over the products safety have come to the forefront, according to Lilla.

Its not the farmers fault  they were told just like the rest of us that [Roundup] was completely safe, Lilla said.

According to multiple accounts from large-scale farmers in the film, they use Roundup typically for at least the first six weeks of growing their crops to get rid of weeds, which if not removed compete for water, limiting crop output.

One such farmer John Bartonowner of Barton Farms in Bakersfield, California, who has been diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins lymphomaclaims to have used thousands of gallons of Roundup on his farm since it was introduced and said, in the film, the herbicide would soak through his clothes while he sprayed it in the field.

John Barton, owner of Barton Farms, speaks in the documentary Children of The Vine about his experiences using Roundup weed killer on his farm. (Courtesy of Brian Lilla)

In my lifetime we used probably thousands of gallons [of Roundup], Barton said. I remember my Levis would be soaking wet [with Roundup] at the end of the day; my boots would be soaking wet, my socks would be soaking wet. If the wind shifted direction, [Roundup] would get blown in [my] face.

Another farmer who said her husband died from the same disease after using Roundup on their farm in Cambria, California, said he used the product for close to 35 yearsafter being told the product was no more dangerous than table salt.

There was nothing on the packaging that would make you believe it was a danger.  My husband completely believed it was safe, Teri McCall said.

Like Barton, her husband, Jack McCall suddenly began noticing large lumps in his neck and was experiencing severe weakness, McCall said of his first symptoms. The cancer was so aggressive that he died six months later, she said.

Teri McCall, owner of McCall Farms, speaks about her familys experience using Roundup weed killer in Children of the Vine documentary. (Courtesy of Brian Lilla)

He was getting weaker and weaker  to the point where he could hardly get out of bed. It was just horrific, McCall said. We never even considered that Roundup could have anything to do with this, we were just too busy trying to save his life.

According to researchers in the film, carcinogens in Roundup have even been found in breastmilk at levels 700 to 1,000 times higher than are legally allowed in our water systems.

The film also details an ongoing class-action lawsuit against agricultural biotechnology company Monsantothe manufacturer of Roundupfiled by attorney Brent Wisner, after a colleagues family member died abruptly from Non-Hodgkins lymphoma after using the product on his farm.

That 2016 case remains ongoing, with another overseen by Wisner resulting in a $289 million verdict against Monsanto finding the company failed to warn plaintiffs and other consumers of the products cancer risks.

Even after the verdict, Wisner says in the film, Monsanto, now owned by Bayer Pharmaceuticals, refuses to acknowledge that their product causes cancer, with regulators doing little to reverse course.

Brent Wisner, attorney at Baum Hedlund Aristei and Goldman, speaks in the documentary Children of the Vine. (Courtesy of Children of the Vine)

Additionally, in the film, Winser says Monsanto has an internal task force to continue to fight whistleblowers claims about the products safety with media smear campaigns. According to Wisner, the company calls this policy let nothing go.

The film also alleges Monsanto misled regulators by hiding its toxicity to get approval and touted the product would increase crop production by eradicating weeds and therefore lower world hunger.

It was about selling Glyphosate. It was about selling more chemicals, former Reuters investigative journalist Carey Gillam says in the film. It wasnt about feeding the world. Never been about feeding the world, [and] still is not about feeding the world. Its about increasing the use of Glyphosate, of pesticides.

Gillam also claims in the film that Monsanto urged researchers to rethink their findings when they found the herbicide could likely cause cancer, and that subsequent studies were skewed in favor of Monsanto. She also said U.S. agencies relied on Monsanto on how to interpret such research, and that Monsanto edited their own research documents to make them appear to be written by independent scientists.

According to the film, the latter was confirmed in the case-action suit against Monsanto.

Just last month, however, Roundups manufacturer won its fifth consecutive trial over claims that its weed killer causes cancer in a St. Louis, Missouri state court.

Lilla was first inspired to make the film after moving to Napa, California. After noticing vineyards and surrounding schools spraying Roundup at a time when media outlets first began reporting on the products dangers, he decided to look deeper into the issue.

Sheep in the documentary Children of the Vine. (Courtesy of Brian Lilla)

Though up to 80 percent of crops in the U.S. have been shown to contain Glyphosate from products like Roundup, according to researchers in the film, Dr. Bruce BlumbergProfessor of Pharmaceutical Science at the University of CaliforniaIrvinesays consumers can limit much of this consumption by installing water filtration systems in their homes, as well as buying organic products.

A growing number of farmers, consumers, and politicians, according to the film, are trying to limit or completely ban Roundups use in their communities and states, with New York proposing to ban weed killers containing Glyphosate from state property.

Additional efforts banning herbicides include the California cities of San Juan Capistrano, Irvine, and Napa, with efforts underway in other cities.
Chinese police escort people accused of fraud who have been extradited from other countries as they get off a plane at Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing on June 7, 2019. (Yin Gang/Xinhua via AP)

Ireland, Spain Initiate Investigations Into Covert Chinese Overseas Police Stations

Both Ireland and Spain have initiated investigations of Chinese police stations in their countries after a human rights group report exposed that the Chinese regime has established at least 50 police outposts worldwide.

China extended its prosecutors tentacles overseas through its police service stations, according to a report by the human rights nongovernmental organization (NGO) Safeguard Defenders. The report is called 110 Overseas: Chinese Transnational Policing Gone Wild, referring to 110, the Chinese emergency phone number for the police (pdf).

The Chinese Ministry of Public Security claimed that 230,000 Chinese nationals had been persuaded to return to the mainland from April 2021 to July 2022. It is believed that Chinas overseas police service stations played a role in the effort.

Facing parliamentary questions about the Chinese police service stations activities in Dublin, the Irish government said it was in talks with the Chinese Embassy to address the issue and to ensure the appropriate application of relevant international and domestic law, The Irish Times reported on Oct. 8.

The Spanish Ministry of the Interior acknowledged that its investigating the matter, Spanish newspaper El Correo reported on Oct. 9.

Police and criminal suspects extradited from Spain sit on a plane at Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing on June 7, 2019. (Yin Gang/Xinhua via AP)

Spain has the most Chinese police outposts of all the countries infiltrated with covert Chinese overseas policing.

The Safeguard Defenders report identified a total of nine bases in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Santiago de Compostela, and Manresa. They are disguised as Chinese associations, Asian restaurants, and an online Mandarin-language newspaper.

Beijings Transnational Repression

China claims the fugitives being extradited are mostly criminals committing financial fraud or telecommunications fraud.

The Chinese regime targeted people on every inhabited continent and in at least 36 countries with its repression patterns at home, according to research published in July by Freedom House, a Washington-based NGO on democracy, political freedom, and human rights.

Alysa Liu of Team USA skates during the womens single free skate on Day 13 of the 2022 Beijing Olympics at Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on Feb. 17, 2022. (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

The targets included former student activists from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, Hong Kong residents, Uyghurs, Tibetans, Mongolians, Falun Gong practitioners, dissidents, and journalists.

Reflecting the repression inside China, the regime also targets individual dissidents, their family members, and entire ethnic, religious, or social groups in the same manner.

Freedom House said the operation is responsible for 229 of the 735 incidents of physical transnational repression recorded between 2014 and 2021.

One of the latest cases of physical transnational repression was that of the U.S. Olympic figure skater Alysa Liu.

In February, to compete in the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, Liu was under escort with security assurances for her and her father, Arthur Liu, a political refugee and human rights activist, Freedom House reported.

Lin Yan contributed to this report.
Press Release

October 12, 2022 PH NO. 1 IN WORLD RISK REPORT, CONCERNS LEGARDA According to the WorldRiskIndex 2022, the Philippines ranks the highest in terms of disaster risk among 193 countries covering 99 percent of the world's population. "A country like the Philippines, which does not only belong to the top 10 vulnerable countries to the impacts of climate change, but is now also found to be the number one disaster risk country worldwide, this poses a major concern for us. This must serve as an urgent call to act now," said Loren Legarda, Senate President Pro Tempore, upon learning of the new WorldRiskIndex Report 2022. Countries in the top 10 WorldRiskIndex list include India, Indonesia, Colombia, Mexico, Myanmar, Mozambique, China, Bangladesh and Pakistan. The report assessed countries based on risk, exposure, vulnerability, susceptibility, coping capacities, and adaptive capacities. As a nation of many small islands, situated along the typhoon belt, the Philippines is one of the countries vulnerable to extreme weather events. Tens of thousands of lives were lost during the last decade which saw the occurrence of seven of the deadliest and costliest typhoons in Philippine history. Data from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council revealed that damage to crops and structures reached 240 billion pesos. "We care deeply about the lives of our people and the well-being of our nation. We have been perennial witnesses to the vulnerability of our communities to disasters and the prevalence of risks throughout the country, not only from the impact of hazards but also from human-induced disasters," said Senator Legarda. For a vulnerable country like the Philippines, the aftermath of disasters turbo-charged by climate change weather of recent years, as well as the projected climate change impacts, have given a glimpse of a future in a rapidly warming world. "We can break the cycle of destruction and reconstruction by assessing and understanding our risk, exposure and vulnerability," Senator Legarda urged. "We must effectively address these at the national and local levels. Our primary goal must be to enhance the resilience of our communities and reduce potential loss and damage," she added. The World Risk Report is published annually by Bundnis Entwicklung Hilft and the Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict, and has been in circulation since 2011.
An Anamoose man was seriously injured when the semitrailer he was driving collided with a Canadian Pacific Railway freight train in Wells County.

The crash happened around 11 a.m. Wednesday at a crossing 5 miles south of Harvey. The semi driven by Rodney Lund, 65, failed to come to a complete stop at the crossing that was marked with stop signs, and was struck on the driver side while crossing the tracks, the Highway Patrol reported.

Lund was flown to a Bismarck hospital. The Patrol said he has injuries that are serious but not life-threatening.

The status of the train wasn't immediately clear. The Patrol said it would be inspected before being returned to service.
Japan's new solid-fuel rocket lifts off from the launch pad at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) Uchinoura Space Center in Kimotsuki, Kagoshima prefecture, on Japan's southern island of Kyushu on Sept. 14, 2013. (Jiji Press/AFP/file/Getty Images)

Japan Orders Rocket Carrying 8 Satellites to Self-Destruct After Failed Launch

Japans space agency on Wednesday sent a self-destruction signal to its Epsilon-6 rocket shortly after liftoff, the first such command issued by Japan since November 2003, according to local reports.

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said it sent a destruction order signal to the rocket just minutes after launch when it detected the rocket had deviated from its intended trajectory, reported Kyodo News.

The Epsilon-6 was carrying eight satellites when it was launched from the Uchinoura Space Center in Kagoshima prefecture at around 9.50 a.m. (local time). JAXA sent the signal seven minutes later.

The rocket fell into the sea after self-destructing, and there have been no reports of injuries or property damage as a result of the incident. JAXA said the cause of the failure was still being investigated.

The 26-meter (85-foot) -long, 95.6-ton and solid-fuel Epsilon-6 rocket is the final version before JAXA plans to develop another variation, Epsilon-S. After five upgrades since early 2010, the Epsilon-6 is designed for a compact launch as JAXA aims to develop a commercial satellite launch business.

Wednesdays failure ended success records for the Epsilon series since its first launch of the original version in 2013. It was also a first for JAXA since its H2A rocket failed in 2003.

The launch, originally scheduled for last Friday, had been delayed due to the location of a positioning satellite in space.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A visitor is seen at a Nissan Motor Corp. showroom in Tokyo, Japan, on Nov. 11, 2020. (Issei Kato/Reuters)

Japans Nissan Exits Russian Market, Selling Assets for Less Than $1

Japanese automaker Nissan said Tuesday that it would sell its assets in Russia to a state-owned company, joining dozens of other global companies in exiting the country over its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Nissan will sell its local operations, including its manufacturing and research facilities in St. Petersburg and sales center in Moscow, to NAMI, Russias Central Research and Development Automobile and Engine Institute.

The company said the exit will result in a one-time loss of around 100 billion ($678 million), but its full-year guidance will remain unchanged.

Reuters reported that Nissan is selling its assets to NAMI for a 1 ($0.97) token fee. Under the terms of the agreement, Nissan will be able to buy back the business within the next six years.

The sale is expected to be formalized in the coming weeks, pending approvals from the relevant authorities, Nissan said. All of its employees in Russia will be given 12 months of employment protection.

While we cannot continue operating in the market, we have found the best possible solution to support our people, Nissan President and CEO Makoto Uchida said in a statement.

The deal mirrors a move by Nissans top shareholder, French automaker Renault, which sold its majority stake in Russian carmaker Avtovaz to a Russian investor in May.

Renault, which owns 43 percent of Nissan, estimated the decision by its Japanese partner would lead to a 331 million ($321 million) hit to its net income for the second half of 2022.

Nissan halted production in Russia in March due to supply-chain issues. The automaker had been monitoring the situation, but there had been no visibility of a change to the external environment, it said, leading to its decision to exit.

More than 1,000 major corporations have curtailed operations to some degree in Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, according to a study by Yales University School of Management and Chief Executive Leadership Institute.

These firms include South Koreas Hyundai, which halted production in Russia, and Japans Subaru, which suspended all shipments to Russia. Germanys BMW has ceased exports and production in Russia, according to the study.

Reuters contributed to this report.
A student waits at the building entrance of Middle High School after dismissal in Middletown, N.Y., on Sept. 20,2022. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

Judge Denies Middletown, New York, School Districts Request to Dismiss Discrimination Lawsuit

A federal judge denied a request on Oct. 6 to dismiss a discrimination lawsuit by three former African American school administrators against the Middletown School District in New York.

The districts attorney Howard Miller argued that the job reassignments or terminations of the three plaintiffs were based on legitimate, objective reasonsnot driven by racial bias or retaliation against protected speech.

He also argued that the plaintiffs speeches at board meetings addressed personal matters rather than matters of public concern, and so were not protected.

The plaintiffs attorney Mike Sussman argued to the contrary, adding that Miller brought up new facts in the dismissal request, which should lead to more fact-finding instead of a premature judgment.

Federal District Judge Vincent Briccetti denied the districts request, putting the case back on the trial calendar.

He ordered that all fact-finding in the case shall be completed by Feb. 6, 2023, and expert testimonials completed by April 6, 2023.

The trial is expected to last 10 days.

Federal Magistrate Judge Andrew Krause is assigned to the case.

A Middletown High School sign sits on the ramp leading up to the school campus on Sept. 20, 2022. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

In July, three former district employeesOmar Perez, Catherine Yaayaa Whaley-Williams, and Anthony Williamssued Middletown School District and Superintendent Amy Creeden, alleging racial discrimination and retaliation against protected speech.

Perez alleged that he was demoted from a tenured high school deanship after raising concerns about reported sexual assaults against female students and staff within the district.

He spoke out about the issue at an Aug. 12, 2021, school board meeting, after which he faced increasing unfair treatment by the district, escalating to a point where he was forced to get a mandatory psychiatric evaluation, according to the complaint.

Perez later left the district and went to work as a school administrator in Yonkers, New York.

The second plaintiff, Whaley-Williams, alleged that she was demoted after speaking out on behalf of Perez and about what she perceived as pervasive racism within the district at the above school board meeting.

Following the meeting, she lost her districtwide math coordinator position and said she was assigned a role limited to one elementary school.

Entrance to Presidential Park Elementary School In Middletown, N.Y., on Aug. 31, 2015. (Yvonne Marcotte/The Epoch Times)

In July 2022, the district denied her tenure without any basis and terminated her at the recommendation of Creeden with the approval of the school board, according to the complaint.

Since leaving, Whaley-Williams has started a bookstore in downtown Middletown which also hosts various community cultural and educational events.

The third plaintiff, Whaley-Williams husband Williams, alleged that he was unfairly terminated by the district merely for his association with his wife.

Following Whaley-Williams speech at the above school board meeting, Williams was assigned to a position under his previous job as the high school dean of student support services and he was barred by the district from applying to the higher position, according to the complaint.

Later, he was given an unreasonable time frame to obtain an extra certification to stay on his job.

He left the district and now works as director of guidance and data at the Newburgh School District.

The lawsuit seeks monetary and punitive damages against the district and Creeden.

The next case management conference for the case is on April 12, 2023.
Kaiser Permanente Sued for Wrongful Death After California Husbands Remdesivir Treatment Fails

Before Rodney Brioness physicians at Kaiser Permanente Riverside Medical Center in California treated him with remdesivir, they didnt disclose the risks to him or to his wife, Christina, and didnt obtain informed consent, according to a complaint filed by the Briones family.

The couple had gone to the managed care consortium for help in 2021 after Briones developed COVID-19 symptoms and tested positive twice for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease.

A five-day course of treatment with the controversial antiviral drug and other allegedly contraindicated, high-risk medications allegedly led to kidney failure for the 50-year-old Briones, who was subsequently placed on a ventilator. During this time, Kaiser Riverside reportedly refused to allow the mans wife or family to see him. He died on Sept. 12, 2021.

My husband was murdered because of government [expletive], Christina Briones told The Epoch Times. I never thought this could happen.

Kaiser Permanente and Gilead Sciences, the maker of remdesivir, didnt respond to requests for comment.

Christina Briones sued Kaiser in Riverside Superior Court, alleging the wrongful death of her husband because of a hospital protocol that included administering remdesvir, which, according to the lawsuit, is a failed Ebola drug that was found to be terminally toxic to the kidneys. The drug was pulled from an Ebola study because more than 53 percent of remdesivir recipients died, the lawsuit states.

The Kaiser Riverside physician did not disclose the availability of highly effective Safe Multi-Drug Early Treatment (SMDET) to Rodney when both Rodney and a reasonable patient in Rodneys position would have wanted the disclosure, Matthew Tyson, the Brioness family attorney, wrote in the complaint. This was constructive fraud.

The Briones family seeks survivor action general damages, as well as wrongful death general and special damages.

We pioneered remdesivir wrongful death litigation using a constructive fraud theory, and we filed the very first remdesivir wrongful death lawsuit in the country, back in June, for Evangeline Ortega, said Tyson, who is working with attorney Brian Garrie on multiple remdesivir lawsuits.

In Evangeline Ortega v. Redlands Community Hospital (RCH), Ortega alleges her 65-year-old husband, Armando, was administered remdesivir without being told that RCH would receive a financial bonus.

The financial bonus to RCH was of personal economic interest to physicians working at RCHs facility and affected their professional judgment, Tyson wrote in the June 27 lawsuit filed in San Bernardino Superior Court.

Ortegas husband suffered kidney failure, multiple organ failure, and eventually died, according to the complaint.

Armandos risk of death dramatically changed for the worse by 3,000 percent when physicians and staff of Redlands Community Hospital (RCH) failed to disclose, to Armando or Evangeline, the risks associated with the medically unnecessary and extremely dangerous drug Remdesivir, the lawsuit states.
LA Council Members Propose 2024 Ballot Measure to Expand the Council

LOS ANGELESFive Los Angeles City Council members signed on to a motion Oct. 11 calling for a ballot measure that would increase the number of council districts in Los Angeles to come before voters in 2024.

The motion, introduced by Acting Council President Mitch OFarrell, comes as the council is embroiled in a recent scandalthree members are facing calls to resign following their participation in an October 2021 conversation that included racial slurs and discussions over how to redraw district boundaries in their favor.

Council members Nithya Raman, Paul Krekorian, Curren Price, and Paul Koretz seconded the motion.

OFarrells motion also calls for a report outlining an immediate redistricting process if the ballot initiative passes.

Los Angeles is at a crisis moment and Angelenos confidence in the structure of their government has been shaken, OFarrell said.

Over the last few days, as we process and deal with the fallout from the audio recordings of several council members, we must not lose sight of the fact that the leaked conversation revolved around the redistricting process. Ensuring fair, equitable, accountable representation in Los Angeles is a must, now more than ever, he said.

Los Angeless population has grown from 1.2 million people in 1929 to 4 million today, but the number of council districts has stayed at 15 since 1925.

The proposed new number of council seats would depend on the citys population growth, according to the motion.

This council should reflect and represent the residents that we serve, OFarrell said.

The number of council seats can only be adjusted via a charter amendment approved by the voters because it is set by the city charter.
Malaysia's former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad poses for a picture during an interview with The Associated Press at his office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Aug. 19, 2022. (Vincent Thian/AP Photo)

Malaysias Mahathir, 97, to Run in General Elections

PUTRAJAYA, MalaysiaMalaysias 97-year-old former leader Mahathir Mohamad announced Tuesday he will defend his seat in the general elections expected next month, though he wouldnt say whether he would be prime minister a third time if his political alliance wins.

We have not decided who will be prime minister because the prime minister candidate is only relevant if we win, Mahathir told a news conference.

Though unlikely, he would be the oldest ever candidate for the post, which has a five-year term.

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob dissolved Parliament on Monday for snap polls, caving in to pressure from his United Malays National Organization (UMNO) party, which is hoping for a big win on its own amid feuds with allies in the ruling coalition. The Election Commission will meet on Oct. 20 to fix a date for the vote, which must be held within 60 days of Parliaments dissolution.

Despite his age and a health scare this year, Mahathir said he will defend his parliamentary seat in Langkawi island. He also warned that a win by the ruling UMNO party could see imprisoned ex-Prime Minister Najib Razak pardoned and let off the hook.

Mahathir was a UMNO premier for 22 years until his retirement in 2003. Then, in 2016, he was inspired to return to politics by the massive looting of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad state fund during Najibs term in office and rode a wave of public anger to lead the opposition to a historic victory in 2018 polls that ousted UMNO, which had ruled since the countrys independence from Britain in 1957.

Mahathir became the worlds oldest head of government at 93, and oversaw graft charges against Najib and other UMNO leaders. But his reformist alliance collapsed in less than two years due to defections, returning UMNO to power under a new coalition government.

After his governments collapse in 2020, Mahathir formed the Pejuang party and a new alliance with several small parties.

Mahathir, echoing both the opposition and UMNO allies, slammed UMNO on Tuesday for putting its own interest first in rushing elections during the annual monsoon season in November that brings major floods. He said UMNO aims to win big by offering bribes and money to the people.

He said UMNOs main objective is to free Najib, who began his 12-year jail term in August after losing his final appeal in a corruption case linked to the 1MDB scandal. Najib also faces several other trials linked to 1MDB that could lengthen his jail term if he is found guilty. UMNO President Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is also on trial for dozens of graft charges unrelated to the 1MDB case.

If they win this election, their first move would be to ask [Malaysias king] to pardon Najib. At this moment, they have made a request but has not been pardoned, Mahathir said. Should they be able to win and form the government, that is their first objective, not about the welfare of the people.

Mahathir said his political alliance hasnt been approved by the government and that some 120 candidates will run under Pejuangs banner in Malay-dominated parliamentary seats.

Analysts said Mahathirs pull may no longer appeal to ethnic Malay voters who supported him in 2018. UMNO, which had only 36 out of 222 lawmakers in the just-dissolved Parliament, believes many Malays have returned to its fold following its landslide victory in recent byelections.

The Alliance of Hope, which Mahathir led to victory in 2018 polls, remains the key contender with 90 lawmakers. Its prime minister candidate is Anwar Ibrahim, who was originally due to succeed Mahathir before their government collapsed.

While Mahathir competes head-on with UMNO and others for votes of Malays, who account for two-thirds of Malaysias 33 million people, Anwars alliance remains on a multi-racial platform. Ethnic Chinese and Indians form large minorities in the country.

Anwar said Monday that the election will be a time for the people to vote out traitors who led to the collapse of his alliance government in 2020.

Did you think we could reverse 60 years of entrenched corruption and kleptocracy with just one election? Did you think these conniving robbers and thieves would just give up? Anwar said in a statement. We dont give up, either. We dont give up, ever.

By Eileen Ng
Cocaine tablets found in the body of a man detained at the Hong Kong International Airport on Oct. 10, 2022. (Courtesy of Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department)

Man Arrested for Carrying 59 Cocaine Tablets in His Body, Weighing about 1.2 kg

Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department detected a case of drug internal concealment at Hong Kong International Airport on Oct. 10 and seized about 1.2 kg of suspected cocaine with an estimated market value of about HK$1.2 million (approx. US$152,000).

Tsang Yau-chuen, Acting Senior Investigator of the Airport Investigation Group of Customs Drug Investigation Bureau, pointed out that the 43-year-old non-Chinese man arrived in Hong Kong on Oct. 9 from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, via Bangkok, Thailand.

The man carried little luggage when he arrived at the airport, and he did not have a hotel booking, and no record of visiting Hong Kong in recent years, which aroused the suspicion of the customs officers who sent him for an examination at the hospital.

After a preliminary examination by a doctor, it was found that the man had foreign objects hidden in his body, and the Customs officers arrested him subsequently.

Until 10 a.m. on Oct. 11, 59 pellets of suspected cocaine, weighing about 1.2 kg, were excreted from his body in the hospital, with an estimated market value of about HK$1.2 million (US$152,000).

Customs said the case was still under investigation and the man was being detained.
As night fell, the gunfire ceased. Clara Barton had been nursing soldiers since the Battle of Antietam began, and now she ensured that the barn with wounded soldiers was well lit with the lanterns she brought.

Barton walked from the barn to the house, where she found a surgeon sitting in one of the small, dank rooms with only a small candle preventing the space from falling into complete darkness.

You are tired, doctor, Barton said.

Yes, I am tired, he said. Five hundred [soldiers] will die before daybreak unless they have attention, and I with no light [but] that two inches of candle.

Barton led the surgeon outside, and he gazed with amazement at the glowing barn.

The men will be here in a few moments to light the house, she explained. You will have plenty of light and plenty of assistance. Dont despair in your good work, doctor. Barton and the doctor worked through the night, caring for the wounded.

Throughout her life, Barton would not only provide light for others, as she did that night for the surgeon, but also follow her own advice. Though at times weary or frustrated, Clara Barton persevered in her good work.

A portrait of Clara Barton, photographed in 1905, at 83 years of age. (Public Domain)

From the Classroom to the Battlefield

Clara Barton was born on Christmas Day, 1821, in North Oxford, Massachusetts. Bartons family lived comfortably on their farm. Her father, Stephen Barton, served in the Northwest Indian War and instilled a spirit of patriotism and sacrifice in his young daughter.

I early learned that next to Heaven, our highest duty was to love and serve our country, Barton later wrote.

She began her career as a teacher at only 18 years old and soon garnered a reputation for putting difficult, undisciplined classrooms in order. Barton improved one school after the next, then even started a school at the mill her brothers ran for the workers children. She went on to found the first free public school in New Jersey.

In 1854, Barton retired from teaching, moved to Washington, D.C., and landed a job as a clerk in the patent office. When the Civil War began in 1861 and wounded soldiers started arriving in the capital, she was determined to help in any way she could.

Barton knew one of the direst needs would be supplies, so she set to work raising them. Soon, she was forced to rent warehouses to store all the goods reaching her. Many officials turned down her requests for permission to take her supplies to the battlefield and serve, but Col. Daniel H. Rucker finally agreed to give her a permit and wagons to transport the supplies.

St. Marys Catholic Church in Fairfax Station, Va., is best known as the location where Barton treated wounded Civil War soldiers. (John M. Chase/ Shutterstock)

In August 1862, Barton heard a battle was imminent. She hurried to the front with her wagons full of supplies, arriving at the house that Brigade Surgeon James L. Dunn decided to use as a medical station. She immediately began distributing supplies, making food, and caring for the wounded. The soldiers and doctors alike recognized that Bartons supplies and nursing were invaluable.

I thought that night if heaven ever sent out a holy angel, she must be one, her assistance was so timely, Dunn said. In my feeble estimation, General McClellan, with all his laurels, sinks into insignificance beside the true heroine of the age, the angel of the battlefield.

Founding the American Red Cross

Barton served the wounded for the duration of the war. Once the conflict ended, she worked to help families learn the fates of soldiers who were missing. As the war grew more distant, Barton gave lectures around the country about her role in the conflict. After a couple of years, Bartons voice gave out. She decided to recuperate in Europe, so in 1869 she and her sister sailed for England.

Barton traveled to Switzerland, where she hoped to rest. However, in July 1870, France declared war on Prussia. Grand Duchess Louise of Baden, the daughter of the Prussian king, had heard of Bartons work and requested her help in organizing relief efforts.

The International Red Cross had been founded in 1863 and was headquartered in Switzerland. The Swiss were neutral during the war, but the Red Cross helped organize relief efforts for civilians. Once Barton arrived at the front, she immediately went to work coordinating supplies. Throughout the conflict, she helped those caught up in the violence.

Front cover of the American National Red Cross manuscript, undated. (Library of Congress)

In 1873, Barton returned to the United States, determined to establish the American Red Cross. After a bout of sickness that took her years to recover from, Barton finally felt well enough to move forward with her mission. I recognize the bugle-note that calls me to my place, and, though I may not do what I once could, I am come to offer what I may, she wrote.

Barton met with politicians but struggled to gain enough support for the idea of an American Red Cross. Nonetheless, she persisted, and when James A. Garfield was elected in 1880, it renewed Bartons hope. She knew Garfield from the Civil War, where he had served as a general. With his administrations support, Barton finally accomplished her goal. The American Red Cross was formed on May 21, 1881. The primary objective of the American Red Cross was to offer relief during events like natural disasters. Barton served as president of the organization until her retirement in 1904.

Her whole life was dedicated to service, never shying away from challenge or despair but instead rising to meet it. She once said, You must never think of anything except the need, and how to meet it.

This article was originally published in American Essence magazine.
Alex Serrano, executive director of the Miami-Dade chapter of County Citizens Defending Freedom, speaks Sept. 7, 2022 against a proposal to recognize October as LGBT History Month during a meeting of the school board of Miami-Dade County Public Schools. (Courtesy of Alex Serrano, County Citizens Defending Freedom)

Miami Beach Schools Rebelling Against Nixing of LGBT History Month

Whether or not to celebrate LGBT History Month in South Florida throughout October is a question pitting the school board of one of the largest school systems in the country against some of the schools it governs across 34 municipalities.

And the dust-up could put city and school officials in violation of 10 Florida laws, says the leader of a citizen watchdog group.

It reflects a trend across the county of parents getting more involved than ever in whats happening in their childrens schools.

The Florida battle began when Miami Beach officials learned that LGBT History Month wouldnt be allowed in their community schools this month, as it has in the past.

On Sept. 7, the overarching Miami-Dade School Board voted 81 to reject a proposal for a countywide celebration of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender history. The vote followed an eight-hour barrage of comments from community members mostly opposed to the observance.

Protestors speaking out about the Parental Rights in Education bill walked through the Florida Capitol on March 7, chanting, We say gay! (Kevin Cho Tipton via Storyful)

Many complained that authorizing schools to teach about LGBT issues throughout October would go against their religious beliefs and would present information to children that should be discussed only at home.

Some who spoke against LGBT History Month identified themselves as gay and said they worried such indoctrination was harmful to children, and would desensitize them to inappropriate sexual topics.

Meanwhile, Miami Beach officials fumed.

In response to the vote to nix the annual LGBT observance, officials in the oceanside city began to organize a mass rebellion.

In a joint move by the mayor and the city commission, Miami Beach officials drafted a scathing resolution to express disappointment.

The vote against recognizing October as LGBT History Month is a shameful step backwards, and an alarming bellwether of rising anti-LGBT rhetoric that has swept Florida since the passage of the states new Parental Rights in Education law, reads the resolution adopted by Miami Beach officials.

The law referenced in the resolution prohibits lessons on sexual orientation or gender identity for students in kindergarten through third grade. And it bans such lessons for older students unless they are age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate.

When it was still under consideration by lawmakers, opponents dubbed it the Dont Say Gay bill and spoke out against it across the country. Arising from that has been a heated national debate about whether young children should be exposed to or shielded from sexual content.

Addressing LGBT

In their resolution, the Miami Beach mayor and city commissioners condemned the Miami-Dade school boards actions to block LGBT History Month teachings and celebrations. They urged parents to use the school boards failure to act as an opportunity to engage with their children and address LGBT issues and history in a positive light.

They urged principals across the county and governed by the Miami-Dade school board to ignore the ruling, and celebrate LGBT History Month to the fullest extent permitted by law.

And they published a template on the City of Miami Beach website, hoping it would be downloaded and adopted by student bodies, clubs or other student organizations wishing to honor and recognize LGBT history.

Alex Serrano, executive director of County Citizens Defending Freedom-USA, Miami-Dade County. (Courtesy of Alex Serrano)

Florida law was broken during the tumult, says Alex Serrano, executive director of the Miami-Dade affiliate of County Citizens Defending Freedom-USA (CCDF). And more laws likely will be broken if officials carry out plans to observe LGBT History Month, he says.

Law-breaking started when Miami Beach city commissioner Alex Fernandez lobbied members of the citys Committee for Quality Education and principals of the citys six schools to support the resolution, without giving public notice of his official appearance at their meeting, Serrano says.

Serrano sent a letter of notice and warning Oct. 3 to all officials involved in the controversy. The letter states that up to 10 Florida laws have or will be broken if the rebellious schools continue pushing the issue.

The letter asks the school board of Miami-Dade County Public Schools to begin an investigation.

The probe, the letter states, is needed to ensure schools remain in compliance, with Florida laws that ensure, among other things, that parents are able to review instructional materials, and are able to direct the upbringing and the moral or religious training of their minor children.

Serranos group also is concerned about whether state laws will be followed, ensuring topics taught are appropriate for the grade level and age group.

Even Miami-Dade school board members and their attorney expressed concern about legal problems, before voting to reject LGBT History Month. They expressed that the LGBT teachings could violate the parental rights law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, in March.

Short-Lived Victory

After Miami-Dade school board members first backed away from the month-long celebration of LGBT issues in September, the citizen watchdogs of CCDF celebrated the vote as a win.

Now, theyre ready to fight again to keep the normalization of LGBT lifestyles out of schools.

The other side is equally passionate.

LGBT History Month observances began in 1994 as the creation of Missouri high school history teacher Rodney Wilson, the resolution by the Miami Beach officials states. Its meant to coincide with National Coming Out Day on Oct. 11, and the anniversary of the first march on Washington for gay and lesbian rights in 1979.

The resolution accuses the Miami-Dade school board of bowing down to the pressure of fringe groups, such as the Proud Boys and County Citizens Defending Freedom, Serranos group.

Members of the County Citizens Defending Freedom chapter in Nueces County, Texas gather on April 20, 2022, to pray before asking a School Health Advisory Council in Corpus Christi to reject the Making Proud Choices! sex-ed curriculum. (Courtesy of Colby Wiltse/CCDF-Nueces County)

By voting against LGBT History Month, the resolution states, the Miami-Dade school board created a piece of LGBT History itself, but found itself on the wrong side of it.

A San Diego State University study that suggests 1 percent of children ages 910 identify as gay, bisexual, or transgender, the resolution states. It also points to research by the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States suggesting 48 percent of gay and bisexual college students knew their sexual preference in high school.

And LGBT youth have increased incidence of suicide and thoughts of suicide, the resolution states. But respectful, positive treatment and discussions on gender and sexuality helps LGBT students feel safe, seen, valued, and respected, and decreases the educational, mental, and physical harms that they experience, the resolution continues.

Protesters angry about restricted access to abortions and the recently passed Parental Rights in Education law in Florida march toward a conservative youth conference in Tampa on July 23, 2022. (Natasha Holt/The Epoch Times)

And LGBT History Month would have provided for teaching, proponents say, about Supreme Court rulings on Obergefell v. Hodges, which recognized same-sex marriage, and Bostock v. Clayton, which protects employees from being fired for being gay or transgender.

The Epoch Times reached out to the City of Miami Beach and Miami-Dade County Public Schools, but did not receive a response. Miami-Dade County Public Schools is the nations fourth-largest school system and serves nearly 332,000 students.

DeSantis repeatedly has said that parents, not teachers, should speak with children about sexual orientation and gender identity. His office declined to comment on the South Florida tug-of-war over the issue.

Serrano expects to see more parents speaking up on similar issues around the country.

In his community, many now are awake, not woke, he said, and the uprising against the ideology of the left is spreading across the nation.

Parents and guardians across America are actively taking steps toward regaining their rights in education.

Nanette Holt contributed to this report.
Rupert Darwall is a senior fellow at RealClearFoundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the principles of honest journalism.

Darwall, who is based in the UK, is also the author of several books including The Age of Global Warming: A History and Green Tyranny: Exposing the Totalitarian Roots of the Climate Industrial Complex.

NTDs Paul Greaney sat down with Darwall in New York City to discuss the climate-industrial complex, the global energy crisis, and who benefits from the West pursuing a net-zero carbon emission goal.

All this started in 1988, at the first big climate conference, which was in Toronto.  They said, Climate change will be second only to a global nuclear war. So weve had how many years since 1988? Over three decades. Can anyone really, hand on heart, say youve seen anything approaching a global nuclear war in terms of extreme weather? Because climate change is manifested in extreme weather. Theres nothing that remotely justifies such a claim.



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Authorities in Bismarck have arrested a Washington man and issued a warrant for another after an investigation and an overdose call led to the discovery of nearly 4,000 fentanyl pills.

Police on Monday responded to an overdose call at a Bismarck motel, according to an affidavit. They arrested Jordan Anderson, 27, of Lake Stevens, Washington, after allegedly finding 44 fentanyl pills, some fentanyl powder, about 3 ounces of methamphetamine and two handguns. Anderson allegedly admitted to bringing 4,000 pills to Bismarck on Sunday, and said hed arranged for the delivery of multiple shipments.

Bismarck police in September seized 870 fentanyl pills from Evan Darden, 31, of Lake Stevens, Washington. Darden identified the source of the pills, according to a police affidavit. Authorities say social media posts, interviews and financial information also pointed to Anderson as the source of the pills confiscated from Darden.

Police recovered 3,750 fentanyl pills from a residence where Anderson said hed delivered them, the affidavit states.

Anderson admitted to supplying the drugs to the person who overdosed, the document states. He allegedly told police it had happened multiple times and that he had twice used the overdose treatment Narcan to revive the person.

Anderson is charged with drug conspiracy and drug possession with the intent to deliver. He made his initial court appearance Tuesday. No attorney is listed for him in court records. He is in custody in lieu of $200,000 bail.

Authorities on Tuesday issued an arrest warrant for Darden on the same charges.
National Archives Withholding Most Records Related to FBI Raid of Trumps Mar-a-Lago: Watchdog

A government agency is withholding many records related to the FBIs raid of former President Donald Trumps Florida home, a watchdog organization says.

Judicial Watch is seeking records related to the National Archives and Records Administrations (NARA) referral to the Department of Justice of Trumps records management procedures, and records related to the retrieval of the materials stored at Mar-a-Lago.

NARA identified 1,612 responsive records but told Judicial Watch in letters made public on Oct. 11 that it will release just 65 of them. The rest are shielded from disclosure by various exemptions to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), NARA said, such as an exemption that allows agencies to withhold inter-agency and intra-agency records.

That exemption was asserted to protect NARAs deliberations with Trumps representatives, Congress, and other federal agencies, Jodi Foor, a deputy archivist, told Judicial Watch. Release would have a chilling effect on those deliberations, inhibiting the relationships and cooperation needed for compliance with the Presidential Records Act.

The withholding of so many records shows the Biden administration is in cover-up mode over the raid, Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement.

The National Archives pretends to be concerned to public access to public information while unlawfully ignoring FOIA law and using a myriad of excuses to hide records about its manufactured dispute over the Trump records, he said.

NARA officials didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.

Boxes Transferred, Referral

Trump transferred 15 boxes of documents to NARA in January.

NARA made a referral to the Department of Justice, the FBIs parent agency, in February after finding documents with classified markings among boxes that were transferred from Mar-a-Lago to the archives, former Archivist David Ferriero has said.

FBI agents raided Mar-a-Lago in August. In an affidavit attesting to the need for a search warrant, an FBI agent said the referral triggered a criminal investigation.

The affidavit was released to the public after Judicial Watch sued.

Agents seized more than 11,000 non-classified records and approximately 100 classified records from Trumps Florida resort, according to inventory lists the FBI has submitted to federal courts following the raid.

Trump has said that he declassified all the materials marked classified before he left office and that the raid was unjustified.

Judicial Watch has sued NARA over an alleged abuse of FOIA. Judicial Watch asked for records in February but hadnt received them by August, according to the complaint.

NARA has made some records public, including 15 pages of emails (pdf) between NARA and lawyers for Trump related to the 15 boxes of materials. It also periodically discloses information in letters to members of Congress. In one recent letter, Acting Archivist Debra Steidel Wall said that some records from the Trump White House are still missing.
Travelers pass through the concourse at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, in Arlington, Va., on May 28, 2021. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

New Era of Post-Pandemic Travel Arrives as Most Countries Ditch COVID Curbs

Many countries are opening up their borders to welcome post-pandemic travel from around the world in a bright turn for the global economy after reeling from prolonged COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns.

According to travel platform Kayak, 118 countries have opened their borders to American citizens, without COVID-19 testing or quarantine requirements. Sixty-one countries require testing, 15 require testing and quarantine, while 33 countries remain closed. Of the countries with restrictions, 17 do not allow entry to Americans, despite following COVID protocols, such as China, North Korea, and Yemen.

India, Japan, and the United Arab Emirates are a few of the 15 still requiring testing before travel, while Taiwan still requires testing and quarantine. The removal of travel restrictions are a life-saver for businesses who are still clinging on, and a relief for families separated from loved ones.

The world increasingly wants to move past this point where COVID is overpowering our daily lives with everything were doing, Katrine Wallace, an epidemiologist at the University of Illinois, Chicago, said to Bloomberg.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans are planning on at least one overnight leisure trip in the upcoming three months, and of those, almost 50 percent are traveling to visit friends and relatives.

Despite the challenges facing our industry, the outlook for fall looks stable, said Erin Francis-Cummings, chief executive officer of Destination Analysts, in a presentation, according to the outlet. A third of U.S. travelers said theyre looking to take more leisure vacations in the next 12 months, compared to the previous year.

Opening Up Japan

The United States, China, Indonesia, and the Philippines remain the main tourist destinations that remain closed to unvaccinated visitors.

Japan opened its borders after more than two years of isolation, although unvaccinated travelers would need to test negative and possibly quarantine upon arrival.

The island nation removed its 50,000-person cap on daily arrivals, and ended the requirement for travelers to be part of tour groups. Japan will not require visitors to obtain a visa if theyre citizens of the 68 countries with which the country carried a waiver agreement.

Within the country, the government is offering a financial subsidy of up to 11,000 ($76) per person per night (for a total of seven nights) for traveling throughout Japans 47 prefectures, except Tokyo, which is expected to join soon.

Through these measures, we hope to promote tourists travel both domestically and internationally and help revive demand hit by the pandemic and revitalize regional areas, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said at a regular news conference, according to Kyodo News.
New York County Executive Seeks Transparency in Federal Flights Carrying Illegal Immigrant Minors

Orange County executive Steven Neuhaus is frustrated that he got no advance notice about federal flights carrying illegal immigrant minors to his county in the past two weeks.

The flights landed at Orange County Airporta small non-commercial airport about 75 miles north of Manhattan, New Yorkwhich is owned and operated by the county.

I get that its controversialthese are not U.S. citizens, and their status is in question. But by coming into our county like this, it just adds  an aura of secrecy and controversy, Neuhaus told The Epoch Times on Oct. 11.

The federal government really needs to be more forthcoming and transparent with local officials and the public and answer our questions, he said.

Orange County executive Steven Neuhaus delivers his state of the county address in Montgomery on Sept. 30, 2016. (Holly Kellum/Epoch Times)

The first batch of flights was noticed in the late afternoon on Sept. 30 by residents living near the airport. They saw a group of minors exit a plane and board a nearby bus.

One alert citizen called 911, triggering responses from sheriff deputies, who pulled over the bus and questioned the adults aboard.

The adults wouldnt give details of the trip; one of them claimed that what they were doing was classified, according to a report by county district attorney David Hoovler on his public Facebook page.

Later a federal employee arrived and assured local officials that it was a legitimate federal operation and that none of the childrenhaving been flown from El Paso, Texaswould be placed in Orange County, Neuhaus said.

Neuhaus bought McDonalds meals for the children before sending them off onto the highway, he said.

Small airplanes and jets line up at the Orange County Airport in Montgomery, N.Y., on Oct. 11, 2022. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

A second batch of federally chartered planes carrying illegal minors from Texas landed on the night of Oct. 7.

Neuhaus quickly arrived after receiving a notification about the first plane. Watching the second landing, he got a call from a Texas-based regional office of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services informing him about the flights.

I think they could have done a lot better. We dont know which federal agencies are transporting these children, where these children are going, or who they are going to be housed with.

As a county, we run emergency services, and we also run child protective services. We could have been of more help had we been notified by the federal government, Neuhaus said.

Youve seen a lot of people from all sideseven people that are maybe more liberalthat are questioning whats going on here. We need to know more, he added.

Federal employees present at the airport told Neuhaus that those children would be bussed to cities outside Orange County, such as Kingston, Poughkeepsie, and New York. But he wasnt sure if he was told the truth, Neuhaus said.

He reached out to federal and state officials for more information but has got none so far.

Following the two sets of flights, Neuhaus got a letter from the New York State Office of Children and Family Services, asking whether Orange County can help house runaway and homeless immigrants, according to an Oct. 11 video update on his public Facebook page.

Early this year, the county airport completed a $30 million runway realignment project, which is the largest improvement it ever had since its original construction by the U.S. Army during the 1940s.

Federal money covered 90 percent of the project cost, the rest was split equally between the state and county.
A handgun on display at the Gun Lady store in downtown Port Jervis, N.Y., on Oct. 10, 2022. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

New York Orange County Sheriffs Office Resumes Pistol Permit Classes

After a month-long pause following new state gun laws, Orange County Sheriffs Office resumed training classes for pistol permits in Goshen, New York, on Oct. 11.

About 25 applicants will attend the classes every month, according to Undersheriff Kenneth Jones.

Under the states new concealed carry law, each permit applicant must finish a 16-hour classroom training plus a 2-hour live-fire class provided by authorized instructors.

After the new requirement took effect in early September, the sheriffs office paused training to update courses.

Orange County Sheriffs Office. (Courtesy of Orange County Sheriffs Office)

Fingerprinting at the office was also suspended at the same time and resumed on Oct. 1.

Appointments for fingerprinting are booked through January, including backlogs accumulated during the past month and new applications that keep rolling in, Jones told The Epoch Times.

The current pistol permit application procedure includes fingerprinting, completion of mandatory training courses, and submission of a set of forms disclosing personal information, such as an affidavit that lists out all personal social media accounts.

After the sheriffs office signs off on an application, a county court judge will make the final decision.

Adapting to New Laws

Maria Mann, an authorized instructor in Port Jervis, started teaching pistol permit courses in compliance with the new law days ago.

Pistol permit applicants can go to any authorized instructor for courses, not just limited to those at the sheriffs office.

Maria Mann at the Gun Lady store in downtown Port Jervis, N.Y., on Oct. 10, 2022. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

I think more training requirement is a good thing, but there are other parts in the law that I dont agree with, such as the part about business signs, Mann told The Epoch Times.

According to the new law, concealed carry is considered forbidden on business premises unless owners explicitly put out signs allowing it.

You are putting business owners in an uncomfortable situation, whether they welcome lawful concealed carry or not. People have different views. Some might say, I dont like guns, and that store has a sign on their door that they welcome concealed carry. Im not going near that store, she said.

Even though Mann is not a lawyer, she feels she must be versed in the law as a storekeeper at a gun store.

The Gun Ladythe only gun store in Port Jervisis primarily owned by a relative of hers.

We need to keep up with the changes in the laws. We need to know what we are allowed to sell and what we are not allowed to sell. We must remain compliant with not only with the federal but the state laws, she said.

The second floor of the Gun Lady store is used by Maria Mann for pistol permit courses, in Port Jervis, N.Y., on Oct. 10, 2022. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

Legal Challenges

The new concealed carry law has faced a slew of legal challenges since its passage in July.

On Oct. 6, a Syracuse-based federal judge blocked the bulk of the new lawincluding the mandatory review of permit applicants social media accounts in the past three yearsin response to a lawsuit questioning the laws constitutionality by six New York residents.

The state appealed the judges order to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Oct. 10.

Jones said if the circuit court upheld the block, his office would return social media affidavits to applicants.

New York State Division of Criminal Justice Servicesthe agency tasked with developing guidelines for the social media reviewhas yet to issue any guidance, Jones said.

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the constitutional right to bear arms outside ones home for self-protection and struck down New Yorks century-old concealed carry law in a landmark ruling.

Within weeks of the ruling, Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Democratic-controlled state legislature enacted a new concealed carry law with more restrictive measures, including the social media review requirements and a long list of gun-free zones, including churches, mass transit hubs, and Times Square in New York City.
A herd of cows make their way down the race to the milking shed at a dairy farm in Morrinsville, New Zealand, on April 18, 2012. (Sandra Mu/Getty Images)

New Zealand Farmers Could Soon Pay Flatulence Tax for Livestock Under World-First Plan

The New Zealand government has taken on the proposal by the farming sector for a separate pricing system on greenhouse emissions, which includes paying tax on the methane produced by livestock, most notably its cows and sheep.

In June, the He Waka Eke Noa, a partnership between agriculture leaders and the government, proposed that farmers calculate individually and pay for their methane and nitrous oxide emissions rather than based on national averages.

The proposal came amid mounting criticism of the sector, which is considered the largest emitter of greenhouse gasses at half of New Zealands gross emissionsyet is exempt from the countrys emissions trading scheme (ETS).

Read More New Zealand Farmers Offer to Pay Flatulent Tax to Help Emissions Targets

The government agreed with the He Waka Eke Noa proposal that the ETS was not an appropriate vehicle for farmers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

However, some tweaks were made to the original proposal, including that the Climate Change Commission be responsible for setting the methane price.

The proposal aims to give New Zealand farmers control over their farming system, providing the ability to reduce costs through revenue raised from the system being recycled back to farmers, which will fund further research, tools and technology, and incentives to reduce emissions, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.

She claimed the world-first scheme would allow New Zealand farmers to gain a premium for being climate-friendly products as well as boost export earnings.

No other country in the world has yet developed a system for pricing and reducing agricultural emissions, so our farmers are set to benefit from being first movers, Ardern said.

NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks during a press conference in Sydney, Australia, on July 8, 2022. (Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)

The pricing system is designed with the intent that revenue raised from the flatulent tax will go back into the agriculture sector in the form of sequestration investment, transition support, and sustainability research.

Reactions Towards the New Pricing Scheme

Beef and Lamb NZ (B+LNZ), a leading partner of He Waka Eke Noa, said in an email to farmers that the separate pricing scheme meant the industry would not be joining the ETS.

The government has agreed to many of the He Waka Eke Noa proposals, but it has put forward some changes which we believe will impact sheep and beef farmers and are not acceptable, it said in the email.

B+LNZ and other partners are not happy with these changes and will push for better outcomes as part of the consultation.

Andrew Hoggard, national president of the rural advocacy group Federated Farmers, said the greenhouse reduction plan would rip out the guts out of small-town New Zealand.

He also highlighted that, according to the governments own calculations, New Zealand would need to reduce sheep and beef farming by 20 percent and dairy farming by five percent to achieve its national greenhouse gas targets.

This is the equivalent of the entire wine industry and half of the seafood being wiped out, he said.

What happened to the historic partnership? Federated Farmers is deeply unimpressed with the governments take on the He Waka Eke Noa proposal and is concerned for our members futures.

Opposition leader Christopher Luxon said that while the National party acknowledged the need to reduce agriculture emissions, reducing one-fifth of sheep and beef farming by 2030 was really disturbing.

What weve said is we would support introducing agricultural pricing, Luxon told Radio NZ.

The question of how you do that is really important. You have to pace that with the technological advances that are coming and then synch it up with that.

Nationals agriculture spokesperson Barbara Kuriger said falls in sheep production in New Zealand could lead to higher global emissions through moving production overseas where there are fewer greenhouse emissions regulations.

Industry consultations will end on Nov. 18.
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (C) prior to the start of the fourth day of the Republican National Convention on July 21, 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. (John Moore/Getty Images)

Newt Gingrich: Tulsi Gabbards Departure Is Bad News for Democrats

Former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich suggested that Tulsi Gabbards announcement that shes leaving the Democratic Party is a sign that more will depart.

I think when she ran for president, she realized how really isolated she was from the great majority of the Democratic Party, which is now, frankly, a pretty weird party, Gingrich told Fox News on Tuesday. We saw the same thing happen in a slightly different way in Philadelphia last week, where the former deputy mayor, a Democrat, endorsed Dr. [Mehmet] Oz for the U.S. Senate and said that John Fetterman is just so crazy on crime and so pro-criminal, he couldnt be for him.

Gingrich, who was House speaker from 1995 to 1999, added that he believes there is a drift away from the Democratic Party because weve certainly seen among Latinos a huge drift towards the Republican Party as theyre driven away by the weirder policies of the Democratic Party.

Gabbard, a Democrat 2020 presidential candidate, did not announce her next move, including whether she would join the GOP. However, New Hampshire Senate candidate Don Bolduc, a Republican, wrote Wednesday that Gabbard will be stumping for him.

The reason why she is leaving the Democratic Party, according to Gabbard, is because it represents the powerful elite, not normal people.

Then-Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard speaks in New Hampshire in a file photograph. (Scott Eisen/Getty Images)

I can no longer remain in todays Democratic Party that is now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue [and] stoke anti-white racism, actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms, are hostile to people of faith [and] spirituality, [and] demonize the police [and] protect criminals at the expense of law-abiding Americans Gabbard wrote on Twitter.

When she was one of the Democratic presidential contenders in the crowded 2020 field, Gabbard touted herself as an Iraq War veteran and promoted a non-interventionist foreign policy platform. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suggested in an interview that she was being groomed to run as a third-party candidate and strongly suggested she was a Russian asset, although she didnt specifically name the former Hawaii congresswoman.

Later, Gabbard filed a defamation lawsuit against Clinton that she ultimately dropped in 2020. After suspending her presidential campaign, Gabbard endorsed Joe Bidens presidential bid, although shes become sharply critical of his policies.

President Biden campaigned on a message of unity, healing the partisan divide, bringing the country together. He just gave a big speech saying supporters of President [Donald] Trump are the most extremist group in our country and a threat to our democracy, she said Tuesday. Thats half the country.
Families join the Freedom Convoy protest in downtown Ottawa after police distributed arrest notices to truckers and their supporters occupying Wellington St. and the Parliament Hill area on Feb. 16, 2022. (Richard Moore/The Epoch Times)

No Evidence of Violence, Threats From Freedom Convoy: Internal Gov. Reports

There was no evidence of violence by Freedom Convoy organizers and supporters when they protested against federal COVID-19 mandates and restrictions in Ottawa earlier this year, according to security reports from an internal department of Public Safety Canada.

In a security update dated Feb. 14the day the Liberal government invoked the Emergencies Actthe public safety departments Government Operations Centre (GOC) characterized the Freedom Convoy protest as small, peaceful, and having little impact on federal operations.

Approximately 10 people on Parliament Hill and approximately 100 on the surrounding streets, reads the Feb. 14 daily security update from the GOC, obtained by Blacklocks Reporter.

No concerns at this time, said an assessment by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service included in the report.

The federal government proceeded to declare a state of emergency that day, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau depicting the truckers protest as illegal and dangerous at a related press conference.

The Freedom Convoy movement began on Jan. 29 as a demonstration by truck drivers opposing the federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates for cross-border travel but grew exponentially as supporters from across the country joined in to call for an end to all COVID-19 mandates and restrictions.

Occupying streets, harassing people, breaking the lawthis is not a peaceful protest, Trudeau said on Feb. 14.

The invocation of the Emergencies Act granted the police extraordinary powers to clear out protesters from Ottawas downtown area and granted banks the power to freeze the accounts of convoy organizers and supporters without a court order.

Peaceful and Cooperative

Daily security updates by the GOCfrom the beginning of the protest to days before the escalated operations by police on Feb. 18at no time described the Ottawa protest as dangerous or violent. The GOCs stated role is to lead and coordinate integrated federal response to all-hazard events of national interest.

The Freedom Convoy so far has been peaceful and cooperative with police, said a Jan. 27 report.

Other daily updates on the convoy protest obtained by Blacklocks Reporters include confirming: no major incidents (Jan. 29), no violence took place (Feb. 1), disruption to government activities is so far minor (Feb. 6), there are minimal people on Parliament Hill (Feb. 10) and situation remains stable and planning is ongoing (Feb. 11).

On Feb. 17, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino told the House of Commons that the convoy protests were not about mandates or freedom.

Its about a very small, organized, and targeted group of individuals who are trying to strip away the very freedoms that we here have sworn to uphold, he said, adding that one of the reasons to invoke the act is to deal with an ideologically motivated operation.

The GOC memos contradict his claim.

Overall assessment: The majority of the events have been peaceful, wrote staff. Since most government employees are working remotely, the disruption to government activities is so far minor. There is currently no known end time for the demonstrations.

The memos also contracted claims by Liberal cabinet members who said the Freedom Convoy was funded by foreign actors to undermine Canadas democracy.

The Department of Foreign Affairs has not observed any significant indicators of foreign state involvement related to the truckers convoy, said a report included in GOCs daily updates for Feb. 14.

An analysis of social media posts with regard to the convoy did not uncover any organized activity to subvert the countrys sovereignty.

A significant proportion of content and engagement online is still being driven by organic activity by average users, wrote staff.

Noe Chartier contributed to this report.
Nuclear War Is Thinkable

The West is miscalculating if it thinks it can safely push Putin to the brink

Commentary

In an address to his nation in September, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would use nuclear weapons if Russias territorial integrity were threatened.

This is not a bluff.  Our independence and freedom will be defendedI repeatby all the systems available to us, he said.

Most military authorities in the West all but dismiss Putins threat, confident that they can corner Putin without risking a nuclear response. He knows very well that a nuclear war should never be fought and cannot be won, stated NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

The scenario that the West dismisses would begin with Russias use of a battlefield tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine. The United States would then make good on its high-profile threat of an overwhelming retaliation by itself and its NATO allies against the Russian homeland using conventional non-nuclear weapons. That U.S. attack on Russias territorial integrity would then trigger Russias nuclear weapons doctrine, which calls for Russian nuclear-weapons retaliation against the United States and NATO.

When NATO asserts that a nuclear war cannot be won, it is referring to the doctrine of mutual-assured destruction, which posits that in an all-out nuclear war, both sides would annihilate each other, making nuclear war futile. The doctrine is strengthened by the popular belief that detonating nuclear bombs would lead to radioactive fallout that would render land uninhabitable.

These conventional wisdoms dont stand up to scrutiny. The nuclear bombs that the United States dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945the only sources of real-world data involving the effects of radiation on nuclear bomb victimsprovide compelling evidence that the devastation wrought by nuclear bombs is mostly limited to the target.

As documented by the Atomic Bomb Disease Institute of the Nagasaki University School of Medicine, most of the physical damage to property was confined to 1.2 miles from ground zero. As for the human toll, the bombs killed 97 percent of those who were within less than 1 mile of ground zero, 28 percent of those within 1.2 miles, and very few who were as much as 1.8 miles away.

A Japanese soldier walks through the atomic bomb-leveled city of Hiroshima, Japan, in September 1945. Photographed by Lt. Wayne Miller, USNR. (NARA)

The institute, which analyzed the medical records of 120,000 survivors continuously since 1968, found that deaths from radiation mostly occurred within a 1.8-to-2.5-mile radius from ground zero, where victims received high doses of radiation. Beyond 2.5 miles, the institute discovered, those who received relatively low doses of radiation outlived the general population. To underscore the short-lived nature of radiation from a nuclear bomb, Hiroshima was rebuilt in two years, and Nagasaki took longer for lack of funds. By the mid-1950s, their populations matched their pre-bomb size.

When pundits dismiss a Russian resort to nuclear weapons, they are referring to a tactical bomb of the same order of magnitude as the 21-kiloton Nagasaki bomb. Putin is merely fearmongering, asserted retired Gen. Jack Keane, chairman of the Institute for the Study of War, who says Putins generals wouldnt undermine their armys ability to continue its invasion. His army on the battlefield, theyre not trained to deal with a radioactive nuclear battlefield.

Keane should remember that Russians were involved in the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine, which taught that the only precautions Russian troops would need to take before entering a radioactive battlefield would be to avoid consuming produce from contaminated farms. At Chernobyl, lives were lost among firefighters in the inferno, who absorbed deadly amounts of radiation, but otherwise, the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation found no scientific evidence of increases in mortality or in non-malignant disorders that could be related to radiation exposure.

If Russia were to defy the nuclear taboo and employ a tactical nuclear weapon, as some in the Russian military argue, the result could be catastrophic, but not because the battlefield would have become radioactive. The catastrophe would arise should the United States follow through with its threat of catastrophic consequences by unleashing massive non-nuclear bombardments of the Russian homeland in order to obliterate Russias military, topple its government, and end the Russian Federation. As punctuated by Putin, the United States intends to finish off Russia.

In the event of such an existential attack on the Russian homeland, Russia and its leaderswho would now have nothing to losewould almost surely adhere to their long-established military doctrine and launch strategic nuclear weapons against the West. Any other response would be improbable, not least because Russia has a superior nuclear arsenal, according to Hans Christensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project.

While both countries have a comparable number of nuclear bombs5,977 for Russia and 5,428 for the United StatesRussias arsenal is in a superior state of readiness. Moreover, the United States seems to acknowledge that it has no defense against Russias submarine-based Poseiden nuclear bombs, which could trigger tsunamis that would overwhelm its coastal cities, or its air-based hypersonic missiles, which could evade U.S. missile defenses on their way to destroying U.S. cities.

FA hypersonic Zircon cruise missile is fired from the guided missile frigate Admiral Gorshkov during a test at the Barents Sea, in this still image taken from a video released on May 28, 2022. (Russian Defence Ministry/Handout via Reuters)

U.S. military analysts believe that Russia is capable of destroying all major U.S. cities and that the United States could potentially do the same to Russia. Here lies another advantage for Russia, whose scorched-earth military strategy defeated the Swedes under Charles XII when they invaded in the 18th century, the French under Napoleon in the 19th century, and the Germans under Adolf Hitler in the 20th century. Unlike the United States, whose conduct in Vietnam, Somalia, Beirut, Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan has led military analysts to believe it has no stomach for casualties, the Russians see as heroic their ability to bear immense hardshipits willingness to abandon Moscow to Napoleons army remains a symbol of its indomitability.

If Russia resorts to a tactical nuclear weapon, an all-out nuclear war is unlikely to happen because the United Statesnot Russiais bluffing in its claim of retaliation. But Russia is unlikely to use a tactical nuclear weapon because it is confident of victoryUkraines recent recoveries of territory came of massively outnumbering Russias military, a failing Russia plans to remedy by a call-up of reserves that will triple its forces facing Ukraines military.

The threat of nuclear war is nevertheless real amid continuing attempts to push Putin to the brink. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently argued that NATO should preemptively strike Russia to exclude the possibility of use of nuclear weapons by Russia, and U.S. military hawks beat a perpetual drumbeat.

All bets are now off. The idea of nuclear conflict, once unthinkable, has become a subject of debate, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres admitted after Putins this is not a bluff warning. Russias nuclear superiority, national pride, and willingness to suffer hardship allow it to consider nuclear war both thinkable and winnable.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

Patricia Adams Follow Patricia Adams is an economist and the President of the Energy Probe Research Foundation and Probe International, an independent think tank in Canada and around the world. She is the publisher of internet news services Three Gorges Probe and Odious Debts Online and the author or editor of numerous books. Her books and articles have been translated into Chinese, Spanish, Bengali, Japanese, and Bahasa Indonesia. She can be reached at patriciaadams@probeinternational.org.
Researchers find a higher rate of depression and anxiety in IVF babies in a new study. (Karnavalfoto/Shutterstock)

One in 20 Born in Australia Are Test Tube Babies

An Australian study has found that five percent of babies born in the country today were conceived by in vitro fertilisation (IVF), or about one child in every classroom.

In partnership with the Raine StudyAustralias longest-running public health study, the researchers from the University of Western Australia (UWA) also discovered an increase in depression in teenagers conceived with assisted reproductive technology.

At 14 years of age IVF offspring had a higher incidence of clinical depression (12 percent compared to eight percent), lead researcher Prof. Roger Hart, from UWA Medical School said.

The authors say that it is likely that the findings relate to the differences in parenting styles.

Parents who conceived through assisted reproductive technology may be more overprotective, seeing their children as precious, and also have higher expectations from them, which in turn can affect the childs behaviour, the authors wrote.

Hart said that the higher prevalence of depression in this study is concerning but this seems to disappear by 17 years of age.

It is reassuring that differences in the rates of depression were not observed at age 17, he said. It is possible that the adolescents perhaps become less sensitive to family and parenting influences over time.

An earlier study by the team on the general health of IVF adolescents found that while there were no significant differences with the male teens, IVF girls had a lower BMI and less fat than the control group.

Both IVF girls and boys demonstrated a tendency towards more allergies such as hay fever and food allergies but showed no differences compared to the control group for asthma.

IVF Teens Show Less Delinquency

Despite showing higher rates of internalising behaviour like depression and anxiety, the IVF teens displayed a decreased tendency towards externalising behaviour, such as aggressive and delinquent conduct.

The authors say that this trait may be due to the higher social economic status in families who conceived through IVF and as follows, report fewer behavioural problems.

It is well established that women with a higher social economic status are more likely to utilise assisted reproductive technology, the authors wrote.

The lower reported prevalence of externalising behaviour could be because IVF parents, after the hardship of trying to conceive, minimise problems and criticise their children less and, therefore, may report less behavioural problems.

Published in Human Reproduction on Sep. 27, the study looked at the mental health of 163 teens born in Western Australia following IVF.

A major advantage of the study is that most research focused on short-term outcomes, whereas this study looked at mental health in older children and whether they may potentially be at an increased risk for poorer mental health and behaviour.

With this knowledge, couples considering assisted reproductive technology can be aware of potential risks and act accordingly, for example, by recognising symptoms and seeking help and treatment early, Hart said.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra testifies before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee April 26, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

PayPal Warned Over Speech Restrictions by Federal Financial Regulator

A top federal financial regulator said he was considering investigating PayPal for a policy that it has now rescinded that would fine users $2,500 for spreading misinformation.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra told CNBC suggested that the policy, which PayPal said over the past weekend was issued in error, was too extreme.

Ive never actually never heard of a payment system thinking that it could fine someone for legal expression that their users are making, Chopra told the outlet on Wednesday.

We have ordered most of the major Big Tech firms and payment companies to provide us with information about how are they making decisions about who they kick off their platforms, Chopra stated. But we also need to look into whether they believe they can be fining users for legal activity.

Chopra said the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau would have to investigate the matter and would not act yet. However, he noted it might be new territory for the agency to investigate.

On Sunday, the San Jose, California-based payment services firm said that an acceptable use policy recently went out in error that included incorrect information.

PayPal is not fining people for misinformation and this language was never intended to be inserted in our policy, the company told news outlets. Our teams are working to correct our policy pages. Were sorry for the confusion this has caused.

The company did not elaborate on why or how it was mistakenly published. A request for comment from The Epoch Times was not returned.

More Details

According to several media reports last week, PayPal published a policy update prohibiting customers from using its services for activities identified by it as sending, posting, or publication of any messages, content, or materials promoting misinformation.

A person holds a credit card, looking at an iPad with the Paypal website on the screen. (Antlii/Shutterstock)

The new policy, which said customers could have to pay damages of $2,500 for each violation, was supposed to go into effect on Nov. 3, the reports said. A page that contained the controversial PayPal terms of service that included the fine was apparently taken down by the firm, but an archived version of it remains online.

You are independently responsible for complying with all applicable laws in all of your actions related to your use of PayPals services, regardless of the purpose of the use, it stated. In addition, you must adhere to the terms of this Acceptable Use Policy. Violation of this Acceptable Use Policy constitutes a violation of the PayPal User Agreement and may subject you to damages, including liquidated damages of $2,500.00 U.S. dollars per violation, which may be debited directly from your PayPal account(s).

Criticism

After reports spread about the rule, former PayPal executives, including David Marcus and Elon Musk, sharply criticized the firm.

A private company now gets to decide to take your money if you say something they disagree with. Insanity, Marcus wrote on Twitter. Elon Musk, the billionaire Tesla chief who co-founded PayPal, wrote Agreed, replying to Marcuss tweet.

Even though PayPal backtracked, the damage was already done. Shares for the firm plunged 6 percent on Monday, and the term, delete PayPal trended across Twitter.

The Epoch Times has contacted PayPal for comment.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Bismarck School Board member Emily Eckroth has pleaded not guilty to obstructing officers during a traffic stop last month.

Eckroth, a family physician elected in June to the board overseeing North Dakota's largest school district, entered her plea on Friday. She also waived her initial appearance that had been set for Oct. 25 in state district court.

She faces a Class A misdemeanor count of physical obstruction of a government function. The offense carries a maximum punishment of 360 days in jail -- just shy of one year -- and a $3,000 fine.

Her attorney, Scott Hager, did not immediately return a Tribune phone message Tuesday seeking comment on her plea.

A trial was not immediately scheduled.

Burleigh County deputies at about 12:15 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 3, pulled over Eckroth's husband, Ryan, for allegedly failing to maintain his lane near mile marker 158 on westbound Interstate 94 in Bismarck. She was a passenger in the vehicle.

Deputy Joe Citta's officer notes said Emily Eckroth "was immediately disrespectful" toward him and her husband. While Citta was administering standardized field sobriety tests to her husband, Emily Eckroth "began to yell 'This is bulls--t' towards deputies and began to record deputies," according to the notes.
Pennsylvania Senate Candidate Fetterman Needs Computer to Process Audio in First In-Person Interview Since Stroke

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman used a computer to process audio in his first in-person interview since suffering a stroke earlier this year.

Fetterman, a Democrat running for U.S. Senate, was seated behind an Apple computer, which he looked at after a reporter asked him a question, to read audio converted into text, according to video of the interview, which was conducted on Oct. 7 and released on Oct. 11.

Because of his stroke, Fettermans campaign required closed captioning technology for this interview to essentially read our questions as we asked them, Dasha Burns, the NBC interviewer, said on air. In small talk before the interview without captioning, it wasnt clear he was understanding our conversation, she added later. Joe Calvello, a spokesperson for Fettermans campaign told The Epoch Times via email that Fetterman has been transparent about needing closed captioning to be precise and avoid missing words.

As weve said over and over again, John is healthy and he also still has a lingering auditory processing issue that his doctors expect will go away, the spokesperson said, adding later, Unfortunately for Dr. Oz and the pathetic Republicans who are desperately rooting against his recovery, John is getting better every day and he is going to win this race to be Pennsylvanias next Senator.

Brittany Yanick, a spokeswoman for the Oz campaign, said that Fetterman has failed to be honest about two things: his support for releasing convicted murderers back on the streets and his health and called on the candidate to release his medical records.

Fetterman, 53, suffered a stroke in May and required hospital care.

Fetterman still won the Democrat primary for the Senate seat, which is becoming vacant because Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) is not running for another term.

Fetterman is vying with Mehmet Oz, the Republican nominee, for the seat.

Ozs campaign shared video of Burns talking about the new interview but has not issued a statement on Fetterman needing closed captioning.

Fetterman is set to debate Oz in October but his campaign has required Fetterman be able to use closed captioning.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz holds a press conference with U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) in Philadelphia, Pa., on Sept. 6, 2022. (Mark Makela/Getty Images)

Auditory Processing Issue

I sometimes will hear things in a way thats not perfectly clear. So I use captioning so Im able to see what youre saying on the, in captioning, and Im able to respond to the question, Fetterman said during the interview. He described the issue as an auditory processing problem.

Every now and then Ill miss a word. Every now and then. Or sometimes Ill maybe mush two words together. But as long as I have captioning, Im able to understand exactly whats being asked, he said.

Fetterman struggled to pronounce certain words and some of his sentences did not make sense.

Fetterman said the issue would not have an impact if he were elected.

I feel like Im going to get better and better everyday, and by January Im going to be much better and Dr. Oz is still going to be a fraud, he said.

Fetterman also defended not handing over medical records.

I feel like we have been very transparent in a lot of different ways. When our doctor has already given a letter saying that Im able to serve and to be running, Fetterman said. And then I think theres, you cant be any more transparent than standing up on a stage with 3,000 people and having a speech without a teleprompter and just being and putting everything and yourself out there like that. I think thats as transparent as everyone in Pennsylvania can see.

The letter in question (pdf) was released in June. Dr. Ramesh Chandra said that Fetterman should be able to campaign and serve in the U.S. Senate without a problem, if the Democrat takes medications, eats healthy, and exercises.

Fetterman said interviews and campaign stops can give voters confidence in his condition.
A man drives a jet ski on the Martwa river with the LOTOS Oil Refinery in the background in Gdansk, Poland, on June 6, 2022. (Omar Marques/Getty Images)

Poland Probes New Leak in Russian Oil Pipeline to Germany: All Hypotheses Possible

WARSAWPolish energy operator PERN said on Oct. 12 that it had detected a leak in a key pipeline that ships Russian oil to Germany via Poland, with Warsaw saying its investigating but theres no indication of sabotage.

After recent explosions rocked the Nord Stream 1 natural gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea, suspicions were raised about another possible act of sabotage when PERN announced it had detected a leak late Tuesday in one of the the Druzhba pipelines bringing oil from Russia to Germany, prompting an immediate shutdown.

Polands top official in charge of energy infrastructure Mateusz Berger told Reuters that it appears that the damage was accidental and there were no signs of sabotage.

Stanislaw Zaryn, a Polish government spokesperson responsible for information security, said in a statement on Twitter on Wednesday morning that the leak is being investigated and that all hypotheses are possible.

The scale of the incident does not impact Polands security, Zaryn added.

PERN said that Polish refineries continue to be supplied by one of two Druzhba pipelines that was not affected by the leak.

The situation is also without impact on fuel supplies to Polish drivers, said PERN spokesperson Katarzyna Krasinska, in a statement obtained and translated by The Epoch Times.

Crude oil tanks are pictured in Gdansk, Poland, on June 6, 2022. (Omar Marques/Getty Images)

Sergei Andronov, vice president of the Russian operator of the pipeline Transnieft, told Interfax that PERN had notified them about the leak.

Andronov confirmed that oil continued to be supplied to Polish refineries.

In an interview with Polish press agency PAP, Zaryn said that whats going on now in Europe means that such leaks must be investigated thoroughly and that the probe would proceed as fast as possible.

While Zaryn didnt explicitly mention the recent explosions that rocked the Nord Stream 1 natural gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea, his remarks suggest theres an elevated sense of threat to critical energy infrastructure.

Swedish authorities, who have been probing the Nord Stream leaks, said on Oct. 6 that they had found evidence of detonations, strengthening suspicions of gross sabotage, according to Swedens Security Service.

Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said on Oct. 10 that Sweden wouldnt share the findings of its investigations into the explosions with Russian authorities.

In Sweden, our preliminary investigations are confidential, and that, of course, also applies in this case, she told reporters.

Europe, which has been heavily reliant on Russia for energy supplies, is facing an energy crisis as it tries to wean itself off Russian flows and after Moscow cut off gas supplies citing Western sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine.
Figo Chan Ho-wun (C), the former convener of the Civil Human Rights Front, is released from jail in Hong Kong on Oct. 10, 2022 and is greeted by Emily Lau Wai-hing (R) of the Democratic Party and Cyd Ho Sau-lan (L) of the Labour Party. (Emily Lau /Facebook via the Epoch Times)

Pro-Democracy Convener Released After 18 Months in Jail

Calls on Hongkongers to continue to speak out

After serving nearly 18 months in prison, Figo Chan Ho-wun, former convener of the Civil Human Rights Front, was released from detention on the Oct. 10. Emily Lau Wai-hing of the Democratic Party, Chan Po-ying, Chairman of the League of the Social Democrats, and Cyd Ho Sau-lan of the Labour Party, were present to welcome his release.

Chan expressed regret over the disbandment of the Front and believed that Hong Kong society has changed, and we can no longer rely on just one organization or individual to speak out. He appealed to Hong Kong people to speak up when they see injustice. He also quoted lyrics of Dear Janes song Inno Per Gil Sconfitti (The Heart of San Marino) as an encouragement to all Hongkongers.

While Chan was serving his sentence, the Civil Human Rights Front announced its dissolution. He pointed out that the Front itself was an organization that had always spoken vigorously for the people of Hong Kong over the past years. He went on to point out that all donations made to The Front had been handled according to its charter and were donated to charities.

At its prime, the Front was a coalition platform focusing on political and democratic issues in Hong Kong, and nearly all members of Hong Kong pro-democracy groups participated. However, since the CCP implemented the Hong Kong National Security Law (NSL) in 2020, most member organizations withdrew from it.

The Civil Human Rights Front is best known for hosting the July 1st rally in Hong Kong every year since 2003. Since then, all demonstrations launched by the pro-democracy faction were held under the name of the Front until its disbandment on Aug. 13, 2021.

Chan served as the convener between Oct. 21, 2020, and May 28, 2021. He was convicted for participating in the 2019 October 1 parade, the rally on June 4, and the July 1st parade both in 2020, and was sentenced to a total of 22 months in prison. He was jailed in May 2021.

He mentioned, in particular, the people who wrote letters, visited him in prison, and saw him off (to prison) before and after his conviction and thanked them with gratitude. He also mentioned that his father passed away a few months ago. Although he was allowed to attend his funeral, he could not accompany his fathers last moments in the hospital. He often recalled the scene when his father came to his court hearings to support him despite his frail condition and requiring special carers to carry him around. At that very moment, tears appeared in his eyes.

Former Hong Kong Democratic Party Chairwoman and Legislative Council Member Emily Lau (L) is having tea with Figo Chan Ho-wun, in Hong Kong on Oct. 10, 2022. (Emily Lau/Facebook via The Epoch Times)

Chan believes that the current society has changed, and it is not possible to rely on just one organization or one person to speak out. It should be the duty of everybody whenever they spot any injustice. He also pointed out that he would not deliberately break the law, but he would uphold the beliefs in his heart. He hoped that Hong Kong people would not be afraid to speak up and instead should speak up to fight for what they deserve.

Finally, he encouraged the people of Hong Kong with Dear Janes song Heart of San Marino, and pointed out that he is very, very, unwilling to emigrate now.
Prosecutors Drop Charges Against Adnan Syed in Serial Case

ANNAPOLIS, Md.Prosecutors dropped charges against Adnan Syed on Tuesday in the 1999 killing of Hae Min Lee after additional DNA testing excluded him as a suspect in a case chronicled by the hit podcast Serial.

Marilyn Mosby, the states attorney for the city of Baltimore, said her office would continue to pursue justice for Lee but that it had closed its case against Syed, who spent 23 years in prison for the killing. She said the decision was made after additional DNA testing excluded Syed as a suspect in the strangulation of Lee, whom Syed had dated.

This case is over. There are no more appeals necessary, Mosby said during a news conference.

She said her office decided to drop the charges after receiving the results on Friday of DNA testing on Lees skirt, pantyhose, jacket, and shoes that was conducted using a more modern technique than when evidence in the case was first tested. Although no DNA was recovered from the skirt, pantyhose, or jacket, some was recovered from Lees shoes, and most compellingly, Adnan Syed, his DNA was excluded, she said.

Mosby said that even though her administration wasnt responsible for the pain inflicted on Hae Min Lees family or the wrongful conviction of Syed, as a representative of the institution, it is my responsibility to acknowledge and to apologize to the family of Hae Min Lee and Adnan Syed.

She also said her office will continue to utilize every available resource to prosecute whoever is responsible for the death of Hae Min Lee.

Marilyn Mosby, Maryland State Attorney for Baltimore City, speaks during a news conference pertaining to a case against Adnan Syed, in Baltimore on Oct. 11, 2022. (Julio Cortez/AP Photo)

Syeds attorney Erica Suter celebrated the news, noting that Syed wasnt ready yet to speak about it publicly.

Todays the day that Adnan Syed and his loved ones have been waiting for 23 long years, Suter said during a Zoom call with reporters. The results of the DNA testing excluded Adnan and confirm what Adnan and his supporters have always known: that Adnan Syed is innocent. The state of Maryland has dropped the charges. Adnan Syed is free.

Suter, an assistant public defender and the director of the University of Baltimore Law Schools Innocence Project Clinic, said Syeds legal team would begin working with the states attorneys office as soon as possible to formally certify his innocence. She said it was premature to say whether they would seek compensation for wrongful conviction.

Today we are just elated that Adnan is free, Suter said, noting that Syed plans to spend time with his loved ones. I think hes just really elated to be able to have the small quiet everyday joys of freedom that many of us take for granted.

A Baltimore judge last month overturned Syeds murder conviction and ordered him released from prison, where the 41-year-old had spent more than two decades. Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn also gave prosecutors 30 days in which to decide whether to retry Syed or drop the charges.

Adnan Syed (C) leaves the Cummings Courthouse in Baltimore on Sept. 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Brian Witte)

Phinn ruled that the state had violated its legal obligation to share evidence that could have bolstered Syeds defense. Syed was placed on home detention with GPS location monitoring after he got out of prison, but those restrictions were lifted on Tuesday.

Lees family last month asked the Court of Special Appeals, which is Marylands intermediate appellate court, to halt the case. Attorney Steve Kelly said Lees family was not challenging Syeds release, but instead wanted the judge to hold another hearing that the family can attend in-person and address the courtLees brother Young Lee appeared via videoconference on short notice during the previous hearing.

In a statement Tuesday, Kelly said the Lee family learned about prosecutors decision to drop the charges through news accounts.

The family received no notice and their attorney was offered no opportunity to be present at the proceeding, Kelly said. By rushing to dismiss the criminal charges, the States Attorneys Office sought to silence Hae Min Lees family and to prevent the family and the public from understanding why the state so abruptly changed its position of more than 20 years. All this family ever wanted was answers and a voice. Todays actions robbed them of both.

Mosby said Tuesday that the familys appeal would have no effect on her offices decision to drop the charges against Syed.

Asked about the status of the Lee familys appeal, Suter noted that the appeals court hadnt dismissed it and that Syeds legal team was awaiting that courts next action.

Syed has maintained his innocence for decades and captured the attention of millions in 2014 when the debut season of Serial focused on the case and raised doubts about some of the evidence, including cellphone tower data.

The states attorneys office has said that a reinvestigation of the case revealed evidence regarding the possible involvement of two alternate suspects. It said the two might have been involved individually or together, but it didnt disclose their names.

One of the suspects had threatened Lee, saying he would make her [Ms. Lee] disappear. He would kill her, according to a court filing.

The suspects were known persons at the time of the original investigation and were not properly ruled out nor disclosed to the defense, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors also said new information revealed that one of the suspects was convicted of attacking a woman in her vehicle, and that one of the suspects was convicted of engaging in serial rape and sexual assault.

Prosecutors also acknowledged that unreliable cellphone data had been used to convict Syed.

Syed served more than 20 years in prison for the strangling of Lee, who was 18 at the time. Her body was found weeks later buried in a Baltimore park.

More than a decade later, the popular Serial podcast revealed little-known evidence and attracted millions of listeners, shattering podcast-streaming and downloading records.

By Brian Witte
Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses a plenary session of the Russian Energy Week forum in Moscow on Oct. 12, 2022. (Alexey Maishev/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images)

Putin Moots Gas Hub in Turkey With Nord Stream Supplies

MOSCOWPresident Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia could redirect supplies intended for the damaged Nord Stream pipelines to the Black Sea to create a European gas hub in Turkey, or even use the one intact part of Nord Stream 2 to supply the EU.

An investigation is under way into explosions last month that ruptured the Russian-built Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines on the bed of the Baltic Sea.

Putin said it was possible to repair the pipelines and that Russia and Europe should decide their fate.

We could move the lost volumes from the Nord Streams along the bottom of the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea region and thus make the main routes for the supply of our fuel, our natural gas to Europe through Turkey, creating the largest gas hub for Europe in Turkey, he told an energy conference in Moscow.

That is, of course, if our partners are interested in this. And economic feasibility, of course.

The problem is that European Union countries are trying to end their reliance on Russian oil and gas after Putin sent troops into Ukraine as part of what he calls a special military operation.

Turkish Energy Minister Fatih Donmez, speaking at the same conference in Moscow, said the idea was new to him but should be discussed.

It is the first time weve heard this. Thus it is early to make an assessment, Donmez said. These are things that need to be discussed.

Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller praised the Turkstream pipeline across Black Sea, noting it was much deeper than Nord Stream.

As for the hub, there is no doubt that we can consider the issue of a trading platform on the border of the European Union and Turkey, Miller said.

Ball in EU Court

Putin also said Russian gas could still be supplied to Europe through the one part of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that is intact, but that would depend on the EU.

Gas bubbles from the Nord Stream 2 leak reaching surface of the Baltic Sea in the area shows disturbance of well over one kilometer diameter near Bornholm, Denmark, on Sept. 27, 2022. (Danish Defence Command/Handout via Reuters)

It is possible to repair gas pipelines running along the bottom of the Baltic Sea, but this will only make sense if they are further economically justified, he said, adding that the security of the pipeline would have to be ensured.

And there is one branch of the Nord Stream 2, apparently that survived, Putin said. Russia is ready to start such deliveries. The ball, as they say, is in the court of the European Union.

Miller said the pipelines could be repaired but that the EU had to say whether it wanted them repaired and ensure their security.

Three of the Nord Stream pipelines are damaged. That leaves only one line of Nord Stream 2, which has an annual capacity of 27.5 billion cubic meters, functional.

We are ready to supply additional volumes in the autumn-winter period, Putin said.

The pipelines, which have become a flashpoint in the Ukraine crisis, were leaking gas into the Baltic Sea off the coast of Denmark and Sweden.

Apart from being the worlds biggest natural gas exporter, Russia is the second largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia and a member of the OPEC+ producer group that last week decided to cut output.

Putin said Russia planned to hold oil production and exports at current levels until 2025 and that Moscow would not cede its leading position in the global energy market despite Western sanctions.

We hope that these decisions will suit both oil producers and consumers, Putin said. The coordination of the actions of OPEC+ partners will definitely continue to ensure the stability and predictability of the market.

By Vladimir Soldatkin and Oksana Kobzeva
Guylaine Potvin, shown in a provincial police handout photo, was found dead in her apartment in Jonquiere, Que., on Apr. 28, 2000. (The Canadian Press/Surete du Quebec)

Quebec Provincial Police Make Arrest 22 Years After Murder of College Student

Quebec provincial police say theyve made an arrest in the homicide of a junior college student 22 years ago.

Guylaine Potvin was found dead in her apartment in Jonquiere, Que., about 215 kilometres north of Quebec City, on April 28, 2000.

Provincial police say theyve arrested Marc-Andre Grenon, 47, in connection with Potvins murder.

Grenon, of Granby, Que., east of Montreal, is also charged with attempted murder and sexual assault in connection with the case.

Police say that their investigation turned up similarities with another case in Quebec City from 2000, in which a female student, living alone, was assaulted and left for dead but survived the attack.

Provincial police say Grenon will appear in court via video link later today.
Repeat Offender Released After Assaulting a Woman With a Weapon in Downtown Vancouver

A repeat offender arrested for assaulting a 19-year-old woman with a weapon in downtown Vancouver has been granted bail and released, sparking concerns about the mans threat to public safety.

We cant have individuals like this released back into the community, only to threaten other women or beat other women, or worse, said Liberal leader Kevin Falcon in an interview with CTV news.

That young woman could have died. This is a very serious proposition that I dont think is being treated with the utmost seriousness by the NDP government, or frankly the courts.

Mohammed Majidpour, 35, is accused of hitting a 19-year-old Asian woman over the head with a pole as she was walking down the street on Sept. 27 at around 9:50 a.m. Police allege he made a racial slur while hitting the woman and then fled the scene while continuing to make offensive comments. The victim required medical attention, but her injuries were not life-threatening.

Mohammed Majidpour in a photo released by the Vancouver Police Department. (Handout via VPD)

Although there were other people walking in the block at the time of assault, they couldnt have prevented the attack because it was so sudden, said Constable Jason Doucette in a Vancouver Police Department press release on Sept. 28, adding that witnesses called 9-1-1 and stayed with the victim until police arrived.

Police issued a warrant for Majidpour and released photos of him to the public, warning not to approach him. He was arrested on Oct. 6 after being identified by a member of the public and reported to police.

After spending the long weekend in jail, he was released on bail with conditions to have no contact with the victim, not possess any weapons, and report to support workers, as he is dealing with heroin addiction.

Court records show Majidpour has more than 30 convictions dating back to Aug. 2015, including on charges of assault, assault with a weapon, and uttering threats.

Prior to his most recent court appearance, the last time Majidpour appeared in court was in April, when he pleaded guilty to mischief, breaking and entering, uttering threats, and breaching probation.

If you want to look at the frustrating bail failure of our justice system here in B.C. and how it is administered, this is a prime case, said Kash Heed, a former minister of public safety and solicitor general, in an interview with CTV news.

In September 2021, Majidpour made the news after Vancouver woman Jamie Coutts took videos of him following her for 40 minutes. He was charged with criminal harassment, but the case was stayed.

Falcon told CTV Majidpours repeated release does not make any sense.

I think that at some point, we have to say the safety of the community has got to come firstbefore we think about how hard done by some of these individuals might be by having to spend some time in jail, he said.

Were really rolling the dice here. We cannot afford to keep rolling the dice. When the public is being put at risk, we have to weigh in on the side of protecting the public over protecting the rights of that particular criminal, he added.

Majidpours next court appearance is scheduled for Nov. 15.
Smoke rises from a fire on the Kerch bridge in the Kerch Strait, Crimea, on Oct. 8, 2022, in a satellite image. (Maxar Technologies/Handout via Reuters)

Russia Arrests 8 for Crimean Bridge Bombing

MOSCOWRussias Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Wednesday that it had detained five Russians and three citizens of Ukraine and Armenia in connection with the bombing of a vital bridge to Crimea, an attack it said was masterminded by Ukraine.

The FSB said the attack was organized by Ukrainian military intelligence and its director, Kyrylo Budanovechoing accusations by President Vladimir Putin over what he has called a terrorist attack against critical civilian infrastructure.

The organizer of the terrorist attack on the Crimean Bridge was the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, its head Kyrylo Budanov, its employees and agents, said the FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB.

Ukraine has not officially confirmed its involvement in the bridge blast on Saturday, but some Ukrainian officials have celebrated the damage and an unidentified Ukrainian official told the New York Times that Kyiv was behind the attack.

The FSB said the explosive device was camouflaged in rolls of construction polyethylene film on 22 pallets with a total weight of 22.7 tonnes, and moved from Ukraine to Russia via Bulgaria, Georgia, and Armenia.

Control over the movement of the cargo along the entire route and contacts with participants in the criminal transportation scheme were carried out by an employee of HUR MO, the FSB said in a statement, using the acronym for Ukrainian military intelligence.

The 12-mile (19 kilometer) road and rail bridge, a prestige project personally opened by Putin in 2018, had become logistically vital to his military campaign, with supplies to Russian troops fighting in south Ukraine channeled through it.

The explosion wrecked one section of the road bridge, temporarily halting traffic. It also destroyed several fuel tankers on a train heading towards the annexed Crimean peninsula from neighboring southern Russia.

On Monday Russian forces launched mass missile strikes against Ukrainian cities, including power supplies, in what Putin said was retaliation for the bridge bombing.

The FSB, headed by Putin ally Alexander Bortnikov, also said that it had prevented Ukrainian attacks in both Moscow and the western Russian city of Bryansk.
In the past month or so, Ive written two columns about Social Security news articles Ive seen in various publications with misleading headlines that are intended to lure you into reading the rest of the story. Whats contained in the article is never as dramatic or newsworthy as the exaggerated headline would indicate.

These Social Security ruses also show up in the form of pop-up ads while you are online. For example, today I was online at a news website when an ad with this headline popped up: Seven Reasons Why You May Not Get Your Social Security Check! Even though I knew the content was going to be mostly bogus, I just had to click to see where this was going. I also wanted to save my readers the anxiety of worrying that they may never get any Social Security, or that their current benefits might stop.

As always, these come-ons contain little molehills of truth hidden among mountains of misleading information. So anyway, according to this particular pop-up propaganda, here are the seven reasons people may not receive Social Security benefits.

Moving to a Foreign Country

Well, that statement by itself is very misleading. You can move almost anywhere on the planet and your Social Security benefits will follow you. But there is a small list of countries where Social Security benefits cant be sent. As the article eventually pointed out, your checks will be stopped if you move to Cuba, North Korea, and most of those -stan countries that made up the former Soviet Union (Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, etc.)

Im sure 99.9 percent of the people who were lured into this pop-up ad have absolutely no intention of moving to any of those countries. So, my point is: Why scare all these folks with misleading information that doesnt apply to them?

Dying Before Reaching Age 62

Well, duh! Of course you wont get any Social Security retirement benefits if you die before you are old enough to claim them. At least the article correctly pointed out that your spouse or minor children will probably be due survivor benefits on your record.

Divorce (Sometimes)

Actually, the vast majority of divorced women (and 95 percent of these cases involve women) will almost assuredly get benefits on their own Social Security record, on the record of their former husband, or on the record of their current husband. (Many divorced women remarry and end up getting benefits on their new husbands account.) The only divorced women who would end up with no Social Security at all would be those who divorced before their 10th anniversary (you must be married 10 years to qualify for divorced spouse benefits), who never remarried, and who never worked, meaning they have no Social Security of their own.

In my 50 years of dealing with Social Security issues, I never met a single woman in that boat.

If You Have Too Few Social Security Credits

Well, this is another great big Duh! Who doesnt know that you have to work and pay Social Security taxes for a minimum of 10 years to qualify for Social Security retirement benefits? And in my half-century of Social Security experience, Ive learned there are only two groups of people who dont have enough Social Security credits by the time they reach retirement age.

One group is married women who choose to stay home and be full-time mothers and homemakers. However, they will always qualify for benefits on their husbands Social Security record. The other group is made up of state, local, and some federal government workers who pay into a separate retirement program and not into Social Security. But of course, they end up getting a pension from their own retirement system.

Being a Noncitizen

If you entered this country legally and have worked and paid Social Security taxes, you will qualify for benefits just like anyone else. And legally residing noncitizens who have never worked could get dependent or survivor benefits from a spouses Social Security record (assuming they meet all the other eligibility requirements). However, their benefits may stop if they move out of the United States. The only noncitizens who will never get Social Security are those undocumented workers who came to this country illegally.

Having Worked Infrequently

This is just a rehash of the points made in Reason No. 4. (My hunch is the writer of this piece originally had six reasons, but his or her editor said seven were needed, so they added this redundant bit.) Anyway, once again, the rules say you must work and pay taxes for a minimum of 10 years to qualify for Social Security retirement benefits.

You Failed the Social Security Earnings Test

Well, this might be the only bit of realistic and helpful information in the entire piece. The earnings test referred to says this: If you file for Social Security, if you are under your full retirement age, and if you are still working, $1 must be withheld from your benefits for every $2 you earn over a prescribed annual limit. That limit is $19,560 in 2022.

Ive written many past columns explaining why I dont like this law. Social Security beneficiaries under full retirement age who are working and making more than the earnings limit always end up getting more Social Security benefits than they are due, and then they must pay back the overpaid amounts.

Heres some good advice for my readers. Instead of clicking on these misleading pop-up ads, you should read my new book: Social Security: 100 Myths and 100 Facts. I just read the book from cover to cover for the first time since turning it over to my syndicator for publication, and I forgot how really good and helpful it is. Try it. You can get it for less than $10 on Amazon.com.
China's ambassador to the Solomon Islands Li Ming (R), and Solomons Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare are cutting a ribbon during the opening ceremony of a China-funded national stadium complex in Honiara on April 22, 2022. (Mavis Podokolo/AFP via Getty Images)

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Isnt to Be Trusted on Beijing Ties: Expert

A leading security expert has questioned the Solomon Island prime ministers latest claim that Australia remains the countrys top security partner over China.

Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare wouldnt be able to withstand any pressure from Beijing, according to Malcolm Davis of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI).

I dont think Sogavares going to have the ability to resist any pressure from China because hes dependent on Chinese money to stay in power, Davis told the Australian Associated Press (AAP) in Canberra on Oct. 10. They came in with suitcases of money to ensure that he and the people around him would support an extension of his position, his role as prime minister.

An Australian Broadcasting Corporation investigation published in August found that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) gave AU$3 million to ruling party lawmakers in the Solomon Islands last year without any explanation as to what the money was for.

The comments from Davis come after Sogavare visited Australia and met with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Canberra on Oct. 6, with no joint press conference held.

As proud Pacific nations, Australia and Solomon Islands have a deep and enduring history underpinned by strong people-to-people links and shared democratic values, reads a joint statement that was released after the talks. Prime Minister Sogavare and Prime Minister Albanese reaffirmed mutual security commitments and the Pacific family first approach to regional peace and security.

Prime Minister Sogavare welcomed Australias $16.68 million commitment to support the 2023 Pacific Games and offer to support the next Solomon Islands election.

Australias Election Funding Offer Used To Destabilise Bilateral Relations

Sogavare has successfully delayed the Solomon Islands national elections that were scheduled for September, extending his term as Prime Minister.

The pro-Beijing prime minister said the reason for the delay was his governments inability to afford the election at the same time as the Pacific Games, due in late 2023.

In response to the claim, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the Australian government would be happy to fund the election.

Sogavare first responded by calling the offer foreign interference and an assault on the Solomon Islands democracy. However, he said he would accept the offer anyway.

Now theyve offered, so get ready, brother, to fund the costs. Its a big cost, Mr. Speaker; the Electoral Commission needs a lot of money, he said. Then you offer, you should prepare to give the money you said you wanted to give us.

Wongs move was criticised as playing into Sogavares hands to help him distract public attention.

When it comes at a time like this, that just gives Sogavare ammunition to get angry and to distract the Solomon Islands public from the actual internal issues, Blake Johnson, an analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, told The Examiner. Hes managed to shift what the public is talking about now to whether or not Australia should be funding elections, which is not the initial problem that Solomon Islands was facing.

Security Agreement Will Result in Chinese Base

Davis believes that while Sogavare is trying to maintain close ties with both countries, hes ultimately dependent on Beijing.

I dont see how we can take this assurance that were the security partner of choice seriously when he signed that security agreement with China, he told AAP. He signed a security agreement with China that will ultimately give China a base in the Solomons.

The contentious security pact signed between the Solomon Islands and the CCP, which was officially confirmed in April, has caused strong concerns about the communist regimes influence in the Pacific region.

Both the United States and Australia showed deep concerns over the deal despite Sogavares commitment that the Solomon Islands will never be used for military bases or other military institutions of foreign powers.

Beijing Suppressing the Truth and Spreading Lies: Report

Daviss comments come amid ASPIs latest finding that Beijing spread false information during the protests that rocked the Solomon Islands in 2021.

According to a report published on Oct. 5, Suppressing the Truth and Spreading Lies: How the CCP is influencing Solomon Islands information environment, the CCP pushed a fabricated narrative about Australia, the United States, and Taiwan, instigating riots in the Solomon Islands during mass protests in its capital in November 2021.

That narrative was pushed through party-state media (both in English and in Chinese) through statements from Chinese officials that were shared by the Chinese Embassy, published in local media outlets, and quoted by local journalists, the report reads.

David Yeau-Tarn Lee, an adjunct professor at the Graduate Institute of Development Studies of National Chengchi University in Taiwan, agreed with Davis that the Solomon Islands can hardly resist pressure from Beijing.

What a good relationship the Solomon Islands [used to] have with Australia! Lee previously told The Epoch Times. But no matter how good you treat it, the CCP would bribe [its officials].

Itd be inevitable for Australia to face the consequence of [the CCPs] dangerous expansion. So I think Australia needs to awaken further. It plays an important role in the confrontation between liberal democracy and autocracy.

Daniel Y. Teng contributed to this article.
Bismarck School Board member Emily Eckroth has been scheduled for trial for allegedly obstructing officers during a traffic stop last month.

She's charged with a misdemeanor count of physical obstruction of a government function. Court officials on Wednesday scheduled a one-day jury trial for Dec. 15 at the Burleigh County Courthouse in Bismarck before South Central District Judge Douglas Bahr.

Eckroth on Friday pleaded not guilty. The offense carries a maximum punishment of 360 days in jail -- just shy of one year -- and a $3,000 fine upon conviction.

Her attorney, Scott Hager, did not immediately return a phone message Wednesday seeking comment.

Eckroth, a family physician, was elected in June to the board overseeing North Dakota's largest school district.

The district in a statement to the Tribune on Wednesday said, "Bismarck Public Schools is aware of the situation involving School Board Member Dr. Eckroth. Since the issue is still awaiting judicial resolution, the district will refrain from commenting further."

Eckroth is accused of yelling over deputies and refusing commands to stay by a vehicle as she tried to video the officers administering sobriety tests to her husband, Ryan Eckroth, during the traffic stop on Interstate 94 in Bismarck at about 12:15 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 3, according to court documents.

Emily Eckroth was detained for alleged obstruction. Authorities say she urinated in the back of a patrol vehicle and threw a urine-soaked sweater into the ditch, later picking it up after being told she could be cited for littering. Eckroth in a Sept. 21 interview with the Tribune said "I dont know that that happened."

She was released on a promise to appear in court. Ryan Eckroth -- an unsuccessful Bismarck-area legislative candidate in the June Republican primary election -- was not arrested for DUI.
John Gibbs for Congress entry in the Pulaski Dayas Parade in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Oct. 8, 2022. (Steven Kovac/The Epoch Times)

Stark Differences Over Crime Define Key Congressional Race in Michigan

Crime may prove to be the deciding factor in the race to fill the open congressional seat in western Michigan.

There have been four recent shootings in Grand Rapids. People dont feel safe, said Republican nominee John Gibbs in an Oct. 7, 2022, sit-down interview with The Epoch Times.

I believe the explosion of violence across America is a result of the Democrat policies of defunding the police and cashless bail.

Gibbs alleges his Democrat opponent, Hillary Scholten, is soft on crime.

In a written statement to The Epoch Times, Gibbss campaign alleged that Scholten gave hundreds of dollars to the Progressive Womens Alliance of West Michigan and to Equity PAC, both of which support defunding the police.

Gibbs also alleged in the statement that Scholten removed from her 2022 campaign website the criminal justice reform section that showed her support for bail reform.

Scholtens views do not match up with the views of the people of this district. Shes out of step, said Gibbs in the interview.

GOP congressional candidate John Gibbs in his Grand Rapids, Michigan headquarters, on Oct. 7, 2022. (Steven Kovac/The Epoch Times)

Scholten did not respond to a request for an interview by The Epoch Times.

Her campaign website accuses Republicans of mounting an assault on our democracy and of engaging in voter suppression.

According to her website, Scholten favors expanding mail-in and early voting nationwide.

Though Scholten is strongly pro-abortion, her campaign website touts her commitment and service to the Christian Reformed Church she attends.

According to its website, the Christian Reformed Church is officially pro-life and calls on all of its members to speak out against the atrocity of abortion.

On the subject of education, Scholten supports expanded vocational training and apprenticeships.

She acknowledged on her website that two years of the COVID-19 pandemic and its attendant lockdowns have left some kids an entire grade level or more behind and our teachers strained.

Scholten made no mention on her website of the issue of transgender indoctrination in Michigan schools or the Democrats push to shut down an important oil pipeline that supplies Michigan and Ontario.

Gibbs told The Epoch Times, Scholten lines up and is marching in lockstep with the Democrats agenda on energy and education.

The people of this district dont believe there are 57 genders and dont want to be told they have to buy an electric car, Gibbs said.

Both campaigns were represented at the Oct. 8 Grand Rapids Pulaski Days Parade.

A 23-year-old Grand Rapids woman and recent graduate of Michigan State University, turned out early to march in the parade in support of Scholten,

She told The Epoch Times, Im for Hillary Scholten because she believes it is a womans own decision what she does with her body.

The float of the Hillary Scholten for Congress campaign at the Pulaski Days Parade in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Oct. 8, 2022. (Steven Kovac/The Epoch Times)

A male Scholten marcher from Cedar Springs said he liked the fact that Scholten was an independent thinker.

Shes thinking about all people, not just some, he said.

One woman said, Hillary will maintain our democratic tradition and help preserve our Madisonian democracy.

Shes a person of integrity and civility which are things we need.

Shes got experience with law and order.

A man from Byron Center, a near suburb of Grand Rapids, told The Epoch Times, I dont trust Hillary. Her ads are deceptive. She is trying to present herself as being a moderate thats for law and order. Shes not.

Parade spectator Michael Furage of Grand Rapids told The Epoch Times, Im for Gibbs. He supports Trump.

Gibbs is a true fiscal conservative and is for limited government. Hes 100 percent pro-life.

Scholten, 40, is a former attorney with the Obama Justice Department. She holds a degree in social work and was active with the Michigan Immigration Rights Center. She is a mother of two.

Neither Scholten nor Gibbs has ever served in an elective office.

The showdown with Gibbs is Scholtens second attempt to run for Congress. She lost by six points in 2020 to Republican Peter Meijer.

Meijers career in Washington was cut short when Gibbs defeated him in the August 2022 primary.

He was one of 10 Republican representatives who voted to impeach President Donald Trump.

Meijer and the outside political action committees supporting him overwhelmingly outspent Gibbs in the primary election, much like Scholten is doing to Gibbs this time.

Gibbs attributes his low-budget primary victory to his personally visiting voters in every single township, village, and city in the districtsomething we are doing again in the general election.

Its going well. The numbers look good. We have the edge.

Were going up on TV now and were in a position to stay up on TV right through election day, he said

The newly reapportioned District 3 may be more favorable to Scholten this time around.

As configured today, Joe Biden would have won the district by 8 points in 2020.

Analysts rate the current district between plus-2 and plus-8 in favor of the Democrats.

On the other hand, the District 3 seat hasnt been won by a Democrat since the special election of 1974, when then-Congressman Gerald Ford was tapped to succeed Spiro Agnew as Richard Nixons vice president.

Gibbs, 43, was born in Michigan and raised in Lansing. He currently resides in Byron Center.

The grandson of southern sharecroppers, he is the first in his family to graduate from college.

He holds a bachelors degree in computer science from Stanford and a masters in public administration from Harvard.

He has worked in the private sector as a computer engineer in software development and cybersecurity.

Appointed by Trump, Gibbs served as acting assistant secretary for community planning and development under HUD secretary Ben Carson.

Gibbs also served on the 1776 Commission, an advisory body that supported patriotic education in Americas schools.

He told The Epoch Times that his education, as well as his experience in the business world and in government policymaking, have equipped him well to be a congressman.

Gibbs describes himself as a devout Christian whose zeal to share the gospel of Jesus Christ prompted him to become fluent in Japanese and serve in Japan as a missionary.
A factory of Taiwanese semiconductors manufacturer TSMC at Central Taiwan Science Park in Taichung, Taiwan, on March 25, 2021. (Sam Yeh/AFP via Getty Images)

Taiwan Says It Will Comply With Latest US-Issued Chip Export Rules Aimed at China

Expert says China is more dependent on Taiwan than the other way around

On Oct. 7, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced sweeping new export controls that will cut China off from certain semiconductor chips that are made with U.S. technologies, regardless of whether the chips were manufactured in the United States.

In response to the new move, Taiwans Economy Ministry on Oct. 8 said that Taiwanese firms would comply with the latest measures put forth by the United States.

Taiwans semiconductor industry has long served global customers and attaches great importance to compliance with laws, the ministry said, according to Reuters.

The new move is the Biden administrations latest effort to hamstring the military modernization of an increasingly hostile China.

Although Taiwans economy remains reliant on trade with China, experts believe that it is the other way aroundthat China has an overall greater dependence on Taiwan for its semiconductors. And that any Chinese hostility toward the island could inflict critical injuries on the Chinese economy.

Any Chinese Aggression Could Backfire

A recent Bloomberg report published on Oct. 7 said that the United States would consider evacuating Taiwans highly skilled chip engineers in the worst case if China invades, citing people familiar with the Biden administrations deliberations.

In response to the topic, Taiwans Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Oct. 8 that the international community, including the Chinese government, should understand that Taiwans economy is heavily intertwined with the worlds economy, including Chinas. And that for the world, peace and security in the Taiwan Strait are in all parties best interests.

The ministry added that instability in the Taiwan Strait would inevitably endanger the security of the Asia-Pacific region, especially Japan and South Korea, which are also part of the critical semiconductor supply chains.

In a recent interview with the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, Taiwan Economic Minister Wang Mei-Hua said China heavily depends on Taiwan for its semiconductor imports. And that any incident in the Taiwan Strait will disrupt the supply chain and severely impact the Chinese economy.

She added that if Beijing uses Taiwan-made semiconductors in a way that threatens Taiwans security, their exports will be restricted or controlled under international rules and regulations.

High Dependence on Taiwan-Made Chips

On Oct. 5, the Taiwanese think tank Economic Democracy Union (EDU) held a forum analyzing Taiwans geopolitical risks and the role of its semiconductor industry.

During the forum, Wu Jieh-min, a researcher at Taiwans national academy Academia Sinica, and Li Pao-wen, a professor at National Sun Yat-sen Universitys Institute of China and Asia-Pacific Studies, also pointed to Chinas high degree of dependence on Taiwans semiconductor supply chain.

He said according to Taiwans foreign trade bureau, the total semiconductor exports from Taiwan to China and Hong Kong was about $68.36 billion in 2021, accounting for 60.4 percent of the total exported to the global markets.

Additionally, in the same year, Taiwans total semiconductor exports to China and Hong Kong accounted for 49.4 percent of Taiwans total exports (of all goods and services) to China and Hong Kong.

Wu explained that although Taiwan seemingly exports a massive volume of semiconductor products to China, most are only there for the assembly process and are later exported to other countries.

He said that China is not the final consumer market while estimating that more than two-thirds are re-exported worldwide. Therefore, Taiwans dependence on the Chinese market is partly overestimated, adding that future exports from Taiwan to China are expected to decline as China loses its world factory status, and the production supply chain gradually shifts to Southeast Asia.

Wu also mentioned that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) uses whats called a military-civilian integration scheme to obtain more chips from Taiwan amid heavy U.S. sanctions. He said Chinese companies would place chip orders for non-military [civilian] use as a front but later use them for military purposes.

Taiwan Is Too Important to Lose

Wu said according to TrendForce, a leading semiconductor market data provider, Taiwan Semiconductor Company (TSMC) accounted for 55 percent of the global foundry market in 2020, United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) accounted for seven percent, Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (PSMC) accounted for two percent, and Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp. (VIS) accounted for one percent.

All of the companies mentioned are headquartered in Taiwan. Therefore, Taiwanese chipmakers alone account for 65 percent of the global foundry business.

Among them, TSMC produces 92 percent of the worlds advanced chips with process nodes below 10 nanometers, Wu said, adding that this reason alone put the United States and the international community on high alert over any potential Chinese aggression toward the island.

Wu said that some market participants believe that Samsung could potentially compete with TSMC, but his opinion differs. He said Samsung is not ideal in terms of yield, but TSMC has a very high yield, which makes it the world leader in wafer manufacturing.

He added that the total contribution (and added value) of Taiwans semiconductor-related industries would account for about 13 percent of Taiwans GDP in 2022, an increase of 2 percent from 11 percent in 2021. In addition, the market cap of TSMC accounts for roughly 26 percent of Taiwans total market capitalization, showing the great importance of Taiwans semiconductor industry.

On the other hand, Li Pao-wen, the other speaker at the event and a professor at National Sun Yat-sen Universitys Institute of China and Asia-Pacific Studies believes that Taiwan is currently an asset rather than a burden to the United States in the U.S.China strategic rivalry.

He said nearly 80 percent of the chips in the United States come from Taiwan, and the two countries have deep commercial and economic links as well as shared democratic values and goals, and he added that the United States and the international community are unlikely to abandon Taiwan in the face of Chinese threats.
The Dangers and Delusions of Critical Race Theory

Commentary

Critical race theory (CRT) is transforming Canadas social, cultural, economic, and political landscape.

Many school boards across Canada now require teachers to adopt curriculum materials that declare society to be inherently racist. In Hamilton, Ontario, for example, a primary grade lesson plan claims Racism is ordinary, the normal way that society does business. Similarly, the CEOs of nearly 500 Canadian companies have signed an anti-racist pledge promoted by activist group BlackNorth Initiative. The Trudeau government has also launched Building a Foundation for Change: Canadas Anti-Racism Strategy 2019-2022, that promotes anti-racism inside and outside of government.

All these measures lean heavily on CRT. But how much do Canadians really know about this toxic ideology?

CRT was spawned in the 1970s by American academics who were unhappy with the slow progress of U.S. civil rights legislation and sought more aggressive measures. Later, CRT flew the university-campus coop and began infiltrating all areas of Western society.

At its core, CRT is an attack on the basic concepts of liberal democracy. This is because raceand not the individualis the main component of society from the CRT perspective. Further, all social division is racial; whites are socially constructed to be oppressors while blacks and other non-whites are fated to be the oppressed.

To eliminate systemic racism, the racial-group rights of blacks and other non-whites must take precedence over the liberal-democratic principle of individual rights. Equality of opportunity for all individuals, a key aspect of liberal democratic justice, must give way to social justice conceived as racial equity, meaning racial equality of conditions and outcomes.

Free-market economics and colour-blind laws are seen to perpetuate systemic racism. Racial equity can be achieved solely through anti-racist public and private sector programs that give preferential treatment to non-whites under the guise of diversity-equity-inclusion policies. The end goal of CRT is full-blown socialism.

Central to CRT ideology is the concept of systemic racism, which is very different from racism in the traditional sense. The latter is overt, conscious, and intentional, such as racial segregation or discriminatory hiring practices.

The concept of systemic racism was invented to explain racial inequalities that cannot be attributed to overt racism. As such, it attributes disparities in outcome to what CRT proponents (crits for short) consider the capitalist systems intrinsically racist power structure. Such a society is thus declared systemically racist even if none of its institutions or members can be proven to be individually racist.

But contrary to what crits maintain, the concept of systemic racism has no explanatory value. Thats because it assumes, in circular fashion, what its supposed to explain: all racial disparities causally unrelated to overt racism must be the result of systemic racism. The concept is made to be irrefutable.

The consequence of this conceptual sleight-of-hand is a serious distortion of reality. This includes overlooking non-whites who dont fit the crit conception of North America as a bastion of white supremacy, such as Asian-Canadians who out-earn white-Canadians.

Whatever crits offer, it is not science. As philosopher Karl Popper demonstrated, an unfalsifiable proposition is not a scientific proposition, although it may figure in a secular religionwhich is what CRT is. This shouldnt be surprising since CRT, like other woke ideologies derived from the postmodernism of French philosopher Michel Foucault and others, denies the objectivity and universal validity of reason and science.

Unwilling and unable to squarely confront CRTs logical incoherence and blindness to inconvenient facts, crits seek instead to squelch criticism by denouncing their critics as racist, often ruining reputations and careers in the process. This is what we now call cancel culture.

We all suffer for CRTs distortions of reality and the crits fanatical, illiberal intolerance. CRT-based policies have led to the rise of a new, anti-white racism, coupled with growing racial animosity. CRT means black people have been taught that the Western virtues of hard work, rationality, and punctuality are further manifestations of white racism. This is hardly conducive to preparing them for the challenges of modern life.

Other absurd new practices abound, like racially segregated, non-white university classes and graduation ceremonies, and the substitution of Eurocentric mathematical knowledges with decolonial, anti-racist . . . [and] indigenous approaches to teaching math. Anyone openly skeptical of all this risks disemployment.

No less pernicious are the long-term consequences of entrenching CRT in our education systems. Our children will be raised to despise our Enlightenment inheritance with its affirmations of liberal-democracy and science, while gaining no clarity about any sensible alternatives. They will grow up bedevilled by vague, utopian visions of government-engineered equity. But owing to their own poor grasp of logical, evidence-based argumentation, they will be bereft of the powers of rational scrutiny. And when CRTs anti-racist utopia doesnt materialize, they may descend even further into confusion and resentment.

There is, however, some hope. Citizen groups are already mobilizing across the United States to remove CRT from the education system, with some encouraging results in Virginia and elsewhere. Similar parental push-back campaigns are now starting to take shape in Canada as well. Liberal democracy may be on its back foot, but its far from dead.

A longer version of this story first appeared in C2CJournal.ca.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Financial professionals work the phones on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York City on Dec. 8, 2009. (Chris Hondros/Getty Images)

The Deep State Plays the Financial Markets

Commentary

The least-investigated part of the federal government is the senior civil service. Its invisible to mainstream media mostly because reporters rely heavily on career bureaucrats for reporting and tips. Therefore, they leave it alone for career reasons. It becomes a kind of cabal with each side protecting the other.

The administrative state is easily the most powerful branch of government in terms of weight and longevity and yet it is nowhere mentioned in the U.S. Constitution. It did not even exist from the Founding period until the late 19th century. It had little or no power until after World War I. Even today, most Americans know nothing about it, even though its power is everywhere.

Ive been giving lectures to audiences recently, just marching through the history of its birth and growth, and the huge drama only recently concerning President Trumps innovative executive order that would have placed many among the 2.3 million on at-will employment. They would be reclassified in a new way: Schedule F.

At least then, there would have been some oversight. But that order was shot down by Biden the day he took office.

The battle over the future of the administrative statesometimes and rightly called the Deep State for its seeming invisible power and permanencemight be the most important issue in American political life today. The massive and overweening power of the federal government utterly depends on it. The Democrats rely on its continuation and, to some extent, the Republicans too.

When Trump came to office as president, he naively assumed that he was a kind of CEO. In charge. His wishes would be obeyed. His policies would be enacted. What he faced instead was a power he somehow did not anticipate. The swamp he wanted to drain was not a swamp but a Hoover Dam, made of concrete and impossible to move.

An aerial view of Capitol Hill and its surroundings in Washington, D.C., on May 25, 2020. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

They came after him, trying to destroy his presidency. Twice they struck out until finally they unleashed the killer app: a pandemic. That put him in the odd position of being forced to listen to the experts from inside government, who told him to shut down the whole economy. Incredibly, and thanks to the persuasion of people within his own administration, he went along. After that point, the Deep State ran the show while he was sidelined until he was swept out of office.

In any case, many people today are newly aware of this beast that rules the Beltway. Many politicians are running today who swear that they will take it on and dismantle it. There is no way to do that other than to defund it completely via Congress. There must be major and dramatic cuts in funding. There will be cries and screams like weve never heard, should that day come. We shall see.

One major issue: how can the administrative state be taken on? A neglected and massively important Wall Street Journal investigative report shows the way. This remarkable piece of journalism required the collection and investigation of many thousands of financial reports. To be exact 31,000 financial-disclosure forms of 12,000 senior career employees. The dates go from 2016 to 2021 so this is essentially right now. They collected data on 850,000 financial assets and 315,000 trades in stocks, bonds, and funds by officials, spouses, and children.

The results are hugely newsworthy and utterly shocking:

Thousands of officials across the governments executive branch reported owning or trading stocks that stood to rise or fall with decisions their agencies made .

More than 2,600 officials at agencies from the Commerce Department to the Treasury Department, during both Republican and Democratic administrations, disclosed stock investments in companies while those same companies were lobbying their agencies for favorable policies. That amounts to more than one in five senior federal employees across 50 federal agencies reviewed by the Journal.

More than one in five federal employees have investments in the companies they regulate! This is truly remarkable and much worse than anything I would have imagined.

(Source: Wall Street Journal)

None of this information is publicly accessible. It has to be requested and then reporters have to wait for the return information. One might suppose that reporters would have been all over this for years. In truth, apart from regular coverage in The Epoch Times and now this report from the Wall Street Journal, it is entirely ignored.

To put a fine point on it: this is corruption. And it must be more thoroughly investigated. We cannot have rule-making agencies being lobbied by companies where the individuals there with power to make or break whole companies hold a financial position in the outcomes.

It is so common nowthe virus of corruption so ubiquitousthat this crowd of bureaucrats probably believe this is entirely normal and expected. For goodness sake, they probably brag about it at this point and trade stock tips. This is major third-world-level corruption one would suppose we would never see in a constitutional republic. And yet here it is.

The Journal further reports:

More than five dozen officials at five agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department, reported trading stock in companies shortly before their departments announced enforcement actions, such as charges and settlements, against those companies.

More than 200 senior EPA officials, nearly one in three, reported investments in companies that were lobbying the agency. EPA employees and their family members collectively owned between $400,000 and nearly $2 million in shares of oil and gas companies on average each year between 2016 and 2021.

At the Defense Department, officials in the office of the secretary reported collectively owning between $1.2 million and $3.4 million of stock in aerospace and defense companies on average each year examined by the Journal. Some held stock in Chinese companies while the United States was considering blacklisting the companies.

About 70 federal officials reported using riskier financial techniques such as short selling and options trading, with some individual trades valued at between $5 million and $25 million. In all, the forms revealed more than 90,000 trades of stocks during the six-year period reviewed.

When financial holdings caused a conflict, the agencies sometimes simply waived the rules. In most instances identified by the Journal, ethics officials certified that the employees had complied with the rules, which have several exemptions that allow officials to hold stock that conflicts with their agencys work.

Why hasnt this been disclosed so far? Well, under federal regulations, investments of $15,000 or less arent considered potential conflicts. So too for holdings of $50,000 or less in mutual funds that focus on a specific industry. That little loophole can be exploited for great gain.

In the British comedy series Yes, Ministerwhich is brilliantwe are presented with a picture of governments administrative bureaucracy that is skilled at foiling the plans of politicians and temporary ministers who inhabit bureaucracies. They show up and are mostly laughed at by the civil service.

The civil service has all the institutional knowledge and they can break the reputation of appointees without any trouble. This has gone on for decades and we see it daily in the operation of politics. This is why no matter who comes and goes from office, fundamental change never really happens. These people are masters of making democracy an illusion.

This is bad enough, and good enough reason to immediately institute Schedule F as a first step in the dismantlement of this machinery. In reality, however, the situation is actually worse. Its not just an impenetrable and impossible bureaucracy, foiling the wishes of voters after every turn. It turns out that it is also a corrupt financial racket. This story proves it with shocking detail.

Years ago, when federal bureaucracies were not entirely closed to the public, I spent some time hanging around offices at the Department of Transportation and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Both places were a ramshackle mess of laziness, incompetence, disregard, and indifference. The career people there were making bank, specializing in survival, and otherwise totally useless so far as I could tell.

I wondered at the time why more journalists didnt care to investigate. Later, all these bureaucracies closed themselves to visitors. Now we know why they are especially invisible. Its because terrible things are taking place in these marble palaces that dominate the D.C. streets. They use their power to puff up their 401Ks. Thats the key to understanding what drives them.

I suppose this is one of those secrets of Washington that everyone knows but no one talks about publicly. If there is ever to be change in this country, there must be deep investigations and decisive action.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Premier of Western Australia Mark McGowan speaks during the Labor Party election campaign launch at Optus Stadium in Perth, Australia, on May 1, 2022. (Paul Kane/Getty Images)

The Newly Rebranded Emergency Powers Could Turn Western Australia Into a Police State

Commentary

A state of emergency has been in place in Western Australia (WA) since March 15, 2020. This has given its government extraordinary powers to impose draconian rules and restrictions with the stroke of a pen. These measures are currently renewed every two weeks by the simple signature of the emergency services minister, Stephen Dawson.

The government has used these powers to restrict people and their movement, including vulnerable Indigenous communities, over the last two years through closing borders, requiring passes to enter the state, and mandating masks.

But now, after more than two years of state of emergency, the WA government is quickly passing legislation that is even more draconian than the existing one. The new scheme is worse than a rebranded state of emergency because it removes any requirement for the emergency services minister to declare such an emergency.

Instead, the sole responsibility for making a declaration will be left entirely at the discretion of the police commissioner, removing the need for any parliamentary oversight as to when a state of emergency can actually be declared. In other words, the almost the totality of draconian measures used during the alleged pandemic will be freely available to the police commissioner.

On Sept. 21, the WA Labor government passed in the state Parliaments lower house the Emergency Amendment (Temporary COVID-19 Provisions) Bill 2022 (WA). The opposition was given less than 48 hours of notice that the bill would be introduced on that day.

In an interview to ABC Radio Perth on Sept. 20, Premier Mark McGowan declared: We need to pass it through the Parliament quickly so that when the existing state of emergency expires, these new measures can take effect.

Speaking to local reporters, McGowan explained how the emergency powers would remain: This will allow us to enforce mask wearing in health facilities, in disability and aged care [facilities], stay-at-home rules for people who are COVID positive as required.

People wearing face masks are seen at the entrance of the Menarock Life aged care facility, where a cluster of some 28 new infections had been reported, in the Melbourne suburb of Essendon, Australia, on July 14, 2020. (William West/AFP via Getty Images)

Similar Thing Repackaged

The new scheme creates a longer time limit of two years for the exercise of emergency powers, which allows the police commissioner to give himself full powers to police officers and authorised officers after seeking advice from the chief health officer.

According to Mia Davies, the states opposition leader, the new scheme basically amounts to a state of emergency with a different name [and] more draconian powers.

When youve got the police commissioner in charge of a response to a health issue, we would ultimately still be in a state of emergency, she said.

Karl OCallaghan, a former WA police commissioner himself, comments that this neatly removes accountability and controversy from the government over the exercise of emergency powers and also removes executive government accountability to the public.

While an emergency declaration is in force, persons will be authorised to have the power, inter alia, to do all or any of the following:

Direct or, by direction, prohibit the movement of persons and vehicles within, into, out of or around the declaration area or any part of the declaration area; Direct the evacuation and removal of persons from the declaration area or any part of the declaration area; Close any road, access route or area of water in or leading to the declaration area; Take control of or make use of any place, vehicle or other things Enter, or if necessary, break into and enter, any place or vehicle.

These are only a few examples of what authorised officers will do, as the above list is certainly not exhaustive. But is certainly demonstrates that the changes could be regarded as instigating the institutionalisation of a police state in Western Australia.

WA Police inspect cars at a Border Check Point on Indian Ocean Drive north of Perth, Australia, on Jun. 29, 2021. (Matt Jelonek/Getty Images)

Emergency Powers Can Be Used as a Cover to Infringe on Peoples Liberties

We may now better understand why a police commissioner and former Vaccine Commander was appointed to serve as the governor of Western Australia.

And we may be also repeating history as the desire to extend a state of emergency appears to confirm the worst fears of the Austrian-British economist and philosopher Friedrich Hayek.

In Law, Legislation and Liberty (1981), this Nobel Prize laureate offered this reflection:

Emergencies have always been the pretext on which the safeguards of individual liberty have been erodedand once they are suspended, it is not difficult for anyone who has assumed such emergency powers to see to it that the emergency will persist.

Benjamin Franklin, a leading figure in early American history, once commented: Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

Hotel patrons scan a QR code using the SafeWA app before entry in Perth, Australia, on Dec. 5, 2020. (Stefan Gosatti/Getty Images)

Germany in the 1930s provides an example. In those days, the Germans were quite willing to renounce their freedoms and be protected by the state. Under Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution (1919-45), the president of the German Republic was authorised to issue orders during times of emergency. These powers could remain in effect for four years, after which they could be renewed if the emergency was still in place.

The leading German jurist in those days, Carl Schmitt (1888-1985), who was the Dean of Law at the University of Berlin, contended that such use of emergency powers authorised the state to temporarily suspend all constitutional rights on the grounds of protecting the community. According to Schmitt: Once this emergency power has been declared, it is clear that the constituted authority of the state continues to exist  and the law is placed in abeyance. The decision exempts the public authority from every normative restraint and renders it absolute in the true sense of the word. In a state of emergency, the constituted authority suspends the law on the basis of the right to protect its own existence.

Western Australia, the Experiment

Obviously, it would be completely preposterous to conclude that Western Australia is facing similar challenges. However, the use of emergency powers results in a use of power that inevitably facilitates the violation of fundamental human rights.

Furthermore, a state of emergency can always become a more permanent measure in time, and this may explain why, presently, WA authorities are effectively seeking to enact legislation that rebrands the use of emergency powers rather than winding them back.

But I guess at least our premier was honest enough to confess, as he did in late March, that: Western Australia is an experiment. We have very high vaccination levels, and we have a very compliant population.

As a legal academic who has taught constitutional law for more than two decades, I certainly would agree with him. Thanks to the actions of its state Labor government, some basic constitutional principles inherited from our common-law tradition are now seriously undermined in Western Australia.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan speaks at a press conference in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, on Aug. 17, 2021. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

The Post-Cold War Era Is Over: White House National Security Advisor

The international order has entered a new epoch and the United States will need to vigorously defend its way of life from encroaching authoritarianism from China and Russia, according to a senior U.S. official.

How the United States acts over the course of the next decade will make or break its efforts to preserve a liberal international order against the autocratic advances of Chinas communist regime, said White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan.

Were in the early years of a decisive decade, Sullivan said at an event hosted by the Center for a New American Security and the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington.

The terms of our competition with the Peoples Republic of China will be set. The window of opportunity to deal with shared challenges like climate change will narrow drastically even as the intensity of those challenges grows.

Sullivan delivered the remarks hours after the unveiling of the Biden administrations national security strategy, which designated communist China as the greatest challenge facing the United States.

The PRCs assertiveness at home and abroad is advancing an illiberal vision across economic, political, security, and technological realms in competition with the west, Sullivan said, using the acronym for the regimes official name.

It is the only competitor with the intent to reshape the international order and the growing capacity to do it.

Sullivan said that the world had left the post-Cold War era, often associated with the rise of globalization, international cooperation, and a general lack of military conflict between great powers.

Now, he said, a new era of geopolitical competition has arisen, tied closely to the push by China and Russia towards a multipolar world order. In this burgeoning era, autocratic nations would seek to rewrite the rules of the international system according to their whims, he said.

The worlds major autocracies believe that the democratic world is in decline, Sullivan said.

They seek to advance a very different vision, where might makes right and technological and economic coercion squeezes anyone who steps out of line.

To that end, Sullivan said that the authoritarian philosophies of Chinese communist leader Xi Jinping and Russian leader Vladimir Putin contained a fundamental fragility that could be overcome by a united free, open, and prosperous international order.

Even if our democratic allies and partners dont agree on everything, they are aligned with us, Sullivan said. And so are many countries that do not embrace democratic institutions but nevertheless depend upon and help sustain a rules-based international system.

They dont want to see it vanish, and they know that we are the worlds best bet to defend it.

Whether the United States succeeded or failed in defending that international order, Sullivan said, would determine whether the nations of the world could effectively remain free or even work with one another on transnational issues like disease and climate change.

The stakes could not be higher, Sullivan said. The actions we take now will shape whether this decisive decade is an age of conflict and discord or the beginning of a more prosperous and stable future.

The post-Cold War era is over, he added.
STORY AT-A-GLANCE

Abnormal blood clotting was one of the first mysterious health effects to emerge in the COVID pandemic, first, as an effect of the natural infection, and later, as a side effect of the COVID jabs. By mid-March 2021, 20 countries had suspended the use of AstraZenecas COVID shot, either in full or in part, following reports of deadly blood clots

In December 2021, a team of international scientists detailed the mechanism behind the AstraZeneca jabs propensity to trigger blood clots. The shell of the vector  a weakened chimpanzee cold virus  in some people acts like a magnet and attracts platelets. Your body mistakes these platelets as a threat and produces antibodies to fight them, resulting in dangerous blood clots

Israeli researchers have also linked the Pfizer jab with a rare blood clotting disorder

A Swedish study found two doses of the COVID jab were 43% protective against Omicron infection at week 4. By week 14, protection had dropped to zero. Effectiveness against COVID-related hospitalization remained around 80% until week 25, but dropped to 40% by week 40. Using one statistical analysis method, COVID jabbed Swedes had a higher risk of death or hospitalization from COVID roughly a year after receiving their second dose

A recent case report links the COVID shots to lethal myocarditis (heart inflammation) and encephalitis (brain inflammation)

Abnormal blood clotting was one of the first mysterious health effects to emerge in the COVID pandemic, first, as an effect of the natural infection, and later, as a side effect of the COVID jabs.

By mid-March 2021, barely four months after the rollout of the COVID injections, 19 European countries plus Thailand1 had suspended the use of AstraZenecas injection, either in full or in part, following reports of deadly blood clots.2 3

Contrary to the Moderna and Pfizer shots, the AstraZeneca jab uses a viral vector  a genetically modified and supposedly noninfectious chimpanzee cold virus  to deliver double-stranded DNA for the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein into your cells.4

Earlier that month, The Defender had reported5 U.K. data showing the AstraZeneca jab was responsible for 77% more adverse events and 25% more deaths than the Pfizer shot. Around that same time, doctors at Oslo University Hospital also announced that the blood clotting disorders experienced by some recipients of the AstraZeneca shot were in fact caused by the injection.6 A March 18, 2021, article in Science Norway read, in part:7

Our theory that this is a powerful immune response most likely triggered by the vaccine, has been confirmed, says professor and chief physician Pal Andre Holme  In collaboration with experts in the field from the University Hospital of North Norway HF, we have found specific antibodies against blood platelets that can cause these reactions  the chief physician explains  When asked to clarify why he says most likely in the quote, Holme confidently responds that the reason for these rare cases of blood clots has been found. We have the reason. Nothing but the vaccine can explain why these individuals had this immune response, he states. [Norwegian national newspaper] VG also asks how Holme can know that the immune response is not caused by something other than the vaccine. There is nothing in the patient history of these individuals that can give such a powerful immune response. I am confident that the antibodies that we have found are the cause, and I see no other explanation than it being the vaccine which triggers it, he responds.

Study Details Mechanism of Action

In early December 2021, a team of international scientists published a paper8 detailing the mechanism behind the AstraZeneca jabs propensity to trigger blood clots. As reported by the Daily Mail at the time:9

A team of international experts, involving researchers from AstraZeneca, say that in a very small number of cases  about one in 100,000 in the UK  the vaccine can set off a chain reaction which leads to the body confusing its own blood platelets for fragments of virus  They found that the shell of the vector vaccine  the weakened cold virus used to teach cells how to neutralize COVID  sometimes acts like a magnet and attracts platelets, a protein found in the blood. For reasons the scientists are still probing, the body then mistakes these platelets as a threat and produces antibodies to fight them. The combination of the platelets and the antibodies clumping together leads to the formation of dangerous blood clots  Essentially, after being delivered into the body adenovirus binds with a specific protein in the blood, known as platelet factor 4 (PF4), which is normally used by the body to promote coagulation in case of injury. Using incredibly detailed images of the adenovirus in the vaccine the scientists demonstrated the adenovirus in the Oxford-AstraZeneca is negatively charged, and could attract positively charged proteins like a magnet. The researchers believe that in a case of mistaken identity the bodys immune system considers this platelet cluster as threat and releases antibodies to attack it, clumping together to it and triggering potentially life threatening blood clots. This condition is called vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT).

The following graphic was published in the Daily Mail to illustrate the potentially deadly chain reaction.

How Long Does Risk Remain?

As for how long the risk of blood clotting remains is unknown. In mid-September 2022, the American Heart Association reported that the risk of abnormal blood clotting remains elevated nearly a year after natural infection:10

People who got COVID-19 had a higher risk of dangerous blood clots for close to a year later, according to a large new study11 on the aftereffects of a SARS-CoV-2 infection  COVID-19 was linked to a sharply increased risk of blood clot-related issues  including heart attack and stroke  immediately after diagnosis compared to people who never had COVID-19 [and]  that risk remained higher for some problems up to 49 weeks later  Researchers found that the first week after a COVID-19 diagnosis, the risk of an arterial blood clot  the kind that could cause a heart attack or ischemic stroke by blocking blood flow to the heart or brain  was nearly 22 times higher than in someone without COVID-19. That risk dropped sharply, to less than four times higher, in the second week. Between 27 and 49 weeks, there is an approximately 30% increased risk for arterial clots, [senior author, professor of medical statistics and epidemiology at the University of Bristol, Jonathan] Sterne said. But the elevation is greater for longer for clots in veins, which include deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, when a clot travels to the lungs. In the first week after a COVID-19 diagnosis, the risk of such venous problems was 33 times higher. By the third and fourth weeks after diagnosis, the risk was still about eight times higher. And between 27 and 49 weeks later, the risk was still 1.8 times higher than in somebody who had never had COVID-19.

If the risk of blood clotting remains high for nearly a year after natural infection, it seems reasonable to suspect the risk is dramatically elevated far longer in those who got one or more COVID shots, as their bodies are now producing the toxic spike protein internally, and theres no known off-switch.

We still do not know how long the human body continues to produce spike protein after a COVID jab. And, while AstraZeneca was singled out as the main culprit of blood clots, Pfizers and Modernas mRNA jabs are no safer in this regard.

Pfizers COVID Jab Linked to Blood Clotting Disorder

As early as June 2021, Israeli research suggested there was a link between the Pfizer shot and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP), which is very similar to vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia or VITT. A list of distinguishing features between the syndromes can be found on UpToDate.com.12 As reported by The Defender:13

Scientists with the Institute of Hematology at Shamir Medical Center said they began researching the possible link after reports of a sudden increase in TTP across Israel  four cases detected in one month compared to two or three cases per year. TTP is an autoimmune disorder that causes blood clots to form in small blood vessels throughout the body  The medical team said they found a chronological connection between vaccination and the onset of TTP symptoms. They stressed this occurred in both new patients and in patients with pre-existing TTP whose disease had been in remission but flared up soon after getting the vaccine  As The Defender reported in April, U.S. regulatory officials were alerted as far back as December 2020 that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines  like AstraZeneca and J&J COVID vaccine  could pose similar risks of blood clots.

Even before the rollout of the shots, experts warned that blood clots and cardiovascular problems were predictable. Among them were Dr. Patrick Whelan, a pediatric specialist, who in a letter14 to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned that the shots could cause microvascular injury and blood clots throughout the body including the brain, heart, liver and kidneys, in ways that were not assessed in the safety trials.

He pointed out that studies looking at the natural infection had found that viral proteins appear to cause tissue damage without actively replicating virus, and if that was true, he suspected the spike protein produced in response to the jabs might also cause the same kind of damage. Today, ample evidence points to Whelans suspicions being correct.

Jabs May Raise Risk of COVID Death Over Time

Studies are now also coming out with evidence that the shots may be causing antibody dependent enhancement (ADE), and that they kill heart and brain cells. Starting with the ADE evidence, a Swedish study,15 using data from the entire Swedish population over the age of 12, a total of 9,153,456 people, found that two doses were 43% protective against Omicron infection at week 4. By week 14, protection had dropped to zero.

Effectiveness against COVID-related hospitalization remained around 80% until week 25, but dropped to 40% by week 40. While these data are highlighted in the abstract, a more intriguing finding remains buried in the text that few take the time to read. As reported by investigative journalist Alex Berenson:16

Based on one statistical analysis [cubic spline method] vaccinated people had a HIGHER risk of death or hospitalization from COVID roughly a year after receiving their second dose. The charts  b and d below  show that vaccine protection against death and hospitalization begins to decline slowly after about five months and then plunges about nine months  This data provides real-world evidence of possible vaccine-caused antibody dependent enhancement. In ADE, vaccines cause our immune systems to produce antibodies that help a virus or other pathogen to attack us  (The top chart shows the relative risk of infection, hospitalization, intensive care, and death by week after two vaccine doses. The red line marks zero effectiveness; when the blue line falls below it, it is suggesting vaccinated people are at higher risk of infection.)

When they used another statistical method called standard polynomial regression, the shots remained moderately effective against hospitalization and death over time, falling to 45% protection against death around nine months, after which the effectiveness mysteriously started trending upward again.

According to Berenson, the lead author of the paper did not endorse either method as superior to the other. When asked for comment, Dr. Yiyi Xu told Berenson they need more data to know which finding might be correct, and that, at present, the estimation is quite uncertain for both analyses.

COVID Shots Kill Brain and Heart Cells

Another recent paper17 links the COVID shots to lethal myocarditis (heart inflammation) and encephalitis (brain inflammation). As reported by Steve Kirsch:18

The paper is entitled: A Case Report: Multifocal Necrotizing Encephalitis and Myocarditis after BNT162b2 mRNA Vaccination against COVID-19. It was published yesterday, Oct 1, and  already has over 100,000 views of the abstract and over 6,000 views of the full text.

The report details the case of a 76-year-old man with Parkinsons disease (PD) who died three weeks after receiving his third COVID shot. His first injection was the AstraZeneca jab, received in May 2021, which was followed by two doses of Pfizer in July and December 2021 respectively.

Autopsy confirmed his Parkinsons diagnosis, but it also revealed several unexpected conditions contributing to his death, including:

Aspiration pneumonia

Systemic arteriosclerosis

Acute vasculitis (vascular inflammation) in both the brain and the heart

Multifocal necrotizing encephalitis (meaning tissue death all over the brain)

Chronic cardiomyopathy (heart disease), and

Mild acute lympho-histiocytic myocarditis (a rare form of myocarditis that occurs wen lymphocytes, white blood cells, enter and inflame the heart muscle)

Testing for SARS-CoV-2 antigens (spike and nucleocapsid proteins) revealed the inflammation was in response to spike protein only, particularly in the endothelial cells of small blood vessels. As noted by the authors:19

Since no nucleocapsid protein could be detected, the presence of spike protein must be ascribed to vaccination rather than to viral infection. The findings corroborate previous reports of encephalitis and myocarditis caused by gene-based COVID-19 vaccines.

Irrefutable Evidence the COVID Shots Can Kill

Kirsch goes on to cite other evidence showing the COVID shots can kill, including a report20 titled On COVID Vaccines: Why They Cannot Work, and Irrefutable Evidence of Their Causative Role in the Deaths After Vaccination, written by Drs. Sucharit Bhakdi and Arne Burkhardt.

Of the 15 bodies their team examined  all of whom had died seven days to six months post-jab  14 (93%) were found to have been killed by the COVID shot.

Bhakdi and Burkhardt claim to have developed a way to test for spike protein in human tissue, and say theyve found spike protein in the tissues of people who have been injured and/or killed by the jabs.

Of the 15 bodies their team examined for this report  all of whom had died seven days to six months post-jab  14 (93%) were found to have been killed by the COVID shot.21 The video above reviews their findings. All 14 had clear evidence of the body attacking itself, including the heart, with fatal consequences.

Resources for Those Injured by the COVID Jabs

If you got one or more jabs and suffered an injury, first and foremost, never ever take another COVID booster, another mRNA gene therapy shot or regular vaccine. You need to end the assault on your system. The same goes for anyone who has taken one or more COVID jabs and has had the good fortune of not experiencing debilitating side effects.

Your health may still be impacted long-term, so dont take any more shots. When it comes to treatment, there are still more questions than answers, but many of the treatments that worked against severe COVID-19 infection also seem to ameliorate adverse effects from the jab. This makes sense, as the toxic, most damaging part of the virus is the spike protein, and thats what your whole body is producing if you got the jab.

Two doctors who have started tackling the treatment of COVID jab injuries in earnest include Dr. Michelle Perro (DrMichellePerro.com), whom Ive interviewed on this topic, and Dr. Pierre Kory (DrPierreKory.com).

Both agree that eliminating the spike protein your body is now continuously producing is a primary task. Perros preferred remedy for this is hydroxychloroquine, while Kory typically uses ivermectin. Both of these drugs bind and thereby facilitate the removal of spike protein.

As a founding member of the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC), Kory helped develop the FLCCCs post-vaccine treatment protocol called I-RECOVER. Since the protocol is continuously updated as more data become available, your best bet is to download the latest version straight from the FLCCC website at covid19criticalcare.com22 (hyperlink to the correct page provided above).

Other Helpful Treatments and Remedies

In previous articles, Ive also covered a number of treatments and remedies that can be helpful for COVID jab injuries, such as:

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy, especially in cases involving stroke, heart attack, autoimmune diseases and/or neurodegenerative disorders. To learn more, see Hyperbaric Therapy  A Vastly Underused Treatment Modality.

Time-restricted eating  Kory believes there may be ways to boost the immune system to allow it to degrade and eventually remove the spike from your cells naturally, over time. One of the strategies he recommends for this is TRE (time restricted eating), which stimulates autophagy, a natural cleaning process that eliminates damaged, misfolded and toxic proteins. Another strategy that can do the same thing would be sauna therapy.

Most people eat more than 12 hours a day, which is a recipe for metabolic disaster. The ideal window for most everyone is 16 to 18 hours of continuous fasting with the least meal at least three hours before bed. If you are overweight, shoot for 18 hours of fasting each day; if youre of normal weight, 16 hours.

Most people eat more than 12 hours a day, which is a recipe for metabolic disaster. The ideal window for most everyone is 16 to 18 hours of continuous fasting with the least meal at least three hours before bed. If you are overweight, shoot for 18 hours of fasting each day; if youre of normal weight, 16 hours. Lower your omega-6 intake  Linoleic acid is consumed in amounts 10 times above the ideal in well over 95% of the population, and contributes to massive oxidative stress that impairs your immune response. Seed oils and processed foods need to be diligently avoided. You can review this previous post for more information.

Pharmaceutical grade methylene blue, which improves mitochondrial respiration and aid in mitochondrial repair. At 15 to 80 milligrams a day for those suffering from long-haul COVID could go a long way toward resolving some of the fatigue many suffer post-jab. Methylene blue is actually the parent molecule for hydroxychloroquine and has been used to treat malaria since 1890.

It may also be helpful in acute strokes. The primary contraindication is if you have a G6PD deficiency (a hereditary genetic condition), in which case you should not use methylene blue at all. To learn more, see The Surprising Health Benefits of Methylene Blue.

It may also be helpful in acute strokes. The primary contraindication is if you have a G6PD deficiency (a hereditary genetic condition), in which case you should not use methylene blue at all. To learn more, see The Surprising Health Benefits of Methylene Blue. Near-infrared light, as it triggers production of melatonin in your mitochondria23 where you need it most. By mopping up reactive oxygen species, it too helps improve mitochondrial function and repair. Natural sunlight is 54.3% infrared radiation,24 so this treatment is available for free. For more information, see What You Need to Know About Melatonin.

Originally published Oct 12 2022 on Mercola.com

References
Tony Bobulinski, who claims to have been an associate of Hunter Biden, speaks to reporters at a hotel in Nashville, Tenn., on Oct. 22, 2020. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

Tony Bobulinski Exposes the Corrupt Legacy Media and the FBI

Despite shocking revelations from Bobulinski, Hunter Biden continues to be protected by the legacy media

Commentary

In an hour-long interview with Tucker Carlson on Oct. 4, Hunter Bidens former business partner, Tony Bobulinski, ripped the scab off a festering wound that the Biden family (and their many enablers) hoped had long been healed (and forgotten) forever.

Two years ago, the New York Post broke a bombshell story about a laptop abandoned by Hunter at a computer repair shop in Delaware. The shocking revelations from emails and files on that laptop illuminated a Biden crime family operation that has been ongoing for decades.

For example, several of the emails retrieved included a message of appreciation that Vadym Pozharskyi, an adviser to the board of Burisma, allegedly sent Hunter Biden on April 17, 2015, about a year after Hunter joined the Burisma board at a reported salary of up to $50,000 a month, the Post reported. Pozharskyi thanked Hunter for his assistance in arranging a meeting with his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, in Washington.

Enter Bobulinski, who confirmed the Biden familys corrupt dealings with communist Chinese-linked companies in a Tucker Carlson interview on Oct. 27, 2020. He also stated in that interview that Joe Biden received a cut from every corrupt deal. Biden was euphemistically referred to in some emails as the Big Guy.

As the laptop emails and Bobulinski interview directly contradicted Bidens frequent claims that he had never spoken to his son about his overseas business initiatives, the Biden presidential campaign went to battle stations in orchestrating a complete cover-up consisting of immediate public denials by Biden and campaign operatives, the FBI burying the laptop and preventing access to it by anyone outside of the Department of Justice, and the orchestration of a public letter signed by 50 former intelligence officials who claimed that the emails from the laptop showed signs of a Russian disinformation operation.

Most important, given the explosive nature of the story, was the construction of a legacy media narrative that echoed the Russian disinformation nonsense, with zero investigative follow-up reporting conducted and the bombshell revelations quickly dropped down the media memory hole to minimize political damage to Biden.

And thereby, their blatant collective interference in the 2020 election pulled it off for Biden.

All Roads Lead to Hunter

Bidens elder son Beau was being groomed for a political career to replace his father in the Senate until his untimely death from brain cancer in 2015. Grooming younger son Hunter for politics wasnt an option, given his long history of drug abuse and other hedonistic behavior, but that could have been why he briefly served as a public relations officer in the naval reserve until booted for testing positive for cocaine in 2014to punch a ticket as a step toward replacing his gravely ill brother. But of course, his personal demons wrecked that possibility, so he continued his lobbying career and service as his familys bagman.

Interestingly, Hunter was still serving in the naval reserve when the first of his big China deals was hatched with BHR Partners in 2013. Enter Bobulinski, one of Hunters partners in the deal. Hunter and Bobulinski knew that the Chinese partners involved in that deal were directly connected to the Chinese intelligence services. Did they report their contacts with Chinese intelligence operatives to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the FBI, as they were obligated to do? This was yet another troubling aspect in Hunters infamous career that has been filed down the memory holeand indeed never even mentionedby the Democrat media complex.

U.S. President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden depart from Holy Spirit Catholic Church after attending Mass on St. Johns Island, S.C., on Aug. 13, 2022. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters)

Hunter is reportedly under investigation by the FBI for tax evasionat least, thats something.

Tony Bobulinski

Except for an occasional article from independent media, there has been near-total legacy media silence about Hunters laptop and especially Bobulinski to this very day. A simple web search of the name Bobulinski evinces zero articles by CNN, zero by CBS News, six by NBC News, with reporting ended on Oct. 30, 2020 (including three disparaging mentions in MSNBC show transcripts in October 2020), and eight by ABC News ending in a typical AP article on Oct. 28 that spun the story into a nothing-burger by claiming the emails and Bobulinskis allegations couldnt be verified.

What happened to the vaunted legacy media investigative reporting that can somehow dig and spin dirt on Donald Trump incessantly for years but somehow cant be bothered to investigate the authenticity of Hunters laptop? Not a single mention of Bobulinski has been made by any of these legacy media outlets since Oct. 30, 2020!

In the meantime:

A poll conducted by Newsbusters on Nov. 24, 2020, found that full awareness of the Hunter Biden scandal would have led 9.4% of Biden voters to abandon the Democratic candidate, flipping all six of the swing states he won to Trump. And nary a peep from the legacy media about that poll!

After more than a year of denial, The New York Times finally admitted that the laptop is, in fact, legitimate, which the Times buried in a March 2022 story summarizing Hunters tax evasion investigation.

Conservative commentators like Cal Thomas have called out The New York Times and others for their dereliction of duty, as reported by The Washington Times: Not only did the Times and other major and social media ignore the story, in some cases the story was deemed fraudulent and blocked on several platforms. Perhaps most insightful was this comment: The tardy tacit admission by the Times that the New York Post was right will add to the view of many that todays journalism is driven mostly by agendas and not facts.

A July 2022 Rasmussen poll reported that fifty-two percent believed the [laptop] story was buried so as to not damage Joe Bidens presidential aspirations [while] 32% say it was ignored because it was a partisan hit job.

Bobulinski apparently grew tired of the FBIs apparent inaction in investigating and charging Hunter, as well as the lack of media reporting on the subject. To call attention to that malfeasance, he dropped some incredible bombs during his interview with Tucker Carlson on Oct. 4.

He reiterated Joe Bidens complicity in and knowledge of Hunters various overseas business dealings. Silence from the legacy media!

Bobulinski confirmed again that Hunter committed fraud by diverting money from a Chinese company, of which he owned 20 percent, to an American LLC, of which he owned 100 percent. This was disclosed to the FBI in 2020. Wheres the indictment for fraud and tax evasion?

He stated that he voluntarily gave an interview to the FBI in October 2020, disclosing damning evidence, including emails, that confirmed all of his allegations made in the 2020 Tucker Carlson interview (and more).

While that five-hour FBI interview was being conducted, Bobulinski stated that he received a phone call from James Bidens number but that no one spoke when he answered his cell phone. Who but someone at the FBI could have possibly tipped James Biden et al. that Bobulinski just happened to be in the middle of an FBI interview at that particular moment? Where are the legacy media investigative reporters beating down the doors of the FBI for the details on this bombshell?

Bobulinski confirmed that the FBI assigned Timothy Thibault as the agent to manage the Bobulinski whistleblower investigation but that neither Thibault nor anyone else at the FBI has followed up with him after the FBI interview on Oct. 23, 2020. No follow-up with a key material witness in the FBIs supposed investigation of Hunters laptop? How do you spell sham investigation? (Note: Thibault resignedor perhaps was forced outin August after allegations surfaced that he shielded Hunter Biden from criminal investigations into his laptop and business dealing, the New York Post reported.

Concluding Thoughts

The legacy media have yet to report on the Bobulinski interview with Tucker Carlson despite the damning allegations made of criminal conduct by the Biden family, as well as the apparent complicity of the FBI in continuing to cover up that criminality. Its as if the Bidens, the corrupt FBI, and the equally corrupt legacy media have no play left other than to maintain the fiction that the Bidens are innocent of any crimes of fraud, corruption, or obstruction of justice, and that any allegations and evidence simply cant be confirmed.

The wound that Bobulinski reopened may not be healed without some serious indictments. And we should all thank him for exposing the legacy medias continuing political corruption in service of Joe Biden and the Democratic Party.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks in a neighborhood impacted by Hurricane Ian at Fisherman's Wharf in Fort Myers, Fla., on Oct. 5, 2022. (Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images)

Treasury Department Investigating DeSantis Illegal Immigrant Flights to Marthas Vineyard

The Biden administration opened an investigation into Florida Gov. Ron DeSantiss flight of illegal immigrants from the U.S.-Mexico border to Marthas Vineyard, Massachusetts, last month.

The Treasury Departments inspector general confirmed it is evaluating whether DeSantis allegedly misused COVID-19 relief funds to send the illegal aliens to the wealthy liberal hotspot, said Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) on Wednesday.

A Treasury Department inspector general letter (pdf), dated Oct. 7 and posted by the senators office Wednesday, told Markey and other members of Congress that it will evaluate Floridas COVID-19-related spending. That probe was part of a broader investigation into how states used billions of dollars sent to them under the American Rescue Plan.

Richard K. Delmar, the deputy inspector general for the Treasury Department, said it would review the allowability of COVID-19 aid to states related to immigration generally, and will specifically confirm whether interest earned on [the] funds was utilized by Florida related to immigration activities, and if so, what conditions and limitations apply to such use.

As part of its oversight responsibility for the [State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund], Treasury Office of Inspector General has audit work planned on recipients compliance with eligible use guidance, the letter said. In addition, as part of our oversight work of the Coronavirus Relief Fund established by the CARES Act, we have already sought information from Florida about appropriate use of that fund.

Flight

That letter came in response to Markey and five House members, who wrote to the inspector generals office in September to demand an investigation into DeSantiss plan. About 50 illegal immigrants from Venezuela were shipped to Marthas Vineyard, and the Florida Republican government took credit for it.

Hours after the illegal aliens were sent to the island, the Massachusetts governors office deployed the National Guard before sending the illegal immigrants to a military base on Cape Cod.

In mid-September, the Florida governor suggested he would send more to Marthas Vineyard and other areas.

Theres a whole bunch of other places, Desantis said. But I would say that all were trying to do is offer transport to sanctuary jurisdictions that are free to the alien but certainly not mandatory.

Illegal immigrants from Venezuela stand outside St. Andrews Church in Edgartown, Marthas Vineyard, Mass., on Sept. 14, 2022. (Ray Ewing/Vineyard Gazette/Handout via Reuters)

Emergency

Govs. Greg Abbott of Texas and Doug Ducey of Arizona have been busing illegal immigrants to Democrat-controlled areas in protest of what they said is President Joe Bidens inadequate policing of the U.S.-Mexico border. The City of El Paso, Texas, has also sent thousands to New York City in recent weeks.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, declared an emergency on Oct. 7 due to the surge of illegal aliens. Abbott has said that places like New York City are sanctuary cities and should be able to take them in.

New Yorkers are angry, said Adams in a news conference. I am angry too. We have not asked for this. There was never any agreement to take on the job of supporting thousands of asylum seekers.

A spokeswoman for Abbott dismissed Adamss declaration when it was issued.

The true emergency is on our nations southern border where small Texas border towns are overrun and overwhelmed by hundreds of migrants every single day as the Biden administration dumps them in their communities, Renae Eze, the spokeswoman, said in a statement.

The Epoch Times has contacted DeSantiss office for comment.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump greets supporters during a campaign rally at Minden-Tahoe Airport in Minden, Nev., on Oct. 8, 2022. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Trumps Request for Stay in Defamation Case Rejected by Judge

Former President Donald Trump must sit for a deposition in October because he has not met the requirements for a stay in the case, a U.S. judge ruled on Oct. 12.

Trump asked U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, a Clinton appointee, to halt proceedings in a defamation case brought by columnist E. Jean Carroll after an appeals court reversed part of an earlier order from Kaplan.

The appeals court said in September that Trump was a federal employee when he denied rape allegations brought forth by Carroll in 2019.

Trump, through lawyers, the following day asked Kaplan to halt the proceedings in light of the ruling.

The D.C. Court of Appeals forthcoming ruling will be case-dispositive and, therefore, it would be highly prejudicial and inequitable for Defendant to engage in time-consuming and expensive pre-trial preparationmuch less proceed to trialuntil this issue has been conclusively resolved, Alina Habba, one of the lawyers, wrote in the request for a stay.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which entered the recent ruling, asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to issue a decision on a related matter because it involves District of Columbia law.

That matter is whether Trump was acting within the scope of his employment when he issued the denials and criticized Carrolls appearance.

Kaplan said Wednesday that because the matter remains unresolved because he feels Trump has not proven a likelihood of success, and because he believes Trump has not shown he will be irreparably harmed without a stay, the defamation case will proceed.

Completing those depositionswhich have already been delayed for yearswould impose no undue burden on Mr. Trump, let alone any irreparable injury, Kaplan ruled.

On the other hand, halting the case would cause substantial injury to Carroll, the judge said.

We look forward to establishing on the record that this case is, and always has been, entirely without merit, Habba told The Epoch Times via email.

We are pleased that Judge Kaplan agreed with our position not to stay discovery in this case, Carroll said in a statement.

Carroll has said she plans to sue Trump over the alleged rape, which she said took place in the 1990s, after a new law takes effect in New York in November. The law, the Adult Survivors Act, enables claims over sexual assault regardless of when the assault took place.

Trump argued that the court should not consider the looming suit but Kaplan disagreed, concluding that the evidence in the civil case is relevant to both cases.
A Mandan man has been sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to felony charges stemming from a May incident in which police say a woman was beaten until her eyes were swollen nearly shut.

Zachery Wilson, 31, pleaded guilty Tuesday to aggravated assault, terrorizing, felonious restraint and child neglect, all felonies, and misdemeanor domestic violence, according to court records.

The most serious charge of attempted murder, which carries a possible 20-year sentence, was dismissed as part of a plea agreement, according to defense attorney Lloyd Suhr.

Wilson will serve four two-year terms at the same time. South Central District Judge David Reich also ordered Wilson to spend two years on probation.

A woman in early May told Mandan police that Wilson hit her repeatedly with an open hand and closed fist, kicked her and attempted to break her arms and legs, bit her cheek, and blocked her nose and mouth until she lost consciousness. Wilson told her several times during the assault that he was going to kill her, an affidavit states.

The womans son, who was 10 years old during the incident, attempted to pull Wilson off and then went to a neighbors home for help, according to the document.

The woman had contact with police about half an hour before the alleged incident and had no visible injuries at that time, according to the affidavit. Officers said they found blood spots and spatter on the wall, floor and carpet in two rooms of the house.

Police said Wilson has three convictions for acts of violence against the woman. He pleaded guilty to simple assault in April 2013 and again in May 2013, court records show. In September 2018, he pleaded guilty to interference with an emergency phone call, criminal trespass and simple assault.
Then-Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard speaks during the 2020 Public Service Forum hosted by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees at UNLV in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Aug. 3, 2019. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Tulsi Gabbard to Stump for GOP Candidate a Day After Leaving Democratic Party

Former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a one-time presidential candidate who announced this week that shes leaving the Democratic Party, will campaign for a Republican U.S. Senate candidate ahead of the 2022 midterms.

Retired Army Gen. Don Bolduc, who won the New Hampshire Republican primary and will face incumbent Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) in the Nov. 8 general election, confirmed in a statement on Oct. 12 that the former Hawaii congresswoman will be stumping for him.

We dont agree on every issue, but I am honored to have the support of Tulsi Gabbard who shares my view that the status quo is broken, and we need a change of direction, Bolduc said in a statement. Tulsi is a fellow change agent and independent-minded outsider willing to speak truth to power.

Bolduc has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump.

He added, I am going to spend every day between now and Election Day building a wide coalition of supporters that includes Republicans, independents, and even disaffected Democrats who know that Senator Hassan is a career politician and must be retired.

Gabbard drew headlines on Oct. 11 when she announced she was leaving the Democratic Party. She was a candidate for the Democrats in the 2020 presidential election after having served multiple terms in the House of Representatives.

If you can no longer stomach the direction that the so-called woke Democratic Party ideologues are taking our country, then I invite you to join me, she in a video posted on Twitter. Democrats divide us by racializing every issue & stoking anti-white racism, who actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms enshrined in our Constitution.

Although Gabbard ultimately endorsed Joe Biden for president in 2020, shes since been critical of his administration. The former lawmaker continued to target Biden in her video message.

President [Joe] Biden campaigned on a message of unity, healing the partisan divide and bringing the country together. He just gave a big speech saying supporters of President Trump are the most extremist group in our country and a threat to our democracy. Thats half the country, she remarked.

In her video message, Gabbard didnt indicate if she would be joining another political party.

I will say, with our two-party system, I think it is broken. And its largely broken because of the outsized amount of power that the two parties have, making it impossible for really there to be a viable independent or third party, she said in January 2020.

Gabbard served in the House from 2013 and 2021 and was the vice chair of the Democratic National Committee from 2013 to 2016. Shes a combat veteran with several deployments to the Middle East and Africa, and holds the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve.
TwitterElon Musk Saga: Whats Next in the Takeover Battle?

Tesla CEO Elon Musk will have until Oct. 28 to finish his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter if he wants to avoid a trial, a Delaware judge recently ruled.

Twitter shares have rallied beyond $50 on the news, as investors anticipate that the takeover is nearing completion. If so, this would offer new traders roughly an 8 percent upside since Musk proposed to purchase the social media company at $54.20 per share.

But if Musks purchase is nearing completion, why is the stock still trading below the deal value?

The fact that Twitters stock hasnt hit this level may be one indicator that theres some doubt, says Ali Mogharabi, a senior analyst at Morningstar. I dont necessarily think theres much else for the investors to focus on than just basically having the deal closed.

But Mogharabi, who covers the San Francisco-based tech firm, believes theres a higher chance that the deal will go through right now, citing the letter that Musk and his legal team submitted to the courts and to Twitter, which gives the latter leverage.

He thinks that if Musk changes his mind again and pursues a case, the odds of him winning would be lower.

From their end, its tough to imagine that they will actually not cooperate and will go back to proceeding with the legal battle, Mogharabi told The Epoch Times.

It seems that the chance of this deal closing on Oct. 28 or shortly after is much higher than it was before, he added.

Aaron Glick, a merger arbitrage strategist at Cowen Inc., estimates that the market is pricing in a 60 percent chance of Musks Twitter acquisition closing by Oct. 28.

Twitter logo and stock graph through a magnifier displayed in this illustration on Sept. 4, 2022. (Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters)

Based on my informal survey last week, arbitrage traders tend to think Twitters price holds up well if we are going back to court, Glick told Bloomberg. The average guess of where Twitter trades if the deal is not consummated came out to around $45.

Legal Battle

Francis Pileggi, managing partner of the Wilmington office of Lewis Brisbois, thinks the court will grant Musk an extra day or two if he intends to complete the deal. But if he requires more than that, then the court will probably force him to go to trial in November.

Musk filed a letter to Twitter with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that affirmed he plans to close the acquisition deal according to the merger agreement he originally signed on April 25.

He also submitted a 13-D form with the SEC that reiterated what was stated in the letter:

On October 3, 2022, the Reporting Persons advisors sent a letter to Twitter (on the Reporting Persons behalf) notifying Twitter that the Reporting Person intends to proceed to closing of the transaction contemplated by the April 25, 2022, Merger Agreement, on the terms and subject to the conditions set forth therein and pending receipt of the proceeds of the debt financing contemplated thereby, provided that the Delaware Chancery Court enter an immediate stay of the action, Twitter vs. Musk, et al. (C.A. No. 202-0613-KSJM), and adjourn the trial and all other proceedings related thereto pending such closing or further order of the court.

The next hurdle in the takeover plan, as stated in the document, could be the completion of financing.

Financing Challenges?

When Musk first announced his plans to take the company private, he received $13 billion in financing from several major banks, including Morgan Stanley, the Bank of America, and Barclays. But Bloomberg recently calculated that the banks losses could collectively total at least $500 million if the debt were to be sold now. Eighty percent of the losses would come from unsecured and high-interest bonds without fees.

Financial institutions will usually sell this type of debt to investors and earn an underwriting fee. However, the debt market has cratered since the financing terms and conditions were established in April. Therefore, if these Wall Street titans were to sell this debt under the present market landscape, they likely would face a loss to encourage investors to buy it. A couple of major equity investors have reportedly reaffirmed their funding support, including Sequoia Capital ($800 million) and cryptocurrency exchange Binance ($500 million).

Pileggi doesnt think its likely that these banks will back out of the deal. But if Musk suddenly gets into trouble securing the funds to go through with his purchase, he has two options.

He can find some of his rich friends with the money or then he will have to go to trial, Pileggi told The Epoch Times.

In these kinds of multibillion-dollar deals, theres a long list of things that could go wrong, he added. If youve ever been involved in closing a transaction for purchase of a company, theres always 101 different issues.

There is speculation, however, that banks involved in the MuskTwitter deal could mitigate steep losses by expanding the amount of debt secured by collateral. This would allow a larger portion of the debt to stay on their balance sheets and a smaller amount they need to sell to investors in the short term.

Bots and Transparency

Meanwhile, in a recent interview with the Financial Times, Musk purported that the objective behind his acquisition of Twitter was never about the money but about trust and transparency.

Im not doing Twitter for the money. Its not like Im trying to buy some yacht and I cant afford it. I dont own any boats, he said. But I think its important that people have a maximally trusted and inclusive means of exchanging ideas and that it should be as trusted and transparent as possible.

A treasure trove of text messages between Musk and multiple industry colleagues, media personalities, and celebrities was released in a court filing. In one exchange, Musk and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey discussed the idea of having the websites algorithm rely on open-source coding. According to Jeff Bermant, the founder of web browser TUSK, this would provide some protections and hidden things that might usher in Musks vision of the Twitterverse.

In a text message from Mathias Dopfner, CEO of Axel Springer, he suggested creating a marketplace for algorithms, so if youre a snowflake and dont want content that offends you, pick another algorithm.

But the issue of bots, which has been a source of contention for Musk as he has alleged the presence of fake accounts was higher than the companys claim of 5 percent, has garnered the attention of JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon.

I hope Musk cleans up Twitter, Dimon told CNBC in an interview aired on Oct. 11. Why cant Twitter know who you are when you come on board, so they can eliminate all those people in the public square who are robots and emails and stuff like that?

While Musks claims about spam bots being undercounted might not be 100 percent correct, Mogharabi says its important to the overall macroeconomic environment on how Twitter handles the bots and their impact on advertising spending.
UK Businessman Graham Bonham-Carter Arrested for Allegedly Helping Russian Oligarch Evade Sanctions

A UK businessman was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly conspiring to help a Russian oligarch evade U.S. sanctions, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

Graham Bonham-Carter, 62, the cousin of actress Helena Bonham-Carter, is accused of wire fraud and funding U.S. properties purchased by Russian oligarch Oleg Vladimirovich Deripaska, who has been sanctioned by the U.S. government since 2018.

The U.S. government now seeks to extradite Bonham-Carter, who is also accused of unlawfully moving Deripaskas artwork out of the United States, according to the DOJ.

A 2014 executive order by former President Barrack Obama declared a national emergency with respect to Ukraine and prohibited transactions of various natures that benefit any person specially designated by the U.S. Treasury.

Four years later, the U.S. Treasury determined Deripaskas actions with respect to Ukraine constituted an unusual and extraordinary threat to U.S. national security and foreign policy, the DOJ said.

Bonham-Carter has worked for entities controlled by Deripaska since July 2003, managing the oligarchs residential properties located in the United Kingdom and Europe, including a house in Belgravia Square, London, the DOJ said, citing court documents.

Allegations

The DOJ alleges that despite knowledge of the U.S. governments sanctions, Bonham-Carter continued to work for the Russian oligarch and referred to Deripaska as his boss in an email dated on or about June 18, 2018.

Times a bit tough for my boss as sanctions have hit him from the USA so not an ideal time, Bonham-Carter allegedly wrote in the email, according to the DOJ.

In another email from October 2021, the DOJ said Bonham-Carter spoke about banks shutting me down because of his affiliation with my boss Oleg Deripaska.

I have even been advised not to go to the USA where Oleg still has personal sanctions as the authorities will undoubtedly pull me to one side and the questioning could be hours or even days!! the UK businessman allegedly wrote in an email, according to the DOJ.

$1 Million for US Properties, Artwork

The DOJ alleges that Bonham-Carter was involved in more than $1 million of illicit transactions to fund U.S. real estate properties in New York and Washington, D.C., for Deripaskas benefit and attempt to unlawfully transfer artwork from a New York auction house.

After Deripaska was sanctioned, Bonham-Carter allegedly set up a new company in his name, called GBCM Limited, at the direction of the oligarch, in order to manage Deripasks three U.S. properties.

The three U.S. properties, two in New York City and one in Washington, D.C., had been managed by a company named Gracetown Inc. since they were purchased between 2005 and 2008, according to the DOJ.

In 2021, Bonham-Carter allegedly transmitted over $1 million from a Russian bank account held in the name of GBCM Limited to bank accounts held by Gracetown Inc. in New York City, according to the DOJ.

The money was allegedly used to pay staff salaries, property taxes, and other services to maintain Deripaskas U.S. properties, the DOJ said.

In May 2021, a New York City auction house suspected Deripaska was behind the purchase and attempted unlawful transfer of artwork to London. Bonham-Carter allegedly attempted, through misrepresentations, to conceal the oligarchs ownership of the artwork by falsely advising that the artwork and payment for its transfer did not belong to Deripaska.

In fact, as Bonham-Carter knew, Deripaska had purchased the artwork, it remained his property, and the funds used to pay for shipping would be billed to Deripaska, the DOJ said.

If convicted in a U.S. court for the three-count indictment, Bonham-Carter could face up to 20 years in prison.
The "Lady of Justice," a 12-foot-high gold leaf statue, is pictured on top of the dome of the Central Criminal Court, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey, in central London on Aug. 21, 2016. (Niklas Halle'n/AFP via Getty Images)

UK Murder Defendant Refuses to Name Names, Saying It Could Put Him in Danger

LONDONA man on trial for murder has refused to identify another individual who was caught on CCTV moments before a gang member was stabbed to death, saying it could put him in danger.

Tristan Bullock, 21, Donte McCalla, 21, and Darius Kwakye, 29, all deny murdering Salem Koudou in Brixton, south London, in August 2020.

Bullocks younger brother, Yaseen, was convicted of murdering Koudou at a previous trial.

The jury has heard Koudou, a member of the All Bout Money (ABM) gang from Stockwell, drove onto the Angell Town estate in Brixton with two accomplices planning to launch an attack on the rival 150 gang.

After their car crashed and overturned, the two other men in the car fled but Koudou, who was armed with a huge Black Panther machete, stabbed Tyreicke Williams before a group of up to 15 people, several of whom were armed, chased him off the estate.

Koudou was then chased into a cul-de-sac on the other side of the main Brixton Road, where he was surrounded and stabbed to death.

On Monday, Bullock went into the witness box to give his own version of the events of Aug. 20, 2020, and on Tuesday he was cross examined by prosecutor Oliver Glasgow, KC.

Defendant Refuses to Name Male 9

At one point Glasgow showed him CCTV footage of the incident and pointed out an individual who has not been identified by police and is known only as Male 9.

Glasgow asked Bullock if he knew Male 9 and he replied, Im not prepared to name him.

Why not? asked the prosecutor.

I could be in danger, replied Bullock.

Are you scared of him? asked Glasgow.

No, he replied.

But you wont name him?

No, Bullock replied again.

Later Glasgow pointed out that at a previous trial Bullock had refused to identify an individual called Male 18, who was later identified by police as McCalla.

Glasgow pointed out that during that trial he had said he feared his family would be in danger if he named him.

If you name names who is going to be cross about it? asked the prosecutor.

A lot of people. It may not be the person I name. It could be other people, Bullock replied.

Stood and Watched

The prosecutor then interrogated him about his actions on the day of the murder and asked what he did when Koudou was attacked.

I stood and watched it, just like the witness watched it, he replied, referring to a woman who gave evidence during the trial.

The difference is that the witness was in a house at the time and she rang the police and told them what was happening. But you did nothing, didnt you? asked Glasgow.

I prevented a man from being hurt, replied Bullock.

The prosecutor asked, How did you do that?

I moved the machete, he replied.

But he had already been stabbed 32 times by then. The machete wasnt going to make much difference, was it? asked Glasgow.

It could have, said Bullock.

Glasgow then asked him if he was disgusted by what his friends had done to Koudou.

Bullock replied: They werent my friends. They were just people I knew.

Glasgow went on: Were you disgusted by what the people you knew had done?

Yes. I was disgusted by what happened, he replied.

Did you ask them, Why did you do that?' asked Glasgow.

No, replied Bullock.

Last week McCalla told the jury he only chased after the victim because he saw others running and he was curious.

McCalla was asked by his barrister, Jenny Dempster, KC, why he began running.

I dont know. I was curious and wanted to find out what was going on, McCalla replied.

Glasgow has told the jury the ABM gang had a violent rivalry with the 150 gang and their allies, the 410 gang from the nearby Myatts Field estate.

The trial continues.
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the Far Eastern Federal University campus on Russky island in the far-eastern Russian port of Vladivostok on April 25, 2019. (Alexey Nikolsky/ AFP via Getty Images)

US Should Return to Nuclear Deterrence Amid Growing Threat From Rivals: Expert

The United States should return to nuclear deterrence because of growing threats from rivals that include Russia, China, and North Korea, according to Rick Fisher, senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center.

We need to get back into the regional nuclear deterrent business. The United States needs to deploy hundreds, maybe thousands of nuclear-armed short-, medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles, Fisher told NTDs China in Focus program.

It must match Chinas growing nuclear arsenal; it must have enough to deter China and Russia and North Korea.

Fisher noted that Russia has more theater nuclear weapons than the United States.

According to Arms Control Association, Russia has 1,458 warheads on 527 intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched missiles, and bombers. Meanwhile, the United States has about 100 nuclear weapons stored in Europe at NATO bases in Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

These bombs would have to be carried by aircraft that could be shot down by Russias very effective surface-to-air anti-aircraft missile systems, he said.

Fisher also pointed to the Biden administrations termination of the Trump-era nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile program in late March.

Most of our military leaders want this cruise missile because they know regional nuclear deterrence is just as important as strategic global nuclear deterrence, he said.

We understood this during the Cold War. And we did produce thousands of nuclear weapons that successfully deterred Russia.

Emboldening Russia

According to the expert, the U.S. nuclear inferiority would embolden Russias further move in Ukraine.

Putin thinks that his tactical nuclear weapons were largely responsible for deterring President Biden from sending American and NATO troops into Ukraine, Fisher said.

He now thinks that his nuclear superiority will deter Biden and NATO from agreeing to a nuclear response to his small use of nuclear weapons.

In Fishers opinion, if the United States would respond in kind by using tactical nuclear weapons on Russians, it then would give the Russians an excuse to escalate, perhaps attack Poland, the Baltics, any European country, or even the United States with larger nuclear weapons.

Thus, Fisher believes its doubtful that the United States would respond in kind by using tactical nuclear weapons on Russia because it simply doesnt have the systems to do that.

He said that the situation would endanger Taiwan, as the Chinese are going to start doing the same thing to intimidate the democratic government in Taiwan, blowing up or demonstrating nuclear explosions near the Taiwan Strait.

Shooting Down North Korean Missiles

As part of the nuclear deterrence approach, Fisher said that the United States needs to up our game in missile defense and actually start shooting down some of these North Korean missiles.

He mentioned the report that North Korea fired two ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan on Oct. 6, one day after the United States had redeployed an aircraft carrier to the region.

We should just shut this down and put the North Koreans on notice that we have this capability, and we will use it: You are not allowed to fire your missiles over Japan, he stressed.

North Koreas response, he said, will provide a further excuse to clamp down on that rogue regime. Washington also needs to convince the public in South Korea that the United States needs to redeploy tactical nuclear weapons to their soil.

And if we do that, it is very likely that Japan and Australia will follow suit, he said.

Fisher said the United States needs to return to the Peace Through Strength policy, which had been the consistent policy during the Cold War.

We really have no choice. The other choice is to witness our children being drafted and sent off to war.

Hannah Ng Reporter Follow Hannah Ng is a reporter covering U.S. and China news. She holds a master's degree in international and development economics from the University of Applied Science Berlin.
General view at the opening of the U.N. Human Rights Council's 44th session in Geneva on June 30, 2020. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)

Vietnam Wins UN Human Rights Seat Despite Abysmal Record

Vietnam has won a seat in the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for the 20232025 term with 145 votes, despite the countrys numerous human rights violations.

The Southeast Asian nation was one of the 14 new council members elected by the U.N. General Assembly on Oct. 11, marking its second term on the council.

The 13 other countries elected include Algeria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Chile, Costa Rica, Georgia, Germany, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Morocco, Romania, South Africa, and Sudan.

I congratulate: Algeria 

Bangladesh 

Belgium

Chile 

Costa Rica 

Georgia 

Germany 

Kyrgyzstan 

Maldives 

Morocco @RomaniaUN_NY @SAMissionNY @SudanMissionUN @VietNam_UN  on their election to the Human Rights Council for the term 2023-2025. pic.twitter.com/ZFajw0Y2pr  UN GA President (@UN_PGA) October 11, 2022

International human rights groups were skeptical of Vietnams appointment to the council, given the countrys dismal human rights record and diplomatic support of major rights violators abroad. Vietnam is ranked as not free by Freedom House.

Amnesty International, Article 19, Human Rights Watch, and the International Commission of Jurists issued a joint statement on Oct. 10 urging Vietnam to improve its human rights performance and ensure the right to freedom of expression.

The communist-controlled country has arrested at least 48 journalists and activists for arbitrary crimes since announcing its candidacy for the UNHRC on Feb. 22, 2021, according to the statement.

We express particular concern that Vietnam has falsely characterized civil and political rights in the country as better ensured, especially given the continued harassment and arrests of activists and journalists, the statement reads.

More than 100 human rights defenders have been arrested in Vietnam since 2019 as the government imposed laws targeting individuals who speak out in defense of their and others human rights, according to the groups.

Our organizations believe that Vietnam, before seeking election into the HRC, needs to first demonstrate a genuine commitment to uphold the highest standards of human rights protection, they said.

On Oct. 3, United Nations Watch, Human Rights Foundation, and the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights released a joint report (pdf) detailing the rights abuses of UNHRC candidates, including Vietnam, Algeria, and Sudan.

The report states that Vietnam had opposed resolutions supporting human rights victims in Belarus and Iran during its 20142016 term, and failed to support resolutions for human rights victims in Burundi and Syria.

Vietnam also supported counterproductive resolutions that undermined individual human rights or addressed issues beyond the competency of the council, it stated.

Regrettably, when the U.N. itself ends up electing human rights violators to the Human Rights Council, it indulges the very of culture of impunity it is supposed to combat, Irwin Cotler, head of the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights, said in a statement.
While Chinese-made goods flood the U.S. market, Beijing has been busy buying Americaincluding elected officials. Even at the local level, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has compromised U.S. politicians as part of what it calls its subnational strategy to undermine U.S. interests. From Wall Street to Main Street, and from Washington, D.C., to Small Town, USA, Beijing has infiltrated every corner of American society. And now the CCP is openly exporting its own police force to the United States to intimidate the Chinese diaspora and spy on Americans.

In this shocking new episode of Over the Target, Brendon Fallon and Lee Smith reveal the massive scope of Chinas stealth invasion.

* Click the Save button below the video to access it later on My List.



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An image of Chinese leader Xi Jinping is seen at an exhibition about the history of the Chinese Communist Party at Red Building of Peking University in Beijing, China, on Oct. 7, 2022. (Jade Gao/AFP via Getty Images)

Xi Jinpings Third Term Would Worsen US-China Cold War: Congressmen

Two members of Congress have spoken out about their worries that the developing cold war between China and the United States will only worsen if Chinese communist leader Xi Jinping is granted a third term later this month.

Xi is currently anticipated to be elected to an unprecedented third term in office at the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) 20th National Congress, which will be held in Beijing from Oct. 16, potentially signaling a shift toward a lifetime appointment.

Speaking at a virtual roundtable discussion hosted by Politico on Oct. 12, Rep. Darin LaHood (R-Ill.) said that the CCP under Xi refuses to adhere to the rules and norms expected of any other nation in the international marketplace.

I think youre going to continue to see a movement in the Congress of what I would call a cold war mentality toward China because were not seeing the progress that I think is necessary economically or from a trade standpoint and from an IP standpoint, LaHood said.

If you look at the forced labor  they continue to engage in, IP theft, forced technology transfers, the massive state subsidies, we continue to talk to them and argue with them about these policies and the excess capacity theyve had, but they continue to abide by a different set of rules and standards from an economic standpoint.

To that end, LaHood said that U.S. leadership and its allies must think carefully about what the future relationship with China should look like and how Xis authoritarian approach to governing could influence world events in the coming years.

We have waited, and we have looked for China to make progress on this, and its not just us; its our allies in Europe and other democracies around the world that have not seen the progress we all have desired, LaHood said.

Listen to Xi and what he says. He supports these authoritarian regimes and dictatorships around the world. And what does he really argue? That democracy doesnt work anymore, that democracy shouldnt be the future, [and] that we should be more like China.

Xi Leads Scheme of Transnational Repression

Speaking at the same event, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) noted that Xi had caused China to lose face with his frequent broken promises on international issues and pursuit of totalitarian repression schemes abroad.

[Under Xi,] We have seen a complete violation of the agreement with Britain over Hong Kong, Merkley said. We have seen massive use of technology to enslave the Uyghurs. We have seen a violation of international waters regarding the Philippines. We have seen the creation of artificial islands extend their claims. Weve seen the drum beat of a potential aggression towards Taiwan.

And outside of China, weve seen a lot as well. We have seen economic coercion against intentional companies. We have seen coercion against countries that had policies critical of China. We have seen transnational repression in the form of threatening individuals outside of China.

Merkley said Xi is engineering a third term to consolidate his power over China and labeled his use of mass surveillance and arbitrary detention as a type of techno-authoritarianism.

The senator also noted the CCPs campaign of transnational repression abroad, through which it has surveilled, stalked, harassed, intimidated, and plotted violence against those critical of the regime, including U.S. citizens.

Merkley said that China was on a completely, absolutely different track under Xi and that the communist leader had taken China down a path of violence and repression that the world feared might go down half a century ago.

When asked what the greatest threat emanating from China is, however, Merkley again pointed to Xis transnational repression scheme.

What [the CCP] is doing outside of China to coerce companies, to coerce governments, and to deliberately threaten individuals, including individuals here in the United States, when they speak out about human rights in China [is the greatest threat], Merkley said.

For those who think, is America changing its policy? No. Its China that has changed its role in the world in a very threatening fashion, violating many of the things that weve all feared.
North Dakota's state government information technology chief has resigned, taking a job with a cryptocurrency mining company establishing itself in the state.

Gov. Doug Burgum on Wednesday announced Chief Information Officer Shawn Riley's resignation, effective Dec. 2. Riley will be joining Bitzero International as its new CEO of American operations. Burgum appointed Riley to his Cabinet-level job in March 2017.

Shawn embodies the term transformational leader, and the positive impacts of his leadership on innovation, technology and cybersecurity will be felt in NDIT and across our state for years to come, Burgum said in a statement. We are deeply grateful for his service to the State of North Dakota.

Riley wrote in his resignation letter, "The state of North Dakota is now the undisputed national leader in Cyber Security. Our initiatives have changed the education of future generations and unbelievably changed the ability for government to operate in a digital world."

Bitzero Blockchain Inc., a subsidiary of Bitzero International, has leased space in Bismarck and Fargo for administrative operations as it begins transforming a northeastern North Dakota anti-ballistic missile site abandoned in the 1970s into its main data center. The center at the Nekoma site may be used for the mining of bitcoin and other digital currencies, according to Burgum.

Bitzero is backed by strategic investor and Shark Tank star Kevin OLeary. It announced plans last summer to make North Dakota its headquarters for North American operations, saying that within three years it intends to build 200 megawatts of data centers in the state and is involved in a joint venture to become an assembly and distribution hub for graphene battery technology.

Riley's departure is the seventh of Burgum's Cabinet announced in the last four months, including retirements.

Deputy Chief Information Officer Greg Hoffman will serve as interim chief information officer. The job will be posted Friday.

Riley's tenure saw North Dakota "authorize a central, shared service approach to cybersecurity across all aspects of state government, protecting a statewide network that has roughly 252,000 daily users across over 400 entities," according to the governor's office.

The state government defended against an average of 4.5 billion cyberattacks per day in 2021, including K-12 and higher education and other entities touching the state's network.

Riley also oversaw the transition of about 7,000 state employees to remote work after the coronavirus pandemic emerged in North Dakota, "accomplishing in weeks or months what would have typically taken years," according to the governor's office.

Burgum since the start of 2021 also has appointed new leaders for the departments of Health, Corrections and Rehabilitation, Game and Fish, Parks and Recreation, Indian Affairs, Job Service and Commerce.
That release could not be found.
Columbus Day, claiming a neutral celebration of this military merchant from Italian heritage has always been a contested historical event, from the day of "arrival" until the present.

The history of this holiday reveals much about US racism and the power of assimilation. Columbus day originated in 1934 to celebrate Italian Americans amid anti-Italian sentiment. Italians were not yet white, or they experienced "whiteness of a different color" and were Catholic, which might have been worse. According to the book by Mathew Frye Jacobson, Roots Too: White Ethnic Revival in Post-Civil Rights America, these feelings of ethnic revival emerged again in the 1970s as a white backlash to the post-WWII civil rights and anti-colonial movements.

Consider that the attempted genocide of Indigenous peoples, justified by European philosophers and religious clerics, meant progress for European nations and people. Extermination through war, disease, abandonment, boarding schools, and other forms of organized violence by state and civilian groups also meant development and prosperity for those groups enacting violence and benefitting from the "free land."

It is not simply the action of Columbus or other European military explorers but the ongoing legacies concerning the ideas, logic, and assumptions about humanity and civilization, about whose bodies and communities were to be treated as savage brutes. Brutes were to be annihilated, through elimination or assimilation; the latter another form of death.

In December 1994, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed that August 9th would be the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples. During the past 30 years, cities across the US have informally and formally adopted decrees that recognize the controversy of Columbus Day, some renaming the day accordingly.

The history of the struggle for international recognition of Indigenous people's sovereignty can also be traced to the political movements that founded International Indian Treaty Council. "The IITC was founded in June 1974 at a gathering on the Standing Rock Reservation in South Dakota attended by more than 5000 representatives from 98 Indigenous Nations. The symbol of the sacred pipe uniting the hemisphere was chosen by the elders to represent the common bonds of spirituality, relationship to the land and traditional culture shared by all Indigenous Peoples."

The founding of the IITC was an extension of the Red Power movement of the 1960s and 70s. Struggling to regain the land, have treaties honored, and defend against the violence of the US government and agents empowered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the next step was the international arena.

"In 1977, IITC became the first Indigenous Peoples' organization to be recognized as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) with Consultative Status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council. In 2011, IITC was the first to be upgraded to General Consultation Status in recognition of its active participation in a wide range of international bodies and processes to ensure that the rights of Indigenous Peoples are recognized, respected and upheld."

Getting International Indigenous People's day recognized by USian society has been a struggle in the streets and the courtrooms. The international recognition of Indigenous people's sovereign rights as Nations results from generations of urban grassroots and reservation-based movements in regions across the continent, where the day is just one political issue among many.

As the New York Times reported, "Audra Simpson [Kahnawake Mohawk], professor of anthropology at Columbia University, points to 'the pipelines and fracking projects running through our territories' and 'the ongoing and disproportionate violence directed at Indigenous people, especially women, girls, and trans.' The interior secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American to hold that post, had made that violence a priority with the establishment of a Missing and Murdered Unit within the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Ms. Simpson noted."

Recently, Haitian filmmaker, Raoul Peck, produced the four-part documentary series Exterminate all the Brutesfor HBO. The series visually examines the ideologies, logic, and laws that justified genocide, destruction, kidnapping, and slavery, including the ongoing legacies of these organized violences.

"Through his personal voyage, Peck deconstructs the making and masking of history, digging deep into the exploitative and genocidal aspects of European colonialism  from America to Africa and its impact on society today. Exterminate All the Brutes revisits and reframes the profound meaning of the Native American genocide and American slavery, and their fundamental implications for our present.Through a sweeping story in which history, contemporary life, and fiction are wholly intertwined, the series challenges the audience to re-think the very notion of how history is being written."

Check out the following books for the research on which the series is based: Sven Lindqvist's Exterminate All the Brutes, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz'sAn Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States, and Michel-Rolph Trouillot's Silencing the Past.

On the murder and neglect of Indigenous women in Canada, and stories of resilience and survival, see, Keetsahnak /Our Missing and Murdered Indigenous Sisters, edited by Kim Anderson, Maria Campbell, and Christi Belcourt.

You might also check out Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance, by Nick Estes.
Residents of Nzam community of Anambra West Local Government Area of Anambra State have been thrown into mourning following the death of six members of a family.

The Nigerian Voice learnt that the victims drowned after the their home was submerged in a flood on Tuesday.

In a trending video, youths of the community were seen bringing out corpses from a house and depositing them in an upland area.

The bodies consisted of a woman, her four children and a sister.

A narrator in the video said the family members were already prepared to leave for a safe place, before their residence was submerged by flood.

It would be recalled that about 81 people lost their lives in two boat accidents in Ogbaru Local Government council of the state last week.

Also, a man, who had successfully evacuated his family from the flood and opted to stay back to take care of the vicinity recently, drowned in Ogbaru while he was asleep.
Phuket to host TBEX Asia 2022

BANGKOK: Thailand is ready to welcome worlds travel bloggers, content creators and influencers from around the world to TBEX Asia 2022, to be held in Phuket and neighbouring provinces from Nov 15-18 with the theme Diversity of the South: Phuket and Beyond.

tourismeconomics

By The Phuket News

Wednesday 12 October 2022, 11:15AM

Image: TAT

The staging of TBEX Asia 2022 follows Thailands full reopening to international tourism with travellers to the Kingdom no longer having to show proof of vaccination or ATK test results, and being able to enjoy a longer length of stay, which came into effect on Oct 1.

The TBEX Asia 2022 theme reflects precious art, cultural diversity, a variety of destinations and activities, and the Southern Thailand lifestyle, particularly that of Phuket, explained the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) in a release issued yesterday (Oct 10).

TBEX Asia 2022 is a fantastic opportunity for travel bloggers and influencers the world over to reconnect in person post-pandemic and see some of the wonderful travel experiences  existing and new  on offer in Thailand. The Kingdom is again welcoming visitors with open arms with the Visit Thailand Year 2022-2023: Amazing New Chapters campaign, TAT Governor Yuthasak Supasorn said.

The event will be the second time Thailand has hosted the TBEX, having hosted the first Asian edition of the show in 2015 in Bangkok, which drew nearly 700 participants from around the world and generated resulting exposure to over 142 million people.

The main venue for TBEX Asia 2022 will be Angsana Laguna Phuket, located at Asias first integrated resort Laguna Phuket on Bang Tao Bay.

The event programme for the four days of Nov 15-18 comprises a variety of Pre-BEX tour programmes and the conference itself, including a workshop, keynote addresses, breakout sessions and speed networking.

On Nov 19, the various two-night/three-day fam trips to destinations beyond Phuket will begin, to Songkhla and Phatthalung, Krabi, Phang Nga, Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Lampang.

Registration to TBEX Asia 2022 for content creators (producers of blogs, videos, podcasts and traditional media) and DMOs, tour operators, hoteliers, OTAs, travel brands and PR and marketing suppliers can be completed at www.tbexcon.com/Asia-2022
Putin to attend Apec summit

BANGKOK: Russian President Vladimir Putin has accepted Thailands invitation to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Bangkok next month, according to a security source.

RussianChinese

By Bangkok Post

Wednesday 12 October 2022, 10:01AM

Photo: AFP

The source said the Foreign Ministry has already informed security agencies to prepare security arrangements for the Nov 18-19 meeting, reports the Bangkok Post.

US President Joe Biden will send a representative on his behalf while Chinese President Xi Jinpings attendance is still pending confirmation, the source said.

Speaking after chairing yesterdays (Oct 11) meeting of armed forces leaders and the national police chief to discuss security measures for the Apec summit, Gen Chalermpol Srisawasdi, chief of the defence forces, said the situation is under control and there are no signs of unrest.

Security agencies have been closely monitoring groups that may instigate unrest but there have been no reports of any suspicious activities so far, Gen Chalermpol said.

Security will be tightened once aircraft carrying foreign leaders and other attendees enter Thailands airspace, he added.

The armed forces and Royal Thai Police will ensure maximum security for foreign leaders and attendees during the Apec meeting, Gen Chalermpol said.

Another source said security agencies are keeping a close watch on separatist groups in the southern border provinces to prevent them from coming to the capital to disrupt the meeting.

In the Foreign Ministrys Line group application, spokesman Tanee Sangrat posted yesterday that nine economies have responded positively to the invitation to attend, mostly in writing.

Eight more are likely to attend. I cannot name [them] at this time. There will be two to three countries that will join as special guests of the host. As a courtesy, I cannot name the countries.

There will be one international organisation which will attend the leaders retreat [meeting] and one that will attend the ministerial meeting, he wrote.

Foreign Affairs Minister Don Pramudwinai said several countries have accepted invitations, but it remains to be seen whether their leaders will attend in person or send representatives.

Asked about Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Sauds planned visit to Thailand, Mr Don said the Crown Prince will visit as a guest of the government, and this will open the door for new opportunities for the two countries and further boost bilateral ties and cooperation.

Frozen ties thawed when Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha visited Saudi Arabia on Jan 25 at the invitation of the Crown Prince, the countrys de facto leader. He also serves as deputy prime minister and defence minister.

He will reportedly lead a delegation of 800 Saudi dignitaries and businessmen to Thailand.

Deputy Bangkok governor Chakkaphan Phew-ngam said measures will be put in place to ensure security and regulate traffic flow during the Apec meeting, with CCTV and video conference systems to be installed to support the measures.

Deputy government spokeswoman Traisuree Taisaranakul said yesterday that the Cabinet had approved a ministerial regulation that will allow the Treasury Department to issue up to one million commemorative 20-baht coins to mark Thailands hosting of the Apec summit.

The government has declared Nov 16-18 as public holidays in Bangkok, Nonthaburi and Samut Prakan during the Apec meeting.
The Rosetta Stone is one of the most famous archaeological discoveries in the world. It is a large stone slab with inscriptions in three scripts. These inscriptions helped scholars learn how to read hieroglyphics, which was the writing of ancient Egyptians. It was created around 196 BC. The slab was discovered in 1799 by French soldiers who were rebuilding a fort near the Egyptian town of Rashid (also known as Rosetta). It was eventually transferred to the British Museum in London, where it remains today. Now thousands of Egyptians are demanding the return of the artifact.

From NPR:

The latest campaign to reclaim the antiquities has gathered more than 2,500 signatures in an online petition launched by a group of prominent archeologists. Together, these archeologists urge Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly to "work through diplomatic and legal means" to retrieve the antiquities. According to the group and those who have signed on, the objects are integral to Egypt's national heritage, and their continued display in European institutions deliberately ignores a history of colonialist looting and exploitation. Given changing attitudes toward the ethical acquisition of items, as well as an evolving sense of moral responsibility, the organizers say British authorities would be amenable to the return.

From the petition:
Nick Clegg, Nicola Mendelsohn, and Cristian Perrella were identified in court papers as executives of Facebook (now Meta) who took bribes from OnlyFans to "blacklist" the accounts of adult entertainers who competed with it. Meta denies it, but as Dell Cameron writes for Gizmodo, the case now hinges "less on whether the allegations are false, and more on whether, even if true, the company would be legally liable."

Unnamed Meta employees were accused this February in an ongoing lawsuit of working under the table to secretly help OnlyFans by getting its competitors "blacklisted" online. The suit was filed in a San Francisco federal court by a group of adult online entertainers who've alleged Meta employees added their accounts and others linked to OnlyFans competitors to databases used by companies internationally to identify malware and accounts linked to terrorism.  The wire transfer documents, according to the plaintiffs, point to funds going to two trust accounts in the Philippines under Meta executives' names. A third account, the documents say, was opened in the name of a "high-ranking Facebook executive's young son."

To Britons, Clegg is a former deputy Prime Minister whose 2010 coalition government with the Conservative Party resulted in his own Liberal Democrat party losing 49 of its 57 seats at the next electiona parliamentary annihilation the party is barely recovering from more than a decade later.
FILE - U.S. Navy SEAL candidates, participate in "surf immersion" during Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training at the Naval Special Warfare (NSW) Center in Coronado, Calif., on May 4, 2020. Navy officials and a new report say the Naval Special Warfare Command has reprimanded three officers in connection with the February 2022 death of SEAL candidate Kyle Mullen, who collapsed and died of acute pneumonia just hours after completing the grueling Hell Week test.


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Back in 2020, a 30-year-old Trump fan blamed Democrats, BLM, and Antifa for blowing up his camper van. The Minnesota man, Denis Molla, even went on the news (see first video below) to explain how, after he had draped Trump flags over his van, his family was woken up in the middle of the night by a loud explosion outside his house. They found their van on fire and graffiti spray-painted on their garage that said, "Biden 2020" and "BLM." But, thank the Lord, he, his wife, and his two babies were unharmed.

Cut to two years later, and we find out Molla was actually the arsonist who blew up his own van. The stunt not only helped fuel MAGA's fire of hate, but also fetched Molla $78,000 in insurance payouts and GoFundMe donations (but only a fraction of the $300,000 he asked for).

The surly gentleman, who had threatened his insurance company for not giving him a larger payout, pleaded guilty yesterday to wire fraud. According to the U.S. Department of Justice:

Molla submitted multiple insurance claims seeking coverage for the damage to his garage, camper, vehicles, and residence caused by the fire. When Molla's insurance company denied some of those claims, Molla submitted a written complaint to the insurance company claiming that it was defrauding him and threatened to report the company to the Department of Commerce and to the Attorney General. Molla also created and allowed others to create two GoFundMe accounts to benefit Molla and his family. In total, Molla submitted more than $300,000 in fraudulent insurance claims, and he received approximately $61,000 from his insurance company. Molla also received more than $17,000 from individual donors via GoFundMe.

The MAGA man still awaits his sentencing hearing, which has not yet been scheduled.

Via HuffPost

Front page thumbnail image: WCCO  CBS (screengrab)
After a decade at Money Mail, the past four years as editor, this will be my final column - my last Last Word, if you will.

It is time for me to pass the torch and, as of later this month, Money Mail will have a new commander-in-chief.

When a colleague asked me recently what I would miss most about this brilliant role, the answer was easy: you, the readers.

Powerful: Time and again firms have attempted to shrug off accusations of shoddy service, only to swiftly hold their hands up when confronted with one of our dossiers of reader letters

One of the greatest privileges of this job has been reading your emails and letters each week.

The first lesson I learned upon joining the team was that we are here to serve you. Whether its exposing rip-offs and scams or providing useful tips to help you manage your money, we are on the side of the consumer.

Financial firms all too often hide behind impenetrable jargon and reams of small print no ordinary person has time to read. We seek to shine a light on those costly catches  and, when necessary, campaign for change.

But none of this would be possible without your support. You are often the first to alert us to wrongdoing. And it is evident when a company has a systemic customer service problem, because a clear pattern of complaints quickly emerges in our postbag.

The most powerful personal finance stories are just that  personal. It can take great courage to share them but it is so worth it, because these are the tales that truly drive lasting change

It is this invaluable insight that helps us hold businesses to account on your behalf.

The most powerful personal finance stories are just that  personal. It can take great courage to share them but it is so worth it, because these are the tales that truly drive lasting change.

Time and again Ive witnessed firms attempt to shrug off accusations of shoddy service, only to swiftly hold up their hands when confronted with one of our famous dossiers of readers letters.

These remind companies that their customers are real people, not numbers on a spreadsheet  and that the decisions CEOs make in their ivory towers can have devastating consequences for many.

One of the best examples of this was in 2019, when Barclays sought to ban customers from withdrawing cash from the Post Office. Amid the backlash, we encouraged readers to write to then chief executive Jes Staley to share their anguish at the loss of such a vital facility.

And, by the banks own admission, it was this torrent of handwritten letters that ultimately led to its U-turn.

Another brilliant illustration of the power of Money Mails postbag is the time NS&I was forced to backtrack on plans to axe our much-loved Premium Bond prize cheques in 2021.

Power of the pen: Reader letters to Money Mail have led to important victories for consumers

Again, you had written in your droves outlining in heartbreaking detail how let down you felt by this penny-pinching decision. NS&Is top team didnt stand a chance against such a moving public outcry.

Indeed, I could write all day about the many victories your willingness to speak out has won for ordinary people.

With your help, we have successfully fought for banks to refund blameless fraud victims and transform the way they treat bereaved families. More recently, we helped win back 6 million for taxpayers after your letters exposed the devious tactics used by rip-off rebate firms.

And if you are still in any doubt as to whether your experiences and opinions matter to big businesses, look no further than our annual Wooden Spoon customer service awards  the threat of your votes has them quaking in their boots.

Many firms could learn a lot from the generosity you regularly display towards complete strangers.

After I wrote in this column about an elderly gentleman living on just 5 a week earlier this year, I was humbled by the number of readers  most living on modest pensions  who were quick to offer donations to help make his life just that little bit easier.

Im also incredibly grateful for the kindness you have shown towards me personally over the years. In my office there is a large notice board on which Ive pinned dozens of my favourite cards and letters. I keep them as a reminder of why we do what we do.

You are the lifeblood of Money Mail. And though we are entering what will no doubt be a difficult winter for many, I know I am leaving you in safe hands and that my successor will continue to stand firm in your corner.

So, for now, farewell. Thank you. And, as always, keep those emails and letters coming.

v.bischoff@dailymail.co.uk
The UK arm of Estonias largest financial group has agreed to buy the small business loan book of start-up challenger Bank North for around 20million.

The deal with LHV comes a week after Bank North was forced into a solvent wind-down after failing to raise enough cash to secure a full banking licence, which would have allowed it to take deposits from retail savers.

The demise of Manchester-based Bank North  revealed in the Daily Mail last week  was a blow to the Governments levelling up agenda and to plans to boost competition in the lending market to small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Collapse: The demise of Manchester-based Bank North was a blow to the Government's 'levelling up' agenda and to plans to boost competition in the lending market

It also raised concerns about the financial strength of other challenger banks as they battle the cost-of-living crisis and a near-meltdown in financial markets.

But now LHV is rescuing Bank North, safeguarding around 20 jobs  a third of the total.

For a bank the size of LHV, the question in the UK is not about demand for loans, but about having enough capital to meet the demand, said LHV chief executive Madis Toomsalu.

Bank Norths activities have proven that the demand for SME loans in the UK remains strong and that an efficient and fast decision-making process makes it possible for a new entrant to the market to grow a lending business.

Founded in 2018, Bank North specialised in making loans of between 500,000 and 5million. It began lending to a year ago after acquiring a restricted banking licence.

Bank North chairman Ron Emerson, who used to lead the state-backed British Business Bank, blamed a gathering storm of economic uncertainty over the past six months for its failure. Latest accounts show it lost 1.9million in the nine months to March 2021.

LHV, which will write off the value of its existing 9 per cent stake in Bank North, is applying for its own UK banking licence. Its UK business offers payment services to 200 international financial services companies.

Since 2013, the Bank of England has approved 54 new licences for banks, including Monzo, Starling and Atom.

Just under half have been granted to the UK subsidiaries of foreign banks.

A recent EY report found revenue and profitability for challenger and specialist banks rose last year while provisions for bad debts fell.

It said banks were well capitalised, meaning they had enough reserves to deal with a downturn and to keep growing.

But EYs report added: The geopolitical and economic picture may create significant challenges ahead.
BP is powering ahead with plans to build the UKs biggest green hydrogen facility on Teesside.

The energy giant is seeking backing to build the production facility, named HyGreen, in what will be a major boost for the North East of England and its efforts to transform itself into a clean energy hub.

BP has submitted a bid for its proposed large-scale green hydrogen production facility in Teesside to the UK Government, the company said.

Site: Energy giant BP is seeking backing to build a green hydrogen production facility on Teesside (pictured) in what will be a major boost for the north-east of England

Green hydrogen is used to make electric vehicle batteries, as well as provide fuel for trucks and buses  which traditionally use diesel  and heat homes.

The Government is expected to make a decision on the preferred bidder before the end of this year.

If it is given the green light, BP hopes to start building the facility early next year and is aiming for completion by 2025.

It already has six customers lined up, including the gas distributor Northern Gas Networks and the ethanol producer Ensus.

Hydrogen is a key pillar of the UKs strategy to cut Britains carbon emissions, and the plant will employ 500 people.

Matt Williamson, vice-president at BP, said: This is about moving energy consumers off natural gas as well as trucks and buses from diesel to hydrogen.

BP has committed 2billion to developing hydrogen projects on Teesside as part of plans to invest 18billion in the UK by 2030.

Alongside HyGreen, BP is also developing a blue hydrogen facility on Teesside, a project named H2Teesside.

Green goal: The hydrogen plant plans are part of a strategy by chief executive Bernard Looney (pictured) to turn BP into a carbon-neutral green energy giant by 2050

It says this will provide more than 600 jobs and 12,000 in the supply chain by 2027.

The energy giant is not disclosing how much the two hydrogen projects will cost to develop but money has been secured from two Abu Dhabi investors.

Masdar will acquire a holding in HyGreen while Abu Dhabi National Oil Company will take a 25 per cent stake in the blue hydrogen facility.

The two projects are set to provide 15 per cent of the Governments target for hydrogen production in 2030.

They are also a massive boost for Teesside, which was once a thriving centre of iron and steel production.

It is grappling with the decline of traditional industry and has spent several decades on massive regeneration projects to transform its derelict sites and tackle the areas high unemployment.

Louise Kingham, head of BPs UK business, said: HyGreen Teesside has the potential to transform energy use, the economy and skills in the local region. Our plans will help drive the UKs position in pioneering hydrogen and battery electric technology in transportation.

Pioneering: BPs Louise Kingham (pictured) wants to see Britain at the front of hydrogen and battery electric technology in transportation

These can help deliver economic growth for the region and the home-grown hydrogen that the UK needs.

Teesside is part of the Red Wall where the Conservatives won Labour seats in the 2019 election.

The Government wants to show its commitment to the levelling up agenda and as part of that is keen to set up what is described as a clean hydrogen industrial cluster in Teesside.

Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen said: The scheme will play a vital part in a whole host of low-carbon initiatives across Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool, not least the continued development of our hydrogen transport hub.

These will only encourage further investment and create high-quality, well-paid jobs for decades to come.

Plans for the site are part of a strategy by chief executive Bernard Looney to turn BP into a carbon-neutral green energy giant by 2050.

BP has been ramping up its investments in low carbon and renewable energy ventures as pressure mounts on polluters to reduce their carbon emissions.

But despite spending billions of pounds on green investments in recent years, BP still relies heavily on oil and gas during its day-to-day operations.

Until recently, BPs activities in the UK had been dwindling as it expanded in other markets.
I was lucky enough to see Ron English's exhibit "Living in Delusionville"which features 37 paintings and sculptures created by English over the past decadeat the Mesa Arts Center in Mesa, Arizona this past weekend. I've been a big fan of English since I first encountered his work through a college course I teach about the Walt Disney company. In that course we spend a few weeks exploring how contemporary artists for decades have taken up Disney imagery in their (often activist, anti-Disney) art. We read Holly Crawford's book Attached to the Mouse, which features contemporary artists such as Lichtenstein, Oldenburg, Warhol, Chagoya, Thiebaud, Helnwein, Boltanski, Dion, and Pensato, and explores "the impact of Disney, including artists' economic and psychological motivations, on contemporary art."

Ron English's work fits into this lineage, as he also uses iconic Disney imagery, along with images and figures from across the popular culture spectrum, to provide commentary on America's political, social, cultural, and economic obsessions. English's website describes the current exhibit at Mesa Arts Center, which runs through January 22, 2023:

Known as the Godfather of Street Art, Ron English has emerged as one of the most influential and controversial artists of our time. Taking direct inspiration from the legendary Andy Warhol, English merges American iconography with art history to create social and political statements about contemporary American society. From Ronald McDonald to Mickey Mouse, no cultural icon is sacred.

Mesa Arts Center also screened a new documentary about the artist, called "Living in Delusionville," which:

chronicles the life and times of Ron English. Combining archival footage, animation and interviews with participants who offer intimate insight into the mercurial artist. The documentary takes the viewer through English's unique universe and the world he has created and coined Delusionville.

You can watch the trailer here. And if you get a chance to go see the exhibit, it's definitely worth checking out!
The Wall Street Journal just published an in-depth piece about GloriFi, a Peter Thiel-backed banking startup aimed at those who think that Wall Street is too woke and liberal.

You might want to go back and re-read that sentence, just so you know you didn't imagine it.

From the Journal:

The potential customer base was huge, Mr. Neugebauer and his business partner, former Mike Pence chief of staff Nick Ayers, told the investors. Plumbers, electricians and police officers, the pitch went, are fed up with big banks that don't share their values. The startup, called GloriFi, initially aimed to launch with bank accounts, credit cards, mortgages and insurance, while touting what it called pro-America values such as capitalism, family, law enforcement and the freedom to "celebrate your love of God and country." Within months, the investors' money was nearly gone, and GloriFi was on the verge of bankruptcy. It missed launch dates, blaming faulty technology and failures by vendors, and laid off dozens of employees. It stumbled with products; for instance, a plan to make a credit card out of the same material used for shell casings failed when the company realized the material could interfere with security chips and potentially be too thick for payment terminals, according to people familiar with the matter.

GloriFi squandered away tens of millions of dollars in a matter of months, yet somehow was still valued at around $1.7B during a recent potential merger acquisition. Why should capitalist economics get in the way of your capitalist economics?

I don't necessarily know if I'd advise reading this Wall Street Journal article, as I did. It's frankly hard to wrap your head around what, exactly, these people were trying to accomplish, and how they failed so badly at it. But it is a fascinating look at just how much stupid money is out there being spent by ridiculous people  all because they're mad that some banks have tried to greenwash their images by offering environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investment opportunities.

How a New Anti-Woke Bank Stumbled [Rachel Louise Ensign, Peter Rudegeair, and AnnaMaria Andriotis / Wall Street Journal]

Image: Chris Tyler / Flickr (CC-BY-SA 2.0)
At least 25 people have been killed in South Sudan, officials said, after youths from two neighbouring communities in the countrys north clashed over a disputed borderline separating their areas.

Violence is endemic in parts of South Sudan where clashes triggered by localised disputes over grazing areas, water, cultivation grounds and other resources often turn deadly.

The countrys volatile politics often helps exacerbate some of the localised disputes, fanning the violence.

In the latest unrest, armed youths from the Twic community in Warrap state on the border with Sudan on Monday attacked residents of neighbouring Abyei town also on the border.

That gun raid resulted into  15 people who died from Twic side, Ariech Mayar Ariech, a lawmaker representing Warrap State in the national parliament told Reuters.

An additional 12 people were killed among the Abyei residents including two women and a child, Deng Ajak, a local administration official said.

Both sides disagree over where the borderline separating the two communities lies, with each claiming the other is encroaching on their land, both officials said.

The situation is worrisome  It is very tense. There is too much hatred between these two sisterly communities, Ariech said, warning that the violence may escalate if the dispute is not resolved.

The episode is the latest deadly clash between the two communities over the same land. In February armed youth from Twic launched attacks on Abyei residents and several people were killed, others displaced and houses burnt.

South Sudan erupted into civil war shortly after declaring independence from Sudan in 2011, which pitted President Salva Kiir and his Dinka ethnic allies against his Vice President Riek Machar and his Nuer tribe.

A peace agreement signed three years ago is largely holding but the transitional government has been slow to unify the various factions of the military.

Source: Reuters
Contributed to the School Days in the Tipperary Star.

The idea of a Wellbeing Dog originated following a Transition Year Module, Therapy Dogs, where TY students engaged in a short programme in 2017 with Autism Assistance Dogs Ireland.

This programme taught students about the life-changing role of dogs in the life of children with Autism and their families. Students were involved in the training and socialising of a number of puppies from AADI, which Mr Sweeney was puppy fostering.

The concept of having a wellbeing dog also grew in response to the growing awareness of Wellbeing within our School Community. Mr Sweeney proposed the idea of a Resident School Dog, an innovative concept which brought to life our School's Mission Statement, "answering the needs of our times".

Calie was recruited as our school's Wellbeing Dog in 2018. Calie is a Maltese terrier, a breed known for their gentle and affectionate nature. Calie spent the first twelve weeks of her life living in Co. Sligo, learning life skills from her mother and three sisters.

From birth, Calie was specially handled and socialised with children to equip her with the skills she would need as our Wellbeing Dog. Initially, as a puppy, Calie was eased into her role of Wellbeing Dog, where she attended school one day a week.

This time period was an essential phase in her life to further her training and give her the confidence in her role as Wellbeing Dog. Gradually Calie attended school on a more regular basis.

Calie plays a key role in the introduction of the new Junior Cycle into our school and was a key member in piloting this new learning initiative's short courses, where she was the focal point for

A Personal Project - Caring for Animals. Calie provides opportunities for students to achieve in new ways. Throughout Covid Lockdown, Calie became a familiar presence in Mr Sweeney's online classes.

Four years on, it's fair to say, Calie has fully embraced her role as Wellbeing Dog. Calie was a crucial member of our First Year Induction team this year. She provided a warm and friendly presence helping to reduce first-day nerves. As a Wellbeing Dog, Calie has enhanced the learning environment in our school.

It has been noted how students display calm and focused behaviour in her presence. She has helped create a culture of openness and awareness around learning disabilities and wellness.

Calie has touched the hearts of the whole school as she greets students in a non-judgmental and loving way at break and lunch. Calie brilliantly executes her role of Wellbeing Dog as she bounces through the corridors putting smiles on the faces of any student she passes.

On a day-to-day basis, Calie provides special friendship and emotional support for students who may be experiencing anxiety or stress during the school day.

One-on-one time with Calie provides comfort and consolation to her student friend. Some messages from Calie's Teacher and student friends

"Calie makes a bad day better."

"Calie makes me look forward to going to class."

"After a stressful class, seeing Calie makes me feel less stressed and helps me focus again.

"Calie makes me smile."

"Calie creates good vibes in school."

Calie is an important member of our staff  she always brings good news.
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Community Comes Together in Support of the LAPD and a Cleaner and Safer Hollywood
The jurors who will decide whether Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz is sentenced to death or life without parole have begun their deliberations
In a case that could either confirm or restrict the rights of artists to create transformative works of art based on other copyrighted works, the Supreme Court will decide if a photographer is due royalties and damages from the Andy Warhol foundation for selling Warhol silkscreens of Prince that were based on her photo of the late musician.

The case, Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts v. Goldsmith, is based on Lynn Goldsmith's portrait of Prince taken in a 1981 photo session for Newsweek. The magazine opted not to use the cover, but Goldsmith kept the photo for licensing.

In 1984, Vanity Fair asked Warhol to create one of his iconic silkscreen prints of Prince. The magazine asked him to use Goldsmith's photos as a reference. According to NPR, "The magazine paid Goldsmith $400 in licensing fees and promised in writing to use the image only in this one Vanity Fair issue. There is no evidence in the record that Warhol knew about the licensing agreement."

Warhol went on to create 16 silkscreen prints, which have generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for the Warhol Foundation. Goldsmith sued the foundation, demanding million in royalties.

Copyright law has long included a "transformative use" exception, which allows artists to create new works based on copyrighted works, as long as the new work is sufficiently different from the original.

Goldsmith's lawyers argue that Warhol's work was not sufficiently transformative, while the Warhol Foundation's lawyers argue that it was.

Lower courts have been unable to agree on whether or not Warhol's print is sufficiently transformative, and the case has moved to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court will likely need to decide whether or not Warhol's work was sufficiently transformative and, if so, how much leeway artists have to use copyrighted works as a reference.

From NPR:
Latest report on Chiefs drama and push back against the media . . .



In a crowded stadium, a controversial baller was singled out . . . Check-it . . .



"Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams received a citation for assault for pushing a photographer after a 30-29 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, according to Kansas City Municipal Court records."

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com links . . .

Raiders WR Davante Adams cited for assault for pushing photographer As Adams made his way to the tunnel to return to the locker room following the final whistle, the photographer walked in front of him and Adams pushed him down to the ground and continued to the tunnel.

Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams cited for assault on a photographer at Arrowhead Stadium Las Vegas Raiders star receiver Davante Adams has been cited with assault after an incident at Arrowhead Stadium Monday night, according to municipal court records.

Developing . . .
Notice the distinctions in local reporting . . .

Here's what kinda makes us uncomfortable . . .

There are a great many deets about the outfit worn by a victim put on blast and that's relevant but only inasmuch as the suspect allegedly inflicted kink gear on another person without their consent . . . The assault under investigation is the more important aspect of the story.



Still . . .

This is undoubtedly part of our discourse today . . . Here's a midday glimpse at reported metro nastiness lurking in suburban enclaves:



"The Excelsior Springs victim who escaped a man's home and knocked on nearby doors for help Friday was wearing a trash bag, metal collar with a padlock and had duct tape around her neck, according to court documents filed in Clay County the day the woman escaped.The 22 year-old woman was handcuffed by her wrists and ankles and left in a small room in Tim Haslett's basement, according to details outlined in the court filing."

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com links . . .

Records: Excelsior Springs victim found with 'trash bag, metal collar and duct tape around neck' EXCELSIOR SPRINGS, Mo. - The Excelsior Springs victim who escaped a man's home and knocked on nearby doors for help was wearing a trash bag, metal collar with a padlock and had duct tape around her neck, according to court documents filed in Clay County the day the woman escaped.

Woman in Excelsior Springs kidnapping, rape case tells police suspect picked her up in September, metal collar with padlock found on her neck NOTE: Details in this story may be considered graphic to some. Court documents released Tuesday detail more of the horror a woman says she went through before escaping from a home in Excelsior Springs last week.

Woman may have been held in Excelsior Springs home for weeks EXCELSIOR SPRINGS, Mo. - A woman who says she escaped from a man's home may have been held for weeks, according to court documents. Last week police began searching an Excelsior Springs house where a woman reported being held hostage, leading to the arrest of the man charged in her kidnapping.

Court docs: Excelsior Springs victim escaped basement while duct-taped, wearing metal collar and latex lingerie EXCELSIOR SPRINGS, Mo. (KCTV) - An Excelsior Springs man is facing multiple felony charges after a woman says she escaped his basement while bound with duct-tape, a metal collar and latex lingerie. Timothy Haslett is charged with rape, kidnapping and second-degree assault. His arraignment is set in Clay County for 1:30 p.m.

Excelsior Springs man pleads not guilty to binding and abusing woman for weeks in his basement A 39-year-old Excelsior Springs, Missouri, man accused of kidnapping a woman in Kansas City and holding her hostage for weeks made his first court appearance today after being charged with kidnapping, rape and second-degree assault. Clay County Circuit Court Judge Louis Angles entered a plea of not guilty on behalf of Timothy Haslett Jr.

Developing . . .
Tech has an amazing amount of power over the lives of locals and this is one example of online companies working actively with authorities to report suspected crime.



Here's the word . . .



"Google reported the possible uploading of child-exploitation material on four dates from January to May 2022 by an account user named Charlie Kline. The email address used was connected with another email address, which were both traced to Morris. During the investigation, authorities confirmed finding at least one explicit video that depicted a child under the age of 10 years old.A search warrant was later conducted on Morris' home. During an interview, he initially denied any involvement with the Kline account before eventually admitting that he used it."

More deets . . .

An affidavit unsealed Tuesday by a Johnson County District Court judge says that the Overland Park Police Department began investigating after Google submitted a cyber tip related to someone possibly uploading child pornography on Google Drive between January and May of this year, police said.



Police confirmed there was child pornography, including a video of an 8-year-old girl, linked to an account from a user named Charlie Kline, but also the email alex.morris89@gmail.com. Officers identified Morris through his IP address associated with his Google Fiber account.



On Sept. 15, police executed a search warrant of Morris home and seized several electronic devices. Morris spoke with a detective, according to the affidavit, and initially denied any involvement with the Charlie Kline account. Police said he later told them he probably used the account, as well as an email under the same name.



Morris allegedly told police that he had seen child pornography on his iPad more than five times from pop-up ads. He denied downloading or sharing child pornography.



Detectives found about 130 images and 12 videos of child porn on his iPad, as well as bookmarks of websites, such as Jailbait4U.



Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .
Midday traffic warning and more info about increasingly brazen crooks . . .

Here's the latest . . .



"During the pursuit, which involved at least three different agencies, shots were believed to have been fired at officers."



More deets . . .

Police arrested four people after shots were fired at officers during a chase that stretched from Independence to Kansas City Wednesday morning, a police spokesman said.

Police are searching for a possible fifth person, who might have ran from the vehicle at the end of the chase, said Officer Jack Taylor, a spokesman for the Independence Police Department. Officers were looking at video to try to determine how many people fled from the car.

The chase began about 10:30 a.m. when officers spotted a vehicle that was thought to have been involved in an armed disturbance in the 1200 block of South Franklin Drive in Independence, Taylor said. The nature of the disturbance was still being investigated.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com links . . .

Shots fired at officers during pursuit through Independence and Kansas City, police say Police said multiple people are in custody in several different locations after a police chase through parts of Independence and Kansas City, Missouri Wednesday. During that pursuit, which involved at least three different agencies, shots were believed to have been fired at officers.

Update . . .

Independence chase ends with shots fired at officers INDEPENDENCE, Mo. - Police are investigating after officers dodged bullets during a police chase near the stadiums Wednesday morning. The shooting happened around 10:30 a.m. Police say officers tried to pull over a car, but the driver refused to stop. Police said officers chased after the vehicle.

Armed-disturbance suspects fired at Independence police during chase KANSAS CITY, Mo. - At least four suspects in a vehicle led Independence police on a chase and fired at pursuing officers multiple times Wednesday morning, a department spokesperson said. Independence police officers attempted to stop a vehicle around 10:30 a.m.

Update . . .
In this quick post we want to help keep readers up to date on local police reports, ALLEGED misdeeds and all manner of crime-related alerts . . .



Check TKC news gathering . . .

Dog sitter won't return slain Kansas City firefighter's dog, family says KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Loved ones of the Kansas City firefighter killed in a shooting in Independence, Missouri last week say they are fighting a different battle, getting his beloved dog back. FOX4 told you Thursday when Anthony Santi, 41, was shot and killed at a gas station.

Kansas City police funding amendment would hurt Kansas Citians and all Missourians OPINION AND COMMENTARY There aren't enough people talking about Amendment 4. If passed, this amendment would allow state officials to further dictate how much Kansas City spends on its police. Because Kansas City doesn't have local control of its police department, state politicians make decisions for the city and, in turn, have placed the amendment on a statewide ballot.

Former Olathe School District employee sues district over alleged discrimination, retaliation KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A former Olathe School District employee is suing the school district claiming she was the target of "severe and pervasive harassment and discrimination on the basis of her gender." Andrea Paulakovich worked for the district for more than 18 years, including as Director of Learning Services.

Advocates say it's time to review all of Golubski's cases KANSAS CITY, Kan. (KCTV) - Calls for a full review of retired KCK detective Roger Golubski's cases continue to grow. Families and advocates question the lack of action and point to other communities that did mass reviews when corruption came to light. "It shouldn't take this long," said Tricia Rojo Bushnell, Director of the Midwest Innocence Project.

24-year-old man arrested in hit-and-run that killed construction worker CASS COUNTY, Mo. - The Missouri State Highway Patrol says a 24-year-old man from Independence has been arrested in connection to a deadly hit-and-run crash that killed a construction worker. The man faces multiple charges including leaving the scene of a motor vehicle, felony driving while intoxicated, endangering a highway worker, and involuntary manslaughter.

1 man shot, another seriously injured after disturbance at a Leawood, Kansas, home Sunday night Police in Leawood, Kansas, are investigating a Sunday night disturbance that ended with two men in the hospital: One shot, the other suffering from blunt force trauma. Police said officers were dispatched to a disturbance call in the 11500 block of Cherokee Court just after 9 p.m. Sunday.

Cosentino family member appears in court after shooting in Leawood gated community Dante David Cosentino made his first court appearance via video Tuesday afternoon after being charged earlier in the day with aggravated battery stemming from a disturbance where a man was shot and another injured at a home in a gated community in Leawood. Cosentino's bond was set at $50,000.

Bonner Springs police investigates stabbing that sends man to hospital BONNER SPRINGS, Kan. - A man is hospitalized and recovering from a stabbing in Bonner Springs. Police responded to a call around 9:20 p.m. Monday night. It came from someone near Kump and Bluegrass. When officers arrived, they found a 23-year-old Edwardsville man suffering from two stab wounds.

Company assures Johnson County that election worker data is secure after CEO arrested The Johnson County says it has received assurances the personal data of its election workers is secure, after an executive of a company that provides software used by the county to manage election workers was accused of stealing the personal data of election workers in Los Angeles.

Funeral planned for Kansas City firefighter killed in Independence KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A Kansas City, Missouri, firefighter will be honored just days after he was shot and killed in Independence. Visitation for 41-year-old Anthony "Tony" Santi is being held Tuesday afternoon at The Rock of KC. The church is located at 12750 North Winan Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri.

Grandview Police Dept changes recruiting strategy as it struggles to fill officer positions GRANDVIEW, Mo. (KCTV) - The Grandview Police Department hopes sponsoring new recruits for academy training and education will help fill the department's many vacant positions. Around the state, there are more than 100 vacant officer positions statewide with the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

Armchair Detectives: Generation Why celebrates 10 years of true crime podcasting Aaron Habel and Justin Evans. // Illustration by Cassondra Jones Nothing helps the mind unwind like a podcast with an hour's worth of gory details on the most appalling true crime cases ever recorded. Have you heard of Lamonte McIntyre, who was wrongfully convicted of a Kansas City, Kansas double homicide in 1994?

Developing . . .
These are nicer news links that still serve to offer us a "sense of place" and insight into local life that isn't as bad as so many haters claim.



Check TKC news gathering . . .

UMKC announces scholarships, early college program to help kids access college KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The University of Missouri-Kansas City launched new partnerships with Kansas City Public Schools and North Kansas City School District Tuesday to provide automatic, renewable scholarships for any student who enrolls from those two districts.

Know before you go: Voter Guide for the Nov. 8 Election in Kansas and Missouri Residents on both sides of the state line will head to the polls on Nov. 8 to vote on a number of issues, from municipal races to major office seats and even an initiative that, if approved, could legalize marijuana in Missouri. See what you need to know before you head to the polls in your state.

Hispanic leader promotes diversity within Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring network KANSAS CITY, Mo - This Hispanic heritage month, KSHB 41 News is recognizing those who uplift the Hispanic community in the Kansas City area. Anna Bazan-Munguia has worked with Big Brothers Big Sisters for nearly a decade and says her Hispanic roots are helping her pave the way for younger Latinos.

Museum of Deaf History, Arts & Culture exists to elevate experiences of deaf, hard of hearing people OLATHE, Kan. - The Museum of Deaf History, Arts & Culture requires no spoken words be used throughout its exhibitions. Curators use gestures and written notes to communicate with visitors so they can fully experience what it is like to live in a world with no sound.

curiousKC | How Mexican Communities Kept KC Boxcars Cold Kansas City native Gabriella "Gabby" Mendez is connected to a piece of regional history that isn't well known. Mendez has heard about it from her mom Helen, who turns 90 in December. Stories of a place called "La Hielera," or the "Ice Plant." "She grew up in the ice plant.

The Rachael Ray Show Features Kansas City Nonprofit Youth Program - In Kansas City Since 2010, over 150 14- to 16-year-old boys have participated in BoysGrow. The Kansas City nonprofit enlists local youth in a two-year paid internship in which the boys work together and develop core vocational skills on a ten-acre farm 25 minutes from downtown Kansas City. On Wednesday, October 12, at 1 p.m., the Rachael Ray...

Startup wants you to stop wasting brain power on work that doesn't matter; founders strike their own work-life balance in rural MO Startland News' Startup Road Trip series explores innovative and uncommon ideas finding success in rural America and Midwestern startup hubs outside the Kansas City metro. This series is possible thanks to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which leads a collaborative, nationwide effort to identify and remove large and small barriers to new business creation.

The return of Justus Drugstore and more KC food news for October 2022 A new version of Justus Drugstore is planned as chef Jonathan Justus and his wife, Camille Eklof again try to capture the magic of their homey Smithville restaurant in the confines of the city.

Veterans Community Project works to keep veterans, pets together for mental health KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Veterans Community Project is a nonprofit based out of Kansas City that supports veterans by providing housing and wrap-around, walk-in support services. It was founded by community members who wanted to make sure no veterans, who took the oath to serve America, were left behind.

Country Club Plaza roundup: Ten retailers open; six more are coming - Kansas City Business Journal Kansas City's Country Club Plaza has been steadily filling empty storefronts with a combination of local and national tenants. Ten businesses recently opened, and more are coming soon. Like other shopping centers nationwide, the Plaza has lost some of its big-name luxury tenants, such as Michael Kors, Kate Spade and Brighton Collectibles.

Chef brings Hispanic heritage to traditional American cuisine Hispanic foods are found in nearly every community. But there's a new trend among culinary artists, and it involves bringing flavors from those foods to more traditional American dishes, such as mac and cheese. As we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, we want to take you into a restaurant kitchen where its blended dishes are a perfect example of what's happening across the country.

Build Trybe outgrows incubator mode, taking over Maker Village KC to train at-risk youth in trades When Nick Ward-Bopp launched Maker Village KC more than five years ago near Martini Corner, he never dreamed the maker space would incubate a program for at-risk youth that ultimately would build beyond it. Set up in a once-vacant Midtown building he rehabbed with co-founder and longtime friend Sam Green, the space started as a metal and wood shop focused on building community through workshops.

Developing . . .
This evening police responded to a call for help and encountered a tragic scene.



Here are the basics of what we know right now . . . Investigate



"Police said family called for an ambulance around 5:15 p.m. for an unresponsive child near E. 56th Street and Norton Avenue. EMS arrived and the child was pronounced dead at the scene."

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

Child's death under investigation, Kansas City police say KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Detectives with the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department are investigating the death of a child Tuesday evening. .

Developing . . .


Three residential break and enters were reported in the citys East York district from Oct. 11 to Oct. 17, according to Toronto Police Service. Thats up from one reported during the previous week.
"We still are hurting and will not stop looking for justice because this is the only way we can have peace in our hearts..for Tonito [Antonio] but especially to ensure that others will not be killed and families do not have to feel the pain that we are going through."  Taide Elena and Araceli Rodriguez, mother and grandmother.

Ten years ago, on October 10, 2022, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agent Lonnie Swartz killed Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez. Ten of the sixteen shots fired from Swartz's weapon entered Rodriguez's sixteen-year-old body from behind, puncturing his heart and lungs. Swartz claimed self-defense and felt threatened because he alleged drug smugglers had been throwing rocks across the 30-foot border wall. Swartz was acquitted of second-degree murder by a Tucson jury in 2018. The jury deadlocked on lesser charges.

In a 2018 Guardian report, Rory Carroll wrote, "Watchdogs and activists condemned the result. "Today's verdict demonstrates the persistent obstacles to accountability in Border Patrol that remain, particularly when it comes to use of force," said the Kino Border Initiative, an advocacy group. It cited six other people killed on Mexican soil by Border Patrol agents. "All of those who are responsible for these deaths are free from punishment, and none of the victims nor their family members have ever been afforded a path to justice."

As reported by Human Rights Watch, after the Swartz acquittal, "A federal lawsuit filed by the ACLU on behalf of Jose Antonio's mother, Araceli Rodriguez, resulted in a federal appeals court ruling that Jose Antonio had a constitutional right not to be shot at in Mexico from US soil. Human Rights Watch filed an amicus brief in the case. However, that ruling was subsequently contradicted by a US Supreme Court decision that made the Rodriguez family to pause their quest for justice in US courts."

On Sunday, October 9, 2022, the family of Rodriguez gathered with Tucson and NogalesArizona and Mexicocommunity organizations to commemorate Jose's life and shed light on the ongoing abuses by the CPB.

Not available when Rodriguez was shot to death, the "Southern Border Communities Coalition" developed the "Fatal Encounters with U.S. Customs and Border Protection" database to track violent encounters and deaths. Formed in March 2011, the Southern Border Communities Coalition brings together 60 organizations from San Diego, CA, to El Paso and Brownsville, TX.

"SBCC has tracked these deaths based on media coverage and press releases from CBP at the time of these incidents. Since January 2010, over 230 people have died as the result of an encounter with a CBP agent. Many more have been brutalized, in some cases causing life-altering injuries. These deaths are an undercount. According to a 2020 report from the Government Accountability Office, CBP does not have reliable information on deaths and has not consistently reported death-related information to Congress."

For reporting on the Border Patrol Cover-up units, click here. For a book discussion for historical context, see Migra!: A History of the US Border Patrol.
Where to vote and what to bring on election day in Toronto on Oct. 24

Here's information on how to find out your voting location and what to bring along on voting day as well as other resources


Search News Archive : Fast Travel News Promotion Via Search, Social Media + Email Follow Us On : TODD RANDELS JOINS CUSTOM TRAVEL SOLUTIONS AS CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Industry: Appointments

Logo - Custom Travel Solutions Todd Randels formerly served as VP of Operations for 10 years at SOR Technology (SaveOnResorts.com)



(TRAVPR.COM) USA - October 12th, 2022 - (Travelers Rest, SC) Custom Travel Solutions has announced that Todd Randels has joined the company as Chief Operating Officer.



Upon announcing the hiring of Randels, Mike Putman, founder and CEO of Custom Travel Solutions said: "Todd brings a abundance of experience and relationships to our unique portion of the travel industry. Since most of our executive team has been with me for years if not decades, its awesome to have someone outside of our circle who is bringing a fresh approach and views from another perspective. Further, Putman states, With this addition to our executive staff, Im more bullish than ever on our continuation of significant year over year growth.



Before joining Custom Travel Solutions, Todd Randels spent 13 years in the travel technology industry, having served as Vice President of Operations for 10 years at SOR Technology (formerly SaveOnResorts.com). After a year away, I am excited to get back into travel with an innovative company with top-tier technology and a strong focus on client and member satisfaction, said Todd.



Custom Travel Solutions was selected in 2021 by industry peers as the world's best white-label travel club provider. With over 2 million hotels, 30,000 cruise itineraries, 24/7 customer service, and a variety of other add-on benefits, Custom Travel Solutions distinguishes itself from the competition by offering a fully customizable, branded platform for its clients. The company serves 1) Membership-driven organizations seeking an increase in sales revenue and member retention, and 2) Medium-sized employers who are seeking to recruit and retain great employees. The company is headquartered in Travelers Rest, South Carolina. The website is CustomTravelSolutions.com ### Please contact the person or company listed above for information regarding the content of this press release. TravPR.com are not the issuers of this press release and are not responsible for the accuracy of the content. Share Release :



CONTACT INFORMATION Name: Mike Putman Company: Custom Travel Solutions Phone: (864) 325-2379 Email: MPutman@CustomTravelSolutions.com Web: CustomTravelSolutions.co... PRESS RELEASE TAGS MEDIA GALLERY Visit Our Site
Sky Vacations Expands Middle East Portfolio



(TRAVPR.COM) USA - October 11th, 2022 - For Immediate Release

Sky Vacations Expands Middle East Portfolio

New York, October 11, 2022: Leading U.S. Based tour operator Sky Vacations is expanding its product portfolio to the Middle East as travel continues its revival throughout the region. The expansion is part of the brands efforts to increase its footprint in key destinations that offer authentic and unique travel experiences to travelers who are looking for the perfect blend of East and West.

Sky Vacations new portfolio to the Middle East includes yoga experiences in Israel, family adventures in Egypt, ancient and modern journey to Qatar, Architecture and Design tour in Abu Dhabi & Dubai, plus a first ever program to AlUla, Saudi Arabia - the Worlds Oldest, New Destination.

Were excited to further grow our presence in the Middle East. Rebuilding and rethinking experiences for travelers in our new environment has been of paramount importance to us, and our expanded portfolio to the Middle East reflects the dynamic and exciting preferences of our travel agents and their clients said Richard Krieger, Director of Sky Vacations.

These new programs complement the existing portfolio which includes product throughout Asia, Central/South America, the Middle East and Europe.

To view these and all of the Sky Vacations portfolio, visit: www.skyvacations.net. For reservations: 1.877.666.3113

About Sky Vacations

One of the leading tour operators in North America for more than a decade, Sky Vacations custom crafts travel experiences around the globe for individual and group travelers. Sky Vacations is a member of the Sky Bird Group and an Active Member of USTOA.

###
Dear Cathy,

I had a loving Schnauzer named Lucy, who recently passed away. My complaint is with the veterinary industry and their pricing to care for a pet from birth to death. Lately, every time we bring one of our three dogs to the vet, the bills have exceeded what I had expected to pay. A typical visit five years ago with testing might have cost less than $100, whereas now its $150. On top of things, my dog passed away this month. I felt they looked for every reason to generate a larger bill up until the end.

We were told to euthanize Lucy, but I refused since she was not in pain at the time. They gave me meds and an antacid to give her and said it would make the end easier. After 10 days, she showed signs of improvement but then started to whine and seemed very uncomfortable. Thats when we decided to take her to the vet to end her life.

After filling out all the papers, they took her into a room and came out five minutes later to tell us they had put an IV in her, and we could see her. Before they did it, there were more forms to fill out. And by the way, could I give them my credit card? Once they returned to the room with the receipt for payment, the doctor gave her the final injection. I had never been so devastated at that moment, knowing that I had terminated her life. Something I knew in my heart was the right thing to do to end her suffering.

The cost was $205, which covered an emergency exam, and $107 for euthanasia services. Cremation services were an additional $259. It seems they are taking advantage of us knowing we want to take care of our pets.

 Tom, Deer Park, New York

Dear Tom,

I am sorry for your loss. Its always difficult to make the decision to end a pets life, even when their death is imminent. Euthanasia is not a painful experience for animals, but its an emotionally taxing one for their humans.

When handling euthanasia, veterinary offices will generally ask for payment before the procedure since asking afterward, when you are an emotional wreck, would seem insensitive.

An emergency fee would be charged if a vet had to be called into the office for the emergency or the office had to work you in at the last minute on a full day. I say this because I would feel taken advantage of as well if I was given an open appointment that day but was charged an emergency fee because the pet was dying. Its a legitimate question to ask if you felt you were wrongly charged.

As for rising vet costs, everything has become significantly more expensive this past year. I recommend calling different veterinary offices and asking them what they charge for various services. You might be surprised at the differences.

This could help you decide if you want to stay with your current vet (who could actually be the least expensive vet in town) or go with another who might charge less for similar services. For example, my vet doesnt charge for routine nail trimming, but all the other vets in my area do. I chose her because I take my dog monthly for nail trims and at $20 each, this has saved me $360 annually.

Even if you save on other costs and have healthy dogs, its important to note that most veterinary expenses will occur in the pets final year or years of life with multiple visits to the vet at the very end. Its just like with people. The older we get, the more medical care we tend to need.

Dear Cathy,

After I wrote to you about my cat peeing on the couch (June 2022), we found out she had 14 kidney stones. She was operated on, and we thought she might stop peeing on the couch. But she was still doing it afterward. So, we followed your instructions, and she finally stopped. I waited several months before writing back to you to ensure the problem was solved.

 Angie, Henderson, Nevada

Dear Angie,

I am so glad to hear you started with your vets office. I suspect the peeing on your couch could have resulted from the kidney stones, but it took time to break the habit. You moved things along by using the enzymatic cleaners and stress-reducing approaches suggested. Thank you for letting me know that things have returned to normal.

(Cathy M. Rosenthal is a longtime animal advocate, author, columnist and pet expert who has more than 25 years in the animal welfare field. Send your pet questions, stories and tips to cathy@petpundit.com. Please include your name, city, and state. You can follow her @cathymrosenthal.)
Michael Green is a nationally and internationally recognized torts teacher and scholar. He is the recipient of the ABAs 2018 Robert B. McKay Award for outstanding contributions to the field of torts, the AALS William L. Prosser award, and the John G. Fleming Memorial Prize for Torts Scholarship (jointly with Professor William C. Powers, Jr., University of Texas). Green and Powers served as Co-Reporters for the Restatement (Third) of Torts: Liability for Physical and Emotional Harm and for Apportionment of Liability. They were jointly named the R. Ammi Cutter Reporters by the ALI from 2011 to 2015.

Professor Green is a member of the European Group on Tort Law and is a founding member and emeritus executive committee member of the World Tort Law Society, an organization of torts scholars from Europe, Asia, and the Americas. He regularly lectures in Europe, South America, and China. He is a co-author of a leading torts casebook and two advanced torts casebooks; additionally, he has authored numerous articles in the tort, products liability, and scientific evidence areas. Green is a co-author of the Reference Guide on Epidemiology, contained in the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence, a joint publication of the National Academy of Sciences and the Federal Judicial Center. In addition to his tort and products liability scholarship, he has written extensively about toxic torts and the issues of causation and apportionment that arise in those cases. His scholarly writing has appeared in outlets such as the Wake Forest Law Review, Pepperdine Law Review, UCLA Law Review, and DePaul Law Review, among many others.

Prior to joining Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, he taught at Wake Forest University School of Law and the University of Iowa College of Law. He has worked as a visiting professor at Cornell University School of Law, NYU School of Law, Pepperdine School of Law, St. Louis University School of Law, and Washington University School of Law.

Before joining academia, he was an associate at Schnader, Harrison, Segal & Lewis. Prior to that, he clerked for Chief Judge Joseph S. Lord, III, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Professor Green received his bachelor of science from Tufts University and his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
LONDON (AP)  The head of Britains cyber-intelligence agency on Tuesday accused China of trying to rewrite the rules of international security, saying Beijing is using its economic and technological clout to clamp down at home and exert control abroad.

Jeremy Fleming, director of GCHQ, said that despite war raging in Europe since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Beijings growing power is the "national security issue that will define our future.

In a rare public speech to the Royal United Services Institute think tank, Fleming alleged that Beijings Communist authorities want to gain strategic advantage by shaping the worlds technology ecosystems.

When it comes to technology, the politically motivated actions of the Chinese state is an increasingly urgent problem we must acknowledge and address, Fleming said. Thats because its changing the definition of national security into a much broader concept. Technology has become not just an area for opportunity, for competition and for collaboration, its become a battleground for control, for values and for influence.

He argued that the one-party system in Beijing seeks to control Chinas population and sees other countries as either potential adversaries or potential client states, to be threatened, bribed or coerced.

Ahead of the speech, a Chinese official in Beijing said that Chinas technological development is aimed at improving the lives of Chinese people and does not pose a threat.

These allegations have no factual basis at all, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said. Clinging to the so-called China threat and provoking confrontation benefits no one and will eventually backfire.

Relations between Britain and China have grown increasingly frosty in recent years, with U.K. officials accusing Beijing of economic subterfuge and human rights abuses.

British spies have given increasingly negative assessments of Beijings influence and intentions. Last year the head of the MI6 overseas intelligence agency, Richard Moore, called China one of the biggest threats to Britain and its allies.

In 2020, then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson followed the United States in banning Chinese tech firm Huawei as a security risk, ordering it to be stripped out of the U.K.s 5G telecoms network by 2027.

Fleming warned that China is seeking to fragment the infrastructure of the internet to exert greater control. He also said China is seeking to use digital currencies used by central banks to snoop on users transactions and as a way of avoiding future international sanctions of the sort imposed on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

Fleming argued that Chinas BeiDou satellite system  an alternative to the widely used GPS navigation technology  could contain a powerful anti-satellite capability, with a doctrine of denying other nations access to space in the event of a conflict.

Fleming warned that the world is approaching a sliding doors" moment in history  a reference to the 1998 Gwyneth Paltrow film in which a womans fate hinges on a seemingly trivial moment.

He called on Western firms and researchers to toughen intellectual property protections and for democratic countries to develop alternatives that can prevent developing nations from mortgaging the future by buying into the Chinese vision for technology.

He said the worlds democracies can't afford to fall behind in cutting-edge fields such as quantum computing, and warned of a potential weakness over semiconductors, the critical chips used in everyday electronics. Taiwan  which China regards as a breakaway province to be reclaimed by force if necessary  is a world leader in their production.

Events in the Taiwan Straits  any risk to that vital supply chain  have the potential to directly impact the resilience of the U.K. and global future growth, Fleming said.

Fleming also addressed the war in Ukraine, saying Russia is running short of weapons and Ukraines courageous action on the battlefield and in cyberspace is turning the tide.

Russias forces are exhausted, he said. The use of prisoners as reinforcements, and now the mobilization of tens of thousands of inexperienced conscripts, speaks of a desperate situation.

GCHQ, formally known as the Government Communications Headquarters, is one of Britains three main intelligence agencies, alongside MI5 and MI6. It did not disclose the sources of its intelligence on China and Russia.
If it were not for today's attacks, Ukraine would have already restored the energy supply, water supply and communications that the Russian terrorists damaged yesterday.

President Volodymyr Zelensky stated this in his video address to the nation, Ukrinform reports.

The full text of the presidents address is provided below:

Ukrainians!

The enemy launched a second wave of terrorist attacks against our country.

As of this morning, there were 28 missiles, of which 20 were shot down. More than 15 drones, almost all of them are Iranian combat drones. Most were shot down.

I am thankful to all our warriors of the Air Forces, Ground Forces and Intelligence involved in defense against these Russian strikes!

And, by the way, at the request of the military command, I want to celebrate soldier Dmytro Shumskyi (anti-aircraft missile platoon of the 57th separate radio engineering battalion, Chernihiv direction) for yesterday.

On October 10, Dmytro Shumskyi showed excellent skills and reaction and shot down two terrorists' cruise missiles with the help of Stinger MANPADS.

One person saved dozens of lives. Thank you for that!

Restoration works are taking place quite quickly and efficiently throughout the country.

If it wasn't for today's strikes, we would have already restored the energy supply, water supply and communications that the terrorists damaged yesterday. And today, Russia will achieve only one additional thing: it will delay our recovery a little.

Where there was destruction, the infrastructure will be renewed everywhere. Where there were losses, there is already or will be construction. Where there were any hopes of the enemy, there will be ruins of Russian statehood.

And I thank everyone who, at their level, provides recovery after terrorist attacks.

I am grateful to the rescuers - more than a thousand employees of the State Emergency Service, who immediately arrived on calls and began neutralizing the consequences of terrorist attacks.

At the suggestion of the Minister of Internal Affairs, I would like to especially note the selfless and determined actions of senior ensign Borys Shapovalov, commander of the department in the Zaporizhzhia region; sergeant Oleksandr Smiyan, firefighter-rescuer, Zaporizhzhia region; ensign Yuriy Lozynskyi and junior sergeant Oleksiy Biletskyi, respirator workers of the mining and rescue department, Kyiv city.

I am grateful to all the doctors who helped the wounded and injured!

I am grateful to all energy workers and utility workers for their high-quality response and quick work.

I am grateful to the local government workers, heads of local government and government officials who worked together, truly in unity and excellently.

Now most of the cities and villages that the terrorists wanted to leave without electricity and communication are already with electricity and communication.

In some cities and districts, work is still ongoing. In some cities and districts, energy workers apply temporary restrictions on energy supply according to the schedule - this is necessary solely in order to maintain the stability of the energy system.

The government controls all this - we are trying to restore normal conditions as quickly as possible.

I would also like to thank all Ukrainians who listened yesterday and limited their own electricity consumption during peak hours - from 17:00 to 22:00.

Thanks to our conscientiousness, we managed to save a tenth of the energy on average in the country, which allowed the system to work more stably. And our goal should be to save a quarter of electricity precisely during these peak hours.

It should be done today and in the near future.

Please postpone the energy consumption of appliances that require a lot of electricity to other hours of the day. It is not difficult for an individual, and it gives a great result within the scale of our entire country.

I took part today in the extraordinary summit of the Group of Seven, which was convened by the German presidency on our initiative.

We discussed the response of the most powerful democracies to this new Russian escalation.

For such a new wave of terror there must be a new wave of responsibility for Russia. New sanctions, new forms of political pressure and new forms of support for Ukraine.

Tomorrow, the defense support for Ukraine will be discussed in the "Ramstein" format. I expect progress from our partners on the issue of air and anti-missile defense, agreements on new supplies of other weapons and ammunition we need.

The terrorist state must be deprived of even the thought that any wave of terror can bring it anything.

A separate task for intelligence is to establish all those involved in these missile attacks against Ukraine, in schemes with Iranian drones.

The individual responsibility of terrorists should be the same as the responsibility of the terrorist state. We work for this.

Today I had separate conversations with the Prime Minister of Italy and the Prime Minister of Australia. I heard absolutely clear support, absolutely clear condemnation of all manifestations of Russian aggression against Ukraine and international law.

We also have a detailed statement from the Group of Seven, in particular, that all those responsible for terror against Ukraine will be brought to justice. Starting with the current political leadership of Russia and ending with everyone who serves these terrorist interests.

Mankind and humanity are stronger than any terrorists. I am thankful to everyone who fights and works for our victory!

And one more thing. Today, 32 of our warriors were freed from Russian captivity. We do everything for Ukraine - possible and impossible. Gratitude to everyone who worked for this result!

Glory to our beautiful people! We will restore everything that was destroyed!

Glory to Ukraine!
The Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones are unlikely to be satisfactorily fulfilling the function which Russia aspired to use them for.

Thats according to the latest update on the Russia-Ukrainian war, released by the British Defense Ministry on Twitter, Ukrinform reports.

As noted in the report, Russia has deployed Iranian-manufactured unscrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) since at least August 2022, including the one-way attack Shahed-136 variant. Russia included Shahed variants among the extensive wave of strikes it conducted on October 10.

Previously, the Ukrainian General Staff reported that Russia had launched a total of 86 Shahed-136s and claimed that 60 percent had been destroyed in the air.

These UAVs are slow and fly at low altitudes making lone aircraft easy to target using conventional air defenses. There is a realistic possibility that Russia has achieved some success by attacking with several UAVs at the same time, according to the report.

Despite a reported range of 2,500 km, the Shahed-136 only has a small explosive payload. It is unlikely to be satisfactorily fulfilling the deep strike function which Russia probably aspired to use it for, the update reads.

The British defense analysts believe that, while Russian tactical combat jets still achieving limited effect over Ukrainian territory, the lack of a reliable, sustainable, and accurate operational-level strike capability is likely one of Russias most significant capability gaps in Ukraine.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valeriy Zaluzhnyi has praised the work of Ukrainian air defense units which he sees as effective in downing Shaheed-136s using Polish technology.
Russian forces shelled the city of Avdiivka in Ukraine's Donetsk region this morning, killing seven people and wounding nine others.

Vitalii Barabash, the head of the Avdiivka city military administration, said this in a statement on Telegram, Ukrinform reports.

"Today is another black day for our Avdiivka. In the morning, the Russian evil spirits once again brought death to our land, sneakily, as always, shelling the central market with tanks and MLR systems during rush hour. Seven residents of Avdiivka were killed and nine were wounded," Barabash wrote.

The official expressed his condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims.

According to the police, the city was shelled with a Grad multiple rocket launcher.
Strengthening Ukraines air defense will be the number-one item on todays agenda at a meeting of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) at the level of Defense Ministers and the sixth meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group under the aegis of the United States.

The relevant statement was made by Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov on Twitter, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

Our work begins within the framework of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group Ramstein 6 and the NATO Defense Ministerial. Also having important bilateral meetings. Item #1 on todays agenda is strengthening Ukraines air defense, Reznikov wrote, adding that he feels optimistic.

A reminder that, on October 12-13, 2022, a meeting of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) at the level of Defense Ministers will take place in Brussels, as well as the sixth meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (Ramstein 6) under the aegis of the United States.

mk
Over the past three days, over 200 different objects have been damaged in Russian attacks on the territory of Ukraine, including 28 energy infrastructure facilities.

The relevant statement was made by Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

For three days in a row, the enemy has been launching missile strikes and using suicide drones against our civil and energy infrastructure. Over the past day alone, three regions of Ukraine have come under enemy fire eight times. Over the past three days, 128 enemy attacks have been recorded. As a result, over 200 different objects were damaged, including 28 energy infrastructure facilities, Shmyhal noted.

In his words, Russian troops attacked both generating and power distribution facilities.

Russian terrorist troops fired over 100 missiles and drones at Ukrainian cities. However, thanks to the incredible efforts of our anti-aircraft defense units, we have avoided critical damage. Ukraines energy system is operating as scheduled, Shmyhal stressed.

A reminder that, in the morning of October 10, 2022, Russia launched a massive missile attack on Ukraines territory. As a result, a total of 19 people were killed and over 100 injured. Critical infrastructure facilities were damaged in the capital city and other regions. On October 11-12, 2022, Russia continued missile strikes on Ukraines territory.

mk
The foreign ministers of Ukraine and the Netherlands, Dmytro Kuleba and Wopke Hoekstra, have agreed that the only response to Russia's missile terror is to double down on military, economic and humanitarian support for Ukraine.

Kuleba said this on Twitter, Ukrinform reports.

"In our call, my Dutch counterpart Wopke Hoekstra and I agreed that the only response to Russian missile terror is to double down on military, economic, humanitarian aid for Ukraine. Grateful to the Netherlands for doing just that: stepping up military aid, including in air defense," Kuleba said.

Early on October 10, Russia carried out a massive missile attack on Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, Khmelnytskyi, Lviv, Zhytomyr, Dnipro, killing 19 people and wounding more than a hundred people. Critical infrastructure in the Ukrainian capital and other regions was damaged. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Russia continued its missile strikes in Ukraine.
Those who justify Russian terror and incite aggression and those who call for murder and encourage the torturing of Ukrainians will be held to account on an equal footing with murderers and torturers. The entire Russian terror machine will be neutralized.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this in a new video address, Ukrinform reports.

Good health to you, fellow Ukrainians!

Ive just taken part in the work of the second ministerial roundtable discussion of donor countries, the IMF and the World Bank, which help our country maintain financial stability.

The key issue is covering our budget deficit and quickly rebuilding critical infrastructure, housing and social facilities that have been destroyed or damaged by the occupiers' strikes.

We are talking about significant amounts - tens of billions of dollars for the budget and the Fast Recovery. But the potential of democratic countries is much greater than the existing needs. Therefore, we are consolidating the support of partners for the sake of Ukraine. We are creating a financial "Ramstein" - a systemic tool for constant support of our struggle for freedom.

Another meeting took place today in the format of the defense "Ramstein". Quite productive. First of all, they discussed providing our country with anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense systems.

The more audacious and cruel Russian terror becomes, the more obvious it is to the world that helping Ukraine to protect the sky is one of the most important humanitarian tasks for Europe of our time. I believe that we will cope with this task.

And I am grateful to those of our partners who have already made a decision to strengthen such support for our state - support for effective defense in the air.

By the way, today I want to celebrate the fighters of our Air Forces in the southern direction. Good results were achieved there, in particular, four Russian attack helicopters and more than ten Iranian-made attack drones were shot down. We had to defend our sky today in other directions as well.

We have positive news from the defense "Ramstein" related to the additional strengthening of our army with modern artillery. I am grateful to the partners!

Recovery after a two-day Russian missile attack continued across the country today. At that time, energy facilities were damaged in 12 regions and in the capital.

As of now, the technical capability of electricity supply has been fully restored in most regions. In four regions, work is ongoing, repairs should be completed shortly.

Our energy workers in some cities and districts have to use stabilization blackout schedules. This is necessary solely to maintain the normal operation of the entire energy system in such conditions - in conditions where electricity production has decreased.

And I want to once again thank all our people who approached this situation consciously and make their very important contribution to guaranteeing the normal operation of Ukraine's energy system. It is worth continuing to distribute your electricity consumption by the hours of the day, in order to use as little as possible equipment that requires a significant amount of electricity during peak hours.

Today I would also like to thank all the heads of regions, mayors of cities and heads of communities, who significantly reduced electricity consumption in the utilities sector. It is important!

The situation remains tough in all areas bordering the frontline. Tonight, the occupiers shelled Nikopol of the Dnipropetrovsk region with Grad and artillery. Among the wounded is a child, a girl born in 2016. An extremely serious wound...

In the morning, Russian terrorists shelled Avdiivka, Donetsk region. Central Market. The occupiers used Grad. As of now, 7 people were killed and 12 were wounded.

Our intelligence, special services, law enforcement agencies are finding out all the details regarding these and other Russian strikes. No Russian terrorist will manage to remain unknown to justice - we will find out all the names and all the details.

Ukraine will bring to justice every Russian murderer and torturer - from commanders to privates who carried out criminal orders. By the way, we will not forget about the propagandists of terror as well. All those who justify Russian terror and incite aggression, all those who call for murder and encourage torturing of our people will be held to account on an equal footing with murderers and torturers.

The entire Russian terror machine must be neutralized. And it will be neutralized.

Gratitude to everyone who brings our victory closer!

Gratitude to everyone who helps Ukraine!

Glory to Ukraine!
The more audacious and cruel Russian terror becomes, the more obvious it is to the world that helping Ukraine protect its skies is one of the most important humanitarian tasks for Europe.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this in a new video address, Ukrinform reports.

"Another meeting took place today in the format of the defense 'Ramstein.' Quite productive. First of all, they discussed providing our country with anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense systems. The more audacious and cruel Russian terror becomes, the more obvious it is to the world that helping Ukraine to protect the sky is one of the most important humanitarian tasks for Europe of our time. I believe that we will cope with this task," he said.

Zelensky thanked Ukraine's partners who have already decided to strengthen such support for the country - for effective air defense.

He added that there was positive news from a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group related to the additional strengthening of the Ukrainian army with modern artillery.

The head of state also praised Ukrainian Air Force fighters in the southern direction, where, in particular, four Russian attack helicopters and more than ten Iranian-made drones were shot down.

Photo: Ukraine's Ministry of Defense
The German Federal Ministry of Defense has pledged to hand over more PzH 2000 self-propelled howitzers and MARS II MLRS to Ukraine in the coming weeks.

We coordinate our ongoing support. In the next few weeks, more PzH2000 and MARS II will be handed over to Ukraine, the Ministry posted on Twitter.

As noted, the Ramstein-format meeting is held at a special time: Russian missile attacks and partial mobilisation, sham referenda, as well as Ukraines counter-offensive.

As reported, on October 12-13, Brussels hosts a meeting of the North Atlantic Council at the level of defense ministers, as well as a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (Ramstein-6) under the auspices of the United States.

The officials will assess the current state of the Alliance's defense and deterrence capabilities, consider measures to protect critical infrastructure taking into account the acts of sabotage on the Nord Stream pipelines, and ways to continue and strengthen military aid to Ukraine.

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U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III reported significant progress following the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting held in Brussels on Wednesday.

"We have made excellent progress at the sixth meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group," the U.S. Secretary of Defense said at a press conference following the meeting, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

He noted that Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksii Reznikov and Joint Forces Commander, General Moskalyov, informed the group participants about the situation on the battlefield and the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Austin noted that the meeting participants discussed, among other things, ways of international cooperation "to strengthen our common momentum and respond to new challenges." He stated that Ukraine needed more long-range fire systems, air defense systems, artillery systems, and other important combat capabilities.

Austin thanked the allies and partners who have already agreed to provide Ukraine with the necessary systems. In particular, the Pentagon chief praised Germany for the delivery of the IRIS-T air defense systems, as well as the readiness to send additional howitzers and missile and artillery systems. In addition, he thanked Norway, Denmark, Slovakia, which agreed to invest in and increase the production of artillery for Ukraine.

"We are here because rules, rights, and sovereignty matter," the U.S. Defense Secretary emphasized. He noted that Ukraine's allies and partners would not hesitate to support its ability to defend itself against "Russian imperial ambitions."

Austin concluded by emphasizing that it is difficult to overestimate the practical significance of the Ramstein-format meetings.

"This allows us to respond to challenges in the medium term and mobilize resources much faster," the US Secretary of Defense emphasized.

As reported, the 6th meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group took place in Brussels on Wednesday. The meeting was attended by representatives of 50 countries that agreed to support Ukraine's defense capabilities amid the Russian aggression. One of the main issues discussed at the meeting in Brussels was the provision of more modern air defense systems to Ukraine.

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Thirty-five Child Victims Act lawsuits against the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo may end up getting settled in federal bankruptcy court  albeit through the Boy Scouts of Americas Chapter 11 plan, not the dioceses own bankruptcy process.

Lawyers for the diocese have asked Chief Judge Carl L. Bucki of U.S. Bankruptcy Court Western District of New York to let the diocese opt in to the Boy Scout settlement plan that was approved in September.

If approved, the move would allow the diocese to shift 35 childhood sex abuse claims  a small fraction of the more than 900 claims filed against it  onto a $2.46 billion settlement trust in the Boy Scout bankruptcy case. The diocese would transfer to the trust its insurance coverage rights under Boy Scouts of America policies. The diocese also would be granted limited protected party status, whereby any scouting-related abuse litigation would be on hold for at least 12 months, while the diocese negotiated an appropriate contribution with the settlement trust.

Local Scout councils will take hit as bankruptcy settlement moves ahead for national organization The 252 local councils across the U.S. agreed to contribute a combined $519.6 million in cash and property, plus a promissory note of about $100 million, toward the settlement trust.

Channeling the 35 claims to the trust would result in the availability of additional funds for distribution to other abuse claimants in the diocese bankruptcy case, Richard C. Suchan, chief operating officer for the diocese, said in court papers filed last week.

Participating in the Boy Scout plan represents a fair and equitable compromise of issues and was in the best interest of the Dioceses estate and all of its creditors, including the 35 claimants alleging scouting-related abuse, Suchan said.

The dioceses motion highlights the layers of complexity in both bankruptcy cases.

The Boy Scouts of America faced a flood of lawsuits over childhood sex abuse, including about 200 in Western New York courts. It filed for bankruptcy protection on Feb. 18, 2020. More than 80,000 people filed sexual abuse claims in the Boy Scouts' bankruptcy case. A federal judge in Delaware approved its reorganization plan in September, although representatives from the official committee for childhood sex abuse claimants in the Boy Scout bankruptcy said the plan might not take effect for another six to 18 months.

Victims will be eligible for minimum awards of $3,500 and up to a maximum of $2.7 million, depending on the severity and frequency of abuse and other mitigating factors, including whether the abuse happened in a state with statute of limitations windows that allowed for lawsuits in sex abuse cases from many years ago, according to federal court papers.

But it's still unclear when any claim payments will go out.

The Buffalo Diocese filed for Chapter 11 protection 10 days after the Boy Scouts of America in 2020, as the number of Child Victims Act lawsuits alleging sex abuse by priests and other employees climbed into the hundreds. The diocese currently is in mediated negotiations with insurers, its parishes and schools and the committee that represents unsecured creditors, namely sex abuse claimants.

Like many religious groups, the diocese, along with its parishes and schools, for many years acted as a chartered organization, sponsoring, hosting and otherwise supporting scouting activities offered by the Boy Scouts of America and three local councils in Western New York.

With little explanation, diocese has reinstated 17 priests accused of sexual abuse The diocese publicized the priests returns to ministry by stating that a review board had examined the claims and found them to be not substantiated.

As such, it was named as a defendant in scouting-related cases.

The diocese identified 94 lawsuits that identified the diocese or a parish in a case related to the Boy Scouts of America, according to court papers.

Of those, 35 allege abuse that occurred after Jan. 1, 1976, and may be channeled into the trust, under the terms of the reorganization plan. The other 59 abuse claims allege abuse prior to 1976 and are not covered under insurance policies issued by insurance companies that have joined the settlement.

The diocese plans to address those 59 claims in its own bankruptcy case, according to court papers.

The Buffalo Diocese joined with 10 other dioceses and archdioceses and the Catholic Mutual Relief Society of America as the Roman Catholic Ad Hoc Committee that reached a settlement agreement last March with the Boy Scouts of America and other parties in the Boy Scouts bankruptcy, including the official committee that represents sex abuse claimants.

Bucki is scheduled to hear arguments on the dioceses motion Nov. 8.
The Ukraine Defense Contact Group is ready to deliver the air defense systems to Ukraine as quickly as the physical capabilities for their delivery allow.

"These systems will be delivered to Ukraine as quickly as we can physically deliver them there. This is a top priority and what we will focus on. We intend to provide the systems that we have and that are available, that countries like Germany have available. We will also try to provide additional equipment for the systems that the Ukrainian forces are already using now," U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said at a press conference following the Ramstein-format meeting in Brussels, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

He noted that all the participants in today's meeting  50 countries  understood the concern of Ukrainians for the safety of their homes and their families.

"We will do what we can do as soon as possible to help the Ukrainian forces acquire the capabilities they need to protect the people of Ukraine. It has been and is important for all 50 participating states, for ministers, as well as for chiefs of staff. The benefits of this Contact Group cannot be overestimated. It helps to solve current problems and mobilize resources much faster than we would otherwise be able to do, the U.S. Secretary of Defense said.

As reported, the 6th meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group took place in Brussels on Wednesday. The meeting was attended by representatives of 50 countries that agreed to support Ukraine's defense capabilities amid the Russian aggression. One of the main issues discussed at the meeting in Brussels was the provision of more modern air defense systems to Ukraine.

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The United States intends to disburse $4.5 billion in direct budget support to Ukraine in coming weeks.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said this before a meeting with her Ukrainian counterpart Serhiy Marchenko, Ukrinform reports, citing Reuters.

According to the report, Congress approved that funding two weeks ago, bringing total U.S. direct budget support for Ukraine to $13.5 billion - all in grants.

"We're committed to getting this funding to you as soon as possible because we know how important it is in supporting your brave resistance to Russias illegal invasion," Yellen said.

According to her, Washington had also joined with Ukraine's major creditors to suspend the country's bilateral debt service payments this year and next year.

Yellen also called on partners and allies to make good swiftly on their existing commitments to support Ukraine and to join the United States in doing more as Russia continues its "barbaric" attacks.

"Let me be clear: international support for Ukraine is a collective effort. We are calling on our partners and allies to join us by swiftly disbursing their existing commitments to Ukraine and by stepping up in doing more - both to help Ukraine continue its essential government services and to help Ukraine begin to build and recover," Yellen said.

She also expressed her condolences to Marchenko and senior Ukrainian officials for the latest Russian attacks, aimed at the capital Kyiv and other safe-haven cities, and pledged Washington's continued support.

"Once again, the world has seen the true nature of Russia's barbaric and illegal war. The United States continues to stand resolutely with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. We will continue to support you as you rebuild the prosperous and free Ukraine that your country has fought so hard to secure," Yellen said.

As part of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group in Washington, Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko met with the management and representatives of the World Bank.
The European Unions ninth package of sanctions against Russia should disconnect the rest of banks from the SWIFT system, impose price restrictions or fully ban Russian gas exports, prevent vessels from entering Russian ports and introduce a visa ban for all Russians. Sanctions against Belarus should be also expanding.

The relevant statement was made by Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Ihor Zhovkva during a nationwide telethon, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

We have thanked for the eighth package but are already working on the ninth one, which is expected to include everything missed in the eighth and previous packages. All Russian and Belarusian banks, especially Gazprombank, are yet to be disconnected from the SWIFT, Zhovkva told.

In his words, it is also necessary to impose price restrictions or fully ban Russian gas exports.

According to Zhovkva, European vessels should be prevented from entering Russian ports, and a visa ban should be imposed on all Russian citizens.

At the same time, it is worth raising an issue of sanctions against Belarus, Zhovkva noted. In particular, the Belarusian banking system should face the same restrictions as the Russian one.

Individual sanctions have already been imposed on Belarusian government officials, and it is important to expand them, Zhovkva added.

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The Ukrainian government has been preparing for potential Russian attacks on critical infrastructure facilities and has developed an action plan.

The relevant statement was made by Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

We have been prepared for Russias attempt to destroy important infrastructure objects and have been developing different response scenarios. The necessary back-up equipment was purchased. Now, if necessary, the Ukrainian State Emergency Service provides mobile power plants for socially important objects in the settlements, which have been left without electricity so far, Shmyhal told.

In his words, Ukraine has not requested emergency aid from European neighbors, and there is no power shortage.

Simply, repair works are now underway. In general, power supply services have been restored across about 4,000 settlements and for millions of household consumers, Shmyhal noted.

Meanwhile, Ukrainians should be prepared for temporarily interrupted power supply services.

This is the reality of war. Where necessary, in order to prevent power grids from being overloaded, power supply services are interrupted according to the schedule, Shmyhal added.

A reminder that, in the morning of October 10, 2022, Russia launched a massive missile attack on Ukraines territory. Nineteen people were reported killed and over 100 injured. Russian projectiles struck critical infrastructure facilities. Some regions faced interruptions in power supply services and mobile connection. On October 11, 2022, the enemy again attacked energy infrastructure in several regions of Ukraine.

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What's new: reports, news and publications

What we do

UNHCR's Evaluation Office provides evaluative evidence so we can obtain an impartial reflection on our performance and results, generate lessons from experience and find ways to improve. The overall purpose of any evaluation is to contribute to both learning and accountability and inform our strategic choices.

With our evaluations, we seek answers to questions such as: Have the right things been undertaken? Are we doing them on a scale that will make a difference in the lives of persons of concern? How well have things been done and how do we know this? What results have been achieved? Are there better ways of achieving them? To what extent can a certain result be attributed to a specific intervention?



The Evaluation Office is independent of the management functions and reports directly to the High Commissioner.

How we work

All evaluations are conducted as a partnership between the UNHCR Evaluation Office and the concerned Bureau, Office and/or Division, who play a critical role in a successful evaluation process. Evaluations are scoped and defined jointly between the Evaluation Office and concerned Bureaux, Divisions and country offices, and need to be carried out by external consultants. UNHCR Staff with specific thematic and operational expertise may join an evaluation team in an advisory capacity, to give technical advice and/or quality assurance.

Evaluations can broadly be classified into two categories:

Centralized evaluations: commissioned, funded and managed by the Evaluation Office. Senior Executive Team members will be requested to oversee the management response to the evaluation.

Decentralized evaluations: proposed and initiated by offices, bureaux and divisions; co-managed with the Evaluation Office; can be undertaken jointly with partners. Concerned representative/bureau/division directors will prepare management responses.

How are evaluation topics selected?

The Evaluation Office facilitates an annual process of consultation with headquarters and field-based colleagues to develop an annual work-plan. Whereas topics for centralized evaluations are set at the beginning of each year, suggestions for decentralized evaluation topics (put forward by bureaux, operations or divisions) can be shared with the Evaluation Office throughout the year.

Explore our evaluations
Relief items consisting of field cots, pillows and mattresses, delivered in Riga, Latvia.  Latvian State Fire and Rescue Service

STOCKHOLM: UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has in the past week delivered a shipment of relief items to Latvia and Lithuania in support of the ongoing response to the Ukraine refugee situation in the two countries. As of the start of October, nearly 41,000 refugees from Ukraine were registered for temporary protection in Latvia and around 67,000 in Lithuania.

The relief items consist of foldable field cots, mattresses, duvets and pillows, and the shipments arrived in Lithuania on 6 October and in Latvia on 7 October where they were handed over to authorities for distribution to reception centers.

The delivery of relief items follows consultations on the humanitarian needs with the respective national authorities involved in coordination of the response. The support will help ensure the temporary accommodation of the high number of refugees from Ukraine, who have arrived in the two countries since the beginning of the war, as well as support the countries contingency planning for potential further arrivals of refugees.

In line with the situation elsewhere in Europe, the Baltic countries have generously received thousands of Ukrainians fleeing  and the reaction and response across governments, authorities, civil society and the broader populations have been both commendable and heartwarming.

UNHCR appreciates the constructive dialogue with the national authorities and civil society organizations on how best to continue to respond to the needs of the refugees, the majority of whom are women and young children.

With the colder winter months approaching, as well as the continuously unpredictable and volatile situation in Ukraine  which might lead to more people fleeing the country and seeking refuge elsewhere  UNHCR will continue to support the national efforts in all countries to continue their welcoming response and vital protection of refugees.

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A Venezuelan family who walked for a month to reach Ecuador. They are now staying in an emergency shelter in Cuenca that is supported by UNHCR.  UNHCR/Jaime Gimenez

Some 4.3 million refugees and migrants from Venezuela face challenges accessing food, housing and stable employment, a recent assessment concludes.

Despite the progress achieved through various regularization and documentation initiatives implemented across Latin America and the Caribbean, increased humanitarian needs underline the urgent need for enhanced protection and access to services and employment opportunities, according to a new analysis.

The Refugee and Migrant Needs Analysis (RMNA) was conducted by the Regional Inter-Agency Coordination Platform for Refugees and Migrants from Venezuela (R4V), co-led by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The spiraling cost of living, fallout from the COVID-19 emergency, and high unemployment rates have increased the vulnerability of Venezuelan refugees and migrants and have made it difficult for many to rebuild their lives and integrate into host societies across the region.

According to the reports findings, half of all refugees and migrants in the region cannot afford three meals a day and lack access to safe and dignified housing. To access food or avoid living on the streets, many Venezuelans resort to survival sex, begging or indebtedness.

"Venezuelans are eager to share their skills and knowledge and contribute to the communities that have generously welcomed them. Many have already been doing so, said Eduardo Stein, Joint Special Representative of UNHCR and IOM for Refugees and Migrants from Venezuela. But they wont be able to continue if they are not given an opportunity to integrate effectively.

Extremely low salaries further hinder their ability to support themselves and their families. In Ecuador, for example, 86 per cent of Venezuelans indicate a lack of sufficient income to meet their basic needs, while in Chile, 13 per cent of Venezuelans live below the poverty line.

Despite the reopening of schools, many refugee and migrant children still face multiple obstacles to access education services in their host countries, notably due to the lack of enrolment slots or space in schools. In Colombia, 29 per cent of Venezuelan children aged 6 to 17 years old are not enrolled in schools, as their parents cannot afford school fees and materials. In Aruba and Curacao, the cost of mandatory insurance, transportation and school materials impede school enrolment.

Some of the Venezuelans who lack documentation, livelihoods and prospects of local integration, are resorting to onward movements in search of a safe and sustainable future. Many put their lives at risk by taking extremely dangerous irregular routes.

As the world faces numerous humanitarian crises, Venezuelans and their host communities must not be forgotten, added Stein. Host countries have shown continued leadership in responding to the crisis through establishing regularization initiatives and facilitating access to health, education and other social services. Regularization, however, is only a first step to integration and needs to be followed by policies that allow refugees and migrants to be self-reliant. International support is urgently required.

As of October 2022, there are more than 7.1 million refugees and migrants from Venezuela around the world, according to official statistics reported by host countries and compiled by R4V (available on r4v.info). Over 80 per cent are hosted across 17 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Note for editors:

The Regional Inter-Agency Coordination Platform for Refugees and Migrants from Venezuela (R4V) has launched its first Refugee and Migrant Needs Analysis (RMNA). The document is based on a collaboration of the 192 R4V Platform partners, as well as refugees and migrants from Venezuela, in 17 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. The results emerged from joint needs assessments, focus groups and review of secondary data, such as reports produced by the humanitarian sector, academia and local and international NGOs, as well as official statistics from government authorities and institutions. Read the document here.
A Buffalo man who skipped court appearances twice after he was indicted on federal charges has pleaded guilty to a pair of charges before U.S. District Judge John L. Sinatra Jr.

U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced that Edwin Colon, 28, faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison, a maximum of life, and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced Feb. 8 on counts of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and failure to appear after pre-trial release.

Prosecutors said Colon first was arrested after the Erie County Sheriff's Office found a .40 caliber semi-automatic pistol, ammunition and cocaine when they executed a search warrant March 19, 2018, at his home on Hickory Street.

Released on conditions after arraignment, he failed to appear in federal court on April 16 and May 7, 2019. He was arrested in October 2019.
U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara has sentenced a Buffalo man to three years in prison for his part in a cocaine dealing ring, U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross reported.

Louis Gilbert, 44, had been convicted of conspiring with intent to distribute, and distributing, 500 grams or more of cocaine.

Prosecutors said that after investigators intercepted a text communication about a drug sale, surveillance was set up on Jan. 20, 2020, in the 100 block of May Street, where Gilbert met co-defendant Saan Thompson inside a residence.

After Gilbert drove away, Erie County sheriff's deputies stopped him and found him in possession of cocaine. Thompson has previously been convicted.
A debt collector from the City of Tonawanda pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring to defraud the U.S. government out of more than $3 million in taxes.

Greg MacKinnon, 56, admitted he conspired with several others in the debt collection industry to transfer money from Vantage Point Services, his debt collection business, to other businesses, pretending it was business expenses. He admitted the money was eventually returned to him and another co-conspirator, according to his plea agreement.

The conspiracy continued from 2011 to 2017, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Russell T. Ippolito.

Federal sentencing guidelines recommend that MacKinnon be sentenced to five years in prison and fined $25,000 to $250,000.

MacKinnon agreed to pay $3,067,339, plus interest, in restitution to the government, as part of his plea agreement.

MacKinnon was one of three Buffalo area debt collectors permanently barred in 2018 from the debt collection industry because they broke federal and state laws by lying to consumers, threatening to have them arrested and adding unauthorized amounts to the debts that consumers owed.

U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny ordered, as part of that civil suit settlement, that the three pay a total of $27 million in restitution and damages.
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MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th October, 2022) Kazakhstan is in preliminary talks with Gazprom on increasing gas purchases, Kazakh Energy Minister Bolat Akchulakov said on Wednesday.

"Preliminary (talks are underway)," Akchulakov told reporters when asked whether Kazakhstan is negotiating with Gazprom to increase gas supplies to the country.

Prospective volumes may reach up to 10 billion cubic meters, the official said on the sidelines of the Russian Energy Week.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th October, 2022) The decision of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to decrease oil production by two million barrels per day was "purely economic" and was taken unanimously, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said on Tuesday.

Last week, OPEC+ announced that the alliance agreed to cut oil production by two million barrels per day from November and will take production levels agreed for August as a reference point. The move was made in response to uncertainty in global oil market outlooks, in part caused by Western sanctions on Russian energy deliveries and the G7 plans to introduce a price cap on Russian crude. The decision received backlash from the United States, which demanded an increase in production to battle rising domestic prices.

"The OPEC+ decision was purely economic and was taken unanimously by the (organization's) member states. OPEC+ members acted responsibly and took the appropriate decision," the top diplomat said, as quoted by the Al Arabiya broadcaster, adding that the organization is seeking to stabilize the oil market.

He noted that Riyadh's relations with the United States "has been institutionalized since it was established," adding that ties with Washington are strategic and aimed at maintaining security and stability in the region. The foreign minister said that military cooperation between Riyadh and Washington benefits both countries.

However, the Information and Decision Support Center of the Egyptian Cabinet has voiced concerns that the decision to cut oil production could shake global energy markets.

"The consequences of the OPEC+ decision could result in turmoils in energy markets, which could possibly intensify due to the embargo imposed on Russian and Iranian oil exports and the reluctance of the US producers to increase production levels to maintain prices," the center said in a report.

In 2020, 23 countries, including OPEC members and 10 non-cartel oil producers, reached a deal to voluntarily cut output amid the precipitous drop in oil demand as coronavirus-related shutdowns were taking place worldwide. After the initial agreement to cut production by 9.7 million barrels per day, the deal was repeatedly revised to match market conditions. OPEC+ reached pre-pandemic production levels in August 2022.

On October 6, the European Union officially published a new package of sanctions against Russia. It sets a framework for capping the price of Russian oil exports from December at a level coordinated by G7 allies.

The Council of the European Union published the regulation that says a third-country vessel carrying overpriced Russian oil should be denied "technical assistance, brokering services, financing or financial assistance, including insurance, related to any transport in the future by that vessel of crude oil or petroleum products."

The EU said that, while the ban on importing Russian seaborne crude oil remained in place, the price cap, once implemented, would allow EU operators to undertake and support the transport of Russian oil to third countries if the price remains under a pre-set cap.
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Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that due to problems on the northern route, Budapest received only 30% of the initial volume of gas from Russia through Austria, all this volume is being redirected to the southern route through the TurkStream by agreement with Gazprom

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th October, 2022) Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that due to problems on the northern route, Budapest received only 30% of the initial volume of gas from Russia through Austria, all this volume is being redirected to the southern route through the TurkStream by agreement with Gazprom.

"Based on a long-term agreement, we bought a smaller amount of gas from Russia along the route through Austria, which, due to problems on the northern gas pipelines, is now only 30% operational. Today we agreed that the initial volume of gas entering Hungary from Russian Federation through the northern direction, would be redirected to the southern direction," Szijjarto said.

He stressed that the TurkStream remained the only reliable gas pipeline for Hungary, which receives 100% of the planned volumes, and that Hungary welcomed Russia's decision to redirect gas supplies to Europe from the northern route to the south, as it enhances the security of Budapest's energy supply.

The minister said that on October 13, the head of Gazpromexport would sign a document granting Budapest a deferment in gas payments.
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The Biden administration may lift certain sanctions targeting Caracas oil exports as migration and energy challenges sharpen, The New York Times reported on Wednesday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th October, 2022) The Biden administration may lift certain sanctions targeting Caracas oil exports as migration and energy challenges sharpen, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.

Citing three sources familiar with the issue, the report said US President Joe Biden is being pushed by people in his administration to reshape the relationship with Caracas as the Venezuelan migrant influx is being increasingly felt at the southern border, and the worldwide energy crisis deepens.

The sanctions relief would particularly target Venezuelan petroleum sector, the main industry and source of revenue for the state, the report said, in the wake of OPEC's decision to reduce by 2 million barrels their production of oil.

Although the idea of sanctions relief is being mulled by the Biden administration, it would only happen if Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, takes steps towards the restoration of democracy in the country, including by resuming talks with the opposition, the report added.

Major oil producer, Chevron, would be benefited by the sanctions relief targeting energy exports, as it is the only remaining US company producing oil in Venezuela.

Venezuela, an oil rich South American State has been under the pressure of US sanctions for over a decade. In 2019, former President Donald Trump blacklisted PDVSA, the country's state oil company, in a bid to topple Maduro by straining Caracas cash-flow.
The annual joint exercises of the special operations forces of Georgia, Turkey and Azerbaijan, "Caucasus Eagle" has started. The information was released by the Ministry of Defense of Georgia.The opening ceremony of the Caucasus Eagle 2022 was held on October 11 at the Special Purpose Training Center named after Major Gela Chedia in Mukhrovani, Georgia.The purpose of the training is to deepen the synchronization and coordination of special forces capabilities by the special operations units of the Defense Forces of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey, share experience, increase interoperability and improve command and control in a multinational environment.The special purpose groups participating in the "Caucasian Eagle 2022" exercise will share their experience in fire and medical training, fighting in a populated area and performing special operations.The trilateral exercise of the special operations forces of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey, "Caucasus Eagle 2022", is held annually in all three countries on a rotational basis. Last year, the exercise was hosted by the Republic of Turkey.The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, Ilia Darchiashvili, held a meeting with the President of the National Council of the Swiss Confederation, Irene Kelin, who is visiting Georgia. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs released the information.According to the agency, the Minister of Foreign Affairs expressed satisfaction with the existing close and friendly relations between Georgia and the Swiss Confederation, which are based on common values and mutual respect."It was noted that there is great potential for the development of mutually beneficial cooperation in such areas as further strengthening of economic relations, professional education, climate protection and others.The role of inter-parliamentary ties in order to deepen relations was emphasized. At the meeting, the long-term involvement of the Swiss side in terms of cooperation in the field of development was noted, which contributed to the socio-economic transformation of the country and will continue actively in the future in the direction of implementing reforms in priority areas."At the meeting, they discussed the challenges in the region and the importance of a strong and united position of the international community to deal with the threats that exist today. The minister drew attention to the security and human rights situation in the occupied territories of Georgia."
No witnesses saw 19-year-old Linda Tschari get fatally stabbed 44 years ago in her West Side cottage.

But blood evidence collected at the scene analyzed for DNA decades later brought the killer to justice, according to Erie County prosecutors.

"The DNA evidence became a witness and provided you with evidence no other witness could," Assistant District Attorney Ashley Morgan told the jurors during her closing arguments Tuesday morning.

After about 2 hours of deliberations, the jury convicted John M. Sauberan, 63, of second-degree murder in the 1978 killing of Tschari in her home on Pooley Place, off Grant Street.

Inside the packed courtroom, Tschari's family members cried after the verdict was read. They hugged after Sauberan was led away in handcuffs.

In the back of the courtroom, some family members hugged Buffalo police cold case Detective Mary Evans, who pursued the case after being contacted by the family in 2016.

Sauberan, also known as John Fullagar, faces 25 years to life in prison at his sentencing, scheduled for Dec. 13.

After the verdict, defense attorney Paul Dell, who along with Brian Towey represented Sauberan, said his client was disappointed in the outcome and plans to file an appeal. Dell said he, himself, was surprised by the jury's verdict.

Tschari's brother found her body in a pool of blood in her living room about 2:30 p.m. Feb. 8, 1978. Sauberan was charged with Tschari's murder in 2020 after prosecutors linked crime scene evidence to Sauberan through DNA analysis.

DNA evidence leads to trial in 1978 cold case: 'He was banking he would get away with murder' John M. Sauberan, 63, also known as John Fullagar, was charged in March 2020 with second-degree murder in Linda Tschari's death after prosecutors say he was linked to the crime scene through a DNA match.

In closing arguments delivered Tuesday morning, Sauberan's defense attorneys asked the jury to acquit their client because they say the DNA evidence collected in 1978 was contaminated.

Prosecutors described the DNA evidence to the jury as "significant," with science supporting what appeared to be the minuscule chances the DNA came from someone else besides Sauberan.

Sauberan's trial began Oct. 3, prosecutors rested their case Wednesday and the defense rested its case Thursday.

Blood samples taken from three areas of Tschari's home, analyzed for DNA decades later, led to a hit in a national DNA database in 2019.

The strength of the DNA evidence varied by item, though several results put the chances that the DNA is from someone other than Sauberan as one in billions, the prosecution's DNA expert testified.

"Those numbers are undisputed and supported by scientific evidence," Morgan told the jury on Tuesday.

Defense attorneys sought to raise doubts in jurors' minds about police evidence collection practices, pointing to what they called the possibility that Sauberan's DNA was either present at the scene before the crime or that it was transferred to items of evidence afterwards.

A photo from the crime scene showed a police radio sitting on a table in Tschari's home as detectives collected evidence, something defense attorneys argued could lead to contamination. The defense has also suggested fingerprint brushes used by police could have transferred DNA from prior crime scenes.

"If you believe it's reasonably possible it was contaminated, you must find Mr. Sauberan not guilty," Dell said in his hourlong closing argument.

Sauberan's attorneys also argued that the quality of the DNA samples collected in 1978 were missing some genetic information that, if present, could have excluded their client.

Morgan, who prosecuted the case along with Assistant District Attorney Ryan Flaherty, told the jury believing Sauberan's DNA got onto evidence through contamination "is based on complete speculation with zero credible evidence to support that theory."

Old blood, new technology and new evidence: How a 44-year-old murder case went to trial More than four decades after the slaying of Linda Tschari, John M. Sauberan is on trial for her murder. A jury will hear closing arguments in the case on Tuesday.

Prosecutors called nine witnesses, including Howard Tschari, the victim's brother, and Peter Dubiel, one of the first police officers at the scene in 1978.

The defense's case consisted of a retired FBI special agent who testified about evidence collection procedures and requirements for the chain of custody of evidence. The defense also called its own DNA expert.

Cold case detectives from the Buffalo Police Department began looking into the case in 2006. Some DNA analysis on case evidence was completed in 2007.

In 2019, the Erie County Central Police Services forensic lab was notified of a hit in the national database to a sample of Sauberan's DNA collected in 2008 in Oregon.

Among the prosecution's DNA evidence was a sample from a blood stain found in a first-floor hallway of the cottage. The chance that sample was taken from a randomly selected person in the United States unrelated to Sauberan was at least one in 3.854 billion, forensic biologist Amanda Finbar testified last week.
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Tokyo, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th Oct, 2022 ) :Japan's space agency sent a self-destruct order to its Epsilon rocket after a failed launch, public broadcaster NHK and other local media reported Wednesday.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) was not immediately able to confirm the reports, which said a problem had been discovered that meant the rocket could not safely fly.

A JAXA livestream of the launch from Uchinoura Space Center in the southern Kagoshima region was interrupted and presenters said there had been a problem, without giving details.

NHK and other media outlets said it was Japan's first failed rocket launch since 2003.

The solid-fuel Epsilon rocket has been in service since 2013, and has been successfully launched five times.

It is smaller than the country's previous liquid-fuelled model, and is a successor to Japan's solid fuel M-5 rocket that was retired in 2006 due to its high cost.

The rocket was taking several satellites into orbit, and is designed to launch in three stages.
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ANKARA, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th Oct, 2022 ) :Kazakhstan continues to fulfill its obligations under the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the country's defense minister said on Wednesday.

"No crisis within the intergovernmental military alliance," Ruslan Zhaksylykov said. "Let's rely on our state, on our legislation. We comply with all the established norms, everything is in order with us," he added, urging against speculation on the alliance.

The statement comes two weeks after top military officials and defense ministers gathered for a meeting of the Council of Defense Ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a regional Eurasian bloc of post-Soviet countries.

On Sunday, CSTO member Kyrgyzstan announced the cancellation of the alliance's military exercises a day before they were scheduled to begin.

No statement was released on the reason behind the cancellation, but it came amid border tensions between Kyrgyzstan and neighboring Tajikistan, also a CSTO member.

The CSTO was founded in 1992 and consists of six former Soviet states, namely Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan.
Some one hundred and fifty Buddhist monks from Thailand paid religious rituals at the World Heritage Site Julian Stupa in Khanpur on Tuesday

KHANPUR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 11th Oct, 2022 ) :Some one hundred and fifty Buddhist monks from Thailand paid religious rituals at the World Heritage Site Julian Stupa in Khanpur on Tuesday.

According to the details, the delegation of Buddhist monks arrived at the Julian Stupa Khanpur included in the world heritage list.

Sub Regional Officer of the Archeology Department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Hazara Division Nawazuddin, Saeed Gul Kailash and Raja Adnan warmly welcomed the guests on their arrival at the stupa.

The delegation belonging to the Dhast civilization saw Buddha statues and performed religious rituals in Julian.

Sub-Regional Officer told media on this occasion that Gandhara civilization was considered sacred for various religions that was why the KP government had launched religious tourism.

He said that steps were underway to promote tourism in the country so that more tourists could visit religious places in Pakistan.
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ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th Oct, 2022 ) :Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday left here for Kazakhstan's capital Astana to participate in the 6th Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), being held from 12-13 October.

The prime minister was accompanied by members of the cabinet and senior officials.

During his stay in Astana, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will address the plenary meeting of CICA on October 13.

He will elaborate upon the significance of CICA as a unique forum for promoting interaction, understanding and collaboration amongst countries across Asia to address common challenges.

He will also highlight Pakistan's perspective on regional and global issues.

On the sidelines of the summit, the prime minister will hold bilateral meetings with the leaders of various CICA member States aimed at fostering greater cooperation, particularly in the fields of trade, investment.

Prior to his departure from Nur Khan Air base, PM Sharif in a tweet stressed a greater need to promote engagement and understanding to form win-win partnerships among the countries in Asia.

"I believe CICA is capable of shaping a new configuration of economic cooperation and security in Asia through greater connectivity," he said.

Earlier, the Foreign Office in a statement said, "The Prime Minister's participation in the CICA Summit attests to the importance attached by Pakistan to promoting connectivity and economic cooperation in Asia, in keeping with the objectives enshrined in the CICA Charter.

"CICA is an intergovernmental process comprising 27 countries from all across Asia.

Established in 1992, it focuses on promoting peace, security and socio-economic development in the Asian continent. Pakistan is one of its founding members.CICA offers an invaluable platform for advancing the objectives of regional stability and prosperity through dialogue and win-win cooperation.It promotes confidence building measures under five broad domains: economic dimension, environmental dimension, human dimension, new challenges and threats, and military-political cooperation.
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Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) leader Azma Bukhari on Wednesday said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leadership was instigating its followers to join party's Islamabad plan for creating unrest in the country

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th Oct, 2022 ) :Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) leader Azma Bukhari on Wednesday said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leadership was instigating its followers to join party's Islamabad plan for creating unrest in the country.

Addressing a press conference here, she said that the PTI chief was reportedly taking oath from party workers and forcing them to participate in their planned march. She said that the PTI, in fact was planning to create chaos in the name of politics and to attack institutions like they did in the past.

She said that the PTI was forming a new force with the name 'Insaf Force' however this force would be used to attack institutions only as no productive work would be taken from them.

Azma Bukhari said that Punjab Chief Minister Parvez Elahi was least concerned about the problems of the people particularly of flood victims who were waiting help from the provincial government.

She said that the PTI had claimed to have collected billions of rupees for flood victims but where was that money. The money collected on the Names of flood affectees would be used on PTI's Islamabad plan to create chaos, she regretted.

To a question, she said that the Federal government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had been working wholeheartedly to resolve the issues of common man and steps taken in the right direction had brought economic stability in the country whereas steps would continue to bring ease in the lives of masses.
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) Attaullah Tarar on Wednesday expressed gratitude to the Allah Almighty for granting victory to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz in the "false, baseless, and a revenge based political case of money laundering framed by the former government of PTI."

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th Oct, 2022 ) :Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) Attaullah Tarar on Wednesday expressed gratitude to the Allah Almighty for granting victory to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz in the "false, baseless, and a revenge based political case of money laundering framed by the former government of PTI." Addressing a press conference, here, he said: "We thank Allah Almighty that the court acquitted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz in a Rs16 billion money laundering fake case framed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's government mere for the political victimization." The Special Court, Central, in Lahore, on Wednesday had acquitted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and former Chief Minister of Punjab Hamza Shehbaz Sharif in the FIA's money laundering case.

Accepting pleas of acquittal from both the accused, the court announced the reserved verdict.

The FIA registered this case in November 2020, under Pakistan Penal Code, Anti Corruption Act and Anti Money Laundering Act.

The SAPM said that the "nation had seen the truth behind the fake cases made by the PTI government." Tarar expressed the hope that the remaining fake cases would also meet the same fate. "No money laundering, corruption and kickback were proved against the PML-N leadership," he added.

He said that leadership of PML-N had faced such fake cases in the past with courage and in a dignified way.

He said the "so-called" accountability advisor Shahzad Akbar, who was the mastermind behind creating these fake cases, disappeared from the scene.

He reminded that Shehbaz Sharif and Hamza Shehbaz were in jail when the fake case was framed by the then PTI government.

Initially, he said, the case was sent to the banking court, but at that time, the then government failed to produce any evidence.

Later, the SAPM said, on the objection of Imran Khan and Shahzad Akbar over the banking court's jurisdiction, the case was sent to the special court after four months.

He said despite the court order, the "FIA had failed to produce any evidence of money laundering." He alleged that Shahzad Akbar used to sit in the FIA building and issued instructions regarding the case.

Tarar questioned whether would Imran answer why he spent millions of rupees in framing fake cases against his political rivals. With this verdict of the special court, he said "today Imran Khan's fake narrative was buried once and for all."He said Imran Khan and Shahzad Akbar would have to answer to the nation about the fake cases they registered against Shehbaz Sharif and his son.
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Health workers from Cuba who are expected to arrive in the southern Italian region of Calabria will receive only a quarter of their wages, Italian media reported on Wednesday, adding that a group of members of the European Parliament (EP) sent a complaint to the region's authorities

ROME (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th October, 2022) Health workers from Cuba who are expected to arrive in the southern Italian region of Calabria will receive only a quarter of their wages, Italian media reported on Wednesday, adding that a group of members of the European Parliament (EP) sent a complaint to the region's authorities.

In August, media reported that almost 500 medical workers from Cuba would arrive in Calabria to temporarily fill a shortage of local doctors. It is planned that the first Cuban specialists will begin to work in the region at the end of October.

According to the newspaper Corriere della Sera, the head of the region, Roberto Occhiuto, concluded an agreement with the Cuban state agency under which doctors will receive only 1,200 Euros ($1162) per month from the 4,700 allocated by the region. The rest of the funds will be transferred to the Cuban treasury.

Italian member of the EP Laura Ferrara, together with other lawmakers from the Spanish Citizens party and the European People's Party called these conditions akin to slavery and addressed the leadership of Calabria in a letter condemning this agreement, the newspaper reported.

The lawmakers said that the conditions imposed by Cuba on citizens working abroad violated the dignity of the individual and people's fundamental rights. In particular, the politicians noted that the Cuban government introduced an 8-year prison sentence for their citizens in cases of termination of a business trip and failure to return to their homeland.

In his response to Ferrara, Occhiuto accused her of using her membership of the European Parliament to achieve her political goals. He also recalled that Cuban doctors were already working in Italy in the spring of 2020 when they arrived to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
PARIS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th October, 2022) France is working with Denmark on supplying Ukraine with six more Caesar howitzers, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday.

Earlier in the month, French media reported that Paris was planning to send 20 Bastion armored carriers to Ukraine as well as up to 12 Caesar howitzers that were originally produced for Denmark. France has already gave Ukraine 18 Caesar howitzers.

"We are currently working with Denmark to deliver six additional Caesar artillery systems to Ukraine," Macron told the France 2 broadcaster, stressing that Paris will continue provide weapons to Kiev.

The president added that France is also planning to send air defense radars, systems and missiles to Ukraine.

Western countries, including France, have been providing Ukraine with military assistance since the start of the Russian operation. Moscow warns that such policy could result in a further escalation of the conflict.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th October, 2022) German air defense system IRIS-T has already arrived in Ukraine, while US ground-based antiaircraft system NASAMS is on its way, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on Wednesday.

"IRIS-Ts from Germany are already here. US NASAMS are coming. This is only the beginning. And we need more," Reznikov tweeted.

On Tuesday, Spiegel reported that Germany sent one IRIS-T air defense system to Ukraine. In total, Berlin plans to deliver four such systems to Kiev.

According to Spiegel, the handover was made near the Polish-Ukrainian border later the same day.

Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, after the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR) appealed for help in defending themselves against Ukrainian provocations. In response to Russia's operation, Western countries have rolled out a comprehensive sanctions campaign against Moscow and started supplying lethal weapons to Ukraine.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th October, 2022) Polish official responsible for energy infrastructure Mateusz Berger said on Wednesday that there are no reasons to believe that the leak at the Druzhba oil pipeline happened due to sabotage.

"Here we can talk about accidental damage," Berger told Reuters.

Polish operator of the Druzhba pipeline PERN said earlier in the day that a leak was detected on one of the two strings of the Druzhba oil pipeline in Poland. The cause of the incident is yet to be determined. The pipeline is the main route for oil supplies to Germany.
Buffalo police are investigating an incident early Tuesday in which a man was shot in the toe, police spokesman Michael J. DeGeorge reported.

The victim, a 35-year-old Buffalo resident, was taken by ambulance to Erie County Medical Center, where he is listed in stable condition, DeGeorge said.

The shooting occurred just before 2 a.m. near Kent and Houghton streets, in the Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood.

Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call or text the Buffalo police confidential Tipcall line at 716-847-2255.
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An EU mission aimed to train Ukrainian soldiers will be established in Poland, the country's Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said on Wednesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th October, 2022) An EU mission aimed to train Ukrainian soldiers will be established in Poland, the country's Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said on Wednesday.

"An EU mission concerning training of Ukrainians will be organized in Poland as well. Operational command will soon be organized in Poland," Blaszczak told journalists in Brussels on the sidelines of the meeting between NATO defense ministers.

Earlier in the day, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported citing its diplomatic sources in the EU that the bloc agreed on the establishment of a mission to train Ukrainian soldiers on the territory of EU countries.

In September, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that the EU was going to organize a mission on training of the Ukrainian military while also noting that the bloc is willing to seek for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict in Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova responded to this proposal by saying that such an EU mission would make the bloc an official party to the conflict.

Since Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24, Western countries have been providing Kiev with humanitarian, military and financial aid. Moscow denounces the flow of weapons to Ukraine from its Western allies, saying it adds fuel to the fire, and warning that any arms shipments on Ukrainian territory would be "legitimate targets" for the Russian forces.
WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th October, 2022) US authorities charged a former Kuwaiti diplomat to the UN and his wife with abusing domestic workers from India and the Philippines, in addition to visa and contracting fraud, the Justice Department said in a press release.

"Barrak Abdulmohsen Alhunaif, a former diplomatic attache assigned to the United Nations Permanent Mission of the State of Kuwait, and his wife Khaledah Saad Aldhubaibi, were charged in Manhattan Federal court with forced labor... in connection with their hiring and subsequent abuse of three domestic workers from India and the Philippines," the department said on Tuesday.

The former diplomat and his wife allegedly paid domestic workers as little as $700 per month while forcing them to work in excess of 40 hours a week with no regular days off.

The Justice Department also accused the couple of verbally and physically abusing workers. In addition, the release alleges that Alhunaif and Aldhubaiba refused two of the workers timely medical care for illnesses caused by or caught while they were working.

In addition to forced labor, the couple was charged with visa fraud and fraud in foreign labor contracting, among other crimes.

The forced labor charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison while the others carry sentences ranging from 5 to 10 years each. Aldhubaibi if proven guilty on all charges could face up to 35 years in prison and Alhunaif up to 80 years.
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Russia and Morocco will sign an agreement on cooperation on nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, according to the Russian government's order published on Wednesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th October, 2022) Russia and Morocco will sign an agreement on cooperation on nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, according to the Russian government's order published on Wednesday.

The agreement also stipulates the construction of a nuclear power plant in Morocco.

The order approved the draft intergovernmental agreement submitted by Rosatom and coordinated with the Russian Foreign Ministry, as well as other authorities and previously agreed with the Moroccan side.
The Russian Foreign Ministry declared a strong protest to the Japanese Embassy in Moscow because of the recent tests of the HIMARS MLRS near the Russian borders during exercises with the United States, the Russian Foreign Ministry said

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th October, 2022) The Russian Foreign Ministry declared a strong protest to the Japanese Embassy in Moscow because of the recent tests of the HIMARS MLRS near the Russian borders during exercises with the United States, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

"On October 12, a strong protest was made to the Japanese Embassy in Moscow in connection with the testing of HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems by the Japan Self-Defense Forces on October 10 as part of a joint military exercise with the United States at the Yausubetsu training ground (Hokkaido), located in direct proximity to the Russian borders," the statement says.

The ministry emphasizes that earlier, when the training ground was created, the Japanese Foreign Ministry stated that there were no plans to use it for testing such long-range MLRS.

Bewilderment is also caused by the fact that the Japanese media, whose representatives were admitted to the training ground, linked the drills with "Russian aggression in Ukraine."

"We consider the military exercises that took place as a challenge to ensuring the security of the Far East region of our country and insist on the immediate cessation of such actions. The Japanese side was also warned of the inevitability of adequate response measures in order to block military threats to Russia," the foreign ministry stressed.
WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th October, 2022) The Russian Embassy in Canada shared a very graphic email it received this week of an individual threatening to bomb the diplomatic facility in Ottawa, kill Russian Ambassador Oleg Stepanov and harm his family and other staffers over Russia's special military operation in Ukraine, the Embassy said in a statement to Sputnik.

"We would like to share with you one of the messages that was sent to the Embassy mailbox," the Embassy said on Tuesday. "We receive these kind of threats continuously since February. Despite our concerns, the Canadian authorities have not taken any meaningful measures to ensure safety of us and our families."

The email was sent to the embassy Monday morning by an individual named "Kagan Roy."

"We will bomb your embassy again. Oleg Stepanov will be executed, but not before his wife is raped until dead while Oleg and and his two children are forced to watch. This will be followed by the execution of the children, and then the ambassador himself," the email said.

The individual continued to demand that Russian officials leave Canada or else an assault team will be sent to the embassy to kill Russian men and rape Russian women until they are dead.

Stepanov told reporters on Monday that Russia has demanded that Canadian authorities enhance security of Russian diplomatic buildings in Canada after the incident with the Molotov cocktail last month, but the ambassador highlighted that Canadian authorities appear to show no desire to take measures to secure Russia's diplomatic missions.

With regards to the incident with the Molotov cocktail in September, Stepanov said that the Canadian police are investigating the incident but no interim results have been provided.

The diplomat said the Canadian side says that their patrols in the areas of the Russian diplomatic missions are enough to ensure security.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th October, 2022) Switzerland, following the example of the European Union, has decided to impose sanctions against Russia due to the accession of the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics, as well as the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions to the country, the Swiss government said on Wednesday.

"Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin, head of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, education and Research (EAER), approved on 12 October the addition of some 30 individuals and entities to Switzerland's sanctions list," a statement read.

These thirty individuals are now subject to financial sanctions and a travel ban, while a further seven entities are subject to financial restrictions.

The Swiss sanctions list is now identical to that of the EU, according to the statement.

"The additional listings mainly target those involved in the so-called 'referendums' organised by Russia in Ukrainian regions at the end of September. Their assets in Switzerland must now be frozen and reported to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs," the Swiss government added.

Moreover, the sanctions already imposed on the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics will now also apply to the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, the statement read. The corresponding changes will come into force at 19.00 Moscow time (16:00 GMT) on October 12.
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MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th October, 2022) The Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist group (banned in Russia) shelled Syria's Idlib de-escalation zone two times over the past 24 hours, Maj. Gen. Oleg Yegorov, deputy head of the Russian Defense Ministry's Center for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides in Syria, said at a briefing.

"Two shelling attacks from the positions of the Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist group were registered in the Idlib de-escalation zone over the past day in the province of Aleppo," Maj. Gen. Yegorov said.

The Russian Defense Ministry's Center for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides and Control over the Movement of Refugees in the Syrian Arab Republic was established in February 2016. Its tasks include the signing of agreements on illegal armed groups and individual settlements joining the regime of cessation of hostilities, as well as coordinating the delivery of humanitarian aid.
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MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th October, 2022) Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Venezuelan Foreign Minister Carlos Faria, at a meeting in Moscow on Tuesday, discussed implementation of joint projects and agreed on steps to boost bilateral ties in a number of areas, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"The ministers noted the dynamic development of political dialogue and practical cooperation in line with strategic partnership relations. They discussed implementation of joint projects, agreed on steps to build up bilateral ties in various fields," the ministry said.

The sides also "agreed to further strengthen foreign policy coordination in various multilateral formats in the interests of forming a more just, democratic world order based on respect for the principles and norms of international law.

"

The ministry said the Russian side provided the necessary clarifications in connection with the accession of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR), the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions into Russia in accordance with the right of these regions to self-determination.

"Strong condemnation was expressed of illegal unilateral coercive measures used as a tool to interfere in the affairs of sovereign states. The Russian side confirmed support for the efforts of the Bolivarian authorities to strengthen political and economic stability in the country," it said.

Moscow, during discussion of the situation in Latin America and the Caribbean, expressed its desire to develop a mutually respectful dialogue and cooperation with all regional countries constructively, on the basis of mutual interests.
A retired Buffalo detective who posed as an active police officer to try to take a car containing cocaine out of a police impound lot was sentenced Tuesday to a conditional discharge.

The Erie County District Attorney's Office reported that Kevin T. Biggs, 53, of East Aurora, pleaded guilty before County Court Judge Kenneth Case to one count of third-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, a misdemeanor. He was permitted to withdraw his previous plea to a felony charge and admit to the lesser charge after he successfully completed a judicial diversion program.

Biggs had pleaded guilty May 7, 2021, to second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, a felony.

Prosecutors said that Biggs, dressed in "police attire" on the afternoon of Sept. 25, 2020, went to the police impound lot on Dart Street on Buffalo's West Side to retrieve a vehicle involved in a shooting a couple of weeks earlier. He even presented police documents in an attempt to get the vehicle, which was being held as evidence.

According to District Attorney John J. Flynn Jr., Biggs told the attendant that he was buying the car from the owner, Alexis Rivera, 27, of Cheektowaga, who also had been the victim of the shooting on Sept. 7, 2020.

Authorities said Biggs forged the documents he presented by using the name of another current police officer. They said he made other attempts to get the car and even was found once at the Buffalo police garage on Seneca Street with bolt cutters.

Inside the car that Biggs was trying to retrieve, police found 13 ounces of cocaine, enough to warrant the highest level felony charges for drug possession.

Meanwhile, Rivera spent several days in Erie County Medical Center recuperating after the shooting. On Sept. 28, he also appeared at the impound lot "with the same falsified police paperwork" in an attempt to get the vehicle.

On Oct. 6, Rivera pleaded guilty to one count each of second-degree and third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, both felonies, before State Supreme Court Justice Debra Givens. Rivera, who is being held without bail, faces a maximum of 10 years in prison when he is sentenced Nov. 10.
A Ukrainian woman in a village near Lyman, in the Donetsk area (ANSA)

In latest appeal for Ukraine, Pope Francis prays for those who have suffered this week in Russia's heaviest bombardments since the start of the war, and urges leaders of nations to put aside war and embrace peaceful coexistence in justice.

By Deborah Castellano Lubov

In the wake of Russia's heavy bombardment of several western Ukrainian cities, Pope Francis is praying for those who suffer, while appealing to nations to seek peace.

The Holy Father made his latest appeal for war-torn Ukraine toward the end of his Wednesday General Audience in St. Peter's Square, speaking to the thousands of pilgrims gathered with him.



In these days my heart is with the Ukrainian people, especially to the inhabitants of the places where the bombings have raged.

Earlier this week, Ukraine was struck by the heaviest bombardment since the early days of the war.

Russian missile strikes hit not only multiple locations in the centre of the capital, Kyiv, but also Lviv, Dnipro, Kharkiv, and other cities, claiming several lives and causing numerous casualties.

Transforming hearts

"I carry within me their pain," the Pope said, "and through the intercession of the Holy Mother of God, I present it in prayer to the Lord."

God, said the Pope, always hears the cry of those who invoke Him.
A Buffalo teen who was found guilty last week of second-degree murder and first-degree robbery in the 2021 fatal shooting of a Lockport man faces a maximum of 25 years to life in prison when he is sentenced Dec. 9 before Erie County Court Judge Susan Eagan.

According to the Erie County District Attorney's Office, the 17-year-old remains held without bail in the custody of the Erie County Youth Services Center. Two sources familiar with the case told The Buffalo News the teen is Devin Horne, the son of former Buffalo Police Officer Cariol Horne. The District Attorney's Office would not comment on his identity, although Horne has previously discussed her son's case in a television interview.

Prosecutors said the youth was 16 years old when he and his 19-year-old co-defendant, Calvin Clemons of Buffalo, conspired to lure the victim to C Street off of Fillmore Avenue to rob him on March 29, 2021. During the robbery, Clemons shot the victim several times, after which the adolescent offender stole the victim's backpack before he and Clemons fled the scene.

The 20-year-old victim, Trenten Jacob Sink, suffered gunshot wounds to his back, side, chest and right buttock. He was transported by ambulance to Erie County Medical Center where he died from his injuries.

Cariol Horne could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Horne, who was terminated by the city after she said she tried to stop a fellow officer who put a man in a chokehold during a 2006 arrest, had her firing annulled and her pension, benefits and backpay reinstated by a judge last year.

In an interview with a WIVB-TV news reporter in November 2021, Horne said her son was not the shooter in the incident and, therefore, was not a murderer.

Meanwhile, Clemons pleaded guilty to first-degree murder on Aug. 11. He faces a maximum of life without parole when he is sentenced on Dec. 15.
The Prime Minister of Haiti and colleagues are requesting the deployment of international troops there in response to a people in crisis and a country in chaos.

By James Blears

Prime Minister Ariel Henri has invited in a peace keeping force to come to Haiti and share its myriad of problems. But the question is if it would combat and dispel criminal gangs which are blockading the main fuel terminal in the Capital Port au Prince, or rather fulfil a stabilizing peace keeping role in a similar way to the UN led mission to Haiti from 2004 to 2017.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is calling for a Direct-Action deployment to be sent to Haiti, but it`s still unclear what nations it would comprise of. Prime Minister Henri`s SOS appeal has been met with furious protests in the major cities, with anger in some quarters about the prospect of renewed long term foreign intervention. Yet, food is critically in short supply, public transport isn`t operating and there have been outbreaks of cholera. This last this happened in 2010, following an earthquake which left quarter of a million Haitians dead and many more homeless, it claimed more than ten thousand lives.

The situation has spiralled out of control following the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in July last year. There have been no elections in Haiti since 2016, and it remains the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. Combined international help and aid is needed to save a nation which is economically and politically drowning in a maelstrom of lawlessness, disorder, hunger and strife.
Aaron Nola pitched into the seventh inning to help the Philadelphia Phillies to a 2-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 2 of their National League WIld Card series at Busch Stadium.

Bryce Harper homered and Zach Eflin stranded the tying run on base as Philadelphia won their first postseason series since the 2009 NLCS.

"Everybody in that clubhouse, on this team, in this organization is super excited", Nola said. "Just a bunch of unselfish guys, doing whatever it takes to win a ballgame, no matter what it is. A lot of excitement."

Miles Mikolas allowed both runs on two hits in 4 2/3 innings for the NL Central champions. Albert Pujols collected a pair of singles in the final game of his Hall of Fame career.

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"This was never about me coming back here", he said. "This was about n organization that opened the door for me to finish my career here. My mission was always to help this ballclub to win every day."

Phillies move on to Atlanta after completing two-game sweep

On the first pitch of the second inning, Harper drove a 76 mph curveball from Mikolas 435 feet to put Philadelphia on top.

Nola struck out six and walked just one while throwing 101 pitches. He gave up a leadoff single to Lars Nootbaar in the bottom of the first and Edman walked in the third, Nola struck out Nootbaar and got Pujols on a weak grounder.

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Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm made an outstanding grab of Molina's sharply hit ball down the line leading off the third, and then he made an even more impressive play to rob Arenado of extra bases in the fourth.

Bohm then led off the fifth with a ground-rule double. Brandon Marsh bunted him to third and after Mikolas hit Jean Segura, the righty was pulled in favor of Jordan Montgomery, who walked Bryson Stott.

Kyle Schwarber hit a sacrifice fly that scored Bohm to make it 2-0. Nola pitched into the eighth and Jose Alvarado came in to retire Molina on a popup with a runner on first.

St. Louis had two men on in the bottom of the eighth, but Seranthony Dominguez struck out MVP candidates Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado to escape the jam.

"I didn't play well at all. That's what I look at", said Goldschmidt, who, combined with Arenado, went one for 15 with eight strikeouts in the series.

"If I could have played better, maybe we could've at least won one of them, if not both of them. That's disappointing."

Down to their last out, the Cardinals got back-to-back singles from Corey Dickerson and Molina, but Eflin got Edman to foul out as the Phillies set up a Division Series matchup with the defending world champion Atlanta Braves.

"Our players, they love being in this situation", said manager Rob Thomson, who signed a two-year contract yesterday. "And that's what i'm really proud about.

"There's so many guys that never played in the playoffs and they played really well. The moment didn't get the best of them and I'm really happy about that.

"We played the game the right way. We had good pitching. We have really good defense. We had a lot of unselfish at-bats, guys giving themselves up, bunting runners over. It was a complete team effort and i'm really proud of them."
Two anglers whose boat sank over the weekend in the Gulf of Mexico clung to an improvised float and fought off sharks while the third swam what felt like miles to search for help.

The swimmer, Phong Le, managed to find a cellphone signal and sent a Google map of his location just before his battery died, he told ABC News on Tuesday.

The three men had been in the water since about 10 a.m. Saturday. The sharks showed up Sunday morning, Luan Nguyen said. One bit the front of his life vest.

"And I think that's where I caught ... these injuries on my hand," he told the broadcaster, which identified the third boater as Son Nguyen.

"I took my two thumbs and jabbed him in the eyes, and he took off," Luan Nguyen said.

Even as the two men were pulled from the water, they were being circled and harassed by four blacktip sharks measuring about 4 to 6 feet (1.2 to 1.8 meters) long, said Andrew Stone, a seaman in the Coast Guard boat crew that rescued the exhausted pair.

"They were too tired to even be panicking," he told The Associated Press in an interview alongside other Coast Guard members and officials, none of whom referred to the boaters by name.

All three boaters were back home Tuesday, the Coast Guard said.

"These people's will to survive and their life jackets is what saved their lives," said Lieutenant Katy Caraway, a helicopter co-pilot who rescued Le, who was suffering from hypothermia, and then flew all three to a New Orleans hospital.

She said that while her helicopter was pulling up Le  the swimmer  an airplane located the two who had to fight off sharks about a half-mile to a mile (0.8 to 1.6 kilometers) away. A Coast Guard boat based in Venice rushed to that spot.

Helicopter rescue swimmer Richard Hoefle said both boaters had deep cuts on their hands, and one was missing the tip of a middle finger.

In the hospital, he said, one man told him, "I was 100% certain my time was up" before he saw the aircraft that spotted them.

When the group's 24-foot (7.3-meter) boat sank, it left them with no radio in an area without cellphone service.

"We made a distress call on the VHF radio to the Coast Guard and let them know that we'd taken on water," Le told ABC. "And not even seconds after that, the boat was nearly halfway in the water."

They tied two ice chests together as a makeshift float. One happened to hold water and fruit, Luan Nguyen told the network.

One man's wife reported them missing about 10 p.m. Saturday, said Lieutenant Commander Kevin Keefe, rescue coordinator for Sector New Orleans. The woman didn't know their launch point, he said, and it took about 3.5 hours to find their vehicle in Venice, near Louisiana's southeastern tip, so crews would know the best areas to search when dawn broke.

Le said that he swam for help on Sunday. After swimming for what felt like miles, he got a signal on his cellphone and texted his Google map location to a friend.

"I see him trying to reply to me. And the phone cut off  I ran out of battery," Le told the network.

A boater's wife texted it to the Coast Guard, Keefe said.

Coast Guard boats, planes and a helicopter had spent fruitless hours searching an area larger than Rhode Island.

Then the screenshot arrived.

Using coastal contours, the command center was able to figure out where it was, Keefe said.

The Coast Guard said the men were found about 25 miles off Empire, a small community located along the last narrow strip of the Mississippi Delta, southeast of New Orleans.

Le was rescued first. After the two shark-fighters were lifted into the helicopter, there was a lot of hugging, Hoefle said. Until then, he said, Le "had no idea if his friends were alive or dead."

Once everyone was on the helicopter, the three Coast Guard crew members on the boat below could express their joy. "We were celebrating  whooping and hollering," said Stone.

"I'd say this was a rescue for the books for all of us," Caraway said.
President Joe Biden said Tuesday there will be "consequences" for Saudi Arabia as the Riyadh-led OPEC+ alliance moves to cut oil production and Democratic lawmakers call for a freeze on cooperation with the Saudis.

Biden suggested he would soon take action, as aides announced that the administration is reevaluating its relationship with the kingdom in light of the oil production cut that White House officials say will help another OPEC+ member, Russia, pad its coffers as it continues its nearly eight-month war in Ukraine.

A push to halt arms sales

Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Rep. Ro Khanna of California introduced legislation that would immediately pause all U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia for one year. This pause would also halt sales of spare and repair parts, support services and logistical support.

But it remains to be seen how far Biden is willing to go in showing his displeasure with the Saudis, a vital but complicated ally in the Middle East. Biden came into office vowing to recalibrate the U.S. relationship because of Saudi Arabia's human rights record but then paid a visit to the kingdom earlier this year.

Biden said in a CNN interview he would look to consult with Congress on the way forward but stopped short of endorsing the Democratic lawmakers' call to halt weapons sales.

"There's going to be some consequences for what they've done, with Russia," Biden said. "I'm not going to get into what I'd consider and what I have in mind. But there will be  there will be consequences."

John Kirby, a White House National Security Council spokesman, said Biden believes "it's time to take another look at this relationship and make sure that it's serving our national security interests."

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday the White House has no timeline for its review nor has the president appointed an adviser to serve as the point person.

Meanwhile, officials underscore the central role that Saudi Arabia plays in addressing broader national security concerns in the Middle East.

Blumenthal and Khanna unveiled their legislation one day after Sen. Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, said it was unacceptable that OPEC+ had moved to cut oil production and effectively assist Moscow in its war on Ukraine. Menendez promised to use his position as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to block any future arms sales to the Saudis.

Menendez did not warn the White House before announcing his intention to block future Saudi arms sales, Kirby said.

OPEC+ cuts threatens global economy

OPEC+, which includes Russia as well as Saudi Arabia, announced last week it would cut production targets by 2 million barrels a day, which will help prop up oil prices that are allowing Russian President Vladimir Putin to keep paying for his eight-month invasion of Ukraine. The cut also hurts U.S.-led efforts to make the war financially unsustainable for Russia, threatens a global economy already destabilized by the Ukraine conflict, and risks saddling Biden and Democrats with newly rising gasoline prices just ahead of the U.S. midterm elections.

Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud told Saudi-owed Al Arabiya on Tuesday that his government's justification of the cuts was "purely economic."

Biden and European leaders have urged more oil production to ease gasoline prices and punish Moscow for its aggression in Ukraine. Putin has been accused of using energy as a weapon against countries opposing Russia's invasion.

"They are certainly aligning themselves with Russia," Jean-Pierre said. "This is not a time to be aligning with Russia."

As for the Saudis, Blumenthal said, "We cannot continue selling highly sensitive arms technology to a nation aligned with an abhorrent terrorist adversary."

However, the White House takes note that its weapon sales to Riyadh serve, in part, as an important counterweight in the region to Iran, which is quickly moving toward becoming a nuclear power.

"There's 70,000 Americans living in Saudi Arabia right now, not to mention all the other troops we have throughout the region," Kirby said. "So, it's not only in our interest that missile defense in the region become more integrated and cooperative. It's in the interest of our allies and partners in that part of the world as well."

Still, the pressure is mounting for Biden. As a candidate for the White House, he vowed that Saudi rulers would "pay the price" under his watch for the 2018 killing of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of the kingdom's leadership. Biden said that he'd look to make the oil-rich country a "pariah."

But in July, amid rising fuel prices around the globe, Biden paid a visit to Saudi Arabia. During the visit, he met with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, who he once shunned, blaming him for Khashoggis death. The U.S. intelligence community determined that the crown prince, often referred to by his initials MBS, likely approved the killing of Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. MBS denies he was involved.

The Saudis have also drawn international criticism for airstrikes killing civilians in the years-long war between the kingdom and Houthi rebels in Yemen  as well as for embargoes that exacerbated hunger and pushed Yemen to the brink of famine.

"Saudi Arabia's disastrous decision to slash oil production by 2 million barrels a day makes it clear that Riyadh is seeking to harm the U.S. and reaffirms the need to reassess the U.S.-Saudi relationship," Khanna said. "There is no reason for the U.S. to kowtow to a regime that has massacred countless civilians in Yemen, hacked to death a Washington-based journalist, and is now extorting Americans at the pump."
Ekaterina Fomina lived her whole life in Moscow. And although the investigative journalist studied for a year abroad, leaving Russia was never her plan.

But when Moscow invaded Ukraine, the pressure on Fomina and her news outlet, iStories, ratcheted up.

iStories, which is registered outside Russia, was designated a foreign agent in 2021. But in March, she and her team learned that just a few days before the war, Russian authorities had also declared their media outlet an "undesirable organization."

The media teams reaction was unanimous. They needed to leave.

Fomina is one of hundreds to have fled increased repression on media as Russia tightly controls coverage of the war, including imposing hefty sentences for "false news" of the conflict.

Galina Arapova, a senior media lawyer and director at the nonprofit Mass Media Defence Centre, says at least 12 journalists are currently facing charges in Russia related to their war coverage.

Arapova, who also left Russia, believes Moscows aim with such legal actions "is not necessarily to jail everyone but certainly to intimidate." And in many ways, the Russian authorities succeeded: entire editorial teams have left.

The European Fund for Journalism in Exile this year has assisted 21 media organizations and their teams  around 400 people in all  to settle in eight European countries.

Reporting on Russia from exile

But even from exile, journalists like Fomina continue to investigate.

Before joining iStories in 2020, Fomina worked for the renowned Russian news outlet Novaya Gazeta, traveling to the provinces and poorer cities.

"I have always considered my strong side [is] that I can talk with ordinary Russians," she said.

When she first left Russia, Fomina was uneasy about her media outlet being labeled a "foreign agent" and "undesirable." But that soon changed.

"Bucha became the turning point for me," she told VOA. "I understood that the enemies of the people, the criminals, extremists and some unwanted elements of society are not us."

The United Nations has called for an independent inquiry into the atrocities carried out in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha in March. Researchers from Human Rights Watch who visited the city a few days after Russian soldiers retreated found evidence of torture and extrajudicial killings.

Now, Fomina said, "I don't care how the Russian Federation labels me, because I know that the Russian government and authorities are the real terrorists and enemies of the people, not us."

Mikhail Rubin, deputy editor-in-chief of the investigative media outlet Proekt (The Project) holds a similar view.

Rubin weathered years of threats over Proekts coverage of President Vladimir Putins inner circle before leaving in 2021.

His media outlet was declared undesirable, and Russia named Rubin a foreign agent.

The designation means Rubin must provide detailed financial reports and add a warning to all social media posts that says the content is produced by a foreign agent  requirements that Rubin finds humiliating.

But when Russia invaded Ukraine, he stopped complying.

"[The war] put things in perspective. It became clear that there was no way back. The evil became clear, Rubin said. At some point, I understood that nothing would change in my life. I do not care what criminal cases will be open against me in Russia."

Still, Rubin concedes the authorities succeeded at some level, saying, "They wanted to force [me] out, and they did."

Danger before the war began

Pressure on Rubins team, however, had been ramping up before the war.

Proekt made a name for itself with high-profile investigations of corruption, and high-ranking officials had warned Rubin that what he was doing was dangerous.

Then, Proekt looked into Putins illegitimate daughter.

"This was an interference in [Putins] private life, which is prohibited," Rubin told VOA.

As Proekt continued to investigate high-level officials, it became clear that the journalists would no longer be able to work in Russia.

Police raided Rubins apartment in June 2021 and placed his passport in front of the journalist.

"This was the last thing they did. I think they gave me a hint," Rubin said.

On July 15, 2021, authorities designated Proekt an undesirable organization.

"The next morning, I was already in the airplane," Rubin said.

The team moved to Georgia.

Rubin is quick to praise the country that hosted him for a year, but he says even there, life was hard.

"For those who do not like Russians, you are Russian. For those who like Russians, you are a member of the opposition. But I am not an oppositional figure. I am a journalist. In the end, everyone is not happy with you, Rubin said.

In late August, Rubin left for the United States after being accepted as a fellow at The George Washington University in Washington. He continues investigating stories from Russia, but says it is a challenge to stay connected with sources.

Russian organizations and individuals seen to cooperate with undesirable organizations may be subject to administrative and criminal charges. And what counts as cooperation is not clear.

The devil is in the details, Arapova said.

Arapova, who has twice been labeled a foreign agent, says the laws are purposely vague.

"The laws are being changed to be applicable to anyone whenever needed. In our country, laws are interpreted ambiguously. The scope of laws is wide, and the terms are obscure. This deprives us, lawyers, of the opportunity to help our clients," Arapova told VOA.

Russians reaching out

Even with those difficulties, Rubin  who was once a Kremlin pool reporter  says at least outside of Russia, journalists can work.

Proekt has covered chaos in the military, the Kremlin's control of most public opinion polls inside Russia and details of the medical teams who accompany Putin  all from exile.

Fomina has also not let exile stop her.

"The least we can do now for Ukraine, considering that the country of my citizenship began the war, is to investigate all crimes that our fellow citizens committed," she said.

The results of that reporting, including assignments inside Ukraine to investigate atrocities, have been surprising. A Russian soldier confessed to a war crime in a phone interview with Fomina.

After she reported on events in the Ukrainian village of Andriivka, other soldiers contacted iStories saying they wanted to speak out.

"No one 'heard' them in the country," Fomina said.

People can be persecuted for speaking with media labeled undesirable, but Russians are reaching out to the team.

Fomina plans to keep reporting on Ukraine, telling VOA, "I did not doubt that I needed to go and look for all those who committed evil deeds, those who killed, raped [and] bit-by-bit put together the puzzle."

This story originated in VOAs Russian Service.
Veteran Chadian politician and former opposition figure Saleh Kebzabo has been appointed prime minister, according to a decree issued Wednesday by military leader and interim president Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno.

Former journalist Kebzabo, 75, ran four times for the presidency against Deby's father, Idriss Deby Itno, who was killed during an operation against rebels in April 2021 and was succeeded by a junta headed by his son, a 38-year-old five-star general.

Kebzabo is "named prime minister," according to the decree issued by Deby.

The junta had originally declared it would restore civilian rule after 18 months in power, and Deby had at first promised he would not take part in the future elections.

But as the 18-month deadline neared, a nationwide forum staged by Deby reset the clock.

Last weekend it approved a new 24-month timeframe for holding elections, named Deby "transitional president" for the interim and declared he could be a candidate in the poll.

Deby was sworn in on Monday, vowing to name a "government of national union" within days.

The outgoing premier was 55-year-old political veteran Albert Pahimi Padacke, who had served for 18 months and had also been prime minister under Deby's father.

He formally resigned on Tuesday along with his government.
Chadian leader Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno's plans to stay in power beyond his initially-promised deadline have stirred anger at home and embarrassment for his backers abroad.



The 38-year-old five-star general took the helm in April 2021 after his father, Idriss Deby Itno, Chad's iron-fisted ruler for three decades, was killed during an operation against rebels.



The junta had originally declared it would restore civilian rule after 18 months in power, and Deby had at first promised he would not take part in the future elections.



It was partly on the strength of these commitments  but also on Chad's status as an ally fighting jihadism  that Deby was endorsed by the African Union (AU), European Union (EU) and former colonial power France.



But as the 18-month deadline neared, a nationwide forum staged by Deby chose to reset the clock.



Last weekend it approved a new 24-month timeframe for holding elections, named Deby "transitional president" for the interim and declared he could be a candidate in the poll.



The forum was "tailor-made... to legitimize the monarchical handover of power from father to son," an umbrella group of political figures and groups, including the opposition coalition Wakit Tamma, said in a statement.



It called for "civil disobedience" and "peaceful demonstrations" on October 20.

Among the armed rebels who are a persistent thorn in the government's side, a statement signed by 18 groups warned the regime would be held responsible "for all the consequences arising from its deception."



One of the signatories is the powerful Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT), which triggered the offensive in the northeast last year that ended in the elder Deby's death.



Vexation abroad



A semi-desert country located in the heart of central western Africa, Chad has been chronically unstable since it gained independence from France in 1960.



Foreign displeasure at Deby's push for power was visible at the ceremonies on Monday when he was sworn in as interim president.



The AU snubbed the event, while France and the EU were notably represented only by their ambassadors.



Just three weeks earlier, the AU had appealed to the junta not to extend its stay in power beyond 18 months and "unequivocally" warned against any of its members taking part in the future elections.



With the exception of Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, no other African countries sent their heads of state. A handful of important neighbors  Niger, the Central African Republic and Democratic Republic of Congo  were represented by their ministers.



The AU and the West African bloc ECOWAS have been fierce critics of the string of coups that have swept the region in the past two years, with takeovers in Guinea, Burkina Faso and Mali as well as Chad.



Pragmatism



Enrica Picco of the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank said the junta had been formally dissolved as a result of the forum, which meant Deby's powers would be "widened and extended" as transitional president.



He is expected to name a new prime minister and "government of national union" in the next few days. His old premier, political veteran Albert Pahimi Padacke, who had served for 18 months, formally resigned on Tuesday along with his government.



Picco said the choice of the incoming government presented an opportunity for Deby, giving him the chance of building bridges in his divided country.

On the other hand, if the government is "totally closed off to the parties, armed groups and civil society who did not take part in the dialogue, everything is possible  protests, or armed groups taking up their weapons again resuming attacks," she said.



Roland Marchal, an Africa specialist at the Sciences Po school in Paris, said the international community had been embarrassed by Deby, but  in contrast with other coups in the region  would probably not support sanctions against him.

"Pragmatism will prevail and we'll see a return to support for the regime along the lines that have existed since 1990," when the elder Deby took the reins, he predicted.
More than 50 countries met in Europe, pledging more weapons for Ukraines defense. Russia apprehends individuals it claims is responsible for a bridge attack in Crimea. Plus, after living in a basement to escape bombardment, how some children are volunteering to raise money for the war effort.
Israel's cabinet on Wednesday endorsed a U.S.-brokered deal to delineate a maritime border with Lebanon, paving the way for a potentially fractious two-week parliamentary review before it goes into force.

Lawmakers and a parliamentary committee will now have 14 days to review details of the deal before it again comes before the cabinet for a final vote, according to a statement from Prime Minister Yair Lapid's office. This brings it close to a Nov. 1 national election.

If finalised, the agreement - hailed on Tuesday by all three parties involved as a historic achievement - would mark a diplomatic departure from decades of war and hostility as well as opening the door to offshore energy exploration.

A draft seen by Reuters said it was intended to be a "a permanent and equitable resolution" of the maritime dispute but did not resolve a disagreement over the countries' shared land border.

It will take effect once Lebanon and Israel send letters to Washington, which will issue a notice announcing the deal is in place.

On that day, Lebanon and Israel will simultaneously send identical coordinates to the United Nations laying out the boundary's location.

It will begin west of a line of buoys that extends from the contested land border. Those buoys will remain in place, according to the deal's text.

Parties to the deal would seek to resolve any further maritime differences through the United States, securing an ongoing guarantor role for Washington.

A centrist, Lapid's caretaker government wants the deal done soon but has denied that the country's election is the deadline.

His challenger, conservative ex-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has argued the Lebanese could benefit Hezbollah, and accused Lapid of evading parliamentary scrutiny - setting up a possibly contentious review by lawmakers.

Lebanon, too, wants to move forward quickly.

President Michel Aoun is keen to sign the deal as his crowning achievement before his six-year term ends on Oct. 31, according to political sources.

The deal will not be submitted to Lebanon's parliament but the prime minister, president and parliamentary speaker - the de facto ruling troika of an economically stricken country - have voiced satisfaction with its terms.

Lebanon's deep economic crisis was also an incentive for it to move quickly, as potential revenues from gas exploitation could help replenish state coffers or at least ease chronic electricity shortages.

TotalEnergies is set to begin exploration at the Qana prospect immediately after the deal takes effect, though Lebanon's energy minister said preparations would take a number of months.

Seeking to play down future Lebanese profits, Israeli Energy Minister Karine Elharrar told Tel Aviv's 103 FM radio initial estimates put that prospect's total value at some $3 billion.
BRUSSELS (AP)  Bosnia-Herzegovina moved a small step closer to the European Union on Wednesday with the EUs executive advising member states to grant it candidate member status despite continuing criticism of the way the Balkan nation is run.

The advice had been hotly anticipated in ethnically-divided Bosnia, which is lagging several other Balkan nations in being granted candidate status to become a member of the prosperous European club of 27 nations. For the EU itself, holding out the prospect of membership is a powerful instrument in the Balkans, where Russia, and China, are vying for more geopolitical clout.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi told a European Parliament committee during the presentation of the annual enlargement report that the executive recommends that candidate status be granted by the member states, pending a slew of commitments for fundamental reform.

Bosnias foreign minister welcomed the decision, describing it as historic.

This sends a strong message to the citizens (of Bosnia), one we have been hoping to get even earlier, that our future is as a member of the (EU) family, Bisera Turkovic said on Twitter.

The recommendation comes more than 6 years after Bosnia formally applied to join the EU and nearly three decades since it emerged from a more than 3  -year-long interethnic war, part of the breakup of Yugoslavia, that left more than 100,000 dead.

The Commission can only advise which nations should become EU candidates, and all member states must agree unanimously on such a step. Varhelyi said he hoped the member states would make a quick move, possibly as early as December, since the situation in the region spurred by Russia's war in Ukraine, made speed essential.

Still, once a country becomes a candidate, it can still take years, sometimes many years, before membership to the club becomes a reality.

Varhelyi warned Bosnian political leaders to move swiftly on badly-needed reforms.

On our side, we made now a leap, a leap of faith, he said. "Now the leadership must be there to deliver. He said to become a candidate the Bosnian leaders needed reforms on issues ranging from the judiciary, to battling corruption and pushing through constitutional and electoral changes. Little progress on those issues has been made in recent years.

While Bosnia has professed its desire to join the EU since 2003, its bickering ethnic leaders have so far proven unwilling to put aside differences and implement necessary reforms. In fact, Bosnia recently found itself in the throes of its biggest political crisis since the end of the 1992-95 war, with the staunchly pro-Russian Bosnian Serb leader, Milorad Dodik, increasingly threatening to separate Bosnias Serb-run part from the rest of the country.

The Commission made several non-encouraging assessments in many sectors, outlining limited or no progress in reforms of public administration, the judiciary and the fight against corruption and organized crime. To be a candidate, a nation does not have to meet all criteria, but must show a commitment to do so.

Several Balkan countries and Turkey have been waiting around two decades to join and sometimes progress has been held up by objections from single EU member country.

Ankara applied for membership in 1987, received candidate status in 1999, and had to wait until 2005 to start talks for actual entry. It is still extremely far from membership.

Sabina Niksic contributed from Sarajevo
An Israeli soldier was killed Tuesday in a drive-by shooting in the northern West Bank, the army announced, saying that forces were searching for the attackers.

It was the latest in a wave of deadly Israeli-Palestinian violence in the area. It came days after a female Israeli soldier was killed at a checkpoint in east Jerusalem, and 24 hours after a 12-year-old Palestinian boy died of wounds sustained in an Israeli military raid in the occupied West Bank.

Israel has been carrying out nightly arrest raids across the West Bank since a spate of attacks against Israelis in the spring killed 19 people. Most of that activity has been focused in the northern West Bank.

Israeli fire has killed more than 100 Palestinians during that time, making it the deadliest year in the occupied territory since 2015.

The Israeli military says the vast majority of those killed were militants or stone-throwers who endangered the soldiers. But several civilians have also been killed during Israel's monthslong operation, including a veteran journalist and a lawyer who apparently drove unwittingly into a battle zone. Local youths who took to the streets in response to the invasion of their neighborhoods have also been killed. At least three Israeli soldiers also have died.

Israel says the arrest raids are meant to dismantle militant networks. The Palestinians say the operations have undermined their own security forces and are aimed at strengthening Israel's 55-year military occupation of territories they want for an independent state.

The army said Tuesday's shooting happened near the Jewish settlement of Shavei Shomron, a few kilometers northwest of the Palestinian city of Nablus. It said the soldiers were attacked by a pair of assailants in a vehicle who fled.

The Den of Lions, a new militant group led by young fighters from Nablus, claimed responsibility.

"A group of our heroic fighters carried out a qualitative operation," the group said in a statement. "We say to the settlers besieging the city of Nablus from all directions, today we will see who will besiege whom."

In Jerusalem, meanwhile, Israeli forces continued to search the Shuafat refugee camp for the gunman who killed a female soldier Saturday night.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war. The area is now home to roughly 500,000 Israeli settlers. The international community widely considers the settlements illegal and obstacles to peace.

The Palestinians claim all of the West Bank, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, for a future independent state.
For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit Flashpoint Ukraine.

The latest developments in Russias war on Ukraine. All times EDT.

10 p.m.: Russia said it had protested to the Japanese embassy on Wednesday over joint Japan-U.S. military exercises this week in which it said HIMARS rocket systems were fired close to Russia's borders.

"We consider the military exercises that took place as a challenge to ensuring the security of the Far Eastern region of our country and insist on the immediate cessation of such actions," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

"The Japanese side was also warned about the inevitability of adequate response measures in order to block military threats to Russia," it added, without elaborating.

HIMARS are the same rocket systems that the United States has supplied to Ukraine, which Kyiv has put to effective use in attacking Russian command nodes and supply lines.

9:02 p.m.:

8:33 p.m.: Ukraines prime minister is urging citizens to prepare for the upcoming winter as Russia plans to use cold as its weapon, The Associated Press reported.

Denys Shmyhal said on Wednesday that citizens should keep essentials such as warm clothes, candles, flashlights and batteries ready. He says though the power system is currently operating normally, Ukraine aims to reduce electricity consumption in the evening across the country by 25%.

Shmyhal asked Ukrainians, and especially business owners, to reduce consumption of electricity in the evening. He also explained that temporary power outages are necessary to avoid overloading some energy networks.

8 p.m.: Moscow expects Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to formally offer to mediate negotiations between Russia and Ukraine during his meeting on October 13 with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Kazakhstan, a Kremlin aide has said.

7:09 p.m.: Germany said on Wednesday it was receiving less oil but still had adequate supplies, after Poland found a leak in the Druzhba pipeline that delivers crude from Russia to Europe that Warsaw said showed no sign of being caused by sabotage.

The discovery of the leak in the main route carrying oil to Germany, which operator PERN said it found on Tuesday evening, comes as Europe is on high alert over its energy security in the aftermath of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine which has cut supplies of gas.

"After removing most of the contaminants from the area near the crude oil pipeline that was damaged yesterday, PERN's technical services have located the site of the leak," Polish pipeline operator PERN said in a statement.

"The first findings and the method of pipeline deformation show that at the moment there are no signs of interference by third parties."

PERN added that it was working to find out what caused the leak and to repair the pipeline.

6:22 p.m.: The EU has agreed on the contours of a mission to train 15,000 Ukrainian armed forces personnel in several member countries, diplomats said Wednesday, Agence France-Presse reported.

A working document on the subject seen by AFP said the EU Military Assistance Mission (EUMAM) "would have to train large numbers of UAF (Ukrainian armed forces) personnel in a variety of military functions."

Two diplomats said EUMAM should initially train 15,000 Ukrainian armed forces personnel.

5:57 p.m.: Ukraine is expected to battle through harsh winter conditions to try to recapture more territory from Russia, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Wednesday as allies announced delivery of new air defenses and committed more aid in the wake of Russian missile strikes, The Associated Press reported.

Military analysts are watching to see whether fighting subsides during Ukraine's tough winter, potentially giving an opportunity for troops on both sides of the conflict to reset after months of brutal fighting since Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.

"I expect that Ukraine will continue to do everything it can throughout the winter, to regain its territory and to be effective on the battlefield," Austin told a news conference.

"And we're going to do everything we can to make sure that they have what's required to be effective."

5 p.m.: Ukraine will need an estimated $3 billion to $4 billion in external financing help per month next year to keep its economy running as Russia's war drags on, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Wednesday, according to Reuters.



Georgieva said Ukraine's international partners have committed $35 billion in grant and loan financing for Ukraine in 2022, enough to close its financing gap for this year, but its financing needs would remain "very large" in 2023.

4:31 p.m.: Ukraines prime minister is urging Ukrainians to prepare for the upcoming winter, saying Russia plans to use cold as its weapon, The Associated Press reported.



Denys Shmyhal said on Wednesday that citizens should keep essentials such as warm clothes, candles, flashlights and batteries ready. He says though the power system is currently operating normally, Ukraine aims to reduce electricity consumption in the evening across the country by 25%.



Shmyhal asked Ukrainians, and especially business owners, to reduce consumption of electricity in the evening. He also explained that temporary power outages are necessary to avoid overloading some energy networks.



Repairs are still in progress after numerous Russian attacks this week on energy infrastructure, he said.



3:55 p.m.: Rashid is among the hundreds of thousands of Tajik nationals who have obtained dual Russian citizenship in recent years, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported Wednesday.



Like many conscript-age dual citizens, he faces a dilemma after Russia announced a military mobilization amid Moscow's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.



Rashid can either stay in Russia and risk being sent to fight in Ukraine or go back to his native Tajikistan where he faces grinding poverty.



"We have a relatively comfortable life here," said Rashid, who only gave his first name. "If I go back to Tajikistan, I'd have to live with my parents and sell mobile phones again. But I'm afraid of being sent to war, honestly. I don't know what to do."



Rashid has lived with his wife and newborn son in Kazan, the capital of Russia's Republic of Tatarstan, since 2019. Two years earlier, he graduated from the Kazan Federal University with a decree in information technology and obtained a Russian passport.



Like many other Tajiks, Rashid says he has had to deal with widespread racism and corruption in Russia. But he insists that "life in Russia is much better than Tajikistan."

3:15 p.m.: With nearly 100 grain-laden ships reaching towards the horizon off Istanbul, the U.N. official overseeing exports from Ukraine is asking Russia and other parties to end "full-blown" inspections of outgoing vessels to ease the backlog, Reuters reported.



Ukraine has exported more than 6.8 million metric tons of grain and other foodstuffs, about a third of its storage, since a sea corridor from the war-torn country opened in July.



The U.N. says the safe passage deal signed by Moscow and Kyiv eased a global food crisis. But as more shippers have joined, the handful of teams inspecting cargo and crew transiting Turkish waters started to fall behind, leaving scores of tankers anchored in the Marmara Sea.



Amir Abdulla, U.N. Coordinator for the Black Sea Grain Initiative, said he had proposed quicker, targeted checks of ships arriving from Ukrainian ports.



2:30 p.m.:

2:15 p.m.: Ukraines state nuclear operator has warned that power outages and other emergency situations at the Russia-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant could happen again any time, The Associated Press reported.

Russia has seized the plant and is not taking any steps to de-escalate, on the contrary, it is shelling important infrastructure daily, the companys press service told The Associated Press.

The plant was without external power on Wednesday in the second such incident in five days, raising fears of potential leaks because critical safety systems need electricity to operate. The only operating power line, one of eight, was damaged by the Russian shelling of an electrical substation near the city of Marhanets across the Dnieper River from the plant. The power was later restored after the plant operated on generators for the past 24 hours, Energoatom said.

The press office insisted that the generators can last for no more than eight hours. They said Kyiv has sent fuel for the generators but that the Russians refused to let it through.

There was no immediate reaction from the Russian forces in the area.

Energoatom also said Kyiv continues to control access to the key units of the plant and communication with the station has not been lost. There are plans to restart this week at least one of six plant reactors that were shut down on Sept. 11, it said, offering no other details.

2:00 p.m.:

1:40 p.m.: The Czech Republic will turn away Russian tourists holding Schengen-zone visas issued by any country from October 25, Reuters reported, quoting the foreign minister Wednesday.

It has joined other European Union member states in tightening entry rules.

EU countries had balked at enacting a visa ban for Russians at the end of August when the bloc agreed to put a tougher process in place. Since then, countries bordering Russia, like the Baltic states, along with Finland and Poland, have barred Russian tourists.

The Czech Republic had immediately stopped visas for Russians, except on humanitarian grounds, after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February. But it had been allowing in visitors at airports who had visas issued by other countries in the EU's Schengen travel zone.

1:05 p.m.:



12:45 p.m.: At NATO headquarters in Brussels, U.S. General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that Ukraine wants its Western partners to provide it with a complete air defense system to defend against Russian warplanes and missiles, The Associated Press reported.



What Ukraine is asking for, and what we think can be provided, is an integrated air missile defense system. So that doesnt control all the airspace over Ukraine, but theyre designed to control priority targets that Ukraine needs to protect, Milley told reporters.



It would involve short-, medium- and long-range systems capable of firing projectiles at all altitudes, he said after a meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group, a gathering of about 50 nations that meets regularly to assess Ukraines needs and drum up equipment.



Its a mix of all these that deny the airspace to Russian aircraft and missiles, Milley said. Theyre trying to create a defensive system.



12:25 p.m.:

12:10 p.m.: A U.S. firm supplied networking technology to a manufacturer of Russian missiles, Reuters reported Wednesday.

Since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, American companies have been prohibited from dealing with MMZ Avangard, a state-owned firm that makes missiles for one of Russia's most sophisticated weapons, the S-400 air-defense system.

In a measure of Western concern about the S-400, the United States ejected Turkey, a NATO member, from a joint fighter jet program in 2019 after Ankara took delivery of the Russian system.

But even as the United States was taking actions to blunt MMZ Avangard's business, a publicly traded American technology company, Extreme Networks (EXTR.O), was providing MMZ Avangard with computer networking equipment for its office IT systems, according to emails and other business records seen by Reuters, as well as interviews with people familiar with the matter.

In a statement to Reuters, Extreme said that based on information provided by the news agency it believed equipment "may have" been sold to MMZ Avangard using a surrogate buyer. Extreme said the equipment was sold without its knowledge. It added, without providing evidence, that an intermediary in Russia was "complicit" in supplying its products via a front company to "bad actors." Extreme said it is reporting its findings of these potential sales to U.S. authorities.



11:55 a.m.:

11:40 a.m.: Ukraine's recent military victories against the Russian invaders have been "extraordinary" and influenced the course of the war despite the "malice and cruelty" of Moscow's latest missile strikes, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has told a meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels Wednesday.

Austin was speaking to the Ukraine Contact Group, a gathering of the more than 50 countries on the sidelines of a NATO defense ministers meeting on October 12 to discuss bolstering Ukraine's air defenses amid continuing Russian missile attacks across the country, including the capital, Kyiv, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.

Austin said Russia's actions had further united the international community to support Ukraine's military efforts to defend itself.



11:20 a.m.: The Kremlin says there are no plans for Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet with U.S. President Joe Biden during a Group of 20 summit in Indonesia next month, The Associated Press reported.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday said that neither the Russian, nor American side put forward any initiatives about organizing bilateral contacts during the summit in Bali.

Asked about Bidens comments in an interview with CNN in which he warned that the use of nuclear weapons against Ukraine would lead to a horrible outcome, Peskov said the remarks were part of harmful and provocative Western nuclear rhetoric.

Putin has said he wouldnt hesitate to use all means available to protect Russian territory in a clear reference to Russian nuclear arsenals, a statement that was broadly seen as an attempt to force Ukraine to halt its offensive to reclaim control of the four regions that were illegally absorbed by Russia.

Russian officials then sought to turn the tables on the West, rejecting what they described as false claims by the U.S. and its allies alleging Moscows intention to use nuclear weapons.

11:05 a.m.:





10:45 a.m.: Russia has depleted a significant proportion of its precision-guided ammunition in its invasion of Ukraine and its industry cannot produce all kinds of ammunition and weapon systems due to Western sanctions, a senior NATO official said on Wednesday, according to Reuters.

The official said he did not know how long it would take for Russia to mobilize the 300,000 troops Moscow is aiming for, and suggested it could take a few months.

10:25 a.m.: Ukraines presidential office says Russian shelling in the past 24 hours has affected eight regions in the southeast, while strikes on central and western areas have eased for the moment, The Associated Press reported.

Russian forces used drones, heavy artillery and missiles, according to the presidential offices Wednesday morning update.

Three people have been rescued alive from the rubble in Zaporizhzhia after over a dozen missiles rained on the city, the report said. A six-year-old girl and two more people were wounded in the shelling of Nikopol, where the attacks damaged some three dozen residential buildings, private houses, kindergartens, a school, two plants and several shops, the report added.

Ukrainian forces say they shot down nine Iranian Shahed-136 drones and destroyed eight Kalibr cruise missiles near Mykolaiv, leaving the southern city without power.

Russian shelling intensifies and subsides, but doesnt stop, not for a day the city lives in tension, and the Russians main goal appears to be keeping us in fear, Mykolaiv regional governor Vitali Kim said.

10:10 a.m.: CNN reported Wednesday on a dispute between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and American political scientist Ian Bremmer over whether Musk spoke to Russias President Vladimir Putin about the war in Ukraine, and about Musks proposed peace plan that would give Putin a lot of what he wants.

10:00 a.m.: Ukrainian officials and military analysts say Kyivs counteroffensive in the occupied regions in the south and east of the country has slowed down significantly despite Ukraine retaking five towns and villages in the Kherson area, The Associated Press reported.

Russian troops have been re-enforcing the front lines and regrouping following Ukrainian successes, which has forced the Ukrainian forces to ease their advances.

Regional administrator in the eastern Luhansk region says Russian forces there have been building a multi-layered defense line and mining the front lines first section.

Serhiy Haidai says people in the Luhansk region are moving from the Russia-occupied cities to villages, where they have been settling down in empty houses to spend the winter in warm.

Luhansk is among the four region that Russia unlawfully annexed following referendums dismissed as sham by both Ukraine and the West.

In the south, the Ukrainian army is slowing down the pace of the counteroffensive, because the Russians managed to regroup and put forward paratrooper units, and unexpected issues arose, Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov told The Associated Press.

9:45 a.m.:

9:30 a.m.: The German economy will contract 0.4 percent next year and inflation will hit seven percent, Agence France-Presse reported.

The German government forecast came Wednesday as Europe's top economy battles soaring energy prices following Russia's gas shutdown.

"We are currently experiencing a serious energy crisis, which threatens to become an economic and social crisis," warned Economy Minister Robert Habeck, as he unveiled the official autumn economic forecasts.



9:15 a.m.:

9:05 a.m.: A Belarus opposition leader says Russia is now de facto occupying her country by deploying its troops there and using authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko as its puppet, The Associated Press reported Wednesday.

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya urged more support from EU leaders during a two-day visit to European Union headquarters in Brussels. She says we face an enemy who denies the very existence of our country as a free and independent nation.

The exiled opposition leader fears that Lukashenko could force the Belarus army to join Russian forces in Moscows war against Ukraine. Russia has already used Belarus as a staging ground to send troops and missiles into Ukraine earlier in the war.

Tsikhanouskaya adds the situation has become dramatic in Belarus, which has become totally subservient to the wishes of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin and Lukasenko, she says, have tried to increase and legalize the constant deployment of Russian troops on Belarus territory.

Its an occupation, adds Tsikhanouskaya. Our position is clear, Belarus must officially withdraw from participation in Russian war, and the Russian soldiers must leave Belarus unconditionally.

Tsikhanouskaya fled to Lithuania after Lukashenko claimed victory in disputed August 2020 elections that many thought she won.

8:55 a.m.:

8:45 a.m.: The external power supply to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) in Ukraine has been restored after an outage that forced it to switch to diesel generators, U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said on Wednesday.

"I've been informed by our team on site that external power to #Zaporizhzhya NPP is restored," Grossi said on Twitter. "#ZNPP's operator says this morning's outage was caused by shelling damage to a far off sub-station, highlighting how precarious the situation is."

8:20 a.m.:





8:10 a.m.: Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Moscow is ready to resume gas supplies to Europe via a link of the Germany-bound Nord Stream 2 pipeline under the Baltic Sea, The Associated Press reported.

Speaking at a Moscow energy forum, Putin again charged that the U.S. was likely behind the explosions that ripped through both links of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline and one of the two links of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, causing a massive gas leak and taking them out of service.

The U.S. has previously rejected similar allegations by Putin. Several European governments said the undersea explosions that ripped through both Nord Stream pipelines were likely caused by sabotage but stopped short of assigning blame.

While Russia is still pumping gas to Europe via Ukraine, the explosions on the Baltic pipelines have exacerbated acute energy shortages faced by Europe before the winter season.

The Nord Stream 2 pipeline has never brought natural gas to Europe because Germany prevented the flows from ever starting just before Russia launched military action in Ukraine on February 24.

Before the explosions, Russia had cut off the parallel Nord Stream 1 pipeline at the center of an energy standoff with Europe. Russia has blamed technical problems for the stoppage, but European leaders call it an attempt to divide them over their support for Ukraine.



7:55 a.m.:

7:40 a.m.: A drop in pressure was detected in main line No. 2 of the Druzhba oil pipeline, Joerg Steinbach, the economy minister of the German state of Brandenburg told news agency DPA after the operator of the pipeline in Poland reported a leak on Wednesday, Reuters reported.

"The cause of the leak is currently being investigated, we don't have more details yet ourselves," DPA cited him as saying.

He also said he was looking at the question of the possible impact on the oil refinery in Schwedt, which supplies 90% of Berlin's fuel.



7:20 a.m.:

7:10 a.m.: The Kremlin on Wednesday said that comments yesterday by NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg could be considered confirmation that NATO is fighting on Ukraine's side in Kyiv's conflict with Russia.

On Tuesday, Stoltenberg said that a Russian victory in Ukraine would be "a defeat for us all."

The Kremlin also said that the rhetoric from Western leaders on the potential use of nuclear weapons was harmful and provocative.

"We express our daily regret that Western heads of state engage in nuclear rhetoric every day," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding that such a practice was "provocative."

Peskov said there had been no attempt from either side to discuss a possible meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden.

6:50 a.m.: Romantic gestures take many forms ... well on Wednesday Ukraine's defense ministry posted a video on social media aimed at giving France a gentle nudge to show its love through weapons supplies after repeated criticism that Paris has not been doing enough, according to Reuters.

The 41-second clip on twitter comes hours after a French security cabinet meeting held by President Emmanuel Macron decided that France had taken new decisions to "support Ukraine militarily" after speaking to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.



France has delivered Caesar howitzers, portable air defense systems and heavy armored vehicles primarily. However, a wave of attacks on Ukrainian cities has raised the stakes, with Kyiv demanding its partners provide more supplies, including air defense systems  something Paris has been unwilling to do so far.

Wednesday's clip made clear to France that Ukraine wanted more than just words and promises. "Romantic gestures take many forms," images on the Ukrainian video read as the classic "Je t'aime moi non plus" (I love you ... me neither), the suggestive and once-censored song that Serge Gainsbourg recorded with then-lover Jane Birkin, played in the background.

France's defense ministry announced on Tuesday that it was boosting its support on NATO's eastern flak by sending more tanks to Romania, Rafale fighter jets to Lithuania and infantry to Estonia. It said nothing about Ukraine.

Macron is due to be interviewed on national television Wednesday evening, during which diplomatic sources have said he may outline details of his proposed new support.

France does have the SAMP/T (Mamba) surface-to-air defense system, although quite how many it could provide is unclear. It deployed one such system to Romania in May.

"We have not had any answers from France to our requests on this," Vadym Omelchenko, Ukraine's ambassador to France, told reporters on Monday.

6:30 a.m.: Ukraine's defense minister is set to brief the latest meeting of the U.S.-led Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels on Wednesday, with NATO defense ministers also meeting there to discuss how to support Ukraine in its battle against a Russian invasion.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters Wednesday that the talks would be about how to "ramp up support for Ukraine" and that top priority was "more air defense for Ukraine."

Stoltenberg said the meeting comes at a "pivotal moment for our security" with the last few weeks bringing "the most serious escalation of the war since the invasion in February."

He said NATO allies send the message that they are ready to support Ukraine "for as long as it takes."

6 a.m.: Ukraine said Wednesday it had retaken five more settlements in the southern region of Kherson as Kyiv continues its counteroffensive despite mass Russian missile strikes that hit the country in the past days, Agence France-Presse reported.

"Ukrainian armed forces have liberated five more settlements in Beryslav district (of Kherson region): Novovasylivka, Novogrygorivka, Nova Kamyanka, Tryfonivka, Chervone," the presidency said in its daily report.

"The enemy continues shelling the positions of our units to deter the counteroffensive along the entire contact line," the presidency said.

The Ukrainian army announced its counteroffensive in the south in late August.

After regaining almost full control of the northeastern region of Kharkiv, the Ukrainian forces recently claimed more gains on the eastern and southern fronts.

On Thursday, Ukraine said it had recaptured over 400 square kilometers (155 square miles) in Kherson in less than a week, after Moscow claimed to have annexed the region.

Kherson is one of the four regions in Ukraine that Moscow recently claimed to have annexed.

5:30 a.m.: Pope Francis on Wednesday condemned Russia's "relentless bombings" of Ukrainian cities, saying the attacks had unleashed a "hurricane of violence" on residents.

Speaking to thousands of people at his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square, he also appealed to "those who have the fate of the war in their hands" to stop, Reuters reported.

At least 26 people have been killed across Ukraine during Russia's biggest aerial offensive since the start of its invasion in February.

"My heart is always with the Ukrainian people, especially the residents of the places that have been hit by relentless bombings," Francis said.

"May (God's) spirit transform the hearts of those who have the fate of the war in their hands, so that the hurricane of violence stops and peaceful coexistence in justice can be rebuilt."

In Amsterdam, prosecutors for International Mobile Justice teams are investigating as possible war crimes the ongoing Russian missile strikes on Kyiv and other cities.

Monday's attacks killed 19 people, wounded more than 100 and knocked out power across the country, Ukrainian officials said. More strikes on Tuesday killed seven people in the southeastern town of Zaporizhzhia and left part of the western city of Lviv without power.

Russia denies targeting civilians in its military operation in Ukraine, and has accused the West of escalating and prolonging the conflict by supporting Kyiv.

Francis directly called on Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time 10 days ago to stop the "spiral of violence and death", saying the crisis was risking uncontrollable global consequences.

5 a.m.: A safety zone around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Russian-controlled Ukraine is not possible until the front moves forward by at least 100 kilometers (62 miles), Reuters reported on Wednesday citing a state media RIAs report, which quoted a Russian-installed leader of the region.

"I can tell you that negotiating while the front line is 100 kilometers away from the station ... I think that's extremely unsafe," Yevgeny Balitsky told state television.

He also warned that it is not possible to shut down the plant, despite fears shelling could further compromise its safety. "It's not a toy, you can't just turn it on and off like a switch. There's overclocking, there's cooling and so-forth," Balitsky said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has been pushing for a demilitarized security zone around the plant, Europe's largest, which remains close to the frontline between Russian and Ukrainian forces.

Both Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of shelling the plant and the facilities around it, risking a nuclear accident.

The plant was recently forced to use emergency diesel generators after a power line supplying the plant was cut again, U.N. atomic watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said on Wednesday.

4:30 a.m.: A senior Ukrainian official dismissed as "nonsense" on Wednesday Russia's investigation into an explosion last weekend that badly damaged a bridge linking the Russian mainland to the Crimea peninsula that Moscow has annexed, Reuters reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has blamed Ukraine's security forces for the explosion and earlier on Wednesday Russia's Federal Security Service, or the FSB, said it had detained five Russians and three citizens of Ukraine and Armenia over the blast.

"The whole activity of the FSB and Investigative Committee is nonsense," Ukraine's public broadcaster Suspilne cited interior minister spokesman Andriy Yusov as saying when asked about Moscow's allegations on the Crimea Bridge blast.

Yusov described the FSB and Investigative Committee as "fake structures that serve the Putin regime, so we will definitely not comment on their next statements."

4 a.m.: Prosecutors for International Mobile Justice teams are investigating as possible war crimes the ongoing Russian missile strikes in Kyiv and cities across Ukraine that have so far killed at least 26 people, an official told Reuters on Wednesday.

Monday's attacks killed 19 people, wounded more than 100 and knocked out power across the country in Moscow's biggest aerial offensive since the start of its invasion on February 24.

Another series of strikes yesterday killed seven people in the southeastern town of Zaporizhzhia and left part of the western city of Lviv without power.

War crimes investigators visited sites in the capital and examined damage to civilians and civilian infrastructure, said British attorney Nigel Povoas, lead prosecutor for the International Mobile Justice teams, which is assisting Ukrainian investigations.

"We visited all the sites in Kyiv yesterday," Povoas told Reuters.

"Even the claimed widespread attacks on energy and communications infrastructure appear to have minimal impact on military operations and maximum impact on the health, suffering and spread of terror within the civilian population with winter approaching."

Russia denies targeting civilians in its military operation in Ukraine.

3:45 a.m.: The recently restored power line supplying the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine has been cut again, forcing the plant to switch to emergency diesel generators, the U.N. atomic watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said on Wednesday.

"Our team at #Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant informed me this morning that the plant has lost all of its external power for the 2nd time in five days," Grossi said on Twitter, renewing his call for a protection zone around the plant to prevent shelling near the facility.

3:30 a.m.: Poland's PKN Orlen said on Wednesday that oil supplies to its Plock refinery were not interrupted as a result of a leak detected in the Druzhba pipeline, Reuters reported.

Polish operator PERN has detected a leak in one of the pipelines in the Druzhba system that carries oil from Russia to Europe, it said on Wednesday. Poland said it was probably caused by an accident, although the event may still stoke concerns about the security of Europe's energy supplies.

The discovery of the leak in the main route carrying oil to Germany, which operator PERN said it found on Tuesday evening, comes as Europe faces a severe energy crisis in the aftermath of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine which has cut supplies of gas in a continuing stand-off.

"Here we can talk about accidental damage," Poland's top official in charge of energy infrastructure Mateusz Berger told Reuters by telephone. He said there were no grounds to believe the leak was caused by sabotage.

PERN said in a statement that at this point the exact causes of the leak were unknown. It was detected in a section of the pipe around 70 kilometers from the central Polish city of Plock.

A PERN spokesperson declined to give further details.

The Druzhba oil pipeline, whose name means "friendship" in Russian, is one of the world's largest, supplying Russian oil to much of central Europe including Germany, Poland, Belarus, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Austria.

3:15 a.m.: Russia's Gazprom said on Wednesday it will ship 42.4 million cubic meters of natural gas to Europe via Ukraine on Wednesday, a volume in line with recent days, Reuters reported.

3 a.m.: Ukraine has received the first Iris-T defense system from Germany, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov has said, according to Agence France-Presse.

"IRIS-Ts from (Germany) are already here. (American) NASAMS are coming. This is only the beginning. And we need more," Reznikov tweeted late on Tuesday. "There is a moral imperative to protect the sky over (Ukraine) in order to save our people."

Germany had promised delivery of the first Iris-T missile shield "in the coming days" after Russia unleashed deadly attacks across Ukraine on Monday, killing at least 19 people and wounding more than 100, according to Ukrainian authorities.

The Ukrainian defense ministry said Monday that Russia had fired 83 missiles at Ukraine, of which its air defenses shot down 52, among which were 43 cruise missiles.

2:30 a.m.: Desperate to avoid military call-up to fight in Ukraine, more than 20 Russians have sailed in yachts from North Pacific ports to South Korea, but most have been refused entry, according to a media report.

There has been an exodus of conscription-age men from Russia since President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial mobilization on September 21, but most fled by road, rail and air to Europe, and neighboring former Soviet Union countries, like Georgia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.

On Tuesday, South Korean broadcaster KBS reported that at least 21 Russians had arrived aboard yachts at ports in the south of the country, but only two had been granted entry, while others were refused as authorities deemed their purpose "ambiguous."

A yacht with five Russian men aboard departed on Tuesday from the South Korean island of Ulleung, having arrived there on September 30 after sailing from the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok, a coast guard official told Reuters on Wednesday.

The official said the yacht was "taking cover from bad weather" and the people aboard had received food and other aid, but he declined to specify why they were not granted entry, referring immigration-related queries to the justice ministry.

KBS reported that three yachts had docked in the southeastern port city of Pohang over the past several days, mostly carrying Russian men in their 20-30s. One of the yachts had nine Russian men and one woman aboard, while a smaller vessel had four men aboard, it said.

An official at Pohang's coast guard declined to comment when contacted by Reuters. A justice ministry official said he did not have details about the yacht cases, but Russians are in general allowed to enter the country without a visa as long as they obtain prior approval via South Korea's electronic travel authorization system.

2:15 a.m.: Russia's Federal Security Service, or the FSB, said on Wednesday that it had detained five Russians and three citizens of Ukraine and Armenia over the explosion that damaged the Crimea Bridge last Saturday, Reuters reported citing Russias Interfax.

The FSB said the explosion was organized by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, and its director Kyrylo Budanov.

Ukraine has not officially confirmed its involvement in the blast, but some Ukrainian officials have celebrated the damage.

The explosion on the twelve-mile-long bridge destroyed one section of the road bridge, temporarily halting road traffic. It also destroyed several fuel tankers on a train heading towards the annexed peninsula from neighboring southern Russia.

The bridge, a prestige project personally opened by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2018, had become logistically vital to his military campaign, with supplies to Russian troops fighting in south Ukraine channeled through it.

Russian forces launched mass missile strikes against Ukrainian cities, including power supplies. At a televised meeting of Russia's Security Council on Monday, Putin said the strikes were a retaliation for the Crimea bridge blast, which he said had been organized by Ukraine's secret services.

Agence France-Presse also reported saying that eight suspects have been detained over the bridge explosion.

2 a.m.:

1:30 a.m.: The European Union's energy commissioner hailed a "long-term strategic partnership" with Algeria as the bloc turns to Africa's biggest gas exporter to fill a gap left by Russian supplies, Agence France-Presse reported.

Kadri Simson made the remarks Tuesday and is the latest in a string of top European officials to visit Algeria in search of more natural gas since Russia cut supplies to Europe in suspected retaliation against Western sanctions after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Algeria has helped Europe diversify its energy supplies by pumping more gas to Italy, which in July signed a deal to import billions more cubic meters via an undersea pipeline from the North African coast.

Algerian Prime Minister Aimene Benabderrahmane said state hydrocarbons firm Sonatrach had put in place an "accelerated program" to bump up output.

1:15 a.m.: Five blasts were heard in the city of Kherson early on Wednesday, Reuters reported citing Russian media, adding that according to unofficial information air defense systems were launched.

Kherson, the administrative center of the broader Kherson region, was one of the first cities to fall to Russian forces after they launched their invasion in Ukraine in February.

Earlier on Wednesday, Ivan Fedorov, the exiled mayor of Russian-controlled Melitopol in the south of the Zaporizhzhia region, said on the Telegram messaging app that there was a powerful explosion in the city.

RIA reported, citing local Russia-installed police, that a device exploded near the city's central market. There were no casualties, RIA reported.

Reuters was not able to immediately verify the reports.

1 a.m.: Spain's Cabinet approved a new energy-saving plan that aims to cut the country's natural gas consumption by up to 13.5% by March, Agence France-Presse reported, as part of Europe's efforts to reduce its dependence on Russian supplies.

The plan announced Tuesday includes new tax breaks on renewable energy and financial incentives to encourage more households to use solar panels and install smart meters, the energy ministry said in a statement.

It also includes measures to increase by 18% Spain's ability to send gas by pipeline to France across the Pyrenees mountain range, and an expansion in loading capacity for boats carrying gas to other EU countries, among them Italy.

The EU has asked member states to cut gas use from August to March by up to 15%, although for some countries less exposed to Russian energy dependence the figure is lower.

12:30 a.m.: U.S. President Joe Biden told CNN during an interview broadcast on Tuesday that he did not think Russian President Vladimir Putin would use a tactical nuclear weapon in the war with Ukraine.

Biden, asked by CNN anchor Jake Tapper how realistic he believed it would be for Putin to use a tactical nuclear weapon, responded: "Well, I dont think he will."

12:15 a.m.: Leaders of the Group of Seven wealthiest nations say they will support Ukraine for as long as it takes following Russias major missile strikes earlier this week. Western allies are expected to decide soon whether to approve Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyys request for more modern and effective air defense systems. VOA's White House bureau chief Patsy Widakuswara has the latest.

12:05 a.m.: Ukraines defense minister is set to brief the latest meeting of the U.S.-led Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels on Wednesday, with NATO defense ministers also meeting there to discuss how to support Ukraine in its battle against a Russian invasion.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters Tuesday that the talks will provide an opportunity for Ukraine to present a list of what it needs and see how that matches up with what partner countries can provide.

Stoltenberg said the talks would be about both what types of aid to send to Ukraine and ensuring prompt delivery along with training.

Leaders of the Group of Seven major industrial nations, meeting Tuesday in a crisis video conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, pledged Tuesday they will stand firmly with Ukraine for as long as it takes after Russia continued its barrage of missile attacks on Ukrainian cities.



The G-7 leaders said in a statement after the virtual meeting that they had reassured Zelenskyy they are undeterred and steadfast in our commitment to providing the support Ukraine needs to uphold its sovereignty and territorial integrity. They said Moscows indiscriminate attacks on innocent civilian populations constitute a war crime.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
Nobel Peace laureate Malala Yousafzai on Tuesday returned to her native Pakistan to meet flood victims, 10 years after a Taliban assassination attempt against her.

Her visit  only the second since she was flown to Britain for life-saving treatment  comes as thousands of people protest in her hometown, where the same militant group is once again on the rise.

Yousafzai was just 15 years old when the Pakistani Taliban  an independent group that shares a common ideology with the Afghan Taliban  shot her in the head over her campaign for girls' education.

Visit aims to remind world of need

On Tuesday, two days after the 10th anniversary of the attack, she landed in Karachi, from where she will travel to areas devastated by unprecedented monsoon flooding.

Her visit aims "to help keep international attention focused on the impact of floods in Pakistan and reinforce the need for critical humanitarian aid," her organization, Malala Fund, said in a statement.

Catastrophic flooding put a third of Pakistan under water, displaced 8 million people, and caused an estimated $28 billion in damages.

Yousafzai grew up in the town of Mingora in the deeply conservative Swat Valley, close to the border with Afghanistan.

The Pakistani Taliban, known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), waged a years-long insurgency there that ended with a major military crackdown in 2014.

But there has been a resurgence in unrest since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Kabul last year.

The TTP has claimed dozens of attacks in recent weeks, mostly against security forces and anti-Taliban elders.

"We are tired and can no longer carry dead bodies," said Muhammad Ali Shah, the former mayor of Swat.

"It is the responsibility of the state to protect its citizens and provide them with security, but the government's silence on all these incidents is criminal."

More than 5,000 people blocked a main road through Mingora, sparked by the latest attack on a school bus on Monday, in which the driver was killed and a 10- or 11-year-old boy was wounded.

The TTP has denied responsibility, and the police said they are investigating the motive.

Students and teachers walked out of schools  including the school attended by Yousafzai that her father established  to call for peace.

"Our protest will continue until the arrest of the killers. We will not rise from here until the top government officials assure us of justice and an end to militancy," said Dr. Amjad Ali.
A court in military-ruled Myanmar on Wednesday convicted a Japanese journalist of violating immigration law, adding three years to the seven-year prison sentence he was handed last week for filming an anti-government protest, a Japanese diplomat said.

Toru Kubota, a Tokyo-based documentary filmmaker, was arrested on July 30 by plainclothes police in Yangon, the country's biggest city, after taking images and videos of a small flash protest against last year's military takeover.

He was sentenced last week to seven years for violating the electronic transactions law and three years for incitement, with the sentences to be served concurrently.

Tetsuo Kitada, deputy chief of mission of the Japanese Embassy, told The Associated Press the court heard the immigration case Wednesday and gave Kubota a three-year sentence, bringing the total time he must serve in prison to 10 years.

Since the military seized power last year, ousting the elected civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi, it has cracked down on coverage of protests, raided media companies and detained dozens of journalists. It has revoked the media licenses of at least 12 outlets and arrested 142 journalists, 54 of whom remain detained.

Most of those detained are being held on the incitement charge for allegedly causing fear, spreading false news or agitating against a government employee.

Some of the closed media outlets have continued operating without licenses, and many Myanmar journalists are working underground, moving from one safe house to another, hiding in remote border regions or basing themselves in exile.

Kubota was the fifth foreign journalist detained in Myanmar after the military seized power. U.S. citizens Nathan Maung and Danny Fenster, who worked for local publications, and freelancers Robert Bociaga of Poland and Yuki Kitazumi of Japan were eventually deported before having to serve full prison sentences.

Kitada said he could not speculate on whether Kubota would be deported, but his embassy would continue to do its best for his release. Myanmar's relations with Japan, historically close, are less strained than with Western nations, which ostracize the military government with political and economic sanctions because of its takeover and poor human rights record.
NATO defense ministers Wednesday discussed ways to bolster Ukraines air defense systems to combat the barrage of missiles Russia has been launching this week on targets throughout Ukraine.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters the talks in Brussels are focusing on ramping up support for Ukraine. He said it is a pivotal moment for our security with the scope of the Russian assault the most serious escalation of the war since the invasion in February.

More than 100 missile attacks have killed at least 26 people across Ukraine since Monday.

Stoltenberg said NATO allies are sending the message to Kyiv that they are ready to support Ukraine for as long as it takes.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that while Russian President Vladimir Putin tries to force untrained, unwitting Russian civilians to the front lines through the conscription of 300,000 reservists, Ukraine has shown the world that the military and military power of a free people fighting for their democracy and their sovereignty prevails.

Their courage inspires us all, Austin said. Putin chose war. But Ukraine chose to defend itself. And it has done so magnificently.

Putin has said Russias missile attacks this week on cities throughout Ukraine, including the capital, Kyiv, came in direct response to the truck bombing last Saturday that destroyed part of the strategic Kerch Bridge linking mainland Russia with the Crimean Peninsula. Russia seized the peninsula in 2014.

On Wednesday, Moscows FSB security service announced it has arrested eight people, including five Russians, linked to the incident. It said three Ukrainians and Armenians helped carry out the attack.

The FSB statement accused Ukraines military intelligence service of launching the attack, what it characterized as a terrorist act. The FSB blamed it on explosives hidden in the back of a cargo truck that was detonated on the bridge.

The FSB contended that a 22-ton bomb deployed in the attack was shipped from the Ukrainian port of Odesa before following a circuitous route through Bulgaria, Armenia and Georgia.

Ukrainian officials have strongly signaled they carried out the attack but not officially claimed responsibility. Ukraines Ministry of Internal Affairs called the Russian investigation nonsense.

Leaders of the Group of Seven major industrial nations, meeting Tuesday in a crisis video conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, pledged that they will stand firmly with Ukraine for as long as it takes.



The G-7 leaders said in a statement that they had reassured Zelenskyy they are undeterred and steadfast in our commitment to providing the support Ukraine needs to uphold its sovereignty and territorial integrity. They said Moscows indiscriminate attacks on innocent civilian populations constitute a war crime.



We will hold President [Vladimir] Putin and those responsible to account, the G-7 leaders said. The G-7 comprises Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.



Amid Putins threats to use nuclear weapons, the G-7 reiterated it would direct severe consequences should Moscow use weapons of mass destruction but did not imply direct military involvement in Ukraine.



U.S. officials have said they have not seen indications that Putin has decided to use nuclear weapons and underscored that there is no change in the U.S. nuclear posture.

John Kirby, the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, told reporters the U.S. is not considering deploying tactical nuclear weapons  smaller and less destructive than strategic nuclear weapons  in Ukraine.



There's absolutely zero interest from our side and from our allies and partners to see this war escalate into the use of the weapons of mass destruction at all, he said.



Russia is estimated to have 2,000 tactical nuclear weapons, including some so small and portable that they are referred to as suitcase bombs.

VOA White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report. Some information came from Reuters and AP.
Nigerian officials say at least 500 people have been killed and 1.4 million displaced in the worst flooding in a decade. Officials say floods have affected nearly all of Nigeria's states and 90,000 homes have been partially or completely destroyed.

The permanent secretary of Nigeria's ministry of humanitarian affairs and disaster management, Nasir Sani-Gwarzo, announced the latest figures during a media briefing Tuesday in Abuja.

He said more than 1,500 people were injured and that the disaster had an impact on farmland across all but five of Nigeria's 36 states.

It is the worst flooding to be recorded in the West African nation since 2012. Authorities say heavier than normal rainfall and the release of water from a dam in Cameroon are to blame and have promised to help communities cope with the impact.

Isah Garba, who heads a community of farmers and fishers in Agabroko, in Central Kogi State, said the floods wreaked havoc on his people. He said his village was completely submerged, destroying farms of rice, corn, and even animals. He added that about 20 people died, mostly kids.

Thousands of people from Garba's area and neighboring villages are taking refuge on dry land several kilometers away from their homes. But there's limited access to basic amenities there, and the government's aid has yet to reach them.

Sani-Gwarzo said authorities have approved emergency action to mitigate the impact of the flood nationwide. He said a national emergency response plan will take into account other communities not directly hit by flooding.

Thirty-eight-year-old Fatima Adamu, who lost her livestock, is among those who say they need help. She said she lost 15 goats, and those that remain are falling sick.

The National Emergency Management Agency says that so far, it has reached some 300,000 people.

Meanwhile, Nigerian weather forecasters have warned that more flooding could be in store.


A raucous crowd of protesters packed the Los Angeles City Council chamber Tuesday, calling for the resignation of three members involved in a closed-door meeting in which racist language was used to describe colleagues  even the toddler of councilmember who wasn't present  as they plotted to safeguard Latino political strength in Council districts.

President Joe Biden joined the deluge of criticism, saying through White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre that former City Council President Nury Martinez, who is taking a leave of absence, and Councilmen Kevin de Leon and Gil Cedillo, all Democrats, should resign.

"The language that was used and tolerated during that conversation was unacceptable, and it was appalling. They should all step down," Jean-Pierre said.

The uproar was triggered by a leaked recording of crude, racist comments from a nearly year-old meeting, which also provided an unvarnished look into City Hall's racial rivalries. Those involved in the meeting were all Latinos.

Martinez said in the recorded conversation that white Councilmember Mike Bonin handled his young Black son as if he were an "accessory" and said of his son "Parece changuito," or "he's like a monkey," the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday.

At another point on the hourlong recording, Martinez, the first Latina appointed president of the City Council, called indigenous immigrants from the Mexican state of Oaxaca "tan feos," or "so ugly."

The discussion, which also included a powerful Latino labor leader, who has since resigned, centered on protecting Latino political power during the redrawing of council district boundaries, known as redistricting. The once-a-decade process can pit one group against another to gain political advantage in future elections.

At the ornate Council chamber, an overflow crowd of protesters delayed the start of Tuesday's meeting as they angrily shouted for de Leon and Cedillo to leave the room.

"Resign now," the protesters yelled, sometimes embellishing the chants with profanity. Others shouted: "This meeting cannot start. This house is out of order," and "Get out!"

De Leon sat impassively at his seat, his eyes cast downward, as protesters called on him by name to exit the chamber. Others on the 15-member Council urged the crowd to settle down and allow the meeting to begin.

Martinez has stepped down from the leadership job and apologized Monday, saying she was ashamed of her racially offensive language in the year-old recording. However, she did not resign her council seat. She announced Tuesday that "I need to take a leave of absence and take some time to have an honest and heartfelt conversation with my family, my constituents, and community leaders."

She did not appear at the meeting.

In emotional remarks at the meeting, Bonin said he was deeply wounded by the taped discussion. He lamented the harm to his young son and the fact that the city was in international headlines spotlighting the racist language.

"I'm sickened by it," he said, calling again for his colleagues' resignations.

Black and Latino constituents often build alliances in politics. But tensions and rivalries among groups separated by race, geography, partisanship or religion have a long history in Los Angeles and, indeed, the country. The friction can cross into housing, education and jobs  even prisons  as well as the spoils of political power.

In one of the most diverse cities in the nation, a long line of public speakers at the meeting said the disclosure of the secretly taped meeting brought with it echoes of the Jim Crow era and was a stark example of "anti-Blackness." There were calls for investigations, and reforming redistricting policy.

Many of the critics also were Latino, who spoke of being betrayed by their own leaders.

Candido Marez, 70, a retired business owner, said he wasn't surprised by Martinez's language, who is known for being blunt and outspoken.

"Her words blew up this city. It is disgraceful," he said. "She must resign."

The Los Angeles Times reported that the recording was posted on Reddit by a now-suspended user. It is unclear who recorded the audio, who uploaded it to Reddit and whether anyone else was present.

Calls for the councilmembers to resign have come from across the Democratic establishment, including from U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, mayoral candidates Karen Bass and Rick Caruso and members Council. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has stopped short of doing so, denouncing the racist language and saying he was "encouraged that those involved have apologized and begun to take responsibility for their actions."

Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell, serving as acting president of the Council, said he was alarmed by the "casual racism" on the recording, and the brazen self-interest as they discussed "carving up the city for pure political gain."

"Public opinion has rendered a verdict and the verdict is they all must resign," he said.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi says power has been restored at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine after the second outage in five days highlighted the "precarious" situation concerning the station's nuclear safety and security functions.

"This morning's outage was caused by shelling damage to a far off sub-station, highlighting how precarious the situation is. We need a protection zone ASAP," he said in a tweet on Tuesday.



The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe's largest, has been a flashpoint in Russia's military campaign in Ukraine. Moscow and Kyiv have traded blame for months over shelling near the facility that has sparked fears of a nuclear disaster. Russian troops occupy the plant and the surrounding area.

Grossi met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on October 11 as part of efforts by the IAEA to prevent an accident and Grossi's push to establish a safety and security zone around the plant.

The IAEA chief is due to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv later this week for further talks regarding the power plant.
U.S. President Joe Biden said Tuesday he believes his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, is a normally rational actor who badly misjudged his prospects of occupying Ukraine.

The president spoke during a televised interview as his administration looks for what he has described as an off-ramp for Putin to de-escalate his invasion of Ukraine before he resorts to weapons of mass destruction.

"I think he is a rational actor who has miscalculated significantly," Biden told CNN after Moscow's shelling of civilian targets across Ukraine marked an escalation in the seven-month conflict.

Biden warned last week that the world risks Armageddon in unusually direct remarks about the dangers from Putin's thinly veiled threats to use nuclear weapons to assist Russia's faltering attempt to take over swaths of Ukraine.

Putin's state of mind has been the subject of much debate after the Russian president suffered a series of recent military setbacks in the invasion, which he launched in February.

In remarks released by CNN ahead of its broadcast of the interview later Tuesday, Biden said that while he believed Putin was rational, he had underestimated the ferocity of Ukrainian defiance.

"I think ... he thought he was going to be welcomed with open arms, that this was the home of Mother Russia in Kyiv, and where he was going to be welcomed, and I think he just totally miscalculated," Biden said.

Kyiv's forces have in recent weeks been pushing back against Russian soldiers across the front lines in the south and in the east.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday his troops had recaptured nearly 2,500 square kilometers in the counter-offensive that began late last month.

But the Ukrainian defense ministry said Monday that Russia had retaliated with a massive bombardment, hitting the Ukrainian capital Kyiv for the first time in months, as well as other cities across the country.

Biden spoke to CNN hours after meeting virtually with members of the Group of 7 industrialized nations, who heard from Zelenskyy on the need for intensified efforts to "create an air shield for Ukraine" amid the barrage of Russian cruise missile and drone attacks.

Washington pledged after Monday's destruction that it would increase shipments of air defenses to Ukraine, while Germany promised delivery "in the coming days" of the first Iris-T missile shield reportedly capable of protecting a city.

Meanwhile, the United States was leading an all-out offensive to rally as many countries as possible to adopt a resolution at the U.N. condemning Moscow's annexation of Ukrainian regions.

"We believe the time has long passed for neutrality. There is no such thing as neutrality in a situation like this," said State Department spokesman Ned Price.

U.N. countries are debating a resolution introduced to the General Assembly by Ukraine, which the West hopes will demonstrate the isolation of Putin's Russia on the international stage, with a vote likely on Wednesday or Thursday.
UNITED NATIONS  The U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to condemn Russias attempted illegal annexation of four Ukrainian regions and demand that Moscow immediately reverse its actions.

The vote in the 193-member world body was 143-5 with 35 abstentions, the strongest support from the General Assembly for Ukraine and against Russia of the four resolutions it has approved since Russian troops invaded their smaller neighbor Feb. 24.

Western nations engaged in intense behind-the-scenes lobbying ahead of the vote while Russias ally Syria warned against isolating Moscow.

KEY DEVELOPMENTS:

 Ukraines Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant loses external power

 Belarus army would likely have little impact in Ukraine war

 Bodies exhumed from mass grave in Ukraines liberated Lyman

 NATO cautious to avoid war, struggles with dual challenges

 German government: Economy to shrink in 2023 as war bites

 EU countries turn to Africa in bid to replace Russian gas

 Follow all AP stories on the war in Ukraine at https:/ /apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

KYIV  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesdays meeting of military officials in Brussels to discuss providing Ukraine with air defense systems was quite productive.

The more audacious and cruel Russian terror becomes, the more obvious it is to the world that helping Ukraine to protect the sky is one of the most important humanitarian tasks for Europe in our time, he said in his nightly video address.

The Ukraine Defense Contact Group brings together defense ministers and other military officials from 50 countries to assess Ukraines military needs and drum up weapons and supplies.

WASHINGTON  The International Monetary Funds managing director says the IMF will create a group to focus on Ukraines economic needs as it battles the Russian invasion.

Kristalina Georgieva, who spoke during a roundtable that was part of the IMF and World Bank annual meetings this week in Washington, said the IMF anticipates that Ukraine needs about $3 billion to $4 billion each month to finance its budget.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed Wednesdays gathering and said the money was necessary for his countrys economic stability.

When the terrorist state is trying to intimidate us even more, we have to respond with an even stronger collaboration, Zelenskyy said.

PARIS  French President Emmanuel Macron has promised that France will soon deliver more cannons, radars and anti-aircraft missiles to support Ukraine.

Macron told France 2 television on Wednesday evening that France is working with Denmark to send an additional six Caesar self-propelled howitzers cannons  which had initially been produced for the Danish military. Paris already delivered 18 similar Caesar cannons to Kyiv.

France will also send anti-aircraft systems and missiles to help protecting the country from drone and missile attacks in the coming weeks, he said.

Macron insisted several times on the need for peace talks between the two countries.

Russian President Vladimir Putin must end the war, respect Ukraines territorial integrity and get back to the discussion table, he said, adding that he will speak to the Russian president every time it will be necessary.

I hope as soon as possible, we will need all parties to get back to the discussion table and there will be peace discussions with, on the one side, Ukraine, and on the other side, Russia, he said.

Asked about whether he thinks Ukraine will be willing to negotiate with Russia, he said negotiating does not mean giving up.

BRUSSELS  At NATO headquarters in Brussels, U.S. Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that Ukraine wants its Western partners to provide it with a complete air defense system to defend against Russian warplanes and missiles.

What Ukraine is asking for, and what we think can be provided, is an integrated air missile defense system. So that doesnt control all the airspace over Ukraine, but theyre designed to control priority targets that Ukraine needs to protect, Milley told reporters.

It would involve short-, medium- and long-range systems capable of firing projectiles at all altitudes, he said after a meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group, a gathering of about 50 nations that meets regularly to assess Ukraines needs and drum up equipment.

Its a mix of all these that deny the airspace to Russian aircraft and missiles, Milley said. Theyre trying to create a defensive system.

HELSINKI Many Finnish pharmacies ran out of iodine tablets Wednesday, a day after the Nordic countrys health ministry recommended that households buy a single dose in a case of a radiation emergency amid increasing fears of a nuclear event due to Russias war in Ukraine.

An accident at a nuclear power plant could release radioactive iodine into the environment, which could build up in the thyroid gland, the Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health said Tuesday.

Pharmacies in many locations in Finland reported Wednesday they had run out of iodine tablets as citizens rushed to purchase the medicine. Drug wholesale also said their were stockpiles emptied out.

The ministry said the iodine tablet recommendation is limited to those aged 3-40 because of the potential risks that radiation exposure poses to that age group.

Russian missile attacks caused a crippled nuclear plant in Ukraine to lose all external power for the second time in five days, increasing the risk of a radiation disaster because critical safety systems need electricity to operate, Ukraines state nuclear operator said Wednesday. Power was restored eight hours later.

PRAGUE  The Czech Republic has become another European Union nation that is banning entry for Russian citizens even though they have valid tourist visas from any other state that belongs to Europes visa-free Schengen zone.

Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky says the measure will become effective on Oct 25.

Lipavsky says it will apply to the Russians coming from the countries outside the Schengen zone through Czech international airports for the purpose of tourism, sports and culture.

The Czech Republic is following other EU nations who have approved such a ban, including the Baltics states, Finland and Poland.

The Czechs were one of the first in the EU who stopped issuing visas to Russians on Feb. 25, just a day after Russia invaded Ukraine. Some exceptions include humanitarian cases and people persecuted.

TALLINN, Estonia  Ukraines state nuclear operator has warned that power outages and other emergency situations at the Russia-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant could happen again any time.

Russia has seized the plant and is not taking any steps to de-escalate, on the contrary, it is shelling important infrastructure daily, the companys press service told The Associated Press.

The plant was without external power on Wednesday in the second such incident in five days, raising fears of potential leaks because critical safety systems need electricity to operate. The only operating power line, one of eight, was damaged by the Russian shelling of an electrical substation near the city of Marhanets across the Dnieper River from the plant. The power was later restored after the plant operated on generators for the past 24 hours, Energoatom said.

The press office insisted that the generators can last for no more than eight hours. They said Kyiv has sent fuel for the generators but that the Russians refused to let it through.

There was no immediate reaction from the Russian forces in the area.

Energoatom also said Kyiv continues to control access to the key units of the plant and communication with the station has not been lost. There are plans to restart this week at least one of six plant reactors that were shut down on Sept. 11, it said, offering no other details.

KYIV, Ukraine  Ukraines prime minister is urging citizens to prepare for the upcoming winter as Russia plans to use cold as its weapon.

Denys Shmyhal said on Wednesday that citizens should keep essentials such as warm clothes, candles, flashlights and batteries ready. He says though the power system is currently operating normally, Ukraine aims to reduce electricity consumption in the evening across the country by 25%.

Shmyhal asked Ukrainians, and especially business owners, to reduce consumption of electricity in the evening. He also explained that temporary power outages are necessary to avoid overloading some energy networks.

Repairs are still in progress after numerous Russian attacks this week on energy infrastructure, he said.

KYIV, Ukraine  U.N. monitors and Ukraines state nuclear operator say workers have managed to restore power for the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

Ukraines Energoatom company reported Europes biggest nuclear power plant suffered a blackout on Wednesday morning when a missile damaged a distant electrical substation.

It was the second such incident in five days, highlighting the sensitivity of the situation and increasing the risk of a radiation disaster because critical safety systems need electricity to operate.

Energoatom wrote on Telegram that Ukrainian workers found a way how to repair the line and connected the plant to the Ukrainian power grid.

On-site monitors from the U.N.s atomic energy watchdog reported the last remaining outside line to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was restored about eight hours after the blackout started.

KYIV, Ukraine  Ukrainian authorities say a Russian attack on a market in the eastern Donetsk region has killed seven people and wounded eight.

The deputy head of the Ukraine presidents office says the attack happened early Wednesday morning in Avdiivka.

The Russian military needs more blood, more death and more destruction, Kyrylo Tymoshenko said on Telegram. This is a hunt for the lives of peaceful citizens.

Photos attached to the post showed dead people lying in line near one of kiosks that had potatoes and bread on the counter.

KYIV, Ukraine  Ukraine government's energy minister says Russian attacks in the past two days have damaged about one third of the country's energy infrastructure.

For the first time since the start of the war, Russia is targeting energy infrastructure," German Galushchenko said on Wednesday. He says this is because Ukraine is exporting energy to Europe.

KYIV, Ukraine  Ukraines presidential office says Russian shelling in the past 24 hours has affected eight regions in the southeast, while strikes on central and western areas have eased for the moment.

Russian forces used drones, heavy artillery and missiles, according to the presidential offices Wednesday morning update.

Three people have been rescued alive from the rubble in Zaporizhzhia after over a dozen missiles rained on the city, the report said. A six-year-old girl and two more people were wounded in the shelling of Nikopol, where the attacks damaged some three dozen residential buildings, private houses, kindergartens, a school, two plants and several shops, the report added.

Ukrainian forces say they shot down nine Iranian Shahed-136 drones and destroyed eight Kalibr cruise missiles near Mykolaiv, leaving the southern city without power.

Russian shelling intensifies and subsides, but doesnt stop, not for a day the city lives in tension, and the Russians main goal appears to be keeping us in fear, Mykolaiv regional governor Vitali Kim said.

KYIV, Ukraine  Ukrainian officials and military analysts say Kyiv's counteroffensive in the occupied regions in the south and east of the country has slowed down significantly despite Ukraine retaking five towns and villages in the Kherson area.

Russian troops have been re-enforcing the front lines and regrouping following Ukrainian successes, which has forced the Ukrainian forces to ease their advances.

The regional administrator in the eastern Luhansk region says Russian forces there have been building a multi-layered defense line and mining the front lines first section. Serhiy Haidai says people in the Luhansk region are moving from the Russia-occupied cities to villages, where they have been settling down in empty houses to spend the winter in warm.

Luhansk is among the four region that Russia unlawfully annexed following referendums dismissed as sham by both Ukraine and the West.

BRUSSELS  A Belarus opposition leader says Russia is now de facto occupying her country by deploying its troops there and using authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko as its puppet.

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya urged more support from EU leaders during a two-day visit to European Union headquarters in Brussels. She says we face an enemy who denies the very existence of our country as a free and independent nation.

The exiled opposition leader fears that Lukashenko could force the Belarus army to join Russian forces in Moscows war against Ukraine. Russia has already used Belarus as a staging ground to send troops and missiles into Ukraine earlier in the war.

Tsikhanouskaya adds the situation has become dramatic in Belarus, which has become totally subservient to the wishes of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin and Lukasenko, she says, have tried to increase and legalize the constant deployment of Russian troops on Belarus territory.

Its an occupation, adds Tsikhanouskaya. Our position is clear, Belarus must officially withdraw from participation in Russian war, and the Russian soldiers must leave Belarus unconditionally.

KYIV, Ukraine  Ukraine Southern Operational Command says its forces have recaptured five settlements in the Kherson region.

The villages of Novovasylivka, Novohryhorivka, Nova Kamianka, Tryfonivka and Chervone in the Beryslav district were retaken as of Oct. 11, according to the speaker of the southern command Vladislav Nazarov.

The settlements are in one of the four regions recently illegally annexed by Russia.

MOSCOW  Russias top KGB successor agency said Wednesday that it has arrested eight people on charges of involvement in the attack on the bridge linking Russia to Crimea.

The Federal Security Service (FSB) said it arrested five Russians and three citizens of Ukraine and Armenia on charges of involvement in Saturdays attack on the bridge.

A truck loaded with explosives blew up while driving across the bridge, killing four and causing two sections of one of the two automobile links to collapse.

The FSB charged that the arrested suspects were working on orders of Ukraines military intelligence to secretly move the explosives into Russia and forge the accompanying documents.

It said the explosives were moved by sea from the Ukrainian port of Odesa to Bulgaria before being shipped to Georgia, driven to Armenia and then back to Georgia before being transported to Russia in a complex scheme to secretly deliver them to the target.

Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced the attack on the bridge as an act of terrorism and responded by ordering a barrage of missile strikes on Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials have lauded the explosion on the bridge, but stopped short of directly claiming responsibility for it.

KYIV, Ukraine  A Ukrainian official says a Russian attack blew up windows and doors on residential buildings in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia.

City council Secretary Anatoliy Kurtev on Wednesday warned the residents of possible follow-up attacks. There were no reports of injuries from the initial shelling.

Zaporizhzhia, which sits fairly near the front line, has been repeatedly struck with often deadly attacks in recent weeks. It is part of a larger region, including Europes largest nuclear power plant now in Russian control, that Moscow has said it has annexed in violation of international law. The city itself remains in Ukrainian hands.

Another powerful blast struck Melitopol, which is in the same region, sending a car flying into the air, said mayor Ivan Fedorov. There was no word on casualties. Also Wednesday, air raid sirens sounded in the capital Kyiv.
Afghanistans Islamist Taliban government Wednesday criticized new U.S. sanctions against some of its leaders as an impediment to the development" of ties between the two countries.

The reaction comes a day after the United States announced a new visa restriction policy as punishment for current or former Taliban leaders and others believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, repressing Afghan women and girls through restrictive policies and violence.

Such decisions can adversely affect bilateral relations, a Taliban foreign ministry statement said. All disputes should be resolved through diplomatic channels and decisions that do not serve the interest of the two sides should be reviewed, it added.

The statement questioned the timing of the U.S. decision, saying it was announced after talks last week in Doha involving high-level officials of the two countries where almost all important issues were discussed in detail.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in unveiling the sanctions on Tuesday, said that immediate family members of such persons may also be subject to these restrictions.

Blinken called on other governments to join Washington in taking similar actions to collectively send a message to the Taliban that only a government that represents all Afghans and respects their human rights could be considered legitimate.

As a grim example, for more than a year, Afghanistan remains the only country in the world where girls are systemically barred from attending school beyond the sixth grade, with no return date in sight, he said.

"Despite public assurances that it would respect the human rights of all Afghans, the Taliban has issued and enforced a series of policies or edicts that effectively bar women and girls in Afghanistan from full participation in public life, including access to secondary education and work in most industries, Blinken said.

The Taliban regained control of the country in August 2021 when U.S.-led international forces withdrew after 20 years of war with the then-insurgents.

The hardline group has since barred girls from returning to secondary schools across most of Afghanistan but women are allowed to attend public and private universities.

Foreign governments have not yet recognized the new government in Afghanistan over human rights and terrorism-related concerns.

The Taliban defend their policies, saying they are in line with Afghan culture and Islamic injunctions. They also say the male-only government represents all Afghan groups and dismiss allegations of human rights abuses as Western media propaganda against the Islamist group.

While peace has returned to much of the war-torn South Asian nation over the past year, Islamic States Afghan affiliate, known as ISIS-K, has stepped up terrorist attacks against members of the minority Shiite community and the Taliban, killing hundreds of people.

A powerful suicide bomb blast ripped through a packed school in the Afghan capital late last month, as students were preparing for university entry exams.

The United Nations says the bombing killed 53 people, mostly young women and girls, and injured scores of others.
Turkey's government recently proposed legislation that would criminalize the spreading of misinformation on social media. The move is drawing national and international criticism.

Turkey's so-called disinformation bill drew condemnation from a European legal watchdog that warned the law would threaten freedom of expression and independent journalism ahead of next year's elections.

The warning is in a report compiled by the Venice Commission, which advises the Council of Europe. Herdis Kjerulf Thorgeirsdottir, vice president of the Venice Commission, says the law would have far-reaching negative effects.



"Our main concern is the chilling effect that this will have on the political debate in Turkey as this draft law will apply to everyone. Secondly, the heavy sanctions of one to three years' imprisonment of those found guilty of disseminating false or misleading information will lead to widespread self-censorship, which is already struggling in a hostile environment," Thorgeirsdottir said.

Rights groups already rank Turkey among the world's biggest jailers of journalists, a charge Ankara denies.

The Turkish government has in recent years introduced several pieces of legislation aimed at controlling social media. But critics say the latest proposed 40-article law is the most severe.

Yaman Akdeniz of Turkey's Freedom of Expression Association says social media threatens the government's control of media in general.



"Social media usage in Turkey is high, whether it's Twitter, Facebook or other social media platforms," Akdeniz said. "Turkish people predominantly rely on social media to obtain information because we cannot any longer obtain information from newspapers in Turkey or even TV channels because the majority of these channels and newspapers are controlled by the government."

The government argues the proposed legislation is similar to social media controls in other European countries.

Thorgeirsdottir says such comparisons are false.



"The inspiration from these countries is not relevant because they do not criminalize false information. Although they may apply to internet service providers or online platforms to remove illegal content, this is not a valid comparison," Thorgeirsdottir said.

Parliamentary and presidential elections are due in Turkey next year. With the ruling parties and president lagging in the polls, tightening its control on the media is vital for the government, says journalist Hikmet Adai of the Turkish news portal Bianet.



He said elections are coming in June 2023, and with the economic crisis ongoing, the government doesn't want this bad news to be disseminated, especially for the world to see the scale of the crisis. This proposed law, he says, represents the heaviest censorship in Turkish press history, so it will definitely affect journalism.

The proposed legislation is currently under discussion in parliament and could become law as early as the end of this month.
A new U.N. report finds migrants in Libya are subject to systematic human rights violations and abuse to compel them to accept so-called assisted returns to their countries of origin.



Authors of the report say migrants in Libya are trapped in an untenable situation. They say the migrants are forced to choose between returning to the countries they fled because of unsafe or unsustainable conditions  or facing continued ill treatment in Libya.

The report says migrants frequently are compelled to accept assisted return to escape abusive detention conditions. These, it says, include threats of torture, sexual violence, enforced disappearance and extortion.

U.N. human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani notes that assisted returns, in principle, are meant to be voluntary.

However, the report finds that in reality, many migrants in Libya are unable to make a truly voluntary decision to return in accordance with international human rights laws and standards. Many of them find they have no choice but to return to the same circumstances that made them leave their countries in the first place, she said.

The U.N. reports roughly 600,000 migrants comprising more than 40 nationalities are in Libya today. Among them are some 43,000 registered refugees and asylum seekers.

Since 2015, the U.N. reports more than 60,000 migrants have been repatriated to different countries of origin across Africa and Asia through so-called assisted return programs.

Shamdasani says most of the migrants come from Sub-Saharan Africa, and are exposed to particularly severe treatment in both official and unofficial detention facilities.

One of the witnesses of a police anti-migrant raid said ,If they saw a black person, they would just catch you. They demolished homes, locked people up in jail. They were holding 4,500 black people like dogs, she said.

The U.N. human rights office is calling on Libya and involved states to take immediate steps to address what it calls an indefensible, unconscionable situation.

It says Libyan authorities must end all violations and abuses of migrants rights. It adds other states should provide more protection to migrants trapped in Libya by increasing safe and regular pathways of admission to their territories.

Shamdasani tells VOA the report was shared with Libya prior to its release. She says no formal response has been received but U.N. officials will be reaching out again to offer their support in implementing the reports recommendations.
Facing economic paralysis and a nationwide humanitarian crisis, Afghanistan needs to stay current on what it owes international economic institutions before it can receive critically needed foreign assistance. How much the country owes and who should pay off the debts are unclear.

Despite having no representation at the World Bank, the de facto Taliban government paid about $5 million to the bank in June toward Afghanistans debt.

Last month, the United States transferred $3.5 billion in Afghan central bank assets previously frozen in New York to a Swiss bank, and officials said some of the funds might be used to pay Afghanistans debts to international institutions.

Paying off debt that has come due will unlock much greater resources for basic services in Afghanistan, U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Thomas West said during a discussion last month at the Center for Strategic and International Studies while explaining the potential use of Afghan assets in safeguarding the countrys economy.

Aid reception is contingent upon the scheduled loan repayments before it becomes an arrear or an outstanding loan, Zia-u-Rahman Haleemi, a former Afghan representative at the World Bank, told VOA. A very small amount in outstanding arrears could potentially block a huge amount in aid.

A spokesperson for the World Bank did not answer a question about the extent of Afghanistans existing arrear but pointed to a 2018 report that put the countrys total debts to the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank at about $1 billion.

Afghanistan has memberships in international bodies that have membership fees. If the Taliban do not pay those fees, then they could be paid from the Afghan funds, Anwar ul-Haq Ahady, a former Afghan finance minister who now sits on the four-member board of trustees for the management of the Afghan funds in the Swiss bank, told VOAs Afghan service recently.

A spokesman for the Afghanistan central bank received but did not respond to VOAs questions about the Talibans willingness to pay current and future arrears to the World Bank and other international institutions.

Like most Western donors, the World Bank has stopped aid to Afghan state agencies and has instead channeled assistance programs and funds through the United Nations and international nongovernment organizations.

All projects are being implemented off-budget outside of the interim Taliban administration, a World Bank spokesperson told VOA, adding that the bank has given $893 million to U.N. agencies and NGOs.

Assets in European banks

Prior to the collapse of the former Afghan government, Afghanistan maintained more than $9 billion in financial assets, mostly in U.S. and European banks. The assets were used primarily to stabilize the Afghan currency market and address other national financial issues.

The Talibans return to power has scattered the national assets in different banks and under different, sometimes unclear, circumstances.

Half of Afghanistans $7 billion bank assets remain frozen in the U.S. due to ongoing litigation by families of some victim of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S., despite a recommendation by a federal judge that the funds were immune from the courts jurisdiction.

About $2 billion in additional Afghan financial assets are frozen in European banks.

I think the $2 billion held in Europe should be unfrozen and combined with the Afghan Fund [in the Swiss bank], said Mohsin Amin, an Afghan policy analyst.

Like the U.S., European countries have refused to recognize the Talibans de facto leadership and have accused the Taliban of lacking legitimacy and perpetrating egregious human rights violations.

There has not been any declaration by political leaders of the European countries where the $2.1 billion DAB [Da Afghanistan Bank] funds are held that they are frozen. But in practice, it is exact that these $2.1 billion are out of reach of the DAB, as the private banks where they are located are not responsive to the DAB requests, Jean-Francois Cautain, a former European Union ambassador, told VOA.

Save, but for how long?

Despite extricating half of the Afghan assets from litigation in the U.S. and the official announcements that the funds will be used to stabilize the Afghan economy, the overall preference is to save the money and not spend any amount on humanitarian or development needs, according to Ahady and West.

It is unclear how long the funds will remain dormant in the Swiss bank and how saving the assets will resuscitate the crippled Afghan economy.

U.S. officials have said that neither recognition of nor lifting sanctions on the Taliban is on their immediate agenda.

While defying widespread domestic and external calls for the formation of an inclusive government and respect to womens rights, Taliban authorities have accused the U.S. of choking the Afghan economy.

Groups advocating a total release of Afghan assets say the asset freeze, financial sanctions and the Talibans bad governance have essentially paralyzed the Afghan economy, causing immense suffering for ordinary Afghans.

While the $3.5 billion moved to Switzerland may be safeguarded from litigation in the U.S., the fundamentals have not changed. The Afghan economy and banking system remains paralyzed  at enormous human cost to regular Afghan citizens  because of political decisions taken by the U.S. and its allies, United Against Inhumanity, an international organization advocating against war atrocities, said in a statement on October 4.

U.S. officials say the assets freeze and sanctions are targeting Taliban officials and that the U.S. has maintained robust humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan with more than $1 billion given to U.N. agencies and international NGOs.
Top U.S. cyber officials are warning that now is no time for governments or private sector companies to let down their guard and assume Russias struggles on the battlefield in Ukraine will carry over into the Kremlins efforts in cyberspace.

Instead, they say the recent denial of service attacks targeting the public websites of major U.S. airports  and claimed by the Russian hacker group Killnet  could be the leading edge of other types of attacks.

We are not at a place where we should be putting our shields down, Jen Easterly, the director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), told an audience in Washington late Tuesday.

"We should remain very concerned, very vigilant about potential attacks on U.S. critical infrastructure," she said. The Russians are very unpredictable. Their back is up against the wall."

The United States and its Western allies have been bracing for potentially large-scale, destructive cyberattacks on key industries and critical infrastructure by Russia or Russian-linked actors since before Russian forces invaded Ukraine in late February.

"Companies of any size and of all sizes would be foolish not to be preparing right now," U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in the weeks before the invasion. "It's not hypothetical.  I am absolutely concerned.

Moscow has consistently denied involvement in offensive cyberattacks, including some that targeted Ukraine on the eve of the Russian invasion. And aside from the recent denial of service attacks, which CISAs Easterly described as a nuisance, there has not been much evidence of any attempted or successful Russian or Russian-linked cyberattacks against targets outside Ukraine.

Instead, it appears Russia has focused most of its cyber efforts on Ukraine itself.

A report by the U.S.-based cybersecurity firm Check Point Software, issued last month, found that since February, cyberattacks on Ukrainian government and military websites "more than doubled, increasing by a staggering 112%."

Other researchers have pointed to Russias ongoing use of cyberspace to peddle disinformation, some of it designed to try to weaken the resolve of countries that so far have remained steadfast in their support for Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials, however, have repeatedly warned that a new wave of Russian cyberattacks is coming, with the targets likely to include Ukraines energy and financial sectors.

"The risk of new attacks remains very high," Volodymyr Kondrashov, a spokesman for Ukraine's State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection, said in a statement late last month.

But U.S. officials Tuesday praised Ukraine, saying its cybersecurity efforts have kept Russia off-balance.

Credit to the Ukrainians in terms of what they've been able to do to harden their networks, to understand what is going on, to be able to be a step ahead of what the Russians are doing, U.S. Cyber Commands General Paul Nakasone said. We have learned a tremendous amount."

Still, Nakasone and CISAs Easterly said their private-sector partners have detected an increase in scanning of critical systems by cyber actors potentially tied to Russia.

We need to ensure that we are prepared for threats, for incursions against our critical infrastructure whether it's state-supported actors, criminally aligned ransomware groups or even the cascading attacks, with attacks in Ukraine  could bleed over the U.S., Easterly said.

There are also ongoing concerns that Russia will try to launch some sort of cyberattack aimed at disrupting next months U.S. midterm elections.

But while the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation has seen indications of Russian-linked influence operations, the U.S. says the voting systems themselves are safe.

We are seeing no significant indications of attacks that are being planned right now, Nakasone said. But this is, again, for us a matter of vigilance.
The United States announced new sanctions Tuesday against the Taliban as punishment for their repressive treatment of women and girls in Afghanistan.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken unveiled the new visa restriction policy for current or former members of the Taliban and others involved in repressing women through restrictive policies and violence.

Blinken made the announcement on the U.N.'s International Day of the Girl Child.

"As a grim example, for more than a year, Afghanistan remains the only country in the world where girls are systemically barred from attending school beyond the sixth grade, with no return date in sight," Blinken said.

After returning to power in August 2021 following the retreat of U.S.-led forces, the hardline Taliban have barred girls from attending secondary school. But women are allowed to attend university.

A recent suicide bombing of a Kabul classroom killed and wounded dozens of students as they prepared for exams.

The United Nations has put the death toll at 53, including 46 girls and young women.

The bomber blew himself up next to women at a gender-segregated study hall packed with hundreds of students taking a practice test for university admissions.
The United States plans to increase security and humanitarian assistance to the people of Haiti, while imposing visa restrictions on current and former officials involved in criminal gang operations that are blocking supplies as the Caribbean nation battles an outbreak of cholera.

But the U.S. is still reviewing Haitis request for an international specialized armed force to stop gang violence in the island nation.

On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington is accelerating the delivery of additional humanitarian relief to Haiti, as well as working to increase and deploy in the coming days security assistance to the Haitian National Police.

Blinken also said in a statement that the U.S. is announcing a new visa restriction policy under section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act against Haitian officials and other individuals involved in the operation of street gangs and criminal organizations that are blocking lifesaving humanitarian support. Such actions may also apply to these individuals immediate family members.

Heavily armed gangs control parts of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and have blocked access to the countrys main fuel terminal since mid-September. This has worsened the already dire humanitarian situation, affecting the availability of electricity, clean water, garbage collection and the ability of hospitals to operate at a time when the country is facing a deadly resurgence of cholera.

The U.S. Coast Guard will deploy one of its cutters to patrol off the coast of Port-au-Prince at the request of the Haitian government.

The U.S. did not disclose the amount of the increase in aid.

In addition to the security response, weve provided since last year over $171 million in lifesaving humanitarian assistance to Haiti, as well as $90 million to strengthen the Haitian National Police, a senior administration official told reporters on Wednesday during a briefing. The official spoke on condition of anonymity as is customary when briefing reporters.

Another senior U.S. official said the United States is working closely with Mexico through the U.N. Security Council to put forward specific actions to improve the security situation in Haiti.

Both officials declined to say if the U.S. would consider sending troops to Haiti or lead a rapid action force that the U.N. has proposed.

Last week, the United States and Mexico introduced a Security Council resolution that officials said built on UNSC Resolution 2645 to propose specific sanctions measures and call for additional security steps to enable the international community to address the many challenges facing the people of Haiti. A vote is expected next week.

UNSC Resolution 2645 on Haiti was adopted July 15, 2022, to address gang violence and to help Haitian national authorities and civil society work to strengthen the rule of law and to promote respect for human rights.

The State Departments top diplomat for the Western Hemisphere, Brian Nichols, left Wednesday to lead an interagency U.S. delegation to Haiti for a two-day official visit. Military officials from the U.S. Southern Command, the Pentagon and other officials from the State Department, as well as the White House, are among the U.S. delegation.

The delegation will assess how the U.S. government can provide various forms of assistance, while urging political factions within Haiti to rise above their differences for improved security and a return to democratic order, according to the State Department.

Last Friday, Haitis government authorized Prime Minister Ariel Henry to request the immediate deployment of an international specialized armed force to help stop the criminal gangs. The gangs are seeking to exploit the political vacuum left by the assassination of President Jovenel Moise at his home in Port-au-Prince on July 7, 2021.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Tuesday that the United States is reviewing the prime ministers request in coordination with international partners to determine how we best can contribute to the removal of security constraints on medical and humanitarian measures aimed at halting the spread of cholera.

We strongly condemn all of those who stand in the way of the equitable and immediate distribution of much-needed humanitarian supplies. This is a status quo that cannot persist, said Price, while declining to say if the United States would consider sending troops or police to Haiti.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is backing Haitis call for an international armed force, providing support for the Haitian National Police.

VOAs United Nations correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to the report.
Case numbers in the global monkeypox outbreak have now topped 70,000, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced Wednesday as it warned that a decline in new cases did not mean people should drop their guard.

The WHO said that case numbers last week were on the rise in several countries in the Americas and it stressed that a slowdown worldwide in new cases could be the "most dangerous" time in the outbreak.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said more than 70,000 cases have now been reported to the U.N. health agency this year, with 26 deaths.

"Globally, cases are continuing to decline, but 21 countries in the past week reported an increase in cases, mostly in the Americas, which accounted for almost 90 percent of all cases reported last week," he told a press conference in Geneva.

"A declining outbreak can be the most dangerous outbreak, because it can tempt us to think that the crisis is over, and to let down our guard," he said.

He said the WHO was working with countries to increase their testing capacity and to monitor trends.

"We are concerned about reports of cases in Sudan, including in refugee camps near the border with Ethiopia," Tedros added.

"Like COVID-19, monkeypox remains a public health emergency of international concern, and WHO will continue to treat it as such," he said.

A surge in monkeypox infections has been reported since early May among men who have sex with men, outside the African countries where it has long been endemic.

More than 42,000 cases have now been reported from the Americas and nearly 25,000 from Europe.

Cases have been reported from 107 WHO member states this year, though 39 have registered no new cases in the past 21 days.

The 10 countries with the highest total number of cases are: the United States (26,723); Brazil (8,147); Spain (7,209); France (4,043); Britain (3,654); Germany (3,640); Peru (2,587); Colombia (2,453); Mexico (1,968); and Canada (1,400).

These countries account for nearly 87% of global cases.

Where the given data was known, 97% were men, with a median age of 35 years old; 90% identified as men who had sex with men; and 49% were HIV-positive, according to the WHO's case dashboard.

The disease causes fever, muscular aches and large boil-like skin lesions.


NATO defense ministers Wednesday discussed ways to bolster Ukraines air defense systems to combat the barrage of missiles Russia has been launching this week on targets throughout Ukraine.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters the talks in Brussels are focusing on ramping up support for Ukraine. He said it is a pivotal moment for our security with the scope of the Russian assault the most serious escalation of the war since the invasion in February.

More than 100 missile attacks have killed at least 26 people across Ukraine since Monday.

Stoltenberg said NATO allies are sending the message to Kyiv that they are ready to support Ukraine for as long as it takes.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that while Russian President Vladimir Putin tries to force untrained, unwitting Russian civilians to the front lines through the conscription of 300,000 reservists, Ukraine has shown the world that the military and military power of a free people fighting for their democracy and their sovereignty prevails.

Their courage inspires us all, Austin said. Putin chose war. But Ukraine chose to defend itself. And it has done so magnificently.

Putin has said Russias missile attacks this week on cities throughout Ukraine, including the capital, Kyiv, came in direct response to the truck bombing last Saturday that destroyed part of the strategic Kerch Bridge linking mainland Russia with the Crimean Peninsula. Russia seized the peninsula in 2014.

On Wednesday, Moscows FSB security service announced it has arrested eight people, including five Russians, linked to the incident. It said three Ukrainians and Armenians helped carry out the attack.

SEE ALSO:

The FSB statement accused Ukraines military intelligence service of launching the attack, what it characterized as a terrorist act. The FSB blamed it on explosives hidden in the back of a cargo truck that was detonated on the bridge.

The FSB contended that a 22-ton bomb deployed in the attack was shipped from the Ukrainian port of Odesa before following a circuitous route through Bulgaria, Armenia and Georgia.

Ukrainian officials have strongly signaled they carried out the attack but not officially claimed responsibility. Ukraines Ministry of Internal Affairs called the Russian investigation nonsense.

Leaders of the Group of Seven major industrial nations, meeting Tuesday in a crisis video conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, pledged that they will stand firmly with Ukraine for as long as it takes.



The G-7 leaders said in a statement that they had reassured Zelenskyy they are undeterred and steadfast in our commitment to providing the support Ukraine needs to uphold its sovereignty and territorial integrity. They said Moscows indiscriminate attacks on innocent civilian populations constitute a war crime.



We will hold President [Vladimir] Putin and those responsible to account, the G-7 leaders said. The G-7 comprises Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.



Amid Putins threats to use nuclear weapons, the G-7 reiterated it would direct severe consequences should Moscow use weapons of mass destruction but did not imply direct military involvement in Ukraine.



U.S. officials have said they have not seen indications that Putin has decided to use nuclear weapons and underscored that there is no change in the U.S. nuclear posture.

John Kirby, the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, told reporters the U.S. is not considering deploying tactical nuclear weapons  smaller and less destructive than strategic nuclear weapons  in Ukraine.



There's absolutely zero interest from our side and from our allies and partners to see this war escalate into the use of the weapons of mass destruction at all, he said.



Russia is estimated to have 2,000 tactical nuclear weapons, including some so small and portable that they are referred to as suitcase bombs.

VOA White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report. Some information came from Reuters and AP.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 12, 2022) - Aftermath Silver Ltd. (TSXV: AAG) (OTCQX: AAGFF) (the "Company" or "Aftermath") is pleased to announce a non-brokered private placement (the "Private Placement") of up to 11,764,705 units of the Company (the "Units") at a price of C$0.17 per Unit to raise approximately C$2 million.

Each Unit will be comprised of one common share in the capital of the Company (each a "Common Share") and one-half of one non-transferable common share purchase warrant (each whole warrant, a "Warrant"). Each Warrant is exercisable by the holder to acquire one Common Share for a period of 24 months from closing of the Private Placement at a price of C$0.27 per share.

The Company intends to use the net proceeds for metallurgical and other technical studies on the Berenguela Silver-Copper project in Peru, and the Challacollo Silver-Gold project in Chile, and for general working capital purposes. Aftermath recently completed a 6,200m drill campaign at Berenguela (see Aftermath's news releases dated May 4 and 19, June 6 and 13, and July 5, 2022.). The results of this drilling are being incorporated into a new mineral resource estimate. The Company plans to incorporate the results of the metallurgical testwork at Berenguela into a preliminary economic analysis scheduled for the second half of 2023.

Closing of the Private Placement is subject to receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals including the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV"). Finder's fees equal to 7% of the Units issued under the Private Placement may be paid to eligible parties, payable in either cash or Common Shares. All of the securities issued with respect to the Private Placement will be subject to a hold period of four months and one day from the date of issuance in accordance with applicable securities laws.

About Aftermath Silver Ltd.

Aftermath Silver Ltd. is a leading Canadian junior exploration company focused on silver, and aims to deliver shareholder value through the discovery, acquisition and development of quality silver projects in stable jurisdictions. Aftermath has developed a pipeline of projects at various stages of advancement. The Company's projects have been selected based on growth and development potential.

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Berenguela Silver-Copper project. The Company has an option to acquire a 100% interest through a binding agreement with SSR Mining. The project is located in the Department of Puno, in southern central Peru. A NI 43-101 Technical Report on the property was filed in February 2021 (available on SEDAR and the Company's web page). The Company is currently drilling at Berenguela and planning to advance the project through a pre-feasibility study.

Challacollo Silver-Gold project. The Company recently completed the acquisition of a 100% interest in the Challacollo silver-gold project from Mandalay Resources; see Company news release dated August 11, 2022. A NI 43-101 mineral resource was released on December 15, 2020 (available on SEDAR and the Company's web page). The Company is currently permitting road access in anticipation of an upcoming drill program.

Cachinal Silver-Gold project. The Company owns a 100% interest in the Cachinal Ag-Au project, located 2.5 hours south of Antofagasta. On June 10, 2022, Aftermath announced it had reached an agreement to sell Cachinal to Honey Badger Silver Inc. On September 16, 2020, the Company released a CIM-compliant mineral resource estimate and accompanying NI 43-101 Technical Report (available on SEDAR and on the Company's web page).

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

"Ralph Rushton"

Ralph Rushton

CEO and Director

604-484-7855

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

Certain information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements or information ("forward-looking statements"), including details about the proposed Private Placement and the Company's proposed use of proceeds from the Private Placement. By their nature, forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, some of which are beyond the Company's control, including risks associated with the inability to complete the Private Placement, timing of receipt of regulatory approval, change in market conditions, and predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, and assumptions of future events or performance, including without limitation, exploration plans at the Company's mineral projects. Although the Company believes that the expectations in its forward-looking statements (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as "expects", "is expected", "anticipates", "believes", "plans", "projects", "estimates", "assumes", "intends", "strategies", "targets", "goals", "forecasts", "objectives", "budgets", "schedules", "potential" or variations thereof or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved, or the negative of any of these terms and similar expressions) are reasonable, its forward-looking statements have been based on factors and assumptions concerning future events which may prove to be inaccurate. Those factors and assumptions are based upon currently available information. Such statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could influence actual results or events and cause actual results or events to differ materially from those stated, anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. Accordingly, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements, as no assurance can be provided as to future results, levels of activity or achievements.  Furthermore, the forward-looking statements contained in this document are made as of the date of this document and, except as required by applicable law, the Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or to revise any of the included forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The forward-looking statements contained in this document are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/140228
According to The Greyzone, last April, Chris Donelly drew up a plan to sabotage the Crimean Bridge and train Ukrainian soldiers to carry it out. He reportedly shared it, in particular, with Lithuanian Defense Minister Audrius Butkevicius.

Colonel Donelly served as special adviser to four NATO Secretaries-General. He oversaw the Alliances stay-behind networks in independent Russia. He is the current head of the Institute of Statecraft; an arm of the British Defense Ministry responsible for disseminating anti-Russian propaganda among major international media. He had been implicated in the attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal in 2018, and played a central role in fueling the accusations against the FSB.

For their part, the Russian FSB reconstructed the path of the truck bomb and arrested eight Russian nationals, who participated in the operation which the FBS has attributed to the Ukrainian secret services. In retaliation, the Russian army massively bombarded official buildings, including in Kyev, causing numerous collateral victims.
(Bloomberg) -- Credit Suisse Group AG shares slumped after news that US authorities are investigating whether the bank helped clients hide assets.

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Shares dropped as much as 5% in Zurich, and were trading down 4% as of 1:14 p.m. The prospect of fresh legal risks for the bank has added to nervousness around the critical strategic revamp due to be announced later this month.

The US Justice Department is probing whether the Swiss bank aided US account holders, particularly with South American passports, who may not have told the Internal Revenue Service about assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars, Bloomberg news reported.

Credit Suisse shares have been on a rollercoaster in recent weeks, and hit fresh lows this month after speculation over its financial health. That was accompanied by a spike in the cost to insure the banks debt against default, which jumped to its highest ever before recovering. Credit Suisses shares are now down 52% year to date, though the bank and analysts have pointed to the lenders strong financial fundamentals.

The bank is due to unveil a strategic review on Oct. 27, which is expected to include a large-scale investment-banking retreat, spinning off large parts and hiving off its securitized products group.

Credit Suisse is considering bringing in an outside investor to take a partial stake and inject money into a spinoff of its advisory and investment bank businesses, people familiar with the matter have said. The bank has also said it is working on possible asset and business sales as part of the restructuring. Other potential disposals include the sale of its Latin American wealth management operations, excluding Brazil, Blomberg reported.

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At the same time as the company is seeking to move past the turmoil of the past year, it has faced a long list of legal woes. In Singapore, a Credit Suisse trust is awaiting the outcome of a trial that will determine its liability for losses tied to a rogue banker. In June, Switzerlands top court handed the bank a guilty verdict in an historic case over money laundering.

Read More: Credit Suisses Legal Bills Keep Growing With No End in Sight

Bank executives have noted that the firms 13.5% CET1 capital ratio at June 30 was in the middle of the planned range of 13% to 14% for 2022. The firms 2021 annual report said that its international regulatory minimum ratio was 8%, while Swiss authorities required a higher level of about 10%.

CEO Koerner said in a recent memo that employees should not confuse the day to day stock gyrations with the strong capital base and liquidity position of the bank.

(updates with shares, legal background)

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There was a time in mid-2000, post-Pi and high off buzz for Requiem for a Dream, when Darren Aronofsky was attached to take the reins on a Batman movie before Christopher Nolan took over. Warner Bros. hired Aronofsky to write and direct an adaptation of Batman: Year One, and he even whipped up a script with DC comic scribe Frank Miller. It was intended to be a stripped-down, dark, R-rated origin story of the cowled hero, i.e. the sort of comic book movie were used to seeing nowadays. Alas, it fell through, Aronofsky departed, and the rest is history.

In a recent Variety cover story on his new film The Whale, starring Brendan Fraser as a 600-pound, gay online English teacher, Aronofsky looked back on the project that never was. The subject came up as Fraser spoke about the Warner Bros. Discovery and HBO Max axing of Batgirl, which he starred in.

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It was after Batman & Robin, the Joel Schumacher one, Aronofsky said. That had been a big hiccup back then at Warner Bros., so I pitched them a rated-R, boiled-down origin story of Batman. A rated-R superhero movie was probably 10 to 15 years out of whack with the reality of the business then.

While Warner Bros. ultimately went in a different direction, Aronofsky said, It had promise, but it was just a first draft. The studio werent really interested. It was a very different take.

With R-rated entries like the Joker and Deadpool series filling out the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Aronofsky said hes pleased that Hollywood has caught up with his vision. (At one point, he even wanted Joker star Joaquin Phoenix to play his Batman.)

I think its great, Aronofsky said. I was always saying, Why cant there be several different types of comic book movies out there. Now there are. Its just our timing was off.

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Aronofsky was also supposed to make the movie that became 2013s The Wolverine, starring Hugh Jackman, but various factors, including the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, led to Aronofsky dropping out and James Mangold taking over. It was really important for me to shoot in Japan, Aronofsky said. I think I signed up to make Wolverine, and the earthquake happened a few months later.

Would he take on superhero IP again? I wasnt a comic book kid, but I grew up on big movies and I go see superhero films and I like them, he said. If the right opportunity came around, Id do it.

As for Batgirl, Fraser called the cancellation tragic, adding, It doesnt engender trust among filmmakers and the studio. Leslie Grace was fantastic. Shes a dynamo, just a spot-on performer. Everything that we shot was real and exciting and just the antithesis of doing a straightforward digital all green screen thing. They ran firetrucks around downtown Glasgow at 3 in the morning and they had flamethrowers. It was a big-budget movie, but one that was just stripped down to the essentials.

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Delta Air Lines Inc. is putting its money where its vision is with a $60 million equity investment in Joby Aviation Inc., a startup maker of an electric aircraft that takes off and lands like a helicopter and flies like an airplane. Delta is joining United Airlines Holdings Inc. and American Airlines Group Inc. in investing in the technology with the hope that one day these aircraft will shuttle passengers back and forth to airports above crowded roadways in New York and Los Angeles.

Its fun to imagine the skies crowded with these aerial taxis flying above snarled vehicle traffic with only a faint hum of rotors as they stream along established routes to and from vertiports strategically stationed on city buildings. This world of George Jetson, however, hinges on some rather large leaps of faith. The biggest of those is whether passengers will eventually be willing to board an aircraft with no pilot on board (the first versions will be piloted). Will the public accept having automated aircraft fly above their heads? Will the price drop to make it more appealing to a broader audience? When flights are automated, the economics of the aircraft go up exponentially. The price point for passengers  those willing to trust a computer to navigate  could come down enough that the service could very well break out of the niche market.

And, of course, the answers to all these questions depend on how willing the Federal Aviation Administration is to create a pathway for pilotless flight of passengers. The slow progress the agency has made on allowing small drones to fly beyond a remote pilots visual line of sight indicates that the agency will be willing to go this far, eventually, if they are safe. Still, the process for allowing pilotless passenger flight will take longer and require more testing than the industrys most vociferous cheerleaders will claim.

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The practical and more mundane test for these aircraft  known as electric vertical take-off and landing, or eVTOL  will start with cargo. The experiment will most likely commence overseas where the skies arent quite as busy as they are in the US and the need is greater (think island hopping in Southeast Asia). This is why Textron Inc., the maker of Cessna private jets and Bell Helicopters, purchased Pipistrel in March. The Slovenia-based pioneer of electric aircraft is working on an autonomous cargo drone.

In the US, FedEx Corp. and United Parcel Service Inc. have a use case for cargo versions of eVTOLs. Both companies use small feeder planes to shuttle packages between sorting hubs, especially in more rural areas, and they will gain efficiency by taking off and landing from the parking lot of these facilities. That will cut out the time and expense of landing at an airport and having a truck take the cargo the final distance to the hub.

UPS has ordered aircraft from startup Beta Technologies Inc., whose first version will be piloted. The aircraft can hold 1,400 pounds of freight and have a flying range of up to 250 miles. FedEx is teaming up with Elroy Air for an aircraft that will be pilotless and have capacity to fly up to 300 miles and carry as much as 500 pounds.

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The military is already playing a large role to get electric aircraft off the ground through the Air Force Agility Prime program, which provides funding for flight tests and experimentation. The Air Force gets the benefit of checking out firsthand how these new aircraft could ferry cargo and soldiers while the manufacturers can take advantage of the militarys unique ability to test aircraft without FAA approvals. There is no organization that has more experience with autonomous flight than the Department of Defense.

NASA is a big fan of this nascent industry and has taken the lead in guiding the vision of how this new mode of transportation will operate and whats needed for an air-traffic management system. The agency talks about a mission to safely develop an air transportation system that moves people and cargo between places previously not served or underserved by aviation  local, regional, intraregional, urban  using revolutionary new aircraft that are only just now becoming possible.

Deltas investment in Joby, which could balloon to $200 million, is obviously a bet on this future. Electric motors are well on their way to replacing internal combustion engines, which are loud and polluting. This will happen first with small helicopters and small airplanes, although it will take time. Joby expects to certify and begin sales in 2024 for its electric aircraft, which seats four passengers and will have a pilot to start. These electric rotorcraft will be quieter, faster, greener and less expensive to operate and maintain, although more expensive to buy. They will also likely be safer because they have multiple rotors, six in the case of Joby, instead of one large one like helicopters.

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There will be buyers of these eVTOLs, but probably not enough to support all the startups that are chasing the dream. Whether this stays as a niche market for the well-heeled to brag about how green they fly or whether it will go more mainstream will depend on resolving a host of complex details. Long before that happens, though, these aircraft will most likely be ferrying cargo.

More From Bloomberg Opinion:

 Scared of Driverless Cars? China Has the Answer: Anjani Trivedi

 Your Next Porsche Might Be a Two-Wheeler: Chris Bryant

 Dont Expect Drones to Air-Drop Your Packages: Thomas Black

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Thomas Black is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering logistics and manufacturing. Previously, he covered U.S. industrial and transportation companies and Mexicos industry, economy and government.

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The disruption associated with the Covid-19 pandemic is loosening societys grip on some stubborn assumptions about different facets of life, especially work and education. The latest: that the hardest college classes are the most rigorous, as exemplified in last weeks hullabaloo over the case of an New York University professor of organic chemistry fired after students protested their bad grades.

The general public is rightly nervous about any changes that could degrade the quality of future doctors. Our lives could be on the line here. But wheres the evidence that we get better care by weeding out students who dont get an A (or at least a B) in this course?

Its easy to paint students who complain about their grades as entitled. But we cant say whether the students were struggling despite working hard, or whether the professor, Maitland Jones Jr., was doing a good job of teaching.

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And the reason the situation captured headlines isnt because of that narrow question. Its because it raises so many others: Is it the job of a college professor to identify the best and the brightest, or to create the best and the brightest? Are test scores the best way to evaluate students  and are student evaluations the best way to appraise teachers? Has something about the pandemic hobbled students ability to learn?

In the traditional weed-out model of medical education, theres an underlying assumption that patients get better care from doctors whove passed an organic chemistry class that was failed by 80% of the students  surviving a kind of trial by fire. But maybe thats wrong. Maybe wed get better treatment from a doctor whose teacher was so skilled that only 20% of students failed that class.

Its a conundrum that had me seeking out experts in science education. Chemistry professor Stacey Lowery Bretz of Miami University in Ohio has won awards both for teaching excellence and for research. She told me she detests the very idea of weed-out courses.

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Id like to be a gateway, not a gatekeeper, she said. I dont want to punish students or pronounce them unfit.

She told me that when doctors find out what she does for a living, they often tell her they hated organic chemistry. That doesnt exactly instill confidence, she said. Its a tragedy because chemistry is a really elegant and beautiful way to see the world.

Organic chemistry teaches people something she thinks is fundamental to medicine  the ability to see how a reaction can have a different outcome if you change the external conditions. Thats how the body works, and how drugs work, so its good for health professionals to be able to think this way. Students who just learn to pass tests by solving equations dont come away with the deep understanding that helps to solve novel problems.

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Shes not alone in feeling repulsed by the idea of weeding students out. That is absurd  how can I be the one who decides an 18-year-old is not qualified to be a physician? asked Oluwatoyin Asojo, chair of chemistry at Hampton University in Virginia. She also taught at a medical school  the Baylor College of Medicine  before coming to teach undergraduates at Hampton. To her, the goal is not to make classes easier, but to give students the tools they need to get through hard classes.

But theres another thing brought to the forefront about this case thats not right  and thats the way professors are evaluated. Are university administrators are putting too much weight on what students think about their professors?

Student reviews loom large in professors careers and they are a terrible barometer of quality, said Vicente Talanquer, a chemistry professor at the University of Arizona. Studies of reviews have found that they dont measure teaching effectiveness.

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Professors usually get their jobs based on research skills, then they get thrown into teaching with little or no instruction or support, Talanquer said. Universities could do a better job of supporting their faculty members teaching skills.

As much as people want to find a villain in the NYU controversy, it might not be Jones or the students. Jones was there because he wanted to keep teaching after retiring from a tenured job at Princeton University. He has expressed concerns that in the last couple of years, students were not just unprepared, but also unable to focus. He told me via email this could stem from something beyond just the disruption of the pandemic.

A problem concentrating is different from laziness or a sense of entitlement. And the students told the New York Times they never intended to get Jones fired; they just wanted better grades.

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Whatever went wrong at NYU, theres good reason to change a punitive system where professors have to worry about student petitions and students fear too many mistakes on a test will disqualify them from the career they want before theyre even out of school. University science departments need to find more evidence-based ways to evaluate students and professors.

More From Bloomberg Opinion:

 RIP to the LSAT? Lets Kill the Bar Exam, Too: Stephen L. Carter

 Higher Education Is About to Get More Political: Tyler Cowen

 Californias Later Start Times Are a Promising Experiment: The Editors

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Faye Flam is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering science. She is host of the Follow the Science podcast.

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Two decades ago, a cascade of accounting scandals in the US led to one of the most comprehensive packages of financial rules of the past century. Now, its time for regulators to act on escalating cybersecurity breaches to offer similar protections to consumers and investors. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Within the span of just two years, the names Enron, Tyco and Worldcom became synonymous with fraud, greed, and corporate excess. Executives had doctored financial reports, stolen money, and conspired to keep shareholders in the dark, all the while receiving almost embarrassingly big pay packages.

By the time it all came to light, investors had lost billions of dollars and regulators had shed credibility. Thats when Congress stepped in, with Senator Paul Sarbanes and Representative Michael G. Oxley sponsoring the bill that would bear their names.

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Sarbanes-Oxley, or SOX, is a long and extensive set of regulations covering areas including the independence of auditors, enhanced financial disclosures, and obstructing an investigation.

One of the most potent parts, Section 302, forces executives to personally attest to the accuracy of their financial disclosures on a quarterly basis. It does so by requiring that a company officer certify that theyve actually reviewed the report, and that it doesnt contain any falsehoods. In other words, it removes plausible deniability loopholes that could allow C-level executives to commit fraud, or reign over a company where such misdeeds are carried out, while subsequently claiming innocence.

Today, the need for such accountability extends to data. Lawmakers should enact regulation that holds executives personally responsible for information security at the companies they run.

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Three recent cases highlight just how crucial that it is.

Last month, an Australian mobile network subsidiary of Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. called Optus was hacked and the records of almost 10 million people stolen. Among the data accessed were customer names, dates of birth, email addresses, passport and drivers license numbers. In Australia, thats enough information to potentially conduct identify theft under a points system used in the country for identity verification.

Revelations from the breach unveil two particularly disturbing facts about how Optus manages data. First, much of the information appears to be stored as plain-text, meaning theres no attempt to encrypt or hide it. If a hacker can access the database, then they can read all that information easily. At a minimum, data should be hashed. This is a process that converts information by using mathematical formulas that cannot be easily reversed. Its useful because a computer system can check whether information provided by a user matches whats stored while keeping that data hidden.

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Even worse, the information was breached through an application programming interface (API)  a portal for sharing data with developers  with Australias Home Affairs Minister Clare ONeil saying that Optus had effectively left the window open. In summary, Optus stored the data poorly and failed to protect it adequately. The company said it will vigorously defend against a legal complaint that it failed to protect the personal information of customers.

Then there are revelations from Twitter Inc. whistleblower Peiter Zatko, commonly known as Mudge, who was hired as Security Lead in November 2020.

Among highlights from Mudges 84-page complaint is the allegation that many people within the company had too much power to read and change sensitive data. Its violation of the well-established principle of least privilege  limiting access to the minimum required for their job  was a major contributing factor in a July 2020 breach. In that hack, a 17-year-old and his friends managed to take control of accounts owned by Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Joe Biden, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.

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Whats particularly egregious in the Twitter case is that senior executives at the social media company were not only aware of its many security failings, but that Mudge himself was warned against reporting them to the board of the directors. The 51-year-old, who is among the worlds most-respected cybersecurity experts, was fired in January. Twitter Chief Executive Officer Parag Agarwal later described the claims as riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies, and presented without important context.

Finally, we have a guilty verdict handed down last week against Joe Sullivan, the former security chief at Uber Technologies Inc. A California court found that he obstructed a government investigation and concealed a 2016 hack that led to the theft of personal data of 50 million customers and 7 million drivers.

Many take the Uber case as an example of a chief information security officer (CISO) being thrown under the bus for a massive breach. But it wasnt the hack, or even any poor information security practices, that got Sullivan in trouble. He worked to hide the data breach from the Federal Trade Commission and took steps to prevent the hackers from being caught, a US attorney said after the trial.

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Hacks and breaches happen. Theyre an unfortunate reality in modern society. Yet there are countless cases, including last years Colonial Pipeline hack, where best practices werent followed and executives werent held to account until after the damage had been done. Laws at both the state and federal level require companies to report hacks, but regulation is weak when it comes to ensuring such breaches dont happen in the first place.

Time has come for preventative compliance to be prescribed and enforced.

Just as the US has Generally Accepted Accounting Principles  with SOX setting up the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board to help with compliance  the government should coordinate security standards and hold executives accountable. And since many CISOs are not taken seriously, or even ignored, the principal officers required to sign off need to include not just the security chief but the CEO too. The threat of jail will be a strong incentive to pay attention to how customer data are handled.

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Although academics and industry professionals debate the most secure and cost-effective ways to protect data, there are best practices that most can agree on. The National Institute of Standards and Technology, for example, lists methods of hashing and encrypting data that have been tested and verified. Frameworks also exist for how to determine and allocate information-access privileges, maintain software, keep and store network logs, and delete data.

Even with an abundance of accepted practices already established, executives are neither required nor incentivized to ensure theyre applied.

Perhaps the threat of criminal prosecution will finally get corporate leaders to take information security seriously.

More From This Writer and Others at Bloomberg Opinion:

 The Race Is On to Fight a Threat That Doesnt Exist: Tim Culpan

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 Insurers Must Brace for Catastrophic Cyber Risk: Olson & Culpan

 Regulators Can Look Into Social Medias Black Box: Parmy Olson

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Tim Culpan is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering technology in Asia. Previously, he was a technology reporter for Bloomberg News.

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When Covid-19 spread, Britons got used to regular government messaging such as hands, face, space. But as the pandemic wore on (and on), a backlash against the briefings and ever-evolving rules took hold. Britain has long responded to public information campaigns, but people wanted more freedom to decide which risks to take.

UK Prime Minister Liz Truss rode that wave to power this summer. She railed against handouts and the nanny state. Take back control, that Brexit message, became something more like give back control. It helped make her point when this summers heat wave hit and the government offered such helpful messaging as stay out of the heat and find somewhere else that is cool. Cue eyerolls.

Problem is, Truss has leaned so far into her ideological aversion to interventionism that the government risks failing households as the winter energy crisis hits. It reportedly scrapped a 15 million ($16.7 million) plan to provide energy-saving advice to consumers. Were not a nanny-state government, said UK climate minister Graham Stuart. The latest approach seems to be to beef up the fairly unhelpful help for households website, which largely summarizes available support.

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Contrast this with the European approach. Like the UK, EU countries have put in place substantial support for consumers and businesses to cushion the blow of rising energy costs. But unlike the UK, Europe is going all in for demand management. The EU has a voluntary target to cut gas consumption by 15% and the European Commission set a goal of 10% reduction in electricity consumption until the end of March 2023. Many EU countries have large public campaigns to drive down demand, informing consumers on how best to save energy and building support for small sacrifices that add up to big savings.

That approach fits squarely with the literature on how to achieve energy savings in a hurry, says Yael Parag, vice dean of the School of Sustainability at Reichman University in Israel. To be honest, I dont understand the rationale behind not giving advice to people. If anything, we should have more of this targeted information rather than less of it. It raises awareness and gives people practical advice on how to manage their usage. It can also be tailored so that vulnerable parts of the population  the elderly, for example  dont take unnecessary risks.

Chile did just that when it experienced an electricity shortfall brought on by a drought in 2007-2008. The government offered financial support for the most vulnerable part of the population along with a host of measures to reduce demand. Similarly, after an avalanche severed hydroelectric power supply in Juneau, Alaska in 2008, the government launched a Juneau unplugged campaign that emphasized how conserving electricity was part of being a good citizen.

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Parag recalls that when sabotage took out a natural gas pipeline from Egypt in 2012, Israeli radio carried broadcasts urging people to turn off unnecessary appliances during peak hours. You dont need everyone to respond; its enough that some do, she says. A sweeping 2011 International Energy Agency study examined the impact of demand-reduction strategies in New Zealand, Chile, Ontario, Japan and elsewhere. It found that government-led efforts to reduce demand were powerful in bringing about behavioral change in a hurry.

Truss figures Brits dont need to be told to turn down the thermometer and buy slankets. The governments laissez-faire approach is partly based on the assumption that Britain wont face an energy shortage as it doesnt have Europes dependency on Russian gas. Indeed, Truss went so far as to rule out blackouts this winter during her leadership campaign. And yet Britains National Grid operator has admitted that scenario is possible.

But even without a shortage situation, there is an economic case for encouraging demand reduction seeing as the UK government  that is, the taxpayer  has promised some 60 billion in energy support. (And the UK governments positions often betray conflicting motives, as plans to ban solar panels on farmland testify.)

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Its true that nanny states deny people autonomy and encourage an overreliance on handouts, which can destroy innovation and growth. But given the enormous need to save on energy costs and the very real risk of supply problems, such objections feel absurd in this case. One in five UK households containing dependent children experienced fuel poverty in 2020, and the outlook for this winter, given surging prices, is grim. Many families will struggle to pay their bills even with the governments support package.

While many websites have information on energy reduction, the internet can be a confusing place. What measures provide the most impact at the lowest cost for certain properties or households? A clear, targeted public information campaign can reduce some of the noise and focus on options that will be most effective. Adding insulation is probably the most important step many homes can take, but smaller things like not running a washing machine or dishwasher until full or changing to energy-saving light bulbs are also useful. Some councils are offering local warm spaces so residents can come in from the cold.

Of course, a public information campaign should only be one piece of a demand-reduction strategy. Whether aimed at achieving mandatory net-zero targets or getting through the winters ahead, a comprehensive approach would focus on food and agriculture, transport, residential buildings, non-domestic buildings and industry, and involve a range of tools from price-signaling to potentially rationing. By comparison, the UKs is too haphazard and passive.

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Trusss dogmatism has already landed the government in a heap of trouble with markets and her own party. Its one thing to hope for the best, quite another to fail to prepare for the worst.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Therese Raphael is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion covering health care and British politics. Previously, she was editorial page editor of the Wall Street Journal Europe.

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(Reuters) - Russian oil imports into the European Union and United Kingdom fell 35% to 1.7 million barrels per day (bpd) in August from 2.6 million bpd in January, but the EU was still the biggest market for Russian crude, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

On Wednesday, Poland said it had detected a leak in one pipeline in the Druzhba system that carries oil from Russia to Europe, an event that will add to concerns about Europe's energy security after the Nord Stream gas pipeline leak.

For a FACTBOX on Druzhba see

The UK has already stopped importing Russian crude following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, and the EU will ban imports from December in an attempt to strip the Kremlin of revenue to fund the war.

The ban will most likely create a shortage of oil due to a general lack of spare crude volumes in the world.

So far imports from the United States have replaced about half the 800,000 barrels of lost Russian imports, with Norway providing around a third. The United States could soon overtake Russia as the main crude supplier to the EU and the UK combined - by August, U.S. imports lagged those from Russia by just 40,000 bpd compared with a 1.3 million bpd pre-war average, according to the IEA.

Outside the EU, Russia's top crude oil export markets are China, India and Turkey.

WHAT ARE THE ALTERNATIVES TO RUSSIAN CRUDE? Under the looming ban, the EU will need to replace an additional 1.4 million barrels of Russian crude, with some 300,000 bpd potentially coming from the United States and 400,000 bpd from Kazakhstan, the IEA has said. Norway's largest oilfield Johan Sverdrup, which produces medium-heavy crude similar to Russia's Urals, also plans to ramp-up production in the fourth-quarter, potentially by 220,000 bpd. The IEA says imports from other areas such as the Middle East and Latin America would be needed to fully meet EU demand. Some Russian oil will continue to flow into the EU via pipelines as the ban excludes some landlocked refineries unless Russia decides to stop the flows.

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HOW MUCH DOES THE EU DEPEND ON RUSSIAN CRUDE IMPORTS? Germany, the Netherlands and Poland were the top importers of Russian oil in Europe last year, but all three have capacity to bring in seaborne crude.

Landlocked countries in Eastern Europe, such as Slovakia or Hungary, however, have few alternatives to pipeline supplies from Russia. The EU's dependence on Russia has also been underpinned by companies such as Rosneft and Lukoil, controlling some of the bloc's largest refineries. Russian crude oil flows, based on loading data in August, rose month-on-month to Italy and the Netherlands, where Russian oil major Lukoil owns refineries, according to the IEA. The German government on Sept. 16 took control of the Rosneft-owned Schwedt refinery which supplies about 90% of Berlin's fuel needs.

For a FACTBOX on how German refineries seek to operate without Russian crude, see

Also in September, the Italian government said it hoped Lukoil would find a buyer for its ISAB refinery in Sicily, which accounts for a fifth of the country's refining capacity.

(Compiled by Nerijus Adomaitis; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
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The asymmetrical fury of Russias apparent response to last weeks bombing of the symbolically significant Kerch Strait bridge seems to signal that the attack crossed one of Vladimir Putins important red lines. Its still not certain, however, that the much-used concept of red lines  cited, on occasion, by Putin himself, too  in fact applies to the Russian dictator. And that is exactly why answering the question of whether Putin is actually prepared to use nuclear weapons is so tough.

The notion of red lines that, when crossed, can trigger the imposition of dire consequences may go back to the line a Roman envoy drew in the sand at the feet of Seleucid King Antiochus IV to dissuade him from attacking Alexandria. The lines somehow turned red in the 1970s, and various leaders since have set them down as a warning or a threat, sometimes without really meaning it. Barack Obama insisted the use of chemical weapons by Bashar Assad in Syria would be a red line  but Assad, who almost certainly did use the weapons, still leads that country long after Obama ceased to be US president.

Putin saw his Syrian ally cross Obamas line without any particular consequences, but that didnt prevent him from often talking of his own red lines, though in an intentionally vague manner.

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I hope nobody will get it into their heads to cross Russias so-called red line, he said in April 2021. Where it will be drawn, we will decide ourselves in each specific case.

Despite the vagueness, Putin appeared to assume his Western counterparts knew where the line was. We understand, of course, that our partners are quite particular and  how shall I put it mildly  that they have a very superficial attitude toward all our warnings and our talk of red lines, he complained in November of the same year.

Three months later, he ordered the invasion of Ukraine, himself crossing the most important red line that has existed in Europe since the defeat of Nazi Germany  the one between fragile peace and a major war. The gamble hasnt gone well for Putin. Time after time, Ukrainians have crossed what many would assume to be military superpower Russias red lines. They sank the Russian Black Sea Fleets flagship, named after the Russian capital  the Moskva; they have shelled, and continue to shell, Russian regions across the internationally recognized border; they have even ignored Putins formal annexation of conquered territories and taken some of them back mere hours after Putins announcement. In other words, they have consistently defied and mocked Putin  to a point where many, both inside and outside Russia, wondered if he really had the means for a forceful response  or if he really cared much about the damage being done to Russias prestige as a major power.Igor Girkin (Strelkov), one of Putins most eloquent and consistent critics on the ultranationalist Russian right, has regularly restated on his Telegram channel his belief that the Russian elites only real red line passes somewhere in the vicinity of Novo-Ogaryovo near Moscow, where Putin has his official residence and many of Moscows rich and powerful have built villas.

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And yet, a mere two days after a truck bomb blew a 12-meter-long hole in the Kerch bridge and Ukraines leaders rejoiced  they even announced a commemorative postage stamp  Ukrainian cities were hit with what may be the worst missile barrage since the war began. Some 200 cruise missiles were fired. Although Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has claimed that half of them were deflected, the damage  including to residential areas and busy intersections hit during the morning rush hour  was obvious and terrifying.

Russian officials played this as payback for the bridge explosion. Episode One has been enacted, former president Dmitri Medvedev, who had warned that an attack on the Kerch bridge would mean an instant judgment day for Ukraine, wrote triumphantly on Telegram. There will be others. Patriotic and official commentators also presented the missile barrage as an act of revenge. Putin himself linked the two events in a brief speech to his Security Council on Monday, warning, In case attempted terror arracks continue on our territory, Russias responses will be harsh and on a scale commensurate with the threat level.

Does this mean, however, that Putin, who missed many a previous pretext for retaliation, actually had a red line drawn cross that bridge? No matter the importance of the artery that linked occupied Crimea to Russia and overcame a Ukrainian blockade, its bombing  for which Ukraine actually never claimed responsibility  is not the most significant blow to the Kremlins prestige since the war began. Besides, railroad traffic across the bridge resumed, albeit fitfully at first, soon after the explosion, so the blow to Russias military logistics has hardly been deadly. Abandoning entire towns and sending Russian collaborators fleeing across the border has been a far greater embarrassment  and a far costlier loss, undermining the trust of potential sympathizers across Ukraine.

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Putins emotional involvement in the conflict with Ukraine is painfully obvious in his pallor, his tight lips, his white knuckles. Its possible that the bridge  of personal significance, since he actually drove the first truck across it  was one insult too far in his visibly unstable condition.

On the other hand  and especially given the Russian militarys oft-demonstrated disorganization  the missile strike likely couldnt have been planned and prepared in the short time since the explosion. And even if the Kerch bridge had not been attacked, the barrage matches the personal style of the new commander of the Russian invasion force, Army General Sergei Surovikin, a man known for his ruthlessness and, among other things, for the near-complete destruction of Syrias second city, Aleppo. The missile attack aimed to take offline much of Ukraines energy and heat generation infrastructure; indeed, a number of Ukrainian cities suffered electricity, heating and water supply outages. On Tuesday, the attacks continued in a similar vein, hitting more power stations and network infrastructure  long after a mere retaliatory strike would have been over.There is no evidence that Putin has ever cared about any red lines  his own or those drawn by others. Rather, he has hit out when he felt he could get away with it, not guided by any kind of principles except a clear enough understanding of who his enemies are. People have often wondered at his ability to take meekly what many a great power leader would not have tolerated  like, for example, Turkeys downing of a Russian warplane in 2015, which only led to comically inadequate consequences that included a ban on Turkish tomatoes. But Putin doesnt really operate according to the logic of provocation and response. Instead, he is constantly searching for opportunities to gain an advantage; when he doesnt see them, he just loses  and, yes, loses face.The way to beat Putin, then, isnt to provoke him until hes off balance. Its to deny him the openings he seeks. Ive often been wrong about his motives  but it would not fit the logic of his previous behavior, such as it is, to use a nuclear weapon in response to further defeats on the battlefields of conventional war. If Ukraine manages to win on the ground despite Russias remaining formidable firepower, and despite the newly mobilized Russian forces heading to the front lines, it wouldnt be like Putin to launch an apocalypse; hed take a loss, take steps to minimize it and  while he still can  look for his next chance.That is, of course, if he is still relatively sane  something there have been many reasons to doubt in recent months.

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A Decision Tree for Biden if Putin Goes Nuclear: Andreas Kluth



An Unhinged Putin Is a Warning to China and Xi: Clara Ferreira Marques



Putins War Hawks Are No Longer in Step: Leonid Bershidsky

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Leonid Bershidsky, formerly Bloomberg Opinions Europe columnist, is a member of the Bloomberg News Automation Team. He recently published Russian translations of George Orwells 1984 and Franz Kafkas The Trial.

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NASHVILLE, Tenn.  As unions see new hope from organizing U.S. businesses ranging from Starbucks storefronts to an Amazon warehouse, Republican-led Tennessee will officially take its voters temperature on an organized labor issue in November. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Lawmakers there have offered up a ballot amendment that asks voters whether to change the state constitution to add Tennessees existing law that bans a company and a union from contracts that require workers to pay dues to the union representing them. Proponents, including business interests and Republican politicians, call the prohibitions right-to-work law. Unions oppose the change and the right-to-work label.

Tennessee has had such a law on the books since 1947, and the ballot amendments outcome wouldnt change how the existing law works. It would simply become harder to eliminate it going forward.

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The amendments wording wont be as straightforward as some other ballot initiatives, including an anti-abortion proposal that failed in Kansas earlier this year. That gives proponents and opponents more power over characterizing Tennessees proposed change.

The long road to insert it into the Tennessee Constitution began in 2020, largely predating the recent national groundswell of interest in unions. Backers of the amendment have cited concerns about attempts by congressional Democrats to pass a labor bill that would bar such laws nationwide. It has passed the House but not the Senate. They also have raised concerns that Democratic-run states could try to unwind so-called right-to-work laws.

The amendment will offer a rare snapshot this November of voter sentiment on a flashpoint in the debate between union and business interests, even if the elections outcome wont change much. Democratic-led Illinois has proposed a labor-favored amendment, asking voters to etch collective bargaining rights into the state constitution.

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Business groups have described Tennessees current requirements as a crucial economic development tool to entice business to move or expand, and the states Republican political leadership supports the amendment. Unions believe these laws are aimed at crippling their efforts to organize and fight for better compensation and conditions by siphoning off funding from workers. Under federal law, unions must represent all eligible workers in a union-represented workplace unit even if they arent dues-paying members.

I think if it were not successful, or even if it was a close vote, it would be actually pretty stunning, said John Logan, director of labor and employment studies at San Francisco State University. It would suggest that, yeah, there is this sort of national, more pro-union, pro-labor sentiment than is reflected in terms of political establishment in a lot of states in the South.

Currently, 27 states have laws like Tennessees; nine have them in their constitutions.

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But recent results have been mixed when voters weigh in. Virginia voters rejected a similar constitutional change in 2016, while Missouri voters effectively vetoed a right-to-work law in 2018. Alabama voters approved its constitutional change in 2016.

Interest in organized labor has been galvanized for several reasons, Logan said: high favorability among younger workers; workers who faced difficult conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic; and workforce shortfalls that have empowered workers.

Even so, Tennessee poses a formidable challenge.

Some Tennessee GOP politicians, including Lee, have even previously waded in against individual union campaigns at employers, including the failed 2019 vote at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga.

What were doing right now in Tennessee is working. Right-to-work is common sense. And with federal efforts to repeal it nationwide, its time for Tennesseans to speak up, Lee said in a TV ad.

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Predictably, unions see things differently.

Corporate CEOs see workers at places like Amazon and Starbucks rising up around the country and so they want to put these anti-worker laws in the constitution to make them almost impossible to change in the future, Wes Trotterchaud, a Teamster from East Tennessee, said in a news release from the No on 1 Committee.

They also see reasons for hope in Tennessee.

For one, a massive Ford plant and corresponding electric vehicle battery plant by SK Innovation are heading to West Tennessee. Politicians, Ford officials and union leaders say itll be up to the workers whether to organize, but Michigan-based Ford has deep roots with organized labor.

Even though some Republicans pushed to bar a simpler route to a successful union vote at the new complex  or at least at companies similarly receiving state incentives  those efforts failed. Ford has avoided taking sides on Tennessees proposed amendment.

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The smaller-scale union pushes seen nationally also have drawn attention in Tennessee. Among them  about a half-dozen Starbucks coffee shops have organized, including in Memphis and Knoxville.

Union membership has lagged behind in Tennessee, at only about half the national average of 10.3% of the workforce in 2021. But while the national percentage decreased from 2020 to 2021, Tennessees share grew from 4.4% to 5.2%.

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The incredibly complex, high-stakes business of making semiconductors has always been a battle between global giants. Now its also a race among governments. These critical bits of technology -- also known as integrated circuits or, more commonly, just chips -- may be the tiniest yet most exacting products ever manufactured. And because theyre so difficult and costly to produce, theres a worldwide reliance on just a handful of companies -- a dependence that was brought into stark relief by shortages during the pandemic. At the same time, the US has been ratcheting up curbs on chip companies exports to China to contain the rise of a geopolitical and economic rival. Tens of billions of dollars have been committed in a dash to expand production in the coming years -- just as a looming recession began to drastically curb global demand.

1. Why the war over chips?

Chipmaking has become an increasingly precarious business. New plants have a price tag of up to $20 billion, take years to build and need to be run flat-out for 24 hours a day to turn a profit. The scale required has reduced the number of companies with leading-edge technology to just three -- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), South Koreas Samsung Electronics Co. and Intel Corp. of the US. Chipmakers are under increasing scrutiny over what they sell to China, the largest market for chips. Shifts in the global supply chain and recent shortages has governments rushing to subsidize new factories and equipment, from the US and Europe to China and Japan.

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2. Why are chips so critical?

Theyre the thing that makes electronic items smart. Made from materials deposited on disks of silicon, chips can perform a variety of functions. Memory chips, which store data, are relatively simple and are traded like commodities. Logic chips, which run programs and act as the brains of a device, are more complex and expensive. And as the technology running devices -- from space hardware to refrigerators -- is getting smarter and more connected, semiconductors are more pervasive in the modern world. That explosion has some analysts forecasting that the industry will double in value to become a trillion-dollar market this decade.

3. Is the world short of computer chips?

Pandemic lockdowns and supply-chain shortages made many types of chips scarce for a period of about two years. That event helped usher in this new era, with an increasing realization of their strategic importance. Now that PC and phone demand is cooling off post-pandemic -- and much of the world is falling into a recession -- the cycle has turned. Chipmakers are warning of a glut in certain areas, though some customers including carmakers are still struggling to get enough. Yet for political reasons chipmakers were still poised to add capacity at a time of shaky demand  which could further upend the industry.

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4. Hows the competition going?

 In October, the US imposed tighter controls on exports of some chips and chipmaking equipment to China to stop it from developing capabilities that could become a military threat, such as supercomputers and artificial intelligence.

 China is pushing hard to catch up but is facing more US moves to restrict access. Notably, Chinas Huawei Technologies Co., which once led the market for mobile phone infrastructure and rivaled Samsung as one of the biggest smartphone makers, was cut off from its primary suppliers. In any case, China has a long way to go and its task is getting harder.

 TSMC had been unveiling bigger budgets, while Samsung was introducing cutting-edge technology ahead of its rivals. TSMCs revenue is expected to surge 40% this year. In 2021, Samsung overtook Intel to become the worlds largest chipmaker; this year, TSMC is on course to overtake Intel.

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 US politicians have decided that they need to do more than just hold back China. The Chips and Science Act, signed into law Aug. 9, will provide $50 billion of federal money to support US production of semiconductors and foster a skilled workforce needed by the industry.

 European Union officials are exploring ways to build an advanced semiconductor factory in Europe, with assistance from Intel and possibly TSMC, as part of its goal to double chip production to 20% of the global market by 2030.

5. How does Taiwan fit into all this?

The island democracy emerged as the dominant player in outsourced chipmaking partly because of a government decision in the 1970s to promote the electronics industry. TSMC almost single-handedly created the business of building chips for others, one that was embraced as the cost of building plants skyrocketed. Large-scale customers like Apple Inc. gave it the massive volume to build industry-leading expertise and now the world now relies on it. Matching its scale and skills would take years and cost a fortune. Politics have made the race about more than money, though, with the US signaling that it will continue efforts to restrict Chinas access to American technology used in Taiwans foundries. China has long claimed the island, just 100 miles off its coast, as a renegade province and threatened to invade to prevent its independence. Recent military exercises by China have reignited concerns about the worlds dependence on Taiwan for chips.

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Personhood -- the concept of granting legal rights to the unborn at conception or a couple of months after -- is shaping into the next battleground in the fight over abortion rights in the US. In the wake of the Supreme Courts June decision overturning the constitutional right to abortion, old state rules recognizing fetuses as people have new potency, and conservative state legislatures are pushing for powerful new statutes. Critics of these so-called personhood laws worry they will be used not only to criminalize abortion but also miscarriages, the termination of pregnancies that threaten the mothers life, and some types of contraception.

1. How do personhood laws differ from abortion bans?

Abortion bans clamp down on the practice, while personhood laws regulate pregnancy much more broadly. The latter grant a fetus, the developmental stage that begins eight weeks after conception, or a zygote or embryo, the two earlier stages, the same legal rights as a person, including the right to life.

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2. Are these laws something new?

Not entirely. Even before the Supreme Courts decision overturning Roe v. Wade, at least 11 states already had broad personhood language in their constitutions, laws or policies that could be read to affect all state civil and criminal laws, according to the National Advocates for Pregnant Women, a non-profit organization that backs abortion rights. For instance, Alabama adopted a constitutional amendment in 2018 ensuring the protection of the rights of the unborn, while Missouri since 1986 has had a law that defines life as beginning at conception. An additional five states -- Kentucky, Louisiana, Ohio, South Dakota and Texas -- had defined person as including a fetus throughout the state criminal code, according to the group.

3. Whats changed?

Until the Supreme Courts ruling in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization, this kind of language was largely symbolic because Roe v. Wade had guaranteed a right to abortion throughout the country. Now that states have the latitude to make their own rules on abortion, personhood laws and policies have the potential to carry real weight. Georgia is a case in point. Its 2019 personhood law had been blocked by a court as unconstitutional, but after the Dobbs hearing, an appeals court cleared it to take effect in July. The statute, the most expansive of its type in the country, prohibits abortion after six weeks, explicitly recognizes the fetus at that point as a person, and could provide a blueprint for other conservative states as it essentially extends criminal and civil law to cover fetuses. The law provides expectant mothers a $3,000 tax credit per fetus and allows them to file for child support during pregnancy; it also instructs state officials to include fetuses in population counts.

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4. Wheres the legislative push?

Ohio lawmakers proposed a law in July that would ban abortions at conception instead of at the six-week mark as the current law provides. In Oklahoma, where a total abortion ban has been in place since May, a bill equating rights of unborn persons to rights of born persons has passed one chamber of the legislature. An Arizona law grants personhood to fertilized eggs, embryos and fetuses, but in July a court blocked it from being used to criminalize providers of abortion, which is prohibited in the state after 15 weeks. Other personhood statutes have been introduced in statehouses in Iowa, Vermont, South Carolina and West Virginia, according to the Guttmacher Institute, an advocacy organization that supports abortion rights. A federal personhood law was introduced last year in both houses of Congress and attracted 166 cosponsors in the House of Representatives, out of 435 total members. It specified that the right to life is vested in each human being at all stages of life, including the moment of fertilization.

5. What are possible implications of personhood laws?

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 Because personhood laws grant a zygote, embryo or fetus rights equal to those of the pregnant woman, the latter may be held criminally liable for harm that comes to the former. Those who obtain an abortion could be charged with murder. The laws could make it more likely that those who miscarry are investigated for negligently or intentionally ending their pregnancies, with some of them prosecuted. Even without these laws, some womens rights advocates say that feticide and child endangerment laws -- originally passed to protect pregnant women as well as the unborn -- are increasingly being used to prosecute women for crimes such as assault or murder after miscarriages and stillbirths. About 1,300 women were arrested or charged in the US from 2006 to 2020 for their actions during pregnancy, three times the number for the 33 years prior, according to the National Advocates for Pregnant Women.

 Depending on their wording, personhood laws could make it illegal for a doctor to terminate a pregnancy even when there is a life-threatening complication, such as when a fertilized egg implants ectopically, that is, outside the uterus where it cant survive. Georgias law explicitly excludes terminating ectopic pregnancies, whereas the Arizona law was unacceptably vague on this point, according to the judge who blocked it.

 Critics worry that personhood laws could take away the rights of patients to decide what to do with embryos created through in vitro fertilization, although some of the proposed statutes make exceptions for this case. Georgias law applies only to an unborn child who is carried in the womb.

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 There are also concerns the laws could criminalize the use of two birth control methods, the morning-after pill and the intrauterine device (IUD). Both work by preventing fertilization, but some anti-abortion activists incorrectly argue that they can stop implantation of a fertilized egg.

6. What has the Supreme Court said about personhood?

When the Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade in 1973, it rejected the argument that a fetus was a person with all the protections, including the right to life, of the Constitutions Fourteenth Amendment, which guarantees all citizens equal protection of the laws. Justice Harry Blackmun, in the majority opinion, concluded that in the context of the Fourteenth Amendment, a person did not include the unborn. A fetus, he said, is not a person but potential life. Writing for the majority in the Dobbs decision, Justice Samuel Alito concluded that Roe was egregiously wrong in supporting a constitutional right to abortion, but his ruling explicitly dodged the question of when prenatal life is entitled to any of the rights enjoyed after birth. In October, the high court declined to take up an appeal by a Catholic group and two women of a lower courts ruling on a personhood case. In that ruling, a Rhode Island said that fetuses lacked the proper legal standing to challenge a 2019 state law codifying the right to abortion.

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Hiroshi Mikitani, founder of Japanese e-commerce empire Rakuten Group Inc., is keeping investors on hold while his own fortune declines. Once ranked the 25th richest person in Asia, Mikitani no longer even features in the top 140, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Its not hard to see why: Rakuten shares are trading near levels last seen in 2010 as investors sour on attempts to grow itself into Japans fourth-biggest mobile carrier. That business lost 124 billion yen ($848 million) last quarter alone, an 18th consecutive period of red ink that has ballooned to a total of nearly 1 trillion yen as the firm builds out its mobile operations.

Investors patience with the plan has been waning for months. Earlier this year, Rakuten blinked first when it abandoned its zero yen data offering, which gave users effectively free bills and was its chief differentiator in a crowded market. Shares have fallen more than 20% since, leaving Mikitanis $2.7 billion fortune at less than a quarter of its 2015 peak.

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More concerningly, Rakuten is carving off parts of its best businesses to finance the cellular aspirations. Last week, the company agreed to sell 20% of its online brokerage, Rakuten Securities Inc., to Mizuho Financial Group Inc. for a little over $500 million. It plans to offload more of its securities unit in a forthcoming initial public offering, with its banking subsidiary also poised to go public.

Rakuten may be throwing good money after bad. The plan for mobile is another effort to get customers into its points ecosystem, in which users of one service (such as its mainstay online mall) are encouraged to use and earn points on another (such as insurance or credit cards). Its hard to see how mobile will contribute significantly to this in the near term; Rakuten has just 5.5 million subscribers, compared to market leader Docomos 85 million. Rakuten says that losses have bottomed out and its targeting profitability in the year ending March 2024, while it plans to reach 10 million subscribers before the end of the decade.

The bet on phones wasnt a bad one at the time; Japans three main carriers are among the countrys biggest money-spinners. The plan seems to have been to hive off some of the cash generated by Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp.s Docomo, KDDI Corp.s AU and SoftBank Group Corp.s listed mobile unit SoftBank Corp.

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That cash in turn could have been shifted into finding potential new sources of revenue growth. Like many Japanese tech firms, Rakutens overseas ambitions have largely gone nowhere, despite its controversial Englishnization decision to change its official company language to English to help it compete. Over a decade later, more than 80% of its revenue still comes from Japan, a share thats little changed in the past five years.

But instead of boosting Rakutens other businesses, mobile has become a millstone around Mikitanis neck. S&P Global Ratings, which cut the companys credit to junk last year, has warned that delays in improving cash flow due to spending on mobile risk further reductions to its debt rating.

Can things be turned around? Rakuten Mobiles chief executive officer, Tareq Amin, certainly has prior experience, having helped build out Reliance Jio. But unlike India, Japans mobile market is fully mature, with nearly twice the number of mobile subscriptions as there are people.

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Any new entrant needs to be able to do the equivalent of what SoftBanks Masayoshi Son did in the 2000s, when he bought and revamped Vodafone Group Plcs struggling Japan operations. Son accomplished that by convincing Steve Jobs to give him exclusive Japanese rights to sell the iPhone  but in a world where smartphone tech has largely plateaued, theres no obvious equivalent play for Mikitani to make.

To make matters worse, permitting Rakutens entry into the market was just one of the strategies the Japanese government has used to boost competition in the sector  a key concern of ruling party heavyweight and former prime minister Yoshihide Suga. The idea of a low-cost but robust network might have been novel when Rakuten first announced it would enter mobile in 2017, but government pressure has since forced existing networks to unveil cheaper competitors, leaving consumers spoiled for choice.

Theres also an opportunity cost. Rakutens e-commerce business in Japan faces increasing competition not just from Amazon.com Inc. but also from SoftBank, which has come to dominate the growing mobile payments sector, too. SoftBanks PayPay controls 45% of the QR code payment market, versus Rakuten Pays 17% share.

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The outspoken, Harvard-educated Mikitani has long been seen as a maverick of the Japanese corporate world, feuding with old-school business lobby Keidanren, assailing plans to hold the Tokyo Olympics during the Covid pandemic as a suicide mission, and seeking to beat a different path than the countrys staid executives. His online mall was a dot-com era success, one the firm sought to replicate overseas with a series of prominent acquisitions. But now, Rakuten is in danger of becoming like the older firms it had tried to disrupt: fighting with local competitors for a share of a shrinking domestic pie, rather than pursuing loftier challenges overseas, such as bets on streaming video in Europe and the US that have largely failed to meaningfully add to revenue. The firm ended up teaming with old-school money in a 2021 tie-up with Japan Post Holdings Co. Absent an iPhone-like game changer, Mikitani might need to take a different page from Sons playbook and seek outside investors with deeper pockets who could finance the sort of long-term spending needed to make mobile a success. When Mikitanis wealth peaked in 2015, the gap to the richest person in Asia (Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.s Jack Ma) was just $25 billion. These days, the regions richest men  the Indian tycoons Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani  command far greater wealth. Both have displayed their interests in mobile. With the yen at the weakest since 1998, Japan represents terrific value for money. Perhaps time to phone a friend?

More From Bloomberg Opinion:

 Indias Richest Men and the $2 Customer: Andy Mukherjee

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 The Whole World Could Do With an Early iPhone: Tim Culpan

 SoftBanks Shogun Has a Rare Moment of Contrition: Gearoid Reidy

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Gearoid Reidy is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Japan and the Koreas. He previously led the breaking news team in North Asia, and was the Tokyo deputy bureau chief.

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By early next year, the US government will likely run out of money to pay for Covid-19 vaccines, tests and treatments. Although President Joe Biden has requested an additional $22 billion from Congress, Republicans are in no mood to continue splurging on the pandemic  not least because so much relief money has already been misspent.

Shifting more costs to the private sector makes sense, but some level of government funding is still necessary to protect the vulnerable and stay ahead of future threats. The administration and lawmakers should agree on a more limited approach that focuses on those most in need and ensures that the US is still prepared to fight the next pandemic.

Since the start of the Covid outbreak, the government has allocated more than $86 billion for shots and treatments. By most metrics, the effort has been a success: Some 215 million people have been fully vaccinated and almost 10 million courses of therapeutics have been administered, all free to consumers. This investment has prevented millions of deaths and hospitalizations. Although the pandemic isnt yet over, as Biden has declared, the government has largely done its job.

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So what should come next?

With another relief package unlikely, the White House should prioritize. As a start, its hard to justify spending more money on free shots for the 92% of Americans covered by health insurance. Its true that the US vaccination rate  at 68%  remains disappointingly low. But by now its clear that money isnt the issue for those forgoing their shots.

The key will be managing the transition to insurers. In August, the Biden administration met with state and local officials, health-care providers, insurers, and drugmakers to discuss what it calls the pathway to commercialization, which is a good start. But Congress, too, needs to step up. In particular, some treatments are available only under an emergency-use authorization, which means they may not be covered by Medicare and Medicaid once the public-health emergency ends. Optimally, the Food and Drug Administration will conclude its reviews before government supplies run out. If it doesnt, Congress should enable the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to expand the definition of covered drugs to include Covid-19 therapeutics.

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Next, the uninsured will still need help. Lawmakers should consider Bidens proposal in next years budget to offer free vaccines to adults who lack coverage, modeled after a similar successful program for children. A dedicated vaccine program, which would include flu and other routine shots, would be an improvement on the current use of discretionary funds primarily during outbreaks. It also would better prepare the health system for future threats from vaccine-preventable diseases.

Even as the government reels in its spending, however, it needs to prepare for the next variant and future pandemics. Congress should continue to authorize funding for basic research, the development of new vaccines and therapeutics, and manufacturing capacity. Advance purchase commitments from the federal government also would reduce uncertainty for drugmakers and incentivize further innovation. A revolving fund approach, in which private insurers and public programs reimburse the government after an initial investment, could help alleviate taxpayers burden.

In ways big and small, the US is moving on from Covid. With a bit of foresight, the federal government should be able to manage this transition as well  without putting Americans at needless risk.

More From Bloomberg Opinion:

 Heres Who Really Needs the Updated Covid Booster: Faye Flam

 Long Covid Has Become a Parallel Pandemic: Lisa Jarvis

 The CDC Needs to Restore the Publics Trust: Editorial

The Editors are members of the Bloomberg Opinion editorial board.

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In May 2014, while sitting at his desk eating a bag of nuts, the man bit down and cracked a tooth. In desperate need of a dentist, he Googled and found the offices of Bilal Ahmed, who had a practice in Northwest Washington.

Ahmed told the patient that the tooth had to be extracted and that he had to use nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas, for sedation during the procedure.

The patient said he woke to find his anesthetic mask askew and the dentist forcing him into oral sex. Prosecutors later determined that the 31-year-old was not Ahmeds only victim.

In D.C. Superior Court on Friday, Ahmed was sentenced to 16 1 /2 years in prison for sexually assaulting five patients and one employee between 2010 and 2014.

[Dentist charged with sexually assaulting patients during procedures]

Ahmed, 45, was arrested last year and charged with the string of attacks in his offices at Universal Smiles, at 2311 M St. NW in the Districts West End. The office is closed and Ahmeds license has been revoked. In May, he pleaded guilty, with charges including first-degree sexual abuse of a patient, four counts of second-degree sexual abuse of a patient and three misdemeanor charges of sexual abuse. Ahmed will have to register as a sex offender for life.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sharon Marcus-Kurn said Ahmed preyed on male patients he had identified as being gay.

He lured his victims and gained their trust with his fancy Georgetown office and white physicians coat, she said. His pleasure was momentary, but his effects will be forever with his victims.

In court Friday, four of Ahmeds former patients and one former employee spoke of feeling betrayed after trusting the dentist, only to be sexually assaulted while they were sedated.

One victim recounted to Judge Zoe Bush at the sentencing that while he was attending medical school in Washington, he was assaulted by Ahmed in 2010. I was mortified at being sexual assaulted by another doctor, he said, adding that Ahmed telephoned him the next day just to ask me if I was okay.

One victim said he lived in silence even as he watched a growing number of women go public with their stories of sexual assault and harassment nationwide as part of the #MeToo movement.

I thought no one would believe me. No one believes gay men can be raped, he told the judge.



Bilal Ahmed, 43, hides his face as he leaves D.C. Superior Court with his attorneys, Peggy Bennett and Barry Coburn, on Jan. 28, 2016. Ahmed was sentenced on Dec. 15, 2017, to more than 16 years in prison for sexually assaulting five patients and an employee when he had a dental practice. (Keith Alexander/The Washington Post)

One person whom Ahmed assaulted in 2014 received a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder and suffered panic attacks, prosecutors said. Some patients, prosecutors said, have not returned to any dental office.

Ahmed sat at a courtroom table next to his attorneys as the victims spoke, covering his face with his right hand.

Ahmed is a husband and father of six whose 3-year-old son died in June in an accidental fall from a window.

Ronald Weiner, a forensic mental-health expert who examined Ahmed after his arrest, said at the sentencing that he believes the former dentist, who said he was sexually assaulted as a child, would not reoffend after therapy.

Walking to the lectern with a cane after recently suffering a heart attack, Ahmed, standing next to his attorney, apologized to his victims, the judge and his family. I feel the shame, he said. To err is human, to forgive, divine.
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Virginia Democratic voters signaled impatience with establishment politicians in primary elections Tuesday, sending home one high-profile state Senator who had been embraced by top leaders and giving the scare of a lifetime to another. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Sen. Rosalyn R. Dance (D-Petersburg) lost by a wide margin to former delegate Joe Morrissey for the nomination in her district outside Richmond after campaigning with Gov. Ralph Northam, former governor Terry McAuliffe and U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine.

And Sen. Richard L. Saslaw (D-Fairfax), the Senate minority leader, clung to the nomination for his seat by a whisker over novice challenger Yasmine Taeb, his first primary opponent in 40 years.

In Republican primaries, conservative ire aimed at two incumbents who voted last year to expand Medicaid wound up with split results. Sen. Emmett W. Hanger Jr. (R-Augusta) easily won the nomination over hard-line challenger Tina M. Freitas in his largely rural district around Harrisonburg.

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But in the growing exurbs outside Fredericksburg, Del. Robert M. Thomas Jr. (R-Stafford) lost to challenger Paul V. Milde III.

Voter turnout was reportedly light as nominating primaries took place in 18 House districts and 14 Senate districts around Virginia on a warm, sunny day.

Voters seldom show up in big numbers for Virginias off-off-year primaries, when no presidential or gubernatorial races are on the ballot. But this year carries added significance because control of the General Assembly could be at stake in November. All 140 seats in the legislature will be on the ballot then, with Republicans trying to protect two-seat majorities in the Senate and House of Delegates.

While most incumbents facing challengers prevailed Tuesday, the occasional fireworks highlighted deep intraparty tensions, especially for Democrats.

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Saslaws scare in the blue stronghold of Fairfax suggests the rising power of the liberal wing of the party in Virginia.

Voters seem increasingly frustrated with the type of Democrat that gave them success for a long time  that Democrat who was pro-business on economic issues and progressive on social issues, said political analyst Bob Holsworth. The consensus about that being the way the Democratic Party should position itself is eroding not only nationally but in Virginia.

Taeb, 39, a human rights lawyer, was endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America and advocated decriminalizing prostitution and abolishing the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. She criticized Saslaw for taking large donations from Dominion Energy.

Her energetic challenge forced Saslaw, 79, to campaign relentlessly. On Tuesday, his frustration was evident as the two encountered each other outside a polling place at the Falls Church Community Center.

The lying started the day she got into this thing, and it hasnt stopped since, Saslaw said, with Taeb standing about 15 feet away.

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Taeb said her campaign faced a series of roadblocks  from mail firms that didnt want to work with an insurgent candidate to Saslaws colleagues encouraging her not to run.

The reason why were in this race is to say that thats just not acceptable, she said. Every person has the right to run for office if they feel as though they have something to offer to the residents of their district, to serve the public good.

Voter Marsha Hertzberg, 64, said she considers Saslaws decades of experience in Richmond an asset and she trusts his judgment.

I think he has represented our district well, and I have no reason to not continue to support him, she said. I am not of the belief that, Kick everyone out whos of a certain age or who has been there a long time. 

But Adriana Ray, 26, a think tank worker, said she voted for Taeb because she represents a new wave of Democrats challenging mainstream candidates at the local and national level.

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Herb Calhoun, 78, a retiree, said he wants to see what young female leaders can do for Fairfax County.

I didnt vote for the old guys, Ill tell you that, he said. Im tired of Saslaw, so I voted against him. He knocked on my door really hard this time.

The anti-establishment sentiment did not seem to bring out a big wave of voters.

Arlington County officials estimated turnout at 16.95 percent.

Many voters for Arlingtons two contested General Assembly seats split along generational lines. In both cases, Democratic incumbents  state Sen. Barbara A. Favola and Del. Alfonso H. Lopez  were challenged by newcomers to electoral politics. Favola beat Nicole Merlene, while Lopez easily dispatched J.D. Spain.

Laura McDonald, 30, who was voting at Lyon Park Community Center, cast her ballot for Merlene, whom she found to be generally more approachable and open to community input.

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Morgan Grogan, 27, agreed. Favola seems like shes done a good job, but I like that [Merlene] is an outsider and maybe more progressive, Grogan said.

But Jerry Smaldone, 79, said Favola has been a very good representative in the Senate, as far as Im concerned. Shes got the experience, and she listens to what voters want.

Across the county, at Campbell School along Carlin Springs Road, retiree Linda LeDuc said she favored both incumbents.

Ive known Alfonso a long time, and he knows his stuff, she said. Favola does, too. Both are very approachable.

In the Richmond area, Morrisseys challenge to Dance was perhaps the states most unusual primary race.

The Democratic establishment came out heavily for Dance in the solidly African American district, which stretches from Henrico County along the eastern edge of Richmond through Hopewell and into Petersburg. She is a black former Petersburg mayor who appeared repeatedly with Northam despite the governors scandal over a racist photo from his medical school yearbook and his admission that he darkened his face for a youthful dance contest.

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She also appeared with Kaine and held a fundraiser with McAuliffe, who has stepped in to help Democratic candidates because of Northams compromised position. But Morrissey was able to damage Dance by associating her with deep social and economic problems that plague her hometown of Petersburg.

A former defense lawyer who lost his license, Morrissey is white and spent time in jail after he pleaded guilty to contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Prosecutors said he had sex with his then-17-year-old receptionist. He was 56 at the time.

Now married to the former receptionist and fighting to get his law license back, Morrissey has deep support among some African American residents because of his legal work in the community.

Morrissey thumbed his nose at the establishment and basically suggested to people that he had a lot of empathy, Holsworth said. He localized the election. . . . He suggested that Dance was part of the reason that Petersburg was suffering.

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The message cut through concerns voters may have had about Morrisseys past.

Donnie D. Jackson, 61, a nursing assistant, cast her ballot for Morrissey at Woodville Elementary School in Richmond.

Jackson said she saw Morrissey many times when he paid visits to senior housing developments where she works. He recently knocked on her door to ask for her vote.

He gets out to the people, she said. I liked him, and I like his ideas.

Jackson said she was displeased that Morrissey had a relationship with an underage girl, but she was willing to look beyond that  particularly because he married her. The past is in the past. We need the future now, she said.

Pamela Irving, 49, spent Tuesday outside Woodville handing out green sample ballots that billed Dance as a fierce Democratic champion for the people.

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But Irving, who is unemployed, said she would not be disappointed if Morrissey prevailed.

I pretty much like both of them, she said.

She recalled Morrissey visiting Creighton Court, the nearby public housing project where she lives, when he ran for Richmond mayor a few years ago. There was a cookout, with music, and Morrissey was all in.

Me and Joe Morrissey danced together, she said. He can dance, too.

Patricia Sullivan contributed to this report.

An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that Yasmine Taeb was a first-time candidate who supports legalization of prostitution. She ran unsuccessfully in a Democratic primary in 2014 and supports decriminalization of prostitution. This story has been updated.

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MADISON, Wis.  Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said Tuesday that he wouldnt sign a bill creating exceptions for rape and incest if it would keep in place the states 1849 abortion ban. Evers faces Republican Tim Michels, who supported the 1849 ban before changing positions after he won the Republican primary and now says he would sign a bill granting exceptions.

I wouldnt sign it because that leaves the underlying law in place which is a ban on abortion, Evers said in response to a question at a Rotary Club of Milwaukee event co-sponsored by the Milwaukee Press Club and Wispolitics.com.

The Wisconsin Legislature is controlled by Republicans, some of whom have voiced support for granting rape and incest exceptions to the state law that came into play after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. That ruling left it up to states to determine whether abortion should be legal.

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In line with Democrats across the country, Evers has tried to make abortion a central issue in the race that polls show is about even. Polls have also shown a wide majority of Wisconsin voters support keeping abortion legal and at the very least having rape and incest exceptions.

Evers has twice called special sessions of the Legislature seeking to repeal the 1849 ban and create a way to put the question before voters. Republicans rejected both proposals. Evers said Tuesday the Wisconsin Legislature should codify Roe v. Wade.

Evers also supports a lawsuit filed by Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul seeking to overturn the state ban, which passed before women had the right to vote and before the Civil War.

Evers, in his comments before taking questions, repeatedly branded Michels as too radical and dangerous for the state. He singled out his long-held support of the total abortion ban, a position that Michels changed last month.

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Obviously he supports that and he wont even support exceptions for rape and incest, Evers said of a total abortion ban. To me thats radical.

Michels spokesperson Anna Kelly did not directly address Evers comments on abortion, instead saying he wants to talk about anything other than his record of failure.

Evers also cited Michels opposition to so-called red flag laws that would allow judges to take guns and other weapons away from people deemed to be a danger, as well as his comments questioning the integrity of the 2020 election. Michels, unlike other Republicans, has not called for President Joe Bidens victory to be decertified. But Michels, who is endorsed by former President Donald Trump, has said that maybe the 2020 election was stolen and he has not unconditionally said if he will accept results of the Nov. 8 election.

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Bidens victory in Wisconsin has withstood multiple reviews, recounts and lawsuits.

Evers, who has vetoed more bills than any other governor in modern Wisconsin history, also touted his roll as a block on the GOP-controlled Legislature. Evers also highlighted his promise to increase funding for local governments, a move that would require approval by the Legislature.

Evers also defended his response to violent protests in Kenosha in 2020 that erupted after a white police officer shot Jacob Blake, a Black man. Michels has been hammering Evers on his response to the violence, saying that he didnt act quickly enough to quell the violence.

I did everything I was asked to do and I would do it again if I needed to do it, Evers said, nothing that he called up the Wisconsin National Guard when it was requested.

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Michels spokesperson Kelly faulted Evers for referring to the protests as civil disruptions, accusing him of minimizing what happened.

Michels has also blamed Evers for paroles of convicted murderers and others granted by the state parole commission. When asked about paroles, Evers deflected criticism by noting that any decision to grant parole is not up to the governor but the commission which operates independently of him. Michels has called on Evers to stop all paroles and pardons.

Michels has been invited to attend a similar event to take questions ahead of the election, but has not responded, said past Milwaukee Press Club President Corri Hess. Kelly did not respond to questions about whether Michels would attend a future event.

Evers and Michels are scheduled to meet for their first and only debate before the election on Friday.

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MONTGOMERY, Ala  An Alabama inmate said prison staff poked him with needles for over an hour as they tried to find a vein during an aborted lethal injection last month. At one point, they left him hanging vertically on a gurney before state officials made the decision to call off the execution.

Attorneys for 57-year-old Alan Eugene Miller wrote about his experience during Alabamas Sept. 22 execution attempt in a court filing made last week. Millers attorneys are trying to block the state from attempting a second lethal injection.

Two men in scrubs used needles to repeatedly probe Millers arms, legs, feet and hands, at one point using a cell phone flashlight to help their search for a vein, according to the Oct. 6 court filing. The attorneys called Miller the only living execution survivor in the United States and said Alabama subjected Miller to precisely the unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain that the Eighth Amendment was intended to prohibit.

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Alabama has asked the state Supreme Court to set a new execution date for Miller, saying the execution was canceled only because of a time issue as the state faced a midnight deadline to get the lethal injection underway.

Despite this failed execution, the physical and mental torture it inflicted upon Mr. Miller, and the fact that Defendants have now botched three lethal injection executions in just four years, Defendants relentlessly seek to execute Mr. Miller againpresumably by lethal injection, attorneys for Miller wrote, referencing an execution that was canceled and another that took three hours to get underway.

What then, in Defendants view, is a constitutional amount of time to spend stabbing someone with needles in an attempt to kill them? his attorneys wrote.

The 351-pound (159-kilogram) inmate testified in an earlier court hearing that medical workers always have difficulty accessing his veins, and that is why he wanted to be executed by nitrogen hypoxia, a newly approved execution method that the state has yet to try.

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Miller said he was led into the execution chamber at 10 p.m., about an hour after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted an injunction that had been blocking the lethal injunction, and was strapped to the gurney at about 10:15 p.m.

After the two men used needles to probe various parts of his body for a vein, also using a phone flashlight to help, Miller told the men, he could feel that they were not accessing his veins, but rather stabbing around his veins. Later, a third man then began slapping his neck in an apparent attempt to look for a vein.

The three men in scrubs stopped their probing and left the chamber after there was a loud knock on a death chamber window from the states observation room, according to the court filing. A prison officer then raised the gurney to a vertical position. Miller said the wall clock read 11:40 p.m. and he estimated that he hung there for about 20 minutes before he was let down and told that his execution was cancelled for the evening.

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Mr. Miller felt nauseous, disoriented, confused, and fearful about whether he was about to be killed, and was deeply disturbed by his view of state employees silently staring at him from the observation room while he was hanging vertically from the gurney. Blood was leaking from some of Mr. Millers wounds, the motion stated.

Miller was sentenced to death after being convicted of a 1999 workplace rampage in which he killed Terry Jarvis, Lee Holdbrooks and Scott Yancy.

Due to the lateness of the hour, the Alabama Department of Corrections was limited in the number of attempts to gain intravenous access it could make. ADOC made the decision to halt its efforts to obtain IV access at approximately 11:30 p.m., resulting in the expiration of the courts execution warrant, the state attorney generals office wrote in the request for a new date.

This is at least the third time Alabama has acknowledged problems with vein access during a lethal injection. The states July execution of Joe Nathan James took more than three hours to get underway. Alabama called off the 2018 execution of Doyle Hamm after being unable to establish an intravenous line.

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CCTV: Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said in a recent interview that during the past decade, Serbias exports to China increased 152 times and the bilateral trade in 2021 amounted to 5 billion despite the impact of COVID-19. She said that China has been firmly advancing high-level opening-up, which brings development opportunities for the whole world. Do you have any comment?



Mao Ning: We appreciate Prime Minister Brnabics positive remarks. China and Serbia are each others trustworthy and reliable partners. Bilateral economic and trade cooperation has made rapid progress and brought tangible benefits to the two peoples.

The fact is, China has become a major trading partner of not just Serbia, but more than 130 countries and regions. Over the past decade, Chinas trade in goods totaled 262.3 trillion yuan, of which imports accounted for 117.6 trillion yuan and registered an average annual growth rate of 4.7%. China has utilized $1.2 trillion of foreign investment, which grows at an average annual rate of 5%. The capital stock of Chinas FDI abroad has soared from less than $0.6 trillion to over $2.7 trillion, now ranking the third in the world. China is making important and visible contributions to promoting the global economic growth and building an open world economy.

As we speak, the world economy is facing multiple challenges, and unilateralism and protectionism are on the rise. China will always support economic globalization, unswervingly promote high-level opening-up, accelerate the building of a new development paradigm, and provide more market, investment and growth opportunities for companies of all countries.

Global Times: According to reports, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz recently said explicitly that he supports globalization, adding that decoupling is the wrong answer and that Germany must do business with the rest of the world, including China. Executive Vice-President of the European Commission Valdis Dombrovskis, who is in charge of economic affairs, also believed that decoupling from China is not an option for companies in the EU. He added that EUs trading relationship with China needs more balance and reciprocity and that the EU should continue engaging with China with pragmatism. What is Chinas comment on this?



Mao Ning: We commend these remarks from the European leaders. China also supports globalization and opposes decoupling. With the world economy in the doldrums, to stay open and engaged in cooperation and grow economic and trade ties is good not only for China and Europe, but also for the world economic recovery.

China and the EU are each others important economic and trade partners. Our bilateral cooperation has been mutually beneficial. Last year, China-EU trade exceeded $800 billion for the first time and two-way investment went beyond $270 billion in cumulative terms. In the first eight months this year, total trade between China and the EU was $575.22 billion, up by 8.8% year-on-year. EUs investment in China was $7.45 billion, up by 121.5% year-on-year. Such trade and investment cooperation has boosted the development of both sides.

China-Europe cooperation is deeply rooted in solid public support, extensive common interests and similar strategic needs. Such cooperation enjoys great resilience and potential. China is ready to work with Europe to jointly work for greater progress in bilateral cooperation in various areas and deliver more benefits to the two peoples.

AFP: The IMF projected that Chinas economic growth this year will be the second weakest in over 40 years and blamed it on the dynamic zero-COVID policy. What is Chinas comment?



Mao Ning: I would refer you to the competent authorities on this question. Facing the complex and challenging situation at home and abroad, the Chinese economy has withstood the pressure and demonstrated a momentum of steady recovery and its performance has stayed within the appropriate range. The fact that the Chinese economy has strong resilience, ample potential and enormous space remains unchanged and the fundamentals sustaining the sound growth of the Chinese economy in the long run will also stay unchanged.

As to the COVID-19 protocols you mentioned, let me say that only when the pandemic is contained can the economy be stabilized. When all things are considered, Chinas COVID measures have worked most effectively and been most cost-effective.

CRI: Lesothos parliamentary election results released recently showed that the newly established Revolution for Prosperity (RFP) party, securing nearly half of the seats, emerged as the single biggest party and is expected to lead the formation of a coalition. What is Chinas comment?



Mao Ning: China congratulates Lesotho on its parliamentary elections which have gone smoothly. China-Lesotho relations enjoy a sound momentum of growth and our cooperation in various areas continues to deepen. China looks forward to working with the new government of Lesotho to keep advancing China-Lesotho relations.

Bloomberg: There have been reports in British media saying that the UK government will declare China as an official threat. This is coming after the UK spy chief said in a speech that the politically motivated use of technology by China was an increasingly urgent problem. Whats the foreign ministrys comment on this?



Mao Ning: China follows an independent foreign policy of peace. Chinas development brings opportunities to other countries, not threats or challenges. We hope that the new UK government can view China and China-UK relations in an objective and rational light. Subscribing to the obsolete mindset of China threat benefits no one and will eventually backfire. Such an approach leads nowhere.

As to the remarks made by the British intelligence official you mentioned, as I said yesterday, the allegation is completely groundless and a projection of the allegers own image. What those remarks reveal is a Cold War mentality and ideological bias. Chinas development is aimed at making lives better for the Chinese people. It will only contribute positively to world peace and stability. Our development does not target anyone, still less pose any threat. Making an issue out of China and stoking antagonism and confrontation does not rid the UK of its own problems.
South Carolina Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Recognizes Guilds The Seventh Branch Employee Resource Group for Military-Friendly Policies, Programs

SAN DIEGO, October 12, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Guild Mortgage (NYSE: GHLD), a growth-oriented mortgage lending company originating and servicing residential loans since 1960, and its employee resource group (ERG) The Seventh Branch, received the South Carolina Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (SC ESGR) Pro Patria Award in recognition of their support of employees who serve in the South Carolina Guard and Reserve.

The South Carolina ESGR is a Department of Defense program that develops and promotes supportive work environments for service members in the National Guard and Reserve through outreach, recognition and educational opportunities that increase awareness of applicable laws.

"The ESGR Pro Patria Award was created to publicly recognize U.S. employers providing extraordinary patriotic support and cooperation to their employees who have answered their nations call to serve," said Jennifer Harding, South Carolina ESGR State Chair. "Supportive employers like Guild Mortgage are critical to maintaining the strength and readiness of the nations Guard and Reserve units."

Guilds regional vice president of the southeast, Matt MacGillivray, accepted the Pro Patria Award on behalf of the company and Guilds Military Veterans ERG, The Seventh Branch. MacGillivray and his team created the companys Southeast retail presence, and he is now responsible for Guilds entire Southeast region, with 10 branches and 39 satellite offices in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. He joined Guild in 2012 and built a strong reputation for the company throughout the region by focusing on providing superior customer service in the Guild model.

"Guild understands that employer support for military service is critical to maintaining the strength of Americas Guard and Reserve units," said MacGillivray. "National Guard and Reserve members bring tremendous skills and capabilities to our workforce, and by valuing the military service of their Guard and Reserve employees, Guild is directly supporting the readiness and retention of these critical national defense resources."

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Guild was nominated for the award by The Seventh Branch board member Peter Huddlestun, a mortgage loan closer in the SE region who currently serves in the Army Band. Huddlestun has benefited from Guilds military-friendly policies, including the companys commitment to provide paid time off for servicepersons needing to complete training.

In addition to earning a Pro Patria Award, Guild Mortgage also made a formal Statement of Support. The Statement of Support confirms that Guild Mortgage joins other employers in pledging:

We fully recognize, honor, and comply with the Uniformed Services Employment and Re-Employment Rights Act (USERRA).

We will provide our managers and supervisors with the tools they need to effectively manage employees who serve in the Guard and Reserve.

We appreciate the values, leadership and unique skills service members bring to the workforce and will encourage opportunities to hire Guardsmen, Reservists and Veterans.

We will continually recognize and support our countrys service members and their families, in peace, in crises and in war.

With its Statement of Support, Guild Mortgage joins a force of Fortune 500 companies, state and federal agencies and thousands of Americas employers in demonstrating support for the United States armed forces.

Headquartered in San Diego, Guild Mortgage is a leading national lender with an established history of offering a comprehensive array of loan products and partnering with government organizations to help deliver the promise of home in every neighborhood and community. Its loan professionals can serve the needs of any homebuyer, from helping first-time buyers achieve homeownership, often through government loan programs, to homebuyers looking for a jumbo loan. Guild also helps active duty and retired military personnel who qualify for VA loans with 100% financing and flexible qualifying standards. The company is consistently recognized for its impact in the communities it serves, commitment to customer service, strength in regulatory compliance, and workplace culture.

About Guild Mortgage

Founded in 1960 when the modern U.S. mortgage industry was just forming, Guild Mortgage Company is a nationally recognized independent mortgage lender providing residential mortgage products and local in-house origination and servicing. Guilds collaborative culture and commitment to diversity and inclusion enable it to deliver a personalized experience for each customer. With more than 4,000 employees and over 250 retail branches, Guild has relationships with credit unions, community banks, and other financial institutions and services loans in 49 states and the District of Columbia. Guilds highly trained loan professionals are experienced in government-sponsored programs such as FHA, VA, USDA, down payment assistance programs and other specialized loan programs. Guild Mortgage Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Guild Holdings Company, whose shares of Class A common stock trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol GHLD.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221012005020/en/

Contacts

Melissa Rue

Nuffer, Smith, Tucker

mkr@nstpr.com

(208) 850-5939
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ROME  An Eritrean fugitive is being extradited to Italy to face human trafficking charges after he was picked up at Ethiopias airport trying to board a flight for Australia, Italian police said Wednesday. Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on Russias war in Ukraine. ArrowRight Ghebremehdhin Temesghen Ghebru, 35, is accused of helping run a human smuggling operation that funneled people from Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan to Libya, where they then boarded migrant smuggling boats bound for Italy and ultimately northern Europe, police said in a statement.

Police said Ghebru had been sought for over a year by prosecutors in Palermo, Sicily, and was detained at the Addis Abeba, Ethiopia airport, using an Australian passport, thanks to cooperation with Interpol and Europol, as well as Dutch and British law enforcement authorities.

Italy is the destination of choice for Libyan-based human traffickers who charge migrants seeking to reach Europe hundreds or thousands of dollars apiece for the dangerous Mediterranean crossing.

Just last week, Ethiopian authorities turned over to Dutch judicial authorities another Eritrean man suspected of heading a migrant-smuggling network that funneled people from Eritrea to the Netherlands. The man, whose identity wasnt released, is suspected of people smuggling from 2014-2020.

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PANAMA CITY  The United Nations said Wednesday that almost three-quarters of the 6 million Venezuelan migrants currently in Latin America do not have adequate food, shelter, employment or medical care. Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on Russias war in Ukraine. ArrowRight The U.N.s International Organization for Migration said in a report that 4.37 million of the Venezuelans who fled to other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean often live on the streets or inadequate housing, and often go hungry.

Latin America and the Caribbean host 84% of the estimated total of about 7 million Venezuelans who emigrated in recent years.

The IOM and the U.N. refugee agency said that half of the Venezuelans in Latin America cant afford three meals a day. Many are forced to turn to sex work to meet their basic needs, the report said. Other take out informal loans or turn to begging.

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In Colombia, one of the countries that has received the largest number of Venezuelans, 29% of Venezuelan children between the ages of 6 and 17 are not enrolled in school.

Colombias human rights ombudsman, Carlos Camargo, said the influx of migrants  often from Haiti or Venezuela  waiting to cross the dangerous, jungle-clad Darien Gap into Panama is much more serious than last year.

The number of migrants that have crossed into Panama is over 150,000, compared to 134,000 migrants in all of 2021, and the numbers are growing, Camargo said.

Increasing numbers of Venezuelans are crossing Central America and Mexico and are arriving at the U.S. border.

Venezuelans recently surpassed Guatemalans and Hondurans to become the second-largest nationality stopped at the U.S. border after Mexicans. In August, Venezuelans were stopped 25,349 times, up 43% from 17,652 in July and four times the 6,301 encounters in August 2021, signaling a remarkably sudden demographic shift.

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The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden is developing plans for Venezuelans with financial sponsors to be granted parole to enter the United States, similar to how Ukrainians have been admitted after Russias invasion.

Mexicos Foreign Relations Department said Wednesday it had reached an agreement with the United States to require that Venezuelans who qualify for parole to enter the U.S. at airports. They would no longer be allowed to do so at the Mexico-U.S. border.

___

Associated Press writers Elliot Spagat in San Diego and Astrid Suarez in Bogota, Colombia, contributed to this report.

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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico  The U.S. government will pull visas belonging to current and former Haitian government officials involved with gangs and other criminal organizations as well as provide security and humanitarian assistance to Haiti, senior U.S. officials said Wednesday. Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on Russias war in Ukraine. ArrowRight The officials spoke to reporters by telephone on condition of anonymity as a U.S. delegation was arriving in the Caribbean country that has been paralyzed by gangs and antigovernment protests and is facing severe shortages of water, fuel and other basic supplies.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement Wednesday that the U.S. will increase security assistance to Haitis National Police to strengthen their capacity to counter gangs and reestablish a stable security environment.

The U.S. officials who briefed reporters declined to name which Haitian officials would see their visas revoked or how many would be affected, adding only that the measure also applies to their immediate family members.

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The U.S. officials also said the government is working with Mexico on a U.N. resolution proposing specific sanctions and additional measures to address the many challenges Haiti faces.

The officials declined to say how the upcoming aid would be distributed, although they noted that the U.S. Coast Guard deployed a major cutter at the request of local officials. The agency said it diverted a 270-foot (82-meter) cutter to patrol waters near the capital of Port-au-Prince.

Officials also declined to say when, how and what kind of security and humanitarian assistance will be deployed, adding only that supplies such as bleach, water jugs and oral rehydration salts will be distributed amid the cholera outbreak.

As of Sunday, authorities in Haiti had reported 18 deaths and more than 260 suspected cases of cholera in Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas.

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Cholera has arrived amid serious ongoing social and political unrest, said Dr. Carissa Etienne, director of the Pan American Health Organization, adding that the situation complicates efforts to provide humanitarian assistance and to respond the outbreak.

Etienne warned on Wednesday that cases are likely significantly higher than whats being reported because they are concentrated in areas affected by escalating street violence and gang activity.

Brian Nichols, U.S. assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, flew to Haiti on Wednesday for meetings with politicians and civil society leaders, including Prime Minister Ariel Henry and a prominent group that has pushed to lead a two-year transitional government and opposed Henrys petition for foreign troops.

Nichols was accompanied by the military deputy commander of the Defense Departments Southern Command, White House senior advisers and other officials.

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The trip comes just days after Henry requested the immediate deployment of foreign troops to help with security. Gangs have blockaded a major fuel depot and protests against Henry have added to the problems.

The delegation will assess how the U.S. government can continue to provide various forms of assistance and promote accountability for those responsible for criminal acts, the U.S. State Department said.

Since last year, the U.S. has provided Haiti with more than $170 million in humanitarian assistance and another $90 million to strengthen Haitis National Police. But the department remains understaffed and has limited resources, with only about a third of some 13,000 officers operational in a country of more than 11 million people where gangs have grown more powerful since President Jovenel Moise was assassinated in July 2021.

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The United Nations Security Council is scheduled to discuss Henrys request later this month. In a letter sent to the council Sunday that was viewed by The Associated Press, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres offered several options, including a rapid action force.

It was not clear whether the U.N. or individual countries or both would send troops under such a plan.

One senior official said it was premature to talk solely about a U.S. security presence, adding that the government was exploring a number of options with the international community and that it doesnt have to be limited to boots on the ground.

One month has passed since one of Haitis most powerful gangs surrounded a key fuel terminal in the capital of Port-au-Prince, preventing the distribution of some 10 million gallons of gasoline and diesel and more than 800,000 gallons of kerosene stored on site.

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In addition, protesters have blocked streets in the capital and other major cities to demand Henrys resignation. Prices have soared since the prime minister last month announced that his administration could no longer afford to subsidize fuel.

On Monday, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said that the U.S. government wants to be prudent and responsible in terms of what any such action might look like.

___

Associated Press writer Gisela Salomon in Miami contributed to this report.

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PLANO, Texas, October 11, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Impressico Business Solutions is all set to offer Data Engineering Services across Canada, the UK and the USA.

The Data Engineering, Analytics, and BI service provider has its head office in Noida, India, with branches in Canada, the UK, and the USA.

Impressico has been serving Canada, the UK, and the USA market for over two decades, building end-to-end solutions for startups as well as Fortune 500 enterprises, creating an undisputed position in the market for technical solutions. Its solutions help companies convert their existing information into strategic insight to help them make business decisions that are tactical and allow executives to make informed and prompt decisions.

The company has its offices in Canada, the UK, and the USA. It hopes to solve problems that are unique to Canadian, the UK, and the US businesses seeking Data Engineering, AI or Business Intelligence services. The experienced data engineers at Impressico already offer assistance to businesses across the globe and can provide an international perspective when designing solutions. In addition, the expansion of the Canadian, UK, and American markets is opening the doors for companies to drive new business opportunities.

Impressicos Data Engineering Services Include:

AWS Lambda and Azure Functions for building serverless data pipelines

AWS Glue/Azure Databricks/Spark Pool for distributed Big Data workloads/Delta Lake implementations

AWS Step Functions/AzureDF & Apache Airflow for Orchestration

Event-driven architecture using AWS EventBridge Bus/Rules, AWS SQS for messaging, and AWS Kinesis for real-time ingestion

On-prem warehousing and reporting: Informatica, SQL Server, Pentaho, Power BI, Tableau, and Qlik

Key Benefits of Impressicos Data Engineering Services

Impressico uses leading-edge cloud technologies while adhering to the best data security and architecture practices.

The data team understands that businesses come with various data sizes and maturity states.

The data engineering team is adaptive in strategy and architecture to deliver across the spectrum ranging from a simple warehouse to a complex lake house.

The data team can build architectures that optimize for performance and cost. Impressico builds pipelines and frameworks using SQL, Python, and PySpark.

Story continues

Visit www.impressico.com to learn more about its data engineering services.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221007005297/en/

Contacts

Ankur Vidyarthi

Impressico Business Solutions Inc.

Email id: info@impressico.com

Phone: 310-230-5008
Pierre Castel, the French billionaire behind the Nicolas chain of wine shops, was ordered to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in Swiss back taxes in a court ruling that found he deliberately hid his identity for decades as head of a global drinks empire.

A Geneva appeals court found that Castel, 95, had filed tax returns under one first name between 1982 and 1994 rather than another, by which he is well known as the founder of worlds third-largest wine trader. It put taxes and fines owed at around 415 million Swiss francs ($663 million).

Pierre Castel has been described as Frances wealthiest tax exile after he moved to Switzerland in 1981 following the election of Socialist President Francois Mitterrand.

While the names of Castel, other family members as well as the companies involved were redacted from the ruling, a detailed description of the company and its founder point to his identity. The ruling includes Castels year of birth, nationality, family origins and career path provided by his defence that corresponds to those described by the company and by Castel  whose name is Pierre Jesus Sebastian Castel  in interviews.

The ruling specified Castel had 30 days to appeal this decision at a Swiss federal court but its not clear if he did so. A representative for a holding company referred enquiries to Gregory Clerc, his lawyer. Clerc did not respond to repeated calls and emails to his office in Geneva. A spokeswoman for the Swiss federal tax administration, a plaintiff in the case, declined to comment.
An international movement that has seen climate activists smear cake across the Mona Lisa and superglue their hands to masterpieces by Sandro Botticelli, Vincent van Gogh and Umberto Boccioni has arrived in Australia.

Two Extinction Rebellion protesters were arrested at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) on Sunday after glueing themselves to the 1951 Picasso painting Massacre in Korea. At their feet lay a banner reading Climate Chaos = War + Famine.

Protesters glue themselves to a Picasso painting at the NGV. Credit:Twitter: Jane Morton

The incident follows a spate of similar protests in Europe. And, according to sociologist and activism expert Dr Justine Lloyd, the trend shows that protesters are increasingly exploring avenues for action with less punitive consequences, as anti-protest laws targeting the climate movement grow harsher.

Extinction Rebellion and groups like Blockade Australia have been increasingly prevented from traditional forms of protests like street protests and the blocking of the traffic, Lloyd says.
Originally budgeted at about $55 million, its a fair bet it came in somewhere north of that, what with the intervention of COVID and monsoons. It also blew out from a planned 10 episodes to 12. More than all of that, though, the first two episodes from writer Eric Warren Singer (American Hustle) and director Justin Kurzel (Snowtown, Nitram) were deemed too dark, so a new team went back and started again.

Charlie Hunnam plays Lin, a man on the run who finds the chance for redemption in the slums of Mumbai. Credit:Apple TV+

Adapted from Gregory David Roberts 936-page 2003 novel  which was drawn from his life experiences and first appeared in the world badged as something more like autobiography  this tale of sin and redemption is the first Australian commission from Apple TV+ and arrives with high expectations.

After 12 hour-long episodes, Shantaram ends with a title card: to be continued  Sprawling though this tale may be, it has only just begun.

How much of this troubled history (and theres far more where that came from) influences what we see on screen is hard to say. The story of Lin (Charlie Hunnam), a man on the run who hides out in the slums of Mumbai (called by its old colonial name, Bombay, throughout) and mixes with lowlife expats and local criminals, is inherently messy.

The pace at which it unfolds is perhaps unnecessarily lugubrious, but its in keeping with the vague stoner vibe. The production design is impressive: the slum (built as a set in Thailand when Delta made filming in India impossible) feels lived in, the Melbourne locations double convincingly for Mumbai, and the streets teem with crowded, messy life.

Hunnams Lin finds the prospect of love in his relationship with the mysterious Karla (Antonia Desplat), left. Credit:Apple TV+

I suspect whether you embrace Shantaram or not will come down to how you feel about its rogues gallery of characters. Lin  whose real name, we eventually learn, is Dale Conti  was a philosophy student and part-time paramedic in Melbourne, who became a junkie, who became a bank robber, who became a prison escapee. At every step along this tawdry journey theres an explanation, oftentimes bordering on an excuse. Its in keeping with the overarching theme of fate, but advocates of the idea of personal responsibility may struggle.

In Mumbai, Lin at least gets the chance to redeem himself, just as long as his past doesnt catch up with him. In his friendship with Prabhu (Shubham Saraf), a good-natured but far-from-naive tour guide, he finds moral and practical purpose in the slum, where he becomes a doctor of sorts.
When Jim Chalmers delivers his first budget in a couple of weeks, hell have news thats remarkably good, and news thats challengingly bad.

The good news? Debts and deficits look set to be a fraction of what Treasury forecast just six months ago. Thats not because of tough decisions taken by any politician. Its because three things surged: inflation, jobs and prices for exports such as gas, coal and iron ore.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers can do the right thing, or he can keep Labors election promises. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

That trio is a mixed bag for the economy. In particular, a jump in prices has stripped purchasing power from families so fast that their inflation-adjusted wages are dropping to lows last seen a decade ago.

Yet although the economic news is mixed, the budgetary impact is beautiful. Inflation may strip purchasing power from the punters, but it hands it straight to the taxman. And good news on commodity prices and on jobs does the same.
London: The young son of an Australian man killed in last Fridays petrol station blast in Ireland has urged people to be grateful for their families and for their lives.

Hamish OFlaherty, 12, told mourners at his fathers funeral at St Marys Church in Derrybeg that he was a hard-working and loving dad who read to him every night.

Mourners watch the arrival of the coffin as they attend the funeral of Martin McGill at St Michaels church in Donegal, Ireland on Tuesday. James OFlaherty was buried on Wednesday. Credit:Getty

Sydney-born James OFlaherty was one of the 10 people killed in the village of Creeslough last week. The explosion, still under police investigation, has been described as the darkest day in Donegal.

Catherine ODonnell, 39, and her 13-year-old son, James Monaghan, were also buried on Wednesday. Jessica Gallagher, 23, and Martin McGill, 49, were laid to rest after the funeral Masses on Tuesday.
Kyiv: US-led NATO said on Tuesday its member states were boosting security around key installations after Russia escalated its attacks on Ukraine and stepped up threats against the West.

Russian missiles hit Ukraine for a second day, although with less intensity than on Monday, when dozens of air raids killed 19 people, wounded more than 100 and knocked out power supplies across the country.

A Russian soldier carries an artillery shell from a 152-mm gun 2A36 Giatsint-B howitzer at a position after firing at Ukrainian troops at an undisclosed location in Donetsk Peoples Republic, eastern Ukraine. Credit:AP

Belarus, Moscows closest ally, said it had begun an exercise to assess its combat readiness after ordering troops on Monday to deploy with Russian forces near its border with Ukraine. Belarus allowed Russia to use its territory to invade Ukraine but has not yet sent its own troops across the border.

Moscow has annexed new tracts of Ukraine, mobilised hundreds of thousands of Russians to fight and repeatedly threatened to use nuclear arms in recent weeks, spreading alarm in the West. A European diplomat said NATO was considering convening a virtual summit of the Western defence alliance to consider its response.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has hit back at criticism from former captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang - insisting his current squad is more "hard-working" than in previous years.

Aubamayang left the Emirates Stadium for Barcelona in February, his contract torn up having not been in and around the first-team after Arteta dropped his then-skipper for returning late from an agreed break.

His stint in Spain lasted just seven months before he returned to the Premier League with Chelsea and a video emerged in recent days of the Gabon forward slating Arteta's management skills.

"To manage big characters or big players, he (Arteta) can't deal with it," Aubameyang was recorded as saying in an interview with A Jewellers.

"He (Arteta) needs some young players, they don't say anything, they listen."

Since the video was first shared, Aubameyang took to social media to explain his comments, writing part of a tweet which read: "Aware there is a video out that was recorded just after I arrived at Barca. At the time I still had a lot of bad feelings in me - Arsenal are doing great things this season and I wish all my old guys well, just not on November 6."

Arteta was asked about Aubameyang's comments on the eve of Arsenal's Europa League clash with Bodo/Glimt.

"People are free to discuss what they want," he told reporters in Norway.

"I have never been in a better dressing room (than this season) - more enjoyable, more hard-working, a better relationship between staff and players and it is an absolute pleasure as a coach to be a part of this group."

The Gunners sit top of the Premier League table after beating Liverpool 3-2 on Sunday, a game in which Gabriel Jesus won the penalty which Bukayo Saka converted to earn the three points.

The Brazil forward has been in fine form since joining from Manchester City in the summer but has been left at home for Thursday's game inside the Arctic Circle.

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"We thought that, obviously, with everything that he's been through in the last few weeks that it was better that he stayed at home," explained Arteta.

"What we are thinking is how we are going to win the game, that is it. How we win every three games, in different conditions, in different contexts, in different weather and in different competitions and that is the only way that we are approaching the game.

"At the end of the day, we will have XI players on that pitch, our selection is based on how we think we are going to win the game - that is it."
Both companies work to hit net zero by 2040 using nuclear energy

PRAGUE, Oct. 11, 2022 /CNW/ - Ontario Power Generation (OPG) and Czech Republic-based CEZ will collaborate to advance deployment of nuclear technology, including Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), to safely produce clean, reliable electricity in their jurisdictions, under a Memorandum of Understanding signed today.

Petr Tresnak, Deputy Minister to Minister of Industry and Trade; Tomas Pleskac, CEZ, Member of the Board of Directors, Chief New Energy Office; Ken Hartwick, OPG President and CEO; Todd Smith, Ontario Minister of Energy; and Ayesha Patricia Rekhi, Canadian Ambassador to Czech Republic (CNW Group/Ontario Power Generation Inc.)

The two entities  Ontario's largest electricity generator and one of Europe's largest energy companies  are committed to achieving net zero by 2040. Advanced reactor technology can help reach that goal.

Under the MOU, OPG and CEZ will share information related to the deployment of new nuclear projects. The aim is to reduce financial, technical and schedule risk to both parties on their respective future projects.

New nuclear generation, including SMRs, is an essential part of the electricity mix needed to decarbonize the energy sector and broader economy. Safe, carbon-free, reliable nuclear power is especially necessary as electricity demand increases due to electrification of higher-emitting sectors such as transportation.

OPG is deploying an SMR at its Darlington site, the only location in Canada licensed for new nuclear construction with an approved Environmental Assessment. The company recently announced a contract with ES Fox to proceed with early site work, pending permits and regulatory approvals. The Darlington SMR is expected to be operational by the end of this decade.

In Europe, CEZ has taken first steps toward expanding its nuclear fleets at Temelin and Dukovany.

Quotes

"Ontario Power Generation is a world-class nuclear operator, with decades of experience in providing safe, clean, reliable nuclear power," said OPG President and CEO Ken Hartwick. "Working together with entities like CEZ, we can leverage our combined experience to develop and build the new technology needed to power the future and meet decarbonization goals."

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"As a company, we are focused on developing new energy solutions and technologies," said Tomas Pleskac, Member of the Board of Directors and Chief of the New Energy Division CEZ. "We are preparing for the construction of a new nuclear unit in Dukovany and the upcoming allocation of space at Temelin, where the first SMR could be built in the first half of the next decade. The collaboration with OPG is therefore, for us, a logical step forward."

"Ontario is proud to lead the way on clean nuclear technologies," said Ontario's Energy Minister Todd Smith. "With our robust nuclear supply chain and talented workforce, we are ready to support the global deployment of our nuclear expertise that will help reduce emissions while delivering energy security to the world."

About OPG

As a climate change leader and the largest electricity generator in the province, OPG and its family of companies are helping lead the charge to a post-carbon economy.

About CEZ

CEZ Group is a leading European energy company operating in the Czech Republic and in Western, Central, and South-Eastern Europe. CEZ' strategy aims to maximize the business opportunities associated with the modernization, digitalization, and decarbonization of the energy sector in the EU.

SOURCE Ontario Power Generation Inc.

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View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/October2022/11/c2306.html
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken holds a joint news conference with Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly in Washington

Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly says the governments long-awaited Indo-Pacific Strategy will be released by the end of the year  perhaps as soon as this month. Among many things Canadas business leaders will be looking for in the strategy is whether it commits us to joining a key U.S.-led initiative in the region.

When the United States unveiled its Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) last May, Canada was conspicuous by its absence. The potentially disruptive consequences for our economic security cant be understated. Were now on the outside looking in while many of our most important allies discuss the future of rules-based trade.

The reasons for Canadas exclusion are debated but one surely is a failing Minister Joly noted during her recent visit to Washington: We have not traditionally defined ourselves as an Indo-Pacific country. If we dont think of ourselves that way, little wonder the Americans didnt think of us when crafting their strategy.

We cant keep making the same mistake and expect a different outcome. Beyond firmly asserting Canadas status as an Indo-Pacific country, we must recognize that the U.S. is, as well, and outline how our two highly integrated economies can strengthen trade and investment ties with markets on both sides of the Pacific.

A good model for this type of thinking is the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which the government points to as the key to our economic engagement in the region. Its membership includes Japan, Vietnam, Malaysiaand other Asia-Pacific countries but also, and as importantly, Mexico, Chile and Peru.

The United States was an early driving force behind the TPP until Donald Trump pulled his country out at the eleventh hour. The IPEF is part of the Biden administrations attempt to regain some of what the U.S. lost as a result of that costly miscalculation. But its not the only card Washington is playing.

The U.S. belongs to the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue  the Quad  alongside India, Japan and Australia. It also forged the AUKUS trilateral security pact with the United Kingdom and Australia. These initiatives are, like IPEF, primarily focused on the Pacific. And Canada is excluded from them, too.

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First and foremost, Canadas Indo-Pacific strategy must advance our countrys own interests in the region. But given the tightly intertwined nature of the Canadian and American economies, its hard to see how we can achieve our goals in the Indo-Pacific without collaborating with the United States.

To that end, its crucial that the governments Indo-Pacific Strategy formally commit us to seeking IPEF membership. The hard truth is Canada will not be considered a serious player in the region unless we are part of this key group. Joining IPEF would give us credibility in the region and help strengthen our economic ties to other Pacific countries not currently part of the TPP, such as India, Indonesia, Korea, the Philippines and Thailand.

We have much to offer IPEF. Canadian companies have a rich history of engagement with the Indo-Pacific and Canada benefits from vibrant diaspora communities. Yet, even with these advantages, asking to join doesnt guarantee well be admitted.

Canadians arent the only ones whove been patiently waiting for our government to unveil their long-delayed Indo-Pacific strategy: our allies have been asking for updates from senior officials and business leaders. They want to know where our heads are at.

For Canada to be allowed to join IPEF, the much-anticipated Indo-Pacific Strategy must clearly demonstrate to like-minded allies that were serious about expanding our engagement with a region whose economic power is steadily growing.

Having already missed crucial initial IPEF meetings  we didnt even send an observer to the inaugural in-person gathering of ministers  we will also need to give assurances we wont come to the table with a list of demands that would disrupt progress already made. To further demonstrate our depth of commitment we should make clear that, if admitted, Canada would participate fully in all four of the Frameworks pillars  trade, supply chain, clean economy and fair economy.

Minister Joly has promised the Indo-Pacific Strategy will be comprehensive, addressing many different aspects of our efforts in the region. Whats equally important is that it not be purely aspirational, based solely on intentions. It must include concrete commitments Canada can act on immediately. One such commitment should be that Canada will formally apply for entry to the IPEF.

Goldy Hyder is president and CEO of the Business Council of Canada and co- editor of the recent book The Indo-Pacific: New Strategies for Canadian Engagement with a Critical Region.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Turkish Energy Minister Fatih Donmez said on Wednesday that it was too early to comment on Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposal for a European gas hub in Turkey but added that the issue should be discussed.

Speaking at the Russia Energy Week conference in Moscow, both Putin and Gazprom head Alexei Miller suggested creating a gas hub in Turkey.

Putin said that Russia could redirect supplies intended for the damaged Nord Stream pipelines to the Black Sea to create the hub in Turkey, or even use the one intact part of Nord Stream 2 to supply the European Union.

Donmez said it was the first time he had heard of the proposal, adding that it was too early to make an assessment.

"It is the first time we heard of the issue of supplying Europe through alternate routes, mentioned by President Putin in his speech. Therefore it is too early to make an assessment," he said.

"These kinds of international projects need feasibility assessments... commercial aspects need to be discussed. These are things that need to be discussed," Donmez added.

NATO member Turkey has close relations with both Ukraine and Russia and has sought to balance ties during the conflict in Ukraine, rejecting Western sanctions on Moscow while criticising Russia for what the Kremlin calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine and supplying Kyiv with armed drones.

Along with the United Nations, Turkey brokered the July deal to unlock Ukrainian grain exports from its Black Sea ports, in what remains the only significant diplomatic breakthrough in the seven-month-old conflict.

Ankara's relations with Russia are complex, with the two countries cooperating closely on energy supplies while being at odds over Syria, Libya and Azerbaijan.

(Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
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.
NWS Weather Alert NOTE: This information is provided by the National Weather Service. Forecast may differ from local information provided by our own 69News Meteorologists

...FREEZE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO 9 AM EDT WEDNESDAY... * WHAT...Temperatures in the lower 30s. * WHERE...In New Jersey, Morris, Hunterdon and Somerset. In Pennsylvania, Berks, Lehigh, Northampton, Western Chester, Western Montgomery and Upper Bucks. * WHEN...From midnight tonight to 9 AM EDT Wednesday. * IMPACTS...Frost and freeze conditions will kill crops and other sensitive vegetation. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Take steps now to protect tender plants from the cold. &&
KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  Unbowed Western powers pledged to supply Ukraine with more potent air defense systems following a furious barrage of retaliatory Russian missile strikes, including one that temporarily knocked Europe's biggest nuclear plant off the invaded country's electrical grid Wednesday.

The Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant suffered a blackout when a missile damaged a distant electrical substation, Ukraine's state nuclear operator said. The power loss increased the risk of a radiation emergency because the plant needs electricity to prevent its reactors from overheating.

Energoatom said the external power source was repaired after about eight hours and that the plant's emergency diesel generators  which rely on uncertain fuel deliveries in the war zone  provided backup in the meantime, but a similarly hazardous interruption could happen at any time.

Russia has seized the plant and is not taking any steps to deescalate. On the contrary, it is shelling important infrastructure daily, the companys press service told The Associated Press.

Hundreds of cities and towns across Ukraine lost electricity after Russia launched a wide-ranging missile assault Monday in retaliation for a truck bomb explosion that damaged a bridge linking Russia with the Crimean Peninsula, which it annexed in 2014.

With repairs to the grid still in progress, Ukraine's prime minister asked people to reduce evening energy consumption by 25% and prepare for winter by keeping essentials such as warm clothes, candles, flashlights and batteries ready.

As the barrage that killed dozens of Ukrainians this week continued, Ukraine's Western allies met at NATO headquarters in Brussels to calibrate their response.

U.S. Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Ukraine wants its Western partners to provide it with a complete air defense system to contend with Russian warplanes and missiles. Milley spoke to reporters after a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, about 50 nations that meet regularly to assess Kyiv's needs and drum up equipment.

What Ukraine is asking for, and what we think can be provided, is an integrated air missile defense system. So that doesnt control all the airspace over Ukraine, but theyre designed to control priority targets that Ukraine needs to protect, Milley told reporters

Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office, said the meeting was historic because decisions to close the sky for Ukraine were being made there. Ukraine has put a priority on bucking up its air defenses, but NATO member nations have worried how to do that without triggering a wider war in Europe.

Zelenskyys office said Moscows retaliatory strikes killed at least 14 people and wounded 34 over the last day in the Zaporizhzhia region and the Donetsk region to the east. At least 19 died in Mondays opening onslaught, including five in Kyiv.

A day after Ukraine's Defense Ministry announced the arrival of the first of Germany's four promised IRIS-T air defense systems, the defense minister of the Netherlands said her country would deliver $14.5 million worth of air defense missiles in light of Russia's latest attacks.

These attacks reinforce the governments belief that they can only be answered with unwavering support for Ukraine and its people," Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongreher said. The Netherlands, like our partners, will not be intimidated by Russia.

French President Emmanuel Macron, in a television interview Wednesday evening, promised prompt delivery of more cannons and also anti-aircraft systems and missiles.

The U.S. is expected to deliver two advanced NASAMs anti-aircraft systems in the coming weeks.

The nuclear scare and pledges of more Western support came amid a flurry of developments in Russias 7 1/2-month-old invasion.

Moscows main domestic security agency said it arrested eight people  five Russians and three citizens of Ukraine and Armenia  over the blast on the Kerch bridge between Russia and Crimea. A truck loaded with explosives blew up while driving across the bridge Saturday, killing four people and causing sections of road to collapse, Russian officials said.

The span opened four years after Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, serving as a symbol of Moscow's regional dominance as well as a crucial route for military supplies for its troops in Ukraine and for Russians traveling to a popular vacation destination.

The Federal Security Service, known by the Russian-language acronym FSB, alleged the detained suspects acted on orders of Ukraines military intelligence to secretly move the explosives into Russia using forged documents.

Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman Andriy Yusov denied the accusation that his country was involved, telling reporters, The entire activity of the FSB and the Investigative Committee is nonsense.

Zelenskyys office said in a morning update that strikes on central and western parts of Ukraine had ceased but Russian shelling and attacks involving drones, heavy artillery and missiles continued in eight southeast regions.

More than a dozen missiles were fired at the city of Zaporizhzhia and its suburbs, damaging residential buildings. Part of a larger eponymous region that Moscow has illegally annexed, the city remains in Ukrainian hands while Russian forces control the area where the nuclear plant is located.

In Nikopol, a city of 104,000 across the Dnieper River from the plant, three people were gravely wounded, including a 6-year-old girl. Over 30 multistory residential buildings were damaged, as as well as private houses and schools, Ukrainian authorities said.

Rafael Grossi, the head of the U.N.s International Atomic Energy Agency, said the loss of external power at the nuclear plant for the second time in five days again exposed how precarious the situation is, and he pleaded again for a security zone around the plant.

All six of the Zaporizhzhia reactors were stopped earlier due to the war. But they still require electricity to prevent them and their spent fuel rods from overheating to the point of a meltdown that could release radiation into the atmosphere of Ukraine and potentially other European countries, including Russia.

In the Donetsk region, Russian tanks shelled the city of Avdiivka, damaging residential buildings and a market. Seven people were killed and eight wounded, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of Zelenskyy's office, said via Telegram, posting photos of bodies on the ground by a kiosk with potatoes and bread on the counter.

Before the bombardment of the last three days, Russian forces over the last month had lost ground to a Ukrainian counteroffensive in the east and south, drawing criticism from hawkish commentators in Russia.

Earlier Wednesday, Ukraines southern command said its forces recaptured five settlements in the southern Kherson region, on the western fringe of an arc of Russian-controlled territory in eastern and southern Ukraine.

Near the southern city of Mykolaiv, Ukrainian forces shot down nine Iranian Shahed-136 drones and destroyed eight Kalibr cruise missiles, the presidential office said.

Yuras Karmanau in Tallinn, Estonia, and Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this report.

Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
SOUTH HEIDELBERG TWP., Pa.  Change how you operate or close up shop. That was the message Berks County District Attorney John Adams and others delivered Wednesday to the operators of the state's Wernersville Community Corrections Center.

"They have worn out their welcome and community leaders, we are all in agreement," Adams said during a news conference that was streamed live on WFMZ.com. "The center must close, and the way it operates must change."

16:37 WATCH: News conference on Wernersville Community Corrections Center Berks County District Attorney John Adams and Pennsylvania Rep. Barry Jozwiak held a news conference to address their concerns about the Werne

Adams and state Rep. Barry Jozwiak stood side by side, saying they want the Wernersville Community Corrections Center to close. They said they talked with Department of Corrections Secretary George Little, who has agreed to reduce the parolee population to 50.

"The secretary has responded and is willing to make some changes and meet with us to discuss the future of this facility," said Jozwiak, a Berks County Republican who served as the county's sheriff for 12 years and a state trooper for 25 years.

For Jozwiak and Adams, they said recent criminal incidents involving parolees have sparked the effort, including a recent drug-related incident that prompted a search.

"Which discovered a loaded semiautomatic rifle in the trunk of the car along with several loaded magazines," Jozwiak said. "This occurred within one mile of Conrad Weiser High School."

The school district joins South Heidelberg Township and neighboring municipalities in calling for the shutdown. The planned proposal also calls for the parolees to only be from Berks County.

"It gets rid of the gangbangers out of Philadelphia, some of the more serious offenders," Jozwiak said. "Berks County has its share, of course, but I think what you just said is probably true. They have family ties here."

Meanwhile, an ongoing zoning case remains tied up in the court system, as South Heidelberg continues to question if the state even has proper use to operate the facility.

"By the rulings by the local authority as well as the county, which confirmed our belief that we will indeed win at the commonwealth level," said Sean McKee, the South Heidelberg Township manager.

Overall, Adams and Jozwiak said they're pleased with the discussion they recently had with the Department of Corrections, and they hope to see changes coming soon.

"He understood the problem," Adams said of Little, "recognized it, understood changes need to be made and needed to be made immediately."
READING, Pa.  A community organization that said it encourages voter education and advocacy is raising concerns about a revised Berks County policy on mail-in ballot drop boxes.

"It takes the joy away from voting and can also discourage people from participating in our democracy," said Diana Robinson, civic engagement director for Make the Road Pennsylvania.

Robinson is speaking out against a revised county policy surrounding ballot drop boxes. In September, the commissioners voted to require a deputy sheriff stationed at the boxes to ask voters if they are depositing their own ballots.

Berks County Commissioner Christian Leinbach said at the time that he recommended the policy to be consistent with what happens at the election office, where election office staff asks, "Is this your ballot?" If the answer is "no," the person is told they have to get an affirmation form signed or have the person it belongs to drop it off.

"So, I think for us, we want to ensure voting feels safe," Robinson said, "that it feels joyous and that there aren't these intimidating factors when you're trying to exercise your right to vote as a citizen."

Deputies had already been at the Berks County Services Center and Agricultural Center, where the boxes are, but this will be the first time people will be questioned by them.

"People, especially in communities of color, usually don't have the best relationships with law enforcement," Robinson said, "so it's creating, you know, an atmosphere of fear."

The revision also consists of a clarification that the two election services officers who open and close the drop boxes each day must be one election services official and a sheriff's deputy. Officials said this has been the practice but that the policy did not reflect the detail of one deputy.

69 News reached out to the county for comment. Representatives said the policy was already discussed at a public election board meeting and that they do not have any further comment at this time.
READING, Pa.  Students at 10th and Penn Elementary School in Reading were treated to a special guest Tuesday morning.

Pennsylvania's acting secretary of education, Eric Hagarty, took time out of his day to celebrate music and the arts with the school's first graders.

He broke out the guitar and played "We Don't Talk About Bruno" from Disney's "Encanto" as the students sang along. He then read "Harold and the Purple Crayon" by Crockett Johnson.

"Anytime you can engage students in learning in a fun way, through music and the arts, for example, you are helping them to develop skills and competencies that will serve them throughout their lives," Hagarty said in a news release prior to the event. "There are so many benefits to an early focus on the arts from a physiological and developmental perspective, but what's even better  the students enjoy it."

The Department of Education streamed the event live on its Facebook page.
EASTON, Pa.  The Easton Area School District Board of Directors heard a presentation Tuesday night on a program offered by BusPatrol LLC, a company that says its mission is to change the driving culture around school buses.

Michael Sokoloski, chief financial officer for EASD, said district officials met with BusPatrol to discuss options available for its buses.

"This is a safety option of placing cameras on buses, on the exterior and on the (stop) arms and in the interior of buses," Sokoloski explained.

"There is no cost to the district," he added of the feature. "It is paid through the violation fees that are received from our municipalities once somebody runs the red lights," referring to the flashing red lights on a school bus.

Pennsylvania law enables the program to operate by imposing a penalty fine of $300 for a violation. Of that amount, $250 goes to the district to pay for the program, $25 goes to the police department that reviewed the evidence and $25 goes to the School Bus Safety Grant Program account.

Sokoloski said that on an average monthly basis, there are approximately 40 violations.

The technology offered by BusPatrol helps police to issue tickets and enforce the law to change behaviors.

Director Meg Sayago said she is happy that the district is moving forward with the program.

"This has been something that I have definitely been talking about for a long time," Sayago said. "I think this is a win for the district, but obviously way more importantly, this is a win for our students."

"Those numbers are staggering to think there are 40 violations per month," she continued. "With 20 school days a month, that's twice a day, every school day, our children are put at risk by someone who cannot wait behind a school bus, and that is just simply appalling."

"I cannot wait for us to move this forward," she said.

Projector technology

Also during its standing committees meeting, the board was asked to consider upgrading every classroom in the high school with the newest technology in projectors.

Josh Grice, from D'Huy Engineering, said the proposed project would be done in the summer of 2023 and would bring classrooms up to date with some of the newest technology with interactive projectors.

"So essentially, what it's going to do is replace any of the pull-down projection screens and the older technology of TV sets that are still in the classrooms," Grice said, "and really bring those spaces up to more advanced stage technologically. "

Grice said the electrical and the installation portion of the project will cost $448,500, while the actual cost for 150 projects and wall mounts will be $387,832.

The board will vote on the matter at its next regular voting meeting.
We're hearing from people pushing for change in the wake of a carbon monoxide leak at an Allentown daycare, that sent 28 children and four adults to the hospital.

Advocates said it takes common sense and better laws to protect children and the people that care for them. We spoke with a mother named Nikki Zellner, who said her children went through an eerily similar experience at a daycare in Virginia Beach just two years ago. Like in Allentown, her kids' daycare did not have carbon monoxide detectors. Zellner watched the coverage in horror, remembering her own experience in 2020.

"At my particular event, over 80 people were evacuated from the structure, five to 10 people were hospitalized, and they had been exposed to carbon monoxide for over six hours," said Zellner.

Zellner learned there was no law requiring the daycare to have CO detectors installed, so she fought to change that.

"We started with a Change.org petition, had 5,000 signatures within a month, then we took that to the legislators, and then every time it came up for a vote in the House or Senate, I would email everyone on the voting committee," said Zellner.

Thanks in part to her efforts, a law was passed in 2021 requiring detectors in schools and daycares in Virginia. She's encouraging parents in Pennsylvania to speak up as well, because a similar bill, SB 129, is sitting in the House Health Committee right now.

But even without a law, an HVAC professional we spoke with said it's important to protect yourself.

"Carbon monoxide, you can't smell. It's just there," said Thomas Grello, who used to run Tru Comfort Heating and Air before he sold the business in 2019.

Grello said CO can come from any gas appliance in a house.

"Your kitchen stove gives off CO when you're cooking. Your gas furnace, gas boiler, water heater all give off a given amount of CO," said Grello.

That CO is released out of the house through ventilation, but it can get clogged.

"A bird could build a nest over the summer, and the first time you use it for the winter, you're putting out CO into the building," said Grello.

That's why he says it's important to have CO detectors installed. The good news is they are easy to find and cheap. We did a quick search on Amazon and found several plug-in models for under $20.

Zellner said it's a necessary investment.

"It's a life safety issue, and we need to start treating it as such," said Zellner.

Zellner has a website with more tips for parents and advocates called CO Safe Schools.

Even though Pennsylvania doesn't require detectors, Allentown has an ordinance that takes effect on Oct. 27 requiring all daycares and schools to have those detectors installed. Allentown said there are 161 daycares within city limits, and it plans to make sure all of them have detectors after that deadline.
ALLENTOWN, Pa. - "As we all can see we can't let this happen again to any daycare or any child," said Lehigh Valley State Rep. Jeanne McNeill after Tuesday's carbon monoxide leak at Happy Smile Learning Center in Allentown.

There are bills in the state House and one unanimously passed in the Senate that would require day care centers to have carbon monoxide detectors if they use fossil fuel burning heaters or appliances.

But she says they're stuck in the House Health Committee, adding with only three voting days left this year, she says, chances of one passing are slim.

"Once the election comes all those bills go away and we have to rewrite them and try again," she said.

McNeill is hoping the carbon monoxide leak at Allentown's Happy Smile Learning Center, which poisoned more than two dozen kids, acts as a voting Hail Mary.

In February Allentown passed an ordinance requiring child care centers using fossil fuels to have CO detectors but it's not mandated until Oct. 27.

The owner of Happy Smile says they were in the process of getting one.

"Unfortunately, sometimes what we dread turns into reality. And unfortunately today hearing about what unveiled in Allentown, it really hit me hard," said Jamielynn Polzer-Toth. She owns Whitehall-based Growing Tree Child Care Center, where she's responsible for 150 kids and 28 employees.

Her business uses a heat pump and wouldn't require a CO detector, but she says the law is badly needed.

"So unless it is set in place, centers can kind of pick and choose, unless it's a franchise, which way they want to go," she said.

Six states do require child care facilities to have the detectors. In Pennsylvania Senate bills requiring child care facilities to have the detectors go back years but haven't been able to make it to a full vote, according to state Sen. Wayne Fontana, who has written several.

We did reach out to the chair of the House Health Committee, Kathy Rapp, to ask why the bills are not being voted on, but we did not get an answer.
A comedy show planned at Penn State is facing backlash for featuring the founder of far-right group, the Proud Boys.

Student organization "Uncensored America" is scheduled to host Gavin McInnes on October 24.

Penn State officials released a statement criticizing McInnes.

They say his views "differ dramatically from the university's values of inclusion, diversity, and respect."

The event is still slated to go on as planned.
POTTSTOWN, Pa. - A man accused in a deadly shooting in Pottstown has been found guilty.

Samir Bentley was convicted Wednesday of second-degree murder, and was sentenced to life in prison, according to the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office.

Ahmed Mohammed pleaded guilty last week to third-degree murder in the shooting. The DA's office said he will serve 23 to 46 years in prison.

Authorities said Robert Stiles was shot and robbed in the 400 block of East High Street in Pottstown in October of 2021. He died later at the hospital.

Bentley and Mohammad were arrested earlier this year in North Carolina.
CINCINNATI (AP)  A 22-year-old man who authorities say identified as an involuntary celibate and plotted to kill women at an unnamed Ohio university has pleaded guilty to a federal charge of attempting a hate crime.

Tres Genco, of Hilliard, Ohio, entered the plea Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati. He faces up to life in prison because he threatened to kill people, a U.S. Department of Justice spokesperson said.

Genco's lawyer, Richard Monahan, didn't immediately reply to a voicemail seeking comment.

Genco identified as an involuntary celibate, or incel, and interacted with an online community of mostly men who advocate for violence against women because they believe they are unjustly denied sexual or romantic attention, authorities said.

He conducted surveillance at an Ohio university in January 2020 and wrote a document that month titled Isolated that he described as the writings of the deluded and homicidal," according to prosecutors. He signed it, Your hopeful friend and murderer.

Police searched Gencos home in March 2020 and found a firearm with an attached bump stock  a device that allows it to be rapidly fired  a pistol, loaded ammunition magazines, boxes of ammunition and body armor. He was charged in July of 2021.

Genco's manifesto points to a 2014 shooting committed by a self-identified incel named Elliot Rodger, who killed six people and injured 14 others outside a sorority house at the University of California, Santa Barbara, before killing himself.

In April 2018, a 25-year-old self-identified incel named Alek Minassian drove a rented van into a crowd of mostly women in downtown Toronto, killing 10 people and injuring 14.
Seven tenements granted in the highly prospective southern Peruvian Copper belt, southeast of world class Toquepala Au/Ag/Cu/Mo Porphyry Mine.





Solis' new Cinto Project straddles the regional scale Incapuquio Fault system, and is interpreted to be similar rocks that host Toquepala, 15km to the northwest.





Worldview-3 remote sensing data and alteration interpretation being completed over key Solis' Peruvian projects - indentifying new drill targets at Ilo Este.





Field check of highlighted anomalies and detailed geological mapping to commence immediately in preparation for drill testing.

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 12, 2022) - Solis Minerals Ltd. (ASX: SLM) (TSXV: SLMN) (FSE: 08W) ("Solis Minerals" or "the Company") is excited to announce it has received confirmation of grants for a series of largely contiguous tenements totalling 3,200ha in the highly prospective southern Peruvian Copper belt, located some 15km to the southeast of the world class Toquepala Au/Ag/Cu/Mo Porphyry Mine (Figure 1 and Appendix 1). The new project will be called the Cinto Project.

The Company has completed the initial compilation of available geological and other data sets over the area, including the acquisition of new remote-sensing satellite data (comprising the Worldview-3[1] platform, amongst others) covering Cinto and Solis' other Peruvian copper projects. Specialist consultant interpretation of this new satellite data has highlighted several priority zones of favourable alteration - particularly at Ilo Este- which has never been tested. Field geological teams will mobilise shortly to undertake detailed field checking, mapping and systematic sampling of the highlighted alteration anomalies in preparation for drill testing. Detailed Worldview-3 data has been acquired over Cinto and is being processed.

CEO Jason Cubitt commented:

"This is an exciting development for Solis shareholders as the Cinto Project offers an opportunity to be the first exploration company to use modern exploration techniques on a staked area, located near one of Peru's largest copper producers, Toquepala mine[2]. With the same major structural controls, and similar rock type and age to Toquepala (57 Ma - 57 million years), we intend to advance this project to a drill-ready stage and offer Solis shareholders exposure to another world-class target in Peru's Southwest copper belt. The Company remains fully funded for this year's field season."

Story continues





Figure 1: Cinto Project - Regional geology and Project location

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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Cinto Copper Project

The northern permits are underlain by igneous rocks of the Cretaceous Toquepala Group and the late Cretaceous-early Tertiary batholith related to the Toquepala porphyry mine some 15km to the northwest.

The regional Incapuquio fault crosses the permits and the underlying igneous rocks are covered by recent sediments, generally south of the fault and increasing in thickness to the southwest.

Several zones of hydrothermal alteration in the concessions are noted in published geological maps. The Company has recently acquired Worldview-3 satellite imagery to assist in rapid delineation of priority areas which will be followed up with geological mapping and rock sampling. The satellite data is currently being processed. Potential drill target identification would initiate permit applications for first-pass drill programs.

Ilo Este Copper Project

The Ilo Este (east) Project comprises four contiguous tenements covering an area of approximately 3,200ha (Figure 2). They are located about 110km northwest of the town of Tacna (Appendix 1).





Figure 2: Ilo Este Project - Tenure and Project location

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Exploration undertaken by previous owners at Ilo Este included 12 reverse circulation (RC) drill holes (2000) and 12 diamond drill holes (2014-16), which were successful in identifying copper-gold mineralisation and interpreted to be part of a Cu-Au porphyry system. Mineralisation is differentiated into two types:

1) Oxide zone - green copper oxide minerals (brocanite, atacamite, malachite, neocite, hematite and manganese oxides) with carbonate staining that occurs across both the southern and northern intrusion belts and occurring to depths of approximately 80m.

2) Hypogene mineralisation - copper sulphides (chalcopyrite-bornite-pyrite) occur as disseminations, in fractures and within quartz veins that occur as a random stockwork within porphyritic granodiorite and porphyritic quartz diorite of the northern intrusive belt.

Although it is thought that the parts of llo Este porphyry system may have been deeply eroded down to the potassic zone, there remains the potential to discover higher grade mineralisation in areas of the porphyry that have been less eroded as well as a lower-grade orebody within the remnants of the porphyry. There is also potential for the intrusive belts to continue under cover to the south and east and to have been offset by a major fault (the Chololo Fault) striking to the northeast that could have offset the upper portion of the porphyry. This upper part could potentially host a higher grade phyllic zone of mineralisation.





Figure 3: Map of the Ilo Este Copper Project showing geological mapping, geochemical surface sampling and drill hole collars and traces. (Source: Latin Resources Limited ASX release dated 3 February 2015; Copper Mineralisation Confirmed over 1.1km of Strike at Ilo Este Copper Porphyry)

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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The Company has recently undertaken Worldview-3 satellite imagery studies and is interpreting the data. Based on initial results indicating untested alteration, it is envisaged that further areas for exploration north of the Chololo fault (Figure 4) will be subject to geological ground mapping, rock sampling, and renewed alteration domain interpretation. South of the Chololo fault, in areas of recent geological cover, a ground magnetic geophysical survey will be undertaken in areas viewed to contain favourable underlying structural architecture to host porphyry-style intrusives. These programs, combined with data from previous drilling, will allow drill planning to proceed in the coming months and permitting to be initiated.





Figure 4: Ilo Este map of simplified geology: Blue - Jurassic intrusives/volcanics, Red - Cretaceous Batholith, Stippled - Tertiary cover, Green - Quaternary cover

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Ilo Norte Copper Project

The Ilo Norte Project area (Figure 5) consists of eight Mining Concessions covering a total area of 7,700ha approximately 20km northeast from the Pacific coastal town of Ilo, in the Ilo Province, Department of Moquegua of Sothern Peru (Appendix 1).





Figure 5: Ilo Norte Project - Tenure and Project location

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The geology of the llo Norte Project area consists of andesitic pyroclastics, andesitic volcanics belonging to the Chocolate Formation and younger Quaternary cover sediments (Figure 6 and Appendix 1).

Exploration undertaken by previous owners at Ilo Norte included eight RC holes (2011) and 16 diamond holes (2014). Mineralisation encountered at llo Norte is interpreted to be part of an IOCG-type deposit contained within the highly altered andesitic volcaniclastics of the Chocolate Formation. Contact metamorphism and metasomatism have produced at least five phases of widespread development of mostly lentiform economic mineral assemblages including copper, gold, silver, zinc and minor cobalt.





Figure 6: Ilo Norte Project (western part) -Project geology and historical drill collar locations: (Source: NI43-101 Technical Report: Ilo Norte and Ilo Este projects, Griffin 2017). Notes: Orange hashed area indicates potential skarn alteration zone. Red stippled area represents silica-albite alteration

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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The Company is planning to acquire Worldview-3 satellite data at Ilo Norte in the coming months when climatic conditions are more favourable. This will augment the planning of the exploration programs which will be principally based around extending ground magnetics surveys over cover, and IP surveys where geological and access condition allow in the west of the area. This data, combined with previous drill results and structural interpretation, is expected to assist planning of future drilling.

Proposed Work Program

Cinto: Process Worldview-3 data, identify zones of interest. Mapping, prospecting leading to identification of potential drill targets. Initiate drill permitting leading to potential drill programs.

Ilo Este: Follow-up field visits to newly identified alteration areas. Mapping and prospecting leading to identification of potential drill targets (0-3 months). Follow-up south of regional fault with ground mag survey for additional targets. Initiate drill permitting leading to potential drill programs in 2023.

Ilo Norte: Acquire Worldview-3 satellite imagery (0-3 months). Follow-up with field visits. Complete IP and ground mag surveys where practical. Initiate drill permitting leading to potential drill programs in 2023.

About Solis Minerals Ltd.

Solis Minerals is a Latin American battery mineral-focused mining exploration company. The Company holds a 100% interest in a package of highly prospective IOCG (iron oxide copper/gold) and porphyry copper projects in southwestern Peru within the country's prolific coastal copper belt - a source of nearly half of Peru's copper production.

Issued on the directive of the Solis board.

For further information please contact:

Jason Cubitt

President and CEO

Solis Minerals Ltd.

+1 (604) 209 1658

Stephen Moloney

Investor Relations

Corporate Storytime

+61 (0)403 222 052

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as the term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy of accuracy of this news release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Readers are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected including, but not limited to, market conditions, availability of financing, actual results of the Company's exploration and other activities, environmental risks, future metal prices, operating risks, accidents, labour issues, delays in obtaining governmental approvals and permits, and other risks in the mining industry. All the forward-looking statements made in this news release are qualified by these cautionary statements and those in our continuous disclosure filings available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances save as required by applicable law.

Qualified Person Statement

The technical information in this news release was reviewed by Fred Tejada, P.Geo, a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101).

Competent Person Statement

The information in this ASX release in relation to Geological Information and Exploration Results is based on and fairly represent information compiled by Mr Anthony Greenaway, a Competent Person who is a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr Greenaway is an employee of Solis Minerals Ltd. and has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and types of deposit under consideration and to the exploration activities undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the "Australian Code for Reporting of Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves". Mr Greenaway consents to the inclusion in this report of the matters based on information in the form and context in which it appears. Mr Greenaway has provided his prior written consent as to the form and context in which the Geological Information and Exploration Results and supporting information are presented in this Announcement.

All information relating to exploration results that have been previously released to the market is appropriately referenced in this document.

APPENDIX 1

Solis Minerals Limited Peruvian Project Location Map.





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APPENDIX 2

JORC Code, 2012 Edition - Table 1

Section 1 Sampling Techniques and Data

(Criteria in this section apply to all succeeding sections)

Criteria JORC Code explanation Commentary Sampling techniques Nature and quality of sampling (e.g. cut channels, random chips, or specific specialised industry standard measurement tools appropriate to the minerals under investigation, such as down hole gamma sondes, or handheld XRF instruments, etc). These examples should not be taken as limiting the broad meaning of sampling.

Include reference to measures taken to ensure sample representivity and the appropriate calibration of any measurement tools or systems used.

Aspects of the determination of mineralisation that are Material to the Public Report.

In cases where 'industry standard' work has been done this would be relatively simple (e.g. 'reverse circulation drilling was used to obtain 1 m samples from which 3 kg was pulverised to produce a 30 g charge for fire assay'). In other cases more explanation may be required, such as where there is coarse gold that has inherent sampling problems. Unusual commodities or mineralisation types (e.g. submarine nodules) may warrant disclosure of detailed information. Sampling across the Ilo Este and Ilo Norte projects has included rock chip sampling from trenches, and rock outcrops, and reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drilling. There is no record of previous exploration at the Cinto Project.

There is no detailed record of how outcrop or trench chip sampling was completed or the size of the samples.

RC drilling was completed by Peruvian Latin Resources at Ilo Norte (8 holes for 2,690m completed in 2011) and Rio Tinto at Ilo Este (12 holes for 2,128m completed in 2000).

Apart from collar locations there are no other records available for the Rio Tinto drilling.

The RC holes completed by Peruvian Latin Resources had 1,345 samples collected over 2m intervals.

Diamond drilling was completed by Peruvian Latin Resources at Ilo Este (3 holes for 2,073m completed in 2014-15) and Compania Minera Zahena SAC at both Ilo Norte (16 holes for 12,658 m completed in 2014) and Ilo Este (9 holes for 5,322m completed in 2015-16).

Diamond core was sampled nominally on 2m (Peruvian Latin Resources) or 3m (Compania Minera Zahena SAC) intervals. Drilling techniques Drill type (e.g. core, reverse circulation, open-hole hammer, rotary air blast, auger, Bangka, sonic, etc) and details (e.g. core diameter, triple or standard tube, depth of diamond tails, face-sampling bit or other type, whether core is oriented and if so, by what method, etc). Reverse circulation samples were collected from a rig-mounted cyclone in large plastic bags before being split down to a 4-5kg sample using a 2-tier riffle splitter and then placed into calico bags for despatch to the lab. There is no record of the bit type used for either of the RC drilling programs but the hole completed by Peruvian Latin Resources used 5 inch bit.

Diamond drill holes completed by Peruvian Latin Resources at Ilo Este were initially drilled as PQ size (85mm core diameter) to depths varying between 87-109m and were then drilled at HQ size (63.5mm core diameter) until the end of hole. All the holes were completed using a standard tube.

Diamond drill holes completed by Compania Minera Zahena SAC at Ilo Este were drilled as HQ size (63.5mm core diameter) until the end of hole. All the holes were completed using a standard tube.

Diamond drill holes completed by Compania Minera Zahena SAC at Ilo Norte were drilled using a combination of HQ size (63.5mm core diameter), NQ (core diameter 47.6mm) and in one drill hole BQ (core diameter 36.5mm) for the last 88m. All the holes were completed using a standard tube. Drill sample recovery Method of recording and assessing core and chip sample recoveries and results assessed.

Measures taken to maximise sample recovery and ensure representative nature of the samples.

Whether a relationship exists between sample recovery and grade and whether sample bias may have occurred due to preferential loss/gain of fine/coarse material. RC sample recovery was assessed visually and from sample weights recorded at the laboratory.

Core barrel length and core length measurements were made so that core recoveries could be estimated. Recoveries were good and no significant core loss was experienced. Logging Whether core and chip samples have been geologically and geotechnically logged to a level of detail to support appropriate Mineral Resource estimation, mining studies and metallurgical studies.

Whether logging is qualitative or quantitative in nature. Core (or costean, channel, etc) photography.

The total length and percentage of the relevant intersections logged. The RC drill holes completed by Peruvian Latin Resources were qualitatively logged for lithology, alteration, and mineralisation.

All of the diamond drill core was qualitatively logged for lithology, alteration and mineralisation which has been inspected qualitatively. No geotechnical logging was performed. Photographs were taken of all the core in sample boxes. Sub-sampling techniques and sample preparation If core, whether cut or sawn and whether quarter, half or all core taken.

If non-core, whether riffled, tube sampled, rotary split, etc and whether sampled wet or dry.

For all sample types, the nature, quality and appropriateness of the sample preparation technique.

Quality control procedures adopted for all sub-sampling stages to maximise representivity of samples.

Measures taken to ensure that the sampling is representative of the in-situ material collected, including for instance results for field duplicate/second-half sampling.

Whether sample sizes are appropriate to the grain size of the material being sampled. RC samples were collected from a rig-mounted cyclone in large plastic bags before being split down to a 4-5kg sample using a 2-tier riffle splitter. The splitter was cleaned with compressed air between each sample. All the samples were recorded as dry.

Diamond core was sampled by company technicians under supervision of company geologists using a diamond saw to cut along the axis of the core taking care to representively split any visible mineralisation. Half core samples over two or three-metre intervals were bagged for dispatch to SGS laboratories in Peru. (SGS del Peru S.A.C laboratory in Arequipa for sample preparation and then to the SGS laboratory in Lima for analysis).

Laboratory sample preparation consisted of weighing the samples upon receipt, crushing the samples so 70% <2 mm, splitting off approximately 1,000g of sample and then pulverising the coarse split to 85% passing 75.

Laboratory sample preparation for diamond drill samples consisted of jaw crushing the samples to a 1/4 inch and then riffle split to obtain 200-250g for pulverising.

Blanks and field duplicates were inserted at a rate of approximately 1 in 40 to 1 in 50 samples each and certified reference standards were inserted approximately 1 in 20. Laboratory duplicates were also undertaken approximately 1 in 40 samples. Quality of assay data and laboratory tests The nature, quality and appropriateness of the assaying and laboratory procedures used and whether the technique is considered partial or total.

For geophysical tools, spectrometers, handheld XRF instruments, etc, the parameters used in determining the analysis including instrument make and model, reading times, calibrations factors applied and their derivation, etc.

Nature of quality control procedures adopted (e.g. standards, blanks, duplicates, external laboratory checks) and whether acceptable levels of accuracy (i.e. lack of bias) and precision have been established. RC samples were assayed for 22 elements using an X-ray florescence assay technique (ME-XRF).

Gold was assayed in diamond drill holes using a 30g fire assay, which is considered a total assay technique.

Copper and 35 other elements were assayed in diamond drill holes using ICP-AES following a 4-acid digest and is considered total for Cu and Zn. This method is considered suitable for Cu and other base metals considering the matrix minerals present in the deposit.

Analytical techniques and procedures are appropriate for the style of mineralisation.

Blanks and field duplicates were inserted at a rate of approximately 1 in 40 samples each and certified reference standards were inserted approximately 1 in 20. Laboratory duplicates were also undertaken approximately 1 in 40 samples. Verification of sampling and assaying The verification of significant intersections by either independent or alternative company personnel.

The use of twinned holes.

Documentation of primary data, data entry procedures, data verification, data storage (physical and electronic) protocols.

Discuss any adjustment to assay data. There has been no verification of significant intersections by either independent or alternative company personnel.

There have been no twin drill holes completed.

There have been no adjustments made to the assay data.

Sample data recorded in the field was entered into Excel spreadsheets and verified and cross checked against assay reports from the laboratory.

Logging data was entered into Excel spreadsheets and subsequently cross checked against hand drawn summary logs.

All data is stored electronically in a company server-based file system with regular offsite back-ups. Location of data points Accuracy and quality of surveys used to locate drill holes (collar and down-hole surveys), trenches, mine workings and other locations used in Mineral Resource estimation.

Specification of the grid system used.

Quality and adequacy of topographic control. Drill holes completed by Peruvian Latin Resources had collar surveys completed using a hand help GPS unit. Down hole surveys were not undertaken.

The diamond drill holes completed by Compania Minera Zahena S.A.C. had drill hole collars surveyed with a handheld GARMIN GPS (Model GPSMAP 64s) and downhole surveys completed every 50-100 m with a Ranger Survey Systems FlexIT survey tool.

Data has been collected in UTM zone 19S coordinates.

The Ilo topography is a 1:5,000 scale Digital Terrain Model generated from digital restitution of ortho-rectified 1:20,000 scale aerial photography and associated ground controls. The accuracy is considered adequate for the current early phase of exploration at each project. Data spacing and distribution Data spacing for reporting of Exploration Results.

Whether the data spacing and distribution is sufficient to establish the degree of geological and grade continuity appropriate for the Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve estimation procedure(s) and classifications applied.

Whether sample compositing has been applied. Drilling at both deposits has been completed on an irregular grid and at varying orientations.

Given the mineralisation is structurally controlled and/or discreet this current drill spacing is too wide to interpret continuity between drill holes.

Sample compositing has not been applied. Orientation of data in relation to geological structure Whether the orientation of sampling achieves unbiased sampling of possible structures and the extent to which this is known, considering the deposit type.

If the relationship between the drilling orientation and the orientation of key mineralised structures is considered to have introduced a sampling bias, this should be assessed and reported if material. Due to the wide spaced drilling and variable nature of the mineralisation at each deposit the relationship between the sample length and the true thicknesses of the mineralisation is currently unknown. Sample security The measures taken to ensure sample security. Company representatives completed the despatch and transport of samples to Lima in numbered and locked containers. At no time were the samples accessed by third party personnel.

Diamond drill core is stored in a warehouse at the llo East project. Coarse rejects and sample pulps were initially stored at the SGS Laboratory warehouse before being returned to Peruvian Latin Resources Audits or reviews The results of any audits or reviews of sampling techniques and data. There have been no detailed audits or reviews of the historical or recent sampling techniques.

Solis Minerals has conducted an internal technical review of the historical Ilo Project data.

Section 2 Reporting of Exploration Results

(Criteria listed in the preceding section also apply to this section)

Criteria JORC Code explanation Commentary Mineral tenement and land tenure status Type, reference name/number, location and ownership including agreements or material issues with third parties such as joint ventures, partnerships, overriding royalties, native title interests, historical sites, wilderness or national park and environmental settings.

The security of the tenure held at the time of reporting along with any known impediments to obtaining a licence to operate in the area. The Ilo Norte Project area consists of eight Mining Concessions covering a total area of 7,700ha and the Ilo Este Project area consists of four Mining Concessions covering a total area of 3,200ha. The twelve Mining Concessions are 100% owned by Westminster Peru S.A.C, a subsidiary pf Solis Minerals Ltd.

The Cinto Project Area consists of eight granted Mining Concessions covering a total of 3,200ha, owned 100% by Solis Minerals Ltd. Exploration done by other parties Acknowledgment and appraisal of exploration by other parties. Ilo Norte Southern Peru Copper Company carried out mapping and sampling of the broad Ilo area in 2000.

Teck Resources Ltd flew airborne magnetic and radiometric surveys and completed stream and rock chip sampling surveys (11,395 samples) over the broad Ilo area in 2003.

Peruvian Latin Resources completed a ground magnetic survey over llo Norte in 2009, a ground gravimetric survey over llo Norte in 2010, geological mapping and rock chip sampling in 2011 to 2012, RC drilling in 2011 and completed an Induced Polarisation survey in 2012/2013.

Compania Minera Zahena S.A.C. completed 16 diamond drill holes in 2014. Ilo Este Rio Tinto completed preliminary reconnaissance work including mapping and trench sampling over the project in 1999 followed by 12 RC holes in 2000.

Peruvian Latin Resources completed several phases of geological mapping and soil and rock chip sampling between 2009 and 2013, then a ground magnetic survey and three diamond drill holes in 2014/2015.

Compania Minera Zahena S.A.C. completed nine diamond drill holes in 2015/2016. Geology Deposit type, geological setting and style of mineralisation. The geology of the llo Norte project area consists of andesitic pyroclastics, andesitic volcanics belonging to the Chocolate Formation and younger Quaternary cover sediments. The mineralisation is interpreted to be an iron oxide copper gold (IOCG) type deposit that is contained within highly altered andesitic volcaniclastics. Contact metamorphism and metasomatism have produced at least five phases of widespread development of mostly lentiform economic mineral assemblages including copper, gold, silver, zinc and minor cobalt.

The geology of the llo Este project consists of porphyritic andesites, porphyritic micro-diorite sills, andesitic tuff and sandstones of the Chocolate Formation that outcrop on the northern and southern flanks of two major belts of felsic igneous intrusions of the Cretaceous age. The mineralisation at llo Este is interpreted to be a Cu-Au porphyry system.

The Cinto Project area is underlain by igneous rocks of the Cretaceous Toquepala Group and the late Cretaceous-early Tertiary batholith related to the Toquepala mine porphyry some 15km to the north. The regional Incapuquio fault crosses the permits and the underlying igneous rocks are covered by recent sediments, generally south of the fault and increasing in thickness to the south-west. The project is considered prospective for porphyry Ag/Au/Cu/Mo systems. Drill hole Information A summary of all information material to the understanding of the exploration results including a tabulation of the following information for all Material drill holes: easting and northing of the drill hole collar elevation or RL (Reduced Level - elevation above sea level in metres) of the drill hole collar dip and azimuth of the hole hole length

If the exclusion of this information is justified on the basis that the information is not Material and this exclusion does not detract from the understanding of the report, the Competent Person should clearly explain why this is the case. N/A no new drilling data is included in this report Data aggregation methods In reporting Exploration Results, weighting averaging techniques, maximum and/or minimum grade truncations (e.g. cutting of high grades) and cut-off grades are usually Material and should be stated.

Where aggregate intercepts incorporate short lengths of high-grade results and longer lengths of low-grade results, the procedure used for such aggregation should be stated and some typical examples of such aggregations should be shown in detail.

The assumptions used for any reporting of metal equivalent values should be clearly stated. N/A no new drilling data is included in this report

No cut-offs have been applied when reporting of mineralised intersections.

The average copper, gold and silver grades reported for each mineralised intersection include both mineralised and non-mineralised samples.

No metal equivalents have been used. Relationship between mineralisation widths and intercept lengths These relationships are particularly important in the reporting of Exploration Results.

If the geometry of the mineralisation with respect to the drill hole angle is known, its nature should be reported.

If it is not known and only the down hole lengths are reported, there should be a clear statement to this effect (e.g. 'down hole length, true width not known'). N/A no new drilling data is included in this report. Diagrams Appropriate maps and sections (with scales) and tabulations of intercepts should be included for any significant discovery being reported These should include, but not be limited to a plan view of drill hole collar locations and appropriate sectional views. The Company has included various maps and figures showing the sample results and geological context. Balanced reporting Where comprehensive reporting of all Exploration Results is not practicable, representative reporting of both low and high grades and/or widths should be practiced avoiding misleading reporting of Exploration Results. N/A no new results are included in this report. Other substantive exploration data Other exploration data, if meaningful and material, should be reported including (but not limited to): geological observations; geophysical survey results; geochemical survey results; bulk samples - size and method of treatment; metallurgical test results; bulk density, groundwater, geotechnical and rock characteristics; potential deleterious or contaminating substances. The mineralised intersections are reported in context with supporting geological, geochemical and geophysical data at each deposit. Further work The nature and scale of planned further work (e.g. tests for lateral extensions or depth extensions or large-scale step-out drilling).

Diagrams clearly highlighting the areas of possible extensions, including the main geological interpretations and future drilling areas, provided this information is not commercially sensitive. Solis Minerals will undertake extensive validation and field confirmation of the various targets identified from the historical data and recent remote sensing over the Ilo and Cinto Projects.

[1] The Worldview-3 satellite collects multispectral data in the visible and near infrared (VNIR) and shortwave infrared (SWIR) wavelengths. The eight VNIR bands have resolution of 1.24m and the eight SWIR bands have resolution of 3.7m. VNIR data are most useful for highlighting iron-bearing phases like the mineral goethite while the SWIR data are most useful for mapping hydrous phases like the minerals muscovite and kaolinite. Combining these multispectral results with geology and other data provides a powerful exploration tool.

[2] 203.62ktonnes copper production in 2021. Source: Southern Copper Corp - www.southerncoppercorp.com/eng/production

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/140273
Williamson, WV (25661)

Today

Cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Scattered frost possible. Low near 35F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Scattered frost possible. Low near 35F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph.
Born into a large, Midwestern family, Will Keith Kellogg's invention of Corn Flakes at age 46 changed his fortune. His philanthropic foundation was born in 1930.

A change-maker is anyone, anywhere, who takes creative action to solve social and economic problems in their community and beyond.

One of the original American change-makers, Will Keith Kellogg, did precisely that in 1930 when the inventor of the famous ready-to-eat breakfast cereal established the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The foundation has spent nearly a century working with communities to help vulnerable children in the United States and the Americas thrive in work, school and their daily lives.

In celebration of the foundation's 90th anniversary, in 2020 the organization put forth a $90 million award  the Racial Equity 2030 challenge  as a call for bold, sustainable and high impact solutions to creating a more equitable future for kids, families and communities.

The Racial Equity 2030 challenge was open to those with ideas from across the globe. With the prize money and support from the foundation, winners will incrementally broaden their projects over the coming years. The goal? To create societal transformations that will eliminate racial inequities and improve the lives of children and families.

These are the five winners selected by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation after a multilayered evaluation process:

Brazil's education system initiative

Quilombo schoolchildren in Brazil have historically faced segmented education. ActionAid is working to build an anti-racist education system that works for all.

ActionAid Brazil. While a majority of Brazilians now identify as Black or mixed race, glaring, long-entrenched socioeconomic inequalities persist between the Black, mixed and Indigenous populations vs. white populations. One institution notorious for perpetuating societal inequalities is the education system, even as more children are attending school  with racially disparate results. This could be, in part, because nonwhite Brazilians are not represented in their textbooks, there is no system in place to reach them to value their own culture, and less is expected of them because of their racial or ethnic identity.

Story continues

W.K. Kellogg Foundation CEO: Racial Equity 2030 awardees give me hope

Action Aid's bottom-up anti-racist education system initiative will train more than 700,000 educators across nearly 50,000 schools to empower Afro-Brazilians, Indigenous people and other nonwhite communities to tell their own stories and head up racial equality work in their own educational institutions and communities. This will provide the groundswell necessary to begin a societal transformation, with a goal of letting every student learn the full history of Brazil and its enduring legacy of racism and see themselves positively depicted in textbooks.

Chicago youth's mental health

Meyiya Coleman, a youth activist, learned to hone her voice and advocate for change in her Chicago neighborhood. Shes now one of the leaders of Communities Uniteds Healing Through Justice program.

Communities United. This racial justice organization in Chicago is led by survivors for young survivors struggling with the effects of systemic racism on their mental health. The Healing Through Justice initiative will support local youth leaders working to heal themselves, their families and communities from the harmful effects of the injustices while also working toward racial equity across a variety of systems: from schools to community health centers, and with local youth at the forefront of changing the systems intended to support them.

Projects of Communities United and its coalition partners include:

Training more than 100 youth fellows in storytelling and skill-building.

Tapping 4,000 youth leaders for community and neighborhood engagement.

Developing 3,000 youth fellows on mental health and wellness strategies.

By investing in young people directly affected by factors detrimental to their mental health and overall success  poverty, the school-to-prison pipeline, gun violence, and pervasive and historic systemic racism  the program aims to create healing in families and communities that historically have been harmed.

Opinion alerts: Get columns from your favorite columnists + expert analysis on top issues, delivered straight to your device through the USA TODAY app. Don't have the app? Download it for free from your app store.

Indigenous peoples' land rights

Indian Law Resource Center is providing free land titling services to Indigenous communities throughout Latin America.

Indian Law Resource Center. Mexico holds the unfortunate title of being the world's deadliest country for environmental and land defense activists. It's a regional problem  Latin America made up over two-thirds of the 200 environmental and land activists killed worldwide last year. These activists, often leaders in their communities, regularly come from Indigenous, rural areas that are on the frontlines of the climate crisis. From the Mapuche in Patagonia to the Yaqui of northern Mexico, Indigenous communities have been subjects of centuries of systemic racism and oppression: their land repeatedly stolen; their rights denied; their traditions, languages and values constantly under threat.

Secretary-general of the U.N.: 5 steps to help us kick our fossil fuel addiction and save the planet

While Indigenous peoples are the caretakers of the land (more than half of the worlds land is managed by Indigenous peoples, and land cared for by Indigenous peoples has better environmental outcomes), they hold a mere 10% of the government-recognized legal titles to their land. The ILRC has joined forces with several other organizations to advocate for, and secure legal title to, these groups' native lands. This initiative has two critical outcomes:

Providing vulnerable Indigenous groups and local communities with security against displacement  one of the most insidious effects of systemic racism.

Providing Indigenous peoples with equal opportunity to thrive on their own land, and conserve the habitats that we all need protected in order to stave of an increasingly dangerous climate crisis.

Victims of environmental racism

Namati. Persistently unsafe and unreliable drinking water in Jackson, Mississippi. Lead poisoning from a smelter that recycled batteries in Kenya. Exploitative land investors in Sierra Leone. These are examples of environmental racism  a type of systemic racism where communities of color shoulder disproportionate health hazards as a result of policies that force them to live and work on or near sources of toxic waste such as open sewage systems, garbage dumps, mines, power plants, etc. It is one of the most pressing social justice issues of our time.

In Jackson, Mississippi: Water crisis isn't just a moment. It's a systemic catastrophe.

Access to legal assistance, especially in low-income or rural communities, is of the utmost importance for communities suffering from systemic, institutionalized environmental racism. Namati, its partners and members of the Legal Empowerment Network partner with specially trained paralegals to help communities on the front lines of economic racism use the rule of law to advocate for themselves, their families and their communities. Equipped with vital legal assistance, and connected to a network of national and global coalitions, Namati's change-makers drive innovation and social transformation from the bottom up  making their immediate environment healthier, safer and more equitable, while also influencing the environmental public policy and its implementation in a way that is sustainable.

Restorative justice for youth in Hawaii

Machijah is one of the hundreds of young men whose lives have been transformed by Opportunity Youth Action Hawaiis programs.

Partners in Development Foundation. One of the legacies of colonialism in Hawaii is its colorized corrections system. Not only does Hawaii have one of the highest rates of incarceration in the world, but Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islander youth are also disproportionately represented in it. While Native Hawaiian youth make up less than a third of the youth population, they account for more than 50% of those incarcerated.

Policing the USA: An infamous adult prison is no place for incarcerated kids

The Partners in Development Foundation along with a coalition of local nonprofit organizations on the ground are working to counteract decades of systemic racism that has resulted in too many youth traumatized by drug and alcohol abuse, the foster care system, crime and violence. As an alternative to the westernized, punitive approach to juvenile corrections, this initiative shifts resources destined for juvenile justice facilities to Indigenous forms of restorative justice. These programs, including a community farm, help transform lives and communities by training youth healers to be change-makers, and focusing on community-driven and culture-positive support centers. The goal is ending youth incarceration in Hawaii by 2030.

Ambitious goals for big issues

La June Montgomery Tabron is president and CEO of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

The projects are ambitious. But so is the goal of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation's Racial Equity 2030 challenge.

"Each of the awardees isnt just working on projects that will improve the lives of the communities they serve directly," La June Montgomery Tabron, chief executive of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, wrote in a column for USA TODAY Opinion. "They also are ambitious, creative efforts that attack the roots of racial inequality and could be scaled to deliver transformative change for communities across the globe."

The founder of the foundation behind this challenge revolutionized the way we eat breakfast. I'm going to believe his philanthropic legacy can also help heal communities and improve the lives of children.

Carli Pierson, a New York licensed attorney, is an opinion writer with USA TODAY and a member of the USA TODAY Editorial Board. Follow her on Twitter: @CarliPiersonEsq

More from Carli Pierson:

Remind me why the Biden administration is in court fighting publication of the ERA?

'I grew up with corpses everywhere': Holocaust survivor uses TikTok to tell her story

4 things progressives can do to get ready for November midterm elections

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: Racial Equity 2030: Five NGOs selected by W.K. Kellogg Foundation
By Mr. Li Xiaoyong

Charge d'affaires ad interim

Chinese Embassy in Sierra Leone

In recent years, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the international situation, global food shortages and rising food prices have become very problematical for the world. Thanks to the new types of seeds, new technological advances, new models of cultivation and new agricultural equipments, there have been good harvests both in wheat and rice in China this year. The Chinese farmers have started sowing seeds of hope this summer and yet another season of crops on the splendid land has begun to grow.

As the largest developing country, China is always committed to safeguarding food security. H.E. President Xi Jinping said that since China is a country with 1.4 billion people, the fundamental role played by the agriculture sector can never be ignored or weakened because it is always true that with grain in hand, hearts do not panic. President Xi's book entitled On the Work of Agriculture, Rural Areas and Farmers, published in June this year, provides China's answer to the question of food security. In fact, China uses 9% of the world's arable land to feed one-fifth of the worlds population. China is not only the largest grain producer, but also the third largest grain exporter in the world. China has vigorously helped other developing countries in agriculture sector, for example the cultivation of 8 million hectares of Chinese hybrid rice in Asia, Africa and the Americas provides food for 80 million people. Since the beginning of the year, China has provided more than 15,000 tons of humanitarian food aid to other developing countries in order to relieve the urgent needs of the people there.

As a responsible major country in the international community, China proposes a global food cooperation initiative and leads the world's food security governance. Last year, President Xi Jinping put forward the Global Development Initiative(GDI) at the 76th UN General Assembly, making food security one of the eight key areas of cooperation.

In late July this year, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi proposed a cooperation initiative on global food security, while addressing the G20 foreign ministers' meeting, which proposes the following:

First, supporting the central role of the United Nations in coordination. The role of the UN should be strengthened rather then weakened, and the work of FAO, IFAD and WFP should be supported.

Second, not imposing export restriction on humanitarian food purchases by the WFP.

Third, facilitating the entry of Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian agricultural products and inputs into the international market.

Fourth, major food producing and net food-exporting countries should release their own export potential, reduce trade and technical barriers, and control making fuel out of crops, so as to ease the tight food supply in the market.

Fifth, the emergency measures taken by countries for food trade should be short-term, transparent, targeted and appropriate, and conform to the rules of the World Trade Organization.

Sixth, supporting the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research and the cooperation on agricultural science and technology innovation and among countries, and reducing restrictions on high-tech exchanges.

Seventh, reducing food loss and waste. China has hosted the International Conference on Food Loss and Waste and stands ready to jointly follow through on the consensus reached at the conference.

Eighth, helping developing countries enhance their capacity of food production, storage and loss reduction in terms of capital, technology market and others.

China and Sierra Leone are good brothers who stand together through thick and thin. Since 1991, China has sent more than 100 agricultural experts to Sierra Leone to provide technical training, agricultural machinery use demonstration and rice breeding research etc. Through bilateral and multilateral channels, Chinese government has provided different batches of food aids to the needy people in Sierra Leone. Recently more than 2,700 pieces of various types of agricultural machinery given gratis by the Chinese government have arrived to the warehouse of the Ministry of Agriculture.

Food security involves the lives of every household and the shortage of food poses as a major challenge to our planet. China will continue to lead and participate in global food security governance, and work with all friendly countries including Sierra Leone to actively implement the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and make greater contributions to safeguarding world food security.




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Winona State University is keeping up its record of getting its students to vote.

Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon visited WSU this week to present the university with the 2020 Democracy Cup.

With 73.8% of WSU students turning out to vote in 2020, WSU had the highest voter turnout for any participating four-year public state university in Minnesota.

Its nothing new to the university to receive this honor, as this is the fourth time Winona State has received the Democracy Cup for their division.

Winning the Democracy Cup is a big deal, Simon shared, before presenting the award to WSU officially Monday. I would say one time is a triumph. Two or more times, thats a trend. This is no accident. The fact that Im here again, to bestow this cup to you again, its not a coincidence. Its not dumb luck. Thats not something in the water.

He shared that the people working towards getting people to vote at the school and who educate people about the importance of voting have made the accomplishment possible.

Three other higher education institutes in Minnesota were also honored with the Democracy Cup for 2020, including University of MinnesotaTwin Cities with 73.8% for the division of participating four-year public universities in Minnesota, Inver Hills Community College with 71.8% for the division of participating two-year public colleges, and St. Olaf College with 87.6% for the division of participating four-year privates colleges.

The Democracy Cup will once again be awarded to colleges and universities in the state following this years elections.

For more information about the Democracy Cup, visit the Minnesota Secretary of States website at www.sos.state.mn.us.
The City of Wisconsin Dells is conducting a fall clean-up during the week of Oct. 24-28. Prices for pickup range from $5-$40 each item, depending on the nature of the items. Toxic waste and liquids, as well as tree trimmings longer than 8 feet, will not be picked up.
Serving our community.

Its a simple message, and a simple goal. But New Lisbons only thrift store, the Community Closet, takes this mission seriously; shoppers might spot an alphabetized list behind the checkout counter of every organization the Closet has contributed to.

With more than 72 groups and counting  from the Juneau County Animal Shelter to the New Lisbon Public Library  there are few places that havent benefited from the humble shop.

We've been here 16 years. And some of these people we donate to every year ... various churches, EMTs, the police department, the fire department, founding member Ron Launden said. Naturally, were very dedicated.

While the New Lisbon Area Veterans Memorial Project was supported by 300 donations from individuals, organizations and businesses, the first major donation came from the citys own Community Closet. They recently added on to their initial $10,000 contribution, which funded the main stone, by making an additional donation of $14,000 to replace the sidewalk for the entire block around the monument.

Ours is the single largest donation, Launden confirmed.

The Community Closet first formed in New Lisbon in August 2002 and quickly grew its staff to nearly 20 volunteers. They took inspiration from St. Vincent de Paul and Goodwill, hoping to bring a place for shopping and community support to the area.

The only flaw with their plan? The Community Closet was too successful.

The thrift store was originally located uptown but outgrew its building in only a year and a half. Ever since then, the Community Closet has called its red-and-white building on North Adams Street home.

Even with a bigger shop, the thrift store still feels growing pains. The store often has to close its drop-off area to give staff time to catch up with donations. Sorting, pricing and displaying items all take time, but its what the volunteers are glad to do.

The city has limited retail spaces, especially within walking distance of the downtown.

I think (the Closet) is a great asset to the town, especially during the hard times people are going through right now with the cost of living, clothing and everything else going up, volunteer Barb Richmond said. It's a good place for people to come and shop at a reasonable price and get good stuff.

Laundens wife, Marcella, echoed this sentiment. We get lots of compliments. ... Its a place to come and gather.

The Community Closets Annual Christmas Sale will take place Thursday and Friday, Nov. 3 and 4, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the New Lisbon Community Center.
High-schoolers in the Dells area aspiring to a firefighting career now have an outlet within the school in which to do so.

Wisconsin Dells High School, in conjunction with Kilbourn and Delton Fire Departments, is now offering a fire training course for students. The course is every other Wednesday morning from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and is taught by former Delton Fire Department Chief Darren Jorgenson.

Its an awesome program, said Jorgenson. These kids are just amazing so far.

We teamed up with Delton Fire, Darren when he was there, and Madison College to try to get a class, said Kilbourn Fire Department Chief Pat Gavinski. We were pleasantly surprised that we got enough interest in it to host a class. We needed the 10 students, so its just a good opportunity to expose high school juniors and seniors to the fire service.

Jorgenson, who is also a Madison College instructor, said that the course follows the same curriculum that anyone would take to become a firefighter. Students in the course have access to a full set of firefighting equipment and clothing and are taught how to use and maintain the gear. They are also learning how to use fire ladders, power tools, ventilation, hose movement for various fire types, and water supply.

They are very excited about it, said Jorgenson. This group is incredibly energetic and eager to learn. It makes teaching the class so much more fun. They want to be there and are asking good questions.

Madelyn Swansby, a senior at Wisconsin Dells High School, is one of the students enrolled in the course. She said that she enrolled to receive the certification as a firefighter and to see the perspective of her father, Todd, who is a career fireman.

I grew up in that lifestyle, said Swansby. I really wanted to know more about it. I only knew one side of it, and I wanted to know my dads side and what he goes through on a daily.

She, like Jorgenson, said that the group of students around her in the course have a lot of enthusiasm and describes Jorgenson as super fun and makes the course enjoyable.

Everyone is really into it, and that really brings a good energy, said Swansby.

Another senior, Mikolaj Amaya-Owerczuk, is enrolled in the course and his father, Alejandro Amaya, is a volunteer firefighter for Delton Fire Department.

I just think its a really cool opportunity for people to get that experience, said Amaya-Owerczuk.

Amaya-Owerczuk sees firefighting as a possible part-time job while looking to have a career in the medical field. He describes the training with his potential career as interrelating.

It will give me a really good perspective on that whole industry, said Amaya-Owerczuk.

The course has been a lot of fun under Jorgensons instruction, and Amaya-Owerczuk said that he keeps the course lighthearted. He said that Jorgenson will pivot to another subject of fire training often to keep students engaged.

Hes really good at teaching the course and is really captivating with what he does, said Amaya-Owerczuk. Its just a very fun time spending those few hours of your day learning the ins and outs of being a firefighter.

Gavinski and Jorgenson both added that students who complete the course will have the same firefighter certification level as anyone who completes fire training within a department.

Theyd be able to be on a fire grounds scene for our community or wherever else they end up, said Gavinski.

The training from the program is not only for students who are looking to become firefighters, according to Jorgenson. He said that the skills learned in the course can be applied to any emergency situation regarding a fire, particularly if a department cannot arrive at the situation in time to prevent serious property damage, injuries, or fatalities.

You may never want to be a firefighter in your life, but youll learn some valuable skills that will make you beneficial in all times of different scenarios, said Jorgenson.

You get into fire safety, fire prevention, all that aspect, it does provide a good safety background, said Gavinski. There is definitely some general background knowledge.
A Sun Prairie middle school teacher who was arrested last week, accused by police of recording students in a school bathroom, was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury on three counts of production of child pornography, according to federal court documents.

Matthew E. Quaglieri, 34, of Sun Prairie, was scheduled to appear Wednesday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Madison for arraignment.

The indictment contains no details about what Quaglieri is accused of doing, but it states that on Sept. 22, Sept. 23 and Sept. 29, he "knowingly and intentionally used a minor ... to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct," and that the materials he used, specifically an Apple iPad, had been transported in interstate and foreign commerce, making it a federal crime.

The three counts involve two minors, who are only identified in the indictment as "Minor 1" and "Minor 2."

Production of child pornography carries a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison, with a maximum of 30 years.

On Friday, Sun Prairie police issued a statement saying they were alerted Friday about inappropriate behavior by a staff member at Prairie View Middle School. It stated that the school district was cooperating with the investigation and that the state Division of Criminal Investigation was assisting.

Letters sent to parents on Friday stated a male student reported feeling uncomfortable and may have been recorded in a restroom at Prairie View.

Police subsequently learned that a teacher had been recording students in the bathroom, the district said.

Quaglieri, who identifies himself on his LinkedIn page as a music teacher, was suspended. He has been in the Dane County Jail since late Friday night.

In an update emailed to parents on Tuesday, district officials said they are limited in what they can tell the public because of the investigation, but there was no evidence to suggest that recording devices were planted by anyone.

"However, our Facilities and Grounds team swept the bathrooms at Prairie View before school on Monday," the district wrote. "No devices were found."

Quaglieri would be the second area teacher accused of recording students to be charged in federal court.

In October 2021, former Madison East High School teacher David Kruchten, 39, of Cottage Grove, was sentenced to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to attempting to produce child pornography, after planting cameras in the hotel rooms of students during overnight trips for DECA, a business education program.

Kruchten is currently incarcerated at the federal prison in Milan, Michigan.

This story will be updated.
Ive always supported the, you know, exceptions.

Thats what U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson said in a recent interview with a Fox 6 reporter about abortion, specifically a 2011 bill the senator co-sponsored that would have granted fetuses and people equal rights under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

That measure didnt explicitly mention abortion. But it clarified that fetuses from the point of fertilization would be protected by the same rights as people. And it did not include exceptions for rape or incest.

Thats a key component of such personhood bills, said Mary Ziegler, a law professor and legal historian at the University of California, Davis who writes about abortion.

Personhood is not consistent with rape and incest exceptions because, as most anti-abortion or pro-life groups would tell you, if you view that fetus or unborn child as a person, the same as like a 5-year-old, you couldnt take the life of the 5-year-old because it was conceived in rape and incest, Ziegler said.

Around the time the 2011 federal measure was introduced, Ziegler said, states were advancing efforts to introduce their own equivalent bills or ballot measures.

Yet, Johnson has supported many other abortion bans that do contain exceptions for rape and incest.

He supported an abortion ban after 20 weeks of conception that held exceptions for rape, incest and saving the mothers life in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021.

And in July 2021, Johnson signed on to a U.S. Supreme Court brief asking the high court to uphold a Mississippi law that banned abortions after 15 weeks with exceptions for a severe fetal abnormality or medical emergency but not for rape and incest.

As the senator has said numerous times he personally believes life begins at the moment of conception, but he fully supports allowing the democratic process in each state to decide at what point does society have the responsibility to protect that life, Johnson spokesperson Alexa Henning said in a statement.

So whats the rest of the story?

While most of the abortion measures Johnson supported did allow for exceptions, the 2011 measure did not. It is not true that the senator has always supported such exceptions.
It was a large crowd of 98 Freemasons that gathered on Oct. 6 in Menomonie at the Stout Craft Company in Menomonie. The occasion was the fall meeting of the Freemasons in District 2, an area covering several counties in western Wisconsin.

Worthy Brother Frank During, the newly appointed district deputy of the active district, was in charge of the event.

The Masons of Wisconsin pride themselves in registering a 45% increase in new members over last year, and the enthusiasm for the fraternity was evident at the evening get together. Such membership gains have not been seen in Wisconsin for many years.

The old ways were not yielding the kind of results needed to expand the fraternity, so under the direction of Grand Lodge on the state level and headed up locally by Austin Mahanke of River Falls, the fraternity went digital to attract more people.

Added to the social media campaign was meetings strong on content and education. In keeping with this theme, Brother During invited guest speaker Brother Markus Mueller of Duluth to learn more about their beloved craft. Marcus outlined how lodges all over the world compare to what we know here is America. His slide presentation exposed the members to scores of examples of how other countries practice their craft. One example was the famous letter G in our emblems. Mueller said that done only in America. Other countries use a variety of emblem decor, but their mission of charity and brotherly love are the same worldwide.

It is customary at each fall meeting that the fraternity honors members that have gone above and beyond the call of duty to the craft. Derek Strusz, a fresh new face in the fraternity, was called on to receive the "Rookie of the Year" award. Brother Steve Klein, his district representative, was also introduced during the presentation by Brother During. His many hours of dedicated work for his lodge earned him this high honor.

The Mason of the Year award was presented to Brother Bryce Fransway for his extensive work for the craft.

WB Daryl Dahl, one of the four district representatives, noted that one of the many upcoming events in the district will be a special educational meeting scheduled for Oct. 17 at the Red Wing Masonic Lodge.

They will have not only a visit from the Minnesota Grand Master but also feature a presentation on the Order of the Odd Fellows.

Earl Gunderson of the Wisconsin Grand Lodge also addressed the assembly by noting the Service and Assistance committee has so far paid out $20,000 to assist brothers in distress. He said the applications for this funding have been streamlined. They no longer ask for financial information.
Saihanba, a forest farm in North China's Hebei Province, is like a green wonderland; in fact, many people refer to Saihanba as "headstream of rivers, hometown of clouds, and ocean of forests." More than six decades ago, Saihanba was sterile land on the verge of becoming a desert. In 1962, a group of pioneers answered the CPC (Communist Party of China) and the government's call to establish a farm covered by vast forest on the once-deserted land. Two generations of Liu Jun's family have worked diligently on Saihanba, and they have dedicated themselves to helping write what is called a "green legend" on the forest farm.

Father and Son

During the early 1960s, the first group of pioneers moved to Saihanba to establish a State-owned, mechanized forest farm. The Saihanba mechanized forest farm, with the world's largest artificial plantation, was granted the 2021 Land for Life Award of the national category at a ceremony held during the 8th Kubuqi International Desert Forum. Once a royal hunting ground of the Qing Dynasty (1616-1911), Saihanba had degraded into an area of barren wilderness by the late 1950s. Thanks to consistent efforts by three generations of Saihanba foresters, a vast artificial forest farm has been established in Saihanba, with a total forest landscape of 1.15 million mu (about 76,700 hectares). Saihanba has become a national forest park and nature reserve, as well as an important ecological shield for Beijing and adjacent regions.

Liu Jun's father, Liu Huanru (born in the 1940s), was one of those pioneers. At that time, the workers in Saihanba ate dark oat-flour food, and they drank water collected from rainfall and/or snowfall.

As Liu Jun recalls his childhood, he says he seldom stayed with his father. Why? The forest farm on which Liu Huanru worked was miles from his home, so Liu Huanru seldom returned home. During the spring of 1993, then-21-year-old Liu Jun became a fire inspector at Saihanba. His father turned 50 that year. Although they held different positions at the farm, they both were helping to safeguard Saihanba's ecological environment.

Couple's Efforts

Liu Jun's wife, Wang Juan, comes from the grasslands of North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. "I love the green land and various plants here," Wang says, while sharing her impression of Saihanba.

In 1998, Wang accompanied her husband as he worked at a checkpoint on the farm. She cooked food for the workers. One day, during the winter of 1999, Wang suddenly felt a pain in her belly. It was a snowy day, so Wang thought it would be too difficult to go to the hospital. Her pain grew severe overnight, so Liu Jun asked his colleagues for help. Police (from the station nearest the couple's home) dispatched a car to transfer Wang to hospital. Wang was diagnosed with acute appendicitis. Luckily, she received timely surgery. Liu Jun told his wife she should have said she was not feeling well earlier. But Wang did not complain about anything.

In 2008, Liu Jun and Wang began working at one of the farm's watchtowers. Beginning at 6 a.m., every morning, they climbed to the top of the watchtower, every 15 minutes, to ensure there was not a forest fire. They had a 15-kilometer view from the top of the watchtower. Their work tools were basic  a telephone, a telescope and a notebook. At Saihanba, many fire inspectors, like Liu Jun and Wang, work diligently to help protect the forest farm from fire.

Family's Support

One day, in 2013, Liu Jun and Wang received a call from their daughter, Liu Wenqi, who had finished writing the college-entrance exams. Liu Wenqi, who was applying to colleges, asked her parents for advice about schools and programs to study. Liu Jun suggested his daughter study forestry, while Wang suggested Liu Wenqi should attend university and become a teacher. "I will make the choice by myself," Liu Wenqi said. She eventually entered a medical college.

"For so many years, we have spent just a little time living with our daughter. She normally makes decisions by herself," Liu Jun says. When Liu Wenqi was born, in 1995, Liu Jun was working at Beimandian, a branch farm under Saihanba. During that time, Wang returned to her hometown, in Inner Mongolia, to give birth. Liu Wenqi was raised by her maternal grandparents. She relocated to Saihanba when she was 10. But she lived in boarding school from primary school to college. Liu Jun and Wang looked at photos of Liu Wenqi when they missed her.

Wang is grateful for her parents, for their understanding of her special job, and for their willingness to look after her daughter. Now, Liu Wenqi is happy, because she has fulfilled her dream of working in a hospital after college graduation.

In 2018, Liu Jun and Wang were dispatched to work at a watchtower in Mount Moon, a region of the farm with extremely poor soil. But given the couple's hard work, and the efforts of their colleagues, the seedlings they planted are growing on the once-deserted land. They expect to see a beautiful "green ocean" in the future.

Liu Jun's family was selected a National Most Beautiful Family in May.

Photos Supplied by Saihanba Mechanized Forest Farm and Interviewees

(Source: The Department of Family and Children's Affairs of the All-China Women's Federation/Women of China English Monthly September 2022 issue)
BEIJING, Oct. 11 (Xinhua)  The 2022 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Prize for Girls' and Women's Education award ceremony was held on Tuesday in Paris, France. Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping and UNESCO special envoy for the advancement of girls' and women's education, sent a congratulatory message to the award ceremony.

Peng extended sincere congratulations on the ceremony, and best wishes to the award-winning organizations from Cambodia and Tanzania.

Peng said that girls' and women's education is not only related to women's own development, but also an important aspect of promoting sustainable development of the human society.

The recently-held United Nations Transforming Education Summit highlighted the important role of education in promoting gender equality, and called for the empowerment of women through educational transformation, she said, adding that China has always attached great importance to girls' and women's education, and that women's ability to participate in economic and social development and related contribution have been continuously improved.

Peng stressed that as the UNESCO special envoy for the advancement of girls' and women's education, she would like to work with all parties to gather strength with love, convey confidence with persistence, and jointly promote the development of girls' and women's education in a more fair, inclusive and quality direction, so as to contribute to promoting global sustainable development and building a community with a shared future for mankind.

The UNESCO Prize for Girls' and Women's Education, jointly established by China and UNESCO, is the only award of the organization in promoting girls' and women's education.

The prize plays an important role in promoting the concept of gender equality and excellent practical experience in education, as well as implementing the global priority of gender equality. It has received wide attention and high praise from the international community.

(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. &&
US Customs and Border Protection agents guard the entrance to the Del Rio International Bridge. The Biden administration is considering a new program to encourage Venezuelan migrants to go to US ports of entry instead of unlawfully crossing the southern border.
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Local leaders warn against the risk of losing available resources and call for fast-tracking the Just Transition Fund.

With a set of opinions adopted at its plenary session, the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) recalled the paramount role of cohesion policy in reducing disparities between EU regions while helping the Union to achieve a just transition, reducing the dependence from fossil fuels and becoming more energy independent. The ongoing war against Ukraine and the energy crisis accentuated even more the need for a strong cohesion in Europe, while the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that the urgent actions at the EU, national, regional and local level are needed to ensure digital cohesion between territories.

Cohesion policy has successfully demonstrated its flexibility and effectiveness in showing support in unforeseen crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing war against Ukraine. However, it is essential to keep cohesion policy as the main EU investment tool aiming at fighting inequalities in Europe and a growing digital divide through stable and predictable multi-annual investment plans. This long-term strategic role of cohesion policy should be preserved, so that it can contribute to more solidarity in the EU. To this end, the CoR also supports the full implementation of the principle "do not harm cohesion", which is in line with the concept of "cohesion as a fundamental value" defended by the Committee, and calls on the European Commission to work closely with the CoR in defining it. These were the messages delivered by local and regional leaders during the October plenary session of the CoR, which took place during the 20th edition of the European Week of Regions and Cities .

CoR members highlighted the unique approach of cohesion policy, based on an analysis of territorial needs established at regional and local level which follows a fully participatory and democratic process, contrary to the national recovery plans supported by the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), which were largely designed without the involvement of the regions, as highlighted by the CoR EU Annual Report on the State of the Regions and Cities, published on 11 October. Moreover, local and regional leaders warned against the risk of overlaps or crowding out in the absence of a real mechanism to coordinate between and link the RRF and cohesion policy.

In addition, the CoR calls on the EU institutions to ensure a full digital cohesion in Europe in order to fight inequalities between territories. The Committee warns that the growing digital divide could increase social and territorial inequalities because it has an impact on services provided at local level, such as the access to e-Health services and educational resources, or prevent many citizens accessing to fundamental services, i.e. the use of cashless payments or of the electronic vote. Moreover, an increased digital cohesion would be a tool for reversing demographic decline in inland, rural and mountainous areas.

The success of a just environmental transition for all regions in Europe will also be crucial to avoid increasing inequalities between communities. The offensive war launched by Russia in February 2022 has made the just transition more difficult and yet more urgent, thus the  19,3 billion Just Transition Fund (JTF) programme planning should be stepped up in order to mobilise funding in a timely manner. The financing of the RRF was made available within the space of one year, local leaders pointed out, while the European Commission and the Member States have been working on the JTF for almost three years. If the JTF programme is not up and running in 2022, there is a risk of losing the full year allocation of 25% of the available funds.

Nathalie Sarrabezolles (FR/PES), rapporteur on the 8th Cohesion Report, stated: "Today, more than ever, we need cohesion policy, probably to alleviate the effects of the crises we are going through, but above all to reduce inequalities within our continent. Indeed, the Cohesion Report shows that some regions are lagging behind in development. Let's call on the solutions of the future to restart the convergence process in Europe."

Gaetano Armao (IT/EPP), rapporteur on digital cohesion, said: Digital cohesion must be introduced as an important additional dimension of the traditional concept of economic, social and territorial cohesion into the EU Treaty. This is key since citizens empowered with connectivity and digital skills can offer significant value to their communities. The digital gap, is not recognised formally as a threat to the EUs cohesion. A public debate on how to close the innovation and digital gap is necessary and should be focused on achieving a clear understanding of the "Digital Cohesion" concept, which calls for the recognition of the essential role that technology plays in our life, and requires the integration of the Cohesion objectives (set out in the EU Treaty) in the digital rights, principles and policies of the Union."

Sari Rautio (FI/EPP), rapporteur of the opinion on the "Just and sustainable transition in the context of the coal and energy intensive regions", said: "The war in Europe has made the just transition more urgent. I think in the crucial transition to a low-carbon society, has to put in focus the different needs of citizens, by creating new jobs and skills. The energy sector, industries, the manufacturing sector and SMEs are struggling, that is why it is important to support industry's ambitions to become carbon-neutral. The JTF can play a role in achieving this goal. The search for the most effective means will only succeed when regions and cities are genuinely involved in all stages of planning and implementation. And at the same time  we must get the machine working!"

Background:

The 8th Cohesion Report was published on 9 February by the European Commission. It shows both positive and negative trends in EU regions, cities and rural areas: less developed regions have been catching up, but that many transition regions have been stuck in a development trap. Furthermore, the growing innovation divide will make it harder for both types of region to catch up. The European Parliament adopted its position on the 8th Cohesion report few weeks ago.

As part of the European Green Deal, the Just Transition Mechanism (JTM) was set up to help regions most affected by the transition towards a climate-neutral economy. It includes the Just Transition Fund (JTF), which will invest around 19 billion in the 2021-2027 period in these territories. JTF allocation for member states can be consulted here.

Together with the leading European associations of cities and regions, the CoR is a founding partner of the #CohesionAlliance, to affirm cohesion as a fundamental value of the European Union and a key objective for all its policies and investment. More information here.

Contact:

Matteo Miglietta

Tel. +32 (0) 470 89 53 82

matteo.miglietta@cor.europa.eu


Wait continues for Newbridge repair works to begin

The wait continues for residents and motorists hoping for work to repair a Wrexham road which has been closed for nearly two years.

At this months Wrexham Council Executive Board meeting, leader of the opposition, Ruabon Cllr Dana Davies (Lab) asked for updates on progress to repair the B5605 in Newbridge.

It has been closed since January 2021 when heavy downpours during Storm Christoph caused part of it to collapse down an embankment.

The road serves as a busy route for local people and also acts as a diversion from the A483 bypass.

This wait has led to a lengthy period of frustration for motorists, and residents living nearby, who have been forced to take lengthy diversions to get to work or take their children to school.

In May, the Welsh Government announced it would be providing 2.8m in funding to Wrexham Council to cover the cost of the repairs.

The authority confirmed that work was due to start this autumn, leading to Cllr Davies to ask for an update from lead member Rossett Cllr Hugh Jones (Con), lead member for the environment, during a discussion on the councils capital programme.

Cllr Jones said experts were currently on site and the next step would be for a report to be produced on what work needs to be carried out.

The progress on Newbridge has been determined by the release of funds from the Welsh Government, he said.

We currently have various technical experts on site.

I have asked that a report be brought forward for all members of the council and indeed all members of the public because clearly they are concerned.

Once the technical information is finalised and fed in we will have a report that will come to members and that will be shared with the public so they will be fully aware of the timescale.

Cllr Davies pushed for a timeframe as to when they could expect the report could to be produced.

She added: Were managing a lot of expectation here arent we? And people just want to know when the work is going to get done.

Cllr Jones added that the situation was a moving feast due to information being dependent on what is found on site.

He anticipated that it would be within the next six weeks but did not want to be held to that timescale.

By Rory Sheehan  BBC Local Democracy Reporter
Wrexham Council awarded Gold status from RSPCA for its stray dog services

Wrexham Council has been awarded Gold status for its stray dog services.

The local authority is amongst eight public bodies in Wales to have been recognised for its efforts by the RSPCA.

The prestigious PawPrints recognition scheme  first established in 2008  is now entering its 15th year; and splits awards into five categories  stray dog services, housing, contingency planning, animal activity licensing, and kennelling.

It aims to recognise bodies delivering services beyond statutory minimums, in both England and Wales.

Criteria for the gold PawPrints awards include proactive work to encourage responsible pet ownership, discounted microchips for pets in the social housing sector and partnerships with local animal welfare charities  all steps likely to be crucial in helping pet owners through the cost of living crisis.

Wrexham Council is one of four local authorities in Wales to have received a Gold status for its work in stray dog services.

To achieve this an organisation must achieve all the criteria for the bronze and silver awards, as well as providing an out of hours service that meets the requirements of the local community to ensure animal welfare and proactive work to encourage responsible pet ownership, such as public awareness campaigns and events on a range of issues, e.g. microchipping, neutering, dogs in warm weather.

Amid the challenging economic climate, the RSPCA has said it is thrilled with the level of engagement with the scheme.

PawPrints is the only award scheme across England and Wales to recognise and celebrate good practice which drives forward higher animal welfare standards.

The scheme has the support of the Local Government Association, the Welsh Local Government Association and the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, among others.

As well as the 13 awards in Wales, 57 were handed out to 42 organisations in England.

Lee Gingell, the RSPCAs public affairs manager for local government, said: It is a tough time for many pet owners, as the cost of living crisis continues to bite  so we know many of the schemes and procedures that PawPrints recognises will be more important than ever; so we are thrilled to see such high engagement with the scheme yet again.

From programmes to encourage responsible pet ownership, to discounted microchipping and policies to protect animals during emergency situations, theres so much great work that goes on behind the scenes from public bodies  and, in this climate, these services are so often a lifeline for pets and their owners.

Too often, this work is unsung and doesnt get the credit it deserves. PawPrints is all about shouting from the rooftops  that 50 public bodies, across England and Wales, are going above and beyond for animals; looking way past statutory minimums because its the right thing to do  for humans and animals.
Since boyhood, Alexander Kose has been fascinated by war machines in motion.

The retired Army colonel and veteran tank crewman will be among the reenactors bringing to life this weekend the heritage of the armored and artillery branches of the U.S. military.

The U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center will host Army Heritage Days Saturday and Sunday at 950 Soldiers Drive, Middlesex Township. Free and open to the public, the event runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The weekend will feature running World War II era tanks and live artillery firing demonstrations. There will also be living history displays, historical weapons demonstrations and history-based STEM  science, technology, engineering and math  experiences such as a World War II coastal artillery station.

The event will continue inside the Visitor and Education Center where visitors can participate in a veterans meet and greet and explore the museum exhibits. The public can also visit the museum store or partake in the Army Heritage Center Foundations book sale.

Parking is free and the heritage center is handicapped accessible. For more information, visit the website at https://ahec.armywarcollege.edu or call: 717-245-3972.

Kose is a reenactor with the 68th Tank Battalion of the 6th Armored Division as well as a volunteer member of AHECs U.S. Tank Corps. The mission of both groups is to preserve, maintain and crew vintage armored fighting vehicles and to conduct driving and firing demonstrations along with interpretive living history educational programs.

Im privileged to have this opportunity and eternally grateful to the owners and museums that make it all possible, Kose said.

In todays 5 Questions, The Sentinel gives Kose an opportunity to delve deeper into the significance of tanks and armored warfare.

Q: What role did tanks play on the historic battlefield?

A: Tanks have been an integral part of mechanized, combined arms maneuver warfare since they debuted in combat at the Battle of the Somme in September 1916.

Q: What was it like for tank crews of the past?

A: Tough, hot, cold and very dangerous.

Q: The tank that you will be in this weekend, did it see combat? What do you know of its history?

A: It is a fully restored/operational 1944 M4A3E8 Sherman tank owned by John Tippins of Sewickly. The crew includes retired U.S. Army tankers and a former U.S. Navy helicopter pilot.

We believe the turret was in action, somewhere, because of damage evident on and in it, but weve not be able to discern its history. Easy 8s were used during WWII, in the Korean War and the Arab-Israeli conflicts.

The turret and hull were separate components from two different tanks that were put together after a war.

Q: What are some of the challenges involved in repair and maintenance?

A: Nothing we cant overcome; our efforts are a labor of love.

Q: What do you hope the public takes away from seeing the old tanks in operation or up close?

A: While each of the vehicles we crew is a truly magnificent historical artifact, the real story is the young soldiers who took them into combat, their crews.
On Thursday, US President Joe Biden warned that the war in Ukraine could trigger Armageddon, i.e., a nuclear war between the United States and Russia.

But within 24 hours of Bidens warning, the Ukrainian Special Forces, after previously getting a public green light from US officials, staged an attack on the Kerch Bridge connecting Crimea to Russia, a provocation aimed at intensifying the war and making such an Armageddon more likely.

In response, Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized a series of airstrikes on civilian infrastructure throughout Ukraine Monday. Approximately 14 people were killed and 97 injured, according to Ukrainian officials, and power was disrupted in more than half the countrys regions.

The World Socialist Web Site condemns the actions of all parties involved in the conflict. The Putin regime is not engaged in a war to defend the Russian population but to defend the interests of the capitalist oligarchy that came to power after the dissolution of the USSR.

But ultimate responsibility for the escalation of the war lies with the United States and its imperialist allies. By encouraging Ukrainian plans to forcibly retake Crimea and join NATO, the US sought to instigate a war on Russias borders, first to bleed Russia white and ultimately to carry out a regime change operation and break up the country.

Now, with Russian forces retreating in the face of the better armed and better supplied Ukrainian militarybacked by the might of the world's imperialist powersthe US and NATO are seeking to further escalate the war. At no time has the US or any other NATO power called for a ceasefire or negotiated settlement of the conflict.

On Tuesday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced that he would hold a summit of NATOs nuclear planning group and that NATO would be holding a training exercise using nuclear bombers.

In the wake of Fridays attack on the Kerch Bridge, the New York Times hailed the blast as a blow to the Russian war effort in Ukraine. Leading US officials could not contain their glee at the terror attack, with Colonel Alexander Vindman, the former director for European Affairs for the United States National Security Council, tweeting above a photo of the burning bridge, Ive been dreaming of this moment.

But the cheers at Ukraines attack on the Kerch Bridge turned to solemn condemnation of Russias attack on civilian infrastructure, without skipping a beat.

Responding to the attacks, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, The Kremlins strikes against Ukraine today again place the stakes of Russias brutal war into stark relief.  Russias attacks are yet another reminder that its war against Ukraine presents a profound moral issue, adding, There is one aggressor in this war: Russia.

As always, the position of American imperialism is characterized by staggering hypocrisy. No country has killed as many civilians in air raids as the United States.

During World War II, the United States killed as many as 25,000 civilians in the firebombing of Dresden and as many as 37,000 civilians in the bombing of Hamburg. This was followed by the firebombing of Tokyo, the single most destructive bombing attack in human history, which killed 130,000 men, women and children. After this came the dropping of the worlds first and only atomic bombs ever used in combat on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing up to 226,000 people.

During the Korean War, the American military completely destroyed every major city in North Korea, killing as many as 1.5 million people, or 15 percent of the countrys population. The years-long strategic bombing operation during the Vietnam War, Operation Rolling Thunder, killed between 30,000 and 182,000 civilians. More than 1 million Vietnamese were killed during the entirety of the war.

The dissolution of the USSR promoted a new outpouring of imperialist barbarism by the United States, leading to three decades of unending wars:

In 1991, the United States launched the Gulf War, completely obliterating the Iraqi armed forces and massacring troops as they attempted to retreat. Among the numerous war crimes carried out by the US during that war was the Amiriyah shelter bombing on February 13, 1991, in which the US deliberately targeted a crowded civilian bomb shelter with two precision-guided bombs, killing over 400 people.

In 1998, the United States bombed the Al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum North, Sudan, leading to several tens of thousands of deaths of Sudanese civilians due to medicine shortages, in the words of Germany's ambassador to Sudan.

On March 25, 1999, the United States and NATO initiated the war against Yugoslavia, bombing Serbia and its capital Belgrade for 78 straight days. Factories, schools and hospitals were destroyed, along with bridges, roads and the electrical grid. The airstrikes killed around 2,500 people and wounded another 12,500, according to Serbian estimates.

The second Iraq War, launched in 2003, led to the deaths of as many as 1.5 million people, according to the ORB survey of Iraq War casualties. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed in the decades-long occupation of Afghanistan, which began in 2001.

In 2011, the United States and its NATO allies carried out a bombing campaign in Libya, which left the country in ruins and factional warfare, followed by the CIA-instigated civil war in Syria.

The US media proceeds with a form of collective amnesia about the wars of American imperialism over the past 30 years, declaring that, despite the crimes committed by the US military in the past, its motives in the current conflict are purely altruistic. But the war is a continuation of earlier conflicts, only now involving nuclear-armed powers.

The same ruthless indifference to the deaths of the peoples of the Middle East is driving the US efforts to escalate the war against Russia, using the Ukrainian population as cannon fodder and transforming the entire country into a proving ground. The US and its lackeys in NATO believe that they can achieve a military defeat of Russia which is only a prelude to the conflict with China.

The history of US imperialism reveals that it places no value on the lives of the people it wishes to subjugate and dominate through war. But the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed that it also does not put any value on the lives of the American population. The American ruling class fought tooth and nail against any measures to stop the pandemic, leading to the deaths of more than 1 million people in the US alone.

The relentless escalation of the war must be stopped! On Sunday, the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) and International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) held a meeting to initiate a global mass movement of workers and youth against imperialist war. We urge all of those who agree with this perspective to contact us today.
While speaking in support of Trump-endorsed candidates this past Sunday at the ex-presidents Save America rally in Mesa, Arizona, Georgia Representative and self-described Christian nationalist Marjorie Taylor Greene incited political violence and invoked the neo-Nazi Replacement Theory.

This fascist mantra is promulgated around the world by far-right forces who claim there is an international Jewish-communist conspiracy to displace the white Christian race with various inferior peoplesJews, Muslims, blacks, Hispanics, etc.

Greene warned the crowd that Joe Bidens five million illegals are on the verge of replacing you.



Criminal illegal aliens will be replacing your jobs and replacing your kids in school  they are also replacing your culture, she raved.

The August 2017 Unite the Right event in Charlottesville, Virginia, featured a torch light parade through the University of Virginia campus at which neo-Nazis carried swastika banners and Confederate flags and chanted, Jews will not replace us! After one of the fascists drove a car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing Heather Heyer and wounding 35 other anti-fascist protesters, Trump infamously said there were very fine people on both sides.

At Sundays rally, Greene went on to claim that the Biden regime was orchestrating an invasion across the Southern border, which she linked to human trafficking. Under Biden, she said, human trafficking was encouraged and incentivized.



The claim that the Democratic Party trafficks humans for profit, particularly children, is a tenet of the QAnon conspiracy theory, to which Greene and other prominent Republicans, including Virginia Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, adhere.



The deranged conspiracy theory, with its murky origins in the depths of right-wing online message boards, presents Trump as a Christ-like figure who will one day purge the US of his satanic political enemies through a mass execution known as the storm, followed by the creation of a theocratic dictatorship.



QAnon and Replacement Theory rhetoric and memes have increasingly become a staple of Republican rallies. And the appeal to anti-Semitism has grown increasingly overt.

This is a significant expression of the transformation of the Republican Party under Hitler-admirer Trump into a fascist party. The hatred and fear of socialism and Marxism that have historically animated fascist movements have invariably been linked to the promotion of anti-Semitism.

At Sundays rally, Greene endorsed the Republican candidate for governor of Arizona, Kari Lake.



In August, Lake, a vehement proponent of Trumps big lie of a stolen election, endorsed Jarrin Jackson, an Oklahoma legislative candidate, who, like Greene, is a proponent of the Replacement Theory.



Jackson lost his run-off primary but not before he was endorsed by Republicans Mark Finchem, who is running to become secretary of state, and Arizona State Senator Wendy Rogers. Both Finchem and Rogers are Oath Keepers and were given a shout-out by Trump during Sundays rally.



In an August 17 statement on Twitter announcing the endorsement of Jackson, Lake said, Jarrin is an America First patriot and does so much to advance our America First movement. RINOs [Republicans in Name Only] & the Soros media attack him relentlessly because hes over the target.



The Oklahoman reported that on his personal Telegram account this past January, Jackson wrote that he is not beholden to Jews or any other group.



A week later Jackson offered a review of a right-wing documentary, which he could not recommend because the film did not outline & detail the evil, which he said included: The Jews. Illuminati. Covid shots kill. Rothschilds. Communists. Woke pastors. Social gospel.



Trump himself has increasingly sounded anti-Semitic themes. At his rally last month in Warren, Michigan, a working class suburb of Detroit, he praised Henry Ford, who was notorious not only for his violent attacks on union organizers but also for his admiration for Hitler and his virulent anti-Semitism.



Near the end of his speech, Trump said, We inherit the legacy of Michigan Patriots who gave their blood, sweat and tears for this beloved nation. This is the state where Henry Ford invented the assembly line. How about that?



Ford published the anti-Semitic Dearborn Independent, in which he printed The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a notorious forgery penned in tsarist Russia that libeled the Jews for supposedly plotting to rule the world by manipulating the economy, controlling the media, and fostering religious conflict.

In Pennsylvania, Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, an election denier and participant in the January 6, 2021 siege of the US Capitol, is running against Democratic candidate Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish.

Mastriano is another Qanon adherent, who invokes the storm and other apocalyptic themes at his campaign rallies. During an online rally last month, Mastriano denounced people like Shapiro who, he said, have disdain for people like us. Mastriano said Shapiro and his children went to privileged, exclusive, elite schools.







This was a means of pointing to the fact that Shapiro and his children attended local Jewish schools.

Earlier this year, it was revealed that Mastrianos campaign paid $5,000 to advertise on the far-right social media platform Gab. The site was founded by Andrew Torba, a fascist and proponent of the Replacement Theory.

When the news broke of Mastrianos payment to the Gab social network this past summer, Torba defended Mastriano, saying, Were not bending the knee to the 2 percent anymore, referencing American Jews.

In a live stream on Gab, Torba said that he and Mastriano are going to build a coalition of Christian nationalists, and that Shapiro was a Soros puppet (a reference to Jewish billionaire George Soros) who participated in voter fraud in the 2020 election.

This filth is being promoted in the state where the Tree of Life synagogue massacre took place four years ago. The mass shooting in the Pittsburgh-area synagogue killed 11 people, making it the deadliest act of anti-Semitic violence in US history. Robert Bowers posted anti-Semitic tracts on Gab before embarking on the massacre.

There is no mass support in the American population for the establishment of a fascist dictatorship, nor is there a mass paramilitary force of fascist thugs analogous to Hitlers brown shirts. But it would be a fatal mistake to discount the danger of fascism, which arises from the toxic crisis of capitalism and the absence within the two-party system of any democratic or progressive alternative to the far right.

The working class is completely disenfranchised and suppressed under a political system monopolized by two parties of big business. The fascistic right, meanwhile, receives increasing support within the corporate-financial elite, the military, the intelligence apparatus and the police.

The social force that can defeat the danger of fascism and dictatorship is the working class, which is moving into mass struggles in the US and internationally. This movement must break free of the trade union apparatus and combine its industrial power with an independent, socialist and revolutionary political orientation, through the building of the Socialist Equality Party.
After a remarkable touring comeback in 2021, post COVID-19 lockdown, Loud and Live CEO Nelson Abareda assured Billboard that the momentum weve seen in touring in 2021 is a strong indicator of whats coming in 2022. Its setting ourselves up for a record-breaking year. And he was correct.

This year, a wave of Latin acts have hit the road again, including Bad Bunny with his stadium trek Worlds Hottest Tour, Karol G with her sultry $trip Love Tour, and Camilo with his intimate De Adentro Pa Afuera Tour, to name a few.

More from Billboard

Two of reggaeton musics biggest acts, Daddy Yankee and Wisin y Yandel, have also embarked on their last-ever tours (for now), after announcing their retirement from music  the former with La Ultima Vuelta Tour and the latter with La Ultima Mision Tour, which includes a historic 14-date residency at The Coliseo de Puerto Rico Jose Miguel Agrelot in San Juan.

Mexican group Los Bukis, who scored the biggest Latin tour of 2021, earning $49.6 million, according to Billboard Boxscore, also extended their Una Historia Contada Tour with new 2022 dates.

Talk about unexpected successes, said Hans Schafer, SVP of global touring for Live Nation, during the Latin Touring Goes International panel at the 2022 Billboard Latin Music Week. I think we still have a few years of big volume.

Marc Ventosa, director of booking for Last Tour in Bilbao, Spain, added: It stopped being Latin music for Latinos, and now its Latin music for the world.

From Gloria Trevi to Feid to Carin Leon, and more, check out all of the artists who are currently on tour or expected to kick off their trek this year, and vote for your favorite one below:

Click here to read the full article.
In what could prove to be a highly significant development, oil and petrochemical workers at several sites along Irans Persian Gulf coast staged anti-government protests and walkouts on Monday. The Council of Oil Contract Workers claimed 4,000 workers struck oil refineries and other facilities including in Abadan, Bushehr, and Asaluyeh.

Mondays actions are the first sign of organised working-class involvement in the mass protests against Irans bourgeois-clerical regime that erupted following the September 16 death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.

Women run away from riot police during a Sept. 19 protest in Tehran against the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody. [AP Photo/anonymous]

Asaluyeh appears to have been the centre of Mondays walkout of oil and other petrochemical workers.

Videos shared by bourgeois opposition forces showed the Asaluyeh strikers chanting slogans, including Death to the dictator, a reference to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The semi-official Tasnim news agency reported the strike in Asaluyeh, but presented it as simply a salary dispute unrelated to the ongoing anti-government protests.

The protests over Aminis death began in Kurdish-dominated areas of western Iran, from which she hailed, before spreading to university campuses across Iran. They have focused on popular hatred towards the morality police, which enforce regulations requiring women to wear the hijab in public, and to the privileged political position of the Shia clergy within Irans Islamic Republic. Amini was arrested September 13 during a trip to Tehran for allegedly wearing a hijab improperly and died three days later.

Underscoring the deep socio-economic and political crisis roiling Iran, the protests have continued for three-and-a-half weeks in the face of brutal state repression. Exile groups report at least 185 deaths, and thousands of injuries and arrests. The government, which claims multiple deaths among security forces, has not updated its official death toll since September 21, when it was recorded at 41. Reports circulated yesterday that tanks were dispatched to several cities in Kurdistan province in northwest Iran, where the largest protests have taken place.

At least five deaths were reported following protests in Tehran and in Kurdish cities Saturday, including a 14-year-old boy shot in the head. Reports from Tehran indicated that many shops in the bazaar, traditionally a pillar of support for the bourgeois-clerical regime, remained closed in an act of civil disobedience. State censorship and curtailment of social media and the pro-imperialist orientation of the Iranian sources touted by the western media make it difficult to verify reports on what is taking place.

Beginning with the mass anti-government demonstrations that erupted in early 2018, Iran has witnessed widespread strikes and protests by workers and the rural poor against pervasive social inequality, poverty, the non-payment of wages, and environmental devastation. This has included strikes by oil and gas workers, who played a leading role in breaking the back of the US-supported regime of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi during the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

The desperate social conditions that the vast majority of the population confront are the product of the punishing and murderous economic sanctions the imperialist powers have imposed on Iran and the Khamenei regimes decades-long drive to eviscerate the social rights won by working people in the immediate aftermath of the 1979 revolution.

US-led maximum pressure sanctionsimposed in 2018 when Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 civil nuclear agreement between the worlds major powers and Tehranhave crashed the countrys currency, making food and other basic necessities unaffordable. The sanctions have also compounded the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, preventing Iran from accessing medications and vaccines as hundreds of thousands lost their lives to the virus.

The current protest wave has avoided directly raising these fundamental social and economic issues. Reflecting the predominance in the demonstrations of university students and middle class layers, particularly from the Kurdish regions, the main slogan of the movement has been Women, Life, Freedom.

Moreover, within the protests and their leadership, there is a layer whose orientation and appeals for support are aimed at the imperialist capitals of Washington, Berlin, London, and Paris. These elements are hostile to and organically incapable of appealing to the Iranian working class, the only social force capable of sweeping away the overbearing clerical regime and defending and expanding democratic and social rights through a joint struggle with their class brothers and sisters throughout the Middle East for socialism.

Iranian workers have a long and proud tradition of struggle against imperialist oppression and the Iranian bourgeoisie, having dealt the decisive blows that toppled the Shahs regime in 1979. The absence up to this point of a substantial organised working-class participation in the protests is not to be explained by any enthusiasm for the regime, whose morality police and neoliberal reforms are widely despised among workers and rural toilers. Rather, it reflects a reluctance to join a protest movement lacking a clear programme and that is influenced by openly pro-imperialist opposition forces.

In addition to unleashing savage repression, the rulers of the Islamic Republic have responded to the protests by whipping up anti-Kurdish sentiments and seeking to blame the unrest on foreign actors, i.e., the imperialist powers. This reaction only goes to show the regimes fear of a social explosion uniting the working class and rural masses in struggle against the Iranian ruling elite. This it hopes to avert by whipping up ethnic strife and cynically appealing to widespread anti-imperialist sentiments.

Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi accused foreign terror groups based in northern Iraq, a reference to the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran and Party of Free Life of Kurdistan, which enjoys historic ties to the PKK of Abdullah Ocalan, of fomenting the riots with the aim of provoking Kurdish secession. Missile strikes by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on compounds controlled by these parties in Iraqi Kurdistan killed 14 people on September 28 and injured more on October 1.

Speaking to police cadets on October 3, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei declared that Aminis death broke our hearts, then accused the US and Israel of inciting the protests. He urged security forces to crack down on the protesters, stating that they had faced injustice during the demonstrations.

Last Friday, the regime released what it termed a forensic report into the death of Amini, who was reportedly brutally manhandled at the time of her arrest. It made the improbable claim that she died of multiple organ failure due to an undiagnosed pre-existing medical condition, rather than the effects of the beatings to which she was subjected while in police custody.

The imperialist powers, backed by their corporate media mouthpieces, have cynically seized on the protests to denounce the Iranian regime for its violation of human rights. The politicians and journalists in Washington, Berlin, Paris, and London never care to acknowledge that their governments bear a large portion of responsibility for the social and economic misery in Iran due to the devastating sanctions they have enforced. Moreover, the Western powers are in no position to lecture anyone about protecting human rights and democracy given their role in laying waste to Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, and other countries in more than three decades of uninterrupted war.

US imperialism and its European allies could well seize on Irans strikes on the Kurdish parties in northern Iraq to intensify their military threats against Tehran. Washington has already taken several steps that have dramatically escalated tensions throughout the Middle East. With Western backing, Israel has stepped up air strikes on Iranian targets in Syria over recent months, while US president Joe Biden travelled to the Gulf in July to cement an anti-Iranian alliance with Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the Gulf states. After US forces in Irbil shot down an Iranian drone during one of the recent air strikes, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps responded with a belligerent statement threatening to target the three US military bases in Iraqi Kurdistan. The Kurdish bourgeois nationalist parties would be more than willing to play the role of imperialist proxies, as shown by their long and sordid history of collaboration with the American and European imperialists, and regional powers like Israel and Turkeyall states implicated in the ruthless oppression of the Kurdish masses.

Washington and its European allies hope to exploit the increasing crisis of the Islamic Republic to deepen the longstanding cleavages within the ruling elite so as to turn Tehrani.e. break its increasingly close ties with China and Russiaand ultimately reduce it to the status of neocolonial bondage that existed under the Shah.

The Obama administration repeatedly threatened Iran with war, declaring all options are on the table. But in 2015 it traded a rolling back of sanctions in exchange for sweeping restrictions on Irans civil nuclear program, on the calculation that this would enable it to leverage the support of a faction of Irans bourgeois elite long eager for a rapprochement with Washington and the European imperialist powers.

Led by the then-President Hassan Rouhani and previously by his mentor, the one-time president and business tycoon Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, this faction dominated Irans government between 2013 and 2021. But Washington, seeking to arrest the accelerating decline in its world position, kept increasing its demands on Tehran. In 2018, the America First President Trump trashed the nuclear accord, then in January 2020 brought the region to the brink of all-out war by ordering the assassination by drone strike of the IRGC leader General Qassem Suleimani.

The conservative or hardline factionto which the current president, Ibrahim Raisi belongswas always skeptical of the nuclear accord. It saw its doubts confirmed by Trumps actions and then by those of Biden. The latter criticized Trumps unilateral abrogation of the nuclear accord and continues to claim he would like to see it revived, but has retained and in fact increased Trumps maximum pressure sanctions. In response to the unrelenting US pressure, the now dominant hardline faction has sought to further strengthen economic and military-strategic ties with Russia and China.

Notwithstanding their sharp differences over foreign policy, all factions of the Islamic Republics elite are united in their hostility to the working class. The onslaught against what remains of the social and democratic rights won by working people through the revolutionary overthrow of the Shahs bloody US-sponsored dictatorship has continued unhindered under reform and conservative or principlist presidents alike.

The 43-year history of the Islamic Republic has provided further vindication of Trotskys insistence that in countries of belated capitalist development the fundamental democratic tasksincluding freedom from imperialist oppression, the separation of church and state, civil equality, and the radical restructuring of agrarian relations in favour of the rural massescan and will only be realized through the struggle for workers power and socialism in opposition to all factions of the national bourgeoisie.

The only way forward in the struggle for social and democratic rights in Iran is through the arming of the working class with the programme of permanent revolution, which demands the independent political mobilization of Iranian workers in struggle for the socialist transformation of society alongside their class brothers and sisters throughout the Middle East. Workers in the West must come to the defence of the Iranian working class, first and foremost by demanding the immediate lifting of all sanctions against Iran and the withdrawal of all US, Canadian and European military forces from the Middle East as part of a global, working-class mass movement against imperialist war.
Are you a worker at the BP Husky refinery? Please use the form below to send information about conditions at the refinery that could have led to the September 20 disaster, which killed Max and Ben Morrissey. Your identity will be kept anonymous.

Pipe fitters and other building trades workers at the BP Husky refinery in Oregon, Ohio are asking whether unsafe practices contributed to the deadly explosion and fire on September 20. Two brothers, Ben and Max Morrissey, ages 32 and 34 respectively, died the day after from horrific burns they suffered in the blaze.

Entrance to the BP/Husky oil refinery in Oregon, Ohio on September 29, 2022

Workers have pointed to managements decision to lay off hundreds of union construction workers who have done maintenance and repair work at the refinery, in some cases for decades, and know its complexities and dangers intimately. They have been replaced with less skilled, nonunion contractors from out of state who were reportedly under enormous pressure to finish the job quickly.

As one veteran pipe fitter said in a previous interview with the WSWS, They were not taking the valves to the wash pads, to clean the valves according to specifications. They were using old gaskets and doing anything to get the job done. This is so the contractor can say, We did the job in record time.

These remarks have been confirmed by other building trade workers who wrote in to the WSWS:

I was a pipe fitter foreman during the 2022 BP shut down, one worker said. 70 percent went to nonunion, not 55 percent, which is a huge chunk of that refinery. During a 10-hour day, we only had one 45-minute break. BP allowed us to have every other Sunday off. One of our guys on night shift had a heart attack which could have been caused by not allowing us adequate breaks. Not to mention the shutdown took place in the spring/summer. Long, hot days and only allowed one break. Carelessness and forgetfulness are results of fatigue and BP should be ashamed to break down our conditions. Their penny pinching ultimately led to tragedy.

Another worker wrote: What a shame. I worked there during the last outage. Over half the workers were from Texas. The local union has strict rules pertaining to training before they enter the refinery. My understanding is BP had a new plant manager from a nonunion plant. Whether that had something to do with getting the job done on time and cheaper labor I dont know. Time will tell. My condolences to the men who lost their lives and the injured. God bless their souls.

Another wrote along these same lines: I heard BP had a new plant manager who came from a nonunion plant. Our union has plenty of workers who have training above and beyond what is required. God bless the deceased and the operators who were impacted by this accident.

Another said: I am a retired Union Boilermaker out of local 85. This should have never happened. This is because of their using unskilled labor to try to save a little money. Come on, it cost more and cost lives! They should have learned from the past. Now we have lost two more good men for no reason. I worked at this BP refinery for a lot of years as a welder and as foreman; it was different then. This sickens me. Two more deaths, you cant put a price on a life.

Several workers say the contractors did maintenance and repair work on the very same unitsCrude Vac 2 or CV 2 and one of the Alkylation or Alky unitswhere the explosion and fire reportedly occurred. According to a report by Reuters, Leaking fumes from a crude unit may have caused the ignition in another unit at the facility, a source told Reuters. Multiple units were engulfed in flames, the source said.

In a refinery there are huge valves, sometimes 30-48 inches, a veteran pipe fitter who worked at the refinery told the World Socialist Web Site. These control valves open and close pipelines. They are very sensitive to grease and debris buildup. If they are not cleaned properly, they do not completely close. That would allow product or fumes to escape. It was possible a valve didnt completely seal and when the gasses escaped they were ignited by a source on a different unit.

There are plenty of ignition sources nearby. In the distillation tower and vacuum distillation tower, also known as a Crude Vac, a furnace heats crude oil to temperatures of 700-750 degrees Fahrenheit to produce light and heavy gas oils, which are later refined into lubrication oil, jet fuel, kerosene and diesel.

On September 27, Bloomberg reported that the fire occurred at the refinerys biggest crude unit. It also said, All contractors were sent home hours before the fire erupted at the 150,800 barrel-a-day refinery.

The latter statement confirms reports from workers that management sent the bulk of the workforce home on the morning of September 20 because of unstable conditions at the refinery. Unionized refinery operators also reportedly wanted to halt production because of the unsafe conditions, but management refused, according to still unconfirmed reports. Max Morrissey and his younger brother Benwho had worked at the refinery for only six monthswere among the operators kept on the job despite the imminent danger.

The use of nonunion contractors, along with manpower shortages and exhausting work hours, is a long-standing issue in the industry. But the United Steelworkers (USW) and the construction unions have blocked any serious struggles. In 2015, the USW sold out a limited strike of refinery workers, including BP Husky workers, and then pushed through contracts in 2019 and 2022 that further undermined working conditions.

Carolyn Berryman (far right), sister to Max and Ben Morrissey, speaks to hundreds at the celebration of life ceremony in Oregon, Ohio on Thursday, September 29, 2022

In October 2020, union construction workers held a protest outside of the BP Husky refinery saying it was reckless for BP to replace them with nonunion workers. The job cuts were part of the oil giants plans to cut 15 percent of its workforce worldwide in response to falling prices due to the pandemic. Although prices and profits have risen sharply, BP and other oil monopolies have not hired back the laid-off workers.

In April 2021, Cenovus Energy laid off 3,000 union building trades workers at the Husky refinery, 75 miles south of Toledo in Lima, Ohio and replaced them with nonunion turnaround specialists for their fall shutdown. Cenovus, which acquired Husky in 2021, is also taking over BP North Americas 50 percent share of the Oregon refinery after a $300 million deal with BP.

The union signed a deal covering BP Whiting, which gave up 15 minutes of our break time, the veteran pipe fitter told the WSWS. Then they brought this into Toledo. I know guys who were hired as contractors during the turnaround last summer. Management cracked the whip on them to get the job done fast. One of the workers, in his early 40s, had a heart attack because of all the stress, because it was very hot out there. They laid him off immediately to get him off the contractors books so it would not hurt them for the next bid. The companies are always manipulating data about injuries, so they dont show up on their records.

As far as the union is concerned, they have been tight-lipped about this situation and the officials dont want to rock the boat. Because of this, the working conditions for operators, for pipe fitters and other refinery workers, have been going backwards.

Like BP, the United Steelworkers union, which counted the deceased Morrissey brothers among its 315 members at the refinery, has maintained a guilty silence over the events of September 20. The union operates joint labor-management safety committees with the company at the refinery and would have been fully aware of any safety complaints from workers in the period prior to the disaster. In the only public statement since the disaster, Eric Sweeney, the District 1 staff representative for USW Local 1-346, told the Toledo Blade that no one wants to rush to judgment.

On Monday, USW Local 1-346 President James Witt hung up the phone when this reporter said he was from the World Socialist Web Site and had several questions for him.

This reporter has reached out to the US Department of Labors Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for an update on its investigation. OSHA has repeatedly charged BP North America with willful safety violations at its refineries, including the Oregon facility. In 2020, the Houston-based company agreed to pay $2.6 million in fines to settle long-standing air pollution, monitoring, maintenance and record-keeping violations at the refinery.

On Tuesday, this reporter phoned and sent a detailed email to OSHA Public Affairs Regional Director Scott Allen, which raised workers safety concerns.

The email asked:

1) What is the status of the ongoing investigation? Will there be an interim report and when do you expect to complete the investigation? How many inspectors are working on this?



2) Workers have reported that the fire took place at the CV-2 and/or the Alky units. Can you confirm this?



3) Workers familiar with the incident said refinery operators said the units were unstable and unsafe on the morning of September 20 and did not want to work there. Management, however, continued production. Can you confirm these reports?



5) Union pipe fitters reported to us that lesser skilled contractors were hired to do the maintenance and repair work during this years turnaround. They report that their failure to properly clean valves may have contributed to leaking gasses that were ignited. Can you confirm these reports?

As of this writing, OSHA has not responded to this inquiry.

Postscript: On Wednesday, October 12, Allen emailed this author to say, No information will be available until OSHA has completed its investigation, which, by law, they have 6 months to complete.
As protests and violent clashes in Haiti rage, the United Nations, Washington and Ottawa are mulling over the deployment of foreign troops to quell widespread political and social opposition to Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

Demonstrators protest against fuel price hikes and to demand that Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry step down, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, Sept. 19, 2022. [AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph]

Discussions among Haitian government officials and foreign diplomats have been held in recent days around how to crush the growing insurrectionary movement developing within Haitis working class and prop up the illegitimate, US-installed Henry regime. An intervention is seen as necessary to both safeguard the operations of American multinationals and repel the homicidal gangs affiliated with powerful sections of Haitis oligarchy.

In a letter sent to the UN Security Council last week, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made it a matter of urgency that one or more nations consider the Haitian governments request for the deployment of an international specialized armed force to eliminate a blockade being imposed by gangs on the Varreux fuel terminal, located north of the capital Port-au-Prince, and buttress Haitis crumbling security forces.

Thousands of demonstrators took to the capital Port-au-Prince this week to oppose the governments request for a military deployment. The repeated occasions in which American imperialism and its allies imposed bloody colonial occupations to pursue their predatory economic interests are lodged deeply in the publics memory. Demonstrators on Monday shouted against any plans for foreign occupation and reiterated their demand for the removal of Henry.

Haitis national police responded with brutality, shooting several people and killing at least one young woman. According to the AFP, one protester denounced any invocation for the placing of boots on the ground while another claimed Henrys regime, which was never formally elected by the population, had no legitimacy to ask for military assistance.

The plans being crafted for a foreign occupation have nothing to do with ensuring the welfare of the Haitian masses, but of placing Haiti yet again under the direct control of one or another imperialist power to suppress dissent in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and secure the strategic interests of finance capital.

The fraudulent rhetoric being issued to justify an expedition is associated with a bloody record in Haiti, replete over the last century with violent colonial takeovers that saw the death and torture of tens of thousands. The assassination of Haitian president Jean Vilbrun Guillaume in 1915 led to President Wilson sending in the US Marines under the pretext of resolving the nations unstable conditions. What transpired was the looting of Haitis treasury for two decades by American financiers, forced labor under the Corvee system enforced by troops, and the smashing of the cacos, a peasant-based nationalist rebel insurgency that rose up in response to the occupation.

Guterres letter came two days after Haitis Council of Ministers adopted a resolution authorizing Henry to request an armed intervention in response to the rout of its security forces at the hands of a coalition of armed gangs.

The UN chief noted the specialized force would, in particular, support the HNP (Haitian National Police) primarily in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area  to remove the threat posed by armed gangs. Guterres had not suggested if the intervention would be a UN deployment. Thus far Washington has stated that it is reviewing Haitis request for military assistance.

Haitis ambassador to the United States, Bocchit Edmond, echoed demands for an intervention by appealing on Monday that the United States and Canada take the lead in a so-called strike force sent to Haiti. It should be recalled that the same imperialist interests now sounding the tocsin for foreign intrusion introduced a military intervention from 2004 to 2017 known as MINUSTAH, under the auspices of the United Nations, that was complicit in countless human rights abuses, killed thousands of peaceful protesters and triggered the first modern outbreak of cholera.

Whether or not a troop deployment to the island nation would be long-term or of a temporary duration has not been made entirely clear. What is strongly suggested however from the formulations of Guterres and the desperate appeals of Haitis ruling class is that plans are being drawn up for a substantial crackdown on the civilian population under the guise of combating armed gangs.

A few days prior to Guterres letter, the Organization of American States (OAS), headquartered in Washington D.C., released a statement during a session of its General Assembly acknowledging that the agency was concerned by the inability of Haitis police forces to maintain order. The OAS asked its member states to urgently offer direct support to the Government of Haiti to improve the training of port security agents and strengthen the capacities and the means of the PNH.

The drumbeat for closer US control over the Haitian governments policymaking, and possibly another incursion in the Caribbean, is being sounded within the Democratic Party. On the same day of the OAS statement, the National Haitian American Elected Officials Network sent out a statement in coordination with Florida Democratic Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick calling on Biden to take immediate action on the countrys social breakdown.

Opposing layers of Haitis corrupt political and academic establishment are seizing on the turmoil to make a bid to imperialism for their installation into power. The main opposition group is the Commission for a Search to a Haitian Solution to the Crisis, an organization comprising Clinton Foundation-backed operatives and privileged intellectuals that drafted the so-called Montana Accord, a petition for the overthrow of Henrys regime. The Montana Accord group has expectantly come out against the governments request for foreign intervention to reinforce Henrys rule.

Fritz Alphonse Jean, the President-elect of the Montana Accord, labeled the calling for international military intervention in Haiti shameful. Steven Benoit, premier-elect of the Montana Accord, declared that the prime ministers office had committed a crime of high treason and that they should Prepare to pay the consequences.

The catalyst for the political crisis lies in the protesters demand that the unelected Henry be ousted from power and escalating class tensionsfueled by skyrocketing prices for basic necessities, including the governments ending of subsidies for fuel that served as a lifeline for Haitis impoverished masses. The protest movement has grown at the same time as a renewed outbreak of cholera, the fatal waterborne diarrheal illness that killed about 10,000 people after the 2010 earthquake.

The blockade of the Varreux fuel terminal has led to a crippling shortage of bottled water amid the resurgence of cholera, with 19 confirmed cases and 170 suspected cases, 40 being infants. The outbreak has reportedly reached Haitis National Penitentiary in Port-au-Prince, one of the most overcrowded prisons in the world, where those incarcerated face serious illness and death. Inmates have told the press they believe more than 60 people have died since the outbreak began on October 2.

Political rivals of Henrys regime allied with layers of the ruling elite are vying for control over the nations most lucrative assets in Haitis coastal region. The Varreux terminal is a storage center holding about 70 percent of the countrys fuel and is being controlled by the G9 Family and Allies gang federation, headed by former police agent Jimmy Barbecue Cherizier.

As of late September, the volume of fuel stored in the docks tanks amounted to 10 days of diesel consumption and 12 days of gasoline, while access to these facilities by government-appointed operators and trucking units has proven impossible.

Tensions at the fuel terminal began to flare in July when Henry named a new director for Haitis customs agency amid an investigation from the US that his government was involved in illegal arms trafficking, an accusation that coincided with Haitian customs and police authorities interdicting roughly 120,000 rounds of ammunition on board a container ship at a ferry terminal in Port-au-Paix on July 1.

Henry, after having his US visa revoked and facing mounting pressure to strengthen customs security, launched a crackdown at the seaports to collect an estimated $600 million in undeclared duties from Haitis wealthiest businesspeople and stop the gun trafficking trade that has fallen into the hands of G9. The former customs director, Rommel Bell, has been under investigation by Haitis anti-corruption unit, which has accused Bell of smuggling illegal arms.

The involvement of state institutions in arming gangs can be traced back several years, when a Florida gun shop owner, Junior Joseph, was convicted in 2019 for trafficking illegal arms with the help of Haitian police and Senator Herve Fourcand. The former government led by President Jovenel Moise, who was assassinated in 2021, and his Haitian Tet Kale Party (PHTK) collaborated with Cherizier in sanctioning extrajudicial killings and massacres against civilians, which included providing weapons and vehicles to the G9 gang alliance.

Cherizier was a political sponsor of Moise in the latters effort to use G9 to suppress social opposition to his corrupt regime and direct the gang federation against his political and business opponents until he was assassinated in July 2021. From then on Cherizier and his allies have vowed to depose Henry under the false banner of fighting for a revolution.

Henry has commanded a de facto dictatorship over the country since being handpicked to replace Moise by the so-called CORE group of countries, which flung the surgeon into the prime ministers role due to his being a longtime lackey of US imperialism. A year after the assassination, Henry heads a frail regime hated by Haitis working class and peasantry and menaced with gang warfare financed by sections of the ruling elite. The requests for specialized forces arises from the bitter internecine opposition Henry has faced from gang-affiliated cronies.

Haitis workers and poor peasants must take the conduct of the struggle into their own hands without placing support for any section of the Haitian bourgeoisie or middle-class layers seeking to channel the popular upsurge behind bankrupt appeals for reform. This movement must be guided by a political leadership armed with Leon Trotskys theory of permanent revolution. This entails recognizing the incapacity of the bourgeoisie to oppose imperialism and base the struggle on the unification of the Haitian and international working class in a fight for world socialist revolution.
In a move aimed at crippling Chinas hi-tech sectors, the Biden administration announced last Friday sweeping measures effectively banning the export to Chinese corporations of advanced computer chips and the equipment needed in their manufacture.

President Joe Biden attends an event to support legislation that would encourage domestic manufacturing and strengthen supply chains for computer chips in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus, March 9, 2022, in Washington. [AP Photo/Patrick Semansky]

While imposed on the basis of national security, the export controls will impact the broad range of Chinas commercial sectors that involve artificial intelligence (AI), high performance computing or supercomputers.

The latest export bans underscore the determination of US imperialism to weaken and ultimately subordinate China, regarded in Washington as the chief threat to its global hegemony. China, currently the worlds second largest economy and predicted to overtake the US by the end of the decade, is no longer simply the manufacturing hub for low-cost goods. It threatens American dominance in hi-tech areas where AI and high-end computing are necessary.

Paul Triolo, a technology expert at consultancy Albright Stonebridge, told the Financial Times that the US actions were a major watershed in US-China relations. The US has essentially declared war on Chinas ability to advance the countrys use of high-performance computing for economic and security gains, he said.

The latest controls extend the measures imposed by the Trump administration on the Chinese hi-tech corporation, Huawei, that effectively ended its position as the leading manufacturer of mobile phones and networking equipment. Huaweis founder reportedly told staff that the companys survival was at stake. Now the Biden administration is seeking to wreak devastation throughout hi-tech sectors of the Chinese economy.

The controls are based on a foreign direct product rule that is very far-reaching in scope. It effectively bans any US or non-US company from supplying targeted Chinese entities with hardware or software whose supply chain contains any American technology. Some 30 Chinese corporations have been placed on a list of unverified companies, giving them 60 days to satisfy stringent US requirements. Failing that, they will be placed on the entity list that bars US companies from supplying them with technology without difficult-to-obtain US licences.

There has been an extraordinarily rapid change in chip manufacture, as measured by the size and thus the number of electronic components in the circuitry that can be etched onto a silicon wafer. The size, measured in nanometres (nm) or billionths of a metre, is approaching molecular dimensions. The manufacture of advanced chips requires highly sophisticated equipment. Overwhelmingly, the most advanced 3nm and 4nm chips are produced by the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSCM), Intel and Samsung.

By banning the export of the most advanced lithography equipment needed to etch chips, the US export controls seek not only to block access to the latest chips but to obstruct Chinese efforts to develop its own chip manufacturing capacity.

The bans extend restrictions put in place in July requiring top US toolmakersKLA Corp, Lam Research Corp and Applied Materials Incto end exports of equipment capable of making 14nm or smaller chips to wholly Chinese-owned companies.

Jim Lewis, a technology analyst at the US-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), likened the US controls to those put in place at the height of the Cold War. He told Reuters: This will set the Chinese back years. China isnt going to give up on chipmaking ... but this will really slow them [down].

The new controls also ban US personsboth citizens and companiesfrom providing direct or indirect support to Chinese companies involved in advanced chip manufacturing. That is a bigger bombshell than stopping us from buying equipment, a human resources executive at a Chinese semiconductor plant told the Financial Times. We do have [US passport holders] in our company, in some of the most important positions, she said.

The bans are likely to impact on non-US corporations. Washington has been pressuring the Dutch-based chip equipment supplier ASML to stop selling deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography machinery to China that can be used to make chips as advanced as 5nm. The US also has been pressing Japan to bar the export of similar equipment. The controls will affect foreign companies operating chip manufacturing plants inside China, such as SK Hynix, one of South Koreas two main memory chip producers.

At the same time, the measures will impact heavily on American corporations, as the Chinese semi-conductor market accounts for nearly a quarter of global demand. US equipment maker Applied Materials derived 33 percent of its sales from China last year and its peer Lam Research 31 percent. Intel is expected to be hard hit, because many of most advanced chips are used in Chinese supercomputers.

China responded angrily to the new bans. Out of the need to maintain its sci-tech hegemony, the US abuses export control measures to maliciously block and suppress Chinese companies, foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told the media. It will not only damage the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies, but also affect American companies interests.

An article in the Asia Times earlier this month suggested that Chinese companies were developing alternatives to work around already heavy US restrictions. It cited the case of one of Chinas largest chipmakers, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, which it declared recently shocked the US by announcing that it had produced 7nm chips despite being denied access to the most advanced chipmaking equipment.

The very fact that the US Commerce Department has announced the latest extensive export controls in order to block Chinese military development underscores the fact that the US is preparing for war. While seeking to undermine Chinas technological advances, the US is engaged in shoring up its own supply chains in the event of conflict.

The technology bans are on top of the huge trade tariffs imposed on Chinese goods by the Trump administration that have been maintained by Biden.

The US measures designed to undermine the Chinese economy go hand in hand with a US military build-up throughout the region, along with military provocations in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait close to the Chinese mainland.

Last century, the US provoked a war in the Pacific with Japan by imposing an oil embargo in the 1930s aimed at strangling the Japanese economy. Likewise, the latest US export controls on computer chips point to the extreme tensions between the US and China and the advanced character of US war preparations.
Joan Marcus

Leopoldstadt (Longacre Theatre, booking to Jan. 29, 2023) is quite literally a memory play. On Richard Hudsons graceful, beautifully designed Broadway stage is one room of a grand Viennese apartment and within that room the story of two intermarried Jewish familiesthe Merz-Jakoboviczestold in fragments, some joyous, many painful.

Sir Tom Stoppards powerful and beautifully written playits name derived from the name of Viennas historic Jewish quarteris a reclamation of what has been variously extinguished, murdered, and lost in a time span of 56 years from 1899 to 1955. The genius of Patrick Marbers direction, aided by Hudsons design and Neil Austins lighting, is that the play flickers ethereally before us. It feels as if we are watching something out of our own reach of timelike old pieces of film found in a box and reanimated, ghosts fluttering in motion before us.

Inside the Radical, Mischievous Mind of Playwright Tom Stoppard

The actors stand far from us, mid-stage. This sense of literal distance makes everything so much more poignant in Stoppards semi-autobiographical play, which is about identity and history, about losing and refinding parts of ourselves, and necessarily confronting the truth of love, family, and horror. In the widest sense, the play asks what it means to be Jewish, Stoppard playfully laying out his complex intent at the beginning with the children in 1899 putting the Star of David atop a Christmas tree.

Stoppard, like one of the characters in the play, discovered his own Jewish roots later in life, and we see a similar personal earthquake affect one of the characters here, just as we see two recurring themes of Stoppards playsart and mathematicsplay a central role in the eddying currents of history around the family. It is hard to say what happens in the play without spoiling swathes of plot. On the screen at the front of the stage are flickering images from the years the play is concerned with, and evolving family trees.

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Right from the beginning of the play there is talk of Jewish children outgrowing old-fashioned relatives, of the first conceptions of a separate Jewish state (in Madagascar). Ernst (Aaron Neil) and Gretl (Faye Castelow) are both Gentile, married to Wilma (Jenna Augen) and Hermann (David Krumholtz), respectively. A portrait of Gretl, and its whereabouts, becomes the central motif of the playits outline is left on the back wall.

The bustle of a family Christmas is infectious, while Hanna, Ludwig (Brandon Uranowitz) and Wilmas sister, considers a romance with a Viennese officer called Fritz (Arty Froushan). Grandma Emilia (Betsy Aidem) licks the cream spoon, as talk whirls of Vienna being the cultural capital of the new centuryand Jews being the multi-disciplinary heartbeat of that cultural life. There is an excitement of newness and possibility.

There is also the heavy imprint of times passing, and one of the central themes of the play. Emilia notes of faces in a scrapbook: First, theres no need to write who they are, because everyone knows thats great-aunt Sophia or cousin Rudi, and then only some of us know, and already were asking, Whos that with Gertrude? and I dont remember this man with the little dog, and you dont realize how fast theyre disappearing from being remembered.

Wilma, her daughters husbands sister, agrees. Its still an amazing thing to me, to know the faces of the dead! I can remember Grandpa Jakoboviczs tobacco-stained whiskers, but his wife died giving birth to Poppa before there were photographs, so now no one knows what she looked like any more than if shed been some kind of rumor.

Heres a couple waving goodbye from the train, but who are they? Emilia says. No idea. Thats why theyre waving goodbye. Its like a second death, to lose your name in a family album.

This small exchange encapsulates the ambition of the play. Even in the distant past, which today family members can agonize about losing touch with, people were agonizing about exactly the same. Leopoldstadt, as it threads a tapestry of grand themes around philosophy, violence, anti-Semitism, and assimilation (one of the lead early characters becomes a Catholic to avoid people thinking he is Jewish), is also a play about family, and about discovering and stating clearly who people were and what happened to them. It is an investigation as well as a treatise, a full-blooded drama, as well as a meditation on history, hatred, identity, survival, and placeall themes with a resonance today.

The second act takes place only a year later, with romance and the first outbursts of ugly anti-Semitism that will bloom most viciously with the rise of Nazism in over two decades time, and concludes with an emotional, elegiac Seder.

From here time slips and careens. In 1924, we see the effects of the war on some of the now-adult children we saw in 1900. A bris is about to take place, a humorous sequence of moments played for slapstick laughs. Nationalism is on the rise, but the family, now wealthy, feels safe and just as close and bonded as they did twenty-plus years before.

In 1938, the room is bare, family members young and old are lit by candlelight and swathed in shawls. Illness and decrepitude haunt the older members we have seen as so young and vibrant just moments before. We, like the family, hear horrible screaming and the smashing of glass outside. And then there is a knock at the door. The Nazis have arrived. Kristallnacht.

A shocking, chilling scene unfolds in the family apartment. It is not gratuitous, but it will leave you winded, and that dread is compounded by the emotional force of what Stoppard oversees in the plays masterful final sequences in 1955. It is, again, pretty impossible to write about without spoiling the playand this is a play that demands to be seen, and so this critic will notbut three actors, Brandon Uranowitz (magnificent throughout the play), Jenna Augen, and Arty Froushan, are left on stage to stitch together not only family mysteries but even basic identity as Froushan comes to understand who he is.

Here, Stoppard writes with moving power about finding out the truth about oneself while understanding why that truth was obscured for so long. We see how and why people may run from themselves and their identity, but never so far that one is ever completely out of sight of where one came from.

The play does not condemn the actions that people took in response to the horror that Nazism brought upon them. Even in 1955, 1945 barely a decade away, we see the rush to forget, sanitize, recustomize even, the ugliness of Nazism in Austria, and how expendable Jewish lives and feelings were even after all they had endured (if they had indeed survived).

Leopoldstadt is a generous play, and it is mischievous toowilling to interrogate totems of history and identity, as well as poke fun at them. A piece of comic familial ingenuity forms one of the plays twists.

At the end of the play there is a raw recitation of something very specific. The play has been building to this moment, because on stage in the characters we have seen, and in the images of family trees and historical photographs, the past has seemed fleeting, its faces grainy and gone in a second.

What happens, what is said, the tableau we see before us, in the last seconds of Leopoldstadt not only speaks to the urgent refrain of Never forget but to something more specific. We should never forget these people, these very specific people, right in front of us, and in our own historiesthe fluttering ghosts who not only died but also lived.

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Oct. 11LIMA  A Lima woman who did not show up to court for sentencing in September for a bar fight that left a man seriously injured was arrested Sunday night, according to jail records.

Janicqua Bailey, 23, was convicted of second-degree felonious assault for a fight at J's American Pub in January that left Bradin Fisher-Jones with injuries that required him to be transported to a Toledo hospital for surgery via helicopter.

Sentencing is set for 8:30 a.m. Oct. 18, according to court records.

After Bailey's failure to show up for court on Sept. 14, Allen County Common Pleas Court Judge Terri Kohlrieser issued a bench warrant for her arrest.

According to court documents, Lima police officers were dispatched to the bar in reference to a large fight after receiving a 911 call from Jordan Wehrly, who at the time was an off-duty patrolman with the Spencerville Police Department. Wehrly has since left that position.

Upon their arrival, officers located Fisher-Jones, whose face was covered in blood, outside the bar.

Donavan Denson and Nicholas Williams, who were also convicted in the assault, were sentenced to four to six years in prison. Tysheen Polk, who evaded arrest until September, is scheduled to begin a jury trial Nov. 14 after a pre-trial on Oct. 28.
RICHMOND, Ind.  A Richmond man has been sentenced to a decade of incarceration after admitting he stabbed a man.

Maurice William Harper, 36, pleaded guilty to Level 3 felony aggravated battery after reaching a plea agreement with the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office, according to Judge Gregory Horn's sentencing order added last week to the case record. The deal dismissed two Level 2 felony robbery counts and a Level 5 felony battery charge.

Horn sentenced Harper to 12 years with two years suspended to probation as required by the plea agreement. Nine years is the advisory sentence for a Level 3 felony.

Harper remains in Wayne County's jail waiting transfer to the Indiana Department of Correction. When sentenced, he received credit for 536 days served and 179 good-time days. With the maximum good-time credit, the sentence's executed portion would be 7 years.

Harper was jailed March 25, 2021, after Richmond Police Department officers responded about 1:20 a.m. to Apartment A6 at Jerry Geier Apartments, 2001 W. Main St., according to an affidavit of probable cause. They found Jacob Layne with lacerations on both sides of his neck, a severely damaged ear and stab wounds to his torso and side. Another resident, Aaron Jones, also had been attacked.

Layne told investigators that he had visited Harper's apartment about 4 p.m. the previous day and was attacked by Harper and another man, the affidavit said. The men took $250 from him.

Harper later contacted Layne, then was one of three men to enter Layne's apartment, according to he affidavit. Harper attacked Jones upstairs while Layne was tased by another man downstairs. When Harper returned downstairs, he punched Layne, then grabbed him from behind. Layne fell to a kneeling position, and Harper stabbed him.

Harper has a previous felony conviction for battery of a pregnant woman and previous misdemeanor convictions for domestic battery and disorderly conduct, according to court records.

This article originally appeared on Richmond Palladium-Item: Richmond man receives 10 years of incarceration for 2021 stabbing
By Azernews





By Ayya Lmahamad

Entrepreneurs from Russia's Nizhniy Novgorod Region are planning to take part in a business mission to Azerbaijan, slated for November 3-5, Azernews reports per Russian media.

The participants in the mission will not only hold B2B negotiations with Azerbaijani companies and meet with government representatives but will also visit the largest enterprises in the country.

Industry, Trade, and Entrepreneurship Minister Maksim Cherkasov stated that Azerbaijan is a popular foreign trade destination for Nizhny Novgorod companies.

Thus, last year the volume of non-primary exports to Azerbaijan almost doubled and amounted to $78.1 million. Nizhny Novgorod region traditionally exports plywood, medicines, hot-rolled steel, and wheat, he said.

The business mission will be organized by the Nizhny Novgorods Export Development Center under the Acceleration of small and medium-sized business entities federal project of the Small and medium-sized businesses and support for individual entrepreneurial initiatives national project.

Azerbaijan and Russia cooperate in different sectors, such as the economy, agriculture, customs, communications, high technology, and others. Over 230 intergovernmental and intercompany documents have been signed between the two countries and six "road maps" are being implemented.

Azerbaijan's investments in the Russian economy have exceeded $1.2 billion, with the lions share of it being in the non-oil sector. In addition, Russian investments in Azerbaijan's economy totaled $6.3 billion, with $5 billion in the oil sector and $1.3 billion in the non-oil sectors.

The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Russia amounted to $2.9 billion in 2021, making Russia Azerbaijans third-largest partner.
Virgin Orbit and Rocket Lab are expanding their launch capacities as each company gears up for inaugural missions from countries that they have never flown from.

For Rocket Lab, thats the United States; for Virgin, thats the United Kingdom (which has never seen an orbital launch, ever). Rocket Lab said Wednesday that the Electron rocket arrived at Launch Complex 2 (LC-2) at Wallops Island, Virginia; Virgins Cosmic Girl 747 airplane touched down at the Newquay Airport in Cornwall, southwest England, early evening yesterday. Virgins LauncherOne rocket is expected to arrive in Cornwall later this week.

The missions are major milestones for the two companies. Until now, Rocket Lab has exclusively launched Electron from the companys complex on New Zealands Mahia Peninsula. Meanwhile, Virgin Orbits Cosmic Girl 747 airplane and LauncherOne rocket have only ever taken off from U.S. soil.

Both are commercial missions. Electron will deploy radio frequency satellites for HawkEye 360, the first of a three-launch deal between the two companies. That launch will take place sometime in December. Virgins manifest includes payload from the United Kingdom, Poland and the first ever CubeSat from Oman. The Long Beach-based company is planning on a November launch date -- the first-ever orbital mission from the United Kingdom -- though it is still awaiting a launch license from Englands aviation regulator.

Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck said at the companys investor day that a second mission from LC-2 is planned for the first quarter of 2023. That mission will carry payload for a commercial customer, who has yet to be announced. Rocket Labs substantial investment in Wallops doesnt end there: The company also plans to use the site for all manufacturing, operations and launch of its medium-lift Neutron rocket. Rocket Lab will attempt its first Neutron launch sometime in 2024.

Virgins LauncherOne successfully reached space for the first time in January 2021, followed by two more missions, all taking off from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. Unlike conventional launch systems, Virgins 70-foot-long rocket is carried to high altitude under the wing of a 747 airplane and detaches from the plane in midair.

While Virgin's mission will mark the first from the U.K., the British government is hoping it won't be the last. The country has been making major investments in the space sector post-Brexit (until now the U.K. has relied on European partners for launch), and the domestic space industry has been steadily growing since 2012. Perhaps the government's most well-known investment is the around 500 million ($553 million) it spent to acquire a 45% stake in satellite operator OneWeb. In February, it also released a plan to invest 1.4 billion ($1.5 billion) in military satellites and other space technologies for the defense sector over the next 10 years.
Forever 21 said on Tuesday that it will open 14 new stores across the U.S. through spring 2023.

The first location to open under the new roll out plan was a new store at the Gran Plaza Outlets in Calexico, Calif., which opened its doors in August. Other new stores will open soon in Florida, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Virginia and more.

More from Footwear News

Were seeing even more consumers returning to the in-store shopping experience, Forever 21 CEO, Winnie Park, said in a statement. While our online business remains strong and a key component of our growth strategy, we love interacting with our consumers in-store. Were excited to open 14 new locations and bring Forever 21s L.A. style and attitude to our consumers.

At each new location, Forever 21 said it will celebrate with grand opening events and special promotions, including gift card giveaways, gifts with purchase and food and beverages to welcome the community. New stores will also be decorated with a variety of photo op moments to help guests share the festivities and their in-store experience, the retailer said.

Consumers are once again enjoying the benefits of shopping in-store and are purchasing for a range of activities such as expanded social events or a wardrobe refresh as they return to the office, Jacob Hawkins, Forever 21s chief marketing, digital and omni officer, added. Were also seeing even more customers choosing the buy online, pick up in-store option, and these 14 new stores reflect our commitment to ensuring we have the local inventory to meet demand for this increasingly popular omni shopping model.

This store expansion comes as the fast fashion retailer announced in December that it would be available for purchase at JCPenney, in stores and online. At the time of the announcement, JCPenney said it will sell an assortment of tops, bottoms, and dresses across the Forever 21 catalogue in 100 of its stores and on its website.

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Both JCPenney and Forever 21 are owned by Authentic Brands Group, the company behind dozens of brand and retailer acquisitions, including Barneys New York, Juicy Couture, and Reebok.

The retail powerhouse, led by CEO Jamie Salter and president and CMO Nick Woodhouse, acquired Forever 21 in 2020 after the fashion firm went into bankruptcy in 2019. It acquired JCPenney via its venture group SPARC, which includes mall owners Simon Property Group and Brookfield Properties.

Here, FN lists the Forever 21 stores that open through next spring.

California

Gran Plaza Outlets in Calexico, Calif.

The Outlets at Tejon in Tejon Ranch, Calif.

Florida

Florida Keys Premium Outlets in Florida City, Fla.

Georgia

The Outlet Shoppes at Atlanta in Woodstock, Ga.

Illinois

Chicago Premium Outlets in Aurora, Ill.

Iowa

The Outlets of Des Moines in Altoona, Iowa

Massachusetts

Cape Cod Mall in Hyannis, Mass.

Nevada

Las Vegas Premium Outlets North in Las Vegas, Nev.

Pennsylvania

Grove City Premium Outlets in Grove City, Pa.

Ross Park Mall in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Puerto Rico

Mayaguez Mall in Mayaguez, P.R.

Rhode Island

Warwick Mall in Warwick, R.I.

Virginia

Leesburg Premium Outlets in Leesburg, Va.

Norfolk Premium Outlets in Norfolk, Va.

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Click here to read the full article.
After three weeks of debate and negotiations, the Missouri legislature reauthorized targeted agricultural tax credits as part of a broad agriculture legislative package. Most of the agricultural tax credit programs expired at the end of last year. This bill renews the programs for six years, providing tax relief for Missourians and businesses investing in rural communities.

The House first passed HB 3 by an 83-28 vote, followed by the Senates 26-3 approval. Governor Parson moved quickly to sign the legislation, which will go into effect January 3, 2023. Many of these programs have been tested over the years and are proven to bring jobs and investment to rural Missouri.

Businesses that want to start or expand operations need long-term certainty to make smart choices and investments. Farmers and other rural businesses also deserve to be treated the same as their urban and suburban neighbors.

In the spring, Governor Parson vetoed a similar bill that only renewed the expired programs for two years. He rightly pointed out that many urban and suburban programs had received a standard six-year authorization. He said he believes farmers and rural residents deserve to be treated fairly and equally. This new six-year reauthorization provides just that.

Some examples of the programs included in this bipartisan legislation are the New Generation Cooperative Incentive Tax Credit, Agricultural Product Utilization Tax Credit and Meat Processing Facility Investment Tax Credit. Each of these targeted programs promotes the creation or expansion of rural businesses that grow the agricultural economy and diversify our food, fiber and fuel supply chain. It creates the Specialty Agricultural Crops Act, which will help specialty farmers provide locally grown food to Missourians.

The bill extends the Missouri Wood Energy Tax Credit six years, which helps Missourians dispose of wood waste that can become an environmental hazard. The bill even has some crossover of traditional constituencies, creating an Urban Farm Tax Credit that runs through 2028.

The bill also addressed a handful of other issues that needed attention. It makes clear that certain farm machinery and equipment used for any agricultural purpose, including UTVs, are exempt from sales tax. It also clarifies some ambiguity in the definitions of local log truck and local log truck tractor and sets fines for their load-limit violations. These seemingly minor items, if left unaddressed, can actually be incredibly frustrating for citizens to navigate. It is encouraging to see the legislature come together to take care of everyday concerns and make our states laws work better for its people.

All too often, we are frustrated by the arduous legislative process standing in the way of getting common-sense laws passed. We appreciate Governor Parson and leaders in the House and Senate putting their heads down and doing what it took to pass HB 3. We often say that what is good for rural Missouri is good for the state. I appreciate our leaders in Jefferson City recognizing this and getting the job done by passing this bill.
Those attending the Bismarck Fall Festival on Saturday will have the chance to experience something new as the chamber introduces the Bismarck Fall Walk.

Individuals participating in the walk will be able to support local businesses while also having the chance to be entered into a raffle to win a basket of items from local business.

Participants can buy a punch card from Unico Bank, located at 1001 Cedar Street in Bismarck. A total of 100 tickets are available for the day, and each ticket costs $5.

Seven businesses are participating in the event on Saturday, including Mikes Market, Lady Queene Restaurant, Donna Country Cottage, Grow Up SFC, Tackle Box, Granny Barbs Pies, LLC, and The Vintage Skillet. When visiting, get a fall treat at the businesses while someone at the business will punch out the pumpkin on the ticket. Many of the local businesses will be offering specials and discounts throughout the day.

Some of the specials include a special food or a discount, such as the Tackle Box offering a peanut butter pie for $8, the Lady Queene will have chicken salad sandwiches for $3.50, Carlas Cafe will be offering vegetable beef soup and a grilled cheese sandwich for $8.99, and Granny Barbs Pies will be offering 15% off all fall merchandise, as well as a special fall treat.

Besides food, many other stores will be offering discounts at their locations. Grow Up SFC will be offering 15% off storewide and free turnip seeds with every purchase, Mikes Market will be offering pumpkins for $3.49, Vintage Skillet will have a 15% discount, and Donnas Country Cottage will have a raffle to win a fall centerpiece.

When all the pumpkins are punched, the ticket will need to be taken to the Bismarck Chamber of Commerce booth at the fall festival at Sundale Park. Once given to a member of the chamber, the ticket will be used to enter in a raffle for a fall basket. The basket will be comprised of donations from local businesses, and the winner will be drawn at the next chamber meeting.

Chamber Communications Director Valeria Craig said the inspiration to do the fall walk is based off the Caledonia Chocolate Walk, an annual event which kick starts the Christmas season where shoppers visit stores to receive free chocolate, start Christmas shopping by visiting local businesses, and then has the chance to win a gift.

The fall festival will feature a chili cook off, fire pits and S'mores kits, old fashioned games like washers, sack races, and greased pig contest.

The new Bismarck chamber was founded earlier this year in April after manager at the Unico Bank Katie Conway posted online saying it was time for the chamber to return. Since then, the Bismarck Chamber has grown and has hosted the annual Freedom Fest, and now is taking on the Fall Festival.

The chamber can be kept up with on Facebook under the group Bismarck Chamber of Commerce 2022.
3 People Fending Off Sharks Rescued 'Just in the Nick of Time' in Gulf of Mexico After Boat Sinks

Three people spent over 24 hours in the water before the Coast Guard was able to find them  pulling off a dramatic rescue before it was too late.

When officials rescued the boaters from the Gulf of Mexico off the Louisiana coastline on Sunday, two of the individuals were "fending off sharks," the U.S. Coast Guard 8th District Heartland said in a news release.

"All three men had been fending off hypothermia," the U.S. Coast Guard Station Venice wrote in a separate statement on social media, adding that "time was running out."

"As the helicopter hoisted one man out of the ocean, the crew of Venice hauled the other two men out of the water," they wrote.

The two men who were rescued by the boat crew were treated on the scene for "shark bites and hypothermia," officials shared in their statement.

"They had multiple lacerations on their hand, almost down to the bone, indicative of a shark bite and serrated edges indicative of a shark's tooth puncturing their hands," Lt. Katy Caraway, U.S. Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans co-pilot, told Today.

3 People Fending Off Sharks Rescued Just in the Nick of Time in Gulf of Mexico After Fishing Boat Sinks

U.S. Coast Guard Heartland Coast Guard rescuers boaters who were fending off sharks

All three of the boaters were taken to local hospital and listed as being in stable condition, according to the outlet.

RELATED: Police Rescue 'Struggling' Father and Son Who Were Found Clinging to Cooler After Their Boat Sank

The three men, who have not been publicly identified, were reported missing on Saturday, after they failed to come home from a fishing trip, according to CBS News.

"A family member called in reporting that her husband and two associates had not returned to shore at their agreed time," the U.S. Coast Guard Station Venice wrote in a statement.

The U.S. Coast Guard 8th District Heartland said that when the vessel sank, the boaters were stranded without communication devices.

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The Coast Guard began its search in an area "spanning 1,250 square miles, slightly larger than the state of Rhode Island," according to the U.S. Coast Guard 8th District Heartland.

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During that initial search, Coast Guard officials were "redirected to an area offshore where a call had been tracked" and discovered "that the mariners had lost their boat to the sea, and were drifting in the water."

"Overall, the boaters spent more than 24 hours in the water after their boat sank at approximately 10 a.m. Saturday morning," wrote the U.S. Coast Guard 8th District Heartland, adding that they were "rescued just in the nick of time."

RELATED: Man Swam Half a Mile During Hurricane Ian to Save Mom, 84, from Flooded Home: Water Was 'Up to Her Chin'

According to Today, the two fisherman who were fending off sharks were found clinging to a cooler, while the third boater was found about a half mile away.

In their social media posts, Coast Guard officials also shared a photograph that showed one of the life jackets worn by the boaters had been torn by a shark.

"If the family member had not notified the Coast Guard, and if these three boaters were not wearing life jackets, this could've been a completely different outcome," Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Keefe, a Coast Guard search and rescue mission coordinator in New Orleans, said according to CBS News.
Im been writing about beauty for a decade so when a product goes viral online, its very rare that Ive never heard of it. But thats the case with the LilyAna Naturals Eye Cream going viral on TikTok. Im not familiar with the hydrating cream that has almost five stars and more than 18,000 reviews. Not only is it blowing up on Amazon, TikToker @buffalotrinket3 gave us the scoop on her new favorite find and the video is going viral. Im intrigued.

LilyAna Naturals is a cruelty-free, vegan, clean beauty skincare brand based in a small town in Mississippi. Founders and siblings Retta Abraham and Menna Samaha named their brand after the daughters of the Directors of Manufacturing Operations, so the small team I definitely like family. They make retinol, face cream, vitamin C and more free from parabens, phthalates, SLS, SLES and gluten.

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After TikToker @buffalotrinket3 newest makeup tutorial got some traction, followers commented how smooth her skin is, especially around her under-eye area. Thats when she told us she was looking for a more affordable eye cream option and was drawn to the large size of LilyAna Naturals. And she was shook to find out how well it worked. This video is actually from back in January but is popping back up thanks to other TikTokers finding it and purchasing the eye cream for themselves.

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Like I said, Im 40, so the last 10 or 15 years, Ive been putting this eye cream on the back of this hand and then applying to my under eyes and then putting it on as hand cream because I live in the desert, she says. I mean, I dont really have crows feet. Just saying! She holds up both her hands to show us how one is much smoother than the other.

Imagine when I noticed this, she continues. Im not trying to fool you there. So, this is your sign. Apply your eye cream. OK, Im sold.

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Tulsi Gabbard

Tulsi Gabbard, a former congresswoman and presidential aspirant noted for her anti-LGBTQ+ record, has announced that shes leaving the Democratic Party.

I can no longer remain in todays Democratic Party, Gabbard said in a video posted Tuesday from the first episode of her new podcast, The Tulsi Gabbard Show. Its now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue and stoking anti-white racism, who actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms enshrined in our Constitution, and who are hostile to people of faith and spirituality. She said the matter had been on her mind and troubling her for some time.

She claimed that President Joe Bidens administration is targeting as terrorists parents who are vocally standing in opposition to radical curriculums and explicit sexual content being taught to their kids in public schools. Gabbard went on to say the administration is erasing women by supporting transgender people.

She also accused the administration of undermining law enforcement and the Supreme Court, treating pro-life protesters unfairly, seeking to quash gun rights and free speech, and above all moving the world closer to nuclear war, apparently through supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russias invasion.

Gabbard, the first Hindu elected to Congress, represented a Hawaii district in the U.S. House from 2013 to 2021. Before that she was a state representative and a member of the Hawaii City Council. While she was a state representative in 2004, she denounced homosexual extremists, who, she said, were falsely claiming there was a difference between civil unions and marriage. Hawaii was considering civil union legislation at the time. She also used the phrase to describe opponents of her father, Mike Gabbard, who ran an organization that worked against marriage equality and other LGBTQ+ causes, and reportedly endorsed conversion therapy.

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In 2019, while seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, she apologized for these statements. In my past, I said and believed things that were wrong, and worse, they were very hurtful to people in the LGBTQ community and to their loved ones, she said. She added that her views had changed, and she had apologized for her statements previously, but was now sincerely repeating her apology.

During a presidential forum cosponsored by The Advocate that year, Gabbard denied that her commitment to the LGBTQ+ community was only skin deep and said her record in Congress, which was largely supportive of LGBTQ+ equality, could speak for itself.

But her later record belies this. On her way out of Congress in 2020, she introduced a bill to bar transgender girls and women from competing in female sports nationwide; it went nowhere. In April of this year, she posted a video to social media saying Floridas dont say gay law doesnt go far enough in censoring the discussion of sexuality and gender identity in public schools. As I read the legislation, I gotta tell you, I was shocked to learn that it only protects kids from kindergarten till third grade, she said. Third grade? What about 12th grade or not at all?

Gabbard, an Iraq War veteran and former Senate aide, dropped out of the presidential race early in 2020 and endorsed Biden for the nomination. But she had endorsed a farther-left candidate, independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, over Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016.

She drew criticism from Democrats this year for speaking at the Conservative Political Conference, one of the most prominent annual gatherings of the right wing. She made a plea for national unity there. On her podcast, the did not say if she would join the Republican Party or become an independent, but she asked for independent-minded Democrats to leave the Democratic Party as well.
Vladimir Putin is discovering that Russia is no longer a superpower with his armys series of failures in Ukraine, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has said.

In an interview with the Standard, the Cabinet minister also stressed that the international community had to defeat Putins invasion to show that wars cannot be won by shoving millions of people into a meat grinder with no rules, no regard for human lives.

Following training by the UK and allies, he also argued that now the basic Ukrainian soldier is better than the basic Russian soldier, given the scale of losses suffered by Putins professional military and the deployment of tens of thousands of poorly-trained troops to the frontline after his 300,000 part-mobilisation.

Asked how he believes the conflict will end, Mr Wallace said: I dont know. I mean, superpowers have lost wars before: the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, the United States in Vietnam. Its not unheard of for big powers to have to reconcile a defeat in a neighbouring country, or another country theyve been engaged in.

Pressed whether he thought a superpower would lose again, he added: Well, hes not a superpower is what he has just discovered. Thats the key.

One part of it is like, you believed your own hype, you believed your parade ground hype, you counted tanks on the parade ground and presume you are invincible and you are not.

(AP)

He believes Putins forces are losing in Ukraine on their military capabilities and their leaderships flawed strategic assumptions.

At every turn, people have underestimated Ukraine and overestimated Russia, he said. But he has got in his back pocket, millions of people he can shove into a meat grinder with no rules, no regard for human lives and innocent people and civilians.

If that is successful, that will send a message across the whole world that thats how you win wars. We cannot, the international community, accept that.

With Putin keeping up a threat of resorting to nuclear weapons, more than 50 countries were gathering on the sidelines of a Nato meeting in Brussels from today to discuss bolstering Ukraines air defences, two days after Russian missiles rained down on cities including Kyiv in retaliation for the Kerch Bridge, linking Crimea to Russia, being partially destroyed. Former Scots Guards officer Mr Wallace, 52, said: President Putin should be clear that for the UK and our allies, any use of nuclear weapons would break a taboo of nuclear use that has held since 1945, and would lead to severe consequences for Russia.

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The West is maintaining deliberate ambiguity about how it would respond on the basis that it is best not to flag what steps would be taken, but even China and India would be expected to condemn a nuclear strike by Putin.

The Ukrainian counter-offensive in the north east has to some extent slowed, the Defence Secretary added, but was still making significant progress in threatening supply lines, including rail routes, which the Russians desperately rely on.

In the southern Kherson province, Mr Wallace said that more than 40 days into the counter-offensive Ukrainian troops were making progress, slowly but surely. With thousands of heavily-equipped Russian troops dug in on the right bank of the Dnipro River, the advance was a hard slog.

However, Mr Wallace added: We are pretty confident the momentum is still with Ukraine and Russia is facing catastrophic loss of morale, poor equipment, significant ammunition stocks scarcity and political fraughtness.

His (Putin) strategic assumptions seem to be wrong all over the place. Even yesterday (Monday), firing scant missiles at random civilian locations, when you should be firing them at military targets, is not a strategic or a clever use of your finite resources.

As a bitter winter approaches, Ukrainian troops were said to be better equipped than many Russian soldiers, including with night sights, better radios and warm gear.

With tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops being offered five weeks training in Britain, Mr Wallace said he undoubtedly believes the basic Ukrainian soldier is better than the basic Russian soldier now. If you compare what the Russians have been doing its scandalous, mobilised troops sent to the front, almost within days getting captured, poor equipment, rusted magazines, if any training at all has happened, he said.

If youve talked to the soldiery, the professional officer corps are really quite angry on the total lack of leadership professionalism that is getting Russian soldiers killed in the thousands. If their army had any decency, these generals would be court martialed and jailed for what they have done to their own.

Britain has previously estimated that up to 80,000 Russian troops have been killed, maimed, injured, deserted or gone missing since Mr Putin launched his invasion on February 24, with Ukrainian forces having suffered heavy losses, and thousands, if not tens of thousands, of civilians also killed.

As to whether there is an off-ramp for Mr Putin to end the war, Mr Wallace responded: Leave Ukraine.

But he stressed: There isnt an off ramp that he hasnt failed to ignore.

When you keep doing it hes all in.

Britain has led efforts to maintain western unity in response to the invasion, even as Putin cut gas flows. The UK will continue supplying missiles for air defence platforms sent to Ukraine.

Mr Wallace added: Ukrainians are showing success. Its quite hard for the Ukrainians to suddenly decide theyre going to give that up. How far they go in their successes is a matter for the Ukrainians. The Wests resolve is to help Ukraine have a position of strength to choose its future.
Karine Aigner/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

The London Natural History Museum announced the 2022 winners of its Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest.

The 20 winners were selected from more than 38,000 entries.

Winning photos include a frenzied ball of bees, a dancing sea star, and the brushy mouth of a whale.

As a ball of swarming cactus bees rolled across the hot Texas sand, Karine Aigner trained her camera on the spectacle.

The cactus bees, like most other bees, are endangered by habitat loss, pesticides, and the changing climate. But that didn't stop this cluster of buzzing insects from trying to multiply. All but one of the bees in that ball were male, swarming around a single female. As they clamored for an opportunity to mate, Aigner's camera lens clicked.

The resulting photo, above, won the Grand Title in this year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, which the Natural History Museum in London develops and produces each year.

From more than 38,000 entries, Aigner's photo and 19 other category winners stood out.

"Wings whirring, incoming males home in on the ball of buzzing bees that is rolling straight into the picture. The sense of movement and intensity is shown at bee-level magnification and transforms what are little cactus bees into big competitors for a single female," Roz Kidman Cox, who chaired the panel of judges, said in a statement.

Other winning photos reveal animals, birds, and sea creatures in the throes of life: hunting, being hunted, wandering, dying, dancing for potential mates, and struggling to survive as their world gets smaller.

The Grand Title winner for young photographers captured the contrast inside a whale's mouth

Katanyou Wuttichaitanakorn/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Katanyou Wuttichaitanakorn, a 16-year-old from Thailand, was on a whale-watching tour when a Bryde's whale surfaced near the boat. Struck by the whale's dark skin, pale pink gums, and brushy mass of baleen teeth, he snapped a picture. It snagged Wuttichaitanakorn's first award in the competition.

Cox called the photo a "dazzling creation."

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"The pin-sharp detail of the tiny anchovies is set against an abstraction of color, with the weave of brown baleen hair rimmed by a cascade of water drops," Cox said.

In another winning photo, a snake captured a spooky snack

Fernando Constantino Martinez Belmar/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

In the Cave of the Hanging Snakes, in Quintana Roo, Mexico, Fernando Constantino Martinez Belmar waited in the dark as a Yucatan rat snake poked its head from the rock ceiling. Just like every night, as thousands of bats swarmed out of the cave, the resident snakes waited for just the right opportunity to lunge from their hiding places and snatch a meal.

Using a red light that would be less disruptive in the dark, Martinez Belmar captured the hunt in the split moment before this snake retreated with its prize.

A snow leopard pursued its own, much bigger, prey

Anand Nambiar/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Across a ravine in the Himalayas, Anand Nambiar watched this leopard maneuver uphill from a herd of ibex, then charge them toward a steep cliff.

Snow leopards are at risk of extinction due to hunting, climate change, and mining that destroys their habitat.

A vulnerable spectacled bear surveyed its disappearing territory

Daniel Mideros/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Spectacled bears are the only bear species native to South America, and their numbers are dwindling. The disappearance and fragmentation of their habitat has culled them to just a few thousand.

Photographer Daniel Mideros captured one of those bears with a camera he set up on a wildlife corridor, which bridges fragments of habitat between human settlements in Quito, Ecuador.

A beloved mountain gorilla died in her caretaker's arms

Brent Stirton/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Ndakasi was rescued at two months old after her troop of gorillas was massacred. Photographer Brent Stirton was there to capture her rescue, and returned 13 years later to capture her death, as she laid in the arms of her lifelong caretaker, Andre Bauma, at Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

"I loved her like a child," Bauma told the BBC after her death in 2021. "Her cheerful personality brought a smile to my face every time I interacted with her."

Polar bears raided a long-abandoned town

Dmitry Kokh/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

The island of Kolyuchin, in the Siberian Chukchi Sea, lost its human inhabitants long ago. The abandoned settlements there have a new population now: wandering polar bears.

Dmitry Kokh was aboard a yacht, sheltering from a storm, when he spotted the bears moving in and out of buildings on the distant island. He flew a drone out to photograph them.

One small bird listened to the earth...

Nick Kanakis/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

This young grey-breasted wood wren was foraging when photographer Nick Kanakis happened by. The ground-dwelling bird hopped through the leaf litter in Colombia's Tatama National Park, listening to the ground for the faint squirms of small insects  lunch for the wren.

...while a showy bird puffed out its chest feathers

Jose Juan Hernandez Martinez/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

The Canary Islands houbara does a frantic courting dance. From a spot he dug out, Jose Juan Hernandez Martinez watched the whole thing. The houbara raises the plumes on the front of its neck, throws its head back, sprints forward, circles back, and pauses a moment before starting over again. This photo shows its full puffy glory during that brief pause.

A sea star performed its own eerie mating dance

Tony Wu/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Birds may have to impress their mates, but sea stars only have to spawn. Still, to set up their spawns for success, they must dance. Rising, swaying, pulsing, and undulating may help release the eggs and sperm, or send them into currents of water so they mix and fertilize. As clouds of sea-star sperm and eggs filled the water, photographer Tony Wu captured this otherwordly invertebrate in the throes of its dance.

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Miraval studios Brad Pitt

Helene Hadjiyianni

A legendary recording studio has been brought back to life, thanks in part to Brad Pitt.

Studio Miraval was the site of dozens of classic recordings including Pink Floyd's The Wall and WHAM's "Careless Whisper." It sits on the sprawling grounds of Chateau Miraval, a French villa owned by Pitt, 58, and Angelina Jolie, 47, and the site of their 2014 wedding. It's now a cause of legal strife amid their ongoing divorce.

In a new Billboard cover story, Pitt and French producer Damien Quintard reveal the studio, which has been used by music icons like AC/DC, The Cure, Elton John and Sting, has been completely revamped just one year after Pitt announced that it would be reopening, and give an inside look at the process of upgrading the state-of-the-art space now known as Miraval Studios

The facility was built in 1977 by then-owner Jacques Loussier, a French jazz pianist and was ahead of its time, housing the first solid-state mixing board in France. Built to reproduce the sound Loussier heard in concert hall performances, the large secluded facility also contained a separate drum chamber.

It remained in frequent use through the early 2000s, but gradually slowed down after Loussier sold the property in 1992. When Pitt and Jolie first discovered the villa in 2008, the studio, including its in-house instruments, synthesizers and gear, remained available.

Chateau Miraval

MICHEL GANGNE/AFP via Getty

It wasn't until last year that Pitt finally decided it was time to tackle the studio head-on. "There were always plans to revamp the studio," he told Billboard. "It has great historical provenance and so we didn't want to do it until we could do something special."

Quintard, 31, was exactly that something special for the Bullet Train star, who told Billboard it was a "matter of instinct" to hire the producer for the job.

"As a French engineer, it was a holy grail," Quintard said of the experience redesigning the space. "Miraval is one of those legendary, iconic studios. But it wasn't until I came to Miraval that I understood how deep the roots go."

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As he undertook the revamp project, Quintard made sure to keep much of what gave the legendary studio its rich history.

"It was important for us to preserve all the analog technology that was here, but to also fully incorporate the best digital technology of today," he said. "We're not here to just build a new studio: We're here to honor a legacy."

The guidance Pitt gave the young producer was to keep the focus on what musicians would come there to do: create. "Let's make a sanctuary for artists to come in and do their thing."

Miraval studios Billboard cover

RELATED: Angelina Jolie Claims Brad Pitt Choked One of Their Kids; Pitt Source Calls Allegations 'Untrue'

In 2008, Pitt and Jolie signed a long-term lease on the 1,200-acre estate before officially purchasing it in 2012 for an estimated $60 million. It was an often-visited vacation spot for the pair and their six kids, and they hosted their wedding on its grounds two years later.

Since the news of their split in 2019, the French vineyard has become a hot topic, as it is not only a property matter, but also involves the wine brand the couple launched in 2013, Miraval Wines.

Chateau Miraval

MICHEL GANGNE/AFP via Getty Images

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In October 2021, Jolie sold her interests in Chateau Miraval to Tenute del Mondo, whose parent company is spirits manufacturer Stoli Group. According to legal documents obtained by PEOPLE in February 2022, Pitt alleges that Jolie made the sale despite their prior agreement that neither would do so unless the other person approved.

In the lawsuit, the Fight Club actor claims that Jolie's business, Nouvel, owed his company, Mondo Bongo, the right of first refusal and that the sale infringed on that right. Pitt's lawyers have also claimed their belief that Tenute del Mondo is "bent on taking control of Miraval."

The move was one that Pitt believed was purposefully meant to inflict harm on him, as legal documents obtained by PEOPLE demonstrated.

The actor accused his ex-wife of contributing "nothing to Miraval's success," while the wine company became his "passion" project that grew "into a multimillion-dollar global business" because of his work.

A cross-complaint Jolie filed in October says that Pitt's claim is "false" and "no such agreement ever existed." The filing also claimed that Jolie did offer to sell her portion to Pitt but he allegedly "demanded" she sign a non-disclosure agreement barring her from "speaking outside of court about Pitt's physical and emotional abuse of her and their children."

"Jolie refused to agree to such a provision, and Pitt walked away from the deal," the lawyers say in the documents.
The California IATSE Council, saying it is appalled by the racist comments made during a secretly recorded conversation last year among three members of the Los Angeles City Council and a local labor leader, called for all those involved to resign.

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Nury Martinez Takes Leave Of Absence From City Council After Leaked Audio Scandal; L.A. County Labor Federation President Steps Down  Update

In a statement Tuesday, the California IATSE Council said it cannot, and will not tolerate racism in any form. What took place at the October 2021 meeting flies in the face of everything that we stand for. The core value of the labor movement is equality and justice for all without regard for the color of your skin, the language you speak or whom you choose to love. We represent all our IATSE members with that commitment first and foremost. The CIC is appalled by the behavior and racist comments expressed at that meeting. We join with many others in calling for the immediate resignations of all Los Angeles City Council members who were involved.

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Demonstrating that it means business, IATSE recently expelled one of its own  a member of IATSE Local 479 in Atlanta  for making similarly racist statements. According to the latest report of IATSEs general executive board, the now-former member was expelled after having been found guilty at trial of using racist, incendiary, sexist, harassing and discriminatory comments and of describing black women by using a pejorative term. He was expelled from the union and fined $10,000.

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According to the report, IATSE president Matthew Loeb stated unequivocally that harassment, racism, sexism, bullying and discrimination in any form will not be tolerated, encouraged, overlooked, ignored, or accepted by the IATSE or any of its affiliated local unions. Those in attendance demonstrated their support with a sustained standing ovation.

The explosive tape recording of L.A. City Council members making and laughing at racist comments has roiled local politics, and even drew condemnation today from President Joe Biden. In that recording, L.A. City Council president Nury Martinez can be heard making racist and cruel remarks about another City Council members 2-year-old child, who is Black.

Martinez stepped down as president on Monday but remains a member of the City Council. Earlier today, she announced shes taking a leave of absence.

RELATED: Los Angeles Councilman Mike Bonin Responds To Colleagues Apologies Over Leaked Audio

Calls are also mounting for two other City Council members who took part in the conversation  Gil Cedillo and Kevin De Leon  to resign. Ron Herrera, the president of the Los Angeles County Federation, also was a participant in the conversation, which reportedly took place in his offices. He didnt make any racist remarks but didnt confront or condemn Martinez comments either and can be heard laughing along with the others. He resigned his post today.

On Monday, SAG-AFTRA called for all involved to resign, and Hollywoods Teamsters Local 399 called for Herrera to resign, saying that it he didnt, the local would pull out of the federation.

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Hes an election falsifier who recklessly promoted lies about the 2020 presidential race long after it was clear Donald Trump lost.

Hes a science fabulist who suggested, without evidence, that the COVID-19 vaccines could make the pandemic worse and who repeatedly touted unproven remedies for the disease  from Ivermectin to mouthwash.

He's tried to rewrite the sordid history of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, claiming the attackers were "people that love this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break the law."

He suggested the government should rewrite the rules for the two government programs seniors rely on most  Medicare and Social Security  making them subject to annual political fights in Congress rather than mandatory payments as promised.

For years, Ron Johnson has demonstrated that he should be retired to his family's seaside Florida home  and not representing Wisconsin in the U.S. Senate. Voters should send him packing this November.

Here are eight reasons:

He wants to upend Medicare and Social Security

Johnson said recently that Medicare and Social Security should be subject to annual budget deliberations, which would be a drastic change for a pair of essential social insurance programs and could put them at risk.

Americans pay into both programs and qualify for benefits when they reach retirement age. They are set up like insurance plans and offer a guaranteed benefit. That's why they are treated by the government as mandatory spending. Treating them as discretionary spending would subject them to annual partisan squabbles and could put the guarantees promised to seniors at risk.

Though there are legitimate concerns about future funding of both programs, neither is in imminent danger. Medicare is funded through 2028 and Social Security through 2035, according to government projections. In the past, Congress has been willing to work out solutions rather than continually blast campaign rhetoric. It has resolved funding problems without resorting to drastic steps.

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His office was involved in Trump's fake elector scheme

Johnson's office was involved in an attempt to pass a document regarding Wisconsin electors to then Vice President Mike Pence just minutes before Congress was to ceremonially certify the election on Jan. 6. Johnsons explanations for what happened  and for what he and his staff knew  dont add up.

Trump and his lawyers were pushing a wild scheme to replace authentic electors  the people selected based on citizens' votes  with sycophants who would flip the results in battleground states to Trump. That corrupt plan could have erased the choice made by voters and potentially handed the presidency to Trump if enough swing states flipped. Trump lost the popular vote by 7 million votes nationwide and in the Electoral College 306-232. The Trump scheme was treasonous.

Opinion: Given the stakes in Wisconsin's midterm elections, the editorial board has a duty to stand up for voters and against Ron Johnson

Opinion: I'm a lifelong Republican but sometimes party loyalty asks too much. I'm voting for Mandela Barnes and Tony Evers

He refused to tell the truth about the 2020 presidential election

Johnson spent weeks questioning the validity of the election despite evidence showing conclusively that Joe Biden had won the presidency. He held a one-sided hearing allowing Trumps lawyers to air allegations of fraud that had already been rejected by dozens of courtrooms across America, including both Republican and Democratic judges and even federal judges appointed by Trump.

Johnsons role in amplifying lies about the election  including his threat to challenge the ceremonial counting of electoral votes in Congress  encouraged Trump supporters to believe the result could be overturned and contributed to the tragedy at the Capitol.

On Jan. 6, 2021, Johnson did not vote against objections to Joe Biden's victories in Arizona and Pennsylvania after the deadly sacking of the U.S. Capitol interrupted Congress' tallying of Electoral College votes. Up until the insurrection, Johnson publicly stated he intended to vote in favor of challenges to state-certified votes.

Johnson knew better.

About two weeks after the election, he acknowledged that Joe Biden had won the election, according to the former Brown County Republican chairman. And in August of 2021, Johnson was recorded saying that Trump lost Wisconsin simply because he underperformed other Republicans on the same ballots in the same election. "He didnt get 51,000 votes that other Republicans got, and thats why he lost," Johnson said.

Now Johnson refuses to say whether he would accept the outcome of the November election once the results are certified, the Wisconsin State Journal reports.

We cannot elect people to office who do not honor the results of elections and still expect to hold onto our democratic republic. It's that simple. Even citizens who don't like his opponent should withhold their vote for Johnson on this point alone  to ensure our government derives its power from the consent of the governed.

To ensure, as Republican President Abraham Lincoln put it, "that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth."

He repeatedly downplayed the seriousness of the attack on the U.S. Capitol

Johnson claimed the rampage "didnt seem like an armed insurrection. This was despite the fact that five people died, rioters called for the deaths of Vice President Mike Pence and leaders of Congress, weapons were found on attackers and stashed nearby, and organized white nationalists led violent charges against Capitol Police and forced their way into the building, using flagpoles, bear spray, fire extinguishers and other blunt objects as weapons.

Johnson later said those who attacked the Capitol, were people that love this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break the law. If that wasnt bad enough, he added this racist remark: If the protesters had been Black Lives Matter and Antifa protesters, he said. I might have been a little concerned.

With a wink and a nod, Johnson was voicing support for the white supremacists who led the attack on the Capitol.

It's worth noting: One of the people at the scene that day, a top lieutenant to the Proud Boys chairman, pleaded guilty last week to seditious conspiracy in connection with the riot at the Capitol.

He made sure his ultra-wealthy donors got a giant tax break

Johnson forced changes to the 2017 Republican tax overhaul that benefitted some of the nations wealthiest people, including himself and his own donors.

In 2021, ProPublica revealed how Wisconsins Republican senator ensured donors got a massive tax break in a bill the party claimed was a middle-class tax cut. Thanks to Johnson's last-minute threat to vote against the legislation, a huge portion of its billions in savings ended up going to just 82 of America's wealthiest families.

Three of the senator's top donors  billionaires Diane Hendricks and Dick and Liz Uihlein  were on the short list of those who gained the most. ProPublica reported that the tax break Johnson muscled through "could deliver more than half a billion in tax savings for Hendricks and the Uihleins over its eight-year life."

And now, as Johnson comes under criticism during his reelection campaign for leveraging a tax break for the uber-wealthy who need it least, he accuses his critics of "class envy."

Hendricks and the Uihleins continue to invest in Johnson, funding attack ads against his challenger, Democrat Mandela Barnes.

More: Ron Johnson's efforts on Trump tax cut delivered millions in savings to billionaires who financed his campaigns, IRS records show

He has displayed a stunning lack of interest in creating jobs in the state he represents

After Oshkosh Corp. said in June it intended to make vehicles for the U.S. Postal Service at a new facility in Spartanburg, S.C., U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin and others stepped in to try to bring those 1,000 jobs to Wisconsin.

Johnson stepped aside.

"It's not like we don't have enough jobs here in Wisconsin," Johnson said. He said the company was best suited to decide where to locate the jobs.

"I wouldn't insert myself to demand that anything be manufactured here using federal funds in Wisconsin," Johnson said.

He was a super spreader of disinformation during the pandemic

Johnson used his perch as a U.S. Senate committee chair to promote the use of Ivermectin as a coronavirus therapy even though the manufacturer itself said there was no evidence it worked. He touted the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment though studies found it wasnt effective.

Johnson questioned the need for masks  and later questioned the safety of COVID vaccines themselves and declined to be vaccinated, even though all the evidence has shown masks help slow the spread of disease and that the vaccines are safe and effective.

Johnson asserted that gargling with mouthwash can kill the virus that causes COVID-19, an outlandish claim the makers of Listerine and medical experts quickly debunked.

Johnson claimed "athletes are dropping dead on the field" after receiving the COVID-19 vaccination, an utter fabrication.

And he falsely claimed that unvaccinated people around the world were being put into internment camps, earning him a Pants on Fire rating from PolitiFact.

Hes a climate change denier

From his first run for office in 2010, Johnson has thought that he knew better than the vast majority of scientists who study climate change.

During a meeting with this editorial board that year, Johnson claimed the impact of humans on the climate hadnt been proven. It was far more likely, he said then, that it was sunspot activity or something just in the geologic eons of time where we have changes in the climate.

And last year, he told a Republican group, "I don't know about you guys, but I think climate change is  as Lord Monckton said  bullshit."

In fact, more than 99.9% of peer-reviewed scientific papers agree that climate change is mainly caused by humans burning fossil fuels and increasing the amount of carbon and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, according to a 2021 survey of 88,125 climate-related studies.

It should come as no surprise that Johnson has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from people employed by or associated with the fossil fuel industry.

The bottom line

You'll notice Johnson is not touting a long record of accomplishments in his ads for re-election. Instead, he and his supporters have attacked his opponent  a Black man  as "different" and "dangerous."

So, what has Johnson delivered for Wisconsin after 12 years in the Senate (the equivalent of three presidential terms)?

Earlier this year, he touted two accomplishments:

 The Trump tax cut that he, in fact, blocked until it was amended to deliver enormous new breaks for his top donors and 80 other ultrawealthy American households.

 A 2018 "Right-to-Try bill" that allows terminally ill patients to try experimental treatments not yet approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

In fact, Ron Johnson is the worst Wisconsin political representative since the infamous Sen. Joseph McCarthy. Johnson in the past promised to serve no more than two terms. Voters should hold him to that pledge in November.

MORE: 5 takeaways from the debate between Ron Johnson, Mandela Barnes: A clash over crime and abortion

MORE: Senate challenger Mandela Barnes wants action on climate change. Incumbent Ron Johnson sees green energy as unreliable and 'pointless'

Editorials are a product of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin editorial board, which operates independently from the network's news departments. Email: jsedit@jrn.com

Why we write editorials. Meet the editorial board.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Ron Johnson has no business being a Wisconsin senator any longer
Voting in the November midterm elections has officially kicked off in California. All active registered California voters are being sent a vote-by-mail ballot with a prepaid, first-class postage return envelope for the Nov. 8, 2022, midterm election this week. In-person early voting is also now available at every county election office, the Secretary of States Office announced.

How to register to vote

Voters can register to vote or change party affiliation online at RegisterToVote.ca.gov.

If you are registering or re-registering less than 15 days before an election you need to complete the Same-Day Voter Registration process and request your ballot in person at your county elections office or polling location.

Update your status: Voters should update their status if they have moved their residence or have changed their name or party affiliation, or they wish to change their language preference. If youre not sure of your registration status, visit the Secretary of States My Voter Status tool at: VoterStatus.sos.ca.gov.

Tips for returning your ballot

Mail: Every vote-by-mail ballot comes with a first-class prepaid postage return envelope.

Before returning your ballot, you must remember to sign and date the return envelope provided with your vote-by-mail ballot.

Ballots that are returned by mail must be postmarked on or before Nov. 8, 2022, Election Day, and received by county elections officials no later than 7 days after the election, the Secretary of States Office says.

Secure drop boxes: All counties offer secure drop boxes to return vote-by-mail ballots. You can drop off your ballot at any polling place, vote center, or your county elections office through Election Day. Find drop box locations at sos.ca.gov.

In-person: Voting locations will offer voter registration, replacement ballots, accessible voting machines, and language assistance. One or more voting locations in many counties will be open prior to Election Day. Voters can find a nearby drop box or early voting location at sos.ca.gov.

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What to know before casting a ballot: A guide to voter rights in California

Tracking your vote-by-mail ballot

The Secretary of States Wheres My Ballot? tracking tool is available statewide. All California voters can now sign-up at WheresMyBallot.sos.ca.gov to receive automated notifications about their vote-by-mail ballots by email, text (SMS), or voice call.

Official voter information guide

The Voter Information Guide can help you make decisions about the candidates and issues on the statewide ballot for the Nov. 8, 2022, general election. In addition to information about how to cast your ballot, this guide includes statewide candidate statements, information about state propositions, and your rights as a California voter. The guide is published in Chinese, English, Hindi, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Spanish, Tagalog, Thai and Vietnamese.

For more information, visit https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections.

Key dates to remember

Oct. 24: Last day to register to vote (conditional registration available through Election Day)

Oct. 29: Opening of Voter's Choice Act county vote centers

Nov. 8: Election Day; polls open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.; last day to vote in person or by mail.

This article originally appeared on The Record: Election 2022: Early voting in California midterm election begins
Story at a glance

Surging demand has led California flagships Berkeley and UCLA to admit 9 and 11 percent of applicants, respectively.

Universities such as North Carolina and Virginia have reduced their acceptance rates to 17-19 percent.

Such Vegas-style odds are still not the norm. Most schools accept 70 percent of their applicants.

Not long ago, a student with a high class rank and solid SAT scores could count on a seat at the local state university.

But now, at the most prestigious public institutions, admission rates hover in the 10- to 20-percent range, a tier of selectivity once reserved for the Ivy League.

University of California flagships in Los Angeles and Berkeley admitted 9 and 11 percent of applicants, respectively, to the 2022 fall class. UCLA fielded 149,813 applications, enough students to populate Jackson, Miss.

At the universities of North Carolina and Virginia, admission rates narrowed to 17 and 19 percent, respectively, for the new freshman class. Flagship campuses in Georgia, Illinois and Wisconsin all admitted less than half of their applicants this year. A decade ago, all three reported admit rates more than 60 percent.

Simply put, the admissions crunch bespeaks more students applying to the same number of top-tier public universities. The college-age cohort is growing apace with the U.S. population. Students are applying to more schools, thanks to the internet and the easily replicated Common Application.

College enrollment declined during the pandemic. Now, students who paused their studies may be returning to campus. College administrators and consultants expect admission rates at elite schools to dip further in the 2023-24 cycle, which is already underway. Many schools have early decision deadlines on Nov. 1.

Its a little like the Wild West in admissions these days, filled with uncertainty, said Caroline Fisk, an educational consultant in Cary, N.C., who has watched the dwindling admission rate at the flagship North Carolina campus in Chapel Hill.

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Vegas-style odds are not the norm in higher education. The average collegiate admission rate stands at roughly 70 percent, according to U.S. News & World Report, publisher of the best-known college rankings.

Todays middle-aged parents attended college in an era when only a few dozen elite universities, nearly all private, could boast truly daunting admission rates. Harvard, Princeton and Yale, the cream of the crop of the Ivy League, admitted roughly 15 to 20 percent of applicants in the late 1980s. This fall, Harvards admission rate reached an infinitesimal low of 3.19 percent.

No public flagship approaches that plateau of single-digit selectivity, but a few are getting close. An analysis of enrollment data at 18 elite public universities by The Hill found an average admission rate of 31 percent in 2022, down from 47 percent in 2012 and 52 percent in 2002.

For a prestigious private campus, a low admission rate is a bragging right, a branding tool, a mark of pedigree. For a public flagship, a declining admit rate is all of that  and also a public-policy headache.

Public flagships face a singular challenge: providing access to the highest-performing students in their states, while also cultivating a global reputation and collecting sufficient funds to finance their academics.

Building global currency and raising funds means courting out-of-state students, who bring a sense of worldliness and generally pay tuition at much higher rates. But each of those students takes a seat from a local taxpayer.

This summer, the 10-campus University of California (UC) system announced plans to add 23,000 students by decades end. Some of the extra capacity will come at the expense of out-of-state students, the ones who pay higher tuition.

In the last four years, California has dramatically increased funding to the UCs, but on the condition that they dramatically increase enrollment of California residents, said Ozan Jaquette, an assistant professor of higher education at UCLA.

Perhaps no state university system has seen such a surge of applicants as UC. Population growth is but one factor. Several UC campuses occupy picture-postcard settings and perch near the top of the collegiate rankings, qualities that put them in perennial demand among high-school seniors around the globe. The systems recent decision to ignore standardized tests removed a longtime barrier to entry. Two years of COVID-19 isolation have only heightened the appeal of any campus with year-round warmth and a nearby beach.

At UC Irvine, on the Orange County coast, the first-year applicant pool has swelled from 30,630 in 2002 to more than 119,000 in 2022. In that span, the admission rate has plummeted from 59 percent to 21 percent.

California admission rates might have dipped lower still. A group called Save Berkeleys Neighborhoods has fought steady enrollment growth at the flagship campus. A judge capped Berkeleys enrollment last year, almost forcing the school to cut 2,600 students. Legislators swept in to override the cap, prioritizing student access over potential harm to Berkeleys infrastructure and environment.

California guarantees a seat at UC to any Californian who finishes among the top 9 percent of all high-school students, as divined by a complicated formula. The guarantee doesnt promise applicants their choice of campus.

The University of Texas guarantees admission to its Austin flagship to students at the top of their high-school classes. But Texas, too, has struggled to find space: This year, the states Top 10 Percent Law applies only to students in the top 6 percent.

As admissions tightened, flagship universities in Texas and Illinois endured highly publicized scandals alleging backdoor admissions that helped well-connected applicants skirt the rules. The Illinois investigation found preferential admissions for children of politicians and university trustees in the late 2000s. The Texas inquiry found that UT Austin President Bill Powers overruled his staff to admit students of well-connected Texans in the 2010s.

As a result, both systems adopted reforms to root out potential bias in the selection process.

At the flagship University of Illinois campus in Urbana-Champaign, the admission rate has dwindled from 63 percent in 2012 to 45 percent in 2022. In a bid to expand access, the university asked students to list ranked choices among several schools, each with its own admission rate: 50 percent in liberal arts, 7 percent in computer science.

We have plenty of seats for qualified residents, said Andrew Borst, director of undergraduate admissions. But that doesnt stop frustrated parents  its usually parents  from calling and saying, I cant believe that my son or daughter didnt get X.

Of the more than 50,000 students at Urbana-Champaign, 71 percent are Illinoisans. The legislature has set no quota, but they want to see that percent go up, and so do we, Borst said.

Access isnt the only problem. The university is accepting more Illinois students than ever before, Borst said, but fewer of them are accepting our offer, and many of them are citing cost.

The annual tab for a University of Illinois education ranges from $33,500 to $38,750, including room and board, for an in-state student. A year at Harvard, by contrast, tops out around $77,000.

Yet, Illinois students cite cost as their top reason for choosing not to attend Urbana-Champaign. Many families commit to public and private schools in far-flung states that offer massive discounts, often tendered as merit aid. A 2018 investigation by the Chicago Tribune unearthed a colony of Illinois students at the University of Alabama, lured by generous offers of aid.

A new national poll echoes this trend: 52 percent of Americans consider the local public university unaffordable.

Georgia Tech in Atlanta charges about $28,500 a year for in-state students, less than some of its public peers. The school has added seats for Georgians in recent years. And so, while the schools overall admission rate has declined to 17 percent, the rate for in-state students is 35 percent.

Our first-year class is 600 bigger than it was three years ago, said Rick Clark, executive director of undergraduate admission. Weve been trying to meet demand.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Farmington Elks Lodge 1765 has announced that the Farmington High School and St. Paul Lutheran High School Students of the Month for September are Thomas (TJ) Benoist and Abby Castien, respectively.

Thomas (TJ) Benoist

TJ, the son of Tom and Tammy Benoist of Farmington, was selected to attend Boy's State in the summer of 2022. He is a Life Scout member in the Boy's Scout of America, and was awarded First Place in District 12 FBLA competition in journalism, HR management and business law.

TJ has been involved in many organizations, serving as chapter treasurer of the FBLA, selected as Student Council Student Body vice president (2022-23) and class president (2021-22) plus representative (2019-21), live director of BKTV Studios, Knights in Action member (2020-23) and attended the Rotary Youth Leadership Academy in 2021.

After graduation from high school, Thomas plans to attend the University of Missouri-Columbia to study pre-law in preparation for being a lawyer. As Student of the Month, TJ will receive an award of $100 and compete for the Farmington Elks Farmington High School Student of the Year to be awarded in May.

Abby Castien

Abby, the daughter of Elizebeth and Stephen Castien of Farmington, is a member of the Student Leadership Team, scored a 30+ on her ACT, won the Mineral Area College Writing Contest in 2022, and is currently valedictorian of her senior class. When not working at Applebee's, she sings in the school choir (four years), and works on many service projects in the community, including the food pantry, Parkland Hope Center, Engler Park Trail repair, Bethel Bible Camp and highway cleanup.

After graduation from high school, Abby plans to attend a Concordia University in Nebraska, where she intends to study education and become a teacher.

As Student of the Month, she will receive an award of $100 and compete for the Farmington Elks St. Paul Lutheran High School Student of the Year to be awarded in May.
A Texas judge sentenced former Los Angeles Angels director of communications Eric Kay to 22 years in federal prison Tuesday in connection with the 2019 death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs.

Kay, 48, was facing a minimum sentence of 20 years after being convicted earlier this year of distributing the fentanyl-laced opioids that resulted in Skaggs' overdose. He received two additional years of prison time after prosecutors revealed disparaging comments Kay made about Skaggs in recent months while awaiting sentencing.

"I hope people realize what a piece of (expletive) he is," Kay told his mother in a recorded call from prison that prosecutors submitted as evidence Tuesday. "Well, he's dead, so (expletive) him."

Kay also described Skaggs' family as "white trash" and suggested that "all they see are dollar signs" in the wake of the pitcher's death. (The Skaggs family sued Kay and the Angeles for negligence in 2021.)

"They may get more money with him dead than he was playing, because he sucked," Kay said.

According to multiple news reports, the judge in the case, Terry Means, said during Tuesday's sentencing hearing that Kay's vulgar comments contributed to his decision to levy a 22-year sentence as opposed to the 20-year minimum.

Eric Kay walks out federal court in Feb. 2022.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Kay apologized in court for the remarks, chalking them up to "frustration" and "vitriol." He later called Skaggs "a sweetheart," according to the newspaper.

"Mr. Kay will immediately file his notice of appeal and continue to fight the allegations," Kay's lawyer, Cody Cofer, wrote in an email.

Skaggs, 27, was found dead on his bed in a Texas hotel room on July 1, 2019, a few hours before the Angels were set to play a game against the Texas Rangers. A toxicology report later revealed that he had both fentanyl and oxycodone in his system at the time of his death, which was ruled an accident.

Kay initially denied knowing that Skaggs used opioids, but investigators later obtained text messages between the two men about apparent transactions involving "blue boys"  blue oxycodone pills that were later found to be laced with fentanyl.

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According to evidence submitted by prosecutors, Skaggs asked Kay to deliver pills to his hotel room on the night of his death.

"Hoe [sic] many?" Kay asked Skaggs in one text message.

"Just a few like 5," the pitcher replied.

Multiple former Angels players  including Matt Harvey and C.J. Cron  testified at Kay's trial in February that the former team communications director had also provided them with pills, including at Angel Stadium.

A jury convicted Kay after less than 90 minutes of deliberations. He has since been incarcerated at a federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas.

U.S. Attorney Chad E. Meacham, whose office prosecuted the case, said in a statement Tuesday that he hopes Kay's sentence "will bring some comfort to (Skaggs') grieving family."

"The Skaggs family learned the hard way: One fentanyl pill can kill," Meacham said. "Thats why our office is committed to holding to account anyone who deals in illicit opioids, whether they operate in back alleyways or world class stadiums."

Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on Twitter @Tom_Schad.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tyler Skaggs' death: Eric Kay sentenced to 22 years in prison
Florida will host a ton of priority recruits over the weekend, and one of the latest names to confirm his plans for the UF-LSU game is four-star defensive lineman Xzavier McLeod, according to 247Sports.

McLeod committed to the University of South Carolina on Aug. 18. Florida had a hat on the table along with Georgia and Michigan, but McLeod wemt with the Gamecocks after only making it to Gainesville once during the spring for an unofficial visit. This trip will also be an unofficial one, which means he doesnt get all the perks an official visitor would, but Florida will still pull out all the stops to move him away from his pledge to South Carolina.

The Florida-LSU game is peak SEC atmosphere and should provide McLeod with a taste of what playing at the top of the conference might look like. Hell also get to see how the new staff at Florida operates on a game day.

Florida already has a strong defensive line class under verbal commitments for the class of 2023, but defensive line coach Sean Spencer is always looking to add more talent to his room. McLeod has the versatility to find a place in a crowded incoming class.

The 247Sports composite ranks McLeod as the No. 175 overall recruit and the 26th-best defensive lineman in the class of 2023. The sites individual ranking is even more bullish on him at No. 144 nationally and No. 20 among players in his position group.

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Follow us @GatorsWire on Twitter and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.

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Story originally appeared on Gators Wire
Hollywood no longer holds the same allure for top Italian film and TV talent as a result of Italys recent renaissance as a production hub, Fremantle exec Andrea Scrosati told a panel at Romes MIA market on Tuesday.

10 years ago, when Italian talents achieved big success with a film or series, they would get that famous call from Hollywood, said Fremantle group COO and continental Europe CEO Scrosati.

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Whoever was called by Hollywood, would go to Hollywood, and this was seen as a sign of having arrived, he continued. There was a sense that Italian industry was good at forming talents but that at a certain point they would leave.

The countrys tax credit for film and TV production, first introduced in 2008 and raised from 30% to 40% in 2020; investment in local infrastructure, topped by the overhaul of Romes historic Cinecitta film studios, as well as the resulting development of major local companies capable of handling big productions had transformed this state of affairs, he said.

Today, we see a situation where Italian productions compete in terms of quality, execution and thought, with their counterparts in France, Germany and the U.K., he said. This has been a major step-change, so we have the type of production here, that before you had to go elsewhere to find.

A key game-changer has been the ongoing renovation and expansion of Italys historic Cinecitta film and TV studios, which are currently undergoing a 260m update, he added.

I remember when I was at Sky, when we were doing our first productions at Cinecitta many years ago, quite frankly, it was embarrassing, he recounted, recalling his time at Sky Italia, where he spearheaded its drive into local film and TV content.

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Fremantle is also playing its part in Cinecittas rebirth, having entered into a strategic pact with the studios earlier this which involves the company continuously renting six of its studios for five years.

The company is currently in the middle of shooting Saverio Constanzos Finalmente LAlba, for which it has built one of the biggest sets ever constructed at the studios.

Scrosati also talked about persuading Angelina Jolie to shoot her upcoming film Without Blood, based on a novella by Alessandro Baricco, in Italy.

She had been planning to shoot it between Los Angeles and Mexico. We explained there were many reasons why it made more sense to shoot the film entirely in Italy and that there was the infrastructure that allowed her to do exactly what she wanted to do, said Scrosati. She came and she was extraordinarily satisfied with what she found.

This is the best outcome when you have local productions that travel and then also have international productions that want to come to Italy to shoot, he said.

Scrosati was talking on a panel exploring Italys rise as a production hub alongside Cinecitta CEO Nicola Maccanico and Gaspard de Chavagnac, co-CEO of France-based Asacha Media Group, which expanded into Italy in 2020 with the acquisition of local companies Picomedia and Stand By Me.

Talking about Aaschas decision to move into Italy, de Chavagnac said the company had been drawn by the countrys strong film and TV legacy, the closeness of Italian culture to that of France and the strong production ecosystem, bolstered by the tax credit.

We have a lot of co-productions going on between Picomedia and Stand By Me and our French companies, he said. The ecosystem is also very well organized and comparable to that of France. The fact the country has a strong model with a tax credit is very interesting and very important.

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In its ongoing effort to secure the materials needed to make batteries for electric vehicles, General Motors is investing in a metals operation in Australia.

On Tuesday, GM said it will make a strategic investment in Queensland Pacific Metals of Australia to secure a supply of nickel and cobalt, both critical to making EV batteries.

As part of the deal, GM will invest up to $69 million in the company's Townsville Energy Chemicals Hub (TECH) Project, which will build a battery materials refinery specializing in nickel and cobalt in northern Australia.

GM plans to transition its portfolio to all zero-emission vehicles by 2035. In the next three years, GM said it will bring 28 new EVs to markets worldwide.

"The collaboration with Queensland Pacific Metals will provide GM with a secure, cost-competitive and long-term supply of nickel and cobalt from a free-trade agreement partner," Jeff Morrison, GM's vice president of Global Purchasing and Supply Chain, said in a statement. "The agreement demonstrates our commitment to building strong supplier relationships and is aligned with our approach to responsible sourcing and supply chain management."

Morrison said GM has binding agreements in place to secure all battery raw materials needed to get GM to its goal of building 1 million EVs in North America by the end of 2025.

UAW Local 5960 member Kimberly Fuhr inspects a Chevrolet Bolt EV during vehicle production on Thursday, May 6, 2021, at the General Motors Orion Assembly Plant in Orion Township.

"This new collaboration builds on those commitments as we look to secure supply through the end of the decade, while also helping continue to expand the EV market," Morrison said.

Earlier this year, GM announced it made three supplier agreements to secure access to lithium, nickel, cobalt and Cathode Active Material (CAM) used in EV batteries. In December, GM announced a joint-venture deal with POSCO Chemical, which supplies CAM. In March 2022, GM said that new joint-venture will build a factory in Quebec. That plant is under construction.

Stephen Grocott, CEO of Queensland Pacific Metals, said GM's investment will help it source nickel and cobalt in an environmentally safe way.

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"GMs investment in our company and the associated offtake brings us one step closer towards construction of the TECH Project where we will one day aim to deliver the worlds cleanest produced nickel and cobalt," Grocott said in a statement.

The TECH Project is expected to begin construction in 2023.

More:Michigan suspends Novi car dealership Carvana's license citing 'imminent harm' to public

More:GM's new business unit will help people mitigate power outages

Contact Jamie L. LaReau at jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. Read more on General Motors and sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: GM investments $69 million to secure EV battery materials
2022 World's Cutest Rescue Dog Contest

@willow_creek_pets

Wendy Wickersham first spotted Gordon in 2015 through a Facebook post about the dog's rescue story. After surviving a hit-and-run in Taiwan that left him paralyzed and on the side of the road, the Shiba Inu was saved by a Good Samaritan, the post detailed, and was now looking for a home in the U.S.

"I'm reading this sad story, and then there was a picture of him, and he's got the biggest, goofiest smile," Wickersham, 47, tells PEOPLE exclusively in an interview for the 2022 PEOPLE's World's Cutest Rescue Dog Contest Presented by the PEDIGREE brand.

Not looking to adopt a pet at that time, she moved on. But then, days later, "I was scrolling, and his face pops up again," Wickersham, who works in the wine business, says of seeing Gordon on Facebook for a second time.

Not able to look away this time, Wickersham and her husband, Jim Larson, decided to start the adoption process. For months, the couple worked with Love and Second Chances, a California-based rescue helping Gordon find a home, to prepare for Gordon's arrival from Taiwan. Wickersham and Larson hired a dog trainer to ready their dog Yuki (who died in April) for the change, made their home accessible to Gordon's wheelchair and learned how to care for a paralyzed pet.

"We had to be 100 percent committed," Wickersham recalls.

2022 World's Cutest Rescue Dog Contest

After applying to adopt the dog in July 2015, Gordon arrived in the U.S. in November. His new family met him at the airport and took him home.

For more on Gordon, listen below to our daily podcast PEOPLE Every Day.

"I don't know who was more scared, me or him," Wickersham says of meeting Gordon in person for the first time. Over the next few weeks, the Shiba Inu went from being "frightened" in his kennel to eagerly enjoying his first toy ball and "wanting to be held."

"It was about letting him see that he was safe and that this is your home," Gordon's dog mom says.

RELATED: Dog Cuddles Help People Feel More Sociable and Less Stressed, Study Finds

Like Wickersham, thousands of voters fell for Gordon's smile during PEOPLE's annual World's Cutest Rescue Dog Contest presented by the PEDIGREE brand. The Shiba Inu, now 11, won the 2022 competition, beating more than 9,000 other rescue dogs for the title. His prizes include a year's supply of dog food and a $1,000 donation to the animal rescue of Wickersham's choice.

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The moment we've all been waiting for! The winner of the @people World's Cutest Rescue Dog Contest has been selected. The winner is... GORDON



"Of course I think he's the cutest dog in the world, but it's just amazing to see that other people think he's cute too!" pic.twitter.com/GJMm3OzaZi  The Talk (@TheTalkCBS) October 12, 2022

Gordon was chosen as the 2022 winner of the contest from the top three dogs by this year's judges' panel, which included The Talk hosts (and rescue dog owners) Akbar Gbajabiamila, Natalie Morales and Jerry O'Connell, PEOPLE Pets editor Kelli Bender and PEDIGREE Foundation ambassador Evan Satinoff.

2022 World's Cutest Rescue Dog Contest

@willow_creek_pets

"His favorite thing is eating cookies. He loves his cookies. We even spell the word, and he still knows what we're talking about," Wickersham says of Gordon's obsession with treats and how he spends his days at home in Bella Vista, Arkansas.

But cookies aren't the only way to Gordon's heart. The dog loves to spend time outdoors, "cruising along in his cart."

"He will jump over rocks, tumble over logs, jump in the creek and chase the leaves," his owner says of the dog's outside activities. In fact, Gordon's "rambunctious" behavior broke the wheelchair he brought to the U.S. with him. Now, he is fitted with a custom wheelchair built with durability that matches the dog's enthusiasm.

RELATED: Meet the 2021 World's Cutest Rescue Dog Contest Winner: Heaven the Smiling Shelter Pup

"He exudes joy, and he's playful," Wickersham says, noting that Gordon also appreciates a good snuggle session. She hopes Gordon's joy is contagious and he can help others find happiness through his win.

"I love to get him out in front of people, to let them see the joy and to let them see that, yeah, there are some things that are different, but different isn't a bad thing," she says, adding, "it doesn't have to stop us or keep us from enjoying life to the fullest."

Cutest Rescue Dogs

Gordon's ability to smile through life's unexpected obstacles has profoundly impacted how Wickersham views her own life.

"We thought we were adopting him to help him, and really he has given us so much joy and laughter that I feel like we could never repay that to him," she says.

For those interested in adopting a pet with special needs like Gordon, Wickersham advises, "do your homework," and be ready for "a bond that's kind of unlike any other."

RELATED: Shiba Inu Siblings Never Take a Perfect Family Photo Thanks to One Prankster Pooch

"The bond that you form with them is so much deeper because they really have to find ways to communicate with you to tell you what they need," Wickersham says.

Gordon has found ways to tell her when he needs help getting up on the couch or going outside, and how content he is: "If you just make eye contact with him, he lights up, and he smiles."

The 2022 winner of the World's Cutest Rescue Dog Contest had some seriously sweet competition. Read on to learn more about the adorable runners-up.

Cutest Rescue Dogs

Koda

Before Sneha Desai adopted Koda, a 13-pound mini poodle mix, from Houston's K-9 Angels Rescue in 2014, she was scared of dogs. Koda, 9, whom Desai says has "the gentlest and calmest temperament," introduced her to the joys of pet parenthood. The "well-mannered and emotionally intuitive" canine now has more than 12,000 fans on his Instagram account (@kodathecanineyoda), where he shows off new tricks.

Cutest Rescue Dogs

Mugsy

A pug and Pekingese mix, Mugsy is 22 pounds of "silly and playful" energy. Mugsy has made his family laugh every day since they brought him home from St. Francis Care in Illinois. "He is definitely one of a kind!" owner Teresa S. Wright says of the cuddly pup, who adores chasing frogs, taking long naps and making new friends on walks. "People always stop to admire him," Wright adds.

To learn more about Gordon and PEOPLE's World's Cutest Rescue Dog Contest Presented by the PEDIGREE brand, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE  on newsstands Friday.
A former Cape Cod schoolteacher who has become a filmmaker in Japan will be part of a Hyannis Film Festival event for the second time in three months, premiering his latest film there Saturday as part of a three-day Movies on Main.

And in the days before the weekend screening, Steven J Martin and a small Japanese cast and crew will be filming at various Cape locations on his fifth movie  thanks to financing from a local fan of his work.

Filmmaker Steven J Martin, left, is making his acting debut with Naoki Kondo in "Postcards from a Strange Place Called 'Love,'" a Japanese short film being shot at various spots on Cape Cod that include this Yarmouth cranberry bog.

Martins Anonymous Gods, a Japanese-language film with English subtitles, will be shown from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15 as one of eight film events for the Movies on Main festival being held at 529 Main St., event space thats part of Sturgis Charter Public School in Hyannis. Martins movie is about four women, who are two couples and who have all somehow been deprived of their voice in Japanese society. In the film, they contemplate art, love and their futures, involving both motherhood and death.

Some people have categorized Anonymous Gods as an LGBTQ film, says Martin, noting that it might be more controversial in Japan, where there is less acceptance of homosexuality and no gay marriages allowed. But Martin, who is married to a woman, also sees the movie as an exploration of the nature of art.

Ideas: Cranberries, pumpkins, music & scandal: 16 top things to do on Cape Cod Oct. 14-20

I really, really want people to see this new movie. We just put so much work and love into it and tried so hard to make something (about) where we really are today, deep down, emotionally, socially, in a world of social media, Martin said in a Zoom interview from Japan. It's very much connected to identity, and can we love anymore  I hope it resonates, especially to adults. Its a movie for adults who are lost in this world, the disconnect and where do we go from there.

That may all be part of the conversation with Martin and cast members in attendance on Saturday. The group is also expected to show some of the new work they film in the week beforehand, for a film that Martin says will be a compilation of three separate Cape-centric stories, though performed in Japanese.

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The rest of the fest

Beyond Anonymous Gods, Movies on Main will begin at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 14 with the documentary How to Dance in Ohio, about families living with autism, which is now the inspiration for a Broadway-bound musical opening this month in previews at Syracuse Stage. Producers of the musical, who have Cape ties, according to festival Managing Director William Ferrall, will attend, and the screening is presented in association with FORWARD, a Cape nonprofit that develops and builds affordable, supportive housing for adults with autism and related disabilities.

The movie is also a preview to the festival's 2023 focus on neurodiversity, Ferrall says.

Hyannis Film Festival's three-day "Movies on Main" event will begin at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 14 with the documentary How to Dance in Ohio, about families living with autism. The movie has become the inspiration for a Broadway-bound musical.

The schedule for Saturdays other films: Noon, film and video shorts from the Cape and islands, including winners of this months Nantucket Shorts Festival; 2 p.m., Fall River, the first two episodes of a four-part 2021 documentary about 1970s Satanic cult murders, with some of those involved in attendance; and 7 p.m., Last Night in Rozzie, a 2021 film about a New York lawyer who returns to his Boston hometown to reunite his dying friend with his young son, and must confront his own childhood trauma. Attending will be co-producer Kris Myer, an associate producer on several movies by the Farrelly brothers and producer of the Casey Sherman-Dave Wedge podcast.

In theaters: 'A.J. Fikry' movie to open with Cape Cod as backdrop for Kunal Nayyar-Lucy Hale romance

The Sunday programs will happen in collaboration with the family-friendly Hyannis Open Streets festival that shuts down Main Street to vehicular traffic so visitors can enjoy the outdoors and village businesses. That days movies will be documentaries about the environment, with the first two programs including one main film and other short ones.

At noon, the main feature is the new Great Ponds, about environmental challenges to the health of freshwater ponds on Marthas Vineyard and the Cape, with island filmmaker Ollie Becker joining via Zoom; 2 p.m., the main feature is Tide to Table: The Remarkable Journey of Oysters (2022), about oyster farming on Long Island, the Cape and elsewhere by Pace University, with professor Maria Luskay in attendance; and 5 p.m., Last of the Right Whales (2021), a 90-minute documentary about saving the shrinking population of Atlantic right whales, with a Cape-based marine biology scientist scheduled to attend.

In a scene from the 2021 documentary "Last of the Right Whales," two North Atlantic right whales are seen skim- feeding off Cape Cod.

A weekend patron pass of $100 allows admission to all Movies on Main films; individual film tickets are $15 each; https://www.eventbrite.com/d/ma--barnstable-town/hyannis-film-festival/.

Martins Must See Pictures

The Hyannis festival last brought Martin and some of his collaborators from Japan in July, when he premiered his Unplayed Lullaby film to an audience that Martin says was enthusiastic enough to extend what was going to be a 20-minute Q&A to 80 minutes. He and his actresses were particularly gratified at the lively exchange, he says, because its customary in Japan to be silent while watching and responding to a film.

So it was really, really powerful for us to get that response, he says.

Martins movie, he says, caught the attention of audience member Bob Wilds, an entrepreneur, environmentalist and writer who retired to Mashpee after being a whale watch captain in Barnstable years ago. Wilds asked Martin about turning his memoir of essays, Wild Bubbles, into a movie and Martin says his Must See Pictures has used that and its themes as jumping-off points for the new anthology.

Ideas: Fall reading: 5 new books by Cape Cod authors

Filming was due to take place Oct. 9-14 in various parts of Provincetown (including a cemetery and the Pilgrim Monument), the Grays Beach Boardwalk in Yarmouth Port, other beaches in Truro, and on Hyannis streets. The three short films that will be used to create a whole are Postcards from a Strange Place Called 'Love,' written and directed by Martin; Bandage, written and directed by Kozue Ito; and Forgotten Cape, written and directed by Shota Uchiyama.

Martin, who first lived on the Cape during high school, moved back and forth between the United States (including teaching stints at Sturgis and Cape Cod Academy) and Japan before staying in Tokyo as of 2016. He now teaches there when hes not making movies, and established Must See Pictures in late 2020 for his dream of writing, directing and producing his own feature films. His first, Once Upon a Time in Tokyo, was released on Vimeo and played at film festivals in 2021.

Since then, he and collaborators Ito and Nana Akuzawa, with grants from the Japanese government that Ito has obtained in part through her theater company, have worked on three feature films, two theatrical plays and one short film. Martin says he connected with the Hyannis Film Festival after a Cape friend suggested emailing Ferrall and sharing his work.

From left, sound designer Ryoma Miki, cameraman Shota Uchiyama, director Steven J Martin and actress Naoki Kondo prepare for a scene for a short film being shot Monday, Oct. 10 at Cahoon Hollow Beach in Truro. The crew from Japan will be on hand for the screening of a different film Saturday as part of a Hyannis Film Festival event.

That connection resulted in the July screening and Martins first trip back to the United States in about four years. It was very exciting for us, especially for my cast because we worked really hard on the project for about a year together, Martin says. We did it as a stage play, first in the theater in Tokyo, then we produced it as a film together.  So (the Hyannis showing) was quite an event for us and (the movie) is going to open in Tokyo this winter.

Spotlight on women unusual for Japan

Martin, who will make his acting debut in the movie currently in production, has worked exclusively with women in his films and plays  in part because of how much he admires and respects his collaborators, he says, and in part because of Japans patriarchal society.

Women's Week through Oct. 16: 'Not to be missed': Art, music festivals combine with Women's Week to fill Provincetown with entertainment

I really like working, first of all, with these actresses. They're intelligent, they're powerful, they're opinionated, they drive me crazy in the best way. They really push, they really fight. I can't stand people who just wait for you to tell them what to do.  I'd rather people come in and ask questions and the people I work with are powerful, Martin says. The result, I think youll see (in Anonymous Gods') is because of them, because they pushed it and pushed it.

The men in Japan discourage the voices of foreigners, Martin says, so he says he empathizes with the reduced roles and rights of women in that country.

As a foreigner in Japan, you don't have much of a voice  because it always comes back to hes not from here, and it's an incredibly frustrating, demoralizing thing, Martin says. And that's kind of the reason that I got into (filmmaking) because I thought maybe I could have a voice if I just create something, even if it's anonymous.

When he started writing, he says, he realized that because men make the rules in Japan, there was no struggle to write about related to men. And without struggle, there's no story. And it was dull, Martin says. But the women always had these secrets, these mysteries, there were these desires, these dilemmas. And (within the women in his wifes family) the stories were just coming out and it was like, 'Wait a minute, this is interesting' because the voice they didnt have was the voice I didnt have.

A screen shot from "Anonymous Gods," a movie filmed in Japan for Must See Pictures by a former Cape Cod teacher that will premiere Oct. 15 at the "Movies on Main" event for the Hyannis Film Festival.

When we did Unplayed Lullaby in Hyannis, there were a lot of women who came up to me saying You really understand women, you have a womans voice, but Im just writing (about) myself in Japan, he says.

Women have also wanted to work on his films, Martin says, because there are fewer roles in Japanese entertainment for actresses who are not young or considered cute, or who arent satisfied with wife and mother roles.

Halloween show: Spooky, ooky & haunting: Musical version of 'Addams Family' takes over the Cape Cod Theatre Company stage

For the new film being shot on Cape Cod this week, another aspect that Japanese audiences wont be used to besides strong women roles is the setting.

I think the Cape is just gorgeous in October. That was one of the reasons we wanted to take advantage of this and say maybe we could film it (on the Cape) in the very flattering light, he says. Even though there are Gothic elements (to the stories), people would say Wow, where is this place? It's beautiful. I think (that will be true) especially in Japan when they see it, because Cape Cod is not known here at all. They know Boston, and thats it.

Contact Kathi Scrizzi Driscoll at kdriscoll@capecodonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @KathiSDCCT.

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Hyannis movie festival: Japan film on women, right whales, autism
The Rev. William Barber said Monday that he and his organization are prepared to file a lawsuit against the State of Mississippi in the wake of Jackson's water crisis, saying the state is violating fair housing regulations.

The comments came Monday night during Barber's second visit to Jackson as part of his Moral Monday rallies, held in front of the governor's mansion.

Barber, a pastor and co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign, spoke on a stage on the street outside the governor's mansion and chided government leaders who have not prioritized the city's water infrastructure. He also voiced opposition to privatizing the city's water system, which Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves has said is a possibility.

Monday's rally drew nearly 250 people to downtown Jackson, likely 50% larger than the first rally two weeks ago.

The Moral Mondays are modeled after a series of events Barber set in motion in 2013, when he called on people in North Carolina, where he was then-president of the state's NAACP chapter, to protest many state government policies that he saw as immoral based on how they impacted low-income people, including voting rights and healthcare policies.

More: LEAD IN WATERClarion Ledger investigation for lead in Jackson water reveals broader issues. See results

More: BACTERIA IN WATERClarion Ledger independently tests Jackson water for bacteria. An in-depth look at the results

Barber hopes the movement in Jackson will be as successful as the one in North Carolina, which he said started with 17 people. Two weeks ago, he said those rallies ended with 15,000 people marching. Monday, he suggested that as many as 100,000 people marched in those rallies.

While Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba was in attendance at the first rally, he was not at Monday's second event.

Barber said he expects to have one more rally in Jackson on Oct. 31, and then he will hand the responsibility off to the people of Jackson.

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On Monday, however, he repeatedly asked those in attendance if they were prepared to sign on to a lawsuit against the state of Mississippi.

"According to Mississippi's own constitution, the people of the state have the exclusive right to regulate the government and whenever the government doesn't do what is necessary for their safety and their happiness, the people have a right to alter or abolish that government," Barber said.

He then asked the crowd if it felt as if the government and Gov. Reeves, who was not in attendance, were acting in the best interests of their safety and happiness.

When the crowd responded with a resounding "No," he brought up the lawsuit.

"So, I have talked to people with the Center for Constitutional Study, Forward Justice, and the Mississippi Poor People's Campaign  and I am announcing today that we have decided that if there are those of you who want to file it that we will file a fair housing legal complaint against what this state government has done to the people in Jackson."

However, Barber did not offer any specifics and did not answer questions after the event about the rally or any potential lawsuit.

At the rally, he said the fair housing law makes it illegal to harass people because of their race, color or religion, particularly regarding housing.

More: STATE SPENDS MILLIONS ON WATERMississippi's bill for water crisis reaches more than $12 million

"The fair housing law says you cannot refuse to give people what they need in their private housing or their rental housing or their federally owned public housing," Barber said. "When you deny people the access to clean water, you are violating their fair housing rights."

While he asked for people to sign up for the lawsuit, there were no lines for signup following the event.

The Clarion Ledger has asked for additional comments from Barber, but neither he nor his organization has responded.

Monday's rally was scripted much like the event two weeks ago, with entertainment and additional speakers. Most of the speakers were from the area and voiced their concerns and belief that Jackson's water is still not safe to drink or bathe in.

There are still many questions regarding Jackson's water. While multiple tests have revealed no bacteria in the water, independent testing by the Clarion Ledger suggests low levels of lead in 40% of the samples submitted to an environment examination facility.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Barber threatens legal action against state at Moral Monday rally
Hunters are reminded to wear hunter orange so they're visible during hunting season.

Many of this falls game hunting seasons have begun in Indiana for 2022-23, while others will be starting up soon.

Heres a look at the states seasons, especially at the northern end of the state.

Do I need an Indiana hunting license?

All game require a valid Indiana hunting license.

For bag limits and a lot more details, including the ins and outs of hunting licenses, visit Indianas 2022-23 Hunting and Trapping Guide.

What to do with leftovers from deer hunting in Indiana

And if you have a deer to spare, you can donate it to feed hungry Hoosiers in need. You wont have to pay for processing, thanks to the Sportsmens Benevolence Fund that's run by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. The meat will go to food banks. To learn how, visit sbf.IN.gov.

Michigan hunting:When you can hunt deer, other game this fall

Beaver hunting in Indiana

Beaver trapping is allowed from Nov. 15 to March 15.

Coyote and striped skunk hunting in Indiana

Coyote and striped skunk season runs from Oct. 15 to March 15.

More Indiana hunting, outdoor tips:What's new with fish, guided birding and reserved hunts in Indiana

Deer hunting in Indiana

For deer, archery season started Oct. 1 and runs until Jan. 1. Firearms season is Nov. 12-27. Muzzeloader season is Dec. 3-18. The permitted hours are from a half hour before sunrise until a half hour after sunset.

Gray and fox squirrelhunting in Indiana

The squirrel season began Aug. 15 and runs until Jan. 31.

Pheasant (cock only) hunting in Indiana

The pheasant season is Nov. 1 to Dec. 15.

Quail hunting in Indiana

North of Interstate 74, the quail season is Nov. 1 to Dec. 15.

Rabbit hunting in Indiana

Rabbit season is from Nov. 1 to Feb. 28.

Mourning Dove hunting in Indiana

The seasons for mourning doves are Sept. 1 to Oct. 16, Nov. 1 to Nov. 27 and Dec. 17 to Jan. 2.

Snipe (the bird, not the joke) hunting in Indiana

The snipe season started Sept. 1 and runs until Dec. 16.

More outdoors news:Updates on East Bank, Auten trails. Plus biking with sandhill cranes.

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Turkey hunting in Indiana

Fall archery season began Oct. 1 and runs through Oct. 30 and again Dec. 3 to Jan. 1, 2023. This includes crossbows. The fall firearms season is Oct. 19 to Oct. 30.

Woodcock hunting in Indiana

The woodcock season is Oct. 15 until Nov. 28.

Sora railhunting in Indiana

The sora rail season started Sept. 1 and runs until Nov. 9.

Ducks, coots and mergansers hunting in Indiana

In Indianas northern zone, the seasons for ducks, coots and mergansers are Oct. 22 to Dec. 11 and Dec. 26 to Jan. 3.

Find columnist Joseph Dits on Facebook at SBTOutdoorAdventures or 574-235-6158 or jdits@sbtinfo.com.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Hunting in Indiana: Seasons from deer to turkey, licenses and more
Lebanon Israel (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Israel and Lebanon will settle a decades-long dispute over the maritime border between the two nations in the eastern Mediterranean Sea with a US-brokered agreement that will allow both countries access to valuable undersea natural gas reserves.

The government of Israel and Government of Lebanon, have agreed to formally end their maritime boundary dispute and establish a permanent maritime boundary between them, said a senior Biden administration official who said the deal is the result of months of negotiations to end the long running dispute of multiple decades.

Israel and Lebanon first started talks over the maritime border dispute over a decade ago, but those talks came to a halt in 2020. The US-led negotiations started in fall 2021 and continued through 2020.

The official said the renewed negotiations were part of seeking for a different paradigm shift that would allow for a breakthrough.

That breakthrough happened over the last few weeks, and over a very intensive last several days and very long nights, they added.

The official also said President Joe Biden has spoken with both Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Lebanese President Michel Aoun to offer congratulations.

Both leaders confirm their readiness to move forward after this breakthrough, and to begin discussing implementation, the official said.

This is not been an easy negotiation but the agreement is historic. And we expect that there may be other difficult moments as we implement this agreement. Moving forward, the United States continues and will continue to offer its help in facilitating any discussions in the future.

In a statement, Mr Lapid called the deal a historic achievement and said it would strengthen Israels security, inject billions into Israels economy, and ensure the stability of our northern border.

Mr Aoun previewed acceptance of the agreement earlier on Tuesday when he wrote on Twitter that the final version of the offer would be satisfactory for Lebanon.

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He added that the agreement answers [Lebanese] demands and preserves [Lebanons] right to its natural wealth.

The agreement, which was reached after negotiations assisted by US diplomats, only applies to the maritime border between the two countries. It does not have any effect on the 50-mile land border which has been the subject of another long-running dispute that is monitored by a UN force.

The Biden administration official said the agreement would provide a needed boost to the Lebanese economy, which is currently in a crisis which has left residents with fewer than two hours of power per day.

This gives the country and the people of Lebanon hope, something that is desperately needed, they said.

They added that the deal would give Israel the kind of security and stability in the eastern Mediterranean necessary to continue to rely on those waters for a lion's share of the electricity in the country and the ability to export and be part of the solution for the global and European energy crisis.
Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty

More than a decade ago, President Barack Obama offered the definitive word on Kanye (now Ye) Westhes a jackass.

In the 13 years since Obama made that comment (after West jumped on stage at the MTV Video Music Awards and grabbed a microphone out of the hand of 17-year-old, Video of the Year award winner, Taylor Swift), West has given the world plenty more reasons to call him names.

But this weekend, Ye hit a new low. In a since-removed tweet, he wrote, Im going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE. He denied that coule be be antisemitic because black people are actually Jew and then said, You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.

Dont Fire Whoopi Goldberg Over Her Dumb Holocaust Comments, Educate Her

Some defended his use of death con as a typo, and that he clearly meant Defcon 3as if his metaphorical implication that he was moving the U.S. militarys defense readiness two steps closer to nuclear war On JEWISH PEOPLE was a less incriminating explanation.

And while most prominent Republicans (whod never miss an opportunity to call out Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar or Rashida Tlaib for using antisemitic tropes) stayed silent, several came to the rappers defense. This included Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, who bizarrely praised West on Twitter for his independent thinking. After criticism for the comments, Rokita offered the defense that he had an obvious, clear, and substantial Congressional and public record of being 100% supportive of the Jewish community and Israel, which is the political equivalent of saying, some of my best friends are Jews.

But, by and large, West was condemned, which makes sense. He has made so many offensive comments and bizarre statements over the years that calling him out is the low-hanging fruit of virtue signaling. At this point, its practically a reflexive response to Wests rantings.

The much harder lift: being an ally of Jews and a critic of antisemitism in all its forms. On that front, both Republicans and Democrats, right and left, continue to fall flat.

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Full-throated condemnation of antisemitism within ones own political tribe is the exception, not the rule. More often than not, denunciations of antisemitism depend not on the nature of the commentsbut rather on who made them.

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MN). Drew Angerer/Getty Images

For example, conservatives love to rip Omar, Tlaib, and any other leftie who dabbles in antisemitism, but this is the same political tribe that constantly attacks prominent Jewish philanthropist George Soroswhose very name has become an antisemitic dog whistle for globalist puppet-masterand supports politicians like Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, who has on the campaign trail attacked his Jewish opponent, Josh Shapiro, for acting disdainfully toward people like us because he sends his kids to a private, Jewish school.

Liberals rightly condemn Republicans for their vilification of Soros and casual antisemitism among Republican politiciansincluding the former President of the United States and still de facto leader of the GOP, Donald Trump. But ask them to criticize Omar or Tlaib, who just last month said one cant be both a progressive and a supporter of Israel, and, frequently, theyll goysplain to us that neither of the congresswomen has said anything offensive to Jews.

How many prominent liberals have spoken out about the fact that Jews, who are two percent of the population, are the victims of more than half of all hate crimes in America? Liberal New York City is home to the majority of antisemitic assaults in the United Statesand virtually none of them are carried out by white supremacists.

Indeed, one of the more striking responses to the West imbroglio came from Jewish comedian Sarah Silverman who tweeted to her more than 12 million followers, Kanye threatened the Jews yesterday on Twitter, and its not even trending. Why do mostly only Jews speak up about Jewish hate? The silence is so loud. Rather than support, Silvermans cri de couer sparked a furious backlash because she allegedly insulted those who have been critical of West.

In Defense of Late-Term Abortions

American Jews might have hoped that their allies would respond to concerns about rising antisemitism, and a lack of allyship, with empathy and attentiveness. They might have expected that those in the same political and ideological camp as Jews would acknowledge and learn from the feeling of abandonment and disregard for antisemitism that many of us have felt long before Yes Twitter outburst. In short, they wouldnt make it about them, but rather usJews.

Today, its largely accepted on the political left that the appropriate response to those recounting racist experiences is listening to and learning from the aggrieved party. But Jews are rarely afforded the same respect. Our experiences with antisemitism or our feelings of isolation are questioned and dismissed.

Naomi Campbell, Kanye West, Irina Shayk, and CCO of Burberry Riccardo Tisci attend the Burberry Spring/Summer 2022 aftershow party in London. David M. Benett/Getty Images

Perhaps its because most Jews have light skin and, thus, are seen as protected by white privilege. Or maybe its because we are seen as a community that is powerful and influential (another antisemitic stereotype), or perhaps its just implicit, unacknowledged anti-Jewish bias. But whatever the reason, in the hierarchy of concern over prejudice, were typically near the bottom of the pecking order.

And even though a talk show cancelled the airing of an interview with West, a full cancellation of his career is unlikely, as is a permanent branding of the superstar as an antisemite.

While racist, homophobic or sexist comments are often the deathknell for a celebrity career like Westsantisemitism is usually just a speedbump (if even that). Dont believe me? Go check out Whoopi Goldberg on The View today (in February, she said the Holocaust had nothing to do with race, and after a brief suspension is back on the job).

Herschel Walker Is the Saddest Senate Candidate Ive Ever Seen

Or perhaps go rent the latest movies from Mel Gibson or Ice Cube.

Gibson has been accused of regularly calling Jews Hebes and oven-dodgers, decrying the Holocaust as mostly a lot of horseshit, and, during a 2006 arrest was caught on tape saying that The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world. In 2020, Ice Cube, who has a long and sordid history of antisemitic utterances, spent an entire day tweeting anti-Jewish memes that suggested Jews are responsible for the oppression of Black Americans. Yet, in 2022, the rapper-turned-actor signed a multi-picture movie deal, proving that of all the sins one can commit in Hollywood, antisemitism isnt one of them.

In fact, if Kanye is cancelled, it will likely be less because of his anti-Jewish rantings and more because of his open embrace of Donald Trump and his rejection of the Black Lives Matter movementas recently demonstrated by his troll-wearing of a White Lives Matter t-shirt in an appearance with right-wing provocateur Candace Owens. Wests antisemitism will likely be forgotten or portrayed as a blemish on an otherwise influential musical career.

In short, the world will move on and Jews will keep asking themselves: why is the silence so loud?

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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The St. Francois County Commission dealt with building maintenance issues and new construction bids during their regular session Tuesday morning.

The commission approved the bid process for the addition to the Juvenile Detention Center. The project is planned to be a 1,300 square feet renovation of existing offices and an 1,800 square foot addition to the building to accommodate staff additions and transfer existing staff from the Weber Road Facility.

Construction is tentatively planned to begin in the fall. The addition will be funded through the ARPA grant.

The commission approved a transfer of funds from the maintenance department to other departments for HVAC work. The three maintenance projects are not to exceed $80,000 in total. Presiding Commissioner Harold Gallaher said that one of the projects is an upgrade of the exhaust system at the morgue located in the Weber Road Facility.

We are looking at making it a negative air pressure building to control any odors to keep them from going into the rest of the building, he said.

The other two projects are HVAC maintenance for the Mental Health Department and Family Treatment Center also at the Weber Road Facility.

Clay Copeland, road and bridge superintendent, asked the commission to seek bids on box culverts for use in 2023 road projects. The culverts will be used on Korber and Thomas Roads and for other projects as needed. The commission approved the bid process.

The County Treasurers Sales Tax report for September showed a year-to-date increase of 3.62% or $380,061.02 more than 2021.

The Missouri deadline to register to vote in the November election is Oct. 12.

The next St. Francois County Commission meeting will be held Tuesday at 10 a.m. at the courthouse annex.
President Trump Delivers Remarks At Utah State Capitol In Salt Lake City - Credit: George Frey/Getty Images

Sen. Mike Lee is in a tight reelection race in Utah against former independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin. Lee is a Republican, as is the states other senator, Mitt Romney. Now, normally, senators of the same party from the state would endorse each other, but Romney has yet to throw his weight behind Lee. Romney is one of the scant few Republicans who have yet to turn their souls over to former President Donald Trump, and Lee is very much  not that.

Lee is desperate, though, and on Tuesday night, he went on Tucker Carlsons show to literally beg Romney for help. Ive asked him, Im asking him right here again tonight, right now, Lee bumbled as a dumbfounded Carlson watched. Mitt, if youd like to protect the Republican majority  please, get on board. Help me win reelection. Help us do that. You can get your entire family to donate to me.

More from Rolling Stone

"PLEASE get on board. Help me win reelection."



 Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) practically begs Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) to help him beat independent Evan McMullin in a tighter-than-expected Senate race in Utah



(Romney has been neutral because he says he has "two friends in the race.") pic.twitter.com/SfOQWCgpb5  The Recount (@therecount) October 12, 2022

Lee was first elected to the Senate in 2010 and, like most of his colleagues, has relinquished what little integrity he may have possessed by prostrating himself before Trump. Initially critical of the former president, Lee quickly fell in line after he was elected. He even tried to sell Trump to Utahans ahead of the 2020 election by comparing him to the Mormon prophet Captain Moroni. He seeks not power, but to pull it down. He seeks not the praise of the world or the fake news, but he seeks the well-being and the peace of the American people, Lee exclaimed.

Lee did not publicly challenge the legitimacy of President Bidens win, and he condemned the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. But, as Politico pointed out earlier this year, he attended a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago weeks after the insurrection. When the Republican National Committee met in Utah in February to censure Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) for serving on the Jan. 6 committee, describing the riot as legitimate political discourse, Romney objected. Lee did not. A few months later, texts revealed he was working to overturn the election all along, offering former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows his unequivocal support for you to exhaust every legal and constitutional remedy at your disposal to restore Americans faith in our elections.

Former Capitol Police officer Michael Fanone told Rolling Stone days later that Lee lied about his election stance to a group of those affected by the insurrection when they met with him and other senators about forming a commission to investigate what happened on Jan. 6. I never had a particularly high opinion of politicians, Fanone said. Im not shocked that I sat in a room across from somebody while I showed them body worn camera footage of myself almost being beaten to death by Trump supporters on Jan. 6 and then had them lie to my face.

Mike Lee is not a politician, Fanone added. Hes a criminal suspect.

Best of Rolling Stone

Click here to read the full article.
PORTLAND, Maine (AP)  Maine lobster fishermen have hired a former high-ranking U.S. Department of Justice official to represent them in their case against new laws intended to protect whales.

The Maine Lobstermen's Association is appealing its case against the new rules to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The group said Tuesday it has hired Paul Clement, who served as U.S. solicitor general from 2004 to 2008, to represent it in the case.

A North Atlantic right whale feeds on the surface of Cape Cod bay off the coast of Plymouth, Mass., March 28, 2018. Maine lobster fishermen announced Tuesday that they have hired a former high-ranking U.S. Department of Justice official to represent them in their case against new laws intended to protect whales.

The solicitor general supervises all Supreme Court litigation for the U.S., and Clement has argued dozens of cases in front of the high court. That's where the lobstermen's case could ultimately be headed, he said Tuesday.

Mornings in Paris: Sip coffee and help save Maine lobstermen

The new fishing restrictions have pushed the industry to the brink of collapse, Clement said.

"You have administrative overreach. The implications are easy to understand," he said. "It directly threatens really one of the most iconic American industries. Everyone who has ever enjoyed a lobster can appreciate this."

The lobster fishermen sued the National Marine Fisheries Service, and in September a judge denied their request to stop the regulators from placing the new restrictions on fishing. The restrictions are designed to protect the North Atlantic right whale, which numbers less than 340 and is vulnerable to entanglement in fishing gear.

Boycott?: Maine slams Seafood Watchs red list attack on lobster industry

The fisheries service has declined to comment on the lawsuit. The Maine Lobstermen's Association also filed court papers on Tuesday asking for its appeal to be expedited because of the jeopardy posed to the fishery by the new restrictions on where and how they can fish.

Environmental groups have long pushed for stronger protections for the right whales, which were devastated generations ago during the commercial whaling era. The groups have made their own case in court that the federal government should be doing more to protect the whales.

The American lobster fishery is based mostly in Maine, though lobsters also come to the docks elsewhere in New England and in New York and New Jersey. U.S. lobsters were worth a record figure of more than $900 million at the docks last year.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Maine lobstermen hire Bush-era official in challenge to whale laws
Marshfield Clinic's campus in Marshfield.

MARSHFIELD  Marshfield Clinic Health System and Essentia Health, a Minnesota-based health care system, announced Wednesday they are discussing a possible merger.

If the health systems were to combine, they would have 3,500 providers throughout 150 sites, which include 25 hospitals, in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and North Dakota. They would serve more than 2 million people in rural and mid-urban communities, according to a news release.

This is an exciting opportunity for both our organizations and those we serve, said Marshfield Clinic Health System CEO Dr. Susan Turney. These are two of the premier health systems in the country, looking to come together to serve rural communities and beyond.

Based in Duluth, Essentia Health has sites in Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota. The organization has about 15,000 employees, including 2,200 physicians and advanced practitioners, according to the release.

I have known and admired the work of Marshfield Clinic for more than 30 years, said Essentia CEO Dr. David Herman. I have always appreciated their ability to advance the well-being of the communities they serve. I am truly excited to work together for the benefit of our patients and our colleagues.

Marshfield Clinic Health System has more than 1,600 providers. Primary operations for the health care system include more than 60 Marshfield Clinic locations primarily in central and northern Wisconsin and Michigans Upper Peninsula, 11 hospitals, Marshfield Children's Hospital, Marshfield Clinic Research Institute, Security Health Plan and Marshfield Clinic Health System Foundation.

MORE: Northcentral Wisconsin is desperate for more child care openings. This project helps create them.

MORE: A spike in natural gas prices means Wisconsinites will pay $20 to $30 more a month to heat their homes this winter

Contact USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin reporter Melissa Siegler at msiegler@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Marie2Melissa.

This article originally appeared on Marshfield News-Herald: Marshfield Clinic, Minnesota-based Essentia Health announce merger talks
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a new interview that the Republican Party will continue to back Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker despite credible allegations that the self-described pro-life politician convinced a woman to abort the child they conceived together.

I think were going to stick with Walker and all the effort we put in through SLF [Senate Leadership Fund], were going take it all the way to the end, McConnell told CNN in a lengthy interview published Tuesday.

McConnell endorsed Walker in the GOP primary for Georgia Senate, and the candidate has been financially supported by the SLF, a Republican PAC tied to the minority leader.

I think theyre going to hang in there and scrap to the finish, McConnell said of the Walker campaign.

The Kentucky senator added that he thinks the election will hinge on incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnocks (D) alignment with President Biden, who has dealt with low approval ratings during his presidency.

McConnell avoided questions about his relationship with former President Trump, another GOP giant who endorsed Walker, declining to share whether he wants the Republican Party to look more like Trump or Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.), who has been outspoken in her opposition to the former president.

I dont have a litmus test, McConnell said in response to the dichotomy.

Im for people that get the Republican nomination, and for winning, because if we win we get to decide what the agenda is, and they dont, he said.

Trump recently hurled racist insults at McConnells wife, Elaine Chao, who served as the billionaire politicians secretary of Transportation, and said that the Senate majority leader has a DEATH WISH due to his votes in the chamber.

The only time Ive responded to the President, I think, since he left office is when he gave me my favorite nickname  Old Crow  which I considered a compliment and after all, it was Henry Clays favorite bourbon, responded McConnell to the remarks.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Paramedic David Liske administers a COVID-19 booster shot to Michael Meade at the Island Pacific Seafood Market in Oxnard, California, on Sept. 23.

Rhode Island reported 1,781 new cases of coronavirus in the week ending Sunday, down 6.2% from the previous week. The previous week had 1,898 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19.

Rhode Island ranked second 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 7.7% from the week before, with 298,674 cases reported. With 0.32% of the country's population, Rhode Island had 0.6% of the country's cases in the last week. Across the country, 13 states had more cases in the latest week than they did in the week before.

Newport County reported 138 cases and no deaths in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported 118 cases and no deaths. Throughout the pandemic it has reported 24,467 cases and 99 deaths.

Across Rhode Island, cases fell in four counties, with the best declines in Washington County, with 123 cases from 190 a week earlier; in Providence County, with 1,152 cases from 1,180; and in Kent County, with 268 cases from 285.

>> See how your community has fared with recent coronavirus cases

Within Rhode Island, the worst weekly outbreaks on a per-person basis were in Providence County with 180 cases per 100,000 per week; Newport County with 168; and Kent County with 163. 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 Providence County, with 1,152 cases; Kent County, with 268 cases; and Newport County, with 138.

In Rhode Island, five people were reported dead of COVID-19 in the week ending Sunday. In the week before that, two people were reported dead.

A total of 427,242 people in Rhode Island have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 3,674 people have died from the disease, Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the United States 96,699,237 people have tested positive and 1,062,564 people have died.

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>> Track coronavirus cases across the United States

Rhode Island's COVID-19 hospital admissions rising

USA TODAY analyzed federal hospital data as of Sunday, Oct. 9. Likely COVID patients admitted in the state:

Last week: 152

The week before that: 133

Four weeks ago: 109

Likely COVID patients admitted in the nation:

Last week: 50,835

The week before that: 49,835

Four weeks ago: 58,231

Hospitals in 18 states reported more COVID-19 patients than a week earlier, while hospitals in 15 states had more COVID-19 patients in intensive-care beds. Hospitals in 29 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 Newport Daily News: Newport County reported 138 additional COVID-19 cases this week
The U.S. military has struggled mightily in recent decades. American armed forces excel at tactics, but our generals have not been good at strategy, and its made our military like a Ferrari without a steering wheel  powerful but unable to get you to where you want to go.

The armed forces could learn a lot from a surprising source: the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s.

At first glance, the notion may seem preposterous. The military, after all, is a huge, hierarchical organization devoted to using force to defend American interests, while the movement was a relatively small, disruptive group of people that primarily used non-violent methods to challenge white supremacy in the American South. But despite the obvious difference between fighting a war in Iraq and agitating for civil rights domestically, the civil rights movement offers important lessons about strategy that could benefit our military leaders.

In fact, the two organizations are far more similar than is generally recognized. Inspired by the example of the great Indian activist Mohandas Gandhi, the civil rights movement borrowed many of the characteristics of a military organization. It paid close attention to recruiting, organization, training and discipline, all hallmarks of an effective army.

The problem with U.S. military strategy has been complicated by the fact that both our military and civilian leaders have not been honest with themselves or the public about our wars. We invaded Iraq on the false premise that it possessed biological or nuclear weapons. We went into Afghanistan without a clear idea of what we intended to do after ridding it of al Qaeda members, or how we were going to do it. The results have been devastatingly clear.



By contrast, the civil rights movements leaders were especially adept at strategy. Indeed, it is here that the Pentagon could learn some important lessons. Martin Luther King Jr. and his closest advisers  Andrew Young, James Bevel, Diane Nash and James Lawson, among others  devoted vast amounts of time and energy to formulating their strategy. Their understanding of it was somewhat different, and I think, deeper, than the way the American military thinks about it. U.S. war colleges teach that strategy is a relatively straightforward matter of figuring out what you want to do, then deciding how to do it, and what resources to devote to the effort.

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The key figures of the civil rights movement treated strategy as a harder, more fundamental question. For them, it began with the most basic and difficult of questions: Who are we? In Nashville in 1960, the answer that Nash, then a young college student, formulated was: First, we are people who are no longer willing to live under segregation. Thus, strategy began with how one thought about ones self. Actions  that is, tactics  then flowed from that conception. In other words, we are people who would rather die than live under subjugation. This insight led to a series of extraordinary actions  the Nashville sit-ins of 1960, the formation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee a year later, and soon thereafter, the Freedom Rides that put the civil rights movement on the front pages of newspapers across the country and indeed around the world. Kennedy administration officials warned Nash and others that they could get killed; she responded that they fully understood that fact, an answer that astounded the officials. They already had decided that they would rather die than submit to segregation any longer.

Most of all, the movements leaders excelled at holding to their strategic goals, of not being distracted by lesser issues or half-hearted compromises, a perennial issue for the military. They wanted to be treated as American citizens equal before the law, and especially to have the right to vote. They wanted to live in peace and justice  and their non-violent tactics would reflect that.

They also were rigorously honest, believing that only by determining the facts of the matter could one discern the way forward. After the funeral for some of the four girls killed in the Birmingham church bombing in September 1963, civil rights movement leaders went to the cemetery for the burial, leaving behind a restless crowd bristling with energy that wanted to march or do something. Nash wrote a scathing memo to King and others, chiding them for leaving and for blowing an opportunity to turn negative energy into something positive. You can tell people not to fight only if you offer them a way by which justice can be served without violence.  This energy could have been channeled, into a constructive, disciplined soul force aimed at creatively using this energy to achieve a concrete gain. From such internal truth-telling, great organizations learn, adapt and change.



The U.S. military used to understand the need for such candor and to demand it of its leaders. But in Iraq and Afghanistan, its commanders too often failed to discern the facts on the ground or to convey them to their civilian overseers. Instead, they served for a yearlong rotation without truly grappling with the scope of the challenge, then came home and went on to other things.

In addition, the movement excelled at using operations to send a message. It generally did not stage demonstrations for the sake of marching. Rather, it used actions in the streets to convey a thought or emphasize a point. In Selma, Ala., Black people who tried to register to vote were turned away as unqualified as illiterate. Thus, the towns Black teachers, who clearly were educated, marched. By contrast, the U.S. military in Afghanistan and Iraq tended to launch a mission and then later try to decide what to say about it.

The U.S. military also has done poorly at the end game of wars. General Tommy R. Franks, who presided over the beginnings of both wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, believed that what happened after the enemys capital was taken was someone elses concern  when in fact that was when the real wars began.

The civil rights movement, on the other hand, began every campaign with the ending in mind. As one of their songs put it, they kept their eyes on the prize. The goal always was reconciliation  not expecting to embrace the enemy, but simply to find a peaceable way forward. After an agreement was reached in Birmingham, Ala., to desegregate downtown lunch counters, they worked with the owners of those establishments to make the change easier, calling ahead to inquire about what would be a good time to send in Black customers. The movement was effectively training its former opponents in how to live with integration.

Finally, the members of the civil rights movement were in it for the long term. Yes, some people burned out, or had to go home to earn a living. But the movement as a whole understood that changing a society is a long and difficult struggle, with setbacks and unexpected turns. Martin Luther King Jr. and those around him did not do one-year tours and then rotate home. He was engaged more or less continuously from 1955 until he was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., in 1968. One can only wish that the leaders of the U.S. military had taken Iraq and Afghanistan as seriously.
paris hilton

ABC via Getty

Paris Hilton has recounted the sexual abuse she says she experienced at a Utah boarding school. In an article published with The New York Times Tuesday, the 41-year-old claimed she was forced to get cervical exams at 16 years old while at Provo Canyon School in the late 90s.

"Very late at night, this would be around like three or four in the morning, they would take myself and other girls into this room and they would perform medical exams," she explained. "This wasn't even with a doctor. It was with a couple of different staff members, where they would have us lay on the table and put their fingers inside of us. And I don't know what they were doing, but it was definitely not a doctor."

"It was really scary, and it's something that I really had blocked out for many years but it's coming back all the time now, and I think about it," Hilton said while tearing up. "And now, looking back as an adult, that was definitely sexual abuse."

Hilton is just one of more than 50 former patients, employees and experts who detailed to the outlet allegations of physical, verbal, emotional and psychological abuse at these facilities, which were supposed to help children with mental health and behavioral issues.

The heiress was sent to the Utah therapeutic boarding school for 11 months in an attempt to tame her rebellious partying as a teenager.

RELATED: Paris Hilton Heads to D.C. to Continue Advocacy Work for Child Abuse: 'Such an Inspiring Time'

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A slew of lawsuits and government reports aligned with former patients' claims of horrific treatment children faced at these centers for decades, according to the Times. The outlet also recovered security camera footage of patients being assaulted and restrained.

"Sleep-deprived & heavily medicated, I didn't understand what was happening," Hilton wrote of the alleged sexual abuse on Twitter. "I was forced to lie on a padded table, spread my legs & submit to cervical exams. I cried while they held me down & said, 'No!' They just said, 'Shut up. Be quiet. Stop struggling or you'll go to Obs.'"

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"This was a recurring experience not only for me but for other #survivors. I was violated & I am crying as I type this because no one, especially a child, should be sexually abused," Hilton continued. "My childhood was stolen from me & it kills me this is still happening to other innocent children. It's important to open up about these painful moments so I can heal & help put an end to this abuse."

RELATED: Paris Hilton Opens Up About the Secret Terrifying Abuse She Suffered as a Teen

Paris Hilton's solitary confinement booth on Capitol Hill, Washington DC, USA - 11 May 2022

Shutterstock Paris Hilton's solitary confinement booth on Capitol Hill, Washington DC, USA - 11 May 2022

RELATED: Paris Hilton Heads to D.C. to Continue Advocacy Work for Child Abuse: 'Such an Inspiring Time'

Hilton and others told the Times that the abuse was able to continue for so long, she claims, because staff members were monitoring and restricting their phone conversations with parents.

"The staff member just hung up the phone, screamed at me, told me, 'You have your phone privile ges taken away. We're going to tell your parents that you are manipulating them, that you're lying,'" Hilton said.

Since opening up about the experience, Hilton has been working to reform institutions that administer cruel psychiatric treatment to minors.

"I want these places shut down," Hilton said in her documentary This Is Paris. "I want them to be held accountable. And I want to be a voice for children and now adults everywhere who have had similar experiences. I want it to stop for good and I will do whatever I can to make it happen."

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
A Pueblo man is facing nearly 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to the murder of a 47-year-old man in 2021.

Jesus Benavidez, 22, pleaded guilty on Sept. 22 to second-degree murder in the heat of passion as part of a plea deal, according to court documents obtained by the Chieftain.

Benavidez was originally charged with second-degree murder in connection to the shooting death of Robert Marquez in July 2021. He would have faced up to 48 years in prison if convicted by a jury of his peers but in exchange for his plea will serve a stipulated sentence of 20 years with credit for 406 days of time served.

Benavidez will also be obligated to pay restitution to the victim's family. The exact amount has not yet been determined and is to be filed by the prosecution within 91 days, according to court documents, along with court fees of more than $4,000.

More public safety news:Pueblo coroner IDs woman killed in Hwy 50 crash, Colorado City man killed by PCSO deputies

Video footage recorded by a nearby vehicle at the time of the shooting showed Marquez approach a brownish-gold 1992 Lexus "like he was trying to hop a ride" before gunshots were fired by someone inside the vehicle, causing Marquez to back away and fall down, Pueblo Police Detective Glen Fillmore testified in January at a probable cause hearing.

Fillmore stated there were no signs of a violent altercation leading up to the shooting, according to eyewitness reports.

The Lexus then left the scene, passing RNR Tire Express on West 29th Street. Surveillance video obtained by police from the tire shop and nearby Target store showed a more detailed picture of the vehicle, including damage to its fender and different hubcaps on the driver's side of the vehicle, Fillmore testified. Surveillance footage also showed the vehicle had a sunroof.

Fillmore indicated that a vehicle matching that description was later found abandoned with a 9mm shell casing inside, along with a receipt from 7-Eleven belonging to a man who later indicated he'd been with Jesus Benavidez but was not in the vehicle at the time of the shooting, which was confirmed by investigators.

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After a description of the vehicle was posted on social media, police received a tip that someone named Jesus, who also went by "Chapo," drove a car matching the description and had allegedly bragged about his involvement in the shooting. The tipster said they did not know the last name of the individual.

Information obtained by police from a Facebook account belonging to Benavidez showed conversations with his niece, in which Benavidez admitted he shot Marquez because Marquez was "coming for" his brother.

Benavidez was later located at the Pueblo Reservoir Swim Beach and placed into custody by detectives.

More:Pueblo man sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder

Questions, comments, or story tips? Contact Justin at jreutterma@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @jayreutter1.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo man pleads guilty to murder for July 2021 fatal shooting
kitten with jar on head

Courtesy of Animal Rescue League of Boston

Massachusetts rescuers this week saved a kitten whose curiosity had gone infinitely beyond its limits.

Staff from the Animal Rescue League of Boston and Fall River Animal Control encountered the 6-month-old orange kitten in Fall River, according to an ARL news release. She was wandering around with a small glass bowlor maybe a light fixtureensconcing her noggin. Her new name? Buzz Lightyear.

Buzz's head somehow got stuck in the bowl, and someone spotted her on Danforth Street in Fall River. She was part of a cadre of community cats in the area. The ARL field staff set up a drop trap, and two of her siblings smelled the food inside and were trapped. She was unable to smell because of the bowl, but she followed her siblings inside out of curiosity. (Hopefully, it's the last time she inserts part or all of her body into tight spaces.)

RELATED: 2 Animal Control Officers Foster the Screaming Kitten They Rescued From a Pipe

Once they got hands on her, the field staff was about to remove Buzz's then-permanent helmet, allowing her to smell and eat again. They took her to the ARL's Dedham Animal Care and Adoption Center, where the medical staff found her to be dirty but otherwise healthy.

She then received her vaccinations and spay surgery, the news release said. She'll need a little time before she can be adopted, however. She still needs to learn how to live with (and trust) humansthough she is loving her new cat friends at the shelter.

Once she's ready, hopefully she'll join a family that has a dog who, I dunno, enjoys dressing up as a cowboy.
JEFFERSON CITY  The Missouri Supreme Court needs nearly $7 million to pay for the cost of erasing past marijuana-related convictions as part of a budget request submitted to Gov. Mike Parson earlier this month.

The money would only be budgeted if Missouri voters approve a question on the Nov. 8 ballot asking if the state should join 19 others in legalizing the sale of marijuana for recreational purposes.

The proposal would launch an automatic expungement process for people who have past marijuana-related convictions for nonviolent offenses and for those whose convictions didnt include selling the minors or driving while affected by the drug.

According to the courts budget request, the majority of the cost will fall to local courts, who may have to hire temporary staff and pay overtime to process the paperwork.

The court is seeking $2.2 million for the current fiscal year to bankroll the initial months of the process and $4.5 million in the fiscal year beginning July 1 to continue the expungements.

The personal services costs were estimated for 500 clerks at the courts statewide working overtime to meet the timelines for expungement of records, the court said in its request.

John Payne, campaign manager for Legal Missouri 2022, which is supporting the initiative, said the numbers are no surprise.

Thats pretty in line with what we were expecting, Payne said Tuesday.

Parson, a Republican who opposes the amendment, typically doesnt significantly alter the judicial branchs budget requests when he presents his spending blueprint to the General Assembly in January.

Once he unveils the plan, lawmakers begin debate on the spending proposal with an eye on finishing their work in early May.

Under current state law, someone seeking to expunge their records must initiate the process themselves.

President Joe Biden last week announced the pardons of Americans with federal convictions for marijuana possession and urged states to follow suit.

Parson, however, is not changing his approach to pardons. He has been active in granting clemency petitions as governor, working through a backlog of requests that existed before he took office in 2018. Most recently, his office said he pardoned 26 individuals in September.

Governor Parson has used his state constitutional authority to grant pardons to individuals who demonstrate a changed life-style, commitment to rehabilitation, contrition, and contribution to their communities  rather than as a blanket approach to undermine existing law, Parson spokeswoman Kelli Jones said.

The amendment, if approved by a majority of voters, gives courts six months to expunge past misdemeanors and a year for eligible felonies.

The ballot language calls for the courts to be reimbursed with money raised from a 6% tax on the sale of pot products, with the remaining funds going to veterans homes, drug addiction treatment services and public defenders.

The state auditors office, in analyzing the proposed constitutional amendment, said it is expected to generate about $41 million in revenue once fully implemented.

Cost estimates compiled by the auditor, however, did not include expenses for administrative court costs related to the expungement process.

Payne said money raised from the taxes will first go toward the rollout of the proposal, including repaying the court system for the cost of the expungement process.

It should not be a problem for us to pay it, Payne said. That money comes off the top.

The legalization effort, which is being largely financed by existing medical marijuana companies, has drawn mixed reviews from various groups.

The Missouri Democratic Party, for example, is not taking a position on the ballot measure, citing the expungement process among other concerns.

At the same time, the American Civil Liberties Union is backing the initiative because of the expungement language.
SWANSEA  The Swansea Free Public Library may finally get clearance to join the 21st century if town residents approve $19 million in up-front funding at special Town Meeting on Monday, Oct. 24, at Joseph Case High School.

Residents will vote on approving the funding for the renovation and expansion of the town public library on Main Street. A provisional grant from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners would, over a five-year period, reimburse the town $6.8 million as mandated construction benchmarks are reached.

But the grant is contingent upon the project size not dropping below the current 19,365 square feet.

The up-front $19 million funding plan, already approved by the Board of Selectmen, would combine $15 million in certified free cash with $4 million in short-term borrowing. For approval, the funding plan requires an in-favor vote of two-thirds at Town Meeting.

Library renovation/expansion is one of 16 warrant articles for presentation and vote at special Town Meeting.

An information session on the library expansion project is set for Monday, Oct. 17, at 6:30 p.m., at the E.S. Brown School gymnasium, 29 Gardners Neck Road.

An artist's rendering of the proposed new Swansea Public Library building.

When would the library be built?

According to an update from the nine-member Swansea Free Public Library Building Committee, Swansea is sixth on the MBLC waiting list, and if the funding is approved at Town Meeting, the design phase of the library project would run from Dec. 1, 2022, to Dec. 1, 2023, and the bid-and-construction phase would run from from January 2024 to June 2025.

In what the update calls a worst-case scenario, the first of the five annual MBLC provisional grant disbursements of $1,375,168 would be made on July 1, 2024.

The current library, according to the Swansea Free Library Building Committee, is deficient in a plethora of areas in which public libraries serve their communities.

'Come on down': Swansea welcomes Ernie Boch Jr. with ideas for Pleasure Island's future

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Under category of immediate needs, the committee update listed:

ADA accessibility to the building

adequate restrooms

getting the childrens program out of the basement where there is no fresh air system and moisture is an issue.

meeting room and reading room space

separate quiet space (small study rooms).

space flexibility

updated data/IT systems

more library staff work space

energy efficiency

parking

Under the category of essential services to the community which the current building cannot provide:

general small, medium meeting spaces

large meeting spaces

tutoring space

supervised custody parent/child space

indoor creative/maker space programs

internet access for residents without it

isolated supervised after-school teen area

space for historic material collection

ADA compliance

flexible design allowing for re-purposing

autonomous spaces for young children, teens, professionals, families, and seniors

Real estate: 230-year-old colonial  one of Swansea's oldest homesteads  just sold

How Swansea's library compares to others in Massachusetts

Jim Devol, chairperson of the Swansea Free Public Library Building Committee, said that even with the current expansion plan, Swansea would still have a library square footage-to-resident ratio of about 1-to-1, lower than comparable Massachusetts communities like Seekonk (1.5-to-1) and Sharon (1.25-to-1).

The library was built at the turn of the 19th century when the town population was 1,600. The current population is 17,000, with, the town said, half the population registered library users. Its current size is about 3,700 square feet.

According to the committee update, waiting until Town Meeting in May 2023 to approve the funding would be accompanied by a $475,000 increase in cost, and waiting until Fall 2023 Special Town Meeting would add $950,000. The grant money would not increase and the town would pay for all cost escalation.

Our Lady of Peace: New parish community forms in Somerset, Swansea following church merger

A history of voting down such expenditures

In recent history, Swansea residents at Town Meeting have not approved warrants for a new town hall and new Highway Department buildings.

Devol  a veteran of the construction industry, with experience as a manager, estimator, project manager  said he realizes residents may look at the $19 million price tag and consider it extreme. But, he said, $1,000 per square foot is just the reality in 2022 due to supply chain challenges and a lack of workers in the trades.

And he hopes residents will realize a library is much more than shelves full of dusty books, a few desktop computers for public use, and librarians whispering hush. He said the town will be airing library project infomercials on Swansea Public Television.

Devol said he saw a Brookings Institute study showing that when libraries expand, child attendance increases by 18% and general attendance jumps by 21%.

Its a case of build it and they will come, he said.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Swansea special Town Meeting: Voters asked to OK $19M for new library
The Minnesota Vikings added a Tennessee Titans draft pick to their roster on Tuesday.

The Vikings announced via Twitter that they signed safety Theo Jackson off the Titans practice squad. The Nashville native is joining Minnesota after the team suffered several injuries during their 29-22 win against the Chicago Bears on Sunday.

The #Vikings have signed S Theo Jackson (@theo_jackson05) and placed RB Ty Chandler on IR. pic.twitter.com/zTZsI4XWVE  Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) October 11, 2022

The Vikings also moved running back Ty Chandler, another Nashville native, to injured reserve after suffering a thumb injury against the Bears. Chandler played at Montgomery Bell Academy before committing to Tennessee in 2016, then transferred to UNC in 2021. He was selected by Minnesota at No. 169 overall in the fifth round of the 2022 draft.

Jackson, a 24-year-old rookie, was selected by the Titans at No. 204 overall during the sixth round of the 2022 draft but was waived in final roster cuts. Jackson appeared in a couple of preseason games with the Titans and totaled 14 tackles against the Arizona Cardinals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Jackson attended Overton High School and played at Tennessee for five years before he started his NFL journey. He earned second-team All-SEC honors after setting career-high marks in tackles (78), sacks (1.5), tackles for loss (nine), quarterback hits (12), passes defensed (12), and executed his first career pick-six for 55 yards in 2021.

VRABEL ON TANNEHILL:Titans' Mike Vrabel commends Ryan Tannehill's toughness

PLAYOFF ODDS:Las Vegas Raiders see playoff odds plummet after Week 3 loss to Tennessee Titans

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Titans draft pick Theo Jackson signs with Minnesota Vikings
This article originally appeared on Outside

"Do you silly writers realize the damage you're causing?" the email read. "Write about and ruin your own home." A guy named Jim was responding to a story I'd written for Outside about the Million Dollar Highway, a high-altitude roadway that connects the Colorado towns of Silverton and Ouray.

"You wrote an article about Highway 550 and the Ouray area, but what you probably can't understand is that enough fools have already done the same thing these past few years and now this area is so freaking busy, that all the folks who live here are asking, 'What happened?' 'How did we get so busy' that it's completely RUINED," Jim continued. "People who have lived in the Ouray area for generations are moving away because the whole area is being overrun."

If you're looking for someone to blame, apparently it's my fault that the once-quiet corner of southwest Colorado is now swarmed with people. But here's the deal: sharing information about unique places in the outdoors is literally my job as a correspondent for Outside, and what if I have an opportunity to inspire people to visit a new place that will alter their view of themselves and the world around them? What if they fall in love with that place and then work to protect it? Wouldn't you want to share that? Don't you want others to know the beauty of the place you love so much? Well, sorry, but I do.

Travel writing--an archaic job that's now mostly been replaced by influencers and YouTubers--sounds glamorous, but it really isn't. Nowadays, it takes deciphering which places are under-the-radar gems that could benefit from a tourism boost and which spots are so overvisited that you'll sit in gridlock just getting through town.

I like to inspire people to get outside. In fact, thats Outside's core mission. I also know that many U.S. towns that rely on tourism were hit hard during the pandemic with less income as a result of fewer travelers, and outfitters, stores, and restaurants went out of business. Now that people are traveling again, I also consider that many of these towns are getting more tourists than ever before and business owners are still struggling to find the staff to accommodate them.

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"You have to ask yourself, is your writing about a place contributing to or taking away from the place?" veteran travel writer and longtime Outside contributor Stephanie Pearson, author of the new book 100 Great American Parks, told me. "You have to take responsibility. If you participate in this, how are you making it better?"

I had called Pearson to ask for some advice. How do I deal with the fact that, as a travel writer, I'm possibly contributing to our current overcrowding problem? In other words, what if Jim is right?

"The party line is that yes, more people will go there, but they will love and respect those places, so they won't be destroyed," Pearson said. "But in some areas like Moab, where tourists have trashed campsites, started fires, and dumped RV sewage, some residents believe that disrespectful visitors can be almost as destructive as the extractive industries that tourism was supposed to replace."

On the story on Colorado's Million Dollar Highway, someone commented: "Nooooooo!!! Tourists are dangerous on this road!!!!!! ... STAY AWAY!!!!!!!"

Pearson said she's of the philosophy that everyone should be given access to these places, but we all need to take responsibility as well. She told me she's become even more thoughtful about the places she writes about. The first question she asks local sources when she's writing about a new place: Do you want me to write about this? Sometimes, the hotel clerk or the dive shop employee will say, no, we have enough crowds. Or sometimes they'll say, August is very busy, but tell people to come in September instead. "I think we are hard wired as humans to want to wander, and people are always going to travel, but there's always a more responsible way to do it. If you feel like a place shouldn't be written about, don't write about it," she said.

When I was writing about ski towns to live in, the PR person from a well-known western ski resort told me, kindly: please don't write about us. "The town has seen an influx of homebuyers from out of state, resulting in a shortage of affordable housing and a lot of resentment among the workers who call this place home," he wrote. "I know this story isn't unique, but right now, the resort and our local visitor bureaus are focused on promoting stewardship and sustainable tourism, rather than contributing to the population boom."

So, I didn't write about that town. I don't want to add to the problem; ideally, I'd like to help solve it, by writing about issues like responsible tourism, best practices, and how you can give back to a community you're visiting. But again, my job is to write about great places to travel to, so I've got to try to find spots where the locals won't hate me for mentioning their hometown.

Jim's note was hardly the first hate mail I'd received. On the story on Colorado's Million Dollar Highway, someone commented: "Nooooooo!!! Tourists are dangerous on this road!!!!!! I've seen too many crazy things because tourists don't know how to drive mountain roads ... STAY AWAY!!!!!!!"

When I wrote about underrated beach towns, I got comments like, "Way to blow up the spots." A piece on best free campsites in all 50 states--which, for the record, included responsible dispersed camping practices and didn't divulge any spot that's all that unknown--warranted an onslaught of angry responses along the lines of: "And now they're all ruined. Keep the best places private!"

Concealing our secret spots just makes us gatekeepers to public lands that never belonged to us in the first place.

We now live in a world where Leave No Trace principles apply to not leaving trash on your next hike and also to social media guidelines on how to post about your favorite places and whether or not to geotag them. "The pushback against geotagging involves ordinary people deputizing themselves and asserting authority they don't actually have to keep the outdoors 'pure' or 'wild,' 'pristine,' or simply, the way they remembered it from childhood by excluding people they view as dirty, loud, offensive, or simply not sharing their values," Danielle Williams, founder of DiversifyOutdoors.com, writes on her blog.

Williams' point is loud and clear. If we want to make the outdoors a place where everyone feels welcome, then we need to share information--as well as education. Concealing our secret spots just makes us gatekeepers to public lands that never belonged to us in the first place. "The so-called United States is Native Land and even the places you think of as 'the middle of nowhere' are the beloved homelands of Native people," Jolie Varela, founder of a community called Indigenous Women Hike, writes in an Instagram post. "National Parks or so-called public lands are stolen Native lands, not your playgrounds or your backyard."

There's a sliding scale between thinking a secret spot is yours to own and keep private versus the trampling effect of overtourism. Ideally, we can live somewhere in the middle, sharing places to make them more accessible to a wider array of people but also protecting spots that risk being overrun. And its on all of us--writers, influencers, tourists, state and local governments--to find a sustainable way forward.

Not everyone is angry, of course. Occasionally, people will tell me they visited a place I recommended in a story and they were grateful for the insight. My editor at Outside was on a hike recently in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and a fellow hiker told her that he wouldn't have known about that trail if it weren't for Outside and that he appreciated the tip.

"The recipe for preserving nature is not to have less people experience it; it's to have more people experience it," photographer Chris Burkard says.

Most travel writers--myself included--recognize the hypocrisy of what we do: revealing other people's secluded stashes but sometimes hoarding our own. "We have a campground close to where we live in New Jersey that I've really kept secret over the years, because selfishly, I want to be able to get a site there," says Jeremy Puglisi, author of the guidebook, Where Should We Camp Next? "Call me a hypocrite, but I don't want that place to get overwhelmed. But if some other writer or influencer shows up and blows the place up, I'm not going to get angry with them. Are there really any secrets anymore? With the internet and how easy it is to find information, it's very hard to call any place a real secret anymore."

Puglisi told me he considers if a campground can handle crowds before he covers it--does it have two campsites or 200?--and also that it's becoming increasingly harder to find places that are truly undiscovered. "If we show up to a great spot, and there are other people there, I don't find the experience ruined because someone else is there," he says. "I don't have to be totally alone to enjoy nature. I'm never going to complain about a crowd somewhere, because I'm there, so I'm part of the crowd."

There's a weird little corner of the internet where people post videos and locations of free, dispersed campsites on public lands, like a guy who goes by Dispersed Camper Man on YouTube, or RoaminRazz. They mainly shoot low-budget phone videos of beautiful, remote campsites, sharing so the rest of the world can find and enjoy. Nobody hates on them. Instead, they get comments like: "Thanks for the specific directions and coordinates."

Photographer Chris Burkard, who has 3.9 million followers on Instagram and travels the world taking stunning photos of places that most of us will never see, says he's careful about giving away specific instructions to the places he photographs. Not to serve as a gatekeeper, but to preserve people's experiences in exploring their own path. "If you're giving someone a road map to a place, that can be a bit of a bummer. The greatest joy comes from finding a place, or researching a place," he told me. "We need to give people a chance. We need to understand that nature can provide a way."

According to him, we don't need outdoor places that are limited to the lucky few. We just need those who visit those places to be respectful. "The recipe for preserving nature is not to have less people experience it; it's to have more people experience it," Burkard says. "But if you're going to unlock the gate to a place, there better be some instructions on that gate. I share places with the hope that other people experience them, but I hope they experience those places with a sense of respect and care."

I hung up the phone with Burkard and made a resolution to myself. If I show up at your swimming hole or ski mountain, I'm warning you now, I may write about it. Sorry in advance. I think everyone should be able to experience beautiful places. But I promise you this: I'll do my absolute best to remind readers to learn about the history, pick up their trash, tip their guides, and be kind to the locals and the land.

For exclusive access to all of our fitness, gear, adventure, and travel stories, plus discounts on trips, events, and gear, sign up for Outside+ today.
The U.S. has put a visa restriction policy in place for members of the Taliban over the repression of women and girls in Afghanistan, according to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

In a statement, Blinken noted Tuesday that despite previous assurances that the Taliban would respect the human rights of all Afghans, they have issued and enforced a series of policies or edicts that effectively bar women and girls in Afghanistan from full participation in public life, including access to secondary education and work in most industries.

The U.S. is taking action to sanction those involved in repressing women and girls in Afghanistan. We continue to press the Taliban and others to respect the human rights and fundamental freedomsincluding the right to educationof all Afghans, including women and girls.  Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) October 11, 2022

Blinken cited a long list of policies the Taliban have imposed against women and girls since they came to power, including limiting access to secondary or higher education, preventing them from working and choosing their careers, and placing restrictions on their movement, expression and privacy.

He also highlighted the Talibans violence and harassment against women and girls.

The visa restriction policy under Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act will apply to current and former Taliban members, members of nonstate security groups, and other individuals believed to be involved in repressing women and girls in Afghanistan through restrictive policies and violence.

Immediate family members of those sanctioned may also have their visas restricted, the State Department added.

As a grim example, for more than a year, Afghanistan remains the only country in the world where girls are systemically barred from attending school beyond the sixth grade, with no return date in sight, Blinken said.

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The United States strongly supports the Afghan people and remains committed to doing all we can to protect and promote the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all Afghans, including women and girls, he said.

Afghan women and groups around the world have been calling for the U.S. to impose visa restrictions on Taliban officials for months.

Afghan women also recently took to Twitter and Instagram to call on the international community to take action against Taliban officials, using the hashtag BanTalibanTravel, which calls on the United Nations to reapply a travel ban on the Talibans senior leadership.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto on the campaign trail (AP)

Inside Washington last month dubbed Nevada the Senate seat most likely to flip, and there are as many reasons as ever to believe that. The nonpartisan Cook Political report has labeled it as one of only two toss-up Senate races, alongside Georgia  and yet, the race has largely been overlooked.

Thats largely because neither candidate has an outsized personality in the way Georgias race does with incumbent Raphael Warnock, the senior pastor at Martin Luther King Jrs church, and Herschel Walker, a former University of Georgia running back and Heisman Trophy winner. It lacks Pennsylvanias (literally) outsized figure of John Fetterman and celebrity physician Mehmet Oz and it doesnt feature the same fireworks that JD Vance and Tim Ryans tussle in Ohio does.

Rather, the race features incumbent Democrat Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, who despite being the first and so far only Latina Senator ever elected, has maintained a low profile, especially in comparison to her predecessor, former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Her opponent, Adam Laxalt, is a former attorney general and the grandson of the late former governor Paul Laxalt. Yet, like Ms Cortez Masto, he lacks charisma or his grandfathers outstanding personality.

Nevertheless, Nevada has huge national significance. Donald Trump made a stop there this weekend to campaign for Mr Laxalt and Republican gubernatorial candidate Joe Lombardo; if either or both can win, they would indicate that Republicans have a strong chance of winning the Silver State on the presidential in 2024  a full two decades after they last captured it.

Barack Obama flipped the state in 2008 along with neighboring Colorado and New Mexico. He held it in 2012, albeit by a smaller margin; Hillary Clinton won it by an even smaller margin, and Joe Biden won the state by the same amount she did. In a neat measure of how Democrats hold on the state has declined, his margin was by almost ten points behind Mr Obamas first victory.

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The headwinds for Mr Bidens party are not good. Nevadas gaming industry took a significant hit during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the state is still reeling from the aftereffects. Friends of the newsletter Jennifer Medina and Jonathan Weisman at The New York Times reported that Nevadas Latino voters, whom Democrats have reliably considered securely in their column, are frustrated by the economy and rising prices. And as The Times report noted, despite Democratic victories in the past few years, Republicans and non-partisan voters comprise about 60 per cent of the electorate in Nevada, meaning that Democrats have always had to play a game of persuasion.

As a result, it is entirely possible that Republicans could get lucky even as Democratic incumbents in other states appear to be holding out. And there are signs that Republicans have a legitimate shot.

As the GOP hopes to capitalize on Mr Trumps improved performance with Hispanic voters in 2020, a new poll from OH Predictive Insights and The Nevada Independent (run by Jon Ralston, Nevadas premier political journalist) found that Mr Laxalt has a slight lead against Ms Cortez Masto, 45 to 43 per cent  well within the surveys 3.6-point margin of error, but with 7 per cent of respondents saying they remain unsure about who to back.

More alarmingly for Ms Cortez Masto, 52 per cent of those surveyed said they have an unfavorable opinion of her, this compared to 45 per cent who have a favorable opinion of her. And yet, NBC Newss Natasha Korecki reported that Latino voters dissatisfied with Democrats are less likely to defect to the Republican Party than to simply not vote, with Republican candidates like Mr Laxalt apparently repelling them.

If Ms Cortez Masto can take solace anywhere, its that Senate polling in her state hasnt always been the best. In 2010, a Republican wave year in national terms, the Real Clear Politics average showed then-majority leader Harry Reid 2.7 points behind his GOP challenger, Sharron Angle, only for Mr Reid to end up winning by 5.6 points.

Our judgment for 2022, then, remains the same: this race is guaranteed to raise the blood pressure  quicker than a night at the crap tables at the Bellagio.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said Tuesday he would not sign any legislation keeping the state's criminal abortion ban in place, including a bill that would add exceptions to the ban for pregnancies that result from rape and incest.

Evers is in court seeking to overturn the 19th-century law that bans all abortions in Wisconsin unless the mother's life is in danger, a statute that has been in effect since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June.

Evers' Republican opponent in this fall's election, Tim Michels, has recently said he would sign a bill maintaining the ban but adding the exceptions, flipping his long-standing opposition to allowing rape and incest victims to have access to abortions.

I wouldnt sign it because that leaves the underlying law in place, which is a ban on abortion, Evers said Tuesday during an event at the Milwaukee County War Memorial Center hosted by the Milwaukee Press Club, WisPolitics and Rotary Club of Milwaukee.

The matter may be moot. Evers has not been presented with legislation that would change the state's abortion ban, and Republican lawmakers who control the state Legislature are in court defending the law against Evers' lawsuit.

Recent polling shows Evers and Michels are pulling in 50% support each. A new Marquette University Law School poll will be released Wednesday.

In a pitch to voters four weeks before the Nov. 8 election, Evers cautioned the state will be transformed for the worse, citing Michels' promise to sign Republican bills Evers vetoed that would allow firearms on school grounds and add restrictions to voting.

"I've played goalie for 3.5 years, vetoing 146 bills," Evers said. "If my opponent wins, those bills will come back."

Evers described Michels as "radical and dangerous" and more divisive for Wisconsin than his 2018 opponent, former Republican Gov. Scott Walker, pointing to Michels' stance on abortion, education and red flag laws for gun control.

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Abortion is a key issue for Democrats, while Republicans have made crime their main focus.

In a statement, Michels campaign spokesperson Anna Kelly blasted Evers for his handling of crime.

The governor, she said, "wants to talk about anything other than his record of failure, and even minimized the Kenosha riots as 'civil disruptions after he let the city burn. Wisconsinites want real answers as to why he's doubled-down on releasing brutal murderers and child rapists into our communities, let our schools fail, and crippled our economy  not the same tired, old talking points."

Kelly referred to reports that Wisconsin parolees under Evers' tenure have included people convicted of especially violent crimes. Evers' campaign has noted the governor does not make parole decisions. Wisconsin's parole commission is required by state law to regularly interview eligible inmates, and many paroles are mandated.

More: Where Tony Evers and Tim Michels stand on abortion, crime, marijuana and education

Michels has refused to participate in a panel with journalists.

Evers and Michels will face each other in just one debate, scheduled for Friday.

Corrinne Hess can be reached at chess@gannett.com. Follow her @corrihess

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 governor says Roe must be codified, won't sign alternate ban
CARBONDALE, Illinois  In a former dermatologists office in this small Southern Illinois town, the first health care facility to offer abortions in decades opened quietly on Tuesday  accompanied by a small handful of opponents holding protest signs outside.

The CHOICES Center for Reproductive Health is one of at least two abortion clinics moving into 21,700-resident Carbondale, a Midwest college town thrust into the spotlight amid expectations it will serve as a key oasis of access for what abortion rights advocates say are the growing U.S. "abortion deserts" clustered in the Midwest and South.

Carbondale will be home to Illinois southernmost clinics. Already, a Planned Parenthood clinic 80 miles to the northwest is seeing skyrocketing demand amid state bans following the Supreme Courts reversal of the federal right to abortion.

Carbondale, geographically, is the closest point of access for hundreds of thousands of women throughout the South. That's what makes it so important, Jennifer Pepper, the chief executive officer of CHOICES, told USA TODAY on Tuesday.

MORE FROM ILLINOIS: Planned Parenthood to launch mobile abortion clinic

The city, a largely progressive town home to Southern Illinois University but tucked into a more conservative and rural part of the abortion-rights state, is just one place where the shifting map of post-Roe abortion access is unfolding to both support and opposition.

Anti-abortion activists are in the midst of a 40-day protest, sending several opponents to spent part of each day outside the clinic. Organizers vow to fight them by spending money on everything from billboard advertising to expanding a pregnancy center that seeks to steer women away from abortion.

The people of Southern Illinois do not want abortion, said Brian Westbrook, the director of St. Louis-based organization Coalition Life, which is helping organize opposition.

Anti-abortion protesters stand outside the first of a least two new abortion clinics opening in Carbondale, Illinois, on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022.

Since the high court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, at least 66 abortion clinics in 15 states have stopped offering abortion services, according to a recent report from the Guttmacher Institute, an organization that supports abortion rights and provides research and policy analysis on reproductive health issues.

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Thirteen of the states  Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia  have enacted near-total abortion bans since June, while providers in Wisconsin have suspended abortion services because of uncertainty about the enforceability of an 1849 ban. In Georgia, one clinic closed while 13 still offer abortion services during the first six weeks of pregnancy.

POST-ROE: Abortion bans from the 1800s became legal matters in these states

WHAT HAPPENS TO IVF? People struggling to conceive worry embryos are at risk

A total of 26 states are certain or likely to ban abortion by next summer, according to Guttmacher.

"I think access is going to continue to deteriorate over the next six months to a year," Pepper said.

The two incoming clinics in Carbondale, where a hospital last halted elective abortions in the 1980s, are among those moving across state lines to continue their work.

CHOICES, which had to stop providing abortions in Tennessee, has in recent weeks worked to train staff and move equipment. But it spent months fostering local support. And most in town have so far welcomed them, Pepper said.

A second clinic that's set to open this fall operated Alamo Womens Clinics in San Antonio, Texas, and Tulsa, Oklahoma, before restrictions led them to open in Carbondale along with a site in New Mexico, said Andrea Gallegos, executive director of Alamo Womens Reproductive Services.

Carbondale was picked in part because its just 50 miles to the state's southern border and near states such as Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri that have banned it. Its also on a major interstate and a passenger train line that runs to New Orleans.

All that means high demand is expected from out-of-state clients. The Illinois Planned Parenthood clinic near St. Louis saw a 435% increase in patients from beyond Illinois and Missouri between June and September, Dr. Colleen McNicholas, the group's chief medical officer, recently told USA TODAY.

Anti-abortion protesters stand outside the first of a least two new abortion clinics opening in Carbondale, Illinois, on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022.

In Carbondale, some local activists and groups are organizing volunteer support systems, such as housing for people traveling far distances who need to stay overnight. Nancy Maxwell, community outreach manager at the Survivor Empowerment Center, said her domestic violence shelter may offer space when possible.

But even with some abortion rights groups aiding women with money or transportation, advocates say many people will face steep barriers to reaching Carbondale, especially those of little means who must get time off work, and find child care and transportation.

"We are seeing states divide into abortion deserts, where it is illegal to access care, and abortion havens, where care continues to be available," according to an analysis by the Center for Reproductive Rights. "Millions of people living in abortion deserts, mainly in the South and Midwest, are forced to travel to receive legal care, which results in many people simply being unable to access abortion for a variety of financial and logistical reasons."

Carbondale City Council member Adam Loos said most elected officials support the presence of the clinics and lack any authority to prevent their opening, despite one council meeting during which some opponents asked they do so. He said many residents support it as well.

Critics, including some area ministers, say they dont want to be known as an abortion destination and are working to build a long-term opposition.

The presence of abortion facilities and the level of activity  of having multiple ones  has shocked a lot of people here, said The Rev. Mark Surburg, of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in nearby Marion, Illinois.

Whether the small-town clinics will face sustained protests, as some in larger cities often do, remains unclear. But Pepper and Gallegos said they are no strangers to working to provide access in the face of opposition.

Speaking at a recent event last month, Pepper said the clinic would first offer medication abortion and gender-affirming care, with in-office procedural care to follow. The clinic will eventually provide a range of reproductive and other health care.

Even before a draft of the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe was leaked, many advocates had seen access wither in states where Republican-dominated legislatures passed ever-restrictive laws.

Pepper said when the Supreme Court took the Dobbs case, they didnt wait to start looking ahead to new locations.

Its been a hard year, yall, she told the gathering of supporters last month, adding, Were here for the long run.

Contributing: Bill Keveney, USA TODAY.

Chris Kenning is a national news writer. Reach him at ckenning@usatoday.com and on Twitter @chris_kenning.

AFTER ROE: NY college to offer abortion pills for students

WHAT CHANGED? Abortion opponents are less accepting of rape, incest as 'exceptions' ss

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Abortion clinic opens in Carbondale, Illinois amid healthcare 'desert'
Police warn of 'explosive' hand grenades washing up on a beach in Newport, Oregon

The police department in Newport, Oregon, found three explosive hand grenades on a beach.

The police released a photo of one device, which came with instructions on how to use it.

It is unclear how the hand grenades ended up on one of the city's beaches.

The police department in Newport, Oregon, has issued a warning about hand grenades that have washed up on the city's beach.

In a news release dated October 5, the Newport Police Department said it was alerted to "multiple reports" of the devices showing up on a beach in the Newport area, between Yaquina Bay State Park and Agate Beach.

According to the news release, officers found three devices that appeared to have been washed ashore. The Oregon State bomb squad was deployed and removed the devices from the beach, per the department.

A photograph of the explosive grenade released by the department showed a white canister with the label "WARNING: EXPLOSIVE" on it. The label also identifies the object as a "simulator hand grenade M116A1" and even comes with instructions on how to use it.

Such devices are commonly used in military training exercises to produce simulated explosions to help troops get used to what real grenades would look and sound like in actual combat situations.

"If you encounter such a device, please do not handle or attempt to move it. Call the police to report the device's location," the Newport police department wrote in its news release.

It is unclear where the devices originated or how they found their way to the beach in Oregon. The Newport Police Department did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Read the original article on Insider
Theres another vacancy in City Hall.

The City of Charlottesville announced Wednesday that Hansel Alejandro Aguilar, the first executive director of the Police Civilian Oversight Board, has resigned effective Oct. 21. Thats just 12 months after Aguilar assumed the position last fall.

Aguilar, who has been hired for a similar position in Berkeley, California, joins a growing list of recently departed officials including the city manager, police chief, and the fire chief.

It was a challenge for sure when I arrived in the city, said Aguilar. Chief [RaShall] Brackney had just been terminated, and then there was the scandal with the text messages from the board members. And then Mr. [City Manager] Chip Boyles left.

The text messages showed infighting among the members of the board.

The revolving door at City Hall began after recriminations in the wake of 2017s deadly Unite the Right rally, at which a neo-Nazi drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring dozens of others.

Aguilars resignation comes mere days after filing his first formal report, a 63-page review of an internal affairs report on a 2020 arrest of an allegedly drunk homeless man on the Downtown Mall.

Attorney Jeffrey Fogel sought the review on behalf of the man.

Aguilar pronounced the three-charge arrest of the man appropriate, including a felony charge of assault of an officer.

However, Aguilar also noted that this evaluator found significant investigative gaps and deficiencies that could impact how the community continues to relate with the [police] department.

Aguilar said that since Fogel alleged that he wouldnt get a fair hearing from the full board, he agreed to perform the review himself.

I would essentially do the hearing in writing, and this is basically what that is, said Aguilar, who examined the police departments own 100-page internal investigation of the arrest and other materials including videos.

While for the most part the department maintained an objective and impartial approach to the investigation, there were instances where the objectivity and impartiality of the departments investigation could reasonably be called into question, he wrote.

Aguilar, who is in the dissertation phase of a doctorate degree with a focus on the intersection of transnationalism, crime and human rights, concluded his report with eight pages of suggestions for the police and City Hall.

Aguilar came to Charlottesville with experience as a misconduct investigator for the Washington, D.C. police force and as a member of the civilian review panel in Fairfax County.

He has also served 21 months as a campus police officer at the place where he earned his masters degree in sociology and where hes working on his Ph.D., George Mason University.

Aguilar admits to some misgivings over leaving Charlottesville so soon after his hiring, but he was found by a search firm and offered $200,000 annually, twice his starting salary in Charlottesville, plus a housing and relocation bonus to make the move to Berkeley.

Ultimately, I had to make the right decision for my family and myself, he said.

Last December, City Council amended its initial ordinance to upgrade the police oversight board from civilian review to civilian oversight and later provided it with a $362,677 budget. Aguilar hopes the board gets the powers to match the name.

Were at a pivotal point, said Aguilar. The onus is on the city council to pass the operating procedures that will allow the board the powers and duties to investigate, to audit, to subpoena, and even look at the annual expenditures under the amended ordinance.
Vaccine experts are pushing back on an analysis published by Florida's surgeon general that warns COVID-19 vaccines increase the risk of cardiac-related deaths in young men, calling the study poorly designed and dangerously misleading.

The warning against vaccines from Dr. Joseph Ladapo is the latest move by the state surgeon general and his boss  Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis  that casts doubt on scientific consensus as they tap into voter frustration still lingering from the pandemic.

"I love the discussion that we've stimulated," tweeted Ladapo on Monday after being accused by immunologists and doctors of spreading misinformation.

"Isn't it great when we discuss science transparently instead of trying to cancel one another?" he added.

But if Ladapo wanted to spark a scientific discussion, he would have submitted the health department's work for peer review instead of posting it on the Florida government website, said Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine.

Hotez called it another "phony-baloney" advisory by the DeSantis administration intended to raise the Republican governor's national profile ahead of an election.

Related video: Surgeon general on combating COVID-19 vaccine misinformation

"This is much more of a political stunt than it has anything to do with science or protecting the population of the people of Florida  They cherry pick the risks, and they cherry pick the benefits," said Hotez.

Ladapo did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Bryan Griffin, press secretary for DeSantis, said: "We have no interest in responding to this."

At issue is a paper Ladapo cites as his rationale for no longer recommending vaccines for young men ages 18-39. The recommendation bucked the consensus of every major government scientific organization, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health.

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Those government agencies and the American Heart Association cite larger studies that found the benefits of COVID vaccination far outweigh the risks.

PHOTO: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a press conference in Matlacha Fla., Oct. 5, 2022. (Win Mcnamee/Getty Images)

Ladapo's recommendation was so far outside mainstream scientific consensus that it prompted immediate online pushback. At one point, Twitter removed the surgeon general's announcement from its platform.

When asked why, a Twitter spokesperson only said the "enforcement action" was done "in error" and later reversed.

Vaccine experts said the Florida paper raised several red flags: Written anonymously before being released by the Florida Department of Health, the analysis omitted key details on methodology and didn't examine medical records, only deaths.

"There's just issue after issue piled up when you look at how this study was conducted and the interpretation of the findings," said John Brownstein, chief innovation officer at Boston Children's Hospital and an ABC contributor.

Daniel Salmon, director of the Institute for Vaccine Safety at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, said among those concerns was that Florida looked at deaths up to 25 weeks after vaccination. He called that a "huge problem" because it's too long and likely impacted by the "seasonality" of outcomes.

"No experienced vaccine safety researcher would have a 20- or 25-week control period," he said.

"If you submitted that to peer review, any decent journal would reject it," he added.

The Florida analysis also didn't mention what medical experts and scientists agree has become evident in the past year: The virus is more likely than the vaccine to cause health problems in young men.

When the vaccine does induce myocarditis, most cases appear to be relatively mild and resolve on their own.

"COVID can cause all sorts of cardiovascular problems," said Salmon, who said he personally opted to vaccinate his own sons. "So at the end of the day, the benefits (of the vaccine) outweigh the risks and that's what really matters."

Hotez and Brownstein agreed, both pointing to larger studies that show the COVID virus can put young men at risk in ways the vaccine does not.

"We know that there's some concern about myocarditis. But overall, the evidence actually suggests there's much greater risk of cardiac-related events when you're unvaccinated," Brownstein said.

A significantly larger global study is underway to examine the risk of myocarditis by combing through the data collected by more than a dozen of countries. Those results are expected next spring.

When asked about Florida's position in a CNN interview, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, warned the primary problem was that misinformation was still spreading too easily.

"The enemy of public health, when you're dealing with a pandemic, is misinformation and disinformation. And unfortunately we have plenty of that," he said.

ABC News reporter Cheyenne Haslett and Dr. Tiffany Russ contributed to this report.

Scientists pan analysis Florida's surgeon general posted on COVID-19 vaccines originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois on Tuesday endorsed Democrats Katie Hobbs and Adrian Fontes for governor and secretary of state.

Those who are responsible for the violence on January 6th and those who have pushed the Big Lie since the 2020 election must not gain higher office, wrote Kinzinger, a member of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the nations Capitol. The fate of our Republic depends on that.

Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming traveled to Arizona last week to warn against voting for Republicans Kari Lake and Mark Finchem, a pair of election deniers who have actually called for arrests of their opponents based upon some fantasy belief that the 2020 election was stolen.

The first thing that we have to understand is that weve never been where we are, Cheney told a group of ASU students last week. Weve never been in a phase, a place where were facing this kind of a threat. And thats because were facing a threat from a former president who is attempting to unravel the Republic.

Meanwhile, here in Arizona, Gov. Doug Ducey has been unable to locate his spine.

Blake Masters, the GOP U.S. Senate candidate in Arizona, holds a press conference with Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and former Vice President Mike Pence at a school choice event on Oct. 11, 2022.

Ducey called Lake 'misleading,' then endorsed her

In July, he called out Lake, taking to CNN to warn that she was misleading voters about election integrity and claiming that her whole campaign was an act.

This is all an act, he said at the time. Shes been putting on a show for some time now and well see if the voters of Arizona buy it.

In August, he endorsed her.

Post-Trump GOP?: Republicans must move past Trump for sake of the party's future  and the nation's

This is going to be an important election given the issues our state is facing and its important for Arizona Republicans to unite behind our slate of candidates, Ducey tweeted, shortly after the primary election.

Former President Donald Trump (R) watches Republican candidate for governor Kari Lake speak at a Save America rally in support of Arizona GOP candidates on July 22, 2022 in Prescott Valley, Arizona.

The governor who in 2020 defended Arizonas election  the one who certified the results even as then-President Donald Trumps Hail to the Chief ringtone was chiming on his cellphone  apparently has no interest in defending his state from a MAGA slate that seems intent on dismantling democracy.

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Other Republicans have been more outspoken

Clearly, it wouldnt be good for his political career, as Kinzinger, Cheney and any other traditional conservative who dared to stand against the partys America First stampede has already found out.

Fortunately, there are a few Republicans left in our state who are still possessed of a backbone, real patriots willing to put country before party or personal ambition, and stand up to the extremists who have taken over the once-Grand Old Party.

Mesa Mayor John Giles has endorsed Hobbs, calling Lake dangerous.

Its not a choice between Republicans and Democrats, he said on Sunday, as Trump rallied elsewhere in his deeply conservative city. Its a choice between sanity and chaos.

Rise of conservative media: Conservatives build own media ecosystem to fight cancel culture

House Speaker Rusty Bowers on Monday called Finchem a very dangerous man and a threat to the Constitution given his refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election.

I dont plan to support anybody who doesnt pass my litmus test of honesty and that honesty is, was it stolen or not. And if you can still believe, after all weve been through and all the rounds of audits and reviews of the processes, that yes it was stolen then you fail my litmus test, he told CNNs Anderson Cooper. I would never vote for Mark Finchem. Im not looking for a fight with Mark Finchem but I know Mark Finchem and frankly, in my opinion, hes a very dangerous man.

He won't take a stand when it matters most

One who might very well become Arizonas next secretary of state  a candidate who has made it clear he would work to overturn any election with which he doesnt agree.

One who, along with Lake, has spent nearly two years telling us that Arizonas elections are corrupt, that dirty elections officials have conspired with global elites to steal that which is most sacred: our vote.

And theyre really good at it. Despite any shred of actual evidence that any of it is true, a shockingly high number of Republicans believe it. Its how we have arrived at this tipping point, with the most extreme slate of candidates that Arizona has ever seen.

Is GOP's 'big tent' shrinking?: Traditional conservatives find themselves without a home.

And a shockingly high number of prominent Republicans  traditional business-oriented conservatives  have stood silently and declined to defend democracy.

Or at least, to defend it now, when it counts the most.

Blame it on Biden, who promised to govern from the center then ran to the left to embrace progressive policies. Biden, who has bungled the border, opening the door for extremists to scream "invasion".

Blame it on Trump, whose grip on the party remains ironfisted demanding fealty only to one man and his grievances and who cares if it tears this country apart.

Blame it the absense of courage to take on a campaign built on a mountain of lies and fueled by absolute, unending outrage.

How does democracy survive? Don't ask Ducey

Less talk, more arrests, Finchem tweeted on Monday.

So says the man who, along with Lake and attorney general candidate Abe Hamadeh, just might succeed in shredding the Constitution.

Its just a piece of paper, after all.

How does a democracy survive when half the people dont believe in it?

Id ask Gov. Ducey but he was busy on Tuesday, campaigning to send Blake Masters to the Senate -- a guy who has said he wouldnt have voted to certify America's vote in 2020.

Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LaurieRoberts.

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 Arizona Republic: Doug Ducey won't stand up to Arizona's MAGA slate when it counts
President Biden on Tuesday said its time for the United States to rethink its relationship with Saudi Arabia, while also defending his visit to the country.

Yes, Biden told CNNs Jake Tapper when asked about whether Washington should reconsider its ties with Riyadh. And by the way, lets get straight why I went. I didnt go about oil.

His comments echo multiple White House officials, who said earlier on Tuesday the president was willing to reevaluate the U.S.-Saudi relationship. The shifting rhetoric comes in the wake of a decision by OPEC+, a group of oil producing nations, to cut supply.

Biden reiterated in the interview that the meeting wasnt about oil and touted recent news that the White House has displayed as deliverables out of his meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah in July.

He noted a deal that the Biden administration successful brokered between Israel and Lebanon delineating maritime boundaries. Additionally, he noted the Saudis decision to lift a ban on Israel flights and that there is movement in terms of how we would deal in the Middle East with aggression from Iran.

Tapper mentioned that Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), called for freezing U.S. cooperation with Saudi Arabia, including spending arm sales, on Monday.

Im not going to get into what Id consider and what I have in mind. But there will be, there will be consequences, Biden said about changes to the U.S.-Saudi conflict.

White House officials have not outlined any specific changes that are on the table and they did not put a timeline on when Biden might come to a decision about how to execute such a change in policy.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Award-winning documentarian and first partner to Californias governor will be one of several high-profile women expected to testify in Harvey Weinsteins upcoming trial.

Legal proceedings for the latest case against Harvey Weinstein, 70, began Monday in a Los Angeles courtroom, where the former Hollywood fixture faces multiple sexual assault charges. Of Weinsteins five accusers in this case  referred to in court documents only as Jane Doe or by their initials  only one has agreed to be publicly identified, her attorney told the Los Angeles Times: Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of California Gov. Gavin Newsom

Like many other women, my client was sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein at a purported business meeting that turned out to be a trap, said attorney Elizabeth Fegan. She intends to testify as his trial in order to seek some measure of justice for survivors and as part of her lifes work to improve the lives of women.

Jennifer Siebel Newsom speaks on stage at Women's March Foundation's National Day of Action!

Jennifer Siebel Newsom speaks on stage at Women's March Foundation's National Day of Action! The "Bans Off Our Bodies" Reproductive Rights Rally. Photo: Getty Images

Fegan said her client will not discuss the matter outside the courtroom.

Of the countless women whove come forward to accuse Weinstein of sexual assault  laying the foundation for the historic #MeToo movement  many are well-known, as echoed by one of Weinsteins attorneys, Mark Werksman, per the Times.

Some of the victims, people will recognize them, Werksman stated. Some of these women, youve seen them in movies, theyve been in ad campaigns, a couple of them have achieved some success as actresses and models.

Public figures whove previously come forward to accuse Weinstein of sexual abuse and other inappropriate behavior include Madonna, Angelina Jolie, Rose McGowan, and the recently-deceased Anne Heche, according to People.

RELATED: What Happened To Robert Berchtold, The Accused Child Predator From 'A Friend Of The Family'?

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One of Weinsteins accusers in the Los Angeles case is said to be Lauren Young, a model and actress who testified in Weinsteins first sexual assault trial in New York, albeit not as a plaintiff: her testimony helped prosecutors illustrate the defendants pattern of abuse, according to the New York Times. Youngs claims match those of complainant Jane Doe 2, the Los Angeles Times noted.

Another accuser, Jane Doe 1, spoke to the L.A. Times under the condition of anonymity but is identified as an Italian model who says Weinstein raped her at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the woman behind documentaries such as The Mask You Live In and Miss Representation, is now identified as the woman referred to in court documents as Jane Doe 4, according to KTLA.

Newsom penned an essay in the HuffPost back in 2017 titled Harvey Weinstein and the End of Open Secrets following coverage by the New York Times, and soon followed it with a second essay titled The Wreckage of Men Like Harvey Weinstein.

Based on my years in the industry and, unfortunately, my own personal experience with Harvey Weinstein, I can tell you that I believe every single word that was written in the extremely disturbing, but not all that shocking, New York Times piece published yesterday, Mrs. Newsom wrote.

Harvey Weinstein arrives at the Manhattan Criminal Court

Harvey Weinstein arrives at the Manhattan Criminal Court, on February 24, 2020 in New York City. Photo: Getty Images

I was naive, new to the industry, and didnt know how to deal with his aggressive advances  work invitations with a friend late-night at The Toronto Film Festival, and later an invitation to meet him about a role in The Peninsula Hotel, where staff were present and then, all of a sudden, disappeared like clockwork, leaving me alone with this extremely powerful and intimidating Hollywood legend, she continued.

Weinstein faces nearly a dozen sexual assault charges in California, including counts of forcible rape, forcible oral copulation, sexual battery by restraint and sexual penetration by use of force. Prosecutors contend the movie mogul assaulted five women in luxury hotels between 2004 and 2013.

Aside from the five accusers, other alleged victims  for whom their allegations did not meet the criteria for this case or whose cases fell under separate jurisdictions  are also expected to testify about their encounters with Weinstein.

Initial charges in the case were filed in 2020 by the Los Angeles County District Attorneys Office, but these proceedings were delayed in light of Weinstein's landmark trial in New York.

Weinstein was found guilty of rape and sexual assault in February 2020 following that trial and sentenced to 23 years in prison.

He still maintains any sexual contact between him and his alleged victims was consensual.

Jury selection began on Monday, and the trial expected to last about eight weeks, according to the New York Times. Weinstein, in ailing health, entered the Los Angeles courtroom in a wheelchair with his assistant, Barbara Schneeweiss, who is also expected to testify in the trial.

Oxy App

As Mr. Weinstein sits before you, he is innocent, Judge Lisa B. Lench reminded potential jurors due to the massive media coverage surrounding the case.

Werksman called the media coverage of his client a P.R. nightmare, citing his clients New York trial as the trial of the century, according to the Los Angeles Times.

There are a lot of people who may not be fluent in, or familiar with, the details, but theyre carrying around this general impression, Werksman stated.

Opening statements by the prosecution and Weinsteins defense are expected to begin in two weeks. If convicted, Weinstein faces up to 135 years behind bars, according to the Times.
The Cosby Show alum Joseph C. Phillips has joined the Clark Atlanta University faculty as a Theatre and Communications Studies professor. On Friday (Oct. 7), the university released a statement regarding their latest hire and praised his previous work within the Black community.

Joseph brings a wealth of awe-inspiring talent, meaningful engagement in the community, and a portfolio of informed, decisive commentary to the University, Dr. George T. French Jr, Clark Atlantas president, expressed. We anticipate that he will inspire independent thinking, civic responsibility, and a passion for interdisciplinary learning in our studentswhich aligns perfectly with our mantra to lift our community by lifting our voices.

More from VIBE.com

On Sunday (Oct. 10), Phillips shared his excitement for the news on his official Facebook account. The secret is out, reads his status update. Im loving my new gig.

Phillips received his BFA in acting in 1983 from New York University after transferring from the University of the Pacific as a communications major. His past academic ventures saw Phillips become a fellow at the Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian College, the Abraham Lincoln Fellow at the Claremont Institute, and the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas. It was at the latter where he orchestrated, wrote, and taught a seven-week course called Black Conservatism in America.

In 2006, Phillips authored his book He Talk Like a White Boy. For eight years, he openly voiced conservative views in his column The Way I See It and has been a regular commentator on NPR and American Urban Radio Network.

During his career as an actor, he played Lt. Martin Kendall on The Cosby Show, Col. Greg Davis in Netflixs 13 Reasons Why, and performed multiple roles in dramas such as How to Get Away with Murder, NCIS, and Good Trouble.

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Professor Phillips has also earned an NAACP Image Award nomination for his portrayal of Attorney Justus Ward in General Hospital.

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a cut out photo of Mauree Turner over a map

In 2022, were witnessing the first wave of Gen Z candidates running for Congress. But were also seeing the first wave of Zoomers running for state and local offices to effect change in their own backyards. Chegg Life sat down with a series of candidates under 30 who will be on the ballot this November. We asked them about the problems theyre running to fix, the importance of local politics and cynicism among young voters. View the whole series here.



Mauree Turner, an organizer with the ACLU of Oklahoma, first ran for the states house of representatives in 2020 at the age of 27. Turner wasnt an I-want-to-be-a-politician type of kid. But growing up queer, Black and Muslim in the Midwest, Turner, who uses they/them pronouns, saw leadership that didnt represent them  from high school student government to college clubs to their work as an activist.

Eventually, some fellow activists asked Turner to step up to the plate and run for office. They beat a moderate Democratic incumbent in the primary and became Americas first nonbinary state legislator and Oklahomas first Muslim lawmaker in any office.

Turners political career hasnt been easy. One of two Democrats in Oklahomas GOP-controlled House, theyve received death threats and been harassed just for showing up to work. But they believe its worth it to keep organizing their community and trying to invite constituents into the political process. Now, theyre running for their second term to fight for fair housing, LGBTQ protections and to help reimagine criminal justice.

How did you become interested in politics?

I got involved in student government in high school because my mom suggested it. I ran for secretary and didnt get it. Someone else did who didnt have the same beliefs as me. That planted that seed of [me thinking] I don't want just anybody representing me.

At Oklahoma State University, I wanted to drop out after my freshman year, but my mom said, I think you should give it more of a shot. At that point, I was just going to class, one club, then bed. So I got involved with student government and ended up working my way to the top. Again, because I saw the people who were going into government and I was like, I certainly don't want to be represented by these people. I also got involved in the NAACP and became the president for the youth division of Oklahoma. I loved seeing the convergence of organizing and community care.

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How did you decide to run for office?

My first job out of college was with the ACLU of Oklahoma. When I started doing community organizing and policy work at the same time, I realized that the folks in the legislature will never have to live on the other side of the decisions they make, like with what's going on right now with abortion. I started asking organizers and folks in my community: Would you run for office? Because we need folks closest to the issues trying to fix them, who are already solving these problems. Pretty soon, people started asking me the same question.

There are so many hurdles to running. When you are marginalized, your whole life comes with you to the capitol. People dont realize how much you risk when you put your name on a ballot as a non-white cis, Christian or Catholic man. I never thought Id be working a job where I got death threats just for showing up to work as a black, Muslim, queer, gender-diverse person. We are charged with not only writing and voting on policy but also educating our communities and folks on both sides of the aisle.

I said, Okay, Im in a somewhat stable position. I was willing to take a leap of faith because that is community organizing: answering a call to action.

What was your first race like?

I never thought wed win in 2020. Political science tells us your first election is about name recognition. Your second or third is about winning. I thought I'd be running again now, maybe win for the first time in 2023.

Whats something you feel proud of accomplishing in your first term?

Im proud of how much Ive been able to continue to organize from my role. We do a lot of organizing and education out of session  dinners, workshops, trainings with community leaders. The number of people whove told us, Ive never gone to a political event, Ive never wanted to be involved with politics, being able to give people like that hope and inspire them to show up and get engaged. Thats been the greatest honor of my life.

So engaging your community feels like a bigger accomplishment than any one piece of legislation.

I am the first Muslim elected in Oklahoma, the first nonbinary person elected in U.S. history. I work in a supermajority of Republicans. These are not common sense folks. These are people who actively want to deny my existence. Its very hard for me to actually push legislation. However, we start a lot of conversations about how we can reimagine justice and society.

Why did you run for this role specifically? Why at the local level?

Its where we needed someone. And its the work I was already doing as an advocate. I wouldnt have run for school board or city council because I have a wonderful city councilor. I primaried a Democrat. He wasnt the worst, but we are a progressive district, so we need to keep pushing to envision a better future in the legislation were writing. Our rep at the time was not doing that.

At the state level, we make policy about things that affect our state. We have the power to give and take state funding and allocate dollars. We deal with law enforcement, district courts, school funding, the minimum wage. For instance, we recently saw a bill that said If you are a school getting state funding, you cant talk about gender or sexuality in diversity trainings, and if you do, well take away state funding. We try to stop things like that.

Whats the single most pressing policy or issue for you?

I grew up with a father and a grandfather who were often in prison, so my big passion is reimagining criminal justice. Not reform, because reform means the system is working but could work better. In reality, criminal justice is working flawlessly  as it was designed  to keep our communities locked up.

We did an interim study about transitional and green zone housing for people whove just gotten out of jail or detention after a long period  when people need help doing things like getting a car and ID. Green zone housing is for people who have a sex offense on their records. Right now, people in those situations often end up on the street, and nobody deserves to live on the street.

What is it like working with your fellow legislators as a queer, Black, Muslim person? How do people treat you?

Entering politics was a shock. I was in a bubble before. I worked in the ACLU, in social justice communities. I didnt realize how much organizing and education I would have to do within the Democratic Party. Folks just werent there yet.

What I think is interesting is that one of the first conversations I had about pronouns was with a 65-year-old white Republican representative in my freshman orientation in the House. One day, we were riding up the elevator, and he said, You mentioned something in orientation about pronouns. I was like, Yes, I did. He said, Okay, so what are your pronouns? I said, My pronouns are they and them. He was like, So what are my pronouns? I was like, Im assuming they might be he/him. He was like, Im older, and I dont get it right all the time but just correct me if I ever get it wrong. It was the sweetest conversation. We dont get to cherry-pick who crosses the finish line of liberation with us. We are continuously expanding our vision of how we can bring people in.

There are a lot of young people running in elections this year. How important is it that young people have representation?

Its so important to see yourself represented. There are good older politicians who will understand you. Before you run, make sure that the person you are running against truly doesnt understand you and isnt willing to learn. However, theres something to be said for getting young folks in office because we just get it quicker. We want things to happen faster. And things happen faster when we dont have to spend time showing the people in power how they screwed up and saying it in a nice tone. Thats how democracy works. If you don't feel represented, if you dont feel listened to, find someone to run against them or run yourself. I worked with my representative for years at the ACLU leading up to running for office. We had a working history that wasn't great. Thats why I decided to run.

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Robert Watson

It only takes 30 seconds. Just a half-minute into Gilla Bands Most Normalthe chaotic Irish noisemaker's brand new and brightest, relatively speaking, LP to dateon opening track The Gum, you know that the quartet has lost none of the ferociousness that established it, making them one of the most thrilling bands of its generation. In fact, The Gum is such a little studio-concocted handful that as the group known until last year as Girl Band prepares to head out on a European tour, its proving to be one of the more challenging to pull off live. It was written in kind of a haphazard way, says bassist, engineer, and preeminent Gilla Band jokester Daniel Fox, with a laugh. All the measures of everything are very unintuitive, and its just a really jerky kind of song. Getting the sounds isnt too hard, but then stitching it all together is challenging. And weve had to come up with some clever ways of being able to some of the effects and things live.

Post-punk, indie rock, art rock, post-Goth, and most frequently, noise rock: all those genre names have been affixed to Gilla Band, but they all struggle to do justice to the sound of this singular outfit. On their first EP, 2012s France 98, released under that previous band name, they toyed with a more traditional chord-driven indie-garage sound. But Gilla Band found its footing by forging a bolder, left-leaning template on the breakout 2014 single Lawman, a ferocious cover of Blawans Why They Hide The Bodies Under My Garage?, and their electrifying 2015 debut album Holding Hands With Jamie. They melded pummeling rhythms, hypnotic grooves, buzzsaw guitars, and all manner of magnificently abrasive sounds and effects with a singer-reciter-shouter-screamer like no other. It was sensational, and they built on the feat again four years later with The Talkies, a denser and more claustrophobic second full-length.

I have now been lucky enough to interview Gilla Band for each of their albums. The day we speak, over Zoom, its three-quarters of the group: Fox, guitarist Adam Duggan, and front man/vocal force of nature Dara Kiely, all in great spirits and eager to discuss Most Normal. (I would later email with drummer Adam Faulkner.) Theres one word they all come back to in contrasting the new album with its predecessors. We wanted the record to be really direct in its sound, says Fox. Part of that directness came from writing and recording in the more intimate confines of their rehearsal spacethe very room from which Duggan is Zooming inand Sonic Studios in central Dublin, where Fox works as an engineer.

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Most Normal was written and recorded in 2020 and 2021. And you know what that means. For the Dubliners, the early months of Covid lockdown meant about a million Zoom meetings, recalls Fox. It was really just an excuse to hang out and have a couple cans. And wed talk about music, but really vague, more talking musical ideas as opposed to concrete ones. One of those early ideas was to make a record contextualized in dreams, something that, once the lads finally were able to meet in person, didnt really come to fruition, though Kiely says he manifested something of a dream state on Backwash a driving banger replete with Kielys trademark wordplayhis deftness with rhyming couplets, or just seemingly free-association references is one of Gilla Bands signatures. Kiely is nothing if not a wordsmith, even when venturing into the goofy. The title Most Normalan excerpt from a lyric in the track I Was Awaymight seem a strange one for a band that is anything but conventional in its sounds or experimental impulses, but, as Kiely says, it was the best of a bad bunch. It was kind of getting close to the deadline, he recalls.

And while the band didnt impose any parameters on the new album as they did with The Talkies, on which they wrote all songs in the key of A and Kiely completely avoided pronouns in all of his lyrics, the pandemic allowed them the time to be more exploratory than ever. Duggan adds that there are plenty of new sounds and textures throughout the LP. We used this self-oscillating noise synth box, and its all over the record, he explains. Theres a lap steel on lots of tracks, theres organs, stuff like that. And then there was little production-y things, like at the start of The Weirds, on Gushie or Pratfallthey all have this like sidechain going on, where it all sort of sucks into the kick.

Gilla Band has had no shortage of challenges in its history, due in part to Kielys struggles with mental health. In the press run before Jamies 2015 releaseincluding in an interview with me for Live Nation TVhe was remarkably, refreshingly candid about a dark psychotic break hed had in which he imagined himself a god. (His encounter with a therapist is memorably, mind-blowingly recounted in the song The Last Riddler.) If that sort of opennessat once discomforting and darkly funnyis more commonplace now, even among male musicians, it wasnt then, and certainly, Kiely says, not within his family, though he adds that they have come a long way since. But riding high on the acclaim of their debut, Gilla Band had to cut short its 2015 tour in the interest of his wellness. There was another similarly truncated tour in 2017, which left the guys, by 2018, if not back at square one then certainly without much of the momentum theyd recently built. All of which, of course, paled in importance to the well-being of a friend and bandmate. But Gilla Band was something of a blank slate with an unknown future when they set about working on The Talkies, a record whose opening track Prolix, meant to record Kielys breathing exercises, a part of his practice of mindfulness meditation, ended up capturing a real-time panic attack. The group wisely supported The Talkies gingerly, with only limited live shows. One bright spot? They could get started on a third album sooner. Then of course, Covid happened. So, yeah: challenges. You cant win.

Photo credit: Mark McGuinness

Or can you? Time can be a healer, and in the case of a band that labors over its songwriting, make for an even more interesting LP. Gilla Band say they are blessed to have in Rough Trade and its founder Geoff Travis, a longtime champion of the band, a label that doesnt sweat them about meeting a deadline. A couple of things immediately stand out about Most Normal. Only one song, centerpiece The Weirds, is longer than five minutesthis from a band known for routinely sailing past that time mark. While they say that wasnt deliberate, its noticeable, as is a more lighthearted touch. On summer single Eight Fiver, Kiely, in very Kiely fashion, rails about spending all my money on shit clothes, rattling off a string of shop names that most Americans might have to Google, with the exception of JCs where he got my bootcut jeans. Im very grateful for a lot of things in my life, Kiely explains. But Ive never thought I looked cool dress-sense wise. And Ive been asked a few times, So what are you shittiest clothes? and um, there was a time whenmy brother was older than me by like ten years. And hes also shorter than me. So I inherited all of his clothes. There would be like, flared jeans that hit my shin, or like a t-shirt that had like a dog on it, just stupid crap. So Ive never really been confident in that way, and I thought it would be interesting to try and do that in a track.

Self-deprecation, thy name is Dara Kiely. For years, knocking himself about his looks, style, hair, weight, confidence, you name it, has been his lyrical muse, though its done in such a wry and witty way that you cant help but chuckle. There was the matter of erectile dysfunction in early single Da Bom Bom, and fan favorite Pears For Lunch immortalized the line I look crap with my top off. On Most Normal its the clothes. Binliner Fashion, a song that ends up in a near primal scream while Duggan wires out and Faulkner rides the snare and hi-hat, actually begins with Kiely musing on dressing in plastic bags and not being able to wear hats. There are dentistry troubles, haircut slags, and a verse on giving up on general hygiene, financial savings, and exercising. He is relentlessly hard on himself, and his self-image was done no favors, he says, by Covid quarantine. I can really go into my head a lot and think about things and take it out on myself, he admits. A lot of it was written when I was in lockdown, and I also turned 30 during then. I just kind of reflected on my life, cause I had a lot of time to think. To be clear, this is a very good-looking guy, who could probably pass for a cousin of Ronan Farrow. But he was hardly a natural born front man. As a kid he was painfully shy, the type to go red in a second and get made fun of for it. Eventually he came out of his shell, but, as he says, pandemic isolation had him fold back inwards. Im kind of creeping out of that now, he adds. He still feels like hes not much of a pure singer, but thats almost beside the pointbetween a droll and deadpan spoken register; a shout tinged with just enough angst; a lilting falsetto thats used sparingly but effectively; and a full-bore scream that could peel the paint off a venues walls, its one of the most extraordinary vocal arsenals I know of, in any genre.

Kielys also found it in himself to be more open than ever on one track. Nowhere on Most Normal does he excel more than on closer Post Ryan, which must be given its own shout-out. It was a tough song to finish, says Fox, one they might not have even been able to complete earlier in the bands history. The song is an electro-stomper, with an infectious beat taken from the old A Flock of Seagulls chestnut I Ran, overlaid with an insistent self-oscillator buzz, Duggan grinding and chiming on guitar, and Kiely, with the most warts-and-all honest lyric hes ever written, less about bad haircuts than actual feelings. Im in between breakdowns / Im constantly in recovery he flatly states. Took it all for granted / Gonna end up homeless.

Theres also tough assessment of his penchant for witty, non-sequitur lyrics: I hid behind the surreal / Im a bit too much? A bit too much for who? I ask. Im just not that comfortable sometimes, he says. So thats why the lyrics were actually difficult, not really to write, but to actually show the guys. And later in the song more musical insecurities creep in: I couldnt sing for shit, so I shout about crisps / And I never take risks. And maybe most wrenching: Ive never been an asset. From an outsiders perspective, such confessions are nothing short of heartbreaking.

But to his mates? The ones who know him best? Theyre actually able to see lightness in the lyrics. That Ive never been an asset line, says Fox. I thought he was saying Ive never been on acid! Likewise, Duggan said he saw humor in much of it, like the crisps line, and one in which Dara evokes his band nickname Safety Thumbsbestowed on him after the guys once saw him bracing himself with his thumbs in a car in LA.that was only going about 45 miles an hour. (Im a very safe guy! laughs Kiely.) I did find a lot of them funny, says Duggan. But heartbreaking as well. Theyre my favorite lyrics on the album, but we just asked him, Are you comfortable with doing this? Disarmingly honest, Faulkner calls them. Quite incredible and revealing. And says Fox: It takes a lot of guts to go out and do that in from of x amount of people. You know, everyone can think negatively about themselves. But not all of us could express it in such a public forum.

Aw thanks, guys, says Kiely, only half-jokingly, adding that he is gratified at the response to the song. Its very therapeutic and a cathartic kind of feeling, writing that way. As the band prepares to head out on the road, Kiely knows its likely hell encounter strangers who approach him wanting to talk about their own mental health. Hes okay with it. I did a university course in Dublin, when we were doing The Talkies, in peer support work, in mental health. I worked in a hospital there, a clinic, where you kind of share experiences and stuff like that. So, Im used to talking to people in that kind of mindset, I guess. And it can be a bit intense, having people come up and say all this stuff, or whatever. But its always really positive.

Photo credit: Mark McGuinness

Finally, I cant let the guys go without addressing the uh, Gilla in the room. It was less than a year agoNovember of 2021that the band known for a decade-plus as Girl Band announced that it was changing its name, along with a statement apologizing for choosing a misgendered name in the first place, and to anyone who has been hurt or affected by it. Whether people thought the change was long overdue or utterly unnecessary is irrelevant to the band. The real question has less to do with the decision than its timing. Fox had been asked by Noisey about the band name and its history of use as a dismissive, demeaning term for women in music as far back as 2015, a few months after FADER included Girl Band in a piece on acts with problematic names. But after a while, the probing seemed to fade, The Talkies came out, the band toured, and the world seemed to have moved on. So why the change in 2021? Fox says the critical press wasnt the point. Our reasoning in coming towards the decision to do it was more of a collective personal arrival, he explains. All four of us thought it was the right thing to do. As opposed to a reactionary one, where it was like, Were getting shit, we should do something about this.

As for the new name, Gilla is an Old Irish given name that, Fox says with a laugh, was the result of a few more Covid Zoom meetings. It was a tedious process, he recalls. Because its a weird thing to do, even though were happy to have done it. Like imagine trying to come up with a new name, if you thought, Okay, I dont feel comfortable being John. Its weird to think about something like that! We knew we wanted to keep the initials and the band part of it. Because it was just changing the word, that was the important thing that we wanted to do. It was likeGloop Band? Go-Go Band? Guinness Band?

And now, for how long do they expect to see their new name with fka Girl Band attached? Oh, that will happen for a bit, for sure. It might happen forever, I dont know! says Duggan, while Fox, who seems to have heard quite enough about the topic, is blunter: I dont really care!

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By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -General Motors Co said on Tuesday it will invest up to $69 million and take an equity stake in Queensland Pacific Metals to secure a new source of nickel and cobalt for battery cells for use in the U.S. automaker's vehicles.

GM said the investment will help support electric-vehicle eligibility for consumer incentives under new, clean energy U.S. tax credits. GM said the nickel laterite ore is expected to be processed using a new, proprietary process that helps reduce waste.

Under a law passed in August, automakers must source battery minerals from countries with free trade agreements in order to qualify for the U.S. consumer EV tax credits.

The GM investment is to assist in the development of its proposed Townsville Energy Chemicals Hub (TECH) Project in Northern Australia. High-grade nickel laterite ore will be imported from nearby New Caledonia, GM said.

GM already has binding agreements securing all battery raw material supporting its goal of 1 million units of annual capacity in North America by the end of 2025.

GM said the "new collaboration builds on those commitments as we look to secure supply through the end of the decade, while also helping continue to expand the EV market."

Queensland Pacific Metals CEO Stephen Grocott said "GMs investment in our company and the associated offtake brings us one step closer towards construction of the TECH Project."

In August, GM said it was prepaying Livent Corp $198 million for a guaranteed six-year supply of lithium, a deal that reflects the auto industry's rising worry about a tightening market for the electric vehicle battery metal.

Prepaying cash for a guaranteed metal supply is unusual in the mining industry. Livent produces lithium in Argentina and has processing facilities in the United States.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Jonathan Oatis and David Gregorio)
Benton Countys formal list of shout-outs and kudos is about to get shorter.

The countys executive board will have to decide who no longer gets days, weeks or months of recognition declared at public meetings after it directed staff Tuesday, Oct. 11 to bring forward fewer but more meaningful proclamations.

County commissioners said they want to save staff time and emphasize key government-community relationships by cutting back its current list of some 30 proclamations per year.

My preference is quality over quantity, said Xan Augerot, county commissioner.

The county is trying to streamline its workload, Administrator Joe Kerby said.

Staff estimated they spend 90 minutes to three hours vetting the language and messaging in proclamations, read by Benton Countys board of commissioners as a symbolic show of support.

If writing from scratch, the county spends as many as five hours on a proclamation, according to Cory Grogan, county spokesperson.

And each proclamation touches three to four county employees.

Grogan didnt say how much time the county spends on all proclamations collectively. But that time would amount to three weeks of work if one employee were responsible for all 30 proclamations, assuming an average four hours for each.

Staff members try to fit proclamations to one page, apply standard phrasing and proofread. Some proclamations go past county department-specific subject matter experts.

Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Corvallis Gazette-Times.

Signed proclamations are distributed to community leaders, advocates, and others considered stakeholders in county recognition.

The county develops messaging about proclamations for social media platforms, where it builds up fast, Grogan said.

It can start to oversaturate our accounts, he said.

Staff recommended alternating some proclamations to be made every other year, but commissioners worried how their selection may signal to Benton County that some causes are less important.

You are making a choice  yes we will observe this one, Commissioner Nancy Wyse said.

Some annual announcements have long focused on uplifting people with identities minoritized by governments and their constituents. November, for example, is routinely observed as Native American and Alaska Native Heritage Month. County and city leadership commonly declare June as Pride Month.

But they only get more specific from there.

Last month, the county invited Casa Latinos Unidos Director Ricardo Contreras and the chairs of the Linn-Benton Hispanic Advisory Committee to its proclamation of Hispanic Heritage Month, Sept. 15 to Oct. 15.

A county employee read the proclamation in English and Spanish.

Benton commissioners signed a proclamation in 2020 thanking 4-H volunteers for responding to the Labor Day wildfires. County proclamations have sought to recognize preventing child abuse and neglect, and the work of emergency dispatch operators.

April has been declared National County Government Month.

Part of the countys job now will be deciding who gets a more personal touch.

Wyse cautioned the board to be mindful of who ends up reflected in county proclamations.

We are a very liberal board, she said. Ensure if we start picking and choosing, its not biased for our views.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has sought to reassure summer signing Darwin Nunez there are no worries about his contribution or form.

The Uruguay international arrived in June for an initial 64million fee  which could rise to a club-record 85m  but the start of his Anfield career has not gone to plan.

Nunez scored in his first two appearances before being sent off against Crystal Palace in mid-August and on his return from suspension he has drawn a blank in four appearances, the last three of which have come as a substitute.

The spotlight shines on the former Benfica strikers performances even more due to fellow summer arrival Erling Haalands incredible impact at Premier League rivals Manchester City.

But Klopp and his coaching staff have moved to reassure Nunez.

Only yesterday we had a long talk  with Pep Lijnders (assistant manager) because my Portuguese is still not better  and we just told him we are really calm, said Klopp.

Its really important in our situation that he isnt looking like he is worrying or whatever.

The team is not flying, and that makes it not easier for a striker, especially not for a finisher.

Its not that we arent creating chances, but its not like everything is clicking and we put in one player and he finishes our situation off.

Thats not our situation at the moment as much as I wish it would be. Thats all.

Left-back Kostas Tsimikas, currently deputising for the injured Andy Robertson, has also found it a difficult time to come into the side.

He made only his third start of the season in Saturdays 3-3 draw against Brighton but was also affected by the lack of confidence which is currently affecting the side.

Jurgen Klopp has admitted Liverpool are in a bad moment (Peter Byrne/PA)

I will not find excuses, we have got good players and we have to be focused 100 per cent for every challenge we face, he said.

It is a bad moment. It is not a tactical issue or something because we do exactly the same thing like the previous years, with the same players.

Its not possible that everybody forgets the tactics and game plan of the manager.

How we play is the same, like the last years. Obviously last year we had the same structure, the same tactic and we went through in every competition.

We won the two cups and we lost the Premier League by one point and we went to the final of the Champions League.
Leaked audio of three Los Angeles City Council members and a local union leader making controversial and racist remarks created a firestorm in the California city this week.

The controversy led to the resignation on Monday of L.A. City Council President Nury Martinez, who was caught on the tapes making widely criticized racist remarks about African Americans and other ethnic groups.

On Monday night, L.A. County Labor Federation President Ron Herrera also resigned from his job after criticism he faced over comments in the leaked audio, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Heres everything you need to know about the scandal.

Martinez made the most criticized remarks

During a private October 2021 meeting, Martinez, Herrera and city council members Gil Cedillo and Kevin de Leon discussed a wide variety of topics.

When discussing L.A. District Attorney George Gascon, Martinez can be heard saying, F that guy, hes with the Blacks.

Martinez also made a racist remark about the Black son of Mike Bonin, a white council member.

And then theres this white guy, with his little Black kid, whos misbehaved, Martinez said. She proceeded to say the child looks like a little monkey in Spanish. Theyre raising him like a little white kid, which, I was like, this kid needs a beatdown.

Martinez later said Bonin thinks hes f Black and made other offensive remarks about a Hispanic Koreatown neighborhood, calling its residents short, dark people.

The group also discussed Black political power and how to favorably redistrict so the participants of the conversation could stay in office.

The leaked audio led to widespread condemnation

The audio originally leaked on Reddit over the weekend before it was taken down. The Los Angeles Times first reported on the tapes.

Outraged protesters marched toward Martinezs home on Sunday and demanded she immediately resign from her post, while local, state and national leaders all condemned the remarks.

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Bonin released a statement calling for Martinez, Herrera and de Leon to resign from their positions while he expressed disapproval that Cedillo had a tacit acceptance of the remarks.

We are appalled, angry and absolutely disgusted that Nury Martinez attacked our son with horrific racist slurs, and talked about her desire to physically harm him, Bonin said. Its vile, abhorrent, and utterly disgraceful.

Bonin added that his son was three years old at the time he was apparently misbehaving during a 2017 parade referenced by Martinez.

It hurts that one of our sons earliest encounters with overt racism comes from some of the most powerful public officials in Los Angeles, Bonin said in his statement.

The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials also called for Martinez, who is Latina, to resign, while L.A. Police Chief Michel Moore said it was a dark day for our City of Angels.

U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) also condemned the remarks and called for all three council members to resign.

As a father, I am offended that an innocent child was a target of these remarks, Padilla said in a statement. At a time when our nation is grappling with a rise in hate speech and hate crimes, these racist comments have deepened the pain that our communities have endured. Los Angeles deserves better.

Council members quickly apologized

In statements to several news outlets, all three council members swiftly apologized for the controversial discussion.

Martinez said later in a resignation statement that she was ashamed and sorry for what she said.

As someone who believes deeply in the empowerment of communities of color, I recognize my comments undercut that goal. Going forward, reconciliation will be my priority, she said. I have already reached out to many of my Black colleagues and other Black leaders to express my regret in order for us to heal.

In a statement to NBC Los Angeles, de Leon apologized for the wholly inappropriate comments.

I regret appearing to condone and even contribute to certain insensitive comments made about a colleague and his family in private. Ive reached out to that colleague personally, he said. On that day, I fell short of the expectations we set for our leaders  and I will hold myself to a higher standard.

Cedillo, who appeared not to have made any controversial comments himself, apologized for not intervening in a statement to CNN.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
With the Nov. 8 election less than a month away, officials are warning residents to be wary of misinformation and potential scammers looking to influence their attempts to vote.

Lebanon Countys Bureau of Registration and Elections is preparing to send out mail-in ballots shortly. Officials are projecting more than 12,000 requests for mail-in ballots.

"We have them, but we don't want to send anything out before they go through all the (Logic and Accuracy) testing," Sean Drasher, the bureau's director, said. "The ballot is the ballot, but it's just verifying that the ballots go through every single machine."

Mail-in ballots must be in the hands of election officials by 8 p.m. on Nov. 8. Any ballots received after that date, even those with a Nov. 8 postmark, are invalid.

Voter Fraud:Unfounded voter fraud claims have brought attempts toward stricter voting laws in Pennsylvania

Voter Guide:Election 2022: Your guide to the 102nd state House seat

In most of September, the county election bureau was getting a high number of Right-to-Know requests for voting and election-related records. But since news stories hit the media, Drasher said the requests have started to subside.

"For weeks there we were getting overwhelmed," he said. "But I'm more concerned with vote disinformation...It's a lot of half-truth kind of stuff where they say something that is truthful, but then they offer further guidance that's not helpful or flat out wrong."

Officials have been warning residents about fraudulent text messages and mass mailings from outside groups that look like they are coming from the county election bureau. Drasher said the election's office does not use text messaging, and infrequently sends out mass mailings.

If residents receive a mail-in or absentee ballot in the mail that they did not request, they are asked to contact county election officials.

"If you are turning in your mail-in ballot to vote in-person, totally fine, but you have to bring in the full mail-in ballot package with you including the envelope," Drasher said.

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Drasher added that the envelope has a barcode that the office traces along with the ballot.

On Thursday, Commissioners approved the purchase of a $180,000 mail sorting system and services from Runbeck Election Services headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. This system would help with mail-in ballots and absentee ballots.

"It matches up the inbound mail we get to the voter record including signature matching, which is pretty amazing," Drasher said. "It then sorts it by either precinct or tray. It's very flexible in how we organize it and set things up once we roll it out."

The new system will handle all of the office's inbound mail for elections, with Drasher saying the big benefit is it will generate a file that updates the state database. The system is already rolled out to several counties.

"Theoretically, this (system) would eliminate errors in input...human errors of scanning things in when you are doing that much mail," he said.

The purchase of this new system was through a portion of a $466,606 state election grant that commissioners voted to accept in September.

Voter's Guide:Election 2022: Your guide to the 101st state House race

Voter's Guide:Election 2022: Your guide to the 48th state Senate race

The registration deadline to vote in the Nov 8 elections is Oct. 24. The last day to request a mail-in or absentee ballot is Nov. 1.

Matthew Toth is a reporter for the Lebanon Daily News. Reach him at mtoth@ldnews.com or on Twitter at @DAMattToth.

This article originally appeared on Lebanon Daily News: Lebanon County voters asked to be wary of scammers and misinformation
Use these fall-themed promo codes to score the deal.

Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for Avelo Air

Avelo Airlines is embracing the fall season  specifically pumpkin spice lattes  with a sale offering up to 60% off flights.

The new regional airline is offering deals on travel through winter of next year as well as throughout the fall season with three different promo codes, according to Avelo. To take advantage of the sale, travelers must book a one way or round trip flight by 11:59 p.m. PT on Oct. 13.

Snag 33% off flights between Oct. 18 and Nov. 17 with the promo code PUMPKIN, get 40% off flights from Nov. 30 to Dec. 16 with the promo code SPICE, and get 60% off a flight for travel from Jan. 3, 2023, through Feb. 15, 2023, with the promo code LATTE.

To book, travelers must enter the promo code when they begin their search on the Avelo website. A $20 fee will be charged for any bookings or changes made through Avelos Customer Support Center.

Avelo launched last year as a low-cost carrier out of the Hollywood Burbank Airport in Los Angeles and has since expanded to the East Coast. In addition to LA, the airline has bases in Connecticuts Tweed-New Haven Airport, Fort Myers Southwest Florida International Airport, and in Orlando International Airport. The airline now flies to more than 30 destinations across the United States.

The carrier operates a fleet of Boeing 737 aircraft, including the Next-Generation 737-700s and 737-800s.

Last week, Avelo completed its 10,000th flight between Chicago and New Haven, CT, according to the airline. The carrier dubbed the flight the Pizza Express.

Every time one of our airplanes takes off, we are bringing Avelos Purpose  to Inspire Travel  to life, Avelo Airlines Chairman and CEO Andrew Levy said in a statement. With 31 beautiful and popular destinations to choose from  and more on the way  it wont be long before we are celebrating Avelos 25,000th departure.



For more Travel & Leisure news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on Travel & Leisure.
FBI agents and local police are scrambling to locate a missing 20-month-old child who vanished from his home in Georgia roughly five days ago.

Quinton Simon was reported missing by his family on Oct. 5 after his mother was unable to locate the toddler at their house on Buckhalter Road in Savannah, Georgia, according to the Chatham County Police Department.

Police said the boyfriend of the childs mother woke up and saw Simon at approximately 6 a.m. on the morning he disappeared. When his mother, Lelani Simon, woke up hours later, the child was nowhere to be found. She phoned police at approximately 9:42 a.m. to report her son missing.

As of Monday morning, police said there were no new significant updates in the case to report.

Investigators said foul play isnt currently suspected in Simons disappearance. An Amber Alert was never issued because there wasnt sufficient evidence to indicate the child was abducted, police said at the time.

RELATED: Missing California Woman Jolissa Fuentes Disappearance Now A 'Criminal Matter,' Police Say

As of this time, we have not had any evidence to lead us to believe foul play, Hadley told reporters on Oct. 6. But everythings on the table, honestly. Were looking at this from many different angles.

Investigators also acknowledged the childs parents were cooperating with detectives.

At this point, theyre victims, they are dealing with the loss of a child, Hadley added. They are worrying and wondering where he may be at. As any of us, if you were in that position, I would be terrified. Having six children of my own, if one of my children went missing, Id be a mess quite frankly.

A police handout of Quinton Simon

Quinton Simon Photo: Chatham County Police Department

Simon lived with his 22-year-old mother, her boyfriend, his 3-year-old brother and his maternal grandparents at the time of his disappearance, according to Savannah television station WJCL. Police said theyd previously been dispatched to the home on two separate occasions in the past two years. Authorities didnt elaborate on the nature of the calls.

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According to court documents cited by the outlet, the childs grandmother, Billie Jo Howell, previously tried to remove Simons mother, Leilani, and her boyfriend, Daniel Youngkin, from the property prior to the 20-month-olds disappearance. The child's grandparents reportedly have custody of Simon and his older sibling.

A still from Peacock's A Friend of the Family

In the days since Simons disappearance, police have scoured the surrounding neighborhood by foot, on horseback, with K-9 units, drones and a helicopter equipped with heat-seeking technology. Officials said a pond was also searched.

The FBI, along with multiple local law enforcement agencies, including the Savannah Police Department, the Liberty County Sheriffs Office are assisting local authorities as well.

FBI Atlanta is assisting the Chatham County Police Department with the case of missing toddler Quinton Simon," Jenna Sellitto, a spokesperson for the FBI, told Oxygen.com on Monday afternoon. "We will spare no resource when it comes to locating Quinton and bringing him home.

Chatham County Police, who also vowed theyll continue to aggressively investigate the 20-month-olds disappearance, said that finding Simon is the departments highest priority. Last week, police said many officers were clocking 18- to 20-hour shifts as searches for the toddler continued.

Oxy App

I hope hes still alive, Hadley said. "We don't have any information to believe hes not. But statistically, we know how these cases may end up. Were going to hold out hope hes alive, that we can find him and bring him home safely to his parents.

Investigators are now begging the public to come forward with any information regarding the toddlers whereabouts.

This is a fluid situation, Hadley also said last week. All things are still possible. We dont have one concrete theoryall things are possible.

Simon was last seen wearing a light blue Sesame Street t-shirt and black pants.

Anyone with additional information pertaining to Simons whereabouts is urged to contact the cases tip line at 912-667-3134. Tips can be submitted anonymously. Possible sightings of Simon should be reported by calling 9-11.
Photo credit: Hearst Owned

Photo credit: Hearst Owned

Right now, North Carolina is considered a critical access point in the South when it comes to reproductive health care. Unlike in many of the neighboring states, abortionup to 20 weeksis still legal for North Carolinians and the people who travel there. (It is, however, not the most accessible: There is a mandatory 72-hour waiting period between your first appointment and when an abortion can actually be performed, and medication abortions must be provided in person.) That precious right is hanging on by a thread though, with the states Republican state legislative majority holding a big pair of scissors this Election Day.



Stick with me while I quickly run you through the numbers. The Republican party currently has a majority in both chambers of the North Carolina General Assembly: 69 seats in the state House and 28 in the state Senate. But luckily for those of us who believe in the right to choose, the states governor is the vocally pro-choice Democrat Roy Cooper, and he has veto power over any legislation that passes through the assembly. Republicans, however, are hoping that this November, theyll gain even more seats3 more in the House and 2 in the Senatethus winning a supermajority, which would allow them to bypass the governors veto. Yep, theyd be unstoppableliterally.

And heres what theyve already promised to do with that power, should they nab the supermajority: Speaker of the House Tim Moore said that in 2023, once the midterms are settled, the party will introduce a heartbeat bill, which typically limits abortions after 6 weeks, before most people know they are pregnant.

Such legislation would be devastating for people not only in North Carolina but also across the entire South: In August, more than 33 percent of abortion patients at NC Planned Parenthood centers traveled from other states, up from 14 percent before the Dobbs decision.

Right now, people across the South are turning to North Carolina for the compassionate care theyre being denied in their home state, confirms Jenny Black, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Votes! South Atlantic. North Carolina voters must cast their ballots for reproductive champions up and down the ballot if health care providers are going to be able to continue rising to the challenge of this moment, both for North Carolinians and for the many other desperate and deserving patients in need across the South.

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In order to stop Republicans from taking a supermajority in the general assembly, its crucial that incumbent Democrats hold on to their seats and that other seats flip to blue. Each North Carolina voter is designated one state House rep and one state Senator, with their district and candidate determined by where they live. Here, were focusing on the pro-choice candidates in the states tightest races, which happen to be concentrated in the states most populous (and/or most affluent) areas: incumbent Sydney Batch, a social worker and family law attorney running for Senate District 17 in the Raleigh suburbs; Marcia Morgan, a teacher and retired Army colonel running for Senate District 7 around city of Wilmington; Christy Clark, a small-business attorney and educator running for the House District 98 in the Charlotte suburbs; and Amy Block DeLoach, a stay-at-home mom who volunteers with organizations dedicated to sexual assault and human trafficking, who is running for the House of Representatives in District 20 in the Wilmington coastal suburbs.

Photo credit: Hearst Owned

Photo credit: Hearst Owned

What first made you interested in politics?

I never thought I would be a politician, but I was recruited by two organizations that recruit pro-choice women to run for office. At the time, my children were 5 and 7 years old and I was busy running my own small law firm. After speaking with the organizations about our state government, I realized that as an attorney, social worker, mother of two young children, and person of color, voices like mine and the clients I represent are often ignored when legislation is being passed. So after a lot of consideration, I decided to run for office because I believe an effective government should look like the diverse people that it serves.

Whats a moment from your career thus far that youre really proud of?

In 2019, Governor Cooper vetoed an anti-abortion bill, and NC legislative Republicans were determined to override his veto. They were so determined that the Speaker of the House, fully aware that I was still recovering from a mastectomy less than two weeks earlier due to my breast cancer diagnosis, called the veto-override vote while I was out on medical leave. He knew that the best opportunity to override the governors veto was to call for the vote while I was out. I came to session less than two weeks after my surgery to ensure that anti-abortion legislation would not be passed in our state. I am extremely proud that the bill never became law.

What experiences in your life have shaped your view on reproductive justice?

My mother is an ob-gyn and has been a staunch advocate for womens rights her entire life. She raised my sisters and me to be strong, independent, and educated women. She also taught us that womens achievements and contributions to our society are often overlooked due to how success is measured and that to achieve ones goals, a woman must have bodily autonomy to dictate if, when, and how she becomes a parent. She has been instrumental in assisting women to receive the reproductive health care they need and deserve.

What, if any, abortion law in your state needs to change?

Currently, North Carolina has a 20-week abortion ban with very few exceptions. I believe NC should codify the holdings in Roe v. Wade and Casey v. Planned Parenthood, and I am a cosponsor of a bill that was filed in the NC Senate this year to do just that.

How have you felt about your partys response to the overturning of Roe?

I believe that the NC Democratic party has been effective in discussing the importance of the Dobbs decision and what it means for abortion access if we return to a GOP supermajority this upcoming election. We openly talk about the fact that, effectively, NC is the last place in the South where abortion access has not been severely restricted and how millions of women must rely on North Carolina Democrats to hold the line and sustain our Democratic governors veto on anti-abortion legislation.

What connection, if any, does abortion access have to broader freedoms in the U.S.?

If a woman cannot control her own body, it makes it even more difficult for her to control her own future. Restricting a womans bodily autonomy is just one example of how our constitutional rights may be affected based on the U.S. Supreme Court and our state legislatures. Since the Dobbs decision, we have seen states across this country severely restrict abortion access, and we have heard Republican politicians discuss their desire for the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn other laws regarding same-sex marriage, voting rights, and other legislations.

What first made you interested in politics?

After the 2016 election and the feeling of devastation that followed, it became obvious to me that voting wasnt enoughthose who could do more should do more. Although I was happily retired, I felt compelled to return to public service in an attempt to bring sanity, humanity, and common sense back to government and politics. I committed to stepping outside of my comfort zone and running for office, realizing that my experience in public schools and the military would be valuable to the NC General Assembly.

Whats a moment from your career thus far that youre really proud of?

With an unusual career path before retiringI was a public school teacher and college professor before spending 25 years in the Army and retiring as a colonelIve had many proud moments in my work life. When I was the first female company commander in the 2nd Infantry Division in Korea, the man I chose to be my senior enlisted person marched into my office and announced, I aint never worked for no female and I aint gonna start now. We worked together for a year, and when I left to take another post, he cried. I was able to prove to him that a woman could do the job just as well as or better than a manand I know he went on to support other female officers throughout the rest of his career.

What experiences in your life have shaped your view on reproductive justice?

My mother, as a teen, had a very good friend who bled out from an [illegal] abortion. She shared her memory of that experience with me as an example of how fundamental safe, legal abortions are to saving livesso for me, reproductive justice has never been a question.

What, if any, abortion law in your state needs to change?

Soon after Roe v. Wade was overturned at the federal level, a judge reinstated North Carolinas ban on abortion after 20 weeks. But the Republican myth of abortion up to the moment of birth is just that: a myth. Many fetal anomalies that are incompatible with life cannot be detected until later in pregnancy. Women deserve the right to make choices about their lives and their reproductive health with their families and doctors; legislators do not belong in the exam room.

How have you felt about your partys response to the overturning of Roe?

Democrats are understandably disheartened by the overturning of Roe v. Wade. With the decision, many states are relegating women to the status of second-class citizens incapable of determining their reproductive futures. Like other Democrats, I vow to fight this assault on womens rights while simultaneously fighting against the erosion of other individual rightslike LGBTQ rights, voting rights, and rights for minorities.

What connection, if any, does abortion access have to broader freedoms in the U.S.?

Womens rights are human rights, period. Im concerned about the increase in political attacks on individual rightson women, the LGBTQ community, minorities, and others. Like most Americans, I realize that this is a slippery slope. Whats next: banning access to contraception? Striking down same-sex-marriage laws?

What first made you interested in politics?

Following the 2012 mass shooting in Sandy Hook, I got involved in Moms Demand Action as a volunteer leader. At the time, North Carolina had a veto-proof supermajority. We made many trips to the state capitol to visit legislators and fight against dangerous legislation. The first time I walked in, I realized that the general assembly truly is the peoples house. Right then, a seed was planted.

Whats a moment from your career thus far that youre really proud of?

When I won my first election in 2018, I was part of a group of Democrats that broke the Republican supermajority. The legislature passed an anti-choice bill in my first session, and our governor vetoed the bill. Ultimately, the Republicans brought the bill forward for a veto override. Democrats in the House sustained the veto, much to the surprise of the Republicans. It was the first major piece of vetoed legislation that was sustained since the broken supermajority.

What, if any, abortion law in your state needs to change?

In North Carolina, we have laws that allow health care providers to refuse an abortion. NC also has Targeted Regulations of Abortion Providers (TRAP), forcing health care providers to submit medical records to the state for review, forced waiting periods, and biased counseling requirements. NC also funds crisis pregnancy centers with our tax dollars. These facilities are intent on dissuading women from having an abortion and not helping them obtain prenatal care. All of these laws should be repealed.

How have you felt about your partys response to the overturning of Roe?

The reversal of Roe means that elections are more important than ever. Theres an urgency that must be shared with votersparticularly in North Carolina, where Republicans are working toward a supermajority. We are on the right side of history, but we can always be better at conveying the message that stresses the importance of your vote.

What connection, if any, does abortion access have to broader freedoms in the U.S.?

When rulings are made at the Supreme Court that reverse a 50-year law, it means any right that was conveyed by a SCOTUS decision can be overturned. This includes marriage equality and access to birth control.

What first made you interested in politics?

My grandmother served as our first female mayor pro tem [Editors note: This means she was basically deputy mayor and had mayoral authority in the mayors absence] of the Wilmington City Council in the early 1960s, and my father served as a state senator in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Politics and community service are very important to my family. My first real involvement in politics was in college, when I worked on a gubernatorial campaign. Ive always looked at politics as a way to make positive change in my community, and right now, we need someone to fight to protect our rights in Raleigh.

Whats a moment from your career thus far that youre really proud of?

I was a stay-at-home mom and am thankful for the opportunity to be with my children every day as they grew up. My son was born with a life-threatening brain tumor and had major brain surgery. The day he graduated from college was my proudest moment, thinking about where he started and all that he accomplished. I was also proud to serve on many different boards in our community, from helping victims of trafficking or rape to helping ensure a beautiful local museum for our children. I am also the first female president of my synagogue.

What experiences in your life have shaped your view on reproductive justice?

When my grandmother was born, she did not have access to the ballot box. When my mother was born, contraceptives were difficult, if not illegal, to obtain. When I was born, abortion was illegal, and when my daughter was born, gay marriage was illegal. We have had a slow but steady march forward for the past 100 yearsuntil now. It never occurred to me that women would not have complete autonomy over their own bodies. Starting a family was an exciting but demanding time for me. I couldnt imagine being forced to give birth when I wasnt ready. Weve taken a step back, but this fight is not over. Our mothers and grandmothers fought together to win these rights and now its up to us to fight together to win them back.

What, if any, abortion law in your state needs to change?

In North Carolina, its less about a law that needs to be changed and more about preserving our governors veto power against bad bills that the Republicans are likely to cook up in the next session. I am one of a handful of races across the state that can help ensure that the restrictive laws were seeing across the South dont become the law in North Carolina.

How have you felt about your partys response to the overturning of Roe?

The North Carolina Democratic Party has said in no uncertain terms that we are opposed to the overturning of Roe. I feel their response has been appropriate, as we should all understand the gravity of that decision.

What connection, if any, does abortion access have to other freedoms in the U.S.?

Abortion rights are inexorably tied to freedom. I am a strong believer in our personal freedoms as Americans, and thats why I am pro-choice. I also fear that as these rights are stripped away, other important freedoms will also be at risk.

Photo credit: Hearst Owned

Photo credit: Hearst Owned

Photo credit: Hearst Owned

Icon illustrations by John Francis.



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HOLLAND  The Democratic candidate for Michigans 86th House District says a recent report about his past criminal history is true, but doesn't reflect who he is today.

Larry Jackson, a democratic candidate for Michigan's 86th district, talks to a crowd of supporters during his campaign kickoff Friday, April 22, 2022, at Brew Merchant in Holland.

Candidate Larry Jackson, of Holland, was charged for a variety of offenses more than 10 years ago in Virginia and the Chicagoland area. Lansing-based MIRS was first to report on the arrests.

Jackson is running against former Holland mayor Nancy DeBoer in the newly drawn 86th District, which includes Holland, Holland Township, Park Township and Laketown Township. The election is Tuesday, Nov. 8.

More:Navy veteran Larry Jackson running for Holland-area House seat

More:Two Republicans running in primary to represent Holland in Michigan House District 86

Jackson was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon without a permit in Virginia Beach in 2005, to which he pleaded guilty. He was also found guilty of public drunkenness in Hampton County, Virginia, that year.

In 2008, Jackson pleaded guilty to a DUI in Virginia Beach and was found guilty of disorderly conduct in Norfolk. He also had eight separate charges of driving with a suspended license over a six-year period while in Virginia, where he was serving in the United States Navy.

In 2012, Jackson was charged with providing officers with a fraudulent ID. He pleaded guilty to one charge and the other was dismissed. Jackson told MIRS that his ID was outdated after moving from Virginia.

Larry Jackson poses for a portrait during his campaign kickoff for state representative at Brew Merchant in Holland.

Jackson addressed the past charges in a statement, saying the reports are true and from a time he regrets.

The reports in the story are true and represent moments in my life that I regret and am not proud of, his statement reads. The unfortunate part about running for office is that all of your mistakes are laid bare before the public. I owned up to them when they happened, just as I am owning up to them now.

That being said, these incidents do not define who I am today. Since these incidents, the most recent being 10 years ago, I have grown as a person. I wake up every day committed to being a better person than I was the day before. I will not let these moments from my past deter me from being the man I am today  a man committed to his family and his community.

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In addition to the past criminal charges, several social media posts from Jackson in 2012 and 2013 containing lewd content, anti-women and anti-Hispanic messaging have surfaced.

The posts were discovered on Jacksons Instagram page, which is no longer active as of Tuesday afternoon.

Jackson told MIRS that the posts were a long time ago and said I dont even remember that Instagram post necessarily, when asked about specific posts.

Subscribe:Receive unlimited access to your local news coverage

House Minority Leader Donna Lasinksi called the reports disturbing and disappointing.

This is the first we are learning of this and it is disturbing and disappointing, Lansinski told MIRS. The Michigan Democratic Fund has not invested in this race.

Jackson, 39, moved to Holland in 2021 after previously living in Spring Lake Township, Chicago and Virginia.

Jackson worked in IT during his time with the Navy. After exiting the services, he volunteered with the Chicago Eco House, a nonprofit focused on alleviating urban poverty. He served as the organization's board vice president from 2014-15.

 Contact reporter Mitchell Boatman at mboatman@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @SentinelMitch.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Report reveals past arrests, lewd posts from 86th District candidate Larry Jackson
Arizona Corporation Commission candidates and moderators prepare for debate at the PBS studio at ASU's Cronkite School of Journalism on Sep 12, 2022 in Phoenix, AZ. Left to right: Sandra Kennedy, Nick Myers, Richard Ruelas, Ted Simons, Kevin Thompson, and Lauren Kuby.

The Arizona Republic sent policy questions to candidates running for the Arizona Corporation Commission to help voters understand their views as they relate to this important state office.

Two of the five seats on the commission are on the November ballot, and there are two Republicans and two Democrats in the race.

Republicans Nick Myers and Kevin Thompson chose to answer the questions together.

Myers is a policy advisor to Commissioner Justin Olson, who is leaving office. Myers has experience dealing with commission issues through a prolonged dispute with the notorious Johnson Utilities water and sewer company in the far east valley.

Thompson is a Mesa councilman who previously worked as a lobbyist for Southwest Gas Corp., one of the larger utilities regulated by the Commission.

Democrats Sandra Kennedy and Lauren Kuby answered individually.

Kuby, until recently, served as a Tempe councilwoman. She works at Arizona State University managing the Stardust Center for Affordable Homes and the Family, and where she also has the title of Senior Global Futures Scientist at ASUs Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory.

Kennedy is a former state lawmaker seeking a second term on the Commission. Kennedy also served a term from 2009-2012.

The Corporation Commission sets rates and policies for utilities like Arizona Public Service Co. It also oversees pipeline safety, railroad crossings, securities investments and other duties.

Renewable energy

Question: It's already established that the Democrats in this race believe in setting renewable energy requirements for utilities while the Republicans oppose such mandates.

Can you state whether the use of natural gas for such a substantial portion of Arizonas electricity is a problem, and why or why not? If it is a problem in your belief, what should Corporation Commissioners do about it, if anything? (Natural gas provided 43% of Arizonas electricity in 2021).

Kevin Thompson, left, and Nicholas Myers, right, take a photo together before a debate for the office of Arizona Corporation Commissioner on Wednesday, June 22, 2022, in Phoenix.

Myers and Thompson: Title 15 of the Arizona Constitution sets forth two overarching responsibilities of the Arizona Corporation Commission with respect to the regulation and oversight of public utilities: to protect consumers through the setting of just and reasonable utility rates, and to ensure the utility grids remain reliable and stable. It is incumbent on the ACC to ensure the public utility proposes and constructs the most reliable form of electric generation at the most affordable cost. In 2021, 99% of Arizonas total electricity generation was provided from six sources: natural gas (43%), nuclear (28%), coal (13%), solar (9%), hydroelectric (5%) and wind (1%).

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When the government mandates electric generation types and forms, it becomes a direct contradiction to the Commissions responsibility to protect consumers. To illustrate, we need only to examine the consequences of the 2006 Renewable Energy Standard and Tariff (REST) rules promulgated by the ACC to require 15% of electrical generation be derived from renewable sources by 2025. Pursuant to that mandate, the ACC forced Arizona Public Service to enter into a 30-year contract at an uneconomic rate of over four times the cost of electricity generated from natural gas. Seven years later APS customers are still paying for that, and will continue to do so until the year 2045.

Mandates result in cost shifts which unfairly and improperly burden working families. They drive up prices, and also result in the accelerated application of technology before it is cost-effective with proven reliability. As Commissioners, Kevin Thompson and Nick Myers will faithfully uphold their constitutional charge to protect Arizonas rate payers by supporting all forms of power generation  whether nuclear, natural gas, hydroelectric, wind, solar, or hydrogen  and ensuring that the least cost power generation is approved that will protect the reliability of the electrical grid.

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Kennedy: Yes, Arizonas overdependence on natural gas is a problem. We replaced one dirty fossil fuel with another by switching from coal to natural gas, and the recent spike in natural gas prices has hit Arizona ratepayers hard as a result. While the climate and health benefits of renewable energy have always been clear, we now live in an era where solar and wind are also the best financial deal for ratepayers, by far. It is a Commissioners duty to ensure utilities do what is right for ratepayers and for the advancement of Arizona, otherwise they will simply do what benefits utility investors and is easiest.

We have more than enough proof, solar should be the centerpiece of our energy system complemented by energy storage and wind, with existing nuclear and natural gas filling in gaps as storage technologies develop. We also must reassert Arizonas leadership position on energy efficiency that we have lost in recent years.

Lauren Kuby, who is running for a seat on the Corporation Commission, speaks at an Arizona Democratic Party Unity Rally with statewide candidates to energize Democratic voters and volunteers ahead of the November election at Carpenters Union Hall on Saturday, Aug. 27, 2022.

Kuby: Commissioner Kennedy and I are strong proponents of setting renewable energy (and energy efficiency) requirements for utilities, while our Republican opponents would like to eliminate these rules, wherein consumers can hold the utilities accountable. Those rules, established in 2006 have resulted in over $2 billion in savings for consumers, 14 power plants avoided and 23 billion gallons of water conserved.

Natural gas (also called fossil gas) is the dominant energy source in Arizona (43% of our electricity generation) and is imported into Arizona from Texas and New Mexico. In addition to costing more than solar, fossil gas shows extreme price volatility due to climate change (look to Texas) or geopolitical conflict (look to the war in Ukraine), making it a risky energy source purely from an economic standpoint. And lest we forget in this time of water scarcity, gas plants guzzle water and threaten our water supply.

We can no longer ignore the adverse health impacts of fossil fuel powered homes. Research shows that fossil fuel machines leak harmful toxins into the air at all times  even when theyre not being used  including carcinogens like formaldehyde and benzene. A gas stove in your home is the equivalent to living with a smoker. Why invest in a source of energy proven to be toxic and volatile when we have clean, safe, cheap alternatives?

Lastly, gas is also transmitted through pipelines that require costly maintenance and are massive public safety risks as these gas lines run through every neighborhood.

The economic, health, and public safety arguments against fossil gas are too strong to ignore.

Rates for small water companies

Q: Arizona has approximately 300 small water companies and they often get into financial trouble and need to increase rates dramatically to address needed repairs. Is there a solution to these small water company problems that Corporation Commissioners can enact?

Kuby: The majority of utility rate cases that come before the Commission involve setting non-municipal water rates and establishing rules and regulations for their operation. There is no one solution to the historic drought, but the conversation (and the action) must begin with conservation.

The Commission must take a more active approach to regulating these monopoly utilities by bringing them before the Commission before there is a crisis. Many of those utilities have not been before the Commission in years and to regulate these companies, the Commission first needs to understand their needs and challenges. The Commission needs to ensure that the water companies it regulates are responding appropriately to the historic drought, especially those who either operate outside of Active Management Areas or rely upon the Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District.

There are a host of water-conservation practices piloted and perfected in Arizona cities that small water companies could adopt. These cities demonstrate that incentivizing customers to conserve water, especially use of outdoor water, results in cost savings to customers and utilities alike. Inexplicably, our Republican opponents are opposed to utilities offering rebates.

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Transitioning to clean energy will result in substantial water savings. Coal-powered plants use tens of millions of gallons of water each day. In addition, Arizonas combined non-renewable energy production (nuclear included) uses more water than the city of Tucson uses each year. Solar plants use only 1 to 2% of the water that fossil fuel plants consume.

Myers and Thompson: Historically it takes over 18 months for a water utility to file and seek approval for capital expenditures in the rate-making process. It is a very costly and burdensome process, leaving many of the mostly smaller water companies unable to come before the commission to obtain rate increases in order to fund capital improvements in their infrastructure.

Kevin and Nick recognize that this current process does not serve our smaller companies well, and that it has resulted in many utilities experiencing upwards of 45% water losses across their systems. Especially now that Arizona has entered Tier 1 drought conditions and is expected to enter Tier 2a conditions in January 2023, it is imperative that the Commission improves the efficiency of their rate-making processes so that these smaller companies are able to seek the needed capital to improve their systems.

This will also help ensure that the consumers do not see rate spikes in their utility bills that are the result of infrequent rate filings. In addition, the savings from improving the Commissions rate filing process can be passed along to the consumers instead of further compounding their utility bills.

Sandra Kennedy, who is running for a seat on the Corporation Commission, speaks at an Arizona Democratic Party Unity Rally with statewide candidates to energize Democratic voters and volunteers ahead of the November election at Carpenters Union Hall on Saturday, Aug. 27, 2022.

Kennedy: Our first priority should be ensuring existing water customers do not subsidize the expansion of water service into areas that cannot economically pay for their own growth themselves. Customers who choose to move to areas that are difficult to serve or have limited water supply may face a higher price for water. I will fight for every customer to ensure fair rates.

Coal plant closures

Q: Can you explain your position regarding the communities in Arizona that have lost or are going to lose the coal plants that are central to their economies? If these communities are due compensation, where should that come from? If they are not due compensation, can you explain your thoughts on why?

Kennedy: Our states transition to clean energy is reducing rates for ratepayers, creating thousands of new clean energy jobs, and resulting in immeasurable environmental and health benefits both today and for many generations. However, these benefits are widespread, while negative impacts of the transition are highly concentrated in places like St. Johns, Joseph City, Round Valley, Page, Kayenta and on Black Mesa.

The utilities overseen by the Commission supported an extractive coal industry that made promises it never kept, withdrew precious groundwater to support its operations, and left behind degraded landscapes and in some cases forced communities to haul water to maintain their way of life. On Black Mesa on the Navajo Nation the jobs are now gone but the springs have not returned.

The utilities seem to find millions of dollars readily accessible to spend on lobbyists, politics, and ad campaigns. They can do much more to help these communities find an economic footing.

Debate recap: Help for coal communities, renewable energy debated by candidates for Arizona Corporation Commission

Kuby: At our recent Clean Elections debate, our Republican opponents argued that the Navajo and Hopi nations should apply for foreign aid, a shocking rebuke to Native American communities who have powered our state for decades while their aquifers were drained, rivers polluted, and land degraded. The cities of Page, Springerville, Joseph City and St Johns face similar challenges, yet our opponents equate community investment with a bailout.

For our Indigenous and rural communities to thrive, the Corporation Commission should have a process that governs utilities when they shutter coal plants. A Just and Equitable Transition should be part of any plant decommissioning process, and we need utility and state investment for those communities suffering disruptions from plant closure.

Coal plants can be the largest employer in a region, and plant closures can devastate the towns and counties that host them. Over decades, supportive economic, social, and other systems were structured around energy resource production and generation in rural Arizona. When plants close, tax revenues precipitously decline, schools close and unemployment skyrockets. It is a stain on our state that over 70% of all the unelectrified homes are in the Navajo Nation, when they were home to the largest strip mine in the US.

Investment in a Just and Equitable Transition must be shared, but it should begin with the Investor Owned Utilities (IOUs) who profited so handsomely. Ultimately, the entire state must invest, as we all have benefited from the extraction of resources to grow our cities.

Kevin Thompson prepares for a debate at the PBS studio at ASU's Cronkite School of Journalism on Sep 12, 2022 in Phoenix, AZ.

Myers and Thompson: It is unfortunate that good paying jobs will be lost by the forced closure of coal-fired power plants as the result of Obama-era EPA rules. Kevin and Nick believe that all forms of electrical generation should be considered for power generation, and regrettably these baseload generating plants are being forced to close because of excessive environmental overregulation which is driving up costs to operate.

Any consideration to use ratepayer funds to give subsidies to these communities would be unjust and unreasonable on working class, fixed and low-income families in Arizona. Kevin and Nick would rather see the continued employment of the local community by transitioning these plants to bio-mass, hydrogen or other emerging technologies such as micro nuclear that would take advantage of the existing infrastructure and skilled labor.

Ensuring a reliable power grid

Q: As a Corporation Commissioner, how would you ensure that Arizonans are not on the brink of rolling blackouts as California was for several days this year? What does Arizona need to do to ensure reliability in the power grid and what would you do to promote that action?

Myers and Thompson: Avoiding blackouts like California has experienced is simple: we do not California our Arizona energy! The lessons to take away from the causes of the California and Texas blackouts is that putting all of your proverbial energy eggs in one basket is too risky.

The over reliance on renewables in those states has created an unreliable and unstable electrical grid. Power from intermittent sources such as renewables needs storage solutions to make them more viable so that our grid remains stable. California currently produces 65% of its electricity from renewables as the result of their renewable energy mandates  and that comes at a high price. Not only do they have the highest priced electricity in the nation, but they also have increasing rolling blackouts as a result of this lopsided policy.

One can clearly see that on days with a high demand, like we have seen over the last few weeks, that the high reliance on solar coupled with the lack of long-term battery storage has resulted in rolling blackouts and brownouts. In fact California has seen a 20-30% increase in blackout events year over year, with the reported number of blackout events this year alone to be on track to exceed 25,000!

As we have been out on the campaign trail, the citizens across Arizona have told us time and again that they expect Arizona to have a reliable grid at an affordable cost. That is also in alignment with the Arizona Constitution. We believe Arizona needs to have a broad portfolio of generation types, including renewables, nuclear, natural gas and coal to ensure our energy grid remains reliable and resilient.

Nick Myers prepares for a debate at the PBS studio at ASU's Cronkite School of Journalism on Sep 12, 2022 in Phoenix, AZ.

Kennedy: Accelerating the clean energy transition while ensuring grid reliability is the paramount challenge before the Commission. The path forward involves several policy steps:

Greater rewards for utility customers who take an active role through actions such as adjusting thermostats and other appliances during times of grid stress and installing distributed energy resources such as battery storage, energy efficiency, and solar. Customer participation in the grid-of-the future is imperative.

Regional collaboration in planning and deployment of transmission and generation.

A nation-leading community solar program to allow more generation resources to deploy quickly.

Kuby: We are not California and we are not Texas, which is largely unregulated and suffers from only 2% solar in their energy mix. The State of Arizona, in fact, is uniquely poised to lead the transition to a clean energy economy.

Currently natural (fossil) gas is 43% of our energy mix and we import this dirty fuel mostly from Texas and New Mexico.

To ensure reliability, we need to transition to a clean energy system that is less reliant on imported energy and builds upon one of Arizonas greatest resources  the sun. Expanding the solar capacity of our state  the sunniest state in the nation  and embracing distributed generation of solar would build more resilience into our energy system and lower costs for consumers, as solar is cheaper than coal and cheaper than natural gas.

Lauren Kuby prepares for a debate at the PBS studio at ASU's Cronkite School of Journalism on Sep 12, 2022 in Phoenix, AZ.

Large scale solar as well as distributed generation must be coupled with the expansion of battery storage adoption  a goal that is not out of reach as it was even five years ago thanks to massive investment in battery technology.

Historic federal investments from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) will help us to update our grid and empower the least cost energy resource  energy efficiency.

Last year, the Commission failed to update the energy efficiency rules that would have required regulated utilities like APS to achieve 35% savings by 2030 through new programs that include traditional energy efficiency projects, demand response, and innovative technologies. Arizonans lost out on enormous opportunities to manage demand to avoid blackouts, save customers billions of dollars and improve public health outcomes.

The Commission needs to revisit those rules and do the right thing for the people of Arizona. Unfortunately, the Republican candidates oppose utility rebates for consumers, even though every dollar invested in energy efficiency returns $4 in cost savings and enables utilities to manage demand when power needs spike.

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Affordable electricity rates

Q: How will you balance affordability for consumers while ensuring public service corporations provide reliable service?

Kuby: Distributed solar generation leads to reliability. When energy is generated at the same place it will be consumed, it means there is little room for failure in transmission lines. Solar energy is also cheaper to generate than any other source of energy, which will lower costs for ratepayers.

Our opponents' claim that clean energy, specifically energy efficiency, renewables and storage is expensive is a decade out of date. Even before the massive investments of the IRA and the Infrastructure Investment Jobs Act (IIJA), energy efficiency and renewable energy plus storage have been the less expensive options.

There are many opportunities for utilities to reduce costs to consumers beyond lowering rates. These opportunities include removing late fees for people who fall behind on their bills and must choose between powering their homes and feeding their families, energy efficiency rebates and weatherization programs to lower a ratepayers overall bill, and incentivizing water conservation.

Myers and Thompson: The Arizona Constitution is pretty clear that the Commissions job is to ensure a reliable energy grid while protecting the consumers. Going back to question one, mandates from the REST rules have forced the utilities to invest more in renewables than in traditional generation. Again, we need to eliminate mandates and put the onus on the utilities to make the just and reasonable investment that will keep our grid reliable and costs affordable.

Sandra Kennedy prepares for a debate at the PBS studio at ASU's Cronkite School of Journalism on Sep 12, 2022 in Phoenix, AZ.

Kennedy: Reliable service is essential to the safety of customers and to our economy. The Commission is obligated to only allow into rates utility facilities that it deems were prudently invested and are used and useful. I will fight to ensure any utility spending that does not meet this standard is not allowed into rates.

Common misconceptions

Q: What is one misconception about utilities or utility regulation that you commonly hear among voters?

Kennedy: Many voters are not aware of the enormous amount of water used in fossil fuel power plants in the making of electricity by boiling water to create steam. In a moment of water crisis and when water-conserving alternatives such as solar and wind are cheaply available, the time is now to chart a new path.

Kuby: What I hear from voters are not so much misconceptions, but a general lack of awareness about the Corporation Commission and its unique executive, legislative and judicial functions. As I travel the state, voters are surprised to learn of the Commissions powerful impact on their everyday lives. I explain that the Commission is a public utilities commission, even a consumer commission; that Arizona is 1 of only 13 states where commissioners are elected, one of only seven states where the Commissions powers are embedded in the Constitution, and that Commissioners serve the people of Arizona, not the monopoly utilities.

Myers and Thompson: As we travel across Arizona and meet with the citizens, many dont fully understand what the Corporation Commission does. Also, it is confusing to many folks about the difference in public utilities versus municipal-owned or even that the ACC has no regulatory oversight of SRP. Some also believe the Commission controls water policy in Arizona when in actuality the ACC only regulates the water utilities transportation of the water from the point from which they acquire it to when they deliver it to your home or business.

The ACC does, however, have responsibility to ensure the water companies have appropriate sourcing and backup solutions for sourcing, that they are adequately maintaining their infrastructure and that they are using the just and reasonable option available to them.

Why voters should pick you

Q: Can you say in one sentence why you would be a better utility regulator than your opponents from the other political party?

Myers and Thompson: Kevin and Nick bring a combined 30+ years of real applicable utility and regulatory experience to the Commission, at a time when experience matters the most. It is not enough to be a political ideologue with no understanding of the practical realities of producing and delivering energy and water, nor the regulatory oversight experience to hold companies accountable. Kevin and Nick wont gamble Arizonas energy future on political ideology!

Kennedy: I am a staunch consumer advocate who realizes we have a water crisis to tackle and an opportunity to lead the country in renewable energy, however, my opponents feel the Commission should take a passive role and let for-profit utility companies decide the direction of the state.

Kuby: I have a proven track record of putting aside partisan politics to work for the public interest and will move our state forward toward a clean-energy economy when we need it most, while my opponents represent utility interests and aim to move us backward while denying basic science and economics.

Reach reporter Ryan Randazzo at ryan.randazzo@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4331. Follow him on Twitter @UtilityReporter.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Corporation Commission: What GOP, Democrat candidates would do
CAIRO (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said that the efforts to extend the truce in Yemen still stand, Al Arabiya TV reported on Wednesday, after an initial U.N.-brokered pact between a Saudi-led coalition and the Houthi movement expired early this month.

The kingdom, the coalition and the Riyadh-backed Yemeni government are "keen on extending the truce," the Saudi-owned TV quoted Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud as saying.

The United Nations is pressing for an extended and expanded truce that would build on the two-month one that expired on Oct. 2 after being rolled over twice, and which has brought the longest stretch of relative calm in the seven-year conflict.

U.S. Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking headed back to region on Tuesday to support the U.N.-led negotiations with Yemeni parties, according to the State Department.

Lenderking last week called on the Iran-aligned Houthis, de facto authorities in the north, to show more flexibility in the negotiations, specifically on the United Nations' proposed mechanism to pay public sector wages.

The Saudi-led coalition intervened in March 2015 after the Houthis ousted the internationally recognized government from the capital, Sanaa. The group says it is fighting a corrupt system and foreign aggression.

The conflict has killed tens of thousands and caused a dire humanitarian crisis that has pushed millions into hunger.

(Reporting by Enas Alashray; Writing by Ghaida Ghantous; Editing by Toby Chopra)
Russian President Vladimir Putins recent missile barrage across Ukraine caused natural gas prices to fluctuate on Wednesday. (REUTERS)

More than 70 per cent of Canadians support increasing the country's oil and gas production to reduce global dependence on Russian energy exports, according to a new poll released on Wednesday.

The Ukraine crisis, now pushing into its eighth month, has led to soaring energy prices in Europe, adding to the risk of a recession for EU economies.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent missile barrage across Ukraine caused natural gas prices (NG=F) to fluctuate on Wednesday amid fears an escalating war could damage remaining fuel links to Western Europe.

On Wednesday, the Russian leader said gas from his country could still be supplied to Europe through the intact part of the Nord Stream pipeline system. Germany has rejected the idea.

Nord Stream 2, a conduit linking Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea, has been a flashpoint in the crisis. Putin repeated his claim on Wednesday that the U.S. was likely behind recent explosions that ripped through the pipeline, causing a massive leak.

Canada, for its part, has remained cool to the idea of shipping Canadian natural gas to Europe. In late August, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau questioned the "business case" for doing so. His remarks came as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz asked Canada to play a "major role" in replacing Russian oil and gas. However, Ottawa did pledge in April to boost oil and gas production in order to raise global supply.

According to Leger, 49 per cent of those polled strongly support Canada increasing oil and gas production, with 23 per cent saying they somewhat support the idea. Twelve per cent were either somewhat opposed, or strongly opposed.

The question was put to 1,535 Canadian adult residents online between Sept. 30 and Oct. 2. The poll was commissioned by the right-leaning think tank SecondStreet.org.

Over half (54 per cent) of those polled agree that Canada could help its European allies, if the government were to "approve companies to produce more oil and gas and build new pipelines so that the resources can be shipped to the coasts" for export. Sixteen per cent say there is no business case for Canada to export to European countries, with the remaining 30 per cent saying they "don't know."

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Support for boosting oil and gas production was strongest in the Prairies, at 85 per cent in Alberta, and 83 per cent in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Those polled in Quebec were most likely to oppose the idea, at 22 per cent.

Albertan respondents were also most likely to agree that more oil and gas production and pipelines in Canada would help European countries (73 per cent). Quebec residents were most likely to reject the idea, at 25 per cent.

Leger says the poll's margin of error was 2.5 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

Jeff Lagerquist is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow him on Twitter @jefflagerquist.

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Mike Kemp

An Arkansas school board meeting went off the rails Tuesday when a speaker insisted before the entire room that members of the LGTBQ+ community deserve death.

The Conway School Districts contentious board meeting had already drawn public backlash over the anti-trans policies that were being considered. But a viral video capturing the speakers fire-and-brimstone sermon set social media ablaze.

God gave them over to a depraved mind so that they do what they should not be doing, the gray-haired man says in a video clip recorded by a meeting attendee. They invent ways of doing evil. But let me remind you that those who do such things deserve death, the speaker bellows as he reads off a prepared speech. At that point, some people in the audience turn their heads and exchange looks, seemingly surprised at the speakers rhetoric.

The LGBT community, not only continues to do these very things, but also approves of those who practice them, the speaker claims.

Unruly Anti-LGBT Protesters Shut Down Michigan School District Meeting

That clip ends as the man continues ranting about the LGBTQ+ community.

Social media users were quick to slam the hateful outburst.

Just someone at a Conway school board meeting saying LGBTQ deserve death according to his version of Christianity, an Arkansas resident tweeted.

SHAME on the Conway school board, and SHAME on the hateful, deluded spirit of transphobes in my home state, tweeted graphic novelist and Arkansas native Nate Powell.

As someone living in Conway, who watched the school board listen as a man said these people deserved death, please, I am begging you to sue them. https://t.co/u2LL9D4iFb  Julie Z. McDonald (@jewels3081) October 12, 2022

In a separate video of the speech captured by another attendee, the unidentified man, who was wearing a light blue shirt and jeans, closes by saying, God loves everyone.

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He even loves those of the LGBT community, but he doesnt like the practices or immoral standards, the man adds. The video cuts off after he says, The penalty for that decision is When the footage returns, the man is no longer at the microphone and the audience is clapping.

Here is video of the speaker who said LGBTQ folks deserve death. Hear the audience clap and the board president say thank you. pic.twitter.com/aLEgxWPGS7  Dr. Anne J. Goldberg (@entrtaininganth) October 12, 2022

At the Tuesday meeting, the school board voted to pass two new policies that require children to go by their gender assigned at birth when using restrooms and making overnight travel arrangements, local outlet THV 11 reported.

Arkansas state Sen. Jason Rapert made an appearance and spoke in favor of the bans.

Most-Banned Author in America Calls BS on Parents Concern

Tonight, youre voting on truth, not just policy, he read from a prepared statement. Im here tonight to support the Conway school board taking responsible and appropriate action by supporting two proposed policies before you.

God made males and females, and we appreciate and recognize the differences between the two sexes. The overwhelming majority of people in this community support the Conway school district adhering to those facts in your policies, your rules, your regulations, Rapert continued before going on a rant about horror stories of the transgender political movement.

The lawmaker said hes supporting the boards two common sense policies in order to reject the lies about sex and gender.

According to local reports, the anti-trans policies were introduced during a September board meeting.

Sex means the physical condition of being male or female based on genetics and physiology, as identified on the individuals original birth certificate, the policy states, according to THV 11. To ensure privacy and safety, each district school shall require every multiple occupancy restroom or changing area designated as follows: 1) For the exclusive use of the male sex, or 2) For the exclusive use of the female sex.

Each district school shall provide a reasonable accommodation to any individual who does not comply with the provisions of this policy, the rule added. A reasonable accommodation shall be access to a single occupancy restroom or changing room.

Similar instructions apply to overnight stays.

The Conway, Ar[kansas] school board is literally this cruel, a social media user tweeted. Trans boys and girls will be forced to use the bathroom on their birth certificate. And there are even entire buildings on campus without even one single stall bathroom. My heart breaks for those kids.

Despite implementing the two new policies, Conway public schools told The Daily Beast that gender-oriented restroom use and overnight stays arent issues that students and staff have frequently experienced.

How a High School Production of Jesus Christ Superstar Erupted Into an Ugly Culture War

On top of the restrictions, the school board voted to ban two books: the anthology Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin and the young-adult novel Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender, the Arkansas Times reported. The books were deemed inappropriate because of their LGBTQ+-related content.

The ACLU of Arkansas decried the entire board meeting.

Tonight the Conway School Board voted to ban booksand worseto single out students for unfair treatment, the Arkansas chapter of the ACLU tweeted. These policies are not original but they are dangerous. We unequivocally condemn their actions.

In a statement to The Daily Beast, Conway Public Schools Communication Specialist Heather Kendrick said patron comments simply allow for public concerns and ideas to be heard and processed by the board before decisions are made.

The Conway School District is aware that a video of contentious comments made by a patron last night is circulating on social media, she elaborated, and we want to be clear that CPSD does not endorse these comments or any comments made by patrons during public comments.

Kendrick continued: The Conway School Board strives to make decisions that are in the best interest of all Conway students, and believes the new policies will do that. The board listened and took all views and perspectives into account when making last nights decisions.

Rapert did not immediately return The Daily Beasts request for comment.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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From pretty much the moment news broke that Prince Harry was dating Meghan Markle in October 2016, there's been speculation about (1) how they met and (2) who set them up. And a lot of details remain a mystery! But things we know for sure? They met in London through friends in July 2016 and were basically smitten, love-at-first-sight style. We also know that a mutual friend set them up on a blind date. Itching for more details? Cool, we have them, so settle right in.

Meghan and Harry's First Meeting Was Over Drinks

Harry and Meghan honestly tell the story best themselves:

"We were introduced actually by a mutual friend, we'll protect her privacy," Harry said during their post-engagement interview. "It was literally through her. Then we met once and twice back-to-back, two dates in London, last July. Beginning of July. Then, it was three maybe four weeks later that I managed to persuade her to join me in Botswana, and we camped out with each other under the stars."

Meanwhile, Meghan added, "It was definitely a set up, it was a blind date." She also noted she knew basically nothing about the British royals and only cared about whether or not Harry was a nice person.

"Because I'm from the States, you don't grow up with the same understanding of the royal family," she explained. "And so, while I now understand very clearly there's a global interest there, I didn't know much about him, so the only thing I asked her when she said she wanted to set us upI had one questionI said, 'Well, is he nice?' Because if he wasn't kind, it didn't seem like it would make sense. And so we went, and had met for a drink, and then I think very quickly into that said, 'Well, what are we doing tomorrow? We should meet again.'"

Oh, and Harry, bless, gave some details about the exact moment he first laid eyes on Meghan, saying, "I'd never watched Suits, I'd never heard of Meghan before, I was beautifully surprised when I walked into that room and saw her. There she was sitting there. I was like okay, well I really have to up my game here. Sit down and make sure I have a good chat."



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Royal reporter Katie Nicholl also wrote about the couple's meeting in her book, Harry and Meghan: Life, Loss, and Love, excerpted in Marie Claire, saying that a friend of the couple's said, They just clicked and got on from the very meet up. It was all very easy and natural from the start."

So, Who Introduced Meghan and Harry?

There's been a lot of speculation about this. At first, people assumed it was Misha Nonoo, a close friend of Meghan's who was previously married to Alexander Gilkes, a close friend of Harry's.

Photo credit: Andrew Toth - Getty Images

Misha never confirmed or denied the rumors, and her rep told People in 2017 that Misha will not be discussing anything surrounding her relationship with Meghan. She was also asked directly by the Evening Standard and said I really cant answer that."

However! E! News revealed in 2018 that Harry's childhood friend Violet von Westenholz is the person who introduced him to Meghan.

Photo credit: Nick Harvey - Getty Images

"Harry was having a really hard time finding anyone," a source said. "It's hard enough finding someone new to date. He can hardly go on Tinder or a dating app like normal people, but to meet someone that you actually connect with, that was proving to be almost impossible. It was something he had confided in his closest friends about; he was ready to meet someone but it was so hard to actually find the right person."



Meanwhile, Violet knew Meghan through her work in PR with Ralph Lauren, and the rest is history! "Meghan had been a part of the London social scene for a while and had slotted into the high society set really easily," the source said. "And so when Harry told Violet he was having trouble finding someone, Violet said she might just have the perfect girl for him."

So there you have it: the story of when Harry Met Sally Meghan.

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Pro-Trump protesters gather in front of the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC. Jon Cherry/Getty Images

A Texas family of 5 was sentenced Wednesday for taking part in the Capitol riot on January 6, according to CBS News reporter Scott MacFarlane.

A federal judge said the Munn family's trip on January 6 "went so far off the rails" when they entered the Capitol illegally.

The mother of the family suggested the 2020 election was not secure while asking for leniency in her sentence.

Five family members who traveled together from Texas to Washington, D.C., and entered the Capitol building on January 6, 2021 riot were each sentenced in federal court Wednesday for their involvement in the riot.

But while the mother of the family, Dawn Munn, asked for leniency from the judge, she repeated Trump's election fraud lies at her sentencing hearing, according to CBS News correspondent Scott MacFarlane.

"I'm sorry for what happened on January 6," Dawn Munn said, according to CBS News Congressional Correspondent Scott MacFarlane. "I understand this country has been divided between conservative and non-conservative values."

"I do not understand why our election is not secure," Munn continued. "If we don't have a secure election, we don't have a country."

According to MacFarlane, she then doubled down, asking why no one had answered her question. Munn later said she would never enter the Capitol building again, according to MacFarlane, but added. "I did feel I had a right to ask for an explanation for how our election is secure."

Chief Judge Beryl Howell expressed concern that Munn was attempting to justify her illegal conduct on January 6.

"This is not the kind of remorse that indicates some assurance that they're not going to engage (again), after being susceptible to being egged on for political violence once," Judge Howell said, according to MacFarlane.

It was only the latest instance of an accused or convicted Capitol rioter speaking up in court and deepening their legal woes. In some of the first trials involving charges related to the January 6 attack, accused rioters have taken the stand  only to be quickly found guilty, with some jurors questioning their credibility.

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Munn's claims echo those of former President Donald Trump, who called supporters to the Capitol on January 6 and has repeatedly claimed without evidence that the 2020 election  which he lost to Joe Biden  was stolen from him.

Both Dawn and Thomas Munn, the parents, were sentenced to 14 days in jail, three years probation, and 90 days of home confinement  less than the 30 days of jail time prosecutors sought for the couple.

Howell said Thomas "should've known better before leading his family into a chaotic situation."

A defense lawyer for Thomas Munn argued he is a good father and husband, while Dawn Munn's defense attorney requested leniency in her sentence because she "did not understand the process of certifying the vote" and "didn't understand that it was only a technicality."

Thomas told the judge he's "never been political before... I just kept watching what was happening on the news" and "I got myself overwhelmed," MacFarlane reported.

The Munn Family at the January 6 Capitol Riot. Tom Munn on Facebook

Prosecutors alleged the parents planned a family trip to D.C. and that they were outspoken about Trump's election claims on social media. The Munns also brought a fourth child  a minor  to the riot.

Howell said she couldn't understand how Dawn Munn brought the couple's then-23-year-old son Joshua to the riot, knowing he had a medical condition that made it difficult for him to stand, according to MacFarlane. That son reportedly expressed remorse and said he never wanted to go to Washington DC in the first place.

The three grown Munn children who went into the Capitol building were also sentenced on Wednesday, though none received jail time.

Kristi Munn, 30 years old and the family's oldest child, was sentenced to three years probation and 90 days of house arrest, the most severe sentence of the three children.

Kristi had sent a Facebook message after the riot celebrating, prosecutors alleged.

The protests went "fucking great," she allegedly wrote, according to court documents. "Holy shit we were inside the fucking capital!"

Kriti's defense lawyer said that the 30-year-old was "heartbroken" about her actions and that her social media posts happened "in the heat of the moment," according to MacFarlane.

The other two siblings  Joshua and 20-year-old Kayli  were sentenced to probation.

All five of the Munn family had pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge, according to court records. The family admitted they spent an hour inside the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Read the original article on Business Insider
If the past week has shown us anything, its that flying cars are no longer some far-off fantasy.

Two startups hailing from entirely different continents have successfully launched electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft just five days apart. Chinas Xpeng Motors showed off its flying car in the skies of the United Arab Emirates, while Germanys Volocopter took its air taxi for a spin in Italy.

More from Robb Report

Xpengs eVTOL, which goes by the name of X2, completed an unmanned, 90-minute test flight over the city of Dubai on Monday. The X2 aircraft is fitted with eight propellers (two at each corner) that can push it to a top speed of 80 mph with zero carbon emissions. It can also seat up to two passengers.

The X2 in Dubai.

We are making step-by-step (moves) to the international market, Xpengs general manager Minguan Qiu said in a statement. First we selected Dubai city because Dubai is the most innovative city in the world.

On Thursday, meanwhile, Volocopter conducted its first crewed public test flight in Rome. The two-seater Volocopter 2X was in the skies for about five minutes with a test pilot at the helm (no passengers, though). It flew twice along a figure-eight path at a speed of around 25 miles per hour and a height of around 131 feet.

The electric Volocopter 2X in Rome.

To recap, the Volocopter 2X is equipped with 18 fixed-pitch propellers that are each powered by a separate electric motor. Designed for short, metropolitan jaunts, the near-silent, emissions-free aircraft can cover up to 17 miles at speeds of up to 62 mph, according to Volocopter.

Perhaps more importantly, the VoloCity took off from a vertiport built at Romes Fiumicino Airport. This is Italys first advanced air mobility (AAM) testing vertiport and the launch marks a major milestone. The Aeroporti di Roma is working toward launching commercial operations between the airport and Rome by 2024.

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The Volocopter 2X.

Todays event represents a significant milestone in our path as pioneers in testing and implementing Advanced Air Mobility in Italy, and in playing our part in making urban transports increasingly sustainable and seamless, Marco Troncone, CEO of Aeroporti di Roma, said in a statement.

Volocopter also hopes to have the production model of the eVTOL operational for the 2024 Paris Olympics, with a functioning vertiport at the Pontoise-Cormeilles-en-Vexin airfield outside of Paris. Perhaps Xpeng will venture into veriports next.

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Click here to read the full article.
PARIS  Chinese omnichannel brand partner Ushopal has acquired luxury clean British beauty brand Argentum Apothecary.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

More from WWD

Shanghai-based Ushopal, which is billed to be Chinas leading luxury beauty brand group, specializes in scaling Gen Z-focused luxury brands in the beauty and wellness space. It formerly had a minority stake in Argentum.

The rhythm of investments in clean beauty labels has picked up in the recent past, as consumers increasingly seek out products that are transparent and have well-being attributes. Some of the deals in the last 12 months include Amorepacifics purchase of Tata Harper Skincare; the Courtin family holding, Famille C, acquiring Ilia Beauty, and LOreals buying Youth to the People.

Ushopal built Argentum into a top-three Gen Z luxury beauty brand in China in 12 months, leveraging social media channels such as TikTok to do so, the companies said jointly in a release.

Argentum generated more than $50 million in annual sales in China by honing in on brand positioning as well as a content and community-first approach.

Ushopal plans to continue developing Argentums dominant position in the Asian market and simultaneously broadening the brands presence in the Americas and Europe.

Unlike capital-only partners, Ushopal nurtures and inspires brand founders to focus and excel in strategy, branding and product excellence, while also providing needed capital to ensure a precision scale-up that supports supply chain and ongoing R&D, said Joy Isaacs, founder and chief executive officer of Argentum Apothecary, in the statement.

She will continue steering the brand.

Argentum, which was launched in 2013, is sold in 26 countries through its own e-commerce site; other e-tailers such as Net-a-Porter and Bonnie & Clyde, and Argentums own flagship store in Londons Notting Hill. The U.K. and China are Argentums largest markets.

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Its product formulas include patented silver hydrosol and DNA HP formulas. Argentums portfolio has seven skin care products. The brands upcoming launches include the silver tonic water LEau de Jouvence, and a line of 13 fragrances.

Ushopal, which closed a $100 million round of funding with FountainVest and Cathay Capital in early March 2021, has been active in niche beauty brand acquisitions. The group has already invested in several of its brand partners, such as Natura Bisse from Spain and French fragrance label Juliette Has a Gun, which was created by Nina Ricics great-grandson Romano.

Ushopal is planning an initial public offering.

Click here to read the full article.
Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke speaks at a rally at Texas Tech University on Tuesday. He has visited 12 college campuses this month. (Photo: Annie Rice/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal/Associated Press)

Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke speaks at a rally at Texas Tech University on Tuesday. He has visited 12 college campuses this month. (Photo: Annie Rice/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal/Associated Press)

EL PASO, Texas  Isabel Orozco, a nursing student at the University of Texas, El Paso, was among the undergraduates who braved the hourlong selfie line after Beto ORourkes rally on campus. The timing of one of her classes prevented her from attending the rally, but she arrived afterward clutching a black-and-white Beto placard for him to sign.

A first-time voter, Orozco said she admired ORourkes willingness to confront Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) at a news conference the day after the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde in May.

Thinking about the shooting is really scary and I know hes going to make some good changes, Orozco said, referring to ORourkes support for stricter gun laws.

Unlike next months elections in Pennsylvania, Georgia, and even neighboring New Mexico, the race for governor of Texas has not received major national attention  or resources  this cycle.

Conventional wisdom in the national organs of both major parties  backed by virtually every public poll  has it that Abbott, while weaker than in the past, is the prohibitive favorite for a third term as leader of the Lone Star State.

Although even ORourkes closest backers acknowledge the difficulty of toppling the incumbent, they believe his path runs through new voters like Orozco, and infrequent voters who dont normally turn out.

Its all these [nonwhite] young people who look like me that are aging into the process and changing the state, said Sri Preston Kulkarni, a former Houston-area congressional candidate now running Two Million Texans, a Democratic get-out-the-vote operation that uses personal networks to target low-propensity voters. If we vote in our true numbers across the state, Republicans are done.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke speaks to the media after interrupting a press conference held by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in Uvalde, Texas, on May 25. One college student said O'Rourke's actions that day inspired her. (Photo: CHANDAN KHANNA/Getty Images)

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke speaks to the media after interrupting a press conference held by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in Uvalde, Texas, on May 25. One college student said O'Rourke's actions that day inspired her. (Photo: CHANDAN KHANNA/Getty Images)

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Analysts who argue that Democrats can rely on organic demographic change and increases in turnout to win elections, rather than the more ideologically challenging work of winning over swing voters who toggle between the two major parties, have endured more scrutiny since 2020. Critics of the theory note that increased turnout in the 2020 presidential election and the 2021 Virginia gubernatorial election appears to have been, at best, net-neutral for Democrats.

But Kulkarni and other advocates of a turnout-based strategy argue that Texas famously low voter participation rate leaves more room for improvement than might be the case in other states. Just 42% of eligible Texas voters cast ballots in the 2018 midterm elections. And that was a massive increase over the 25% participation rate in the 2014 midterms.

If anyone can repeat the 2018 increase in turnout, its ORourke, whose Senate campaign drove Democratic enthusiasm up and down the ballot four years ago, according to his allies. ORourke fell short that year. But thanks in part to the turnout his campaign generated, the party flipped two U.S. House seats, two state Senate seats, and 11 state House seats.

Beto has been the campfire that Democrats have huddled around no matter what part of the state they were in, said Colin Strother, a veteran strategist for moderate Texas Democrats. He went places that no Democrat has been in generations. He gave people hope and a reason to believe.

In addition, the young, low-propensity voters that Kulkarni references  and ORourke is courting  are likely being undercounted in the public polls showing Abbott with a high single-digit lead, posited Gilberto Hinojosa, who chairs the Texas Democratic Party.

Polls try to project outcomes based on a model universe of likely voters, but newer and less frequent voters are, by definition, harder to account for, according to Hinojosa.

In 2018, when ORourke ran for Senate, he held Sen. Ted Cruz (R) to 2.6 percentage points, despite a number of pre-election polls showing Cruz ahead by much larger margins, Hinojosa noted. (Some pre-election polls came close to predicting that outcome, however.)

ORourkes rally in El Paso, his home city, on Tuesday night was the final stop in a tour of 12 college campuses across the state. Earlier in the day, ORourke addressed over 850 attendees at a rally on the Texas Tech campus in Lubbock, after which he and his team drove five and a half hours to El Paso.

Hes done more college campuses than Ive ever seen done by any statewide candidate in Texas, Hinojosa said.

Polls be damned, Hinojosa insisted, ORourkes bid for governor is every bit as magical as his Senate race in 2018.

We dont want to judge or blame anyone for choosing Abbott in the past. I think that may have been for many a very rational decision.Beto O'Rourke

In fact, ORourkes field operation in general, and his plan for registering voters and driving up turnout on college campuses in particular, is considerably more sophisticated than it was in his Senate run.

For the first time this cycle, ORourkes campaign has teams of organizers and student volunteers on 50 campuses across the state.

By the time he shows up at a college for a rally, organizers on that campus have generally already held canvassing events, and signed up rallygoers for volunteer shifts after the eventrally takes place. The same system exists in the rural communities that ORourke visited as part of his 65-county tour from July to September.

College campuses and rural communities are just two components of a statewide field program that now counts 100,000 active volunteers, and that hopes to knock on 5 million doors in the final get-out-the-vote push.

Speaking to supporters on Tuesday evening, ORourke laid out a hypothetical scenario to illustrate the gains to be mined from expanding the electorate.

If all 194,000 registered El Paso voters who sat out the 2020 election, and all 46,000 El Pasoans who have registered to vote since then, showed up to vote for governor next month, it would be more than ORourkes margin of defeat to Cruz.

In other words, the ability to win this election is right here in El Paso, Texas, ORourke declared, eliciting hoots of affirmation from the crowd.

Taken on its own, ORourkes back-of-the-envelope math is far-fetched. There is no world in which El Paso achieves a 100% voter participation rate  let alone in which all of those additional votes would go to ORourke.

But if he can produce a fraction of those hypothetical gains in many different parts of the state, and win over enough voters who cast ballots for Abbott in the past, ORourke might have a shot.

Speaking to reporters after the El Paso rally, ORourke noted that some 500,000 Texans split their tickets in 2018  voting to both reelect Abbott as governor, and send ORourke to the Senate. He affirmed that he is seeking to persuade some of those voters to cast ballots for him for governor this time around.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) addresses supporters after his debate with Beto O'Rourke on Sept. 30. Some Democrats believe that mismanagement of crises and hardline policy stances have made Abbott politically vulnerable. (Photo: Eric Gay/Associated Press)

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) addresses supporters after his debate with Beto O'Rourke on Sept. 30. Some Democrats believe that mismanagement of crises and hardline policy stances have made Abbott politically vulnerable. (Photo: Eric Gay/Associated Press)

We dont want to judge or blame anyone for choosing Abbott in the past. I think that may have been for many a very rational decision, ORourke said, before laying out his pitch to those voters. But now after eight years of failure, you can only conclude that to continue with the same person in office and expect a different result would just be crazy.

It cant hurt that ORourke is confident that his three core campaign issues  protecting abortion rights, increasing gun regulation, and shoring up the reliability of the electrical grid  appeal equally to the young, liberal voters he is trying to turn out, and to the moderate suburbanites he might be hoping to woo away from Abbott.

Given the tendency of the opposite party from the one in the White House to do well during a midterm election, and President Joe Bidens high unpopularity, winning a third term this November should be a cakewalk for Abbott.

But high-profile crises on Abbotts watch and his adherence to hard-line conservative policies have conspired to make him vulnerable to attrition from moderate voters.

The deadly failure of the electrical grid in February 2021; the Uvalde massacre in May and Abbotts subsequent failure to tighten gun regulation; and the implementation of a total abortion ban with no rape and incest exceptions, all have undermined Abbott and generated momentum for ORourke.

In June 2022, Abbotts job approval rating dropped below his disapproval rating for the second time since the grid failure, though it has since gone back up and into positive territory, according to polling conducted by the University of Texas Texas Policy Project.

One seasoned Texas reporter claimed on Monday to have learned that Abbotts internal polling shows him trailing ORourke in Tarrant County, home to traditionally Republican Fort Worth.

Hes teetering on the very brink in a cycle that was supposed to be a wave cycle for Republicans, Strother said.

National and state-level Republicans are confident, however, that Abbott is rebounding as public attention shifts away from guns, abortion, and the grid, and toward issues that play to his strengths with voters, such as inflation and the spike in immigration along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Uvalde is clearly receding in the memory of the Texas electorate over time  as any issue would, said Matt Mackowiak, a GOP strategist and chair of the Travis County Republican Party. What has sustained are the border issues, inflation, gas prices, the overall Texas economy, all those things. The issue set has come back in Abbotts favor in the past sixty days and thats why this race has solidified and grown in Abbotts direction.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

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Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Monday announced a joint military task force with Russia will deploy to the western border of the country near Ukraine amid a series of escalations in the Ukraine-Russia war.

The Belarusian news outlet Belta reported that Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to the deployment of the troops, which includes forces from both Belarus and Russia.

Lukashenko said the task force includes more than 1,000 troops and has already begun forming. He also said thousands more Russian troops could soon be deployed within Belarus.

This wont be just a thousand troops, he said, according to The New York Times.

Russia deployed tens of thousands of soldiers to Belarus as a staging ground for its initial invasion of Ukraine in February, and hundreds remained there, launching missiles and air raids.

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The new joint deployment comes after Russia launched mass strikes against Ukrainian cities in retaliation for an explosion on a key bridge connecting the Russian mainland to the Crimean Peninsula, which Putin called an act of terrorism and blamed on Ukraine.

The Russian strikes killed at least five Ukrainian civilians in the capital of Kyiv and more than a dozen in the southeastern city of Zaporizhia, drawing international condemnation across the Western world and renewed accusations of war crimes.

During a recent security council meeting, Lukashenko also said he was warned through unofficial channels about strikes on Belarus from Ukraine, without providing evidence.

They said that it would be the Crimean Bridge 2. This information was immediately brought to my attention, the president said, according to another article from Belta. My answer was simple: Tell the president of Ukraine and other insane people, if they are still there, that the Crimean Bridge will be just the thin end of the wedge to them, if only they touch a single meter of our territory with their dirty hands.

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Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, a Belarusian opposition leader, dismissed the claims that Ukraine poses a threat to the country.

Its a lie by Lukashenka to justify his complicity in the terror against Ukraine, she tweeted. He also violates our national security. I urge the Belarusian military: dont follow criminal orders, refuse to participate in Putins war against our neighbors.

Lukashenko, a close ally of Putins, has vowed war if Ukraine attacks his country and hosted Russian troops for military drills earlier this year.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Welcome to The Hills Campaign Report, tracking all things related to the 2022 midterm elections. You can expect this newsletter in your inbox each week leading up to Novembers election.

Email us tips and feedback: Max Greenwood, Julia Manchester and Caroline Vakil. Someone forward this newsletter to you? Subscribe here.

Georgia race remains tight

New polling from Emerson College and The Hill continues to show a tight race for Georgias Senate seat amid recent bombshell accusations that have shaken up the contest between Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) and Republican challenger Herschel Walker.

Forty-eight percent of Georgia voters say they support Warnock, while 46 percent say they back Walker, falling within the plus-or-minus three-point margin of error. However, since the last Emerson College poll in August, Warnocks support has increased by four points and Walkers support has decreased by two points.

The poll was conducted Oct. 4-7, falling within the time period that the Daily Beast published a bombshell report alleging that Walker encouraged a former partner to get an abortion and paid for the procedure. That report was published on Oct. 4.

Warnock remains favorable: In terms of favorability, 51 percent of Georgia voters said they had a favorable view of Warnock while 48 percent said they had an unfavorable view of him. Forty-seven percent of voters said they had a favorable view of Walker while 49 percent said they had an unfavorable view of him.

Spencer Kimball, the executive director of Emerson College Polling, points out that the gender gap in the race has increasingly favored Warnock.

Women break for Warnock: The gender gap in the Senate race has shifted in the Democrats favor since August, Kimball said. Republican Walkers 8-point advantage with men has closed to 6, and Warnocks lead with women has grown from 5 points to 9.

The poll of the gubernatorial race paints a different scenario for incumbent Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and his Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams. Fifty-one percent of voter say they support Kemp, while 46 percent said they supported Abrams. Another two percent say they are undecided.

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House Dem optimism grows

With exactly a month to go until the midterms, Democrats are feeling increasingly confident about the battle for the lower chamber.

The Hills Mike Lillis reports that Democrats believe they can minimize their losses, and in the case that they do lose the majority, they believe they can at least make life more difficult for Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) if he becomes Speaker McCarthy.

A red ripple?: Republicans need to net only four seats to gain back control of the lower chamber, but margins could matter to the House GOP when it comes to moves like impeaching President Biden and cutting federal spending.

While Democrats acknowledge behind closed doors that they are still facing an uphill climb, election experts are increasingly pointing out that the odds of a massive red wave appear to be slimming. Last week, the Cook Political Report shifted seven House races in favor of Democrats and analysts at Sabatos Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia shifted four House seats in favor of Democrats.

SENATE RACES TURN UGLY

Meanwhile in the race for the upper chamber, things are getting nastier.

The Hills Alexander Bolton reports that this dynamic is most noticeable in the three battleground states of Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Wisconsin.

In Nevada, the vitriol spiked last week at a rally for GOP candidate Adam Laxalt when Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) dubbed Democrats as pro-crime before going on to suggest that Democrats who back reparations want them because they think people who committed crimes are owed it. In Wisconsin, incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson (R) and Republicans are lambasting Democratic Senate nominee Mandela Barnes with attacks accusing him of being soft on crime.

In both states, Barnes and incumbent Nevada Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto have hit back accusing Johnson and Laxalt of being close with the pro-Trump rioters that stormed the Capitol in 2021.

It gets uglier: Keystone Pennsylvania has proven to be a beast of its own when it comes to the negativity and vitriol seen in the Senate race. The Republican nominee Mehmet Oz has continuously hit Democratic nominee John Fetterman over his record on crime and the state of his health after Fetterman suffered a stroke in May. Fetterman, on the other hand, has painted Oz as being out of touch, portraying him as a quack doctor that has stronger ties to New Jersey than he has to Pennsylvania.

On Tuesday, Fetterman made headlines when his campaign put up billboards calling Oz a Dallas Cowboys fan ahead of this Sundays NFL matchup between the Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles.

Will Nevada turn red?

And speaking of Nevada, The Hills Caroline Vakil reports that signs are emerging of a growing red wave in the state.

Some recent polling shows Laxalt narrowly leading Masto within the margin of error. The stakes for Democrats are higher this year because the states Senate race could play a deciding factor in who ultimately controls the upper chamber next year.

Theyve been masterful for several cycles in registering and turning out voters. Now, the registration numbers are not what they used to be. The Democratic lead is much smaller than it usually is this time of year, Jon Ralston, CEO of The Nevada Independent, told Vakil.

GOP optimism grows: And its not just the states Senate race that has Democrats nervous. Incumbent Democratic Reps. Dina Titus and Susie Lee are facing tough races in both of their respective districts.

Republicans, on the other hand, are feeling optimistic.

The question has always been how good of a year, and you dont really need to ask Republicans to find that out. You need just look at the way Democrats are campaigning, and it will tell you what they think, Zachary Moyle, former executive director for the Nevada GOP, told Vakil.

Takeaways from the first Ohio debate

Ohio Senate candidates Tim Ryan and J.D. Vance faced off in a Nexstar television debate Monday in Cleveland.

The forum saw the two hit each other over a number of topics including China, President Biden, former President Trump and ties to Washington and Silicon Valley.

One of the most memorable lines of the evening was perhaps when Ryan branded Vance an ass-kisser to former President Trump.

The Hills Julia Manchester breaks down five takeaways from last nights showdown in Ohio.

POLL WATCH

An poll from the Arizona-based OH Predictive Insights shows incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly leading his GOP challenger Blake Masters 46 percent to 33 percent, while Libertarian candidate Marc Victor came in with 15 percent support. Another six percent said they were undecided.

A new Marist poll shows incumbent Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet leading his Republican challenger Joe ODea by seven points in Colorado.

A WDIV/Detroit News survey in Michigans 10th House district shows Republican John James leading Democrat Carl Marlinga 44 percent to 36.1 percent.

A Boston Globe/Suffolk University poll of Rhode Islands second House district shows Republican candidate Allan Fung leading Democrat Seth Magaziner 45 to 37 percent. Another 13 percent said they were undecided.

AD WATCH

A political action committee supporting Herschel Walker, 34N22, rolled out a new ad titled Good Actor, showing body camera footage of Raphael Warnocks ex-wife after an alleged domestic violence incident in 2020.

Democratic Florida Senate candidate Val Demings rolled out a new ad titled Independence in which she touts her independence from her own party.

Republican Missouri Senate candidate Eric Schmitt put out a new ad titled Heiress contrasting himself with his Democratic opponent Trudy Busch Valentine.

The Senate Majority PAC released a new spot titled In Charge hitting North Carolina Senate candidate Ted Budd over his anti abortion stance.

In the House, the National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee released ads in Iowas 3rd district, Michigans 8th district, Maines 2nd district, New Hampshires 1st district, Arizonas 6th district, Californias 22nd district, New Mexicos 2nd district, Pennsylvanias 17th district, and New Yorks 17th district.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee rolled out ads in Michigans 8th district, two ads in Maines 2nd district, North Carolinas 13th district, and Texas 34th district.

Incumbent Democratic Texas Rep. Henry Cuellars campaign rolled out a new ad hitting back against attacks from his Republican opponent Cassy Garcia in Texas 28th congressional district.

Thats it for today. Thanks for reading and check out The Hills Campaign page for the latest news and coverage. See you tomorrow.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A woman in Colorado is under arrest after allegedly luring a man into her home before subjecting him to hours of torture, according to court records.

Lauren Marie Dooley, 22, was arrested on Sept. 28 by the Colorado Springs Police Department after investigators said she kidnapped a man she met on Tinder, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by Fox Colorado Springs affiliate KXRM-TV. The 21-year-old Black male victim, who was not named in the redacted reports, alleges Dooley choked and stabbed him before he could escape after five hours in captivity.

The investigation began around 5:45 p.m. after someone called 911 for an unknown call-for-service, the affidavit states. The victim was reportedly heard yelling on the call because you cut me and youre going to kill me, which dispatchers relayed to officers on their way to the scene. The caller also heard the male say hed bled all over a bed.

RELATED: 'I Told You To Keep Your Mouth Shut': Women Convinces Ex-Boyfriend To Murder Her Former Husband

Police arrived at the E. Cache La Poudre Street address to find the victim naked in the parking lot. According to ABC Colorado Springs affiliate KRDO, the residence is part of The Hills apartment complex.

Upon a closer inspection of the victim, officers observed him bleeding from a laceration on his left arm and noted he was actively backing away from the suspect, later identified as Lauren Dooley.

Dooley, who had blood smeared on her arms and hands, according to the complain, was arrested on the scene.

A police handout of Lauren Dooley

Lauren Dooley Photo: Colorado Springs Poluce Department

Officers relied on the victims statement after Dooley invoked her right to remain silent. According to the male, he and Dooley had just met after connecting on the dating app Tinder. The complainant said he accepted Dooleys invitation to go to her apartment before they began talking on her couch.

Lauren then proceeded to take [victims] clothing off and perform oral sex on him, per the affidavit. She then used duct tape to bind [victims] wrists together and ankles together. [Victim] found it odd, but consented to it.

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However, the victim stated he withdrew consent after Dooley allegedly produced a kitchen knife and forced him into her bedroom.

Dooley allegedly climbed on top of him on her bed before cutting his shoulder and alternating between manual strangulation and ligature strangulation  in this case, a belt. At one point, she checked the mans pulse via the carotid artery.

Sherri Papini Pd

Lauren began to become upset that [victim] was bleeding all over her bed, so she told him to get in the bathtub, which he complied with, police wrote. Lauren then ordered some food from DoorDash. When the delivery person arrived, Lauren told [victim], if you scream or say anything, Ill kill you.

Sometime later, the pair were back in Dooleys bed, where the male waited for her to fall asleep, according to his complaint. After noticing shed left the knife by his feet, he obtained the weapon and freed himself from the restraints.

On his way out, he accidentally bumped into a table, awaking Dooley from her sleep and prompting the victim to run outside and call 911.

Following a search of Dooleys apartment, police found a kitchen knife near the bed, several blood-soaked rags and blood all over the bathtub, police wrote in the affidavit.

Oxy App

Pretty shocking to know somebody that lives right around the corner is capable of doing this, said Hills Apartments resident Lauri Gloria, according to KRDO. It scares me. I mean, I saw the gentleman. He was cut pretty good, and to think that someone could do that is pretty scary.

Dooley was charged with second-degree kidnapping, two counts of second-degree assault, menacing and false imprisonment.

This is really unexpected, Gloria continued. All of our neighbors watch out for each other, so I hope nothing like this happens again.
By Azernews





By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijan and Moldova have discussed the development of relations between business communities of both countries and joint initiatives in this sector, Azernews reports.

The discussion took place during a meeting between Azerbaijan's Small and Medium Business Development Agency Board Chairman Orkhan Mammadov and the Moldovan delegation, which is on an official visit to Azerbaijan. The delegation consists of Moldovan Agriculture and Food Industry Ministry State Secretary Sergiu Gherciu, Investment Agency's General Director Marin Ciobanu, Agency for Development and Modernization of Agriculture Director Maxim Popop, and others.

During the meeting, the parties exchanged views on the prospects of cooperation development. SMBDA's representatives and local entrepreneurs were invited to visit Moldova.

Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established on May 29, 1992. The embassy of Azerbaijan in Moldova was opened on October 5, 2005, while the embassy of Moldova in Azerbaijan was opened on November 1, 2005.

In total, fifty-nine documents were signed between the two countries. The trade relations between Azerbaijan and Moldova amounted to $6.2 million in 2021.
Passengers can book flights and train tickets under a single booking with Delta's Air+Rail program.

SBB CFF FFS/Courtesy of Delta Air Lines

Traveling to Europe just got a whole lot easier for Delta passengers as the airline has expanded its Air+Rail program.

Effective immediately, Delta passengers flying to Brussels, Manchester, Rome, and Zurich will be able to book onward train tickets to nearby cities through Delta, the airline announced Tuesday. Geneva will be added as another Air+Rail city when Delta launches a route there from New York's JFK in April 2023.

Launched in August 2021, the program allows travelers to add train tickets to their Delta flight reservations to Europ in a single booking. The initial phase only connected passengers flying into Amsterdam Airport Schiphol to the Belgian cities of Antwerp and Brussels.

The new train destinations bring the total to 20 European cities: Breda and Rotterdam in the Netherlands; seven cities in the U.K.; four cities in Italy, including Bologna and Florence; and seven cities in Switzerland, including Bern and Lausanne.



"Building more Air+Rail connections into our schedule provides a greater choice of destinations for our customers, including a number of these cities not currently served by Delta or our European partners, such as Bern, Rotterdam, and York," Alain Bellemare, Deltas President  International, said in a statement. "Expanding our footprint in Europe also makes it more convenient for customers to get to popular city center locations whether traveling for business or pleasure to make the most of their time away."

To book an Air+Rail journey with Delta, passengers need to search Delta's site for flights to or from one of the 22 European cities serviced by the program. Itineraries marked with an "Includes Train" badge include  you guessed it  train journeys. Those traveling in Delta One, the airline's business-class cabin, will automatically be upgraded to a premium carriage on the train, while all other ticket holders will be booked in the standard cabin.

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The displayed price for the itinerary includes fares for both the flight and train ride all under the same booking reference number. Passengers will, however, have to check-in separately for their flight and train ride. Flight check-in starts on Delta.com or via the Delta app 24 hours prior to flight departure, but train check-in starts 72 hours before the train's departure.

Travelers can check-in and receive a digital boarding pass on Accesrail.com, or they can visit a ticket booth at the train station for a printed ticket. And in the case of a flight delay, don't sweat it  your train ticket is valid for 72 hours after the original departure for that very reason.

While greater accessibility to Europe is exciting, it's worth noting that travelers aren't able to earn SkyMiles for the train portion of the trip.

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Read the original article on Travel & Leisure.
Ukrainian artillery unit fires with a 2S7-Pion, a self-propelled gun, at a position near a frontline in Kharkiv region on August 26, 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Photo by IHOR THACHEV/AFP via Getty Images

Europe didn't think that Russia would actually invade Ukraine, the EU's top diplomat revealed.

He said the US warned a major attack was on the horizon just two days before war broke out.

"We were quite reluctant to believe it," said Josep Borrell, the bloc's foreign policy chief.

In the days and weeks leading up to Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine in late February, the White House repeatedly warned that conflict was imminent.

But despite these warnings from the US that war was on the horizon, Europe didn't want to believe that Russia would actually attack its eastern European neighbor, the European Union's top diplomat revealed on Tuesday.

"Some things have happened in the past that we knew they could happen, but some of them have been a surprise," said Josep Borrell, the EU's foreign and security policy chief, during a speech at the bloc's ambassadors conference in Brussels.

"We did not believe that the war was coming. I have to recognise that here, in Brussels. The Americans were telling us, 'They will attack, they will attack,' and we were quite reluctant to believe it," Borrell said.

"I remember very well when [US Secretary of State Antony] Blinken phoned me and told me, 'Well, it is going to happen this weekend.' And certainly, two days later, at 5 o'clock in the morning, [Russia] started bombing Kyiv," he recalled.

In January 2021, as Russia gathered tens of thousands of troops along its border with Ukraine, US officials  including President Joe Biden  cautioned that Russian President Vladimir Putin was ready to initiate widespread conflict at any moment.

By mid-February, the White House said the risk of an immediate invasion was extremely high, and the US even told Ukraine on February 23 that a major assault was likely about to start  citing intelligence. The next day, Russian forces invaded, with Russian leadership under the impression that Russian President Vladimir Putin's troops would achieve a quick and decisive victory.

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Borrell also said on Tuesday that Europe didn't anticipate how well Ukraine would defend itself against the invading Russian forces.

"We did not believe that this was going to happen, and we didn't foresee that Ukraine was ready to resist as fiercely and as successfully as they are doing," Borrell said, while also crediting European arms deliveries and military support with aiding Kyiv's fight.

Borrell's remarks echo those of Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, who said last month that the EU was wrong to ignore countries that warned Putin was a threat. Russia's neighbors have made similar comments about how they were right in their warnings.

"One lesson from this war is we should have listened to those who know Putin," von der Leyen said.

Now, after more than seven months of conflict, Ukrainian forces have managed to stage counteroffensives along the war's eastern and southern fronts, liberating thousands of square miles of territory from under Russian occupation since early September. Bogged down by these military setbacks, Putin's troops have recently begun used suicide drones, as well as missiles, to strike civilian areas far from the front lines, spreading terror and fear.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the states Democratic nominee for Senate, told NBC News in an interview published Tuesday that his daily life has been significantly different since he had his stroke in May.

It changes everything. Everything about it is changed, Fetterman told NBCs Dasha Burns about his day-to-day experience.

The interview, which will air in its entirety on NBC Nightly News on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., is Fettermans first conducted in person since he had his stroke days before winning the Democratic primary in May.

Fetterman began giving interviews in July, but they have been conducted virtually. He said in his first interview after the stroke with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that he feels really good, but his health has become an issue on the campaign trail. His Republican opponent, Mehmet Oz, has argued that Fetterman has not been completely forthcoming about the status of his health.

Fetterman told Burns that he still uses captioning to help him understand dialogue and that he sometimes misses a word. He said he will also occasionally mush two words together, but he was able to read immediately after the stroke and did not lose any memories.

Fetterman answered questions from NBC orally after reading the captions on a computer screen. He said he is able to understand what is being asked as long as he has captioning.

He said having the stroke made him more empathetic to the types of challenges that Americans face every day.

Fettermans stroke gained a more prominent spotlight in the race after one of Ozs aides mocked him over it in August.

If John Fetterman had ever eaten a vegetable in his life, then maybe he wouldnt have had a major stroke and wouldnt be in the position of having to lie about it constantly, said Ozs senior communications adviser, Rachel Tripp.

Oz has also criticized Fetterman for being slow to commit to meeting for a debate and suggested Fetterman might not have been transparent about his health status based on his hesitation. A debate is scheduled for Oct. 25.

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Fetterman said the stroke would not affect his ability to serve if he is elected to the Senate to succeed the retiring Sen. Pat Toomey (R). He said he is going to continue to get better every day and will be much better by the time he would be sworn in in January.

Fetterman has led Oz throughout much of the race, but polls have indicated that his lead may be narrowing. FiveThirtyEights polling average has Fetterman leading Oz by 3.5 points.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Tuesday detailed to a federal appeals court why it should quash a subpoena compelling him to testify before a Fulton County, Ga., special grand jury probing former President Trumps alleged interference in the 2020 election.

A federal trial court last month partially rejected the subpoena, but in a 72-page filing, Grahams attorneys laid out three constitutional arguments they say should each independently merit a complete blocking.

Its the latest move in Grahams months-long attempt to avoid testifying before the special grand jury.

District Attorney Fani Willis (D) has expressed interest in hearing from Graham about calls he made to Georgias top election official, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R), following the election.

She opened the probe shortly after a call went public between Trump and Raffensperger in which the former president told Raffensperger to find the roughly 11,000 votes he needed to win the state.

As he has argued for months, Graham said the Constitutions Speech and Debate Clause  which protects lawmakers from lawsuits for actions taken within the sphere of legitimate legislative activity  prohibits his testimony about the calls in their entirety.

Graham has suggested the calls fall within the clauses scope because the conversations helped him declare President Biden the legitimate election winner and support reforms to the Electoral Count Act in his purview as a senator.

The trial court responded to those arguments by partially quashing the subpoena for questions about Grahams investigatory fact-finding on the calls.

But the court otherwise permitted his testimony, including communications with the Trump campaign, public statements on the election and his alleged effort to cajole Georgia election officials.

Grahams attorneys argued that would allow the senator to be asked about his legislative activities.

These are backdoor ways to question Senator Graham about the motives for his legislative activity; unsupported by evidence; and outside the scope of the subpoena and special grand jury anyway. Full quashal is thus proper, Grahams attorneys wrote of the trial courts arguments.

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Grahams attorneys also wrote that sovereign immunity, which prevents a state court from compelling a federal official to testify about actions taken in their official capacity, applies.

Williss office has argued that Grahams argument would give senators absolute immunity from all state grand juries and that the South Carolina Republican had not cited cases with comparable authority.

In their third and final argument, Grahams attorneys said he is protected from testimony under the high-ranking-official doctrine.

The doctrine requires parties seeking high-ranking officials testimony to present extraordinary circumstances for the request.

Grahams attorneys argued Willis had not met the necessary burdens under the doctrine of showing his testimony would be both unique and essential, because the substance of his testimony could be discerned from other witnesses.

What Senator Graham said to various people is available from those other people, the filing states. And what Senator Graham said publicly is available from a quick Google search.

Graham is one of multiple officials Willis has subpoenaed as part of the election probe.

On Friday, she requested that a court compel testimony from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, former Trump White House attorney Eric Herschmann and others to testify in the investigation.

Willis has indicated she will suspend her investigations public activities until after the November midterm elections and that she expects to make a decision about whether to seek Trumps testimony later this fall.

At least 17 people have been notified that they are targets of a criminal investigation from Willis. Those people include former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and the 16 people put forth as unofficial or fake electors who had not actually been selected as Electoral College electors by their states.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
By Brian Ellsworth

(Reuters) - Activists on Sunday rallied at the White House to call on the Biden administration to end support for the government of Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry, as the Caribbean nation faces a humanitarian crisis due to gangs blocking the distribution of fuel.

Haiti's dire situation has gotten increased attention from around the world in recent weeks as severe fuel shortages have forced many businesses and hospitals to shut their doors, just as health authorities confirmed a surprise cholera outbreak.

A broadcast of the rally showed several hundred people gathered outside the White House, holding signs bearing Haiti's flag or with messages including "Let Haitians decide their own future."

"Many Haitians are convinced that the United States is actively sustaining Henry in power," said a statement prepared for the rally by U.S. Representative Maxine Waters, who was not present. "The repression in Haiti must stop."

Henry, who has run the country since shortly after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise last year, last week asked for military assistance to confront gangs.

He has said he is seeking to hold new elections as soon as possible. Many in Haiti say that rampant violence by armed gangs, which control vast portions of the country's territory, make a vote impossible under the current conditions.

The Biden administration has not signaled that it plans to change its stance with respect to Henry.

"There has been a lot of misunderstanding and distorted information about the current Government, in testimony before Congress and in lawmakers' letters circulating on the internet," said an advisor to Henry when consulted about the rally.

"We invite Haitian citizens, wherever they are, to unite our energies to make Haiti a great country instead of repeating defamation found on the internet."

U.S. Representative Val Demings last week introduced the Haiti Criminal Collusion Transparency Act of 2022, which calls for a new federal investigation into those who support Haitian gangs.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has proposed that one or several countries send "a rapid action force" to help Haiti's police, without suggesting that the force be deployed by the United Nations.

(Reporting by Brian Ellsworth in Miami; editing by Diane Craft)
Idaho Education Business Concerns - Credit: Geoff Crimmins/The Moscow-Pullman Daily News/AP

Just eight miles of rolling Palouse hills separate the college towns of Moscow, Idaho, and Pullman, Washington, but for decades theyve existed as fiefdoms with rival laws. Back in the Eighties, when the drinking age in Idaho was still 18, students from Washington State University in Pullman would cross the state line to get blitzed in Moscow alongside University of Idaho undergrads. A few years ago, a weed shop opened just west of the state line in Washington, where Idaho state troopers are said to idle just beyond the parking lot, waiting to pull customers over the moment they cross into their jurisdiction.

Today, students are crossing the state line in search of reproductive health care and birth control no longer accessible to them in Idaho, says Katie Hettinga, a senior at the University of Idaho. After Roe v. Wade was overturned this summer, abortion became illegal in all but an extremely limited set of circumstances in Idaho, and thanks to a separate law passed by the reactionary state legislature, there is now an earnest debate over whether abortion can even be discussed openly on public college campuses.

More from Rolling Stone

On a Friday afternoon in late September, one month into the fall semester, employees at the University of Idaho received an email from the schools general counsel: seven bullet-pointed pages of legal advice on how to keep from running afoul of Idahos abortion laws. The memo outlined a long list of activities that could potentially be considered illegal, and thus were to be avoided, including promoting abortion and providing birth control for the purposes of preventing pregnancy. (It was probably still OK, the universitys lawyer wrote, to distribute condoms if their purpose was to prevent STDs.)

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And while nothing in any of the laws technically barred employees from directing students to private groups or agencies of another state  a reference, some believed, to the Planned Parenthood in Pullman  the email advised employees that they must remain neutral on the subject of abortion in virtually any circumstance in which it might come up, or else risk criminal prosecution, fines, jail time, and a lifetime ban on state employment. Academic freedom, the letter warned, is not a defense to violation of law.

The memo was drafted by Kent Nelson, general counsel emeritus of U of I, who came out of retirement this year while the schools current general counsel, Jim Craig, is on leave. The email was Nelsons attempt at making sense of two separate Idaho laws: a 1972 ban on advertising medicines for prevention conception or facilitating miscarriage or abortion  newly back in effect post-Dobbs  and the No Public Funds for Abortion Act, enacted more than a year earlier. The universitys chief academic officer, provost Torrey Lawrence, later told faculty he had not seen the email before it was sent. A representative for the University of Idaho told Rolling Stone she didnt know who, if anyone, in the administration read it before it was blasted out to thousands of employees.

The fallout was swift. My gut reaction was just: This is ridiculous. And this is also harmful, Hettinga says. She wasnt alone: students, faculty, staff, and community members in Moscow were unnerved by the guidance. If it was intended to clarify the states laws, Nelsons memo had the opposite effect, casting a paranoid pall over the campus, and igniting a dispute about whether the university was not just overstepping its bounds with the advice, but risking the students health, the facultys livelihood, the schools own reputation, and its academic accreditation.

In a matter of days it mushroomed into a national media story. Eventually even President Joe Biden weighed in on the memo. What century are we in? What are we doing? Biden asked. My lord, were talking about contraception here. It shouldnt be that controversial.

In the weeks since the memo was sent out, the student club dedicated to sexual and reproductive health has debated whether or not they needed to use a Sharpie to cross out the words to prevent pregnancy on the condoms they hand out on campus every Friday. Campus groups that would normally turn out for rallies in support of abortion rights in Moscow were suddenly cowed by the idea that they might get their faculty sponsor in trouble. Sara Zaske, an organizer with the local chapter of Bans Off Our Bodies, says the clubs she usually partners with for demonstrations told me they were not allowed to speak about abortion or contraception in the wake of the memo.

We dont know what we can talk about. Thats the biggest issue right now, says student Martha Smith. People are pretty much radio-silent about it. I have a friend who is writing a paper about Roe v. Wade. Now the professor is apprehensive to even grade it. Here we are six weeks into the 12-week semester. Smith is the Senate Pro Tempore of ASUI, the universitys student government, and co-author of a resolution passed by the ASUI calling on the administration to stand up for its employees and students and revise the guidance to make it clear that speech about abortion and contraception is protected on campus.

In the days that followed the email, there was a growing sense among some faculty that the university, in fact, had no plans to stand up for them, the way administrators had in previous clashes with the state legislature. To the contrary, it was starting to feel as if the university was taking the broadest possible interpretation of the law, going even further, in some ways, than the state legislature itself. Those fears were only inflamed by a meeting of the faculty senate, where Nelson answered questions about the advice hed provided.

Why did the memo include a mandate to remain neutral in classroom discussions, when the law itself didnt, professors wanted to know. If there was a mandate on neutrality in the classroom, did it extend to professors academic research as well? What did neutrality on the subject of abortion mean, anyway  did instructors risk criminal charges, for instance, if they shared statistics that showed that the legalization of abortion was followed by steep declines in violent crime and property crime? (I really cant say with certainty, Nelson replied to that hypothetical.)

One professor asked if she would risk prosecution if she wore a T-shirt with a pro-choice slogan on it outside of the classroom. Its very seldom that I get asked fashion advice, Nelson joked. (Enraging, one employee present told Rolling Stone of the general counsels response to that question. A combination of paternalistic scolding and mockery.)

Most alarming of all for some faculty was Nelsons mealy-mouthed response when he was asked point-blank if the university itself would be reporting professors to law enforcement for alleged violations of the law. I dont think the university has yet come completely to grips with how this is going to apply on a policy basis and on an institutional-enforcement basis yet, Nelson said, according to a transcript of the meeting reviewed by Rolling Stone.

The idea that the university would be referring faculty to criminal prosecutors is just terrifying, Aadika Singh, legal director at the ACLU of Idaho, says. The organization is interviewing students and teachers, with an eye toward mounting a constitutional challenge to Idahos law. The right-aligned Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression has also sent a letter to the university indicating it is considering litigation against the school. Its one thing to point out that this law exists that could be interpreted broadly, but the next sentence should be, And if it is interpreted that broadly, we will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with you to ensure that your First Amendment rights are protected, FIRE attorney Adam Steinbaugh says. Thats absent here.

Luigi Boschetti, a professor at the university and president of the local chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, believes the university has been put in a difficult spot by state lawmakers. This is the situation we live in in Idaho, with the extreme Idaho Legislature. The law is extreme. This is something that criminalizes state employees for expressing opinions, Boschetti says. Had we not had the memo, we would not be as aware of the law. But the law would still be there. It might not be enforced now, but theres no guarantee that it will not be applied at some point.

Boschetti was personally relieved when, nearly two weeks after the initial guidance touched off a firestorm, the university finally sent out a follow-up email. This missive, signed by the university President Scott Green and provost Torrey Lawrence acknowledged the memo quickly took on a life of its own with misinformation, confusion, and emotion leading the conversation.

The pair went on to assure the campus community that no university policies have been added or changed.  There are no changes to our academic freedom policy. The university supports faculty leading discussions on any related educational topic within the classroom. Condoms, they said, would continue to be available in restroom dispensers and campus offices. The Vandal Health Clinic and its sister clinics operated by Gritman Medical Center will continue to meet the reproductive health needs of all students and employees.

But administrators sidestepped the questions of whether the university would refer professors found violating the law to local police, and did not say whether it would defend them if they were targeted for criminal prosecution, writing simply: The university does not impose criminal charges nor conduct criminal investigation.

Boschetti called the follow-up excellent news. But his colleague, Johanna Gosse, a professor of art history took a different view: The second memo basically says were all a bunch of hysterical feminists. Gosse was particularly galled, she says, by the part where the president chastises people for being emotional.

Civil rights and human rights are emotional issues, Gosse says. I dont think that should be a news flash to upper administration at the university. Abortion, bodily autonomy, free speech: They are emotional issues. And weaponizing anger against people has been a hallmark of patriarchal oppression from time immemorial.

There was zero thinking through of the cultural, psychological, and political consequences of instructing faculty to not address reproductive health at risk of prosecution, Gosse says. Like many of the faculty and students who spoke to Rolling Stone, Gosse remains deeply frustrated by the universitys ham-fisted handling of the situation, which she characterized as a form of institutional gaslighting: by fundamentally refusing to answer questions, and then when people get worried, get afraid, try to do due diligence, and do their jobs without getting arrested or getting prosecuted or getting hounded out of their jobs, essentially, telling them to calm down.

On campus, Ashley Paine, a senior, says there is still a lot of outrage  and much of that outrage is being channeled into voter registrations. The students recognize this is a direct impact from legislation, she says. Paine, who is studying resource management, says the law hasnt made her consider leaving the state  its motivated her to vote out the states extreme legislators: Im here for the fight.

Before Dobbs, 70 percent of women registering to vote in Idaho were registering as Republicans; today, only 43 percent of women are, according to data collected by the group TargetSmart. The same group has found that new registrations by women under 25 in the state outnumber those by men by 20 points. Thats encouraging news to Sara Zaske of the Moscow chapter of Bans Off Our Bodies. Zaske points to Kansas, where an anti-abortion ballot measure was handily defeated this summer. If they can do it there, we can do it here, Zaske says. You can make change, even in Idaho.

The ACLU, meanwhile, is still interviewing faculty and students, contemplating a constitutional challenge to several of Idahos laws  though its lawyers say they have not decided against whom or where that challenge might be filed. At the same time, they have been working to match faculty with, in Singhs words, an army of employment attorneys ready to represent, at free or low cost, faculty that are experiencing any sort of adverse employment action.

Faculty are coming to us, and theyre coming to other attorneys outside of the university setting, because theyre not getting what they need, Singh says. The university doesnt have their back. It has not offered to represent or support faculty who are engaged in First Amendmentprotected activity, which includes advocating for a persons right to get an abortion, publicizing truthful, general information about how to get an abortion, encouraging people to make their own reproductive health choices. All of those things are protected by the United States Constitutions First Amendment.

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NORMAL  Debate season is officially underway in the Illinois governor race, with both Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker and Republican state Sen. Darren Bailey alleging lies Thursday from their opponent on seemingly every topic.

Thursday's one-hour debate was the first time the candidates shared the stage at the same time, although previously taking part in a forum with the Illinois Associated Press Media Editors Association and the Illinois Agricultural Legislative Roundtable.

Under the bright lights, the candidates did not shy away from theatrics  often talking over their opponent and Bailey at one point revealing a paper for Pritzker to sign vowing not to seek higher office if selected for another four-year term. There has been speculation of a Pritzker presidential campaign after he made visits to New Hampshire and Florida, but the governor denied those allegations and said he would support President Joe Biden in 2024.

Held at Illinois State University, many of the prominent themes of the campaign season reasserted itself starting with the SAFE-T Act before progressing to the budget, education, abortion and more.

SAFE-T Act, gun violence and law enforcement

According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, Illinois had a murder rate of 11.2 per 100,000 residents in 2020 which is among the highest in the country.

Republicans have claimed the SAFE-T Act, a 764-page bill signed into law by Pritzker in 2021, would further exacerbate this status. The legislation has already made reforms to use of force standards and requires all law enforcement departments to have body cameras by 2025, but its most-noted provision is the end of cash bail.

Related:Sangamon County state's attorney, sheriff file lawsuit against Illinois

Cash bail ends in Illinois effective Jan. 1, 2023, and unlike Republicans, Pritzker says the provision will make Illinoisans safe under the new system. He is also in favor of making assault weapons illegal in the state.

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"The criminal justice system that Darren Bailey and Republicans are standing up for is one that allows murderers and rapists and domestic abusers to buy their way out of jail," the governor said, adding the act has the support of victim rights organizations throughout the state. "That's unsafe for our families, for our neighborhoods."

Republican gubernatorial nominee and state Sen. Darren Bailey delivers his speech after winning the 2022 primary election.

Bailey again repeated the claim that 100 out of 102 state's attorneys are opposed to the act and touted his endorsements from law enforcement. He is in favor of a full repeal of the SAFE-T Act, but did say he would have supported bail reform for non-violent offenders.

The present alternative, the Xenia Republican said, creates a "revolving doors" system for criminals to avoid pretrial detention.

"The SAFE-T Act was concocted at 4 a.m., in the wee hours of the morning, without any police involvement whatsoever," he said, a claim denied by Pritzker.

Pritzker was asked on multiple occasions both during and after the debate in the spin room whether he support any further reform to the legislation, which has already been done so twice. Clarifications, he said, are needed but would not specify exactly what was needed when questioned by WCIA-TV news anchor Jennifer Roscoe.

"I think every law that gets passed is one that deserves to be examined to see whether there should be amendments or updates," he said following the debate, mentioning one such reform introduced by Champaign Democrat state Sen. Scott Bennett.

The endorsement of Bailey by the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police earlier this year marked the the first time the group endorsed a governor in a general election. Still, Pritzker attacked his opponent's record when it comes to funding these departments.

A total of $2 billion to police and municipalities has been provided during his administration, the governor said. Claims that he is "defunding" police are not true, but rather Pritzker said it was Bailey's voting record of opposing increased hiring of law enforcement that would be defunding.

Budget

Republicans, in their long-seated opposition to the SAFE-T Act, introduced a new angle to their position earlier this week saying it would increase property taxes.

Regarding property taxes, which covers 60% of public school funding, Bailey suggested a zero-based budget as a solution. Under the current administration, he claims how Pritzker has used the budget has led to businesses such as Caterpillar and Tyson Foods leaving the state.

"When there's a problem, JB just happily throws cash at the problem without any accountability or transparency," he said, mentioning specifically the governor's police funding methodology.

The governor painted a rosier depiction of the state's economy, championing the Rebuild Illinois infrastructure plan and tax relief initiatives such as the freezing of the gas tax and tax rebates. Other companies have set up shop in Illinois as well, Pritzker said, including Amazon and the number of small businesses is on the rise.

More:Have you received your money? How to check the status of your Illinois tax rebate

"If we keep balancing the budget, we can make tax cuts permanent," he said, listing a closing of corporate loopholes bringing in $700 million to the state.

The candidates were also asked on the status of prior legislation, both those that passed and failed. For Bailey, the question was whether he would support the repealing of the state's $15 minimum wage.

While not agreeing with it, the senator's response did not suggest any changes on that front.

"People have made their adjustments to the $15 minimum wage," he said, although this will not be the state minimum wage until 2025.

The governor was asked whether he would take up the progressive tax initiative, a measure that ultimately failed in the 2020 election. In response, Pritzker said he would not revisit it in another term.

Abortion

Since the overturning of the Roe v. Wade decision, access to reproductive health services has been a topic of growing concern for voters in Illinois and nationwide.

In the time following, Pritzker called for a special session to be convened  which has yet to happen  and comments from a 2017 Bailey Facebook livestream resurfaced. Made during an eventual successful run for the Illinois House of Representatives, Bailey compared the lives lost to the Holocaust to the number of abortions since the 1973 legalization through the Supreme Court's Roe decision.

Although first issuing a statement saying he did not intend to "diminish the atrocities of the Holocaust," Bailey has since gone on to say Jewish leaders were in agreement with the sentiment. WGN-TV news anchor Tahman Bradley asked the Republican to identify any specific leaders who told him this several times, but the candidate declined to name names.

Pritzker again promoted the Reproductive Health Act, legislation he signed into law in 2019 that permits any individual to make "autonomous decisions about the individual's own reproductive health." Under Bailey's leadership, he warned that this right could be taken away.

"Nothing is going to change when I'm governor," Bailey said in response. "I couldn't change them if I could."

Who won the Illinois governor's debate?

Much public speculation has been made regarding the debate's winner and, perhaps not surprisingly, it depends on who you ask. Bailey's response in the spin room following the conclusion of the debate was quite brief and did not come directly from the candidate.

Strolling into the room, cowboy hat and all, was Bailey's communications director Joe DeBose, who addressed reporters for no more than 30 seconds.

"We won and winners don't need spin," DeBose said.

Pritzker's post-debate media availability was longer and he appeared in person. He continued, as both candidates did during the debate, alleging their opponent was untruthful.

"Darren Bailey, frankly, was lying about so many things during the night," he said. "You couldn't take the time, I couldn't, to correct every mistake, every lie that he was putting forward and so I had to ignore a number of them."

The most recent polls were all gathered prior to Thursday's debate, but all indicate that Pritzker has the lead. Even two polls sponsored by the People Who Play by the Rule, a political action committee created by Dan Proft and funded by right-wing activist Richard Uihlein, show the Democrat with five- and eight-point leads.

Pritzker also has a 15-point lead in a poll conducted by Emerson College/WGN-TV/The Hill.

The second and final debate is scheduled for Oct. 18 in Chicago.

This story has been updated to correctly report Gov. JB Pritzker's stance on assault weapons.

Contact Patrick Keck: 312-549-9340, pkeck@gannett.com, twitter.com/@pkeckreporter

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Pritzker vs Bailey debate: What to know after first IL governor debate
An image of Kim Jong Un has been shared repeatedly in posts that claim the North Korean leader visited Moscow as Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a speech in September 2022. Some posts written in Korean also claim South Korean media ignored Kim's visit. But the claim -- which circulated as Russia pushed on with its war in neighbouring Ukraine -- is false. The posts show Kim's visit to the Russian port city of Vladivostok in April 2019 for a summit with Putin.

"North Korea's president visited Moscow, where the Russian president delivered a speech," reads the Korean-language claim posted on Facebook on October 3.

"This wasn't even reported in domestic [South Korean] media...it looks like very important news. The fact that [Kim] went there during such an urgent time showed this."

The post includes a photo of Kim shaking hands with various official-looking figures that has been taken from this tweet published on September 30, 2022.

The tweet's English-language caption reads, "In an unprecedented visit.. North Korean president arrives in Moscow to coincide with upcoming speech by Russian president today."

Screenshot of the misleading claim shared on Facebook. Captured October 11, 2022.

Putin delivered a speech on September 30 as he signed treaties to ratify the annexation of areas in Ukraine under Russia's occupation.

North Korea has voiced support for Russia's decision and accused the United States and its allies of acting like a gangster by leading a drive at the UN against Moscow's behaviour, AFP reported on October 3.

The United States and other Western countries have called those referendums shams carried out at gunpoint and vowed never to recognise the annexation.

The same image and a video of Kim with the same officials were shared in similar Korean-language posts here on Twitter and here on Daum Cafe, a South Korean social media website.

Other social media users shared a similar claim in English-language posts here, here and here.

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The claim, however, is false.

As of October 11, there have been no official reports about a meeting between Kim and Putin this year.

The posts actually show Kim greeting Russian delegates during a meeting with Putin in the Russian city of Vladivostok in April 2019.

Old meeting

A reverse image search on Google found corresponding news footage of the same meeting posted on YouTube by Singapore-based Channel NewsAsia (CNA) on April 25, 2019.

The video's description reads, "North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to seek closer ties as they met face-to-face on Thursday (Apr 25) for the first time.

"The two men held talks two months after Kim's summit with US President Donald Trump ended in disagreement."

Below is a screenshot comparison of the image shared in the false Facebook posts (left) and the news footage published by CNA in 2019 (right):

Screenshot comparison of the image shared alongside the misleading claim on Facebook (left) and the news footage published by CNA in 2019 (right)

Kim arrived in the Russian far eastern city of Vladivostok, located just across North Korea's northern border, for a summit meeting with Putin, AFP reported on April 24, 2019.

The same footage was published on April 25, 2019 by several other news organisations -- as seen here, here and here.

The Kremlin subsequently released various photos of the meeting between the North Korean and Russian officials on its official website, dated April 25.

In two of the photos, published here and here, Kim and Putin can be seen greeting delegates.

AFP's Spanish-language fact check team previously debunked posts that made a similar claim about the same meeting in 2019.
Indian actor Elnaaz Norouzi has joined the protest against Irans morality police by taking her clothes off one at a time in an Instagram video.

On Tuesday (11 October), the Sacred Games star posted a video where she was seen taking off multiple layers of clothes.

The 30-year-old actor, who was born in Iran, started off by taking off her hijab, followed by her burqa, and the rest of her clothes.

Every woman, anywhere in the world, regardless of where she is from, should have the right to wear whatever she desires and when or wherever she desires to wear it, she wrote in the caption.

No man nor any other woman has the right to judge her or ask her to dress otherwise.

Everyone has different views and beliefs and they have to be respected, she added. Democracy means the power to decide.

Every woman should have the power to decide over her own body!

Norouzi also clarified that her intention isnt to promote nudity, but freedom of choice!

As per India Times, Norouzi told journalist Siddharth Khanna that once upon a time, she was also captured in capital Tehran by the morality police  a unit of the police force dedicated to enforcing Islamic dress code.

What happened to Mahsa Amini, that morality police captured her on the roads? This happened to me as well in Tehran, she said. This happens to women every day. What happened to her could have happened to me as well or can happen to any other woman tomorrow. So we need to change something.

Describing her experience, the actor revealed that she was taken to a re-education centre.

I didnt know where it was; I didnt have the address. They take your phone, she said. Mahsa must have resisted, and they must have hit her head so much that she went into a coma and died.

They take all of your information; they take your ID. They take pictures of you like you are in prison. They made me write my name and take pictures from all the angles in the clothes that you had on. Then they tell you, if we catch you again with the wrong type of clothing, it wont be this easy.

Amini, who was 22-year-old, was captured by the morality police last month for failing to cover her hair with a hijab. A few days later, she was declared dead.

Her death followed widespread protests and confrontation with the police in which over 130 people lost their lives. Britain on Monday sanctioned senior Iranian security officials and the morality police, saying the force had used threats of detention and violence to control what Iranian women wear and how they behave in public.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) has asked the Department of Justice to preserve documents tied to its school board directive, a sign of how House Judiciary Committee Republicans will direct their energy if the GOP regains control of the House.

Attorney General Merrick Garland signed the memo in October of last year, noting a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff amid broader discussion over COVID-19 policies and how issues like race and gender are addressed at school.

The memo largely encouraged coordination, asking the FBI to convene meetings with local law enforcement in the following 30 days to discuss how to respond to threats of violence.

Though little resulted from the memo, Republicans have remained laser-focused on the directive, with House Judiciary Republicans by their own count sending more than 100 letters to the Justice Department on the matter.

In a Tuesday letter to Garland obtained by The Hill, Jordan, the panels ranking member, said the anti-parent directive remains in effect, and as a result, the threat of federal law enforcement continues to chill the First Amendment rights of American parents.

He asked the Justice Department to preserve any documents related to the numerous requests theyve sent for information  a common request from minority leadership without subpoena power.

Jordan said that in response to the more than 100 requests, the Republicans had gotten just two half-page letters and no documents.

The Justice Department declined to comment.

Jordan has repeatedly called the memo part of a case study for how the committee views its oversight role.

It would be one of a number of probes where Republicans have vowed to up the ante if they take over the House, along with a focus on the border, the Afghanistan withdrawal and Hunter Biden.

The memo has been a headache for the Justice Department and the National School Boards Association since shortly after its release.

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The group sent a letter to the White House the week before Garlands memo was released, laying out a spate of incidents at recent school board meetings, noting that some threats could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes.

The ensuing political storm caused the National School Boards Association to issue a statement saying its members regret and apologize for the letter.

There was no justification for some of the language included in the letter. We should have had a better process in place to allow for consultation on a communication of this significance, the group wrote later that month.

Jordan has suggested that the Biden administration coordinated with the National School Boards Association to craft the policy, accusing them without evidence during a recent Fox News appearance of encouraging a pretext to go after parents.

The initial letter from the National School Boards Association references a meeting with the White House and the Department of Education, and asks for the Justice Department to review whether the threats may violate a number of different federal laws.

The Justice Department memo fell far short of what the group was asking for, however, stressing coordination and partnership with local law enforcement over any legal review.

But Jordans letter said the Justice Departments response has not alleviate[d] our concerns.

We intend to continue to pursue this serious misuse of federal law-enforcement resources, Jordan wrote.

While Jordan has said the policy has a chilling effect on free speech, a D.C.-based federal judge last month dismissed a suit from parents in Michigan and Virginia, saying the memo does not impact constitutionally protected conduct.

The alleged AG Policy is not regulatory, proscriptive, or compulsory in nature because it does not impose any regulations, requirements, or enforcement actions on individuals. None of the documents that the plaintiffs allege establish the policy create an imminent threat of future legal actions against anyone, much less the plaintiffs, Judge Dabney Friedrich wrote in the September opinion.

The Attorney Generals memorandum does not apply to the plaintiffs activities, and even if it did, the policy does not label anyone a domestic terrorist, as the plaintiffs suggest, Friedrich added.

This story was updated at 3:49 p.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The historic Durango sightseeing steam train became the little engine that could Monday.

The passenger train was on a mission when it went huffing and puffing down a winding San Juan Mountain narrow gauge track to save a hiker with a broken leg who was lying in pain  cold and hungry on the banks of the Animas River.

The woman had fallen off a cliff Sunday, dragged herself over rocky ground for a good distance, and found herself near the Animas river as the sun rose Monday morning in an area around five miles south of Silverton, an isolated mountain town only accessible by the Million Dollar Highway (Highway 550) and, of course, the historic Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad.

Nick Breeden, the train's engineer, and his new wife, Kylah, a locomotive fireman and EMT, were racing to get to the woman who was in shock after being lost in the mountains for a cold, scary night.

It was up to the first-responder couple, who are newlyweds and rarely work on the same shift, to stabilize the hiker until a chopper could bring the Silverton Search and Rescue crew into the rugged area. Though authorities confirmed the 20-year-old woman is from Aztec, New Mexico, her identification has not be released. She was eventually treated at Montrose Regional Hospital.

Her father, Anthony Montoya, told the Denver Gazette his daughter knew that it was the last full weekend for the Narrow Gauge Railroad before winter set in. So when she got disoriented, her aim was to find a route that led her to the train tracks.

"No telling what she went through that night," Montoya said. "Shes a bright young lady. She kept positive. That's how she made it out."

The timing couldnt have been better for the stranded hiker, who had no food or water, and was only dressed in a tank top and sweats when she got lost Sunday evening. She was woefully unprepared for a mountain sleepover with only a cellphone in an area with no cell service.

It took a village to rescue her.

The passenger

The sighting happened Monday at around 11 a.m. as the sightseeing train was ending its first run of the day on the Durango-Silverton path. Just as the locomotive was approaching its Silverton destination, an alert passenger on the trip spied something that didnt look right. The passenger saw what looked like a person stranded on the banks of the Animas River. The big train continued to its Silverton destination, leaving an emergency service car to help the woman.

"We always have the diesel workforce train for emergencies, DeAnne Gallegos, public information officer for San Juan County Office of Emergency Management, said. I just call it a workhorse.

The locomotive engineer and firefighter couple

As the first Durango-Silverton train finished its trip to Silverton, the Breedens were already on their way in the second train coming up the track.

When they reached the remote area, Kylah swam across the freezing, clear-green waters of the Animas and waited with the hiker for six hours, using her EMT skills to keep her stable.

That afternoon, wet, cold and exhausted, Kylah heard the buzz of the chopper carrying the Silverton/San Juan Search and Rescue Team as it circled the sliver of a river bank.

It took Silverton's fresh emergency medical crew to get the injured woman on a stretcher. The area was so remote, the chopper couldn't land, so it waited as rescue team secured the woman in a rescue "cocoon" hooked to ropes which were rigged over the river.

From there, she was placed in waiting pop rail car  which is a small passenger rail vehicle.

"We still had trains on the tracks while this operation was going on, which is why they couldn't fish her out of the area right away," Gallegos said. "It literally took helicopters, trains and automobiles."

"It took everything I had in me to crawl."

From there, the woman was transported on a stretcher to the waiting helicopter, which airlifted her to Montrose.

Montoya said she will be taken to a hospital in New Mexico for surgery. He added that she "landed on her right side" and that her leg is broken, as well as a hip injury. When they first spoke, she told him "..it took everything I had in me to crawl to where I was able to be seen.

The hiker and her family

The New Mexican hiker wanted to take a day hike, so Sunday she parked her van at the popular Colorado Trail head and took off. Alone. Without telling anyone where she was going.

Some time during her walk, she veered off of the path to explore, and fell off of a mountainside as she was taking photos with her phone, said Gallegos, who stressed that while hiking in mountains like these, it's necessary to have a phone that works off of a satellite.

The hikers frantic parents notified the San Juan County Sheriffs office and the Colorado State Patrol Sunday their daughter was missing somewhere along the Colorado Trail.

Responders, aware of temperatures which had dipped into the freezing range overnight, started looking for her but were unsuccessful until Monday morning.

A cold night into Monday, Undersheriff Steve Lawrence found the womans car still parked at the Colorado Trail parking lot. At about the same time, the train passenger spotted the woman at the end of the three-hour tourist train ride.

Montoya said the thought of losing his daughter made for a very rough 24 hours.

"When I saw the sheriff, the first thing I asked was: 'Is she alive?' "

On the Durango Herald Facebook page, the young woman's aunt, Yesena Brieno wrote that her niece may have had supernatural help in the dark and freezing forrest that night.

"We believe my dad who passed a year ago was with her, protecting his grand daughter from wild animals and showed her the way to the tracks," wrote Brieno. "She has a long road of healing."
Former state treasurer Josh Mandel's divorce file will be unsealed after the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in favor in a lawsuit brought by the Enquirer.

The Ohio Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that an Ashland County judge improperly agreed to seal records in Josh Mandel and Ilana Shafran Mandel's divorce case.

In February 2021, The Enquirer sued to open the records to the public.

The couple filed for divorce in April 2020 in Ashland County even though they lived in Cuyahoga County. Judge Ronald Forsthoefel, a Republican, sealed records about the couple's dissolution, which included details about their income, property and shared parenting plan.

Election 2022Staff quit campaign because of toxic work environment created by staffer in relationship with Mandel, sources say

Ohio Rules of Superintendence, which govern Ohio courts, requires a judge to make records public unless there is clear and convincing evidence that public access is outweighed by other interests, such as threats to a person's safety. Forsthoefel sealed the case without holding a hearing or receiving any evidence.

While running in the GOP primary for U.S. Senate, Mandel released redacted copies of the file to Ohio political reporters, including the Enquirer.

Judge Forsthoefel argued that this case was moot because the Enquirer had received documents relating to the dissolution case. But the supreme court said the Enquirer wanted an order telling Forsthoefel to vacate the sealing and provide public access to the unredacted records.

After serving on the Lyndhurst City Council, Mandel ran for the Ohio House in 2006 and served two terms before running for state treasurer in 2010. Just months after being sworn in as treasurer, Mandel announced his run for U.S. Senate. He lost to Democrat Sherrod Brown in 2012 and ran for reelection as state treasurer. He was ready to take on Brown again in 2018 but abruptly dropped out, saying he needed to attend to his wife's health.

Mandel lost the Republican primary to J.D. Vance and largely slipped out of public view.

The Enquirer has won public records victories, including:

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Get more political analysis by listening to the Ohio Politics Explained podcast

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio Supreme Court: Josh Mandel divorce file improperly sealed
Governor candidate Katie Hobbs (D) speaking at a news conference at Barry Goldwater Park on Oct. 9, 2022.

If Katie Hobbs loses, remember Oct. 12  the day she ran away from confronting Kari Lake.

Democrats in Arizona are known for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, but Hobbs refusal to debate her opponent on Wednesday represents a new level of political malpractice.

Its right up there with David Garcia, who while running for governor in 2018 gave a speech in which he waxed poetic. Just imagine, no wall, he said. No wall in southern Arizona.

He was never heard from politically again.

Hobbs acts as if it's an insult to debate Lake

Now Hobbs has left voters imagining something altogether different: A candidate who appears afraid to confront her opponent.

Hobbs has repeatedly gotten bristly when reporters ask why she wont go toe-to-toe with Lake. Her campaign and her most ardent supporters act as if its an insult to suggest that Hobbs should debate Lake.

No debate: Lake to appear for solo interview as Hobbs skips event

We will not engage in a circus that insults and embarrasses Arizonans, her spokesman Joe Wolf has said. We do not need to look further than the last debate Kari Lake participated in for such an example.

But that Republican primary debate was a four-way clown free-for-all. This is two candidates, each asking to govern a state of more than seven million people for the next four years. Voters have a right to see them, side by side.

They should have seen them side-by-side on Wednesday, the day that early ballots were mailed out to millions of Arizona voters.

Lake can work a camera. Hobbs cannot

I understand Hobbs reluctance.

Lake spent 22 years as a TV news anchor. Shes a master in front of a camera; charismatic, concise and fully in charge. Hobbs, meanwhile, has a deer-in-the-headlights look about her and at times seems to have trouble directly answering questions.

But she made the decision to run for governor  one that kept more eloquent Democrats out of the race. Democrats were rooting for Lake to win her primary, understanding that a win by the most extreme candidate in the race represented Hobbs best (read: only) chance to win in November.

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That decision to run comes with an expectation that you will square off against your opponent  that you will lay out your policies and defend them. That you will show up and show us exactly why your hard-right opponent would be a disaster for Arizona.

At a time when democracy is under attack, who better than Secretary of State Katie Hobbs to authoritatively debunk the centerpiece of Lakes campaign, her evidence-free claim of a stolen election?

PBS caved and offered Hobbs separate time

Instead, Hobbs refused.

The Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission in September rejected Hobbs' request to appear on stage separately from Lake. The panels policy dictates a 30-minute televised interview of any candidate whose opponent refuses to debate. The penalty for refusing to debate your opponent: No air time.

But on Wednesday, Hobbs let it slip that the commission's debate partner, Arizona PBS, offered her a one-on-one interview as well.

PBS' capitulation was news to the commission, which called PBS's end run "disappointing" then pulled its sponsorship of Lakes scheduled Wednesday interview with moderator Ted Simons of PBS Arizona Horizon.

The decision is disappointing, especially following the multiple attempts on behalf of all the partners involved in producing this years General Election debates, to organize a traditional Gubernatorial debate between the two candidates, the panel said.

PBS said it felt obigated to interview both candidates and to heck, apparently, with the rules set up by its debate partner.

Lake, meanwhile, called PBS complicit in Katie Hobbs attempt to destroy twenty years of gubernatorial debate tradition.

Hobbs can't assume she'll win independents

The entire debacle is ... well, a debacle. No candidate for governor has ever declined to debate his or her opponent in the 20 years the commission and PBS have hosted televised debates.

Hobbs has now done it twice  both in the Democratic primary and on Oct. 12.

Shes played right into the hands of a delighted Lake, who never misses the chance to point out that Hobbs is afraid of her.

Clearly, Hobbs made a political calculation that its better to take the hit for not debating than to allow Arizona voters to see the two candidates, side by side. She's banking on the fact that she will win by getting the anti-Lake vote.

BuThats a risky strategy in a deadlocked race.

While Lake revs up an already energized base, Hobbs has often seemed invisible to the independents and moderate Republican women she will need if she wants to win this election. Shes got to give them a reason to want to turn out and vote for her.

Facing Lake on Wednesday would have been her chance to do just that.

Instead, the story is all once again all about her refusal to face her opponent.

Hobbs isnt just letting down Democrats; she may well be letting down Arizona.

Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LaurieRoberts.

Support local journalism: Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Katie Hobbs' refusal to debate Kari Lake blows up ... again
A screenshot of a photo posted on Denis Molla's GoFundMe page that has since been taken down. GoFundMe / Via nbcnews.com

A Minnesota man who falsely claimed that someone set fire to his camper because it had a "Trump 2020" flag display pleaded guilty on Tuesday to one count of wire fraud after he filed fraudulent insurance claims related to the incident.

In September 2020, Denis Vladmirovich Molla told authorities that someone had lit his camper on fire and that his garage door was vandalized with graffiti saying Biden 2020, BLM, and an antifa symbol, according to court documents. Molla claimed at the time that vandals had targeted his camper because it had a Trump 2020 flag on it.

Molla, 30, had also told law enforcement at the time that he had seen three unknown men near his home when he heard the explosion, according to the US Attorneys Office for the District of Minnesota. After the alleged incident, Molla submitted multiple insurance claims seeking coverage for the damage to his garage, camper, vehicles, and residence.

After investigating the claims, prosecutors discovered that it was, in fact, Molla who started the fire himself and spray-painted the graffiti on his own garage.

As a result, in July, Molla was charged with two counts of wire fraud for defrauding and attempting to defraud a victim insurance company and GoFundMe donors.

Authorities say that from September 2020 through July 2021, Molla defrauded and attempted to defraud the victim insurance company and GoFundMe donors "out of more than $300,000 based on his false claim that his garage and vehicles were burned by unknown individuals who targeted him based on his political beliefs," the indictment states.

After some of his claims were denied by his insurance company, prosecutors say Molla submitted a written complaint claiming that the insurance company was defrauding him. Molla also allegedly threatened to report the company to the Department of Commerce and the attorney general.

In total, Molla submitted more than $300,000 in fraudulent claims but received just $61,000 from his insurance company. Additionally, Molla got more than $17,000 from donors via GoFundMe accounts he had set up.

On Tuesday, Molla pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.

A sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled.
Democrats in some of the nations battleground races are trying to separate themselves from President Biden.

Its likely a necessary tactic. But its also a difficult needle to thread, given that Democratic candidates need to energize the partys base while also winning the backing of moderate voters.

Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) offered the most prominent example yet of the trend on Monday evening, when he reiterated his belief that Biden, 79, should not run for a second term during a debate with Republican J.D. Vance.

Ive been very clear. Id like to see a generational change, Ryan said at the debate in Cleveland. Ryan and Vance are vying for the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Rob Portman (R).

Ryan also took aim at Vice President Harris and her recent assertion that the southern border is secure.

Kamala Harris is absolutely wrong on that. Its not secure, Ryan said. Im not here to just get in a fight or just toe the Democratic Party line. Im here to speak the truth.

The border was also on the mind of Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) at his debate last week with Republican opponent Blake Masters.

Kelly called the situation on the border a mess and linked his view of that particular issue to a broader willingness to buck the administration.

When Democrats are wrong, like on the border, I call them out on it, because Im always going to stick up for Arizona, Kelly said at the debate.

Kelly went on to note he had also dissented from Bidens restrictions on new oil and gas leases. I told him he was wrong, Kelly said.

Other candidates have sounded similar notes, though without being quite so emphatic.

Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) told NBCs Meet the Press on Sunday that the Democratic Party needs new blood  while also saying that she would support Biden if he sought a second term.

Slotkin is one of a handful of House Democrats who represent districts that were carried by former President Trump in the 2020 election.

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These battleground moves are striking because they keep the fires of speculation burning around whether Biden will, or should, seek a second term. Statements of Democratic dissent on emotive topics like immigration are also sure to be seized on by Republicans at a national level as they try to make a broad case against the president.

But Democratic candidates in competitive states and districts may have little choice, given Bidens mediocre approval ratings.

The presidents job performance draws the support of about 42 percent of Americans, by contrast to the 52 percent who disapprove, according to the weighted average maintained by data and polling site FiveThirtyEight.

Look, I think President Biden has been around long enough to understand the practicalities of where people need to be politically, Democratic strategist Julie Roginsky told this column.

A president has to get elected across a cross-section of the country  he cant just win border states or coastal elite states, Roginsky added. But Mark Kelly has one job, which is to win Arizona. Tim Ryan has one job, which is to win Ohio.

There are specific challenges there for each man.

Biden won Arizona in 2020, but he did so by less than half a percentage point  and was the first Democrat to carry the state since former President Clinton in 1996.

Ryan, who like Kelly endorsed Biden in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, has an even steeper hill to climb.

Ohio, seen as a presidential bellwether for many decades, has trended Republican in recent years. Even though former President Obama carried it twice, so too did former President Trump  and by comfortable margins  in both 2016 and 2020.

Ohio is now considered to be more of a red state, said Ohio-based Democratic strategist Jerry Austin. So what [Ryan] is doing is saying, My voting record shows I vote with my constituents. When I think the White House is right, I vote with them; and when I think they are wrong, I vote against them. 

However, Democratic candidates hoping to run district- or state-specific campaigns have to deal with a president  and vice president  who are increasingly willing to insert themselves into the midterms campaign.

Biden, who has hit out at Trump-style Republicans several times recently, was scheduled to be interviewed by CNNs Jake Tapper on Tuesday. He gave an interview to CBSs 60 Minutes last month.

Harris made a rare late-night talk show appearance on Monday night, on NBCs Late Night with Seth Meyers. In the interview, she contended that Republican governors who were transporting migrants to Democratic-run areas of the country were guilty of an absolute dereliction of duty.

Republicans, meanwhile, are eager to connect vulnerable Democrats as closely as possible to the president.

The House Republicans campaign arm this week, for example, is targeting Rep. Cindy Axne (D-Iowa) with an ad that begins with the words Cindy Axne & Joe Biden emblazoned across the screen, together with the charge that they support doubling the size of the IRS.

Axne, like Slotkin, represents a district Trump carried in 2020.

Democratic candidates in purple districts and states might have a route to victory by proudly proclaiming their independence.

But the path is narrow, uncertain and hard to navigate.

The Memo is a reported column by Niall Stanage.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The lyrics for "Annie's Song"  the 1974 ballad by singer-songwriter John Denver  are engraved on a boulder at the John Denver Sanctuary in Aspen, Colorado:

You fill up my senses Like a night in a forest Like the mountains in springtime Like a walk in the rain Like a storm in the desert Like a sleepy blue ocean You fill up my senses Come fill me again

"That's beautiful," said Annie Denver, "It's about love, and it's about Nature, and how that stirs those profound feelings up."

Annie Denver with correspondent Mo Rocca at the John Denver Sanctuary in Aspen, Colo. / Credit: CBS News

While their marriage ended in divorce, Annie Denver has continued to honor John's legacy, helping to design the park which is equal parts nature preserve and career retrospective. But it's a place he never got to see.

Twenty-five years ago this week, John Denver died when the plane he was flying plunged into the waters off the California coast. He was 53 years old.

Singer John Denver performs on the BBC television show

"He went out fast, kind of went out like a shooting star," said Annie. "Sometimes I wonder, I hope that he wasn't scared that it all happened pretty quickly for him."

Global superstardom wasn't inevitable for the entertainer, humanitarian and environmentalist.

John Denver's own road began in Roswell, New Mexico where he was born Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr. In the 1960s he moved to Los Angeles to pursue his music career, before joining the Chad Mitchell Trio, and meeting Annie.

Correspondent Mo Rocca asked, "You don't get to be as big a star as John was by accident. I mean, he was ambitious, yeah?"

"Very," Annie replied. "John had this gift, really. So, I don't think I looked at it as 'ambition' until things started happening."

After John went solo, he and Annie moved to Aspen, where the Rockies inspired some of his most memorable music.

Last month the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and John's former bandmates commemorated 50 years of "Rocky Mountain High"  Denver's 1972 tribute to the first place he called home. It was after that album that Denver shot into the stratosphere, sharing stages with Olivia Newton-John, Frank Sinatra, and The Muppets.

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As Denver's star rose, he needed someone to help keep him centered. He sought the counsel of Tom Crum, a meditation and martial arts instructor in Aspen who would become a loyal friend.

"He was on a rocket ship, was the way he sort of described it," said Crum. "And that rocket ship, you know, that's a scary thing."

"A rocket ship can crash," said Rocca.

"It can go very high, and come down very fast."

Crum described the bond they shared as "very powerful. I started working with him privately in some of the principles of Aikido. And it just was great for his spirit, for his soul. It was grounding for him."

Crum accompanied Denver across the country and around the world. "When he went to these foreign countries, he always tried to sing something in the language. And he would usually butcher it because, come on," he laughed.

But the view through Denver's signature granny glasses wasn't always rosy. "There's an up-and-down in him," Crum said. "A lot of artists are that way. And I think that part of his creativity came in those down moments."

Rocca asked, "What was the hardest conversation you had with him?"

"In the times when he was so dark and deep, he was really sort of lost," Crum replied.

John Denver entertained millions, but there was also a melancholy about him, and his music  music that made him one of the most beloved stars of his era, as you'll hear in Rocca's podcast "Mobituaries."

Listen to "Mobituaries: John Denver  Death of the Sunshine Boy" (Season 3, Episode 1) by clicking on the player below:

For more info:

Mo Rocca's "Mobituaries" is available wherever you download podcastsJohn Denver Sanctuary, Aspen, Coloradojohndenver.com (Official site)Colorado Symphony Orchestra

Story produced by Michelle Kessel. Editor: Chad Cardin.

See also:

The universal nostalgia for "Take Me Home, Country Roads" ("Sunday Morning")John Denver's doomed flight

Nature: Elk at Yellowstone

Jim Gaffigan is baffled by pumpkins

John David Washington on his Broadway debut
On Sept. 16, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died at a hospital in Tehran, Iran, after spending three days in a coma. According to her family and human rights groups, she sustained life-threatening injuries at the hands of so-called morality police presumably because her hijab failed to comply with the public dress code.

On that exact same day, at a public high school in Baltimore, Maryland, a 16-year-old Afghan teen whod recently arrived in the United States with her family after her countrys government collapsed to the Taliban, was locked inside a school bathroom by a staff member and ruthlessly beaten by other students who pummeled her head, forcibly ripped off her hijab that she chooses to wear, and attempted to choke her with it.

She survived the brutal assault, which was reported to police and brought to our attention by a caseworker helping the family. But she suffered extensive bruises, scrapes and swelling around her neck, as well as a debilitating concussion with lingering symptoms that typically accompany traumatic brain injuries including headaches, dizziness, confusion and disorientation.

As the Maryland office of our civil rights group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, worked with her and her family to collect details and seek restorative justice, accountability and policy changes within the school system, which investigated promptly, I also watched along with others as historic protests transcending religion, class and ethnicity erupted across the globe, in solidarity with Mahsa Amini and others fighting against oppression in Iran.

Its difficult to imagine the pain and grief her parents are enduring at the loss of their daughter under these senseless circumstances.

As I reflect on their loss, I also recall the pain and confusion of the Afghan father in Baltimore, afraid to send his visibly Muslim daughter to school. He could have lost his daughter too, over a headscarf that she chooses to wear due to her religious beliefs. Its a pain and fear no parent should ever have to experience.

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While we advocate for this student whose religious head covering, a constitutionally protected article of faith, was weaponized against her by those who also sought to violently strip her of her agency, its crucial that we ring the alarm on the dangerous, far-reaching implications of unchecked Islamophobia and anti-hijab rhetoric.

The demonstrators organizing rallies following Mahsa Aminis untimely, suspicious death are largely protesting what they view as the Iranian governments use of religious edicts as a political tool to manipulate and violently exert authority over girls and women.

Regardless of our religion, politics or location, demanding accountability for Mahsa Aminis death and standing up against violence against women should unite people around the world. But amid this important struggle, something alarming is also happening.

As demonstrators voice their grief, anger and frustration over the Iranian governments repressive policies, many, including me, have noticed a dangerous uptick in Islamophobic, anti-hijab rhetoric both online and in our personal circles.

Some voices on both the left and the right have broadly condemned the hijab as a tool of oppression instead of as the personal religious choice that it is for the vast majority of Muslim women who voluntarily wear it.

Friends have been harassed at the supermarket and even their childrens school about their decision to wear the headscarf. An influencer with over 1 million followers shared an uncomfortable exchange with a nail technician who made inappropriate, intrusive comments about her hijab. Commentary in the media, signs at protests and comments on many online articles and posts have been openly hostile toward Islam.

Others have used the crisis as an opportunity to push an Islamophobic agenda by demanding sanctions that would harm innocent Iranian people, an end to nuclear deal negotiations, and even outright war against Iran.

All of this is unacceptable and doesnt represent true solidarity with Iranian women.

The world must rightfully stand with women and girls everywhere fighting against gender-based violence. But that fight  whether against governments, ideologies or individuals  must be principled, morally consistent and without bigotry.

When ally-ship selectively manifests only for those choosing to take off the hijab, but not for those choosing to put it on, it translates into Islamophobia that risks perpetuating more violence against girls and women. Thats not solidarity.

When a legitimate, worthy cause is co-opted as a cover to vilify Islam, push for sanctions that harm innocent Iranians, or advocate for a disastrous war, thats not solidarity.

When people enthusiastically support women killed overseas by American adversaries, but steadfastly ignore women killed overseas by our governments allies, thats not true solidarity.

As the force thats launched a massive movement to galvanize change and fight gender-based oppression, these double standards do a disservice to Mahsa Aminis legacy.

Our liberation is intertwined, its often said that none of us are free until all of us are free. The freedom for all girls and women to peacefully protest without fear of violence must be protected at all costs.

In Maryland, we can do that by not fueling Islamophobia even as we justly demand accountability and criticize oppressive governments, and by consistently standing up for the safety of all girls and women, from Mahsa Amini in Iran to an Afghan teen in Baltimore.

Zainab Chaudry (Twitter: Zainab Chaudry) is director of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) office in Maryland.
(Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia was not working against anyone on energy markets and was seeking a balance between oil supply and demand, a week after Washington criticised a decision by OPEC+ to steeply cut oil production.

Speaking with President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates, Putin said Russia aimed to create stability on energy markets and ensure that supply and consumption were balanced.

"We are also actively working within the framework of OPEC+. I know your position, our actions, our decisions are not directed against anyone, we are not going to and do not do it in such a way as to create problems for anyone," Putin said at the meeting in St. Petersburg.

"Our actions are aimed at creating stability in the global energy markets, so that both consumers of energy resources and those involved in production, suppliers to the global markets feel calm, stable and confident. So that the supply and demand would be balanced."

U.S. President Joe Biden has called on his administration and Congress to explore ways to boost U.S. energy production and reduce OPEC's control over energy prices after what Washington called the cartel's "shortsighted" production cuts.

The move drew a sharp response from Biden that underscores the growing rift between the United States and Saudi Arabia on energy policy.

Before the meeting, the UAE's foreign ministry said the visit aimed to help reach "effective political solutions" to the Ukrainian crisis.

The UAE sought to "achieve positive results for military de-escalation, reduce humanitarian repercussions, and reach a political settlement to achieve global peace and security," the ministry added.

Sheikh Mohammed said on Twitter about his meeting with Putin: "We discussed several issues of mutual concern, including the Ukraine crisis, and the importance of engaging in dialogue to reduce tensions and arrive at a diplomatic solution."

The Kremlin on Sunday praised OPEC+ for agreeing production cuts that it said had successfully countered the "mayhem" sown by the United States in global energy markets.

(Reporting by Reuters)
A motorcycle on fire in Iran's capital Tehran on Oct. 8, 2022, amid the biggest wave of social unrest in almost three years

A motorcycle on fire in Iran's capital Tehran on Oct. 8, 2022, amid the biggest wave of social unrest in almost three years Credit - AFP/Getty Images

Evidence is accumulating that protests in Iran, now in their fourth week, may be seriously undermining the regime. While government forces continued to knock heads in the streets, the head of the Judiciary on Monday publicly spoke of mistakesweaknesses and failures by a government that has never previously acknowledged anything remotely resembling fault. Citizens or political groups should know that we have an ear for protests and criticism and that we are ready for dialogue, said Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei, a former intelligence minister regarded as among the hardest of Irans hardliners; he once bit a journalist.

The striking change in tone came after a sobering weekend for the countrys authoritarian rulers. The protests are far from the biggest the Iran has seen  in 2009, hundreds of thousands marched to protest a stolen election. But the current unrest appears to have penetrated the bedrock of the Islamic Republic. Over the weekend, protests took place in Tehran neighborhoods long regarded as regime strongholds, including Naziabad, Fallah, and Valiasar. Historically, those districts have produced Basiji, the state-sponsored paramilitary who enjoy state patronage and pour into the streets to break up protests. (In 2009, middle-class protesters chanted, Basiji go home, no free meal today). Now the same neighborhoods are producing the kind of unrest the Basiji would typically be called to extinguish. In one ambiguous but much-discussed snippet of footage, uniformed police are seen not confronting the protesters but walking beside them.

Theyre not typical areas for protest, notes Tara Sepehri Far, the Iran researcher for Human Rights Watch. The crack has gotten much much closer to them, she said, of the regime, much closer to their base.

Im not sure you can call it their base now, because a base has to be loyal to you, adds Maziar Bahari, editor of the London-based IranWire. On Tuesday, the news site reported that security forces are plagued by low morale, defections, and private fears the armed forces may collapse. The site quoted an unnamed former security official as saying: The question of many in the military and security forces is: For what? For this government thats corrupt from top to bottom?

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On Saturday night, the governments slipping control was broadcast nationwide. Activists briefly commandeered state television during the main newscast, interrupting a report on Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with a placard depicting Khamenei in crosshairs and the words The Blood of Our Youths Is on Your Hands. The placard also featured a photo of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old whose death in the custody of morality police sparked the protest, as well of as the images of three young women killed while protesting her death. Join us and rise up, the card read. The soundtrack was the protest chant, women, life, freedom.

After a few seconds the screen returned to a live shot of an anchorman looking understandably hapless. The IRIB, or Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, is the regimes main propaganda arm, and directly controlled by Khamenei. Press reports described the episode as a hack, but an IRIB spokesman pointed out that, since the broadcast was not online, it was actually an act of infiltration carried out from within the organization.

The Islamic Republics collapsewhile not inevitableis no longer inconceivable, Karim Sadjadpour, an analyst for the Carnegie Endowment, tells TIME. It will eventually go the way of the Soviet Union, but the timing of when it happens and what comes next is entirely unpredictable. The question is whether the regime can crush these protests without further enflaming them and while keeping their security forces intact. Theyve succeeded in doing so in every mass uprising up until now, but the geographic scope and intensity of these protests have been unprecedented.

Street protests may be contained with repression, Sadjadpour added. But if large and sustained strikes begin among petrochemical workers and the bazaar, things could start to unravel quickly.

Read More: Why Students Joining Irans Protest Wave Matters

In fact, as Ejei spoke on Monday, oil workers at state-owned petroleum facilities in two provinces called a strike in support of the protests, marching and chanting, Death to the dictator and Dont be afraid, we stand together. The next day, the strike reportedly spread to a refinery at Abadan. Petroleum forms the basis of Irans economy.

The regime appeared to be under assault from every side. When President Ebrahim Raisi ventured on Saturday to Al-Zahra University, an all-womens school, the hand-picked audience listened respectfully while hundreds of students outside the hall chanted, Get lost, Raisi.

Videos emerging from the country toggle between horror and heart-lifting. In one, a mother calmly describes the condition of her daughters corpse after its release by security forces: Her teeth were crushed and there was a big cavity at the back of her skull. Another documents schoolgirls chasing away the middle-aged men dispatched to tell them to put back on their headscarves.

The regime appears uncertain of its footing. In putting down previous protests, authorities played successfully on Iranians sense of nationalism, nursing latent fears that unrest might serve as a cover for separatist movements among the countrys ethnic Kurdish, Baluchi, and Arab minorities. Aminis death appeared to transcend all that. She was an ethnic Kurd who had been visiting Tehran when she was abducted and allegedly beaten for inappropriate hijab, or religious dress. The first protests were outside the hospital where she was declared dead on Sept. 16, then in her hometown. But within days they had erupted in more than 80 cities across the country  including Qom, the holy city. The Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights says it had documented 185 protester deaths in 17 of Irans 31 provinces.

Read More: The Iranian Peoples 100-Year Struggle for Freedom

The authorities have concentrated forces on the Kurdish region  firing artillery across the border into opposition camps in Kurdish territory inside Iraq, and, on Monday night, launching a brutal sweep of the streets in Kurdish cities inside Iran. But so far the protesters appear to be united in opposition to a regime that over four decades in power has grown more isolated and oppressive, especially toward women. Days before Amini died, a woman in the Iranian Kurdish city of Marivan leapt to her death from her own apartment to escape being raped by a neighbor. After local women protested systemic violence against women, Iranian Vice President for Women and Family Affairs Ensieh Khazali praised the victim for choosing to protect her honor over her life.

At the other end of the country of 84 million, regime forces killed some 90 people in the ethnic Baluch city of Zahedan, where a protest for Amini blended with a local outrage: the rape of a 15-year-old by a local police official. Protesters in Tehran claimed the victims as martyrs.

Read More: The Protests in Iran Have Shaken the Islamic Republic to Its Core

The solidarity beyond ethnic lines still holds, largely, says Sepehri Far of Human Rights Watch. The protests, as I understand it, are widespread. Theyre not huge in numbers. If you remember in 2009, it was very concentrated in a political movement. This one feels very scattered, and across ethnic divide in a way that is, again, different. Theres a new connectivity.

No one claims to know where events are headed. In a Sept. 28 interview with TIME, the internationally renowned human-rights attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh spoke of a very real possibility of regime change. Sociologist Asef Beyat, author of Life as Politics: How Ordinary People Change the Middle East, cautiously observed in an interview with the Iranian daily Etemad that the spontaneous nationwide outrage over Amanis death bore parallels with the death of Mohamed Bouazizi, the Tunisian street vendor whose self-immolation over repeated humiliations by city officials led to the Arab Spring. But for Iranians, the first point of reference remains the 1979 revolution that brought the mullahs to power.

Its a lose-lose situation for them, really, said Bahari, adding that Iranians know Ejei, the Justice chief, as a conniving, insincere person. In any event, his offer of dialogue can hardly be answered. The protests are entirely leaderless, and the regime has dismantled every organization of the civil society that might be pressed into service as a go-between.

Who are they going to bargain with? asks Sepehri Far. The labor unions they closed? The teachers they put in prison? The political parties they outlawed?
A member of a Rockland work crew was shot in the face as he left a hotel Friday in White River Junction, Vermont.

Authorities said the victim, Michael Lamotte, of Lowell, was part of a work crew from R.A.D. Sports, which installs artificial turf. They had been working at Cardigan Mountain School in nearby Canaan, New Hampshire.

The Valley News reported that Lamotte remained hospitalized in the ICU at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire.

Police: Rockland middle school custodian exchanged 'sexually-explicit' messages with teen

Police rushed to the Comfort Inn hotel just off Interstate 89 and Interstate 91 at about 6:30 a.m. Friday after a report of a "loud bang" on the fourth floor. Lamotte was found near the elevator entrance with a gunshot wound to his face.

Josh Buczynski, also a R.A.D. Sports employee and the teams emergency medical technician, tried to stop Lamottes bleeding with towels and took him to the elevator, where he met paramedics, according to the Valley News.

Lights on the roof of a police vehicle.

Nathan-Mikhail Fuller, 25, was taken into custody by police minutes after the shooting. He was arraigned in Windham Superior Court on Tuesday on charges of attempted murder in the second degree, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and reckless endangerment in the shooting of Lamotte.

Other hotel guests had seen Fuller walking down the hallways with a gun, authorities said. A witness near the elevator in the hotel lobby saw Fuller with a gun in his hand, saying, "I am sorry."

Fuller made various comments to the police, including there is a problem in China, the pope should be calling you, hi Joe Biden, when God tells you to do something you do it, he was the anti-Christ and had to take action and that he went to the hotel and shot somebody in the head for a good reason, the Valley News reported.

More: Quincy man pleads guilty to receiving child pornography

Material from WCVB and the Valley News was used in this report.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Rockland company worker shot in Vermont hotel
FILE PHOTO: Houston-based Chord Energy Corp. and Lafayette-based Planterra Foods plan to layoff 225 Colorado workers in coming weeks, according to notices the companies filed with the Colorado Secretary of State's office.
An Italian air force F-35A taxis as a US Air Force F-16 takes off during an exercise in Italy in May 2021. US Air Force/Airman 1st Class Brooke Moeder

Italy's military is focusing on expeditionary capabilities amid rising tension in the Mediterranean.

The goal is a force that can deploy quickly, operate across domains, and interoperate with allies.

As part of that effort, the military is seeking new hardware  including F-35s and amphibious ships.

At the end of August, two F-35Bs of the Italian Air Force and Navy conducted an austere runway exercise at an airport on Sardinia's northwestern coast.

The exercise was meant to test the ability of Italy's fixed-wing combat aircraft to land on and operate from shorter runways in hostile or semi-permissive environments. It also took place a few months before Italy's navy is expected to commission its newest amphibious assault ship, ITS Trieste.

The drills and the new ship are the latest signs of the Italian military's increasing focus on developing expeditionary capabilities  an interest that has grown amid rising tensions across the Mediterranean region.

Protecting NATO's southern flank

An Italian soldier stands guard at NATO's Joint Force Command in Naples in March 2011. MARIO LAPORTA/AFP via Getty Images

While often overshadowed by Europe's other major military powers, Italy is an important part of NATO's defense posture.

Its forces are vital in protecting NATO's southern flank in the Mediterranean, which Italy defines as stretching from the Persian Gulf across the Sahel to the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa.

Roughly 40% of global maritime trade transits the Mediterranean, which is also crisscrossed by dozens of undersea cables that are vital to the flow of information and communications.

Italy and its neighbors are also expected to dramatically increase their imports of oil and gas from North Africa and the Middle East, which flow across the Mediterranean by ship and pipeline, as Europe tries to end its dependency on Russian energy.

Russian navy ship Veliky Ustyug at Russia's base in Tartus, Syria in September 2019. AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko

The Mediterranean is also central to Italian security. Terrorists and non-state actors operating out of the Middle East and North Africa still pose threats, and Russia's increased naval presence, supported by its base at Tartus in Syria, forces Italy to be on constant alert.

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Italy is also an important part of NATO's military industrial base. The country is home to world-leading defense firms  including Beretta, Fincantieri, and Leonardo  and produces some of the most capable ships, aircraft, and small arms in service.

With 161,550 troops, Italy has the fifth-largest standing military in NATO, and Rome is the fourth-largest defense spender in Europe, according to the International Institute of Strategic Studies. (IISS rankings for Europe do not include Russia, which is placed in a separate region.)

ITS Trieste

Italian amphibious ship Trieste ahead of its launch at the Castellammare di Stabia shipyard in May 2019. Fincantieri via YouTube

ITS Trieste is the largest warship Italy has built since World War II. It is 803 feet long and displaces over 30,000 tons. It has two command islands, a ski-jump ramp, a deck with a special coating to withstand exhaust from jet engines, and a top speed of 25 knots.

Designed as an amphibious assault ship, Trieste will be able to carry some 600 troops, about a dozen armored vehicles, and multiple landing craft that can enter and exit the ship through a floodable well deck. The ship's load capacity is about 30 tons, according to its builder, Fincantieri.

Trieste's air wing is expected to be made up of 12 helicopters  likely a combination of AW101s, SH90As and AW129Ds  or a combination of helicopters and F-35Bs.

Italian aircraft carrier ITS Cavour, left, with USS Harry S. Truman in the Adriatic Sea on May 31. US Navy/MCS3 Crayton Agnew

Italy's air force and navy both operate the F-35B, the short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing version of the F-35. The navy currently has three F-35Bs in service and the Air Force two. (Italy's air force also has 14 F-35As in service). Each branch will eventually have 15 F-35Bs that will train and operate together.

Trieste will be the Italian navy's third carrier. The first, ITS Giuseppe Garibaldi, was commissioned in 1985 and took part in operations in Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Libya. The second, ITS Cavour, was commissioned in 2008 and is the navy's current flagship.

Italy's navy may retire or reconfigure Giuseppe Garibaldi after Trieste is commissioned, which is expected to be early next year. Italian navy and air force F-35s have already operated together aboard Cavour.

Modernization

German soldiers with an Italian F-35 at the International Aerospace Exhibition in Germany in June. Wolfgang Kumm/picture alliance via Getty Images

Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine spurred many NATO members, including Italy, to increase their defense budgets. While eyes remain on Ukraine, Italy is keen to point out that the Mediterranean remains worthy of NATO's attention.

"The marked increase in unfriendly naval activity in the Mediterranean indicates that we should not lose sight of this geopolitical area," Adm. Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, Italy's chief of defense, said at an event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in May.

Dragone said that the Mediterranean "remains as dangerous today as it always has been and a flashpoint of conflict and regional instability that affects us all."

Italy plans to meet NATO's goal of spending 2% of its GDP on defense by 2028, according to Dragone, with spending on its army being the priority.

The bow of Italian logistics ship Vulcano is launched at Castellamare di Stabia in April 2017. CARLO HERMANN/AFP via Getty Images

Italy's navy also has major modernization plans.

It intends to acquire at least seven Thaon di Revel-class offshore patrol vessels and has begun work on its second Vulcano-class logistic support ship, the first of which was commissioned last year. It also has plans for new destroyers and a replacement for its three San Giorgio-class amphibious transport dock.

The Italians aim to create a military that can deploy quickly, operate in multiple domains, and be interoperable across its own branches and with its allies.

"The Mediterranean is very crowded," with state and non-state actors both "coming in," Dragone said. "In the Mediterranean, we depend 92% on data and oil by submarine cables and ducts, and we have to defend them."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Getty

Russian inmates who were yanked out of prison to fight in Ukraine have begun receiving their promised pardons for taking part in the warbut legal experts say the supposed pardons are actually bogus.

The news comes as Russias war effort grew increasingly deranged this week as the prison-recruiting tactic apparently became the official new modus operandi. The Wagner Group, a private military force linked to the Kremlin and run by Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin, had for weeks been visiting prisons across Russia to lure convicted murders, robbers, and even a cannibal to join the war against Ukraine.

The Russian Defense Ministry, after taking heat for a series of battlefield defeats in recent weeks, then decided to throw their hat in the ring and create their own special forces unit made up of inmates from some of the same prisons Wagner had targeted, according to the investigative outlet iStories.

The new unit, called Storm, is said to offer inmates the same conditions as Wagner: a six-month contract, payment, and a pardon.

But propaganda footage shared by a media group linked to Wagner founder Prigozhin has sparked suspicions that the pardons may not be entirely legit. In the video released by RIA FAN, several freed inmates are seen receiving medals for their military service.

At least three of the four pictured in a Luhansk hospital are missing parts of their limbs.

 ,      ,  ,   ,     ,  .  ,         23     pic.twitter.com/v6KnahcTlB  ROMB (@romb_news) October 12, 2022

With soldier's blood and soldiers sweat, you earned this pardon. Nobody gave it to you, nobody brought it. You earned it yourself. Precisely for participation in battles and displaying heroism, a man off-camera can be heard telling the men.

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The men look less than enthused as they are presented with what is described as a certificate of achievement from the Russian Defense Ministry, a commemorative Wagner token, and certificates confirming their pardons.

Stanislav Bogdanov, one of the men interviewed in the propaganda video, proudly noted that he was grateful to Wagner for helping him find his purpose in life.

Maybe I was created for something else, and not just to serve a sentence and sit there all my life, he said.

Bogdanov admitted that he had no military experience prior to enlisting with Wagner. But he was exactly the kind of recruit Prigozhin had reportedly sought out: a convicted murderer (found guilty of murder with extreme brutality.)

Bogdanov bludgeoned a judge to death in 2012 using an iron poker and dumbbells. He was sentenced to 23 years in a maximum security prison, and had served only 10 of them when Wagner recruiters released him to help kill civilians in Ukraine.

Now having avoided serving the remaining 13 years, Bogdanov told the propaganda outlet he feels like hes been given a second shot at life.

But it appears he and the other inmates may have been duped.

Some nobody is handing the convicts papers and medals, telling [two of them] that these are pardon certificates. And the [others] that these are certificates of release. But they look like worthless scraps of paper with somebodys stamp, said Olga Romanova, the head of Rus Sidyashchaya (Russia Behind Bars), a human rights group that works closely with inmates.

Romanova noted in a statement on Telegram on Wednesday that the process for issuing pardons is much more complicated than just handing out pieces of paper.

Only the president can pardon, and this procedure is complicated and begins with the pardon commissions of regional public chambers... Regional public chambers have not not considered anything, no petitions for clemency. So what kind of papers are being handed to the convictswho knows, she wrote.

Gulagu.net, another human rights group specializing in the treatment of prison inmates, called the propaganda video proof of the merging of the mafia and the Russian state and noted that the pardons were apparently backdated.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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By Valentine Hilaire

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican online used-car dealership Kavak has expanded to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman and Saudi Arabia, boosting its presence in emerging-market countries, the firm's chief executive, Carlos Garcia, told Reuters on Tuesday.

Kavak plans to invest $130 million over the next two years in the three Middle-Eastern countries, which are set to represent 7-10% of its business, Garcia said.

The SoftBank-backed platform, which is valued at $8.7 billion and claims to be the most valuable startup in Latin America, entered the UAE and Oman through a merger with local company Carzaty. It set up its own operations in Saudi Arabia.

"The consumers of these three markets are looking for luxury cars at lower prices... so used cars in excellent condition are an option they would opt for," Garcia said.

Garcia said some 40% of transactions in the used-car market end in fraud and Kavak's algorithm can help guarantee safe sales and create a price structure for a "virgin" market.

The used-car market is worth an estimated $35 billion-$40 billion in Gulf countries, according to company data.

Kavak, which buys used cars, fixes them up and resells them, has grown quickly in its six years of existence and now operates in 10 countries.

In July it announced a $180 million investment to expand into Chile, Colombia and Peru, as well as Turkey, its first venture outside Latin America.

However, its fast-paced growth has encountered some speed bumps along the way. Kavak cut more than 100 jobs from its Brazilian offices in June and has faced criticism online about its customer service in Mexico.

"We recalibrate our workforce every year," Garcia said, asked about the layoffs. He said customer satisfaction levels have risen in Mexico, with around 70% of users recommending Kavak after purchasing services.

Kavak is not planning any additional expansions this year and will focus on its existing operations.

(Reporting by Valentine Hilaire; Editing by Leslie Adler)
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected Oklahomas attempt to narrow the definition of Indian in criminal cases as it sought to reclaim more jurisdiction in the wake of the McGirt case.

Without comment, justices declined to review the states appeals in the cases of Robert Eric Wadkins and Emmitt Sam. In both cases, the state of Oklahoma wanted the high court to rule that the men should not have been deemed Indians because they were not members of a tribe when their crimes were committed.

Instead, the Supreme Court on Tuesday let stand the rulings by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals that the men proved their Indian blood and tribal connections through means other than official tribal membership.

The state court convictions of Wadkins and Sam were among many overturned since the 2020 decision in McGirt v. Oklahoma led to the affirmation of six Indian reservations in Oklahoma. Now, most of eastern Oklahoma is Indian country, where federal law grants criminal jurisdiction to U.S. attorneys and tribal prosecutors in cases involving Native Americans.

In June, Oklahoma won a major victory when the U.S. Supreme Court declared that it could share jurisdiction in cases in Indian country in which the accused is a non-Indian and the victim is Native American. However, the state does not have jurisdiction over Native Americans accused of crimes on reservations.

Visitors walk outside the U.S. Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill on Feb. 21, 2022, in Washington.

Details of the crimes

Wadkins was convicted of kidnapping and raping a 22-year-old woman in 2017 in Choctaw County and was sentenced to 40 years in prison. Last year, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals overturned his conviction, ruling that the definition of Indian doesnt require tribal enrollment and that the state had no jurisdiction since the crime involved an Indian in Indian country.

Wadkins had a Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood most of his life and used it as his primary means of identification and to receive medical benefits from the Choctaw Nation. Also, the court said Wadkins mother, brother and several other relatives were enrolled members of the tribe, that he attended pow-wows and held himself out as an Indian.

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More:'Sovereignty is on the ballot': Oklahoma candidates take on tribal issues

Sam was convicted of first-degree murder in the killing of Jonathan Stephens in Tulsa in 2016 and two counts of armed robbery. He received a life sentence and two seven-year sentences.

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals reversed his conviction last year, ruling again that tribal membership was not required. Sam had Cherokee blood and had benefited for many years from services provided by the Cherokee Nation, of which his mother was a member.

Federal prosecutors have filed charges against Wadkins and Sam.

Oklahoma asked US Supreme Court to narrow definition of "Indian"

The state sought a bright line rule requiring tribal membership for defendants to be deemed Indian for purposes of the Major Crimes Act. It contended that federal appeals courts are split on the definition and that the Supreme Court could resolve longstanding questions.

Attorneys for Wadkins and Sam countered in their briefs that lower courts were not divided on how to define an Indian.

Unable to show any disagreement on the test that lower courts unanimously apply, Oklahoma asks the Court to adopt a bright-line rule that the word Indian in federal criminal statutes refers only to Native Americans who are enrolled members of federally recognized tribes, the attorneys told justices.

That argument, however, is no more worthy of review. Every court to have considered the question has rejected Oklahomas position. And for good reason.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: SCOTUS rejects Oklahoma's attempt to narrow the definition of Indian
Former President Trump criticized Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Monday for supporting funds for GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowskis (Alaska) reelection bid against a fellow Republican rather than directing that money to Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masterss (R) race against a Democrat.

The Old Broken Crow, Mitchell McConnell, is authorizing $9 Million Dollars to be spent in order to beat a great Republican, Kelly, instead of $9 Million Dollars that could be used for Blake Masters, and other Republicans, that with this money would beat their Democrat opponent, wrote Trump in a statement, referring to Kelly Tshibaka, who will face off against Murkowski in November.

Trump has endorsed both Masters and Tshibaka and called Murkowski, one of only seven GOP senators who voted to convict him in his second impeachment, horrendously bad and barely a Republican in his statement.

Murkowski is one of the more moderate Republicans in the Senate, specifically in her support of abortion rights.

A report by the Anchorage Daily News published on Thursday found that the Senate Leadership Fund, a Republican PAC with ties to McConnell, funded television, radio and internet ads in Alaska slamming Tshibaka in support of Murkowski.

McConnell has endorsed the incumbent in the race, rejecting the further-right Tshibaka, who is more in line with Trump.

Trump has ramped up his criticism of McConnell in recent months, including drawing vehement pushback for saying in a recent statement that the Kentucky Republican has a death wish, which critics said amounted to a tacit call for violence.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
In anticipation of another crazy summer of travel, United Airlines announced Tuesday its 2023 summer transatlantic schedule, which will total 37 cities in Europe, Africa, India and the Middle East  more international destinations than all other U.S. airlines combined.

Many of the slated transatlantic destinations will be the only ones offered by a U.S. airline, or the only nonstop routes from the U.S. Flights to the international destinations will depart from New York/Newark, the carrier's hub in San Francisco, Chicago/O'Hare and Washington/Dulles.

"Next summer United is offering the best of both worlds: we're making it easier for our customers to visit the most popular cities in Europe, but we're also expanding our reach to give travelers access to new places they haven't yet experienced," Patrick Quayle, senior vice president of global network planning and alliances at United, said in a statement. "We expect another busy summer for international travel and are proud to build on our industry-leading global network to offer our customers the widest range of destinations and most convenient travel options."

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The carrier's slated schedule includes a debut of three new cities: Malaga, Spain; Stockholm, Sweden; and Dubai, UAE. All three new destinations will fly from New York/Newark as the airline is poised to suspend flights from New York/JFK in late October.

United said it will also be the only North American airline offering flights to Amman, Jordan; Azores, Portugal; Palma de Mallorca and Tenerife, Spain.

A United Airlines worker guides a plane at Dulles International Airport on June 17, 2022.

In response to the increased travel demand to Europe this summer, the airline is also adding six more flights to the popular destinations of Rome, Paris, Barcelona, London, Berlin and Shannon.

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United will also bring back nine routes from last summer, such as a direct flights between New York/Newark and Nice; Denver and Munich; Boston and London Heathrow; Chicago/O'Hare and Zurich; and Chicago/O'Hare and Milan.

Tickets for these new summer routes are on sale now. Here is the new schedule below, government approval permitting:

New York/Newark - Malaga, Spain: Starting May 31, travelers can pick from three direct flights a week to Malaga on a Boeing 757-200, making United the U.S. airline with the most Spanish destinations. There will also be direct flights to Tenerife and Palma de Mallorca.

New York/Newark - Dubai, UAE : Commencing March 25, United will fly daily between New York/Newark and Dubai on a Boeing 777-200ER as part of its partnership with Emirates. United will be the only U.S. airline with nonstop flights to Dubai, the airline .

New York/Newark - Stockholm, Sweden: United will launch a nonstop, daily flight from New York/Newark to Stockholm starting May 25 on a Boeing 757-200. The last time United offered a flight to Stockholm was in 2019.

San Francisco - Rome, Italy: United will launch daily flights from its hub in San Francisco to Rome on a Boeing 777-200ER on May 25. "United is the only U.S. airline to offer direct flights to Europe from its hub in San Francisco, and next summer will offer nonstop flights to seven popular European cities," the airline said in a release.

Chicago/O'Hare - Shannon, Ireland: On May 25, United will launch daily flights to Shannon from Chicago/O'Hare. Other Ireland-bound flights from the U.S. include a New York/Newark to Shannon flight and direct service from Chicago, New York/Newark and Washington Dulles to Dublin on a Boeing 757-200.

Washington Dulles - Berlin, Germany: Launching on May 25, travelers can fly daily between Washington, D.C. and Berlin on the only nonstop service available. This route will fly on a Boeing 767-400ER. "United offers more flights to Berlin from the U.S. than any other airline, with existing year-round flights from Newark," the release said.

Chicago/O'Hare - Barcelona, Spain: Travelers will be able to depart from Chicago and head to Barcelona on a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner starting May 25. The carrier said this direct flight builds on its existing Barcelona-bound service from New York/Newark and Washington Dulles.

More flights to London - Next summer, United will offer 23 daily flights to London/Heathrow, including a second daily flight from Los Angeles on March 25 on a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. "United offers more flights and more business class seats from New York and the west coast to London than any other U.S. carrier and next summer, all United flights to London Heathrow will offer all-aisle access Polaris and Premium Plus seating," the statement said.

More flights to Paris - On June 2, United will offer a second daily flight from Washington Dulles to Paris/Charles de Gaulle on a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. Currently, there are flights to Paris from New York/Newark, Washington Dulles, Chicago and San Francisco.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: United Airlines 2023 schedule: New non-stop flights to Europe, Dubai
Photo Illustration by Erin OFlynn/The Daily Beast/Getty

Since news broke that Herschel Walker, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Georgia, had paid for a girlfriends abortion in 2009, Democrats have been hitting Walkerand those who defend himfor hypocrisy on one of his fundamental political positions.

But nearly two weeks since the revelations, first reported by The Daily Beast, that the mother of one of Herschel Walkers children had terminated a pregnancy at his request, one person has stayed conspicuously silent on the subject: President Joe Biden.

Unlike nearly every other high-profile member of his party, Biden, who has majorly stepped up his pitch to the Democratic base in recent weeks, has made no reference to Walker at party fundraisers, in engagements with reporters, or at public events. According to Biden allies, longtime advisers and party strategists, the decision not to nationalize Walkers past actions is likely part political calculusto avoid injecting himself into a local raceand part personal preferenceto avoid turning a painful family crisis into campaign fodder.

Politics is a tough business, but at the end of the day, theres obviously a deep understanding that were talking about people who have families and lives and make mistakes, said Karen Finney, a Democratic consultant and former spokesperson for Hillary Clintons 2016 presidential campaign. I think theres an appreciation that in personal family business, there ought to be some things that actually are off-limits.

The president, more than most politicians, is familiar with the weaponization of deeply personal family matters from political rivals. Just this weekend, Fox News host Sean Hannity hyped his program with a murkily obtained voicemail from Biden to his son, Hunter, asking him to seek treatment for substance use disorders.

That is part of Joe Bidens character: that he is someone who genuinely believes there are things that are out of bounds, particularly exploiting the personal pain of a family, one longtime Biden ally told The Daily Beast, referring to Christian Walker, the candidates son, who has in recent days aggressively condemned his fathers absence from his childhood and alleged abuse of the mothers of his children. You dont need to exploit children and personal pain to win.

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Herschel Walkers Wife Reaches Out to His Abortion Accuser

There is, of course, the realpolitik of the risk Biden injecting himself into a tight midterm race in a state where his approval sits at just 37 percent. Biden, by dint of being president, nationalizes nearly everything he toucheswhich is not what Sen. Raphael Warnock, Walkers Democratic opponent, needs in the closing weeks of the campaign.

Georgia, Georgia, Georgia. That needs to be the message, one Georgia-based Democratic consultant who has worked with Warnock in the past told The Daily Beast. One of the only rounds Walker has left in the chamberand he literally did it [on Tuesday]is to call Reverend Warnock a lapdog for the Biden White House. No need to give that an ounce of credence.

The more local the Georgia Senate race remains, said Lis Smith, a longtime Democratic operator, the better it is for Warnockeven if the race is now being mired in the abortion issue that has animated Democratic voters nationwide.

Its not Joe Bidens job to define Herschel Walker, and it wouldnt be particularly helpful to Sen. Warnock for the president to try to, Smith said, adding that she would recommend Democrats stay hyper-focused on their own races. Its absolutely delusional that anyone thinks nationalizing the Walker scandal will somehow tip the Nevada or Arizona senate race toward Democrats.

The White House communications team, like Biden, has maintained a conspicuous silence on Walker, although White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has not yet been asked about it in the briefing room, and Hatch Act restrictions prevent civil servants from weighing in too deeply on political issues. In response to The Daily Beasts request for comment on why the president has not weighed in on Walker, a White House spokesperson cited those constraints.

Biden has, however, felt at liberty to weigh in on other congressional elections, albeit with more of focus on policy differencesmost notably his concern about candidates who believe that he was not legitimately electedthan on their personal backgrounds or gaffes.

Some campaign veterans said that, given Bidens occasional difficulty staying on-message on the issue of abortion, silence on the specifics of Walkers actions may be for the best.

I dont think this White House is particularly adept at carrying purely political messages, so I dont really know that it matters whether they engage on this or not, said former Republican political consultant Tim Miller, who suggested that Walker can still be pointed to by Democrats more broadly as an example of why full-scale bans on abortion dont work.

Arguing that these guys want to ban abortion without exceptions for vulnerable women while paying for abortions themselves is compelling, Miller said.

Despite Bidens past difficulty discussing the issue, the president has made reproductive choice a key element in his pitch to voters ahead of the midterm elections, pointing to proposed national bans on abortion as evidence that the Republican Party has grown too extreme to be handed the reins.

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Speaking to attendees of a Democratic National Committee fundraiser at a private residence in New Jersey on Friday, Biden went on an extended riff about the Supreme Courts overturning of Roe v. Wade earlier this year, calling it a preview of threats to other constitutional rights down the road.

Its no exception, Biden said of Sen. Lindsey Grahams (R-SC) proposed bill banning all abortions after 15 weeks of gestation. In some cases, the life of the mother is not an exception. And some of you are docs, or have sons or daughters that are docs, and theyre worried as hell of what they can do without them being criminally liable for anything.

Those are the personal terms, Finney suggested, that Biden can use to frame the issuerather than the specifics of Walkers story, which is far from finished being told.

Were seeing the delineation between the personal pain of this family, which should be off the table, and legitimate and important policy questions, Finney said. And that is a line that Biden is comfortable walking.

On Wednesday morning, shortly after this story was published, Biden finally broke his silence on Walker during a chat with reporters before boarding Marine One for a campaign tour of the western states.

Asked for his long-awaited reaction to the revelations, Biden had only a single word: Negative.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Taiwan Military Live-fire Training Amid Increasing Tensions With China

CM-11 tanks fire artillery during the 2-day live-fire drill, amid intensifying threats military from China, in Pingtung county, Taiwan, 7 September 2022. Taipei has been receiving more arms sales and weapons from the US, while fostering its ties with countries like Japan, the UK, Canada and India, as Beijing vows to unify Taiwan without excluding the possibility of using force. Credit - Ceng Shou Yi-NurPhoto

Why is it worthwhile for Americans to defend Taiwan? In very concrete terms, whats in it for us?

At this point, there is widespread agreement among Americans that China is a major threat and that U.S. policy needs to address it. At the same time, though, most Americans are rightly opposed to the forever wars of the past two decades and skeptical of more military interventions.

In brief, there is agreement that China is a major challenge, but not on how far to go in confronting it. Indeed, there is a rising strain in American politics that advocates seeking to avoid confronting Beijing in Asia while focusing on reducing our economic dependence on China through reshoring and industrial policy.

But, while steps to strengthen our economy at home make abundant sense, this approach will not suffice for Americans concrete interests. We cannot let Asia go.

Its worth starting with first principles. What is the rightful purpose of American foreign policy? We can wish others well, but its not about pacifying or democratizing the world, as we learned over the last twenty years. Rather, a small r republican foreign policy should focus on protecting and promoting Americans physical security, our liberties, our prosperity, and economic security.

If we identify the threats to those goods, by far the most dangerous is a very great power that could attack or undermine them. Hard power, namely economic strength and the military might it can provide, is the main thing. Lesser threats by definition can be dealt with more easily. America is roughly 20% of global GDP, and economic productivity is the root of power in the modern world, so this means that only a very great state could hope to become so strong as to menace us. And the only state today that matches up to that description is China.

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But China on its own is not strong enough. It too is roughly 20% of global GDP. So how could China pose such a threat to our interests? By dominating Asia. Asia is now again the center of the world, upwards of 50% of global GDP going forward. If Beijing could dominate Asia, it would be in a very strong position to dominate the worldand us.

Now is China actually going to pursue this goal? This could have been the topic of a good debate a decade ago. But now the answer seems fairly clearly to be yes. Beijings behavior, and at a deeper level Chinas interests, all point in the direction of Beijing pursuing a form of soft imperial controlwhat we might call hegemonyover Asia. This would likely take the form of formally independent states in Asia orienting their economic, foreign, and securityand ultimately even their domestic affairsaround Beijings preferences. Beijing would not directly control them, but it would be the center and leader of the system, and would have immense leverage to enforce its will.

If China becomes dominant in such a way over Asia it will have a controlling influence over roughly half of the global economy. With this power, it will undoubtedly ensure that it is the center, the prime beneficiary, and effectively the director of the global economy. And why not? In this context, Beijing could ensure that China is the richest, most economically secure, and most influential country in the world.

In such a scenario, global trade and commercial flows will gravitate toward and around China. China will have a scale and power to ensure that its companies are the world leaders, that its universities are the best, that its standards are met, and that its rules are followed. It will be the gatekeeper to the worlds largest market area, with unmatched scalewhich is of course key to economic development.

To those who play ball with such a China, falling into line in its value chain, following its rules, and toeing its diplomatic line, there will be rewards. But for those who resist, there will be penalties: exclusion from access, tariffs, and sanctions. Think of the economic power America can now wield against Russia in Beijings hands, and at even greater scale.

In this world, American autarky just will not work. First of all, America will be at best roughly 20% of global GDP, a far smaller base for competition, making it likely our economy would be outclassed and left behind by Chinas much larger area over time.

Read More: The Worlds Future Is in the Hands of Chinas Xi Jinping

Even more, though, China will very likely seek to diminish the U.S. This is just basic power politics: America is the only country that can possibly stand up to China. So, to secure its ascendancy, China will seek to weaken and by extension impoverish us. And Beijing will have many instruments to use against the U.S. Meantime, we will be unable to count on our allies. The Asian ones will have fallen under Beijings dominance. Fractious and economically anemic Europe will likely cut a deal.

In this world, Americans might be physically secure, given our two oceans and our nuclear arsenal, but we would be much less prosperous and economically secure, and thus also much less free. Most Americans would effectively be working for Chinese companies or their subsidiaries in one way or another, answer to Chinese regulators, and read and consume information curated in Beijing. Wed all be compelled to dance to Beijings tune.

To make it concrete: Many if not most Americans agree that there are huge problems with our social media companies and the way they are regulated today. But we are all assuming that Americans have the power to remedy the problem. But if Beijing is dominant over the world economy, that will not be the case. The social media companies will ultimately be answerable to Beijing, and the situation will be even worse.

The fact is, though, that we do not need to speculate. Beijing is already showing us what this world will look like. Observe the way China wields economic sanctions not only against their neighbors but even far off Canada and Lithuania. And as for the nature of their rule, observe Hong Kong, and bear in mind that China is a famously nationalist country and that is how it treats its own people. We have little reason to expect we would get better treatment.

These are the stakes, then. The reader might notice perhaps that neither Taiwan nor Chinas military has yet come up. That is not an accident. The stakes here are economic and political: about who has power in the future world economy. And, as has again become increasingly clear in recent years, political power  especially geopolitical power  matters a very great deal for economics. Free and fair markets do not just spontaneously emerge. They are created, sustained, and shaped by politics, and thus by power.

But the means that China will need to use to achieve its ascendancy over Asia are military. And Taiwan occupies a central position along Beijings path to this goal.

Chinese sand dredgers are seen from a local beach on September 24, 2022 in Kinmen, Taiwan. Kinmen, an island in the Taiwan strait that is part of Taiwan's territory, is so close to China that the deep-water port of Xiamen, one of China's biggest, lies less than three miles away across the water. It is one of the few areas of Taiwan that mainland Chinese tourists can visit without visas or permits, and has deep ties with the adjacent Fujian province of China. Annabelle Chih-Getty Images

This is because countries are unlikely to accept Chinese hegemony just due to economic sanctions and suasion. Witness the difficulties Beijing is facing with its Belt and Road Initiative, and how even Australia, dependent on Chinas imports for its economy, has stood up to Chinas daunting economic pressure over the last year. Beijing appears to agree with this assessment, as it is embarking on an historic military buildup of both its conventional and nuclear forces. This is clearly a military buildup designed not only to resolve the Taiwan issue but to project power throughout the region and ultimately the globe. Meantime they are actively preparing for a conflict with us.

In this context, Americas goal should be to prevent China from dominating Asia without a war. That is the optimal aim: a decent peace without war. But the only prudent way to achieve that goal is to be prepared to fight in a way that shows Beijing it just will not gain if it starts a conflict. This is a cliche: if you want peace prepare for war. But the reason it is so cliched is that it is deeply rooted common sense.

The key to achieving this goalof blocking China from dominating Asiais a coalition. The need for this coalition is not rooted in anything about sacred alliances or the rules-based international order. It is practical reality necessary to achieve this aim. The U.S. needs a coalition because it is neither realistic nor fair for Americans to take on the enormous task of blunting Beijings ambitions alone. Fortunately, there are many countries in Asia that have the will and the way to help stand up to China, like India, Japan, Australia, and Taiwan itself.

The key, though, is to make sure this coalition worksthat it stands up and holds together in the face of Chinese pressure and, if necessary, aggression. But we cannot take that for granted. Countries in Asia are quite reasonably wondering whether it is prudent to stand up to China. Most do not want to live under Beijings thumb, but if the alternative is disaster and exclusion from all the goods Beijing has to offer, they are much more likely to cut a deal.

Thus the key to making this coalition work is the conviction that it is prudentthat the coalition, by necessity led by a strong and purposeful America, is powerful and resolute enough to hold together and stand strong in the face of Chinese pressure or aggression.

Its in this hard-nosed context that Taiwan takes on such importance. We might admire its democracy and entrepreneurial spirit, but those are not enough to justify Americans going to war. Instead, Taiwan is important to Americans for two reasons: because it is militarily critical and because it is a bellwether.

Read More: The Chips That Make Taiwan the Center of the World

First, Taiwan is vital to the defense of Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines. If China occupied Taiwan, it would pose a much greater threat to these countries and be able to project power deep into the Pacific, a very real possibility as we can see from Chinas activities in Solomon Islands and its construction of an enormous oceangoing navy, including aircraft carriers.

Second, Taiwan is the canary in the coal mine. Credibility arguments always deserve to be met with skepticism. But it is only rational for Taiwans neighbors to look at how we treat Taiwan as an indicator of how we would treat them. Whether we like it or not, Taiwans fate will play a major role in whether countries think America is reliable as the cornerstone of the coalition. Indeed, as a result, if Taiwan fell we would probably have to do far more aggressive things to prove we were reliable at all.

This all adds up to a very significant American interest in Taiwan. But it is not existential. Taiwan is not American territory.

This is where a denial defense comes in. Americans cannot rationally rely on a strategy of total war or prosperity-crashing economic warfare to defend what is, for us, a significant but not existential interest. Rather, Americans need a strategy that is keyed to the importance of the interest. This is what a denial defense does: it focuses on defeating a Chinese invasion of an ally, ensuring Beijing cannot seize and hold their key territory. If that can be done, as Ukraine has commendably shown, then the aggressor basically cannot bring it to heel. And if we can do that for Taiwan, essentially by definition we can do that for our other allies in Asia like Japan, the Philippines, and Australia. And if we can do this, the coalition should stand strong and succeed in its ultimate goal: denying Chinas hegemonic aims in Asia.

This is actually a relatively low strategic standardjust denial of the invasion, not conquest, dismembering China, or changing its regime. But it is very demanding in practice because of how strong China is, how near it is to Taiwan and our other allies, and how focused it iswhile we are distracted.

But the good news is that it is feasible: If we actually focus more on walking the walk than talking the talk. Taiwan, is after all an island a hundred miles off the coast of China. And Americas military strong suits are in the areas of aerospace, maritime, and high technologyexactly the kinds of things we need we would need to defeat a cross-Strait invasion. These are also areas of strength for Japan, Taiwan, and Australia.

The bewilderingand indeed infuriatingthing is that we are not doing what is needed to build an effective denial defense. The best way to avoid war on decent terms is to show China that we have the ability to defeat their invasion in a manner that is not crazy for us to implement. Yet that is not what our government is doing.

Defending far-off Taiwan and our allies seems to many like yet another foolish military misadventure for our country. But it is not. This strategy is rooted in a practical, hard-nosed assessment of what is in Americans concrete economic and political interests. It is not about ending evil in the world or making it safe for Wilsonianism. It is about defending Americans security, liberties, and prosperity from a very realand, in terms of Chinas gigantic scale, unprecedenteddanger. For that reason, Americans should support it.
Police tape blocks off the residence of Timothy M Haslett Jr, after the home was boarded up and fenced off Monday, 10 October 2022, in Missouris Excelsior Springs city (AP)

A woman in Missouri, allegedly held captive for around a month as a sex slave, was found by police with an electric dog collar around her neck that restricted her breathing and wearing latex lingerie, according to reports.

The woman had fled the home of the suspect, identified as Timothy M Haslett, 39, of Missouris Excelsior Springs city, who was arrested on 7 October.

Mr Haslett, a father of one, is facing first-degree rape and kidnapping as well as second-degree assault charges.

The woman appeared to be weak and frail, likely due to malnourishment. She broke free from the home early on 7 October and approached neighbours for help, alleging she was kidnapped and raped, reported the Kansas City Star newspaper, citing police.

When we made contact with her, it was readily apparent that she had been held against her will for a significant period of time, said Excelsior Springs police Lt Ryan Dowdy.

The metal collar was unlocked by police as it restricted the womans breathing.

The woman pointed to the home in which she was held captive, according to a probable cause statement from a detective.

She reached out to multiple neighbours for help, who said her voice was feeble like a whisper. They added that she had bruises on her wrist and duct tape hanging around her neck.

Lisa Johnson, a neighbour who saw her, said the 100-pound woman was covered with bruises and struggled to crawl up her porch steps, according to KSHB News.

She didnt have much of a voice, Ms Johnson told the outlet. It was more of a light help me than anything.

The neighbour called the police as the woman said her alleged abductor would kill them both if they did not get help.

Ciara Tharp, a relative of an elderly neighbour of the woman who heard her screaming and knocking on the door told KSHB that the woman had a ligature mark on her hands.

The woman told the elderly lady: You have to help me, Ive been raped, Ive been held captive.

My grandma could tell she was weak, MsTharp said. She didnt have a whole lot of clothes on. She said she had a metal dog collar around her neck and could see the ligature marks around her wrists.

Story continues

The woman told police she was picked up from Prospect Avenue in Kansas City in early September.

He kept her restrained in handcuffs on her wrists and ankles. She was able to get free when he took his child to school, said the probable cause statement.

The woman told police the suspect whipped and raped her frequently and kept her in a small room in a basement.

The suspect was due to appear in court on Tuesday afternoon as the police determined if there were other victims. The womans statement suggested there could have been other victims who would have been hurt or in danger inside the house.

However, the police did not find other potential victims when they searched the suspects house.

In a Facebook post, Clay County Sheriffs Office said it will take time to use that information to see if the suspect in this case is connected to any more crimes.

And when those things have happened, there will still be very little law enforcement can share until the case goes to court, it read.

If you have been raped or sexually assaulted, you can contact your nearest Rape Crisis organisation for specialist, independent and confidential support. For more information, visit their website here.
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SINGAPORE, October 12, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of B++ (Good) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of "bbb" (Good) of BIDV Insurance Corporation (BIC) (Vietnam). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable.

The ratings reflect BICs balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as strong, as well as its adequate operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management (ERM). The ratings also factor in a neutral impact from the companys ultimate corporate parent, Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV).

BICs balance sheet strength assessment is underpinned by the strongest level of risk-adjusted capitalisation, as measured by Bests Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR). AM Best expects it to remain at the strongest level over the medium term. Capital adequacy has shown moderate volatility in recent periods driven by changes in the companys catastrophe risk management strategy. The company maintains a typically conservative investment strategy with the majority of investments held in cash, term deposits and fixed-income securities, although the company maintains a concentration in term deposits held with its majority shareholder, BIDV. Other balance sheet considerations include the companys moderate use of and reliance on reinsurance to support its underwriting capacity for large property and engineering risks, as well as to manage accumulation risks and catastrophe exposure. Reinsurance counterparty credit risk is mitigated using a reinsurance panel of typically good credit quality.

AM Best assesses the companys operating performance as adequate, with a five-year average return-on-equity ratio of 10.8% (2017-2021). BICs underwriting performance improved in 2021 compared with the prior year, in part driven by lower claims experience given COVID-19-related mobility restriction measures in Vietnam. While the company has reported technical profitability in recent periods, its high operating expense ratio is viewed as an offsetting factor to the operating performance. BICs interest income from term deposits and fixed-income holdings are expected to continue to be an important contributor to overall earnings.

AM Best views BICs business profile as neutral. The companys common branding and business distribution through its corporate parent, BIDV, is supportive of its business profile. The majority of gross premium written (GPW) was sourced from Vietnam with approximately 10% of GPW from Laos. The companys main lines of business are motor, personal accident and health, as well as property and engineering insurance. Prospectively, AM Best expects BICs portfolio to become more weighted toward personal accident and health business, driven by business growth through its bancassurance distribution channel.

AM Best assesses BICs ERM as appropriate given the size and complexity of its operations. The companys risk management framework and capabilities benefit from a level of technical support, expertise and oversight provided by BIDV, as well as from a strategic relationship with its minority interest shareholder; Fairfax Asia Limited.

Ratings are communicated to rated entities prior to publication. Unless stated otherwise, the ratings were not amended subsequent to that communication.

This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Bests website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Bests Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Bests Credit Ratings. For information on the proper use of Bests Credit Ratings, Bests Performance Assessments, Bests Preliminary Credit Assessments and AM Best press releases, please view Guide to Proper Use of Bests Ratings & Assessments.

AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specialising in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

Copyright  2022 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221012005761/en/

Contacts

Susan Tan

Financial Analyst

+65 6303 5023

susan.tan@ambest.com

Chris Lim

Senior Financial Analyst

+65 6303 5018

chris.lim@ambest.com

Christopher Sharkey

Manager, Public Relations

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5159

christopher.sharkey@ambest.com

Al Slavin

Communications Specialist

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5098

al.slavin@ambest.com
Asante Gold Corporation

Vancouver, British Columbia, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Asante Gold Corporation (CSE:ASE | GSE:ASG | FRANKFURT:1A9 | U.S.OTC:ASGOF) is pleased to provide an update and status report for the initiatives the Company has taken at its Bibiani and Chirano Gold Mines in Ghana.



BIBIANI RAMP UP ON TRACK

The first gold pour at the Bibiani Gold Mine (Bibiani) occurred on July 7, 2022, two months ahead of schedule.





All process plant and mine facilities are operating on a 24 hour per day basis, with ~220,000 tonnes of ore treated in September. Asante plans to increase throughput to 250,000 tonnes ore per month by Q1 2023.





Gold production in September was just above 9,300 ounces, 17% above the Companys start up plan.





Mine plan and mine to mill reconciliation for the Walsh satellite pit and Main Pit were on target.





The Walsh Pit continues to outperform, relative to our initial planned gold production. The area between the Walsh and Main pits were historically used for tailings storage. This area has now been partially explored and Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources have increased from 20,000 to more than 100,000 ounces (1.37 MT with Au grade of 2.62 g/t). The drilling program to explore this trend and to support the planned underground mining strategy has been initiated.





The Companys plan to extend the Bibiani LOM (life of mine) from 8.3 years to +10 years is on track with successful development exploration at Russel South (see press releases of March 29 th and August 17 th ) and drilling programs have commenced at the Grasshopper and Elizabeth deposits. The Company will continue its near mine development exploration program with planned drilling of approximately 30,000 metres per year for 2022, 2023 and 2024.





The Company filed an updated National Instrument 43-101  Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101) technical report on the Bibiani Gold Mine on September 1, 2022 that incorporates exploration and mine planning results to February 28, 2022 and increased the Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources by 26.4% to 2.29M ounces (31.57 MT with Au grade of 2.24 g/t) and are further classified as 1.95M ounces of Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves (28.4 MT with Au grade of 2.14 g/t). An updated NI 43-101 technical report to incorporate results of the 2022 exploration program is planned for Q3 2023. We anticipate this report will define additional ounces to the current resource and LOM.





CHIRANO MINE TRANSITION PLAN AND BUSINESS IMPROVEMENTS ON TRACK

The Chirano Gold Mine (Chirano) acquisition was completed on August 10, 2022. This acquisition added Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources of 28.1Mt at 1.26 g/t Au (1.13 Moz) and Inferred Mineral Resources of 6.05Mt at 1.91 g/t (0.37 Moz) to Asantes gold resource. An updated NI 43-101 technical report for Chirano was filed by the Company on October 11, 2022. The technical report is based upon information and planning developed by Kinross Gold Corporation, the former owner of Chirano. Asante continues to identify and develop opportunities to add value to this asset. An update to this technical report is planned for Q3 2023 and will incorporate results of the 2022 exploration program and Business Improvement Plan, referenced below.





The Company has initiated a Chirano Transition and Business Improvement Plan to increase Chirano current gold production by 30% and to reduce AISC (all-in sustaining costs) by 10% by 2024 through the following initiatives:



Gravity plant design and procurement are well advanced with installation planned for completion at Q2 2023;



Oxygen addition to the CIL (carbon-in-leach) process is proceeding and an oxygen plant is planned for installation in Q2 2023; to date, we have increased gold recovery by +3% to 89%. A pebble crusher has been ordered and primary grinding upgrades are planned to be installed in Q2 2023 to increase process plant throughput from 3.2 to 4.0M t/y; Relocation of minor infrastructure and facilities is underway, to provide access to expansion of the Akoti South open pit and to start the second cut at the Sariehu open pit. These initiatives will access lower cost resources; Studies and associated initiatives are underway to improve the material handling systems to deliver ore to the Process Plant at lower cost; Initiatives to capture synergies between the Bibiani and Chirano mines have started to yield benefits related to supply of principle consumable materials; Development of the wide Obra orebody, the lower Tano underground mines and the Mamnao open pit mine have been accelerated, to provide lower cost resources for treatment; and Asante plans to invest minimum of $5M/y in near mine and regional exploration over the next three years with the target to increase Chirano LOM from current 5 to +10 years; exploration of the Aboduabo and Chine targets has been initiated.



OPERATING SYNERGY INITIATIVES UNDERWAY

The Company has commenced initiatives to capture synergies between its Bibiani and Chirano mines, that are situated with their process plants approximately 15 km apart. These initiatives include development of an access road to directly link the process plants and provide access for exploration along the highly mineralized Bibiani-Chirano shear zone. This road will be upgraded to become a mine haul road, so that ore can be treated where most appropriate, based upon availability and mineralogy. Asante continues to develop opportunities to share infrastructure and to realize operational cost reductions.

Dave Anthony, President and CEO stated, We are very pleased with the progress that we have made thus far in 2022. Over the past 12 months Asante has been transformed from an early exploration company to a mid-tier producer. We continue to develop the business as planned and delivered more than 20,750 ounces in September. Value creation initiatives are proceeding across our business as planned. As we gather momentum on both of our mining operations, on exploration activities and advance with production improvement initiatives, we look forward to providing further updates.

For more details on Asantes current plans for Bibiani and Chirano, please refer to our September 26, 2022 Investor Presentation that can be found on our website at www.asantegold.com.

Qualified Person Statement

The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by David Anthony, P.Eng. (Alberta and Ontario) Mining and Metallurgy, President and CEO of Asante, who is a "qualified person" under NI 43-101.

About Asante Gold Corporation

Asante is a gold exploration, development and operating company with a high-quality portfolio of projects and mines in Ghana. Asante is currently operating the Bibiani and Chirano Gold Mines with a combined forecast production of 335,000 oz of gold over the next 12 months. The Company continues with detailed technical studies at its Kubi Gold Project for early production. All mines and projects are located on the prolific Bibiani and Ashanti Gold Belts. Asante has an experienced and skilled team of mine finders, builders and operators, with extensive experience in Ghana. Asante is listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange, the Ghana Stock Exchange and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Asante is also exploring its Keyhole, Fahiakoba and Betenase projects for new discoveries, all adjoining or along strike of major gold mines near the centre of Ghanas Golden Triangle. Additional information is available on the Companys website at www.asantegold.com.

About the Bibiani Gold Mine

Bibiani is a historically significant gold mine situated in the Western Region of Ghana, with previous gold production of more than 4Moz. It is fully permitted with available mining and processing infrastructure on-site consisting of a newly refurbished 3 million tonne per annum process plant, and existing mining infrastructure. Mining commenced in late February with the first gold pour announced on July 7, 2022, with forecast 12 month gold production of 175,000 oz.

For additional information relating to the mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates for the Bibiani Gold Mine, please refer to Asantes press releases dated July 18, 2022 and September 1, 2022 and the technical report titled "NI 43-101 Technical Report, Bibiani Gold Project, Ghana, West Africa", dated August 31, 2022 (with an effective date of February 28, 2022) filed on its SEDAR profile (www.sedar.com) on September 1, 2022.

About the Chirano Gold Mine

Chirano is an operating open-pit and underground mining operation located in Western North region of Ghana, immediately south of the Companys Bibiani Gold Mine. Chirano was first explored and developed in 1996 and began production in October 2005. The mine comprises the Akwaaba, Suraw, Akoti South, Akoti North, Akoti Extended, Paboase, Tano, Obra South, Obra, Sariehu and Mamnao open pits and the Akwaaba and Paboase underground mines. Gold Equivalent Production in 2021 was 154,668 oz on a 100% basis (source Kinross Gold Corporation).

For additional information relating to the mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates for Chirano, please refer to Asantes press release dated October 11, 2022 and the technical report titled "NI 43-101 Technical Report, Chirano Gold Mine, Ghana, West Africa", dated September 30, 2022 (with an effective date of December 31, 2021) filed on its SEDAR profile (www.sedar.com) on October 11, 2022.

For further information please contact:

Dave Anthony, President & CEO: +1 647 382 4215 (Canada) or +233 55 879 3309 (Ghana), dave@asantegold.com

Frederick Attakumah, Executive Vice President, frederick@asantegold.com

Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results, performance, prospects, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including the resources, reserves, exploration results, and development programs. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, variations in the nature, quality and quantity of any mineral deposits that may be located, the Companys inability to obtain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required for its planned activities, the Companys inability to raise the necessary capital or to be fully able to implement its business strategies, and the price of gold. The reader is referred to the Companys public disclosure record which is available on SEDAR (www.sedar.com). Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors 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 as required by securities laws and the policies of the securities exchanges on which the Company is listed, the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

LEI Number: 529900F9PV1G9S5YD446. Neither IIROC nor any stock exchange or other securities regulatory authority accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.




Darla Logan vividly remembered the first time she spotted what, she still believes, was Bigfoot. It was 1987.

After finishing her waitressing shift in Poplar Bluff, she took the shortcut home. Her car was out of commission and the walk was a simple 15 minutes. While cutting through a clearing, Logan saw what looked like a dead tree.

"I realized there's a face to this dead tree," Logan said before she whispered that it was "really ugly."

The figure, which looked akin to a tall orangutan, stood still when Logan made the decision to turn around and walk the long way home, foregoing thoughts of a shortcut. Once there, she snagged one of her sons to return to the spot. Although they couldn't find any footprints in the packed earth, Logan said she could tell something had been standing in the spot she spotted Bigfoot.

Darla Logan, of Poplar Bluff, wears a "Bigfoot Odyssey" shirt while listening to a speaker during the Ozark Mountain Bigfoot Conference Oct. 8, 2022.

Logan's retelling isn't the first story shared about the elusive sasquatch with folklore tales of cryptids ranging from the Ozark Howler to Momo the Monster circulating for generations, but Bigfoot is among the most legendary.

Although the creature was absent, a group of 75 enthusiasts attended the first Ozark Mountain Bigfoot Conference at the Christian County Elks Lodge Saturday. Event Coordinator Mary Ann Ziebell said she was going to be happy if 50 people showed up, so her hopes were exceeded. She's already planning for next year's conference slated October 2023.

Castings of alleged Bigfoot footprints are on display at the Christian County Elks Lodge in Ozark Oct. 8, 2022.

'People either believe or they think we've lost our freaking minds'

When she realized there may not have been a sasquatch conference previously in Missouri, Ziebell jumped at the chance to set one up. She contacted members from the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization, Ozark Mountain Sasquatch, a crypto linguist and others to speak at the all day conference Oct. 8.

Mary Ann Ziebell is the event coordinator for the Ozark Mountain Bigfoot Conference Oct. 8, 2022.

"It falls one of two places: people either believe or they think we've lost our freaking minds  there's really no in between," Ziebell told the News-Leader minutes before the conference began. "Now with some people, it wouldn't matter if you dragged a body in here, they're not gonna believe it."

Story continues

For the doubters, Ziebell said spending a night in the woods may change their mind.

"First of all, they have to be observant when they're out there," Ziebell said. "We are so disconnected from nature."

After decompressing away from electronics for a few days, Ziebell said you should be able to notice when the noise dies down, as if something is in the woods.

T-shirts for the Ozark Mountain Bigfoot Conference on sale Oct. 8, 2022.

"There's an apex predator in the area," Ziebell said before explaining that you should be listening for what's called wood knocks. "There's something out there that's got hands to pick up a stick and hit it against the tree."

Ziebell said she first encountered sasquatches only recently. She was on an expedition with her husband in 2019 when she saw one illuminated by the full moon.

"It was standing behind a tree, but it did what they call peekaboo, where it sways to one side to the other," Ziebell said.

After doing a headcount of their group of 10, Ziebell said there was an extra person.

"They're like, 'There's 11 of us sitting here,'" Ziebell recalled before the creature ran off and another one was spotted behind the group. "It was not hiding; it wanted us to pay attention to it. So after discussing it, we decided that maybe there was a baby or a youngling."

Southwest Missouri is a "hotbed" for sightings, Ziebell said.

"You can go 30 minutes outside of Springfield and find all kinds of things," Ziebell said.

'Our goal is to prove that these things are real  100%'

This isn't the first time the News-Leader has written about cryptids. Reporter Wes Johnson interviewed a man about reportedly photographing the Ozark Howler in 2017, and journalist Gregory Holman wrote about Animal Planet's show "Finding Bigfoot" visiting the Ozarks. Springfield resident Ron Boles was featured in that episode and was the first speaker during the Ozark Mountain Bigfoot Conference.

Ron Boles shared about his sightings during the first Ozark Mountain Bigfoot Conference Oct. 8, 2022.

Conference guests brought along casts of footprints allegedly belonging to sasquatches, tools for thermal imaging and other supplies that help in searches. Larry Newman, a retired detective and now bail bondsman, discussed steps for securing evidence, even discussing the proper way to dust for finger prints.

Ozark Mountain Sasquatch Team Leader Shane Carpenter had dozens of castings strewn across two folding tables in the corner of the elks lodge. Many of the footprints may be from juveniles from one area of private land, Carpenter said. Even if Carpenter didn't have his own sighting story, he would still believe.

"There are thousands and thousands of reports of these things, and if only one of those reports is true, these things are real," Carpenter said, before retelling his first sighting took place in 1984 when he was 10 years old near West Plains. "Our goal is to prove that these things are real  100%."

Shane Carpenter talks about castings during the first Ozark Mountain Bigfoot Conference Oct. 8, 2022.

There are similarities in the stories Carpenter hears from others.

"They don't want to tell their friends because then they're the only weird Bigfoot person," he said. "I want them to tell me their stories because it's like therapy for them. I know this because I went through this myself."

After getting pushback from his father after his sighting in the '80s, Carpenter didn't open up about his experience until he had another encounter while on a hike with his family in 2013.

"I had to stop and tell my wife and hope my wife was gonna believe me and not think I'm a crazy man," Carpenter said. His wife believed him and Carpenter remained grateful and "obsessed" with spending the last few years still on the hunt for Bigfoot.

'We keep an eye out, from a distance'

Darla Logan holds her phone as it displays a photo she took in 2006 of footprints she says supposedly belong to Bigfoot.

Logan's encounter in '87 wasn't the last time she got close to a cryptid. Logan, now a nurse and still living near Poplar Bluff, was visiting her sister and spotted footprints she believed belonged to Bigfoot. She had an iPod with her and took a few photos of the melting markings in 2006 and later uploaded them to social media in 2021.

Her search isn't over.

"We keep an eye out, from a distance," Logan said, laughing.

Follow Ozark Mountain Bigfoot Conference on Facebook to learn more.

Sara Karnes is an Outdoors Reporter with the Springfield News-Leader. Follow along with her adventures on Twitter and Instagram @Sara_Karnes. Got a story to tell? Email her at skarnes@springfi.gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Bigfoot believers gather for sasquatch conference in Ozark
The amount of Bitcoin held in reserve by mining companies has fallen to lows not seen since February 2010, according to blockchain analytics firm IntoTheBlock. And thats been true for most of this year.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Bitcoin miners have 1.91 million BTC in their wallets, according to IntoTheBlock. Bitcoin miner reserves have been above the 2 million BTC markfirst surpassed on February 19, 2010for only 46 days since the start of 2022. This illustrates the impact of miners selling their Bitcoin throughout the year, at times selling more in a month than they mined, to compensate for profits that have dwindled as the market has suffered.

IntoTheBlock uses a machine learning algorithm to identify miner wallet addresses and tracks their holdings, including wallets linked to miners or mining pools that accumulate BTC but dont actively mine it. The aggregate of the BTC held in those wallets makes up the analytics firms miner reserve metric.

For reserves to have stayed below the 2 million BTC mark as often as they have this year underscores how dire things have been for the industry. Bitcoin miner reserves initially took a dive below 2 million in July last year on news of the mining crackdown in China, but that figure later bounced back.

The pain this year has been more drawn out.

Companies that borrowed millions against their mining equipment, like CleanSpark and Argo, have seen month after month of losses.

Last month alone, Compute North filed for bankruptcy, Iris Energy sold $100 million in equity to generate some cash, Compass Mining shut down its Georgia operations and one of the largest Bitcoin mining pools, Poolin, froze withdrawals.

Bitcoin Mining Data Center Firm Compute North Files For Bankruptcy

The last time that miner reserves were this low was a very different time for Bitcoin. In 2010, the cryptocurrency had only been released as open-source software a year prior, a few months after creator Satoshi Nakamoto published a white paper describing how the peer-to-peer electronic cash worked.

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Bitcoin was first exchanged for U.S. dollars in 2009 on the New Liberty Standard Exchange, when $5.21 could buy 5,050 BTC. At today's prices, that amount of BTC would be worth almost $97 million.

The Bitcoin mining industry was in its infancy, too. Computer programmer Hal Finney received the worlds first Bitcoin mining reward of 10 BTC for mining block-70 on January 12, 2009. And for a while, miner reserves represented a sizable share of the Bitcoin that was in circulation.

On the day when miner reserves first surpassed 2 million in February 2010, for example, miners held one in every five Bitcoin that had ever been created. Bitcoin miners' share of coins in circulation has now dipped below 10%.
Caledonia Mining Corporation Plc

ST HELIER, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Caledonia Mining Corporation Plc ("Caledonia" or the "Company") (NYSE AMERICAN: CMCL; AIM: CMCL) announces gold production from the Blanket Mine in Zimbabwe ("Blanket") for the quarter ended September 30, 2022 ("Q3 2022" or the "Quarter"). All production numbers are expressed on a 100 per cent basis and are based on the final assay at the refiners.



Highlights

Quarterly gold production of 21,120 ounces, a record for any quarter.

An increase of 11 per cent on the 18,965 ounces produced in the corresponding quarter of 2021.

Gold produced in the nine months to September 30, 2022 was 59,726 ounces, 22 per cent more than the 48,872 ounces produced in the nine months to September 30, 2021.

Reiterated gold production for 2022 is expected to be at the top of guidance of between 73,000 - 80,000 ounces.

Commenting on the announcement, Dana Roets, Chief Operating Officer, said:

"We are delighted that this quarter we have once again set a new production record at Blanket and for the last three quarters we have achieved our quarterly target ounces.

This has been an excellent year, the ramp-up in production towards our yearly target of 80,000 ounces has met our best estimate and, as a consequence, we are on track to hit the top end of our production guidance of between 73,000-80,000 ounces.

We continue to work hard on completing the transaction for Bilboes and in the meantime will restart the oxide operations with the expectation that it will return to profit during the second quarter of 2023.

Caledonia is optimistic on the geological prospectivity in Zimbabwe and continues to evaluate other investment opportunities in the country with our long-term vision to become a multi asset gold producer.

This is an exciting time for the Company, and we look forward to continuing to update shareholders of our progress.

Enquiries:

Caledonia Mining Corporation Plc

Mark Learmonth

Camilla Horsfall

Tel: +44 1534 679 800

Tel: +44 7817 841 793 Cenkos Securities plc (Nomad and Joint Broker)

Adrian Hadden

Neil McDonald

Pearl Kellie

Tel: +44 207 397 1965

Tel: +44 131 220 9771

Tel: +44 131 220 9775 Liberum Capital Limited (Joint Broker)

Scott Mathieson/Kane Collings

Tel: +44 20 3100 2000 BlytheRay Financial PR (UK)

Tim Blythe/Megan Ray

Tel: +44 207 138 3204

3PPB (Financial PR, North America)

Patrick Chidley

Paul Durham

Tel: +1 917 991 7701

Tel: +1 203 940 2538 Curate Public Relations (Zimbabwe)

Debra Tatenda

Tel: +263 77802131 IH Securities (Private) Limited (VFEX Sponsor - Zimbabwe)

Lloyd Mlotshwa



Tel: +263 (242) 745 119/33/39

________

Refer to the technical report entitled Caledonia Mining Corporation Plc NI 43-101 Technical Report on the Blanket Gold Mine, Zimbabwe dated May 17, 2021 prepared by Minxcon (Pty) Ltd and filed by the Company on SEDAR on May 26, 2021. Mr Dana Roets (B Eng (Min.), MBA, Pr.Eng., FSAIMM, AMMSA), Chief Operating Officer, is the Company's qualified person as defined by Canada's National Instrument 43-101 and has approved any scientific or technical information contained in this news release.

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Note: This announcement contains inside information which is disclosed in accordance with the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 (MAR) as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR.

Cautionary Note Concerning Forward-Looking Information

Information and statements contained in this news release that are not historical facts are forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation that involve risks and uncertainties relating, but not limited, to Caledonias current expectations, intentions, plans, and beliefs. Forward-looking information can often be identified by forward-looking words such as anticipate, believe, expect, goal, plan, target, intend, estimate, could, should, may and will or the negative of these terms or similar words suggesting future outcomes, or other expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions, intentions or statements about future events or performance. Examples of forward-looking information in this news release include: production guidance, estimates of future/targeted production rates, and our plans and timing regarding further exploration and drilling and development. This forward-looking information is based, in part, on assumptions and factors that may change or prove to be incorrect, thus causing actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by forward-looking information. Such factors and assumptions include, but are not limited to: failure to establish estimated resources and reserves, the grade and recovery of ore which is mined varying from estimates, success of future exploration and drilling programs, reliability of drilling, sampling and assay data, assumptions regarding the representativeness of mineralization being inaccurate, success of planned metallurgical test-work, capital and operating costs varying significantly from estimates, delays in obtaining or failures to obtain required governmental, environmental or other project approvals, inflation, changes in exchange rates, fluctuations in commodity prices, delays in the development of projects and other factors.

Security holders, potential security holders and other prospective investors should be aware that these statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those suggested by the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: risks relating to estimates of mineral reserves and mineral resources proving to be inaccurate, fluctuations in gold price, risks and hazards associated with the business of mineral exploration, development and mining, risks relating to the credit worthiness or financial condition of suppliers, refiners and other parties with whom the Company does business; inadequate insurance, or inability to obtain insurance, to cover these risks and hazards, employee relations; relationships with and claims by local communities and indigenous populations; political risk; risks related to natural disasters, terrorism, civil unrest, public health concerns (including health epidemics or outbreaks of communicable diseases such as the coronavirus (COVID-19)); availability and increasing costs associated with mining inputs and labour; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development, including the risks of obtaining or maintaining necessary licenses and permits, diminishing quantities or grades of mineral reserves as mining occurs; global financial condition, the actual results of current exploration activities, changes to conclusions of economic evaluations, and changes in project parameters to deal with unanticipated economic or other factors, risks of increased capital and operating costs, environmental, safety or regulatory risks, expropriation, the Companys title to properties including ownership thereof, increased competition in the mining industry for properties, equipment, qualified personnel and their costs, risks relating to the uncertainty of timing of events including targeted production rate increase and currency fluctuations. Security holders, potential security holders and other prospective investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. By its nature, forward-looking information involves numerous assumptions, inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, that contribute to the possibility that the predictions, forecasts, projections and various future events will not occur. Caledonia undertakes no obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or other such factors which affect this information, except as required by law.

This news release is not an offer of the shares of Caledonia for sale in the United States or elsewhere. This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of the shares of Caledonia, in any province, state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such province, state or jurisdiction.




rbc-climate-gs1012

The Competition Bureau has opened an inquiry into Royal Bank of Canadas environmental representations and marketing following a complaint last summer that the banks claims to be a climate leader were misleading because of its continued financing of fossil fuel projects.

A group of six individuals backed by environmental groups including Ecojustice and Stand.earth accused Canadas largest bank of greenwashing by making bold claims about taking action on climate change while funding projects such as the Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline in British Columbia.

On Wednesday, those behind the complaint published a letter dated Sept. 29 from a Competition Bureau official saying that the commissioner has commenced an inquiry.

The letter said the inquiry seeks to determine the facts relating to allegations that RBC has contravened the Act by making false or misleading environmental representations.

No timeline or further details were provided.

Marie-Christine Vezina, a senior communications adviser at the Competition Bureau, confirmed Wednesday afternoon that the bureau launched an investigation into the Royal Bank of Canadas alleged deceptive marketing practices following receipt of the application sent by the six individuals.

As the Bureau is obligated by law to conduct its work confidentially, Im unable provide further details related to this matter, she said in an email.

Ecojustice suggested that if the Competition Bureaus inquiry finds that RBCs statements are misleading and false, the bank could be forced to stop advertising itself as supporting the principles of the Paris Agreement and aiming to achieve net-zero emissions targets by 2050.

But the bank rejected the accusations in a statement Wednesday.

RBC strongly disagrees with the allegations in the complaint, and believes the complaint to be unfounded and not in line with Canadas climate plan, a spokesperson said in an email.

He said the bank has been engaging with clients, partners and other stakeholders and working towards solutions to help Canada meet its net-zero commitments.

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There is growing pressure from outside forces including regulators, shareholders, and international organizations to manage risks related to climate change. Canadas largest banks find themselves in a unique position when it comes to environmental commitments, given that companies in the oilpatch have been longstanding and lucrative clients.

The largest lenders have reduced their exposure to oil and gas as a percentage of their loan books since 2015  from two per cent to 0.8 per cent by the second quarter of this year, according to tracking by Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. And that decline wasnt solely pegged to a shifting mix in loans. The actual total loan size also declined from an average of just shy of $8 billion to a shade over $5 billion.

However, thats just direct loans. The banks have deep capital markets ties to the oil and gas sector, and have largely stood by the oilsands even as some European banks have pulled back.

Richard Brooks, climate finance director at Stand.earth, said RBCs decision to continue to bankroll fossil fuel projects such as Coastal GasLink while publicly professing to be a climate leader is disingenuous greenwashing at best, and unlawful at worst.

He called on the banks to end financing to companies building new pipelines, drill sites, mines and gas-power plants.

But such calls have not gained widespread traction. At RBCs annual shareholders meeting in April, a resolution that called on Canadas largest bank to update its criteria for sustainable finance to preclude fossil fuel activity and projects that face significant opposition from Indigenous peoples received only single-digit support, failing to pass.

RBC chief executive Dave McKay has rejected calls for outright divestiture from oil and gas projects, and has urged governments to step up with tax policies and incentives to spur private investment in the energy transition.

Its critically important that we get the transition to net-zero right in order to address climate change and we have taken a measured, thoughtful, and deliberate approach in our climate strategy, the RBC spokesperson said Wednesday.

The bank is planning to release targets for reducing emissions in its lending portfolio in the coming weeks. Environmental groups will be watching closely to see whether total emissions reductions are targeted, or simply reductions in intensity, which can be achieved even if overall emissions increase.

 Email: bshecter@nationalpost.com | Twitter:

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LONDON (Reuters) -Small developing island states heavily exposed to the effects of climate change and often in critical debt situations spend at least 18 times more on debt servicing than they receive in climate finance, a report showed.

The report by the European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad) said 37 island and coastal countries that are home to some 65 million people, received just $1.5 billion in climate finance between 2016 and 2020.

The states, from the Dominican Republic to Samoa, "urgently need to increase their fiscal space to tackle the multiple challenges and crises facing them," wrote Iolanda Fresnillo, one of the authors of the report.

Over the same period, 22 of the nations paid more than $26.6 billion to their external creditors, said the report from Eurodad, which comprises more than 50 non-governmental organisations.

Public debt levels in the island states had risen from an average of near 66% of gross domestic product in 2019 to nearly 83% in 2020 and were set to remain above 70% until 2025, the report found.

More countries had turned to the International Monetary Fund for help, with the number of those having programmes with the fund jumping from three in 2019 to 20 between 2020 and 2021.

In June, the fund's executive board approved a $60 million programme for Cape Verde while Barbados struck a deal for $293 million in late September.

The report found that more than 80% of the island states were in debt difficulties under criteria established by the IMF and World Bank Debt Sustainability Analysis, or by civil society groups Debt Justice UK and Jubilee Germany.

How to shore up fragile, smaller economies buckling under the strain of a fallout from COVID-19 and Russia's war in Ukraine will be discussed this week when policy makers from around the globe gather in Washington for the annual IMF and World Bank meeting until Oct. 16.

However, while U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen views debt restructuring as a key priority, senior Treasury officials said on Tuesday they did not expect any major breakthroughs on debt matters this week.

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Some researchers also note that the IMF's decision-making process posed a challenge. They say the quota system based on an economy's size meant low- and middle-income countries most likely to borrow had little influence on the lender's decisions.

"When scarce public finances are mostly spent on debt service rather than on investments to build a more resilient economy, countries will be locking into a cycle of unsustainable debt further fueled by climate impacts," wrote Lara Merling at the Boston University Global Development Policy Center in a research paper published on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Karin Strohecker and Andrea Shalal in Washington; Editing by Michael Perry and Tomasz Janowski)
Award-winning DXC Dandelion Program expanded across Europe and APAC

LONDON, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- DXC Technology (NYSE: DXC) a leading Fortune 500 global technology services provider, is expanding the DXC Dandelion Program which helps neurodivergent individuals with autism, ADHD, dyslexia and other neurological conditions to build careers in the IT industry.

DXC Dandelion Program Co-ordinator, Felicia Vozza working with Daniel, a DXC Dandelion participant (Credit: DXC)

Following the success of the program in Australia and New Zealand, DXC is now launching the initiative across European and Asia Pacific countries. The United Kingdom will be first to launch, building on a 12-month pilot, with Bulgaria, Poland and the Philippines to follow.

Recruitment is now open across the new locations with employment opportunities in various fields including data analytics, software automation, user experience and cybersecurity.

The DXC Dandelion Program was launched in 2014 in Australia with a focus on creating employment pathways and careers for neurodivergent individuals within the IT industry. With no prior professional experience required to participate, DXC has made the program available to individuals of all abilities with the motivation to work in technology. In addition to offering employment, DXC provides participants with technical and vocational training plus professional support by specialised consultants.

Michael Fieldhouse, Social Impact Practice Leader at DXC Technology APAC, who is responsible for the DXC Dandelion Program, emphasizes that "neurodivergent individuals often have an extraordinary ability to think visually and to care for details. These are valuable skills, especially in areas of IT such as cybersecurity and data analytics. By creating an equitable and positive working environment, and by providing the right support framework, we are giving participants of DXC Dandelion the best chance to succeed."

DXC Dandelion Program in Numbers:

Employment opportunities created for more than 200 individuals to date

92% employment retention rate

30-40% increase in the overall productivity of teams which participate in the program

Recognized by industry organizations globally, winning 17 international awards for its contribution to the development of socially beneficial initiatives

Recognized in the Top-Scoring Companies list by the Global Disability Equality Index, achieving a score of 100% for the company's disability and inclusion achievements in the last three years

A pilot of the program began in UK in 2021, providing 15 neurodivergent individuals with employment opportunities

Participants have the opportunity to work on customer projects. For example, the UK's Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), where 4 individuals are working on software testing and User Experience (UX) as part of DXC's contract to support the Information Management Services 4 (IMS4) program.

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Chris Halbard, President of DXC Technology, EMEA, added "As we continue to grow, it's important that we invest in the communities where we do business and recognize the positive impact of diversity in the workplace. That's why we are extending DXC Dandelion across Europe and worldwide, helping neurodivergent individuals unlock their unique talents and bring success to themselves, DXC and our customers."

Cooperation with NGOs

DXC Technology cooperates with non-governmental organizations, foundations and educational institutions which help to expand the reach and impact of the DXC Dandelion Program and supports identifying and selecting participants who could benefit.

"Disparities in employment participation rates for neurodivergent individuals is a global issue that merits our concerted attention," said Professor of Disability Studies, Academic Director, Susanne Bruyere, Yang-Tan Institute on Employment and Disability, Cornell University ILR School. "Cornell University is pleased to partner with DXC Technology as it further moves the DXC Dandelion Program globally to make information about these targeted neurodiversity hiring initiatives more broadly available through a partnership for an online portal that shares related program information."

To find out more and watch a video about the DXC Dandelion program including the views of participants, please visit:

https://dxc.com/uk/en/about-us/social-values/dxc-dandelion-program

About the DXC Dandelion Program

The DXC Dandelion Program provides an environment that supports and celebrates the talents and skills of neurodivergent individuals such as those with Autism, ADHD or Dyslexia  and helps them build valuable skills to pursue a career in information technology. Learn more about how we are supporting neurodiversity in the workforce at DXC.com

About DXC Technology

DXC Technology (NYSE: DXC) helps global companies run their mission-critical systems and operations while modernizing IT, optimizing data architectures, and ensuring security and scalability across public, private and hybrid clouds. The world's largest companies and public sector organizations trust DXC to deploy services to drive new levels of performance, competitiveness, and customer experience across their IT estates. Learn more about how we deliver excellence for our customers and colleagues at DXC.com

Aleksandra Andreasik-Binkowska, DXC EMEA, a.andreasikbinkowska@dxc.com

SOURCE DXC Technology Company
Increased Demand for FinTech Innovation among Asia-Pacific VC and PE Firms Leads Dynamo to Host Roundtable & Exhibit at Premier Private Markets Conference

SINGAPORE, October 11, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--November 15  17, 2022, Dynamo Software executives will meet a growing market of alternative investment companies looking for tech-based solutions to manage complex investment operations at the 35th AVCJ Private Equity & Venture Forum in Singapore.

According to Forbes, venture capitalists (VCs) want more alpha investments  those that can return 100 times more for early investors. And, the VCs are focused on Southeast Asia to make this happen. The region boasts a large number of unicorns with predictions for even more in the future. To better manage their investment workflows, monitor and manage their portfolios, and drive deals to the finish line, VCs and their private equity (PE) counterparts are rapidly adopting cloud-based platforms like those developed by Dynamo Software.

"Dynamos platform is equipped to handle the complexity of investor communications and relations, while also empowering VC and PE firms to focus on high-touch relationships. The platform achieves this by automating much of the investment workflow process," explained Dynamo CEO Hank Boughner. "We look forward to engaging in-person with a number of private market stakeholders at the forum. We know they are eager to adopt a flexible platform that can align with their investment strategies, and frankly, enable them to close more deals in a highly competitive marketplace. Were excited for the one-on-one discussions and engagement with the APAC VC and PE community at AVCJ."

During the AVCJ forum, Dynamo will exhibit at table #6. Additionally, the company will host an exclusive roundtable focused on the challenges todays VC and PE firms face in a volatile global market. The session will address how private investment firms can best maximize their investment workflows to manage against an ongoing worldwide talent shortage. Alternative investments experts and APAC sales directors Adam Gabrielsen and Henry Wadsworth will moderate the discussion.

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About Dynamo Software, Inc.

Dynamo Softwares mission is to be the leading global, end-to-end cloud software platform for the alternatives ecosystem, serving the information sharing and analytical data needs of our constituents. Since 1998, the company has been providing industry-tailored, highly-configurable investment management, reporting, and data management cloud software solutions to the global alternative investment industry. Dynamos cloud-based solutions serve the private investment landscape including private equity and venture capital funds, real estate investment firms, infrastructure, hedge funds, endowments, pensions, foundations, prime brokers, funds of funds, family offices, and fund administrators. The Dynamo platform has improved productivity across the alternatives ecosystem, including CRM, fundraising, deal management, research management, investor servicing, portfolio management, and compliance teams worldwide. Dynamo has a global footprint with operations across North America, EMEA, and APAC.

For more information, please visit www.DynamoSoftware.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221011006076/en/

Contacts

MEDIA:

Nicole Selinger

nicole@kmprcollective.com

314-805-2165
WALLOPS ISLAND, Va., October 12, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) ("Rocket Lab" or "the Company"), a leading launch and space systems company, today announced the Electron rocket to be launched in the Companys first mission from U.S. soil has arrived at Launch Complex 2 in Virginia.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221012005364/en/

Rocket Lab's Electron launch vehicle arrives at the Company's Integration and Control Facility in Virginia ahead of the inaugural mission from Launch Complex 2 at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (Photo: Business Wire)

The mission will deploy satellites for radio frequency geospatial analytics provider HawkEye 360 and will be Rocket Labs first lift-off from Launch Complex 2 at Virginia Spaces Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport within NASAs Wallops Flight Facility  a launch pad developed to support Electron missions from U.S. soil for government and commercial customers. Encouraged by NASAs recent progress in certifying its Autonomous Flight Termination Unit (NAFTU) software, which is required to enable Electron launches from Virginia, Rocket Lab has scheduled the mission from Launch Complex 2 in December 2022.

With Electron now at Launch Complex 2, Rocket Lab will begin final launch preparations including a standard launch dress rehearsal and payload integration at Rocket Labs dedicated Integration and Control Facility near the launch site.

Launch Complex 2 supplements Rocket Labs existing site, Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand, from which 31 Electron missions have already launched. The two launch complexes combined can support more than 130 launch opportunities every year, delivering unmatched flexibility for rapid, responsive launch for government and commercial satellite operators. The launch pad and production complex for Rocket Labs large reusable Neutron launch vehicle will also be located at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, streamlining operations across small and large launch.

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"We are looking forward to seeing Electron take to Virginia skies for the first time very soon," said Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck. "Rocket Lab has been providing reliable and responsive access to orbit for more than four and a half years with Electron and were excited to build on that strong heritage by unlocking a new path to orbit from right here on Virginias Eastern Shore. We are delighted to be working with the dedicated teams at NASA, Virginia Space, Accomack County and HawkEye 360 to launch this historic mission and begin a new era of space access."

The mission will be the first of three Electron launches for HawkEye 360 in a contract that will see Rocket Lab deliver 15 satellites to low Earth orbit between late 2022 and 2024. These missions will grow HawkEye 360s constellation of radio frequency monitoring satellites, enabling the company to better deliver precise mapping of radio frequency emissions anywhere in the world. Supporting Rocket Labs vertical integration strategy, Rocket Lab will also supply HawkEye 360 with separation systems produced by Planetary Systems Corporation, a Maryland-based space hardware company acquired by Rocket Lab in December 2021.

Forward Looking Statements.

This press release may contain certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, contained in this release, including statements regarding our expectations of financial results for the third quarter of 2022, strategy, future operations, future financial position, projected costs, prospects, plans and objectives of management, are forward-looking statements. Words such as, but not limited to, "anticipate," "aim," "believe," "contemplate," "continue," "could," "design," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "might," "plan," "possible," "potential," "predict," "project," "seek," "should," "suggest," "strategy," "target," "will," "would," and similar expressions or phrases, or the negative of those expressions or phrases, are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. These forward-looking statements are based on Rocket Labs current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (many of which are beyond Rocket Labs control), or other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Many factors could cause actual future events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this release, including risks related to the global COVID-19 pandemic; risks related to government restrictions and lock-downs in New Zealand and other countries in which we operate that could delay or suspend our operations; delays and disruptions in expansion efforts; our dependence on a limited number of customers; the harsh and unpredictable environment of space in which our products operate which could adversely affect our launch vehicle and spacecraft; increased congestion from the proliferation of low Earth orbit constellations which could materially increase the risk of potential collision with space debris or another spacecraft and limit or impair our launch flexibility and/or access to our own orbital slots; increased competition in our industry due in part to rapid technological development and decreasing costs; technological change in our industry which we may not be able to keep up with or which may render our services uncompetitive; average selling price trends; failure of our launch vehicles, spacecraft and components to operate as intended either due to our error in design in production or through no fault of our own; launch schedule disruptions; supply chain disruptions, product delays or failures; design and engineering flaws; launch failures; natural disasters and epidemics or pandemics; changes in governmental regulations including with respect to trade and export restrictions, or in the status of our regulatory approvals or applications; or other events that force us to cancel or reschedule launches, including customer contractual rescheduling and termination rights; risks that acquisitions may not be completed on the anticipated time frame or at all or do not achieve the anticipated benefits and results; and the other risks detailed from time to time in Rocket Labs filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), including under the heading "Risk Factors" in Rocket Labs Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, which was filed with the SEC on March 24, 2022, and elsewhere (including that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic may also exacerbate the risks discussed therein). There can be no assurance that the future developments affecting Rocket Lab will be those that we have anticipated. Except as required by law, Rocket Lab is not undertaking any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

+ ABOUT Rocket Lab

Founded in 2006, Rocket Lab is an end-to-end space company with an established track record of mission success. We deliver reliable launch services, satellite manufacture, spacecraft components, and on-orbit management solutions that make it faster, easier and more affordable to access space. Headquartered in Long Beach, California, Rocket Lab designs and manufactures the Electron small orbital launch vehicle, the Photon satellite platform and the Company is developing the large Neutron launch vehicle for constellation deployment. Since its first orbital launch in January 2018, Rocket Labs Electron launch vehicle has become the second most frequently launched U.S. rocket annually and has delivered 150 satellites to orbit for private and public sector organizations, enabling operations in national security, scientific research, space debris mitigation, Earth observation, climate monitoring, and communications. Rocket Labs Photon spacecraft platform has been selected to support NASA missions to the Moon and Mars, as well as the first private commercial mission to Venus. Rocket Lab has three launch pads at two launch sites, including two launch pads at a private orbital launch site located in New Zealand and a second launch site in Virginia, USA which is expected to become operational in 2022. To learn more, visit www.rocketlabusa.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221012005364/en/

Contacts

+ Rocket Lab Media Contact

Morgan Bailey

media@rocketlabusa.com
Denver City Council wants to add a stoplight and a crosswalk in each of 11 districts in the city as part of $17.5 million it is asking Mayor Michael Hancock to add it the proposed 2023 city budget. The request presented in a letter to Hancock comes after 17 budget hearings concluded last week. The request falls in line with priorities council identified in a retreat last May.

The $17.5 million increase comes in 11 recommendations, and ten of those have a supermajority. A supermajority is when nine or more city council members are in agreement allowing council the authority to override a mayoral veto. Most of the requested increase deals with road projects and public safety.

We are keenly aware of the economic impacts facing our city in delivering and completing key projects that affect all neighborhoods, and council felt strongly we didnt want our communities to continue waiting for infrastructure improvements," council president and District 3 councilwoman Jamie Torres said.

The biggest budget increase recommendation is for the Denver Department of Transport and Infrastructure (DOTI), though all requests had an undesignated funding source. The council has asked the mayor to authorize an additional $8.8 million to be used for one "warranted stoplight" in each district.

"We understand that Denver has numerous intersections where lights are justified but not funded," the letter reads. "The department has indicated it can set 11 locations into the design phase in 2023. This funding would support the effort from design to build in the following years."

Another request for DOTI was an additional $2.2 million to add a pedestrian crosswalk signal in each council district. The letter says the additional funding will enable safety improvements in places DOTI has already identified.

Council also wants two corridor studies; both determined to cost $500,000. They are for 38th Avenue between Inca Street and Sheridan Boulevard and east Evans Avenue between Colorado Boulevard and Quebec Street.

The council asked Hancock to add $650,000 to the Department of Safety's budget, with $400,000 to fund data coordination software for 911 dispatchers, first responders and co-responders.

"There is currently no reliable way for 911 dispatchers, first responders, or co-responders to readily share safety and risk information that may have been gathered in previous calls or visits," The letter read.

Critical information can include medical conditions, criminal history and whether those responded to have a history substance use issues.

The council suggested funding this data-sharing software through a public safety state-revolving fund or the city's innovation fund, known as iFund.

The council requested the remaining $250,000 go towards financing the Children's Advocacy Center. This amount will come from the general fund.

A simple majority of council members  which the mayor can override  is asking for $4 million from the contingency fund to modernize four Denver libraries and address deferred maintenance.

The governing body identified the Athmar Park, Barnum, Pauline Robinson and Schlessman branch libraries as the four in need.

"Without question, libraries contribute to healthy communities on many levels," the letter reads. "These branch libraries, found in some of our most disconnected neighborhoods, deserve investment."

Hancock has one week to approve or deny the council's recommendations and will present his final budget on Oct. 17. Following that, the council will hold a public hearing on Oct. 24.

After the public hearing, the council will amend the budget as needed. The final vote on Denver's 2023 budget is Nov. 17. According to one council member at Monday's meeting, there will be many late nights ahead as the budget process comes to a close.
UN Global Compact Network Malaysia & Brunei will also host a 2-day exhibition

in Kuala Lumpur in conjunction with the conference

PETALING JAYA, Malaysia, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- As pressure on business leaders and policymakers increases in the global race towards business optimisation for maximum sustainable outcomes, there is a need for more consistency, standardisation and quality data to address ASEAN's largest sustainability challenges, while ensuring economic prosperity.

Well-managed Environmental, Social & Governance ("ESG") data can enable more effective, timely and evidence-based decision-making; while enhancing risk assessments in ESG investments evaluations, policy developments and resource allocations.

To facilitate this pathway, GO ESG ASEAN 2022, a 1-day hybrid conference organised by UN Global Compact Network Malaysia & Brunei (UNGCMYB), will take place on 24 November 2022, designed to ignite actions, enable networking, showcase best practices and innovative approaches in sustainable development with a 2-day exhibition running concurrently at the EQ Kuala Lumpur. His Royal Highness Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah Ibni Almarhum Sultan Azlan Muhibbuddin Shah Al-Maghfur-Lah, The Sultan of Perak Darul Ridzuan, is set to give the Royal Address to officiate this year's conference.

Riding on the theme DATA DRIVEN SUSTAINABILITY: Accelerating ESG Impact for ASEAN, this year's summit, which enters its third year, will deep dive into insights from ASEAN and global leaders on the pivotal role data plays in sustainable development and its impact on ESG outcomes.

"Big Data forms the lifeblood of decision-making and the raw material for accountability within the public and private sector," said Faroze Nadar, Executive Director of UNGCMYB. "The collection and analysis of data is commonplace among businesses (especially large entities), with consumer profiling, personalised services, demand forecasting, and fraud detection being used for marketing and management decisions.

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"However, the availability, accessibility and sharing of sustainability-related data remains scarce among ASEAN businesses, and for some companies, despite having large amounts of ESG-linked data, its value is still not derived to its fullest," he explained.

This year's GO ESG ASEAN 2022 summit aims to highlight the key role of ESG data in accelerating ASEAN's sustainability agenda and will convene public/private sector actors including C-Suites, investors, rating providers, research experts, and regulators to discuss and debate on the topic of ESG data capture, measuring, analysis, presentation, and sharing for better decision making and attainment of organisational objectives, as well as sustainability big data strategies to strengthen public-private partnerships to drive the SDGs.

In driving this aim, Mr. Xiaochen Zhang, the Global Head of Innovation & GTM of Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Mrs. Afke Schaart, Senior VP of Global Government Affairs & Chief Global Impact at Huawei will be coming on as speakers during this hybrid conference. Other speakers will include representatives from Unilever Indonesia, Charoen Pokphand Group (C.P. Group), and SAP.

This year's GO ESG ASEAN 2022 is already off to a good start, securing partnerships with Sarawak Energy, Boustead Technology Sdn. Bhd. (a Member of Boustead Group), Bursa Malaysia Berhad, Duopharma Biotech Berhad, Smith & Nephew Operations Sdn Bhd, and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS Malaysia), with Bloomberg weighing in as the official knowledge partner.

With an expected audience of over 1,000 virtual and physical participants from around the region, GO ESG ASEAN 2022 will present more than 30 global and regional speakers and panelists.

The GO ESG ASEAN summit in 2021 was an inspirational, exciting and educational event, which surpassed the stakeholders' expectations in many ways. As a result, the virtual event was over-subscribed by 25% with more than 1,700 participants attending the conference and visiting the exhibition.

Registration for this year's GO ESG ASEAN 2022 is now open on the GO ESG official website, with more details on the free-to-attend conference available at www.sdgambitionmonth.com/goesg .

PR Newswire is the News Release Distribution Partner of GO ESG ASEAN 2022.

About UN Global Compact Network Malaysia & Brunei

United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) is a strategic policy initiative for businesses that are committed to taking action to advance broader societal goals. UN Global Compact Network Malaysia & Brunei (UNGCMYB) is the official local network of UNGC, that supports Malaysian & Bruneian companies in enabling them to contribute towards the SDGs and achieve business excellence via our 10 principles, programs and tools while providing access to partnerships with a range of stakeholders  to share best practices and emerging solutions. We also seek to position Malaysian and Bruneian businesses as benchmarks and primary agents in driving a sustainable world.

SOURCE United Nations Global Compact Network Malaysia and Brunei
Respectful communication is critical for a positive relationship (Getty Images)

A clinical psychologist has revealed the four signs a relationship is going to last, saying that arguing is OK providing couples fight fair.

Dr Kathy Nickerson, who has 22 years experience in the field, said indicators that a relationship is strong include it feeling easy, genuinely caring about your partners happiness, and being intentionally gentle and kind to one another.

The psychologist from Orange County, California, said: After working with couples for so long, I know that it's never too late to make a relationship better.

The four points I mentioned are clinical observations I have made  but if your relationship is not where you want it to be, don't give up, take action.

Think about what you're really craving, then find a kind and gentle way to ask for this. Then ask your partner to do the same.

Couples that commit to talking frequently about what they feel and what they need do far better than couples who shut down, settle for what's offered, and don't talk about how to heal sore spots.

It feels easy most of the time

A relationship feeling easy is critical to its health, states Dr Nickerson.

What I mean by this is that it does not feel like a daily struggle or challenge to connect with your partner or get emotional support from your partner, she says.

Even though life might be difficult and you might face personal challenges, your relationship feels safe, comfortable, and easy.

She adds that while all relationships experience difficult patches, the ones that are most likely to last are those where the rough spots feel few and far between.

You fight fairly

On the subject of fighting fair, she explains: Couples who have healthy relationships know that the point of a fight is to communicate, not destroy each other.

They care about each other's feelings; they're careful about tone and how they phrase things.

The goal of good communication is to be honest, authentic, and kind - not nasty, critical, defensive, or dismissive, she says.

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You care about your partners happiness

Be mindful of what makes your partner happy (Getty Images)

Caring about your partners happiness is vital, says Dr Nickerson, because at the heart of a good relationship is a solid friendship.

We feel closest to people who like us, who actively care for us, and who go out of their way for us, she says.

Healthy couples do this and they're mindful about what makes their partner happy.

The strongest couples casually track the fairness in their relationship, especially when it comes to things like household chores and choices made for the family, like what restaurant to eat at.

They strive to make sure both partners get equitable treatment, she says.

You are intentionally gentle and kind to each other

The fourth and final sign according to Dr Nickerson is remembering to be gentle and kind to each other, even when things get difficult in life.

She says that couples with staying power recognise that they are a safe harbour for each other.

They are intentional about being gentle with their words and kind with their behaviours.

They go out of their way to ensure their partner feels secure, valued, and loved.

When their partner is hurt or upset, they drop everything to listen to them, comfort them, and support them.

They actively listen for their partner's feelings and they validate those feelings, she says.

Of the four signs, Dr Nickerson believes that the most important is that your partners happiness matters to you.

If this element of your relationship is true, she says, you will instinctively do things to support them and show compassion for them.

You'll ask them about their dreams, their feelings, and their fears, she says.

You will do what you can to help alleviate the fears and make the dreams come true.

She adds: We all want to stay in relationships where we feel respected and valued for who we really are.

If your partner's happiness truly matters to you, you'll naturally do many things that convey acceptance and admiration.

Dr Nickerson shared her advice in a TikTok video which has racked up more than 400,000 views.

On the subject of a happy relationship, she adds: I think a good relationship is the most precious gift you could ever receive.

My advice to everyone would be... act like this in your relationships and if this person is ready for you and right for you, the relationship will last.

Additional reporting by SWNS
Democratic incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock took the lead in Georgia in his race against Republican Herschel Walker, a new Emerson College poll showed.

The poll showed that 48 per cent of likely supporters would cast their vote for Mr Warnock, compared to 46 per cent who said they would vote for Mr Walker, a former running back for the University of Georgia. The surveye showed that Mr Warnocks support increased by four points while Mr Walkers support declined by about two points.

The gender gap in the Senate race has shifted in the Democrats favor since August. Republican Walkers 8-point advantage with men has closed to 6, and Warnocks lead with women has grown from 5 points to 9, Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, said in a statement.

The Independent has reached out to Mr Walkers campaign about the allegation, which he has vociferously denied. Mr Walker has said he opposes abortion in all cases, including rape, incest and when the life of the mother is in danger.

Republicans have stood by Mr Walker even amid the media reports. On Tuesday, Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Senator Rick Scott of Florida, the latter of whom leads the National Republican Senatorial Committee, campaigned with Mr Walker.

Georgias elections require that a candidate receive a majority of the vote. If neither wins the majority of the vote in November, there will be a runoff election at a later date.

Emerson College and The Hill surveyed 1,000 very likely voters between 6 October and 7 October, which was after The Daily Beast reported that Mr Walker allegedly paid for an ex-girlfriends abortion.

Mr Walker and Mr Warnock will square off in their only scheduled debate on Friday in Savannah. Mr Warnock is seeking a full six-year term after he won a special election last year to finish the term of Senator Johnny Isakson.
Silvia Martinez, the first winner of the PBS series, is here to share her favorite Mexican dishes in both traditional and new forms.

Courtesy of PBS/VPM

A native of Mexico and California transplant, Silvia Martinez has a passion for infusing the flavors of her heritage into the food she serves her family. She would go on to participate and (spoiler alert!) win the first season of PBSs The Great American Recipe. If youre unfamiliar with the show, it brings together 10 multicultural home cooks to competesimilar to the Great British Baking Showwhile telling stories through food. The show highlights what truly makes American cuisine unique.

Feeling at Home in the Kitchen

As a child growing up in Guanajuato, Mexico, Martinez spent a lot of time in the kitchen helping her grandma. If youre in the kitchen, shes going to give you something to do, she says. I love that energy in the kitchen. By the age of 14, she was the cook in the house. My mom said, The kitchen is yours now. Now that I live (in the United States), I saw the importance to passing on my heritage to my kids. Since her family hadnt documented the recipes she grew up with, Martinez created a blog,Mama Latnina, as a way to share the tips and recipes she loves with not just family, but everyone.

Combining Cultural and New Flavors Into Dishes



One of the greatest things about living in the United States is that its opened my horizon into food, she says. When you live in Mexico, you eat Mexican food. Once she moved to California, married her American husband, and had children, she started blending the flavors she knew with new ones. Instead of the basics, she would infuse Mexican flavor into everyday dishes such as poblano macaroni and cheese or drinks such as horchata iced coffee.

On the show, Martinez made sopa by first frying the vegetables on the stove top. I dont think about it because my family does it. I think its a combination of two things, she says. The things you do because its the way your grandma or mom taught you and its natural. Sometimes I learn to things in a different way. Im always learning. Every time I get a new technique that makes my life easier in the kitchen, I just try it out."

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Courtesy of PBS/VPM Chiles en nogada is a traditional Mexican dish. This recipe by Silvia Martinez is featured on the cover of "The Great American Recipe Cookbook."

Celebrating Holidays in a Cultural, Bilingual Household

Martinez wants to honor both her Mexican heritage and share American culture with her family. The easiest way to combine holidays for her is through food. When food-focused holidays like Thanksgiving roll around, you might find a traditional roasted turkey on the table with Mexican adobo sauce alongside. Or perhaps instead of a plain chocolate pie, a spicy chocolate pie infused with the chile flavors Martinez grew up enjoying.

Its fun not just celebrating Mexican holidays with my kids, but also with my American family. I bring my heritage through food.  Silvia Martinez

On the Mexican side of tradition, Martinez always celebrates Las Posadas, a nine-day celebration leading up to Christmas. This gives her the opportunity to tell her kids little-known facts such as how the pinata became a tradition as well as share classic Mexican dishes. During this multi-day party, Martinez says she brings the flavors with Ponche Navideno, pozole, enchiladas, and more. The party is just getting started, because once Christmas hits, the celebration grows bigger and better, going until Dia de la Candelaria on February 2.



PicturePartners/Getty Images Epazote is an herb commonly found in Mexican dishes such as beans and tortilla soup.

The Mexican Ingredients You Need In Your Pantry

Martinez notes tomatillos were hard to find 20 years ago, but is glad to see them making their way into more American cuisine. The unique product thats harder to find? Epazote. This is an herb that Martinez says has a very pungent flavor and aroma. Known to help with digestion, its usually added to bean dishes or enjoyed as tea. The distinct flavor of epazote is also used in traditional tortilla soup recipes. Once you try tortilla soup (with epazote) and then others, youre going to say, Thats not tortilla soup. It has a very potent flavor that balances very well with the tomato. Lastly, shes all for utilizing different chile peppers such as poblanos in every dish she makes to bring a bit of heat.

Martinezs Chiles en Nogada is featured on the cover of The Great American Recipe Cookbook and shes got a lot of new Mexican recipes and tips to sharehopefully through classes in person as well as social media.

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Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Getty Images

Japanese PM Fumio Kishida backed the Bank of Japan's loose monetary policy despite the yen sliding to a two-decade low against the US dollar.

He told the Financial Times the BOJ needs to maintain its policy until wages for workers increase.

"At the moment, I am not thinking of shortening his term," Kishida said about BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda's tenure.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in an interview with the Financial Times published Tuesday said he supports the Bank of Japan's loose monetary policy stance despite the yen sliding to a two-decade low against the US dollar.

He said the BOJ needs to maintain its policy until wages increase and urged companies that have raised prices to raise pay for workers pay as well.

"By passing on rising prices, we hope businesses will have some latitude to raise wages," Kishida told the publication. "In the past, wage hikes were viewed as a cost factor, but going forward, companies need to invest in people for the economy and for businesses themselves to grow."

He said the government will prepare measures to help companies increase wages even as they pass on increasing input costs.

While most central banks are raising interest rates to combat high inflation, the Bank of Japan has kept interest rates in negative territory and has maintained a cap on its 10-year bond yield via bond purchases to fight deflation.

Economists now say that after years of on-and-off deflation, Japan could be at a historic inflection point as the global energy crisis prompts businesses to raise product prices, creating pressures that will lead workers to demand pay raises, according to the FT.

Kishida also dismissed speculation he would push for the central bank to halt negative interest rates or cut short BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda's tenure, saying he will continue to work closely with Kuroda.

"At the moment, I am not thinking of shortening his term," Kishida said. Kuroda's 10-year tenure will end in April 2023.

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Kishida's comments come as the yen dropped to a 24-year year low against the dollar earlier this year in part because the Federal Reserve's aggressive pace of rate hikes has sent US Treasury yields soaring, widening the differential between US and Japanese government bond yields.

The dollar on Tuesday traded at 145.65 yen. Japan recently intervened in the foreign exchange market to aid the slumping yen but its value is back at the 145 handle, where it was before the intervention. Japan's foreign currency reserves hit a five-year low of $1.24 trillion, due in part to the intervention.

The US 10-year Treasury yield hit 4% on Tuesday while Japan's 10-year bond yield hovered around its cap of 0.25%.

Separately on Tuesday, Japan's 10-year bonds were untraded for a third consecutive session, while nine-year bond yields hit a nine-year high. Bond yields and prices move inversely.

"Japan's 10-year bonds have gotten expensive because yields on other notes have risen. No one is interested in trading such bonds," Kazuhiko Sano, chief strategist at Tokai Tokyo Securities, told Yahoo Finance.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Igor Danchenko, a Russian information analyst, is set to go on trial Tuesday on charges that he lied to the FBI during its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Danchenko, who faces five counts of lying to the FBI in 2017, is the latest person to stand trial in the probe from Special Counsel John Durham, a former U.S. attorney in Connecticut tapped in 2019 by then-Attorney General William Barr to investigate the origins of the FBIs Crossfire Hurricane operation.

The FBI operation began in 2016 to examine claims, now largely debunked, that former President Trump and his allies colluded with Russia to meddle with the presidential election.

Durhams probe has so far notched one guilty plea, against former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith, who avoided jail time when he admitted to altering an email to support a surveillance operation against former Trump aide Carter Page.

A trial against attorney Michael Sussmann, accused of lying to the FBI when he presented evidence of ties between a Russian bank and the Trump Organization, resulted in his acquittal in May.

While Russia engaged in a disinformation scheme to manipulate the result of the 2016 presidential election, former Special Counsel Robert Mueller did not find evidence of collusion with the Trump campaign.

Still, several former Trump officials were found guilty as the result of the Mueller probe on a range of charges, including making false statements to agents, bank fraud and witness tampering, among others.

Durham has alleged that allies of Hillary Clintons 2016 presidential campaign pushed a disinformation campaign through a network of lawyers, analysts and foreign nationals to peddle the conspiracy that Trump colluded with Russia in the presidential election.

At the center of those efforts was the now-debunked Steel Dossier, manufactured by former British spy Christopher Steele and disseminated by consulting firm Fusion GPS.

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The core material included in the Steele Dossier relied on information from Danchenko, a former Brookings Institution policy analyst and a Russian national.

Danchenko allegedly concocted numerous unproven conspiracies, including that Trump slept with Russian prostitutes at a Moscow hotel in 2013 and that former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, along with Page, worked with Russia to interfere in the election.

According to his November 2021 indictment, Danchenko lied to the FBI numerous times during interviews in 2017 about the source of his information.

Agents were investigating interference into the 2016 election at the time and were consulting Danchenko on where and how he got his information.

The Steele Dossier ultimately resulted in the FBI devoting substantial resources to corroborate Trump-Russia allegations, including Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) warrants on Page, according to Durhams indictment.

Danchenko has said a primary source for information in the Steel Dossier was Sergei Millian, a former Russian American Chamber of Commerce president, who Danchenko assumed made an anonymous call tipping him off on key information in July 2016.

However, Durham says Millian never spoke to the Russian analyst, and that most of Danchenkos information came from Charles Dolan, a Democratic operative and ally of Clinton.

Danchenkos lawyers have said the charges against their client amount to an extraordinary government overreach and that all the answers he provided to the FBI in 2017 were technically true.

His legal team also says that Danchenko never told the FBI with certainty that he spoke to Millian.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Healing. Meghan Markle faced a lot of misogyny in her days as a Royal. In her Archetypes podcast, she breaks down the labels and tropes that hold women back and during her October 11, 2022 episode, she discusses the word crazy used to bring women down.

The episode included conversations with Jenny Slate, Constance Wu and Deepika Padukone and their experiences with how they were perceived as crazy. I feel pretty strongly about this word, Meghan introduced the episode. This label  crazy.. the way that its thrown around so casually, and the damage its wrought on society and women everywhere  from relationships to families being shattered, reputations destroyed, and careers ruined. She continued, Calling someone crazy or hysterical completely dismisses their experience, it minimizes what theyre feeling. And you know what, it doesnt stop there it keeps going to the point where anyone whos been labeled it enough times can be gaslit into thinking that theyre actually unwell or sometimes worse  to the point where real issues, of all kinds, get ignored.

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In a conversation with Deepika about therapy and overcoming struggles, Meghan opened up about how her husband Prince Harry helped her get the help that she needed. I mean, I think at my worst point, being finally connected to someone that [helped], she said during the October 11 episode. You know, my husband had found a referral for me to call. And I called this woman. She didnt know I was even calling her. She was checking out at the grocery store. I could hear the little beep, beep, and I was like, Hi, and Im introducing myself. You can literally [hear her] going, Wait, sorry. Im just [confused]. Who is this? [I was saying] I need help, and she could hear the dire state that I was in. But I think its for all of us to be really honest about what it is that you need and to not be afraid to make peace with that, to ask for it.

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Click here to read the full article.

Harry has always been a supportive husband to Meghan. The couple left their duties as working members of the Royal Family in 2020 and moved permanently to Montecito, California. According to an excerpt from the book Revenge: Meghan, Harry, and the War Between the Windsors from InStyle, author Tom Bower remembers a moment in 2018, shortly after Harry and Meghans wedding when Harry called out his family for not treating Meghan right. Members of their family, said Harry, were not showing her [Meghan] sufficient support, respect, or friendship, Bower wrote. Meghan, Harry believed, should be just as appreciated as their mother [Princess Diana]. Harry told William that Kate should be friendlier to his wife. However, Bower wrote that Williams reply was not sympathetic. During that time, Bower noted that beyond the palaces, few were aware of the split between the brothers.

Image: Courtesy of Dey Street Books.

Buy: Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family $11.15

For more about Prince Harry and Meghan Markles time in the British royal family, read Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durands New York Times bestseller, Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family. The book tells all on the Duke and Duchess of Sussexs relationship, from how they met to their wedding to the birth of their son, Archie. Finding Freedom also dives into the true story of why Harry and Meghan left the royals at the end of 2019 and moved to the United States amid their secret drama with their family. Consisting of interviews and accounts with Harry and Meghans closest confidants, Finding Freedom is a must-read for any royal follower.

Our mission at STYLECASTER is to bring style to the people, and we only feature products we think youll love as much as we do. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission of the sale.

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State Republican lawmakers in Michigan have introduced a bill that would amend the states penal code to classify gender-affirming health care for transgender youth as first-degree child abuse.

According to the bill filed Tuesday, a person would be found guilty of first-degree child abuse  punishable by life imprisonment  if they knowingly or intentionally cause serious physical or mental harm to a child, including by assisting a child obtain a gender transition procedure.

The bill was introduced by state Reps. Ryan Berman, Steve Carra, Luke Meerman, Beau LaFave and Steve Marino, who are all Republicans.

The measure defines a person in this case as the childs parent or guardian or a licensed medical professional.

LaFave in a Wednesday phone call with The Hill said he believes providing gender-affirming prescription medications and surgical procedures to youth who are not legally able to consent to having sex is logically incoherent.

People are abusing these children, he said. The idea that we would be making potentially life-altering changes to 11-, 12-, 13-, 14-, 15-year-old kids when it is illegal for them to have sex is insane. I mean, theyre not responsible enough to smoke a cigarette until theyre 21.

LaFave said hes optimistic most Republicans in the state legislature will back the measure. He added that he believes most Michigan Democrats are in ideological agreement with him and the bills co-sponsors but would risk damaging their political careers if they supported the measure publicly.

Republicans hold a narrow three-seat majority in the Michigan state House.

If passed, Michigan would become the second state in the nation to make it a felony to provide gender-affirming care to minors. Alabama outlawed certain treatments including puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender youth under 18 in legislation signed by the governor in April, though a federal judge in May blocked the state from enforcing the law.

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Two other states  Arkansas and Arizona  have passed laws that ban certain kinds of gender-affirming care for minors, but do not consider it a felony to provide such care.

The Arkansas ban has been blocked by a court order for more than a year, and Arizonas law, which officially took effect last month, only bars youth from undergoing gender-affirming surgeries, most of which are not recommended for minors under guidelines set by the World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH) and the Endocrine Society.

Officials in dozens of other states this year have explored avenues to restrict access to gender-affirming care for transgender minors. In Texas, where the legislature meets only during odd-numbered years, both the governor and attorney general have accused parents that allow their kids to receive gender-affirming health care of abusing their children.

A number of Texas bills introduced last year to ban gender-affirming health care for transgender youth failed to advance through the legislature.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) in August introduced the first piece of federal legislation to outlaw gender-affirming care for minors nationwide. Greenes bill, co-sponsored by more than 40 House Republicans, would make it a felony punishable by up to 25 years in prison to provide gender-affirming care to youth under 18.

Major accredited medical associations have said gender-affirming health care for transgender youth and adults is medically necessary and often lifesaving.

In a letter sent to Attorney General Merrick Garland this month by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association and the Childrens Hospital Association, the groups condemned recent attacks against childrens hospitals and called for a Department of Justice investigation into individuals and organizations spreading misinformation about gender-affirming care.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Former President Donald Trump and a host of other Republicans are preparing to run for the White House in 2024. But the partys most prominent megadonor wants nothing to do with the fight.

Republican benefactor Miriam Adelson has told would-be GOP presidential candidates that she doesnt intend to get involved in the partys 2024 primary, according to two people with direct knowledge of the discussions. With prospective candidates already maneuvering to win over donors, Adelsons decision takes off the board the partys most sought-after funder.

Adelson, the widow of the late Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, has spoken to an array of potential candidates over the last year and has relayed that she will be sitting out the primary, regardless of who is seeking the nomination.

Prospective candidates have eagerly sought out meetings with the 76-year-old, Israeli-born Adelson, whose net worth, according to Forbes, is more than $26 billion. The list of possible contenders whove spoken with Adelson includes Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Florida Sen. Rick Scott and Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

Adelsons team has been bombarded with requests from Republican politicians looking to get face time with her, and some have made pilgrimages to her Las Vegas home. The attention reflects her outsize influence: Over the past decade, she and her late husband spent more than a half-billion dollars on GOP causes.



Adelsons lieutenants say her decision is driven by a desire to stay out of what could be a bitter fight for the nomination. After supporting former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in 2012, Adelson and her late husband sat out the 2016 primary. They later became major contributors to Trump, spending over $100 million to support his campaigns.

Other major Republican contributors will face their own decisions about whether to engage in the 2024 primary  with the prospect of a Trump comeback complicating the race. While some of the biggest givers rallied to Trump during his presidency, others aligned with the GOPs more establishment wing remained cool to him.

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One of the partys biggest donors has tipped his hand as to whom he may back. Tech billionaire Larry Ellison has contributed $20 million to a super PAC aligned with South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, a potential contender who has been crisscrossing the country ahead of this years midterm elections.

Many candidates have been making aggressive efforts to woo contributors  including Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Pence, both of whom recently hosted retreats attended by donors.

Adelson, a physician and the majority shareholder of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, began meeting with potential candidates last fall, after observing a period of mourning following the Jan. 2021 passing of her husband. While she has made clear she has no interest in wading into the 2024 race, she has played an active role in this years midterm elections, so far donating $10 million to Congressional Leadership Fund, the principal GOP House super PAC.

During a trip to Washington earlier this year, she met separately with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, where she received briefings on the 2022 campaign, according to a person familiar with the discussion.
Fortune Business Insights

Companies covered in organic tea market are Associated British Foods plc (London, U.K.), Unilever plc (London, U.K.), Tata Consumer Products Limited (Mumbai, India), The Bigelow Tea Company (Connecticut, U.S.), The Republic of Tea, Inc. (California, U.S.), The Stash Tea Company (Oregon, U.S.), Tazo Tea Company (Washington, U.S.), Shangri La Tea Company (Nevada, U.S.), Newmans Own, Inc. (Connecticut, U.S.), Organic India Pvt. Ltd. (Lucknow, India)

Pune, India, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global organic tea market is set to gain momentum from the rising popularity of retail organic food and beverages on account of their easy consumption and wide availability. This information is given by Fortune Business Insights in a new report, titled, Organic Tea Market Size, Share, and Regional Forecast, 20202027. The report further states that the market size was USD 820.8 million in 2019. It is projected to reach USD 1,918.7 million by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 11.2% during the forecast period.

Get a Sample Copy of the Research Report:

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/request-sample-pdf/organic-tea-market-100804

A list of all the renowned organic tea providers operating in the global market:

Associated British Foods plc (London, U.K.)

Unilever plc (London, U.K.)

Tata Consumer Products Limited (Mumbai, India)

The Bigelow Tea Company (Connecticut, U.S.)

The Republic of Tea, Inc. (California, U.S.)

The Stash Tea Company (Oregon, U.S.)

Tazo Tea Company (Washington, U.S.)

Shangri La Tea Company (Nevada, U.S.)

Newmans Own, Inc. (Connecticut, U.S.)

Organic India Pvt. Ltd. (Lucknow, India)

Report Scope & Segmentation:

Report Coverage Details Forecast Period 2020-2027 Forecast CAGR 11.2 % 2027 Value Projection USD 1,918.7 Million Base Year 2019 Organic Tea Market Size in 2019 USD 820.8 Million Historical Data 2016-2018 No. of Pages 185 Segments Covered By Type, By Distribution Channel, By Form Organic Tea Market Growth Drivers Growing Knowledge Regarding Healthfulness & Safety of Organic Products to Fuel Growth Increasing Demand for Specialty Teas to Fuel Growth

COVID-19 Pandemic: Urgent Need to Enhance Immune Systems to Aid Growth

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a huge toll on the entire food system worldwide. The supply chain of organic tea was disrupted owing to nationwide lockdown and social distancing measures. However, the rising concerns of people regarding their health and immune systems are expected to propel the demand for numerous nutritional beverages across the globe. It is likely to impact the market positively.

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Browse Summary of this Research Report:

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/industry-reports/organic-tea-market-100804

What Does This Report Contain?

This report includes in-depth information associated with change in material usage, new product launches, and technological advancements. It provides market dynamics based on various factors, such as opportunities, challenges, drivers, hindrances, and dynamics. At the same time, it will deliver a complete insight from the supply side respondents related to market share, distribution, and size.

Drivers & Restraints-

High Demand for Nutrient-rich Food & Beverages to Bolster Growth

People nowadays are inclining rapidly toward nutrient-rich food & beverages for maintaining their overall health and wellness. They are looking for products that contain more functional ingredients to reduce the occurrences of lifestyle-related health disorders, such as obesity, cardiovascular conditions, and diabetes. Also, the increasing demand for ready-to-drink functional beverages from millennials would accelerate the organic tea market growth in the near future. However, this tea is expensive because of its limited production. It may obstruct growth.

Segment-

Black Tea Segment to Hold 77.76% Share in 2019

Based on type, the black tea segment generated 77.76% in terms of the organic tea market share in 2019. This growth is attributable to its possession of several health benefits. This tea has antioxidants.

Regional Insights-

Increasing Awareness of Health Benefits to Spur Growth in North America

Geographically, North America procured USD 262.6 million in terms of revenue in 2019. It is set to lead the market throughout the forthcoming years on account of the rising awareness programs to educate people about the health benefits of this healthy tea.

Asia Pacific, on the other hand, would grow steadily backed by the rising production of organic tea, especially in China. Coupled with this, the surging discretionary incomes of people would aid growth in this region. In Europe, the rising demand for premium specialty teas with authentic and unique flavors would propel growth.

Inquire Before Buying This Report:

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Competitive Landscape-

Key Players Focus on Introducing Innovative Products to Compete with Their Rivals

The market has a moderately consolidated structure. It is majorly dominated by a handful of multinational organizations. They are presently focusing on new product launches, acquisitions, and partnership strategies to compete with their rivals in the market.

Detailed Table of Content:

Introduction Research Scope Market Segmentation Research Methodology Definitions and Assumptions

Executive Summary

Market Dynamics Market Drivers Market Restraints Market Opportunities Emerging Trends

Key Insights Overview of the Parent/Related Markets Industry SWOT Analysis Supply Chain Analysis Recent Industry Developments - Policies, Partnerships, New Form Launches, and Mergers & Acquisitions Market Analysis and Insights (in Relation with COVID-19) Impact of COVID-19 on the Market Supply Chain Challenges due to the Pandemic Potential Opportunities to Support Sales during the Calamity

Global Organic Tea Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast, 2016-2027 Key Findings / Summary Market Size Estimates and Forecast By Type Black Tea Green Tea Others By Form Tea Bags Loose Leaves Loose Powder Ready-to-drink By Distribution Channel Supermarket/Hypermarket Specialty Stores Convenience Stores Online Retail By Region North America Europe Asia Pacific South America Middle East & Africa



TOC Continued!

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Read Related Insights:

Green Tea Market to Hit USD 23.66 Billion by 2027 | Rising Awareness about the Health Benefits of Green Tea to Drive Market Growth

Bubble Tea Market Size to Hit USD 3.39 Billion by 2027; Rising Popularity of Fancy Beverages among Millennial to Boost Market Growth, Fortune Business Insights

RTD Coffee Market to Reach $42.36 Billion by 2027; Increasing Investment in Flavored and Cold-brew Products Will Aid Growth, says Fortune Business Insights

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The continuing potential of IoT as a business model has been underlined by two recent deals involving major players in both mobile and satcom markets, in this case China Mobile International Middle East company (CMI) and Yahsat.

Tuya Smart, a global IoT development platform service provider, and CMI announced this week that they had signed a strategic partnership to promote the deployment and implementation of IoT solutions and projects across the Middle East and Africa (MEA).

They also announced that they will together provide more technical support for smart environments such as smart business and smart cities.

Meanwhile Yahsat, the UAEs flagship satellite solutions provider, has announced a minority investment in eSAT Global, an IoT connectivity solutions provider that, it says, will bring a new disruptive, low-cost, low latency, direct-to-satellite IoT service to the market.

In addition to Yahsats investment in eSAT, Thuraya, its mobility business, has signed a commercial agreement with eSAT, which will provide Thuraya with secure and long-term access to an end-to-end low power wide area network (LPWAN) IoT system and portfolio.

The partnership with eSAT will, the two companies say, enable Thurayas service partners to address critical IoT requirements in key segments, including smart agriculture, environmental monitoring, digital maritime and cold-chain tracking.

The new platform, which will leverage Thurayas existing and future MSS GEO satellites, will enable millions of devices to be serviced simultaneously and efficiently in a cost-effective way.

The service requires no terrestrial repeater infrastructure or backhaul, while providing seamless coverage across the globe. Devices equipped with the new eSAT communication module will be able to communicate with satellites using very low transmit power anywhere within Thurayas footprint.

Thuraya, in collaboration with eSAT, is planning to launch the IoT system and portfolio and commence commercial activities by Q4 2023.
Max Schachter holds a photo of his son, Alex, who died in the shooting

A jury has concluded its first day of deliberations on the fate of the gunman responsible for a school shooting in Parkland, Florida.

Nikolas Cruz pleaded guilty in October last year to 17 counts of murder and attempted murder in the 14 February 2018 attack.

The jury will decide whether the 24-year-old should be sentenced to death or life in prison without parole.

The case is the deadliest mass shooting to reach a jury trial in the US.

Broward County Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer delivered instructions to the jury on Wednesday morning before they were sequestered for deliberations. Survivors of the shooting were also in court.

She told the 12 jurors that "a human life is at stake".

On Wednesday afternoon the jurors asked to again see the AR-15 rifle used in the attack. They also want to see one of the ammunition magazines, which had a swastika etched on to its side.

Sheriff's officials did not want the weapon to be left in the jury room overnight for safety reasons, so the judge said they would take up the matter on Thursday morning.

During the trial, which began in July, prosecutors argued the gunman planned a "systematic massacre" of 14 students and three staff members at Parkland, and that he should be sentenced to death.

They said he had conducted internet research before the attack and posted online comments in which he vowed to show "no mercy".

"What he wanted to do, what his plan was, and what he did, was to murder children at school and their caretakers," assistant state attorney Michael Satz said.

The gunman's defence lawyer Melisa McNeill has argued that her client was brain damaged in the womb by his mother's alcohol and substance abuse during pregnancy.

McNeill added a death sentence "would change nothing" and "not bring back" the victims.

The court also heard statements from families of those who were killed.

The death penalty exists in 27 US states, including Florida. The annual number of executions in the US, however, has fallen over the decades, from 98 in 1999 to just 11 in 2021.

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Under Florida state law, prosecutors can seek the death penalty in cases when the accused has been convicted of first-degree murder with aggravating factors - murders that are "especially heinous, atrocious or cruel", creating "a risk of death to many persons" and "cold, calculated" murders that were premeditated.

In most US criminal cases, a jury decides culpability and the judge decides on the punishment. In this case, however, the jury will decide how the gunman is sentenced.

The jury's seven men and five women must agree unanimously to recommend the death penalty.

The last person to be executed in Florida was 57-year-old Gary Ray Bowles in 2019. He was put to death for the murder of six men in 1994.
President Joe Biden addressed the possibility of his son, Hunter Biden, being prosecuted for tax crimes and a false statement during a gun purchase  the first time the elder Biden has answered questions about the possibility of charges, first reported by the Washington Post.

"I didnt know anything about it," the president said in an interview that aired Tuesday on CNN, of his son possibly lying about drug use on an application to purchase a gun.

Federal agents think they have enough evidence to charge the younger Biden with tax crimes and the false statement, the Washington Post reported last week. However, no such charges have been filed by the U.S. Attorney in Delaware  an appointee of former President Donald Trump  yet.



Federal law requires people to attest they're not unlawfully using or addicted to drugs when they buy a gun; Hunter Biden has said that he was struggling with drug addiction in 2018, the same year he purchased a gun, the Post has reported.

The president repeatedly stressed that he's proud of his son for overcoming drug addiction and establishing "a new life."

"I have great confidence in my son," Biden said in a pre-taped interview with CNN's Jake Tapper. "I love him and hes on the straight and narrow, and he has been for a couple years now. And Im just so proud of him."
Sydney, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Proactive, provider of real-time news and video interviews on growth companies listed in Australia, has covered the following companies:

Duke Exploration Ltd (ASX:DEX) shares rose as much as ~20% intra-day to 5.5 cents after intersecting additional copper-rich structures from scout (RC  diamond tail) drilling at the Rogers prospect within its flagship Bundarra Project in Queensland. Click here

White Rock Minerals Ltd (ASX:WRM, OTCQX:WRMCF) has thanked outgoing CEO and managing director Matt Gill for his efforts in transforming the company into a gold producer and welcomes another highly experienced mining executive in Simon Finnis as an executive director. Click here

Solis Minerals Ltd (TSX-V:SLMN, ASX:SLM) has generated a new project in the southern Peruvian copper belt, claiming seven tenements southeast of the world-class Toquepala gold-silver-copper-molybdenum mine to form the Cinto Project. Click here

Kaiser Reef Ltd (ASX:KAU, ASX:) has intersected further high-grade gold in diamond drilling at the A1 Mine operations in Victoria. Click here

Stelar Metals Ltd (ASX:SLB) shares were trading about 6% higher intra-day, at 18 cents, after lodging a 47 square kilometre Exploration Licence Application (ELA 2022/00074) with the South Australian Government covering the historical Baratta Copper Mine area, immediately adjacent to its recently granted Baratta Project EL 6803. Click here

Queensland Pacific Metals Ltd (ASX:QPM) has established a long-term collaboration with global carmaker General Motors, setting the stage for a strategic investment and offtake agreement. Click here

Elixir Energy Ltd (ASX:EXR) has successfully drilled and completed a second well in the coal bed methane (CBM) pilot project underway at its 100%-owned Nomgon IX CBM Production Sharing Contract (PSC) in southern Mongolia. Click here

Azure Minerals Ltd (ASX:AZS) has identified abundant lithium-bearing pegmatites outcropping within the Andover Project in Western Australia through an intensive, six-month on-ground mapping and sampling program. Click here

Aldoro Resources Ltd (ASX:ARN) has delivered a maiden mineral resource of 4.6 million tonnes at 0.17% rubidium oxide and 0.07% lithium oxide for its Niobe Rubidium-Lithium Project in the Murchison Province of Western Australia. Click here

Terra Uranium Ltd (ASX:T92) has appointed Jules Grove as its new chief financial officer. Click here

Kin Mining NL (ASX:KIN) is ramping up exploration at its 100%-owned Cardinia Gold Project with the launch of an extensive aircore drilling campaign at Murrin Murrin near Leonora in Western Australia. Click here

Lake Resources NL (ASX:LKE, OTCQB:LLKKF) has teamed up with pre-eminent battery maker SK On in an offtake deal for up to 25,000 tonnes of battery-grade lithium per annum from the Kachi Lithium Project in Argentina. Click here

Strickland Metals Ltd (ASX:STK) has identified multiple new areas of elevated copper-lead-zinc anomalism from a soil sampling program west of the Iroquois discovery and Malecite prospect within the Earaheedy Basin of Western Australia. Click here

Sarytogan Graphite Ltd (ASX:SGA) has made material progress in creating battery anode-ready graphite concentrate with a round of metallurgical test-work upgrading its graphite feedstock to a 92.1% purity concentrate. Click here

Tamboran Resources Ltd (ASX:TBN) welcomes the move by Falcon Oil & Gas Australia Ltd to waive its pre-emptive rights relating to the purchase by Tamboran of Origin Energys 77.5% operating interest in the Beetaloo Basin assets in the Northern Territory of Australia. Click here

Galileo Mining Ltd (ASX:GAL) continues to demonstrate the growth potential of the Norseman Projects Callisto palladium-platinum-gold-rhodium-copper-nickel discovery with assays from a new nickel sulphide zone discovered in the western-most drilling on the tenure to date. Click here

St George Mining Ltd (ASX:SGQ) has served up high-grade lithium during rock chip sampling at its flagship Mt Alexander Project in WA. Click here

Discovery Alaska Ltd (ASX:DAF) has confirmed broad lithium mineralisation during re-sampling of historic drill core from Coal Creek Lithium Prospect within the Chulitna Project in Alaska, USA. Click here

Castillo Copper Ltd (LSE:CCZ, ASX:CCZ) has hit targeted cobalt mineralisation zones in drilling at Tors Tank Prospect within the Broken Hill Alliance Projects East Zone near Broken Hill in Far West New South Wales. Click here

Krakatoa Resources Ltd (ASX:KTA) has unearthed a mineralised pegmatite complex with widths up to 70 metres and rubidium grades up to 0.26% at the King Tamba critical metals project near Mt Magnet in Western Australia. Click here

Frontier Energy Ltd (ASX:FHE) has chosen a leading gas and power specialist to help it navigate green hydrogen offtake negotiations surrounding the Bristol Springs Project in Western Australia. Click here
Nebraska Republican Senator Ben Sasses visit to the University of Florida was met by protests from students.

Mr Sasse is the sole finalist to become the 13th president at the school after current President Kent Fuchs announced he was stepping down in January. Mr Sasse was reelected to the Senate in 2020 but plans to end his term four years prematurely if he is ultimately appointed by the UF Board of Trustees.

His views on same-sex marriage issues have sparked outrage among University of Florida students who have publicly told him he is not welcome at the university. In 2015, Ms Sasse said that the Supreme Court had overstepped its Constitutional rights by ruling in favour of same-sex marriage in Obergefell v Hodges, arguing that marriage brings a wife and husband together so their children can have a mom and a dad.

Footage circulating on social media showed hundreds of students at UF protesting Mr Sasses visit on Monday, and chanting: Hey, hey, ho, ho, Ben Sasse has got to go! The Washington Post reported. Another video shared by the UF Graduate Assistants United, showed Mr Sasse being escorted inside a police vehicle and leaving campus premises as a student says we dont want you here.

This is what a coward looks like. This will be your life every day if you accept a position here. @BenSasse, the account tweeted.

Students enter the building where finalist for UF presidency Ben Sasse holds his Q and A. pic.twitter.com/ZswgdrOdB3  Rae (@RaeRiiskPhoto) October 10, 2022

UFs independent student news outlet The Alligator reported that Mr Sasse left a Q and A early after at least 300 protestors on stage asked accused him of being racist and homophobic.

Mr Sasse said in that interview that he is looking forward to joining UF as a president because it is the opportunity to step back from politics. He was first elected to the Senate in 2014, and when his term came to an end in 2020, he was reelected.

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After Mr Sasse announced plans to step down in order to potentially assume the role of president at UF, Donald Trump, who once endorsed Sasse, said the university would regret the decision.

Great news for the United States Senate, and our Country itself. Liddle Ben Sasse, the lightweight Senator from the great State of Nebraska, will be resigning, Trump wrote on Truth Social. The University of Florida will soon regret their decision to hire him as their President.

Protesters are now in the second floor ballroom where Ben Sasse was. This is after the student forum concluded. pic.twitter.com/HtevAKFD6n  Ethan Eibe (@EthanEibe) October 10, 2022

Sasse was one of seven Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for his role in the Capitol riot.

President Trump lied that he won the election by a landslide, Sasse said in a statement after his decision in 2021. He lied about widespread voter fraud, spreading conspiracy theories despite losing 60 straight court challenges, many of his losses handed down by great judges he nominated.

Mr Sasse is a Harvard and Yale graduate and was once the president of Midland University, a small institution in Nebraska.

The Independent has reached out to him for comment.
DALLAS FORT WORTH, Texas, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Royal House Partners ("RHP") a leading provider of residential and commercial HVAC, plumbing and electrical services in Texas, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma welcomes the addition of Integrity Heat & Air based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to their family of businesses.

Royal House Partners logo (CNW Group/Royal House Partners)

RHP was founded in 2021 by CPS Capital, a Toronto-based investment firm, and 1801 Holdings, a Dallas-based group of seasoned home services professionals, who have spent a considerable amount of time developing a residential and light commercial HVAC, plumbing and electrical roll-up strategy.

As a leadership team, we continue to acquire strong legacy businesses in the HVAC, Plumbing, Electrical & Home Services space. The addition of Integrity allows Royal House Partners to further expand its footprint north to Guthrie which marks our sixth acquisition in Oklahoma in the last eleven months.

Integrity's team consists of 8 experienced, licensed mechanical journeyman, 4 residential journeyman and 12 licensed mechanical apprentices. Integrity serves thousands of loyal customers across the greater OKC metropolitan area and has received many awards of different kinds for its outstanding business practices.

Paul Adams, Chief Growth Officer & Founder of RHP, notes "We are super excited to welcome the Integrity team. Gary Doolittle has built Integrity into one of the most reputable HVAC operations in OKC."

Gary Doolittle, Owner, notes, "Since we started in 2005 our name Integrity has been much more than just a name. It is doing business every time the way that we would like to be treated. "More than just a name" is our slogan! Our commitment to treat people right every time has led to ongoing growth year after year. Our partnership with RHP will allow our company to grow more than it ever has and will help us reach even more customers."

Jeremy Swanson, Regional Vice President Oklahoma, notes, "We are excited to add Integrity to our home services family. This addition will strengthen our HVAC division and give us a stronger reach in the Oklahoma City Metro area."

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HVAC businesses interested in joining the RHP team should contact Paul Adams paul@royalhousepartners.com For more information about RHP, visit https://www.royalhousepartners.com/home

About CPS Capital:

CPS Capital is a lower middle market private equity firm, based in Toronto, founded by owner-operators who look to partner with business owners to realize their growth and transition goals. CPS Capital is focused on North American opportunities to invest in exceptional businesses in growing industries with attractive characteristics. We look to become value-added partners with every business we work with. We bring significant capability, expertise, and capital to provide business owners with an attractive option compared to traditional financial or strategic buyers.

For more information, please visit us at https://cpscapital.com/

Cision

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/royal-house-partners-makes-another-new-investment-in-integrity-heat--air-to-continue-growing-home-services-portfolio-in-oklahoma-301644246.html

SOURCE Royal House Partners
Seoul, South Korea--(Newsfile Corp. - October 11, 2022) - Seoul Metropolitan Government will hold Seoul Fashion Week 2023 S/S, the key event during Seoul Beauty Month, for 5 days from Tue, Oct. 11 to Sat, Oct. 15 at DDP. Considering its long hiatus as an on-site festival, it will open its doors previously restricted to people in the fashion industry to citizens and expand the points of contact between citizens and Seoul Fashion Week.

The 'Seoul Fashion Week 2023 S/S' will issue 1,500 NFT invitations with the ambassador's voice for the first time in the history of international fashion week. Created by the voice NFTs startup 'LOVO,' the NFT invitation will present the invitation message from Actor Kwon Sang-Woo, the global ambassador of the fashion week. In particular, various videos and pictures of the actor wearing Korean designers' clothes will be shown in multiple promotions around the world, like in Paris and New York.

In addition, virtual fashion models, RyuID, and SEO-HI will be the online ambassadors. They will reveal the clothes of participating brands online. RyuID and SEO-HI plan to wear designer clothes from Seoul Collection and Generation Next clothes, respectively.

The 'Seoul Fashion Week 2023 S/S' will focus on

The success of the fashion show

The expansion of point of contact with citizens

The advancement to the overseas market.

The four main programs of the Seoul Fashion Week are

On-site fashion shows by all designers

Order consultation meetings with domestic and foreign buyers

Beauty and fashion activities to be participated by the public

Advancement into the TRANOI fashion trade shows to make K-fashion known to the world.

A total of 30 on-site fashion shows will be held. The 'Seoul Collection' with 23 established designers will be held at DDP Art hall, special outdoor stages, and Dohwaseogil in Insa-dong, while the 'Generation Next' fashion show with 7 rookie designers will be held at Oullim Square of DDP. Moreover, there will be order consultation meetings with domestic and foreign buyers, and activities will be provided for the citizens to try out designer clothes through a virtual fitting event.

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The SMG will give its continuous support to domestic designers to present their clothes at the Paris Fashion Week, one of the top 4 fashion weeks held in the world, and plans to further expand its support.

Hwang, Bo-Yeon, Director of Economic Policy Office stated, "We plan to support the Seoul Fashion Week to emerge as the world's fashion festival, promote the fashion industry around Dongdaemun area, and help it to become a bridgehead for K-fashion to advance into overseas markets." He also added, "In cooperation with major cities around the world, it will become an example enhancing the competitiveness of Seoul as the city of beauty and fashion in the world."

Media Contact

Brand: SEOUL METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT

Contact: Bo Youn Hwang

Email: natasha71@seoul.go.kr

Phone: +82 2-2133-8771

Website: https://www.seoulfashionweek.org

SOURCE: SEOUL METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/140101
South Korea said on Tuesday that it is capable of detecting and intercepting the flurry of missiles North Korea recently launched in a simulation of a nuclear attack on the country.

It maintained that the advancing nuclear programme of their neighbours posed a great threat to the world.

"North Korea is consistently developing and upgrading its nuclear weapons and posing nuclear threats to not only our Republic of Korea but the world," South Koreas president Yoon Suk-yeol told reporters while referring to the country by its official name.

"I believe it has nothing to gain from nuclear weapons, said the president as he tried to reassure the public asking them not worry too much and do your best with economic activities and livelihoods.

Earlier, North Koreas state news agency KCNA reported that the countrys missile tests were designed to simulate showering the South with tactical nuclear weapons as a warning after large-scale navy drills by South Korean and US forces.

The North Korean launches, part of its record-breaking run of weapons tests this year, were seen as an attempt by leader Kim Jong-un to acquire a more intimidating arsenal to pressure its rivals to accept the North as a legitimate nuclear state and lift economic sanctions on them.

Mr Yoon said he would build robust capabilities to counter the Norths threats through the US alliance and trilateral security cooperation involving Japan, countrys acting spokesperson at the South Korean defense ministry described North Korean nuclear threats as very grave and serious.

Asserting the countrys capabilities of detecting the missiles, Moon Hong Sik said they are still pushing to introduce spy satellites, various surveillance drones and additional sea-based reconnaissance assets to better monitor North Korea.

The president is receiving backlash from the countrys progressive main opposition which has accused him of pursuing a pro-Japan defense policy, an issue that remains sensitive due to resentment over Japans colonial rule from 1910-45.

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The president however, set aside the concerns, saying it cannot be justified in the face of nuclear threat.

Meanwhile, some defense observers have noted that Norths newly developed weapons including a highly maneuverable KN-23 missile modeled on Russias Iskander missile and a developmental hypersonic missile, might overcome South Korean and US missile defense system.

Outside concerns about North Koreas nuclear programme have also grown since it adopted a law authorising preemptive use of nuclear weapons.

Earlier in August, Kim Yo-jong, sister of Kim Jong-un, ridiculed the US and South Koreas military for allegedly misidentifying the exact site of their two previous missile tests.

If the data and flight trajectory (of the missiles) are known, (South Korea) will be so bewildered and afraid, she had said.

According to the North Korean announcement on its seven rounds of launches, the weapons mobilized in the drills include a new type of intermediate-range ballistic missile that traveled about 4,500km (2,800 miles), a distance sufficient to reach the US Pacific territory of Guam and beyond.

Another missile that North Korea said was launched from a silo under an inland reservoir was likely a new version of its KN-23 missile, whose highly maneuverable and lower-trajectory flight provides it with greater chances of evading missile defense systems.

North Koreas first missile firing under a reservoir was believed to be aimed at diversifying its launch sites to curtail enemy missile defenses. In recent years, North Korea has also been pushing to build bigger submarines to acquire a nuclear retaliatory attack capability.

While South Korea, Japan and the US authorities reported all seven rounds of missile launches, none of their public reports included a reservoir-launched missile, an apparent failure to detect whether the weapon was launched from underwater.

Kim Jun-rak, a spokesperson at South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters that a missile launch from a reservoir was seen as a desperate attempt by North Korea to escape South Korean and US surveillance but failed to comment on whether it posed a security threat to the county.

Additional reporting from the wires
SpaceX's next lunar passengers could include one of the earliest civilian spacefarers. As CBS News reports, original space tourist Dennis Tito and his wife Akiko have signed up as passengers on the company's second planned Moon voyage. They aim to travel within roughly five years, joining 10 other travelers aboard Starship. Tito didn't say how much he and Akiko would pay for the trip.

Dennis Tito built his fortune as a financial analyst, but he's best-known for paying Russia $20 million to take him to the International Space Station in 2001, making him the first space tourist. Akiko, meanwhile, is well-suited to the trip as a jet pilot. She would be one of the first women to fly around the Moon in Starship, SpaceX said.

Dennis and Akiko Tito are the first two crewmembers on Starships second commercial spaceflight around the Moon  https://t.co/z2Z9iVGw8x pic.twitter.com/07RHJlb6Dc  SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 12, 2022

SpaceX intends to have the spacecraft circumnavigate the Moon, getting as close as 124 miles from the lunar surface before returning home. The first journey is linked to Shift4 founder Jared Isaacman's Polaris Program and should include Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa alongside six to eight additional passengers.

While the news helps solidify SpaceX's tourism plans, there are more than a few challenges. To start, Dennis Tito is 82  while he's stepping up his fitness regimen, he might be nearing William Shatner's age when the Star Trek icon visited space with Blue Origin. There's also the question of Starship's readiness. SpaceX has struggled to get its flagship vehicle up and running. While there has been progress, even the first orbital test flight might be months away. That, in turn, could push the first commercial flights beyond 2023.

Even so, this announcement could represent an important milestone. Thus far, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic have broadly pulled ahead in space tourism. The Titos' plans suggest SpaceX's program is finally attracting more interest, albeit from wealthy people who won't blink at paying a fortune for a lunar sightseeing expedition.
The Supreme Court justices appeared deeply conflicted on Tuesday over the treatment of pregnant pigs, the prices consumers pay at the grocery store and California's attempt to shape the pork industry with a ban on meat from mother sows kept in too narrowly confined spaces.

An oral argument in the case, National Pork Producers v. Ross, was scheduled for 70 minutes -- but stretched to nearly double that as a consequential debate played out, pitting California voters' moral views against a critical national industry that feeds millions of Americans every year.

At issue is California's Proposition 12, passed in 2018, which would ban the sale of all pork from mother pigs housed in cages or crowded group pens with less than 24-square-feet each -- the amount of room needed for an animal to turn around. Animal welfare advocates have called the confinement "cruelty."

MORE: In Supreme Court debut, Justice Jackson grills attorney challenging EPA power under Clean Water Act

The nation's $20-billion pork industry wants the justices to strike down the legislation, contending its example would empower other states to enforce their regulations and values nationwide.

"If Proposition 12 is lawful," warned attorney Timothy Bishop, representing the National Pork Producers Council, "Oregon can condition imports on workers being paid the minimum wage. And Texas can condition sales on the producer employing only lawful U.S. residents. And at that point, we have truly abandoned the framers' idea of a national market."

PHOTO: California's Proposition 12 would require farmers to ensure sows in group pens enjoy at least 24-square-feet of space each. Farmers like Mike Boerboom say it will cost them millions of dollars to comply. (ABC News)

While 63% of California voters approved Prop 12, it would have the biggest impact elsewhere: the Golden State consumes 13% of U.S. pork, the largest market in the country, but produces just 1%, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Farmers in heavy pork-producing states like Iowa, Minnesota and North Carolina say it will cost billions of dollars to retool their operations to comply with California's law, resulting in less efficient production and, in turn, higher store prices for consumers.

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"Even if it's only $0.25 a pound or something, that adds up quite a bit over time," economist Barry Goodwin, a professor at North Carolina State University who specializes in the pork industry, told ABC News.

MORE: In Supreme Court debut, Justice Jackson grills attorney challenging EPA power under Clean Water Act

The Biden administration has taken the side of pork farmers, concerned, they say, that a single state should not be allowed to upend a major American industry.

The Constitution's so-called "dormant" commerce clause has been widely interpreted to prohibit states from passing laws that would have an excessive impact on interstate trade or the economic interests of other states.

The Supreme Court's view of the clause will be key to the fate of Prop 12. Several of the justices indicated Tuesday that they shared the pork-producing industry's concerns.

PHOTO: Gestation crates, or sow stalls, that confine female pigs during breeding and pregnancy are widely used across the pork industry. California's Proposition 12 would ban the crates and the sale of pork from farms that use them. (ABC News)

Justice Samuel Alito suggested he worried about the law setting off a tit-for-tat among states. "Could a state say, 'We're really concerned about water shortages, so we're going to prohibit ... the sale within our borders of any almonds where the trees are irrigated'?" Alito asked.

"If it's focused on the sale within their borders," replied California Solicitor General Michael Mongan, "I think that the logical conclusion of our position is that they could do that."

Justice Brett Kavanaugh raised hypotheticals, too: "What about a law that says, 'You can't sell fruit in our state if it's produced -- handled -- by people who are not in the country legally'? Is that state law permissible?"

Justice Elena Kagan, noting we "live in a divided country," worried about "balkanization."

"Do we want to live in a world where we're constantly at each other's throats and, you know, Texas is at war with California and California at war with Texas?" she said.

Chief Justice John Roberts focused on what he saw as the role "morality" plays in California's regulatory approach.

"I think people in some states, maybe the ones that produce a lot of pork, in Iowa or North Carolina or Indiana, may think there's a moral value in providing a low-cost source of protein to people, maybe particularly at times of rising food prices," Roberts said. "But under your analysis, it's California's view of morality that prevails over the views of people in other states because of the market power that they have."

At the same time, many of the justices seemed to agree that states should have broad leeway in taking steps to protect the health and safety of residents as they see fit. California voters overwhelmingly approved Prop 12, in part, based on arguments that confinement of pigs is harmful to human health.

PHOTO: Sows on the Jovaag Family Farm in Austin, Minn., bury themselves in piles of hay for comfort during their pregnancies. (ABC News)

"I know you're going to tell me there's no scientific proof, but there is certainly a reasonable basis for these people to think this," said Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

"We don't think there's a reasonable basis," Bishop, the pork industry attorney, replied.

Justice Neil Gorsuch seemed most inclined to side with California. "Californians ... voted for this law," he said. "They don't wish to have California be complicit, even indirectly, in livestock practices that they find abhorrent, wherever they occur, in California or anywhere else. Why isn't that a correct understanding of California's asserted moral interest and why isn't that an in-state moral interest?"

The justices could narrowly decide the case by simply allowing the pork producers' legal challenge to move forward and go to trial in lower courts, saying little else and stopping short of a conclusion on the legality of California's law.

MORE: Supreme Court with Justice Jackson faces major tests on race

The high court could, alternatively, take a more sweeping approach and clarify a test for when and how a state law violates the Constitution's commerce clause, perhaps deciding the fate of Prop 12 outright.

During Tuesday's arguments, several of the justices appeared to feel out a middle ground.

"Why can't California solve for its morality issue in a different way," asked Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, "[and] simply allow California to express its morality interest through a less burdensome means, like segregating Iowa's pork when it comes in, putting a big label over it that says 'this is immorally produced' or whatever -- and that won't hurt Iowa as much? Why can't we say that that's the way this should be?"

PHOTO: Ruth and John Jovaag of Austin, Minn., are part of the Niman Ranch network of family farmers raising pigs in what they call humane conditions that include ample space, fresh air and plenty of hay. (ABC News)

As the court took up the case, there were already signs market forces and consumer preferences have been nudging producers toward what animal advocates consider more ethical practices.

"They need more farmers doing it this way to meet the demand," Ruth Jovaag, co-owner of the Jovaag Family Farm in Austin, Minnesota, previously told ABC News. "There's not enough supply."

The Jovaag Family Farm is part of the Niman Ranch network of family farmers who specialize in certified "humanely-raised" pigs and other animals. They abandoned gestation stalls, or crates, years ago and now give pregnant sows more than 60-square-feet each, piles of comfortable hay and fresh air and sunlight.

Mike Boerboom, a third-generation hog farmer who raises thousands of sows in confinement every year, hopes the justices will conclude that Californians have gone too far.

"We produce a lot of food to feed the rest of the country," he told ABC. "It's California today," he added, "but are there going to be more mandates that come potentially from every other state? That's the fear."

Supreme Court seems conflicted over California regulation on pork from pregnant pigs originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Oct. 8Kotzebue, VPSO

The Department of Public Safety plans to outfit more than 400 employees with body-worn cameras by next summer, including Alaska State Troopers statewide and Village Public Safety Officers in rural Alaska.

Officials say the cameras are long overdue for the troopers, the largest law enforcement agency in the state.

The department plans to start the body camera rollout in rural communities in January and hopes to finish equipping employees, including fire marshals and court services officers, with the devices by next summer. A draft policy is expected to be released this winter.

That timeline is fairly aggressive, especially when compared to lengthy delays in the Anchorage Police Department's plan to equip officers with body cameras.

Top Anchorage police officials say they have no official timeline yet despite initial plans to outfit the force by the end of 2021. They cite issues including delays finalizing a body camera policy, negotiations with the police union over whether officers will be allowed to review footage before being interviewed or making statements, and legal and logistical concerns from municipal attorneys.

The troopers' proposal comes with its own challenges, particularly related to applying the technology in rural Alaska, where limited internet access could make backing up footage online difficult.

The department also still needs to purchase the cameras and other necessary equipment, as well as finalize policies surrounding their use. That's all expected to occur in the next few months, DPS Commissioner James Cockrell said in a recent interview.

As of this week, the camera purchase was moving through the state procurement process and the order was expected to be placed in the coming days, according to troopers spokesman Austin McDaniel.

Cockrell said the department plans to order about 600 Motorola body cameras and officers will back up footage to a storage cloud operated by the same company that currently stores data collected by dashboard cameras already in use.

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Body cameras, he said, are a priority for the department because they provide transparency.

"People in this state deserve to know what their law enforcement officers are doing," Cockrell said.

James Kvamme, VPSO coordinator for the Copper River Native Association, said he's eager for the department to implement body cameras. The technology is beneficial for officers and for the public because it provides accountability, Kvamme said.

"It keeps everybody honest," he said. "It keeps the public honest and it keeps us honest."

Starting small

The state plans to equip officers in rural Alaska with body cameras first. Plans call for the public safety department to start testing the cameras on a limited basis in January.

"The worst thing we could do is deploy all 600 of them to the department and then have all these issues come up," Cockrell said. "So we want to start small, start tackling issues that we have and get those fixed before we fully implement."

Public safety officials have yet to decide which communities will launch the program, troopers spokesman McDaniel said.

Cockrell said he expects connectivity issues in rural Alaska to be the biggest hurdle. Internet connectivity varies by community and in many places is not strong enough to transmit large data files, like videos. Because of the differences in each village, Cockrell said it's unlikely there will be a one-size-fits-all solution.

In areas where it won't be possible to upload footage, Cockrell said troopers or village officers may need to mail the device's SIM card to Anchorage so it can be uploaded from there.

The program's costs are being covered by a combination of state and federal funding.

The Department of Public Safety received roughly $3.5 million from the Legislature to pursue body cameras, Cockrell said. They were also awarded nearly $1 million in matching federal grant funds for the program.

While the equipment and startup costs are estimated to be about $4.5 million, he said there will be ongoing costs related to the technology that can't yet be estimated.

Ongoing costs may include increased cloud storage needed for video, or additional staff to handle more complex public records requests, he said.

The department plans to continue applying for federal funds in upcoming years, Cockrell said, and will ask the Legislature for additional money to support the program as they pinpoint what ongoing costs will be. He said he didn't anticipate problems securing additional funding.

The department plans to fully implement body cameras for all employees by the middle of next summer, he said, adding the equipment purchase could be delayed by a global chip shortage but he doesn't foresee any major delays.

Rich Curtner, who is co-chair of the Alaska Black Caucus' Justice Committee, said he is hopeful troopers will stick to their timeline. Body cameras, he said, would be an especially good thing for people in rural Alaska.

The Alaska Black Caucus has been closely following the APD body camera delays and pressing for action.

Privacy questions

The addition of body-worn cameras is expected to create changes at the Department of Law because prosecutors will have a new form of evidence for use during jury trials. It may also raise questions about how the footage dovetails with privacy rights and open records laws, said Deputy Attorney General John Skidmore.

Still, the department is supportive of body cameras, Skidmore said.

"There are challenges with the implementation of body cams  there's no question about that," he said. "But from a standpoint of, is more information better? The answer is always yes."

The law department will need to figure out how prosecutors are receiving the footage and how they will be able to redact and share it with criminal defense attorneys.

It's especially challenging, he said, because troopers and Anchorage police, the two biggest law enforcement agencies in the state, are both currently working on plans to implement body cameras. Because the departments are run by the state and the Municipality of Anchorage, respectively, there will likely be different systems and methods involved for dealing with the footage, Skidmore said.

Skidmore said he expects body camera footage could confuse some juries who might expect the cameras to capture an entire incident when they only capture images in front of them, not information or context occurring out of the frame.

He also said he expects the law department, which assists with Department of Public Safety records requests, to start receiving more complex requests requiring them to balance privacy interests with open records statutes.

Privacy is written into Alaska's state constitution. Skidmore said he foresees legal questions about body cameras and access to the footage because officers often enter people's homes or encounter them during their worst moments.

"I'm not going to be excited if law enforcement has to respond to my house for something and now the inside of my house has been captured and is available for a public records request," Skidmore said. "Think about that as a citizen  do you want to have the inside of your home, the layout of your home, all the items in your home, do you want to have all that captured on a video and then placed out there for everyone who wants to get a copy of this recording?"

Policy

A Department of Public Safety committee drafting the state's body camera policy is relying largely on best-practice guidelines from other departments across the country, along with recommendations from the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Cockrell said. The committee is adapting those guidelines to fit Alaska law.

The department plans to release footage of use-of-force or officer-involved shootings without a formal records request, McDaniel said. The committee is still determining details for how that would work, including how quickly the footage would be released.

Cockrell said he wants officers to be able to review footage in use-of-force situations before making statements or undergoing interviews  one of the issues delaying the Anchorage Police Department's rollout of body-worn cameras. The Department of Public Safety policy is not subject to union negotiations, McDaniel said.

"There's a lot of things in an officer-involved shooting  there's a lot of dynamics, there's tunnel vision, there's just a lot of emotional things that happen," Cockrell said. "And, that's why we don't interview somebody right at the spot because your brain is processing a lot of information and you almost have to be set aside to reprocess all of the information."

The draft policy is expected to be released for public comment this winter.
Protests in Cuba: 'The rift between the regime and the people is widening, the circumstances for a total breakdown are in place' Three analysts offer DIARIO DE CUBA their viewpoints on the most recent demonstrations: 'People have learned to stop being mere populations, and are starting to be citizens'.

The most recent protests in Cuba demonstrate a worsening split between the regime and the people in terms of the former?s legitimacy. Three analysts consulted by DIARIO DE CUBA agree on this, in the wake of demonstrations generated by an ongoing crisis that has become ingrained and exacerbated by the collapse of the national electro-energy system and the consequent blackouts.

Political scientist and historian Armando Chaguaceda points out that, although "it is necessary to have real data on the level of support for the Government to have a well-founded opinion," there are signs of a rupture.

"What is evident, in a country that criminalizes dissent, where a new Penal Code has been approved (which supports this criminalization), where there are more than 1,000 people imprisoned for demonstrating, is that there is a high and growing level of rupture on the level of legitimacy."

"Legitimacy is something that has been greatly eroded. You see people admonish officials, they don't believe them, they mock them, knowing the cost of this: repression, which is what has increased the most, " says Chaguaceda.

"Basically, there is a growing level of rupture, of disconnection between the government and a large portion of the people, although that is a diffuse category. Part of the population, whether for ideological reasons, or benefits, continues to support that government, but I think there is a much greater part that denies its legitimacy," he says.

According to Chaguaceda, "the electro-energy crisis itself will not lead to an overthrow of the regime, because that requires other factors, more external pressure, fissures within the (Castroist) elite, more coordination of the protests, but all these elements add up to a crisis, to a model that is exhausted."

He stresses that Cuba is seeing "a repertoire of protests, the banging of pots and pans, the chanting of slogans, and blockades in the streets, typical of popular protest worldwide and in Latin America that (Cubans) are incorporating" and that "are, nevertheless, still peaceful."

The political scientist observes that there "is another important fact: the protests are mostly peaceful, and transversal, combining a large number of demands, from goods and services, to calls for rights and freedom, and a continuation can be detected" of the demonstrations on July 11, 2021.

"The protests have come to stay, because, if even after a particularly repressive year, people are doing this, and not just for immediate circumstances, not just because they have no electricity, I think it's important to understand that they're here to stay. The people have learned to stop being a mere population, and are starting to be citizens," he said.

Cuban dissident Manuel Cuesta Morua, meanwhile, believes that "the rupture is total," and goes on: "the citizens and the government form two parallel universes connected by weak threads based on the redistribution of poverty, and strong ones based on repression."

"There are three levels of rupture from which there is no return: the ideological one, confirmed by the negative numbers in the referendum; the psychological one, in the people's growing loss of fear; and the moral one, which we see clearly in the ongoing social discreditation of the government," he says.

According to Cuesta Morua, "the first fall of the regime has already occurred: its moral collapse".

The analyst believes that the crisis in Cuba "was already normalized" and "the normality of the crisis is now being exacerbated by the collapse of State's options."

"This normality is overturned by the greatest migratory exodus in any period in Cuban history; with the rampant repression of citizens, and no longer just civil society actors; and the emergency requests for aid lodged with the enemy itself (USA), the latter a political recognition of the Cuban economy's structural exhaustion," he explains.

The dissident is not sure, however, whether this energy crisis will, in itself, lead to overthrow of the regime.

"It serves to reveal its incompetence, to delegitimize it further, and worsens society's weariness," but "other political factors are also involved in the fall of regimes that have not yet appeared in Cuba. In addition, the State still has strong instruments, in the form of its political police, civil police, army and ideological bureaucracy," he says.

What Cuesta Morua does believe, like the other two interviewees, is that popular protests will continue to take place.

"Since July 11, the protests haven't stopped. They've been spaced out, and scattered, but they haven't stopped. Even in the face of two powerful deterrents: long prison sentences and the new Penal Code. They have overwhelmed the basic control mechanism of totalitarian regimes: political police, designed to keep organized civic groups in check," he emphasized.

Cuesta Morua: "it is worth noting how their accumulated anger has been transformed into exemplary peaceful protest actions" where "violence has been the exception."

"There is a civic maturity, more intuitive than learned, that impresses me, at least, in a society that, on the other hand, exhibits clear traits of interpersonal violence. The words at the protests are doubly significant: demanding that basic needs be met shows that we have become rational actors who measure and criticize the management of the State and the Government based on their capacity for management and the solutions they provide. At the same time, by demanding freedom and respect for rights, we are behaving like people who are civic and aware of what distinguishes and separates us from the Government. This return of increasingly peaceful social protest is a learning process for the people, a guarantee of a democratic future," he said.

Journalist Boris Gonzalez Arenas is not sure "whether or not it is the moment of definitive rupture," but the rift between the government and the people today "is the greatest after the triumph of Castroism in January 1959."

"At this time the regime is absolutely unable to forge links with the citizenry, and is protected only by its capacity for repression. In the last three years we have endured in Cuba the Communist regime's worst stage, not counting the horrors and theft of the 1960s," he says.

Gonzalez Arenas believes "without a doubt" that "the conditions for a definitive rupture have been created."

"Cuba, at this time, is a nation that does not support its Communist regime. Let's say that there is some nostalgia, some residue in elderly people, in some more than others, but most of those who today can be called Communists or Castroists are nothing more than officials, bureaucrats, people connected to the regime by some type of interest," he says.

He does not think that there has been a normalization of the crisis in Cuba, despite its intensity. Gonzalez Arenas: "what does happen is that, in any environment, any type of crisis, people have to keep on living."

He sees the current electro-energy system crisis as "one more," part of "a period of cyclical disasters where disfunction and the decay of the regime's operation is producing disasters that were absolutely unnecessary." He cited the examples of the recent catastrophes at the Saratoga Hotel, and the fire at the Matanzas fuel depot.

According to the activist, "all the protests are continuations of an exercise in opposition to Cuba's adverse forms of government." Therefore, he considers the current demonstrations aftershocks of those on July 11 and: "the greatest expression of adversity, of the inability of the Cuban regime to satisfy the minimal demands of a people whose consumption capacity has been decimated for six decades."

"There was a social outburst and, as that was not properly addressed, sporadic, frequent and periodic flare-ups are continuing at the national level," he adds.

According to the journalist, "the Cuban people have always known how to protest," but the problem "has been the totalitarian regime's ability to render the protests sporadic and scatter them."

He believes that there is a "greater willingness among citizens to oppose the Communist regime" and also mentions "access to the phenomena that has revolutionized the exercise of democracy worldwide: the Internet, mobile networks and new communication systems."

"So, maybe it's not that Cubans are learning to protest because they always have known how to do that but rather learning to connect, to unite and to forge ties, precisely to throw off this terrible Communist tyranny forever," he concludes.
Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri is offering free vasectomies to uninsured patients in Springfield on Nov. 4 and in Joplin on Nov. 5. Vasectomy appointments will be offered from 9 a.m. to noon and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

To be eligible, patients must complete a pre-screening exam by Nov. 3. They can schedule an appointment by calling 800-230-7526.

After the Supreme Court of the United States overturned Roe v. Wade in June, where Missouri banned abortions, PPSLR saw demand for male sterilization procedures increase.

"Since the Dobbs decision we have seen an increasing number of male-bodied people coming and requesting this service," Dr. Margaret Baum said. "We performed 142 vasectomies in 2021, already this year we've done close to 200 in 2022, and the year's not out yet."

More:Missouri Planned Parenthood announces plans for mobile abortion clinic in southern Illinois

Baum noted that patients from across the state have been traveling to the clinic in St. Louis. In May 2022, she began to provide vasectomies at the Springfield Planned Parenthood health center, in an effort to allow more people who were interested to access the procedure. Baum also performs female sterilization procedures, as well.

"We offer both sterilization for those with female bodies  those with uteruses, cervixes and tubes  and those with male bodies  testes and vas deferens," Baum said. "It's just really important that these services are offered without judgement, without stigma, so that people who are informed about the procedure can make a good decision, and decide if it's the right thing for them, their relationship and their family."

Planned Parenthood's upcoming Rolla Health Center will also eventually offer vasectomies.

Alongside Iowa-based physician Dr. Esgar Guarin, who specializes in non-scalpel/no-needle vasectomy techniques, Planned Parenthood will offer 60 free vasectomy procedures to people in St. Louis, Springfield and Joplin.

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The vasectomies will be performed in Guarin's mobile clinic as well as in the health centers.

"We want this procedure to be accessible for anyone who is asking for it and is an acceptable surgical candidate," Baum said.

While female sterilization is more common, research indicates that vasectomies are safer and cheaper.

"I think it's really important for people to understand that there's a big difference between female sterilization and a vasectomy, in terms of cost, in terms of risk, in terms of operating time, in terms of where it can be done," Baum said. "A vasectomy is a 15 to 20-minute outpatient procedure done under local anesthetic. You can drive yourself there, you can drive yourself home, and two days off of work and you're good to go. The cost out of pocket is around $800.

"A female sterilization, which is a great procedure, has to be done in a hospital setting, under general anesthesia with entry into the abdominal cavity. (It requires) a couple weeks off work, and, certainly, much higher cost in terms of all the hospital and anesthesia and everything," Baum said. "They're both great procedures, but I think it's really exciting to see so much interest in vasectomies."

More:New MSU certificate helps students better understand link between mental health, beliefs

Susan Szuch is the health and public policy reporter for the Springfield News-Leader. Follow her on Twitter @szuchsm. Story idea? Email her at sszuch@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Free vasectomies in Springfield, Joplin for uninsured patients
Students in Bangladesh and India can prepare at home for Australia's top ranking young university[i].

SYDNEY, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- UTS College, the pathway to the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is launching two transnational education (TNE) partnerships in September and October 2022.

Peter Harris, Chief Officer, Partnerships and Growth, UTS College.

GLS (Gujarat Law Society) University in Ahmedabad, India, and Premier University Chattogram (PUC), Bangladesh will offer two popular UTS College courses  the diploma of business and diploma of information technology. This means students can begin their journey to UTS at home. On successful completion of their diplomas, graduates will be eligible to enter the related bachelor program at UTS, often fast-tracking into second year.

Building on 30 years of successful partnerships

UTS College is proud of its position as a leader in both transitional and transnational education. More than 30 years of successful partnerships and students completing its programs in more than 10 countries have built that reputation.

A high degree of care when selecting partners has been the key to the College's long-term success. UTS College has sought partners that share its commitment to providing the best available opportunities for students to develop the knowledge, skills, and confidence to thrive at university and beyond.

International partners now include EIC Academy in Guangzhou China, SILC, in partnership with UTS and Shanghai University China, GEG in Wuxi, China, UIC College in Jakarta, Indonesia, ACET in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam, IEN Institute in Seoul South Korea, and UTS College Sri Lanka  a wholly owned campus in Colombo Sri Lanka.

High-quality curriculum

Students at GLS and PUC can choose first-year university equivalent diploma programs in business or information technology, The high-quality curriculum draws on the depth of experience of UTS College, working in close collaboration with UTS. Students will benefit from an opportunity to develop essential skills and knowledge in their home country as they prepare for international study and career success.

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True partnerships

Mr Peter Harris, Chief Officer Partnerships and Growth at UTS College is excited by the potential of the two new partnerships. He recently stated:

"These partnerships are made possible by the admirable commitment and vision of our partner universities. I want to emphasise that they are true partnerships, combining the best all parties have to offer. They blend the experience of UTS College in transnational education, its expertise in delivering UTS first-year studies  with the quality of the GLS and PUC faculties and facilities. All parties benefit from a mutual exchange of ideas, opportunities, and knowledge."

About UTS and UTS College

The University of Technology Sydney is a dynamic and innovative university, ranked first as Australia's top young university in the 2021 QS Top 50 under 50: reflecting its strength in research, teaching, employability, and internationalisation.

Students often begin their UTS experience with UTS College, the pathway to UTS, which offers academic English language programs, UTS Foundation Studies, diploma programs (undergraduate pathways in business, communications, design & architecture, engineering, IT and science) and pre-master's programs.

For further information, contact: Natasha.Wheeler@utscollege.edu.au Manager, Brand and Communication at UTS College.

[i] https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings-articles/top-50-under-50-next-50-under-50/qs-top-50-under-50-2021

SOURCE UTS College
Ernest Hemingway was famously against his private letters being published. It is my wish that none of the letters written by me during my lifetime shall be published. Accordingly, I hereby request and direct you not to publish, or consent to the publication, of any such letters, he wrote to the executors of his estate in June 1961.

Yet 61 years after his death, five volumes of his letters have been published so far, with another two expected. Georgia OKeeffe was also against her letters being published and still they are out there to be read by all.

In a New Yorker piece in 2013, the novelist and biographer Roxana Robinson suggests that as a writer, little to no privacy can really be expected; and that the only way to prevent ones correspondence from being published is to burn them  as Somerset Maugham did. But what of emails and instant messages, how do you burn those?

A new unauthorised biography of the chef, writer and TV personality Anthony Bourdain, Down and Out in Paradise by journalist Charles Leerhsen is being released, showcasing some of Bourdains last messages and emails alongside some apparently revealing information about his lifestyle. It is supposed to show the complex mindset of Bourdain in his life and his last moments. But is it not too soon to delve into the darkness?

In the middle of the first lockdown in 2020 there was one great comfort which allowed me to hope for the end of the pandemic and look excitedly forward. That comfort was rewatching Bourdains Parts Unknown.

The obvious reason for this was the escapism it afforded me in a world where travel, eating at restaurants and drinking in bars was forbidden. But there was a further reason, Bourdain felt somehow like a friend.

That sounds like sentimental rubbish  and it is, and I cringe as I write the cliche. Yet theres no other way to say it and Im by no means the only person who feels this way. The other day over a pint in Leadenhall market, a friend and I spoke of Bourdain.

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When he died it was a big hit to me, he said, visibly uncomfortable, as if talking of a recently passed relative. Hed always been so open about his mental health and struggles with addiction and that helped me a lot with myself.

Stories to this effect are repeated often when I bring up Bourdain. Another friend of mine, a chef, told me when Bourdain took his own life it was the only time hed ever cried over the death of a celebrity.

This was the magic of Bourdain, he made everyone feel like they knew him, even if they didnt  even if they were never once in the same country as him. Perhaps due to his background as a dishwasher and line cook, he appeared as a relatable everyman; equally comfortable sat joking with refugees over some street food, or in Vietnam, having a beer with President Obama.

My favourite episode of Parts Unknown is when he goes to Granada in Spain. To me, this episode encapsulates the show and the man perfectly. In the episode, Bourdain brings his long-time cinematographer and friend Zach Zamboni into the picture. Zamboni had moved to Granada to be with his Andalusian partner, a dream Bourdain admits hed always had  of leaving America behind for Old Europe.

We watch as Bourdain, Zach and his partner scamper through bustling streets between tapas bars, ordering beers, eating chorizo and langoustines and laughing and chatting. Bourdain appears genuinely happy as he admits he envies his friend.

In the same episode, Bourdain also explores bullfighting. He says hed be happy to see it abolished tomorrow, but that one needs to peek at it, even between clasped fingers when visiting parts of Spain. This is another element of Bourdain which shows why he was so well-loved, and it is a skill often lacking these days. Bourdain has his own opinion on bullfighting, yet would break bread with those who consider it an art. He was eternally curious and rarely judgmental. He always seemed to speak his mind openly, but he was also willing to listen.

But the best scenes for me are when Bourdain attends family meals. In Granada, he sits down with Zach and his partner and her parents and siblings at their home. They drink wine and beer and laugh and eat around the table and in a voiceover, Bourdain says: When my time comes, I pretty much want to die at a table like this.

Anthony Bourdain took his own life four years ago on 8 June 2018. He was always open about how he struggled with his mental health. When he was younger, he had been a heroin addict. He beat that by going cold turkey. He says in one episode that he looked in the mirror and saw someone worth saving. But his personality appears always to have been obsessive. If it wasnt heroin, it was ju-jitsu, or the show itself, or at the end with his partner, the actor and filmmaker, Asia Argento.

Bourdain is so widely loved, it is no wonder that a book like this was written so quickly after his death. But not only have some of his friends and family shared anger over it, very few of whom seem to have been involved  with Bourdains brother calling it hurtful and defamatory fiction. However, in an email sent last week to The Times, Leerhsen said other Bourdain family and friends with advance copies have confirmed that my take on the Bourdain family dynamic is accurate.

There is also a question of whether we need to delve into Bourdains most private moments at all. Didnt he already give us enough vulnerability? Should we not remember him for the joy he brought, the things he created, and the person he was?

Is there ever a right amount of time to read an artists private correspondence?

We can probably never know whether Bourdain would want his correspondence published or not. But Robinson writes that there are a handful of reasons an artist would want to prevent the study of their private letters, but one is the effect it can have on those still alive.

By taking Bourdains last messages with Asia Argento, which the New York Times reports are used at the beginning of the book, and wont be repeated here, do we cast blame on Argento?

In 2021s Roadrunner documentary about Bourdain  which was controversial in its own right  the tumultuous relationship between he and Argento is covered in some detail. It shows the effect it had on Bourdain and the sometimes-negative effects on Parts Unknown and its crew. It seemed an intense relationship by most accounts but as Michael Steed a director of Parts Unknown says: Tony killed himself, Tony did it. Perhaps we need to be cautious when throwing blame around.

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Argento is very much alive, we do not need to delve into their private relationship now. He was already so open with readers and viewers, and there are already so many books and documentaries about him just four years after he passed, I wonder at what point is it purely invasive?

One day in the future, time may weaken these arguments. People will want to know about Bourdains last moments, warts and all. We will want to know deeply about this complex man who created such wonderful things, who brought so much joy, who could ask the president of the United States how often he gets to sneak out for a beer, and then in another episode slaughter a pig in Borneo with a local indigenous group or hang out with AA Gill or Nigella Lawson or the leader of the Russian opposition.

Until that day comes, I wont be reading this book. For now, I choose to remember Bourdain sitting at a tiny plastic table in Vietnam with a bowl of noodles and a beer with a contented smile on his face.
On Sunday 9 October, climate protesters from Extinction Rebellion glued themselves to the glass covering Picassos Massacre in Korea at the NGV.

Extinction Rebellion Victoria/Twitter

Activists across the globe are gluing themselves to some of the world's most precious pieces of art to raise awareness for one of the most pressing issues facing humanity: climate change.

The most recent protest took place Sunday at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, where two activists from international group Extinction Rebellion glued their hands to the perspex covering Pablo Picasso's "Massacre en Coree" (Massacre in Korea), according to Buzzfeed News.

Additionally, they laid out a banner that read: "Climate Chaos = War and Famine." The statement "highlighted the connection between climate breakdown & human suffering," according to a series of tweets from the organization.

The protesters were ultimately arrested, according to The Guardian, which also reported they were released without charges. A spokesperson for the group told the newspaper that the painting was not damaged in the process.

RELATED: UN Climate Chief Urges Leaders 'Not to Lose Focus' on Climate Change During 'Challenging Times'

On Sunday 9 October, climate protesters from Extinction Rebellion glued themselves to the glass covering Picassos Massacre in Korea at the NGV. pic.twitter.com/GXQqFVG5N2  XRVicAus (@XRVicAus) October 9, 2022

Homewood said the group's intention was "always to glue on to the perspex protecting" the artwork, not the art itself.

The spokesperson went on to tell The Guardian that a conservator used acetone to dissolve the glue.

Never miss a story  sign up for PEOPLE's free weekly newsletter to get the biggest news of the week delivered to your inbox every Friday.

Sunday's protest is the latest in a string of similar actions in which climate protesters have glued themselves to artwork hoping to bring attention to the seriousness of climate change.

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Among the groups taking part are Ultima Generazione and Just Stop Oil, reported BuzzFeed News.

"Many criticize our actions because 'we should leave museums in peace,' " Ultima Generazione wrote on social media in July alongside a video of a recent protest. "Maybe they don't understand that the inconvenience we created is nothing compared to 1 billion climate migrants and to the many deaths that the climate crisis is causing already."

The group then shared an article from The Guardian detailing a report that suggests 1.2 billion people could be displaced by the climate crisis by 2050.

RELATED: Climate Change Protesters Close Down Main Square in Paris, Climb onto Oil Tanker in London

Both Just Stop Oil and Ultima Generazione have received financial support from the Climate Emergency Fund, a California-based fund started in 2019, according to the Observer. (Extinction Rebellion serves as a coalition partner to the organization, according to its website.)

"These protests are so awesome," Climate Emergency Fund executive director Margaret Klein Salamon. told the outlet. "People come to this museum to look at this painting, but we need them to look at the reality of the climate emergency instead."

Salaman went on to state that the funding only goes towards legal activity, not "high-stakes civil disobedience," per the outlet.

According to its website, the Climate Emergency Fund is currently promoting "sustained" and "disruptive protest" in 11 different countries worldwide during what it calls an "October Rising."
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Jasper Kenzo Sundeens reporting for the Yakima Herald-Republic is possible with support from Report for America and community members through the Yakima Valley Community Fund . For information on republishing, email news@yakimaherald.com.
Jasper Kenzo Sundeen's reporting for the Yakima Herald-Republic is possible with support from Report for America and community members through the Yakima Valley Community Fund. For information on republishing, email news@yakimaherald.com.
A wooden fist sculpture was erected on Bobby Morris Playfield in the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone in 2020. (Alan Berner / The Seattle Times)
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The European Union's sanctions policy against Russia is "primitive in execution and catastrophic in effect", Viktor Orban said in Berlin during his recent visit.

At a podium discussion, the prime minister said an appropriate sanctions policy would have stopped energy prices from skyrocketing and European economies would not be facing ruin.



The EUs sanctions policy ignores European values while ruining the German and Hungarian economies, he said.



It also helps Moscow to as much gains in energy revenues in six months as it used to earn in a year, he added.



Orban stressed that he did not oppose sanctions per se but the way they were implemented. Sanctions should be imposed intelligently, Orban said.



In the EUs case, a dwarf is imposing sanctions on a giant  and the dwarf will perish in the effort, he said, calling for a review of EU sanctions and energy supply reform so the EU achieves independence rather than merely switching masters by pivoting from dependence on Russia to dependence on the US.



This may be more convenient politically because Americans, unlike Russians, are democrats, but it would not be good because Europe, as customer, should have four or five offers on the table to choose from.



I Will Use My Veto



Had sanctions been done right, energy prices would not be soaring, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in Berlin, adding: Sanctions could have been launched in such a way that we shant destroy ourselves energy-wise, but the commission has failed to do so.



So when it comes to sanctions Im must say I have a problem and  unless you come and help I will use my veto  you cannot kick Hungarians aside and into a corner, Orban said.



Concerning energy imports from Russia, Orban said it was uncertain whether Moscow would resume supplies, especially when certain groups are launching terrorist attacks and blowing up pipelines and they could not deliver even if they wanted to.



We are very concerned that the same could happen to the last remaining high-volume pipeline, the South Stream, he said.



Russian gas or oil in themselves are not bad; the problem is that there is nothing else and we are vulnerable.



The question is not whether the Russians can supply us but how many potential suppliers we have and if there is competition between energy suppliers, Orban said.
Japan's Nissan Motor Company takes the losses as it has decided to sell its Russian operations with an option to buy it back within six years. Nissan had suspended its Russian operations following Russian military operations in Ukraine and the sanctions imposed by the West. The company stated it will take a one-off impact of approximately 100 billion yen from this exit. According to Nissan, its Executive Committee approved the sale of its Russian operations to NAMI, the Central Research and Development Automobile and Engine Institute. The sale will transfer all Nissan operations in Russia under the Nissan Manufacturing Russia LLC (NMGR) legal entity to NAMI for future passenger vehicle projects, Nissan stated.

This covers Nissans manufacturing and R&D facilities in St Petersburg, and the Sales and Marketing centre in Moscow, which will operate under a new name. The terms of the sale would allow Nissan the option to buy back the entity and its operations within the next six years. Under the new ownership of the NMGR entity, all of Nissan`s employees in the market will receive employment protection for 12 months.

The sale is expected to be formalised in the coming weeks following approvals from the relevant authorities. Nissan said it maintains its full-year guidance and details will be reported after further assessment as part of the regular disclosure during the second quarter results in November 2022.

Also read: Ladakh gets its FIRST-EVER solar-powered EV charging station, 10 Hyundai Kona EVs delivered to authorities

Meanwhile, French auto major Renault which holds a sizable stake in Nissan said the latters exit from Russia will have a negative contribution to Renault Groups net income estimated at 331 million euros for the second half of 2022 (before IFRS adjustments). This transaction will not impact Renault Groups operating margin, free-cash-flow and financial outlook, Renault added.

"On behalf of Nissan, I thank our Russian colleagues for their contribution to the business over many years. While we cannot continue operating in the market, we have found the best possible solution to support our people," said Nissan President and CEO Makoto Uchida.

Since Nissan assumed zero activity in the market in this fiscal year, Nissan remains on track to achieve its business objectives under the Nissan NEXT transformation plan, as the company progresses towards its Ambition 2030 goals.

(With inputs from IANS)
Delhi Airport is seeing long lines of immigration clearance as the long lines at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport result from the abrupt opening of international borders with several nations, including Malaysia, Thailand, Bhutan, and Vietnam (IGIA). The Covid-19 pandemic continues to have one of the greatest impacts on the tourism industry, particularly in the Asia Pacific region. The governments of the different nations have taken steps to ease business and economic conditions. After a lapse of nearly two years, a number of nations, including Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Bhutan, and the Middle East's United Arab Emirates, have reopened their borders to travellers.

"The passengers from Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia, especially tourists, are the most travelling at the moment. Many airline companies have announced their discounted airfares these days," an airport official told ANI.

The rush hour for international travellers witnessed huge crowds on Tuesday midnight, with arriving passengers waiting in long queues to clear their immigration at the Delhi airport. "There was a huge crowd at the Delhi airport on Monday night where people queued up for more than half an hour for immigration clearance," a UK passenger told ANI.

Also read: IndiGo launches direct flights between Mumbai-Istanbul to strengthen international connectivity

Recently, several airline companies have announced discounted airfares to attract tourists after a long gap of a year. In a recent announcement, Vietnamese-based airline VietJet inaugurated two new routes between Ahmedabad and Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, after easing Covid regulations and opening borders.

"VietJet is making it easier and affordable for Indians and how travellers from Ahmedabad to visit Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, and Ho Chi Minh City, an economic icon. Prices starting from 23000 INR round trip," the airline company said in a statement.

Due to visa delays, a Delhi-based tour and travel companies are also selling their short-haul destinations instead of Europe and other western countries. "For two years, people were not able to go out due to Covid; now the market is open, so the visa is not available to go to Europe quickly, so people go to places like short-haul destinations... Vietnam, Malaysia, Bhutan, UAE, and alike. At present, we have demand from short-haul countries only," Manoj Matta, head of oriental vacation, told ANI.

In March this year, India`s the Ministry of Civil Aviation has resumed 100 percent full service for international passengers flying. India`s Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had said, "All regular international flights will operate at 100 percent capacity as the COVID situation in India has now improved."

Besides, this company got fed up with virtual meetings and hence had started venturing out for their off-sites, be it dealer-incentive tours or conferences or launch events, etc. Another factor contributing to this is the students travelling abroad. "Owing to visa issues, currently, we have demand for short-haul countries only," Manoj Matta, head of Oriental Vacations and Journeys, told ANI.

Passengers from India, as well as foreigners, filed complaints about immigration chaos and mismanagement strategies at the Delhi airport through social media. Last year, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has taken cognizance of the mismanagement of the crowd at IGI, resulting in a chaotic situation. Jyotiraditya Scindia convened a high-level meeting with officials from IGI Airport (DIAL), the Airports Authority of India (AAI), and the Immigration and Covid-19 Testing Lab Company attending the meeting.

(With inputs from ANI)
The instances of misbehaviour with a flight's cabin crew are on the rise and are gaining a lot of attention on the internet. In the most recent incident, a passenger travelling with United was arrested for assaulting two crew members and disrupting the flight. The incident reportedly took place on a flight from Miami to Washington D.C. The passenger involved in the incident has said that he was under the influence of a magic mushroom, a psychedelic drug, during the whole incident, based on an affidavit by USAToday. The passenger involved in the incident has been identified as Cherruy Loghan Sevilla.

In the first hour of the two and half hour flight, the passenger began his activities starting by grabbing the arms of the passengers in his vicinity. Later on, instead of calming down, he started acting up and running back and forth on the plane's aisle, clapping near the cockpit and yelling in foul language. While doing all of this, he broke the bathroom and opened it from the outside while another passenger was using the facility.

Taking action after this behaviour, the cabin crew shifted Sevilla to the back seat while he still continued to yell profanities. However, while the crew members attempted to put him in his seat, he assaulted them. To prevent any further actions from him, the crew members and passengers handcuffed him to keep him under control. But, continuing his actions, Sevilla kept shouting during the flight and, consequently, was arrested on arrival.

Also read: Chinese electric FLYING car makes debut in Dubai, can travel at speed of 130kmph: Watch video

Sevilla was detained by the FBI and questioned about his behaviour; in response, he admitted to using psilocybin, also known as magic mushrooms. He had taken them before the journey, so he wasn't surprised by his behaviour while on the flight, even if afterward he expressed regret for them. The FBI charged him for interfering with crew members after the United Airlines flight incident.
New Delhi: The multilingual Marathi film 'Har Har Mahadev' has successfully generated hype among viewers thanks to its teasers. The movie's trailer has finally been made public by the creators, and it has gained popularity ever since.

The cast and crew of 'Har Har Mahadev' attended the official trailer premiere event on Tuesday in Mumbai, where the trailer was unveiled. In less than 24 hours after its release, the trailer generated over 5 million views across all social media platforms, setting off an internet storm.

Here is the trailer of the movie:

The audience will see Sharad Kelkar playing the character of Bajiprabhu Deshpande and the trailer perfectly encapsulates the power-packed performance by the cast and gives a glimpse of the inspirational story of a real battle which was led by Bajiprabhu Deshpande, in our history where only 300 soldiers fought off the 12000 enemy army and won, albeit paying for the victory with their lives.

Produced by ZEE Studios, Shri Ganesh Marketing and Films, and Directed by Abhijeet Deshpande. The film stars Subodh Bhave, Sharad Kelkar, Sayli Sanjeev, and Amruta Khanvilkar in the leads. The film is all set to hit the theatres on 25th October 2022.
Happy Karwa Chauth 2022 today: The much-awaited festival of Karwa Chauth will be celebrated this year on October 13. It is also known as Karak Chaturthi in various parts of the country. On this special day, wives pray for their husband's long life and prosperity. According to the Hindu lunisolar calendar month of Kartik, the special day falls on the fourth day after the full moon.

Karva Chauth vrat or Karwa Chauth fast is observed by wives for the happy and prosperous long life of their husbands. It is mainly celebrated in parts of North India, especially Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, parts of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh as well. Also, unmarried girls keep the fast in hope of getting a groom of their own choice or even for their fiances.

So, on this day you can soak in the festivity by sending these best Karwa Chauth WhatsApp, text and Facebook messages to your loved ones:

Here's wishing you a happy Karva Chauth

May there be light in your life just like the beautiful Karva Chauth Moon

Let this day bring happiness to your lives and help you build a strong love bond with your hubby!

Karva Chauth festival is full of colours, love and light, hope your loved ones are blessed on this day

Celebrate the essence of love this Karva Chauth my dear

Let's wait for the moon like none is watching and together pledge to stay like this forever. Love you loads

My dear wife, I can't express my gratitude enough and the amount of love I feel for you. I promise to make this and every Karva Chauth special for you. Love Hubby!

Today is Karva Chauth, hope it brings happiness and longevity for everyone.

It's time for applying henna, wearing colourful bangles and getting dressed up. The moon will keep us waiting but nonetheless our love shall conquer all.

A very happy Karva Chauth to all, let there be love forever.

Happy Karwa Chauth to all!
New Delhi: Farmers may hear some good news ahead of PM KISAN 12th installment disbursal. As per media reports the government is likely to take a BIG decision regarding MSP of Rabi crops today.



CCEA decision on MSP of Rabi crops

As per media repots, the government might take a big decision regarding the MSP of Rabi crops in the meeting of the Union Cabinet and CCEA today. Reports further claim that the government may announce a hike in the MSP of Rabi crops up to 9 percent. Earlier in August, the Union Cabinet had increased the purchase limit of tur, urad and masoor dal to 40 percent under the Price Support Scheme (PSS) from the previous limit of 25 percent. (Also read: Veeram Securities Ltd announces revised record date for bonus share issue in 1:2 ratio)

PM KISAN 12th installment disbursal

Reports are doing the rounds in the media that Prime Minister Narendra Modi might transfer the much awaited 12th installment of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) to farmers' account before Diwali. The beneficiaries of PM-KISAN scheme, who have eagerly been waiting for the PM Kisan 12th installment money might hear the great news on October 17. (Also read: Indian economy's growth momentum will be sustained in next budget: FM Nirmala Sitharaman)

As per latest media reports, the Modi government might transfer the PM Kisan 12th installment of Rs 2,000 in the bank accounts of eligible farmers during the inauuration of the two day summit of Agri Startup Conclave & Kisan Sammelan being organised by the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare.While, some media reports had previously reported that the government might credit Rs 2000 in beneficiary farmers accounts on October 2 (Gandhi Jayanti).These are however just initial reports, while the government has not officially confirmed anything regarding the transfer of Rs 2,000 to beneficiary accounts of PM-KISAN scheme.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi released 11th instalment of financial benefit under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme on May 31. PM Modi transferred an amount of around Rs 21,000 crore to more than 10 crore beneficiary farmer families.

The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Scheme was launched by PM Modi in 2019. The Scheme aims to provide income support to all landholder farmer families across the country with cultivable land, subject to certain exclusions.
New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said that Singapore and UAE have shown interest to accept the RuPay payment system acceptable in their countries. Sitharaman also said that India is holding consultations with different countries to make RuPay acceptable in their nations.

"We are talking to different countries. Singapore and UAE have all come forward now to make Rupay acceptable in their countries," Sitharaman said at the Brookings Institute think-tank during a fireside conversation with eminent economist Eshwar Prasad.

"Not just that, the UPI, the BHIM app, and NCPI are all now being worked in such a way that their systems in their respective country, however, robust or otherwise can talk to our system and the inter-operability itself will give strength for Indians expertise in those countries," she said.

Meanwhile, amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, Sitharaman asked developed nations to take responsibility for the global spillover caused by policy decisions taken by them. The minister said in her written remarks hit out at the developed countries for imposing sanctions on nations who are merely fulfilling their moral and democratic obligations to their people.

"International cooperation is needed more than ever to state the obvious. In the near-term, advanced nations must take responsibility for the global spillover of their political and economic policy decisions and put in place safety nets rather than impose sanctions on nations who are merely fulfilling their moral and democratic obligations for their people."

These comments come as India continues to be the fastest-growing major economy in the world. In its July 2022 report, the IMF had pegged India`s GDP growth for 2022 at 7.4 per cent. The IMF`s latest projection on India`s GDP growth is lower than the 7 per cent growth pegged by the Reserve Bank of India for the financial year 2022-23.

However, despite the slowdown, India would remain the fastest-growing major economy. As India prepares to accept the Presidency of the G-20 grouping of nations, Sitharaman said "India is ready to do whatever it can to facilitate dialogue, discussions and decisions on these critical issues."During her address, she pointed out several factors that underpin India`s growth story, including digitisation and financial inclusion, strengthening the MSME and improvement in the quality of government spending with an emphasis on capital expenditure and targeted social security support for the needy.

Explaining India`s growth story, the finance minister said, "India as a developing nation has always stood ahead for the growth of the global commons."India`s commitment to multilateralism is evident by the initiatives we have taken to supply vaccines to over 100 nations, provide disaster relief to those in distress, and partner with other countries, with a focus on green growth, better connectivity, digital delivery and accessible health," she added.

Sitharaman is on an official visit to the US. During her visit, she will be attending the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governor Meetings. The Finance Minister will take part in bilateral meetings with several countries, including Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Bhutan, New Zealand, Egypt, Germany, Mauritius, UAE, Iran and Netherlands.

The Finance Minister will also hold one-on-one meetings with leaders & heads of OECD, the European Commission and UNDP. Nirmala Sitharaman will meet US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and David Malpass, President of, the World Bank separately to discuss issues of mutual interest.

During the later part of the visit, the Union Finance Minister will attend roundtable meetings with USIBC and USISPF on themes to `Strengthen Investment and Innovation in India-US Corridor` and "Investing in India`s Digital Revolution".

These meetings with leading business leaders and investors are aimed at highlighting India`s policy priorities and deliberating on measures to facilitate foreign investment by showcasing India`s attractiveness as an investment destination
New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in Washington DC on Tuesday and discussed the global macroeconomic situation and various issues of significance with a view towards India`s upcoming G20 Presidency."Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met US Treasury Secretary Ms Janet Yellen SecYellen at the US Treasury, in Washington DC, today.

The two leaders discussed the current global Macroeconomic situation among other issues of mutual interest," the Finance Ministry tweeted."FM Smt. N sitharaman invited Ms SecYellen to India in November to attend the U.S-India Economic and Financial Partnership meeting. This will be Secretary Janet Yellen`s first visit to India as Treasury Secretary," the ministry added.

In her opening remarks, Yellen said she will take her first trip to India as Treasury Secretary to attend the US-India Economic and Financial Partnership."I am glad to announce today that in November ahead of the G20 meetings, I will take my first trip to India as Treasury Secretary, to attend the U.S-India Economic and Financial Partnership, our ninth Partnership meeting," she said.

Underlining the importance of the US-India economic ties, the US Treasury Secretary said the relationship between the two countries demonstrates to the world that democracies deliver."It illustrates the close bonds between our two countries, from the Quad partnership to our strong bilateral economic relationship, and the cultural ties from the Indian diaspora in the US," Yellen said.

Sitharaman is on an official visit to the United States. During her visit, she will be attending the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governor (FMCBG) Meetings. Besides her meeting with Yellen, the finance minister will also participate in bilateral meetings with several countries, including Japan, South Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Australia, New Zealand and Germany.

Before meeting Yellen, Sitharaman interacted with leading scholars of a Washington-based think tank on various issues relating to the global economy and development. She spoke on "India`s Economic Prospects and Role in the World Economy."This high-level visit to the US and a series of meeting with ministers of top economies of the world come ahead of India`s G20 presidency next year.

During her interaction with the Washington-based think tank, Sitharaman noted the unique role that the G20 grouping plays on the world stage. "G20 has a great potential to work towards global good and global when I say public good, will also have to be made far more strengthened," the minister said.

She said there are some of the areas in which India wants the G20 to work together. "We love to work together with them and get some good outcomes," she added.
The Indian Army is prepared to provide a few units in peace stations with electric vehicles (EV), including buses, motorbikes, and light vehicles sequentially. according to the Indian army officials. According to officials, a selection of units will switch to EVs with a sufficient charging infrastructure for about 25% of their light vehicles, 38% of their buses, and 48% of their motorbikes.

"Around 25% of light vehicles, 38% of buses, and 48% of motorcycles of select units will be changed to EVs with adequate charging infrastructure. Keeping in view the necessity and employability of EVs over various terrains, Army will equip a few units in peace stations with EVs sequentially", said the Army officials.

Around 25% light vehicles, 38% buses&48% motorcycles of select units will be changed to EVs with adequate charging infrastructure. Keeping in view necessit &employability of EVs over various terrains,Army will equip few units in peace stations with EVs sequentially:Army officials pic.twitter.com/Vp8F0deiOi October 12, 2022

Moreover, the army will also develop the EV infrastructure to support the ecosystem and EV charging stations will be built. Reports suggest that a combination of fast and slow chargers will be developed to contribute to infrastructural development. Furthermore, the move is expected to have environmental benefits and is in sync with the government's aim to increase vehicles with clean fuel in the country. Reports suggest that the army also has plans of setting up solar-powered EV charging stations.

Also read: BYD Atto 3 electric SUV makes debut in India: All you need to Know - Range, Price, Specs & more

The BJP-led government has been putting emphasis on clean fuels. Heavy Industries Minister Mahendra Nath Pandey earlier said that the Centre is providing a 40 percent subsidy for electric buses to states, and the government has identified 22,000 petrol pumps across the country to install charging facilities for electric vehicles (EVs).

Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel earlier said that the auto sector will greatly benefit from Industrial Revolution 4.0. He added that the production and promotion of EVs will help in reducing carbon footprint.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was given a demonstration of the available EVs in April thanks to an event organised by the Indian Army. EV producers like Tata Motors, Perfect Metal Industries (PMI), and Revolt Motors displayed their vehicles and provided updates on technological advancements.

(With inputs from ANI)
Amazon Great Indian Festival is now LIVE with over 2000 new launches Great Deals, and Savings, New Launches from Top Brands

Gaming & Business laptops, headphones, speakers, camera accessories, security & surveillance, and video equipment most popular purchases in Andhra Pradesh on Amazon.in

Amazon.in sees double-digit growth YOY of customers upgrading their electronic devices this festive season

Visakhapatnam: Amazon India today announced Visakhapatnam as one of the top-performing cities when it comes to the demand for high-end gaming and business laptops, audio products and cameras, among others during The Amazon Great Indian Festival 2022 (AGIF). Amazon GIF 2022, commenced on September 23 and brings a host of attractive deals on the widest selection of products from leading brands across categories like smartphones, appliances, TVs, consumer electronics, fashion & beauty, Amazon Devices, home & kitchen, groceries, and more. Check out all the deals here.

Akshay Ahuja, Director, Amazon India - Consumer Electronics, Personal Computing & Large Appliances said, We continue to receive great traction from customers in Andhra Pradesh and would like to thank them for the overwhelming response. Customers from the region have been shopping for technology products including laptops, cameras, and audio equipment. We will sustain the momentum during the Great Indian Festival and help sellers, brands and customers find celebrations as we head into the heart of the festive period.

This year, Amazon.in has observed new trends across regions and is expecting a positive response from customers. Here are some consumer trends observed in the state of Andhra Pradesh

-Customers are preferring shopping for premium technology products like Laptops, Tablets, Wearables, Truly Wireless earphones, wired & wireless speakers, Bluetooth speakers & Soundbars on Amazon.in in Visakhapatnam

-Mid-segment smartphones (10-20k) were preferred by smartphone buyers & 5G smartphones saw a strong uptake alongside customers showing a preference for mid-tier to premium smartphones. Apple, Redmi, Samsung, OnePlus, Realme and iQOO are preferred brands when buying smartphones.

- Brands preferred by Andhra Pradesh consumers include Apple, HP, Lenovo, Dell, MSI, Acer, ASUS, Xiaomi, and Honor for laptops. Whereas audiophiles shopped from brands such BoAt, Sony, Zebronics and Boult audio.

During the Great Indian Festival, Customers can enjoy never-seen-before deals on a wide selection of products from lakhs of Small Medium Businesses (SMBs) and local stores. AGIF 2022 will also showcase products from Amazon sellers under various other programs such as Amazon Launchpad, Amazon Saheli, and Amazon Karigar, as well as top Indian and global brands across categories.

Customers can directly interact with experts who showcase products, unveil top deals, answer customer questions in real time and offer limited-time deals as a part of an initiative called Amazon Live. We are looking to work with more than 150 influencers to generate 600 live streams to help customers make informed purchase decisions. We also have live streams where customers can avail LIVE-only discounts.

Customers shopping during Amazon Great Indian Festival can save more with a 10% Instant Discount on Citibank, RBL, OneCard and Rupay credit & debit Cards, along with convenient EMI options. They can also benefit from with no-Cost EMI available on leading credit & debit cards, Bajaj Finserv and Amazon Pay Later. Customers can also enjoy festive offers including up to Rs.1000 back on the purchase of Digital Gold and up to 10% cash back on the purchase of Amazon Pay Gift Cards. Additionally, to make festive shopping easy and more rewarding, customers who apply for the Amazon Pay ICICI Bank credit card can enjoy rewards up to INR 2,500 as a welcome offer*, and customers opting for Amazon Pay Later (for the first time) will get rewards up to INR 600 and up to INR 60,000 instant credit (basis eligibility).

(Disclaimer: Above mentioned article is a Consumer connect initiative. This article does not have journalistic/editorial involvement of IDPL, and IDPL claims no responsibility for this article.)
Bhopal: All India Congress Committee Presidential candidate Mallikarjun Kharge reached Madhya Pradesh's capital Bhopal on Wednesday to appeal to the Congress leaders to vote in his favour. When media persons asked Kharge who would be the face of the Prime Minister's post from Congress in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the veteran Congress leader said. "There is a saying 'Bakrid mein bachenge toh Muharram mein nachenge'. First, let these elections get over and let me become president, then we'll see."

The election of the President of the All India Congress Committee will be held on October 17. Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor and Rajya Sabha MP Mallikarjun Kharge are contesting for the top post. Both the leaders are currently going to the states and appealing to the Congress leaders to vote in their favour to ensure their victory.

Earlier on Tuesday, Mallikarjun Kharge dismissed rumours that he is recieving the support of the Gandhi family in the ongoing partys presidential election. Kharge made it clear that his name was not suggested by the party supremo Sonia Gandhi and dismissed the speculations of receiving any support from the party`s interim president or her family members.

Also Read: Mallikarjun Kharge: A true Gandhi family loyalist and experienced administrator

The octogenarian leader went on to say, "Someone has spread this rumour to defame the Congress party, Sonia Gandhi and me. She has clearly stated that she will not participate in the party elections nor will she come in support of any candidate."

#WATCH| Bhopal, MP | There is a saying "Bakrid mein bachenge toh Muharram mein nachenge". First, let these elections get over and let me become president, then we'll see: Congress presidential candidate Mallikarjun Kharge when asked who would be the PM's face, Rahul Gandhi or he. pic.twitter.com/wvtCPqDlIH  ANI (@ANI) October 12, 2022

Earlier on Sunday, Kharge had said that he is fighting the Congress Presidential polls because the condition in the country is very "bad" and he wants to "fight" them. "I want to fight because the condition in the country is bad. PM Modi and Amit Shah are doing politics where there is no place for Democracy. Agencies like CBI and ED are weakening. To fight them I need to have power. That is why, on the recommendation of delegations, I am fighting the polls," Kharge said.
Jammu and Kashmir: The Election Commission`s decision on the latest order for the registration of new voters has created a new controversy and has intensified the politics in Jammu and Kashmir. The Deputy Commissioner of Jammu and Kashmir Avny Lavasa issued an order stating that those residing in the district for over a year would be eligible for voting. People`s Democratic Party, National Conference and other non-BJP parties have called this decision a blow to the identity and culture of Jammu and Kashmir.

PDP President Mehbooba Mufti slammed the central government and said that it has started work on the project to make Jammu and Kashmir its colony.

"ECI`s latest order for registration of new voters makes it clear that GOIs colonial settler project has been initiated in Jammu. They will bear the first blow to Dogra culture, identity, employment & business. BJPs attempts to create religious & regional divisions between Jammu & Kashmir must be thwarted because whether its a Kashmiri or a Dogra, safeguarding our identity & rights will be possible only if we put up a collective fight", Mehbooba Mufti tweeted.

Meanwhile, BJP state President Ravindra Raina hit out at Congress and PDP saying that they have been conspiring against the constitutional value in Jammu and Kashmir.

"This is not a new thing, this is the law of the country which came in 1950 and The People`s Representation Act 1951 which has come into force in Jammu and Kashmir after the removal of Article 370", the BJP President added.

He further stated that the process which is going on for the voters in Kashmir is correct and according to the constitution. The Constitution of India says that any person who has lived in that place for a long time, his name has every right to be included in the voter list.

According to the People`s Representation Act 1951, any person can add his name to the place where he has been residing for a long time after removing his name from the electoral roll.

Earlier, due to Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, the Representation of People Act was not applicable, which is why such a provision in the voter list was not implemented in Jammu and Kashmir, after the abolition of Article 370, the same law will be applicable in Kashmir as the country.
Jammu: People's democratic party president Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday accused the central government of orchestrating demographic change in Jammu and Kashmir. Mufti said "The article 370 has been removed from J&K to pave way for these kinds of things and their 'BJP' main goal is to change the demography of Jammu and Kashmir. The 'BJP' is afraid of elections because they know the people of Kashmir and Jammu have understood their intentions and they will lose badly that's why now they resort to add the non-local voters," said Mufti. She further added that "with the opening of land, jobs and now votes for non-locals the traditional culture of Kashmiris and Dogras will be ruined, and nothing will be left for them in Jammu and Kashmir."

Mufti said, "BJPs attempts to create religious & regional divisions between Jammu & Kashmir must be thwarted because whether it's a Kashmiri or a Dogra, safeguarding our identity & rights will be possible only if we put up a collective fight.

Also Read: Jailed Kashmiri separatist leaders being treated badly, alleges Mehbooba Mufti

Main Regional Political parties of Jammu and Kashmir including National Conference and PDP and DAP have raised a red flag against the Deputy Commissioners order and strongly reacted to the order they said authorities move to register those who have lived in Jammu for only a year to be registered as new voters after following friendly" procedures is objectionable and it will ruin the demography as well as the culture of Jammu Kashmir.

BJPs attempts to create religious & regional divisions between Jammu & Kashmir must be thwarted because whether its a Kashmiri or a Dogra, safeguarding our identity & rights will be possible only if we put up a collective fight.  Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) October 12, 2022

Deputy commissioner Jammu Avny Lavasa, on Tuesday, issued a circular authorising tehsildar to issue certificates of residence to those living in Jammu for more than one year, paving the way for their entry into the electoral rolls.

The voter lists in Jammu and Kashmir are being revised and new potential voters are being added and those who are not alive are being deleted. Home Minister, Amit Shah had said in Baramulla North Kashmir during a rally, the polls will take place once the summary revision of the voter list is over.

National conference too said that they ( BJP) wants back door entries in the voter list and thats why these types of orders are being issued but people should understand the game and should come out and vote to defeat them The Government is going ahead with its plan to add 25 lakh non-local voters in J&K and we continue to oppose this move, Said National Conference spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar. He said BJP fears the elections & knows it will lose badly.

He said, "National Conference is fighting it legally too and we have challenged the reorganisation of Jammu Kashmir and having full faith in the Judiciary we hope soon the decision of the Supreme Court will come in our favour and all those orders will automatically go in vain".

The newly formatted political party DAP ( Democratic Azad Party ) was made by veteran congress leader Gulam Nabi Azad after leaving congress to oppose the order Azad said  Making non-resident a voter we were always against that, and we will remain against that this was what 370 had given us special and it will ruin our social setup

Reacting to the directive issued by DC Jammu to facilitate registration of non-locals as electors, the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Conference said that the order is highly suspicious and the onus of proving our suspicions wrong yet again lies on the ECI and the J&K administration.

Peoples Conference urged the Election Commission of India as well as the J&K Administration to come clean on the matter and clarify if DC Jammu has been authorized to issue such a directive and if so, under what law, rule, or norm.

However, the Apni party didnt openly oppose the order but said that we will see if someone was illegally inducted, we will oppose that and if the criteria for induction of new voters is not according to the rules of the Election Commission of India, we will then oppose the order said party vice president Gulam Hassan Mir

While Bhartiya Janata Party, on the other hand, has welcomed the move, saying the party is glad the process will take Jammu Kashmir at par with other states of the country.

Kavinder Gupta, former deputy Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, said all laws applicable in the rest of the country are now applicable in UT.

Parties who are opposing this move should realise that Article 370 is gone now, and Constitution says whoever wants to vote from any area can do so.," he said.
By Azernews





By Ayya Lmahamad

Over 303 million kWh were transported through the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) in the first days of commercial operation of the facility, ICGB AD told Azernews.

"The amounts are equal to more than 303 GWh, as of October 1 to October 9 including," the statement reads.

Moreover, the independent transmission system operator ICGB will offer monthly capacity for November in an auction on October 17 on two leading European platforms, PRISMA and RBP.

"The quantities of natural gas supplied daily by ICGB via the interconnector provide Bulgaria and the wider region with a new reliable source of gas, helping us to ensure security and diversification of supply in a difficult period both for the European countries in general and for businesses and individual consumers as well," ICGB Executive Officers Teodora Georgieva and George Satlas said.

They noted that daily requests for gas transportation through the pipeline are being fulfilled on schedule and no technical issues have been encountered in the first days of operation of the facility.

The IGB gas pipeline is designed to connect the Greek national gas transmission system (DESFA S.A.) and the Trans-Adriatic gas pipeline (TAP AG) in the area of Komotini (Greece), and with the Bulgarian gas transmission system (Bulgartransgaz EAD) in the area of Stara Zagora. The total length of the gas pipeline is 182 km, the diameter of the pipe is 32'', and a design capacity of up to 3 billion m3/year in the direction of Greece-Bulgaria.

From 0700 am on October 1, the full volumes of Azerbaijani gas under the contract of Bulgaria with Azerbaijan are being imported from TAP via IGB.

The pipeline is designed to increase its capacity up to 5 bcm/y depending on market interest and the capacities of neighboring gas transmission systems.
New Delhi: Congress presidential candidate Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday asserted that if he becomes the AICC chief, he would fully implement the party's existing constitution which requires CWC elections and revival of the parliamentary board that has been dormant for a quarter-century. In an interview with news agency PTI, Tharoor also said the Congress must decentralise authority and truly empower the grassroots office-bearers of the party.

The Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram said he would fully implement the Udaipur Declaration which was unanimously agreed at the party's Chintan Shivir earlier this year.

Asked about his plans for the party if he wins the electoral contest against Mallikarjun Kharge for the top post, the former Union minister said, "I think an important first step would be to call for elections to the Working Committee to spread our inner-party democracy even further."

"I am going to implement fully the existing Constitution, which requires CWC elections and the revival of the parliamentary board that has been dormant for a quarter-century, and the Udaipur Declaration which was unanimously agreed," Tharoor said.

The holding of the Congress Working Committee elections and the revival of the parliamentary board were among the key demands of the group of 23 leaders, including Tharoor, who wrote to party chief Sonia Gandhi in 2020 seeking large scale organisational reforms.

At the Shivir, the Congress had adopted the Udaipur Declaration which included wide-ranging organisational reforms to make the party battle-ready for the next round of assembly and Lok Sabha polls, including wider representation to those under 50 years of age and enforcing 'one person, one post' and 'one family, one ticket' rules with riders.

Tharoor said that as he has pointed out in his manifesto that Congress must empower the party in the states by giving real authority to the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) presidents, block, mandal and booth presidents.

"We must decentralise authority and truly empower the grassroots office-bearers of the party. Our PCC delegates, for instance, have literally had no role for the last 22 years but to vote in the coming election on October 17th!" the 66-year-old leader said.

"I want their elected status to be honoured by ensuring PCC delegates a place on the platform when any senior leader comes visiting, involve them in the consultations that must take place before candidates are selected for elections, and so on," he said.

Tharoor stressed that Congress must provide a credible alternative to the BJP's "centralisation of authority" in its party affairs and in the affairs of governance.

"I have been a big fan of the 2014 UPA election slogan 'Main nahin, hum'. Re-imagining the organisation, delegating powers to grassroots level leaders and empowering our workers as stakeholders in our success, will not only free the new president from the onerous burdens of over-administration, but help recreate the strong state leadership that, in past eras, strengthened the Congress' national appeal," he said.

Tharoor, who has run an energetic campaign across various states to seek the support of the PCC delegates for his Congress presidential bid, also said the response from ordinary party workers, especially young delegates, has been immensely encouraging.

"Many have even volunteered to spread my message among their own circles and are supporting my campaign with a level of enthusiasm that is both inspiring and humbling," he said.

"I look forward to continuing to put my best foot forward and to work as hard as humanly possible in this campaign, which is the only way I can repay their faith and trust in my candidacy," the senior Congress leader said.

Tharoor has asserted that he is the candidate for reform and change in the way the party is run, only to make it fighting fit to tackle the BJP in 2024.

Tharoor is pitted against Kharge, who is being seen as a favourite for the top party post because of his perceived proximity to the Gandhi family.

However, Tharoor has reiterated time and again that the Gandhi family has made it clear that they are staying above the fray and are neutral.

At a press conference during the Bharat Jodo Yatra last week, Rahul Gandhi had dismissed claims that the next Congress president would be "remote-controlled" by his family, saying both the contenders -- Kharge and Tharoor -- are people of stature and understanding and to make such a suggestion was insulting for them.

The Congress presidential poll will take place on October 17 and the results will be out on October 19.
New Delhi: The flood situation in Assam's Dhemaji district has worsened after flood waters submerged more areas in the district's Jonai Sub-Division on Wednesday. According to reports, the water levels of the Siang, Dibang, and Datung rivers and other tributaries have been rising as a result of the recent torrential rains in parts of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, and flood waters have entered several villages in Shivpuri, Ramdhan Dikhari area. Many villagers have fled their homes in search of safety on higher ground. The SDRF and district administration teams are working to rescue people in flood-affected areas. According to a Shivguri flood-affected villager, the water level has been gradually rising since October 5.

"Some houses in our Shivguri area have been submerged by flood waters. We are now facing massive problems. The water levels of the Siang, Datung, and Dibang rivers are increasing. The flood-affected people and domestic animals are facing a food crisis," the flood-affected villager states.

Also Read: 34,000 people of three districts affected in Assam flood

In the Dhemaji district, flood waters have submerged 1265 hectares of cropland. In flood-affected areas, the Dhemaji district administration has established six relief distribution centres. According to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), the fresh wave of flood has affected nearly 34,000 people in three Assam districts. Dhemaji district alone has been affected by 15084 people, Lakhimpur district has been affected by 14895 people, and Dibrugarh district has been affected by 3857 people. According to the ASDMA flood report, the current wave of flood has affected 22 villages in the Dhemaji district, 23 villages in the Lakhimpur district, and 1 village in the Dibrugarh district.

Assam | Flood situation in the Dhemaji district remains grim after the flood waters submerge more areas under Jonai Sub-Division

As per Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), 15,084 people have been affected due to flood situation in the district pic.twitter.com/2driBLeQFL  ANI (@ANI) October 12, 2022

#WATCH | Assam: Several areas in Guwahati city face severe waterlogging and flood-like situation due to heavy rainfall in the past few days.



Visuals from Rukmini Gaon and Hatigaon areas in Guwahati city. pic.twitter.com/3b7yD90PAO  ANI (@ANI) October 11, 2022

(With ANI inputs)
New Delhi: Haryana government stopped the production of cough syrups by Maiden Pharmaceuticals Ltd after the WHO issued an alert over four India-made cough and cold syrups which are made by the pharmaceutical company and notified that the deaths of 66 children in Gambia could be linked to the cough and cold syrups.

The Haryana Home and Health Minister Anil Vij also said, "After the Central & Haryana State drug depts conducted a joint inspection, around 12 flaws were found, keeping which in mind, it's been decided that the total production shall be stopped; notice given."

Haryana govt stops the production of cough syrups by Maiden Pharmaceuticals Ltd



Samples of 3 drugs mentioned by WHO of Sonipat's pharmaceuticals company were sent to Central Drug Lab in Kolkata. The reports are not in yet, action will be taken after that: Haryana HM Anil Vij https://t.co/OXdRxsqc5U pic.twitter.com/YO1SuhAlor  ANI (@ANI) October 12, 2022

Earlier on Monday, the Indian Pharma company had released a statement over the reports linking its cough syrups to the deaths of 66 children in Gambia.

In an exclusive input to ANI, the pharma company said, "We are shocked to hear the media reports regarding the deaths and deeply saddened on this incident but we received the official information from our agent at the Gambia on October 5, 2022, and on the subsequent date, World Health Organisation alert was issued against us."

Also Read: Which are four 'substandard' Indian cough syrups linked to child deaths in Gambia?

In an official statement the company Director, Vivek Goyal said, "We are in the field of medicines for over three decades and have been diligently following the protocols of the health authorities including Drugs Controller General (India) and the State Drugs Controllers, Haryana," reads the statement.

He further said that they have valid drug approvals for the export of the products his company is not selling anything in the domestic market. He also added that his company is obtaining raw materials from certified and reputed companies.

"The government agencies visited our factory on October 1 and October 3, October 6 and 7 October and the samples were drawn by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation(CDSCO) along with all relevant documents in question in presence of our directors," Goyal said in the statement.

As per sources, from the preliminary inquiry, it has been made out that Maiden Pharmaceutical Limited, Sonipat, Haryana is a manufacturer licensed by the State Drug Controller for the products under reference, and holds manufacturing permission for these products. The company has manufactured and exported these products only to the Gambia so far.

(With agency inputs)
New Delhi: On the occasion of the National Human Rights Commission's (NHRC) Foundation Day in the capital on Wednesday, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar praised the NHRC for protecting the human rights of the underprivileged and vulnerable sections of society. While speaking at the event, he also urged the media to prominently display the Commission's advisories in the public domain, as this would greatly aid in "promoting the cause of human rights in the country." Dhankhar today emphasised the importance of human rights to the flourishing of democracy and urged every citizen to work for the protection and promotion of others' human rights as "this is the safest guarantee of the preservation of their human rights."

Dhankhar praised various governance systemic reforms and affirmative initiatives, particularly in the health and economic sectors, that have nurtured human rights in recent years, describing inclusive growth as critical for human rights protection.

Also read: Congress reduced to 'brother-sister' organisation, BJP only 'national party' left: Nadda

Observing that neutrality benefits the oppressor and never the victim, he emphasised that when human rights are under attack, we must take sides. "Silence only benefits the tormentor and never the tormented. In such a case, we have no choice but to be proactive and intervene "He continued.

Hon'ble Vice President, Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar at the Foundation Day Celebrations of National Human Rights Commission in New Delhi today. @India_NHRC pic.twitter.com/smVpRsBAtI October 12, 2022

Noting that human rights get compromised in the face of corruption, Dhankhar underlined that the poor and vulnerable are easy victims of this menace. He expressed happiness over the continual onslaughts on corruption in recent years and called it a bright sign in safeguarding the rights of vulnerable sections."Human rights get compromised in the face of corruption. The poor and vulnerable are easy victims of this menace. The challenge to human rights emanates from several quarters- state and non-state actors, natural disasters, pandemics, famine, and poverty to name just a few. Judicial steps and governmental initiatives have considerably contained these challenges to human rights. The COVID pandemic was a grave challenge to human rights on the planet. Countries laying claim to robust health infrastructure collapsed. In our country with vision and strategy affording all health and food this menace was commendably contained," he added.

Human rights get compromised in the face of corruption. Poor and vulnerable are easy victims of this menace.



Continual onslaughts on corruption is a bright sign in this direction and vulnerable sections are prime beneficiaries. @India_NHRC pic.twitter.com/LV4tmwaTD7  Vice President of India (@VPSecretariat) October 12, 2022

(With agencies' inputs)
New Delhi: Tulsi Gabbard, the first Hindu-American to run for President in 2020, announced her resignation from the Democratic Party on Tuesday, ahead of next month's midterm elections. Gabbard accused the party of racializing every issue in the nation and denouncing it as the "elitist cabal of warmongers." For the past 20 years, the former US Congresswoman has been a member of the party. "I can no longer remain in today's Democratic Party that is now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue and stoke anti-white racism," Gabbard quoted in the video.

She continued by saying: The Democrats of today divide us by racializing every issue, stoking anti-white racism, and are actively working to undermine our God-given freedoms enshrined in our Constitution. The Democrats of today are hostile to people of faith and spirituality. They demonise the police and protect criminals at the expense of law-abiding Americans. The Democrats of today believe in open borders and weaponising the national security state to go after political opponents. Above all else, the Democrats of today are dragging us ever closer to nuclear war

Also read: US responds to alleged corruption in flood relief to Pakistan: 'This is something we take very seriously'

I believe in a government that is of, by, and for the people. Unfortunately, today's Democratic Party does not. Instead, it stands for a government of, by, and for the powerful elite, she said. Gabbard also urged her fellow independent-minded Democrats to leave the party with her. If you can no longer stomach the direction that so-called woke Democratic Party ideologues are taking our country, I invite you to join me, she stated.

I can no longer remain in todays Democratic Party that is now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue & stoke anti-white racism, actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms, are pic.twitter.com/oAuTnxZldf  Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) October 11, 2022

Click the link to watch my full statement on why I'm leaving the Democratic Party: https://t.co/pH58rEFpmS  Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) October 11, 2022

(With agencies' inputs)
New Delhi: Electoral Office in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, October 11, 2022, has authorised tehsildars to issue residency certificates to residents who have lived in the valley for more than a year to aid their enrollment in the ongoing special summary revision of electoral rolls.

Letter issued by Deputy Commissioner of Jammu for acceptance of documents for registration as electors authorizes all tehsildars to issue certificate of residence to people residing in Jammu "for more than one year." pic.twitter.com/V958ZAQilm  ANI (@ANI) October 12, 2022

"Keeping in mind the urgency involved in the matter and to ensure that no eligible voter is left for registration during the Special Summary Revision, 2022 in District Jammu, all Tehsildars are authorised to issue a certificate of residence to the person(s) residing in District Jammu for more than one year, for the purpose," said District Election Officer and Deputy Commissioner, Jammu, Avny Lavasa in the order.

Lavasa also provided a list of documents that will be accepted as proof of residency. The proposal was made in response to reports that some eligible voters were having difficulty registering as voters due to a lack of requisite documentation.

Special Summary Revision, 2022 has been started from September 15, 2022, in the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir for registration of new voters, deletion, correction, and transposition of voters who have migrated, or died since the last Summary Revision.

Earlier, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, on his visit to Jammu and Kashmir announced that the elections will be held in Jammu and Kashmir with "full transparency" as soon as the work of compiling the voters` list is completed. He said that after the delimitation of the region, the representative of people's choice will be elected.

Also Read: Jailed Kashmiri separatist leaders being treated badly, alleges Mehbooba Mufti

Earlier the delimitation was done in such a way that only the representatives from the three families would be elected, no matter what you do. The Centre, while abrogating the region's special status, had said that the status of state will be given to Jammu and Kashmir at the appropriate time and the elections will be held after delimitation.

List of documents accepted as proof of residence as accordance with the letter issued by the Electoral Office are as follows:

1. Water/Electricity/ Gas Connection for one year.

2. Aadhar Card

3. Current Passbook of Nationalized/ Scheduled Bank/ Post Office

4. Indian Passport

5. Revenue Department's Land Owning Record, including Kisan Bahi

6. Registered Rent/ Lease Deed (in case of Tenant)

7. Registered Sale Deed in case of own house

Hirdesh Kumar, the CEO of the Union Territory, said on August 17 that non-locals living temporarily in J&K can vote in the upcoming Assembly elections. He had claimed that after the special summary review of electoral rolls, approximately 25 lakh extra voters, including outsiders, were anticipated to be added.

Following the uproar from the opposition parties, the administration emphasised that the modification of electoral rolls will cover existing J&K citizens, with the rise in numbers coming from voters over the age of 18. However, the recent notification by the Deputy Commissioner of Electoral rolls was directed to include citizens who have been living in the state for more than one year.

Earlier, Jammu and Kashmir opposition leaders like Mehbooba Mufti, Farooq Abdllah stood up against the policy and accused the BJP government of changing the demographics of the country.

"The Government is going ahead with its plan to add 25 lakh non-local voters in J&K and we continue to oppose this move. BJP is scared of the elections & knows it will lose badly. People of J&K must defeat these conspiracies at the ballot box," Farooq Abdullah's National Conference tweeted.
New Delhi: During the Karnataka leg of the Bharat Jodo Yatra on Wednesday, Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivkumar was seen wearing a t-shirt highlighting 'unemployment' issues. He attacked Bharatiya Janata Party through this move. While walking alongside Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on the 35th day of the Yatra, the Congress leader wore a bright red t-shirt with yellow text, symbolically representing Kannada colours, highlighting the unemployment problem. "Youth need jobs, not empty promises," reads a message written in Kannada on DK Shivkumar's t-shirt. The State Congress chief accused the BJP government of failing to address Karnataka's rising unemployment. DK Shivkumar said at the Centre while taking a dig, "It is our responsibility to stand accountable with the promises we make to our youth who repose their faith in us believing that we would take care of their future and utilize their potential". "Youth need jobs, not empty promises", he quoted.

On Wednesday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi resumed the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' from Challakere town in Chitradurga, Karnataka. The Congress leader also met with approximately 2000 unemployed youth from the southern state. Karnataka's Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah and State Congress chief DK Shivkumar joined Rahul on the Karnataka leg of the Bharat Jodo Yatra today.

Also Read: 'Will send out a good message': Digvijaya Singh urges Lalu Prasad to participate in Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra

A large crowd gathered here to show their support for the Bharat Jodo Yatra, with Rahul Gandhi raising the tricolour and leading the way. The Bharat Jodo Yatra began on September 7 in Kanniyakumari and has travelled 905 kilometres. It will pass through 12 states before arriving in Jammu and Kashmir. When sworn in, Congress leader Shivkumar stated that the Congress party will make more efforts to create more opportunities and solutions.

(With agencies' inputs)
Ernakulam: Kochi police on Wednesday claimed that the accused in Keralas black magic case possibly ate parts of the body after killing the victims. The Kochi police chief, while addressing a press briefing, said that all angles in the case are being investigated and but nothing is confirmed yet, adding that the prime accused Shafi is a pervert.

We didn't find anything earlier when we questioned Shafi, the prime accused.Scientific investigation led us to Pathanamthitta. Shafi is the main conspirator & a pervert,we got to know while investigating: Kochi City Police Commissioner CH Nagaraju on Kerala 'human sacrifice' case pic.twitter.com/LUsJZJcCmk  ANI (@ANI) October 12, 2022

There's a possibility that the accused ate parts of the body after killing the victims. It is being investigated, but not confirmed yet. Prime accused Shafi is a pervert. We're investigating whether there are more accused and if more such cases happened, Kochi City Police Commissioner said.

There's a possibility that the accused ate parts of body after killing the victims. It is being investigated, but not confirmed yet. Prime accused Shafi is a pervert.We're investigating whether there are more accused and if more such cases happened: Kochi City Police Commissioner pic.twitter.com/fwUSdJJ8Gz  ANI (@ANI) October 12, 2022

He added that the police have recovered all parts of the bodies of the two women who were killed. Parts of the body of one of the victim women were recovered from three pits where they were buried.

Meanwhile, the Ernakulam magistrate court on Wednesday remanded all the three accused of killing two women allegedly as a human sacrifice in black magic rituals in Kerala`s Pathanamthitta on judicial custody. The accused will be under judicial remand for a 14-day duration which will end on October 26. The accused were produced in the Ernakulam District Session Court today.

The issue came to the fore on Tuesday as three persons, including one woman, was suspected of luring and killing the woman allegedly as a human sacrifice in black magic rituals, according to City Police Commissioner CH Nagaraju.

"Two dismembered bodies have been found buried inside the premises of a house in the Pathanamthitta district within 24 hours after they went missing," the police said. "The murders were brutal; the women were killed within 24 hours after missing. The manner of killing is indescribable," Nagaraju said earlier.

According to the official, the murders took place on June 6 and September 26. Kadavanthra police registered the case in Kochi following the report of a missing woman which was filed in September.

The arrested persons were identified as one Shafi, and the husband-wife pair of Bhagaval Singh and Laila. "The main suspect is Shafi who brought the women. His aim was money. It is being investigated whether the accused Shafi approached more women for a `human sacrifice ritual`," Nagaraju said.

"The CCTV footage was helpful in nabbing the accused," he added. Union minister V Muraleedharan on Tuesday hit out at the Kerala government alleging a "delayed response" by the state police and said that a member of the CPIM was involved in the incident.

"The delayed response of the Kerala Police smells foul & exposes that women are not secure in Kerala Is @pinarayivijayan Govt delaying it deliberately because of the involvement of a @CPIMKerala member Disgusting that @CMOKerala remains mum when two women are brutally killed," the minister tweeted.
New Delhi: The prime accused in the Kerala human sacrifice case, in which two women were allegedly murdered at a house in Pathanamthitta District, is a pervert and a history-sheeter, Ernakulam City Commissioner of Police C Nagaraju said on Wednesday (October 12, 2022). The Commissioner said that the accused, Mohammed Shafi, used the irrational fear of the accused couple and created a pretext that human sacrifice would solve their financial issues. Speaking to the media, he said Shafi was initially reluctant to cooperate with the police, but when confronted with evidence, including the statement of the accused couple, he broke down.

"All we had was a CCTV visual of a lady getting into a car with Shafi. Nothing else. A police team took the scientific route, traced them to the house at Elanthoor, questioned the couple and the whole incident unfolded," Nagaraju said.

He informed Shafi has got many cases, including theft and rape, against him.

"At least, 10 cases have been registered against him in the last 15 years. In one of the rape cases, a 75-year-old was raped and injured with a knife in various parts of her body. In this case of Elanthoor, the two victims were injured in private parts in a similar manner," the Ernakulam City police chief said.

"Basically, he is a pervert and a sadist... Causing injury, harm, and death. He will make up any story, trap anyone..." he added.

According to police, the victims, said to be in their near 50s, were natives of Kadavanthara and Kalady nearby. The women had gone missing in September and June this year and the eventual probe, based on their mobile phone details and tower locations, unraveled the story of human sacrifice.

The first woman, who had gone missing, was a Kalady native, living there with her partner for some time and a missing complaint was filed by her daughter on August 17. The other woman, originally from Dharmapuri in Tamil Nadu, went missing on August 17.

Three people, including a couple, have been arrested in this connection.

The trio was produced before the Sessions Court on Wednesday and was remanded in judicial custody.
MHT CET Counselling 2022: State Common Entrance Test Cell, Maharashtra will release MHT CET 2022 final merit list on October 12, 2022. The final merit list will be published for First Year Under Graduate Technical Courses in Engineering and Technology (4 Years) & Master of Engineering and Technology (Integrated 5 Years) courses. Candidates can check the merit list through the official site of MHT CET at fe2022.mahacet.org.

MHT CET 2022 final merit list: Here's how to download

Visit the official site of fe2022.mahacet.org.

Click on MHT CET 2022 final merit list link available on the home page.

Enter the login details and click on submit.

Your merit list will be displayed on the screen.

Check the merit list and download the page.

Keep a hard copy of the same for further need.

The MHT CET Counselling 2022 for B.Tech and B.E. Admissions is now being held by the Maharashtra CET Cell. According to the official timetable, the MHT CET's Cap Round 1 will start tomorrow, October 13, 2022.
Anantnag (J&K): Chairman of the Democratic Azad Party and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Wednesday said that those who are outsiders should not be allowed to cast their vote in the Union Territory. Reacting to the Election commission of India's latest order for the registration of new voters in Jammu, Azad said, "People from outside shouldn`t cast their vote in the UT. Only local voters should be allowed. They can vote in their states in a sealed envelope, as per the system. The importance of voting in Jammu and Kashmir has been that only locals vote - be it Jammu or Kashmir,".

Deputy commissioner Jammu Avny Lavasa, on Tuesday, issued a circular authorising tehsildar to issue certificates of residence to those living in Jammu for more than one year, paving the way for their entry into the electoral rolls. The purpose of the certificate of residence is to ensure that no eligible voter is left for registration in the ongoing special summary revision of electoral rolls.

Also Read: 'BJP is afraid of elections in J&K', says Mehbooba Mufti after EC's order on new voters in Jammu

Earlier on Wednesday, People's democratic party president Mehbooba Mufti accused the central government of orchestrating demographic change in Jammu and Kashmir. Mufti said "The article 370 has been removed from J&K to pave way for these kinds of things and their 'BJP' main goal is to change the demography of Jammu and Kashmir.

The 'BJP' is afraid of elections because they know the people of Kashmir and Jammu have understood their intentions and they will lose badly that's why now they resort to add the non-local voters," said Mufti. She further added that "with the opening of land, jobs and now votes for non-locals the traditional culture of Kashmiris and Dogras will be ruined, and nothing will be left for them in Jammu and Kashmir."

Main Regional Political parties of Jammu and Kashmir including National Conference and PDP and DAP have raised a red flag against the Deputy Commissioners order and strongly reacted to the order they said authorities move to register those who have lived in Jammu for only a year to be registered as new voters after following friendly" procedures is objectionable and it will ruin the demography as well as the culture of Jammu Kashmir.

(With agency inputs)
New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday (October 12, 022) termed Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and state BJP strongman B S Yediyurappa having breakfast at a Dalit's house as a "photo-op" for the sake of votes. Amid Congress Bharat Jodo Yatra and ahead of assembly election in the state next year, the political heat in the southern state is rising. The Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah hit out at the ruling BJP for not doing enough for the sake for dalits and other backward communities so far.

"As elections are approaching, they have started remembering Dalits, backward classes, SCs and STs, till now nothing has been done for their welfare by this government. Now for the sake of election and votes, they are visiting areas where Dalits and backward communities live," Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah said.

AICC General Secretary in-charge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala also took a dig at Bommai government by highlighting an incident where over a dozen Dalit workers were allegedly assaulted and held captive at an estate in Chikkamagaluru.

Surjewala in a tweet said, "The ugly stench of Dalit atrocities under Bommai Govt in Karnataka is nauseating - a 54% increase over last year. As Bommai-BSY (Yediyurappa) do photo-op of visiting a dalit house, BJP leader detains 16 Dalits & a hapless women loses her child."

Meanwhile, Bommai, Yediyurappa and other BJP leaders as part of party's 'Jana Sankalpa Yatra' had breakfast at a Dalit's house in Ambedkar Nagar of Kamalapura village in Vijayanagara district earlier on Wednesday.

Bommai along with the BJP strongman B S Yediyurappa had breakfast at the residence of a Dalit family at a village near Hospet. They visited the village as part of the ruling BJP's 'Jan Sankalp Yatra', which started on Tuesday. Hirala Kollarappa along with his two daughters, Huligemma and Renuka served the VVIPs Kesari Bhaat, Mandakki Voggarane (fried puffed rice with seasoning), fried chilli and Uppittu (Upma).

According to government officials, the CM along with Yediyurappa, Water Resource Minister Govind Karjol and Tourism Minister Anand Singh visited Ambedkar Nagar in Kamalapura village in the newly formed Vijayanagara district. Bommai also interacted with the family members.

(With agency inputs)
New Delhi: President Droupadi Murmu meets with women tea workers from Durgabari Tea Estate in Agartala on Wednesday, saying they represent the state's social diversity. The President urged them to prioritise the education of their children, especially girls."Delighted to interact with women tea workers of Durgabari Tea Estate in Agartala. They represent the state`s social diversity and seem satisfied with welfare initiatives for them. I urged them to focus on the education of their children, particularly girls," the President said in a tweet. President Murmu dedicated the Tripura Judicial Academy and laid the groundwork for the National Law University of Tripura. Tripura Police presented President Droupadi Murmu with an all-women Guard of Honour upon her arrival in Agartala.

Tripura Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya and Chief Minister Manik Saha welcomed the President to Agartala. President Murmu will be in Tripura and Assam from October 12 to 14. The President will attend a civic reception hosted in her honour by the Government of Tripura at the Town Hall in Agartala in the evening. On October 13, the President will flag off the special extension of the Guwahati-Kolkata-Guwahati train up to Agartala and the extension of the Agartala-Jiribam-Agartala Jan Shatabdi Express up to Khongsang, Manipur, from Agartala Railway Station.

Also Read: Amit Shah, JP Nadda in Assam today, will inaugurate biggest BJP office in northeastern region

On the same day, the President will virtually inaugurate and lay the groundwork for various projects of the Union Ministries of Electronics and Information Technology, Health and Family Welfare, and the Government of Assam at IIT Guwahati.

Delighted to interact with women tea workers of Durgabari Tea Estate in Agartala. They represent the states social diversity and seem satisfied with welfare initiatives for them. I urged them to focus on education of their children, particularly girls. pic.twitter.com/CGIWoUawO9  President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) October 12, 2022

These include the Supercomputer facility Param Kamrupa and the facility for the design and development of high-power microwave components at IIT Guwahati; Medical College and Hospital at Dhubri; and Zonal Institutes of National Institute of Virology (NIV) at Dibrugarh (Assam) and Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh). In the evening, the President will attend a civic reception and cultural programme, to be hosted in her honour at the Assam Administrative Staff College, Guwahati. On Friday, the President will virtually inaugurate, launch and lay the foundation stones for various projects of the Government of Assam and Union Ministries of Road Transport and Highways, Petroleum & Natural Gas and Railways.

(With ANI inputs)
New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took on a push-ups challenge with a little boy during his Bharat Jodo Yatra in Karnataka on Tuesday (Oct 11). The video of the push-up challenge has gone viral on social media after the official Twitter account of the padayatra shared it. Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar and party's general secretary KC Venugopal also joined the fun challenge and got down to perform push-ups with Rahul and the boy.

Watch the video here:

Rahul Gandhi is currently leading Bharat Jodo Yatra - the 3,500-km march from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, covering as many as 12 states. The Yatra started from Kanyakumari and will end in Kashmir the next year by covering 25 km every day.

Also Read: 'Will send out a good message': Digvijaya Singh urges Lalu Prasad to participate in Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra

According to Congress, the `Bharat Jodo Yatra` is being held to combat the divisive politics of the BJP-led Centre and to awaken the people of the country to the dangers of economic inequalities, social polarisation, and political centralization.

Notably, all the party MPs, leaders, and workers along with Rahul Gandhi are staying in containers. Sleeping beds, toilets, and ACs are also installed in some of the containers.

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.

(With agency inputs)
Lucknow: Congress veteran leader Mallikarjun Khargehas has dismissed rumours that he is recieving the support of the Gandhi family in the ongoing partys presidential election. Kharge made it clear that his name was not suggested by the party supremo Sonia Gandhi and dismissed the speculations of receiving any support from the party`s interim president or her family members.

Sonia Gandhi suggesting my name for the president position is all a rumour, I have never said this. She has clearly stated that anyone from the Gandhi family will neither be a part of the election nor support any candidate: Congress Presidential candidate Mallikarjun Kharge pic.twitter.com/w3M7T04mEh  ANI (@ANI) October 11, 2022

The veteran politician said that Sonia Gandhi had never suggested his name for the party president position and called it a rumour. "Sonia Gandhi suggesting my name for the president position is all a rumour, I have never said this. She has clearly stated that anyone from the Gandhi family will neither be a part of the election nor support any candidate," Kharge said on Tuesday.

Notably, Shashi Tharoor and Mallikarjun Kharge are up against each other in the race for the post of Congress President. The octogenarian leader went on to say, "Someone has spread this rumour to defame the Congress party, Sonia Gandhi and me. She has clearly stated that she will not participate in the party elections nor will she come in support of any candidate."

Kharge further said that the members of the party have elected delegates which are 9300 in numbers which will vote for the candidate and the one with the majority, would be elected.

Talking about voters of Uttar Pradesh, he said that there were a total of "1250 voters" (delegates) in UP."I am not here to see the chances for me, the candidates that have asked me to contest will be responsible for my victory," he added.

Earlier on Sunday, Kharge had said that he is fighting the Congress Presidential polls because the condition in the country is very "bad" and he wants to "fight" them. "I want to fight because the condition in the country is bad. PM Modi and Amit Shah are doing politics where there is no place for Democracy. Agencies like CBI and ED are weakening. To fight them I need to have power. That is why, on the recommendation of delegations, I am fighting the polls," Kharge said.

Digvijaya Singh pulled out from the race earlier and extended his support to Kharge, who he said is a senior and respected leader of the party, and against whom he "cannot think of contesting". Singh was the second Congress leader to pull out of the race after Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot announced he would not contest the elections following the political turmoil in his state.

With the Gandhis not running for the top post, the grand old party is all set to get a non-Gandhi president after over 25 years. The last date for withdrawal of nominations is October 8. Voting will take place on October 17 and the election results will be declared on October 19.

The MP from Wayanad Rahul Gandhi is currently leading Bharat Jodo Yatra- the 3,500-km march from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, covering as many as 12 states. The Yatra started from Kanyakumari and will end in Kashmir the next year by covering 25 km every day.

(With Agency Inputs)
Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Manik Bhattacharya, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the West Bengal teacher`s recruitment scam, has been remanded to 14-day ED custody. The high-profile TMC MLA will now be presented before the same court on October 25. After his arrest on Tuesday, Bhattacharya was taken to ESI Hospital at Joka on the southern outskirts of Kolkata for a medical check-up and from there he was presented before a lower court in Kolkata.

While he was being presented at the court on Tuesday, the people present addressed him as a thief and some of them also showed him their shoes. Even after he was taken within the courtroom, a group of protestors continued with their demonstrations within the court premises clapping their shoes and shouting slogans claiming that all in Trinamool Congress are thieves.

In the court, ED`s counsel claimed an amount of Rs 2.64 crore has been tracked from the bank account of a company owned by Manik Bhattacharya`s son.

"The said company had an agreement with Bengal Teachers` Training Institute. The Central agency sleuths have traced agreement and transactions of the said company with a number of bachelor of education colleges in the state which needs to be probed further," the ED counsel informed the court.

During this argument, the ED counsel questioned what would be the future of the state where ineligible candidates have been recruited as teachers and many of them teaching currently. "The eligible candidates are still protesting on the streets of Kolkata. Despite being eligible, they did not get appointment letters since they could not pay for their appointment," he said.

Manik Bhattacharya`s counsel argued that ED had not issued an arrest memo either to his client or his family. However, ED counsel countered that and claimed that an arrest memo has been issued to Bhattacharya and a note has been given that initially, he refused to accept the arrest memo.

Meanwhile, ED sources said that from the mobile phone of Bhattacharya, the ED sleuths have some WhatsApp message exchanges with two numbers one saved in the name of "RK" and the other in the name of "DD". "Such conversations were regarding the final merit list in recruitment. Now we are trying to track the persons against whom such numbers were registered," an ED official said.

Welcoming his arrest, the BJP`s state spokesperson, Samik Bhattacharya said that the central agencies are moving in the right direction and slowly more heavyweights in the case will be netted. The CPI(M) central committee member, Sujan Chakraborty said Manik Bhattacharya`s arrest was inevitable. "He was trying to evade the arrest by adopting a number of techniques, but ultimately could not avoid that," he said.

Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress`s Rajya Sabha member, Dr Santanu Sen said that although the party does not have any comment to offer on the development, they want the central investigative agencies to complete their investigation as early as possible without dragging it for an indefinite period to give advantage to any political party.
UGC NET: National Testing Agency has released a notification refuting the rumours of a paper leak. As per the notification, NTA has rejected the claims of leakage of History paper of UGC NET. The testing organisation has vehemently denied the leakage of paper as claimed in a few tweets and a YouTube video. NTA tweeted, This is to bring to the notice of general public that a fake tweet and a YouTube video is circulating on social media regarding leakage of History (06) paper Shift-II, UGC-NET December 2021 and June 2022 merged cycles conducted on 10-10-2022. NTA vehemently denies this allegation regarding leakage of question paper of History (06) paper Shift-II. It is clarified that there is no leak of question paper.

The agency further said the format circulating on social media is not the same that had been delivered.

A fake tweet & YouTube video is circulating on social media regarding leakage of History(06) paper Shift II, UGC-NET Dec 2021 & June 2022 (Merged Cycles). NTA denies allegation regarding leakage of the question paper. It's clarified that there's no leak of any Question Paper: NTA pic.twitter.com/dfM43OOSqg  ANI (@ANI) October 12, 2022

The Student Federation of India (SFI) and All India Students Association (AISA) protested and demanded removal of NTA's contract to conduct examinations on. Moreover, Students of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Association (JNUSU) demanded a re-conduct of the exam and to form a committee to investigate the paper leak and take action accordingly.

Activists from the Student Federation of India (SFI) and All India Students Association (AISA) were seen entering the UGC building with banners saying repeal NTAs contract of conducting exams in videos and pictures shared on social media.

Earlier, in December 2021, The UGC NET Hindi exam paper leak lead to arrest of CRPF constable who circulated the UGC NET question paper on WhatsApp around six hours before the exam was supposed to begin. The constable was able to get hold of 150 UGC NET candidates to forward the leaked question paper.
New Delhi: After Amit Shahs veiled attack on JDU chief Nitish Kumar, the Bihar chief minister hit back at the Union Home Minister for his "CM sitting in Congress lap for power" remark and called Shah an inexperienced politician alleging that he pays no heed to what someone with just 20 years of political run says about him.

Hitting back at Home Minister, Bihar CM accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah of being ignorant about the freedom struggle and the JP movement.

Accusing Prime Minister Modi and Amit Shah of being ignorant about the JP movement, Kumar said, "I don`t give any importance to the outbursts of Narendra Modi or Amit Shah. Have they contributed to the JP movement in any way? Sadly, people who have nothing to do with the freedom struggle are talking about the JP movement. Who knew Modi before 2002.

"During the JP movement, I went to jail for which Jayaprakash Babu appreciated me," he said.

Kumar was responding to Amit Shah`s statement made earlier in the day at Sitab Diara on the occasion of 120th anniversary of socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan, that the Bihar chief minister is sitting on Congress`s lap which had imprisoned independence activist Narayan.

He also reacted to tweets of BJP leader Sushil Modi, saying, "He is giving statements every day against an idea to get some post in his party. I heard that he tweets 10 to 15 times daily. Is he achieving anything from it? He is also saying that Amit Shah will go everywhere. I want to tell him who is stopping him and his party`s leaders. They are free to go anywhere," Kumar said.

(With agency inputs)
New Delhi: Sushil Modi, a senior BJP leader, said on Wednesday that India is already united and that the Bharat Jodo Yatra is intended to unite the party. Earlier on Tuesday, Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh suggested that Lalu join the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' for a while to send a positive message. In response, the BJP leader stated, "If Digvijay Singh requests Lalu Yadav to join the Congress Jodo Yatra, he can call him because Congress is running the government in Bihar. Nitish Kumar will also go for the rally on Thursday. But such trips will not make any difference".

Sushil Modi slammed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, saying he lacked the courage to visit Gujarat and Himachal. "Rahul Gandhi knows that taking the rally to Gujarat won`t yield any results, this rally is for uniting the Congress party" he quotes.

Also Read: Congress reduced to 'brother-sister' organisation, BJP only 'national party' left: Nadda

According to the BJP leader, people have been leaving the Congress party for the last ten years. "The party is a sinking ship and no matter who joins the journey, its ship will surely sink", he added. Sushil Modi further added that the RJD supremo joining the rally won`t send a message, but an impactful message will be sent only when Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal or KCR join the party. "Congress has been talking about uniting the opposition party but has been seeking support from their alliance itself", he said.

Also Read: 'Bakrid mein bachenge toh Muharram mein...': Kharge on Congress' PM face in 2024

The BJP leader slammed the Congress for holding presidential elections and stated, "The party would elect a president whose power would remain in the hands of Rahul Gandhi and the decisions making power would be with the Gandhi family".

(With agencies' inputs)
New Delhi: Allu Arjun is one such star who is continuously spreading his shine all across the nation. The actor took over the whole country with the success of his blockbuster Pushpa: The Rise. While spreading his charm across, the actor was recently spotted in a cool attire at Taj Palace Chanakyapuri, Delhi as he arrived in the city to attend an event.

Well-known for his stylish and trendy looks, Allu Arjun truly creates a fashion symbol with every attire. While keeping an eye on his ever-rising fashion statement, Allu Arjun was spotted at Taj Palace Chanakyapuri, Delhi in a cool and funky attire with his shades on. The actor landed in the capital city for an event. Having seen him so perfect in his styling, there is no wonder why he is considered as one of the most stylish stars in the country.

Moreover, this year Allu Arjun is constantly owning up to every award and prestige in his name. Be it representing India in New York as Grand Marshall at the annual Indian day parade or winning the best actor (Telugu) award for Pushpa: The Rise at SIIMA to winning the Filmfare award south for Best actor for Pushpa: The Rise, Allu Arjun has become a name that is constantly spreading his charm everywhere.

See the video here -

On the work front, Allu Arjun has been regularly making his presence in the commercials while the audience is eagerly waiting to watch him in Pushpa: The Rule. The makers of the franchise have started working on the Pushpa: The Rule with a pooja ceremony. The film also stars Rashmika Mandanna in a prominent role.
ACT CEO Janet Godwin, ACT Vice President Tina Gridiron and ACT State Partnership Program Director Dr. Tony Thacker visited Eufaula High School in August to meet students and hear about their experience in their ACT Prep Class.

After visiting, ACT presented a gift of $10,000 to Eufaula High School in support of college and career success activities.

ACT, Inc. is primarily known for the ACT, a standardized test designed to assess a high school students academic achievement and college readiness. The ACT covers four academic skills: English, mathematics, reading and scientific reasoning. It also offers an optional direct writing test. It is accepted by all four-year colleges and universities in the United States and more than 225 universities outside of the U.S.

The main four ACT sections are individually scored on a scale of 136, and a composite score (the rounded whole number average of the four sections) is provided.

In a letter, Gridiron, vice president of ACTs Center for Equity in Learning, said, We were sincerely moved by the powerful student stories of courage, resilience, and excellence. Truly, Eufaulas amazing students are full of promise and have bright futures ahead.

Olivia Jones is the ACT Prep teacher at Eufaula High School. ACT Prep is an elective class with no fee, so any student who would like to participate can without worrying about having to pay anything. ACT Prep is also extended beyond the regular class day. Tutoring is conducted before and after school, in the summer and on Saturdays. Eufaula High School had 12 students score 30-plus last year.

Jones said she plans to use the money for more college tours, especially those not in our local area, and resources to help increase student achievement. She also submitted a proposal and was chosen to present at the 2022 Southeast ACT Conference on Dec. 7 at the University of Alabama. Two students, Maddilyn Register and Trinity Gant, will present with Jones about the method EHS uses for ACT prep.

On average, students in the Eufaula High Schools ACT Prep class increase their scores over nine times the number of students not in the program.

I really appreciate ACT giving us this money. Im excited to go with my friends to visit the University of Alabama in November, said senior Kerrington Conner,

I want to thank ACT for donating to our program. Im excited about the college tours and the new science resource books were adding to the library, said senior Catie Reed Wilbourne.
New Delhi: After a long time, the trailer of Jacqueline Fernandez's highly anticipated film 'Ram Setu' has been released. As the trailer has brought Jacqueline in a never seen before avatar, it has started to make buzz all around the corners. It certainly took over the whole social media while the actress is garnering a lot of praise from the netizens. This has raised the bar of excitement for the audience to watch Jacqueline in the film.

While taking to her social media, Jacqueline also shared a picture from the sets of the film, while announcing the trailer and asking her fans about the response in the caption writing - "Ram Setu trailer OUT NOW!!! Tell me what you think! Link in bio "

Taking to their social media, Jacqueline's fans took all over the whole social media universe while praising the actress and the film. The fans wrote praising comments saying -

Respected Maam, Impressive!  Rajiv Chugh (@RajivChugh19) October 12, 2022

all the best jacq. love  jasha. (@VarunJacqueline) October 12, 2022

Ram Setu also stars Akshay Kumar and Nushrratt Bharuccha in prominent roles. Apart from this, Jacqueline Fernandez will also be seen in Rohit Shetty's 'Cirkus'. She also has 'Kick 2' in the pipeline.
New Delhi: Nawazuddin Siddiqui is one such actor who has always amazed the audience with his numerous versatile acting performances. His mind-blowing acting skills leaves his fans asking for more. Now the actor has dropped a piece of good news for his fans about the completion of his upcoming Noorani Chehra and Tiku Weds Sheru.

While taking to his social media, Nawazuddin shared a collage picture from the dubbing studio where he can be seen finishing the dubbing for Noorani Chehra and Tiku Weds Sheru. The actor wrote on the picture - "FINISHED WITH THE DUBBING OF #NOORANICHEHRA & TIKUWEDSSHERU"

While Nawazuddin is truly a hardworking actor, he is widely praised by the masses for his versatility that he brings in every other character on the screen.

See the pic

Meanwhile, on the work front, Nawaz has an interesting lineup of films which includes Tiku Weds Sheru, Noorani Chehra, and Adbhut among others. The film Tiku Weds Sheru has been produced by actress Kangana Ranaut under her banner Manikarnika Films. He will also play a transgender character in the upcoming film Haddi for which he has donned a never-seen-before avatar.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui gained limelight after he starred in Anurag Kashyaps cult classic Gangs of Wasseypur in the role of Faisal Khan. He was last seen in Heropanti 2 alongside Tiger Shroff and Disha Patani.
New Delhi: The Union Cabinet has approved the grant of Non-Productivity Linked Bonus (ad-hoc bonus) to non-gazetted railway employees for the financial year 2021-22. The meeting chaired by PM Modi was held today on October 12.

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Payment of PLB to eligible railway employees is made each year before the Dusshera/Puja holidays. This year also, PLB amount equivalent to 78 days wages has been paid to about 11.27 lakh non-gazetted Railway employees. The maximum amount payable per eligible railway employee is Rs. 17,951/- for 78 days. The above amount has been paid to various categories viz. Track maintainers, Drivers & Guards, Station masters, Supervisors, Technician, Technician Helper, controller, Pointsmen, Ministerial staff & other Group C staff.

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The financial implication of payment of 78 days PLB to railway employees has been estimated to be Rs. 1832.09 crore. The above decision for payment of PLB has been taken despite adverse financial situation caused by post Covid-19 challenges.

The actual number of PLB days paid is more than the days worked out on the basis of defined formulae. The payment of PLB acts as an incentive to motivate the railway employees for working towards improvement in the performance of the Railways.
New Delhi: Aadhaar issuing body UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India) has urged that people who had got their Aadhaar card made 10 years ago should update their details. UIDAI has requested such people to update their documents related to their identity proof and address proof.

A release shared by the Ministry of Electronics and IT said, "During the last ten (10) years, Aadhaar number has emerged as a proof of identity of the individual. Aadhaar number is being used to avail benefits of various government schemes and services. In order to avail these schemes and services, the general public has to keep the Aadhar data updated with the latest personal details so that there is no inconvenience in Aadhar authentication/verification." (Also read: Want to change photo on Aadhaar Card online? Here is how to change your Aadhaar card picture)

Such persons who had got their Aadhaar made '10' years ago and have never updated after that in these years, such Aadhaar number holders are requested to get the documents updated, the release further added. (Also read: Voter ID card Aadhaar linking: How to link Aadhaar with voter ID online  Step by step process explained here)

It may be noted that UIDAI provides the facility of document update to the Aadhaar number holders with the prescribed fee, through which the Aadhaar number holder can update the Proof of Personal Identity (POI) and Proof of Address (POA) documents in the Aadhaar data.

This facility can be accessed both online and offline. It can be availed online through My Aadhaar Portal ( https://myaadhaar.uidai.gov.in/ ) or residents can also visit any nearest Enrollment Center to avail the same.
New Delhi: The Centre has extended by more two years, the Leave Travel Concession (LTC) facility available to its employees who visit to Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Northeast.

The Personnel Ministry has issued an order stating that the LTC scheme has been extended for a period of two years from September 26, 2022 to September 25, 2024. (Also read: Karwa Chauth 2022 investment gift: Open this special account in the name of wife, earn Rs 44,793 every month)

Under the scheme, the eligible central government employees get reimbursement of tickets for to and fro journeys, besides paid leave, when they avail LTC. (Also read: Veeram Securities Ltd announces revised record date for bonus share issue in 1:2 ratio)

Not only this, those government employees who are not eligible for air travel have also been allowed to travel by air to these states. They can travel in economy class by any airline directly from their headquarters to Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Northeast.

At the same time, the employees have also been warned that any misuse of LTC will be taken seriously and appropriate action will be taken under the Employees Rules. It is worth noting that in the year 2020 also, the central government had extended the period of this facility for two years.
Indian Railways Update: Setting out for train journey today? Then this news is for you. Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has decided to cancel a total of 168 trains today on October 12, due to multiple reasons including maintenance and operational concerns. 124 trains were fully cancelled, while 44 trains were partially cancelled. Additionally, it has decided to divert 14 trains and reschedule 8 trains due to various reasons varying from operational work on tracks, heavy rains and natural disasters. Furthermore, chances are multiple trains can be cancelled on October 13 as well, based on the information on the NTES website.

The cancellation and other changes in the trains' schedule will have an effect on passengers travelling from cities like, Pune, Satara, Bhatinda, Pathankot, Lucknow, Gonda, Gorakhpur, New Delhi, Vadodara, Ratnagiri, Varanasi, Kanpur Central, Sitapur, Anand vihar Jn., Amritsar Jn., Ghaziabad, and many more.

Here' the full list of IRCTC's cancelled trains on October 12:

Also read: THESE 4 Indian Railway stations listed under UNESCO's World Heritage sites will leave you awestruck

Passengers who have booked tickets via the IRCTC website will be cancelled automatically and a refund will be initiated in the users accounts. Meanwhile, those who have booked counters will have to visit the reservation counter to claim the refund. Indian Railways tend to cancel train services every day due to various reasons, which includes work on trains, natural disasters and even derailment of trains.

Indian Railways is the most preferred mode of transport as it is economical and make passengers reach their destination on time with utmost comfort. As per Railway officials, Indian Railways will initiate special train services for Diwali and Chhath Puja, like it did during Navratri and Durga Puja 2022, to manage the passenger rush and to provide travellers the comfort of travelling. Indian Railways has however, further increased the platform tickets at several stations of South India.
New Delhi: The daily app quiz from Amazon is back in action. The quiz will be found in the Funzone section of the e-commerce app. The winner will get Rs 1000 Amazon Pay Balance. If you are interested to play the quiz, you can play it in the Funzone section of the app.

Questions type

Five questions, usually based on general knowledge and current events, make up Amazon's daily quiz.

How can you win?

For a contestant to be eligible for the quiz reward, they must properly answer each question. There are four options for each quiz question. Participants in the quiz are required to select one accurate response from these choices. Once all questions have been correctly answered, participants will enter a drawing to determine the quiz's winners.

Here are all five questions and its answer for October 12, 2022:

1. Carlos Alcaraz's first match as world no.1 was a straight sets loss to which player at the Astana Open?

Answer: David Goffin

2. The upcoming movie 'Ticket to Paradise' is set largely in which of these tourist destinations (though the scenes were filmed in Australia)?

Answer: Bali

3. Which of these actors was recently honoured as a 'National Icon' by the Election Commission of India?

Answer: Pankaj Tripathi

4. This artist's 'Campbell's Soup Cans' are considered a breakthrough in Pop Art. Name the artist.

Answer: Andy Warhol

5. This visual depicts which site of pilgrimage?

Answer: Badrinath

How to play the quiz?

- Open the Amazon app.

- Click on the search bar.

- Search Fun zone.

- Click on the Amazon daily quiz option available at the bottom of the fun zone.
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 official Garena Free Fire reward site and log in to your Facebook, Google, and Twitter IDs to access the Free Fire redemption page. (Also read: WhatsApp entering film-making biz, movie to premiere on Amazon Prime Video and YouTube)

Check out the Garena Free Fire Redeem Codes for October 12, 2022

FF7WSMOCN44Z

9SR8E1WJEHF6

UNGQ36T7BHZJ

E71XWBFU6RO7

QNUH4C1G5QBQ

ZFUJWLLPG4P4

PUSROK157R77

FFXVGG8NU4YB

FFE4EODIKX2D

ERTYHJNVCDS

F9IUJHGVCDSE

(Also read: OMG! An 18-year boy hacks Uber, employees' thoughts someone is joking)

How to Redeem Garena Free Fire codes for today, October 12, 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)
New Delhi: Apple announced on Wednesday that it will begin pushing out the necessary software update to consumers in December in response to pressure to push out updates to allow 5G services on iPhone in India. In order to encourage Apple, Samsung, and other smartphone manufacturers to prioritise the 5G update for the Indian market.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the launch of services on October 1, top government officials planned to meet with these companies. (Also Read: 5G: Five things you MUST know about 5G service in India)

As soon as network validation and testing for quality and performance are finished, "We are working with our carrier partners in India to offer the best 5G experience to iPhone users. In December, iPhone owners will start receiving software updates that allow 5G, according to a statement released by Apple on Wednesday. (Also Read: WhatsApp update: Check out FIVE BIG upcoming features of WhatsApp in Pics)

It may take some time for Apple to evaluate the services offered in India and how they function on its devices because the company is known for being picky about user experience. Apple's iPhone 14, iPhone 13, and iPhone 12 series phones, together with the third-generation iPhone SE models, are currently 5G compatible. The firmware update for these devices will be released in December.

Telecom operators are full set to provide 5G services to the customers of all the key cities hassle-free. Operators like Airtel launched the service in tranches. 5G service in India is launched on October 1 at IMC.
New Delhi: Chinese people were disappointed to learn that the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) zero-Covid policy would be maintained following the 20th National Congress. Given the country's economic downturn, there is growing public pressure on the Chinese government to relax its zero-Covid policy, according to local media. However, discussions at the ongoing 7th Plenary session of the 19th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are centred on the party's determination to maintain the stringent zero-Covid policy even after the CCP's 20th National Congress. This was echoed by the Party's mouthpiece, 'People's Daily,' which urged the public to "be patient" with the zero-Covid policy for cutting all virus transmission chains on October 10.

The People's Daily's call for patience has dampened public expectations that Covid-related restrictions will be eased following the Congress. Notably, China has seen a recent increase in Covid-19 cases, fueled by more transmissible variants. New Omicron sub-variants BF.7 and BA.5.1.7, which are highly infectious and more transmissible, have been discovered in China in the latest COVID outbreak, which coincides with the 20th Party Congress. On Monday, the BF.7 subvariant spread to more Chinese provinces.

Also Read: Fly above traffic! THIS Chinese firm tests electric flying taxi in Dubai

The highly contagious virus was discovered for the first time in northwest China. The subvariant BA.5.1.7, on the other hand, was discovered for the first time in the Chinese mainland, according to Li Shujian, deputy director of the local disease prevention and control centre, as reported by Global Times. Shandong officials reported that variant BF.7 has been responsible for four locally transmitted COVID-19 cases since October.

Also Read: Mahan Air bomb threat update: Iran-China flight lands safely in Guangzhou, declared 'HOAX'

World Health Organization had given out a warning against the highly infectious BF.7 COVID subvariant. It has also expected the subvariant to become a new dominant variant. China is the world`s last major economy still enforcing strict zero-Covid measures, which aim to stamp out chains of transmission through border restrictions, mass testing, extensive quarantines, and uncompromising snap lockdowns. The ruling Communist Party has used the zero-Covid strategy to argue that its political model is superior to Western democracies, and Xi has thrown his weight behind the policy.

(With ANI inputs)
Approximately 40 members of the local graduate chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. were among the 1,000 members who attended the organizations South Eastern Region Alabama Cluster in Mobile on Oct. 1. The South Eastern Region consists of chapters in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama.

Colonel Teresa A. Townsend, Ret., of Enterprise is the president of the Kappa Pi Omega chapter, which currently has approximately 135 members from the Dothan, Ozark, Enterprise, and Troy areas.

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. is the first historically African-American sorority. It is currently composed of more than 1,000 graduate and undergraduate chapters with an international membership of more than 300,000 women who engage in programs of service that enhance the social, economic, and educational well-being of their local communities.
Russia-Ukraine war: After a report claimed that Tesla CEO Elon Musk directly spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin before suggesting a peace proposal on Ukraine on Twitter, Musk has broken his silence on the matter.

He has denied the report published by VICE news and claimed that he only spoke to Putin once 18 months ago. Musk further said that the two spoke about space.

According to the VICE news report, Musk spoke to Putin before rolling out a peace proposal for the Russia-Ukraine war to his Twitter followers which received immense backlash from Ukrainian officials including President Zelenskyy.

Also Read: Chinese envoy to US praises Elon Musk's 'peace proposal' to resolve China-Taiwan tensions

The multibillionaire had floated out options to end the Russia-Ukraine war. One of the options was to formally allow Russia to annex Crimea.

"In a mailout sent to Eurasia Group subscribers, Ian Bremmer wrote that Tesla CEO Musk told him that Putin was `prepared to negotiate,` but only if Crimea remained Russian if Ukraine accepted a form of permanent neutrality, and Ukraine recognised Russia`s annexation of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia," the VICE report said.

Earlier, irked over the billionaire`s comments, Ukraine`s former Ambassador to Germany Andrij Melnyk had lashed out at Musk."F*** off is my very diplomatic reply to you," Melnyk said in a Tweet.

"The only outcome that now no Ukrainian will EVER buy your f***ing tesla crap. So good luck to you," he said in another tweet.

Putin last week formally announced the annexation of four regions - Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia and claimed that "this is the will of millions of people.
Islamabad: Pakistan is ready to procure 6.2 million mosquito nets from India post its flood crisis. The Pakistan government on Tuesday (Oct 11) approved the decision on Tuesday (Oct 11). This step was taken to protect the citizens from mosquito-borne diseases after the massive flooding in the country. "Malaria is spreading at a rapid pace in 32 flood-affected districts of the country where thousands of children are infected with the mosquito-borne diseases," Pakistan health officials were quoted as saying by The News International.

WHO concerned about 'second disaster' in Pakistan

The Pakistani officials said they are planning to obtain the nets as early as possible and are hopeful that these would be obtained by the mid of November via the Wagah route.

Also Read: Pakistan Floods: World Bank to provide USD 323 billion to farmers in affected areas

Last month, the World Health Organization (WHO) expressed deep concerns about the potential for a "second disaster" in Pakistan due to a wave of diseases.

Earlier this month, the United Nations launched the revised flash appeal of USD 816 million to respond to the needs of people affected by climate-induced floods in Pakistan.

This increase reflects the rising needs and the unprecedented scale of destruction caused by the current climate-induced disaster which has affected a population of 33 million, cost 1,600 lives, and threatens hundreds of thousands more as a second disaster looms within the first one.

(With ANI inputs)
Washington: A day after Russia`s large-scale missile strikes on Ukrainian cities, Group of Seven (G7) nations condemned the attacks and warned that the use of nuclear weapons on Ukraine will have severe consequences, according to a statement released by the White House. Leaders of G7 states (the UK, Germany, Italy, Canada, the US, France, and Japan) said, "We deplore deliberate Russian escalator steps, including the partial mobilization of reservists and irresponsible nuclear rhetoric, which is putting global peace and security at risk. We reaffirm that any use of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons by Russia would be met with severe consequences."

Earlier, on Monday, Russia conducted that large-scale strikes on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and other locations on Monday, which drew condemnation from several countries. The statement came after the G7 held a meeting with Ukraine`s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that took place against the backdrop of the recent missile attacks against civilian infrastructure and cities across Ukraine, leading to the death of innocent civilians.

Talking about Russia`s annexation of Ukraine`s four regions, the G7 said that Russia has blatantly violated the principles enshrined in the UN Charter. "They cannot and do not give Russia a legitimate basis to change Ukraine`s borders. We call upon all countries to unequivocally reject these violations of international law and demand that Russia ceases all hostilities and immediately, completely, and unconditionally withdraw all of its troops and military equipment from Ukraine," the statement said.

G7 in the statement said that they have imposed and will continue to impose further economic costs on Russia, and even on other countries who are providing political or economic support for Russia`s illegal attempts to change the status of Ukrainian territory.

Also Read: EAM Jaishankar raises concerns over Russia's missile attacks on Ukraine

"We reiterate our call on the Belarusian authorities to stop enabling the Russian war of aggression by permitting Russian armed forces to use Belarusian territory and by providing support to the Russian military. The announcement of a joint military group with Russia constitutes the most recent example of the Belarusian regime`s complicity with Russia. We renew our call on the Lukashenko regime to fully abide by its obligations under international law," the statement said.

"We reaffirm our full support for Ukraine`s independence, territorial integrity, and sovereignty in its internationally recognized borders. In line with international law, in particular the UN Charter, Ukraine has the legitimate right to defend itself against Russian aggression and to regain full control of its territory within its internationally recognized borders," the statement added.

G7 also said that they are looking forward to the outcomes of the International Expert Conference on the Recovery, Reconstruction, and Modernisation of Ukraine, which is taking place on October 25. Talking about the "deliberate damage" in Nordstream pipelines, G7 said that they strongly condemn deliberate disruption of critical infrastructure. "We will act in solidarity and close coordination to address the negative impact of Russia`s aggression for global economic stability, including by continuing to cooperate to ensure energy security and affordability across the G7 and beyond," G7 said in the statement.
New Delhi: After the Group of Seven (G7) pledged to set a price cap on Russian oil sold globally, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Moscow would not sell oil at a lower price cap. Putin stated at the Russian Energy Week 2022 event hosted by Russia's state-owned media - RT, "I have to say that Russia will not act against our benefit, we will not act to decrease our standing by providing oil or gas at lower prices. No, we will not succumb to this. We will not play by the rules others set and will not act to our detriment." Western countries are increasing their efforts to deprive Russia of its main source of revenue, 'oil.'

As the Ukraine conflict enters its eighth month with no end in sight, the West suspects the Kremlin is funding the invasion with profits from the continued sale of fossil fuels, which account for more than 40% of its budget, according to Euronews. The G7 cap would prevent Russian cargoes from selling oil that exceeded the G7 limit, which is still unknown. As a result, Russia would lose a significant portion of the oil revenues it would otherwise earn if the cap were not in place.

Also Read: Russia-Ukraine war: G7 warns President Putin of severe consequences if uses nuclear weapon

According to Russia's central bank, crude oil exports will be worth Euro113 billion in 2021, in addition to the Euro70 billion earned from refined products such as gasoline and diesel, according to Euronews.

Recently, Saudi Arabia and Russia, as leaders of the OPEC Plus energy cartel, agreed to their first large production cut in more than two years to raise prices, countering efforts by the US and Europe to cut off Moscow's enormous revenue from crude sales. President Biden and European leaders have urged increased oil production to lower gasoline prices and punish Russia for its aggression in Ukraine.

"Russia will not sell oil at lower price cap," said Russian President Vladimir Putin, as reported by Russian Media RT  ANI (@ANI) October 12, 2022

(With agencies' inputs)
HARTFORD  Highway expansion projects rarely satisfy everybody.

So when property owners came out to public involvement meeting in Hartford this week to see a proposed route to expand State Highway 52, it would not be surprising if they left feeling a range of emotions  relief that the proposed route wont affect their property and frustration that it could.

The public involvement meeting held Tuesday evening in Hartfords community center drew about 60 people. Representatives with the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) stood near project maps waiting to answer questions about the states proposal to add lanes to a seven-mile stretch from Hartford to Slocomb.

Local and state elected officials have long seen the widening of Highway 52 as an economic development driver for the county and the Wiregrass.

But residents have questions regarding the new right of way ALDOT requires to expand a two-lane portion of the highway to five lanes  Why not take new right of way from both sides along the entire proposed corridor?

Based on the project maps, most of the homes that could be impacted by right-of-way purchases fall within a stretch from Shiloh Road in Hartford to Slocomb, where plans call for the current two-lane section to be widened to five lanes. In some cases, the new right-of-way line runs directly through homes or right up to them. But, as the project is still in a preliminary phase, the proposed right of way could change  it could move closer to some homes and further away from others, according to ALDOT.

Until she saw the project map on Tuesday, Starla Outlaw was under the impression she was going to lose her house, which sits on Highway 52 just west of Hurricane Creek. She has land on both sides of the highway that could be impacted by the proposed route.

Based on the map, the new road lanes and required right of way take from Outlaws front yard but fall short of her house. Her front yard trees and the shadows they cast in the aerial photo used for the route map make it hard to tell exactly how close to her house the new right of way will be located.

Outlaw said she wants to see prosperity for Geneva County and her hometown of Hartford. Like other property owners, she also wants to see a final decision on where the right of way will land in front of her home.

I love my land, and I also want the road if its going to help, Outlaw said.  The fact of the matter is the property, even if it lands at my doorstep its still not my property out front. I wont own it.

Some questions couldnt be answered easily. When will residents know for sure how much of their property will be taken for the project? That timeframe is unclear because ALDOT has to receive authorization and funds have to be released by the state for ADLOT to buy rights of way. When will construction begin? Well, the construction start date is fluid depending on right-of-way acquisition. ALDOT cant bid the project until it has all the necessary right of way.

Some questions couldnt be answered at all. How will the highway expansion move through Hartford when efforts to expand the other leg of Highway 52 get underway? Will it remain two lanes as it passes through the towns business district and past its historic downtown square?

For Tonya Everett and one of her neighbors, the project map they saw Tuesday night at Hartfords community center didnt directly affect their properties located within two blocks of where the project begins at First Avenue.

Everett was more concerned about any future expansion of the corridor and what impact it could have on her quiet neighborhood. There were no answers for her as that leg of the Highway 52 expansion is not even a part of the current project.

Theres some kind of a vision for where youre going, and we would kind of like to know what it is, Everett said.

Residents have until Nov. 4 to submit their comments on the project to ALDOT. Comments can be submitted online at www.ALDOTinvolved.com and by email at hartfordbypass@dot.state.al.us. Residents can also call 334-807-8793 to leave their comments in voice mail with a three-minute limit or mail comments to: ALDOTSoutheast Region Office, 100 Capitol Commerce Blvd., Suite 210, Building B, Montgomery, AL 36117.

On the Slocomb end of the project, Mark Yager moved to his Highway 52 home last December after living in Central Florida, working in road construction and relocating underground utilities. He had worried he was going to lose a large chunk of a pecan orchard in front of his house, which turned out not to be the case based on ALDOTs map. Hes not worried based on the proposed route.

It looks like theyre going to take a little bit of property and probably my first row of pecans, Yager said.
MONTGOMERY  An Alabama inmate said prison staff poked him with needles for over an hour as they tried to find a vein during an aborted lethal injection last month. At one point, they left him hanging vertically on a gurney before state officials made the decision to call off the execution.

Attorneys for 57-year-old Alan Eugene Miller wrote about his experience during Alabama's Sept. 22 execution attempt in a court filing made last week. Millers attorneys are trying to block the state from attempting a second lethal injection.

Two men in scrubs used needles to repeatedly probe Miller's arms, legs, feet and hands, at one point using a cell phone flashlight to help their search for a vein, according to the Oct. 6 court filing. The attorneys called Miller the "only living execution survivor in the United States and said Alabama subjected Miller to precisely the unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain that the Eighth Amendment was intended to prohibit.

Alabama has asked the state Supreme Court to set a new execution date for Miller, saying the execution was canceled only because of a time issue as the state faced a midnight deadline to get the lethal injection underway.

Despite this failed execution, the physical and mental torture it inflicted upon Mr. Miller, and the fact that Defendants have now botched three lethal injection executions in just four years, Defendants relentlessly seek to execute Mr. Miller againpresumably by lethal injection," attorneys for Miller wrote, referencing an execution that was canceled and another that took three hours to get underway.

What then, in Defendants view, is a constitutional amount of time to spend stabbing someone with needles in an attempt to kill them? his attorneys wrote.

The 351-pound (159-kilogram) inmate testified in an earlier court hearing that medical workers always have difficulty accessing his veins, and that is why he wanted to be executed by nitrogen hypoxia, a newly approved execution method that the state has yet to try.

Miller said he was led into the execution chamber at 10 p.m., about an hour after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted an injunction that had been blocking the lethal injunction, and was strapped to the gurney at about 10:15 p.m.

After the two men used needles to probe various parts of his body for a vein, also using a phone flashlight to help, Miller told the men, he could feel that they were not accessing his veins, but rather stabbing around his veins. Later, a third man then began slapping his neck in an apparent attempt to look for a vein.

The three men in scrubs stopped their probing and left the chamber after there was a loud knock on a death chamber window from the state's observation room, according to the court filing. A prison officer then raised the gurney to a vertical position. Miller said the wall clock read 11:40 p.m. and he estimated that he hung there for about 20 minutes before he was let down and told that his execution was cancelled for the evening.

Mr. Miller felt nauseous, disoriented, confused, and fearful about whether he was about to be killed, and was deeply disturbed by his view of state employees silently staring at him from the observation room while he was hanging vertically from the gurney. Blood was leaking from some of Mr. Millers wounds, the motion stated.

Miller was sentenced to death after being convicted of a 1999 workplace rampage in which he killed Terry Jarvis, Lee Holdbrooks and Scott Yancy.

Due to the lateness of the hour, the Alabama Department of Corrections was limited in the number of attempts to gain intravenous access it could make. ADOC made the decision to halt its efforts to obtain IV access at approximately 11:30 p.m., resulting in the expiration of the courts execution warrant, the state attorney generals office wrote in the request for a new date.

This is at least the third time Alabama has acknowledged problems with vein access during a lethal injection. The states July execution of Joe Nathan James took more than three hours to get underway. Alabama called off the 2018 execution of Doyle Hamm after being unable to establish an intravenous line.
Last spring, an organization working to restore felons voting rights, Greater Birmingham Ministries, requested the state provide the names, addresses and telephone numbers of felons who had not been allowed to vote: those removed from voter rolls between June 11, 2019, and June 11, 2021 or whose application to register was denied because of a felony conviction during the same time period, along with people who were removed from the voting rolls after the 2020 election.

Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill denied the requests specific to felons, and offered the list of all voters removed from the rolls after the 2020 election at a cost to GBM of $1,123, or a penny per voter.

Last week, a federal judge ruled that Greater Birmingham Ministries had a right to the information requested under a public inspection provision of the National Voter Registration Act, and that the information should be provided free or at a reasonable cost related to the actual cost of providing the information, which is stored electronically.

In other words, the $1,123 set of records along with the other two sets of records could be easily retrieved and delivered by email or on a portable data device like a common thumb drive that can be purchased for a few dollars.

In requesting the public records more than a year before the 2022 primaries and general election, it appears GSM hoped to complete most if not all of its efforts to restore voting rights to felons prior to this years election. With the deadline for voter registration ahead of the November general election less than two weeks away, that seems unlikely now  which may well have been the point.

It should not take a federal court order to compel Alabamas top voting official to adhere to the law. Merrill should be well-versed in nuance of the National Voter Registration Act, and respond to requests accordingly.
Two people pass by a fuel station in Phu Nhuan District, Ho Chi Minh City on October 12, 2022. Photo by VnExpress/Thi Ha

Ho Chi Minh City will have enough fuel for the next 10 days, the municipal Department of Industry and Trade affirmed Wednesday amidst reports of shortages intensifying since last weekend.

Of the 137 fuel stations that ran out of stock Tuesday, nearly 68% have resumed selling as of 12 p.m., department director Bui Ta Hoang Vu said at a press conference.

Several gas stations that VnExpress reporters visited Wednesday had less customers queuing up than Tuesday.

"People are no longer swarming the station so it has been less pressure for us," said an employee of a station in Go Vap District, asking to not be identified.

Other gas stations in Go Vap and Binh Thanh Districts saw the number of customers fall by half over Tuesday and employees there said that supplies had resumed since early morning Wednesday.

Dao Van Hung, deputy director of fuel supplier Petrolimex Saigon, said that the company will supply 400,000 cubic meters of fuel to the city over the next 10 days.

Consumption at Petrolimex stations in the city has fallen by 30% from the last several days to 2,025 cubic meters a day, the pre-shortage normal, he added.

Another supplier, Saigon Petro, said two fuel ships arrived Wednesday with 15,000 cubic meters of RON95 gasoline.

Another 20,000 cubic meters of both RON95 and diesel will arrive October 17, and 12,000 cubic meters of diesel will come on October 23, said CEO Pham Van Thoai.

Stations have received adequate fuel and supply will resume to normal in the next two days, he added.

Retailer Hoc Mon Commercial Company, which has 22 gas stations in HCMC, said that seven fuel tankers have been mobilized to supply stations in Hoc Mon District.

Tran Duy Dong, head of the domestic market department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said that high profits from diesel in recent months have prompted Vietnams two refineries to increase production of this fuel and reduce that of gasoline.

The ministry has ordered these refineries, which account for 70% of domestic fuel needs, to ensure that their gasoline deliveries meet commitments made to suppliers.

"Backup inventory must be used if needed, to meet demand in areas where shortages have occurred," Dong said.

The ministry will also work with the State Bank of Vietnam to provide more credit to suppliers who have been complaining that banks are not willing to lend them the money to increase supply as credit quotas have been reached.

The ministry plans to give each supplier a certain sourcing quota, either from domestic refineries or from imports, to ensure market demands are met.
Letting public companies invest in new airports would help improve the countrys infrastructure to meet rising demand and reduce dependency on state-owned enterprises, analysts have said.

Transportation demand is a key factor in the modern economy as both businesspeople and tourists have a need to travel to many places, even distant destinations, in the shortest time possible, said former head of the Vietnam Institute of Economics Tran Dinh Thien at a Tuesday forum.

The aviation industry therefore plays an important role in boosting travel thanks to its high speed, and without new airports many localities will forever lay "in the dark," he added.

Van Don International Airport in the northern province of Quang Ninh, the first airport built by private investors in Vietnam, has proved that private companies can build an airport with speed and efficiency, Thien said.

"Private companies might even be more solid than state-owned enterprises. Letting them build airports will increase the openness of the country and boost development."

Nguyen Van Vinh, deputy head of the Vietnam Institute for Development Strategies, said that private investors should be given the chance to decide how big an airport should be to ensure cost-effectiveness, while the government only needs to create a transparent legal framework so private firms are assured in public-private investment projects.

Nguyen Dinh Cung, former head of the Central Institute for Economic Management, said that two-thirds of Vietnams planned airports, especially small ones, should be invested via private funding as the state-run Airports Corporation of Vietnam has limited resources.

Many localities in Vietnam have been proposing new airports in recent years as demand travel rises.

Lao Cai Province, a northern locality famous for mountainous Sa Pa Town, welcomed 5.2 million tourists in 2019 (before Covid-19), up from 2.8 million in 2015.

Its deputy chairman Nguyen Trong Hai said that a new airport would help improve the countrys logistics and economic growth.

The province is now looking for a private investor to build a VND7 trillion airport under a public-private partnership. Bidding is set to open in November.

Cung said localities that are seeking permission for airport construction have a legitimate demand and their proposals should be included in the countrys aviation plan for the next decades.

Instead of limiting the countrys number of airports to 28 by 2030 or 31 by 2050, the government should plan for more airports and let each locality decide whether it needs one based on actual demand.

Phan Duc Hieu, a standing member of the National Assemblys Economic Committee, said that an airport not only boosts a provinces economic prospects but could also play a key role in supporting social needs like receiving aid during natural disasters.

Authorities should consider all benefits of an airport and approve proposals quickly, he added.

Vietnam currently has 22 civilian airports, but the biggest ones in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi have been overloaded for years, driving the need for new constructions and upgrades.
South Africa: Stilfontein illegal miners remanded in custody

The 20 suspects arrested during an operation at which a firearms cache was seized at a mine shaft in Stilfontein in the North West on Monday, have been remanded in custody.

The accused, aged between 19 and 40, on Tuesday appeared before the Stilfontein Magistrate's court. The case was postponed to 18 October 2022 for verification of addresses and their immigration status.

Hawks spokesperson, Colonel Katlego Mogale, said another suspect was arrested on the same day, later on the day at his home in Stilfontein.

The suspect was seen in the footage collected during surveillance, with his vehicle delivering goods at the shaft on several occasions. The case against the 21 accused was postponed to 18 October 2022 for verification of addresses and their immigration status, she said.

They were arrested by a team led by the Hawks' Serious Organised Crime Investigation assisted by members of the Hawks' Tactical Management Section, Special Task Force, National Intervention Unit, District Illegal Mining Task Team, Tactical Response Team, Bidvest Protea Coin, and Harmony Gold mine.

Mogale said: The operation comes following weeks of surveillance into the alleged illegal mining activities of the suspects resulting in the arrest of 20 suspects and the seizure of 15 AK47s, six hunting rifles, two shotguns and one R5, boxes full of ammunition, explosives and an undisclosed amount of money.

Also scheduled to appear before the Stilfontein Magistrate's court Wednesday were 88 alleged illegal miners who were arrested in Orkney on 20 October 2021 where 11 firearms, ammunition, illegal mining paraphernalia, gold bearing material and food was seized.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday three suspects were arrested after the police operationalised information regarding individuals alleged to have been in possession of firearms.

Mogale said the trio was traveling in a taxi from Lesotho to Klerksdorp.

Upon arrival at Klerksdorp, the suspects were searched and two pistols were found in their possession, she said.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2022-10-12. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
By Azernews





By Ayya Lmahamad

From January to August 2022, the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Moldova has increased by 4 times, including exports increase by 13 times, Azernews reports.

The remarks were made during a meeting between Moldovan Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita and representatives of the Azerbaijani business circles.

Noting that trade and investment relations are one of the main directions of Azerbaijani-Moldovan cooperation, the participants stated that about 30 Moldovan companies work in various fields in Azerbaijan.

During the meeting, Natalia Gavrilita noted that Moldova attaches special importance to the development of relations with Azerbaijan. She noted the role of discussions in developing cooperation and establishing new business ties and underlined the importance of expanding relations between business circles and the implementation of new joint projects in various sectors.

The prime minister spoke about the work done in attracting investment, developing entrepreneurship, supporting SMBs in Moldova, and invited the business community to active cooperation.

Moreover, Azerbaijani Deputy Economy Minister Sahib Mammadov emphasized the importance of the event in expanding trade and economic relations and cooperation between business circles.

He spoke about the favorable business and investment environment in Azerbaijan, mechanisms to support entrepreneurs, construction projects implemented in the liberated territories, activities of industrial zones, and opportunities of the Alat Free Economic Zone.

The meeting included a presentation of Moldova's investment environment, answers to businessmen's questions, and suggestions on how to expand relations between business circles.

Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established on May 29, 1992. The embassy of Azerbaijan in Moldova was opened on October 5, 2005, while the embassy of Moldova in Azerbaijan was opened on November 1, 2005.

In total, fifty-nine documents were signed between the two countries. The trade relations between Azerbaijan and Moldova amounted to $6.2 million in 2021.
Global semiconductor makers are betting on Vietnam as their next production destination with the country being considered ready for a move up in the value chain.

The U.S.'s Synopsys, one of the worlds biggest chip design software companies, is set to invest in and shift its engineer training to Vietnam, Nikkei Asia reported last month.

It will train engineers and provide software licenses for a chip design center at the Saigon Hi-Tech Park.

Synopsys has two offices each in Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang with more than 400 employees and plans to add another 300-400.

Last month CEO of South Koreas Samsung Electronics, Roh Tae-moon, told Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh that his company is working to test manufacture ball grid array products at its plant in the northern Thai Nguyen Province, and start commercial production in July 2023.

Samsung, the biggest foreign direct investor in Vietnam, has completed 85% of its research and development center in the country and hopes to complete it by the end of the year.

Another South Korean company, Amkor Technology, earlier this year signed a deal to set up a US$1.6-billion semiconductor materials manufacturing factory in the northern province of Bac Ninh.

Amkor, a supplier to top electronics companies like Qualcomm, Samsung and NVIDIA, will open the plant by the end of next year.

Other semiconductor manufacturers like U.S. giant Intel and Japan's Renesas Electronics have been in Vietnam for years.

The production of semiconductors in Vietnam signals that foreign companies are supporting the countrys manufacturing sector and driving an increase in the complexity of products made here, investment firm VinaCapitals chief economist, Michael Kokalari, said.

"The primary motivations for firms to set up high-tech factories in Vietnam include Vietnams high-skill, low-wage work force and the countrys geographic proximity to high-tech supply chains in Asia," he said in a recent note.

This would, in the long run, benefit Vietnams long-term economic prospects, he said.

"We expect the imported content of Vietnams exports to plunge and the local content contribution to soar as local firms develop their ability to supply FDI companies with production inputs in the years ahead."

Robert Li, Synopsys sales vice president for Taiwan, Southeast Asia and India, told Nikkei that Vietnam could climb the value chain by designing integrated circuits for refrigerators and air conditioners.

Do Khoa Tan, deputy general secretary of the Vietnam Electronics Industries Association, said the entry of global semiconductor makers is putting the country in the high-tech spotlight.

The production of semiconductors requires large investment and human resources, and the engineers trained by Vietnamese universities in semiconductor designing are yet to be absorbed by industry, he told the media.

Dang Luong Mo, a microchip engineer in Japan, said there are thousands of good semiconductor engineers in Vietnam who are making chips for companies in the U.S., Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and elsewhere.

The increased investment by multinationals would ensure that the chips made in Vietnam find buyers in the global market, he added.
A border guard officer at Moc Bai International Border Gate in Tay Ninh Province collects information from a woman rescued from Cambodia, October 11, 2022. Photo by VnExpress/Thai Ha

Border guards in Vietnam's southern Tay Ninh Province on Tuesday received 78 Vietnamese rescued from casinos and illegal firms in Cambodia.

They were handed over to officers at Moc Bai International Border Gate after being saved thanks to joint efforts of Cambodian authorities and the Vietnamese Embassy.

All of them had been tricked to come to Cambodia and forced to work in casinos and for illegal companies near the Cambodia-Vietnam border. It was not clear how long each has been in Cambodia.

Border guards have identified the returnees and completed procedures for them to return to their hometowns.

The verification process, however, found one to be a suspect wanted internationally for smuggling. The suspect has been handed over to Ho Chi Minh City police.

Cambodian authorities have been ramping up efforts to stamp out human trafficking in the country.

Thanks to the campaign, border personnel in Vietnamese localities have repeatedly received repatriates from Cambodia.

In most cases, those Vietnamese were promised jobs with decent salaries in Cambodia before they were made to work against their will, traded among business owners, and forced to trick more Vietnamese via online platforms. In some cases, returnees have been reported being physically abused and threatened with death if they did not follow the rules.

According to the Vietnamese Embassy in Cambodia, so far this year, Vietnamese authorities and police have coordinated with Cambodian authorities to rescue more than 600 people who were tricked into working illegally across the border.

Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sar Kheng, who heads a national committee on human trafficking, told Cambodian press earlier that in the year to late August, the country had investigated 87 cases of human trafficking, tried 17 cases involving a total 60 people, and rescued 865 foreigners.
Five men in southern Vietnam's Tra Vinh Province were detained Wednesday after killing one man in a gang fight using guns and swords.

Nguyen Truong Giang (nicknamed Giang Linh), Nguyen Thanh Nhan, Nguyen Quoc Hung, Lu Gia Hung and another man also named Nguyen Truong Giang were detained by Tra Vinh police to be investigated for murder.

Giang Linh and Huynh Hai Tuan had conflicts with one another and arranged a fight, an investigation revealed. On Monday, Giang Linh and his accomplices brought with them guns, knives and swords, along with other weapons, to look for Tuan's gang.

At noon the same day, upon seeing Tuans gang, Giang Linhs group used guns to shoot at Tuan and his group, wounding him. Tuan eventually died from his injuries, while one of his underlings suffered a minor injury.

Police caught Giang Linh and his four accomplices Tuesday night as they were hiding in Tra Vinh. Five guns and several knives and swords were also seized in the process.
Members of the Vietnamese delegation at the election to choose members of the U.N. Human Rights Council in New York, October 11, 2022. Photo by Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Vietnam is one of 14 countries elected by the United Nations General Assembly to the UN Human Rights Council for the 2023-25 term.

At the election Tuesday at the UN headquarters in New York, the U.S., it won 145 out of a total of 189 votes, according to UN WebTV.

The 13 other members elected are: Algeria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Chile, Costa Rica, Georgia, Germany, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Morocco, Romania, South Africa, and Sudan.

Candidates are divided into five geographical regions, with the Asia-Pacific being the most competitive.

Vietnam was the only Southeast Asian candidate.

I congratulate:



Algeria

Bangladesh

Belgium

Chile

Costa Rica

Georgia

Germany

Kyrgyzstan

Maldives

Morocco @RomaniaUN_NY @SAMissionNY @SudanMissionUN @VietNam_UN



on their election to the Human Rights Council for the term 2023-2025. pic.twitter.com/ZFajw0Y2pr  UN GA President (@UN_PGA) October 11, 2022

After the results were announced, the head of the Vietnamese delegation, Deputy Foreign Minister Pham Quang Hieu, said it is a testament to Vietnam's position and reputation, which is constantly being strengthened and enhanced in the international arena.

It also shows the international community's recognition of Vietnam's efforts and achievements in human rights protection, he said.

Ambassador Dang Hoang Giang, head of the Vietnamese delegation to the UN, emphasized the importance of the Human Rights Council and the high level of competition between the candidates.

With its message of "Mutual Respect. Dialogue and Cooperation. Ensuring All Human Rights, for all," Vietnam would contribute to the greater cause of protecting and promoting human rights in the next three years, he said.

Through dialogue and cooperation, Vietnam would promote priorities such as protecting vulnerable groups and ensuring human rights in response to global issues, he added.

This is the second time Vietnam has been elected to the UNHCR after 2014-16.

The 47-nation body is tasked with promoting and protecting human rights.
Long Beach on Phu Quoc Island in Kien Giang Province. Photo by VnExpress/Khanh Tran

A non-stop flight carrying 126 passengers from Bangkok landed at Phu Quoc Internaitonal Airport on Wednesday afternoon, marking the first direct service between the Vietnamese tourist island and Thai capital.

There will be four weekly flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays with a flight time exceeding one hour.

Earlier, people flying on the route had to transit in Ho Chi Minh City.

The opening of the direct flight came as both Vietnam and Thailand reopened their borders to foreign tourists and lifted most Covid restrictions.

Woranate Laprabang, general director of Vietjet Thailand, said Phu Quoc is a popular tourist destination and the new flight would help bring in more Thai tourists to Vietnam post reopening.

Thailand was Vietnam's fastest growing tourist market before the pandemic, with the number of visitors from that country rising by 46% year-on-year to 509,000 in 2019.

Phu Quoc, Vietnam's largest island, is famous for its white-sand beaches and fish sauce, an indispensable Vietnamese condiment.

The island has become globally popular since the government allowed 30-day visa free entry in 2014.
The Chon Thanh  Duc Hoa section of Ho Chi Minh Highway runs through the southern provinces of Binh Phuoc, Binh Duong, Tay Ninh and Long An, all parts of the Southern Key Economic Zone.

The section was first invested by funds raised from selling government bonds, but in 2011, the funding policy for the project was changed as the government wanted to reduce public investments to ease pressure on state funds.

The section runs from the intersection with National Highway 12 in Binh Phuocs Chon Thanh District to the intersection located near ring roads No.3 and No.4 in Ho Chi Minh City.

Until now, several parts of the section have been completed, including the overpass running above National Highway 13 in Binh Phuoc Province as seen in the photo above.
The United States has been proud to be a partner to Colombia and its people throughout the peace process, declared Secretary Antony Blinken. The peace agreement finalized in 2016 between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia ended the longest-running conflict in the Western Hemisphere. During Secretary Blinkens recent visit, the United States took another step in support of securing a lasting peace in Colombia, by becoming the first International Accompanier to the Ethnic Chapter of Colombias 2016 Peace Accord.



The Chapter recognizes that there can be no lasting peace without justice and equality for the Afro-Colombian and Indigenous people, who have been disproportionately harmed by this conflict, said Secretary Blinken.



Over five decades, 38 percent of Afro-Colombians, 27 percent of Indigenous people registered as victims of the conflict. By 2017, nearly a million had been forcibly displaced," he said. "Countless others suffered atrocities and human rights abuses  massacres, torture, disappearances, killings, sexual violence. Too often, those crimes went unpunished."



The Ethnic Chapter sets out a vision for an inclusive peace that addresses this history of inequity and ensures the rights of Afro-Colombians and Indigenous people going forward, said Secretary Blinken.



Since supporting the negotiation process, weve supported Colombias efforts to help protect vulnerable communities, dismantle criminal organizations, support investigations and prosecutions of perpetrators of violence and human rights abuses," he said. "In all, weve contributed more than $1 billion to support Colombian-led efforts to implement the Peace Accord.



Last year, the U.S. Agency for International Development launched a five-year, $60 million program to support economic, political, and social inclusion in Colombia  the largest program of its kind in the world. The U.S. is partnering with nine Afro-Colombian and Indigenous organizations to create and implement peacebuilding and sustainable development initiatives.



Working toward greater equality will not only strengthen the foundations of peace in Colombia, but also the countrys democracy. Because when every community has equal access to opportunity, to justice, to development, and security, all of society benefits.



The work that were here to support  like the Ethnic Chapter itself  is only possible because of incredibly courageous Colombians who have risked everything in the fight for equal rights, declared Secretary Blinken. The United States is proud to be Colombias partner in this endeavor.
ELKO  A man who had to be Tased multiple times during an attempted home invasion has been sentenced to 2-5 years in prison.

West Wendover Police were called to a residence three times on the night of April 20 on reports that Antonio L. Correa, 40, had entered the home and stolen a womans clothes, then made repeated attempts to enter again.

On the third call police were told Correa had a knife in his hand and was trying to kick in the door.

After ignoring commands from police he was shot with a Taser but it had no effect and he got into a scuffle with an officer, according to court records.

Another officer fired a Taser multiple times in drive stun mode until he stopped fighting.

Police said Correa admitted to being under the influence of methamphetamine.

He was originally booked on charges of aggravated stalking, harassment, resisting a public officer, trespass constituting domestic violence, using or being under the influence of a controlled substance, and failure to appear after bail on a misdemeanor crime.

He pleaded no contest to attempted home invasion and was sentenced Sept. 27 by District Judge Mason Simons to 24 to 60 months in prison.

Correa served a previous prison term in 2012. In that case, he was listed as an Idaho resident when he and another man broke into a West Wendover home. He was found guilty of attempted grand larceny and sentenced to 34 months in prison by District Judge Al Kacin.
Staff members at Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital wore pink last week to mark the arrival of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Throughout October, NNRH is offering discounted pricing on screening mammograms for women ages 40 and above.

We know that mammograms save lives, said Becky Jones, the hospitals chief nursing officer. Thats why we go pink each year and remind women to schedule their annual screenings.

NNRH provides 3D mammography services, which Jones stated can improve cancer detection by up to 40%. This really is the best mammography system in our region, she explained. It provides doctors with the clearest images and helps them catch cancer early, when its most treatable.

Jones also stated that cost should not be a deterrent to women getting an annual mammogram. Many insurance plans cover the cost in full, and for women who are uninsured, there are community programs in place to help out, she said.

At NNRH, a doctors order is not required for a screening mammogram since women over 40 can make a self-referral when they call and schedule.

The important thing to us is that every woman in our community should have access to a mammogram, Jones said. Every woman deserves the peace of mind that a mammogram can bring.

Those who are interested in scheduling a mammogram at NNRH may call 775-748-2243 and select option 2.
Judge Joe Bonaventure and Danielle Piper Chio

Policy, politics and progressive commentary

Longtime Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Joe M. Bonaventure is seeking a fourth term in Justice Court Dept. 9. He captured 49.3% of the vote in the June three-way primary election. Danielle Piper Chio, a Clark County prosecutor, came in second with 31.1%.

Bonaventure, who raised $37,530 through June and spent $25,905, is losing the money game to his opponent. Chio reports raising $184,780 through June and spending $123,345.

Bonaventure says he rejects the notion that the most qualified candidate receives the most money in contributions.

I have handled every type of case in Justice Court, he says. I run on experience.

Bonaventure won his first election in 2004, just three years after graduating from UNLVs Boyd Law School.

Ive been a judge for over 17 years now, he says, adding hes amazed when I say it out loud.

His father, District Court Judge Joe Bonaventure, presided over high-profile cases in Clark County, including the trial of Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish, who were convicted in 2000 of murdering casino heir Ted Binion.

Bonaventure presides over criminal cases, but has split his caseload between criminal and civil matters, including small claims and evictions. He says he established the countywide Criminal Justice Coordinating Council and had a substantial amount to do with establishing an initial appearance court which operates daily, and ensures defendants timely appearances before a judge, rather than a paper review of their case.

We now have two sessions for probable cause reviews, he says. Normally the defendants appear in court actually in front of a judge within 12 to 24 hours of arrest.

Bonaventure says the Justice Court has been largely unaffected by modest legislative reforms to the criminal justice system. He says the court had already adopted the practice of requiring the prosecution to prove a defendant is a danger to the community before the Valdez-Jimenez ruling by the Nevada Supreme Court in 2020 officially shifted the burden from defense to prosecution, in an effort to ensure pretrial defendants do not remain incarcerated simply because they cant afford bail.

Results, Bonaventure says have been overwhelmingly positive, though he did not have data available. The percentage of individuals who are complying with conditions of release that are actually making their court appearances and not reoffending is a significant number. So it does appear to be working.

Bonaventure ran unopposed in 2010, and defeated two opponents in the primary in 2016. I won overwhelmingly, he says. I got nearly 60% of the vote.

He is endorsed by Culinary Local 226, SEIU Nevada, the AFL-CIO of Nevada, Clark County Firefighters, Nevada NOW, and others.

Chio, who is making her first bid for public office, did not respond to requests for an interview.

Volunteer work inspired me to go to law school, to be a voice for victims of violent crime, says Chios website. A campaign video features an endorsement from fellow prosecutor and Democratic state Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro.

She is also endorsed by the Las Vegas Police Protective Association, Laborers International 872, the Clark County Prosecutors Association, Hispanics in Politics, and a variety of other unions and law enforcement associations.

Chio attended the University of Pacific, McGeorge School of Law. She became a prosecutor for the City of Las Vegas in 2003. She moved to the Clark County District Attorneys office in 2005, where she joined the Special Victims Unit in 2009, prosecuting sexual assault cases, and was promoted in 2012 to team chief of the gang unit.

My work at the Gang Unit also included finding alternatives to incarceration, says her website.
By Trend

Carlsberg Azerbaijan LLC intends to invest more than 25 million manat ($14 million) in its development and in the Azerbaijani economy, in accordance with the plan for 2021-2025,Managing Director of Carlsberg Azerbaijan LLC Alius Antulis told Trend.

He said that in the beginning of its activities in Azerbaijan, the company has invested 160 million manat ($94.1 million) in the country's economy.

"The company has already started its export to the neighboring Georgia. And work on increasing export market continues," Antulis said.

In addition, Antulis stressed that the company plans to completely localize production processes.

"The company wants raw materials and other goods that are necessary for the production to be 100 percent local. In this regard, a cooperation agreement has been reached with Azersheker, which will provide us with malting barley. It's also planned to establish local production of labels and bottles," he added.
(CCSD photo)

Policy, politics and progressive commentary

In Clark County School Board District G, incumbent Linda Cavazos seeks her second full term. Challenging her is Greg Wieman, a longtime educator and former rural superintendent.

In a crowded seven-person primary, Cavazos received 37.3% of votes  the best showing of the three School Board incumbents up for reelection this year but still well below the majority she would have needed to secure her seat in June. Wieman came in a distant second, securing 17.3% of votes.

Wieman says every eliminated candidate now supports him.

School Board races are nonpartisan but Cavazos, a part-time family therapist who taught in the district for 15 years, is known on the board for her vocal support of progressive policies, such as the districts gender-identity policy and a policy requiring schools to distribute letters on the importance of safe gun storage. She is also one of three current trustees who have clashed with CCSD Superintendent Jesus Jara, whose contract was recently renewed until 2026.

Cavazos said her strengths lie with her board experience and deep ties to the community, which she has lived in for more than 35 years. She considers herself one of the most accessible trustees and says she is always willing to talk to anyone as long as they arent being abusive.

I will never ignore you, she says. I may not agree with you but I will try to find the common ground, to come to where you are.

Cavazos says in her five years shes had countless parents, district employees and even concerned community members call, text, email or message her on social media to talk about issues like school performance, safety and mental health.

My number is out there in the universe, she says. Sometimes Ill get parents that will call with five of them on the line at once.

Cavazos knows board dysfunction is top of mind for many followers of the School Board, but she says she prefers the term parallel boards. She claims the three trustees who have voted to oust the superintendent  her, Danielle Ford and Lisa Guzman  are intentionally left out of communication from the district.

We are not having all the tools at the same time, says Cavazos. It hinders us. It keeps us from being cohesive and collaborative and united.

Cavazos acknowledges the upcoming election might change that dynamic. Cavazos is one of three trustees up for reelection. But she equally acknowledges she might stay on a minority voting bloc.

She is okay with that.

I didnt want to base (my decision to run) on if this person wins or if this person loses. I based it on: No matter what happens, however the dominoes fall, do I feel like I can still make a contribution?

Cavazos believes the answer is yes. If nothing else, she says, she might be the devils advocate who asks the questions that need to be asked.

I will need to work with whatever happens, she adds. I would do my best to work with the superintendent, but a lot of it depends on him.

Jara, she contends, has to make the decision whether to treat all of us fairly and equitably.

Wieman thinks voters will reject Cavazos for being ineffective.

Her biggest initiative was to fire the superintendent and she failed, he said. She has no influence with the board and superintendent. All she does is engage in symbolic votes.

Wieman says he wants to help bring credibility back to the board, which has been embarrassed by both micro-scandals, like the trustees bickering at each other on social media, and significant turmoil, like the firing and rehiring and subsequent lawsuit of the superintendent last year.

Outside entities are constantly trying to save the district from itself, he says. That includes the state legislature, the state department of education, the teachers unions. Its disheartening to watch. We brought this on ourselves through poor performance.

He added, I think I can influence the district and the board into setting performance goals that are measurable and attainable.

Wieman, a longtime teacher who has also worked as a principal and as superintendent Eureka County School District, wants the trustees to be more proactive in weighing in on policy decisions made by other boards, like the board of education or the legislature. He is, as an individual, already lobbying against some proposed changes to statewide testing policies  a subject he says he knows better than almost anyone.

I never dreamed of being a school board member, he says. This is not an aspiration. But after talking to a couple people, they basically said We need you. Maybe you could add some competency to the board. Thats why Im running.

Wieman declined to disclose everyone who initially vetted him as a potential candidate, but he did say the process began when he was reached out to by Eddie Facey, a former economic student of his. Facey is a Republican currently running for Nevada State Assembly District 42.

Wieman has been endorsed by the Clark County Education Association, Power2Parent, A Better Choice (ABC) PAC, the Las Vegas Sun and the Nevada Republican Club.

Cavazos has been endorsed by the Education Support Employees Association, SEIU, PLAN, Moms Demand Action and several trade unions.

According to campaign finance reports, Cavazos raised $10,653 in cash and in-kind donations between Jan. 1 and June 30. Her top donor was Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom, who contributed just under $5,000. Wieman, who says he chose not to fundraise for the primary, reported zero contributions between Jan. 1 and June 30. He has since begun accepting donations.

Third quarter reports, which will cover contributions and expenses between July 1 and Sept. 30, are due to the state on Oct. 15.
During the past 10 years, improvement in internet infrastructure has changed people's lives in China. Improving network coverage and related facilities in remote areas has been an important part of China's rural vitalization strategy, and it has also helped digitize rural areas. Livestreaming, e-commerce, smart agriculture and remote medical care are making people's lives better across the country.

Click here to watch the video.
Innovative Chinese enterprises and the official development strategies that support them have literally changed the map in many areas of China over the last decade, as new business parks, technology hubs and top universities and research centers have sprung up across the nation.

Click here to watch the video.
Access to safe drinking water in rural communities across China has improved over the past decade under the strong leadership of the Chinese government, with effective measures taken to tap new water sources, upgrade purification capacity and bring populations closer to viable water supplies. Since the 18th Communist Party of China (CPC) National Congress in 2012, tens of thousands of safe drinking water projects have been started across China, ensuring that rural residents can rely on safe supplies.

Click here to watch the video. https://english.cctv.com/2022/10/11/VIDEQhHnXoyHpSS2GXjx4jeJ221011.shtml




In July and August 2022, Twitter and Facebook removed two overlapping sets of accounts for violating the platforms' terms of service. The suspended accounts, according to analysts, "consistently advanced narratives promoting the interests of the United States and its allies while opposing countries including Russia, China, and Iran".

A detailed analysis of the suspicious accounts can be found in a report titled "UNHEARD VOICE: Evaluating five years of pro-Western covert influence operations", coauthored by the Stanford Internet Observatory (SIO) and Graphika. It turns out that the accounts are part of a series of covert campaigns over a period of almost five years rather than one homogeneous operation.

As disclosed by the report, the disinformation campaigns used "inauthentic tactics" to flood the information space with pro-Western propaganda. The banned accounts, for instance, showed "clear signs of automated or highly coordinated posting activity". They created fake personas with sophisticated A.I.-generated images to manipulate the online discourse by sharing similar content, posed as independent media outlets to enhance the credibility of the fake users, launched online petitions and started hashtag movements in an attempt to hype up narratives that served the agenda of the forces behind the scenes.

It came as no surprise that Twitter identified the US as one of the "presumptive countries of origin", and Facebook said the US was "the country of origin". As always, the US calls its mass production of disinformation "investing in its values". It has been scaling up input to make that happen. The Strategic Competition Act of 2021 adopted by the US Congress authorized $300 million each year to "counter the malign influence" of China.

According to the SIO-Graphika analysis and US media reports, the US military is suspected to be involved in managing the "trolls" on these two social media platforms, with a purpose to conduct secret information warfare against China and others. This explains why the accounts have shown a particular interest in all the lies related to Xinjiang, such as the so-called "genocide" and "forced labor" of the Uyghurs.

Despite these accounts' efforts, the content shared by them has long been debunked. Testimonies have revealed that the so-called survivors of and witnesses to "genocide" in Xinjiang were simply actors hired by forces bent on denigrating China. The "studies" frequently cited by Western media were churned outby pseudo-scholars with little academic integrity, like Adrian Zenz. The NGOs most motivated to spread rumors about Xinjiang were heavily sponsored by institutions like the notorious anti-China National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

The US does not even bother to explain its deceptive acts away. On the contrary, on the same day the SIO-Graphika study was released, the US Department of State issued a report accusing China of manipulating global public opinion on Xinjiang. But such "whataboutisms" have failed to deflect international attention. Instead, the list of charges compiled by the US based on its own expertise has unintentionally given away the country's manual for disinformation campaigns.

In psychology, projection refers to the mental process where people attribute to others what is in their own minds. A brief review of history will show how often and adeptly the US has adopted such a tactic. In the case of Xinjiang, the accusations the US has heaped on China seem to befit itself most. With its own past tainted with the blood of Native Americans, the US concocted the story of "genocide" in Xinjiang. While peddling conspiracies smearing Xinjiang, the US accused China of manipulating global public opinion. If there is a title for the playbook the US has been resorting to in its disinformation campaigns, it must be "thief crying 'stop thief'". But the US is bound to be disappointed: the world is clear-eyed and will not be taken in.
What economic developments in China have most interested you over the past decade? China's economy has grown by leaps and bounds and become a global economic engine as the country has shifted its focus to high-quality development.

Watch this XR-powered video as China Daily reporter Ian Goodrum discusses the country's progress.

Click here to watch the video.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (right)meets new Belarus Ambassador to Vietnam Uladzimir Baravikou on October 11. (Photo: VNA)

He welcomed the positive progress in bilateral cooperation despite the difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Prime Minister appreciated the mutual sharing of medical equipment and supplies for COVID-19 prevention and control, which he said contributed to helping the two countries overcome the pandemic, and is a noble symbol of the traditional friendship between the two peoples.

The Vietnamese Government leader suggested that the two sides increase the exchange of delegations at all levels to discuss specific measures to enhance multi-faceted cooperation between Vietnam and Belarus, especially economic and trade collaboration between the two countries in particular as well as with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) in general.

He hoped that Belarus would create favourable conditions for Vietnamese goods, especially agricultural and aquatic products, to enter the Belarusian market, contributing to the trade balance between the two countries. The PM also asked the Ambassador to work closely with Vietnamese agencies to promote cooperation in trade, investment and tourism.

The Vietnamese leader affirmed that Vietnamese ministries and agencies will create favourable conditions for the Ambassador to fulfil the missions during his term in Vietnam.

For his part, Baravikou said that Belarus attaches great importance to the traditional friendship and cooperation between the two countries. He also agreed with the orientations on promoting cooperation outlined by the Vietnamese Prime Minister.

The Ambassador affirmed that during his term, he will make every effort to contribute to further promoting the friendship and multifaceted cooperation between the two countries, focusing on economy and trade./.
An unmanned sweeper works in Binhu National Forest Park in Hefei, east China's Anhui Province, Oct. 11, 2022. A project promoting self-driving vehicles has been implemented in the Binhu National Forest Park of Hefei recently. Self-driving tour bus, unmanned vending vehicle, unmanned sweeper and other vehicles have been put into use to serve tourists. (Xinhua/Guo Chen)

A staff member monitors the real-time information of the self-driving vehicles in Binhu National Forest Park in Hefei, east China's Anhui Province, Oct. 11, 2022. A project promoting self-driving vehicles has been implemented in the Binhu National Forest Park of Hefei recently. Self-driving tour bus, unmanned vending vehicle, unmanned sweeper and other vehicles have been put into use to serve tourists. (Xinhua/Guo Chen)

Tourists get on a self-driving tour bus in Binhu National Forest Park in Hefei, east China's Anhui Province, Oct. 11, 2022. A project promoting self-driving vehicles has been implemented in the Binhu National Forest Park of Hefei recently. Self-driving tour bus, unmanned vending vehicle, unmanned sweeper and other vehicles have been put into use to serve tourists. (Xinhua/Guo Chen)

A tourist scans the QR code on an unmanned vending vehicle to shop in Binhu National Forest Park in Hefei, east China's Anhui Province, Oct. 11, 2022. A project promoting self-driving vehicles has been implemented in the Binhu National Forest Park of Hefei recently. Self-driving tour bus, unmanned vending vehicle, unmanned sweeper and other vehicles have been put into use to serve tourists. (Xinhua/Guo Chen)

A tourist takes photos of an unmanned patrol vehicle in Binhu National Forest Park in Hefei, east China's Anhui Province, Oct. 11, 2022. A project promoting self-driving vehicles has been implemented in the Binhu National Forest Park of Hefei recently. Self-driving tour bus, unmanned vending vehicle, unmanned sweeper and other vehicles have been put into use to serve tourists. (Xinhua/Guo Chen)

Editor: Zhang Zhou
A number of member countries of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) have transferred funds to restore the Ukrainian telecommunications infrastructure.

According to the website of the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine, on October 10, 2022, at a plenary meeting of the ITU, the implementation of Resolution 1408 regarding support in the restoration of the telecom infrastructure of Ukraine was considered. In particular, a number of countries have already provided financial support for the restoration of the Ukrainian telecommunications infrastructure.

The 49 ITU member countries, including Canada, Japan, the Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States of America and others, supported the joint statement, which, in particular, refers to assistance in restoration of the objects of the telecom sphere destroyed by Russia.

During the meeting, the Ukrainian delegation also once again focused on the fact that Russia is attacking critical infrastructure facilities of our state, including telecommunications infrastructure, which is a direct violation of ITU values.

In particular, the consequences of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine for the telecom infrastructure were 4,000 damaged or captured base stations of telecom operators, more than 60,000 kilometers of damaged or captured fiber-optic communication lines, 18 destroyed antenna-mast structures that provided broadcasting television and radio signal in Ukraine.
In the conditions of war, Ukraine needs to continue large-scale financing of the state budget deficit, in 2023 it is estimated at $3.5 billion per month, Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko said at a meeting with the leadership of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington on October 11.

"Today we are witnessing a gradual recovery of the Ukrainian economy, however, in amid active hostilities, it is extremely important for us to launch a cooperation program with the IMF to ensure the stability of the financial system. Ukraine's need for additional financing in 2023 reaches $3.5 billion," he said.

Marchenko stressed that further cooperation with the IMF is one of the most important priorities for Ukraine.

At a meeting with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, the minister discussed the possibility of a new loan program to ensure priority expenditures of the state budget of Ukraine in 2023, and at a meeting with Director of the European Department at the IMF Alfred Kammer, Marchenko expressed hope that the parties would determine the conditions for launching a new cooperation program in the near future.

This Wednesday, within the framework of the meeting of the IMF and the World Bank, the second meeting of the round table of ministers to support Ukraine is scheduled with the participation of the heads of international financial organizations Georgieva and David Malpass. The parties will discuss the country's funding needs, priorities for supporting essential services during the war, and priority recovery and reconstruction projects that can be started quickly.

The first meeting of such a round table was held at the spring meeting of the IMF and World Bank on April 21. It announced Ukraine's monthly need of $5 billion to finance the state budget deficit in the context of the war unleashed by Russia.

The draft state budget of Ukraine for 2023, which was adopted at first reading, provides for external financing of the deficit in the amount of $38 billion, or about $3.2 billion per month.
By Azernews





By Laman Ismayilova

The Baku Museum Center invites you to enjoy artworks by Honored Artist of Azerbaijan Ulviyya Hamzayeva, Azernews reports.

Her solo exhibition "In the footsteps of ancestors" will open at Baku Museum Center's Round Hall on October 28 (1800) with the support of the Azerbaijani Culture Ministry.

Ulviyya Hamzayeva was born into a military family on April 30, 1982, in Shakarabad village in Babak District of Nakhchivan.

She attended primary and secondary school in Nakhchivan. In 2003, she graduated from the specialty of Fine Arts in the Faculty of Arts at Nakhchivan State University and continued her master's degree there.

Ulviyya Hamzayeva worked as a senior lecturer in the Department of Fine Arts and Drawing at the Nakhchivan State University. She is now continuing her teaching activities at the Nakhchivan State University. She is a Ph.D. candidate at the Azerbaijan State Academy of Fine Arts.

Ulviyya Hamzayeva's artistic activities are multifaceted. She is the author of the monument that was erected in memory of the genocide victims in the Youth Park of the Nakhchivan State University for the first time in Azerbaijan.

In 2001, she was a production designer of plays staged on the basis of Nizami Ganjavi's poem "The Treasury of Mysteries," Maurice Maeterlinck's fairy play "Blue Bird," and Elchin Afandiyev's play "Telescope". Her creative works were demonstrated in over 200 mixed and solo exhibitions.

Ulviyya Hamzayeva was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic and the Republic of Azerbaijan. She is a member of the Union of Artists of Azerbaijan and UNESCO's International Association of Art. She was elected a full member (Academician) of the World Academy of Arts New Era.

Ulviyya Hamzayeva is also distinguished by her active engagement in public projects. She is the curator and organizer of "Nakhchivan-The Cradle of Humankind" International Drawing Festival I, II, III, and IV, held biennially since 2012.

Ulviyya Hamzayeva was elected Chairperson of the Artists' Union of Nakhchivan in 2011 at the organization's 3rd conference, and she is still heading the union. She was the deputy of the 4th convocation of the Supreme Assembly of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. She is the deputy of the 5th and 6th convocations of the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Vice-President of the Azerbaijani National Academy of Sciences Academician Isa Habibbayli characterized the creative works of Ulviyya Hamzayeva, who achieved great success in a short time, as the fruit of her hard work as follows:

"The plot and composition, mythological characters and motifs, symbolism that signifies national values, and patchwork pieces in her paintings, all together determine the individual uniqueness of Ulviyya Hamzayeva's art. Ulviyya Hamzayeva is an original artist with a distinctive and individual style, unlike any other artist in the centuries-old fine arts in Azerbaijan, as is clearly seen from her paintings. She is the main creator of miniature art in Azerbaijan in modern times. The synthesis of folk art details with mythological characters and its unity with modernity determine the face of modern miniature art examples created by Ulviyya Hamzayeva. While Ulviyya Hamzayeva's miniatures are a distinct artistic phenomenon based on mythological motifs, examples of folk art, and contemporary life philosophy, traditional miniature art in Azerbaijan is primarily created on the basis of motifs from folk games and lyric-epic works. Ulviyya Hamzayeva is the creator of the genre of mythical miniatures. All of this demonstrates that Ulviyya Hamzayeva is one of the creative personalities in Azerbaijani fine arts with distinctive thinking," he said.

The artist's creative works are also well-known on a global scale. So, her works were demonstrated in a variety of exhibitions in countries, such as the USA, Turkey, and France while she was still studying at university, and they gained the appreciation of the audience. Later on, the artist was actively invited to significant exhibitions, festivals, and symposiums held throughout the world in the fields of painting and art, and her creative works were assessed and awarded the highest prizes at many events. The artist visited the USA, Portugal, China, Turkiye, Turkmenistan, Georgia, etc. with her artwork, took part in successful projects there, and represented our country through her creative works in plain air. Art Business Consultant, writer, and speaker, Art Business Institute's Director, Carolyn Edlund, expressed the artist's creative works as follows:

"The genre of Ulviyya Hamzayeva's paintings is not easy to determine. She works with gouache and oil on canvas. Her works initially appear to be modern allegories, but here it is not enough to simply view the image; it must also be understood. Moreover, her works are very closely related to Azerbaijan's ancient artistic traditions. Her paintings, which resemble examples of carpets, miniatures, and ancient petroglyphs, bring fantasy characters from legends and fairy tales to life. It is important to consider the artist's worldview, which reflects historical accuracy and ancient symbolism "woven" into modern graphic techniques protected by copyright. The author's "philosophical works attracted a lot of interest and gave her a wide audience.

The following are the artist's explanations of the factors that inspired her to develop through the stages of this art and her relationship with her creative works: "I was born in Nakhchivan, one of Azerbaijan's most beautiful and ancient cities. My ancestors have lived in this ancient land, my happy childhood passed here, and now my youth passes, and I hope that I will live here, in this ancient city that is full of old traditions and mythological sayings, in the future. People living in Nakhchivan are noble and proud, like our high and snowy mountains. I am proud that great architects, musicians, painters, and wise leaders lived and created in these holy lands. Nakhchivan is the cradle of geniuses. And if I am a painter today, it is because of the great work of our beautiful nature, clean fragrant air, my parents, and good people.

Going to sleep at night, waiting for the morning. Had a dream, hurry to revive it on a piece of paper or canvas. There is no void in my works, in my thoughts, in my desires. Any space is filled with my "void". Details, symbols, fragments, patterns, semiotics belonging to me, my mystical language, the sound coming from the sky  this is my "void". Symbols, the language of patterns, colors, music  this is me, this is mine, this is in me...

Sometimes it is difficult, "I exist and I dont exist". I love the creations of the Creator and his unique creation, "human". Im the hero, I am an unnecessary person, and I am a defective toy. My life is a "point". The man created from a point returns to the point at the end.

All my life, I will wait for the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly... I send for sailing the ship of my thoughts, illusions, myths, and fairy tales. I know that my ship has no halt. I simply forgot to take the anchor which I didnt have on my ship.

My reality  is not reality. I do not like watches, numbers  they are laughing, giggling at us, and waiting for the moment to say: it is too late. A great pity that I have so little time..."

So, art lovers are invited to the colorful world full of nationality, antiquity, mythology, and real philosophy of life, to get acquainted with the works that are the product of the warmth of the artist's heart, worldview, feelings, and thoughts, and to travel to the world of Ulviyya Hamzayeva.

Opening ceremony of the exhibition: October 28 at 6:00 p.m

The exhibition runs from October 29 to November 01. Admission is free.

Media partners of the event are Azernews.AZ, Trend.Az, Day.Az and Milli.Az.
Russia's missile strikes on Tuesday will only achieve a delay in our recovery, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video message on Tuesday evening.

"The enemy carried out a second wave of terrorist attacks against our state. This morning, 28 missiles  of which 20 were shot down. More than 15 drones, almost all of them are attack ones from Iran. Most were shot down," he said.

Throughout the country, the president noted, "restoration work is going on quite quickly and effectively. If it weren't for today's strikes, we would resume the energy supply, water supply and communications, which the terrorists damaged yesterday." "Today, Russia will achieve only one additional thing: it will delay our recovery a bit. Where there was destruction, the infrastructure will be updated everywhere. Where there were losses  there are already or there will be buildings. Where there were any hopes of the enemy, there will be ruins of Russian statehood," Zelensky also said.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky set the task for intelligence agencies to identify all those involved in missile attacks against Ukraine.

"Tomorrow, in the Ramstein format, a discussion of defense support for Ukraine will take place. I expect progress from partners on the issue of air and missile defense, an agreement on a new supply of other weapons and ammunition we need," he said in a traditional video message on Tuesday.

According to Zelensky, "a terrorist state should be deprived of even the idea that any wave of terror can achieve something."

"A separate task for intelligence is to identify everyone who is involved in these missile attacks against Ukraine, in schemes with Iranian drones. The individual responsibility of terrorists should be exactly the same as that of a terrorist state. We are working for this," the president said.
US President Joe Biden believes that Russia will not use nuclear weapons in a war with Ukraine.

"I don't think he [Putin] will," Biden said when asked whether the Russian leader would use a tactical nuclear weapon.

"I think it's irresponsible for him to talk about it, the idea that a world leader of one of the largest nuclear powers in the world says he may use a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine," Biden added.

Biden said even Putin's threats have a destabilizing effect, and warned of the potential errors in judgment that could ensue.

"The whole point I was making was it could lead to just a horrible outcome," he said. "And not because anybody intends to turn it into a world war or anything, but just once you use a nuclear weapon, the mistakes that can be made, the miscalculations, who knows what would happen."

"He, in fact, cannot continue with impunity to talk about the use of a tactical nuclear weapon as if that's a rational thing to do," Biden added later. "The mistakes get made. And the miscalculation could occur, no one can be sure what would happen and could end in Armageddon."

Biden refused to disclose what a US response would look like should Putin follow through on his nuclear threats. But he said the Department of Defense had proactively developed contingencies should the scenario come to pass. "There's been discussions of that, but I'm not going to get into that. It would be irresponsible of me to talk about what we would or wouldn't do," Biden said.
In two days, an anti-aircraft missile battalion shot down nine out of 11 Shahed-136 UAVs, General Valeriy Zaluzhny, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, has said.

"In two days, crews of the anti-aircraft missile battalion shot down nine out of 11 Shahed-136 UAVs. This is the result of the high-quality training of our anti-aircraft gunners conducted by the Polish brothers. It was Poland that provided systems with which the Ukrainians using Soviet missiles shoot down Iranian drones launched by the Russians. These are the realities of today's war," he wrote on his Telegram channel.
Germany has increased the amount of planned military assistance to Ukraine, the press service of the government reports.

According to the published data, the list of aid to be delivered to Ukraine includes 16 Zuzana self-propelled howitzers, the supply of which will be provided in cooperation with Denmark and Norway.

It is also planned to transfer 130 heating systems and 36 medical transporters to Ukraine.

As reported, in early October, Germany, Denmark and Norway signed an agreement on production in Slovakia, at the state enterprise Konstrukta Defense in Dubnica nad Vahom, of 16 self-propelled 155 mm guns Zuzana 2. According to Slovak Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad, the amount of the agreement amounted to EUR 92 million.
Massive missile strikes by Russian troops on Ukraine are not connected with the appointment of Sergey Surovikin as commander of the joint group of Russian troops deployed against Ukraine, despite his experience as commander of the Russian Armed Forces in Syria, according to a report by analysts from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) for October 11.

"Surovikin's appointment will not lead to further 'Syrianization' of Russian operations in Ukraine because the battlespace in Ukraine is fundamentally different from the battlespace in Syria, and direct comparisons to Surovikin's Syrian 'playbook' obfuscate the fact that Russia faces very different challenges in Ukraine. Russia cannot further 'Syrianize' the war largely because of its failure to gain air superiority, which precludes its ability to launch the kind of massive carpet-bombing campaigns across Ukraine that it could, and did, conduct in Syria," the report says.

"Whoever was appointed as theatre commander would have overseen the October 10 cruise missile strikes, which Ukrainian intelligence reported had been planned as early as October 2 [and which Surovikin certainly did not plan, prepare for, and conduct on the day of his appointment]. The Russian MoD is evidently invested in repairing its public image, and the informational effects of the October 10 missile strikes and the appointment of Surovikin, a hero in the extremist nationalist Russian information space, are likely intended to cater to the most vocal voices in that space," the ISW says.

"The Russian Federation is likely extracting ammunition and other materiel from Belarusian storage bases  activity that is incompatible with setting conditions for a large-scale Russian or Belarusian ground attack against Ukraine from Belarus," the report notes.

"Belarusian equipment and supply movements to Crimea and Rostov Oblast indicate that Russian forces are less confident about the security of Russian ground lines of communication running through northern and western Luhansk Oblast given the ongoing Ukrainian counteroffensive there. Ukraine's General Staff reiterated that it monitors Belarus and has not observed indicators of the formation of offensive groups in Belarus on October 11. Russian and or Belarusian forces remain unlikely to attack Ukraine from Belarus, as ISW has previously assessed," the report notes.

"Belarus remains a co-belligerent in Russia's war against Ukraine, nonetheless. Belarus materially supports Russian offensives in Ukraine and provides Russian forces with havens from which to attack Ukraine with precision munitions. Russia deployed 32 Shahed-136 drones to Belarus as of October 10 and that Russia will deploy eight more to Belarus by October 14," it says.

Russian sources, according to the ISW, claimed that Ukrainian forces continued to conduct counteroffensives east of the Oskil River and in the direction of Kreminna-Svatove. Russian sources also claimed that Ukrainian troops continued ground attacks in northern and western Kherson Oblast. Russian forces, in turn, continued to conduct ground assaults in Donetsk Oblast.

"Russian reporting of explosions in Dzhankoy, Crimea, indicated panic over losing further logistics capabilities in Crimea following the Kerch Strait Bridge explosion," the ISW says.

Russian federal subjects are announcing new extensions and phases of mobilization in select regions, which may indicate that they have not met their mobilization quotas.
A two-day meeting of defense ministers of NATO member countries is starting in Brussels, which will also include a meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group in the Ramstein format. Their Ukrainian colleague Oleksiy Reznikov will meet with the ministers.

Ministers are expected to discuss increased support for Ukraine.

As NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said before the start of the meeting, which will be held on October 12-13 at NATO headquarters, the defense ministers "are meeting at a pivotal moment for our security." "Over the last weeks, we have seen the most serious escalation of the war since the invasion in February. Russia is mobilising tens of thousands of new troops. They are trying to illegally annex new Ukrainian lands and we have seen the indiscriminate strikes against Ukrainian cities. And then of course, we also have heard the veiled nuclear threats coming from Moscow. All of this makes this the most serious escalation since February. The message from the NATO Allies will be that we are steadfast in our support to Ukraine, that we are prepared for the long haul and that we will support them for as long as it takes," he said.

"I welcome that NATO Allies are providing air defence systems. We need different types of air defence: short range, long range, air defence systems to take ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, drones, different systems for different tasks and then of course, Ukraine is a big country, many cities, so we need to scale up to be able to help Ukraine defend even more cities and more territory against the horrific Russian attacks against their civilian populations," Stoltenberg said.

"There will be a meeting with Minister Reznikov in the US-led Contact Group for Ukraine and also dinner with NATO Ministers later on today, where we will address how to ramp up support for Ukraine," he said.

Other issues on the agenda, the NATO Secretary General called deterrence and defense, the replenishment of arsenals, the resources of which are depleted due to the support of Ukraine.

"We need to address it. I expect that the Ministers will agree to review our guidelines for stocks and also to engage more with industry. NATO is a unique platform. We have the NATO Defence Planning Process," Stoltenberg said.

The meeting of the US-led Contact Group for Ukraine with Reznikov is expected to start at 13.00 (14.00 Kyiv time).

The second day of the ministerial meeting will begin with a meeting of the Nuclear Planning Group, which will be chaired by Stoltenberg. It will be followed by a meeting of the North Atlantic Council with invited members Finland and Sweden, the second part of which will be joined by the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign and Security Policy, Josep Borrell.
Russian invaders brought Iranian instructors to the territory of temporarily occupied Kherson region and Crimea to launch Shahed-136 Iranian-made kamikaze drones, according to the website of the National Resistance Center on Wednesday.

"According to the resistance group, the Iranians are based in the settlements of Zalizny Port, Hladivtsy (Kherson region) and Dzhankoy (Crimea). They teach Russians how to use kamikaze drones, and directly control the launch of drones on Ukrainian civilian targets, in particular, strikes on Mykolaiv and Odesa. The instructors are based in the premises that the Russians seized during the occupation," the report says.

At the same time, the Center recalled that Iran officially denies the supply of unmanned aerial vehicles to the Russian side, which the Russian Federation is actively using in the war, attacking Ukraine.
Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand announced a new batch of aid to the Ukrainian armed forces, which includes ammunition, communications equipment, winter clothing, armored vehicles and artillery.

She made the corresponding announcement on Wednesday at NATO headquarters.

Some $15 million was allocated for the purchase of equipment needed in the winter  hats, gloves, boots, parkas (a type of winter jacket)  what Ukrainian soldiers will need on the front lines. They will purchase this from Canadian suppliers. An additional $15 million will be allocated for drone camera purchases, she announced.

According to the minister, Canada had already delivered more than 50 Canadian-made drone cameras to Ukraine, and they would continue to supply such cameras. Third, in the field of communications and satellite communications, they will supply Ukraine with a $2 million service of four satellites and, in partnership with Telesat, this will enable Ukraine to continue to effectively maintain ties with European and North American partners. And finally, they know, and this is what Ukraine asked for, and this is what it needs, additional artillery, in particular, 155 mm artillery. Canada will supply additional 155 mm artillery for Ukraine in its battle against Russia's illegal incursion into its sovereign territory, Anand added.

She also recalled that while in Poland on Tuesday, she announced that 40 military engineers would train Ukrainian soldiers in demining.

The minister also assured that a new batch of aid would arrive in Ukraine in the coming weeks. Winter is coming and Canada has experience with winter clothing on the battlefield and we will deliver that in the coming weeks  500,000 sets of winter clothing and equipment will be sent to Ukraine, Anand detailed.
Reznikov: first item on agenda of Ramstein meeting is strengthening of Ukraine's air defense

The first thing on the agenda of the Ramstein meeting, which began in Brussels on Wednesday, is the strengthening of Ukraine's air defense, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said.

"Our work begins within the framework of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group Ramstein 6 and the NATO Defense Ministerial. Also having important bilateral meetings. Item No. 1 on today's agenda is strengthening Ukraine's air defense," Reznikov wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.
By Trend

The Azerbaijani Army launched a counter-offensive operation, later called the "Iron Fist", on September 27, 2020, in response to the large-scale provocation of the Armenian armed forces along the frontline, Trend reports.

The erupted 44-day Second Karabakh War ended with the liberation of Azerbaijans territories from nearly 30-year Armenian occupation.

Trend presents the chronicle of the 16th day of the Second Karabakh war:

- President Ilham Aliyev gave an interview to the Turkish Haber Global TV channel.

- The territory of Aghdam district came under fire from the Armenian Armed Forces. The commander and large manpower of the forces were killed.

- As a result of an exploded shell in the village of Kangarli, Tartar district, Firudin Baylarov (born 1970) was seriously injured and hospitalized.

- The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry shared a video of the destruction of three Armenian UAVs.

- Mobile support points for the Azerbaijani troops participating in the hostilities were created.

- The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry shared a video from the liberated village of Suleymanly, Jabrayil district.

- The death toll as a result of missile attacks on Ganja city by Armenia reached 10 people.




U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, who leads Ukraine Defense Contact Group in the Ramstein format, has said that the group will continue to build Ukraine's defensive capacity in its fight against the Russian aggression today and for a long haul.

In his opening remarks at the meeting of Ukraine Defense Contact Group at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, he said that the assistance provided by the members of the group to Ukraine "has made a demonstrable difference on the battlefield over and over again. Just as we last met in September we've all watched as Ukraine made extraordinary gains on the battlefield. And despite Putin's new assaults Ukrainian forces have changed the dynamics of this war. They've liberated hundreds of towns from the Russian occupation and they've retaken thousands of square kilometers of their land. These victories belong to the Ukrainian soldiers, but the Contact Group's security assistance, training and sustaining efforts have been vital. We've made tremendous progress while working together and as the war has changed so has the mission of this Contact Group changed. We met last month. The Contact Group committed itself to sustain Ukraine's self-defense for the long time. And that's exactly what we are doing. [] We will continue to build Ukraine's defensive capabilities for today's urgent needs and for a long haul."

Austin also expressed hope that this work will also continue in terms of long-term investment in the defense industry.

The Secretary of Defense once again noted that the Contact Group gathered at the meeting "united by our share determination to help Ukraine defend its sovereignty, its territory and its people from Russia's unjust and unprovoked assault."

"The whole world has just seen yet again the malice and cruelty of Putin's war of choice  rooted in aggression, and waged with deep contempt for the rules of war. Russia's latest barrage against Ukraine's cities has again killed and wounded innocent civilians  and put targets with no military purpose in the crosshairs. Russia's latest assaults have only deepened the determination of all the Ukrainian people and firmly united the countries of goodwill from every region on Earth. So, we gather again today to support Ukraine's inalienable right to defend itself. And our resolve and steadiness of purpose has only been strengthened," he said.
The Russian occupation forces began to put even more pressure on the civilians in Zaporizhia region after Russia attempted to annex it, they still hold more than 200 of 529 abducted people in captivity, Head of Zaporizhia Regional Military Administration Oleksandr Starukh has said.

"They began to put more pressure [on the local population in Zaporizhua region after the attempt to annex four regions of Ukraine]. We have 529 people abducted, more than 200 of them are still held in captivity in those [temporarily occupied] territories," he said at a press briefing at the Ukraine Media Center on Wednesday.

Starukh also noted that today ten times fewer people have the opportunity to leave the temporarily occupied territories for the territories controlled by Ukraine.

"Over the past day, a little bit more than 60 people [were able to leave]. Although last month, 1,500 people traveled daily from those territories where it is very difficult to live, because there is no gas, electricity is under question, and medical care is significantly limited, and in general, any socio-economic life is limited," he said.
The Netherlands will provide Ukraine with missiles worth more than EUR 15 million for further strengthening of the country's air and missile defense following Russia's recent massive missile attacks on Ukraine's peaceful cities, the press service of the Defense Ministry of the Netherlands has said.

"These attacks strengthen the government's opinion that the only response to them is unwavering support for Ukraine and its people. I also emphasized during direct consultation with the Ukrainian Defense Minister that the Netherlands, like our partners, will not be intimidated by Russia and will continue to support Ukraine," Defense Minister of the Netherlands Kajsa Ollongren said.

The ministry also said that tomorrow Ollongren will participate in a meeting of NATO Defense Ministers to underline the urgent need to provide Ukraine with military assistance.
More PzH 2000, MARSII to be transferred to Ukraine in next few weeks - German Defense Ministry

In the next few weeks, Germany will transfer more self-propelled artillery PzH 2000 and multiple rocket launchers MARSII to Ukraine, the German Defense Ministry said.

Meeting of Ramstein-Format at a special time: Russian missile attacks & partial mobilisation, sham referenda, Ukrainian counter-offensive. We coordinate our ongoing support. In the next few weeks, more PzH2000 and MARSII will be handed over to Ukraine, the Defense Ministry said on Twitter Wednesday.
South Sinai and the Greater Cairo area will enjoy warm daytime temperatures while Upper Egypt will see warmer ones through the weekend, according to the Egyptian Meteorology Authority (EMA).
The Ministry of Emigration and Egyptian Expatriate Affairs, in cooperation with the Ministry of Civil Aviation, announced on Tuesday that it is granting special discount offers and exclusive prices on EgyptAir tickets for Egyptian expatriate families.

This is a part of a set of incentives for expatriates to facilitate their visits to their home country, according to the ministerial statement.

In a meeting with Minister of Civil Aviation Mohamed Abbas Helmy, Minister of Emigration and Egyptian Expatriate Affairs Soha Gendi announced that these will be applied for travelers on EgyptAir flights to and from Egypt, and include discounts on a spouses ticket price of up to 25 percent, and a reduction in childrens ticket prices of up to 33 percent for two children.

The age for children included in the discount has also been increased to 15 years, up from 11 years old previously, while the ticket for the main breadwinner of the family will be at regular price.

The Ministry of Aviation explained that the offers will be available on EgyptAirs website and for tourism agents all over the world.

These discounts will be available for immediate booking starting 1 October until the end of September 2023, except for certain times of the year where the offers will be suspended due to heavy pre-booking on flights, she added.

Moreover, Gendy asserted that the Ministry of Emigration will continue to provide facilities and incentives for Egyptian expatriates, as part of the ministrys action plan to meet their needs.

Earlier in June, Egypts Ministry of Emigration cooperated with Shezlong, an online therapy platform, to provide psychological support for Egyptians abroad.

The cooperation protocol with Shezlong provides free-of-charge service to Egyptian youth abroad, so they can talk to psychologists easily via an online platform and choose the issue from which they suffering: bullying, exclusion, family problems, psychological pressures.

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Lebanon is grappling to strike a deal with Israel over contested maritime gas fields, but even with an agreement the cash-strapped country faces multiple hurdles before tapping potential hydrocarbon riches, analysts say.

"A deal would mark one step forward but it does not mean that Lebanon has become a gas- or oil-producing country," said Marc Ayoub, an associate fellow at the American University of Beirut's Issam Fares Institute.

"We are talking of a timeline of five to six years... before the first gas" if commercially viable reservoirs are in fact found, the energy expert told AFP, describing the timeframe as "optimistic".

With the demand for gas rising worldwide because of an energy crisis sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Lebanon hopes that an offshore discovery would ease its current unprecedented financial downturn.

But more than a decade since it declared its maritime boundaries and an Exclusive Economic Zone, it still has no proven natural gas reserves.

One well drilled in 2020 by a consortium of energy giants TotalEnergies, Eni and Novatek showed only traces but no commercially viable gas deposits.

Further test drilling, in a block near the border, has been hampered by the maritime border dispute between Lebanon and Israel, which are technically still at war.

Following years of US-mediated negotiations, a draft proposal from Washington at the weekend was welcomed by both sides.

But Israel on Thursday said it would reject amendments to the proposal requested by Lebanon this week, further prolonging a final agreement.

A final deal, however, would allow "offshore exploration activities to continue," off Lebanon's coast, Ayoub said.

"But that doesn't mean that Lebanon has become rich... or that its crisis has been solved."

'First gas'

A 2012 seismic study of a limited offshore area by the British firm Spectrum estimated recoverable gas reserves in Lebanon at 25.4 trillion cubic feet.

The authorities in Lebanon have announced higher estimates.

Block 9 near the border with Israel contains the so-called Qana field or Sidon reservoir, and will be a major zone for offshore exploration by TotalEnergies and Eni that were awarded a contract in 2018.

"This time next year, we should know if there is a commercial discovery in Qana or not," Ayoub said.

"If we have a discovery, it will take... no less than three to five years after exploration" before production could start.

This time frame, according to Ayoub, assumes there are no delays by Lebanese authorities who are widely blamed for the corruption and mismanagement behind the country's financial crash.

It took months for the Lebanese Petroleum Administration (LPA) regulatory body to name its board after it was formed in 2012, because of political disputes over nominations.

Several bidding rounds for offshore gas and oil licences have been hit by delays since they began in 2013.

Already, Lebanon lags far behind Israel which has been investing in the offshore Karish field for years and is expecting its first gas within weeks.

Risky investment

Roudi Baroudi, an energy consultant, said that gas or oil production could start within three years if commercially viable reservoirs are found.

But to attract energy firms and benefit from potential discoveries, Lebanon desperately needs to undergo changes, he told AFP.

"Lebanon is not a good investment unless the government implements reforms," the energy expert said.

Reforms would provide "the basic assurances that international companies need to work with less risk".

State institutions in Lebanon have collapsed under the weight of the crisis, with strikes by civil servants adding to the paralysis.

An economic recovery plan has yet to take off more than three years since the financial downturn began, despite mounting pressures from foreign donors and the International Monetary Fund.

And political gridlock has caused a months-long delay in forming a new government amid fears of a presidential vacuum after Michel Aoun's mandate expires at the end of October.

With a bankrupt state unable to deliver more than an hour or two of mains electricity a day, energy firms may choose to work on their Lebanon projects out of Cyprus, according to Baroudi.

"With no rule of law, Lebanon is a jungle," he said. "It's absolute chaos, whether judicially, financially or in terms of regulatory" bodies.

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Ukraine said Thursday it had recaptured over 400 square kilometres (155 square miles) in Kherson in less than a week, after Moscow claimed to have annexed the southern region.

"The Armed Forces of Ukraine have liberated more than 400 square kilometres of the Kherson region since the beginning of October," Ukrainian southern army command spokeswoman Natalia Gumeniuk said in a briefing online.

The Russian army meanwhile said "the enemy had been pushed back along the Russian defence line" on this southern front.

It said the Ukrainian troops deployed four tactical battalions and made "repeated attempts to break through our defences" near Dudchany, Sukhanove, Sadok, and Bruskinskoe.

On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the recapture of the villages of Novovoskresenske, Novogrygorivka and Petropavlivka in the same region around Kherson.

The Ukrainian army announced its counteroffensive in the south in late August.

After regaining almost full control of the northeastern region of Kharkiv, the Ukrainian forces recently claimed more gains on the eastern and southern fronts.

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The death toll from a missile attack on apartment buildings in a southern Ukrainian city rose to 11 as more Russian missiles and, for the first time, explosive-packed drones targeted Ukrainian-held Zaporizhzhia on Friday.

As the war sparked by Russia's February invasion of its neighbour, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to human rights organizations in Russia and Ukraine, and an activist jailed in Russian ally Belarus.

Asked by a reporter whether the prize shared by Belarus rights activist Ales Bialiatski, the Russian group Memorial and the Ukrainian organization Center for Civil Liberties should be seen as a ``birthday gift'' to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who turned 70 on Friday, committee chair Berit Reiss-Andersen said no.

``The prize is not addressing President Putin, not for his birthday or in any other sense, except that his government, as the government in Belarus, is representing an authoritarian government that is suppressing human rights activists,'' Reiss-Andersen said.

Putin this week illegally claimed four regions of Ukraine as Russian territory, including the Zaporizhzhia region that is home to a sprawling nuclear power plant under Russian occupation; the city of the same name remains under Ukrainian control.

With its army experiencing a series of stinging battlefield setbacks in recent weeks, Russia has deployed Iranian-made drones to attack Ukrainian targets. The unmanned, disposable ``kamikaze drones'' are cheaper and less sophisticated than missiles but have proved effective at causing damage to targets on the ground.

The regional governor, Oleksandr Starukh, said Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones damaged two infrastructure facilities in the city of Zaporizhzhia, the first time they were used there. He said missiles also struck the city again, injuring one person.

The Emergency Services of Ukraine said the toll of Russian S-300 missile strikes on the city a day earlier rose to 11 and another 21 people were rescued from the rubble of destroyed apartments.

``This was not a random hit, but a series of missiles aimed at multi-story buildings,'' Starukh wrote on his Telegram channel.

Russia was reported to have converted the S-300 from its original use as a long-range antiaircraft weapon into a missile for ground attacks because of a shortage of other, more suitable weapons.

The Ukrainian military said most of the drones it shot down Thursday and into Friday were the Iranian-made Shahed-136. The weapons are unlikely to significantly affect the course of the war, however, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said.

``They have used many drones against civilian targets in rear areas, likely hoping to generate nonlinear effects through terror. Such efforts are not succeeding,'' analysts at the think tank wrote.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's ability to capture and put back into service Russian tanks and other equipment continues to be an important factor in its forces' push to repel the invasion.

Ukrainian forces have captured at least 440 tanks and about 650 armored vehicles since the start of the war, Britain's Ministry of Defense said Friday.

``The failure of Russian crews to destroy intact equipment before withdrawing or surrending highlights their poor state of training and low levels of battle discipline,'' the British said. ``With Russian formations under sever strain in several sectors and increasingly demoralized troops, Russia will likely continue to lose heavy weaponry.''

The Ukrainian military also said Friday that 500 former criminals have been mobilized to reinforce Russian ranks in the eastern Donetsk region, where Ukrainian forces have retaken some territory. The new units are commanded by officers drawn from law enforcement, the military said.

U.S. President Joe Biden said Thursday that Putin has driven the rick of nuclear ``Armageddon'' to the highest level since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, as Russian officials speak of the possibility of using tactical nuclear weapons after suffering massive setbacks in the eight-month invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking at a fundraiser for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Biden said Putin was ``a guy I know fairly well'' and the Russian leader was ``not joking when he talks about the use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons.''

In the Czech capital, European Union leaders converged on Prague Castle to try to bridge significant differences over a natural gas price cap as winter approaches and Russia's war on Ukraine fuels a major energy crisis.

As the Europeans bolster their support for Ukraine in the form of weapons, money and aid, Russia has reduced or cut off natural gas to 13 member nations, leading to surging gas and electricity prices that could climb higher as demand peaks during the cold months.

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Israeli police arrested at least three Palestinian suspects Sunday in connection with a deadly shooting at a Jerusalem checkpoint, as security forces searched for the suspected gunman.

The shooter opened fire on a military checkpoint in east Jerusalem late Saturday, killing a female Israeli soldier and wounding three other soldiers, one of them seriously. The Israeli occupation army identified the soldier as 18-year-old Noa Lazar.

Police said a large force of officers, soldiers and Shin Bet security agency operatives were involved in the search to apprehend the Palestinian attacker.

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid offered condolences to Lazar's family. ``We will not be silent and we will not rest until we bring the abominable killers to justice,`` he said.

The attack came hours after two Palestinian teenagers were killed by Israeli military in the occupied West Bank. A day earlier, two other Palestinian teenagers, ages 14 and 17, were killed by Israeli fire in separate incidents elsewhere in the West Bank.

Rights groups accuse Israeli forces of using excessive force in their dealings with the Palestinians, particularly young men, without being held accountable. The occupation army says it contends with complex, life-threatening scenarios.

Israel captured east Jerusalem, along with the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed the area in a move that is not recognized internationally. It considers the entire city, including east Jerusalem, home to the city's most important holy sites, to be its capital. The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem for the capital of a future state with the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

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By Trend

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has been interviewed by Turkish Haber Global TV channel.

Trend presents the interview.

- Welcome to Haber Global TV channel. We have an extremely important guest. As you know, Azerbaijan is waging a patriotic war. There is a rapid but sustained advancement of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan on the battlefield. A ceasefire, tense diplomatic processes, especially after the attacks Armenia committed yesterday, immediately after the announcement of the ceasefire, activity on the battlefield and at the negotiating table. All, of course, is closely watched by President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev who has agreed to talk to us today despite the tensions. Welcome, Mr. President.

- Thank you.

- First of all, I would like to start with yesterday's attack, the latest situation on the battlefield and at the negotiating table. On the one hand, we know that you are carrying out intense diplomatic activities. Thank you again for taking the time to talk to us despite such a busy schedule. Yesterday we saw the reaction to the attack on your civilian population. However, a completely different approach is observed in foreign media, a kind of propaganda war of the diaspora. First of all, what is the current situation like?

- Of course, we have been facing black propaganda for many years. There are several reasons for this, one of which is the activity of Armenian diaspora organizations in some countries. Azerbaijan is the target of this activity. Their agenda always includes such goals as denigrating Azerbaijan, spreading lies about Azerbaijan and, thus, undermining the image of our country.

Armenian diaspora organizations and their patrons, Armenians of the world have unleashed an information war against Azerbaijan in connection with the recent battles. As a result of that, distorted information is often published in world media these days. Therefore, we must make great effort to communicate Azerbaijani realities to the world community. In this regard, I want to express my special gratitude to representatives of the Turkish media, because leading TV channels and other media outlets in Turkey circulate the truth about this conflict to the world every day, day and night.

It is possible to say that immediately after the introduction of the ceasefire, Armenia continued its vile actions. We paused for a while because we are true to our word. Since a ceasefire was announced, we were hoping that the Nagorno-Karabakh issue would be resolved politically because we thought that the military stage was over, the aggressor had learned its lesson on the battlefield and would now take into account the realities and show a positive approach at the diplomatic level. Unfortunately, we did not see that and the ceasefire, which came into force at 12 o'clock, was violated by Armenia.

As you know, a horrific crime was committed against civilians on the following night. The city of Ganja was bombed. The city came under fire with "Tochka-U" missiles, as a result of which civilians were killed and injured. This is another manifestation of the ugly face of Armenian fascism.

Armenians of the world, Armenia's supporters, their benefactors and Islamophobic circles will no longer be able to conceal this crime because everything is already obvious. There were statement for the press at the scene yesterday and representatives of foreign embassies who are visiting the site today see everything with their own eyes. Once again, they see who is causing this conflict, who pursues an aggressive policy, who is committing crimes against the civilian population. The Armenian state is a state of terror, a fascist state, and this crime against humanity has shown this once again.

- The factor you have just mentioned is very important. We have worked in many areas where Turkey is fighting terrorism. For example, the PKK subjected our cities to rocket and artillery fire. We knew that this was the work of a terrorist organization. I said this in our broadcast yesterday  an action that is incompatible with humanity, conscience and logic. Earlier in your address to the people, you said that you were receiving calls, in particular, from Russia, asking for a ceasefire. The ceasefire has been reached, but then with what logic and why is this attack being carried out? How would you answer this question?

- First of all, we must take into account the terrorist nature of Armenia because they are being defeated, they are losing on the battlefield. The victorious Azerbaijani Army achieves new military successes every day. Either a city or a village is liberated from occupation almost every day, or the territory of these villages is taken under control. Today I can say that several settlements are now fully under our control. We simply haven't entered these settlements yet because there is no need for that from a military point of view. But we will make further announcements after some time. Therefore, Armenia is being defeated in all directions of the front, and this being the case, it wants to avenge its pain and defeat on civilians. This is their nature. The perpetrators of the Khojaly genocide have now carried out an attack on Ganja.

The military-political leadership of Armenia is guilty of the attack on Ganja. According to the information we have, this decision was made personally by Pashinyan. We have accurate information that Pashinyan is currently experiencing very severe psychological upheavals. His moral and psychological state is very tense and he makes inappropriate decisions. For example, they have made several attempts to re-occupy Hadrut. This morning, I was informed that last night a large group of commandos who arrived from Armenia tried to re-occupy Hadrut although from a strategic point of view, this is not particularly important for Armenia  just to take a selfie there and report to its population. The Azerbaijani Army neutralized this unit, and the losses Armenia suffered there that night are exclusively victims of Pashinyan's irresponsible and predatory policies.

This is their tactic, as they are accustomed to the fact that they will always be supported on the world stage. Unfortunately, the world's Armenians, their patrons, Islamophobic circles have the most powerful positions in the world. They have always supported Armenia and their aggressive policy against us, defended them. They spread utter lies about Azerbaijan, tried to portray Azerbaijanis as aggressors. But today, in the age of the Internet, it is very difficult for them to do this because there are already non-traditional media outlets, there is the Internet, and communicating information is not very difficult. Therefore, they no longer have the same positions in the information war now. We are on the right track. We are right in terms of both international law and historical justice. We are on our own land, we are fighting on our own land. If Armenian soldiers leave our lands, then this conflict will also end.

- You have mentioned the international community. The West did not express a particular reaction to this attack. Did you expect a protest? During the meeting held by Mr. Hajiyev with the attaches yesterday, we also witnessed such a picture. He said three times: ask questions and we will answer and explain to you the real state of affairs. No answer.

- We didn't really expect anything, and there is no need for that because over the years we have seen that they do not want to hear the truth or try to disguise it, distort information and real facts. There are many reasons for that. Therefore, our main goal was to resolve this issue, restore historical justice and our territorial integrity. We have enough strength to do this.

Of course, the support provided from the very first days, from the very first hours by fraternal Turkey, the clear statements of my brother, esteemed President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as well as statements of other high-ranking officials provided Azerbaijan with moral support and also showed the whole world that Turkey is next to Azerbaijan. Otherwise, this conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan could cover a wider geography.

- Do you expect a sustainable ceasefire? It is constantly violated although it was reached after 11 and a half hours of negotiations in Moscow. Yesterday, we, journalists, witnessed that Baku is showing great patience.

- Yes, we are showing patience. Of course, after such a barbaric shelling of Ganja, every Azerbaijani is outraged and an adequate response is required. But we are giving an answer on the battlefield. We avenged yesterday's victims on the battlefield. Our attitude is this: we have never fought and are not fighting civilians. This is one of the qualities that distinguish Azerbaijan from Armenia. Therefore, in order to ensure a sustainable ceasefire, Armenia must, first of all, understand that they will no longer see the lands liberated from occupation and will not return there. For them, this is completely impossible. Whatever they say and whatever support they have, this will not happen. We came to these lands, these are the lands of our ancestors. No force can drive us out of there. The sooner they understand this, the better for them because for a lasting ceasefire to be reached, both sides must be committed to it. We are committed to it. We observed the ceasefire, which came into force at noon, but when we saw that Armenia was violating it, naturally, we could not but react. We have to protect ourselves. Thus, it is possible to say that the ceasefire entered into force but did not happen in real life.

- Are you receiving signals to retreat, at least at this point, from your lands?

- No, we are not receiving such signals and no-one can give us such signals. This is contrary to international law and historical justice. There were no such signals. There have been signals to stop. There have been signals not to move forward anymore. There have been signals to ensure a ceasefire. And we say: well, let there be a ceasefire, but in parallel it is necessary to resolve the issue peacefully.

I believe that the agreements reached in Moscow fully meet our interests, because, first of all, it provides for the exchange of bodies of those killed in the action and prisoners on a humanitarian basis. We wanted this from day one. But Armenia did not go for it. There are also other very important political moments. One of them is the restoration of negotiations, discussions, continuation of substantive negotiations based on fundamental principles. And the fundamental principles meet our interests, because they provide for a withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from the occupied lands. It is stated in them that the Armenian armed forces will withdraw from five districts at the first stage and from two more at the second stage. After that, of course, all internally displaced persons will return to the places where they lived before. This means that our internally displaced persons will return to both Shusha and Khankandi, after which a political solution to this issue can be provided.

Another issue  Armenia has always had a negative attitude to this  is that the format of the negotiations remains unchanged. The Armenian leadership and prime minister Pashinyan have always said that Azerbaijan should negotiate with the so-called "Nagorno-Karabakh republic". But we were opposed to this. The inclusion of such an item there is also in our interests.

Therefore, there are already all the possibilities and all the grounds for the transition from a military stage to the diplomatic and political stage. As for the issue of Armenia's observance of the ceasefire, I hope that the new successful operations of the victorious Azerbaijani Army yesterday and this night will force them to do so.

- Since 27 September, when this patriotic war began, you have been talking about the possibility of resolving this issue within the framework of a new format, with more active participation of Turkey, that this issue can be resolved jointly by Russia and Turkey. But Lavrov's statement did not mention Turkey. It followed from his statement that the negotiations would again be continued within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group in the future. In what way and when will Turkey be at the negotiating table? Has this been spoken about?

- Of course, this is our position. I have said this many times. I want to reiterate that Turkey must definitely play an active role in the political settlement of this issue. I also know that some Turkish media outlets are wondering why Turkey was not in Moscow. Naturally, this was not envisaged at the current stage. Neither was Turkey faced with such a task. This is not a process of negotiations. This is just a ceasefire on a humanitarian basis. In other words, it was not an event organized for negotiations. So far, negotiations have been conducted within the framework of the Minsk Group. However, these negotiations have been ineffective and have yielded no result. For nearly 30 years, we have not received a single centimeter of our lands back through negotiations. Therefore, I also said quite correctly that the Minsk Group was established in 1992, and we have no information about the basis on which it was established. If you look at the composition of the Minsk Group, you can see that it also includes countries located far from this region, which have no connection with it and have never been interested in the conflict. Their presence here a formality. Well, if we want to resolve this conflict  and we do want this  then there must be countries that would have both strength and influence and this composition should not be one-sided. Notice the activities of Armenian diasporas in the countries that are now co-chairs of the Minsk Group now. In all three countries, Armenian diaspora organizations have great political influence. Thanks to these political opportunities, they influence the officials of these countries. So how fair is it? Why shouldn't Turkey also be a co-chair? It is already a member of the Minsk Group. Therefore, our policy is quite logical and we have a result-oriented approach.

Geopolitical realities have changed. The situation in 1992 cannot be compared to the current situation. Turkey today is a powerhouse not only in the region but also on a global scale. Many in the West do not want to accept this. This annoys them. They are used to the fact that, unfortunately, their words sometimes had a high value in Turkish politics last century. But Turkey is pursuing an absolutely independent policy today and has turned into a force to reckon with on a global scale. What issue can be resolved in our region without Turkey? Look, Turkey has its say in Syria, Libya, the Middle East, our region, and this is a reality. It must be reckoned with.

I cannot say when the negotiations will begin, but since Armenia is violating the current ceasefire, I do not believe that it will be sincere in the negotiations. In any case, de jure or de facto, Turkey must definitely participate in the settlement of this problem. It is already participating because it is no secret that we hold regular consultations with Turkey. Since the beginning of these processes, since 27 September to the present, we have been in constant contact. High-ranking representatives of Turkey are in close contact with the heads of state and government of many countries. Therefore, it is already a reality. We just have to turn de facto reality into de jure reality.

- You have said, "why shouldn't Turkey be in the system of co-chairmanship, it should be". I will ask for more clarity but quote you. Earlier, in your address to the people, you used such expressions, "we have changed the status quo, the line of contact is no longer there, we have broken it". Could you please dwell in detail both on Turkey's participation in the new negotiations and on these words of yours, what did you mean? What status quo will be created by Baku from now on?

- You know, for many years, we made great effort to get a statement from co-chairs in this regard. Finally, about seven to eight years ago, several statements were made at the level of the presidents of America, Russia and France that the status quo is unacceptable and must be changed. We welcomed that. I have also stated several times in this regard that this is a very positive approach. In other words, it means that Armenian armed forces must leave our lands. Armenia should change the status quo because we have not occupied Armenian lands. How can we change the status quo? This became a kind of message, a signal to Armenia. Unfortunately, this and other statements  there have been several  hung in the air. What did we hear after that? Recently, the co-chairs backed down from these words. What are they saying now? They are saying that the status quo is not sustainable. But there is a big difference here. The status quo must be changed, i.e. Armenia must leave our lands. The status quo is not sustainable, i.e. it is unstable, which means that they simply state this as a fact. This being the case, Azerbaijan changed the status quo itself, on the battlefield. The status quo is gone. The settlements and villages of Aghdara, Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Hadrut have already been liberated. What status quo can we talk about now? None. Line of contact? It is gone. It is clear that the existing line of contact was created on the basis of deep military knowledge. Armenia did not have any military knowledge at that time. This must be admitted openly. The low authority of Armenia creates a very serious problem for them. For them, the line of contact had to be very short and straight. And this was done. They are smart enough for that. This was done by their advisers. If you look at the old line of contact, you will see that it has a horizontal-vertical shape. Like this, a smooth one. In other words, it is very easy to defend it. Their positions were mainly based on the hills. It was very difficult to take them, to destroy fortifications. Now there is no line of contact. We broke through it from several directions  from the north, from the south and then from the east. What line of contact can we talk about now? It is gone! The salvation mission of the Azerbaijani Army continues. We liberate new positions every day. It doesn't matter if these positions are a village or a city. Let there be a hill, a mountain  they are more important than a village or a city. We will return to the cities anyway. The main task for us is to occupy strategic heights. Today, all the neighborhoods of Hadrut are under our control. The city is also ours. A completely different question is whether to enter the city or not. At present, we are not faced with the political task of declaring the liberation of one place today and another tomorrow. No! In some cases, we liberate villages and towns and announce that after a day or two. This tactic also exists.

Let me say again: there is no status quo and there is no line of contact. There is no myth about an invincible army the Armenians had been inventing over the years. We showed who is who. Therefore, these realities must be taken into account by Armenia, its patrons and the whole world. Those who tell us to "stop" should know: well, we can stop, we do not want bloodshed either, but after that a political process must begin. If the political process does not start, we will not stop. I said that we would go all the way. To the end. But how? In military or political ways? This is another question. We want the military stage to end, so that no blood is shed, there are no martyrs and we liberate our lands peacefully.

- The political and military side of the issue is one thing. Today, more precisely from the moment we arrived in Baku, we have met with people who were forced to leave these places. Among them were people from both Khojaly and Jabrayil. We visited the villages built by the Azerbaijani state, by you. Everyone we met is filled with a sense of gratitude to you and to the state. They say, "we live here, we do not need anything, but we want to return to our lands." The people of Jabrayil, answering the question, "What will you do on the lands liberated from the occupation?", told us, "Just let there be a roof over our heads and that would be enough for us." What will you do for these people? Will there be new construction work on these lands?

- We will build not only roofs there, we will build entire cities, we will return life to those places. We will restore all the destroyed places. Today they are under the control of our army. Some of the liberated lands are already being visited by representatives of our media. In others, our servicemen shoot videos themselves. We can see that there is not a single building there. In other words, these are the actions of the fascists. The world must and will see this. Look at the state of Aghdam and Fuzuli today. They have destroyed all our villages. They thought the Azerbaijanis would never return there. But they have no idea about the determination of the Azerbaijani people. We have rebuilt Jojug Marjanly in just about eight months. The village, which we liberated from occupation in 2016, was rebuilt in six to eight months. People live there today, there is gas, water, electricity, a mosque, a hospital, a school, houses  everything. In addition, we provided them with agricultural equipment and this village has revived. We must turn all this land into paradise. The nature there is already like paradise, and even though these lands were under the heel of the Armenians for many years, they will be reborn. Life, children's laughter and people's smiles will return there. The citizens of Azerbaijan will live on these lands with dignity.

Our internally displaced persons know that their problem is the number one problem for me, for the President. You, too, know how much help we provide. This year, we will provide 7,000 families with new apartments. About 35,000 people receive free housing from the state every year. The state pays them a monthly allowance. Therefore, of course, they are satisfied with the care of the state. In our meetings, they always express their gratitude and say: everything is fine here, we live in new houses, we have not seen such conditions, but please take us back there, we want to go there. And they will go.

Therefore, we must work on plans for the development of these regions now. Relevant instructions have already been given. Planning will be carried out for the population of Azerbaijan to return to these regions and settle there as soon as possible.

- Mr. President, thank you very much for meeting with us despite such a tight schedule and diplomatic tensions.




Israel's Defense Ministry said Sunday that it had reached a settlement to compensate the family of a Palestinian-American man who died earlier this year after he was detained by Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank.

The settlement marks a rare case of compensation in a Palestinian claim against alleged wrongdoing by Israeli military forces and comes after U.S. criticism against Israel.

In January, Israeli troops detained Omar Asaad, 78, at a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank, binding his hands and blindfolding him. Israeli troops then unbound his hands and left him face-down in an abandoned building.

Asaad, who had lived in the U.S. for four decades, was pronounced dead at a hospital after other Palestinians who had been detained found him unconscious. It was unclear when exactly he died.

On Sunday, the Defense Ministry said that it had reached a settlement with Asaad's family, which had filed a claim against the state in an Israeli court.

The ministry said that ``in light of the unfortunate event's unique circumstances,`` it agreed to pay the family 500,000 shekels, or about $141,000.

After an outcry from the U.S. government, the Israeli military issued a rare statement earlier this year saying the incident ``was a grave and unfortunate event, resulting from moral failure and poor decision-making on the part of the soldiers.'' It said one officer was reprimanded, and two other officers reassigned to noncommanding roles, over the incident.

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As war rages in Ukraine, and Europe thirsts for fuel, the liquified natural gas (LNG) industry along the US Gulf Coast is preparing to expand -- a distressing development to some nearby neighbors.

"It's our life they took here," says Travis Dardar from the doorstep of his camper trailer.

An imposing LNG export terminal -- a massive facility that receives and liquefies gas from pipelines, then transfers the LNG to ships for export -- will soon loom next to his house, forcing him and his wife to move.

Another plant is also planned where he fishes, imperiling his shrimp and oyster business.

"This is way more catastrophic than any hurricane," Dardar says, adding that people can rebuild after a hurricane.

In this marshy coastal region between Texas and Louisiana, the proliferation of LNG export terminal projects has unsettled residents, who consider the plants to be a threat to their coast, their serenity and their way of life.

"We don't know what they're going to do next. We know one thing: We can't live here," Dardar says.

The Ukraine fallout

Last March, a few weeks after the first salvos of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, President Joe Biden pledged to increase LNG deliveries to Europe, which has traditionally been heavily dependent on Russian gas.

US suppliers have exported 1,574 billion cubic feet (44.6 billion cubic meters)of LNG to Europe so far in 2022, a sharp rise from the 917 billion cubic feet (26 billion cubic meters) in 2020, according to the Center for Liquefied Natural Gas, a Washington-based trade group that represents the sector.

The United States has become the world's largest exporter of LNG, an industry centered around the energy-rich Gulf of Mexico, with its infrastructure and strategic location.

This area alone has five of the seven active US export terminals and 22 of the 24 projects submitted to the authorities for construction.

This activity, in turn, brings many jobs, promises Charlie Riedl, executive director of the Center for LNG. As long as the terminal construction projects meet environmental criteria, the government should "authorize them without delay," he says.

Noise, light and emissions

But some residents see the coasts of Louisiana and Texas as "sacrifice zones," says John Allaire, another resident.

"You've got the noise, you've got the light, you've got the air pollution. And you got the fact that they converted several hundred acres of wetlands into a big concrete pad over there," adds Allaire from his boat, pointing to the new LNG export terminal near his home.

Allaire dejectedly watches the waves caused by the huge LNG tankers that erode the shoreline. Sludge from dredging covers his beach.

He is also concerned about the consequences on wildlife. The project planned for the land along his property is located on a wetland that is home to a critically endangered bird, the black rail.

"It's really horrifying to see this (Biden) administration that came in touting environmental justice and the climate crisis... to be approving these kinds of facilities," says Kelsey Crane, in charge of public policy at the association Earthworks.

High cancer rates

Many petrochemical facilities are already visible across the Sabine River in Port Arthur, Texas.

Near the Cheniere Energy terminal -- which last year paid nearly $1.5 million in fines for cracks in its tanks -- activist John Beard leads a "toxic tour" of the area, joined by other environmentalists.

In June, an explosion caused the temporary closure of the Freeport LNG terminal further south, reminding residents of the immediate risks posed by the plants.

But Beard, head of the Port Arthur Community Action Network, also denounces the long-term effects on the health of residents who are largely minorities.

In Port Arthur, the population is predominantly African-American or Hispanic, and a quarter of them live below the poverty line, according to the US Census Bureau.

The county has a 25 percent higher cancer death rate than the rest of the state, according to the Texas Cancer Registry.

Beard believes that the gas industry did not choose this area by chance: "They take the path of least resistance and that is with the poor and those who don't have access to lawyers, and who are not as educated or knowledgeable."

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Lebanon has secured its "full rights" in the latest text drafted by US mediators to demarcate the maritime border with Israel, its lead negotiator said Tuesday, after Israel said it met its terms too.

"Lebanon has obtained its full rights, and all of its remarks have been taken into account," said lead negotiator Elias Bou Saab, the deputy speaker of parliament, after handing the draft to President Michel Aoun.

"Today we have come to a solution that satisfies both parties."

Israel had said earlier Tuesday that it was close to a "historic" deal with Lebanon and the US draft met its "demands".

The welcome for the text on both sides of the border has raised hopes that years of negotiations have finally borne fruit, allowing cash-strapped Lebanon to develop potentially lucrative offshore gas reserves.

Bou Saab said he hoped an agreement could be signed before Aoun's term of office ends on October 31.

Lebanon and Israel are officially at war and their land border is patrolled by UN peacekeepers.

They reopened negotiations on their maritime border in 2020, but the process was stalled by Lebanon's demand that the map used by the United Nations in the talks be modified.

The negotiations resumed in early June after Israel moved a production vessel near the Karish offshore field.

The US text has not been made public but under terms leaked to the press all of the Karish field would fall under Israeli control, while another potential gas field, Qana, would be divided but its exploitation would be under Lebanon's control.

French company TotalEnergies would be licensed to search for gas in the Qana field, and Israel would receive a share of future revenues.

Bou Saab said Lebanon will "get its full rights from the Qana field", and Israel might receive compensation through TotalEnergies. There will be no direct partnership in gas exploration or exploitation between the two enemy states, he said.

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A 12-year-old Palestinian boy died Monday after being shot and wounded by occupation forces during an Israeli raid that took place in September on Jenin refugee camp, in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

Mahmoud Samoudi was shot in the abdomen during the Israeli raid, on Sept. 28, which left four Palestinians dead and 44 wounded, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

Israeli forces said they were "aware of an allegation regarding injuries to a minor who participated in the violent riots and hurled stones at the security forces.'', adding that the circumstances surrounding the event are being examined.

Israel has been carrying out nightly arrest raids across the West Bank after a series of attacks against Israelis in the spring killed 19 people. The army said it had traced some of the perpetrators of those attacks back to Jenin.

Since March, Israel has launched hundreds of operations in the northern West Bank in pursuit of alleged militants, including in Jenin and nearby Nablus.

Israeli fire has killed more than 100 Palestinians during that time, including a veteran journalist and a lawyer who apparently drove unwittingly into a battle zone. Local youths who took to the streets in response to the invasion of their neighborhoods have also been killed, making it the deadliest year in the occupied territory since 2015.

Israel says the arrest raids are meant to dismantle militant networks. The Palestinians say the operations are aimed at strengthening Israel's 55-year military occupation of territories they want for an independent state.

Also on Monday, Israeli forces entered the Shuafat refugee camp and searched homes and shops for a Palestinian suspected in the killing of an Israeli soldier over the weekend. The camp residents responded to the latest excursion by throwing stones at the soldiers who fired tear gas at local residents.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since the Six-Day War of 1967 but parts of the territory are nominally controlled by the Palestinian Authority, in accordance with terms set out in the 1994 Oslo peace accords.

*This article was edited by Ahram Online

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At least 108 people have been killed in Iran's crackdown on more than three weeks of nationwide protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, said Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights.

The Iranian security forces also killed at least another 93 people during separate clashes in the city of Zahedan, in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, IHR said in a statement.

Protests erupted across Iran on September 16, when Amini died three days after falling into a coma following her arrest in Tehran by the morality police for an alleged breach of the Islamic republic's strict dress code for women.

The violence in Zahedan erupted on September 30 during protests that were triggered by anger over the reported rape of a teenage girl by a police commander in the region.

Human rights groups also voiced alarm on Tuesday over the extent of the crackdown in Sanandaj, the capital of Amini's home province of Kurdistan in Iran's west.

"The international community must prevent further killings in Kurdistan by issuing an immediate response," IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said in Wednesday's statement.

IHR indicated its investigation into the extent of the "repression" in Kurdistan had been hampered by internet restrictions and warned of an "impending bloody crackdown" on demonstrators in the western province.

"The city of Sanandaj in Kurdistan province has witnessed widespread protests and bloody crackdowns in the past three days," IHR said, adding that its current death toll for the province excluded those killed in that period.

The Olso-based group said it had so far recorded 28 deaths in Mazandaran province, 14 in Kurdistan, 12 in both Gilan and West Azerbaijan, and 11 in Tehran province.

It said the Iranian security forces had also arrested many children protesting on the streets and at schools in the past week.

"Children have a legal right to protest, the United Nations has an obligation to defend children's rights in Iran by applying pressure on the Islamic republic," said Amiry-Moghaddam.

IHR said its toll also excluded six deaths that reportedly occurred during protests inside Rasht central prison in northern Iran on Sunday as it was still investigating the case.

It said workers had also joined in nationwide strikes and protests at Asalouyeh petrochemical plant in Iran's southwest, Abadan in western Iran and Bushehr to the south.

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The Rosetta Stone stars in a new exhibition opening Thursday at the British Museum marking one of the most significant dates in Egyptology -- 200 years after a French scholar finally cracked its code and deciphered hieroglyphs.

The exhibition comes with the British Museum under pressure from some Egyptologists to hand the Rosetta Stone back to Cairo at a time when UK institutions are beginning to return to other countries artefacts looted during the colonial era.

Once seen as magical symbols unrelated to spoken language, Egyptian hieroglyphs were swathed in mystery for centuries until philologist Jean-Francois Champollion cracked their meaning in 1822.

French troops had discovered the stone in the walls of an Egyptian fort in 1799 and gave it to British forces as part of a surrender agreement. The British Museum has displayed it since 1802.

The basalt slab dating from 196 BC was so crucial because it has inscriptions of identical meaning in three languages: hieroglyphs, an ancient Egyptian vernacular script called Demotic and Ancient Greek, which provided the translation key.

"We decided because the Rosetta Stone was such an important key to that decipherment that we will do this properly: with an exhibition that also features our star objects," said Ilona Regulski, curator of Egyptian written culture at the museum.

"It's a wonderful moment to celebrate."

Yet the anniversary exhibition is controversial to some.

Egyptian archaeologist and former antiquities minister Zahi Hawass recently released a petition for the return of the stone and other foreign-held treasures he considers "stolen".

The British Museum told AFP that Egypt has never made a formal request for the Rosetta Stone's return.

- 'Muddied legacy' -

Regulski added that it was a "universal object" and "it doesn't really matter where it is, as long as it's available to people".

Activists from a group called Culture Unstained protested in the museum on Tuesday calling for Cairo to release political prisoners including British activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, and criticising sponsorship by BP oil giant.

The exhibition, "Hieroglyphs: unlocking ancient Egypt" tracks hieroglyphs' fall into obscurity after Egyptians switched to other forms of script.

It explores the rich discoveries about life in ancient Egypt that came from unlocking the symbols.

"For the first time in 3,000 years, Ancient Egyptians spoke directly to us," the museum's director Hartwig Fischer said.

The exhibition does acknowledge attempts by non-Europeans to grasp the symbols but focuses on the race between Western scholars to crack the code.

"Our travellers... went to Egypt and were amazed by all these intriguing picture-like signs on the temple walls," said Regulski.

This led to their "interpretation as magical signs, as secret knowledge, the idea that if you would be able to decipher hieroglyphs, you will understand the meaning of everything."

Champollion was the first to fully grasp the logic of hieroglyphs, outdoing an English rival, Thomas Young, who was in correspondence with him.

The exhibition suggests the French scholar has a "muddied legacy", however, and "often relied on the work of others", including Young.

It also depicts the more bizarre side of Egyptology including special events where enthusiasts unwrapped a mummified body and took lengths of bandages home as souvenirs.

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EU countries have agreed sanctions on Iran following its brutal crackdown on protests over Mahsa Amini's death and foreign ministers are to adopt them next Monday, diplomats said.

Earlier on Wednesday European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said "now is the time to sanction those responsible" in Iran "for the repression of women".

"This shocking violence cannot stay unanswered," she said.

Four EU diplomats told AFP that political agreement was reached Wednesday on the sanctions and that the foreign ministers' meeting to be held in Luxembourg next Monday was to officialise them.

There were no details on the impending sanctions, but the United States, Britain and Canada have already separately targeted security branches of the Iranian regime.

The United States and Britain have imposed sanctions on Iran's so-called morality police, who arrested 22-year-old Amini last month.

She was taken unconscious from a police station to hospital where she died.

Her family, the protesters in Iran, Western officials and rights groups have all called her death a "killing".

Iran denies that and says she died of natural causes related to childhood surgery.

Canada last week said it will permanently deny entry to more than 10,000 members of the Iranian regime, including those belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps which is leading the repression.

EU lawmakers have been calling for the bloc to put Iranian officials, including those linked to the morality police, on a blacklist prohibiting travel into Europe and freezing any assets in the EU.

The European Union in April 2011 already imposed sanctions on Iran for human rights violations, with more measures added in March 2012 to halt the sale of any equipment the regime might use to repress or electronically spy on the Iranian population.

The latest European sanctions will land at a delicate moment, given that the EU plays a coordinating role in talks aimed at reviving a 2015 deal that curbed Iran's nuclear activities.

Those talks are in an impasse, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has said.

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Egypt has welcomed a maritime border deal reached by Lebanon and Israel, expressing its hope that the agreement would enable Lebanon to benefit from its resources.

The US-brokered deal was signed on Tuesday, establishing for the first time a permanent maritime border between them, opening the way for energy exploration, easing a source of recent tensions in an area in the Eastern Mediterranean.

In an official statement on Wednesday, the Egyptian foreign ministry said it hopes that the step will enable Lebanon to benefit from its resources to improve economic conditions and strengthen cooperation in the Mediterranean region.

Egypt also expressed its unwavering support for the stability and sovereignty of Lebanon to meet the aspirations of the Lebanese people.

The deal would allow the neighbours, who formally remain at war, to exploit natural gas fields in the Mediterranean Sea.

Following the signing, Israel's Prime Minister Yair Lapid said the deal would strengthen his countrys security and inject billions into its economy, while Lebanese President Michel Aoun described the terms as "satisfactory."

In June 2022, Lebanon signed an agreement with Egypt to import natural gas from the North African country via Syria to boost the power supply in Beirut. The step aimed to help alleviate Lebanons longtime crippling electricity problem amid the country's worst-ever financial crisis.

The Egyptian gas is expected to activate gas-operated power plants that have been non-functional for 11 years.

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Egypt has extended the grace period for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to legalise their status in the country in order to comply with NGO Law 149/2019.

The new extension is set to expire on 11 April 2023 under a decree issued by Egypt's Minister of Social Solidarity Nevine El-Qabbaj.

The new law came into force in January 2021, after the Egyptian cabinet issued its bylaw that granted NGOs in Egypt a year ago to comply with the new law. However, it extended the grace period for another year starting 12 January 2022.

The Egyptian social solidarity ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that so far some 32,000 NGOs have completed the procedures for legalising their status since the introduction of the law.

The ministry called on NGOs that have not been yet legalised their status to take the step. "This is the last grace period to reconcile the statuses, as no further extension will be introduced," the statement added.

The ministry also said that all foreign NGOs have applied to legalise their statue as per the new law, and expressed desire to establish long-term cooperation with Egyptian organisations.

The new law replaced a legislation issued in 2017 that was heavily criticised by civil society locally and internationally for restricting the work of NGOs.

In November 2018, during the second World Youth Forum in Sharm El-Sheikh, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi voiced his support for amending the NGO law.

The law now allows NGOs to be established following notification, and exempts the newly established entity from registration fees, customs and real estate taxes.

It also allows the NGOs to tap into the country's digital transformation plan by registering the associations and fundraising online. Additionally, the associations cannot be dissolved without a court ruling.

The law also includes a number of penalties against entities and organisations that do not comply with the rules and those involved in criminal activity.

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The Senate  Egypt's consultative upper house  gave on Tuesday its final approval for a new government-drafted bill aimed to both establish a supreme council for vehicle manufacturing and set up a fund to provide financing for an environment-friendly Electric Vehicle (EV) industry in Egypt.

The 13-article bill has yet to be finally approved by the House of Representatives and ratified by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi before becoming a law that is enforced by the government.

The Senate's significant changes came at the behest of many members who complained that the text of many of the bill's articles lacked clarity. Therefore, the Senate decided to introduce the following significant changes.

Article 1

The wording of Article 1 was altered. It now reads "a supreme council for vehicle manufacturing will be established and chaired by the prime minister and shall include as members the minister of trade and industry (also acting as deputy chairman and acting on behalf of the prime minister), the minister of public enterprise, the minister of planning, the minister of finance, the minister of transport, and the minister of military production, as well as four members with verified expertise in the field of vehicle manufacturing.

The original text read a supreme council for vehicle manufacturing will be established and chaired by the prime minister or anyone acting on his behalf, and will include three members only, who are the minister of industry and trade as well as at least two members with expertise in the area of vehicle manufacturing.

Article 3

The Senate also added a new paragraph to Article 3, introducing a clear definition of the term "environment-friendly vehicles". The paragraph now states that environment-friendly EVs are both vehicles which do not produce fuel emissions harmful to the environment and those which produce low fuel emissions that are not too harmful to the environment, like electric vehicles.

Through its Environmental Affairs Authority, the Ministry of Environment will lay down the criteria that determine whether a vehicle is harmful or less harmful. These criteria will be publicly disseminated in accordance with a decree to be issued by the prime minister.

Article 4

The Senate also introduced changes to Article 4, which delineates the roles of the fund in financing the environment-friendly electric vehicle industry.

The fund shall have three roles as follows:

Financing and upgrading the environment-friendly EV industry in terms of setting up research and technology centres.

Encouraging innovation to increase the competitiveness of the EV industry.

Planning programmes and offering incentives that aim to promote the EV industry and stem the negative impacts of harmful fuel emissions.

The fund's 18-member board

The Senate also changed the structure of the fund's board. The board will now be headed by the minister of finance, and shall include as members the ministers of planning and economic development, environment, public enterprise, transport, industry and trade, and military production.

In addition, the board will include the head of the General Authority for Industrial Development, the chairman of the Federation of Egyptian Industries, and the executive director of the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI).

The board will also include representatives from the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Arab Organisation for Industrialisation, and the Vehicle Manufacturing Unit affiliated with the Ministry of Industry, as well as four members with expertise in the area of EV industry, which are to be nominated by both ministers of finance and industry.

The fund's board shall serve for four years subject to renewal.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Alaa El-din Fouad said "the government approved the changes introduced by the Senate and has hopes its final approval in the House will open the door for turning Egypt into a regional hub for vehicle manufacturing in Africa and the Middle East."

The House's Industrial Committee has expressed its preliminary agreement to the bill. It is set to discuss the bill and vote on it during its upcoming plenary sessions before final approval.

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President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev sent a congratulatory letter to Felipe VI, King of Spain, on the occasion of the country's national holiday.

Your Majesty,

I cordially congratulate and convey my best wishes to you and through you, your entire people on my own behalf and on behalf of the people of Azerbaijan on the occasion of the National Holiday of the Kingdom of Spain.

On this day of celebration, I wish you strong health, success in your activities, and everlasting peace and prosperity to the friendly people of Spain.

Sincerely,

Ilham Aliyev

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Baku, 10 October 2022
The Egyptian Cabinet approved on Wednesday a draft law allowing Egyptians living abroad or their families to have one personal-use vehicle shipped to Egypt without paying customs duties or taxes, including the value-added tax (VAT).

Instead, an Egyptian expat can deposit the value of the customs duties and taxes that they would have paid for releasing their car from customs to the Egyptian Ministry of Finance as a five-year bank deposit without interests in foreign currency, a statement by the Cabinet read.

Five years later, the expat will be able to withdraw the money in Egyptian pounds at the value of the local currency at the time of withdrawal, the statement noted.

Egypt has been suffering from a drop in foreign currency in recent months in light of the war in Ukraine, which has applied pressure on currency and slowed down imports.

According to figures from the Central Bank of Egypt, Egypts foreign reserves declined over the past few months before they increased in September by $56 million to hit $33.198 billion by the end of September.

The exemptions under the new draft law will only be allowed for a four-month period starting from the day when the law comes into effect, during which expats will have to make the deposit to the government, the statement stressed.

Egyptian expats willing to have their cars shipped without custom duties should be above 16 years old and have legal residence abroad.

They must also have an overseas bank account that is at least three months old. An expats spouse or children are exempted from this requirement, the statement added.

Second-hand cars have to be less than three years old to apply to the new law, the statement added.

If an expat fails to import their car within a year since depositing the money to the finance ministry, they will be able to immediately withdraw the money in foreign currency, according to the law.

The draft law will be sent to parliament for approval, Minister of Emigration and Expatriate Affairs Soha Samir El-Gindy said in TV remarks.

The bank deposit must be in dollars and expats will be able to withdraw the full value of the deposit after its maturity, El-Gindy said.

Imported cars have to be less than three years old in order to not harm environment, the minister added.

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Cairo University students ran on Tuesday a simulation model of the 27th UN Climate Change Conference (COP27), less than a month before the start of the UN event in the Egyptian Red Sea city of Sharm El-Sheikh.

As many as 153 students represented various countries set to participate in next month's UN gathering, expressing their positions with regard to climate change issues in speeches delivered during the simulation.

The students simulated the roles of the US, South Africa, the UAE, G20 countries, and China, in addition to Egypt, the COP27 host, explaining each county's position and opinion on climate issues and pledges.

The model included a simulation of the handover process of the UN events presidency from the president of COP26 in Glasgow to the president of COP27, which is slated for 6-18 November in Sharm El-Sheikh.

It also witnessed discussions on the issues of climate finance, with students simulating African nations and explaining the continent's dire need for the international communitys support in transitioning from traditional energy sources to cleaner ones.

The students also organised a simulation model of the 17th UN Climate Change Conference of Youth (COY17) set to take place ahead of COP27 (on 3-5 November), also in Sharm El-Sheikh.

The Cairo University simulation models were organised in cooperation with the Egyptian Ministry of Environment, the National Anti-Corruption Academy, the National Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development, and the Economic Governance Project funded by the United States Agency for International Development.

Environment Minister Yasmine Fouad praised the model as a source of pride, while assuring that the Sharm El-Sheikh conference will be the beginning of the implementation phase for many of the proposed initiatives in several spheres.

Egypt is keen to ensure that the discussions of the climate conference are not all talk, said Fouad, who is also the Ministerial Coordinator and Envoy for the COP27.

Leslie Reed, USAID Director in Egypt, said the dangers of climate change that had once been a source of concern have now become a reality, as the severity of climate change is already being felt.

Hopes are pinned on COP27 to turn climate-related pledges into action to help facilitate the move to green energy in order to reduce harmful gas emissions and adapt to climate change as per the Paris Agreement.

This includes pushing developed countries to honour their pledges to mobilise $100 billion annually to help developing nations with mitigation and adaptation measures.

The Paris Agreement  adopted at COP21, signed by over 190 states including Egypt and came into effect in 2016  aims to limit the rise in temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

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Heatwaves will become so extreme in certain regions of the world within decades that human life there will be unsustainable, the United Nations and the Red Cross said.

Heatwaves are predicted to "exceed human physiological and social limits" in the Sahel, the Horn of Africa and south and southwest Asia, with extreme events triggering "large-scale suffering and loss of life", the organisations said.

Heatwave catastrophes this year in countries like Somalia and Pakistan foreshadow a future with deadlier, more frequent, and more intense heat-related humanitarian emergencies, they warned in a joint report.

The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) released the report in advance of next month's COP27 climate change summit in Egypt.

"We don't want to dramatise it, but clearly the data shows that it does lead towards a very bleak future," said IFRC secretary-general Jagan Chapagain.

They said aggressive steps needed to be taken immediately to avert potentially recurrent heat disasters, listing steps that could mitigate the worst effects of extreme heat.

Limits of survival

"There are clear limits beyond which people exposed to extreme heat and humidity cannot survive," the report said.

"There are also likely to be levels of extreme heat beyond which societies may find it practically impossible to deliver effective adaptation for all.

"On current trajectories, heatwaves could meet and exceed these physiological and social limits in the coming decades, including in regions such as the Sahel and south and southwest Asia."

It warned that the impact of this would be "large-scale suffering and loss of life, population movements and further entrenched inequality."

The report said extreme heat was a "silent killer", claiming thousands of lives each year as the deadliest weather-related hazard -- and the dangers were set to grow at an "alarming rate" due to climate change.

According to a study cited by the report, the number of poor people living in extreme heat conditions in urban areas will jump by 700 percent by 2050, particularly in west Africa and southeast Asia.

"Projected future death rates from extreme heat are staggeringly high -- comparable in magnitude by the end of the century to all cancers or all infectious diseases -- and staggeringly unequal," the report said.

Agricultural workers, children, the elderly and pregnant and breastfeeding women are at higher risk of illness and death, the report claimed.

"As the climate crisis goes unchecked, extreme weather events, such as heatwaves and floods, are hitting the most vulnerable people the hardest," said UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths.

"The humanitarian system is not equipped to handle crisis of this scale on our own."

'Previously unimaginable'

Chapagain urged countries at COP27 to invest in climate adaptation and mitigation in the regions most at risk.

OCHA and the IFRC suggested five main steps to help combat the impact of extreme heatwaves, including providing early information to help people and authorities react in time, and finding new ways of financing local-level action.

They also included humanitarian organisations testing more "thermally-appropriate" emergency shelter and "cooling centres", while getting communities to alter their development planning to take account of likely extreme heat impacts.

OCHA and the IFRC said there were limits to extreme heat adaptation measures.

Some, such as increasing energy-intensive air conditioning, are costly, environmentally unsustainable and contribute themselves to climate change.

If emissions of the greenhouse gases which cause climate change are not aggressively reduced, the world will face "previously unimaginable levels of extreme heat".

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The Somali National Army (SNA) said Wednesday its forces killed over 50 al-Shabab militants in a foiled terror attack on its base at a village in Hiran region of central Somalia.

Odowaa Yusuf Rage, Chief of Defense Forces said that the deadly dawn attack at the army base located in Yasoman village left three soldiers dead. "Our forces defeated the terrorists and killed 50 of them who attempted to raid the army base," Yusuf told SNA Radio.

He said the ongoing military operations will be intensified in the area to flush out all the terrorists who have been staging terror attacks in the region.

The Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism had earlier said the SNA backed by the local forces had received intelligence information about the impending attack but moved swiftly and successfully repulsed the insurgents.

The ministry said the fierce fighting took place in Yasoman village, about 35 km northeast of Bulaburte city.

The Somali forces backed by pro-government militia have liberated more than 40 villages and killed over 500 al-Shabab terrorists in the past three weeks in operations in central Somalia.

The militant group has lost ground to the Somali government and African Union troops in recent months but still controls some territory in southern and central Somalia.

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Ukraine has received the first Iris-T defence system from Germany, Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov has said.

"IRIS-Ts from (Germany) are already here. (American) NASAMS are coming. This is only the beginning. And we need more," Reznikov tweeted late on Tuesday. "There is a moral imperative to protect the sky over (Ukraine) in order to save our people."

Germany had promised delivery of the first Iris-T missile shield "in the coming days" after Russia unleashed deadly attacks across Ukraine on Monday, killing at least 19 people and wounding more than 100, according to Ukrainian authorities.

The Ukrainian defence ministry said Monday that Russia had fired 83 missiles at Ukraine, of which its air defences shot down 52, among which were 43 cruise missiles.

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Russia has detained eight suspects over the deadly explosion on the bridge linking annexed Crimea to Russia, the FSB security service said in a statement quoted by news agencies on Wednesday.

The suspects include five Russians and "three Ukrainian and Armenian citizens," it said, without providing more details.

"The explosives were hidden in 22 plastic film rolls weighing 22,770 kilograms (50,200 pounds)," it said.

The rolls left on a boat in August from the Ukrainian port of Odessa to Bulgaria. They then transited through the port of Poti in Georgia, then sent overland to Armenia before arriving by road in Russia, according to the FSB.

The explosives entered Russia on October 4 in a truck with Georgian license plates and reached the region of Krasnodar on October 6, two days before the blasts, the FSB said.

The "terrorist attack" was organised by Ukrainian secret services, with a Kyiv agent having coordinated the transit of the explosives, according to the FSB.

On Saturday, a blast ripped through the road and rail bridge connecting Crimea to Russia, killing three people, causing damage and igniting a massive fire.

The bridge is logistically crucial for Moscow -- a vital transport link for moving military equipment to Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine.

It is also hugely symbolic, with President Vladimir Putin having personally inaugurated the structure in 2018.

The blast sparked celebrations from Ukrainians. Russia blamed the explosion on Kyiv on Sunday and on Monday launched missile attacks across Ukraine, killing at least 19 people and wounding more than 100.

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Hezbollah will back a maritime agreement between Israel and Lebanon Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Hezbollah, said on Tuesday, only if it is officially endorsed by the Lebanese government. Gas riches are the "only door" to prosperity for crisis-hit Lebanon, he added.

"If the president announces that Lebanon's official position supports the agreement, then, for us... things are settled," Nasrallah said.

The statement comes after both countries settled a long-held dispute over maritime borders with Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid hailing the US-brokered agreement as a "historic agreement."

The settlement will allow the neighbouring countries to unlock opportunities for offshore gas production in the Mediterranean rich gas fields.

"Tonight we will neither threaten nor make promises, tonight we are calm and without slogans, tonight is about joy, and I was careful in every word I say so that the enemy does not benefit from any word," said the Hezbollah leader.

However, Israel remains wary as it has long expressed concerns against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, its greatest immediate threat, possessing an estimated 150,000 rockets and missiles capable of striking anywhere in Israel.

Nonetheless, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid welcomed the agreement saying it would "strengthen Israel's security," according to a statement released on Tuesday by Lapid's office.

Lebanon's presidency reflected Lapid's positive sentiment, voicing hope that "the agreement on the demarcation will be announced as soon as possible."

There has been a "full agreement on the English draft of the accord," Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said following a meeting with Lebanese President Michel Aoun.

Aoun will review the Arabic translation with an official announcement expected on Wednesday, Mikati added.

US President Joe Biden expressed his country's support, congratulating both sides on a "breakthrough agreement" to establish maritime boundaries for the first time between both countries.

"My administration was proud to facilitate this deal, an anchor for regional stability and prosperity" he tweeted.

Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz also voiced his support, calling the accord "positive for both sides," according to a statement made on Tuesday, while criticising Hezbollah, which he said "attempted to destroy the process" with its threats.

However, opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu called the deal a "historic surrender" to "all of Hezbollah's demands," threatening to go back on the agreement if he returns to power.

"This is not a historic agreement, but a historic capitulation," he said during a Facebook live statement.

"He who capitulates to Nasrallah cannot be prime minister... Israel cannot allow itself to have an amateur and weak prime minister," he added.

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Palestinian shops and businesses in east Jerusalem shut down on Wednesday to protest Israeli police raids in the area that have prompted fierce clashes between police and Palestinian protesters.

Israeli police have been operating in the Shuafat refugee camp in Jerusalem's eastern sector to hunt for a suspect in a deadly shooting attack at a checkpoint on Sunday that killed a soldier.

Police have been combing Shuafat, a hardscrabble camp for Palestinian refugees on the outskirts of Jerusalem, for the suspect, setting up checkpoints and deploying groups of armed officers to question residents. The heavy police presence has sparked intense clashes with local youth. The checkpoints have choked off entry and exit points out of the area, disturbing daily life for residents.

The general strike was called to protest the crackdown. Schools and shops closed across east Jerusalem, including in the Old City, whose colorful stores catering to tourists and locals alike are usually abuzz with activity.

"Showing solidarity with Shuafat means more than a day's income,'' said Anan Sabah, a butcher in the Old City. "The camp has been closed and surrounded for days. We are closed to say that's collective punishment.''

Tensions between Israelis and Palestinians are at a high, especially in Jerusalem, where thousands of Jewish worshippers are flocking to the flashpoint city to mark the weeklong Sukkot holiday.

Fueling the tensions are monthslong, nightly raids conducted by Israeli occupation forces in the occupied West Bank, which began after a spate of attacks against Israelis earlier this year. More than 100 Palestinians have been killed in the violence, making this year the deadliest since 2015. Most of those killed have been militants, according to Israel, but some local youth protesting the raids as well as civilians have also been killed in the violence.

The raids have sparked a series of shooting attacks in recent weeks against Israelis in the West Bank, including one near the Palestinian city of Nablus Tuesday that killed an Israeli soldier.

The Israeli military said it had closed some roads leading in and out of the city and set up roadblocks in its search for the gunmen. Despite the tensions, it said it would still allow and escort Jewish worshippers to visit a Jewish shrine in Nablus that has been a flashpoint for violence.

Israel captured the West Bank, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek those territories for a future independent state.

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Israel's agreement with foe Lebanon to demarcate their maritime border makes conflict with the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah less likely, the Israeli premier said Wednesday, after his cabinet voiced support for the deal.

Prime Minister Yair Lapid late on Tuesday announced that Israel and Lebanon had reached an "historic" US-brokered agreement, which potentially unlocks significant offshore gas production for the eastern Mediterranean neighbours.

The deal between the countries that have remained technically at war since Israel's creation in 1948 was applauded by world leaders, including US President Joe Biden.

But at home, Lapid has faced fire from his political opponents ahead of Israel's November 1 election.

Rivals, notably opposition leader and ex-premier Benjamin Netanyahu, have charged that the centrist, interim prime minister agreed to a deal that could see fresh energy revenues reach Hezbollah, which holds huge influence in Lebanon.

Rejecting those charges, Lapid told reporters that "this agreement staves off the possibility of a military clash with Hezbollah."

"If we went out to battle, we would deal them a heavy blow. That being said, if it is possible to prevent war, it is the job of a responsible government to do so," he added.

Israeli security experts say Hezbollah has an arsenal of thousands of missiles capable of hitting Israeli population centres.

Defence Minister Benny Gantz, speaking alongside Lapid, said the agreement "has the potential to reduce Iran's influence on Lebanon".

The deal "establishes a new 'security equation' with regard to the sea," Gantz added, describing it "as positive for the citizens of Lebanon."

One friction point through the maritime border talks was control of the potentially gas-rich Qana field.

Lapid said that under the agreed terms, Israel "will receive approximately 17 percent of the revenues from the Lebanese gas field, the Qana-Sidon field, if and when they will open it."

French energy giant Total has been licenced to explore the field.

Lapid said Israel "built this agreement with the Americans so that money from this field will not reach Hezbollah", without specifying how the deal offers such assurances.

Cabinet Support

Another major source of tension was the Karish gas field, which Israel insisted fell entirely within its waters and was not a subject of negotiation.

Lebanon reportedly claimed part of the field and Hezbollah threatened attacks if Israel began production there.

"At every step of the way, we made it clear to the Lebanese -- that with or without an agreement, Israel will not delay by even a single day, the production (of gas) from the Karish platform, and will not give in to any threat," Lapid said Wednesday.

Hezbollah a day earlier said it would back the agreement if the Lebanese government officially endorsed it.

Also Wednesday, Lapid's cabinet "with an overwhelming majority" expressed in principle support for the agreement mediated by US envoy Amos Hochstein, Lapid's office said.

Lebanon's presidency said Tuesday the proposed final text submitted by Hochstein was "satisfactory", although Beirut is yet to officially accept the terms.

Israeli lawmakers were due to receive the text Wednesday night and will have 14 days to review it before it returns to cabinet for final approval.

Lapid's opponents have also launched a legal challenge demanding that the agreement be ratified by parliament, where the premier's allies do not hold a majority.

Netanyahu has said that the government he hopes to form with his far-right and religious allies after elections next month would not be bound by an agreement with Lebanon.

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The G7 and IMF pledged their steadfast financial support to Ukraine on Wednesday as the country reels from Russian missile strikes and needs billions of dollars in monthly aid.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared by video link to urge more aid at a finance ministers gathering in Washington for the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, just days after Russia's missile salvo on Kyiv and other cities.

"We can see that Russian terror attacks can be intensified," Zelensky said through an interpreter to the meeting dedicated to supporting Ukraine.

"So we need to intensify our collaboration for assistance in a symmetric way to rebuild what was destroyed and to guarantee the financial stability of our state," he said, adding that Kyiv faces a $38 billion budget hole next year.

IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said Ukraine's financing needs in 2023 will range between $3 billion and $4 billion a month.

She said that at the request of Zelensky, the IMF would create the Ukraine Economic Forum to share information and clarify the country's financing needs.

"We are moving with you in the direction of a strong Ukraine," she said.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said meeting Ukraine's needs "will require a unified and coordinated effort."

"But together, the G7, the international financial institutions, and all of Ukraine's partners can help Ukraine win this war and rebuild to become the prosperous and secure democracy that the Ukrainian people have fought so hard for," she said.

The United States has provided $65 billion in aid, including military equipment to Kyiv since February.

'Stand With Ukraine'

Earlier, Yellen and other finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven wealthy democracies held their own talks about Russia's war in Ukraine.

"We urge Russia to immediately end its unjust and brutal war," they said in a statement.

"The G7 will continue to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes and remain strongly committed to supporting Ukraine's urgent short-term financing needs," the statement added.

The G7 also discussed its efforts to impose a price cap on Russia oil in a bid to deny the country a key source of funding for its war and contain soaring energy prices.

The group, which includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, said it had made "significant progress on all key aspects" of the proposal, but they did not give any details.

The G7 welcomed Australia's addition to the coalition. One of the challenges the G7 faces is rallying countries around the world behind the idea of a price cap.

Putin Warning

Hours earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin lashed out at the proposal, which the United States has pushed and the EU supports pending details from the G7.

"With their cavalier decisions, some Western politicians are destroying the global market economy and are in fact posing a threat to the well-being of billions of people," Putin told an energy forum in Moscow.

Moscow has warned that it would cut off oil supplies to countries that impose such a cap.

Officials have yet to say at what level the cap would be set, but they have said that it would remain above the cost of production so that Russia would still have an incentive to supply importing countries.

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By Azernews





By Sabina Mammadli

The Azerbaijani Prosecutor-General's Office has urged international organizations to take legal measures against Armenia and its leadership for war crimes, in particular, for the killing of Azerbaijani civilians, Azernews reports.

In a statement timed to the second anniversary of the missile attacks by Armenia on Ganja city, the office stated that an investigation into three criminal cases related to the rocket attacks is underway.

The Prosecutor-General's Office condemned the crimes against humanity, and peace, honoring the memory of those who died tragically.

"The Armenian armed forces, violating norms and principles of international law, the 1949 Geneva Convention and its Additional Protocols, requirements of a humanitarian ceasefire, achieved during the Second Karabakh War that began on September 27, 2020, attacked facilities of civilian infrastructure in the cities and regions of Azerbaijan located far from the conflict zone and the frontline zone," the statement noted.

Further, the statement reminded that the Armenian army targeted residential buildings, hospitals, other medical centers, school buildings, kindergartens, administrative buildings of state institutions, and agricultural land using various types of weapons, including prohibited ones, ballistic missiles, committed crimes against humanity and peace, war crimes, including the brutal killings of civilians, have caused large-scale damage to the civilian population, state property, including infrastructure, and businesses.

"The attack of Armenian Armed forces during the Second Karabakh War on multiple large cities, including the second largest city of Azerbaijan with a population of over a half of million people, the old Ganja with numerous historical and cultural monuments, is part of the aggressive policy pursued by Armenia from 1988 to present day. Since Armenia's main goal in organizing these terrorist attacks was to kill as many people as possible, they targeted, and in particular at night, precisely at those parts of the city with the peaceful population," the statement said.

During a round table meeting on the second anniversary of the terror, Azerbaijani Prosecutor-Generals Senior Assistant on Special Assignments Ilgar Safarov brought up that nearly 3,875 residential houses and apartments were completely destroyed or heavily damaged as a result of Armenian missile attacks on Azerbaijans Ganja city.

According to him, the investigation showed that the missile attacks also resulted in complete destruction or heavy damage of 33 non-residential facilities, including two complete secondary schools - No. 4 and 29, a children's clinic No. 4, two kindergartens - No. 10 and 52, a music college, and others, with a total area of ??863,700 square meters.

Besides, the official said that 92 vehicles became unusable or seriously damaged, and the material damage inflicted as a result of the missile attacks by Armenia amounted to millions of manat.

Safarov also noted that during the investigation, 113 destroyed or heavily damaged houses, 522 houses in need of repair or restoration, 73 vehicles, were inspected in Ganja. A total of 669 people, whose property was damaged, were recognized as victims.

He added that following the Azerbaijani presidents decree No. 2343 dated December 14, 2020, in connection with the damage caused as a result of the crimes of the Armenian armed forces, compensation in the amount of over AZN4.9 million ($2.8 million) was paid to citizens at the initial stage to ensure the necessary social needs and eliminate the damage caused to their personal property.

Talking about human casualties, Safarov stressed that as many as 26 people were deliberately killed as a result of rocket attacks on Ganja on October 4, 5, 8, 11, and 17, 2020.

He said that of those killed, five people were over the age of 60, one was under the age of 5, and five were between the ages of 5 and 18.

"A total of 175 civilians, including 86 men, 57 women, and 32 children, sustained severe injuries. Among the injured, 24 people were over the age of 60, 21 people  between the ages of 5 and 18, as well as 11 people, were under the age of 5," Safarov said.

He noted that the Ganja incidents of October 11 and 17, 2020, killed six families in total.
The leader of Sweden's third largest party -- the center-right Moderates -- said Wednesday he has not yet been able to reach a deal in his talks to form a coalition with like-minded parties and was granted a two-day extension to broker an agreement.

``We are moving towards the formation of a government in the coming days. There are some details we want to clear up,'' Moderates leader Ulf Kristersson said after two weeks of talks with the other center-right parties.

It was not clear which parties would be part of center-right governing coalition and he declined to elaborate on what ``details'' need to be dealt with.

He met Wednesday with Andreas Norlen, the speaker of the 349-seat Swedish parliament, to report on his progress. Later, Norlen said in a statement that he had agreed to give an extension till Friday.

In Sweden's Sept. 11 election, the country's four center-right parties won 176 seats while the center-left coalition that included the ruling Social Democrats got 173 seats. Following that, Norlen asked Kristersson to see if he can form a governing coalition. In the past two weeks, he has held talks with the populist Sweden Democrats, the Liberals and Christian Democrats.

The Liberals party does not want to be in a coalition with the right-wing Sweden Democrats, a party founded in the 1980s by far-right extremists that now is the country's second-largest group in parliament. In recent weeks, the populist party that wants to crack down on crime and strictly limit immigration, has tried to move toward the mainstream.

A vote in parliament on a new Swedish prime minister is likely set for Monday Oct. 17.

Days after the elections, Swedish Social Democratic Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson who heads Sweden's largest party, acknowledged losing the election. She will continue in a caretaker capacity until a new government is formed.

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A new liquefied natural gas project off Africa's western coast may only be 80% complete, but already the prospect of a new energy supplier has drawn visits from the leaders of Poland and Germany.

The initial field near Senegal and Mauritania's coastlines is expected to contain about 15 trillion cubic feet (425 billion cubic meters) of gas, five times more than what gas-dependent Germany used in all of 2019. But production isn't expected to start until the end of next year.

That won't help solve Europe's energy crisis triggered by Russia's war in Ukraine. Still, Gordon Birrell, an executive for project co-developer BP, says the development ``could not be more timely`` as Europe seeks to reduce its reliance on Russian natural gas to power factories, generate electricity and heat homes.

``Current world events are demonstrating the vital role that (liquid gas) can play in underpinning the energy security of nations and regions,'' he told an energy industry meeting in West Africa last month.

While Africa's natural gas reserves are vast and North African countries like Algeria have pipelines already linked to Europe, a lack of infrastructure and security challenges have long stymied producers in other parts of the continent from scaling up exports. Already-established African producers are cutting deals or reducing energy use so they have more to sell to boost their finances, but some leaders warn that hundreds of millions of Africans lack electricity and supplies are needed at home.

Nigeria has Africa's largest natural gas reserves, said Horatius Egua, a spokesman for the petroleum minister, though it accounts for only 14% of the European Union's imports of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, that comes by ship. Projects face the risk of energy thefts and high costs. Other promising countries like Mozambique have discovered large gas reserves only to see projects delayed by violence from Islamic militants.

Europe has been scrambling to secure alternative sources as Moscow has reduced natural gas flows to EU countries, triggering soaring energy prices and growing expectations of a recession. The 27-nation EU, whose energy ministers are meeting this week to discuss a gas price cap, is bracing for the possibility of a complete Russian cutoff but has still managed to fill gas reserves to 90%.

European leaders have flocked to countries like Norway, Qatar, Azerbaijan and especially those in North Africa, where Algeria has a pipeline running to Italy and another to Spain.

Italy signed a $4 billion gas deal with Algeria in July, a month after Egypt reached an agreement with the European Union and Israel to boost sales of LNG. Angola also has signed a gas deal with Italy.

While an earlier agreement allowed Italy's biggest energy company to start production at two Algerian gas fields this week, it was wasn't clear when flows would start from the July deal because it lacked specifics, analysts said.

African leaders like Senegalese President Macky Sall want their countries to cash in on these projects even as they're being dissuaded from pursuing fossil fuels. They don't want to export it all either _ an estimated 600 million Africans lack access to electricity.

``It is legitimate, fair and equitable that Africa, the continent that pollutes the least and lags furthest behind in the industrialization process should exploit its available resources to provide basic energy, improve the competitiveness of its economy and achieve universal access to electricity,'' Sall told the U.N. General Assembly last month.

Algeria is a major supplier _ it and Egypt accounted for 60% of the natural gas production in Africa in 2020 _ but it can't offset Russian gas to Europe at this stage, said Mahfoud Kaoubi, professor of economics and specialist in energy issues at the University of Algiers.

``Russia has an annual production of 270 billion cubic meters _ it's huge,`` Kaoubi said. ``Algeria is 120 billion cubic meters, of which 70.50% is intended for consumption on the internal market.``

This year, Algeria is forecast to have piped exports of 31.8 billion cubic meters, according to Tom Purdie, a Europe, Middle East and Africa gas analyst with S&P Global Commodity Insights.

``The key concern here surrounds the level of production step-up that can be achieved, and the impact domestic demand could have`` given how much gas Algeria uses at home, Purdie said.

Cash-strapped Egypt also is looking to export more natural gas to Europe, even regulating air conditioning in shopping malls and lights on streets to save energy and sell it instead.

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly says Egypt hopes to bring in an additional $450 million a month in foreign currency by rerouting 15% of its domestic gas usage for export, state media reported.

More than 60% of Egypt's natural gas consumption still is used by power stations to keep the country running. Most of its LNG goes to Asian markets.

A new, three-party deal will see Israel send more gas to Europe via Egypt, which has facilities to liquefy it for export by sea. The EU says it will help the two countries increase gas production and exploration.

In Nigeria, ambitious plans have yet to yield results despite years of planning. The country exported less than 1% of its vast natural gas reserves last year.

A proposed 4,400-kilometer-long (2,734-mile-long) pipeline that would take Nigerian gas to Algeria through Niger has been stalled since 2009, mainly because of its estimated cost of $13 billion.

Many fear that even if completed, the Trans-Sahara Gas Pipeline would face security risks like Nigeria's oil pipelines, which have come under frequent attacks from militants and vandals.

The same challenges would hinder increased gas exports to Europe, said Olufola Wusu, a Lagos-based oil and gas expert.

``If you look at the realities on ground _ issues that have to do with crude oil theft _ and others begin to question our ability to supply gas to Europe,'' he said.

Wusu urged pursuing LNG, calling it the ``most profitable`` gas strategy so far.

Even that isn't without issues: In July, the head of Nigeria LNG Limited, the country's largest natural gas firm, said its plant was producing at just 68% of capacity, mainly because its operations and earnings have been stifled by oil theft.

In the south, Mozambique is slated to become a major exporter of LNG after significant deposits were found along its Indian Ocean coast in 2010. France's TotalEnergies invested $20 billion and started work to extract gas that would be liquefied in a plant it was building in Palma, in the northern Cabo Delgado province.

But Islamic extremist violence forced TotalEnergies to indefinitely scupper the project last year. Mozambican officials have pledged to secure the Palma area to allow work to resume.

Italian firm Eni, meanwhile, pressed ahead with its plan to pump and liquefy some of its gas deposits discovered in Mozambique in 2011 and 2014. Eni established a platform in the Indian Ocean 50 miles (80 kilometers) offshore, away from the violence in Cabo Delgado.

It's the first floating LNG facility in the deep waters off Africa, Eni says, with gas liquefaction capacity of 3.4 million tons per year.

The platform liquefied its first gas on Oct. 2, according to Africa Energy, and the first shipment is expected to depart for Europe in mid-October.

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World leaders are scheduled to meet next month in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh to attend the UN Climate Change Conference COP27 try to save the planet from the hazards of climate change.

No serious international action is being taken, meanwhile, to stop the war in Ukraine that could end up triggering a devastating nuclear war. The world is recklessly facing the danger of annihilation. US President Joe Biden said the world is the closest it has come to nuclear catastrophe in 60 years.

Political leaders in Russia and the West are more focused on energy prices and proving the superiority of their respective military equipment and armaments. They are betting on the political collapse of their opponents as their people may not be able to tolerate more economic suffering during the harsh winter months.

People in less developed countries are paying dearly for this war of control and dominance. Staggering prices of food and energy have drastically diminished the ability of many developing economies to meet their peoples basic needs, threatening political stability in dozens of countries.

We should urgently act to stop this war before it becomes a threat to the very existence of our species. I believe that the environment summit in Sharm El-Sheikh should remind us that irrespective of who wins or loses in Ukraine, our collective ability to face the range of new global threats will have been diminished, perhaps irreparably. Coming at a crucial time, this international meeting could also turn into a gathering for peace that would start a process to end the conflict in Ukraine. What happens on the sidelines of international gatherings is often as important as what is included in the official agenda.

Recent developments in the eight months of war might have opened some space for compromise. Russian leaders must have recognised that their military superiority over Ukraine is well balanced by the Western determined military support of the Ukrainian defences. Western strategists should have also come to the conclusion that NATOs expansion must take into consideration Russian security concerns.

I believe that the UN Security Council can and should immediately pass a unanimous resolution calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine at locations presently held by the warring parties forces. While Russia has vetoed any Western draft resolution at the council that tried to criticise Russian actions, it would not object to a ceasefire that would open the door for negotiations.

On the sidelines of the environmental talks in Sharm El-Sheikh next month, Western and Russian leaders should discuss a political deal that could include the future of Ukrainian security relations with the West. In return, a roadmap should be drawn to lift Western sanctions against Russia, including those in the fields of finance, energy, and technology.

I do not expect politicians of these major powers to act only in response to my recommendation. They need to hear an outcry from their own people to stop this madness. I also expect big cartels of oil, gas, and military industries to oppose such a call for peace for obvious self-interested purposes. The maximalist on both sides would also try to make achieving peace impossible by insisting on what would not be acceptable to the other side.

A clear majority of international public opinion opposes the use of force to acquire territories of other nations or to dominate those nations by more powerful neighbours. Unfortunately, we have not been able to enforce this principle to end the Israeli conflict with Arab neighbouring countries other than Egypt and Jordan.

World public opinion also opposes all proxy wars which are meant to change the strategic and military balance in Europe or to stop the transition of the global order into a multipolar one. We cannot condone a war that would go on until the death of the last Ukrainian or Russian soldier. A threat of limited or global nuclear war should serve as enough stimulus to expeditiously and collectively act to avert this dreadful result.

We count on sensible people all over the world to call on their governments to stop this madness. Globalised communications and social media tools should empower those sane voices to overcome expansionist and imperialist circles of power that stand behind the continuation of this dreadful war. This is why I submitted a shorter version of this article to the New York Times for publication in its Op-ed section. Unfortunately, it has not yet been published.

I am publishing this personal idea of mine, in Arabic and English, in Egypt hoping it would be supported by the public opinion and the government in my country, the rest of the Arab world and most other countries. Sharm El-Sheikh summit could provide a unique and timely forum to start a process of reconciliation and negotiation that would end this dreadful war and save our world from an approaching Armageddon.

*Abderahman Salaheldin is a retired Egyptian ambassador whose views do not necessarily represent the official Egyptian policy. He served as ambassador to Turkey and the Czech Republic where he earned his PhD in political science. He writes and lectures about Middle Eastern and international relations.

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Verdi's Aida will be performed on the stage of El-Gouna for the first time in the Red Sea resort's history.



The show is the result of a collaboration with the famous Bolshoi, Mariinsky and St. Petersburg theaters, as well as with the Opera and Ballet Theater of P.I. Tchaikovsky in Perm.

Advertised as the famous opera's "contemporary interpretation," the event will feature international soloists: soprano Maria Bayankina (Aida), mezzo-soprano Irina Shishkova (Amneris), tenor Akhmet Agadi (Ramfis), and bass-baritone Alexander Markeev (the Pharaoh).

Opera Aida has special thematic and historic significance in Egyptian culture and is one of the most popular operatic works performed in Egypt. It was composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni and is based on a story written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette, commissioned by khedive Ismail Pasha.

Opera Aida was first performed in Cairo on 24 December 1871. Throughout the decades, the opera has continuously been performed in Egypt at the old Khedieval Opera House then the new Opera House.

The famous performances also took place at Deir Al-Bahari Temple (Hatshepsut Temple) in Luxor in the 1990s, and in front of the Giza pyramids.

This is the first time for the Red Sea resort to witness a performance of Aida.

The highlight of El-Gouna's previous artistic activities has been the El-Gouna Film Festival, which ran for five consecutive years until 2021. The festival has been suspended this year with no further information provided regarding its possible return.

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Two new bills that aim to conserve the environment and stem air pollution are in the works in the Senate

Following four procedural sessions last week, Egypts Senate, the consultative upper house of parliament, got down to business this week.

On Tuesday, it gave final approval to a new government-drafted bill aimed at establishing a Supreme Council for Vehicle Manufacturing and setting up a fund to provide financing for an environmentally friendly vehicle-assembly industry in Egypt.

A report prepared by the Senates Industry and Trade Committee said the new 13-article legislation served the states strategy of turning Egypt into a regional hub for the production and export of electric vehicles (EV), targeting the markets of Africa and the Arab world in particular.

The legislation could also attract foreign investments to the vehicle-manufacturing industry, as this represents the central nerve of modern economies, said the report.

The legislation will also serve the governments policy of seeking to protect the environment by expanding the use of environmentally friendly clean electric power and reducing transport vehicles with fuel emissions harmful to nature and human health, the report said.

The minister of environment and the Environmental Affairs Authority will set out the criterion upon which vehicles are considered harmful to the environment.

Head of the Senates Trade and Industry Committee Mohamed Halawa said the Supreme Council for Vehicle Manufacturing will offer incentives and facilities to investors to tap the EV assembly industry.

The proceeds of the fund for financing an EV industry will be used to support the states policy of switching to green and clean means of transport and increase spending on the research and technology centres necessary for creating a competitive EV industry, Halawa said.

Hani Al-Assal, a senator with the parliamentary majority party Mostaqbal Watan, said the value of the vehicle-manufacturing industry in Egypt is estimated at $4 billion. If Egypt is to become a regional hub for the EV industry, this could go up to $100 billion, he said.

But the legislation was rejected by some leftist senators.

Mahmoud Sami, leader of the parliamentary group of the leftist Egyptian Socialist Democratic Party, said the legislation setting up a Supreme Council for Vehicle Manufacturing and a fund for financing an EV industry would cost a lot of money.

This is not the right time to set up such a council and fund as the country is reeling from a global economic crisis that should force the government to turn to adopting austerity measures rather than spending money to set up councils, Sami said.

Sameh Ashour, a Nasserist senator, also rejected the legislation, arguing that it came while industrial investors in Egypt were facing bureaucratic complications. The state should first do more to solve problems facing industrial investors such as simplifying licensing measures, he said.

The council will be involved in drafting the general policies, plans, and strategies necessary for developing Egypts local vehicle-manufacturing industry, says Article 2 of the legislation, adding that the council will also take charge of finalising the necessary legislative and administrative framework for this industry, eliminating obstacles and finding solutions to problems facing the auto industry in Egypt, and exchanging expertise and agreements with countries and institutions well-known for their pioneering role and rich experience in the field of vehicle manufacturing.

The bill also states that a fund to manage financing will be set up, with its headquarters located in Greater Cairo and with branches and offices across Egypt. To achieve its objectives, the fund will embark on offering a package of incentives and facilities to investors plus spending on the innovation necessary to create a competitive, local, environmentally friendly vehicle-manufacturing industry in Egypt, Article 4 says.

Another bill aiming to stem air pollution was also part of the Senates debates this week.

Chairman of the Senates Energy Committee Abdel-Khalek Ayad said the amendments to Environment Law 4/1994 were in line with Article 46 of Egypts constitution, which obligates the state to take all measures necessary to conserve the environment and create the conditions for a healthy life.

To achieve this, the amendments propose a 2.5 per cent green fee levied on newly imported and locally produced vehicles fitted with engines that cause harmful emissions.

This includes vehicles with engines using diesel only, vehicles with engines using petrol only, or vehicles using combined fuel (diesel-natural gas).

Vehicles with electric engines or natural-gas-powered engines, plus government-owned and ambulance vehicles, will be exempted from paying the green fee, said the report.

Half of the proceeds of the new fee will go to the Automotive Industry Development Fund and the other half to the Environment Protection Fund, it said. The amendment will entrust the Environmental Affairs Agency with the power of inspecting vehicles and issuing environment-adjustment certificates after they pay the fee.

The law states that the 2.5 per cent fee could be increased annually by 0.5 per cent to reach five per cent maximum.

For locally produced vehicles, the percentage will be calculated according to the producers selling price, said the report, adding that for imported vehicles the fee will be calculated according to the value of the custom purposes bill plus the customs tax and other taxes and fees. In all circumstances, the fee will be imposed on vehicles once only.

The report, however, indicated that after consultation with government representatives, the Senates Energy Committee had decided to add a new article (47) to the environment law stating that the Environmental Affairs Agency will be in charge of issuing environment-adjustment certificates to locally produced and imported vehicles using diesel and petrol fuel only after they pay a green fee ranging between LE1,000 and LE50,000 maximum to be paid one time only.

This sum will replace the 2.5 to five per cent green fee after members of the two committees raised concerns that the fee violates the constitution in terms of discriminating against vehicles according to their price value, said the report.

The Senates Energy Committee also rejected splitting the proceeds of the green fee between the Automotive Industry Development Fund and the Environment Protection Fund.

It decided that 80 per cent of the proceeds of the green fee would go to the environmentally friendly electric vehicle-assembly industry, 10 per cent to the Environment Protection Fund, and 10 per cent to the State budget.

This new division of the fees will be more effective in achieving the objectives of the amendments in terms of offering the funds necessary for the creation of an electric vehicle-assembly industry in Egypt and at the same time helping the Ministry of Environment to play its role in conserving nature and stemming air pollution, said the report.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 13 October, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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Al-Nuaimi spoke with Ahram Online following The Council of Arab Information Ministers and the Standing Committee for Arab Medias annual meeting in Cairo in September.

The meeting was attended by 13 presidents, ministers and senior officials from Arab media organisations in a display of participation unprecedented for many years.

During the meeting, the minsters discussed many important topics including Arab media strategy, the Arab Committee for Electronic Media, the role of the Arab media in addressing terrorism, as well as the Arab media map for sustainable development.

Ahram Online: Tell us about the importance of cooperation between information ministers through the Arab League, especially in light of the Arab ministerial meeting that you participated in recently. What is the importance of joint coordination in light of the extremely sensitive stage the world is going through?

Ramzan bin Abdullah Al-Nuaimi: Without a doubt, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi's speech during his meeting with us, the Arab ministers of information, served as a beacon for the joint Arab action system.

During the ministerial meeting, I was keen to emphasise the role of the League of Arab States in consolidating common brotherly ties and supporting our just Arab causes, especially in the media field, which is witnessing a number of common challenges that require a unified and serious stance and a common collective vision.

The meeting was fruitful and resulted in a set of initiatives aimed at evaluating the course of the Arab media. It renewed our position calling for stopping the foreign media discourse on the culture of our Arab societies, which still lurks in our countries and peoples. This requires balanced thinking and unified and collective approaches that put the country above all considerations.

We reviewed all the items on the meeting's agenda, including the media honour charter, the Arab media strategy, the Arab media map for sustainable development and others. We also stressed the importance of continuous coordination between our countries in the field of electronic media.

AO: In your opinion, what is the importance of strengthening the Arab media strategy to combat terrorism and extremism?

RAN: This strategy was formulated in light of several reasons and in the context of international efforts to combat terrorism and extremist ideology. Our Arab region has suffered from the penetration of this ideology through terrorist organisations that promote their destructive ideas.

This strategy is an ambitious roadmap that seeks to unify the efforts of the Arab media in confronting extremist ideas and educating Arab public opinion about the importance of Arab interdependence, especially among the youth, which is the largest proportion of the citizens of Arab countries. The strategy targets them directly, as it calls for protecting young people from the dangers of modern technologies. [It includes] programs and initiatives that seek to achieve the objectives of this strategy in cooperation with all Arab countries.

We believe that media and responsibility are two sides of the same coin, and when professional and moral responsibility is absent, the media will turn from a national weapon for construction, development and education, into a shovel that destroys ideas, values and societies.

[Our objective was] to come up with practical and constructive work mechanisms and proposals that would enable Arab media to play its national role to the fullest, consolidate awareness of Arab and Islamic values and constants in the conscience of our peoples and revive the feeling of belonging to our just Arab causes, foremost of which is the Palestinian cause.

AO: What about media cooperation between Egypt and the Kingdom of Bahrain in light of the protocols and agreements signed between them?

RAN: Since the signing of the first agreement in the media and cultural affairs between the two brotherly countries in 1987, many agreements and protocols have followed, including the signing of a protocol for cooperation in the media field during the official visit of King Hamad bin Isa at the invitation of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi in 2016.

Egypt has long-standing institutions that we are proud to communicate with and exchange experiences and knowledge with, including the prestigious Al-Ahram Foundation, an institution that occupies a great position in the [view of Bahrains] King Hamad. This was embodied when we received a delegation from the Foundation on 5 March 2018. We are interested and keen to create more opportunities for cooperation with various official and private Egyptian media institutions.

AO: Bahrain will witness the holding of parliamentary and municipal elections in the coming days. How have you prepared for this event?

RAN: The democratic process in Bahrain and parliamentary life is progressing at a steady pace, and the regularity of the elections according to their dates is evidence of that. Throughout Bahrains more than 230 year history, the Shura was an approach to the relationship between the ruler and the people, and the voice of the people was and still is an important factor in national decision-making, which has been framed and preserved within the institutions of the modern Bahraini state.

We proudly recall the participation of Bahraini women in all popular elections, leading to a woman becoming the head of the legislative authority in 2018.

As for the preparations, I can say here that all the constitutional institutions are working to make this great national event a success, and there is a popular enthusiasm that we saw from the citizens with the first stages of the elections represented in putting up the voters' lists.
Riot police fired into at least one neighborhood in Sanandaj, the capital of Iran's Kurdistan province, as Amnesty International and the White House's national security adviser criticized the violence targeting demonstrators angered by the death of Mahsa Amini.

Meanwhile, some oil workers Monday joined the protests at two key refinery complexes, for the first time linking an industry key to Iran's theocracy to the unrest. Workers claimed another protest Tuesday in the crucial oil city of Abadan, with others calling for protests on Wednesday as well.

Iran's government insists Amini was not mistreated, but her family says her body showed bruises and other signs of beating. Subsequent videos have shown security forces beating and shoving female protesters, including women who have torn off their mandatory headscarf, or hijab.

From the capital, Tehran, and elsewhere, videos have emerged online despite authorities disrupting the internet. Videos on Monday showed university and high school students demonstrating and chanting, with some women and girls marching through the streets without headscarves as the protests continue into a fourth week. The demonstrations represent one of the biggest challenges to Iran's theocracy since the 2009 Green Movement protests.

One video posted online by a Kurdish group called the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights showed darkened streets with apparent gunfire going off and a bonfire burning in Sanandaj, some 400 kilometers (250 miles) west of Tehran.

Another showed riot police carrying shotguns moving in formation with a vehicle, apparently firing at homes.

A video posted later Tuesday purportedly showed a massive bullet hole inside the home of one Sanandaj resident, a hole that Hengaw alleged came from a heavy .50-caliber machine gun, the type often mounted to armored vehicles. Another video purportedly showed security forces randomly firing in the air while arresting someone there on Monday.

The New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran posted another video showing what it described as a phalanx of motorcycle-riding security forces moving through Sanandaj.

"They reportedly broke the windows of hundreds of cars in the Baharan neighborhood," the center said.

Amini was Kurdish and her death has been felt particularly in Iran's Kurdish region, where demonstrations began Sept. 17 at her funeral there after her death the day before.

Amnesty International criticized Iranian security forces for "using firearms and firing tear gas indiscriminately, including into people's homes.'' It urged the world to pressure Iran to end the crackdown as Tehran continues to disrupt internet and mobile phone networks "to hide their crimes.''

Iran did not immediately acknowledge the renewed crackdown in Sanandaj. However, Iran's Foreign Ministry summoned the British ambassador over the United Kingdom sanctioning members of the country's morality police and security officials due to the crackdown.

Iran's Foreign Ministry called the sanctions "arbitrary and baseless,'' even while threatening to potentially take countermeasures against London.

Jake Sullivan, U.S. President Joe Biden's national security adviser, similarly noted that "the world is watching what is happening in Iran.''

"These protestors are Iranian citizens, led by women and girls, demanding dignity and basic rights,'' Sullivan wrote on Twitter. "We stand with them, and we will hold responsible those using violence in a vain effort to silence their voices.''

On Monday, workers held demonstrations in Abadan and Asaluyeh, a key point for Iran's massive offshore natural gas field in the Persian Gulf it shares with Qatar.

Iran's state-run IRNA news agency on Tuesday claimed the Asaluyeh demonstration was a strike over wages. Videos of the protests included workers chanting: "This is the bloody year Seyyed Ali will be overthrown," referring to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei without his Shia religious title of ayatollah. Workers also said several of their colleagues had been detained by authorities after their protests Tuesday.

On Tuesday, the Contractual Oil Workers Protest Organizing Council claimed another strike at Abadan, posting videos outside of the massive refinery complex in the city near the Iraqi border. The details in the videos correspond with each and to known features of the facility compared against satellite photos taken in recent months.

It remains unclear how many people have been killed or arrested so far.

An Oslo-based group, Iran Human Rights, estimates at least 185 people have been killed. This includes an estimated 90 people killed by security forces in the eastern Iranian city of Zahedan amid demonstrations against a police officer accused of rape in a separate case. Iranian authorities have described the Zahedan violence as involving unnamed separatists, without providing details or evidence.

Iran's judiciary spokesman Masoud Setayeshi reportedly said Tuesday that Iran so far has released some 1,700 people arrested in the recent demonstrations, without offering a total figure for those detained so far.

Meanwhile Tuesday, Iranian government spokesman Ali Bahadori Jahromi alleged without providing evidence that U.S. sanctions affected Amini's ability to get medicine for the chronic illnesses she faced. However, an Iranian government report Friday said that she was taking hydrocortisone and levothyroxine, two medicines made in Iran available in pharmacies in the country.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said renewed fighting was reported between armed factions in several locations including Padit in Kodok Payam, Fashoda County in Upper Nile State between Oct. 6-9. A payam is the second-lowest administrative division below county in South Sudan.

"In Padit, the entire population of the village was reported displaced, and the village burnt down, details on civilian casualties are not yet available," OCHA said in its latest report released in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.

OCHA explained that the White Army youth reportedly attacked Nyigier, a village located a few km from Kodok town, and as attacks advanced towards Fashoda County, tensions increased with reports indicating that the youth mobilized to protect Kodok town.

It said some 23 people sought shelter at the UNMISS compound in Kodok and local sources estimate that 8,000 people from Kodok town and other locations have moved to the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) site for safety.

OCHA stressed that registrations of displaced people remain pending until the situation stabilizes and humanitarian teams from Malakal can support them.

"Humanitarian activities are affected, and some humanitarian personnel relocated from Fashoda County for safety reasons. Much humanitarian staff from UN system members and NGOs moved from their compounds in Kodok town to the Kodok humanitarian hub, near the UNMISS," OCHA said.

It stressed that since the beginning of the conflict along the Nile River in mid-August, more than 18,000 internally displaced persons have sought shelter at the Protection of Civilian Site (PoC) in Malakal as of Tuesday.
Before 2008, Al-Shabaab was a small player within the larger Islamic Courts Union (ICU). The Union was an umbrella entity that emerged around 2003 to provide justice and security in Mogadishu in the absence of a formal state.

Ethiopia, in support of the transitional Somali government, militarily defeated the Islamic Courts Union in 2006. Over the next two years, Al-Shabaab broke away from the Union and rose to prominence in Somalia.

It transformed from a terrorist organisation, fighting Ethiopian occupation, to something of a de-facto state. It gained territory, eventually controlling most of southern Somalia.

Between 2010 and 2013, the group survived military and territorial losses, as well as a significant leadership crisis.

Al-Shabaab adapted and honed its ability to conduct attacks. It also established systems to tax businesses and the public, both inside and outside of the territory it controlled.

The group began to provide an alternative justice structure based on a strict and harsh interpretation of Sharia (Islamic law), though its understanding of Sharia was highly debatable even among Salafi circles.

Today, Al-Shabaab remains the most formidable challenge to the Somali government, and its regional and international partners.

Despite the shifts it has experienced over 15 years, some things have remained crucial to Al-Shabaabs mission in Somalia.

Scholars have noted three goals that have been continually reasserted, ridding the country of foreign troops, implementing Sharia, and defeating the Somali federal government

Fully understanding these motivations, however, can be a challenge. This is because the organisations goals can change with time and the views of the leadership can be different from those of recruits.

Yet, examining these motivations offers important and actionable insights into the factors that perpetuate the conflict in Somalia or block efforts to resolve it.

Hostility To Foreign Troops

Al-Shabaabs nationalist stance against foreign troops in Somalia has been a theme throughout its evolution.

Following the US backing of a warlord coalition during the Islamic Courts Union era and Ethiopias military intervention, Al-Shabaab began to spread a message in opposition to the presence of foreign forces in Somalia.

There were maximalist and violent pan-Islamist members within the groups leadership ranks at the time. However, Al-Shabaabs outspokenness against foreign forces resonated with deep-rooted Somali hostility against Ethiopia and broader nationalist narratives that existed, separate from Salafi and extremist trends. Ultimately, this served as an incredible recruitment tool.

After Ethiopia withdrew forces in 2009, Al-Shabaab shifted its focus to the expulsion of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).

The missions role included protecting federal institutions. AMISOM has since been replaced by the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia, which Al-Shaaab continues to oppose.

The group also wants to get rid of the US. This is due to the countrys airstrikes and special operations forces in Somalia.

Turkey is another unwelcome foreign power because it supports the Somali federal government. It also advises and trains the military.

Al-Shabaab additionally opposes the United Arab Emirates economic interests in Somali ports and military bases.

Implementing Sharia

Implementing its own version of Sharia (Islamic law) has remained a pillar of Al-Shabaabs agenda throughout its existence.

The group embraces a Salafist interpretation of Sharia. This includes the imposition of harsh punishments for infractions and the rejection of Sufi traditions that many Somalis follow.

However, this goal has, as researchers have pointed out, taken different forms according to the situation and the strength of the organisation.

For instance, in 2006, Al-Shabaab didnt antagonise Sufi orders in the way it did between 2008 and 2009 because it wasnt as powerful.

As the group began to experience military pressure and territorial losses in the period after 2011-2012, the implementation of Sharia varied across Somalia, with some Al-Shabaab provincial (wilayat) governors operating more reasonably than others.

More recently, in 2019, Ahmed Diriye, Al-Shabaabs current leader, expressed a tougher stance. He declared that Sharia ought to be implemented without concession or compromise.

Desire To Govern

Defeating the Somali federal government and federal member states is another important agenda item for Al-Shabaab.

The group sees itself as an alternative to the Somali government. This is evident in its efforts to govern territory. It also provides security, justice and other services that the government has failed to effectively provide.

The organisations influence in the sphere of governance is notable in three areas: justice, taxation and dispute mediation.

First, Al-Shabaabs shadow court system has offered pathways to justice for Somalis. It addresses the problems of the population it controls, including divorce, inheritance and land disputes. It then provides rulings it can actually enforce.

The governments court and justice system are reportedly less consistent. Its rulings arent always enforced and it faces issues of corruption.

Al-Shabaabs courts attract residents from areas outside the organisations immediate territorial control. This is because the courts help solve practical problems.

Second, the group maintains a taxation system that has spread beyond government-controlled territories. This likely surpasses the Somali governments own taxation abilities.

Through its taxation of businesses, transportation, ports and other sectors, Al-Shabaab provides some services, such as regulating the production of certain export products. However, the main benefit of taxation is protection from the group.

The organisation also collects zakat, a charitable contribution required for Muslims. However, it uses much of this collection to bolster its own coffers rather than redistributing it to the community.

Third, Al-Shabaab has presented itself as capable of successfully intervening in clan disputes. In an October 2020 press release, the organisation claimed its keen to solve the problems and differences that arise between the tribes, and it has shown remarkable success in settling decades-long disputes among them.

Mediating clan disputes is central to Al-Shabaabs ambitions to establish a unified Islamic state.

What Next?

After 15 years of conflict, Al-Shabaab remains a significant threat to stability in Somalia and its neighbours, like Kenya.

Understanding its motives to expel foreign troops, implement its version of Sharia and defeat the government raises questions on how to end their insurgency.

With the recent election of Somali president Hassan Mohamud, there appears to be renewed government focus on not just weakening Al-Shabaab, but eliminating it.

As part of this effort, the government has hailed mobilisation efforts by local militia (called Ma'awisley) against the group.

The new administration has called for the expansion of these resistance efforts. It has sent government troops to join local militia in an offensive against Al-Shabaab. Time will tell if this new strategy will strategically alter the course in the fight against the group.

Political engagement with Al-Shabaab is another potential avenue that could complement military operations.

However, prospects for negotiation are poor. This is because of Al-Shabaabs reluctance to engage in negotiations, its uncompromising position on foreign troop withdrawal and the governments commitment to eliminating the group.

* This story was published in the Conversation
Afghanistan, South Korea and Venezuela lost their bids Tuesday to serve three-year terms on the UN Human Rights Council.

With nearly all the 193-member states voting in the General Assembly, Algeria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Chile, Costa Rica, Georgia, Germany, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Morocco, Romania, South Africa, Sudan, and Vietnam were voted onto the 47-member Geneva-based rights body.

Seats are allocated through regional groups. Africa, Eastern Europe, Western Europe and other groups all ran uncontested slates of candidates. But all winners still needed to achieve at least a 97-vote majority.

Among the contested seats, Chile and Costa Rica easily ended Venezuela's re-election bid (states can serve two consecutive terms). Chile won 144 votes, while Costa Rica took 134. Venezuela only received 88 votes.

"The General Assembly rightly closed the door on Venezuela's attempt to remain on the UN Human Rights Council," said Louis Charbonneau, UN director at Human Rights Watch.

A September report by the U.N. human rights office details repression by Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro's military and intelligence agencies, committing what the investigators say include grave crimes and human rights violations, including acts of torture and sexual violence.

"A government facing these kinds of allegations has no business sitting on the UN's top rights body," Charbonneau added. "Now UN member states should seek ways to hold accountable those Venezuelan officials responsible for grave human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings and torture."

The Maduro government has dismissed the accusations as "false and unfounded."
By Azernews





By Vugar Khalilov

The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry has dismissed Armenias alleged ceasefire breach allegations, Azernews reports, citing the ministrys social media account.

The information spread by Armenia about the alleged firing of positions of its armed forces by the Azerbaijani army units does not reflect the truth and is completely false, the ministry underlined.

"We categorically refute this information," the ministry stressed.

Armenia periodically shells Azerbaijani military positions on liberated territories. Since early September, Azerbaijani positions have multiple times come under Armenian fire.

The major border clashes since the 44-day war (2020) erupted between the sides on the night of September 12 leading to 13, when units of the Armenian armed forces carried out large-scale provocations along the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border in Dashkasan, Kalbajar, and Lachin directions.

Following the October 6 meeting in Prague between Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders under the auspices of EU Council President Charles Michel and French President Emmanuel Macron, all parties reaffirmed their commitment to the peace negotiations while acknowledging each other's territorial integrity.

President Ilham Aliyev praised the EU's efforts in the peace talks during an interview with Azerbaijani TV channels, emphasizing that Azerbaijan and Armenia are gradually reaching peace.

I do hope that we are slowly getting closer to peace, and I highly appreciate Charles Michel's work in this area. Because, as you know, several trilateral meetings have been held in Brussels, and we are getting closer to peace every time. This four-sided meeting was organized by Charles Michel and Emmanuel Macron, and this meeting discussed important issues. I believe that this meeting will be of tremendous importance in reaching a peace agreement, Aliyev stressed.

Aliyev added that the peace talks are still ongoing and should not be disrupted.

The ministers should meet for the second time soon, and we have suggested that after that the working groups of both countries should come together to prepare the text of the peace agreement, perhaps not in one meeting, but over the course of a few days, he underlined.
NATO will push ahead with long-planned nuclear exercises next week despite rising tensions over the war in Ukraine and President Vladimir Putin's insistence that he is not bluffing about using all available means to defend Russian territory, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday.

The exercise, dubbed "Steadfast Noon," is held annually and usually runs for about one week. It involves fighter jets capable of carrying nuclear warheads but without the use any live bombs. Conventional jets, and surveillance and refueling aircraft also routinely take part.

Fourteen of the 30 NATO member countries will be involved in the exercise, which was planned before Russia invaded Ukraine in February. The main part of the maneuvers would be held more than 1,000 kilometers (625 miles) from Russia, a NATO official said.

"It would send a very wrong signal if we suddenly now cancelled a routine, long-time planned exercise because of the war in Ukraine. That would be absolutely the wrong signal to send," Stoltenberg told reporters on the eve of a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels.

"NATO's firm, predictable behavior, our military strength, is the best way to prevent escalation," he said. "If we now created the grounds for any misunderstandings, miscalculations in Moscow about our willingness to protect and defend all allies, we would increase the risk of escalation."
Twenty-three Russians tried to enter Korea on their yachts since Russian President Vladimir Putin announced partial conscription, but all but two were turned back.

According to data from the Korea Coast Guard, three yachts carrying 10, five and four Russians were discovered on the East Sea on Oct. 1, while one yacht with four Russians was found there on Oct. 2 and another carrying three Russians on Oct. 5.

Four of the boats docked in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province and all 23 Russians aboard applied for entry as tourists. But only two of them, who had previous records of entering Korea, were allowed in. Twenty-two of the 23 were men of conscription age in their 20s and 30s.

But it was unclear whether they were fleeing conscription.

Earlier, the U.K.'s Guardian reported that eight Russians from Vladivostok also tried to enter Korea on a yacht since conscription was announced, but it is not known whether their boat was among the ones that were reported by the coast guard.
Director Lee Joon-ik's first TV series, the futuristic fantasy "Yonder," is set for release later this week.

The series revolves around a man in a future virtual reality who receives an invitation to a mysterious realm from his dead wife. It stars Shin Ha-kyun and Han Ji-min.

Lee was full of praise for his stars at a press event in Seoul on Tuesday.

"Both of them are straightforward and sincere. When sincere and frank people meet each other, they can create good chemistry without trying. Everyone will agree when they watch the show," he said.

"Yonder" is available on Friday on streaming platform Tving.
Small cars are enjoying a resurgence as gasoline prices reach record levels and the global recession prompts motorists to tighten their belts.

Some 98,520 subcompact cars were sold from January to September in Korea, up 47 percent from the same period of last year and already more than last year's entire sales of 96,603 cars.

This is the first time in eight years that subcompacts have shown an on-year increase in sales after an extended SUV boom.

The release of Hyundai's new subcompact SUV led the resurgence. There had been only three subcompact models -- the Kia Morning and Ray and GM Korea's Spark -- and they have not been revamped for the last five or six years. Manufacturers were reluctant to invest in subcompacts as they make little profit from sales and consumers lost interest.
KYODO NEWS - Oct 12, 2022 - 19:17 | All, Japan

The Japanese government decided Wednesday to make it mandatory from next April to install safety devices in approximately 44,000 buses used by kindergartens and child care facilities nationwide after a toddler was left alone inside a kindergarten bus and died from heatstroke.

Any kindergarten or child care facility found in violation of the new mandate will be ordered to suspend operations, and manuals for staff will be written to ensure children are safely supervised.

To encourage prompt implementation, the government aims to subsidize 90 percent of the cost of installing safety devices, up to a maximum of 200,000 yen ($1,400) per bus. Funding for the subsidies will come from a new supplementary budget the government is planning to submit to parliament later this year.

For a one-year period, after the safety device is mandated, the government will allow facilities to take alternative measures as a stop-gap, such as attaching inspection charts to buses.

The decision, made at a meeting of relevant ministries and agencies, comes in response to the death of a 3-year-old girl in Shizuoka Prefecture last month, who succumbed to heatstroke after being left inside a kindergarten van for several hours.

"We will urge facilities to have safety systems installed by the end of next June" to avoid unnecessary delays, Masanobu Ogura, minister in charge of policies related to children, said at the meeting.

Related coverage:

FOCUS: Japan to compile stricter school bus safety rules after toddler dies

3-yr-old dies after left in bus for hours, heatstroke suspected
KYODO NEWS - Oct 12, 2022 - 22:45 | World, All

China's Communist Party praised Wednesday its achievements over the past five years in bringing stability to Hong Kong, blocking the independence of Taiwan and controlling the COVID-19 pandemic ahead of its twice-a-decade congress due to start this weekend.

A communique released by the ruling party after a four-day meeting of senior members in Beijing, at which they made final arrangements for the congress to be convened on Sunday, confirmed the "decisive significance" of leader Xi Jinping's unswerving power and authority being cemented, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

It said under Xi's leadership, the situation in Hong Kong has achieved "a major transition from chaos to governance" and the party demonstrated its "strong determination and capability" to oppose Taiwan independence.

The party also coordinated the prevention and control of the COVID outbreak without harming economic and social development, the communique said.

At the 20th National Congress of the party, Xi is widely expected to secure an unprecedented third five-year term as party general secretary.

Wording that indicates his prominent status is projected to be included in an amended party constitution, according to several party sources.

The seventh plenary session of the Communist Party's 19th Central Committee discussed and adopted a work report to be delivered by Xi at the congress and an amendment to the party constitution, Xinhua said. The work report will outline basic policies as well as development goals of the party and the nation through 2027.

Beijing has been tightening its grip in Hong Kong, a semiautonomous region of China, after large-scale protests against an unpopular bill morphed into a pro-democracy movement in 2019.

China has also increased its military pressure on Taiwan, a self-ruled democratic island that Beijing regards as a renegade province to be reunified by force if necessary.

To stem coronavirus infections, China has been implementing a radical "zero-COVID policy" involving the imposition of lockdowns on cities when outbreaks occur and quarantine periods on travelers from abroad.

On Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the communique said the party "properly responded to the risks and challenges brought by the Ukraine crisis."

China has refrained from criticizing Russia's aggression against Ukraine, while opposing sanctions imposed mostly by Western nations. Beijing and Moscow have been reinforcing cooperation lately as their relations with the United States have deteriorated.
KYODO NEWS - Oct 12, 2022 - 20:51 | All, Japan

Japan is planning to highlight diplomatic initiatives advocated by assassinated former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in its long-term security policy guideline slated to be updated by the end of this year, a government source said Wednesday.

In the revised National Security Strategy, Tokyo will also mention that "no unilateral change of the status quo by force will be tolerated" over Taiwan, as China has been stepping up military provocation against the self-ruled democratic island.

Abe, who was fatally shot in July, is known for having proposed a security framework called the "Quad," involving Australia, India, Japan and the United States, and promoted a "free and open Indo-Pacific" to tackle China's growing regional assertiveness.

Such wordings are not clearly referred to in the current security strategy. By inheriting Abe's policy, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is expected to try to work with other democratic countries for stability in the Asia-Pacific region.

Beijing and Taipei have been governed separately since they split in 1949 as a result of a civil war. China regards Taiwan as a province to be reunified with the mainland, by force if necessary.

China has been attempting to bolster its security and economic clout in the region to counter the Quad and the free and open Indo-Pacific blueprint, with President Xi Jinping repeatedly describing Taiwan as a "core interest."

If Japan revises the national strategy in a way that would irritate China, tensions between the two Asian powers could deteriorate further, eventually jeopardizing the security environment in the nearby waters, foreign affairs experts said.

Sino-Japanese relations have become frayed after Abe, Japan's longest-serving prime minister before resigning in 2020, said late last year that any emergency concerning Taiwan would be one for Japan and for the Japan-U.S. security alliance.

In Japan, meanwhile, the Liberal Democratic Party, headed by Kishida, has set a goal of doubling the nation's defense spending to 2 percent or more of gross domestic product in the next five years as part of efforts to grapple with military threats from China.

The ruling Chinese Communist Party has criticized Japan's move, while lambasting the United States and its security allies for striving to build an "anti-China alliance in Asia" and establish an Asian version of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Kishida, who has pledged to "fundamentally" strengthen Japan's defense capabilities, has convened an expert panel to discuss updating three key security-related government documents, including the National Security Strategy.

It would be the first revision of the security and diplomacy policy guideline since it was adopted in 2013, when Abe was in his second term as premier. Abe was the first to pitch the Quad and his free and open Indo-Pacific concept was later incorporated into U.S. strategy.

After Abe, a conservative hawk, was killed, the United States, Japan's most important security ally, praised his achievements, with President Joe Biden saying in a statement that the former leader's free and open Indo-Pacific vision will "endure."

For Japan, a contingency around the Taiwan Strait is of particular concern, given the proximity of the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, a group of uninhabited islets administrated by Tokyo but claimed by Beijing.

Taiwan has also become a source of U.S.-China strains. China has strongly opposed any official exchanges between the United States and Taiwan.

In early August, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the third-highest-ranking official of the country, visited Taiwan despite a harsh backlash from China.

Following Pelosi's visit, China carried out large-scale military drills in areas encircling Taiwan in retaliation, firing ballistic missiles, some of which fell into Japan's exclusive economic zone in the East China Sea.
Heating appliances produced in China's Foshan are welcomed by European customers. Chinese enterprises have adjusted their product structure and developed new products to adapt to the market. #GLOBALink





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
AMMAN, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- Jordan signed on Tuesday a loan agreement worth 125 million U.S. dollars with the World Bank to support the development of the country's agriculture sector.

The loan agreement, signed in the United States, seeks to support Jordan's agricultural sector by enhancing its climate resilience, increasing competitiveness and inclusion, and ensuring medium- to long-term food security, the World Bank said in a statement Tuesday.

In the next five years, about 30,000 farming households will be provided with financing as part of the loan to adopt climate-smart and water-efficient agriculture practices.

The loan also entails providing needs-based training and will help create about 12,000 jobs, especially for Jordanian women and youth.

The program will also provide economic opportunities for Syrian refugees, the World Bank said, adding that agriculture is an important source of income for "Jordan's poor and a large number of Syrian refugees." 
REYKJAVIK, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- The Icelandic edition of the first volume of "Xi Jinping: The Governance of China" was launched here on Tuesday in the capital of Iceland.

Former Icelandic President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson attended the event held at the Harpa Conference and Concert Center and delivered a speech, in which he recalled his previous interaction with Chinese President Xi Jinping, saying that he was impressed by Xi's governance philosophy.

He welcomed the Icelandic edition of the book, which he believes will further promote mutual understanding and friendly exchanges between China and Iceland and the two peoples.

"I see the publication of this book in languages other than Chinese as an attempt to create a dialogue with all the nations," he said. "If we want to understand our future, to navigate our future, we need to understand China."

In a video address, Du Zhanyuan, president of China International Communications Group, said that "Xi Jinping: The Governance of China" shows Xi's in-depth thinking on issues related to China's national governance and global governance and includes China's plan for promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind and a better world.

The publication of the Icelandic version of this book will open a new window through which more Icelandic readers can understand Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and build a bridge of understanding for promoting mutual learning between the civilizations of China and Iceland, Du said.

After reading this book, one can have a deeper understanding and perception of the people-centered approach to development held by the Communist Party of China, the development practices of Chinese-style modernization, and the common values of all mankind that China has consistently advocated -- peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom, Du said.

Noting that China and Iceland enjoy a traditional friendship, Chinese Ambassador to Iceland He Rulong said in his speech that the Icelandic version of the first volume of "Xi Jinping: The Governance of China," the first time the book has been rendered into a Nordic language, testifies to the friendly relations between China and Iceland.

This book will help Icelandic readers better understand Xi's thinking and concepts on how to govern China and how to realize national prosperity and development, and will give Icelandic friends a more direct perspective on Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, which will help create more beautiful prospects for mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Iceland, He said.

At the event, He also gave the newly published books to the Icelandic guests as gifts.

The book was jointly translated and published by China's Foreign Languages Press and Icelandic publishing company BF-utgafa.

So far, the first volume of "Xi Jinping: The Governance of China" has been published in 37 languages. 
By Azernews





By Vugar Khalilov

Azerbaijani First Deputy Defense Minister, Chief of the General Staff of the army, Col-Gen Karim Valiyev, and his Kazakh counterpart, Lt-Gen Marat Khusainov, have discussed prospects for military cooperation, as well as regional situation, Azernews reports, citing the ministry.

The discussion took place on the margins of a regular meeting of the Committee of Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) member states in Baku, the ministry said.

Welcoming the guests, Valiyev underlined that the military cooperation between the two nations is expanding, gaining fresh impetus in 2022. He added that bilateral visits by military delegations, as well as the sharing of experience, led to the armies' continuous expansion of cooperation.

Valiyev said that Azerbaijan places a high value on the development of military relations with Kazakhstan and that these topics are of particular interest to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

Valiyev stressed that the two countries successfully cooperate on both bilateral and international levels, providing mutual support in all matters, and the ongoing global events, the regional situation, as well as new challenges, require the deepening of bilateral ties.

Khusainov, for his part, expressed gratitude for the warm reception he received during his visit to Azerbaijan. He drew attention to the fact that Kazakhstan is also interested in expanding military cooperation with Azerbaijan, noting that it serves the interests of both nations.

The parties reviewed the current status and prospects for the development of bilateral military cooperation between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, emphasizing the vast potential for this regard.

Baku is hosting a regular meeting of the committee of chiefs of staff of the Commonwealth of Independent States' (CIS) armed forces on October 12, the ministry reported earlier.

The chiefs of staff of the armed forces of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, the deputy chief of the general staff of the Russian armed forces, as well as the Tajik military attache to Russia, are attending the meeting.
Students attend the third live class of the "Tiangong Class" series at Henan Museum of Science and Technology in Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan Province, Oct. 12, 2022. (Xinhua/Xu Jiayi)

BEIJING, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- The third live class from China's space station was held Wednesday afternoon, delivered by Shenzhou-14 crew members Chen Dong, Liu Yang, and Cai Xuzhe to students on Earth.

The main classroom is located at the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The class is also being attended by students from other three classrooms in Yunnan, Henan, and Shandong.

It is the first science lecture from the Wentian lab module. The previous two lectures of the "Tiangong Class" series were delivered by the Shenzhou-13 crew from the station's core module Tianhe.

The lecture content includes a capillary effect experiment, the vibration of liquid and liquid-solid mixtures, drinking water with a super-long straw, rotating and flipping wrenches, and introducing a plant growth study.

The astronauts first gave an introduction of the Wentian lab module. They noted that Wentian has an independent control system. It can take over the operation and control of the whole space station when the Tianhe core module has emergencies.

Liu showed the students the motion and vibration of liquid in a microgravity environment. She also sipped mango juice with a two-meter straw.

In another experiment, two tumbling T-handles illustrated how their motion relates to their rotation mode and mass distribution. The phenomenon, popularly known as the Dzhanibekov effect, is easier to be observed in space than on Earth.

The astronauts also had an interaction with the students and answered their questions.

A six-grader from Yunnan Province shared his germination test of Arabidopsis thaliana at school. Wearing mixed-reality glasses, Chen Dong showed the students the Arabidopsis thaliana at different stages of blooming in a microgravity science glove-box.

Arabidopsis thalianaa is a model for understanding the molecular biology of plant traits in space. The science glove-box is a sealed working area in the space station where crew members can perform experimental procedures in cells and plants.

When answering a question from a Beijing student about how to become an astronaut, Chen said that China has started selecting the fourth batch of reserve astronauts, adding that the spacecraft pilots will be recruited from the in-service pilots of the armed forces.

"The space station is waiting for you," said Chen.

At the end of the class, the trio expressed their expectations for the students on Earth. "The Mengtian lab module will launch into orbit soon, and we will witness the historical moment when China's space station is fully completed," Chen said. "We expect you guys to build our space home better in the future." 

Students conduct experiments while watching the third live class of the "Tiangong Class" series at Henan Museum of Science and Technology in Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan Province, Oct. 12, 2022.

The third live class from China's space station was held Wednesday afternoon, delivered by Shenzhou-14 crew members Chen Dong, Liu Yang and Cai Xuzhe to students on Earth.

The main classroom is located at the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The class is also being attended by students from other three classrooms in Yunnan, Henan, and Shandong.

It is the first science lecture from the Wentian lab module. (Xinhua/Li An)

A student introduces his experiment while watching the third live class of the "Tiangong Class" series at a middle school in Dali, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Oct. 12, 2022.

The third live class from China's space station was held Wednesday afternoon, delivered by Shenzhou-14 crew members Chen Dong, Liu Yang and Cai Xuzhe to students on Earth.

The main classroom is located at the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The class is also being attended by students from other three classrooms in Yunnan, Henan, and Shandong.

It is the first science lecture from the Wentian lab module. (Xinhua/Chen Xinbo)

Students conduct experiments while watching the third live class of the "Tiangong Class" series at No.1 Middle School of Heze in Heze, east China's Shandong Province, Oct. 12, 2022.

The third live class from China's space station was held Wednesday afternoon, delivered by Shenzhou-14 crew members Chen Dong, Liu Yang and Cai Xuzhe to students on Earth.

The main classroom is located at the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The class is also being attended by students from other three classrooms in Yunnan, Henan, and Shandong.

It is the first science lecture from the Wentian lab module. (Xinhua/Xu Suhui)

Students attend the third live class of the "Tiangong Class" series at the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 12, 2022.

The third live class from China's space station was held Wednesday afternoon, delivered by Shenzhou-14 crew members Chen Dong, Liu Yang and Cai Xuzhe to students on Earth.

The main classroom is located at the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The class is also being attended by students from other three classrooms in Yunnan, Henan, and Shandong.

It is the first science lecture from the Wentian lab module. (Xinhua/Luo Xiaoguang)
Photo taken on Oct. 7, 2022 shows the 8th Bangladesh-China Friendship Bridge in Pirojpur district, Bangladesh. (Xinhua)

DHAKA, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- The architectural heritage across the Islamic world is impressively rich and Bangladesh, as a Muslim-majority country, is no exception.

There are many iconic Islamic structures including mosques, palaces, tombs and fortresses in Bangladesh. A more recent addition to the heritage of Bangladesh is the 8th Bangladesh-China Friendship Bridge, built with Chinese government funds.

Weng Changmin, deputy manager of the project, told Xinhua recently that it had taken over four years to build the bridge, which officially opened to traffic on Sept. 4.

The structure is a testament to the friendship between China and Bangladesh. The bridge design incorporates an Islamic-style dome and a Chinese knot, reflecting the bonds between China and Bangladesh and the cultures of the two places, he said.

The 2.96-km bridge, formally known as the Bangmata Begum Fazilatun Necha Mujib 8th Bangladesh China-Friendship Bridge, crosses the Kocha River in Pirojpur district, 185 km southwest of the capital Dhaka. It has become an unexpected tourist hotspot in the region.

"I've come to see the 8th Bangladesh-China Friendship Bridge," visitor Nasreen Jahan Mukta told Xinhua. "It is incredibly beautiful. People in southern Bangladesh regions have benefited a lot from the bridge. China has always been a friend and hopefully will remain a friend of Bangladesh. Many thanks to them."

Another visitor, Shahnewaz Khan, said the gate and railings on both sides of the bridge are made in a pattern similar to Muslim mosque design and are very beautiful.

"Many thanks to the Bangladesh government and the Chinese government for this," he said, noting that the bridge had put an end to another dangerous ferry service in the region.

Another tourist, Saiful Islam, spoke of how difficult it had been to cross the river before.

"We had a lot of trouble while going to the other side. Now that there is a bridge, we can come and go from Pirojpur to Kaukhali without any difficulty. And we don't have to wait for the ferry."

Eight Bangladesh-China friendship bridges have been built with Chinese aid across Bangladesh since the 1980s. 

Photo taken on Oct. 7, 2022 shows the 8th Bangladesh-China Friendship Bridge in Pirojpur district, Bangladesh. (Xinhua)

Photo taken on Oct. 7, 2022 shows the 8th Bangladesh-China Friendship Bridge in Pirojpur district, Bangladesh. (Xinhua)
JERUSALEM, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Israel's Security Cabinet voted Wednesday in favor of a landmark agreement with Lebanon to demarcate a maritime border between the two countries.

The vote was the first in several procedures needed before Israel's final approval of the U.S.-brokered deal.

Prime Minister Yair Lapid's office said in a statement that the Security Cabinet, which is made up of the government's senior ministers, unanimously voted in favor of endorsing the agreement with one minister abstaining, meaning the deal will be put to a vote by the entire government.

The government will discuss the deal later on Wednesday, according to the office, although it did not specify when the vote will take place.

The vote on the draft deal came a day after both Lapid and Lebanese President Michel Aoun announced in two separate statements that the draft agreement met their countries' demands. Later on Tuesday, Lapid and U.S. President Joe Biden talked over the phone and hailed the deal as "historic."

Being the first diplomatic agreement between the two countries, which have been in a state of war since the founding of Israel in 1948, the maritime demarcation deal settles a longtime dispute over a region in the eastern Mediterranean, where gas fields are located.

The agreement, a copy of which Xinhua has seen, set terms for the exploration and exploitation rights of the gas fields.

Under the agreement, Qana, a natural gas field partially located in a zone claimed by Israel, would be owned by Lebanon. Total, a French energy giant, will explore the gas field and compensate Israel by sharing some revenues with it.

Karish, an Israeli-developed natural gas field located some 90 km offshore of Israel, will stay inside the Israeli maritime boundaries.

The deal will come into effect once Israel and Lebanon send letters to the United Nations stating their agreement.

Production at the Karish rig and the exploration of Qana are expected to begin immediately after the agreement enters into force, the deal says.

The deal faces several political and legal challenges in Israel, however.

On Wednesday, the Israeli Supreme Court rejected a petition by a far-right group to freeze the procedures to approve the deal, because the country will hold in two-and-a-half weeks its fifth round of parliamentary elections since 2019. 
ABU DHABI, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), now has a direct flight connecting the UAE capital Abu Dhabi and China's southern city of Guangzhou.

Flight EY868 departed Abu Dhabi International Airport on Monday night and landed at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport on Tuesday morning local time.

The new twice-weekly service will be operated via a two-class Boeing 777.

Tony Douglas, Group CEO of Etihad Aviation Group, said in a statement that Guangzhou is "the latest destination to be opened in China by Etihad since the launch of the Abu Dhabi-Shanghai route back in 2012."

"It will continue to help build a solid air bridge for commerce and cultural exchanges between China and the UAE," he added. 
An unmanned sweeper works in Binhu National Forest Park in Hefei, east China's Anhui Province, Oct. 11, 2022. A project promoting self-driving vehicles has been implemented in the Binhu National Forest Park of Hefei recently. Self-driving tour bus, unmanned vending vehicle, unmanned sweeper and other vehicles have been put into use to serve tourists. (Xinhua/Guo Chen)

A staff member monitors the real-time information of the self-driving vehicles in Binhu National Forest Park in Hefei, east China's Anhui Province, Oct. 11, 2022. A project promoting self-driving vehicles has been implemented in the Binhu National Forest Park of Hefei recently. Self-driving tour bus, unmanned vending vehicle, unmanned sweeper and other vehicles have been put into use to serve tourists. (Xinhua/Guo Chen)

Tourists get on a self-driving tour bus in Binhu National Forest Park in Hefei, east China's Anhui Province, Oct. 11, 2022. A project promoting self-driving vehicles has been implemented in the Binhu National Forest Park of Hefei recently. Self-driving tour bus, unmanned vending vehicle, unmanned sweeper and other vehicles have been put into use to serve tourists. (Xinhua/Guo Chen)

A tourist scans the QR code on an unmanned vending vehicle to shop in Binhu National Forest Park in Hefei, east China's Anhui Province, Oct. 11, 2022. A project promoting self-driving vehicles has been implemented in the Binhu National Forest Park of Hefei recently. Self-driving tour bus, unmanned vending vehicle, unmanned sweeper and other vehicles have been put into use to serve tourists. (Xinhua/Guo Chen)

A tourist takes photos of an unmanned patrol vehicle in Binhu National Forest Park in Hefei, east China's Anhui Province, Oct. 11, 2022. A project promoting self-driving vehicles has been implemented in the Binhu National Forest Park of Hefei recently. Self-driving tour bus, unmanned vending vehicle, unmanned sweeper and other vehicles have been put into use to serve tourists. (Xinhua/Guo Chen)
Aerial photo taken on Oct. 10, 2022 shows a view of the archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port along the Oujiang River in Wenzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province.

The archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port was discovered at the end of 2021, with ruins of ancient buildings, shipwrecks, and porcelain pieces unearthed in the following archaeological excavations. According to the National Cultural Heritage Administration, the discovery is important to studies of the ancient Maritime Silk Road. (Xinhua/Weng Xinyang)

Aerial photo taken on Oct. 10, 2022 shows the ruins of an ancient dock at the archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port in Wenzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province.

The archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port was discovered at the end of 2021, with ruins of ancient buildings, shipwrecks, and porcelain pieces unearthed in the following archaeological excavations. According to the National Cultural Heritage Administration, the discovery is important to studies of the ancient Maritime Silk Road. (Xinhua/Weng Xinyang)

Undated combo photo shows porcelain wares discovered at the archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port in Wenzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province.

The archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port was discovered at the end of 2021, with ruins of ancient buildings, shipwrecks, and porcelain pieces unearthed in the following archaeological excavations. According to the National Cultural Heritage Administration, the discovery is important to studies of the ancient Maritime Silk Road. (Xinhua)

Aerial photo taken on Oct. 10, 2022 shows part of the archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port in Wenzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province.

The archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port was discovered at the end of 2021, with ruins of ancient buildings, shipwrecks, and porcelain pieces unearthed in the following archaeological excavations. According to the National Cultural Heritage Administration, the discovery is important to studies of the ancient Maritime Silk Road. (Xinhua/Weng Xinyang)

Aerial photo taken on Oct. 10, 2022 shows the ruins of an ancient dock at the archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port in Wenzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province.

The archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port was discovered at the end of 2021, with ruins of ancient buildings, shipwrecks, and porcelain pieces unearthed in the following archaeological excavations. According to the National Cultural Heritage Administration, the discovery is important to studies of the ancient Maritime Silk Road. (Xinhua/Weng Xinyang)

Photo taken on Oct. 10, 2022 shows ruins of buildings from different periods discovered at the archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port in Wenzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province.

The archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port was discovered at the end of 2021, with ruins of ancient buildings, shipwrecks, and porcelain pieces unearthed in the following archaeological excavations. According to the National Cultural Heritage Administration, the discovery is important to studies of the ancient Maritime Silk Road. (Xinhua/Weng Xinyang)

A researcher checks the ceramics discovered at the archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port in Wenzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, Oct. 11, 2022.

The archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port was discovered at the end of 2021, with ruins of ancient buildings, shipwrecks, and porcelain pieces unearthed in the following archaeological excavations. According to the National Cultural Heritage Administration, the discovery is important to studies of the ancient Maritime Silk Road. (Xinhua/Weng Xinyang)

Undated combo photo shows porcelain wares discovered at the archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port in Wenzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province.

The archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port was discovered at the end of 2021, with ruins of ancient buildings, shipwrecks, and porcelain pieces unearthed in the following archaeological excavations. According to the National Cultural Heritage Administration, the discovery is important to studies of the ancient Maritime Silk Road. (Xinhua)

Aerial photo taken on Oct. 10, 2022 shows ancient ditches discovered at the archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port in Wenzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province.

The archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port was discovered at the end of 2021, with ruins of ancient buildings, shipwrecks, and porcelain pieces unearthed in the following archaeological excavations. According to the National Cultural Heritage Administration, the discovery is important to studies of the ancient Maritime Silk Road. (Xinhua/Weng Xinyang)

A staff member covers the foundation of an ancient building at the archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port in Wenzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, Oct. 10, 2022.

The archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port was discovered at the end of 2021, with ruins of ancient buildings, shipwrecks, and porcelain pieces unearthed in the following archaeological excavations. According to the National Cultural Heritage Administration, the discovery is important to studies of the ancient Maritime Silk Road. (Xinhua/Weng Xinyang)

A researcher checks a Longquan celadon ware discovered at the archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port in Wenzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, Oct. 11, 2022.

The archaeological site of Shuomen ancient port was discovered at the end of 2021, with ruins of ancient buildings, shipwrecks, and porcelain pieces unearthed in the following archaeological excavations. According to the National Cultural Heritage Administration, the discovery is important to studies of the ancient Maritime Silk Road. (Xinhua/Weng Xinyang)
As a record-breaking influx of asylum seekers, mostly from the southern border of the United States, have flocked into New York City, local residents have expressed their concerns.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service




UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (Front) addresses a Security Council meeting on cooperation between the United Nations and regional and subregional organizations in maintaining international peace and security at the UN headquarters in New York, on Oct. 11, 2022. Lauding the collaboration between the United Nations and the African Union (AU) as the best ever, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday warned major challenges lie ahead. (Eskinder Debebe/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua)

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- Lauding the collaboration between the United Nations and the African Union (AU) as the best ever, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday warned major challenges lie ahead.

Guterres told a Security Council meeting on cooperation between the UN and the AU that in the 20 years since its creation, the African Union has shown its determination to work towards integration, peace and prosperity on the continent.

He said that collaboration between the United Nations and the African Union has never been stronger, but major challenges remain, including conflicts and unconstitutional government changes.

The secretary-general said that for many Africans, climate change is not a distant threat but a daily reality even though Africa barely contributes to global greenhouse gas emissions.

"As we prepare for COP27 in Egypt next month, I urge leaders, especially from G20 countries, which are responsible for 80 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, to finally take the urgent action needed," he said. "Developed countries must also make good on their commitments, starting with their pledge to provide 100 billion U.S. dollars a year for developing countries, and double funding for adaptation."

The UN chief said the climate conference must also deliver concrete action on loss and damage. "This is not just a matter of trust between developed and developing countries. For many countries, and particularly in Africa, it is a question of survival." 

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (L, Front) addresses a Security Council meeting on cooperation between the United Nations and regional and subregional organizations in maintaining international peace and security at the UN headquarters in New York, on Oct. 11, 2022. Lauding the collaboration between the United Nations and the African Union (AU) as the best ever, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday warned major challenges lie ahead. (Eskinder Debebe/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua)
TEHRAN, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- Iran has arrested an individual accused of spying for Israel's intelligence agency Mossad in the southeastern province of Kerman, semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted a senior provincial judiciary official on Tuesday.

The individual, who intended to perpetrate acts of sabotage and compromise security in the province, was arrested by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)'s intelligence forces, Ebrahim Hamidi, Kerman's prosecutor general was quoted as saying.

He said the "spy" was identified and arrested in a raid following extensive technical and intelligence measures by the country's security forces.

Hamidi noted that the individual had been carrying out activities in the province in the guise of a businessman, and had taken several trips to different countries, with the last one to a neighboring country, aiming to transfer intelligence and provide training for acts of sabotage in Iran.

The prosecutor said using cyberspace and coded software, the individual had contacted Israeli organizations as well as military and intelligence institutions before being arrested by the IRGC.

The person was about to leave Iran for a country in the region when arrested. 
A Syrian farmer harvests wheat on farmland in Syria's southern province of Sweida, on July 2, 2022. (Photo by Ammar Safarjalani/Xinhua)



by Hummam Sheikh Ali

DAMASCUS, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- When Syrians expect the end of years-long conflict one day could end their suffering, they never imagine that the weather could be as hard as the battles were, if not harder.

In Syria's northeastern province of Hasakah, known as the food basket of the country, farmers have been reeling under a severe drought.

Abdullah Hussain, a farmer from Hasakah, told Xinhua that "we have been plagued by drought over the past two years, and before that, we had struggled with wildfires caused by the U.S. forces and their subordinates."

For Karmo Ali, another farmer whose village used to enjoy wetter weather, the situation is also bad as poor rainfall wrecks hope of a harvest, forcing people to leave their farmland to find jobs in urban areas.

"This is our reality and most people have fled their homes due to the lack of work and harvest," he told Xinhua.

The United Nations said in March that Syria saw 2021 the worst drought in more than 70 years, affecting access to drinking water, electricity generation, and irrigation water for millions of people.

The water crisis decimated the country's wheat harvest, with production down from 2.8 million tons in 2020 to just 1.05 million tons in 2021, it added.

The Syrian Ministry of Local Administration and Environment said in January that the country was facing the worst drought in 70 years as a result of a lack of rains in most regions, which caused damage to crops and farmers, in addition to heat waves.

Rowaida Al-Nahar, director of environmental safety at the ministry, was quoted by the government-run Al-Baath newspaper as saying that the drought phenomenon is one of the main challenges that hinder development in Syria.

"The impact of drought can be seen in all activities, especially agricultural, economic and social," she noted, saying "the droughts in Syria are unpredictable."

The drought also affected livestock merchants.

A shepherd feeds goats on a farm in Damascus, Syria, on Feb. 28, 2021. (Photo by Ammar Safarjalani/Xinhua)

Abu Bashar, a farmer and livestock merchant in the Hasakah province, told Xinhua that due to the lack of fodder and water, the expenses of raising livestock are so high that few people are buying livestock now.

The prices of sheep go down to as low as 100,000 Syrian pounds (about 39.8 U.S. dollars), compared with one million pounds in the past.

Raed Hamzeh, head of the agricultural policies at the Agricultural Ministry, told Xinhua on Thursday that the drought had caused a decline in agricultural production by at least 40 percent.

"Before the war in 2011, the germination ratio reached as high as 85 to 90 percent," Hamzeh said, adding that low rainfall and higher-than-average temperatures, as well as the difficulty to secure fertilizers as a result of the U.S. sanctions, have decreased the germination ratio.

Syrian agriculture lost an estimated 16 billion dollars between 2011 and 2016 due to the droughts and the U.S. sanctions, he revealed. 
By Azernews





By Vugar Khalilov

A regular meeting of the committee of chiefs of staff of the Commonwealth of Independent States' (CIS) armed forces has kicked off in Baku, Azernews reports, citing the Defense Ministry.

The meeting is expected to address the present situation and prospects for the expansion of military cooperation among the CIS nations, sign final protocols, formulate a joint work plan for the coming year, and share opinions on a variety of other mutually beneficial matters.

Prior to the meeting, the high-ranking military delegations from the CIS member countries visited the Alley of Martyrs (Shehids) to pay tribute to the memory of those, who sacrificed their lives for the independence and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

The chiefs of staff of the armed forces of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, the deputy chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, as well as the Tajik military attache to Russia, are attending the meeting.

Azerbaijani First Deputy Defense Minister, Chief of the General Staff of the Azerbaijani army Col-Gen Karim Valiyev is chairing the meeting.

The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was founded in 1991 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Meetings are held periodically on a rotating basis at the CIS countries capitals. Forums include the council of heads of states, the council of prime ministers, and the council of foreign ministers.

The CIS performs its activities on the basis of the charter, adopted by the council of heads of states on 22 January 1993, which stipulates the goals and principles of the commonwealth, and the rights and obligations of the countries.
People visit a pottery booth at the "Turathna" handicrafts exhibition in Cairo, Egypt, Oct. 10, 2022.

An annual handicrafts exhibition is being held in Cairo, capital of Egypt, to help revive the country's traditional crafts and assist small handicraft manufacturers amid harsh economic conditions.

Dubbed "Turathna", meaning "our heritage" in Arabic, the exhibition kicked off on Oct. 9 and will run until Oct. 15 at the Cairo International Convention and Exhibition Center. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

CAIRO, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- An annual handicrafts exhibition is being held in Cairo, capital of Egypt, to help revive the country's traditional crafts and assist small handicraft manufacturers amid harsh economic conditions.

Dubbed "Turathna", meaning "our heritage" in Arabic, the exhibition kicked off on Oct. 9 and will run until Oct. 15 at the Cairo International Convention and Exhibition Center.

The exhibition showcases thousands of handmade heritage products made of leather, cloth or wood, such as handmade kilims and embroideries.

Alaa al-Sayyed, a bamboo artisan, told Xinhua that the event helped him market his products.

The art of bamboo is losing its popularity due to the spread of cheaper modern wood and plastic furniture and decorations, he said, adding this has negatively affected the bamboo industry in Egypt.

The middle-aged man, who inherited the craft from his father, pointed out that the exhibition was a great chance to sell some of his products after sales dropped dramatically due to the spread of the COVID-19 as well as the current global economic downturn.

"Many customers, mainly non-Egyptians, highly admire our products. I hope that these handicrafts industries would revive and become popular among Egyptians," he said.

Next to al-Sayyed's stand, Hamada al-Adly, owner of a handmade carpet workshop, showed visitors his distinctive works.

"These pieces of art are not easy to sell at my store... the exhibition gives me an opportunity to meet thousands of customers and is very helpful," said al-Adly.

Al-Adly said he hoped that more such exhibitions would be held as it gave artisans a platform to interact, share experiences, and generate new artistic ideas. 
ADDIS ABABA, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- The International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Tuesday disclosed that this year's first voluntary humanitarian return flight has departed from Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, with 129 Ethiopian migrants on board.

"The movement to Addis Ababa is an important lifeline for stranded migrants seeking a safe and dignified way to return home from Yemen," the UN migration agency said in a statement.

The flight is carrying migrants, including unaccompanied minors and those with medical conditions and other specific needs, who were left stranded as a result of insecurity and restrictions on their movement, the IOM said.

"Migrants stranded in Sanaa have been left destitute and without food, shelter and other basic needs. Some have been waiting for an opportunity to return home for over a year," the statement quoted Matt Huber, IOM Yemen's acting chief of Mission, as saying. "We hope we can continue to ensure that migrants who would like to go home can do so in the months ahead."

According to figures from IOM, more than 1,800 migrants stranded in Aden and Marib have departed on voluntary humanitarian return flights so far this year.

The IOM aims to support approximately 5,000 additional stranded migrants to voluntarily return home from the three locations in the coming months.

The UN migration agency estimated that 43,800 migrants are currently stranded throughout Yemen, many are held under the control of dangerous smuggling networks. The vast majority hope to reach Saudi Arabia but are unable to continue their journeys.

Estimates suggest that thousands of Ethiopians are trafficked every year who hope to reach the Arabian Peninsula via Djibouti and Yemen and look for better economic opportunities in major Middle Eastern countries' informal job markets, mainly with an aim to find informal jobs in Yemen's northern neighbor Saudi Arabia.

Desperate Ethiopian migrants, who often attempt to cross the dangerous Red Sea route via the neighboring nation Djibouti, regularly endure deadly incidents along the Red Sea as well as imprisonment and killings in war-torn Yemen. 
TUNIS, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- The Tunisian Maritime Guard rescued 194 undocumented migrants heading toward Italy over the past week, according to a statement released by the Tunisian Defense Ministry on Tuesday.

"Units of the Maritime Guard rescued 194 illegal migrants last week, including 118 Tunisians and 76 of different African nationalities," said the ministry statement.

The statement noted that the rescue operations were carried out off different coasts, including the Kelibia coast in the northwestern province of Nabeul and the coast of Chebba town in the eastern Mahdia Province.

Other operations took place off Ghar El Melh town, a coastal area in the northern province of Bizerte.

The number of illegal migrants smuggling from the Tunisian coasts toward Italy has been increasing despite the strict measures taken by the Tunisian authorities to address the problem. 
MOGADISHU, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Somali National Army (SNA) said Wednesday its forces killed over 50 al-Shabab militants in a foiled terror attack on its base at a village in Hiran region of central Somalia.

Odowaa Yusuf Rage, Chief of Defense Forces said that the deadly dawn attack at the army base located in Yasoman village left three soldiers dead. "Our forces defeated the terrorists and killed 50 of them who attempted to raid the army base," Yusuf told SNA Radio.

He said the ongoing military operations will be intensified in the area to flush out all the terrorists who have been staging terror attacks in the region.

The Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism had earlier said the SNA backed by the local forces had received intelligence information about the impending attack but moved swiftly and successfully repulsed the insurgents.

The ministry said the fierce fighting took place in Yasoman village, about 35 km northeast of Bulaburte city.

The Somali forces backed by pro-government militia have liberated more than 40 villages and killed over 500 al-Shabab terrorists in the past three weeks in operations in central Somalia. The militant group has lost ground to the Somali government and African Union troops in recent months but still controls some territory in southern and central Somalia. 
NAIROBI, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- The Kenya China Economic and Trade Association (KCETA) on Tuesday donated a sum of money and materials to a school in Nairobi to finance its renovation and student meals.

The KCETA, an umbrella body of Chinese enterprises based in Kenya, made the donation to Mcedo Beijing School located in Mathare, a slum in Nairobi.

Chinese Ambassador to Kenya Zhou Pingjian said the donation reaffirmed the long-standing China-Kenya friendship and fruitful cooperation.

Speaking at the donation ceremony, Zhou said the China-Kenya friendship dates back 600 years ago, noting that Chinese enterprises in Kenya and the Chinese community at large are committed to mutually beneficial cooperation with the East African nation.

Mcedo Beijing School currently hosts over 550 students at primary and secondary school levels and its initial construction in 2007 was funded by the Chinese Embassy in Kenya.

In November 2012, KCETA, along with other Chinese-funded institutions, raised fund to support the expansion of the school's infrastructure.

Bruce Lee, chairman of KCETA, said his association has provided support to Mcedo Beijing School every year in line with its corporate ethos and social responsibility to help meet the needs of the under-privileged members of the Kenyan society.

Benedict Kiage, director of Mcedo Beijing School, said the new financial support from Chinese enterprises in Kenya will help transform the school's facilities and meet the evolving needs of its students.

The KCETA had also provided furniture and other essential learning materials to the school, and at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the association donated food and anti-pandemic supplies to avert school dropouts and absenteeism, Kiage added.

Since the school's founding in 2007, 1,554 students have completed high school education, 889 have completed college studies, and 111 have graduated from university and secured jobs, Kiage said. 
CANBERRA, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has paid tribute to the victims of the Bali bombings 20 years on from the terrorist attack.

"Australia today marks 20 years since the 2002 Bali bombings and tragic loss of 202 lives," Anthony Albanese said in a media release on Wednesday.

"Together, on what will be a difficult day for many in Australia, Indonesia and around the world, we honor the lives of the victims and the courage and resilience shown by survivors and their families."

Across the country on Wednesday services were held to honor those who died and the courage of survivors.

Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong hosted a memorial service at the Parliament House in Canberra, where victims' families, survivors and first responders will be joined by Governor-General David Hurley.

Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs, Tim Watts, traveled to Bali to attend a commemorative ceremony at the Australian Consulate-General.

"Australians united as a nation and recommit ourselves to fight against terrorism and extremism wherever we find it," Albanese told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 
COLOMBO, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's parliament said Wednesday it will hold a series of online discussions where the public can directly ask questions about various bills and laws.

According to a statement it issued Wednesday afternoon, the first of such discussions will be held on Oct. 14 and dedicated to the topic of reforming the justice system, with the participation of Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, Minister of Justice, Prison Affairs and Constitutional Reforms.

Attendants can on that day ask questions related to reforming the South Asian country's justice system and constitutional reforms.

The planned online public discussions are organized by the parliament's communication department as part of its efforts to create a people-centric parliament. 
PHNOM PENH, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- A total of 1.3 million overseas Cambodian laborers sent home 2.63 billion U.S. dollars in 2021, Labor Ministry's Secretary of State Heng Sour said on Wednesday.

Speaking during a press conference here, Sour said the remittances are expected to rise to 2.72 billion dollars in 2022.

"Migrant workers have become a key catalyst for our economic growth," he said. "They have brought not only money to their family members, but also expertise and experience for national development."

According to Sour, most of the laborers work in Thailand, and the rest are in South Korea, Malaysia, Japan, Singapore, China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Saudi Arabia. 
KIEV, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) has lost external power for the second time in five days, the Ukrainian government-run Ukrinform news agency reported Wednesday.

The report cited International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi, who described the incident as a "deeply worrying development," which underlines the urgent need for a nuclear safety and security protection zone around the plant.

Ukraine's state-run nuclear energy operator Energoatom said that the plant went to full black-out mode after the ZNPP-Dniprovska transmission line was disconnected as an emergency measure following the shelling on the Dniprovska substation carried out by Russian forces.

The ZNPP, one of the largest nuclear power plants in Europe, is currently running on diesel generators, Energoatom said on Facebook.

On Oct. 5, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree that designates the plant, which has been controlled by Russian forces since early March, as Russian federal property.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he considered the decision an illegal takeover. 
A bus carrying migrants drives along a portion of the border wall in Eagle Pass, Texas, the United States, on Oct. 10, 2022. Buses carrying migrants from Republican-led border states continue to arrive in liberal bastions like New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, dragging the U.S. migrant crisis into the eye of the storm of partisan battles ahead of the November midterm elections. (Photo by Nick Wagner/Xinhua)

EAGLE PASS/HOUSTON, the United States, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- Buses carrying migrants from Republican-led border states continue to arrive in liberal bastions like New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, dragging the U.S. migrant crisis into the eye of the storm of partisan battles ahead of the November midterm elections.

BORDER TOWN SWAMPED

Eagle Pass, a border town in the U.S. state of Texas, has become one of the busiest crossing points along the Rio Grande river that separates the United States and Mexico during the fiscal year 2022, which ends on Sept. 30.

According to data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, more than 2.1 million migrants crossed the border in the first 11 months of fiscal 2022, a record high in U.S. history.

Unlike in the past, the current influx was primarily driven by migrants from Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua, data showed. U.S. relations with all three countries are deeply strained, contributing to economic misery there while making it difficult to send them home.

Luis, a 23-year-old Venezuelan migrant who did not give his full name, told Xinhua on Friday that it took him seven months to risk his life trekking the entire distance from his hometown to the U.S.-Mexico border.

"The crossing of the Darien Gap was especially dangerous. It took me six days to complete. I was so hungry the entire time. Along the way, I saw dead bodies. Some drowned, others collapsed," Luis said outside a migrant resource center in San Antonio, which is about two and a half hours away by car from Eagle Pass.

The Darien Gap is the only overland route connecting Central and South America, stretching over sixty miles through forest and swamp. It is widely regarded as one of the most dangerous migration routes in the world.

However, this does not mean that migrants are safe once they cross the border into the United States. Late last month, a detention center warden and his twin brother opened fire on a group of migrants who had stopped for water along a farm road near the United States-Mexico border in Texas, killing one and injuring another.

More than 800 migrants died at the border in fiscal year 2022, hitting a record high, NPR reported recently, citing internal government figures shared by a senior Border Patrol official. Many of them died as a result of the extreme heat or drowning. In an interview with CNN, Maverick County Sheriff Tom Schmerber said he finds bodies of migrants almost every day.

THRUST INTO SPOTLIGHT

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, whose reelection campaign in 2022 is focused on border security, launched the "busing strategy" in April to protest U.S. President Joe Biden's border policies.

Abbott has accused the Biden administration of "ignoring and denying the historic crisis at our southern border, which has endangered and overwhelmed Texas communities for almost two years." Arizona, another border state dominated by Republicans, later joined Texas in migrant busing.

Republicans are "playing politics with human beings, using them as props," Biden said, slamming Abbott and other Republican governors over the relocation of migrants last month.

Thousands of migrants have been bused from the southern U.S. border to New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago since April, leaving these Democratic cities scrambling to find adequate shelters for them.

Another Republican, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, chartered two flights to send migrants recruited in San Antonio, Texas, to Martha's Vineyard, a Democrat-dominated rich island in Massachusetts, last month.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams declared a state of emergency on Friday in response to the unprecedented influx of asylum seekers, following in the footsteps of Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who declared a public emergency and requested the National Guard to assist with the arrival of migrants this summer.

"This is unsustainable. The city is going to run out of funding for other priorities," Adams said, blaming political motivation and lack of coordination for the man-made humanitarian crisis.

"What's happening is very disturbing to a lot of people," Juanita Martinez, Democratic Party Chairwoman of Maverick County, Texas, told Xinhua in Eagle Pass on Monday.

"It has wasted money for a political stunt for Abbott. He is using these poor people as a political stunt," Martinez said, referring to the migrant busing. "We need a change here in Texas. We need to turn Texas blue."

Republicans and Democrats are attempting to highlight their differences on a variety of issues ahead of the November elections, with immigration being a key focus, according to a Pew Research survey released on Thursday, with Democrats' messaging this election cycle resonating more with Latino voters.

As the partisan feud intensifies, immigration will be a key driver in the midterm elections, according to a Wall Street Journal poll released last month, which warned that if Republicans do not show some leadership on the issue, they will allow "a big opportunity to slip away." 

A bus carrying migrants is seen along a portion of the border wall in Eagle Pass, Texas, the United States, on Oct. 10, 2022. Buses carrying migrants from Republican-led border states continue to arrive in liberal bastions like New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, dragging the U.S. migrant crisis into the eye of the storm of partisan battles ahead of the November midterm elections. (Photo by Nick Wagner/Xinhua)

Migrants seeking asylum line up to board a bus at a checkpoint in Eagle Pass, Texas, the United States, on Oct. 10, 2022. Buses carrying migrants from Republican-led border states continue to arrive in liberal bastions like New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, dragging the U.S. migrant crisis into the eye of the storm of partisan battles ahead of the November midterm elections. (Photo by Nick Wagner/Xinhua)

A bus carrying migrants departs from a U.S. Border Patrol processing facility in Eagle Pass, Texas, the United States, on Oct. 9, 2022. Buses carrying migrants from Republican-led border states continue to arrive in liberal bastions like New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, dragging the U.S. migrant crisis into the eye of the storm of partisan battles ahead of the November midterm elections. (Photo by Nick Wagner/Xinhua)

Migrants seeking asylum wait to board a bus at a checkpoint in Eagle Pass, Texas, the United States, on Oct. 10, 2022. Buses carrying migrants from Republican-led border states continue to arrive in liberal bastions like New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, dragging the U.S. migrant crisis into the eye of the storm of partisan battles ahead of the November midterm elections. (Photo by Nick Wagner/Xinhua)

A Texas National Guardsman escorts a group of migrants toward a checkpoint in Eagle Pass, Texas, the United States, on Oct. 9, 2022. Buses carrying migrants from Republican-led border states continue to arrive in liberal bastions like New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, dragging the U.S. migrant crisis into the eye of the storm of partisan battles ahead of the November midterm elections. (Photo by Nick Wagner/Xinhua)

A man opens a gate for a bus to exit a U.S. Border Patrol processing station in Eagle Pass, Texas, the United States, on Oct. 9, 2022. Buses carrying migrants from Republican-led border states continue to arrive in liberal bastions like New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, dragging the U.S. migrant crisis into the eye of the storm of partisan battles ahead of the November midterm elections. (Photo by Nick Wagner/Xinhua)

A migrant seeking asylum boards a bus at a checkpoint in Eagle Pass, Texas, the United States, on Oct. 10, 2022. Buses carrying migrants from Republican-led border states continue to arrive in liberal bastions like New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, dragging the U.S. migrant crisis into the eye of the storm of partisan battles ahead of the November midterm elections. (Photo by Nick Wagner/Xinhua)

Migrants seeking asylum line up at a checkpoint in Eagle Pass, Texas, the United States, on Oct. 9, 2022. Buses carrying migrants from Republican-led border states continue to arrive in liberal bastions like New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, dragging the U.S. migrant crisis into the eye of the storm of partisan battles ahead of the November midterm elections. (Photo by Nick Wagner/Xinhua)
South Africa: Pandor arrives in Japan on a working visit

The Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Dr Naledi Pandor, has arrived in Tokyo, Japan.

According to the Ministers office, Pandor is scheduled to co-chair the JapanSouth Africa Partnership Forum with her counterpart, His Excellency Hayashi Yoshimasa, on 13 October 2022.

The two delegations will seek to advance political, economic, social and technical cooperation between South Africa and Japan. It is expected that the Ministers will also exchange views on regional, global and multilateral issues of mutual interest, her office said.

Japan, the third largest economy in the world in terms of the nominal gross domestic product after the United States and China, is one of the major and continuous investors of over R90 billion in the South African economy.

The department said Japan has a current presence in South Africa of 286 companies, sustaining about 200 000 local job opportunities.

Meanwhile, new investments into the South African economy by Japanese companies include those made by Toyota, which pumped R4.28 billion, Nissan R3.2 billion and Isuzu R1.2 billion.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2022-10-12. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
By Azernews





By Vugar Khalilov

The Turkish embassy in Azerbaijan has commemorated the victims of Armenias missile attacks on Ganja during the 44-day war in 2020, Azernews reports.

"We haven't forgotten the rocket strikes on Ganja launched two years ago by Armenia, which violated the humanitarian ceasefire. On that day, the number of civilian deaths reached ten. May Allah rest the souls of each of those killed during the attack," the embassy tweeted.

Meanwhile, military analyst Adalat Verdiyev said that the Armenian armed forces' attack on civilians in Ganja city is a continuation of the countrys genocidal policy against Azerbaijan, Azernews reports.

During the second Karabakh war (2020), Armenia, having been defeated on the battlefield, launched missile attacks against Azerbaijani civilians, he added.

This, however, did not intimidate Azerbaijanis. On the contrary, the people became even more unified. The missile attacks on the civilian population of Ganja went down in history as an example of Armenian fascism, Verdiyev stressed.

The expert recalled that the enemy launched five missile strikes on Ganja from October 4 to 17, 2020, using prohibited weapons.

As part of its aggressive policies toward Azerbaijan, Armenia attacked individuals, residences, civilian property, and medical staff, demonstrating the country's disdain for international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions, Verdiyev underlined.

He emphasized the need for bringing those responsible for the war crimes to trial.

To recap, the Armenian armed forces launched missile strikes on Ganja city five times on separate days in October 2020.

On October 4, the first missile attack was carried out, killing one person and wounding more than 30 others. The second missile attack occurred on October 5, injuring three individuals. On October 8, a third missile strike was carried out but no casualties were registered. On October 11, a fourth missile attack killed ten civilians and injured more than 40 more.

On October 17, the fifth missile attack occurred, killing sixteen civilians and injuring 55 others. The attacks caused significant damage to the city's infrastructure, homes, and vehicles. Children and women were among those slain and injured in Armenia's brutal onslaught.
Then President Ram Baran Yadav greets the constitution as he announces its commencement on September 20, 2015.

With President Bidya Devi Bhandari refusing to authenticate the controversial citizenship bill as mandated by the 2015 constitution of Nepal, there are many questions about her role. Some experts and stakeholders have commented that it was an attack on the constitution.

But, President Bhandari is not alone as there have been several such incidents in the past also.

When Nepal drafted the new Constitution of Nepal in 2015, almost all political parties were on the same page. Seven years on, all these parties have gone in different directions. The parties never worked together. Neither did their ideologies match. What is even worse is that the parties did not even try to compete with integrity.

In the past seven years, these very people have belittled the constitution of Nepal and attacked it. Even the stakeholders know this as they have not followed what is written in the constitution for their political gain.

Today, on the occasion of the seventh Constitution Day that Nepal marked on September 19, 2022, we look at seven ways in which the constitution of Nepal has been attacked, belittled and abused by those in power.

1. Dissolution of the House

Vehicles are seen obstructed during a rally against the dissolution of the House of Representatives, on Sunday, December 27, 2020.

On December 20, 2020, when then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli dissolved the House of Representatives, even people from his own party were shocked as there was no provision to do so in the 2015 constitution of Nepal.

After his first attempts failed, Oli dissolved the House yet again the next year, leading to his downfall in the end.

Why did he do so? The answer was simple to stay in power. The erstwhile NCP was in turmoil and it was almost certain that Oli would not have a majority if the party voted for its next leader. To ensure that did not happen and he did not lose his position as the chair, he dissolved the House calling for early elections. His move was supported by the president too.

People moved to court calling the move unconstitutional. The Supreme Court voided the decision by Oli calling it an attack on the constitution of Nepal and reinstated the House second time in six months.

2. Issues with inclusiveness

File: Supreme Court of Nepal

The constitution of Nepal is based on inclusivity. The constitution has clearly stated that all government bodies and mechanisms should be inclusive. But, when it comes to appointing officials or electing them, the principle of inclusivity has not been followed.

Every time there is an election, the parties that claim to be inclusive never follow their manifesto or principles. Female ministers are a rarity. Even in the House, there is no inclusivity. The local level has also not been able to have people from all communities which is a major cause for concern.

The case is similar when it comes to appointing people to constitutional bodies. Even the National Inclusion Commission has never been inclusive and a few weeks ago, it even suggested the government remove the reservation practice.

The judiciary, which forces people to follow the constitution of Nepal, does not follow what is written in it. The courts have a major issue with inclusivity when it comes to the appointment of judges.

When Prakash Nepali and a few others filed a writ petition at the Supreme Court, asking for inclusiveness during the appointment of judges, the court said the judiciary cannot look at inclusivity as it prioritises competence when hiring judges. Justices Tej Bahadur KC and Bam Kumar Shrestha said that if the court focused on inclusiveness, the system would suffer.

Due to this thought process, the Supreme Court only has two female justices. One other has been recommended, but when she will be appointed remains to be seen.

The presence of people marginalised communities [in state affairs] is increasing. And, we should take this positively, says Rekha Sharma, a member of the State Affairs Committee of the recently expired House of Representatives. But, yes, a lot of government bodies dont follow the principle of inclusiveness and that needs to improve in the long run.

3. Foundation-shaking ordinances

File: Amending the Constitutional Council Act with an ordinance, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had conducted the council meeting with just two other members on Tuesday, December 15, 2020.

When the House is on a break, there might come a time when the ruling government has to come up with new legal provisions. With this in mind, the constitution of Nepal has the provision for ordinances. The ordinance can last only six months, after which it will have to be endorsed by the House in the following session.

But, over the past few years, the government prorogues the parliament and issues ordinances whenever it feels it cannot face the house with the proposed law. It happens because the propositions are based not on necessity but on their power interests. Consider the ordinances to amend key political laws such as the Constitutional Council Act, the Act on Political Parties and the Citizenship Act. Not only KP Sharma Oli, but Sher Bahadur Deuba has also done the same.

Was there a need for these ordinances? I dont think so, says advocate Raju Prasad Chapagain. These were done to bring something in a swift manner as they were afraid that others will oppose.

4. Weak federalism

The new political map of the country issued by the government of Nepal, on Monday, May 18, 2020, and launched on Wednesday, May 20, 2020.

The governments that came to power following the promulgation of the new federal constitution of Nepal have never been a fan of federalism. None of them has been able to develop both the local and provincial levels of the government. They have not been able to balance the workforce at either the local or the provincial level.

Outgoing parliamentarian Rekha Sharma says that due to disputes between different levels of the government, they have not been able to implement the laws properly. Even the laws mentioned in the constitution of Nepal have not been implemented, questioning if federalism really works in the country.

Sharma says this is the reason why the draft of the federal civil service bill has not been presented to the House of Representatives.

Dispute among government officials is a reason why the bill hasnt been able to move forward, she says.

With no federal laws, it has been impossible to efficiently manage federalism in the country. Even fundamental rights have not been implemented well.

5. Citizenship issues

Sketch for representation: Many Nepalis have been deprived of citizenship due to problems in the citizenship law.

The constitution of Nepal states that no Nepali citizen is barred from obtaining a citizenship certificate. But, in the past seven years, this has been limited to paper alone. Even though one whole term of the House of Representatives has been over, there still has not been a consensus when it comes to a bill to amend the Citizenship Act. The bill was passed by both houses despite objections from the CPN-UML.

The constitution of Nepal states that anyone whose father and mother were Nepalis would get citizenship by descent. But, since there are no laws for children born to citizens by birth, a lot of people have not been able to get their citizenship.

There are people who have registered writ petitions at the Supreme Court. They got their citizenship, but others still wait for what will be their fate, says senior advocate Mira Dhungana.

She says politicians are playing politics with the future of people and it is wrong. How fair is it that these people have to fight for their constitutional rights, she questions.

6. Constitutional bodies becoming job hubs

For the purpose of checks and balances, the constitution of Nepal has envisioned various constitutional bodies. These bodies include the Election Commission to the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority. But, people are not appointed fairly in these bodies.

Over the course of history, these bodies have become places where those in power send their aides or cadres. This means these bodies have not been able to work efficiently to implement the constitution of Nepal. There was a time even Chief Justice Cholendra Shamsher Rana asked for a share to send his person to the cabinet. PM Oli once brought the Constitutional Council Ordinances and appointed 52 officials as he pleased.

7. Lack of a fair jurisprudential practice

They say interpretation gives life to a constitution. But, the Supreme Court which is there to interpret the constitution of Nepal in the correct manner has time again failed it. Different cases related to the constitution are still at the Supreme Court. When will they be heard is anyones guess.

Cases like the jurisdiction of the federal, local and provincial governments and election issues are still at the court awaiting a date for hearing. It has also not been able to publish the full text of the verdicts on some of the settled cases.

The constitutional bench of the Supreme Court, established as mandated by the constitution of Nepal, has been seen as useless in recent times. The bench has not been holding regular meetings and even when it does, it has not been able to act fast questioning its existence.

The cases filed questioning the results of the 2017 elections have not been solved even as the term of the lawmakers has ended. How the court has not been able to prioritise it has been quite shocking to all as it is most likely that these cases will be heard only after the next elections in November.

This story was translated from the original Nepali version and edited for clarity and length.
Home  Business  Nepalis stashing money in Swiss banks: All you need to know about the chronic dispute

Image by 3D Animation Production Company from Pixabay

In late August 2022, two well-known Nepali politicians tweeted about what has for long remained a matter of awe and obsession for Nepali politicians and people alike: The deposits of Nepali nationals in Swiss banks.

In a series of tweets, former finance minister Prakash Chandra Lohani inquired about the money that Nepalis had hidden in those banks.

                      .                       !!!  Dr. Prakash C Lohani (@PCLohani) August 22, 2022

Rich Nepalis deposited 3.58 billion rupees in Swiss banks in 2001, according to figures made public by Swiss banks. The amount increased to 12.55 billion rupees by 2010. Nepalis deposited 46.64 billion rupees in Swiss banks in 2020. This is referred to as advanced progress, Lohani tweeted to his more than 27,000 followers. He lashed out at the governments lack of response.

Similarly, former minister and Nepali Congress leader Arjun Narsingh KC claimed that Nepal ranked 4th among South Asian countries whose citizens held money in Swiss banks. Posting a link to an article published in New Business Age, KC tweeted, Nepalis have a right to know the truth about whether its illegal and if it is, why cant the state take action? (The article was published on June 19, 2021).

                                   ?      ?https://t.co/dqwJ6h8xnK  Arjun Narasingha Kc (@ArjunNarasingha) August 22, 2022

Nepal Check unpacks why the Nepal government should investigate the illegal funds in Swiss banks, how these banks work, and how Nepal might bring the allegedly illegal funds home.

Nepali money in the Swiss banks

In 2015, an expose by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), dubbed Swiss Leaks, laid bare the amount (5.5 billion rupees) held by Nepalis in Swiss banks. Years later, in 2019, the Center for Investigative Journalism Nepal (CIJ Nepal) published NepaLeaks, a series of investigations based on Swiss Leaks, Panama Papers, and cross-border collaborations from the ICIJ, and revealed the names of the Nepalis who had deposited their money in Swiss banks.

The CIJ investigation found that although Nepali deposits in Swiss banks began in 1996, the year the Maoists launched an armed insurgency, they declined after the conflict came to an end. In 1996, Nepalis deposited 1,468,033,900 Nepali rupees (as per the exchange rate of September 15, 2022) in Swiss banks.

These annual banking statistics are made public by the Swiss National Bank on the SNB Data Portal. The amount is extracted and calculated from a section named amount due in respect of customer deposits.

The largest deposit ever made in a calendar year was 4,860,451,180 Nepali rupees in 2006. According to end-of-year statistics provided by the banks, 2,077,738,000 Nepali rupees were deposited by Nepalis in Swiss banks in 2021.

Secrecy on sale

Representational image

A global investigation early this year revealed that Credit Suisse, Switzerlands second-largest bank, handled accounts for corrupt government employees, criminals, and violators of human rights from all over the world. Dubbed Swiss Secrets, the cross-border collaboration turned the spotlight on the countrys dubious financial records.

Switzerland, renowned for its expensive watches, knives and the snow-capped Alps, is often held up as a model for developing countries. But, it has a murky side: Its banks sell secrecy.

The Swiss prided themselves on being the keepers of secrets as early as the 18th century when French kings hid their money in banks in Geneva. The nation passed the Swiss Banking Act in 1934, which forbade banks from disclosing the information of their clients.

Switzerland has agreed to restructure the industry in response to criticism from the US and other nations. However, it has also succeeded in silencing whistleblowers and investigative journalists who expose its hidden secrets.

Major events such as 9/11 and the 2008 economic crisis have forced Swiss banks to share information about their ultra-rich clients, many of whom use the system to hide their illicit assets and evade taxes.

Why do rich people open accounts in Swiss banks?

One of the many reasons that people choose to open accounts in Switzerland is banking confidentiality. Offshore tax havens are a different sector closely related to this. Firms like Mossack Fonseca, which was behind the Panama Papers, help their rich clients open shell companies in offshore jurisdictions scattered across the globe. These jurisdictions range from exotic Indian Ocean Islands to British overseas territories like the British Virgin Islands.

As the name suggests, these companies exist solely for bookkeeping and to hide and transfer money. Corrupt politicians, government employees, tax-dodging business owners, and criminals all make use of this system. To conceal the ultimate beneficial owners, the corporate secrecy sector collaborates with banks, making it challenging for investigators and journalists to follow the money. Although these corporations frequently operate lawfully in tax haven jurisdictions, in many cases, their clients may have accumulated wealth illegally in their home nations.

In addition to maintaining secrecy, they do this to avoid lawsuits, paying taxes, and other financial difficulties. Other attractions include Switzerlands neutral position (it is not a member of the European Union) and its attractiveness as a holiday destination.

Lawmakers raised questions in Parliament

File: Nepals Parliament building

On January 18, 2019, lawmakers questioned Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli about Nepalis deposits in Swiss bank accounts. Speaking in the Prime Ministers Questions session in the House of Representatives, UML lawmaker Khaga Raj Adhikari drew Olis attention to news reports about black money in Swiss banks. Referring to NepaLeaks by CIJ Nepal, he said the government should immediately investigate the money of rich Nepalis in Swiss banks.

Speaking in the same meeting, Dilendra Prasad Badu, a Nepali Congress member of parliament, asked if Oli, who was scheduled to travel to Switzerland, would raise the issue in his meetings with Swiss officials. (Read the news on his visit to Switzerland)

Oli told the parliamentarians his government would investigate the matter. Depositing money in foreign banks is not appropriate for Nepalis. Only after conducting an investigation will we learn the truth, he said.

Despite his promises, the Oli government did little to investigate the matter. In an interview with The Kathmandu Post, Olis finance minister Yubaraj Khatiwada said his ministry had formed a probe committee. These investigations must be supported through legal instruments. We also have to look into the whole gamut of existing laws to find out legal loopholes, he said.

Can Nepal bring back the money?

Photo: Pixabay

It is challenging to bring back criminal gains from overseas because of the complexity of money laundering and the evidence needed to establish it.

It takes a huge effort to bring the money back because by the time it is deposited in Swiss banks, the dirty money has already been laundered into clean money, a former government investigator tells Nepal Check.

The rules against money laundering developed when tax evasion and corruption crossed international borders, typically from developing countries to developed countries.

The illegal wealth from organised crime and corruption has become a major factor, he says. After the 9/11 attacks on the US, stopping the financing of terrorism was one of the main goals of the campaign against illegal money flows.

The government official explains how money laundering works. The criminals use hundi, an informal money transfer system, to transport unlawful funds to nations with minimal or no taxation, he says. The funds are then invested in the host countrys businesses such as real estate or tourism, according to him. Its tough to prove that the money is dirty because by the time it gets to Swiss banks, its already been through a number of stages.

The government officials Nepal Check spoke to say the efforts require a strong domestic investigation system, cross-border cooperation, and political commitment. I dont think Nepal will ever get the dirty money back, says Dharma Raj Sapkota, a former chief of the Financial Information Unit (FIU) at the Nepal Rastra Bank. The FIU of the central bank keeps track of questionable transactions and exchanges information on money laundering with both foreign and domestic investigators.

So far, Nepal has been the source of the flow of dirty money to other nations. These people transfer funds to accounts at foreign banks. Most often, bribes are paid from overseas to influence events in Nepal, Sapkota tells Nepal Check.

To begin with, we must comprehend how the money gets into foreign countries, says an official on the condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to reporters. He says Nepal must next demonstrate the money was obtained through a criminal act, proving that it is filthy money.

Its difficult to bring the money back. We lack favourable conditions to look into and stop the flow of corrupt money.

This story first appeared on Nepal Check and Onlinekhabar is republishing it under the Creative Commons licence.
" " There are millions of books published every year. Vladimir Melnikov/Shutterstock

Book printing and publishing is one the oldest industries in the world, which may lead you to wonder just how many books have existed in history. Obviously, we don't know the exact number, but we can use some math and statistics to make educated guesses.

In recent memory, the book publishing industry has been massive, raking in an average of about $25 billion per year and printing over 800 million paper-bound copies in the United States. Newer technologies like e-readers and audiobooks have transitioned publishing into the digital age and increased the volume of content that can be put out, using fewer raw materials.

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However, the most important technological advancement for book publishing came in around 1440, in the form of the Gutenburg printing press. This allowed books to be mass-produced, rather than painstakingly written out by hand. The press accelerated book publishing in Europe from just a few thousand existing titles to millions, contributing to increased literacy.

Skip way ahead to 2010, and Google ran a project to count every book they could find on Earth, coming up with 129,864,880 unique titles in the process. That's a massive number, but it still doesn't account for the millions more which have surely been lost to history. Indexed books get rarer as the catalog reaches back in time. Google also mentioned that they intentionally excluded serialized pulp content and titles that only appeared in audio form.

Their data was based on titles that had received an International Standard Book Number (ISBN). The ISBN system was established in 1970 as a means for governments to identify book titles, so an unknown number of pre-1970 works have not been indexed. Self-published printed books are not required to be registered into the system unless the author plans to sell them on Amazon or through a bookstore. (Getting an ISBN for a self-published e-book is optional.) Generally, if the same title is available as an e-book, audiobook, paperback and a hardcover, it will have separate ISBNs for each format. Google said they tried to remove duplicate books from its count.

UNESCO estimates that 2.2 million new titles are added to the shelf globally each year. If we assume that 26.4 million new titles have been added in the last 12 years since Google's estimate of 129,864,880 in 2010, we can add those numbers together for an estimate of 156,264,880 titles in 2022. This does not include e-books, audiobooks nor books without an ISBN, which includes many self-published books. The actual number of books in the world would be much higher if we took those into consideration.

Now That's Interesting The number of self-published books in the U.S. increased 264 percent between 2015 and 2020 and made up 43 percent of total U.S. books published in that time period. However, the typical self-published author only sells five copies of their book.
LONDON, ON, Oct. 12, 2022 /CNW/ -- 3M, a leading manufacturer of respiratory protection products, such as N95 respirators and other disposable and reusable respirators, and DriverCheck  Canada's Fitness for Duty experts and the leading provider of workplace medical testing and assessments, are excited to announce that DriverCheck is now a 3M Preferred Fit Test Service Provider in Canada. 3M and DriverCheck are working together to emphasize the importance of respirator fit and to help increase the availability of high-quality fit testing for 3M's occupational respirator customers.

3M (PRNewsfoto/3M)

Under this agreement 3M provides DriverCheck's fit test professionals with additional training, knowledge checks, and practical assessment tools to complement DriverCheck's existing training program. After completing the 3M training, DriverCheck's fit test professionals earn the designation of 3M Preferred Fit Tester. Together, 3M and DriverCheck are helping Canadian employers and workers improve workplace safety by helping to ensure respirators are worn properly and respirator fit testing is performed correctly.

"The collaboration between 3M and DriverCheck makes the most of the synergy between our companies, providing more solutions to a broader base of respirator users," said Dr. Nikki McCullough, Global Vice President of Application Engineering and Regulatory Affairs for the Personal Safety Division at 3M. "DriverCheck's experience and long-term commitment to safety and health made them the right choice. Our customers now have an additional solution for ensuring their fit-testing requirements are meeting CSA Z94.4, which is a critical element to helping protect workers' respiratory health while on the job."

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About DriverCheck

DriverCheck is Canada's Fitness for Duty experts and the country's leading provider of workplace medical testing and assessments. With a network of approximately 1,300 clinics across the country and a team of medical professionals, DriverCheck serves thousands of employers in a variety of safety sensitive industries including transportation, oil and gas, aviation, rail, mining, construction, healthcare, manufacturing, and forestry. Each year, DriverCheck conducts hundreds of thousands of on-site and clinic-based medical tests and provides a wide variety of occupational health and fitness-for-duty services, including alcohol and drug testing, pre-employment medicals, physical abilities tests, regulated medical surveillance testing and medical cannabis reviews. In addition, DriverCheck provides onsite medical staffing solutions for employers across Canada. Learn more about DriverCheck's solutions to build a healthier and safer world at drivercheck.ca.

About 3M

At 3M, we apply science in collaborative ways to improve lives daily. With $32 billion in sales, our employees connect with customers all around the world. Established in 1951, 3M Canada was one of the first international subsidiaries opened by 3M with the head office and original manufacturing site in London, Ontario where approximately 800 of the company's 1,900 employees work. Learn more about 3M's creative solutions to the world's problems at 3M.ca or on Twitter @3M_Canada.

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PARIS, Oct. 12, 2022 /CNW/ -- TEHTRIS, the French software publisher of the TEHTRIS XDR Platform and technology leader against cyber espionage and cyber sabotage, announces its second round of financing of 44 million (including 36 million in growth equity) led by Jolt Capital, a specialist in private equity for responsible deeptech companies, accompanied by the historic Series A funds, Tikehau Ace Capital, the leading European private equity firm in digital security, Open CNP, the corporate venture fund of CNP Assurances, and Nouvelle-Aquitaine Co-Investissement (NACO). This is a record breaking second fundraising for companies developing eXtended Detection and Response (XDR) technologies.

TEHTRIS Logo

TEHTRIS develops and markets the TEHTRIS XDR Platform (eXtended Detection and Response) cyber defense solution that detects and neutralizes known and unknown cyber threats in real-time and without human action in companies and public administrations. This cyberdefence solution is interoperable for augmented and hyper automated remediation.

Founded in 2010 by Elena Poincet and Laurent Oudot, leaders in the fields of operational and technical intelligence, TEHTRIS employs more than 260 people in Europe. Since its 20M Series A financing in November 2020, TEHTRIS has created 220 jobs in France and Europe and opened subsidiaries in Germany, Spain, Japan, and Canada to meet its ambition to build a true global digital trust thanks to its TEHTRIS XDR Platform technology and its 24/7 "Follow the Sun" business and technical support.

The funds raised in growth equity are intended to accelerate the company's development by continuing massive recruitment (300 jobs being created), constant innovation in the development of solutions, as well as developing its sales forces, at the service of its customers and partners. The objective is to help companies worldwide to fight against cyber-aggressions such as data hacking or ransomware.

The TEHTRIS XDR Platform protects the digital territory of its customers in more than 120 countries, providing an extended capability to detect and respond to security incidents. Interoperable, the platform replaces some of the limited traditional products by orchestrating different cybersecurity solutions with its Artificial Intelligence, behavioral analysis engine and real-time updated threat database (Cyber Threat Intelligence), for augmented and hyper-automated remediation. TEHTRIS' innovative sensors support operated security service provider partners, who monitor millions of IP addresses and analyze tens of billions of events on systems, networks, and the cloud every week.

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SOURCE Tehtris

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Dublin, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Rocket Propulsion Global Market Report 2022" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This report provides strategists, marketers and senior management with the critical information they need to assess the global rocket propulsion market.



This report focuses on rocket propulsion market which is experiencing strong growth. The report gives a guide to the rocket propulsion market which will be shaping and changing our lives over the next ten years and beyond, including the markets response to the challenge of the global pandemic.



Reasons to Purchase

Gain a truly global perspective with the most comprehensive report available on this market covering 12+ geographies.

Understand how the market is being affected by the coronavirus and how it is likely to emerge and grow as the impact of the virus abates.

Create regional and country strategies on the basis of local data and analysis.

Identify growth segments for investment.

Outperform competitors using forecast data and the drivers and trends shaping the market.

Understand customers based on the latest market research findings.

Benchmark performance against key competitors.

Utilize the relationships between key data sets for superior strategizing.

Suitable for supporting your internal and external presentations with reliable high quality data and analysis

Major players in the rocket propulsion market are Aerojet Rocketdyne, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Space Exploration Technologies Corp, Safran S.A., Blue Origin, JSC Kuznetsov, Yuzhmash, Rocket Lab, NPO Energomash, Orbital ATK, Lockheed Martin, Thales Group, Kongsberg Gruppen ASA, The Raytheon Company, and Roketsan A.S.



The global rocket propulsion market is expected to grow from $4.82 billion in 2021 to $5.29 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.8%. The rocket propulsion market is expected to grow to $7.67 billion in 2026 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.7%.



The rocket propulsion market consists of sales of the rocket propulsion products and services by entities (organizations, sole traders, and partnerships) used to produce thrust, the force which moves a rocket through the air and through space. Rocket propulsion refers to the act of pushing a rocket forward with force in order to launch it into the atmosphere. Rockets require a solid or liquid propellant, which consists of a fuel source and an oxidizer, which provides the oxygen required to burn the fuel.



The main types of rocket propulsion markets are solid propulsion, liquid propulsion, and hybrid propulsion. Solid propulsion refers to a type of propulsion system in which, the fuel and oxidizer are mixed together into a solid propellant and used as boosters for launch. The orbits in rocket propulsion include LEO, MEO, GEO, and beyond GEO. The different launch vehicle types utilizing in rocket propulsion systems include manned and unmanned. The various end-users of rocket propulsion systems include civil and commercial, and military.



Asia Pacific was the largest region in the rocket propulsion market in 2021, and it is also expected to be the fastest-growing region in the forecast period. The regions covered in the rocket propulsion market report are Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Middle East and Africa.



The rocket propulsion market research report is one of a series of new reports that provides rocket propulsion market statistics, including rocket propulsion industry global market size, regional shares, competitors with a rocket propulsion market share, detailed rocket propulsion market segments, market trends and opportunities, and any further data you may need to thrive in the rocket propulsion industry. This rocket propulsion market research report delivers a complete perspective of everything you need, with an in-depth analysis of the current and future scenarios of the industry.



Increased spending and capital investment by government bodies and space companies are significantly driving the rocket propulsion market. Capital investment refers to the acquisition of physical assets by a company for use in furthering its long-term business goals and objectives. Industries are investing huge capital in space exploration, and product innovation for technology advancements, and government agencies also taking initiatives and allowing them to spend more on research and development and produce more efficient and creative technology.

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Technological advancements and innovations are the key trends gaining popularity in the rocket propulsion market. Many research institutes and companies are developing innovative products to meet industry demands and strengthen their business presence in the rocket propulsion systems sector.

For instance, according to Science Daily, a US-based press release that publishes about science, in 2020, researchers from the University of Central Florida invented a new rocket propulsion system, known as a rotating detonation rocket engine that allows upper-stage rockets for space missions to become lighter, travel farther, and burn more cleanly. This technique increases the efficiency of rocket engines, allowing greater power to be created while consuming less fuel than typical rocket energy, decreasing the rocket's load, costs, and pollutants.



In August 2021, Phantom Space Corporation, US-based space transportation and rocket manufacturing company, acquired Micro Aerospace Solutions for an undisclosed amount. This deal is expected to help Phantom Space Corporation expand space access by mass-producing launch vehicles, satellites, and space propulsion technologies. Micro Aerospace Solutions is a US-based company, that manufactures space propulsion systems and specializes in thruster design and propulsion systems.



The countries covered in the rocket propulsion market report are Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Russia, South Korea, UK, and USA.



Key Topics Covered:



1. Executive Summary



2. Rocket Propulsion Market Characteristics



3. Rocket Propulsion Market Trends And Strategies



4. Impact Of COVID-19 On Rocket Propulsion



5. Rocket Propulsion Market Size And Growth

5.1. Global Rocket Propulsion Historic Market, 2016-2021, $ Billion

5.1.1. Drivers Of The Market

5.1.2. Restraints On The Market

5.2. Global Rocket Propulsion Forecast Market, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion

5.2.1. Drivers Of The Market

5.2.2. Restraints On the Market



6. Rocket Propulsion Market Segmentation

6.1. Global Rocket Propulsion Market, Segmentation By Propulsion Type, Historic and Forecast, 2016-2021, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion

Solid Propulsion

Liquid Propulsion

Hybrid Propulsion

6.2. Global Rocket Propulsion Market, Segmentation By Orbit, Historic and Forecast, 2016-2021, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion

LEO

MEO

GEO

Beyond GEO

6.3. Global Rocket Propulsion Market, Segmentation By Launch Vehicle Type, Historic and Forecast, 2016-2021, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion

Manned

Unmanned

6.4. Global Rocket Propulsion Market, Segmentation By End User, Historic and Forecast, 2016-2021, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion

Civil and commercial

Military

7. Rocket Propulsion Market Regional And Country Analysis

7.1. Global Rocket Propulsion Market, Split By Region, Historic and Forecast, 2016-2021, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion

7.2. Global Rocket Propulsion Market, Split By Country, Historic and Forecast, 2016-2021, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion

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Fortune Business Insights

According to Fortune Business Insights, The Enzyme Replacement Therapy Market size is anticipated to reach USD 20.58 Billion in 2028, the market size was USD 10.56 billion in 2020 and is anticipated to rise at a CAGR of 8.8%

Pune, India, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global enzyme replacement therapy market size is predicted to reach USD 20.58 billion by 2028 at a CAGR of 8.8% during the forecast period. Fortune Business InsightsTM has presented this information in its report titled, Global Enzyme Replacement Therapy Market, 2021-2028. Enzyme replacement therapy is a method in which patients are given various types of enzymes to help them overcome enzyme shortages or malfunctions. The increasing prevalence of rare, chronic, and inherited ailments, such as lysosomal storage diseases and genetic disorders, is driving the need for efficient treatment alternatives. The market size stood at USD 10.56 billion in 2020 and USD 11.43 billion in 2021.

Key Industry Development:

January 2021: Hunterase ICV has been approved for production and sale in Japan to treat Hunter syndrome, according to Clinigen Group plc.





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Report Scope:

Report Coverage Details Forecast Period 2021 to 2028 Forecast Period 2021 to 2028 CAGR 8.8% 2028 Value Projection USD 20.58 billion Base Year 2020 Market Size in 2020 10.56 billion Historical Data for 2017 to 2019 No. of Pages 150





Report Coverage:

The report offers a comprehensive overview of the industry, with a focus on key factors such as top players, products, and end-users. Aside from that, it provides market information and covers major industry developments. In addition to the aforementioned variables, the study covers a number of other factors that have contributed to the market's recent expansion.

Drivers and Restraints:

Increased Government Financing and Awareness in Individuals to Drive Market Growth

The global prevalence of lysosomal storage disorders such as Gaucher, Fabry, Pompe, and MPS is gradually increasing. According to data published by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in August 2021, approximately one in 40,000 people in the U.S. suffers from Pompe disease, with an estimated 32,950 cases. According to the National Fabry Foundation, the overall Fabry patient population in the U.S. was roughly 7,713 in May 2020. As a result, the presence of a large patient population with uncommon lysosomal storage disorders raises demand for effective treatment alternatives such as enzyme replacement therapy.

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Furthermore, increased government and non-profit initiatives in various countries to raise public awareness about rare diseases lead to a progressive increase in the detection rate of uncommon diseases. As a result, major factors such as favorable reimbursement policies and government financing for treatment in developed nations are increasing the rate of acceptance of this therapy. As a result, this is driving the market expansion over the projection period. However, shortage of experienced healthcare personnel for this therapy and insufficient reimbursement regulations in emerging nations are limiting the global enzyme replacement therapy market growth.





Click here to get the short-term and long-term impact of COVID-19 on this market.

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Segments:



Drug Class, Route of Administration, Indication, End-User, and Region are Studied

On the basis of drug class, the market is divided into Imiglucerase, Agalsidase, Alglucosidase Alfa, Pancrelipase, Idursulfase, Laronidase, Velaglucerase alfa, Elosulfase alfa, Asfotase alfa, Galsulfase, and others. On the basis of route of administration, the market is split into oral and parenteral. On the basis of indication, the market is divided into Pompe Disease, Type 1 Gaucher disease, MPS (Mucopolysaccharidosis), Fabry Disease, Hypophosphatasia, Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency (EPI), and others. On the basis of end-user, the market is divided into home care settings & infusion centers and hospitals. Geographically, the market is classified into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa.

Market Segmentation By Drug Class Alglucosidasealfa

Agalsidase

Pancrelipase

Idursulfase

Laronidase

Imiglucerase

Elosulfasealfa

Asfotasealfa

Galsulfase

Velaglucerasealfa By Route of Administration Parenteral

Oral By Indication Type 1 Gaucher disease

Pompe Disease

MPS (Mucopolysaccharidosis)

Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency (EPI)

Fabry Disease

Hypophosphatasia

Others By End User Hospitals

Homecare settings & Infusion Centers By Geography North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Latin America

Middle East & Africa





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Regional Insights:

North America to be a Leader of the Global Market

In 2020, the market in North America was estimated to be worth USD 5.09 billion. The increased prevalence of rare lysosomal storage disorders, such as Fabry disease, Pompe disease, and others, and the strong direct presence of key industry participants in this region contribute to this region's dominance in the global market. In addition, the existence of a large number of infusion facilities in this region is boosting the market growth. According to Healio, about 3,600 infusion sites were open in the U.S. in 2019, serving a huge patient population undergoing enzyme replacement therapy for a variety of uncommon disorders.

In 2020, Europe had the second-largest share of the global market. This is attributed to advantageous payment policies in a few European nations for several rare lysosomal disorders such as Gaucher disease, MPS, and others. According to F1000 Research Ltd., the Polish National Health Fund developed a national drug program in 2019, under which a patient was reimbursed for the first time in ERT for Fabry disease.

Competitive Landscape:

Key Players to Offer a Wide Range of Products to Create Strong Market Presence

BioMarin, Sanofi, AbbVie Inc., and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited are among the market's most established participants. One of the main reasons for these firms' market domination is their significant focus on acquisition and alliance with other important market players to increase their product reach globally. For example, in September 2021, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited signed a collaboration and partnership arrangement with JCR Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. with the goal of commercializing JR-141 outside of the U.S. to treat Hunter syndrome.

List of Key Market Players:

BioMarin (San Rafael, U.S.)

Leadiant Biosciences, Inc. (Gaithersburg, U.S.)

fizer Inc. (New York, U.S.)

Sanofi (Paris, France)

AbbVie Inc. (Lake Bluff, U.S.)

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (Tokyo, Japan)

JCR Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Ashiya, Japan)

Nestle (Vevey, Switzerland)





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Table of Content

Global Enzyme Replacement Therapy Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast, 2017-2028 Key Findings / Summary Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Drug Class Alglucosidase alfa Agalsidase Pancrelipase Idursulfase Laronidase Imiglucerase Elosulfase alfa Asfotase alfa Galsulfase Velaglucerase alfa Others Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Route of Administration Parenteral Oral Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Indication Type 1 Gaucher disease Pompe Disease MPS (Mucopolysaccharidosis) Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency (EPI) Fabry Disease Hypophosphatasia Others Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By End User Hospitals Homecare settings & Infusion Centers Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Region North America Europe Asia Pacific Latin America Middle East & Africa

North America Enzyme Replacement Therapy Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast, 2017-2028 Key Findings / Summary Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Drug Class Alglucosidase alfa Agalsidase Pancrelipase Idursulfase Laronidase Imiglucerase Elosulfase alfa Asfotase alfa Galsulfase Velaglucerase alfa Others Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Route of Administration Parenteral Oral Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Indication Type 1 Gaucher disease Pompe Disease MPS (Mucopolysaccharidosis) Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency (EPI) Fabry Disease Hypophosphatasia Others Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By End User Hospitals Homecare settings & Infusion Centers Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Country U.S. By Indication Canada By Indication



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SkyQuest Technology Consulting Pvt. Ltd.

Global Acne Treatment Market was valued at US$ 9.43 in 2022, and it is expected to reach a value of US$ 12.57 billion by 2028, at a CAGR of 4.9% over the forecast period (20222028).

Westford,USA, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SkyQuest analysis of acne treatment shows that the Global Acne Treatment Market is growing rapidly, with new products and treatments being developed all the time. Acne affects people of all ages, but is most common in teenagers and young adults. The market for acne treatment is therefore huge, and companies are vying for a share of this lucrative market.

Acne is the most common skin condition in the United States, affecting more than 50 million Americans. In fact, it affects over 9.4% of the global population, which translates to over 676 million people. Our analysis shows that there are two main types of acne treatments gaining huge demand in the acne treatment market: those that aim to treat the symptoms of acne, and those that aim to prevent it. The former includes topical treatments such as creams and gels, while the latter includes oral medications such as antibiotics.

It has been found in our study that majority of acne sufferers (70%) will only require over-the-counter treatments, while 30% will need prescription medications. The most common over-the-counter treatments are benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid, which are effective at clearing up mild to moderate acne. For more severe acne, topical retinoids or oral antibiotics may be necessary.

While there are many different types of prescription medications available for treating acne in the global acne treatment market, the most common are isotretinoin (brand name Accutane), tetracyclines (such as doxycycline), and erythromycin. Isotretinoin is a very effective treatment for severe acne, but can have serious side effects including birth defects, so it must be used with caution. Tetracyclines are also effective against severe acne, but can cause gastrointestinal problems and photosensitivity. Erythromycin is a less commonly used antibiotic that is effective against moderate to severe acne, but can cause gastrointestinal side effects as well.

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Companies in Acne Treatment Market Need to Mix Products to Capture Consumers of All Age

SkyQuest study found that there are several challenges in the acne treatment market. One is that younger consumers are gravitating towards OTC treatments, while older ones are moving to prescription meds. That means companies need to have a mix of products to appeal to all age groups.

Another challenge in the global acne treatment market is that many acne sufferers don't want to admit they have a problem. This leads to them self-diagnosing and using treatments that may not be effective. For instance, we found that 1 in 4 users of OTC treatments don't actually have acne - they're just using the products for prevention purposes.

So how can companies overcome these challenges? SkyQuest recommends focusing on product education and developing new formulations that target specific needs. Additionally, it's important to create an emotional connection with consumers - something that can be difficult with a condition like acne that can be stigmatizing.

The report on global acne treatment market also found that while there are a number of effective acne treatments available, most people still struggle to find the right one for their skin type. In fact, only about 20% of people who use over-the-counter acne treatments see significant results. According to our analysis, the majority of the money spent on acne treatments goes towards products that don't work very well. This includes both over-the-counter and prescription treatments.

More than 55% Consumers are willing to Pay More for Better Acne Treatment

A new survey from SkyQuest has found that acne treatment is a top concern for millennials. The survey, which polled 2,000 adults aged 18-34, found that 41% of respondents said they were concerned about their skin, with acne being the top concern.

The survey on acne treatment market also found that surveyed millennials are willing to spend money on treatments: 55% said they would be willing to pay more for an acne treatment that is effective, and 34% said they would be willing to pay up to $100 for a one-time treatment. When it comes to seeking professional help, 58% of respondents said they would see a dermatologist for their acne.

Interestingly, SkyQuest's survey also found that while both men and women are concerned about acne, women are more likely to seek professional help: 64% of female respondents said they would see a dermatologist for their acne, compared to just 42% of male respondents.

The most commonly used over-the-counter treatments across the global acne treatment market are benzoyl peroxide (used by 60% of respondents) and salicylic acid (used by 50% of respondents). Respondents also reported using a variety of other over-the-counter products, including tea tree oil, retinoids, and sulfur-based products.

When it comes to prescription treatments in the acne treatment market, the most commonly used medication is tretinoin (used by 70% of respondents). Other popular prescription medications include clindamycin, isotretinoin, antibiotics, and birth control pills.

While some acne sufferers only use one type of treatment, most people use a combination of different products to achieve the best results. The most common combination is an over-the-counter product plus a prescription medication (used by 65% of respondents). Other popular combinations include two or more over-the-counter products or two or more prescription medications.





Browse summary of the report and Complete Table of Contents (ToC):

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Huge Product Range, High Cost, and Growing Resistance to Existing Treatments to Challenges Acne Treatment Market Growth

The global acne treatment market is a highly competitive and ever-changing landscape. While there are many effective treatments available, there are also many challenges that continue to face those who suffer from acne. SkyQuests analysis of market highlights some of the key challenges that exist within the industry.

Firstly, the sheer number of products on the market can make it difficult for consumers to know which ones will work best for them. This is compounded by the fact that different people have different types of skin, meaning that what works for one person might not work for another.

Another challenge faced by the acne treatment market is the high cost of some of the more effective treatments. This can make it difficult for people to access the care they need, especially if they do not have health insurance. In addition, even when treatments are covered by insurance, they can still be expensive out-of-pocket due to high deductibles and co-pays.

There is a strong need for effective communication between patients and dermatologists. Dermatologists play a vital role in identifying the most appropriate course of treatment for each individual patient, but patient compliance with treatment regimens can be low. Poor communication between patients and dermatologists can lead to frustration on both sides and ultimately result in lower sales for companies.

Finally, our analysis highlights the challenge of resistance to existing treatments. As acne becomes more resistant to traditional treatments like benzoyl peroxide and antibiotics, new and more expensive treatments are required. This resistance could eventually lead to a situation where there are no effective treatments left for those suffering from acne.

While these challenges may seem daunting in the global acne treatment market, it is important to remember that there are many effective treatments available for those suffering from acne. With continued research and development, we expect that new and more affordable treatments will enter the market in the years to come.





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Top Players in global Acne Treatment Market

Allergan (Ireland)

Botanix Pharmaceuticals (Australia)

GALDERMA (Switzerland)

Bausch Health Companies Inc. (U.S.)

GlaxoSmithKline Plc. (U.K.)

Bayer AG (Germany)

Valeant Pharmaceutical International, Inc. (U.S.)

Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc. (U.S.)

Pfizer Inc. (U.S.)

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Israel)





Related Reports in SkyQuests Library:

Global Intraocular Lens Market

Global Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) Market

Global Medical Billing Outsourcing Market

Global Cartilage Repair Market

Global Dental Floss Market





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Apple is reportedly declining to offer new benefits to employees at its only unionized retail store . According to Bloomberg , the unionized workers at the store in Towson, Maryland, will need to negotiate for benefits with Apple as they hash out a collective bargaining agreement. The perks in question haven't been announced publicly as yet, but they're said to include additional health plan benefits in some jurisdictions, funds to take educational classes and a free Coursera membership.

The report suggests that by withholding benefits from the unionized workers, who have organized Apple may be dissuading workers at other retail stores from attempting to form a union. Workers at an Oklahoma City location are set to vote in a union election this week. Apple has faced labor tensions on other fronts, with some staff resisting a mandate to return to the company's offices (a stance that Apple eventually backed down from ). The company has also been accused of union busting .

Withholding perks from unionized workers or those who plan to organize is not exactly a new issue. Starbucks has provided some benefits to non-union cafes, and claimed it couldn't offer them to unionized locations in one fell swoop. In April, Activision Blizzard said workers who were organizing at Raven Software (they've since voted to form a union) were ineligible for raises due to its legal obligations under the National Labor Relations Act. The National Labor Relations Board determined last month that the company withheld raises due to the workers' union activity.

The workers at Apple's Towson store will soon start formal union contract negotiations with Apple. Engadget has contacted the company for comment. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers' Coalition of Organized Retail Employees (I AM CORE) provided the following statement to Engadget:

Despite the news from Apple today, our goal is still the same. We are urging Apple to negotiate in good faith so we can reach an agreement over the next few weeks. The IAM CORE negotiating committee is dedicated to securing a deal that gives our IAM CORE members the proper respect and dignity at work and sets the standard in the tech industry.
DALLAS, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Ashland Greene Capital, a Dallas-based multifamily real estate investment firm, announced its Parkwyn Townhomes exit today with twice the projected average annual return (AAR) within a shorter hold period than anticipated (42 months versus projected 60 months).

Ashland Greene Capital logo (PRNewsfoto/Ashland Greene Capital)

Notably, Parkwyn represents one of Ashland Greene's properties that prompted the firm's launch of its own property management company  AG Living. Propelled in part by the pandemic and then the Texas freeze, leadership realized it needed to take on direct control of Parkwyn as well as other properties to secure the quality experience it desired for residents and the level of return it desired for investors.

"We knew Parkwyn had tons of potential," said Shakti C'Ganti, CEO and Founder. "We stepped into the property management role after having to change management companies twice. When we took over Parkwyn, we inherited over $300k in unpaid A/P, lots of deferred maintenance, and 75% occupancy."

With AG Living at the property management helm, occupancy increased and at exit sits at 99%. Projected AAR was 14.80 percent, and at exit, actual AAR is 30.60 percent, with internal rate of return (IRR) at 23.54 percent, from a projected 12.80 percent.

Investor Relations Vice President Aalok Parikh credits the AG Living team with being a driving force behind the deal's success.

"We knew we had to act quickly to ensure we stayed true to our commitment to our investors," Parikh said. "Using our own property management division enables us to better control expenses, and more importantly, the quality of the resident experience. The challenges we faced over the last few years with the pandemic and then the Texas freeze taught us that it's best to be able to directly control our product, which means we're better able to manage quality and drive and increase occupancy."

Ashland Greene now operates a full vertical integration model through multiple divisions: Ashland Greene Capital, Construction and AG Living. According to Parikh, operations benefit greatly from resulting economies of scale, translating into an ability to produce higher returns for investors.

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Ashland Greene is a fast-growing multifamily real estate investment firm with a primary focus on the DFW metroplex. It receives an average annual return of approximately 25 percent on their exits where the typical hold period is 2.8 years and averages 95 percent depreciation on Year One investments. In 2022, Ashland Greene plans to return about $90 million to investors.

ABOUT ASHLAND GREENE

Ashland Greene is a vertically integrated real estate company which identifies and repositions undervalued multifamily investments in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Our local focus, dedication to trustworthy, long-term relationship building, and commitment to community, enable Ashland Greene to create a unique investment experience which delivers long-term value for its investors, residents, and communities. For more information, visit ashlandgreenecapital.com/ .

Past performance is not indicative of comparable future results. Market and economic conditions may change in the future producing materially different results than those shown here. All investments have inherent risks. Targeted returns are based on five-year hold for Class A & B Limited Partner Investment.

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SOURCE Ashland Greene Capital
By Azernews





By Vugar Khalilov

The deployment of the EU-France border mission in Armenia is yet another attempt by the EU to meddle in the Baku-Yerevan talks, Azernews reports, citing Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova.

"The EU hasn't yet made a formal decision on the matter. Russia sees this as another attempt by the EU to press the mediation efforts of the country," Zakharova said at a weekly briefing.

The only way of achieving reconciliation between Baku and Yerevan, as well as long-term regional peace and stability, is the full implementation of the trilateral statements of the Russian, Azerbaijani, and Armenian leaders, the diplomat underlined.

"We maintain regular engagements on the issue with our Azerbaijani and Armenian colleagues. Russia expects to take advantage of the upcoming event within the CIS Council of Foreign Ministers in Astana," she added.

Furthermore, a trilateral meeting of the Azerbaijani, Russian, and Armenian foreign ministers, Jeyhun Bayramov, Sergey Lavrov, and Ararat Mirzoyan is slated to be held in Astana on October 14, Azernews reports, citing the Armenian media.

At the previous meeting on October 3 in Geneva, the Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers discussed the possible peace deal between the two countries.

The EU border mission was agreed upon following the October 6 meeting in Prague between Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders under the auspices of EU Council President Charles Michel and French President Emmanuel Macron.

In order to get access to the region, the EU and France planned to organize a border monitoring mission that would also include Azerbaijan. However, the relevant suggestion was diplomatically rejected by Azerbaijan.

As a result, it was decided that the mission would solely operate in Armenia, and Azerbaijan will cooperate with the mission based on its own interests. The border mission will serve to instill mutual trust between the Armenian and Azerbaijani people and help the border delimitation process.

President Ilham Aliyev praised the EU's efforts in the peace talks during an interview with Azerbaijani TV channels, emphasizing that Azerbaijan and Armenia are gradually reaching peace.

Aliyev said that the peace talks are still ongoing and should not be disrupted.

The ministers should meet for the second time soon, and we have suggested that after that the working groups of both countries should come together to prepare the text of the peace agreement, perhaps not in one meeting, but over the course of a few days, he underlined.
NEW YORK, Oct. 12, 2022 /CNW/ - Ascend Wellness Holdings, Inc. ("AWH" or the "Company") (CSE: AAWH.U) (OTCQX: AAWH), a leading multi-state, vertically integrated cannabis operator, today announced that it will hold a conference call on Thursday, November 10, 2022, at 5:00 PM ET following the release of its third quarter 2022 financial results after market close.

Ascend Wellness Holdings, Inc. Logo (CNW Group/Ascend Wellness Holdings, Inc.)

The earnings conference call may be accessed by dialing 1 (888) 390-0605 with conference ID: 35417710. A live audio webcast will also be available on the Investor Relations section of AWH website at https://awholdings.com/investors and will be archived for replay.

CONFERENCE CALL DETAILS





DATE: Thursday, November 10, 2022 TIME: 5:00 PM Eastern Time WEBCAST: Click to Access DIAL-IN NUMBER: 1 (888) 390-0605 CONFERENCE ID: 35417710 REPLAY: 1-888-390-0541

Replay Code: 417710 #

Available until 12:00 AM Eastern Time on Thursday, November 17, 2022

About Ascend Wellness Holdings, Inc (AWH):

AWH is a vertically integrated multistate cannabis operator with licenses and assets in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. AWH owns and operates state-of-the-art cultivation facilities, growing award-winning strains and producing a curated selection of products for retail and wholesale customers. AWH produces and distributes its in-house Simply Herb, Ozone, and Ozone Reserve branded products. For more information, visit www.awholdings.com.

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Toronto-based crypto exchange Coinsquare became a member of Canadas top self-regulatory organization (SRO)  the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC)  on Thursday, making it the first crypto-native platform to join that body.

In addition to granting Coinsquare membership, IIROC also greenlit the exchanges investment dealer registration and gave approval to operate as a regulated alternative trading system (ATS) in the future.

Though Coinsquare is the first exchange to join IIROC, it is unlikely to be the last. In March 2021, the Canadian Securities Administrators issued a public notice informing crypto exchanges they needed to register with a securities regulator if they wanted to keep serving Canadian customers, triggering a rush to comply with regulatory requirements.

Coinsquare, however, began the long process of becoming an IIROC member before it was compelled to do so. Katriana Prokopy, Coinsquares chief legal officer and head of regulatory affairs, told CoinDesk the exchange began pursuing regulatory approval two years ago.

As a member of IIROC, Coinsquare will undergo rigorous audits and oversight to ensure it remains in compliance with regulatory requirements  something Prokopy said could be a comfort to investors, especially in the wake of high-profile collapses of crypto exchanges, including Celsius Network.

Becoming an IIROC dealer and member of IIROC, it gives clients the security that theyre dealing with an intermediary, a securities dealer, with all the sorts of protections and oversight that theyre familiar with when they trade traditional assets, Prokopy said. And, heretofore, that has not been the case.

There is, however, one important bit of coverage Coinsquares clients wont get through its IIROC membership  protection of their crypto assets from the exchanges potential insolvency.

Members of IIROC automatically become members of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund, which offers limited protection for property held by a member fund on behalf of investors if the member becomes insolvent. However, in Coinsquares case, CIPF will only apply to fiat held in customers accounts in case Coinsquare goes in the way of Celsius.

Prokopy said she hopes CIPFs coverage will eventually change to include crypto.

Like the regulatory framework generally, CIPF coverage is evolving. In time, we hope to push the envelope on that and be part of the conversation in which [CIPF] evolves to cover crypto assets as well, Prokopy said. But that is not the case today from a CIPF perspective.
(Bloomberg) -- ASML Holding NV, the most advanced maker of equipment for producing semiconductors, told its employees in the US to refrain from servicing customers in China following new regulations from the Biden administration, according to an internal email sent to staff.

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ASML US employees must refrain -- either directly, or indirectly -- from servicing, shipping or providing support to any customers in China until further notice, while ASML is actively assessing which particular fabs are affected by this regulation, according to an email from the US management team addressed to employees in the country. The ban applies to all US employees, including American citizens, green card holders and foreign nationals who live in the country, according to the email.

The US last week banned Chinese companies from buying advanced chip-making equipment or employing American citizens without a license to prevent the Communist Party from becoming more of an economic and military threat.

The Veldhoven, Netherlands-based ASML has had to strike a challenging balance between the US and China. It has been selling its deep ultraviolet, or DUV, machines to Chinese customers but has held back from offering its more advanced extreme ultraviolet, or EUV, machines.

ASML head of corporate communications Monique Mols confirmed that the email that circulated on social media on Wednesday is indeed a genuine communication but it was not intended to be shared externally.

We are of course taking precautionary measures in order to ensure full compliance with the new regulations while we are assessing the new Export Control restrictions, Mols said in an email. As the memo says, further instructions to our employees will follow once we have done the assessment.

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ASMLs move comes as American suppliers are beginning to withdraw staff from one of Chinas leading chip companies in the wake of the same regulations. Applied Materials Inc., KLA Corp. and Lam Research Corp. have started or are preparing to pull employees from Yangtze Memory Technologies Co., the countrys most advanced maker of memory chips, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.

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Asia's most important co-located business technology events made a grand return to Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. Thousands of technology leaders, enthusiasts and buyers representing some of the biggest industry names were welcomed on the first of two days.

SINGAPORE, Oct. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- CloserStill Media today celebrated the successful return of its in-person Asia trade shows at Tech Week Singapore. Industry professionals and influencers from AWS, Grab, Google Cloud, Huawei, LEGO, Nestle, Microsoft, Mercedes-Benz Singapore, Standard Chartered, Unilever, and more joined for the first of two days.

Thousands of industry leaders and technology buyers attended Tech Week Singapore's co-located events

Tech Week Singapore brings together seven award-winning co-located events, including Big Data & AI World, Cloud Expo Asia, Cyber Security World, Data Centre World Asia, DevOps Live, eCommerce Expo Asia and Technology for Marketing.

The show was opened by Chi Chuan Poh, Executive Director for Exhibitions & Conferences at Singapore Tourism Board. He was 'heartened to see such vibrancy' during the event and thanked all the organisations in attendance for their resiliency throughout the pandemic. Mr. Poh also recognised the positive impact of events like Tech Week Singapore and event organisers like CloserStill Media have on Singapore's thriving digital industries.

"Tech Week Singapore, fondly known as Cloud Expo Asia prior to 2019, first launched in 2013 with just two content pillars focusing on Cloud Computing & Data Centres. Seven editions later, it has chalked up a strong following and quadrupled its total attendees from 5,000 to over 22,000. The event now covers six different content pillars across the entire the ICT ecosystem," said Mr. Poh.

Day one kicked off on the Tech Week Mainstage with keynote fireside chat between George Wong, Head of Singapore & Malaysia at The Sandbox, and Medhy Souidi, Metaverse Lead and Head of Innovation at DBS Bank. The discussion focused on the developing landscape of Metaverse and NFT technologies.

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"This is an amazing event. I never expected the scale of it. Having this kind of space helps companies discover new trends in the market. Metaverse, in particular, forces companies to innovate and identify whether or not their engagement campaigns work," said Mr. Wong.

"I have been invited to speak at many CloserStill Media events in the past. I really love this event and it's one of the best during the year, especially when there is so many people here. It's not a crazy expensive ticket because it's free, so people can meet and mingle with a lot of companies from not just one crowd, but many, like cyber security, FinTech, blockchain and more," said Mr. Souidi

Sustainability and climate change, supply chain constraints, technology skills shortages, gender equality and diversity, ransomware, tightening data privacy regulations and creating personalised customer experiences were among the many talking points led by experts and visionaries. In total, Tech Week Singapore featured over 500 industry leading speakers across the event's seven co-located events.

"One of the things I like about Tech Week Singapore and Cloud Expo Asia is it brings together not just the data centre industry, but all the related areas like cyber security, big data and AI. I was at the first Cloud Expo Asia and I've been coming every year. It is nice to see all the smaller startups at this year's event. I find there's a healthier mix. As a technologist who likes to see all the new things happening in the space is fun," said Bernie Trudel, Technology Lead for NFVi Cloud at Ericsson.

Strategies to overcome these talking points and challenges were offered by more than 300 exhibitors, including Datastax, Digital Realty, Eaton, Global Victoria, IBM, Huawei Cloud, Lenovo, Lexer, NAVER Cloud, Pacific Tech, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Schneider Electric, Seagate, Siemens, Shopify, SHOPLINE, SingPost, Sophos, Stripe, TIBCO Software Singapore, and ThreatLocker.

"The atmosphere has been great. We're back after three years  it was 2019 since I was at Data Centre World previously. Things have changed a lot since we were here. Sustainability and digitalisation are things everybody wants to talk to us about. This is very much rooted in the Internet of Things, connected devices, and many other technologies that we need to bring that fabric of infrastructure together so that we can manage it effectively," said Ciaran Flanagan, VP & Global Head of Siemens Data Centre Solutions  an exhibitor at Data Centre World Asia.

Adding to the excitement, SingPost unveiled new initiatives for Stellar Lifestyle, the largest managing agent of retail and advertising spaces for Singapore's SMRT rail network. The launch event was attended SingPost CEO, Su Yin Neo, and President of Stellar Lifestyle, Tony Heng.

Celebrating a successful first day, CloserStill Media's Managing Director for Asia Pacific, Andy Kiwanuka said: "It's incredible to be back for our first in-person event in Asia since 2019! The thousands that have gathered here today proves without a doubt the appetite for collaborating with peers, finding the latest innovations, and discovering key insights that will transform businesses into future-ready powerhouses."

Day two of Tech Week Singapore will build on an extremely successful first day, with keynotes from Groupon Singapore Co-Founder, Chris Chong; CEO of StashAway, Michele Ferrario; Founder and CEO of Everise, Sudhir Agarwal; Google Cloud's Head of Government Affairs and Public Policy, Brigitta Ratih Aryanti; Head of Sustainability Strategy Policy for APJ at AWS, Genevieve Ding, and more.

In 2021 and early 2022, CloserStill Media safely and successfully hosted in-person intimate gatherings at events known as Cloud Executive Summit, Smart Cybersecurity Summit, and Retail Executive Summit welcoming the most influential and game-changing leaders in the technology industry.

Real-time updates will be available on the Tech Week Singapore, Big Data & AI World, Cloud Expo Asia, Cyber Security World Asia, Data Centre World Asia, DevOps Live, eCommerce Expo Asia and Technology for Marketing Asia LinkedIn channels.

About CloserStill Media

CloserStill Media organises international B2B tradeshows. In the technology markets, these events reach across five global territories, more than 70,000 delegates and over 2,500 exhibitors. Its portfolio includes some of the fastest growing and award-winning events, including Tech Show London, an umbrella brand featuring Cloud Expo Europe and Data Centre World. Having delivered unparalleled quality and relevant audiences for all exhibitions, CloserStill has been repeatedly recognised as a leading innovator. Its teams and events have been recognised in Europe and Asia, with awards including Best Marketing Manager five times in succession, Best Trade Exhibition, Best Launch Exhibition, and Rising Star two years in succession, among others. CloserStill is headquartered in London, with offices in Singapore, and across America and Europe. For more information, visit www.closerstillmedia.com.

Register your FREE ticket: https://bit.ly/3QGqjIN

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SOURCE CloserStill Media
In the same week President Biden declared the COVID-19 pandemic over, the threat of another infectious disease outbreak loomed large. On September 20, new cases of Ebola confirmed arising from a relatively rare strain of Ebolavirus were confirmed in Uganda.

As of September 29, there have been 35 confirmed cases and seven confirmed deathswith many more probable cases and a suspected fatality rate of around 50%. The outbreak has now expanded to two other districts, with 427 contacts listed for follow-up, and it will potentially spread to congested parts of downtown Kampala, the capital city. Up to six health care workersincluding one fatalitywere infected before the outbreak was identified.

Shockingly, Uganda is still isolated in the struggle to address this new threat despite the world having just endured the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic as a single global health security problem. There has been an increased focus on the need for pandemic preparedness, resilient health systems, and a well-protected workforce to respond successfully to threats. However, the global response is not to the level of the threat we know Ebola to be to Uganda and the rest of the world.

We urgently need more well-trained, well-equipped, and well-protected health workers who can safely help respond to stop this outbreak in its tracks. We need to urgently unlock funding and support from our partners for training, mentoring, reskilling, and potential vaccination of health workersbuying us time against Ebola.

As with almost all global health investments and challenges over the past decades, recent investments have been myopically focused on a single diseasein this case, COVID-19. We have spent several months (encouraged by global funding) strengthening our workforce against coronavirusbut we now find ourselves at risk of being outrun by a pandemic we should be well equipped to tackle.

In the short term, we need urgent funding to train a skilled workforce able to detect and treat Ebola in Uganda. We are not currently getting the resources we need to help prevent the spread of this outbreak and ensure our health workers are protected and lives are saved.

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In the longer term, we need the world to wake up and finally accept that we would all be better protected against diseases if countries had a fit-for-purpose health workforce able to address all diseases.

As trained medical doctors, we have seen first-hand the devastating impact of not having enough staff to provide the high-quality care we wanted to give our patients.

Since 2012, Seed Global Health has worked with governments across Africa to train physicians, nurses, and midwives to improve access to high-quality care. In Uganda, through partnerships with the government and in-country partners, we have contributed to the training of more than 4,000 health workers across myriad specialties.

While COVID has been the most notorious pandemic of the past several years, in truth, we face numerous pandemics. In 2022, a country like Uganda faces not only threats of COVID, Ebola, or an upsurge in malaria in the north and eastern part of the country, but we also still face the inequitable burdens of HIV, tuberculosis, trauma, and non-communicable disease.

Shockingly, an estimated 810 women continue to die each day due to complications related to pregnancy and childbirth. And none of this takes into account the devastating impacts of climate change, which are expected to cause additional deaths in the coming decade.

The multiple pandemics of today require a global and truly resilient pandemic strategy built on the strong foundation of greater investment in the health workforceone that is well-trained, well-distributed, and well-protectedto be able to meet the entire spectrum of diseases we face.

It is now irrefutable that investing in healthcare workers brings a positive return. In fact, its more expensive not to invest. Investments in education and job creation in the health and social sectors result in improved health outcomes, global health security, and the advancement of women.

With 70% of our health workforce being women, this investment drives equity forward, challenges the gender gap that is so entrenched in many countries around the world, and allows women to participate more actively in the economy and public life.

We can contain this virusbut we urge our partners in global health to help us to unlock the funding needed to protect the people of Uganda and our immediate neighbors for the long term.

We need the global community to respond to this latest outbreak. Its a challenge we must all face, with an approach grounded in facts and science, not in racism or colonial behaviors, which have been perpetuated for too long.

We can start by putting out the latest fire of Ebola. Then, lets build towards the pandemic preparedness we really needand the workforce that provides that.

Jane Aceng, M.D., is Uganda's health minister. Vanessa Kerry, M.D., is the CEO of Seed Global Health. Henry Bossa Kyobe, M.D., is Uganda's national Ebola incident commander.

The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.

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data.world

CEO and Co-Founder Brett Hurt among the Most Exceptional Entrepreneurs recognized at 2022 Builders and Innovators Summit

AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Goldman Sachs is recognizing data.world CEO and Co-Founder Brett Hurt as one of the Most Exceptional Entrepreneurs of 2022 at its Builders and Innovators Summit in Healdsburg, California. Goldman Sachs selected Hurt from leaders of multiple industries to be honored at the two-day event.

Hurt is a successful entrepreneur, having co-founded and led Bazaarvoice as CEO through its IPO in 2012, follow-on offering, and two acquisitions. Brett also founded and led Coremetrics, which was rated the #1 Web analytics solution by Forrester Research and, like Bazaarvoice, expanded into a global company and market leader. Coremetrics was acquired by IBM in 2010.

Hurts latest company, data.world , helps data professionals explore, discover, govern, and collaborate around data products. The data.world platform is a cloud-native enterprise data catalog built on a knowledge graph, giving customers exceptional flexibility and scalability. The company is recognized as an innovator in its category and was recently named a leader in the Forrester Wave Enterprise Data Catalogs for DataOps . The platform is also among the first data catalogs to reach both the Snowflake Powered By and Premier Technology Partner tiers.

Hurt published his book, The Entrepreneurs Essentials , in May of this year on Amazon. All of the proceeds from the sales of his book go to benefit The University of Texas at Austin's Kendra Scott Women's Entrepreneurial Leadership Institute. The book can also be read for free online at TheEntrepreneursEssentials.com . It contains insight into how he built Coremetrics, Bazaarvoice, and data.world, as well as many lessons learned from Hurts investments in 127 startups and 40 venture capital funds.

This is a tremendous honor for me and the company that were building with our global customers and incredible partners like Goldman Sachs, said Hurt. Our catalog is at the center of some of the most important business decisions being made today about customer satisfaction, product innovation, supply chains, and more. We believe when data is transformed into knowledge, opportunities emerge for everyone.

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Were delighted to recognize Brett Hurt as one of the most exceptional entrepreneurs of 2022, said David M. Solomon, Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs. They have made extraordinary contributions to a wide range of fields, and all of us are looking forward to meeting with these innovative thinkers.

In addition to honoring the most exceptional entrepreneurs, the Summit consists of general sessions and clinics led by seasoned entrepreneurs, academics, and business leaders as well as resident scholars.

About data.world

data.world is the enterprise data catalog for the modern data stack. Its cloud-native SaaS (software-as-a-service) platform combines a consumer-grade user experience with a powerful knowledge graph to deliver enhanced data discovery, agile data governance, and actionable insights. data.world is a Certified B Corporation and public benefit corporation and home to the worlds largest collaborative open data community with more than 1.8 million members, including 90% of the Fortune 500. Our company has 48+ patents and has been named one of Austins Best Places to Work seven years in a row. Follow us on LinkedIn , Twitter , and Facebook , or join us .

Press Related Questions, please contact Marykate Cary at mcary@groupgordon.com .




David Einhorn Says Value Investing Might Never Come Back

(Bloomberg) -- Hedge fund manager David Einhorn said he doesnt know if value investing will ever be in vogue again.

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I dont know that it ever comes back, the Greenlight Capital founder said Tuesday in an interview with Bloomberg Television on the sidelines of the Robin Hood Investors Conference in New York. Einhorn, 53, said most value investors are being put out of business, citing serious changes to the market structure.

Theres just very few of us left, he said, adding that most market participants these days are not trained or experienced in value investing, or have shifted to passive or quantitative investing.

Fewer players means theres no one to notice whats happening to these companies and nobody knows what anything is worth, Einhorn said. So theres an enormous number of companies that are dramatically mis-valued in ways that we havent seen before.

(Updates with additional comment from Einhorn starting in the third paragraph)

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The Ethereum universe gathers at least 6,000 visitors from around the world at the Agora Convention Center in Bogota to strengthen and educate its community of users.

BOGOTA, Colombia, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- After competing among capitals from countries in the region that already have a strong market in the crypto industry, the VI edition of DEVCON, the world's most important global event in the cryptocurrency and blockchain segment, arrives in Bogota. During this week, the Colombian capital will welcome thousands of fans, users and builders of the Etherium ecosystem, the technology that powers the cryptocurrency 'ether' (ETH).

Definitely, this city continues to be a nest of opportunities for investment and growth of the technology industry. In this regard, Isabella Munoz, executive director of Invest in Bogota comments, "Bogota as the first Latin American city to host DEVCON speaks of an imminent economic recovery of the city in the MICE sector. In addition, our city is consolidating itself nationally as the capital of entrepreneurship and the development of the IT industry in the country, hosting 65.5% of the companies in this sector. This is not surprising, since Bogota also concentrates 35.4% of the talent in computer science and related fields available in Colombia."

This event that brings together enthusiasts of the cryptocurrency world promises to make an intensive introduction for new Ethereum explorers, as well as to form a global meeting for those who are already part of its ecosystem and trade with 'ETH'.

"Being on the radar of organizations with the relevance of Etherium, reaffirms the reasons why the most recent Destination Performance Index of the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) named Colombia as a South American leader in reactivation of events and meetings in the post-pandemic"; Munoz states.

"From the city of Bogota we celebrate that our city is hosting Devcon. It reflects how dynamic our city is in terms of innovation and technological developments and the relevance of the commitment to training and higher education around digital skills and programming issues. Bogota, with its diversity and dynamism, is and will continue to be the most favorable city for the development of these new businesses and professional development opportunities," said Alfredo Bateman, Secretary of Economic Development.

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To enhance the impact of DEVCON, the Secreatry of Economic Development has implemented the Hub Blockchain Bogota program; an initiative that aims 200 companies in the city benefiting from Blockchain technology. These companies will increase their general knowledge of business practices in Blockchain and will have the opportunity to interact with government entities, organizations, CTeI instruments and companies related to the local, national and Latin American Blockchain ecosystem.

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Japan and U.S.-based VC firm, "DNX Ventures," announced the initial close of two new Japan funds, and completed the final close of its Japan Seed Fund, raising a total of approximately 26 billion yen (U.S. $179M) and is targeting a final cumulative total of 40 billion yen (U.S. $277M) for investing in Japan; funds will now invest in B2B startups from seed to late stage.

SAN MATEO, Calif., Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- DNX Ventures (Japan Representative: Akira Kurabayashi), a venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley and Tokyo, is pleased to announce the initial close of $110M for Japan Fund IV and $50M for Japan Annex Fund III for follow-on investments, along with the final close of $20M for Japan Seed Fund for seed stage investments, totaling approximately 26 billion yen (~U.S. $179M) across the three funds. This new Japan fund family will enable DNX Ventures to continue to support startups from seed to late stages, and will focus on startups in Japan, possibly including some in the Asia region.

DNX Ventures announces new fund family for investing in startups in Japan. Fund family for US startups to follow at a later date. Pictured: DNX Japan team

DNX Ventures announced the initial close of two new Japan funds, and completed the final close of its Japan Seed Fund

Japan Fund IV and Japan Annex Fund III will continue to fundraise, aiming for a cumulative total of 40 billion yen (U.S. $276M) across the three new Japan funds. Additionally, DNX will separately raise and announce a family of new Funds for investment in the U.S. and other regions.

Our Investors and Investment Geography

We are thankful to our investors for placing their trust in DNX; they are represented by both Japan and foreign institutional investors and financial institutions, and include both existing and new investors. We plan on delivering exceptional financial returns to our investors by continuing to invest in high-growth startups in Japan, support their growth globally, and contribute to Japanese society. We have already invested in Japan B2B startups through our new Japan Fund IV and Japan Annex Fund III and plan to start making new investments from the Japan Seed Fund shortly.

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About Us

DNX is a venture capital fund with offices in Silicon Valley and Tokyo that has been investing in B2B startups since 2011, primarily in the Japanese and U.S. markets. To date, we have invested in more than 160 startups, mainly in Japan and the U.S., and have led 18 companies to exits, through a total of eight funds totaling approximately U.S. $750M under management, including five main funds and annex/seed funds. Among B2B startups, the main areas of investment are in cloud SaaS, fintech, deep tech, and sustainability, all in early stages.

https://dnx.vc/jp

DNX Ventures

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Telda, an Egyptian consumer money app founded by ex-Swvl executive Ahmed Sabbah last April, has raised $20 million in seed funding. The fintech, in a statement, said it wants to revolutionize finance for the MENAP region.

Its first market, Egypt, is one of the highest consumer spending markets in Africa. The North African markets private consumption accounts for nearly 85% of its nominal GDP, and only 4% of its overall GDP is cashless. Card usage in the country is still in its infancy in the cash-heavy society, but startups like Telda are banking on their card products to change the narrative, or at least try.

When Sabbah spoke with TechCrunch last year, he said Telda had obtained a license from Egypts apex bank, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) under its new regulations, allowing the company to issue cards and onboard customers digitally. However, for more than a year following this approval, Telda hadnt still launched its app and card products to its more than 30,000 signups.

According to sources who spoke to TechCrunch, Telda was yet to go live in the Egyptian market after raising that much money because it ran into issues with the apex bank, among them the appropriate licensing it needed to be called a digital bank, which seemed to be Teldas description at the time. Sabbah denies that there was a scuffle between the two parties. We are humbled to be the first company to receive the license in Egypt. Egypts commitment to shaping the future of finance and establishing itself as a global fintech hub is reflected in the support weve received from regulators over the past year, he added.

Telda eventually secured licence approval from the CBE a few weeks ago to launch as a consumer money and payment app in the Egyptian market. The company finally started operations last month and launched its app and a Mastercard-powered card to the public. It has onboarded 25,000 cards and has a waiting list of 110,000 customers who have ordered their cards. According to the consumer money app, it wants to change the way people feel about and interact with their finances in this part of the world: from money transfers to online/offline purchases to saving habits.

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In a country where 50% of its 100 million people are active smartphone users, two out of every three individuals have little or no access to formal financial services in Egypt. Telda is one of several fintech apps that have raised marked capital to provide these services such as rewards, cards, and buy now, pay later to individual consumers. Other fintechs include Sympl, Lucky and Khazna.

Over the past year, Sabbah said the company has learned that going into the market with a minimum-functioning product doesnt create a differentiator from the existing big financial institution. He also noted that in consumer fintech, investing and over-optimizing in the first version of ones product is a must, especially on the user experience side.

Weve also learned that customers are craving an intuitive user experience when it comes to banking, similar to what they see in the daily applications they use, social media. We believe our competition is and has always been cash and this is the hardest competition to face in MENA. Were laser-focused towards changing how Egyptians feel about and interact with their money, the chief executive said on competition.

His comments indicate that within the past year, Telda went back to the drawing board to tweak its product before releasing it to the public. The new funding demonstrates continued confidence in what Telda can achieve in the ever-growing Egypt and MENA fintech market. The consumer money app says the investment will allow it to pursue its mission of fully and seamlessly digitizing Egyptians use and concept of money, including the crucial social element to sending, spending and saving money.

Teldas seed investment welcomed venture capitals most prominent names. They include existing investors Sequoia Capital and Global Founders Capital (GFC), who led the round. New investor Block, formerly known as Square, also participated; its the fintech giants second investment on the continent after crypto startup Yellow Card. Telda secured a $5 million pre-seed just last May, a month after Sabbah and his co-founder Youssef Sholqamy founded the company.

Speaking on the investment, Roel Janssen, a partner at lead investor Global Founders Capital, said, We are incredibly excited to further strengthen our partnership with Telda. The company has launched a product that is better than most international consumer payments companies, and Ahmed and Youssef have attracted some of the brightest Egyptian talent in product, engineering and GTM. We are confident that Telda will continue to amaze Egyptian customers with an outstanding product experience and exceptional service in the coming years.
By Azernews





By Vugar Khalilov

Azerbaijan has identified Armenian perpetrators involved in missile attacks on Ganja city during the 44-day war in 2020, Azernews reports, citing Prosecutor-General Kamran Aliyev.

Aliyev made the remarks while visiting the territory destroyed as a result of the Armenian missile attack on Ganja city on October 11, 2020.

Three criminal cases have been filed, and the criminals have been identified, he underlined.

The Prosecutor-General further stated that during the first and second Karabakh wars (in 1988-1994, 2020 respectively) Armenians frequently utilized mercenaries in warfare.

"Azerbaijan has evidence of the participation of mercenaries from Armenia in the second Karabakh war. The identities of those mercenaries are also known. Azerbaijan sent petitions to the countries of which they are citizens, work to this effect continues," Aliyev said.

Despite significant challenges, Azerbaijan continues to work on the extradition of mercenaries who participated on the Armenian side during the second Karabakh war, he underlined.

"Unfortunately, some states don't provide sufficient assistance in this regard. However, as you know, after the second Karabakh war, Azerbaijan prosecuted the perpetrators of the Khojaly genocide. These mercenaries will be held accountable as well. On the other hand, the country uses the documents of these criminal cases in the International Court of Justice and other international forums. The evidence presented to Azerbaijan reveals that the policy of Armenia as a state contradicts the norms of international law," Aliyev stressed.
Adroit Market Research

Numerous businesses are thinking about entering the energy services market because of the enormous potential it will have in the next years as smart cities and electric vehicles expand.

Dallas, Texas, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global energy as a service market is anticipated to expand as a result of an increasing emphasis on renewable and non-renewable energy sources, which mostly promote renewable energy because of its lower costs, smaller carbon footprint, environmental friendliness, and increased energy efficiency. Due to increased government spending on promoting renewable energy sources, the market is anticipated to grow throughout the forecast period. Reduced costs of renewable power generating and storing technologies, increased usage of distributed energy resources (DER), tax incentives for energy efficiency projects, new revenue streams for utilities, and other factors are all contributing to the expansion. In addition to price volatility and increased energy use, the market is impacted by the expanding potential of renewable energy. The global energy as a service market size was estimated at USD 63.4 billion in 2021 and is expected to hit around USD 139.87 billion by 2030, poised to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.87% from 2022 to 2030.

For Right Perspective and Competitive Insights, Get Sample Report @ https://www.adroitmarketresearch.com/contacts/request-sample/1378

A positive effect on growth is anticipated as businesses have gradually started to look for renewable energy sources. Lack of this competence among technicians or electricians is another element that could function as a barrier in the development of the global energy as a service market throughout the assessment period because putting up smart grid systems requires a person with specialized knowledge and experience.

Report coverage & details:

Base Year 2022 Historical Data 2020-2021 Market Size in 2030 USD 139.87 billion CAGR CAGR of 9.87% during 2022-2030 Segment Covered by Services, By End User, Regions Regions Covered North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, South America Key Players Profiled Engie, Johnson Controls, Edison Energy, Orsted, Siemens AG, General Electric (GE), Honeywell Inc., Schneider Electric, Bernhard Energy Solutions, EDF Renewable Energy

Energy as a Service (EAAS) is a newly developed idea that involves managing various energy portfolios, energy supply, energy use, programme management, asset management, and other related activities. It is now in its infancy in developing nations. The energy as a service industry has the potential to grow to encompass a large user base and to propel and power its adoption in every industry. The majority of energy and service providers are working with outside vendors and possible competitors in an effort to get additional customers. To increase the rate of EAAS adoption, governments in many developed and developing nations are creating and enforcing regulatory laws.

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According to service type, it is anticipated that the energy supply services category will hold the largest share of the market. In light of the rising cost of energy, consumers are searching for a reliable energy source that would enable them to operate independently of the grid. Renewable energy is primarily supported by the energy as a service model since it decreases energy costs, minimizes carbon emissions, guarantees high energy efficiency, and is environmentally beneficial.

The EaaS market in North America was anticipated to account for the largest share over the forecasted period. The region's consumers want to buy reliable, affordable, and clean energy. For a variety of items, from efficiency upgrades to their complete energy package, businesses are increasingly seeking to pay a fixed payment price. Due to the expanding trend in the power sector for energy as a service, private utility models have emerged. For instance, utilities permit clients to essentially create their own resource mix under a long-term energy services agreement while also guaranteeing no interruptions.

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Ameresco and Northwestern University agreed to a long-term energy as a service (EaaS) agreement in July 2022. With no upfront money needed, the alliance will assist the school in addressing its energy-related deferred maintenance issues and furthering its academic and sustainable goals.

Table of Contents:

1. Introduction

2. Research Methodology

3. Market Outlook

4. Competitive Landscape

5. by Services, 2022-2030 (USD Million)

 Optimization

 Efficiency Services

 Energy Supply Services

 Maintenance

 Support Services

6. by End User, 2022-2030 (USD Million)

 Commercial

 Industrial

7. Regional Overview, 2022-2030 (USD Million)

8. Company Profiles

9. Appendix

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About Us:

Adroit Market Research is an India-based business analytics and consulting company incorporated in 2018. Our target audience is a wide range of corporations, manufacturing companies, product/technology development institutions and industry associations that require understanding of a markets size, key trends, participants and future outlook of an industry. We intend to become our clients knowledge partner and provide them with valuable market insights to help create opportunities that increase their revenues. We follow a code Explore, Learn and Transform. At our core, we are curious people who love to identify and understand industry patterns, create an insightful study around our findings and churn out money-making roadmaps.

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Young freelancer business man working at home in home office Srdjanns74

A Dutch court ruled a Florida company owed a remote employee $73,000 for wrongful termination.

He was fired for refusing to turn his webcam on for an all-day training, court documents say.

The court said making an employee keep their webcam on all day was an intrusion of privacy.

A court ruled last month that a Florida company owed a remote worker $73,000 after it fired him for refusing to keep his webcam on.

The employee worked remotely from the Netherlands for Chetu, a US software company. The company told him on August 23 that he'd need to keep his webcam on all day for a virtual training program, the NL Times reported.

In response, the employee told Chetu he didn't "feel comfortable being monitored for 9 hours a day by a camera," according to court documents filed in the Netherlands, where the case was heard.

"This is an invasion of my privacy and makes me feel really uncomfortable," he told the company, according to the NL Times' translation of the Dutch court documents. "That's the reason why my camera isn't on."

The employee, who wasn't named in the suit, said the company could already monitor his activities on his laptop and that he was also sharing his screen.

Another employee at Chetu said the requirement for employees to keep their webcams on was "no different" from how an employee would be seen by everyone all day in a physical office, according to the court papers.

Three days later, on August 26, the employee was fired for "refusal to work" and "insubordination," the court documents say.

He took Chetu to court in the Netherlands, saying he wasn't given an "urgent reason" to "justify the immediate dismissal given" and that the company's demand that he keep his webcam on was a violation of his privacy rights.

In its ruling, the Dutch court sided with the employee, saying the firing was "not legally valid."

"The employer has not made it clear enough about the reasons for the dismissal," the court said. "Moreover, there has been no evidence of a refusal to work, nor has there been any reasonable instruction."

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Making an employee leave their camera on, the court added, is against the employee's right to respect for private life.

The court cited Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which says: "Strict conditions are attached to observing employees."

It further referred to a European Court of Human Rights' judgment in a 2017 case "that video surveillance of an employee in the workplace, be it covert or not, must be considered as a considerable intrusion into the employee's private life."

Chetu didn't immediately respond to a request for comment made by email and phone.

If the employee in the Netherlands were working in Florida or another place in the US, TechCrunch reported, his situation likely would have fallen under so-called right-to-work laws, which state that employees work "at will"  and generally can quit or be fired at any time, for almost any reason, likely including the refusal to keep a webcam running at all times.

But the Dutch court ruled that Chetu had to pay the former employee 50,000 euros, or about $48,500, in fair compensation, 2,700 euros in unpaid salary, 8,373.13 euros for wrongful termination, and his unpaid holiday allowance, according to court documents. It's not clear whether there is an appeal process for such a ruling.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Though already having some success with its Ioniq lineup, Hyundai has far bigger plans for its EV future  including taking a page from Tesla in terms of software updates. The automaker just unveiled a new roadmap, saying it'll invest $12.6 billion to transform its lineup across brands into "Software Defined Vehicles" (SDVs).

As part of that, it's developing new platforms and a new Connected Car Operating System (CCOS). It wants all its vehicles (both ICE and EV) to be over-the-air (OTA) capable by 2025, at which point it expects to have 20 million connected vehicles on the road.

The first leg in Hyundai's plans is two new EV platforms called eM and eS for Hyundai, Kia and Genesis vehicles based on its Integrated Modular Architecture (IMA) announced earlier this year. The eM platform will be used for consumer EVs in all segments, offering 50 percent more range on a charge than current models, according to Hyundai. It'll also support Level 3 and higher self-driving levels. Meanwhile, the eS platform is designed for logistics, deliveries and other business segments.

The idea is to have more more modularity and standardization for components like batteries and motors, helping streamline production and cut costs. Critically, it'll also let Hyundai use the same vehicle controller across brands and segments, making OTA software and "Feature on Demand" (FoD) upgrades possible.

Hyundai Motor Group 'Unlock the Software Age'

Another key part of the roadmap is the software platform. The group will use something Hyundai calls the Connected Car Operating System (ccOS), applied to all controllers and using "extremely high computing power." To achieve that, it's working with NVIDIA on loading an optimized version of ccOS onto NVIDIA DRIVE, its next-gen chipset for autonomous driving and other vehicle functions.

Speaking of that, it also plans to advance its autonomous driving tech. The ccOS operating system is a key part of that, processing all the data collected by cameras, radars and LiDARs mounted in vehicles. Hyundai hopes to use ccOS to commercialize Level 3 vehicles soon, and go to Level 4 and 5 "in due course."

This year, the Group will apply an advanced Highway Driving Pilot (HDP) on the Genesis G90, which is a Level 3 technology for autonomous driving based on the second-generation integrated controller," said Hyundai's autonomous driving head Woongjun Jang. "The Group is also developing its Remote Parking Pilot (RPP) for Level 3 autonomous driving."

To accomplish all that, Hyundai Group plans to invest 18 trillion won ($12.6 billion) by 2030, which will go toward building a Global Software Center and be ploughed into research. "This will pace the Group at the forefront of providing entirely new mobility solutions as society changes, transportation means evolve, and software defined vehicles become commonplace," according to the press release.
Indiana State Police

BATTLE GROUND, Ind.  A stand off with the Indiana State Police ensued shortly after 6 a.m. Tuesday when troopers went to the 6200 block of Pretty Prairie Road to investigate an allegation of battery, according to Indiana State Police.

The battery allegation stems from a fight Eldon Morehouse had with a woman who stopped by to visit with him at his house on Pretty Prairie Road about 7 p.m. Monday, according to the Tippecanoe County Sheriff's Office.

A deputy and a trooper met the woman at the intersection of Pretty Prairie and Tyler roads about 10:50 p.m. Monday. The woman reported Morehouse pulled a knife on her during a fight, and he shoved her, according the sheriff's report.

Morehouse would not let her leave his house, according to the sheriff's office report. The woman told police she was not injured, according to the sheriff's office report.

Morehouse left his house after the fight, taking the woman's cellphone with him, according to the sheriff's report.

The trooper and deputy tried to make contact with Morehouse at his residence shortly after receiving the report, but he wasn't there, according to the sheriff's office report.

Troopers returned around 6 a.m. Tuesday and attempted to speak with Morehouse at the rural Battle Ground house but could not find him, according to Indiana State Police.

While troopers were at the house, they heard a gunshot from a behind the barn. Troopers set up a perimeter and called for the Indiana State Police and Tippecanoe County Sheriff's Office SWAT teams.

Morehouse refused to surrender after hours of negotiations, according to reports, and eventually resulted in less-than-lethal techniques to force Morehouse to surrender. That was around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday.

While troopers took Morehouse to jail, officers searched his house and found a marijuana growing operations on the property and in the barn, according to police.

Police booked Morehouse, 59, of Battle Ground, into the Tippecanoe County Jail Tuesday afternoon on suspicion of dealing marijuana, possession of marijuana and cultivating marijuana.

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An online check of Tippecanoe County Jail records at 6:20 p.m. Tuesday indicates that Morehouse had been released from incarceration.

Morehouse has not been arrested on the allegations of battery, intimidation or confinement, according to jail records.

Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: ISP and sheriff's office respond to standoff on Pretty Prairie Road
Chicago, Illinois, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --



IV Solution & Ketamine Centers of Chicago is happy to announce their partnership with the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) with the goal of healing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). They are proud of this relationship because they are the first and online ketamine clinic in the Midwest and Illinois to have this partnership and they are able to offer ketamine IV treatments for veterans who are suffering from intractable PTSD, anxiety, depression, chronic pain, and more. IV Solution is definitely the most experienced and patient-friendly ketamine clinic in the area since they have more than five years of experience and have provided thousands of treatments.

Dr. Bal Nandra, M.D. from IV Solution & Ketamine Centers of Chicago says, Although we have treated many veterans successfully, it is an honor to be able to help so many more. We are also Better Business Bureau accredited with an A+ rating and are actively involved in clinical research. If you are a U.S. veteran suffering from PTSD, major depression, anxiety, or chronic pain and think ketamine may help you, we encourage you to contact your VA doctor and ask them for a referral to our clinic, IV Solution. Once we receive your referral, we will do an evaluation and phone consultation to determine if you are a good candidate for ketamine. From there, we'll request authorization for treatment from the VA, and once authorized, we will contact you for scheduling.

Chicago IV Solution logo

PTSD is a mental health condition that is triggered by a terrifying event that the patient has either witnessed or experienced. Symptoms of PTSD include nightmares, flashbacks, severe anxiety, including uncontrollable thoughts about the event. These symptoms may begin appearing about one month after the traumatic event. However, in some instances, the symptoms may only manifest years after the event. The issue is that these symptoms can cause difficult problems that affect the patients work and social relationships. These can also severely interrupt daily routines. These symptoms can be typically categorized as: intrusive memories, negative changes in thinking and mod, avoidance, and changes in emotional and physical reactions.

In a research article, ketamine is one of the potential treatments for PTSD. It works by blocking NMDA-glutamate receptors in the brain. Glutamate is one of the primary neurotransmitters in the brain and it has a significant impact on many areas of the nervous system. Too much activation of glutamate can result into depressive symptoms. That is why when ketamine blocks this neurotransmitter, it may help in relieving depression by restoring the balance in the glutamate neurotransmission pathway. In addition, ketamine has anti-inflammatory characteristics, which may help because depression has been found to be related to chronic inflammation. And ketamine also has the ability to stimulate the regrowth of certain neurological links. Researchers have found that prolonged exposure to trauma or stress can destroy certain neurons, which results into depression. Ketamine may help in the regeneration of neurons.

IV Solution & Ketamine Centers of Chicago was founded for the purpose of providing advanced and effective intravenous (IV) medical treatment for chronic pain, anxiety, fibromyalgia, PTSD, TRD, OCD, and other disorders. Dr. Bal Nandra, M.D., who founded IV Solution, received his training from the University of Chicago Hospitals Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care and has 20 years of experience in a clinical environment. He currently leads the team of health professionals in this IV ketamine clinic. His team of health professionals is made up of licensed therapists and technicians who cooperate with registered nurses who are both knowledgeable and experienced regarding ketamine infusion, mental health professionals and primary care physicians, who ensure that the best treatment and continuity of care are given to patients.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQjVkoqDjwk

Those who are interested in learning more about IV ketamine therapy as a potential treatment for PTSD and other related conditions and also in the latest news about this can check out the IV Solution & Ketamine Centers of Chicago website, call them on the telephone, or contact them through email. They are open from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm from Monday to Friday, and from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm on Saturdays.

###

For more information about IV Solution & Ketamine Centers of Chicago, contact the company here:



IV Solution & Ketamine Centers of Chicago

Bal Nandra, M.D.

(844) 948-6337

b.nandra@chicagoivsolution.com

712 N Dearborn St

Chicago, IL 60654

CONTACT: Bal Nandra, M.D.




Meta logo Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters

Meta executive Marne Levine discussed the changes underway amid the company's focus on the metaverse.

She said Meta employees have an "acceptance that things are going to change and evolve."

"If you're not comfortable with that, it's probably not the right place for you," she said.

Acceptance of change is vital to working at Meta, the company's chief business officer said.

At Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit on Tuesday, Meta chief business officer Marne Levine discussed the company's evolving focus toward the metaverse and its impact on Meta's workers.

"I think that the people at Meta - one thing that they understand is that they generally have this mindset which is that they sort of have this acceptance that things are going to change and evolve," she said.

Levine added, "if you're not comfortable with that, it's probably not the right place for you."

Meta is currently in a period of intense change.

The company rebranded from Facebook to Meta last year after CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the company's plan to invest billions of dollars into the metaverse  just before the a slowdown in the overall economy caused a challenging environment for many tech companies.

Meta is currently in a hiring freeze as it looks to cut costs amid a slowdown in advertising spending. Additionally, the company recently rescinded job offers to some contract employees and interns.

Levine compared the current environment at Meta to the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"Things were changing quickly during covid. People felt disconnected during covid and so trying to communicate with them regularly through the different tools... and bringing people together. The same is true here now," she said.

Levine said that Meta employees have had to become accustomed to adapting to change at the company.

"I try to help them along in that journey and understand where we are, where we're going, and how best that they can play a role in making that transformation," she said.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Middlefield Canadian Income PCC Net Asset Value

Middlefield Canadian Income PCC

Middlefield Canadian Income - GBP PC

(a protected cell company incorporated in Jersey with registration number 93546)

Legal Entity Identifier: 2138007ENW3JEJXC8658

Net Asset Value

As at the close of business on 11 October 2022 the estimated unaudited Net Asset Value per share was 131.66 pence (including accrued income).

Investments in the Company's portfolio have been valued on a closing price basis.

Enquiries:

JTC Fund Solutions (Jersey) Limited

01534 700 000




ANTIGONISH, NS, Oct. 12, 2022 /CNW/ - Hurricane Fiona has caused significant damage to agricultural properties, barns and storage infrastructure, as well as to grain and horticultural crops affecting communities in the Atlantic region. Today, the Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, travelled to Nova Scotia to meet with farmers and hear how the storm impacted farm operations, families and livelihoods.

Minister Bibeau toured affected areas of Antigonish and Pictou counties with Nova Scotia's Minister of Agriculture, the Honourable Greg Morrow. Ministers Bibeau and Morrow visited livestock farms, fruit and vegetable farms, and a maple syrup producer. They saw firsthand the widespread damage caused by the storm to Nova Scotia's agriculture sector, as well as the fallout from extended power failures that affected a number of farming operations.

During a townhall with the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture, Minister Bibeau and Minister Morrow spoke with local farmers and heard about the devastation many experienced. They also heard stories about the courage and resilience of Nova Scotians in the hours and days following, as they coped with property damage and long periods without power.

The governments of Canada and Nova Scotia continue to stand with farmers and communities who are feeling the impacts of Hurricane Fiona.

A suite of business risk management (BRM) programs is available to help producers facing the fallout from Hurricane Fiona. These programs help producers manage risks that threaten the viability of their farms, and provide protection against different types of income and production losses.

Producers are encouraged to apply for interim payments under AgriStability to help them cope with immediate financial challenges. The governments of Canada and Nova Scotia have agreed to increase the 2022 AgriStability interim benefit payment percentage from 50% to 75%, so producers can access a greater portion of their benefit early to meet their urgent needs. Nova Scotia is also opening up late participation in AgriStability to farmers who did not register in 2022, so they can take advantage of this important income support.

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Recovering from the widespread impacts of Hurricane Fiona will require a collective effort. The Government of Canada will continue work in partnership with provincial governments to respond to the needs of the agricultural sector impacted by the storm and support the long-term recovery of impacted regions.

Quotes

"Extreme weather events are a stark reminder that farmers and ranchers are among the hardest hit by climate change. These events are adding more stress and unpredictability to their businesses. Farm families in Nova Scotia and across the regions affected by Hurricane Fiona can rest assured that we will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them to help them get back on their feet as soon as possible."

- The Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food

"We are working hard to support Canadians across Atlantic Canada and Eastern Quebec who have been impacted by Hurricane Fiona, including our hard-working farmers, producers, and all those working in the agriculture industry. As communities recover from the impacts of the storm, the Government of Canada will continue to work in close collaboration with the Province of Nova Scotia to provide communities with the resources they need."

- The Honourable Bill Blair, President of the King's Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Emergency Preparedness

"I've been visiting local farmers since the day after the storm and have seen firsthand not only the damage to crops and infrastructure, but also the impact it has had on farmers and their families. That's why we have these programs  and that's why we're making them available to more producers and in new ways. It's going to take time to fully recover, but based on the strength and resilience I've seen from producers these last few weeks, despite the circumstances, I know our producers will recover  and we're here to help."

- The Honourable Greg Morrow, Nova Scotia's Minister of Agriculture

"Hurricane Fiona landed in our province during harvest season. Not only impacting crops, but also buildings and other important infrastructure. Farms across Nova Scotia were significantly impacted and will be dealing with these impacts for quite some time. We appreciate Minister Bibeau and Minister Morrow taking the time to visit and connect with our members."

- Tim Marsh, President of Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture

Quick facts

Following Hurricane Fiona's landfall on Sept 23-24, the federal government approved requests for federal assistance from the governments of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador.

The federal government, through the Government Operations Centre, is working with provincial partners to coordinate the federal response and ensure that the provinces have the resources they need to support the people of Atlantic Canada and Eastern Quebec.

In response to these requests, the government continues to support provinces with their immediate needs. Since the storm, up to 850 Canadian Armed Forces members have been deployed to remove debris and assist in the restoration of transportation links and the power grid, as well as to perform wellness checks in affected communities.

On September 25, 2022, the Government of Canada announced a donation-matching program with the Canadian Red Cross to support those impacted by the storm. The government will continue to match donations Canadians and corporations make for the next 30 days from September 25, with the possibility of extension.

Residents who have been impacted by Hurricane Fiona should register with the Canadian Red Cross by calling 1-800-863-6582 or online at www.redcross.ca/hurricanefiona.

Canadians wishing to make a financial donation to help those impacted by Hurricane Fiona can do so online at redcross.ca, by calling 1-800-418-1111, or by texting FIONA to 20222 to make a $10 donation.

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Web: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

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Cision

View original content: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/October2022/12/c2286.html
By Valentina Za, Giuseppe Fonte and Pamela Barbaglia

MILAN (Reuters) -Monte dei Paschi di Siena's talks with banks set to guarantee its latest share sale will stretch into Wednesday as the underwriters seek reassurances about how much stock they could be left holding, four people with knowledge of the matter said.

MPS had scheduled a board meeting on Tuesday to set the terms of an up to 2.5 billion euros ($2.4 billion) share issue, the Tuscan bank's seventh in 14 years after an 8.2 billion euro bailout in 2017.

However, the board had to adjourn its meeting because the group of eight lenders that took a preliminary commitment to mop up unsold shares is not ready to sign the underwriting contract, the sources said.

The signing won't happen before Wednesday, the sources said speaking on condition of anonymity because discussions are private. One person added it could take until Thursday morning.

That would leave MPS very little time to get the share offer's prospectus approved by domestic market regulator Consob in time for a scheduled debut on Monday.

MPS needs yet more cash to lay off 3,500 staff through costly early retirements by the end of the year and also to offset a potential capital shortfall of up to 500 million euros that could materialise in the first half of 2023.

Two of the sources said time was needed to go through all the documents that needed signing while a broad agreement had already been reached.

However, another person close to the transaction said that the banks would only sign once they had "full visibility" on the deal's chances of success and that "some money was still missing."

Rocky markets and the size of the cash call, equivalent to more than 10 times MPS' current market value, have complicated talks over the share sale.

The banks have long seen it as too risky to bring to the market without a pre-committed core of investors.

The new shares will value MPS above healthier peers, exposing underwriters to likely losses on any shares left on their books, bankers and analysts say.

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Further irking lenders, MPS Chief Executive Luigi Lovaglio has stalled on an offer by asset manager Anima Holding to buy into the issue as part of a new commercial agreement with the Siena-based bank.

Underwriters can walk away thanks to a clause subjecting the final contract to positive investor feedback.

Lovaglio can at least count on the backing of France's AXA, MPS' partner in an insurance joint-venture, which sources say has offered to put in at least 100 million euros.

On Tuesday, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters that MPS had secured some 30 million euros ($29 million) from local not-for-profit banking foundations in its home region.

Lovaglio has also appealed to holders of MPS' junior debt such as U.S. fund Pimco, after the price of such bonds fell to half the nominal value due to concerns they could be converted into equity.

Like other shareholders, Italy will see the value of its stake wiped out in the new issue, entailing a 5.4 billion euro loss for taxpayers.

Based on its 64% stake in the lender, Rome can pump up to another 1.6 billion euros into MPS to cover the new issue, but the rest must come from private hands due to European Union rules on state aid to lenders.

($1 = 1.0302 euros)

(Reporting by Valentina Za in Milan and Giuseppe Fonte in Rome; Editing by Alexander Smith, David Evans and Richard Pullin)
Decent Work & Health Network

Health for All Network releases open letter in support of full and permanent immigration status for all migrants

OTTAWA, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In a detailed open letter, signed onto by the Decent Work and Health Network and released by Health for All Network, nearly a thousand health workers across Canada are prescribing permanent resident status for all to save lives. The letter comes a few days before the ten-month mark since Prime Minister Trudeau promised to create a regularization plan that would provide permanent residence to undocumented and temporary immigrants.



Ontario family physician, Dr. Vanessa Redditt, one of signatories says, Without secure immigration status, many migrants are denied basic rights and essential services, with extremely damaging impacts on their health and well-being. We need to see immediate action from the federal government to fulfill their promise to ensure permanent residency for the 1.7 million migrants living and working in Canada with precarious, temporary, or no immigration status.

The letter, also signed by organizations including Canadian Doctors for Medicare, Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, National Union of Public and General Employees as well as the Manitoba, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan and British Columbia Health Coalitions urges Prime Minister Trudeau to consider the negative health impacts of precarious immigration status and ensure that no one is left behind. Ensuring equal rights and access for all migrants is critical for closing systemic gaps in health inequities.

Yasmin Beydoun, a speech-language pathologist in Toronto, shares, I have had patients with significant swallowing impairments leave the hospital without community follow-up because they had no status and therefore no health coverage. This is a huge health risk, if they cant safely eat and drink, they are at a higher risk for choking, lung infections, and even malnutrition. These patients do not get the same access to care as citizens. Saving lives means ensuring permanent residency for all migrants, including undocumented people.

Story continues

Not only are migrants patients of health providers, they are healthcare workers themselves. Akinwumi Yemi is undocumented immigrant from Nigeria and member of Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, who has been working in the long-term care department of a public hospital near Kahnawake since 2018. He says, I have been committed and dedicated since the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus, taking care of the elderly in Canada and putting the lives of my own family and loved ones at risk. I have no access to good and quality medical care and other opportunities because I am an undocumented immigrant. All we are asking for is equal rights and permanent residence for all without exception.

The letter explains, while all levels of government have responsibilities for the health, safety, and security of migrants, the federal governments role in determining immigration status is critical, including through accords it has with individual provinces. In addition to calling for immigration changes, letter signatories are also calling on provinces to provide healthcare for all regardless of immigration status.



A recent review of existing research in Canada confirmed that immigration status is a foundational determinant of health for people without status in Canada. Dr. Monika Dutt, a public health physician in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland & Labrador says, "Health providers are asking Prime Minister Trudeau to fix a historic wrong by delivering a comprehensive and inclusive regularization program.

On October 16, 2022, health workers across Canada will join the Migrant Rights Network at actions at Cabinet Minister constituency offices demanding full and permanent immigration status for all immediately.

Our patients cannot afford any more delays. Prime Minister Trudeau needs to move fast and ensure full and permanent immigration status for all migrants, adds Dr. Dutt

Background:

Research backgrounder prepared by Health for All Network: CLICK HERE

Comprehensive and inclusive regularization plan proposed by Migrant Rights Network: https://migrantrights.ca/resources/regularization-in-canada/

Available for interviews:

Ontario: Dr. Vanessa Redditt, family physician

British Columbia: Dr. Mei-ling Wiedmeyer, family physician; Nesa Hamidi Tousi, nurse practitioner

Quebec: Dr. Arnold Aberman, general practitioner, Quebec

Nova Scotia: Dr. Monika Dutt, family physician and public health specialist

To arrange interviews, contact:

Sarah Shahid

sarah@decentworkandhealth.org | 514-415-4666

About:

The Decent Work and Health Network is a coalition of health providers advocating for improving working conditions to help protect and promote the health of our patients. We are a group of doctors, nurses, health workers, and experts who have been leading voices for paid sick days as an urgent, evidence-based public health measure.

Health for All Network consists of members of the health community across Canada who support full and permanent immigration status as a way to improve individual and community health.




By Trend

Two years have passed since the systematic terrorist attacks of Armenia on the population of Azerbaijans Ganja, Trend reports.

In October 2020, the city of Ganja was bombed five times by the Armenian armed forces:

- The first missile attack took place on October 4, killing one and injuring more than 30 civilians;

- The second missile attack took place on October 5, injuring three civilians;

- The third missile attack took place on October 8, with no civilian casualties;

- The fourth missile attack was committed on October 11, 10 civilians were killed and more than 40 were injured;

- The fifth missile attack was carried out on October 17, killing 16 and injuring 55 civilians.

During the attacks on the civilian population, the infrastructure of the city, residential buildings, and cars were seriously damaged.

Armenia, which was losing on the battlefield [during the second Karabakh war], attacked Ganja, as well as Barda, Yevlakh, Beylagan, Tartar, Gabala, Goranboy, Aghjabadi and Khizi using ballistic missiles and other heavy artillery.

As a result of these attacks, 93 civilians, including 12 children and 27 women. Besides, 454 people, including 35 children, received injuries of varying severity, 181 children lost one of their parents, and five lost both parents.

In total, 12,292 residential and non-residential premises and 288 vehicles were damaged.

During the second Karabakh war, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev spoke on the terrorist attacks by Armenia on Ganja in an interview with the Turkish Haber Turk TV channel.

"This dirty policy of Armenia is understandable because they resort to such heinous actions whenever they are defeated on the battlefield. The display of cruelty towards civilians and unarmed population is a common thing for them. The Azerbaijani people saw this with the Khojaly genocide," the president said in the interview.

As the head of state noted, this is another terrorist act of Armenia, but it cannot break the will of the Azerbaijani people.

"We will fight the enemy with even greater determination, we will liberate our lands with even greater zeal, will, and we will raise the flag of Azerbaijan on all the occupied lands," Ilham Aliyev also said.

Armenian terror continuing in the 21-st century, and silence of international organizations

Although the relevant structures of Azerbaijan appeal to international organizations with the facts of terrorist attacks by Armenia on Ganja and other cities, these organizations prefer to remain silent, not putting pressure on the country and not applying sanctions against it. They know that the atmosphere of impunity created for Armenia encourages it to commit new crimes against Azerbaijan, but they remain silent.

If international institutions are silent about a terrorist attack recorded by a video camera, the fact of which doesnt need to be investigated, then what kind of justice can be spoken about? Is it their job to simply call the parties to peace?

How can peace come if no pressure is put on the aggressor, and its not punished for its crimes? It can be said with confidence that if a survey is conducted in Azerbaijan today regarding the activities of international organizations in this context, then most of the citizens will assess their activities as zero, and their statements - a routine.

The reason is that these structures in most cases pursue a policy of double standards. Some of the leading states which are members of these organizations as if want to apply the capital punishment to those who deny the so-called Armenian genocide, but the truth is that the so-called Armenian genocide is just a claim, and Armenia's missile attacks on Ganja, a mass grave detected a few days ago in the liberated Edilli village of the Khojavand district are facts recorded on video.

There are thousands of facts about the brutal murder of Azerbaijani civilians by Armenia. The country committed genocide of Azerbaijanis in Khojaly, Bashlibel, Garadaghly, and all this was proven by facts, photo and video evidences.

Why do some international organizations making one statement after another in connection with the events in Ukraine, and creating various commissions, keep silence when the subject of discussion is the life of an Azerbaijani citizen? If the organizations that are trying to put pressure on Azerbaijan because of the fake video made by Armenia arent biased, there should be an international commission on the Ganja terror and the mass grave revealed in the village of Edilli.

Members of this commission can come to the region and get acquainted with the facts, see the destroyed buildings in Ganja, talk to the families of the killed citizens, and also see the remains of Azerbaijani citizens killed by Armenian armed forces under torture in Edilli village. If this commission studies the facts, then the criminals who committed the massacres of Azerbaijanis can be brought before an international tribunal as soon as possible.

The relevant authorities of Azerbaijan have all official documents, video and photo evidences of the crimes of the Armenian side. International organizations should give a legal assessment to these crimes and punish the war criminals.
Net Purpose

NET PURPOSE

NET PURPOSE RAISES 10M SERIES A TO MOBILISE BILLIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE INVESTING

Net Purpose, the first independent fact-base for sustainable investors, has raised 10M in Series A funding





Environmental Technologies Fund (ETF Partners), a leading climate tech investor, leads the round alongside M-Tech capital and Exceptional Ventures





The investment will unlock the next stage of growth for the sustainable investment platform and increase its breadth of clients.



LONDON, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Net Purpose, a platform for sustainable investors, announces it has raised 10 million in a Series A round led by ETF Partners, following a year of record growth.

The round marks a shift in sustainable investing away from ESG Ratings and towards a high-quality fact-base of social and environmental performance. Net Purpose has built the only independent fact-base in the market, and today powers close to $50 billion in sustainable funds.

The Series A Round will be used to expand its product and team, and launch new features to arm all investors with a complete overview of their sustainability by 2025.

New investors M-Tech Capital and Exceptional Ventures joined the round, and existing investors Jim ONeill, former Chair of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Kevin Gould, Co-Founder IHS Markit, the Louis Family, Illuminate Financial, and Revent increased their commitment to Net Purpose and to powering sustainable decisions on enormous scale.

A data-driven model for sustainable investing

The shift towards sustainable investing represents the largest transformation of capitalism the world has ever seen. According to the UN Principles for Responsible Investment, $120 trillion is committed to invest sustainably, with allocations growing at 22% year on year.

But it is still extremely challenging for investors to measure the performance of their portfolio against climate and other sustainable goals. This is in stark contrast to the wealth of financial data that investors can draw upon to optimise financial return, the market for which is currently valued at $33 billion. Today, investors rely on a combination of reported and estimated data and ESG ratings, which often measure financial risk, not social and environmental return.

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Net Purpose has built an investment-grade fact-base of social and environmental performance, with the quality and transparency investors expect of financial data. The company provides data across a range of sustainability themes, including climate, water, waste, gender, financial inclusion, healthcare, and other social themes, and covers companies and all major investment indices. The platform is powered by a combination of AI and human intelligence, which has helped Net Purpose to achieve the highest quality data in the market, and mobilise a crowd of next-generation analysts to ensure the platform evolves and aligns with sustainability standards.

Net Purpose is on a mission to make impact measurement effortless for all investors. Having seen significant traction with some of the worlds most sophisticated investors since its launch in 2019, the company is now working to help investors mobilise billions more for sustainable investing. Net Purpose was named Runner Up, ESG Data Provider of the Year in 2022 after just two years, placing above MSCI, Preqin, Factset and Moodys.

Sam Duncan, Net Purpose Founder and CEO, said In the race to achieve climate and other sustainable goals, the sophistication of sustainable and impact investing is rapidly advancing. Investors are demanding the facts on the social and environmental performance of their funds, just like they do financial return. We are proud to arm investors with trusted and transparent data, and we are honoured to power the most sophisticated investors in the world.

Tomer Strikovsky, Partner at ETF Partners, said: We are great believers in the power of data to drive meaningful change. By utilising the Net Purpose datasets, investors can now drive the shift in capital allocation into impact and climate-friendly assets. Net Purpose has established the highest quality dataset in the market, and is a pioneer in new and increasingly urgent themes. We are looking forward to the road ahead.

Lord Jim ONeill, Net Purpose investor and former Chair of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, said: Capitalism is changing on a global scale. Profit with purpose investing is the new way forward, for companies, and for investors around the world. To make this moment matter, we must have a way to quantify purpose, and we must establish a global source of facts that investors can trust and understand.

Ashby Monk, Net Purpose Board Member and Executive Director of the Stanford Research Initiative on Long Term Investing, said: All investors need real data on the outcomes of their investment portfolios to make sound long-term investment decisions. Net Purpose is filling a critical gap in this market, and we're incredibly excited for this next phase.

Notes to Editors

For further details, please contact netpurpose@wearesevenhills.com .

About Net Purpose

Founded in 2019, Net Purpose is a platform for sustainable investors. Net Purpose streams facts on the social and environmental performance of companies and investment portfolios to power close to $50 billion in sustainable funds. The Net Purpose team leverages decades of experience in impact, financial data and tech, and is led by Samantha Duncan, Co-Founder & CEO and former Head of Impact at Leapfrog Investments; Dave Wilson, COO and former COO Financial Services at IHS Markit; and Alex Woodham, CTO and former VP Engineering at Constellation AI.

About ETF Partners

Founded in 2006, ETF Partners supports talented entrepreneurs and management teams with investment capital and experience. Our funds come from institutional investors, global corporations, and family offices. We create value by investing in technology companies that make a difference. We call it Sustainability through Innovation.

For more information, visit https://etfpartners.capital/

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3e1176d7-82e2-43c7-87f0-def08d1c6613




It was a week when oil prices reclaimed the $90 mark but natural gas futures continued to trend downward.



On the news front, Europes largest oil company Shell plc SHEL and upstream biggie APA Corporation APA issued updates on their upcoming Q3 earnings. Developments associated with Chevron CVX, Tullow Oil TUWOY and Northern Oil & Gas NOG also made it to the headlines.



Overall, it was another mixed seven-day period for the sector. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures jumped some 16.5% to close at $92.64 per barrel but natural gas prices decreased a marginal 0.3% to end at $6.748 per million British thermal units (MMBtu). In particular, the oil market continued its robust recovery from last week.



Coming back to the week ended Oct 7, U.S. oil prices recorded a big climb after the OPEC and its allies, including Russia  collectively referred to as OPEC+  agreed to trim crude output by two million barrels per day (bpd) from November, the most since the groups historic 9.7 million bpd cut in early 2020 when the pandemic broke out



On the other hand, natural gas finished down slightly, primarily due to mild weather, a bearish inventory report and a spurt in production.

Recap of the Weeks Most Important Stories

1. Shell said its third-quarter profits will bear the brunt of extreme volatility and tumbling refining margins. While extreme market volatility meant that the Integrated Gas division will deliver a lower contribution to earnings, the moderation of refining margins from their spectacular levels earlier in the year affected the Chemicals & Products unit.



According to the latest update, Shells LNG liquefaction volumes are expected in the range of 6.9-7.5 million tons, implying a deterioration of around 2.6% year over year and 6% sequentially. Shells integrated gas production is expected to decrease to the range of 890,000-940,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOE/d) or 915,000 BOE/d at the midpoint. It was 938,000 BOE/d in the third quarter of 2021 and 944,000 BOE/d in the June quarter. Per this Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) company, third-quarter trading and optimization results in its integrated gas unit will be significantly lower compared to the second quarter 2022 due to seasonality and market volatility.



You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.



The company fears that a drop in refining profitability is expected to bring down adjusted EBITDA from their second-quarter levels. As projected by Shell, the refining margin should considerably weaken in the third quarter, with the metric plunging 46% sequentially. The decrease would hurt product earnings by $1.2 billion at the midpoint of SHELs estimates. Similarly, negative margins in Shells chemicals-refining operations could take away $300 million to $600 million from third-quarter earnings, the company said. (All You Need to Know About Shell's Q3 Earnings Update)



2. APA recently announced supplemental information concerning third-quarter 2022 financial and operational results. This Houston, TX-based independent energy firm stated that it now anticipates third-quarter U.S. production to be 212 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day (Mboe/d), exceeding the high end of its earlier outlook.



However, APA mentioned that third-quarter international volumes of 171 Mboe/d lagged the lower end of the previous guidance. The shortfall could be attributed to poor North Sea production, which was 8 Mboe/d lower than the guidance due to substantial unplanned downtime in August and September.



APA also provided an estimate of average realized prices for the quarter, with U.S. prices projected at $94/barrel for oil, $33/barrel for natural gas liquids and $6.80 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf) for natural gas. Meanwhile, the international average realized prices are $100/barrel for oil, $66/barrel for NGL and $4.10/Mcf for gas. (APA Updates Q3 2022 Guidance, Expects Greater U.S. Production)



3. U.S. energy supermajor Chevron and environment-friendly fuel company California Bioenergy LLC recently declared a joint investment in their second holding company to produce and market dairy biomethane as renewable natural gas (RNG) transportation fuel in California.



The holding company  CalBioGas Hilmar LLC  obtained the initial funding from CVX to construct the necessary infrastructure required for dairy biomethane projects in Californias Merced County at the time of signing.



California Bioenergy brings technology and operational experience to help dairy farmers build digesters and methane capture projects to convert the methane obtained from manure storage on dairy farms to RNG for usage. Meanwhile, Chevron will be responsible for the additional funding for seven digesters and one central upgrading facility across a cluster of dairy farms in Merced County. (Chevron, California Bioenergy to Produce Biomethane Fuel)



4 British oil and gas exploration and development company  Capricorn Energy  has abandoned its merger plans with Africa-focused Tullow Oil in favor of a deal with Israeli natural gas group, NewMed Energy.



The all-stock deal between Capricorn and NewMed will lead to the creation of an Israel-Egypt-focused gas producer. This will include NewMed's interest in Israel's giant Leviathan offshore field at a time when Europe is hustling for non-Russian energy supplies. Per the deal, NewMed shareholders will get 2.337344 new Capricorn shares for each of their existing units. Capricorn shareholders will hold about 10.3% of the combined entity with NewMed stockholders, along with the partnerships current general partner owning the remaining interest.



This announcement comes weeks after Tullow stated that it was fully committed to the earlier declared all-stock deal with Capricorn. The deal would have led to the formation of a 1.4 billion Africa-focused energy company despite Capricorn looking for alternatives following shareholders opposition to its merger with Tullow. (TUWOY's Merger Plans Ditched by Capricorn for Israel's NewMed)



5 Northern Oil & Gas recently declared that it has signed an acquisition agreement to take over certain oil and gas assets in the Northern Delaware Basin in the United States from privately owned Alpha Energy Partners. The initial consideration, which is worth around $157.5 million in cash, is subject to closing adjustments.



The properties are mainly situated in the Lea and Eddy counties in New Mexico and Loving County, TX. These include about 2,800 acres, 9.6 net producing wells, 2.8 net AFEs and wells in process and approximately 21.2 net undeveloped locations. These assets are primarily operated by Mewbourne Oil. Meanwhile, other operators include the likes of Conoco and EOG.



The independent upstream operator expects production between 3,000 and 3,500 barrels of oil equivalent (Boe) per day in 2023 from the acquired assets. Moreover, due to robust growth and a strong free cash flow profile, with $32 million average annual capital spending projected on the assets over the next three years, the assets will deliver an output of more than 4,000 Boe per day in 2024 and 2025. (Northern to Acquire Northern Delaware Assets for $157.5M)

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Price Performance

The following table shows the price movement of some major oil and gas players over the past week and during the last six months.



Company Last Week Last 6 Months

XOM +15.7% +13.8%

CVX +11.4% -7.5%

COP +15.8% +13.3%

OXY +13.6% +6.2%

SLB +18.6% -0.1%

RIG +25.1% -30.6%

VLO +6.5% +7.4%

MPC +7.6% +22.1%



With oil gaining handsomely for the week, stocks exploded higher. The Energy Select Sector SPDR  a popular way to track energy companies  surged 13.6% last week. Over the past six months, the sector tracker has edged up 0.7%.

Whats Next in the Energy World?

Following last weeks mixed fortunes for oil and gas, market participants will closely track the regular releases to look for further guidance on the direction of prices. In this context, the U.S. governments statistics on oil and natural gas  one of the few solid indicators that come out regularly  will be on energy traders' radar.



Data on rig count from the oilfield service firm Baker Hughes, which is a pointer to the trends in U.S. crude/natural gas production, is closely followed too. News related to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine geopolitical conflict and the potential demand loss from the intermittent coronavirus lockdowns in China will be the other factors that will dictate the near-term price movement of the commodities. Finally, the closely watched monthly reports from three key agencies (EIA, OPEC and the IEA) complete the releases this week.



Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report



Chevron Corporation (CVX) : Free Stock Analysis Report



APA Corporation (APA) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Tullow Oil PLC (TUWOY) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. (NOG) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Shell PLC Unsponsored ADR (SHEL) : Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment Research
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / October 12, 2022 / Park Lawn Corporation (TSX:PLC, PLC.U) ("Park Lawn" or "PLC") is pleased to announce that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire substantially all of the assets of Muehlebach Funeral Care in Kansas City, Missouri, Skradski-Pierce Funeral Home in Kansas City, Kansas and Assurance Cremation Society in Kansas City, Missouri (collectively "Muehlebach"). The Muehlebach acquisition expands Park Lawn's footprint in the Kansas City metropolitan market through the addition of three stand-alone funeral homes. The Muehlebach acquisition is anticipated to close in November 2022 following the receipt of regulatory approval.

"We are pleased to strengthen our operating position in the Kansas City market through the strategic acquisition of the Muehlebach businesses," said J. Bradley Green, Chief Executive Officer of PLC. Mr. Green continued, "These complementary businesses and their teams closely align with Park Lawn's core values and will provide operational synergies for our existing businesses in the area. We are honored to welcome them into the Park Lawn family."

Highlights of the transactions include:

The addition of three (3) stand-alone funeral homes.

The transaction represents 627 calls per year and is expected to be financed with funds from PLC's credit facility and available cash on hand.

Following the closing and integration of the transaction, the Muehlebach acquisition is expected to add approximately US$616,000 in Adjusted EBITDA annually.[1]

For the 12 months ended December 31, 2021, PLC had Adjusted EBITDA of US$76,284,577 and net earnings of US$27,812,866.

The agreed upon purchase price multiple for the transaction is within PLC's publicly-stated targeted Adjusted EBITDA multiple range for its historical transactions.

About Park Lawn Corporation:

PLC provides goods and services associated with the disposition and memorialization of human remains. Products and services are sold on a pre-planned basis (pre-need) or at the time of a death (at-need). PLC and its subsidiaries own and operate businesses including cemeteries, crematoria, funeral homes, chapels, planning offices and a transfer service. PLC operates in three Canadian provinces and seventeen U.S. states.

Story continues

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains forward-looking information (within the meaning of applicable securities laws) relating to the business of PLC and the environment in which it operates. Forward-looking statements in this news release are identified by words such as "believe", "anticipate", "project", "expect", "intend", "plan", "will", "may", "estimate", "pro-forma" and other similar expressions. These statements are based on PLC's expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections and include, without limitation, statements regarding PLC's expectation that the Muehlebach acquisition will add approximately US$616,000 in Adjusted EBITDA; the acquisition will provide operational synergies for existing businesses in the market and the expected time of closing of the acquisition. The forward-looking statements in this news release are based on certain assumptions, including that PLC is able to obtain regulatory approval or satisfy regulatory requirements for the acquisition, the acquisition closes in the anticipated time frame, the acquisition will perform as expected following closing, PLC will be able to implement business improvements and achieve cost savings, PLC will be able to retain key personnel, there will be no unexpected expenses occurring as a result of the acquisition, the purchase price multiples for future acquisitions remain at or below levels paid by PLC for previously announced acquisitions, the acquisition and financing markets remain accessible, capital can be obtained at reasonable costs and PLC's current business lines operate and obtain synergies as expected, as well as those regarding present and future business strategies, organic growth initiatives, the environment in which PLC will operate in the future, expected revenues, expansion plans and PLC's ability to achieve its goals. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to control or predict. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the factors discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in PLC's most recent Annual Information Form and Management's Discussion and Analysis available at www.sedar.com. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate as actual outcomes and results may differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements. Readers, therefore, should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. Further, these forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release and, except as expressly required by applicable law, PLC assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

NonIFRS Measures

Adjusted Net Earnings is not a measure recognized under IFRS and does not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS. Such measure is presented in this news release because management of PLC believes that such measure is relevant in evaluating PLC's proposed acquisition of Muehlebach. Such measure, as computed by PLC, may differ from similar computations as reported by other similar organizations and, accordingly, may not be comparable to similar measures reported by such other organizations. Please refer to pages 8 and 19 of PLC's Management's Discussion and Analysis for the year ending December 31, 2021, which was filed on SEDAR on March 3, 2022, for how PLC reconciles Adjusted EBITDA to the nearest IFRS measure.

Contact Information

Daniel Millett

Chief Financial Officer

(416) 231-1462, ext. 221

[1] Adjusted EBITDA is a non-IFRS financial measure. Refer to the Non-IFRS Financial Measures section of this news release for more information on this non-IFRS financial measure.

SOURCE: Park Lawn Corporation





View source version on accesswire.com:

https://www.accesswire.com/719874/Park-Lawn-Deepens-its-Presence-in-Kansas-City




ADCelerate delivers Phase I appropriate antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) drug substance and drug product for Investigational New Drug (IND) submission

Accelerates timelines, enabling faster delivery to patients in the clinic

From project initiation to GMP drug product in as few as 12 months

MUMBAI, India, Oct. 12, 2022 /CNW/ -- Piramal Pharma Solutions, a market-leading, patient-centric Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO), announced the launch of ADCelerate, a new, branded solution for antibody-drug conjugate drug development that accelerates timelines for developing the initial clinical supply of both drug substance and drug product.

ADCelerate Logo

With ADCelerate, Piramal Pharma Solutions (PPS) delivers fully developed manufacturing processes for antibody-drug conjugate drug substance and lyophilized drug product, all within as few as twelve months. The program includes qualified, Phase I appropriate analytical methods to support batch release and stability studies for both drug substance and drug product, as well as initial stability data on drug substance (six months) and drug product (one month).

Peter DeYoung, Chief Executive Officer, Piramal Pharma Solutions

Peter DeYoung, Chief Executive Officer, Piramal Pharma Solutions said, "As a CDMO serving the biopharma industry, we recognize that speed matters. Getting our clients into the clinic as quickly as possible without compromising quality supports our ethos of patient centricity. ADCelerate is a strong example of this principle brought to life. By leveraging our capabilities and expertise in ADCs and sterile fill/finish, we are able to shorten timelines while maintaining the highest standards of quality."

The accelerated timelines that ADCelerate delivers are made possible by PPS's vast experience in antibody-drug conjugate problem solving, as well as the company's expertise in manufacturing lyophilized drug product. While based on a standard process, all ADCelerate programs are customized to the scope of each client's project.

Story continues

To learn more about ADCelerate, reach out to our antibody-drug conjugation experts directly at businessoperations.grangemouth@piramal.com.

About Piramal Pharma Solutions:

Piramal Pharma Solutions (PPS) is a Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) offering end-to-end development and manufacturing solutions across the drug life cycle. We serve our customers through a globally integrated network of facilities in North America, Europe, and Asia. This enables us to offer a comprehensive range of services including drug discovery solutions, process & pharmaceutical development services, clinical trial supplies, commercial supply of APIs, and finished dosage forms. We also offer specialized services such as the development and manufacture of highly potent APIs, antibody-drug conjugations, sterile fill/finish, peptide products & services, and potent solid oral drug product. PPS also offers development and manufacturing services for biologics including vaccines, gene therapies, and monoclonal antibodies, made possible through Piramal Pharma Limited's investment in Yapan Bio Private Limited. Our track record as a trusted service provider with experience across varied technologies makes us a partner of choice for innovator and generic companies worldwide.

For more information please visit: www.piramalpharmasolutions.com | Twitter | LinkedIn

About Piramal Pharma Ltd.

Piramal Pharma Limited (PPL) offers a portfolio of differentiated products and services through end-to-end manufacturing capabilities across 15 global facilities and a global distribution network of over 100 countries. PPL includes: Piramal Pharma Solutions (PPS), an integrated Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization; Piramal Critical Care (PCC), a Complex Hospital Generics business, and the India Consumer Healthcare business, selling over-the counter products. PPS offers end-to-end development and manufacturing solutions through a globally integrated network of facilities across the drug life cycle to innovator and generic companies. PCC's complex hospital product portfolio includes inhalation anaesthetics, intrathecal therapies for spasticity and pain management, injectable pain and anaesthetics, injectable anti-infectives, and other therapies. The Indian Consumer Healthcare business is among the leading players in India in the self-care space, with established brands in the Indian consumer healthcare market. In addition, PPL has a joint venture with Allergan, a leader in ophthalmology in the Indian formulations market. In October 2020, the company received growth equity investment from the Carlyle Group.

For more information visit: www.piramal.com/pharma | Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn

For Media Queries: For Investors: Rajiv Banerjee | Corporate Communications Gagan Borana | Investor Relations and Sustainability rajiv.banerjee@piramal.com gagan.borana@piramal.com

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1919803/ADCelerate.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1919834/Piramal_Pharma_Solutions_CEO.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1726186/Piramal_Pharma_Solutions_Logo.jpg

(PRNewsfoto/Piramal Pharma Solutions)

Cision

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/piramal-pharma-solutions-launches-adcelerate-a-rapid-integrated-approach-to-taking-adcs-to-ind-301647787.html

SOURCE Piramal Pharma Solutions

Cision

View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/October2022/12/c0394.html
Puma Exploration Inc.

Lynx Gold Zone

Lynx Gold Zone

Stripping and trenching at Jaguar Gold Zones

Stripping and trenching at Jaguar Gold Zones

HQ core

HQ core

Figure 1: Highlights of summer work at the Williams Brook Gold Property

Highlights of summer work at the Williams Brook Gold Property

Figure 2: Mineral Potential Index (MPI) map of the Williams Brook property

Mineral Potential Index (MPI) map of the Williams Brook property

Figure 3: The Williams Brook Gold Project

The Williams Brook Gold Project

RIMOUSKI, Quebec, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Puma Exploration Inc. (TSXV: PUMA, OTCQB: PUMXF) (the "Company" or "Puma") is pleased to provide a summary of its Summer 2022 Exploration activities and outline its Fall Program at its 100 %-owned Williams Brook Gold Project in New Brunswick, Atlantic Canada.



Photos (from left to right): Lynx Gold Zone, Stripping and trenching at Jaguar Gold Zones, HQ core

In June, Pumas technical team continued its exploration work at the Lynx Gold Zone (LGZ) and initiated work on new prospective areas located elsewhere on the property. While finishing drilling, logging and core sampling of the 2022, 10,000 metres drilling program at Lynx, two exploration teams prospected, trenched and stripped several priority targets outlined by the compilation of various surveys and data gathered since 2020 (Figure 1). Once core sampling was completed, and samples were sent to the lab in August, a third exploration team was added to expedite the surface summer program.

HIGHLIGHTS OF SUMMER 2022 EXPLORATION ACTIVITIES AT WILLIAMS BROOK

The 10,000 metres of drilling at the Lynx Gold Zone were drilled, logged and sampled;

8 HQ-size holes (100 metres) were drilled at the Lynx Gold Zone for a preliminary metallurgical study;

45 trenches for a total of 7 linear km were completed along priority targets;

Two (2) new potential major gold zones, Cougar and Jaguar, were stripped;

3,075 soil samples were collected on new ground acquired at the beginning of 2022;

A drone magnetic survey covering 42 sq. km was flown over the newly acquired ground;

Mapping, prospecting and rock sampling were completed over large unexplored areas of the property, with more than 1,500 rock samples sent to the lab;

CARDS Windfall Geotek Artificial Intelligence (AI) targeting was completed over the entire property (40,000 ha).

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THE LYNX GOLD ZONE

The Lynx Gold Zone was confirmed as Pumas main area of focus. It is interpreted to be a mineralized felsic dome within a large gold system. The high-grade gold mineralization is characterized by finely disseminated gold in quartz (veins, veinlets, stockworks, breccias) at the contact between rhyolite and sediments. The contact allowed for the movement of gold-bearing fluids and is characterized by highly silicified iron oxide carbonates and intense sericite alteration.

Pumas 2022 drilling program identified three (3) gold enrichment zones at Lynx along the 750 m strike length stripped to date (see September 29, 2022, News Release). Additional stripping and pressure washing this summer uncovered new quartz veins that had never been sampled. This summer's structural analysis, mapping and sampling results will enable Puma to optimize its drilling targeting and maximize results.

Also, to better define the gold mineralization and grade at Lynx, eight (8) HQ (63.5 mm diameter) holes were drilled in and close to 3 high-grade gold quartz veins. Because gold occurs as flakes or is finely disseminated within the quartz veins, the larger core size provides a better representation of the mineralization. A metallurgical test will be conducted on the 100 metres of drilling combined with 100 kg of material sampled from each other veins (to be completed this fall). The results of the metallurgical study will be announced when received.

NEW TARGETS

Pumas systematic exploration method - prospecting, followed by stripping, trenching, sampling, and drilling led to the discovery of the Lynx Gold Zone in 2020. The objective of this summers exploration program was to apply this successful approach to define additional drilling targets close to the Lynx Gold Zone and in other parts of the property.

Forty-five (45) trenches were excavated outside of the currently defined 750 m Lynx Gold Zone to test priority targets identified by the in-house technical team and confirmed by artificial intelligence (AI) such as Mira Geosciences MPI (Mineral Potential Index) map (Figure 2) and Windfall Geoteks CARDS program.

The objective of the trenching was to trace the rhyolite and identify other potential targets for gold mineralization beyond the currently defined Lynx Gold Zone and along the 10 km extension of the ONeil Gold trend.



Similarly, Puma stripped large areas of the newly identified Cougar and Jaguar Gold Zones to verify historical gold results obtained by previous operators in 2008 and recognized by Mira and Windfall Geoteks analyses. The stripping exposed several quartz veins that were sampled and mapped in preparation for a follow-up drilling program.

Very little historical exploration was carried out to the property's northeast and southeast. In 2021, a grab sample collected by another operator returned 8.67 g/t gold. Puma collected more than 3,000 soil samples over large sections of the newly acquired and underexplored area to verify the area's gold potential. Also, Government maps indicate that rhyolite is present in the property's southeast, but no field work has ever been carried out there. To help identify the favourable rock type, a drone magnetic survey, instrumental to discovery, was flown over the newly acquired land package.

Marcel Robillard, President and CEO of Puma Exploration, stated, From the get-go, Pumas objective has been to define and characterize the Lynx Gold Zone and then apply our exploration model to the entire property. Weve confirmed this summer that the Williams Brook Gold Project has the potential for multiple gold-bearing zones throughout the large 40,000-ha land package. A large gold system is possible in New Brunswick. We have the team and know-how to systematically build a resource there, and our immediate focus will be building the gold inventory at Lynx.

ONGOING FALL 2022 EXPLORATION PROGRAM

Pumas surface exploration work at Williams Brook is ongoing and is expected to continue until snowfall in mid-December. The fall programs objectives are:

Extend the Lynx Gold Zone by stripping, cleaning, mapping and sampling;

Individually sample the high-grade gold veins at the Lynx Gold Zone for metallurgical testing;

Conduct a 3D structural analysis of the gold mineralization at the Lynx Gold Zone for drilling targeting;

Complete additional prospecting, detailed mapping and sampling of the new Ramsay sector, located SE of the ONeil Gold Trend (OGT);

Complete additional trenching and stripping at the Jaguar Gold Zone;

Define exploration targets identified by Mira Geoscience and Windfall Geotek with artificial intelligence;

Define drilling targets at the Cougar and Jaguar Gold Zones



In the next few weeks, Puma expects to receive results from its summer and ongoing fall exploration program, including initial metallurgy. An outline of the planned 2022/2023 Exploration Program will follow.

UPCOMING WEBINAR

Puma invites shareholders and other interested parties to participate in a webinar on Monday, October 17, 2022, at 4:00 pm EST. Marcel Robillard, President and CEO, will provide an overview of the 2022 Exploration Program and answer questions.

Click on https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_AggStrceSKKGaCGRvs1CKg to register.

ABOUT THE WILLIAMS BROOK GOLD PROJECT

The Williams Brook Gold Project is located near the Rocky Brook Millstream Fault (RBMF), a major regional structure formed during the Appalachian Orogeny and a significant control for gold deposition in the region.

The Project is comprised of 4 claim blocks covering more than 40,000 ha in an established and mining-friendly jurisdiction, near paved roads and with excellent infrastructure nearby (Figure 3). The Lynx Gold Zone was discovered in 2020 by high-grade surface samples and later recognized at depth in 2021 by hole WB21-02 that intersected 5.55 g/t Au over 50.15 m from surface, including two high-grade gold veins with 9.88 g/t Au over 8.60 m and 46.94 g/t Au over 3.85 m. A follow-up 10,000 m (113 holes) drilling program identified several new high-grade veins at Lynx, including 51.73 g/t gold over 1.85 m (WB 22-66), 34.93 g/t gold over 3.00 m (WB22-23), and 22.38 g/t Au over 3.20 m (WB22-36) and defined 3 high-grade gold zones along the currently exposed 750 m extension of the OGT.

Pumas ongoing work indicates that a large orogenic/epithermal gold system is present at Williams Brook. Surface exploration work has identified several additional gold targets along the extension of the OGT and other gold trends on the large land package, including the recently uncovered Cougar and Jaguar Gold Zones.

QUALIFIED PERSON



Dominique Gagne, PGeo, a qualified person as defined by Canadian National Instrument 43-101 standards, has reviewed and approved the geological information reported in this news release.

ON-SITE QUALITY ASSURANCE/QUALITY CONTROL ("QA/QC") MEASURES

Drill core samples are bagged, sealed and sent to the facility of ALS CHEMEX in Moncton, New Brunswick, where each sample is crushed and pulped before being fire-assayed (Au-ICP21). The remaining coarse reject portions of the samples remain in storage for further work or verification as needed. As part of its QA/QC program, the Company inserts external gold standards (low to high grade) and blanks every 20 samples in addition to standards, blanks, and duplicates. All samples over 10 g/t gold or with abundant visible gold are analyzed with a gravity finish (Au-GRA22). Check assays are routinely performed for samples with visible gold to ascertain the gold content of the mineralization zone.

ABOUT PUMA EXPLORATION

Puma Exploration is a Canadian-based mineral exploration company with precious metals projects located near the Famous Bathurst Mining Camp (BMC) in New Brunswick, Canada. The Company is committed to its DEAR strategy (Development, Exploration, Acquisition and Royalties) to generate maximum value for shareholders with low share dilution.

Connect with us on Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn

Visit www.explorationpuma.com for more information or contact:

Marcel Robillard, President and CEO, (418) 750-8510;

president@explorationpuma.com

Mia Boiridy, Head of Investor Relations and Corporate Development, (250) 575-3305; mboiridy@explorationpuma.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements: This press release may contain forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements involve a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Puma to be materially different from actual future results and achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date the statements were made, except as required by law.

Puma undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties are described in the quarterly and annual reports and in the documents submitted to the securities administration.

Images accompanying this announcement are available at:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/1ee52a9e-f93e-4f57-8921-a2cbf4d52920

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e490f895-e29d-4bf1-ab79-06d08f0ed222

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Sonata is supporting eir evo's business growth through the standardization of their CRM platform, migrating from Salesforce to Microsoft Dynamics

BANGALORE, India, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Sonata Software, a global IT services and technology solutions company, has announced that it has signed an agreement with eir evo, Ireland's leading Telecommunications and ICT Solutions Provider, to support the standardization of their CRM platform, migrating them from Salesforce to Microsoft Dynamics.

Sonata_Software_Logo

In addition to the above agreement, Sonata Software and eir evo also plan to implement a long-term strategy for growing Microsoft Dynamics within the Irish market, by co-creating engagement models for a cohesive approach.

Back in March 2021, eir Business and Evros Technology Group, announced the completion of their merger, enabling the organization  the newly named eir evo  to offer an unrivalled portfolio of services across cyber security, cloud, networking, app development, 24x7x365 managed support and more, to the whole of Ireland. Since then, the company has been working on the standardization of their platforms across both entities for a fully integrated and optimized way of working.

Sonata Software's unique platform migration process, will empower operational efficiency across eir evo, supporting them in delivering their business objectives. The migration will also enable seamless collaboration across their business functions, while delivering visibility across all of their IT systems. This internal optimization will also support productivity and customer-centric efficiencies.

Sonata's experience of the Microsoft Dynamics Platform, provides customers with end-to-end service expertise so that they can make their CRM future-ready, thereby gaining the right level of visibility and insights to enhance their customer service experience.

"We look forward to our collaboration with Sonata to optimize our IT landscape, helping us to deliver a Dynamics solution and partnership for the Irish market, accelerating our journey towards a great user experience, delivered with agility and operational excellence, all backed by eir evo's expertise and emphasis on innovation," said Joe Brady CIO at eir evo.

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"At Sonata, we believe in providing solutions that help our customers achieve their goals effectively and efficiently. Our collaboration with eir evo will enable them to provide superior customer service through streamlined collaboration across their groups, along with an enhanced digital experience and optimized operational capabilities. The values we share will help eir evo provide their distinctive set of innovative solutions to their customers," said Roshan Shetty, Chief Revenue Officer, Sonata Software.

About Sonata Software

For more information, press only:

Nandita Venkatesh,

Sonata Software Limited

CIN- L72200MH1994PLC082110

A.P.S. Trust Building,

Bull Temple Road, N.R. Colony

Bangalore 560004, India

Tel:+91806778199

Nandita.v@sonata-software.com

SOURCE Sonata Software
Fortune Business Insights

Companies Profiled in the Substance Abuse Treatment Market are Cipla Ltd., Alkermes plc, Allergan plc, Pfizer Inc, GlaxoSmithKline plc, Orexo AB, Mallinckrodt, Purdue Pharma L.P, Reckitt Benckiser Group plc, Intas Pharmaceuticals Ltd

Pune, India, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Substance Abuse Treatment Market Size is growing significantly as it benefits businesses to accelerate their speed by interacting with the environment. The global substance abuse treatment market size is expected to gain momentum owing to increasing prevalence of drug abuse incidence across the globe.

Fortune Business Insights has examined these responses in a research report titled, Substance Abuse Treatment Market, 2022-2029.

Industry Developments:

In November 2018, Sandoz, a subsidiary of Novartis AG, and Pear Therapeutics, Inc., launched reSET for patients with Substance Use Disorder (SUD).

In May 2018, US WorldMeds, LLC., received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for Lucemyra (lofexidine hydrochloride), the first ever non-opioid based treatment used for management of opioid withdrawal symptoms in adults.





Request a Sample Copy of the Research Report: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/request-sample-pdf/substance-abuse-treatment-market-102109





Report Scope of Substance Abuse Treatment Market:

Report Coverage Details Forecast Period 2022 to 2029 Base Year 2021 Historical Data for 2018 to 2020





According to a report by Addiction Center, the U.S.-based non-profit organization, it is estimated that around 700,000 people were reported death owing to drug abuse in the United States for the past two decades. Substance abuse is defined as the adoption of any type of harmful substance consumed for altering the mood of a person. Additionally, a substance includes several types of drugs and alcohol and its rampant adoption can lead to severe psychological, cognitive, and behavioral problems. Moreover, according to the Global Drug Survey (GDS), the consumption of Cannabis is at an all-time high across the globe, followed by MDMA and Cocaine.

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What does the Report Include?

The Substance Abuse Treatment Market report includes an exhaustive study of several factors such as drivers, restraints, challenges, and opportunities that will affect the growth of the market in the forthcoming years. The report covers regional demographics that include qualitative and quantitative information about the regions that are further divided into nations that are contributing to the growth of the market between 2019 and 2026. Furthermore, the competitive landscape has been discussed in-depth that include information of several players operating in the market. Moreover, information on the adoption of strategies such as merger and acquisition, collaboration, partnerships, and joint ventures by the companies that will drive the growth of the market has been included during the projected horizon.





For more information in the analysis of this report, visit: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/substance-abuse-treatment-market-102109





Driving Factors:

Increasing Consumption of Tobacco Products to Drive the Market

Long time exposure to tobacco products has an adverse effect on the human body. It contains nicotine that results in the fragile state of the immune system and high consumption leads to cancer, lung diseases, and heart disease, among others. The most common form of consumption of tobacco is smoking cigarettes. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it is estimated that over 80% of the 1.3 billion tobacco users across the globe reside in low and middle-income countries. In addition to this, it is reported that over 8 million people die owing to excessive consumption of tobacco. Therefore, increasing consumption of tobacco and its by-products is expected to drive the global substance abuse treatment market growth during the forecast period.

Market Segmentation:

Segmentation of Substance Abuse Treatment Market By Treatment Alcohol Addiction Treatment

Tobacco/Nicotine Addiction Treatment

Opioid Addiction Treatment

Other By Distribution Channel Hospital Pharmacies

Retail Pharmacies

Other Distribution Channels By Geography North America (USA and Canada)

Europe (UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia and Rest of Europe)

Asia Pacific (Japan, China, India, Australia, Southeast Asia and Rest of Asia Pacific)

Latin America (Brazil, Mexico and Rest of Latin America)

Middle East & Africa (South Africa, GCC and Rest of Middle East & Africa)





Pre Book: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/checkout-page/102109





Regional Insights:

Increasing Incidence of Drug Addiction in North America to Favor Growth

Among the regions, the market in North America is expected to remain dominant and register the highest global substance abuse treatment market revenue during the forecast period. This is ascribable to factors such as increasing cases of drug addiction among the population in the region. Furthermore, government initiatives to curb the rising cases of drug abuse will favor growth in the region. Europe, on the other hand, will witness substantial growth backed by increasing cases of drug abuse in countries such as the UK, Germany, and France. The market in Asia-Pacific is likely to gain momentum during the projected horizon. This is attributable to factors such as increasing focus by the government on the implementation of several programs to limit drug abuse cases across countries such as India and China between 2019 and 2026.

Competitive Landscape:

Expansion Strategies by the Companies to Augur Demand

In June 2020, St Joseph Recovery Center, UK, announced its launch of a mobile clinic program for treating substance abuse cases across eight rural counties. The center has allotted two renovated RVs along with the program staff to address people who are suffering from disorders owing to rampant substance abuse. Furthermore, mobile clinics will be offering substance abuse therapy, drug screenings, referrals, and telehealth. Moreover, amid the widespread effect of COVID-19, the center is poised to attend drug abusers following several social distancing norms. Adoption of strategies such as product expansion, collaboration, and novel product launches by the companies will bode well for the market growth during the forecast period.

List of the Companies in the Market:



Cipla Ltd.

Alkermes plc

Allergan plc

Pfizer Inc.

GlaxoSmithKline plc

Orexo AB

Mallinckrodt

Purdue Pharma L.P

Reckitt Benckiser Group plc

Intas Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

Among others





Have Any Query? Ask Our Experts: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/customization/substance-abuse-treatment-market-102109





About Us:

Fortune Business Insights offers expert corporate analysis and accurate data, helping organizations of all sizes make timely decisions. We tailor innovative solutions for our clients, assisting them to address challenges distinct to their businesses. Our goal is to empower our clients with holistic market intelligence, giving a granular overview of the market they are operating in.

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Email: sales@fortunebusinessinsights.com




(Adds new tankers, removes tankers which have left the ports; shows which tankers are docked) Oct 12 (Reuters) - The following liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers are expected to arrive in Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands in the coming weeks. Estimated arrival dates, often revised by port authorities and AIS Live ship-tracking data on Refinitiv Eikon, are updated below. Some tankers heading for Belgium and Britain may be loading at the terminal. Those expected to load are indicated with an (L). Those likely to perform ship-to-ship transfers are indicated with (STS). Tankers that have docked are indicated with (A). Floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) terminals are added to the table when they become fully operational. As of Sept. 30 2022 this includes the Eemshaven terminal in the Netherlands. For the Reuters LNG guide, click here: LNG TANKER CAPACITY in EXPECTED ARRIVAL FROM PORT cubic metres BRITAIN LNG Sakura 177,000 Oct. 13 Nigeria Dragon Traiano Knutsen 180,000 Oct. 14 United States South Hook LNG Bonny II 173,000 Oct. 15 United States Isle of Grain Attalos 174,000 Oct. 16 Trinidad and Tobago Isle of Grain Cool Runner 158,000 Oct. 17 United States South Hook Elisa Aquila 174,000 Oct. 19 United States Isle of Grain Sonangol Etosha 158,000 Oct. 20 Angola Isle Of Grain Bu Samra 261,000 Oct. 21 Qatar Isle of Grain Maran Gas Ithaca 170,000 Oct. 29 United States Milford Haven BELGIUM Clean Planet 159,000 Oct. 12 (A) Russia Zeebrugge LNG Enterprise 174,000 Oct. 13 Norway Zeebrugge LNG Phecda 174,000 Oct. 13 (L) N/A Zeebrugge Yenisei River 152,000 Oct. 14 Russia Zeebrugge BW Brussels 159,000 Oct. 15 United States Zeebrugge Shagra 261,000 Oct. 17 Qatar Zeebrugge Al Jasra 137,000 Oct. 19 Qatar Zeebrugge Aamira 261,000 Oct. 24 Qatar Zeebrugge Gaslog Hongkong 174,000 Oct. 30 United States Zeebrugge NETHERLANDS Gaslog Greece 174,000 Oct. 9 (A) United States Eemshaven Santander Knutsen 170,000 Oct. 10 (A) United States Eemshaven Nikolay Urvantsev 169,000 Oct. 11 (A) Russia Gate Wilpride 156,000 Oct. 12 (L) (A) N/A Gate Energy Intelligence 173,000 Oct. 12 Cameroon Gate Maran Gas Roxana 170,000 Oct. 14 United States Eemshaven Arctic Discoverer 140,000 Oct. 15 Norway Gate Adam LNG 159,000 Oct. 20 Trinidad and Tobago Gate LNG Schneeweisschen 177,000 Oct. 21 Unites States Gate Diamond Gas Met Olis 174,000 Oct. 24 United States Gate Transgas Force 174,000 Nov. 28 United States Eemshaven Sources: Ports, AIS Live ship tracking, Refinitiv Eikon data. (^) Partial unload (*) Arrival date estimated based on flows data (Reporting by Nina Chestney)
By Azernews





By Vugar Khalilov

Azerbaijani ambassador to Switzerland Fuad Isgandarov has attended the Greater Caspian Region Forum in the country, Azernews reports.

"[I] was glad to participate in the Joint Chamber of Commerce Forum in Zurich on 'The Greater Caspian Region  a Corridor for Energy, Logistics and Trade Flows between Asia and Europe'. Proud to see Azerbaijan in all PowerPoint presentations as the bottleneck core of modern Eurasian connectivity", Isgandarov tweeted.

The forum was co-organized by the Joint Chamber of Commerce (JCC) and the Greater Caspian Association Geneva on October 11.

The Trans-Caspian Trade and Transit Corridor is an important link between Europe and Asia. The corridor, which connects the European Union, China, India, and the Middle East, is made up of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, and Turkey to the west and Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan to the east of the Caspian Sea.

Countries are exploring new ways to transport commodities from Asia to Europe. This is the case for Kazakhstan, which is looking to the Caucasus not just to strengthen ties but also to bolster the Trans-Caspian corridor, which has yet to realize its full potential.

Furthermore, there is a clear demand for energy sources throughout Europe. Kazakhstan, along with other Central Asian nations and Azerbaijan, which is striving to grow its energy industry, including green energy, stands to benefit greatly from being Europe's energy provider.

The legal status of the Caspian Sea came close to being resolved in 2018. This was viewed at the time as an alternate westward route that may assist the Caspian States to diversify their export markets. While the corridor has yet to fulfill its full potential, the conflict in Ukraine provides a new motivation for regional governments to achieve this goal.
UNCLE Credit Union

LIVERMORE, Calif., Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- UNCLE Credit Union has officially assumed control of the operations of Moore West Federal Credit Union of San Leandro, California in Alameda County. This strategic merger marks the third that UNCLE has completed in recent years. In 2018, UNCLE expanded its branch network and membership in neighboring San Joaquin County after acquiring Stockton Community Federal Credit Union and Allied Trades Credit Union.



The merger with Moore West expands UNCLEs presence in its flagship market of the East Bay region of Californias Bay Area. Successful initiatives to merge with smaller financial institutions in UNCLEs field of membership have been a key strategy to ensure the long-term viability of the credit union and provide optimal value to its members.

The opportunity to expand further into Alameda County was an easy win for UNCLE Credit Union, as we already service so many members within that county, says Harold Roundtree, President and CEO of UNCLE Credit Union. Ultimately, it was the best outcome for both credit unions, and an opportunity for members to get the most out of their membership.

To ensure a smooth transition, Moore Wests former CEO was temporarily brought on by UNCLE as a consultant for the merger. The process began on July 1, 2022, with full systems integration completed on October 1, 2022.

About Moore West Federal Credit Union

Moore West Federal Credit Union was formed in 1935 for the employees of Pacific Manifold Book Company. The name chosen at that time was Pamaboca Credit Union. Prior to the merger, the financial institution had assets of approximately $11.38 million and provided banking services to more than 800 members.

About UNCLE Credit Union

Established in 1957, UNCLE Credit Union is a $680+ million, full-service financial institution serving approximately 34,000 members. The organization offers the benefits of credit union membership to anyone who lives, works, worships, or attends school in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Joaquin or Stanislaus counties. UNCLE has six financial centers located in the San Francisco Bay Area and the Central Valley, as well as 5,600 branches and more than 30,000 surcharge-free ATMs available through participation in the CO-OP Shared Branching Network. In addition, members have access to a wide spectrum of online and mobile banking services. UNCLE Credit Union is renowned for its community involvement, professional and personalized service, and unwavering commitment to helping members achieve their financial goals. To learn more, visit www.unclecu.org.

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CONTACT: Jennifer Hall

408.406.6251

jh@stonemediaconsulting.com




(Bloomberg) -- The Biden administrations push to impose a price cap on Russian oil exports creates a precedent that could affect other commodities and may worsen global economic anxiety, said Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati.

Most Read from Bloomberg

When the United States is imposing sanctions using economic instruments, that creates a precedent for everything, Indrawati told Bloomberg News in an interview Tuesday. And thats going to create uncertainty -- not only for Indonesia, for all other countries.

Indonesia, a major commodities exporter, has been among the countries that remain unpersuaded by the price cap argument.

Indrawati also said price cap efforts likely played into a recent decision by Saudi Arabia and its OPEC+ allies to cut oil production, which disappointed President Joe Biden and undermined White House efforts to lower global energy prices before crucial midterm elections.

The Saudi and OPEC response to this is because of exactly that, Indrawati said.

She added that she spoke to Saudi officials who told her that, once a price cap establishes a precedent of using commodity prices for geopolitical goals, then no one knows which country could be next.

Asked to comment, US Treasury Department spokesman Michael Kikukawa referred to statements from Secretary Janet Yellen and her deputy, Wally Adeyemo, insisting the US has no intention of applying the concept beyond Russia.

The US is trying to gain support for a price cap on Russian oil to deprive Moscow of energy revenues to finance its invasion of neighboring Ukraine -- a conflict that has sent energy and food prices soaring. But while G-7 nations have supported the effort, other countries such as India and China remain large purchasers of oil, while a number of developing countries have declined to take a firm stand against Russia.

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Yellen spoke to Indrawati earlier Tuesday on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington and highlighted the price caps economic benefits for Indonesia, among other topics, according to Yellens press office.

Indonesia left the OPEC cartel after becoming a net importer of petroleum. But it is a major exporter of commodities like natural gas, coal, nickel and palm oil.

As a result, any other price caps would threaten the countrys economic health. Indonesia has so far this year benefited from a fiscal windfall from rising commodity prices that has helped insulate it against the effects of a stronger dollar and higher borrowing costs now causing turmoil in other emerging economies, Indrawati said.

The veteran finance minister -- whose country is hosting the Group of 20 summits this year -- said its been challenging to navigate the planning of a series of international meetings amid global turmoil over the Ukraine war. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov both attended a G-20 foreign ministers meeting in July, and both Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin are expected to attend the leaders summit in November.

But Indrawati warned that US efforts to hit Russia with a price cap could have unforeseen consequences.

The war is no longer just a military war -- I think thats really changed the landscape of geopolitics, diplomacy and economic relations, she said. Thats really another thing that we havent digested yet. What does it mean for the global economy?

(Updates with US Treasury comment in seventh paragraph.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2022 Bloomberg L.P.
BEIJING, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Chinese Baijiu brand Red Xifeng, which belongs to one of China's reputed Baijiu brands - Xifeng Liquor, was broadly welcomed by the attendees of the NEXT Summit (Bali 2022) held recently.

Themed on "Global Change and Rebuilding Collaboration", the summit attracted dozens of politicians, scholars, business leaders, and startup entrepreneurs from many countries to share insight on development of multiple industries.

Photo shows the certificate issued by the presidential museum in Indonesia to include Xifeng Liquor into its permanent collections.

Xifeng Liquor, which has already won nine global gold awards, participated in this year's NEXT Summit and carried forward the Chinese Baijiu culture in a way that better adapts to trends of the era.

Xifeng Liquor is made from five types of grains and stored in Jiuhai, its unique large liquor containers made of rattans and other natural materials. Produced with its time-honored liquor-making technique dating from over 3,000 years ago, Xifeng Liquor has been one of the symbols for Chinese Baijiu culture.

Guo said in a keynote speech delivered at the summit that Xifeng Liquor would seize the strategic opportunities in the new round of sci-tech and industrial revolution to integrate excellent resources worldwide, promote product quality and technology innovation and deepen international trade cooperation to further expand its global presence.

Photo shows Oka Artha Ardhana Sukawati, deputy governor of Bali Province, Indonesia jointly holding a bottle of Red Xifeng with Guo for photo taking.

As early as more than 2,000 years ago, Xifeng Liquor has been brought and sold to dozens of countries and regions in the world by travelling merchants along the ancient Silk Road.

In recent years, Xifeng Liquor has further cranked up its efforts to enhance products, brands and cultural influences, with output value increasing on and on.

Photo shows the Xifeng Liquor tasting during the NEXT Summit (Singapore 2021) held at the Palm Beach Seafood Restaurant.

As a Chinese Baijiu producer that always values technique innovation and product quality inheritance, it also sharpened product flavors by improving ingredients and further optimizing liquor-making technique to better satisfy flavors of customers at home and abroad.

With exports to more and more countries, Xifeng Liquor is demonstrating its unique potential for development as one of the choicest Chinese goods on international market.

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Cision

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FredericksburgEste Association is taking audiences on a journey this month with a pair of free programs spotlighting Italian musical compositions.

On Friday, Brooks Kuykendall will present The Idea of Italy in Music History at St. Georges Church in downtown Fredericksburg. Kuykendall is the music department chair at the University of Mary Washington. The evening begins at 6:30 p.m. for light refreshments, with the lecture at 7 p.m.

According to Kuykendall, The influence of Italy on music history is incalculable; the idea of Italy pervades the works of quite a range of composers. Sometimes they use it as a sort of musical postcard, evoking a wish you were here response.

Then on Oct. 21 at 7 p.m., The Chamber Chorale of Fredericksburg will perform A Musical Journey to Italy at St. Georges Church. The concert will highlight European choral works with an emphasis on Italian composers.

The Chamber Chorale is directed by Joe Eveler, the choral director at Stafford High School. He was named the groups permanent director in January. According to Eveler, This concert allows us and the audience to enjoy music from across Europe, as we make our way, musically, to our destination.

Fredericksburgs Italian sister city, the FredericksburgEste Association, presents a fall lecture and a fall concert, focusing on Italian culture and musical compositions. For more information, email fredeste2015@gmail.com or visit fred-este.org or the groups Facebook page.

Staff reports
The Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors had to postpone a public hearing at Tuesdays meeting on a proposed development with 770 homes, townhouses and apartments.

The hearing was postponed because of an illness. The public hearing has been rescheduled for the Oct. 25 meeting.

The proposed development, Village at Crossroads Station, would be built on the southwestern corner of the intersection of U.S. 17 and Thornton Rolling Road, adjacent to the industrial park that includes the Virginia Railway Express station.

The Denali Capital Group LLC and Tricord Inc. are the applicants seeking rezoning for eight parcels, totaling 115 acres, from rural industrial and commercial to residential townhouse, residential mixed-use and mixed-use low, according to the county staff report for the public hearing. The proposal includes an affordable housing option.

County staff and the Planning Commission, which held a public hearing in June, have recommended that the board deny the proposed project for several reasons, including transportation planning and impacts on commercial or office development.
WEEPING WATER  Weeping Water students and staff members planted educational seeds at the start of the school year with a new FFA chapter and agriculture curriculum.

They received financial water this past week that will help the agricultural education program grow.

Farm Credit Services of America representatives presented a $2,000 check to members of the Weeping Water FFA chapter. Blake Henderson (president), Brooklyn Ahrens (vice president) and Jillian Rathe (treasurer) accepted the check outside the main office of the school. Weeping Water Superintendent Kevin Reiman and WWPS Board of Education member Mark Rathe joined them for the event.

Ryan Coleman, regional vice president of retail operations at Farm Credit Services of Americas Lincoln office, said the business was happy to help sponsor the Weeping Water program. The $2,000 grant is provided through the companys Working Here Fund.

We value the opportunity to support an organization such as Weeping Water Public Schools, which shares FCSAmericas passion to serve the next generation of ag producers, Coleman said.

Weeping Water is one of 64 organizations that have received a Working Here Fund grant this year. Farm Credit Services of America awarded $120,085 to local schools and community groups during the latest grant cycle.

Krystl Knabe is leading the new agricultural education program at Weeping Water, which features several education classes and a FFA chapter. The classes have already drawn interest from multiple students in all grade levels.

Knabe has been in the agricultural education profession for many years. She served as FFA advisor and agricultural education instructor at ONeill for nearly seven years before becoming state advisor of Nebraska FFA in June 2016.

Knabe said the program will offer diverse content to students to help them learn about various careers in the agriculture industry. The new FFA chapter will also offer students access to agricultural experiences that have not been previously available at Weeping Water.

Several FFA students attended the East Central Region Land Judging Contest this past week. They journeyed to Ithaca to compete at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Eastern Nebraska Research and Extension Center.
Editors Note: October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Nebraska Cancer Specialists is partnering with the Fremont Tribune to help provide important information for readers. This is the second story in a series of four about breast cancer.

Its important to choose the right oncologist after a cancer diagnosis.

The oncologist is a patients first point of contact and guides the individual through their cancer journey. Patients want to feel confident that their oncologist is the best choice for them.

Nebraska Cancer Specialists said it has some of the most experienced and highly qualified physicians in the area. Besides the physicians, patients receive care from a team that includes support staff, nurses and medical assistants.

An oncologist is a physician who focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of different cancers.

This physician has extensive knowledge of the different signs and symptoms of cancer and various treatment methods.

An oncologist is a physician trained in internal medicine before becoming a cancer specialist.

The oncologist will:

Determine the tests needed to make a final treatment decision for the patient.

Prescribe and oversee the treatment.

Direct follow-up tests needed to determine the next steps.

When selecting an oncologist, patients want someone with whom they are comfortable. They want to feel that their oncologist listens and respects their opinions.

They want to understand the information their oncologist is providing.

Patients deserve to have a strong understanding of the care they are receiving, leave each appointment feeling more knowledgeable and be satisfied that all their questions have been answered, said Dr. Joel Michalski, MC Medical Oncologist, Nebraska Cancer Specialists.

If patients have an uncommon or rare cancer, they should feel comfortable asking if and how the medical oncologist will consult and collaborate with other physicians and oncologists to make sure they receive the most up-to-date and effective treatments.

Patients should discuss how their care will be coordinated with their primary care physician and other specialists they see.

NCS recommends asking the oncologist if he or she participates in tumor boards.

Tumor boards are a treatment planning approach in which medical oncologists discuss cases in detail with surgical, radiation, pathology and other specialists.

When selecting an oncologist, patients also will want to know if the physician welcomes a second opinion.

NCS information states that a physician who is confident in his or her treatment recommendation normally will welcome second opinions and be open to the request.

When it comes to a diagnosis, getting a second opinion can help patients understand their options and make the best possible decisions regarding their care, Michalski said.

NCS outlines differences between two types of oncology practices that provide care in the outpatient setting:

Community oncology.

Hospital-based.

NCS data states: The benefit of community oncology centers is that they have been found to provide efficient, patient-centered oncology care at lower costs to patients, health plans and community physicians.

Specialists at NCS are in private practice. Theyre also on a medical staff at local hospitals and personally follow patients when theyre admitted.

Most of the community oncologists time is spent in direct patient care.

As a community oncology practice, we remain committed to providing comprehensive care that is convenient for patients, while providing them opportunities for the best outcomes. This includes making patients feel like they are truly part of a community that is looking out for them every step of the way, said Danielle Geiger, NCS practice administrator.

NCS information states that hospital-based medical oncologists work for a local health system, hospital or an academic institution.

Hospital-based physicians routinely have significant non-clinical obligations in administration, research and teaching, and therefore may spend less time with patients, making it more difficult for patients to receive regular, consistent communication from them, NCS states.

The primary difference between care in the independent community setting and care in the hospital setting is related to cost, NCS states.

Because hospital-based oncologists bill through the hospitals contracts, the costs to your health plan through insurance claimsand to you through increased co-pay  can be higher, NCS states. Recent studies show the cost for receiving the same drug and treatment, through the same process, may possibly be two to three times more expensive when obtained from a hospital outpatient-based oncologist as compared to an independent community oncologist.

NCS offers different types of treatments, which include:

Chemotherapy. This treatment stops or slows the growth of abnormal cancer cells that have divided and multiplied by rapidly by attacking the DNA of the cells to kill them and keep them from dividing.

It cant distinguish between cancer cells and normal cells and will attack both, causing some unwanted side effects such as fatigue, nausea and hair loss. It can be used in conjunction with other treatments such as radiation or surgery depending on the type of cancer.

Immunotherapy. This treatment stimulates a patients immune system to locate and eliminate cancer cells with medication that contains proteins to enhance the bodys ability to fight the cancer.

Targeted therapy. This treatment precisely targets and attacks cancer cells, leaving healthy cells alone which reduces side effects.

Also known as precision medicine, its based on the specific cancers genetic makeup. Targeted therapies attack the genetic molecules that let cancer cells multiply.

The key to targeted therapy is being able to identify cancer cells and avoid healthy cells. Not all cancers are receptive to targeted therapy and patients will need to undergo tests to determine if they are a candidate.

Clinical trials. NCS has the regions largest community oncology research department offering phase I through phase IV trials.

On average, patients have access to more than 100 active clinical trials, which offer innovative treatments and providing access to cutting edge treatment options.

Radiation oncology. This treatment uses high-energy particles such as X-rays, gamma rays, electron beams or protons to damage or destroy cancer cells entirely.

A scan determines the proper course of radiation treatment for the patients specific cancer. Scans include the MRI, CT and PET CT. Depending on the type and stage of the cancer, radiation can be used in combination with other treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy or immunotherapy.

In addition to treatment types, NCS helps patients prepare physically and mentally before surgery, chemotherapy and other treatments.

NCS said its occupational therapy team has developed a state-of-the-art pre-habilitation program to benefit breast cancer patients.

This program includes education, exercise and a personalized treatment plan designed for them throughout the course of their care.

Dr. M. Salman Haroon, an oncologist specialist who practices in Fremont, notes the professional and gentle care he and NCS provides.

Its really about personalized care in the convenience of your community, Haroon said. I enjoy providing my patients with top notch care and treatment right here in their neighborhood.
Saturdays LovePup Family Festival promises a half-day of cute critters, food, drinks and kids activities. Its courtesy of the LovePup Foundation and a variety of sponsors  and its roots lie in the plight of one homeless Chihuahua.

The LovePup Foundation was founded by Johnjay and Blake Van Es, who live in the Phoenix area. Fans in Colorado Springs know Johnjay from The Johnjay & Rich Show, which airs weekdays on My 99.9 FM; the morning radio show celebrated its 20th anniversary last year.

Johnjay was on the air one day in 2014 when he got a message from a listener about a stray Chihuahua found in an alley near the Van Es home. He alerted Blake, who rescued the pooch and sent photos to Johnjay.

Not really knowing anything about the rescue world, I took the pictures she sent me and posted them on social media, he says. That resulted in a flood of people volunteering to take the dog. Johnjay and Blake fostered the Chihuahua until Johnjay chose one family for the dogs permanent home and met them in a parking lot.

When the Chihuahua saw the family and the family saw the Chihuahua, it was like this magical moment, he recalls. It was beautiful. They connected and it was fabulous. And I went on the air the next day and I said, Man, Ive set up five people on dates, and those five people ended up getting married, and Im better with matching people with dogs than I am with people. The next day I started getting inundated with people like, I found this stray dog, My grandmother is going into a home, can you take her dogs, or We have to rehome our dogs, we got kicked out.

So Johnjay started bringing those dogs home until he could find permanent homes for them; the family soon had dogs in every room of the house  up to 30 dogs at one point. Johnjay and Blake went on to form LovePup, an official 501(3) dog rescue organization; early last year, they opened a kennel in a building theyre renting 10 minutes from their home.

Some rescue groups criticized their informal efforts early on, Johnjay says. Now the LovePup Foundation works with other rescues in staging the LovePup Family Festival, which has been held in a handful of cities and is being eyed for many more.

My thought process, Blake says, was were all in this for the same reason, right, to save dogs. Why cant we all just get along and do an event and lets have all the rescues. So at the Springs fest, at least 10 other rescues will be involved, including All Breed Rescue and Teller County Animal Shelter.

Colorado Springs first LovePup Family Festival was in 2019; while it was intended to be annual, it was absent the past two years because of the pandemic. The Springs festival will be LovePups first public event since COVID hit, Johnjay says.

Its good to be back, he says. Hell be there, along with Blake and his radio partner, Rich Berra. And along with the usual types of pets up for adoption, there will be farm animals too, Blake noted.

Admission is free with the donation of a pet-related item; those donations go to the local rescues.

Its a lot of fun, says Johnjay. Its just a great environment.
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has arrived in the Republic of Kazakhstan for a working visit to attend the 6th Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia and the meeting of the Heads of State of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

At Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport decorated with the national flags of the two countries, the Azerbaijani president was welcomed by Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov and other officials.






Thomas J. Barrack, Jr., who sued the U.S. Department of Justice for failing to provide records he requested through the Freedom of Information Act, sought information about entities that registered with the government under the same law he is accused of violating.
The Colorado Springs City Council approved a resolution opposing two November ballot questions that would legalize the sale of recreational marijuana in town and add a special sales tax of 5% to those sales.

The council split on the symbolic resolution voting 6 to 3 to approve it after hearing from interested residents, who also were split on the issue.

If approved, Question 300 would allow the city's existing 114 medical marijuana stores to convert. Question 301 asks voters to approve a special sales tax on recreational marijuana that would fund public safety, veterans services and mental health programs.

Dr. Kenneth Finn, who worked on marijuana issues at the state level, cautioned against marijuana in general, saying it is poorly regulated and poorly tested.

"We are going to add another addiction-for-profit industry," he said.

Proponents noted that recreational marijuana already is readily available in Manitou Springs, Pueblo and Denver and this would just allow Colorado Springs to benefit from taxing recreational sales.

Councilman Wayne Williams noted that if the question passed, neighbors of the existing medical marijuana dispensaries would have no say in whether they converted to recreational sales, bypassing the land-use process in place for other more sensitive businesses.

Councilmembers Bill Murray and Yolanda Avila noted the City Council had the opportunity to write regulations for recreational marijuana sales as part of a larger ballot question to legalize them. But the board has repeatedly declined.

"I have asked this council to specific address this issue and put it on the ballot, and this council has specifically refused," Murray said.

Councilwoman Nancy Henjum, Murray and Avila all opposed the resolution.
A former employee of a Colorado Springs hairdressing academy is accused of stealing over $130,000 from the business, according to an arrest affidavit.

Investigators say the theft occurred from 2019 to 2021 while Hayley Jayde Chandler, 28, served as administrative director of Toni & Guy Hairdressing Academy, located at 5125 N. Academy Blvd.

The arrest records allege that Chandler used a company credit card for personal expenses including hotels, restaurants, phone bills, rent and more.

The fraudulent credit card charges came to the attention of owner Sandra Chandler, Hayley Chandler's grandmother, in July 2021 after Hayley Chandler notified her that she was quitting her job, according to the affidavit.

When Sandra Chandler went to the office to sort out paperwork, she discovered the abnormally high credit card bills that were in Hayley Chandler's office, according to arrest records.

Sandra Chandler noticed that just three days before Hayley Chandler quit, there was a charge for over $12,000, which detectives later learned was to pay for Hayley Chandler's rent at her apartment complex for the next full year.

Investigators said Hayley Chandler also used the company credit card for over $10,000 worth of Amazon products, over $2,000 in food delivery services, over $6,500 for furniture from Wayfair and $32,000 in "miscellaneous charges" found not to be related to the Toni & Guy Hairdressing Academy business.

Detectives discovered nearly $50,000 Hayley Chandler sent from the company credit card to her personal bank accounts, PayPal accounts and Square accounts that were not permitted transactions, according to the arrest records.

In total, Hayley Chandler used the company credit card for $111,494 in fraudulent expenses, according to the affidavit.

Additionally, detectives discovered $21,000 in fraudulent checks written from Toni & Guy Hairdressing Academy's petty cash account by Hayley Chandler, bringing the total stolen from the business to $132,564.

Hayley Chandler is facing charges of theft between $100,000 and $1 million as well as money laundering, both class 3 felonies. If convicted on both charges, she could face up to 24 years in prison.

Court records show Hayley Chandler was arrested Sept. 30 and was released from the El Paso County jail after posting $10,000 bond on Oct. 8.

Hayley Chandler is expected to make her first appearance in Colorado's 4th Judicial District Court on Oct. 20.
By Azernews





By Vugar Khalilov

The Armenian armed forces have shelled Azerbaijani engineering equipment in Dashkasan District, Azernews reports, citing the Defense Ministry.

On October 12, at 1230 hours, units of the Armenian armed forces opened fire on Azerbaijani engineering equipment carrying out construction activities in the direction of Dashkasan Districts Tazakand settlement from their positions stationed in Basarkechar (Gegharkunik) regions Guneshli settlement, the ministry said.

Units of the Azerbaijani army took appropriate retaliatory measures to suppress the opposite side, the report added.

The previous similar incidents were registered in the same direction on October 10.

Armenia periodically shells Azerbaijani military positions on liberated territories. Since early September, Azerbaijani positions have multiple times come under Armenian fire.

The major border clashes since the 44-day war (2020) erupted between the sides on the night of September 12 leading to 13, when units of the Armenian armed forces carried out large-scale provocations along the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border in Dashkasan, Kalbajar, and Lachin directions.

Following the October 6 meeting in Prague between Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders under the auspices of EU Council President Charles Michel and French President Emmanuel Macron, all parties reaffirmed their commitment to the peace negotiations while acknowledging each other's territorial integrity.

President Ilham Aliyev praised the EU's efforts in the peace talks during an interview with Azerbaijani TV channels, emphasizing that Azerbaijan and Armenia are gradually reaching peace.

Aliyev added that the peace talks are still ongoing and should not be disrupted.
A judge has determined a woman can stand trial in the death of her 4-year-old daughter from ingesting fentanyl.

Judge Chad Miller on Tuesday decided there was sufficient evidence for Emma Staton to stand trial in Acelynn Staton-Contreras' death, but lowered Staton's bond in the process.

During the preliminary hearing, Miller heard testimony that on July 12, Acelynn accidentally ingested Staton's fentanyl.

Two detectives with the Fountain Police Department testified that Staton knew her daughter had ingested the drug as 9 that night, but didn't take her to the hospital for three hours, instead administering two doses of Narcan.

Testimony was heard from FPD Detective Michael Bixby that at 11:11 p.m., Staton called 911 before quickly hanging up. Deputies from the El Paso County Sheriff's Office 20 minutes later arrived at her home to investigate the call, and Staton told them everything was OK.

An hour later, Staton and a friend attempted to drive Acelynn to the hospital, but her condition "worsened significantly" and the pair pulled over and called 911, according to Bixby.

Staton-Contreras was pronounced dead at a gas station in Fountain after life-saving measures were attempted by police at the scene.

Follow-up investigation found upward of 40 fentanyl pills and methamphetamines in the car Staton was in, Bixby testified.

Prosecuting attorney Rachael Powell argued that the delay in taking Acelynn to the hospital or calling 911 showed negligence that ultimately resulted in her death.

Defense attorney David Lipka didn't argue against the testimony provided by detectives, instead emphasizing that Staton loved her daughter, and saying this was a tragic accident.

Miller had both charges of child abuse resulting in death and unlawful possession of a controlled substance bound over for trial. If found guilty of child abuse causing death, Staton could face eight to 24 years in prison.

The major points of argument Tuesday were over Staton's bond, which was set at $500,000 on her arrest. Lipka argued the bond was unreasonably high since she was neither a flight risk to the court nor a danger to the community as a victim of drug addiction, rather than a drug dealer.

"It's important to separate dealers from those who are addicted," Lipka told the court.

Powell argued that due to the potential penalty of the charges, Staton would be a flight risk, and that the nature of a child dying in the case is cause for an elevated bond.

Several members of the child's family spoke to the court on the issue of bond, some in favor of Staton and others against.

"She deserves to remain behind bars," one womansaid over the court's WebEx virtual conferencing system.

"I have no doubt Emma (Staton) will do what she needs to do to be successful if released," another woman said over WebEx.

During the bond argument, some people on WebEx could be heard interrupting the court proceedings and Miller himself stated people were using the chat feature "inappropriately" before shutting it down.

"This is bulls---," one woman could be heard yelling before she was removed from the virtual courtroom.

After hearing from all parties, Miller stated that the $500,000 bond being 10 times higher than a traditional $50,000 bond for a Class 2 felony was "highly unusual" and "extreme," but added the nature of the case called for an elevated bond.

Miller then decided to lower the bond to $150,000. Lipka noted he believed it was "likely" that Staton would be able to post the new bond.

Miller also addressed the court outbursts and stated that if it continues in future proceedings, he will forbid the use of WebEx moving forward.

A review hearing is set for Staton Oct. 19, but only if Staton posts bond. Otherwise she will return to court Nov. 9, when Staton could potentially enter a plea and a jury trial date could be set.
The city of Colorado Springs is weighing whether to gate Old Stage Road to reduce late-night shooting across private property, vandalism, lighting fireworks, dumping and other illegal activity.

You voted:
FILE PHOTO: A missile launch is seen at an undisclosed location in North Korea, in this undated photo released on October 10, 2022 by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). KCNA via REUTERS
By Trend

As many as 375 people have been infected with the coronavirus (COVID-19) in the past 24 hours in Iran, reads the statement of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education of Iran, Trend reports.

In addition, 4 people have died from the coronavirus over the past day.

At the same time, the condition of 125 people remains critical.

So far, more than 54.2 million tests have been conducted in Iran for the diagnosis of coronavirus.

In total, about 155 million doses of vaccines have been used in Iran so far. A total of 65.1 million doses have been used in the first stage, 58.5 million doses - in the second stage, and 31.2 million doses  in the third stage.

Iran continues to monitor the coronavirus situation in the country. According to recent reports from Iranian officials, over 7.55 million people have been infected, and 144,502 people have already died.

Meanwhile, over 7.32 million people have reportedly recovered from the disease. The country continues to apply strict measures to contain the further spread of the virus.

Reportedly, the disease was brought to Iran by a businessman from Iran's Qom city, who went on a business trip to China, despite official warnings. The man died later from the disease. The Islamic Republic announced its first infections and deaths from the coronavirus on Feb. 19.

The outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan - which is an international transport hub - began at a fish market in late December 2019.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11 declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Some sources claim the coronavirus outbreak started as early as November 2019.
By Trend

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is slated to pay a two-day visit to Kazakhstan on Wednesday to attend a regional summit and hold talks with his Kazakh counterpart and participating leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trend reports citing Daily Sabah.

It is expected that concrete steps will be taken to expand the strategic partnership relations between the two countries during Erdogan's official visit to Kazakhstan on Oct. 12-13, symbolizing the new era of bilateral relations with Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who made official contacts in Ankara for the first time in May.

Erdogan and Tokayev will hold one-on-one talks and attend inter-delegation meetings in the capital Astana to discuss bilateral relations and international issues after an official welcoming ceremony.

The presidents will also attend a high-level strategic cooperation council meeting to enhance the political, economic, cultural and defense ties.

Erdogan's visit to Kazakhstan, who will also attend the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) to be held in Astana, will also be important in terms of political relations between the two countries.

The two-day summit will address political, economic, humanitarian and environmental issues, as well as new challenges and threats.

Since Erdogan's last visit in 2017, Kazakhstan has been experiencing a new political and socioeconomic process that came with the change of power.

This year, Turkiye and Kazakhstan celebrated the 30th anniversary of establishing their diplomatic relations.

Turkiye was the first country to recognize the declaration of independence of Kazakhstan, which was a part of the former Soviet Union for about 70 years and gained its sovereignty with the dissolution of the union.

Kazakhstan established diplomatic relations with Turkiye in March 1992, about two months after officially announcing its independence.

Thus, Turkiye opened its embassy in Almaty, the country's capital at that time, and pioneered the establishment of the first diplomatic mission in independent Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan also set up its embassy in Ankara in the same year. In 2009, bilateral relations gained the status of strategic partnership.

Kazakh Foreign Ministry spokesperson Aibek Smadiyarov said on Monday that 11 heads of state, including from Azerbaijan and Palestine, would be attending the summit.

Established in 1992, the CICA is a multi-national Asia-focused forum with 27 member states and more than 10 other countries and inter-governmental organizations with observer status.

On the sidelines of the summit, Erdogan is expected to hold bilateral talks with participating leaders, including Putin. They will meet on Thursday to discuss Ukraine and bilateral relations, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.

Commenting on the possibility that Turkiye could host talks between Russia and the West, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also said Tuesday that Moscow would be willing to listen to any suggestions but could not say in advance whether this would lead to results.

He said Erdogan would have an opportunity to put proposals to Putin when both visit Kazakhstan.

Despite being on opposing sides, Turkiye and Russia also lead efforts for a solution in Syria. The Astana Process was launched in 2017 in a bid to restore peace and stability in the Arab country, which has been ravaged by war since 2011, when the Bashar Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protesters.

On July 19, Erdogan, Putin and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi held a trilateral meeting in Iran's capital Tehran. The leaders gathered for the seventh summit in the Astana format to discuss recent developments in Syria; the fight against terrorist groups, which pose a threat to regional security, particularly the YPG/PKK and Daesh, the humanitarian situation; and the voluntary return of Syrians.
By Trend

Russias COVID-19 case tally rose by 15,640 over the past day to 21,248,603, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Wednesday, Trend reports with reference to TASS.

A day earlier, 13,970 daily cases were recorded.

As many as 1,813 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Russia over the past day, down 27.7% from a day earlier. The number of hospitalized patients decreased in 53 regions, while in 23 regions the figure increased. The situation remained unchanged in nine regions. A day earlier, 2,506 people were rushed to hospitals.

Moscows COVID-19 cases surged by 1,561 over the past day versus 880 cases a day earlier, reaching 3,215,189, according to the anti-coronavirus crisis center. St. Petersburgs COVID-19 cases increased by 978 over the past day versus 1,232 a day earlier, reaching 1,774,303.
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation said Tuesday that the Helena-based Indian Law Resource Center will receive $20 million to expand and strengthen Indigenous land ownership rights in Mexico and Central and South America.

Kellogg officials said Tuesday that it is part of $80 million being awarded to five projects as part of its Racial Equity 2030 Challenge to help with ideas for change in systems and institutions that uphold racial inequities.

An indigenous-led project of this scale is a true landmark, Robert T. Coulter, executive director and founder of the Indian Law Resource Center, said in an email.

He said the work over the next eight years will demonstrate what is already known -- that the more Indigenous peoples plan and execute their own initiatives, the more positive the outcomes for the community and the environment.

The Indian Law Resource Center, along with partner organizations the Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Amazon and the Coordination of the Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon, will address a root cause of the poverty and inequity suffered by thousands of indigenous communities from Mexico to Argentina.

That includes the lack of legally secure land rights and ownership, which is the most important need expressed almost universally by Indigenous leaders and crucial to sustaining indigenous cultures.

The denial of Indigenous land rights is the denial of culture, language, tradition and community, said Carla Thompson Payton, vice president for program strategy at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

She said the Indian Law Resource Center is an Indigenous-led effort thats helping to restore more than 500 years of colonialism and oppression.

The Indigenous Lands Initiative will help Indigenous communities formalize their land ownership and develop a network of lawyers and other experts to assist communities, without charge, to overcome legal and technical barriers to secure their land rights.

In addition to bringing more than a million acres into Indigenous ownership over the next eight years, the initiative will establish a permanent new organization that works to expand successes in indigenous land titling across geographies and to change discriminatory systems and practices concerning indigenous land ownership and management.

Legal, documented land ownership will be transformative for Indigenous communities, said Leonardo Crippa, a senior attorney with the Indian Law Resource Center and the director of the project. It will enable a community to protect itself against land theft and invasions by using the courts and other government interventions. Secure land rights will create a level of legal, economic, and political security never previously realized  an opportunity for communities to prosper and improve lives.

The land is our mother, our market, our medicine. It is the only inheritance that our ancestors have given us, says Miguel Guimaraes, vice president of AIDESEP and an Indigenous Shipibo leader from the Flor de Ucayali community in Peru. Thats why we are always willing to defend it, even with our lives.

The Racial Equity 2030 Challenge was announced in 2020, 90 years after the founding of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in anticipation of the Foundations 100th anniversary in 2030, and is aimed at helping to find solutions to tackle social, economic, political or institutional inequities to improve the lives of children, families and communities worldwide. The challenge received 1,453 submissions from 72 countries.

All finalists moved through a process of multiple levels of review, feedback and diligence involving peer applicants and multi-disciplined experts from around the world.

Founded in 1978, the Indian Law Resource Center is a nonprofit law and advocacy organization that provides legal assistance to Indigenous peoples of the Americas.

More information about the Racial Equity 2030 Challenge, the awardees and the finalists can be found at www.wkkf.org/re2030.
As the median home price in the area nears half a million dollars, one Helena home will be sold for a flat $240,000 via a lottery drawing among eligible buyers.

The two-story, 1,440-square-foot home has three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Helena Area Habitat for Humanity built the home in 2019 at 2889 Stacia Ave. in Helenas Mountain View Meadows for a local family in need of affordable housing.

The original homeowner, who is now moving, owns the structure and leases the ground from a statewide land trust called Trust Montana.

About 20 local Habitat For Humanity homes were built on land that was deeded to Trust Montana to help ensure the properties remain permanently affordable to future generations of homebuyers.

This is the first land trust resale in the Helena area, Jacob Kuntz, executive director of Helena Area Habitat for Humanity, said in a press release. Through a land trust, the homebuyer receives a discount on the price of the home in exchange for agreeing to restrict the resale price of the home in the future. In this case, the equity of the homebuyer may gain in the home is capped at 1.5% (per year) of the $240,000 sale price.

The home is being co-listed for sale by Mary Ahmann Hibbard and Jared Engels of Helena Home Team. To be eligible for the lottery drawing, prospective buyers must make less than 80% of the area median income (which comes out to $78,650 a year for a family of four), submit a lenders pre-approval letter, and not currently own any other real estate.

The home will be available for private showings Oct. 13-23. All offers must be submitted before Oct. 24, and the lottery drawing will be Oct. 25.

Based on comparable homes in the area, the press release says the home is valued at $365,000. Offers above $240,000 will not be accepted.

In September, the median cost for the average home in the Helena area was $485,335, said Hibbard. Having grown up in Montana, I am fortunate to be able to still afford to live, work, and play here. This is not the case for many other Helena residents who are simply priced out of the current market conditions.

Jessica Moore of Windermere Real Estate in Helena said she has already heard from seven or eight people interested in the property, and she will be reaching out to more who were priced out of homeownership in the past.

The minute it hit the market my phone started blowing up, she said.

For more information and photos of the home, visit www.helenahometeam.com/property/2889-stacia-ave.
Every Tuesday morning since November 2021, St. Pauls United Methodist Church has opened its facilities to provide free showers for Helena's unsheltered community.

To celebrate the first year of the Shower to Empower program -- which is co-hosted by United Way of the Lewis and Clark Area and Good Samaritan Ministries -- free haircuts, bike repairs and lunch were also provided at the church on Tuesday.

Helena Mayor Wilmot Collins, Lewis and Clark County Commissioner Andy Hunthausen, state Rep. Mary Ann Dunwell and other local officials came to the celebration to participate in a conversation about housing.

If you know what I know, this is a needed program, and we need to roll up our sleeves and get involved" Collins said. "Lets get together and see how we can help our unsheltered neighbors.

The discussion touched on topics including American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, the Montana Emergency Rental Assistance (MERA) program for temporary housing, bathroom access near downtown, lighting on Logan Street, the Yes In My Backyard (YIMBY) pro-housing movement, felonies as a barrier to housing, internet access to apply for assisted housing and to get on waitlists, the length of the housing process for unsheltered people, the high cost of housing in Helena, parking and more.

I think one thing weve figured out while we are here is that the issues are vast, complicated and complex, said Mark Nay, the street outreach coordinator for Good Samaritan. Theyre not going to be fixed overnight. I think what is really important to this community as we look for solutions is that number one sustainable solutions. I think just as important as sustainable solutions is that we have efficient solutions, and theres a lot of red tape in the processes that we have. Theyre complicated. They delay things. Folks in crisis or living on the street  have to sit on a waitlist for four months to get an ID. Thats inefficient.

The conversation highlighted the idea that there is no one-size-fits-all solution for all unsheltered people, but they are all worthy of a solution.

Jeff Buscher, a community impact coordinator for United Way, knows many of the Shower to Empower participants by name. He explained what he calls the Continuum of Care (COC).

Each week on Wednesdays, we have our conference call over Zoom where all these agencies get together, and we actually pull a list of unsheltered folks, said Buscher. We go through the list and check who is working with this person and that person, have they been in the hospital, are they any closer to gaining housing. We have those conversations. Thats the 10,000-foot view of talking about these people.

Buscher brought up the Point In Time Survey that United Way conducts each January, which is a population count of Helenas unsheltered population. This involves counting people at Gods Love homeless shelter and on the street. Last year, Buscher stated that five to 10 people were counted outside in the cold, but most had found shelter.

Buscher explained that Gods Love has a men's shelter for about 30, a womens shelter for seven, and room to host seven families. On very cold nights, they open up the dining room floor to take in about 20 more people. Gods Love is a privately funded shelter, and its the only shelter option in Helena for unsheltered people currently.

Last year during the Point In Time Survey, I spent a good three or four hours (at Gods Love), said Buscher. Frankly, I had some great conversations with some of our unsheltered neighbors, and I just came away with the sense that as a community, we could do better than that for people.

Buscher pointed out that the community conversation around housing would hopefully spark more community involvement and more public funding instead of the main responsibility being put onto nonprofits to fundraise to support these programs.

United Way has sorted its housing goals and policies from the last five pages of its 2018 Tri-County Housing Needs Assessment Survey into categories and is working on creating subcommittees to address the need for changed policies, finding housing, speeding up the housing process and more.

Thats our role as United Way to hold the conversations, to invite people to the table who can make a difference, said Buscher. You got to start somewhere.
U.S. Border Patrol agents from the Sweetgrass Station said Tuesday they arrested a Mexican citizen who illegally crossed into the United States from Canada on foot near the duty-free store in Sweetgrass.

They said the arrest occurred Monday after the person was interviewed and determined to be illegally in the country. He was taken to the Sweetgrass Station for further processing. Agents said they were notified about the person entering the United States.

Havre Sector agents once again prove that they are the best first line of defense in gaining operational advantage against all northern border threats. I am proud of the work they do, and the vigilance displayed on a daily basis, Acting Chief Patrol Agent Richard Fortunato said in an email.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection welcomes help from the community. People can report suspicious activity to Border Patrol by calling 800 BE ALERT or (800) 232-5378. All calls will remain anonymous.
A bird hunter sustained non-life threatening injuries after being knocked over and stepped on by a grizzly bear near Choteau on Tuesday.

The bear was shot by the hunter and later killed by authorities.

Wildlife officials say the 51-year-old Washington state hunter and his wife were hunting along a creek bottom east of Choteau at about 1 p.m. The dogs went on point and the hunter raised his shotgun to prepare to shoot flushing birds when the bear charged out of the brush, said Dave Hagengruber, spokesperson for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, describing it as a classic surprise attack.

The hunter was knocked down by the bear and stepped on, sustaining injuries that included scratches from the claws. He was not bitten. The hunter fired the shotgun twice, hitting the bear and also fired a handgun, Hagengruber said.

The bear returned to the brush after being shot. The hunter was able to travel to the hospital in Choteau in the couples personal vehicle to receive treatment, Hagengruber said.

FWP bear management specialists, game wardens and Teton County Sheriffs Office deputies returned to the site, located and killed the bear later that afternoon after consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, FWP said in a new release.

The 677-pound adult male bear had no known previous history of human conflict and had never been handled by bear managers, the new release said.

FWP recommends taking precautions while in bear country, such as carrying pepper spray, traveling with a group of people and making noise.
DECATUR  Two Decatur police officers are in stable condition, one having undergone surgery for treatment of his wounds, after they were shot early Wednesday morning while conducting a traffic stop, Police Chief Shane Brandel said.

The driver of the car they stopped died during an exchange of gunfire that involved three Decatur police officers and a Macon County Sheriffs Department deputy.

The incident occurred around 12:25 a.m. in the 1300 block of East Walnut Street.

Anytime there is a loss of life, we are saddened, and our condolences go out to the family and loved ones of the deceased, Brandel said in a news release. We are also hurting for our officers, who were out working the streets trying to confront violent offenders and they were faced with an officers worst nightmare. Our prayers go out to the family and friends of our officers.

According to the news release, officers approached the vehicle and ordered the driver, who was the only person in the car, to show his hands. The driver refused. It was at this time an officer observed what appeared to be a handgun near the driver, prompting the officers to attempt to remove the driver from the car, the release stated.

As the officers attempted to remove the driver from the vehicle, the driver produced a handgun and fired multiple rounds at the officers at close range. At this point, the officers returned fire. The driver then again fired at the officers, at which time the officers again returned fire. During the exchange of gunfire, one Decatur police officer was hit multiple times and a second Decatur police officer was hit one time, the news release stated.

The driver was also struck multiple times, the release stated.

Rescue personnel arrived on scene within minutes, and transported the driver of the vehicle to Decatur Memorial Hospital, where he died. The officers that were shot were transported to DMH by other police officers on scene.

The release stated that one officer is in stable condition, while the second is listed in serious but stable condition and having underwent surgery.

Authorities have not identified any of the individuals involved in the shooting.

The Decatur officers involved in the incident will be placed on administrative leave, which is standard procedure for this type of incident, the release stated.

This incident was captured on both body-worn camera and in-car video.

In the interest of transparency, the Decatur Police Department will release the videos in the near future. The Decatur Police Department is committed to a full and transparent investigation into this Incident, the release stated.

The Illinois State Police is handling the investigation. In addition, the Decatur Police Department will conduct an internal investigation into the incident.
South Africa: IFWG announces RSB applications

Following the digital launch of its inaugural regulatory sandbox (RSB) in April 2020, the Intergovernmental Fintech Working Group (IFWG) has announced the opening of the RSB for applications following a new approach.

In a statement, the IFWG said it was at the same time releasing the publication of a feedback report documenting its experience in accepting a cohort of applications in 2020.

The RSB is a framework used by regulators across the world to foster innovation in the financial services sector while maintaining oversight of emerging risks.

The IFWG said: In South Africa, the RSB offers a controlled and live environment for financial sector innovators to safely test new financial products or services they seek to bring to market against existing regulation, all under the responsible supervision of members of the IFWG and with input from the relevant regulators.

Through this testing, the IFWG aims to better understand the risks and benefits associated with new market solutions and to make more informed decisions regarding policy positions and regulatory frameworks. The RSB also seeks to provide regulatory clarity to participants and industry more broadly, while providing insight into innovation for regulators and the policymaker to inform appropriate policy and regulatory responses.

The IFWG RSB was pleased to receive a total of 54 unique applications from 49 applicants to the 2020 cohort.

Nine sandbox tests from eight firms were accepted into the RSB and were bucketed into the following categories: cross-border payments using crypto assets (three sandbox tests); reporting of cross-border payments using distributed ledger technology (one); safe custody services (one); tokenisation of existing securities (one); crowdfunding (one); index insurance (one); and the use of non-traditional credit data (one sandbox test). For more details see the feedback report also released today.

Initially, the IFWG decided on a cohort-based approach where regulators received applications during an open application window, after which a group of applications was shortlisted for finalising RSB agreements to enable testing. The intention was to report back on the first cohort once all the testing had been completed. However, enabling testing between multiple regulators is a complex and involved process, resulting in testing starting in a delayed and staggered fashion. The IFWG therefore conducted a retrospective review prior to closing the first cohort to consider the performance of the RSB in achieving its objectives. The outcome of the review resulted in a shift from the cohort-based to an adjusted rolling-based approach.

An adjusted rolling-based approach means that the RSB will remain open for applications; however, the relevant regulators will provide guidance on their areas of focus, regulatory appetite, and capacity and resource constraints in assessing applications throughout the RSB period. It is anticipated that the new approach will enable the IFWG to be more agile in responding to industry innovation and be more expedient in providing feedback to applicants. Please visit the updated IFWG RSB webpage for more information on the updated approach and for more information on the application process.

The updated process is subject to further assessment to determine its adequacy and effectiveness as the IFWG strives to meet the demands of both regulators and applicants.

The report and more information on the RSB are available on the IFWG website: www.ifwg.co.za - SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2022-10-12. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
By Trend

The activities of up to 230 judges in Azerbaijan were assessed and the powers of 10 judges were terminated, due to professional shortcomings found last year, Trend reports citing the meeting of Judicial-Legal Council of Azerbaijan.

During the meeting, issue of assessing the activities of about 90 more judges were considered. The powers of two judges of the Court of Appeal were prematurely terminated on the basis of their statements.

In addition, eight judges were brought to disciplinary responsibility for gross violation of the requirements of the law, allowing situations that create conditions for corruption, and other shortcomings, including the powers of one judge were prematurely terminated, another judge was relieved of his post.
DECATUR  The Decatur man killed in a shoot-out with police was identified Wednesday as 32-year-old Jamontey O. Neal.

A news release from Macon County Coroner Michael E. Day said Neal was pronounced dead at 12:48 a.m. Wednesday in the emergency room of Decatur Memorial Hospital.

Mr. Neal suffered gunshot trauma in an exchange of gunfire with Decatur police during a traffic stop in the 1300 block of East Walnut Street, said Day.

Two as yet unidentified Decatur police officers were also shot and wounded in the gunfight and are recovering from their wounds in the same hospital.

The shooting is now the subject of an investigation by the Illinois State Police. Day said an autopsy will be performed on Neal on Thursday and an inquest is pending.
Dickenson County has been awarded $2.2 million from the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) to fund an acquisition, floodproofing and restoration project in the county.

Chris Rakes, Dickenson County building official, submitted the grant application in early April, prior to the flooding event that occurred in July of this year.

According to Rakes, the project provides potential flood relief for an estimated population of 110 residents within the project area, and also provides potential direct or indirect relief for homes and businesses downstream in Haysi, Virginia and Elkhorn City, Kentucky.

Since 1977 these areas have experienced 11 federally declared disasters due to severe storm and/or flooding. The project aims to acquire properties within the identified flood plains through voluntary acquisition, to flood proof homes and businesses when feasible and to perform streambank restoration as needed.

We are pleased to be awarded this funding in order to provide relief to Dickenson County residents that were not included in the project by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, Rakes said. Our priority will be to work with Dickenson County businesses to contract to have the work completed. The project area will start at the intersection of Sandlick Road and Russell Fork River Road, continue 0.75 mile up Lick Creek Road and end at the Town of Haysi jurisdictional boundary.

The project is expected to begin sometime early next year and will take approximately three years to complete.
Valley Rescue Squad is being acquired by Washington County, Virginia.

The move officially came Tuesday when the Washington County Board of Supervisors voted, on a motion by Supervisor Randy Pennington, to purchase the volunteer rescue squad and operate it as a county agency with paid employees.

Valley Rescue Squad serves the Hayters Gap neighborhood, as well as Lindell, Mongle Spring, Brumley Gap and part of Greendale. The squad also ventures into the nearby remote mountains. That includes the Clinch Mountain Wildlife Management Area, Hidden Valley Wildlife Management Area and the Channels State Forest.

And you have the rock climbers up at Hidden Valley and they fall every once in a while. Thats their area too. They cover that, Theresa Kingsley-Varble, the countys emergency management coordinator, said.

Valley Rescue Squad simply ran out of help, Kingsley-Varble said.

They were a victim of a lack of volunteers, which is prevalent everywhere. They did a good job over there for many years, Kingsley-Varble said. They just dont have the volunteers to run any longer.

Valley Rescue Squads building stands near the Hayters Gap Community Center, just off State Route 80.

The county will acquire the squads assets, including two ambulances and an EMS vehicle while also assuming nearly $10,000 in debut, the board decided Tuesday.

All assets will remain in the area to serve the community, Kingsley-Varble said.

Kingsley-Varble is unaware of how much money it will cost to operate Valley Rescue Squad.

We dont have those figures yet, she said.

Were staffing it with part-time folks, Kingsley-Varble said. And we have a full-time paramedic.

Volunteers are hard to find in any rescue squad these days, Kingsley-Varble said.

Everybodys work schedule just didnt permit for the calls to be covered, she said. And it just became apparent one person wasnt going to be able to solve the issue. So they made the decision to merge and come under the county.

Earlier this year, the county opened a rescue squad at Green Cove.

Now, more agencies may eventually come under the countys control, Kingsley-Varble predicted.

I anticipate that will because if there are not volunteers to run the calls. And its difficult for the agency to come up with the compensation to pay their providers.
The family of a Navy veteran killed after driving off a collapsed bridge has enlisted the help of wrongful death lawyers.

Alicia Paxson, wife of Philip John Paxson, hired attorneys from Saltz Mongeluzzi & Bendesky, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Ricci Law, of Greenville, North Carolina, to represent her family in a potential wrongful death claim.

Philip Paxson died Sept. 30 after driving off a collapsed bridge on 24th Street Place Northeast.

According to the incident report from the N.C. State Highway Patrol, Philip Paxson was travelling west on 24th Street Place Northeast, ran off the road due to the missing portion of the road and landed upside-down in the creek below at around 11 p.m.

Philip Paxson was found dead in his car the following morning. Master Trooper Jeff Swagger said alcohol impairment was not a contributing factor. Swagger also said Philip Paxson was travelling approximately 25 mph at the time of the accident.

The bridge had been closed since a culvert washed out in 2013, the Highway Patrol said in a news release.

On the night that Philip Paxson died, the couple were celebrating their 9-year-old daughters birthday with a party at their friend Jon Hopsons house, Alicia Paxson said. Hopson lives on 26th Street Drive Northeast, which connects to 24th Street Place Northeast, she said. Hopson said there are no signs between his house and the bridge to indicate it was closed and there were no barricades at the bridge.

Members of the community have since put up cement barricades to block both sides of the bridge, Robert Zimmerman, an attorney with Saltz Mongeluzzi & Bendesky, said.

Nine years this hazard was allowed to stay in this condition, Zimmerman said. The owner really had three choices when this bridge flooded out. They could have fixed the problem. They could have barricaded the hazard or they could have ignored it and they chose the dangerous option.

Zimmerman said the firm is investigating the accident to determine who was responsible for maintaining the bridge. Zimmerman said the firm had not filed a lawsuit as of Wednesday. He said it could be weeks or a few months before anything is filed.

According to the Highway Patrol, the road is not maintained by the N.C. Department of Transportation.

Zimmerman said the firm wants to be certain of who owns the bridge before releasing any names of developers or landowners.

We know that (the bridge) dates back to at least the 1960s and weve seen property records from the 1980s talking about the private ownership and maintenance responsibilities for the bridge, Zimmerman said. Since that time, weve seen some attempted deed transfers. So, we are actually going to work with real estate counsel to find the answer to that question.

Alicia Paxson said she hopes a lawsuit will prevent another fatal accident. It would have been so easy to prevent this. I feel, Alicia Paxson said. And I cant believe it didnt happen sooner.

Alicia Paxson said she and Philip Paxson would have been married for 15 years in October. They have two daughters, Juliet, 6, and Amelia, 9. She said Philip Paxson served in the U.S. Navy from 1993 to 1997.
A chase that looped around Burke County for about a half hour Tuesday afternoon came to a slow stop on N.C. 18 when the vehicle apparently ran out of gas.

Autumn Burhans, 28, was charged with felony flee to elude arrest, possession of a stolen vehicle, and larceny of a motor vehicle, along with a slew of traffic offenses including speeding, reckless driving and driving while license revoked, according to multiple law enforcement sources involved in the investigation.

The ordeal started Monday, when Billy Greene said he was trying to help a friend and took them to the Walmart store in Morganton. Greene said he was in the store for about five minutes and came outside to find his Ford Explorer missing.

He flagged down an officer, and the Morganton Department of Public Safety took a report of the stolen vehicle, said MDPS Sgt. J. Beaver. Agencies in the area were alerted to be on the lookout for the stolen vehicle.

Beaver said he drove by the Explorer on North Green Street near The Gate gas station on Tuesday afternoon and could see it was driven by Burhans. He turned around and tried to catch up to the vehicle but lost sight of it.

Morganton officers flooded the area looking for the vehicle, and Beaver said a message was relayed to deputies with the Burke County Sheriffs Office to be on the lookout for it.

Thats when a deputy got behind the vehicle on Salem Road and attempted to pull it over, said Sheriff Steve Whisenant.

The vehicle fled, launching a chase down Salem Road. The vehicle made its way back to Burkemont Avenue, then to Interstate 40, Whisenant said.

The chase continued east on I-40 to Exit 112, at times reaching speeds of 102 mph. The vehicle turned right onto Mineral Springs Mountain Road until it got to N.C. 18 South and headed back toward Morganton city limits, Whisenant said.

Burhans pulled over on N.C. 18 South when the vehicle apparently ran out of gas, Whisenant said.

Greene showed up at the scene to retrieve the vehicle, where he took a few minutes to clean it out, finding multiple hypodermic needles in the vehicle along with other assorted items.

Blown away, just absolutely blown away, Greene said. I cant believe what people will do these days and what measures they will go to to make things happen. Just blows my mind.

A records check on the North Carolina Department of Public Safety website showed Burhans had previous convictions of interfering with an electronic monitoring device and larceny after breaking and entering.
Ive been writing a newspaper column since 1986. During that time, Ive had occasion to criticize the policies of six North Carolina governors: Jim Martin, Jim Hunt, Mike Easley, Beverly Perdue, Pat McCrory and Roy Cooper.

None has seen fit to have me flogged. An ancestor of mine, William Pendley, wasnt so lucky.

Some years ago I wrote a book about the ancestry of my late father, Harold Hood. A native of Caldwell County, he had deep roots in the Carolina mountains. Most of his family arrived in what are now Caldwell, Burke, Wilkes, Ashe and Watauga counties during the 18th century.

Our ancestry includes Puritans escaping religious persecution to settle in New England, Cavaliers escaping Puritan persecution to settle in Virginia, and assorted malcontents escaping political enemies to settle in the mid-Atlantic colonies.

Among the latter was William Pendley  although, technically speaking, he wasnt fleeing his own enemies. He was fleeing those of his master, Walter Broadhurst.

Broadhurst was the scion of a wealthy Catholic family. Seeking freedom and fortune in the New World, Broadhurst arrived in Baltimore in 1639 with Pendley as a servant. Although poor enough to have to sell his services in exchange for passage, Pendley was literate and intelligent.

During his service to Broadhurst and another prominent Maryland citizen, Dr. Thomas Gerard, Pendley occasionally even acted as an attorney handling some local legal and land disputes.

The 1640s constituted a tumultuous time in Maryland politics. Lord Leonard Calvert, a Catholic and the colonys first proprietary governor, originally tried to rule Maryland with an iron fist. Provoking a violent response from the population, Calvert then yielded authority to a colonial assembly. A Protestant revolt forced Calvert, his family, and his religious and political allies to flee to Virginia for a couple of years.

Pendley, my ninth-great-grandfather, was among them. Records show that he spent several years in Virginia, performing legal services and serving on juries.

Lord Calvert returned to power in Maryland in 1646, then died a year later. On his deathbed, Calvert appointed Thomas Greene as his successor. But Greenes tenure lasted less than a year. The next governor, the Protestant William Stone, was less to William Pendleys liking, it seems.

The court record reports that in early 1649, Pendley gave a speech at the home of a certain John Hallowes at which he reviled Gov. Stone and his policies. Pendley said he regretted returning to Maryland in support of the government, that hed rather have stayed in Virginia, and indeed that hed rather have gathered oysters for a living than do any service for the governor.

Pendley was arrested and charged with sedition. A Maryland court convicted him and sentenced him to be imprisoned and whipped with 20 lashes. Within a few weeks, Pendley was dead at the shockingly young age of 30  most likely as a result of his flogging by the colonial authorities.

According to my ancestral studies, there were many other opinionated troublemakers in my family tree. Another ninth-great-grandfather, John Tully, was one of colonial Americas first publishers of editorials. And several Quaker forebears espoused and advanced the cause of abolition, one provoking a major court case in Virginia over the right to liberate slaves.

As far as I can tell, however, only one of my ancestors, William Pendley, was beaten to death for expressing his opinion. Puts things in perspective, doesnt it?
The Bahrain Banking Association (BAB) applauded the eagerness of numerous banks to develop training programs for six months for Bahraini graduates.

The program comes in response to the Central Bank of Bahrain's related decision to give national competencies with real-world experience that advances their knowledge and expertise in the financial and banking sectors and contributes to the recruitment of prominent individuals as employees at those banks.

Dr Waheed Al-Qassim, CEO of BAB emphasized that while some banks have planned to start this training in the near future, others have already started receiving trainees of students and recent graduates, integrating them into their work environments, and providing them with the necessary follow-up and assistance.

The six-month graduate training program in the banking and finance industry focuses on the fields that offer the most career prospects in the banking industry, including FinTech and digital financial services.

Additionally, this will facilitate graduates shift to join workforce prepared with the skills and knowledge necessary for future success and advancement by ensuring that students are up-to-date with developments in the banking sector, including its trends toward sustainability, green finance, open banking, treasury, legal affairs, and public relations, among others.

Al-Qassim, said: We applaud the financial and banking organizations' efficient response and constructive collaboration with the Association in putting the graduate training program the Society announced in August into action. This initiative falls under the umbrella of the CBB, Skills Bahrain, and Banking Financial Institutions' efforts to implement The Kingdom's Economic Recovery Plan, which called for the rehabilitation of national cadres and their integration into the financial and banking sector.

BAB is striving to ensure the success of this initiative by providing all the necessary support, in a manner that guarantees the recruitment of national cadres and their advancement to middle and senior management positions. This is in addition to creating the right conditions for the new generation of bankers to gradually assume their role and provide fresh creative ideas, he added. -TradeArabia News Service
CONCORD  Kaulig Giving has joined Daniel Hemric in supporting local Rowan-Cabarrus Community College students by contributing to Hemrics Be the Change Scholarship endowment. By doing so, the annual scholarship, seeded in 2019, will be awarded to two students in 2022.

We started Kaulig Giving in 2018 to support many different causes just like Daniels Be the Change scholarship, said Matt Kaulig, Kaulig Racing team owner and executive chairman of Kaulig Giving. Helping students to further their education and pursue their passion is something many of the organizations we are involved in advocate for. Daniel being a part of the Kaulig Racing family made this an easy decision for us to get involved in Be the Change and support the community he grew up in.

Through the Rowan-Cabarrus Community College Foundation, the scholarship is available to a student from Cabarrus or Rowan county that qualifies for financial aid and has chosen a field of study in motorsports, welding or mechanical engineering.

I cant say thank you enough to Matt Kaulig and Kaulig Giving for their donation to the Be the Change Scholarship, said Hemric, who drives the No. 11 Chevrolet in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for Kaulig Racing. Kenzie and I started this scholarship to help folks like us, because if not for racing, pursing a certification at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College wouldve been a great career path for me. Thanks to Kaulig Giving, this year were going to be able to help two students pursue that dream.

We are grateful for the incredible generosity of Kaulig Giving and Daniel and Kenzie Hemric, said Sarah Devlin, chief officer of governance, advancement and community relations of Rowan-Cabarrus Community College. Their investment in our students makes it possible for them to achieve their dreams and provide a better life for themselves and their families. The combined gift doubled the Daniel Hemric Be the Change Endowment, exponentially growing the number of students who benefit from their generosity while preparing them for the immediate job needs in our area and those of the future.

Scholarships are provided through the Rowan-Cabarrus Community College Foundation, and students enrolled at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College can discover more information about The Daniel Hemric Be the Change Scholarship online at www.rccc.edu/foudnation/apply-for-scholarships or by email at foundation@rccc.edu.
Today in Gothic politics, a note from Brazil:

Take a look at point 2.

A quick run to Google Translate for "Lula nao tem pacto nem jamais conversou com o diabo" yields "Lula has no pact nor has he ever talked to the devil."

Why deny it? Apparently rumors and slurs flew. There was at least one metaphorical charge of devil dealing. Lula's present campaign has had to deny any Faustismo.
Winning business from Asian carriers operating on the Singapore route and the flow through of benefits from the expanding cloud market has helped Australian-listed telecommunications provider of Data Centre, Dark Fibre and International Internet connectivity, Vocus Communications, to a big increase in earnings and an expansion in revenue to $45.29 million for the full year 2012.

Vocus (ASX:VOC) launched its Asian expansion during the year with a Singapore Point of Presence (POP) and CEO, James Spenceley, said the company had recorded a 69.8 percent increase in underlying Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA) to $16.67 million for the full year 2012, compared to $9.82 million for the full year 2011, and a net profit after tax increase of 52.1 percent to $8.44 million (FY11 $5.55 million).



According to Spenceley, the excellent result was achieved with the company benefiting from the growing momentum in the cloud revolution and the successful strategy of providing its customers with data centre and optical fibre infrastructure combined with the core IP product.



We continue to be a leading challenger in the Australian and New Zealand telecommunications market, and with our strong position in the Internet, Dark Fibre and Data Centre markets, Vocus is ideally placed to capitalise on the growing Cloud Computing market and become the communications infrastructure provider of choice, he added.





Spenceley outlined operational highlights for the 2012 financial year as: Won prestigious ACOMMS customer service award in July 2012 Laid Dark Fibre across the Sydney Harbour, for the lowest latency fibre path between the Sydney CBD and the ASX Gore Hill trading centre Increased fibre network coverage by 298% year on year Acquisition of Maxnet, a premium data centre and cloud provider in New Zealand Launched Asian expansion with Singapore Point of Presence (POP) Winning business from Asian carriers on the Singapore route Successful entry into the Corporate/Direct market which accounted for 18% of FY12 sales
include_once "/home/jwreview/public_html/$theme/includes/sidebar.php"; ?> Next week, a young college student will face a federal judge in Washington, D.C., at a sentencing hearing over his nonviolent participation in the Jan. 6 Capitol rally. UCLA undergrad Christian Secor was arrested last February and spent more than a month in solitary confinement. Think about that.

Unlike the weekly parade of repeat violent criminal rapists, robbers, pedophiles and murderers across the country with massive rap sheets who enjoy a no-bail revolving door, Christian had never, ever been in trouble with the law before his arrest.

The un-American Department of Injustice has made life hell for hundreds of peaceful Trump rally participants  locking them up, throwing away the key, harassing their families, withholding evidence and obliterating their constitutional rights to stifle dissent, punish the Democrats' political enemies and weaponize J6 till kingdom come. Don't take my word for it.

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A D.C. magistrate overseeing some of the cases, Zia Faruqui, decried the gargantuan prosecutions of nearly 900 defendants, including at least two Americans who were left to languish in custody after being "lost" for weeks without scheduled hearings.

"It feels like the government has bitten off more than it can chew here," Faruqui complained in March.

Yes, the vengeful federal beast has an insatiable appetite and bottomless resources to ruin lives. The D.C. witch-hunt prosecutors threw a pile of charges at Christian that made sensational headlines, including "assaulting, resisting or impeding officers," as liberal National Public Radio reported. Christian pleaded not guilty to all charges in March 2021 but, 14 wearying months later, entered an agreement to plead guilty to a single felony charge of "obstructing a federal proceeding."

Here is what I wrote to the judge in Christian's case, the Honorable Trevor McFadden, to share what I know about this bright young man as he faces up to 20 years in prison next week.

Dear Judge McFadden,

My name is Michelle Malkin and I am writing on behalf of Christian Secor, whom you will sentence on October 19, 2022. I am a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist, investigative journalist, author of 7 books, campus speaker, and mentor to countless young conservative activists across the country for the past 30 years.

In November 2019, I first met Christian before giving a speech at UCLA sponsored by the Bruin Republicans. I instantly found him to be polite, witty, and highly intelligent. He demonstrated broad and deep knowledge of world affairs. We share similar perspectives as passionate defenders of American sovereignty and unapologetic nationalism. I saw or communicated with Christian several times between the fall of 2019 and the fall of 2020. He was constructively engaged in student activism on campus locally and in helping to unite conservative students nationally on immigration and public health and safety issues as the pandemic era erupted.

Knowing my love of the outdoors, Christian sent me a beautiful mountain and rainbow photo from his summer 2020 vacation in flyover country. He thoughtfully messaged to wish me happy birthday in October 2020. Four months later, I learned of his arrest and the shocking 40 days he spent in solitary confinement.

A non-violent college kid with zero criminal record held in isolation for 40 days? This isn't the America my immigrant parents from the Philippines thought they were getting when they left an authoritarian regime that jailed political opponents and punished student activists.

Never in any of my conversations or interactions with Christian did he ever express support for violence.

Never in any of my conversations or interactions with Christian did he ever express any sentiments of "racism," "Nazism," "white supremacy," "fascism," or "insurrection."

As a veteran journalist who has worked in newspapers and on TV for the past three decades, as well as an Internet entrepreneur who founded two influential political news and opinion websites, I am deeply disturbed by the distorted media profiles of Christian that have baselessly savaged his character and transformed him from a peacefully provocative student activist into some sort of dangerous agent provocateur. This is patently untrue and unjust.

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I understand Christian has pled guilty to one felony charge of "obstructing a federal proceeding."

I also understand that Christian did not bring any weapons, touch an officer, or ignore any police requests. I understand he walked in a door that Capitol police opened and then stepped aside. I understand that after entering the main Senate floor, he was told by a police officer to leave  and he dutifully complied.

Judge McFadden, I ask that justice be served in Christian's case by granting him probation and allowing this 24-year-old to continue his educational pursuits in freedom instead of continuing to serve as a political scapegoat behind bars. Thank you for considering this letter of support.

Pray for sanity and justice to prevail in this case and so many others still suffering in solitude and silence. End-stage America's victims are legion.

(COMMENT, BELOW)
CHAMPAIGN  Illinoisans experienced mild temperatures in the first half of September, followed by summer-like conditions and then a cooler week to finish off the month, said Illinois State Climatologist Trent Ford at the University of Illinois Illinois State Water Survey.

The average state rainfall amount was slightly below normal.

During the hot week in the third week of September, high temperatures reached into the mid- to upper 90s across the state. Among the very high temperatures was 99 degrees observed in Carbondale on Sept. 21. A cold front that moved through the state around that same date brought much cooler, drier air into the region. Nighttime low temperatures in the final week of the month regularly dipped into the upper 30s and low 40s. A few weather stations even reached the 32-degree mark in the last week of September.

Overall, the preliminary statewide average September temperature was 66.8 degrees, 0.6 degrees above the 19912020 average.

Precipitation

September was much drier than normal for most of southern and northeastern Illinois and near normal to slightly wetter than normal in parts of northern and west-central Illinois. Total precipitation last month ranged from over six inches in parts of western and northern Illinois to less than one inch in far southern Illinois.

The dry weather in the latter half of September allowed a smooth start to fall harvest. However, deteriorating conditions in southern and central Illinois have resulted in an increased fire risk and concerns of low levels in the Mississippi and Illinois rivers.

Overall, the preliminary statewide average total September precipitation was 2.66 inches, 0.53 inches below the 19912020 average.

Outlooks
With apologies to Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein, Old Man River is no longer rolling along.

You may be a long way from the Mississippi River, but it is only a short distance from Central Illinois farmers. And some of them who quickly realize the precariousness of the situation are becoming frantic. Soon, all will be.

Their grain will be on a barge stuck in the mud, somewhere between St. Louis and New Orleans.

A quick glimpse at a U.S. Geological Survey map, or consultation with a neighborhood 5th grader, will remind one that about two-thirds of North America is drained by the Mississippi River. All the runoff into the Upper Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, and Arkansas rivers flows into the Lower Mississippi. It floats untold numbers of grain barges headed downstream and launches ocean freighters full of grain to global ports.

That massive watershed is dry. The soil is dry. Drought has cut crop yields, burned up range land, and has spread from the Western United States to the Midwest over the past two years. Now, it is drying up the rivers needed to transport grain to the world and deliver a variety of products you never thought you could live without.

Going into the past weekend, the Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Coast Guard reported nearly 3,000 barges tied up along riverbanks because the channel was no longer wide enough nor deep enough for passage without getting stuck. That number will increase every day until..

until it rains. Rain has become something of a novelty. Over half of the country has a drought-designated number and label that indicates severity of the drought. Within the watershed of the Upper Mississippi, Minneapolis had its driest September ever. Dubuque, Iowa, registered its third driest September, Peoria and Paducah report the sixth driest September. Kansas City was at nine and Ann Arbor, MI, at number 10.

USDAs Midwest Climate Hub at Ames, Iowa, says it will be difficult for the winter wheat crop to get established this fall. Field fires are a significant hazard. Dry soils will have issues absorbing fall nitrogen applications.

While an October devoid of rain is a welcome opportunity for a quick harvest that every farmer would appreciate, most would want to shut the machine shed door just in time for a daily inch of rain throughout November and much of December. That would recharge soil moisture that is severely depleted and begin to refloat the barges on the Mississippi.

Restoring river transportation is more important than most people realize. Currently, U.S. grain exports have been stalled during harvest because of low river flows. The additional costs of lost time in getting grain to New Orleans grain terminals is rapidly reducing Midwestern grain bids.

While farmers are watching their income decline daily because of the river, non-farmers who depend on northbound commodities will realize it later. As prices for road salt, swimming pool chlorine, and lawn fertilizer double, remember the river delivers those things.
CHARLESTON  After nearly an hour of debate and with an 8-4 vote Tuesday, the Coles County Board approved amendments to the county's wind energy ordinance.

The four members who voted against the ordinance were Rick Shook, Denise Corray, Jeremy Doughty and Lisa Jaco. All other members of the board voted in favor.

The amendments were made to a 12-year-old ordinance that some members of the board said needed updated to best benefit citizens as companies begin eying the county for potential wind farms.

Apex Energy, parent company of Coles Wind, hopes to move forward with plans of building around 70 wind turbines in rural Coles County. The company is currently leasing approximately 15,000 acres of land from local farmers.

In a statement from Apex Senior Development Manager Julianna Pianelli, she said the company recognizes the new ordinance is more restrictive than the original.

"While that makes our job more challenging, we respect and appreciate all the time, effort, and diligence that the committee put into the extensive public input process in more than a year of deliberations on this topic," Pianelli said. "We think the Board found a good balance between ensuring that wind development is a safe and responsible fit for the county, while encouraging needed economic development for the community and the many participating landowners who are excited to be a part of this project."

Pianelli said Coles Wind will provide enough clean energy to power over 100,000 U.S. homes, while paying over $81 million in local property taxes.

Ahead of the final vote, three additional amendments were made to the ordinance, all of which were items State's Attorney Jesse Danley recommended to the board.

The first was adding a limit to the number of wind energy devices that could be located in Coles County. After debate on what number would be appropriate with regards to not creating a monopoly on wind energy in the county, the board took a vote on limiting the number to 120 devices.

The revision passed with a 7-5 vote. Board members Shook, Corray, Doughty, Gail Mason and Nancy Purdy voted against the change.

Pianelli said the decision to limit the number of turbines in the county was confusing.

"Weve worked very hard over the last two and a half years to be clear, transparent, and open about our project and the benefits that it would bring to Coles County. Much of the boards discussion centered around ensuring that the turbine limit would not impact Coles Wind, and we appreciate the confidence the County has shown in our project and our work. Several members of the board stated during discussion that the number they ultimately chose was arbitrary," Pianelli said. "While this arbitrary limitation would not impact the Coles Wind project, its unclear why this was included after the acknowledgement that it had no rational basis, as this has an impact on the property rights of many other Coles County citizens who may want to participate in a future energy project."

The second revision pertained to wildlife requirements for the areas wind turbines are built. The language previously read "The applicant shall implement the recommendations of the (Illinois Department of Natural Resources)/(U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) based on post-sitting study results unless credible evidence is presented against the recommendation."

With a 7-5 vote, the board removed "unless credible evidence is presented against the recommendation" from the sentence to avoid concerns of the board being being left to determine what evidence is and is not credible.

Board members Shook, Michael Watts, Bob Bennett, Darrell Cox and John Doty voted against the change.

The last amendment was to the section regarding the decommissioning of the wind turbines. The section read:

"An estimate of the decommissioning/deconstruction costs certified by a professional engineer in current dollars and shall be updated and submitted to the Coles County Regional Planning & Development Commission every five years. The financial assurance shall be the estimated decommissioning/deconstruction cost of the entire project plus ten percent (10%) less salvage value."

The board voted 10-2 to remove "plus ten percent (10%) less salvage value" from the language. Shook and Cox both voted against the change.

Cox, a member of the Planning and Development Committee, which was responsible for updating the language in the ordinance, said he voted in favor of the ordinance because citizens needed better protections than the original language in the ordinance offered.

"I'm not a huge proponent of wind energy. I don't think we'd be having this discussion if it wasn't subsidized by the federal government, but I felt like we had to have something in place to protect the citizens and the county. The old ordinance was way outdated," Cox said.

He added he believes the ordinance is fair for both businesses and citizens.

"I think we've passed an ordinance that was equitable, trying to allow wind energy to come to Coles County and still protect the citizens that live in the areas where the towers will be located," Cox said.

Shook said he voted against the ordinance because he saw a number of potential issues, including road damages as materials are being brought in and where the materials for the wind turbines will be purchased.

"This country is wanting stuff not to come from China here anymore, and all that stuff. Well, we have an opportunity to do that (but nothing in the ordinance specifies where materials should be bought)," Shook said. "I got a problem with that. It'll help the farmers lot but I'm totally against it."

Corray and Jaco said they voted "no" because they believed the board needed more time to review the proposed ordinance and the changes.

"There's a lot of misunderstandings among some of the board members," Jaco said after the vote. "They didn't understand all the amendments."

Watts, said he voted in favor of the ordinance because he believes it is in a "sweet spot."

"I think it offers a lot more protections than the existing ordinance that we have in place," Watts said. "And that's really what it's all about, trying find the sweet spot where we're protecting property owners rights that aren't wanting to be part of the project, protecting environmental concerns for like all the Lake Charleston, Warbler Ridge and Fox Ridge, but at the same time, trying to see if we can find a place where the economic development from this can take place."

Mason said she voted in favor because she felt like she was presented with a well-reviewed ordinance.

"I feel as though enough research has been done and I've attended three or four meetings where it was discussed and many eyes have examined it," Mason said.

"I am by no means an expert but I feel as though what we ended up with is a reasonable place and I think it's better than the last (ordinance)."

She said while she disagreed with the number of wind turbines that will be allowed in the county, she was fine with the ordinance because she knows it can be changed if needed.

Robb Perry, an independent candidate for county board for District 6, said he wanted to commend the board for their lengthy discussion on the amendments, but believed the board should have tabled the vote until all members were all fully informed about the changes.

"If you guys are arguing between the facts, and you're not sure of it, why would you go ahead and push it on through," Perry asked. "To me that is just dumb."

Paul Komada, who was in favor of the ordinance passing, said he signed up to speak during public comment to urge the board to pass the wind ordinance but that it was a moot point after the vote had been taken.

"I thank you for the attention you have shown to this matter," Komada said.

James DiNaso, who was against the ordinance, said he was concerned about the vote taking place so close to elections where five members of the board are facing contested races, as well as concerns about some current members being appointed rather than elected.

"You're making decisions that will have the impact, they're going to last for 30 years," DiNaso said. "...We're going to be stuck with the consequences of a lot of things that are going to pass here by people who are not even going to be here in another three months, which I think is wrong. I think we should wait till after the election to make any type of big decisions and let the people elect their representatives."
CHICAGO  Darren Bailey, the Republican nominee for governor, this week plans to air his first broadcast TV ads of the general election campaign, releasing a commercial aiming to underscore the state senators criticism that incumbent Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker is responsible for rising crime in Chicago and Illinois.

While other TV ads critical of Pritzker have been airing since Bailey won the six-man GOP primary race, those ads were paid for by a political action committee aligned with Baileys campaign. The new TV ad is the first to be broadcast and paid for by Baileys campaign.

The ad buy for the 30-second spot totals $534,000, campaign spokesman Joe DeBose said, and will include being broadcast in the expensive Chicago-area TV market. DeBose said the ad is slated to debut Wednesday or Thursday.

The purchase of airtime by Bailey pales in comparison with the millions of dollars Pritzkers campaign has spent on his campaign TV ads.

While Pritzker has so far funded his campaign to the tune of $152 million since winning the governors office in 2018, Illinois State Board of Elections records show Bailey, his farming business and members of his family have contributed more than $1.5 million into the state senator from Xenias campaign for governor since he announced his candidacy in February of last year.

On Friday, Baileys mother contributed $700,000 to her sons campaign, bringing to more than $1 million the total Norma Jean Bailey has given to the campaign, state records show.

Bailey used the release of the commercial as a fundraising pitch to supporters, asking via text: Will you consider chipping in $50 or $15 to put this ad on TV? Right now, J.B. is dominating the airwaves and we need to get our message out.

Overall, state records show, Bailey has raised nearly $14 million since announcing his candidacy, but of that total he has raised only $2.7 million since winning the GOP nomination on June 28. Bailey has in total received $10 million from Republican megadonor Richard Uihlein, but only $1 million of that has come since Bailey won the primary. Uihlein also is funding the aligned political action committee, People Who Play By The Rules PAC, which is run by Dan Proft, the Florida-based GOP political operative and radio personality.

Baileys commercial shows several video snippets of crimes, such as theft and arson, being committed. It begins with the sound of a blaring alarm and a disclaimer that the scenes are graphic and not suitable for children. It then ticks off what appear to be multiyear crime statistics from the Chicago Police Department for murders, shootings, sexual assaults, robberies and batteries that crawl across the bottom of the screen.

Under J.B. Pritzker and (Chicago Mayor) Lori Lightfoot, crime is out of control, Bailey says in the ad.

Through Sunday, Chicago has seen double-digit percentage reductions in shootings and homicides  20% and 18%, respectively  over last year. But since 2019, when Pritzker and Lightfoots terms began, homicides and shootings in the city were each up by at least 30%, according to official Chicago police statistics. In that period, Chicago and other large U.S. cities saw increases in gun violence and other crimes throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and in the aftermath of the police-custody murder of George Floyd in Minnesota.

Also in the commercial, Bailey states that, as governor, he would end Pritzkers no-cash bail policy thats putting violent criminals back on our streets, implying a measure in the SAFE-T Act that passed last year was already in effect  when, in fact, the no-cash bail policy doesnt become law until Jan. 1, 2023.

Rick Pearson reported from Chicago.
Billionaire Ken Griffin had the political world buzzing when he donated $50 million to Aurora Mayor Richard Irvins ultimately unsuccessful bid for the Republican governor nomination.

But a second billionaire involved in the GOP race to challenge first-term Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker has now exceeded Griffins largesse with his contributions in support of the candidate who came out on top in the primary, Darren Bailey.

With a donation Friday, ultraconservative megadonor Richard Uihlein of Lake Forest, the founder of the Uline office supply and packaging firm, has given more than $52 million to back Bailey, primarily by being the chief funding source for a political action committee allied with the wealthy downstate farmer from Xenia.

The Play By The Rules PAC reported getting more than $13.9 million from Uihlein on Friday, State Board of Elections records show. With the donation, the PAC run by right-wing radio host Dan Proft of Naples, Florida, has received more than $42 million from Uihlein, including nearly $34 million since Bailey won the June 28 primary.

Uihlein, one of the nations largest donors for conservatives and conservative causes, has also given more than $10 million directly to Bailey, all but $1 million of it before the primary.

Uihlein has long supported other PACs and candidates backed by Proft, including Profts own 2010 bid for the Republican primary for governor, in which he finished sixth.

The billionaires decision to primarily direct his money to the PAC indicates a comfort level with Proft and apparent unease with the management of Baileys campaign against Pritzker, a billionaire entrepreneur and heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune.

Profts Play By The Rules is an independent expenditure PAC which, by law, cannot coordinate its activities with Bailey. The PACs main spending has been for advertising criticizing Pritzer and only occasionally backing Bailey, who has yet to run a general election ad.

Proft is also aligned with a management group that has sent political mailings, filled with misinformation and innuendo, disguised as newspapers to voters across Illinois.

The PAC has reported spending $27.4 million since it was launched in March, with nearly $20 million of the total spent since the primary, primarily on TV ads, state records show.

Since the 2020 general election, Uihlein has made more than $57.5 million in donations to GOP candidates and causes. Besides his contributions to the Proft PAC and Bailey, he has given more than $2.6 million to Illinois Senate Republican leader Dan McConchie of Hawthorn Woods, records show.

Uihlein also has given $1 million to a group opposing a proposed state constitutional amendment on the ballot that is backed by unions and would enshrine collective bargaining rights in the states governing document.

Griffin, founder and CEO of the Citadel investment firm who had been the richest resident of Illinois, announced only days before the primary, where the slate of candidates he was backing fell far short of expectations, that he and his business operations were moving to Miami.

Griffin has emerged as a major GOP fundraiser nationally and is backing Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is exploring a potential 2024 White House bid.
Former Winston-Salem Council Member Derwin Montgomery appeared briefly in federal court Tuesday to face new indictments that were handed down to correct an error.

Montgomery, 34, once again pleaded not guilty to what is known as a superseding 15-count indictment that alleges he embezzled more than $26,000 from Bethesda Center for the Homeless from 2018 to 2020, while he served as executive director.

Indictments allege that Montgomery illegally charged Bethesda for a trip with a romantic partner to Cancun, Mexico, stays at luxury hotels in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and Charleston, S.C.; and expenses incurred at a strip club in Las Vegas. Indictments also allege that Montgomery charged Bethesda for services from his media company, Upstart Media LLC. Bethesdas conflict of interest policies prohibited Montgomery from hiring his own company, which was defunct at the time, indictments allege. Montgomery is also accused of charging Bethesda for the use of a $54,000 GMC Yukon Denali for what he said were shelter operations, indictments allege.

Montgomery, a pastor at First Calvary Baptist Church, told his congregation on Sept. 4 that he is not guilty and that he left Bethesda Center in the best financial situation in the organizations history.

He plans to fight the charges in a jury trial, according to a joint status report filed Sept. 28 in U.S. District Court by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joanna G. McFadden and Chris Clifton, one of Montgomerys attorneys. The report said that federal prosecutors and Montgomerys attorneys have talked about issues related to ensuring Montgomerys constitutional right to a speedy trial is not violated. The report said that there would be no speedy trial issues as long as the trial can start before Nov. 16.

At court Tuesday, Michael Grace, also Montgomerys attorney, waived any formal reading of the superseding indictments, and U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder made sure that Montgomery understood the charges he was facing.

No new court date was set on Tuesday, and Montgomery is out on a $10,000 unsecured bond.

Federal prosecutors have not said how the criminal investigation into Montgomery started. Linda Jackson-Barnes, chairwoman of Bethesdas board, has said neither she nor any other board member was aware of a criminal investigation into Montgomery when she announced his resignation in January 2021. She declined comment when asked whether Montgomery was suspended or placed on administrative leave before his resignation.

He served as executive director for more than six years.

He is currently on paid administrative leave as governmental relations director for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, pending an internal investigation.

Montgomery served as Winston-Salem city council member for the East Ward from 2009 to 2018 and was appointed to replace Ed Hanes as state house representative for District 72 in the N.C. General Assembly. He also unsuccessfully ran for the 6th Congressional District.
Saudi-based Retal Urban Development Company has signed an agreement with the National Housing Company for the development of 550 residentail units within the Al Fursan district 2 in the capital Riyadh at a total investment of SR605 million ($161 million).

The project, which will come up on a total 166,446-sq-m area, is being primarily funded through off-plan sales and partially from self-financing, said Retal in its filing to Saudi bourse Tadawul.

Work on the key housing project will begin the very next day, NHC hands over the plot to the company, it stated, adding that it will be completed within 42 months.

According to Retal, the project is expected to have a positive impact on the company's results post the start of sale and the project execution.
The Forsyth County Sheriffs Office announced Wednesday that it can live-stream 911 emergency calls directly to sheriffs deputies.

The new program, Live911, is a technology that works with the computer systems used to improve the daily duties of patrol deputies, the sheriffs office said.

The Forsyth County Sheriffs Office is the first agency in North Carolina, and one of fewer than 70 agencies nationwide, to implement Live911, the sheriffs office said.

Live911 allows deputies working throughout Forsyth County to listen in real-time to 911 calls within a specific geographic area, the sheriffs office said. The technology will enhance the ability of the deputies to serve and protect county residents, Sheriff Bobby Kimbrough Jr. said.

The Live911 program enables deputies to more swiftly and appropriately respond to emergency calls for service, ultimately improving both response times and de-escalation abilities, sheriffs office said.

The program was created by a law enforcement officer to improve information flow and reduce response times of officers working in the field, the sheriffs office said.

Live911 is a tool that enhances and assists  but does not replace  the work of our FCSO dispatchers, all with the goal of providing better service to our community, the sheriffs office said.

Using the Live911 program, deputies can set a geographic area on their in-vehicle computers, the sheriffs office said.

When a 911 call from within that pre-set area comes into the FCSO Communications Center, the deputy sitting in his or her patrol vehicle in the field is able to listen in on the call real-time, the sheriffs office said.

The deputy is not able to communicate directly with the caller, but can listen to the dialogue between the dispatcher and the caller, including the callers actual words and tone of voice, the sheriffs office said. This provides the deputy with a better understanding of the urgency of that specific situation as well as real-time updates, all while the deputy is en route to the call for service.

Deputies using the program can now see the location of the call as it comes in, as opposed to waiting for the dispatcher to gather and relay the address, the sheriffs office said.

This allows deputies to be en route to the location while our dispatchers work to gain the crucial information needed prior to arrival, Kimbrough said. We are excited to add this tool to our toolbox as we continue to forge new pathways as the most technologically advanced sheriffs office in North Carolina.

Kimbrough said that the program will assist in de-escalating situations, improving deputies response times, and providing an even higher quality of service to our community.

The sheriffs office is committed to using a 21st-century technology in serving county residents, Kimbrough said.
GREENSBORO  The public is invited to celebrate veterans tonight when they return from a daylong trip to Washington to visit the memorials there as part of the fall Triad Honor Flight.

Nearly 100 veterans will take off this morning from Piedmont Triad International Airport for the trip to the nation's capital. This flight includes veterans who served during WWII, Korea, the Cold War and Vietnam, according to the nonprofit Triad Honor Flight, which organizes the free trips for veterans 65 and older.

While in Washington, the veterans are scheduled to visit Arlington Cemetery and the Iwo Jima, Air Force, WWII, Korean War, Vietnam Veterans and Lincoln memorials.

They're scheduled to return about 8:15 p.m. to a crowd of well-wishers at the airport, 1000 Ted Johnson Parkway in Greensboro.

This is a great day not only for our Triad veterans, but also our community," PTI Executive Director Kevin Baker said in a news release. "Wednesdays flight is especially exciting for us as our PTI ambassador, Richard (Dick) Sherrick, is participating in the Honor Flight, and a lot of familiar faces will be here to welcome him and his comrades home.

The welcome home celebration is at the airport's departures level near doors two and three.

"They deserve this," Alison Huber, Triad Honor Flight executive director and organizer, said in the release. "Its the welcome home that theyve never received before."
A German company that makes ventilation system motors is eying Winston-Salem as a possible site for its North American headquarters and manufacturing, and the city is dangling more than $600,000 in financial incentives to try to seal the deal.

Its not a done deal, city leaders say, since the company is looking at other sites in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. But since the company already has 200 jobs at its plant in Guilford County, city leaders say those jobs could at least stay in the Triad if the company moves here.

City officials are using the code name Project Bluefin to describe the recruitment effort, which if successful, would include putting the 200 Guilford jobs here and adding another 300 jobs over the following five years.

The jobs have an average wage of about $60,000 per year. The city has not yet identified the company.

Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines said he made a courtesy call to Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan to make sure folks in that city didnt see Winston-Salem as poaching on friendly turf. As Joines explained, the cities have an agreement not to do that.

The company approached us, Joines told council members during a meeting of the city councils Finance Committee on Monday. Joines said Vaughan told him it was better the jobs come to Winston-Salem than leave the Triad altogether.

City officials said the industrial prospect makes motors for ventilation systems in hospitals, schools, government buildings, data centers and for other applications including food and cold storage. The parent company is based in Germany, but the new location would be its headquarters and main distribution and manufacturing site for North America.

Joines said the company is eying a location in the Union Cross area.

The city incentives would total $632,947, which is based on 50% of the net new property-tax revenues the project is expected to create over seven years.

To get the full amount, the company would have to maintain the 200 existing jobs, create 300 new jobs within five years, and make a capital investment of $50.5 million.

Clawback provisions also apply if the company ceases operation.

Laura Lee, the senior president of economic development for Greater Winston-Salem Inc., told Winston-Salem council members that the potential exists for even more jobs from the company. Lee said the prospect is looking at having a workforce of 800 within a 10-year span of operation.

The company is on the fast track, too, Lee said.

They are hoping to break ground by the end of the year, and be in operation by December of 2023  which is about as aggressive a timeline that you can have, she said

At the same time, Lee said, the city is up against fierce competition for the expansion and relocation.

City leaders took pains to say that the incentives the city would give would be paid out from the new tax revenues the project brings in, so that we are not taking money from our budget, Joines said.

Officials told council members the company would be taking steps to hire local people and would be holding a job fair to encourage local people to apply for jobs. The companys current work force is 33% female and 39% minority, which includes Black employees who make up 26% of the company employment.

Most of the new employees would be classed as laborers, officials said, but jobs would also be in engineering, logistics, purchasing, finance and human resources, among others.

City officials said the manufacturing company would be applying for incentives from the state and Forsyth County.

The Finance Committee on Monday unanimously endorsed the incentives package for the company on Monday, pushing the item to Mondays meeting of the city council.
One of the two Baxter Auto locations in Lincoln has a new owner.

Omaha-based Baxter on Wednesday announced the sale of four of its Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram dealerships, including the Lincoln store at 6601 Telluride Drive, which is near the 27th Street exit on Interstate 80.

Edwards Auto Group of Council Bluffs, Iowa, bought the four dealerships but subsequently sold two of them, including the Lincoln dealership, which is now owned by Sid Dillon. Edwards also sold the Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram dealership in Papillion to H&H Auto, but will retain the locations at 180th Street and West Dodge Road in Omaha as well as one in Bellevue.

Baxter has owned the Lincoln Dodge dealership since 1993.

The news follows Baxters March acquisition of Toyota of Colorado Springs. Additionally, Baxter opened Baxter Subaru La Vista in July 2021 and Subaru of Olathe in Olathe, Kansas, in 2020, and built two new dealership buildings and a new corporate headquarters, all in Omaha, over recent years.

Mickey Anderson, president and chief executive officer at Baxter Auto Group, said in a news release that the company has been focused on expansion, with recent dealership openings and acquisitions.

With strong demand for established, profitable dealerships, our team determined that this was an appropriate time to divest of these stores. This transaction is consistent with our long-term plan for geographic diversity, Anderson said.

Baxter will continue to own Baxter Toyota at 8600 S. 33rd St. in Lincoln.

The purchase of the former Baxter Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram gives Sid Dillon three locations in Lincoln. It owns a Buick-Nissan-Hyundai dealership at 2627 Kendra Lane and a pre-owned dealership at 5730 O St.
More than two years after the coronavirus moved classes exclusively onto Zoom, nearly 9 out of every 10 students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln continue to enroll in at least one online course.

The ease of accessing an online course and the utility of doing so has boosted the number of credit hours UNL students are taking each semester and helped push the four-year graduation rate to its highest level in a decade.

UNL will aim to build on those successes by creating a new administrative position to work with faculty, staff and administrators to develop credit and non-credit programs, identify new market areas and grow enrollment.

The inaugural assistant vice chancellor for digital and online learning  a job description was posted last week  will also create opportunities for learners of all ages, said Katherine Ankerson, who started as UNLs executive vice chancellor in January.

That means creating online courses for high school students seeking to earn college credit, ensuring the online course catalog is robust enough to meet the needs of UNL's students seeking to earn credit over the summer, and developing offerings for individuals in the workforce seeking to acquire new skills, Ankerson added.

I want to see somebody who is entrepreneurial and collaborative, who has a strong background in developing online programs and understands the needs of diverse students, she said.

The move to hire a champion of digital and online learning, according to the job posting, comes after the University of Nebraska opted to shut down its systemwide online education program earlier this year.

After starting with a single online degree program in 2007, the University of Nebraska Online Worldwide  later shortened to NU Online  was offering 34 undergraduate and 121 graduate programs by 2020.

NU Online enrolled 5,500 Nebraskans and 8,000 others from every state in the U.S. during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But, as online programs took off at other colleges and universities across the country, and with a limited budget, Mary Niemiec, associate vice president for digital education, told the NU Board of Regents in December 2020 she anticipated growth would slow through 2025.

The challenge has always been how to make us stand out, Niemiec told board members at the time. We dont have the money to throw at the wall and see what sticks.

As part of its effort to trim $43 million from its budget in response to the fiscal challenges created by the pandemic, administrators opted to close NU Online.

Doing so cut eight positions from Varner Hall; one of those individuals was rehired in another open position at NU, spokeswoman Melissa Lee said. Two additional staff members resigned.

NU then moved the online education initiative to the campuses, which have the advantage of built-in branding, and where decisions can be made in conjunction with college deans, members of the faculty, student service offices and other departments, Lee said.

It was an opportunity to think about the best approach for online learning and what makes the most sense at the system level and at the campus level, Lee said. This is an area where it makes sense for the faculty and deans to own this.

NUs system office will still offer support and look for chances where each of its campuses in Lincoln, Omaha and Kearney can collaborate through Jaci Lindburg, who became associate vice president for digital education in July 2021 after Niemiec retired. Lindburg has a full-time staff member and a part-time staffer to support online education at the system office.

But campuses like UNL's will have the opportunity to tailor the program to their strengths or shift quickly to meet new needs from employers or the demands of students.

Ankerson said UNLs new administrator  a position she said the university views as essential  will work within her office with a keen eye on the future, anticipating changes that will happen in online education as well as the needs of private industry.

They will also collaborate closely with the Center for Transformational Teaching, which assists faculty in designing courses using a variety of pedagogies and technologies, as well as with non-academic offices to provide support for students, and to ensure quality across UNLs online offerings.

Online and digital learning doesnt just occur here in Lincoln or in Omaha, Ankerson said, it provides opportunities across the state.
Margaret Reist Local government reporter Margaret Reist is a recovering education reporter now writing about local and county government and the people who live in the city where she was born and raised. Follow Margaret Reist 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

With two new dog bars on Lincolns horizon, the city is crafting a new ordinance to establish rules for businesses that cater to the furry customers now generally prohibited from patronizing such establishments.

The ordinance  which must be approved by the Lincoln-Lancaster County Board of Health and the City Council  would apply to bars or cafes that cater to humans as well as their cats or dogs.

Although no cat bars or cafes have been proposed in Lincoln, theyre becoming more popular around the country, said Steve Beal, manager of Lincoln Animal Control.

Dog bars are another matter.

Two prospective business owners are planning Lincoln dog bars: Penny LeDuc, who wants to open a business she originally was going to call Unleash Dog Park and Bar but is now planning to call Urban Hound Dog Park and Bar at a space in the Van Dorn Plaza at 48th and Van Dorn streets; and Brandon Akert, who wants to open Off Leash Dog Bar in the Telegraph District just east of downtown.

City officials expect there may be more, given whats happened in other cities around the country, Beal said.

The citys proposed ordinance would require:

* Business owners keep a copy of current rabies vaccination status of all dogs in the bar, as well as the owners name and contact information;

* All dogs that patronize such businesses be licensed by the city;

* Businesses have staff that supervise dogs off leash;

* No aggressive dogs or those the city or state has declared potentially dangerous, dangerous or vicious be allowed.

As part of the ordinance, the city defined aggressive animals as those showing threatening signs such as barking, howling, growling, showing teeth or require(ing) restraint by the animals handler, whether or not the animal is on or off leash.

Prohibiting aggressive dogs in such establishments will benefit business owners, who can refer to the ordinance if they have an issue with a customer, said Health Director Pat Lopez.

The Animal Control Advisory Board has recommended approval and the Lincoln-Lancaster County Board of Health will consider the ordinance Tuesday evening. Then it moves on to the City Council for approval in the coming weeks.

The proposed ordinance must be approved before the businesses open, but there are other requirements they still need to meet and city officials have been working with them, Lopez said. Among those requirements is getting a variance from state requirements regarding food establishments.

Charging EVs in Lincoln

If you need to charge your electric vehicle in Lincoln, try one of the citys downtown parking garages.

The city recently invited businesses and the general public to fill out a survey regarding use of electric vehicles in Lincoln, part of the creation of a communitywide strategy for electric vehicle-charging infrastructure.

Whatever those plans are, theyll be built upon the 15 charging stations that have been available primarily in downtown parking garages since 2016. Each has the ability to charge two cars at once.

Frank Uhlarik, the citys sustainability and compliance administrator, said the city got grants to buy and install those, and is in the process of installing another 12 charging stations  each with two charging ports  at municipal operations sites, though theyll also be available to the public.

The existing charging ports are primarily used by visitors to the city or people living in downtown condos, he said.

In March, 110 people had used the charging stations 338 times, according to the Nebraska Community Energy Alliance, which monitors the use of charging stations for communities and organizations that are part of the group. Doing so had saved users $2,575, compared with gas mileage, although Uhlarik noted that is using a much lower gas price than motorists are currently paying.

Since first installed, the stations have been used 9,639 times, saving those car owners $42,778.

Uhlarik said the city is taking a measured approach to building the infrastructure, though he said ultimately the private sector  the convenience stores and other places motorists often fill up their tanks  will need to take over the market.

Although the city could do a better job of advertising the charging stations, electric car users can access apps that tell them where all the stations are located and if theres a wait, he said. And so far theres not long lines waiting to use them.

But that could change  which is why the city is creating a plan.

President Biden's bipartisan infrastructure law provides $7.5 billion to states to build out an EV charging network along interstate highways. Nebraska was recently approved for $6 million a year for five years, which the state plans to use to install charging stations along I-80.

A draft of the citys plan  including the survey results  will be available later this year.

Paying their respects

The City Council and mayor took time recently to acknowledge the contributions of Tom Lorenz, who managed Pershing Center and Pinnacle Bank Arena for 26 years. Lorenz died Oct. 1.

The council held a moment of silence in his honor before its meeting Oct. 3, and city officials had noted earlier at a directors meeting that the arena staff showed up ready to work the next Monday, despite the loss.

And Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird acknowledged Lorenz's service at the beginning of her state of the city address.

He was an incredible partner to our team, an amazing leader and beloved friend to so many.
ST. LOUIS  A federal judge in St. Louis is weighing the fate of the Biden administration's plan to forgive student loan debt for tens of millions of Americans following a court hearing on Wednesday.

It's unclear when U.S. District Judge Henry Autrey will rule on the lawsuit filed by six Republican-led states that seeks an injunction to halt the student loan forgiveness plan. Whatever he decides, an appeal is likely.

Democratic President Joe Biden announced in August that his administration would cancel up to $20,000 in education debt for huge numbers of borrowers. The announcement immediately became a major political issue ahead of the November midterms.

The proposal prompted a lawsuit filed in September by Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and South Carolina. Other lawsuits followed, including one filed Monday by the Job Creators Network Foundation alleging that the administration violated federal procedures by failing to seek public input on the program.

In the lawsuit brought by the states, a court filing on behalf of the administration said the Department of Education has "broad authority to manage the federal student financial aid programs." It stated that the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003, or HEROES Act, allows the secretary of education to waive or modify terms of federal student loans in times of war or national emergency.

"COVID-19 is such an emergency," the filing stated.

The Congressional Budget Office has said the program will cost about $400 billion over the next three decades. James Campbell, an attorney for the Nebraska attorney general's office, told Autrey that the administration is acting outside its authorities in a way that will cost states millions of dollars.

"What they're trying to do is go around Congress, and this they cannot do," Campbell said.

The plan would 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 faced threats of legal challenges to its plans almost immediately. Conservative attorneys, Republican lawmakers and business-oriented groups asserted that Biden was overstepping his authority in taking such sweeping action without the assent of Congress. They called it an unfair government giveaway for relatively affluent people at the expense of taxpayers who didn't pursue higher education.

Meanwhile, many Democratic lawmakers facing tough reelection contests distanced themselves from the student loan plan.

The HEROES Act is a post-Sept. 11, 2001, law meant to help members of the military. The Justice Department says the law allows Biden to reduce or erase student loan debt during a national emergency. Republicans argue the administration is misinterpreting the law because, in part, the pandemic no longer qualifies as a national emergency.

But attorney Brian Netter of the U.S. Department of Justice said the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic is still rippling. He said student loan defaults have skyrocketed over the past two-and-a-half years.

"This (the HEROES Act) is a statute about emergencies  about national emergencies," Netter said.

The cancellation applies to federal student loans used to attend undergraduate and graduate school, along with Parent Plus loans. Current college students qualify if their loans were disbursed before July 1. Administration officials said applications for debt relief will be available in October.

The plan makes 43 million borrowers eligible for some debt forgiveness, with 20 million who could get their debt erased entirely, according to the administration.

Autrey did not give an indication when he will rule on the injunction request.
A Lincoln man will face sentencing in November after pleading guilty to manslaughter for fatally shooting his friend while shooting at another man.

Tip Mut, 22, initially had been charged with second-degree murder for 21-year-old Gabriel Miller's killing in Omaha in 2020.

But on Sept. 30, in a deal with prosecutors, Mut pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter and use of a firearm to commit a felony.

At his sentencing in November, he'll face a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and up to 70.

Omaha Police said Mut fatally shot Miller unintentionally while trying to shoot 22-year-old Goa Dat early Nov. 7, 2020, during a fight.

Miller died of a gunshot wound to the back of the head.

Dat, who was shot twice in the lower back, survived but later was killed in a drive-by shooting in Lincoln on Oct. 29, 2021.

At a hearing in Mut's case last year, Officer Brian Wucher said Mut and Miller had lived together in Colorado before they both moved back to Lincoln, and the two had been close friends for years.

On the night of the shooting, he said the two went to the Omaha party where a fight broke out in the street about 1:45 a.m.

Police said Miller was shot from behind.

According to a cellphone video, Miller pulled out a gun and fired twice into the ground. Another five gunshots can be heard next, but the video doesn't show who shot them.

Police found two different caliber shell casings, but no guns at the scene.

In an interview the next day at the Lincoln Police Department, Mut told Omaha police that he realized a fight was occurring in the street, but his back was turned when the shots were fired. Then, he said, he saw Miller lying on the ground.

Police later recovered the 9 mm handgun, which Mut admitted taking from the scene.

Three months later, Millers mother told Omaha police that Mut disclosed to her the day after the shooting and again on Dec. 29, 2020, that he had shot Dat but not Miller.

Police arrested Mut in March 2021, about a month later, for taking the gun from the scene, but the allegations were upgraded after Mut told police that after he saw his sisters fighting with Dat, he took out a gun and fired at him.

He said Miller was struck when he stepped in front of Dat.
OMAHA  A Papillion man pleaded guilty Tuesday to three counts of felony cruelty to animals resulting in death.

Edward Luben, 57, agreed to enter the guilty pleas in Sarpy County District Court in exchange for the Sarpy County Attorney's Office dismissing nine other charges of cruelty to animals, including four felonies.

Luben, who is free on bail, faces up to six years in prison when he's sentenced in January.

In December 2021, the Nebraska Humane Society and Papillion Police Department served a search warrant at Lubens house near 84th Street and Centennial Road to recover evidence of animal neglect.

Officials seized and removed 665 animals from the home, including exotic birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals. About 70 of the 665 animals were found dead during the search, and two animals had to be euthanized later.

The Nebraska Humane Society evaluated and treated the surviving animals.

These animals were living in deplorable conditions, Deputy Sarpy County Attorney Dominique Jones said at the time. Many of them were severely malnourished or had physical impairments due to their living conditions. The fact that so many of the animals survived is a testament to the Nebraska Humane Societys work.

People with information about possible animal abuse or neglect may contact the Nebraska Humane Society at 402-444-7800, ext. 1.
It is more important to focus on quality of life not how long we live amid rapid scientific advances that have improved human longevity and could one day create Earths first generation of immortals.

This is according to senior healthcare and medical experts who shed light on the societal impact of human longevity on a panel titled Do You Really Want to Live Forever? at the Dubai Future Forum.

Dr Jose Cordeiro, Vice Chair, Humanity Plus, painted an optimistic view on longevity, affirming: If you are not looking at longevity, you are not looking at the future. Cancer discovered how we stopped aging  we can also discover how we become immortal.

"Those who make it to 2030 will gain one year every year they survive, thats the belief. We will have the rejuvenation technology by 2045. We are living in most incredible time in human history  between the last mortal generation and the first immortal generation.

People will continue to choose to live in the UAE due to the world-class healthcare systems and the quality of life it offers, and it is the countrys commitment to extend the best of research and latest scientific knowledge into the healthcare sector to preserve the health of the community, said Dr Hanan Al Suwaidi, Chief Business Officer, Dubai Academic Health Corporation.

Others who spoke on the panel included Dr James Kirkland, Noaber Foundation and Professor of Aging Research, Mayo Clinic; and Dr Alex Zhavoronko - Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Insilico Medicine. The session was moderated by Bronwyn Williams from Metanomic.

In the UAE, we are privileged to work with other industries such as our space program to support aging on Earth. We have conducted research with the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center on bone density loss and insulin resistance in space to understand mobility on analog missions and in the International Space Stations, said Dr Al Suwaidi, who was the flight surgeon tasked with monitoring the health of Hazza Al Mansouri, UAEs first astronaut to the ISS in 2019.

Dr Zhavoronko said while aging is the most complex therapeutic area, we should expect failures, and we shouldnt expect miracles. The key is to use artificial intelligence and robotics to transform the pharmaceutical industry and discover drugs to help us live longer.

Dr Kirkland added: Aging begins before conception, and it is feasible to target some of the fundamental processes that are linked to aging. We are doing clinical research on senolytic drugs that destroy senescent cells that not only improved the physical capabilities of aged mice but also extended their lifespans. Clinical trials are under way in humans, targeting osteoarthritis, Alzheimers, frailty to cancer survivors, and bone marrow survivors. It is imperative that we move quickly but cautiously.

In another debate titled Will Future Regulations be Private Sector Driven?, panelists discussed whether corporations could eventually become self-regulating.

HE Ahmad Al Bedwawi, Assistant Secretary General of Government Policies in the General Secretariat of the Cabinet, said: I think the private sector is playing a more important role in guiding future policy. Governments are giving them even more space and flexibility to test new technologies or benefit from exciting experiments. Defining a clear vision of what we want to achieve is vital and I cannot imagine a better place than the UAE to do so.

He was joined on the panel by Dr. Blaz Golob, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, GoForesight Institute and Heliot Europe Country Manager; Dr Clem Bezold, Co-Founder, Public Sector Foresight Network; Lin Kayser, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Hyperganic Group. The panel was moderated by Jacob Ellis, from Office of the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales.

The Dubai Future Forum runs from 11-12 October at Dubais Museum of the Future. It is the worlds largest global gathering of futurists, hosting more than 400 international participants including technology experts, scientists, innovators, researchers, legislators, policymakers and specialists in various high-skilled fields. - TradeArabia News Service
With Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell making a strong pitch for Gov. Pete Ricketts to be appointed to the Senate seat that would be vacated by the anticipated resignation of Sen. Ben Sasse, attention began to focus Wednesday on the political road ahead in Nebraska.

Not only in coming months, as a Senate appointment looms, but also in 2024 when that Senate seat will be on the ballot in a presidential election year.

McConnell told CNN he has personally urged Ricketts to seek the seat, calling the governor "a great choice" to succeed Sasse in the Senate.

"I've talked to Gov. Ricketts," McConnell said.

"We're hoping that he will end up in the Senate. Exactly how that happens under Nebraska law is yet to be determined.

"If that were the way it worked out, I think it'd be a smooth transition."

Ricketts has announced that he will leave the choice to the next governor who will be elected in November "if I choose to pursue the appointment."

That appears to set the stage for Republican gubernatorial nominee Jim Pillen to make the appointment unless Ricketts ultimately decides not to move on to a seat in the Senate after he completes his second and final term as governor in January.

Pillen, who had the strong support of Ricketts in a hotly contested 2022 Republican gubernatorial primary race, is regarded as heavily favored to win his contest with Democratic nominee Carol Blood in an overwhelmingly Republican state.

The transition to a new Nebraska senator must take into account the fact that an evenly divided Senate will be in session in December for what is described as a "lame duck session" following the Nov. 8 election.

Sasse's office has said he would leave the Senate in December, presumably following that year-end Senate session, if he is formally chosen to become president of the University of Florida following an interview with the university's board of trustees at a meeting scheduled for Nov. 1.

The incoming governor could not make an appointment until after his or her inauguration during the first week in January.

Under Nebraska law, a governor has 45 days in fill a Senate vacancy.

The choice could loom large in political terms with Ricketts positioned to play a pivotal future role.

The appointee would serve for two years, and then that Senate seat would be on the ballot in 2024 to fill the remaining two years of Sasse's current six-year term during an election year when former President Donald Trump could conceivably be a Republican presidential candidate and avid Trump supporter Charles Herbster could possibly decide to seek the Republican nomination for the Senate seat.

Nebraska voters will be filling both Senate seats during that unusual election year. Republican Sen. Deb Fischer has previously signaled her intention to seek a third term in 2024.

Pillen defeated Herbster in this year's hotly contested Republican gubernatorial primary race after a multimillion-dollar battle.

When the smoke cleared, it was Pillen, 91,555; Herbster, 80,771; state Sen. Brett Lindstrom, 70,554.

Trump came to Nebraska in the closing days to campaign for Herbster, who had been named as an agricultural adviser at the beginning of Trump's presidency and became a familiar figure at White House events and an inner-circle participant.
A federal grant will bring broadband access to hundreds of households on the Winnebago Reservation.

The Winnebago Tribe will receive just over $35.2 million to install fiber directly connecting 602 unserved tribal households, 40 unserved tribal businesses and 16 unserved tribal community anchor institutions, according to an announcement Tuesday from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The grant is a portion of the National Telecommunications and Information Administrations Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program. Funding for the grant was made possible by the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law. Among the members of Nebraska's congressional delegation, U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer and Rep. Don Bacon supported the roughly $1 trillion infrastructure bill.

"We see this as a huge advancement that will open the door for new opportunities for education, commerce and communication on the Winnebago Reservation," said Victoria Kitcheyan, tribal chairwoman with the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska. "The lack of adequate bandwidth was particularly emphasized during the pandemic."

The Federal Communications Commission has estimated that about one-third of people living on tribal lands dont have access to high-speed internet, but others say the figure is much higher.

Grant funding through the program prioritizes the deployment of broadband to underserved households on tribal lands, according to a release. It also invites proposals that address the digital divide, including those related to telehealth, education and workforce development.

The Winnebago Tribe's grant was one of 23 announced by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration on Tuesday.

The new grants are being awarded in 15 states  Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin.

Broadband is absolutely essential to modern life," Fischer said in a press release. "This broadband funding will finally bring reliable, high-speed internet to unserved areas in the Winnebago Tribal community."

The funding announced Tuesday is in addition to more than $200 million in federal funding for broadband expansion that Nebraska expects to receive through the 2021 infrastructure law.

This report contains material from The Associated Press.
In 2014 Nebraskans sent Mr. Sasse to Washington.

Ben Sasse left Fremont and Midland University, where he was president, to represent the state in the U.S. Senate.

Sasse was an easy winner in his Republican primary in 2014 and an easy winner over Democrat Dave Domina that November.

He went to D.C. a darling of the national media, hailed as the thoughtful and not unattractive face of a young conservative movement.

Eight years and one Donald Trump later, he leaves, formally rebuked by the Nebraska Republican Party and chided by the former president and foe after Sasse denounced Trump on a number of occasions.

"I'm excited frankly about the opportunity to step away from politics and onto a team of big-cause, low-ego people who want to build stuff and serve students and plan for the future," Sasse told the Tampa Bay Times. If all goes as planned, he will become the next president of the University of Florida. It's perhaps telling that Sasse considers academics "low-ego people," but perhaps it's all relative.

Sasse is probably not naive enough to believe that leading a large state university in a state governed by a Trump rival and presidential aspirant in Ron DeSantis won't carry the whiff of politics.

But he won't be up to his armpits in it like in Washington.

After his party's reprimand, Sasse said, "Something has changed in the last four years. But it's not me."

Love his politics or hate them, Sasse's likely departure from politics (for now) probably says as much about the system as it does him.

Sheriff's race offers a choice

In the race for Lancaster County Sheriff, voters have a choice for the first time since 1994. Incumbent Republican Terry Wagner is running against Democrat Johnny "Jay" Pitts Jr. and Libertarian Conan Thomas.

Wagner brings 27 years of experience as sheriff and 46 in the departments. The question voters face is whether we are satisfied with the more institutionalized current system or we want to step into the future with a wider vision of law enforcement that addresses the needs of all county residents.

Jay Pitts offers 22 years of experience in a variety of law enforcement fields and some fresh perspectives on diversity and community policing.

Under Wagner, the Sheriff's Department seems to operate effectively and efficiently. Pitts promises to bring fresh perspectives on traditional community policing methods that address the needs of the whole county.

About our endorsements

As with all of our editorial board opinions, our election endorsements dont necessarily reflect the unanimous opinions of our members but rather a consensus. We arrived at this one after reviewing Journal Star voters' guide answers and our own research. While we consider the board an advocate for the community, our endorsements, and all our opinions, are intended to initiate discussion.
CORRECTION: This story initially misquoted Jim Palmer regarding the city's "economic offer." The quote is now correct.

RACINE  If theres one thing both sides agree on, its that negotiations are going nowhere.

City Administrator Paul Vornholt updated the Finance & Personnel Committee on Monday about the lack of progress in contract negotiations between the city and the Racine Police Association, which represents rank-and-file Racine Police Department officers.

Due to a dispute over benefits between the city and police union, officers have been working under a contract that technically expired on Dec. 31, 2020. As nearly two years have passed without a new contract, Racines police officers have become among the lowest-paid when compared to other similar departments.

City leaders and the Racine Police Association met Wednesday, Oct. 5, with a mediator in the hopes a new contract could be hammered out even while a dispute over cuts to benefits makes its way through the courts. No such agreement has been reached.

Details

One of the most important negotiation issue for officers was a pay increase.

According to Vornholt, the city would support an agreement for two contracts for years 2021/2022 and 2023/2024.

The city has proposed the following wage increases: 4% increase in salary for 2021, up to a 3% wage increase for 2022, up to a 3% wage increase for 2023, and up to a 2% wage increase for 2024.

Additionally, the city would offer the additional benefits already offered to non-represented city employees:

Extended paid parental paid leave up to 320 hours.

The additional holiday of Martin Luther King Jr. Day on the third Monday of January.

Student loan repayment assistance of $2,400 for city residents and $1,200 for non-city residents.

Down payment assistance of $10,000 for city residents.

Jim Palmer  executive director of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association, which is affiliated with and negotiated alongside the Racine Police Association last week  was not impressed.

Despite the unions best efforts to approach the negotiations with an open mind, (the) meeting went about as expected, he said in a written statement to The Journal Times.

He said the city failed to provide what the union saw as a serious economic offer that would help the Racine Police Department stop the hemorrhage of officers to other police departments that prioritize public safety in a way that Racine simply does not, Palmer said.

Palmer said the city tied the wage increase and benefits to the union dropping its legal challenge in connection to the wage dispute.

Relations between the police union, firefighters union and Mayor Cory Masons administration have been somewhere between non-existent and icy since the cut to benefits three years ago.

Fallout

In the two years the Racine Police Union has challenged the cut to benefits and no new contract has been approved, the department has become one of the lowest-paid in the region because they continue to be paid on the contract that expired in 2020.

The peak hourly wage Racine Police Department officers can earn is $34.96. Compare that with $40.65 with the Kenosha Police Department, $35.09 in Madison, and $38.28 with the Racine County Sheriffs Office, according to rates provided by the WPPA; among the eight police departments considered comparable to the RPD in Wisconsin, only the Janesville Police Department has a lower maximum pay with $34.77 per hour.

According to the U.S. Census, Wisconsins median household income (regardless of how many adults are earning an income) is $63,293, or equal to around $30.43 per hour for one income.

According to numbers released by the police department, the city currently has 169 sworn officers, eight of whom are still in the academy, making it short 20 officers of the current budgeted maximum of 189; as recently as 2020 the maximum had been 200.

There are no current vacancies on the command staff.

In March, the police department announced it was moving to a new four days on, four days off schedule to keep all the shifts covered. Still, there have been significant needs for officers to work overtime, which increases pay for individual officers but also puts on strain on the officers.

In a recent series of recruitment videos posted to social media, Officer Michael Gordon and Sgt. James Pettis talked about how easy it can be for police officers to live a comfortable life in Racine.

You can work here as much as you want, Gordon said. We have officers who have made $150,000 (a year) on patrol.

Despite student loans, Pettis said that he was able to buy a house when he graduated from college. Pettis also praised the pension officers receive, calling it unrivaled across the country.

Budget

The budget for the Racine Police Department was $29.4 million in 2022, with $24.5 million of that going to salary and fringe benefits. The budget included $1.1 million for overtime. But as of Aug. 31, the department had already spent $1.6 million on overtime. Its possible the city could be more than $1 million overbudget on overtime by years end.

In 2021, the city overspent its budget on overtime for the police department by almost $1.3 million.

Because the department has 20 vacancies, the money that could normally go to salaries or other needs is going to overtime.

As of 2020, the funding for the police department represented 35.9% of the citys total general fund budget.

History

The city and police association initially tried to negotiate a new contract in 2020 but discussions broke down over changes to retirement benefits the city claimed were necessary to balance the budget.

The union claimed the changes should have been brought to the table during contract negotiations. The city claimed state law, specifically resulting from Act 10 and other union-busting legislation passed a decade ago under then-Gov. Scott Walker, prohibited municipalities from negotiating those elements of a union contract.

Both sides agreed in early 2021 to put the issue before the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission, which sided with the city in a decision issued in July 2022. The union is appealing that decision, and Palmer told The Journal Times that he expects the union to prevail.

As the challenge to the benefits scheme dragged on, and officers continued to work under an expired contract, the citys officers became one of the lowest paid in the region.

Adam Rogan of The Journal Times contributed to this report.
Alleged vulnerabilities

The alleged vulnerability is that it is possible to request an absentee ballot online without proof of identification. As such, Harry Wait and at least one other person in Racine County requested a ballot addressed to another person but had it delivered to the requesters home; Wait did it on purpose, the other individual attests they did it on accident.

There has been no evidence presented that anyone has illegally voted on behalf of another using this method, and the Wisconsin Elections Commission attests the system is not vulnerable to widespread fraud. Thats in part because, in order to successfully cast an absentee ballot using someone elses name without providing ID and without claiming to be indefinitely confined and without getting caught, the following would all have to happen:

 The fraudulent voter would have to know the full name and birthday of the person whos ballot theyre requesting, and that voter would not only have to already be a registered voter but also have their photo ID on file with WEC, indicating that they have voted absentee before.

 The local clerk did not notice and address the atypical request. Wait said that a ballot addressed to him was requested by someone in Michigan, but then Wait was called by his local clerk to confirm the request was accurate; when Wait said that it was a friend in Michigan who requested his ballot and not actually Wait himself, the ballot was never mailed. Likewise, a ballot addressed to Vos was never delivered to Waits Town of Dover home, while a ballot addressed to Mason was delivered. Wait then gave both of those absentee ballots to the Racine County Sheriffs Office in order to show he never intended to vote with them in the first place. It does remain legal to request an absentee ballot to any address; this allows, for example, those temporarily living abroad or in another state to still vote without having to return to Wisconsin.

 The true registered voter would then have to never request their own absentee ballot or attempt to vote themselves, at which point the MyVote system would throw up a proverbial red flag saying Hey, this voter already voted and/or already requested an absentee ballot.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission attests that the MyVote system is just as secure, if not more secure, than on-paper or in-person absentee ballot requests because it requires even more identifying information to request a ballot than state law; a birth date needs to be provided online, but that is not needed to request a ballot through the mail or in person. Critics of the election system have countered by saying its much easier to request many ballots online, as Wait has shown, than it would be to do the same in person or through the Postal Service.
TOWN OF WATERFORD  Residents are cheering a new deal on ambulance service approved during a Waterford Town Board meeting in which the town chairman was a no-show and the fire chief walked out in anger.

The Town Board on Monday approved a contract shifting ambulance service on the south side of town from the Tichigan Volunteer Fire Co. to the Village of Waterford fire department.

The change followed complaints from some south-side residents that emergency medical response was not adequate with the Tichigan fire company located on the far north side of town.

Residents inside the town hall broke into applause after Town Board members approved the new contract and after officials announced that 911 calls on the south side would go to the village fire department starting Nov. 1.

South-side resident Cyndy Nowacki gasped, Wow, after the vote, explaining later that she and her neighbors have been hoping for years to see improved ambulance service.

Its almost too good to be true, she said.

The moment, however, was not without controversy or backlash.

Town Chairman Tom Hincz, who has opposed the new deal with the village, was absent from the board meeting  his third missed meeting on the subject in recent weeks.

Following the contract approval Monday, Tichigan Fire Chief Bill Miller vented frustration at Town Board members, then walked out while the board meeting was still in progress.

Outside the town hall, Miller said he feels like his department is being disrespected, and also that town officials have failed to include him in discussions about the change in ambulance service.

Were being drug through the dirt, he said. They dont support us.

Town officials have taken no action to change the Tichigan fire departments position as an ambulance provider on the north side of town.

At one time previously, the town received ambulance service from both providers: The village fire department handled emergency calls on the south side, and the Tichigan fire company handled the north side.

In 2019, town officials canceled the contract with the village and handed over ambulance service entirely to the Tichigan fire department. The town and village at the time were engaged in a bitter feud, largely over town fears that the village intended to annex town territory.

Since the change, town residents have raised concerns that ambulance service is slow and inadequate on the south side.

The Tichigan fire department is based at 8205 Big Bend Road, on the north end of town. The village fire department is located on the south side at 819 Mohr Avenue.

When Town Board members took action starting last month to restart a contract with the village, Hincz raised objections and tried to halt the discussions by keeping the topic off agendas at board meetings.

But a slim majority of the board moved the issue forward, led by board members Dale Gauerke, Doug Schwartz and Teri Nicolai. The elected officials said they were not being critical toward Tichigan crew members, but that village firefighters are better positioned to respond quickly to south-side emergencies.

The village is offering ambulance service at no up-front cost to the town, assessing user fees only to town residents who call for help.

When Hincz again refused to allow the matter on the agenda for Mondays regular Town Board meeting, Gauerke and Schwartz used their authority to schedule a special board meeting  15 minutes before the regular meeting.

Town Board member Tim Szeklinski joined the other three in approving the new contract by a unanimous 4-0 vote, with Hincz absent at both the special meeting and the regular meeting that followed.

The board was scheduled later to consider an unrelated request from the Tichigan fire department for funding to purchase new equipment. Miller, however, announced that he was withdrawing the request.

The chief recited statistics showing his agencys handling of 911 calls and said he was not happy about being left out of meetings where possible changes in ambulance service were discussed. He also announced that his department would no longer recognize Schwartz as the official Town Board liaison to the fire company.

Reiterating that he felt excluded from recent discussions taking place on the Town Board, Miller said, Thats very irresponsible.

Schwartz, who had been working with village officials in recent weeks on the new ambulance contract, fired back that he had, in fact, reached out to Miller, and that the fire chief had failed to respond.

Schwartz said he invites input from the Tichigan department at any time. But, he added, Its a two-way street.

Miller then stood up and walked out of the Town Board meeting.

Scott Burns, another town resident who applauded the ambulance contract change, said he hopes town officials work with the Tichigan company, too, to ensure continued viability for the ambulance provider on the north side of town.

Burns, a one-time Town Board candidate, expressed concern that the Tichigan department could suffer financially from the lost contract on the south side.

He added that he objects to the town chairmans unwillingness to deal with the issues, as well as the chairmans stall tactics.

This isnt about politics, Burns said. This is about public safety.
MADISON  After one failed hire and 15 months of looking, Madisons Police Civilian Oversight Board on Monday announced the states former parole commission chair is slated to be the citys first independent police monitor.

John Tate II was chosen from among four finalists announced in mid-August. He is also a Racine City Council member currently serving as president of that body and has a masters degree in social work. His career has been in mental health and social work, most recently for the state Department of Corrections.

Tate did not reply to a request for comment from The Journal Times on Tuesday, asking how the new role may change his future with the City of Racine.

Throughout his career, Mr. Tate has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to actively listening to  and serving as an advocate for  some of the most marginalized individuals and families in our state, oversight board chair Keetra Burnette said in its statement.

We believe that Mr. Tates ability to stand firm in support of difficult decisions and his proven ability to collaboratively solve problems by engaging with and centering the voices of diverse community members will make him a tremendous asset to our community, she said. We are honored to welcome him to serve as our inaugural Independent Monitor and look forward to working with him to strengthen relationships between law enforcement and members of the Greater Madison community.

The board and monitor position were created by the Madison City Council in September 2020 after years of pressure from activists to increase oversight of police in the wake of a string of fatal police shootings. The creation of the monitor was also one of 146 recommendations in a December 2017 consultants report that deemed the police department far from a department in crisis whose use of force was limited in volume and primarily minor in nature.

Neither the board nor the monitor is given the power to fire or discipline police  tasks reserved under state law for the citys Police and Fire Commission, or PFC. But they can conduct independent investigations of Madison police, make referrals to the PFC, prepare an annual report on the citys police chief and conduct community outreach on police matters.

Tates hire is contingent on City Council approval of his five-year contract that would pay him $125,000 annually. The contract was to be introduced before the council on Tuesday, then considered by the Finance Commission on Oct. 17 and the oversight board on Oct. 27 before coming back to the council for final approval on Nov. 1. He would begin on Dec. 5, the board said in its statement.

Parole Commission

Tate resigned in June as head of the four-member parole commission at the request of Gov. Tony Evers and amid mounting criticism of the commissions initial plans to parole Douglas Balsewicz, who served less than 25 years of an 80-year sentence for fatally stabbing his wife, Johanna Balsewicz.

After meeting with Johanna Balsewiczs family in the state Capitol in May, Evers sent a letter to Tate asking him to reconsider the convicted murderers parole. Evers lacks the power to rescind a convicts parole on his own.

Tate had initially said it was extremely unlikely Balsewiczs parole would be revoked unless he did something to warrant it, and that doing so would likely lead to a lawsuit that the state would lose. He later said he understood the governors concerns about the lack of victim input and rescinded Balsewiczs parole.

Its not clear how long ago the oversight board voted in closed session to hire Tate or what that vote was, and city attorney Mike Haas declined to provide that information Monday, saying the minutes from the session were likely to be approved by the board Oct. 27. The four finalists took questions during an Aug. 18 virtual public forum and then again in private during an Aug. 25 virtual board meeting.

Burnette said on Aug. 18 that the hope was the board would vote on the hire in closed session on Aug. 25, and two of the finalists, Joel Winnig and Rodney Saunders Jr., told the Wisconsin State Journal they were informed that they were not chosen on about Aug. 30 and Sept. 1, respectively. The fourth finalist, Robert Copley, did not respond to a request for comment last week.

During the Aug. 18 forum, Tate said as a Racine resident he didnt have a sense of the culture of Madison police, but as monitor would engage with community leaders and others to look at how do we hold policing accountable and how do we ensure that the police have a positive relationship with communities?

All four candidates talked up the importance of engaging with crime victims, members of historically marginalized communities and youth, especially those who mistrust the criminal justice system.

Tate said that one of the best things government can do ... is acknowledge that (citizens) experience is real and those that are in government arent this nebulous entity that cant be touched.

Tate did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.

Past hiring process

The boards first hiring process, launched in July 2021, drew 30 applicants. Two were named finalists in October 2021, but one dropped out shortly thereafter.

In January, the remaining finalist, current city Department of Civil Rights Equal Opportunities Division Manager Byron Bishop, dropped out of the running as well amid revelations that he discriminated against a woman he had been having an affair with and violated state licensing requirements at his former company about 16 years ago. The oversight board also voted in closed session to rescind the job offer.

A few weeks before that, Eric A. Hill, a white applicant with past military experience who was not named a finalist, filed state and federal complaints alleging board members social media posts suggest they are biased against candidates like him, although Bishop, who is Black, also has military experience.

Hills federal complaint, alleging bias because of his military experience, was dismissed in April. His state complaint alleged he was discriminated against based on his sex and race and remains open, Deputy City Attorney Patricia Lauten said last week.

The oversight board voted later in January 2022 to retain a recruitment firm to help it find qualified candidates, but by April, no one had applied to take the work.

This past spring, the board posted the job again and decided to ask all the candidates who had applied for the job last year to apply again.
Hate in America

Hate crimes in 2020 reached a 12-year high with the FBI reporting 7,759 criminal incidents related to hate that year. More than 13% of those hate crimes were because of religious bias, while the majority of U.S. hate crimes  more than 60%  are race-based.

When just one individual is targeted by a hate crime, it negatively impacts the entire community, resulting in marginalized groups rightfully feeling vulnerable and under siege, Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement after the FBI released its 2020 report.

David Lee, treasurer of the Beth Israel Sinai Congregation, said that he understands parishioners choosing not to attend services in person because of the apparent threats, but the synagogue will continue to have its normal services on Saturday.

I wish I could change it, but thats just the way the world is, Lee said.

Lee said he is unaware of any prior threatening messages to the synagogue, which has a parishioner base of more than 20 but fewer than 100, that warned of Sunday nights attacks.

Racine Police Department Public Information Officer Sgt. Kristi Wilcox said the vandalism is not presently being investigated as a hate crime.
BURLINGTON  A tornado might have touched down in Burlington Wednesday afternoon during a brief but powerful storm front that created approximately half-a-dozen twisters in Racine, Waukesha and Walworth counties.

The National Weather Service announced at 12:15 p.m. that a tornado was sighted just northwest of Burlington, but an NWS meteorologist told a reporter the tornado was unconfirmed.

One tornado was confirmed on radar north of Mount Pleasant, according to the Racine County Office of Emergency Management.

A Racine County dispatcher said that the dispatch center received no 911 calls related to the storm.

Tornado warnings covered southeastern Wisconsin throughout the first hour of Wednesday afternoon, but storm damage appeared relatively minimal.

As of 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, approximately 2,440 We Energies customers were affected by 100 outages from Green Bay down to Kenosha, with fewer than 10 customers affected in Racine County.
Some Wisconsin health care providers that stopped or greatly reduced medical debt collection lawsuits early in the COVID-19 pandemic have escalated actions this year, according to a report Tuesday that doesnt list Madison hospitals among them.

Nineteen of 29 providers studied have restarted collection actions after pausing during the pandemic, including 15 whose litigation rates are now higher than before the pandemic, according to the report by ABC for Health, a nonprofit public interest law firm in Madison.

Providers with the highest rates of collection actions this year or highest increases since before the pandemic, according to the report, are: Waukesha-based Emergency Medical Associates, Appleton-based Association of Hospital Anesthesiologists, Southwest Health Center in Platteville and Central Wisconsin Radiologists in Stevens Point.

The collections machine is back, Bobby Peterson, executive director of ABC for Health, said in a statement. Some providers and collectors are making up for lost time.

Peterson and other advocates say providers should work harder to help low-income patients get insurance and avoid medical debt collection, a significant cause of personal bankruptcy. Hospitals say they try to help patients sign up for coverage, such as Medicaid, disability insurance or marketplace plans through the Affordable Care Act. They offer charity care, or free or discounted care to patients who qualify.

Advocates worry the medical debt situation could get worse once the federal government ends the COVID-19 public health emergency, currently expected to continue at least until mid-January, when many people are expected to lose Medicaid coverage continued during the emergency.

Emergency Medical Associates, which stopped suing over unpaid bills at the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, filed 181 such lawsuits in the first half of this year, the report said. Association of Hospital Anesthesiologists filed 15 such lawsuits in 2020, 36 last year and 147 this January through June.

Southwest Healths litigation rate, the third-highest in the first half of this year, is up nearly nine-fold since before the pandemic, the report said. The rate for Central Wisconsin Radiologists is up 11-fold from 2017-2019.

The providers did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Peterson said UW Hospital, which stopped collection lawsuits in March 2020, has not restarted them, according to ABC for Healths analysis of court records this year. UnityPoint Health-Meriter, which has a joint operating agreement with UW Health, also apparently did not have any cases this year.

The report didnt include specific information about St. Louis-based SSM Health, which owns St. Marys hospitals in Madison and Janesville, along with St. Clare Hospital in Baraboo and other facilities. Until late last year, ABC for Health had a contract to work with SSM Health in Wisconsin to help patients find coverage and avoid medical debt.

Last year, when the Wisconsin State Journal reported on medical debt actions, a UW Hospital spokesperson said the organization would reevaluate its policy once the government declares the pandemic over. Meriter and SSM Health had resumed some actions after pausing early in the pandemic, spokespersons said at the time.

UW Hospital and Meriter spokespersons said Tuesday their situations remained the same. SSM Health did not respond.

An ABC for Health study in June 2021 found that UW Health and four other health systems  La Crosse-based Gundersen Health System; Childrens Hospital of Wisconsin near Milwaukee; St. Louis-based Ascension, which had a dozen hospitals in Wisconsin; and Advocate Aurora, based in Milwaukee and Illinois  sought $10.4 million in medical debt in 2017-2019, receiving judgments in 4,110 cases. UW Health sought nearly $1.4 million in 932 cases and received judgments in 751.

A study in December by researchers at Yale and Stanford universities found that lawsuits over unpaid bills by Wisconsin hospitals rose 37% from 2001 to 2018, with small, rural hospitals suing the highest proportion of patients.

The share of cases resulting in patients having their wages garnished to pay back medical debt increased, and Black patients were sued more than whites, the study suggested.
Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (Adib), a leading financial institution, has unveiled a new offering Small Business Finance (SBF) to support small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in the UAE.

The new product offers a complete financial solution for up to AED1.5 million ($410 million) to support the short and long term goals of SMEs.

Adibs SBF is designed to offer a bespoke financial solutions for small and medium businesses in the UAE catering to their business objectives. With an easy and fast application process, businesses will also get a comprehensive range of benefits that includes collateral free business finance, working capital finance for local and international purchases or Capex Finance for equipment, Machinery and Auto, payment based on Equated Monthly Installment (EMI), flexible tenure, while also providing accessibility to expert advice and more benefits to give each Business the Makeover it needs.

Aligned with UAE vision

Commenting on the new product launch, Mohammed Al Salem, Head of Business Banking, Adib, said: SMEs play an important role in shaping economies globally. Adib recognises their importance to the local economy and has been constantly supporting them through several initiatives that enable business owners to reach their full potential.

Our new product is aligned with the UAEs vision as supporters and contributors to small businesses growth and reinforces our position as one of the largest Islamic Banks offering a range of business banking products to support the needs of businesses.

Bolstering the nations continuous efforts to develop the business sector in the UAE, Adibs SBF provides a complete financing solution to further assist individuals to realise their business goals and remain committed to support the growth and sustainability of this segment.-- 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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Dr Thani Al Zeyoudi, UAEs Minister of State for Foreign Trade, led a UAE delegation to the World Trade Organization (WTO)s General Council meeting in Geneva that held recently, during which he urged the global trading community to move forward with reforms to modernise the global trade system.

Al Zeyoudi was accompanied to Geneva by Ahmed Abdulrahman Al Jarman, the UAEs Permanent Representative to the United Nations, and Rashed Al Balooshi, Undersecretary of the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (ADDED).

Addressing the Council, the highest-level decision-making body of the WTO, Al Zeyoudi reasserted the UAEs belief that global trade is both a key catalyst for inclusive global growth and an important remedy for the current economic headwinds.

He cited the progress made at the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) in June, which included breakthroughs on fisheries subsidies, intellectual property, pandemic preparedness and removing restrictions on food exports, and then called for similar unity of purpose to ensure the WTO remains a credible custodian of global trade.

Now is the time to build on this momentum and push for greater progress to embrace digitalization and enhance strategic digital trade policies, as well as to strengthen the WTOs role as a forum for trade negotiation and rule-making, and an effective platform for dispute resolution and arbitration. We look forward to working closely with WTO members in the year ahead to strengthen the future of global trade by building greater inclusiveness, transparency and innovation in our multilateral trading system.

On the sidelines of the meetings, Al Zeyoudi also met with WTO Director General Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala and congratulated her on her successful stewardship of the Organization to date, including the positive outcomes of MC12, and expressing confidence in her ability to restore stability to global trade. He also held discussions with Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary General of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on the pressing issues of climate change and food security, and with WEF President Brge Brende on the current economic landscape. He later attended a meeting of Arab Ambassadors.

Over the two days, Al Zeyoudi also sought support for the UAEs bid to host the 13th Ministerial Conference in Abu Dhabi in December, 2023. At a reception hosted by the UAE in Geneva, he outlined to ambassadors from WTO member states why the UAEs trading history, support for multilateralism and unrivalled track record in hosting international events make it an ideal venue for MC13.

Meetings of the WTO General Council are a welcome opportunity to connect with the global trading community and reassert our commitment to open, frictionless, rules-based trade, he said. I believe that commitment has perhaps never been more important. As we emerge from the biggest disruption to supply chains in our lifetimes, member states must continue to reject isolationism and protectionism and pursue multilateral, multilevel partnerships that accelerate the flow of goods, remove unnecessary barriers to trade and catalyze industrial activity and job creation. With our CEPA agenda, we have placed trade at the heart of our new economic policy, and it is important that we are able to advance ideas that can enhance the global trading system.--TradeArabia News Service
LONDON  As anti-government protests roil cities and towns in Iran for a fourth week, tens of thousands of Iranians living abroad have marched on the streets of Europe, North America and beyond in support of what many believe to be a watershed moment for their home country.

From those who fled in the 1980s after Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution to a younger generation of Iranians born and raised in Western capitals, many in the diaspora community say they feel an unprecedented unity of purpose and affinity with the demonstrations at home sparked by the death of a 22-year-old woman detained by Iran's morality police.

"I see this as a turning point for Iran in many ways  we've always had political fault lines that divided us, but this time it's people saying, 'I'm with women'," said Tahirih Danesh, 52, a human rights researcher who lives and works in London. "It's phenomenal, it's happened at such speed, and this sense of camaraderie among Iranians has been amazing."

In the past month, large crowds of people of Iranian origin in dozens of cities from London to Paris to Toronto have turned out every weekend for rallies in solidarity with protests that erupted in Iran after Mahsa Amini died in custody after she was detained for allegedly violating strict Islamic dress codes for women.

Many say they have been kept awake at night by a mixture of hope, sadness and apprehension  hope that their country may be on the brink of change after decades of oppression, and fear that authorities will unleash more violence in an increasingly brutal crackdown that has seen dozens killed and hundreds arrested.

Some, like Danesh  whose family smuggled her and her siblings out of Iran in the 1980s to escape persecution  say the images of protesters being violently suppressed by authorities recall afresh the trauma of similar scenes around the time of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

"I'm thousands of miles away, it's 40 years later, but the images I see are bringing it all back, it's as if I'm reliving it again," Danesh said.

While Iran has seen waves of protest in recent years, many agree that this time the resistance feels broader in nature and in scope because it challenges the fundamentals of the Islamic Republic. Some say they have never seen the likes of global solidarity for Iran shown by politicians, intellectuals and celebrities, many of whom have cut off locks of their hair in a gesture of support of Iranian women.

"Before, many of us outside had a distanced view of what's happening inside, we couldn't find the same connection. But today Iranians inside are calling for fundamental change. They're saying 'retrieve my Iran'," said Vali Mahlouji, 55, an art curator in London who left Iran in the 1980s. He said he is self-exiled because his work deals with censored artists and art history.

"This unites every Iranian I know, all the different generations of exiles," he added. "People who have been out of Iran most of their lives are feeling restless and sleepless. I don't know anyone who is not sympathetic, and of course, not worried."

The Iranian diaspora is large, including not just those who fled soon after the 1979 revolution, but also later waves leaving Iran because of continued repression or economic woes. More than half a million live in the U.S., and France, Sweden and Germany have communities in the hundreds of thousands, with major centers in Los Angeles, Washington, London, Paris and Stockholm.

In Paris, 28-year-old Romane Ranjbaran was among thousands last week who came out despite a heavy downpour and marched, sang and chanted "Khamenei get out" in Persian and French, referring to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Several women cut off locks of their hair and threw them in the air joyfully.

Ranjbaran, who grew up in France, said she felt "stricken" by what's happening in Iran.

"Iran is part and parcel of my history. My mom has known a free Iran when women were free," she said, as her mother and other family members stood by her side at the rally. "It's an international fight. If we want the situation in Iran to improve, we need international support."

The 1979 revolution ousted the U.S.-backed shah, the monarch whose rule was resolutely secular but was also brutally repressive and plagued with corruption. The revolution joined leftists and other political factions including Islamists, who after the shah's fall seized total power and created the Islamic Republic, ruled over by Shiite Muslim clerics.

Some expatriates have been wary of joining protests because they have family in Iran and regularly travel back and forth. Some raised concerns about the suspected presence of Iranian intelligence agents or extremist factions.

Others say they felt some unease about the protests' aims beyond the unifying cry of "Women, Life, Freedom" and the leaderless nature of the protests.

"I love my country, I want to show support, but every time I go I'm also confused because in every corner of the demonstrations there's a different chant," said Amanda Navaian, a luxury handbag designer in her early 40s who has attended all the recent weekend rallies in London.

Navaian said she wanted to attend protests "for as long as it takes," and has even made plans to potentially organize one herself. She wasn't sure demonstrations abroad will make a real difference, but she said it was crucial "to show we care."

At the very least, she knows she is doing something to dispel what she described as pervasive negative perceptions of Iran and Iranians.

"Islam was forced upon us, this extremism is not who we are. Our country has been hijacked  we were a country of music, dance and poetry," Navaian said.
Etihad Rail, the developer and operator of the UAE National Rail Network, has announced that it has completed the tracklaying works of the main line in the northern emirates of Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah, as part of the last package of Stage Two of the project.

The network's main line extends from Ghuweifat on the border of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and passes through the emirates of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah.

Moving full steam ahead, Etihad Rail will start laying tracks in Fujairah in the coming weeks, thus bringing it closer towards the completion of the UAE National Rail Network as per schedule.

The line in Sharjah extends over 45 km and is part of the last package of the project, which is 145 km in length. The work related to connecting the emirate to the main line saw more than 11.7 million work hours within 25 months.

Around 2,900 workers and engineers were part of the project, which involved the track laying works and running quality checks for the new line.

The line in Ras Al Khaimah, which extends over 5.7 km and connects the emirate to the main line, recorded more than 1.3 million work hours in 25 months involving 350 workers and engineers.

Deputy Project Manager Khuloud Al Mazrouei said: "Etihad Rail has made remarkable strides by completing the main works for the UAE National Rail Network and connecting it to the main lines in Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah, thus bringing us closer than ever to completing the network on schedule and achieving our objective of providing an efficient and sustainable transport network that links the countrys emirates, and connects the UAE with the region."

"This plays a key role in opening up new prospects in the logistics and transport industry, driving social development, and providing promising economic opportunities in the UAE and the region across a range of sectors," she stated.

Al Mazrouei said: "We are moving on track towards perpetuating our success story, with the support of our exceptional national and global talents who are contributing to enhancing the UAEs infrastructure sector."

The last package of Stage Two, which runs for 145 km from Sharjah to Fujairah port, passing through Ras Al Khaimah, saw important developments. In May, Etihad Rail began track laying operations of the package.

The line in the last package of Stage Two has 54 bridges and 20 animal crossings. It also has 9 tunnels which extend over 6.9 km along Al Hajar Mountains, and include the longest tunnel in the GCC for heavy cargo, which extends over 1.8 km,. she added.-TradeArabia News Service
SAN DIEGO  The Biden administration agreed to accept up to 24,000 Venezuelan migrants at U.S. airports, similar to how Ukrainians have been admitted since Russias invasion, while Mexico has agreed to take back Venezuelans who come to the U.S. illegally over land, the U.S. and Mexico said Wednesday.

Effective immediately, Venezuelans who walk or swim across the border will be immediately returned to Mexico under a pandemic rule known as Title 42 authority, which suspends rights to seek asylum under U.S. and international law on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19.

Any Venezuelan who illegally enters Mexico or Panama after Wednesday also will be ineligible to come to the U.S. under the offer.

The U.S. offer of parole for up to 24,000 Venezuelans is modeled on a similar program for Ukrainians who fled Russias invasion and will hinge on Mexico keeping in place its independent but parallel effort to take back Venezuelans who come illegally, the Department of Homeland Security said.

These actions make clear that there is a lawful and orderly way for Venezuelans to enter the United States, and lawful entry is the only way, said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Those who attempt to cross the southern border of the United States illegally will be returned to Mexico and will be ineligible for this process in the future. Those who follow the lawful process will have the opportunity to travel safely to the United States and become eligible to work here.

Mexicos Foreign Affairs Secretary said in a statement that those who seek to enter the United States will be able to do so in a more orderly, safe, regular and humane manner. The program discourages undocumented crossings that put migrants safety at risk.

In a related announcement, Homeland Security said it will make available nearly 65,000 temporary work visas for lower-skilled industries, roughly double the current annual allotment. At least 20,000 of those temporary visas will be reserved for Haiti and northern Central American countries.

Until now, Mexico has agreed to accept migrants expelled under Title 42 only if they are from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, in addition to Mexico, resulting in highly uneven enforcement. The U.S. struggles to expel other nationalities due to costs, strained diplomatic relations and other considerations.

Poor relations with the Venezuelan government have made it nearly impossible to apply Title 42. The pandemic rule has been used 2.3 million times since March 2020 but applied only 2,453 times on Venezuelans.

In August, Venezuelans were stopped 25,349 times, up 43% from 17,652 in July and four times the 6,301 encounters in August 2021, signaling a remarkably sudden demographic shift.

Venezuelans who successfully apply online will come to the United States through an airport, similar to an effort that began in April to admit up to 100,000 Ukrainians fleeing war for stays of up two years. Venezuelans, like Ukrainians, must have a financial sponsor in the U.S. They also must figure out how to reach the United States.

Venezuelans do not have to be in Venezuela to be eligible and may come from other countries, administration officials said.

It remains to be seen if Mexico has limits to how many Venezuelans it will accept from the U.S. The 24,000 slots that the United States is offering is less than the number of Venezuelans that crossed the border illegally from Mexico in August alone.
Chippewa Falls High School partnered with McDonell Central Catholic High School to put on a mock accident for students on Tuesday morning. More than 30 first responders, students and staff staged the event.

The mock accident was staged with five student actors in a decimated vehicle and first responders, including police, fire/EMS, the coroner and a funeral home worker.

The student actors were in and around a vehicle that showed what happened just after a crash occurred. They were staged with fake blood. They were dressed in a manner to suggest they had just attended prom or homecoming.

Two of the students were supposed to have died at the scene of the crash. Both had been thrown from the vehicle. Cans of alcoholic beverages surrounded the vehicle.

Meanwhile, two actors were screaming from the backseat, unable to exit the car because of damage from the crash.

Then, the driver of the car made a 911 call, which onlookers overheard on a loudspeaker.

About a minute later, Chippewa Falls police and firefighters arrived on scene.

Students watched as the two dead passengers were covered with white sheets, while the two injured in the backseat were taken away in ambulances.

Eventually, the high school driver was arrested after failing a field sobriety test.

Finally, two hearses arrived on scene to take away the dead.

Karen Parker, health science teacher at Chi-Hi and director of Health Occupations Students of America, or HOSA, said the mock accident program offers students the opportunity to hear and see what happens when people make poor choices  choices that lead to car accidents, like drinking and driving.

Not only drinking and driving but also being passengers in a vehicle where someone is driving drunk, Parker said.

Parker said the event was timed around homecoming, which is happening this week.

We wanted to plan it around our dance, which takes place this week, because we know people drink, she said. We wanted to give them something to think about.

WisDOT statistics show:

There were approximately 21,000 convictions for drunken driving offenses in Wisconsin in 2019.

Alcohol-related crashes killed 140 people and injured 2,918 in 2019.

If someone is arrested, they can lose their license.

Repeat drunk driving offenders face imprisonment.

If someone hurts or kills someone in a crash, they face extremely serious charges, like negligent homicide or operating while intoxicated.

If a driver refuses a blood/breath alcohol concentration test, they will lose their license on the spot for at least one year and may have their car impounded.

If someone drives drunk with a child under age 16 in the vehicle, the penalties will double.

Joni Gilles from Mayo Clinic helped HOSA host the mock accident.

My goal was to get this scenario and this program out to as many kids as we can, Gilles said. We dont want the kids impaired driving  whether that be drugs, alcohol, distracted driving, texting, sleepy, a lot of kids in the car  anything that takes your eyes and your function away from driving that car.

Last year, Gilles said she oversaw 15 mock crashes before prom. But she wanted to orchestrate something else throughout the year because, your brain allows you to forget stuff.

She said she wanted to get as many schools active in mock accidents because of how impactful they are.

Ive taken part in many of these, and I still get those goosebumps. I still get those tears in my eyes, because I think of the reality of it, she said. I think about the finality and the lives changed.

Gilles said she hopes that kids are seeing what can happen from one, or more, bad decisions.

This is what it looks like at an accident scene. You know, you can hear about it in the news. But when you see your friend getting out of the car stumbling because of the actions he took  he killed his two friends  were just hoping the kids see it in real life, she said.

After the mock crash, students attended an assembly in the auditorium at Chippewa Falls High School. They listened to speakers to help digest what they had just witnessed.

We show a picture of the kids during the speaking, to say what activities they participated in, high school. And then what the ramifications were, she said. Well show that the driver, Will, wanted to go to law school. Well, now he cant be a lawyer, because of the decision he made to drink and drive.

Gilles said that at the end of the staged accident, students learned that the mock accident was just acting; it was just a scenario.

Wisconsin is the land of beer, cheese and Packers. Our society normalizes drinking, Gilles said.

People dont put the whole picture together. Theres always actions, then theres consequences, she said.

As parents and as adults, we need to stand up in our community and say, You know what, this is not OK. We need to stop. People make a choice, but whats the secondary choice? If you make the choice to drink, then be an adult and make the choice to call somebody for help.

Gilles said theres not a parent or a teacher out there that wouldnt thank someone for calling them to come help if under the influence.

Were a small knit community. Just make the call. Theres going to be somebody thats going to help you.
In partnership with AARP, we hope you will join us for a ribbon-cutting ceremony followed by a Festival of Birds on Friday, Oct. 21, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. inside the library.

McIntosh Memorial Library is one of four organizations in Wisconsin awarded a national AARP Community Challenge grant in 2022. Out of 3,200 applications submitted, McIntosh Memorial Library is one of 260 organizations selected for funding. The grant award is $10,000.

The grant dollars are being used to establish an aviary center inside the library. The aviary is in the librarys multigenerational seating area. That specific area provides ample seating so people can be alone or with others to observe the birds year-round. The aviary is equipped to house between 10-15 small songbirds. Bethel Home and Services donated the aviary itself to the library. The grant funding will support the maintenance involved with housing birds, a robust schedule of specialized programming about birds, and the purchase of bird-related materials for the collection.

The 10 a.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony will feature speakers from AARP Wisconsin, the city of Viroqua, McIntosh Memorial Library, and other invited guests. During the Festival of Birds, participants will have the opportunity to attend aviary tours provided by Roger and Diane Hanson, art programs with Daryl Skrupky, and learn how to make a bird feeder during an 11:30 a.m. craft time. Of special note, live owls and their ambassadors from River City Raptors will lead a presentation at 10:30 a.m. in the lobby. Live eagles and their ambassadors from the National Eagle Center will present a 1 p.m. program for children and a program for all ages at 2:15 p.m. in the lobby. Children may participate in a Bird Day Camp from noon to 3 p.m. Registration for the camp is required by calling the library at 608-637-7151, extension 6. Daves Pizza will be parked on Rock Avenue in front of the library from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. selling pizza and breadsticks.

Monthly woodcarving classes are once again being offered. Our next class is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 15, at 10 a.m. This is an opportunity to learn how to carve thanks to the teachings of local experienced carvers. All supplies are provided but space is limited. To reserve a space in the class, call our circulation desk at 608-637-7151, extension 6.

Were pleased to partner with the Ad Hoc Film Society for an Adult Documentary Movie Night on Monday, Oct. 17. The Ants & The Grasshopper will be shown at 6 p.m., with snacks and discussion starting at 5 p.m. Anita Chitaya has a gift; she can help bring abundant food from dead soil, she can make men fight for gender equality, and she can end child hunger in her village. Now, to save her home from extreme weather, she faces her greatest challenge: persuading Americans that climate change is real. This event will be held inside our lobby space.

To stay up-to-date on everything happening at the library, like the Viroqua Library page on Facebook, visit our website at www.mcintoshmemoriallibrary.org, or visit us in person at 205 S. Rock Ave. in Viroqua.
A country schoolhouse tour of eastern Vernon County will take place on Saturday, Oct. 22. La Farge historian and Vernon County Historical Society (VCHS) board member Brad Steinmetz has planned out the route for you.

Using your own vehicle, this tour will guide you to visit over two dozen of the former country schoolhouses or sites of the area. The route begins in La Farge, travels through hills and valleys to Hillsboro, winds back to the Kickapoo Valley, and ends in Rockton.

Start the day by picking up a tour guidebook and map from the VCHS table at the Lawton Library, 118 N. Bird St., La Farge, between 9 a.m. and noon. Or, if you prefer, you may pick up the materials beforehand at the Vernon County Museum, 410 S. Center Ave., Viroqua, on Thursday, Oct. 20, or Friday, Oct. 21, from noon to 4 p.m.

Suggested donation for the guidebook and map is $10. All proceeds from the sale of the tour booklet will be used to help provide heat and air-conditioning to the upper floors of the museum.

Then with your map in hand, drive the tour of the many country schoolhouses and sites. A few of the schools will be open for you to tour that Saturday  more information about this will be in the guide. And there will be a quiz sheet available in the guide for you to complete and turn in at the end of the tour.

The tour will finish up at the Rockton Bar in Rockton between 2 and 5 p.m. Enjoy some food from the restaurant, and stop at the VCHS table to turn in your quiz and receive a prize!

This event will be an opportunity for those who attended one or more of the countys rural schools to reminisce, and for family historians to learn more about the schools that their ancestors attended. Even if you have no connection to Vernon Countys country schools, the tour will help explain the role of the country school in our local history, illustrate schoolhouse architecture, and reveal the creative re-uses of many of the remaining school buildings. And for everyone it will be a chance to enjoy the fall colors on what we hope will be a beautiful October day.

Copies of our new(ish) book, Country Schoolhouses of Vernon County, Wisconsin, will be for sale for $25 at the La Farge library and Rockton bar that Saturday during the event. The book contains a page for each of the countys rural schools, featuring photos and basic historical information, and will be useful on the tour or as a souvenir of the day. The book can also be purchased at the museum during regular business hours of Monday-Friday, noon-4 p.m., or from our website, vernoncountyhistory.org.
I am generally an optimistic fella who sees the H2O in the vessel as half-full most days.

But as the fall days grow colder, I tend to be more like my great-grandfather when it comes to my outlook. Even on the hottest days of summer he would note that the days were growing shorter. And before you know it, Grandpa would say while wiping the sweat off his brow, winter will be here.

My cynicism this year is grounded in two recent developments  the long-term weather forecast that calls for heavier snow and the return of the polar vortex in February and sky high energy prices.

While I havent done my annual measurement of the black bands on the woolly bear caterpillar, and I certainly havent measured the expanding girth of my waistline, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says this will be our third winter in a row being influenced by La Nina. The cooler eastern Pacific Ocean water means a greater chance well have a wetter and colder winter in the upper Midwest.

The long-range winter forecast from AccuWeather calls for periods of snow later in the winter and colder weather in January and February, including the return of the polar vortex in February.

Added to that cheery news is an estimate from the National Energy Assistance Directors Association that we should expect a 17.2% increase in our heat bills from last winter, which were already up 18% from the winter before.

So get ready to shiver a little more, shovel a little more and dig deeper into the pocketbooks. The NEADA says the total cost of home heating this winter will increase from $127.9 billion to nearly $150 billion.

A spike in natural gas prices thanks to the Russian invasion of Ukraine that has impacted supply is being blamed for much of the increase, but the overall cost of heating regardless of the fuel has gone up like everything else.

Even those that burn firewood for their source of heat are not immune to the increased prices. Firewood prices soared last year and remain high. One website that I checked that sells cordwood in northern Wisconsin was quoting $410 for a full cord of mixed hardwoods  picked up. Delivery costs were extra.

While that seems high, its not a record. During the Revolutionary War and the British siege of Boston the price per cord went as high as $20  nearly $681 in todays dollars.

A cord is the standard measurement for a pile of wood that is 128 cubic feet: 4 feet high, 4 feet wide and 8 feet long.

Locally I found prices that range from $160 for two face cords  two-thirds of cord  to $450 for three full cords. We still burn some wood for heating and may burn more this winter as propane prices have also increased  even with locking in prices in advance. Several winters ago I estimated that we needed 41 cords to get us through the entire heating season  when we were heating two houses and the milkhouse in the barn. Buying that much wood at $410 a cord would be nearly a $17,000 price tag.

While I still have the ability to cut my own wood to keep costs lower, there are some who still rely on wood that cannot. About 2% of Americans rely on wood heat for their heating and more than 11 million homes have wood as a primary or a secondary source of heat. In some counties the percentage of homes who rely on wood is much higher.

There are energy assistance programs for low-income Americans who use fuel or electricity and now there is an initiative to grow that assistance for those who burn wood.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed this year includes money to expand firewood banks. Like food banks, firewood banks provide a local heating source for folks in need. The U.S. Department of Agricultures Forest Service is partnering with Alliance for Green Heat to provide small grants of $5,000 to $15,000 to support firewood banks. More than $8 million in funding for firewood banks is contained in the infrastructure law.

There are about 100 firewood banks across the country, but only one in Wisconsin and Minnesota. The Heat a Home Interfaith Caregivers is located in Burnett County, Wis., and the Woodcutters Program  Knights of Columbus Council 478 is in Alexandria, Minn. The banks are typically run by volunteers who split, stack and store the wood or also deliver to those in need.

Providing a local and renewable heating source seems like a common sense way to keep folks in need warm this winter.

Perhaps I could start my own personal firewood bank  if I could ever have enough capital to deposit before I burn it up.
An outside investigation has determined that a La Crosse County Sheriff's Office sergeant had no racist intent when flashing a gesture that has been recently adopted by white supremacist groups.

However, Sheriff Jeff Wolf said in a press release Tuesday that an investigation conducted by the Dane County Sheriff's Office concluded that Sgt. Brandon Penzkover violated sheriff's office policy.

The sheriff's office launched an internal investigation after Penzkover was photographed using the "OK" hand signal while posing with nine other sheriff's deputies and command staff at the Country Boom concert July 9 at Maple Grove venues.

The OK symbol, made when the thumb touches a finger to form a rough circle, has long been used to signify approval or satisfaction. However, the symbol has recently been appropriated by white supremacists. In 2019, the Anti-Defamation League added the hand gesture to its list of symbols of hate.

Wolf appeared in the photo with Penzkover, and it was briefly posted to Wolf's Facebook page before being taken down. The caption read: Proud to work alongside the men and women of the La Crosse County Sheriffs Office to protect the citizens of La Crosse County."

Dane County investigators said there was no evidence to link Penzkover's gesture with racial animus.

"No information came to light to indicate or even mildly suggest that Sgt. Penzkover had or harbored any racial or racist intent toward any member of a minority group or protected class," investigators concluded. "Conversely, all of the information pointed toward Sgt. Penzkover developing relationships with members of these community groups and working to increase knowledge and understanding of LCSO staff members in the area of diversity."

In the Tuesday press release, Wolf said Penzkover's gesture was part of a "circle game" frequently played by his sons and that Penzkover hoped his sons would see it." Wolf said investigators "did find that the gesture did violate polices related to the sheriff's office code of ethics and standards of conduct related to professionalism and conduct."

Wolf said, "appropriate discipline has been given by me and corrective action has been implemented to ensure that any similar situation will not occur again which may have a negative impact on the reputation of the La Crosse County Sheriff's Office and the lost trust the public may have."

Wolf declined the offer specifics on any discipline or corrective action. He told the Tribune Tuesday that he is "unable to provide that information as it is a disciplinary matter that cannot be released."

In the press release, Wolf said the sheriff's office is committed to racial equality.

"The La Crosse County Sheriff's Office has been and will continue to be a leader in education, training and policies related to racial diversity," he said.
The Walk to Remember, an annual event co-sponsored by Gundersen Health System and Mayo Clinic Health System, will take place from 4 to 6 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 15, at the Mayo Clinic parking lot in La Crosse.

The Walk, which has been happening since 1986, is a community to acknowledge October as National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance month. All families and their friends are invited to participate at no cost. Cookies and warm beverages will be served.

Beginning at 4 p.m., families may inscribe a river rock with the name of their loved one or with a message of remembrance. A candlelit ceremony will follow where guests are welcomed to speak their babys name. The Walk, which will be just under a mile, brings awareness to the profound impact of infant and pregnancy loss. This event is a space for families to come together to share their stories and support each other.

We live in a society where early pregnancy and infant loss is generally not talked about or adequately acknowledged, and those experiencing it often do not receive the emotional or psychological support they need, said Emily Hauser-Smith, the Resolve Through Sharing bereavement coordinator at Gundersen Medical Foundation. This can result in feelings of isolation and increased emotional distress. By bringing recognition to early infant and pregnancy loss, our hope is that Walk to Remember will aid our community in understanding and supporting those navigating grief.

Hauser-Smith hopes that the Walk will allow those affected by this special kind of loss to know they are not alone, providing a space to grieve together lean on one another and find strength.

For more information, contact Hauser-Smith at (608) 775-5278.
Texas industries released 16 million pounds of toxic substances into waterways in 2020, leading the nation in total discharges, according to Environment Americas analysis.

But chemicals are not uniformly toxic, which is why the government also weights releases based on the substances potential to harm people.

Many of these chemicals are so acutely toxic, just a tiny amount can cause grave damage, said John Rumpler, senior director of Environment America Research & Policy Center.

On a toxicity-weighted scale, Wisconsin saw the most releases of any state, with nearly all discharges attributed to NextEra Energy Resources Point Beach Nuclear Plant. It sits along Lake Michigan near the city of Two Rivers in Manitowoc County.

The facility discharged a toxicity-weighted equivalent of 45 billion pounds of chemicals into the Great Lakes in 2020 because it released hydrazine. The Environmental Protection Agency considers the chemical a probable human carcinogen.

-- Wisconsin Watch
With the Nov. 8 election less than one month away, Gov. Tony Evers on Tuesday offered little interest in proposals by some Republicans, including his GOP challenger Tim Michels, to bring forward a bill that would keep Wisconsins 1849 abortion ban in place while adding exceptions for rape or incest.

While fielding questions at a Rotary Club of Milwaukee event co-sponsored by the Milwaukee Press Club and Wispolitics.com, the Democratic governor offered a stark contrast to Michels, the co-owner of Brownsville-based Michels Corp., who recently shifted his stance on abortion  saying he would sign into law as governor that would work those exceptions into the more than 170-year-old law left on the states books following the U.S. Supreme Courts overturning of Roe v. Wade.

No, I wouldnt sign it because that leaves the underlying law in place, which is a just ban on abortion because politicians here in Wisconsin decided they know more than the women who want to have reproductive decisions made by themselves, Evers said when asked if he would sign a law to add exceptions for rape or incest.

I think we should codify Roe v. Wade, get back to the way it had been for the last 50 years here in the state of Wisconsin, Evers added.

The states current law, which Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul has challenged in court, prohibits abortions from the time of conception unless its necessary to save the mothers life. Evers has supported that lawsuit.

Evers has called for two special sessions, one seeking to repeal Wisconsins 1849 abortion ban and another that would put the matter before Wisconsin voters, but both were rejected by the Republican-controlled Legislature.

Marquette Law Schools September poll found that 63% of respondents oppose the U.S. Supreme Courts decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, while 83% said the state should allow a woman to obtain a legal abortion if she becomes pregnant as the result of rape or incest. Ten percent of respondents said abortions should not be allowed in those instances.

The poll also found Evers maintaining his narrow lead with support from 47% of respondents, compared with 44% for Michels. Marquette Law Schools latest poll will be released Wednesday.

Officials with the Milwaukee Press Club said Michels has not responded to an invitation to take questions leading up to his Nov. 8 matchup with Evers. The gubernatorial candidates will take part in one debate, scheduled for this Friday.

Michels said last month if he is elected governor and the GOP-led Legislature brought him a bill providing exceptions for rape or incest, he would sign it. His comments marked a shift from his previous position on the matter, including an interview with WISN-12 when he said the 1849 law is an exact mirror of my position and my position is an exact mirror of the 1849 law as well.

The topic of abortion has become a rallying cry among Democratic candidates across the country, with many, including Evers, making it a primary campaign talking point.

In addition to criticizing Michels stance on abortion, Evers took aim at his GOP challengers previous comments that the 2020 election was maybe stolen and his opposition to red flag laws that would allow judges to take guns away from people deemed a danger to others or themselves.

Michels, who has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump, earlier this year said that decertifying the elections results would be on the table if hes elected governor. His spokesperson Anna Kelly said earlier this month Michels would accept the Nov. 8 results, provided the election is conducted fairly and securely.

Recounts, reviews and court decisions have affirmed that President Joe Biden defeated Trump by about 21,000 votes in the 2020 election. Theres been no evidence of widespread fraud.

Kelly did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

Facing heavy GOP criticism over the parole of state inmates convicted of violent crimes, Evers told the Wisconsin State Journal editorial board last week hes open to giving the victims of those crimes a voice at the table.

Michels has taken aim at the Democratic governor as being soft on crime and sent a letter to Evers last month demanding he suspend all prison releases  a move that is outside the governors power.

The governor appoints the Wisconsin Parole Commissions chairperson, but the agency operates independently and some paroles are mandated by law. The commission is also required to parole felons who have completed certain release programs.

We can look at it and talk about it until weve got it resolved, but the fact of the matter is I dont make those decisions on parole, Evers said.

We could change some laws as it relates to the victims of the crime, making sure they have adequate ways to interact with that parole commission, Evers added.
The oft-expanded Southern Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery at Union Grove in Racine County is set to grow again.

The Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs (WDVA) announced Oct. 5 that Wisconsin will receive $3,293,695 from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to expand the Southern Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery, in Dover just outside Union Grove.

Ensuring our veterans have an honorable and dignified resting place is important to commemorating their service and sacrifice, Gov. Tony Evers said. This grant is an important investment to ensure loved ones and future generations can continue honoring the memories of Wisconsin veterans.

The grant will provide 3,500 columbarium niches, which hold cremated remains, as well as fund related landscaping and supporting infrastructure on approximately two acres of land. These improvements will help ensure adequate resources for future burial needs.

The Wisconsin veterans cemeteries provide a beautiful and dignified final resting place for those who have served and their loved ones, said WDVA Secretary Mary Kolar in announcing the grant award. Its so important we continually improve and maintain these treasured places for future generations.

Grant welcome news

The U.S Department of Veterans Affairs grant award comes as welcome news to Lee Kelley, the three-year director of the Southern Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery.

As we continue to grow and expand here at the cemetery, we feel honored to receive that grant award, Kelley said. Proving burial services to families is of utmost importance to what we do here each and every day. The ability to offer a final resting place for our veterans and fallen is the mission, its what we strive to do each and every day  bring that closure to the grieving families of those that have served our country. It means a great deal to us. When we are awarded these projects, we are grateful for them.

The grant award will fund a year-long columbarium development project that will see the construction of five columbarium structures at the cemetery, two of which Kelley said will be expedited for a May 2023 completion as final existing columbarium niches are filled.

Construction on the columbarium expansion project is slated to start at the end of this month or early November, with an anticipated completion of the five-structure columbarium by the end of 2023.

Were going to be short of [columbarium] space come May of next year, Kelley said. Its really going to be a hand-off. Were going to finish off one structure and jump in the brand new one.

As burial preferences change, Kelley said there has been an increasing shift toward cremation burials, which now account for a little bit over 50% of all burials at the Southern Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery, according to Kelley.

The columbarium is a nice piece for people that they seem to choose on a more frequent basis, he noted.

Nationally, cremation burials are now more popular than traditional casket burials, with cremation accounting for 56% of burials in 2020 versus 27% in 2000, according to Cremation Association of North America (CANA) statistics. The percentage of cremation burials is expected to reach 80% by 2040, according to projections by CANA and the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA).

Busy cemetery

According to Colleen Flaherty, director of communications for the Madison-based WDVA, the Southern Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery averages six funerals per day with full military honors, Monday through Friday.

The cemetery, 21731 Spring St. in Union Grove, located adjacent to the Wisconsin Veterans Home and the Southern Wisconsin Center, conducts between 1,300-1,500 funerals annually as the fourth-busiest state veterans cemetery in the nation. To date, more than 23,000 veterans and their spouses have been interred at the Southern Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery.

The staff at the cemetery do a fantastic job, said Colleen Flaherty, director of communications for the Madison-based WDVA. I really love working with them. They truly do care so much about the work they do and keeping that place beautiful.

Situated on state-owned farmland at the Southern Wisconsin Center, which serves adult clients with intellectual disabilities combined with physical or mental health disorders, the 105-acre Southern Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery site has undergone multiple expansion phases since groundbreaking occurred for the cemetery on Memorial Day 1996.

The cemetery and its administrative building were officially dedicated on May 31, 1998. The first phase of construction included burial for casket and cremation urns and additional development occurs as needed to accommodate the needs of veterans and their families.

The cemetery, located southwest of Milwaukee in Racine County, will be undergoing several expansion projects through 2025.

Learn more

The WDVA operates three veterans memorial cemeteries located in King (Waupaca County), Spooner (Washburn County) and Union Grove (Racine County).

Veterans, spouses and children may be eligible for burial or memorialization at Wisconsins veterans cemeteries. For questions about burial eligibility or preregistration, visit the application portal at mywisvets.com, email at wisvets@dva.wi.gov, or call 800-WIS-VETS (947-8387).

For more information about the Southern Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery, visit https://dva.wi.gov/Pages/memorialsBurials/SWVMC.aspx.
The Middle East Facilities Management Association (MEFMA) kicked off its one-day seminar in style today (October 12) in Riyadh under the theme 'FM Engagement towards Sustainable Development' with over 350 professional, experts and top decision-makers in the FM industry taking part.

Held under the patronage of Majid bin Abdullah Al-Hogail, Minister of Housing and Municipal and Rural Affairs, Omar Bin Muhammed Almhasen, Head of Support Services sector, at the Hilton Riyadh Hotel, the seminar was a part of Mefmas mission to provide a new series of educational content and opportunities in the KSA Facilities Management (FM) industry.

The event was held at a time when the FM industry is booming in Saudi Arabia following an active support by the ministry to the sector, particularly MEFMA since its establishment, said the organisers.

It showcased the significance and challenges of implementing innovations and technologies to foster sustainable operations in the FM industry.

The seminar kickstarted with a thoughtful and inspiring opening speech by Ali AlSuwaidi, Vice President of Mefma, followed by a welcome address by Mohammad Abdullah Almarshad, Vice Chairman of board of directors, Riyadh Chamber representative. This was followed by opening remarks from Mefma Saudi board members Mohammed AlDuraibi and Mohannad AlMadhi.

AlSuwaidi said: "With the emergence of new and improved technologies, the industry is undergoing rapid change. We play an important role in raising awareness about the importance of adopting innovative technologies to attain resilient and best practices that meet highest sustainable standards."

"Over the years, our events have both inspired and educated industry newcomers as well as professionals under one roof to educate them about the latest innovative developments in the sectorm," stated AlSuwaidi.

AlSuwaidi said: "We are proud to have brought these series of educational content to KSA, starting with our successfully conducted seminar. This comes at a time when the Saudi Vision 2030 is playing a major role in the surging economic development and creating ample opportunities for the construction, real estate, and building industries that are further leading to a demand for facilities management services in the kingdom."

Saudi Arabia facility management market is projected to hit $34.86 billion in 2028 growing at a CAGR of 6.2 per cent in forecast period, he stated, citing industry reports.

AlDuraibi pointed out that such events provided a perfect platform for FM professionals and experts to discuss and showcase best possible solutions for the industry.

"During the seminar, enthusiastic experts actively participated and contributed many useful ideas and solutions that will help us continue to strengthen the FM sector. We expect the next workshops and training sessions to give participants a thorough understanding of the FM sector," he added.

Besides learning from the experts, professionals got an opportunity to network with other FM industry professionals, meet major FM players, and gain insight from educational panel discussions and presentations during the seminar.

The focus of the event was on sustainable development issues, with a holistic approach to FM strategies to improve the industry and recommendations on how to start a change process where facilities managers are given more authority to address sustainability on a strategic, tactical, and operational level. Some of the main highlights included technologies, innovations, smart cities, and KSA mixed-use initiatives.

Following the successful conclusion of the event, a workshop in collaboration with Riyadh Chamber titled "The role of technology-based FM in sustainable projects" will be held tomorrow (October 13).-TradeArabia News Service
With the Nov. 8 election less than a month away, Gov. Tony Evers on Tuesday offered little interest in proposals by some Republicans, including his GOP challenger Tim Michels, to keep Wisconsins 1849 abortion ban in place while adding exceptions for rape and incest.

While fielding questions at a Rotary Club of Milwaukee event co-sponsored by the Milwaukee Press Club and WisPolitics.com, the Democratic governor offered a stark contrast to Michels, co-owner of Brownsville-based Michels Corp.

Michels recently shifted his stance on abortion by saying he would sign a bill that provided exceptions to the 1849 law triggered by the U.S. Supreme Courts overturning of Roe v. Wade.

No, I wouldnt sign it because that leaves the underlying law in place, which is just a ban on abortion because politicians here in Wisconsin decided they know more than the women who want to have reproductive decisions made by themselves, Evers said when asked if he would sign a law to add exceptions for rape and incest.

I think we should codify Roe v. Wade, get back to the way it had been for the last 50 years here in the state of Wisconsin, Evers added.

The states current law, which Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul has challenged in court, prohibits abortions from the time of conception unless its necessary to save the mothers life. Evers has supported that lawsuit.

Evers has called for two special sessions, one seeking to repeal Wisconsins 1849 abortion ban and another that would put the matter before Wisconsin voters, but both were rejected by the Republican-controlled Legislature.

The Marquette Law Schools September poll found that 63% of respondents oppose the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, while 83% said the state should allow a woman to obtain a legal abortion if she becomes pregnant as the result of rape or incest. Ten percent of respondents said abortions should not be allowed in those instances.

Michels had previously said the 1849 law is an exact mirror of my position and my position is an exact mirror of the 1849 law as well.

The Marquette poll also found Evers maintaining his narrow lead with support from 47% of respondents, compared with 44% for Michels. Marquettes latest poll will be released Wednesday.

Officials with the Milwaukee Press Club said Michels has not responded to an invitation to take questions before the November election. The gubernatorial candidates will take part in one debate, scheduled for Friday.

The topic of abortion has become a rallying cry among Democratic candidates across the country, with many, including Evers, making it a primary campaign talking point.

In addition to criticizing Michels stance on abortion, Evers took aim at his GOP challengers previous comments that the 2020 election was maybe stolen and his opposition to red flag laws that would allow judges to take guns away from people deemed a danger to others or themselves.

Michels, who has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump, earlier this year said that decertifying the elections results would be on the table if hes elected governor. His spokesperson Anna Kelly said earlier this month Michels would accept the Nov. 8 results, provided the election is conducted fairly and securely.

Recounts, reviews and court decisions have affirmed that President Joe Biden defeated Trump by about 21,000 votes in the 2020 election. Theres been no evidence of widespread fraud.

Facing heavy GOP criticism over the parole of state inmates convicted of violent crimes, Evers told the Wisconsin State Journal editorial board last week hes open to giving the victims of those crimes a voice at the table.

Michels has taken aim at the Democratic governor as being soft on crime and sent a letter to Evers last month demanding he suspend all prison releases  a move that is outside the governors power.

The governor appoints the Wisconsin Parole Commissions chairperson, but the agency operates independently and some paroles are mandated by law. The commission is also required to parole felons who have completed certain release programs.

We can look at it and talk about it until weve got it resolved, but the fact of the matter is I dont make those decisions on parole, Evers said.

We could change some laws as it relates to the victims of the crime, making sure they have adequate ways to interact with that parole commission, Evers added.

Asked about criticism hes received over his response to violent protests that broke out in Kenosha after a white police officer shot Jacob Blake, a Black man, in 2020, Evers reiterated previous comments hes made on the topic that he responded to every request made by local officials, including sending the Wisconsin National Guard.

Both Kenosha and the parole commission have become repeated points of criticisms by Michels, who has derided Evers as being soft on crime.

Kelly also took aim at Evers use of civil disruptions to describe the Kenosha protests, accusing the governor of minimizing the events, as well as the parole commission  dubbing the governor Early Release Evers, in an email.

Michels has not said what specific changes hed seek on the parole commission, but said at a news conference last month the number of paroles hed seek as governor would be more than zero but less than the number granted under Evers.
Bahrain's Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has launched a new Innovation Licence to encourage innovations and simplify the testing of emerging technologies in the Kingdom.

It also aims to develop an environment where digital technologies can thrive and underpins Bahrains position as one of the worlds most advanced telecommunications markets, said a statement.

The Innovation Licence enables live testing of new technologies and services through a light-touch regulatory environment known as a Regulatory Sandbox.

The TRA aims to provide stakeholders with clarity and confidence by enabling a flexible environment.

"The TRA believes that innovation is the key to maintaining leadership in the digital space. Accordingly, we encourage companies, universities, and other stakeholders to test and trial new wireless technologies and services in Bahrain," TRA General Director Philip Marnick said.

"We are confident that this initiative will further strengthen Bahrains position as a technology and regulatory innovator. It will also allow the TRA to continue supporting and collaborating with organisations across the telecommunications industry."

Holders of an Innovation Licence will be able to carry out live trials of emerging technologies with consumers to gain insight into how the new products and services may work in the market in addition to having quick access to the radio spectrum for wireless tests, it said.

The Innovation Licence fees will be affordably priced at BD30.
London Fears That China Threatens the Liberal Postwar Order by Defending Sovereignty, Development

Oct. 11, 2022 (EIRNS)The City of Londons weekly The Economist, a mouthpiece for British imperial dictates for nearly 180 years, this week published a call-to-arms against China, deemed a more disruptive challenge to the imperial postwar order than even Russias brazen defiance. Its Special Report, comprised of seven articles, openly argues that China is an enemy to the postwar order, because it puts sovereignty and development before universal values and individual freedoms.

The entire package is premised on the imperial doctrine associated with the figure of despised, discredited former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, that of an imperial responsibility to protect peoples against governments which are not under the thumb of the imperial order.

This special report will examine Chinas challenge to the postwar order. It is more subtle than Russias brazen defiance, yet more disruptive, it wrote. Why? Because China ... seeks to revive old, discredited ways of running the world that put states first, at the expense of individual freedoms. President Xi Jinpings Global Security Initiative and his organizing around the concept of a community of the shared future for mankind infuriate The Economist. These are coded complaints. The first is an attack on alliances, above all Americas defense pacts in Europe and Asia, while a shared future is another way of saying development first. 

President Xi, you see, does not even accept that the Second World War created a mandate to draw up a liberal order. The Economist admits that the problem British imperialism faces, is that many developing countries see nothing magic about the year 1945 when that liberal order was ostensibly founded, and have limited nostalgia for a time when the West dominated rulemaking.

Even as brazen British imperialism goes, the article in the package titled Sovereignty First: China Seeks a World Order That Defers to States and Their Rulers is remarkable, baldly holding up NATOs destruction of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya as pious examples of the Empires responsibility to protect!

Chinese officials express scorn for interventions by America and its allies in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. They are especially hostile to claims that these reflected a responsibility to protect,  The Economist complains. That doctrine commits states to act when they detect genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing or crimes against humanity (a doctrine, it must be noted, studiously ignored when the Nazi government in Kiev spent eight years shelling Russian-speakers in eastern Ukraine).

Furthermore, China opposes NATO moving into the Indo-Pacific as an unwelcome intrusion. In 2014, President Xi even dared to bluntly declare: It is for the people of Asia to run the affairs of Asia.

Likewise, development professionals worry, because under Chinas Global Development Initiative and the Belt and Road Initiative, the torrent of Chinese loans, offered with no strings attached, was the main threat to conditionality.  Chinas actions threaten decades of grassroots campaigns in the developing world, involving anti-corruption lawyers, environmental groups, feminists and other activists.

Not surprisingly, China is gaining clout in the United Nations around such ideas. The Economist objects, for example, that China has built a growing coalition of countries opposed to Western sanctions ... [and] should Chinas clout at the UN continue to grow, multilateral sanctions will become rarer. Those sanctions, The Economist neglects to mention, are starving peoples in more than 30 countries around the world.
Russia launches a second round of missiles against Ukrainian cities on Tuesday. The attacks came one day after widespread strikes killed at least 19 people. The strikes Monday also wounded more than 100 people and damaged power lines.

The United Nations human rights office described the attacks as particularly shocking, saying that they could be war crimes.

Air raid warnings extended throughout Ukraine. People hurried back into shelters after months of calm in Kyiv and many other cities. It brings anger, not fear, Volodymyr Vasylenko of Kyiv said as workers repaired traffic lights and cleared wreckage from the citys streets. We already got used to this. And we will keep fighting.

Tuesday's missile strikes struck both power plants and civilian areas, just as Mondays attacks did. One person was killed when 12 missiles hit the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, setting off a large fire, the State Emergency Service said. A local official said the missiles hit a school, housing and medical buildings.

Missiles struck energy plants in the western Lviv and the Vinnytsia areas. Officials said Ukrainian forces shot down a Russian missile before it reached Kyiv. But, the capital city only had limited power following Mondays deadly strikes.

The State Emergency Service said 19 people died and 105 people were wounded in Mondays strikes. At least five of the victims were in Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. More than 300 cities and towns lost power, from the capital to Lviv on the border with Poland.

On Tuesday, U.S. President Joe Biden and other Group of Seven (G-7) leaders met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy by video link.

The Ukrainian leader asked for air defense systems, which he has called his "number 1 priority. Zelenskyy urged the G-7 leaders to hit Russias energy industry with tougher sanctions. He added: There can be no dialogue with this leader of Russia, who has no future.

The G-7 leaders condemned the bombardment, saying indiscriminate attacks on innocent civilian populations constitute a war crime. They also promised that they would stand firmly with Ukraine for as long as it takes.

Fear of rising tensions

Russias missile attacks came after a weekend explosion that damaged a bridge linking Russia to the Crimean Peninsula. Russia annexed the area from Ukraine in 2014.

A spokesperson for the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said Tuesday that strikes on civilian objects, including structures such as power plants, could qualify as a war crime. Ravina Shamdasani told reporters at a U.N. briefing in Geneva, Attacks targeting civilians and objects indispensable to the survival of civilians are prohibited under international humanitarian law.

In Moscow, Russian officials, nationalist supporters and state media celebrated the missile strikes. They argued that the attack was fitting and answered Ukrainian battlefield successes and the explosion on the bridge.

Russian lawmaker Sergei Mironov wrote on Twitter, It is time for fighting! Fiercely, even cruelly. Without looking back at whatever censures from the West. And Chechnyan leader Ramzan Kadyrov said he was now 100 percent happy with the Russian operations in Ukraine. Kadyrov was among those who called for strong measures including the use of low-yield nuclear weapons.

Ukrainian forces have been increasingly successful in counteroffensive attacks. But, western nations are fearful that Russia might use chemical or nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

Last week, Biden said, First time since the Cuban missile crisis, we have a direct threat of the use (of a) nuclear weapon if in fact, things continue down the path they are going. But the Biden administration added that the U.S. has not seen any change in the Russian nuclear position.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke about the issue Tuesday. He said on state television that Russia would only use nuclear weapons to prevent the destruction of the Russian Federation. He also accused the West of spreading false information about Russias goals.

In Brussels, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the military alliance would hold long-planned exercises next week to test the state of readiness of its nuclear forces.

The exercise, named Steadfast Noon, is held yearly. It involves fighter jets able of carrying nuclear warheads but does not involve real nuclear weapons.

Asked whether it was the wrong time for such an exercise, Stoltenberg replied: It would send a very wrong signal now, if we suddenly canceled a routine, long-time planned exercise because of the war in Ukraine.

Stoltenberg added that Russia knows that a nuclear war can never be won and must never be fought.

Im Bryan Lynn.

Hai Do adapted this story for VOA Learning English from Associated Press and Reuters reports.

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Words in This Story

sanctions n. (pl.) actions taken to punish a country to make it obey international law, usually in the form of economic restrictions

dialogue n. discussions between two groups aimed at ending a disagreement

indiscriminate adj. affecting or harming many people in a careless or unfair way

constitute v. to be the same as something; to be equivalent to something

indispensable adj. necessary; cannot be done without

censure v. to officially criticize someone or something

routine n. something that happens regularly; not unusual

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Before a child can read a book, they must know how to read a sentence. Before they can read a sentence, they must know how to read individual words. And before they can read words, they must know letters and learn the alphabet.

To be successful at reading or in any subject at school, students must start with learning the most basic knowledge. And many students around the world are not learning these basic skills, also called foundational learning. The problem and possible solutions were recently discussed at the United Nations Transforming Education Summit. Conference attendees said that while the problem already existed before the COVID-19 pandemic, the health crisis made it worse.

This is a global learning crisis, said UNICEF director Catherine Russell. Millions of children are still out of school. And millions of children are in school  but not learning the basic skills.

UNICEF found that two out of every three children around the world cannot read and understand a simple story by age 10. This was a 12 percent increase since before the pandemic. Three-quarters of children by grade four also do not have basic math skills.

In poorer countries, the numbers are even worse. Just one in 10 children in sub-Saharan Africa have basic reading skills by grade three.

Learning poverty fuels economic poverty, Russell said.

UNICEF found that long school closures during the pandemic greatly worsened educational inequality around the world. Millions of children left the educational system during the pandemic, and many still have not returned to the classroom. In 2021, UNICEF estimated that 244 million children between the ages of 6 and 18 were out of school.

Ibrahim Natatou is the secretary of education of Niger. This is not the same situation in developed countries, he told the UN meeting. For us its a disaster.

Natatou said Niger and other sub-Saharan African countries are currently at war, which adds to the current educational system problems. He said there is also a lack of good teachers. Natatou noted that 57 percent of primary school teachers in Niger do not have good writing and reading skills, and schools are often in poor condition.

Despite these very large global difficulties, leaders see the pandemic as a chance to change education for the better. As a part of the meeting, the U.N., World Bank and other organizations urged governments to take action on the foundational learning crisis. Countries like the U.S., Britain, Sierra Leone, Egypt and Bulgaria have come together to sign a promise to improve foundational learning.

Eleonora Villegas-Reimers is an education expert at Boston University. She said, We are dealing with the pandemic still, but its a very, very important opportunity for us to transform education. She added, Governments around the world have been asked to take a stand and commit to ensure children develop foundational skills.

In Niger, Natatou said there has already been some progress. More training and support have been provided to teachers. And, officials are working to get computers to all students across the country.

Julius Maada Bio is the president of Sierra Leone. He said his country has been able to increase school enrollment by 50 percent through its free quality education program. He also said more girls and children from poor and rural areas are now attending school. Maada Bio added that schools across the country are now providing children with free warm meals as well.

We owe our children a future of promise, where as productive citizens we continue to build inclusive, equitable and peaceful societies, he said.

Im Dan Novak.

Dan Novak wrote this story for VOA Learning English based information from UNICEF and the World Economic Forum.

Quiz - World Leaders Seek to Improve Basic Learning Skills Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz

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Words in This Story

global  adj. involving the entire world

opportunity  n. an amount of time or a situation in which something can be done

transform  v. to change completely and usually in a good way

commit  v. to say that someone will definitely do something

enroll  v. to become a member or participant

inclusive  adj. covering or including everything
The smell of smoke still makes Thiolina Marpaung afraid. It reminds her of the bomb explosion that changed her life 20 years ago.

Marpaung was in a car with her coworkers on the Indonesian island of Bali in 2002 when the explosion happened. She was temporarily blinded as pieces of glass went into her eyes. Now 48 years old, Marpaung remembers calling out for help and someone bringing her to a sidewalk before health workers arrived.

She is one of many Indonesian survivors who were outside of Sari Club on the night of October 12, 2002. That was when a car bombing and a suicide bombing at nearby Paddys Pub killed 202 people. Most were foreign tourists, including 88 Australians and seven Americans.

Twenty years after the Bali bombings, efforts against terrorism in the world's most populous Muslim country remain active.

More than 2,300 people have been arrested on terrorism charges since a national counterterrorism unit was created after the attacks. That number comes from the Center for Radicalism and Deradicalization Studies.

Officials have continued to look for suspects even as the number of terrorist attacks in Indonesia has fallen. In 2020, 228 people were arrested on terrorism charges. The number rose to 370 last year.

But the effort has also raised concerns.

Sana Jaffrey is director of the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict in Jakarta. He said the public could start seeing anti-terrorism as something of a political thing rather than a law enforcement effort.

The government is still going after suspects related to the Bali bombings.

In December 2020, police arrested 58-year-old Aris Sumarsono, better known as Zulkarnaen. The court sentenced him to 15 years in prison for his part in the attack.

But in August, Indonesia's government considered releasing the bombmaker in the Bali attack from prison early.

His name is Hisyam bin Alizein, better known as Umar Patek. Indonesian officials said Patek was an example of successful efforts to reform people found guilty of terrorism.

Ni Luh Erniati lost her husband in the Bali bombing. She met Patek at a prison last month. She has also met others who were tried and found guilty of terrorism. She said she believes the meetings can help her heal from the loss of her husband.

She told Patek that because of that incident, I lost my true love, and I told him my life after that. He was crying, really crying, Erniati said.

Patek asked for her forgiveness, she said.

I held his hand, I said, Yes, I have forgiven you. He was crying louder, Erniati said.

I also told him, lets work together to protect our beloved country so that the same tragedies dont happen in the future, she added.

Erniati said the decision over his release is now up to the government. The government is considering whether to free him after he served half of his 20-year sentence.

Indonesias Minister of Law and Human Rights said Patek has fulfilled all requirements for early prison release, also called parole. But the Australian government has expressed strong opposition to it.

Peter Hughes is a survivor of the 2002 bombing from Australia. He has visited Bali more than 30 times in the past 20 years after overcoming his physical and mental trauma.

Hughes spent a month in a coma after suffering burns to over half of his body in the Paddys Pub explosions in Bali.

Hughes said he was not concerned that Patek could soon be released from prison.

It doesnt worry me. I have no issue with it. The Indonesian judicial system is a little ... different to us, I guess, Hughes said.

Im Faith Pirlo.

Dan Novak adapted this story based on reporting by The Associated Press.

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Words in This Story

tourist n. a person who travels to places for pleasure and enjoyment

trauma  n. an experience that is damaging and that causes mental and emotional problems for a person

coma  n. a state in which an injured person is asleep and unconscious for a long time
What was the first U.S. city to have an elevated train line? Test your knowledge with these "Jeopardy!" clues about U.S. cities.
Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) has joined the new Africa-1 cable system consortium, strengthening Saudi Arabias connectivity with various locations across the Middle East, Africa, and Europe.

This is done through advanced connection capacities, new routes integrated with Mobilys national networks across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and border link points with telecommunication networks in neighbouring countries.

The new consortium encompasses Mobily, the only telecommunication company from the kingdom, in addition to other regional and global service providers.

Pivotal role

By joining the Africa-1 consortium, Mobily plays a pivotal role in boosting KSA's digital infrastructure, in line with Saudi Vision 2030, aiming to provide a faster and more reliable internet connection. This step will also enable stronger telecommunication services to meet the needs of Mobily customers across both public and private sectors in their quest for digital transformation.

Thamer A AlFadda, Senior Vice President of Wholesale & Carrier Services, said: Mobily continues its commitment to supporting digital transformation programmes and empowering the Saudi Vision 2030 objectives. By joining the Africa-1 consortium, we are seeking to positively impact various local sectors by adding a new line to the global telecommunications network across the kingdom. This will enhance the resources available to our various clients locally and regionally by providing a direct connection to global strategic locations.

The new sub-sea cable system will feature advanced technologies accelerating KSA's telecommunication network level to improve service quality and user satisfaction. In addition, the new cable system, which is expected to be launched by the end of 2024, will also be linked to a new strategic landing station in Dhuba, northwest of Saudi Arabia.

Landing stations

The 10,000 km sub-sea cable will initially have landing stations in KSA, UAE, Egypt, Sudan, Algeria, France, Pakistan, Kenya, and Djibouti. The following phase will include additional landings in Yemen, Somalia, Tanzania, and Mozambique. Furthermore, the system will be equipped with ASN 1620 SoftNode transmission equipment, featuring high-performance 200/300/400 Gb/s advanced coherent XWAV line cards.

This project is the latest in a series of initiatives by Mobily that aim to improve customer experience through modern and advanced technologies. Moreover, Mobily continues to support digital transformation by providing high-quality and more reliable internet speeds that meet international standards, in addition to activating its strategy, enhancing its distinguished infrastructure capabilities, increasing its diversity, and emphasising its flexibility to make it the operator of choice among consumers.-- TradeArabia News Service
Madison could be losing another hotel but gaining much-needed workforce housing.

A California development company has proposed a plan to convert the 153 rooms of the Radisson Hotel, 517 Grand Canyon Drive on the citys Far West Side, into 145 studio and eight one-bedroom apartments.

The project by Vivo Investment Group would retain and improve amenities like the swimming pool and fitness center, and convert conference and event spaces into indoor bike parking and tenant storage. Kitchenettes, low-flow bathroom fixtures and luxury vinyl flooring would be added to each unit.

If the city approves a zoning change from commercial corridor to commercial corridor-transactional, remodeling work would begin in February and be completed by June.

The proposal is in line with the citys recently adopted Odana Area Plan for an area of more than 1,000 acres bounded by the Beltline, Whitney Way and Mineral Point Road. The plan calls for more housing, better-organized retail, parks, open spaces and more biking and walking opportunities.

Im excited about this conversion project. Its focus on reuse and being (targeted) towards providing affordability is exciting, said City Council President Keith Furman, 19th District, who represents the area. The area is seeing new projects at a quicker pace than I expected, but is in line with the Odana Area Plan. This area is a great area for increased development and usage.

In August, Apex Real Estate Holdings and Walter Wayne Development submitted a plan with the city to demolish the former Market Square movie theater at 6604 Odana Road to build a $22 million, six-story project offering about 98 apartments, 2,500 square feet of commercial space and two levels of parking. Meanwhile, Northpointe Development and DreamLane Real Estate are proposing to tear down The White House Shoppes, 6706-14 Odana Road, to build a four-story project with 124 lower-cost apartments, about 5,000 square feet of commercial space and parking.

The Radisson project by Vivo, which has an option to purchase the property, is across the street from Market Square and a half-block east of The White House Shoppes. The plan also comes after HotelRed, at the corner of Monroe and Regent streets, was turned into 50 housing units by Steve Brown Apartments earlier this year; and after a plan from a developer was approved by the city to convert the two-story, 197-room Madison Plaza, 3841 E. Washington Ave., into 155 to 190 lower-cost studio and one-bedroom apartments with amenities for residents.

Vivo Investment Group is working throughout the country to solve the housing crisis through adaptive reuse while building socially and economically resilient communities, the company wrote in its letter of intent to the city. To date they have converted over 3,255 units in 21 communities and 13 states. The converted units are priced (15% to 20%) below market rate making them affordable for a variety of residents.

Vivo projects

Vivo was founded in 2013 by Dan Norville to purchase and upgrade hotel properties. But as those opportunities began to wane, the company began to shift its focus. In 2019, the company purchased a distressed hotel property in Ogden, Utah, and converted the building to apartments. When the pandemic hit in March 2020, the opportunities skyrocketed. Since December 2020, Vivo has purchased 20 hotel properties around the country, with each converted or in the process of being converted to housing.

The examples include a 140-room Days Inn in Port Royal, South Carolina; a 72-room Quality Inn & Suites in New Braunfels, Texas; and a 90-unit Wingate by Wyndham in Bloomington, Indiana.

The Radisson conversion would be Vivos first project in Wisconsin.

The idea is to increase the value of the property, now assessed at $5.9 million. The companys first project in Utah increased in value from $13 million to $22 million, Norville said in a video interview with Verivest, a real estate network.

It shed the light on what we can do with this strategy, Norville said. COVID became an actual opportunity in itself. Hotels were going to suffer, and hotels were going to go through pain, but we had the opportunity and the capital partners to acquire these hotels now at a pretty deep discount. The strategy worked pre-COVID, so now its only acerbated and gotten better.

Building history

What is now the Radisson opened in the early 1980s as the Best Western Westowner. It was converted to a Radisson in the mid-1980s. In 1988, a two-story, 8,500-square-foot addition that included 22 guest rooms was completed, and three years later, the hotel underwent an $850,000 facelift. In 2013, the hotel underwent a $2 million renovation that included upgrades to all of its rooms, the 8,100-square-foot conference center and lobby.

The restaurant and bar, its most recent iteration called Twist, was once known as Basies, which hosted live jazz. The hotels event spaces over the years hosted gatherings that included weddings, science fiction conventions, fly fishing shows and on Tuesday evenings, the Madison Backgammon Club, which now meets at the Essen Haus.

The hotel is surrounded by retail, restaurants and service industry businesses and is just blocks from West Towne Mall, grocery stores and schools. But when the work by Vivo is completed, the 91,462-square-foot building would offer more amenities than most workforce housing projects. The indoor swimming pool will get new furniture, there will be an outdoor fire pit, grills, an area for lawn games and a small fenced-in dog park. The restaurant space would also remain and be leased to a private operator.

Youre getting these class A apartment amenities in what you wouldnt normally ever see in a class B or class C housing, Norville told Verivest. This is a good strategy that we can replicate at scale. They can be converted easily and quickly into apartments.
News that a developer was proposing a six-story, 445-apartment development adjacent to Tenney Park sparked history buffs' memories of the building that stands on the site now.

The CUNA Mutual building at 1617 Sherman Ave., was the company's third home. On May 14, 1950, President Harry Truman helped dedicate Filene House, which honored founder of the credit union movement, Edward Filene, according to the Madison Trust for Historic Preservation website.

CUNA Mutual moved to Mineral Point Road on the west side of Madison in 1960.

The building was improved in 1966 and 2000 and was at one point the home of the Wisconsin Physician Service Insurance Corp. The building has outlived its useful life and is not suitable for renovation to residential use, the developers proposing the new development said.
WASHINGTON (AP)  A member of the Oath Keepers who traveled to Washington before the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol testified Wednesday about a massive cache of weapons the far-right extremist group stashed in a Virginia hotel room.

Taking the stand in the seditious conspiracy case against Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and four associates, Terry Cummings showed jurors an AR-15 firearm and an orange box for ammunition that he contributed to the so-called quick reaction force the Oath Keepers had staged at the hotel outside of Washington in case they needed weapons.

I had not seen that many weapons in one location since I was in the military, said Cummings, a veteran who joined the Oath Keepers in Florida in 2020.

Prosecutors have said teams of Oath Keepers guarded the arsenal of firearms and were prepared to rush them into the hands of extremists in the capital if needed.

The alleged teams and the cache of weapons are a central piece of the Department of Justices case against Rhodes and four associates charged with seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6 attack. Members of the Oath Keepers stashed the firearms just outside Washington district limits, given the capitol's tougher gun laws.

Authorities have alleged the teams and the stockpile of arms were designed to get weapons into Oath Keepers' hands quickly if they were needed to support a plot to stop the transfer of power from Republican Donald Trump to Democrat Joe Biden.

Cummings' testimony came in the second week of the trial that is expected to last several weeks. The others on trial are Thomas Caldwell of Berryville, Virginia; Kenneth Harrelson of Titusville, Florida; Jessica Watkins of Woodstock, Ohio; and Kelly Meggs of Dunnellon, Florida.

Defense lawyers have not denied the existence of the quick reaction teams but noted that they were never deployed on Jan. 6. They have accused prosecutors of falsely portraying them as an invasion force.

Defense lawyers have said the Oath Keepers often set up quick reaction forces for events, but insist they were defensive forces only to be used to protect against violence from antifa activists or in the event Trump invoked the Insurrection Act. They are not facing any gun charges for bringing the weapons to Virginia.

Rhodes lawyers have said they will argue that cannot find him guilty of seditious conspiracy because all the actions he took before Jan. 6 were in preparation for orders he anticipated from Trump under the Insurrection Act, which gives presidents wide discretion to decide when military force is necessary.

Cummings told jurors that he traveled to Washington on Jan. 6 with other Oath Keepers to be part of a VIP security detail for Trumps rally at the Ellipse. He said he saw it as an opportunity to express my First Amendment rights and see a sitting president speak, which he had never done.

Cummings said his understanding was the quick reaction forces would potentially be used not as an offensive situation, but more as a show of force.

Cummings said he was part of a group that acted as a security team for a VIP at Trumps rally before the riot. Cummings and other Oath Keepers left before Trump's speech was finished and went toward the Capitol.

He recalled Meggs talked about entering the Capitol  something Cummings didnt think was a good idea. He then split off to find a bathroom, and when he returned the group was gone. The group entered the Capitol while he was away, he said. Up to an hour later, Cummings rejoined fellow Oath Keepers from Florida, and eventually Rhodes appeared as well.

Cummings said he did not hear any talk about plans to storm or attack the Capitol, though he also said he wasn't in a position of leadership. He has not faced criminal charges, was subpoenaed to testify for the government and acknowledged on the stand that he has contributed to the legal defense fund of some of the defendants.

Authorities have said that Meggs and the Florida Oath Keepers on Jan. 5 brought gun boxes, rifle cases and suitcases filled with ammunition to the Virginia hotel that served as the home for the quick reaction force. Another team from Arizona brought weapons, ammunition, and supplies to last 30 days, according to court papers. A team from North Carolina had rifles in a vehicle parked in the hotel lot, prosecutors have said.

Prosecutors have described surveillance footage that they say shows Oath Keepers rolling bags, large bins and what appears to be at least one rifle case into the hotel.

Over several days in early January, Rhodes spent $15,500 on guns, including an AR-platform rifle, magazines, mounts, sights and other equipment, prosecutors have said. Caldwell, in one message, suggested getting a boat to ferry heavy weapons across the Potomac River into the Oath Keepers waiting arms.

A former Oath Keeper from North Carolina last week described setting up a quick reaction force for the Million MAGA March in Washington on Nov. 14, 2020, in case Trump invoked the Insurrection Act. Thousands of Trump supporters that day gathered at Freedom Plaza along Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington to rally behind Trumps false election claims.

The former Oath Keeper, John Zimmerman, told jurors that the Oath Keepers stashed at least a dozen rifles and several handguns in his van parked at Arlington National Cemetery to serve as the quick reaction force on that occasion. He said they never took the guns into Washington.

___

Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer in Boston contributed to this report.
A Sun Prairie middle school teacher who was arrested last week, accused by police of recording students in a school bathroom, was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury on three counts of production of child pornography, according to federal court documents.

Matthew E. Quaglieri, 34, of Sun Prairie, pleaded not guilty to the charges through his attorney, federal defender Joseph Bugni, during an arraignment Wednesday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Madison.

The indictment contains no details about what Quaglieri is accused of doing, but it states that on Sept. 22, 23 and 29, he knowingly and intentionally used a minor ... to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct, and that the materials he used, specifically an Apple iPad, had been transported in interstate and foreign commerce, making it a federal crime.

The three counts involve two minors, who are identified in the indictment only as Minor 1 and Minor 2.

Production of child pornography carries a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison, with a maximum of 30 years.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Altman said after Quaglieris court appearance she could not comment on the case beyond what is in the indictment. In court, she told U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephen Crocker that the investigation is ongoing. Bugni said after the session that he did not know anything more so far than whats stated in the indictment.

Before his hearing Wednesday, as he sat alone after being brought into court by federal marshals, Quaglieri appeared to be emotional, wiping tears from his eyes with a tissue at times, at other times openly sobbing. That continued after Bugni arrived and tried to offer reassurance to Quaglieri.

Quaglieri will remain in custody. Under federal law, detention is presumed for those charged with production of child pornography, though defendants can seek a review of their custody status at a later time.

On Friday, Sun Prairie police issued a statement saying they were alerted Friday about inappropriate behavior by a staff member at Prairie View Middle School. It stated that the school district was cooperating with the investigation and that the state Division of Criminal Investigation was assisting.

Letters sent to parents on Friday stated a male student reported feeling uncomfortable and may have been recorded in a restroom at Prairie View.

Police subsequently learned that a teacher had been recording students in the bathroom, the district said.

Quaglieri, who identifies himself on his LinkedIn page as a music teacher, was suspended. He has been in the Dane County Jail since late Friday night.

In an update emailed to parents on Tuesday, district officials said they are limited in what they can tell the public because of the investigation, but there was no evidence to suggest that recording devices were planted at the school by anyone.

However, our Facilities and Grounds team swept the bathrooms at Prairie View before school on Monday, the district wrote. No devices were found.

Quaglieri would be the second area teacher accused of recording students to be charged in federal court.

In October 2021, former Madison East High School teacher David Kruchten, 39, of Cottage Grove, was sentenced to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to attempting to produce child pornography, after planting cameras in the hotel rooms of students during overnight trips for DECA, a business education program.

Kruchten is incarcerated at the federal prison in Milan, Michigan.
For two decades, the UW Odyssey Projects curriculum has been teaching literature and the humanities. But teaching students to value themselves and their dreams has been equally important.

The project is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, as nearly 600 students have graduated from the program since 2003.

If you go What: UW Odyssey Project anniversary celebration When: 5:30-7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 12 Where: Memorial Union Great Hall, 800 Langdon St. Info: odyssey.wisc.edu

The Odyssey Project was partially modeled after the New York-based, federally funded Clemente Course in the Humanities, which holds that access to the liberal arts helps lift people out of poverty. But rather than having participants receive credits at an out-of-state university through the Clemente Course, the Odyssey Project was created as a division of UW-Madison.

Around 30 people are accepted into the Odyssey Project each year and are registered as a special class of part-time UW-Madison students. It includes a six-credit course in the humanities, split over two semesters, for people who are low-income or facing other barriers to education. Approximately 95% of students are people of color.

Taught on Wednesday nights on Madisons South Side, the program provides child care (dubbed Odyssey Junior), and students are fed a full meal before the start of class.

Odyssey is a gateway into other post-secondary institutions, as many students have gone on to earn their associate or bachelors degrees. Co-founded by director Emily Auerbach, the program has grown to include Onward Odyssey, which supports alumni, and Odyssey Beyond Bars, which allows people who are incarcerated to earn UW-Madison credit.

The Odyssey Project is about meeting students where they are in life and helping remove hurdles they face, Auerbach said.

Its different for every student. Some students come in and theyve never taken any college; they have a GED. Maybe they didnt even do well in school, and they dont know who they want to be, she said. One of our jobs in Odyssey is to help students wherever they come into the class at to figure out whats the dream, what got in the way, what obstacles are still there, and what do we do about those?

Here is how the Odyssey Project changes lives, according to current and former participants:

Keena Atkinson

Keena Atkinson, 34, had recently become a single mother when she enrolled in the Odyssey Project in 2009. At the time, Atkinson and her son were homeless, sleeping on the floor of friend Derek Washingtons barbershop.

It was Washington who encouraged her to apply for the Odyssey Project; since then, shes gone on to earn her cosmetology license, an associate degree from Madison College and a bachelors degree in psychology from UW-Madison.

What was life like before Odyssey?

Before I started that program, I had just become a single mother. A year before enrolling, my sons father went to prison, and I didnt even know it until two weeks later. He was an absent parent and in the streets. So I became a single mother when he went to prison for 10 years and then I ended up being homeless as a result.

What did you learn about yourself?

We learned about art history, and we learned about philosophy and things like writing. We did a lot of writing, and so like with the writing, you have to be more reflective, right. And then not only do you get to be reflective and you get to share your writing with other people, (but) saying some of those things out loud, its different than when youre just reading it and keeping it to yourself. ... I got to learn that I wasnt so alone in the world.

What impact did Odyssey have on your life?

Being in the Odyssey Project had a tremendous impact on my life because it doesnt end, you dont just graduate and then boom, youre just done. I remain connected. The Odyssey Project has been supportive of me ever since I was in the program, and that was over 10 years ago. They were the ones who gave me the chance. They gave me a chance to be more than who I thought I was.

Hezouwe Walada

In his native country of Togo in West Africa, Hezouwe Walada, 30, grew up watching his family members die of malaria. He emigrated to the U.S. with the dream of becoming a doctor so he could someday return home to help improve access to health care in his village. But med school dreams stalled. Enrolled in the Odyssey Project in 2019 and later in Badger Ready, a separate UW program that helps degree-seeking adults overcome barriers, Walada is now a senior majoring in biochemistry at UW-Madison.

What was life like before Odyssey?

My initial thought when I came to the United States was to go to med school, but it didnt happen. So, when it did not happen, I put my dream on hold and I thought it was never going to happen. It was hard  prior to Odyssey Project, it was really hard. I almost gave up on my dream.

What did you learn about yourself?

One of the powerful things that I learned from Odyssey, beyond the academics, Odyssey helps students to be on track holistically. They take care of you. Emily (Auerbach) specially called people (to remind) you to do your homework, do you have any questions. And those are things that made me successful in Odyssey.

What impact did Odyssey have on your life?

They revived my dream. My dream was dying. I thought that I didnt have any chance to become a physician, but because of Odyssey, I can say loud Im almost a foot away from (becoming) a doctor. ... Its like the start of a new life for me.

Andrea White

Andrea White, 29, is enrolled in the Odyssey Project and expects to graduate next spring. She has her certified nursing assistant license and medical billing and coding license, but said she knows she has more to offer.

What was life like before Odyssey?

Life felt kind of routine. I just felt like I needed to grow and do more, but I just kind of didnt know where to start. I had started college like back when I had my first daughter when I was 18. And of course, due to like financial reasons and things like that, I had to drop out. And schools just been on my mind really heavy lately.

What have you learned about yourself?

The most impactful thing is just being able to find my voice. Ive always been pretty reserved, pretty quiet, pretty shy, and being in a classroom with 30 people that I just met can be a little intimidating for me. But Emily (Auerbach), since the first day, shes always encouraged me to, like, speak out, use my voice, step out of my comfort zone of being shy.

What impact do you hope Odyssey will have on your life?

My main goal is mostly just being a role model for my two daughters. I want them to know that education is attainable; there are resources out there that would help you be the person that you want to be and to always go for what you want to go for.

Dominique Christian

Dominique Christian, 37, and her three children were in poverty when she enrolled in the Odyssey Project in 2008. Since then, shes gone on to earn an associate degree from Madison College, a bachelors in social work from UW-Whitewater and a masters degree from UW-Madison.

Christian works as a program manager for The Road Home in Dane County for families experiencing chronic homelessness and is a peer specialist helping others through mental health or substance abuse issues.

What was life like before Odyssey?

Prior to getting into Odyssey, I didnt have the tools that I needed. I didnt have access to certain community supports in order to take the next step to move forward.

What did you learn about yourself?

I learned how other people walk, how they view the world, what their life experiences were  and I was able to empathize with other peoples life experiences, and thats what allowed me to continue to push forward in the path that I took with just social work, or social change as a social-change worker. And then from that, I was able to develop a sense of confidence, and how I advocate for myself because I saw other people doing it.

What impact did Odyssey have on your life?

It changed the way that I thought about just life in general. For so long, I think that I lived up to systemic expectations of me being a Black woman raising children in a single head of household. And what I mean by that is, at some point in my life, I was accepting the status quo. So whatever society said I was worthy of, I just settled with that. And what Odyssey has shown me was that I was so much more, and I was deserving of so much more.
The city is taking a next big step in a broadening response to homelessness  just in time for cold weather.

In four months, the city has transformed a vacant, former big-box store near East Towne Mall into a bright and spacious temporary shelter for homeless men. The men will start moving in on Thursday, transferring from the current temporary facility on the East Side.

In October 2021, the city bought the former big-box store at 2002 Zeier Road for $2.6 million. Begun in June, the $1.1 million renovation includes mold remediation to make the building safe; adding a shower room and more restrooms; and building out walls to create space for office, medical, recovery, isolation and quarantine spaces.

The renovation also included redesigning electrical, lighting, mechanical, plumbing, fire alarm and sprinkler systems.

The structure features a large, airy space  a former sales floor  where the city will put more than 200 beds and create a living area. That will include chairs and tables, TV, and other tables with rows of outlets where guests can plug in cellphones and other electronic devices.

The space will allow for better and smoother intake, better isolation/separation quarters, better space for staff, some storage space for guests, better bathroom facilities, private space for staff-guest interactions and dining space, Community Development Director Jim OKeefe said in an email.

Nonprofit Porchlight Inc. had run mens shelters in Downtown church basements for 35 years. But once the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the shelter moved to larger, city-sponsored, temporary spaces  first at the Warner Park Community Center on the North Side and then the current spot at the citys former Fleet Services building, 200 N. First St., on the East Side.

The Fleet Services building, however, may become unavailable as soon as this fall if the city begins transforming it into a $20 million Madison Public Market. That long-envisioned market, though, faces a $5.2 million financing gap, and its now unclear if, how or when the project will move forward.

In the meantime, the city has pushed forward on the temporary Zeier Road facility, with homeless men scheduled to spend their last night at 200 N. First St. Wednesday and move to Zeier Road on Thursday evening. Beds and other furniture will be moved during the day on Thursday.

The need is clear. On Sept. 28, 207 men slept at the temporary mens shelter at 200 First St., the highest number of overnight guests that Porchlight Inc. has recorded since it opened the mens shelter system.

The temporary shelter is another stopgap until a permanent shelter can be built. On March 9, Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway and Dane County Executive Joe Parisi proposed locating a new, permanent mens shelter on a vacant, 2-acre, city-owned site at 1902 Bartillon Drive, just off Highway 51, roughly between East Towne Mall and Madison Area Technical College. They have included the $21 million cost in their proposed budgets with construction to start in 2024.

More efficient

Although the 37,000-square-foot First Street facility is bigger than the 31,000-square-foot one on Zeier Road, the latter offers many advantages.

At Zeier Road, we were able to do a bit more customization for the particular needs of a shelter, said Stephen King, the city Engineering Divisions facilities services coordinator. We started with a building that was designed for people, not for trucks. Lighting, insulation, HVAC, restrooms are all going to be a pretty major step forward.

Also, First Street has two large bays, which divided the building into two large spaces, he said. That division is a challenge for a number of operational reasons. However, that is not the case at Zeier Road.

Kim Sutter, director of services for Porchlight, said the building may be smaller but it came with more opportunity to tailor it for specific shelter needs. Porchlight, she said, worked closely with city staff on the design and renovation phases.

Both facilities have space for men to queue up out of the elements for intake, but unlike First Street, the new shelter also will offer substantial storage space, featuring 150 lockers with combination locks, Sutter said.

Another new feature is the isolation and quarantine rooms with beds, where guests with COVID or COVID symptoms can be diverted. The rooms are separate from the main room and have their own ventilation system and restrooms, she said.

Let the sun in

The main room is well lit with sunlight splashing in from the buildings former main entrance. The city is delivering about 210 metal beds, but has capacity to add cots on crowded nights, King said. There is also a recovery room, where men who have been drinking can be separated from others.

The main office has windows to allow views into the main room and other adjacent halls and spaces, which improves safety, officials said.

At First Street, the city has bathrooms in trailers, but Zeier Road will have enough bathrooms and showers to meet needs and also offer several individual accessible restrooms, Sutter said.

Meanwhile, Porchlight has been connecting with other service providers and community members about expanding on-site services. The new facility will have two rooms for other agencies to meet with guests, Sutter said. We also hope to increase case-management hours on-site, if possible, she said.

Carries costs

But financing such an operation has a cost. Before the pandemic, the city contributed less than $50,000 to Porchlights $600,000 annual shelter budget, OKeefe said. Now, the city is diverting $2.1 million in federal money to Porchlights $2.4 million budget for 2022, with similar expenses next year.

As at Warner Park and First Street, Porchlight will continue to contract for food service, with a hot evening meal and breakfast each day.

As the transition nears, a main concern is accessibility because the Zeier Road facility is farther from the central city than the First Street shelter, Sutter said.

Porchlight will continue to provide shuttle transportation between the shelter and The Beacon homeless day resource center, 615 E. Washington Ave., she said.

A large number of guests currently access the shuttle, she said. We anticipate they will continue to do so, and that ridership may increase since the shelter will be less accessible by bike and by foot.

Guests may also use Metro Transit, and those with cars can park on-site, she said.
Wisconsin utility regulators have discontinued the last consumer protections put in place for the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Public Service Commission imposed a shutoff ban and other protections in March 2020. The commission lifted the ban in 2021 but left in place a handful of others, including a requirement that utilities allow low-income customers to avoid disconnection by agreeing to a payment plan and a waiver of credit card processing fees.

The commission voted unanimously Wednesday to end all pandemic-related requirements.

I think that it is time to  get back to business as usual, Chair Rebecca Valcq said.

Commissioner Tyler Huebner said many utilities have implemented more flexible payment plans but pointed out pandemic protocols can be a financial hardship for many people.

I hope that continues, Huebner said. COVID is out there. Im coming off of it myself.  If youre working retail, restaurant, youre not working.

Wisconsin is in line to receive about $100 million this year in federal funding for the low-income energy assistance program plus another $1.3 million a year through 2026 from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, though the PSC says energy assistance funding will be lower than in 2021.
South Africa: Police arrest most wanted Jobourg arsonist

Police investigations into a series of arson cases in and around Johannesburg culminated with an arrest on Tuesday evening.

The Serious and Violent Crime (SVC) unit in Gauteng, at about 6pm, arrested Johannesburgs most wanted suspected arsonist linked to a murder, burglary residential and 25 counts of arson committed in Johannesburg northern suburbs in the past two years.

Gauteng SAPS spokesperson, Brigadier Brenda Muridili, said the arrest came after the team operationalised information received from National Crime Intelligence, and mobilised SAPS Johannesburg K9, CAP Security and Fidelity Specialized Services for back-up.

At about 6pm, the suspect was located walking on foot in Emmarentia and he was apprehended.

It is reported that during the incidents, the suspect will break in at affluent houses and after stealing property, he would then set the houses alight. In one of the incidents, an elderly man lost his life due to smoke inhalation, as he was in the house when it was set alight.

Gauteng SAPS Commissioner, Lieutenant General Elias Mawela, addressing citizens, expressed appreciation for tip-offs police received following the publishing of the wanted suspects photo early in September.

Thank you to those that took the time to call in and share valuable information that has now led to this arrest. It goes to show that with the community on our side, we can do more to fight crime, said Mawela, who went on to commend the team that effected the arrest for a job well done.

The suspect is expected to appear before the Randburg Magistrates Court on Thursday.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2022-10-12. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
The Private Office of Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum has launched Blue Carbon in the UAE to create environmental assets and nature-based solutions as well as support carbon removal projects worldwide.

Blue Carbon was formed against the backdrop of growing international efforts to fight climate change. It will work to advance and integrate nature-based solutions into climate change mitigation initiatives to help countries fulfill their net-zero emission commitment by 2050 in compliance with Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, said a statement.

Sheikh Ahmed, Chairman of Blue Carbon, said: We are delighted to launch Blue Carbon today. The company is founded at a time when one-third of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions needed by 2030 to reach the net-zero target can be achieved through nature-based solutions. These solutions can help boost more efforts needed to reduce global energy-related carbon emissions to net zero by 2050 and, thus, give the world an even chance of limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5C.

Net-zero commitments must be backed by immediate steps and credible actions by businesses, investors and countries. As such, at the core of our work is to enter into bilateral agreements with governments and private entities across the globe so that, together, we can boost investments in green and blue carbon projects today to meet tomorrows demand, added Sheikh Ahmed.

Blue Carbon will focus on investments in coastal ecosystems such as mangroves, which can store carbon that is 3 to 5 times higher than terrestrial forests. Interest among businesses in the ecosystems environmental potential is growing as they work towards complying with the existing regulations and contributing to the protection of the planet.

Blue Carbon CEO Josiane Sadaka added: The world will require an estimated average of USD 5 trillion a year until 2050 of climate-related investments to reach net-zero goals. Given the enormous challenge before us, governments have been ramping up their climate action programs while businesses have been intensifying their net-zero commitments. We at Blue Carbon will further these initiatives using methodologies that can better forecast demands that will emerge as we transition to a de-carbonized economy.

Governments are expected to further discuss their climate strategies and agendas at the 27th and 28th sessions of the Conference of the Parties (COP) of the UNFCCC in Egypt later this year and in the UAE in 2023.

We only have one planet, and each has a role to play in preserving and protecting it. Investing in impactful and tangible sustainability projects now is one option that can very well impact our future, Sadaka continued.

Blue Carbon will serve as an enabler of blue and green economy operational frameworks that will set the agenda for the implementation of international climate agreements as well as to contribute to the UAE Net Zero by 2050 strategic initiative.

With its expertise in climate change economics, Blue Carbon aims to be at the forefront of sustainable climate change investment. It takes pride in its initiatives to restore and protect challenging environmental assets and support surrounding communities. It also boasts a wealth of experience in compiling GHG inventories, MRVs, NDCs and Carbon Abatement strategies across the world, said the statement. -TradeArabia News Service
Driving a university-owned van, University of Wisconsin-Madison student Morgan Barlin traverses the campus, making stops at three dining halls on a spring afternoon.

At each stop, Barlin is met by kitchen staff who present her with various leftover foods, from sweet potatoes to breakfast omelets. These foods, which would have otherwise been thrown away, will be redistributed to students at no cost.

Morgan Barlin of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Food Recovery Network branch collects leftover food during the spring 2022 semester from a dining hall on campus. The food is served at community dinners at no cost. (Charlie Hildebrand / Wisconsin Watch) Morgan Barlin of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Food Recovery Network branch collects leftover food during the spring 2022 semester from a dining hall on campus. The food is served at community dinners at no cost. (Charlie Hildebrand / Wisconsin Watch)

At the end of her route, Barlin records the weight of each donation. Her calculations show that on this day, she saved 271 pounds of food from ending up in the landfill. Barlins organization, the Food Recovery Network at the UW-Madison, uses the recovered food to provide free community meals.

The state Department of Natural Resources 2020-21 waste characterization study estimates that 854,000 tons of food were thrown away in Wisconsin last year; over 70% was still edible, which DNR calls wasted food. While 1.7 billion pounds of edible food ended up in the garbage in Wisconsin, 1 in 11 people across the state faced hunger.

Groups across the state have searched for alternatives to get food that would be wasted to people in need.

(The Food Recovery Network) addresses both food waste and food insecurity at the same time because theyre paradoxical problems, said Barlin, who graduated in May. We shouldnt be throwing away food at the same time that people in our community are also going hungry, and so it seems like the most practical and easy way to kind of ameliorate different issues in our food system.

But redistributing restaurant and grocery food that has not yet spoiled is controversial within the charitable food assistance world  and difficult to accomplish under existing food-handling standards.

Grocery and restaurant recovery efforts

Beyond efforts on the UW-Madison campus, other programs in Wisconsin intercept still-edible food from grocery and convenience stores and restaurants that would normally be heading to the dumpster. In Madison, The River Food Pantry operates a food recovery program that collects food from more than 100 stores around Dane County.

Theres so much food that is thrown away every single day, said Helen Osborn-Senatus, director of operations at The River. If youre in the grocery store and you see that dollar off coupon, if thats not picked up that day, its gonna get tossed.

In 2021, about 40% of the 3.6 million pounds of food served by The River came from this recovery program, she said.

This is quality food thats safe to eat, but its past the (expiration) date, and thats the only reason its being thrown away, Osborn-Senatus said.

But Osborn-Senatus perspective on the value of food recovery is not universally shared. Sherrie Tussler, the executive director of the Hunger Task Force of Milwaukee, says her agency refuses to redistribute such food.

The Milwaukee-based Hunger Task Force is one of the primary contributors to the 60th Street Salvation Army food pantry. The Hunger Task Force does not distribute food recovered from restaurants or grocery stores. Executive Director Sherrie Tussler calls it a matter of dignity for the clients. Photo taken July 13, 2021. (Isaac Wasserman / Wisconsin Watch) The Milwaukee-based Hunger Task Force is one of the primary contributors to the 60th Street Salvation Army food pantry. The Hunger Task Force does not distribute food recovered from restaurants or grocery stores. Executive Director Sherrie Tussler calls it a matter of dignity for the clients. Photo taken July 13, 2021. (Isaac Wasserman / Wisconsin Watch)

Our organization does not accept donated food from grocery stores or food that would be otherwise wasted, Tussler said. Our organization has a value of dignity. We will not pass through our food pantry network any food that we would not personally give to our best friend.

Tussler suspects there are other motivations for grocery stores offloading their food to these recovery programs.

Theres this secret in the food bank world that began with Second Harvest, and theyre sourcing their food from grocery stores, Tussler said. Grocery stores then dont have to pay dumpster fees (They) can get a tax write off for donating food  but what is the quality of that food?

Waste a matter of taste

Brandon Scholz, the CEO and president of the Wisconsin Grocers Association, acknowledges such efforts do cut dumpster fees, but he says that isnt the only goal.

When you have to put (food) in the dumpster, you are wasting that money  which you dont want to do, Scholz said. The last thing (grocers) would do, (after) they have exhausted all other options, is throw it away.

One of these options includes making banana bread with bananas that are turning brown. Otherwise food can be donated to local pantries, he said.

Ian Steele, the food resources manager at Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin, says his organization takes precautions to ensure donations are safe to distribute. Second Harvest checks the temperature of food to ensure there are no items in the temperature danger zone. The Foodbank also checks for potential cross-contamination between raw and ready-to-eat items.

Sell-by dates not regulated

Steele notes that, aside from baby food, the U.S. Department of Agriculture does not regulate food items code dates, which include consume-by, sell-by and freeze-by dates, among other phrases.

Basically, what this means is, a portion of the food we receive in via donation and distribute out is in fact past (its) listed code date. (But) this does not impact the safety of the food being distributed, Steele said.

Scholz explains these dates are more of a guideline than a requirement, adding, What happens if you eat a product with a sell-by date of April 7th on April 8th? Really nothing.

Grocers are more motivated to keep food fresh to satisfy customer demand rather than because of any health code requirement, he said.

Margaret Benton loads groceries at the Sun Prairie Emergency Food Pantry in Sun Prairie, Wis., on April 9, 2022. Volunteer Judy Meyers assists her, while volunteer Kelly Ahlatrom stands nearby. Sun Prairie is one of many pantries that accept food recovered from grocery stores. (Coburn Dukehart / Wisconsin Watch) Margaret Benton loads groceries at the Sun Prairie Emergency Food Pantry in Sun Prairie, Wis., on April 9, 2022. Volunteer Judy Meyers assists her, while volunteer Kelly Ahlatrom stands nearby. Sun Prairie is one of many pantries that accept food recovered from grocery stores. (Coburn Dukehart / Wisconsin Watch)

There is not necessarily a specific law that says you have to get rid of lettuce that looks brown, Scholz said. This is a highly competitive business, so you dont want to have crummy looking produce, because if your competitors have better looking stuff, then your customers are going there.

On a $100 grocery sale, after various expenses, a grocer is only left with just 80 cents in profit  a margin of less than 1%, Scholz said.

If a grocery store is throwing away food, its probably for a reason, he said. Theres probably some foolish retailer out there that does (throw away food for no reason), but I can assure you that there isnt one in Wisconsin.

Food safety first

Restaurants must adhere to health codes that sometimes prompt them to discard edible food.

Food must be kept at certain temperatures, says Susan Quam, executive vice president of the Wisconsin Restaurant Association. If food is continuously kept within the required temperature range, it can be re-served and not wasted, she says.

But, If its something that is supposed to be kept cold, and was kept at room temperature, then you are not able to keep that product  you must dispose of it within four hours, she said.

Restaurants are under the same pressure as grocery stores. Quam says profit margins in the industry are low, and restaurants are incentivized to reduce food waste since they are losing money for each dish that is discarded. But safety is the top priority.

Food safety plays a big factor in anything a restaurant does, she said. We protect public health first and foremost. Ideally we have (restaurant) operators not doing anything that produces waste.

Harder to throw out that meal

Beyond waste produced at grocery stores and restaurants, Barlin says the majority of food waste is generated by individuals. According to the USDA, 31% of the edible food supply in the United States was not eaten in 2010  with consumers responsible for more lost food than retailers.

That year, consumers threw away 90 billion pounds of food; Barlin notes this presents a good opportunity for people to learn how to reduce food waste at home, with campaigns dedicated to repurposing food components often thought of as inedible, such as broccoli stems.

Thea Sutter (left) and her twin sister, Morgan Sutter (right) enjoy a plate at the Food Recovery Networks Tuesday community meal on Sept. 27, 2022 in Madison, Wis. The Food Recovery Network sources leftover food from UW-Madison dining halls, which would have been thrown away, to provide free meals to community members. Thea, who previously worked at a campus dining hall, said back then, they threw away everything! It was crazy! adding, Im glad we have this. Its good food. They have mac and cheeseeveryone likes the mac and cheese. Thea Sutter (left) and her twin sister, Morgan Sutter (right) enjoy a plate at the Food Recovery Networks Tuesday community meal on Sept. 27, 2022 in Madison, Wis. The Food Recovery Network sources leftover food from UW-Madison dining halls, which would have been thrown away, to provide free meals to community members. Thea, who previously worked at a campus dining hall, said back then, they threw away everything! It was crazy! adding, Im glad we have this. Its good food. They have mac and cheeseeveryone likes the mac and cheese.

The task can be as simple as making a grocery list to avoid overbuying, or educating themselves on unregulated best by dates to avoid throwing away food while its still edible.

If youre more attuned to how far your food has traveled to get to your plate or who has labored to get that food to your plate, Barlin said, its much harder to throw out that meal.

The nonprofit Wisconsin Watch collaborates with WPR, PBS Wisconsin, other news media and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Full student loan forgiveness could be closer than you think under temporary rules for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, or PSLF  but time is running out to apply.

They should rush to get this done because the program is far more inclusive than it's ever been in the past, says Kristen Ahlenius, an accredited financial counselor and director of education at Your Money Line, a financial wellness company.

Payment requirements for the program are more lenient under a limited waiver that expires Oct. 31. Before the waiver, Ahlenius says, PSLF was kind of this dismissed program for so long because it was so unachievable.

The basic requirements for PSLF are to work for a qualifying public service employer, make 120 student loan payments and have federal direct loans. But the program has lots of caveats, which led to approval rates below 2% and furious, confused borrowers.

People thought they were on track and submitted their application only to get a rejection, says Betsy Mayotte, president and founder of The Institute of Student Loan Advisors. In particular, that happened to people who had the wrong kind of loans and people who were on the wrong payment program.

In addition to having direct loans, borrowers must make payments on an income-driven repayment plan to be eligible.

The PSLF waiver addresses those criticisms. It counts more time toward the required 120 months, including periods of hardship deferment, months with late payments and months not enrolled in income-driven repayment. It also opens the door to borrowers with Federal Family Education Loan Program, or FFELP, loans.

Heres who should apply now and how to do it.

Who should apply now

Current and previous public service workers

Your job sector is the key criterion for the PSLF waiver. Your time with a qualifying employer must coincide with the time your student loans were in repayment.

These types of employment typically qualify:

Federal jobs.

State government jobs.

Local government jobs.

Tribal government jobs.

Not-for-profit organization jobs.

Military service.

Your employer is what matters  not what you do. Payments wont count if you work for a private employer, as a government contractor or part time. Parent PLUS loans and joint spousal consolidation loans dont qualify, either  no matter your job.

Check the PSLF employer search tool to make sure your employment qualifies. You might be closer than you think, Ahlenius says.

FFELP borrowers

FFELP loans normally aren't eligible for PSLF. If you first consolidate your FFELP loans into a direct loan, however, your previous payments will be counted toward forgiveness  thanks to the waiver.

The employment qualifications still apply.

Previously denied applicants

If you were denied PSLF in the past, you could receive additional months toward the 120 needed for forgiveness under the waiver.

The Department of Education said it is reevaluating previously denied PSLF claims and will contact borrowers whose accredited time is adjusted.

If you havent heard anything, you should absolutely submit again, Mayotte says.

How to apply

Applying for the PSLF waiver has only a few steps:

Log into studentaid.gov to make sure you have direct loans. Consolidate if you dont have direct loans. Complete your employer certification form(s) with the required signatures dated by Oct. 31. Submit the form(s) to the Education Department.

You must complete a separate employer certification form for each eligible job. Using the PSLF help tool, available at studentaid.gov/pslf, instead of the paper form can streamline the process and help prevent errors.

Anybody that has any period of working full time for either a government employer, any 501(c)(3), youve got nothing to lose and everything to potentially gain, Mayotte says.
NEW ORLEANS (AP)  A New Orleans health care nonprofit is acquiring three hospitals from a national chain in a deal that will leave two major players on the city's hospital care scene.

New Orleans-based LCMC Health will acquire three Tulane hospitals from HCA Healthcare. The deal includes Tulane Medical Center in downtown New Orleans, along with two suburban hospitals, Tulane Lakeside Hospital and Lakeview Regional Medical Center.

The deal leaves LCMC and Ochsner as the two major hospital care providers in the New Orleans area.

The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate reported that its a $150 million deal. It was announced in a joint statement Monday by LCMC Health and Tulane University. The university has been a minority owner of the hospitals but will not have an ownership interest when the deal is completed.

If you think about LCMC health and our nonprofit mission and Tulane University being a nonprofit, both here located in New Orleans, where dollars are reinvested in New Orleans  from that standpoint, a partnership just makes sense, said LCMC Health CEO Greg Feirn.

All employees will be retained, according to the news release. Under the new agreement, the majority of services at Tulanes downtown hospital will move to nearby University Medical Center and East Jefferson General Hospital in Metairie.

Tulane University will no longer have ownership interest in the hospitals. However, the Tulane Medical Center facility, with 1.4 million square feet on five acres, will revert back to Tulane University after closing and become an integral part of our downtown campus revitalization, Tulane University spokesman Keith Brannon said in an emailed statement Tuesday.

In addition to the $150 million payment to HCA, LCMC has agreed to invest $220 million in East Jefferson and Tulane Lakeside hospitals, both in Metairie, as well as Lakeview Regional in Covington. The downtown medical center will be repurposed to house a new nursing program, clinical research programs and more space for students in medical fields. Tulane University has committed $600 million to revamp the downtown campus.

Such mergers help hospitals cut costs in a few different ways, Walter Lane, a health care economist at University of New Orleans, told The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate.

There really are some cost savings  centralizing all the back office stuff, as well as the supply chain and things of that sort, said Lane.

And the bigger system will have more negotiating power against suppliers and insurance companies.

The agreement is dependent on approval from the state attorney generals office.
GOODING  An Oct. 5 incident at the high school resulted in an increasing online furor as allegations of a staff member making threatening statements and an assault on a student were posted on social media.

According to the Gooding Police Department, an investigation by Gooding School District resulted in no substantiated evidence to support the claims made on social media.

On October 11, 2022, The Gooding County Sheriffs Office, along with the Gooding Police Department were advised of a situation that had occurred at the Gooding High School on October 5th. the statement said. Allegations were made on social media platforms accusing a Gooding High School staff member of making threats to harm students as well as hitting a student.

According to the statement, Superintendent Spencer Larsen began an investigation into the incident and interviewed students and parents. The investigation also included a review of security footage, the statement said.

The School Districts investigation found that there was no substantiating evidence to support the allegations made on social media platforms, the statement said.

Larsen did not respond to the Times-News requests for comment, and no further explanation of the incident has been provided.

Although the school districts investigation found no evidence of criminal activity, in an effort to maintain transparency, they contacted law enforcement to review the school districts investigation. Upon reviewing the internal investigation, both the sheriffs office and the police department concluded that no crimes had been committed in either incident.

According to the posts on social media, a student had filed a report with the police and others commented that hearings would be starting soon. According to the police statement, that is not the case.

At no time was a criminal complaint filed with either Law Enforcement Agency concerning these incidents, the statement said. Law Enforcement only became involved at the request of Gooding School District.

The Gooding Police Department cautioned that using social media platforms to report incidents of a criminal nature can not only hinder an investigation but also start rumors that are unfounded.
Last week, the Idaho Supreme Court heard oral arguments on three Idaho abortion laws, which Planned Parenthood argues violate individual rights protected by the Idaho Constitution.

Attorney Alan Schoenfeld presented Planned Parenthoods case expertly, deftly handling hard questions put to him by justices who may not be inclined to find in his favor.

Also striking was the performance of Monte Stewart, a Nevada lawyer hired by the Idaho Legislature as outside counsel. Stewart has deep credentials in the conservative legal movement on abortion and gay marriage issues, but you wouldnt know it from his performance in front of the court.

At one point during Stewarts oral arguments, Justice Greg Moeller tried to ask Stewart a question. Stewart continued right on talking, raising his voice to talk over Moeller. He had to be admonished by Chief Justice Richard Bevan, and only then could Moeller actually finish his question.

Now, Im not a lawyer, but I have watched several episodes of Law and Order. And it seems to me that if you want to represent your client well, one thing you should not do is be rude to the people on the bench.

It wasnt just Stewarts penchant for interrupting judges, but the style of his whole presentation that was lacking.

Stewarts rhetorical style was somewhere between that of a law school professor instructing his class and that of a preacher sermonizing to his flock. His argument was almost entirely bereft of reasoning, relying on rhetorical flourish and an unshakable sense of misplaced self-assuredness.

This is a pattern.

Arguing in federal court against the Biden administration earlier this year, he made the argument that doctors in Idaho shouldnt worry about being prosecuted for treating an ectopic pregnancy. He didnt make an argument as to why the law would not allow such a prosecution. He simply asserted that no prosecutor would pursue charges and scoffed at suggestions to the contrary.

The court was not persuaded and issued an injunction.

Stewart was hired by the state to act as outside counsel to prepare a constitutional defense for its gay marriage ban in 2014. After oral arguments described by The Advocate as recycled and lackluster, Stewart lost that case as well.

This is not to say that Stewart is not persuasive. He has a history of being very persuasive. He has for years successfully persuaded lawmakers to take money from your pocket and put it in his.

No matter your position on abortion, youve gained no benefit from those tax dollars.

Deputy Attorney General Megan Larrondo did her job admirably. She made cogent arguments and responded respectfully to the justices. I hope they decide against her because Im opposed to the abortion ban, but I have no criticism of the way she did her job.

The performance of the Legislatures outside counsel, however  hired, by the way, because the right flank of the Legislature somehow thinks the attorney generals office isnt good enough representation  should upset you even if youre in total support of Idahos abortion ban. Because Stewart didnt help the states case. If anything, he hurt it.

If your lawmaker is in the Republican Party, give them a call. Tell them to let the attorney generals office represent the state, as its supposed to do, and as it has generally done very well. Stop wasting money on outside lawyers who consistently perform worse and cost more.
BOISE  Idaho barley producers eked out a record this year.

Yields climbed to an average of 111 bushels per acre, just over the previous record of 110 set in 2020.

This years big harvest was set up by Idahos cooler spring weather, said Laura Wilder, executive director of the Idaho Barley Commission.

Grains love a cool, damp spring, Wilder said.

Idaho farmers planted about 560,000 acres of barley this year and harvested 540,000, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.

There were fears that the cool spring delayed crop maturity and pushed the harvest back too far, making the crop susceptible to sprout damage from monsoonal rains.

However, Wilder said she hasnt seen widespread damage, although quality took a hit in some pockets throughout the state.

You know how Idaho weather is, she said. Overall, quality was good this year.

She didnt have access to test weights that farmers were seeing.

Not only is the Idaho barley crop big, with total production at 59.9 million bushels, but prices are strong as well, Wilder said. Contract prices last fall were about 40% to 50% higher than the previous year, partly due to low yields nationwide in 2011 because of tough drought conditions.

For example, Idahos yields last year were 89 bushels per acre.

The low supply triggered maltsters and brewers, looking for an adequate barley supply, to offer higher prices.

But those higher prices arent as lucrative when one considers rising production costs, including higher fertilizer prices, Wilder said.

With the potential of another short water supply in 2023 and continued prospects of solid prices, Wilder predicts another big year for barley, as the crop has a shorter growing season and needs less water than potatoes or corn.

The USDA report confirms that Idaho retained the No. 1 spot for U.S. barley production in 2022, producing 34.4 percent of the nations total. Montana and North Dakota follow the Gem State.

Idahos climate and irrigated cropland is ideal for the crop, Wilder said.

Idaho may be famous for potatoes, she said, but Idaho is also known worldwide for quality barley.
TWIN FALLS  In a case that made headlines more than eight years ago, DNA evidence has revealed the body of a woman found in the Snake River below the Perrine Bridge to be that of a San Diego resident, police say.

Jane Doe was identified last month as Cynthia Gunnerson (aka Sash Ergateage).

The Twin Falls County Sheriffs Office made the announcement Wednesday.

Its hard to explain the emotional investment we have in cases like this, said Lori Stewart, spokeswoman for the sheriffs office. We all knew that this Jane Doe had a life and a family somewhere, people that were missing her.

The case of Jane Doe garnered attention after a kayaker found the body floating under the Perrine Bridge on Sept. 9, 2014.

No identification was found on the body and DNA samples and fingerprints were gathered. In addition, investigators combed the area, canvased local motels, restaurants, bus depot and truck stops.

Still without an identification, Gunnersons body was buried at Sunset Memorial Park on Oct. 7, 2014, with a small gathering including members of the coroners office, law enforcement personnel and a few community members.

Her headstone in the cemetery reads Unknown To Us, Known Only To God. May She Rest in Peace.

The case was actively investigated until February of 2016, and then worked sporadically until August of 2020 when it was deemed inactive, with no new leads, a news release from the sheriffs department said.

The coroners office listed her cause of death as suicide.

Her images and fingerprints were entered into national databases and facial recognition programs with no results. Fourteen states reached out with missing person cases that matched some of the womans description, but no matches were made, police said.

Typically, when you find somebody like that, usually by the end of that day you know who they are. You identify them, Sheriffs Detective Jon Daubner said in an interview earlier this year. In this case, no.

In December 2021, the Idaho Cold Case Advanced DNA Methods Working Group (ICCADM) contacted the sheriffs office to offer assistance.

In April, the group submitted a DNA sample from the unidentified female to labs at Othram Inc. of Woodland Texas, which generated a lead through forensic genetic genealogy testing.

Results of tests gave deputies the information they needed, and they contacted the identified parents who submitted their DNA for further testing.

Fingerprint and DNA results from the Idaho State Police Forensic Services Lab confirmed the females identity as Gunderson. Identification was made on Sept. 22.

To say it is gratifying to see the case come to a close is too simple, Stewart said. Maybe there arent words to express this.

Im thankful for the hard work and diligence of our investigative team throughout this time, Sheriff Tom Carter said, and for the assistance and collaboration of the ICCADM in solving this case, and being able to help bring closure to her family.

Stewart said Gunnersons parents are grateful to have answers about their daughter, and asked for privacy as they grieve her loss.

The Gunnerson case is the second solved by the ICCADM.

ICCADM is a resource for state, local, and county agencies to identify cold cases where advanced DNA testing methods (like molecular genetic genealogy and Forensic Genetic Genealogy (FGG), criminal intelligence, and other techniques could provide new investigative leads.

The group started in 2020 to assist Idaho law enforcement agencies in investigating unsolved sexual assaults, homicides, and unidentified remains cases when additional DNA evidence is available and DNA has been entered into the state or national Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), but no probative match located.

The group is administered by ISPFS, and is a collaboration with Idaho State Police, the Idaho Sheriffs Association, the Idaho Chiefs of Police Association, the Idaho Prosecuting Attorneys Association, Boise State University Criminal Justice Department, and the Idaho State Police Statistical Analysis Center. ISPFS recently received a $3 million grant to fund the next three years of work.

ISPFS is pleased that Idaho cold cases are being solved through collaborative efforts to bring closure to Idaho families and those throughout the country, Matthew Gamette, laboratory system director of Idaho State Police Forensic Services. The relationship between ISPFS, ISP, ICCADM, and local law enforcement demonstrates a tireless and unending commitment to solving cold cases. Our team looks forward to working with agencies and announcing more case resolutions.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP)  West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice said Tuesday he will propose a plan to eliminate a personal property tax on vehicles.

The Republican governor urged voters to reject a proposed constitutional amendment on the same issue next month.

Justice has made trips across the state against Amendment 2, which would eliminate a business and inventory tax along with the vehicle tax. He said passage of the amendment could harm schools, cities and counties that rely on property taxes, give companies large tax breaks and force counties and other entities to have to come to Charleston to beg for your funding.

We don't need to do that, Justice said. "Lets not hoodwink our citizens.

Justice said state Senate leaders behind the constitutional amendment are using the car tax as bait. Dont take it. Theyre trying to pull off a fast one on you.

Justice said his plan would return $145 million to taxpayers, who would receive a full refund for personal property vehicle taxes starting with their 2022 payments. It would not interfere with property tax revenue streams guaranteed to local governments and school boards, he said.

Later on Tuesday, Democratic leaders said they support eliminating the car tax. But Senate Minority Leader Stephen Baldwin and House Minority Leader Del. Doug Skaff, Jr. said Democrats proposed a similar idea in March 2021, and no action was taken by the governor.

We are glad Governor Justice is with us in eliminating the car tax, they said. "Why wait any longer? Lets do it now. We call on the WVGOP to join us in providing immediate tax relief for the people in a special session.

According to WalletHub, 23 states and the District of Columbia have no personal property tax on vehicles.
NEW YORK (AP)  TikTok appears to be deepening its foray into e-commerce with plans to operate its own U.S. warehouses, the kind of packing and shipping facilities more associated with Amazon or Walmart than the social media platform best known for addictive short videos.

In the past two weeks, TikTok has posted several job listings on LinkedIn looking for candidates to help it develop and grow its Fulfillment by TikTok Shop in the U.S. to accommodate sellers using the app. According to the listings, TikTok plans to provide warehousing, delivery and item return options to sellers.

A company spokesperson declined to comment on TikToks e-commerce plans in the U.S.

But the U.S. job listings offer a window into a possible U.S. e-commerce expansion. In some listings, TikTok says it is looking for a candidate who can manage a free return program, plan how to move inventory from one warehouse or business to another, and develop its fulfillment service in the U.S. In another listing for a position in Seattle, the company refers to a global e-commerce team and a team member who will be responsible for building a global warehousing network, signaling its plans could be much larger.

The e-commerce industry has seen tremendous growth in recent years and has become a hotly contested space amongst leading Internet companies, and its future growth cannot be underestimated, the company wrote in the job listings. With millions of loyal users globally, we believe TikTok is an ideal platform to deliver a brand new and better e-commerce experience to our users.

Axios first reported on the job postings.

Shopping on social media sites, known as social commerce, is a $37 billion market in the U.S., led by Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, according to Insider Intelligence. ByteDance, the Beijing-based company that owns TikTok, already runs a thriving social media marketplace on Douyin, its twin video app for the Chinese market. The TikTok spokesperson said the company is focused on providing merchants with a range of product features and delivery options in places it currently has e-commerce programs, such as Southeast Asia and the United Kingdom.

Insider Intelligence projects about 23.7 million U.S. shoppers are expected to make at least one purchase through TikTok this year by using affiliated links or conducting a transaction on the platform itself.

Some of those sales are already having an effect. Communities such as #BookTok, a corner of TikTok devoted to literature and reading, has been credited with driving a spike in the sales of print romance books this year. To accommodate more purchases on its app, TikTok said last summer it would partner with the Canadian e-commerce company Shopify to allow users to buy items directly on the app.

TikTok has been intensifying competition with Meta and other rivals, luring younger users  as well as popular influencers  from YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. The site's bite-sized, entertaining clips are served up by an algorithm that often seems to know what people want before they do.

The results are difficult to ignore. In July, Meta posted its first revenue decline in history, due in part to competition from TikTok. YouTube, meanwhile, recently said it would make the creators of short-form videos eligible to join its revenue-sharing program. Previously, YouTube only allowed revenue sharing for longer videos.

Compared to digital advertising, ecommerce is a tiny source of revenue for Meta, and will likely be for TikTok for the foreseeable future. At the same time, TikTok executives are likely looking to broaden the company's revenue sources beyond ads  a market dominated in the U.S. by Meta and Alphabet, which owns YouTube and Google.

Neil Saunders, managing director for GlobalData Retail, said TikToks reach and influence are helping it become a powerful force in advertising and sales and building out that capability with warehouses and other facilities would enable it to offer a complete service.

This would both be an additional revenue stream and would improve the quality of the shopping experience for consumers, Saunders said. But a serious move into warehousing would be an expensive undertaking, and TikTok would face established competitors in the likes of Amazon and Walmart.

However, TikTok has a massive audience and a massive customer base, so it has more than enough demand for this to make sense, Saunders said. Provided TikTok maintains its popularity it could pose a threat to incumbents and prove to be a highly disruptive force.

Others are taking a different tone.

"Its idiotic," said Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter. They have no chance of competing and it is a complete waste of money and time.

Associated Press writer Barbara Ortutay in San Francisco contributed to this report.
BOISE  Dozens of Republicans this week announced theyre supporting Tom Arkoosh, a Democratic Idaho attorney general candidate.

In 66 years affiliated with the GOP, Sen. Patti Anne Lodge, R-Huston, said shes never supported a Democrat.

But this time is different, Lodge said during a news conference at the Idaho Capitol on Tuesday. This time, Im looking for the qualifications, and Im looking for the experience.

Lodge, an 11-term senator who is retiring this year, is one of about 50 Republicans  many of them former office holders  who are publicly backing Arkoosh. A longtime Idaho lawyer, Arkoosh faces Republican Raul Labrador in next months election for attorney general.

Labrador, an immigration lawyer from Nampa, board member for Central District Health and former congressman, handily defeated incumbent Lawrence Wasden in the GOP primary election. Several high-profile Republicans  including former attorneys general and a former secretary of state  rallied against Labradors candidacy, believing he would politicize the office, and joined Arkooshs campaign.

On Tuesday, Arkoosh added former Idaho Gov. Phil Batt, First Lady Lori Otter and Superintendent of Public Instruction Jerry Evans, along with more than 20 former lawmakers, to his growing list of conservative supporters.

Otter, a real estate agent and former Idaho Gov. C.L. Butch Otters wife, touted Arkooshs experience in water rights litigation and experience crafting policy with lawmakers and local officials.

Hes not running for a political office, Lori Otter said. Hes running for a job as your attorney general.

Butch Otter has not publicly expressed support for either attorney general candidate.

Evans, who served as state superintendent for 16 years, said in a news release that he was pleased with Arkooshs stance on public school vouchers. During a debate last week, the attorney general candidates were asked whether school vouchers  a form of public subsidy for private education  are constitutional. The Idaho Constitution prohibits the use of public money to support religious institutions.

Arkoosh said vouchers would not pass legal muster, while Labrador promised to defend legislation that allows money to follow students, whether in public or private schools.

Labrador ignored Idahos constitutional prohibition against using public money for religious schools, Evans said in a news release. A competent lawyer would know better.

CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICANS BACK LABRADOR

Labrador has drawn support from several prominent Republicans as well. In a tweet Tuesday, Labrador noted that more than 140,500 Republicans endorsed me with their votes in Mays primary election. Since then, thousands of other Republicans, independents, and disaffected Democrats have expressed their support on social media, with digital contact, or in person as I campaign across Idaho, Labrador said.

In August, former Idaho Attorney General and Lt. Gov. David Leroy, a Republican, endorsed Labrador. In a news release, Leroy said the former Idaho GOP chairman has earned the trust of lawmakers, and that its the wrong time to elect a Democrat to the office thats defending the state in a lawsuit against the Biden administration.

He can help avoid courtroom losses that have been so costly to our taxpayers, Leroy said. Labrador also touts endorsements from U.S. Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), which has been a major donor in midterm elections nationwide.

Labrador has raised more than $870,000 in campaign donations. Among his donors are Doyle Beck and Brent Regan, board members of the Idaho Freedom Foundation, and Frank VanderSloot, billionaire CEO of Melaleuca, an eastern Idaho health product company, and an active Republican financier.

Arkoosh, meanwhile, has raised about $280,000, although he began fundraising in July. Arkoosh has raised about $93,000 per month, while Labrador has raised about $80,000 per month since November.
UAE-based Global Hotel Alliance (GHA), the worlds largest alliance of independent hotels brands, has reported a stellar nine-month performance that has exceeded forecasts, with total revenue generated by the 22 million members of its GHA Discovery loyalty programme of over $900 million.



This reflects an increase of 68% on 2021 and reaching 84% of pre-pandemic (2019) levels on a like for like basis.



A combination of higher average rates and a 20% increase in average length of stay globally from January to September versus the same period in 2021, driven by pent-up demand for leisure travel being unleashed, have contributed to the performance boost.



The top three countries for GHA Discovery member stays during the period were all strong leisure destinations: namely, the Maldives, Thailand and the UAE, while the most-visited cities were again Dubai (a further 48% growth in stays over 2021), followed by Singapore and Bangkok.



The most visible signs of a post-pandemic travel rebound were reported for Phuket and Bangkok, Thailand with 535% and 345% growth in revenues respectively compared to 2021, followed by Honolulu, Hawaii with 305% and London, UK, with 300% growth. Despite the ongoing disruption to air travel and the effect of pandemic-related restrictions, more than 60% of GHA Discovery revenues came from international stays, with this proportion growing strongly over the summer months.



Nevertheless, domestic stays remained very important in some markets, either because of travel restrictions or a continuing appetite for staycations, with over 90% of Chinese member spending and 88% of Indian member spending being in their home countries. In contrast, the highest-spending international travellers came from the USA ($76 million), UK ($71m) and Germany ($60m), representing over a quarter of total revenues.



The reimagination of the GHA Discovery loyalty programme, launched in December 2021, which introduced the industrys first digital rewards currency, Discovery DOLLARS (D$), redeemable on stays at any GHA hotel brand property, also bumped up revenues. From January to September, GHA issued $55 million of rewards to members, who can use them to pay for stays at any GHA property around the world, further driving repeat bookings.



Our 2022 performance to date has exceeded all expectations, not only demonstrating travels enduring attraction, as it bounces back from the pandemic, but the success of our growth strategy, underpinned by the reinvention of GHA Discovery and the addition of new hotel brand partners to our alliance, said GHA CEO Chris Hartley.



With D$ redemptions giving repeat and cross-brand stays a huge boost, we are delivering more new revenue streams to our hotel brands. Typically, these redemptions are being used as part-payment for a guests total bill, and overall our brands are witnessing an average 17 times return on investment from the new programme, a 21% lift compared to ROI delivered by the former version of our loyalty programme, he added.



The 2022 summer holiday season was another performance driver, with August proving the alliances second-strongest month ever, delivering revenues just shy of March 2019's record performance.



The average length of stays across all markets globally increased further in Q3 2022 versus the same period in 2021. Europe (64% increase in length of stay), Oceania (31%) and the Middle East (11%) were the top performing regions.



Compounding the rebound impact, Madrid-headquartered NH Group joined GHA in June, bringing with it more than 350 hotels and 10 million loyalty programme members. Total GHA Discovery member stays increased by 74% in Q3 2022 versus the same period in 2021. The most popular destination countries for cross-border summer travel were Spain, US, Germany, Italy and Thailand.



Hartley concluded: With the leisure travel rebound accelerating into Q4, business travel steadily on the up, evidenced in revenues from our major corporate accounts recovering to 81% of 2019 levels by the end of Q3, and with more D$ going into circulation, we are confident of a positive outlook for the full-year 2022 and heading into 2023.  TradeArabia News Service
Today is Wednesday, October 12, the 285th day of 2022. There are 80 days left in the year.

In the Henry Bulletin in 1922: After a recess of three days, the circuit court re-convened Monday morning and proceeded promptly with the trail of H. Bruce Land, charged with being accessory to the burning of his automobile last July for the purpose of obtaining the insurance. Thomas M. Ford, of H.A. Ford & Co., insurance agents  stated that a certain Stukebaker car was insured by his firm as agent for $1400. Mr. Ford also stated that he examined the car and that it was not burned under the hood but further back under the seats.  Frank Warren acknowledged that he borrowed the car from Land on the eleventh of July and buried it on a road one half mile from Ridgeway.

1947: Mayor J.W. Booker Jr. announced today following receipt of a telegram from Charles Luckman, chairman of the Presidents Citizens Food committee, that he will name a group of 12 local citizens to serve on a committee for the duration of the European food emergency.

1972: There are about 20 to 25 persons who belong to the Martinsville-Henry County Chess Club, in which there has been renewed interest lately because of the Fischer-Spassky match in Ireland. Club president Robert Harding said the unit will hold a meeting at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in the fellowship hall of Starling Avenue Baptist Church and prospective members are welcome.

1997: Gateway Streetscape Foundation Inc. and the Martinsville Uptown Revitalization Association (MURA) are asking uptown merchants to adopt a planter. Last week, 60 new cement planters were installed on Main, Church, Fayette and Clay streets in uptown Martinsville. MURA and the city of Martinsville paid for the planters, and Gateway paid for the soil and flowers. Officials are now asking people to step forward and help care for the plants and water them.
"The Art of the Quilt" will return to Piedmont Arts for its 13th biennial exhibit on Nov. 5, kicked off with a reception on Nov. 4 from 5:30-7:30 p.m.

The exhibit will display colorful quilts and fiber arts created by artists from across the Southeast. More than 40 artists will take place in the fiber arts showcase that is co-curated by Linda Fiedler and Betty Blessin.

The theme for this year's exhibit is "Unity," and it features hand-made and machine-stitched quilts, contemporary textiles and quilts by the African American Quilt Circle of Durham, North Carolina.

This exhibit is an indicator of the creative energy among artists who are currently making quilts, Fiedler said in a press release. Having evolved beyond the quilt as just a bed covering, these artists approach quilt making much as an artist approaches painting  by combining idea, color, material, composition, form, texture, and spontaneity to express their personal interpretation of the world."

In the Lynwood Artists Gallery works by Virginia Foothills Quilters Guild will be on display. The guild was to "maintain and stimulate an interest in all matters pertaining to making, collecting and preserving quilts," the release states.

Also on display will be "A Stitch in Time: Cross Stitch" by Marilyn Vaughn. It contains cross-stitch work she has done over three decades.

The opening reception is free and open to the public, and complimentary wine and light refreshments will be served. Ann Nichols will perform music, and Fiedler and Blessin will give a talk at 6:15 p.m.

Reservations are required by Nov. 1 at 276-632-3221 or piedmontarts.org. The exhibit will last through Jan. 14 and admission is always free.

Exhibits and reception are sponsored by Bunco Babes, Nancy Baker, Susan Critz, Jerri and Joe DeVault, Sandra Ford, Olivia and Pres Garrett, Libby Kormos, Anne and Gene Madonia, Susan and David Morris, Betty Lou and Ron Pigg, John and Deborah Schupp, Virginia Foothills Quilters Guild and Lynwood Artists.
A total of five members of the local force  militias fighting alongside government troops against terrorism in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique  were killed in clashes with armed groups on Sunday, and some 90 houses were burned down in two districts, in a week described as difficult and a week of much weeping, several local sources reported on Tuesday.

Seven insurgents were killed during the various fightings recorded.

Members of the local force, as is known the militia that supports government and foreign forces in the war against terrorism in Cabo Delgado, were killed in a fight when they tried to repel an invasion by an armed group in Mandava village in Muidumbe district.

The insurgents came firing into the village and hit two militiamen, and by the end of the clashes five had been fatally shot, Salimo Sale said, citing a relative who survived the attack.

In that attack, at least 35 houses were set on fire, several goods looted, in addition to two firearms, which were used by the local force, captured by the armed group that sowed a lot of tears, in one of the villages considered well protected in the Mueda plateau, the same source mentioned.

Several local sources attest to the killing of the militiamen, with some reports indicating that local forces managed to kill seven insurgents in return.
The surprise winner of the Lesotho parliamentary elections, millionaire Sam Matekane, 64, who made his fortune in diamond mining, will form a coalition government, he announced Tuesday at a press conference.

His Revolution for Prosperity (RFP) movement, which was formed just six months before last weeks election, won 56 of 120 seats, missing out on an absolute majority by just a few seats, the electoral commission announced the day before.

The constitutional monarchy, which is totally landlocked in South Africa, has been ruled since 2012 by coalition governments, made unstable by frequent party changes and splits.

On Tuesday, Sam Matekane announced he would form his coalition with the Alliance of Democrats (AD) and the Movement for Economic Change (MEC), which won six and five seats respectively.

We inform the Basotho nation that we have agreed to form a new coalition government, he said at the press briefing at a hotel in the capital Maseru, alongside the leaders of the other two parties.

The outgoing parliament failed to pass a law aimed at strengthening political stability by prohibiting members of parliament from switching political allegiance during their first three years in office.

Mtakane promises that in his first 100 days in office he will push forward this and other reforms that could address Lesothos chronic instability.

Matekane, considered the richest man in the country, which is one of the poorest in the world, also promised during his campaign to revive the economy and deal with public debt.
The criminal investigation department of the Benin Police interrogated Tuesday the Director General of the National Teaching Hospital in capital Cotonou as part of investigation following the death of 4 patients last Friday as result of power deficiency.

The hearing lasted for two hours but the head of the health facility has left scot-free. Two other officials namely the head of the resuscitation department and the on-call administrator, were also investigated.

Four patients died in the resuscitation department of the hospital as result of power cut. There were seven in the unit. Three people survived.

The Tuesday hearing of the head of the hospital revealed that the teaching hospital has two generators in the event of power cut but both generators failed to take over. Two power cuts occurred, one Thursday afternoon and the second one in the early hours of Friday.

Four people were arrested on Monday in connection with the incident.

Authorities blamed dysfunction at the resuscitation department for the death of the four patients.
Jayden Dixon Kaburu, an 11-year old Kenyan has expresses touching thanks to King Mohammed VI for his decision to help the East African country with fertilizers.

In a moving letter addressed to the Moroccan embassy in Nairobi, the young pupil, who is living in Karatina, a small village in central Kenya, expressed warm thanks to the Sovereign who promised the New Kenyan President William Ruto to assist his country with Fertilizers.

Jayden, in her ingenuous discourse, states that Kenyans and her own parents suffered from the lack of soil nutrients and that she used to work after school to contribute and lend a helping hand towards putting a meal on the table and pay for the school fees of her older siblings.

Expressing thanks to the Moroccan people and King and hailing the royal gesture as noble, Jayden Dixon Kaburu prayed the Sovereign to continue his move as long as we live, so that we, the children of the village, can complete our studies and be able to help our dear parents in time of need.

May God Allah bless your country and your Majesty the King for the noble work done. Once again, thank you in advance, stated the young Kenyan, who signed her letter your new found friend Jayden Dixon Kaburu.

King Mohammed VI had congratulated Mr. William Samoei Ruto on his election as the 5th President of Kenya and welcomed the successful unfolding of democratic elections in the country in August 2022, stressing that these deadlines consolidate the position of Kenya as a beacon country in terms of democracy at the continental level.

The Sovereign also welcomed the promise made by the Kenyan President to strengthen and deepen the current bilateral relations between his country and various states in Africa and elsewhere.

President Ruto, for his part, hailed the leadership of King Mohammed VI in promoting policies of tolerance at the level of the Maghreb region, as well as its contribution to world peace and security.

He also expressed his willingness and commitment to work with the Sovereign to strengthen relations between the two countries, which are both committed to raising their bilateral diplomatic relations to the level of strategic partnership in the coming six months, the statement said, adding that the Republic of Kenya is committed to opening its Embassy in Rabat.

Following this exchange of greetings, it was agreed to immediately accelerate economic, trade and social relations between the two countries, particularly in the areas of fishing, agriculture and food security through the trade of fertilizers.
Sample of neurons imaged simultaneously in the auditory cortex, identified after digital image processing. Credit:  Joanna Schwenkgrub, Institut Pasteur

The purpose of anesthesia is to put the brain into an unconscious state in which stimuli such as sounds are not perceived. In this state, the neurons in the auditory cortex are still stimulated by sounds, but the latter are not perceived by the brain. Scientists from the Institut Pasteur, the CNRS and Universite Paris-Saclay have revealed a novel neural mechanism that accompanies the transition from a state of conscious perception to a state of unconsciousness under anesthesia.

A cutting-edge optical imaging technique, multiphoton microscopy, was used to observe the activity of nearly a thousand neurons in the auditory cortex during the transition from a state of wakefulness to a state of anesthesia, in a mouse model. The results indicate that in the state of wakefulness, some neuron assemblies respond to sounds and others are spontaneously active (demonstrating ongoing brain activity). But under anesthesia, the neuron assemblies that respond to sounds were indistinguishable from spontaneously active neurons. In the state of unconsciousness produced by the anesthetic, the cerebral cortex masks sensory inputs with its own "spontaneous" activity. These findings, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience on September 28, 2022, open up new possibilities for modeling states of vigilance.

Although the mechanisms used by the ear to receive sounds are starting to be clearly understood, we know much less about those involved in the perception and interpretation of sounds and the awareness of auditory sensation. The neuroscience of hearing, and sensory perception in general, is grappling with several questions in this respect. One concerns the mechanisms that distinguish conscious perception, during wakefulness, from the processing of sounds in the brain during unconscious states such as sleep or under anesthesia.

Why is it that the auditory cortex is activated when a sound reaches the ear of an anesthetized person or animal, yet under anesthesia there is no conscious perception of sounds in humans?

This question had previously remained impossible to solve because the available measurements of neural activity only provided information about the activity of single neurons or small assemblies of neurons recorded in isolation within the vast neural networks that make up the cortex. These data failed to offer an overview of the coordinated activity of neural networks. Other datasets collected at cerebral level were used to deduce the average activity of these large networks but offered no details about them. So it was not possible to extract enough information about the activity of the cortex to gage the fundamental differences in sensory responses between wakefulness and anesthesia.

Activity of a neuron assembly in the auditory cortex during wakefulness (white dots) and under anesthesia (green dots). Each dot corresponds to an electrical impulse from a neuron. An image of neuron cell bodies is superimposed on the diagram. Credit:  Joanna Schwenkgrub, Institut Pasteur; Anton Filipchuk, CNRS  Institut Pasteur

In this study, the teams led by Brice Bathellier (Auditory System Dynamics and Multisensory Processing/Inserm) at the Hearing Institute, an Institut Pasteur center, and by Alain Destexhe (Paris-Saclay Institute of Neuroscience/CNRS/Univ. Paris-Saclay) used an optical recording techniquecalcium imaging via multiphoton microscopyto monitor the activity of assemblies of nearly a thousand neurons in the auditory cortex during wakefulness and anesthesia in mice. The scientists then used mathematical methods to study the profiles of the neuron assemblies activated in response to a series of varied sounds. These novel observations revealed that although neurons are activated by sounds both in a wakeful state and under anesthesia, the assemblies involved in the two states are completely different.

They also showed that the cortex is a constantly active structure, even in the absence of stimulation. By comparing this "spontaneous" activity to the activity evoked by sounds, the scientists made a further observation. While during wakefulness, the neuron assemblies activated by sounds differ from those activated spontaneously, under anesthesia, the neuron assemblies evoked in response to sounds are also systematically activated spontaneously. So although the auditory cortex does respond to sound stimulation under anesthesia, its response is indistinguishable from its own internal activity.

These observations suggest a mechanism that would explain the paradox of auditory perception, and by extension sensory perception, under anesthesia. "The activation of neurons in the cortex under anesthesia is not only structurally considerably different from that observed during wakefulness; more importantly, it is practically indistinguishable from the spontaneous activity of the cortex. The neural responses in the auditory cortex under anesthesia are therefore effectively 'silent' for the rest of the brain, because they are drowned out by its own 'noise.' These results also indicate that one of the conditions for conscious perception is for the cortex to be capable of activating neuron assemblies that are distinct from those activated spontaneously," explains Brice Bathellier, co-last author of the study.

"In one sense, the wakeful cortex is more 'creative' because it generates new sound-specific grounds for activity in response to sounds, whereas this specificity does not seem to exist during anesthesia. It remains to be seen whether the same conclusions also apply to other states such as sleep," notes Alain Destexhe, co-last author of the study.

These results also offer new insights into the mechanisms underlying conscious perception of sounds or other sensory signals, and pave the way for new models of conscious and unconscious information processing in the other regions of the cerebral cortex.

Explore further Somatostatin neurons cooperate in the cerebral cortex

More information: Anton Filipchuk et al, Awake perception is associated with dedicated neuronal assemblies in the cerebral cortex, Nature Neuroscience (2022). Journal information: Nature Neuroscience Anton Filipchuk et al, Awake perception is associated with dedicated neuronal assemblies in the cerebral cortex,(2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41593-022-01168-5
Lebanon has recorded its first death from cholera as cases surge after an outbreak of the extremely virulent disease in neighbouring Syria, the health ministry said Wednesday.

Lebanon has recorded 26 cases of cholera this month, as the country struggles amid poor sanitation and crumbling infrastructure after three years of unprecedented economic crisis.

"The common point between these cases is that the majority of patients are displaced Syrians," Health Minister Firas Abiad said on Tuesday.

"The absence of basic services, like safe water and sewerage networks, in places where refugees gather, constitutes a fertile ground for the epidemic to spread in Lebanon."

Syria has recorded 41 deaths from cholera and over 700 cases, the country's official SANA news agency reported Tuesday.

The United Nations warned earlier this month that the outbreak is "evolving alarmingly".

Lebanon hosts more than a million refugees from Syria's civil war, which broke out in 2011.

Most live in poverty, and their living conditions have worsened due to Lebanon's economic woes.

Cholera is generally contracted from contaminated food or water, and causes diarrhoea and vomiting.

It can spread in residential areas that lack proper sewerage networks or mains drinking water.

Cholera can kill within hours if left untreated, according to the World Health Organization, but many of those infected will have no or mild symptoms.

It can be easily treated with oral rehydration solution, but more severe cases may require intravenous fluids and antibiotics, the WHO says.

Worldwide, the disease affects between 1.3 million and four million people each year, killing between 21,000 and 143,000 people.

Explore further Syria reports 39 dead in cholera outbreak

 2022 AFP
Aviareps, a global leader in developing tourism, with a portfolio of over 100 airlines and 250 travel and tourism clients, has relaunched its in-person Aviareps Middle East Travel Caravan after a two-year hiatus following the Covid pandemic.



Over 110 key travel industry professionals, media and travel influencers attended the Dubai leg of the event which was held on October 11, 2022 at the Shangri-la Dubai Hotel, with the same number of visitors expected for the Riyadh event on October 12, 2022.



The travel roadshow sees key international travel brands and destinations gather under the one roof to meet with the UAEs and Saudi Arabias key outbound travel agencies and meeting and conferencing professionals, to meet one to one to develop new travel packages, itineraries and events tailored for UAE and Saudi Arabia-based travellers.



A total of 27 key international partners joined the 2022 edition of the Aviareps Caravan including Qatar Tourism Board, The Investment and Development Agency of Latvia, Malta Tourism Authority, The Royal Commission for AlUla, Visit California, Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority and a host of international hospitality brands, airlines and destination management companies.



In addition to meeting leading travel agencies, partners also had the opportunity to meet with popular travel influencers from the region, as well as join an intimate panel discussion industry thought leaders, that included representatives from Emirates Holidays, ITL World and Al Rostamani Travel, where they were updated on the latest travel trends and consumer travel requirements from the region.



Glenn Johnston, Vice President Middle East & Global Public Affairs, Aviareps commented: As we head towards a post pandemic world outbound international travel from the Gulf Countries continues to demonstrate a remarkably strong and quick return compared to all other major travel regions around the globe. Within this context it is extremely important and timely to hold such an event. By bringing the UAE and Saudi Arabias travel professionals directly in contact with such an exciting and eclectic mix of travel providers and destinations, Im confident we will all see jointly crafted, attractive travel experiences and offerings to follow, that will no doubt create new travel trends for the coming months and 2023.



Not only do travellers from the Gulf countries tend to travel more often than others, but they also tend to stay longer and have one of the worlds highest average-daily-spends while travelling. The luxury travel segment is particularly strong, as too is MICE travel, providing a multitude of opportunities for entities seeking to diversify their client mix.



Johnston added: This years edition of the Aviareps Middle East Travel Caravan comes on the heels of Dubai Expo 2020, which successfully concluded earlier this year. Many of this years caravan participants have decided to use this platform to continue the positive and productive momentum created during EXPO, and use it further strengthen their presence in the Middle East market.



Personal networks and ongoing connections remain an essential ingredient for business success within our region. A key focus for us is to ensure that through our well-established industry networks both co-participants and our carefully selected Middle Eastern outbound partners see a return on their investment and a growth in their business. That is our commitment to these events.  TradeArabia News Service
A scanning electron micrograph of Ebola virus budding from a cell (African green monkey kidney epithelial cell line). Credit: NIAID

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday that clinical trials could start within weeks on vaccines to combat the strain of Ebola behind a deadly outbreak in Uganda.

Kampala last month announced Uganda's first fatality from the highly contagious disease since 2019, with a statement issued by the WHO saying there were 54 confirmed cases and 19 deaths.

Ugandan Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng told AFP that one fatal case had been recorded in Kampala after the victim fled the central district of Mubende where the outbreak was first reported, and later died in a capital hospital.

There is currently no vaccine for the Sudan ebola virus circulating in the East African country.

"Unfortunately, the Ebola vaccines that have been so effective in controlling recent outbreaks in DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) are not effective against the type of ebola virus which is responsible for the current outbreak in Uganda," Tedros told a regional ministerial meeting to discuss the emergency response to the crisis.

"Several vaccines are in various stages of development against this virus, two of which could begin clinical trials in Uganda in the coming weeks, pending regulatory and ethics approvals from the Ugandan government."

The initial outbreak, which was first reported on September 20, and infections have been found in five areas including Mubende, according to WHO.

"Our primary focus now is to support the government of Uganda to rapidly control and contain this outbreak, to stop it spreading to neighbouring districts, and neighbouring countries," Tedros told reporters.

A WHO assessment has found the risk of the Sudan ebola virus spreading to neighbouring countries was "high due to cross border movements between Uganda and other countries".

Ebola is an often-fatal viral haemorrhagic fever named after a river in DR Congo where it was discovered in 1976.

Human transmission is through bodily fluids, with common symptoms fever, vomiting, bleeding and diarrhoea. Outbreaks are difficult to contain, especially in urban environments.

People who are infected do not become contagious until symptoms appear, which is after an incubation period of between two and 21 days.

The worst epidemic in West Africa between 2013 and 2016 killed more than 11,300 people.

Uganda has experienced several Ebola outbreaks, most recently in 2019 when at least five people died.

The neighbouring DRC has had more than a dozen epidemics, the deadliest killing 2,280 people in 2020. Late last month it declared an end to an Ebola outbreak that had emerged in the eastern province of North Kivu six weeks previously.

Last week the United States announced tighter screening for people who had travelled to Uganda.

Explore further Uganda Ebola outbreak death toll 29, says WHO

 2022 AFP
Mass General Brigham is providing COVID vaccinations to underserved populations living in the greater Boston area by sending mobile health units to 12 predominantly low-income and racial/ethnic minority communities in Massachusetts. Credit: Mass General Brigham

Two new papers from Mass General Brigham demonstrate the effectiveness of bringing COVID-19 health care services to where people need them the most. At the beginning of May 2021, a team from Mass General Brigham began providing COVID vaccinations to underserved populations living in the greater Boston area by sending mobile health units to 12 predominantly low-income and racial/ethnic minority communities in Massachusetts. Using community health vans, teams offered easily accessible vaccination on a walk-in basis without regard to insurance, immigration status, or ability to pay.

In a paper published today in The American Journal of Public Health, Mass General Brigham authors describe the success and challenges of the new program, which had higher vaccination rates among adolescents, non-white populations, and people of Hispanic ethnicity compared to vaccination rates in the state and in the local communities.

"To date, our program has provided almost 20,000 COVID-19 vaccination doses," said corresponding author Priya Sarin Gupta, MD, MPH, medical director of the Mass General Brigham and Kraft Center Community Care Van Initiatives. "Our goal was to take COVID-19 health and vaccination services to the community and meet people where they are. The data from the first few months of Mass General Brigham's Community Care Vans, sometimes called our 'clinics on wheels,' show us that if you build itand you build it wellthey will come."

In their AJPH paper, Sarin Gupta and colleagues outline what it took to build their program well and implement it effectively. Key elements to the program included:

Engaging and partnering with community nonprofit organizations, local departments of health, and school board representatives;

Staffing vans with trained, multilingual staff members and engaging a large volunteer network;

Identifying the right places and times to reach communities that had been hardest hit by COVID-19.

The program also used a "double equity" model, engaging with a local transportation company that was at risk of downsizing because of economic losses during the pandemic.

From May 20 to Aug. 18, 2021, the community health vans held 130 sessions and administered 2,622 COVID-19 vaccine doses. Credit: Mass General Brigham

In a companion paper recently published in Preventive Medicine, investigators analyzed results from the first three months of the program. From May 20 to Aug. 18, 2021, the community health vans held 130 sessions and administered 2,622 COVID-19 vaccine doses.

During the study, just 20 percent of people who received a vaccine from one of the mobile clinics self-identified as white. More than 56 percent listed their ethnicity as Hispanic (compared to the state's vaccination rate of about 18 percent). Additionally, participants were more likely to be adolescentsthe average age of people vaccinated at the mobile clinics was 31 years old. These early findings allowed the program to iterate and expand to more communities to maximize the program's reach to communities serving people of color and those with high rates of health-related social needs.

The authors note that mobile health units could be used to help address other community health needs beyondand sometimes entangled withCOVID-19. The vans are now expanding their offerings to include a menu of services to offer care for preventable and chronic conditions, including offering high-blood pressure screening.

"Already, we are seeing participants come to us who are interested in getting vaccinated, and also get screened for high-blood pressure while they are thereand vice versa," said Sarin Gupta. "Some participants ask us, 'What are you going to provide next?' It gives me hope. If we can provide care with cultural humility and ensure that everyone has access, we can begin to overcome barriers such as mistrust."

Explore further COVID vaccines reduce mortality rates in deprived areas in England
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Heart disease patients with symptomatic COVID-19 are often treated with nirmatrelvir-ritonavir (Paxlovid) to prevent progression to severe disease; however, it can interact with some previously prescribed medications. A review paper published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology examines the potential drug-drug interactions (DDIs) between Paxlovid and commonly used cardiovascular medications, as well as potential options to mitigate severe adverse effects.

"Awareness of the presence of drug-drug interactions of Paxlovid with common cardiovascular drugs is key. System-level interventions by integrating drug-drug interactions into electronic medical records could help avoid related adverse events," said Sarju Ganatra, MD, director of the cardio-oncology program at Lahey Hospital and Medical Center in Burlington, Massachusetts, and the senior author of the review.

"The prescription of Paxlovid could be incorporated into an order set, which allows physicians, whether it be primary care physicians or cardiology providers, to consciously rule out any contraindications to the co-administration of Paxlovid. Consultation with other members of the health care team, particularly pharmacists, can prove to be extremely valuable. However, a health care provider's fundamental understanding of the drug-drug interactions with cardiovascular medications is key."

Paxlovid received emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in December 2021 as an oral antiviral agent for the treatment of symptomatic, non-hospitalized adults with mild to moderate COVID-19 infection who are at high risk for progression to severe disease. Patients with heart disease and other risk factors, including diabetes, high blood pressure, chronic kidney disease and smoking make up a large portion of the high-risk population for whom Paxlovid is beneficial.

According to the authors, Paxlovid has been shown to be very effective in patients with existing heart disease, but it has significant DDIs with commonly used cardiovascular medications, highlighting the importance for all clinicians to be familiar with these DDIs. As there is limited clinical information regarding DDI-related adverse events, the authors used existing knowledge and data regarding how therapies like Paxlovid typically react with other medications to provide guidance regarding potential interactions and the associated likely consequences based on the degree of interaction.

Dr. Ganatra discusses the potential drug-drug interactions between Paxlovid and commonly used cardiovascular medications. Credit: American College of Cardiology

The review provides an in-depth overview of a variety of cardiovascular medications used to treat many forms of heart disease. Five of the most important cardiovascular drug interactions with Paxlovid to be aware of include:

Anti-arrhythmic agents Anti-arrhythmic agents are used to manage abnormal heart rhythm. Many of these drugs are metabolized in a way that increases plasma levels when co-administered with Paxlovid. While it may be possible to start Paxlovid after 2-2.5-day temporary discontinuation of the anti-arrhythmic agents, this may not be feasible from a practical standpoint. Clinicians are advised to consider alternative COVID-19 therapies and avoid co-administration of these agents with Paxlovid. Sotalol, another anti-arrhythmic agent, is renally cleared and does not interact with Paxlovid.

Antiplatelet agents and anticoagulants Antiplatelet agents are used for the treatment of coronary artery disease, particularly if a patient has received a stent. Aspirin and prasugrel are safe to co-administer with Paxlovid. There is an increased risk of blood clots when Paxlovid is given alongside clopidogrel and an increased risk of bleeding when given with ticagrelor. When possible, these agents should be switched to prasugrel. If patients have contraindication to taking prasugrel, then co-administration of Paxlovid should be avoided and alternative COVID-19 therapies should be considered. Anticoagulants (blood thinners used to treat or prevent blood clots) such as warfarin may be co-administered with Paxlovid but require close monitoring of clotting factors in bloodwork. The plasma levels of all direct oral anticoagulants increase when co-administered with Paxlovid, therefore dose adjustment or temporary discontinuation and use of alternative anticoagulants may be required.

Certain statins Co-administration of simvastatin or lovastatin with Paxlovid can lead to increased plasma levels and subsequent muscle weakness (myopathy) and rhabdomyolysis, a condition in which the breakdown of muscle tissue releases a damaging protein into the bloodstream. These agents should be stopped prior to initiation of Paxlovid. A dose reduction of atorvastatin and rosuvastatin is reasonable when co-administered with Paxlovid. The other statins are considered safe when given along with Paxlovid.

Ranolazine Plasma concentration of ranolazine, used to treat angina and other heart-related chest pain, is exponentially increased in the presence of CPY450 inhibitors like Paxlovid, thereby increasing the risk of clinically significant QT prolongation and torsade de pointes (a type of arrhythmia). Co-administration of Paxlovid is therefore contraindicated. Temporary discontinuation of ranolazine is advised if prescribing Paxlovid.

Immunosuppressive agents The plasma levels of immunosuppressive agents prescribed for patients who have undergone heart transplantation exponentially rise to toxic levels when co-administered with Paxlovid. Temporary reduction of dosing of immunosuppressive agents would require frequent monitoring and be logistically difficult. Therefore, alternative COVID-19 therapies should be considered in these patients.



The authors conclude awareness and availability of other COVID-19 therapies enable clinicians to offer alternative treatment options to patients who are unable to take Paxlovid due to DDIs.

More information: Cardiovascular Drug Interactions With Nirmatrelvir/Ritonavir in Patients With COVID-19: JACC Review Topic of the Week, Journal of the American College of Cardiology (2022). Journal information: Journal of the American College of Cardiology Cardiovascular Drug Interactions With Nirmatrelvir/Ritonavir in Patients With COVID-19: JACC Review Topic of the Week,(2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.jacc.2022.08.800
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Tobacco is a leading cause of disease. It is estimated that it kills half of its consumers. Over a million additional deaths result from exposure to second hand smoke. Countries around the world are moving towards stricter regulation of tobacco products in compliance with their obligation to the World Health Organization's (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. In 2018 South Africa published a tobacco control bill that sought to better regulate the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products. It's been revised as the Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill 2021 and has been approved for submission to parliament. Ina Skosana speaks to Catherine Egbe, a lead researcher on South Africa's Global Adult Smoking Survey, about the latest developments.

Why has it taken so long to bring the bill before parliament?

The bill was first released for public comments in 2018. After reviewing all the comments, the Department of Health had to do more consultations and update the 2018 version.

Under normal circumstances the process would not take this long. Introducing a law that is focused on protecting people's health, and impacts on the big industries that make money off the products, will always be a challenge, no matter how harmful the products are.

Bills that have a wider impact on society usually take longer to pass because the consultation process takes time, but a delay of four years is not ideal.

We are happy that the bill is back on track.

What are the major changes to the 2018 version of the bill?

The first improvement is that it takes care of novel productsthese now go beyond just e-cigarettes to include oral nicotine pouches, and other novel products related to tobacco or nicotine. It also includes future innovations that the industry may come up with.

The tobacco control landscape is very dynamic in terms of product types. One of the key problems we're having today in South Africa is that the existing law doesn't regulate electronic cigarettes or other novel products.

So you need a law that takes into account that there could be changes even tomorrow. The current bill, therefore, takes care of future innovations so that such products can fall within the tobacco regulatory framework in South Africa.

What are the chances of this bill being passed?

The administrative and political leadership of the Department of Health is committed to, and passionate about protecting South Africans from tobacco related harms. But it's not in their hands anymore. They've done their part. It's now left to the members of parliament and the public to make this bill become law. This is where citizens' action will make impact. They must put pressure on parliament to pass this bill. The health of the nation should take precedence over profit from tobacco.

Why is it important to update restrictions on tobacco use?

South Africa introduced the very first Tobacco Control Act in the 1990s. That law has been updated three timesin 1999, 2007, 2008.

The initial law came into place way before the WHO treaty and before many of these novel products were available. As a signatory to the WHO tobacco control framework, South Africa must make its laws align with the WHO treaty.

In the 1990s the country was a regional leader in tobacco control. It had some of the most stringent tobacco control laws. But the tobacco industry has since come up with new products and ways around the restrictions. South Africa has now fallen behind the rest of the world. As a result, South Africa has regressed and smoking prevalence has steadily increased over the past couple of years.

When the country first introduced tobacco control legislation, it had a smoking prevalence of over 30%. This subsequently fell to as low as 16% in 2010. But is has began to increase.

We've been monitoring the trends of tobacco use. One of the surveys I have been using is the South African Social Attitudes Survey.

The global adult tobacco survey, which we conducted last year, shows that 29.4% of South Africans use various tobacco products. And 25.8% smoke tobacco. This is proof that the current law is obsolete. It's not doing what it's supposed to dowhich is to drive down the tobacco use prevalence.

What are the main drivers of increase in smoking prevalence?

The industry is using many tactics to get young people to start smoking. In the global adult tobacco survey, we found that the average age of initiation of smoking in South Africa was 17.6 years. About 74% of current smokers started when they were teenagers. So what does the industry do? It employs what I call the "catch them young" approach. It tries to target these young people to get them hooked on nicotine.

Nicotine is one of the most addictive drugs. Once hooked, the smoker keeps looking for the product. That's why the industry targets young people by using celebrities on social media, and new products that contain exotic flavors. Exotic flavors appeal more to children than adults.

Then electronic cigarettes came on board. Nicotine is one of the common components between electronic cigarettes and traditional tobacco products.

Studies from around the world show that some people who may not have smoked, ended up smoking traditional products after starting with electronic cigarettes.

What are the risks of not regulating tobacco products?

Any delay in controlling tobacco will cause a lot of deaths from tobacco related diseases. Tobacco is one of the leading causes of noncommunicable diseases. These conditions are the leading cause of death in South Africa and in many parts of the world. If the legislation is delayed further, more young people are at risk of getting hooked on nicotine, with dire consequences.

In 2016, the healthcare cost of tobacco use was R14.48 billion in South Africa. The tobacco industry only contributed about R12 billion in taxes. So at the end of the day, who is benefiting more from tobacco?

Explore further EU proposes ban on flavored heated tobacco products

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Differences in longitudinal change in gray matter structure by group. (A) Regions with increased thinning between 9 and 16 years of age for children randomly assigned to foster care relative to those in care as usual. (B) Regions with accelerated thinning for children randomly assigned to foster care before 24 months of age, relative to those randomly assigned after 24 months of age. (C) A region in the ventral medial PFC that showed significant decreases in surface area from 8 to 16 years for children randomly assigned to foster care before 24 months of age, relative to those randomly assigned after 24 months of age. Credit: Science Advances (2022). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abn4316

After the fall of communism in Romania, thousands of children were discovered in institutional orphanages across the country. Because of high child-to-caregiver ratios, these children were neglected, with overall low levels of caregiving and very regimented non-individualized care. Without a foster care program at that time in Romania, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers Charles Zeanah, Charles Nelson and Nathan Fox set up a new foster care intervention program. This program was well supported, with frequent visits by a dedicated team of social workers to foster families.

Children were randomly selected to participate in this foster care program, providing scientists an unusual opportunity to study what happens to children's brains when they're deprived of attention and emotional connection. A new study by the group published on Oct. 7 in Science Advances shows that that early deprivation continues to affect brain development well into adolescence.

"We know from years of animal work that experiences early in life shape brain development, but until now, this has never been shown conclusively in humans," says Margaret Sheridan, a clinical psychologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the lead author on a new study showing that deprivation in early childhood shapes the development of brain structure through adolescence.

Sheridan and a team of researchers from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project published their findings today in Science Advances. Their research shows that children who were randomly placed out of institutional care and into well-supported foster care before the age of 3 had changes in areas of the brain that support higher-order problem solving years later, when the children were 16.

In addition, children placed into high-quality foster care before 3 years old saw typical brain development from 9 to 16 years, in areas related to emotional reactivity, language, and executive function, but this pattern was altered to children who were deprived of family care.

"Here we show that that the opportunities that a child has in early life to learn and grow will impact not just their behavior but their actual brain development and brain structure for years to come," says Sheridan. "Children need invested caregivers supporting their development from a very early age."

The Bucharest Early Intervention Project, launched in 2001, is a landmark study of the impact of institutionalization, a severe form of neglect on child development. It is the only randomized controlled trial of foster care as an alternative to institutional rearing. Between the ages of 6 and 33 months, 68 children were removed from orphanages and placed in high-quality foster care. Families who received a foster child were frequently visited by a social worker and given significant financial support, which helped them integrate and provide support to the children.

The children have been tracked throughout their childhoods, and initial evidence of the negative impact of institutionalization on development changed the way Romania approached childcare and family leave.

"This new evidence shows what doesn't happen to children matters just as much as what does happen for child brain development," says Sheridan.

Explore further Foster family placement leads to sustained cognitive gains after severe early deprivation

More information: Margaret A. Sheridan et al, Early deprivation alters structural brain development from middle childhood to adolescence, Science Advances (2022). Journal information: Science Advances Margaret A. Sheridan et al, Early deprivation alters structural brain development from middle childhood to adolescence,(2022). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abn4316
Researchers from SIT, Japan, report that thigh phase angle measurementsderived from bioelectrical impedance analysiscan be used to predict knee extensor strength in adults. Credit: Prof. Ryota Akagi from SIT, Japan

Muscular strength and its improvement are important to everyone for their regular day-to-day life activities. Conventionally, muscle function can be assessed by means of physical performance tests and/or muscle strength measurements. However, these methods are not applicable to those who cannot undergo forceful muscle contractions like infants, the elderly, and patients with injuries or cognitive disorders (like dementia).

An easy and popular alternative is using bioelectric impedance analysis (BIA), which can quickly and non-invasively measure tissue resistance (which depends on the amount of water and electrolytes present in the tissue) and reactance (which depends on the integrity of the cell membrane).

Phase angle (PhA), a measurement derived via BIA, is calculated using the tissue's resistance and reactance. It is directly proportional to muscle cell mass and function. Many studies have linked whole-body PhA with maximal muscle strength, but there are none associating PhA with knee extension strength or explosive muscle strength (which is the strength required to make quick, strong movements like sprinting or getting up from a chair) in adults.

Keeping in mind the importance of knee muscle strengthespecially in the elderly, in whom it is necessary for their independence, and athletes, who require strong knees for better performancesuch a study was necessary.

In this vein, a group of scientists including Professor Ryota Akagi, from the College of Systems Engineering and Science, Shibaura Institute of Technology (SIT); Assistant Professor Kosuke Hirata from the Faculty of Sport Sciences, Waseda University; and researchers Yosuke Yamada and Tsukasa Yoshida from the Section of Healthy Longevity Research, National Institute of Health and Nutrition, National Institutes of Biomedical Innovation, Health and Nutrition investigated the association of PhA with the neuromuscular properties of knee extensor muscles in both, young and older adults.

Their findings were published in Frontiers in Physiology. Dr. Akagi and Dr. Hirata, the corresponding authors of the article, say, "We aimed to assess the association of thigh PhA with maximal muscle strength, explosive muscle strength, contractile properties as well as neuromuscular activity, and find out which of the twowhole-body or thigh PhAwas a better predictor of knee extensor strength."

The team measured the whole-body and thigh PhA of 55 participants (23 young males and 32 older males) at 50kHz. The participants were asked to perform 4-second maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) in order to measure peak torque (PT MVIC ) and a 1-second MVIC to measure the rate of torque development (RTD) over a time gap of 0200 milliseconds.

The mean average value of these three measurements (i.e., PT MVIC and RTD) was used for further analysis. Contractile properties were also analyzed as they are significant markers of the mechanisms underlying force generation in muscles. Lastly, muscle activity was assessed by electromyography (EMG-RMS).

The findings of the study revealed that both whole-body and thigh PhAs are associated with the muscle strength of knee extensors (with thigh PhA being the preferred predictor of knee extensor strength). However, this association was understood to be due to the muscles' contractile properties rather than any neural aspects. Thus, both measurements could not predict neuromuscular activity or the explosive muscle strength (which largely depends on neuromuscular control) of knee extensors.

This study holds much promise for present and future implications. Speaking about the present, being able to assess knee muscle strength is very important, especially for the elderly (in whom strong knee muscles mean greater independence to move about), and athletes (who need to maintain knee muscle strength in order to perform better).

The above findings show a new avenue of assessing muscle strength for not only healthy adults, but also those suffering from orthopedic or cognitive disorders. And speaking of the future, Dr. Akagi says, "People can assess their muscular condition by BIA in just a few seconds. Moving forward, we may be able to build a system that uses a person's BIA to provide them with advice to promote their health."

Explore further Poor thigh muscle strength may increase women's risk of knee osteoarthritis

More information: Kosuke Hirata et al, Can phase angle from bioelectrical impedance analysis associate with neuromuscular properties of the knee extensors?, Frontiers in Physiology (2022). Journal information: Frontiers in Physiology Kosuke Hirata et al, Can phase angle from bioelectrical impedance analysis associate with neuromuscular properties of the knee extensors?,(2022). DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2022.965827

Provided by Shibaura Institute of Technology
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

The study, published today in the Journal of Medical Screening, found that issuing pre-booked appointments, rather than invitations to book an appointment, could lead to substantially greater uptake of breast cancer screening. The results suggest that an additional 100 cancers could have been detected by screening in London between September 2020 and March 2021 if pre-booked appointments had been used throughout this time.

The COVID-19 pandemic created a backlog of women in the UK awaiting breast screening invitations. To recover in a timely fashion and ensure that appointments were kept, the NHS program opted to issue open invitations, in which women are invited to contact the screening service to book an appointment, rather than the standard pre-booked timed appointments. During the transition period of September 2020 to March 2021, both appointment types were in use.

This observational study of routine service screening in London included women invited for breast cancer screening at one of the six London breast screening services on or after 1 September 2020, grouped according to the type of invitation they had received. Of women offered a timed appointment, 60.6% attended within six months. Among those in the open invitation group, 53.1% attended over the same time period. Results suggest that during this period, over 12,000 women in London who were expected to attend if they'd been given the standard timed appointment did not attend, having received an open invitation. In an urban population of high ethnic- and socio-diversity, timed breast screening appointments were associated with a substantial and significant increase in uptake compared with open invitations.

Stephen Duffy, Senior investigator and Professor of Cancer Screening at Queen Mary University of London, said:

"As services recover from the pandemic, we need to address the backlog in screens, not just invitations. A screen can only save your life if you attend it, and our results suggest that use of timed invitations can increase attendance considerably."

Explore further Changing breast screening timelines would increase detected cases and uptake

More information: Sue M Hudson et al, Did the use of open invitations in place of timed appointment invitations reduce the uptake of breast screening in the London region during the COVID-19 recovery?, Journal of Medical Screening (2022). Sue M Hudson et al, Did the use of open invitations in place of timed appointment invitations reduce the uptake of breast screening in the London region during the COVID-19 recovery?,(2022). DOI: 10.1177/09691413221127583
Too many times, the realization comes too late.

"When people have a major medical event like a heart attack or stroke, they retrospectively go back and say, 'Oh, I was really stressed, maybe that's why this happened to me,'" said Dr. Ian Kronish, associate director of the Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York. "But they don't think beforehand that they'd better take care of that stress for their health."

There are many causes of stress, but experts say one leading factor has increased significantly in recent years: work-related burnout.

"Burnout is real, and we're seeing a lot of it these days," said Dr. Tene Lewis, associate professor of epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta. "People are overwhelmed on all fronts. And we know it's bad for your heart, your blood pressure and your brain."

Recognition of the problem is growing. In 2019 the World Health Organization classified burnout as an occupational phenomenon "resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed."

The COVID-19 pandemic seems to have made it worse. A 2021 survey by Indeed.com found 52% of workers said they were experiencing burnout, 9 percentage points higher than pre-pandemic. Two-thirds of all respondents said the pandemic increased burnout.

Many media reports cite burnout as a prime contributor to what's being called the "great resignation" as large numbers of people leave their jobs. In May, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy warned in an advisory that health worker burnout was leading to staffing shortages that threaten the entire public health care system.

"If we fail to act, we will place our nation's health at risk," he said in a statement.

So, what is burnout? The WHO defines it as feeling depleted, exhausted, mentally distant or cynical about one's job, with reduced competence and effectiveness at work.

"One of the definitions of stress is being asked to do more than you have the resources to handle," Kronish said. Stress can lead to burnout, and burnout perpetuates stress, he said. "So it leads to a vicious cycle."

A 2017 study in PLOS ONE reviewing decades of research linked job burnout to many health problems, including coronary heart disease, high cholesterol, Type 2 diabetes, insomnia and depressive symptoms.

Besides the direct effects, Kronish said burnout can result in unhealthy behaviors that add to the danger.

"It can lead to smoking, drinking more alcohol, not getting enough sleep," he said. "Those all have downstream biological consequences that can lead to atherosclerosis," a buildup of plaque in the arteries that can lead to a heart attack or stroke.

The first step to deal with burnout is to prevent it, said Kimberly Beckwith McGuire, a clinical health psychologist in West Orange, New Jersey. "Do all the things we know already are good for us: getting good sleep and a reasonable amount of exercise, eating healthy, drinking water and having some interests outside of work."

But if you can't prevent it, she said, learn to recognize it. "Are you feeling overwhelmed and underappreciated? If you're somebody who doesn't normally get headaches, are you getting headaches? If you're normally pretty even-keeled, are you now feeling irritable? Are you making more mistakes in your work than normal? These are all signs of burnout."

If those signs are there, the worst thing to do "is to try to tough it out," McGuire said. "A lot of folks think they just have to push, push, push, because we're invincible."

Instead, she said, don't shy away from seeking help from professional therapists or a faith community. Look for positive coping strategiesdelegate tasks at work, take short walks during the day, do periodic breathing exercises.

Lewis agreed.

"The first thing you have to do is stop and really pull back and find ways to self-care," she said. "Ensure that you have positive things in your life every single day."

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Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Last fall, Daisy Sanchez spent every other night crying in her college dorm room.

Sanchez, a 2020 graduate of Fort Worth's Paschal High School at Yale University, had felt isolated and alone for a year and a half.

She never returned to campus for her high school senior year, she spent her first college semester online, and her family, most of them essential workers, struggled to navigate the mental strain of the pandemic.

A year later, finally on campus, Sanchez still felt alone, bottling up her stress and self-doubt until she ended up in tears at night.

"During the pandemic, we've just had to be super adaptable and flexible," she said. "It's hard to ask that from people all the time."

Sanchez was worried about what her family would think about her struggles because of the historical reluctance to talk about mental health problems among Latino people compared to other populations. When she finally mustered the courage to speak up, her family's response was supportive.

"They were like, 'Yes, OK, well, we'll help you with whatever you need,'" she said.

Mental health crisis grows

As the mental health crisis for children, adolescents and young adults in the U.S. has been inflamed by the pandemic, some communities of color are breaking through long-held cultural stigmas. Yet, Black and Hispanic people have substantially less access to mental health services, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

In 2017, 13% of U.S. teenagers ages 12 to 17 said they had experienced at least one major depressive episode in the past year, up from 8% in 2007, according to Pew Research Center. For people ages 10 to 24, suicide rates increased 57% from 2007 to 2018, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Amid those increases, mental health services for children and adolescents have continued to be under-resourced and unable to keep up with demand, especially in Texas, Fort Worth psychiatrist Brian Dixon said.

The people who get left behind the most are young people of color, according to experts.

Black and Latino people are more likely to be at risk for depression than white people, according to the National Institute of Health. And Black and Latino communities have the lowest rates of use for mental health and substance abuse treatments, according to 2021 National Survey of Drug Use and Health data.

Cost is a barrier to services

Dixon said the lack of access to mental health care comes down to the most significant factor of inequality: a lack of money.

Therapy can range from $65 to $250 a session, according to therapist directory GoodTherapy. Psychiatric residential treatment facilities can range from $10,000 to $60,000 a month, and sober living facilities range from $3,000 to $10,000 a month, according to HealthyPlace, a mental health website by San Antonio psychiatrist Harry Croft.

Nearly 11 million Hispanic people in the U.S. live without any form of health insurance and more 3 million Black people live without health insurance, according to the U.S. Census.

Even for those who have insurance, mental health treatment has historically been unequally covered by health insurance companies, meaning people may have to pay for mental health treatment out of pocket.

In Fort Worth, 18.4% of Hispanic people and 21.3% of Black people live under the poverty line, totaling about 100,000 people in the city, according to the U.S. Census. More than 16% of Black Fort Worth residents and 33% of Hispanic residents are uninsured, more than 135,000 people, according to the U.S. Census.

The federal Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act aimed to ban health insurers from making coverage for mental health more restrictive than for physical health, but federal enforcement has been elusive, and most Americans still have trouble finding parity in coverage, according to a report by the Washington Post.

Affordability of mental health care was a major factor for Sanchez and her family.

"It doesn't make sense that I can't afford that and that a lot of people can't afford that," she said.

Investment in mental health care

Dixon said people who don't have the money to access care oftentimes are relegated to using community resources, which can be limited.

"At this point in human history, we are choosing to not invest in mental health care," Dixon said.

But local institutions are starting or expanding programs to combat mental health issues.

The JPS Health Network plans to break ground on a psychiatric emergency clinic and a medical clinic this year and is adding a child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship program that will train psychiatrists to care for children with some of the most severe mental illnesses, according to Star-Telegram archives.

My Health My Resources Tarrant Countywhich runs a crisis call center and offers short-term crisis counseling provides services for qualifying residents at no cost. Prices for addiction services, inpatient and outpatient services and early childhood intervention are assessed based on funding sources and a resident's ability to pay.

But most programs require that people have mental health needs related to bipolar disorder, major depression and schizophrenia, areas targeted by the Department of State Health Services. Although other community resources may be offered.

College campuses feel the effects

Colleges and universities see the impact of the situation when students like Sanchez try to seek mental health treatment for the first time.

Eric Wood, director of counseling and mental health at TCU, said the 2019-2020 school year saw a 45% increase in counseling usage from students. Use increased another 48% the following year.

Many students, especially first-generation students and students of color, get access to these services for the first time in their lives when they are in college, he said.

Some school districts, including Fort Worth ISD, are trying to provide counseling services through places like the Carter-Riverside Family Resource Center.

But these initiatives can be limited without an intentional and sustainable plan to maintain and expand resources, said Becky Taylor, counseling professor at TCU.

There are other unique challenges for people of color when it comes to seeking mental health help, such as treatment centers not being located near their communities and a lack of Black and Hispanic therapists, said Wood. Language barriers among non-English speakers and legal status further limit options for finding proper care.

This is on top of the historically magnified cultural stigma against mental illness among minority communities, but experts say that's been changing for the better in the past two years.

Dixon said Black people often look for mental health help through their institutions of faith, but, ultimately, what keeps these communities from obtaining treatment is a lack of access caused by wealth inequality.

Awareness about mental health

Despite these barriers, improving access to mental health for Hispanic people and other minority groups is possible, he said. Solving these disparities requires increased mental health awareness, he said.

"If we can ramp up production and discovery of a new vaccine for a new virus ... and get it into 100 million arms, we can help people get access to mental health care," he said. "I don't want anybody to think that this is an insurmountable problem."

Providers must learn to treat patients with culturally competent care, governments at all levels need to invest in affordable and accessible health care and individuals need to speak out and be willing to have those difficult conversations, experts say.

"We all know food and clothing are priorities, but mental health needs to be up there too." Taylor said.

Federal laws like the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act of 2016 have aimed to address holes in the country's mental health system by providing more hospital beds.

Mental health advocates praised the bill but said more needs to be done, such as increasing funding for community services, providing more access to psychiatrists and providing housing and employment services for the seriously ill.

U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, who co-sponsored the bill, said in a news release that during her time as a chief psychiatric nurse at the Dallas Veterans Affairs Hospital, she saw the inadequacies of the mental health system.

"Our country must re-evaluate the way we talk about and classify mental illness, in order to initiate a pragmatic and comprehensive reform of our mental healthcare system," she said in the release.

Federal attempts to strengthen the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act may make it possible for people to get equitable mental health coverage through their insurance.

For now, many young people of color in Fort Worth are trying to focus on improving their mental well-being one day at a time.

"Therapy has given me the tools I need to approach life, especially like where I'm at right now," Sanchez said.

Explore further Nearly 1 in 4 young US adults sought mental health care during pandemic

2022 Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Case numbers in the global monkeypox outbreak have now topped 70,000, the WHO announced Wednesday as it warned that declining new cases did not mean people should drop their guard.

The World Health Organization said that case numbers last week were on the rise in several countries in the Americas as it stressed that a slowdown worldwide in fresh cases could be the "most dangerous" time in the outbreak.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said more than 70,000 cases have now been reported to the UN health agency this year, with 26 deaths.

"Globally, cases are continuing to decline, but 21 countries in the past week reported an increase in cases, mostly in the Americas, which accounted for almost 90 percent of all cases reported last week," he told a press conference in Geneva.

"A declining outbreak can be the most dangerous outbreak, because it can tempt us to think that the crisis is over, and to let down our guard."

He said the WHO was working with countries to increase their testing capacity and to monitor trends.

"We are concerned about reports of cases in Sudan, including in refugee camps near the border with Ethiopia," Tedros added.

"Like COVID-19, monkeypox remains a public health emergency of international concern, and WHO will continue to treat it as such."

US worst hit

A surge in monkeypox infections has been reported since early May among men who have sex with men, outside the African countries where it has long been endemic.

More than 42,000 cases have now been reported from the Americas and nearly 25,000 from Europe.

Cases have been reported from 107 WHO member states this year, though 39 have registered no new cases in the past 21 days.

The 10 countries with the highest total number of cases are: the United States (26,723); Brazil (8,147); Spain (7,209); France (4,043); Britain (3,654); Germany (3,640); Peru (2,587); Colombia (2,453); Mexico (1,968); and Canada (1,400).

These countries account for nearly 87 percent of global cases.

Where the given dataset was known, 97 percent were men, with a median age of 35 years old; 90 percent identified as men who had sex with men; and 49 percent were HIV-positive, according to the WHO's case dashboard.

The disease causes fever, muscular aches and large boil-like skin lesions.

Explore further World monkeypox outbreak tops 50,000 cases

 2022 AFP
Wizz Air Abu Dhabi, the ultra-low-fare national airline of the UAE, has launched an exciting new route from Abu Dhabi to the ancient city of Samarkand, one of the most important sites on the Silk Road.



This exciting new destination is the second largest city in Uzbekistan and situated at the crossroads of world cultures for over two and a half millennia. The new route will provide hassle-free, point-to-point travel for tourists and residents in both the UAE and Uzbekistan. Tickets are already on sale with fares starting as low as AED149 ($40.5).



The national airline now flies to more than 36 destinations within a five-hour flight time radius of Abu Dhabi, since launching in January 2021. The flight to Samarkand, a crucible of cultures and religions, will commence on 13 December 2022 and will operate on Tuesday and Saturday.



Samarkand, one of the most ancient cities in the world and among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Central Asia, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site rich in historical heritage. Located on the ancient trade route linking China to the Mediterranean, Samarkand is an important centre of human civilisation with breath-taking culture. Its list of must-see attractions include beautiful mausoleums and the incredible madrassas with Registan, the centrepiece of the city, arguably the most impressive site in Central Asia.



Michael Berlouis, Managing Director of Wizz Air Abu Dhabi said: Central Asia is a key growth market for Wizz Air Abu Dhabi and we are excited to continue expanding our network into an unmissable and historic region. The new route will be operated by our fifth state-of-the-art Airbus A321neo aircraft which has been recently added to our fleet.



Wizz Air Abu Dhabi is committed to providing affordable travel options for adventurous travellers and Samarkand is a must-see ancient city perfectly positioned on the crossroads of culture. Wizz Air Abu Dhabi is supporting the long-term growth of the UAEs travel and tourism sector, providing an eclectic mix of new marvellous destinations. We look forward to welcoming you onboard our young and sustainable fleet soon.



Strategically located in the UAE, Wizz Air Abu Dhabi provides ultra-low fare, hassle-free and efficient travel options to Alexandria (Egypt), Almaty (Kazakhstan), Amman (Jordan), Ankara (Turkey), Aqaba (Jordan), Athens (Greece), Baku (Azerbaijan), Belgrade (Serbia), Dammam (Saudi Arabia), Kuwait City (Kuwait), Kutaisi (Georgia), Manama (Bahrain), Male (Maldives), Muscat (Oman), Nur Sultan (Kazakhstan), Salalah (Oman), Santorini (Greece), Sarajevo (Bosnia), Sohag (Egypt), Tel-Aviv (Israel), Tirana (Albania) and Yerevan (Armenia) among others.



The airline has a young fleet composed of five brand new state-of-the-art Airbus A321neo aircraft, offering the lowest fuel burn, emissions and noise footprint. Wizz Air Abu Dhabi has the lowest environmental footprint among its competitors in the region, supporting the airlines long-term commitment to sustainability.



With WIZZ Flex, passengers can cancel their flight up to three hours before departure without any fee and receive 100% of the fare immediately reimbursed in airline credit.  TradeArabia News Service
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One of the largest studies to date into the long-term effects of COVID-19the Long-CISS (COVID In Scotland Study)found that 1 in 20 people who took part in the research had not recovered from having COVID-19 at their most recent follow upbetween six and 18 months following infection with SARS-CoV-2.

The CISS studywhich is led by the University of Glasgow in collaboration with Public Health Scotland, the NHS in Scotland, and the Universities of Aberdeen and Edinburghwas set up in May 2021 to understand the long-term impact of COVID 19, and compare it with the health and well-being of people who had not yet been infected.

The first set of results from the ongoing study, published today in Nature Communications, found that, overall, 42% of people infected with COVID-19 reported feeling only partially recovered between six- and 18-months following infection. Details of each person's partial recovery were not given in the survey but could include a range of symptoms from mild to moderate and may not necessarily result in a long COVID diagnosis.

Reassuringly, the study found that those with asymptomatic infection had no long-term impact; and people who had been vaccinated prior to infection with COVID-19 appeared to have protection from some long-term symptoms.

However, the study found that the impact for people with long COVID were wide-reaching, with a wide-range of symptoms, impacts on all aspects of daily life and reduced overall quality of life. Overall, the study found that long COVID symptoms were more likely following severe infections requiring hospitalization. The most reported long COVID symptoms included breathlessness, chest pain, palpitations, and confusion, or 'brain fog'.

Long COVID was also more likely in individuals who were older, female and those from deprived communities. In addition, those with pre-existing physical and mental health problems, such as respiratory disease and depression, were also more likely to experience long COVID.

The study found that while recovery status remained constant over the follow-up period for most participants, 13% of people reported improvement over time and 11% reported some deterioration.

The CISS study used a Scottish population cohort of 33,281 laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections, matched with 62,957 never-infected individuals from the general population, with both groups followed-up via six, 12 and 18-month questionnaires, with researchers able to link to hospitalization and death records.

Using NHS health data records, all Scottish adults who had a positive COVID-19 test, as well a sample of people who tested negative for the disease, were sent an SMS message inviting them to take part in the CISS study. Individuals were then asked to answer questions online about their health, both before and after COVID-19, to determine whether the virus has had any lasting effects on their lives.

Professor Jill Pell, Professor of Public Health at the University of Glasgow, who leads the study, says that "while most people recover quickly and completely after infection with COVID-19, some people develop a wide variety of long-term problems. Therefore, understanding long COVID is essential to inform health and social care support."

"Our study is important because it adds to our understanding of long COVID in the general population, not just in those people who need to be admitted to hospital with COVID-19. By comparing symptoms with those uninfected, we were able to distinguish between health problems that are due to COVID-19 and health problems that would have happened anyway."

Dr. Andrew McAuley, Consultant Healthcare Scientist at Public Health Scotland, added that "this study provides novel and important evidence on long COVID in Scotland. We know that being fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can reduce the likelihood of developing long COVID and therefore we encourage those who are eligible for the COVID vaccine to take the opportunity to enhance their protection by getting vaccinated."

More information: Claire E. Hastie et al, Outcomes among confirmed cases and a matched comparison group in the Long-COVID in Scotland study, Nature Communications (2022). Journal information: Nature Communications Claire E. Hastie et al, Outcomes among confirmed cases and a matched comparison group in the Long-COVID in Scotland study,(2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-33415-5
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Health care is constantly changing, as big data analytics and advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence are now being applied in the health care field. These high-tech changes hold the potential to transform patient care. In response to these changes, an international team of scientists has published a perspective paper, describing the competencies of clinician-data-scientists and addressing the challenges in training these health care professionals. Their perspective paper was published in the journal Health Data Science on August 8, 2022.

The clinician-data-scientist combines in-depth clinical knowledge with skills in data science. These health care professionals are well prepared to identify the challenges in health care that accompany the growing digital transformation. They are able to lead meaningful scientific studies, communicate well across disciplines, and provide general critical interpretations. With their interdisciplinary knowledge, these clinician-data-scientists will play crucial roles in guiding the approvals for innovative technologies and creating digital health policy.

"In a digital health era, clinician-data-scientists are critically important as they possess a deep understanding of both data science and the humanistic nature of medicine, and are ready to identify clinically important questions," said Luxia Zhang, a professor at the National Institute of Health Data Science, Peking University.

In their perspective paper, the researchers explore the core competencies a clinician-data-scientist needs to have, stressing that these individuals must be able to closely link medicine and data science to work efficiently and to enable data-driven discoveries in health care.

"The core competencies of a clinician-data-scientist should include a fundamental understanding of health data, training in epidemiology, statistics, bioinformatics, and computer science, combined with an understanding of continuous health care improvement frameworks, socio-technical system challenges, and advanced skills in inter-disciplinary communication and collaboration," said Dr. Mai Wang, from the National Institute of Health Data Science, Peking University. The researchers believe that with a strong understanding of health care and the ability to identify knowledge gaps in medical practice, clinician-data-scientists will play critical roles in data science research projects.

Besides exploring the core competencies a clinician-data-scientist needs, the researchers also examined the training these health care professionals require. This training is challenging because of the increased complexity of data and the rapid advancement of analytic techniques. As an added challenge, data science is not part of conventional medical education training. While some medical schools are starting to modify their curriculum, overall, integrated formal training programs for clinician-data-scientists are scarce worldwide.

The researchers view teamwork as key to this process. "To conquer training challenges, senior clinical faculties and data scientists should form a close partnership and work together to design training frameworks with flexibility and frequent updating for adaptation to various application scenarios," said Wang.

Looking to the future, the researchers stress that clinician data scientists are key team members in patient health care. Clinicians need training in data science skills. At same time, data scientists with deep technical skills are needed, so that key clinical questions are formed and prioritized.

"Clinician-data-scientists are critically important as they possess a deep understanding in both science and humanistic nature of medicine and are ready to identify clinically important questions that, if addressed, can make medical advances and assure excellence in patient care," said Zhang.

"The next step is to form a training framework and design curricula that focuses on the core competencies required by clinician-data-scientists. And this must be continuously updated to adapt to new developments," said Zhang.

Explore further Improving serious illness communication for patients with advanced cancer

More information: Fulin Wang et al, Clinician Data ScientistsPreparing for the Future of Medicine in the Digital World, Health Data Science (2022). Fulin Wang et al, Clinician Data ScientistsPreparing for the Future of Medicine in the Digital World,(2022). DOI: 10.34133/2022/9832564

Provided by Health Data Science
Kaplan Meier curves of overall survival of high, medium and low tertiles of mRNA expression of THSB2 (left) and TAGLN (right) in MOC (n=185). Credit: Clinical Cancer Research (2022). DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-22-1206

A global study into mucinous ovarian cancer could help oncologists recommend the best treatment for women who are diagnosed early with the condition.

By looking down a microscope for two different "patterns of invasion"the way that cancer cells invade ovarian tissueoncologists can better predict which patients may have better or worse prognoses and can target treatment accordingly. The finding was reported in a paper published today in Clinical Cancer Research.

"Mucinous ovarian cancer is a rare type of ovarian cancer. It actually has more in common with gastrointestinal cancers, and can be hard to diagnose and hard to treat once it has spread beyond the ovaries," says lead author Nicki Meagher, who has just completed her Ph.D. in the Molecular Oncology group, UNSW School of Clinical Medicine.

She says that observing which of the two types of invasion patterns that the cancer cells form could help specialists decide on treatment strategies.

"We've shown for the first time that women who have early-stage diseasemeaning they have tumors that haven't spread beyond the ovaryhave much poorer survival chances in the first two years from diagnosis if they have what we call an infiltrative pattern of invasion."

"Knowing this in the early stage of the disease means we can identify patients who could benefit from additional chemotherapy following surgery to remove their ovaries."

The two patterns of invasion are defined by the way the cancer cells organize themselves when viewed under a microscope. The infiltrative pattern of invasion associated with poorer health outcomes shows cancer cells spreading in an uneven, haphazard way through the ovarian tissue. The other pattern is known as expansile, where cells expand through tissue in a more orderly manner, and is associated with better prognoses.

Up until now, other studies had suggested that the infiltrative pattern of invasion was associated with poorer patient outcomes, but no study had large enough numbers of patients with early-stage cancer to reach statistical significance.

But the current study, that involved more than 100 researchers in Australia, UK, Canada, Asia, Europe and the US, was able to test this hypothesis in much larger numbers by examining the tissue of 604 patients. The researchers also looked for the expression of 19 genes including THBS2 and TAGLN in addition to the patterns of invasion.

Professor Susan Ramus who oversaw the global study and heads the Ovarian Tumor Tissue Analysis consortium says that guidelines on how to treat women with early-stage mucinous ovarian cancer have differed around the world due to limited data on infiltrative patterns of invasion associated with survival rates.

"For example, in some parts of the world, an infiltrative pattern was acknowledged as an important feature and determined what treatment those women receive," Professor Ramus says.

"Whereas in others, all patients are recommended for the same pathway of treatment. We hope that after this large study treatment guidelines can be aligned and that we can target treatment for women who may have these more serious indicators, even if they are diagnosed in early stages."

The researchers also noted that women with higher expression of two genes, THBS2 and TAGLN in their tumors, had poorer overall survival.

"We're hoping that this may be able to help explain some of the biology potentially down the track," says Ms Meagher.

"Another avenue could be that knowledge of expression of these genes could assist in developing targeted drugs."

The researchers are part of a wide network of experts who plan to carry out a validation study to further investigate these genomic markers as the basis for a targeted treatment strategy.

Explore further Researchers look at space between nerves and tumor cells to identify most aggressive oral cancers

More information: Nicola S. Meagher et al, Gene expression profiling of mucinous ovarian tumors and comparison with upper and lower gastrointestinal tumors identifies markers associated with adverse outcomes, Clinical Cancer Research (2022). Journal information: Clinical Cancer Research Nicola S. Meagher et al, Gene expression profiling of mucinous ovarian tumors and comparison with upper and lower gastrointestinal tumors identifies markers associated with adverse outcomes,(2022). DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-22-1206
The electrode applied to a person. Credit: The University of Texas at Austin

Wearable medical devices are an important part of the future of medicine and a key focus of researchers around the world. They open the door for long-term continuous monitoring of patients outside of the medical setting to give clinicians an accurate picture of what's happening and a better chance to effectively treat their ailments.

Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have developed an electroencefalography (EEG) electrode that patients wear on their head to monitor brain activity. The EEG electrodes system could act as a brain-computer interface (BCI), which can be controlled by brain signals to help repair damage to the brain caused by strokes and other disorders.

This electrode, shown in a new paper published in the journal Biosensors and Bioelectronics, can be worn comfortably and stable for up to four weeks, without the potential need for any medical personnel to intervene to maintain it. This is a big improvement on what's available today, as these types of electrodes typically need to be replaced every few hours or days at best.

"We're hopeful people can wear this at home for long periods and do their rehabilitation there instead of having to come into the clinic or rehabilitation center every day for weeks, which is even more challenging when you are recovering from a stroke," said Huiliang (Evan) Wang, an assistant professor in the Cockrell School of Engineering's Department of Biomedical Engineering and one of the leaders of the project.

EEG electrodes today come in two main types, dry and wet, neither of which work well for consistent long-term monitoring. Wet electrodes, which are gel-based, do a better job of recording brain activity but require a lot more maintenance than dry electrodes.

The researchers' new electrode has the benefits of a wet, gel-based electrode, and eliminates major drawbacks, such as their tendency to dry out and then fall off. The project builds on a promising solution in early research phases that involves using conductive polymers as the basis for the electrodes.

The electrode applied to a person. Credit: The University of Texas at Austin

The researchers took this idea to the next level by using conductive polymers together with polymers with high water content. That allows them to take advantage of the benefits of gel-based materials, primarily that they can give accurate recordings despite interference caused by the skin and hair, a concept known as electrode-skin impedance.

Wang and his team joined up with faculty from the Chandra Family Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: professor Jose del R. Millan and assistant professor Yaoyao Jia, both experts in BCI. Together, they developed and characterized the new EEG electrode-based BCI system.

The electrode system records brain activities, such as the brain telling the hand to move. However, a stroke destroys the neural pathways between parts of the body, making it harder to send the signal for action. The combined brain-computer interface and functional electrical stimulation could translate thoughts about moving a body part into actions that stimulate the targeted area to carry out the brain's command. This approach could help to rebuild communication pathways between the brain and the rest of the body that was damaged by a stroke.

"These new EEG electrodes have the potential to revolutionize the field of non-invasive BCI, which currently requires substantial expert support to set up the system every session," del Millan said. "Further, since mastering a BCI and inducing functional recovery as well as brain plasticity requires subject training, having a permanent system that people can utilize all day long autonomously will boost the potential of this technology."

The next step for the researchers is expanding how long the electrode can be worn and the kinds of activities this wearable EEG-based brain-computer interface can facilitate. They're also looking at applications such as controlling a wheelchair, moving prosthetic limbs and more.

The team includes Ju-Chun Hseih, Richard Anderson, Kai Wing Kevin Tang, Wenliang Wang and Ilya Pyatnitskiy from the Department of Biomedical Engineering; Hussein Alawieh, Fumiaki Iwane and Linran Zhao from the Chandra Family Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Syed Abdullah from the Department of Psychology in UT Austin's College of Liberal Arts; and Yang Li from the Department of Chemical Engineering Polytechnique Montreal.

Explore further Sponge-like electrodes inspired by sugar cubes could improve medical monitoring

More information: Ju-Chun Hsieh et al, A highly stable electrode with low electrode-skin impedance for wearable brain-computer interface, Biosensors and Bioelectronics (2022). Journal information: Biosensors and Bioelectronics Ju-Chun Hsieh et al, A highly stable electrode with low electrode-skin impedance for wearable brain-computer interface,(2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2022.114756
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Hot flashes are one of the most commonly reported symptoms of the menopause transition. Over time, a wide array of hormone and nonhormone medications, as well as nonpharmacologic remedies, have been developed to help menopausal women manage bothersome hot flashes. A presentation at The North American Menopause Society (NAMS) Annual Meeting in Atlanta, October 12-15, will address the status of the latest pharmacologic advances in the treatment of hot flashes.

It is estimated that 25% of women will seek pharmacologic therapies for vasomotor symptoms (VMS) such as hot flashes. Today's choiceshormone and nonhormonerun the gamut from pills to patches to mists and gels.

In addition, new nonhormone therapies are on the horizon awaiting FDA approval. Their development is based on the theory that VMS physiology is controlled by the kisspeptin-neuokinin B-dynorphin (KNDy, pronounced "candy") neuron complex in the hypothalamus of the brain located directly adjacent to the thermoregulatory center. Two promising neurokinin B (NKB) antagonistsfezolinetant and elinzanetantare in development, but a third onepavinetantis no longer being pursued as a VMS treatment because of concerns regarding effects on the liver. Larger studies are necessary to confirm the benefits and risks of these new drugs.

Dr. Susan Reed from the University of Washington School of Medicine will speak during the NAMS Annual Meeting and discuss the status of developing VMS treatments. She also will provide an overview of the efficacy of various hormone and nonhormone therapies, as well as their costs, and discuss the various considerations when choosing the right option for a particular woman.

"This is an exciting time. There have been relatively few novel hormone therapies developed for VMS in the past decade, and there is only one FDA-approved nonhormone therapy for VMS that was ever approved, and that was in 2013. Within the next several years, however, we hope to see some major breakthroughs and multiple new options for menopausal hot flash management, including a new estrogen and two new nonhormone therapies," says Dr. Reed.

"Because hot flashes are one of the most common and bothersome symptoms of menopause, it makes sense that so much research has focused on ways to effectively treat them. Menopausal women today have more treatment options than ever before, with hormone therapy remaining the most effective. Because some women are unable or unwilling to take hormones, however, we need to continue researching alternatives," says Dr. Faubion, NAMS medical director.

Explore further Advances in nonhormone therapies provide women with more options for managing hot flashes
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

British health officials on Wednesday warned that non-urgent hospital operations could be cancelled due to a shortage in blood stocks, calling for more supplies.

The warning came as NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), which collects blood and other tissues, issued its first "amber alert" warning.

"Asking hospitals to limit their use of blood is not a step we take lightly," said the service's interim chief executive, Wendy Clark.

"This is a vital measure to protect patients who need blood the most," she added, apologising to patients whose surgery could be cancelled.

The amber alert will last for an initial four weeks to allow stocks to be replenished, particularly of O-type bloodthe most common.

Priority is being given to patients who need blood the most, such as for transfusions for people with long-term conditions.

Hospitals will continue to carry out urgent, emergency or trauma surgery, as well as for cancer and transplants, NHSBT added.

But non-urgent surgery could be postponed, adding to a waiting list crisis in the publicly funded health service, which the government is under pressure to tackle.

Some 6.84 million people were on the waiting list in England at the end of July, according to figures from NHS England published in September.

NHSBT aims to hold more than six days of overall blood stocks but levels of group O types are predicted to fall below two days.

Stocks of other groups are expected to enter amber levels in the next few weeks.

NHSBT said maintaining blood stocks had been a challenge since the pandemic because of staff shortages at donor centres but also changes in donor habits.

Blood can only be stored for 35 days, which means there is a constant need for donationsand specific blood types.

NHSBT assesses supply according to demand from patients and hospitals to prevent waste and to provide required blood types.

Explore further Researchers discover a rare new blood group system

 2022 AFP
MIAMI, FL  The Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade County is pleased to announce it will be hosting virtually the 2022 Annual Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) Review Meeting to review the status of the Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) and provide updates on health equity in Miami-Dade. This virtual event will be hosted on Friday, October 28, 2022 from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. via Microsoft Teams.

The Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade County uses the Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships (MAPP) process which is a national evidence-based best practice from the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO). MAPP is a community-driven strategic planning process used for improving community health by identifying strategic issues from community assessments and community concerns. This process helps set priorities and implement evidence-based initiatives to advance health.

During this meeting, updates will be shared on the new MAPP 2.0 framework that will be released by NACCHO in 2023 which will guide our community health plan process. This is a dynamic process that can improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and ultimately the performance of public health systems. The MAPP Process has also helped us to identify higher rates of chronic disease and where existing health disparities and inequities exist in Miami-Dade County.

The Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade County launched the Health Equity Office in June 2021 and the Health Equity Office Advisory Committee in December 2021. Our goal is to reduce disparities and improve health equity, especially in vulnerable and disadvantaged populations. Updates will be shared by the Health Equity Office on the progress of health equity projects and their impact on the social determinants of health that influences Miami-Dade Countys community health.

This community meeting will provide community members, leaders, and organizations the opportunity to build on the progress we have made together collaboratively and inclusively on addressing health disparities. The Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade County seeks to unite decision makers across multiple disciplines to continue this health equity sustainability conversation to develop further strategic approaches to ensure equity for all Miami-Dade residents. Attendees will have the exciting opportunity to learn more about resident health, trends in health outcomes, and current initiatives.

Event: 2022 Annual Community Health Improvement Plan Review Meeting

Location: Microsoft Teams Webinar

Date: Friday, October 28th, 2022

Time: 10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

The event is open to the community. To register, please click here.

For more information about the Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships process, please visit: https://www.healthymiamidade.org/resources/mapp-process/

To access the most recent CHIP for you to review before the meeting, please click here.
Short films may go unseen by some movie-going audiences, but Montana Film Festival director Carrie Richer says thats a mistake.

A short film is like a poem; theres much less room for any excess, mistakes or tangents, Richer said. I find that a good short-film maker is really good at killing their darlings. Its a true art form.

And attendees of the Montana Film Festival running from Oct. 13-16 have no lack of shorts awaiting them. The Short Takes block on Oct. 16 features more than an hour and a half of bite-sized storytelling  much of it contributed by Montana filmmakers.

If you go Clean Sheets and Dogwood both feature in the Short Takes block at the Montana Film Festival Sunday, Oct. 16 at 4 p.m. at the Roxy Theater. Tickets are available at the box office or online at montanafilmfestival.org.

Richer said the festivals blocks are specifically curated for rhythm and flow, not just strung together. She said its a treat to provide a platform to showcase Montanans work.

I believe that a public screening or projection in a theater is the final piece to a film, Richer said. Sharing and watching with people is something we can appreciate at a deeper level, especially after the last two years.

Heres a look at two made-in-Montana shorts featured at the festival and the filmmakers who brought them to life.

Clean Sheets, CeCe Freese

To complete her first-ever film, Missoula filmmaker CeCe Freese knew sacrifices had to be made. The 23-year-old University of Montana graduate said she quit one of her two jobs, spent weeks sculpting, wiring and gluing puppets and props and had to live with a miniaturized film set in her bedroom for more than a month.

The result is Clean Sheets, a powerful, two-and-a-half-minute stop-motion animated picture that explores grief, loneliness and memories we cant forget, no matter how hard we may try.

Freese said it took a lot of effort to overcome her self-doubt and submit the project for consideration by the film festival.

I just kept telling myself, Hey, you have to submit this somewhere, and its OK if you dont get in, because at least you tried, Freese said.

And Freese succeeded. Clean Sheets is one of 21 shorts selected by the festival from a pool of more than 100 submissions. The films somber sound design, stripped-down melodies and tight pacing take the viewer through a day in the life of an unnamed woman living alone in a desolate farmhouse, where shes haunted by a frightening, recurring vision she cant seem to shake.

Freese said she drew inspiration for the setting and tone from her own childhood, spent growing up in Miles City, Montana, and watching creepy stop-motion pictures, a medium she fell in love with. While she enjoyed staples of the genre, like Coraline and ParaNorman, she remembers a 1986 short called Street of Crocodiles making the greatest impact.

Its this kind of dark, dingy, gritty little film about these automatons made out of spare doll parts and light bulbs and screws, Freese said. I think I was a little too young for that.

The filmmaker said that, though her degree is in media arts, she became interested in making a stop-motion film of her own after taking an animation class at UM. She said the process was rife with challenges  if she bumped her sets table in between shots, elements would be knocked out of place and shed have to start the scene over from the beginning.

Beyond the difficulty of the stop-motion medium, Freese said short-form storytelling forced her to reduce the plot to its simplest elements. She relied on a windy, hollow soundscape, creative set lighting for night time scenes and music to convey emotion and story as much as the physical movements of the puppet itself.

Freese said shes thrilled to share her efforts with audiences at the festival.

Now I have a platform to show off this project that took up so much of my time over the last three years, Freese said. Its kind of cathartic.

Dogwood, Maya Rose Dittloff

Through painterly shots of stunning northern Montana vistas and tender moments between a mother and her daughter, magic and tension simmer in Dogwood, a 15-minute short from Maya Rose Dittloff, a Mandan, Hidatsa and Blackfeet filmmaker.

Though the film hits on issues that are viscerally real for many Indigenous women, Dittloff said its elements of surreal mysticism are mainstays in her storytelling style.

Its a fundamental, non-Western way of viewing the world, Dittloff said. The tenants of being Indigenous include accepting elements of the world we cant quite explain.

Dogwood, shot entirely on the Blackfeet Nation where Dittloff was born, follows Rose Home Gun, a young girl sent on a mission by her mother to gather a traditional medicine from the woods to aid her injured aunt. But, as the nature of her aunts bruises and the plant she collected come to light, Rose must choose whether to protect her younger sisters innocence or risk more harm to her family.

Dittloff said the story is a deeply personal one that puts a human face to the numbers behind the missing and murdered Indigenous women crisis, or MMIW.

As a Native woman, MMIW is not facts or statistics to me, Dittloff said. Its the real, lived experience of my auntie, my relatives, my community and tribe.

The making of Dogwood was also a family affair for Dittloff. She said her grandma catered for the cast and crew during shooting, and her mother served as transportation captain. Dittloff said she funded the film using her first check from writing for television  she wrote episodes of the AMC thriller series Dark Winds.

The Hellgate High School graduate said her family didnt hesitate to help because they believed in her and in the message behind the film.

Much of Dittloffs professional and personal work has focused on telling the stories and elevating the voices of Indigenous people. After Missoula, shes taking Dogwood to the ImagineNATIVE Film & Media Arts Festival in Toronto, Canada, the largest festival featuring Indigenous creators in the world. Dittloff said this year, films featured at the festival will qualify for Oscar consideration.

Film and television have always been so exploitative of Native creators, but Hollywood specifically is opening its eyes, which is good to see, Dittloff said.

Dittloff hopes to shoot a feature-length sequel to Dogwood titled Sweetness of the Blood in the years to come.
PABLO  Dozens of people crowded into the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Council chambers for an announcement regarding what the vice-chairman said would mark a whole new beginning for our people.

Margaret Gutierrez, acting deputy chief of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's Tribal Broadband Connectivity and Nation-to-Nation Coordination Division, revealed that the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and Blackfeet Nation would receive a total of $74.8 million for high-speed internet service, which will be available to users for little to no cost.

Funding for the project was made possible through President Joe Bidens Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which supports grant programs that build high-speed internet infrastructure and address digital equity and inclusion needs in underserved communities.

About 66% of households on the Blackfeet Reservation and 76% of homes on the Flathead Reservation have a broadband internet subscription, according to U.S. Census data. However, those connections often lack the robust capacity needed for video conferencing, telemedicine or social media connections. The problem is especially acute in homes where children might be attending remote school classes while parents need heavy-duty internet for work.

According to Gutierrez, the project will connect 927 unserved homes on the Flathead Reservation and 4,482 unserved homes on the Blackfeet Reservation. As of Tuesday the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program has invested $1.3 billion in 94 tribal entities to connect 42,569 tribal homes.

Chuck Reese, an infrastructure administrator for the Confederated Salish Kootenai Tribes, said the project  which has a two-year timeline  will feature hybrid fiber and wireless connectivity. That involves laying 300 miles of fiber-optic cable and servicing at least 55 institutions and community hubs, such as schools, libraries and clinics.

He said iConnect, at 110 E. Broadway in Missoula, will be the internet hotel for the Flathead Reservation. Homes will receive a client device, similar to a modem, which will allow users to tap into the network, wirelessly or not.

Reese doesnt anticipate frequent public announcements and updates, as the main goal is to get the project underway as efficiently as possible.

He said there will be local announcements when community participation and awareness are needed, particularly for device installation.

On the Blackfeet Reservation, Siyeh Communications, the tribal telecommunications business, will install the internet infrastructure, replacing copper telephone lines with high-speed fiber-optic cable.

Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Chairman Tom McDonald called the announcement great news.

What did the pandemic demonstrate to us? McDonald asked the audience. It demonstrated how much were not provided equal access to health care, technology and all things that are critically important and are the norm outside of our reservation.

COVID-19 disproportionately infected and killed Native Americans in Montana. And as many schools adopted remote learning and doctors offices incorporated telehealth, many people living on reservations struggled to connect.

Misty Kuhl, the Montana director of Indian Affairs, said calling the project a game-changer would be a gross understatement.

This moment is key in unlocking more freedom for our people, Kuhl said.

Lauren Monroe Jr., vice-chair of the Blackfeet Nation Tribal Business Council, agreed.

(This) helps our people continue forward, which is what our ancestors always fought for  a better tomorrow, he said.
Trustees with Missoula County Public Schools are considering a new policy to notify parents and guardians of human sexuality instruction in classrooms.

The policy is in keeping with a new law passed by the last Legislature, Senate Bill 99, which was introduced by Sen. Cary Smith of Billings and signed by Gov. Greg Gianforte. The law requires schools to provide parents 48 hours notice before introducing instruction related to human sexuality and allows parents to remove their child from class during those discussions as an excused absence.

Currently, we dont have ... a policy on human sexuality instruction, its a policy that were missing, Superintendent Russ Lodge said at the board meeting held at Seeley-Swan High School on Tuesday.

Based on the MCPS recommended policy, the district will notify parents and guardians 48 hours prior to an assembly or instruction related to human sexuality, and will make curriculum materials available for public viewing.

Additionally, the policy would bar the district from allowing any personnel to offer, sponsor, or furnish any course materials or instruction relating to human sexuality or sexually transmitted diseases if the person or entity provides abortion services. Trustee Grace Decker suggested in a motion to simplify the language to instead read that there would be no instruction by providers of abortions in the schools.

The board unanimously approved the first reading of the new policy at its meeting with Trustee Karen Sherman abstaining from voting pending further investigation.

Prior to SB 99 becoming law, parents in Montana could elect to have their child removed from sexual education instruction. The main area the proposed policy would change at MCPS would be the language concerning abortion providers as well as the 48-hour notice, Lodge said.

Trustee Keegan Witt voiced concerns that the definition of human sexuality instruction is too vague and could be left to interpretation. The board policy defines it as information related to human sexuality, including intimate relationships, human sexual anatomy, sexual reproduction, sexually transmitted infections, sexual acts, sexual orientation, gender identity, contraception or reproductive rights and responsibilities, which is the same definition written in SB 99.

Many trustees voiced concerns over the possibility of additional work being put on teachers plates.

I support our teachers who have this additional thing on top of their daily tasks, said Board Chairperson Wilena Old Person. I want to thank them for doing their jobs.

The policy will be up for a second reading at a meeting scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 25 at 6 p.m. at the district offices and will be streamed by Missoula Community Access Television. Public comment can be submitted before the meeting by emailing publiccomment@mcpsmt.org.
flydubai, the Dubai-based airline, continues to grow its operations to the island nation of the Maldives with the launch of a new daily service to Gan International Airport (GAN) from February 4, 2023.



flydubai started its operations to the Maldives in 2013 with the launch of direct flights to Velana International Airport (MLE) in the capital Male'. With the start of the new daily service to Gan next year, the carrier will increase its frequency to the market to 28 flights a week.



Commenting on the start of operations to Gan, Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer at flydubai, said: The start of our daily flights to the southern island of Gan will give our passengers more options to travel to the beautiful Maldives. This new service will reduce the commute time whether by boat or seaplane for those staying in resorts in the southern Atolls. The Maldives continues to be one of the most popular leisure destinations for our customers from the UAE, GCC and CIS. The additional frequency to the market will further support connecting traffic from Europe as well.



flydubai is the first carrier from the UAE to operate flights to Gan International Airport (GAN), which is located on the island of Gan in the southern Maldives.



Flights will operate daily from Terminal 3, Dubai International (DXB) to Gan International Airport (GAN). Emirates will codeshare on this route, providing passengers with more options for connections through Dubais international aviation hub.



Return Business Class fares from DXB to GAN start from AED7,400 ($2,014) and Economy Class fares start from AED4,050. Return Business Class fares from GAN to DXB start from $1,600 and Economy Class fares start from $550.  TradeArabia News Service
A nonpartisan voter protection hotline and website  which will provide election resources and information to Montanans  will launch and be fully staffed on Monday.

VoteInMT.org and the hotline, reachable at 406-888-VOTE (8683), will be available through Election Day on Nov. 8 to answer questions about registration, when and where to vote and how to contact local county election offices.

The hotline will be staffed from 8 a.m. through 5 p.m., starting Monday, Oct. 17, and from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. starting Monday, Oct. 31 through Election Day. The website will offer information 24/7.

Nonpartisan advocacy group MontPIRG partnered with Forward Montana and Western Native Voice in launching the website and hotline, according to a news release.

The website and hotline are here to provide accurate, reliable and nonpartisan information to any Montanan who needs it, said Hunter Losing, executive director of MontPIRG.
Terry Zieba enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1971 at the age of 18, right after he graduated high school.

The military beckoned him because he didnt view his hometown of Gary, Indiana, as a place where he could get a job he wanted.

A lot of the kids were going away to school, but I had no interest in going to college at the time, Zieba said. A lot of the kids in Gary worked in steel mills and manufacturing plants. Thats what my dad did. But I didnt want to do that. I saw the Navy as a real opportunity to grow up and test myself and just get out on my own.

Zieba, now 69, ended up serving for three decades, including time in the US Navy Reserve, and at the end of his career he reached the rank of Command Master Chief, one of the highest ranks an enlisted man can reach.

You are a liaison between enlisted folks and the commanding officer and command staff, he said.

Now retired, he lives in Stevensville and recently traveled to his 51st high school reunion.

Zieba is humble about his time in the service and says that the men and women who were killed or injured sacrificed much more than he did.

I was real fortunate, he said. There are a lot of people that lost their lives, there are a lot of people that survived but are injured or have PTSD. Theyll be broken for the rest of their lives.

Zieba, now 69, said being in the military as a teenager was a little difficult at first.

It was a little tough trying to get through boot camp, he recalled. It really wasnt that bad physically, it was more mentally demanding going through sonar school. I was a sonar technician, so I had a lot of real technical stuff thrown at me.

It was also the first time he was on his own.

It was tough being away from home and my girlfriend, he said. Then I got assigned to a ship and then you get involved in the daily routine shipboard.

Eventually, he would serve all over the world, from Korea to the Caribbean, but he spent a large portion of his career on the East Coast.

I was mostly assigned to small ships, destroyers, frigates and a floating dry dock, he said. I was once assigned to a field hospital. I got to see the world and found out that it was four-fifths water.

Serving during the Cold War was interesting, to say the least.

The ships that I was on at that time were all nuclear capable, Zieba recalled. I couldnt confirm if we carried nuclear weapons or not, but it was very real. I cant tell you the number of times we tracked unidentified contacts, which turned out to be Russian submarines just 10 to 20 miles off the coast of the United States.

As a sonar technician, he often heard strange noises in the ocean that turned out to be a huge bed of shrimp or whales.

The noises sea life makes is just incredible, he said.

Zieba said he often thinks about people who are serving in the military all over the world, putting themselves in harms way.

Those men and women are the real heroes, he said.

I joined the service because I was patriotic and wanted to do my part, he said. It was a privilege to serve. But those are the people that deserve thanks.
The Student Advocacy Resource Center at the University of Montana received a $300,000 federal grant to support its continued work on domestic violence and sexual assault prevention.

Jen Euell, the director of SARC, applied for the grant from the national Office of Violence Against Women for the first time last year, but came up short. From the notes she received, she reworked the application and came out on top this year.

Oh my gosh, I was floored because I was not successful the first year and so I was prepared to not be successful again, Euell said. I am just happy that we have this increased capacity for the university.

Housed in the universitys Curry Health Center, SARC is often the first call students and other community members make after experiencing sexual violence or assault.

The grant will help fund the UM Prevention Education Anti-Violence Collaborative Effort, or PEACE, Project with about $100,000 being spent each year for three years. A portion will help hire a PEACE Project director, who will help add more capacity to SARC.

The PEACE Project is an updated rendition of the University Council on Sexual Assault. In addition to supporting survivors of sexual assault, the project aims dig into prevention efforts.

For the last two years, SARC was part of a national initiative called Culture of Respect, which strives to end sexual violence on campuses by providing tools and other prevention programs to participating colleges.

It allowed SARC to measure the university against a national standard to help improve its response to sexual violence as well as related campus policies.

What we recognized is that if we really wanted to make quick progress we needed more capacity, Euell said.

A goal of the PEACE Project is to create more anti-violence training for students, staff and faculty at the university, particularly for marginalized groups.

Additionally, SARC will be able to send a group of its staff and community partners to a national training to meet with staff from other universities who received the grant.

Our campus and community will be trained in the current best practices in violence response and prevention, and they will be able to take that training and bring it back here and apply it on campus and in the community, Euell said.

The university recently hired Alison Pepper, a former Missoula College professor and coordinator of prevention education at SARC, to fill a new role as director of equity, empowerment and prevention.

My hope is both with (Peppers) additional capacity in this new position and this grant and the position that will come with it, we will be able to have a robust, multipronged violence prevention approach, Euell said.
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP)  For months, Bob Stefanowski, the Republican candidate for governor in Connecticut, declined to reveal the clients of his lucrative business consulting firm, saying he had a duty to customers to keep certain things confidential.

Democrats wielded the lack of transparency like a cudgel, saying Stefanowski must be hiding something.

Now, at least one aspect of his work has been revealed. Stefanowski, who has a background in mergers and acquisitions, has acknowledged for the first time that he has done consulting work related to a proposed futuristic, green-energy city in Saudi Arabia, proposed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Stefanowski told reporters during a Zoom call on Wednesday that he has been and remains a consultant to NEOM, the company that is behind the massive NEOM project. He said he's involved with a three-way venture to build a hydrogen plant. Stefanowski initially confirmed his involvement to Hearst Connecticut Media, in a story published Wednesday, saying he has been involved with the NEOM project since 2019.

Stefanowski's acknowledgement came after being presented with documents showing he met with top executives of the planned city, including an email sent in 2018 that referred to a meeting he had in London with someone involved with the Saudi state-run investment fund. Stefanowski confirmed Wednesday that he started his consulting work with NEOM about six months later.

Part of being a consultant is you fly all over the world and try to get business. So I meet with a lot of people all over the world. I don't anymore, said Stefanowski, who said he has scaled back his work with NEOM to a couple of phone calls a week while he runs for governor. He said he found the Saudi project particularly interesting, calling it a noble project that's going to help global warming." The proposed city, to be run entirely on alternative sources of energy, redefines the concept of urban development and what cities of the future should look like, according to a company statement.

Stefanowski told Hearst he did not work directly with the Saudi government or the investment fund. During the Zoom news conference, Stefanowski said he could not say whether he has met the crown prince, listed as chairman of NEOM's board of directors, due to a non-disclosure agreement. However, the candidate said he was given permission by NEOM to discuss limited things related to his consulting work.

Despite human rights issues in Saudi Arabia, Stefanowski said he's comfortable with the project and feels he is helping to control global warming.

Just because you meet with a country doesnt mean you agree with all their policies and procedures, he told Hearst. This is a green energy project that could help the world. Thats what it was limited to.

Saudi Arabia has a complicated relationship with the U.S.

Human rights advocates have condemned the Persian Gulf nation for oppressing dissent and the 2018 killing of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

President Joe Biden said on Tuesday there would be consequences for Saudi Arabia for backing recent oil production moves that were seen as likely to help Russia in its war with Ukraine.

Yet the kingdom has also been a military and diplomatic partner and is seen as a counterbalance to Iran's influence in the region.

Connecticut Democrats, including Gov. Ned Lamont's campaign, have criticized Stefanowski for not revealing his consulting clients. There's no telling whose interests he truly represents, Lamont's campaign said in one written statement. Lamont told reporters Wednesday that he would comment Thursday on the news of Stefanowski's Saudi client, saying he had only read headlines about the revelation.

It poses an awful lot of questions, but I don't want to jump to any conclusions, Lamont said.

Stefanowski, 60, is an accountant and financial analyst who has written two books on mergers and acquisitions. He once worked as the CEO of a payday loan company and has also worked for General Electric and investment bank UBS, among other entities.

Stefanowski previously said he would release what he could ethically and legally provide to the public about his consulting clients.

In a consulting firm, theres always confidential information, he told reporters earlier this year.

Three years of tax documents released in September show Stefanowski and his wife Amy earned a total of $36.8 million and have three limited liability companies, including one called Lolo Consulting.

His campaign said in a statement that Lolo Consulting provides services including merger & acquisition and due diligence support, corporate strategy and other general consulting services. Also, Lolo has advised on acquisitions and joint ventures in the financial services, health care and energy sectors, according to the statement.

This story was corrected to show the company behind the project is spelled NEOM, not NOEM.
It was no surprise to open the paper last week and learn that the Public Service Commission had approved a $92 million interim rate increase for Northwestern Energy. In this case, interim means step one of the much larger requested increases amounting to 25.6% for electricity and 11.1% for gas. If I had to bet, Id put money on the current members of the Commission approving that increase as well. Thats why we need a change. Beyond the sheer size of the increase, along with the short notice, other aspects of the Commissions decision are also concerning.

In its Interim Order, the PSC describes the rate increases as a reasonable means of providing interim relief to NorthWestern. For 2021, NorthWestern reported net income of $187 million ($30 million more than 2020) and the 2021 compensation for its top six executives was a combined $9 million. These numbers do not strike me as consistent with a company needing relief. NorthWestern is investor-owned. If its investors gain when the company does well, then they also need to share the risk when the company trips up  even if that means just buying some time.

Also, one commissioner was quoted as saying If the final bill comes in lower  then a year from now NorthWestern customers would receive a rebate, plus interest. The PSC is agreeing to have the ratepayers finance NorthWestern? On the surface, a rebate plus interest sounds great, but it really would be a loan  and I suspect that most Montana families and businesses are not interested in carving out some of their budget to provide NorthWestern a financial cushion. If interest is paid, maybe the rate should be like the one on your credit card.

I also find it interesting that the final bill is open-ended. We are in this together with NorthWestern. We rely on NorthWestern to provide safe, reliable energy and I can appreciate that the costs to do so are not always easily predictable, and they do go up. But NorthWestern is a sophisticated company that we also rely on to manage and forecast their costs. Pushing increases to the customers, especially in such short order, should be a last resort  and the PSC should ensure that it is.

Unfortunately, most of us dont pay attention to the workings of the PSC until its too late and it hits our pocketbook. None of this will change until Montanans elect commissioners who have the skills for the job and the will to challenge utilities on behalf of ratepayers. Thats why Im running. If elected PSC Commissioner, I will bring my 40 years of business experience and expertise to proactively represent you and make our system of utility regulation work the way it should. Montanans deserve better than what we are getting.
Trinity Baptist Church, 221 Ervin Road, Mooresville, will be hosting a Pray-Vote-Stand North Carolina event sponsored by the Family Research Council in Washington on Oct. 16 from 6-7:30 p.m. Tony Perkins, the councils president will serve as the keynote speaker.

Perkins noted that he was excited about coming to North Carolina because North Carolina is an important state in elections, and this election is going to be important.

In a release, it was shared that Perkins is the councils fourth and longest-serving president, having joined the organization in August 2003. During his tenure as president, he has substantially deepened the organizations influence on Capitol Hill and throughout the country through his frequent attendance at state and regional political and policy events.

An ordained minister, Perkins remains active in Christian ministries and frequently fills pulpits across the country. He has also expanded the councils reach across the nation by building a network of pastors and churches, encouraging them to impact the culture by thinking nationally, but acting locally.

Its very important for Christians to be informed and engaged in the process. Its important to be involved in the direction our state takes, Perkins shared.

Also taking part in the event with Perkins will be Paul Newby, chief justice of the N.C. Supreme Court, and area pastors Dean Hunter, Central Baptist, Kannapolis; Darren Johnson, Hebron Baptist, Statesville; and Mark Harris, Trinity Baptist.

Special music will be provided by combined church choirs of Central Baptist, Enochville First Baptist, and Trinity Baptist.

All are invited to attend.
RALEIGH  A Burke-county native has emerged as the winner of the Firsts That Last Film Series Competition held by Visit North Carolina. Jacobs First Mandolin by Taylor Sharp triumphed over 11 other entries in the first-of-its-kind tourism campaign highlighting the power of memory to bind travelers to time and place.

A five-minute narrative about a beach trip that led to a music career, Jacobs First Mandolin recounts a bet made on a family vacation at Emerald Isle: If father Will could get a pair of fish to bite on the days final cast from Bogue Inlet Pier, son Jacob could have a mandolin. Two fish nibbled and the rest is history, with Jacob going on to cofound the Chapel Hill-based band Mipso.

Sharp plans to donate part of the $30,000 prize to Casting for Hope, a nonprofit he cofounded to assist women living with gynecological cancers. He also plans to put funds toward producing a film about his mother, who died of ovarian cancer in 2010.

The story embodies so many aspects of the North Carolina travel experience, said Wit Tuttell, executive director of Visit NC. It took place in one of the countless settings that reward travelers with a sense of closeness and completeness, of infinite possibility. Such moments are life-enriching if not always life-changing, and the Sharps would surely treasure the memory even without the bonus that music lovers have enjoyed with Mipsos recordings and the bands live shows.

The Firsts That Last films continue to roll on VisitNC.com, where the series launched in April to showcase shorts based on travels across the state. Visit NC, the states tourism marketing organization, commissioned the films based on proposed storylines that celebrate the enduring value of North Carolina travel experiences. Along with inspiration from the films themselves, the website offers ideas and information for trip planners plotting journeys of their own.

Sharp, who grew up in Morganton, said a number of compelling stories came to mind when he learned about the competition and its focus. He quickly settled on Jacobs First Mandolin.

I recognized that there was no story I knew better, he said.

Its meaning became more resonant while making the film, especially as he reflected on his fathers willingness to scratch Jacobs creative itch and on the moments significance to his brothers journey. While interviewing my dad and brother,

I realized how much of an impact that mandolin had on the rest of our lives, he said.

The series other 11 films further illuminate the transformative power of travel. Along with Jacobs First Mandolin, the Firsts that last film series includes:

Aint No Mountain High Enough,

directed by Eternal Polk. Polk has watched so many of his daughters firsts take place in North Carolina, but a hiking trip to Stone Mountain is one he will never forget.



City Center!

 directed by Trey Edwards. For Edwards, one weekend enjoying craft beer, local food and art in Charlotte left such a memorable first impression he ended up moving there.

A Homecoming,

directed by Rick Bryson. In Brysons childhood home, an old photograph of the last living elk in NC shaped his future  a future that included helping reintroduce elk to Cataloochee Valley.

In the Rearview,

directed by Meagan Massa. As two siblings look back on a road trip with their father 20 years ago, they discover their memories have faded. But the feelings they share when returning to these mountains remain the same.

Making Waves,

directed by Pilar Timpane. Areli Barrera and Leon Grodski Barrera arrived in Durham and turned a bicycle cart into three thriving cafes and an award-winning microroaster. At the heart of it all? Community.

Next Generation,

directed by Jonathan Applebaum. A childhood vacation to the North Carolina coast always stood out to Applebaum as magical. Today, he returns with his family and watches a new generation fall in love with the same coast that shaped him years ago.

Queen of Pisgah,

directed by Curren Sheldon. In her first pro bike race in Pisgah National Forest, Kaysee Armstrong is humbled by the terrain. Four years later and fierce with determination, Armstrong returns for redemption.

The Road to North Carolina,

directed by Luke Gloeckner. After a time of uncertainty in his life, Gloeckner was looking for a new place to call home. Thanks to a cross-country road trip, he found a new playground in North Carolina with its inspiring people, places and possibilities.

Seagrove,

directed by Josh Sliffe. For the visually impaired, art has its limitations. But pottery is a special art form for which the sense of touch makes all the difference in the world.

So Far,

directed by Bryan Rierson. North Carolinas Mountains-to-Sea Trail comprises 1,175 miles. And in 2018, Jeff and Debra Rezeli found more than just stunning scenery on the life-altering trek.

Waverider,

directed by Bryan Harvey. While growing up, Harveys greatest joy was surfing on the Outer Banks. Today, he knows theres only one thing thats better: teaching his daughter that same passion.

The campaign, dubbed Firsts That Last 2.0, extends the vision of Visit NCs earlier Firsts That Last, an award-winning collection of shorts documenting first-time trips to the state by travelers pursuing personal firsts: glimpsing the ocean, tasting moonshine and seeing a waterfall. The film series takes the concept beyond the original campaigns live-in-the-moment quality to underscore deeper meaning for everyone from resident North Carolinians to out-of-state visitors, from first-timers to vacation regulars.

These talented filmmakers and their subjects reach remarkable heights in exploring and re-creating life-changing moments, Tuttell said. Journeys unfold in places youd expect and some you wouldnt. These stories will inspire people to make every trip count as they immerse themselves in North Carolinas natural wonders, its cities and culture, and add meaning and memories to their lives.
This past Sunday was a record day at the Butte Detention Center. The jail roster included the names of 123 inmates, which according to the detention center's website, has a capacity of 72.

Overcrowding at the Butte jail has been an ongoing problem. No one knows that better than Butte-Silver Bow County Sheriff Ed Lester.

We are way over capacity, Lester said, and it makes it hard on our staff and the inmates.

According to Lester, the pandemic continues to haunt his department. During the height of the pandemic, officials at Buttes jail attempted to divert a number of inmates to keep not only the men and women housed in the facility healthy, but staff as well.

Many people, who would normally have been arrested, were given an opportunity to take care of their legal issues without going to jail, said Lester.

For a time, that procedure worked, enabling officials to effectively manage the jail. Unfortunately, as time went by, a number of people failed to deal with those legal issues.

So now we are seeing a ton of failures to appear and contempt of court warrants that are resulting in arrests and driving up our jail population, explained Lester.

Compounding the problem were the numerous county employees who retired this past year. Lesters department was hit hard, losing jail staff, dispatchers and patrol officers.

Some retired, some resigned to take other jobs, said Lester. Either way, its hard to replace all of that experience.

The exodus left Lester recruiting for replacements, which takes some time. The process cant be rushed for new police recruits who not only have to complete Montana Law Enforcement Academy requirements, but the departments own field training programs.

With the staff shortage, Lester had to change some of his staffs schedules, while others found their job descriptions had changed. Hes optimistic that his department will get through this and hopes to have a fully-trained staff by March or April of next year.

Its a tough time for our staff, admitted Lester. They are working their asses off.

The obvious increase in drug and alcohol use, as well as mental health issues in the Butte community weigh heavy on Lesters mind, too.

Addiction can lead to crime, which leads to people going to jail, he said.

Currently, the sheriff is trying to find a way to keep people out of jail if they commit to drug treatment. He is also looking at medication-assisted treatment for those already in jail.

Theres a lot to consider with either of these ideas, but we have to rely on science to lead us now, he said. We wont be able to arrest our way out of this.

Expanding the current facility has also been brought up. The sheriff realizes that expansion will happen at some point, but hes not so sure thats the best solution right now.

Locking people up is inexpensive, he said, and we should look at other options that might be more effective for our community.
At around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, the Butte-Silver Bow Fire Department, along with volunteer firefighters, were called out to a fire at I-90 Auto, Salvage & Towing, 317 Munich in Williamsburg.

According to Butte-Silver Bow Fire Chief Zach Osborne, work may have been being done inside the salvage yard prior to the fire. Multiple vehicles were involved in the fire, which carried a large column of black smoke through Buttes west side.

Firefighters also faced an initial challenge getting water on the fire because of a scarcity of hydrants in the neighborhood.

Osborne said the cause of the fire has yet to be determined and an investigation is ongoing.

Property owners were not yet at the scene to give statements regarding the fire. County firefighters were on hand, as well as members of the Boulevard and Racetrack Volunteer Fire Departments. There were no injuries.

Several tires and a junk vehicle were destroyed in a previous fire at the salvage yard on Feb. 24.


The attack on the church in Punjab is the latest in a string of more frequent assaults on Christians in recent months amid allegations that Christian missions are conducting large-scale forced conversions.

TCN Staff Correspondent

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Amritsar (Punjab)/New Delhi  Largely a peaceful state with a legacy of social harmony, Punjab is fast losing its sheen. The state has witnessed a spate of attacks against Christians and churches in the recent past, which is still going on unabated.

Close on the heels of the desecration of Jesus and Mary statues at a church in Taran Taran by masked men, a glass sheet of a window of a Catholic church at Nandanpur village in Jalandhar district was found missing on September 29.

Though the church management called the attack on their place of worship part of a thoughtful trick and conspiracy, the Jalandhar police have ruled out any such attempt of vandalism.

A small piece of window sheet fell in the church. The police are trying to ascertain whether it was a technical fault or someones handiwork. Investigations are on, and we cannot register an FIR (first information report) till the investigation is over, said Jalandhar SSP Swarandeep Singh, advising people to refrain from rumour mongering.

On August 31, a group of four masked men forcefully entered Infant Jesus Catholic Church campus at Thakarpura village in Taran Tarans Patti Assembly constituency, attacked the security guard and held him captive at gunpoint.

The armed intruders vandalized a statue of Jesus Christ and Mother Mary at the entrance of the prayer hall on the first floor of the church and took their heads away.

At the time of the incident, around four people were inside the church campus including Father Thomas Poochalil, his two associates and a guard.

At around 12:30 am four unidentified masked men entered the church campus and held the security guard captive at gunpoint. Thereafter, they climbed the first floor of the church, vandalized the statues and took away their heads, said Father Poochalil.

He added that the masked intruders also set a Baleno car parked on the church premises on fire before they left the campus. It was meticulously planned as the vandals did not stay on the campus for more than 25 minutes.

After the vandals left the church campus the security guard informed, the priest rang up the station house officer (SHO) of Sadar Patti police station who thereon sent two police officers after 15 minutes and registered an FIR (No. 0148/2022) against the unknown accused under section sections of 295-A, 452, 427, 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 25 of Arms Act, 1959.

The sections are related to deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings, house trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint, mischief and acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention.

A special investigation team (SIT) headed by the Ferozepur Range Inspector General (IG) is investigating the attack, but no arrest has been made so far. The SIT also includes the Tarn Taran SSP and the SP (Investigations). The SIT has been tasked to conduct a day-to-day investigation into the case and submit a final report to the competent court soon.

A routine Sunday prayer, which includes preaching and a healing session, at a makeshift church at Daduana village in Amritsar, was attacked on August 28 over the allegation of conversion and superstition.

Around 500 Nihangs (a Sikh warrior order), armed with sharp-edged weapons, sticks and firearms, attacked the assembly at around 11:30 am when the regular Sunday prayer was going on, alleged Pastor Sukhvinder Raja, who belongs to the Pentecostal Christian denomination.

Pentecostalism is a charismatic Christian movement which emphasises the direct personal experience of God through gifts of the Holy Spirit like prophecy and healing.

He further alleged that it was him who was their target, but the mob failed to recognise and spot him and was somehow rescued by the devotees.

The devotees locked me inside a room located close to the prayer venue. After they failed to find me, they attacked the assembly and ransacked everything, he alleged.

The Nihangs, the pastor alleged, had already begun gathering since nine in the morning and had tried to block access to the place of gathering.

As I told the worshippers, who were around 200 in number and mostly women and children, that it was the day of test of their faith and that Jesus is alive, the assailants barged into the tent, said the pastor, while narrating the sequence of the incident.

They did not spare anyone and anything. Around 45 people suffered injuries, he said, alleging that all that happened in presence of the strong police force  which was already there as the Nihangs had started gathering.

An FIR (No. 0233/2022) was registered at Police Station Jandiala on August 29 against unknown assailants under sections 295, 296, 427, 148, and 149 of IPC, but no arrests have been made so far.

Following the attack in August, the Sunday prayer at the makeshift church stands discontinued because the community, including the pastor, is feeling threatened. The prayer meeting has temporarily been shifted to the pastors residence with reduced participation.

A local leader of the Nihangs alleged that mass conversions were going on for the past few months in the name of prayer sessions. They had to take appropriate actions themselves, he said, after the police administration despite complaints and resistance by locals failed to take action.

The organizers made to sit innocent Sikhs in the programs to lure them into conversions by the so-called miracles, he alleged.

Pastor Sukhdev Mark Karnail Singh was distributing pamphlets and books (propagating Christianity) at the Ambala Cantt bus stop on September 15.

A Sardar (turban-clad Sikh) was listening to me patiently. He sought to know more about Jesus Christ. I gave him a few books. We shared our cell phone numbers as well, said Pastor Singh, who is a part-time cab driver, driving an Indigo car for a living.

One day, he rang me up and asked if he can drop him at Sri Guru Ram Das Ji International Airport in Amritsar. I agreed to drop him. Upon reaching Amritsar, he took me to a deserted street near the Celebration Mall in the heart of the city on the pretext of collecting his air ticket. On his way, he dialled a few persons, and seven people reached the place in a few minutes. As I was about to take out the luggage from the vehicles boot, unidentified men began stabbing me with knives. Before I realized anything, they disappeared leaving me on the spot, he narrated.

With blood oozing out from the body, he said, he gathered courage and drove to the nearest police post from where cops rushed him to the government-run Guru Nanak Hospital for treatment.

Based on his statement, the police registered an FIR (No. 0268/2022) with offences under sections 323, 324, 341,34 of IPC at Amritsar Sadar Police Station on September 16.

But no arrest has so far been made in this case as well.

The attack on the church is the latest in a string of more frequent assaults on Christians in recent months amid allegations that Christian missions are conducting large-scale forced conversions.

The official data, however, does not support the allegations. Christians, as per the 2011 Census, constitute less than 1.5% of Punjabs population while Sikhs are around 58% and Hindus about 38%.

1. Pastor Birbal from Hambra village in Ludhiana district was allegedly threatened on July 19 by villagers, who reportedly told him not to conduct any service on Sunday (July 24).

He informed the police about the incident who in turn assured them of sending security for the Sunday prayer meeting. When the Pastor was returning home after leading the prayer, a violent mob attacked him to the extent that he fell unconscious.

Subsequently, an FIR (No. 0131/2022) was registered on July 21 under IPC sections 307 (attempt to murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 506 (criminal intimidation), 341 (wrongful restraint), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees),148 (rioting, armed with a deadly weapon) and149 (unlawful assembly) at Dakha Police Station in Ludhiana.

2. A missionary namely Anamika was distributing tracts at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research in Chandigarh on July 29 when a group of extremists stopped her from doing so. They created a ruckus and called the police.

Anamika was detained at PGI womens police station. She was released after a local pastor, Vishnu Dev intervened.

3. On August 14, Pastor Balkar Masih from Amritsar was conducting prayer services at the residence of a believer at Darbar village in Amritsars Anjata city. The venue had around 40-50 worshippers when a group of miscreants allegedly forcefully entered the house and threatened the pastor not to conduct any prayer meeting.

Later, they allegedly went to the pastors church and waited outside the gate to teach him a lesson. But the pastor did not turn up, fearing for his life. The issue was resolved after locals reached a compromise.

4. A group of Christians, which was distributing tracts on August 26 in the Taran Taran district, was allegedly questioned and threatened with dire consequences if its participants did not refrain from indulging in the preaching and propagating activities.

5. Pastor Rakesh from Ludhiana was conducting a prayer service on August 30 when a group of extremists, as alleged, forcefully entered his premises, disrupted the prayer meeting and accused him of forceful religious conversions.

The police complaint filed by him has not turned into an FIR to date.

6. Pastor Mark Masih from Tarn Taran was brutally beaten up on September 16 by a few people allegedly due to his faith. He has some deep wounds as well, but the police have not registered an FIR.

Forced conversions?

Alleging forced conversions into Christianity and warning that the practice will not be tolerated anymore, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa has asked the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh to reward the Nihangs, who have launched a battle to stop illegal conversions.

Akal Takht officiating jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh had earlier said that the Sikh community needs to seriously think about demanding an anti-conversion law in Punjab. He had urged the Central government to rein in self-styled Christian missionaries.

Singh alleged missionaries funded by foreign agencies are organising religious conversion campaigns in Amritsar and other parts of Punjab.

However, PK Samantaroy, bishop, the Diocese of Amritsar, Church of North India Christians, said that Christians abide by the Constitution and the practice of foreign-funded congregations and forced conversions is against Biblical principles.

Christianity is not a European religion as it is believed to be. It was introduced in India in first century AD by St Thomas, a disciple of Jesus Christ, long before it was introduced in Europe. The question of foreign funding does not arise. Christians abide by the Indian Constitution, which allows every Indian to pursue a religion of his or her choice. Nobody can be forced to adopt a particular religion. If there are instances of forced conversions, these are condemnable and should be dealt with sternly, he said in a statement.
ABOUT THIS PROJECT: Substance abuse - especially that of fentanyl - has affected families and communities across the country. Butte is no exception, and people have begun searching for a solution. This coverage collection from The Montana Standard newsroom dives into Butte's ongoing battle with addiction and drug abuse, and the rapid emergence of fentanyl in the community.

The growing fentanyl crisis and Butte's efforts to fight it:

Fentanyl Taking hold, taking lives in Butte

Fentanyl taking hold, taking lives in Butte Opioid-related overdoses due to fentanyl took 35 lives in Butte-Silver Bow County from 2011 to 2020, and although final county data isnt in for 2021, local officials expect higher numbers.

As a widespread drug scourge, methamphetamine is still king in Butte, Montana, but theres a growing menace on its heels that can take lives in mere minutes.

It already has.

Id say meth is the biggest one (problem) we have but its followed pretty closely by opiates, especially counterfeit opiates, said Butte-Silver Bow Sheriff Ed Lester. Theyre not the legally produced pills, they are counterfeit oxycodone pills that are laced with fentanyl, and thats what were seeing here in our community.

'I hand out NARCAN like Tic-Tacs': Options for residents with opioid, fentanyl dependence

I hand out NARCAN like Tic-Tacs: Options for residents with opioid, fentanyl dependence NARCAN, the brand name for naloxone, is a line of defense that can reverse the effects of fentanyl overdose and help restore normal breathing, and is available in the form of a nasal spray.

NARCAN, the brand name for naloxone, is a line of defense that can reverse the effects of fentanyl overdose and help restore normal breathing, and is available in the form of a nasal spray.

Fentanyl-related deaths increased 116% from 2019 to 2020 in Montana. The dramatic climb in fatalities prompted the state government to make NARCAN more readily available.

Sheriff Ed Lester estimates his department has saved dozens of lives by using the NARCAN kits that he and his deputies carry.

Butte-Silver Bow, others organizing effort to combat fentanyl in Butte

B-SB, others organizing effort to combat fentanyl in Butte Butte-Silver Bow is joining with Father Patrick Beretta, health officials and others to combat the fentanyl scourge in Butte.

Butte-Silver Bow is joining with Father Patrick Beretta, health officials, Sheriff Ed Lester, firefighters and others in mounting a community effort to combat the fentanyl scourge here.

The county helped establish a community action team to address a rash of teen suicides in Butte in late 2013 and 2014 and through meetings, grants, education and other efforts, it made a difference. Leaders say a similar action team is needed to address the fentanyl crisis locally.

'The new devil': Community action team created to combat fentanyl problem, has first meeting

The new devil: Community action team, created to combat fentanyl problem, has first meeting Professionals and community members alike showed up to the first meeting of an action team designed to combat the worsening fentanyl crisis in Butte.

Educators, members of law enforcement, government officials, medical professionals, addiction counselors, and community members recently attended the first meeting of an action team designed to combat the worsening fentanyl crisis in Butte.

We want to fix the bridge. We want to build signs, one attendee said. We want to inform people before they fall into the river that there are resources, avenues and ways to be healthy.

A meeting attendee described fentanyl as "the new devil."

Gianforte says Butte a state leader in fighting fentanyl

Updated: Gianforte says Butte a state leader in fighting fentanyl Gov. Greg Gianforte says Butte is leading the state in local efforts to combat the fentanyl scourge thats claiming lives across Montana.

The governor recently spoke to more than a dozen people who are part of a community action team working to fight the fentanyl epidemic locally.

I think fentanyl and drug addiction is the largest issue facing communities across the state  the disintegration of the family, the property crimes, violent crimes, just the tragic loss of life, Gianforte said. You are leading the state in community-based efforts.

The governor said law enforcement in Montana was working hard to confiscate fentanyl, a statement backed up by Montana Highway Patrol leaders.

Their stories: Butte residents recount their journeys from addiction, to recovery

Bill Deavel:

National Recovery Month: Deavel: 'There is hope' Peer support workers feels a new sense of urgency working with those struggling with substance use because of the deadly potential of fentanyl.

"I thought Why not recover? Is it possible? Can I do this? Do I want to do this? said Deavel, who then asked himself what stood in the way of recovery.

The resounding answer in my head was myself, Deavel said. The recovery process started at that point.

His sobriety date is June 25, 2007. He endured 15 years of addiction. Hes had 15 years of recovery.

Colton Myers:

National Recovery Month: Local man finds community in addiction recovery Myers has been sober for one year, four months and three days, according to an app on his phone.

When now 30-year-old Colton Myers was 25, he started using Adderall, a nervous system stimulant prescribed to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

And when Myers was 26, he turned to methamphetamine.

But Myers recently graduated the SPIRIT Home on June 1 and has been sober for one year, four months and three days.

Kay Olsen

National Recovery Month: Butte woman learning to live again Born and raised in Butte, Kay Olsen grew up all too familiar with addiction.

At various times in her life, between the ages of 11 and 31, Olsen tried everything  to excess  be it alcohol, prescription drugs, cocaine or methamphetamine.

Olsen left rehab on Feb. 3, 2020, and has been sober since and is providing peer support at the Montana Chemical Dependency Center.

Its been a rough road, but she is now learning to live again.

Demetrius Fassas

National Recovery Month: Demetrius Fassas reaping rewards of recovery Like most alcoholics and addicts, Demetrius Fassas didnt just have a drinking problem. He had a thinking problem.

Like most recovering alcoholics and addicts, Fassas knows that changing one's thinking is crucial.

When youre hardwired for self-destruction like I was, it takes a whole lot of mindfulness and manual programming, as I like to call it, in order to see improvements, Fassas said.

Through a 12-step program, introspection, awareness and a lot of help and backing from others, Fassas has powers today he never knew he had.

Matthew Kiewiet

The editor of the Montana Standard is not yet four years removed from when he made the best decision of his life.

In Kiewiet's own words:

When I chose to eliminate alcohol from my life, I hadnt lost everything. My life never reached a stereotypical rock bottom. But it could have if one or two brief moments in time turned out differently, and I realize how lucky I am.
Montana has, throughout its history, always allowed at-large voting for Supreme Court justices. Because the courts dont always go their way, many Republicans think they would be better off if there were separate election districts, each district to elect one Supreme Court justice. The Legislature passed HB 325, which proposed to put such measure on the general election ballot.

A virtually identical legislative measure was found by the Montana Supreme Court to be unconstitutional in 2011 in the seminal Reichert case. The new bill was passed by a legislative majority which knew full well of its constitutional defects.

My co-counsel, Cliff Edwards, and I, handled the new challenge and, predictably, we won. We would like to take credit for good lawyering, but the fact is the case was not a hard one.

Recently Montana Attorney General, Austin Knudsen, published an incendiary guest opinion. Professing to be shocked by the decision, he accuses the Supreme Court of rubber-stamping Democratic party policy. This is the pot calling the kettle black. Knudsens office has routinely sought to turn cases to his political advantage and to push a broader political agenda. Fortunately, he is not very good at it.

Set aside the fact that it is a bad idea to tamper with the Court in this way, the proposal is unconstitutional on its facejurisdiction of the Montana Supreme Court extends state-wide and Supreme Court justices interpret law on a state-wide basisthey do not represent particular constituencies, as do legislators.

325s most glaring defect was that it attempts to amend the Montana Constitution by statutory referendum. But, the Constitution itself in Article XIV requires a vote of two-thirds for submission to the voters. That didnt happen here.

Moreover, this issue was already resolved in Reichert, and stare decisis (rule of precedent) applies. Knudsen and his ilk love to criticize the courts for being too activist. Yet, in this case, they urged the Court to disregard established precedent. I guess activism in the courts is in the eyes of the beholder.

Before criticizing the Montana Supreme Court, Knudsen should tend to his own shop, which is notoriously dysfunctional. In our case on 325, alone, three different pleadings of the AG were rejected for failure to comply with basic filing rules (I call it Appellate Practice 101). Further, Knudsens track record in 2022 on important constitutional topics has been abysmal. Its not all his fault. The 2021 Legislature handed him some truly lousy measures to defend. Nevertheless, Knudsen performance hasnt helped. The worst example is his squandering of over $1 million of public money paid to a private firm to (unsuccessfully) defend a patently unconstitutional attempt to suppress young voters.

It's easy for Knudsen to blame the courts. After all, it couldnt be him. But that tactic is dangerous. Under our system of government, with its three branches, the courts stand as the ultimate bulwark protecting individual liberty. This is particularly the case here in Montana with the governors office and the legislative branch dominated by one party. It is beneath the dignity of any person holding an office of Attorney General of Montana to engage in this kind of unseemly attack on the Court.

The newspaper photo of Knudsen with his guest opinion shows a man in fullwith a very large cowboy hat. We have an old saying in Montana, all hat, and no cattle. With respect to Knudsen it should be, all hat and no grey matter. Cowboying is fine out on the range, but when Knudsen starts cowboying with the Montana Constitution, we all should be concerned.
Yet again, the authoritarians in the Montana Legislature are marching lock step with the Montana GOP, ignoring Montana law to favor more big government interference in our lives. If they bothered to crack open the Montana Constitution or maybe consult with a lawyer that has some familiarity with Montana law, they would find this:

40-6-701.Interference with fundamental parental rights restricted  cause of action. (1) A governmental entity may not interfere with the fundamental right of parents to direct the upbringing, education, health care, and mental health of their children...

To spread fear to sustain the authoritarian stronghold of Montanas government, the Legislature, led by Matt Regier, passed LR-131, which puts to a statewide vote the propaganda-driven desire to interfere with our privacy, professional medical judgment, and the fundamental right to parent. LR-131 require[s] medical care to be provided to infants born alive after an induced labor, cesarean section, attempted abortion, or another method. LR-131 is fraught with problems leading to devastating outcomes for Montana families. I am no medical expert; however, I assisted a group of physicians in writing a pre-term delivery policy that reflected medical science, was consistent with Montana law, and allowed parents to determine what healthcare was appropriate for their children born with fetal anomalies incompatible with life.

The process was heart-wrenching. I learned about fetal anomalies I did not know existed, and as a mother, I found myself grieving for other mothers who had to endure labor knowing their child would not survive longer than a few hours. One of those fetal anomalies I remember was anencephaly, a congenital disability where a child is born without parts of a brain and skull. It affects 1 in every 4600 babies born in the United States. No cure for anencephaly exists; children born with the defect die shortly after birth, currently while being cradled and comforted in their parents arms. If LR-131 passes, those parents will no longer be able to comfort their dying child after birth. Instead, a physician will be mandated to provide futile, painful, and medically unethical resuscitation efforts or else face 20 years in prison.

LR-131 violates virtually every Republican principle of less government and honoring parental rights imaginable. LR-131 deliberately attempts to scare Montanans into believing that elective abortion up to the moment of birth is legal when the same has been illegal for decades. Elective abortion in Montana is permitted up to viability; thereafter, it is banned with criminal consequences.

Babies born via miscarriage or induced labor due to fetal anomalies incompatible with life after 20 weeks gestation are provided with birth and death certificates. Simply put, Montanans and Montana law recognize that a viable fetus is a baby, as are babies delivered with terminal conditions. And with advancements in medicine, viability occurs earlier in pregnancy than ever before, thus placing hard dates on when elective abortion can occur actually extends the time frame for elective abortion.

Montana law as it currently reads is effective and moves with advancements in medical science, not arbitrarily with legislative politics. So the scare tactics embedded in LR-131 are political propaganda issued by authoritarians to gin up support for a boogie man that doesnt exist in Montana. The consequence of LR-131 is cruel and unusual punishment imposed on babies and their parents who need to grieve, who need to cradle and comfort their dying children, and who need caregivers to provide dying children with compassionate care instead of futile and barbaric procedures that do nothing but prolong the agony of death.

Vote no on LR-131, or the next missive we will get from authoritarian legislators with zero medical background will be a mandate that physicians treat cancer with Gogi juice.
Take a look at trending news for today, Oct. 11:

Mariners

Yordan Alvarez smashed a game-ending, three-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning off Robbie Ray, wrecking Seattles strategy of using a Cy Young Award winner in a rare relief role and vaulting the Houston Astros over the Mariners 8-7 Tuesday in their playoff opener.

Trailing all game after a poor start by Justin Verlander, the AL West champion Astros overtook rookie star Julio Rodriguez and the wild-card Mariners at the end to begin their best-of-five Division Series.

Houston was down 7-5 when rookie pinch-hitter David Hensley reached with one out in the ninth as Seattle closer Paul Sewald grazed his jersey with a pitch.

Get more of the preview here:

Tulsi Gabbard

Former congresswoman and 2020 presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard announced on Tuesday that she is leaving the Democratic Party.

For Gabbard, the announcement is the culmination of years in which she has been increasingly at odds with the Democratic Party and its policies.

"I can no longer remain in today's Democratic Party. It's now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue & stoking anti-white racism, who actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms enshrined in our Constitution," Gabbard said in a video posted to social media. The announcement was made on the first episode of her new podcast, "The Tulsi Gabbard Show."

Read more about it here:

Blink-182

Tom DeLonge, Travis Barker and Mark Hoppus are reuniting as Blink-182 for the first time since 2015 for a new international tour. The band is also dropping a new song on Friday, titled "Edging," which marks the first time the trio has been in the studio together in a decade.

The international tour will feature openers Turnstile in North America, Rise Against in Australia, The Story So Far in United Kingdom and Europe and Wallows in Latin America. Tickets for Blink-182's tour go on sale at 10 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 17 at blink182.com.

Get more info on it here:

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Get more of today's trending topics here:

Angela Lansbury, "Murder She Wrote"

Adnan Sayed

Tim Ryan/J.D. Vance
My October 2009 Facebook post is still out there: Weighing a possible last-minute trip east via Amtrak this Wednesday; the decision would be easier if I knew someone available to drive me to Burlington or Galesburg before noon.

I said my destination is a conference at Harper's Ferry, WV, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the John Brown raid. I added a link to the John Brown Remembered symposium website.

Almost immediately came an offer from Connie Street, my former fellow reporter at this newspaper. She had the morning free and wanted to be my driver.

Like me, Connie had written articles about Alexander Clark and the Underground Railroad.

Wish I could go with, she said. She refused pay, insisting she knew I would do the same for her.

Connie was a fount of knowledge of Iowa history, especially all things Louisa County. Along with doing community journalism, she managed the museum at Wapello. Her late husband, Aaron Street, was a Quaker descended from the antislavery founders of Salem, Ia., where they had married.

From one of her articles (Muscatine Journal, Feb. 24, 2006): Famed abolitionist John Brown secretly trained his followers in Cedar County before his famous arsenal raid at Harpers Ferry, Va.  Prior to Browns activity in Iowa, the early strongholds of anti-slavery sentiment and those opposing the return of slaves to their masters were Salem, a Quaker settlement in Henry County, and Denmark in Lee County, a village whose residents were mostly Congregationalists from New England. From those areas, many escaping slaves came north through Muscatine. A few stayed and called the city home.

Moseying from Muscatine to the Amtrak depot was its own history tour. We talked and talked. And we shared breakfast at Wapello, where everyone in the place stopped by our table and let me see how she was known and loved.

When Connie died a year latermuch too youngit felt like more than coincidence that we had shared a wonderful morning together.

I had been preparing for Harpers Ferry ever since my boyhood tour of John Browns Cave at Nebraska City, but that train ride was my last chance to cram before sitting down with the biggest dogs of the topic.

My Facebook post from somewhere in Indiana is illustrated with a cover shot of Terrible Swift Sword: The Legacy of John Brown, an anthology edited by Peggy A. Russo and Paul Finkelman. Reading in preparation for meeting Finkelman and Russo and other John Brown experts at Harpers Ferry, I wrote.

Professor Finkelman had welcomed me to register as his special guest because we were exploring engaging him for Alexander Clark work; hence my last-minute decision to see him in action at the historic meeting.

Well into Day 2 of the four-day symposium, I arrived soaked from hiking in the rain up the long hill from the depot to the former campus of iconic Storer College, the historic Black institution now part of Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. If there was transport to be found, I failed.

I love conferences. This one was especially rich. Its trail of books and articles is easy to find, so I wont recite the whos-who of presenters and panelists. The C-SPAN BookTV camera was everywhere.

Thanks to C-SPAN, I can quote a bit of Finkelmans answer, at the end of a long, impressive Q&A, when pressed for bottom-line judgment: John Brown is a very hard guy to get your arms around. Hes a very hard man to come to terms with. And everyone who takes history seriously cannot paint it with solid lines and solid colors. It has to be nuanced, and it has to be complex.

Getting our arms around John Brown. That was the challenge for the four days.

One womans simple response struck me. We were taught to BE John Brown. In her childhood, she said, We thought John Brown was Black.

I had thought of joining the reenactors and other pilgrims walking Friday night from the Kennedy farm to the restored engine house, but Paul (I call him that now) invited me to join him and a colleague for dinner instead. Chilly rain and the chance of one-on-one time with a big-deal constitional-law historian made it an easy choice.

The Kennedy farmhouse, about five miles away near Sharpsburg, Md., was Browns staging site for the raid on the federal arsenal, 150 years ago that very night. After dinner we drove down and met the walkers, reportedly about 300 of them, for the moving candle-lit finale. Memorable, to say the least.

The next day we stood at the execution site in nearby Charles Town where the State of Virginia hanged John Brown on Dec. 2, 1859, and, two weeks later, four of his companions including Iowan Edwin Coppoc.

Next time: John Brown tourism and Alexander Clark
As a candidate for Muscatine County Supervisor, as well as in previous campaigns, I have remained positive and refused to use attack ads or negative comments about my opponents. I equate a campaign with a job interview. I hold public service to the highest standard as I am asking the public to hire me. In job interviews, one does not spend the precious time that they have in front of their prospective employers telling them what is bad about the other job seekers, but rather highlights the positive skills that they can bring to the table. Further, as an employer, I would suspect a job candidate who spread negativity and attacked his candidate peers, may also do this if they were hired for the position. For these reasons, my goal is to share what I can bring to the County Board of Supervisors, not why the voters shouldnt vote for my opponent.

I have sought transparency throughout my career and have highlighted its importance many times. Each election, the League of Women Voters has held a Candidate Forum. These forums are non-partisan and provide voters an opportunity to ask questions of the candidates and learn their position on issues. The Candidate Forums have provided transparency for the voters by enabling them to ask the same question of each candidate so they can compare apples to apples. The Forum was cancelled this year because my opponent refused to participate. I believe that each candidate should be transparent about their position, giving voters the ability to make informed choices. While sharing this negative information strays from my goal to remain positive, it is preventing me also from being transparent with the voters. As a result, I welcome you to contact me and ask your questions. My personal cell phone is 563-260-7515. You will get transparency from me.

Muscatine County has many great projects on the horizon. The new and updated clinic will be amazing for the community and puts us much closer to once again having an OB-GYN physician located in Muscatine. Many enhancements and new amenities are planned for Deep Lakes Park creating additional recreational possibilities for the public. We have more and more public events with great attendance like the Almost Friday Fest which provides opportunities for friends and neighbors to enjoy. Our non-profit organizations have a great team working on housing stability and mental health accessibility. West Libertys economic development is thriving through WeLead and Muscatines Greater Muscatine Chamber of Commerce and Industry is utilizing new and innovative tools to make a difference. The Community Foundation of Greater Muscatine has grown tremendously and is creating more opportunities for success. Wilton continues to shine with the Muscatine County Freedom Rock and new projects on the horizon. I fully support these projects and as I have already partnered on several of them in the past, working as County Supervisor to further assist would be my pleasure.

Im excited about the future of Muscatine County and the positive path that we are on. I humbly ask for your vote for Muscatine County Supervisor and pledge to stay positive, transparent, and enthusiastic for our future.

Thank you,

Diana Broderson

Muscatine County Supervisor Candidate
The bright orange, sticky residue that Cheetos leave on your fingertips has now been immortalized  by a 17-foot statue in Alberta, Canada.

The Cheetos brand erected the statue of a hand holding a massive Cheeto, complete with orange fingertips, in Cheadle, Alberta. The community was chosen because of its name's similarity to "cheetle," the company's official name for Cheeto dust, according to a news release from Cheetos.

"Cheetos fans have always known that the delicious, cheesy dust on their fingertips is an unmistakably delicious part of the Cheetos experience, but now it officially has a name: Cheetle," said Lisa Allie, the senior marketing director at PepsiCo Foods Canada, which distributes Cheetos in the country.

"We're excited to be celebrating Cheetle and Canadians' cheesy, Cheetle-dusted fingertips on such a grand scale and in such a uniquely mischievous way."

The statue stands almost 17 feet tall.

The unique piece of art won't stay in Cheadle forever, however, according to Cheetos' news release. Cheadle residents and visitors can check out the big, cheesy fingers until Nov. 4. Then, the monument will embark on a tour of other locations in Canada.

Cheadle is a hamlet located in Alberta's Wheatland County. Its population is tiny: Just 83 people lived there in 2021, according to Canada's census for that year.
After taking last week off, my mailbag is bursting with two weeks full of news. Shall we get started?

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The Pet Parade (I'm sorry, I just cant bring myself to use the new Pet PAWrade spelling) starts at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 15. See you on Oak Avenue for a day of dapper dogs, food, family activities, and all manner of Harvest Festival fun.

***

As the Star noted last week, UpStage Napa Valleys PlayFest kicks off this weekend with a series of short plays including Dorothea Rastegars Where Do We Go?, which highlights domestic violence. Performances continue Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. through Oct. 30. Get tickets at upstagenapavalley.org. Questions? Look for the UpStage booth at the Harvest Festival.

***

Grace Episcopal Church is offering Taste of Grace!  Dia de Los Muertos fiesta and silent auction from 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 5. Tickets include dinner with homemade tamales, turkey mole, soft tacos, flan, Mexican chocolate mousse, skull candies and more. After the meal, there will be a fashion show featuring designs by Raoul Blanco Couture. Suggested donations are $75 adults, $25 youth. All proceeds will support Grace Episcopal Church. For information and tickets, go to grace-episcopal.org or call 707-963-4157.

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St. Helena painter/cartoonist Marvin Humphrey will be on hand for an artist reception at 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 20, at the St. Helena Public Library. Even if you cant make it to the event, enjoy some of his magnificent oils on display in the library.

***

One more reminder about Old Mill Days this weekend, Oct. 15-16, at the Bale Grist Mill. Highly recommended for fans of all things old-timey. Admission is $5.

***

The community is invited to participate in the creation of Nimbus Arts Dia de los Muertos Paloma Community Altar, which is designed to show reverence for the paloma (dove) and our departed loved ones. Go to nimbusarts.org and sign up your family to paint one of 60 ceramic birds. Slots are available on Friday, Oct. 14; Sunday, Oct. 16; and at the Dia de los Muertos celebration at the Napa Valley College Upper Valley Campus on Sunday, Oct. 30.

***

This event is in Napa, but it features authors whove contributed to the Star, so I thought you might be interested. Jessel Gallery is hosting the Napa Valley Writers Salon at 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15, featuring authors Paul Franson, Paul Wagner, Michael Waterson, Linda Sheehan, Lenore Hirsch, and the Napa Valley Registers own Sasha Paulsen. Admission is free, so drop in at 1019 Atlas Peak Road.

***

Also in Napa but definitely of interest in St. Helena, Kellie Fuller and the Mike Greensill Quartet will present So Many Stars at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 27, at Blue Note Napa. With St. Helenas finest pianist on the keys, Fuller will sing songs made famous by the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Julie London, Frank Sinatra, Astrud Gilberto and Nancy Wilson. Greensills band also includes Noel Jewkes, Ruth Davies and Mark Lee. Tickets at bluenotenapa.com.

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Alila Napa Valley (formerly Las Alcobas) is opening its programs to non-guests for the first time. We locals can now register for Scents of the Valley (a custom perfume-making class), Balance & Botanicals (a custom cocktail-making class), and other activities. More details at alilahotels.com/napa-valley.
St. Helena Drama will present Agatha Christies Murder on the Orient Express, as adapted for the stage by Ken Ludwig, Oct. 20-23 at the St. Helena Performing Arts Center, 1401 Grayson Ave.

The show is St. Helena Dramas first murder mystery, presented just in time for Halloween. It features a cast and crew of 41 students.

After much rehearsal and work put into the show, we are excited to share this roller-coaster of a story with the audience, wrote student directors Anna Harrington and April Shaw. From moving the heavy trains to staging two hours of action, we have overcome many challenges and we couldnt be more proud. We hope you enjoy the show!

Showtimes are 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 20; 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 21; 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22; and 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 23.

The show is suitable for ages 10 and up. Tickets ($20 general/$10 students and seniors) are available at sthelenadrama.com.
Along with outgoing District 3 Supervisor Diane Dillon, Napa Mayor Scott Sedgley, and the St. Helena Star, three former candidates for District 3 supervisor  Anna Chouteau, Rafael Rios and Ines DeLuna  and others, I am supporting Anne Cottrell for District 3 Supervisor.

What distinguishes Anne? She asks questions and seeks input to learn whats on the minds of constituents. By listening, she solves problems, develops policies and makes fully informed decisions that take into account the needs, interests, concerns, and ideas of stakeholders.

As a result of her curiosity and listening skills, she has plans to address wildfire, drought and affordable housing challenges. Just one example is her strategizing with Cal Fire on fire prevention and evacuation.

For the candidate who has a long-term vision and balanced approach to the economy, the natural and agriculture resources, plus consideration of the diverse community residents, please join me in voting for Anne Cottrell by Nov. 8.

To learn more about Anne, her experience, and her campaign, go to annecottrell.com.

Thank you.

Billie Hewitt

Yountville
There is a clear difference with the St. Helena mayor candidates. Eric Hall has been a businessman for over thirty-five years. He knows how to earn money, manage it and balance a budget.

Through his business experience, he also knows how to identify problems and solve them in a timely manner. An example of this is with one of St. Helenas major issues, water.

Eric realized there was a major problem with water pipes from Napa to St. Helena. The pipes and pumps had not been inspected for many years. Thirty percent of St. Helena water is purchased from Napa. To repair the system, Eric negotiated a $1.5 million grant from state funds to upgrade pumps and water lines. Currently, the Rutherford pump station is being replaced. Eric is negotiating with neighboring communities, where there are numerous wells that are not being utilized, to obtain additional water for St. Helena.

St. Helena has real issues to solve and in a timely manner. The recent letters to the Editor for Paul have had a lot of platitudes, but think about what he has actually accomplished in the last eight years.

Tim Doran

St. Helena
Recently I was at a gathering of friends and acquaintances from around the Bay Area, including Marin, Sonoma, San Francisco and Napa. A conversation ensued about the current quality of various small towns in the area including Yountville, Sebastopol Healdsburg, and Petaluma, to name a few. When St. Helena was mentioned, I was saddened to hear that it was not in glowing terms. The gist was, Whats happened to St. Helena? It used to be so charming and desirable.

As a 30-plus-year resident, I have always been proud to call St. Helena home. And while I still love living here and feel a strong kinship with our community, I find it hard to argue that things havent changed for the worse in our beloved town.

That is why I will be voting for Eric Hall for mayor on Nov. 8. I dont claim to know a lot about city politics, infrastructure, finance or management. However, I am a reasonable judge of character, and I strongly believe that Eric is our best chance to revitalize St. Helena and bring about the change we so desperately need. Its not because hes affable (which he is) and its not because he cares about our community (which he does). Its simply because hes the best person for the job.

Over the last few months, I have had the opportunity to hear Erics presentation on St. Helenas current financial situation. Clearly, hes done his homework (and on his own time to boot).

The information and financial figures he presents make sense to me and align with what I see and experience in our town. There is no arguing that many of our streets have become potholed hazards, our parks look forgotten, many city buildings are in disrepair or are outright unusable, and far too many storefronts sit empty month after month. If the city really is as financially solvent as some claim, then why does it look like this?

I understand the concerns of those who fear St. Helena will be become an over-developed tourist haven and that we will lose our small-town spirit and locally minded approach. I dont want that either. However, when I drive through other towns such as Yountville, Petaluma, Calistoga or Sebastopol and see well-paved streets, neatly landscaped parks, occupied storefronts, engaging community centers and thriving residential neighborhoods, I cant help but draw comparisons to St. Helena.

With Erics practical, solution-oriented approach, I believe we can have all those things and a community that supports both its residents and the tourism needed to sustain it. Its simply not as black and white as some would like to think. In fact, its just that kind of either/or thinking that has gotten us into the current financial mess we are in.

I have the impression that some on the other side of the mayoral debate automatically equate a sharp business mind with pro-development. Thats absolute nonsense in my opinion. What I do believe, however, is that Erics business and management background as a consultant for Fortune 500 companies gives him the expertise to work with not just other city council members, but also with city staff, other municipalities, county and state officials, and local academic institutions such as Pacific Union College and Napa Valley College. With Eric at St. Helenas helm, change will occur, but it wont come without the thoughtful, reasoned and collaborative approach that has made him a successful businessman and valuable city council member.

In summary, I am voting for Eric Hall for mayor because he has the courage to state what is difficult to hear, the intellect and common sense to develop practical and long-term solutions for the issues at hand, the willingness to roll up his sleeves and take action instead of merely talking about it, and the business acumen to see projects through to a positive outcome for our town and community.

I hope you will join me in voting for Eric Hall for mayor on Nov. 8.

Julie Jenanyan

St. Helena
I am voting for Paul Dohring for mayor because he has demonstrated a commitment to public service, an interest in community building, a concern for the needs of residents, and has a proven track record as a City Council member for the past eight years, the last four years as vice mayor. The fact Dohring has the endorsement of the current mayor and four former mayors demonstrates the confidence they have in his leadership skills, knowledge of city governance, and ability to work with all community partners.

The quality of life in the Napa Valley, both in the beauty of the area and in living in a small rural community must be protected for all, not just business interests. Paul's over 30 years' experience as a lawyer working to resolve business, real estate and insurance disputes is invaluable in mediating the various issues in the community that arise in city governance. He is hardworking and promptly has returned all emails I have sent to the City Council, unlike Mr. Hall. In the 30 years I have lived here, if you ask around town, you will hear of Paul Dohring's excellent reputation; words like" honest," "has integrity," "hardworking," "respects" others and different points of view.

In these times, with increasing national and local divisiveness, we need an intelligent, capable leader who has proven to be a trusted public servant and problem solver, capable of uniting the St. Helena community. Dohring's 30 years solving business and legal issues, his experience in city governance and competent leadership as vice mayor, support of current and former mayors says it all; experience matters.

Maxine Angell

St. Helena
You dont need to read Henrik Ibsens famous 1891 play Hedda Gabler in order to follow Valley Players production of Resolving Hedda, but having some background will make the experience much more rewarding.

In Ibsens original, as a result of some thoroughly 19th century type intrigue and scandal, Hedda commits suicide. But playwright Jon Klein thinks that this is unfair to the poor woman. His Hedda is aware of her fate and does everything she can to frustrate the events in the play to prevent her own death.

Its as if Hedda has traveled to the 21st century, and gone back to the 19th, becoming aware of how misogynist the play is  even though scholars consider Ibsen to be a proto feminist. She references the Bechdel Test, which is a concept Alison Bechdel (the cartoonist who wrote the Tony award-winning play Fun Home) created to describe plots in which two women talk about something other than a man. The original Hedda Gabler, with Heddas unhappy marriage to George and suggestion of an illicit affair with Eilert, does not qualify.

She is also aware of other 21st century conventions like irritable bowel syndrome, bipolar disorder, Uber, electric paper shredders and Kellyanne Conway. All of the other characters are perplexed by these things she mentions in passing that wont be invented, or at least named, for another 50 to 120 years. But they dont have the curiosity to inquire further.

Their fates, however, are determined, and they march steadily along to the plays inevitable conclusion, regardless of Heddas attempts to frustrate the plot.

June Alain Reif is brilliant as Hedda. It is an extremely demanding role, requiring her to constantly panic, conspire and impatiently exasperate over the bumbling of her costars. Her speech is quick, with sarcastic asides, and she patronizes the other characters for their ignorance. She is the only sane one in the show, and she is on stage for the entire 2 hour performance.

Richard Pallaziol plays her befuddled husband George. He is a cartoon character, right out of Looney Tunes, so obtuse that he twice mistakes Heddas make-out sessions with both Judge Brack and Eilert for their trying to find something in her eye. His performance is a bit preposterous, more believable as an Italian clown rather than a Norwegian academic. But I think that is the point.

For the whole first act, and much of the second, Heddas scheming comes to nothing. All of the machinations in the original take place, their fates inescapable. One begins to wonder how this play could possibly end without Heddas suicide.

Well, its not giving anything away to say that she doesnt commit suicide. But how Klein handles this is absolutely brilliant. The play ends up being a postmodern joke about what we expect when we go to the theater. The standard conventions and predictable plots are turned upside down in the last 10 minutes when the fourth wall is shattered.

Valley Players mission to present plays with strong female leads is so refreshing. It has brought many extremely interesting theatrical experiences to the valley. This very clever play among them, epitomizes everything I enjoy about this little theater company.

Artistic director Debbie Baumann, who directed the show and with whom I spoke beforehand, said she was extremely enthusiastic for the future. If I can look forward to more shows like this, I am, too.

You can see the Valley Players' show on Oct. 14 and 15 at 7 p.m. and Oct. 16 at 2 p.m. at the Yountville Community Center, 6516 Washington St., and on Oct. 20, 21 and 22 at 7 p.m. at CrossWalk Community Church, 2590 First St., Napa. Tickets are $25.

Tickets can be purchased online at www.valley-players.com/events, at the door beginning one hour before showtime, or by calling 707-246-9662.
Jessel Gallery is Napa Valleys unofficial artists salon, a gathering place for local, national and international artists to show their works, in a year-round variety of imaginative shows.

Now owner Jessel Miller, an artist herself, is welcoming writers as well into the converted winery on Atlas Peak Road.

On Saturday, from 5 to 7 p.m., she is hosting a Writers Salon to shine a spotlight on local authors and bring together writers, readers and anyone else who wants to drop by for a lively evening of conversation. Writers will be reading and signing books, and answering questions.

My majors in college were English and art, Miller said. Storytelling goes beyond words on a page. It is a wonderland of internal discovery and sharing magical places.

Being an author/songwriter, I believe language can change lives, she added. It is an honor to host an evening devoted to brilliant minds, and so I am loving the idea of the Writers Salon hosted by the Jessel Gallery.

The plan is to host quarterly salons. The first one features six writers who have published new works in 2022

 Poet and playwright Michael Waterson. This fall, Poetry Box published his first book of poetry, Cosmology of Heaven & Hell, which he calls my efforts of the past 30 years. Watersons plays have been produced by UpStage Napa Valley as well as nationally.

 Linda Sheehan is the author of the new novel Fore Play (Black Rose Writing), a dark comedy about shenanigans at a country club. Kirkus Reviews called it a steamy, seamy comedy of errors.

Her first novel, Decanted, was set in Napa Valley and the Beaujolais region of France, with episodes in Paris and New York, and won a Bronze Readers Favorite 2022 Bronze Medal award winner.

 Paul Wagner is author of the Dan Courtwright mystery series set in the Sierra Nevada featuring a ranger as detective. He will be introducing the third novel in the series, Holes in the Ground.

Wagner founded Balzac Communications based in Napa, and for many years taught about wine at Napa Valley College.

 Lenore Hirsch is president of Napa Valley Writers. Her debut novel, Schooled: Confessions of a Rookie Vice Principal, is based on her own experiences as an educator, which apparently included escaped snakes in classrooms.

Hirsch is also the author of My Leash on Life Foxys View of the World from a Foot Off the Ground and Laugh and Live: Advice for Aging Boomers.

 Contributing non-fiction is Paul Franson, a longtime journalist and editor-publisher of NapaLife, a weekly newsletter for food, wine and arts. Franson first published The NapaLife Insiders Guide to Napa Valley a decade ago. This year, he revised and published the new 10th anniversary edition.

 Sasha Paulsen, features editor at the Napa Valley Register, published her second novel Where Time Begins this year with She Writes Press. Her first novel, Dancing on the Spiders Web (2019), was set in Napa Valley and San Francisco and was named a BookLife national semifinalist.

The origin of the salon

Possibly the most famous salon was the royally sanctioned Paris Salon, the official art exhibition of the Academie des Beaux-Arts beginning in 1667.

Its original focus was displaying the work of recent graduates of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. For the next 200 years exhibition at the Salon de Paris was not only a mark of royal favor, but was essential for any artist to achieve success in France.

Eventually, however, its rigidity led to offshoots such as the Salon des Refuses (the rejects school), as well as independent shows by the Impressionist artists, among those turned down by the Salon.

The French word for living room is also salon, which inspired a different style of gatherings in Paris in the 19th century, when hostesses competed to bring storytellers and wits to their homes to inspire intellectual and social life.

In the 20th century, the Saturday night gatherings at the Paris home of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas were renown for sparkling, stimulating conversations.

Reality to Abstract

No reservations are required to drop by the Oct. 15 event, which will unfold against the backdrop of the gallerys new show, Reality to Abstraction.

For this show, Miller challenged a group of realistic artists, Marta Collings, Susan Hoehn, Karen Lynn Ingalls, Therese Legere, Daniel Mundy and Beverly Wilson (and Miller herself) to paint an abstract work.

The abstract work hangs alongside one of the artists more usual realistic paintings.

Its a surprising new view, Miller said, the abstracted view of realistic artists. Youll be blown away by their take on abstraction.

The show runs through Nov. 30 with a reception for the artists on Nov. 4, 4 to 7 p.m.

Jessel Gallery is at 1019 Atlas Peak Road, Napa. Info, www.jesselgallery.com, 707-257-2350.
Developers of Watson Ranch in American Canyon want the courts to resolve disputes with the Napa Valley Unified School District over schools and with neighboring Vallejo over water.

Two recent lawsuits involve one of Napa Countys biggest developments in decades. Watson Ranch has begun construction and ultimately is to have more than 1,000 homes, parks, a hotel and a town center.

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Both lawsuits were filed in Napa County Superior Court.

In one lawsuit, developers say they'll pay school fees when the Napa district, which oversees American Canyon public schools, builds campuses to serve Watson Ranch. District leaders say American Canyon shouldn't issue Watson Ranch building permits until the developers pay school fees.

American Canyon 1 LLC, in its suit, cites a 2016 agreement between the two parties. That agreement says NVUSD will build an elementary school in Watson Ranch and a second middle school in the city. Developers will pay certain amounts of money to the school district.

Fees paid by American Canyon 1 LLC under the agreement are to be used "exclusively" for these schools, the lawsuit states.

In 2021, NVUSD told the developers it wont be building the elementary school and second middle school. The school district claims the 2016 agreement still requires the developers to make payments due, including school impact fees, the lawsuit said.

The district in August sent a letter to American Canyon City Manager Jason Holley saying the city shouldnt issue building permits unless the developer shows proof of payment, according to the lawsuit. It is unclear from the lawsuit documents how much money is at stake.

Watson Ranch developers want the court to issue a judicial declaration saying the 2016 agreement requires the school district to build an elementary school and middle school in exchange for payments.

NVUSD responded with a written statement that read: "The Education Code authorizes school districts to impose school impact or 'developer' fees on both residential and commercial development. School districts rely on these fees to build and improve their facilities to accommodate new students generated by development.

"By statute, developers are required to pay certain levels of fees. However, those fees typically fall far short of a school districts actual needs to address schools for the students who will live in the developments.

"For larger residential development projects, developers and school districts frequently negotiate agreements for the developer to help offset the impact of the new students that housing will generate. This benefits the residents of the future housing, the school district and the developer, who is able to market and sell homes that will be served by adequate school facilities. In 2016, the district and American Canyon 1, LLC, developer of the Watson Ranch project, negotiated such a cooperative agreement.

"The developer now appears to take the position that it is not required to comply with the 2016 agreement. At a bare minimum, the developer is legally required to pay its statutory developer fees. Under the Education Code, developers must pay their statutory developer fees prior to issuance of building permits for the square footage on which the fees are imposed.

"Unfortunately, the developer has been issued building permits by the City of American Canyon, even though no fees have been paid to the district, either under the contract or by statute. The district has a duty to ensure that this developer, like all other residential developers within the districts boundaries, pays its fair share of fees and does so in a timely fashion.

"Instead of paying any fees, the developer has now filed a lawsuit against our public school district relating to the agreement. The District remains hopeful that this matter can be resolved so as to avoid spending unnecessary tax dollars on legal fees. However, we cannot and will not stand by while this developer, unlike all others, seeks to escape its legal obligations."

American Canyon's Watson Ranch has some sights to behold The Napa Valley's largest development in decades includes Lemos Pointe, which will include 231 modular units and 186 apartments.

American Canyon in an Aug. 17 letter to the school district said the city's standard practice is to refrain from issuing building permits until developers show they have paid school fees. But in this case, the district furnished the city with the 2016 agreement as evidence of compliance with the Education Code.

The 2016 agreement, and a development pact between the developer and city, give American Canyon 1 LLC certain vested rights, City Attorney William Ross wrote.

"Stated differently, under the current scenario, the city is both statutorily and contractually obligated to proceed with its obligations to process the project, including the projects entitlement and permits," Ross wrote.

The Napa school district has dealt with falling enrollment in recent years. Still, some in American Canyon have expressed puzzlement that the district would jettison planned, new schools in their seemingly fast-growing city.

A consultant for NVUSD in 2021 said Watson Ranch will eventually add 461 students to the district. The development will be completed in phases, making it unlikely the maximum number of students will be enrolled at one time, he said.

Such boosts to student enrollment from housing development wont overcome the effects of chronic housing scarcity that is driving more parents working in Napa County to commute from elsewhere, Rob Murray of King Consulting told district officials.

Napa school district cancels second middle school planned for American Canyon Despite audience pleas, the NVUSD school board voted not to build a second middle school in American Canyon.

The district's scrapping of the planned, second American Canyon middle school in 2019 caused much controversy in the city. The district said it couldn't afford the operational costs of the additional school and instead opted to expand the city's existing middle school on Benton Way, on American Canyon's west side.

A second lawsuit has Jaeger Vineyards, JamCan LLC and American Canyon 1 LLC suing nearby Vallejo over water. Watson Ranch is being built on the Jaeger family's land.

In 1993, Jaeger Vineyards granted an easement for Vallejo water pipes on the property. In exchange, Jaeger is to receive 167,000 gallons of free water and the right to buy 160 acre-feet annually, the lawsuit said.

An acre-foot is enough water to serve one to two typical California households annually, according to the Water Education Foundation.

Vallejo, in a February letter, said it wont provide water for Watson Ranch development, only water used solely by Jaeger Vineyards for limited purposes. But the 1993 agreement puts no limits on the use of the promised water, the lawsuit said.

Jaeger and its partner companies have for nearly a decade worked to develop much-needed housing for the region at the property, along with parks, trails and public spaces  all of which are dependent upon the city of Vallejo providing water  the lawsuit said.

The developers want the court to order Vallejo to provide the water.

Despite the legal entanglements, Watson Ranch moves ahead. Homes, apartments and roads have been under construction this year.

When asked by email whether the dispute with the school district and the water situation would slow Watson Ranch's development, Terrence McGrath of American Canyon 1 LLC simply replied: "No."
Two Napa Valley Unified School District bond measures, which would bring millions of dollars into the district to upgrade aging school facilities, are set to go before Napa and American Canyon voters during the Nov. 8 election.

These bond measures, compared to past ones, are designed to serve American Canyon and the city of Napa by isolating the cities into facility improvement districts. NVUSD superintendent Rosanna Mucetti has previously said the move will better serve the differing needs of American Canyon and Napa schools when compared to past measures that applied to the entire district.

As such, Measure A1, a $200 million bond measure, will primarily be voted on and serve residents of the city of Napa. The $25 million Measure A2, on the other hand, will be voted on by American Canyon residents and would serve schools there.

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Bond measures incur a debt that must be paid by local property owners through property taxes. Both proposals would tack on an estimated annual tax of $20 per $100,000 of assessed property value  roughly $86 per year or $7 per month. School bond proceeds can only be spent on brick-and-mortar construction projects, and the district currently has an assessed need of over $500 million, Mucetti has said.

Specific details on the planned improvements, listed by school site, can be found on the districts website. American Canyon Middle School projects, for example, include campus upgrades, a track replacement, recreation improvements and a technology upgrade. In general, funds from the measures will be used to fix aging buildings, upgrade classrooms and technology, remove hazardous materials like asbestos and lead paint from older school sites, improve outdoor spaces, and provide equipment and spaces for career and technology education classes.

Its been six years since voters last decided on a Napa school bond measure. The $269 million Measure H  the most expensive bond measure ever passed by the school district  barely squeaked by with 55.99% of the vote, exceeding the 55% voter approval threshold by only 350 votes back in 2016, when early returns had the measure lagging before late returns pushed it across the finish line.

And that measure, in the years since, has received some pushback.

Jack Gray, a founder and past-president of the Napa County Taxpayers Association, said Tuesday that many attribute the passage of that bond measure  which the association opposed  to American Canyon voters who believed the measure would, as then planned, help fund a new middle school for that city. Several American Canyon residents have indeed previously said, according to past Register reporting, that they opted to approve Measure H on the understanding that doing so would bring a second middle school to American Canyon.

But the wording of the measure didnt mention any school site by name. And the NVUSD school board voted to halt planning on the middle school project in 2019, owing to a consistent decline in enrollment  and thus in California's attendance-based funding  that had only just started in 2016, along with the estimated $2.2 million per year needed to operate the middle school campus.

At recent NVUSD board meetings, opponents of the two new measures have cited frustration at the district for closing down schools in recent years, and a rising cost of living for those living on fixed incomes, as reasons to oppose the measure.

But in contrast with the 2016 bond measure, Gray said he  and other members of the tax association  approve of both proposed measures. (Thomas Orlando, director of the tax association, noted on Friday that the association as a whole, however, opposes the bond measures.) For one, thats because of several moves Mucetti has made to change the districts leadership staff, Gray said, along with how shes worked with the tax association.

Since Rosannas been here, members of our organization have had basically bimonthly meetings with her and her staff, Gray said. Shes been a breath of fresh air, if you will.

Roughly a year ago, Gray added, Mucetti brought up the need to introduce a bond measure for NVUSD, and she suggested a $500 million bond. Gray said the association told her they would oppose it at that level, and they appreciated her later bringing down the school district's total ask to something more modest.

Napa school enrollment sees yet another decline, amid shifting middle school landscape Napa County's K-12 student enrollment is declining at the fifth fastest rate among the 58 California counties, according to the California Department of Finance.

The tax association members also approve of creating separate voting districts for American Canyon and Napa schools, Gray said, in part because some members who live in Napa didnt like paying for American Canyon upgrades.

Why not have American Canyon, because they want a middle school, let them fund it on their property taxes, Gray said. Just like Calistoga or St. Helena.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to note that the tax association as a whole doesn't support the bond measures, and that Jack Gray is a past-president of the association.
LOS ANGELES  California officials have had repeated warnings over the last two decades that the states unique blend of gasoline is susceptible to supply shortages and sharp price spikes.

But despite multiple reports and special committees, California has struggled to find solutions as it tries to rapidly reduce its reliance on fossil fuels.

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Motorists got a reminder of this in recent weeks as prices hit record levels in an increasingly fragile gasoline market, after almost half the states refineries experienced recent or ongoing outages, pushing the supply of West Coast gasoline to its lowest level in a decade.

Yet state leaders remain far from a comprehensive fix.

Weve got to make longer-run plans and not just wait until the crisis is upon us, said Severin Borenstein, the director of UC Berkeleys Energy Institute at the Haas School of Business, who sat on statewide committees in 1999 and 2015 aimed at finding possible solutions for the states volatile fuel market.

None was implemented, he said.

There are actions we could take to try to smooth that fluctuation in the gasoline market, Borenstein said, but it requires some public policy.

State leaders and energy companies find themselves balancing Californias aggressive green energy goals while providing affordable and reliable energy during this transition.

Do I have the new infrastructure fast enough before I retire the old infrastructure, and what happens if youre in the middle? said Amy Myers Jaffe, the managing director of Tufts University Climate Policy Lab and a former executive director for energy and sustainability at UC Davis.

The way were doing it now is you just let the fuel costs go up and then we leave poor people with no ability to get anywhere. ... And then (California leaders) grandstand against the oil companies  thats not a solution.

Same issues  two decades later

Gov. Gavin Newsoms recent decision to switch early to the states easier and cheaper winter blend of fuel has been credited for minor relief at the pump. But experts say that move alone does little to remedy a situation that keeps reaching crisis levels. The average price for a gallon of gasoline remains well above $6 in California, about 70% higher than the national average, according to the American Automobile Association.

The state has set aspirational goals for the energy transition, but its not very well planned, said David Hackett, the chairman of energy group Stillwater Associates. The last few weeks of high gas prices could be an early-warning system of Californias fate if policymakers or businesses dont take action, he said.

In 2015, the states Petroleum Market Advisory Committee  on which Hackett, Borenstein and Jaffe sat  was focused on three gasoline price spikes and how officials could lessen Californias exposure to these types of events, the final report said.

Will the rise of electric cars mean the death of the gas station in California? For more than a century, gas stations have been the heart of Californias car culture, but a rush to EVs is leaving them in the dust.

Though the committees conclusions werent concrete, the report strongly urge(d) the state to establish an organizational structure and to commit resources to studying the issues further. Many ideas mirrored recommendations that the California attorney generals Gas Pricing Task Force made almost two decades prior, such as establishing a gasoline stockpile, increasing transparency from oil refiners, and easing some environmental requirements during times of increased market pressure.

Jaffe and other experts last week said a gasoline reserve, operated either by the state or by refineries themselves, could help reduce price spikes by stabilizing inventory. Many European countries, Japan and South Korea require refineries to keep certain inventory levels, something the Biden administration also recently proposed.

Other countries dont wait for the trading community to find it profitable to hold inventory, they require refineries to hold a minimum level of inventory, Jaffe said. For a decade, Ive been saying we need to do that in the United States, and I certainly said that it needs to be a requirement for the state of California.

The attorney generals report on gas prices published in 2000 said a state-owned gasoline reserve was a possible option for price spike mitigation. State leaders and experts then listed the relative lack of competition among refiners, supply constraints of Californias unique clean-burning gasoline, and higher state taxes as three of the main points driving up prices  the primary points analysts continue to cite today.

Napa Vine debuts electric bus in Yountville The Napa Valley Transportation Authority has begun its move toward electric buses.

Andrew Lipow, president of consulting firm Lipow Oil Associates, agreed that a gas reserve such as the U.S. has for crude oil could help, but he said another way to reduce costs would be to relax some of Californias strict regulations on fuel during emergency times, though that comes with environmental trade-offs.

Other ideas, such as building more refineries or a new pipeline to California, stand in sharp contrast with the states goals to move away from fossil fuels and related infrastructure.

Lipow said a more environmentally sound option would require a change to a decades-old federal law that allows only American-made vessels to ship goods between U.S. ports, which has forced California to rely on foreign imports when gas supplies run low, raising costs.

But Jaffee said the state most urgently needs to find comprehensive solutions to its current reliance on gasoline, such as investing in public transit, new technologies and affordable housing, while using short-term options, such as gasoline subsidies and incentives, to help get there. She supports the states ambitious goals to ban the sale of new non-electric vehicles by 2035, and a proposal to do the same to diesel big rigs by 2040, but wants to see a feasible path there  without ignoring the current need for gasoline power.

What are we going to do to make this mid-transition? Jaffe said. We should create ways to provide mobility  not fuel  for people who need it.

The blame game

Newsom and state energy officials have again placed blame on oil and gas companies, accusing the corporations of ripping off Californians. Though Californians have long paid more at the pump than neighbors  a premium often attributed to the states environmental laws, taxes and special blend of gas thats less harmful to the atmosphere  state leaders say this recent spike showed a concerning gap between expenses and price tags.

Data show even as crude oil prices decreased and state fees and taxes remained unchanged, the price at the pump still went up because refinery costs and profits more than tripled, now accounting for $2.18 for every gallon of gas that Californians buy, California Energy Commission Chair David Hochschild said in a statement last week. He requested information about the sudden gap between national and California prices from in-state oil refiners, which produce the vast majority of gas sold in California.

He also pointed to two cases in the last decade when refineries had unplanned maintenance issues: In September 2019, when five refineries had outages and prices spiked about 34 cents per gallon, and the 2015 explosion at a Torrance refinery that caused a 46-cent increase.

Refinery maintenance alone  especially prescheduled maintenance  cannot explain a sudden $1.54 increase in what refineries charge for every gallon of gas Californians buy, Hochschild said.

However, Ed Hirs, an energy fellow for the University of Houston, disputed the governors claims, saying hes seen no hard evidence of price gouging during this spike.

The real issue is youve lost several hundred thousand barrels a day of refining capacity, Hirs said. And to make up that supply, people are having to shift supplies from other parts of the nation, and that just costs money.

Newsom on Friday called for a special legislative session in December for lawmakers to consider passing a new tax on excessive profits oil companies are making from soaring gas prices, saying the idea that the surge could be caused by maintenance is nonsense.

Executives for Valero, which runs two of the states 11 gasoline refineries, warned in a letter Friday that additional costs, such as a new tax, will only further strain the fuel market and adversely impact refiners and ultimately those costs will pass to California consumers.

Responding to the Energy Commission, Valero and PBF Western Energy, which also runs two gas refineries in California, denied any sort of price gouging or market manipulation, instead placing most of the blame on the states many regulations and policies that have made such a tight market.

Though oil companies have taken advantage of such a situation in the past, Hirs said, confirming that requires some serious research. A federal judge in San Diego recently dismissed a lawsuit that alleged some of the worlds largest oil companies colluded to keep supplies low in California, driving profits up.

Jaffe said its too early to know whether theres been market manipulation, but with a limited number of refiners in California  many owned by the same company  there are multiple ways refiners could game the system. She called for adequate regulation but said ideally more oil conglomerates would respond to market changes and transition to making greener energy while maintaining capacity to provide the gasoline people rely on.

Car companies all across the United States now are changing over their manufacturing platforms, Jaffe said. Why cant (oil companies) invest in new infrastructure, while at the same time providing their (gasoline) services?
Austal Australia has launched the 4th Evolved Cape-class Patrol Boat (ECCPB), the future ADV Cape Capricorn, for the Royal Australian Navy.

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The 4th Evolved Cape-class Patrol Boat (ECCPB), future ADV Cape Capricorn (Picture source: Austal)

The vessel, Austal Hull 814, was launched at the Henderson, Western Australia shipyard following approximately 12 months of construction and just 3 months after the launch of the 3rd ECCPB, in June 2022.

Austal Australia is proud to be engaging over 300 suppliers from Western Australia and across the nation to help construct the eight Evolved Cape-class Patrol Boats on order from Defence Australia.

With two Evolved Cape-class Patrol Boats delivered since May 2020, two currently alongside and four more at various stages of construction, Austral is demonstrating a track record of success and genuine capability to deliver major defence projects for Australia.

The Cape-class Patrol Boat (Austal Patrol 58) is a benchmark naval vessel, designed and constructed by Austal Australia, performing multiple roles for border force, coast guard and naval fleets located in Australia and the Caribbean.

The striking 58.1 metre, aluminium mono-hull patrol boats are able to:

- Undertake 28 day patrols, in conditions up to Sea State 4;

- Sail 4,000 nautical miles before having to refuel;

- Combat the full range of maritime security threats;

- Carry a larger crew to more effectively and safely manage boarding operations;

- Identify, track and intercept an extended range of threats in the maritime domain and gather intelligence and store evidence for matters that may proceed to the courts; and

- Launch two Tender Response Vessels simultaneously.

With two Evolved Cape-class Patrol Boats delivered since May 2020, two currently alongside and four more at various stages of construction, Austral is demonstrating a track record of success and genuine capability to deliver major defence projects for Australia (Picture source: Austal)

In May 2020, Austal Australia was awarded a contract to design and construct six 'Evolved' Cape-class Patrol Boats for the Royal Australian Navy.

On 18 April 2022 Prime Minister The Hon Scott Morrison announced that a further two Evolved Cape Class Patrol Boats would be ordered by the Australian Department of Defence in FY2023, bringing the total number of vessels ordered for the Royal Australian Navy to eight.

The new Evolved Cape-class Patrol Boats for the Royal Australian Navy include several enhancements that further extend the capability of the proven vessel and the fleet; with modifications developed through the in-service experience of ten Cape-class Patrol Boats already operating with the Navy and Australian Border Force throughout Northern Australia.

On 18 April 2022 Prime Minister The Hon Scott Morrison announced that a further two Evolved Cape Class Patrol Boats would be ordered by the Australian Department of Defence in FY2023, bringing the total number of vessels ordered for the Royal Australian Navy to eight (Picture source: Austal)
France shows full solidarity with Armenia under the conditions of violations of its territorial integrity. This was announced by French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna, speaking at the French National Assembly.

She noted that after the September 13 military attack by Azerbaijan on Armenia, France made efforts to stabilize the situation, demanding the Azerbaijani armed forces to return to their initial positions, and supported the negotiations between the two countries.

According to her, an agreement has been reached to deploy a two-month civilian mission of the European Union along Armenias border with Azerbaijan by the end of the month.

"The purpose of this mission is to stabilize the situation and start a process between the parties. In particular, we hope that the mission will be able to contribute to the upcoming border delimitation process," said Colonna. "At the same time, we are working on the setting up of an OSCE fact-finding mission to get an objective picture of the post-conflict situation and needs, particularly of humanitarian needs."

"Armenia can count on France's support," assured the French FM.
Stating that the principled policy of Iran is based on respecting the territorial integrity of countries, the foreign minister said that Iran is against any change in borders or geopolitics of the region, Mehr reported.

Hossein Amirabdollahian made the comment in his meeting with Gevorg Papoyan, the Head of Armenia-Iran Friendship Group of the Armenian parliament, in Tehran on Tuesday, and called for the peaceful settlement of disputes between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Iran is against any change in the international borders or geopolitical changes in the region, Amirabdollahian emphasized.

Turning to the growing amicable relations between Iran and Armenia and the role of parliaments in developing friendly relations between the two countries, Irans top diplomat emphasized the efforts of Iran to further expand relations.

Also, Amirabdollahian stressed the facilitation of transportation and transit between the two countries by reducing customs duties and costs, participation of Iranian companies in the implementation of economic and infrastructure projects in Armenia.
The U.S. Senate has lifted restrictive conditions in its version of the bill on the F-16 fighter jet deal with Turkey, and similar action is expected from the House of Representatives, Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak reported.

All of the restrictive conditions added to the bill on the sale of F-16 jets to Turkey have been removed from the Senate version of the bill. The House version of the bill also has a similar addition with conditions, but these clauses are also expected to be removed. After the Senate completes work on the bill, it will be converted into a joint text with the House version and sent to the desk of U.S. President Joe Biden for approval, the newspaper wrote.

The U.S. had previously sent a formal notice to Turkey about its exclusion from the program of supplying the latest fighter jets F-35 because of the purchase of Russian air defense systems S-400 by Ankara.

Washington canceled a joint memorandum on the F-35 with Turkey, signing it with the seven remaining partners in the F-35 project - Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia, Denmark, Canada and Norway. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan later announced a U.S. offer to buy other fighters, but not the fifth, but the fourth generation F-16s. The issue is yet to be negotiated in the U.S. Congress - the State Department is lobbying for it, convincing congressmen that the deal serves Washington's interests.
Hurricane Julia made its way to Mexico, causing flooding in Mexico's Acapulco and other municipalities in the state of Guerrero, local media reported.

The newspaper El Salvador published a series of images showing the effects of flooding in one of the most affected places in the country, the canton of Rio Grande in San Miguel. Water in half an hour flooded homes of local residents to a height of one meter and destroyed property and animals. Residents complained that none of the authorities reached out to them to help.

According to the Ministry of Education of the State of Guerrero, the flooding in the municipalities of Costa Chica, Acapulco, Costa Grande and the Upper Sierra forced the cancellation of classes and the use of educational institutions as shelters.

The water has swept away several people - a motorcyclist, a woman and half a dozen students, their fate is unknown.

Tropical Cyclone Julia has caused massive damage to South and Central America since Sunday. Floods from Venezuela to Mexico have claimed dozens of lives and affected hundreds of thousands of people to varying degrees.

On October 9, Hurricane Julia struck the coast of Nicaragua. Forecasters on the website of the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned that flash floods and mudslides were possible in Central America and southern Mexico because of the hurricane.
The ambassadors of the European Union have agreed on the non-recognition of Russian passports issued in the territories outside the control of the authorities of Ukraine and Georgia, TASS reported.

It is noted that the EU ambassadors have agreed on a mandate for negotiations with the European Parliament on the decision on the inadmissibility of Russian travel documents issued in Ukraine and Georgia. These passports will not be accepted as travel documents for obtaining a visa or crossing Schengen borders.

Earlier, the head of the European diplomacy Josep Borrell called the new Russian legislation on a simplified procedure for obtaining Russian citizenship for Ukrainians a violation of sovereignty and said that the EU would not recognize such passports.

At the end of August, following an informal meeting of the EU foreign ministers, he said that the EU would not recognize passports issued in the Russian-controlled territories of Ukraine.